SECOND-ORDER IMPRECISE STOCHASTIC DOMINANCE

Master'sMASTER OF ENGINEERIN

Association of SLC11A1 Polymorphisms With Tuberculosis Susceptibility in the Chinese Han Population

Tuberculosis (TB) is an important health issue in the world. Although the relation of SLC11A1 polymorphisms with TB risk has been extensively studied, it has not been reported in the northwest Chinese Han population. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationships between five polymorphisms in or near the SLC11A1 gene and susceptibility to TB. The Agena MassARRAY platform was conducted for genotyping from 510 TB patients and 508 healthy controls. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were analyzed through logistic regression adjustment age and gender to assess the relationships between polymorphisms and TB risk. Our results identified that rs7608307 was related to increased TB risk in males (CT vs. CC: OR = 1.69, 95%CI: 1.12–2.56, p = 0.013; CT-TT vs. CC: OR = 1.61, 95%CI: 1.08–2.41, p = 0.020) and age ≤41 group (CT vs. CC: OR = 1.66, 95%CI: 1.04–2.65, p = 0.035), respectively. The SNP rs13062 was associated with the TB risk both in males (p = 0.012) and age >41 group (p = 0.021). In addition, we observed that the CC genotype of rs4674301 was correlated with increased TB risk in females (p = 0.043). Our results demonstrated the relationships between polymorphisms (rs7608307, rs4674301, and rs13062) in or near the SLC11A1 gene and age- and sex-specific TB risk in the northwest Chinese Han population

Enamelin is critical for ameloblast integrity and enamel ultrastructure formation

Mutations in the human enamelin gene cause autosomal dominant hypoplastic amelogenesis imperfecta in which the affected enamel is thin or absent. Study of enamelin knockout NLS-lacZ knockin mice revealed that mineralization along the distal membrane of ameloblast is deficient, resulting in no true enamel formation. To determine the function of enamelin during enamel formation, we characterized the developing teeth of the Enam-/- mice, generated amelogenin-driven enamelin transgenic mouse models, and then introduced enamelin transgenes into the Enam-/- mice to rescue enamel defects. Mice at specific stages of development were subjected to morphologic and structural analysis using β-galactosidase staining, immunohistochemistry, and transmission and scanning electron microscopy. Enamelin expression was ameloblast-specific. In the absence of enamelin, ameloblasts pathology became evident at the onset of the secretory stage. Although the aggregated ameloblasts generated matrix-containing amelogenin, they were not able to create a well-defined enamel space or produce normal enamel crystals. When enamelin is present at half of the normal quantity, enamel was thinner with enamel rods not as tightly arranged as in wild type suggesting that a specific quantity of enamelin is critical for normal enamel formation. Enamelin dosage effect was further demonstrated in transgenic mouse lines over expressing enamelin. Introducing enamelin transgene at various expression levels into the Enam -/- background did not fully recover enamel formation while a medium expresser in the Enam+/- background did. Too much or too little enamelin abolishes the production of enamel crystals and prism structure. Enamelin is essential for ameloblast integrity and enamel formation. © 2014 Hu et al

An overview of ocean renewable energy in China

Facing great pressure of economic growth and energy crisis, China pays much attention to the renewable energy. An overview of policy and legislation of renewable energy as well as status of development of renewable energy in China was given in this article. By analysis, the authors believe that ocean energy is a necessary addition to existent renewable energy to meet the energy demand of the areas and islands where traditional forms of energy are not applicable and it is of great importance in adjusting energy structure of China. In the article, resources distribution and technology status of tidal energy, wave energy, marine current energy, ocean thermal energy and salinity gradient energy in China was reviewed, and assessment and advices were given for each category. Some suggestions for future development of ocean energy were also given.Ocean energy Tidal energy Wave energy Marine current energy Ocean thermal energy Salinity gradient energy China

Impact of Migrant Workers on Total Factor Productivity in Chinese Construction Industry

Total factor productivity (TFP) is of critical importance to the sustainable development of construction industry. This paper presents an analysis on the impact of migrant workers on TFP in Chinese construction sector. Interestingly, Solow Residual Approach is applied to conduct the analysis through comparing two scenarios, namely the scenario without considering migrant workers (Scenario A) and the scenario with including migrant workers (Scenario B). The data are collected from the China Statistical Yearbook on Construction and Chinese Annual Report on Migrant Workers for the period of 2008⁻2015. The results indicate that migrant workers have a significant impact on TFP, during the surveyed period they improved TFP by 10.42% in total and promoted the annual average TFP growth by 0.96%. Hence, it can be seen that the impact of migrant workers on TFP is very significant, whilst the main reason for such impact is believed to be the improvement of migrant workers’ quality obtained mainly throughout learning by doing

Virtual Screening against Phosphoglycerate Kinase 1 in Quest of Novel Apoptosis Inhibitors

Inhibition of apoptosis is a potential therapy to treat human diseases such as neurodegenerative disorders (e.g., Parkinson’s disease), stroke, and sepsis. Due to the lack of druggable targets, it remains a major challenge to discover apoptosis inhibitors. The recent repositioning of a marketed drug (i.e., terazosin) as an anti-apoptotic agent uncovered a novel target (i.e., human phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (hPgk1)). In this study, we developed a virtual screening (VS) pipeline based on the X-ray structure of Pgk1/terazosin complex and applied it to a screening campaign for potential anti-apoptotic agents. The hierarchical filters in the pipeline (i.e., similarity search, a pharmacophore model, a shape-based model, and molecular docking) rendered 13 potential hits from Specs chemical library. By using PC12 cells (exposed to rotenone) as a cell model for bioassay, we first identified that AK-918/42829299, AN-465/41520984, and AT-051/43421517 were able to protect PC12 cells from rotenone-induced cell death. Molecular docking suggested these hit compounds were likely to bind to hPgk1 in a similar mode to terazosin. In summary, we not only present a versatile VS pipeline for potential apoptosis inhibitors discovery, but also provide three novel-scaffold hit compounds that are worthy of further development and biological study