Transcriptional peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator-1 (PGC-1α) regulates transformation of muscle fiber type in Schizothorax prenanti

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ coactivator (PGC)-1ɑ, a well-known member of PGC-1 transcriptional coactivator’s family, plays a key role in various metabolic pathways. Here, we investigated the role of PGC-1ɑ in the transformation of muscle fiber type in Schizothorax prenanti. The expression of PGC-1ɑ was induced in S. prenanti muscles following fasting. Following the induction of PGC-1ɑ, the expressions of mitochondrial-related enzyme cytochrome c oxidase (COX), citrate synthase (CS) and cytochrome c oxidase IV was also increased in white muscles, but the expression of carnitine palmitoyltransferase II (CPT II) has no change in this condition. Notably, when the levels of PGC-1ɑ was upregulated in the condition of fasting, muscle fibres type II showed the characteristics of muscle fibres type I, with expressed myosin heavy chain I (MyHC I) and myoglobin (Mb), and suppressed myosin heavy chain II (MyHC II) in response to fasting. Therefore, we can draw conclusion that PGC-1ɑ up-regulates slow fiber type formation during the transformation of muscle fiber type in S. prenanti.Keywords: PGC-1ɑ, muscle fiber type, transformation, Schizothorax prenanti, MyHC I, MyHC I

Establishment of an isotope dilution LC-MS/MS method revealing kinetics and distribution of co-occurring mycotoxins in rats

An isotope dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method with a fast sample preparation using homemade clean-up cartridges was developed for simultaneous determination of co-occurring mycotoxins exemplified with aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and T-2 toxin (T-2) in representative biomatrices of rat plasma, heart, liver, kidney, spleen, lung and brain in a total run time of 7 min. The established approach using stable internal standards of [C-13(17)]-AFB1 and [C-13(24)]-T-2 was extensively validated by determining the specificity, linearity (R-2 >= 0.9990), sensitivity (lower limit of quantitation at 0.05 ng mL(-1)), accuracy (70.9-107.7%), precision (RSD = 70.8%). Based on this methodological advance, the subsequent kinetics and tissue distribution after oral administration of 0.5 mg kg(-1) b.w. of both AFB1 and T-2 in rats were thoroughly studied. As revealed, both AFB1 and T-2 were rapidly eliminated with the half-life time (t(1/2)) in plasma of 8.44 +/- 4.02 h and 8.12 +/- 4.05 h, respectively. Moreover, AFB1 accumulated in all organs where the highest concentration was observed in liver (1.34 mu g kg(-1)), followed by kidney (0.76 mu g kg(-1)). Notably, only low levels of T-2 were observed in spleen (0.70 mu g kg(-1)) and in liver (0.15 mu g kg(-1)). The achieved data as supporting evidence would substantially promote the practical application of the proposed LC-MS/MS method for in vivo toxicokinetics and toxicity studies of co-occurring mycotoxins imitating natural incidence in rat system

Antagonistic and detoxification potentials of Trichoderma isolates for control of zearalenone (ZEN) producing Fusarium graminearum

Fungi belonging to Fusarium genus can infect crops in the field and cause subsequent mycotoxin contamination, which leads to yield and quality losses of agricultural commodities. The mycotoxin zearalenone (ZEN) produced by several Fusarium species (such as F. graminearum and F. culmorum) is a commonly-detected contaminant in foodstuffs, posing a tremendous risk to food safety. Thus, different strategies have been studied to manage toxigenic pathogens and mycotoxin contamination. In recent years, biological control of toxigenic fungi is emerging as an environment-friendly strategy, while Trichoderma is a fungal genus with great antagonistic potentials for controlling mycotoxin producing pathogens. The primary objective of this study was to explore the potentials of selected Trichoderma isolates on ZEN-producing F. graminearum, and the second aim was to investigate the metabolic activity of different Trichoderma isolates on ZEN. Three tested Trichoderma isolates were proved to be potential candidates for control of ZEN producers. In addition, we reported the capacity of Trichoderma to convert ZEN into its reduced and sulfated forms for the first time, and provided evidences that the tested Trichoderma could not detoxify ZEN via glycosylation. This provides more insight in the interaction between ZEN-producing fungi and Trichoderma isolates

Complementary Lateral‐Spin–Orbit Building Blocks for Programmable Logic and In‐Memory Computing

Current-driven switching of nonvolatile spintronic materials and devices based on spin-orbit torques offer fast data processing speed, low power consumption, and unlimited endurance for future information processing applications. Analogous to conventional CMOS technology, it is important to develop a pair of complementary spin-orbit devices with differentiated magnetization switching senses as elementary building blocks for realizing sophisticated logic functionalities. Various attempts using external magnetic field or complicated stack/circuit designs have been proposed, however, plainer and more feasible approaches are still strongly desired. Here we show that a pair of two locally laser annealed perpendicular Pt/Co/Pt devices with opposite laser track configurations and thereby inverse field-free lateral spin-orbit torques (LSOTs) induced switching senses can be adopted as such complementary spin-orbit building blocks. By electrically programming the initial magnetization states (spin down/up) of each sample, four Boolean logic gates of AND, OR, NAND and NOR, as well as a spin-orbit half adder containing an XOR gate, were obtained. Moreover, various initialization-free, working current intensity-programmable stateful logic operations, including material implication (IMP) gate, were also demonstrated by regarding the magnetization state as a logic input. Our complementary LSOT building blocks provide a potentially applicable way towards future efficient spin logics and in-memory computing architectures.

Spin Logic Devices via Electric Field Controlled Magnetization Reversal by Spin-Orbit Torque

We describe a spin logic device with controllable magnetization switching of perpendicularly magnetized ferromagnet/heavy metal structures on a ferroelectric (1-x)[Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 ]-x[PbTiO 3 ] (PMN-PT) substrate using current-induced spin-orbit torque. The devices were operated without an external magnetic field and controlled by voltages as low as 10 V applied across the PMN-PT substrate, which is much lower compared with the previous reports (500 V). The deterministic switching with smaller voltage was realized from the virgin state of the PMN-PT. The ferroelectric simulation shows the unsaturated minor loop exhibits obvious asymmetries in the polarizations. Larger polarization can be induced from the initial ferroelectric state, while it is difficult for opposite polarization. The XNOR, AND, NAND and NOT logic functions were demonstrated by the deterministic magnetization switching from the interaction between the spin-orbit torque and electric field at the PMN-PT/Pt interface. The nonvolatile spin logic scheme in this letter is simple, scalable and programmable, which are favorable in the logic-in-memory design with low energy consumption

Comparison Study of Gold Nanohexapods, Nanorods, and Nanocages for Photothermal Cancer Treatment

Gold nanohexapods represent a novel class of optically tunable nanostructures consisting of an octahedral core and six arms grown on its vertices. By controlling the length of the arms, their localized surface plasmon resonance peaks could be tuned from the visible to the near-infrared region for deep penetration of light into soft tissues. Herein we compare the in vitro and in vivo capabilities of Au nanohexapods as photothermal transducers for theranostic applications by benchmarking against those of Au nanorods and nanocages. While all these Au nanostructures could absorb and convert near-infrared light into heat, Au nanohexapods exhibited the highest cellular uptake and the lowest cytotoxicity in vitro for both the as-prepared and PEGylated nanostructures. In vivo pharmacokinetic studies showed that the PEGylated Au nanohexapods had significant blood circulation and tumor accumulation in a mouse breast cancer model. Following photothermal treatment, substantial heat was produced in situ and the tumor metabolism was greatly reduced for all these Au nanostructures, as determined with ^(18)F-flourodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (^(18)F-FDG PET/CT). Combined together, we can conclude that Au nanohexapods are promising candidates for cancer theranostics in terms of both photothermal destruction and contrast-enhanced diagnosis

Cloning and Expression Analysis of Two Kdm Lysine Demethylases in the Testes of Mature Yaks and Their Sterile Hybrids

The objective of this study was to explore the molecular mechanism for male sterility of yak hybrids based on two demethylases. Total RNA was extracted from the testes of adult yaks (n = 10) and yak hybrids (cattle–yaks, n = 10). The coding sequences (CDS) of two lysine demethylases (KDMs), KDM1A and KDM4B, were cloned by RT-PCR. The levels of KDM1A and KDM4B in yaks and cattle–yaks testes were detected using Real-time PCR and Western blotting for mRNA and protein, respectively. In addition, the histone methylation modifications of H3K36me3 and H3K27me3 were compared between testes of yaks and cattle–yaks using ELISA. The CDS of KDM1A and KDM4B were obtained from yak testes. The results showed that the CDS of KDM1A exhibited two variants: variant 1 has a CDS of 2622 bp, encoding 873 amino acids, while variant 2 has a CDS of 2562 bp, encoding 853 amino acids. The CDS of the KDM4B gene was 3351 bp in length, encoding 1116 amino acids. The mRNA and protein expression of KDM1A and KDM4B, as well as the level of H3K36me3, were dramatically decreased in the testes of cattle–yaks compared with yaks. The present results suggest that the male sterility of cattle–yaks might be associated with reduced histone methylation modifications

Current-induced out-of-plane effective magnetic field in antiferromagnet/heavy metal/ferromagnet/heavy metal multilayer

We report that the electrical current induced an out-of-plane effective field in an antiferromagnet/heavy metal/ferromagnet/heavy metal (CoOx/Pt/Co/Pt) multilayer, which could change the magnetic hysteresis loop shift. The bottom CoOx layer can not only generate a bias field but also affect the interfacial Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. The superposition of the bias field and current-induced effective field could influence nucleation and propagation of the domain wall. Our demonstration and understanding could pave the way for manipulating the magnetization electrically