Tonicity-responsive microRNAs contribute to the maximal induction of osmoregulatory transcription factor OREBP in response to high-NaCl hypertonicity

Osmotic response element binding protein (OREBP) is a Rel-like transcription factor critical for cellular osmoresponses. Previous studies suggest that hypertonicity-induced accumulation of OREBP protein might be mediated by transcription activation as well as posttranscriptional mRNA stabilization or increased translation. However, the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely elucidated. Here, we report that microRNAs (miRNAs) play critical regulatory roles in hypertonicity-induced induction of OREBP. In renal medullary epithelial mIMCD3 cells, hypertonicity greatly stimulates the activity of the 3′-untranslated region of OREBP (OREBP-3′UTR). Furthermore, overexpression of OREBP-3′UTR or depletion of miRNAs by knocking-down Dicer greatly increases OREBP protein expression. On the other hand, significant alterations in miRNA expression occur rapidly in response to high NaCl exposure, with miR-200b and miR-717 being most significantly down-regulated. Moreover, increased miR-200b or miR-717 causes significant down-regulation of mRNA, protein and transcription activity of OREBP, whereas inhibition of miRNAs or disruption of the miRNA–3′UTR interactions abrogates the silencing effects. In vivo in mouse renal medulla, miR-200b and miR-717 are found to function to tune OREBP in response to renal tonicity alterations. Together, our results support the notion that miRNAs contribute to the maximal induction of OREBP to participate in cellular responses to osmotic stress in mammalian renal cells

A polynomial-time approximation scheme for parallel two-stage flowshops under makespan constraint

As a hybrid of the Parallel Two-stage Flowshop problem and the Multiple Knapsack problem, we investigate the scheduling of parallel two-stage flowshops under makespan constraint, which was motivated by applications in cloud computing and introduced by Chen et al. [3] recently. A set of two-stage jobs are selected and scheduled on parallel two-stage flowshops to achieve the maximum total profit while maintaining the given makespan constraint. We give a positive answer to an open question about its approximability proposed by Chen et al. [3]. More specifically, based on guessing strategies and rounding techniques for linear programs, we present a polynomial-time approximation scheme (PTAS) for the case when the number of flowshops is a fixed constant.Comment: Theoretical Computer Science (2022

The Steiner Traveling Salesman Problem With Online Edge Blockages

We consider the online Steiner Traveling Salesman Problem. In this problem, we are given an edge-weighted graph G = (V, E) and a subset D⊆V of destination vertices, with the optimization goal to find a minimum weight closed tour that traverses every destination vertex of D at least once. During the traversal, the salesman could encounter at most k non-recoverable blocked edges. The edge blockages are real-time, meaning that the salesman knows about a blocked edge whenever it occurs. We first show a lower bound on the competitive ratio and present an online optimal algorithm for the problem. While this optimal algorithm has non-polynomial running time, we present another online polynomial-time near optimal algorithm for the problem. Experimental results show that our online polynomial-time algorithm produces solutions very close to the offline optimal solutions

Pancytopenia as an initial manifestation of hypothyroidism: a case report

Hypothyroidism is not only involved with multiple organs and systems， but also the hematopoietic system. Anemia is the most common hematological involvement， whereas the influence of other cell lines is extremely rare. In this article， the diagnosis and treatment of a 55-year-old female patient with hypothyroidism presenting with pancytopenia as the initial manifestation were reported， and relevant literature review was conducted， aiming to improve clinicians’ diagnosis and treatment levels for this disease

The Third-Order Elastic Constants and Mechanical Properties of 30° Partial Dislocation in Germanium: A Study from the First-Principles Calculations and the Improved Peierls–Nabarro Model

The elastic constants, core width and Peierls stress of 30° partial dislocation in germanium has been investigated based on the first-principles calculations and the improved Peierls–Nabarro model. Our results suggest that the predictions of lattice constant and elastic constants given by LDA are in better agreement with experiment results. While the lattice constant is overestimated at about 2.4% and most elastic constants are underestimated at about 20% by the GGA method. Furthermore, when the applied deformation is larger than 2%, the nonlinear elastic effects should be considered. And with the Lagrangian strains up to 8%, taking into account the third-order terms in the energy expansion is sufficient. Except the original γ—surface generally used before (given by the first-principles calculations directly), the effective γ—surface proposed by Kamimura et al. derived from the original one is also used to study the Peierls stress. The research results show that when the intrinsic−stacking−fault energy (ISFE) is very low relative to the unstable−stacking−fault energy (USFE), the difference between the original γ—surface and the effective γ—surface is inapparent and there is nearly no difference between the results of Peierls stresses calculated from these two kinds of γ—surfaces. As a result, the original γ—surface can be directly used to study the core width and Peierls stress when the ratio of ISFE to the USFE is small. Since the negligence of the discrete effect and the contribution of strain energy to the dislocation energy, the Peierls stress given by the classical Peierls–Nabarro model is about one order of magnitude larger than that given by the improved Peierls–Nabarro model. The result of Peierls stress estimated by the improved Peierls–Nabarro model agrees well with the 2~3 GPa reported in the book of Solid State Physics edited by F. Seitz and D. Turnbull

Conducting Polyaniline/Au Nanorods Composite Film for High-Performance Electrochromic Device

Conducting polymers are promising candidate materials in next-generation electrochromic applications due to their multicolour changes, flexible and large-scale production capability; however, poor cycling stability and relatively low optical modulation limit their widespread application. In this article, a simple electrochemical deposition method is used to create a polyaniline (PANI)/Au nanorods composite electrochromic film on ITO glass as an electrode. This PANI/Au nanorods composite film has better electrochromic properties than the straight PANI film. Moreover, the electrochromic device (ECD) was successfully fabricated by PANI/Au nanorods composite film as anode and poly(3,4-ethyloxylthiophene) as the cathode. This resultant device exhibits perfect electrochromic performance, including higher optical modulation (56%), a faster response time (0.6 s for bleaching and 0.9 s for colouring) and good cycling stability (sustained 85% after 6750 cycles). Notably, the geometric structure of the film is formed by the Au nanorods coated with PANI, which not only can provide transport channel and ion storage space but also improving the conductivity. In addition, the composite structure can provide larger surface area and benefit the electrolyte ions insertion and extraction from the composite electrode film. The rational design of stacking nanocomposites on electrodes may be a useful method for fabricating high-performance ECDs

Controllable Preparation to Boost High Performance of Nanotubular SiO₂@C as Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries

Due to poor electrical conductivity and significant volume change during the lithiation/delithiation process, the application of silica anode materials for lithium-ion batteries is severely limited. Here, SiO2 nanotubes with a uniform and complete carbon layer were prepared employing ZnO nanorods as templates. The controllable wall thickness of SiO2 nanotubes is about 11 nm, and the thinner wall reduces the lithium-ion diffusion distance and boosts performance. The uniform and complete carbon layer leads to a perfect dispersity of SiO2 nanotubes, enhances the overall electrical conductivity, and also buffers the mechanical stresses caused by volume change, which helps to exhibit high specific capacity and a long cycle life. The nanotubular SiO2@C composite reveals a high discharge specific capacity of about 526.3 mAh g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1 after 500 cycles without significant capacity fade. In addition, it demonstrates excellent rate performance, which can maintain above 420 mAh g−1 even at a current density of 5 A g−1. The strategy may be adopted to prepare other anode materials as well

Insufficient sleep during infancy is correlated with excessive weight gain in childhood:a longitudinal twin cohort study

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To examine total sleep duration in infancy and the associations of insufficient sleep duration with later weight gain and the risk of overweight in a longitudinal twin cohort study. METHODS: The data for this study are from the Longitudinal Twin Study (LoTiS), a twin-pregnancy birth cohort study that was carried out in China (n = 186 pairs). The sleep data were collected at 6 months using the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire that was completed by parents with the assistance of a research assistant. Anthropometric data were obtained from the children’s health clinic records at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between infants with insufficient sleep and those with sufficient sleep in terms of height, weight, body mass index, incidence of overweight, and body fat mass, while infants with insufficient sleep duration were predisposed to gain excessive weight from 6 to 12 and 6 to 18 months of age (all P < .05). After adjusting for confounding variables, insufficient sleep duration was found to be correlated with excessive weight gain from 6 to 18 months of age (odds ratio: 3.47; 95% confidence interval, 1.23–9.78). The relationship was more pronounced in monozygotic twins than in dizygotic twins. CONCLUSIONS: Insufficient total sleep duration at the age of 6 months is correlated with the risk of excessive weight gain at 18 months of age in twins, particularly in monozygotic twins. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: Registry: Chinese Clinical Trial Register; Name: Unraveling the complex interplay between genes and environment in specifying early life determinants of illness in infancy: a longitudinal prenatal study of Chinese Twins. URL: http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=13839; Identifier: ChiCTR-OOC-16008203. CITATION: Yu J, Jin H, Wen L, et al. Insufficient sleep during infancy is correlated with excessive weight gain in childhood: a longitudinal twin cohort study. J Clin Sleep Med. 2021;17(11):2147–2154