Identification and comprehensive analyses of the CBL and CIPK gene families in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

The interaction analysis of wheat TaCBL and TaCIPK proteins were performed by Y2H method. (PDF 191 kb

Glucose-dependent and Glucose-sensitizing Insulinotropic Effect of Nateglinide: Comparison to Sulfonylureas and Repaglinide

Nateglinide, a novel D-phenylalanine derivative, stimulates insulin release via closure of KATP channels in pancreatic β-cell, a primary mechanism of action it shares with sulfonylureas (SUs) and repaglinide. This study investigated (1) the influence of ambient glucose levels on the insulinotropic effects of nateglinide, glyburide and repaglinide, and (2) the influence of the antidiabetic agents on glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) in vitro from isolated rat islets. The EC50 of nateglinide to stimulate insulin secretion was 14 μM in the presence of 3mM glucose and was reduced by 6-fold in 8mM glucose and by 16-fold in 16mM glucose, indicating a glucose-dependent insulinotropic effect. The actions of glyburide and repaglinide failed to demonstrate such a glucose concentration-dependent sensitization. When tested at fixed and equipotent concentrations (~2x EC50 in the presence of 8mM glucose) nateglinide and repaglinide shifted the EC50s for GSIS to the left by 1.7mM suggesting an enhancement of islet glucose sensitivity, while glimepiride and glyburide caused, respectively, no change and a right shift of the EC50. These data demonstrate that despite a common basic mechanism of action, the insulinotropic effects of different agents can be influenced differentially by ambient glucose and can differentially influence the islet responsiveness to glucose. Further, the present findings suggest that nateglinide may exert a more physiologic effect on insulin secretion than comparator agents and thereby have less propensity to elicit hypoglycemia in vivo

Effectiveness of Nateglinide on In Vitro Insulin Secretion from Rat Pancreatic Islets Desensitized to Sulfonylureas

Chronic exposure of pancreatic islets to sulfonylureas (SUs) is known to impair the ability of islets to respond to subsequent acute stimulation by SUs or glucose. Nateglinide (NAT) is a novel insulinotropic agent with a primarily site of action at β-cell KATP channels, which is common to the structurally diverse drugs like repaglinide (REP) and the SUs. Earlier studies on the kinetics, glucosedependence and sensitivity to metabolic inhibitors of the interaction between NAT and KATP channels suggested a distinct signaling pathways with NAT compared to REP, glyburide (GLY) or glimepiride (GLI). To obtain further evidence for this concept, the present study compared the insulin secretion in vitro from rat islets stimulated acutely by NAT, GLY, GLI or REP at equipotent concentrations during 1-hr static incubation following overnight treatment with GLY or tolbutamide (TOL). The islets fully retained the responsiveness to NAT stimulation after prolonged pretreatment with both SUs, while their acute response to REP, GLY, and GLI was markedly attenuated, confirming the desensitization of islets. The insulinotropic efficacy of NAT in islets desensitized to SUs may result from a distinct receptor/effector mechanism, which contributes to the unique pharmacological profile of NAT

Coordinated Computing Resource Allocation With Efficiency Maximization in Heterogeneous Platoon Edge Network

Under numerous computation requirements in intelligent traffic, platoons comprised of several connected vehicles are expected to centralize vehicular computation resources, which can provide computing services for surrounding mobile users and thus facilitate the deployment of vehicular edge computing (VEC). Nevertheless, the computing resources in multi-platoon are distributed unevenly, making platoons’ resource allocation highly selective, especially for randomly distributed mobile users. Moreover, existing works mainly focus on single-platoon-assisted VEC, which lacks resource coordination among platoons and may result in resource imbalance. Thus, through coordinating computing resource allocation in platoons and base stations (BSs), a coordinated computing resource allocation scheme is proposed in this paper to maximize the utilities of mobile users. However, the formulated problem is a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem, which is NP-hard. To address this issue, the efficiency-maximized optimal computing resources allocated from platoons to users are derived in a semi-closed form. Then, to decouple the variables in allocation coordination, the efficiency maximization problem is proven to be equivalent to a low-complexity resource allocation problem oriented for single users. Based on the above results, two algorithms are proposed to convert the NP-hard problem into convex ones, 1) through efficiency-maximized task offloading and backtracking iteratively, a profit efficiency backtracking algorithm is proposed to coordinate computing resource allocation among platoons, and 2) heterogeneous profit efficiency algorithm is proposed to solve the primal problem, where a partition ratio-based efficiency maximization computing resource allocation problem is optimized in heterogeneous edges. Extensive simulation results show that our proposed scheme can improve resource allocation efficiency, task success rates, and service continuity over benchmark schemes

Exogenous stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) suppresses the NLRP3 inflammasome and inhibits pyroptosis in synoviocytes from osteoarthritic joints via activation of the AMPK signaling pathway

AbstractObjective: NLRP3 inflammasome may play a key role in OA pathogenesis. Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) is a homeostatic CXC chemokine. Since the role of SDF-1 in OA has not been explored, this study aimed to examine the effect of SDF-1 on NLRP3 inflammasome and pyroptosis in synoviocytes from OA joints.Materials and methods: Human synovium was obtained from OA patients for isolation of primary synoviocytes and a murine model of collagenase-induced OA was established for testing intra-articular injections of SDF-1. Immunoblotting assays were used to examine the effects and underlying mechanism of action of SDF-1 on NLRP3 inflammasome and synoviocyte pyroptosis in synoviocytes. Inhibitors of AMPK and PI3K–mTOR were utilized to investigate the key signaling pathways involved in SDF-1-mediated OA inflammasome formation and pyroptosis.Results: Synoviocytes from OA joints exhibited significantly higher expression of NLRP3 inflammasome and biomarkers of synoviocyte pyroptosis relative to healthy individuals. This was confirmed in the collagenase-induced OA model, where OA synoviocytes had a significantly lower SDF-1 expression than healthy ones. SDF-1 treatment in synoviocytes of OA patients and collagenase-induced OA led to significant downregulation in the expression of NLRP3 inflammasome and synoviocyte pyroptosis biomarkers. Inhibition of the AMPK signaling pathway significantly suppressed the inhibitory effect of SDF-1 on NLRP3 inflammasome expression of OA synoviocytes. However, blocking the SDF-1-activated PI3K–mTOR signaling pathway could still suppress the expression of NLRP3 inflammasome and synoviocyte pyroptosis biomarkers.Conclusions: SDF-1 ameliorates NLRP3 inflammasome and pyroptosis in OA synoviocytes through activation of the AMPK signaling pathway. Therefore, SDF-1 may be a novel therapeutic target for OA.Abstract Objective: NLRP3 inflammasome may play a key role in OA pathogenesis. Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1) is a homeostatic CXC chemokine. Since the role of SDF-1 in OA has not been explored, this study aimed to examine the effect of SDF-1 on NLRP3 inflammasome and pyroptosis in synoviocytes from OA joints. Materials and methods: Human synovium was obtained from OA patients for isolation of primary synoviocytes and a murine model of collagenase-induced OA was established for testing intra-articular injections of SDF-1. Immunoblotting assays were used to examine the effects and underlying mechanism of action of SDF-1 on NLRP3 inflammasome and synoviocyte pyroptosis in synoviocytes. Inhibitors of AMPK and PI3K–mTOR were utilized to investigate the key signaling pathways involved in SDF-1-mediated OA inflammasome formation and pyroptosis. Results: Synoviocytes from OA joints exhibited significantly higher expression of NLRP3 inflammasome and biomarkers of synoviocyte pyroptosis relative to healthy individuals. This was confirmed in the collagenase-induced OA model, where OA synoviocytes had a significantly lower SDF-1 expression than healthy ones. SDF-1 treatment in synoviocytes of OA patients and collagenase-induced OA led to significant downregulation in the expression of NLRP3 inflammasome and synoviocyte pyroptosis biomarkers. Inhibition of the AMPK signaling pathway significantly suppressed the inhibitory effect of SDF-1 on NLRP3 inflammasome expression of OA synoviocytes. However, blocking the SDF-1-activated PI3K–mTOR signaling pathway could still suppress the expression of NLRP3 inflammasome and synoviocyte pyroptosis biomarkers. Conclusions: SDF-1 ameliorates NLRP3 inflammasome and pyroptosis in OA synoviocytes through activation of the AMPK signaling pathway. Therefore, SDF-1 may be a novel therapeutic target for OA

From Offline to Online: A Study on the Practice of Learners' Self-Regulated Learning Based on Bourdieu's Theory

The research is financed by Reform of the Practical Teaching Mode of Enterprise Resource Planning Based on the Cultivation of Students' Learning Ability(55611219) Abstract At present, the migration of learners from offline classroom to online learning space faces the problem of high dropout rate. Previous research suggested that self-regulated learning practice is a key factor affecting the effectiveness of online learning, but the research on the driving causes of self-regulated learning is still in the exploration stage. In the study, the impact on self-regulated learning practice is investigated. Based on the practice theory of Bourdieu, a large number of interviews was conducted by the grounded theory methodology. The results indicated that the impact on learners' self-regulated learning practice was accomplished by four aspects, i.e., online field structured, capitals reproduced, new habitus generated and practice of self-regulated learning. The managerial implications from our study are discussed finally. Keywords: Bourdieu theory; self-regulated learning; practice DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-32-01 Publication date: November 30th 201

A model for soil moisture dynamics estimation based on artificial neural network

Research on soil moisture estimation models can effectively improve the growth environment of crops. In this paper, the author studied the artificial neural network and variation pattern of soil moisture. Then, application of the model for water diversion estimation was explored based on artificial neural network. On this basis, an optimization algorithm was presented to simulate water diversion. Furthermore, a model for remote sensing of soil moisture dynamics was applied to artificial neural network. It has been proven that the research can optimize the application of the proposed model, laying a solid foundation for future study

Epitaxial Growth and Band Structure of Te Film on Graphene

Tellurium (Te) films with monolayer and few-layer thickness are obtained by molecular beam epitaxy on a graphene/6H-SiC(0001) substrate and investigated by in situ scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/STS). We reveal that the Te films are composed of parallel-arranged helical Te chains flat-lying on the graphene surface, exposing the (1x1) facet of (10-10) of the bulk crystal. The band gap of Te films increases monotonically with decreasing thickness, reaching ~0.92 eV for the monolayer Te. An explicit band bending at the edge between the monolayer Te and graphene substrate is visualized. With the thickness controlled in atomic scale, Te films show potential applications of in electronics and optoelectronics

Greenhouse gas emissions associated with urban water infrastructure:What we have learnt from China's practice

Municipal water and wastewater services have complicated sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and quantifying their roles is critical for tackling global environmental challenges. In this study we provide a systematic review of the state-of-the-art on GHG emission characterizations of China's urban water infrastructure with the aim of shedding light on global implications for sustainable development. We started by synthesizing a framework on GHG emissions associated with water and wastewater infrastructure. Then we analyzed the different sources of GHG emissions in drinking water and wastewater treatment systems. In drinking water services, electricity consumption is the largest source of GHG emissions. A particular concern in China is the common use of secondary pumping for high-rise buildings. Optimized pressure management with an efficient pumping system should be prioritized. In wastewater services, non-CO 2 emissions such as methane (CH 4) and nitrous oxide (N 2O) emissions are substantial, but vary greatly depending on regional and technological differences. Further research directions may include GHG inventory development for urban water systems at the plant level, quantifications of GHG emissions from sewer systems, emission reduction measures via water reclamation, renewable energy recovery, energy efficiency improvement, cost–benefit analyses, and characterizations of Scope 3 emissions. This article is categorized under: Engineering Water &gt; Sustainable Engineering of Water Science of Water &gt; Water and Environmental Change Engineering Water &gt; Planning Water. </p