(Z)-1-[(3-Cyano­phen­yl)iminiometh­yl]-2-naphtholate

The title compound, C18H12N2O, crystallizes in a zwitterionic form. The dihedral angle between the planes of the benzene ring and naphthalene ring system is 13.95 (5)°. An intra­molecular N—H⋯O inter­action results in the formation of a planar six-membered ring, which is oriented at dihedral angles of 13.50 (4) and 4.49 (4)° with respect to the benzene ring and naphthalene ring system, respectively. In the crystal structure, inter­molecular C—H⋯O and C—H⋯N inter­actions link the mol­ecules into a two-dimensional network. π–π contacts between the naphthalene systems [centroid–centroid distance = 3.974 (1) Å] may further stabilize the structure

Gravitating Global k-monopole

A gravitating global k-monopole produces a tiny gravitational field outside the core in addition to a solid angular deficit in the k-field theory. As a new feature, the gravitational field can be attractive or repulsive depending on the non-canonical kinetic term.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, references added, typos corrected, accepted by Class. Quantum Gra

N′-(2-Chloro­benzyl­idene)-3,4,5-tri­methoxy­benzohydrazide methanol solvate

In the title compound, C17H17ClN2O4·CH4O, the dihedral angle between the benzene ring planes is 5.29 (6)°. Inter­molecular N—H⋯O and O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds link the mol­ecules into a chain along the a axis

Characterization of the Akirin Gene and Its Role in the NF-κB Signaling Pathway of Sogatella furcifera

Akirin is an essential nuclear protein involved in the regulation of NF-κB signaling pathway. In most invertebrates, Akirin regulates NF-κB-related Imd and Toll pathways, however, in Drosophila, it only controls the Imd pathway, whereas its role in NF-κB signaling pathway in other insect species is unclear. In the present study, we used white-backed planthopper Sogatella furcifera as a model to investigate the functional activity of Akirin in insects. The sequence of Akirin cDNA was extracted from transcriptome database of S. furcifera; it contained a 585 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a putative protein of 194 amino acids. S. furcifera Akirin (SfAkirin) had a molecular weight of about 21.69 kDa and a theoretical pI of 8.66 and included a nuclear localization signal (NLS) of five amino acid residues at the N-terminal region. Evolutionary analysis showed that SfAkirin was evolutionary closer to Akirins of such relatively distant species as crustaceans than to those of some insect orders like Diptera and Hymenoptera. Tissue-specific expression analysis showed that the SfAkirin gene was expressed in all examined tissues, with the highest expression levels detected in the testis, followed by the ovary, whereas the lowest expression was found in the head. Real-time quantitative PCR analysis showed that SfAkirin mRNA was strongly induced in response to injection of heat-inactivated Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, whereas SfAkirin silencing by RNA interference significantly reduced the expression of NF-κB dependent transcription factors Dorsal and Relish after B. subtilis and E. coli challenge, respectively. Our results suggest that SfAkirin may control the immune response of S. furcifera against bacterial infection via both Imd and Toll signaling pathways

Trimetazidine Attenuates Cardiac Dysfunction in Endotoxemia and Sepsis by Promoting Neutrophil Migration

Aims: Cardiac dysfunction can be a fatal complication during severe sepsis. The migration of neutrophils is significantly impaired during severe sepsis. We sought to determine the role of trimetazidine (TMZ) in regulation of neutrophil migration to the heart in a mouse model of sepsis and endotoxemia, and to identify the mechanism whereby TMZ confers a survival advantage.Methods and Results: C57/BL6 mice were (1) injected with LPS followed by 24-h TMZ administration, or (2) treated with TMZ (20 mg/kg/day) for 1 week post cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) operation. Echocardiography and Millar system detection showed that TMZ alleviated cardiac dysfunction and histological staining showed the failure of neutrophils migration to heart in both LPS- and CLP-induced mice. Bone marrow transplantation revealed that TMZ-pretreated bone marrow cells improved LPS- and CLP-induced myocardial dysfunction and enhanced neutrophil recruitment in heart. In CXCL2-mediated chemotaxis assays, TMZ increased neutrophils migration via AMPK/Nrf2-dependent up-regulation of CXCR2 and inhibition of GRK2. Furthermore, using luciferase reporter gene and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays, we found that TMZ promoted the binding of the Nrf2 and CXCR2 promoter regions directly. Application of CXCR2 inhibitor completely reversed the protective effects of TMZ in vivo. Co-culture of neutrophils and cardiomyocytes further validated that TMZ decreased LPS-induced cardiomyocyte pyroptosis by targeting neutrophils.Conclusion: Our findings suggested TMZ as a potential therapeutic agent for septic or endotoxemia associated cardiac dysfunction in mice.STUDY HIGHLIGHTS What is the current knowledge on the topic?Migration of neutrophils is significantly impaired during severe sepsis, but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown.What question did this study address?The effects of TMZ on cardiac dysfunction via neutrophils migration.What this study adds to our knowledgeTMZ attenuated LPS-induced cardiomyocyte pyroptosis and cardiac dysfunction by promoting neutrophils recruitment to the heart tissues via CXCR2.How this might change clinical pharmacology or translational scienceOur findings suggested TMZ as a potential therapeutic agent for septic cardiac dysfunction

Electrical conductance study on 1,3-butadiyne-linked dinuclear ruthenium(II) complexes within single molecule break junctions

NSFC [20931006, U0934003, 91122006]; NSF of Fujian Province [2011J01065]Single-molecule conductance of three sulphur-functionalized organometallic wires with two ruthenium(II) centres spaced by 1,3-butadiyne was firstly investigated using an electrochemically assisted-mechanically controllable break junction (EC-MCBJ) approach. It is demonstrated that single-molecular conductance of these diruthenium(II) incorporated systems is significantly higher than oligo(phenylene-ethynylene) (OPE) having comparable lengths and exhibits weaker length dependence. The conductance improvement in these diruthenium(II) molecules is ascribable to the better energy match of the Fermi level of gold electrodes with the HOMO that is mainly resident on the Ru-C C-C C-Ru backbone. Furthermore, modulation of molecular conductance is achieved by changing the length and pi-conjugated system of the chelating 2,2':6',2 ''-terpyridyl ligand

Molecular Cloning of the Genes Encoding the PR55/Bβ/δ Regulatory Subunits for PP-2A and Analysis of Their Functions in Regulating Development of Goldfish, Carassius auratus

The protein phosphatase-2A (PP-2A), one of the major phosphatases in eukaryotes, is a heterotrimer, consisting of a scaffold A subunit, a catalytic C subunit and a regulatory B subunit. Previous studies have shown that besides regulating specific PP-2A activity, various B subunits encoded by more than 16 different genes, may have other functions. To explore the possible roles of the regulatory subunits of PP-2A in vertebrate development, we have cloned the PR55/B family regulatory subunits: β and δ, analyzed their tissue specific and developmental expression patterns in Goldfish ( Carassius auratus). Our results revealed that the full-length cDNA for PR55/Bβ consists of 1940 bp with an open reading frame of 1332 nucleotides coding for a deduced protein of 443 amino acids. The full length PR55/Bδ cDNA is 2163 bp containing an open reading frame of 1347 nucleotides encoding a deduced protein of 448 amino acids. The two isoforms of PR55/B display high levels of sequence identity with their counterparts in other species. The PR55/Bβ mRNA and protein are detected in brain and heart. In contrast, the PR55/Bδ is expressed in all 9 tissues examined at both mRNA and protein levels. During development of goldfish, the mRNAs for PR55/Bβ and PR55/Bδ show distinct patterns. At the protein level, PR55/Bδ is expressed at all developmental stages examined, suggesting its important role in regulating goldfish development. Expression of the PR55/Bδ anti-sense RNA leads to significant downregulation of PR55/Bδ proteins and caused severe abnormality in goldfish trunk and eye development. Together, our results suggested that PR55/Bδ plays an important role in governing normal trunk and eye formation during goldfish development