Mesaconine alleviates doxorubicin-triggered cardiotoxicity and heart failure by activating PINK1-dependent cardiac mitophagy.

Aberrant mitophagy has been identified as a driver for energy metabolism disorder in most cardiac pathological processes. However, finding effective targeted agents and uncovering their precise modulatory mechanisms remain unconquered. Fuzi, the lateral roots of Aconitum carmichaelii, shows unique efficacy in reviving Yang for resuscitation, which has been widely used in clinics. As a main cardiotonic component of Fuzi, mesaconine has been proven effective in various cardiomyopathy models. Here, we aimed to define a previously unrevealed cardioprotective mechanism of mesaconine-mediated restoration of obstructive mitophagy. The functional implications of mesaconine were evaluated in doxorubicin (DOX)-induced heart failure models. DOX-treated mice showed characteristic cardiac dysfunction, ectopic myocardial energy disorder, and impaired mitophagy in cardiomyocytes, which could be remarkably reversed by mesaconine. The cardioprotective effect of mesaconine was primarily attributed to its ability to promote the restoration of mitophagy in cardiomyocytes, as evidenced by elevated expression of PINK1, a key mediator of mitophagy induction. Silencing PINK1 or deactivating mitophagy could completely abolish the protective effects of mesaconine. Together, our findings suggest that the cardioprotective effects of mesaconine appear to be dependent on the activation of PINK1-induced mitophagy and that mesaconine may constitute a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of heart failure.

The roles and mechanism of STIM1 in tumorigenesis and metastasis.

STIM1 (stromal interaction molecule 1) is one of the key components of the store operated Ca2+ entry channel (SOCE), which is located on the endoplasmic reticulum membrane and highly expressed in most kinds of tumors. STIM1 promotes tumorigenesis and metastasis by modulating the formation of invadopodia, promoting angiogenesis, mediating inflammatory response, altering the cytoskeleton and cell dynamics. However, the roles and mechanism of STIM1 in different tumors have not been fully elucidated. In this review, we summarize the latest progress and mechanisms of STIM1 in tumorigenesis and metastasis, thereby providing insights and references for the study on STIM1 in the field of cancer biology in the future.

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A pot experiment with Huayu 25 as experimental material was conducted, with treatments of drought and salt stresses. The effects of drought and salt stresses at the flowering stage on the plant morphology, pod yield, and soil bacterial community structure in the rhizosphere were examined. The results showed that Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Saccharibacteria, Chloroflexi, Cyanobacteria, and Acidobacteria were the dominant phyla in the rhizosphere soil of peanut. Compared with that under normal conditions, the relative abundance of Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria dramatically decreased, while that of Cyanobacteria evidently increased in drought-treated and salt-treated soil. Moreover, the variation of Cyanobacteria abundance caused by combined drought and salt stresses was stronger than that caused by single drought or salt stress. Functional meta-genomic profiling indicated that a series of sequences related to signaling transduction, defense mechanism and post-translational modification, protein turnover, chaperones were enriched in rhizosphere soil under stressed conditions, which might have implications for plant survival and stress tolerance. Drought and salt stress affectedpeanut growth and reduced pod yield. Results from this study would present reference on the future improvement of stress tolerance of peanuts via modifying soil microbial community.

Finite Element Simulation Study of Ultrasonic Vibration-Assisted Tensile High-Volume Fraction SiCp/Al Composite.

Silicon carbide particle-reinforced aluminum matrix composite (SiCp/Al) has been widely used in the military and aerospace industry due to its special performance; however, there remain many problems in the processing. The present paper introduces an ultrasonic vibration tensile apparatus and a composite tensile specimen and performs Abaqus finite element simulation on high-volume SiCp/Al. The results show that the stress-strain curve increases linearly during conventional tensile strength; the intermittent vibration tensile strength is similar to the full course vibration tensile strength: The magnitude of the stress reduction increases as the amplitude of the ultrasound increases and the vibration frequency increases. The tensile rate is inversely proportional to the magnitude of the stress reduction, and in the ultrasonic parameters, the amplitude has the greatest influence on the magnitude of the stress reduction, followed by the tensile rate; additionally, the frequency has the least influence on the magnitude of the stress reduction. The experimental results show that the simulation results are consistent with the experimental results.

Effects of Involved Laser Photons on Radiation and Electron-Positron Pair Production in one Coherence Interval in Ultra Intense Lasers.

Electron radiation and γ photon annihilation are two of the major processes in ultra intense lasers (UIL). Understanding their behavior in one coherence interval (CI) is the basis for UIL-matter interaction researches. However, most existing analytic formulae only give the average over many CIs. Present understanding of these two multi-photon processes in one CI usually assume that they emit forward and their spectra have a cutoff at the energy of the electron/γ. Such assumptions ignore the effects of involved laser photons (EILP). We deduced the formulae for these two processes in one CI with EILP included and give the conditions for the EILP to be significant. Strong EILP introduces new behaviors into these two processes in one CI, such as large angle emission and emit particles above the usually assumed cutoff. Simulations show that the EILP would be significant when laser intensity reaches 2 × 1022 W/cm2, which is within the reach of state-of-art lasers.

Effects of calcium fertilizer application on absorption and distribution of nutrients in peanut under salt stress.

In order to solve the problems of nutrient absorption and accumulation and provide theoretical basis for rational amount of calcium fertilization of peanut in saline land, the effects of calcium fertilizer application on absorption and accumulation of nutrients including nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium in peanut under salt stress were examined. Using 'Huayu 25' as experimental material, four Ca levels [T1 (0), T2 (75), T3 (150) and T4 (225) kg·hm-2 CaO] were set under 0.3% salt stress in a pot experiment. The results showed that nutrient contents in peanut followed the order of nitrogen > potassium > calcium > phosphorus > magnesium. At the seedling stage, leaves were the absorption center of nitrogen and calcium, while stems were the center of phosphorus, potassium and magnesium, with nearly half of nutrient accumulation being distributed in the corresponding growth center. At mature stage, the absorption centers of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium were transferred to pod. The accumulation of nitrogen and phosphorus in seed kernel reached to 72.3%-78.9%. The absorption centers of calcium and magnesium was still in the leaves and stems, with a distribution ratio of 49.8% and 32.6%, respectively. Salt stress significantly inhibited nutrient absorption and distribution in peanut, especially decreased the nitrogen accumulation in leaves and seed kernels. However, salt stress increased the magnesium accumulation in pod. Exogenous calcium application had significant positive effect on absorption and accumulation of nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium and magnesium in different organs of peanut under salt stress. It had significant adjustment on phosphorus accumulation in seed kernel, which was increased by more than 50%. Appropriate calcium content could significantly promote the peanut nutrient absorption and accumulation under salt stress and improve the distribution ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium in mature pods of peanut. According to the responses of nutrient absorption and distribution, the optimized application amount for calcium fertilizer under 0.3% salt stress was 150 kg·hm-2 CaO.

[Effects of water stress and nitrogen fertilization on peanut root morphological development and leaf physiological activities].

Taking 'Huayu 22' peanut as test material, effect of soil water content and nitrogen fertilization on the leaf physiological activities and root morphological characteristics of peanut plants were analyzed. Two levels of soil water condition were: (1) well-watered condition and (2) moderate water stress, and three levels of nitrogen were: (1) none nitrogen (N0), (2) moderate nitrogen (N1, 90 kg · hm(-2)) and (3) high nitrogen (N2, 180 kg · hm(-2)). The results showed that N1 significantly increased the peanut yield under two water conditions, but showed no significant effect on harvest index compared with N0. Under water stress condition, N1 had no significant effects on total root biomass and total root length, but the total root surface area was remarkably increased. The nitrogen fertilization significantly increased the root length and root surface area in 20-40 cm soil layer, and N2 significantly increased the root biomass and root surface area in the soil layer below 40 cm. The application of nitrogen remarkably increased CAT and POD activities in leaf, while MDA content was decreased with the increase of nitrogen level. Under well-watered condition, the root biomass, root length and root surface area in the soil layer below 40 cm and total root surface area were significantly reduced by nitrogen application, however, only N1 could increase leaf protective enzyme activities. Correlation analysis showed that the root length in 20-40 cm soil layer and SOD, CAT, POD activities in leaf were highly significantly related with peanut yield.

Isolation and characterization of drought-responsive genes from peanut roots by suppression subtractive hybridization

Background Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is an important economic and oilseed crop. Long-term rainless conditions and seasonal droughts can limit peanut yields and were conducive to preharvest aflatoxin contamination. To elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which peanut responds and adapts to water limited conditions, we isolated and characterized several drought-induced genes from peanut roots using a suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) technique. Results RNA was extracted from peanut roots subjected to a water stress treatment (45% field capacity) and from control plants (75% field capacity), and used to generate an SSH cDNA library. A total of 111 non-redundant sequences were obtained, with 80 unique transcripts showing homology to known genes and 31 clones with no similarity to either hypothetical or known proteins. GO and KEGG analyses of these differentially expressed ESTs indicated that drought-related responses in peanut could mainly be attributed to genes involved in cellular structure and metabolism. In addition, we examined the expression patterns of seven differentially expressed candidate genes using real-time reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) and confirmed that all were up-regulated in roots in response to drought stress, but to differing extents. Conclusions We successfully constructed an SSH cDNA library in peanut roots and identified several drought-related genes. Our results serve as a foundation for future studies into the elucidation of the drought stress response mechanisms of peanut.

[Effects of drought stress on the root growth and development and physiological characteristics of peanut].

Taking two peanut varieties Huayu 17 and Tangke 8 as test objects, a soil column culture experiment was conducted in a rainproof tank to study the peanut root morphological development and physiological characteristics at late growth stages under moderate drought and well-watered conditions. Tanke 8 had more developed root system and higher yield and drought coefficient, while Huayu 17 had poorer root adaptability to drought stress. For the two varieties, their root length density and root biomass were mainly distributed in 0-40 cm soil layer, whereas their root traits differed in the same soil layer. The total root length, total root surface area, and total root volume of Huayu 17 at each growth stage were smaller under drought stress than under well-balanced water treatment, while these root characteristics of Tangke 8 under drought stress only decreased at flowering-pegging stage. Drought stress increased the root biomass, surface area, and volume of the two varieties in 20-40 cm soil layer, but decreased these root traits in the soil layers below 40 cm. Under drought stress, the root activity of the two varieties in the soil layers below 40 cm at pod filling stage decreased, and the decrement was larger for Huayu 17. The differences in the root system development and physiological characteristics of the two varieties at late growth stages under drought stress suggested that the root system of the two varieties had different water absorption and utilization under drought stress.

[Indices selection and comprehensive evaluation of salinity tolerance for peanut varieties].

A total of two hundred peanut varieties (lines) were exposed to different salt concentrations under pot cultivation, to evaluate salinity tolerance by indices such as emergence, morphology and biomass accumulation from emergence to seedling stage. The results showed that, as the salinity concentration increased, the emergence time was prolonged, plant morphology establishment was inhibited seriously, and biomass accumulation was reduced. The optimal concentration for evaluating salinity tolerance was 0.30%-0.45%. Ten indices were contributed to the mean membership function value by the membership function analysis. According to the correlation coefficient between indices and the mean membership function value, plant fresh mass, shoot fresh mass, root fresh mass, root dry mass, plant height and stem height could be the first selected indices for evaluating salinity tolerance of peanut plant. Plant dry mass, shoot dry mass, taproot length and emergence speed could be the second selected indices to comprehensively evaluate salinity tolerance of peanut plant. The 200 varieties were divided into 4 groups at different salinity concentrations, i. e. high salinity tolerance, salinity tolerance, salinity sensitivity, and high salinity sensitivity. Number of salinity tolerant varieties was decreased with increasing salinity concentration while the salinity sensitive one was increased. Salinity tolerance of some varieties showed the similarity (tolerant or sensitive) under different salinity stresses. Some varieties showed different tolerance under different salinity stresses, i. e. tolerance at low salinity concentration while sensitivity at high salinity concentration.

Self-similarity analysis of eubacteria genome based on weighted graph.

We introduce a weighted graph model to investigate the self-similarity characteristics of eubacteria genomes. The regular treating in similarity comparison about genome is to discover the evolution distance among different genomes. Few people focus their attention on the overall statistical characteristics of each gene compared with other genes in the same genome. In our model, each genome is attributed to a weighted graph, whose topology describes the similarity relationship among genes in the same genome. Based on the related weighted graph theory, we extract some quantified statistical variables from the topology, and give the distribution of some variables derived from the largest social structure in the topology. The 23 eubacteria recently studied by Sorimachi and Okayasu are markedly classified into two different groups by their double logarithmic point-plots describing the similarity relationship among genes of the largest social structure in genome. The results show that the proposed model may provide us with some new sights to understand the structures and evolution patterns determined from the complete genomes.

MFV-class: a multi-faceted visualization tool of object classes.

Classes are key software components in an object-oriented software system. In many industrial OO software systems, there are some classes that have complicated structure and relationships. So in the processes of software maintenance, testing, software reengineering, software reuse and software restructure, it is a challenge for software engineers to understand these classes thoroughly. This paper proposes a class comprehension model based on constructivist learning theory, and implements a software visualization tool (MFV-Class) to help in the comprehension of a class. The tool provides multiple views of class to uncover manifold facets of class contents. It enables visualizing three object-oriented metrics of classes to help users focus on the understanding process. A case study was conducted to evaluate our approach and the toolkit.