Downregulation of circ_0035292 Alleviates LPS-Induced WI-38 Cell Injury via Targeting miR-494-3p/TLR4 Pathway in Infantile Pneumonia.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been confirmed to mediate infantile pneumonia development. In this, we investigated the role and new mechanism of circ_0035292 regulating infantile pneumonia progression. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated WI-38 cells were used to mimic infantile pneumonia cell injury models. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to measure circ_0035292, microRNA (miR)-494-3p and toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). Cell proliferation and apoptosis were assessed by MTT assay, EdU assay, and flow cytometry. Protein expression was tested using western blot analysis. Inflammation and oxidative stress were evaluated by measuring IL-6, IL-1ß, MDA and SOD levels using ELISA assay and corresponding kits. RNA interaction was confirmed by dual-luciferase reporter assay and RIP assay. Circ_0035292 had elevated expression in infantile pneumonia patients and LPS-induced WI-38 cells. Silenced circ_0035292 could enhance WI-38 cell proliferation, while suppress apoptosis, inflammation and oxidative stress under LPS treatment. Mechanically, circ_0035292 targeted miR-494-3p to positively regulate TLR4. The rescue experiments indicated that miR-494-3p inhibitor abolished the function of circ_0035292 knockdown, and TLR4 overexpression reversed the inhibitory effect of miR-494-3p on LPS-induced WI-38 cell injury. Circ_0035292 might be a potential target for infantile pneumonia treatment, which knockdown could relieve LPS-induced cell injury via the regulation of miR-494-3p/TLR4 axis.

Demonstration of object location, classification, and characterization by developed deep learning dust ablation trail analysis code package using plasma jets.

Based on deep learning, a Dust Ablation Trail Analysis (DATA) code package is developed to detect dust ablation trails in tokamaks, which is intended to analyze a large amount data of tokamak dusts. To validate and benchmark the DATA code package, 2440 plasma jet images are exploited for the training and test of the deep learning DATA code package, since plasma jets resemble the shape and size of dust ablation clouds in tokamaks. After being trained by 1920 plasma jet images, the DATA code package is able to locate 100% plasma jets, classify plasma jets with the accuracy of >99.9%, and output image skeleton information for classified plasma jets. The DATA code package trained by the plasma jet images is also used to analyze the dust ablation trails captured in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting (EAST) tokamak with the satisfactory performance, further verifying its applicability in the fusion dust ablation investigation. Based on its excellent performance presented here, it is demonstrated that our DATA code package is able to automatically identify and analyze dust ablation trails in tokamaks, which can be used for further detailed investigations, such as the three-dimensional reconstruction of dusts and their ablation trails.

Recent progress in Chinese fusion research based on superconducting tokamak configuration.

Fusion energy is a promising source of clean energy, which could solve energy shortages and environmental pollution. Research into controlled fusion energy has been ongoing for over half a century. China has created a clear roadmap for magnetic confinement fusion development, where superconducting tokamaks will be used in commercial fusion reactors. The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) is the world's first fully superconducting tokamak with upper and lower divertors, which aims at long-pulse, steady-state, H-mode operation, and 101-s H-mode discharge had been achieved. In 2007, China joined the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and became one of its seven members. Thirteen procurement packages are undertaken by China, covering superconducting magnets, power supplies, plasma-facing components (PFCs), diagnostics, etc. To bridge the gap between the ITER and fusion demonstration power plants (DEMOs), China is planning to build the Chinese Fusion Engineering Testing Reactor (CFETR) to demonstrate related technologies and physics models. The engineering design of the CFETR was completed in 2020, and Comprehensive Research Facilities for Fusion Technology (CRAFT) are being constructed to explore the key technologies used in the CFETR.

Moderating effects of regional disparities on the relationship between individual determinants and public health service utilization among internal migrants: evidence from the China migrant dynamic survey in 2017.

BACKGROUND: Regional disparities and individual determinants have a significant impact on the accessibility of national essential public health services (NEPHS) for internal migrants (IMs) Nevertheless, few studies have explored the interaction between these two factors. METHOD: A cross-sectional sample of 102,632 IMs from the 2017 China Migrant Dynamic Survey was selected. The 28 provinces were divided into high-income provinces (HIPs) and low and middle-income provinces (LMIPs) according to their per capita disposable income (PCDI). Logistic regression was conducted using sex, residence duration, education, community type, migration range, social participation and relative personal income as independent variables, NEPHS awareness and health records registration (HRR) as dependent variables, and regional economic development level (REDL) as a moderating variable. RESULTS: The rate of NEPHS awareness and HRR in HIPs (60.7, 30.6%) were lower (x2 = 42.486, p < 0.001; x2 = 25.573, p < 0.001) than those in LMIPs (62.9, 32.2%). After controlling for other variables, NEPHS awareness (OR = 1.379, p < 0.001) and HRR (OR = 1.661, p < 0.001) of IMs in HIPs were higher. Sub-group proportion of education Ms. in HIPs were higher. Sub-group = 1.379, p < 0.001) and HRR dependent mong internal migrants:, 61.0, 42.2%) were higher than those in LMIPs (60.4, 19.7, 35.8, 25.5%). Among urban communities, intra-provincial migration, social participation, education > 9 years, and middle-income, the protective effect of the first three factors on NEPHS awareness was greater in HIPs (OR = 1.386, p < 0.001; OR = 1.383, p < 0.001; OR = 2.008, p < 0.001) than in LMIPs (OR = 1.053, p < 0.001; OR = 1.109, p < 0.001; OR = 1.861, p < 0.001), while the effect of all five factors on HRR was greater in HIPs (OR = 1.440, p < 0.001; OR = 1.380, p < 0.001; OR = 1.895, p < 0.001; OR = 1.148, p < 0.001; OR = 1.146, p < 0.001) than in LMIPs (OR = 1.045, p < 0.05; OR = 1.169, p < 0.001; OR = 1.677, p < 0.001; OR = 1.027, p > 0.05; OR = 1.028, p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: REDL directly affected the NEPHS utilization of IMs, and the negative effects of vulnerable characteristics on the NEPHS utilization of IMs were amplified in HIPs. The government is urged to regard IMs with vulnerable characteristics in HIPs as the key population in future NEPHS equalization and take targeted measures to stimulate their enthusiasm to participate in NEPHS.

Initial results and designs of dual-filter and plenoptic imaging for high-temperature plasmas.

Mass injection has found new applications in magnetic fusion including edge-localized-mode control. Better understanding of injected-mass-plasma interactions requires spatially and temporally resolved diagnostics that can characterize the dynamics of the mass interactions with plasmas. Fast imaging can be used to characterize the ionization dynamics such as the propagation of the ionization front, which moves at the thermal sound or higher speed, and mixing of the neutral atoms with the ambient plasma. Multi-wavelength spectral imaging is promising since different parts of the plasma give different spectral signatures. Here we describe a dual-spectral imaging technique based on a monochromatic camera sensor and filters with two passing optical wavelengths. The method is shown to improve image contrast, and it compares favorably with alternatives such as color cameras and methods using a filter wheel. Further improvements through relative filter area ratios and plenoptic imaging are possible. The initial results from EAST and plenoptic imaging are also included.

Joint Sparsity Constraint Interferometric ISAR Imaging for 3-D Geometry of Near-Field Targets with Sub-Apertures.

This paper proposes a new interferometric near-field 3-D imaging approach based on multi-channel joint sparse reconstruction to solve the problems of conventional methods, i.e., the irrespective correlation of different channels in single-channel independent imaging which may lead to deviated positions of scattering points, and the low accuracy of imaging azimuth angle for real anisotropic targets. Firstly, two full-apertures are divided into several sub-apertures by the same standard; secondly, the joint sparse metric function is constructed based on scattering characteristics of the target in multi-channel status, and the improved Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) method is used for imaging solving, so as to obtain high-precision 3-D image of each sub-aperture; thirdly, comprehensive sub-aperture processing is performed using all sub-aperture 3-D images to obtain the final 3-D images; finally, validity of the proposed approach is verified by using simulation electromagnetic data and data measured in the anechoic chamber. Experimental results show that, compared with traditional interferometric ISAR imaging approaches, the algorithm proposed in this paper is able to provide a higher accuracy in scattering center reconstruction, and can effectively maintain relative phase information of channels.

A polydnaviral genome of Microplitis bicoloratus bracovirus and molecular interactions between the host and virus involved in NF-κB signaling.

Polydnaviruses (PDVs) play a critical role in altering host gene expression to induce immunosuppression. However, it remains largely unclear how PDV genes affect host genes. Here, the complete genome sequence of Microplitis bicoloratus bracovirus (MbBV), which is known to be an apoptosis inducer, was determined. The MbBV genome consisted of 17 putative double-stranded DNA circles and 179 fragments with a total size of 336,336 bp and contained 116 open reading frames (ORFs). Based on conserved domains, nine gene families were identified, of which the IκB-like viral ankyrin (vank) family included 28 members and was one of the largest families. Among the 116 ORFs, 13 MbBV genes were expressed in hemocytes undergoing MbBV-induced apoptosis and further analyzed. Three vank genes (vank86, vank92, vank101) were expressed in hemocytes collected from Spodoptera litura larvae parasitized by M. bicoloratus, in which host NF-κB/IκBs, including relish, dorsal, and cactus, were also persistently expressed. When Spli221 cells were infected with MbBV viral particles, mRNA levels of host and viral NF-κB/IκB genes were persistent and also varied in Spli221 cells undergoing virus-induced pre-apoptosis cell from 1 to 5 hours postinfection. Both were then expressed in a time-dependent expression in virus-induced apoptotic cells. These data show that viral IκB-like transcription does not inhibit host NF-κB/IκB expression, suggesting that transcription of these genes might be regulated by different mechanisms.

N-TERMINALLY ELONGATED SpliInx2 AND SpliInx3 REDUCE BACULOVIRUS-TRIGGERED APOPTOSIS VIA HEMICHANNEL CLOSURE.

The hemichannel and gap junction channel are major portals for the release of factors responsible for the effects of apoptotic cells on the spread of apoptosis to neighboring cells and apoptotic corpse clearance, typically by phagocytes. The N-terminal cytoplasmic domain in the connexins, gap junction proteins in vertebrate, has been implicated in regulating channel closure. However, little is known about how the hemichannel close responds to apoptotic signaling transduction leading to the reduction of neighboring cellular apoptosis in an invertebrate. An insect Bac-to-Bac expression system, pFastBac(TM) HT A, allows us to construct an N-terminally elongated SpliInx2 (Nte-Inx2) and SpliInx3 (Nte-Inx3). Here, we demonstrated that recombinant baculovirus Bac-Nte-Inx2 (reBac-Net-Inx2) and Bac-Nte-Inx3 (reBac-Nte-Inx3) closed the endogenous hemichannel on the Sf9 cell surface. Importantly, primary baculovirus infections significantly caused early apoptosis, and this apoptosis was reduced by hemichannel-closed Sf9 cells at 24-h post-infection (PI). Although N-terminal-elongated residue led to the increase in the phosphorylated sites in both Nte-Inx2 and Nte-Inx3 and an additional transmembrane domain in Nte-Inx3, both the proteins localized on the cell surface, suggesting Nte-Inxs proteins could mediate hemichannel closure. Further supporting evidence showed that hemichannel closure was dependent on N-Inxs expressed by baculovirus polyhedrin promoter, which began to express at 18-24 h PI. These results identify an unconventional function of N-terminal-elongated innexins that could act as a plug to manipulate hemichannel closure and provide a mechanism connecting the effect of hemichannel closure directly to apoptotic signaling transduction from intracellular to extracellular compartment.

Mass separation of deuterium and helium with conventional quadrupole mass spectrometer by using varied ionization energy.

Deuterium pressure in deuterium-helium mixture gas is successfully measured by a common quadrupole mass spectrometer (model: RGA200) with a resolution of ∼0.5 atomic mass unit (AMU), by using varied ionization energy together with new developed software and dedicated calibration for RGA200. The new software is developed by using MATLAB with the new functions: electron energy (EE) scanning, deuterium partial pressure measurement, and automatic data saving. RGA200 with new software is calibrated in pure deuterium and pure helium 1.0 × 10(-6)-5.0 × 10(-2) Pa, and the relation between pressure and ion current of AMU4 under EE = 25 eV and EE = 70 eV is obtained. From the calibration result and RGA200 scanning with varied ionization energy in deuterium and helium mixture gas, both deuterium partial pressures (P(D2)) and helium partial pressure (P(He)) could be obtained. The result shows that deuterium partial pressure could be measured if P(D2) > 10(-6) Pa (limited by ultimate pressure of calibration vessel), and helium pressure could be measured only if P(He)/P(D2) > 0.45, and the measurement error is evaluated as 15%. This method is successfully employed in EAST 2015 summer campaign to monitor deuterium outgassing/desorption during helium discharge cleaning.

Identification and characterization of a novel stress-responsive outer membrane protein Lip40 from Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae.

BACKGROUND: Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, a Gram-negative bacterium, is the causative agent of porcine pleuropneumonia, a highly contagious and often fatal disease. Because current vaccines confer limited protection against A. pleuropneumoniae infection, the development of more effective vaccines is urgently required. The identification of immunogenic and protective antigens, such as an outer-membrane lipoprotein, will advance this purpose. RESULTS: Sixty putative lipoproteins were predicted from the genomic sequence of A. pleuropneumoniae using multiple algorithms. Here, we focused on the characteristics of the putative lipoprotein Lip40 from A. pleuropneumoniae strain SLW01 (serovar 1). Lip40 shares sequence similarity with many bacterial lipoproteins, and the structural prediction of Lip40 suggests that it is similar to A. pleuropneumoniae TbpB. The N-terminus of Lip40 contains an interesting tandemly repeated sequence, Q(E/D/P)QPK. Real-time RT-PCR indicated that the expression of lip40 was significantly upregulated at 42 °C, at 16 °C, and under anaerobic conditions. Recombinant Lip40 (rLip40) produced in Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) was specifically recognized by porcine convalescent serum directed against A. pleuropneumoniae. Lip40 was confirmed to localize at the bacterial outer membrane, and its expression was significantly stimulated when A. pleuropneumoniae was cultured under various stress conditions. Lip40 also protected 75% of mice from fatal virulent A. pleuropneumoniae infection. CONCLUSIONS: The immunogenic outer-membrane protein Lip40 is stress responsive, protects mice against infection, and might be a virulence determinant. Further investigation of Lip40 should expedite vaccine development and provide insight into the pathogenesis of A. pleuropneumoniae.

TWO INNEXINS OF Spodoptera litura INFLUENCES HEMICHANNEL AND GAP JUNCTION FUNCTIONS IN CELLULAR IMMUNE RESPONSES.

Insect cellular immune responses include encapsulation, nodule formation, and phagocytosis. Hemichannels and gap junctions are involved in these cellular actions. Innexins (Inxs: analogous to the vertebrate connexins) form hemichannels and gap junctions, but the molecular mechanisms underlying their biology is still unclear. In this article, we reported a steady-state level of Inxs (SpliInxs) in hemocytes of Spodoptera litura, which formed nonfunctional hemichannels on the cell surface to maintain normal metabolism. We also reported that two innnexins (SpliInx2 and SpliInx3) were expressed significantly higher in hemocytes compared to other tissues, suggesting that they play important roles in hemocytes. Amino acid analysis found that two cysteine residues in two extracellular loops provided the capability for SpliInx2 and SpliInx3 hemichannels to dock into gap junctions. Western blotting demonstrated that both extracellular and intracellular loops of SpliInx3 and the extracellular loops of SpliInx2 might undergo posttranslational modification during the formation of a steady-state hemichannel. During hemichannel formation, SpliInx2 presented as one isoform, while SpliInx3 presented as three isoforms. These results provide fundamental knowledge for further study of how steady-state levels of SpliInxs are dynamically adjusted to perform cellular immune responses under immune challenge.

The whole mitochondrial genome of the Cynomolgus macaque (Macaca fascicularis).

Macaca fascicularis, known as the long-tailed macaque, is widely distributed in southern of East Asia and Southeast Asia. It was one of the most commonly used non-human primates in biomedical research. Thus, to illustrate the maternal phylogenetic status of M. fascicularis in primates based on the whole mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genome and determine a reference sequence for future population genetic studies by taking mtDNA as molecular marker, in this study, the high quality whole mtDNA genome of M. fascicularis was amplified and sequenced. Our data showed that the whole mtDNA genome of M. fascicularis includes 16,571 base pairs (bps). Further phylogenetic analyses of M. fascicularis were performed by incorporating the 83 available whole mtDNA genomes belonging to 77 primate species with Tupaia belangeri as out-group. Our result supported that M. fascicularis belongs to Macaca. Cercopithecinae. Cercopithecidae. Anthropoidea. Primates, which has the closest genetic affinity with Macaca mulatta. In addition, the ancestral divergence between the tarsier and other primate species was supported with evidence from the whole mtDNA genomes.

A transcriptome analysis suggests apoptosis-related signaling pathways in hemocytes of Spodoptera litura after parasitization by Microplitis bicoloratus.

Microplitis bicoloratus parasitism induction of apoptotic DNA fragmentation of host Spodoptera litura hemocytes has been reported. However, how M. bicoloratus parasitism regulates the host signaling pathways to induce DNA fragmentation during apoptosis remains unclear. To address this question, we performed a new RNAseq-based comparative analysis of the hemocytes transcriptomes of non-parasitized and parasitized S. litura. We were able to assemble a total of more than 11.63 Gbp sequence, to yield 20,571 unigenes. At least six main protein families encoded by M. bicoloratus bracovirus are expressed in the parasitized host hemocytes: Ankyrin-repeat, Ben domain, C-type lectin, Egf-like and Mucin-like, protein tyrosine phosphatase. The analysis indicated that during DNA fragmentation and cell death, 299 genes were up-regulated and 2,441 genes were down-regulated. Data on five signaling pathways related with cell death, the gap junctions, Ca2+, PI3K/Akt, NF-κB, ATM/p53 revealed that CypD, which is involved in forming a Permeability Transition Pore Complex (PTPC) to alter mitochondrial membrane permeabilization (MMP), was dramatically up-regulated. The qRT-PCR also provided that the key genes for cell survival were down-regulated under M. bicoloratus parasitism, including those encoding Inx1, Inx2 and Inx3 of the gap junction signaling pathway, p110 subunit of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, and the p50 and p65 subunit of the NF-κB signaling pathway. These findings suggest that M. bicoloratus parasitism may regulate host mitochondria to trigger internucleosomal DNA fragmentation. This study will facilitate the identification of immunosuppression-related genes and also improves our understanding of molecular mechanisms underlying polydnavirus-parasitoid-host interaction.

Genealogy and palaeodrainage basins in Yunnan Province: phylogeography of the Yunnan spiny frog, Nanorana yunnanensis (Dicroglossidae).

Historical drainage patterns adjacent to the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau differed markedly from those of today. We examined the relationship between drainage history and geographic patterns of genetic variation in the Yunnan spiny frog, Nanorana yunnanensis, using approximately 981 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA partial sequences from protein-coding genes ND1 and ND2, and intervening areas including complete tRNA(Ile), tRNA(Gln) and tRNA(Met). Two null hypotheses were tested: (i) that genetic patterns do not correspond to the development of drainage systems and (ii) that populations had been stable and not experienced population expansion, bottlenecking and selection. Genealogical analyses identified three, major, well-supported maternal lineages, each of which had two sublineages. These divergent lineages were completely concordant with six geographical regions. Genetic structure and divergence were strongly congruent with historical rather than contemporary drainage patterns. Most lineages and sublineages were formed via population fragmentation during the rearrangement of paleodrainage basins in the Early Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. Sympatric lineages occurred only in localities at the boundaries of major drainages, likely reflecting secondary contact of previously allopatric populations. Extensive population expansion probably occurred early in the Middle Pleistocene accompanying dramatic climatic oscillations.

Spiny frogs (Paini) illuminate the history of the Himalayan region and Southeast Asia.

Asian frogs of the tribe Paini (Anura: Dicroglossidae) range across several first-order tectono-morphological domains of the Cenozoic Indo-Asian collision that include the Tibetan Plateau, the Himalayas, and Indochina. We show how the tectonic events induced by the Indo-Asian collision affected the regional biota and, in turn, how the geological history of the earth can be viewed from a biological perspective. Our analysis of a concatenated dataset comprising four nuclear gene sequences of Paini revealed two main radiations, corresponding to the genera Nanorana (I) and Quasipaa (II). Five distinct clades are recognized: Tibetan plateau clade (I-1), Himalaya clade (I-2), environs of Himalaya-Tibetan plateau clade (I-3), South China clade (II-1), and Indochina clade (II-2). This pattern of relationships highlights the significance of geography in shaping evolutionary history. Building on our molecular dating, ancestral region reconstruction, and distributional patterns, we hypothesize a distinct geographic and climatic transition in Asia beginning in the Oligocene and intensifying in the Miocene; this stimulated rapid diversification of Paini. Vicariance explains species formation among major lineages within Nanorana. Dispersal, in contrast, plays an important role among Quasipaa, with the southern Chinese taxa originating from Indochina. Our results support the tectonic hypothesis that an uplift in the Himalaya-Tibetan plateau region resulting from crustal thickening and lateral extrusion of Indochina occurred synchronously during the transition between Oligocene and Miocene in reaction to the Indo-Asian collision. The phylogenetic history of Paini illuminates critical aspects of the timing of geological events responsible for the current geography of Southeast Asia.

Phylogeny of the Asian spiny frog tribe Paini (Family Dicroglossidae) sensu Dubois.

The anuran tribe Paini, family Dicroglossidae, is known in this group only from Asia. The phylogenetic relationships and often the taxonomic recognition of species are controversial. In order to stabilize the classification, we used approximately 2100 bp of nuclear (rhodopsin, tyrosinase) and mitochondrial (12S, 16S rRNA) DNA sequence data to infer the phylogenetic relationships of these frogs. Phylogenetic trees reconstructed using Bayesian inference and maximum parsimony methods supported a monophyletic tribe Paini. Two distinct groups (I,II) were recovered with the mtDNA alone and the total concatenated data (mtDNA+nuDNA). The recognition of two genera, Quasipaa and Nanorana, was supported. Group I, Quasipaa, is widespread east of the Hengduan Mountain Ranges and consists of taxa from relatively low elevations in southern China, Vietnam and Laos. Group II, Nanorana, contains a mix of species occurring from high to low elevation predominantly in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and Hengduan Mountain Ranges. The occurrence of frogs at high elevations appears to be a derived ecological condition. The composition of some major species groups based on morphological characteristics strongly conflicts with the molecular analysis. Some possible cryptic species are indicated by the molecular analyses. The incorporation of genetic data from type localities helped to resolve some of the taxonomic problems, although further combined analyses of morphological data from type specimens are required. The two nuDNA gene segments proved to be very informative for resolving higher phylogenetic relationships and more nuclear data should be explored to be more confident in the relationships.