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Targeting the virulence factors of phytopathogenic bacteria is an innovative strategy for alleviating or eliminating the pathogenicity and rapid outbreak of plant microbial diseases. Therefore, several types of 1,2,4-triazole thioethers bearing an amide linkage were prepared and screened to develop virulence factor inhibitors. Besides, the 1,2,4-triazole scaffold was exchanged by a versatile 1,3,4-oxadiazole core to expand molecular diversity. Bioassay results revealed that a 1,2,4-triazole thioether

Background As the most common biliary malignancy, gallbladder cancer (GC) is an elderly-biased disease. Although extensive studies have elucidated the molecular mechanism of microRNA 182 (miR-182) and reversion-inducing-cysteine-rich protein with kazal motifs (RECK) in various cancers, the specific role of exosomal miR-182 and RECK in GC remains poorly understood. Aim To explore the relationship between exosomal miR-182/RECK and metastasis of GC. Methods Paired GC and adjacent normal tissues were collected from 78 patients. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was employed to detect miR-182 and exosomal miR-182 expression, and Western blotting was conducted to determine RECK expression. In addition, the effects of exosomal miR-182/RECK on the biological function of human GC cells were observed. Moreover, the double luciferase reporter gene assay was applied to validate the targeting relationship between miR-182 and RECK. Results Compared with normal gallbladder epithelial cells, miR-182 was highly expressed in GC cells, while RECK had low expression. Exosomal miR-182 could be absorbed and transferred by cells. Exosomal miR-182 inhibited RECK expression and promoted the migration and invasion of GC cells. Conclusion Exosomal miR-182 can significantly promote the migration and invasion of GC cells by inhibiting RECK; thus miR-182 can be used as a therapeutic target for GC.

Background MicroRNA 34c (miR-34c) has been reported to be associated with malignant types of cancer, however, it remains unknown whether miR-34c is involved in chemoresistance in gastric cancer (GC). Aim To investigate the effect of miR-34c and its upstream transcription factor E2F1 on paclitaxel combined with cisplatin resistance in GC cells. Methods Paired GC tissues and adjacent normal tissues were randomly sampled from 74 GC patients. miR-34c and E2F1 were detected by real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) and Western blot. In addition, the drug resistance of GC cells to paclitaxel and cisplatin was induced by concentration gradient increasing methods, and changes in miR-34c and E2F1 during this process were measured. Furthermore, E2F1 and miR-34c overexpression or underexpression vectors were constructed and transfected into drug-resistant GC cells. MTT was employed to test the sensitivity of cells to paclitaxel combined with cisplatin, qPCR was adopted to detect the expression of miR-34c, Western blot was applied to detect the expression levels of E2F1, drug resistance-related proteins and apoptosis-related proteins, and flow cytometry was used for the determination of cell apoptosis and cell cycle status. Results E2F1 was overexpressed while miR-34c was underexpressed in GC. After inducing GC cells to be resistant to paclitaxel and cisplatin, E2F1 expression increased while miR-34c expression decreased. Both silencing E2F1 and over-expressing miR-34c could increase the sensitivity of drug-resistant GC cells to paclitaxel combined with cisplatin, promote cell apoptosis and inhibit cell proliferation. Among which, silencing E2F1 could reduce the expression of drug resistance-related proteins and apoptosis-related proteins, while over-expression of miR-34c could upregulate the expression of apoptosis-related proteins without affecting the expression of MDR-1, MRP and other drug resistance-related proteins. Rescue experiments demonstrated that inhibiting miR-34c could significantly weaken the sensitization of drug resistant cells, and Si E2F1 to paclitaxel combined with cisplatin. Conclusion E2F1 inhibits miR-34c to promote the proliferation of GC cells and enhance the resistance to paclitaxel combined with cisplatin, and silencing E2F1 is conducive to improving the efficacy of paclitaxel combined with cisplatin in GC cells.

Background: Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) is a rare systemic autoimmune vasculitis disease that is highly correlated with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCAs).It used to be called"Wegener's granulomatosis". The clinical manifestations are diverse, mainly involving the upper respiratory tract, lungs and kidneys, and this disease can involve the brain parenchyma as an isolated solid mass. Only one case has been reported thus far. To provide further information on this rare case, we report a case of granulomatous polyangiitis involving the fourth ventricle and review the relevant literature.Case characteristics: A 32-year-old Chinese female developed fever, cough, and shortness of breath for 20 days. An 8*8 cm skin ulcer was seen on the right lower limb. CT showed multiple large patches of increased density in both lungs. The patient’s serological anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody cANCA was positive. Later, the patient developed dizziness and a headache. Magnetic resonance imaging of the head showed a mass of approximately 21x24 mm2 in the fourth ventricle. The patient had a craniotomy for mass resection, and macroscopically, the mass was gray–red and measured 2.5x2x2 cm and was soft, had local hemorrhage and necrosis, and had no capsule. The main microscopic features included necrotizing granulomatous vasculitis, the patient’s immunohistochemistry was positive for CD68 and negative for GFAP, and the acid-fast staining and hexaamine silver staining were negative. Combined with the clinical history, serology, and imaging, the pathological diagnosis was GPA in the fourth ventricle. The patient was switched to rituximab combined with steroid therapy because she did not tolerate cyclophosphamide. After 5 months of follow-up, the patient’s lung lesions and skin ulcers had completely improved, but the brain lesions had further progressed.Conclusion: When a patient has multiple system diseases, abnormal clinical manifestations, and positive serological ANCAs, a diagnosis of GPA should be carefully considered, and biopsies of easy-to-access sites should be performed. If the patient’s histopathological manifestations include necrotizing granulomatous vasculitis, a diagnosis of GPA is more likely. If a patient subsequently develops an intraventricular mass, the clinicians should consider a diagnosis of GPA, which can rarely involve the cerebral ventricle to avoid an unnecessary biopsy or surgical treatment of intracranial lesions. When a patient is intolerant to the traditional treatment drug cyclophosphamide and needs to be switched to rituximab, the treatment effect of intracerebral lesions is not ideal; therefore, the treatment of lesions involving GPA in the ventricle is worthy of further exploration.

The accumulation of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) lowers anaerobic digestion (AD) performance. In this study, electrodialysis (ED) was coupled with AD to remove VFAs. The results show that acetate and propionate were removed once the current was applied during ED even in the presence of medium. However, current efficiency was

The underlying mechanisms for acquired resistance to epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) in about 30%-40% of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients remain elusive. Recent studies have suggested that activation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and type 1 insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF1R) is associated with acquired EGFR-TKIs resistance in NSCLC. Our study aims to further explore the mechanism of EMT and IGF1R in acquired EGFR-TKIs resistance in NSCLC cell lines with mutant (PC-9) or wild-type EGFR (H460). Compared to parental cells, EGFR-TKIs-resistant PC-9/GR and H460/ER cells displayed an EMT phenotype and showed overexpression of IGF1R. SiIGF1R in PC-9/GR and H460/ER cells reversed EMT-related morphologies and reversed their resistance to EGFR-TKIs. Exogenous IGF-1 alone induced EMT in EGFR-TKIs-naïve PC-9 and H460 cells and increased their resistance against EGFR-TKIs. Inducing EMT by TGF-β1 in PC-9 and H460 cells decreased their sensitivity to EGFR-TKIs, whereas reversing EMT by E-cadherin overexpression in PC-9/GR and H460/ER cells restored their sensitivity to EGFR-TKIs. These data suggest that IGF1R plays an important role in acquired drug resistance against EGFR-TKIs by inducing EMT. Targeting IGF1R and EMT may be a potential therapeutic strategy for advanced NSCLC with acquired EGFR-TKIs resistance.

Objective To explore the influence of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) on blood glucose control and chronic diabetic complications in type 2 diabetes patients. Methods The type 2 diabetes patients hospitalized in 307 Hospital of PLA from September 2011 to July 2012 were screened for OSAS with a portable sleep respiration monitor ApneaLinkTM device. According to screening results mentioned above, patients were divided into two groups as OSAS group and control group, whose fasting blood glucose level, 2-h postprandial blood glucose level, HbA1c level, HOMA-IR index and prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR), and incidences of diabetic nephropathy (DN), diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), hypertension, and hyperlipidemia were recorded and analyzed for evaluating the relationship between OSAS severity and aforesaid factors. Results One hundred and forty-five patients completed the protocal with 114 cases (87 males and 27 females) stratified in OSAS group and 31 cases (22 males and 9 females) in control group. Compared with control group, the average fasting blood glucose level, 2-h postprandial blood glucose level, HbA1c level and HOMA-IR index were significantly higher in OSAS patients (P

In apple harvesting robot, the first key part is the machine vision system, which is used to recognize and locate the apples. In this paper, the procedure on how to develop an automatic recognition vision system guided for apple harvesting robot, is proposed. We first use a color charge coupled device camera to capture apple images, and then utilize an industrial computer to process images for recognising fruit. Meanwhile, the vector median filter is applied to remove the color images noise of apple, and images segmentation method based on region growing and color feature is investigated. After that the color feature and shape feature of image are extract, a new classification algorithm based on support vector machine for apple recognition is introduced to improve recognition accuracy and efficiency. Finally, these procedures proposed have been tested on apple harvesting robot under natural conditions in September 2009, and showed a recognition success rate of approximately 89% and average recognition time of 352ms.

Genetic engineering is widely used to meliorate biological characteristics of industrial brewing yeast. But how to solve multiple problems at one time has become the bottle neck in the genetic modifications of industrial yeast strains. In a newly constructed strain TYRL21, dextranase gene was expressed in addition of α-amylase to make up α-amylase's shortcoming which can only hydrolyze α-1,4-glycosidic bond. Meanwhile, 18s rDNA repeated sequence was used as the homologous sequence for an effective and stable expression of LSD1 gene. As a result, TYRL21 consumed about twice much starch than the host strain. Moreover TYRL21 speeded up the fermentation which achieved the maximum cell number only within 3 days during EBC tube fermentation. Besides, flavor evaluation comparing TYRL21 and wild type brewing strain Y31 also confirmed TYRL21's better performances regarding its better saccharides utilization (83% less in residual saccharides), less off-flavor compounds (57% less in diacetyl, 39% less in acetaldehyde, 67% less in pentanedione), and improved stability index (increased by 49%) which correlated with sensory evaluation of final beer product.

The relationship between the reactions kinetics and morphology development during the polyurethaneurea (PUU) curing process has been investigated simultaneously by in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The data of the FTIR spectra showed that with the increase of conversion, the absorbance of NH bands increases and its band sites shifts to lower wavenumbers; the absorbance of free urethane carbonyl kept nearly constant at low conversion, and then decreased much because of the interaction of the formed urea links, and then changed little at high conversion owing to the diffuse control. The band sites of hydrogen bonded urea carbonyl similarly shifted to lower wavenumbers and the absorbance of the hydrogen bonded urea carbonyl, associated with the phase separation of hard segments, became stronger with buildup of hydrogen bond between urea links. The carbonyl bands available during curing process were further assigned. Both interactions, such as hydrogenised effect and phase separation, played a major role in the matrix formation of the PUU polymer.

In apple harvesting robot stereo vision system, fruit recognition based on least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM) and calibration based on binocular vision are proposed, in order to gain the location information of apples including depth. Firstly, vector median filtering, opening and closing operations are employed, then feature vectors, H and S components in HIS color model and shape features, are used as input, LS-SVM is used for apple identification. Finally, corresponding point pixel coordinates in images are used as input, its world coordinates as the output, nonlinear model between input and output is established based on LS-SVM to avoid a large number of complex calculations and obtain apple's spatial location. The results showed that: the running time of this method, apple recognition and camera calibration based on LS-SVM, is short in comparison, and the accuracy rate can reach to 90%.

To investigate the migration and distribution of CTL (cytotoxic T lymphocyte) and CIK (cytokine-induced killer) cells in gastric tumor model.Subcutaneous gastric tumor model was established by BGC-823 cancer cells in nude mice. Both CTL and CIK cells were labeled with 99Tc(m) directly and then inoculated into nude mice with subcutaneous tumor by intravenous injection separately. Three mice of each group were evaluated by single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) at 1 h, 6 h and 24 h post-inoculation. After SPECT imaging, 3 mice in each group were sacrificed and got samples of the tumor, liver, spleen, kidney, lung, intestine, etc. The tissue samples were weighed and radioactivity was determined with a well-type scintillation counter. The accumulation of labeled CTL and CIK cells in tissues were expressed as %ID/g (percentage activity of injection dose per gram of tissue) and T/NT (tumor/non-tumor) values were analyzed.The tracing of both cells in SPECT showed a clear migration path away from the injection point to solid tumor, and can be detected in all organs and tissues such as liver, spleen, kidney, lung and intestine, etc not long after injection. The %ID/g peak values of CTL in organs from the highest to the lowest were as follows: tumor (7.79 +/- 0.46), liver (4.12 +/- 0.51), intestine (2.71 +/- 0.16), kidney (1.44 +/- 0.25), spleen (1.24 +/- 0.12), kidney (1.12 +/- 0.11), and all the T/NTs were above 1. The %ID/g peak values of CIK cells in organs from the highest to the lowest were as follows: liver (6.64 +/- 0.67), tumor (5.47 +/- 0.87), intestine (3.55 +/- 0.23), kidney (2.34 +/- 0.41), spleen (1.45 +/- 0.17), lung (1.27 +/- 0.21), and T/NTs1 except for liver. After injection, the %ID/g values of tumor in CTL group were 2.35 +/- 0.28 (1 h), 4.58 +/- 0.52 (6 h) and 7.79 +/- 0.46 (24 h) respectively while the %ID/g values of tumor in CIK group 2.23 +/- 0.46 (1 h), 3.25 +/- 0.70 (6 h) and 5.47 +/- 0.87 (24 h) respectively. At 24 h point, the %ID/g of CTL in tumor was much higher than CIK cells (P0.05).The definite directional tumor-targeting capacity of CTL and CIK cells in tumor-bearing nude mice is promising.

To investigate Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase 1 (IRAK-1) in bacterial lipoprotein (BLP) tolerance.Western blotting was used to confirm the over expression of TLR2 and IRAK-1 in human embryo kidney 293 (HEK293) cells. Plasmids for dual luciferase reporter gene with nuclear factor-KappaB promoter (pNF-KappaB-Luc) or CMV promoter (phRL-CMV internal control vector) were used to detect the NF-KappaB activation and the induction of BLP tolerance in HEK-TLR2 cells.BLP stimulation resulted in dose-dependent NF-KappaB activation in HEK293 cells stably expressing TLR2. And BLP pretreatment could reduce NF-KappaB activation and induce BLP tolerance in HEK-TLR2 cells. The NF-KappaB activation was 0.329+/-0.010 and 0.168+/-0.010 in BLP-activated and BLP-tolerant HEK-TLR2 cells, respectively. After transfection with 0.02 microg IRAK-1 plasmid, NF-KappaB activation in the two groups was 0.493+/-0.010 and 0.427+/-0.035, respectively (both P0.01). So over expression of IRAK-1 could increase NF-KappaB activation in a dose-dependent manner.These results demonstrated that over expression of IRAK-1 could reverse BLP tolerance, whereas over expression of TLR2 failed to prevent the induction of BLP tolerance. Therefore reduced IRAK-1 protein expression is an important mechanism in the development of BLP-induced tolerance, suggesting that it could be a potentially important target for future therapeutic strategies in bacterial infection and sepsis.

In the robot vision system of the apple harvesting robot, the key is to recognize and locate the apple. To solve recognition questions such as high error rate, too much calculation and time consuming, a new recognizing method, support vector machine (SVM) is applied to improve recognition accuracy and efficiency. At first, vector median filter is used to remove the color images noise of apple fruit. Secondly, segmentation of the images based on region growing method and color properties is done. Then, color properties and shape properties of color image are extracted, and classification method of SVM for recognition of apple fruit is used. Experimental results indicate that the classification performance of support vector machine is better than that of neural networks. Recognition rate of apple fruit based on SVM of color and shape properties is higher than that of only using the color or shape properties.

A self-cloning module for gene knock-out and knock-in in industrial brewing yeast strain was constructed that contains copper resistance and gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase gene cassette, flanked by alcohol dehydrogenase II gene (ADH2) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The module was used to obtain recombined strains RY1 and RY2 by targeting the ADH2 locus of host Y1. RY1 and RY2 were genetically stable. PCR and enzyme activity analysis of RY1 and RY2 cells showed that one copy of ADH2 was deleted by GSH1+CUP1 insertion, and an additional copy of wild type was still present. The fermentation ability of the recombinants was not changed after genetic modification, and a high level of glutathione (GSH) was secreted, resulting from GSH1 overexpression, which codes for gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase. A pilot-scale brewing test for RY1 and RY2 indicated that acetaldehyde content in fermenting liquor decreased by 21-22%, GSH content increased by 20-22% compared with the host, the antioxidizability of the recombinants was improved, and the sensorial evaluation was also better than that of the host. No heterologous DNA was harbored in the recombinants; therefore, they could be applied in the beer industry in terms of their biosafety.