Resumo Poliploides sintéticos são materias fundamentais para melhoramento genético da melancia. Comparativamente ao seu homólogo diploide, a melancia tetraploide apresenta amplas diferenças genotípica e fenotípica e diferença de expressão gênica. A expressão gênica digital ou DGE (digital gene expression) foi utilizada neste estudo para representar o perfil de expressão gênica da melancia autotetraploide e seu progenitor diploide e a expressão diferencial de genes relacionados ao estresse biótico e abiótico. Os resultados mostraram que 4.985 DEGs foram observados no organismo autotetraploide, sendo que, deste total, 66.02%foram supra-regulados. A análise de ontologia gênica (GO) mostrou que estes DEGs estão relacionados principalmente com processos metabólicas, célula e atividade catalítica, abrangendo de acordo com a análise de genes e genoma (KEGG) rotas metabólicas, metabolismo secundário e ribossomos. Além disso, 134 genes de defesa foram identificados, abrangendo substâncias de ajuste osmótico, enzimas/proteínas de proteção, proteínas sinalizadoras e proteínas relacionadas à patogênese. Este estudo mostrou a expressão diferencial de genes relacionados ao estresse e o perfil global de expressão gênica de melancia autotetraploide, estes resultados podem complementar, a nível molecular, o entendimento do fator resistência após a duplicação do genoma em cucurbitáceas.

Abstract Synthetic polyploids are key breeding materials for watermelon. Compared with diploid watermelon, the tetraploid watermelon often exhibit wide phenotypic differences and differential gene expression. Digital gene expression (DGE) profile technique was performed in this study to present gene expression patterns in an autotetraploid and its progenitor diploid watermelon, and deferentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to the abiotic and biotic stress were also addressed. Altogether, 4,985 DEGs were obtained in the autotetraploid against its progenitor diploid, and 66.02% DEGs is up-regulated. GO analysis shows that these DEGs mainly distributed in ‘metabolic process’, ‘cell’ and ‘catalytic activity’. KEGG analysis revealed that these DEGs mainly cover ‘metabolic pathways’, ‘secondary metabolites’ and ‘ribosome’. Moreover, 134 tolerance related DEGs were identified which cover osmotic adjustment substance, protective enzymes/protein, signaling proteins and pathogenesis-related proteins. This study present the differential expression of stress related genes and global gene expression patterns at background level in autotetraploid watermelons. These new evidences could supplement the molecular theoretical basis for the better resistance after the genome doubling in the gourd family.

The stabilization of roadways in soft rock under high stress has always been a major concern for deep underground coal mines. This paper describes a case study focusing on the stability of a soft-rock roadway in Yuandian coal mine in Anhui Province, China. The Beiyi main return roadway in this mine was primarily supported by U-steel support; however, considerable deformation and severe failures occurred. Therefore, a new support design, the yielding bolt - grouting support design, was proposed based on the physical and mechanical parameters, in situ stress measurements, and the failure characteristics of the roadway. The mechanics of the yielding bolt - grouting support was analysed and compared to the normal bolt - grouting support. A field experiment was conducted in a 100 m long section of the roadway. The monitoring results showed that compared with the old support, the new support design reduced the deformations of roof, floor, and rib by 41.4%, 56.1%, and 64.7% respectively, and the maximum deformation rate decreased from 15.12 mm/d to 9.28 mm/d. This case study indicates that the yielding bolt - grouting support design is an effective method to support roadways in soft rock under high stress.

Cover stress re-establishment has a significant influence on the deformation and development of permeability in the fractured rock mass, which control the surface subsidence and water inflow after longwall caving mining. This paper reviews previous studies on cover stress re-establishment in the goaf after coal mining, and proposes a new analytical model based on the stress-strain characteristics of the caved rock mass and the voussoir beam theory. A scale model test is also conducted to study the cover stress re-establishment based on a coal mining case. A function was derived for cover stress re-establishment in the goaf, which can be approximately described as a logarithmic function and which agreed well with two completely re-established monitoring sites from the scale model test. The scale model test also indicated that cover stress reestablishment presents a hysteresis phenomenon. A 'stress balance' model was built for calculating the distance of cover stress re-establishment in the goaf, and the result from the model was lower than the results from the previous two methods. The cover stress re-establishment function and the 'stress balance' model will be of great significance for a better understanding of the stress distribution in the goaf.

We investigated the risk factors for pulmonary hypertension (PH) in patients receiving maintenance peritoneal dialysis (MPD). A group of 180 end-stage renal disease patients (124 men and 56 women; mean age: 56.43±8.36) were enrolled in our study, which was conducted between January 2009 and June 2014. All of the patients received MPD treatment in the Dialysis Center of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University. Clinical data, laboratory indices, and echocardiographic data from these patients were collected, and follow-ups were scheduled bi-monthly. The incidence and relevant risk factors of PH were analyzed. The differences in measurement data were compared by t-test and enumeration data were compared with the χ2 test. Among the 180 patients receiving MPD, 60 were diagnosed with PH. The remaining 120 were regarded as the non-PH group. Significant differences were observed in the clinical data, laboratory indices, and echocardiographic data between the PH and non-PH patients (all P<0.05). Furthermore, hypertensive nephropathy patients on MPD showed a significantly higher incidence of PH compared with non-hypertensive nephropathy patients (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that the proportion of internal arteriovenous fistula, C-reactive protein levels, and ejection fraction were the highest risk factors for PH in patients receiving MPD. Our study shows that there is a high incidence of PH in patients receiving MPD and hypertensive nephropathy patients have an increased susceptibility to PH.

Cardiac remodeling involves changes in heart shape, size, structure, and function after injury to the myocardium. The proinflammatory adaptor protein myeloid differentiation protein 88 (MyD88) contributes to cardiac remodeling. To investigate whether excessive MyD88 levels initiate spontaneous cardiac remodeling at the whole-organism level, we generated a transgenic MyD88 mouse model with a cardiac-specific promoter. MyD88 mice (male, 20-30 g, n=∼80) were born at the expected Mendelian ratio and demonstrated similar morphology of the heart and cardiomyocytes with that of wild-type controls. Although heart weight was unaffected, cardiac contractility of MyD88 hearts was mildly reduced, as shown by echocardiographic examination, compared with wild-type controls. Moreover, the cardiac dysfunction phenotype was associated with elevation of ANF and BNP expression. Collectively, our data provide novel evidence of the critical role of balanced MyD88 signaling in maintaining physiological function in the adult heart.

Hormesis is an adaptive response to a variety of oxidative stresses that renders cells resistant to harmful doses of stressing agents. Caffeic acid (CaA) is an important antioxidant that has protective effects against DNA damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, whether CaA-induced protection is a hormetic effect remains unknown, as is the molecular mechanism that is involved. We found that a low concentration (10 μM) of CaA increased human liver L-02 cell viability, attenuated hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-mediated decreases in cell viability, and decreased the extent of H2O2-induced DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). In L-02 cells exposed to H2O2, CaA treatment reduced ROS levels, which might have played a protective role. CaA also activated the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signal pathway in a time-dependent manner. Inhibition of ERK by its inhibitor U0126 or by its specific small interfering RNA (siRNA) blocked the CaA-induced improvement in cell viability and the protective effects against H2O2-mediated DNA damage. This study adds to the understanding of the antioxidant effects of CaA by identifying a novel molecular mechanism of enhanced cell viability and protection against DNA damage.

Phosphate-induced immobilization is recognized as one of effective in situ remediation methods for heavy metal contaminated soils. Phosphate-based minerals that adsorb, chelate, or complex heavy metals in soil were greatly concerned as effective heavy metals immobilizing materials. Effects of particle sizes of rock phosphate on immobilizing heavy metals in Pb-Zn mine soils by a greenhouse experiment was conducted. Rock phosphate was added to a Pb-Zn mine soil with four different particle sizes, D97<101.43 µm (UP), D97<71.12 µm (P1), D97<36.83 ìm (P2) and D97< 4.26 µm (P3) (the diameters of 97% of the particles were less than 4.26 µm.), and 2 rates (2.5% and 5%). Lolium prenne, L. were grown in the treated soils. Compared to the control, addition of rock phosphate (RP) decreased metal contents in both roots and shoots significantly. Pb contents in shoots decreased by 19.59%-37.80% by different particle sizes at the rate of 5%, reaching lowest level at lowest particle size P3. Zn contents in shoots decreased by 13.47% -13.75 %, Cu in roots was decreased by 18.46%-67.98% and in shoots by 16.82%-32.61%, and Cd in roots decreased by 31.03%-74.23%. The results indicated that, RP can reduce the phytoavailability of Pb, Zn, Cu and Cd in soil significantly by immobilization and the effects strengthened with the decrease of particle size and increasing the rate of addition.

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) is widely used as an effective medium to integrate physical world and information world of Internet of Things (IOT). While keeping energy consumption at a minimal level, WSN requires reliable communication. Multicasting is a general operation performed by the Base Station, where data is to be transmitted to a set of destination nodes. Generally, the packets are routed in a multi-hop approach, where some intermediate nodes are also used for packet forwarding. This problem can be reduced to the well-known Steiner tree problem, which has proven to be NP-complete for deterministic link descriptors and cost functions. In this paper, we propose a novel multicast protocol, named heuristic algorithms for the solution of the Quality of Service (QoS) constrained multicast routing problem, with incomplete information in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). As information aggregation or randomly fluctuating traffic loads, link measures are considered to be random variables. Simulation results show that the Hop Neural Networks (HNN) based heuristics with a properly chosen additive measures can yield to a good solution for this traditionally NP complex problem, when compared to the best multicast algorithms known.

Anemia is a frequent complication in hemodialysis patients. Compared to conventional hemodialysis (CHD), short daily hemodialysis (sDHD) has been reported to be effective in many countries except China. The aim of the present study was to determine whether sDHD could improve anemia and quality of life (QOL) for Chinese outpatients with end-stage renal disease. Twenty-seven patients (16 males/11 females) were converted from CHD to sDHD. All laboratory values were measured before conversion (baseline), at 3 months after conversion (sDHD1), and at 6 months after conversion (sDHD2). The patient's QOL was evaluated at baseline and 6 months after conversion using the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Hemoglobin concentration increased significantly from 107.4±7.9 g/L at baseline to 114.4±6.8 g/L (P<0.05) at sDHD1, and 118.3±8.4 g/L (P<0.001) at sDHD2 (Student paired t-test). However, the dose requirement for erythropoietin decreased from 6847.8±1057.3 U/week at baseline to 5869.6±1094.6 U/week (P<0.05) at sDHD2. Weekly stdKt/V increased significantly from 2.05±0.13 at baseline to 2.73±0.20 (P<0.001) at sDHD1, and 2.84±0.26 (P<0.001) at sDHD2. C-reactive protein decreased from baseline to sDHD1 and sDHD2, but without statistically significant differences. Physical and mental health survey scores increased in the 6 months following conversion to sDHD. sDHD may increase hemoglobin levels, decrease exogenous erythropoietin dose requirements, and improve QOL in Chinese hemodialysis patients compared to CHD. A possible mechanism for improvement of clinical outcomes may be optimized management of uremia associated with the higher efficiency of sDHD.

Gut-derived endotoxin and pathogenic bacteria have been proposed as important causative factors of morbidity and death during heat stroke. However, it is still unclear what kind of damage is induced by heat stress. In this study, the rat intestinal epithelial cell line (IEC-6) was treated with heat stress or a combination of heat stress and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In addition, propofol, which plays an important role in anti-inflammation and organ protection, was applied to study its effects on cellular viability and apoptosis. Heat stress, LPS, or heat stress combined with LPS stimulation can all cause intestinal epithelial cell damage, including early apoptosis and subsequent necrosis. However, propofol can alleviate injuries caused by heat stress, LPS, or the combination of heat stress and LPS. Interestingly, propofol can only mitigate LPS-induced intestinal epithelial cell apoptosis, and has no protective role in heat-stress-induced apoptosis. This study developed a model that can mimic the intestinal heat stress environment. It demonstrates the effects on intestinal epithelial cell damage, and indicated that propofol could be used as a therapeutic drug for the treatment of heat-stress-induced intestinal injuries.

Background: As key gene regulators, microRNAs post-transcriptionally modulate gene expression via binding to partially complementary sequence in the 3? UTR of target mRNA. An accurate, rapid and quantitative tool for sensing and validation of miRNA targets is of crucial significance to decipher the functional implications of miRNAs in cellular pathways. Results: Taking advantage of an improved restriction-free cloning method, we engineered a novel built-in dual luciferase reporter plasmid where Firefly and Renilla luciferase genes were assembled in a single plasmid named ?pFila?. This design eliminates the transfection of a separate control plasmid and thus minimizes the time and labor required for miRNA-target sensing assays. pFila consistently produces Firefly and Renilla luciferase activities when transfected into human-, monkey- and mouse-derived mammalian cell systems. Moreover, pFila is capable of recapitulating the interaction of miR-16 and its known target CCNE1 in Hela cells. Additionally, pFila is shown to be a sensitive miR-biosensor by evaluating the inhibition efficiency of endogenous miRNA. Conclusions: pFila would facilitate miRNA target identification and verification in a rapid and simplified manner. Also, pFila is a sensitive biosensor for active miRNA profiling in vivo.

Period2 is a core circadian gene, which not only maintains the circadian rhythm of cells but also regulates some organic functions. We investigated the effects of mPeriod2 (mPer2) expression on radiosensitivity in normal mouse cells exposed to 60Co-γ-rays. NIH 3T3 cells were treated with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) to induce endogenous mPer2 expression or transfected with pcDNA3.1(+)-mPer2 and irradiated with 60Co-γ-rays, and then analyzed by several methods such as flow cytometry, colony formation assay, RT-PCR, and immunohistochemistry. Flow cytometry and colony formation assay revealed that irradiated NIH 3T3 cells expressing high levels of mPer2 showed a lower death rate (TPA: 24 h 4.3% vs 12 h 6.8% and control 9.4%; transfection: pcDNA3.1-mPer2 3.7% vs pcDNA3.1 11.3% and control 8.2%), more proliferation and clonogenic survival (TPA: 121.7 ± 6.51 vs 66.0 ± 3.51 and 67.7 ± 7.37; transfection: 121.7 ± 6.50 vs 65.3 ± 3.51 and 69.0 ± 4.58) both when treated with TPA and transfected with mPer2. RT-PCR analysis showed an increased expression of bax, bcl-2, p53, c-myc, mre11, and nbs1, and an increased proportionality of bcl-2/bax in the irradiated cells at peak mPer2 expression compared with cells at trough mPer2 expression and control cells. However, no significant difference in rad50 expression was observed among the three groups of cells. Immunohistochemistry also showed increased protein levels of P53, BAX and proliferating cell nuclear antigen in irradiated cells with peak mPer2 levels. Thus, high expression of the circadian gene mPer2 may reduce the radiosensitivity of NIH 3T3 cells. For this effect, mPer2 may directly or indirectly regulate the expressions of cell proliferation- and apoptosis-related genes and DNA repair-related genes.