Behavioral events and functional analysis of bursicon signal during adult eclosion in the 28-spotted larger potato ladybird.

To accommodate growth, insects must periodically shed their exoskeletons. In Manduca sexta, Drosophila melanogaster and Tribolium castaneum, Bursicon (Burs)/ Partner of bursicon (Pburs)-LGR2 signal is an indispensable component for the proper execution of ecdysis behavior during adult eclosion. Nevertheless, the behavioral events and the roles of bursicon signaling in other insects deserve further exploration. In the current paper, we found that the pupal-adult ecdysis in Henosepilachna vigintioctomaculata could be divided into three distinct stages, preecdysis, ecdysis and postecdysis. Preecdysis behavioral sequences included abdomen twitches, dorsal-ventral contractions and air filling that function to loosen the old cuticle. Ecdysis events began with anterior-posterior contractions that gradually split the old integument along the dorsal body midline, followed by freeing of legs and mouthparts, and culminated in detachment from pupal cuticle. Postecdysis behavioral processes contained three actions: perch selection and stretching of elytra and hindwings. RNA interference for HvBurs, HvPburs or Hvrk (encoding LGR2) strongly impaired wing expansion actions, and slightly influenced preecdysis and ecdysis behaviors. The RNAi beetles failed to extend their elytra and hindwings. In addition, injected with dsrk also caused kinked femurs and tibia. Our findings establish that bursicon pathway is involved in regulation of adult eclosion behavior, especially wing expansion motor programs. Given that wings facilitate food foraging, courtship, predator avoidance, dispersal and migration, our results provide a potential target for controlling H. vigintioctomaculata.

Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Henosepilachna vigintioctomaculata Reveals Critical Pathways during Development.

Henosepilachna vigintioctomaculata is distributed in several Asian countries. The larvae and adults often cause substantial economic losses to Solanaceae crops such as potato, tomato, eggplant, and Chinese boxthorn. Even though a chromosome-level genome has been documented, the expression profiles of genes involved in development are not determined. In this study, we constructed embryonic, larval, pupal, and adult transcriptomes, generated a comprehensive RNA-sequencing dataset including ~52 Gb of clean data, and identified 602,773,686 cleaned reads and 33,269 unigenes. A total of 18,192 unigenes were successfully annotated against NCBI nonredundant protein sequences, Swissprot, Eukaryotic Orthologous Groups, Gene Ontology (GO), or Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) databases. There were 3580, 2040, 5160, 2496, 3008, and 3895 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between adult/egg, egg/larval, larval/pupal, adult/pupal, egg/pupal, and adult/larval samples, respectively. GO and KEGG analyses of the DEGs highlighted several critical pathways associated with specific developing stages. This is the first comprehensive transcriptomic dataset encompassing all developmental stages in H. vigintioctomaculata. Our data may facilitate the exploitation of gene targets for pest control and can serve as a valuable gene resource for future molecular investigations.

Sulforaphane ameliorates non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in mice by promoting FGF21/FGFR1 signaling pathway.

Most studies regarding the beneficial effect of sulforaphane (SFN) on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) have focused on nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2). But the molecular mechanisms underlying the beneficial effect of SFN in the treatment of NAFLD remain controversial. Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 21 is a member of the FGF family expressed mainly in liver but also in adipose tissue, muscle and pancreas, which functions as an endocrine factor and has been considered as a promising therapeutic candidate for the treatment of NAFLD. In the present study we investigated whether FGF21 was involved in the therapeutic effect of SFN against NAFLD. C57BL/6J mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks to generate NAFLD and continued on the HFD for additional 6 weeks with or without SFN treatment. We showed that administration of SFN (0.56 g/kg) significantly ameliorated hepatic steatosis and inflammation in NAFLD mice, along with the improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity, through suppressing the expression of proteins responsible for hepatic lipogenesis, while enhancing proteins for hepatic lipolysis and fatty acids oxidation. SFN administration significantly increased hepatic expression of FGFR1 and fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) in NAFLD mice, along with decreased phosphorylation of p38 MAPK (the downstream of FGF21). HepG2 cells were treated in vitro with FFAs (palmitic acid and oleic acid) followed by different concentrations of SFN. We showed that the effects of SFN on FGF21 and FGFR1 protein expression were replicated in FFAs-treated HepG2 cells. Moreover, the increased FGFR1 protein occurred earlier than increased FGF21 protein. Interestingly, the rapid effect of SFN on FGFR1 protein was not regulated by the FGFR1 gene transcription. Knockdown of FGFR1 and p38 genes weakened SFN-reduced lipid deposition in FFAs-treated HepG2 cells. SFN administration in combination with rmFGF21 (1.5 mg/kg, i.p., every other day) for 3 weeks further suppressed hepatic steatosis in NAFLD mice. In conclusion, SFN ameliorates lipid metabolism disorders in NAFLD mice by upregulating FGF21/FGFR1 pathway. Our results verify that SFN may become a promising intervention to treat or relieve NAFLD.

[Job satisfaction and quality of life among hospital nurses in the Yunlin-Chiayi area].

The purpose of this study was to explore job satisfaction and quality of life and their inter-relationships among nurses. A cross-sectional research design was applied. Participants were 1,020 nurses who had worked for over six months at seven hospitals in Yunlin and Chiayi counties. Nine hundred and eleven questionnaires were returned, a response rate of 89.3%. The questionnaire comprised three parts: demographic characteristics and work environment, quality of life, and job satisfaction. The Cronbach's alphas were .87-.94. Data were analyzed by SPSS/PC 13.0. The results showed: (1) Factors affecting job satisfaction were support managers, number of patients cared for during day time, health status, stress from changing units, religion, work stress, and working unit's suitability to one's interests (R(2) = 53.5%). (2) Factors affecting quality of life were job satisfaction, happiness of life, health status, work stress, and age (R(2) = 51.0%). (3) There was a positive correlation between job satisfaction and quality of life. Nursing managers should create better work environments to improve nurses' job satisfaction and facilitate their retention in the nursing profession.

Omega-3 free fatty acids attenuate insulin-promoted breast cancer cell proliferation.

High insulin levels in obese people are considered as a risk factor to induce breast carcinogenesis. And consumption of fish oils which mainly contain omega-3 fatty acids is associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer. However, whether omega-3 free fatty acids (FFAs) modulate insulin signaling pathway to prevent breast cancer is poorly understood. The current study tested the hypothesis that omega-3 FFAs attenuate insulin-induced breast cancer cell proliferation and regulate insulin signaling pathway. We show here that omega-3 FFAs attenuate MCF-7 cell proliferation and Akt and Erk1/2 phosphorylation levels stimulated by insulin. Knockdown Shp2 by siRNA resulted in significantly elevated omega-3 FFAs-activated Akt phosphorylation but failed to change insulin-stimulated Akt and Erk1/2 phosphorylation. And viable cell number was not affected by either downregulation of Shp2 expression or Erk1/2 inhibitor U0126 treatment. These observations indicated that omega-3 FFAs attenuate insulin-promoted breast cancer cell proliferation and insulin-activated Akt phosphorylation.