Caspase-related apoptosis genes in gliomas by RNA-seq and bioinformatics analysis.

Gliomas are the most common malignant tumors of the brain. The aim of this study is to identify caspase-dependent apoptotic genes and uncover their potential regulatory mechanism in glioma progression. Human glioma cell line U251 was used.

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Developing After Successful Treatment of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia.

Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) has been regarded as a highly curable disease. Therapy-related leukemia is one of the important late complications that affect long-term survival rates in APL patients. Therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome are the major forms of therapy-related leukemias.

The Reaumuria trigyna leucoanthocyanidin dioxygenase (RtLDOX) gene complements anthocyanidin synthesis and increases the salt tolerance potential of a transgenic Arabidopsis LDOX mutant.

Reaumuria trigyna is a typical, native desert halophyte that grows under extreme conditions in Inner Mongolia. In a previous transcriptomic profiling analysis, flavonoid pathway-related genes in R. trigyna showed significant differences in transcript abundance under salt stress.

Computational Aspects of Optional Pólya Tree.

Optional Pólya tree (OPT) is a flexible nonparametric Bayesian prior for density estimation. Despite its merits, the computation for OPT inference is challenging. In this paper we present time complexity analysis for OPT inference and propose two algorithmic improvements.

Stepwise Signal Extraction via Marginal Likelihood.

This paper studies the estimation of stepwise signal. To determine the number and locations of change-points of the stepwise signal, we formulate a maximum marginal likelihood estimator, which can be computed with a quadratic cost using dynamic programming. We carry out extensive investigation on the choice of the prior distribution and study the asymptotic properties of the maximum marginal likelihood estimator.

Trigeminal Cardiac Reflex Caused by Onyx Embolization of Intracranial Dural Arteriovenous Fistula.

Trigeminocardiac reflex (TCR) is a reflexive response of bradycardia, hypotension and gastric hypermotility which is observed upon mechanical stimulation in the distribution of the trigeminal nerve. Previous articles have described TCR during intracranial operations, ophthalmic surgery, microcompression of the trigeminal ganglion and radiofrequency lesioning of the trigeminal ganglion. TCR may occur during transarterial embolization of dural arteriovenous fistula (DAVF) with Onyx, leading to a significant decrease in heart rate under a standard anesthetic protocol.

Effects of nitrogen on the lipid and carotenoid accumulation of oleaginous yeast Sporidiobolus pararoseus.

Nitrogen limited but carbon excess condition was used to obtain high cellular lipid content and production. The maximum lipid production was 51 g/L, the lipid content in the dry cell was 60 %, and the lipid productivity was 0.53 g/L/h.

Real-Time Simultaneous Pose and Shape Estimation for Articulated Objects Using a Single Depth Camera.

In this paper we present a novel real-time algorithm for simultaneous pose and shape estimation for articulated objects, such as human beings and animals. The key of our pose estimation component is to embed the articulated deformation model with exponential-maps-based parametrization into a Gaussian Mixture Model. Benefiting from this probabilistic measurement model, our algorithm requires no explicit point correspondences as opposed to most existing methods.

Rheological properties of phosphorylated exopolysaccharide produced by Sporidiobolus pararoseus JD-2.

The exopolysaccharide (EPS) produced by Sporidiobolus pararoseus JD-2 contained about 2.0% phosphorus and its zeta potential was -30mV at pH 6.0.

Exploring novel AEDs from drugs used for treatment of non-epileptic disorders.

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disease. Although many anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) have been developed for clinical use, they have no effect on 20-30% of patients and do not generally prevent epileptogenesis. Because of the long development cycle for new AEDs and the high cost, increasing efforts are being made to find anti-epileptic effects among drugs that are already listed for the treatment of other diseases and repurpose them as potential anti-epileptic treatments.

Tuning Ionic Transport in Memristive Devices by Graphene with Engineered Nanopores.

Memristors, based on inherent memory effects in simple two-terminal structures, have attracted tremendous interest recently for applications ranging from nonvolatile data storage to neuromorphic computing based on non-von Neumann architectures. In a memristor, the ability to modulate and retain the state of an internal variable leads to experimentally observed resistive switching (RS) effects. Such phenomena originate from internal, microscopic ionic migration and associated electrochemical processes that modify the materials' electrical and other physical properties.

Stereotactic Approach Combined with 3D CT Reconstruction for Difficult-to-Access Foramen Ovale on Radiofrequency Thermocoagulation of the Gasserian Ganglion for Trigeminal Neuralgia.

Objectives: The authors describe a technique that includes a stereotactic approach in the preoperative plan in cases where the foramen ovale is difficult to access for radiofrequency thermocoagulation of the Gasserian ganglion.

Methods: The study included 395 patients for whom three-dimensional computed tomographic reconstruction of the skull base, maxilla, and mandible was conducted before surgery. Accessibility of the foramen ovale was defined using numerical data from the three-dimensional computed tomographic reconstruction images.

BDNF contributes to IBS-like colonic hypersensitivity via activating the enteroglia-nerve unit.

The over-expressed colonic brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been reported to be associated with abdominal pain in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). However, the neuropathological mechanism is unclear. We here investigated the involvement of enteroglial cells (EGCs) and enteric nerves in IBS-like visceral hypersensitivity.

[Effect of Crop Rotation and Biological Manure on Quality and Yield of "Chuju" Chrysanthemum morifolium and Continuous Cropping Soil Enzyme Activities].

Objective: To investigate the effects of chrysanthemum-wheat rotation system and biological manure on continuous cropping soil enzyme activities and quality and yield of Chrysanthemum morifolium.

Methods: Field experiments were conducted at the research base of Anhui Jutai Chuju Chrysanthemum morifolium Herbal Technology Co. , Ltd.

The suppression of torulene and torularhodin treatment on the growth of PC-3 xenograft prostate tumors.

Torulene and torularhodin are two of the principal carotenoids in Sporidiobolus pararoseus and have a similar structure to that of lycopene. The present study was to elucidate the anti-cancer activity of torulene and torularhodin in vivo with lycopene as a control. Nude mice were orally supplemented every day with a low or high dose [9 or 18 mg/kg body weight (BW)] of lycopene, torularhodin or torulene.

Pro-apoptotic effects of splice-switching oligonucleotides targeting Bcl-x pre-mRNA in human glioma cell lines.

Alternative splicing is a near-ubiquitous phenomenon with important roles in human diseases, including cancers. Splice-switching oligonucleotides (SSOs) have emerged as a class of antisense therapeutics that modulate alternative splicing by hybridizing to the pre-mRNA splice site. The Bcl-x gene is alternatively spliced to express anti‑apoptotic Bcl-xL and pro-apoptotic Bcl-xS.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Epicauta chinensis (Coleoptera: Meloidae) and phylogenetic analysis among Coleopteran insects.

The blister beetle is an important resource insect due to its defensive substance cantharidin, which was widely used in pharmacology and plant protection. We determined the complete mitochondrial genome of Epicauta chinensis Laporte (Coleoptera: Tenebrionoidae: Meloidae). The circular genome is 15,717 bp long, encoding 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two ribosomal RNAs and 22 tRNAs and containing a A+T-rich region with gene arrangement identical to other Coleopteran species.

The adsorption/desorption of phosphorus in freshwater sediments from buffer zones: the effects of sediment concentration and pH.

Riparian buffer zones adjacent to reservoirs and lakes protect aquatic ecosystems from polluted surface runoff. Sediments, collected from the buffer zones of Danjiangkou Reservoir (SR) and Honghu Lake (SL) in an ecologically fragile region in central China, were evaluated to reveal their phosphorus-adsorbing/desorbing properties and storage capacities. A nonlinear regression method was used to fit the pseudo-second-order kinetic and the modified crossover-type Langmuir isotherm models to the experimental data.

Beneficial Influence of Short-Term Germination on Decreasing Allergenicity of Peanut Proteins.

Most allergenic storage proteins in peanuts are degraded during seed germination. By altering this natural physiological process, it might be possible to reduce peanut protein allergenicity. However, little is known about the change in allergenic proteins and their corresponding immunocreactivity, and the effects of major environmental conditions on their allergenicity during germination.

[Effects of crop rotation and bio-organic manure on soil microbial characteristics of Chrysanthemum cropping system].

We conducted a field experiment to evaluate the effects of rotation system and bio-organic manure on soil microbial characteristics of Chrysanthemum cropping system. Taking Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat and wheat as experimental plants, treatments under Chrysanthemum continuous cropping system (M1), conventional Chrysanthemum-wheat rotation system (M2), and Chrysanthemum-wheat rotation system receiving bio-organic manure application of 200 kg · 667 m(-2) (M3) were designed. Soil chemical properties, soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC) and nitrogen (MBN), and the amounts of different types of soil microorganisms were determined.

Kinetics and Mechanisms of Phosphorus Adsorption in Soils from Diverse Ecological Zones in the Source Area of a Drinking-Water Reservoir.

On-site soils are increasingly used in the treatment and restoration of ecosystems to harmonize with the local landscape and minimize costs. Eight natural soils from diverse ecological zones in the source area of a drinking-water reservoir in central China are used as adsorbents for the uptake of phosphorus from aqueous solutions. The X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometric and BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller) tests and the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectral analyses are carried out to investigate the soils' chemical properties and their potential changes with adsorbed phosphorous from aqueous solutions.