Nerve Growth Factor Stimulates Interaction of Cayman Ataxia Protein BNIP-H/Caytaxin with Peptidyl-Prolyl Isomerase Pin1 in Differentiating Neurons

Mutations in ATCAY that encodes the brain-specific protein BNIP-H (or Caytaxin) lead to Cayman cerebellar ataxia. BNIP-H binds to glutaminase, a neurotransmitter-producing enzyme, and affects its activity and intracellular localization. Here we describe the identification and characterization of the binding between BNIP-H and Pin1, a peptidyl-prolyl cis/trans isomerase. BNIP-H interacted with Pin1 after nerve growth factor-stimulation and they co-localized in the neurites and cytosol of differentiating pheochromocytoma PC12 cells and the embryonic carcinoma P19 cells. Deletional mutagenesis revealed two cryptic binding sites within the C-terminus of BNIP-H such that single point mutants affecting the WW domain of Pin1 completely abolished their binding. Although these two sites do not contain any of the canonical Pin1-binding motifs they showed differential binding profiles to Pin1 WW domain mutants S16E, S16A and W34A, and the catalytically inert C113A of its isomerase domain. Furthermore, their direct interaction would occur only upon disrupting the ability of BNIP-H to form an intramolecular interaction by two similar regions. Furthermore, expression of Pin1 disrupted the BNIP-H/glutaminase complex formation in PC12 cells under nerve growth factor-stimulation. These results indicate that nerve growth factor may stimulate the interaction of BNIP-H with Pin1 by releasing its intramolecular inhibition. Such a mechanism could provide a post-translational regulation on the cellular activity of BNIP-H during neuronal differentiation. (213 words

Experimental studies of e + e -→ some charmless processes containing K S0 at √s = 3.773 and 3.65 GeV

We measure the observed cross sections for the charmless processes e + e -→K S0 K - K - K + π ++ c.c., K S0 K - π + η+c.c., K S0 K - π + π + π - η+c.c., K S0 K - K - K + π + η+c.c., K S0 K - K - K + π + π 0+c.c., K S0 K - ρ ++c.c. and K S0 K - π + ρ 0+c.c. We also extract upper limits on the branching fractions for ψ(3770) decays into these final states at 90% C.L. Analyzed data samples correspond to 17.3 pb-1 and 6.5 pb-1 integrated luminosities registered, respectively, at √s = 3.773 and 3.65 GeV, with the BES-II detector at the BEPC collider. © 2009 Springer-Verlag / Società Italiana di Fisica.published_or_final_versionSpringer Open Choice, 21 Feb 201

Search for ψ(3770)→ charmless final states involving η or π0 mesons

We search for ψ(3770) → π+π-η, K+K-η, pp̄η, ρ0π+π-η, K+K-π+π-η, pp̄π+π-η, pp̄K+K-η and pp̄K+K- π0 using data samples of 17.3 and 6.5 pb-1 integrated luminosities recorded at the center-of-mass energies of 3.773 and 3.65 GeV, respectively, by the BES-II detector operating at the BEPC collider. We obtain cross section measurements at both energies and upper limits on ψ(3770) decay branching fractions to the final states studied. © © Springer-Verlag / Società Italiana di Fisica 2010.published_or_final_versionSpringer Open Choice, 21 Feb 201

Prevalence and trend of hepatitis C virus infection among blood donors in Chinese mainland: a systematic review and meta-analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Blood transfusion is one of the most common transmission pathways of hepatitis C virus (HCV). This paper aims to provide a comprehensive and reliable tabulation of available data on the epidemiological characteristics and risk factors for HCV infection among blood donors in Chinese mainland, so as to help make prevention strategies and guide further research.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A systematic review was constructed based on the computerized literature database. Infection rates and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated using the approximate normal distribution model. Odds ratios and 95% CI were calculated by fixed or random effects models. Data manipulation and statistical analyses were performed using STATA 10.0 and ArcGIS 9.3 was used for map construction.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Two hundred and sixty-five studies met our inclusion criteria. The pooled prevalence of HCV infection among blood donors in Chinese mainland was 8.68% (95% CI: 8.01%-9.39%), and the epidemic was severer in North and Central China, especially in Henan and Hebei. While a significant lower rate was found in Yunnan. Notably, before 1998 the pooled prevalence of HCV infection was 12.87% (95%CI: 11.25%-14.56%) among blood donors, but decreased to 1.71% (95%CI: 1.43%-1.99%) after 1998. No significant difference was found in HCV infection rates between male and female blood donors, or among different blood type donors. The prevalence of HCV infection was found to increase with age. During 1994-1995, the prevalence rate reached the highest with a percentage of 15.78% (95%CI: 12.21%-19.75%), and showed a decreasing trend in the following years. A significant difference was found among groups with different blood donation types, Plasma donors had a relatively higher prevalence than whole blood donors of HCV infection (33.95% <it>vs </it>7.9%).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The prevalence of HCV infection has rapidly decreased since 1998 and kept a low level in recent years, but some provinces showed relatively higher prevalence than the general population. It is urgent to make efficient measures to prevent HCV secondary transmission and control chronic progress, and the key to reduce the HCV incidence among blood donors is to encourage true voluntary blood donors, strictly implement blood donation law, and avoid cross-infection.</p

Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes

Cancer is driven by genetic change, and the advent of massively parallel sequencing has enabled systematic documentation of this variation at the whole-genome scale(1-3). Here we report the integrative analysis of 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We describe the generation of the PCAWG resource, facilitated by international data sharing using compute clouds. On average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete. Chromothripsis, in which many clustered structural variants arise in a single catastrophic event, is frequently an early event in tumour evolution; in acral melanoma, for example, these events precede most somatic point mutations and affect several cancer-associated genes simultaneously. Cancers with abnormal telomere maintenance often originate from tissues with low replicative activity and show several mechanisms of preventing telomere attrition to critical levels. Common and rare germline variants affect patterns of somatic mutation, including point mutations, structural variants and somatic retrotransposition. A collection of papers from the PCAWG Consortium describes non-coding mutations that drive cancer beyond those in the TERT promoter(4); identifies new signatures of mutational processes that cause base substitutions, small insertions and deletions and structural variation(5,6); analyses timings and patterns of tumour evolution(7); describes the diverse transcriptional consequences of somatic mutation on splicing, expression levels, fusion genes and promoter activity(8,9); and evaluates a range of more-specialized features of cancer genomes(8,10-18).Peer reviewe

Impact of thickness of GaN buffer layer on properties of AlN/GaN distributed Bragg reflectors grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

National Hi-Tech Research and Development Program of China [2006AA03Z409]We studied the impact of the thickness of GaN buffer layer on the properties of distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) grown by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). The samples were characterized by using metallographic microscope, transmission electron microscope (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and spectrophotometer. The results show that the thickness of the GaN buffer layer can significantly affect the properties of the DBR structure and there is an optimal thickness of the GaN buffer layer. This work would be helpful for the growth of high quality DBR structures

High Al-content AlInGaN epilayers with different thicknesses grown on GaN/sapphire templates

High Technology Research and Development of China [2006AA03Z409]We studied the structural and optical properties of high Al-content AlInGaN epilayers with different thicknesses grown on GaN/sapphire templates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Direct evidences of the gradual evolution of the content of Al, Ga and In along the growth direction were obtained. When the film thickness was over a certain value, however, the AlInGaN epilayer with constant element contents began to form. These results were also supported by the blue shift and splitting of the photoluminescence (PL) peak. For the thinnest epilayer, the surface was featured with outcrops of threading dislocations (TDs) which suggested a spiral growth mode. With increase in thickness, step-flow growth mode and V-shaped pits were observed, and the steps terminated at the pits. (C) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved

Blue-green optically pumped GaN-based vertical cavity surface emitting laser

National High Technology Research; Development Program of China [2006AA03Z409]Blue-green GaN-based vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) were fabricated with two dielectric Ta(2)O(5)/SiO(2) distributed Bragg reflectors. Lasing action was observed at a wavelength of 498.8 nm at room temperature under optical pumping. Threshold energy density and emission linewidth were 189 mJ/cm(2) and 0.15 nm, respectively. The result demonstrates that blue-green VCSELs can be realised using III-nitride semiconductors