Down-regulation of NRIP1 alleviates pyroptosis in human lens epithelial cells exposed to hydrogen peroxide by inhibiting NF-κB activation

Purpose: To investigate the role of nuclear receptor-interacting protein 1 (NRIP1) in oxidative stressinduced apoptosis and pyroptosis in cataract disease.Methods: Human lens epithelial cells (HLE-B3 cells) were exposed to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). NRIP1 expression in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-treated HLE-B3 cells was determined by western blotting and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). CCK8 and EdU staining were used to assess cell viability. Flow cytometry and western blotting were used to assess pyroptosis.Results: NRIP1 was significantly up-regulated in HLE-B3 cells post-H2O2 incubation (p < 0.01). Hydrogen peroxide incubation reduced cell viability and proliferation of HLE-B3 cells, while NRIP1 knockdown enhanced cell viability and proliferation. NRIP1 silencing attenuated the H2O2-induced increase in NLRP3, N-terminal domain of gasdermin D, caspase-1, interleukin (IL)-1β, and IL-18 in HLEB3 cells, but suppressed the pyroptosis of H2O2-treated HLE-B3 cells. Hydrogen peroxide incubation down-regulated protein expression of cytoplasmic NF-κB and up-regulated nuclear NF-κB, while the expression of cytoplasmic NF-κB was increased and nuclear NF-κB was decreased in HLE-B3 cells by HLE-B3 interference.Conclusion: NRIP1 down-regulation represses apoptosis and pyroptosis of H2O2-treated human lens epithelial cells by inhibiting NF-κB activation, thus, providing a potential strategy to treat cataract disease

Study on the visible-light-induced photokilling effect of nitrogen-doped TiO2 nanoparticles on cancer cells

Nitrogen-doped TiO2 (N-TiO2) nanoparticles were prepared by calcining the anatase TiO2 nanoparticles under ammonia atmosphere. The N-TiO2 showed higher absorbance in the visible region than the pure TiO2. The cytotoxicity and visible-light-induced phototoxicity of the pure- and N-TiO2 were examined for three types of cancer cell lines. No significant cytotoxicity was detected. However, the visible-light-induced photokilling effects on cells were observed. The survival fraction of the cells decreased with the increased incubation concentration of the nanoparticles. The cancer cells incubated with N-TiO2 were killed more effectively than that with the pure TiO2. The reactive oxygen species was found to play an important role on the photokilling effect for cells. Furthermore, the intracellular distributions of N-TiO2 nanoparticles were examined by laser scanning confocal microscopy. The co-localization of N-TiO2 nanoparticles with nuclei or Golgi complexes was observed. The aberrant nuclear morphologies such as micronuclei were detected after the N-TiO2-treated cells were irradiated by the visible light

Association study of monoamine oxidase A/B genes and schizophrenia in Han Chinese

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Monoamine oxidases (MAOs) catalyze the metabolism of dopaminergic neurotransmitters. Polymorphisms of isoforms MAOA and MAOB have been implicated in the etiology of mental disorders such as schizophrenia. Association studies detected these polymorphisms in several populations, however the data have not been conclusive to date. Here, we investigated the association of <it>MAOA </it>and <it>MAOB </it>polymorphisms with schizophrenia in a Han Chinese population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs6323 of <it>MAOA </it>and rs1799836 of <it>MAOB</it>, were selected for association analysis in 537 unrelated schizophrenia patients and 536 healthy controls. Single-locus and Haplotype associations were calculated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>No differences were found in the allelic distribution of rs6323. The G allele of rs1799836 was identified as a risk factor in the development of schizophrenia (<it>P </it>= 0.00001). The risk haplotype rs6323T-rs1799836G was associated with schizophrenia in female patients (<it>P </it>= 0.0002), but the frequency difference was not significant among male groups.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results suggest that <it>MAOB </it>is a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia. In contrast, no significant associations were observed for the <it>MAOA </it>functional polymorphism with schizophrenia in Han Chinese. These data support further investigation of the role of MAO genes in schizophrenia.</p

A Reputation-based Mechanism to Stimulate Cooperation in Wireless Sensor Networks

In wireless sensor networks, the sensor nodes need to collaborate with each other to transmit packets to the destination. However, some malicious nodes are not cooperative. The paper introduces a new reputation-based mechanism to stimulate nodes to forward packets for other nodes and enforce the security of the networks. All nodes are encouraged to maintain a good reputation so that their packets can be forwarded by other nodes, and a node will be isolated and punished if it acts maliciously. The impact of collisions and interference on nodes' reputation is reduced, and nodes can have chance to restore cooperation after being mistaken for the selfish ones. The low competitive nodes that do not have enough energy to help other nodes can also be treated well. While searching a route to the destination, the factors of reputation, remaining energy and the distance to the destination are taken into consideration. Simulation results show that our strategy can achieve relatively high throughput even when there are malicious nodes in the networks

Realization of corner and helical edge states in topologically trivial band gap by twig edge

The twig edge states in graphene-like structures are viewed as the fourth states complementary to their zigzag, bearded, and armchair counterparts. In this work, we study a rod-in-plasma system in honeycomb lattice with twig edges under external magnetic fields and lattice scaling and show that twig edge states can exist in different phases of the system, such as quantum Hall phase, quantum spin Hall phase and insulating phase. The twig edge states in the quantum Hall phase exhibit robust one-way transmission property immune to backscattering and thus provide a novel avenue for solving the plasma communication blackout problem. Moreover, we demonstrate that corner and edge states can exist within the trivial band gap of the insulating phase by modulating the on-site potential of the twig edges. Especially, helical edge states with the unique feature of pseudospin-momentum locking that could be exited by chiral sources are demonstrated at the twig edges within the trivial band gap. Our results show that many topological-like behaviors of electromagnetic waves are not necessarily tied to the exact topology of the systems and the twig edges and interface engineering can bring new opportunities for more flexible manipulation of electromagnetic waves

Eucomic acid methanol monosolvate

In the crystal structure of the title compound [systematic name: 2-hy­droxy-2-(4-hy­droxy­benz­yl)butane­dioic acid methanol monosolvate], C11H12O6·CH3OH, the dihedral angles between the planes of the carboxyl groups and the benzene ring are 51.23 (9) and 87.97 (9)°. Inter­molecular O—H⋯O hydrogen-bonding inter­actions involving the hy­droxy and carb­oxy­lic acid groups and the methanol solvent mol­ecule give a three-dimensional structure

Quantifying the Individual Differences of Driver' Risk Perception with Just Four Interpretable Parameters

There will be a long time when automated vehicles are mixed with human-driven vehicles. Understanding how drivers assess driving risks and modelling their individual differences are significant for automated vehicles to develop human-like and customized behaviors, so as to gain people's trust and acceptance. However, the reality is that existing driving risk models are developed at a statistical level, and no one scenario-universal driving risk measure can correctly describe risk perception differences among drivers. We proposed a concise yet effective model, called Potential Damage Risk (PODAR) model, which provides a universal and physically meaningful structure for driving risk estimation and is suitable for general non-collision and collision scenes. In this paper, based on an open-accessed dataset collected from an obstacle avoidance experiment, four physical-interpretable parameters in PODAR, including prediction horizon, damage scale, temporal attenuation, and spatial attention, are calibrated and consequently individual risk perception models are established for each driver. The results prove the capacity and potential of PODAR to model individual differences in perceived driving risk, laying the foundation for autonomous driving to develop human-like behaviors.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl