ABCA1 rs4149313 polymorphism and susceptibility to coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis.

Many existing studies have demonstrated that common polymorphisms in the ABCA1 gene may play important roles in the development and progression of coronary heart disease (CHD), but individually published results are inconclusive. This meta-analysis aimed to derive a more precise estimation of the relationship between the ABCA1 rs4149313 polymorphism and CHD risk. We searched the CISCOM, CINAHL, Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, EBSCO, Cochrane Library, and CBM databases from inception through 1 September 2013. Meta-analysis was performed using the STATA 12.0 software. Odds ratios (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated. Eleven case-control studies were included with a total of 5416 CHD patients and 20,897 healthy controls. Our meta-analysis results revealed that the ABCA1 rs4149313 polymorphism may be associated with an increased risk of CHD. Subgroup analysis by ethnicity suggested that there were significant associations between the ABCA1 rs4149313 polymorphism and an increased risk of CHD in Asian populations, but not in Caucasian populations (all P > 0.05). Meta-regression analyses showed that ethnicity may be a main source of heterogeneity. The present meta-analysis suggests that the ABCA1 rs4149313 polymorphism may contribute to the risk of CHD, especially in Asian populations.

Cloning and characterization of a FLO/LFY ortholog in Gossypium hirsutum L.

KEY MESSAGE: GhLFY was cloned from G. hirsutum L. Its expression, subcellular localization, and function were analyzed, as well as the in vivo regulation of GhLFY by the MADS-box protein SOC1 (GhSOC1). ABSTRACT: Flowering is a very important phase during which plants produce the organs for sexual reproduction. The FLORICAULA/LEAFY (FLO/LFY) homologs play a major role in the initiation of flowering. To understand the mechanism of the transition from the vegetative to reproductive phases in Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), we isolated a candidate LFY gene from G. hirsutum L. (GhLFY) that showed a high degree of similarity to other plant homologs of FLO/LFY. qPCR analysis showed that GhLFY was highly expressed in the shoot apex, with substantial upregulation at the third true leaf expansion stage during floral bud differentiation. Subcellular localization studies revealed GhLFY localization in the nucleus. Ectopic expression of the GhLFY coding region in Arabidopsis resulted in early flowering. The expression of the GhLFY coding region under the control of the 35S promoter complemented the lfy-5 mutation in transgenic Arabidopsis lfy-5 mutant plants. Furthermore, a chromatin immunoprecipitation assay revealed that GhLFY may function downstream of GhSOC1 during the initiation of flowering in G. hirsutum L. GhLFY was likely to be regulated by GhSOC1, which binds to the LFY promoter in Arabidopsis. These results suggest that GhLFY is a FLO/LFY ortholog that may be involved in controlling flowering time and floral development.

The effectiveness of massage on peri-operative anxiety in adults: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials and controlled clinical trials.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: and purpose: Massage has gained increasing attention for reducing peri-operative anxiety. We aimed to investigate the effectiveness of massage for peri-operative anxiety in adults. METHODS: Six English electronic databases were comprehensively searched from their inception to February 2020. Subgroup analysis, quality assessment, sensitivity analysis, meta-regression and publication bias assessment were performed. RESULTS: Twenty-five controlled trials comprising 2494 participants were included. The meta-analysis indicated that massage could significantly reduce peri-operative anxiety for most types of surgical patients. Specifically, it was effective for pre-, intra- and post-operative anxiety. Acupoint or specific body reflex area massage showed a larger effect than general massage did. Massage delivered by professionals and non-professionals were both effective. Massage lasting 10-20 min per session was the most worthy of recommendation. Massage was concomitant with the improvement of peri-operative vital signs and post-operative pain. CONCLUSION: Massage is a promising complementary therapy for ameliorating peri-operative anxiety in adults.

[Development and appraisement of functional molecular marker: intron sequence amplified polymorphism (ISAP)].

Molecular markers are playing an increasingly important role in map construction, QTL analysis, gene mapping and marker-assisted selection. Researchers hope the target gene and locus are as close as possible, one locus can present one gene, or linked with some important trait, then, individuals with useful trait can be selected through molecular markers selecting, and it's the functional molecular marker. PCR-based molecular markers such as RAPD, SSR, AFLP amplified non-coding regions, or the whole genome randomly, the locus is far away from the gene of targeted trait, this limit the ap-plication of these molecular markers. This study established a kind of functional molecular markers based on intron of gene sequence, trying to link loci with gene sequence to achieve the purpose of its function. It used the conservative consistent sequence of intron splicing sites as its core sequence of amplification. ISAP is a PCR-based marker system, it has two kinds of primers: forward primer and reverse primer, both primers are 18 bases. Any of the primers can be used to construct a primer combination with the other kind of primers. Seventeen primers, 9 forward and 8 reverse, were used to construct 72 primer combinations, 67 of them showed polymorphism in a G. hirsutum cv. CCRI36 x G. barbadense cv. H7124 F2 population and a total of 212 loci were obtained. Together with 164 SRAP loci, these 212 loci were used to construct a genetic linkage map. ISAP markers distributed evenly in the entire linkage group, part of the region had a high saturation, might be the coding sequence-rich region. Sequencing results of 20 fragments showed that 85% of the sequences announced homology with published EST sequence stored in the NCBI which indicated that they were amplified adjacent to expressed sequences. These results showed that ISAP marker system was simple, efficient, reliable, and had a relatively high polymorphism, furthermore, it directly targeted gene sequence, was a functional molecular marker system. ISAP was also used to amplify other plants and good results were achieved.

Cloning and expression of the chloroplast copper/zinc-superoxide dismutase gene in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.).

A full-length 1,043-base-pair cDNA clone encoding a chloroplast copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD) of upland cotton was first isolated by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) from the leaves of the cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) variety 'CRI36'. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the clone revealed that it contained the complete coding sequence of the mature SOD isozyme subunit, along with a 60-amino acid transit peptide at N-terminal. The amino acid sequence predicted from the full-length clone showed 66%-74% homology with the amino acid sequences of Cu/Zn-SOD from several other plants. This gene was found to be expressed in the leaves and stems, but not in roots, flowers, and hypocotyls, indicating that the gene was expressed only in green tissues. Also, its expression was found to be most active at seedling stage and declined gradually in later development stages. Expression of this cotton Cu/Zn-SOD gene by using the pET-21a (+) expression vector in E. coli BL21 (DE3) led to the production of a novel 29 kD polypeptide with SOD enzyme activity, confirming that the cloned cotton Cu/Zn-SOD cDNA was indeed encoding a functioning SOD enzyme.