Evaluation of a prerequisite course of histology implementation for Chinese students of eight-year medical programme: a mixed quantitative survey.

Background: Due to insufficient basic medical knowledge and inappropriate learning strategies, students of 8-year medical programme encountered many obstacles in the initial stage of basic medicine learning. This study was to determine whether a prerequisite course can improve basic medicine learning performance and adjust learning strategies to adapt to basic medicine learning.

Methods: A prerequisite course of histology was constructed by a two-round modified Delphi study.

Pluripotency-State-Dependent Role of Dax1 in Embryonic Stem Cells Self-Renewal.

Dax1(also known as Nr0b1) is regarded as an important component of the transcription factor network in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs). However, the role and the molecular mechanism of Dax1 in the maintenance of different pluripotency states are poorly understood. Here, we constructed a stable Dax1 knockout (KO) cell line using the CRISPR/Cas9 system to analyze the precise function of Dax1.

ABHD11 Is Critical for Embryonic Stem Cell Expansion, Differentiation and Lipid Metabolic Homeostasis.

Growing evidence supports the notion that lipid metabolism is critical for embryonic stem cell (ESC) maintenance. Recently, α/β-hydrolase domain-containing (ABHD) proteins have emerged as novel pivotal regulators in lipid synthesis or degradation while their functions in ESCs have not been investigated. In this study, we revealed the role of ABHD11 in ESC function using classical loss and gain of function experiments.

Identification and functional comparison of Bcl2 splicing isoforms in mouse embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) provide an ideal model for investigating developmental processes and are great sources for developing regenerative medicine. Harnessing apoptosis facilitates accurate recapitulation of signalling events during embryogenesis and allows efficient expansion of the ESCs during differentiation. Bcl2, a key regulator of intrinsic anti-apoptotic pathway, encodes two splicing isoforms.

Nac1 promotes self-renewal of embryonic stem cells through direct transcriptional regulation of c-Myc.

The pluripotency transcriptional network in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is composed of distinct functional units including the core and Myc units. It is hoped that dissection of the cellular functions and interconnections of network factors will aid our understanding of ESC and cancer biology. Proteomic and genomic approaches have identified Nac1 as a member of the core pluripotency network.

Dax1 and Nanog act in parallel to stabilize mouse embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotency.

Nanog expression is heterogeneous and dynamic in embryonic stem cells (ESCs). However, the mechanism for stabilizing pluripotency during the transitions between Nanog(high) and Nanog(low) states is not well understood. Here we report that Dax1 acts in parallel with Nanog to regulate mouse ESC (mESCs) identity.

The protective effect of SCR(15-18) on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Objectives: Soluble complement receptor type 1 (sCR1), a potent inhibitor of complement activation, has been shown to protect brain cells against cerebral ischemic/reperfusion (CI/R) injury due to its decay-accelerating activity for C3/C5 convertase and co-factor activity for C3b/C4b degradation. However, the effect of short consensus repeats (SCRs) 15-18, one of active domains of sCR1 with high C3b/C4b degradability, has not been demonstrated. Here, we investigated the protective effect of recombinant SCR(15-18) protein in middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO)-induced focal CI/R injury.

Role of a type IV-like secretion system of Streptococcus suis 2 in the development of streptococcal toxic shock syndrome.

Streptococcus suis serotype 2 (S. suis 2) has evolved into a highly invasive pathogen that was found to be the cause of 2 large-scale outbreaks of streptococcus toxic shock syndrome (STSS) in China. However, the mechanism of action of this non-group A streptococcal (GAS) S.

An engineered complement receptor 1 composed of two functional domains can protect against immune-mediated hemolysis.

Complement receptor type 1 (CR1) is a versatile inhibitor of both classical and alternative pathway C3 and C5 convertases with an ability to accelerate decay activity and act as a co-factor in C3b/C4b cleavage. In order to develop a short form of CR1 with similar biological activities to the full-length human CR1, we combined functional domain 1, located in the long homologous repeat (LHR) A, with functional domain 2, located in LHR C. We expressed the two-domain, two-function protein with an enterokinase site at the N-terminus and a termination codon at the C-terminus in Escherichia coli.