Complete synchronization of the global coupled dynamical network induced by Poisson noises - Fig 2

<p>(a-c) Responses of the systems (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0188632#pone.0188632.e022" target="_blank">11</a>) after synchronization achievement, (d) the temporal evolution of error(<i>t</i>) with <i>d</i> = 0.7.</p

Complete synchronization of the global coupled dynamical network induced by Poisson noises - Fig 3

<p>(a-c) Responses of the systems (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0188632#pone.0188632.e022" target="_blank">11</a>) after synchronization achievement, (d) the temporal evolution of error(<i>t</i>) with <i>d</i> = 1.3.</p

Chaotic attractors of system (11) after synchronization achievement.

<p>Chaotic attractors of system (<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0188632#pone.0188632.e022" target="_blank">11</a>) after synchronization achievement.</p

Sea Buckthorn Fruit Oil Extract Alleviates Insulin Resistance through the PI3K/Akt Signaling Pathway in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Cells and Rats

Sea buckthorn fruit oil is rich in palmitoleic acid (POA), which has been reported to play roles in many metabolic processes. In this study, a sea buckthorn fruit oil (SBFO) extract was evaluated through in vitro experiments (the doses were 50, 100, 200, and 400 μM) and in vivo experiments (the doses were 100, 200, and 300 mg/kg·day) to explore its mechanism of action in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The results revealed that the SBFO extract effectively increased the glucose uptake from 12.23 ± 1.09 to 14.90 ± 1.48 mmol/L in insulin resistance (IR) HepG2 cells, lowered blood glucose (the reductions rates of blood glucose in groups treated with SBFO extract at 200 and 300 mg/kg·day were 10.47% and 13.79%, respectively) and improved insulin indices from −6.11 ± 0.10 to −5.45 ± 0.31 after 4 weeks treatment with SBFO extract at 300 mg/kg·day in T2DM SD rats. RT-PCR and Western blotting analyses suggested that the SBFO extract could promote the expression of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) and glycogen synthesis (GS) while inhibiting the expression of glycogen synthesis kinase-3β (GSK-3β). Thus, the SBFO extract played a positive role in alleviating T2DM through the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in HepG2 cells, and diabetic rats and could be used for the future development of functional food and dietary supplements

Charged amino acid variability related to N-glyco -sylation and epitopes in A/H3N2 influenza: Hem -agglutinin and neuraminidase

<div><p>Background</p><p>The A/H3N2 influenza viruses circulated in humans have been shown to undergo antigenic drift, a process in which amino acid mutations result from nucleotide substitutions. There are few reports regarding the charged amino acid mutations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relations between charged amino acids, N-glycosylation and epitopes in hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA).</p><p>Methods</p><p>A total of 700 HA genes (691 NA genes) of A/H3N2 viruses were chronologically analyzed for the mutational variants in amino acid features, N-glycosylation sites and epitopes since its emergence in 1968.</p><p>Results</p><p>It was found that both the number of HA N-glycosylation sites and the electric charge of HA increased gradually up to 2016. The charges of HA and HA₁ increased respectively 1.54-fold (+7.0 /+17.8) and 1.08-fold (+8.0/+16.6) and the number of NGS in nearly doubled (7/12). As great diversities occurred in 1990s, involving Epitope A, B and D mutations, the charged amino acids in Epitopes A, B, C and D in HA₁ mutated at a high frequency in global circulating strains last decade. The charged amino acid mutations in Epitopes A (T₁₃₅K) has shown high mutability in strains near years, resulting in a decrease of NGT_135-135. Both K₁₅₈N and K₁₆₀T not only involved mutations charged in epitope B, but also caused a gain of NYT_158-160. Epitope B and its adjacent N-glycosylation site NYT_158-160 mutated more frequently, which might be under greater immune pressure than the rest.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>The charged amino acid mutations in A/H3N2 Influenza play a significant role in virus evolution, which might cause an important public health issue. Variability related to both the epitopes (A and B) and N-glycosylation is beneficial for understanding the evolutionary mechanisms, disease pathogenesis and vaccine research.</p></div

Variability of strong potential N-glycosylation sites for years^*.

<p>Variability of strong potential N-glycosylation sites for years^{<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0178231#t003fn001" target="_blank">*</a>}.</p

A set of primers of HA and NA genes of H3N2 viruses.

<p>A set of primers of HA and NA genes of H3N2 viruses.</p

Conservation of Promoter Melting Mechanisms in Divergent Regions of the Single-Subunit RNA Polymerases

The single-subunit RNA polymerases make up a widespread family of proteins found in phage, mitochondria, and chloroplasts. Unlike the phage RNAPs, the eukaryotic RNAPs require accessory factors to melt their promoters and diverge from the phage RNAPs in the regions where functions associated with promoter melting in the latter have been mapped, suggesting that promoter melting mechanisms in the eukaryotic RNAPs diverge from those in the phage enzymes. However, here we show that an element in the yeast mitochondrial RNAP, identified by sequence alignment with the T7 phage RNAP, fulfills a role in promoter melting similar to that filled by the T7RNAP “intercalating hairpin”. The yeast mitochondrial RNAP intercalating hairpin appears to be as important in promoter melting as the mitochondrial transcription factor, MTF1, and both a structurally integral hairpin and MTF1 are required to achieve high levels of transcription on a duplex promoter. Deletions from the hairpin also relieve MTF1 inhibition of promoter escape on premelted promoters, likely because such deletions disrupt interactions with the upstream edge of the transcription bubble. These results are consistent with recent structural and functional studies of human mitochondrial RNAP and further reveal the surprising extent of mechanistic conservation between the eukaryotic and phage-encoded members of the single-subunit RNAP family

Photochemistry of Ethanol on Rutile TiO₂(110): Breaking Two Bonds with One Hole

Understanding the mechanism of ethanol (EtOH) photochemistry is of significance for photocatalytic H2 production. Here, we reported a systematical study of EtOH photochemistry on rutile (R)–TiO2(110), aiming to illustrate how photogenerated holes and electrons are involved in bond breaking. We found that the yields of aldehyde from the ethoxy group and EtOH photooxidation on R–TiO2(110) are proportional to the square root of the photon flux, demonstrating that one hole can induce molecular EtOH decomposition to aldehyde. The initial O–H bond cleavage occurs mainly via a proton-coupled hole transfer process, and the C–H bond cleavage is a hole-mediated process, leaving two electrons on the surface, in agreement with the “current doubling effect”. In addition, the rate of aldehyde formation from the ethoxy group is about 3 orders of magnitude faster than that from EtOH, suggesting that the O–H bond cleavage determines the rate of EtOH photochemistry. The results may considerably broaden our understanding of TiO2 photocatalysis

Potential N-glycosylation of HA and NA genes of H3N2 viruses^a.

<p>Potential N-glycosylation of HA and NA genes of H3N2 viruses<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0178231#t002fn002" target="_blank">^a</a>.</p