The myosin II inhibitor, blebbistatin, ameliorates pulmonary endothelial barrier dysfunction in acute lung injury induced by LPS via NMMHC IIA/Wnt5a/ß-catenin pathway.

Acute lung injury (ALI) or its most advanced form, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), is a severe inflammatory pulmonary process triggered by varieties of pathophysiological factors, among which endothelial barrier disruption plays a critical role in the progression of ALI/ARDS. As an inhibitor of myosin II, blebbistatin inhibits endothelial barrier damage. This study aimed to investigate the effect of blebbistatin on lung endothelial barrier dysfunction in LPS induced acute lung injury and its potential mechanism. Mice were challenged with LPS (5 mg/kg) by intratracheal instillation for 6 h to disrupt the pulmonary endothelial barrier in the model group. Blebbistatin (5 mg/kg, ip) was administrated 1 h before LPS challenge. The results showed that blebbistatin could significantly attenuate LPS-induced lung injury and pulmonary endothelial barrier dysfunction. And we observed that blebbistatin inhibited the activation of NMMHC IIA/Wnt5a/ß-catenin pathway in pulmonary endothelium after LPS treatment. In murine lung vascular endothelial cells (MLECs) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), we further confirmed that Blebbistatin (1 µmol/L) markedly ameliorated endothelial barrier dysfunction in MLECs and HUVECs by modulating NMMHC IIA/Wnt5a/ß-catenin pathway. Our data demonstrated that blebbistatin could inhibit the development of pulmonary endothelial barrier dysfunction and ALI via NMMHC IIA/Wnt5a/ß-catenin signaling pathway.

Fast whole-body motor neuron calcium imaging of freely moving Caenorhabditis elegans without coverslip pressed.

Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) is an ideal model organism for studying neuronal functions at the system level. This article develops a customized system for whole-body motor neuron calcium imaging of freely moving C. elegans without the coverslip pressed. Firstly, we proposed a fast centerline localization algorithm that could deal with most topology-variant cases costing only 6 ms for one frame, not only benefits for real-time localization but also for post-analysis. Secondly, we implemented a full-time two-axis synchronized motion strategy by adaptively adjusting the motion parameters of two motors in every short-term motion step (~50 ms). Following the above motion tracking configuration, the tracking performance of our system has been demonstrated to completely support the high spatiotemporal resolution calcium imaging on whole-body motor neurons of wild-type (N2) worms as well as two mutants (unc-2, unc-9), even the instantaneous speed of worm moving without coverslip pressed was extremely up to 400 µm/s.

Ruscogenin attenuates particulate matter-induced acute lung injury in mice via protecting pulmonary endothelial barrier and inhibiting TLR4 signaling pathway.

The inhalation of particulate matter (PM) is closely related to respiratory damage, including acute lung injury (ALI), characterized by inflammatory fluid edema and disturbed alveolar-capillary permeability. Ruscogenin (RUS), the main active ingredient in the traditional Chinese medicine Ophiopogonis japonicus, has been found to exhibit anti-inflammatory activity and rescue LPS-induced ALI. In this study, we investigated whether and how RUS exerted therapeutic effects on PM-induced ALI. RUS (0.1, 0.3, 1 mg·kg-1·d-1) was orally administered to mice prior to or after intratracheal instillation of PM suspension (50 mg/kg). We showed that RUS administration either prior to or after PM challenge significantly attenuated PM-induced pathological injury, lung edema, vascular leakage and VE-cadherin expression in lung tissue. RUS administration significantly decreased the levels of cytokines IL-6 and IL-1ß, as well as the levels of NO and MPO in both bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and serum. RUS administration dose-dependently suppressed the phosphorylation of NF-κB p65 and the expression of TLR4 and MyD88 in lung tissue. Furthermore, TLR4 knockout partly diminished PM-induced lung injury, and abolished the protective effects of RUS in PM-instilled mice. In conclusion, RUS effectively alleviates PM-induced ALI probably by inhibition of vascular leakage and TLR4/MyD88 signaling. TLR4 might be crucial for PM to initiate pulmonary lesion and for RUS to exert efficacy against PM-induced lung injury.

Temporal multiplexing of the scientific grade camera for hyper-frame-rate imaging.

In order to maximize the spatio-temporal resolution of the scientific grade camera at width-limited ROI, this paper proposes a new hyper-frame-rate imaging method by temporal multiplexing the sub-region of the image sensor. In the system, a dual-axis scanning galvanometer is localized at the relay pupil plane and a high quality scan lens is utilized to form an image-side telecentric path. Following this path can overcome bandwidth waste in the conventional exposure and readout mode, and maintain other performances of image sensors. As a result, the sCMOS camera has performed 432fps over 820 × 700 pixel arrays to record the dynamic heartbeat of zebrafish larvae.

High cost-efficient and computational gigapixel video camera based on commercial lenses and CMOS chips.

The state-of-the-art commercial telephoto lens has already provided us almost one giga space-bandwidth product. Since the single-image sensor cannot take such sampling capacity, we implement a four-parallel-boresight imaging system by using four such lenses and use 64 image sensors to complete full field of view (FOV) imaging for achieving 0.8 gigapixel over 15.6°×10.5°. Multiple sensors mosaicking can make most online computation and data transfer in parallel, and help us to realize a gigapixel video camera. Meanwhile, according to the four-parallel-boresight configuration, the flat image plane simplifies the image registration and image stitching, and allows us to keep high imaging performance in full frame following geometric and optical calibration and correction. Furthermore, considering that working distance changes do bring additional x/y offsets between sensor arrays, we propose a computation-based method and introduce an eight-axis automatic motion mechanism into the system to perform the online active displacement. Our prototype camera using 16 sensors has been validated in 50 m indoor conditions and 145 m outdoor condition experiments, respectively. The effective angular resolution under the 0.2 giga 24 Hz video output is 18 µrad, which is two times the lens instantaneous FOV. Compared with other gigapixel cameras, it is superior in terms of optical system simplicity and cost efficiency, which would potentially benefit numerous unmanned aerial vehicle photogrammetric applications that pursue high angular resolution over moderate FOV.

Reactive oxygen species initiate a protective response in plant roots to stress induced by environmental bisphenol A.

Bisphenol A (BPA), a contaminant of emerging concern, can affect plant growth and development at high concentrations. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production is a general primary response in plants to stress. Here, the aim is to investigate whether ROS in plants play protective roles for stress induced by BPA exposure at environmental concentrations. In this study, soybean roots (seedling, flowering and podding stages) were exposed to 1.5 and 3.0 mg L-1 BPA, and ROS response was measured. The relationship between ROS levels and residual BPA content in soybean roots was evaluated. The results showed that exposure (9 h) to 1.5 mg L-1 BPA elicited changes in ROS production. ROS then gradually accumulated in soybean roots (seedling stage). Exposure to 3.0 mg L-1 BPA elicited a stronger and earlier ROS responses at the flowering and podding stage, but did not lead to membrane lipid peroxidation. Residual BPA content in soybean roots reached peak concentrations after 9 h of exposure, and then gradually decreased at the flowering and podding stage. These results indicate that ROS in soybean roots might be involved in the oxidative metabolism of BPA, which could prevent BPA from damaging exposed plants. In conclusion, the observed ROS metabolic effects may be self-protection responses of plants to stress induced by BPA exposure.

Segmentation and classification of two-channel C. elegans nucleus-labeled fluorescence images.

BACKGROUND: Aging is characterized by a gradual breakdown of cellular structures. Nuclear abnormality is a hallmark of progeria in human. Analysis of age-dependent nuclear morphological changes in Caenorhabditis elegans is of great value to aging research, and this calls for an automatic image processing method that is suitable for both normal and abnormal structures. RESULTS: Our image processing method consists of nuclear segmentation, feature extraction and classification. First, taking up the challenges of defining individual nuclei with fuzzy boundaries or in a clump, we developed an accurate nuclear segmentation method using fused two-channel images with seed-based cluster splitting and k-means algorithm, and achieved a high precision against the manual segmentation results. Next, we extracted three groups of nuclear features, among which five features were selected by minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance (mRMR) for classifiers. After comparing the classification performances of several popular techniques, we identified that Random Forest, which achieved a mean class accuracy (MCA) of 98.69%, was the best classifier for our data set. Lastly, we demonstrated the method with two quantitative analyses of C. elegans nuclei, which led to the discovery of two possible longevity indicators. CONCLUSIONS: We produced an automatic image processing method for two-channel C. elegans nucleus-labeled fluorescence images. It frees biologists from segmenting and classifying the nuclei manually.

[Chloroplast DNA trnQ-rps16 variation and genetic structure of nine wild Chinese cherry (Cerasus pseudocerasus Lindl.) populations].

Chinese cherry (Cerasus pseudocerasus Lindl.) is one of the most economically domestic fruit trees in China. The rich variation of wild Chinese cherry is the most important breeding resource for existing cultivars. In order to reveal the levels and distribution of genetic variation within wild Chinese cherry of Sichuan Province, China, where is rich in wild Chinese cherry, the sequence variation of chloroplast DNA trnQ-rps16 intergenic spacer was analyzed in 145 individuals of all nine existing populations (seven from Sichuan, two from Shanxi and Guizhou provinces) of China. The results showed that trnQ-rps16 sequence were aligned with 13 polymorphic sites (1.87%), including 3 substitutions and 10 indels in 145 individuals, which revealed a low level of genetic diversity (h= 0.562, π= 0.00184). Compared to other regions (h= 0.733, π= 0.00243), a rather lower genetic diversity (h= 0.544, π= 0.00203) was found in the populations from Sichuan, and a large scale of genetic diversity among the seven populations was detected (h= 0-0.708; π= 0-0.00298), ranging from EM (h=0.000, π=0.000) to TL (h=0.708, π=0.00298). The low genetic diversity of populations may be strongly affected by founder effect and bottleneck effect because of the marginal nature, recent reduction, and consequent genetic drift of these populations. In addition, a fairly low genetic differentiation (FST= 0.21573) was found among the studied populations. This suggest that gene flow seems to originate from pronounced seed dispersal abilities of the species and it may play a significant role in shaping such a genetic structure. The long generation cycle of the species may also contribute to this structure. Based on these findings, a conservational plan for sampling or preserving fewer populations but more individuals from each population for the species was proposed.

Isoorientin protects lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung injury in mice via modulating Keap1/Nrf2-HO-1 and NLRP3 inflammasome pathways.

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a pulmonary disease with high mortality. The present study investigated the protective effect of isoorientin (ISO) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI compared with Thalictrum minus L. (TML). The experimental ALI was achieved by LPS via endotracheal drip, ISO and TML (40 mg/kg) were administered orally 1 h prior to LPS. ISO treatment significantly protected mice from ALI and exhibited similar efficacy as TML. Administration of ISO markedly corrected weight loss and improved lung pathological damage caused by LPS. Meanwhile, a decline of lung wet to dry weight (W/D) ratios and total protein in bronchoalveolar fluid (BALF) demonstrated that ISO mitigated pulmonary edema and vascular leakage of ALI mice. Moreover, ISO also signally decreased oxidative stress and suppressed the content of interleukin-6 (IL-6) in BALF. Additionally, ISO significantly promoted the expression of nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) and down-regulated kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1). Simultaneously, it suppressed the over-expression of NOD-, LRR- and pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3), caspase-1, apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD (ASC) and pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin IL-1ß (pro-IL-1ß), and inhibited the expression of apoptotic related proteins induced by LPS challenge. Meanwhile, the results of molecular docking indicated the potential ability of ISO as a ligand binding with proteins Keap1, NLRP3 and cleaved-caspase-3 as well. These findings demonstrated that ISO might be one of the bioactive components of TML in the treatment of ALI and provided a rationale for future clinical applications and potential protective strategies for ALI.

Ruscogenin attenuates sepsis-induced acute lung injury and pulmonary endothelial barrier dysfunction via TLR4/Src/p120-catenin/VE-cadherin signalling pathway.

OBJECTIVES: Sepsis-associated acute lung injury (ALI) occurs with the highest morbidity and carries the highest mortality rates among the pathogenies of ALI. Ruscogenin (RUS) has been found to exhibit anti-inflammation property and rescue lipopolysaccharide-induced ALI, but little is known about its role in sepsis-triggered ALI. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential role of RUS in sepsis-induced ALI and the probable mechanism. METHODS: Mice model of cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) was replicated, and three doses of RUS (0.01, 0.03 and 0.1 mg/kg) were administrated 1 h before CLP surgeries. KEY FINDINGS: RUS significantly extended the survival time and attenuated the lung pathological injury, oedema and vascular leakage in sepsis-induced ALI mice. RUS efficiently decreased the level of MPO in lung tissue and the WBC, NEU counts in BALF. In addition, RUS rescued the expression of VE-cadherin and p120-catenin and suppressed the TLR4/Src signalling in lung tissue. CONCLUSIONS: RUS attenuated sepsis-induced ALI via protecting pulmonary endothelial barrier and regulating TLR4/Src/p120-catenin/VE-cadherin signalling pathway.

Lanthanum(III) triggers AtrbohD- and jasmonic acid-dependent systemic endocytosis in plants.

Trivalent rare earth elements (REEs) are widely used in agriculture. Aerially applied REEs enter leaf epidermal cells by endocytosis and act systemically to improve the growth of the whole plant. The mechanistic basis of their systemic activity is unclear. Here, we show that treatment of Arabidopsis leaves with trivalent lanthanum [La(III)], a representative of REEs, triggers systemic endocytosis from leaves to roots. La(III)-induced systemic endocytosis requires AtrbohD-mediated reactive oxygen species production and jasmonic acid. Systemic endocytosis impacts the accumulation of mineral elements and the development of roots consistent with the growth promoting effects induced by aerially applied REEs. These findings provide insights into the mechanistic basis of REE activity in plants.

Notes on Eurypalpae genus group (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae), with description of two new species.

The Eurypalpae genus group includes two genera, Ceratopompa Karsch and Zulpha Walker, which are distributed from southeastern Asia to northern Oceania southwards, and to southern China northwards. Each genus has been recorded as monotypic, including two mysterious taxa: C. festiva Karsch and Z. perlaria (Westwood). In this study, we redescribe the known species with broadened distributional ranges, and describe 2 new species: Zulpha ruohua sp. nov. and Zulpha fenghuang sp. nov., with relevant illustrations. The geographic fistribution of the genus group is discussed and mapped. The types are deposited in Insect Collection of Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China (IZCAS).

The Impact of Air Pollution on Hospitalization for Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease in Shenyang, China.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the overall impact of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2, CO, and O3 on the admission of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. METHODS: We collected data on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease admissions from two hospitals in Shenyang Liaoning, China from Jan 2014 to Dec 2017, as well as daily measurements of six pollutants at 11 sites in Shenyang. The generalized additive model was used to assess the association between daily contaminants and admission to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. RESULTS: The single-contamination model showed a significant correlation between NO2, O3, PM10 and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases at lag0 day. Air pollutants had lag effects on different gender groups. Excess relative risks (ERs) associated with a 10 µg/m3 increase were 1.522(1.057, 1.988) on lag02 for NO2, 0.547% (0.367%, 0.728%), 0.133% (0.061%, 0.205%) on lag3 for O3 and PM10. The dual pollutant model showed that the effects of NO2, O3, and PM10 after adjusting the influence of other pollutants were still statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Short-term exposure to ambient air pollution (NO2, O3, and PM10) may be associated with an increased risk of daily cardiovascular and cerebrovascular admission, which may provide reliable evidence for further understanding of the potential adverse effects of air pollution on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

Ruscogenin alleviates LPS-induced pulmonary endothelial cell apoptosis by suppressing TLR4 signaling.

Acute lung injury (ALI) or its most advanced form, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a severe inflammatory pulmonary process triggered by varieties of pathophysiological factors, among which apoptosis of pulmonary endothelial cells plays a critical role in the progression of ALI/ARDS. Ruscogenin (RUS) has been found to exert significant protective effect on ALI induced by lipopolysaccharides (LPS), but there is little information about its role in LPS-induced pulmonary endothelial cell apoptosis. The aim of the present study was to investigate the underlying mechanism in which RUS attenuates LPS-induced pulmonary endothelial cell apoptosis. Mice were challenged with LPS (5 mg/kg) by intratracheal instillation for 24 h to induce apoptosis of pulmonary endothelial cells in model group. RUS (three doses: 0.1, 0.3, and 1 mg/kg) was administrated orally 1 h prior to LPS challenge. The results showed that RUS could attenuate LPS-induced lung injury and pulmonary endothelial apoptosis significantly. And we observed that RUS inhibited the activation of TLR4/MYD88/NF-κB pathway in pulmonary endothelium after LPS treatment. In murine lung vascular endothelial cells (MLECs) we further confirmed that RUS (1 µmol/L) markedly ameliorated MLECs apoptosis by suppressing TLR4 signaling. By using TLR4 knockout mice we found that TLR4 was essential for the RUS-mediated eff ;ect on LPS-stimulated pulmonary endothelial apoptosis. Collectively, our results indicate that RUS plays a protective role against LPS-induced endothelial cell apoptosis via regulating TLR4 signaling, and may be a promising agent in the management of ALI.

Analysis of effects of a new environmental pollutant, bisphenol A, on antioxidant systems in soybean roots at different growth stages.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an important industrial raw material. Because of its widespread use and increasing release into environment, BPA has become a new environmental pollutant. Previous studies about BPA's effects in plants focus on a certain growth stage. However, the plant's response to pollutants varies at different growth stages. Therefore, in this work, BPA's effects in soybean roots at different growth stages were investigated by determining the reactive oxygen species levels, membrane lipid fatty acid composition, membrane lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant systems. The results showed that low-dose BPA exposure slightly caused membrane lipid peroxidation but didn't activate antioxidant systems at the seedling stage, and this exposure did not affect above process at other growth stages; high-dose BPA increased reactive oxygen species levels and then caused membrane lipid peroxidation at all growth stages although it activated antioxidant systems, and these effects were weaker with prolonging the growth stages. The recovery degree after withdrawal of BPA exposure was negatively related to BPA dose, but was positively related to growth stage. Taken together, the effects of BPA on antioxidant systems in soybean roots were associated with BPA exposure dose and soybean growth stage.

Effects of bisphenol A on chlorophyll fluorescence in five plants.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of bisphenol A (BPA) on plant photosynthesis and determine whether the photosynthetic response to BPA exposure varies in different plants. Chlorophyll fluorescence techniques were used to investigate the effects of BPA on chlorophyll fluorescence parameters in tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum), lettuce (Lactuca sativa), soybean (Glycine max), maize (Zea mays), and rice (Oryza sativa) seedlings. Low-dose (1.5 or 3.0 mg L(-1)) BPA exposure improved photosystem II efficiency, increased the absorption and conversion efficiency of primary light energy, and accelerated photosynthetic electron transport in each plant, all of which increased photosynthesis. These effects weakened or disappeared after the withdrawal of BPA. High-dose (10.0 mg L(-1)) BPA exposure damaged the photosystem II reaction center, inhibited the photochemical reaction, and caused excess energy to be released as heat. These effects were more evident after the highest BPA dose (17.2 mg L(-1)), but they weakened after the withdrawal of BPA. The magnitude of BPA exposure effects on the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters in the five plants followed the order: lettuce > tomato > soybean > maize > rice. The opposite order was observed following the removal of BPA. In conclusion, the chlorophyll fluorescence response in plants exposed to BPA depended on BPA dose and plant species.

[Ecological studies on genetically engineered microorganism in environment].

This paper discussed the main problems which should be considered on the environmental release of genetically engineered microorganism (GEM), including GEM construction, gene transfer, fitness, diffusion, translocation, potential eco-influence and so on. Moreover, aiming at the special ecological characteristic and eco-influence of GEM, this paper brought forward the policy of "respective analysis on different problems", and postulated the corresponding projects of GEM ecological research to apply GEM safely and effectively in nature.

[Advances in studies on genetically engineered microorganism ecology].

Genetically engineered microorganism ecology has been one of main research contents in microorganism molecular ecology. Along with the introduction of molecular marker and molecular biology, traditional microorganism ecology has been developed; therefore, it is possible to study the relationship between GEM and environment, environmental microorganism under molecular level. The GEM ecology has become a new and intersection borderline discipline, related to molecular biology, microbiology, ecology and so on. Moreover, it brought forward that the prosecution of the research on the transgenic organism ecology and the risk assessment, and the foundation of checking means and valuating standard that adapt to the situation of China could help to the development of GEM ecology in China.