Tests for Cosmological Evolution of a Brane Universe Model

The relativistic Friedmann Lemaitre cosmology model (FLCM) is very sucessful to describe the evolution history of the Universe from the " First three Minutes". Any alternative model should be consistent with the FLCM explanations to the later stage evolutions of the Universe at certain points. An noncompact extra dimension model was recently proposed by Randall and Sundrum. Binetruy et al. obtained the modified Friedmann equation, in which the energy density of the brane appears quadratically in contrast with the linear behavior of the standard Friedmann equation. We investigate kinds of classical cosmological effects of the new models and get a general solution of the cosmic evolution for this extended model, with more detail discussions of the brane tension parameter on these cosmological tests.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, to appear in IJMP

Influences of phase transition and microstructure on dielectric properties of Bi0.5Na0.5Zr1-xTixO3 ceramics

Bismuth sodium zirconate titanate ceramics with the formula Bi0.5Na0.5Zr1-xTixO3 [BNZT], where x = 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, and 0.6, were prepared by a conventional solid-state sintering method. Phase identification was investigated using an X-ray diffraction technique. All compositions exhibited complete solubility of Ti4+ at the Zr4+ site. Both a decrease of unit cell size and phase transition from an orthorhombic Zr-rich composition to a rhombohedral crystal structure in a Ti-rich composition were observed as a result of Ti4+ substitution. These changes caused dielectric properties of BNZT ceramics to enhance. Microstructural observation carried out employing SEM showed that average grain size decreased when addition of Ti increased. Grain size difference of BNZT above 0.4 mole fraction of Ti4+ displayed a significant increase of dielectric constant at room temperature

Construction of a Vibrio alginolyticus hopPmaJ (hop) mutant and evaluation of its potential as a live attenuated vaccine in orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides)

Vibrio alginolyticus, a bacterial pathogen in fish and humans, expresses a type III secretion system (T3SS) that is critical for pathogen virulence and disease development. However, little is known about the associated effectors (T3SEs) and their physiological role. In this study, the T3SE gene hopPmaJ (hop) was cloned from V. alginolyticus wild-type strain HY9901 and the mutant strain HY9901Δhop was constructed by the in-frame deletion method. The results showed that the deduced amino acid sequence of V. alginolyticus HopPmaJ shared 78–98% homology with other Vibrio spp. In addition, the HY9901Δhop mutant showed an attenuated swarming phenotype and a 2600-fold decrease in the virulence to grouper. However, the HY9901Δhop mutant showed no difference in morphology, growth, biofilm formation and ECPase activity. Finally, grouper vaccinated via intraperitoneal (IP) injection with HY9901Δhop induced a high antibody titer with a relative percent survival (RPS) value of 84% after challenging with the wild-type HY9901. Real-time PCR assays showed that vaccination with HY9901Δhop enhanced the expression of immune-related genes, including MHC-Iα, MHC-IIα, IgM, and IL-1β after vaccination, indicating that it is able to induce humoral and cell-mediated immune response in grouper. These results demonstrate that the HY9901Δhop mutant could be used as an effective live vaccine to combat V. alginolyticus in grouper

Growth, Nutrient Uptake, and Foliar Gas Exchange in Pepper Cultured with Un-composted Fresh Spent Mushroom Residue

Spent mushroom substrate (SMS) can be used as the component of growing medium for the culture of crop plants. Fresh SMS may have the potential as an alternative to peat to raise horticultural plants. In this study, five container media characterized by the proportions of SMS to commercial peat in 0% (control), 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% were used to raise pepper (Capsicum annum L.) plants. Initial SMS was found to have low available nitrogen (N) content (<20 mg kg-1) but moderate extractable phosphorus (P) content (900 mg kg-1). In the second month photosynthetic rate was found to decline in the 75% treatment. At harvest in the third month, plants in the 100% treatment nearly died out. The 25% treatment resulted in the highest height (19 cm) and diameter growth (0.3 cm), shoot (0.6 g) and root biomass accumulation (0.13 g), fruit weight (3 g), and shoot carbohydrate content (98 mg g-1), but lowest foliar acid phosphatase activity (30 µg NPP g-1 FW min-1). With the increase of SMS proportion in the substrate, the medium pH and electrical conductance (EC) increased with the decrease of foliar size. The available N and P contents in the substrates showed contrasting relationship with N and P contents in pepper plants. Therefore, fresh SMS cannot be directly used as the substrate for the culture of pepper plants. According to our findings fresh SMS was recommended to be mixed in the proportion of 25% with commercial peat for the culture of horticultural plants

LncRNA TP73-AS1 Promotes Cell Proliferation and Inhibits Cell Apoptosis in Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma Through Repressing KISS1 Expression and Inactivation of PI3K/Akt/mTOR Signaling Pathway

Background/Aims: Emerging evidence suggests that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a vital regulatory role in the pathogenesis and progression of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We aim to determine lncRNA profiles in clear cell RCC (ccRCC) and investigate key lncRNAs involved in ccRCC tumorigenesis and progression. Methods: RNA sequencing technique and qPCR were used to determine the candidate lncRNAs in ccRCC tissues. The correlations between lncRNA P73 antisense RNA 1T (TP73-AS1) levels and survival outcomes were analyzed to elucidate its clinical significance. The underlying mechanisms of TP73-AS1 in ccRCC were analyzed through in vitro functional assays. Results: We found TP73-AS1 was upregulated in 40 ccRCC tissues compared with adjacent normal renal tissues and increased TP73-AS1 was correlated to aggressive clinicopathologic features and unfavorable prognosis. Knockdown of TP73-AS1 suppressed cell proliferation, invasion and induced cell apoptosis. We also identified KISS-1 metastasis-suppressor (KISS1) was significantly upregulated in TP73-AS1 knockdown cells. Further, we revealed that TP73-AS1 suppressed KISS1 expression through the interaction with Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) and the specific binding to KISS1 gene promoter region. Knockdown of KISS1 partly reversed TP73-AS1 knockdown-induced inhibition of cell proliferation and promotion of apoptosis. We further determined that TP73-AS1 knockdown activated PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway, while overexpression of TP73-AS1 induced inhibition of PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway and these effects could be partly abolished by overexpression of KISS1. Conclusion: In conclusion, we identified that TP73-AS1 as an oncogenic lncRNA in the development of ccRCC and a potential target for human renal carcinoma treatment

Preferential Generation of 15-HETE-PE Induced by IL-13 Regulates Goblet Cell Differentiation in Human Airway Epithelial Cells

Type 2–associated goblet cell hyperplasia and mucus hypersecretion are well known features of asthma. 15-Lipoxygenase-1 (15LO1) is induced by the type 2 cytokine IL-13 in human airway epithelial cells (HAECs) in vitro and is increased in fresh asthmatic HAECs ex vivo. 15LO1 generates a variety of products, including 15-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (15-HETE), 15-HETE-phosphatidylethanolamine (15-HETE-PE), and 13-hydroxyoctadecadienoic acid (13-HODE). In this study, we investigated the 15LO1 metabolite profile at baseline and after IL-13 treatment, as well as its influence on goblet cell differentiation in HAECs. Primary HAECs obtained from bronchial brushings of asthmatic and healthy subjects were cultured under air–liquid interface culture supplemented with arachidonic acid and linoleic acid (10 μM each) and exposed to IL-13 for 7 days. Short interfering RNA transfection and 15LO1 inhibition were applied to suppress 15LO1 expression and activity. IL-13 stimulation induced expression of 15LO1 and preferentially generated 15-HETE-PE in vitro, both of which persisted after removal of IL-13. 15LO1 inhibition (by short interfering RNA and chemical inhibitor) decreased IL-13–induced forkhead box protein A3 (FOXA3) expression and enhanced FOXA2 expression. These changes were associated with reductions in both mucin 5AC and periostin. Exogenous 15-HETE-PE stimulation (alone) recapitulated IL-13–induced FOXA3, mucin 5AC, and periostin expression. The results of this study confirm the central importance of 15LO1 and its primary product, 15-HETE-PE, for epithelial cell remodeling in HAEC

Comparative transcriptome analysis of PBMC from HIV patients pre- and post-antiretroviral therapy

Infections of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) trigger host immune responses, but the virus can destroy the immune system and cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) can suppress viral replication and restore the impaired immune function. To understand HIV interactions with host immune cells during HAART, the transcriptomes of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from HIV patients and HIV negative volunteers before and two weeks after HAART initiation were analyzed using RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) technology. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in response to HAART were firstly identified for each individual, then common features were extracted by comparing DEGs among individuals and finally HIV-related DEGs were obtained by comparing DEGs between the HIV patients and HIV negative volunteers. To demonstrate the power of this approach, minimum numbers of patients (one HIV alone; one HIV + tuberculosis, TB; one HIV + TB with immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome during HAART) and two HIV negative volunteers were used. More than 15,000 gene transcripts were detected in each individual sample. Fourteen HAART up-regulated and eleven down-regulated DEGs were specifically identified in the HIV patients. Among them, nine up-regulated (CXCL1, S100P, AQP9, BASP1, MMP9, SOD2, LIMK2, IL1R2 and BCL2A1) and nine down-regulated DEGs (CD160, CD244, CX3CR1, IFIT1, IFI27, IFI44, IFI44L, MX1 and SIGLEC1) have already been reported as relevant to HIV infections in the literature, which demonstrates the credibility of the method. The newly identified HIV-related genes (up-regulated: ACSL1, GPR84, GPR97, ADM, LRG1; down-regulated: RASSF1, PATL2) were empirically validated using qRT-PCR. The Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was also used to determine pathways significantly affected by HAART. GSEA further confirmed the HAART relevance of five genes (ADM, AQP9, BASP1, IL1R2 and MMP9). The newly identified HIV-related genes, ADM (which encodes Adrenomedullin), a peptide hormone in circulation control, may contribute to HIV-associated hypertensions, providing new insights into HIV pathology and novel strategies for developing anti-HIV target. More importantly, we demonstrated that comparative transcriptome analysis is a very powerful tool to identify infection related DEGs using a very small number of samples. This approach could be easily applied to improve the understanding of pathogen-host interactions in many infections and anti-infection treatments

Amine-Assisted Synthesis of Concave Polyhedral Platinum Nanocrystals Having {411} High-Index Facets

通讯作者地址: Zheng, NF (通讯作者), Xiamen Univ, State Key Lab Phys Chem Solid Surfaces, Xiamen 361005, Peoples R China 地址: 1. Xiamen Univ, State Key Lab Phys Chem Solid Surfaces, Xiamen 361005, Peoples R China 2. Xiamen Univ, Dept Chem, Coll Chem & Chem Engn, Xiamen 361005, Peoples R China 电子邮件地址: [email protected] surfaces of a face-centered cubic metal (e.g., Pd, Pt) have a high density of low-coordinated surface atoms and therefore possess enhanced catalysis activity in comparison with low-index faces. However, because of their high surface energy, the challenge of chemically preparing metal nanocrystals having high-index facets remains. We demonstrate in this work that introducing amines as the surface controller allows concave Pt nanocrystals having {411} high-index facets to be prepared through a facile wet-chemical route. The as-prepared Pt nanocrystals display a unique octapod morphology with {411} facets. The presence of high-index {411} exposed facets endows the concave Pt nanocrystals with excellent electrocatalytic activity in the oxidation of both formic acid and ethanol.NSFC 21021061 20925103 20923004 20871100 Fok Ying Tung Education Foundation 121011 MOST of China 2011CB932403 2009CB930703 NFFTBS J1030415 NSF of Fujian Province 2009J06005 Key Scientific Project of Fujian Province 2009HZ0002-