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Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is one of the most common types of cancers in South China and Southeast Asia. Clinical data has shown that early detection is essential for improving treatment effectiveness and survival rate. Unfortunately, because the early symptoms of NPC are rather minor and similar to that of diseases such as Chronic Rhinosinusitis (CRS), early detection is a challenge. This paper proposes using machine learning methods to detect NPC using routine medical test data, namely Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Artificial Neural Network (ANN), k-Nearest-Neighbor (KNN) and Logistic Regression (LR). We collected a dataset containing 523 newly diagnosed NPC patients before treatment, 501 newly diagnosed CRS patients before treatment as well as 600 healthy controls. The routine medical test data including age, gender, blood test features, liver function test features, and urine sediment test features. For comparison, we also used data from Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) antibody tests, which is a specialized test not included among routine medical tests. In our first test, all four methods were tested on classifying NPC vs CRS vs controls; RF gives the best overall performance. Using only routine medical test data, it gives an accuracy of 83.1%, outperforming LR by 12%. In our second test, using only routine medical test data, when classifying NPC vs non-NPC (i.e. CRS or controls), RF achieves an accuracy of 88.2%. In our third test, when classifying NPC vs. controls, RF using only routine test data achieves an accuracy significantly better than RF using only EBV antibody data. Finally, in our last test, RF trained with NPC vs controls, using routine test data only, continued to perform well on an entirely separate dataset. This is a promising result because preliminary NPC detection using routine medical data is easy and inexpensive to implement. We believe this approach will play an important role in the detection and treatment of NPC in the future.

Studies have demonstrated that the solute carrier family 11 member 1 (SLC11A1) is heavily glycosylated and phosphorylated in macrophages. However, the mechanisms of SLC11A1 phosphorylation, and the effects of phosphorylation on SLC11A1 activity remain largely unknown. Here, the tyrosine phosphorylation of SLC11A1 is observed in SLC11A1-expressing U937 cells when differentiated into macrophages by phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). The phosphorylation of SLC11A1 is almost completely blocked by treatment with PP2, a selective inhibitor of Src family kinases. Furthermore, we found that SLC11A1 is a direct substrate for active c-Src kinase and siRNA-mediated knockdown of cellular Src (c-Src) expression results in a significant decrease in tyrosine phosphorylation. We found that PMA induces the interaction of SLC11A1 with c-Src kinase. We demonstrated that SLC11A1 is phosphorylated by Src family kinases at tyrosine 15 and this type of phosphorylation is required for SLC11A1-mediated modulation of NF-κB activation and nitric oxide (NO) production induced by LPS. Our results demonstrate important roles for c-Src tyrosine kinase in phosphorylation and activation of SLC11A1 in macrophages.

To investigate the prevalence of general and abdominal obesity and associated factors in Bouyei and Han peoples.A cross-sectional study was carried out in Guizhou province, southwest China in 2012, with multi-stage sampling to enroll 4551 participants aged 20 to 80 years. General and abdominal obesity were defined by World Health Organization (WHO) for Chinese. A design-based analysis was performed to evaluate prevalence of obesity and its related factors.Bouyei people had a significantly lower prevalence of general obesity (4.8% vs. 10.9%, p < 0.05) and abdominal obesity (13.6% vs. 26.8%, p < 0.05) than that in Han people. Prevalence of obesity increased with age until middle-age period and declined thereafter. Men aged 40-49 years group and women aged 50-59 years group have the highest prevalence of general obesity. Prevalence of abdominal obesity was higher than that of general obesity. Middle-age, Higher income, Han people were significantly associated with an increased risk of General/abdominal obesity.Bouyei people had a lower prevalence of general and abdominal obesity than the Han people. Etiological studies should be conducted to determine underlying genetic factors and dietary factors.

Atypical coronary artery disease (ACAD) is characterized by atypical angina pectoris or silent myocardial ischemia. However, conventional diagnostic techniques are insufficient to identify this subtype of coronary atherosclerotic pathology, and specific and sensitive markers for diagnosing ACAD are still currently lacking. The aim of the present study is to identify a novel serum microRNA (miRNA) expression profile of ACAD patients and evaluate its clinical diagnostic value.127 patients who were diagnosed with ACAD and 54 age-matched controls were enrolled in this study. An initial screen of miRNA expression was performed in serum samples from 35 patients and 20 controls using TaqMan Low Density Array. A stem-loop quantitative reverse-transcription PCR (RT-qPCR) assay was conducted in the training and validation sets to confirm the levels of the altered miRNAs in 122 patients with ACAD and 68 controls. In addition, the potential target genes of the altered miRNAs were predicted using bioinformatics methods.The TaqMan low density array and RT-qPCR analysis identified four serum miRNAs including miR-487a, miR-502, miR-208 and miR-215 that were significantly increased, while one miRNA, miR-29b, that was significantly decreased in ACAD patients compared with normal controls (P

BACKGROUND: The exacerbation of IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is related to respiratory tract infection with hemolytic streptococcus (HS), but the mechanism is unknown. In this study we investigated the role of chemokine ligand 20 (CCL20) in response to the effect of T helper 17 (Th17) cells in the pathogenesis of IgAN associated with HS. METHODS: Thirty mice were randomly divided into five groups: control mice (control), IgAN mice (IgAN), HS-infected IgAN mice (HS-IgAN), CCL20-treated IgAN mice (CCL20-IgAN), and CCL20-treated HS infected IgAN mice (CCL20-HS-IgAN). IgAN mice were induced with lipopolysaccharide, carbon tetrachloride and bovine serum albumin. Then the mice were sensitized with CCL20 antibody and infected with alpha-hemolytic streptococcus (α-HS) isolated from tonsils in sequence. Urine Albumin-Creatinine ratio and sediments were measured. The pathological changes in kidney and lung tissues were observed under microscopy. Th17 cells and regulatory T cells (Tregs) in kidneys were tested by flow cytometry. CCL20, IL-17A, IL-6 and IL-21 in the kidneys were detected by ELISA. RESULTS: The IgAN mice had albuminuria and microscopic hematuria, renal mesangial proliferation, IgA deposition, high electron dense deposition in glomerular mesangial region, decreased frequency of Tregs, increased frequency of Th17 and Th17-Treg ratio. Furthermore, Th17-related cytokines CCL20, IL-17A, IL-6 and IL-21 were all increased in the kidneys of IgAN mice. Compared with IgAN mice, the manifestations in HS-IgAN mice were more severe, but alleviated in CCL20-treated groups. CONCLUSION: α-HS may exacerbate kidney damage in IgAN through CCL20 response to the effect of Th17 cells.

Integrated field data, microstructural and three-dimensional strain analyses are used to document coaxial N-S shortening and southward increase in deformation intensity and metamorphism at the Jiaochang structure. Two episodes of deformation (D1,D2) with localized post-D2 deformation have been identified in the area. The first deformation (D1) episode is defined by a main axial-plane of parallel folds observable on a micro- to kilometer-scale, while the second episode of deformation (D2) is defined by micro-scale metamorphic folds, associated with E-W oriented stretching lineation. These processes are the result of Indosinian tectonism (Late Triassic to Early Jurassic) characterized by nearly coaxial N-S compression and deformation. This is indicated by E-W trending, sub-parallel to parallel foliation (S1, e.g. axial-plane of folds, and S2, i.e. axial-plane of metamorphic folds, crenulation cleavage) and lineation (L1, e.g. axis of folds, and L2, i.e. stretching lineation, axis of metamorphic folds and B-axis of echelon lens). Most of the porphyroblasts and minerals (e.g. pyrite, biotite) show two growth phases with localized growth in the third phase (muscovite). The progressive D1-D2 structure is widespread in the south of the Jiaochang area, but only D1 structure crops out at the north. The strain intensity (γ), compression ratios (c%) and octahedral strain intensity (εs) are similar across the Jiaochang structure (i.e., γ ≈ 1.8, c ≈ 27%, εs = 0.9), showing a broad range of Flinn values (K = 0.77 to 7.57). The long-axis orientations are roughly symmetric between two limbs of the structure. Therefore, we suggest that the architecture of the Jiaochang structure has been controlled by coaxial N-S shortening and deformation (D1-D2) during the Indosinian tectonic epoch, with insignificant post-D2 deformation.

BACKGROUND: The association of diabetes mellitus (DM) with nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) has been inconclusive. PURPOSE: To determine whether DM is associated with an increased risk of NAION. METHODS: A comprehensive literature search was performed for published studies reporting both DM and NAION based on PubMed and EMBASE. After reviewing characteristics of all the included studies systematically, meta-analytical method was employed to calculate the pooled odds ratio (OR) and associated 95% confidence interval (CI) from random-effects models. Heterogeneity was assessed by Q-statistic test. Funnel Plot, Begg's and Egger's linear regression test were applied to evaluate publication bias. A sensitivity analysis and meta-regression analysis were also performed to assess the robustness of results. RESULTS: 2,096 participants from 12 case-control studies were pooled for a meta-analysis. The result of meta-analysis of these studies indicated that DM is associated with increased risk of NAION (pooled OR = 1.64, 95% CI = 1.17-2.30; P = 0.004). Sensitivity analysis indicated our findings are robust, and meta-regression analysis revealed no significant effect in terms of geographical area, gender, age of patients with NAION, the year of the publication, source of the controls, and sample size (all p>0.05). Evidence of publication bias was not observed in our study. CONCLUSION: Meta-analysis suggests that DM might be associated with increased risk of NAION.

Background: Microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are highly informative molecular markers for various biological studies in plants. In spruce (Picea) and other conifers, the development of single-copy polymorphic genomic microsatellite markers is quite difficult, owing primarily to the large genome size and predominance of repetitive DNA sequences throughout the genome. We have developed highly informative single-locus genomic microsatellite markers in black spruce (Picea mariana) and red spruce (Picea rubens) using a simple but efficient method based on a combination of AFLP and microsatellite technologies. Principal Findings: A microsatellite-enriched library was constructed from genomic AFLP DNA fragments of black spruce. Sequencing of the 108 putative SSR-containing clones provided 94 unique sequences with microsatellites. Twenty-two of the designed 34 primer pairs yielded scorable amplicons, with single-locus patterns. Fourteen of these microsatellite markers were characterized in 30 black spruce and 30 red spruce individuals drawn from many populations. The number of alleles at a polymorphic locus ranged from 2 to 18, with a mean of 9.3 in black spruce, and from 3 to 15, with a mean of 6.2 alleles in red spruce. The polymorphic information content or expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.340 to 0.909 (mean = 0.67) in black spruce and from 0.161 to 0.851 (mean = 0.62) in red spruce. Ten SSR markers showing inter-parental polymorphism inherited in a single-locus Mendelian mode, with two cases of distorted segregation. Primer pairs for almost all polymorphic SSR loci resolved microsatellites of comparable size in Picea glauca, P. engelmannii, P. sitchensis, and P. abies. Significance: The AFLP-based microsatellite-enriched library appears to be a rapid, cost-effective approach for isolating and developing single-locus informative genomic microsatellite markers in black spruce. The markers developed should be useful in black spruce, red spruce and other Picea species for various genetics, genomics, breeding, forensics, conservation studies and applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are highly informative molecular markers for various biological studies in plants. In spruce (Picea) and other conifers, the development of single-copy polymorphic genomic microsatellite markers is quite difficult, owing primarily to the large genome size and predominance of repetitive DNA sequences throughout the genome. We have developed highly informative single-locus genomic microsatellite markers in black spruce (Picea mariana) and red spruce (Picea rubens) using a simple but efficient method based on a combination of AFLP and microsatellite technologies. Principal Findings: A microsatellite-enriched library was constructed from genomic AFLP DNA fragments of black spruce. Sequencing of the 108 putative SSR-containing clones provided 94 unique sequences with microsatellites. Twenty-two of the designed 34 primer pairs yielded scorable amplicons, with single-locus patterns. Fourteen of these microsatellite markers were characterized in 30 black spruce and 30 red spruce individuals drawn from many populations. The number of alleles at a polymorphic locus ranged from 2 to 18, with a mean of 9.3 in black spruce, and from 3 to 15, with a mean of 6.2 alleles in red spruce. The polymorphic information content or expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.340 to 0.909 (mean = 0.67) in black spruce and from 0.161 to 0.851 (mean = 0.62) in red spruce. Ten SSR markers showing inter-parental polymorphism inherited in a single-locus Mendelian mode, with two cases of distorted segregation. Primer pairs for almost all polymorphic SSR loci resolved microsatellites of comparable size in Picea glauca, P. engelmannii, P. sitchensis, and P. abies. Significance: The AFLP-based microsatellite-enriched library appears to be a rapid, cost-effective approach for isolating and developing single-locus informative genomic microsatellite markers in black spruce. The markers developed should be useful in black spruce, red spruce and other Picea species for various genetics, genomics, breeding, forensics, conservation studies and applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corky split vein caused by boron (B) deficiency in ‘Newhall’ Navel Orange was studied in the present research. The boron-deficient citrus exhibited a symptom of corky split vein in mature leaves. Morphologic and anatomical surveys at four representative phases of corky split veins showed that the symptom was the result of vascular hypertrophy. Digital gene expression (DGE) analysis was performed based on the Illumina HiSeq™ 2000 platform, which was applied to analyze the gene expression profilings of corky split veins at four morphologic phases. Over 5.3 million clean reads per library were successfully mapped to the reference database and more than 22897 mapped genes per library were simultaneously obtained. Analysis of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) revealed that the expressions of genes associated with cytokinin signal transduction, cell division, vascular development, lignin biosynthesis and photosynthesis in corky split veins were all affected. The expressions of WOL and ARR12 involved in the cytokinin signal transduction pathway were up-regulated at 1st phase of corky split vein development. Furthermore, the expressions of some cell cycle genes, CYCs and CDKB, and vascular development genes, WOX4 and VND7, were up-regulated at the following 2nd and 3rd phases. These findings indicated that the cytokinin signal transduction pathway may play a role in initiating symptom observed in our study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Human papilloma virus (HPV) infection was the main cause of cervical cancer. There were only a few reports and detailed data about epidemiological research of HPV infection in rural population of China. Materials and Methods: The cervical cells of rural Chaozhou women were collected, and multiplex real time PCR was firstly performed to detect high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) infection, which could detect 13 types of HR-HPV (types 16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, and 68). Then, HPV-positive samples were typed by HPV GenoArray test. Results: HR-HPV DNA was detected by multiplex real time-PCR in 3830 of 48559 cases (7.89%). There was a peak incidence in age of 55-60 years group, and a lower incidence in who lived in plain group compared with suburban, mountain and seashore group. 3380 cases of HPV positive sample were genotyped, 11.01% (372/3380) cases could not be classified, among the typed 3008 cases, 101 cases were identified without HR-HPV type infection, 2907 cases were infected with one HR-HPV type at least, the 6 most common HR-HPV types in descending order of infection, were type 52 (33.4%, 16 (20.95%), 58 (15.93%), 33 (9.94%), 68 (9.22%) and 18 (8.36%). The combined prevalence of HPV types 16 and 18 accounted for 28.52% of total infection. However, type 52 plus 58 presented 48.23% of total infection. 2209/2907 cases were infected with a single HPV type and 698/2907 cases were infected with multiple types, and multiple infection constituent ratio increased with age, with a peak incidence in age 55-60 years group. Conclusions: Our findings showed low prevalence of HPV vaccine types (16 and 18) and relatively high prevalence of HPV- 52 and -58, support the hypothesis that the second-generation HPV vaccines including HPV-52 and -58 may offer higher protection for women in rural Guangdong Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ObjectivePulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is a severe infectious respiratory disease, the burden of which remains high in China. To provide scientific evidence for developing more targeted prevention and control strategies, this study aimed to determine the incidence trends and explore the epidemiological characteristics of pulmonary TB in Anhui Province, Eastern China between 2013 and 2018.MethodsThe retrospective study analyzed information regarding pulmonary TB cases reported by the National Infectious Disease Reporting System and census data collected from the Anhui Provincial Bureau of Statistics.ResultsOverall, 211,892 cases of TB patients were reported in Anhui Province, China between 2013 and 2018, with an average annual reported incidence rate of 57.7 per 100,000 persons. A significant decrease in the incidence rate of pulmonary TB (p < 0.001) was observed during the study period. Men had a higher incidence rate of pulmonary TB than women (p < 0.001). The highest annual average reported incidence rate was 204.2 per 100,000 persons in those aged 70-74 years. The number of farmers with pulmonary TB, i.e., 155,415, accounted for 73.4% of all cases. Moreover, the peak period of reported cases was from January to March. Four cities along the Yangtze River-Anqing, Tongling, Chizhou, and Wuhu-reported significantly higher incidence rates of pulmonary TB than other cities (p < 0.001).ConclusionsFrom 2013 to 2018, there was a significant decline in the incidence rate of pulmonary TB in Anhui Province, with peaks occurring from January to March. Prevention and control strategies targeting men, people aged 70-74 years, farmers, and the four cities along the Yangtze River should be strengthened.

The flowering periods of woody bamboos, seed set, natural regeneration and death after flowering have been rarely observed and evaluated in the field. Dendrocalamus membranaceus Munro, a tropical woody bamboo mainly distributed in the Yunnan, displayed both sporadic as well as gregarious (mass) flowering and fruited from 2006 to 2013 following severe droughts. The aim of this study is to examine potential differences in seed set and natural regeneration between the two flowering patterns in natural D. membranaceus forests. We investigated and analyzed seed set, seed germination, seedling growth and mortality in both mass and sporadic flowering populations. Observations were made over a period of three years to record changes in bamboo seedling density, height and culm diameter. We observed a low natural seed set ranging from 1.76% to 7.49%, and a relatively high seed germination rate in the nursery from 59.6% to 71.0% for both types of flowering populations. Seeds germinated in 5-7 days after sowing and the germination period lasted 10-15 days. Seed set and germination rates in mass-flowering populations were significantly higher than those of sporadically flowering stands. The seedlings within sporadically flowering populations died within two years. In comparison, seedling mortality in the mass flowering population increased over two periods of observation from 64.92% to 98.89%, yet there was good seedling establishment left over, which showed mean height and mean culm diameter increasing by 1053.25% and 410.71%, respectively, in the second year of observations, and 137.10%, and 217.48%, respectively, in the third year. There are significant differences in seed set, natural regeneration ability and sustainability of bamboo populations between the mass flowering and sporadically flowering populations of D. membranaceus. Sporadic flowering populations failed to produce effective regeneration, while mass flowering populations were able to regenerate successfully. This study provides useful insights for conservation and natural forest management of D. membranaceus. We consider the merits of introducing other genetic provenances towards long-term maintenance of the stand features at sporadically flowering sites; meanwhile, the most economic option for mass flowering stands is to allow natural regeneration to take place through protecting such sites from further disturbance.

Correct and bias-free interpretation of the deep sequencing data is inevitably dependent on the complete mapping of all mappable reads to the reference sequence, especially for quantitative RNA-seq applications. Seed-based algorithms are generally slow but robust, while Burrows-Wheeler Transform (BWT) based algorithms are fast but less robust. To have both advantages, we developed an algorithm FANSe2 with iterative mapping strategy based on the statistics of real-world sequencing error distribution to substantially accelerate the mapping without compromising the accuracy. Its sensitivity and accuracy are higher than the BWT-based algorithms in the tests using both prokaryotic and eukaryotic sequencing datasets. The gene identification results of FANSe2 is experimentally validated, while the previous algorithms have false positives and false negatives. FANSe2 showed remarkably better consistency to the microarray than most other algorithms in terms of gene expression quantifications. We implemented a scalable and almost maintenance-free parallelization method that can utilize the computational power of multiple office computers, a novel feature not present in any other mainstream algorithm. With three normal office computers, we demonstrated that FANSe2 mapped an RNA-seq dataset generated from an entire Illunima HiSeq 2000 flowcell (8 lanes, 608 M reads) to masked human genome within 4.1 hours with higher sensitivity than Bowtie/Bowtie2. FANSe2 thus provides robust accuracy, full indel sensitivity, fast speed, versatile compatibility and economical computational utilization, making it a useful and practical tool for deep sequencing applications. FANSe2 is freely available at http://bioinformatics.jnu.edu.cn/software/fanse2/.

Microsatellites or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are highly informative molecular markers for various biological studies in plants. In spruce (Picea) and other conifers, the development of single-copy polymorphic genomic microsatellite markers is quite difficult, owing primarily to the large genome size and predominance of repetitive DNA sequences throughout the genome. We have developed highly informative single-locus genomic microsatellite markers in black spruce (Picea mariana) and red spruce (Picea rubens) using a simple but efficient method based on a combination of AFLP and microsatellite technologies.A microsatellite-enriched library was constructed from genomic AFLP DNA fragments of black spruce. Sequencing of the 108 putative SSR-containing clones provided 94 unique sequences with microsatellites. Twenty-two of the designed 34 primer pairs yielded scorable amplicons, with single-locus patterns. Fourteen of these microsatellite markers were characterized in 30 black spruce and 30 red spruce individuals drawn from many populations. The number of alleles at a polymorphic locus ranged from 2 to 18, with a mean of 9.3 in black spruce, and from 3 to 15, with a mean of 6.2 alleles in red spruce. The polymorphic information content or expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.340 to 0.909 (mean = 0.67) in black spruce and from 0.161 to 0.851 (mean = 0.62) in red spruce. Ten SSR markers showing inter-parental polymorphism inherited in a single-locus Mendelian mode, with two cases of distorted segregation. Primer pairs for almost all polymorphic SSR loci resolved microsatellites of comparable size in Picea glauca, P. engelmannii, P. sitchensis, and P. abies.The AFLP-based microsatellite-enriched library appears to be a rapid, cost-effective approach for isolating and developing single-locus informative genomic microsatellite markers in black spruce. The markers developed should be useful in black spruce, red spruce and other Picea species for various genetics, genomics, breeding, forensics, conservation studies and applications.

Sucrose synthase (Sus) (EC 2.4.1.13) is a key enzyme for the sugar accumulation that is critical to form fruit quality. In this study, extensive data-mining and PCR amplification confirmed that there are at least six Sus genes (CitSus1-6) in the citrus genome. Gene structure and phylogeny analysis showed an evolutionary consistency with other plant species. The six Sus genes contain 12-15 exons and 11-14 introns and were evenly distributed into the three plant Sus groups (CitSus1 and CitSus2 in the Sus I group, CitSus3 and CitSus6 in the Sus II group, and CitSus4 and CitSus5 in the Sus III group). Transcripts of these six CitSus genes were subsequently examined. For tissues and organs, CitSus1 and 2 were predominantly expressed in fruit juice sacs (JS) whereas CitSus3 and 4 were predominantly expressed in early leaves (immature leaves), and CitSus5 and 6 were predominantly expressed in fruit JS and in mature leaves. During fruit development, CitSus5 transcript increased significantly and CitSus6 transcript decreased significantly in fruit JS. In the fruit segment membrane (SM), the transcript levels of CitSus2 and 5 were markedly higher and the abundant levels of CitSus3 and 6 gradually decreased. Moreover, transcript levels of CitSus1-4 examined were higher and the CitSus5 transcript level was lower in the fruit SM than in fruit JS, while CitSus6 had a similar transcript level in fruit JS and SM. In addition, transcripts of CitSus1-6 responded differently to dehydration in mature leaves or to mild drought stress in fruit JS and SM. Finally, the possible roles of Sus genes in the regulation of sugar accumulation are discussed; however, further study is required.

Corky split vein caused by boron (B) deficiency in 'Newhall' Navel Orange was studied in the present research. The boron-deficient citrus exhibited a symptom of corky split vein in mature leaves. Morphologic and anatomical surveys at four representative phases of corky split veins showed that the symptom was the result of vascular hypertrophy. Digital gene expression (DGE) analysis was performed based on the Illumina HiSeq™ 2000 platform, which was applied to analyze the gene expression profilings of corky split veins at four morphologic phases. Over 5.3 million clean reads per library were successfully mapped to the reference database and more than 22897 mapped genes per library were simultaneously obtained. Analysis of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) revealed that the expressions of genes associated with cytokinin signal transduction, cell division, vascular development, lignin biosynthesis and photosynthesis in corky split veins were all affected. The expressions of WOL and ARR12 involved in the cytokinin signal transduction pathway were up-regulated at 1(st) phase of corky split vein development. Furthermore, the expressions of some cell cycle genes, CYCs and CDKB, and vascular development genes, WOX4 and VND7, were up-regulated at the following 2(nd) and 3(rd) phases. These findings indicated that the cytokinin signal transduction pathway may play a role in initiating symptom observed in our study.

Currently, several studies assessed the role of Tai Chi (TC) in management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but these studies have wide variation of sample and convey inconclusive results. We therefore undertook a meta-analysis to assess the effects of TC.A computerized search through electronic databases was performed to obtain sample studies. The primary outcomes were 6-min walking distance (6MWD) and dyspnea. Secondary outcomes included health-related quality of life and pre-bronchodilator spirometry. Weighted mean differences (WMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated and heterogeneity was assessed with the I(2) test. A random-effects meta-analysis model was applied.Eight randomized controlled trials involving 544 patients met the inclusion criteria. The pooled WMDs were 34.22 m (95% CI 21.25-47.20, P

PrP(Sc), a misfolded and aggregated form of the cellular prion protein PrP(C), is the only defined constituent of the transmissible agent causing prion diseases. Expression of PrP(C) in the host organism is necessary for prion replication and for prion neurotoxicity. Understanding prion diseases necessitates detailed structural insights into PrP(C) and PrP(Sc). Towards this goal, we have developed a comprehensive collection of monoclonal antibodies denoted POM1 to POM19 and directed against many different epitopes of mouse PrP(C). Three epitopes are located within the N-terminal octarepeat region, one is situated within the central unstructured region, and four epitopes are discontinuous within the globular C-proximal domain of PrP(C). Some of these antibodies recognize epitopes that are resilient to protease digestion in PrP(Sc). Other antibodies immunoprecipitate PrP(C), but not PrP(Sc). A third group was found to immunoprecipitate both PrP isoforms. Some of the latter antibodies could be blocked with epitope-mimicking peptides, and incubation with an excess of these peptides allowed for immunochromatography of PrP(C) and PrP(Sc). Amino-proximal antibodies were found to react with repetitive PrP(C) epitopes, thereby vastly increasing their avidity. We have also created functional single-chain miniantibodies from selected POMs, which retained the binding characteristics despite their low molecular mass. The POM collection, thus, represents a unique set of reagents allowing for studies with a variety of techniques, including western blotting, ELISA, immunoprecipitation, conformation-dependent immunoassays, and plasmon surface plasmon resonance-based assays.