Interactions among Carbon Dioxide, Heat, and Chemical Lures in Attracting the Bed Bug, Cimex lectularius L. (Hemiptera: Cimicidae)

Commercial bed bug (Cimex lectularius L.) monitors incorporating carbon dioxide (CO2), heat, and chemical lures are being used for detecting bed bugs; however, there are few reported studies on the effectiveness of chemical lures in bed bug monitors and the interactions among chemical lure, CO2, and heat. We screened 12 chemicals for their attraction to bed bugs and evaluated interactions among chemical lures, CO2, and heat. The chemical lure mixture consisting of nonanal, 1-octen-3-ol, spearmint oil, and coriander Egyptian oil was found to be most attractive to bed bugs and significantly increased the trap catches in laboratory bioassays. Adding this chemical lure mixture when CO2 was present increased the trap catches compared with traps baited with CO2 alone, whereas adding heat did not significantly increase trap catches when CO2 was present. Results suggest a combination of chemical lure and CO2 is essential for designing effective bed bug monitors

Knock Suppression of a Spark-Ignition Aviation Piston Engine Fuelled with Kerosene

Spark-ignition (SI) engine has a high power density, making it suitable for unmanned aerial vehicles. Normally, gasoline fuel with a high octane number (ON) is used for a spark-ignition engine. However, gasoline fuel is easy to be evaporated and has a low flash point which is unsafe for aviation engines. Kerosene with a high flash point is safer than gasoline. In this chapter, the combustion characteristics of kerosene for a spark-ignition aviation piston engine are analyzed. A three-dimensional (3D) model is setup, and the combustion process of the engine fuelled with kerosene is simulated. Later, the knock limit extension by water injection is evaluated experimentally. The results indicate that water injection can suppress the knock of SI engine with kerosene in some extent and the output power can be improved significantly

One-Step Nonaqueous Synthesis of Pure Phase TiO 2

Pure phase TiO2 nanomaterials were synthesized by an autoclaving treatment of TiCl4 with butanol as a single alcohol source. It was found that the control of molar ratio of TiCl4 to butanol played an important role in determining the TiO2 crystal phase and morphology. A high molar ratio of TiCl4 to butanol favored the formation of anatase nanoparticles, whereas rutile nanorods were selectively obtained at a low molar ratio of TiCl4 to butanol. Evaluation of the photocatalytic activity of the synthesized TiO2 was performed in terms of decomposition of organic dye rhodamine B under ultraviolet irradiation. It turned out that the as-synthesized TiO2 crystallites possessed higher photocatalytic activities toward bleaching rhodamine B than Degussa P25, benefiting from theirhigh surface area, small crystal size as well as high crystallinity

In vivo Characterization of a Selective, Orally Available, and Brain Penetrant Small Molecule GPR139 Agonist

Recently, our group along with another demonstrated that GPR139 can be activated by L-phenylalanine (L-Phe) and L-tryptophan (L-Trp) at physiologically relevant concentrations. GPR139 is discretely expressed in brain, with highest expression in medial habenula. Not only are the endogenous ligands catecholamine/serotonin precursors, but GPR139 expressing areas can directly/indirectly regulate the activity of catecholamine/serotonin neurons. Thus, GPR139 appears expressed in an interconnected circuit involved in mood, motivation, and anxiety. The aim of this study was to characterize a selective and brain penetrant GPR139 agonist (JNJ-63533054) in relevant in vivo models. JNJ-63533054 was tested for its effect on c-fos activation in the habenula and dorsal striatum. In vivo microdialysis experiments were performed in freely moving rats to measure basal levels of serotonin or dopamine (DA) in prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and nucleus accumbens (NAc). Finally, the compound was profiled in behavioral models of anxiety, despair, and anhedonia. The agonist (10–30 mg/kg, p.o.) did not alter c-fos expression in medial habenula or dorsal striatum nor neurotransmitter levels in mPFC or NAc. JNJ-63533054 (10 mg/kg p.o.) produced an anhedonic-like effect on urine sniffing, but had no significant effect in tail suspension, with no interaction with imipramine, no effect on naloxone place aversion, and no effect on learned helplessness. In the marble burying test, the agonist (10 mg/kg p.o.) produced a small anxiolytic-like effect, with no interaction with fluoxetine, and no effect in elevated plus maze (EPM). Despite GPR139 high expression in medial habenula, an area with connections to limbic and catecholaminergic/serotoninergic areas, the GPR139 agonist had no effect on c-fos in medial habenula. It did not alter catecholamine/serotonin levels and had a mostly silent signal in in vivo models commonly associated with these pathways. The physiological function of GPR139 remains elusive

GPR139 and Dopamine D2 Receptor Co-express in the Same Cells of the Brain and May Functionally Interact

GPR139, a Gq-coupled receptor that is activated by the essential amino acids L-tryptophan and L-phenylalanine, is predominantly expressed in the brain and pituitary. The physiological function of GPR139 remains elusive despite the availability of pharmacological tool agonist compounds and knock-out mice. Whole tissue RNA sequencing data from human, mouse and rat tissues revealed that GPR139 and the dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) exhibited some similarities in their distribution patterns in the brain and pituitary gland. To determine if there was true co-expression of these two receptors, we applied double in situ hybridization in mouse tissues using the RNAscope® technique. GPR139 and DRD2 mRNA co-expressed in a majority of same cells within part of the dopaminergic mesolimbic pathways (ventral tegmental area and olfactory tubercle), the nigrostriatal pathway (compact part of substantia nigra and caudate putamen), and also the tuberoinfundibular pathway (arcuate hypothalamic nucleus and anterior lobe of pituitary). Both receptors mRNA also co-express in the same cells of the brain regions involved in responses to negative stimulus and stress, such as lateral habenula, lateral septum, interpeduncular nucleus, and medial raphe nuclei. GPR139 mRNA expression was detected in the dentate gyrus and the pyramidal cell layer of the hippocampus as well as the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus. The functional interaction between GPR139 and DRD2 was studied in vitro using a calcium mobilization assay in cells co-transfected with both receptors from several species (human, rat, and mouse). The dopamine DRD2 agonist did not stimulate calcium response in cells expressing DRD2 alone consistent with the Gi signaling transduction pathway of this receptor. In cells co-transfected with DRD2 and GPR139 the DRD2 agonist was able to stimulate calcium response and its effect was blocked by either a DRD2 or a GPR139 antagonist supporting an in vitro interaction between GPR139 and DRD2. Taken together, these data showed that GPR139 and DRD2 are in position to functionally interact in native tissue

Changes in glycosylated proteins in colostrum and mature milk and their implication

IntroductionGlycosylation is one of the essential post-translational modifications that influences the function of milk proteins.MethodsIn the present study, 998 proteins and 764 glycosylated sites from 402 glycoproteins were identified in human milk by TMT labeling proteomics. Compared to human milk proteins, the glycoproteins were mainly enriched in cell adhesion, proteolysis, and defense/immune process.ResultsThe abundance of 353 glycosylated sites and their 179 parent proteins was quantified. After normalization to their parent protein’s abundance, 78 glycosylated sites in 56 glycoproteins and 10 glycosylated sites in 10 glycoproteins were significantly higher in colostrum and mature milk, respectively. These changed glycoproteins were mainly related to host defense. Intriguingly, one glycosylated site (Asp144) in IgA and two glycosylated sites (Asp38 and Asp1079) in tenascin are significantly upregulated even though their protein abundance was downregulated during lactation.DiscussionThis study helps us figure out the critical glycosylated sites in proteins that might influence their biological function in an unbiased way

Comparative Genomic Analysis of Latilactobacillus curvatus and L. sakei

In this study, the genomes of 19 Latilactobacillus curvatus and 40 L. sakei strains were comparatively analyzed. Average nucleic acid identity (ANI) and genome-wide colinearity indicated that the genomes of L. curvatus and L. sakei had weak nucleotide sequence homology, allowing them to be used as indicators to distinguish the two species. Pangenomes for these species were constructed, whose core gene functions were annotated. The results showed that the core genomes of L. curvatus and L. sakei were mainly involved in their basic metabolism. Analysis of individual genomes of the strains revealed that 1) both L. curvatus and L. sakei contained a wide range of genes encoding glycoside hydrolases, which are abundant genetic resources for catabolizing and metabolizing dietary fiber such as polysaccharides, lactose utilization, and lignocellulose; 2) antibiotic resistance genes were annotated in the genomes of three strains, which originate from horizontal gene transfer; 3) the unique arginine deiminase pathway of L. sakei, the serine dehydratase and guanine deaminase pathways of L. curvatus, and the glutamate decarboxylase pathway of several strains were identified, revealing that the acid tolerance mechanisms of these two species are different; and 4) genes encoding cold stress proteins were discovered, which endow the two species with good cold processing properties. Moreover, the genomes of some L. sakei strains contained gene clusters related to the biosynthesis of lactocin S and condensin. In conclusion, this study established taxonomic criteria for the two species and information on individual differences between their strains, which will provide a basis for the study of the physiological, biochemical, molecular genetic mechanisms of L. curvatus and L. sakei and their industrial applications

Natural and Orthogonal Interaction framework for modeling gene-environment interactions with application to lung cancer

Objectives: We aimed at extending the Natural and Orthogonal Interaction (NOIA) framework, developed for modeling gene-gene interactions in the analysis of quantitative traits, to allow for reduced genetic models, dichotomous traits, and gene-environment interactions. We evaluate the performance of the NOIA statistical models using simulated data and lung cancer data. Methods: The NOIA statistical models are developed for additive, dominant, and recessive genetic models as well as for a binary environmental exposure. Using the Kronecker product rule, a NOIA statistical model is built to model gene-environment interactions. By treating the genotypic values as the logarithm of odds, the NOIA statistical models are extended to the analysis of case-control data. Results: Our simulations showed that power for testing associations while allowing for interaction using the NOIA statistical model is much higher than using functional models for most of the scenarios we simulated. When applied to lung cancer data, much smaller p values were obtained using the NOIA statistical model for either the main effects or the SNP-smoking interactions for some of the SNPs tested. Conclusion: The NOIA statistical models are usually more powerful than the functional models in detecting main effects and interaction effects for both quantitative traits and binary traits. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Base

GPR139, an Orphan Receptor Highly Enriched in the Habenula and Septum, Is Activated by the Essential Amino Acids L-Tryptophan and L-Phenylalanine s

ABSTRACT GPR139 is an orphan G-protein-coupled receptor expressed in the central nervous system. To identify its physiologic ligand, we measured GPR139 receptor activity from recombinant cells after treatment with amino acids, orphan ligands, serum, and tissue extracts. GPR139 activity was measured using guanosine 59-O-(3-[ Sequence alignment revealed that GPR139 is highly conserved across species, and RNA sequencing studies of rat and human tissues indicated its exclusive expression in the brain and pituitary gland. Immunohistochemical analysis showed specific expression of the receptor in circumventricular regions of the habenula and septum in mice. Together, these findings suggest that L-Trp and L-Phe are candidate physiologic ligands for GPR139, and we hypothesize that this receptor may act as a sensor to detect dynamic changes of L-Trp and L-Phe in the brain