Cross Talk among Phytohormone Signal and Carbohydrate Metabolism Involving Regenerable Calli Induction under Osmotic Treatment

Nonregenerable calli (NRC) derived from immature seeds of japonica rice were inoculated on MS medium containing 10 μM 2,4-D (MSD10). They turned to highly regenerable calli (HRC) when sorbitol was supplemented into the medium. Meanwhile, high levels of endogenous IAA and ABA were accumulated in HRC. Exogenous IAA precursor and ABA in MSD10 have the same effect to enhance regeneration ability. However, there are only partial effects if IAA precursor or ABA was supplemented, respectively. The regeneration ability is prominently decreased from 75% to 25% while an auxin transport inhibitor, 2,3,5-triiodobenzoic acid, was included in the medium. It suggested that endogenous auxin signal and ABA may involve in the induction of HRC. Furthermore, it showed higher contents of glucose, sucrose, and starch and higher expression levels of wall-bound invertase 1, sucrose transporter 1 (OsSUT1), and OsSUT2 genes in HRC than in NRC. The expression levels of PIN-formed 1 and LEA1 were also consistent with the trend of carbohydrate metabolisms. We thus concluded a flowchart for HRC induction by osmotic stress. According to the hypothesis, osmotic stress may regulate endogenous levels of auxin interacting with ABA, then affect carbohydrate metabolism to trigger callus initiation and further shoot regeneration in rice

INVITATION: An Elderly Friendly ICT-enabled Interactive Installation to Promote Social Participations

Many countries are facing significant challenges posed by aging populations, and many of these elderly people are increasingly socially isolated, raising the need to develop senior-friendly services and settings for community life. ICT-enabled technologies can be used to help the elderly maintain adequate degrees of social participation. This paper reports the design and production of an innovative recreation installation featuring elderly friendly technologies to enhance the social lives of elderly Chinese people. The contents are composed of modernized visualization elements of traditional Chinese painting designed to engage elderly Chinese people and promote interaction and participation.</p

VI-Band Follow-Up Observations of Ultra-Long-Period Cepheid Candidates in M31

The ultra-long period Cepheids (ULPCs) are classical Cepheids with pulsation periods exceeding $\approx 80$ days. The intrinsic brightness of ULPCs are ~1 to ~3 mag brighter than their shorter period counterparts. This makes them attractive in future distance scale work to derive distances beyond the limit set by the shorter period Cepheids. We have initiated a program to search for ULPCs in M31, using the single-band data taken from the Palomar Transient Factory, and identified eight possible candidates. In this work, we presented the VI-band follow-up observations of these eight candidates. Based on our VI-band light curves of these candidates and their locations in the color-magnitude diagram and the Period-Wesenheit diagram, we verify two candidates as being truly ULPCs. The six other candidates are most likely other kinds of long-period variables. With the two confirmed M31 ULPCs, we tested the applicability of ULPCs in distance scale work by deriving the distance modulus of M31. It was found to be $\mu_{M31,ULPC}=24.30\pm0.76$ mag. The large error in the derived distance modulus, together with the large intrinsic dispersion of the Period-Wesenheit (PW) relation and the small number of ULPCs in a given host galaxy, means that the question of the suitability of ULPCs as standard candles is still open. Further work is needed to enlarge the sample of calibrating ULPCs and reduce the intrinsic dispersion of the PW relation before re-considering ULPCs as suitable distance indicators.Comment: 13 pages, with 14 Figures and 4 Tables (one online table). AJ accepte

Rapamycin attenuates PLA2R activation-mediated podocyte apoptosis via the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway

Membranous nephropathy (MN) is the most common cause of nephrotic syndrome in adults without diabetes. Primary MN has been associated with circulating antibodies against native podocyte antigens, including phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R); however, precision therapy targeting the signaling cascade of PLA2R activation is lacking. Both PLA2R and the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) exist in podocytes, but the interplay between these two proteins and their roles in MN warrants further exploration. This study aimed to investigate the crosstalk between PLA2R activation and mTOR signaling in a human podocyte cell line. We demonstrated that podocyte apoptosis was induced by Group IB secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2IB) in a concentration- and time-dependent manner via upregulation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (AKT), and mTOR, and inhibited by rapamycin or LY294002. Furthermore, aberrant activation of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway triggers both extrinsic (caspase-8 and caspase-3) and intrinsic (Bcl-2-associated X protein [BAX], B-cell lymphoma 2 [BCL-2], cytochrome c, caspase-9, and caspase-3) apoptotic cascades in podocytes. The therapeutic implications of our findings are that strategies to reduce PLA2R activation and PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway inhibition in PLA2R-activated podocytes help protect podocytes from apoptosis. The therapeutic potential of rapamycin shown in this study provides cellular evidence supporting the repurposing of rapamycin for MN treatment

Trypsin-induced proteome alteration during cell subculture in mammalian cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It is essential to subculture the cells once cultured cells reach confluence. For this, trypsin is frequently applied to dissociate adhesive cells from the substratum. However, due to the proteolytic activity of trypsin, cell surface proteins are often cleaved, which leads to dysregulation of the cell functions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, a triplicate 2D-DIGE strategy has been performed to monitor trypsin-induced proteome alterations. The differentially expressed spots were identified by MALDI-TOF MS and validated by immunoblotting.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>36 proteins are found to be differentially expressed in cells treated with trypsin, and proteins that are known to regulate cell metabolism, growth regulation, mitochondrial electron transportation and cell adhesion are down-regulated and proteins that regulate cell apoptosis are up-regulated after trypsin treatment. Further study shows that bcl-2 is down-regulated, p53 and p21 are both up-regulated after trypsinization.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In summary, this is the first report that uses the proteomic approach to thoroughly study trypsin-induced cell physiological changes and provides researchers in carrying out their experimental design.</p

Biodistribution and pharmacokinetics of 188Re-liposomes and their comparative therapeutic efficacy with 5-fluorouracil in C26 colonic peritoneal carcinomatosis mice

Chia-Che Tsai1, Chih-Hsien Chang1, Liang-Cheng Chen1, Ya-Jen Chang1, Keng-Li Lan2, Yu-Hsien Wu1, Chin-Wei Hsu1, I-Hsiang Liu1, Chung-Li Ho1, Wan-Chi Lee1, Hsiao-Chiang Ni1, Tsui-Jung Chang1, Gann Ting3, Te-Wei Lee11Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Taoyuan, 2Cancer Center, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, 3National Health Research Institutes, Taipei, Taiwan, ROCBackground: Nanoliposomes are designed as carriers capable of packaging drugs through passive targeting tumor sites by enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effects. In the present study the biodistribution, pharmacokinetics, micro single-photon emission computed tomography (micro-SPECT/CT) image, dosimetry, and therapeutic efficacy of 188Re-labeled nanoliposomes (188Re-liposomes) in a C26 colonic peritoneal carcinomatosis mouse model were evaluated.Methods: Colon carcinoma peritoneal metastatic BALB/c mice were intravenously administered 188Re-liposomes. Biodistribution and micro-SPECT/CT imaging were performed to determine the drug profile and targeting efficiency of 188Re-liposomes. Pharmacokinetics study was described by a noncompartmental model. The OLINDA|EXM&amp;reg; computer program was used for the dosimetry evaluation. For therapeutic efficacy, the survival, tumor, and ascites inhibition of mice after treatment with 188Re-liposomes and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), respectively, were evaluated and compared.Results: In biodistribution, the highest uptake of 188Re-liposomes in tumor tissues (7.91% &amp;plusmn; 2.02% of the injected dose per gram of tissue [%ID/g]) and a high tumor to muscle ratio (25.8 &amp;plusmn; 6.1) were observed at 24 hours after intravenous administration. The pharmacokinetics of 188Re-liposomes showed high circulation time and high bioavailability (mean residence time [MRT] = 19.2 hours, area under the curve [AUC] = 820.4%ID/g*h). Micro-SPECT/CT imaging of 188Re-liposomes showed a high uptake and targeting in ascites, liver, spleen, and tumor. The results were correlated with images from autoradiography and biodistribution data. Dosimetry study revealed that the 188Re-liposomes did not cause high absorbed doses in normal tissue but did in small tumors. Radiotherapeutics with 188Re-liposomes provided better survival time (increased by 34.6% of life span; P &amp;lt; 0.05), tumor and ascites inhibition (decreased by 63.4% and 83.3% at 7 days after treatment; P &amp;lt; 0.05) in mice compared with chemotherapeutics of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU).Conclusion: The use of 188Re-liposomes for passively targeted tumor therapy had greater therapeutic effect than the currently clinically applied chemotherapeutics drug 5-FU in a colonic peritoneal carcinomatosis mouse model. This result suggests that 188Re-liposomes have potential benefit and are safe in treating peritoneal carcinomatasis of colon cancer.Keywords: biodistribution, dosimetry, 5-fluorouracil, micro-SPECT/CT, 188Re-liposome

Microwave amplification via interfering multi-photon processes in a half-waveguide quantum electrodynamics system

We investigate the amplification of a microwave probe signal by a superconducting artificial atom, a transmon, strongly coupled to the end of a one-dimensional semi-infinite transmission line. The end of the transmission line acts as a mirror for microwave fields. Due to the weak anharmonicity of the artificial atom, a strong pump field creates multi-photon excitations among the dressed states. Transitions between these dressed states, Rabi sidebands, give rise to either amplification or attenuation of the weak probe. We obtain a maximum amplitude amplification of about 18 %, higher than in any previous experiment with a single artificial atom, due to constructive interference between Rabi sidebands. We also characterize the noise properties of the system by measuring the spectrum of spontaneous emission

AV-SUPERB: A Multi-Task Evaluation Benchmark for Audio-Visual Representation Models

Audio-visual representation learning aims to develop systems with human-like perception by utilizing correlation between auditory and visual information. However, current models often focus on a limited set of tasks, and generalization abilities of learned representations are unclear. To this end, we propose the AV-SUPERB benchmark that enables general-purpose evaluation of unimodal audio/visual and bimodal fusion representations on 7 datasets covering 5 audio-visual tasks in speech and audio processing. We evaluate 5 recent self-supervised models and show that none of these models generalize to all tasks, emphasizing the need for future study on improving universal model performance. In addition, we show that representations may be improved with intermediate-task fine-tuning and audio event classification with AudioSet serves as a strong intermediate task. We release our benchmark with evaluation code and a model submission platform to encourage further research in audio-visual learning.Comment: Submitted to ICASSP 2024; Evaluation Code: https://github.com/roger-tseng/av-superb Submission Platform: https://av.superbbenchmark.or

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Band-1 Receiver

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array(ALMA) Band 1 receiver covers the 35-50 GHz frequency band. Development of prototype receivers, including the key components and subsystems has been completed and two sets of prototype receivers were fully tested. We will provide an overview of the ALMA Band 1 science goals, and its requirements and design for use on the ALMA. The receiver development status will also be discussed and the infrastructure, integration, evaluation of fully-assembled band 1 receiver system will be covered. Finally, a discussion of the technical and management challenges encountered will be presented