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Background@#Domestic yaks are the most important livestock species on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Adult female yaks normally breed in the warm season (July to September) and enter anestrous in the cold season (November to April). Nevertheless, it is unclear how ovarian activity is regulated at the molecular level. @*Objectives@#The peculiarities of yak reproduction were assessed to explore the molecular mechanism of postpartum anestrus ovaries in yaks after pregnancy and parturition. @*Methods@#Sixty female yaks with calves were observed under natural grazing in Haiyan County, Qinghai Province. Three yak ovaries in pregnancy and postpartum anestrus were collected. RNA sequencing and quantitative proteomics were employed to analyze the pregnancy and postpartum ovaries after hypothermia to identify the genes and proteins related to the postpartum ovarian cycle. @*Results@#The results revealed 841 differentially expressed genes during the postpartum hypoestrus cycle; 347 were up-regulated and 494 genes were down-regulated. Fifty-seven differential proteins were screened: 38 were up-regulated and 19 were down-regulated. The differential genes and proteins were related to the yak reproduction process, rhythm process, progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation, PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, and MAPK signaling pathway categories. @*Conclusions@#Transcriptome and proteomic sequencing approaches were used to investigate postpartum anestrus and pregnancy ovaries in yaks. The results confirmed that BHLHE40, SF1IX1, FBPX1, HSPCA, LHCGR, BMP15, and ET-1R could affect postpartum hypoestrus and control the state of estrus.
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Objective:To evaluate the application high-resolution 3.0-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in diagnosis of ligament and tendon injuries of the forefeet.Methods:From September 2014 to August 2020, 40 patients with forefeet injury (40 forefoot) and 20 healthy subjects (40 forefoot) meeting the including and excluding criteria were enrolled into this retrospective study. All subjects underwent MRI T1-weighted image (T1WI) and fat suppression proton density-weighted imaging (PD-FS) scan on coronal planes, sagittal planes and axial planes, respectively. Then the MRI characteristics of tendons in forefoot of healthy subjects and patients with forefoot injuries were compared. In patients the MR features of ligament and tendons injury were compared with the surgical findings or follow-up results.Results:In 20 normal subjects the tendons and ligament of the forefoot showed homogeneous low-signal-intensity on T1WI and PD-FS images. In the 40 patients with forefoot injuries, 22 cases were confirmed by surgical findings and 18 cases were confirmed by follow-up results. There were 8 cases of collateral ligament injuries, including 2 cases with complete tear, 3 cases with partial tear and 3 cases with sprain; 2 cases of extensor tendon with partial tear; 8 cases of flexor tendon injuries, including 3 cases with complete tear, 3 cases with partial tear and 2 cases with sprain; 3 cases of abductor tendon with partial tear; 13 cases of plantar plate injuries; and 6 cases of Lisfranc ligament injuries including 5 cases with complete tear and 1 case with partial tear. The injured ligament and tendons presented thicker and discontinuity in T1WI; and demonstrated heterogeneously increased signal intensity with edema in the surrounding soft tissues in PD-FS. The partially torn ligament and tendons showed discontinuity and thickening; and the completely torn ligament and tendons showed that they were interrupted and retracted, fiber structure disappeared and was filled with liquid, and edema in the surrounding soft tissue.Conclusion:High resolution magnetic resonance imaging of the forefoot can demonstrate the anatomy and features of ligament and tendon injuries in forefoot accurately, which has clinical application value for the early diagnosis and accurate treatment of the injury.
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Thiamin pyrophosphate (TPP) is a thiamine (vitamin B1) derivative and an essential cofactor in oxidative metabolism of the sugars,fatty acids and amino acids in living cells.By now,numerous TPP-dependent artificial riboswitch systems have been developed to regulate target gene expression but limited in bacteria,fungi or plant cells.Herein,the activating (switch-on) and inhibiting (switch-off) TPP-depended hammerhead ribozyme switches,which are from previous reported structures of prokaryotes screening,were investigated in mammalian cells.These ribozyme switches were inserted into the 3'UTR of the enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP) gene to construct the efficient ribozyme-based artificial switches through overlap extension PCR cloning.The HEK293 cells were transfected with the engineered ribozyme switches at increasing concentration of TPP.The EGFP gene-regulatory ability was analyzed with fluorescent microscope and flow cytometry.These TPP-inducible gene regulation devices showed the obvious ligand dose-dependency and excellent specificity.Two switch-on and one switch-off constructs demonstrated 3.1-fold or 1.9-fold increment and 2.3-fold reduction of EGFP level respectively with 150 μ mol/L TPP.The ligand-responsive ribozyme switches,by tuning the change of TPP concentration into the visual reporter genetic expression in cells,enable an efficient development of label-free,noninvasive and high-specific biosensors in living mammalian cells.
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BACKGROUND:At present, researches about attention mainly concentrate on the relationship between attention and other psychological phenomena, but studies concerning different types of attention itself (sustained attention versus selective attention) are few. OBJECTIVE:To investigate the brain mechanisms of sustained and selective attentions which have different roles in the cognitive process. METHODS:Event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured when 18 col ege students’ participants (half male and half female) were performing selective and sustained attention tasks. The program was written in E-Prime and displayed on a computer, and the experimental task was adapted from Karl et al. reported experimental paradigm, including selective attention and sustained attention tasks. The time of fixation point given was 500 ms, and the time of three randomly abreast pictures given was 300 ms. Al the participants were asked to make rapid and accurate response as much as possible. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:The ERPs elicited by the two attention tasks were different in the aspects of time process, wave crest and latency. The brain regions activated by the sustained attention were wider than those by selective attention. The ERPs elicited by the sustained attention mainly presents as positive waves, whereas those elicited by the selective attention were reflected as both positive and negative waves. The EPRs elicited by the sustained attention were N100 and N250, but in the metaphase, selective attention elicited the P180. These may indicate that event choice appears in the middle stage of the task. Besides, the reversion of EPRs elicited by the two attention tasks in the anterior and posterior scalp is likely to be a generality of al attentions.