Description: Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the choroidal thickness of patients with high myopia using enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT) and compare them with healthy subjects. Methods: We first conducted a cross-sectional study and then performed a meta-analysis to address this issue further. Using enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (EDI-OCT), the macular choroidal thickness of high myopic eyes and normal control eyes were measured and compared at each location. Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were performed to assess the association between choroidal thickness and clinical factors such as axial length (AL), spherical equivalent (SE), and central corneal thickness. In the high myopic eyes, subgroup analysis of macular choroidal thickness was performed in eyes with or without lacquer cracks and choroidal neovascularization (CNV). The meta-analyses were conducted using the Stata software package. Results: The high myopic eyes had a thinner choroid than the control eyes at all macular locations (all P 

Description: Background: Necrosis of alveolar macrophages following Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection has been demonstrated to play a vital role in the pathogenesis of tuberculosis. Our previous study demonstrated that Wnt/β-catenin signaling was able to promote mycobacteria-infected cell apoptosis by a caspase-dependent pathway. However, the functionality of this signaling in the necrosis of macrophage following mycobacterial infection remains largely unknown. Methods: Murine macrophage RAW264.7 cells were infected with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) in the presence of Wnt/β-catenin signaling. The necrotic cell death was determined by cytometric assay and electronic microscopy; the productions of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reduced glutathione (GSH) were measured by a cytometric analysis and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively; and the activity of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1)/apoptosis inhibition factor (AIF) signaling was examined by an immunoblotting assay. Results: The BCG can induce RAW264.7 macrophage cells necrosis in a dose- and time-dependent manner along with an accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Intriguingly, an enhancement of Wnt/β-catenin signaling shows an ability to reduce the mycobacteria-induced macrophage necrosis. Mechanistically, the activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling is capable of inhibiting the necrotic cell death in BCG-infected RAW264.7 cells through a mechanism by which the Wnt signaling scavenges intracellular ROS accumulation and increases cellular GSH concentration. In addition, immunoblotting analysis further reveals that Wnt/β-catenin signaling is capable of inhibiting the ROS-mediated cell necrosis in part through a PARP-1/AIF- dependent pathway. Conclusions: An activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling can inhibit BCG-induced macrophage necrosis by increasing the production of GSH and scavenging ROS in part through a mechanism of repression of PARP-1/AIF signaling pathway. This finding may thus provide an insight into the underlying mechanism of alveolar macrophage cell death in response to mycobacterial infection.

Description: Purpose To investigate the diffusion abnormalities in the brain of children with idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) with generalized tonic-clonic seizure (GTCS) by using diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI). Materials and Methods Twenty-one IGE children with GTCS and 16 controls were recruited. DKI was performed and maps of radial diffusivity (λ ⊥ ), axial diffusivity (λ // ), mean diffusivity (MD), fractional anisotropy (FA), radial kurtosis (K ⊥ ), axial kurtosis (K // ) and mean kurtosis (MK) were calculated. Voxel-based analyses were employed to compare diffusion metrics in epilepsy versus the controls. Results In the case group, MD was found significantly higher in the right temporal lobe, the right occipital lobe, hippocampus, and some subcortical regions, while FA increased in bilateral supplementary motor area and the left superior frontal lobe (false discovery rate corrected P  〈 0.05). Analysis of λ ⊥ and λ // showed that the increased MD was mainly due to the elevated λ // . Significantly decreased MK was also detected in bilateral temporo-occipital regions, the right hippocampus, the left insula, the left post-central area, and some subcortical regions (false discovery rate corrected P  〈 0.05). In most regions the changed MK were due to the decreased K // . Conclusion The kurtosis parameters (K ⊥ , K // , and MK) reflect different microstructural information in the IGE children with GTCS, and this support the value of DKI in studying children GTCS. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2014 . © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc .

Description: [1]  One of the primary goals for the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) is to provide the science and user communities with the data continuity of the Environmental Data Records (EDR) (or Level-2 products) over global oceanic waters for various research and applications, including assessment of climatic and environmental variations. The ocean color EDR is one of the most important products derived from VIIRS. Since ocean color EDR is processed from the upstream Sensor Data Records (SDR) (or Level-1B data), the objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of the SDR on the VIIRS ocean color EDR. The quality of the SDR relies on pre-launch sensor characterizations as well as on-orbit radiometric calibrations, which are used to develop the sensor F-factor lookup tables (F-LUTs). VIIRS F-LUTs derived from solar and lunar calibrations have been used in processing data from the VIIRS Raw Data Records (RDR) (or Level-0 data) to SDR. In this study, three sets of F-LUTs with different generation schemes have been used to reprocess the SDR and then the ocean color EDR for product evaluations. VIIRS ocean color products are compared with in situ data from the Marine Optical Buoy (MOBY) and products from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the satellite Aqua. It is found that the data quality of VIIRS operational ocean color products before 6 February 2012 is poor due to the inappropriate use of the at-launch F-LUTs for the SDR calibration, and that the recently updated VIIRS F-LUTs have significantly improved the SDR and ocean color EDR. Using reprocessed SDR with updated F-LUTs and including vicarious calibration, VIIRS ocean color EDR products are consistent with those from MODIS-Aqua in global deep waters. Although there are still some significant issues with VIIRS ocean color EDR, e.g., poor data quality over coastal regions, our results demonstrate that VIIRS has great potential to provide the science and user communities with consistently high quality global ocean color data records that are established from heritage ocean color sensors such as MODIS-Aqua.

Description: AmyP is a raw-starch-degrading α-amylase newly identified from a marine metagenome library. It shares low sequence similarity with characterized glycoside hydrolases and was classified into a new subfamily of GH13. In particular, it showed preferential degradation to raw rice starch. Full-length AmyP was cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli , then purified and crystallized in the presence of its substrate analogue β-cyclodextrin. X-ray diffraction data were collected to a resolution of 2.1 Å. The crystal belonged to space group P 2 1 2 1 2, with unit-cell parameters a = 129.824, b = 215.534, c = 79.699 Å, α = β = γ = 90°, and was estimated to contain two molecules in one asymmetric unit.

Description: Background: Hepatocyte carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide. Despite many achievements in diagnosis and treatment, HCC mortality remains high due to the malignant nature of the disease. Novel approaches, especially for targeted therapy, are being extensively explored. Gene therapy is ideal for such purpose for its specific expression of exogenous genes in HCC cells driven by tissue-specific promoter. However strategies based on correction of mutations or altered expressions of genes responsible for the development/progression of HCC have limitations because these aberrant molecules are not presented in all cancerous cells. In the current work, we adopted a novel strategy by targeting the DNA replication step which is essential for proliferation of every cancer cell. Methods: A recombinant adenovirus with alpha fetoprotein (AFP) promoter-controlled expressions of artificial microRNAs targeting DNA polymerases α, δ, ε and recombinant active Caspase 3, namely Ad/AFP-Casp-AFP-amiR, was constructed. Results: The artificial microRNAs could efficiently inhibit the expression of the target polymerases in AFP-positive HCC cells at both RNA and protein levels, and HCC cells treated with the recombinant virus Ad/AFP-Casp-AFP-amiR exhibited significant G0/1 phase arrest. The proliferation of HCC cells were significantly inhibited by Ad/AFP-Casp-AFP-amiR with increased apoptosis. On the contrary, the recombinant adenovirus Ad/AFP-Casp-AFP-amiR did not inhibit the expression of DNA polymerases α, δ or ε in AFP-negative human normal liver cell HL7702, and showed no effect on the cell cycle progression, proliferation or apoptosis. Conclusions: Inhibition of DNA polymerases α, δ and ε by AFP promoter-driven artificial microRNAs may lead to effective growth arrest of AFP-positive HCC cells, which may represent a novel strategy for gene therapy by targeting the genes that are essential for the growth/proliferation of cancer cells, avoiding the limitations set by any of the individually altered gene.