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Ubiquitin-conjugation enzyme E2C (UBE2C) is a crucial component of the ubiquitin-proteasome system that is involved in numerous cancers. In this study, we find that UBE2C expression is significantly increased in mouse embryos, a critical stage during skeletal muscle development. We further investigate the function of UBE2C in myogenesis. Knockdown of UBE2C inhibits C2C12 cell differentiation and decreases the expressions of MyoG and MyHC, while overexpression of UBE2C promotes C2C12 cell differentiation. Additionally, knockdown of UBE2C, specifically in the tibialis anterior muscle (TA), severely impedes muscle regeneration in vivo. Mechanistically, we show that UBE2C knockdown reduces the level of phosphorylated protein kinase B (p-Akt) and promotes the degradation of Akt. These findings suggest that UBE2C plays a critical role in myoblast differentiation and muscle regeneration and that UBE2C regulates myogenesis through the Akt signaling pathway.

Objective: To explore the preventive effect of Lactobacillus paracasei FZU103 (LP-FZU103) on alcoholic liver injury (ALI). Methods: Altogether 36 specific pathogen free- (SPF-) grade ICR mice were randomly divided into three groups: control, model and experimental (LP-FZU103 intervention). After the six-week experiment, body mass, organ coefficients, serum and liver biochemical indexes, liver histopathology and inflammatory cytokines, the transcription of liver function-related genes and intestinal flora composition were measured. Results: Compared with the model group, intervention of LP-FZU103 improved the organ coefficients and pathological liver damage in ALI mice, significantly reduced the levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) as well as the activity of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) in the serum, increased the serum concentration of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), significantly increased the activity of catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the content of glutathione (GSH) in the liver, and decreased MDA content and interleukin-6 (IL-6), interferon-γ (IFN-γ) levels in the liver. Moreover, LP-FZU103 intervention significantly up-regulated the mRNA expression level of the lipid metabolism-related gene Ldlr and down-regulated the mRNA expression level of Acc1, Hmgcr and Cd36 as well as increased the relative abundance of beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus johnsonii, Lactobacillus reuteri and Lactobacillus paracasei in the gut of mice. Conclusion: LP-FZU103 intervention can prevent and control the occurrence of alcoholic liver injury in mice, which is closely related to the improved intestinal flora and liver metabolic function.

The emergence of lamellar nanofluidic membranes offers feasible routes for developing highly efficient, mechanically robust, and large‐scale devices for osmotic energy harvesting. However, inferior ion permeability associated with their relatively long channels limits ionic flux and restricts their output performance. Herein, a superstructured graphene oxide membrane is developed to allow programmable topological variation in local geometry and contain laminar spaces inside. Such deliberate design offers excess specific area as well as nanofluidic channels to modulate transmembrane ionic transportation while concomitantly retaining similar nanoconfined environment in contrast to planar ones, leading to considerable enhancement of ionic permeability without compromising selectivity. This can be highly favorable in terms of osmotic energy harvesting, where the superstructured membranes offer a power output much higher than those of conventional planar ones. Besides, the superstructure design also endows the resulting membranes with benign biofouling resistance, which can be crucial to their long‐term usage in converting osmotic energy. This study highlights the importance of membrane topographies and presents a general design concept that could be extended to other nanoporous membranes to develop high‐performance nanofluidic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon blacks are important fillers to reinforce, functionalize rubber materials and reduce their prices. However, environment‐friendly surface modification of carbon blacks is not trivial to conduct, yet challenging to effectively sever broad rubber galleries. Inspired by wet adhesion of mussel, tea polyphenols (TPs) are coated on carbon blacks by vacuum absorption method (i.e., TP@C) and then they are mixed into nitrile butadiene rubber with ZnCl2. Specially, Zn2+/TP@C coordination interfaces are formed together with crosslinking structures of Zn2+‐CN of NBR after hot pressing. As a sequence, the rubber composites achieve superior strength and modulus reinforcement owing to strong interface interactions and good dispersion of TP@Cs. Reversible coordination crosslinking network and TP@C network topology can be rearranged at elevated temperatures, endowing the composite good plasticity and reprocessablity. Furthermore, the composites possess stable shape memory properties for five cycles and good plasticity based shape memory ability, showing great advantages in application potential of smart material fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are generated by different cellular compartments through aerobic metabolic pathways, are generally considered to play dual roles in plants. They are toxic compounds at high concentration but are also required to modulate multiple signaling reactions and gene regulatory networks in biotic and abiotic stress responses as well as during plant growth and development. Recent studies revealed that ROS play also critical roles in various aspects of flowering plant reproduction. In male gametophytes, ROS regulate germline specification and differentiation, and they are associated with programmed cell death (PCD) of the tapetum to regulate pollen development. During female gametophyte formation, ROS are involved in cell identity determination, polarity regulation and megaspore PCD. After pollination, ROS are of vital importance for regulation of self-incompatibility responses, for pollen hydration and for successful germination on the stigma. Further roles have been reported during pollen tube growth and guidance in the transmitting tract, pollen tube reception and sperm cell release in the female gametophyte as well as during gamete fusion. In this chapter, we will provide an overview of the multiple functions of ROS signaling during plant reproductive development from germline initiation to double fertilization. We will focus on flowering plants and discuss the generation and elimination of ROS, and the induction and regulation of various downstream signaling pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to solve the problem of elemental interdiffusion between the superalloy and coating, the diffusion barrier of (AlCoCrNiRe) and (AlCoCrNiRe)O between the N5 superalloy and NiCrAlY coating was prepared by magnetron sputtering. Isothermal oxidation behaviour of the NiCrAlY coatings with diffusion barrier was evaluated at 1050 °C. The results show that the application of (AlCoCrNiRe) and (AlCoCrNiRe)O diffusion barriers significantly reduced the precipitation of TCP phase in the substrate. (AlCoCrNiRe)O high entropy ceramic diffusion barrier has a better effect of inhibiting interdiffusion because of its own properties and the oxides formed in situ. Furthermore, the NiCrAlY coating with (AlCoCrNiRe)O high entropy ceramic diffusion barrier provides higher resistance to high-temperature oxidation for the substrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]