Light limitation inducing overcompensatory growth of cyanobacteria and function of serine/threonine kinase (STK) genes involved

The rapid overcompensatory growth that appears when cyanobacteria are supplied with adequate resources after a period of resource deprivation might contribute to the occurrence of cyanobacterial blooms. We investigated the changing characteristics of overcompensatory growth and serine/threonine kinase (STK) genes expression of cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa in response to light limitation. The results showed M. aeruginosa exhibited overcompensatory growth for two days after light recovery, during which the increase in growth was inversely related to light intensity. Expression of STK genes, such as spkD, was upregulated significantly at 0.5–4 h after light recovery (P < 0.05). To investigate the function of STK genes in the overcompensatory growth, M. aeruginosa spkD was heterologously expressed in Synechocystis. Transgenic Synechocystis exhibited greater and longer overcompensatory growth than wild-type Synechocystis after light recovery. Relative expression levels of STK genes in transgenic Synechocystis were significantly higher than those in wild-type Synechocystis at 24 h of light recovery (P < 0.05). Heterologous expression of Microcystis spkD might stimulate overcompensatory growth of Synechocystis via affecting its STK gene expression.

Genome-wide identification, phylogeny, and expression analysis of the SBP-box gene family in Euphorbiaceae

Background Euphorbiaceae is one of the largest families of flowering plants. Due to its exceptional growth form diversity and near-cosmopolitan distribution, it has attracted much interest since ancient times. SBP-box (SBP) genes encode plant-specific transcription factors that play critical roles in numerous biological processes, especially flower development. We performed genome-wide identification and characterization of SBP genes from four economically important Euphorbiaceae species. Results In total, 77 SBP genes were identified in four Euphorbiaceae genomes. The SBP proteins were divided into three length ranges and 10 groups. Group-6 was absent in Arabidopsis thaliana but conserved in Euphorbiaceae. Segmental duplication played the most important role in the expansion processes of Euphorbiaceae SBP genes, and all the duplicated genes were subjected to purify selection. In addition, about two-thirds of the Euphorbiaceae SBP genes are potential targets of miR156, and some miR-regulated SBP genes exhibited high intensity expression and differential expression in different tissues. The expression profiles related to different stress treatments demonstrated broad involvement of Euphorbiaceae SBP genes in response to various abiotic factors and hormonal treatments. Conclusions In this study, 77 SBP genes were identified in four Euphorbiaceae species, and their phylogenetic relationships, protein physicochemical characteristics, duplication, tissue and stress response expression, and potential roles in Euphorbiaceae development were studied. This study lays a foundation for further studies of Euphorbiaceae SBP genes, providing valuable information for future functional exploration of Euphorbiaceae SBP genes.

ASSESSMENT OF EFFECTIVENESS OF ANTI-RECURRENT AND HORMONAL THERAPY IN WOMEN WITH UTERINE FIBROIDS IN PREGRAVIDAL PREPARATION

Aim. This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of sequential prescription of drugs for anti-recurrent therapy of the uterine fibroids (UF) and combined oral contraceptives (COC) in pregravidal preparation.Materials and methods.There was conducted a prospective, nonrandomized and controlled cohort study of 150 women with UF who are planning a pregnancy after the organ-preserving treatment of uterine fibroids by means of myomectomy with laparoscopic access and pregravidal preparation. The immunohistochemical (IHC) study of the intensity expression of Ki 67, p53, Bcl-2 was performed for the differential diagnosis of reactive proliferation from dysplasia in the distant fibroid node and the selection of anti-recurrent therapy.Results. The duration of the UF disease does not depend on the intensity of expression of p53, Ki-67 or Bcl-2, the level of expression of the progesterone receptors in the distant fibroid node. A negative average correlation between the level of hemoglobin before myomectomy, the duration of the disease (r = -0.3867) and the number of nodes (r = -0.5389) was revealed. After the end of the anti-recurrent treatment in women who underwent organ- preserving treatment of uterine fibroids, the prescription of COC is connected with a further decrease in the size of fibroid nodes remaining after myomectomy from 15.81±0.22 mm to 8.94±0.45 mm (p<0.05), the number of fibroid nodes from 2.25±0.08 to 0.91±0.06 (р<0.05).Conclusion.The combination of anti-recurrent therapy with the subsequent prescription of the COC for prevention of the UF growth in women planning a pregnancy after myomectomy with endoscopic access is highly effective.

Immunohistochemical expression of heparanase isoforms and syndecan-1 proteins in colorectal adenomas

<p>The proteoglycan syndecan-1 and the endoglucuronidases heparanase-1 and heparanase-2 are involved in molecular pathways that deregulate cell adhesion during carcinogenesis. Few studies have examined the expression of syndecan-1, heparanase-1 and mainly heparanase-2 proteins in non-neoplastic and neoplastic human colorectal adenoma tissues. The aim of this study was to analyze the correlation among the heparanase isoforms and the syndecan-1 proteins through immunohistochemical expression in the tissue of colorectal adenomas. Primary anti-human polyclonal anti-HPSE and anti-HPSE2 antibodies and primary anti-human monoclonal anti-SDC1 antibody were used in the immunohistochemical study. The expressions of heparanase-1 and heparanase-2 proteins were determined in tissue samples from 65 colorectal adenomas; the expression of syndecan-1 protein was obtained from 39 (60%) patients. The histological type of adenoma was tubular in 44 (67.7%) patients and tubular-villous in 21 (32.3%); there were no villous adenomas. The polyps were &lt;1.0 cm in size in 54 (83.1%) patients and ≥1.0 cm in 11 (16.9%). The images were quantified by digital counter with a computer program for this purpose. The expression index represented the relationship between the intensity expression and the percentage of positively stained cells. The results showed that the average of heparanase-1, heparanase-2 and syndecan-1 expression index was 73.29 o.u./µm², 93.34 o.u./µm², and 55.29 o.u./µm², respectively. The correlation between the heparanase-1 and syndecan-1 expression index was positive (R=0.034) and significant (P=0.035). There was a negative (R= -0.384) and significant (P=0.016) correlation between the expression index of heparanase-1 and heparanase-2. A negative (R= -0.421) and significant (P=0.008) correlation between the expression index of heparanase-2 and syndecan-1 was found. We concluded that in colorectal adenomas, the heparanase-1 does not participate in syndecan-1 degradation; the heparanase-2 does not stimulate syndecan-1 degradation by the action of heparanase-1, and the heparanase-2 may be involved in the modulation of the heparanase-1 activity.</p>

Effect of a high and low dose of caffeine on human lymphocyte activation in response to antigen stimulation

This study investigated the effect of caffeine on antigen-stimulated lymphocyte activation. Six males rested for 3.5 h after ingesting 0 (PLA), 2, or 6 (6CAF) mg·kg−1 body mass of caffeine. The number of antigen-stimulated NK CD69+ cells increased in 6CAF at 1 h compared with PLA (P = 0.021). Caffeine did not influence the number of antigen-stimulated CD69+ T cells or the geometric mean fluorescence intensity expression of CD69 on antigen-stimulated lymphocytes, suggesting caffeine has little effect on antigen-stimulated lymphocyte activation.

Quiescent and Active Tear Protein Profiles to Predict Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis Reactivation

Objective. Vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) is a chronic recurrent bilateral inflammation of the conjunctiva associated with atopy. Several inflammatory and tissue remodeling factors contribute to VKC disease. The aim is to provide a chip-based protein analysis in tears from patients suffering from quiescent or active VKC.Methods. This study cohort included 16 consecutive patients with VKC and 10 controls. Participants were subjected to clinical assessment of ocular surface and tear sampling. Total protein quantification, total protein sketch, and protein array (sixty protein candidates) were evaluated.Results. An overall increased Fluorescent Intensity expression was observed in VKC arrays. Particularly, IL1β, IL15, IL21, Eotaxin2, TACE, MIP1α, MIP3α, NCAM1, ICAM2,βNGF, NT4, BDNF,βFGF, SCF, MMP1, and MMP2 were increased in quiescent VKC. Of those candidates, only IL1β, IL15, IL21,βNGF, SCF, MMP2, Eotaxin2, TACE, MIP1α, MIP3α, NCAM1, and ICAM2 were increased in both active and quiescent VKC. Finally, NT4,βFGF, and MMP1 were highly increased in active VKC.Conclusion. A distinct “protein tear-print” characterizes VKC activity, confirming some previously reported factors and highlighting some new candidates common to quiescent and active states. Those candidates expressed in quiescent VKC might be considered as predictive indicators of VKC reactivation and/or exacerbation out-of-season.

Study on the Straight Edge Diffraction Effects of Base Model Gaussian Laser Field

Considering that in the nanometer grating deposition the substrate is usually set at the center of the laser beam, the straight edge diffraction occurs. Therefore this paper analyze the straight edge diffraction effect of base model Gaussian laser field, which based on the straight edge Fresnel diffraction effects, using the theory of scalar optical, considering the situation of the actual beam waist and straight edge diffraction side not at the same position, and obtain a general and practical light intensity expression of the base model Gaussian laser under the straight edge diffraction field, and had some model analysis and simulation of its light intensity distribution characteristics.

A generalized Kambe approximation for transmission electron diffraction

The methods used by Kambe to treat nonsystematic three-beam interaction have been extended to a more general case, in which there are two groups of reflections, gi (i = 1..n) and hi (i = 1..m). Each reflection has strong interactions with reflections in its own group and weak interactions with reflections in another group. ThusPractical cases of interest are (i) parallel rows of reflections in the ZOLZ and (ii) HOLZ and ZOLZ groups. In the following we will develop an approximate intensity expression for reflections, hi, with weak coupling to the incident beam. We assign g1 = 0 as the incident beam. This intensity expression can be used to describe the intensity distribution in CBED disks of nonsystematic reflections for cases (i) and (ii) above.Many-beam dynamical electron diffraction in RHEED with reflections gi and hi is described by

XRFPC: A Program and Data Base for XRF Computations

XRF intensity computations, for polychromatic x-ray sources and multicomponent samples, need a high number of low speed floating-point operations, making them a hard bone for any computer. The evaluations of the Intensity expression require the computation of complex attenuation coefficients. They involve also a spread quantity of atomic data for a high number of elements. And the users need to insert additional information on the experiment, like the excitation-detection geometry or the x-ray tube spectrum, interactively. Personal computers are an optimum target for this kind of application mainly due to the low cost of the computation time and the possibility to display high-resolution graphics. Moreover the increasing power of microprocessors makes it possible to attack hard computations like this on a PC.