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Xiaofeng Wang,1,2,* Li Chen,3,* Heiying Jin,1,4 Shuiming Wang,1 Yajie Zhang,1 Xiaoqing Tang,3 Guiliang Tang31National Center of Colorectal Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 2Graduate School of Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Biological Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA; 4Department of General Surgery, Peking University International Hospital, Beijing, People’s Republic of China* These authors contributed equally to this workPurpose: This study aims to screen microRNAs (miRNAs), for an early diagnosis of colorectal cancer, by deep sequencing and evaluation of total miRNAs using clinical samples from a Chinese patient population.Methods: Total small RNAs from normal colonic mucosa, colonic adenomas, and colorectal cancer tissues were prepared for miRNA analysis by deep sequencing. The sequencing data were then analyzed by bioinformatics for candidate diagnostic miRNAs, which were further validated for their up- or downregulation status.Results: Comparison of cancer tissues with normal mucosa identified 99 upregulated and 90 downregulated miRNAs. Comparison of adenomas and normal mucosa found 114 upregulated and 107 downregulated miRNAs. Comparison of cancer and adenoma tissues found 70 upregulated and 27 downregulated miRNAs. Selected up- and downregulated miRNAs were validated for their expressions in 12 cases of patients with cancer and polyps. Specifically, for the upregulated miRNAs, miR-18a-5p and miR-21-3p were significantly upregulated in adenomas and cancer tissues, compared with the normal mucosa; miR-135b-5p, miR-17-5p, miR-182-5p, miR-200a-5p, and miR-200c-3p were significantly upregulated in cancer tissues compared to the normal mucosa, but their differential expression was not significant in adenoma tissues when compared with the normal mucosa. miR-183-5p and miR-96-5p were significantly upregulated in adenoma tissues when compared with normal mucosa, but these differences were not significant in cancer tissues when compared to normal mucosa. For the downregulated miRNAs, miR-133a-3p was significantly downregulated in both adenoma and cancer tissues when compared to normal mucosa; miR-204-5p, miR-125b-5p, miR-139-5p, miR-100-5p, and miR-30a-5p were significantly downregulated in cancer tissues compared to the normal mucosa, but their differential expression was not significant in adenoma tissue compared to normal mucosa.Conclusion: The findings of this study show that a number of miRNAs might be important in the diagnosis and prognosis of colorectal cancer in Chinese patients using the method of small RNA deep sequencing. Upregulation of miR-18a-5p and miR-21-3p or downregulation of miR-133a-3p in adenoma and cancer tissues may serve as an index for early screening of colorectal cancer. Other miRNAs, such as miR-135b-5p, miR-17-5p, miR-182-5p, miR-200a-5p, miR-200c-3p, miR-183-5p, and miR-96-5p, which were either up- or downregulated, in cancer tissues, but not in adenoma tissues, have limited significance in early diagnosis. Further study is needed to determine a screening index with diagnostic value.Keywords: colorectal cancer, colorectal adenoma, miRNA, deep sequencing

Small RNAs are widespread in plants and animals. They largely include microRNAs (miRNAs) and short interfering RNAs (siRNAs), and they play key roles in gene and chromatin regulations. Here we describe in detail the method for an effective construction of the recently developed short tandem target mimic (STTM) technology to block small RNA functions in plants and animals. STTM is a powerful technology complementing the previous target mimic (TM) in plants and the miRNA sponge, as well as the recently defined endogenous competing RNA (CeRNA) in animals. We expect STTM will not only be effective in blocking small RNA functions in plants but will also become a popular approach in animals.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent small noncoding RNAs that play a role in many diseases, including diabetes. miRNAs target genes important for pancreas development, β-cell proliferation, insulin secretion, and exocytosis. Previously, we documented that microRNA-30d (miR-30d), one of miRNAs up-regulated by glucose, induces insulin gene expression in pancreatic β-cells. Here, we found that the induction of insulin production by overexpression of miR-30d is associated with increased expression of MafA, a β-cell-specific transcription factor. Of interest, overexpression of miR-30d prevented the reduction in both MafA and insulin receptor substrate 2 (IRS2) with TNF-α exposure. Moreover, we identified that mitogen-activated protein 4 kinase 4 (MAP4K4), a TNF-α-activated kinase, is a direct target of miR-30d. Overexpression of miR-30d protected β-cells against TNF-α suppression on both insulin transcription and insulin secretion through the down-regulation of MAP4K4 by the miR-30d. A decrease of miR-30d expression was observed in the islets of diabetic db/db mice, in which MAP4K4 expression level was elevated. Our data support the notion that miR-30d plays multiple roles in activating insulin transcription and protecting β-cell functions from impaired by proinflammatory cytokines and underscore the concept that miR-30d may represent a novel pharmacological target for diabetes intervention.

Objectives: The present study examined the factorial invariance and functional equivalence of the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS) among the Chinese. Methods: A total of 839 undergraduate students completed the 240-item Simplified Chinese version of the VIA-IS online. Another 40 students participated in qualitative interviews to examine the meaning and function of the items in Chinese culture. Results: A total of 144 items were removed from the original version questionnaire (240-item) because of low item-loading and lack of cultural validity. A Chinese Virtues Questionnaire-96 (CVQ-96) in simplified Chinese containing 96 items (4 items per strength) was adopted. Three subscales (interpersonal, vitality, and cautiousness) were developed after exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Conclusion: A theoretically meaningful 3-factor model of virtue, comparable to some virtue structures proposed in previous studies conducted in Western countries, was obtained. The inventories being developed can facilitate positive social work assessment and intervention.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and other endogenous small RNAs act as sequence-specific regulators of the genome, transcriptome, and proteome in eukaryotes. The interrogation of small RNA functions requires an effective, widely applicable method to specifically block small RNA function. Here, we report the development of a highly effective technology that targets specific endogenous miRNAs or small interfering RNAs for destruction in Arabidopsis thaliana. We show that the expression of a short tandem target mimic (STTM), which is composed of two short sequences mimicking small RNA target sites, separated by a linker of an empirically determined optimal size, leads to the degradation of targeted small RNAs by small RNA degrading nucleases. The efficacy of the technology was demonstrated by the strong and specific developmental defects triggered by STTMs targeting three miRNAs and an endogenous siRNA. In summary, we developed an effective approach for the destruction of endogenous small RNAs, thereby providing a powerful tool for functional genomics of small RNA molecules in plants and potentially animals.

The mechanism of uranium-induced kidney cell cytotoxicity is not fully understood. Nrf2 is a transcription factor which can regulate gene expression of cystathionine β-synthase (CBS) and cystathionine γ-lyase (CSE) which are responsible for endogenous H

Change management is very important to the success of new product development. The earlier that change issues are addressed, the greater that product lifecycle costs can be saved. This paper presents a novel methodology that has been developed to help designers trace, analyse and evaluate engineering changes occurring in the product design phase. A modelling method is employed to enhance the traceability of potential design changes occurring between the functional and structural domains of design. Based on functional and physical models, a matrix is developed to analyse change propagations and help identify design conflicts arising from design changes. A knowledge based methodology has been developed to resolve design conflicts by reusing previous design change knowledge. A wind turbine for power generation from the collaborating company is used to evaluate the developed methodologies.

Product Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) approach is a structural and disciplined methodology driven by critical to quality characteristics (CTQs). How to identify and decompose the CTQs is the kernel part in the DFSS process. Traditional method only depends on the quality function deployment (QFD) matrix to flow down CTQs roughly. The paper puts forward a novel technical approach for CTQs decomposition from customer requirements into critical technical parameters based on the relational tree. Specifically, this approach emphasizes the systematic process and quantitative computation on quality relation weight. In order to specify the object of product DFSS, the connotation and evolution model of CTQs are created first. Then along the product development process, a decomposition measure for relational tree of CTQs is studied based on the functional and physical trees in Axiomatic Design (AD). And the quality relation weight computation of its nodes by means of Rough Set and fuzzy Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is explored. Finally, an application on a car body noise vibration harshness (NVH) improvement, as an example, is given, and the decomposition process of NVH related with the functional and physical trees as well as its node weights computation algorithm are expounded in detail. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

High performance polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) based on a phosphor of noble metal complex bis(1,2-dipheny1-1H-benzoimidazole) iridium (acetylacetonate) [(pbi) 2 Ir(acac)] doped in poly( N -vinylcarbazole) (PVK) host with various concentration were demonstrated. The photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL) spectra of the PLEDs exhibited an emission intensity decrease of PVK and a gradually enhanced feature of (pbi) 2 Ir(acac) with increased doping concentration. The device with a 5 wt% (pbi) 2 Ir(acac) doped PVK system showed a high power efficiency of 3.84 lm/W and a luminance of 26,006 cd/m 2 . The results indicated that both energy transfer and charge trapping have a significant influence on the performance of PLEDs. The devices have a broadened EL spectrum of full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) more than 100 nm, which can be realized for WOLEDs.

White organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) have been fabricated by using a novel phosphor of bis(1,2-dipheny1-1H-benzoimidazole) iridium (acetylacetonate) [(pbi)2Ir(acac)] as a sensitizer doped into a carbazole polymer of poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK), and a fluorescent dye of 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6-(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran(DCJTB) as an ultrathin red light-emitting layer. By characterizing the UV–Vis absorption spectra, photoluminescence (PL) spectra of (pbi)2Ir(acac) and DCJTB, and the electroluminescence (EL) properties of the WOLEDs, the effect of ultrathin fluorescent light-emitting layer on the injection and transport characteristics of charge carrier and EL performance of WOLEDs was investigated. The results demonstrated that the device has stable EL spectra and Commissions Internationale de 1’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates in a wide bias range. Both energy transfer and charge trapping play the role on the performance of WOLEDs, and the device luminance was enhanced significantly with a maximum luminance of 9260 cd/m2, which is about 70% higher than the codoped device.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous small RNAs of ~22 nucleotides (nt) that play a key role in down regulation of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level in plants and animals. Various studies have identified numerous miRNAs that were either up regulated or down regulated upon stress treatment. Here, we sought to understand the temporal regulation of miRNAs in different plant species under abscisic acid (ABA) and salt (NaCl) stress. Our results showed that the regulation of miR398 in response to ABA and salt stress was more dynamic in plants than previously reported. In poplars, miR398 was first induced upon 3-4 h of ABA or salt stress. However, this induction declined after 48 h and finally accumulated again over a prolonged stress (72 h). We referred to this kind of regulation as dynamic regulation. In contrast, such dynamic regulation of miR398 under salt stress was completely absent in Arabidopsis, in which miR398 was steadily and unidirectionally suppressed. Interestingly, ABA treatment caused a deviate dynamic regulation of miR398 in Arabidopsis, showing an opposite response as compared to that in poplars. We referred to the difference in regulation between Arabidopsis and poplars as differential regulation. Furthermore, the expression of the miR398 target, copper superoxide dismutase1 (CSD1), was in reverse correlation with the miR398 level, suggesting a control of this specific target expression predominantly by miR398 under abiotic stress. Together, these data consistently show a correlated regulation between miR398 and its representative target, CSD1, by ABA and salt stresses, and raise the possibility that regulation of miRNAs in plants is twofold: a dynamic regulation within a plant species and a differential regulation between different plant species.

A triple layer organic light-emitting diode (OLED) with two heterostructure of indium-tin oxide (ITO)/N,N′-diphenyl-N, N′-bis(1-naphthyl) (1,1′-biphenyl)-4,4′-diamine (NPB)/2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (BCP)/ 8-Hydroxyquinoline aluminum (Alq3)/Mg:Ag has been fabricated by using the vacuum deposition method. The influence of different film thickness of BCP layer on the performance of the OLEDs has been investigated. The results show that when the thickness of the BCP layer film gradually ranges from 0.1-4.0 nm, the electroluminescence (EL) spectra of the OLEDs shift from green to greenish-blue to blue, and the BCP layer acts as the role for the recombination region of charge carriers related to EL spectrum, which enhances the brightness and power efficiency. The power efficiency of the OLEDs reaches to as high as 7.3 lm/W.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding ribonucleotides that bind mRNAs and function mainly as translational repressors in mammals. MicroRNAs have been implicated to play a role in many diseases, including diabetes. Several reports indicate an important function for miRNAs in insulin production as well as insulin secretion. We have recently carried out a screen in the pancreatic β-cell line MIN6 to identify miRNAs with altered abundance in response to changes in glucose concentrations. This screen resulted in identification of 61 glucose-regulated miRNAs from a total of 108 miRNAs detectable in MIN6 cells. Many of the identified miRNAs, including miR-124a, miR-107, and miR-30d were up-regulated in the presence of high glucose. Only a few of the miRNAs, including miR-296, miR-484, and miR-690 were significantly down-regulated by high glucose treatment. Interestingly, we found that overexpression of miR-30d, one of the miRNAs up-regulated by glucose, increased insulin gene expression, while inhibition of miR-30d abolished glucose-stimulated insulin gene transcription. Overexpression or inhibition of miR-30d did not have any effect on insulin secretion. These data suggest that the putative target genes of miR-30d may be negative regulators of insulin gene expression.

White organic light-emitting diodes were fabricated by using a novel phosphorescence bis(1,2-dipheny1-1H-benzoimidazole)iridium(acetylacetonate)[(pbi)2Ir(acac)] as sensitizer and a fluorescent dye of 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6-(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran (DCJTB) codoped into a car-bazole polymer of poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK). Through characterizing the UV-Vis absorption spectra, the photoluminescence spectra of (pbi)2Ir(acac) and DCJTB, and the electroluminescence spectral properties of the WOLEDs, the energy transfer mechanisms of the codoped polymer system were deduced. The results demonstrate that the luminescent spectra with different intensity of (pbi)2Ir(acac) and DCJTB were co-existent in the EL spectra of the blended system, which is ascribed to an incomplete energy transfer process in the EL process. The efficient F?rster and Dexter energy transfer between the host and the guests enabled a strong yellow emission from (pbi)2Ir(acac) and DCJTB, where (pbi)2Ir(acac) plays an important role as a phosphorescent sensitizer for DCJTB. With the blue emitting-layer of N,N'-diphenyl-N,N'-bis(1-naphthyl)(1,1'-biphenyl)-4,4'-diamine, the codoped system device achieved white emission. The codoped system showed that its Commissions Internationale de 1'Eclairage coordinates were more independent of the variation of bias voltage than those of phosphorescent doped PVK systems.

High-performance undoped white organic light-emitting diode (OLED) has been fabricated using an ultrathin yellow-emitting layer of 5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnaphthacene (rubrene) inserted at two sides of interface between two N,N′-bis-(1-naphthyl)-N,N′- biphenyl-1,1′-biphenyl-4,4′- diamine (NPB) layers as a hole transporting and blue emissive layer, respectively. The results showed that a maximum luminance of the device reached to as high as 21,500 cd/m 2 at 15 V. The power efficiencies of 2.5 and 1.6 lm/W at a luminance of 1000 and 10000 cd/m 2 , respectively, were obtained. The peaks of electroluminescent (EL) spectra locate at 429 and 560 nm corresponding to the Commissions Internationale De L’Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.32, 0.33), which is independent of bias voltage. The performance enhancement of the device may result from direct charge carrier trapping in rubrene. Energy transfer mechanism was also found in the EL process.

Based on conventional double layer device, triple layer organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with two heterostructures of indium-tin oxide (ITO)/N,N′-diphenyl-N,N′-bis(1-naphthyl)(1,1′-biphenyl)-4,4′-diamine(NPB)/2,9-dimethyl-4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (BCP)/ 8-Hydroxyquinoline aluminum (Alq3)/Mg:Ag using vacuum deposition method have been fabricated. The influence of different film thickness of BCP layer on the performance of OLEDs has been investigated. The results showed that when the thickness of the BCP layer film gradually varied from 0.1 nm to 4.0 nm, the electroluminescence (EL) spectra of the OLEDs shifted from green to greenish-blue to blue, and the BCP layer acted as the recombination region of charge carriers related to EL spectrum, enhancing the brightness and power efficiency. The power efficiency of OLEDs reached as high as 7.3 lm/W.

A doping system consisting of NPB and PVK is employed as a composite hole transporting layer (CHTL). By adjusting the component ratio of the doping system, a series of devices with different concentration proportion of PVK:NPB are constructed. The result shows that doping concentration of NPB enhances the competence of hole transporting ability, and modifies the recombination region of charge as well as affects the surface morphology of doped film. Optimum device with a maximum brightness of 7852 cd/m2 and a power efficiency of 1.75 lm/W has been obtained by choosing a concentration proportion of PVK:NPB at 1:3.

The effect of a divalent cation (Mg2+) and 3 monovalent cations (Na+, Li+, and K+) as buffer additives on the electroosmotic flow (EOF) was investigated in order to improve the separation performance of p-acetamidobenzenesulfonyl fluoride (PAABS-F) derivatives of 20 standard amino acids by micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). The EOF can be decreased with increasing concentration of cations with the order of cations as Mg2+ > K+ > Na+ > Li+. However, it was found that the resolution cannot be improved easily using a buffer cation which is more capable of decreasing the EOF. Taking the migration time, resolution, and peak shape into account, Na+ is the best buffer additive, although the EOF decreased most using Mg2+. Using 20 mmol/L borate at pH 9.3 containing 140 mmol/L SDS and 20 mmol/L Na+ as electrolyte, 20 standard amino acids were successfully separated within 14 min.

Quality control in the product development process is vital to the final quality of a product. Customer requirements are the foundation of quality control. Product development has to be linked with customers through customer demand and quality characteristics (QCs). Therefore, QCs are the key control factors in the whole product development process. Quality control is focused on how to translate customer requirements into Product-QCs, and decompose and transform Product-QCs into Component-QCs, Part-QCs, Geom-Feature-QCs and Tolerance-QCs correctly. The representation of QCs has been studied and their features in different stages of the product development process have been analysed. A systematic approach is presented that would support quality control through decomposing, transforming, optimizing, evaluating and monitoring QCs in product development. The corresponding model-oriented Quality Characteristics Processing Unit (QCPU) is proposed, which consists of describing and formulating customers’ requirem...

Although previous studies have identified several strategies to stimulate regeneration of CNS axons, extensive regeneration and functional recovery have remained a major challenge, particularly for large diameter myelinated axons. Within the CNS, myelin is thought to inhibit axon regeneration, while modulating activity of the mTOR pathway promotes regeneration of injured axons. In this study, we examined NT-3 mediated regeneration of sensory axons through the dorsal root entry zone in a triple knockout of myelin inhibitory proteins or after activation of mTOR using a constitutively active (ca) Rheb in DRG neurons to determine the influence of environmental inhibitory or activation of intrinsic growth pathways could enhance NT-3-mediate regeneration. Loss of myelin inhibitory proteins showed modest enhancement of sensory axon regeneration. In mTOR studies, we found a dramatic age related decrease in the mTOR activation as determined by phosphorylation of the downstream marker S6 ribosomal subunit. Expression of caRheb within adult DRG neurons in vitro increased S6 phosphorylation and doubled the overall length of neurite outgrowth, which was reversed in the presence of rapamycin. In adult female rats, combined expression of caRheb in DRG neurons and NT-3 within the spinal cord increased regeneration of sensory axons almost 3 fold when compared to NT-3 alone. Proprioceptive assessment using a grid runway indicates functionally significant regeneration of large-diameter myelinated sensory afferents. Our results indicate that caRheb-induced increase in mTOR activation enhances neurotrophin-3 induced regeneration of large-diameter myelinated axons.

Genome sequencing has not only extended our understanding of the blueprints of many plant species but has also revealed the secrets of coding and non-coding genes. We present here a brief introduction to and personal account of key RNA-based technologies, as well as their development and applications for functional genomics of plant coding and non-coding genes, with a focus on short tandem target mimics (STTMs), artificial microRNAs (amiRNAs), and CRISPR/Cas9. In addition, their use in multiplex technologies for the functional dissection of gene networks is discussed.

Corticosterone, one of the glucocorticoids, is toxic to neurons and plays an important role in depressive-like behavior and depression. We previously showed that hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a novel physiological mediator, plays an inhibitory role in depression. However, the mechanism underlying H2S-triggered antidepressant-like role is not clearly known. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a neurotrophic factor, plays a neuroprotective role that is mediated by its high-affinity tropomysin-related kinase B (TrkB) receptor. In this study, to investigate the underlying mechanism of H2S-induced antidepressant-like role, we explored whether H2S could protect neurons against corticosterone-mediated cyctotoxicity and whether this protective role of H2S was involved in the regulation of BDNF-TrkB pathway. Our data demonstrated that sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS), the donor of H2S, could prevent corticosterone-induced cytotoxicity, apoptosis, accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) in PC12 cells. NaHS not only induced the up-regulation of BDNF but also prevented the down-regulation of BDNF by corticosterone. It was also found that blocking BDNF-TrkB pathway by K252a, an inhibitor of TrkB, abolished the protection of H2S against corticosterone-induced cytotoxicity, apoptosis, accumulation of ROS, and loss of MMP. These results suggest that H2S protects against the neurotoxicity of corticosterone by modulation of the BDNF-TrkB pathway.

A composite chattering-free sliding mode control (CCF-SMC) scheme is presented for chaotic permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) systems with some immesureable states. Through a simple coordinate transformation, the chaotic PMSM model is transformed into a Brunovsky canonical form, which is more suitable for the sliding-mode controller design. In order to estimate the unknown states and uncertainties, a nonlinear extended state observer (NESO) is developed and thus the restriction that all the system states should be completely measurable is avoided. Then, a full-order sliding mode controller is designed based on the NESO to ensure the convergence of all the system states without the chattering phenomenon. Comparative simulations are given to show the effectiveness and superior performance of the proposed control scheme.

In this paper, a backstepping funnel control (BFC) is proposed to achieve a prescribed tracking performance for robotic manipulator systems with unknown input dead zone. According to the differential mean value theorem, the dead zone inverse compensation approach is avoided by representing the dead zone as a linear time-varying system. Without constructing the complex barrier Lyapunov function, a new constraint variable is employed and the tracking error will be forced to fall into prescribe boundaries. A simple sigmoid neural network is utilized to approximate the system uncertainties and the calculation of derivative terms generated by the recursive steps of traditional backstepping control can be avoided. With the proposed scheme, no prior knowledge is required on the bound of input dead zone, and the convergence of the position tracking error is guaranteed via the Lyapunov synthesis. Comparative simulation examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

A large number of the rural population who are swarming into the cities comprise the majority of new citizens in rapidly urbanized cities in China. Two groups among this population deserve special attention: Migrant workers and land-lost peasants. Their failure to integrate into the host cities is of grave concern to the academia and the government. Recently, social inclusion has been promoted as part of the policy goals in constructing a harmonious society in China. This chapter reviews the concept of social inclusion and its application in analyzing the current conditions of new citizens who have been in urban China since the 2000s. This chapter concludes by arguing that coordinated reforms in the areas of ensuring political and social rights, equal opportunities and adequate social provisions are all required for promoting social inclusion. According to the statistical data, the urbanization rate of China has increased from 39.09% in 2002 to 51.27% in 2011, with an annual growth rate of 1.35% (National Bureau of Statistics 2012a). Moreover, in the rapid urbanization process, two social groups, rural–urban migrant workers and land-lost peasants, have been the recipients of increasing concern from government officials and academics.

Insulin secreted from pancreatic β-cells and glucagon secreted from pancreatic α-cells are the two major hormones working in the pancreas in an opposing manner to regulate and maintain a normal glucose homeostasis. How microRNAs (miRNAs), a population of non-coding RNAs so far demonstrated to be differentially expressed in various types of cells, regulate gene expression in pancreatic β-cells and its closely associated α-cells is not completely clear. In this study, miRNA profiling was performed and compared between pancreatic β-cells and their partner α-cells. One novel miRNA, miR-483, was identified for its highly differential expression in pancreatic β-cells when compared to its expression in α-cells. Overexpression of miR-483 in β-cells increased insulin transcription and secretion by targeting SOCS3, a member of suppressor of cytokine signaling family. In contrast, overexpression of miR-483 decreased glucagon transcription and secretion in α-cells. Moreover, overexpressed miR-483 protected against proinflammatory cytokine-induced apoptosis in β-cells. This correlates with a higher expression level of miR-483 and the expanded β-cell mass observed in the islets of prediabetic db/db mice. Together, our data suggest that miR-483 has opposite effects in α- and β-cells by targeting SOCS3, and the imbalance of miR-483 and its targets may play a crucial role in diabetes pathogenesis.

The chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) model is a widely used experimental model of depression. Exogenous stress-induced neuronal cell death in the hippocampus is closely associated with the pathogenesis of depression. Excessive and prolonged endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress triggers cell death. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), the third endogenous signaling gasotransmitter, plays an important role in brain functions as a neuromodulator and a neuroprotectant. We hypothesized that the disturbance of endogenous H2S generation and ER stress in the hippocampus might be involved in CUMS-induced depression-like behaviors. Thus, the present study focused on whether CUMS disturbs the generation of endogenous H2S and up-regulates ER stress in the hippocampus and whether exogenous H2S prevents CUMS-induced depressive-like behaviors. Results showed that CUMS-treated rats exhibit depression-like behavior and hippocampal ER stress responses including up-regulated levels of glucose-regulated protein 78, CCAAT/enhancer binding protein homologous protein, and cleaved caspase-12 expression, while the endogenous generation of H2S in the hippocampus is suppressed in CUMS-treated rats. Furthermore, exogenous H2S prevents CUMS-induced depression-like behavior. These data indicated that CUMS-induced depression-like behaviors are related to the disturbance of endogenous H2S generation and ER stress in the hippocampus and suggested that endogenous H2S and ER stress are novel treatment targets of depression.

Measuring process based on laser tracker, iGPS and other digital measurement instruments becomes more and more important in digital manufacturing. Traditionally, a measuring process is planned based on human knowledge in planning strategies, measuring regulations, instruments, measuring operations and historical data. Relatively, computer aided measuring planning (CAMP) makes the process formatted, and enables manufacturers to improve measurement accuracy and efficiency and reduce the cost. To implement CAMP for digital measuring process, the concept of general measurement space (GMS) is proposed, and a multi-dimensional model (MDM) is built to support the structural storing and handling of the key information for measuring process. The model has multi attributes in three dimensions, which describe and classify multi-source and heterogeneous data related to a measuring process. Finally, the GMS’s characteristics matrix is constructed, providing a feasible way to evaluate measurement plans based on measuring process knowledge.

A new ultraviolet (UV) labeling reagent, p-acetamidobenzenesulfonyl fluoride (PAABS-F), was designed and synthesized to label and determine the amino acids by capillary electrophoresis (CE) with diode-array detector (DAD). PAABS-F is very stable and easy to synthesize. It reacted with primary or secondary amino acids very quickly under facile conditions to give corresponding derivatives in high yield with excellent sensitivity and stability. No by-products were observed in amino acid derivatives when stored at room temperature under natural daylight for at least 7 days. Both amino acids standard solution and real samples reacted with this new UV labeling reagent smoothly to form high UV-absorption derivatives. The labeled 20 standard amino acids were efficiently separated by CE and the mass detection limits (S/N = 3) were ranged from 59.3 fmol for l -tryptophan to 1.70 pmol for l -histidine.

As quality is one of the essential factors for manufacturing success in the global market, the Quality Engineering Laboratory (QEL) of BeiHang University (BUAA) has been focusing on the research of methodologies for integrated quality information processes to support quality management for more than 10 years. An integrated quality information system—QQ-Enterprise has been developed for Chinese manufacturing industries. A three-dimensional quality information integration model and a flexible architecture are proposed in this paper. The development of the QQ-Enterprise, which is a general-purpose IQIS developing toolkit designed specially for the Chinese manufacturing environment, and an implementation template are also presented.

Glucose homeostasis is controlled by insulin in part through the stimulation of glucose transport in muscle and fat cells. This insulin signaling pathway requires phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase-mediated 3'-polyphosphoinositide generation and activation of Akt/protein kinase B. Previous experiments using dominant negative constructs and gene ablation in mice suggested that two phosphoinositide phosphatases, SH2 domain-containing inositol 5'-phosphatase 2 (SHIP2) and phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) negatively regulate this insulin signaling pathway. Here we directly tested this hypothesis by selectively inhibiting the expression of SHIP2 or PTEN in intact cultured 3T3-L1 adipocytes through the use of short interfering RNA (siRNA). Attenuation of PTEN expression by RNAi markedly enhanced insulin-stimulated Akt and glycogen synthase kinase 3alpha (GSK-3alpha) phosphorylation, as well as deoxyglucose transport in 3T3-L1 adipocytes. In contrast, depletion of SHIP2 protein by about 90% surprisingly failed to modulate these insulin-regulated events under identical assay conditions. In control studies, no diminution of insulin signaling to the mitogen-activated protein kinases Erk1 and Erk2 was observed when either PTEN or SHIP2 were depleted. Taken together, these results demonstrate that endogenous PTEN functions as a suppressor of insulin signaling to glucose transport through the PI 3-kinase pathway in cultured 3T3-L1 adipocytes.

Facing increasing pressure from customers to achieve greater responsiveness and reliability, as well as the current trend of globalization, many companies are considering global supply chain management as the core of their business strategy. This global tendency brings new challenges to traditional quality management approaches. It requires moving from the past focus of “my quality” to an emphasis on “our quality.” A new concept called global quality chain management (GQCM) is raised in this paper to figure out the principles, approaches, mechanisms, and processes involved in global quality management. In order to support GQCM, a computer-integrated and Internet-based system called the global quality chain management system (GQCMS) is proposed, with which the distributed partners in a global quality chain can cooperate as a whole. This paper outlines the overall framework of the GQCMS and presents the result of the Phase 1 development, known as the QQ-Enterprise system.

This paper presents the results of a study that examines the success factors in developing and implementing supply chain management strategies for Hong Kong manufacturers. A survey was conducted recently in Hong Kong manufacturing industries to examine the importance and the extent to which the Hong Kong manufacturers practiced the strategies based on these identified success factors. The results will help further in providing greater understanding of the success factors that lead to successful implementation of SCM strategies to reduce supply chain wide costs and to improve customer service levels.

Because of e-commerce and the global economy, industries are challenged by world markets and modern enterprise morphologies, such as agile supply chains, expanded companies and virtual enterprises. Enterprises are thinking more and more about the market, customers and suppliers. Product quality is judged by the global market and the customers in the world village, and not only by the domestic market and customers. Enterprise quality assurance systems not only cover internal functional departments in an enterprise, but are expanding to external parties, such as customers, partners and suppliers, so, an expanded enterprise's core competencies or leadership capabilities in quality assurance have to be strengthened by the complementary capabilities of partners. The traditional quality assurance technologies have to be innovated. It is reasonable that customer focus and mutually beneficial supplier relationships blend into the core concepts of a quality management philosophy. As tools used by enterprises to support quality management, quality information management systems (QIMS) have to capture quality information from both internal and external parties, and to facilitate the communication environment, in order to share quality information among enterprises, customers and suppliers. Because of this, it is impossible for a traditional quality information management system based on the Intranet to meet these needs. In this paper, a model of the expanded enterprise is extended. A concept model and a functional model of the quality information management system based on Internet/Extranet/Intranet (IEI-QIS) are proposed. The system is able to integrate quality information from the enterprise, product customers and suppliers, and serves as a powerful tool to benefit the quality management of modern enterprises. A browser/server-based and the three-layer system architecture of IEI-QIS are also investigated.

The issues of “Integration” in quality management and related fields have been discussed for a few years. Literature review reveals that this is a large and multi‐disciplinary topic. Although there are many publications on this issue, very few well‐cited articles show direct illustration to why, what and how to implement the “Integration” strategy in quality management. This paper presents a panoramic review and vision on “Integration” issues of quality management, in the perspectives of concept, scope, organization, information, process, and culture.

An unconventional phospholipase D (PLD) activity was identified recently in Saccharomyces cerevisiae which is Ca2+-dependent, preferentially hydrolyses phosphatidylethanolamine (PtdEtn) and phosphatidylserine and does not catalyse a transphosphatidylation with primary short-chain alcohols. We have characterized the cytosolic and membrane-bound forms of the yeast PtdEtn-PLD and examined the regulation of its activity under certain growth, nutritional and stress conditions. Both forms of PtdEtn-PLD activity were similarly activated by Ca2+ ions in a biphasic manner. Likewise, other divalent cations affected both cytosolic and membrane-bound forms to the same extent. The yeast PtdEtn-PLD activity was found to interact with immobilized PtdEtn in a Ca2+-dependent manner. The partially purified cytosolic form and the salt-extracted membrane-bound form of yeast PtdEtn-PLD exhibited a similar elution pattern on size-exclusion chromatography, coeluting as low apparent molecular weight peaks. PtdEtn-PLD activity was stimulated, along with Spo14p/Pld1p activity, upon dilution of stationary phase cultures in glucose, acetate and galactose media, but PtdEtn-PLD activation was less pronounced. Interestingly, PtdEtn-PLD activity was found to be elevated by approximately 40% in sec14ts mutants at the restrictive temperature, whereas in other sec mutants it remained unaffected. The activity of PtdEtn-PLD was reduced by 30-40% upon addition to the medium of inositol (75 micro m) in either wild-type yeast or spo14Delta mutants and this effect was seen regardless of the presence of choline, suggesting that transcription of the PtdEtn-PLD gene is down-regulated by inositol. Finally, exposure of yeast cells to H2O2 resulted in a transient increase in PtdEtn-PLD activity followed by a profound, nearly 90% decrease in activity. In conclusion, our results indicate that yeast PtdEtn-PLD activity is highly regulated: the enzyme is acutely activated upon entry into the cell cycle and following inactivation of sec14ts, and is inhibited under oxidative stress conditions. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Background Isatis indigotica, the source of the traditional Chinese medicine Radix isatidis (Ban-Lan-Gen), is an extremely important economical crop in China. To facilitate biological, biochemical and molecular research on the medicinal chemicals in I. indigotica, here we report the first I. indigotica transcriptome generated by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). Results RNA-seq library was created using RNA extracted from a mixed sample including leaf and root. A total of 33,238 unigenes were assembled from more than 28 million of high quality short reads. The quality of the assembly was experimentally examined by cDNA sequencing of seven randomly selected unigenes. Based on blast search 28,184 unigenes had a hit in at least one of the protein and nucleotide databases used in this study, and 8 unigenes were found to be associated with biosynthesis of indole and its derivatives. According to Gene Ontology classification, 22,365 unigenes were categorized into 48 functional groups. Furthermore, Clusters of Orthologous Group and Swiss-Port annotation were assigned for 7,707 and 18,679 unigenes, respectively. Analysis of repeat motifs identified 6,400 simple sequence repeat markers in 4,509 unigenes. Conclusion Our data provide a comprehensive sequence resource for molecular study of I. indigotica. Our results will facilitate studies on the functions of genes involved in the indole alkaloid biosynthesis pathway and on metabolism of nitrogen and indole alkaloids in I. indigotica and its related species.

This study aims to explore the relationship between virtues and self-disclosure via a cross-sectional study and an intervention study among Chinese.In study one, 144 healthy individuals completed the Chinese Virtues Questionnaire (CVQ) and the short version of Jourard Self-Disclosure Questionnaire. In study two, 41 undergraduates voluntarily attended a nine-week intervention. Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) was adopted as the well-being indicator. They were asked to complete the vitality sub-scale of CVQ and SWLS at week one for obtaining the virtue scores and baseline scores of well-being. After an eight-week intervention, SWLS was completed again to examine the intervention efficacy.Among the three virtues, only vitality had the significant and positive relation with self-disclosure. After eight weeks, the high-vitality group obtained the significant growth of satisfaction with life. The change degree of satisfaction among high vitality individuals was significantly higher than the low vitality group.Prescreening of individual vitality may be helpful for identifying the sensitive targets of expressive writing intervention. However, considering that this is a preliminary study, more rigorous randomized controlled trials will be helpful to test this conclusion in future.

Facing tremendous social changes in modern times, Chinese traditional festival as an important carrier of Chinese traditional culture, is encountering unprecedented development plights and survival crisis. In recent years, with the general concerns and widespread attention from the Chinese government and all sectors of the society, the traditional festivals have shown gradual revival from the declining trend. However, it should be noted that lack of core modern values, loss of emotional experience identity, missing of traditional folk arts, mess of the application of festival symbols, and popularity of western festivals culture are important representations of the anomie situation of Chinese traditional festivals in modern society, and also the crucial reason for it failed to overcome the difficulties. Globalization and the rapid development of information technology, the advancement of industrialization and urbanization have changed the social structure and people's lifestyles, rhythm, and also interpersonal relationships to a considerable extent, thus social environment for the survival of the traditional festivals related to agricultural society increasingly becomes narrow, and its impact and charm naturally bleak. Therefore, it is imperative to re-understanding and reconstructing traditional festivals, with new representations to restore the cultural connotations of traditional festivals, making it back into ordinary people's lives.

To investigate the effect of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) on the proliferation and migration of human colon cancer SW480 cells and explore its molecular mechanisms.The proliferation of SW480 cells exposed to different concentrations of NaHS for varying time lengths was analyzed by MTT assay, and the changes in cell migration was evaluated using wound-healing assay. The changes in the expression levels of MMP-2, MMP-9 and SIRT1 protein were detected by Western blotting in the exposed cells.Compared with the control cells, SW480 cells exposed to 50, 100, 200, or 400 µmol/L NaHS for 24, 48 and 72 h all showed increased proliferative activity. NaHS treatment at 100 µmol/L significantly promoted the cell migration (P0.01) and enhanced the cellular expressions of MMP-2 (P0.05) and MMP-9 (P0.01) proteins; NaHS exposure (100 µmol/L) also resulted in up-regulation of SIRT1 expression in SW480 cells.H2S can promote proliferation and migration of SW480 cells in vitro, the mechanism of which may involve up-regulated expression of SIRT1.

The present study examines the efficacy of expressive writing among Chinese undergraduates. The sample comprised of 74 undergraduates enrolled in a 9-week intervention (35 in experimental class vs. 39 in control class). The writing exercises were well-embedded in an elective course for the two classes. The 46-item simplified Chinese Self-Rated Health Measurement Scale, which assesses psychological, physical and social health, was adopted to measure the outcome of this study. Baseline (second week) and post-test (ninth week) scores were obtained during the classes. After the intervention on the eighth week, the self-reported psychological, social and physical health of the experimental class improved. Psychological health obtained the maximum degree of improvement, followed by social and physical health. Furthermore, female participants gained more psychological improvement than males. These results demonstrated that the expressive writing approach could improve the physical, social and psychological health of Chinese undergraduates, and the method can be applied in university psychological consulting settings in Mainland China.

Interaction of extracellular-signal molecules with cell-surface receptors often activates a phospholipase D (PLD)-mediated hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine and other phospholipids, generating phosphatidic acid. The activation of PLD is believed to play an important role in the regulation of cell function and cell fate. Multiple PLD activities were characterized in eukaryotic cells, and, more recently, several PLD genes have been cloned. A PLD gene superfamily, defined by a number of structural domains and sequence motifs, also includes phosphatidyltransferases and certain phosphodiesterases. Among the eukaryotic PLD genes are those from mammals, nematodes, fungi and plants. The present review focuses on the structure, localization, regulation and possible functions of cloned mammalian and yeast PLDs. In addition, an overview of plant PLD genes, and of several distinct PLD activities that have not yet been cloned, is provided. Emerging evidence from recent work employing new molecular tools indicates that different PLD isoforms are localized in distinct cellular organelles, where they are likely to serve diverse functions in signal transduction, membrane vesicle trafficking and cytoskeletal dynamics.

The activation of PLD is believed to play an important role in the regulation of cell function and cell fate by extracellular signal molecules. Multiple PLD activities have been characterized in mammalian cells and, more recently, several PLD genes have been cloned. Current evidence indicates that diverse PLD activities are localized in most, if not all, cellular organelles, where they are likely to subserve different functions in signal transduction, membrane vesicle trafficking and cytoskeletal dynamics.

Diabetes is characterized by high levels of blood glucose due to either the loss of insulin-producing beta-cells in the pancreas, leading to a deficiency of insulin in type 1 diabetes, or due to increased insulin resistance, leading to reduced insulin sensitivity and productivity in type 2 diabetes. There is an increasing need for new options to treat diabetes, especially type 2 diabetes at its early stages due to an ineffective control of its development in patients. Recently, a novel class of small noncoding RNAs, termed microRNAs (miRNAs), is found to play a key role as important transcriptional and posttranscriptional inhibitors of gene expression in fine-tuning the target messenger RNAs (mRNAs). miRNAs are implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetes and have become an intriguing target for therapeutic intervention. This review focuses on the dysregulated miRNAs discovered in various diabetic models and addresses the potential for miRNAs to be therapeutic targets in the treatment of diabetes.

INSPEX is a computer-aided knowledge based inspection planning system for preparing inspection plans from CAD toleranced component models of rotational components. To achieve the complete automation of the inspection process, INSPEX has been integrated with CMMs (computer controlled coordinate measuring machines) via DMIS (Dimensional Measuring Interface Specification), where DMIS has been as a data exchange standard. The inspection procedures produced by INSPEX can be automatically converted into DMIS data format file by the DMIS pre-processor described in this paper, which can be fed into any CMMs with a DMIS interface for executing the inspection procedures.

Over a century ago, Ramon y Cajal, using the Golgi staining technique to label a subset of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) axons, showed that injured DR axons regenerate within the root but fail to re-enter the adult spinal cord. As shown in his drawing (Fig. 1), DR axons grow away from (arrow), or stop at (arrowheads), the junction between the CNS and PNS, termed the dorsal root entry zone (DREZ). Regeneration of dorsal root (DR) axons into spinal cord is prevented at the dorsal root entry zone (DREZ), the transitional zone between the CNS and PNS. Why regeneration fails at DREZ has remained an interesting issue both because dorsal root injuries are common and because DREZ serves as an excellent model system for studying the reasons for the failure of CNS regeneration.

International audience; Engineering design change management is very important to the success of engineering product development. It has been recognised that the earlier change issues are addressed, the greater product lifecycle costs can be saved. However, in practice most engineering changes happen in the manufacturing phase, the later phase of product development. Change issues happening in the design phase, especially between the functional and the structural domains, have been a research focus in recent years, and thus there is significant research work that has been carried out to solve early engineering change issues from different perspectives. This paper presents a novel methodology that has been developed to help designers trace, analyse and evaluate engineering changes occurring in the product design phase. A modelling method is employed to enhance the traceability of potential design changes occurred between the functional and structural domains of design. Based on functional and physical models, a matrix based method is developed to analyse change propagations between components and help to find out design conflicts arising from design changes. A knowledge based method has been proposed to solve design conflicts by reusing previous design change knowledge. An industrial example about changes of a wind turbine cooling system has been used to help to understand the methodology and prove its usefulness.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a novel class of small noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the posttranscriptional level and play a critical role in many important biological processes and pathological development. In the past few years, miRNAs have been implicated to play an important role in cancer initiation and development. In this chapter, we describe a protocol for the analysis and characterization of miRNAs in prostate cancer cells using a simple but effective array platform. The array is composed of 553 nonredundant miRNAs encompassing the entire set of known miRNAs in humans and mice. As an example, profiling of miRNAs in four prostate cancer cell lines has revealed that a set of miRNAs were differentially expressed between androgen-dependent and androgen-independent metastatic prostate cancer cells. Among them, the differential expression of miR-205 and miR-200c were further validated by Northern blot analysis in these two types of prostate cancer cells. This comprehensive and easy-to-follow protocol will be useful for studying miRNAs in various cancers and can be readily adapted for miRNA analysis in a variety of human diseases.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a novel class of small noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression at the posttranscriptional level and play a critical role in many important biological processes and pathological development. In the past few years, miRNAs have been implicated to play an important role in cancer initiation and development. In this chapter, we describe a protocol for the analysis and characterization of miRNAs in prostate cancer cells using a simple but effective array platform. The array is composed of 553 nonredundant miRNAs encompassing the entire set of known miRNAs in humans and mice. As an example, profiling of miRNAs in four prostate cancer cell lines has revealed that a set of miRNAs were differentially expressed between androgen-dependent and androgen-independent metastatic prostate cancer cells. Among them, the differential expression of miR-205 and miR-200c were further validated by Northern blot analysis in these two types of prostate cancer cells. This comprehensive and easy-to-follow protocol will be useful for studying miRNAs in various cancers and can be readily adapted for miRNA analysis in a variety of human diseases.