Transforming growth factor-beta 1 enhances discharge activity of cortical neurons

Transforming growth factor-beta 1(TGF-β1)has been extensively studied for its pleiotropic effects on central nervous system diseases.The neuroprotective or neurotoxic effects of TGF-β1 in specific brain areas may depend on the pathological process and cell types involved.Voltage-gated sodium channels(VGSCs)are essential ion channels for the generation of action potentials in neurons,and are involved in various neuroexcitation-related diseases.However,the effects of TGF-β1 on the functional properties of VGSCs and firing properties in cortical neurons remain unclear.In this study,we investigated the effects of TGF-β1 on VGSC function and firing properties in primary cortical neurons from mice.We found that TGF-β1 increased VGSC current density in a dose-and time-dependent manner,which was attributable to the upregulation of Nav1.3 expression.Increased VGSC current density and Nav1.3 expression were significantly abolished by preincubation with inhibitors of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase(PD98059),p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase(SB203580),and Jun NH2-terminal kinase 1/2 inhibitor(SP600125).Interestingly,TGF-β1 significantly increased the firing threshold of action potentials but did not change their firing rate in cortical neurons.These findings suggest that TGF-β1 can increase Nav1.3 expression through activation of the ERK1/2-JNK-MAPK pathway,which leads to a decrease in the firing threshold of action potentials in cortical neurons under pathological conditions.Thus,this contributes to the occurrence and progression of neuroexcitatory-related diseases of the central nervous system.

Hybrid classification of coal and biomass by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy combined with K-means and SVM

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy(LIBS) is a new technology suitable for classification of various materials. This paper proposes a hybrid classification scheme for coal, municipal sludge and biomass by using LIBS combined with K-means and support vector machine(SVM)algorithm. In the study, 10 samples were classified in 3 groups without supervision by K-means clustering, then a further supervised classification of 6 kinds of biomass samples by SVM was carried out. The results show that the comprehensive accuracy of the hybrid classification model is over 98%. In comparison with the single SVM classification model, the hybrid classification model can save 58.92% of operation time while guaranteeing the accuracy. The results demonstrate that the hybrid classification model is able to make an efficient, fast and accurate classification of coal, municipal sludge and biomass, furthermore, it is precise for the detection of various kinds of biomass fuel.

员工责备氛围感知何以阻碍失败学习?愤怒感和负面情绪应对导向的作用

科技快速革新与环境动荡使得企业内部的失败愈发普遍,如何有效从失败中学习受到了越来越多的关注。以往研究表明,员工的失败学习行为可能会受到员工对消极的团队氛围(如责备氛围)的感知的影响,但其具体影响机制仍需进一步检验。基于情绪认知评价理论,本研究探讨了员工的责备氛围感知阻碍其失败学习的具体机制。通过对772个高科技团队中的员工数据进行回归分析,结果表明,失败后员工对责备氛围的感知会促使其产生愤怒感,进而阻碍其失败学习。在这个过程中,损失导向缓和了愤怒感与失败学习之间的负相关关系,而恢复导向对这一关系并没有显著影响。本研究丰富了失败学习相关理论的研究,并为企业组织进行失败管理提供了建议。

Effects of NS1 variants of H5N1 influenza virus on interferon induction, TNFa response and p53 activity

Non-structural protein 1(NS1)is an important virulence factor of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus.A five-amino-acid(5 aa)deletion at position 80–84 and an aspartic acid to glutamic acid substitution at position 92(D92E)are two major NS1 mutations that are highly correlated with enhanced virulence.To investigate the effect of these mutations in H5N1 virulence,three H5N1-NS1 variants were constructed:NS51(lacking 5 aa at position 80–84),NS51(I)(carrying a 5-aa insertion at position 80–84)and NS51(IM)(carrying both the 5-aa insertion and the D92E mutation).We examined the effects of these mutations on interferon(IFN)induction,tumor-necrosis factor(TNF)a response,p53 activity and apoptosis.We found that the D92E mutation eliminated NS1’s repressive effect on IFN induction,while the 5-aa deletion resulted in enhanced resistance to TNFa responses.We also observed that all three variants exhibited a similar suppressive effect on p53 transcriptional activity,although none of them significantly influenced apoptosis of host cells.Our findings shed new light on the role of NS1 in the pathogenicity of H5N1 virus.

DeepBSA: A deep-learning algorithm improves bulked segregant analysis for dissecting complex traits

Bulked segregant analysis(BSA)is a rapid,cost-effective method for mapping mutations and quantitative trait loci(QTLs)in animals and plants based on high-throughput sequencing.However,the algorithms currently used for BSA have not been systematically evaluated and are complex and fallible to operate.We developed a BSA method driven by deep learning,DeepBSA,for QTL mapping and functional gene cloning.DeepBSA is compatible with a variable number of bulked pools and performed well with various simulated and real datasets in both animals and plants.DeepBSA outperformed all other algorithms when comparing absolute bias and signal-to-noise ratio.Moreover,we applied DeepBSA to an F2 segregating maize population of 7160 individuals and uncovered five candidate QTLs,including three well-known plant-height genes.Finally,we developed a user-friendly graphical user interface for DeepBSA,by integrating five widely used BSA algorithms and our two newly developed algorithms,that is easy to operate and can quickly map QTLs and functional genes.The DeepBSA software is freely available to noncommercial users at http://zeasystemsbio.hzau.edu.cn/tools.html and https://github.com/lizhao007/DeepBSA.

Effects of Bacillus subtilis on hepatic lipid metabolism and oxidative shess response in grass carp(Ctenopharyngodon idellus)fed a high-fat diet

Bacillus subtilis is widely used in aquaculture as a probiotic.However,few studies have been conducted to examine the effect of B.subtilis on liver lipid metabolism.A total of 135 healthy grass carp(50.24±1.38 g)were randomly divided into three groups:control(Con),high-fat diet(HF),and high-fat diet+B.subtilis(HF4-B.subtilis),and fed for 8 weeks.The results showed that compared with the HF group,the weight gain rate(WGR)significantly increased(Pc0.05)and the hepatic lipid content,serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(LDL-C),and aspartate aminotransferase(AST)decreased in the group supplemented with B.subtilis(P<0.05).Moreover,the hepatic mRNA expression of fatty acid synthase(FAS)was significantly down-regulated and the carnitine palmitoyl transferases(CPTlala)were up-regulated in the HF+B.subtilis group compared to the HF group(P<0.05),respectively.Additionally,in the HF+B.subtilis group,glutathione(GSH)significantly increased(Pv 0.()5),while hydrogen peroxide(H2O2)and malondialdehyde(MDA)contents significantly decreased compared to the HF group(P v0.05).B.subtilis may reduce the hepatic lipid content by inhibiting its synthesis and promoting p-oxidation of fatty acids.B.subtilis may also alleviate dyslipidaemia and prevent oxidative damage in the liver caused by the high-fat diet of grass carp.Hence,dietary supplementation with B.subtilis shows promise as a therapeutic or preventive tool against fatty liver disease.