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A graph Γ is G -symmetric if G is a group of automorphisms of Γ which is transitive on the set of ordered pairs of adjacent vertices of Γ. If V (Γ) admits a nontrivial G -invariant partition B such that for blocks B , C ∈ B adjacent in the quotient graph Γ B of Γ relative to B , exactly one vertex of B has no neighbour in C , then Γ is called an almost multicover of Γ B. In this case an incidence structure with point set B arises naturally, and it is a (G , 2) -point-transitive and G -block-transitive 2-design if in addition Γ B is a complete graph. In this paper we classify all G -symmetric graphs Γ such that (i) B has block size | B | ≥ 3 ; (ii) Γ B is complete and almost multi-covered by Γ ; (iii) the incidence structure involved is a linear space; and (iv) G contains a regular normal subgroup which is elementary abelian. This classification together with earlier results in Gardiner and Praeger (2018), Giulietti et al. (2013) and Fang et al. (2016) completes the classification of symmetric graphs satisfying (i) and (ii). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• pSmad3C+/− abates the hepatoprotective effect of AS-IV in heterozygous mice, the potential mechanism involves deactivating Nrf2/HO-1 pathway, as well as shifting pSmad3C/p21 tumour-suppressive to pSmad3L/PAI-1//c-Myc oncogenic. • Up-regulated pSmad3C using Smad3 EPSM plasmid in vitro intensify inhibitory effect of AS-IV on cell proliferation, migration, invasion and excessive production of ROS components followed by a shift of pSmad3L to pSmad3C and activation of Nrf2/HO-1 activity; similarly, opposite actions occur when upregulated pSmad3L. • Nrf2 conventional knockout abated AS-IV's carcinostatic effect by promoting pSmad3C/p21 to pSmad3L/PAI-1//c-Myc accompany with Nrf2 inactivation. • Nrf2 knockdown using a lentivirus-carried shRNA delivery system slacked the suppressive effects of AS-IV on cell phenotypes accompanied by conversion of pSmad3C to pSmad3L and inactivation of Nrf2/HO-1 signal. Complementarily, Nrf2 overexpression acquired a contrary result. • AS-IV exerts anti-hepatocarcinogenesis effect via the bidirectional crosstalk of pSmad3C/3 L and Nrf2/HO-1 signal. More importantly, taking the two into account, we put forward that the Nrf2-mediated pSmad3C/3 L transformation is the basis of AS-IV's anti-HCC therapy. Phosphorylated Smad3 isoforms are reversible and antagonistic, and the tumour-suppressive pSmad3C can shift to an oncogenic pSmad3L signal. In addition, Nrf2 has a two-way regulatory effect on tumours, protecting normal cells from carcinogens and promoting tumour cell survival in chemotherapeutics. Accordingly, we hypothesised that the transformation of pSmad3C/3L is the basis for Nrf2 to produce both pro- and/or anti-tumourigenic effects in hepatocarcinogenesis. Astragaloside IV (AS-IV), the major component of Astragalus membranaceus , exerts anti-fibrogenic and carcinogenic actions. Lately, AS-IV administration could delay the occurrence of primary liver cancer by persistently inhibiting the fibrogenesis and regulating pSmad3C/3 L and Nrf2/HO-1 pathways synchronously. However, effect of AS-IV on hepatocarcinogenesis implicated in the bidirectional cross-talking of pSmad3C/3 L and Nrf2/HO-1 signalling, especially which one contributes palpably than the other still remains unclear. This study aims to settle the above questions by using in vivo (pSmad3C+/− and Nrf2−/− mice) and in vitro (plasmid- or lentivirus- transfected HepG2 cells) models of HCC. The correlation of Nrf2 to pSmad3C/pSmad3L in HepG2 cells was analysed by Co-immunoprecipitation and dual-luciferase reporter assay. Pathological changes of Nrf2, pSmad3C, and pSmad3L in human HCC patients, pSmad3C+/- mice, and Nrf2−/- mice were gauged by immunohistochemical, haematoxylin and eosin staining, Masson, and immunofluorescence assays. Finally, western blot and qPCR were used to verify the bidirectional cross-talking of pSmad3C/3L and Nrf2/HO-1 signalling protein and mRNA in vivo and in vitro models of HCC. Histopathological manifestations and biochemical indicators revealed that pSmad3C+/- could abate the ameliorative effects of AS-IV on fibrogenic/carcinogenic mice with Nrf2/HO-1 deactivation and pSmad3C/p21 transform to pSmad3L/PAI-1//c-Myc. As expected, cell experiments confirmed that upregulating pSmad3C boosts the inhibitory activity of AS-IV on phenotypes (cell proliferation, migration and invasion), followed by a shift of pSmad3L to pSmad3C and activation of Nrf2/HO-1. Synchronously, experiments in Nrf2−/- mice and lentivirus-carried Nrf2shRNA cell echoed the results of pSmad3C knockdown. Complementarily, Nrf2 overexpression resulted in the opposite result. Furthermore, Nrf2/HO-1 contributes to AS-IV's anti-HCC effect palpably compared with pSmad3C/3L. These studies highlight that harnessing the bidirectional crosstalk pSmad3C/3 L and Nrf2/HO-1, especially Nrf2/HO-1 signalling, acts more effectively in AS-IV's anti-hepatocarcinogenesis, which may provide an important theoretical foundation for the use of AS-IV against HCC. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Some cationic antibacterial peptides exhibit a broad spectrum of cytotoxic activity against cancer cells, which could provide a new class of anticancer drugs. In the present study, the anticancer activity of ABP-CM4, an antibacterial peptide from Bombyx mori, against leukemic cell lines THP-1, K562 and U937 was evaluated, and the cytotoxicity compared with the effects on non-cancerous mammalian cells, including peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), HEK-293 and erythrocytes. ABP-CM4 reduced the number of viable cells of the leukemic cell lines after exposure for 24h. The reduction was concentration dependent, and the IC50 values ranged from 14 to 18μM. Conversely, ABP-CM4, even at 120μM, exhibited no cytotoxicity toward HEK-293 or PBMCs, indicating that there was no significant effect on these two types of non-cancer cells. ABP-CM4 at a concentration of 200μM had no hemolytic activity on mammalian erythrocytes. Together, these results suggested a selective cytotoxicity in leukemia cells. Flow cytometry demonstrated that the binding activity of ABP-CM4 to leukemia cells was much higher than that to HEK-293 or PBMCs, and there was almost no binding to erythrocytes. FITC-labeled ABP-CM4 molecules were examined under a confocal microscope and found to be concentrated at the surface of leukemia cells and changes of the cell membrane were determined by a cell permeability assay, which led us to the conclusion that ABP-CM4 could act at the cell membrane for its anticancer activity on leukemia cells. Collectively, our results indicated that ABP-CM4 has the potential for development as a novel antileukemic agent. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

2,5-Dihydroxymethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine (liguzinediol) has been recently discovered as a potential agent for treatment of heart failure with low safety risk. In the present study, four main metabolites of liguzinediol were synthesized and their positive inotropic activities were evaluated. Synthetic compounds were identical with the isolated metabolites of liguzinediol. Pharmacological examinations showed that the four major metabolites were not observed positive inotropic activity, and revealed that the positive inotropic activity of liguzinediol was essentially attributed to the parent agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, we study the following operator equation: in a Banach space , where is an accretive mapping, is a nonlinear mapping and . Various existence results of solutions of nonlinear operator equations in Banach spaces are obtained under a countably condensing type condition. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• The pollinia of Anoectochilus roxburghii occurs at the sporogenous cell stage. • A callose wall forms on the pollinium surface, but not inside the pollinium. • A exine forms on the pollinium surface, but not inside the pollinium. The pollen grains of Anoectochilus roxburghii aggregate in pollinia. The aim of this study was to analyse the structural characteristics of pollinium development in A. roxburghii. Features of the pollinia begin to form in the sporogenous cells, in which some cell walls begin to differentiate to form the outline of the pollinia. During development of the microspore mother cells (MMCs), the nucleus and organelles penetrate the cell walls (cytomixis) between MMCs within a pollinium, but not between the MMCs among different pollinia. A thick callose wall forms on the surface of the pollinia, but not between MMCs inside the pollinium. After meiosis, a sporopollenin exine forms on the surface of the pollinia, but not on the surface of pollen grains inside the pollinium. The mature pollen of A. roxburghii is bicellular and consists of a vegetative cell and a generative cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, an omnidirectional photonic band gap (OBG) which originates from Bragg gap compared to gap or single negative (negative permittivity or negative permeability) gap, is realized by one-dimensional (1D) superconductor-dielectric photonic crystals (SDPCs) with ternary Thue–Mores aperiodic structure, which is composed of superconductor and two kinds of homogeneous, isotropic dielectric is theoretically investigated by the transfer matrix method (TMM) in detail. Such OBG is insensitive to the incident angle and the polarization of electromagnetic wave (EM wave). From the numerical results, the bandwidth and central frequency of OBG can be notably enlarged by tuning the thickness of superconductor and dielectric layers but cease to change with increasing Thue–Mores order. The OBG also can be manipulated by the ambient temperature of system especially close to the critical temperature. Moreover, the damping coefficient of superconductor has no effect on the bandwidth of OBG under low-temperature condition. These results may provide theoretical instructions to design the future optoelectronic devices based on superconductor. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the present study, the cDNA of Père David’s deer APRIL (miAPRIL) was successfully amplified, and nucleotide sequence analysis showed that the open reading frame (ORF) of miAPRIL consists of 753 bases encoding 250-amino acids. Phylogenetic analysis exhibited high homology with the even-toed ungulates (artiodactyla). The extracellular soluble domain of the miAPRIL (misAPRIL) fragment was cloned into the expression vector pET43.1a and transformed into Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) for recombinant expression. SDS–PAGE and western blotting analysis indicated that misAPRIL protein expression was successfully achieved. Indirect immunofluorescence staining demonstrated that misAPRIL has the ability to bind to the surface of Père David’s deer lymphocytes. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that misAPRIL was able to enhance lymphocytes survival in a dose-dependent manner. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Antibacterial peptides (ABPs) with cancer-selective toxicity have received much more attention as alternative chemotherapeutic agents in recent years. However, the basis of their anticancer activity remains unclear. The modification of cell surface glycosylation is a characteristic of cancer cells. The present study investigated the effect of glycosylation, in particular sialic acid, on the anticancer activity of ABPs. We showed that aurein 1.2, buforin IIb and BMAP-28m exhibited selective cytotoxicity toward MX-1 and MCF-7 breast cancer cells. The binding activity, cytotoxicity and apoptotic activity of ABPs were enhanced by the presence of O-, N-glycoproteins, gangliosides and sialic acid on the surface of breast cancer cells. Among N-, O-glycoproteins and ganglioside, O-glycoproteins almost had the strongest effect on the binding and cytotoxicity of the three peptides. Further, up-regulation of hST6Gal1 in CHO-K1 cells enhanced the susceptibility of cells to these peptides. Finally, the growth of MX-1 xenograft tumors in mice was significantly suppressed by buforin IIb treatment, which was associated with induction of apoptosis and inhibition of vascularization. These data demonstrate that the three peptides bind to breast cancer cells via an interaction with surface O-, N-glycoproteins and gangliosides. Sialic acids act as key glycan binding sites for cationic ABP binding to glycoproteins and gangliosides. Therefore, glycosylation in breast cancer cells plays an important role in the anticancer activity of ABPs, which may partly explain their cancer-selective toxicity. Anticancer ABPs with cancer-selective cytotoxicity will be promising candidates for anticancer therapy in the future. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Antibacterial peptides CM4 (ABP-CM4) is a linear cationic peptide that has antimicrobial properties. To explore a new approach of expression of ABP-CM4 in methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris, the gene of ABP-CM4 was obtained by recursive PCR (rPCR) and cloned into the vector pPICZaA. The SacI-linearized plasmid pPICZaA-CM4 was transformed into P. pastoris GS115 by electroporation. The expression was induced about 72h with 0.5% methanol at 20°C, supplied with 2% casamino acids to avoid proteolysis, and approximately 40mg ABP-CM4 was secreted into 1L of medium. Recombinant ABP-CM4 was purified through size-exclusion chromatography and 15mg pure active ABP-CM4 was obtained from 1L culture. Tricine–SDS–PAGE indicated that recombinant ABP-CM4 was secreted as a protein of around 3.8kDa. The recombinant ABP-CM4 appears to be successfully expressed, as it displays antibacterial and antifungal activity (antibacterial assay, polyarylamide gel electrophoresis, and antifungal assay) indistinguishable from those of natural protein. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]