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Globally, type 2 diabetes (T2D) is the most common chronic disease. It affects approximately 500 million people worldwide. Dysregulation of the solute carrier family 2 member 4 (SLC2A4) gene and miR-335-5p has been associated with T2D progression. However, the mechanisms underlying this dysregulation are unclear. The levels of miR-335-5p and SLC2A4 in blood samples collected from patients with T2D (T2D blood samples) and pancreatic cell lines were measured by Real Time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). The relationship between miR-335-5p and SLC2A4 was investigated using a luciferase assay. The role of the miR-335-5p-SLC2A4 axis was detected by CCK8, BrdU, and caspase-3 assays in pancreatic cells treated with 25 mM glucose. Increased miR-335-5p and decreased SLC2A4 expression was observed in both T2D blood samples and pancreatic cell lines. The miR-335-5p mimic markedly suppressed proliferation and elevated apoptosis in glucose-treated pancreatic cells. SLC2A4 overexpression significantly enhanced proliferation but inhibited apoptosis in glucose-treated pancreatic cells. Moreover, miR-335-5p inhibited the expression of SLC2A4 in the pancreatic cells and suppressed the growth of these cells. The data indicated that miR-335-5p targeting of SLC2A4 could hamper the growth of T2D cell model by inhibiting their proliferation and elevating apoptosis. Collectively, our findings implicate miR-335-5p and SLC2A4 as potentially effective therapeutic targets for patients with T2D. • The PPI network of the top scored 20 genes that are related to diabetes mellitus. • MiR-335-5p inhibited cell proliferation, and enhanced cell apoptosis in T2D cell models. • MiR-335-5p targeted SLC2A4 and inhibited the expression of SLC2A4. • MiR-335-5p targeting SLC2A4 repressed the progression of T2D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cutibacterium acnes is an anaerobic bacterium commonly thought of as a culture contaminant rather than a pathogen. We present a case of Cutibacterium acnes pericarditis in a 22-year-old immunocompetent woman managed with surgical pericardial window and a 4-week course of penicillin G and review related literature on Cutibacterium acnes pericarditis. • Cutibacterium acnes is a rare etiology of purulent pericarditis. • Improving anaerobe identification methods can identify anaerobes as pathogens. • Penicillin G is a treatment option for Cutibacterium acne pericarditis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Further study on Sarcophyton ehrenbergi yielded eleven new cembrane diterpenes. • Absolute configurations were determined by Mosher's method and TDDFT-ECD approach. • Potent inhibition of TNF- α similar as that of positive control were observed. Eleven new cembrane diterpenes, namely, sarcoehrenins A–J (1 – 9 , 11) and (2 S ,11 S ,12 S)-isosarcophytoxide (10), along with six known compounds, gibberosene B (12), (13 S)-cembra-1,3,7,11-tetraen-13-ol (13), (+)-sarcophtol (14), cembrene-C (15), (1 R ,4 R ,2 E ,7 E ,11 E)-cembra-2,7,11-trien-4-ol (16) and (1 S ,4 R ,2 E ,7 E ,11 E)-cembratrien-4-ol (17) were isolated from the soft coral Sarcophyton ehrenbergi collected from Weizhou Island, Beibu Gulf, South China Sea. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by a combination of detailed spectroscopic analyses, chemical methods, and comparison with reported data. The absolute configuration of compound 2 was established by the modified Mosher's method in association with TDDFT ECD calculation, while the absolute configuration of compound 3 was assigned by TDDFT ECD approach. In in vitro bioassays, compounds 13 and 17 showed potent TNF- α inhibitory activities being similar to that of positive control dexamethasone. A preliminary structural-activity relationship was also described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Adsorption of a weak acid dye, methyl orange (MO) by calcined layered double hydroxides (LDO) with Zn/Al molar ratio of 3:1 was investigated. In the light of so called “memory effect,” LDO was found to recover their original layered structure in the presence of appropriate anions, after adsorption part of MO− and CO2− 3 (come from air) intercalated into the interlayer of LDH which had been supported by XRD and ICP. The results of adsorption experiments indicate that the maximum capacity of MO at equilibrium () and percentage of adsorption (η%) with a fixed adsorbent dose of 0.5 g L−1 were found to be 181.9 mg g−1 and 90.95%, respectively, when MO concentration, temperature, pH and equilibrium time were 100 mg L−1, 298 K, 6.0 and 120 min, respectively. The isotherms showed that the adsorption of MO by Zn/Al-LDO was both consistent with Langmuir and Freundlich equations. The adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic in nature and followed pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The calculated value of was found to be 77.1 kJ mol−1, which suggests that the process of adsorption of methyl orange is controlled by the rate of reaction rather than diffusion. The possible mechanism for MO adsorption has also been presumed. In addition, the competitive anions on adsorption and the regeneration of Zn/Al-LDO have also been investigated. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Proton-density-weighted fMRI at low field (0.2 T) was carried out in the cervical spinal cord of healthy volunteers in this study to examine the feasibility of detecting proton density alteration accompanying activation in the spinal cord. Subjects were asked to grip both hands simultaneously, providing sensorimotor simulation for spinal fMRI. Over 70% subjects recruited had activation localized at C6–C7 spinal levels with discrete activation detected in both the anterior and posterior horns of the cervical spinal cord, and the average fractional signal change was 4.06%. The 0.2 T low magnetic field and the 24 ms short TE used in this study diminished the BOLD effect to a negligible level, thus the observed signal change was believed to be mainly attributable to proton density increase during neuronal stimulation. Our results suggested the existence of task-driven proton density change in the cervical spinal cord. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The emergence and re-emergence of Zika virus (ZIKV), is a cause for international concern. These highly pathogenic arboviruses represent a serious health burden in tropical and subtropical areas worldwide. Despite these burdens, antiviral therapies do not exist, and inhibitors of ZIKV are therefore urgently needed. To elucidate the anti-ZIKV effect of lycorine, we used reverse transcription-quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), immunofluorescence, Westernwestern blot, and plaque forming assay to analyse viral RNA (vRNA), viral protein, progeny virus counts, and validated inhibitors in vitro using a variety of cell lines. Additionally, we found that lycorine acts post-infection according to time-of-addition assay, and inhibits RdRp activity. Lycorine protected AG6 mice against ZIKV-induced lethality by decreasing the viral load in the blood. Due to its potency and ability to target ZIKV infection in vivo and in vitro , lycorine might offer promising therapeutic possibilities for combatting ZIKV infections in the future. • Lycorine has good antiviral activity in vitro and in vivo. • Lycorine inhibits RNA replication and protein synthesis. • Lycorine inhibits RdRp activity. • Lycorine increases mouse survival and reduces viremia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The residual DNA derived from host cells in antibody drugs have potential safety risks. In this paper, the antibody in the test sample was removed by magnetic bead separation method, and the residual DNA were quantitatively determined by Q-PCR method. The residual DNA in the sample was analyzed according to the standard curve. We validated the species specificity, accuracy, precision, quantitative restrictions, reproducibility of this method. The results showed the linearrange was of 1 × 10−1～1 × 102 pg/μL and the curve linear was good, this method can specifically detect CHO cell DNA. Compared with the method of extracting residual DNA by magnetic beads, the method has the advantages of simplicity, rapidity and low cost, and can be used for quantitative determination of the residual host cell DNA in antibody drugs producted by CHO cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IRF4 is the pioneer factor for effector T cell maturation. Here we investigated the function of IRF4 in maintaining OX40-related T cell responses following alloantigen activation in a mouse heart transplantation model. Irf4 flox/flox mice were bred with Ox40 cre/+ mice to generate Irf4 flox/flox Ox40 cre/+ mice. Wild type C57BL/6, Irf4 flox/flox Ox40 cre/+ mice were transplanted with BALB/c heart allografts, with or without BALB/c skin-sensitization. CD4+ TEa T cells co-transfer experiments and flow cytometric analysis were conducted to investigate the amount of CD4+ T cells and the percentage of the T effector subset. Irf4 flox/flox Ox40 cre/+ and Irf4 flox/flox Ox40 cre/+ TEa mice were constructed successfully. IRF4 ablation in activated OX40-mediated alloantigen specific CD4+ TEa T cells reduced effector T cell differentiation (CD44hiCD62Llo, Ki67, IFN-γ), which caused long-term allograft survival (> 100 d) in the chronic rejection model. In the donor skin-sensitized heart transplantation model, the formation and function of alloantigen-specific memory CD4+ TEa cells were also impaired in Irf4 flox/flox Ox40 cre/+ mice. Additionally, deletion of IRF4 after T cell activation in Irf4 flox/flox Ox40 cre/+ mice reduced T cell reactivation in vitro. IRF4 ablation after OX40-related T cell activation could reduce effector and memory T cell formation and inhibit their function in response to alloantigen stimulation. These findings could have significant implications in targeting activated T cells to induce transplant tolerance. • Irf4 flox/flox Ox40 cre/+ and Irf4 flox/flox Ox40 cre/+ TEa mice was successfully constructed. • Ox40-specific IRF4 knockout prevented chronic rejection and secondary response in mice heart transplantation. • IRF4 was needed after OX40 related-T cell priming for antigen-specific effector and memory T cell responses. • Ablation of IRF4 after T cell activation in Irf4 flox/flox Ox40 cre/+ mice also reduced T cell reactivation in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aminoglycoside antibiotics (AGAs) are widely used in life-threatening infections, but they accumulate in cochlear hair cells (HCs) and result in hearing loss. Increases in adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentrations and P2X7 receptor expression were observed after neomycin treatment. Here, we demonstrated that P2X7 receptor, which is a non-selective cation channel that is activated by high ATP concentrations, may participate in the process through which AGAs enter hair cells. Using transgenic knockout mice, we found that P2X7 receptor deficiency protects HCs against neomycin-induced injury in vitro and in vivo. Subsequently, we used fluorescent gentamicin–Fluor 594 to study the uptake of AGAs and found fluorescence labeling in wild-type mice but not in P2rx7−/− mice in vitro. In addition, knocking-out P2rx7 did not significantly alter the HC count and auditory signal transduction, but it did inhibit mitochondria-dependent oxidative stress and apoptosis in the cochlea after neomycin exposure. We thus conclude that the P2X7 receptor may be linked to the entry of AGAs into HCs and is likely to be a therapeutic target for auditory HC protection. Schematic of the role of P2X7 receptor in neomycin-induced HC loss. Under physiological control conditions, P2X7 receptor acts as a channel. ATP and small molecules can pass through it, while large molecules cannot. After neomycin exposure, large amounts of ATP are released from cells and the extracellular concentration of ATP increases rapidly. In addition, more P2X7 receptors are synthesized and appear in the membrane. The high concentrations of ATP cause P2X7 receptor to open as a pore that is large enough for neomycin to enter the HCs, thus damaging the HCs and causing apoptosis. [Display omitted] • AGAs induced cochlear HC damage is associated with changes in eATP concentration and P2X7 receptor activation. • P2X7 receptor is involved to AGAs uptake in HCs. • AGAs-related mitochondria-mediated oxidative stress could be abolished by deleting P2rx7. • P2X7 receptor might be a new target for HC protection from AGAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Style transfer has been widely applied in the fashion industry for design assistance. This paper focuses on object-level image style transfer for specific texture regions on fashion images. The current methods mostly utilize extra conditional inputs to obtain regions of interest in fashion images, which take extensive time and cost to prepare these data. To address this issue, we propose a two-stage unsupervised approach named TsrNet for clothing texture style transfer between images. Firstly, we construct a network named Mask-GAN to unsupervisedly split out the clothing texture region. Secondly, we improve CycleGAN to interchange the texture on specific target regions of the two images. Specifically, considering the diversity of fashion texture, we construct a multiscale module (Drf-module) with dynamic perceptual fields and design an image gradient-based texture structure loss (GTS) to perform texture transfer. Qualitative and quantitative experimental results show the effectiveness of our algorithm for clothing-specific region style transfer. • A novel two-stage framework is proposed for garments region-specific style transfer. • The Mask-GAN is proposed for target region extraction in a self-supervised manner. • A multi-scale module with dynamic receptive field is built to generate various styles. • A texture structure loss is built to make the generated styles satisfy human vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A series of polycyclic furanobutenolide-derived norcembranoids were obtained. • TDDFT-ECD and X-Ray diffraction analysis were employed to determine absolute configurations. • ECD spectra data were in agreement with the proposed empirical ECD helicity rule. • Potent immunosuppressive activities against T and/or B lymphocytes were observed. One new polycyclic furanobutenolide-derived norcembranoid, xiguscabrolide H (1), together with eleven known related norditerpenoids 2 – 12 were isolated from South China Sea soft corals Sinularia scabra and S. polydactyla , respectively. Among them, compounds 1 , 6 , 8 , and 12 were discovered from the former species, while compounds 2 – 5 , 7 , and 9 – 11 were obtained from the latter species. The structure of new compound 1 was elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis and by the comparison with the reported data. With the assistance of time-dependent density functional theory electronic circular dichroism (TDDFT-ECD) calculations, its absolute configuration was determined. Moreover, the absolute stereostructures of the known compounds 3 , 4 , and 9 – 12 , of which only relative configurations were assigned, were established for the first time by X-Ray diffraction analysis and TDDFT-ECD calculations, respectively. In bioassay, several isolates exhibited potent inhibitory effects on the ConA-induced T lymphocytes and/or LPS-induced B lymphocytes proliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]