The Bombyx mori singed Gene Is Involved in the High-Temperature Resistance of Silkworms.

Temperature is an important factor in the growth, development, survival, and reproduction of organisms. The high-temperature resistance mechanism of insects may be significant for use in the prevention and control of insect pests. The silkworm, Bombyx mori, is an important Lepidoptera model species for studies on pest control in agriculture and forestry. We identified a gene in B. mori, the B. mori singed (Bmsn) gene, which is involved in the high-temperature resistance of silkworms. Sn proteins are highly conserved among species in many taxonomic groups. The overexpression of the Bmsn gene promoted the proliferation of silkworm cells, reduced oxidation, and reduced the accumulation of reactive oxygen species under stress. Interfering with the Bmsn gene had the opposite result. We constructed a transgenic B. mori strain that overexpressed the Bmsn gene. The physiological traits of the transgenic strain were significantly improved, and it had stronger high-temperature resistance. The Bmsn gene is involved in the process by which fat bodies respond to high-temperature stress. These findings provide insights into the mechanism of high-temperature resistance of insects and offer a new perspective on agricultural and forestry pest control.

A 15-year review of lightning deaths in Germany-with a focus on pathognomonic findings.

Lethal accidents caused by lightning are divided into observed and unobserved events. Pathognomonic or characteristic findings are often overlooked during external postmortem examination. Classical mistakes may be made which may often lead to an incorrect diagnosis. An analysis of 270 fatalities was performed on a historical collection of the Committee for Lightning Conductor Construction for the United Economic Area e. V. (ABBW) on lethal accidents due to lightning that occurred in Germany for the period 1951-1965. Furthermore, a selective literature research was carried out. The aim of the study was to analyze the death scene, the clothing, and the victim. The authors focused on chief findings which were relevant to the correct diagnosis of "death by lightning." Both Lichtenberg figures and singed body hair were considered pathognomonic for a lightning strike. The question arose as to whether Lichtenberg figures, for example, represented the finding that most often led to the correct diagnosis. Of the 270 lightning-struck victims from the case collection, 129 (47.8%) had singed body hair and 25 (9.3%) had Lichtenberg figures. A comparison of the frequency of the two reported findings, singed body hair versus Lichtenberg figures, has only been performed in the literature for case numbers below 40. This study is the first evaluation of a relatively large number of lethal accidents due to lightning. Singed body hair was reported more frequently in lightning-struck victims than Lichtenberg figures. This study showed that singed body hair is probably more diagnostically important than Lichtenberg figures.

Singed and vinculin play redundant roles in cell migration by regulating F-actin.

INTRODUCTION: Drosophila Singed (mammalian Fascin) is an actin-binding protein that is known mainly for bundling parallel actin filaments. Among many functions of Singed, it is required for cell motility for both Drosophila and mammalian systems. Increased Fascin-1 levels positively correlate with greater metastasis and poor prognosis in human cancer. Border cell cluster, forms and migrates during Drosophila egg chamber development, shows higher expression of Singed compared with other follicle cells. Interestingly, loss of singed in border cells does not lead to any effect other than delay. RESULT: In this work, we have screened many actin-binding proteins in search of functional redundancy with Singed for border cell migration. We have found that Vinculin works with Singed to regulate border cell migration, albeit mildly. Although Vinculin is known for anchoring F-actin to the membrane, knockdown of both singed and vinculin leads to a reduced level of F-actin and changes in protrusion characteristics in border cells. We have also observed that they may act together to control microvilli length of brush border membrane vesicles and the shape of egg chambers in Drosophila. CONCLUSIONS: We may conclude that singed and vinculin work together to control F-actin and these interactions are consistent across multiple platforms.

The Chlamydia trachomatis Early Effector Tarp Outcompetes Fascin in Forming F-Actin Bundles In Vivo.

The intracellular pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis secretes multiple early effectors into the host cell to promote invasion. A key early effector during host cell entry, Tarp (translocated actin-recruiting phosphoprotein) is comprised of multiple protein domains known to have roles in cell signaling, G-actin nucleation and F-actin bundle formation. In vitro, the actin bundles generated by Tarp are uncharacteristically flexible, however, in vivo, the biological significance of Tarp-mediated actin bundles remains unknown. We hypothesize that Tarp's ability to generate unique actin bundles, in part, facilitates chlamydial entry into epithelial cells. To study the in vivo interaction between Tarp and F-actin, we transgenically expressed Tarp in Drosophila melanogaster tissues. Tarp expressed in Drosophila is phosphorylated and forms F-actin-enriched aggregates in tissues. To gain insight into the significance of Tarp actin bundles in vivo, we utilized the well-characterized model system of mechanosensory bristle development in Drosophila melanogaster. Tarp expression in wild type flies produced curved bristles, indicating a perturbation in F-actin dynamics during bristle development. Two F-actin bundlers, Singed/Fascin and Forked/Espin, are important for normal bristle shape. Surprisingly, Tarp expression in the bristles displaced Singed/Fascin away from F-actin bundles. Tarp's competitive behavior against Fascin during F-actin bundling was confirmed in vitro. Loss of either singed or forked in flies leads to highly deformed bristles. Strikingly, Tarp partially rescued the loss of singed, reducing the severity of the bristle morphology defect. This work provides in vivo confirmation of Tarp's F-actin bundling activity and further uncovers a competitive behavior against the host bundler Singed/Fascin during bundle assembly. Also, we demonstrate the utility of Drosophila melanogaster as an in vivo cell biological platform to study bacterial effector function.

Machine Learning Approach to Predict Ventricular Fibrillation Based on QRS Complex Shape.

Early prediction of the occurrence of ventricular tachyarrhythmia (VTA) has a potential to save patients' lives. VTA includes ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF). Several studies have achieved promising performances in predicting VT and VF using traditional heart rate variability (HRV) features. However, as VTA is a life-threatening heart condition, its prediction performance requires further improvement. To improve the performance of predicting VF, we used the QRS complex shape features, and traditional HRV features were also used for comparison. We extracted features from 120-s-long HRV and electrocardiogram (ECG) signals (QRS complex signed area and R-peak amplitude) to predict the VF onset 30 s before its occurrence. Two artificial neural network (ANN) classifiers were trained and tested with two feature sets derived from HRV and the QRS complex shape based on a 10-fold cross-validation. The prediction accuracy estimated using 11 HRV features was 72%, while that estimated using four QRS complex shape features yielded a high prediction accuracy of 98.6%. The QRS complex shape could play a significant role in performance improvement of predicting the occurrence of VF. Thus, the results of our study can be considered by the researchers who are developing an application for an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) when to begin ventricular defibrillation.

Physicochemical and Genotoxic Evaluations of Singed Cowhide Meat (Ponmo) Wastewater.

INTRODUCTION: In spite of doubts over the safety and nutritional benefits of singed cowhide meat, called ponmo in some parts of Nigeria, and its potential negative impact on the hide and leather industry, consumption in Nigeria and many parts of Africa has continued unabated. OBJECTIVES: In the present study, physicochemical and genotoxic assessments of wastewater used to rinse ready-to-cook singed cowhide meat were carried out. METHODS: Physicochemical analyses were carried out using the American Public Health Association procedures, while genotoxic assessment was carried out using Allium cepa chromosome assay. RESULTS: The results of the physicochemical analyses indicated that some of the parameters, especially metals, were within the threshold of the limits set by the country's regulatory agencies, but some parameters like phosphate, chloride, nitrate, biological oxygen demand, and chemical oxygen demand were higher in concentration. The wastewater inhibited the growth of A. cepa roots and caused a decrease in its mitotic index relative to the control onions exposed to water only. The highest root growth inhibition of 72.14% was induced by a 10% wastewater concentration, while the lowest (53.57%) was induced by a 5% wastewater concentration. In addition, the wastewater induced bi-nucleated, attached, vagrant, C-mitosis, sticky and bridged chromosomal aberrations. Wastewater at a 5% concentration induced the highest significant (P < 0.05) percentage chromosome aberration of 36.62% at 48 hours of exposure. Sticky chromosomes had the highest significant frequency (P <0.01) at the end of the 72-hour exposure period. No chromosomal aberration was observed in the control. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that singed cowhide meat wastewater is potentially genotoxic and environmentally harmful. Governments, public health practitioners, and relevant stakeholders should work in synergy to discourage the habit of processing cowhide into cowhide meat. COMPETING INTERESTS: The authors declare no competing financial interests.

A simulation-based sample size calculation method for pre-clinical tumor xenograft experiments.

Pre-clinical tumor xenograft experiments usually require a small sample size that is rarely greater than 20, and data generated from such experiments very often do not have censored observations. Many statistical tests can be used for analyzing such data, but most of them were developed based on large sample approximation. We demonstrate that the type-I error rates of these tests can substantially deviate from the designated rate, especially when the data to be analyzed has a skewed distribution. Consequently, the sample size calculated based on these tests can be erroneous. We propose a modified signed log-likelihood ratio test (MSLRT) to meet the type-I error rate requirement for analyzing pre-clinical tumor xenograft data. The MSLRT has a consistent and symmetric type-I error rate that is very close to the designated rate for a wide range of sample sizes. By simulation, we generated a series of sample size tables based on scenarios commonly expected in tumor xenograft experiments, and we expect that these tables can be used as guidelines for making decisions on the numbers of mice used in tumor xenograft experiments.

Comparative analysis of gene expression profiles for several migrating cell types identifies cell migration regulators.

Cell migration is an instrumental process that ensures cells are properly positioned to support the specification of distinct tissue types during development. To provide insight, we used fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) to isolate two migrating cell types from the Drosophila embryo: caudal visceral mesoderm (CVM) cells, precursors of longitudinal muscles of the gut, and hemocytes (HCs), the Drosophila equivalent of blood cells. ~350 genes were identified from each of the sorted samples using RNA-seq, and in situ hybridization was used to confirm expression within each cell type or, alternatively, within other interacting, co-sorted cell types. To start, the two gene expression profiling datasets were compared to identify cell migration regulators that are potentially generally-acting. 73 genes were present in both CVM cell and HC gene expression profiles, including the transcription factor zinc finger homeodomain-1 (zfh1). Comparisons with gene expression profiles of Drosophila border cells that migrate during oogenesis had a more limited overlap, with only the genes neyo (neo) and singed (sn) found to be expressed in border cells as well as CVM cells and HCs, respectively. Neo encodes a protein with Zona pellucida domain linked to cell polarity, while sn encodes an actin binding protein. Tissue specific RNAi expression coupled with live in vivo imaging was used to confirm cell-autonomous roles for zfh1 and neo in supporting CVM cell migration, whereas previous studies had demonstrated a role for Sn in supporting HC migration. In addition, comparisons were made to migrating cells from vertebrates. Seven genes were found expressed by chick neural crest cells, CVM cells, and HCs including extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and proteases. In summary, we show that genes shared in common between CVM cells, HCs, and other migrating cell types can help identify regulators of cell migration. Our analyses show that neo in addition to zfh1 and sn studied previously impact cell migration. This study also suggests that modification of the extracellular milieu may be a fundamental requirement for cells that undergo cell streaming migratory behaviors.

Fast and robust brain tumor segmentation using level set method with multiple image information.

BACKGROUND: Brain tumor segmentation is a challenging task for its variation in intensity. The phenomenon is caused by the inhomogeneous content of tumor tissue and the choice of imaging modality. In 2010 Zhang developed the Selective Binary Gaussian Filtering Regularizing Level Set (SBGFRLS) model that combined the merits of edge-based and region-based segmentation. OBJECTIVE: To improve the SBGFRLS method by modifying the singed pressure force (SPF) term with multiple image information and demonstrate effectiveness of proposed method on clinical images. METHODS: In original SBGFRLS model, the contour evolution direction mainly depends on the SPF. By introducing a directional term in SPF, the metric could control the evolution direction. The SPF is altered by statistic values enclosed by the contour. This concept can be extended to jointly incorporate multiple image information. The new SPF term is expected to bring a solution for blur edge problem in brain tumor segmentation. The proposed method is validated with clinical images including pre- and post-contrast magnetic resonance images. The accuracy and robustness is compared with sensitivity, specificity, DICE similarity coefficient and Jaccard similarity index. RESULTS: Experimental results show improvement, in particular the increase of sensitivity at the same specificity, in segmenting all types of tumors except for the diffused tumor. CONCLUSION: The novel brain tumor segmentation method is clinical-oriented with fast, robust and accurate implementation and a minimal user interaction. The method effectively segmented homogeneously enhanced, non-enhanced, heterogeneously-enhanced, and ring-enhanced tumor under MR imaging. Though the method is limited by identifying edema and diffuse tumor, several possible solutions are suggested to turn the curve evolution into a fully functional clinical diagnosis tool.

IKKε inhibits PKC to promote Fascin-dependent actin bundling.

Signaling molecules have pleiotropic functions and are activated by various extracellular stimuli. Protein kinase C (PKC) is activated by diverse receptors, and its dysregulation is associated with diseases including cancer. However, how the undesired activation of PKC is prevented during development remains poorly understood. We have previously shown that a protein kinase, IKKε, is active at the growing bristle tip and regulates actin bundle organization during Drosophila bristle morphogenesis. Here, we demonstrate that IKKε regulates the actin bundle localization of a dynamic actin cross-linker, Fascin. IKKε inhibits PKC, thereby protecting Fascin from inhibitory phosphorylation. Excess PKC activation is responsible for the actin bundle defects in IKKε-deficient bristles, whereas PKC is dispensable for bristle morphogenesis in wild-type bristles, indicating that PKC is repressed by IKKε in wild-type bristle cells. These results suggest that IKKε prevents excess activation of PKC during bristle morphogenesis.

Association between juxtapapillary diverticulum and acute cholangitis determined using laboratory data.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between juxtapapillary diverticulum (JD) and acute cholangitis (AC), and to analyze laboratory data to reveal the underlying mechanism. We conducted a retrospective review of 139 patients who underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) between April 2008 and March 2013 for diagnosis or treatment of biliary tract conditions. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used for comparison of variables between patients with or without JD. The χ (2) test was used to analyze the association between JD and AC duct dilatation. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify variables with strong correlation with AC. ERCP was attempted in 139 patients, but in one patient the endoscope did not reach the papilla of Vater because of a partial gastrectomy, and in two patients evaluation for JD was not possible because of duodenal or papilla of Vater cancer. Therefore, 136 patients were included in this study. JD was significantly associated with AC (P<0.0001) and bile-duct dilatation (P=0.0107), and AC was strongly associated with bile duct dilatation (P=0.0013). Alkaline phosphatase levels were significantly elevated in patients with JD (P=0.0237). In AC patients without JD, χ (2) for C-reactive protein was 4.48 (P=0.0342), whereas in AC patients with JD, χ (2) values for the white blood cell count, alkaline phosphatase, and aspartate aminotransferase were 2.62, 3.1, and 3.61, respectively (P=0.025, 0.015, and 0.0336, respectively). JD was strongly associated with AC. Logistic regression analysis suggested that bile flow was disturbed with JD.