Human insulinomas are rare, benign, slowly proliferating, insulin-producing beta cell tumors that provide a molecular "recipe" or "roadmap" for pathways that control human beta cell regeneration. An earlier study revealed abnormal methylation in the imprinted p15.5-p15.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Knowledge of geospatial pattern in comorbidities prevalence is critical to an understanding of the local health needs among people with osteoarthritis (OA). It provides valuable information for targeting optimal OA treatment and management at the local level. However, there is, at present, limited evidence about the geospatial pattern of comorbidity prevalence in Alberta, Canada.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe dynamic response of a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) cantilever beam under excitation of water droplet impact is investigated by developing an electromechanical model. In the model, the governing equations of beam motion and output voltage are derived in the theoretical way, such that the voltage across the PVDF layer and the cantilever deflection can be predicted. The motion of the beam is described by the multi-mode vibration model through which more accurate results can be obtained.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe two-gene module HEPN/MNT is predicted to be the most abundant toxin/antitoxin (TA) system in prokaryotes. However, its physiological function and neutralization mechanism remains obscure. Here, we discovered that the MntA antitoxin (MNT-domain protein) acts as an adenylyltransferase and chemically modifies the HepT toxin (HEPN-domain protein) to block its toxicity as an RNase.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: In studies showing associations between ambient air pollution and myocardial infarction (MI), data have been lacking on the inherent spatial variability of air pollution. The aim of this study was to determine whether the long-term spatial distribution of air pollution influences short-term temporal associations between air pollution and admission to hospital for MI.
Methods: We identified adults living in Calgary who were admitted to hospital for an MI between 2004 and 2012.
Selenium, as an essential trace element, interferes through selenoproteins in many physiological processes of plants and mammals. Its antiviral activity has recently attracted much attention because selenium improves the antiviral capacity of animal cells against a few viruses relevant to human diseases. In this study, the red elemental selenium was purified from the fermentative culture of Herbaspirillum camelliae WT00C and then used to culture epithelioma papulosum cyprinid (EPC) cells or feed crucian carp and zebrafish.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Neuropharmacol
October 2021
Objectives: The aim of the study was to report quetiapine-relieved Pisa syndrome in a patient with Parkinson disease and to discuss the pathogenesis and treatment of Pisa syndrome.
Methods: We report a 74-year-old female patient with a history of Parkinson disease for 7 years. Pisa syndrome, lateral deviation of the spine and leaning to one side, appeared more than a year ago; adjusting levodopa was ineffective.
Fungal-bacterial associations are present in nature, playing important roles in ecological, evolutionary and medicinal processes. Here we report a fungus-bacterial symbiont from marine sediment. The bacterium lives inside the fungal mycelium yet is robust enough to survive independent of its host; the independently grown bacterium can infect the fungal host in vitro and continue to grow progenitively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhotoperiod and temperature are vital environmental factors that regulate plant developmental processes. However, the roles of these factors in garlic bulb enlargement are unclear. In this report, responses of garlic bulb morphology and physiology to combinations of photoperiod (light/dark: 10/14 h, 12/12 h, 14/10 h) and temperature (light/dark: 25/18 °C, 30/20 °C) were investigated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDecitabine is a hypomethylating drug that is used to treat myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) at a recommended dose and schedule (20 mg/m per day, for 5 consecutive days). However, due to its relatively high incidence of side effects and its effects on neoplastic cells, many studies have begun to explore the clinical application of a low dose of decitabine for treating MDS. In this retrospective study, we examined the effects of a very-low-dose decitabine schedule for treating MDS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlants have evolved an innate immune system to protect themselves from pathogen invasion with the help of intracellular nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NLR) receptors, though the mechanisms remain largely undefined. RIN13 (RPM1-interacting protein 13) was previously reported to enhance disease resistance, and suppress RPM1 (a CNL-type NLR)-mediated hypersensitive response in Arabidopsis via an as yet unknown mechanism. Here, we show that RIN13 is a nuclear-localized protein, and functions therein.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPectate lyases play an essential role in textiles, animal feed, and oil extraction industries. is can be an ideal platform for pectate lyases production, and BspPel (a thermo-alkaline pectate lyase from sp. RN1) was overexpressed by combined strategies, reaching 1859 U/mL in a 50 L fermentator.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Biol Macromol
October 2020
In this study, two homogeneous polysaccharides (PFC-1 and PFC-2) having anti-atherosclerotic activity were isolated from Fructus Corni. PFC-1 and PFC-2 were 1,6-α-glucans with the molecular weight of 4.4 kDa and 82.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn pulmonary hypertension and certain forms of congenital heart disease, ventricular pressure overload manifests at birth and is an obligate hemodynamic abnormality that stimulates myocardial fibrosis, which leads to ventricular dysfunction and poor clinical outcomes. Thus, an attractive strategy is to attenuate the myocardial fibrosis to help preserve ventricular function. Here, by analyzing RNA-sequencing databases and comparing the transcript and protein levels of fibrillar collagen in WT and global-knockout mice, we found that slit guidance ligand 3 (SLIT3) was present predominantly in fibrillar collagen-producing cells and that SLIT3 deficiency attenuated collagen production in the heart and other nonneuronal tissues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZhejiang Da Xue Xue Bao Yi Xue Ban
May 2020
Anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor encephalitis is a kind of autoimmune disease aiming at NR1 subunit of NMDA receptor. In the early stage, functional damage is the main cause. Electroencephalogram (EEG) can reflect the abnormal brain function by recording the changes of EEG signals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenome-wide mapping of chromatin interactions at high resolution remains experimentally and computationally challenging. Here we used a low-input "easy Hi-C" protocol to map the 3D genome architecture in human neurogenesis and brain tissues and also demonstrated that a rigorous Hi-C bias-correction pipeline (HiCorr) can significantly improve the sensitivity and robustness of Hi-C loop identification at sub-TAD level, especially the enhancer-promoter (E-P) interactions. We used HiCorr to compare the high-resolution maps of chromatin interactions from 10 tissue or cell types with a focus on neurogenesis and brain tissues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFruit size and shape are important qualities and yield traits in cucumber ( L.), but the factors that influence fruit size and shape remain to be explored. In this study, we investigated the dynamic changes of fruit size and shape from the aspects of morphology, cellular levels and endogenous hormones for nine typical cucumber inbred lines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe well known trade-off between hardness and toughness (resistance to fracture) makes simultaneous improvement of both properties challenging, especially in diamond. The hardness of diamond can be increased through nanostructuring strategies, among which the formation of high-density nanoscale twins - crystalline regions related by symmetry - also toughens diamond. In materials other than diamond, there are several other promising approaches to enhancing toughness in addition to nanotwinning, such as bio-inspired laminated composite toughening, transformation toughening and dual-phase toughening, but there has been little research into such approaches in diamond.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: We aimed to investigate Notch pathway dysregulation in solid adenoid cystic carcinoma (AdCC) and to define the association of Notch activation with cell differentiation and prognosis in AdCCs.
Materials And Methods: Notch1 mutations were detected from 125 AdCCs (62 cribriform-tubular; 63 solid). RNA-seq was performed in 16 AdCCs (6 Notch-mutant; 10 wild type).
This study aimed to verify the effects of calpain on coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3)-induced myocarditis and to further explore the underlying mechanisms. Transgenic mice overexpressing calpastatin, the endogenous calpain inhibitor, were introduced in the present study. The murine model of viral myocarditis (VMC) was established by intraperitoneal injection of CVB3 into transgenic and wild-type mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInflammation is an important process involved in several cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), and nod-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is a vital player in innate immunity and inflammation. In this review, we aim to provide a comprehensive summary of the current knowledge on the role and involvement of NLRP3 inflammasome in the pathogenesis and treatment of CVDs. NLRP3 inflammasome functions as a molecular platform, and triggers the activation of caspase-1 and cleavage of pro-IL-1β, pro-IL-18, and gasdermin D (GSDMD).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA mannose-6-phosphate isomerase (MPI) from was expressed and successfully encapsulated into the spores. Our results demonstrated that compared to the free enzyme, the MPI triple mutant encapsulated in Δ spores exhibited much preferred enzymatic properties, such as enhanced catalytic activity, excellent reusability, thermostability, and tolerance to various harsh conditions. In combination with an l-arabinose isomerase (AI) also from , this technique of spore encapsulation was applied for producing a high-value rare sugar l-ribose from biomass-derived l-arabinose.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Biophys Res Commun
June 2020
Resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. Maculicola 1 (RPM1) is a crucial immune receptor conferring plant enhanced resistance to pathogenic bacteria. RPM1-interacting protein 13 (RIN13) enhances RPM1-mediated disease resistance through interacting with the central domain of RPM1 in Arabidopsis, while the underlying mechanism remains elusive.
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