LncRNA 4930581F22Rik promotes myogenic differentiation by regulating the ERK/MAPK signaling pathway.

The skeletal muscle is the largest organ in mammals and is the primary motor function organ of the body. Our previous research has shown that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are significant in the epigenetic control of skeletal muscle development. Here, we observed progressive upregulation of lncRNA 4930581F22Rik expression during skeletal muscle differentiation.

Premature ovarian insufficiency: a review on the role of oxidative stress and the application of antioxidants.

Normal levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) play an important role in regulating follicular growth, angiogenesis and sex hormone synthesis in ovarian tissue. When the balance between ROS and antioxidants is disrupted, however, it can cause serious consequences of oxidative stress (OS), and the quantity and quality of oocytes will decline. Therefore, this review discusses the interrelationship between OS and premature ovarian insufficiency (POI), the potential mechanisms and the methods by which antioxidants can improve POI through controlling the level of OS.

The Application of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Infertility.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a lifelong reproductive endocrine disease, which is the most common cause of anovular infertility. Modern medicine mainly treats infertile patients with PCOS by improving living habits, ovulation induction therapy, and assisted reproductive technology (ART), but the effect is not satisfied. Complementary alternative medicine (CAM) has conspicuous advantages in the treatment of PCOS infertility due to its good clinical efficacy, wide mechanism of action, and no obvious adverse reactions, but its safety and effectiveness in the treatment of PCOS infertility have not been proved.

A new gene ontology-based measure for the functional similarity of gene products.

Background: Although biomedical ontologies have standardized the representation of gene products across species and databases, a method for determining the functional similarities of gene products has not yet been developed.

Methods: We proposed a new semantic similarity measure based on Gene Ontology that considers the semantic influences from all of the ancestor terms in a graph. Our measure was compared with Resnik's measure in two applications, which were based on the association of the measure used with the gene co-expression and the protein-protein interactions.

Live imaging reveals differing roles of macrophages and neutrophils during zebrafish tail fin regeneration.

Macrophages and neutrophils are the pivotal immune phagocytes that enter the wound after tissue injury to remove the cell debris and invaded microorganisms, which presumably facilitate the regrowth of injured tissues. Taking advantage of the regeneration abilities of zebrafish and the newly generated leukocyte-specific zebrafish lines with labeling of both leukocyte lineages, we assessed the behaviors and functions of neutrophils and macrophages during tail fin regeneration. Live imaging showed that within 6 hours post amputation, the inflammatory stage, neutrophils were the primary cells scavenging apoptotic bodies and small cell debris, although they had limited phagocytic capacity and quickly underwent apoptosis.

[Sequencing and analyses of the adenovirus polymerase gene in fecal samples of captively bred Rhesus macaques].

Objective: In an attempt to study the moleculr characterization and epidemiology of simian adenoviruses in nonhuman primate (NHP) populations.

Methods: We examined a colony of captively bred rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) in China for the presence of adenoviral DNA in stool samples. This was done by using the PCR method that targeted the adenovirus polymerase gene, and the PCR positive fragments were cloned for sequencing and phylogenetic analyses.

[The significance of antimitochondrial IgA and IgG in the diagnosis of primary biliary cirrhosis].

Objective: To evaluate the sensitivity and the specificity of Anti-M2-3E ELISA for the detection of IgG- and IgA-specific isotypes of antimitochondrial antibody (AMA), and to investigate the significance of antimitochondrial IgA and IgG in the diagnosis of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC).

Methods: Sera were collected from 107 PBC patients, 87 disease controls and 26 healthy controls, and the antimitochondrial antibodies (IgG and IgA) were detected using indirect immunofluorescence (IFL), Anti-PDC ELISA and Anti-M2-3E ELISA.

Results: The AMA IgG positive rate in PBC patients was 90.

Suppression of growth of pancreatic cancer cell and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor by gene silencing with RNA interference.

Objective: To explore the anti-angiogenesis and tumor cell growth suppressive effects resulted from gene silencing by RNAi in BxPC-3 human pancreatic cancer cells.

Methods: The designation and transfection of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-siRNA lentivirus was carried out in vitro. Real-time PCR and western blot were conducted to measure the expression levels of VEGF mRNA and protein.