Acyclic list edge coloring of outerplanar graphs

AbstractAn acyclic list edge coloring of a graph G is a proper list edge coloring such that no bichromatic cycles are produced. In this paper, we prove that an outerplanar graph G with maximum degree Δ≥5 has the acyclic list edge chromatic number equal to Δ

Targeting Microglia and Macrophages: A Potential Treatment Strategy for Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS). The early stage is characterized by relapses and the later stage, by progressive disability. Results from experimental and clinical investigations have demonstrated that microglia and macrophages play a key part in the disease course. These cells actively initiate immune infiltration and the demyelination cascade during the early phase of the disease; however, they promote remyelination and alleviate disease in later stages. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the existing knowledge regarding the neuromodulatory function of macrophages and microglia in the healthy and injured CNS, and it discusses the feasibility of harnessing microglia and macrophage physiology to treat MS. The review encourages further investigations into macrophage-targeted therapy, as well as macrophage-based drug delivery, for realizing efficient treatment strategies for MS

Label-free biochips for rapid detection of soybean allergen GlymBd 30K (P34) in foods

Purpose: To develop an innovative method for detection of soybean allergen, Gly mBd 30K (P34) in foods using a biosensor based on high spatial imaging ellipsometer.Methods: Two monoclonal antibodies, 2D1 and 5F9, each known to have specific bioactivity against P34 allergen, were selected and separately immobilized as ligands on silicon wafer surface to allow capture of the P34 allergen. The resultant changes on the wafer surface were viewed directly as images in gray scale.Results: Images indicated that these two antibodies detected the presence of P34 allergen in soybean extract with sensitivity of 1 mg/L and a detection time of about 15 min. For the detection of P34 allergen in foods, results from biochip detection were consistent with those obtained using ELISA detection.Conclusion: These results show that the biochip may be an effective analytical tool for food allergen detection.Keywords: Soybean Allergen, Gly mBd 30K, Biochip, Detection, Food

Synergistic antitumor activity of regorafenib and rosuvastatin in colorectal cancer

Introduction: Colorectal cancer is one of the most prevalent life-threatening malignant tumors with high incidence and mortality. However, the efficacy of current therapeutic regimens is very limited. Regorafenib has been approved for second- or third-line treatment of patients who are refractory to standard chemotherapy diagnosed with metastatic colorectal cancer, but its clinical efficacy needs to be further improved. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that statins also possess potent anticancer activities. However, whether regorafenib and statins pose synergistic anticancer effects in colorectal cancer is still unclear.Methods: Sulforhodamine B (SRB) assays were applied to evaluate the anti-proliferative activity of regorafenib or/and rosuvastatin in vitro, and immunoblotting analysis were applied to detect the effects of regorafenib/rosuvastatin combined treatment on mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling and apoptosis-related proteins. MC38 tumors were applied to investigate the synergistic anticancer effects of regorafenib in combination with rosuvastatin in vivo.Results: We found that regorafenib in combination with rosuvastatin exerted significant synergistic inhibition against colorectal cancer growth in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, regorafenib and rosuvastatin combination synergistically suppressed MAPK signaling, a crucial signaling pathway promoting cell survival, as indicated by the reduction of phosphorylated MEK/ERK. In addition, regorafenib in combination with rosuvastatin synergistically induced the apoptosis of colorectal cancer in vitro and in vivo.Discussion: Our study demonstrated the synergistic anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects of regorafenib/rosuvastatin combined treatment in colorectal cancer in vitro/vivo and might potentially be evaluated as a novel combination regimen for clinical treatment of colorectal cancer

Gene Deletion in Barley Mediated by LTR-retrotransposon BARE

A poly-row branched spike (prbs) barley mutant was obtained from soaking a two-rowed barley inflorescence in a solution of maize genomic DNA. Positional cloning and sequencing demonstrated that the prbs mutant resulted from a 28 kb deletion including the inflorescence architecture gene HvRA2. Sequence annotation revealed that the HvRA2 gene is flanked by two LTR (long terminal repeat) retrotransposons (BARE) sharing 89% sequence identity. A recombination between the integrase (IN) gene regions of the two BARE copies resulted in the formation of an intact BARE and loss of HvRA2. No maize DNA was detected in the recombination region although the flanking sequences of HvRA2 gene showed over 73% of sequence identity with repetitive sequences on 10 maize chromosomes. It is still unknown whether the interaction of retrotransposons between barley and maize has resulted in the recombination observed in the present study.Peer reviewe

Mitochondrial Calcium Transporters Mediate Sensitivity to Noise-Induced Losses of Hair Cells and Cochlear Synapses

Mitochondria modulate cellular calcium homeostasis by the combined action of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU), a selective calcium entry channel, and the sodium calcium exchanger (NCLX), which extrudes calcium from mitochondria. In this study, we investigated MCU and NCLX in noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) using adult CBA/J mice and noise-induced alterations of inner hair cell (IHC) synapses in MCU knockout mice. Following noise exposure, immunoreactivity of MCU increased in cochlear sensory hair cells of the basal turn, while immunoreactivity of NCLX decreased in a time- and exposure-dependent manner. Inhibition of MCU activity via MCU siRNA pretreatment or the specific pharmacological inhibitor Ru360 attenuated noise-induced loss of sensory hair cells and synaptic ribbons, wave I amplitudes, and NIHL in CBA/J mice. This protection was afforded, at least in part, through reduced cleavage of caspase 9 (CC9). Furthermore, MCU knockout mice on a hybrid genetic CD1 and C57/B6 background showed resistance to noise-induced seizures compared to wild-type littermates. Owing to the CD1 background, MCU knockouts and littermates suffer genetic high frequency hearing loss, but their IHCs remain intact. Noise-induced loss of IHC synaptic connections and reduction of auditory brainstem response (ABR) wave I amplitude were recovered in MCU knockout mice. These results suggest that cellular calcium influx during noise exposure leads to mitochondrial calcium overload via MCU and NCLX. Mitochondrial calcium overload, in turn, initiates cell death pathways and subsequent loss of hair cells and synaptic connections, resulting in NIHL

On-surface crystallization behaviors of H-bond donor–acceptor complexes at liquid/solid interfaces

Two-dimensional (2D) crystallization behaviors of A-TPCn (n = 4, 6, 10), T3C4, and hydrogen-bonded complexes T3C4@TPCn (n = 4, 6, 10) are investigated by means of scanning tunneling microscope (STM) observations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The STM observations reveal that A-TPC4, A-TPC10, and T3C4 self-organize into dumbbell-shaped structures, well-ordered bright arrays, and zigzag structures, respectively. Interestingly, T3C4@TPC10 fails to form the cage-ball structure, whereas T3C4@TPC4 and T3C4@TPC6 co-assemble into cage-ball structures with the same lattice parameters. The filling rates of the balls of these two kinds of cage-ball structures depend heavily on the deposition sequence. As a result, the filling rates of the cages in T3C4/A-TPCn (n = 4, 6) with deposition of T3C4 anterior to A-TPCn are higher than those in A-TPCn/T3C4 (n = 4, 6) with the opposite deposition sequence. Furthermore, lattice defects formed by T3C4 coexist with the cage-ball structures. Moreover, the similar energy per unit area of lattice defects (−0.101 kcal mol–1 Å–2) and the two cage-ball networks (−0.194 and −0.208 kcal mol–1 Å–2, respectively), illustrating the similar stabilities of lattice defects and cage-ball networks, demonstrates the rationality of lattice defects. Combining STM investigations and DFT calculations, this work could provide a useful approach to investigate the 2D crystallization mechanisms of supramolecular liquid crystals on surfaces.This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2016YFA0200700), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21472029, 11001257, and 21773041), the MINECO-FEDER funds (project MAT2015-66208-C3-1-P), and the Gobierno de Aragon-FSE (E47_17R and B.F grant).Peer reviewe