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ARID1A, an SWI/SNF chromatin-remodeling gene, is commonly mutated in cancer and hypothesized to be a tumor suppressor. Recently, loss-of-function of ARID1A gene has been shown to cause intellectual disability. Here we generate Arid1a conditional knockout mice and investigate Arid1a function in the hippocampus. Disruption of Arid1a in mouse forebrain significantly decreases neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) proliferation and differentiation to neurons within the dentate gyrus (DG), increases perinatal and postnatal apoptosis, leading to reduced hippocampus size. Moreover, we perform single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to investigate cellular heterogeneity and reveal that Arid1a is necessary for the maintenance of the DG progenitor pool and survival of post-mitotic neurons. Transcriptome and ChIP-seq analysis data demonstrate that ARID1A specifically regulates Prox1 by altering the levels of histone modifications. Overexpression of downstream target Prox1 can rescue proliferation and differentiation defects of NSPCs caused by Arid1a deletion. Overall, our results demonstrate a critical role for Arid1a in the development of the hippocampus and may also provide insight into the genetic basis of intellectual disabilities such as Coffin–Siris syndrome, which is caused by germ-line mutations or microduplication of Arid1a.

Background: no studies have shown the role and underlying mechanism of PPI-mediated anti- apoptosis activity in NP cells. We aimed to evaluate the effects of PPI in IL-1β-induced apoptosis in vitro. Methods: CCK-8 assay was used to detect the cell viability, cell apoptosis evaluated by double-stained flow cytometry (FITC Annexin V/PI), the expression of miRNA- 503-5p was quantified by qRT-PCR, the expression of Bcl-2, Bax and Cleaved caspase-3 were quantified by Western blot, Dual-luciferase reporter gene assay was used to detect the targeting relationship between miR-503-5p and Bcl-2. Results: PPI at 40 μg·mL-1 markedly promoted the activity of NP cells (P＜0.01). Also, PPI reduced the level of apoptosis and enhanced activity induced by interleukin-1β( IL-1β) in NP cells (P＜0.001，0.01). PPI treatment significantly inhibited the expression of apoptosis-related protein Bax, Cleaved Caspase-3 (P＜0.05, 0.01), and enhanced the level of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 (P＜0.01). The activity of NP cells was significantly decreased and the apoptosis rate of NP cells was increased under IL-1β treatment (P＜0.01， 0.001). Moreover, miR-503-5p was highly expressed in IL-1β-injured NP cells (P＜0.001). Furthermore, the effect of PPI on NP cell activity and apoptosis in IL-1β treatment was dramatically reversed by the overexpression of miR-503-5p (P＜0.01，0.01). The targeted binding of miR-503-5p to the 3'UTR of Bcl-2 mRNA was confirmed by dual luciferase reporter gene assays (P＜0.05). In further experiments, compared with miR-503-5p mimics, the effects of PPI on IL-1β-injured NP cell activity and apoptosis were greatly reversed by the co-overexpression of miR-503-5p and Bcl-2 (P＜0.05，0.05). Conclusion: PPI suppressed the apoptosis of intervertebral disc nucleus pulposus cells induced by IL-1β via miR-503-5p/Bcl-2 molecular axis.

Hedgehog (Hh) signaling is a highly conserved pathway that plays a pivotal role during embryonic development. Mounting evidence has implicated Hh signaling in various types of cancer. Accordingly, inhibition of aberrant Hh signaling continues to be pursed across multiple cancer types -with some success in certain malignancies. In addition, with the renaissance of antitumor immunotherapy, an in-depth understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying how the multifaceted functions of Hh signaling shape immunologically suppressive tumor microenvironment might be the key to unlocking a new era of oncological treatments associated with a reduced propensity for the development of drug resistance. Here, we focus on the latest advances regarding the immunological effects of misregulation of Hh signaling on tumor immunity. We also review the current status of clinically approved Hh inhibitors and dissect the mechanisms of drug resistance. Finally, we discuss the potential clinical applications that harness the immunomodulatory effects of Hh signaling not only to circumvent drug resistance, but also to achieve durable efficacy following immunotherapies, thus ultimately resulting in improved patient outcomes.

Despite the unequivocal success of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell gene therapy, limitations still exist including genotoxicity and variegation/silencing of transgene expression. A class of DNA regulatory elements known as chromatin insulators (CIs) can mitigate both vector transcriptional silencing (barrier CIs) and vector-induced genotoxicity (enhancer-blocking CIs) and have been proposed as genetic modulators to minimize unwanted vector/genome interactions. Recently, a number of human, small-sized, and compact CIs bearing strong enhancer-blocking activity were identified. To ultimately uncover an ideal CI with a dual, enhancer-blocking and barrier activity, we interrogated these elements in vitro and in vivo. After initial screening of a series of these enhancer-blocking insulators for potential barrier activity, we identified three distinct categories with no, partial, or full protection against transgene silencing. Subsequently, the two CIs with full barrier activity (B4 and C1) were tested for their ability to protect against position effects in primary cells, after incorporation into lentiviral vectors (LVs) and transduction of human CD34(+) cells. B4 and C1 did not adversely affect vector titers due to their small size, while they performed as strong barrier insulators in CD34(+) cells, both in vitro and in vivo, shielding transgene's long-term expression, more robustly when placed in the forward orientation. Overall, the incorporation of these dual-functioning elements into therapeutic viral vectors will potentially provide a new generation of safer and more efficient LVs for all hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy applications.

Background Tiller number is a factor determining panicle number and grain yield in wheat (Triticum aestivum). Auxin plays an important role in the regulation of branch production. PIN-FORMED 1 (PIN1), an auxin efflux carrier, plays a role in the regulation of tiller number in rice (Oryza sativa); however, little is known on the roles of PIN1 in wheat. Results Nine homologs of TaPIN1 genes were identified in wheat, of which TaPIN1-6 genes showed higher expression in the stem apex and young leaf in wheat, and the TaPIN1-6a protein was localized in the plasma membrane. The down-expression of TaPIN1s increased the tiller number in TaPIN1-RNA interference (TaPIN1-RNAi) transgenic wheat plants, indicating that auxin might mediate the axillary bud production. By contrast, the spikelet number, grain number per panicle, and the 1000-grain weight were decreased in the TaPIN1-RNAi transgenic wheat plants compared with those in the wild type. In summary, a reduction of TaPIN1s expression increased the tiller number and grain yield per plant of wheat. Conclusions Phylogenetic analysis and protein structure of nine TaPIN1 proteins were analyzed, and subcellular localization of TaPIN1-6a was located in the plasma membrane. Knock-down expression of TaPIN1 genes increased the tiller number of transgenic wheat lines. Our study suggests that TaPIN1s is required for the regulation of grain yield in wheat.

Cancer immunotherapy has made breakthrough progress in cancer treatment. However, only a subset of patients benefits from immunotherapy. Given their unique structure, composition, and interactions with the immune system, carbon nanomaterials have recently attracted tremendous interest in their roles as modulators of antitumor immunity. Here, we focused on the latest advances in the immunological effects of carbon nanomaterials. We also reviewed the current preclinical applications of these materials in cancer therapy. Finally, we discussed the challenges to be overcome before the full potential of carbon nanomaterials can be utilized in cancer therapies to ultimately improve patient outcomes.

Hypoxia and angiogenesis play key roles in the pathogenesis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), but regulators linking these two pathways to drive tumor progression remain elusive. Here we provide evidence of ADAM9's novel function in ESCC progression. Increasing expression of ADAM9 was correlated with poor clinical outcomes in ESCC patients. Suppression of ADAM9 function diminished ESCC cell migration and in vivo metastasis in ESCC xenograft mouse models. Using cellular fractionation and imaging, we found a fraction of ADAM9 was present in the nucleus and was uniquely associated with gene loci known to be linked to the angiogenesis pathway demonstrated by genome-wide ChIP-seq. Mechanistically, nuclear ADAM9, triggered by hypoxia-induced translocation, functions as a transcriptional repressor by binding to promoters of genes involved in the negative regulation of angiogenesis, and thereby promotes tumor angiogenesis in plasminogen/plasmin pathway. Moreover, ADAM9 suppresses plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 gene transcription by interacting with its transcription factors at the promoter. Our findings uncover a novel regulatory mechanism of ADAM9 as a transcriptional regulator in angiogenesis and highlight ADAM9 as a promising therapeutic target for ESCC treatment.

Mutations in the embryonic ectoderm development (EED) cause Weaver syndrome, but whether and how EED affects embryonic brain development remains elusive. Here, we generated a mouse model in which Eed was deleted in the forebrain to investigate the role of EED. We found that deletion of Eed decreased the number of upper-layer neurons but not deeper-layer neurons starting at E16.5. Transcriptomic and genomic occupancy analyses revealed that the epigenetic states of a group of cortical neurogenesis-related genes were altered in Eed knockout forebrains, followed by a decrease of H3K27me3 and an increase of H3K27ac marks within the promoter regions. The switching of H3K27me3 to H3K27ac modification promoted the recruitment of RNA-Pol2, thereby enhancing its expression level. The small molecule activator SAG or Ptch1 knockout for activating Hedgehog signaling can partially rescue aberrant cortical neurogenesis. Taken together, we proposed a novel EED-Gli3-Gli1 regulatory axis that is critical for embryonic brain development.

Aberrant expression of protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) has been implicated in a number of brain tumors, but the role of PRMT1 in medulloblastoma, the most common malignant pediatric brain tumor, remains unexplored

Histone acetylation modification plays a vital role in plant cell division and differentiation. However, the function on wheat mature embryo culture has not been reported. Here, we used the mature embryo of wheat genotypes including CB037, Fielder, and Chinese Spring (CS) as materials to analyze the effects of different concentrations of trichostatin A (TSA) and sodium butyrate (SB) on plant regeneration efficiency. The results showed that, compared with the control group, the induction rates of embryogenic callus and green shoot were significantly increased with the addition of 0.5 µM TSA, while they were reduced under treatment of 2.5 µM TSA on wheat mature embryo. With the respective addition of 200 µM and 1000 µM SB, regeneration frequency of three genotypes was enhanced, especially in Fielder, which reached significant difference compared with the control group. Unfortunately, 0.5 µM TSA and 200 µM SB combination had no apparent effect on wheat regeneration frequency. The results indicated that TSA and SB increase plant regeneration in common wheat. In addition, TSA had a common effect and SB had different effect among genotypes on wheat regeneration frequency. The mechanism of action needs further investigation.

Flavonoid 3′-hydroxylase (F3′H) and 3′,5′-hydroxylase (F3′5′H) generate precursor molecules for the synthesis of cyanidin-based anthocyanins (red) and delphinidin-based anthocyanins (blue to purple) in Ribes nigrum L. (black currant). In this study, full-length 1780 and 1650-bp cDNA homologs of RnF3′5′H1 and RnF3′H1 from black currant were identified and cloned using a homologous cloning technique. Data revealed that Rn F3′5′H1 and RnF3′H1 are homologs that encode enzymes involved in anthocyanin synthesis from different plants, which phylogenetically cluster with the CYP75B and CYP75A families in the P450 superfamily, respectively. The enzymes encoded by these two genes also shared a high homology with flavonoid hydroxylases identified from other plants. Furthermore, RnF3′5′H1 and RnF3′H1 levels were upregulated during fruit maturation. RnF3′5′H1 levels were associated with both anthocyanin and soluble carbohydrate levels in blackcurrant, while RnF3′H1 expression did not have such an association. The structure and expression patterns of RnF3′5′H1 and RnF3′H1 in blackcurrant were also characterized. Further studies should aid understanding of anthocyanin biosynthesis in black currant to develop molecular approaches and manipulate anthocyanin production in blackcurrant.

Plant in vitro organogenesis is well-controlled and thus provides an ideal system for plant propagation and studying mechanisms of plant development. However, the data on systematic in vitro organogenesis from leaf explant with various concentrations and combinations of hormones are limited. Arabidopsis is a very useful model plant species for many aspects of plant biological study. Here, we reported a simple, fast and efficient one-step process for evaluating leaf explant-derived in vitro Arabidopsis organogenesis involving the application of various concentrations and combinations of exogenous hormones. The central portion of the fourth rosette leaf was harvested from the 21-days-old seedling and cultured in vitro on the media containing 216 combinations of exogenous hormones. Different types of organs, including roots, shoots, inflorescences, and leaf-like organs were initiated from leaf explants. Several optimal experimental combinations were selected. A hormone combination, 1.00 μM NAA + 10.00 μM ZT, was considered as the most efficient one for adventitious shoot regeneration. And for adventitious root regeneration, six hormone combinations, [(NAA + ZT: 1.00 + 0.10 μM; 10.00 + 0.01 μM; 20.00 + 0.10 μM; 20.00 + 1.00 μM) and (NAA + 6-BA: 10.00 + 0.10 μM; 20.00 + 10.00 μM)], were thought to be the best ones. Further, both auxin and cytokinin ratios and concentrations were crucial for efficient in vitro organogenesis. Our study provides the important information for hormone-regulated organogenesis.

In this paper, we investigate an iterative incomplete lower and upper (ILU) factorization preconditioner for partial-differential equation systems. We discretize the partial-differential equations into linear equation systems. An iterative scheme of linear systems is used. The ILU preconditioners of linear systems are performed on the different computation nodes of multi-central processing unit (CPU) cores. Firstly, the preconditioner of general tridiagonal matrix equations is tested on supercomputers. Then, the effects of partial-differential equation systems on the speedup of parallel multiprocessors are examined. The numerical results estimate that the parallel efficiency is higher than in other algorithms.

Because the oversized, ultra short-range and arbitrary- shape goals cannot be imaged by Fourier transform algorithm, a Boundary Element Method (BEM) is presented for short-range millimeter wave holographic imaging. Through the discrete boundary integral equation, the discrete electromagnetic flelds on the source surface and holographic surface are obtained. They are linked by a transfer matrix. Finally, the discrete electromagnetic flelds obtain target holographic image. Due to the complexity of the transfer matrix, the Distributed Source Boundary Point Method (DSBPM) is introduced to calculate it, which greatly simplifles the calculation process. The simulation experiments of three-dimensional hemisphere imaging show the sensitivity of the imaging algorithm to test error, and regularization method has been proposed. The actual measurement of the four small metal balls verifles the validity of the imaging algorithm for large target imaging. The imaging results show that holographic imaging of the boundary element method can obtain high resolution and high amplitude accuracy.

Background Phytohormone synergies and signaling interdependency are important topics in plant developmental biology. Physiological and genetic experimental evidence for phytohormone crosstalk has been accumulating and a genome-scale enzyme correlation model representing the Arabidopsis metabolic pathway has been published. However, an integrated molecular characterization of phytohormone crosstalk is still not available. Results A novel modeling methodology and advanced computational approaches were used to construct an enzyme-based Arabidopsis phytohormone crosstalk network (EAPCN) at the biosynthesis level. The EAPCN provided the structural connectivity architecture of phytohormone biosynthesis pathways and revealed a surprising result; that enzymes localized at the highly connected nodes formed a consecutive metabolic route. Furthermore, our analysis revealed that the transcription factors (TFs) that regulate enzyme-encoding genes in the consecutive metabolic route formed structures, which we describe as circular control units operating at the transcriptional level. Furthermore, the downstream TFs in phytohormone signal transduction pathways were found to be involved in the circular control units that included the TFs regulating enzyme-encoding genes. In addition, multiple functional enzymes in the EAPCN were found to be involved in ion and pH homeostasis, environmental signal perception, cellular redox homeostasis, and circadian clocks. Last, publicly available transcriptional profiles and a protein expression map of the Arabidopsis root apical meristem were used as a case study to validate the proposed framework. Conclusions Our results revealed multiple scales of coupled mechanisms in that hormonal crosstalk networks that play a central role in coordinating internal developmental processes with environmental signals, and give a broader view of Arabidopsis phytohormone crosstalk. We also uncovered potential key regulators that can be further analyzed in future studies. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12918-016-0333-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

De novo organ regeneration is an excellent biological system for the study of fundamental questions regarding stem cell initiation, cell fate determination, and hormone signaling. Despite the general belief that auxin and cytokinin responses interact to regulate de novo organ regeneration, the molecular mechanisms underlying such a cross talk are little understood. Here, we show that spatiotemporal biosynthesis and polar transport resulted in local auxin distribution in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), which in turn determined the cytokinin response during de novo shoot regeneration. Genetic and pharmacological interference of auxin distribution disrupted the cytokinin response and ATP/ADP ISOPENTENYLTRANSFERASE5 (AtIPT5) expression, affecting stem cell initiation and meristem formation. Transcriptomic data suggested that AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR3 (ARF3) mediated the auxin response during de novo organ regeneration. Indeed, mutations in ARF3 caused ectopic cytokinin biosynthesis via the misexpression of AtIPT5, and this disrupted organ regeneration. We further showed that ARF3 directly bound to the promoter of AtIPT5 and negatively regulated AtIPT5 expression. The results from this study thus revealed an auxin-cytokinin cross talk mechanism involving distinct intermediate signaling components required for de novo stem cell initiation and shed new light on the mechanisms of organogenesis in planta.

In vitro organogenesis is well-controlled and thus provides an ideal system to study mechanisms of plant organ development. Although it has been well investigated for a long time that exogenous hormones play important roles in determining the types of organs regenerated in vitro, there is currently limited information available for other key factors that mediate de novo organ regeneration. Here, we reported simple and efficient one-step processes for evaluating capacities of inflorescence stem-derived in vitro organogenesis between two different ecotypes in Arabidopsis. Different types of organs, including shoots and roots were initiated from inflorescence stem explants cultured on the media containing 216 combinations of exogenous auxin and cytokinin. Further, we showed that Wassilewskija ecotype had the much higher shoot regeneration capacity than Columbia with different combinations of hormones, indicating that the ecotype is an essential factor determining de novo organogenesis. Our results also suggested that the defined expression patterns of genes involved in auxin and cytokinin biosynthesis were correlated with the variations in organogenesis capacities between the two ecotypes. Thus, in vitro organogenesis is likely regulated by ecotypes through mediating endogenous hormonal biosynthesis.

Cytokinin is an essential regulator of numerous plant growth and developmental processes. However, less is known about the mechanisms of cytokinin-regulated floral development. In the present study, we found that flower-specific elevation of cytokinin through transgenic expression of an Arabidopsis ATP/ADP isopentenyltransferase 4 (AtIPT4) gene under the control of the APETALA1 (AP1) promoter lead to floral developmental alterations. These changes included promotion of the number of flowers and abnormal development of flowers, which were correlated with enlarged inflorescence and flower meristems. Genome-wide expression profiling revealed that a large number of genes were responsive to increased cytokinin levels, including this first report that the expression of CUP-SHAPED COTYLEDON2 (CUC2) and CUC3 is elevated by cytokinin. Further analysis showed that mutation of cuc2 or cuc3 attenuates the phenotypes caused by the AP1Colon, two colonsAtIPT4 transgene. Mutation of the cytokinin receptors Arabidopsis histidine kinase 2 (AHK2) and AHK3 nearly abolished the transgene phenotypes and the enhanced CUC2 and CUC3 transcription induced by cytokinin. Our results indicate that the overproduced cytokinin in flower primordia results in alteration of floral development mainly through AHK2 and AHK3 signaling leading to increased expression of the effector genes CUC2 and CUC3. Thus, it is likely that the CUC2 and CUC3 expression mediated by AHK2 and AHK3 signaling may play roles in regulation of flower development.

Floral organs have been successfully induced from the regenerated floral buds of Hyacinthus orientalis L. by precisely controlling exogenous hormones in the medium. Under high concentrations of cytokinin and auxin, the regenerated floral bud produces only tepals. However, at reduced levels of the hormones, the regenerated floral bud can produce stamens and/or carpels with ovules. To understand the molecular mechanism of hormone-regulated flower development, a MADS-box gene, HAG1, which is homologous to AGAMOUS (AG) in Arabidopsis, was isolated from the floral tissues of Hyacinthus. Overexpression of HAG1 in Arabidopsis created flower phenotypes resembling those of the apetala2 mutant and AG transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Furthermore, the HAG1 expression pattern was similar to that of AG, confirming that HAG1 is the ortholog of AG in Hyacinthus. HAG1 mRNA was first detected in cultured explants at day 5 in the medium containing high levels of cytokinin and auxin, which could induce floral regeneration in vitro. However, no HAG1 mRNA was detected in the cultured explants until day 10 in media with low or no hormones. Further, HAG1 mRNA was detected in the stamens and carpels of regenerated floral buds, but not in the tepals. Our data support the hypothesis that hormone-regulated HAG1 activity is required for the induction of floral buds and the determination of floral organ types during the regeneration of floral buds.

It is difficult to derive all qualitative proteomic and metabolomic experimental data in male (pollen tube) and female (pistil) reproductive tissues during pollination because of the limited sensitivity of current technology. In this study, genome-scale enzyme correlation network models for plants (Arabidopsis/maize) were constructed by analyzing the enzymes and metabolic routes from a global perspective. Then, we developed a data-driven computational pipeline using the “guilt by association” principle to analyze the transcriptional coexpression profiles of enzymatic genes in the consecutive steps for metabolic routes in the fast-growing pollen tube and stigma during pollination. The analysis identified an inferred pattern of pollen tube-stigma ethanol coupling. When the pollen tube elongates in the transmitting tissue (TT) of the pistil, this elongation triggers the mobilization of energy from glycolysis in the TT cells of the pistil. Energy-rich metabolites (ethanol) are secreted that can be taken up by the pollen tube, where these metabolites are incorporated into the pollen tube's tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, which leads to enhanced ATP production for facilitating pollen tube growth. In addition, our analysis also provided evidence for the cooperation of kaempferol, dTDP-alpha-L-rhamnose and cell-wall-related proteins; phosphatidic-acid-mediated Ca2+ oscillations and cytoskeleton; and glutamate degradation IV for γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) signaling activation in Arabidopsis and maize stigmas to provide the signals and materials required for pollen tube tip growth. In particular, the “guilt by association” computational pipeline and the genome-scale enzyme correlation network models (GECN) developed in this study was initiated with experimental “omics” data, followed by data analysis and data integration to determine correlations, and could provide a new platform to assist inachieving a deeper understanding of the co-regulation and inter-regulation model in plant research.

HAG1 gene was isolated from the floral organs of Hyacinthus orientalis L. by using RT-PCR. Sequence analysis showed that this gene was homologous to AGAMOUS. Northern hybridization indicated that HAG1 was specifically expressed in floral organs using 3' end of HAG1 as a probe. Further, transcript of this gene was not detected in differentiating tepals induced by lower concentration of hormones, however, it was detected in differentiating stemans by higher concentration of hormones in vitro. It is possible that there is a close relationship between the concentration of hormones, homeotic genes and identities of floral organs.

To provide anatomical basis for the internal fixation of scaphoid fractures.The shape and vascular lake of 48 dry scaphoids and 36 wet scaphoids were observed.The data of dry bone group and wet bone group were as follows: the height of scaphoid tubercle were (11.28+/-0.94) mm and (10.35+/-1.54) mm; the thickness of scapoid waist were (12.02+/-1.90) mm and (11.21+/-1.20) mm; the width of scapoid waist were (10.59+/-1.11) mm and (11.34+/-1.47) mm; the minimal thickness of the body of scapoid were (6.51+/-1.22) mm and (8.54+/-1.07) mm; the axis length of scapoid were (25.68+/-2.21) mm and (26.50+/-2.56) mm; the width of epicondyle of scaphoid of distal portion, waist and proximal portion were (6.50+/-1.06) mm, (5.14+/-1.01) mm, (4.42+/-1.16) mm and (6.64+/-1.18) mm, (6.01+/-0.75) mm and (5.71+/-0.78) mm, respestively. The main blood vessels came from the dorsal and the radial of wrist and passed through the whole scaphoid along the crest of scaphoid.The internal fixation of scaphoid can be designed according to the anatomical data without damaging the articular surface and blood supply.

The choice of fuzzy membership relates to the classification results of fuzzy support vector machine (FSVM). In this paper, membership based on distance and affinity among samples is researched. Aimed at the disadvantage of membership based on affinity among samples that can not reflect the distribution of radar echo in feature space, super-ellipse is introduced to improve the membership and applied to FSVM to distinguish support vectors with outliers or noise. The results of experiments show that the fuzzy support vector machine, based on the improved affinity among samples, is more robust than others.

To observe the therapeutic effect of drug-separated moxibustion at Shenque (CV 8) on ulcerative colitis (UC) and the influence on autoimmunity level, and study on the mechanism.Sixty cases were randomly divided into a treatment group and a control group, 30 cases in each group. The treatment group were treated with drug-separated moxibustion at Shenque (CV 8) and the control group with oral administration of sulphasalazine and metronidazole tablets. The main symptoms, pathological changes of the intestinal mucosa and the total therapeutic effect in the two groups before and after treatment, and the changes of the content of blood serum immunoglobulin, peripheral blood T-cell subgroup and NK cell were observed.The markedly effective rate and the total effective rate in the treatment group were 60.0% and 86.7% respectively, much higher than the control group (P0.05, P0.01). IgG content in the treatment group after treatment significantly decreased with a significant difference as compared with the control group (P0.05); there were no significant differences in IgA and IgM before and after the treatment (P0.05). After treatment, peripheral blood T-cell subgroup and NK cell in the treatment group increased to a certain extent, which was correlated positively to the therapeutic effect.The drug-separated moxibustion at Shenque (CV 8) is a satisfactory method for treatment of ulcerative colitis, and it exerts therapeutic effect possibly through regulating immunological function of the organism.

Gait recognition has recently gained significant attention from researchers, especially computer vision researchers. Compared with other biometrics, gait has its unique advantages. Other biometrics technologies, such as face recognition, hand recognition, fingerprint recognition, can't work effectively when the person is far away. A simple and efficient gait recognition approach based on multi-resolution local moment features is proposed. For each image of gait sequence, first, it should be normalized as same center and same height. Secondly, we divide it into numbers of small blocks that have the same dimension by different methods. Thirdly, we calculate one or more features of each small block, all of them construct the feature vector of the image. Then, eigenspace transformation based on the principal component analysis (PCA) is applied to these feature vectors derived from gait sequence to reduce the dimensionality of the input feature space. Finally, SVM is used to get the correct classification rate. By utilizing the proposed approach, the experiments made on CMU database have achieved comparatively high correction identification rate.

To observe clinical therapeutic effect of medicine-separated moxibustion on primary dysmenorrhea and study on the mechanism.Ninety-six cases of primary dysmenorrhea were randomly divided into a treatment group and a control group, 48 cases in each group. They were treated respectively with medicine-separated moxibustion and Yueyueshu Perfusing Powder for 3 consecutive months.The markedly effective and cured rate and the total effective rate were 87.5% and 100.0% in the treatment group, and 29.2% and 83.8% in the control group with significant differences between the two groups (P0.01 and P0.05). After treatment, blood prosglanding F2 content in menorrhea blood and oxytocin level in plasma during menstruation decreased significantly as compared with those before treatment (P0.01).The medicine-separated moxibustion has a reliable therapeutic effect on primary dysmenorrhea and the therapeutic effect is exerted possibly by regulating abnormal prosglanding and oxytocin levels in the patient.

A MADS box gene HoMADS2 was cloned from Hyacinthus orientalis L. in this study. Sequence comparison revealed that HoMADS2 was highly homologous to the class B MADS box genes. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis showed that HoMADS2 was closely related to PI gene family and this was also supported by the presence of specific diagnostic sites of PI homologs in K box domain and C terminal region,suggesting that HoMADS2 might be a PI-like gene. HoMADS2 mRNA was accumulated in all floral organs,different from the expression patterns of PI homologs in dicots. During in vitro flower development, HoMADS2 expression was constitutively expressed and not affected by the presence of cytokinin and auxin in the regenerated flowers. Our results indicated that the expression of HoMADS2 is different from those of both HAG1 and HoMADS1 in responding to plant hormones during in vitro flower development.

ISOMAP is an excellent nonlinear dimensionality reduction method. This paper uses ISOMAP for view-independent gait cycle detection and dynamic feature extraction in a gait cycle. Experiment results show that 1-d ISOMAP embedding of gait sequences has almost the same information as that of 2-d ISOMAP embedding, and is sufficient for gait analysis. Zero crossing of 1-d or 2-d ISOMAP embedding shows gait cycle and is view-independent, and the shape of 1-d or 2-d ISOMAP embedding shows the dynamic features in a gait cycle.

LLE based human gait recognition method is proposed. LLE representation is based on the similarity of images and is inherent translation, rotation and scale invariant, so LLE representation of gait sequences can be viewed as a kind of dynamic features of gait. 1D LLE representation based gait cycle detection method gives complete gait cycle and is invariant to visual angle, therefore it is better than classical silhouette width or silhouette area based methods. Dimensionality of LLE representation is related to the DOF of gait and 10D LLE representation of simple gait is sufficient for gait recognition. The recognition rate is 100% on CMU MOBO database. If static features are combined with dynamic features, perfect recognition rate will be achieved.

To understand the molecular mechanism of ovule development, a MADS box gene, HoMADS 1 , has been isolated from the ovule tissues of Hyacinthus . Sequence comparison showed that HoMADS 1 is highly homologous to both class C and D genes. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis suggests that HoMADS 1 is most likely a class D MADS box gene. RNA hybridization revealed that HoMADS 1 was exclusively expressed in the ovules. Over-expressing HoMADS 1 in transgenic Arabidopsis plants produced ectopic carpelloid structures, including ovules, indicating that HoMADS 1 is involved in the determination of carpel and ovule identities. Interestingly, during in vitro flowering, no HoMADS 1 mRNA was detected in the floral tissues at high level hormones in the media. However, HoMADS 1 mRNA accumulated in the floral tissues when the regenerated flowers were transferred to the media containing low level hormones which could induce in vitro ovule formation. Our data suggest that the induction of HoMADS 1 by plant hormones may play important roles during ovule initiation and development in the regenerated flower. Whether HoMADS 1 expression is also regulated by cytokinin and auxin during ovule development in planta remains to be investigated.