Cyclohexadione-aniline conjugate inhibits proliferation of melanoma cells via upregulation of Mek 1/2 kinase activity

Purpose: To investigate the antiproliferative effect of cyclohexadione-aniline conjugate (CHAC) on melanoma cells, and the mechanism of action involved. Methods: Human melanoma cell lines (B16 F1 and A375) were used in this study. The cells were cultured in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10 % fetal bovine serum (FBS) and 1 % penicillin/streptomycin at 37 °C in a humidified atmosphere of 5 % CO2 and 95 % air. After attaining 70 - 80 % confluency, the cells were treated with serum-free medium and graded concentrations of CHAC (10 – 60 μM) for 24 h. Normal cell culture without CHAC served as control group. B16 F1 and A375 cells were used in logarithmic growth phase in this study. Cell viability and apoptosis were assessed using 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl) 2, 5-diphe¬nyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and flow cytometric assays, respectively. Western blotting was used to assess the levels of protein expression of X linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP), survivin, p-Erk 1/2, and p-Mek 1/2. Results: Treatment of B16 F1 and A375 cells with CHAC led to significant and concentrationdependent reductions in their viability (p < 0.05). The proliferation of B16 F1 cells decreased from 93.41 to 32.87 %, while that of A375 cells was reduced from 95.23 to 36.50 %. Treatment of B16 F1 cells with CHAC significantly and concentration-dependently increased the population of cells in G0/G1 phase, and significantly reduced cell proportion in S and G2/M phases (p < 0.05). It also significantly and concentration-dependently promoted apoptosis in B16 F1 cells (p < 0.05). CHAC treatment significantly and concentration-dependently down-regulated the expressions of XIAP and survivin proteins (p < 0.05). Exposure of B16 F1 cells to CHAC significantly and concentration-dependently upregulated the expression of p-Mek 1/2, but down-regulated p-Erk 1/2 protein expression (p < 0.05). Densitometric analysis revealed that the expression of p-Mek 1/2 was increased from 12 to 91 %. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that CHAC inhibits the proliferation of melanoma cells via upregulation of Mek 1/2 kinase activity, and therefore may find application in the management of melanoma

Effects of Thalidomide on the Expression of Adhesion Molecules in Rat Liver Cirrhosis

This study was to evaluate the effects of thalidomide on expression of adhesion molecules in liver cirrhosis. The cirrhosis was induced in Wistar rats by intraperitoneal injection of CCl(4), and thalidomide (10 mg/kg/day or 100 mg/kg/day) was given by intragastric administration for 8 weeks. Liver histopathology and immunohistochemistry were significantly improved and the expressions of ICAM-1, VCAM-1, E-selectin, and TNF-α mRNA and protein were decreased significantly in rats treated with a high dose of thalidomide. Close positive correlation was observed in the expression of the TNF-α mRNA and that of ICAM-1, VCAM-1, and E-selectin mRNA, respectively. These results indicate that thalidomide exerts its effect on the downregulation of adhesion molecules via TNF-α signaling pathway to inhibit liver fibrosis

The dual actions, equivariant autoequivalences and stable tilting objects

For a finite abelian group action on a linear category, we study the dual action given by the character group acting on the category of equivariant objects. We prove that the groups of equivariant autoequivalences on these two categories are isomorphic. In the triangulated situation, this isomorphism implies that the classifications of stable tilting objects for these two categories are in a natural bijection. We apply these results to stable tilting complexes on weighted projective lines of tubular type.Comment: comments welcom

结合轻量级麦穗检测模型和离线Android软件开发的田间小麦测产

The number of spikes per unit area is a key yield component for cereal crops such as wheat, which is popularly used in wheat research for crop improvement. With the fast maturity of smartphone imaging hardware and recent advances in image processing and lightweight deep learning techniques, it is possible to acquire high-resolution images using a smartphone camera, followed by the analysis of wheat spikes per unit area through pre-trained artificial intelligence algorithms. Then, by combining detected spike number with variety-based spikelet number and grain weight, it is feasible to carry out a near real-time estimation of yield potential for a given wheat variety in the field. This AI-driven approach becomes more powerful when a range of varieties are included in the training datasets, enabling an effective and valuable approach for yield-related studies in breeding, cultivation, and agricultural production. In this study, we present a novel smartphone-based software application that combines smartphone imaging, lightweight and embedded deep learning, with yield prediction algorithms and applied the software to wheat cultivation experiments. This open-source Android application is called YieldQuant-Mobile (YQ-M), which was developed to measure a key yield trait (i.e. spikes per unit area) and then estimate yield based on the trait. Through YQ-M and smartphones, we standardized the in-field imaging of wheat plots, streamlined the detection of spikes per unit area and the prediction of yield, without a prerequisite of in-field WiFi or mobile network. In this article, we introduce the YQ-M in detail, including: 1) the data acquisition designed to standardize the collection of wheat images from an overhead perspective using Android smartphones; 2) the data pre-processing of the acquired image to reduce the computational time for image analysis; 3) the extraction of wheat spike features through deep learning (i.e. YOLOV4) and transfer learning; 4) the application of TensorFlow.lite to transform the trained model into a lightweight MobileNetV2-YOLOV4 model, so that wheat spike detection can be operated on an Android smartphone; 5) finally, the establishment of a mobile phone database to incorporate historic datasets of key yield components collected from different wheat varieties into YQ-M using Android SDK and SQLite. Additionally, to ensure that our work could reach the broader research community, we developed a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for YQ-M, which contains: 1) the spike detection module that identifies the number of wheat spikes from a smartphone image; 2) the yield prediction module that invokes near real-time yield prediction using detected spike numbers and related parameters such as wheat varieties, place of production, accumulated temperature, and unit area. During our research, we have tested YQ-M with 80 representative varieties (240 one-square-meter plots, three replicates) selected from the main wheat producing areas in China. The computed accuracy, recall, average accuracy, and F1-score for the learning model are 84.43%, 91.05%, 91.96%, and 0.88, respectively. The coefficient of determination between YQ-M predicted yield values and post-harvest manual yield measurement is 0.839 (n=80 varieties, P<0.05; Root Mean Square Error=17.641 g/m2). The results suggest that YQ-M presented here has a high accuracy in the detection of wheat spikes per unit area and can produce a consistent yield prediction for the selected wheat varieties under complex field conditions. Furthermore, YQ-M can be easily accessed and expanded to incorporate new varieties and crop species, indicating the usability and extendibility of the software application. Hence, we believe that YQ-M is likely to provide a step change in our abilities to analyze yield-related components for different wheat varieties, a low-cost, accessible, and reliable approach that can contribute to smart breeding, cultivation and, potentially, agricultural production

TNFAIP1 contributes to the neurotoxicity induced by Aβ25–35 in Neuro2a cells

Background: Amyloid-beta (Aβ) accumulation is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) that can lead to neuronal dysfunction and apoptosis. Tumor necrosis factor, alpha-induced protein 1 (TNFAIP1) is an apoptotic protein that was robustly induced in the transgenic C. elegans AD brains. However, the roles of TNFAIP1 in AD have not been investigated. Results: We found TNFAIP1 protein and mRNA levels were dramatically elevated in primary mouse cortical neurons and Neuro2a (N2a) cells exposed to Aβ25–35. Knockdown and overexpression of TNFAIP1 significantly attenuated and exacerbated Aβ25–35-induced neurotoxicity in N2a cells, respectively. Further studies showed that TNFAIP1 knockdown significantly blocked Aβ25–35-induced cleaved caspase 3, whereas TNFAIP1 overexpression enhanced Aβ25–35-induced cleaved caspase 3, suggesting that TNFAIP1 plays an important role in Aβ25–35-induced neuronal apoptosis. Moreover, we observed that TNFAIP1 was capable of inhibiting the levels of phosphorylated Akt and CREB, and also anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2. TNFAIP1 overexpression enhanced the inhibitory effect of Aβ25–35 on the levels of p-CREB and Bcl-2, while TNFAIP1 knockdown reversed Aβ25–35-induced attenuation in the levels of p-CREB and Bcl-2. Conclusion: These results suggested that TNFAIP1 contributes to Aβ25–35-induced neurotoxicity by attenuating Akt/CREB signaling pathway, and Bcl-2 expression

Synthesis and electrochemical properties of ZnMn2O4 anode for lithium-ion batteries

The precursors of ZnMn2O4 were synthesized by different methods (the rheological phase reaction method or the mixed solvothermal method). The precursors were heat-treated at a suitable temperature to obtain the expected product (ZnMn2O4). The synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The electrochemical properties of the samples were also investigated. The results show that ZnMn2O4 was synthesized successfully. The particles of ZnMn2O4 were irregular quasi-spheres with sizes of about 50 nm. The ZnMn2O4 nanoparticles synthesized through the mixed solvothermal method were clustered together to form microspheres about 1 μm in diameter. The electrochemical testing results showed that the ZnMn2O4 synthesized through the mixed solvothermal method featured higher reversible capacity and better cycling performance than the sample synthesized by the rheological phase reaction method. The ZnMn2O4 synthesized through the mixed solvothermal method could be a promising anode material for lithium ion battery application

Synthesis and electrochemical performances of MoS2/C fibers as anode material for lithium-ion battery

The electronspinning method is used to synthesize MoS2/C composite. The MoS2/C composite takes on the morphology of nano-fibers with diameters between 50 and 150 nm. Electrochemical tests demonstrated that MoS2/C nanofibers have a high reversible discharge capacity (650 mA h g-1) and outstanding rate performances. The MoS2/C nanofibers are promising anode material for lithium ion battery