Existence of positive solution for a third-order three-point BVP with sign-changing Green's function

By using the Guo-Krasnoselskii fixed point theorem, we investigate the following third-order three-point boundary value problem $$\left\{ \begin{array}{l} u'''(t)=f(t,u(t)),\ t\in [0,1], \\ u'(0)=u(1)=0,\ u''(\eta)+\alpha u(0)=0, \end{array} \right.$$ where $\alpha \in [0,2)$ and $\eta\in[\frac{\sqrt{121+24\alpha}-5}{3(4+\alpha)},1)$. The emphasis is mainly that although the corresponding Green's function is sign-changing, the solution obtained is still positive

Combination therapy strategies against multiple-resistant streptococcus suis

<p>Streptococcus suis is a major swine pathogen, an emerging zoonotic agent responsible for meningitis, endocarditis and septicaemia followed by deafness in humans. The development of antimicrobial resistance in S. suis increases the risk for therapeutic failure in both animals and humans. In this study, we report the synergism of combination therapy against multi-resistant S. suis isolates from swine. Twelve antibiotic profiles were determined against 11 S. suis strains. To investigate their synergistic/antagonistic activity, checkerboard assay was performed for all the possible combinations. In-vitro killing curves and in-vivo treatment trials were used to confirm the synergistic activity of special combinations against S. suis dominant clones. In this study, 11 S. suis isolates were highly resistant to erythromycin, clindamycin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, and tetracycline with ratios of 80–100%, and the resistance percentages to enrofloxacin, florfenicol, and spectinomycin were ~50%. The checkerboard data identified two combination regimens, ampicillin plus apramycin and tiamulin plus spectinomycin which gave the greatest level of synergism against the S. suis strains. In-vitro kill-curves showed a bacterial reduction of over 3-logCFU with the use of combination treatments, whilst the application of mono-therapies achieve less than a 2-logCFU cell killing. In-vivo models confirm that administration of these two combinations significantly reduced the number of bacterial cells after 24 h of treatment. In conclusions, the combinations of ampicillin plus apramycin and tiamulin plus spectinomycin showed the greatest synergism and may be potential strategies for treatment of multi-resistant S. suis in animal.</p

Hypermethylation of the GATA binding protein 4 (GATA4) promoter in Chinese pediatric acute myeloid leukemia

BACKGROUND: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the second-most common form of leukemia in children. Aberrant DNA methylation patterns are a characteristic feature of AML. GATA4 has been suggested to be a tumor suppressor gene regulated by promoter hypermethylation in various types of human cancers although the expression and promoter methylation of GATA4 in pediatric AML is still unclear. METHODS: Transcriptional expression levels of GATA4 were evaluated by semi-quantitative and real-time PCR. Methylation status was investigated by methylation-specific PCR (MSP) and bisulfate genomic sequencing (BGS). The prognostic significance of GATA4 expression and promoter methylation was assessed in 105 cases of Chinese pediatric acute myeloid leukemia patients with clinical follow-up records. RESULTS: MSP and BGS analysis showed that the GATA4 gene promoter is hypermethylated in AML cells, such as the HL-60 and MV4-11 human myeloid leukemia cell lines. 5-Aza treatment significantly upregulated GATA4 expression in HL-60 and MV4-11 cells. Aberrant methylation of GATA4 was observed in 15.0 % (3/20) of the normal bone marrow control samples compared to 56.2 % (59/105) of the pediatric AML samples. GATA4 transcript levels were significantly decreased in AML patients (33.06 ± 70.94; P = 0.011) compared to normal bone marrow/idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura controls (116.76 ± 105.39). GATA4 promoter methylation was correlated with patient leukocyte counts (WBC, white blood cells) (P = 0.035) and minimal residual disease MRD (P = 0.031). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed significantly shorter overall survival time in patients with GATA4 promoter methylation (P = 0.014). CONCLUSIONS: Epigenetic inactivation of GATA4 by promoter hypermethylation was observed in both AML cell lines and pediatric AML samples; our study implicates GATA4 as a putative tumor suppressor gene in pediatric AML. In addition, our findings imply that GATA4 promoter methylation is correlated with WBC and MRD. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed significantly shorter overall survival in pediatric AML with GATA4 promoter methylation but multivariate analysis shows that it is not an independent factor. However, further research focusing on the mechanism of GATA4 in pediatric leukemia is required. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-015-1760-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Complete sequence of the FII plasmid p42-2, carrying blaCTX-M-55, oqxAB, fosA3, and floR from Escherichia coli

We sequenced a novel conjugative multidrug resistance IncF plasmid, p42-2, isolated from Escherichia coli strain 42-2, previously identified in China. p42-2 is 106,886 bp long, composed of a typical IncFII-type backbone (∼54 kb) and one distinct acquired DNA region spanning ∼53 kb, harboring 12 antibiotic resistance genes [blaCTX-M-55, oqxA, oqxB, fosA3, floR, tetA(A), tetA(R), strA, strB, sul2, aph(3′)-II, and ΔblaTEM-1]. The spread of these multidrug resistance determinants on the same plasmid is of great concern and, because of coresistance to antibiotics from different classes, is therapeutically challenging

Remarks on Homogeneous Al-Salam and Carlitz Polynomials

Several multilinear generating functions of the homogeneous Al-Salam and Carlitz polynomials are derived from q-operator. In addition, two interesting relationships of product of this kind of polynomials are obtained

Ectopic Six3 expression in the dragon eye goldfish

For goldfish (Carassius auratus), there are many varieties with different eye phenotypes due to artificial selection and adaptive evolution. Dragon eye is a variant eye characterized by a large-size eyeball protruding out of the socket similar to the eye of dragon in Chinese legends. In this study, anatomical structure of the goldfish dragon eye was compared with that of the common eye, and a stretching of the retina was observed in the enlarged dragon eye. Moreover, the homeobox-containing transcription factor Six3 cDNAs were cloned from the two types of goldfish, and the expression patterns were analyzed in both normal eye and dragon eye goldfish. No amino acid sequence differences were observed between the two deduced peptides, and the expression pattern of Six3 protein in dragon eye is quite similar to common eye during embryogenesis, but from 2 days after hatching, ectopic Six3 expression began to occur in the dragon eye, especially in the outer nuclear layer cells. With eye development, more predominant Six3 distribution was detected in the outer nuclear layer cells of dragon eye than that of normal eye, and fewer cell-layers in outer nuclear layer were observed in dragon eye retina than in normal eye retina. The highlight of this study is that higher Six3 expression occurs in dragon eye goldfish than in normal eye goldfish during retinal development of larvae. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.For goldfish (Carassius auratus), there are many varieties with different eye phenotypes due to artificial selection and adaptive evolution. Dragon eye is a variant eye characterized by a large-size eyeball protruding out of the socket similar to the eye of dragon in Chinese legends. In this study, anatomical structure of the goldfish dragon eye was compared with that of the common eye, and a stretching of the retina was observed in the enlarged dragon eye. Moreover, the homeobox-containing transcription factor Six3 cDNAs were cloned from the two types of goldfish, and the expression patterns were analyzed in both normal eye and dragon eye goldfish. No amino acid sequence differences were observed between the two deduced peptides, and the expression pattern of Six3 protein in dragon eye is quite similar to common eye during embryogenesis, but from 2 days after hatching, ectopic Six3 expression began to occur in the dragon eye, especially in the outer nuclear layer cells. With eye development, more predominant Six3 distribution was detected in the outer nuclear layer cells of dragon eye than that of normal eye, and fewer cell-layers in outer nuclear layer were observed in dragon eye retina than in normal eye retina. The highlight of this study is that higher Six3 expression occurs in dragon eye goldfish than in normal eye goldfish during retinal development of larvae. (C) 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

XTH31, Encoding an in Vitro XEH/XET-Active Enzyme, Regulates Aluminum Sensitivity by Modulating in Vivo XET Action, Cell Wall Xyloglucan Content, and Aluminum Binding Capacity in Arabidopsis

Xyloglucan endohydrolase (XEH) and xyloglucan endotransglucosylase (XET) activities, encoded by xyloglucan endotransglucosylase-hydrolase (XTH) genes, are involved in cell wall extension by cutting or cutting and rejoining xyloglucan chains, respectively. However, the physiological significance of this biochemical activity remains incompletely understood. Here, we find that an XTH31 T-DNA insertion mutant, xth31, is more Al resistant than the wild type. XTH31 is bound to the plasma membrane and the encoding gene is expressed in the root elongation zone and in nascent leaves, suggesting a role in cell expansion. XTH31 transcript accumulation is strongly downregulated by Al treatment. XTH31 expression in yeast yields a protein with an in vitro XEH:XET activity ratio of >5000:1. xth31 accumulates significantly less Al in the root apex and cell wall, shows remarkably lower in vivo XET action and extractable XET activity, has a lower xyloglucan content, and exhibits slower elongation. An exogenous supply of xyloglucan significantly ameliorates Al toxicity by reducing Al accumulation in the roots, owing to the formation of an Al-xyloglucan complex in the medium, as verified by an obvious change in chemical shift of (27)Al-NMR. Taken together, the data indicate that XTH31 affects Al sensitivity by modulating cell wall xyloglucan content and Al binding capacity

Transcriptome sequencing and phylogenomic resolution within Spalacidae (Rodentia)

BACKGROUND: Subterranean mammals have been of great interest for evolutionary biologists because of their highly specialized traits for the life underground. Owing to the convergence of morphological traits and the incongruence of molecular evidence, the phylogenetic relationships among three subfamilies Myospalacinae (zokors), Spalacinae (blind mole rats) and Rhizomyinae (bamboo rats) within the family Spalacidae remain unresolved. Here, we performed de novo transcriptome sequencing of four RNA-seq libraries prepared from brain and liver tissues of a plateau zokor (Eospalax baileyi) and a hoary bamboo rat (Rhizomys pruinosus), and analyzed the transcriptome sequences alongside a published transcriptome of the Middle East blind mole rat (Spalax galili). We characterize the transcriptome assemblies of the two spalacids, and recover the phylogeny of the three subfamilies using a phylogenomic approach. RESULTS: Approximately 50.3 million clean reads from the zokor and 140.8 million clean reads from the bamboo ratwere generated by Illumina paired-end RNA-seq technology. All clean reads were assembled into 138,872 (the zokor) and 157,167 (the bamboo rat) unigenes, which were annotated by the public databases: the Swiss-prot, Trembl, NCBI non-redundant protein (NR), NCBI nucleotide sequence (NT), Gene Ontology (GO), Cluster of Orthologous Groups (COG), and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). A total of 5,116 nuclear orthologous genes were identified in the three spalacids and mouse, which was used as an outgroup. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a sister group relationship between the zokor and the bamboo rat, which is supported by the majority of gene trees inferred from individual orthologous genes, suggesting subfamily Myospalacinae is more closely related to subfamily Rhizomyinae. The same topology was recovered from concatenated sequences of 5,116 nuclear genes, fourfold degenerate sites of the 5,116 nuclear genes and concatenated sequences of 13 protein coding mitochondrial genes. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of transcriptome sequencing in zokors and bamboo rats, representing a valuable resource for future studies of comparative genomics in subterranean mammals. Phylogenomic analysis provides a conclusive resolution of interrelationships of the three subfamilies within the family Spalacidae, and highlights the power of phylogenomic approach to dissect the evolutionary history of rapid radiations in the tree of life

5,6-Diphenyl-3-(3-pyrid­yl)-1,2,4-triazine

In the mol­ecule of the title compound, C20H14N4, the triazine ring is attached to two phenyl rings and one pyridine ring. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked by inter­molecular C—H⋯N hydrogen bonds. The crystal packing is also stabilized by C—H⋯π inter­actions