4-Acetylantroquinonol B ameliorates nonalcoholic steatohepatitis by suppression of ER stress and NLRP3 inflammasome activation.

Objective: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an inflammatory lipotoxic disorder with a prevalence of over 25% worldwide. However, safe and effective therapeutic agents for the management of NAFLD are still lacking. We aimed to investigate the hepatoprotective effect and molecular mechanism of 4-acetylantroquinonol B (4-AAQB), a natural ubiquinone derivative obtained from the mycelia of Antrodia cinnamomea.

Evaluation of early resin luting cement damage induced by voids around a circular fiber post in a root canal treated premolar by integrating micro-CT, finite element analysis and fatigue testing.

Objective: This study utilizes micro-CT image combined with finite element (FE) analysis and in vitro fatigue testing to investigate the mechanical behavior associating with early resin luting cement damage induced by voids around a circular fiber post in a root canal treated premolar.

Methods: Six similar mandibular first premolars with root canal treatment were scanned with high resolution micro-CT before and after fatigue testing. Micro-CT images of all teeth were processed to identify various materials (dentin, luting cement and void) to evaluate the volume/position of the void in each reconstructed tooth root canal model.

Genomic analysis of mRNA decay in E. coli with DNA microarrays.

The decay of mRNA plays an important role in the regulation of gene expression. Although relatively ignored for many years and regarded as a simple ribonucleotide salvage pathway, mRNA decay has been established in recent years as a well-defined cellular process that plays an integral role in determining gene expression. The recent application of microarray methods to the study of diverse organisms will help us to better understand these gene regulatory circuits and the influence of transcript stability on gene expression.

RhlB helicase rather than enolase is the beta-subunit of the Escherichia coli polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase)-exoribonucleolytic complex.

Escherichia coli polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase), a protein that has both ribonucleolytic and synthetic capabilities, binds, along with the 48-kDa glycolytic enzyme enolase, the 50-kDa DEAD-box protein RhlB helicase and other cellular proteins to the C-terminal "scaffold" region of RNase E to form a complex termed the RNA degradosome. PNPase itself has been reported to exist as a complex (alpha(3)beta(2)) containing trimers of a catalytic subunit (alpha) and dimers of another subunit (beta). The beta-subunit has been believed to be enolase; we report here that it is instead the RhlB helicase.

Global analysis of Escherichia coli RNA degradosome function using DNA microarrays.

RNase E, an essential endoribonuclease of Escherichia coli, interacts through its C-terminal region with multiple other proteins to form a complex termed the RNA degradosome. To investigate the degradosome's proposed role as an RNA decay machine, we used DNA microarrays to globally assess alterations in the steady-state abundance and decay of 4,289 E. coli mRNAs at single-gene resolution in bacteria carrying mutations in the degradosome constituents RNase E, polynucleotide phosphorylase, RhlB helicase, and enolase.

Identification and characterization of a new gene from Variovorax paradoxus Iso1 encoding N-acyl-D-amino acid amidohydrolase responsible for D-amino acid production.

An N-acyl-d-amino acid amidohydrolase (N-D-AAase) was identified in cell extracts of a strain, Iso1, isolated from an environment containing N-acetyl-d-methionine. The bacterium was classified as Variovorax paradoxus by phylogenetic analysis. The gene was cloned and sequenced.

Global analysis of mRNA decay and abundance in Escherichia coli at single-gene resolution using two-color fluorescent DNA microarrays.

Much of the information available about factors that affect mRNA decay in Escherichia coli, and by inference in other bacteria, has been gleaned from study of less than 25 of the approximately 4,300 predicted E. coli messages. To investigate these factors more broadly, we examined the half-lives and steady-state abundance of known and predicted E.