Activation of VEGF receptors in response to UVB promotes cell proliferation and melanogenesis of normal human melanocytes.

VEGF receptors (VEGFRs) are high-affinity receptors for VEGF and signaling via VEGFRs extends beyond the classical roles in blood vessel formation. We previously showed VEGFRs were also expressed in epidermal keratinocytes and activation of VEGFR-2 by ultraviolet B (UVB) was involved in the pro-survival mechanism. Here, we show that both VEGF165 and UVB enhanced the expression of VEGFRs (including VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2 and NRP-1) in normal human melanocytes, and increased expression of VEGFRs by UVB was mediated through hypoxia and oxidative stress.

A novel Bursin-like peptide as a potential virus inhibitor and immunity regulator in SPF chickens infected with recombinant ALV.

Background: Avian leukosis viruses (ALVs) are important contagious suppressive factors of chicken immunity and growth performance, resulted in enormous economic loss. Although virus eradication programs are applied in breeder flocks, ALVs are still widespread globally. Therefore, other valuable adjunct to reduce the negative effect of ALVs should be considered.

Biotinylated Single-Domain Antibody-Based Blocking ELISA for Detection of Antibodies Against Swine Influenza Virus.

Background: Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) is a common method for diagnosing swine influenza. However, the production of classical antibodies is both costly and time-consuming. As a promising alternative diagnostic tool, single-domain antibodies (sdAbs) offer the advantages of simpler and faster generation, good stability and solubility, and high affinity and specificity.

Comprehensive utilization of edible mushroom waste residue-Extraction, physicochemical properties of melanin and its antioxidant activity.

In order to promote the comprehensive utilization of the waste residue, the extraction process and the physicochemical properties of melanin from waste residue were studied. Furthermore, the chemical antioxidant activity of waste residue melanin and its protective effect on cell oxidative injury induced by HO were investigated. The results indicated that the ultrasonic-assisted extraction process could be used to extract the melanin from waste residue.

In vivo human head MRI at 10.5T: A radiofrequency safety study and preliminary imaging results.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to safely acquire the first human head images at 10.5T.

Methods: To ensure safety of subjects, we validated the electromagnetic simulation model of our coil.

Ex vivo multi-electrode analysis reveals spatiotemporal dynamics of ictal behavior at the infiltrated margin of glioma.

The purpose of this study is to develop a platform in which the cellular and molecular underpinnings of chronic focal neocortical lesional epilepsy can be explored and use it to characterize seizure-like events (SLEs) in an ex vivo model of infiltrating high-grade glioma. Microelectrode arrays were used to study electrophysiologic changes in ex vivo acute brain slices from a PTEN/p53 deleted, PDGF-B driven mouse model of high-grade glioma. Electrode locations were co-registered to the underlying histology to ascertain the influence of the varying histologic landscape on the observed electrophysiologic changes.

Muscovy duck reovirus enters susceptible cells via a caveolae-mediated endocytosis-like pathway.

Muscovy duck reovirus (MDRV) causes immunosuppression and results in high mortality among Muscovy ducklings. Cell entry is the first step of virus infection and represents a potential therapeutic target. However, very little is known about the mechanism by which MDRV penetrates the cells.

Biodiversity pattern of fish assemblages in Poyang Lake Basin: Threat and conservation.

Poyang Lake Basin is of great importance to maintain regional ecological balance. However, fish biodiversity in this basin has rapidly declined as the result of anthropogenic habitat alteration, such as dam construction, sand mining, and water pollution. Here, we aimed to analyze the temporal and spatial changes in biodiversity patterns of fish in Poyang Lake Basin over the last 37 years.

Haplotypes responsible for early embryonic lethality detected in Nordic Holsteins.

Widespread use of a limited number of elite sires in dairy cattle breeding increases the risk of some deleterious allelic variants spreading in the population. Genomic data are being used to detect relatively common (frequency >1%) haplotypes that never occur in the homozygous state in live animals. Such haplotypes likely include recessive lethal or semilethal alleles.

Identification and functional characterization of SOC1-like genes in Pyrus bretschneideri.

Flowering is a prerequisite for pear fruit production. Therefore, the development of flower buds and the control of flowering time are important for pear trees. However, the molecular mechanism of pear flowering is unclear.

Cisplatin induces chemoresistance through the PTGS2-mediated anti-apoptosis in gastric cancer.

It has been proposed that the aberrant expressions of the classical apoptosis-related genes and the subsequent decrease of apoptosis contribute to the development of cisplatin resistance in gastric cancer. However, little is known about the correlation and the molecular regulation mechanisms of cisplatin and the apoptosis-related gene expressions. Herein, we first identified the expressions of the anti-apoptotic BCL2 and the prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase-2 (PTGS2) genes, which were abundant in the gastric carcinoma and associated with poor patient survival, were closely related with the resistance against cisplatin.

Piperlongumine analogue L50377 induces pyroptosis via ROS mediated NF-κB suppression in non-small-cell lung cancer.

Natural products with potent activity and less toxicity provide major sources for development of novel anti-cancer drugs. Herein, we evaluated the effects and the underlying mechanisms of a novel piperlongumine (PL) analogue L50377 on non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells. The results revealed that L50377 displayed greater potentials of suppressing cell growth than PL.

Antitumor effect of a short peptide on p53-null SKOV3 ovarian cancer cells.

Fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF2) is a protein ligand, which exerts essential roles in development, angiogenesis, and tumor progression via activation of the downstream signaling cascades. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that FGF2 is involved in the progression of ovarian cancer, providing a novel potential target for ovarian cancer therapy. In this study, we showed that FGF2 is significantly increased in ovarian tumors, and is negatively associated with the overall survival of ovarian cancer by database analysis.

Complete mitochondrial genome of the radicine pond snail (Gastropoda: Lymnaeidae).

is broadly distributed in China, as well as Russia. It is one of the intermediate hosts of species which leads to the spread of fascioliasis. Here, we first described the complete mitochondrial genome of .

The Role of Prostaglandin-Endoperoxide Synthase-2 in Chemoresistance of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

The prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase-2 (PTGS2) plays essential roles in diverse pathological process. Although recent studies implied that PTGS2 was closely related with chemoresistance, the precise roles and the underlying mechanisms of PTGS2 in the developing process of chemoresistance in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remained elusive. In the present study, we revealed a novel molecular mechanism of PTGS2 implicated in the chemoresistance of NSCLC and proposed a model for the positive feedback regulation of PTGS2 in the process of developing resistance phenotype in NSCLC cells.

Placenta-derived extracellular vesicles induce preeclampsia in mouse models.

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-induced condition that impairs the mother's health and results in pregnancy termination or premature delivery. Elevated levels of placenta-derived extracellular vesicles (pcEV) in the circulation have been consistently associated with preeclampsia, but whether these vesicles induce preeclampsia or are the product of preeclampsia is not known. Guided by a small cohort study of preeclamptic patients, we examined the impact of pcEV on the pathogenesis of preeclampsia in mouse models.

Protective effects of mild hypothermia against hepatic injury in rats with acute liver failure.

Introduction And Objectives: Acute liver failure (ALF) is a severe disease which is associated with a high mortality rate. As mild hypothermia has been shown to have protective effects on the brain, this study aimed to determine whether it also provides protection to the liver in rats with ALF and to explore its underlying mechanism.

Materials And Methods: In total, 72 rats were divided into 3 groups: control group (CG, treated with normal saline), normothermia group (NG, treated with d-galactosamine and lipopolysaccharide; d-GalN/LPS), and mild hypothermia group (MHG, treated with d-GalN/LPS and kept in a state of mild hypothermia, defined as an anal temperature of 32-35°C).

Current diagnosis and management of Crohn's disease in China: results from a multicenter prospective disease registry.

Background: This study aimed to understand the disease characteristics and treatment outcomes of Crohn's disease (CD) in a real-world setting in China.

Methods: In this prospective, non-interventional, multicenter disease registry, adults (≥18 years) with existing and newly diagnosed CD were recruited from 14 medical centers across China from January 2015 to January 2017. The study consisted of the enrollment and follow-up periods, of 12 months each.

Organic selenium derived from chelation of soybean peptide-selenium and its functional properties in vitro and in vivo.

Organic selenium has been widely explored as an important source of selenium (Se) supplement due to its low toxicity and easy absorption. In the present study, a new type of organic selenium was fabricated by chelating Se with soybean protein isolate peptides (SPIPs), and its physio-chemical properties, structural characteristics, and antioxidant activities were investigated. Results indicated that the structure of the SPIP molecule was folded and aggregated during the chelation process.

Temporal and spatial changes in macrozoobenthos diversity in Poyang Lake Basin, China.

Poyang Lake plays a significant role in maintaining and replenishing the macrozoobenthos biodiversity in the middle Yangtze River. However, due to human activities and natural factors, the habitat of Poyang Lake has been seriously degraded, resulting in a decline in macrozoobenthos biodiversity. Here, we analyzed the effect of human activity and environmental elements change on the diversity of macrozoobenthos based on a systematic investigation of Poyang Lake Basin in 2016-2017.

SIRT1 downregulated FGB expression to inhibit RCC tumorigenesis by destabilizing STAT3.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is one of the common lethal urologic tumors. Recent studies revealed that SIRT1 might function as a tumor suppressor during the progression of RCC. In addition, studies showed that FGB expression was abnormally upregulated in RCC and related to the progress of RCC.

Self-Paced Balance Learning for Clinical Skin Disease Recognition.

Class imbalance is a challenging problem in many classification tasks. It induces biased classification results for minority classes that contain less training samples than others. Most existing approaches aim to remedy the imbalanced number of instances among categories by resampling the majority and minority classes accordingly.