BG is a novel bioactive peptide derived from bitter gourd (), known for its anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties. In the present study, our objective is to investigate the functional roles and mechanisms of BG in the context of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A rat model of adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA) was established by administering complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenome-wide association studies typically evaluate the autosomes and sometimes the X Chromosome, but seldom consider the Y or mitochondrial (MT) Chromosomes. We genotyped the Y and MT Chromosomes in heterogeneous stock (HS) rats (Rattus norvegicus), an outbred population created from 8 inbred strains. We identified 8 distinct Y and 4 distinct MT Chromosomes among the 8 founders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAs artificial receptors for protein recognition, epitope-imprinted polymers combined with fluorescence sensing based on quantum dots (QDs) can be potentially used for biological analysis and disease diagnosis. However, the usual way for fabrication of QD sensors through unoriented epitope imprinting is confronted with the problems of disordered imprinting sites and low template utilization. In this context, a facile and efficient oriented epitope surface imprinting was put forward based on immobilization of the epitope templates via thiol-disulfide exchange reactions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
July 2024
Q fever is a worldwide distribution disease caused by (), an obligate intracellular, Gram-negative acidophilic bacterium belonging to γ-proteobacterium. Most patients present with acute Q-fever accompanied by atypical flu-like symptoms, with only 1%-5% of cases may develop into persistent and focally infected foci, mainly manifest as endocarditis, osteomyelitis and prosthetic arthritis. In this case, the patient experienced an unexplained and uninterrupted fever up to 39.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExcitatory and inhibitory synapses do not overlap even when formed on one submicron-sized dendritic protrusion. How excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic cytomatrices or densities (e/iPSDs) are segregated is not understood. Broadly, why membraneless organelles are naturally segregated in cellular subcompartments is unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExosomes are indispensable for intercellular communications. Tumor microenvironment (TME) is the living environment of tumor cells, which is composed of various components, including immune cells. Based on TME, immunotherapy has been recently developed for eradicating cancer cells by reactivating antitumor effect of immune cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study reports on biallelic homozygous and monoallelic variants in in three unrelated families presenting with epileptic encephalopathy associated with a broad neurological involvement characterized by microcephaly, intellectual disability, seizures, and global developmental delay. encodes for a transmembrane protein that is involved in controlling neurite outgrowth and inhibitory synapse development and that has an important role in brain function and neurological diseases. Using primary cultures of hippocampal neurons carrying patients' SLITRK3 variants and in combination with electrophysiology, we demonstrate that recessive variants are loss-of-function alleles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFShading is an effective agronomic technique to protect tea plants from intense sunlight. However, there are currently very few studies on more effective shading methods to improve the quality of summer tea. In this study, 'Longjing43' plants were grown under four different shading treatments for 14 days, with no shading as the control.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFusing apolipoprotein B mRNA-editing enzyme, catalytic polypeptide-like cytidine deaminase with catalytically impaired Cas proteins (e.g., nCas9 or dCas9) provides a novel gene-editing technology, base editing, that grants targeted base substitutions with high efficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeuroligins (NLGNs) are postsynaptic cell adhesion molecules that are involved in synapse assembly and function. The NLGN gene family consists of 5 genes (, , and ). NLGN3 forms heterodimers with other NLGNs and is expressed at both excitatory and inhibitory synapses, although the distinct role at different synapses is not fully understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe crosstalk between the immune and neuroendocrine systems is critical for intestinal homeostasis and gut-brain communications. However, it remains unclear how immune cells participate in gut sensation of hormones and neurotransmitters release in response to environmental cues, such as self-lipids and microbial lipids. We show here that lipid-mediated engagement of invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells with enterochromaffin (EC) cells, a subset of intestinal epithelial cells, promoted peripheral serotonin (5-HT) release via a CD1d-dependent manner, regulating gut motility and hemostasis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) analysis and Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) have the power to identify variants that capture significant levels of phenotypic variance in complex traits. However, effort and time are required to select the best methods and optimize parameters and pre-processing steps. Although machine learning approaches have been shown to greatly assist in optimization and data processing, applying them to QTL analysis and GWAS is challenging due to the complexity of large, heterogenous datasets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPower analyses are often used to determine the number of animals required for a genome-wide association study (GWAS). These analyses are typically intended to estimate the sample size needed for at least 1 locus to exceed a genome-wide significance threshold. A related question that is less commonly considered is the number of significant loci that will be discovered with a given sample size.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) analysis and Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) have the power to identify variants that capture significant levels of phenotypic variance in complex traits. However, effort and time are required to select the best methods and optimize parameters and pre-processing steps. Although machine learning approaches have been shown to greatly assist in optimization and data processing, applying them to QTL analysis and GWAS is challenging due to the complexity of large, heterogenous datasets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe method of anticancer bioactive peptide (ACBP) functionalized selenium particle (Se), which has enhanced anticancer activity, inhibited the growth of gastric cancer (GC) cells, and increased the ability of apoptosis , has been reported in previous studies. We used tandem mass spectrometry (TMT) labeling to construct a complete atlas of the acetylation-modified proteome in GC MKN-45 cells treated with ACBP-Se. The proteomics data database was searched and analyzed by bioinformatics: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), Gene Ontology (GO), functional enrichment, and protein-protein interaction network.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSoil microenvironments and plant varieties could largely affect rhizosphere microbial community structure and functions. However, their specific effects on the tea rhizosphere microbial community are yet not clear. Beneficial microorganisms are important groups of microbial communities that hold ecological functionalities by playing critical roles in plant disease resistance, and environmental stress tolerance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSleep is an essential process that consolidates memories by modulating synapses through poorly understood mechanisms. Here, we report that GABAergic synapses in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons undergo daily rhythmic alterations. Specifically, wake inhibits phasic inhibition, whereas it promotes tonic inhibition compared to sleep.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Hypertension (HTN) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are often coincident, and each condition is considered a risk factor for the other. Both occur frequently in the Inner Mongolia region of China. The reasons for differences in risk between Han and Mongolian ethnic groups are not known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe tea plant is an important economic crop and is widely cultivated. Isopentenyl transferase (IPT) is the first and rate-limiting enzyme of cytokinin (CK) signaling, which plays key roles in plant development and abiotic stress. However, the gene family in tea plants has not been systematically investigated until now.
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