NCBP1 Improves Cognitive Function in Mice by Reducing Oxidative Stress, Neuronal Loss, and Glial Activation After Status Epilepticus.

Status epilepticus (SE) is a severe manifestation of epilepsy which can cause neurologic injury and death. This study aimed to identify key proteins involved in the pathogenesis of epilepsy and find a potential drug target for SE treatment. Tandem mass tag (TMT)-based quantitative proteomic analysis was applied to screen differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in epilepsy. The adeno-associated virus was employed to overexpress candidate DEP in mice, and kainic acid (KA) was used to generate a mouse model of epilepsy. Then histopathological examination of the hippocampal tissue was performed, and the inflammatory factors levels in serum and hippocampus were measured. The IP-MS analysis was carried out to identify the interacting protein of nuclear cap-binding protein 1 (NCBP1). The results were that NCBP1 was downregulated in the epileptic hippocampus. NCBP1 overexpression alleviated KA-induced cognitive impairment in mice and reduced the apoptosis and damage of hippocampal neurons. Additionally, overexpressed NCBP1 increased the expression of NeuN and reduced the expression of GFAP and IBA-1 in the hippocampus of the mice. Further study indicated that NCBP1 overexpression inhibited the expression of IL-6, IL-1ß, and IFN-γ in serum and hippocampus as well as MDA and LDH in the hippocampus, whereas it increased the SOD levels, suggesting that overexpression of NCBP1 could diminish KA-induced inflammatory responses and oxidative stress. The IP-MS analysis identified that ELAVL4 was the NCBP1-interacting protein. In conclusion, this finding suggests that NCBP1 may potentially serve as a drug target for the treatment of epilepsy.

Combined transcriptomics and proteomics forecast analysis for potential biomarker in the acute phase of temporal lobe epilepsy.

Background: Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a common chronic episodic illness of the nervous system. However, the precise mechanisms of dysfunction and diagnostic biomarkers in the acute phase of TLE are uncertain and hard to diagnose. Thus, we intended to qualify potential biomarkers in the acute phase of TLE for clinical diagnostics and therapeutic purposes. Methods: An intra-hippocampal injection of kainic acid was used to induce an epileptic model in mice. First, with a TMT/iTRAQ quantitative labeling proteomics approach, we screened for differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in the acute phase of TLE. Then, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the acute phase of TLE were identified by linear modeling on microarray data (limma) and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) using the publicly available microarray dataset GSE88992. Co-expressed genes (proteins) in the acute phase of TLE were identified by overlap analysis of DEPs and DEGs. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression and support vector machine recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE) algorithms were used to screen Hub genes in the acute phase of TLE, and logistic regression algorithms were applied to develop a novel diagnostic model for the acute phase of TLE, and the sensitivity of the diagnostic model was validated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: We screened a total of 10 co-expressed genes (proteins) from TLE-associated DEGs and DEPs utilizing proteomic and transcriptome analysis. LASSO and SVM-RFE algorithms for machine learning were applied to identify three Hub genes: Ctla2a, Hapln2, and Pecam1. A logistic regression algorithm was applied to establish and validate a novel diagnostic model for the acute phase of TLE based on three Hub genes in the publicly accessible datasets GSE88992, GSE49030, and GSE79129. Conclusion: Our study establishes a reliable model for screening and diagnosing the acute phase of TLE that provides a theoretical basis for adding diagnostic biomarkers for TLE acute phase genes.

Study of a novel front-roof-back natural ventilation system for Chinese solar greenhouses.

A Chinese solar greenhouse (CSG) is a highly efficient and energy-saving horticultural facility. Ventilation is significantly important for crop production in the greenhouse, and the vent configuration is the basis of the greenhouse design. Current CSG ventilation structures mostly include front bottom vents and top vents to create a suitable temperature environment for the normal development of crops. However, the ventilation capacity and efficiency are limited. In the present study, we proposed a comprehensive front bottom + top + back roof (FTB) ventilation configuration. The greenhouse ventilation was investigated during the summer season by means of field testing and simulation, and the performance of three ventilation structures-front bottom + top (FT), front bottom + back roof (FB) and FTB-was compared. The results showed that FTB stabilized the greenhouse temperature for 20 s less time than FT and FB. The cooling rate of FTB showed a 24.84% and 5.52% improvement over FT and FB, respectively, and the average temperature showed a 13.81% and 3.65% decrease, respectively. Moreover, the ventilation performance of the side walls was investigated in order to determine if they might serve as auxiliary structures for FTB ventilation. Nevertheless, the improvements of cooling rate, wind speed and average temperature were only 0.52%, 2.09% and 0.11%, respectively. The results demonstrated that the novel FTB ventilation proposed in the present study significantly improved ventilation efficiency and uniformity compared with conventional ventilation structures. The results presented herein provide theoretical support for the use and design of greenhouses suitable for China's special climate.

Investigation of the impact of supplemental reflective films to improve micro-light climate within tomato plant canopy in solar greenhouses.

The non-uniform growth and development of crops within Chinese Solar Greenhouses (CSG) is directly related to the micro-light climate within canopy. In practice, reflective films are used to improve micro-light climate within plant canopy by homogenizing light distribution and so increasing total plant light interception. However, as to our knowledge, the contributions to light distribution within canopy have not been investigated for passive reflector like reflective films. Field experiments dealing with light conditions and growth behavior over time, are complicated to carry out, time-consuming and hard to control, while however, accurate measurements of how reflective films influence the micro-light climate of canopy are an essential step to improve the growth conditions for any crop. Here, we propose a supplementary light strategy using reflective films to improve light distribution within plant canopy. Based on the example of CSG, a 3D greenhouse model including a detailed 3D tomato canopy structure was constructed to simulate the influence of supplementary reflective films to improve micro-light climate. Comparison of measured solar radiation intensity with predicted model data demonstrated that the model could precisely predict light radiation intensity over time with different time points and positions in the greenhouse. A series of reflective film configurations were investigated based on features analysis of light distribution in the tomato canopy on sunny days using the proposed model. The reflective film configuration scheme with the highest impact significantly improved the evenness of horizontal and vertical light distribution in tomato canopy. The strategy provided here can be used to configure reflective films that will enhance light conditions in CSG, which can be applied and extended in different scenarios.

A microenvironment prediction model for Chinese solar greenhouses based on the bond graph approach.

To improve the prediction accuracy of temperature and humidity in typical Chinese solar greenhouses, this paper proposed a new longwave/shortwave radiation modeling method using bond graph. This model takes into account sun position, useful incoming solar radiation model, sky longwave radiation model, inside longwave, and shortwave radiation model. The approach solves the problems caused by underestimating the effects of longwave radiation on night temperature and relative humidity. The study found that after a period of t = 7.5 h, with the increase of sun altitude angle, the internal temperature was significantly affected by the temperature rise of outside environment on sunny day. The sun altitude angle gradually falls over a period of t = 12.5 h (beginning at 12.30 p.m.). The decline in night temperature steadily slowed after a period of t = 20.5 h. On the other hand, the temperature variation has a multi-peak distribution and the warming rate of the CSG slows down on cloudy days. Furthermore, a good agreement between the experimental and simulation data were obtained, with a maximum temperature deviation of 2°C and maximum humidity deviation of 5%. The developed model is a universal and valuable approach that can be used for greenhouse climate simulation. Furthermore, it can be used as a support system during decision-making processes to help manage Chinese solar greenhouses more efficiently, which provides several control perspectives on the low-energy greenhouse in the future. This work has also provided several control perspectives on the low energy greenhouse in the future.

Analyzing the Impact of Greenhouse Planting Strategy and Plant Architecture on Tomato Plant Physiology and Estimated Dry Matter.

Determine the level of significance of planting strategy and plant architecture and how they affect plant physiology and dry matter accumulation within greenhouses is essential to actual greenhouse plant management and breeding. We thus analyzed four planting strategies (plant spacing, furrow distance, row orientation, planting pattern) and eight different plant architectural traits (internode length, leaf azimuth angle, leaf elevation angle, leaf length, leaflet curve, leaflet elevation, leaflet number/area ratio, leaflet length/width ratio) with the same plant leaf area using a formerly developed functional-structural model for a Chinese Liaoshen-solar greenhouse and tomato plant, which used to simulate the plant physiology of light interception, temperature, stomatal conductance, photosynthesis, and dry matter. Our study led to the conclusion that the planting strategies have a more significant impact overall on plant radiation, temperature, photosynthesis, and dry matter compared to plant architecture changes. According to our findings, increasing the plant spacing will have the most significant impact to increase light interception. E-W orientation has better total light interception but yet weaker light uniformity. Changes in planting patterns have limited influence on the overall canopy physiology. Increasing the plant leaflet area by leaflet N/A ratio from what we could observe for a rose the total dry matter by 6.6%, which is significantly better than all the other plant architecture traits. An ideal tomato plant architecture which combined all the above optimal architectural traits was also designed to provide guidance on phenotypic traits selection of breeding process. The combined analysis approach described herein established the causal relationship between investigated traits, which could directly apply to provide management and breeding insights on other plant species with different solar greenhouse structures.

Effect of external thermal insulation layer on the Chinese solar greenhouse microclimate.

In order to optimize the heat preservation capacity of Chinese solar greenhouse (CSG) and further reduce energy consumption, we clarified the mechanism of the external thermal insulation layer that affects the microclimate environment of CSG. The most suitable external insulation layer thickness (EILT) of the solar greenhouse envelope structure in high latitude and cold region has been indicated. A three-dimensional mathematical model was developed based on computational fluid dynamics and verified using experimental measurement. The temperature variations, heat variations and economic benefit were analysed. The results indicated that covering the outer surface of the enclosures with a thermal insulation layer could effectively increase the greenhouse temperature by 1.2-4.0°C. The influence degree of the external thermal insulation layer on the greenhouse microclimate was as follows: sidewall (SW) > north wall (NW) > north roof (NR). In high-dimensional and cold areas, covering the outer surface of all enclosures with insulation layer as the suitable solution could raise the greenhouse air temperature maximally. The suitable EILT of each maintenance structure was obtained as follows: NW 80 mm, SW 80 mm, NR 100 mm.

Effect of single tube sections on the structural safety of Chinese solar greenhouse skeletons.

In recent years, the use of single-tube skeletons for the construction of Chinese solar greenhouses has increased. As a consequence, during the selection of the construction materials, the safety of these structures has become an important issue. The single tube section has various forms, but there is no scientific theory to guide the selection process. To the best of our knowledge, the scientific analysis of the impact of single pipe cross section on the safety of greenhouse skeleton has not been addressed so far. In this context, the finite element analysis software was used to calculate and analyze the stress elements, displacement of round tube, Ω tube, elliptic tube and square tube under the same load conditions. We used the Chinese Standard values as a reference and analyzed structural features of different sizes and thicknesses of the greenhouse steel skeleton sections under non-uniform snow load. The results showed that, under the same load condition, the maximum stress in the four skeleton materials was all located at the connection of the transverse tension bar and the front roof. In addition, under same load condition, the greenhouse skeleton with elliptic tube presented the smallest cross-sectional displacement between the different materials tested. The effect of increasing the size of the greenhouse frame was better than that of increasing the greenhouse material thickness. All this work will provide theoretical guidance to the material selection of this structure.

Effect of the ridge position ratio on the thermal environment of the Chinese solar greenhouse.

This paper clarified the mechanism of the south and north roofs' effect on the thermal environment of the Chinese solar greenhouse (CSG), using a new parameter: ridge position ratio (RPR), which can describe the dynamic dependency relationship between the south and north roofs. A mathematical model was established using a method of combining computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation with experiments, then the model was used to further analyse the effect of RPR on the thermal environment of the CSG. The experimental greenhouse was simulated as an empty building to obtain results independently from these factors including crop and ventilation conditions. The results showed that the occurrence time of the maximum air temperature will be delayed when RPR increases to 0.3 during the daytime. As RPR increases, the heat storage layer of the soil gradually becomes thinner, but the north wall remains unchanged. RPR has a relatively small effect on the minimum temperature of each greenhouse part during the night. Mathematical models of the relationships between RPR, the solar energy that entered the greenhouse and the released heat energy of the enclosure structures were established, respectively. This paper can provide theoretical guidance for the structural design of the CSG.

Effects of orientation and structure on solar radiation interception in Chinese solar greenhouse.

In order to further improve the utilization of solar energy in Chinese Solar Greenhouse (CSG), this paper systematically studied the effects of orientation and structure on solar radiation interception in CSG. A solar radiation model has been developed based on the previous research, which taking solar motion law, meteorological data, and optical properties of materials into consideration. The established model was used to optimize the orientation and structure of CSG. The analysis of structure considered two major structural parameters, which are the ridge height and the horizontal projection of the rear roof. Moreover, the widely used Liao-Shen type Chinese solar greenhouse (CSG-LS) has been taken as the prototype in the present research, and the measured data of the typical clear day was used for the model validation. The results showed that the ridge height has a remarkable influence on the solar energy captured by CSG-LS. Compared with the optimization of a single factor, the comprehensive optimization of orientation and structure can increase the solar radiation interception of the rear wall by 3.95%. Considering the limiting factor of heat storage-release capacity and the shading effect on the greenhouse structure, the optimal lighting construction of the CSG-LS (with a span of 9.0 m) was specified as 7~9° from south to west of azimuth angle, 4.5~4.7 m ridge height, and 1.4~1.6 m horizontal projection of the rear roof at 42°N latitude. The proposed solar radiation model can provide scientific guidance for the CSG-LS construction in different areas.

Evaluation of airflow pattern and thermal behavior of the arched greenhouses with designed roof ventilation scenarios using CFD simulation.

Natural ventilation is an effective energy-saving strategy conducive to promoting sustainable agricultural production. A comprehensive numerical simulation is performed to predict the airflow pattern and thermal behavior in different arched greenhouses. The defined arc chord angle and position angle are employed to examine the natural ventilation process and corresponding roof vent scenarios. The numerical simulation is compared with the experimental data and good agreements are observed. Various configurations of ventilated structures, wind conditions and ventilation layouts are simulated on a high-resolution polyhedral grid based on a grid sensitivity analysis, which is beneficial to the optimization of greenhouse cooling combined with the water circulation heat collection system. The cooling effect in summer is analyzed by estimating the ventilation flow rate and microclimate inhomogeneity. The results demonstrate that the position angle of 85° of the arched greenhouses is an optimum ventilation direction and its impact on the microclimate is marginally affected by the change of the ventilation structure. The designed ventilation scheme has perfect air exchange capacity and cooling effect because the average air temperature can be reduced by 1.5°C more than the existing greenhouse in 10 minutes of ventilation. Likewise, the results show that the temperature and velocity inhomogeneities are approximately decreased by 33.3% and 11.89%, respectively. The practical value of the research is expected to provide basic quantitative conclusions for evaluating the natural ventilation performance.

Effect of internal surface structure of the north wall on Chinese solar greenhouse thermal microclimate based on computational fluid dynamics.

Chinese solar greenhouses are unique facility agriculture buildings and widely used in northeastern China, providing a favorable requirement for crop growth. The north wall configurations play an essential role in heat storage and thermal insulation and directly affect the management of the internal environment. This research is devoted to further improve the thermal performance of the greenhouse and explore the potential of the north wall. A mathematical model was designed to investigate the concave-convex wall configurations based on computational fluid dynamics. Four passive heat-storage north walls were analyzed by using the same constituent materials, including a plane wall, a vertical wall, a horizontal wall and an alveolate wall. The numerical model was validated by experimental measurements. The temperature distributions of the north walls were examined and a comparative analysis of the heat storage-release capabilities was carried out. The results showed that the heat-storage capacity of the north wall is affected by the surface structure. Moreover, the critical factor influencing the air temperature is the sum of the heat load released by the wall and the energy increment of greenhouse air. The results suggested that the alveolate wall has preferable thermal accumulation capacity. The concave-convex wall configurations have a wider range of heat transfer performance along the thickness direction, while the plane wall has a superior thermal environment. This study provides a basic theoretical reference to rationally design the internal surface structures of the north wall.

Application of intelligent algorithm in the optimization of novel protein regulatory pathway: Mechanism of action of gastric carcinoma protein p42.3.

AIMS: This purpose of the study was to optimize the regulatory mechanism of p42.3 novel protein molecule in gastric cancer and also verified it by the use of intelligent algorithms. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Threading method was employed to analyze structural domain characteristics of p42.3 protein. Referential proteins were gathered and formed by domain homology and function similarity. Afterwards, the possible regulatory network of p42.3 was established by analyzing the acting pathways of the referential proteins. Spherical polar coordinates stratification and stratified multi-parameter weight were used for calculation of the similarity between the referential proteins and p42.3 protein, the result of which was taken as the prior probability of the initial node in Bayes network, thus the probability of occurrence of each pathway was figured out by using conditional probability formula, and the one with the biggest probability was considered as the possible pathway of p42.3. At last, molecular biological experiments were conducted to verify it. RESULTS: The acting pathway with the maximum probability predicted by Bayesian probability optimizing calculation was "S100A11" - RAGE - P38 - MAPK - Microtubule-associated protein - Spindle protein-Centromere protein - Cell proliferation" which was the most likely acting pathway participated by p42.3, and has been validated by biological experiments. CONCLUSIONS: By the theoretical analysis and experimental verification, this study confirmed that assumptions that p42.3 protein was related to the occurrence and development of gastric carcinoma, predicted and verified the acting pathways of p42.3, which will provide a new research direction of the relationship between p42.3 and gastric cancer, as well as the target therapy of gastric cancer. The algorithm in predicting the acting pathway of the protein also offers a new thought in studying new functional proteins.

Effects of salvianolic acid B on in vitro growth inhibition and apoptosis induction of retinoblastoma cells.

AIM: To observe the effects of salvianolic acid B (SalB) on in vitro growth inhibition and apoptosis induction of retinoblastoma HXO-RB44 cells. METHODS: The effects of SalB on the HXO-RB44 cells proliferation in vitro were observed by MTT colorimetric method. The morphological changes of apoptosis before and after the treatment of SalB were observed by Hoechst 33258 fluorescent staining method. Apoptosis rate and cell cycle changes of HXO-RB44 cells were detected by flow cytometer at 48 hours after treated by SalB. The expression changes of Caspase-3 protein in HXO-RB44 cells were detected by Western Blot. RESULTS: SalB significantly inhibited the growth of HXO-RB44 cells, while the inhibition was in a concentration-and time-dependent manner. The results of fluorescent staining method indicated that HXO-RB44 cells showed significant phenomenon of apoptosis including karyorrhexis, fragmentation and the formation of apoptotic bodies, etc. after 24, 48 and 72 hours co-culturing of SalB and HXO-RB44 cells. The results of flow cytometer showed that the apoptosis rate and the proportion of cells in S phase were gradually increased at 48 hours and 72 hours after treated by different concentrations of SalB. Western Blot strip showed that the expression of Caspase-3 protein in HXO-RB44 cells was gradually increased with the increase of the concentration of SalB. CONCLUSION: SalB can significantly affect on HXO-RB44 cells growth inhibition and apoptosis induction which may be achieved through the up-regulation of Caspase-3 expression and the induction of cell cycle arrest.

Clinical evaluation of oral Fructus bruceae oil combined with radiotherapy for the treatment of esophageal cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and side effects of oral Fructus bruceae oil combined with radiotherapy in the treatment of esophageal cancer. METHODS: A total of 80 patients with esophageal cancer were equally and randomly divided into two groups. The patients in Group A were treated with radiotherapy (60-65 Gy, 6-7 weeks) and oral Fructus bruceae oil (20 mL, 3 times per day for 12 weeks), while the patients in Group B were treated with radiotherapy alone. The short-term effect was evaluated by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) and quality of life (QOL) was evaluated by the Karnofsky scoring (KFS). The outcome measures included complete remission (CR) rate, partial remission (PR) rate, effective rate as CR+PR, patients' QOL and adverse effects. RESULTS: After 12-week treatment, the CR and CR+PR were significantly higher in Group A than those in Group B (P <0.05). There was an improvement in esophageal obstruction of 87.5% and 60.0%, respectively, and in KFS of 84.6% and 43.9%, respectively, in Groups A and B. CONCLUSION: Oral medication with oral Fructus bruceae oil could effectively improve the efficacy of radiotherapy in esophageal cancer, including a reduction in esophageal obstruction, and also reduce the side effects of radiotherapy; thus it would be very promising for clinical application.