Contribution of and the HLA Genes to Biliary Atresia Risk in Chinese.

Nonsyndromic biliary atresia (BA) is a rare polygenic disease, with autoimmunity, virus infection and inflammation thought to play roles in its pathogenesis. We conducted a genome-wide association study in 336 nonsyndromic BA infants and 8900 controls. Our results validated the association of rs17095355 in with BA risk (odds ratio (OR) = 1.

Distinctive calcium isotopic composition of mice organs and fluids: implications for biological research.

The stable calcium (Ca) isotopes offer a minimally invasive method for assessing Ca balance in the body, providing a new avenue for research and clinical applications. In this study, we measured the Ca isotopic composition of soft tissues (brain, muscle, liver, and kidney), mineralized tissue (bone), and blood (plasma) from 10 mice (5 females and 5 males) with three different genetic backgrounds and same age (3 months old). The results reveal a distinctive Ca isotopic composition in different body compartments of mice, primally controlled by each compartment's unique Ca metabolism and genetic background, independent of sex.

Association analysis and functional follow-up identified common variants of accounting for risk to biliary atresia.

Biliary atresia (BA) is a destructive, obliterative cholangiopathy characterized by progressive fibro-inflammatory disorder and obliteration of intra- and extrahepatic bile ducts. The () gene mutations have been found in some isolated BA cases. We aim to explore the association of common variants in with isolated BA risk in the Chinese Han population.

Stable potassium isotope distribution in mouse organs and red blood cells: implication for biomarker development.

Potassium (K) is an essential electrolyte for cellular functions in living organisms, and disturbances in K+ homeostasis could lead to various chronic diseases (e.g. hypertension, cardiac disease, diabetes, and bone health).

ERF4 interacts with and antagonizes TCP15 in regulating endoreduplication and cell growth in Arabidopsis.

Endoreduplication is prevalent during plant growth and development, and is often correlated with large cell and organ size. Despite its prevalence, the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms underlying the transition from mitotic cell division to endoreduplication remain elusive. Here, we characterize ETHYLENE-RESPONSIVE ELEMENT BINDING FACTOR 4 (ERF4) as a positive regulator of endoreduplication through its function as a transcriptional repressor.

Biosensors for the Detection of .

, present in two forms of vegetative cells and spores, is a pathogen that infects humans through contact with infected animals or contaminated animal products and is also maliciously used in terrorist acts. Therefore, a rapid and sensitive test for is necessary but challenging. The challenge comes from the following aspects: an accurate distinction of from other species due to their high genomic similarity and the horizontal gene transfer between members; direct detection of the spores without damaging them for component extraction to avoid the risk of spore atomization; and the rapid detections of in complex samples, such as soil and suspicious powders, without sample pretreatments and expensive large-scale equipment.

Association Analysis of Variants of and With Hirschsprung Disease Susceptibility in Han Chinese and Functional Evaluation in Zebrafish.

Hirschsprung disease (HSCR) has a higher incidence in children with Down syndrome (DS), which makes trisomy 21 a predisposing factor to HSCR. and are close together on the HSCR-associated critical region of chromosome 21. Common variants of and rare variants of were implicated to be associated with sporadic HSCR.

Pore scale investigation on scaling-up micro-macro capillary number and wettability on trapping and mobilization of residual fluid.

The mobilization mechanism of the trapped phases controlled by the viscous force and capillary force in porous media is crucial to various engineering applications. In this paper, pore scale water flooding process in rock models with nonuniform wettability is simulated by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) using the volume of fluid (VOF) model. Four types of rock are imaged by micro-CT (μ-CT) and adopted as inputs to generate the structured mesh models.

[Adsorption Characteristics of Phosphorus Wastewater on the Synthetic Ferrihydrite].

The synthetic ferrihydrite, FerrorMox (FM), was used as adsorbent for removing phosphorus from wastewater. SEM, EDS, XRD, FTIR and Raman were used to characterize FM, and the results indicated that FM was amorphous 2 L ferrihydrite and was composed of Fe, O, Ca and Si, etc. Afterwards, FM was applied to adsorb phosphorus from wastewater, and the adsorption performance, influence factors and adsorption mechanism were investigated.

Relationship between haze and acute cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory diseases in Beijing.

Haze is an atmospheric phenomenon in which dry particulate pollutants obscure the sky. Haze has been associated with chronic diseases, but its relationship with acute diseases is less clear. We aimed to determine the association between haze and acute cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and respiratory diseases, in order to determine the influence of haze on human health.

[Bioconversion of cellulose to methane by a consortium consisting of four microbial strains].

Cellulose was usually degraded by microbial communities in natural habitats. Construction of a simple cellulolytic consortium is necessary to understand the underlying interaction within microorganisms involved in cellulose conversion. A screening approach was developed to obtain a simple microbial community with the ability of cellulose degradation to methane.

[Bioinformatic prediction of conserved microRNAs and their target genes in eggplant (Solanum melongena L.)].

MicroRNAs (miRNAs), a recently discovered class of small (-21nt), non-coding, endogenous, single-stranded RNAs in eukaryotes, regulate gene expression negatively at the post-transcriptional levels depending on the extent of complementation between miRNA and mRNA. To date, a large number of miRNAs have been reported in many species, but none for eggplant (Solanum melongena L.).