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The Arabidopsis Tóxicos en Levadura (ATL) protein is a subfamily of the E3 ubiquitin ligases, which exists widely in plants and is extensively involved in plant growth and development. Although the ATL family has been identified in other species, such as Arabidopsis, Oryza sativa, and grapevine, few reports on pear ATL gene families have been reported. In this study, 92 PbrATL genes were identified and analyzed from the Pyrus breschneideri genome. Motif analysis and phylogenetic tree generation divided them into nine subgroups, and chromosome localization analysis showed that the 92 PbrATL genes were distributed in 16 of 17 pear chromosomes. Transcriptome data and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) experiments demonstrated that PbrATL18, PbrATL41, and PbrATL88 were involved in both pear drought resistance and Colletotrichum fructicola infection. In addition, Arabidopsis thaliana overexpressing PbrATL18 showed greater resistance to drought stress than the wild type (WT), and PbrATL18-silenced pear seedlings showed greater sensitivity to drought and C. fructicola infection than the controls. PbrATL18 regulated plant resistance by regulating chitinase (CHI), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), polyphenol oxidase (PPO), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities. This study provided a reference for further exploring the functions of the PbrATL gene in drought resistance and C. fructicola infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade is crucial to plant growth, development, and stress responses. MAPK kinases (MAPKK) play a vital role in linking upstream MAPKK kinases (MAPKKK) with the downstream MAPK. Black spot is one of the most serious fungal diseases of pear which is an important part of the fruit industry in China. The MAPKK genes have been identified in many plants, however, none has been reported in pear (Pyrus bretschneideri). In order to explore whether MAPK gene of pear is related to black spot disease, we designed this experiment. The present study investigated eight putative PbrMAPKK genes obtained from the Chinese white pear genome. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that PbrMAPKK genes were divided into A, B, C, and D groups. These PbrMAPKK genes are randomly distributed on 7 out of 17 chromosomes and mainly originated from the whole-genome duplication (WGD) event. The expression analysis of PbrMAPKK genes in seven pear tissues and the leaves of susceptible and resistant varieties after Alternaria alternata infection by quantitative real-time PCR (qRTPCR) identified seven candidate genes associated with resistance. Furthermore, virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) indicated that PbrMAPKK6 gene enhanced resistance to pear black spot disease in pear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the intricate tissue-specific transcriptional regulatory mechanisms of the SRY-box transcription factor 9 (SOX9) genes. Topics discussed include the interaction of the Pierre Robin sequence region with the SOX9 promoter in Meckel's cartilage (MC), the identification of enhancers that function differently between limb cartilages and MC and their link to human diseases, and the implications of the study for understanding gene regulation during development.

Background: The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors play important roles in many processes in plant growth, metabolism and responses to abiotic stresses. Although, the sequence of Chinese white pear genome (cv. 'Dangshansuli') has already been reported, there is still a lack of clarity regarding the bHLH family genes and their evolutionary history. Results: In this work, a genome-wide identification of the bHLH genes in Chinese white pear was performed, and we characterized the functional roles of these PbrbHLH genes in response to abiotic stresses. Based on the phylogenetic analysis and structural characteristics, 197 identified bHLH genes could be well classified into 21 groups. Expansion of PbrbHLH gene family was mainly driven by WGD and dispersed duplication with the purifying selection from the recent WGD. The functional annotation enrichment showed that the majority of PbrbHLHs were enriched in the GO terms and KEGG pathways involved in responds to stress conditions as TFs. Transcriptomic profiles and qRT-PCR revealed that PbrbHLH7, PbrbHLH8, PbrbHLH128, PbrbHLH160, PbrbHLH161 and PbrbHLH195 were significantly up-regulated under cold and drought treatments. In addition, PbrbHLH195-silenced pear seedlings display significant reduced cold tolerance, exhibiting reduced chlorophyll content, as well as increased electrolyte leakage and concentrations of malondialdehyde and H2O2. Conclusion: For the first time, a comprehensive analysis identified the bHLH genes in Chinese white pear and demonstrated that PbrbHLH195 is involved in the production of ROS in response to cold stress, suggesting that members of the PbrbHLH family play an essential role in the stress tolerance of pear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cronobacter spp. have been linked to clinical cases of infection in both adults and infants. Enrichment of Cronobacter spp. before detection has been necessary but is quite time consuming. Hence, we sought to develop an immunomagnetic separation (IMS) PCR method that could shorten the time of enrichment before the detection of Cronobacter spp. The polyclonal antibody used in this immunomagnetic separation was prepared based on the outer membrane protein A of Cronobacter sakazakii China Center of Industrial Culture Collection 21560 and had high specificity to the target. The primers used in the IMS-PCR method also showed high specificity. The detection limit of IMS-PCR for pure C. sakazakii culture was 5.2 × 102 cfu/mL. Cronobacter sakazakii in artificially contaminated powdered infant formula (PIF) was also detected at a detection limit of 5.2 × 102 cfu/mL. After 8 h of enrichment, the detection limit in PIF was lower than 5.2 × 101 cfu/mL. An interference test using Escherichia coli in artificially contaminated PIF showed that the IMS-PCR method developed in this study had a good ability to resist interference. Finally, the IMS-PCR method was applied to the detection of Cronobacter in food samples and was shown to be reliable. Thus, this newly developed IMS-PCR detection method was quite sensitive, rapid, and reliable and could be applied to the detection of Cronobacter in foods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to further improve the thermal conductivity and mechanical properties simultaneously of the base alloy (Al-7Si-0.6Fe-0.5Zn alloy) treated by B/La/Sr modification, the La content was further optimized in the B/La/Sr-modified process, and the Ce element was added into the melt treated by B/La/Sr modification to get higher improvement. For the B/La/Sr-modified alloys, when the content of La decreases from 0.15 to 0.05%, the thermal conductivity (λ) and integrated mechanical properties index (Q) increase 3.1W/(m·K) and 21.1MPa, respectively. In the B/La/Ce/Sr-modified alloys, the λ and Q increase simultaneously with the increase of the Ce content, reaching the maximum of 179.2W/(m·K) and 380.2MPa, respectively, when the Ce content reaches 0.5%, and then decrease simultaneously with the further increase of the Ce content. When the Ce content is not more than 0.5%, the morphology change of the Fe-rich phases is the main reason for the simultaneous improvement of the thermal conductivity and the mechanical properties of the B/La/Ce/Sr-modified alloys. When the Ce content is more than 0.5%, the precipitation of the needle flake-like Ce-rich phases and coarse flake-like Si phases is the main reason for the simultaneous deterioration of the mechanical properties and thermal conductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A model for predicting displacement-dependent lateral earth pressure was proposed based on an earth pressure – displacement relationship commonly observed in practice. The proposed model is a monotonically increasing and bounded function, with an inflection point at the displacement of s = 0 at which the earth pressure changes from the intermediate active state (the state between active and at-rest) to the intermediate passive state (the state between at-rest and passive). The proposed model can predict the relationship between earth pressure and retaining structure movement for any condition intermediate to the active and passive states, which was verified by the experimental data reported in published literature. The predicted lateral earth pressure coefficients are in good agreement with the test results of model tests reported in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces PJM Interconnection's new method to model and predict transformers' service lives. A simplified Perks' equation is used to model the hazard rates, which will be used synonymously with retirement rates in this paper, of transmission transformers. A Bayesian Method is used to model the uncertainty in the three parameters of Perks' equation. This method is different from the traditional Iowa Curve method in that: 1) it gives a continuous family of transformer life distributions as well as the extinction likelihoods, rather than a limited number of distribution patterns and 2) a closed-form distribution can also be deduced with only three parameters, which can assume all the three distribution patterns of Iowa Curves: right, left, and symmetrically modal. The method has been successfully applied to the statistics on hundreds of large electric transformers in PJM. Example problems are provided and solved with this new method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses a number of probability models for multiple transmission line outages in power systems, including generalized Poisson model, negative binomial model, and exponentially, accelerated model. These models are applied to the multiple transmission outage data for a 20-year period for North America. The probabilities of the propagation of transmission cascading outage are calculated. These probability magnitudes can serve as indexes for long-term planning and can also be used in short-term operational defense to such events. Results from our research show that all three models apparently explain the occurrence probability of higher order outages very well. However, the exponentially accelerated model fits the observed data and predicts the acceleration trends best. Strict chi-squared fitness tests were done to compare the fitness among these three models, and the test results are consistent with what we observe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is impractical to analyze all of the possible contingencies in a large-scale interconnected power network. Therefore, a standard approach is to analyze only a subset of the contingencies. The normal method of selecting this subset is via use of the so-called N -1 rule. This paper goes a step further by proposing a new method of forming a contingency list, based on substation configuration obtained from topology processing data and probability analysis of protection system failures. This method is particularly suited for online security assessment. Protection system failures assessed include stuck breakers and failure to operate. The method is described via application to a single substation, verified using the IEEE-RTS96, and illustrated using topology data from a large utilities EMS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the concept of self-instrumented/sensor-enabled geosynthetics and its applicability in geosynthetics engineering. It notes that the sensor-enabled geosynthetics (SEG) was developed and their conductive and tensile strength properties were determined by performing four series of tests. It further states that the seasonal variation of moisture content in soil may raise questions about the influences of water on the electrical conductivity of SEG materials.

Previous studies have suggested that common antigens that exist in neurons and tumor cells trigger cross immunoreaction, which attacks the neurons and tumor cells simultaneously. This action leads to paraneoplastic symptoms and slowed tumor growth. The present study co-cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from anti-Hu antibody-associated patients with paraneoplastic neurological syndrome (PNS) and the small cell lung cancer cell line NCI-H446 (H446) in vitro. In the PNS group, no significant difference was observed in the proliferation index of PBMCs and H446 cells between the mixed or separate cultures. The proportion of CD4+ T cells in patients with PNS (76.54±3.96%) was significantly higher (P<0.05) compared with the healthy control individuals (51.75±17.3%). In conclusion, the sensitized specific T cells in the PBMCs of PNS patients predominantly comprised of CD4+ T cells, which had no inhibitory effect on small cell lung cancer cells in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, two cases of paraneoplastic limbic encephalitis (PLE) associated with small cell lung cancer were reported. Using avidin-biotin immunoperoxidase methods, purified recombinant HuD western blotting and Euroline Neuronal Antigens Profile 2 immunoglobulin G western blotting, it was found that the well-characterized anti-Hu and anti-amphiphysin onconeuronal antibodies were present in the serum/cerebrospinal fluid of the patients. With a review of the literature, it was found that patients with PLE of Chinese Han nationality had two types of clinical manifestations, simple and complex, and that the lesions could also be divided into focal and scalable lesions. Furthermore, the clinical manifestations and lesion scopes were associated with certain types of cancer and antibodies. In addition, it was found that the prognosis for patients with PLE with autoantibodies targeting membrane antigens is improved compared with that for patients with PLE with autoantibodies targeting intracellular antigens, due to an increased sensitivity to immunomodulatory treatments and anti-cancer therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the nanopositioning system, a damping force is generated by eddy current in the cooling plate and it is a disturbing force for this system. In this paper, a new method is introduced to suppress eddy current by offsetting back EMF. In order to offset back EMF, several slits have been incorporated in the cooling plate, which can help with regulating the series order in every region. Based on the electromagnetic theory, the analytical model of new cooling plate is established. The analytical model and eddy current suppression effect of the new cooling plate are proven by experiment: 17% reduction in the damping force significantly help with reducing the thrust fluctuation, with less than 4% analytical error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes the application of unsymmetric multifrontal method to solve the differential algebraic equations (DAE) encountered in the power system dynamic simulation. The proposed method achieves great computational efficiency as compared to the conventional Gaussian elimination methods and other linear sparse solvers due to the inherent parallel hierarchy present in the multifrontal methods. Multifrontal methods transform or reorganize the task of factorizing a large sparse matrix into a sequence of partial factorization of smaller dense frontal matrices which utilize the efficient Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms 3 (BLAS 3) for dense matrix kernels. The proposed method is compared with the full Gaussian elimination methods and other direct sparse solvers on test systems and the results are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metabolic modulation is a promising therapeutic approach to prevent adverse remodeling of the ischemic heart. Because little is known about the involvement of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in regulating cardiac metabolism, we used unbiased transcriptome profiling in a mouse model of myocardial infarction (MI). We identified a novel cardiomyocyte-enriched lncRNA, called LncHrt, which regulates metabolism and the pathophysiological processes that lead to heart failure. AAV-based LncHrt overexpression protects the heart from MI as demonstrated by improved contractile function, preserved metabolic homeostasis, and attenuated maladaptive remodeling responses. RNA-pull down followed by mass spectrometry and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) identified SIRT2 as a LncHrt-interacting protein involved in cardiac metabolic regulation. Mechanistically, we established that LncHrt interacts with SIRT2 to preserve SIRT2 deacetylase activity by interfering with the CDK5 and SIRT2 interaction. This increases downstream LKB1-AMPK kinase signaling, which ameliorates functional and metabolic deficits. Importantly, we found the expression of the human homolog of mouse LncHrt was decreased in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. Together, these studies identify LncHrt as a cardiac metabolic regulator that plays an essential role in preserving heart function by regulating downstream metabolic signaling pathways. Consequently, LncHrt is a potentially novel RNA-based therapeutic target for ischemic heart disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Parasitoid wasps are well-known natural enemies of major agricultural pests and arthropod borne diseases. The parasitoid wasp Macrocentrus cingulum (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) has been widely used to control the notorious insect pests Ostrinia furnacalis (Asian Corn Borer) and O. nubilalis (European corn borer). One striking phenomenon exhibited by M. cingulum is polyembryony, the formation of multiple genetically identical offspring from a single zygote. Moreover, M. cingulum employs a passive parasitic strategy by preventing the host’s immune system from recognizing the embryo as a foreign body. Thus, the embryos evade the host’s immune system and are not encapsulated by host hemocytes. Unfortunately, the mechanism of both polyembryony and immune evasion remains largely unknown. Results: We report the genome of the parasitoid wasp M. cingulum. Comparative genomics analysis of M. cingulum and other 11 insects were conducted, finding some gene families with apparent expansion or contraction which might be linked to the parasitic behaviors or polyembryony of M. cingulum. Moreover, we present the evidence that the microRNA miR-14b regulates the polyembryonic development of M. cingulum by targeting the c-Myc Promoter-binding Protein 1 (MBP-1), histone-lysine N-methyltransferase 2E (KMT2E) and segmentation protein Runt. In addition, Hemomucin, an O-glycosylated transmembrane protein, protects the endoparasitoid wasp larvae from being encapsulated by host hemocytes. Motif and domain analysis showed that only the hemomucin in two endoparasitoids, M. cingulum and Venturia canescens, possessing the ability of passive immune evasion has intact mucin domain and similar O-glycosylation patterns, indicating that the hemomucin is a key factor modulating the immune evasion. Conclusions: The microRNA miR-14b participates in the regulation of polyembryonic development, and the O-glycosylation of the mucin domain in the hemomucin confers the passive immune evasion in this wasp. These key findings provide new insights into the polyembryony and immune evasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging evidence suggests that the peripheral immune system has an active role in the progression of Parkinson's disease (PD). The finding of T-helper (Th; CD4+) cells infiltrating into the substantia nigra in PD patients demonstrated that Th cells are involved in PD. However, the association between peripheral T-helper cell sub-sets (Th1, Th2, Treg and Th17) and the sub-set balance (Th1/Th2 and Th17/Treg) and PD has remained elusive. In the present study, sixty PD patients of the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College as well as 40 age- and environment-matched healthy individuals were enrolled. The fraction of CD4+ T cells in the peripheral blood was assessed by automated hematology analysis and its sub-sets (Thl, Th2, Thl7, Treg) were quantified by flow cytometry. The results showed that in the PD group, the proportion of Th1 and Th17 cells was increased, while that of Th2 and Treg cells was decreased. Compared with the control group, the Th1/Th2 and Th17/Treg ratios were significantly enhanced, and shifted towards Th1 and Th17, respectively. Furthermore, this Th1-type response (Th1/Th2 balance shifting towards Th1) were associated with motor function scores determined by Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale III (UPDRS-III) scores. However, no correlation was found between the change in the Th17/Treg cell balance (Th17/Treg balance shifting towards Th1) and UPDRS-III scores. These data supported that chronic immune stimulation, specifically CD4+-cell sub-set imbalance, is linked to PD pathobiology and disease severity. CD4+-cell sub-sets and their imbalance may therefore represent novel biomarkers or therapeutic targets for PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lignocellulosic biomass (LB) is potentially a relatively inexpensive and abundant feedstock for ethanol production. One of the most challenging steps during the lignocellulosic ethanol production is to convert the carbohydrates in LB to the fermentable reducing sugars (FRS) in an economically viable and environmentally friendly way. The acidcatalyzed hydrolysis of LB in ionic liquids (ILs) has provided a promising technical tool to improve upon the traditional FRS production process. Compared to the conventional FRS production process from LB via the acid or enzymatic hydrolysis method, it has many advantages, such as a simplified process, mild reaction conditions, low acid consumption, and low equipment investment. However, there are still some technical challenges that need to be solved regarding its use at an industrial scale, for example, improving its reaction selectivity, developing effective methods to separate the FRS and ILs, and alleviating the negative effect of the remaining ILs in FRS on subsequent ethanol fermentation. This editorial will give a brief discussion about opportunities and challenges of the acid catalyzed hydrolysis of LB in ILs for ethanol production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary  Photochromic nanoparticles with spiropyran moieties were prepared by a facile one-step miniemulsion polymerization. The nanoparticle dispersion was obtained by mixing the monomers, spiropyran-containing molecules and hydrophobe, dispersing them into an aqueous solution with surfactant, subjecting the dispersion to ultrasonification and polymerizing the monomers by using a water soluble initiator. The shape and size of the nanoparticles was determined with the atomic force microscope (AFM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS), and the determined average diameter of the nanoparticles ranges from 30 nm to 60 nm. The absorption and fluorescence spectra for the nanoparticles dispersions reveal that the spiropyran molecules were successfully incorporated in the polymer nanoparticles. Moreover, the nanoparticle dispersions were found to exhibit enhanced photo-reversibility, photo-stability and relatively fast photo-responsive property compare to the same species in aqueous solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sequential pattern mining is an important data mining problem with broad applications. However, it is also a difficult problem since the mining may have to generate or examine a combinatorially explosive number of intermediate subsequences. Most of the previously developed sequential pattern mining methods, such as GSP, explore a candidate generation-and-test approach [1] to reduce the number of candidates to be examined. However, this approach may not be efficient in mining large sequence databases having numerous patterns and/or long patterns. ln this paper, we propose a projection-based, sequential pattern-growth approach for efficient mining of sequential patterns. In this approach, a sequence database is recursively projected into a set of smaller projected databases, and sequential patterns are grown in each projected database by exploring only locally frequent fragments. Based on an initial study of the pattern growth-based sequential pattern mining, FreeSpan [8], we propose a more efficient method, called PSP, which offers ordered growth and reduced projected databases. To further improve the performance, a pseudoprojection technique is developed in PrefixSpan. A comprehensive performance study shows that PrefixSpan, in most cases, outperforms the a priori-based algorithm GSP, FreeSpan, and SPADE [29] (a sequential pattern mining algorithm that adopts vertical data format), and ProfixSpan integrated with pseudoprojection is the fastest among all the tested algorithms. Furthermore, this mining methodology can be extended to mining sequential patterns with user-specified constraints. The high promise of the pattern-growth approach may lead to its further extension toward efficient mining of other kinds of frequent patterns, such as frequent substructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines on the effect of integrin-mediated cell adhesion in the activation of mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinases and tyrosine phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase. Activation of MAP kinase in adhering fibroblast; Two distinct integrin signaling pathways in fibroblasts; Variety of fundamental biological processes.

Reciprocal space mapping (RSM) of the relaxor ferroelectric 0.91Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.09PbTiO3 (PZN-9%PT) single crystals has been performed by using high-resolution synchrotron x-ray diffraction as a function of temperature. The PZN–9%PT crystal consists of tetragonal micro/nanotwin domains and undergoes a sequence of rhombohedral+tetragonal→tetragonal→cubic phase transformation upon heating. The rhombohedral-to-tetragonal temperature occurs at ≅70 °C. The observed RSM patterns can be explained by the micro/nanotwin structures and their corresponding diffraction patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The micelle system formed by an amphiphilic triblock copolymer in water serves as a novel scaffold for fluorescence resonance energy transfer as well as light-induced reversible fluorescence modulation for a hydrophobic fluorescent dye. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]