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Growth hormone secretagogue receptor 1a (GHS-R1a) is an important G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) that regulates a variety of functions by binding to ghrelin. It has been shown that the dimerization of GHS-R1a with other receptors also affects ingestion, energy metabolism, learning and memory. Dopamine type 2 receptor (D2R) is a GPCR mainly distributed in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), substantia nigra (SN), striatum and other brain regions. In this study we investigated the existence and function of GHS-R1a/D2R heterodimers in nigral dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson’s disease (PD) models in vitro and in vivo. By conducting immunofluorescence staining, FRET and BRET analyses, we confirmed that GHS-R1a and D2R could form heterodimers in PC-12 cells and in the nigral dopaminergic neurons of wild-type mice. This process was inhibited by MPP+ or MPTP treatment. Application of QNP (10 μM) alone significantly increased the viability of MPP+-treated PC-12 cells, and administration of quinpirole (QNP, 1 mg/kg, i.p. once before and twice after MPTP injection) significantly alleviated motor deficits in MPTP-induced PD mice model; the beneficial effects of QNP were abolished by GHS-R1a knockdown. We revealed that the GHS-R1a/D2R heterodimers could increase the protein levels of tyrosine hydroxylase in the SN of MPTP-induced PD mice model through the cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) signaling pathway, ultimately promoting dopamine synthesis and release. These results demonstrate a protective role for GHS-R1a/D2R heterodimers in dopaminergic neurons, providing evidence for the involvement of GHS-R1a in PD pathogenesis independent of ghrelin.

Background Napsin B Aspartic Peptidase, Pseudogene (NAPSB) was associated with CD4 + T cell infiltration in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. However, the biological role of NAPSB in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains to be determined. Methods The expression of NAPSB in HCC as well as its clinicopathological association were analyzed using data from several public datasets. qRT-PCR was used to verify the relative expression of NAPSB in patients with HCC using the Zhongnan cohort. Kaplan–Meier analyses, and univariate and multivariate Cox regression were conducted to determine the prognosis value of NAPSB on patients with HCC. Then enrichment analyses were performed to identify the possible biological functions of NAPSB. Subsequently, the immunological characteristics of NAPSB in the HCC tumor microenvironment (TME) were demonstrated comprehensively. The role of NAPSB in predicting hot tumors and its impact on immunotherapy and chemotherapy responses was also analyzed by bioinformatics methods. Results NAPSB was downregulated in patients with HCC and high NAPSB expression showed an improved survival outcome. Enrichment analyses showed that NAPSB was related to immune activation. NAPSB was positively correlated with immunomodulators, tumor-infiltrating immune cells, T cell inflamed score and cancer-immunity cycle, and highly expressed in immuno-hot tumors. High expression of NAPSB was sensitive to immunotherapy and chemotherapy, possibly due to its association with pyroptosis, apoptosis and necrosis. Conclusions NAPSB was correlated with an immuno-hot and inflamed TME, and tumor cell death. It can be utilized as a promising predictive marker for prognosis and therapy in HCC.

The conventional gravity gradient method to plot the geologic body location is fuzzy. When the depth is large and the geologic body is small, the Vzz and Vzx derivative errors are also large. We describe that using the status distinguishing factor to optimally determine the corner location is more accurate than the conventional higher-order derivative method. Thus, a better small geologic body and fault resolution is obtained by using the gravity gradient method and trial theoretical model calculation. The actual data is better processed, providing a better basis for prospecting and determination of subsurface geologic structure.

Falling fuel film on the spirally fluted surface of a horizontal tube can provide rapid fuel evaporation and homogeneous mixture formation. This fuel film combustion could be applied in a micro-combustion system even without a fuel pump. A test bed was established and experimental comparisons were made between the prototype and a transferred cup atomizer micro-combustor. The theoretical and experimental results show that film combustion has a higher combustion efficiency, a lower pollutant emission and a better working performance.

There has been a quickly growing interest in properties of complex networks, such as the small world property, power-law degree distribution, network transitivity, and community structure, which seem to be common to many real world networks. In this study, we consider the community property which is also found in many real networks. Based on the diffusion kernels of networks, a hierarchical clustering approach is proposed to uncover the community structure of different extent of complex networks. We test the method on some networks with known community structures and find that it can detect significant community structure in these networks. Comparison with related methods shows the effectiveness of the method.

This study investigates the heat and mass transfer mechanism of a marine engine exhaust-powered adsorption refrigerating system by using irreversible thermodynamics. The equations of entropy-production rate and the linear phenomenological equations of thermodynamic flux and force are established. The conventional experimental facilities of unit tube are developed and the phenomenological coefficients are obtained by fitting the experimental data. It is concluded that the thermodynamic process in the adsorbent bed is determined by the coupling effect of the heat and mass transfer; furthermore, the mass transfer is determined by the heat transfer. Taking some measures to increase heat transfer can improve the performance of the adsorption refrigerating system. The conclusions presented in this paper may be of value to the engineering applications of the system.

Wetlands in the Jianghan Plain are important components of wetland types in lake area in the middle and lower reaches the Changjiang (Yangtze) River and they fulfill many uses and functions related to hydrology, waste assimilation, ecosystem productivity and biodiversity. Owing to natural factors and human activities, especially excessive reclamation from lakes, the shrinking process of the lakes has been accelerated. Wetland ecosystem has shown the characteristics of vulnerability. According to the analysis of wetland ecological function in the Jianghan Plain, this paper presented an index system related to productivity, stability and environmental capacity. By using the method of Analytic Hierarchy Process, we computed the values of the relative weights of the indexes, and evaluated the vulnerability level of the wetland ecosystem by the method of multi-indexes. The case study showed that the fragile extent of wetland ecosystem in the Jianghan Plain is 5.6. This means that the wetland ecosystem in the Jianghan Plain is laid to the state of middle vulnerability. Therefore, the wetland conservation and eco-rehabilitation in the Jianghan Plain should be paid attention to.

Understanding the factors that shape the evolution of gene expression is a central goal in biology, but the molecular mechanisms behind this remain controversial. A related major goal is ascertaining how such factors may affect the adaptive potential of a species or population. Here we demonstrate that temperature-driven gene expression changes in fish adapted to differing thermal environments are constrained by the level of gene pleiotropy estimated by either the number of protein interactions or gene biological processes. Genes with low pleiotropy levels were the main drivers of both plastic and evolutionary global expression profile changes, while highly pleiotropic genes had limited expression response to temperature treatment. Our study provides critical insights into the molecular mechanisms by which natural populations can adapt to changing environments. In addition to having important implications for climate change adaptation, these results suggest that gene pleiotropy should be considered more carefully when interpreting expression profiling data., The factors that shape the evolution of gene expression and their role in adaptation are poorly understood. Here, Papakostas et al. show that gene pleiotropy constrains protein expression evolution in freshwater salmonids adapted to different temperatures.