Polymorphisms in the selectin gene cluster are associated with fertility and survival time in a population of Holstein Friesian cows

Selectins are adhesion molecules, which mediate attachment between leucocytes and endothelium. They aid extravasation of leucocytes from blood into inflamed tissue during the mammary gland’s response to infection. Selectins are also involved in attachment of the conceptus to the endometrium and subsequent placental development. Poor fertility and udder health are major causes for culling dairy cows. The three identified bovine selectin genes SELP, SELL and SELE are located in a gene cluster. SELP is the most polymorphic of these genes. Several SNP in SELP and SELE are associated with human vascular disease, while SELP SNP rs6127 has been associated with recurrent pregnancy loss in women. This study describes the results of a gene association study for SNP in SELP (n = 5), SELL (n = 2) and SELE (n = 1) with fertility, milk production and longevity traits in a population of 337 Holstein Friesian dairy cows. Blood samples for PCR-RFLP were collected at 6 months of age and animals were monitored until either culling or 2,340 days from birth. Three SNP in SELPEx4-6 formed a haplotype block containing a Glu/Ala substitution at rs42312260. This region was associated with poor fertility and reduced survival times. SELPEx8 (rs378218397) coded for a Val475Met variant locus in the linking region between consensus repeats 4 and 5, which may influence glycosylation. The synonymous SNP rs110045112 in SELEEx14 deviated from Hardy Weinberg equilibrium. For both this SNP and rs378218397 there were too few AA homozygotes present in the population and AG heterozygotes had significantly worse fertility than GG homozygotes. Small changes in milk production associated with some SNP could not account for the reduced fertility and only SELPEx6 showed any association with somatic cell count. These results suggest that polymorphisms in SELP and SELE are associated with the likelihood of successful pregnancy, potentially through compromised implantation and placental development

Global analysis of estrogen receptor beta binding to breast cancer cell genome reveals an extensive interplay with estrogen receptor alpha for target gene regulation

Background: Estrogen receptors alpha (ERa) and beta (ERb) are transcription factors (TFs) that mediate estrogen signaling and define the hormone-responsive phenotype of breast cancer (BC). The two receptors can be found co-expressed and play specific, often opposite, roles, with ERb being able to modulate the effects of ERa on gene transcription and cell proliferation. ERb is frequently lost in BC, where its presence generally correlates with a better prognosis of the disease. The identification of the genomic targets of ERb in hormone-responsive BC cells is thus a critical step to elucidate the roles of this receptor in estrogen signaling and tumor cell biology. Results: Expression of full-length ERb in hormone-responsive, ERa-positive MCF-7 cells resulted in a marked reduction in cell proliferation in response to estrogen and marked effects on the cell transcriptome. By ChIP-Seq we identified 9702 ERb and 6024 ERa binding sites in estrogen-stimulated cells, comprising sites occupied by either ERb, ERa or both ER subtypes. A search for TF binding matrices revealed that the majority of the binding sites identified comprise one or more Estrogen Response Element and the remaining show binding matrixes for other TFs known to mediate ER interaction with chromatin by tethering, including AP2, E2F and SP1. Of 921 genes differentially regulated by estrogen in ERb+ vs ERb- cells, 424 showed one or more ERb site within 10 kb. These putative primary ERb target genes control cell proliferation, death, differentiation, motility and adhesion, signal transduction and transcription, key cellular processes that might explain the biological and clinical phenotype of tumors expressing this ER subtype. ERb binding in close proximity of several miRNA genes and in the mitochondrial genome, suggests the possible involvement of this receptor in small non-coding RNA biogenesis and mitochondrial genome functions. Conclusions: Results indicate that the vast majority of the genomic targets of ERb can bind also ERa, suggesting that the overall action of ERb on the genome of hormone-responsive BC cells depends mainly on the relative concentration of both ERs in the cell

Real-time Monitoring for the Next Core-Collapse Supernova in JUNO

Core-collapse supernova (CCSN) is one of the most energetic astrophysical events in the Universe. The early and prompt detection of neutrinos before (pre-SN) and during the SN burst is a unique opportunity to realize the multi-messenger observation of the CCSN events. In this work, we describe the monitoring concept and present the sensitivity of the system to the pre-SN and SN neutrinos at the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), which is a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector under construction in South China. The real-time monitoring system is designed with both the prompt monitors on the electronic board and online monitors at the data acquisition stage, in order to ensure both the alert speed and alert coverage of progenitor stars. By assuming a false alert rate of 1 per year, this monitoring system can be sensitive to the pre-SN neutrinos up to the distance of about 1.6 (0.9) kpc and SN neutrinos up to about 370 (360) kpc for a progenitor mass of 30$M_{\odot}$ for the case of normal (inverted) mass ordering. The pointing ability of the CCSN is evaluated by using the accumulated event anisotropy of the inverse beta decay interactions from pre-SN or SN neutrinos, which, along with the early alert, can play important roles for the followup multi-messenger observations of the next Galactic or nearby extragalactic CCSN.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figure

Characterization and insecticidal activity of sucrose octanoates

Sucrose esters, a new class of biopesticides related to the Nicotiana family, were synthesized efficiently under vacuum and isolated by column chromatography (CC). The isolations were characterized with mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Their insecticidal activities against Lymantria dispar grubs were determined. Thin-layer chromatography ultraviolet (TLC-UV) spectrophotometric analyses showed that the ratio of the monoesters to others in the reaction product was 1.48:1. After isolation by CC, three groups, which had polarity from weak to strong, were obtained in high purity. Both electrospray ionization (ESI)-MS and $^{1}$H NMR analyses proved that these groups were triesters, diesters and monoesters, respectively. According to their peak areas of gas chromatographic (GC) analyses, the monoester content was 61.72%. Among these esters, the reaction product and monoesters presented the highest insecticidal activities. The Lymantria dispar grub mortality reached 79.2% after being treated for 5 days with 12 mg/mL of the reaction products. The results indicate the synthesized sucrose octanoate product under vacuum is a good insecticide candidate

Robust Stereo Visual-Inertial Odometry Using Nonlinear Optimization

The fusion of visual and inertial odometry has matured greatly due to the complementarity of the two sensors. However, the use of high-quality sensors and powerful processors in some applications is difficult due to size and cost limitations, and there are also many challenges in terms of robustness of the algorithm and computational efficiency. In this work, we present VIO-Stereo, a stereo visual-inertial odometry (VIO), which jointly combines the measurements of the stereo cameras and an inexpensive inertial measurement unit (IMU). We use nonlinear optimization to integrate visual measurements with IMU readings in VIO tightly. To decrease the cost of computation, we use the FAST feature detector to improve its efficiency and track features by the KLT sparse optical flow algorithm. We also incorporate accelerometer bias into the measurement model and optimize it together with other variables. Additionally, we perform circular matching between the previous and current stereo image pairs in order to remove outliers in the stereo matching and feature tracking steps, thus reducing the mismatch of feature points and improving the robustness and accuracy of the system. Finally, this work contributes to the experimental comparison of monocular visual-inertial odometry and stereo visual-inertial odometry by evaluating our method using the public EuRoC dataset. Experimental results demonstrate that our method exhibits competitive performance with the most advanced techniques

Origin of Bedding-Parallel Calcite Veins from Lacustrine Shale in the Eocene Dongying Depression, Bohai Bay Basin, China

Calcite veins, which developed parallel to the bedding, are widespread in laminated source rocks in the Eocene Dongying Depression. However, there is a lack of systematic description and classification of the veins. This study presents a systematic characterization of the calcite veins, host rocks, and micritic carbonate laminae by applying petrographic and geochemical methods to understand vein-forming mechanisms. Antitaxial and syntaxial veins are examined. Antitaxial veins contain typical fibrous crystals with the most intense fluorescence, and the median zone of these veins is often the micritic carbonate. Calcite crystals in syntaxial veins develop a blocky morphology of various sizes, indicating obvious growth competition. Data of rare earth elements and trace elements obtained from the micritic laminae, host rocks, and calcite veins are very similar. This indicates that the vein-forming nutrients originated from the carbonate in the host rocks and micritic laminae. The minor difference in C and Sr isotopes between calcite veins and micritic carbonate within the host rock and the negative shift in O isotopes in the veins are caused by ion exchange and dehydration of swelling clay minerals in the burial environment. This further proves that the calcite veins are formed in a closed system. Geochemical analysis suggests that the rocks are in the oil window and have good hydrocarbon potential. Thermal evolution of the acidic fluids generated from organic matter (OM) resulted in the dissolution of carbonate and formed fluid overpressure in the rocks. Fluid overpressure induced the formation of fractures in the interlayer and expanded the veins with the force of crystallization due to fibrous calcite growth. Blocky crystals grow in the fractures from the margins toward the center. Hydrocarbon expulsed via OM maturation in the host rock fills the intercrystalline pores. Moreover, shale with bedding-parallel calcite has the characteristics of high-quality shale oil reservoirs. These characteristics will probably provide guidance for shale oil exploration