PDE1 or PDE5 inhibition augments NO-dependent hypoxic constriction of porcine coronary artery via elevating inosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate level.

Hypoxic coronary vasospasm may lead to myocardial ischaemia and cardiac dysfunction. Inosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cIMP) is a putative second messenger to mediate this pathological process. Nevertheless, it remains unclear as to whether levels of cIMP can be regulated in living tissue such as coronary artery and if so, what is the consequence of this regulation on hypoxia-induced vasoconstriction. In the present study, we found that cIMP was a key determinant of hypoxia-induced constriction but not that of the subsequent relaxation response in porcine coronary arteries. Subsequently, coronary arteries were treated with various phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitors to identify PDE types that are capable of regulating cIMP levels. We found that inhibition of PDE1 and PDE5 substantially elevated cIMP content in endothelium-denuded coronary artery supplemented with exogenous purified cIMP. However, cGMP levels were far lower than their levels in intact coronary arteries and lower than cIMP levels measured in endothelium-denuded coronary arteries supplemented with exogenous cIMP. The increased cIMP levels induced by PDE1 or PDE5 inhibition further led to augmented hypoxic constriction without apparently affecting the relaxation response. In intact coronary artery, PDE1 or PDE5 inhibition up-regulated cIMP levels under hypoxic condition. Concomitantly, cGMP level increased to a comparable level. Nevertheless, the hypoxia-mediated constriction was enhanced in this situation that was largely compromised by an even stronger inhibition of PDEs. Taken together, these data suggest that cIMP levels in coronary arteries are regulated by PDE1 and PDE5, whose inhibition at a certain level leads to increased cIMP content and enhanced hypoxic constriction.

Convolutional Neural Network Based on Bandwise-Independent Convolution and Hard Thresholding for Hyperspectral Band Selection.

Band selection has been widely utilized in hyperspectral image (HSI) classification to reduce the dimensionality of HSIs. Recently, deep-learning-based band selection has become of great interest. However, existing deep-learning-based methods usually implement band selection and classification in isolation, or evaluate selected spectral bands by training the deep network repeatedly, which may lead to the loss of discriminative bands and increased computational cost. In this article, a novel convolutional neural network (CNN) based on bandwise-independent convolution and hard thresholding (BHCNN) is proposed, which combines band selection, feature extraction, and classification into an end-to-end trainable network. In BHCNN, a band selection layer is constructed by designing bandwise 1×1 convolutions, which perform for each spectral band of input HSIs independently. Then, hard thresholding is utilized to constrain the weights of convolution kernels with unselected spectral bands to zero. In this case, these weights are difficult to update. To optimize these weights, the straight-through estimator (STE) is devised by approximating the gradient. Furthermore, a novel coarse-to-fine loss calculated by full and selected spectral bands is defined to improve the interpretability of STE. In the subsequent layers of BHCNN, multiscale 3-D dilated convolutions are constructed to extract joint spatial-spectral features from HSIs with selected spectral bands. The experimental results on several HSI datasets demonstrate that the proposed method uses selected spectral bands to achieve more encouraging classification performance than current state-of-the-art band selection methods.

An Integrative Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Analysis of Red Pitaya (Hylocereus polyrhizus) Seedlings in Response to Heat Stress.

Red pitaya (Hylocereus polyrhizus) is a significant functional food that is largely planted in Southeast Asia. Heat stress (HS) induced by high temperatures is likely to restrict the growth and survival of red pitaya. Although pitaya can tolerate temperatures as high as 40 °C, little is known of how it can withstand HS. In this study, the transcriptomic and metabolomic responses of red pitaya seedlings to HS were analyzed. A total of 198 transcripts (122 upregulated and 76 downregulated) were significantly differentially expressed after 24 h and 72 h of exposure to 42 °C compared with a control grown at 28 °C. We also identified 64 differentially accumulated metabolites in pitaya under HS (37 increased and 27 decreased). These differential metabolites, especially amino acids, organic acids, and sugars, are involved in metabolic pathways and the biosynthesis of amino acids. Interaction network analysis of the heat-responsive genes and metabolites suggested that similar pathways and complex response mechanisms are involved in the response of pitaya to HS. Overexpression of one of the upregulated genes (contig10820) in Arabidopsis, which is a homolog of PR-1 and named HuPR-1, significantly increased tolerance to HS. This is the first study showing that HuPR-1 plays a role in the response of pitaya to abiotic stress. These findings provide valuable insights that will aid future studies examining adaptation to HS in pitaya.

RNA-seq-based selection of reference genes for RT-qPCR analysis of pitaya.

Reverse-transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) is a primary tool for measuring gene expression levels, and selection of appropriate reference genes is crucial for accurate and reproducible results of gene expression under various experimental conditions. However, no systematic evaluation of reference genes in pitaya (Hylocereus undatus Britt.) has been performed. Here, we examined the expression of five candidate reference genes, namely elongation factor 1-alpha (HuEF1-α), 18S ribosomal RNA (Hu18S rRNA), ubiquitin (HuUBQ), actin (HuACT), and ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (HuUQT), under different conditions in pitaya. The expression stabilities of these five genes were evaluated using two computation programs: geNorm and NormFinder. The results were further validated by normalizing the expression of the phosphoglycerate kinase (HuPGK) and ethylene-responsive transcription factor (HuERF) genes. Our results indicate that combined use of HuUBQ and HuUQT is the most stable reference under all of the experimental conditions examined. HuEF1-α, HuUBQ, and HuUQT are the top three most stable reference genes under salt stress, drought stress, and heat stress, and across different cultivars. HuEF1-α, HuACT, and HuUQT exhibited the most stable expression patterns across different tissues. Our results will allow researchers to select the most appropriate reference genes for gene expression studies of pitaya under different conditions.

Fibroblast growth factor 21 Ameliorates diabetes-induced endothelial dysfunction in mouse aorta via activation of the CaMKK2/AMPKα signaling pathway.

Endothelial dysfunction initiates and exacerbates hypertension, atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular complications in diabetic mellitus. FGF21 is a hormone that mediates a number of beneficial effects relevant to metabolic disorders and their associated complications. Nevertheless, it remains unclear as to whether FGF21 ameliorates endothelial dysfunction. Therefore, we investigated the effect of FGF21 on endothelial function in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. We found that FGF21 reduced hyperglycemia and ameliorated insulin resistance in type 2 diabetic mice, an effect that was totally lost in type 1 diabetic mice. However, FGF21 activated AMPKα, suppressing oxidative stress and enhancing endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation of aorta in both types, suggesting a mechanism that is independent of its glucose-lowering and insulin-sensitizing effects. In vitro, we identified a direct action of FGF21 on endothelial cells of the aorta, in which it bounds to FGF receptors to alleviate impaired endothelial function challenged with high glucose. Furthermore, the CaMKK2-AMPKα signaling pathway was activated to suppress oxidative stress. Apart from its anti-oxidative capacity, FGF21 activated eNOS to dilate the aorta via CaMKK2/AMPKα activation. Our data suggest expanded potential uses of FGF21 for the treatment of vascular diseases in diabetes.

[Asepsis sowing and tissue culture of Bletilla striata].

The asepsis sowing and tissue culture of Bletilla striata were studied. The results indicated that the embyro culture had highest sprouting percent and plantlets percent when their embryos were mature. The optimal medium for the embryo culture was 1/2 MS. Adding 10% coconut juice can promote embyros sprouting and plantlets formation, 1% active carbon can improve plantlets growing. The best medium for the top of plantlet on culture and multiplication was 1/2 MS + 6-BA 0.5 mg/L + NAA 0.2 mg/L. The best medium of rooting was 1/2 MS + NAA 0.5 mg/L, and 10% banana juice can improve rooting of plantlets.

Ankylosing spondylitis presented as unilateral optic neuritis in a young woman.

PURPOSE: To report a case of ankylosing spondylitis that initially presented as unilateral optic neuritis. METHODS: Case report. DESIGN: Clinical findings and treatment are presented. A 31-year-old woman presented with unilateral optic neuritis in her right eye. Her symptom improved following pulse steroid therapy. Unfortunately, she developed severe pain and weakness in her bilateral knee and ankle joints during follow-up. Further investigation revealed a positive finding of HLA-B27 and bilateral sacroiliitis. Ankylosing spondylitis was confirmed and was treated with Salazine and Mobic. CONCLUSIONS: Optic neuritis is rarely the first symptom of AS. Careful surveying and prompt treatment is necessary.

Reactive arthritis following Streptococcus viridans urinary tract infection.

PURPOSE: To report a case with reactive arthritis (ReA) following Streptococcus viridans genitourinary infection. METHODS: Case report. DESIGN: Clinical findings and treatment are presented. The 28-year-old man visited the authors' hospital due to ciliary injection and hypopyon over left eye. On examination, Behcet-mimicking symptoms were observed, such as genital and oral ulcers and arthritis. Furthermore, S. viridans was found in the urethral discharge culture. Under the impression of ReA, which was triggered by S. viridans, NSAID and antibiotics were prescribed. Complete resolution of ocular and systemic symptoms was achieved after 2 months of treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Streptococcus viridans is potential microorganisms of ReA. Careful survey and prompt treatment is necessary.