Theoretical Investigation of the Black-body Zeeman Shift for Microwave Atomic Clocks

With the development of microwave atomic clocks, the Zeeman shifts for the spectral lines of black-body radiation need to be investigated carefully. In this Letter, the frequency shifts of hyperfine splittings of atomic ground states due to the magnetic field of black-body radiation are reported. The relative frequency shifts of different alkali atoms and alkali-like ions, which could be candidates of microwave atomic clocks, were calculated. The results vary from $-0.977\times10^{-17}[T(K)/300]^{2}$ to $-1.947\times10^{-17}[T(K)/300]^{2}$ for different atoms considered. These results are consistent with previous work but with greater precision, detailed derivations, and a clear physical picture

MicroRNA miR-103a-3p targets NPAS3 to regulate progression of Alzheimer’s disease

Purpose: This study aimed at investigating miR-103a-3p expression, functional roles and underlying mechanism in regulating Alzheimer’s progression.Methods: RT-qPCR was used to assessed miR-103a-3p and NPAS3 expression in human neuroblastoma cells. Cell transfection of overexpressed or knocked down genes and CCK-8 assay measured cell viability while RT-qPCR was used to detect proliferation and apoptosis in biomarkers, Ki87 and PCNA, caspase-8 and caspase-3, respectively. Furthermore, luciferase assay was used to evaluate the luciferase activity while western blotting  analysis was applied to determine protein biomarkers regarding proliferation and apoptosis.Results: Expression of miR-103a-3p decreased but NPAS3 increased in AD cell lines. Overexpressed miR-103a-3p attenuated cell viability and NPAS3 bound miR-103a-3p to regulate AD progression. The inhibitory effect of miRNA on cell viability in AD was reversed by NPAS3.Conclusion: miR-103a-3p/NPAS3 might help to enrich knowledge on treatment of AD. Keywords: Alzheimer’s development, cell growth, cell proliferatio

Near-Infrared (NIR) Luminescent Homoleptic Lanthanide Salen Complexes Ln(4)(Salen)(4) (Ln = Nd, Yb Or Er)

The series of homoleptic tetranuclear [Ln(4)(L)(2)(HL)(2)(NO3)(2)(OH)(2)]center dot 2(NO3) (Ln = Nd, 1; Ln = Yb, 2; Ln = Er, 3; Ln = Gd, 4) have been self-assembled from the reaction of the Salen-type Schiff-base ligand H2L with Ln(NO3)(3)center dot 6H(2)O (Ln = Nd, Yb, Er or Gd), respectively (H2L: N, N'-bis(salicylidene) cyclohexane-1,2-diamine). The result of their photophysical properties shows that the strong and characteristic NIR luminescence for complexes 1 and 2 with emissive lifetimes in microsecond ranges are observed and the sensitization arises from the excited state (both (LC)-L-1 and (LC)-L-3) of the Salen-type Schiff-base ligand with the flexible linker.National Natural Science Foundation 21173165, 20871098Ministry of Education of China NCET-10-0936Higher Education of China 20116101110003State Key Laboratory of Structure Chemistry 20100014Education Committee Foundation of Shaanxi Province 11JK0588Hong Kong Research Grants Council, P. R. of China HKBU 202407, FRG/06-07/II-16)Hong Kong Research Grants Council, Robert A. Welch Foundation F-816Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board ARP 003658-0010-2006Petroleum Research Fund 47014-AC5Chemistr

On-Farm-Produced Organic Amendments on Maintaining and Enhancing Soil Fertility and Nitrogen Availability in Organic or Low Input Agriculture

Maintaining and enhancing soil fertility are key issues for sustainability in an agricultural system with organic or low input methods. On-farm–produced green manure as a source of soil organic matter (SOM) plays a critical role in long-term productivity. But producing green manure requires land and water; thus, increasing biodiversity, such as by intercropping with green manure crops, could be an approach to enhance the efficiency of renewable resources especially in developing countries. This article discusses soil fertility and its maintenance and enhancement with leguminous intercropping from four points of view: soil fertility and organic matter function, leguminous green manure, intercropping principles, and soil conservation. Important contributions of leguminous intercropping include SOM enhancement and fertility building, biological nitrogen (N) and other plant nutrition availability. Under a well-designed and managed system, competition between the target and intercropping crops can be reduced. The plant uptake efficiency of biologically fixed N is estimated to be double that of industrial N fertilizers. After N-rich plant residues are incorporated into soil, the carbon (C):nitrogen ratio of added straw decreases. Another high mitigation potential of legume intercropping lies in soil conservation by preventing soil and water erosion. Many opportunities exist to introduce legumes in short-term rotation, intercropping, living mulch, and cover crops in an organically managed farm system. Worldwide, long-term soil fertility enhancement remains a challenge due to the current world population and agricultural practices. Cropping system including legumes is a step in the right direction to meeting the needs of food security and sustainability

Cloning of neuraminidase (NA) gene and identification of its antiviral activity

Neuraminidase not only works as an antigen, inducing target-specific antibodies, but also plays a role of  enzyme activity and destroys the sialic acid receptor required by virus infection of the host cell surface which  protects the host from virus damage. In order to explore a new idea to use neuraminidase (NA) gene and  produce disease-resistant transgenic poultry, prokaryotic expression vector pGEX-NA was constructed to  make NA polyclone antibody. Eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.0-NA and pcDNA3.0/EGFP-NA was  constructed to reveal its subcelluar location by immunofluorescence and enhanced green fluorescent fusion  protein (EGFP). Chicken embryonic fibroblast (CEF) cells were transfected with pcDNA3.0-NA and selected by  G418 for two weeks, the transfected cells were challenged by Newcastle disease virus (NDV), the morphology of CEF cells were observed to detect the antiviral ability of NA gene. CEF cells were incubated by the cell  lysates extracted from the NIH 3T3 cells, which were transfected with pcDNA3.0-NA. The results show that  pGEX-NA could express NA protein in vitro and NA polyclone antibody worked very well; immunofluorescence and EGFP fusion protein revealed that NA protein located at the cytoplasm near the membrane; NDV-CEF  inhibition experiment showed the NA protein could resist and delayed CEF cells from NDV infection.Key words: Neuraminidase (NA), newcastle disease virus (NDV), antiviral activity, chicken embryonic fibroblast (CEF)

Induciranje pluripotentnih matičnih stanica upotrebom mRNA: učinak valproične kiseline, 5-azacitidina i askorbinske kiseline

In the bourgeoning fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) technology with gene therapy are promising candidates for alternative stem cell source and cell transplantation. In this study, small molecules as anti-oxidant; ascorbic acid (ASA), histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi); Valproic acid (VPA), and DNA methyltransferase inhibitors (DNMTi); 5-Azacytidine (5-AzaC) were examined during the generation of murine iPSCs using mRNA of Yamanaka factors from mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs). These modulators were selected based on their well-known effect on the epigenetic status and chromatin modification during early reprogramming. iPSC generation was performed by using synthesized mRNAs of Yamanaka factors Oct4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4 (OSCK) as a standard reprogramming strategy. Both morphological changes and the expression level of the pluripotency markers were examined. 5-AzaC with 1 μM concentration has a slightly toxic effect on the cells, affecting its proliferation and growing efficiency. In contrast, the use of VPA or ASA led to a two-fold increase in the number of iPSC colonies. The iPSCs cultured with the addition of VPA or ASA showed a high expression of the tested pluripotency markers, with a significant increase, more than that of the cells cultured with the addition of 5-AzaC. These findings shed light on the role of ASA, VPA, and 5-AzaC during murine iPSCs generation using a mRNA reprogramming strategy.Ubrzani razvoj u područjima tkivnog inženjerstva i regenerativne medicine, potaknuo je tehnologiju pluripotentnih matičnih stanica (iPSCs) koja zajedno s genskom terapijom predstavlja obečavajući izvor matičnih odnosno transplantacijskih stanica. U ovom su radu, za vrijeme stvaranja mišjih iPSC-a upotrebom mRNA Yamanaka faktora od mišjih embrionalnih fibroblasta (MEF), istraženi učinci različitih modulatora: malih molekula kao antioksidansa, askorbinske kiseline (ASA), inhibitora histonske deacetilaze (HDACi), valproične kiseline (VPA), inhibitora DNA metiltransferaze (DNMTi) i 5-azacitidina (5-AzaC). Ovi su modulatori odabrani zbog njihova dobro poznatog učinka na epigenetski status i modifikaciju kromatina za vrijeme ranog reprogramiranja. Stvaranje iPSC-a postignuto je upotrebom sintetiziranih mRNA Yamanaka faktora Oct4, Sox2, c-Myc i Klf4 (OSCK). Istražene su i morfološke promjene i razina ekspresije markera pluripotencije. 5-AzaC s koncentracijom od 1 μM imao je mali toksičan učinak na stanice, utječući na proliferaciju i njihov rast. Nasuprot tome, upotreba VPA-a ili ASA-e dovela je do dvostrukog povećanja broja iPSC kolonija. iPSC kultura s dodatkom VPA-a ili ASA-e pokazala je visoku ekspresiju testiranih markera pluripotencije, sa znakovitim višom razinom u odnosu na stanice kojima je dodan 5-AzaC. Ovi rezultati rasvjetljuju ulogu ASA-e, VPA-a i 5-AzaC-a za vrijeme stvaranja mišjih iPSC-a primjenom strategije reprogramiranja mRNA

Volume-regulated Cl- current: contributions of distinct Cl- channel and localized Ca2+ signals.

The swelling-activated chloride current (ICl,swell) is induced when a cell swells and plays a central role in maintaining cell volume in response to osmotic stress. The major contributor of ICl,swell is the volume regulated anion channel (VRAC). LRRC8A (SWELL1) was recently identified as an essential component of VRAC but the mechanisms of VRAC activation are still largely unknown; moreover, other Cl- channels, such as anoctamin 1 (ANO1) were also suggested to contribute to ICl,swell. In this present study, we investigated the roles of LRRC8A and ANO1 in activation of ICl,swell; we also explored the role of intracellular Ca2+ in ICl,swell activation. We used CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing approach, electrophysiology, live fluorescent imaging, selective pharmacology and other approaches to show that both LRRC8A and ANO1 can be activated by cell swelling in HEK293 cells. Yet, both channels contribute biophysically and pharmacologically distinct components to ICl,swell, with LRRC8A being the major component. Cell swelling induced oscillatory Ca2+ transients and these Ca2+ signals were required to activate both, the LRRC8A- and ANO1-dependent components of ICl,swell. Both ICl,swell components required localized rather than global Ca2+ for activation. Interestingly, while intracellular Ca2+ was necessary and sufficient to activate ANO1, it was necessary but not sufficient to activate LRRC8A-mediated currents. Finally, Ca2+ transients linked to the ICl,swell activation were mediated by the GPCR-independent PLC isoforms

TRAF3 Negatively Regulates Platelet Activation and Thrombosis

CD40 ligand (CD40L), a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily, binds to CD40, leading to many effects depending on target cell type. Platelets express CD40L and are a major source of soluble CD40L. CD40L has been shown to potentiate platelet activation and thrombus formation, involving both CD40-dependent and -independent mechanisms. A family of proteins called TNF receptor associated factors (TRAFs) plays key roles in mediating CD40L-CD40 signaling. Platelets express several TRAFs. It has been shown that TRAF2 plays a role in CD40L-mediated platelet activation. Here we show that platelet also express TRAF3, which plays a negative role in regulating platelet activation. Thrombin- or collagen-induced platelet aggregation and secretion are increased in TRAF3 knockout mice. The expression levels of collagen receptor GPVI and integrin αIIbβ3 in platelets were not affected by deletion of TRAF3, suggesting that increased platelet activation in the TRAF3 knockout mice was not due to increased expression platelet receptors. Time to formation of thrombi in a FeCl3-induced thrombosis model was significantly shortened in the TRAF3 knockout mice. However, mouse tail-bleeding times were not affected by deletion of TRAF3. Thus, TRAF3 plays a negative role in platelet activation and in thrombus formation in vivo