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Phenanthrene (Phe) is a model compound in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) research. Reportedly, Phe treatment induced oxidative stress and histological disorders to Takifugu obscurus liver. In this study, to further explore the molecular responses of T. obscurus liver to Phe exposure, transcriptome sequencing was applied to compare mRNA transcription profiles between Phe treatment and the control. Compared with the control, 1,581 and 1,428 genes were significantly upregulated and downregulated in Phe treatment, respectively. Further analysis revealed that Phe treatment mainly upregulated genes in Ras-MAPK and PI3K-akt signaling pathways, which represented insulin resistance and further activated the FOXO signaling pathway. The triacylglycerol biosynthesis was promoted but the gluconeogenesis process was inhibited in response to Phe treatment, demonstrating that Phe exposure disturbed the sugar and lipid metabolism. Moreover, Phe treatment upregulated the Apelin-APJ and ErbB signaling pathways, promoting angiogenesis in T. obscurus liver. Insulin resistance, promoted triacylglycerol biosynthesis, and angiogenesis might explain the molecular mechanisms underlying carcinogenic toxicity of Phe. Overall, this study provides new insights to understand the environmental risk of Phe to fishes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Recently, increasing evidence has shown that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play critical roles in tumor progression and development. However, the expression pattern and biological function of lncRNA HULC (highly upregulated in liver cancer) in prostate cancer (PCa) remain largely unclear.Material and Methods: The expression of lncRNA HULC in 53 paired PCa tissues and cell lines was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The χ2 test was used to explore the association of lncRNA HULC expression with clinicopathologic features. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to detect the association between HULC expression and overall survival of PCa patients. Furthermore, the function of HULC in cell growth and metastasis was detected in PCa cells.Results: Our data showed that HULC expression was upregulated in PCa tissues and cell lines compared to adjacent non-tumor tissues and the normal prostate cell line RWPE-1 (p < 0.05). High HULC expression was positively associated with advanced clinicopathologic features and poor overall survival (OS) for PCa patients (p < 0.05). HULC inhibition suppressed PCa cell growth and metastasis both in vitro and in vivo (p < 0.05). Furthermore, HULC knockdown reduced N-cadherin and vimentin expression and increased E-cadherin expression in PCa cells (p < 0.05).Conclusions: Our data suggested that lncRNA HULC might play oncogenic roles in PCa progression, which provided a novel therapeutic strategy for PCa patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Recently, increasing evidence has shown that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play critical roles in tumor progression and development. However, the expression pattern and biological function of lncRNA HULC (highly upregulated in liver cancer) in prostate cancer (PCa) remain largely unclear. Material and methods: The expression of lncRNA HULC in 53 paired PCa tissues and cell lines was detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The ϰ² test was used to explore the association of lncRNA HULC expression with clinicopathologic features. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to detect the association between HULC expression and overall survival of PCa patients. Furthermore, the function of HULC in cell growth and metastasis was detected in PCa cells. Results: Our data showed that HULC expression was upregulated in PCa tissues and cell lines compared to adjacent non-tumor tissues and the normal prostate cell line RWPE-1 (p < 0.05). High HULC expression was positively associated with advanced clinicopathologic features and poor overall survival (OS) for PCa patients (p < 0.05). HULC inhibition suppressed PCa cell growth and metastasis both in vitro and in vivo (p < 0.05). Furthermore, HULC knockdown reduced N-cadherin and vimentin expression and increased E-cadherin expression in PCa cells (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Our data suggested that lncRNA HULC might play oncogenic roles in PCa progression, which provided a novel therapeutic strategy for PCa patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat shock protein 60 (HSP60) and heat shock protein 10 (HSP10) are important chaperones, which have been proven to have essential roles in mediating the correct folding of nuclear encoded proteins imported to mitochondria. Mitochondria are known as the power house of the cell, with which it produces energy and respires aerobically. In this regard, the obtained HSP60 and HSP10 have typical characteristics of the HSP60/10 family signature. Their mRNA transcripts detected were highest during the developmental phase (in April), while the lowest levels were found in the resting phase (after spawning in late July). Additionally, the strongest immunolabeling positive signals were found in the primary spermatocyte, with lower positive staining in secondary sperm cells, and a weak or absent level in the mature sperm. At the electron microscopic level, immunogold particles were localized in the mitochondrial matrix. Data indicated that HSP10 and HSP60 were inducible and functional in the Coilia nasus testis development and migration process, suggesting their essential roles in this process. The results also indicated that HSP60 may be one indicator of properly working mitochondrial import and refolding in the fish testis. This study also provides an expanded perspective on the role of heat shock protein families in spawning migration biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: An increase in the activity of the pituitary-gonad axis (PG-axis) and gonad development are essential for the onset of spawning migration in teleosts. In the fish Coilia nasus, gonad development and spawning migration up the Yangtze River occurs by the end of each summer. We hypothesized that gonadotropin releasing hormones receptor 2 (GnRH-R2), which together produce a signal that interacts with the PG-axis, may help to regulate spawning migration processes. Results: In this regard, we (1) characterized the gonadosomatic index (GSI) in the anadromous fish C. nasus; (2) analyzed the GnRH-R2 mRNA expression levels in ovary and brain, and concentrations in the serum; and (3) identified the GnRH-R2 protein distribution in the brain and ovaries. We found strong relationships between all of these indices. Conclusions: The results indicate that GnRH-R2 could act together to promote spawning during the anadromous migration. There is some evidence that the GnRH-R2 gene expression levels and protein distributions change in association with the migratory behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat shock proteins play essential roles in basic cellular events. Spawning migration is a complex process, with significant structural and biochemical changes taking place in the adult gonad. To date, the molecular mechanisms underlying migration reproductive biology remain undetermined. In this regard, a full length HSP90AA1 comprising 2608 nucleotides from the anadromous fish Coilia nasus was characterized, encoding 742 amino acid (aa) residues with potential phosphorylation sites. HSP90AA1 mRNA transcripts were detected in all organs, especially in the gonad. Furthermore, the greatest transcript levels were found during the developmental phase, while the lowest levels were found during the resting phase. In addition, the strongest immunolabeling positive signal was found in the primary spermatocyte and oocyte, with lower positive staining in secondary germ cells, and a weak or absent level in the mature sperm and oocyte. Interestingly, HSP90AA1 was mainly located in the cytoplasm of germ cells. These results are important for understanding the molecular mechanism of anadromous migration reproductive biology. In combination with data from other fish species, the result of this present study may facilitate further investigations on the spawning migration mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gradient method for training Elman networks with a finite training sample set is considered. Monotonicity of the error function in the iteration is shown. Weak and strong convergence results are proved, indicating that the gradient of the error function goes to zero and the weight sequence goes to a fixed point, respectively. A numerical example is given to support the theoretical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new topology of uninterruptible power supply (UPS) by using a Z-source inverter, where a symmetrical LC network is employed to couple the main power circuit of an inverter to a battery bank. With this new topology, the proposed UPS can maintain the desired ac output voltage at the significant voltage drop of the battery bank with high efficiency, low harmonics, fast response, and good steady-state performance in comparison with traditional UPSs. The simulation and experimental results of a 3.kW UPS with the new topology confirm its validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a semiclassical approach, we theoretically study the above-threshold ionization of magnesium by intense, mid-infrared laser pulses. The formation of low-energy structures in the photoelectron spectrum is found to be enhanced by comparing with a calculation based on the single-active electron approximation. By performing electron trajectory and recollision-time distribution analysis, we demonstrate that this phenomenon is due to the laser-induced ionic core polarization effects on the recolliding electrons. We also show that the polarization effects should be experimentally detectable. Our finding provides new insight into ultrafast control of strong-field photoionization and imaging of polar molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]