In vitro anti-tumor activity in SGC-7901 human gastric cancer cells treated with dandelion extract

Purpose: To investigate the mechanisms of cytotoxicity of a dandelion extract against human gastric cancer cell line SGC-7901 cells.Methods: The 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2-H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, flow cytometry, and transwell assays were used to investigate the effects of a dandelion extract on cell proliferation, levels of apoptosis, and cell migration, respectively. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) assessed the effects of a dandelion extract on the expression levels of genes regulating proliferation and apoptosis.Results: Dandelion extract exerted strong cytotoxic effects on the cancer cells. After exposure, apoptotic cells increased and cell migration was reduced. RT-qPCR assay revealed that dandelion extract significantly increased anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic gene expression, including phosphate and tensin homology deleted on chromosome ten (Pten) and Bcl-2 Associated X protein (Bax) mRNA in the gastric cancer cells. The results also indicate that there was decreased pro-proliferative and antiapoptotic gene expression (i.e., extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk), Survivin, and B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl2) mRNA).Conclusion: The results suggest that dandelion extract is a potent gastric cancer cell proliferation, survival, and migration inhibitor with potential pharmaceutical applications for the prevention of gastric cancer.Keywords: dandelion extract, gastric cancer, cytotoxic effect, migration inhibitio

Botryosphaerialean fungi associated with woody oil plants cultivated in Sichuan Province, China

Woody oil plants are important economic trees which are widely cultivated and distributed throughout China. Surveys conducted during 2020 and 2021 on several woody oil plantations from five regions of Sichuan Province, China, revealed a high diversity of Botryosphaerialean fungi. The identification of 50 botryosphaeriaceous isolates was carried out based on both morphology and multi-gene phylogenetic analysis of internal transcribed spacer region (ITS), translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene (tef1) and β-tubulin gene (tub2). This allowed the identification of twelve previously known Botryosphaeriales species: Aplosporella prunicola, A. ginkgonis, Barriopsis tectonae, Botryosphaeria dothidea, Bo. fabicerciana, Diplodia mutila, Di. seriata, Dothiorella sarmentorum, Neofusicoccum parvum, Sardiniella guizhouensis, Sphaeropsis citrigena, and Sp. guizhouensis, and four novel species belonging to the genera Diplodia and Dothiorella, viz. Di. acerigena, Di. pistaciicola, Do. camelliae and Do. zanthoxyli. The dominant species isolated across the surveyed regions were Botryosphaeria dothidea, Sardiniella guizhouensis and Diplodia mutila, representing 20%, 14% and 12% of the total isolates, respectively. In addition, most isolates were obtained from Pistacia chinensis (14 isolates), followed by Camellia oleifera (10 isolates). The present study enhances the understanding of Botryosphaeriales species diversity on woody oil plants in Sichuan Province, China

SDRS—an algorithm for analyzing large-scale dose–response data

Summary: Dose–response information is critical to understanding drug effects, yet analytical methods for dose–response assays cannot cope with the dimensionality of large-scale screening data such as the microarray profiling data. To overcome this limitation, we developed and implemented the Sigmoidal Dose Response Search (SDRS) algorithm, a grid search-based method designed to handle large-scale dose–response data. This method not only calculates the pharmacological parameters for every assay, but also provides built-in statistic that enables downstream systematic analyses, such as characterizing dose response at the transcriptome level

The linear and nonlinear Jaynes-Cummings model for the multiphoton transition

With the Jaynes-Cummings model, we have studied the atom and light field quantum entanglement of multiphoton transition, and researched the effect of initial state superposition coefficient $C_{1}$, the transition photon number $N$, the quantum discord $\delta$ and the nonlinear coefficient $\chi$ on the quantum entanglement degrees. We have given the quantum entanglement degrees curves with time evolution, and obtained some results, which should have been used in quantum computing and quantum information.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1404.0821, arXiv:1205.0979 by other author

Transcriptional Regulations on the Low-Temperature-Induced Floral Transition in an Orchidaceae Species, Dendrobium nobile: An Expressed Sequence Tags Analysis

Vernalization-induced flowering is a cold-relevant adaptation in many species, but little is known about the genetic basis behind in Orchidaceae species. Here, we reported a collection of 15017 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from the vernalized axillary buds of an Orchidaceae species, Dendrobium nobile, which were assembled for 9616 unique gene clusters. Functional enrichment analysis showed that genes in relation to the responses to stresses, especially in the form of low temperatures, and those involving in protein biosynthesis and chromatin assembly were significantly overrepresented during 40 days of vernalization. Additionally, a total of 59 putative flowering-relevant genes were recognized, including those homologous to known key players in vernalization pathways in temperate cereals or Arabidopsis, such as cereal VRN1, FT/VRN3, and Arabidopsis AGL19. Results from this study suggest that the networks regulating vernalization-induced floral transition are conserved, but just in a part, in D. nobile, temperate cereals, and Arabidopsis

The LAMOST Survey of Background Quasars in the Vicinity of the Andromeda and Triangulum Galaxies -- II. Results from the Commissioning Observations and the Pilot Surveys

We present new quasars discovered in the vicinity of the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies with the LAMOST during the 2010 and 2011 observational seasons. Quasar candidates are selected based on the available SDSS, KPNO 4 m telescope, XSTPS optical, and WISE near infrared photometric data. We present 509 new quasars discovered in a stripe of ~135 sq. deg from M31 to M33 along the Giant Stellar Stream in the 2011 pilot survey datasets, and also 17 new quasars discovered in an area of ~100 sq. deg that covers the central region and the southeastern halo of M31 in the 2010 commissioning datasets. These 526 new quasars have i magnitudes ranging from 15.5 to 20.0, redshifts from 0.1 to 3.2. They represent a significant increase of the number of identified quasars in the vicinity of M31 and M33. There are now 26, 62 and 139 known quasars in this region of the sky with i magnitudes brighter than 17.0, 17.5 and 18.0 respectively, of which 5, 20 and 75 are newly-discovered. These bright quasars provide an invaluable collection with which to probe the kinematics and chemistry of the ISM/IGM in the Local Group of galaxies. A total of 93 quasars are now known with locations within 2.5 deg of M31, of which 73 are newly discovered. Tens of quasars are now known to be located behind the Giant Stellar Stream, and hundreds behind the extended halo and its associated substructures of M31. The much enlarged sample of known quasars in the vicinity of M31 and M33 can potentially be utilized to construct a perfect astrometric reference frame to measure the minute PMs of M31 and M33, along with the PMs of substructures associated with the Local Group of galaxies. Those PMs are some of the most fundamental properties of the Local Group.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figures, AJ accepte

Molecular footprints of domestication and improvement in soybean revealed by whole genome re-sequencing

BACKGROUND: Artificial selection played an important role in the origin of modern Glycine max cultivars from the wild soybean Glycine soja. To elucidate the consequences of artificial selection accompanying the domestication and modern improvement of soybean, 25 new and 30 published whole-genome re-sequencing accessions, which represent wild, domesticated landrace, and Chinese elite soybean populations were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 5,102,244 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 707,969 insertion/deletions were identified. Among the SNPs detected, 25.5% were not described previously. We found that artificial selection during domestication led to more pronounced reduction in the genetic diversity of soybean than the switch from landraces to elite cultivars. Only a small proportion (2.99%) of the whole genomic regions appear to be affected by artificial selection for preferred agricultural traits. The selection regions were not distributed randomly or uniformly throughout the genome. Instead, clusters of selection hotspots in certain genomic regions were observed. Moreover, a set of candidate genes (4.38% of the total annotated genes) significantly affected by selection underlying soybean domestication and genetic improvement were identified. CONCLUSIONS: Given the uniqueness of the soybean germplasm sequenced, this study drew a clear picture of human-mediated evolution of the soybean genomes. The genomic resources and information provided by this study would also facilitate the discovery of genes/loci underlying agronomically important traits

The effect of virtual reality training on the daily participation of patients: A meta-analysis

Background: Virtual reality (VR) training are regarded as promising new tools for rehabilitation, but the effect on patients' daily participation is controversial. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of virtual reality (VR) training on different types of patients' daily participation through a meta-analysis. Methods: The PubMed, Cochrane central register of controlled trials, Embase, and web science databases were searched for studies published through September 2020. Thirty-five randomized controlled trials of virtual reality (VR) training compared with conventional treatment, Other electronic rehabilitation systems, usual care for various types of patients were included. All of the studies were available in English. Standardized mean differences (SMD), 95 % confidence intervals (CI), publication bias, and heterogeneity were calculated. Results: The Virtual reality (VR) training group is better than the control group in daily participation improvement on all types of patients. There was a small, significant effect(p＜0.001; SMD = 0.25[95 %CI,0.14 to 0.36], I2 = 0.00 %). Observing only the type of Stroke, the VR training group is still better than the control group in improving patients' daily participation (p＜0.001, SMD = 0.24[95 %CI, 0.11 to 0.37], I2 = 0.00 %). Using the cumulative Meta-analysis method to observe the included literature according to the timeline, Using the cumulative Meta-analysis method to observe the included literature according to the timeline, and it has only achieved positive results since 2015 (Nam-YoNg Lee 2015, p = 0.048, SMD = 0.22[95 %CI,0.00 to 0.44]). The heterogeneity of the studies was not detected, but there is obvious publication bias. Conclusions: Because of controversy over obvious publication bias, we need to be cautious about the conclusion that VR is better than the control group in promoting the patient's daily participation