Association between the MMP-9−1562 C>T polymorphism and the risk of stroke: a meta-analysis

Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 so far is identified as extremely large and complicated MMP family member. Recently, dozens of studies have explored the association between a promoter polymorphism (?1562 C>T) in MMP-9 and stroke susceptibility. However, the conclusions of these studies still remain equivocal. Therefore, our current meta-analysis was conducted to investigate whether or not the MMP-9 promoter polymorphism is related to the risk of stroke. Electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Cochrane Library and the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database) were searched to obtain all the available studies investigating this polymorphism and stroke from inception to October 2013. Overall and subgroup analyses were rigorously conducted after data extraction. Pooled odds ratio (OR) corresponding to 95 % confidence interval (CI) were estimated. The statistical analysis was performed using Review Manager 5.2. Totally, seven studies involving 1,624 cases and 1,525 controls were identified. The overall results suggested that there was no association of the C?1562T variant on stroke risk under the T allele versus C allele [OR _{T vs. C} 0.98, 95 % CI (0.84, 1.15), P = 0.84], the dominant model [OR _{TT+TC vs. CC} 0.95, 95 % CI (0.81, 1.13), P = 0.59], the recessive model [OR _{TT vs. TC+CC} 1.55, 95 % CI (0.86, 2.81), P = 0.15], the homozygote comparison [OR _{TT vs. CC} 1.48, 95 % CI (0.82, 2.68), P = 0.20] and the heterozygote comparison [OR _{TC vs. CC} 0.93, 95 % CI (0.78, 1.10), P = 0.38]. In the subgroup analyses by ethnicity, age, stroke type and source of controls, no significant relations were observed in any genetic models. Our results indicated that MMP-9?1562 C>T polymorphism was not a risk factor for stroke. Further studies should focus on gene–gene and gene–environment interactions, and provide a more convincing explanation for this association.     

Microarray analysis of differentially expressed genes engaged in fruit development between table and wine grape

Microarray analysis of genes can provide individual gene-expression profiles and new insights for elucidating biological mechanisms responsible for fruit development. To obtain an overall view on expression profiles of metabolism-related genes involved in fruit development of table and wine grapes, a microarray system comprising 15,403 ESTs was used to compare the expressed genes. The expression patterns from the microarray analysis were validated with quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis of 18 selected genes of interest. During the entire fruit development stage, 2,493 genes exhibited at least 2.0-fold differences in expression levels with 1,244 genes being up-regulated and 1,249 being down-regulated. Following gene ontology analysis, only 929 differentially expressed (including 403 up-regulated and 526 down-regulated) genes were annotated in table and wine grapes. These differentially expressed genes were found to be mainly involved in carbohydrate metabolism, biosynthesis of secondary metabolites as well as energy, lipid and amino acid metabolism via KEGG. Our results provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms and expression profiles of genes in the fruit development stage of table and wine grapes.     

The association of rs1149048 polymorphism in Matrilin-1(MATN1) gene with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis susceptibility: a meta-analysis

Several previous studies have evaluated the association between rs1149048 polymorphism in the matrilin-1 gene (MATN1) and the risk of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). However the results of those studies were inconsistent. We conducted this meta-analysis to assess whether rs1149048 polymorphism was involved in the risk of AIS and evaluated the associations in different ethnicities. Electronic databases, such as: PubMed, EMBASE, WANFANG databases in any languages up to Dec 2012 were searched to assess the association between rs1149048 polymorphism and AIS. Meta-analysis was performed by STATA 12.0 software to estimate the pooled odds ratio (OR) and the 95 % confidence interval (CI). Finally four papers including five studies which involved 1436 AIS patients and 1,879 controls were identified for this meta-analysis. The results showed that G allele of the rs1149048 was significantly associated with increased AIS risk [OR = 1.13, 95 % CI (1.02–1.25), P = 0.023]. As for genotype (GG vs. GA + AA), homozygous GG genotype was also found to be a risk factor of developing AIS. The subgroup meta-analysis results showed G allele and GG genotype were significantly associated with AIS in Asian group but not in Caucasian group. Neither Egger’s test nor Begg’s test found evidence of publication bias in current study (P > 0.05). In summary, this meta-analysis found an overall significant association of rs1149048 polymorphism with risk of AIS, especially in Asian population. The relationship between rs1149048 polymorphism and AIS in other ethnic population is needed to be investigated.     

Differences in the Induction of Defence Responses in Resistant and Susceptible Muskmelon Plants Infected with Colletotrichum lagenarium

Defence reactions occurring in resistant (cv. Gankezaomi) and susceptible (cv. Ganmibao) muskmelon leaves were investigated after inoculating with Colletotrichum lagenarium. Lesion restriction in resistant cultivars was associated with the accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). The activity of antioxidants catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD) significantly increased in both cultivars after inoculation, while levels of both CAT and POD activity were significantly higher in the resistant cultivar. Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) increased in both cultivars after inoculation, and level of APX activity was significantly higher in the resistant cultivar. Glutathione reductase (GR) activity significantly increased in both cultivars following inoculation, but was higher in the resistant cultivar, resulting in higher levels of ascorbic acid (AsA) and reduced glutathione (GSH). Phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) significantly increased in inoculated leaves of both cultivars, resulting in higher levels of total phenolic compounds and flavonoids. The pathogenesis‐related proteins chitinase (CHT) and β‐1, 3‐glucanase (GLU) significantly increased following inoculation with higher activity in the resistant cultivar. These findings show that resistance of muskmelon plants against C. lagenarium is associated with the rapid accumulation of H₂O₂, resulting in altered cellular redox status, accumulation of pathogenesis‐related proteins, activation of phenylpropanoid pathway to accumulation of phenolic compounds and flavonoids.     

Scientometric sorting by importance for literatures on life cycle assessments and some related methodological discussions

Purpose

This paper aims to sort the literatures on life cycle assessments (LCA) by their respective importance through citation and co-citation analysis and to further discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these kinds of scientometric methods in the case of LCA research.

Methods

CiteSpace II was used to generate document co-citation networks based on 3,824 articles retrieved from the ISI Web of Science database on this topic.

Results

Table 1 provides the top 50 highest cited documents in the LCA field. Here, we use two indicators, i.e., citation frequency in citation analysis and betweenness centrality metric in co-citation analysis, to measure the importance of these LCA literatures.

Conclusions

Citation and co-citation analysis are useful for environmental scientists and engineers to get a better understanding of the inner structure of LCA research. However, like all other research methods, this kind of analysis has some limitations. On the one hand, Scientometric studies and related software are very dependent on ISI Web of Science database, but considering the ISI Web of Science only began to track the LCA field fairly recently, the Scopus database would probably give a fuller picture. On the other hand, since the essence of scientometrics analysis is outsiders commenting insiders, so with only citation and co-citation analysis, to our understanding of the past, present, and future of LCA field, is insufficient.     

Signaling related with biphasic effects of bisphenol A (BPA) on Sertoli cell proliferation: A comparative proteomic analysis

Background

Biphasic effects on cell proliferation of bisphenol A (BPA) can occur at lesser or greater exposures. Sertoli cells play a pivotal role in supporting proliferation and differentiation of germ cells. The mechanisms responsible for inverse effects of great and low concentrations of BPA on Sertoli cell proliferation need further study.

Methods

We utilized proteomic study to indentify the protein expression changes of Sertoli TM4 cells treated with 10^− 8 M and 10^− 5 M BPA. The further mechanisms related to mitochondria, energy metabolism and oxidative stress were investigated by qRT-PCR and Western-blotting analysis.

Results

Proteomic studies identified 36 proteins and two major clusters of proteins including energy metabolism and oxidative stress expressed with opposite changes in Sertoli cells treated with 10^− 8 M and 10^− 5 M BPA, respectively, for 24 h. Exposure to 10^− 5 M BPA resulted in greater oxidative stress and then inhibited cell proliferation, while ROS scavenger NAC effectively blocked these effects. Exposure to 10^− 8 M BPA caused higher intercellular ATP, greater activities of mitochondria, and resulted in significant proliferation of TM4 cells, while oligomycin A, an inhibitor of ATP synthase, abolished these growth advantages.

Conclusions

Our study demonstrated that micromolar BPA inhibits proliferation of Sertoli cells by elevating oxidative stress while nanomolar BPA stimulates proliferation by promoting energy metabolism.

General significance

Micromolar BPA inhibits cell proliferation by elevating oxidative stress while nanomolar BPA stimulates cell proliferation by promoting energy metabolism.     

MiR-138 downregulates miRNA processing in HeLa cells by targeting RMND5A and decreasing Exportin-5 stability

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of non-coding small RNAs that consist of ∼22 nt and are involved in several biological processes by regulating target gene expression. MiR-138 has many biological functions and is often downregulated in cancers. Our results showed that overexpression of miR-138 downregulated target RMND5A (required for meiotic nuclear division 5 homolog A) and reduced Exportin-5 stability, which results in decreased levels of pre-miRNA nuclear export in HeLa cells. We also found that miR-138 could significantly inhibit HeLa cell migration by targeting RMND5A. Our study therefore identifies miR-138–RMND5A–Exportin-5 as a previously unknown miRNA processing regulatory pathway in HeLa cells.     

The RNA expression signature of the HepG2 cell line as determined by the integrated analysis of miRNA and mRNA expression profiles

Understanding miRNAs' regulatory networks and target genes could facilitate the development of therapies for human diseases such as cancer. Although much useful gene expression profiling data for tumor cell lines is available, microarray data for miRNAs and mRNAs in the human HepG2 cell line have only been compared with that of other cell lines separately. The relationship between miRNAs and mRNAs in integrated expression profiles for HepG2 cells is still unknown. To explore the miRNA–mRNA correlations in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells, we performed miRNA and mRNA expression profiling in HepG2 cells and normal liver HL-7702 cells at the genome scale using next-generation sequencing technology. We identified 193 miRNAs that are differentially expressed in these two cell lines. Of these, 89 miRNAs were down-regulated in HepG2 cells compared with HL-7702 cells, while 104 miRNAs were up-regulated. We also observed 3035 mRNAs that are significantly dys-regulated in HepG2 cells. We then performed an integrated analysis of the expression data for differentially expressed miRNAs and mRNAs and found several miRNA–mRNA pairs that are significantly correlated in HepG2 cells. Further analysis suggested that these differentially expressed genes were enriched in four tumorigenesis-related signaling pathways, namely, ErbB, JAK–STAT, mTOR, and WNT, which until now had not been fully reported. Our results could be helpful in understanding the mechanisms of HCC occurrence and development.