Cloning and Characterization of Multiple RNA Splicing Variants of LDH-C Gene in Human and Rat

Abstract: The expression of LDH-C (Lactate dehydrogenase C) gene is restricted in mature germ cells; however multiple splice variants of LDH-C expressed in human cancers and yak normal testes were reported recently. In order to know if there are any LDH-C splice variants in human normal testes, we set out to clone the putative variants in human and rat. Four splicing variants in human testes, 1 splicing variant in human spermatozoa, 6 splicing variants in rat testes and 1 splicing variant in rat non-testes tissues (liver, heart and muscle) were cloned. The putative polypeptides encoded by these variants were compared with the full-length LDH-C protein, the results showed that these putative polypeptides were truncated LDH-C proteins or truncated LDH-C proteins with a few amino acid residues different at N or C terminal. This suggested that these variants are possibly not used for translation, but targets of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. Western blotting did not detect any bands with similar molecular weight as the putative polypeptides. RT-PCR showed that the expression levels of the splicing variants were significant during development of rat testes. The results indicate that LDH-C was not silenced by transcriptional repression in non-mature germ cells, but significantly transcripted and alternatively spliced

The RNA landscape of Dunaliella salina in response to short-term salt stress

Using the halotolerant green microalgae Dunaliella salina as a model organism has special merits, such as a wide range of salt tolerance, unicellular organism, and simple life cycle and growth conditions. These unique characteristics make it suitable for salt stress study. In order to provide an overview of the response of Dunaliella salina to salt stress and hopefully to reveal evolutionarily conserved mechanisms of photosynthetic organisms in response to salt stress, the transcriptomes and the genome of the algae were sequenced by the second and the third-generation sequencing technologies, then the transcriptomes under salt stress were compared to the transcriptomes under non-salt stress with the newly sequenced genome as the reference genome. The major cellular biological processes that being regulated in response to salt stress, include transcription, protein synthesis, protein degradation, protein folding, protein modification, protein transport, cellular component organization, cell redox homeostasis, DNA repair, glycerol synthesis, energy metabolism, lipid metabolism, and ion homeostasis. This study gives a comprehensive overview of how Dunaliella salina responses to salt stress at transcriptomic level, especially characterized by the nearly ubiquitous up-regulation of the genes involving in protein folding, DNA repair, and cell redox homeostasis, which may confer the algae important mechanisms to survive under salt stress. The three fundamental biological processes, which face huge challenges under salt stress, are ignored by most scientists and are worth further deep study to provide useful information for breeding economic important plants competent in tolerating salt stress, other than only depending on the commonly acknowledged osmotic balance and ion homeostasis

Identification of critical genes associated with radiotherapy resistance in cervical cancer by bioinformatics

BackgroundCervical cancer (CC) is one of the common malignant tumors in women, Currently, 30% of patients with intermediate to advanced squamous cervical cancer are still uncontrolled or recurrent after standard radical simultaneous radiotherapy; therefore, the search for critical genes affecting the sensitivity of radiotherapy may lead to new strategies for treatment.MethodsFirstly, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between radiotherapy-sensitivity and radiotherapy-resistance were identified by GEO2R from the gene expression omnibus (GEO) website, and prognosis-related genes for cervical cancer were obtained from the HPA database. Subsequently, the DAVID database analyzed gene ontology (GO). Meanwhile, the protein-protein interaction network was constructed by STRING; By online analysis of DEGs, prognostic genes, and CCDB data that are associated with cervical cancer formation through the OncoLnc database, we aim to search for the key DEGs associated with CC, Finally, the key gene(s) was further validated by immunohistochemistry.Result298 differentially expressed genes, 712 genes associated with prognosis, and 509 genes related to cervical cancer formation were found. The results of gene function analysis showed that DEGs were mainly significant in functional pathways such as variable shear and energy metabolism. By further verification, two genes, ASPH and NKAPP1 were identified through validation as genes that affect both sensitivities to radiotherapy and survival finally. Then, immunohistochemical results showed that the ASPH gene was highly expressed in the radiotherapy-resistant group and had lower Overall survival (OS) and Progression-free survival (PFS).ConclusionThis study aims to better understand the characteristics of cervical cancer radiation therapy resistance-related genes through bioinformatics and provide further research ideas for finding new mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets related to cervical cancer radiation therapy

Multi-Depot and Multi-School Bus Scheduling Problem with School Bell Time Optimization

69A43551747123The school bus transportation system is responsible for transporting students to and from schools safely and promptly. This research aims to optimize the school bus schedules and the school bell times simultaneously for improving the efficiency of the school bus system operation. The authors consider the school bus scheduling problem in a multi-depot multi-school bus system and incorporate the bell time optimization to make bus operations more efficient. The authors propose four different methods, including one exact method and three heuristic methods, to solve the Multi-depot and Multi-school Bus Scheduling Problem with School Bell Time Optimization (MDSBSPTW)

MULTI-DEPOT AND MULTI-SCHOOL BUS SCHEDULING PROBLEM WITH SCHOOL BELL TIME OPTIMIZATION

The school bus transportation system is responsible for transporting students to and from schools safely and promptly. This research aims to optimize the school bus schedules and the school bell times simultaneously for improving the efficiency of the school bus system operation. We consider the school bus scheduling problem in a multi-depot multi-school bus system and incorporate the bell time optimization to make bus operations more efficient. We propose four different methods, including one exact method and three heuristic methods, to solve the Multi-depot and Multi-school Bus Scheduling Problem with School Bell Time Optimization (MDSBSPTW). Besides, they can also solve the Single-depot Multi-school Bus Scheduling Problem with School Bell Time Optimization problems (SDSBSPTW) or problems without bell time optimization regardless of the number of depots (i.e., MDSBSP or SDSBSP). First, the MDSBSPTW is formulated as a mixed-integer programming model. Second, a two-phase heuristic method is proposed, namely the first-route second-assignment method. Then, we improve the first-route phase of the two-phase heuristic method with a Simulated Annealing-based Greedy Algorithm (SA-GDA) method. Combined with the same second-assignment phase, we have the improved two-phase heuristic method. Finally, we propose a Tabu Search-Based Ant Colony Optimization (TS-ACO) for solving the MDSBSPTW without dividing it into different phases. Fourteen test problems with different characteristics derived from the real-world collected data are used to examine the performance of the proposed four methods. The results are compared and explained. The improved two-phase heuristic method and the TS-ACO method perform better than the other two methods when the problems are more complicated (e.g., more trips, depots, schools, or larger bell time window). Overall, the improved two-phase heuristic method is the best as it can achieve better solutions (i.e., fewer buses) much quicker, especially for large-size complicated problems. Generally, incorporating the school bell time optimization into the school bus scheduling problem can significantly reduce the total number of buses since it makes more trips compatible and thus link more trips together on a single bus route. Besides, the larger the school bell time window, the fewer buses are needed overall, but more computational resources and longer model running time are required

Chapter 2. The Land-Enclosure Movement of the 1990s

In the early 1950s, when the Chinese Communist Party carried out its policy on land reform, rules and regulations on land use were established consistent with the terms of a planned economy: the state controlled all land and exerted authority to approve its use for various purposes. Not until the passage of the "Land Management Law" (>i>tudi guanli fa>/i>) in 1986 was the old system that had existed for more than twenty years fundamentally altered. The result was the coexistence in the rural economy of two diametrically opposed approaches to land use: one via administrative planning and the other by the leasing of land. Also occurring at this time was the introduction into China's rural life of the embryonic concept of a land market. But implementing new rules and regulations in this complex and often contradictory situation was no easy task. It was in this context that the "land-enclosure movement" emerged in which primarily nonmarket measures were employed to bring about a substantial redistribution of land resources.

Chapter 1. A Socialist Free Lunch

Since the advent in 1978 of economic reform in China, the essence of the ongoing transition from a planned to a market economy has been a redistribution of social capital and a readjustment of various interest relationships. Throughout this process, what I term the "marketization of power" (>i>quanli de shichanghua>/i>) has played a crucial role in producing one of the most striking characteristics of this reform: from its beginning to its completion over the past dozen years in contemporary China, we have witnessed the primitive accumulation of capital. Of short duration, this rapid accumulation of great amounts of capital and wealth is quite unprecedented.