Alpha5 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Contributes to Nicotine-Induced Lung Cancer Development and Progression.

Nicotine and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are considered to be involved in lung cancer risk, onset and progression, but their precise physiological roles in these contexts remain unclear. Our previous studies suggested that α5-nAChR mediates nicotine-induced lung cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion . In this study, we aimed to determine the role of α5-nAChR in the development and progression of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Overexpression of Glycerol-3-Phosphate Acyltransferase from Improves Salt Tolerance in Arabidopsis.

Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase is the first acyl esterifying enzyme in phosphatidylglycerol (PG) synthesis process. In this study, we isolated and characterized the glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT) gene from () and obtained the full length of the GPAT gene from () by 5' and 3' RACE. The clone contained an open reading frame (ORF) of 1167 bp nucleotides that comprised of 388 amino acid residues.

The Effects of Goal Relevance and Perceptual Features on Emotional Items and Associative Memory.

Showing an emotional item in a neutral background scene often leads to enhanced memory for the emotional item and impaired associative memory for background details. Meanwhile, both top-down goal relevance and bottom-up perceptual features played important roles in memory binding. We conducted two experiments and aimed to further examine the effects of goal relevance and perceptual features on emotional items and associative memory.

Genome-Wide Discovery of Microsatellite Markers from Diploid Progenitor Species, and , and Their Application in Cultivated Peanut ().

Despite several efforts in the last decade toward development of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers in peanut, there is still a need for more markers for conducting different genetic and breeding studies. With the effort of the International Peanut Genome Initiative, the availability of reference genome for both the diploid progenitors of cultivated peanut allowed us to identify 135,529 and 199,957 SSRs from the A () and B genomes (), respectively. Genome sequence analysis showed uneven distribution of the SSR motifs across genomes with variation in parameters such as SSR type, repeat number, and SSR length.

Class Collective Efficacy and Class Size as Moderators of the Relationship between Junior Middle School Students' Externalizing Behavior and Academic Engagement: A Multilevel Study.

This study examined the relationship between externalizing behavior and academic engagement, and tested the possibility of class collective efficacy and class size moderating this relationship. Data were collected from 28 Chinese classrooms ( = 1034 students; grades 7, 8, and 9) with student reports. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to test all hypotheses and results revealed a negative relationship between externalizing behavior and academic engagement; class collective efficacy was also significantly related to academic engagement.

Physiological Signal Analysis for Evaluating Flow during Playing of Computer Games of Varying Difficulty.

Flow is the experience of effortless attention, reduced self-consciousness, and a deep sense of control that typically occurs during the optimal performance of challenging tasks. On the basis of the person-artifact-task model, we selected computer games (tasks) with varying levels of difficulty (difficult, medium, and easy) and shyness (personality) as flow precursors to study the physiological activity of users in a flow state. Cardiac and respiratory activity and mean changes in skin conductance (SC) were measured continuously while the participants ( = 40) played the games.

Reciprocal Relationship between Internet Addiction and Network-Related Maladaptive Cognition among Chinese College Freshmen: A Longitudinal Cross-Lagged Analysis.

This study explored the reciprocal relationship between Internet addiction (IA) and network-related maladaptive cognition (NMC) in Chinese college freshmen. A short-term longitudinal survey with a sample of 213 college freshmen was conducted in Shandong province, China. The results revealed that IA can significantly predict the generation and development of NMCs, and that when such maladaptive cognitions have been established, they can further adversely affect the extent of the students' IA.

Genome-Wide Analysis of Gene Expression Provides New Insights into Cold Responses in .

Low temperature is one of the major environmental stresses that affects plant growth and development, and leads to decrease in crop yield and quality. (salt cress) exhibits high tolerance to chilling, is an appropriate model to investigate the molecular mechanisms of cold tolerance. Here, we compared transcription changes in the roots and leaves of under cold stress using RNA-seq.

Harnessing Plant Biodiversity for the Discovery of Novel Anticancer Drugs Targeting Microtubules.

The microtubule cytoskeleton plays a critical role in a wide range of cellular activities and has been shown to be a highly effective target for the treatment of human malignancies. Despite the recent focus on proteomics and high-throughput profiling, it is clear that analysis of plant extracts has yielded several highly efficacious microtubule-targeting agents (MTAs) currently in clinical use, as well as agents in the current pipeline with promising efficacy. To date, a large proportion of the world's plant biodiversity remains untapped by the pharmaceutical industry, presenting a major opportunity for the discovery of novel pharmacologically active lead compounds.

Genome-Wide Dissection of the Heat Shock Transcription Factor Family Genes in .

Heat shock transcription factors (Hsfs) are important transcription factors (TFs) in protecting plants from damages caused by various stresses. The released whole genome sequences of wild peanuts make it possible for genome-wide analysis of Hsfs in peanut. In this study, a total of 16 and 17 genes were identified from and , respectively.

Influence of Ongoing Task Difficulty and Motivation Level on Children's Prospective Memory in a Chinese Sample.

Prospective memory (PM) is the process associated with the task of realizing delayed intentions in the future. Researchers distinguish two types of PM, namely time-based PM (tbPM) and event-based PM (ebPM). Experiment 1 investigated the developmental trajectory of 3- to 5-year-old preschool children's PM ability, and the occurrence of delayed retrieval (children execute the PM task in a larger window of opportunity) in both tbPM and ebPM tasks.

Phytochrome B Negatively Affects Cold Tolerance by Regulating Gene Expression through Phytochrome Interacting Factor-Like Protein OsPIL16 in Rice.

Cross talk between light signaling and cold signaling has been elucidated in the model plant and tomato, but little is known about their relationship in rice. Here, we report that () mutants exhibit improved cold tolerance compared with wild type (WT) rice ( L. cv.