Identification of SNPs in chemerin gene and association with carcass and meat quality traits of Qinchuan Cattle

Chemerin is a novel adipokine that regulates adipogenesis and adipocyte metabolism via its own receptor. In this study, two novel SNPs (868A>G in exon 2 and 2692C>T in exon 5) of chemerin gene were identified by PCR-SSCP and DNA sequencing technology. The allele frequencies of the novel SNPs were determined in the genetically diverse bovine breeds including six Chinese indigenous cattle breeds (Caoyuan red, Jiaxian red, Luxi, Nanyang, Qinchuan and Xia’nan cattle). We evaluated the potential association of the SNPs with traits measured by ultrasound measurement in 214 Qinchuan individuals. Furthermore, meat quality traits data gotten from carcass measurement in another 69 Qinchuan individuals were analyzed by the comparison between the genotypes and their phenotypic data. Results showed that SNP 868A>G had a significant association with the ultrasound loin-muscle area (P < 0.05), loin-eye area and water holding capability (P < 0.05). And also revealed significant effects of genotype on the ultrasound backfat thickness (P < 0.05), backfat thickness and water holding capability (P < 0.05) of SNP 2692C>T. It was shown that associations do exist between chemerin gene and carcass and meat quality traits. As a result of the small sample size of this study, it is proposed that further effort is required to validate these findings in larger populations. It could be concluded that ultrasound measurements are similar in accuracy to carcass measurements for predicting carcass and meat quality traits in cattle, and could be a useful predictor of retail yield in live animals.Keywords: Bos bovine, chemerin gene, PCR-SSCP, SNP, meat quality trait

Risk Factors Associated with Pain Severity in Patients with Non-specific Low Back Pain in Southern China

Study Design A prospective cross-sectional study. Purpose To evaluate the risk factors associated with the severity of pain intensity in patients with non-specific low back pain (NSLBP) in Southern China. Overview of Literature Low back pain (LBP) is the leading cause of activity limitation and work absence throughout the world, so a firm understanding of the risk factor associated with NSLBP can provide early and prompt interventions that are aimed at attaining long-term results. Methods Participants were recruited from January 2014 to January 2016 and were surveyed using a self-designed questionnaire. Anonymous assessments included Short Form 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The association between the severity of NSLBP and these potential risk factors were evaluated. Results A total of 1,046 NSLBP patients were enrolled. The patients with primary school education, high body mass index (BMI), those exposed to sustained durations of driving and sitting, smoking, recurrent LBP had increased VAS and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores with lower SF-36 scores (p 10 kg objects in a quarter of their work time for >10 years had higher VAS and ODI scores with lower SF-36 scores (p <0.01). Multiple logistic regression showed lower levels of education, LBP for 1–7 days, long-lasting LBP in last year, smoking, long duration driving, and higher BMI were associated with more severe VAS score. Conclusions The severity of NSLBP is associated with lower levels of education, poor standards of living, heavy physical labor, long duration driving, and sedentary lifestyle. Patients with recurrent NSLBP have more severe pain. Reducing rates of obesity, the duration of heavy physical work, driving or riding, and attenuating the prevalence of sedentary lifestyles and smoking may reduce the prevalence of NSLBP

Abscisic acid induced a negative geotropic response in dark-incubated Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

© 2019, The Author(s). The phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) plays a role in stresses that alter plant water status and may also regulate root gravitropism and hydrotropism. ABA also exists in the aquatic algal progenitors of land plants, but other than its involvement in stress responses, its physiological role in these microorganisms remains elusive. We show that exogenous ABA significantly altered the HCO3− uptake of Chamydomonas reinhardtii in a light-intensity-dependent manner. In high light ABA enhanced HCO3− uptake, while under low light uptake was diminished. In the dark, ABA induced a negative geotropic movement of the algae to an extent dependent on the time of sampling during the light/dark cycle. The algae also showed a differential, light-dependent directional taxis response to a fixed ABA source, moving horizontally towards the source in the light and away in the dark. We conclude that light and ABA signal competitively in order for algae to position themselves in the water column to minimise photo-oxidative stress and optimise photosynthetic efficiency. We suggest that the development of this response mechanism in motile algae may have been an important step in the evolution of terrestrial plants and that its retention therein strongly implicates ABA in the regulation of their relevant tropisms

Designated Confirmer Signatures With Unified Verification

After the introduction of designated confirmer signatures (DCS) by Chaum in 1994, considerable researches have been done to build generic schemes from standard digital signatures and construct efficient concrete solutions. In DCS schemes, a signature cannot be verified without the help of either the signer or a semi-trusted third party, called the designated confirmer. If necessary, the confirmer can further convert a DCS into an ordinary signature that is publicly verifiable. However, there is one limit in most existing schemes: the signer is not given the ability to disavow invalid DCS signatures. Motivated by this observation, in this paper we first propose a new variant of DCS model, called designated confirmer signatures with unified verification, in which both the signer and the designated confirmer can run the same protocols to confirm a valid DCS or disavow an invalid signature. Then, we present the first DCS scheme with unified verification and prove its security in the random oracle (RO) model and under a new computational assumption, called Decisional Co-efficient Linear (D-co-L) assumption, whose intractability in pairing settings is shown to be equivalent to the well-known Decisional Bilinear Diffie-Hellman (DBDH) assumption. The proposed scheme is constructed by encrypting Boneh, Lynn and Shacham’s pairing based short signatures with signed ElGamal encryption. The resulting solution is efficient in both aspects of computation and communication. In addition, we point out that the proposed concept can be generalized by allowing the signer to run different protocols for confirming and disavowing signatures

On the invisibility of designated confirmer signatures

As an important cryptographic primitive, designated con- rmer signatures are introduced to control the public veria- bility of signatures. That is, only the signer or a semi-trusted party, called designated conrmer, can interactively assist a verier to check the validity of a designated conrmer sig- nature. The central security property of a designated con- rmer signature scheme is called invisibility, which requires that even an adaptive adversary cannot determine the valid- ity of an alleged signature without direct cooperation from either the signer or the designated conrmer. However, in the literature researchers have proposed two other related properties, called impersonation and transcript simulatabil- ity, though the relations between them are not clear. In this paper, we rst explore the relations among these three invisi- bility related concepts and conclude that invisibility, imper- sonation and transcript simulatability forms an increasing stronger order. After that, we turn to study the invisibil- ity of two designated conrmer signature schemes recently presented by Zhang et al. and Wei et al. By demonstrating concrete and eective attacks, we show that both of those two scheme fail to meet invisibility, the central security prop- erty of designated conrmer signatures

on the invisibility of designated confirmer signatures

ACM Spec. Interest Group Secur., Audit, Control (SIGSAC)As an important cryptographic primitive, designated confirmer signatures are introduced to control the public verifiability of signatures. That is, only the signer or a semi-trusted party, called designated confirmer, can interactively assist a verifier to check the validity of a designated confirmer signature. The central security property of a designated confirmer signature scheme is called invisibility, which requires that even an adaptive adversary cannot determine the validity of an alleged signature without direct cooperation from either the signer or the designated confirmer. However, in the literature researchers have proposed two other related properties, called impersonation and transcript simulatability, though the relations between them are not clear. In this paper, we first explore the relations among these three invisibility related concepts and conclude that invisibility, impersonation and transcript simulatability forms an increasing stronger order. After that, we turn to study the invisibility of two designated confirmer signature schemes recently presented by Zhang et al. and Wei et al. By demonstrating concrete and effective attacks, we show that both of those two scheme fail to meet invisibility, the central security property of designated confirmer signatures. Copyright 2011 ACM