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Ebola virus (EBOV), a member of the filovirus family, is an enveloped negative-sense RNA virus that causes lethal infections in humans and primates. Thousands of people have died from the Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa, and no specific antiviral medication and treatment have been approved for EVD. Although the development of an EBOV vaccine is promising, immunity to any vaccine is not immediate. Here, we computationally analysed the structure of EBOV glycoprotein GP2 (GP2EBOV) and designed RNA aptamers that recognize and inhibit it. The aptamers specifically bind to conserved arginine residues (Arg587 and Arg596) located in the C-terminal coiled-coil region of GP2EBOV. Molecular docking of the synthetic RNA aptamers with the ectodomain of GP2EBOV revealed that the optimized orthogonal RNA aptamers have strong binding affinities with the coiled-coil region of GP2EBOV. The characterized RNA aptamers may facilitate strategies to block replication of EBOV and related Filoviruses, and thus may serve as important antivirals to reduce mortality associated with these infections.

Background: the genetic and environmental contributions to cognitive function in the old people have been well addressed for the Western populations using twin modelling showing moderate to high heritability. No similar study has been conducted in the world largest and rapidly ageing Chinese population living under distinct environmental condition as the Western populations. Objective: this study aims to explore the genetic and environmental impact on normal cognitive ageing in the Chinese twins. Design/setting: cognitive function was measured on 384 complete twin pairs with median age of 50 years for seven cognitive measurements including visuospatial, linguistic skills, naming, memory, attention, abstraction and orientation abilities. Data were analysed by fitting univariate and bivariate twin models to estimate the genetic and environmental components in the variance and co-variance of the cognitive assessments. Results: intra-pair correlation on cognitive measurements was low to moderate in monozygotic twins (0.23-0.41, overall 0.42) and low in dizygotic twins (0.05-0.30, overall 0.31) with the former higher than the latter for each item. Estimate for heritability was moderate for overall cognitive function (0.44, 95% CI: 0.34-0.53) and low to moderate for visuospatial, naming, attention and orientation abilities ranging from 0.28 to 0.38. No genetic contribution was estimated to linguistic skill, abstraction and memory which instead were under low to moderate control by shared environmental factors accounting for 23-33% of the total variances. In contrast, all cognitive performances showed moderate to high influences by the unique environmental factors. Conclusions: genetic factor and common family environment have a limited contribution to cognitive function in the Chinese adults. Individual unique environment is likely to play a major role in determining the levels of cognitive performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of our studies on the lichen family Megasporaceae, three species new to China, Aspicilia cupulifera (H.Magn.) Oxner, A. narssaquensis (Lynge) J. W. Thomson and Circinaria arida Owe-Larss., A. Nordin & Tibell are described and illustrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the bound 1,3D states and the doubly-excited 1,3De resonance states of two-electron positive ions Li+ and Be2+ by employing correlated exponential wave functions. In the framework of the stabilization method, we are able to extract three series (2pnp, 2snd, 2pnf) of ¹De resonances and two series (2pnp, 2snd) of ³De resonances below the N = 2 threshold. The 1,3De resonance parameters (resonance energies and widths) for Li+ and Be2+ along with the bound-excited 1s3d 1,3D state energies are reported for the first time as functions of the screening parameter. Accurate resonance energies and widths are also reported for Li+ and Be2+ in vacuum. For free-atomic cases, comparisons are made with the reported results and few resonance states are reported for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have recently become recognized as crucial players in cancer cellular events including proliferation, migration, and invasion. Herein, we investigated the potential role of lncRNA DLX6-AS1 in prostate cancer cell malignant behaviors and lymph node metastasis. A differentially expressed lncRNA DLX6-AS1 and its downstream regulatory gene (LARGE) were predicted by analysis in silico. RT-qPCR and western blot analysis results demonstrated that DLX6-AS1 was highly expressed, but LARGE was poorly expressed in prostate cancer tissues and cells. The online website indicated that DLX6-AS1 negatively targeted LARGE expression, which was validated by Pearson correlation analysis and MSP. ChIP, RIP, and RNA pull-down assays further suggested that DLX6-AS1 downregulated LARGE expression through recruitment of DNMT1 to its promoter. We induced DLX6-AS1/LARGE overexpression or knockdown to examine their effects through Edu and Transwell assays, which revealed that DLX6-AS1 overexpression accelerated proliferation, invasion, and migration of prostate cancer cells, and that overexpression of LARGE rescued these effects. Tumors xenografts studies confirmed that DLX6-AS1 promoted lymph node metastasis by regulating LARGE, as evidenced by enhanced expression of MMP-9, uPAR, and cathepsin B. In summary, DLX6-AS1 stimulated prostate cancer malignant progression and lymph node metastasis by inducing DNMT1-mediated LARGE methylation, highlighting a potential therapeutic target against prostate cancer.

We explore diagnostic utility of a multicolor excitation multimodal nonlinear optical (NLO) microscopy for noninvasive detection of squamous epithelial precancer in vivo. The 7,12-dimenthylbenz(a)anthracene treated hamster cheek pouch was used as an animal model of carcinogenesis. The NLO microscope system employed was equipped with the ability to collect multiple tissue endogenous NLO signals such as two-photon excited fluorescence of keratin, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, collagen, and tryptophan, and second harmonic generation of collagen in spectral and time domains simultaneously. A total of 34 (11 controlled and 23 treated) Golden Syrian hamsters with 62 in vivo spatially distinct measurement sites were assessed in this study. High-resolution label-free NLO images were acquired from stratum corneum, stratum granulosum-stratum basale, and stroma for all tissue measurement sites. A total of nine and eight features from 745 and 600 nm excitation wavelengths, respectively, involving tissue structural and intrinsic biochemical properties were found to contain significant diagnostic information for precancers detection (p < 0.05). Particularly, 600 nm excited tryptophan fluorescence signals emanating from stratum corneum was revealed to provide remarkable diagnostic utility. Multivariate statistical techniques confirmed the integration of diagnostically significant features from multicolor excitation wavelengths yielded improved diagnostic accuracy as compared to using the individual wavelength alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, an indirect genetic association approach that compares genotype frequencies in offspring of long-lived subjects and offspring from random families has been introduced to study gene-longevity associations. Although the indirect genetic association has certain advantages over the direct association approach that compares genotype frequency between centenarians and young controls, the power has been of concern. This paper reports a power study performed on the indirect approach using computer simulation. We perform our simulation study by introducing the current Danish population life table and the proportional hazard model for generating individual lifespan. Family genotype data is generated using a genetic linkage program for given SNP allele frequency. Power is estimated by setting the type I error rate at 0.05 and by calculating the Armitage’s chi-squared test statistic for 200 replicate samples for each setting of the specified allele risk and frequency parameters under different modes of inheritance and for different sample sizes. The indirect genetic association analysis is a valid approach for studying gene-longevity association, but the sample size requirement is about 3–4 time larger than the direct approach. It also has low power in detecting non-additive effect genes. Indirect genetic association using offspring from families with both parents as nonagenarians is nearly as powerful as using offspring from families with one centenarian parent. In conclusion, the indirect design can be a good choice for studying longevity in comparison with other alternatives, when relatively large sample size is available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The straight groove test of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet by electric hot temperature-controlled incremental sheet forming (ISF) was conducted at different temperatures. The temperature influence on fracture depth, deformation force and strain distribution was investigated. It was found that the limit depth and major strain increased as the temperature rose and that the forming force decreased correspondingly. Furthermore, the fracture behavior changed from brittle fracture to ductile fracture. Considering the formability and surface wear comprehensively, the optimized forming temperature was determined to be 300 °C. The microstructure of the groove specimen was analyzed and the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) was considered to be the reason for the improved formability. The degree of DRX depended on the temperature and degree of deformation, which resulted in non-uniform distribution of hardness within the cross section of the groove specimen.

Fertilization influences the soil microbiome. However, little is known about the effects of long-term fertilization on soil microbial metabolic pathways. In this study, we investigated the soil microbiome composition and function and microbial participation in the N cycle according to the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and gene ontology (GO) functional annotation of different genes in a metagenomic analysis after long-term fertilization. Fertilizer application significantly changed the soil C/N ratio. Chemical fertilizer (NPK) treatment decreased soil pH, and chemical fertilizer combined with straw (NPK+S0.5) treatment increased ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) but decreased nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N). NPK, NPK+S0.5 and S0.5 applications did not change the soil microbiome composition or dominant phylum but changed the relative abundances of microbiome components. Moreover, fertilizer significantly influenced metabolic processes, cellular processes and single-organism processes. Compared with a no-fertilizer treatment (CK), the NPK treatment resulted in more differentially expressed gene (DEG) pathways than the NPK+S0.5 and S0.5 treatments, and these pathways significantly correlated with soil nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N), available phosphorus (AP) and the moisture content of soil (MC). KEGG analysis found that fertilizer application mainly affected the ribosome, photosynthesis and oxidative phosphorylation pathways. S0.5 and NPK+S0.5 increased microbial nitrogen fixation, and NPK and NPK+S0.5 decreased amoA and amoB and accelerated denitrification. Thus, organic fertilizer increased N fixation and nitrification, and inorganic N fertilizer accelerated denitrification. We found that the function of the soil microbiome under different fertilizer applications could be important for the rational application of fertilizer and for environmental and sustainable development.

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is an emerging global threat that is suspected to be associated with fetal microcephaly. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying ZIKV disease pathogenesis in humans remain elusive. Here, we investigated the human protein interaction network associated with ZIKV infection using a systemic virology approach, and reconstructed the transcriptional regulatory network to analyze the mechanisms underlying ZIKV-elicited microcephaly pathogenesis. The bioinformatics findings in this study show that P53 is the hub of the genetic regulatory network for ZIKV-related and microcephaly-associated proteins. Importantly, these results imply that the ZIKV capsid protein interacts with mouse double-minute-2 homolog (MDM2), which is involved in the P53-mediated apoptosis pathway, activating the death of infected neural cells. We also found that synthetic mimics of the ZIKV capsid protein induced cell death in vitro and in vivo. This study provides important insight into the relationship between ZIKV infection and brain diseases.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of oncostatin M (OSM) in tubulointerstitial lesion (TIL) in lupus nephritis (LN). We found that OSM was highly expressed in the renal tissue of LN mice. OSM is one of the interleukin-6 cytokine family members. In order to clarify the role and mechanism of OSM in LN, mice with LN were treated with anti-OSM antibody or isotype antibody. We evaluated the tubular epithelial-mesenchymal transdifferentiation (EMT) by detecting the E-cadherin, α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), and fibronectin (FN) expression. We analyzed the inflammation by observing the monocyte chemotactic factor-1 (MCP-1) and intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM-1) expression and calculated the tubulointerstitial fibrosis area by Masson staining. The results showed that anti-OSM antibody, rather than isotype antibody, improved EMT, inflammation, and tubulointerstitial fibrosis. In addition, the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 1 and STAT3 signaling was activated by tyrosine phosphorylation in LN mouse renal tissue, indicating that the phosphorylated STAT1 (p-STAT1) and p-STAT3 were involved in kidney injury. Moreover, decreased p-STAT3 instead of p-STAT1 has been observed after anti-OSM antibody injection. Thus, we concluded that OSM is associated with TIL in lupus nephritis, which may be connected with the activation of STAT3 rather than that of STAT1.

A series of calcium-containing layered double hydroxides (LDHs) and calcined product (CLDH) were synthesized using a comparative simple synthesis method (without using organic solvents and with a shortened reaction time) and applied in the adsorption of arsenic in water. The adsorption performance of arsenate on these LDHs and CLDH were studied using batch tests. The effects of various factors during the adsorption process, such as pH of the solution, dosage of materials, coexisting ions, contact time, and initial arsenate concentration, were evaluated. The maximum adsorption capacity of arsenate on three materials (CaFe-CLDH, CaFe-Cl-LDH, CaFe-NO3-LDH) were 156.0 mg·g−1, 150.5 mg·g−1, and 148.0 mg·g−1, respectively. When the concentration of CaFe-CLDH was 0.5 g·L−1, the concentration of arsenate was reduced from 5000 μg·L−1 to 10 μg·L−1 after adsorption. Moreover, when the CaFe-NO3-LDH or CaFe-Cl-LDH dosage was 1.0 g·L−1, a similar decontamination result could be achieved. The synthesized CaFe-CLDH was used to treat actual contaminated water samples from a river in a mining area north of Lengshuijiang City in Hunan Province, China. After treating using CaFe-CLDH, the residual arsenic concentration of actual water samples can fully meet the requirements for arsenic in the drinking water standards of the World Health Organization and China. This indicates that synthetic CaFe-CLDH has the potential to serve as an effective adsorbent for the removal of arsenic contamination.

To overcome the disadvantages of conventional computed-torque control and fuzzy control, and to exploit their attractive features, this paper proposes two types of adaptive control scheme combining conventional computed-torque control and different fuzzy compensators for the robust tracking control of robotic manipulators with structured and unstructured uncertainties. Fuzzy compensators based on feed-forward and feed-back are developed to compensate these uncertain dynamics. On the basis of Lyapunov stability theory, a tracking error limit is derived for the closed-loop control system and the convergence and stability of the control schemes are proved. Comparisons of their performances with conventional computed-torque controllers under the condition of these uncertainties are carried out. The validity of the two types of adaptive control scheme is shown by numerical simulations of a three-link rotary robot manipulator.

Drought stress impairs plant growth and other physiological functions. MeHDZ14, a homeodomainleucine zipper I transcription factor, is strongly induced by drought stress in various cassava cultivars. However, the role of MeHDZ14 in cassava growth regulation has remained unclear. Here we report that MeHDZ14 affected plant height, such that a dwarf phenotype and altered internode elongation were observed in transgenic cassava lines. MeHDZ14 was found to negatively regulate the biosynthesis of lignin. Its overexpression resulted in abaxially rolled leaves. The morphogenesis of leaf epidermal cells was inhibited by overexpression of MeHDZ14, with decreased auxin and gibberellin and increased cytokinin contents. MeHDZ14 was found to regulate many drought-responsive genes, including genes involved in cell wall synthesis and expansion. MeHDZ14 bound to the promoter of caffeic acid 3-Omethyltransferase 1 (MeCOMT1), acting as a transcriptional repressor of genes involved in cell wall development. MeHDZ14 appears to act as a negative regulator of internode elongation and epidermal cell morphogenesis during cassava leaf development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chilling-induced accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) is harmful to plants, which usually produce anthocyanins to scavenge ROS as protection from chilling stress. As a tropical crop, cassava is hypersensitive to chilling, but the biochemical basis of this hypersensitivity remains unclear. We previously generated MeMYB2-RNAi transgenic cassava with increased chilling tolerance. Here we report that MeMYB2-RNAi transgenic cassava accumulated less ROS but more cyanidin-3-O-glucoside than the wild type under early chilling stress. Under this stress, the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway was more active in MeMYB2-RNAi lines than in the wild type, and several genes involved in the pathway, including MeTT8, were up-regulated by MeMYB2-RNAi in the transgenic cassava. MeMYB2 bound to the MeTT8 promoter and blocked its expression under both normal and chilling conditions, thereby inhibiting anthocyanin accumulation. MeTT8 was shown to bind to the promoter of Dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (MeDFR-2) and increased MeDFR-2 expression. MeMYB2 appears to act as an inhibitor of chilling-induced anthocyanin accumulation during the rapid response of cassava to chilling stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Understanding the distribution characteristics of arable land in Yunnan Province is of significant importance to make scientific decisionsto use and improve the quality of arable land. In this study, the distribution characteristics of the arable land grade including 129 counties were analyzed based on the accomplishment of cultivated land classification in Yunnan Province. The results showed that the average economic quality composite grade was 2.9, in a range of 1 to 13, which means that the economic quality of arable landof Yunnan Province is relatively lower. In excellent zone, the grade ranges from 1 to 10, and the average grade is 2.4. In good zone, it ranges from 1~13, and the average grade is 3.1. In medium zone, it ranges from 1~12, and the average value is 3.2. In poor zone, it ranges from 1~11, and the average is 3. In worse zone, it ranges from 1~10, and the average is 2.2. The middle and poor arable land has the largest area, which concentrated in the middle and poor zones and dominantly influenced the average grade in the whole province. This research will serve as a reference forarable landpolicy making in the future, especiallyon apace arrangement optimization, quality improvement and ecology environment protection in Yunnan Province.

Although the case-control or the cross-sectional design has been popular in genetic association studies of human longevity, such a design is prone to false positive results due to sampling bias and a potential secular trend in gene-environment interactions. To avoid these problems, the cohort or follow-up study design has been recommended. With the observed individual survival information, the Cox regression model has been used for single-locus data analysis. In this article, we present a novel survival analysis model that combines population survival with individual genotype and phenotype information in assessing the genetic association with human longevity in cohort studies. By monitoring the changes in the observed genotype frequencies over the follow-up period in a birth cohort, we are able to assess the effects of the genotypes and/or haplotypes on individual survival. With the estimated parameters, genotype- and/or haplotype-specific survival and hazard functions can be calculated without any parametric assumption on the survival distribution. In addition, our model estimates haplotype frequencies in a birth cohort over the follow-up time, which is not observable in the multilocus genotype data. A computer simulation study was conducted to specifically assess the performance and power of our haplotype-based approach for given risk and frequency parameters under different sample sizes. Application of our method to paraoxonase genotype data detected a haplotype that significantly reduces carriers' hazard of death and thus reveals and stresses the important role of genetic variation in maintaining human survival at advanced ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]