[Methylophiopogonanone a Inhibits LPS/ATP-Induced Macrophage Pyroptosis via ROS/NLRP3 Pathway]

As a byproduct of mitochondrial respiration or metabolism, reactive oxygen species (ROS) can act as a signaling molecule to activate NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome, thereby triggering immune response. NLRP3 inflammasome acts as a sensor of various danger signals and is central to the control of pyroptosis occurrence. Macrophage pyroptosis is closely related to atherosclerosis, arthritis, pulmonary fibrosis and other inflammatory diseases. Methylophiopogonanone A (MO-A) is a main homoisoflavonoid in Chinese herb Ophiopogonis Radix, which has antioxidant effect. However, it is not clear whether MO-A can alleviate macrophage pyroptosis by inhibiting oxidative stress. Here we have shown that MO-A increases the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), inhibits the production of ROS, reduces the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome and the release of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and inhibits pyroptosis in macrophages induced by lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP). These effects can be reversed by the ROS promoter H2O2. Therefore, MO-A can inhibit macrophage pyroptosis through the ROS/NLRP3 pathway and may be considered as a candidate drug for the treatment of inflammatory diseases.

The prevalence of sufficient physical activity among primary and high school students in Mainland China: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to estimate the prevalence of sufficient physical activity (PA) for primary and high school students in China.

STUDY DESIGN

This is a meta-analysis study.

METHODS

The literature search was carried out using both English and Chinese online databases, including articles published from January 2005 to May 2018. Statistical analyses were performed with STATA 13.0.

RESULTS

Of 1439 articles initially retrieved, 18 studies met the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of sufficient PA among Chinese students varied from 8.96% to 56.02%. With meta-analysis, the sufficient PA prevalence was 31.1% (27.1%-35.2%). Boys were more likely to achieve sufficient PA compared to girls (boys vs girls: 42.4% vs 31.5%, P < 0.001), while urban students engaged in more sufficient PA than their rural counterparts (urban vs rural: 42.7% vs 38.5%, P < 0.001). Primary school students spent more time in overall PA than junior (primary vs junior: 45.4% vs 40.6%, P < 0.001) or senior high school students (primary vs senior: 45.4% vs 27.9%, P < 0.001). Students tended to be more physically active on weekdays than weekends (weekdays vs weekend: 57.2% vs 45.2%, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of sufficient PA was 31% among Chinese students. Intervention campaigns are needed for promoting PA level among students in China.

DS1/OsEMF1 interacts with OsARF11 to control rice architecture by regulation of brassinosteroid signaling

BACKGROUND

Plant height and leaf angle are important determinants of yield in rice (Oryza sativa L.). Genes involved in regulating plant height and leaf angle were identified in previous studies; however, there are many remaining unknown factors that affect rice architecture.

RESULTS

In this study, we characterized a dwarf mutant named ds1 with small grain size and decreased leaf angle,selected from an irradiated population of ssp. japonica variety Nanjing35. The ds1 mutant also showed abnormal floral organs. ds1 plants were insensitive to BL treatment and expression of genes related to BR signaling was changed. An F₂ population from a cross between ds1 and indica cultivar 93-11 was used to fine map DS1 and to map-based clone the DS1 allele, which encoded an EMF1-like protein that acted as a transcriptional regulator. DS1 was constitutively expressed in various tissues, and especially highly expressed in young leaves, panicles and seeds. We showed that the DS1 protein interacted with auxin response factor 11 (OsARF11), a major transcriptional regulator of plant height and leaf angle, to co-regulate D61/OsBRI1 expression. These findings provide novel insights into understanding the molecular mechanisms by which DS1 integrates auxin and brassinosteroid signaling in rice.

CONCLUSION

The DS1 gene encoded an EMF1-like protein in rice. The ds1 mutation altered the expression of genes related to BR signaling, and ds1 was insensitive to BL treatment. DS1 interacts with OsARF11 to co-regulate OsBRI1 expression.

Alteration of endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression in acute pulmonary embolism: a study from bench to bioinformatics

OBJECTIVE

This study sought to explore endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression in acute pulmonary thromboembolism (APE).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

eNOS expression in lung tissue and bone marrow-derived endothelial progenitor cells (BM-EPCs) from APE mouse models was assessed by immunohistochemistry and real-time PCR. A gene expression profile meta-analysis was performed on human venous thromboembolism (VTE) whole blood samples recorded in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) repository. Significantly expressed genes were determined from the microarray data by unsupervised clustering and supervised classification. Selected sample data with significantly expressed genes were further analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA), followed by Bayesian probit regression. Key discriminate genes were further grouped and annotated using functional annotations and gene enrichments using the online Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) software (v. 6.7).

RESULTS

While eNOS expression was significantly higher, serum nitric oxide levels were significantly lower in APE mice (20.42 ± 2.15 μM) compared to controls (53.50 ± 5.69 μM, p<0.001). eNOS mRNA and protein levels were significantly upregulated in BM-EPCs from APE mice. GEO repository data reported 3,397 upregulated and 4,173 downregulated genes (including eNOS) in VTE patients. In this regression analysis, the significant principal component PC1 and PC2 (p<0.05) were useful in distinguishing the VTE classification. The coefficient value of eNOS was -0.47707 in PC1 and -0.08429 in PC2, which did have some proportions on these significantly discriminated components but did not contribute significantly to the VTE classification. Functional enrichment in terms of acetylation and phosphoproteins were high.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings, therefore, suggest that expression of eNOS is significantly altered in APE and may be a potential peripheral blood biomarker. Modulation of eNOS expression may be used for APE treatment.

Therapeutically interchangeable? A study of real-world outcomes associated with switching basal insulin analogues among US patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus using electronic medical records data

AIMS

To evaluate real-world clinical outcomes for switching basal insulin analogues [insulin glargine (GLA) and insulin detemir (DET)] among US patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

METHODS

Using the GE Centricity Electronic Medical Records database, this retrospective study examined two cohorts: cohort 1, comprising patients previously on GLA and then either switching to DET (DET-S) or continuing with GLA (GLA-C); and cohort 2, comprising patients previously on DET and then either switching to GLA (GLA-S) or continuing with DET (DET-C). Within each cohort, treatment groups were propensity-score-matched on baseline characteristics. At 1-year follow-up, insulin treatment patterns, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, hypoglycaemic events, weight and body mass index (BMI) were evaluated.

RESULTS

The analysis included 13 942 patients: cohort 1: n = 10 657 (DET-S, n = 1797 matched to GLA-C, n = 8860) and cohort 2: n = 3285 (GLA-S, n = 858 matched to DET-C, n = 2427). Baseline characteristics were similar between the treatment groups in each cohort. At 1-year follow-up, in cohort 1, patients in the DET-S subgroup were significantly less persistent with treatment, more likely to use a rapid-acting insulin analogue, had higher HbA1c values, lower HbA1c reductions and lower proportions of patients achieving HbA1c <7.0 or <8.0% compared with patients in the GLA-C subgroup, while hypoglycaemia rates and BMI/weight values and change from baseline were similar in the two subgroups. In cohort 2, overall, there were contrasting findings between patients in the GLA-S and those in the DET-C subgroup.

CONCLUSIONS

This study showed contrasting results when patients with T2DM switched between basal insulin analogues, although these preliminary results may be subject to limitations in the analysis. Nevertheless, this study calls into question the therapeutic interchangeability of GLA and DET, and this merits further investigation.

The effect of pressure and temperature on the vibrational spectra of different hydrogen bonded systems

The effect of pressure and temperature on the vibrational spectra of hydrogen bonded systems has been studied on amides, thioamides, carboxylic acids and urea. The compounds under investigation are indicative for the kind of hydrogen bonding changing from pure intermolecular to intramolecular and dimeric forms. The discussion of the temperature dependence on the fundamentals involved in the hydrogen bonding is straightforward but the pressure data are much more complicated and only if the changes in the crystalline state at different pressures are known, we will have a better understanding of the dependence of some fundamentals in the hydrogen bonded systems. A clear example of this approach is given for urea.

Xenografting of fetal pig ventral mesencephalon corrects motor asymmetry in the rat model of Parkinson's disease

A suspension of cells from embryonic day 21 fetal pig ventral mesencephalon was transplanted into the striatum of 20 immunosuppressed rats with 6-hydroxydopamine-induced lesions of the nigrostriatal dopamine pathway. Of these rats, 15 showed reduction of amphetamine-induced ipsilateral rotation by 9 weeks and complete reversal of rotation by 14-17 weeks. Animals maintained stable reversal of rotations (contralateral direction) until cessation of Cyclosporin A (CyA) treatment at 15-20 weeks. Within 4-9 weeks after CyA removal, these rats showed exclusively ipsilateral rotations during behavioral testing which were comparable to pre-transplant levels, suggesting that the grafts were rejected upon cessation of CyA treatment. Rats were sacrificed and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunohistochemistry was performed at several time points, both on and off CyA, to examine a possible correlation between the degree of rotational behavior and the number of TH-positive surviving grafted cells. Staining showed large numbers (230-12,329) of TH-positive surviving cells in animals displaying a high degree of rotational correction (1.6 to -9.6 net ipsilateral rotations/min) after cessation of CyA treatment. Two control groups, those transplanted with non-neuronal cells from the pig ventral mesencephalon (n = 5) and those receiving only daily CyA injections (n = 4) showed no significant reduction of net ipsilateral rotations throughout the experiment. No TH-positive surviving cells were seen in the one non-neuronal transplant analyzed. This data demonstrates long-term retention of xenografted tissue with immunosuppression and its concomitant restoration of normal motor behavior in the rat model of Parkinson's disease.

Survival and function of aggregate cultures of rat fetal dopamine neurons grafted in a rat model of Parkinson's disease

The ability to maintain tissue in culture prior to grafting would greatly facilitate the widespread application of graft therapy to neurological diseases such as Parkinson's disease. However, neurons cultured on planar substrata can be easily damaged when they are removed from the substrata and redissociated for use in grafting procedures. To overcome this limitation we utilized aggregate tissue culture methods, which allowed dopamine (DA)-rich neuronal tissue to be grafted directly following culture, without an additional redissociation. Fetal rat dopamine-neuron-containing ventral mesencephalon was cultured for 9 days in rotating flasks. The cells formed many small spheres (280 microns mean diameter), each estimated to contain about 10,000 cells. Forty such aggregate spheres were injected via a 22G needle into the DA-denervated striata of host Parkinsonian rats. A significant reduction of amphetamine-induced rotation was seen onward from 6 weeks post-transplantation, with a complete reversal of rotational asymmetry by 15 weeks post-transplantation. Well placed, surviving grafts were found in all behaviorally compensated rats (N = 6). Grafts contained an average of 517 tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive neurons, as well as TH-positive fibers seen extending into the host striatum. These results suggest that aggregate culture methods are a promising means to maintain and deliver tissue for transplant therapy.

Genetics of Treponema: relationship between Treponema pallidum and five cultivable treponemes

Three genetically distinct groups of treponemes have been identified by saturation reassociation assays using 125I-labeled treponemal DNAs. The three groups are (i) virulent Treponema pallidum (Nichols strain), (ii) T. phagedenis and its biotypes Reiter and Kazan 5, and (iii) T. refringens biotypes Nichols and Noguchi. There is no detectable DNA sequence homology (less than 5%) among the three groups. The groups have distinct guanine + cytosine contents: 52.4 to 53.7% for T. pallidum, 41.5% for T. refringens, and 38 to 39% for T. phagedenis.

Characterization of human papovavirus RFV: comparison with SV40 and BKV

Human papovavirus, RFV, isolated from urine of a renal transplant patient was compared with two strains of SV40 and with the prototype human papovavirus, BKV. Neutralization tests showed that RFV and BKV are indistinguishable, while large-plaque (LP) and small-plaque(SP) isolates of SV40 gave a low but significant level of cross-reaction with rabbit or human antisera against RFV. DNA reassociation saturation tests using 125I-labelled RFV DNA show that BKV has 88% homology, and SP-SV40 has 29% homology to RFV. We conclude that RFV and BKV are nearly, if not totally, identical and are not SV40 variants.

Competent Diplococcus pneumoniae accept both single- and double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid

The transforming activity of fractionated complementary strands of Diplococcus pneumoniae deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) bands at the position of fully denatured DNA in CsCl at pH 11.0, and is completely (> 99.8%) destroyed by digestion with exonuclease-I. These results prove that pure single strands transform the normally prepared competent cells of this species. Their efficiency is about 0.5% that of native DNA of comparable size.