Curcumin alleviates acute kidney injury in a dry‐heat environment by reducing oxidative stress and inflammation in a rat model

Curcumin exhibits anti‐inflammatory and antioxidant activities. We investigated the protective effects of curcumin in a renal injury rat model under dry‐heat conditions. We divided Sprague‐Dawley rats into four groups: dry‐heat 0‐ (normal temperature control group), 50‐, 100‐, and 150‐minute groups. Each group was divided into five subgroups (n = 10): normal saline (NS), sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMCNa), and curcumin pretreated low, medium, and high‐dose (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg, respectively) groups. Compared to the normal temperature group, serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, urinary kidney injury molecule‐1, and neutrophil gelatinase‐associated load changes in lipoprotein (NGAL) levels were significantly increased in the dry‐heat environment group (P < .05); inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) expression and malondialdehyde (MDA) and related inflammatory factor levels were increased in the kidney tissue. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) levels were decreased. However, following all curcumin pretreatment, the serum levels of kidney injury indicators and NGAL were decreased in the urine compared to those in the NS and CMCNa groups (P < .05), whereas renal SOD and CAT activities were increased and MDA was decreased (P < .05). Renal tissues of the 150‐minute group showed obvious pathological changes. Compared to the NS group, pathological changes in the renal tissues of the 100‐ and 200‐mg/kg curcumin groups were significantly reduced. Furthermore, iNOS and COX‐2 expression and inflammatory factor levels were decreased after curcumin treatment. Curcumin exerted renoprotective effects that were likely mediated by its antioxidant and anti‐inflammatory effects in a dry‐heat environment rat model.     

Low METTL3 level in midgut of the Bombyx mori inhibit the proliferation of nucleopolyhedrovirus

N6-methyladeosine (m⁶A) plays an important role in virus infection and replication. Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis is caused by Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) infection. Expression levels of m⁶A-modification-related genes after the infection of BmNPV were detected at first. Then, expression levels of BmNPV nucleocapsid protein gene VP39 and envelope fusion protein gene GP64 after knockdown of METTL3in vitro were quantified to identify the effect of m⁶A modification on BmNPV. BmNPV firstly infects the larval midgut in case of oral infection. Subsequently, to clarify the relationship between m⁶A modification and resistance of the silkworm to BmNPV, we detected the expression levels of m⁶A-modification-related genes invivo before and after infection of BmNPV. The results indicated that low METTL3 level hindered the proliferation of BmNPV to some extent, and silkworm strain with low METTL3 level showed stronger resistance against BmNPV. This study will accumulate new experimental data for elucidating the resistance mechanism of silkworm against BmNPV.     

Population dynamics,hunting nature on insect pests and existence of symbiotic bacterial microbes among leading transgenic cotton spiders

The genetically modified cotton holding Bt proteins, is noxious to bollworms larvae but very little is known about its impact on population of non-target spiders within the field. Studies conducted with the aim to identify spiders along with their abundance, prevalence pattern, preying habit on insect pests in Bt cotton (L280, Cry2Ab4) and commonness of symbiotic bacteria in these spiders. Spiders collections were made via vial tapping/jarring, from May to end of October (2018). In total, 13,342 spiders were recorded during the entire cropping season. Least relative abundance was in May (0.28%), highest in August (30.39%) while ahead decline was observed, reached to 12% in October. The 27 species were verified, least richness was in May (3 species), high in August (19 species), later in the end, reduced to 7 species. High abundance was of Hylyphantes graminicola (68.56%) and Neoscona theisi (19.98%). Existence of H. graminicola and Pardosa astrigera observed during the whole cropping season. Presence of seven guilds among spiders had a diverse nature of hunting insect pests and on number of species existed in the crop, maximum was from direct hunting habit. Composition and community structure of microbiota varied as of spider species. Proteobacteria was the most abundant bacterial phylum and topmost genus was Wolbachia in observed spiders. Five groups of bacteria distinguished across 4 clusters of spiders depending on core community of symbiotic bacterial genera. This effort is an initial step to get knowhow about spiders in Bt cotton, which will facilitate future research studies concerning spiders.     

MicroRNA-520c-3p suppresses vascular endothelium dysfunction by targeting RELA and regulating the AKT and NF-κB signaling pathways

Journal of Physiology and Biochemistry - Endothelial injury, which can cause endothelial inflammation and dysfunction, is an important mechanism for the development of atherosclerotic plaque. This...     

Amplification of RAD54B promotes progression of hepatocellular carcinoma via activating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling

Liver cancer was reported to be the sixth most frequently diagnosed cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounts for 75%-85% of primary liver cancer. Nevertheless, the concrete molecular mechanisms of HCC progression remain obscure, which is essential to elucidate. The expression profile of RAD54B in HCC was measured using qPCR and western blotting. Moreover, the levels of RAD54B in paraffin-embedded samples were evaluated using immunohistochemistry (IHC). The effect of RAD54B on HCC progression was testified by in vitro experiments, and in vivo orthotopic xenograft tumor experiments. The mechanisms of RAD54B promoting HCC progression were investigated through molecular and function experiments. Herein, RAD54B are dramatically upregulated in HCC tissues and cell lines both on mRNA and protein levels, and RAD54B can servers as an independent prognostic parameter of 5-year overall survival and 5-year disease-free survival for patients with HCC. Moreover, up-regulation of RAD54B dramatically increases the capacity for in vitro cell viability and motility, and in vivo intrahepatic metastasis of HCC cells. Mechanistically, RAD54B promotes the HCC progression through modulating the wnt/β-catenin signaling. Notably, blocking the wnt/β-catenin signaling axis can counteract the activating effects of RAD54B on motility of HCC cells. Besides, further analysis illustrates that DNA amplification is one of the mechanisms leading to mRNA overexpression of RAD54B in HCC. Our findings indicate that RAD54B might be a promising potential prognostic marker and a candidate therapeutic target to therapy HCC.     

An efficient pipeline for ancient DNA mapping and recovery of endogenous ancient DNA from whole‐genome sequencing data

Ancient DNA research has developed rapidly over the past few decades due to improvements in PCR and next‐generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, but challenges still exist. One major challenge in relation to ancient DNA research is to recover genuine endogenous ancient DNA sequences from raw sequencing data. This is often difficult due to degradation of ancient DNA and high levels of contamination, especially homologous contamination that has extremely similar genetic background with that of the real ancient DNA. In this study, we collected whole‐genome sequencing (WGS) data from 6 ancient samples to compare different mapping algorithms. To further explore more effective methods to separate endogenous DNA from homologous contaminations, we attempted to recover reads based on ancient DNA specific characteristics of deamination, depurination, and DNA fragmentation with different parameters. We propose a quick and improved pipeline for separating endogenous ancient DNA while simultaneously decreasing homologous contaminations to very low proportions. Our goal in this research was to develop useful recommendations for ancient DNA mapping and for separation of endogenous DNA to facilitate future studies of ancient DNA.     

双斑蟋营养成分分析及评价

由于具有较好的营养价值以及较高的食物转化效率,食用昆虫特别是蟋蟀受到普遍关注。在双斑蟋（Gryllus bimaculatus,GB）营养成分测定的基础上,对比家蟋（Acheta domesticus,AD）和黑蟋（Gryllus testaceus,GT）的营养及含量,分析评价了双斑蟋的使用价值。结果显示：双斑蟋水分含量71.0%、粗蛋白含量58.60%（干重）、粗脂肪含量28.90%（干重）、粗纤维含量7.23%（干重）、灰分4.93%（干重）;蛋白含量与黑蟋相当而高于家蟋,粗脂肪和灰分含量要高于家蟋和黑蟋;双斑蟋含有17种氨基酸,总氨基酸含量51.03%（干重）,必需氨基酸含量24.76%（干重）、占总氨基酸的48.3%,氨基酸含量低于其他两种蟋蟀;双斑蟋中常量元素含量最高的为钾（6 416 mg/kg,干重）、含量最低的是钙（92 mg/kg,干重）,微量元素中锌含量较高（241 mg/kg,干重）;双斑蟋油脂中不饱和脂肪酸的相对含量为65.33%,以亚油酸（37.05%）和油酸（25.86%）为主、饱和脂肪酸以棕榈酸（25.44%）和硬脂酸（8.74%）为主。双斑蟋的脂肪酸组成、含量与家蟋相近,而与黑蟋的脂肪酸组成差别较大,三种蟋蟀中含量最高的饱和脂肪酸为棕榈酸,而含量最高的不饱和酸为亚油酸。结果表明,双斑蟋的必需氨基酸组成符合FAO/WHO推荐的氨基酸构成比例的蛋白条件,具有较高的营养价值和食用价值。