ABSTRACT Although microplastics provide much convenience to humans, they also pose a threat to the ecological environment on which humans depend. Microplastics persist in the environment and spread ...throughout the planet through the atmosphere, ocean currents, wind and animals, and it of different shapes and sizes can directly or indirectly affect organisms and pose health risks to animals and humans. Therefore, the size and types of microplastics and their effects on different organs of different types of animals were reviewed in this paper. However, we found that the health risks posed by microplastics to amphibians and reptiles remain unknown. Then, we reviewed the effects of microplastics on amphibians and reptiles, and most previous studies have focused on turtles and tadpoles; by comparison, few studies have been conducted on snakes, lizards and crocodiles. Although the extinction of some species has increased awareness of the need for conservation, there are still many gaps in research on the effects of microplastics on amphibians and reptiles. More research on the effects of microplastics on amphibians and reptiles is needed to to learn more about the potential effects and direct ongoing future conservation efforts. Finally, some constructive countermeasures are proposed to promote microplastics research in amphibians and reptiles.
Buckwheat is a nutritional and economically crop belonging to Polygonaceae, Fagopyrum. To better understand the mutation patterns and evolution trend in the chloroplast (cp) genome of buckwheat, and ...found sufficient number of variable regions to explore the phylogenetic relationships of this genus, two complete cp genomes of buckwheat including Fagopyrum dibotrys (F. dibotrys) and Fagopyrum luojishanense (F. luojishanense) were sequenced, and other two Fagopyrum cp genomes were used for comparative analysis. After morphological analysis, the main difference among these buckwheat were height, leaf shape, seeds and flower type. F. luojishanense was distinguishable from the cultivated species easily. Although the F. dibotrys and two cultivated species has some similarity, they different in habit and component contents. The cp genome of F. dibotrys was 159,320 bp while the F. luojishanense was 159,265 bp. 48 and 61 SSRs were found in F. dibotrys and F. luojishanense respectively. Meanwhile, 10 highly variable regions among these buckwheat species were located precisely. The phylogenetic relationships among four Fagopyrum species based on complete cp genomes was showed. The results suggested that F. dibotrys is more closely related to Fagopyrum tataricum. These data provided valuable genetic information for Fagopyrum species identification, taxonomy, phylogenetic study and molecular breeding.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
The rigidity theorems of self-shrinkers DING, QI; XIN, Y. L.
Transactions of the American Mathematical Society,
10/2014, Volume:
366, Issue:
10
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
By using certain techniques developed in minimal submanifold theory, we study the rigidity problem for self-shrinkers in the present paper. We prove rigidity results for the squared norm of the ...second fundamental form of self-shrinkers, either under pointwise conditions or under integral conditions.
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BFBNIB, INZLJ, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK, ZRSKP
•The object detection model of suckling piglets based on YOLOv5 was established.•A machine vision method (FD-CNN) for activity detection of suckling piglets was proposed.•The activity of the piglets ...was quantified as a value.•The proposed method could continuously observe the piglets’ activity.
The lactation period is the first stage in a piglet’s life cycle, and a piglet’s activity during this time is an important indicator of the growth stage, better activity curve reflecting higher growth state. Detecting changes in physical activity may help in the early detection of unhealthy conditions and help a breeder carry out targeted treatment. However, both light interferences caused by devices such as heat preservation lamps and the difficulty of identifying piglets pose significant challenges for automated monitoring of piglet activity. In this study, we proposed an automated method for monitoring piglet activity. This method, named Frame Differences in combination with Convolution Neural Network (FD-CNN), was used to detect the regions of the active piglets by combining the frame difference method with the YOLOv5s network model. To estimate the whole average activity of piglets during lactation, the ratio of the area with active piglets to the area of all piglets was determined. The changing activity of day-old piglets was analyzed, and their status under different light source conditions was also evaluated. Video traceability was performed to detect the abnormal activity points, and the causes of these anomalies were studied. The results showed that our method could detect motion piglets (precision = 0.936) and quantify the activity status of piglets. When the detection frequencies were 6 s and 1 h, the similarity of activity value between the FD-CNN and manual detection were 58.36% and 78.90%, respectively. After the conversion of the activity metrics to values ranging from 0 to 1, the average activity value of day-old piglets with light was higher than 0.25 and that under the no-light condition was lower than 0.2. The traceability results of the abnormal activity points (activity value above 1) show that excess activity was mainly caused by sows attacking piglets or bumping into limits. The FD-CNN could replace the manual detection of piglet activity during lactation to a certain extent. The backtracking of abnormal activity points is beneficial for the timely detection of abnormal interaction behaviors between sows and piglets and provides technical support for the intelligent development of animal husbandry.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The circRNA circAGFG1 is reported to be important in triple‐negative breast cancer progression. However, the mechanism of circAGFG1 in non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains unknown. In this ...study, expression of circAGFG1 was determined by real‐time PCR in 20 pairs of NSCLC tissues and adjacent tissues. Next, functional experiments with circAGFG1 were performed in vitro to evaluate the role of circAGFG1 in tumor metastasis and growth. Meanwhile, a dual luciferase reporter assay, RNA pull‐down and RNA immunoprecipitation experiments were used to explore the interaction between circAGFG1 and miR‐203. Our results revealed that expression levels of circAGFG1 and miR‐203 are upregulated in non‐small‐cell lung cancer tissues. CircAGFG1 enhances NSCLC cell proliferation, invasion, migration and epithelial‐mesenchymal transition in vitro. Mechanistic analyses indicated that circAGFG1 acts as a sponge for miR‐203 to repress the effect of miR‐203 on its target, ZNF281. In conclusion, our study suggests that circAGFG1 promotes NSCLC growth and metastasis though a circAGFG1/miR‐203/ZNF281 axis and may represent a novel therapeutic target.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Background and Aims
Neuropsychiatric symptoms in hepatitis C (HCV) patients resemble those of patients with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) or primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), whilst the mechanisms ...behind them are unknown. Here we looked for cerebral metabolic and/or microstructural alterations in patients with HCV, AIH or PBC as possible causes behind these symptoms.
Methods
Patients with HCV infection (n = 17), AIH (n = 14) or PBC (n = 11) and age‐adjusted healthy controls (n = 18) underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and psychometric assessment of memory and attention. Brain relative proton density (PD) and T2 relaxation time (T2) were determined in 17 regions of interest (ROIs), as were the concentrations of N‐acetyl‐aspartate, choline, creatine, myo‐inositol and glutamine + glutamate in frontal‐ (fWM) and parietal white matter (pWM). One‐way analysis of variance and Kruskal‐Wallis tests were used for group comparison. Correlations between altered neuropsychological findings and MRI/MRS observations were estimated with the Spearman ρ test.
Results
HCV, AIH and PBC patients revealed similar alterations in brain PD and metabolites compared to controls: significantly decreased PD in 7/17 ROIs in the HCV group, 16/17 ROIs in the PBC group and 14/17 ROIs in the AIH group, significantly increased N‐acetyl‐aspartate in fWM in all patients, significantly increased choline in the PBC group in both fWM and pWM, in the AIH group only in pWM and with a trend in the HCV group in pWM. Correlation analysis did not reveal significant associations between MRI/MRS alterations and neuropsychological dysfunction.
Conclusion
The findings suggest similar pathophysiological mechanisms behind neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with HCV infection, AIH and PBC.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In this paper, the authors derive Hölder gradient estimates for graphic functions of minimal graphs of arbitrary codimensions over bounded open sets of Euclidean space under some suitable conditions.
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Cleavage of all C–H bonds in two methane molecules by gas-phase cluster ions at room temperature is a challenging task. Herein, mass spectrometry and quantum chemical calculations have been used to ...identify one single metal boride cluster anions NbB4− that can activate eight C–H bonds in two methane molecules and release one H2 molecule each time under thermal collision conditions. In these consecutive reactions, the loaded Nb atoms and the support B4 units play different roles but act synergistically to activate CH4, which is responsible for the interesting reactivity of NbB4−. Moreover, there are some mechanistic differences in these two reactions, including the mechanisms for the first C–H bond activation steps, dihydrogen desorption sites, and major electron donors. This study shows that non-noble metal boride species are reactive enough to facilitate thermal C–H bond cleavages, and boron-based materials may be one kind of potential support material facilitating surface hydrogen transport.
Propofol is a widely used anesthetic and sedative, which has been reported to exert an anti-inflammatory effect. TLR4 plays a critical role in coordinating the immuno-inflammatory response during ...sepsis. Whether propofol can act as an immunomodulator through regulating TLR4 is still unclear. Given its potential as a sepsis therapy, we investigated the mechanisms underlying the immunomodulatory activity of propofol.
The effects of propofol on TLR4 and Rab5a (a master regulator involved in intracellular trafficking of immune factors) were investigated in macrophage (from Rab5a
and WT mice) following treatment with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) in vitro and in vivo, and peripheral blood monocyte from sepsis patients and healthy volunteers.
We showed that propofol reduced membrane TLR4 expression on macrophages in vitro and in vivo. Rab5a participated in TLR4 intracellular trafficking and both Rab5a expression and the interaction between Rab5a and TLR4 were inhibited by propofol. We also showed Rab5a upregulation in peripheral blood monocytes of septic patients, accompanied by increased TLR4 expression on the cell surface. Propofol downregulated the expression of Rab5a and TLR4 in these cells.
We demonstrated that Rab5a regulates intracellular trafficking of TLR4 and that propofol reduces membrane TLR4 expression on macrophages by targeting Rab5a. Our study not only reveals a novel mechanism for the immunomodulatory effect of propofol but also indicates that Rab5a may be a potential therapeutic target against sepsis.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
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