Epidemic Characteristics and Spatio-Temporal Patterns of HFRS in Qingdao City,China,2010-2022

Objective This study investigated the epidemic characteristics and spatio-temporal dynamics of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome(HFRS)in Qingdao City,China.Methods Information was collected on HFRS cases in Qingdao City from 2010 to 2022.Descriptive epidemiologic,seasonal decomposition,spatial autocorrelation,and spatio-temporal cluster analyses were performed.Results A total of 2,220 patients with HFRS were reported over the study period,with an average annual incidence of 1.89/100,000 and a case fatality rate of 2.52%.The male:female ratio was 2.8:1.75.3%of patients were aged between 16 and 60 years old,75.3%of patients were farmers,and 11.6%had both“three red”and“three pain”symptoms.The HFRS epidemic showed two-peak seasonality:the primary fall-winter peak and the minor spring peak.The HFRS epidemic presented highly spatially heterogeneous,street/township-level hot spots that were mostly distributed in Huangdao,Pingdu,and Jiaozhou.The spatio-temporal cluster analysis revealed three cluster areas in Qingdao City that were located in the south of Huangdao District during the fall-winter peak.Conclusion The distribution of HFRS in Qingdao exhibited periodic,seasonal,and regional characteristics,with high spatial clustering heterogeneity.The typical symptoms of“three red”and“three pain”in patients with HFRS were not obvious.

Correlation of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 expression with clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis in gastric cancer

AIM:To investigate human epidermal growth factor receptor 2(HER2) gene amplification and protein expression in Chinese patients with resectable gastric cancer and the association with clinicopathological characteristics and survival.METHODS:One hundred and ninety-seven gastric cancer patients who underwent curative surgery procedures were enrolled into this study.HER2 gene amplification and protein expression were examined using fluorescence in-situ hybridization(FISH) and immunohistochemistry(IHC) analysis on formalin-fixed paraffinembedded gastric cancer samples from all patients.For scoring,Hofmann's HER2 gastric cancer scoring system was adopted.All cases showing IHC3+ or FISH positiv-ity were defined as HER2 positive.Patient clinicopathological data and survival information were collected.Finally,χ 2 statistical analysis was performed to analyze the HER2 positivity rate amongst the subgroups with different clinicopathological characteristics including;gender,age,tumor location,Lauren classification,differentiation,TNM staging,depth of invasion,lymph node metastases and distant metastasis.The probability of survival for different subgroups with different clinicopathological characteristics was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and survival curves plotted using log rank inspection.RESULTS:According to Hofmann's HER2 gastric cancer scoring criteria,31 cases(15.74%) were identified as HER2 gene amplified and 19 cases(9.64%) were scored as strongly positive for HER2 membrane staining(3+),25 cases(12.69%) were moderately positive(2+) and 153 cases(77.66%) were HER2 negative(0/1+).The concordance rate between IHC and FISH analyses was 88.83%(175/197).Thirty-six cases were defined as positive for HER2 gene amplification and/or protein expression,with 24 of these cases being eligible for Herceptin treatment according to United States recommendations,and 29 of these cases eligible according to EU recommendations.Highly consistent results were detected between IHC3+,IHC0/1 and FISH(73.68% and 95.42%),but low consistency was observed between IHC2+ and FISH(40.00%).The positivity rates in intestinal type and well-differentiated gastric cancer were higher than those in diffuse/mixed type and poorly-differentiated gastric cancer respectively(28.57% vs 13.43%,P = 0.0103;37.25% vs 11.64%,P < 0.0001),but were not correlated with gender,age,tumor location or TNM stage,depth of invasion,lymph node metastases and distant metastasis.In poorly-differentiated gastric cancer patients,those without lymph node metastasis showed a higher HER2 positivity rate than those with lymph node metastasis(26.47% vs 7.14%,P = 0.0021).This association was not present in thosepatients with well-differentiated gastric cancer(28.57% vs 43.33%,P = 0.2832).Within our patient cohort,26 cases were lost to follow-up.The median survival time for the remaining 171 patients was 18 mo.The median survival times of the HER2 positive and negative groups were 17 and 18.5 mo respectively.Overall survival was not significantly different between HER2-positive and negative groups(χ 2 = 0.9157,P = 0.3386),but in patients presenting well-differentiated tumors,the overall survival of the HER2-positive group was significantly worse than that of the HER2-negative group(P = 0.0123).In contrast,patients with poorly differentiated and diffuse/mixed subtype gastric cancers showed no significant differences in overall survival associated with HER2.Furthermore,the median survival time of the HER2 positive group did not show any statistically significant differences when compared to the subgroups of gender,age,tumor location,TNM classification,lymph node metastases and distant metastasis.CONCLUSION:Patients with intestinal type gastric cancer(GC),well-differentiated GC and poorly-differentiated GC without lymph node metastasis,may all represent suitable candidates for targeted therapy using Herceptin.

Expression characteristics and diagnostic value of annexin A2 in hepatocellular carcinoma

AIM： TO investigate the characteristics and diagnostic value of annexin A2 （ANXA2） expression in cancerous tissues and sera of patients with hepatitis B virus （HBV）-related hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC）. METHODS： Levels of liver ANXA2 gene transcription or protein expression were analyzed in HCC-, their self- controlled precancerous-, and distant cancerous- tissues from 30 HCC. Serum levels of ANXA2 expression in 115 patients with HCC, 25 with metastatic liver can cer, 35 with chronic hepatitis, 28 with acute hepatitis, 38 with cirrhosis, and 30 healthy controls were deter- mined. Clinicopathological characteristics of circulating ANXA2 expression were analyzed, and its diagnostic efficiency and clinical values in HCC were evaluated. RESULTS： ANXA2 expression was localized in both cell membrane and cytoplasm in HCC tissue, mainly in the cytoplasm of matched adjacent cancerous tissue, and there was almost no positive staining in matched distant cancerous tissue. Abnormal expression of liver ANXA2 was present in HCC tissues compared with self-con- trolled adjacent- and distant-cancerous tissues at pro- tein or mRNA level. Circulating ANXA2 in HCC patients was significantly higher than that of other liver diseases （P 〈 0.01） except metastatic liver cancer. If the diag- nostic cutoff value of ANXA2 level was more than 18 ng/ mL, the incidence of serum ANXA2 was 86.96% in the HCC group, 80% in the metastatic liver cancer group, 31.58% in the liver cirrhosis group, none in the chronic hepatitis or acute hepatitis or normal control group, respectively. Serum ANXA2 expression in HCC patients was correlated with HBV infection （27.38 ± 5.67 ng/mL vs 18.58 ± 7.83 ng/mL, P 〈 0.01）, extrahepatic metas- tasis （26.11±5.43 ng/mL ys 22.79 ± 5.64 ng/mL, P 〈 0.01）, and portal vein thrombus （26.03 ± 5.99 ng/mL vs 23.06 ± 5.03 ng/mL, P 〈 0.01）, and was significantly higher （P 〈 0.01） in the moderately- （26.19±5.34 ng/ mL） or the poorly- differentiated group （27.05 ± 5.13 ng/mL） than in the well differentiated group （20.43 ± 4.97 ng/mL）, and in the tumor node metastasis stages Ⅲ-Ⅳ（P 〈 0.01） than in stages Ⅰ-Ⅱ. ANXA2 was not correlated with patient sex, age, size or α-fetoprotein （AFP） level. Area under the receiver operating charac- teristic curve for the whole range of sensitivities and specificities was 0.796 for ANXA2 and 0.782 for AFP. Combining detection of serum ANXA2 and AFP substan- tially improved the diagnostic efficiency （96.52%） and the neclative predictive value （＇96.61%） for HCC.of ANXA2 expression has good diagnostic potential for HCC diagnosis.

Tourism Competitiveness Evaluation and Spatio-temporal Characteristics of Chinese Border Counties

Under the current government strategy of building a Silk Road economic belt, tourism in Chinese border counties has becoming increasingly popular. Studying tourism competitiveness in Chinese border counties is of sizable theoretical and practical importance, as there are several notable factors involved. In this study, we constructed a tourism competitiveness evaluation model based on eight factors: natural environment, tourism resource, location and transportation, social environment, tourism service facility, border port, tourism industrial cluster and tourism market. We then analyzed the spatial characteristics of tourism competitiveness in border counties and identified five types of border counties: resource advantage type(RA), border-port advantage type(PA), location advantage type(LA), agglomeration advantage type(AA), and relative balance type(RB), and examined the correlation between tourism market competitiveness and interior competitiveness factors in the counties from 2006 to 2011. Results showed that tourism resource, location and transportation, and tourism service facility are the most important competition factors for RA border counties during the study period. Competition factors in PA counties transferred from tourism resource, social environment and tourism service facility to border port and tourism industrial cluster; competition factors in LA counties transferred from natural environment and tourism resource to tourism service facility and tourism industrial cluster and border port. Competition factors in AA counties transferred from tourism service facility to tourism resource. Tourism industrial cluster, tourism service facility and tourism resource proved to be important competition factors in RB counties. The findings of this study can be used to target tourism strategies according to different county types.

SPATIO-TEMPORAL VARIATION CHARACTERISTICS OF EXTREMELY HEAVY PRECIPITATION FREQUENCY OVER SOUTH CHINA IN THE LAST 50 YEARS

This paper comprehensively studies the spatio-temporal characteristics of the frequency of extremely heavy precipitation events over South China by using the daily precipitation data of 110 stations during 1961 to 2008 and the extremely heavy precipitation thresholds determined for different stations by REOF, trend coefficients, linear trend, Mann-Kendall test and variance analysis. The results are shown as follows. The frequency distribution of extremely heavy precipitation is high in the middle of South China and low in the Guangdong coast and western Guangxi. There are three spatial distribution types of extremely heavy precipitation in South China. The consistent anomaly distribution is the main type. Distribution reversed between the east and the west and between the south and the north is also an important type. Extremely heavy precipitation events in South China mainly occurred in the summer-half of the year. Their frequency during this time accounts for 83.7% of the total frequency. In the 1960 s and 1980 s, extremely heavy precipitation events were less frequent while having an increasing trend from the late 1980 s. Their climatological tendency rates decrease in the central and rise in the other areas of South China, and on average the mean series also shows an upward but insignificant trend at all of the stations. South China's frequency of extremely heavy precipitation events can be divided into six major areas and each of them shows a different inter-annual trend and three of the representative stations experience abrupt changes by showing remarkable increases in terms of Mann-Kendall tests.

Spatio-temporal Characteristics of Area Coverage and Observation Geometry of the MISR Land-surface BRF Product: A Case Study of the Central Part of Northeast Asia

The Multi-angle imaging spectroradiometer(MISR) land-surface(LS) bidirectional reflectance factor(BRF) product(MILS_BRF) has unique semi-simultaneous multi-angle sampling and global coverage. However, unlike on-satellite observations, the spatio-temporal characteristics of MILS_BRF data have rarely been explicitly and comprehensively analysed. Results from 5-yr(2011–2015) of MILS_BRF dataset from a typical region in central Northeast Asia as the study area showed that the monthly area coverage as well as MILS_BRF data quantity varies significantly, from the highest in October(99.05%) through median in June/July(78.09%/75.21%) to lowest in January(18.97%), and a large data-vacant area exists in the study area during four consecutive winter months(December through March). The data-vacant area is mainly composed of crop lands and cropland/natural vegetation mosaic. The amount of data within the principal plane(PP)±30°(nPP) or cross PP ±30°(nCP), varies intra-annually with significant differences from different view zeniths or forward/backward scattering directions. For example, multiple off-nadir cameras have nPP but no nCP data for up to six months(September through February), with the opposite occurring in June and July. This study provides explicit and comprehensive information about the spatio-temporal characteristics of product coverage and observation geometry of MILS_BRF in the study area. Results provide required user reference information for MILS_BRF to evaluate performance of BRDF models or to compare with other satellite-derived BRF or albedo products. Comparing this final product to on-satellite observations, what was found here reveals a new perspective on product spatial coverage and observation geometry for multi-angle remote sensing.

Expression Characteristics of AaHsp90 Gene in Antheraea assamensis under Different Temperature and Starvation Stress

[Objectives]To investigate the effects of different temperature and starvation stress on the expression of AaHsp90 and reveal the molecular mechanism of adaptation to environment in Antheraea assama.[Methods]Taking the normal feeding group at 26℃as the control,the expression change of AaHsp90 was detected by real-time PCR in midgut,fat body and hemlymph after high temperature stress at 38℃,low temperature stress at 4℃and starvation stress separately for different time on the third day of the fifth larvae.[Results]The expression of AaHsp90 in midgut,fat body and hemlymph of Antheraea assama were increased obviously at first and then decreased sharply with the prolongation of treatment time at 38℃.There has a certain inhibitory effect on the expression of AaHsp90 in midgut,fat body and hemolymph after treatment with 4℃for different time.After treatment with starvation,the AaHsp90 expression were increased at 12 and 18 h and decreased sharply at 24 h in midgut,fat body and hemolymph of A.assama.[Conclusions]Comprehensive analysis showed that high temperature and starvation stress can induce the expression of AaHsp90,while low temperature stress mainly suppressed its expression.It was suggested that the AaHsp90 protein may play an important role in the process of adaptation to high temperature and starvation stress in A.assama.

Cultural Characteristics of Idiomatic Expressions and Their Approaches of Translation

This paper elaborates that idiomatic expressions are very important parts of language. They have structural solidification and sense of integrity, contain rich connotation of national culture and show prominent personality characteristics of the language.Their meanings are not simple addition of literal meanings. It is very important to keep the national culture in the source language and deal with the relationship between cultural differences and communicative effects in translation.

Spatio-Temporal Characteristics of Winter Cold Events in China from 1960 to 2020

Under the background of global warming, extreme cold events occur frequently. It is important to enhance the understanding of cold air patterns for forecasting cold air and reducing cold air-induced meteorological disasters. The study used the daily minimum temperatures from the National Climate Centre to classify the cold events affecting China into five different grades and the characteristics of different intensity cold events in China during the winter from 1960 to 2020 were analyzed. The results showed that there is little difference in the distribution of the frequency of general cold events from north to south, with duration longer in the north than in the south and an increase in frequency in the north in the last 60 years. The frequency of strong cold events is more in the north of China than in the south of China, and the duration is longer in the south than in the north China, with the frequency decreasing in most parts of the country. In addition to latitude, cold events frequency is closely linked to topography, with basins surrounded by high mountains being difficult to be affected by cold events, especially extreme cold events. In terms of month distribution, December was subject to the highest frequency of cold events and the longest duration of a single cold events process.

Expression of miR-21 in Colorectal Cancer and Its Relationship with Clinicopathological Characteristics of Colorectal Cancer

Objective:To investigate the expression of miR-21 in colorectal cancer cells,and to analyze the relationship between the level of miR-21 and the clinicopathological characteristics of colorectal cancer patients.Methods:210 patients with colorectal cancer treated in our hospital from January 2016 to June 2019 were selected.Cancer tissue specimens(study group)and adjacent normal tissue specimens(control group)were surgically collected,and the quantitative quantitative PCR was used to detect and compare the miR-21 expression of the two groups.Results:The expression of miR-21 in the study group was higher than that in the control group,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).There were significant differences among patients with early and intermediate TNM,patients with low differentiation and patients with moderate to high differentiation,patients with lymph node metastasis and patients without lymph node metastasis,patients with high infiltration and patients with low infiltration,patients with high CEA levels,and patients with low CEA,and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.05).Conclusion:In colorectal cancer,miR-21 is highly expressed,which is closely related to stage and differentiation,and can be used to reflect the patient’s condition.

Expression of DLK1 protein and its correlation with renal cell carcinoma pathological characteristics

Objective To identify the expression of DLK1 protein in different types of renal cell carcinomas and its correlations with pathological characteristics and metastasis. Methods Immunohistochemistry analysis was performed to evaluate the expression of DLK1 protein in

Genome-wide analysis of the CCCH zinc finger family in longan:Characteristic identification and expression profiles in Dimocarpus longan Lour

CCCH(C3 H) Zinc finger(Znf) transcription factors(TFs), as a novel type of Znf gene, regulate the expression of genes by binding to their mRNAs and play important roles in plant growth and development and abiotic stress resistance.Longan(Dimocarpous longan) is a tropical/subtropical fruit tree of great economic importance in Southeast Asia.However, genomic information on C3 H and their functions in longan are still unknown. In this study, a comprehensive analysis of the longan C3 H(DlC3 H) gene family was carried out. A total of 49 DlC3 H genes in three clades were identified from the longan genome database. Characteristics of the genes were analyzed with respect to gene structure,motif composition, phylogenetic tree and potential functions. The analysis of alternative splicing(AS) events suggested that AS events in DlC3 H genes were related to the transformation from longan non-embryonic to embryonic cultures.Promoter analysis indicated that most of the DlC3 H genes included cis-acting elements associated with hormones and stresses responses. Quantitative real-time PCR(qRT-PCR) analysis indicated that 26 of the 49 DlC3 Hs, which possess methyl jasmonate(MeJA) and abscisic acid(ABA) responsive cis-acting elements, showed differential expression patterns under treatment with ABA, MeJA and their endogenous inhibitors, suggesting that DlC3 Hs might be involved in the ABA and MeJA signaling pathways. The expression profiles of 17 of the 49 DlC3 Hs in non-embryonic callus and three tissues of embryonic cultures showed that only five of the 17 DlC3 Hs had the same expression trends as the FPKM trends in transcriptome data;the expression levels of DlC3 H07/14/16/36/49 in embryogenic callus and DlC3 H04/38 in globular embryos were high, suggesting that they have different functions in embryonic development. Further, we verified that DlC3 H01/03/05/11/19/39 were regulated by sRNAs by a modified 5’ RLM-RACE method. This study provides the first systematic analysis of C3 H genes in longan, and found that C3 H genes may be involved in hormone and stress responses, and somatic embryogenesis. Our preliminary investigation may provide clues to further studies on the characteristics and functions of this family in longan.

Research on Expression of LeWRKY1 in Tomato Induced by Jasmonic Acid and Other Two Factors

[Objective]The aim was to explore the molecular mechanism of plant resistance to various stress response.[Method]The expression of LeWRKY1 in tomato seedlings under treatment with B.cinerea,exogenous JA and SA were explored by real time quantitative RT-PCR technology.[Result]JA induced the expression of LeWRKY1,but SA did not.LeWRKY1 expression was up-regulated under B.cinerea infection.[Conclusion]LeWRKY1 might be involved in the tomato defense response to B.cinerea through JA dependent but SA independent signal pathway.

Analysis of Gene Expression of Seven Isoforms of ADP-glucose Pyrophosphorylase in Rice Endosperm under Different Temperature Conditions

[Objective] This study aimed to analyze the effects of temperature on the expression of AGPase isoform genes in rice endosperm during milk stage. [Method] Different temperature treatments （33 and 25 ℃ of daily mean temperature for high and normal temperature treatments, respectively） and the real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR （ FQPCR） were used to analyze the expression patterns of seven isoforms （AGPS1, AGPS2a, AGPS2b, AGPL1, AGPL2, AGPL3 and AGPL4） of ADPglucose pyrophosphorylase （AGPase） which was the key enzyme in starch synthesis and metabolism in rice endosperm of two rice varieties Teqing and Thai Fragrant Rice. [Result] The AGPase isoforms AGPS2b, AGPL2 and AGPL3 had much higher expression than the other four isoforms, thus they were thought to be the main expression patterns of AGPase in rice endosperm. The relative expressions of AGPL2 was the highest among all the isoforms. The relative expressions of AGPS2b, AGPL2 and AGPL3 were higher in the normal temperature treatment than in the high temperature treatment in both rice varieties. The relative expression of the three enzyme genes in milk stages in Teqing was higher than those in Thai Fragrant Rice under different temperature treatments. [Conclusion] This study provides a theoretical basis for further use of molecular biology techniques to cultivate stable high-quality rice varieties.

Spatio-temporal Variability of Northern Hemipheric Sea Level Pressure(SLP)and Precipitation over the Mid-to-Low Reaches of the Yangtze River

The spatio-temporal variability of Northern Hemisphere Sea Level Pressure （SLP） and precipitation over the mid-to-low reaches of the Yangtze River （PMLY） is analyzed jointly using the multi-taper/singular value decomposition method （MTM-SVD）. Statistically significant narrow frequency bands are obtained from the local fractional variance （LFV） spectrum. Significant interdecadal （i.e., 16-to-18-year periods） and interannual （i.e., 3-to-6-year periods） signals are identified. Moreover, a significant quasi-biennial signal is identified but only for PMLY data. The spatial joint evolution of patterns obtained for peaks in the LFV spectrum sheds light on relationships between SLP and PMLY： the Arctic Oscillation （AO） modulates the variability of the PMLY while the interannual variability of PMLY is in phase with the Northern Atlantic Oscillation （NAO） and the Northern Pacific Oscillation （NPO）.

Functional Characteristics of a Novel Chemosensory Protein in the Cotton Bollworm Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner)

A chemosensory protein named HarmCSP5 in cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera （Hvbner） was obtained from antennal eDNA libraries and expressed in Escherichia coll. The real time quantitative PCR （RT-qPCR） results indicated that HarmCSP5 gene was mainly expressed in male and female antennae but also expressed in female legs and wings. Competitive binding assays were performed to test the binding affinity of recombinant HarmCSP5 to 60 odor molecules including some cotton volatiles. The resules showed that HarmCSP5 showed strong binding abilities to 4-ehtylbenzaldehyde and 3,4-dimethlbenz aldehyde, whereas methyl phenylacetate, 2-decanone, 1-pentanol, carvenol, isobomeol, nerolidol, 2- nonanone and ethyl heptanoate have relatively weak binding affinity. Moreover, the predicted 3D model of HarmCSP5 consists of six α-helices located among residues 33-38 （αl）, 40-48 （α2）, 62-72 （α3）, 80-96 （α4）, 98-108 （α5）, and 116-119 （α6）, two pairs of disulfide bridges Cys49-Cys55, Cys75-Cys78. The two amino acid residues, Ile94 and Trpl01, may play crucial roles in HarmCSP5 binding with ligands and need further study for confirmation.

Characteristics of PVT1 and Its Roles in Diseases

With the development of genome-wide sequencing technology, 195 types of functional, long non-coding RNAs(lnc RNAs) have been identified so far, and their cellular roles are gradually being revealed. Lnc RNAs have now become a hotspot in the field of life sciences. These small molecules exist in almost all higher eukaryotes and play very important regulatory roles in these organisms. This review briefly summarizes the recent progress in research on plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 gene(PVT1), an lnc RNA.

Statistic Analysis on Quantitative Characteristics for Developing the DUS Test Guideline of Ranunculus asiaticus L.

Selection of quantitative characteristics, division of their expression ranges, and selection of example varieties are key issues on developing DUS Test Guidelines, which are more crucial for quantitative characteristics since their expressions vary in different degrees. Taking the development of DUS Test Guideline of Ranunculus asiaticus L. as an example, this paper applied statistic-based approaches for the analyses of quantitative characteristics. We selected 9 quantitative characteristics from 18 pre-selected characteristics, based on within-variety uniformity, stability between different growing cycles, and correlation among characteristics, by the analyses of coefficient of variation, paired-samples t-test and partial correlation. The expression ranges of the 9 selected quantitative characteristics were divided into different states using descriptive statistics and distribution frequency of varieties. Eight of the 9 selected quantitative characteristics were categorized as standard characteristics as they showed one peak in distribution frequency of 120 varieties in various expressions of the characteristics, whereas, plant height can be categorized as grouping characteristic since it gave two peaks, and can group the varieties into pot and cut varieties. Finally, box-plot was applied to visually select the example varieties, and varieties 7, 12, and 28 were determined as the example varieties for plant height. The methods described in this paper are effective for the selection of quantitative characteristics, division of expression ranges, and selection of example varieties in Ranunculus asiaticus L. for DUS test, and may also be interest for other plant genera.

Expression and localization of absent in melanoma 2 in the injured spinal cord

In traumatic brain injury, absent in melanoma 2(AIM2) has been demonstrated to be involved in pyroptotic neuronal cell death. Although the pathophysiological mechanism of spinal cord injury is similar to that of brain injury, the expression and cellular localization of AIM2 after spinal cord injury is still not very clear. In the present study, we used a rat model of T9 spinal cord contusive injury, produced using the weight drop method. The rats were randomly divided into 1-hour, 6-hour, 1-day, 3-day and 6-day(post-injury time points) groups. Sham-operated rats only received laminectomy at T9 without contusive injury. Western blot assay revealed that the expression levels of AIM2 were not significantly different among the 1-hour, 6-hour and 1-day groups. The expression levels of AIM2 were markedly higher in the 1-hour, 6-hour and 1-day groups compared with the sham, 3-day and 7-day groups. Double immunofluorescence staining demonstrated that AIM2 was expressed by NeuN+(neurons), GFAP+(astrocytes), CNPase+(oligodendrocytes) and CD11 b+(microglia) cells in the sham-operated spinal cord. In rats with spinal cord injury, AIM2 was also found in CD45+(leukocytes) and CD68+(activated microglia/macrophages) cells in the spinal cord at all time points. These findings indicate that AIM2 is mainly expressed in neurons, astrocytes, microglia and oligodendrocytes in the normal spinal cord, and that after spinal cord injury, its expression increases because of the infiltration of leukocytes and the activation of astrocytes and microglia/macrophages.

Expression analysis of two reverse duplicated small heat shock protein genes in rice(Oryza sativa L.)

supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China （30671178）;the Shanxi Province Science Foundation for Youths, China （2014021029-2）