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Objective To investigate the associations of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genetic variants with SLE susceptibility, glucocorticoid (GC) efficacy and prognosis. Methods Our study was done in two stages. First, we performed whole mitochondrial genome sequencing in 100 patients and 100 controls to initially screen potential mtDNA variants associated with disease and GC efficacy. Then, we validated the results in an independent set of samples. In total, 605 SLE patients and 604 normal controls were included in our two-stage study. A two-stage efficacy study was conducted in 512 patients treated with GCs for 12 weeks. We also explored the association between mtDNA variants and SLE prognosis. Results In the combined sample, four mtDNA variants (A4833G, T5108C, G14569A, CA514-515-) were associated with SLE susceptibility (all P BH < 0.05). We confirmed that T16362C was related to efficacy of GCs (P BH = 0.014). Significant associations were detected between T16362C and T16519C and the efficacy of GCs in females with SLE (P BH < 0.05). In the prognosis study, variants A4833G (P BH = 0.003) and G14569A (P BH = 9.744 × 10−4) substantially increased SLE relapse risk. Female patients harbouring variants T5108C and T16362C were more prone to relapse (P BH < 0.05). Haplotype analysis showed that haplogroup G was linked with SLE susceptibility (P BH = 0.001) and prognosis (P BH = 0.013). Moreover, mtDNA variant–environment interactions were observed. Conclusion We identified novel mtDNA genetic variants that were associated with SLE susceptibility, GC efficacy, and prognosis. Interactions between mtDNA variants and environmental factors were related to SLE risk and GC efficacy. Our findings provide important information for future understanding of the occurrence and development of SLE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient and convenient method has been developed to achieve direct silylation of unactivated remote primary or secondary C(sp3)–H bonds to form C–Si bonds with hexamethyldisilane (HMDS). This method highlights the emerging strategy to transform unactivated methyl or methylene into versatile functional groups in organic synthesis and provides a new method to construct functionalized C–Si bonds for synthetic chemistry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which investigates the effects of nonomaterials rhodiola sachalin ensis polysaccaride (NRSP) on boar semen cryopreservation. The study examined the integrity rate of sperm acrosome, sperm motility, and the quality of boar semen cryopreservation. Results showed that the addition of NRSP, significant differences between control groups and experiment in motility, the acrosome integrity and the membrane integrity of boar sperm are noted.

The article presents a study which examines the DNA methylation status of IGF2R and H19 differentially methylated region (DMR) in different tissues of somatic cell cloned pig.

ABSTRACT To optimize somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) procedures in mini-pigs, the present study was designed to examine the effects of donor cell types and aphidicolin (APC) treatment on in vitro development of reconstructed embryos. Oviduct epithelial cells (OEC), ear fibroblast cells (EFC) and cumulus cells (CC) derived from mini-pigs were treated with serum starvation only or serum starvation followed by treatment of 0.1 µg/mL APC. The reconstructed embryos were cultured for 7 days to evaluate their developmental competency. Cleavage and blastocyst formation rates of reconstructed embryos derived from the OEC by APC treatment were significantly higher than the serum starvation (61.82% vs. 56.25%, 24.55% vs. 17.86%; P < 0.05). The cleavage rate from the EFC was significantly increased by APC treatment compared to serum starvation only (63.36% vs. 57.01%; P < 0.05). In the ooctyes with the CC, the reconstructed embryos could yield high blastocyst formation rate by APC treatment (29.63%; P < 0.05). In the presence of APC, CC gave rise to the highest cleavage and blastocyst formation rates among the three cell types. Therefore, our results suggest that treatment of CC with serum starvation plus APC prior to nuclear transfer is more suitable in SCNT of mini-pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analysis the correlation between calcium concentration, the strength of electrical pulse parthenogenetic activation and the application of sorbitol in porcine ooctyes in Sichuan, China. Researchers found that the rise of electrical pulse strength had positive impact on the parthenogenetic embryos development, but led to high degradation and low development rate. However, they found that sorbitol electroporation could not promote parthenogenetic development.