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•A bimodal composite foam with CNT-GNP hybrids was prepared.•CNT and GNP show limited effect in improving electrical properties of composites.•CNT and GNP synergistically enhance ...electrical properties of composite foams.•The synergistic mechanism of CNT and GNP in composite foams is clarified.•The bimodal composite foams can be used in EMI shielding.
Novel PMMA composites were fabricated using two different dimensional nanofillers of MWCNTs and GNPs as bifillers to explore their synergistic effect on the final mechanical and electrical properties. MWCNTs and GNPs display limited effect on the final electrical properties while they show obvious synergistic effect in influencing the mechanical performance. The well-dispersed MWCNTs-GNPs in polymer matrix provide plenty of 1D-2D interconnections for efficient stress transferring when exposed to stress tensile, but the critical distance between nanofiller is not enough for effective electron movements and the significant Schottky barrier between nanofiller contacts has restricted the synergistic effect for electrical properties. Afterwards, PMMA composite foams with microcellular structure were prepared by supercritical fluid assisted processing. The ternary bimodal composite foams present better tensile, electrical and EMI shielding properties than the unimodal composite foams. MWCNTs and GNPs reveal prominent synergistic effect in influencing the tensile and electrical properties of ternary composite foam systems. The obvious enhancement of electrical conductivity results from the in situ exfoliation of GNPs, high-level orientation and redistribution of nanofillers, moderate physical foaming with bimodal microcellular structure as well as attenuated Schottky barriers at few-layer graphene/MWCNTs junctions. The dramatic improvement of EMI shielding performance is attributed to the elevated electrical conductivity, unique foam microstructures and special 1D-2D (MWCNTs-GNPs) hybrid structure. This study paves a feasible road to prepare lightweight and novel composites with superior electrical properties.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
While it is known that miR-203 is frequently downregulated in many types of human cancer, little is known regarding its expression and functional role in colorectal cancer (CRC). In this study, we ...aimed to investigate the expression and the potential mechanisms of miR-203 in colorectal cancer. MiR-203 was significantly downregulated in CRC tissues compared with matched normal adjacent tissues. Our clinical data show that decreased miR-203 was associated with an advanced clinical tumor-node-metastasis stage, lymph node metastasis, and poor survival in CRC patients. Furthermore, externally induced expression of miR-203 significantly inhibited CRC cell proliferation and invasion in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, we identified EIF5A2 as a direct and functional target of miR-203. The levels of miR-203 were inversely correlated with levels of the EIF5A2 in the CRC tissues. Restoration of EIF5A2 in the miR-203-overexpressing CRC cells reversed the suppressive effects of miR-203. Our results demonstrate that miR-203 serves as a tumor suppressor gene and may be useful as a new potential therapeutic target in CRC.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Glycolytic potential (GP) in skeletal muscle is economically important in the pig industry because of its effect on pork processing yield. We have previously mapped a major quantitative trait loci ...(QTL) for GP on chromosome 3 in a White Duroc × Erhualian F2 intercross. We herein performed a systems genetic analysis to identify the causal variant underlying the phenotype QTL (pQTL). We first conducted genome-wide association analyses in the F2 intercross and an F19 Sutai pig population. The QTL was then refined to an 180-kb interval based on the 2-LOD drop method. We then performed expression QTL (eQTL) mapping using muscle transcriptome data from 497 F2 animals. Within the QTL interval, only one gene (PHKG1) has a cis-eQTL that was colocolizated with pQTL peaked at the same SNP. The PHKG1 gene encodes a catalytic subunit of the phosphorylase kinase (PhK), which functions in the cascade activation of glycogen breakdown. Deep sequencing of PHKG1 revealed a point mutation (C>A) in a splice acceptor site of intron 9, resulting in a 32-bp deletion in the open reading frame and generating a premature stop codon. The aberrant transcript induces nonsense-mediated decay, leading to lower protein level and weaker enzymatic activity in affected animals. The mutation causes an increase of 43% in GP and a decrease of>20% in water-holding capacity of pork. These effects were consistent across the F2 and Sutai populations, as well as Duroc × (Landrace × Yorkshire) hybrid pigs. The unfavorable allele exists predominantly in Duroc-derived pigs. The findings provide new insights into understanding risk factors affecting glucose metabolism, and would greatly contribute to the genetic improvement of meat quality in Duroc related pigs.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Carcass length is very important for body size and meat production for swine, thus understanding the genetic mechanisms that underly this trait is of great significance in genetic improvement ...programs for pigs. Although many quantitative trait loci (QTL) have been detected in pigs, very few have been fine-mapped to the level of the causal mutations. The aim of this study was to identify potential causal single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for carcass length by integrating a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and functional assays.
Here, we present a GWAS in a commercial Duroc × (Landrace × Yorkshire) (DLY) population that reveals a prominent association signal (P = 4.49E-07) on pig chromosome 17 for carcass length, which was further validated in two other DLY populations. Within the detected 1 Mb region, the BMP2 gene stood out as the most likely causal candidate because of its functions in bone growth and development. Whole-genome gene expression studies showed that the BMP2 gene was differentially expressed in the cartilage tissues of pigs with extreme carcass length. Then, we genotyped an additional 267 SNPs in 500 selected DLY pigs, followed by further whole-genome SNP imputation, combined with deep genome resequencing data on multiple pig breeds. Reassociation analyses using genotyped and imputed SNP data revealed that the rs320706814 SNP, located approximately 123 kb upstream of the BMP2 gene, was the strongest candidate causal mutation, with a large association with carcass length, with a ~ 4.2 cm difference in length across all three DLY populations (N = 1501; P = 3.66E-29). This SNP segregated in all parental lines of the DLY (Duroc, Large White and Landrace) and was also associated with a significant effect on body length in 299 pure Yorkshire pigs (P = 9.2E-4), which indicates that it has a major value for commercial breeding. Functional assays showed that this SNP is likely located within an enhancer and may affect the binding affinity of transcription factors, thereby regulating BMP2 gene expression.
Taken together, these results suggest that the rs320706814 SNP on pig chromosome 17 is a putative causal mutation for carcass length in the widely used DLY pigs and has great value in breeding for body size in pigs.
Krüppel-like factor 4 (KLF4), a member of the KLF family of zinc finger transcription factors, has been identified as a tumor suppressor gene in a variety of tumors. However, the molecular mechanisms ...by which KLF4 inhibits epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metastasis in pancreatic cancer remain unclear.
KLF4 expression in pancreatic cancer was analyzed using public datasets (Oncomine and The Cancer Genome Atlas). The expression of KLF4, caveolin-1 (Cav-1), E-cadherin, and vimentin, and their correlations with clinicopathological characteristics were evaluated by immunohistochemistry in pancreatic cancer tissues. The biological functions and underlying mechanisms of KLF4 expression on EMT and metastasis were also investigated in vitro and in vivo.
Public datasets showed that KLF4 expression was significantly decreased in pancreatic cancer and correlated with the depth of invasion and disease stage. The expression of KLF4, Cav-1, E-cadherin, and vimentin protein in pancreatic cancer tissues was closely associated with pathological grade, disease stage, and metastasis. KLF4 expression was also positively correlated with E-cadherin expression and negatively correlated with vimentin expression, whereas Cav-1 expression was negatively associated with E-cadherin expression and positively correlated with vimentin expression. Knockdown of KLF4 expression promoted EMT and facilitated pancreatic cancer cell growth and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. In addition, immunohistochemistry (IHC) results indicated that KLF4 expression was negatively correlated with Cav-1 expression. Furthermore, down-regulating KLF4 expression increased Cav-1 and vimentin expression and decreased E-cadherin expression. Mechanistically, KLF4 could transcriptionally inhibit Cav-1 expression by binding directly to the promoter domain of Cav-1.
KLF4 inhibits pancreatic cancer EMT and metastasis by down-regulating Cav-1 expression, suggesting that the KLF4/Cav-1 signaling pathway may be a novel diagnostic and therapeutic target.
Shear thickening fluids (STFs) are energy dissipative materials and affected significantly by the properties of the dispersing media. Most of the dispersing media are polymeric or oligomeric fluids, ...and few studies have made ionic liquids (ILs) as the dispersing media. Since the properties of ILs are strongly dependent on its' ionic structures, the shear thickening behavior of STFs composed of ILs must be influenced by the ionic structures. The rheology and viscoelasticity of STFs of hydrophilic silica nanoparticles in ILs with different ionic structures were investigated systematically. The experimental results demonstrated that the dispersions in hydrophilic ILs displayed shear thickening behavior, while dispersions prepared by hydrophobic ones appeared as a colloidal gel and displayed shear thinning. With changing the length of the alkyl chain substituent on the organic cation, the shear thickening behavior was transformed. Shear thickening behavior was enhanced for the introduction of hydroxyl on the organic cation. Ionic structures influence the interactions between silica nanoparticles and ILs through the hydrogen bonds, and the shear thickening behavior may be induced by the formation of nanoparticle aggregation. The dynamic stabbing resistance, quasi-static tensile strength and conductivity of Kevlar fabric composites treated by STFs composed of ILs were enhanced observably, and the electromagnetic shielding property was improved to a certain degree.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, UL, UM, UPUK
Intramuscular fat (IMF) is one of the most critical parameters affecting meat quality and mainly affected by genetic factors. MicroRNA as an important regulatory factor, which is still a lack of ...research in the development of sheep IMF deposition. We used RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and cell-level validation to explore the role of miRNA in IMF deposition. As for this purpose, longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) samples of 2 month-old (Mth-2) and 12 months-old (Mth-12) Aohan fine-wool sheep (AFWS) were used to identified miRNAs expression. We found 59 differentially expressed miRNAs (DE-miRNA) between these age groups and predicted their 1,796 target genes. KEGG functional enrichment analysis revealed eight pathways involved in lipid metabolism-related processes, including fatty acid elongation and the AMPK signaling pathway. A highly expressed DE-miRNA, miR-193a-5p, was found to serve a function in 3T3-L1 preadipocyte differentiation. Luciferase assay demonstrated that miR-193a-5p directly binds to the 3'-UTR region of
. By constructing mimics and inhibitor vector transfecting into 3T3-L1 cells to explore the effect of miR-193a-5p on cell proliferation and differentiation, we demonstrated that overexpression of miR-193a-5p inhibited 3T3-L1 preadipocyte proliferation, as evidenced by decreased mRNA and protein expression of
and
. CCK-8 assay showed that miR-193a-5p significantly inhibited cell proliferation. Similarly, the overexpression of miR-193a-5p inhibited 3T3-L1 preadipocyte differentiation and adipocyte-specific molecular markers' expression, leading to a decrease in
and
and
. Inhibition of miR-193a-5p had the opposite effects. Our study lists the miRNAs associated with intramuscular lipid deposition in sheep and their potential targets, striving to improve sheep meat quality.
Aohan fine-wool sheep (AFWS) is a high-quality fine-wool sheep breed that supplies wool and meat. Research is needed on the molecular mechanism behind intramuscular fat (IMF) deposition that greatly ...improves mutton quality. The widely expressed non-coding RNA is physiologically used in roles such as competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) that includes circular RNAs (circRNAs). Although circRNAs were studied in many fields, little research was devoted to IMF in sheep. We used the longissimus dorsi muscle of 2 and 12-month-old AWFS as research material to identify circRNAs related to IMF deposition in these sheep by RNA-seq screening for differentially expressed circRNAs in the two age groups. A total of 11,565 candidate circRNAs were identified, of which the 104 differentially expressed circRNAs in the two age groups were analyzed. Enrichment analysis was performed using Gene Ontology and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes. The enriched pathways included lipid transport (GO:0006869), negative regulation of canonical Wnt signaling pathway (GO:0090090), fat digestion and absorption (ko04975), and sphingolipid metabolism (ko00600). The differentially expressed circRNAs included ciRNA455, circRNA9086, circRNA7445, circRNA4557, and others. The source genes involved in these pathways might regulate IMF deposition. We used the TargetScan and miRanda software for interaction analysis, and a network diagram of circRNA-miRNA interactions was created. CircRNA455-miR-127, circRNA455-miR-29a, circRNA455-miR-103, circRNA4557-mir149-5p, and circRNA2440-mir-23a might be involved in the IMF deposition process. The targeting relationship of circRNA4557-miR-149-5p was verified by a dual-luciferase reporter assay. The RT-qPCR results of seven randomly selected circRNAs were consistent with the sequencing results. This study provides additional information on circRNA regulation of IMF deposition in AFWS and is a useful resource for future research on this sheep breed.
Thousands of QTLs for meat quality traits have been identified by linkage mapping studies, but most of them lack precise position or replication between populations, which hinder their application in ...pig breeding programs. To localize QTLs for meat quality traits to precise genomic regions, we performed a genome-wide association (GWA) study using the Illumina PorcineSNP60K Beadchip in two swine populations: 434 Sutai pigs and 933 F2 pigs from a White Duroc×Erhualian intercross. Meat quality traits, including pH, color, drip loss, moisture content, protein content and intramuscular fat content (IMF), marbling and firmness scores in the M. longissimus (LM) and M. semimembranosus (SM) muscles, were recorded on the two populations. In total, 127 chromosome-wide significant SNPs for these traits were identified. Among them, 11 SNPs reached genome-wise significance level, including 1 on SSC3 for pH, 1 on SSC3 and 3 on SSC15 for drip loss, 3 (unmapped) for color a*, and 2 for IMF each on SSC9 and SSCX. Except for 11 unmapped SNPs, 116 significant SNPs fell into 28 genomic regions of approximately 10 Mb or less. Most of these regions corresponded to previously reported QTL regions and spanned smaller intervals than before. The loci on SSC3 and SSC7 appeared to have pleiotropic effects on several related traits. Besides them, a few QTL signals were replicated between the two populations. Further, we identified thirteen new candidate genes for IMF, marbling and firmness, on the basis of their positions, functional annotations and reported expression patterns. The findings will contribute to further identification of the causal mutation underlying these QTLs and future marker-assisted selection in pigs.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Under the conditions of low detection probabilities, high clutter rates, low data-sampling rates, large measurement errors, and unknown prior information of the target position, multi-object tracking ...is difficult. This paper proposes a multidimensional information fusion method in active sonar via the generalized labeled multi-Bernoulli (GLMB) filter. After modeling the position measurement, radial velocity measurement and amplitude measurement of the target and clutter, new target births are adaptively generated by the measurement-driven model, predictions are made by the target motion model and updates are performed via multidimensional measurements with the generalized likelihood in the GLMB filter, which enables the measurement information of different dimensions to be elegantly applied to information fusion and significantly improves the filter performance. The contribution of specific dimension measurement to fusion can be evaluated by the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence. In the efficient implementation, we propose flat Gibbs sampling to realize multiple hypothesis optimization. Moreover, the filtering recursion is derived from Gaussian mixtures. Simulations are presented to verify the proposed method.
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