Effect of space flight factors on alfalfa seeds

To explore the effect of space flight factors on the early development of alfalfa seedling, dry seeds were placed onboard a satellite for a 15-day flight. After retrieval, the ultra structure of seed coat and the chemical content of seed were tested, followed by tests for germinate ability, seedling growth, and mitotic and chromosome aberrations. Results showed that space flight factors have both positive and negative effects on alfalfa seeds. Positive effects include: (1) A 6.2% increase in germinate potential and (2) an 80% decrease in the number of hard seed in flight seeds. Meanwhile, negative effects included a decrease of 3.0 and 33.2% in the index of germination and vigor of flight seeds, respectively, which may be partly due to the inhibition of cell mitotic (26% less than ground control) and root growth (29.0% less than ground control) after the space flight. Moreover, the DNA and Ca2+ content of alfalfa seeds increased after the space flight, while the reserve energy content of alfalfa seeds, such as saccharine and fatty acid, decreased after the space flight. Conclusively, space flight factors accelerate the germination process of alfalfa seeds but restrain the root from growing due to chromosomal damage and abnormal mitosis induced by cosmic radiation.Key words: Alfalfa, space flight factors, germination, chromosome aberration

Toxic Effects of Silica Nanoparticles on Zebrafish Embryos and Larvae

Silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) have been widely used in biomedical and biotechnological applications. Environmental exposure to nanomaterials is inevitable as they become part of our daily life. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the possible toxic effects of SiNPs exposure. In this study, zebrafish embryos were treated with SiNPs (25, 50, 100, 200 μg/mL) during 4-96 hours post fertilization (hpf). Mortality, hatching rate, malformation and whole-embryo cellular death were detected. We also measured the larval behavior to analyze whether SiNPs had adverse effects on larvae locomotor activity. The results showed that as the exposure dosages increasing, the hatching rate of zebrafish embryos was decreased while the mortality and cell death were increased. Exposure to SiNPs caused embryonic malformations, including pericardial edema, yolk sac edema, tail and head malformation. The larval behavior testing showed that the total swimming distance was decreased in a dose-dependent manner. The lower dose (25 and 50 μg/mL SiNPs) produced substantial hyperactivity while the higher doses (100 and 200 μg/mL SiNPs) elicited remarkably hypoactivity in dark periods. In summary, our data indicated that SiNPs caused embryonic developmental toxicity, resulted in persistent effects on larval behavior. © 2013 Duan et al.published_or_final_versio

Expression of plasma methylated Septin9 gene and its clinical significance in patients with gastric cancer

Background and purpose: Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in our country. The diagnosis and treatment process of gastric cancer lacks of sensitive and specific biomarker. This study aimed to explore the expression of plasma methylated Septin9 gene (mSEPT9) and its clinical significance in patients with gastric cancer. Methods: From April 2020 to November 2020, 221 patients with gastric cancer and 34 patients with no evidence of disease who visited Zhongshan Hospital Fudan University were enrolled. The status of mSEPT9 was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fluorescence probe method, and relative mSEPT9 value was determined by the ΔΔCt method. Detailed clinical data including pathological characteristics (patients characteristics and pathology characteristics) and serum biomarkers [carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen (CA)12-5, CA19-9 and CA72-4] were collected and analyzed. Paired t test, χ2 test and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were performed for statistical analysis. Results: The positive rate, sensitivity and specificity of plasma mSEPT9 were 35%, 35% and 100%, respectively in untreated patients with gastric cancer. The positive rate of mSEPT9 was higher in patients with blood vessel invasion, serosa invasion and lymphatic metastasis, which was 46.87% vs 12.50%, 45.16% vs 14.29%, 75.00% vs 40.00%, respectively (P<0.05). The positive rate of mSEPT9 was higher in progressive disease (PD) patients than in partial response (PR) and stable disease (SD) patients, which were 68.75% and 17.74%, the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). mSEPT9 level before PD and at the time of PD showed statistically significance. Conclusion: Plasma mSEPT9 detection demonstrates a more satisfactory diagnostic performance in gastric cancer than traditional serum biomarkers. The biomarker can provide information regarding severity with high positive rate among PD patients. The status and level of mSEPT9 were of clinical significance in evaluating tumor burden and predicting treatment response

Two low-power optical data transmission ASICs for the ATLAS Liquid Argon Calorimeter readout upgrade

A serializer ASIC and a VCSEL driver ASIC are needed for the front-end optical data transmission in the ATLAS liquid argon calorimeter readout phase-I upgrade. The baseline ASICs are the serializer LOCx2 and the VCSEL driver LOCld, designed in a 0.25-{\mu}m Silicon-on-Sapphire (SoS) CMOS technology and consumed 843 mW and 320 mW, respectively. Based on a 130-nm CMOS technology, we design two pin-to-pin-compatible backup ASICs, LOCx2-130 and LOCld-130. Their power consumptions are much lower then of their counterparts, whereas other performance, such as the latency, data rate, and radiation tolerance, meet the phase-I upgrade requirements. We present the design of LOCx2-130 and LOCld-130. The test results of LOCx2-130 are also presented.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure

The EU and the Catalan Crisis

List of all differentially expressed proteins (n = 45) identified in the study. (XLSX 11 kb

The Pathogenesis of Diabetes

Diabetes is the most common metabolic disorder, with an extremely serious effect on health systems worldwide. It has become a severe, chronic, non-communicable disease after cardio-cerebrovascular diseases. Currently, 90% of diabetic patients suffer from type 2 diabetes. Hyperglycemia is the main hallmark of diabetes. The function of pancreatic cells gradually declines before the onset of clinical hyperglycemia. Understanding the molecular processes involved in the development of diabetes can provide clinical care with much-needed updates. This review provides the current global state of diabetes, the mechanisms involved in glucose homeostasis and diabetic insulin resistance, and the long-chain non-coding RNA (lncRNA) associated with diabetes

Screening of endometrial cancer related to lynch syndrome in China by suction curettage-based cytology and histology: A retrospective study

Objective: To explore the feasibility of sampling Chinese patients by suction curettage for cytological and histological screening of endometrial cancer related to Lynch syndrome. Methods: This retrospective study enrolled patients who underwent endometrial biopsy at our hospital between May 2018 and January 2019. Endometrial sampling (cytological and micro-histological specimens) was conducted by suction curettage. The gold standard for diagnosis was traditional sharp dilation and curettage (D&C). The sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of cytology, micro-histology, and the combination of cytology and micro-histology were calculated. Additionally, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the diagnostic efficiency of three screening methods. Mismatch repair proteins were further detected using immunohistochemistry (IHC) in endometrial cancer. Results: This retrospective finally enrolled 100 patients, which satisfactory samples were obtained from 96 patients for liquid-based cytology and 93 patients for microtissue histology. The concordance rates with D&C, sensitivity, and specificity were 94.8%, 76.9%, and 97.5% for liquid-based cytology, 96.8%, 84.6%, and 98.8% for microtissue histology, and 99.0%, 92.3%, and 100.0% for liquid-based cytology and microtissue histology combined, respectively. The AUC of ROC curves in liquid-based cytology, microtissue histology, and the combined methods for diagnostic ability were 0.873, 0.917, and 0.962, respectively. Absence rates of MLHl, MSH2, MSH6, and PMS2 proteins were 15.3% (2/13), 0% (0/13), 7.7% (1/13), and 15.3% (2/13) in the 13 endometrial cancer samples. Conclusion: Liquid-based cytology and microtissue histology samples from suction curettage combined IHC are useful for endometrial cancer screening