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L-Alanyl-L-tyrosine (L-Ala-Tyr) is a dipeptide formed by the condensation of L-alanine methyl ester and L-tyrosine. After entering the body, it can be rapidly broken down to release tyrosine. In this study, L-Ala-Tyr was successfully prepared by using α-ester acyltransferase as biocatalyst and alanine methyl ester (L-Ala-OMe) and tyrosine (L-Tyr) as acyl donor and nucleophile, respectively. The dipeptide yield was increased from 15 to 50% by optimizing the conditions: boric acid-borax (0.2 mol/L), 30°C, pH 9.5, 2:1 acyl donor to nucleophile ratio, DES (ChCl/urea), and 15%(v/v) water content. The catalytic product is then isolated and purified. The structure of the product was identified by high-performance liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, proton nuclear magnetic resonance, and carbon spectroscopy. Its biological activity was preliminarily determined by the B16-F10 mouse melanoma cell model. The results showed that the purity of L-Ala-Tyr prepared by the separation and purification method of this study was 96.8%, and the mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy showed that the structure of the peptide was consistent with the expected structure. In addition, the preliminary physiological activity identification results show that L-Ala-Tyr has no toxic effect on cells in the concentration range of 100–800 μmol·L−1, and at the optimal concentration, compared with the positive control 8-methoxypsoralen, it can promote the production of melanin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radiotherapy for head and neck tumors can lead to a severe complication known as radiation-induced brain injury (RIBI). However, the underlying mechanism of RIBI development remains unclear, and limited prevention and treatment options are available. Neuroactive steroids have shown potential in treating neurological disorders. 5α-Androst-3β, 5, 6β-triol (TRIOL), a synthetic neuroprotective steroid, holds promise as a treatment candidate for RIBI patients. However, the neuroprotective effects and underlying mechanism of TRIOL on RIBI treatment are yet to be elucidated. In the present study, our findings demonstrate TRIOL's potential as a neuroprotective agent against RIBI. In gamma knife irradiation mouse model, TRIOL treatment significantly reduced brain necrosis volume, microglial activation, and neuronal loss. RNA-sequencing, immunofluorescence, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, siRNA transfection, and western blotting techniques revealed that TRIOL effectively decreased microglial activation, proinflammatory cytokine release, neuron loss, and guanylate-binding protein 5 (GBP5) expression, along with its downstream signaling pathways NF-κB and NLRP3 activation in vitro. In summary, TRIOL effectively alleviate RIBI by inhibiting the GBP5/NF-κB/NLRP3 signal axis, reducing microglia activation and pro-inflammation cytokines release, rescuing neuron loss. This study highlights the potential of TRIOL as a novel and promising therapy drug for RIBI treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The objective of this study is to investigate the associated risk factors of pulmonary infection in individuals diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The primary goal is to develop a predictive model that can anticipate the likelihood of pulmonary infection during hospitalization among CKD patients. Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted at two prominent tertiary teaching hospitals. Three distinct models were formulated employing three different approaches: (1) the statistics-driven model, (2) the clinical knowledge-driven model, and (3) the decision tree model. The simplest and most efficient model was obtained by comparing their predictive power, stability, and practicability. Results: This study involved a total of 971 patients, with 388 individuals comprising the modeling group and 583 individuals comprising the validation group. Three different models, namely Models A, B, and C, were utilized, resulting in the identification of seven, four, and eleven predictors, respectively. Ultimately, a statistical knowledge-driven model was selected, which exhibited a C-statistic of 0.891 (0.855–0.927) and a Brier score of 0.012. Furthermore, the Hosmer–Lemeshow test indicated that the model demonstrated good calibration. Additionally, Model A displayed a satisfactory C-statistic of 0.883 (0.856–0.911) during external validation. The statistical-driven model, known as the A-C2GH2S risk score (which incorporates factors such as albumin, C2 [previous COPD history, blood calcium], random venous blood glucose, H2 [hemoglobin, high-density lipoprotein], and smoking), was utilized to determine the risk score for the incidence rate of lung infection in patients with CKD. The findings revealed a gradual increase in the occurrence of pulmonary infections, ranging from 1.84% for individuals with an A-C2GH2S Risk Score ≤ 6, to 93.96% for those with an A-C2GH2S Risk Score ≥ 18.5. Conclusion: A predictive model comprising seven predictors was developed to forecast pulmonary infection in patients with CKD. This model is characterized by its simplicity, practicality, and it also has good specificity and sensitivity after verification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tranexamic acid (TXA) is a versatile antifibrinolytic agent that is widely used in modern surgeries. This review assessed the safety and efficacy of intravenous (IV) TXA in plastic surgery versus controls. Methods: This review selected English-language Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating IV TXA effects in plastic surgery from four electronic databases, PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library up to April 9, 2023. Primary outcomes were blood loss volume (BLV) and transfusion occurrence, with operation time and surgical field assessment as secondary outcomes. IV TXA-related complications were also important indicators. Meta-analyses and qualitative analyses were conducted and the quality of the evidence was assessed. Results: Thirty RCTs with 2150 patients were included. The total standard mean difference (SMD) of BLV and pooled relative risk of transfusion occurrence between the IV TXA and the control groups were − 1.11 (95% CI, − 1.42 to − 0.80) and 0.36 (95% CI, 0.23 to 0.55) respectively, indicating a significant blood loss reduction with IV TXA treatment, while an ambiguous outcome of operation time was observed, with an SMD of − 0.22 (95% CI, − 0.42 to − 0.02). The quality of evidence for BLV and transfusion occurrence was low and medium, respectively. A quantitative analysis of surgical field assessment was not performed because of the substantial heterogeneity in scoring methods. No IV TXA-related complications were observed. Conclusions: In plastic surgery, IV TXA administration results in less blood loss, reduced need for transfusion and better surgical fields but probably does not increase the risk of adverse events. Level of Evidence I: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine Ratings, please refer to Table of Contents or online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the effect of particle size on the microstructure and mechanical properties of cold-sprayed nickel coatings was investigated using three particle size ranges of pure nickel powders. The experimental results show that the mechanical properties of the coating fabricated by the fine powder with a D50 of 25 μm are lower (microhardness and tensile strength of 257.5 HV0.1 and 126 MPa, respectively) compared to those from the coarser particle sizes (D50 = 45 μm and 67 μm) because of the higher yield strength of powder, which makes it difficult to generate sufficient plastic deformation during the spraying process. The powder with the largest particle size, D50 of 67 μm, has a low impact velocity, which does not allow for a high-quality coating due to less plastic deformation, and the porosity is higher up to 0.7%. When the mean particle size of the powder is 45 μm, the coating shows the highest degree of densification, the porosity is 0.4%, and the mechanical properties of the coating are better with the microhardness and tensile strength of 289.2 HV0.1 and 208 MPa, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Histone lactylation on its lysine (K) residues has been reported to have indispensable roles in lung fibrosis, embryogenesis, neural development, inflammation, and tumors. However, little is known about the lactylation activity towards histone lysine residue during tooth development. We investigated the dynamic patterns of lactate-derived histone lysine lactylation (Kla) using a pan-Kla antibody during murine tooth development, including lower first molar and lower incisor. The results showed that pan-Kla exhibited temporo-spatial patterns in both dental epithelium and mesenchyme cells during development. Notably, pan-Kla was identified in primary enamel knot (PEK), stratum intermedium (SI), stellate reticulum (SR), dental follicle cells, odontoblasts, ameloblasts, proliferating cells in dental mesenchyme, as well as osteoblasts around the tooth germ. More importantly, pan-Kla was also identified to be co-localized with neurofilament during tooth development, suggesting histone lysine lactylation may be involved in neural invasion during tooth development. These findings suggest that histone lysine lactylation may play important roles in regulating tooth development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dextranase is a type of hydrolase that is responsible for catalyzing the breakdown of high-molecular-weight dextran into low-molecular-weight polysaccharides. This process is called dextranolysis. A select group of bacteria and fungi, including yeasts and likely certain complex eukaryotes, produce dextranase enzymes as extracellular enzymes that are released into the environment. These enzymes join dextran's α-1,6 glycosidic bonds to make glucose, exodextranases, or isomalto-oligosaccharides (endodextranases). Dextranase is an enzyme that has a wide variety of applications, some of which include the sugar business, the production of human plasma replacements, the treatment of dental plaque and its protection, and the creation of human plasma replacements. Because of this, the quantity of studies carried out on worldwide has steadily increased over the course of the past couple of decades. The major focus of this study is on the most current advancements in the production, administration, and properties of microbial dextranases. This will be done throughout the entirety of the review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: According to recent evidence, the use of local tranexamic acid (TXA) during plastic surgery may lessen blood loss. Objectives: To comprehensively assess the use of local TXA during plastic surgery through a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials addressing these issues. Methods: Four electronic databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and the Cochrane Library, were searched until December 12, 2022. Following meta-analyses, the mean difference (MD) or standardized mean difference (SMD) for blood loss volume (BLV), ΔHct, ΔHb and operation time were calculated when appropriate. Results: Eleven randomized controlled trials were included in the qualitative synthesis, while 8 studies were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with the control group, the local TXA group showed a reduction in blood loss volume of -1.05 (p < 0.00001; 95% CI, −1.72 to −0.38). However, local TXA had a limited effect on reducing ΔHct, ΔHb and operation time. A meta-analysis was not performed because of heterogeneity in other outcomes; however, except for 1 study in which no significant difference was observed on POD 1, all studies showed significantly lower rates of postoperative ecchymosis after surgery, 2 studies showed statistically significant reductions in transfusion risk or volume, and 3 studies reported significantly better surgical field quality in operations with local TXA. In the 2 included studies, the researchers concluded that local treatment does not play a role in relieving postoperative pain. Conclusions: Local TXA is associated with less blood loss, less ecchymosis and better surgical field in plastic surgery patients. Level of Evidence I: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To promote the coordinated and healthy development of ecology and economy of Huaihe River Economic Belt, the paper tries to make an exploration of the path of industrial eco-efficiency improvement. This study chooses 25 prefecture-level cities in Huaihe River Economic Belt of China as the case studies, then selects Slacks-Based Measure with Undesirable (SBM-Undesirable) model, Malmquist-Luenberger (ML) index and Kernel Density Estimation and analyses the characteristics of industrial eco-efficiency from 2010 to 2019. Then, the spatial distribution characteristics of industrial eco-efficiency were investigated based on Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA). The results of the above situation indicate that: (1) The overall efficiency level of industrial eco-efficiency of the Huaihe River Economic Belt has been relatively low from 2009 to 2018. The efficiency growth of regional industrial eco-efficiency showed a distribution pattern that the Eastern Sea-River–Lake Linkage Zone was greater than that in the Northern Huaihai Economic Zone and that in the Midwestern Inland Rising Zone. (2) The kernel density curve of industrial eco-efficiency shifts to the right, the efficiency increases but the internal difference was great. The Technical Change (TC) index decomposed from ML index is the key factor affecting the industrial eco-efficiency. (3) The industrial eco-efficiency of the Huaihe River Economic Belt shows a decreasing trend from the northeast to the southwest, and the efficiency changes greatly in the north–south direction, with obvious spatial agglomeration, strong spatial stability and dependence. Therefore, this study estimated the ratio of the economic and ecological output to the input required for industrial production and focused on the identification of differences of efficiency. It was conducive to transforming the mode of industrial development and promoting the harmonious development of industrial ecology, and taking the road of sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancer types worldwide. Despite significant advances in prevention and diagnosis, CRC is still one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality globally. RAB27A, the member of RAB27 family of small GTPases, is the critical protein for intracellular secretion and has been reported to promote tumor progression. However, it is controversial for the role of RAB27A in CRC progression, so we explored the exact function of RAB27A in CRC development in this study. Based on the stable colon cancer cell lines of RAB27A knockdown and ectopic expression, we found that RAB27A knockdown inhibited proliferation and clone formation of SW480 colon cancer cells, whereas ectopic expression of RAB27A in RKO colon cancer cells facilitated cell proliferation and clone formation, indicating that RAB27A is critical for colon cancer cell growth. In addition, our data demonstrated that the migration and invasion of colon cancer cells were suppressed by RAB27A knockdown, but promoted by RAB27A ectopic expression. Therefore, RAB27A is identified as an onco-protein in mediating CRC development, which may be a valuable prognostic indicator and potential therapeutic target for CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In clinical medicine, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is one of the most important tools for diagnosis, triage, prognosis, and treatment planning. However, MRI suffers from an inherent slow data acquisition process because data is collected sequentially in k-space. In recent years, most MRI reconstruction methods proposed in the literature focus on holistic image reconstruction rather than enhancing the edge information. This work steps aside this general trend by elaborating on the enhancement of edge information. Specifically, we introduce a novel parallel imaging coupled dual discriminator generative adversarial network (PIDD-GAN) for fast multi-channel MRI reconstruction by incorporating multi-view information. The dual discriminator design aims to improve the edge information in MRI reconstruction. One discriminator is used for holistic image reconstruction, whereas the other one is responsible for enhancing edge information. An improved U-Net with local and global residual learning is proposed for the generator. Frequency channel attention blocks (FCA Blocks) are embedded in the generator for incorporating attention mechanisms. Content loss is introduced to train the generator for better reconstruction quality. We performed comprehensive experiments on Calgary-Campinas public brain MR dataset and compared our method with state-of-the-art MRI reconstruction methods. Ablation studies of residual learning were conducted on the MICCAI13 dataset to validate the proposed modules. Results show that our PIDD-GAN provides high-quality reconstructed MR images, with well-preserved edge information. The time of single-image reconstruction is below 5ms, which meets the demand of faster processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent temperature rise caused by human activities has led to profound changes in the forest ecosystem. Shrubs play an important role in the boreal forest. However, it is not clear how shrub growth responds to climate change, especially whether there is a difference in the response of shrub at different altitudes to climate change. Here, we developed three ring-width chronologies of Pinus pumila along an altitudinal gradient in the Aokelidui Mountains, northeast China, then analyzed the relationship between the growth of P. pumila and climate at different altitudes. The results showed that the radial growth of P. pumila at low altitude had more prominent climate signals than those at medium and high altitude and was more sensitive to climate change. The chronological similarity was the highest in low and middle altitudes (72.5%, p < 0.01). Summer temperature had a significant negative effect on the growth of shrubs, and summer precipitation was conducive to the formation of wider rings at medium altitude. The warmer winter of the previous year favored P. pumila growth at low and medium altitudes but just the opposite at high altitudes. After rapid warming, the negative correlation between temperature and P. pumila growth in the growing season changed to a positive correlation at high altitude. On the contrary, the relationship between precipitation and P. pumila growth in the growing season changed from a positive to a negative correlation. We also found that the sensitivity of the growth of P. pumila to the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) has gradually increased at medium-altitude since the 1980s. Therefore, in recent decades, the effect of moisture on the radial growth of shrub has become more and more important at medium altitudes. At the same time, the temperature rise was beneficial to the growth of P. pumila at low altitude. Our results suggest that the treeline advancement in this area is unlikely to occur in the near future since the shrub at high altitudes is not sensitive to climate warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of financial support for start-ups, especially high-tech start-ups, is an important factor in their growth. This paper studies the determinants of credit availability of high-tech enterprises in Taizhou, which are the epitome of China's private economy. It is found that when collateral is taken into account, the first determinant is collateral followed by annual sales revenue, and then property of high-tech enterprises. Ignoring collateral, the first determinant is annual sales revenue followed by the properties of high-tech enterprises, and then the policy-based credit guarantee. The financial ecological environment is not a determinant. However, among different levels of high-tech enterprises, the main differences are whether the age of enterprise and the growth rate of sales revenue are the top three determinants. The obvious difference between municipal and provincial/national high-tech firms is that the age of enterprise is ranked in the top three, while the policy-based credit guarantee is not among the top three determinants. The difference between national and provincial/municipal high-tech firms is that the sales revenue growth rate ranks in the top three determinants. The results can provide decision support for financial institutions to promote the financial availability of high-tech start-ups and empirical evidence for further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the considerable amount of research devoted to understanding fraud, few studies have examined how the physical environment can influence the likelihood of committing fraud. One recent study found a link between room brightness and occurrence of human fraud behaviors. Therefore, the present study aims to investigate how temperature may affect fraud. Based on a power analysis using the effect size observed in a pilot study, we recruited 105 participants and randomly divided them into three temperature groups (warm, medium, and cool). We then counted fraud behaviors in each group and tested for potential significant differences with a Kruskal–Wallis test. Additionally, we used a correlation analysis to determine whether the perceived temperature affected fraud. As a result, regardless of participants’ subjective sensory experience or their physical environment, we did not find that temperature-related factors influence the incidence of fraud. We discussed the potential reason for the results and suggested directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tobacco ringspot virus (TRSV) is an important plant pathogen that causes severe diseases in tobacco plants. In recent years, this virus has been reported in a number of ornamental plants. However, it has never been reported from Japanese iris, a famous traditional ornamental plant distributed in Asian countries. In this study, the near-complete bipartite genome of a nepovirus (TRSV-Iris) infecting Japanese iris from Taiwan of China was determined. The RNA1 and RNA2 are 7512 and 3899 nucleotides in length, and encodes a polyprotein of 2303 and 1078 amino acids, respectively. Sequence analysis indicates that TRSV-Iris shares more than 80% amino acid sequence identity, the threshold values of the species demarcation for the genus Nepovirus, with known TRSV isolates either in the conserved Pro-Pol or CP regions, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that TRSV-Iris is a TRSV isolate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel two-step method is developed for the facile preparation of hollow nano-spherical boron nitride (BN). BN nanospheres prepared by the traditional chemical vapor deposition reaction of ammonia and trimethyl borate were hollowed out. The average size of solid BN nanospheres precursor was ~ 130 nm. Boron nitride phase, morphology, and surface functionalization characterization along with the measurement of O content, and surface functionality were used to illustrate the final differences among various cavitating BN nanospheres treated with different gas flows at a higher temperature. Several possible formation mechanisms for the BN cavitating structures were proposed. This work provides direction for the controllable preparation of hollow-type BN particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retinal image contains rich information on the blood vessel and is highly related to vascular diseases. Fully automatic and accurate identification of arteries and veins from the complex background of retinal images is essential for analyzing eye-relevant diseases, and monitoring progressive eye diseases. However, popular methods, including deep learning-based models, performed unsatisfactorily in preserving the connectivity of both the arteries and veins. The results were shown to be disconnected or overlapped by the twos and thus manual calibration was needed to refine the results. To tackle the problem, this paper proposes a topological structure-constrained generative adversarial network (topGAN) to automatically identify and differentiate the arteries and veins from retinal images. The introduced topological structure term can automatically delineate the topological structure properties of retinal blood vessels and greatly improves the vascular connectivity of the entire arteriovenous classification results. We train and evaluate our model on both the AV-DRIVE public available dataset and the CVDG home-owned dataset, which consists of 40 images and 3119 images, respectively. Experiments demonstrate that integrating topological structure constraints can significantly improve the performance of arteriovenous classification. Our method achieves excellent performance with an accuracy of 94.3% on the AV-DRIVE dataset and 93.6% on the CVDG dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detection and quantification of circular RNAs (circRNAs) face several significant challenges, including high false discovery rate, uneven rRNA depletion and RNase R treatment efficiency, and underestimation of back-spliced junction reads. Here, we propose a novel algorithm, CIRIquant, for accurate circRNA quantification and differential expression analysis. By constructing pseudo-circular reference for re-alignment of RNA-seq reads and employing sophisticated statistical models to correct RNase R treatment biases, CIRIquant can provide more accurate expression values for circRNAs with significantly reduced false discovery rate. We further develop a one-stop differential expression analysis pipeline implementing two independent measures, which helps unveil the regulation of competitive splicing between circRNAs and their linear counterparts. We apply CIRIquant to RNA-seq datasets of hepatocellular carcinoma, and characterize two important groups of linear-circular switching and circular transcript usage switching events, which demonstrate the promising ability to explore extensive transcriptomic changes in liver tumorigenesis. Quantification and characterization of circRNAs in sequencing data remains challenging, hindering efforts to understand their roles and regulation. The algorithm introduced here enables accurate circRNA quantification and permits insight into competitive splicing between linear and circular isoforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RAB27A knockdown and the negative control SW480 cells were seeded in the upper well of the Transwell chamber for 48 h, and the migrated cells were stained with the crystal violet. RAB27A overexpression cells and the negative control cells were seeded in the upper well of the Transwell chamber for 48 h, and the migrated cells were stained with the crystal violet. [Extracted from the article]

The anti-cancer role of local anesthetics has garnered attention in recent years because increasing evidence show that local anesthetics reduce the risk of tumor metastasis and recurrence. Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels, is fundamental for tumor growth and metastasis. The role of local anesthetics on tumor angiogenesis still remains unknown. Using human lung tumor-associated endothelial cell (HLT-EC) and angiogenesis models, our work shows that ropivacaine at the clinically relevant concentration is active against multiple biological functions of HLT-EC but not lung tumor cells. Ropivacaine inhibits HLT-EC capillary network formation, growth and survival. The anti-angiogenic activity of ropivacaine is further confirmed in in vivo angiogenesis mouse model. Mechanistically, we show that ropivacaine inhibits HLT-EC mitochondrial respiration via specifically targeting mitochondrial respiratory complex II. As a consequence of mitochondrial respiration inhibition, we observe the energy depletion, oxidative stress and damage in HLT-EC after ropivacaine exposure. Additionally, an antioxidant agent completely reverses the inhibitory effects of ropivacaine, suggesting that oxidative stress is required for the action of ropivacaine in HLT-EC. Interestingly, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress induced by ropivacaine is sodium channel-independent. Our work demonstrates the potent inhibitory effects of ropivacaine in lung tumor angiogenesis by inducing mitochondrial dysfunction. These findings provide significant insight into the potential mechanisms by which local anaesthetics may negatively affect tumor reoccurrence and metastasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effect of different salinities (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30) on the growth performance and energy budget of juveniles of two different ecotypes of Oncorhynchus mykiss, landlocked rainbow trout and anadromous steelhead trout. In the 42 d experiment, fish were cultured in three replicate tanks per salinity treatment (eight fish per tank). At the end of the experiment, the growth of rainbow and steelhead trouts was significantly higher at salinities of 5 and 10, respectively, than at all other salinities. The protein, lipid and energy content of both ecotypes declined with the increase of salinity. Based on their energy budgets, the percentage of energy consumed for growth by rainbow and steelhead trouts were significantly higher at salinities of 5 (34.00% ± 1.69%) and 10 (43.76% ± 1.29%), respectively, than at all other salinities. The percentage of energy consumed for respiration by rainbow and steelhead trouts was lower at salinities of 5 (54.90% ± 1.77%) and 10 (46.73% ± 0.62%), respectively, than at all other salinities. Our results indicated that the salinity adaptation ability of juvenile steelhead trout was slightly better than that of juvenile rainbow trout, and salinities of 10 and 5, respectively, were most suitable for growth of these two fishes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immunotherapy has become the fourth cancer therapy after surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. In particular, immune checkpoint inhibitors are proved to be unprecedentedly in increasing the overall survival rates of patients with refractory cancers, such as advanced melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, and renal cell carcinoma. However, inhibitor therapies are only effective in a small proportion of patients with problems, such as side effects and high costs. Therefore, doctors urgently need reliable predictive biomarkers for checkpoint inhibitor therapies to choose the optimal therapies. Here, we review the biomarkers that can serve as potential predictors of the outcomes of immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment, including tumor-specific profiles and tumor microenvironment evaluation and other factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) has a pivotal role in the regulation of many physiological processes. In this study, the gene encoding a NPY receptor-like from the common Chinese cuttlefish Sepiella japonica (SjNPYR-like) was identified and characterized. The full-length SjNPYR-like cDNA was cloned containing a 492-bp of 5′ untranslated region (UTR), 1 182 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a protein of 393 amino acid residues, and 228 bp of 3′ UTR. The putative protein was predicted to have a molecular weight of 45.54 kDa and an isoelectric point (pI) of 8.13. By informatic analyses, SjNPYR-like was identified as belonging to the class A G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) family (the rhodopsin-type). The amino acid sequence contained 12 potential phosphorylation sites and five predicted N-linked glycosylation sites. Multiple sequence alignment and 3D structure modeling were conducted to clarify SjNPYR bioinformatics characteristics. Phylogenetic analysis identifies it as an NPYR with identity of 33% to Lymnaea stagnalis NPFR. Transmembrane properties of SjNPYR-like were demonstrated in vitro using HEK293 cells and the pEGFP-N1 plasmid. Relative quantification of SjNPYR-like mRNA level confirmed a high level expression and broad distribution of SjNPYR-like in various tissues of female S. japonica. In addition, the transcriptional profile of SjNPYR-like in the brain, liver, and ovary during gonadal development was analyzed. The results provide basic understanding on the molecular characteristics of SjNPYR-like and its potentially physical functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Credit identification is one of core issues of financing process. Enterprise credit involves a lot of financial and non-financial measures, among which entrepreneurship is an important but rarely mentioned variable. Good entrepreneur credit often leads to good enterprise credit. A comprehensive analysis of enterprise credit identification is important to avoid losses, foster excellent enterprise and make the optimal allocation of resources. The existing literature mainly studied the impact of entrepreneurship on enterprise credit from the perspective of historical information, which is about average and tendency. Hence, those models were unable to explain the function of complex human nature and, consequently, linear models are unable to well describe the relationship between enterprise credit and entrepreneur credit. Given the deficiency of parametric models when discussing the impact of entrepreneur credit, a non parametric approach are proposed to individually describe the impact path of different individuals. This paper established a decision tree based on nonparametric approach to verify the practicability of the model in the evaluation of enterprise credit recognition. In the end of this paper, we demonstrate the validity of the non parametric model and the validation method of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competition between cyanobacteria and green algae affects phytoplankton succession and the well-known cyanobacteria blooms. Climate warming and water acidification are two concerned environmental issues changing the freshwater ecosystems. To investigate the competitive responses of phytoplankton to warming and acidification, we co-cultured Microcystis aeruginosa and Scenedesmus obliquus at a temperature range of 15–35 °C and a pH range of 5–9. Results showed that S. obliquus was superior competitor at 15 °C. At 20–30 °C, the populations of both Scenedesmus and Microcystis were inhibited by the presence of each other. S. obliquus was in competitive domination at the initial phase of cultivation, but was finally replaced by M. aeruginosa. Microcystis kept competition advantage at 35 °C, whereas Scenedesmus outcompeted Microcystis at acidic conditions (pH ≤ 6). Neutral and weakly alkaline conditions (pH 7–9) supported the replacement of competition domination from Scenedesmus to Microcystis. The present study revealed that climate warming may accelerate the phytoplankton succession from green algae to cyanobacteria, with the predicted promoted cyanobacteria blooms. Nonetheless, water acidification causes Microcystis to be a weak competitor with green algae, suggesting that the advantageous effect of Microcystis toward green algae at high temperatures was controlled by other variables like the water pH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The uniaxial ratcheting behavior of ultrafine-grained pure Cu processed by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) was investigated through uniaxial asymmetric cyclic stress-controlled experiments at room temperature. The effects of the mean stress and stress amplitude on the uniaxial ratcheting response and ratcheting life of the ECAP Cu were analyzed. With increasing mean stress or stress amplitude, the ratcheting strain and its rate increased, but the ratcheting life decreased. An approach based on Basquin's method was used to describe the fatigue lifetime of the ECAP pure Cu. Additionally, a power law relationship was adopted to describe the cyclic steady creep rate. Finally, the microscopic and macroscopic fracture features were examined. It was found that at high peak stresses, cyclic creep governs the overall failure process; otherwise, cyclic creep-fatigue interaction is the dominant failure mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the combined effects of temperature and Daphnia-associated infochemicals on colony formation of Scenedesmus obliquus to faciliate harvesting the algal biomass. Results: A three-parameter modified Gaussian model fitted the changes of the number of cells per particle in S. obliquus induced by Daphnia culture filtrate well under any temperature. Decreases in temperature enhanced the induced-colony formation of Scenedesmus. The maximum colony size at 15-25 °C was significantly larger than those at 30-35 °C. An additional 1 or 2 days at low temperature was needed to reach the maximum colony size, which indicates the best harvest time for algal biomass. Conclusion: Induced-colony formation of Scenedesmus by Daphnia culture filtrate at 15-25 °C is recommended to settle algal cells. This condition facilitates harvesting the biomass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical results of a randomized controlled trial of single-layer versus double-layer bone-patellar tendon-bone (BPTB) anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Methods: Fifty-eight subjects who underwent primary ACL reconstruction with a BPTB allograft were prospectively randomized into two groups: single-layer reconstruction (n = 31) and double-layer reconstruction (n = 27). The following evaluation methods were used: clinical examination, KT-1000 arthrometer measurement, muscle strength, Tegner activity score, Lysholm score, subjective rating scale regarding patient satisfaction and sports performance level, graft retear, contralateral ACL tear, and additional meniscus surgery. Results: Forty-eight subjects (24 in single-layer group and 24 in double-layer group) who were followed up for 3 years were evaluated. Preoperatively, there were no differences between the groups. At 3-year follow-up, the Lachman and pivot-shift test results were better in the double-layer group (P = 0.019 and P < 0.0001, respectively). KT measurements were better in the double-layer group (mean 2.9 versus 1.5 mm; P = 0.0025). The Tegner score was also better in the double-layer group (P = 0.024). There were no significant differences in range of motion, muscle strength, Lysholm score, subjective rating scale, graft retear, and secondary meniscal tear. Conclusions: In ACL reconstruction, double-layer BPTB reconstruction was significantly better than single-layer reconstruction regarding anterior and rotational stability at 3-year follow-up. The results of KT measurements and the Lachman and pivot-shift tests were significantly better in the double-layer group, whereas there was no difference in the anterior drawer test results. The Tegner score was also better in the double-layer group; however, there were no differences in the other subjective findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aestivation is a state of dormancy in diverse animal species characterized by a depressed metabolism. High temperatures in the summer trigger aestivation in the adult sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus. In the present study, the glycolytic suppression in aestivating A. japonicus was verified by metabolite quantification and activity and a gene expression analysis of rate-limiting enzymes (hexokinase and pyruvate kinase). Significant decreases in glucose concentrations were discovered in the respiration tree ( p < 0.01), intestine ( p < 0.05) and muscle ( p < 0.01) of aestivating A. japonicus; likewise, over this period, pyruvic acid concentrations significantly decreased in the respiration tree ( p < 0.05) and intestine ( p < 0.01), but were unchanged in muscle. Enzymatic activity variation of hexokinase ( Aj-HK) and pyruvate kinase ( Aj-PK) in aestivating A. japonicus revealed that Aj-HK remained at high levels in the respiration tree and muscle but significantly decreased in intestine ( p < 0.01); the activity of Aj-PK also declined significantly in intestine ( p < 0.01), whereas it increased significantly in the respiration tree ( p < 0.05) and muscle ( p < 0.01). The gene sequences of Aj-HK and Aj-PK were identified, and their transcriptional quantification revealed that the expression of Aj-HK was depressed in all of the examined tissues, whereas Aj-PK expression was depressed in muscle only. These results suggest that glycolytic suppression occurred in aestivating A. japonicus, especially in the intestine, and transcriptional and post-transcriptional modifications are involved in the regulation of glycolytic suppression in this marine species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term or excessive application of morphine leads to tolerance and addiction, which hindered its conventional applications as a drug. Although tremendous progress has been made on the mechanisms of morphine, crucial evidence elaborating the neurobiological basis of tolerance and dependence is still lacking. To further explore the physiological adaptions during morphine's application, a systematic screening of small molecules in blood has been carried out. The plasma of morphine dependent rats was collected at different time points with or without naloxone treatment, and was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Partial least squares discriminate analysis (PLS-DA) and the Student's t Tests with the false discovery rate (FDR) correction were conducted on the normalized data for the distinction of groups and the identification of the most contributed metabolites. Clear separation is observed between different treatments, and 29 out of 41 metabolites changes significantly compared with the corresponding controls. The concentration of threonine, glycine, serine, beta-d-glucose and oxalic acid are consistently changed in all morphine treated groups compared with controls. Through this experiment we find characteristic metabolites in different dependent states and discuss the possible compensation effects. The interpretation of these metabolites would throw light on the biological effects of morphine and reveal the possibilities to become marker of morphine addiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vascularization is essential for organ and tissue development. Teeth develop through interactions between epithelium and mesenchyme. The developing capillaries in the enamel organ, the dental epithelial structure, occur simultaneously by mechanisms of vasculogenesis and angiogenesis at the onset of dentinogenesis. The vascular neoformation in the dental mesenchyme has been reported to start from the cap stage. However, the mechanisms of vascularization in the dental mesenchyme remain unknown. In the hope of understanding the mechanisms of the formation of dental mesenchymal vasculature, mouse lower molar germs from embryonic day (E) 13.5 to E16.5 were processed for immunostaining of CD31 and CD34, terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In addition, the role of apoptosis for the vascularization in dental mesenchyme was examined by in vitro culture of E14.0 lower molars in the presence of the apoptosis inhibitor (z-VAD-fmk) and a subsequent subrenal culture. Our results showed that CD31- and CD34-positive cells progressively entered the central part of the dental papilla from the peridental mesenchyme. For TEM, angioblasts, young capillaries with thick endothelium and endothelial cells containing vacuoles were observed in peripheral dental mesenchyme, suggesting vasculogenesis was taking place. The presence of lateral sprouting, cytoplasmic filopodia and transluminal bridges in the dental papilla suggested angiogenesis was also occurring. Inhibition of apoptosis delayed the angiogenic vascularization of the dental papilla. Therefore, these data demonstrated that molar mesenchyme is progressively vascularized by mechanisms of both vasculogenesis and angiogenesis and apoptosis partially contributes to the vascularization of the dental papilla. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our previous study identified the appearance of autophagy in developing tooth germs, and suggested its possible association with apoptosis in odontogenesis. Beclin1 was recently indicated to play a central role in bridging autophagy and apoptosis, and occupied a key position in the process of development. This study hypothesized that Beclin1 may be involved, and act as the molecular basis of the connection between autophagy and apoptosis in odontogenesis. Immunohistochemical analysis showed the spatiotemporal expression pattern of Beclin1 in odontogenesis from embryonic (E) day 13.5 to postnatal (P) day 5.5. At E stages, Beclin1 was mainly immunolocalized in the cytoplasm of the cells in the enamel organ. Meanwhile, the nucleus localization of Beclin1 was detected in part of the stellate reticulum, outer and inner enamel epithelium, especially at E16.5 and E18.5. At P stages, Beclin1 was detected in the cytoplasm of the odontoblasts, besides the dental epithelium cells. Triple immunofluorescence analysis showed the partial colocalization of Beclin1, autophagic marker LC3, or activated caspase-3 in the E14.5 tooth germs, especially the Beclin1 +LC3 +Caspase-3 + cells in the PEK. Furthermore, western blot analysis revealed that the full-length (60 kDa) and/or cleaved (50, 37, and 35 kDa) Beclin1 in the developing tooth germs. Taken together, our findings indicate that Beclin1 is involved, and might be responsible for the crosstalk between autophagy and apoptosis in mouse odontogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spinal cord injury and regeneration-related gene #69 ( SCIRR69), which was identified in our screen for genes upregulated after spinal cord injury, encode a protein belonging to the cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB)/ATF family of transcription factors. Our previous study showed that SCIRR69 functions as a transcriptional activator. However, the target gene regulated by SCIRR69 and its roles in injured neurons remain unknown. In this study, we showed that SCIRR69 is widely distributed in the central nervous system. Full-length SCIRR69 is an endoplasmic reticulum-bound protein. Following mechanical injury to neurons, SCIRR69 was induced and proteolytically cleaved by site-1 and site-2 proteases, and the proteolytically cleaved SCIRR69 (p60-SCIRR69) was translocated to the nucleus where it bound to brain-derived neurotrophic factor ( BDNF) gene promoter II. In addition, loss- and gain-of-function studies confirmed that SCIRR69 is involved in the regulation of BDNF expression in injured neurons. As expected, the culture supernatants of PC12 cells stably expressing p60-SCIRR69 contained higher levels of BDNF, and more remarkably promoted neurite outgrowth in a spinal cord slice culture model in vitro than the supernatants of control cells. These results suggest that SCIRR69 is a novel regulator of the BDNF gene and may play an important role in the repair and/or regeneration of damaged neural tissues by specifically activating BDNF promoter II. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In mammals, the type II melanoma antigen (MAGE) protein family is constituted by at least ten closely related members, but our understanding of their function in the developing nervous system remains poor. To systematically study the expression pattern of type II MAGE genes during neurogenesis, we employed mouse embryonic carcinoma P19 cells as an in vitro model for neural differentiation by retinoic acid (RA) induction. The expression of type II MAGE genes was investigated under distinct steps of differentiation by a comparative ΔΔ C paradigm of real-time quantitative reverse-transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). The relative levels of each gene expression at various steps of differentiation were expressed as a fold change compared with that in RA-untreated P19 cells. The results revealed that: (1) the expression of MAGE- E1, E2, and Necdin transcripts was steadily increased, and the relative levels of MAGE- D1, D2, D3, F1, G1, and H1 mRNA were fluctuantly elevated after the RA-treatment at embryoid body and neural stages; (2) during RA-treatment and subsequent differentiation, the expression of MAGE- L2 mRNA was decreased. Therefore, our results suggested that MAGE-D1, D2, D3, E1, E2, F1, G1, H1, and Necdin might be involved in the early process of neurogenesis, and MAGE-L2 connected with maintenance of pluripotency of stem cells. These studies may present some clues for a better understanding of the fundamental aspects of type II MAGE genes during neurogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new species, Nassarius (Zeuxis) humeratus n. sp. of Nassariidae was described based on the specimens collected in the Huanghai Sea (Yellow Sea) and Bohai Sea during the expedition from 1958 to 1959. The new species was distinguished from similar species Nassarius (Zeuxis) bolangoi (Ladd, 1976) and Nassarius (Varicinassa) variciferus (A. Adams, 1852) in shell characteristics. Some relative discussion was provided. The new species mainly distributes in the subtidal zone of 30-53 m depth, in muddy and sandy bottom in the Bohai Sea and northern Huanghai Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The family Nassariidae includes a number of species that are distributed throughout the world. Each species has a characteristic shell shape, tooth shape, and behavior. However, the classification of species in this family of the Rhachiglossa is controversial. We describe the radulae of 22 species from China in detail using optical and scanning electron microscopy. These species are considered to be representatives of two subfamilies, two genera, and 10 subgenera. Our results suggest that the morphology of the central tooth and the pair of lateral teeth and the presence or absence of a pair of intermediate accessory lateral teeth could be used to distinguish among species. We found no support for the subgeneric differentiation of the species. However, the presence or absence of the intermediate lateral accessory plate was characteristic of species divisions. We noted sexual dimorphism in the shape of the teeth in some species, and considerable variability of the shape of teeth within a single species. Based on our results, the genus Nassarius cannot be split into subgenera using radula morphology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the effect of powder pre-oxidation on the microstructures and mechanical properties of cold-sprayed nickel coatings. The artificially pre-oxidized nickel powders at 200, 300 and 400 °C for 5 h show the resulting oxygen contents of 0.27, 0.36 and 0.41 wt.%, as compared to 0.21 wt.% in the feedstock powder. Microstructurally, the higher oxygen contents of the impact particles significantly increased in both the number and size of the pores in the as-sprayed coatings by using the pe-oxidized powders, as a result of the porosities of 0.7, 1.5 and 3.3% compared to 0.4% by using the as-atomized powder (natural oxidation condition). Mechanically, the increased oxygen contents of powders result in the reduced properties for the as-sprayed Ni coatings, as the microhardness of 263.2 HV0.1, 245.3 HV0.1 and 236.3 HV0.1 and the tensile strength of 94, 76 and 61 MPa by using oxidized powders compared to those of 289.2 HV0.1 and 208 MPa by using natural oxidation powder. In addition, post-spray heat treatment at 800 °C for 2 h effectively reduces the small-sized pores and nonbonded particle-particle boundaries within the coatings, which is attributed to a combination effect of annealing twins and dislocation slip during heat treatment. As a result, the microhardness significantly decreased to 135.3 HV0.1, 126.7 HV0.1, 124.5 HV0.1 and 114.7 HV0.1, while the tensile strength is increased to 210, 166, 133 and 117 MPa, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction is presented to the article " Glycolytic regulation in aestivation of the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus: evidence from metabolite quantification and rate-limiting enzyme analyses" which was published in the previous issue of the periodical.