Secure Communication Based on Hyperchaotic Chen System with Time-Delay

This research is partially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (61172070, 60804040), Fok Ying Tong Education Foundation Young Teacher Foundation(111065), Innovative Research Team of Shaanxi Province(2013KCT-04), The Key Basic Research Fund of Shaanxi Province (2016ZDJC-01), Chao Bai was supported by Excellent Ph.D. research fund (310-252071603) at XAUT.Peer reviewedPostprin

microRNAs in cardiac regeneration and cardiovascular disease

microRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small non-coding RNAs, which have been shown important to a wide range of biological process by post-transcriptionally regulating the expression of protein-coding genes. miRNAs have been demonstrated essential to normal cardiac development and function. Recently, numerous studies indicate miRNAs are involved in cardiac regeneration and cardiac disease, including cardiac hypertrophy, myocardial infarction and cardiac arrhythmia. These observations suggest miRNAs play important roles in cardiology. In this review, we summarize the recent progress of studying miRNAs in cardiac regeneration and cardiac disease. We also discuss the diagnostic and therapeutic potential of miRNAs in heart disease

LncEGFL7OS Regulates Human Angiogenesis by Interacting with MAX at the EGFL7/miR-126 locus

In an effort to identify human endothelial cell (EC)-enriched lncRNAs,~500 lncRNAswere shown to be highly restricted in primary human ECs. Among them,lncEGFL7OS, located inthe opposite strand of theEGFL7/miR-126gene, is regulated by ETS factors through abidirectional promoter in ECs. It is enriched in highly vascularized human tissues, and upregulatedin the hearts of dilated cardiomyopathy patients. LncEGFL7OS silencing impairs angiogenesis asshown by EC/fibroblast co-culture, in vitro/in vivo and ex vivo human choroid sproutingangiogenesis assays, while lncEGFL7OS overexpression has the opposite function. Mechanistically,lncEGFL7OS is required for MAPK and AKT pathway activation by regulating EGFL7/miR-126expression. MAX protein was identified as a lncEGFL7OS-interacting protein that functions toregulate histone acetylation in the EGFL7/miR-126 promoter/enhancer. CRISPR-mediated targetingof EGLF7/miR-126/lncEGFL7OS locus inhibits angiogenesis, inciting therapeutic potentialargeting this locus. Our study establishes lncEGFL7OS as a human/primate-specific EC-restricted lncRNA critical for human angiogenesis

Molecular cloning of dihydroflavonol 4-reductase gene from grape berry and preparation of an anti-DFR polyclonal antibody

Dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR, EC 1.1.1.219) is a key enzyme of the flavonoid pathway, which synthesizes numerous secondary metabolites to determine the quality of grape berry and wine. The full-length dfr cDNA with 1014 bp was cloned from grape berry, and then introduced into an expressed plasmid pET-30a (+) vector at the EcoR I and Xho I restriction sites. With induction of the isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactoside (IPTG), the pET-dfr was highly expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) pLysS cells. A fusion protein with the His-Tag was purified through Ni-NTA His Bind Resin and then used as the antigen to immunize a New Zealand rabbit. The resulting antiserum was further purified precipitated by 50 % saturated ammonium sulfate and DEAE-Sepharose FF chromatography to obtain the immunoglobulin G (IgG) fraction. The resulting polyclonal antibody was found capable of immuno-recognizing the DFR of the crude protein extracts from grape berry. This work undoubtedly provides the possibility for further studies on biological regulation of DFR activity in grape berry.

A Transgenic Mouse Model for DNA/RNA Gene Therapy of Human β Thalassemia

TheâIVS-2-654 C→T mutation accounts for approximately 20% of â thalassemia mutation in southern  China; it causes aberrant RNA splicing and leads to â thalassemia. To provide an animal model for testing  therapies for correcting splicing defects, we have produced two lines of transgenic mice with the human â  thalassemia mutant gene. The transgenic mice carrying this mutant gene show the same aberrant splicing  as their human counterparts and provide an animal model for testing therapies to correct splicing defects  at either the RNA or DNA level.

Two-tiered mutualism improves survival and competitiveness of cross-feeding soil bacteria.

Metabolic cross-feeding is a pervasive microbial interaction type that affects community stability and functioning and directs carbon and energy flows. The mechanisms that underlie these interactions and their association with metal/metalloid biogeochemistry, however, remain poorly understood. Here, we identified two soil bacteria, Bacillus sp. BP-3 and Delftia sp. DT-2, that engage in a two-tiered mutualism. Strain BP-3 has low utilization ability of pyruvic acid while strain DT-2 lacks hexokinase, lacks a phosphotransferase system, and is defective in glucose utilization. When strain BP-3 is grown in isolation with glucose, it releases pyruvic acid to the environment resulting in acidification and eventual self-killing. However, when strain BP-3 is grown together with strain DT-2, strain DT-2 utilizes the released pyruvic acid to meet its energy requirements, consequently rescuing strain BP-3 from pyruvic acid-induced growth inhibition. The two bacteria further enhance their collective competitiveness against other microbes by using arsenic as a weapon. Strain DT-2 reduces relatively non-toxic methylarsenate [MAs(V)] to highly toxic methylarsenite [MAs(III)], which kills or suppresses competitors, while strain BP-3 detoxifies MAs(III) by methylation to non-toxic dimethylarsenate [DMAs(V)]. These two arsenic transformations are enhanced when strains DT-2 and BP-3 are grown together. The two strains, along with their close relatives, widely co-occur in soils and their abundances increase with the soil arsenic concentration. Our results reveal that these bacterial types employ a two-tiered mutualism to ensure their collective metabolic activity and maintain their ecological competitive against other soil microbes. These findings shed light on the intricateness of bacterial interactions and their roles in ecosystem functioning

Quantum LiDAR with Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave

The range and speed of a moving object can be ascertained using the sensing technique known as light detection and ranging (LiDAR). It has recently been suggested that quantum LiDAR, which uses entangled states of light, can enhance the capabilities of LiDAR. Entangled pulsed light is used in prior quantum LiDAR approaches to assess both range and velocity at the same time using the pulses' time of flight and Doppler shift. The entangled pulsed light generation and detection, which are crucial for pulsed quantum LiDAR, are often inefficient. Here, we study a quantum LiDAR that operates on a frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW), as opposed to pulses. We first outline the design of the quantum FMCW LiDAR using entangled frequency-modulated photons in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and we demonstrate how it can increase accuracy and resolution for range and velocity measurements by $\sqrt{n}$ and $n$, respectively, with $n$ entangled photons. We also demonstrate that quantum FMCW LiDAR may perform simultaneous measurements of the range and velocity without the need for quantum pulsed compression, which is necessary in pulsed quantum LiDAR. Since the generation of entangled photons is the only inefficient nonlinear optical process needed, the quantum FMCW LiDAR is better suited for practical implementations. Additionally, most measurements in the quantum FMCW LiDAR can be carried out electronically by down-converting optical signal to microwave region