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Plant polyploidy often occurs in conjunction with higher yield and superior quality. Therefore, obtaining polyploid germplasms is a significant part of breeding. The oil-tea Camellia tree is an important native woody plant that produces high-quality edible oil and includes many species of Camellia with different ploidies. However, whether higher ploidy levels in oil-tea Camellia trees are related to better traits remains unclear. In this study, the ploidy levels of 30 different oil-tea Camellia strains in three different species in the Sect. Paracamellia were determined by flow cytometry and chromosome preparation, and the phenotypic characteristics and fatty acid compositions of the fruits were examined by field observations and laboratory analyses. The correlations between the ploidy level of oil-tea Camellia and the main traits of the fruit were investigated. Our results showed that 10 Camellia lanceoleosa strains were diploid, 10 Camellia meiocarpa strains were tetraploid and 10 Camellia oleifera strains were hexaploid. Hexaploid C. oleifera had larger fruit size and weight, more seeds per fruit, greater seed weight per fruit, higher oil content and greater yield per crown width than tetraploid C. meiocarpa and diploid C. lanceoleosa, but their fruit peel thickness and fresh seed rate were significantly lower, and these traits were significantly correlated with ploidy level. In addition, in terms of fatty acid composition, hexaploid C. oleifera had a higher oleic acid content than tetraploid C. meiocarpa and diploid C. lanceoleosa, but their linoleic acid, linolenic acid and arachidonic acid contents were lower. The contents of palmitic acid, stearic acid and total unsaturated fatty acids were not significantly correlated with ploidy level. In conclusion, certain correlations exist between the main characteristics of oil-tea Camellia fruit and the ploidy level, and increasing the ploidy level led to an increase in fruit yield with no effect on oil composition. The discovery of variations in the main characteristics of oil-tea Camellia fruit with different ploidies will facilitate germplasm innovation and lay a foundation for ploidy breeding and mechanistic research on fruit traits.

The economic problem of a clean energy heating system under a peak and valley electricity pricing system is investigated, and a pipe network energy storage system is correspondingly proposed to solve this problem. The system makes use of large-capacity primary network pipe network water storage to store heat during the valley electricity hours when the electricity price is lower, and releases the stored heat to supply heat during the peak electricity hours when the electricity price is higher, with a view to reducing the operating time of the heating system during the peak electricity hours when the electricity price is higher. The principle of the system and the efficient regulation scheme are given, and a mathematical model of primary pipe network energy storage and release is established, and the reliability of the model is verified with a heating project in Qingdao as an example, and the results show that the maximum temperature deviation of the return temperature of the primary pipe network obtained by the calculation of the energy storage and release model is 0.23 °C, and the maximum temperature hysteresis error is in 15 %, which meets the requirements of engineering practice. Based on the energy storage model, the simulation of the actual heating economy of the project using the pipe network energy storage system was carried out, and the results showed that compared with the original scheme based on the maximum heat load adjustment of the proportion of heating units and boilers, the electricity consumption of the project using the pipe network heat storage scheme was increased by 18.8 % in the whole heating season, the total operating costs were reduced by 14.5 %, with an annual saving of 800,600 yuan in operating costs, and the payback period for the investment was relatively short, at 2.1 years, which is of good economy.

Exosomes exhibit complex biological functions and mediate a variety of biological processes, such as promoting axonal regeneration and functional recovery after injury. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to play a crucial role in axonal regeneration. However, the role of the lncRNA-microRNA-messenger RNA (mRNA)-competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network in exosome-mediated axonal regeneration remains unclear. In this study, we performed RNA transcriptome sequencing analysis to assess mRNA expression patterns in exosomes produced by cultured fibroblasts (FC-EXOs) and Schwann cells (SC-EXOs). Differential gene expression analysis, Gene Ontology analysis, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis, and protein-protein interaction network analysis were used to explore the functions and related pathways of RNAs isolated from FC-EXOs and SC-EXOs. We found that the ribosome-related central gene Rps5 was enriched in FC-EXOs and SC-EXOs, which suggests that it may promote axonal regeneration. In addition, using the miRWalk and Starbase prediction databases, we constructed a regulatory network of ceRNAs targeting Rps5, including 27 microRNAs and five lncRNAs. The ceRNA regulatory network, which included Ftx and Miat, revealed that exsosome-derived Rps5 inhibits scar formation and promotes axonal regeneration and functional recovery after nerve injury. Our findings suggest that exosomes derived from fibroblast and Schwann cells could be used to treat injuries of peripheral nervous system.

There are currently no studies exploring omicron infection and male sexual function and semen quality. Our aim was to estimate changes in sexual function and semen quality in men recovering from infection since the COVID-19 Omicron pandemic started in China in late 2022. We collected 1540 questionnaires and assessed male function before infection and acute phase after infection by using International Index of Erectile Function-5, Premature Ejaculation Diagnostic Tool, and Arizona Sexual Experience Scale. We also collected the before and after semen analysis results of 247 male patients. During the acute phase after infection, the proportion of erectile dysfunction was significantly higher than before infection, but ejaculatory function was not significantly altered; In addition, semen analysis showed significant difference in semen concentration, semen activity and PR a+b sperm forward movement after infection compared to pre-infection.: COVID-19 Omicron can affect erectile function as well as sexual experience in male patients in the acute phase. Decreased sexual function due to COVID-19 Omicron may be related to body temperature and anxiety during infection.

[INLINE:1] Fidgetin, a microtubule-severing enzyme, regulates neurite outgrowth, axonal regeneration, and cell migration by trimming off the labile domain of microtubule polymers. Because maintenance of the microtubule labile domain is essential for axon initiation, elongation, and navigation, it is of interest to determine whether augmenting the microtubule labile domain via depletion of fidgetin serves as a therapeutic approach to promote axonal regrowth in spinal cord injury. In this study, we constructed rat models of spinal cord injury and sciatic nerve injury. Compared with spinal cord injury, we found that expression level of tyrosinated microtubules in the labile portion of microtubules continuously increased, whereas fidgetin decreased after peripheral nerve injury. Depletion of fidgetin enhanced axon regeneration after spinal cord injury, whereas expression level of end binding protein 3 (EB3) markedly increased. Next, we performed RNA interference to knockdown EB3 or fidgetin. We found that deletion of EB3 did not change fidgetin expression. Conversely, deletion of fidgetin markedly increased expression of tyrosinated microtubules and EB3. Deletion of fidgetin increased the amount of EB3 at the end of neurites and thereby increased the level of tyrosinated microtubules. Finally, we deleted EB3 and overexpressed fidgetin. We found that fidgetin trimmed tyrosinated tubulins by interacting with EB3. When fidgetin was deleted, the labile portion of microtubules was elongated, and as a result the length of axons and number of axon branches were increased. These findings suggest that fidgetin can be used as a novel therapeutic target to promote axonal regeneration after spinal cord injury. Furthermore, they reveal an innovative mechanism by which fidgetin preferentially severs labile microtubules.

The cold water phase change energy heat pump system has important economic value for supplying heating and cooling to office buildings. In this paper, the effect of ice thickness, cold water flow, evaporation and condensation temperatures on the system effective COP are analyzed to determine the optimal operating conditions of the system for heating and cooling of office buildings, the economics of the system are calculated, and an operation control scheme is proposed. The results show that the system performs best when the icing thickness is set to 8 mm, the cold water flow is set to 25 t/h during the icing period and the cold water flow is set to 45 t/h during the de-icing period; Under the optimal operating conditions, the winter operating cost of the project is USD 10363/Year and the summer operating cost is USD 2674/Year, with the return on investment of 14% and the payback period of 4 years; Regulating system operation according to year-round heating and cooling load requirements, the operating cost is reduced by 8% in winter and 2% in summer. This paper provides references to the best operating conditions and economic data for the application and promotion of the cold water phase change energy heat pump system.

ObjectivePyroptosis, a lytic and inflammatory programmed cell death, has been implicated in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and its complications. Nonetheless, it remains elusive exactly which pyroptosis molecule exerts an essential role in T2DM, and this study aims to solve such issue.MethodsTranscriptional profiling datasets of T2DM, i.e., GSE20966, GSE95849, and GSE26168, were acquired. Four machine learning models, namely, random forest, support vector machine, extreme gradient boosting, and generalized linear modeling, were built based on pyroptosis genes. A nomogram of key pyroptosis genes was also generated, and the clinical value was appraised via calibration curves and decision curve analysis. Immune infiltration was inferred utilizing CIBERSORT. Drug–druggable target relationships were acquired from the Drug Gene Interaction Database. Through WGCNA, key pyroptosis-relevant genes were selected.ResultsMost pyroptosis genes exhibited upregulation in T2DM relative to controls, indicating the activity of pyroptosis in T2DM. The SVM model composed of BAK1, CHMP2B, NLRP6, PLCG1, and TIRAP exhibited the best performance in T2DM diagnosis, with AUC = 1. The nomogram can predict the risk of T2DM for clinical practice. NK cells resting exhibited a lower abundance in T2DM versus normal specimens, with a higher abundance of neutrophils. NLRP6 was positively linked with neutrophils. Drugs (keracyanin, 9,10-phenanthrenequinone, diclofenac, phosphomethylphosphonic acid adenosyl ester, acetaminophen, cefixime, aspirin, ustekinumab) potentially targeted the key pyroptosis genes. Additionally, CHMP2B-relevant genes were determined.ConclusionAltogether, this work proposes the key pyroptosis genes in T2DM, which might become possible molecules for the management and treatment of T2DM and its complications.

Ground-level ozone (O _3 ), renowned for its adverse impacts on human health and crop production, has garnered significant attention from governmental and public sectors. To address the limitations posed by sparse and uneven ground-level O _3 observations, this study proposes an innovative method for hourly full-coverage ground-level O _3 estimation using machine learning. Meteorological data from National Centers for Environmental Prediction global forecasting system, satellite data from Fengyun-4 A(FY-4 A) and Ozone Monitoring Instrument, emission inventory from Multi-resolution Emission Inventory for China, and other auxiliary data are utilized as input variables, while ground-based O _3 observations serve as the response variable. The method is applied on a monthly basis across China for the year 2022, resulting in the generation of an hourly full-coverage high-resolution (4 km) ground-level O _3 estimation, termed ML-derived-O _3 . Cross-validation results demonstrate the robustness of ML-derived-O _3 yielding a coefficient of determination ( R ^2 ) of 0.96 (0.91) for sample-based (site-based) evaluations and a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 9.22 (13.65) µ g m ^−3 . However, the date-based evaluation is less satisfactory due to the imbalanced training data, resulting from the pronounced daily variations in ground-level O _3 concentrations. Nevertheless, the seasonal and hourly ML-derived-O _3 exhibits high prediction accuracy, with R ^2 values surpassing 0.95 and RMSE remaining below 7.5 µ g m ^−3 . This study marks a significant milestone as the first successful attempt to obtain hourly full-coverage ground-level O _3 data across China. The diurnal variation of ML-derived-O _3 demonstrates high consistency with ground-based observations, irrespective of clear or cloudy days, effectively capturing ground-level O _3 pollution exposure events. This novel estimation method will be employed to establish a long-term high spatial-temporal resolution ground-level O _3 dataset, which holds valuable applications for air pollution monitoring and environmental health research in future endeavors.

In order to solve the problems of performance degradation in energy tower heat pump (ETHP) systems under low temperature conditions and soil heat imbalances in ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems in cold regions, a new coupled system of ETHP and GSHP systems (the ET–GSHP system) and its operating mode were proposed. The mathematical model of the system was constructed along with the system’s form and operation scheme. The COP (coefficient of performance) and total energy consumption of the coupled system were then simulated and studied under a number of common operating situations. The heating season is divided into four periods based on varying outdoor ambient temperatures: the first period operates in series mode and has an average outdoor temperature of 2.38 °C; the second period operates in parallel mode and has an average outdoor temperature of −8.56 °C; the third period uses soil source heat pumps to operate separately; and the fourth period operates in series mode and has an average outdoor temperature of −11.32 °C. Operation of the coupled system in four periods was simulated and analyzed, and the operational efficiency and energy saving of the system were analyzed using an actual commercial building in a cold region as an example. The results demonstrate that the ET–GSHP system’s overall energy consumption during the heating period is reduced by 4.34% when compared to the traditional GSHP systems; the system’s COP can maintain a high level throughout the heating period, with an average COP of 3.315; and the soil temperature at the conclusion of the heating period is 25 °C, which is 8.89 °C higher than that of the traditional GSHP system, providing a guarantee of summer heat return. The new ET–GSHP system significantly boosts the efficiency of the system’s operation, achieves effective coupling between various heat sources through multi-stage control, and offers improved energy-saving advantages.

Abstract Ureteral stent removal by an extraction string is advantageous. However, the increased risk of complications attributed to the continuous exposure of the string outside the urethra must be managed. This paper introduces a method to decrease the exposure time, and conducts a retrospective study to verify its efficiency and safety. A total of 231 male patients undergoing routine ureteroscopy (URS) were included, and all of them accepted indwelling ureteral stents with strings. Among them, 123 patients (Normal-S group) underwent the normal method to determine the length of string (Lstring), which was shortened to 4 cm (cm) past the urethral meatus; 108 patients (Novel-S group) underwent the novel method (Lstring = Lurethra + 2 cm), the length of urethra (Lurethra) was measured during ureteroscopy by ureteroscope body. The demographic characteristics, stent indwelling and removal-related variables, complications, and medical costs in each group were recorded. There was no significant difference in demographic characteristics, the rate of UTI, the operative duration of URS, or the VAS pain scores for stent removal between the 2 groups. For the Novel-S group, the stent dwelling time was longer, the self-rated discomfort and symptom, the stent dislodgement rate, the numbers of clinic or emergency visits and the overall medical cost post operation was lower in comparison with the Normal-S group, while the rate of removal of stents by hand was lower, the time for removing ureteral stents was longer. This novel method improved stenting comfort, avoided ureteral stent dislodgement, decreased complications, and lowered medical costs, it was safe and reliable and merits widespread application.

ObjectiveLarge fibrotic bladder blood clots are difficult to treat via conventional methods. Hence, we investigated the safety and reliability of real-time ultrasound guidance combined with prostate tissue morcellator in the removal of large fibrotic bladder blood clots in this study.MethodsWe chose 9 patients with large fibrotic bladder blood clots who were treated in our department from January 2019 to December 2020. Under the condition that conventional methods were ineffective in removing the bladder blood clot, real-time ultrasound guidance combined with a prostatic tissue morcellator was used to remove the large fibrotic bladder blood clot through the steps of positioning, breaking, adjusting repositioning and recrushing. After removal, the bipolar electrocautery was replaced to stop bleeding of the bladder mucosa.ResultsAll patients successfully underwent the operation. After the blood clot was removed, the bladder mucosa was examined. There was no damage to the bladder mucosa or muscle layer. The urine was clear at the end of the procedure with slow irrigation, and no bleeding was found again.ConclusionReal-time ultrasound guidance combined with a prostate tissue morcellator was a safe, effective and quick method for the removal of large fibrotic bladder blood clots.

To study the heating performance of a solar-assisted cold-water phase-change-energy heat pump system, its heating performance under series and parallel connections is simulated for a community in Harbin, the influence of ice thickness on the different operation modes is analyzed, and the economy of the system is calculated for series and parallel connections in this paper. The results show that the water supply temperature is higher and more uniform in the parallel operation, and more terminal heat is supplied; the ice thickness has more of an influence on the series connection compared to the parallel connection; and the dynamic payback period is 6.72 years for the series connection and 7.28 years for the parallel connection. This case study can serve as a guide for practical engineering application projects and act as a reference for heating and economic data for the promotion of this heat pump system.

Spontaneous rupture of testicular rhabdomyosarcoma is very rare. We report a case of spontaneous testicular rupture that was pathologically confirmed as rhabdomyosarcoma with unilateral blepharoptosis. The patient, a 19-year-old male, and his father had weakness of the left eyelid muscle. The patient was suspected to have a right inguinal hernia by a family doctor but was not treated further. 2 days later, there was skin itching in the right inguinal area, accompanied by redness, swelling and discomfort of the right scrotum, and the patient went to the local hospital again. Ultrasound examination showed that a contusion of the right testis may have been complicated with orchitis. Oral levofloxacin was ineffective. In addition, the swelling of scrotal increased significantly. He came to the emergency room of our hospital and also was treated with levofloxacin, but the pain was still not relieved. CT and ultrasound examination could not identify the cause of the disease. Exploration of the right scrotum was performed under general anesthesia and confirmed that the right testis had spontaneously ruptured. The pathological diagnosis was rhabdomyosarcoma of the right testis. Testicular rhabdomyosarcoma is clinically rare, and spontaneous rupture is even rarer. The pathogenesis of the disease needs to be further studied, and the diagnosis should be made on a case-by-case basis. Overall, the prognosis of testicular rhabdomyosarcoma is poor. As seen in this case, further study is required to determine whether there is some association between testicular rhabdomyosarcoma and ptosis. Unfortunately, the patient's family rejected a genetic examination because of financial difficulty. We only report a single case of this rare phenomenon here.

The accuracy and consistency of Earth observation (EO) instrument radiometric calibration is a fundamental prerequisite for achieving accurate results and delivering reliable predictions. Frequent calibration and validation (Cal/Val) activities are needed during the instrument’s lifetime, and this procedure is often extended to historical archives. Numerous satellites in orbit and proposed future missions have incorporated lunar observation into their vicarious calibration components over recent years, facilitated by the extreme long-term photometric stability of the Moon. Since the birth of the first lunar calibration reference model, lunar-dependent calibration techniques have developed rapidly, and the application and refinement of the lunar radiometric model have become a welcome research focus in the calibration community. Within the context of the development of lunar observation activities and calibration systems globally, we provide a comprehensive review of the activities and results spawned by treating the Moon as a reference for instrument response and categorize them against the understanding of lunar radiometric reference. In general, this appears to be a process of moving from data to instruments, then back into data, working towards a stated goal. Here we highlight lunar radiometric models developed by different institutions or agencies over the last two decades while reporting on the known limitations of these solutions, with unresolved challenges remaining and multiple lunar observation plans and concepts attempting to address them from various perspectives, presenting a temporal development. We also observe that the methods seeking uncertainty reduction at this stage are rather homogeneous, lacking the combination of approaches or results from lunar surface studies conducted by many spacecraft missions, and joint deep learning methods to extract information. The factors that influence the accuracy of the measurement irradiance may be regulated when practical models arrive. As a central element in lunar calibration, the development of an absolute radiometric datum helps to better understand the Earth system.

Abstract In aquaculture, antibiotics are commonly used to provide protection against pathogens; however, this practice has become controversial due to increased occurrences of microbial resistance, and alternatives are needed. This study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial activity of yeast glycoprotein (YG) against Aeromonas caviae. Pathogens were isolated from liver of diseased Carassius auratus gibelio. Based on morphological and biochemical analysis, together with 16S rRNA gene sequencing, the isolated strains were identified as A. caviae and concluded as clones of a single strain and named L2. Further pathogenicity analysis revealed that A. caviae possessed β‐haemolysis, and its median lethal dose for C. gibelio was 1.33 × 106 CFU/ml. Hepatic adenylate kinase and pyruvate kinase activities of C. gibelio were inhibited post–A. caviae infection. Antimicrobial drug test suggested that A. caviae was a multidrug‐resistant organism but could be inhibited by YG in vitro. Minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentration of YG was 83.3 mg/ml and 166.7 mg/ml, respectively. Microbiota sequencing results showed that YG supplement could obviously decrease the relative abundance of Aeromonas and increase the microbial diversity. Our study revealed that A. caviae from C. gibelio was a multidrug‐resistant bacteria strain, and could be significantly inhibited by YG in vivo and in vitro, thus providing important insights into ecological control and pathogenesis of A. caviae in aquaculture.

In this study, we compare the data of the advanced geostationary radiation imager (AGRI) on board the FY-4B and the advanced meteorological imager (AMI) on board the GK-2A, in terms of overall data, different reflectivity/brightness temperature intervals, different regions, and different underlying surfaces. The results show that the AGRI and AMI data are generally consistent; the mean biases for reflectivity channels show a range of 0.50% to 1.69%, with channel VIR004 being exceptionally good, while brightness temperature (TB) differences in the IR channels ranging from 0.11 to 0.57 K, with channel IR120 being the most accurate. The reflectivity of the AGRI is higher than that of the AMI in terms of mean bias. The dispersion of the reflectivity difference between the AGRI and AMI is smaller at the short-wavelength channels than that at the longer-wavelength channels. The TB data observed by the AGRI are higher than those of AMI at conditions above 310 K. In the case of observing the same target, the difference in infrared brightness temperature due to the random noise signal is small. The differences between the two sensors can be considerably reduced by revising mean biases. In the following studies of quantitative product algorithms, the characteristics of sensor data need to be further analyzed in detail.

Under active icing conditions, the heat transfer performance of the CPHE has a significant impact on the system’s efficiency and energy consumption. Using the enthalpy-porosity method for describing the solidification process of liquids, the simulation and analysis of the effects of different parameter changes on the CPHE heat transfer performance were conducted to clarify the effects of the changes in the intermediary side inlet water temperature, intermediate water flow rate, and cold water flow rate on the heat transfer process in the CPHE. According to our results, changing the intermediary inlet water temperature has a greater impact on the heat transfer process in the cold-water phase-change heat exchangers. For every decrease of 0.5 °C in the intermediary side inlet water temperature, the average heat transfer coefficient increases by approximately 50 W/m2-K. Changes in the intermediary water flow rate affect the cold water phase-change heat exchanger’s heat transfer process. By increasing the intermediary water flow rate, the average heat transfer coefficient of a cold water phase-change heat exchanger can be improved, but the growth decreases, and the maximum flow rate of the intermediary water should not exceed 0.5 m per second. A change in the cold water flow rate in the cold water phase-change heat exchanger’s heat transfer process has a small impact on the cold water flow rate, increasing by 0.02 m/s each, with the average heat transfer coefficient increasing by 20 W/m2-K.

Splenectomy or congenital asplenia in humans increases susceptibility to infections. We have previously reported that congenital asplenia in zebrafish reduces resistance to Aeromonas hydrophila infection. However, the molecular mechanism of systemic immune response in congenitally asplenic individuals is largely unexplored. In this study, we found that pro-inflammatory cytokines were more highly induced in congenitally asplenic zebrafish than wild-type after pathogenic A. hydrophila infection and lipopolysaccharide exposure. In addition, a higher aggregation of apoptotic cells was observed in congenitally asplenic zebrafish than that in wild-type. Next, we examined the transcriptome profiles of whole kidneys from wild-type and congenitally asplenic zebrafish to investigate the effects of congenital asplenia on innate and adaptive immune responses induced by the inactivated A. hydrophila. Congenital asplenia inactivated the splenic anti-inflammatory reflex, disrupted immune homeostasis, and induced excessive inflammation as evidenced by the highly induced stress response–related biological processes, inflammatory and apoptosis-associated pathways, and pro-inflammatory cytokines/chemokines in congenitally asplenic zebrafish compared with wild-type after vaccination. In addition, complement component genes (c3a.1, c3a.6, c4, c6, and c9) and several important immune-related genes (tabp.1, tap1, hamp, prg4b, nfil3, defbl1, psmb9a, tfr1a, and sae1) were downregulated in congenitally asplenic zebrafish. Furthermore, congenital asplenia impaired adaptive immunity as demonstrated by downregulation of biological processes and signaling pathways involved in adaptive immune response after vaccination in congenitally asplenic zebrafish. The expression of MHCII/IgM was also significantly reduced in the congenitally asplenic zebrafish when compared with wild-type. Together, our study provides an in-depth understanding of spleen function in controlling immune homeostasis and may offer insight into the pathological response in splenectomized or congenitally asplenic patients after infections.

Advanced Geostationary Radiation Imager (AGRI) is one of the main payloads of the second-generation geostationary orbit meteorological satellite, FengYun-4A. Typically, the existence of variable stripe noise in the water vapor band remote sensing images of the AGRI greatly affects many applications, such as cloud detection, especially as one full disk image is separated into ten sub-images for transforming as soon as possible, so the denoising algorithm, which can reduce variable stripe noise and is adaptive to process using sub-images, must be built. In this paper, we propose an adaptive wavelet filter for image denoising. This approach introduces a new parameter termed weight sum variance of digital number probability (WSVODP), which is used to indicate the appropriate wavelet filter coefficients. WSVODP is only sensitive to the difference of observation targets of different sensors. Thus, our approach can learn appropriate wavelet filter coefficients fast and exactly. We built a real-world remote sensing image dataset from AGRI on FengYun-4A, and the experimental results on this dataset show that the proposed approach could effectively reduce the variable stripe noise from different observation targets. At the same time, an edge compensation method, which is fitted to the scanning model of the AGRI, is suggested to avoid ringing artifacts. Many applications, such as cloud detection with denoised images, show very good results. The proposed approach reduces the stripe noise adaptation, so the result is very steady even if the stripe noise varies with different targets, and edge compensation ensures that there are no obvious ringing artifacts in the full disk image joined by the ten sub-images.

The solar-assisted cold water phase-change energy heat pump system is a clean energy heating system which can effectively reduce the ice melting energy consumption of the cold-water phase-change energy heat pump system. In this paper, the operation mode of the solar-assisted cold-water phase-change energy heat pump system is given, three new ice melting methods are proposed, the performance of three ice melting modes using solar energy for thermal ice melting are simulated, and the influence of ice thickness on system operation is analyzed. The results show that among the three ice melting modes, the affected serial dual-source heat pump mode has the largest system COP, and the pure serial dual-source heat pump mode has the smallest annual total cost. Among the solar collector price, glycol price and electricity price, the change in solar collector price has the greatest impact on the total annual cost, and the change in glycol price has the least impact on the total annual cost. When the ice thickness exceeds 8 mm, the increase in the space heating of the solar-assisted cold water phase-change energy heat pump system becomes smaller, and the increase in heat consumption of ice melting becomes larger. The solar-assisted cold-water phase-change energy heat pump system can simultaneously melt ice and heat, and its economic benefits are significant, with good application and promotion value.

Non-invasive biomarkers to identify patients with bladder outlet obstruction (BOO)-related dysfunction are still needed to guide clinical practice. The current study aims to investigate molecular alterations and biomarkers associated with partial BOO (PBOO) in rats. Sprague–Dawley rats were used to establish the BOO model. Serum samples from 60 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) were used for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay analysis. RNA sequencing and TMT-labeling proteomic analyses were conducted to identify molecular alterations. Masson’s trichrome, H&E, and immunohistochemical staining and western blotting were conducted by using conventional methods following the manufacturer’s instructions. Rats with PBOO experienced hypertrophy of smooth muscle cells and hyperplasia of interstitial cells during the first 4 weeks after the initiation of obstruction. Four weeks later, rats with PBOO showed activation of the adaptive immune response, cell death and apoptosis. The levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) in the serum gradually increased in the first 4 weeks and gradually decreased after week 4. FGF2 levels slightly correlated with prostate volume (R = 0.156, P = 0.0028) but not with age or BMI in BPH patients. No correlations were found between BDNF levels and prostate volume, age or BMI. BOO induces a change from bladder compensation to decompensation at week 4. FGF2 is involved in the development of hypertrophy in the PBOO bladder and shows a positive correlation with prostate volume in BPH patients.

Spinal cord injury (SCI), one of the most severe types of neurological damage, results in persistent motor and sensory dysfunction and involves complex gene alterations. Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a recently discovered class of regulatory molecules, and their roles in SCI still need to be addressed. This study comprehensively investigated circRNA alterations in rats across a set time course (days 0, 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, and 28) after hemisection SCI at the right T9 site. A total of 360 differentially expressed circRNAs were identified using RNA sequencing. From these, the functions of the exonic circRNA_01477 were further explored in cultured spinal cord astrocytes. Knockdown of circRNA_01477 significantly inhibited astrocyte proliferation and migration. The circRNA_01477/microRNAs (miRNA)/messenger RNA (mRNA) interaction network was visualized following microarray assay. Among the downregulated differentially expressed mRNAs, four of the seven validated genes were controlled by miRNA-423-5p. We then demonstrated that miRNA-423-5p is significantly upregulated after circRNA_01477 depletion. In summary, this study provides, for the first time, a systematic evaluation of circRNA alterations following SCI and an insight into the transcriptional regulation of the genes involved. It further reveals that circRNA_01477/miR-423-5p could be a key regulator involved in regulating the changeable regeneration environment that occurs during recovery from SCI.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a challenging clinical problem worldwide. The cellular state and molecular expression in spinal cord tissue after injury are extremely complex and closely related to functional recovery. However, the spatial and temporal changes of gene expression and regulation in various cell types after SCI are still unclear. Here, we collected the rostral and caudal regions to the lesion at 11 time points over a period of 28 days after rat hemisection SCI. Combining whole-transcriptome sequencing and bioinformatic analysis, we identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between spinal cord tissue from injured and sham-operated animals. Significantly altered biological processes were enriched from DEGs in astrocytes, microglia, oligodendrocytes, immune cells, and vascular systems after SCI. We then identified dynamic trends in these processes using the average expression profiles of DEGs. Gene expression and regulatory networks for selected biological processes were also constructed to illustrate the complicate difference between rostral and caudal tissues. Finally, we validated the expressions of some key genes from these networks, including α-synuclein, heme oxygenase 1, bone morphogenetic protein 2, activating transcription factor 3, and leukemia inhibitory factor. Collectively, we provided a comprehensive network of gene expression and regulation to shed light on the molecular characteristics of critical biological processes that occur after SCI, which will broaden the understanding of SCI and facilitate clinical therapeutics for SCI.

Limited by the on-orbital calibration capability, scaling the measured radiance in accuracy and stability is challenging for the Earth observation satellites in the reflective solar bands (RSBs). Although the lunar calibration is a well-developed technique in the RSBs, limited work has been done for Chinese Earth observation satellites. To improve the on-orbital calibration performance, the advanced MEdium Resolution Spectral Imager (MERSI II), which is the primary payload of the fourth satellite of the Fengyun 3 Series (FY-3D), expands the space view angle of the imager in order to capture better lunar images. In this study, we propose an absolute radiometric calibration method based on the FY-3D/MERSI lunar observation data. A lunar irradiance model named ROLO/GIRO has been used together with the necessary data procedures, including dark current count estimation, single pixel irradiance calculation, and full disk lunar irradiance calculation. The calibration coefficients obtained by the lunar calibration are compared with the pre-launch laboratory calibration. The results show that the deviations between the two calibration procedures are in a reasonable range in general. However, a relatively high non-linear response was found in the low energy incidence for some detectors, which leads to the large deviation in the corresponding bands. This study explored an ideal and independent method to validate MERSI on-orbit radiometric performance. The lunar calibration practiced for MERSI also gave a valuable example that can be recommended to the other Chinese Earth observation satellites.

A lunar observation campaign was conducted using a hyper-spectral imaging spectrometer in Lijiang, China from December 2015 to February 2016. The lunar hyper-spectral images in the visible to near-infrared region (VNIR) have been obtained in different lunar phases with absolute scale established by the National Institute of Metrology (NIM), China using the lamp–plate calibration system. At the same time, the aerosol optical depth (AOD) is measured regularly by a lidar and a lunar CE318U for atmospheric characterization to provide nightly atmosphere extinction correction of lunar observations. This paper addressed the complicated data processing procedure in detail from raw images of the spectrometer into the spectral lunar irradiance in different lunar phases. The result of measurement shows that the imaging spectrometer can provide lunar irradiance with uncertainties less than 3.30% except for absorption bands. Except for strong atmosphere absorption region, the mean spectral irradiance difference between the measured irradiance and the ROLO (Robotic Lunar Observatory) model is 8.6 ± 2% over the course of the lunar observation mission. The ROLO model performs more reliable to clarify absolute and relative accuracy of lunar irradiance than that of the MT2009 model in different Sun–Moon–Earth geometry. The spectral ratio analysis of lunar irradiance shows that band-to-band variability in the ROLO model is consistent within 2%, and the consistency of the models in the lunar phase and spectrum is well analyzed and evaluated from phase dependence and phase reddening analysis respectively.

The 27.8 kDa membrane protein from flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) gill (FG) cells was previously identified as a putative cellular receptor involved in lymphocystis disease virus (LCDV) infection. In this paper, the expression of receptor-27.8 kDa (27.8R) and LCDV loads in FG cells and hirame natural embryo (HINAE) cells were investigated upon LCDV infection and anti-27.8R monoclonal antibody (MAb) treatment. The results showed the 27.8R was expressed and co-localized with LCDV in both FG and HINAE cell surface. After LCDV infection, the expression of 27.8R exhibited a dose-dependent up-regulation with the increasing of LCDV titers, and demonstrated a tendency to increase firstly and then decrease during a time course up to 9 days; LCDV copies showed a similar variation trend to the 27.8R expression, however, it reached the highest level later than did the 27.8R expression. Additionally, the 27.8R expression and LCDV copies in FG cells were higher than those in HINAE cells. In the presence of increasing concentration of the anti-27.8R MAbs, the up-regulation of 27.8R expression and the copy numbers of LCDV significantly declined post LCDV infection, and the cytopathic effect induced by LCDV in the two cell lines was accordingly reduced, indicating anti-27.8R MAbs pre-incubation could inhibit the up-regulation of 27.8R expression and LCDV infection. These results suggested that LCDV infection could induce up-regulation of 27.8R expression, which in turn increased susceptibility and availability of FG and HINAE cells for LCDV entry, providing important new insights into the LCDV replication cycle and the interaction between this virus and the host cells.

The low full-term developmental efficiency of porcine somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) embryos is mainly attributed to imperfect epigenetic reprogramming in the early embryos. However, dynamic expression patterns of histone methylation involved in epigenetic reprogramming progression during porcine SCNT embryo early development remain to be unknown. In this study, we characterized and compared the expression patterns of multiple histone methylation markers including transcriptionally repressive (H3K9me2, H3K9me3, H3K27me2, H3K27me3, H4K20me2 and H4K20me3) and active modifications (H3K4me2, H3K4me3, H3K36me2, H3K36me3, H3K79me2 and H3K79me3) in SCNT early embryos from different developmental stages with that from in vitro fertilization (IVF) counterparts. We found that the expression level of H3K9me2, H3K9me3 and H4K20me3 of SCNT embryos from 1-cell to 4-cell stages was significantly higher than that in the IVF embryos. We also detected a symmetric distribution pattern of H3K9me2 between inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE) in SCNT blastocysts. The expression level of H3K9me2 in both lineages from SCNT expanded blastocyst onwards was significantly higher than that in IVF counterparts. The expression level of H4K20me2 was significantly lower in SCNT embryos from morula to blastocyst stage compared with IVF embryos. However, no aberrant dynamic reprogramming of H3K27me2/3 occurred during early developmental stages of SCNT embryos. The expression of H3K4me3 was higher in SCNT embryos at 4-cell stage than that of IVF embryos. H3K4me2 expression in SCNT embryos from 8-cell stage to blastocyst stage was lower than that in the IVF embryos. Dynamic patterns of other active histone methylation markers were similar between SCNT and IVF embryos. Taken together, histone methylation exhibited developmentally stage-specific abnormal expression patterns in porcine SCNT early embryos.

A novel human gene, FN1BP1 (fibronectin 1 binding protein 1), was identified using the human placenta cDNA library. Northern blotting showed a transcript of ∼2.8 kb in human placenta, liver, and skeletal muscle tissues. This mRNA transcript length was similar to the full FN1BP1 sequence obtained previously. We established a conditionally induced stable cell line of Hep3B-Tet-on-FN1BP1 to investigate the preliminary function and mechanism of the secretory FN1BP1 protein. Cell-proliferation and colony-conformation assays demonstrated that FN1BP1 protein suppressed Hep3B cell growth and colonization in vitro. Analysis of Atlas human cDNA expression indicated that after FN1BP1 Dox-inducing expression for 24 h, 19 genes were up-regulated and 22 genes were down-regulated more than two-fold. Most of these gene changes were related to cell-cycle-arrest proteins (p21cip1, p15, and cyclin E1), transcription factors (general transcription factors, zinc finger proteins, transcriptional enhancer factors), SWI/SNF (SWItch/Sucrose NonFermentable) complex units, early-response proteins, and nerve growth or neurotrophic factors. Down-regulated genes were subject to colony-stimulating factors (e.g., GMSFs), and many repair genes were involved in DNA damage (RAD, ERCC, DNA topoisomerase, polymerase, and ligase). Some interesting genes (p21cip1, ID2, GMSF, ERCC5, and RPA1), which changed in the cDNA microarray analysis, were confirmed by semi-qRT-PCR, and similar changes in expression were observed. FCM cell-cycle analysis indicated that FN1BP1 over-expression could result in G1 phase arrest. FN1BP1 might inhibit cell growth and/or colony conformation through G1 phase arrest of the Hep3B cell cycle. These results indicate the potential role of FN1BP1 as a treatment target for hepatocellular carcinoma.

In intelligent perception and diagnosis of medical equipment, the visual and morphological changes in retinal vessels are closely related to the severity of cardiovascular diseases (e.g., diabetes and hypertension). Intelligent auxiliary diagnosis of these diseases depends on the accuracy of the retinal vascular segmentation results. To address this challenge, we design a Dual-Branch-UNet framework, which comprises a Dual-Branch encoder structure for feature extraction based on the traditional U-Net model for medical image segmentation. To be more explicit, we utilize a novel parallel encoder made up of various convolutional modules to enhance the encoder portion of the original U-Net. Then, image features are combined at each layer to produce richer semantic data and the model's capacity is adjusted to various input images. Meanwhile, in the lower sampling section, we give up pooling and conduct the lower sampling by convolution operation to control step size for information fusion. We also employ an attentionmodule in the decoder stage to filter the image noises so as to lessen the response of irrelevant features. Experiments are verified and compared on the DRIVE and ARIA datasets for retinal vessels segmentation. The proposed Dual-Branch-UNet has proved to be superior to other five typical state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Astrocyte activation and proliferation contribute to glial scar formation during spinal cord injury (SCI), which limits nerve regeneration. The long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in astrocyte proliferation and act as novel epigenetic regulators. Here, we found that lncRNA-LOC100909675 (LOC9675) expression promptly increased after SCI and that reducing its expression decreased the proliferation and migration of the cultured spinal astrocytes. Depletion of LOC9675 reduced astrocyte proliferation and facilitated axonal regrowth after SCI. LOC9675 mainly localized in astrocytic nuclei. We used RNA-seq to analyze gene expression profile alterations in LOC9675-depleted astrocytes and identified the cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1) gene as a hub candidate. Our RNA pull-down and RNA immunoprecipitation assays showed that LOC9675 directly interacted with the transcriptional regulator CCCTCbinding factor (CTCF). Dual-luciferase reporter and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays, together with downregulated/ upregulated expression investigation, revealed that CTCF is a novel regulator of the Cdk1 gene. Interestingly, we found that with the simultaneous overexpression of CTCF and LOC9675 in astrocytes, the Cdk1 transcript was restored to the normal level. We then designed the deletion construct of LOC9675 by removing its interacting region with CTCF and found this effect disappeared. A transcription inhibition assay using actinomycin D revealed that LOC9675 could stabilize Cdk1 mRNA, while LOC9675 depletion or binding with CTCF reduced Cdk1 mRNA stability. These data suggest that the cooperation between CTCF and LOC9675 regulates Cdk1 transcription at a steady level, thereby strictly controlling astrocyte proliferation. This study provides a novel perspective on the regulation of the Cdk1 gene transcript by lncRNA LOC9675. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kinesin-12 (also named Kif15) participates in important events during neuronal development, such as cell division of neuronal precursors, migration of young neurons and establishment of axons and dendritic arbors, by regulating microtubule organization. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms behind the functions of kinesin-12, and even less is known about its roles in other cell types of the nervous system. Here, we show that kinesin-12 depletion from cultured rat cortical astrocytes decreases cell proliferation but increases migration. Co-immunoprecipitation, GST pulldown and small interfering RNA (siRNA) experiments indicated that kinesin-12 directly interacts with myosin-IIB through their tail domains. Immunofluorescence analyses indicated that kinesin-12 and myosin-IIB colocalize in the lamellar region of astrocytes, and fluorescence resonance energy transfer analyses revealed an interaction between the two. The phosphorylation at Thr1142 of kinesin-12 was vital for their interaction. Loss of their interaction through expression of a phosphorylation mutant of kinesin-12 promoted astrocyte migration. We suggest that kinesin-12 and myosin-IIB can form a hetero-oligomer that generates force to integrate microtubules and actin filaments in certain regions of cells, and in the case of astrocytes, that this interaction can modulate their migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calpain 3 (CAPN3), also known as p94, is a skeletal muscle-specific member of the calpain family that is involved in muscular dystrophy; however, the roles of CAPN3 in muscular atrophy and regeneration are yet to be understood. In the present study, we attempted to explain the effect of CAPN3 in muscle atrophy by evaluating CAPN3 expression in rat gastrocnemius muscle following reversible sciatic nerve injury. After nerve injury, the wet weight ratio and cross sectional area (CSA) of gastrocnemius muscle were decreased gradually from 1-14 days and then recovery from 14-28 days. The active form of CAPN3 (~62 kDa) protein decreased slightly on day 3 and then increased from day 7 to 14 before a decrease from day 14 to 28. The result of linear correlation analysis showed that expression of the active CAPN3 protein level was negatively correlated with muscle wet weight ratio. CAPN3 knockdown by short interfering RNA (siRNA) injection improved muscle recovery on days 7 and 14 after injury as compared to that observed with control siRNA treatment. Depletion of CAPN3 gene expression could promote myoblast differentiation in L6 cells. Based on these findings, we conclude that the expression pattern of the active CAPN3 protein is linked to muscle atrophy and regeneration following denervation: its upregulation during early stages may promote satellite cell renewal by inhibiting differentiation, whereas in later stages, CAPN3 expression may be downregulated to stimulate myogenic differentiation and enhance recovery. These results provide a novel mechanistic insight into the role of CAPN3 protein in muscle regeneration after peripheral nerve injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 27.8 kDa membrane protein expressed in flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) gill cells was proved to be a receptor mediating lymphocystis disease virus (LCDV) infection. In this study, SDS-PAGE and Western blotting demonstrated that 27.8 kDa receptor (27.8R) was shared by flounder and turbot (Scophthalmus maximus). Indirect immunofluorescence assay (IIFA) and immunohistochemistry showed that 27.8R was widely expressed in tested tissues of healthy turbot. The indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay indicated that 27.8R expression was relatively higher in stomach, gill, heart, and intestine, followed by skin, head kidney, spleen, blood cells, kidney and liver, and lower in ovary and brain in healthy turbot, and it was significantly up-regulated after LCDV infection. Meanwhile, real-time quantitative PCR demonstrated that LCDV was detected in heart, peripheral blood cells, and head kidney at 3 h post infection (p.i.), and then in other tested tissues at 12 h p.i. LCDV copies increased in a time-dependent manner, and were generally higher in the tissues with higher 27.8R expression. Additionally, IIFA showed that 27.8R and LCDV were detected at 3 h p.i. in some leukocytes. These results suggested that 27.8R also served as a receptor in turbot, and LCDV can infect some leukocytes which might result in LCDV spreading to different tissues in turbot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C-X-C chemokine receptor 2 (CXCR2), a member of the G-protein-coupled receptor family, is an interleukin-8 receptor and results in the activation of neutrophils. To date, CXCR2 has been identified with many cell events, including inflammation, neovascularization, metastasis, and cell carcinogenesis. This study aimed to investigate alterations in the expression of CXCR2 in patients with brain gliomas and relationships with pathological grades and clinicopathological characteristics. Brain tissue specimens from 60 patients with glioma and 15 patients undergoing surgery for epilepsy (controls) were detected using streptavidin-perosidase immunohistochemistry. Western blotting was used to evaluate CXCR2 protein levels with fresh tissues derived from glioma cases or controls. Correlations between CXCR2 expression and clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed using SPSS software. The results showed high-grade gliomas with high CXCR2 expression as compared with normal tissues. The expression of CXCR2 was significantly related to high grades and recurrence of tumor but not to age or sex. During an in vitro wound healing assay, U251 migration was reduced when the CXCR2-specific inhibitor SB225002 was applied. Our results suggested that the high expression of CXCR2 in gliomas was closely correlated to the degree of malignancy and recurrence and that CXCR2 inhibition decreased the migration of glioma cells. Therefore, CXCR2 may serve as a potential therapeutic target for the recurrence and migration of gliomas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was designed to examine whether the frozen storage of porcine zygote medium (PZM) with 3 mg/ml of BSA was feasible for culturing porcine embryos. In experiment 1, the effect of PZM3 that was frozen and stored within one week on the in vitro developmental competence of porcine parthenotes was evaluated. PZM3 that was stored at 4°C served as control. The results show that the cleavage (83.9±1.2% vs. 84.5±1.8%, P>0.05) and blastocyst (65.2±2.1% vs. 63.1±3.8%, P>0.05) rates are similar between frozen-warmed PZM3 and the control. In addition, the total cell numbers per blastocyst (50±7 cells vs. 47±5 cells, P>0.05) were similar between the groups. In experiment 2, we tested whether PZM3 in frozen storage for 5 months was able to support the in vitro development of parthenotes similar to that supported by freshly made PZM3. The results show that no statistical differences were observed although the cleavage (97.8±2.7% vs. 90.7 ±3.1%, P>0.05) and blastocyst (75.4 ±1.6% vs. 65.1±2.3,P>0.05) rates in the control group were slightly higher than that in the test group. Also, we found no significant differences in the total cell numbers per blastocyst (48±7 cells vs. 46±6 cells, P>0.05) between the groups. In experiment 3, the effect of PZM3 frozen storage on the pre-implantation development of porcine-cloned embryos was investigated. Our results indicate no significant differences in the rates of cleavage (71.5±5.1% vs. 78.1±1.9%, P>0.05) and blastocyst formation (34.6±7.6% vs. 38.2±3.5%, P>0.05) as well as the total cell numbers per blastocyst (40±11 vs. 48±9, P>0.05) between the test and control groups. Taken together, our results imply that the frozen storage of PZM3 is feasible and of practical value for culturing parthenote and cloned porcine embryos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simulation method for investigating the vibration behavior of hoisting rope with time-varying length is improved. By previously creating markers in the MSC.ADAMS software package, the parametric model of the rope wound along helix is established based on the concentrated-mass theory with multi-degree of freedom (multi-DOF). A novel driving strategy, cooperating fixed joints with angle sensors under the control of driving script, is proposed to substitute conventional contact force. Researching on the hoisting rope in the sinking winch mechanism, an equivalent discretization model is obtained with complicated boundary conditions considered. The differential equations of motion of the hoisting system are formulated employing Lagrange's equation and numerically solved using Runge-Kutta method. The simulation indicates that the horizontal swing is decreased in principle and the simulation with 800 discrete ropes is not performed more than 61 min. Therefore, this feasible strategy could not only guarantee the accuracy but also promote simulation efficiency and stability. The motion curves exported from ADAMS simulation coincide with one in numerical simulation, which validates both the numerical model and the driving strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enolase2 gene is usually expressed in mature neurons and also named neuron specific enolase (NSE). In the present study, we first obtained the NSE gene cDNA sequence by using the RACE method based on the expressed sequence tag (EST) fragment from the cDNA library of Gekko japonicus and identified one transcript of about 2.2 kb in central nervous system of Gekko japonicus by Northern blotting. The open reading frame of NSE is 1305 bp, which encodes a 435 amino-acid protein. We further investigated the multi-tissue expression pattern of NSE by RT-PCR and found that the expression of NSE mRNA was very high in brain, spinal cord and low in heart, while it was not detectable in other tissues. The real-time quantitative PCR was used to investigate the time-dependent change in the expression of the NSE mRNA level after gecko spinal cord transection and found it significantly increased at one day, reaching its highest level three days post-injury and then decreasing at the seventh day of the experiment. The recombinant plasmid of pET-32a-NSE was constructed and induced to express His fused NSE protein. The purified NSE protein was used to immunize rabbits to generate polyclonal antisera. The titer of the antiserum was more than 1:65536 determined by ELISA. Western blotting showed that the prepared antibody could specifically recognize the recombinant and endogenous NSE protein. The result of immunohistochemistry revealed that positive signals were present in neurons of the brain and the spinal cord. This study provided the tools of cDNA and polyclonal antibody for studying NSE function in Gekko japonicus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We designed and simulated a composite structure metamaterial absorber involving a metal particles array embedded in the dielectric layer. An absorption peak (83%) is achieved at 703 nm which is excited by the local surface plasmon (LSP) modes resonance between metal particles and the metal bottom substrate. Simulated results indicate that the absorption property of the metamaterial absorber can be modulated through optimizing the horizontal distance between metal particles. The electric field enhancement effect is found between metal particles and the metal substrate, which leads to the absorption property enhanced. The electric field intensity of LSP modes of the proposed structure is higher than that of the pure metal particles structure. The electric field enhancement factor is adopted to reveal the electric field enhanced effect. The application of the metamaterial absorber is revealed based on the figure of merit (FOM) value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neural stem cells (NSCs) proliferation and differentiation rely on proper expression and posttranslational modification of transcription factors involved in the determination of cell fate. Further characterization is needed to connect modifying enzymes with their transcription factor substrates in the regulation of these processes. Here, we demonstrated that the inhibition of KAT2A, a histone acetyltransferase, leads to a phenotype of small eyes in the developing embryo of zebrafish, which is associated with enhanced proliferation and apoptosis of NSCs in zebrafish eyes. We confirmed that this phenotype is mediated by the elevated level of PAX6 protein. We further verified that KAT2A negatively regulates PAX6 at the protein level in cultured neural stem cells of rat cerebral cortex. We revealed that PAX6 is a novel acetylation substrate of KAT2A and the acetylation of PAX6 promotes its ubiquitination mediated by the E3 ligase RNF8 that facilitated PAX6 degradation. Our study proposes that KAT2A inhibition results in accelerated proliferation, delayed differentiation, or apoptosis, depending on the context of PAX6 dosage. Thus, the KAT2A/PAX6 axis plays an essential role to keep a balance between the self-renewal and differentiation of NSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Histone H3 lysine 27 acetylation (H3K27ac) is an active epigenetic modification which has been revealed to be associated with active gene expression. It was hypothesized that H3K27ac might also participate in the porcine somatic reprogramming process during early development of SCNT-derived embryos. The spatial and temporal expression profiles of H3K27ac were investigated at different developmental stages in SCNT embryos compared with in vitro fertilization (IVF) and parthenogenetic activation (PA) counterparts. Specifically, results showed that amounts of H3K27ac gradually decreased from the earliest pronuclear stage to 8-cell stage, corresponding to the major embryonic genome activation (EGA), followed by re-acetylation of H3K27 from the morula stage onwards accompanying the first cell lineage specification in IVF embryos. Similar dynamic patterns of H3K27ac signal was observed at all developmental stages of porcine SCNT and PA embryos except for the hatched stage in which amounts of H3K27ac in SCNT and PA embryos was slightly less than that in IVF counterparts. Moreover, the gradual decrease of H3K27ac before EGA was demonstrated to be an active process independent of DNA replication, RNA and protein synthesis. The expression of HDAC1, HDAC2, MBD3 and CBP genes were well correlated with the dynamic changes of H3K27ac mark. Overall, these results indicate that H3K27ac is only defective in late SCNT blastocysts, and that the dynamic changes of this marker might also underlie the EGA and initial cell lineage specification during early embryo development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]