Epicardial calcineurin-NFAT signals through Smad2 to direct coronary smooth muscle cell and arterial wall development

AIMS: Congenital coronary artery anomalies produce serious events that include syncope, arrhythmias, myocardial infarction, or sudden death. Studying the mechanism of coronary development will contribute to the understanding of the disease and help design new diagnostic or therapeutic strategies. Here, we characterized a new calcineurin-NFAT signalling which specifically functions in the epicardium to regulate the development of smooth muscle wall of the coronary arteries. METHODS AND RESULTS: Using tissue-specific gene deletion, we found that calcineurin-NFAT signals in the embryonic epicardium to direct coronary smooth muscle cell development. The smooth muscle wall of coronary arteries fails to mature in mice with epicardial deletion of calcineurin B1 (Cnb1), and accordingly these mutant mice develop cardiac dysfunction with reduced exercise capacity. Inhibition of calcineurin at various developmental windows shows that calcineurin-NFAT signals within a narrow time window at embryonic Day 12.5-13.5 to regulate coronary smooth muscle cell development. Within the epicardium, NFAT transcriptionally activates the expression of Smad2, whose gene product is critical for transducing transforming growth factor β (TGFβ)-Alk5 signalling to control coronary development. CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrate new spatiotemporal and molecular actions of calcineurin-NFAT that dictate coronary arterial wall development and a new mechanism by which calcineurin-NFAT integrates with TGFβ signalling during embryonic development

FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF MOVIE CHARACTERS: THE CASE OF THE TAG-ALONG

The types of Taiwanese films are becoming more and more abundant, especially those with “thriller” or “horror” elements. In addition to the increase in these types of film production, there are more brilliant box office performances. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to conduct a more in-depth analysis of this type of films. Analyzing the role design and plot direction in the films, so that there is a narrative structure can be referenced in this type of works. This study adopted text analysis, and coupled with the character functions theory proposed by scholar Propp. This study analyzed the functionalities of the main characters in the famous domestic movie “The Tag-Along”. The research results show that there are 6 types of functional characters in “The Tag-Along”: the villain, the helper, the donor, the dispatcher, the hero and the princess. In the 31 character functions listed by Propp, the film contains 18 of them, and these 18 functions are used to describe the story. The film of thriller and horror types are still developing in Taiwan, and the researchers expect to use this research result to find the narrative structure of this type of films. Filmmakers will have a basic structure for reference when creating such movies, and at the same time it extends the other possibilities of this type of films in the development of characters and plots

Single production of the top partners at high energy colliders

The left-right twin $Higgs$ ($LRTH$) model is a concrete realization of the twin $Higgs$ mechanism, which predicts the existence of the top partner $T$. In this paper, we consider production of $T$ associated with the top quark $t$ at the high energy linear $e^{+}e^{-}$ collider ($ILC$) and the $LHC$ experiments, and its single production in future linac-ring type $ep$ collider experiment. To compare our results with those of the littlest $Higgs$ model with $T$-parity, we also estimate production of the $T$-even top partner $T_{+}$ via the corresponding processes in these high energy collider experiments. A simply phenomenological analysis is also given.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures; to be published in Nucl. Phys.

Experimental analysis of power harvesting on vehicle vibration using smart piezoelectric materials

In this paper the experimental analysis for power harvesting from mechanical vibration on a vehicle has been studied by using QuickPack smart materials with piezoelectric effect. The finite element ANSYS method (ANSYS FEM) was applied to explore the required mechanical structure, modal and harmonic analysis, and electrical feature, i.e., output voltage, admittance. The experimental platform consists of a shocker and a lever, which simulated a periodical oscillation on vehicle vibration, for evaluating conversion efficiency from mechanical energy to electrical energy. During loading experiments of power generation, the electromechanical coupling characteristics of smart materials were investigated via a proposed testing circuit. Also, various electrical output loadings were specified within resistance of 5~3000 kΩ. Through the experiment analysis, the power harvesting test with a buck converter at the output terminal was processed to obtain the spectrum analysis of output voltage within the vibrating frequencies below 200 Hz, controlled by the electromagnetic shaker. Based on the comparison between ANSYS FEM and spectrum analysis, the optimal results of mechanical oscillating quantities have been verified by the maximum output voltage for the QuickPack NQ45N material. Hence, the optimum power harvesting of the smart material has the maximum output power of 0.18 mW at 26-Hz-vibration on a vehicle

Effective gene expression in the rat dorsal root ganglia with a non-viral vector delivered via spinal nerve injection

Delivering gene constructs into the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) is a powerful but challenging therapeutic strategy for sensory disorders affecting the DRG and their peripheral processes. The current delivery methods of direct intra-DRG injection and intrathecal injection have several disadvantages, including potential injury to DRG neurons and low transfection efficiency, respectively. This study aimed to develop a spinal nerve injection strategy to deliver polyethylenimine mixed with plasmid (PEI/DNA polyplexes) containing green fluorescent protein (GFP). Using this spinal nerve injection approach, PEI/DNA polyplexes were delivered to DRG neurons without nerve injury. Within one week of the delivery, GFP expression was detected in 82.8% ± 1.70% of DRG neurons, comparable to the levels obtained by intra-DRG injection (81.3% ± 5.1%, p = 0.82) but much higher than those obtained by intrathecal injection. The degree of GFP expression by neurofilament(+) and peripherin(+) DRG neurons was similar. The safety of this approach was documented by the absence of injury marker expression, including activation transcription factor 3 and ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule 1 for neurons and glia, respectively, as well as the absence of behavioral changes. These results demonstrated the efficacy and safety of delivering PEI/DNA polyplexes to DRG neurons via spinal nerve injection.National Science Council of Taiwan (100-2321-B-002-007)National Science Council of Taiwan (100-2320-B-002-083-MY3)Taiwan. Ministry of Science and Technology (104-2300-B-002-019-MY3)National Taiwan University. College of Medicine (Translational Medicine Project)National Taiwan University Hospital (101C101-201

Is the whole greater than the sum of its parts? De novo assembly strategies for bacterial genomes based on paired-end sequencing

Number of misassemblies for different assembly strategies. Number of misassemblies for the de novo assembly results for E. coli DH1 and S. Parasanguinis FW213 are shown together with their standard errors of the mean. Group A [PE] and Group A [SE] represent all reads assembled as paired-end reads and single end reads, respectively. Group A [PE + SE] represents all the non-overlapped paired-end reads assembled together with merged reads. Group M [PE] and Group M [SE] represent Group M reads assembled as paired-end reads and single end reads, respectively. The numbers of misassemblies fluctuate a lot when depths of read number are low and gradually decreases until they reach a steady number. The paired-end reads (Group A [PE] and Group M [PE]) in S. Parasanguinis FW213 gave the lowest number of misassemblies when depths of read number are high. (TIFF 669 kb