Search

Primula, well known for its heterostyly, is the largest genus in the family Primulaceae with more than 500 species. The considerable species number has introduced a huge challenge for taxonomy. Although several phylogenetic constructions have been carried out thoroughly, the relationships between Primula species were remained incompletely understood, especially for the relationship among sections within Chinese species. P. wilsonii Dunn is a PSESP (plant species with extremely small populations) with very limited genetic information to explore its endangered mechanism and conservation. In this study, we sequenced and assembled the complete chloroplast genomes of P. wilsonii using Illumina sequencing and compared its genomic sequences with those of four related Primula species. The chloroplast genomes of Primula species were similar in the basic structure, gene order and GC content. The detected 38 SSRs loci and 17 hyper-variable regions had many similarities in P. wilsonii, P. anisodora, P. miyabeana and P. poissonii, but showed a significant difference compared with those in P. secundiflora. Slight variations were observed among Primula chloroplast genomes, in consideration of the relatively stable patterns of IR contraction and expansion. Phylogenetic analysis based on chloroplast genomes confirmed three major clades in Chinese Primula, but the infrageneric sections were not in accordance with morphological traits. The P. poissonii complex was confirmed here and P. anisodora was the species that was most closely related to P. wilsonii. Overall, the chloroplast genome sequences provided useful genetic and evolutionary information for phylogeny, population genetics and conservation studies on Chinese Primula species.

Human fibroblast growth factor 21 (hFGF21) has become a candidate drug for regulating blood glucose and lipid metabolism. The poor stability and short half-life of hFGF21 resulted in low target tissue availability, which hampers its clinical application. In this study, the hFGF21 was fused with a recombinant human serum albumin (HSA), and the resulted fusion protein rHSA-hFGF21 was expressed in

Four-dimensional (4D) printing is a promising technology that provides solutions for compelling needs in various fields. Most of the reported 4D printed systems are based on the temporal shape transformation of printed subjects. Induction of temporal heterogenicity in functions in addition to shape may extend the scope of 4D printing. Herein, we report a 4D printing approach using plant protein (zein) gel inspired by the amyloid fibrils formation mechanism. The printing of zein gel in a specialized layered-Carbopol supporting bath with different water concentrations in an ethanol-water mixture modulates hydrophobic and hydrogen bonding that causes temporal changes in functions. The part of the construct printed in a supporting bath with higher water content exhibits higher drug loading, faster drug release and degradation than those printed in the supporting bath with lower water content. Tri-segment conduit and butterfly-shaped construct with two asymmetrical wings are printed using this system to evaluate biomedical function as nerve conduit and drug delivery system. 4D printed conduits are also effective as a drug-eluting urethral stent in the porcine model. Overall, this study extends the concept of 4D printing beyond shape transformation and presents an approach of fabricating specialized baths for 4D printing that can also be extended to other materials to obtain 4D printed medical devices with translational potential.

In our pervious study, a dual-functional peptide R7 was developed to form a complex with paclitaxel (PTX) for enhancement of PTX translocation. However, because of the unstable noncovalent bond between R7 and PTX, PTX redistributed after the introduction of heparin, leading to R7-PTX complex dissociation, further causing less PTX penetration than expected. Thus, a novel positive CPP carrier of P9 was developed to improve CPP-PTX affinity via a double-proline (Pro, P) hairpin tail and enhance PTX translocation through the reduction of translocation energy barrier, confirmed by the MM-PBSA analysis and umbrella sampling simulation. Cellular uptake study reveals that P9 can quickly translocate into the HeLa cells within 1 min and exhibits no noticeable cytotoxicity. Compared to R7, P9 is able to help PTX translocation, leading to a remarkable increase in the intracellular concentration of PTX, eventually resulting in a significant loss in tumor cell viability. In vivo experiments demonstrate that a vein injection of P9-PTX complex dramatically inhibits tumor growth. Our study provides a novel perspective for designing CPP-facilitated drug carrier to enhance antitumor efficiency.

In recent years, functional magnetic resonance technology has discovered that abnormal connections in different brain regions of the brain may serve as the pathophysiological mechanism of mental illness. Exploring the mechanism of information flow and integration between different brain regions is of great significance for understanding the pathophysiological mechanism of mental illness. This article aims to analyze the mechanism of depression by comparing human brain images of normal people and patients with depression and conduct research. Fluoxetine, a selective 5-HT reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) widely used in clinical practice, can selectively inhibit 5-HT transporter and block the reuptake of 5-HT by the presynaptic membrane. The effect of 5-HT is prolonged and increased, thereby producing antidepressant effects. It has low affinity for adrenergic, histaminergic, and cholinergic receptors and has a weaker effect, resulting in fewer adverse reactions. This paper uses the comparative experiment method and the Welch method and uses the average shortest path length L to describe the average value of the shortest path length between two nodes in the network. Attention refers to the ability of a person’s mental activity to point and to concentrate on something. Sustained attention means that attention is kept on a certain cognitive object or activity for a certain period of time, which is also called the stability of attention. The research on attention of depression patients generally focuses on continuous attention, and the results obtained show inconsistencies. Most studies have shown that the sustained attention of the depression group is significantly worse than that of the healthy control group. An overview of magnetic resonance imaging technology and an analysis of depression based on resting state were carried out. The key brain areas of the sample core network were scanned, and the ALFF results were analyzed. The data showed that the severity of depression in the depression group was negatively correlated with the ReHo value in the posterior left cerebellum ( P = 0.010 ). The sense of despair was negatively correlated with the ReHo value in the posterior right cerebellum ( P = 0.013 ). The diurnal variation was negatively correlated with the ReHo value of the left ring ( P = 0.014 ). It was positively correlated with the ReHo value of the left ventricle ( P = 0.048 ). This experiment has better completed the research on the mechanism of depression by analyzing the functional images of patients with depression and normal human brain.

The serine protease inhibitor, Kazal type III (SPINK3), is a trypsin inhibitor associated with liver disease, which highly overexpresses in a variety of cancers. In one of our previous studies of our laboratory, Spink3 was observed to be significantly upregulated in rat liver regeneration (LR) via a gene expression profile. For the current study, rat hepatocyte BRL-3A cells were treated by gene addition/interference, and the addition of the exogenous rat recombinant protein SPINK3. It was revealed that both the overexpression of endogenous Spink3 and addition of exogenous rat recombinant SPINK3 (rrSPINK3) significantly promoted the cell proliferation of BRL-3A cells, whereas cell proliferation was inhibited when Spink3 was interfered. Furthermore, quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and western blot results revealed that three signaling pathways, including extracellular-signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), Janus kinase (JAK)-signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT), and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)-protein kinase B (AKT), as well as their related genes, were altered following endogenous Spink3 addition/interference. Also, the PI3K-AKT and SRC-p38 pathways and their related genes were modified following exogenous SPINK3 treatment. Among them, the common signaling pathway was PI3K-AKT pathway. We concluded that SPINK3 could activate the PI3K-AKT pathway by enhancing the expression of AKT1 to regulate the proliferation of BRL-3A cells. This study may contribute to shedding light on the potential mechanisms of SPINK3 that regulate the proliferation of BRL-3A cells.

Angiolipoma has been reported in many cases, which often occurring subcutaneously in the trunk and limbs. However, angiolipoma rarely occurs in the scrotum. In order to better understand its biological characteristics, clinical features and prognosis, in this case, a 41-year-old male with painful angiolipoma in the scrotum was reported.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Primer sequences used for ChIP assays.

Additional file 2: Table S2. Abnormally expressed lncRNAs in AIPC and normal tissues.

CD81, a member of the tetraspanin family, has been revealed to be upregulated and associated with prognosis in several types of cancer; however, this relationship has not been explored in prostate cancer. The present study aimed to investigate the prognostic significance and functional role of CD81 in prostate cancer. The expression of CD81 in prostate cancer tissues and cell lines was evaluated using qRT-PCR analysis. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression analysis were conducted to explore the prognostic significance of CD81. Cell experiments were used to explore the effects of CD81 on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in prostate cell lines in vitro. The expression of CD81 was increased in both prostate cancer tissues and cell lines. Upregulation of CD81 was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis and TNM stage. Moreover, patients with high CD81 levels had poorer overall survival than those with lower levels. Additionally, tumor cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were inhibited by knockdown of CD81. The present results indicated that CD81 plays an oncogenic role in prostate cancer. Overexpression of CD81 may serve as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target and is involved in the progression of prostate cancer.

This paper presents a novel learning-based method for fast motion planning in high-dimensional spaces. A deep neural network is designed to predict the free configuration space rapidly given the environment point cloud. With a generated roadmap as an approximate view of the free C-space, LazyPRM is applied to find and check the path with A* search. Due to the application of LazyPRM, the presented method can preserve probabilistic completeness and asymptotic optimality. The new algorithm is tested on a 3-DOF robot arm and a 6-DOF UR3 robot to plan in randomly generated obstacle environments. Results indicate that compared to planners including PRM, RRT*, RRT-connect and the original LazyPRM, our method is of the lowest time consumption and relatively short path length, showing good performance on both planning speed and path quality.

Bladder foreign bodies have been reported with a great variety, including daily objects and even living things. Except for these, thermometer in bladder were reported with several cases. Due to the limitations of surgical equipment, the removal of bladder thermometer was initially performed with manipulation combined with forceps for female patients, and now it has been taken out with the assistance of various endoscopes. In this report, a 25 years old male inserted a thermometer in his bladder, and a transurethral cystoscopic removal procedure was conducted with a stone extractor.

CD81, a member of the tetraspanin family, has been revealed to be upregulated and associated with prognosis in several types of cancer; however, this relationship has not been explored in prostate cancer. The present study aimed to investigate the prognostic significance and functional role of CD81 in prostate cancer. The expression of CD81 in prostate cancer tissues and cell lines was evaluated using qRT-PCR analysis. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression analysis were conducted to explore the prognostic significance of CD81. Cell experiments were used to explore the effects of CD81 on cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in prostate cell lines in vitro. The expression of CD81 was increased in both prostate cancer tissues and cell lines. Upregulation of CD81 was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis and TNM stage. Moreover, patients with high CD81 levels had poorer overall survival than those with lower levels. Additionally, tumor cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were inhibited by knockdown of CD81. The present results indicated that CD81 plays an oncogenic role in prostate cancer. Overexpression of CD81 may serve as a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target and is involved in the progression of prostate cancer.

Ureteral stents are commonly used in urological practices but are frequently associated with patient discomfort, encrustation and stent-related infection. And a second procedure is needed to remove the stent. New biomaterials and designs have been attempted to solve these problems. The development of biodegradable ureteral stent shows promising prospects in future clinical applications. This article reviews the biomaterials and preparation methods commonly used in the present study of biodegradable ureteral stents. To date, none of the technological developments has lead to the 'ideal' biodegradable ureteral stent, but much progress has been made in the stent design by improving the physical characteristics and biocompatibility of the biomaterials. The controllability of degradation, the biggest problem faced currently, still needs to be further improved. In the future, the nanotechnology and chemical modification of biomaterials may be able to further optimize the properties of degradation.

Objective The aim of this study was to develop a novel immersed multilayer biodegradable ureteral stent with reformed biodegradation and evaluate it in vitro. Methods Poly(glycolic-co-lactic acid) (PGLA), microsphere zein and BaSO4 were employed to produce a multilayer biodegradable stent using immersion technology. Tests of the biodegradable stents and conventional control stents were conducted in human urine in vitro to evaluate the biodegradable properties. The biocompatibility was assessed by the morphology and proliferation of urine-derived cells cultured with extracted media from the biodegradable stent and a latex material positive control. Results An immersed multilayer biodegradable stent was successfully produced. It began to degrade in week 2 and was fully degraded by week 4. The mass loss ratio in the first 2 weeks was low (approximately 10.0% at 1 week, 20.0% at 2 weeks) and increased after 3 weeks (approximately 70%) to the end of testing. During the first 2 weeks, the radial compression load performances of the biodegradable stents were better than those of the control stents with statistically significant differences ( p = 0.00, p = 0.01) and the tensile strengths were lower in the biodegradable stents than those in the control stents throughout the experiment. SEM showed that the stents degraded layer by layer from the outer to the inner wall. The influences on the cells of extracted medium from the biodegradable stents were morphologically slight and lower than 10% in relative growth rates. Conclusions This preliminary study demonstrates that the immersed multilayer biodegradable ureteral stent has good radial compression and biocompatible performance and can be degraded in vitro within 4 weeks in a moderate manner.

Ranpirnase (onconase, ONC) is a new drug, with weak RNase activity and strong cytotoxicity to various tumor cells in vitro and in vivo. This study is to obtain recombination onconase (rONC) with high bioactivity. Based on the codon preference of Pichia pastoris, we designed and synthesized the gene according to cDNA sequences of ONC and the α mating factor's prepeptide. We screened positive clones after transforming the recombination plasmids into P. pastoris X-33, GSS115 and SMD1168. We screened the best combination of seven different vectors and host strains. Moreover, we optimized culture condition in shake flasks and 10 L bioreactor, and purified rONC from the supernatant after inducing it with 0.25% methanol by aqueous two-phase extraction coupling G50 molecular exclusion method. The highest rONC production was 13 mg/L in pPICZα-A/X-33/ONC combination under the condition of pH 5.5 and 23 degrees C in shake flasks for 7 d; and that the highest rONC production was 180 mg/L when the induction is performed in the lower basic salt medium with pH 5.5 in the 10 L bioreactor for 7 d. The yield of rONC is more than 90% at a purity of above 95%. rONC can kill various tumor cells in vitro. The expression and purification of rONC would be useful for further investigation of this new drug.

The silica nanoparticle was covalently functionalized with toluene-2,4-diisocyanate to prepare the functionalized silica nanoparticle containing isocyanate group. Here, the isocyanate group on the functionalized silica nanoparticle have been further derivatized with water and 2-bromoisobutyryl bromide consecutively resulting in the attachment of atom transfer radical polymerization initiators to the surface of the silica nanoparticle. These silica nanoparticle based macroinitiators were used to initiate polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate at ambient temperature in aqueous media. Thus, structurally well-defined poly(glycidyl methacrylate) was grown from the silica nanoparticle surface to yield individual hybrids composed of a silica core and a well-defined, densely grafted outer poly(glycidyl methacrylate) via atom transfer radical polymerization. FTIR spectroscopy was utilized to follow the covalent functionalization of silica nanoparticle and showed the formation of resulting hybrid particle.

Vascular endothelial growth inhibitor (VEGI), also known as tumor necrosis factor superfamily member 15 or TNF ligand-related molecule 1, is identified as one kind of antiangiogenic cytokine that belongs to the tumor necrosis factor superfamily. VEGI includes three isoforms: VEGI-174, VEGI-192, and VEGI-251. VEGI can activate multiple signaling pathways including nuclear factor-kappaB, c-Jun N-terminal kinase, and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase. Moreover, it suppresses endothelial cell proliferation, angiopoiesis, and tumor growth. Genetic engineering techniques have been used to produce recombinant human vascular endothelial growth inhibitor, and great progress has been made in its application for curing cancer. VEGI could serve as a potential target in the development of angiogenesis-based cancer therapy, and this paper briefly summarizes the progress of the research on VEGI.

To establish a simple and rapid method to remove serosa and mucosa from detrusor for the culture of bladder smooth muscle cells (SMCs).Fourteen New Zealand rabbits were randomly allocated to two groups. In the first group, pure bladder detrusor was directly obtained from bladder wall using novel method characterized by subserous injection of normal saline. In the second group, full thickness bladder wall sample was cut down, and then, mucosa and serosa were trimmed off detrusor ex vivo. Twelve detrusor samples from two groups were manually minced and enzymatically digested, respectively, to form dissociated cells whose livability was detected by trypan blue exclusion. Proliferative ability of primary culture cells was detected by CCK-8 kit, and purity of second-passage SMCs was detected by flow cytometric analyses. Another two detrusor samples from two groups were used for histological examination.Subserous injection of normal saline combined with blunt dissection can remove mucosa and serosa from detrusor layer easily and quickly. Statistical analysis revealed the first group possessed higher cell livability, shorter primary culture cell doubling time, and higher purity of SMCs than the second group (P0.05). Histological examination confirmed no serosa and mucosa existed on the surface of detrusor obtained by novel method, while serosa or mucosa residual can be found on the surface of detrusor obtained by traditional method.Pure detrusor can be acquired from bladder wall conveniently using novel method. This novel method brought about significantly higher purity and cell livability as compared to traditional method.