LncRNA KIFAP3-5:1 inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition of renal tubular cell through PRRX1 in diabetic nephropathy.

Long noncoding RNAs play an important role in several pathogenic processes in diabetic nephropathy, but the relationship with epithelial-mesenchymal transition in DN is unclear. Herein, we found that KIFAP3-5:1 expression was significantly down-regulated in DN plasma samples, db/db mouse kidney tissues and high glucose treated renal tubular epithelial cells compared to normal healthy samples and untreated cells. Overexpression of KIFAP3-5:1 improved renal fibrosis in db/db mice and rescued epithelial-mesenchymal transition of high glucose cultured renal tubular epithelial cells. The silence of KIFAP3-5:1 will exacerbate the progression of EMT. Mechanistically, KIFAP3-5:1 was confirmed to directly target to the -488 to -609 element of the PRRX1 promoter and negatively modulate PRRX1 mRNA and protein expressions. Furthermore, rescue assays demonstrated that the knockdown of PRRX1 counteracted the KIFAP3-5:1 low expression-mediated effects on EMT in hRPTECs cultured under high glucose. The plasma KIFAP3-5:1 of DN patients is highly correlated with the severity of renal dysfunction and plays an important role in the prediction model of DN diseases. These findings suggested that KIFAP3-5:1 plays a critical role in regulation of renal EMT and fibrosis through suppress PRRX1, and highlight the clinical potential of KIFAP3-5:1 to assist in the diagnosis of diabetic nephropathy.

Soft Picosecond Infrared Laser Extraction of Highly Charged Proteins and Peptides from Bulk Liquid Water for Mass Spectrometry.

We report the soft laser extraction and production of highly charged peptide and protein ions for mass spectrometry directly from bulk liquid water at atmospheric pressure and room temperature, using picosecond infrared laser ablation. Stable ion signal from singly charged small molecules, as well as highly charged biomolecular ions, from aqueous solutions at low laser pulse fluence (∼0.3 J cm-2) is demonstrated. Sampling via single picosecond laser pulses is shown to extract less than 27 pL of volume from the sample, producing highly charged peptide and protein ions for mass spectrometry detection. The ablation and ion generation is demonstrated to be soft in nature, producing natively folded proteins ions under sample conditions described for native mass spectrometry. The method provides laser-based sampling flexibility, precision and control with highly charged ion production directly from water at low and near neutral pH. This approach does not require an additional ionization device or high voltage applied directly to the sample.

[Element detection by single-shot laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy of lead].

Single-shot laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (single-shot LIBS) has become one of the most important branches of material detection. The present article mainly focuses on analysis of the emission spectra of lead by quantitative methods. In the experiment, both qualitative and quantitative analysis are made to detect the content of lead in different material using single-shot LIBS with Q-switched Nd:YAG lasers whose pulse width is 10ns. In quantitative analysis, detections of the emission lines of pure lead with different pulse energies: 107, 139.2 and 171.5 mJ and different wavelengths: 1064, 532 and 1064/532 nm are made. Spectra under three conditions (1: same wavelengths and different pulse energies for single pulse lasers; 2: same pulse energy and different wavelength for single pulse lasers and 3: same wavelengths and different pulse energies for double pulse lasers) are acquired and compared.

[Investigation on rapid detection of lead by LIBS based on common spectrograph].

In the present paper, the lead concentrations of samples including glass, soldering tin and so on were determined by LIBS based on a Nd : YAG Q-switched pulse laser with wavelength 1 064 nm as an exciting source and CCD in common spectrograph as the detector. The pulse energy on the surface of samples is about 95 mJ and the pulse width is 12 ns. By the detection of different samples, the detection limit of lead in samples was found to be 0.007 4% and the maximum relative standard deviation of quantitative analysis was about 4.0% based on the LIBS system of the instruments all made in China. The quantitative analysis can be done in two or three minutes and will spend one minute finishing the process by software in the future. The results suggest that the accuracy of determination of lead meets the challenge of quantitative analysis and the CCD can displace the very expensive ICCD as detector. The feasibility and low cost of the method, which uses common spectrometer and CCD to realize the LIBS detection, is proved by the result and our investigation will be beneficial to the LIBS application.

Note: A simple image processing based fiducial auto-alignment method for sample registration.

A simple method for the location and auto-alignment of sample fiducials for sample registration using widely available MATLAB/LabVIEW software is demonstrated. The method is robust, easily implemented, and applicable to a wide variety of experiment types for improved reproducibility and increased setup speed. The software uses image processing to locate and measure the diameter and center point of circular fiducials for distance self-calibration and iterative alignment and can be used with most imaging systems. The method is demonstrated to be fast and reliable in locating and aligning sample fiducials, provided here by a nanofabricated array, with accuracy within the optical resolution of the imaging system. The software was further demonstrated to register, load, and sample the dynamically wetted array.