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Research on the impact of temperature in tropical regions on the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases was limited. The aim of the study was to investigate this topic using Haikou, a tropical city, as the research area. Outpatient data on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (CVD and CeVD) from Hainan Provincial People's Hospital during 2016–2018 (total of 77,820) and meteorological and air-quality data were used to establish a distributed-lag nonlinear model (DLNM) based on the nested generalized addition model (GAM) of meteorological elements. The results revealed the impact on the risk of CVD and CeVD was mainly due to the cold effect, which significantly lagged behind. The thermal effect had a strong impact on the onset of CVD and CeVD on the day of high temperature. Males were easily affected by low temperatures, while females were the opposite. The lag period of the working-age group affected by low temperatures was longer and greater than that of the elderly group. The high-temperature effect only had an impact on the working-age group. The lag effect of low temperatures on the risk of hypertension was the greatest. These results can provide technical support for carrying out meteorological forecasting, warning, and services for individuals with CVD and CeVD, suggesting attaching importance to health protection for special populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytoplasmas are insect-transmitted bacterial pathogens associated with diseases in a wide range of host plants, resulting in significant economic and ecological losses. Perennial deciduous trees in the genus Paulownia are widely planted for wood harvesting and ornamental purposes. Paulownia witches' broom (PaWB) disease, associated with a 16SrI-D subgroup phytoplasma, is a destructive disease of paulownia in East Asia. The PaWB phytoplasmas are mainly transmitted by insect vectors in the Pentatomidae (stink bugs), Miridae (mirid bugs) and Cicadellidae (leafhoppers) families. Diseased trees show typical symptoms, such as branch and shoot proliferation, which together are referred to as witches' broom. The phytoplasma presence affects the physiological and anatomical structures of paulownia. Gene expression in paulownia responding to phytoplasma presence have been studied at the transcriptional, post-transcriptional, translational and post-translational levels by high throughput sequencing techniques. A PaWB pathogenic mechanism frame diagram on molecular level is summarized. Studies on the interactions among the phytoplasma, the insect vectors and the plant host, including the mechanisms underlying how paulownia effectors modify processes of gene expression, will lead to a deeper understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms and to the development of efficient control measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, by capitalizing on the density functional theory (DFT) and the time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) methods, it has been systematically studied that the excited state double intramolecular proton transfer (ESDPT) process and the photophysical properties of 1,8-dihydroxy-2-naphthaldehyde (DHNA) are affected by the distinct external electric fields (EEFs). The obtained intramolecular hydrogen bond (IHB) parameters containing bond lengths and angles, as well as infrared (IR) vibrational spectra demonstrate that IHB strength changes in the distinct EEFs. Moreover, not only do the potential energy surfaces (PESs) indicate that the ESDPT process of DHNA is stepwise, but also increasing the positive EEF results in a decrease in the energy barrier accordingly, while vice versa. The absorption and fluorescence spectra also undergo a corresponding red or blue shift in the EEF; for instance, when the EEF changes from +10 × 10−4 a.u. to +20 × 10−4 a.u., the fluorescence peak undergoes a blue shift from 602 nm to 513 nm in the keto2 form. In a nutshell, the ESDPT process of DHNA can be influenced by the EEF, which will serve as a reference in regulating and controlling proton transfer that causes luminescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, we investigated the expression pattern and regulatory function of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) KCNQ1 opposite strand/antisense transcript 1 (KCNQ1OT1) in breast cancer. We found that KCNQ1OT1 was significantly upregulated in breast cancer cell lines. In lentiviral-transduced BT-549 and HCC1599 cells, KCNQ1OT1 knockdown impaired cancer cell functions, including in vitro proliferation and migration, and in vivo transplant growth. The possible sponging target of KCNQ1OT1, human microRNA-107 (hsa-miR-107), was confirmed to be bound by KCNQ1OT1, and was upregulated in breast cancer cells with KCNQ1OT1 downregulation. Further, hsa-miR-107 knockdown in KCNQ1OT1-downregulated cancer cells reversed its impairing effects on cancer cell proliferation and migration in vitro. Thus, loss of KCNQ1OT1 is associated with functional impairment in breast cancer cells, likely through inverse regulation of its sponging target, hsa-miR-107. Key words: breast cancer, lncRNA, KCNQ1OT1, miRNA, hsa-miR-107. Dans ce travail, les auteurs ont examine le patron d'expression et la fonction regulatrice du long ARN non codant (ARNnc) KCNQ1OT1 (KCNQ1 opposite strand/antisense transcript 1) dans le cancer du sein. Ils ont trouve que KCNQ1OT1 etait regule a la hausse de maniere significative dans des lignees de cancer du sein. Chez les cellules BT-549 et HCC1599 transduites par un lentivirus, le knockdown de KCNQ1OT1 affectait les fonctions des cellules cancereuses, dont la proliferation et la migration in vitro et la croissance de tumeurs transplantees in vivo. La cible potentielle de KCNQ1OT1 qui le piegerait, le microARN-107 (hsa-miR-107), s'est avere se lier a KCNQ1OT1 et etre regule a la hausse dans les cellules de cancer du sein a la suite de la regulation a la baisse de KCNQ1OT1. Le knockdown du hsa-miR-107 dans les cellules cancereuses chez qui le KCNQ1OT1 est regule a la baisse renversait ses effets perturbateurs sur la proliferation et la migration des cellules cancereuses in vitro. Ainsi, la perte de KCNQ1OT1 est associee a une perturbation fonctionnelle des cellules de cancer du sein, probablement par la regulation inverse de sa cible qui le piege, le hsa-miR-107. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : cancer du sein, long ARNnc, KCNQ1OT1, miARN, hsa-miR-107., Introduction Breast cancer is one of the most prevailing cancer types globally. In USA, breast cancer alone accounts for 30% of all new cancer diagnoses in women, and there are [...]

PTEN [phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted from chromosome 10], a phosphatase and critical tumor suppressor, is regulated by numerous post-translational modifications, including phosphorylation, ubiquitination, acetylation, and SUMOylation, which affect PTEN localization and protein stability. Here we report ADP-ribosylation as a new post-translational modification of PTEN. We identified PTEN as a novel substrate of tankyrases, which are members of the poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs). We showed that tankyrases interact with and ribosylate PTEN, which promotes the recognition of PTEN by a PAR-binding E3 ubiquitin ligase, RNF146, leading to PTEN ubiquitination and degradation. Double knockdown of tankyrase1/2 stabilized PTEN, resulting in the subsequent down-regulation of AKT phosphorylation and thus suppressed cell proliferation and glycolysis in vitro and tumor growth in vivo. Furthermore, tankyrases were up-regulated and negatively correlated with PTEN expression in human colon carcinomas. Together, our study revealed a new regulation of PTEN and highlighted a role for tankyrases in the PTEN-AKT pathway that can be explored further for cancer treatment.