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This study aimed to create prognostic signatures to predict AML patients' survival using alternative splicing (AS) events. The AS data, RNA sequencing data, and the survival statistics of 136 AML patients were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and TCGA SpliceSeq databases. Total 34,984 AS events generated from 8,656 genes, 2,583 of which were survival-associated AS events, were identified using univariate Cox regression. The prognostic models constructed using independent survival-associated AS events revealed that low-risk splicing better predicted patients' survival. ROC analysis indicated that the predictive efficacy of the alternate terminator model was best in the area under the curve at 0.781. Enrichment analysis revealed several important genes (TP53, BCL2, AURKB, PPP2R1B, FOS, and BIRC5) and pathways, such as the protein processing pathway in the endoplasmic reticulum, RNA transport pathway, and HTLV-I infection pathway. The splicing network of splicing events and factors revealed interesting interactions, such as the positive correlation between HNRNPH3 and CALHM2-13010-AT, which may indicate the potential splicing regulatory mechanism. Taken together, survival-associated splicing events and the prognostic signatures for predicting survival can help provide an overview of splicing in AML patients and facilitate clinical practice. The splicing regulatory network may improve the understanding of spliceosomes in AML.

The accumulation and spatial distribution of economically important petroleum in sedimentary basins are primarily controlled by its migration from source rocks through permeable carrier beds to reservoirs. Tracing petroleum migration entails the use of molecular indices established according to sorption capacities of polar molecules in migrating petroleum. However, little is known about molecular sorption capacities in natural migration systems, rendering these indices unreliable. Here, we present a new approach based on a novel concept of relative sorption coefficient for quantitatively assessing sorption capacities of polar molecules during natural petroleum migration. Using this approach, we discovered previously unrecognized “stripping” and “impeding” effects that significantly reduce the sorption capacities of polar compounds. These discoveries provide new insights into the behaviors of polar compounds and can easily explain why traditional molecular indices yield incorrect information about petroleum migration. In light of these new findings, we established new molecular indices for tracing petroleum migration. We demonstrate via case studies that the newly established indices, unlike traditional molecular indices, are reliable and effective in tracing petroleum migration. Our approach can be applied to diverse basins around the world to reveal distribution patterns of petroleum, which would decrease environmental risks of exploration by reducing unsuccessful wells.

To investigate the characteristics of children male soccer players' ankle imaging features.From October 2015 to February 2016, a total of 32 male children players of two soccer clubs in Guangzhou were enrolled in this study.The ages of all cases were from 10 to 14 years, average age was (11.3±0.9) years.A total of 15 male children in region ordinary primary and secondary school students were set as control group, ages were from 10 to 14 years, average age was (12.1±1.2) years. All objects' ankle were examined by X-ray for positive and lateral positions; routine CT scanning and then on the workstation restructuring for axial, coronal and sagittal slices; and examined by MR. MR scan was with special surface coil for ankle joint for horizontal axis T2WI; coronal T1WI; coronary proton density weighted imaging (PWI); sagittal T2WI with fat suppression; sagittal PWI with isotropic and fat suppression sequence of fast field echo. The ankle bone morphological structures were observed on X-ray; the ankle bone mineral density, cortical bone thickness and sesamoid bone quantity was being observed and measured on CT; and the tenosynovitis, Achilles tendinitis, synovitis, and cancellous bone edema signal were observed on MR.For study group, a total of 32 cases and 64 ankles joints were completed by X-ray, CT and MR examination.A total of 15 cases and 30 ankles joints were completed by X-ray in control group, 26 ankle joints were completed by CT scan and 22 ankle joints were completed by MR examination.X-ray examination showed there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in ankle bone structure.CT showed that navicular bone CT value was (296±82) HU in research group and navicular bone CT value was (266±107) HU in control group, the difference was statistically significant (P=0.03). MR showed the incidence of diseases in research group that the tendon sheath peripheral inflammation was 92.2% (59/64), Achilles tendon lesions was 18.8%(12/64), edema of cancellous bone was 73.4% (47/64) , lateral malleous ligaments injuried was 43.8%(28/64), synovitis or effusion in posterior ankle was 87.5% (56/64). The incidence of diseases in control group was that tendon sheath peripheral inflammation was 31.8%(7/22), Achilles tendon lesions was 0/22, edema of cancellous bone was 0/22, lateral malleous ligaments injuried was 0/22, synovitis or effusion in posterior ankle was 54.5% (12/22). There was statistically significant difference between these two groups (all P0.05).Compared with the control group, children's male soccer players ankle bone structure, bone cortex thickness and bone mineral density there were no obvious difference. In the tenosynovitis, Achilles tendinitis, synovitis, bone marrow edema, lateral malleous ligaments injuried were significantly higher than the control group.

Different protocols incorporating methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MBCD) and reduced glutathione (GSH) have been reported to improve IVF recovery of cryopreserved mouse sperm on a C57BL/6 (J and N) genetic background. However, it is not clear which IVF protocol is most appropriate when using the various methods to cryorecover sperm with different sperm quality and sample volumes. Therefore, in the present study we correlated sperm motility with fertilization rate and compared the efficiency of different IVF methods using various sperm samples so as to establish general guidelines for mouse sperm cryorecovery by IVF. High linear correlation between sperm fertilization rate and progressive motility was found, R(2) was 0.9623 and 0.9993 for pre-freezing and post-thaw progressive motility, respectively. High amounts of cryoprotective agent (CPA) were observed to impair both sperm capacitation and fertilization. Moreover, the presence of a large number of immotile sperm in the sperm-oocyte co-incubation drop was found to reduce IVF success which could be partially reversed by supplementation using monothioglycerol (MTG) during centrifugation. It was concluded that the efficiency of IVF using cryorecovered mouse sperm in media containing MBCD and GSH can be predicted from sperm progressive motility. High concentrations of CPA and immotile sperm should be mitigated prior to IVF. The optimum IVF method should be selected based on sperm sample volume and sperm parameters.

The measurement and determination of the lithium ion battery's electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and the application of EIS to battery classification are researched in this paper. The lithium ion battery gets extensive applications due to its inherent advantages over other batteries. For proper and sustainable performance, it is very necessary to check the uniformity of the lithium ion batteries. In this paper, the equivalent circuit of the lithium ion battery is analyzed; the design of hardware circuit based on DSP and software that calculates the EIS of the lithium ion battery is critically done and evaluated. The parameters of the lithium ion equivalent circuit are determined, the parameter values of li-ion equivalent circuit are achieved by least square method, and the application of Principal Component Analysis (CPA) to the battery classification is analyzed.

A microplate assay for hyaluronidase and a heterologous cumulus penetration assay were used to determine the effects of four flavonoids (tannic acid, kaempferol, quercetin, and apigenin) on the function of cynomolgus monkey sperm. All four flavonoids inhibited the activity of hyaluronidase extracted from monkey sperm in a concentration-dependent manner over the range of 50-200 microM. Tannic acid and apigenin had lower inhibitory effects than kaempferol and quercetin. Kaempferol, quercetin, and apigenin at 100 microM were shown to significantly inhibit monkey sperm penetration into hamster cumulus. There was a significant linear relationship between the capacity of the flavonoids to inhibit monkey sperm hyaluronidase activity and their inhibitory effects on hamster cumulus penetration (r = 0.97). Tannic acid was observed to reduce sperm motility, and it was not used in the cumulus penetration assay. The other three flavonoids tested in the cumulus penetration assay did not affect sperm motility, nor did they induce acrosome reactions. The results demonstrate that the flavonoids are useful tools for assessing the involvement of hyaluronidase in the functions of monkey sperm that are involved in fertilization.

PH-20 is a sperm plasma-membrane protein that has been shown to have hyaluronidase activity in several mammalian species including nonhuman primates. In this investigation, the PH-20 protein was characterized in noncapacitated human sperm and in capacitated human sperm. Two forms of PH-20 were observed in immunoblots of sodium dodecylsulfate polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis (SDS PAGE) using a polyclonal antibody to recombinant PH-20: a major band of 64 kDa appeared in noncapacitated and capacitated sperm extracts and a 53-kDa band that appeared only in the acrosome-reaction supernatant of acrosome-reacted sperm. Using hyaluronic acid substrate gel analysis, we demonstrated that noncapacitated sperm extracts, capacitated sperm extracts, and the acrosome-reaction supernatant had hyaluronidase activity at neutral pH (pH 7) and acid pH (pH 4). The 64-kDa form in all samples had hyaluronidase activity at both neutral and acid pH, but the 53-kDa form was only active at acid pH. Total hyaluronidase activity, as measured by a microplate assay, was higher at pH 7 than at pH 4. Very low hyaluronidase activity was detected in the acrosome-reaction supernatant. Transmission electron microscopy and immunogold labeling showed that PH-20 of acrosome-intact human sperm was located on the plasma membrane over the entire head but not on the sperm midpiece and tail. After the acrosome reaction, PH-20 was also located on the inner acrosomal membrane. The biochemical characteristics and the ultrastructural localization of PH-20 in human sperm suggest that this protein is the human sperm hyaluronidase and, therefore, has an important function during fertilization.

Background In vitro culture (IVC) and IVF of preimplantation mouse embryos are associated with changes in gene expression. It is however not known whether ICSI has additional effects on the transcriptome of mouse blastocysts. Methods We compared gene expression and development of mouse blastocysts produced by ICSI and cultured in Whitten's medium (ICSI(WM)) or KSOM medium with amino acids (ICSI(KSOMaa)) with control blastocysts flushed out of the uterus on post coital Day 3.5 (in vivo). In addition, we compared gene expression in embryos generated by IVF or ICSI using WM. Global pattern of gene expression was assessed using the Affymetrix 430 2.0 chip. Results Blastocysts from ICSI fertilization have a reduction in the number of trophoblastic and inner cell mass cells compared with embryos generated in vivo. Approximately 1000 genes are differentially expressed between ICSI blastocyst and in vivo blastocysts; proliferation, apoptosis and morphogenetic pathways are the most common pathways altered after IVC. Unexpectedly, expression of only 41 genes was significantly different between embryo cultured in suboptimal conditions (WM) or optimal conditions (KSOM(aa)). Conclusions Our results suggest that fertilization by ICSI may play a more important role in shaping the transcriptome of the developing mouse embryo than the culture media used.