Following a series of surveys since 2003, a full-seasonal raptor count was undertaken at Baiwangshan, a mountain in the vicinity of Beijing, from 6 March to 22 May 2009, when 3802 individual birds of 23 species were recorded. Four species, i.e., Oriental Honey Buzzard(Pernis ptilorhynchus), Common Buzzard(Buteo buteo), Eurasian Sparrow Hawk(Accipiter nisus) and Gray-faced Buzzard(Butastur indicus) together accounted for up 90% of the total and P. ptilorhynchus alone for 70%. Raptor passage of such magnitude and diversity at an inland site in China was unheard of up to then. As well, 113 other migrants were recorded at the site during this period, including 24 water birds, 74 passerines and 15 others(cuckoos, owls and other migrants).
Thalidomide （α-N-phthalimido-glutarimide, TLD） is a kind of anti-angiogenic and anti-inflammatory drug, and showed effects in the treatment of several disease entities. In this study, the biological effects of a novel N-sugar substituted phthalimide （STA-35） on the regulation of multidrug resistance （MDR） to doxorubicin （ADR） were investigated. The proliferation of cancer cells was detected by a SRB assay. The activity of P-glycoprotein （P-gp） was determined by a Flow cytometry. The expression of P-gp was measured by western blotting. The results showed that STA-35 inhibited the proliferation of human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 and its ADR resistant cell line MCF-7/ADR, and the relative resistance was only 1.19. Meanwhile, STA-35 could sensitize the cytotoxicity of ADR in MCF-7/ADR cells. In addition, we found that STA-35 reduced the activity of P-gp by suppressing the P-gp expression, which was indicated by the increase in the accumulation of rhodamine 123 in MCF-7/ADR cells. These results suggested a promising application of STA-35 as the MDR reversing agent. The underlying mechanism of the effects might be attributed to the inhibition of P-gp.
