Endogenous Small RNA Mediates Meiotic Silencing of a Novel DNA Transposon.

Genome defense likely evolved to curtail the spread of transposable elements and invading viruses. A combination of effective defense mechanisms has been shown to limit colonization of the Neurospora crassa genome by transposable elements. A novel DNA transposon named Sly1-1 was discovered in the genome of the most widely used laboratory "wild-type" strain FGSC 2489 (OR74A).

The Arabidopsis R-SNARE VAMP721 Interacts with KAT1 and KC1 K+ Channels to Moderate K+ Current at the Plasma Membrane.

SNARE (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor protein attachment protein receptor) proteins drive vesicle traffic, delivering membrane and cargo to target sites within the cell and at its surface. They contribute to cell homeostasis, morphogenesis, and pathogen defense. A subset of SNAREs, including the Arabidopsis thaliana SNARE SYP121, are known also to coordinate solute uptake via physical interactions with K(+) channels and to moderate their gating at the plasma membrane.

Adjuvant Transarterial Chemoembolization Following Liver Resection for Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma Based on Survival Risk Stratification.

Background: The effectiveness of adjuvant transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) after hepatectomy remains unclear. This study was performed to identify ICC patients who would benefit from adjuvant TACE.

Patients And Methods: The study included 553 patients who underwent hepatectomy for ICC between January 2008 and February 2011 at the Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital and who were treated with or without TACE (122 with TACE and 431 without TACE).

[The cytotoxic effect and the effect of permeability with OmpA like protein Loa22 from Leptospira interrogans serovar].

Objective: To study the toxic effect and the change of permeability on human umbilical vein endothelia (HUVE) of the Loa22 protein from virulent serovar Lai. Leptaspira interrogans by expressing its protein.

Methods: In this study, the pGEX-Loa22 peptide prokaryotic recombinant plasmid of Leptospira interrogans serovar Lai preserved in our laboratory was used to express Loa22 fusion protein with GST lable.

Bioethanol production from the dry powder of Jerusalem artichoke tubers by recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation.

It has been found that recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae 6525 can produce high concentration of ethanol in one-step fermentation from the extract of Jerusalem artichoke tubers or inulin. However, the utilization rate of raw materials was low and the fermentation process was costly and complicated. Therefore, in this study, after the optimum processing conditions for ethanol production in fed-batch fermentation were determined in flask, the recombinant S.

A vesicle-trafficking protein commandeers Kv channel voltage sensors for voltage-dependent secretion.

Growth in plants depends on ion transport for osmotic solute uptake and secretory membrane trafficking to deliver material for wall remodelling and cell expansion. The coordination of these processes lies at the heart of the question, unresolved for more than a century, of how plants regulate cell volume and turgor. Here we report that the SNARE protein SYP121 (SYR1/PEN1), which mediates vesicle fusion at the Arabidopsis plasma membrane, binds the voltage sensor domains (VSDs) of K(+) channels to confer a voltage dependence on secretory traffic in parallel with K(+) uptake.

Zuo-Gui and You-Gui pills, two traditional Chinese herbal formulas, downregulated the expression of NogoA, NgR, and RhoA in rats with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Zuo-Gui pills (ZGPs) and You-Gui pills (YGPs) are 2 traditional Chinese herbal formulas used for treating multiple sclerosis (MS) in the clinical setting and have been shown to have neuroprotective effects in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of MS. The aim of this study was to explore the mechanisms underlying the neuroprotective functions of ZGPs and YGPs.

Materials And Methods: Female Lewis rats were randomly divided into normal control, EAE model, 2g/kg ZGP-treated EAE, 3g/kg YGP-treated EAE, and prednisone acetate-treated groups.

A compact representation for compressing converted stereo videos.

We propose a novel representation for stereo videos namely 2D-plus-depth-cue. This representation is able to encode stereo videos compactly by leveraging the by-product of a stereo video conversion process. Specifically, the depth cues are derived from an interactive labeling process during 2D-to-stereo video conversion—they are contour points of image regions and their corresponding depth models, and so forth.

The anti-lung cancer activity of SEP is mediated by the activation and cytotoxicity of NK cells via TLR2/4 in vivo.

Strongylocentrotus nudus egg polysaccharide (SEP) has been reported to display antitumor activity. However, the effects of SEP and its underlying mechanism in the treatment of lung cancer remain unclear, particularly with an immunodeficient mouse model of human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In the present study, we investigated the anti-lung cancer effects of SEP and its underlying mechanism of action in both Lewis lung cancer (LLC)-bearing C57/BL6J mice and human NSCLC H460-bearing nude mice.

Systems analysis of guard cell membrane transport for enhanced stomatal dynamics and water use efficiency.

Stomatal transpiration is at the center of a crisis in water availability and crop production that is expected to unfold over the next 20 to 30 years. Global water usage has increased 6-fold in the past 100 years, twice as fast as the human population, and is expected to double again before 2030, driven mainly by irrigation and agriculture. Guard cell membrane transport is integral to controlling stomatal aperture and offers important targets for genetic manipulation to improve crop performance.

The complete mitochondrial genome of natural Cobitis elongatoides (Cypriniformes: Cobitidae).

Cobitis elongatoides is a small sized freshwater fish species that is widely distributed in Europe, especially in Croatia. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of C. elongatoides is sequenced to be 16,540 bp in length, including 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNAs, 22 transfer RNAs, a control region and the origin of the light strand replication.

The complete mitochondrial genome sequence of Parabramis pekinensis strenosoma (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae).

Parabramis pekinensis strenosoma belongs to the family Cyprinidae. In the present study, we obtain the complete mitochondrial genome of P. pekinensis strenosoma by PCR amplification and DNA sequencing.

The complete mitochondrial genome of natural Paramisgurnus dabryanus (Cypriniformes: Cobitidae).

Paramisgurnus dabryanus, a small-sized freshwater fish species, is one of the most important cultured fish in East Asia from Russia to China. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of P. dabryanus is sequenced to be 16,566 bp in length, including 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNAs, 22 transfer RNAs, a control region and the origin of the light strand replication.

Exploring emergent properties in cellular homeostasis using OnGuard to model K+ and other ion transport in guard cells.

It is widely recognized that the nature and characteristics of transport across eukaryotic membranes are so complex as to defy intuitive understanding. In these circumstances, quantitative mathematical modeling is an essential tool, both to integrate detailed knowledge of individual transporters and to extract the properties emergent from their interactions. As the first, fully integrated and quantitative modeling environment for the study of ion transport dynamics in a plant cell, OnGuard offers a unique tool for exploring homeostatic properties emerging from the interactions of ion transport, both at the plasma membrane and tonoplast in the guard cell.

Complete mitochondrial genome of the Amur weatherfish, Misgurnus mohoity (Teleostei: Cypriniformes: Cobitididae).

The complete mitochondrial genome of the Amur weatherfish, Misgurnus mohoity is a circular molecule of 16,566 bp in size, containing 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, 2 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, and 2 main non-coding regions (the control region and the origin of the light strand replication). Most of the genes are encoded on the heavy strand, except for ND6 and eight tRNAs. The control region is 915 bp in length and located between the tRNA(Pro) and tRNA(Phe) genes, some typical conserved elements (TAS, CSB1-3 and CSB D-F) were found in this region.

The complete nucleotide sequence of white Amur bream (Parabramis pekinensis) mitochondrial genome.

White Amur bream, Parabramis pekinensis (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae), a freshwater cyprinid fish, is an important economic fish in several countries, especially in China. The complete sequence of P. pekinensis mitochondrial genome has been determined.

PYR/PYL/RCAR abscisic acid receptors regulate K+ and Cl- channels through reactive oxygen species-mediated activation of Ca2+ channels at the plasma membrane of intact Arabidopsis guard cells.

The discovery of the START family of abscisic acid (ABA) receptors places these proteins at the front of a protein kinase/phosphatase signal cascade that promotes stomatal closure. The connection of these receptors to Ca(2+) signals evoked by ABA has proven more difficult to resolve, although it has been implicated by studies of the pyrbactin-insensitive pyr1/pyl1/pyl2/pyl4 quadruple mutant. One difficulty is that flux through plasma membrane Ca(2+) channels and Ca(2+) release from endomembrane stores coordinately elevate cytosolic free Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)]i) in guard cells, and both processes are facilitated by ABA.

BF-30 selectively inhibits melanoma cell proliferation via cytoplasmic membrane permeabilization and DNA-binding in vitro and in B16F10-bearing mice.

Cathelicidin-BF (BF-30) is a cathelicidin-like polypeptide composed of 30 amino acids and is a natural antibacterial peptide extracted from the venom of the snake Bungarus fasciatus. In our previous study, BF-30 showed broad antimicrobial activity against drug-resistant bacteria through enhancing the cytoplasmic membrane permeability. However, the anticancer activity of BF-30 has not yet been investigated.

Study on clinical therapeutic effect including symptoms, eye preservation rate, and follow-up of 684 children with retinoblastoma.

Introduction: Retinoblastoma is the most common type of primary malignant intraocular tumor in children. The purpose of this study is to summarize the clinical experience of diagnosis and treatment for retinoblastoma, aiming to provide appropriate knowledge for surveillance and therapy for retinoblastoma.

Methods: We performed retrospective analysis of 684 children (885 eyes) with advanced retinoblastoma diagnosed in the department of Pediatrics in Tongren Hospital, Beijing, China, between September 2005 and May 2010.

Prognostic nomogram for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma after partial hepatectomy.

Purpose: This study aimed to establish an effective prognostic nomogram for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) after partial hepatectomy.

Patients And Methods: The nomogram was based on a retrospectively study on 367 patients who underwent partial hepatectomy for ICC at the Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital from 2002 to 2007. The predictive accuracy and discriminative ability of the nomogram were determined by concordance index (C-index) and calibration curve and compared with five currently used staging systems on ICC.

The conceptual approach to quantitative modeling of guard cells.

Much of the 70% of global water usage associated with agriculture passes through stomatal pores of plant leaves. The guard cells, which regulate these pores, thus have a profound influence on photosynthetic carbon assimilation and water use efficiency of plants. We recently demonstrated how quantitative mathematical modeling of guard cells with the OnGuard modeling software yields detail sufficient to guide phenotypic and mutational analysis.

Effects of Zuogui Pill () and Yougui Pill () on the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and cyclic adenosine monophosphate/protein kinase A signaling transduction pathways of axonal regeneration in model rats with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Objective: To study the effects of Zuogui Pill (, ZGP) and Yougui Pill (, YGP) on the expressions of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)/protein kinase A (PKA) signaling of axonal regeneration in the Lewis rats with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), in order to explore the possible mechanism of ZGP and YGP on promoting axonal regeneration.

Methods: The rats were randomly divided into normal control (NC), model (MO), prednisone acetate (PA), ZGP and YGP groups. The EAE model of rat was established by injecting antigen containing myelin basic protein (MBP)68-86.

Systems dynamic modeling of a guard cell Cl- channel mutant uncovers an emergent homeostatic network regulating stomatal transpiration.

Stomata account for much of the 70% of global water usage associated with agriculture and have a profound impact on the water and carbon cycles of the world. Stomata have long been modeled mathematically, but until now, no systems analysis of a plant cell has yielded detail sufficient to guide phenotypic and mutational analysis. Here, we demonstrate the predictive power of a systems dynamic model in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) to explain the paradoxical suppression of channels that facilitate K(+) uptake, slowing stomatal opening, by mutation of the SLAC1 anion channel, which mediates solute loss for closure.

Matching reality in the arts: self-referential neural processing of naturalistic compared to surrealistic images.

How are works of art that present scenes that match potential expectations processed in the brain, in contrast to such scenes that can never occur in real life because they would violate physical laws? Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the processing of surrealistic and naturalistic images in visual artworks. Looking at naturalistic paintings leads to a significantly higher activation in the visual cortex and in the precuneus. Humans apparently own a sensitive mechanism even for artistic representations of the visual world to separate the impossible from what potentially matches physical reality.