MicroRNAs in Bone Diseases: Progress and Prospects

With 19–25 nucleotides long, microRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNA molecules which play crucial roles in major cellular functions such as cell cycle control, apoptosis, metabolism, cell proliferation, and cell differentiation. Changes in the expression of miRNAs can cause significant effects to normal and aberrant cells. The dysregulation of miRNAs has been implicated in various human diseases such as brain tumor, osteoarthritis, schizophrenia, and breast cancer. Generally, miRNAs negatively regulate gene expression by binding to their specific mRNAs, thereby blocking their translation of the mRNAs. However, a few studies have reported that miRNAs could also upregulate the translation of certain proteins. This shows the important roles of miRNAs in various cell functions. This chapter will focus on the role of miRNAs in normal osteoblast and osteosarcoma cells. In addition, the great potential of miRNA as a new therapeutic approach to treat human bone diseases will also be discussed

Indicator-based evolutionary level set approximation: mixed mutation strategy and extended analysis.

The aim of evolutionary level set approximation is to find a finite representation of a level set of a given black box function. The problem of level set approximation plays a vital role in solving problems, for instance in fault detection in water distribution systems, engineering design, parameter identification in gene regulatory networks, and in drug discovery. The goal is to create algorithms that quickly converge to feasible solutions and then achieve a good coverage of the level set. The population based search scheme of evolutionary algorithms makes this type of algorithms well suited to target such problems. In this paper, the focus is on continuous black box functions and we propose a challenging benchmark for this problem domain and propose dual mutation strategies, that balance between global exploration and local refinement. Moreover, the article investigates the role of different indicators for measuring the coverage of the level set approximation. The results are promising and show that even for difficult problems in moderate dimension the proposed evolutionary level set approximation algorithm (ELSA) can serve as a versatile and robust meta-heuristic

Highly efficient proliferation and regeneration of protocorm-like bodies (PLBS) of the threatened orchid, phalaenopsis bellina

Phalaenopsis bellina is an important indigenous fragrant orchid threatened with extinction. In this study, we evaluated the effect of medium strength, sucrose, nitrogen (NH4NO3) and potato extract on proliferation of P. bellina protocorm-like bodies (PLBs) to improve micropropagation in this species. Optimal treatment for PLBs proliferation rate with an average fresh weight (FW) of 0.97±0.16 g was obtained through culturing on half strength (½) MS medium containing 20 g/L sucrose, 15 mM NH4NO3 and 20% w/v potato extract supplemented with 0.8 μM 2,4 dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). The optimal treatment produced large, healthy and greenish PLBs with reduction in the occurrence of culture browning. In contrast, treatments with high potato extract (>20% w/v) or NH4NO3 (>30 mM) concentrations tend to have inhibitory effect and resulted in low PLBs proliferation rate, with an average FW of 0.77±0.15 g and 0.69±0.15 g, respectively. Plant regeneration of PLBs was achieved on plant growth regulator (PGR)-free ½ MS medium. In total, 60 healthy PLBs from the optimal treatment were successfully regenerated, acclimatized with 100% survival percentage and grew well in a mixture of soil, sand and vermicompost (8:4:2 (w/w/w)). With the optimal treatment, PLBs proliferation rate was enhanced by 27.63%. Our findings offer an improved micropropagation protocol of the endangered P. bellina for conservation and commercial production

Highly efficient proliferation and regeneration of protocorm-like bodies (PLBS) of the threatened orchid, phalaenopsis bellina

Phalaenopsis bellina is an important indigenous fragrant orchid threatened with extinction. In this study, we evaluated the effect of medium strength, sucrose, nitrogen (NH4NO3) and potato extract on proliferation of P. bellina protocorm-like bodies (PLBs) to improve micropropagation in this species. Optimal treatment for PLBs proliferation rate with an average fresh weight (FW) of 0.97±0.16 g was obtained through culturing on half strength (½) MS medium containing 20 g/L sucrose, 15 mM NH4NO3 and 20% w/v potato extract supplemented with 0.8 μM 2,4 dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). The optimal treatment produced large, healthy and greenish PLBs with reduction in the occurrence of culture browning. In contrast, treatments with high potato extract (>20% w/v) or NH4NO3 (>30 mM) concentrations tend to have inhibitory effect and resulted in low PLBs proliferation rate, with an average FW of 0.77±0.15 g and 0.69±0.15 g, respectively. Plant regeneration of PLBs was achieved on plant growth regulator (PGR)-free ½ MS medium. In total, 60 healthy PLBs from the optimal treatment were successfully regenerated, acclimatized with 100% survival percentage and grew well in a mixture of soil, sand and vermicompost (8:4:2 (w/w/w)). With the optimal treatment, PLBs proliferation rate was enhanced by 27.63%. Our findings offer an improved micropropagation protocol of the endangered P. bellina for conservation and commercial production

The CRISPR/Cas9 System for Crop Improvement: Progress and Prospects

The global demand for high-quality crops is continuously growing with time. Crop improvement techniques have a long history and they had been applied since the beginning of domestication of the first agricultural plants. Since then, various new techniques have and are being developed to further increase the commercial value and yield of crops. The latest crop improvement technique known as genome editing is a technique that enables precise modification of the plant genome via knocking out undesirable genes or enabling genes to gain new function. The variants generated from the genome editing are indistinguishable from naturally occurring variation. It is also less time-consuming and more readily accepted in the market commercially. The usage of genome editing has proven to be advantages and plays a promising role in future crop improvement efforts. Therefore, in this chapter, we aim to highlight the progress and application of genome editing techniques, in particular, the CRISPR/Cas9 system as a powerful genome editing tool for crop improvement. In addition, the challenges and future prospects of this technology for crop improvement will also be discussed

Development of an efficient particle bombardment transformation system for the endemic orchid, Phalaenopsis bellina

Phalaenopsis bellina is an important indigenous orchid with high commercial value. In this study, we established an efficient particle bombardment transformation system for P. bellina using the protocorm-like-bodies (PLBs) as target tissues. Leaf derived PLBs were proliferated on ½ strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 0.8 μM 2,4 dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2, 4-D). Both physical and biological parameters affecting the transformation system were optimised using the green-fluorescent protein (GFP) and β-glucuronidase (GUS) as reporter systems. Optimal bombardment conditions with 6 cm target tissues distance, 1100 psi acceleration pressure, 1.0 μm gold particle size, 27 mmHg chamber vacuum pressure, single bombardment time, spermidine as DNA precipitation agent, 72 h post bombardment incubation time, 2 μg plasmid DNA in 0.15:0.12 pmol ratio (pSMCHS:p35SGFP) were successfully determined. Surviving PLBs transformants were successfully recovered from the hygromycin selection medium and verified using genomic PCR analysis. The established system is not only useful for a simple and reliable transient gene analysis but as well as generating stable transformants for selective traits improvement in orchids

Velocity analysis on moving objects detection using multi-scale histogram of oriented gradient

An autonomous car is a one-of-a-kind specimen in today's technology. It is an automatic system in which most of the duties that humans undertake in the car can be done automatically with minimum human supervision for road safety features. Moving automobile detections, on the other hand, are prone to more mistakes and can result in undesirable situations such as minor car wrecks. Moving vehicle identification is now done using high-speed cameras or LiDAR, for example, whereas self-driving cars are produced with deep learning, which requires much larger datasets. As a result, there may be greater space for improvement in the moving vehicle detection model. This research intends to create another moving car recognition model that uses multi-scale feature-based detection to improve the model's accuracy while also determining the maximum speed at which the model can detect moving objects. The recommended methodology was to create a lab-scale model that can be used as a guide for video and image capture on the lab-scale model, as well as the speed of the toy vehicles captured from the Arduino Uno machine before testing the car recognition model. According to the data, Multi-Scale Histogram of Oriented Gradient can recognize more objects than Histogram of Oriented Gradient with higher object identification accuracies and precision

An Epstein-Barr virus–encoded microRNA targets PUMA to promote host cell survival

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a herpesvirus associated with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), gastric carcinoma (GC), and other malignancies. EBV is the first human virus found to express microRNAs (miRNAs), the functions of which remain largely unknown. We report on the regulation of a cellular protein named p53 up-regulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA) by an EBV miRNA known as miR-BART5, which is abundantly expressed in NPC and EBV-GC cells. Modulation of PUMA expression by miR-BART5 and anti–miR-BART5 oligonucleotide was demonstrated in EBV-positive cells. In addition, PUMA was found to be significantly underexpressed in ∼60% of human NPC tissues. Although expression of miR-BART5 rendered NPC and EBV-GC cells less sensitive to proapoptotic agents, apoptosis can be triggered by depleting miR-BART5 or inducing the expression of PUMA. Collectively, our findings suggest that EBV encodes an miRNA to facilitate the establishment of latent infection by promoting host cell survival

Protein expression patterns in HEK-blue-cells treated with Clinacanthus nutans extracts

Background: Clinacanthus nutans (CN) is a small shrub native to tropical Asia known for their anti-oxidant, anti-inflammation, anti-cancer, and anti-viral activities. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effect of CN extract on human embryonic kidney cell line (HEK-Blue™-4) in a proteomic perspective. Materials and Methods: Comparative proteomic profiling through two-dimensional sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis was performed on HEK-Blue™-4 treated with CN leaf polar extract. Results: We successfully identified seven upregulated proteins, of which five promoted the growth of the HEK-Blue™-4 cells. Interestingly, a potent antioxidant enzyme which neutralizes reactive oxygen or nitrogen species, peroxiredoxin-1 was also upregulated in HEK-Blue™-4 cell lines after treatment with CN leaf polar extract. Conclusion: CN leaf polar extract promotes the growth of HEK-Blue™-4 cells and induced the expression of peroxiredoxin-1, which protects the cells from reactive oxygen species during the inflammation process

Harnessing Diesel-Degrading Potential of an Antarctic Microalga from Greenwich Island and Its Physiological Adaptation

Phytoremediation is a plant-based approach to extract, stabilise, eliminate, or render pollutants into less harmful form. The study highlights the use of a native polar microalga as a means of phytoremediation in Antarctica where imported microbes are prohibited. Since 1959, Antarctica has been a protected region to preserve its dynamic ecosystems, but it is increasingly vulnerable to climate change and pollution. One of the anthropogenic disturbances in the continent is diesel spillage. Due to the extreme polar environment, natural attenuation of spilled diesel is severely hindered; hence, the problem calls for an effective and sustainable solution. This laboratory study proved that Antarctic microalga was capable of removing diesel (57.6%) through biodegradation and biosorption in the span of nine days. Meanwhile, mixotrophic cultivation triggered the vacuolar activities and potentially stimulated lipid assimilation in the cells. The microalgal-based process offers a cheap alternative in water decontamination while bearing the economic potential through the secretion of valuable products, such as biolipids