Polymorphism analysis and supertype definition of swine leukocyte antigen class I molecules in three-way crossbred (Landrace,Duroc, and Yorkshire) pigs: implications for the vaccine development of African swine fever virus

正Dear Editor,Swine major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a highly polymorphic gene in pigs and is also called swine leukocyte antigen (SLA)(Fan et al., 2018). SLA is divided into three major categories, SLA Ⅰ (SLA-1,-2,-3), SLA Ⅱ, and SLA Ⅲ(Smith et al., 2005). SLA Ⅰ plays an important role in cellular immunity which can eliminate viruses and other foreign     

Diabetic nephropathy: serum miR-9 confers a poor prognosis in and is associated with level changes of vascular endothelial growth factor and pigment epithelium-derived factor

Objective

To investigate the relationship between the serum level of miR-9 and the progression of diabetic nephropathy (DN) and related molecular mechanisms.

Results

Thirty-five healthy subjects and 140 DN patients were divided into five groups: control, DN I–II, DN III, DN IV and DN V. Serum level of miR-9 was measured by real-time qPCR. Serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) lipids, fasting glucose, insulin, hemoglobin A1c (HBA1c), creatinine, fibrinogen and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were also measured. The results show that the levels of miR-9, PEDF and VEGF are increased with DN progression (P < 0.05). miR-9, VEGF and PEDF are independent risk factors of DN (R² = 0.430). Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that miR-9 level is positively related to the levels of VEGF, PEDF, cholesterol, triglyceride, fasting glucose, fasting insulin, HBA1c, creatinine, fibrinogen and HOMA-IR (P < 0.05).

Conclusions

Serum miR-9 is a potential marker for conferring a poor prognosis in DN and associated with the levels of VEGF, PEDF and biochemical indices.

     

Design,synthesis, biological evaluation,homology modeling and docking studies of (E)-3-(benzo[d][1,3]dioxol-5-ylmethylene) pyrrolidin-2-one derivatives as potent anticonvulsant agents

A series of (E)-3-(benzo[d][1,3]dioxol-5-ylmethylene)pyrrolidin-2-one derivatives were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their anticonvulsant activities. In the preliminary screening, compounds 5, 6a–6f and 6h–6i showed promising anticonvulsant activities in MES model, while 6f and 6g represented protection against seizures at doses of 100?mg/kg and 0.5?h in scPTZ model. The most active compound 6d had a high-degree protection against the MES-induced seizures with ED₅₀ value of 4.3?mg/kg and TD₅₀ value of 160.9?mg/kg after intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection in mice, which provided 6d in a high protective index (TD₅₀/ED₅₀) of 37.4 comparable to the reference drugs. Beyond that, 6d has been selected and evaluated in vitro experiment to estimate the activation impact. Apparently, 6d clearly inhibits the Na_v1.1 channel. Our preliminary results provide new insights for the development of small-molecule activators targeting specifically Na_v1.1 channels to design potential drugs for treating epilepsy. The computational parameters, such as homology modeling, docking study, and ADME prediction, were made to exploit the results.