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Three hitherto undescribed Stemona alkaloids, named stemajapines A–C (1–3), along with six known alkaloids (4–9), were isolated and identified from the roots of Stemona japonica (Blume) Miq. (Stemonaceae). Their structures were established by the analysis of the mass data, NMR spectra, and computational chemistry. Stemjapines A and B were degraded maistemonines without spiro-lactone ring and skeletal methyl from maistemonine. Concurrence of alkaloids 1 and 2 revealed an undescribed way to form diverse Stemona alkaloids. Bioassay results disclosed the anti-inflammatory natural constituents stemjapines A and C with IC50 values of 19.7 and 13.8 µM, respectively, compared to positive control dexamethasone with 11.7 µM. The findings may point out a new direction of Stemona alkaloids inaddition to its traditional antitussive and insecticide activities.

Backgrounds Hyperlactatemia is a common metabolic disorder after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. Epinephrine use has been identified as a potential cause of increased lactate levels after cardiac surgery. Stress can lead to an increase in catecholamines, mainly epinephrine, in the body. Exogenous epinephrine causes hyperlactatemia, whereas endogenous epinephrine released by stress may have the same effect. Opioids are the most effective anesthetics to suppress the stress response in the body. The authors sought to provide evidence through a retrospective data analysis that helps investigate the relationship between intraoperative opioid dosage and postoperative lactic acidosis after cardiac surgery. Methods The clinical data of 215 patients who underwent valvular heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass from July 2016 to July 2019 were analyzed retrospectively. Blood lactate levels were measured at 0.1 h, 2 h, 4 h, and 8 h after surgery. Patients with continuous increases in lactate levels and lactate levels exceeding 5 mmol/L at two or more time points were included in the lactic acidosis group, whereas the other patients were included in the control group. First, univariate correlation analysis was used to identify parameters that were significantly different between the two groups, and then multivariate regression analysis was conducted to elucidate the independent risk factors for lactic acidosis. Fifty-one pairs of patients were screened by propensity score matching analysis (PSM). Then, lactic acid levels at four time points in both groups were analyzed by repeated measures ANOVA. Results he EF (heart ejection fraction) (OR = 0.94, P = 0.003), aortic occlusion time (OR = 10.17, P P = 0.01) of sufentanil was an independent risk factor for lactic acidosis after valvular heart surgery. The patients were further divided into two groups with the mean sufentanil infusion rate as the reference point. The data were filtered with PSM (Propensity Score Matching). Lactic acid values in both groups peaked at 4 h after surgery and then declined. The rate of lactic acid decline was significantly faster in the group with a higher sufentanil dosage than in the lower group. The difference was statistically significant (P P Conclusion The inadequate intraoperative infusion rate of sufentanil is an independent risk factor for lactic acidosis after heart valve surgery. The possibility of lactic acidosis caused by this factor after cardiac surgery should be considered, which is helpful for postoperative patient management.

This work focuses on the fixed-time consensus problem for multi-agent systems. By employing an improved fixed-time stability theorem and Lyapunov functions, it is proved that the proposed protocols can achieve fixed-time consensus when the interaction topology is strongly connected and detail-balanced. In particular, the settling time of the presented protocols is less than that of the existing ones, which is illustrated by both theoretical analysis and numerical simulations.

Highlights Ti3C2Tx MXene-based coaxial zinc-ion hybrid fiber supercapacitors (FSCs) were fabricated with braided structure, which can be prepared continuously and present excellent flexibility and ultrastability. A sports watch driven by the watch belts which weaved uses the obtained zinc-ion hybrid FSC and LED arrays lighted by the FSCs under embedding into textiles, demonstrating the great potential application in smart wearable textiles. Abstract Zinc-ion hybrid fiber supercapacitors (FSCs) are promising energy storages for wearable electronics owing to their high energy density, good flexibility, and weavability. However, it is still a critical challenge to optimize the structure of the designed FSC to improve energy density and realize the continuous fabrication of super-long FSCs. Herein, we propose a braided coaxial zinc-ion hybrid FSC with several meters of Ti3C2Tx MXene cathode as core electrodes, and shell zinc fiber anode was braided on the surface of the Ti3C2Tx MXene fibers across the solid electrolytes. According to the simulated results using ANSYS Maxwell software, the braided structures revealed a higher capacitance compared to the spring-like structures. The resulting FSCs exhibited a high areal capacitance of 214 mF cm–2, the energy density of 42.8 μWh cm−2 at 5 mV s−1, and excellent cycling stability with 83.58% capacity retention after 5000 cycles. The coaxial FSC was tied several kinds of knots, proving a shape-controllable fiber energy storage. Furthermore, the knitted FSC showed superior stability and weavability, which can be woven into watch belts or embedded into textiles to power smart watches and LED arrays for a few days.

The structure of intestinal microbiota of black rockfish Sebastes schlegelii in five early development stages were determined in high throughput sequencing with Illumina MiSeq PE300 system. The relationship between intestinal microbial community and the environmental (including culture water and feed) microbiota and the abundance variation trends of core microbiota were investigated, based on which the source of some core microbiota was analyzed in this study. The results show that Proteobacteria and Firmicutes are the most dominant phyla in guts. At the genus level, there are obvious differences between the artificial breeding fish and wild adults in the intestinal microflora structure. The compositions of dominant genera are similar, although the structure of intestinal microbiota gradually changes with the growth of larvae and juveniles. The core microbiota including Bacillus, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Glaciecola, Vibrio, Pseudoalteromonas, Acidovorax, and Aliivibrio were determined in the analysis of dominant and shared species. Compared with the water, the effect of feed microbiota on the structure of the gut microbial community is more obvious. Moreover, the trends of Bacillus, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, and Glaciecola were opposite to Vibrio and Pseudoalteromonas in the gut. The correlation analysis suggested that Acidovorax, Glaciecola, Pseudomonas, Lactobacillus, and Acinetobacter might transited from mainly the parents and/or came from the fertilization process. The relative results may provide a theoretical reference for selecting the native probiotics, and supply the basic data for artificially regulating the intestinal microbiota with probiotic during early developmental stage of black rockfish.

Both gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone (GnIH) and kisspeptin play a critical role in the control of reproduction in vertebrates. However, the spatial–temporal expression patterns and possible roles of these two peptides during development are poorly understood. To this end, we evaluated dynamic expression profiles of lpxrfa, the piscine ortholog of gnih, kisspeptin (kiss2) and their receptor mRNAs during embryogenesis and early larval development in a flatfish, Cynoglossus semilaevis. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis indicated that both ligand (lpxrfa and kiss2) and receptor (lpxrfa-r and kiss2r) mRNAs were detected in unfertilized eggs and during embryogenesis, but with different expression profiles. In addition, lpxrfa-r, kiss2 and kiss2r transcripts increased significantly at 6 days post-hatching (dph), while lpxrfa mRNAs did not vary significantly during all larval development. Taken together, these results of the present study suggest that both LPXRFa and kisspeptin systems could be functional and play differential roles during embryogenesis and early larval development in tongue sole.

In this study, to understand the role of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system in the regulation of early development in yellowtail kingfish (YTK, Seriola lalandi), an economically important marine fish species with a high potential for aquaculture, we first cloned the full-length cDNAs for igf1 and igf2 from the liver. YTK igf1 cDNA was 1946 base pairs (bp) in length with an open reading frame (ORF) of 558 bp encoding preproIGF1 of 185 amino acids (aa). The preproIGF1 consisted of 44 aa for the signal peptide, 68 aa for the mature peptide comprising B, C, A, and D domains, and 73 aa for the E domain. YTK igf2 cDNA had an ORF of 648 bp that encoded a total of 215 aa spanning the signal peptide (47 aa), the mature peptide (70 aa), and the E domain (98 aa). At the protein level, both YTK IGF1 and IGF2 exhibited high sequence identities with their corresponding fish counterparts, respectively. Subsequently, quantitative RT-PCR analysis indicated that the highest level of igf1 mRNA expression was recorded in the gonad and liver, while the igf2 mRNA expression was most abundant in the gill and liver. In addition, both igf1 and igf2 were detected in all stages of embryonic development and exhibited different gene expression patterns, supporting that IGF1 and IGF2 could be functional and play important roles during YTK embryogenesis. Overall, this initial study of IGF1 and IGF2 provides an insight into the endocrine mechanism involved in the early development of yellowtail kingfish.

Three new monoterpene indole alkaloids, 3α-hydroxymethyl-ibogamine (1), 3α-acetatemethoxyl-ibogamine (2), 16α-hydroxyl-ibogamine (3) together with six known alkaloids were isolated from the branches and leaves of Tabernaemontana divaricata (Apocynaceae). The structures of these alkaloids were determined by spectroscopic analyses. All isolated compounds showed no significant cytotoxicity against SGC-7901 gastric cancer, HeLa, and A-549 lung cancer cell lines (IC50 > 20 µM). Graphical Abstract Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s13659-018-0166-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

In this paper, a novel framework, named as global-local feature attention network with reranking strategy (GLAN-RS), is presented for image captioning task. Rather than only adopting unitary visual information in the classical models, GLAN-RS explores the attention mechanism to capture local convolutional salient image maps. Furthermore, we adopt reranking strategy to adjust the priority of the candidate captions and select the best one. The proposed model is verified using the Microsoft Common Objects in Context (MSCOCO) benchmark dataset across seven standard evaluation metrics. Experimental results show that GLAN-RS significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art approaches, such as multimodal recurrent neural network (MRNN) and Google NIC, which gets an improvement of 20% in terms of BLEU4 score and 13 points in terms of CIDER score.

Although gonadotrophins are major regulators of ovarian function in teleosts and other vertebrates, accumulating evidence indicates that the growth hormone (GH)-insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis also plays an important role in fish reproduction. As a first step to understand the physiological role of the GH-IGF system in the ovarian development of starry flounder (Platichthys stellatus), the expression profiles of GH and IGF messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and plasma GH, IGF-I, estradiol-17β (E2), and testosterone (T) levels during the ovarian development were investigated. The developmental stages of ovaries were divided into five stages (II, III, IV, V, and VI) by histological analysis. The hepatosomatic index (HSI) and gonadosomatic index (GSI) values increased and peaked at stage IV and stage V, respectively, and then declined at stage VI. Pituitary GH mRNA levels decreased sharply at stage III and raised to top level at stage VI. The hepatic IGF-I mRNA levels ascended to maximum value at stage V and then declined significantly at stage VI. However, the hepatic IGF-II mRNA levels remained stable and increased significantly at stage VI. In contrast, the ovarian IGF-I mRNA levels increased gradually and peaked at stage VI. The ovarian IGF-II mRNA levels were initially stable and increased significantly at stage V until the top level at stage VI. Consistent with the pituitary GH mRNA levels, plasma GH levels reduced sharply at stage III and remained depressed until stage V and then raised remarkably at stage VI. Plasma IGF-I level peaked at stage V and then declined to initial level. Plasma E2 level peaked at stage IV and then dramatically descended to the basal level. Plasma T level peaked at stage V and then declined significantly back to the basal level. Based on statistical analysis, significant positive correlations between hepatic IGF-I mRNA and GSI, ovarian IGF-II mRNA and hepatic IGF-II mRNA, ovarian IGF-I mRNA and ovarian IGF-II mRNA, and plasma IGF-I and plasma T were observed, respectively. These results suggest that the GH-IGF system may be involved in the ovarian development of starry flounder; GH and IGFs appear to play distinct roles in the regulation of the ovarian development in paracrine/autocrine manners. These findings extend our knowledge of the roles of the GH-IGF axis on reproduction regulation in fish.

In order to elucidate the possible roles of insulin-like growth factors I and II (IGF-I and IGF-II) in the embryonic development of Platichthys stellatus, their cDNAs were isolated and their spatial expression pattern in adult organs and temporal expression pattern throughout embryonic development were examined by quantitative real-time PCR assay. The IGF-I cDNA sequence was 1,268 bp in length and contained an open reading frame (ORF) of 558 bp, which encoded 185 amino acid residues. With respect to IGF-II, the full-length cDNA was 899 bp in length and contained a 648-bp ORF, which encoded 215 amino acid residues. The amino acid sequences of IGF-I and IGF-II exhibited high identities with their fish counterparts. The highest IGF-I mRNA level was found in the liver for both sexes, whereas the IGF-II gene was most abundantly expressed in female liver and male liver, gill, and brain. The sex-specific and spatial expression patterns of IGF-I and IGF-II mRNAs are thought to be related to the sexually dimorphic growth and development of starry flounder. Both IGF-I and IGF-II mRNAs were detected in unfertilized eggs, which indicated that IGF-I and IGF-II were parentally transmitted. Nineteen embryonic development stages were tested. IGF-I mRNA level remained high from unfertilized eggs to low blastula followed by a significant decrease at early gastrula and then maintained a lower level. In contrast, IGF-II mRNA level was low from unfertilized eggs to high blastula and peaked at low blastula followed by a gradual decrease. Moreover, higher levels of IGF-I mRNA than that of IGF-II were found from unfertilized eggs to high blastula, vice versa from low blastula to newly hatched larva, and the different expression pattern verified the differential roles of IGF-I and IGF-II in starry flounder embryonic development. These results could help in understanding the endocrine mechanism involved in the early development and growth of starry flounder.

Macro-autophagy is associated with drug resistance in various cancers and can function as an adaptive response to maintain cell survival under metabolic stresses, including androgen deprivation. Androgen deprivation or treatment with androgen receptor (AR) signaling inhibitor (ARSI), Enzalutamide (MDV-3100, ENZA) or bicalutamide induced autophagy in androgen-dependent and in castration-resistant CaP (castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC)) cell lines. The autophagic cascade triggered by AR blockage, correlated with the increased light chain 3-II/I ratio and ATG-5 expression. Autophagy was observed in a subpopulation of C4-2B cells that developed insensitivity to ENZA after sustained exposure in culture. Using flow cytometry and clonogenic assays, we showed that inhibiting autophagy with clomipramine (CMI), chloroquine or metformin increased apoptosis and significantly impaired cell viability. This autophagic process was mediated by AMP-dependent protein kinase (AMPK) activation and the suppression of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) through Raptor phosphorylation (Serine 792). Furthermore, small interfering RNA targeting AMPK significantly inhibited autophagy and promoted cell death in CaP cells acutely or chronically exposed to ENZA or androgen deprivation, suggesting that autophagy is an important survival mechanism in CRPC. Lastly, in vivo studies with mice orthotopically implanted with ENZA-resistant cells demonstrated that the combination of ENZA and autophagy modulators, CMI or metformin significantly reduced tumor growth when compared with control groups (P

As a specific gene of fish, cytochrome P450c17-II (CYP17-II) gene plays a key role in the growth, development an reproduction level of fish. In this study, the single-stranded conformational polymorphism (SSCP) technique was used to characterize polymorphisms within the coding region of CYP17-II gene in a population of 75 male Japanese flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus). Three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified in CYP17-II gene of Japanese flounder. They were c.G594A (p.G188R), c.G939A and c.G1502A (p.G490D). SNP1 (c.G594A), located in exon 4 of CYP17-II gene, was significantly associated with gonadosomatic index (GSI). Individuals with genotype GG of SNP1 had significantly lower GSI (P < 0.05) than those with genotype AA or AG. SNP2 (c.G939A) located at the CpG island of CYP17-II gene. The mutation changed the methylation of exon 6. Individuals with genotype AA of SNP2 had significantly lower serum testosterone (T) level and hepatosomatic index (HSI) compared to those with genotype GG. The results suggested that SNP2 could influence the reproductive endocrine of male Japanese flounder. However, the SNP3 (c.G1502A) located in exon 9 did not affect the four measured reproductive traits. This study showed that CYP17-II gene could be a potentially useful candidate gene for the research of genetic breeding and physiological aspects of Japanese flounder.

P450c17, a key steroidogenic enzyme, plays important roles in the production of sex steroid and cortisol. In teleost, there are two types of P450c17, P450c17-I possessing 17α-hydroxylase and 17, 20-lyase activities, and P450c17-II only possessing 17α-hydroxylase activity. This work describes the molecular cloning of the cDNA encoding the barfin flounder (Verasper moseri) P450c17-I and P450c17-II by means of RT-PCR and 5' and 3' rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) analyses and mRNA expression profiles analyzing by semiquantitative RT-PCR. Respectively, P450c17-I and P450c17-II mRNA levels in the testes correlated with serum testosterone (T) level, as well as gonadosomatic index (GSI) of males during specific stages of spermatogenesis. P450c17-I and P450c17-II mRNA were expressed in the testis and ovary, suggesting that both of them participate in the production of sex steroid in barfin flounder gonads. P450c17-I mRNA was undetectable; in contrast, P450c17-II mRNA was detected at the highest level in the head kidney, meaning that only P450c17-II is involved in the production of cortisol in barfin flounder. The results demonstrated that both of P450c17-I and P450c17-II participate in the production of sex steroid in male barfin flounder gonads.

OBJECTIVE By analysis and evaluation of the perfusion images and perfusion parameters of the rabbits with VX2 lung tumor, the association between the perfusion parameters and tumor angiogenesis of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung has been studied in order to establish a non-invasive and effective way to detect tumor blood supply, which is be able to exhibit hemodynamic data in tumors during cancer treatments.METHODS Fifteen Netherlands rabbits inoculated with VX2 lung tumor (rabbit group) and 25 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the lung (patient group) received a multi-slice spiral CT perfusion imaging test using the Netherlands HILIPS Brilliance 16-slice spiral CT and a U.S. MEDRAD binocular high-pressure syringe. Image postprocessing was done using the special perfusion software and EBW 4.0 Workstation. Perfusion volume (PV), peak enhanced increment (PEI), transit time peak (TTP), and blood volume (BV) were measured and analyzed. RESULTS In the rabbit group, the values of the PV, PEI, TTP, and BV of the tumor margin were (53.89 ± 13.38) mL/(min*mL), (45.71 ± 15.52) Hu, (39.29 ± 10.10) sec, and (31.45 ± 18.19) mL/100 g, respectively; these values of the tumor center were (36.57 ± 14.17) mL/(min*mL), (28.64 ± 11.74) Hu, (39.00 ± 9.78) sec, and (19.76± 13.95) mL/100 g, respectively; the values of the muscles were (12.45 ± 4.38) mL/(min*mL), (10.98 ± 5.03) Hu, (38.86 ± 10.04) sec, and (5.38 ± 2.87) mL/100 g, respectively. The values of the relative perfusion volume (RPV), relative peak enhanced increment (RPEI), and relative blood volume (RBV) of the tumor margin were 4.38 ± 1.45, 3.96 ± 1.45, 9.99 ± 11.7, respectively; these values of the tumor center were 2.14 ± 1.08, 1.83 ± 1.45, 4.17 ± 3.39, respectively. The values of the PV, PEI, BV of the tumor margin vs. the values of the muscles developed t-values, which were 15.028, 10.79, and 5.88, respectively (P ≤ 0.01), with statistical significance; the values of the PV, PEI, BV of the tumor center vs. the values of the muscles produced t-values, which were 8.67, 7.49, and 4.55, respectively (P ≤ 0.01), with statistical signifi cance. The values of the TTP of the tumor margin vs. TTP values of the muscles, and the TTP values of the tumor center vs. TTP values of the muscles developed t-values, which were 1.7 and 0.806, respectively (P ≥ 0.05), without statistical significance. In the patient group, the values of the PV, PE, TTP, and BV of the tumor margin were (88.95 ± 30.89) mL/(min*mL), (61.87 ± 27.31) Hu, (37.72 ± 12.53) sec, and (18.38 ± 7.2) mL/100 g, respectively; these values of the tumor center were (39.77 ± 18.29) mL/(min*mL), (14.57 ± 8.1) Hu, (35.64 ± 12.41) sec, and (11.22 ± 6.02) mL/100 g, respectively; these values of the muscles were (12.45 ± 6.5) mL/(min*mL), (6.14 ± 2.66) Hu, (35.68 ± 12.35) sec, and (2.23 ± 1.11) mL/100 g, respectively. The values of the RPV, RPEI, and RBV of the tumor margin were 8.05 ± 5.04, 8.87 ± 4.32, and 12.16 ± 8.49, respectively; these values of the tumor center were 2.39 ± 1.68, 2.97 ± 2.1, 3.53 ± 2.82, respectively. The values of the PV, PEI, BV of the tumor margin in the patient group vs. the values of the muscles produced t-values, which were 13.8, 10.85, and 12.22, respectively (P 0.05), without statistical di? erence. CONCLUSION CT perfusion imaging technics demonstrates directly dynamic changes of blood fl ow to tumors, which assists in identifying tumor growth and necrosis, therefore, this research provides an evidence-based guidelines for the treatment of human lung squamous cell carcinoma and has far-reaching clinical signifi cancer.

Follicle stimulating hormone β (FSHβ) of Japanese flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) plays a key role in the regulation of gonadal development. This study aimed to investigate molecular genetic characteristics of the FSHβ gene and elucidate the effects of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of FSHβ on reproductive traits in Japanese flounder. We used polymerase chain reaction single-strand conformation polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) and sequencing of the FSHβ gene in 60 individuals. We identified only an SNP (T/C) in the coding region of exon3 of FSHβ. The SNP (T/C) did not lead to amino acid changes at the position 340 bp of FSHβ gene. Statistical analysis showed that the SNP was significantly associated with testosterone (T) level and gonadosomatic index (GSI) (P < 0.05). Individuals with genotype TC of the SNP had significantly higher serum T levels and GSI (P < 0.05) than that of genotype CC. Therefore, FSHβ gene could be a useful molecular marker in selection for prominent reproductive trait in Japanese Flounder.

In this paper, a nonautonomous periodic model of population with time delays and impulses, which arises in order to describe the control of a single population of cells, is studied. By the coincidence degree theory we obtain the conditions for the existence of periodic solution of this system.

A class of generalized Cohen-Grossberg neural networks(CGNNs) with variable delays are investigated. By introducing a new type of Lyapunov functional and applying the homeomorphism theory and inequality technique, some new conditions are derived ensuring the existence and uniqueness of the equilibrium point and its global exponential stability for CGNNs. These results obtained are independent of delays, develop the existent outcome in the earlier literature and are very easily checked in practice.

We fabricated a hemispherical nearly-intrinsic Si-based photodetector with ( \(\bar{1}10)\) plane. The photocurrent generated from the detector under a continuous wave laser at the wavelength of 1.3 μm was observed. The photocurrent shows a quadratic dependence on the incident optical power. The dependence of the photocurrent on the azimuth of the incident optical field is consistent with the anisotropy of the two-photon absorption in Si crystals. The ratio of the two nonzero independent components of the third-order susceptibility of silicon is obtained to be 0.42 from the observed result of the anisotropy of the photocurrent.

In this paper, bi-directional associative memory (BAM) networks with time-varying delays are considered. By employing the homeomorphism theory, the idea of Lyapunov function and inequality technique, some new criteria are obtained to ensure the existence, uniqueness and global exponential stability of an equilibrium point. These results obtained are independent of delays, develop the existent outcome in the earlier literature

By using exponential dichotomy and the Banach fixed-point theory and combining Yang inequality, some sufficient conditions are derived ensuring existence and global exponential stability of almost periodic solution for CNNs with variable coefficients and delays. Without assuming the boundedness of signal function, these results obtained here can be expected to have highly important significance in designs and applications of the networks. We extend and improve previously known results.

Cytochrome P450 aromatase, which is encoded by the CYP19a gene, converts androgens to estradiol. Considerable evidence suggests that estrogens play an important role in fish reproductive process. Therefore CYP19a is an excellent candidate gene for reproductive traits. Variants in the promoter of the CYP19a gene might also be involved in the control of aromatase expression and affect regulatory mechanism linking cholesterol metabolism to the synthesis of sex steroids. In this study, nine single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were detected with polymerase chain reaction-single stranded conformational polymorphism (PCR-SSCP), namely A-680G, G-672A, AGTAGT-649 inserting or deleting, T-623C, C-410A, T7-454A, T-402C, TTTCCAGACTGA-345 inserting or deleting, and G-297C. Nine SNPs within the promoter of the CYP19a gene were tested for association with four reproductive traits [serum testosterone (T), serum 17beta-estradiol (E(2)), hepatosomatic index (HSI), and gonadosomatic index (GSI)] in a population of 50 female Japanese flounder individuals. A locus, P3 (TTTCCAGACTGA-345 inserting or deleting, G-297C), was significantly associated with 17beta-estradiol (E(2)) level (P0.05) in female Japanese flounder. In addition, there was significant association between one diplotype based on nine SNPs and reproductive trait. The genetic effect for E(2) level of diplotype D3 was significantly higher than those of other diplotypes (P0.05). Results indicate that these genetic effects of those variants on E(2) level may help to explain CYP19a gene status in the reproductive endocrinology of Japanese flounder.

In this paper, we first consider difference equations with several delays in the neutral term of the form $$\Delta\left(y_{n}+\sum_{i=1}^{L}p_{i}y_{n-{k_{i}}}-\sum_{j=1}^{M}r_{j}y_{n-{\rho_{j}}}\right)+q_{n}y_{n-\tau}=0\quad \mbox{for}\ n\in\mathbb{Z}^{+}(0),$$ (*) study various cases of coefficients in the neutral term and obtain the asymptotic behavior for non-oscillatory solution of (*) under some hypotheses. Moreover, we consider reaction-diffusion difference equations with several delays in the neutral term of the form $$\begin{array}{l}\Delta_{1}\left(u_{n,m}+\displaystyle \sum_{i=1}^{L}p_{i}u_{n-{k_{i}},m}-\displaystyle \sum_{j=1}^{M}r_{j}u_{n-{\rho_{j}},m}\right)+q_{n,m}u_{n-\tau,m}\\[18pt]\quad {}=a^{2}\Delta_{2}^{2}u_{n+1,m-1}\end{array}$$ for (n,m)∈ℤ+(0)×Ω, study various cases of coefficients in the neutral term and obtain the asymptotic behavior for non-oscillatory solution under some hypotheses.

We have previously demonstrated that human H2-relaxin can mediate androgen-independent growth of LNCaP through a mechanism that involves the activation of the androgen receptor (AR) signaling pathway. The goal of the current study is to elucidate the mechanism(s) by which H2-relaxin causes activation of the AR pathway. Our data indicate that there is cross-talk between AR and components of the Wnt signaling pathway. Addition of H2-relaxin to LNCaP cells resulted in increased phosphorylation of protein kinase B (Akt) and inhibitory phosphorylation of glycogen synthase kinase-3beta (GSK-3beta) with subsequent cytoplasmic accumulation of beta-catenin. Immunoprecipitation and immunocytochemical studies demonstrated that the stabilized beta-catenin formed a complex with AR, which was then translocated into the nucleus. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis determined that the AR/beta-catenin complex binds to the proximal region of the prostate-specific antigen promoter. Inhibition of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway, using LY294002, prevented both H2-relaxin-mediated phosphorylation of Akt and GSK-3beta and translocation of beta-catenin/AR into the nucleus. Knockdown of beta-catenin levels using a beta-catenin-specific small interfering RNA inhibited H2-relaxin-induced AR activity. The combined data demonstrate that PI3K/Akt and components of the Wnt pathway can facilitate H2-relaxin-mediated activation of the AR pathway.

The influence of isothermal quenching process of low-alloy and medium carbon (LAMC) CrMnSi cast steel on the impact toughness was investigated. The microstructure and mechanical property of LAMC CrMnSi cast steel were analyzed by the laser optical modulator, the scanning electron microscopy, the energy dispersive spectrometer, the hardness and impact tests. The experimental results show that the dual phases of bainite and residual austenite can be obtained by the severity isothermal quenching, the fractographies of specimens change from quasicleavage to dimple at 310 °C for 60 min, the impact toughness for specimens at the room temperature isothermally achieves 130 J/cm2, meantime and its hardness is more than 45 (HRC).

In this paper, we first consider a delay difference equation of neutral type of the form: $$ \Delta {\left( {y_{n} + py_{{n - k}} } \right)} + q_{n} y_{{n - {\ell }}} = 0\;{\text{for}}\;n \in \mathbb{Z}^{ + } {\left( 0 \right)} $$ (1*) and give a different condition from that of Yu and Wang (Funkcial Ekvac, 1994, 37(2): 241–248) to guarantee that every non-oscillatory solution of (1*) with p = 1 tends to zero as n → ∞. Moreover, we consider a delay reaction-diffusion difference equation of neutral type of the form: $$ \Delta _{1} {\left( {u_{{n,m}} + pu_{{n - k,m}} } \right)} + q_{{n,m}} u_{{n - {\ell },m}} = a^{2} \Delta ^{2}_{2} u_{{n + 1,m - 1}} \;{\text{for}}\;{\left( {n,m} \right)} \in \mathbb{Z}^{ + } {\left( 0 \right)} \times \Omega , $$ (2*) study various cases of p in the neutral term and obtain that if p ≥ −1 then every non-oscillatory solution of (2*) tends uniformly in m ∈ Ω to zero as n → ∞; if p = −1 then every solution of (2*) oscillates and if p < −1 then every non-oscillatory solution of (2*) goes uniformly in m ∈ Ω to infinity or minus infinity as n → ∞ under some hypotheses.