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Two pairs of primers (GHSR-3, GHSR-4) were used to amplify GHSR gene of Boer goat, Yaoshan goat and black goat. Totally two mutation sites (SNP loci), G200A and T628C were detected in amplification fragments of GHSR-3 and GHSR-4 respectively. For locus G200A, allele frequencies of G and A in Yaoshan goat, Boer goat and black goat were 0.637/ 0.595/0.827 and 0.363/0.450/0.173, respectively, which indicated that G was the dominant allele in three goat populations. G200A was synonymous mutation. For locus T628C, allele frequencies of C and T in Yaoshan goat, Boer goat and black goat were 0.466/0.449/0.458 and 0.534/0.551/0.542 respectively. Clustering analysis based on GHSR gene sequences of different species showed that Boer goat, Yaoshan goat and black goat were clustered with Capra hircus firstly, then clustered with Ovis aries and Pantholops hodgsonii, and finally clustered with cattle and whale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salinization disturbs metabolic processes of plants and results in reduced growth and productivity. In our study, the Dongnong 8809 variety of triticale (×Triticosecale Wittmack) was evaluated for its physiological responses to salt stress during the seedling stage. We evaluated biomass production, relative chlorophyll content, chlorophyll fluorescence, and leaf gas-exchange parameters. Our results indicated that salt stress greatly reduced matter accumulation, SPAD value, photosynthetic capacity. However, seedlings treated with exogenous sugars showed significantly enhanced matter accumulation, SPAD value, quantum yield of PSII, electron transport rate, net photosynthetic rate, decreased stomatal limitation value, and improved photosynthetic capacity compared to seedlings treated with salt stress alone. Exogenous glucose and sucrose can alleviate the inhibitory effect of salt stress on the growth of triticale, and of the two exogenous sugars, sucrose had a stronger alleviating effect than that of glucose under salt stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on measurements of the dielectric permittivity of NiO-based ceramics doped with Zr (ZNO). Samples were prepared by the traditional solid-state reaction method. The concentration of Zr has an effect on the dielectric properties of ZNO ceramics. High permittivity values (∼104) were observed which remain almost constant from 200 K to 350 K at low frequencies. The high-dielectric-constant response of the ZNO ceramics is attributed mainly to a grain boundary (internal) barrier layer capacitance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the regulating roles of miR-199b in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: The expression of miR-199b of 45 human HCC tissues and the corresponding para-cancerous tissue samples were detected by quantitative Real-time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Western blot was employed to investigate the level of JAG1. Transwell assay was used to monitor the ability of cell migration and invasion. Cell proliferation was tested by CCK-8 assay and luciferase reporter assay was done to clarify whether JAG1 was a target of mir-199b. RESULTS: miR-199b expression level was decreased in 45 paired tumor tissues in contrast with the corresponding para-carcinoma tissues. The expression level of miR-199b was closely associated with TNM stage, tumor size, and 5-year overall survival. Transwell assay result showed that miR-199b inhibited HCC cell migration and invasion. Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) results demonstrated that miR-199b could suppress HCC cell proliferation. Luciferase reporter assay suggested that Jagged1 (JAG1) was a direct target of miR-199b in HCC cells. miR-199b could negatively regulate JAG1 expression by targeting JAG1. CONCLUSIONS: miR-199b exerted tumor suppressive functions in HCC by targeting JAG1, and it may be a potential target treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Malnutrition is a common and critical problem that influences outcome in cancer patients. Body composition reflects a patient's metabolic profile and physiologic reserves, which might be the true determinant of prognosis. In the present study, which aimed to identify valuable new prognostic indicators, we investigated the association between computed tomography--quantified body composition and short-term outcomes after gastrectomy for gastric cancer. Methods Skeletal muscle index, mean muscle attenuation, and ratio of visceral-to-subcutaneous adipose tissue area (VSR) were calculated from preoperative computed tomography images. Low skeletal muscle index, low mean muscle attenuation, and high vsr were respectively termed "sarcopenia," "myosteatosis," and "visceral obesity." The association of body composition with postoperative complications and serum markers of nutrition and inflammation after radical gastrectomy were analyzed. Results The overall complication rate was significantly higher in the sarcopenia (62.5% vs. 27.3%, p = 0.001) and myosteatosis groups (38.2% vs. 4%, p = 0.002). Patients with visceral obesity had a higher incidence of inflammatory complications (20.3% vs. 6.5%, p = 0.01). Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that sarcopenia (p = 0.013), myosteatosis (p = 0.017), and low serum retinol-binding protein (p = 0.019) were independent risk factors for overall complications. Compared with control subjects, patients with sarcopenia had lower postoperative levels of serum retinol-binding protein (p = 0.007), and patients with visceral obesity had higher levels of C-reactive protein (p = 0.026). Conclusions Sarcopenia, myosteatosis, and visceral obesity were significantly associated with increased rates of postoperative complications and affected the postoperative nutrition and inflammation status of patients with gastric cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: LIM homeobox domain 6 (LHX6) is emerging as a critical regulator in carcinogenesis and tumor progression. The previous study has reported the expression and function of LHX6 in breast cancer (BC). However, its mechanism underlying BC metastasis remains largely unclear. This study aimed to investigate the related mechanisms of the tumor-suppressive role of LHX6 in BC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Quantitative Real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blotting were used to determine LHX6 mRNA levels and protein expressions in BC tissues and cell lines. LHX6 protein expression was also analyzed in BC tissues and matched normal breast tissues using immunohistochemistry (IHC). The biologic functions of LHX6 in BC were explored by CCK-8 assay, colony formation assay, and transwell assays in vitro. Finally, we investigated the effect of LHX6 up-regulation on PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway by Western blot. RESULTS: Our results showed that LHX6 was lowly expressed at the mRNA and protein level in BC cancer tissues and cell lines. Ectopic expression of LHX6 in MDA-MB-231 and T-47D suppressed cell growth, migration, and invasion. Mechanistically, our further investigations revealed that the upregulation of LHX6 inhibited the activation of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. CONCLUSIONS: We firstly provided evidence that LHX6 exerted its anti-tumor function on BC via suppressing activation of the PI3K/Akt/ mTOR signaling, which eventually inhibited the progression of BC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Osteosarcoma is one of the most common primary bone malignancies. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have recently emerged as key regulators of osteosarcoma. The aim of present study was to explore the prognostic value of long non-coding RNA XIST (XIST) in osteosarcoma and XIST's relation to the cell proliferation in osteosarcoma in vitro. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The XIST expressions were detected in osteosarcoma tissues and their paired adjacent normal tissues from 145 osteosarcoma patients by using qRT-PCR. The association between XIST expression and clinicopathological factors, as well as survival rates, was analyzed. The possibility of XIST as a prognostic biomarker for osteosarcoma was examined by Cox proportional hazard regression model. MTT assays were conducted to explore the impact of XIST overexpression on the proliferation of osteosarcoma cells. RESULTS: The results showed that XIST was significantly up-regulated in osteosarcoma tissues and cell lines, and high XIST expression was significantly associated with advanced tumor size (p=0.009), advanced clinical stage (p=0.001) and present distant metastasis (p=0.009). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that increased XIST expression was associated with poor overall survival of patients. Univariate and multivariate analysis suggested that XIST expression was an independent prognostic factor for the survival of patients with osteosarcoma. Furthermore, we found that knock-down of XIST significantly suppressed the proliferation of osteosarcoma cells in vitro. CONCLUSIONS: XIST was suggested to have a tumor promoter effect, and thus, to be a predictor of outcome in patients with osteosarcoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we mainly study the magnification relations of quad lens models for cusp, fold and cross configurations. By dividing and ray-tracing in different image regions, we numerically derive the positions and magnifications of the four images for a point source lying inside of the astroid caustic. Then, based on the magnifications, we calculate the signed cusp and fold relations for the singular isothermal elliptical lenses. The signed fold relation map has positive and negative regions, and the positive region is usually larger than the negative region as has been confirmed before. It can also explain that for many observed fold image pairs, the fluxes of the Fermat minimum images are apt to be larger than those of the saddle images. We define a new quantity cross relation Rcross which describes the magnification discrepancy between two minimum images and two saddle images. Distance ratio dsadd/dmini is also defined as the ratio of the distance of two saddle images to that of two minimum images. We calculate the cross relations and distance ratios for nine observed Einstein crosses. In theory, for most of the quad lens models, the cross relations decrease as the distance ratios increase. In observation, the cross relations of the nine samples do not agree with the quad lens models very well, nevertheless, the cross relations of the nine samples do not give obvious evidence for anomalous flux ratio as the cusp and fold types do. Then, we discuss several reasons for the disagreement, and expect good consistencies for more precise observations and better lens models in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]