MicroRNAs play a role in human embryonic stem cell differentiation into endothelial cells

PhDThe past recent years have seen a surge of evidence demonstrating the regulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) in a myriad of vascular biology events such as cardiogenesis. Nevertheless, the missing miRNA-link in controlling pluripotent human embryonic stem cell (hESC) fate in differentiation towards the endothelial lineage is currently undiscovered. Main objectives in this project are determining which miRNAs are involved in endothelial lineage differentiation from hESCs and the further delineation in their underlying mechanisms. Firstly, undifferentiated hESCs were cultured in differentiating conditions to derive endothelial (ECs) and smooth muscle cells (SMCs). hESC-derived ECs express specific EC markers such as PECAM/CD31, eNOS, and vWF, while hESC-derived SMCs express specific SMC markers such as SMA and SMMHC II. Both hESC-derived cells also displayed functional characteristics upon functional analyses. Next, five potential miRNAs involved in embryonic EC development were determined and selected from the miRNA array expression profile in differentiating hESCs. Using loss- and gain-of-function gene experiments, it was demonstrated that both miR-150 and miR-200c played an important role in EC differentiation from hESCs. However, miR-1915, 141 and 205 did not display such functions. In addition, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-activator ZEB1/TCF8 was further identified as an important mRNA target for miR-150* and 200c. Importantly, it was also demonstrated that miR-150* and miR-200c were both involved in the vasculogenesis of in vivo chick embryos. These findings may suggest that during hESCs differentiation, an increase of miR-200c expression contribute to the decline or repression of EMT process. Meanwhile, mir-150* also contributes to the differentiation of hESCs, resulting in the formation of more iii differentiated, senescence and less proliferative cells or in this case, mature vascular ECs. These findings illustrate that miR-150* and 200c can regulate the development of ECs from hESCs, providing new targets for modulating vascular formation and creating novel clinical therapies in future cardiovascular disease applications

Apresentação

Traditional Chinese philosophy sprouted from the religious thought of the Yin or Zhou Dynasty, and reached its first peak in the Warring States (Zhan Guo) period of ancient China. It is considered to be the contentious period of a hundred schools of thought. Daoism and Confucianism developed during this time of intense warfare. We could say that scholarship was developing from a state of chaos to refinement. Since then, Chinese philosophy has undergone several major changes in the Wei, Jin, Tang, Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties, blending Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, evolving into many diverse schools of thought such as Song and Ming Neo-Confucianism, especially Zhu Xi’s and Wang Yangming’s interpretations. Their influence has radiated throughout East Asia and the world.ALVES, M. A. Apresentação. Trans/Form/Ação: revista de Filosofia da UNESP, v. 44, n. 4, p. 09-20, 2021.   Received: 21/12/2021 - Accept: 15/01/202

Reduction of Post-Harvest Losses: A Gateway to Improving Livelihood of Smallholder Farmers and Ensuring Food Security in Nigeria

Nigerian smallholder farmers suffer huge losses on annual basis in terms of monetary value as a result of postharvest losses due to factors such as inadequate storage/processing facilities, poor transportation system, lack of power supply and unorganized marketing network. With the largest population on the African continent and a spiraling increase, a corresponding increase in food supply is inevitable. The food security situation in Nigeria is already challenged by a growing pressure on land and water resources due to population increase, farmers-herders clashes and terrorism which has adversely disrupted farming activities particularly in the northeastern part of the country. With all these challenges, high loss of farm produce due to post-harvest loss is indeed another great threat to the attainment of food security in Nigeria. This paper focused primarily on postharvest losses which are like a recurring decimal in Nigeria’s agricultural sector, it discussed the driving factors, highlights its impacts and suggest some viable solutions and measures that can be adopted to tackle the problem with a view of increasing farmer’s income and ensuring food security in Nigeria. Keywords: Post-harvest loss, Smallholder farmers, Livelihood, Food security and Nigeria. DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/11-22-04 Publication date: November 30th 202

A creature with a hundred waggly tails: intrinsically disordered proteins in the ribosome

This article is made available for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.Intrinsic disorder (i.e., lack of a unique 3-D structure) is a common phenomenon, and many biologically active proteins are disordered as a whole, or contain long disordered regions. These intrinsically disordered proteins/regions constitute a significant part of all proteomes, and their functional repertoire is complementary to functions of ordered proteins. In fact, intrinsic disorder represents an important driving force for many specific functions. An illustrative example of such disorder-centric functional class is RNA-binding proteins. In this study, we present the results of comprehensive bioinformatics analyses of the abundance and roles of intrinsic disorder in 3,411 ribosomal proteins from 32 species. We show that many ribosomal proteins are intrinsically disordered or hybrid proteins that contain ordered and disordered domains. Predicted globular domains of many ribosomal proteins contain noticeable regions of intrinsic disorder. We also show that disorder in ribosomal proteins has different characteristics compared to other proteins that interact with RNA and DNA including overall abundance, evolutionary conservation, and involvement in protein–protein interactions. Furthermore, intrinsic disorder is not only abundant in the ribosomal proteins, but we demonstrate that it is absolutely necessary for their various functions

Cosmopolitan imagination in Salman Rushdie and Ha Jin

Indian subcontinent postcolonial diaspora and Chinese diaspora constitute two of the most remarkable types of diaspora in the modern era. In order to gain a better understanding of contemporary diasporic experience, this study chooses from each group one of the most representative diasporic writers—Salman Rushdie and Ha Jin respectively—and analyses their fictional writings within the theoretical framework of cosmopolitanism, a concept closely related to transnational experience of contemporary diaspora. In view of their wide spectrum of diasporic writing and the distinct transitions made in terms of subject matter in the latter phase of their respective careers, this study divides the works of each into two parts and works on the reasonable hypothesis that each part is representative of a different mode of cosmopolitanism. As this study demonstrates, while Rushdie enacts a metropolitan scenario of migrancy and occupies an interstitial space of hybridity to synthesize the two worlds in his earlier works on post-war India and Britain, in his later fiction on postmillennial America he elaborates on a condition of constant border-crossing and repositioning, from which a tentative engagement between an envisioned global and a rooted local emerges. Ha Jin, on the other hand, makes efforts to reconstruct Chineseness from a transnational and globalized perspective, thus bringing globality and universal humanity in his earlier writings on China and Chinese people, while in his more recent works on the Chinese immigrant experience in the U.S. , he develops a transnational geography of cultural and lingual transcendence, in which both national and ethnic identity based on a more conformist collective imagination is rejected. Both writers’ diasporic writings are contextualized within the contemporary reality of globalization; their imagination of cosmopolitanism elucidates the intersections between diasporic life and globalization, thus epitomizing a contemporary culture marked by such phenomena as globalization, migration, mobility, transformation, transgression, world citizenship, one-world consciousness, and universal hospitality. My thesis illustrates how both writers’ appeal for connection and communication in contemporary culture serves as the antithesis of the ongoing political rivalry and economic disparity that prevail around the globe, thus promoting further reflections on the complex contemporary realities of what it means to be a truly independent and migrant soul

The customer is (not) always king: Impoliteness in the service encounter

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

A Bourdieuvian Analysis of the Use of Singlish by Youths in Singapore.

Master'sMASTER OF ART

Correlation of PK/PD Indices with Resistance Selection for Cefquinome against Staphylococcus aureus in an In Vitro Model

Cefquinome is a fourth-generation Cephalosporin approved for use in animals exclusively. The objective of this study was to explore the relationship of cefquinome pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) indices with resistance selection of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC25923 in an in vitro model. Six dosing regiments of cefquinome at an interval of 24 h for three consecutive times were simulated, resulting in maximum concentrations (Cmax) from 1/2 MIC to 16 MIC and half-lives (t1/2β) of 3 and 6 h, respectively. The in vitro sensitivity of S. aureus was monitored by bacterial susceptibility and dynamic time-kill curve experiments over the six cefquinome concentrations. The correlation between changes in bacterial susceptibility (MIC72/MIC0) and the percentage of time within mutant selection window (MSW) versus dosing interval (TMSW %) was subjected to Gaussian function and regression analysis. The results favored the consensus that time above MIC (T>MIC) was recognized as an important PK/PD parameter of cephalosporins for antibacterial efficiency. Cefquinome reached the maximum killing effect when T>MIC% attained approximately 40%~60%. The subsequent correlation analysis demonstrated that resistant S. aureus ATCC25923 was easy to occur when TMSW% attained an index of about 20% with t1/2β of 3 h after multiple dosing, and 40% with t1/2β of 6 h after multiple dosing