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Objective To investigate the relationship between the expression of CENPF in NSCLC adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and the clinical prognosis of patients and its effect on the metastasis of lung adenocarcinoma cells. Methods The expression of CENPF in LUAD and its relationship with patient prognosis were analyzed by online bioinformatics. The expression of CENPF was verified by LUAD tissue microarray immunohistochemical staining. Kaplan-Meier analysis was performed to analyze the relationship between the expression of CENPF and the prognosis of patients with lung adenocarcinoma. Cox survival hazard ratio was used to analyze the factors affecting the survival of patients. Chi-square analysis was adopted to examine the relationship between CENPF expression and clinicopathological stage and grade of patients. The expression of CENPF in NCI-H2126 cells were knocked out by lentivirus, and then the proliferation, invasion, and migration abilities of the cells were detected. Changes in mRNA expression profiles after CENPF knockout were detected by RNA-seq. Bioinformatics analysis of downstream signaling pathways and the target genes of CENPF was also performed. Western blot was used to verify the target gene. Results CENPF was significantly upregulated in LUAD tumor tissue (P < 0.05) and significantly correlated with pathological stage (P=0.013). The higher expression of CENPF, the worse the prognosis of patients (P=0.01, P=0.027). After the expression was CENPF of knocked out, the cell proliferation, migration, and invasion abilities significantly reduced (P < 0.01). The expression of chemokine pathway genes in cells was enriched significantly (P < 0.001). ACKR3/CXCR7 and CDH2/N-cadherin were significantly downregulated, whereas CDH1/E-cadherin was significantly upregulated. After CENPF was knocked out, ACKR3/CXCR7 and N-cadherin were significantly downregulated, whereas E-cadherin significantly increased. Conclusion The expression of CENPF is negatively correlated with the clinical prognosis of patients with LUAD, and it promotes the occurrence of EMT by regulating the expression levels of N-cadherin and E-cadherin related to EMT through ACKR3/CXCR7.

For missile-borne platforms, traditional SAR technology consistently encounters two significant shortcomings: geometric distortion of 2D images and the inability to achieve forward-looking imaging. To address these issues, this paper explores the feasibility of using a maneuvering trajectory to enable forward-looking and three-dimensional imaging by analyzing the maneuvering characteristics of an actual missile-borne platform. Additionally, it derives the corresponding resolution characterization model, which lays a theoretical foundation for future applications. Building on this, the paper proposes a three-dimensional super-resolution imaging algorithm that combines axis rotation with compressed sensing. The axis rotation not only realizes the dimensionality reduction of data, but also can expand the observation scenario in the cross-track dimension. The proposed algorithm first focuses on the track-vertical plane to extract 2D position parameters. Then, a compressed sensing-based process is applied to extract reflection coefficients and super-resolution cross-track position parameters, thereby achieving precise 3D imaging reconstruction. Finally, numerical simulation results confirm the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores various methods for tracing the geographic origin of illegally traded wildlife. It discusses the use of trade records, elemental signatures, and molecular genetics analysis as means to determine the source of confiscated animals and their products. The article emphasizes the importance of combining these approaches and establishing comprehensive databases to improve traceability and combat illegal trade. It also suggests the need for global action programs to reduce consumer demand, strengthen law enforcement measures, and promote sustainable alternatives to wildlife products in order to prevent the illegal wildlife trade and conserve biodiversity. [Extracted from the article]

In order to quantify the effect of mixed uncertainties on the reliability of mechanisms, this paper proposes a method for analyzing the reliability of mechanisms with mixed uncertainties using polynomial chaos expansion. Based on the performance margin theory, a mechanism reliability model considering mixed uncertainties is developed, and the Sobol indices can be easily calculated by an arbitrarily polynomial chaos expansion (aPCE) of the reliability function to quantify the independent contribution of each parameter to the global sensitivity and the effect of parameter coupling. Additionally, this paper also introduces a mixed uncertainties propagation method based on PCE, which treats cognitive uncertainties as fuzzy variables, converts the fuzzy variable into an interval variable using cut set theory, and transforms the PCE containing interval uncertainties into a Bernstein polynomial to calculate the membership function of the output quantity and the non‐probabilistic reliability index by area method. The final case study of a simplified automaton motion mechanism illustrates that the proposed method is effective and convincing, and the mechanism reliability decreases with increasing mixed uncertainties. The mechanism reliability index considering mixed uncertainties will give a more conservative reliability estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mn(II)-oxidizing microorganisms are generally considered the primary driving forces in the biological formation of Mn oxides. However, the mechanistic elucidation of the actuation and regulation of Mn oxidation in soilborne bacteria remains elusive. Here, we performed joint multiple gene-knockout analyses and comparative morphological and physiological determinations to characterize the influence of carbon metabolism on the Mn oxide deposit amount (MnODA) and the Mn oxide formation of a soilborne bacterium, Escherichia coli MB266. Different carbon source substances exhibited significantly varied effects on the MnODA of MB266. A total of 16 carbon metabolism-related genes with significant variant expression levels under Mn supplementation conditions were knocked out in the MB266 genome accordingly, but only little effect on the MnODA of each mutant strain was accounted for. However, a simultaneous four-gene-knockout mutant (namely, MB801) showed an overall remarkable MnODA reduction and an initially delayed Mn oxide formation compared with the wild-type MB266. The assays using scanning/transmission electron microscopy verified that MB801 exhibited not only a delayed Mn-oxide aggregate processing, but also relatively smaller microspherical agglomerations, and presented flocculent deposit Mn oxides compared with normal fibrous and crystalline Mn oxides formed by MB266. Moreover, the Mn oxide aggregate formation was highly related to the intracellular ROS level. Thus, this study demonstrates that carbon metabolism acts as a pronounced modulator of MnODA in MB266, which will provide new insights into the occurrence of Mn oxidation and Mn oxide formation by soilborne bacteria in habitats where Mn(II) naturally occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial-variant phase errors (PEs) are important factors which defocus the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image. In time-domain SAR imaging, the exact calculation of instantaneous range is carried out to realize imaging. Accurate trajectory is the key to compensate spatial-variant PEs and ensure image focus. Thus, an improved time-domain autofocus method based on three-dimensional motion errors (3-D MEs) estimation is proposed in this article. First, an improved maximizing-maximum-pixel-value method is used to estimate nonspatial-variant PEs. Meanwhile, a theoretical explanation combined with $N$ -dimensional Euclidean space is described. Then, residual PEs and wrapped PEs are discussed successively. A part-overlapped partitioning scheme for sub-block images (SBIs) and a wrapped-PE model are proposed for 3-D MEs estimation. Then, the estimation problem is turned into a mixed integer programming problem, which can be solved by the combination of genetic algorithm (GA) and Tikhonov regularization. Finally, the well-focused image is obtained through updated trajectory. The effectiveness of the proposed method is proven by results of simulation and real SAR data processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nematicidal potential of the common plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae has been recently identified against Caenorhabditis elegans. The current study was designed to investigate the detailed genetic mechanism of the bacterial pathogenicity by applying comparative genomics, transcriptomics, mutant library screening, and protein expression. Results showed that P. syringae strain MB03 could kill C. elegans in the liquid assay by gut colonization. The genome of P. syringae MB03 was sequenced and comparative analysis including multi locus sequence typing, and genome-to-genome distance placed MB03 in phylogroup II of P. syringae. Furthermore, comparative genomics of MB03 with nematicidal strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PAO1 and PA14) predicted 115 potential virulence factors in MB03. However, genes for previously reported nematicidal metabolites, such as phenazine, pyochelin, and pyrrolnitrin, were found absent in the MB03 genome. Transcriptomics analysis showed that the growth phase of the pathogen considerably affected the expression of virulence factors, as genes for the flagellum, glutamate ABC transporter, phoP / phoQ , fleS / fleR , type VI secretion system, and serralysin were highly up-regulated when stationary phase MB03 cells interacted with C. elegans. Additionally, screening of a transposon insertion mutant library led to the identification of other nematicidal genes such as acnA, gltP, oprD , and zapE. Finally, the nematicidal activity of selected proteins was confirmed by heterologous expression in Escherichia coli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High computational complexity and phase errors (PEs) are the main limitations of time-domain (TD) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging algorithms. Accelerated fast backprojection (BP) (AFBP) algorithm avoids interpolation through wavenumber spectrum connection and is an efficient fast TD imaging algorithm. In order to deal with the image defocusing problem caused by PEs effectively and ensure rapid imaging, a TD autofocus method is proposed in this article, which is based on generalized sharpness metrics and the AFBP imaging model. The autofocus method is divided into two stages. First, for each subaperture (SA), the PE estimation model is established in unified polar coordinate (UPC), where the strong-scattering range-cell pixels are chosen to reduce memory burden and avoid repetitive imaging. The PE estimation is converted into a nonconvex optimization problem. Then, the genetic algorithm (GA) and the maximizing-maximum-pixel-value (MMPV) method are used to estimate the PEs. Second, SA images’ matching and constant PE’s compensation are performed to eliminate the residual PEs. The full-aperture well-focused image is obtained by the coherent accumulation of SA images. The effectiveness of the proposed method is proven by the results of simulation and real SAR data processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose: Vicagrel is a novel promising antiplatelet drug designed for overcoming clopidogrel resistance. There is limited evidence indicating that exogenous IL-10 suppresses CYP3A4 activity in healthy subjects and that IL-10 knockout (KO) mice exhibit increased clopidogrel bioactivation compared with wild-type (WT) mice. In this study, we sought to determine whether IL-10 could play an important role in the metabolism of and platelet response to vicagrel in mice.Experimental Approach: IL-10 KO and WT mice were administered vicagrel, then their plasma H4 (active metabolite of vicagrel) concentrations were determined by LC-MS/MS, and inhibition of ADP-induced whole-blood platelet aggregation by vicagrel was assessed with an aggregometer. The mRNA and protein levels of several relevant genes between IL-10 KO and WT mice were measured by qRT-PCR and Western blots, respectively. Intestinal Aadac protein levels were measured in IL-10 WT mice injected i.p. with vehicle control, Stattic, or BAY 11-7082.Key Results: Compared with WT mice, IL-10 KO mice exhibited significantly increased plasma levels of H4 and enhanced platelet responses to vicagrel, as well as significantly higher mRNA and protein levels of arylacetamide deacetylase (Aadac) in the intestine. In WT mice, STAT3, not NF-κB, mediated Aadac expression in the intestine.Conclusions and Implications: IL-10 suppresses metabolic activation of vicagrel through down-regulation of Aadac in mouse intestine in a STAT3-dependent manner and, consequently, attenuates platelet responses to vicagrel, suggesting that the antiplatelet effect of vicagrel may be modulated by changes in plasma IL-10 levels in relevant clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]