Search

Vacuolar protein sorting 36 (VPS36), a protein primarily known for its role in the Endosomal Sorting Complex Required for Transport pathway, has recently been shown to be linked to chicken reproduction. Previous research showed that Vps36 is significantly downregulated in sexually mature chicken ovaries compared to immature ones. In this study, using real-time quantitative RT-PCR, we investigated the expression pattern of Vps36 and its head-to-head gene Ckap2 mRNA in chicken follicles. Small white follicles were found to have significantly higher expression of Vps36 and Ckap2 mRNA than any other sized follicles (P

The modern plant breeding is generally considered to be a practice that leads to a narrowing in genetic diversity of crops. The objective of the present study was to assess whether this practice has led to the reduction of genetic diversity in modern Chinese wheat cultivars. A set of 80 dominant Chinese wheat cultivars released from 1942 to 2011 was used to describe the genetic diversity based on 137 simple sequence repeat (SSR) and 52 functional markers. Several important properties about the genetic diversity were revealed. First, relative low genetic diversity level was detected on a genome-wide scale. A total of 752 alleles were detected with a range from 1 to 15, and the mean polymorphic information content value was 0.53 with a range from 0.00 to 0.87. Second, the genetic diversity significantly decreased from 2001 to 2011 at the genome-wide level. More importantly, significant differences of genetic diversity among the three different genomes were observed by the analysis of variance (ANOVA). The three genomes had clearly different changing trends over time: the A genome displayed a decreasing trend (regression coefficient ( b) = −0.01); in contrast, the other two genomes, B and D, showed the increasing trends ( b = 0.01 for the B genome, P = 0.05; b = 0.01 for the D genome, P = 0.05). Third, the analysis of qualitative variations in allelic composition over time indicated that, the more recent the cultivars were, the more similar they were to each other. Finally, the frequencies of favorable alleles related to important agronomic traits had been increasing over time or maintained high frequencies in all seven temporal groups. These findings indicate that modern wheat breeding results in not only a qualitative, but also a quantitative change in genetic diversity in the dominant Chinese wheat cultivars. A special attention should be paid to broaden the genetic base in the A genome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the problem of non-fragile and mode-dependent $$H_{\infty }$$ filter design for a class of nonlinear stochastic Markovian jump systems with mode-dependent time-varying delays and norm-bounded parameter uncertainties. The non-fragile and mode-dependent filter to be designed is assumed to include multiplicative gain variations which result from inaccuracies in filter implementation, and the desired filter ensures the filtering error system is not only exponentially mean-square stable, but also satisfies a prescribed $$H_{\infty }$$ -norm level for all admissible uncertainties. A stochastic Lyapunov-Krasovskii function is proposed to reflect the information of Markovian jump modes and the mode-dependent time-varying delays, and a set of strict linear matrix inequalities are utilized to derive sufficient conditions that guarantee the desired filter can be constructed. A numerical example and a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) helicopter system are utilized to illustrate the effectiveness and usefulness of the main results obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Xindening oral liquid (Xin) is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of chronic heart failure (CHF). However, the exact mechanisms related to its therapeutic effects against CHF remain unclear. In the present study, we investigate the effects of Xin on cardiac function in CHF rats and the possible mechanisms involved., Methods: Transverse aortic constriction (TAC) was conducted to induce a CHF rat model in this study. Sixty male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to six groups 28 days after TAC: sham; CHF model; Xin at concentrations of 5 ml/kg, 10 mL/kg, and 20 mL/kg; and QiLi 0.6 g/kg. After four weeks, the rats were treated with Xin (5, 10, or 20 mL/kg/d) for six weeks consecutively. At the end of the study, the cardiac function, heart weight index (HWI) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI), serum level of LDH, B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), cTnI and CK-MB, and collagen volume fraction were studied. The expression of transforming growth factor-ß1 (TGF-ß1), drosophila mothers against decapentaplegic protein 3 (Smad3), and p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) were detected., Results: The results showed that Xin treatment significantly improved cardiac function but decreased the serum level of LDH, BNP, cTnI, and CKMB of CHF rats. In addition, it reduced the HWI, LVMI, and collagen volume fraction compared with the model group. Xin treatment significantly improved cardiac function and attenuated cardiac fibrosis by suppressing the p38 MAPK and TGF-ß1/Smad3 signaling pathway in CHF rats., Conclusion: These results suggested that Xin might be a promising complementary treatment for CHF. More detailed experimental studies will be carried out in our subsequent research.