Binocular Encoding in the Damselfly Pre-motor Target Tracking System.

Akin to all damselflies, Calopteryx (family Calopterygidae), commonly known as jewel wings or demoiselles, possess dichoptic (separated) eyes with overlapping visual fields of view. In contrast, many dragonfly species possess holoptic (dorsally fused) eyes with limited binocular overlap. We have here compared the neuronal correlates of target tracking between damselfly and dragonfly sister lineages and linked these changes in visual overlap to pre-motor neural adaptations.

Nagilactone D ameliorates experimental pulmonary fibrosis in vitro and in vivo via modulating TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway.

Pulmonary fibrosis is a prototypic chronic progressive lung disease with high morbidity and mortality worldwide. Novel effective therapeutic agents are urgently needed owing to the limited treatment options in clinic. Herein, nagilactone D (NLD), a natural dinorditerpenoid obtained from Podocarpus nagi, was found to suppress transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1)-mediated fibrotic process in vitro and bleomycin (BLM)-induced pulmonary fibrosis in vivo.

Evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of the Chinese herbal medicine Yishen Tongbi decoction in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis: protocol for a randomized, controlled, noninferiority trial.

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a common chronic autoimmune disease that seriously affects the quality of life of patients because of damage to joints. Presently, RA is mainly treated with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) or biological agents; however, they offer limited efficacy in some patients. Therefore, additional therapeutic strategies need to be developed.

7-lncRNA Assessment Model for Monitoring and Prognosis of Breast Cancer Patients: Based on Cox Regression and Co-expression Analysis.

Breast cancer is one of the deadliest malignant tumors worldwide. Due to its complex molecular and cellular heterogeneity, the efficacy of existing breast cancer risk prediction models is unsatisfactory. In this study, we developed a new lncRNA model to predict the prognosis of patients with BRCA.

LncRNA modulates M2 macrophage activation and inflammatory diseases by epigenetic promotion of PTPRE.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are important regulators of diverse biological processes; however, their function in macrophage activation is undefined. We describe a new regulatory mechanism, where an unreported lncRNA, , targets receptor-type tyrosine protein phosphatase ε (PTPRE) to regulate macrophage activation. was selectively expressed in IL-4-stimulated macrophages, and its knockdown promoted M2 macrophage activation via MAPK/ERK 1/2 pathway.

Ranolazine may exert its beneficial effects by increasing myocardial adenosine levels.

We hypothesized that ranolazine-induced adenosine release is responsible for its beneficial effects in ischemic heart disease. Sixteen open-chest anesthetized dogs with noncritical coronary stenosis were studied at rest, during dobutamine stress, and during dobutamine stress with ranolazine. Six additional dogs without stenosis were studied only at rest.

Strong cellulose hydrogel as underwater superoleophobic coating for efficient oil/water separation.

Cellulose hydrogels with high compressive strength were constructed by physical dissolution/regeneration process. Cellulose was dissolved in lithium hydroxide/urea aqueous solvent and lithium tetrafluoroborate aqueous solution was used for regeneration, to obtain hydrogels with compact structure. Compressive strength of the hydrogel reached 14.

Discoidin domain Receptor 2: A determinant of metabolic syndrome-associated arterial fibrosis in non-human primates.

Collagen accumulation and remodeling in the vascular wall is a cardinal feature of vascular fibrosis that exacerbates the complications of hypertension, aging, diabetes and atherosclerosis. With no specific therapy available to date, identification of mechanisms underlying vascular fibrogenesis is an important clinical goal. Here, we tested the hypothesis that Discoidin Domain Receptor 2 (DDR2), a collagen-specific receptor tyrosine kinase, is a determinant of arterial fibrosis.

Transcriptome signatures reveal candidate key genes in the whole blood of patients with lumbar disc prolapse.

The present study aimed to investigate differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in whole blood (WB) obtained from patients with lumbar disc prolapse (LDP) and healthy volunteers. A total of 8 patients with LDP and 8 healthy volunteers were recruited. An Agilent SurePrint G3 human gene expression microarray 8×60 K was used to perform the microarray analyses.

Guiding T lymphopoiesis from pluripotent stem cells by defined transcription factors.

Achievement of immunocompetent and therapeutic T lymphopoiesis from pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) is a central aim in T cell regenerative medicine. To date, preferentially reconstituting T lymphopoiesis in vivo from PSCs remains a practical challenge. Here we documented that synergistic and transient expression of Runx1 and Hoxa9 restricted in the time window of endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition and hematopoietic maturation stages in a PSC differentiation scheme (iR9-PSC) in vitro induced preferential generation of engraftable hematopoietic progenitors capable of homing to thymus and developing into mature T cells in primary and secondary immunodeficient recipients.

Dihydromyricetin Alleviates Diabetic Neuropathic Pain and Depression Comorbidity Symptoms by Inhibiting P2X Receptor.

Diabetic neuropathic pain (DNP) and major depressive disorder (MDD) are common complications of diabetes mellitus and mutually affect each other. As a member of the ATP-gated ion channel family, P2X receptor is associated with the transduction of pain signal and the onset of depression. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of dihydromyricetin (DHM) on rats with comorbid DNP and MDD.

The Modulatory Properties of Treatment on Triple-Negative Breast Cancer: An Integrated Pharmacological Method.

Studies have shown that the natural products of (AM) can effectively interfere with a variety of cancers, but their mechanism of action on breast cancer remains unclear. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is associated with a severely poor prognosis due to its invasive phenotype and lack of biomarker-driven-targeted therapies. In this study, the potential mechanism of the target composition acting on TNBC was explored by integrated pharmacological models and experiments.

Toward the Elimination of Malaria in China: A Retrospective Analysis of Malaria-Endemic Characteristics and Prevention Effects in Yantai, Shandong Province, 1951 to 2017.

To study the epidemiological characteristics of malaria and the effects of comprehensive malaria control implementation in Yantai, as well as to provide a scientific basis for future malaria elimination. A retrospective analysis was conducted to explore the epidemiological changes and prevention effects in Yantai from 1951 to 2017. The malaria data before 2004 were collected from paper-based annual reports, and data after 2004 came from the Infectious Diseases Information Reporting Management System.

Particulate matter of 2.5 μm or less in diameter disturbs the balance of T17/regulatory T cells by targeting glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase 1 and hypoxia-inducible factor 1α in an asthma model.

Background: Epidemiologic evidence suggests that exposure to particulate matter of 2.5 μm or less in diameter (PM2.5) aggravates asthma.

Activation of CaMKII via ER-stress mediates coxsackievirus B3-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis.

Cardiomyocyte apoptosis contributes to the development of coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3)-induced myocarditis, but the mechanism for the apoptosis by CVB3 infection remains unclear. Here, we showed that CVB3-induced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response and apoptosis in cultured H9c2 cardiomyocytes. We found that Ca -calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKII) was activated by ER stress-dependent intracellular Ca overload in the CVB3-infected H9c2 cardiomyocytes.

circRNA-associated ceRNA network construction reveals the circRNAs involved in the progression and prognosis of breast cancer.

Recently, increasing evidences show that circular RNAs (circRNAs) are important regulators of various diseases, especially cancer. However, the regulatory role and the potential mechanism of action of circRNAs in breast cancer remain largely unknown. In this study, weighted gene co-expression network analysis was conducted with the differentially expressed miRNAs and mRNAs in breast cancer from The Cancer Genome Atlas database to identify the key modules associated with the carcinogenesis of breast cancer.

Biomarker expression analysis in different age groups revealed age was a risk factor for breast cancer.

The relationship between age and breast cancer is ambiguous. Here, we analyzed the differential expression pattern of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and messenger RNAs (mRNAs) in different age groups to provide an effective association between age and breast cancer risk at the molecular level. We integrated the microarray information from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) data sets.

Integrative transcriptome data mining for identification of core lncRNAs in breast cancer.

Background: Cumulative evidence suggests that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in tumorigenesis. This study aims to identify lncRNAs that can serve as new biomarkers for breast cancer diagnosis or screening.

Methods: First, the linear fitting method was used to identify differentially expressed genes from the breast cancer RNA expression profiles in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).

Dihydromyricetin affects BDNF levels in the nervous system in rats with comorbid diabetic neuropathic pain and depression.

Diabetic neuropathic pain (DNP) and depression (DP) are the common complications in patients with diabetes. The purpose of our research was to observe whether brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels and tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB) in the nervous system have effects on rats with comorbid DNP and DP, and to determine whether dihydromyricetin (DHM) may influence BDNF/ TrkB pathway to mitigatethe comorbidity. The study showed that DHM treatment could attenuates pain and depressive behavior in DNP and DP combined rats.

Disruptive variants of associate with autism and interfere with neuronal development and synaptic transmission.

RNA binding proteins are key players in posttranscriptional regulation and have been implicated in neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders. Here, we report a significant burden of heterozygous, likely gene-disrupting variants in (encoding a highly constrained RNA binding protein) among patients with autism and related neurodevelopmental disabilities. Analysis of 17 patients identifies common phenotypes including autism, intellectual disability, language and motor delay, seizures, macrocephaly, and variable ocular abnormalities.

Prevalence and Associations of Fundus Tessellation Among Junior Students From Greater Beijing.

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of fundus tessellation and associations with ocular and systemic parameters among junior students from Greater Beijing.

Methods: The school-based study included 1443 individuals with a mean age of 12.4 ± 0.

Preparation of Chitosan/ZIF-8 Composite Beads for Highly Efficient Removal of U(VI).

With the rapid growth of nuclear power generation and fuel processing, the treatment of nuclear industry wastewater has become a major problem, and if not handled properly, it will pose a potential threat to the ecological environment and human health. Herein, a chitosan (CS)/ZIF-8 composite monolithic beads with ZIF-8 loading up to 60 wt% for U(VI) removal was prepared, which can be easily removed after use. It possesses a very high adsorption capacity of 629 mg•g at pH = 3 for U(VI) and a well recyclability is demonstrated for at least four adsorption/desorption cycles.

Mutation screening of crystallin genes in Chinese families with congenital cataracts.

Purpose: To identify mutations in crystallin genes in Chinese families with congenital cataracts.

Methods: Forty-two unrelated families with non-syndromic congenital cataracts were enrolled in this study. The coding exons and adjacent intronic regions of crystallin genes, including and , were analyzed with Sanger sequencing.

Evaluation of the environmental and plant growth effectiveness of a new substrate consisting of municipal sludge and fly ash.

In order to seek a safe, sustainable, and low-cost method for reuse of municipal sewage sludge, four species of native plants, i.e., Forsythia suspensa, Sophora japonica, Cotinus coggygria, and Ailanthus altissima were planted in flowerpots containing 4 growth substrates consisting of raw sludge and fly ash at volume/volume ratios of 20:80, 40:60, 60:40, and 80:20, respectively.