Alpha-synuclein prevents the formation of spherical mitochondria and apoptosis under oxidative stress.

Oxidative stress (OS), mitochondrial dysfunction, and dysregulation of alpha-synuclein (aSyn) homeostasis are key pathogenic factors in Parkinson's disease. Nevertheless, the role of aSyn in mitochondrial physiology remains elusive. Thus, we addressed the impact of aSyn specifically on mitochondrial response to OS in neural cells.

25-Hydroxyvitamin D-1-α-hydroxylase in apoliporotein E knockout mice: The role of protecting vascular smooth muscle cell from calcification.

Previous publications widely reported that 25-hydroxyvitamin D-1-α-hydroxylase (CYP27B1) regulated the metabolism of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3, which has a close association between altered activity of vitamin D and vascular calcification has been reported in various human diseases, including chronic kidney disease, osteoporosis and atherosclerosis. Vascular calcification is a clinically significant component of atherosclerosis and may be promoted by ROS associated inflammatory. In this study, we evaluated the effect of 25-hydroxyvitamin D-1-α-hydroxylase on the atherosclerosis disease both in apolipoprotein (apo) E-/- mice and wild-type mice.

Assessment of the quality of pharmacoeconomic evaluation literature in China.

Objective: To evaluate the quality of Chinese pharmacoeconomic-evaluation literature published between 2012-2014 retrieved from the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) in order to assess their adherence to recommendations of the Chinese Pharmacoeconomic Guidelines.

Methods: Identified literature was screened according to pre-specified criteria to access legibility for inclusion. Each included piece of literature was systematically compared against the recommendations proposed by the relevant Chinese guidelines.

Analysis of pramipexole dose-response relationships in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Pramipexole (PPX), a non-ergot dopamine receptor agonist, is a first-line treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD). A critical dose level above which a better benefit-to-harm ratio exists has not been examined.

Methods: Chinese PD patients (n=464) were retrospectively analyzed by PPX maintenance dose, PD stage, combined levodopa dose, and baseline tremor contribution.

Experimental and models for the study of human aortic dissection: promises and challenges.

Aortic dissection (AD) is a life-threatening aortopathy with high mortality. To mimic spontaneous AD, investigate the pathogenesis of AD and develop novel therapeutic targets and measures, multiple AD experimental models have been generated, including drugs or chemicals induced experimental models, genetically modified experimental models, surgically or invasively induced experimental models, and models. However, the perfect model of AD that replicates every aspect of the natural disease has not be generated yet.

Effects of 1,25(OH) D and vitamin D receptor on peripheral CD4 /CD8 double-positive T lymphocytes in a mouse model of systemic lupus erythematosus.

This study aims to explore effects of 1,25(OH) D and vitamin D receptor (VDR) on peripheral CD4 /CD8 double-positive (DP) T lymphocytes in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). MRL-LPr/LPr mice with SLE (n = 20) and normal MRL mice (n = 20) were assigned into the control group (normal mice, without feeding with 1,25(OH) D ), the 1,25(OH) D group (SLE mice, feeding with 1,25(OH) D ), the VDR-knock-in + 1,25(OH) D group (SLE mice, VDR-knock-in, feeding with 1,25(OH) D ) and the VDR-knockout group (normal mice, VDR-knockout, without feeding with 1,25(OH) D ) (n = 10 per group). Levels of T lymphocytes were measured by flow cytometry.

Economic burden of irritable bowel syndrome in China.

Aim: To estimate annual direct and indirect costs for patients diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and subtypes.

Methods: Patients completed a standardized questionnaire concerning usage of healthcare resources, travel costs, meals, and productivity loss of patients when seeking treatment for IBS. Total annual costs per patient were calculated as the sum of direct (including medical and nonmedical) and indirect costs.

Experimental investigation of the hydraulic and heat-transfer properties of artificially fractured granite.

In this paper, the hydraulic and heat-transfer properties of two sets of artificially fractured granite samples are investigated. First, the morphological information is determined using 3D modelling technology. The area ratio is used to describe the roughness of the fracture surface.

Identifying the optimal gene and gene set in hepatocellular carcinoma based on differential expression and differential co-expression algorithm.

The objective of this study was to identify the optimal gene and gene set for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) utilizing differential expression and differential co-expression (DEDC) algorithm. The DEDC algorithm consisted of four parts: calculating differential expression (DE) by absolute t-value in t-statistics; computing differential co-expression (DC) based on Z-test; determining optimal thresholds on the basis of Chi-squared (χ2) maximization and the corresponding gene was the optimal gene; and evaluating functional relevance of genes categorized into different partitions to determine the optimal gene set with highest mean minimum functional information (FI) gain (Δ*G). The optimal thresholds divided genes into four partitions, high DE and high DC (HDE-HDC), high DE and low DC (HDE-LDC), low DE and high DC (LDE‑HDC), and low DE and low DC (LDE-LDC).

miR-276 and miR-3016-modulated expression of acetyl-CoA carboxylase accounts for spirotetramat resistance in Aphis gossypii Glover.

Acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase (acetyl-CoA carboxylase, ACC) catalyses the carboxylation of acetyl-CoA to produce malonyl-CoA during de novo fatty acid synthesis. A laboratory-selected spirotetramat-resistant strain (SR) of cotton aphid was used in this study. RT-qPCR results demonstrated significant increases in the levels of ACC transcript in the resistant strain compared to the susceptible strain.

Plasmonic nanoshells enhanced laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry for detection of serum metabolites.

Laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI MS)-based small metabolites detection is fundamentally important for the clinic prognoses and diagnoses. Plasmonic materials have been applied as efficient substrates for LDI MS of these molecules. However, there is no clear understanding of the mechanism of using plasmonic materials for enhanced LDI MS of small metabolites, thus restricting their application for real case serum samples.

Roles of 1,25(OH)2D3 and Vitamin D Receptor in the Pathogenesis of Rheumatoid Arthritis and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus by Regulating the Activation of CD4+ T Cells and the PKCδ/ERK Signaling Pathway.

Background/aims: The study aims to elucidate the roles of 1,25(OH)2D3 and vitamin D receptor (VDR) in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) by regulating the activation of CD4+ T cells and the PKCδ/ERK signaling pathway.

Methods: From January 2013 to December 2015, a total of 130 SLE patients, 137 RA patients and 130 healthy controls were selected in this study. Serum levels of 1,25(OH)2D3 and VDR mRNA expression were detected by ELISA and real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR).

PTTG1 regulated by miR-146a-3p promotes bladder cancer migration, invasion, metastasis and growth.

Pituitary tumor-transforming gene 1 (PTTG1) is identified as an oncogene, and overexpresses in many tumors. However, the role of PTTG1 in bladder cancer (BC) hasn't yet been characterized well. In this study, we showed the expression of PTTG1 mRNA and protein were both significantly increased in BC tissues and cells.

GDNF-expressing STO feeder layer supports the long-term propagation of undifferentiated mouse spermatogonia with stem cell properties.

The development of a stem cell culture system would expedite our understanding of the biology of tissue regeneration. Spermatogonial stem cell (SSC) is the foundation for lifelong male spermatogenesis and the SSC culture has been optimized continuously in recent years. However, there have been many inconveniences to reconstruct SSC self-renewal and proliferation in vitro, such as the frequent refreshment of recombinant cytokines, including GDNF, the essential growth factor for SSC maintenance.

Intravenous transfusion of endothelial progenitor cells that overexpress vitamin D receptor inhibits atherosclerosis in apoE-deficient mice.

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are widely used for angiogenic therapies, as well as predictive biomarkers to assess cardiovascular disease risk. However, it is unknown that whether overexpressed vitamin D receptor (VDR) in EPCs could help EPCs counteracting atherosclerotic risks. Here, we study intravenous transplantation of genetically modified EPCs over-expressing VDR in regulating endothelial dysfunction and spontaneously arising atherosclerotic plaques of ApoE-deficient mice.

Evaluating VEGFR1 genetic polymorphisms as a predisposition to AMD in a cohort from northern China.

Objective: The association among genetic variants in VEGFR1 and a predisposition to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in a northern cohort from China was evaluated.

Methods: A retrospective case-control correlation study was conducted on 432 cases and 906 gender-and ethnicity-matched controls. Whole DNA was isolated from peripheral blood samples after the individuals underwent detailed eye examinations.

An IoT-cloud Based Wearable ECG Monitoring System for Smart Healthcare.

Public healthcare has been paid an increasing attention given the exponential growth human population and medical expenses. It is well known that an effective health monitoring system can detect abnormalities of health conditions in time and make diagnoses according to the gleaned data. As a vital approach to diagnose heart diseases, ECG monitoring is widely studied and applied.

Rapid evolution of symbiotic bacteria populations in spirotetramat-resistant Aphis gossypii glover revealed by pyrosequencing.

Aphis gossypii is one of the most economically important insect pests for agriculture worldwide. Aphids have developed symbiotic associations with bacterial species, which has led to morphological and molecular differences, such as body color and insecticide resistance. Adults and 3rd instar nymphs of a laboratory-selected spirotetramat-resistant strain of cotton aphid presented 579-fold and 15-fold higher resistance to spirotetramat, respectively, than a susceptible strain (Pan et al.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of 1, 2, 4-oxadiazole derivatives as novel GPR119 agonists.

A series of 1, 2, 4-oxadiazole derivatives have been designed and synthesized, and 25 compounds were evaluated their abilities by the assay of cAMP concentration in GPR119-transfected HEK293T cells. All compounds showed acceptable agonistic effects on GPR119. Among these compounds, 4p exhibited the best agonistic effects with the EC of 20.

Application of epigenetic markers in molecular breeding of the swine.

Livestock phenotypes are determined by the interaction of a variety of factors, including the genome, the epigenome and the environment. Epigenetics refers to gene expression changes without DNA sequence alterations. Epigenetic markers mainly include DNA methylation, histone modifications, non-coding RNAs, and imprinting genes.

A Modified Wrapping-internal Shunt Method for Hemostasis in Bentall Procedure.

Introduction: Blindly punching between aorta and right atrium is dangerous. In that case, there is concerned about leakage between the two referred isolate parts. Besides, as the routine imaging techniques (echocardiography or computer tomography) are incompetent to detect this particular anatomic structure preoperatively, the intraoperative inspection appears necessary.

Alpha-synuclein activates BV2 microglia dependent on its aggregation state.

Synucleinopathies such as Parkinson's disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and multiple system atrophy (MSA) are defined by the presence of intracellular alpha-synuclein aggregates in neurons and/or oligodendrocytes. In addition, post mortem tissue analysis revealed profound changes in microglial morphology, indicating microglial activation and neuroinflammation. Thus, alpha-synuclein may directly activate microglia, leading to increased production of key pro-inflammatory cytokines like tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), which in turn modulates the disease progression.

Differences in Protein Expression between the U251 and U87 Cell Lines.

Aim: The U251 and U87 cell lines are commonly used as experimental models of glioblastoma. However, these cells exhibit significant differences in their proliferation, invasion, and migration. The aim of the present study was to compare the protein expression profiles of the U251 and U87 cell lines in order to provide a molecular basis for the observed phenotypic differences.

Endocan reduces the malign grade of gastric cancer cells by regulating associated protein expression.

Endocan, which has been identified to be low expressed in gastric cancer, was found to be positively related to the differentiation level of gastric cancer in vivo and in vitro. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the role of endocan in gastric adenocarcinoma cell line SGC7901 by artificially upregualting or downregulating endocan expression using endocan recombinant vector or specific small interfering RNA (siRNA)-targeting endocan gene, respectively. The effects of endocan recombinant vector-mediated over-expressing and siRNA-mediated endocan silencing on the differentiation, migration, and apoptosis of SGC7901 cells were assessed.