Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disorder worldwide, and microglia are thought to play a central role in neuroinflammatory events occurring in AD. Chemerin, an adipokine, has been implicated in inflammatory diseases and central nervous system disorders, yet its precise function on microglial response in AD remains unknown. The APP/PS1 mice were treated with different dosages of chemerin-9 (30 and 60 µg/kg), a bioactive nonapeptide derived from chemerin, every other day for 8 weeks consecutively. The primary mouse microglia were stimulated by amyloid beta 42 (Aβ42) oligomers followed by treatment with chemerin-9 in vitro. ChemR23 inhibitor α-NETA was further used to investigate whether the effects of chemerin-9 were ChemR23-dependent. We found that the expression of chemerin and ChemR23 was increased in AD. Intriguingly, treatment with chemerin-9 significantly ameliorated Aβ deposition and cognitive impairment of the APP/PS1 mice, with decreased microglial proinflammatory activity and increased phagocytic activity. Similarly, chemerin-9-treated primary microglia showed increased phagocytic ability and decreased NLRP3 inflammasome activation. However, the ChemR23 inhibitor α-NETA abolished the neuroprotective microglial response of chemerin-9. Collectively, our data demonstrate that chemerin-9 ameliorates cognitive deficits in APP/PS1 transgenic mice by boosting a neuroprotective microglial phenotype.
The swim bladder of Chu’s croaker (Nibea coibor) is an expensive food with high texture requirements. In this study, we found that male swim bladder had better toughness than female. To explore the main determining factor affecting texture properties of swim bladder, comparison of proximate composition, collagen microstructure and proteomics was carried out between male and female swim bladder. Results indicated that it should be collagen microstructure mainly affecting the texture characteristics of swim bladder, rather than the proximate composition. The collagen fibers in male swim bladder were significantly more uniform and regular than female. By proteomics analysis, it was further discovered that collagen XII was the most significantly up-regulated protein in male swim bladder and may be crucial in shaping of collagen fibers. In summary, collagen XII was identified to be a potential key molecule affecting the texture of the swim bladder, mainly through regulating properties of collagen fibers.
The compound inositol has many important applications in various fields. However, no information can be obtained on the biosynthesis of inositol by lactic acid bacteria (LAB) so far. In this study, an inositol-producing Lactobacillus plantarum ZJ2868 was isolated and identified, and its probiotic potential and antibacterial activity were assessed. The isolated L. plantarum ZJ2868 strain produced 33.66 ± 0.75 mg/L of inositol. The optimal temperature and pH for the strain growth were 30 °C and 6.0, respectively. This strain could resist high osmotic pressure, and grew well in Man Rogosa Sharpe (MRS) medium with 6% NaCl. It displayed a strong acid resistance, and the number of viable cells was over 93.9% on the conditions of pH 3.0 and 3.5 for 4 h. 59.8% cells could survive at a high bile salt concentration of 0.1% for 1 h. This strain exhibited an obvious inhibitory effect on Pseudomonas fluorescens and Listeria monocytogenes, and was sensitive to amoxicillin and ampicillin. These findings broaden the use of LAB and deepen our understanding of LAB as potential producer of inositol.
In this study, to construct the riboflavin-producing strain R1, five key genes, ribA, ribB, ribC, ribD, and ribE, were cloned and ligated to generate the plasmid pET-AE, which was overexpressed in Escherichia coli BL21. The R1 strain accumulated 182.65 ± 9.04 mg/l riboflavin. Subsequently, the R2 strain was constructed by the overexpression of zwf harboring the constructed plasmid pAC-Z in the R1 strain. Thus, the level of riboflavin in the R2 strain increased to 319.01 ± 20.65 mg/l (74.66% increase). To further enhance ribB transcript levels and riboflavin production, the FMN riboswitch was deleted from E. coli BL21 with CRISPR/Cas9 to generate the R3 strain. The R4 strain was constructed by cotransforming pET-AE and pAC-Z into the R3 strain. Compared to those of E. coli BL21, the ribB transcript levels of R2 and R4 improved 2.78 and 3.05-fold, respectively. The R4 strain accumulated 437.58 ± 14.36 mg/l riboflavin, increasing by 37.17% compared to the R2 strain. These results suggest that the deletion of the FMN riboswitch can improve the transcript level of ribB and facilitate riboflavin production. A riboflavin titer of 611.22 ± 11.25 mg/l was achieved under the optimal fermentation conditions. Ultimately, 1574.60 ± 109.32 mg/l riboflavin was produced through fed-batch fermentation with 40 g/l glucose. This study contributes to the industrial production of riboflavin by the recombinant E. coli BL21.
Objective:To investigate the curative effect of point-injection medicine in the treatment of the patients with white lesions of vulva (WLV). Methods: 168 patients with WLV were treated with point-injection medicine. Five acupotints, Qihai, Ququan (bilateral), Xuehai (bilateral), Qixue and Zusanli (bilateral) were selected and used in turn. Each time three acupoints were chosen and injected with the mixture of placenta tissue fluid and VitB12. During the treatment and after the treatment, the local changes, signs and pathological changes of the patients were observed and the curative effect was evaluated. Results: After point-injection treatment, the symptom of vulva pruritus of the patients was basically remitted or disappeared; the morphology and colourand luster of vulva of the patients basically reached normal levels. Total effective rate was 100%; total effective rate was 84.5%. Conclusion: Point-injection is an effective method in the treatment of the patients with white lesions of vulva.
Abstract Background: Few studies investigated the association between the pregnancy intention to have a second child and antenatal depressive symptoms.The aim of this study was to explore the association between the pregnancy intention to have a second child by pregnant women’s own desires, pregnant women’s husband own desires, parents who want to grandchild desires, couple’s concordance desires and antenatal depressive symptoms. Methods: A total of 306 participants who completed questionnaire were included in our analysis. Antenatal depressive symptom was assessed using the Chinese version of Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Logistic regression models were used to estimate the association between the pregnancy intention to have a second child by pregnant women’s own desires, pregnant women’s husband own desires, parents who want to grandchild desires and antenatal depressive symptoms. Results: the prevalence of antenatal depressive symptoms was 36.3% among the second child pregnant women. Of the 306 participants, the proportion of the pregnancy intention to have a second child by pregnant women’s own desires, pregnant women’s husband desires, parents who want to grandchild desires and couple’s concordance desires was 8.5%, 8.5%, 10.8% and 72.2% respectively. Compared with the pregnancy intention by couple’s concordance desires, pregnant women’s own desires to have a second child had higher risk of antenatal depressive symptoms after adjustment for potential confounders (OR=4.560, 95%CI: 1.603,12.973). No association was found between the pregnancy intention to have a second child by pregnant women’s husband own desires, parents who want to grandchild desires and antenatal depressive symptoms after adjustment for confounders (OR=1.996, 95%CI:0.781,5.105; OR=0.744, 95%CI: 0.306,1.811, respectively). Conclusion: These findings suggest the pregnancy intention to have a second child by pregnant women own’s desires may be a risk factors for antenatal depressive symptoms among two-child pregnant women. A qualitative study should be carried out to investigate the real reason for the intention by pregnant women’s own desires and antenatal depressive symptoms in the future, because of this study was a quantitative study. Key words: pregnancy intention; antenatal depressive symptoms; second child
Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have recently been described as key regulators in the progression of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and this study aimed to investigate the functional role of circMAT2B in NSCLC. CircMAT2B expression in NSCLC tissues and cell lines was investigated using RT-qPCR analysis. A series of functional experiments, including MTT assay, colony formation assay, wound healing assay and transwell assay, were carried out to investigate the effects of circMAT2B knockdown/overexpression on the malignant traits of NSCLC cells. Western blot analysis was performed to detect the expression of EMT-related proteins. Dual-luciferase reporter assay and RIP assay were further carried out to analyze the interaction between circMAT2B and miR-431 in NSCLC. We observed that circMAT2B was overexpressed in NSCLC tissues and cell lines, and high expression of circMAT2B was closely associated with large tumor size, advanced TNM stage and poor prognosis of NSCLC patients. Further functional experiments showed that circMAT2B knockdown markedly inhibited the proliferation, migration, invasion and EMT of NSCLC cells, whereas circMAT2B overexpression led to the opposing results. Mechanistically, circMAT2B could directly interact with miR-431, and subsequently decrease miR-431 expression in NSCLC. The effects of circMAT2B overexpression in NSCLC cells were abrogated by miR-431 restoration. Our findings revealed the novel oncogenic roles of circMAT2B in NSCLC by sponging miR-431.
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