The peroxisome proliferators-ativated receptor gamma (PPARG) gene polymorphisms and associations with body measurements of cattle

Peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor gamma (PPARG) is an important regulator in the regulation of adipose differentiation and development. The mutations of the PPARG in human had been shown to be associated with type II diabetes, fat distribution and body weight. The functional importance of the PPARG makes it a good candidate to search molecular markers in marker assistant selection in cattle breeding. All the mRNA region of the PPARG gene within 760 individuals of four Chinese cattle breeds was scanned and four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (-110G>C, -27C>T, +20A>G, +1344G>T) of the PPARG were detected in three Chinese indigenous cattle breeds (Qinchuan, Nangyang and Jiaxian cattle), rather than Chinese Holstein cattle. The mutations -110G>C, -27C>T and +20A>G located in the Exon1 of the PPARG and were under linkage disequilibrium. The individuals with these three mutations had smaller body measurements. This information could help animal scientists to develop genetic markers or biomarkers to assist with beef production.Keywords: Peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor gamma (PPARG) gene, polymorphisms, cattle, association analysi

Transformer Compression via Subspace Projection

We propose TCSP, a novel method for compressing a transformer model by focusing on reducing the hidden size of the model. By projecting the whole transform model into a subspace, we enable matrix operations between the weight matrices in the model and features in a reduced-dimensional space, leading to significant reductions in model parameters and computing resources. To establish this subspace, we decompose the feature matrix, derived from different layers of sampled data instances, into a projection matrix. For evaluation, TCSP is applied to compress T5 and BERT models on the GLUE and SQuAD benchmarks. Experimental results demonstrate that TCSP achieves a compression ratio of 44\% with at most 1.6\% degradation in accuracy, surpassing or matching prior compression methods. Furthermore, TCSP exhibits compatibility with other methods targeting filter and attention head size compression.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figure

Enhanced mechanical, thermal and flame retardant properties by combining graphene nanosheets and metal hydroxide nanorods for Acrylonitrile–Butadiene–Styrene copolymer composite

Three metal hydroxide nanorods (MHR) with uniform diameters were synthesized, and then combined with graphene nanosheets (GNS) to prepare acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) copolymer composites. An excellent dispersion of exfoliated two-dimensional (2-D) GNS and 1-D MHR in the ABS matrix was achieved. The effects of combined GNS and MHR on the mechanical, thermal and flame retardant properties of the ABS composites were investigated. With the addition of 2 wt% GNS and 4 wt% Co(OH)2, the tensile strength, bending strength and storage modulus of the ABS composites were increased by 45.1%, 40.5% and 42.3% respectively. The ABS/GNS/Co(OH)2 ternary composite shows the lowest maximum weight loss rate and highest residue yield. Noticeable reduction in the flammability was achieved with the addition of GNS and Co(OH)2, due to the formation of more continuous and compact charred layers that retarded the mass and heat transfer between the flame and the polymer matrix

Xiaoyaosan Decoction, a Traditional Chinese Medicine, Inhibits Oxidative-Stress-Induced Hippocampus Neuron Apoptosis In Vitro

Xiaoyaosan (XYS) decoction is a famous prescription for the treatment of mental disorders in China. In this experiment, we explored the way in which XYS decoction-reverse hippocampus neuron apoptosis in vitro. We used XYS decoction-containing serum to treat oxidative-stress-induced hippocampus neuron apoptosis and used immunofluorescence to determine the concentration of free calcium, mitochondrial membrane potential, and apoptotic rate of neuron. Results showed that 3-hour oxidative stress decrease mitochondrial membrane potential, increase the concentration of free calcium and apoptotic rate of neuron via triggering pathological changes of nucleus such as karyorrhexis, karyopyknosis. Low, medium, high dose of XYS-decoction-containing serum could reverse these phenomenon, and the effect of low-dose XYS-decoction-containing serum was significant in improving mitochondrial membrane potential and apoptotic rate of neuron. These findings suggest that XYS decoction may be helpful in reducing oxidative-stress-induced hippocampus neuron apoptosis

Exogenous High-Mobility Group Box 1 Protein Injection Improves Cardiac Function after Myocardial Infarction: Involvement of Wnt Signaling Activation

Exogenous high-mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1) injection could prevent left ventricular remodeling and enhance left ventricular function during myocardial infarction (MI). However, the mechanism remains unclear. This paper was to investigate in the mechanism of cardioprotection of HMGB1 during MI in rats. Anesthetized male rats were treated once with HMGB1 (200 ng) 4 h after MI and then executed after 7 and 28 days, respectively. Cardiac function, collagen deposition, and dishevelled-1 and β-catenin protein expression were measured. After MI 7 days or 28 days, the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was significantly decreased compared to that of sham-operated control group (P < 0.05). However, the LVEF HMGB1-treated groups were significantly higher compared to those of the MI group in both 7 days and 28 days (P < 0.05). The collagen volume fraction was significantly reduced in the HMGB1-treated group in infarcted border zone. HMGB1 could activate the expression of dishevelled-1 and β-catenin proteins (P < 0.05). Our study suggested that exogenous high-mobility group box 1 protein injection improves cardiac function after MI, which may be involved in Wnt/β-catenin signaling activation

Role of miR-134 in angiotensin II-induced vascular cell pathological changes in atherosclerosis

Purpose: To investigate the role of miR-134 in vascular smooth muscle cell dysfunction-related cardiovascular disease. Methods: The effect of miR-134 was evaluated after human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) were transfected with miR-134 mimics. The expression levels of p-Akt, mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR), cleaved caspase-3, p53, and β-actin were evaluated by immunoblotting. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling was used to measure cell apoptosis. Reactive oxygen species levels were assayed by fluorescence microscopy after staining with 2’,7’– dichlorofluorescein diacetate. Results: Angiotensin II treatment induced miR-134 expression and Akt/mTOR activation, and inhibited cell viability in HASMCs (p &lt; 0.01). Co-treatment with miRNA-134 reversed Ang II-induced HASMC dysfunction (p &lt; 0.01). Overexpression of miR-134 is protective in Ang II-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis via the Akt/mTOR pathway (p &lt; 0.05). Conclusion: MicroRNA-134 in HASMCs is a potential therapeutic target for preventing Ang II-induced cardiac dysfunction via modulating Akt/mTOR pathway

Expression of TLR4-MyD88 and NF-κB in the Iris during Endotoxin-Induced Uveitis

Purpose. To observe the expression of Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4), myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), and nuclear factor kappa B p65 (NF-κB p65) in iris tissue during endotoxin-induced uveitis (EIU) and evaluate the significance of these factors in uveitis. Methods. Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups (0 h, 12 h, 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h, n = 10/group). Animal model of acute anterior uveitis was established by a hind footpad injection of 200 μg Cholera vibrio LPS. Expression of TLR4, MyD88, and NF-κB p65 in iris ciliary body tissue was detected through immunohistochemical staining. Results. Expression of TLR4 was not detected in normal iris-ciliary body complex, TLR4 positive cells with round morphology appeared in the iris stroma 12 hours after injection, significantly increased (P < .001) 48 hours after injection, and decreased gradually 72 hours after injection. Expression of MyD88 and NF-κB p65 is consistent with the change of the TLR4. Conclusions. The increased expression of TLR4 and its downstream signal transduction moleculesMyD88, NF-κB p65 indicate the potential role of pathway in the pathogenesis of acute anterior uveitis (AAU)