Role of Sumoylation in modulation of STRA13 and SHARP-1 transcriptional activities and biological functions

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Sumoylation of the basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor Sharp-1 regulates recruitment of the histone methyltransferase G9a and function in myogenesis

10.1074/jbc.M113.463257Journal of Biological Chemistry2882417654-1766

Contactless finger tapping detection at C band

The rapid finger tap test is widely used in clinical assessment of dyskinesias in Parkinson’s disease. In clinical practice, doctors rely on their clinical experience and use the Parkinson’s Disease Uniform Rating Scale to make a brief judgment of symptoms. We propose a novel C-band microwave sensing method to evaluate finger tapping quantitatively and qualitatively in a non-contact way based on wireless channel information (WCI). The phase difference between adjacent antennas is used to calibrate the original random phase. Outlier filtering and smoothing filtering are used to process WCI waveforms. Based on the resulting signal, we define and extract a set of features related to the features described in UPDRS. Finally, the features are input into a support vector machine (SVM) to obtain results for patients with different severity. The results show that the proposed system can achieve an average accuracy of 99%. Compared with the amplitude, the average quantization accuracy of the phase difference on finger tapping is improved by 3%. In the future, the proposed system could assist doctors to quantify the movement disorders of patients, and it is very promising to be a candidate for clinical practice

Genome-Wide Identification of the A20/AN1 Zinc Finger Proteon Family Genes in \u3cem\u3eIpomoea batatas\u3c/em\u3e and Its Two Relatives and Function Analysis of \u3cem\u3eIbSAP16\u3c/em\u3e in Salinity Tolerance

Stress-associated protein (SAP) genes—encoding A20/AN1 zinc-finger domain-containing proteins—play pivotal roles in regulating stress responses, growth, and development in plants. They are considered suitable candidates to improve abiotic stress tolerance in plants. However, the SAP gene family in sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) and its relatives is yet to be investigated. In this study, 20 SAPs in sweet potato, and 23 and 26 SAPs in its wild diploid relatives Ipomoea triloba and Ipomoea trifida were identified. The chromosome locations, gene structures, protein physiological properties, conserved domains, and phylogenetic relationships of these SAPs were analyzed systematically. Binding motif analysis of IbSAPs indicated that hormone and stress responsive cis-acting elements were distributed in their promoters. RT-qPCR or RNA-seq data revealed that the expression patterns of IbSAP, ItbSAP, and ItfSAP genes varied in different organs and responded to salinity, drought, or ABA (abscisic acid) treatments differently. Moreover, we found that IbSAP16 driven by the 35 S promoter conferred salinity tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis. These results provided a genome-wide characterization of SAP genes in sweet potato and its two relatives and suggested that IbSAP16 is involved in salinity stress responses. Our research laid the groundwork for studying SAP-mediated stress response mechanisms in sweet potato

G9a mediates Sharp-1–dependent inhibition of skeletal muscle differentiation

10.1091/mbc.E12-04-0311Molecular Biology of the Cell23244778-478

G9a mediates Sharp-1–dependent inhibition of skeletal muscle differentiation

10.1091/mbc.E12-04-0311Molecular Biology of the Cell23244778-478

Current evidence, clinical applications, and future directions of transcranial magnetic stimulation as a treatment for ischemic stroke

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive brain neurostimulation technique that can be used as one of the adjunctive treatment techniques for neurological recovery after stroke. Animal studies have shown that TMS treatment of rats with middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model reduced cerebral infarct volume and improved neurological dysfunction in model rats. In addition, clinical case reports have also shown that TMS treatment has positive neuroprotective effects in stroke patients, improving a variety of post-stroke neurological deficits such as motor function, swallowing, cognitive function, speech function, central post-stroke pain, spasticity, and other post-stroke sequelae. However, even though numerous studies have shown a neuroprotective effect of TMS in stroke patients, its possible neuroprotective mechanism is not clear. Therefore, in this review, we describe the potential mechanisms of TMS to improve neurological function in terms of neurogenesis, angiogenesis, anti-inflammation, antioxidant, and anti-apoptosis, and provide insight into the current clinical application of TMS in multiple neurological dysfunctions in stroke. Finally, some of the current challenges faced by TMS are summarized and some suggestions for its future research directions are made

LncRNA MALAT-1 regulates the growth of interleukin-22-stimulated keratinocytes via the miR-330-5p/S100A7 axis

Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune disorder related to abnormal keratinocyte proliferation. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are significant regulators in the progression of skin diseases. In this study, we explored how lncRNA MALAT-1 controls the pathogenesis of psoriasis by examining its impact on keratinocyte proliferation, inflammation, and apoptosis. A psoriasis cell model was established by treating HaCaT keratinocytes with the inflammatory factor, IL-22 (100 ng/ml), for 24 h. The MALAT-1 and S100A7 levels in psoriatic lesions, normal skin tissues, and IL-22-stimulated HaCaT cells were determined by RT–qPCR and western blotting. Cell proliferation, inflammation, and apoptosis were detected by the MTT assay, western blotting, and flow cytometry analysis, respectively. Bioinformatics analysis was used to identify the miRNAs that bind to MALAT-1 and S100A7. The relationships between MALAT-1 or miR-330-5p and S100A7 were assessed using a luciferase reporter assay. The MALAT-1 and S100A7 levels were upregulated in both psoriatic lesion samples and IL-22-stimulated HaCaT cells. Silencing MALAT-1 significantly reversed the IL-22-stimulated promotion of HaCaT proliferation and changes in Ki67 and KRT5/14/1/10 protein levels, and MALAT-1 deficiency also reversed the upregulation of TNF-α, IL-17, and IL-23 protein levels as well as suppression of cell apoptosis. As a ceRNA, MALAT-1 competed with S100A7 to prevent miR-330-5p-induced inhibition of S100A7 expression. There was a negative correlation between miR-330-5p and MALAT-1 (or S100A7) expression in psoriatic lesion tissues. In response to IL-22 treatment, miR-330-5p silencing eliminated the effects of MALAT-1 knockdown in HaCaT cells. Thus, these findings demonstrated that MALAT-1 modulates the IL-22-induced changes in HaCaT cells through the miR-330-5p/S100A7 axis

DataSheet1_Hydrogenolysis of glycerol over TiO2-supported Pt-WOx catalysts: Effects of the TiO2 crystal phase and WOx loading.docx

The selective hydrogenolysis of glycerol to 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO) with high added value is attraction but challenging. Pt-WOx-based catalysts have been extensively studied in the selective hydrogenolysis of glycerol. The catalyst support and the physicochemical state of WOx play important roles on this reaction. In this paper, Pt-WOx catalysts supported on TiO2 with different crystal forms were prepared and studied for their catalytic performance in hydrogenolysis of glycerol. It was observed that the catalytic performance of anatase-type (A-type) TiO2-supported catalyst (Pt/W/A-Ti) is much better than that of the rutile-type (R-type) TiO2 catalyst (Pt/W/R-Ti) due to its higher stability. Furthermore, the influence of W loading amount and state were thoroughly investigated for the Pt/W/A-Ti catalysts, and Pt/W/A-TiO2 with 5 wt% loading of WOx achieved the best catalytic performance (100% conversion of glycerol and 41% yield of 1,3-PDO under the optimal reaction conditions), owing to the suitable WOx domains and high dispersion of W species, as evidenced by XRD patterns and TEM images. Mechanism study by in-situ DRIFTS experiments indicated that glycerol was first converted to 3-hydroxypropanal and then converted to 1,3-PDO through subsequent reactions.</p