Effect of expression levels of multidrug resistance gene related protein 1, P-glycoprotein and topoisomerase II on paclitaxel, gemcitabine and vinorelbine sensitivity in pulmonary cancer

Purpose: To investigate the possible correlation between drug resistance gene expression and development of drug sensitivity, and the possible clinical significance of this relationship. Methods: A total of 100 cancer samples were surgically obtained. MTT assay was employed to determine drug sensitivity. The expression levels of drug resistance genes, multidrug resistance generelated protein 1 (MRP1), P-glycoprotein (P-gp), and topoisomerase II (Topo II) were measured by immunohistochemistry. Results: The expression levels of MRP1, P-gp, and Topo II genes in lung cancer were 70.0, 65.0, and 50.0 %, respectively. No significant statistical differences were observed in the expressions of MRP1, Pgp, and Topo II between human adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma (p > 0.05), but a significant difference was found in MRP1 and Topo II expressions between human adenocarcinoma or squamous carcinoma cell and small-cell lung cancer (p < 0.05). A significant positive correlation was observed between P-gp expression and resistance cisplatin, gemcitabine, vinorelbine, and paclitaxel (p < 0.05). A significant positive correlation was also found between MRP1 expression and the development of resistance to cisplatin, gemcitabine, and vinorelbine (p < 0.05), but no significant correlation was observed between MRP1 expression and the development of resistance to paclitaxel and ifosfamide (p > 0.05). Conclusion: The up-regulated expression of MRP1 and P-gp, and the down-regulated expression of Topo II may be positively correlated with drug resistance in lung cancer patients. Thus, gene tests are recommended to guide the administration of chemotherap

Prisustvo stres sindroma (PSS) kod svinja rase mangulica

Porcine stress syndrome (PSS) is one kind of molecular genetics defect which will cause malignant hyperthermia syndrome in pigs. It was reported that mutation of pig rynodine receptor (RYR1) gene is the main reason for PSS. The aim of this study was to test the RYR1 genotype of 10 Mangalitsa pigs using a polymerase chain reaction-restriction endonuclease fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique, which is a reliable and simple method for RYR1 gene testing. Extraction of DNA was done by using hair follicles. The results showed that the RYR1 genotype of all the 10 porcine cases were negative. These results suggested that Mangalitsa pig could be one of the porcine breeds selectively bred for medical and clinically experiments.Stres sindrom svinja (PSS - Porcine Stress Syndrome) pripada genetskim oboljenjima svinja i može da izazove sindrom maligne hipertermije. Utvrđeno je da je mutacija rijanodin receptora (RYR1) gena svinja glavni razlog za pojavu PSS-a. Cilj ovog ogleda bio je testiranje RYR1 gena na 10 svinja rase mangulica korišćenjem PCR-restriktivnog endonukleaza testa (PCR-RFLP), koji predstavlja jednostavnu i pouzdanu tehniku za testiranje RYR1 gena. Ekstrakcija DNK je obavljena korišćenjem korena dlake svinja. Rezultati ogleda potvrđuju da je RYR1 genotip kod svih 10 svinja bio negativan. Na osnovu napred navedenog može se zaključiti da bi mangulica mogla da bude jedna od genotipova koji se koriste za medicinska i klinička ispitivanja

Overexpression of ZmIPT2 gene delays leaf senescence and improves grain yield in maize

Cytokinins (CTKs) are a major phytohormone group that are significant in the promotion of cellular division, growth, and divergence. Isopentenyl transferase (IPT) regulates a rate-limiting step in plant CTK synthesis, promotes the synthesis of isopentenyl adenonucleotides from 5-AMP and isopentenyl pyrophosphate, and then converts both these chemicals into various CTKs. Here, the full-length cDNA of ZmIPT2, which encodes 322 amino acids, was isolated and was introduced into a maize inbred line by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. In both controlled environments and field experiments, the overexpression of ZmIPT2 gene in the transformed plants delayed leaf senescence. Compared to the receptor line, the transgenic maize lines retained higher chlorophyll levels, photosynthetic rates, and cytokinin content for an extended period of time, and produced significantly higher grain yield by a margin of 17.71–20.29% under normal field planting conditions. Subsequently, ten possible genes that interacted with ZmIPT2 were analyzed by qRT-PCR, showing that the expression pattern of GRMZM2G022904 was consistent with ZmIPT2 expression. Through comprehensive analysis, we screened for transgenic lines with stable inheritance of ZmIPT2 gene, clear functional efficiency, and significant yield improvement, in order to provide theoretical basis and material support for the breeding of new high-yield transgenic maize varieties

Ecological engineering projects increased vegetation cover, production, and biomass in semiarid and subhumid Northern China

Multiple ecological engineering projects have been implemented in semiarid and subhumid Northern China since 1978 with the purpose to combat desertification, control dust storms, and improve vegetation cover. Although a plethora of local studies exist, the effectiveness of these projects has not been studied in a systematic and comprehensive way. Here, we used multiple satellite-based time-series data as well as breakpoint analysis to assess shifts in leaf area index (a proxy for green vegetation cover), gross primary production, and aboveground biomass in Northern China. We documented increased vegetation growth in northwest and southeastern parts of the region, despite drought anomalies as documented by the standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index during 1982–2016. Significant breakpoints in leaf area index were observed for over 72.5% of the southeastern and northwestern regions, and 70.6% of these breakpoints were detected after 1999, which correspond well to the areas with the highest ecological engineering efforts. Areas with negative trends were mainly located in the Inner Mongolian Plateau, Hulun Biur, Horqin Sand Land, and urban areas. The Loess Plateau had the largest increase in vegetation growth, followed by the north parts of Northern China where biomass increased more in the provinces of Shanxi, Liaoning, Shannxi, Hebei, and Beijing than Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Tianjin, and Qinghai. Our results show that multiple ecological engineering projects in the region have increased vegetation cover, production, and aboveground biomass that have led to improved environmental conditions in the study area

Protection Evaluation of a Five-Gene-Deleted African Swine Fever Virus Vaccine Candidate Against Homologous Challenge

African swine fever virus (ASFV) represents a serious threat to the global swine industry, and there are no safe or commercially available vaccines. Previous studies have demonstrated that inactivated vaccines do not provide sufficient protection against ASFV and that attenuated vaccines are effective, but raise safety concerns. Here, we first constructed a deletion mutant in which EP153R and EP402R gene clusters were knocked out. Based on the deletion mutant, a further deletion from the MGF_360-12L, MGF_360-13L to MGF_360-14L genes was obtained. The five-genes knockout virus was designated as ASFV-ΔECM3. To investigate the efficacy and safety of the ASFV-ΔECM3 virus as a vaccine candidate, the evaluation of the virus was subsequently carried out in pigs. The results showed that the ASFV-ΔECM3 virus could induce homologous protection against the parental isolate, and no significant clinical signs or viremia were observed. These results show that the contiguous deletion mutant, ASFV-ΔECM3 encompassing the EP153R/EP402R and MGF_360-12L/13L/14L genes, could be a potential live-attenuated vaccine candidate for the prevention of ASFV infection

Combinatorial Optimization for WRF Physical Parameterization Schemes: A Case Study of Three-Day Typhoon Simulations over the Northwest Pacific Ocean

Quantifying a set of suitable physics parameterization schemes for the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is essential for obtaining highly accurate typhoon forecasts. In this study, a systematic Tukey-based combinatorial optimization method was proposed to determine the optimal physics schemes of the WRF model for 15 typhoon simulations over the Northwest Pacific Ocean, covering all available schemes of microphysics (MP), cumulus (CU), and planetary boundary layer (PBL) physical processes. Results showed that 284 scheme combination searches were sufficient to find the optimal scheme combinations for simulations of track (km), central sea level pressure (CSLP, hPa), and 10 m maximum surface wind (10-m wind, m s−1), compared with the 700 sets of full combinations (i.e., 10 MP × 7 CU × 10 PBL). The decrease in the typhoon simulation error (i.e., root mean square error between simulation and observations) with this optimal scheme combination was 34%, 33.92%, and 25.67% for the track, CSLP, and 10-m wind, respectively. Overall, the results demonstrated that the optimal scheme combination yields reasonable results, and the Tukey-based optimization method is very effective and efficient in terms of computational resources