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The effects of C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) pre-treatment on the in vitro maturation (IVM) and developmental competence of yak (Bos grunniens) oocytes were evaluated. The results showed that 100 nM CNP could effectively maintain meiotic arrest of yak oocytes in vitro within 6 h. Yak oocytes matured in two-step IVM (pre-IVM with 100 nM CNP for 6 h followed by conventional IVM for 28 h) yielded a significantly (P

Abstract 3‐hydroxybutyrate (3HB), or BHB, is an anionic small molecule acid metabolite with a hydroxyl group. 3HB is the major ketone body that is distributed in the human brain and its primary energy source when glucose is absent. A better understanding of 3HB and how to adapt neuronal response mechanisms is expected to facilitate the development of new interventions to promote cognitive brain function and prevent neurodegenerative diseases. It provides important concepts for the clinical application of 3HB therapy. This review summarizes the distribution of 3HB in the brain, its properties, and its mechanism in brain and nerve regulation. We focus on 3HB biosynthesis in natural human cells and engineered bacteria via synthetic biology platforms and 3HB treatment in various brain and nerve diseases, including epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, stroke, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, depressive disorder, and schizophrenia. Ultimately, this review explores the future development trend of 3HB as a potential small‐molecule drug for brain and nerve diseases.

As the leading malignancy among women, breast cancer is a serious threat to the life and health of women. In this context, it is of particular importance that a proper therapeutic target be identified for breast cancer treatment. We collected the pathological tissues of 80 patients, with the view to discovering appropriate molecular targets for the treatment of breast cancer, this paper analyzes the expressions of ZNF436, β-catenin, EGFR and CMTM5 in breast cancer tissues, as well as their correlations with breast cancer in combination with the clinicopathologic characteristics of studied patients. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was utilized to detect the expression levels of ZNF436, β-catenin, EGFR and CMTM5 in cancerous and paracancerous tissues of breast cancer patients. The expression levels of ZNF436, β-Catenin and EGFR in breast cancer tissues were significantly greater than those in paracancerous tissues in this study (p

Somatic embryogenesis (SE) plays a vital role in genetic transformation and massive propagation of important agronomical and economical crops. Here, we conducted a systematic assessment of the morphological, cytochemical, and cytogenetical characteristics of six culture strains with various embryogenic/regenerative potential during SE process in cotton. Results indicated that the six cell culture strains had stable ploidy levels, and did not reveal any relationship between the cytogenetic state and their morphogenetic potential. Moreover, the six culture strains were compared via double staining with Evans blue and Acetocarmine to efficiently distinguish embryogenic and non-embryogenic cells and determine the embryogenic nature of the calli. In addition, the kind of auxins added in medium affected not only growth property, color, size of cell clumps but also ploidy level and regeneration ability. By combining analysis of morphological, cytochemical, and cytogenetical characteristics of the cell cultures, we are able to obtain and maintain homogeneous cell population with high morphogenic and regeneration ability and establish efficient somatic embryogenesis and regeneration system from short-term cell cultures in upland cotton, which highlight the application of biotechnological approaches in crop breeding, and above all, to better understand totipotency of cells in higher plants.

The inhibitory ability of Fokienia hodginsii heartwood (FHH) extracts on Trametes versicolor (TV) and Gloeophyllum trabeum (GT) as well as the toxic effect of its heartwood extracts on GT were studied. The growth inhibition ability of the samples was analyzed using the growth rate method. The results showed that in the experiment of inhibiting TV, extracts using hot water had little effect, acetone extracts had the best inhibiting effect, and the lowest value of acetone EC50 was 0.409 g/L. The parameter EC50 is the concentration of the corresponding agent that inhibits the growth of 50% fungi. In the antifungal experiment of GT, methanol extract had the best inhibition effect, and the lowest EC50 value was 0.283 g/L. The antifungal effect of five solvent extracts of FHH was good when the concentration was 10% (w/w), and at this time, the mass loss rate of the test pieces was below 11%, all of them were Class I, indicating a strong antifungal level. After observing the samples of GT with SEM, it was found that the structure of methanol extract treatment was more complete and the antiseptic effect was better than that of the hot water extract treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determines the diffusion coefficients and concentrations of oxygen in oxygen-saturated solutions of quinoline, isoquinoline and methylquinolines using a hydrodynamic chronocoulometry at a rotating disk gold electrode. Solvent effects; Correlation between the logarithm of mole fraction solubility and the square of the Hildebrand solubility parameter.

Extracting and parameterizing ionospheric waves globally and statistically is a longstanding problem. Based on the multichannel maximum entropy method (MMEM) used for studying ionospheric waves by previous work, we calculate the parameters of ionospheric waves by applying the MMEM to numerously temporally approximate and spatially close global-positioning-system radio occultation total electron content profile triples provided by the unique clustered satellites flight between years 2006 and 2007 right after the constellation observing system for meteorology, ionosphere, and climate (COSMIC) mission launch. The results show that the amplitude of ionospheric waves increases at the low and high latitudes (∼0.15 TECU) and decreases in the mid-latitudes (∼0.05 TECU). The vertical wavelength of the ionospheric waves increases in the mid-latitudes (e.g., ∼50 km at altitudes of 200–250 km) and decreases at the low and high latitudes (e.g., ∼35 km at altitudes of 200–250 km). The horizontal wavelength shows a similar result (e.g., ∼1400 km in the mid-latitudes and ∼800 km at the low and high latitudes). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]