Effects of Soil Conditioner (Volcanic Ash) on Yield Quality and Rhizosphere Soil Characteristics of Melon.

In this study, the effects of soil conditioners on the growth and development of melons and the rhizosphere soil environment were explored. The optimal amount of added soil conditioner was screened to solve the practical production problems of high-quality and high-yield thin-skinned melon. The melon variety "Da Shetou" was used as the material. Under the conditions of conventional fertilization and cultivation technology management, different soil conditioners were set up for potted melons. The effects of Pastoral soil (CK), 95% Pastoral soil + 5% volcanic ash soil conditioner (KT1), 85% Pastoral soil + 15% volcanic ash soil conditioner (KT2), 75% Pastoral soil + 25% volcanic ash soil conditioner (KT3), 65% Pastoral soil + 35% volcanic ash soil conditioner (KT4), and 55% Pastoral soil + 45% volcanic ash soil conditioner (KT5) on melon yield, quality, and rhizosphere soil characteristics were investigated. The soil microbial community was analyzed using Illumina MiSeq technology. Compared to CK, KT1, KT3, KT4, and KT5, the KT2 treatment could improve the single fruit yield of melon, increasing it by 4.35%, 2.48%, 2.31%, 5.92%, and 2.92%. Meanwhile, the highest contents of soluble protein, soluble solid, and soluble sugar in the KT2 treatment were 1.89 mg·100 g-1, 16.35%, and 46.44 mg·g-1, which were significantly higher than those in the control treatment. The contents of organic matter, total nitrogen, alkali-soluble nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, available potassium, and available phosphorus in melon rhizosphere soil were the highest in the KT2 treatment. Through Alpha diversity analysis, it was found that the Chao1 index, Shannon index, and ACE index were significantly higher in the KT1 treatment than in the control, while, among all groups, the Simpson index and coverage were not significantly different. The dominant bacteria in the six treated samples were mainly Actinobacteriota, Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Myxomycota, Firmicutes, Gemmatimonadota, Verrucomicrobia, and Planctomycetes, which accounted for 96.59~97.63% of the relative abundance of all bacterial groups. Through redundancy analysis (RDA), it was found that the organic matter, electrical conductivity, available phosphorus, and nitrate nitrogen of melon rhizosphere soil were the dominant factors of bacterial community change at the dominant genus level. In summary, 15% ash soil conditioner applied on melon was the selected treatment to provide a theoretical reference for the application of soil conditioner in facility cultivation.

LncRNA FBXO18-AS promotes gastric cancer progression by TGF-ß1/Smad signaling.

For the digestive system, there exists one common malignant tumor, known as gastric cancer. It is the third most prevalent type of tumor among different tumors worldwide. It has been reported that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), participate in various biological processes of gastric cancer. However, there are still many lncRNAs with unknown functions, and we discovered a novel lncRNA designated as FBXO18-AS. Whether lncRNAFBXO18-AS participates in gastric cancer progression is still unknown. Bioinformatic analysis, immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, and qPCR were carried out to explore FBXO18-AS and TGF-ß1 expression. In addition, EdU, MTS, migration and transwell assays were performed to investigate the invasion, proliferation and migration of gastric cancer in vitro. We first discovered that FBXO18-AS expression was upregulated in gastric cancer and linked to poorer outcomes among patients with gastric cancer. Then, we confirmed that FBXO18-AS promoted the proliferation, invasion, migration, and an EMT-like process in gastric cancer in vivo and in vitro. Mechanistically, FBXO18-AS was found to be involved in the progression of gastric cancer by modulating TGF-ß1/Smad signaling. Therefore, it might offer a possible biomarker for gastric cancer diagnosis and an effective strategy for clinical treatment.

Flavonoid compound icariin enhances BMP-2 induced differentiation and signalling by targeting to connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) in SAMP6 osteoblasts.

BACKGROUND: Icariin, a major active flavonoid glucoside, is widely used for the treatment of bone injury and rebuilding in the clinic because of its roles in suppressing osteoblastogenesis and promoting osteogenesis. The senescence-accelerated mouse SAMP6 was accepted as a useful murine model to reveal the mechanism of senile osteoporosis and the therapeutic mechanism of drug activity. However, little is known about the characteristics of SAMP6 osteoblasts and the associated regulatory roles of icariin. METHODS: We isolated and cultured osteoblasts from SAMP6 or SAMR1 mice and compared their proliferation, migration, and differentiation by performing the CCK-8 assay, cell counting assay, EdU staining, cell cycle analysis, ALP staining and activity measurement, Alizarin red staining, and RT-qPCR analysis to measure the levels of osteoblast markers, including RUNX2, Colla1 and Oc. To assess the effects of icariin on BMP-2-induced osteoblast differentiation, after BMP-2 treatment, osteoblast markers were analyzed by RT-qPCR and semi-quantitative Western blotting. The effects of icariin on connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) were measured by RT-qPCR. shRNA targeting CTGF mRNA was employed to knockdown its expression level in osteoblasts. RESULTS: The SAMP6 osteoblasts presented decreased the development and differentiation activity compared with SAMR1 osteoblasts, indicating that they are the potential mechanisms underlying age-associated disease. Moreover, SAMP6 osteoblasts presented upregulated CTGF compared with SAMR1 osteoblasts. Icariin enhanced BMP-2-induced osteoblast differentiation by downregulating CTGF expression, which tightly regulates osteoblast differentiation. By downregulating CTGF, icariin treatment upregulated phosphate-Smad1/5/8, indicating its activating effects on the BMP signaling pathway. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that decreased osteoblast development and function potentially contributes to age-associated disease. Icariin exerts enhancing effects on BMP-2-mediated osteoblast development via downregulating CTGF.

Gestational exposure to tetrabutyltin blocks rat fetal Leydig cell development.

Tetrabutyltin is a stable organotin and may exhibit endocrine disrupting properties. Herein, we investigated effects of tetrabutyltin on the development of rat fetal Leydig cells, which support differentiation of the male reproductive tract in late gestation. Female pregnant Sprague Dawley rats were gavaged with tetrabutyltin (0, 100, 200, and 500 mg/kg) from gestational day (GD) 12 to GD 21. Tetrabutyltin dose-dependently decreased testicular testosterone levels (0.756 ±â€¯0.208 and 0.813 ±â€¯0.277 ng/testis at the 200 and 500 mg/kg doses, respectively) compared to control (1.692 ±â€¯0.218 ng/testis) at GD 21. Furthermore, tetrabutyltin induced fetal Leydig cell aggregation, decreased fetal Leydig cell size and cytoplasmic size at the ≥100 mg/kg doses, and downregulated the expression levels of Scarb1, Cyp17a1, and Insl3 at doses ≥100 mg/kg and Star expression at 200 mg/kg. Taking together, the present results indicated that prenatal exposure of male rats to tetrabutyltin affected fetal Leydig cell development.

Effect of losartan with folic acid on plasma homocysteine and vascular ultrastructural changes in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

Elevated homocysteine (Hcy) is a high risk factor of hypertension due to its function in endothelial dysfunction. Its level in the blood is strongly influenced by folic acid. In order to investigate the effects of losartan with folic acid on plasma level of Hcy and vascular ultrastructural changes, thirty spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) involved and randomly divided into three groups (n=10): SHR-C group (control), SHR-L group (losartan 25 mg · kg(-1) · d(-1)), SHR-L+Y group (losartan 25 mg · kg(-1) · d(-1) + folic acid 0.4 mg · kg(-1) · d(-1)). Another 10 Wistar Rats involved as WKY-C group for normal control. The level of plasma Hcy was measured dynamically by LS-MS, the vascular ultrastructural changes were analyzed by light and electron microscopy. Moreover, the thickness and area of aorta was measured. The results showed the Hcy levels in four groups were WKY-C 7.49 ± 1.95 µmol/L; SHR-C 8.45 ± 1.90 µmol/L; SHR-L 8.28 ± 2.11 µmol/L; SHR-L+Y 7.53 ± 2.02 µmol/L at 80 days. There was no significant change for plasma Hcy (P>0.05). The morphological change showed the subendothelial space didn't increased significantly, the endothelial cells have a more smooth and intact cellular membrane in SHR-L+Y group. In conclusion, Losartan combined with folic acid could improve arterial endothelial structure in SHR which has no significant correlation with plasma Hcy.

Reevaluation of glypican-3 as a prognostic marker in HCC using X-tile software.

Glypican-3 (GPC3) is a widely used immunohistochemical marker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC); however, its prognostic value is unclear. Immunohistochemical evaluation of GPC3 expression was performed on 300 postoperative HCC tissue samples with paired adjacent non-tumor tissues on tissue microarray sections. The integral optic density, representing the expression level of GPC3 in each HCC sample, was calculated using Image-Pro Plus. The outcome-based cut-point optimization was performed using X-tile software. GPC3 was highly expressed in HCC tissues compared with adjacent non-tumor tissues. The expression level of GPC3 was significantly correlated with overall survival (OS) and time to recurrence (TTR). The lower the level of GPC3 expression in HCC tissue, the poorer the observed prognosis. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that the expression level of GPC3 in HCC was an independent prognostic factor for both OS and TTR. In conclusion, GPC3 expression is an independent prognostic factor for postoperative HCC, and low expression levels of GPC3 in HCC may indicate poor outcome.