The Nile tilapia Sox9b gene is characterized as a homolog of the mammalian Sox9 gene, which exhibits testis-biased expression and is involved in testis development. However, the transcriptional ...regulation of the Sox9b gene is poorly understood. In this study, we demonstrated that the male sex differentiation gene doublesex and mab-3 related transcription factor 1 (Dmrt1) was predominantly expressed in the Nile tilapia testis and that Dmrt1 knockdown in the Nile tilapia decreased the expression of the Sox9b gene in the testis. An in silico analysis predicted that the proximal promoter of the Nile tilapia Sox9b gene had two potential cis-regulatory elements (CREs) for the Dmrt1 transcription factor. Together, a luciferase reporter analysis and site-directed mutagenesis revealed that Dmrt1 increased the transcriptional activity of the Nile tilapia Sox9b promoter via a specific CRE near the translation start site. A chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) analysis and an electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) confirmed that Dmrt1 could directly bind to this specific CRE for Dmrt1 in the Nile tilapia Sox9b promoter. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the male sex-differentiation factor Dmrt1 positively regulates the transcription of the Nile tilapia Sox9b gene by directly binding to a specific CRE within the Sox9b promoter.
•Sox9b and Dmrt1 are predominately expressed in the Nile tilapia testis.•Dmrt1 knockdown in Nile tilapia decreases Sox9b transcription in testis.•Dmrt1 promotes the activity of the Nile tilapia Sox9b promoter via a specific CRE for Dmrt1.•Dmrt1 directly binds to a specific CRE within the Nile tilapia Sox9b promoter.
In insects, juvenile hormone (JH) and the steroid hormone ecdysone have opposing effects on regulation of the larval–pupal transition. Although increasing evidence suggests that JH represses ecdysone ...biosynthesis during larval development, the mechanism underlying this repression is not well understood. Here, we demonstrate that the expression of the Krüppel homolog 1 (Kr-h1), a gene encoding a transcription factor that mediates JH signaling, in ecdysone-producing organ prothoracic gland (PG) represses ecdysone biosynthesis by directly inhibiting the transcription of steroidogenic enzymes in both Drosophila and Bombyx. Application of a JH mimic on ex vivo cultured PGs from Drosophila and Bombyx larvae induces Kr-h1 expression and inhibits the transcription of steroidogenic enzymes. In addition, PG-specific knockdown of Drosophila Kr-h1 promotes—while overexpression hampers—ecdysone production and pupariation. We further find that Kr-h1 inhibits the transcription of steroidogenic enzymes by directly binding to their promoters to induce promoter DNA methylation. Finally, we show that Kr-h1 does not affect DNA replication in Drosophila PG cells and that the reduction of PG size mediated by Kr-h1 overexpression can be rescued by feeding ecdysone. Taken together, our data indicate direct and conserved Kr-h1 repression of insect ecdysone biosynthesis in response to JH stimulation, providing insights into mechanisms underlying the antagonistic roles of JH and ecdysone.
The Healthy Prisons Agenda seeks to reduce prisoners' health risks, balance prisoners' rights with a security regime, ensure equivalent prison health service provisions to community health services, ...and facilitate the whole-prison approach. There is an established assumption that legislation will ensure better implementation of health promotion programmes. This study aimed to examine whether a legislative framework, via a direct regulation, could lead to enhanced implementation of the Healthy Prisons Agenda in England.
A qualitative study design was conducted using semi-structured interviews with 30 key prison policy makers in England.
Our findings contradict the established assumption that legislation improves the implementation of health promotion programmes. A direct regulation was perceived as restrictive, manifesting excessive compliance and encouraging a risk-averse culture, whilst preoccupation with security, order and discipline amongst prison governors and custody staff was deemed an internal institutional barrier to implementing the Healthy Prisons Agenda. External barriers included diminishing resources, lengthier or delayed sentencing, and an unsympathetic public and political stance towards prisoner rehabilitation.
A direct regulation should not be used to operationalize the Healthy Prisons Agenda. Rather, self-regulation, along with proactive solutions for the identified barriers to implementing the Agenda, is the most appropriate path forward.
The uncontrolled expansion of plantation activities within peatland areas is one of the major trigger causing forest and/or land fire (Fire) in Indonesia. To deal with such problems including other ...influencing variables such as land use management, Indonesian law provides various options of regulatory instrument. The law indicates strong message that the Fire must be stopped, reflected through stipulations on regulatory instruments including command and control type of regulation (direct regulation) and alternative approaches to hold compliance. After exacerbate Fire in 2015, many protests from the people, neighborhood countries and broader international parties encouraged Indonesian government to be more active in conducting regulatory enforcement of some regulatory instruments. Some of the examples are the imposed administrative sanction and lawsuit against companies within 2015 to 2017. However, the regulatory enforcement has not been assessed as to whether it has obtained significant improvement to stop Fire. This paper attempt to assess whether regulatory enforcement on selected Fire cases has met the regulatory objective particularly to stop the Fire. This research finds that output of the applied enforcement for violation on Fire provisions remains incoherent with the regulatory objective while the strategy of enforcement is not well-systemized.
The introduction of an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to decarbonise the Chinese economy faces challenges relating to the tradition of heavy regulation that characterises the functioning of the ...largest carbon-emitting sector—coal-fired electricity production. This article examines what scope there is for the market to drive the decarbonisation of China’s electricity supply, when hitherto most emission reductions have been achieved through traditional regulation (eg emissions performance standards and the forced closure of inefficient installations). The importance of traditional regulation does not mean that the ETS will not contribute to the decarbonisation of China’s energy supply, but the role of the ETS will be different from that in liberalised energy markets (eg the European Union) where the market is supposed to be the main driver of emission reductions. In China, the role of the ETS will be limited to help achieve the energy investment targets set under the government’s central planning policy.
The study of reachable sets of controlled objects is an important research area in optimal control theory. Such sets describe in a rough form the dynamical possibilities of the objects, which is ...important for theory and applications. Many optimization problems for controlled objects use the reachable set
𝐷
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in their statements. In the study of properties of controlled objects, it is useful to have some constructive estimates of
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from above with respect to inclusion. In particular, such estimates are helpful for the approximate calculation of
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by the pixel method. In this paper, we consider two nonlinear models of direct regulation known in the theory of absolute stability with a control term added to the right-hand side of the corresponding system of differential equations. To obtain the required upper estimates with respect to inclusion, we use Lyapunov functions from the theory of absolute stability. Note that the upper estimates for
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are obtained in the form of balls in the phase space centered at the origin.
Despite considerable efforts made in recent years, the industrial accident rate and the fatality rate in the Republic of Korea are much higher than those in most developed countries in Europe and ...North America. Industrial safety policies and safety regulations are also known to be ineffective and inefficient in some cases.
This study focuses on the quantitative evaluation of the effectiveness of direct safety regulations such as safety certification, self-declaration of conformity, and safety inspection of industrial machines in the Republic of Korea. Implications on safety policies to restructure the industrial safety system associated with industrial machines are also explored.
Analysis of causes in industrial accidents associated with industrial machines confirms that technical causes need to be resolved to reduce both the frequency and the severity of such industrial accidents. Statistical analysis also confirms that the indirect effects of safety device regulation on users are limited for a variety of reasons. Safety device regulation needs to be shifted to complement safety certification and self-declaration of conformity for more balanced direct regulations on manufacturers and users. An example of cost-benefit analysis on conveyor justifies such a transition.
Industrial safety policies and regulations associated with industrial machines must be directed towards eliminating the sources of danger at the stage of danger creation, thereby securing the safe industrial machines. Safety inspection further secures the safety of workers at the stage of danger use. The overall balance between such safety regulations is achieved by proper distribution of industrial machines subject to such regulations and the intensity of each regulation. Rearrangement of industrial machines subject to safety certification and self-declaration of conformity to include more movable industrial machines and other industrial machines with a high level of danger is also suggested.
The growth in consumer non-purpose loans leads to the reduction in BiH current account balance and amplifies the current account deficit. According to regression models, the commercial loan has the ...same effect on the current account. However, in dynamic VAR models, a commercial loan has, either neutral influence on the current account balance, or contributes to its mild growth. A commercial loan is necessary for BiH economy, because the private sector is the main factor of the economic growth, while a consumer non-purpose loan generates mainly demand for import. When a credit growth is very low, the credit is economic and not free good and additional need for the direct regulation of credit appears, especially in countries with underdeveloped financial market. The share of private companies in the credit distribution is reduced and from the economic point of view, redistribution of loans can be made only at the expense of consumer loans. Additional growth limit on the consumer non-purpose loan, which is composed of 74.2% of total consumer loans, and 34.9% of all bank’s loans (10/2016), is one of the preconditions for the decrease of current account deficit, economic growth and economic development acceleration.
•Cybernetic model is developed to model asymmetric anticipatory regulation strategy.•The model successfully accounts for various experimental observations.•Timing the response in anticipatory ...regulation can improve microorganism fitness.
Microorganisms exhibit varied regulatory strategies such as direct regulation, symmetric anticipatory regulation, asymmetric anticipatory regulation, etc. Current mathematical modeling frameworks for the growth of microorganisms either do not incorporate regulation or assume that the microorganisms utilize the direct regulation strategy. In the present study, we extend the cybernetic modeling framework to account for asymmetric anticipatory regulation strategy. The extended model accurately captures various experimental observations. We use the developed model to explore the fitness advantage provided by the asymmetric anticipatory regulation strategy and observe that the optimal extent of asymmetric regulation depends on the selective pressure that the microorganisms experience. We also explore the importance of timing the response in anticipatory regulation and find that there is an optimal time, dependent on the extent of asymmetric regulation, at which microorganisms should respond anticipatorily to maximize their fitness. We then discuss the advantages offered by the cybernetic modeling framework over other modeling frameworks in modeling the asymmetric anticipatory regulation strategy.
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