MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate protein expression by antagonizing the translation of mRNAs and are effective regulators of normal nervous system development, function, and disease. MicroRNA-29b ...(miR-29b) plays a broad and critical role in brain homeostasis. In this study, we tested the function of miR-29b in animal and cell models by inhibiting miR-29b expression. Mouse models of middle cerebral artery occlusion were established using the modified Zea-Longa suture method. Prior to modeling, 50 nmol/kg miR-29b antagomir was injected via the tail vein. MiR-29b expression was found to be abnormally increased in ischemic brain tissue. The inhibition of miR-29b expression decreased the neurological function score and reduced the cerebral infarction volume and cell apoptosis. In addition, the inhibition of miR-29b significantly decreased the malondialdehyde level, increased superoxide dismutase activity, and Bcl-2 expression, and inhibited Bax and Caspase3 expression. PC12 cells were treated with glutamate for 12 hours to establish in vitro cell models of ischemic stroke and then treated with the miR-29 antagomir for 48 hours. The results revealed that miR-29b inhibition in PC12 cells increased Bcl-2 expression and inhibited cell apoptosis and oxidative damage. These findings suggest that the inhibition of miR-29b inhibits oxidative stress and cell apoptosis in ischemic stroke, producing therapeutic effects in ischemic stroke. This study was approved by the Laboratory Animal Care and Use Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University (approval No. 201709276S) on September 27, 2017.
Although purely organic room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP) has drawn widespread attention in recent years, regulatable phosphorescence resonance energy transfer (PRET) supramolecular switch is ...still rare. Herein, single molecular dual‐fold supramolecular light switches, which are constructed by phenylpyridinium salts modified diarylethene derivatives (DTE‐Cn, n = 3, 5) and cucurbit8uril (CB8) are reported. Significantly, biaxial 3pseudorotaxane displayed efficiently reversible RTP after binding with CB8 and the phosphorescence quenching efficiency is calculated up to be 99%. Furthermore, the binary supramolecular assembly can coassemble with Cy5 to form ternary supramolecular assembly showing efficiently PRET, which is successfully applied in switchable near infrared (NIR) mitochondria‐targeted cell imaging and photocontrolled data encryption. This supramolecular strategy involving energy transfer provides a convenient approach for phosphorescent application in biology and material fields.
A switchable supramolecular phosphorescence resonance energy transfer system for NIR cell imaging and data encryption is reported. This supramolecular strategy involving energy transfer provides a convenient approach for phosphorescent application in biology and material fields.
The goal of this investigation was to identify the main compounds and the pharmacological mechanism of the traditional Chinese medicine formulation, Gong Ying San (GYS), by infrared spectral ...absorption characteristics, metabolomics, network pharmacology, and molecular-docking analysis for mastitis. The antibacterial and antioxidant activities were determined in vitro.
The chemical constituents of GYS were detected by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography Q-extractive mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QE-MS). Related compounds were screened from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP, http://tcmspw.com/tcmsp.php) and the Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Medicine (ETCM, http://www.tcmip.cn/ETCM/index.php/Home/) databases; genes associated with mastitis were identified in DisGENT. A protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was generated using STRING. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment screening was conducted using the R module. Molecular-docking analyses were performed with the AutoDockTools V1.5.6.
Fifty-four possible compounds in GYS with forty likely targets were found. The compound-target-network analysis showed that five of the ingredients, quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, beta-sitosterol, and stigmasterol, had degree values >41.6, and the genes TNF, IL-6, IL-1β, ICAM1, CXCL8, CRP, IFNG, TP53, IL-2, and TGFB1 were core targets in the network. Enrichment analysis revealed that pathways associated with cancer, lipids, atherosclerosis, and PI3K-Akt signaling pathways may be critical in the pharmacology network. Molecular-docking data supported the hypothesis that quercetin and luteolin interacted well with TNF-α and IL-6.
An integrative investigation based on a bioinformatics-network topology provided new insights into the synergistic, multicomponent mechanisms of GYS's anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antioxidant activities. It revealed novel possibilities for developing new combination medications for reducing mastitis and its complications.
Sparse code multiple access (SCMA) is a code-domain non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technology proposed to meet the access needs of large-scale intelligent terminal devices with high spectrum ...utilization. To improve the accuracy and computational complexity of SCMA to accommodate the internet of things (IoT) scenario, we design a new end-to-end autoencoder combining convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and residual networks. A residual network with multitask learning improves the decoding accuracy, and CNN units are used for SCMA codeword mapping, with sparse connectivity and weight-sharing to reduce the number of trainable parameters. Simulations show that this scheme outperforms existing autoencoder schemes in bit error rate (BER) and computational complexity.
Global ultra‐low frequency (ULF) oscillations are believed to play a significant role in the mass, energy, and momentum transport within the Earth's magnetosphere. In this letter, we observe a ...∼1.2 mHz radial standing wave in the dusk‐sector magnetosphere accompanied by the field line resonance (FLR) on 16 July 2017. The frequency estimation from the simple box model also confirms the radial standing wave. The essential characteristics of FLR are concurrently identified at the dusk‐sector magnetosphere and the conjugated ground location. Further, the radial standing wave dissipates energy into upper atmosphere to enhance the local aurora by coupling itself to the FLR. The magnetospheric dominant 1.2/1.1 mHz ULF waves plausibly correspond well with the discrete ∼1 mHz magnetosheath ion dynamic pressure/velocity oscillation, suggesting this radial standing wave and FLR in the flank magnetosphere may be triggered by the solar‐wind and/or magnetosheath dynamic pressure/velocity fluctuations.
Plain Language Summary
Just like thumping the strings, the Earth's magnetic field line can also be disturbed by the external impulses or internal instability, generating the rich ultra‐low frequency (ULF) oscillations with period of 1–1,000 s. They are believed to play a significant role in the mass, energy, and momentum transport within the Earth's magnetosphere. But the question of how an external driving mechanism can produce field line disturbances deep inside the magnetosphere is a topic of much debate. One classical global mode resonance model suggests that the magnetospheric space sometimes acts as a huge closed or semi‐closed cavity, where the ULF waves form the radial standing wave structure. So far, the observational evidence of radial standing waves with period of above 8 min accompanied by the field line disturbance in the flank magnetosphere is sparse. In this letter, we report a radial standing wave with period of ∼14 min within dusk‐sector magnetosphere accompanied by the field line disturbance phenomenon by multiple‐satellite observations. The radial standing wave energy sinks down to upper atmosphere to light the local aurora by coupling itself to the field line resonance. We conclude the radial standing wave may be caused by the solar‐wind and/or magnetosheath dynamic pressure/velocity fluctuations.
Key Points
A radial standing Pc5‐6 ultra‐low frequency wave is identified within the dusk‐sector magnetosphere
Radial standing wave dissipates energy into upper atmosphere by coupling itself to the field line resonance
Solar‐wind and/or magnetosheath dynamic pressure/velocity fluctuations possibly trigger this radial standing wave
Tongue diagnosis is an important research field of TCM diagnostic technology modernization. The quality of tongue images is the basis for constructing a standard dataset in the field of tongue ...diagnosis. To establish a standard tongue image database in the TCM industry, we need to evaluate the quality of a massive number of tongue images and add qualified images to the database. Therefore, an automatic, efficient and accurate quality control model is of significance to the development of intelligent tongue diagnosis technology for TCM.
Machine learning methods, including Support Vector Machine (SVM), Random Forest (RF), Gradient Boosting Decision Tree (GBDT), Adaptive Boosting Algorithm (Adaboost), Naïve Bayes, Decision Tree (DT), Residual Neural Network (ResNet), Convolution Neural Network developed by Visual Geometry Group at University of Oxford (VGG), and Densely Connected Convolutional Networks (DenseNet), were utilized to identify good-quality and poor-quality tongue images. Their performances were made comparisons by using metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-Score.
The experimental results showed that the accuracy of the three deep learning models was more than 96%, and the accuracy of ResNet-152 and DenseNet-169 was more than 98%. The model ResNet-152 obtained accuracy of 99.04%, precision of 99.05%, recall of 99.04%, and F1-score of 99.05%. The performances were better than performances of other eight models. The eight models are VGG-16, DenseNet-169, SVM, RF, GBDT, Adaboost, Naïve Bayes, and DT. ResNet-152 was selected as quality-screening model for tongue IQA.
Our research findings demonstrate various CNN models in the decision-making process for the selection of tongue image quality assessment and indicate that applying deep learning methods, specifically deep CNNs, to evaluate poor-quality tongue images is feasible.
In this study, unsteady low-frequency characteristics in a voluteless low-speed centrifugal fan operating at a high mass flow rate are studied with improved delayed detached eddy simulation (IDDES). ...This study is motivated by a recent finding that the non-uniformly distributed pressure inside this type of fan could be alleviated by improving the gap geometry. The present simulation results show that the velocity magnitudes of the gap have distinct low and high regions. Intensive turbulent structures are developed in the low-velocity regions and are swept downstream along the intersection between the blade and shroud, on the pressure side of the blade. Eventually, the turbulence gives rise to a high-pressure region near the blade’s trailing edge. This unsteady flow behavior revolves around the fan rotation axis. Additionally, its period is 5% of the fan rotation speed, based on the analysis of the time history of the gap velocity magnitudes and the evolution of the high-pressure region. The same frequency of high pressure was also found in previous experimental measurements. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that the trigger of the gap turbulence, i.e., the unsteady local low velocity, has been determined.
In this study, three voluteless centrifugal fans are compared for their aeroacoustic performances. The tonal noise is predicted by coupling the IDDES with Formulation 1A of Farassat. The sources of ...the tonal noise at the blade passing frequency (BPF) are identified. It is found that the sources are related to the fan inlet gap, which introduces higher velocity intensities and turbulent fluctuations interacting with the blade leading edge. By redesigning the gap, the tonal noise at the BPF is reduced effectively.
Objectives
Oogonial stem cells (OSCs) are germ cells that can sustain neo‐oogenesis to replenish the pool of primary follicles in adult ovaries. In lower vertebrates, fresh oocytes are produced by ...numerous OSCs through mitosis and meiosis during each reproduction cycle, but the OSCs in adult mammals are rare. The birds have retained many conserved features and developed unique features of ovarian physiology during evolution, and the presence of OSCs within avian species remain unknown.
Materials and Methods
In this study, we investigated the existence and function of OSCs in adult chickens. The chicken OSCs were isolated and expanded in culture. We then used cell transplantation system to evaluate their potential for migration and differentiation in vivo.
Results
DDX4/SSEA1‐positive OSCs were identified in both the cortex and medulla of the adult chicken ovary. These putative OSCs undergo meiosis in the reproductively active ovary. Furthermore, the isolated OSCs were expanded in vitro for months and found to express germline markers similar to those of primordial germ cells. When transplanted into the bloodstream of recipient embryos, these OSCs efficiently migrated into developing gonads, initiated meiosis, and then derived oocytes in postnatal ovaries.
Conclusions
This study has confirmed the presence of functional OSCs in birds for the first time. The identification of chicken OSCs has great potential for improving egg laying and preserving endangered species.
The oogonial stem cells (OSCs) could support the formation of new oocytes in the adult ovary. The DDX4/SSEA1‐positive OSCs in chicken ovaries could be isolated and expanded in vitro while maintaining germline stemness. When transplanted into the developing ovaries, the chicken OSCs can proliferate and enter meiosis to produce oocytes. The chicken OSCs could offer new ways for improving egg laying performance and species conservation.
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