Although the frequency of ancient hybridization across the Tree of Life is greater than previously thought, little work has been devoted to uncovering the extent, timeline, and geographic and ecological context of ancient hybridization. Using an expansive new dataset of nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequences, we conducted a multifaceted phylogenomic investigation to identify ancient reticulation in the early evolution of oaks (Quercus). We document extensive nuclear gene tree and cytonuclear discordance among major lineages of Quercus and relatives in Quercoideae.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: To evaluate the effect of low-degree astigmatism on objective visual quality through the Optical Quality Analysis System (OQAS).
Methods: This study enrolled 46 participants (aged 23 to 30y, 90 eyes) with normal or corrected-to-normal vision. The cylindrical lenses (0, 0.
Background: High-resolution mapping offers superior accuracy in delineating conduction features; however, certain characteristics are still linked to elevated recurrence rates of atrial tachycardia (AT), suggesting the influence of additional mechanisms. This study systematically assessed the substrate of functional conduction block (FCB) regions in relation to the mechanisms of multiple ATs.
Methods: In this study, the Carto system facilitated the mapping of ATs in 13 patients undergoing ablation, each presenting with more than two AT variants.
Anatomical structure of mummified wood of (Lauraceae) from the Upper Pleistocene of Maoming, South China and the woods of 15 extant species of from China and Malaysia were examined. The fossil wood has been convincingly attributed to extant species (Hance) Hemsl. This is the first reliable fossil record of in Asia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDetermining whether the high-latitude Bering land bridge (BLB) was ecologically suitable for the migration of mesothermal plants is significant for Holarctic phytogeographic inferences. Paleobotanical studies provide a critical source of data on the latitudinal positions of different plant lineages at different times, permitting assessment of the efficacy of the BLB for migration. Here we report exceptionally preserved fossils of and from the middle Miocene of South Korea.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Intestinal barrier breakdown, a frequent complication of intestinal ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) including dysfunction and the structure changes of the intestine, is characterized by a loss of tight junction and enhanced permeability of the intestinal barrier and increased mortality. To develop effective and novel therapeutics is important for the improvement of outcome of patients with intestinal barrier deterioration. Recombinant human angiopoietin-like protein 4 (rhANGPTL4) is reported to protect the blood-brain barrier when administered exogenously, and endogenous ANGPTL4 deficiency deteriorates radiation-induced intestinal injury.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To explore factors affecting the efficacy of Bernese periacetabular osteotomy for the treatment of hip dysplasia.
Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 44 patients with hip dysplasia who underwent Bernese periacetabular osteotomy with a modified Smith-Peterson approach between January 2017 and November 2019. Among them, 40 were women and four were men.
Introduction: The complex electrophysiological phenomena related to the atrioventricular node (AVN) are due to its complex anatomical structures. Aside from the inferior nodal extension (INE), other node-like tissues, such as the retroaortic node (RN), have been described less extensively and may also share the mechanism of normal conduction and abnormal conduction in AVN re-entrant tachycardia.
Methods: High-density sections of the entire AVN were obtained from rats and rabbits.
The growth of the Tibetan Plateau throughout the past 66 million years has profoundly affected the Asian climate, but how this unparalleled orogenesis might have driven vegetation and plant diversity changes in eastern Asia is poorly understood. We approach this question by integrating modeling results and fossil data. We show that growth of north and northeastern Tibet affects vegetation and, crucially, plant diversity in eastern Asia by altering the monsoon system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTibet's ancient topography and its role in climatic and biotic evolution remain speculative due to a paucity of quantitative surface-height measurements through time and space, and sparse fossil records. However, newly discovered fossils from a present elevation of ∼4,850 m in central Tibet improve substantially our knowledge of the ancient Tibetan environment. The 70 plant fossil taxa so far recovered include the first occurrences of several modern Asian lineages and represent a Middle Eocene (∼47 Mya) humid subtropical ecosystem.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe extracellular matrix (ECM) is known to regulate tissue development and cell morphology, movement, and differentiation. SPARCL1 is an ECM protein, but its role in mouse cell differentiation has not been widely investigated. The results of western blotting and immunofluorescence showed that SPARCL1 is associated with the repair of muscle damage in mice and that SPARCL1 binds to bone morphogenetic protein 7 (BMP7) by regulating BMP/transforming growth factor (TGF)-β cell signaling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe uplift history of south-eastern Tibet is crucial to understanding processes driving the tectonic evolution of the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding areas. Underpinning existing palaeoaltimetric studies has been regional mapping based in large part on biostratigraphy that assumes a Neogene modernization of the highly diverse, but threatened, Asian biota. Here, with new radiometric dating and newly collected plant-fossil archives, we quantify the surface height of part of the south-eastern margin of Tibet in the latest Eocene (∼34 Ma) to be ∼3 km and rising, possibly attaining its present elevation (3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTCEA3 is a member of the transcription elongation factor family that not only promotes transcription but may also participate in other cytoplasmic processes. However, its mechanisms of action remain unclear. Our previous study indicated that TCEA3 may affect muscle differentiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn aggressive proliferation of synoviocytes is the hallmark of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Emerging evidence shows that inhibiting the NF-κB signaling pathway with 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3] may be a therapeutic approach for controlling inflammatory diseases. In this study, we demonstrated the protective effects of three different 1,25(OH)2D3 concentration on adjuvant-induced arthritis (AA) rats through the NF-κB signaling pathway and their pro-apoptotic roles in cultured adjuvant-induced arthritis synoviocytes (AIASs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe mechanism by which bta-miR-378 regulates bovine skeletal muscle-derived satellite cell (bMDSC) myogenesis remains unknown. In this study, stem-loop RT-PCR was used to assess bta-miR-378 expression during the proliferation and differentiation of bMDSCs. The results showed that bta-miR-378 expression did not obviously change during bMDSC proliferation but increased significantly when bMDSCs began to differentiate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFC2C12 murine myoblasts are a common model for studying muscle differentiation. Platelet endothelial aggregation receptor-1 (PEAR1), an epidermal growth factor repeat-containing transmembrane receptor, is known to participate in platelet contact-induced activation. In the present study, we demonstrated that PEAR1 is involved in the differentiation of C2C12 murine myoblasts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Biophys Res Commun
December 2017
ELOVL3 is involved in elongating saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, and is a critical enzyme for lipid accumulation in brown adipocytes during the early phase of tissue recruitment. In addition, ELOVL3 is related to increased fatty acid oxidation in brown adipocytes. However, the potential functions of ELOVL3 in bovine cells remain unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The differentiation of skeletal muscle-derived satellite cells (MDSCs) is important in controlling muscle growth, improving livestock muscle quality, and healing of muscle-related disease. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of gene expression regulatory factors, which play critical roles in the regulation of muscle cell differentiation. This study aimed to compare the expression profile of miRNAs in MDSC differentiation, and to investigate the miRNAs which are involved in MDSC differentiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAtrial fibrillation (AF) affects approximately 1-2% of general population. Chronic inflammation plays an important role in AF development and interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine. This study aimed to assess the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of IL-18 for with AF risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe transcription factor, early growth response 1 (EGR1), has important roles in various cell types in response to different stimuli. EGR1 is thought to be involved in differentiation of bovine skeletal muscle-derived satellite cells (MDSCs); however, the precise effects of EGR1 on differentiation of MDSCs and its mechanism of action remain unknown. In the present study, a time course of EGR1 expression and the effects of EGR1 on MDSC differentiation were determined.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Biophys Res Commun
March 2017
Bovine muscle-derived satellite cells (MDSCs) are important for animal growth. In this study, the effect of transcription elongation factor A3 (TCEA3) on bovine MDSC differentiation was investigated. Western blotting, immunofluorescence assays, and cytoplasmic and nuclear protein isolation and purification techniques were used to determine the expression pattern and protein localization of TCEA3 in bovine MDSCs during in vitro differentiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, we utilized high throughput RNA sequencing to obtain a comprehensive gene expression profile of muscle-derived satellite cells (MDSCs) upon induction of differentiation. MDSCs were cultured in vitro and RNA was extracted for sequencing prior to differentiation (MDSC-P), and again during the early and late differentiation (MDSC-D1, and MDSC-D3, respectively) stages. Sequence tags were assembled and analyzed by digital gene expression profile to screen for differentially expressed genes, Gene Ontology annotation, and pathway enrichment analysis.
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