Calcium (Ca) deficiency in fruit causes various physiological disorders leading to quality loss. However, disorders related to Ca deficiency are not simply caused by a shortage of calcium supply. Ca ...distribution is also an important relation. This study examined Ca distribution pattern in fruit and pedicel in litchi (
Litchi chinensis
Sonn.) and the influence of Ca channel inhibitor La
3+
on fruit Ca uptake and distribution.
In situ
distribution of Ca in the phloem and xylem tissues of the pedicel was visualized by Ca mapping with X-ray microanalyzer. Ca
2+
analogy Sr
2+
was used to trace Ca
2+
transport pathway to fruit as well as distribution pattern. The results showed Ca was more distributed in the pericarp, especially the distal part. Ca level in the bark/phloem was always significantly higher than in the xylem and increased with stem age, suggesting constant influx of Ca into the phloem from the xylem. La
3+
increased the ratio of Ca in the xylem to that in the bark in the pedicel and significantly reduced Ca accumulation by 55.6% in fruit, suggesting influx of Ca into the symplast was involved in fruit Ca uptake. Sr
2+
introduced from fruit stalk was found to be transported to fruit through the phloem as Sr was largely distributed in the phloem, and fruit stalk girdling significantly reduced Sr accumulation in the pericarp. Ca mapping across the pedicel revealed Ca-rich sites in the parenchyma cells in the phloem and along the cambium, where abundant Ca oxalate crystals were found. The results suggested extensive influx of Ca from xylem/apoplast pathway into the phloem/symplast pathway in the pedicel, which enables phloem/symplast pathway to contribute a considerable part to Ca uptake in litchi fruit.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) emerge as new important regulators of lipid homeostasis by regulating corresponding genes. MiR-613 is a newly discovered microRNA, of which the biological function is unknown. A ...recent report has shown that miR-613 downregulates liver X receptor α (LXRα), a ligand-activated nuclear receptor playing an important role in the regulation of lipid metabolism. The purpose of this study is to explore the effect and the molecular basis of miR-613 on lipogenesis in HepG2 cells.
HepG2 cells were transiently transfected with miR-613 mimic or control microRNA. Real time PCR, Western blot, Luciferase reporter assay and Oil Red O staining were employed to examine the expression of LXRα and its target genes involved in lipogenesis, binding site for miR-613 in 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of LXRα mRNA and lipid droplet accumulation in the cells.
MiR-613 dramatically suppressed the expression of LXRα and its target genes including sterol-regulatory element binding protein 1c (SREBP-1c), fatty acid synthase (FAS), carbohydrate responsive element-binding protein (ChREBP) and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC). Reporter assay showed that miR-613 directly bound to 3'-UTR of LXRα mRNA. Moreover, miR-613 significantly repressed LXRα-induced lipid droplet accumulation in HepG2 cells. Ectopic expression of LXRα without 3'-UTR markedly attenuated the miR-613-mediated downregulation of LXRα's target genes and LXRα-induced lipid droplet accumulation.
MiR-613 suppresses lipogenesis by directly targeting LXRα in HepG2 cells, suggesting that miR-613 may serve as a novel target for regulating lipid homeostasis.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The objective of this study was to determine the dynamic changes of circulating osteocalcin+ (OCN+) cells and insulinlike growth factor-I (IGF-I) in peripheral blood during early primary repair of ...jaw bones in patients with orthognathic surgery.
The expression of bone-related genes was detected by RT-PCR in circulating OCN+ cells. The numbers of OCN+ cells and serum level of IGF-I were determined by flow cytometry, immunocytochemical staining, and ELISA.
OCN+ cells significantly increased in peripheral blood, and reached the peak at 1 to 2 weeks after surgery (P < .05). IGF-I in patients significantly decreased 1 week after surgery (P < .05), and then returned gradually to the normal level. There was no significant correlation between the number of circulating OCN+ cells and the level of IGF-I (P > .05).
These findings suggested that circulating OCN+ cells, at least in part, could be mobilized in response to bone injury, and contribute to bone repair in patients with orthognathic surgery.
Hexagonal‐phase single‐crystal Gd2O3 is deposited on GaN in a molecular beam epitaxy system (see image). The dielectric constant is about twice that of its cubic counterpart when deposited on InGaAs ...or Si. The capacitive effective thickness of 0.5 nm in hexagonal Gd2O3 is perhaps the lowest on GaN‐metal‐oxide‐semiconductor devices. The heterostructure is thermo dynamically stable at high temperatures and exhibits low interfacial densities of states after high‐temperature annealing.
To identify and partially characterize the side population cells derived from three human pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell lines.
Side population cells were sorted from the human pancreatic ...adenocarcinoma cell lines SW1990, Capan-2, and BxPC-3 using flow cytometry and then analyzed for cell proliferation, clone formation, differentiation, chemoresistance, invasive potential, and tumorigenicity in a mouse model.
Human pancreatic carcinoma cell lines SW1990, Capan-2, and BxPC-3 contain 2.7% +/- 0.35%, 3.6% +/- 1.2%, and 2.8% +/- 0.8% side population cells, respectively. We further investigated cancer stem cell characteristics with the moderately differentiated human pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell line SW1990. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that side population cells could differentiate into side population and non-side population cells and could exhibit differentiation potential. Using a clone formation assay, side population cells were shown to have a higher proliferation than non-side population cells. Compared to non-side population cells, side population cells were also more resistant to gemcitabine, a commonly used anti-cancer agent against pancreatic carcinoma, and were more invasive. Importantly, the CD133 level in side population cells was significantly higher than that in non-side population cells. The enhanced tumorigenecity was further confirmed in a male diabetic/severe combined immunodeficiency mouse model. As few as 3 x 10(3) side population cells were sufficient to induce tumor formation in the mouse model, compared to 10(7) non-side population or unsorted cells.
Side population cells isolated from human pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell lines harbor cancer stem cell-like properties that may be related to the invasive potential and therapeutic-resistance of pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is a special type of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), accounting for about 5% to 10% of children with AML. At the genetic level, APL is featured by a unique chromosome ...translocation t(15;17) which results in the PML-RARA gene fusion. Most patients can be diagnosed by traditional karyotype analysis, Fluorescence-In-Situ Hybridization (FISH), or Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). We report the case of a child with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) who had characteristic chromosome translocation t(15;17) and rare PML-RARA gene mutation. This patient had an excellent response to chemotherapy, suggesting that this mutation will not affect the treatment and prognosis of APL.
The purpose of this study was to examine tuberculosis (TB) population dynamics and to assess potential infection risk in Taiwan. A well‐established mathematical model of TB transmission built on ...previous models was adopted to study the potential impact of TB transmission. A probabilistic risk model was also developed to estimate site‐specific risks of developing disease soon after recent primary infection, exogenous reinfection, or through endogenous reactivation (latently infected TB) among Taiwan regions. Here, we showed that the proportion of endogenous reactivation (53–67%) was larger than that of exogenous reinfection (32–47%). Our simulations showed that as epidemic reaches a steady state, age distribution of cases would finally shift toward older age groups dominated by latently infected TB cases as a result of endogenous reactivation. A comparison of age‐weighted TB incidence data with our model simulation output with 95% credible intervals revealed that the predictions were in an apparent agreement with observed data. The median value of overall basic reproduction number (R0) in eastern Taiwan ranged from 1.65 to 1.72, whereas northern Taiwan had the lowest R0 estimate of 1.50. We found that total TB incidences in eastern Taiwan had 25–27% probabilities of total proportion of infected population exceeding 90%, whereas there were 36–66% probabilities having exceeded 20% of total proportion of infected population attributed to latently infected TB. We suggested that our Taiwan‐based analysis can be extended to the context of developing countries, where TB remains a substantial cause of elderly morbidity and mortality.
Objectives: To analyse the failure patterns and prognostic factors influencing survival in patients with primary mucosal melanoma of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses.
Materials and methods: ...Fifty-one patients were analysed retrospectively. Forty-eight, 33, 10, and 13 patients underwent surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy, respectively. Failure events, including local recurrence, regional relapse, distant metastases, and death, were examined.
Results: During follow-up (median: 59.0 months), 36 patients experienced failure after treatment, including local (n = 17), regional (n = 8), and distant organ (n = 23) metastases. The median failure times for local, regional, and distant metastases were 13.0, 14.0, and 8.0 months, respectively. The median survival times from local, regional, and distant failure to death were 10.5, 8.0, and 4.0 months, respectively. The 5-year overall survival rates of patients with and without distant organ metastases were 14.4% and 72.6%, respectively (p < .001). Multivariate analyses showed that radiotherapy increased local recurrence-free and regional relapse-free survival. Patients with stage IV tumours had reduced distant metastasis-free and overall survival compared to patients with stage I-III tumours.
Conclusions: Distant metastasis was mainly owing to failure. Radiotherapy and the disease stage were prognostic factors for survival.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
The aim of this study was to develop a prognostic classifier and subdivided the M1 stage for nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients with synchronous metastases (mNPC). A retrospective cohort of 347 mNPC ...patients was recruited between January 2000 and December 2010. Thirty hematological markers and 11 clinical characteristics were collected, and the association of these factors with overall survival (OS) was evaluated. Advanced machine learning schemes of a support vector machine (SVM) were used to select a subset of highly informative factors and to construct a prognostic model (mNPC-SVM). The mNPC-SVM classifier identified ten informative variables, including three clinical indexes and seven hematological markers. The median survival time for low-risk patients (M1a) as identified by the mNPC-SVM classifier was 38.0 months, and survival time was dramatically reduced to 13.8 months for high-risk patients (M1b) (P < 0.001). Multivariate adjustment using prognostic factors revealed that the mNPC-SVM classifier remained a powerful predictor of OS (M1a vs. M1b, hazard ratio, 3.45; 95% CI, 2.59 to 4.60, P < 0.001). Moreover, combination treatment of systemic chemotherapy and loco-regional radiotherapy was associated with significantly better survival outcomes than chemotherapy alone (the 5-year OS, 47.0% vs. 10.0%, P < 0.001) in the M1a subgroup but not in the M1b subgroup (12.0% vs. 3.0%, P = 0.101). These findings were validated by a separate cohort. In conclusion, the newly developed mNPC-SVM classifier led to more precise risk definitions that offer a promising subdivision of the M1 stage and individualized selection for future therapeutic regimens in mNPC patients.
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