This study aims to investigate the mechanisms involved in the action of lutein (LU) alleviating arsenic-induced reproductive toxicity using mice model. Forty male Kunming mice were received following ...treatments by gavage: normal saline solution (control), arsenic trioxide (ATO; 5 mg/kg/day), LU (40 mg/kg/day), and ATO + LU (5 mg/kg/day + 40 mg/kg/day). At the end, the mice were killed by cervical dislocation and weighed. Pathological examination was done on the testis. The biomedical parameters including superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), total antioxidative capability, malondialdehyde (MDA), 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), and reproductive indexes were analyzed. The messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expression of Nrf2, heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1), glutathione S-transferase (GST), nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate dehydrogenase, quinone 1 (NQO1) in testis were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot. We found that there was a decrease in sperm count; testis somatic index; the activities of SOD, GSH, total antioxidative capacity (p < 0.01, respectively) in ATO-treated mice, while there was an increase in the levels of sperm abnormalities, MDA, and 8-OHdG than control (p < 0.01, respectively). The groups treated with ATO + LU showed recovery of the measured parameters between those of ATO or saline-treated group. The antagonized interaction between ATO and LU was statistically significant (p < 0.01). Mice treated with ATO + LU also showed greater mRNA expression of Nrf2, HO-1, NQO1, and GST than ATO or saline-treated groups. These findings suggest that LU alleviates reproductive toxicity induced by arsenic in male mice via Nrf2 signaling, which implicates a possible mechanism of LU in preventing the reproductive injury, and elucidates that consuming the rich plant sources of LU will alleviate the reproductive toxicity induced by chemicals.
To investigate the expression of long non-coding RNA CASC15 in gastric cancer tissue and its effect on the proliferation of gastric cancer cell line MKN28.
We found that expression of lncRNA CASC15 ...in gastric cancer tissue was higher than normal gastric epithelium through the TCGA and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Then, we detect the RNA level of CASC15 from clinical samples of 42 normal gastric epithelial tissues and 60 gastric cancer tissues. In order to explore the function of CASC15 in gastric cancer, we perform gain-function and loss-function assay in gastric cancer cell lines.
We found that expression of lncRNA CASC15 in gastric cancer tissue was higher than normal gastric epithelium through the TCGA database and the related microarray data set was searched from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Then, we extracted total RNA from clinical samples of 42 normal gastric epithelial tissues and 60 gastric cancer tissues. The results of quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) were consistent with those of TCGA analysis. Clinical data analysis showed that the expression of LncRNA CASC15 was correlated with the total survival, tumor size and TMN staging in clinical patients. Clinical data analysis showed that the expression level of CASC15 was correlated with tumor size and TNM stage in clinical patients. Compared with the negative control group, the proliferation and cell cloning ability of MKN28 cells overexpressing LncRNA CASC15 significantly increased (p<0.001), indicating that overexpression of LncRNA CASC15 promoted the proliferation of MKN28 cells.
The expression of LncRNA CASC15 was significantly higher in gastric cancer tissues and its expression was negatively correlated with the overall survival of clinical patients. It was positively correlated with the tumor size and TMN stage. LncRNA CASC15 could promote the proliferation of gastric cancer cells and was expected to become the molecular marker for prediction and prognosis of gastric cancer, as well as a potential therapeutic target.
The present study was designed to explore expression and prognostic value of miR-485-5p in patients with gastric cancer.
We determined the expression level of miR-485-5p in 132 cases of paired GC and ...adjacent non-tumor tissues by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The relevance of miR-485-5p expression to the clinicopathological factors was assessed. Overall survival (OS) was examined using Kaplan-Meier curves and the Cox proportional hazards regression model.
The expression of miR-485-5p was significantly down-regulated in GC tissues compared with adja-cent normal tissues (p < 0.01). MiR-485-5p expression was positively correlated with larger tumor size (p = 0.003), deeper invasion depth, (p = 0.005), positive lymph node metastasis (p = 0.039), advanced tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage (p = 0.017). Patients survival analysis showed that a clear positive correlation between miR-485-5p expression level and survival time of gastric cancer patients (p < 0.001). Multivariate analyses confirmed that a low level of miR-485-5p expression was an independent predictor of poor prognosis in GC patients.
Expression level of miR-485-5p serves as a novel biomarker for the overall survival of patients with gastric cancer.
Using (10.087±0.044)×10^{9} J/ψ events collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII storage ring, the processes Λp→Λp and Λover ¯p→Λover ¯p are studied, where the Λ/Λover ¯ baryons are produced ...in the process J/ψ→ΛΛover ¯ and the protons are the hydrogen nuclei in the cooling oil of the beam pipe. Clear signals are observed for the two reactions. The cross sections in -0.9≤cosθ_{Λ/Λover ¯}≤0.9 are measured to be σ(Λp→Λp)=(12.2±1.6_{stat}±1.1_{syst}) and σ(Λover ¯p→Λover ¯p)=(17.5±2.1_{stat}±1.6_{syst}) mb at the Λ/Λover ¯ momentum of 1.074 GeV/c within a range of ±0.017 GeV/c, where the θ_{Λ/Λover ¯} are the scattering angles of the Λ/Λover ¯ in the Λp/Λover ¯p rest frames. Furthermore, the differential cross sections of the two reactions are also measured, where there is a slight tendency of forward scattering for Λp→Λp, and a strong forward peak for Λover ¯p→Λover ¯p. We present an approach to extract the total elastic cross sections by extrapolation. The study of Λover ¯p→Λover ¯p represents the first study of antihyperon-nucleon scattering, and these new measurements will serve as important inputs for the theoretical understanding of the (anti)hyperon-nucleon interaction.Using (10.087±0.044)×10^{9} J/ψ events collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII storage ring, the processes Λp→Λp and Λover ¯p→Λover ¯p are studied, where the Λ/Λover ¯ baryons are produced in the process J/ψ→ΛΛover ¯ and the protons are the hydrogen nuclei in the cooling oil of the beam pipe. Clear signals are observed for the two reactions. The cross sections in -0.9≤cosθ_{Λ/Λover ¯}≤0.9 are measured to be σ(Λp→Λp)=(12.2±1.6_{stat}±1.1_{syst}) and σ(Λover ¯p→Λover ¯p)=(17.5±2.1_{stat}±1.6_{syst}) mb at the Λ/Λover ¯ momentum of 1.074 GeV/c within a range of ±0.017 GeV/c, where the θ_{Λ/Λover ¯} are the scattering angles of the Λ/Λover ¯ in the Λp/Λover ¯p rest frames. Furthermore, the differential cross sections of the two reactions are also measured, where there is a slight tendency of forward scattering for Λp→Λp, and a strong forward peak for Λover ¯p→Λover ¯p. We present an approach to extract the total elastic cross sections by extrapolation. The study of Λover ¯p→Λover ¯p represents the first study of antihyperon-nucleon scattering, and these new measurements will serve as important inputs for the theoretical understanding of the (anti)hyperon-nucleon interaction.
Stripe rust, caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, is one of the most destructive diseases of wheat worldwide. Growing resistant cultivars is the most effective approach to control the ...disease, but only a few genes confer effective all-stage resistance against the current populations of the pathogen worldwide. It is urgent to identify new genes for diversifying sources of resistance genes and for pyramiding genes for different types of resistance in order to achieve high levels of durable resistance for sustainable control of stripe rust. The common spring wheat genotype ‘PI 181434', originally from Afghanistan, was resistant in all greenhouse and field tests in our previous studies. To identify the resistance gene(s) PI 181434 was crossed with susceptible genotype ‘Avocet Susceptible'. Adult plants of 103 F₂ progeny were tested in the field under the natural infection of P. striiformis f. sp. tritici. Seedlings of the parents, F₂ and F₃ were tested with races PST-100 and PST-127 of the pathogen under controlled greenhouse conditions. The genetic study showed that PI 181434 has a single dominant gene conferring all-stage resistance. Resistance gene analog polymorphism (RGAP) and simple sequence repeat (SSR) techniques were used to identify molecular markers linked to the gene. A linkage map of 8 RGAP and 2 SSR markers was constructed for the gene using data from the 103 F₂ plants and their derived F₃ lines tested in the greenhouse. Amplification of the complete set of nulli-tetrasomic lines and selected ditelosomic lines of Chinese Spring with an RGAP marker and the two SSR markers mapped the gene on the long arm of chromosome 3D. Because it is the first gene for stripe rust resistance mapped on chromosome 3DL and different from all previously named Yr genes, the gene in PI 181434 was designated Yr45. Polymorphism rates of the two closest flanking markers, Xwgp115 and Xwgp118, in 45 wheat genotypes were 73.3 and 82.2%, respectively. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified in the eight wheat genotypes sharing both flanking markers. The RGAP markers and potential SNP markers should be useful in incorporating the gene into wheat cultivars and in pyramiding it with other genes for durable resistance.
We present time-of-arrival (TOA) measurements and timing models of 47 millisecond pulsars observed from 2004 to 2017 at the Arecibo Observatory and the Green Bank Telescope by the North American ...Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav). The observing cadence was three to four weeks for most pulsars over most of this time span, with weekly observations of six sources. These data were collected for use in low-frequency gravitational wave searches and for other astrophysical purposes. We detail our observational methods and present a set of TOA measurements, based on "narrowband" analysis, in which many TOAs are calculated within narrow radio-frequency bands for data collected simultaneously across a wide bandwidth. A separate set of "wideband" TOAs will be presented in a companion paper. We detail a number of methodological changes, compared to our previous work, which yield a cleaner and more uniformly processed data set. Our timing models include several new astrometric and binary pulsar measurements, including previously unpublished values for the parallaxes of PSRs J1832−0836 and J2322+2057, the secular derivatives of the projected semimajor orbital axes of PSRs J0613−0200 and J2229+2643, and the first detection of the Shapiro delay in PSR J2145−0750. We report detectable levels of red noise in the time series for 14 pulsars. As a check on timing model reliability, we investigate the stability of astrometric parameters across data sets of different lengths. We also report flux density measurements for all pulsars observed. Searches for stochastic and continuous gravitational waves using these data will be subjects of forthcoming publications.
Scrub typhus, caused by mite-borne Orientia tsutsugamushi (O. tsutsugamushi), is a major febrile disease in the Asia-Pacific region. The DNA load of O. tsutsugamushi in the blood was previously found ...to be significantly higher in patients with fatal disease than those with non-fatal disease and correlated with the duration of illness, presence of eschar, and hepatic enzyme levels. In this prospective observation study, we analyzed the association of bacterial DNA load with clinical features, disease severity, and genotype using real-time PCR targeting the 56 kDa TSA gene of O. tsutsugamushi in the blood samples of 117 surviving patients with scrub typhus who had not received appropriate antibiotic treatment. The median O. tsutsugamushi DNA load was 3.11×103 copies/mL (range, 44 to 3.3×106 copies/mL). The severity of patients was categorized as mild, moderate, and severe based on the number of dysfunctional organs, and no significant difference in O. tsutsugamushi DNA load was found among these groups. Patients infected with the Karp group showed a significantly higher O. tsutsugamushi DNA load than those in the Gilliam (P < 0.05) and TA763 (P < 0.01) groups. Patients belonging to the Li ethnic group showed a significantly higher DNA load than those in the Han ethnic groups. The blood bacterial DNA load of patients showed no significant difference between groups divided by gender, age, with or without eschar, or the season of disease onset. The highest body temperature recorded during fever onset was positively correlated with O. tsutsugamushi DNA load (ρ = 0.272, P = 0.022). Correlation analyses indicated that the serum total bilirubin level was positively correlated with O. tsutsugamushi DNA load. In conclusion, the findings in this study demonstrated the association of DNA load of O. tsutsugamushi with the severity and genotype in patients with scrub typhus in Hainan, China.
Because of the needs of sustainable development of the mankind society and natural environment building a renewable energy system is one of the most critical issues that today's society must address. ...In the new energy system there is a requirement for a renewable fuel to replace current energy carrier. Hydrogen is an ideal secondary energy. Using solar energy to produce hydrogen in large scale can solve the problems of sustainability, environmental emissions, and energy security and become the focus of the international society in the area of energy science and technology. It has also been set as an important research direction by many international hydrogen programs. The Ministry of Science and Technology of China supported and launched a project of
National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) – the
Basic Research of Mass Hydrogen Production using Solar Energy in 2003 for R&D in the areas of solar hydrogen production. The current status of solar hydrogen production research is reviewed and some significant results achieved in the project are reported in this paper. The trends of development and the future research directions in the field of solar hydrogen production in China are also briefly discussed.
We present a new analysis of the profile data from the 47 millisecond pulsars comprising the 12.5 yr data set of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves, which is presented ...in a parallel paper (Alam et al., hereafter NG12.5). Our reprocessing is performed using "wideband" timing methods, which use frequency-dependent template profiles, simultaneous time-of-arrival (TOA) and dispersion measure (DM) measurements from broadband observations, and novel analysis techniques. In particular, the wideband DM measurements are used to constrain the DM portion of the timing model. We compare the ensemble timing results to those in NG12.5 by examining the timing residuals, timing models, and noise-model components. There is a remarkable level of agreement across all metrics considered. Our best-timed pulsars produce encouragingly similar results to those from NG12.5. In certain cases, such as high-DM pulsars with profile broadening or sources that are weak and scintillating, wideband timing techniques prove to be beneficial, leading to more precise timing model parameters by 10%-15%. The high-precision, multiband measurements of several pulsars indicate frequency-dependent DMs. Compared to the narrowband analysis in NG12.5, the TOA volume is reduced by a factor of 33, which may ultimately facilitate computational speed-ups for complex pulsar timing array analyses. This first wideband pulsar timing data set is a stepping stone, and its consistent results with NG12.5 assure us that such data sets are appropriate for gravitational wave analyses.
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