Microstructures and Electrochemical Behavior of Ti-Mo Alloys for Biomaterials

The Ti alloy with 7 wt% Mo revealed a microstructure that contained only the orthorhombic α′′ phase of a fine acicular martensitic structure. The corrosion resistance of the Ti-Mo alloys increased as the Mo content increased. Based on the results obtained from the polarization curve and electrochemical impedance, the Ti-Mo alloys were shown to be corrosion resistant because of the passive films formed on their surfaces. No ion release was detected in SBF (simulated body fluid) solution, while Ti ions were released in 0.1% lactic acid ranging from 0.05 to 0.12 μg/mL for the Ti-Mo alloys. In vitro tests showed that MC3T3-E1 cell proliferation on Ti-7 wt% Mo alloy was rather active compared to other Ti-Mo alloys and commercial-grade pure Ti

The Effects of Aerobic Exercise Training on Blood Lipid Profiles, Fibrinolytic Activities, and Nitric Oxide Levels in High-fat-diet induced Rats

Although exercise training has been utilized to improve vascular function in animals and humans, the impact of moderate intensity exercise training on fibrinolytic activities and nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability has not been well documented. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine the impact of moderate intensity aerobic exercise training on fat mass, blood lipid profiles, fibrinolytic activity, and NO levels in high-fat-diet induced rats. The body weight, fat mass, blood lipid profiles, fibrinolytic activity, and nitrite/nitrate were measured pre- and postexercise (10 weeks) training. The body weight and fat mass reduced significantly in the exercise (EX) group compared to the control (CON) group. Blood lipid profiles and low-density lipoprotein were unchanged in the EX group compared to the CON group. However, triglyceride and free fatty acid were significantly lower in the EX group compared to the CON group, and high-density lipoprotein was significantly greater in the EX group compared to the CON group. In addition, fibrinolytic activity and nitrite/nitrate were significantly greater in the EX compared to the CON group. These results suggest that 10 weeks of the moderated intensity aerobic exercise training improves blood lipid profiles, fibrinolytic activity, and the nitrite/nitrate ratio, which may improve vascular health and reduce obesity-related cardiovascular disease risks in high-fat- diet induced rats

Growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) polymorphisms associated with carcass traits of meat in Korean cattle

BACKGROUND: Cold carcass weight (CW) and longissimus muscle area (EMA) are the major quantitative traits in beef cattle. In this study, we found several polymorphisms of growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) gene and examined the association of polymorphisms with carcass traits (CW and EMA) in Korean native cattle (Hanwoo). RESULTS: By direct DNA sequencing in 24 unrelated Korean cattle, we identified 12 single nucleotide polymorphisms within the 9 kb full gene region, including the 1.5 kb promoter region. Among them, six polymorphic sites were selected for genotyping in our beef cattle (n = 428) and five marker haplotypes (frequency > 0.1) were identified. Statistical analysis revealed that -4241A>T showed significant associations with CW and EMA. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that polymorphisms in GHRH might be one of the important genetic factors that influence carcass yield in beef cattle. Sequence variation/haplotype information identified in this study would provide valuable information for the production of a commercial line of beef cattle

Post-chemotherapy serum anti-Müllerian hormone level predicts ovarian function recovery

In the era of precision medicine, the prediction of ovarian function recovery from chemotherapy-induced amenorrhoea using feasible biological markers may be helpful to optimise the treatment strategy for young patients with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to investigate the accuracy of post-chemotherapy biological markers for predicting the recovery of ovarian function in breast cancer patients of the ASTRRA trial, with chemotherapy-induced amenorrhoea. Using data of 82 participants from a single institution in the ASTRRA trial, the post-chemotherapy serum levels of the anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), oestradiol, inhibin B and other clinical factors associated with chemotherapy-induced amenorrhoea were evaluated. Recovery of ovarian function was defined by the resumption of menstruation manifested by vaginal bleeding. Fifty-two patients regained menstruation within 55 months after enrolment. In univariate analysis, <40 years of age (P = 0.009), oestradiol ≥37 pg/mL (P = 0.003) or AMH ≥800 pg/mL (P = 0.026) were associated with recovery of menstruation. On multivariate analysis, oestradiol (hazard ratio: 3.171, 95% CI: 1.306–7.699, P = 0.011) and AMH (hazard ratio: 2.853, 95% CI: 1.011–8.046, P = 0.048) remained as significant independent predictors for resumption of menstruation. The diagnostic accuracy of age, oestradiol and AMH in predicting the resumption of menstruation was 38.3, 23.3 and 86.7%, respectively. In conclusion, post-chemotherapy AMH level might be a relatively accurate predictor of the recovery of ovarian function, presented by resumption of menstruation in breast cancer patients with chemotherapy-induced amenorrhoea

Compensatory proliferation of endogenous chicken primordial germ cells after elimination by busulfan treatment

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Introduction Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are the major population of cells in the developing bilateral embryonic gonads. Little is known about the cellular responses of PGCs after treatment with toxic chemicals such as busulfan during embryo development. In this study, we investigated the elimination, restorative ability, and cell cycle status of endogenous chicken PGCs after busulfan treatment. Methods Busulfan was emulsified in sesame oil by a dispersion-emulsifying system and injected into the chick blastoderm (embryonic stage X). Subsequently, we conducted flow cytometry analysis to evaluate changes in the PGC population and cell cycle status, and immunohistochemistry to examine the germ cell proliferation. Results Results of flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry analyses after busulfan treatment showed that the proportion of male PGCs at embryonic day 9 and female PGCs at embryonic day 7 were increased by approximately 60% when compared with embryonic day 5.5. This result suggests the existence of a compensatory mechanism in PGCs in response to the cytotoxic effects of busulfan. Results of cell cycling analysis showed that the germ cells in the G0/G1 phase were significantly decreased, while S/G2/M-phase germ cells were significantly increased in the treatment group compared with the untreated control group in both 9-day-old male and female embryos. In addition, in the proliferation analysis with 5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine (EdU) incorporation, we found that the proportion of EdU-positive cells among VASA homolog-positive cells in the 9-day embryonic gonads of the busulfan-treated group was significantly higher than in the control group. Conclusions We conclude that PGCs enter a restoration pathway by promoting their cell cycle after experiencing a cytotoxic effect

Muscle differentiation induced up-regulation of calcium-related gene expression in quail myoblasts

Objective In the poultry industry, the most important economic traits are meat quality and carcass yield. Thus, many studies were conducted to investigate the regulatory pathways during muscle differentiation. To gain insight of muscle differentiation mechanism during growth period, we identified and validated calcium-related genes which were highly expressed during muscle differentiation through mRNA sequencing analysis. Methods We conducted next-generation-sequencing (NGS) analysis of mRNA from undifferentiated QM7 cells and differentiated QM7 cells (day 1 to day 3 of differentiation periods). Subsequently, we obtained calcium related genes related to muscle differentiation process and examined the expression patterns by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Results Through RNA sequencing analysis, we found that the transcription levels of six genes (troponin C1, slow skeletal and cardiac type [TNNC1], myosin light chain 1 [MYL1], MYL3, phospholamban [PLN], caveolin 3 [CAV3], and calsequestrin 2 [CASQ2]) particularly related to calcium regulation were gradually increased according to days of myotube differentiation. Subsequently, we validated the expression patterns of calcium-related genes in quail myoblasts. These results indicated that TNNC1, MYL1, MYL3, PLN, CAV3, CASQ2 responded to differentiation and growth performance in quail muscle. Conclusion These results indicated that calcium regulation might play a critical role in muscle differentiation. Thus, these findings suggest that further studies would be warranted to investigate the role of calcium ion in muscle differentiation and could provide a useful biomarker for muscle differentiation and growth

Comparative transcriptional analysis of caffeoyl-coenzyme A 3-O-methyltransferase from Hibiscus cannabinus L., during developmental stages in various tissues and stress regulation,”

Abstract We have cloned a full-length gene, putatively encoding for caffeoyl-coenzyme A 3-O-methyltransferase (CCoAOMT), an important enzyme involved in lignin biosynthesis, from kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.). Herein, we investigated the expression pattern of a CCoAOMT orthologue from various tissues and organs during development, and in response to different environmental cues. The full-length CCoAOMT orthologue of kenaf consists of a 744 bp open reading frame (ORF), encoding for 247 amino acids of 27.91 kDa and an isoelectric point (pI) of 5.43. The deduced amino acids of CCoAOMT evidenced a high degree of identity (up to 84%) with other plant CCoAOMT sequences. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated its close relationship with the CCoAOMT of Gossypium hirsutum (ACQ59096). Kenaf CCoAOMT harbors eight highly conserved motifs: A, B, and C are putative S-adenosylmethioine (SAM)-binding motifs and D, E, F, G, and H are CCoAOMT signature motifs. According to quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR) analysis, the kenaf CCoAOMT transcript was detected in all plant tissues and organs, whereas the highest expression was noted in mature flower tissues, which indicates that it might be involved in the flower development or in the biosynthesis of flower specific compound. All the treatments highly induced the expression of CCoAOMT transcripts in the stems of 3-week-old kenaf, which indicates that it might have a role in stress regulatory pathway. Among the treatments, the cold and H 2 O 2 -treated samples evidenced the highest levels of expression at 6 and 24 h after treatment, respectively, whereas the wounded and NaCl-treated samples evidenced lower expression levels, which suggest that different signaling networks are involved for stress mediated up regulation of HcCCoAOMT transcripts. The highest transcript level of CCoAOMT was detected at either early (within 12 h of treatments) or intermediate (24 h after treatments) time points of treatments, except drought treated sample. Early induction was observed in the case of H 2 O 2 and SA (salicylic acid), and intermediate induction occurring as the result of wounding, NaCl, cold and ABA (abscisic acid). Whereas drought treated sample showed highest expression at seven days after treatment. MeJA (methyl jasmonic acid) treatment showed a complex biphasic expression which is different from others. In summary, we have cloned and characterized a full-length gene putatively encoding for CCoAOMT, which also showed stress responsive differential expression