An Economic, Modular, and Portable Skin Viscoelasticity Measurement Device for Longitudinal Studies.

A indentation-based device to measure tissue mechanical property was designed and built using over-the-counter and 3D-printed parts. The device costs less than 100 USD and is capable of measuring samples of various geometry because of its modular design. The device is light-weight, thus portable, for measurements that can be performed at different sites.

Synergistic effect of natural compounds on the fatty acid-induced autophagy of activated hepatic stellate cells.

Autophagy, a lysosomal pathway to maintain cellular homeostasis, is mediated via the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)-dependent pathways. Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), previously termed fat- or vitamin A-storing cells, can transdifferentiate into myofibroblast-like cells and are the most relevant cell type for overproduction of extracellular matrix (ECM) and development of liver fibrosis during injury. However, the role of autophagy in fat metabolism of HSCs remains unclear.

The phytochrome gene family in soybean and a dominant negative effect of a soybean PHYA transgene on endogenous Arabidopsis PHYA.

The evolutionary origin of the phytochrome genes in soybean was analyzed. The expression profiles of PHYA paralogs were characterized. The heterologous expression of GmPHYA1 in Arabidopsis resulted in longer hypocotyls.

Genome-wide expression analysis of soybean MADS genes showing potential function in the seed development.

The MADS family is an ancient and best-studied transcription factor and plays fundamental roles in almost every developmental process in plants. In the plant evolutionary history, the whole genome duplication (WGD) events are important not only to the plant species evolution, but to expansion of members of the gene families. Soybean as a model legume crop has experience three rounds of WGD events.

Validation of reference genes for real-time quantitative PCR normalization in soybean developmental and germinating seeds.

Most of traditional reference genes chosen for real-time quantitative PCR normalization were assumed to be ubiquitously and constitutively expressed in vegetative tissues. However, seeds show distinct transcriptomes compared with the vegetative tissues. Therefore, there is a need for re-validation of reference genes in samples of seed development and germination, especially for soybean seeds.

[Analysis of signal peptides of the secreted proteins in Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58].

The 4554 ORFs of Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 Cereon were used for the prediction of signal peptides by the network tools, such as SignalP3.0, LipoP1.0, TMHMM2.