Iridium‐on‐phosphorus‐doped porous organic polymers (POP−Ir) were developed by anchoring simple iridium onto the skeleton of porous organic polymers through coordination bonds. This POP−Ir catalyst, ...which was thoroughly characterized by means of EDS, SEM, TEM, XRD, XPS, and FT‐IR, revealed excellent catalytic activity for the reaction of diphenyl phosphinamide with benzyl alcohols through borrowing hydrogen strategy and acceptorless dehydrogenation with wide functional group tolerance. Moreover, this POP−Ir catalyst could be simply recovered and reused for at least five times without a significant loss of activity, and revealed considerable application prospects. The mechanism was investigated to further understand this POP−Ir catalytic system and transformations. Overall, the POP−Ir catalytic system has shown high activity and reusability in the borrowing hydrogen reaction between diphenyl phosphinamides and benzyl alcohols.
The 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic was considered to be the largest and most complex outbreak, which caused 11,310 reported deaths. The epidemic disease can cause a mental health crisis, however, there is ...only a small amount of scientific literature available related to this health issue so far. We evaluated the psychological symptoms of 161 participants including Ebola survivors and healthcare workers in Sierra Leone, analyzed the impact of job classification, education level on psychological status. We found that the order of total general severity index (GSI) scores from high to low was EVD survivors, SL medical staff, SL logistic staff, SL medical students, and Chinese medical staff. There were 5 dimensions (obsession-compulsion, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety, and paranoid ideation) extremely high in EVD survivors. GSI were associated with university education negatively. We believed our information is necessary to develop the comprehensive emergency response plan for emerging infectious disease outbreak.
The flora of China is well known for its high diversity and endemism. Identifying centers of endemism and designating conservation priorities are essential goals for biodiversity studies. However, ...there is no comprehensive study from a rigorous phylogenetic perspective to understand patterns of diversity and endemism and to guide biodiversity conservation in China. We conducted a spatial phylogenetic analysis of the Chinese angiosperm flora at the generic level to identify centers of neo‐ and paleo‐endemism. Our results indicate that: (i) the majority of grid cells in China with significantly high phylogenetic endemism (PE) were located in the mountainous regions; (ii) four of the nine centers of endemism recognized, located in northern and western China, were recognized for the first time; (iii) arid and semiarid regions in Northwest China were commonly linked to significant PE, consistent with other spatial phylogenetic studies worldwide; and (iv) six high‐priority conservation gaps were detected by overlaying the boundaries of China's nature reserves on all significant PE cells. Overall, we conclude that the mountains of southern and northern China contain both paleo‐endemics (ancient relictual lineages) and neo‐endemics (recently diverged lineages). The areas we highlight as conservation priorities are important for broad‐scale planning, especially in the context of evolutionary history preservation.
Identifying centers of endemism and designating conservation priorities are essential goals for biodiversity studies. A spatial phylogenetic analysis of Chinese angiosperms identified nine centers of endemism in mountainous regions; arid and semiarid regions in northwest China were linked to significant phylogenetic endemism. These areas are important conservation priorities.
At present, whole‐brain radiation therapy/stereotactic radiosurgery is one of the main local treatments for brain metastasis of non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Currently, it has been proved that ...radiotherapy (RT) can regulate the immune response, and small‐sample studies have shown that patients with NSCLC brain metastases (BMs) can benefit from RT combined with immunotherapy (IO). However, the efficacy and safety of the combination treatment have not been deeply elaborated. Notably, as a challenge that is still being explored, the timing of RT combined with IO is likely to be an important factor affecting efficacy and prognosis. This article reviews the current application and challenges of RT combined with IO from the perspectives of molecular mechanism, combination timing, safety, and efficacy. The purpose is to provide information on clinical evidence‐based medicine of combination between RT with IO. For further investigation, we also discuss the major challenges and prospects of RT combined with IO in NSCLC BMs.
The theoretical basis of radiotherapy combined with immunotherapy. (A) PD‐1 inhibitors can reverse the immunosuppressive microenvironment induced by radiotherapy. (B) Radiotherapy combined with immunotherapy sequentially or concurrently.
Ketamine has a rapid, obvious, and persistent antidepressant effect, but its underlying molecular mechanisms remain unknown. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as important modulators of ...ketamine's antidepressant effect. We investigated the alteration in miR-29b-3p in the brain of rats subjected to ketamine administration and chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS), and a sucrose preference test and forced swimming test were used to evaluate the rats' depressive-like state. We used recombination adeno-associated virus (rAAV) or lentivirus-expressing miR-29b-3p to observe the change in metabotropic glutamate receptor 4 (GRM4). Cell culture and electrophysiological recordings were used to evaluate the function of miR-29b-3p. Ketamine dramatically increased miR-29b-3p expression in the prefrontal cortex of the normal rats. The dual luciferase reporter test confirmed that GRM4 was the target of miR-29b-3p. The miR-29b-3p levels were downregulated, while the GRM4 levels were upregulated in the prefrontal cortex of the depressive-like rats. The ketamine treatment increased miR-29b-3p expression and decreased GRM4 expression in the prefrontal cortex of the depressive-like rats and primary neurons. By overexpressing and silencing miR-29b-3p, we further validated that miR-29b-3p could negatively regulate GRM4. The silencing of miR-29b-3p suppressed the Ca
influx in the prefrontal cortex neurons. The miR-29b-3p overexpression contributed to cell survival, cytodendrite growth, increases in extracellular glutamate concentration, and cell apoptosis inhibition. The overexpression of miR-29b-3p by rAAV resulted in a noticeable relief of the depressive behaviors of the CUMS rats and a lower expression of GRM4. The miR-29b-3p/GRM4 pathway acts as a critical mediator of ketamine's antidepressant effect in depressive-like rats and could be considered a potential therapeutic target for treating major depression disorder.
Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) are important species in Asian aquaculture. A draft genome for grass carp has already been published in 2015. However, there is still a requirement for a ...suitable genetic linkage map to arrange scaffolds on chromosomal frameworks. QTL analysis is a powerful tool to detect key locations for quantitative traits, especially in aquaculture. There no growth related QTLs of grass carp have been published yet. Even the growth trait is one of the focuses in grass carp culture.
In this study, a pair of distantly related parent grass carps and their 100 six-month-old full-sib offspring were used to construct a high-density genetic map with 6429 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) by 2b-RAD technology. The total length of the consensus map is 5553.43 cM with the average marker interval of 1.92 cM. The map has a good collinearity with both the grass carp draft genome and the zebrafish genome, and it assembled 89.91% of the draft genome to a chromosomal level. Additionally, according to the growth-related traits of progenies, 30 quantitative trait loci (QTLs), including 7 for body weight, 9 for body length, 5 for body height and 9 for total length, were identified in 16 locations on 5 linkage groups. The phenotypic variance explained for these QTLs varies from 13.4 to 21.6%. Finally, 17 genes located in these regions were considered to be growth-related because they either had functional mutations predicted from the resequencing data of the parents.
A high density genetic linkage map of grass carp was built and it assembled the draft genome to a chromosomal level. Thirty growth related QTLs were detected. After the cross analysis of Parents resequencing data, 17 candidate genes were obtained for further researches.
Metastasis is the leading cause of death for patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). The development of therapeutic regimens that selectively inhibit the biological processes involved in CRC cell ...dissemination is important. We used multiple Affymetrix DNA microarray hybridization datasets to identify genes related to metastasis and have significant prognostic value for patients with CRC. Quantitative real-time PCR, immunofluorescent and immunohistochemical staining were used to evaluate mRNA and protein expression. The function of aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A3 (ALDH1A3) in invasion was assessed by performing transwell assays and animal experiments. Real-time PCR, luciferase reporter assays, and western blotting were used to identify the genes regulated by ALDH1A3. Molecular docking, MTS assays, cellular thermal shift assays, isothermal titration calorimetry, microscale thermophoresis, and enzymatic activity assays were used to screen and verify the efficacy of the ALDH1A3-specific inhibitor YD1701 (dibenzo-30-crown10-ether). Finally, subcutaneous or orthotopic xenograft models were established to investigate the therapeutic potential of YD1701. Human ALDH1A3 was identified to correlate with a metastatic phenotype in CRC cells and a poor patient prognosis. Moreover, ALDH1A3 upregulated the expression of ZEB1 and SNAI2 by inhibiting miR-200 family members. The ALDH1A3-specific inhibitor YD1701 was screened, attenuated the invasion of CRC cells in vitro, and prolonged the survival of mice bearing subcutaneous or orthotopic xenografts. Our results show that ALDH1A3 promotes invasion and metastasis via the miR-200-ZEB1/SANI2 axis and is thus a plausible marker for predicting CRC progression. Inhibiting ALDH1A3 with the identified compound YD1701 might represent an effective therapeutic approach to prevent the metastasis of CRC.
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•ALDH1A3 promote the invasion of CRC cells and plays a predominant role in the regulation of CRC dissemination.•High level of ALDH1A3 promotes the expression of ZEB1/SNAI2 and is correlated with poor prognosis of CRC patients.•ALDH1A3 specific inhibitor YD1701 displays therapeutic effects on the metastasis of CRC.
Aedes albopictus is an indigenous primary vector for dengue and Zika viruses in China. Compared with its insecticide resistance, biology and vector competence, little is known about its genetic ...variation, which corresponds to environmental variations. Thus, the present study examines how Ae. albopictus varies among different climatic regions in China and deciphers its potential dispersal patterns.
The genetic variation and population structure of 17 Ae. albopictus populations collected from three climatic regions of China were investigated with 11 microsatellite loci and the mitochondrial coxI gene.
Of 44 isolated microsatellite markers, 11 pairs were chosen for genotyping analysis and had an average PIC value of 0.713, representing high polymorphism. The number of alleles was high in each population, with the n
value increasing from the temperate region (3.876) to the tropical region (4.144). Twenty-five coxI haplotypes were detected, and the highest diversity was observed in the tropical region. The mean Ho value (ca. 0.557) of all the regions was significantly lower than the mean He value (ca. 0.684), with nearly all populations significantly departing from HWE and displaying significant population expansion (p value < 0.05). Two genetically isolated groups and three haplotype clades were evaluated via STRUCTURE and haplotype phylogenetic analyses, and the tropical populations were significantly isolated from those in the other regions. Most genetic variation in Ae. albopictus was detected within populations and individuals at 31.40 and 63.04%, respectively, via the AMOVA test, and a relatively significant positive correlation was observed among only the temperate populations via IBD analysis (R
= 0.6614, p = 0.048). Recent dispersions were observed among different Ae. albopictus populations, and four major migration trends with high gene flow (Nm > 0.4) were reconstructed between the tropical region and the other two regions. Environmental factors, especially temperature and rainfall, may be the leading causes of genetic diversity in different climatic regions.
Continuous dispersion contributes to the genetic communication of Ae. albopictus populations across different climatic regions, and environmental factors, especially temperature and rainfall, may be the leading causes of genetic variation.
Grass carp is an important commercial fish widely cultivated in China. A wide range of temperatures, particularly extremely low temperatures, have dramatic effects on the aquaculture of this teleost. ...However, relatively few studies have characterized the molecular responses of grass carp exposed to acute cooling in natural environment. Here, we investigated the transcriptome profiles of the grass carp brain in response to cooling. Through regulation pattern analyses, we identified 2,513 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) that responded to moderate cold stress (12°C), while 99 DEGs were induced by severe low temperature (4°C).The pathway analyses revealed that the DEGs sensitive to moderate cold were largely enriched in steroid biosynthesis, spliceosome, translation, protein metabolism, phagosome, gap junction and estrogen signaling pathways. Additionally, we discerned genes most likely involved in low temperature tolerance, of which the MAPK signaling pathway was dominantly enriched. Further examination and characterization of the candidate genes may help to elucidate the mechanisms underpinning extreme plasticity to severe cold stress in grass carp.
High-throughput RNA sequencing unveiled the complexity of transcriptome and significantly increased the records of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), which were reported to participate in a variety of ...biological processes. Identification of lncRNAs is a key step in lncRNA analysis, and a bunch of bioinformatics tools have been developed for this purpose in recent years. While these tools allow us to identify lncRNA more efficiently and accurately, they may produce inconsistent results, making selection a confusing issue. We compared the performance of 41 analysis models based on 14 software packages and different data sets, including high-quality data and low-quality data from 33 species. In addition, computational efficiency, robustness, and joint prediction of the models were explored. As a practical guidance, key points for lncRNA identification under different situations were summarized. In this investigation, no one of these models could be superior to others under all test conditions. The performance of a model relied to a great extent on the source of transcripts and the quality of assemblies. As general references, FEELnc_all_cl, CPC, and CPAT_mouse work well in most species while COME, CNCI, and lncScore are good choices for model organisms. Since these tools are sensitive to different factors such as the species involved and the quality of assembly, researchers must carefully select the appropriate tool based on the actual data. Alternatively, our test suggests that joint prediction could behave better than any single model if proper models were chosen. All scripts/data used in this research can be accessed at http://bioinfo.ihb.ac.cn/elit.
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