Involvement of TLR4/NLRP3 inflammasome in contrast medium-induced inflammation and injury in renal tubular epithelial cells

AIM: To investigate whether Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and Nod-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome were involved in contrast medium (CM)-induced inflammation and injury in renal tubular epithelial cells. METHODS: Iopromide was used to injure NRK-52E cells in the study. The cell viability was measured by CCK-8 assay. The protein levels of TLR4, NLRP3, apoptosis-associated speckle-like protein (ASC), caspase-1 and cleaved caspase-3 were determined by Western blot. The releases of interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-18 were detected by ELISA. The apoptotic rate was evaluated by Hoechst staining, and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) was analyzed by JC-1 staining. siRNA was transfected into the NRK-52E cells to silence NLRP3 expression. RESULTS: CM decreased the viability of NRK-52E cells (P<0.05). CM also elevated the protein levels of cleaved caspase-3, TLR4, NLRP3, IL-1β and IL-18 (P<0.05). Silencing NLRP3 attenuated CM-induced releases of inflammatory cytokines. Moreover, treatment with TLR4 inhibitor TAK-242 or knockdown of NLRP3 by siRNA transfection both attenuated cell apoptosis and loss of MMP caused by CM. CONCLUSION: TLR4/NLRP3 inflammasome takes part in the pathogenesis of CM-induced acute kidney injury, and mediates CM-induced injury and inflammation in renal tubular epithelial cells.     

Repressive effect of miRNA-363 via SOX4 on human osteosarcoma cell growth and apoptosis

AIM: To detect the expression of miRNA-363 and SOX4 in osteosarcoma tissues and to investigate the effect of miRNA-363 on the viability and apoptosis of human osteosarcoma cell line MG-63.METHODS: Real-time PCR was used to detect the expression level and the relationship of miRNA-363 and SOX4 mRNA in the osteosarcoma tissues and the corresponding paratumorous tissues collected from 63 patients. The expression levels of miRNA-363 and SOX4 in osteosarcoma cell line MG-63 after transfected with miRNA-363 mimics were measured. The cell viability was measured by CCK-8 assay. Flow cytometry was used to monitor the changes of cell cycle and apoptosis. The changes of SOX4 and miRNA-363 expression levels in the MG-63 cells after transfection with SOX4 siRNA or pcDNA/SOX4 was detect by real-time PCR.RESULTS: The expressed level of miRNA-363 was lower, and the expression level of SOX4 was higher in the osteosarcoma tissues than those in the adjacent normal tissues. A significantly negative correlation between the expression levels of miRNA-363 and SOX4 was observed. The expression of miRNA-363 in the MG-63 cells after transfection with miRNA-363 mimics was significantly up-regulated, while the expression of SOX4 in the MG-63 cells was significantly down-regulated, with significant difference as compared with the cells transfected with miRNA-NC and control cells. The viability of MG-63 cells was inhibited, the cell cycle was arrested in G₀/G₁ phase, and the cell apoptosis was increased by transfection with miRNA-363 mimics. The relative protein expression levels of SOX4 in SOX4 siRNA group and pcNDA/SOX4 group were significantly different from those in negative control group, but the relative expression levels of miRNA-363 had no significant difference. Over-expression of SOX4 restored the viability of the MG-63 cells reduced by miR-363.CONCLUSION: The expression level of miRNA-363 is low in human osteosarcoma tissue. miRNA-363 may inhibits the viability of osteosarcoma cell line MG-63 and promotes cell apoptosis in vitro via inhibiting the SOX4 expression.     

非道路动力底盘线控四轮独立转向控制系统研究

我国苜蓿主要生产区为甘肃、宁夏等路况复杂的山地丘陵地带,用于苜蓿收获的非道路动力底盘的行驶灵活性将直接影响其作业性能。为改善其低速工况下的行驶灵活性,基于车辆三自由度动力学模型提出了非道路动力底盘以跟随已知路线前进为目标的多种工况下的分层控制策略,搭建了四轮转向硬件在环实验平台,并进行了仿真实验。实验结果表明:动力底盘模型能够实现轨迹跟随、原地转向及斜向行驶,质心位置最大偏差为0.6 4 1 8 m,中心线方向最大偏差为3.3 0 9 6 rad。开发的控制系统取得较好的半实物仿真效果,为改善非道路动力底盘低速情况下转向灵活性提供了理论基础。     

小麦TaNIP4-1基因的克隆及生物信息学分析

水通道蛋白不仅控制着水分和一些小分子溶质的跨膜运输,也是植物体应对非生物胁迫的重要组成部分。为了进一步研究小麦水通道蛋白的功能,本研究以NCBI和Ensemble Plant数据库中查找出的已报道的小麦水通道蛋白基因序列为模板,针对其保守区设计了19对引物,应用PCR的方法从5个小麦品种中克隆出19个基因片段。通过比对鉴定到一个此前未曾报道的新基因,并对其进行生物信息学分析,将其命名为TaNIP4-1。理化特性分析表明,该基因位于3A染色体短臂,基因全长1 315bp,CDS序列长度864bp,含有3个外显子和2个内含子,编码含有288个氨基酸的多肽,含有保守的沙漏模型,有6个跨膜区和2个保守的NPA基序。亚细胞定位预测结果表明该基因位于质膜上。该基因启动子序列含有与逆境响应相关的顺式调控元件,而对7日龄的麦苗进行干旱和盐胁迫处理后,其qRT-PCR结果显示,干旱和盐处理5h后,TaNIP4-1基因在小麦叶片中的表达量明显上调;盐处理7d后,TaNIP4-1基因在小麦根部的表达量显著上调。由此可见,TaNIP4-1基因参与了小麦应对逆境的过程。     

CuFe2O4纳米粒子增敏Luminol-EDTA化学发光体系研究及应用

基于CuFe₂O₄纳米粒子能显著增强Luminol-EDTA体系的发光,首次建立了Luminol-EDTA-CuFe₂O₄ NPs化学发光新体系。紫外吸收光谱和化学发光光谱表明纳米CuFe₂O₄注入Luminol-EDTA体系后,未生成新发光物质,结合纳米CuFe₂O₄的特性,提出了CuFe₂O₄ NPs参与Luminol-EDTA体系可能的发光机理。研究发现芦丁能抑制Luminol-EDTA-CuFe₂O₄ NPs体系的化学发光,结合流动注射技术,将此化学发光体系应用于芦丁片中芦丁含量的测定。在优化实验条件下,芦丁浓度在2×10^-8~2×10^-5 mol/L范围内芦丁浓度的对数和相对化学发光值呈线性,芦丁浓度检出限（LOD）为1.21×10^-9 mol/L。将本方法应用于芦丁片中的芦丁含量测定,回收率为97%~102%,RSD为2.54%（c=1×10^-7mol/L,n=11）。     

Intensive organic vegetable production increases soil organic carbon but with a lower carbon conversion efficiency than integrated management

Intensive vegetable production in greenhouses has rapidly expanded in China since the 1990s and increased to 1.3 million ha of farmland by 2016, which is the highest in the world. We conducted an 11‐year greenhouse vegetable production experiment from 2002 to 2013 to observe soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics under three management systems, i.e., conventional (CON), integrated (ING), and intensive organic (ORG) farming. Soil samples (0–20 and 20–40 cm depth) were collected in 2002 and 2013 and separated into four particle‐size fractions, i.e., coarse sand (> 250 µm), fine sand (250–53 µm), silt (53–2 µm), and clay (< 2 µm). The SOC contents and δ¹³C values of the whole soil and the four particle‐size fractions were analyzed. After 11 years of vegetable farming, ORG and ING significantly increased SOC stocks (0–20 cm) by 4008 ± 36.6 and 2880 ± 365 kg C ha^?1 y^?1, respectively, 8.1‐ and 5.8‐times that of CON (494 ± 42.6 kg C ha^?1 y^?1). The SOC stock increase in ORG at 20–40 cm depth was 245 ± 66.4 kg C ha^?1 y^?1, significantly higher than in ING (66 ± 13.4 kg C ha^?1 y^?1) and CON (109 ± 44.8 kg C ha^?1 y^?1). Analyses of ¹³C revealed a significant increase in newly produced SOC in both soil layers in ORG. However, the carbon conversion efficiency (CE: increased organic carbon in soil divided by organic carbon input) was lower in ORG (14.4%–21.7%) than in ING (18.2%–27.4%). Among the four particle‐sizes in the 0–20 cm layer, the silt fraction exhibited the largest proportion of increase in SOC content (57.8% and 55.4% of the SOC increase in ORG and ING, respectively). A similar trend was detected in the 20–40 cm soil layer. Over all, intensive organic (ORG) vegetable production increases soil organic carbon but with a lower carbon conversion efficiency than integrated (ING) management.     

尿素施用对稻田土壤甲烷产生、氧化及排放的影响

通过田间和培养试验研究了不施尿素(N0kg/hm2)和施用尿素(N300kg/hm2)对水稻生长期稻田土壤CH4产生潜力、氧化潜力和排放通量的影响。结果表明,水稻全生育期内,施用尿素降低土壤CH4产生潜力,并推迟其达到最大值的时间;尿素作为基肥和穗肥施用抑制土壤CH4氧化,而作为分蘖肥施用短暂地促进然后抑制土壤CH4氧化;施用尿素降低稻田CH4排放量。施用尿素通过同时影响CH4产生潜力和氧化潜力来影响稻田CH4排放。     

微生物降解1,2,4-三氯苯研究进展

1,2,4-三氯苯(1,2,4-TCB)的微生物降解机制包括好氧降解、还原脱氯和共代谢。本文简要综述了国内外对1,2,4-TCB微生物降解方面的研究进展,分析了其微生物降解的可行性,讨论了其好氧降解的微生物种类以及降解途径,阐述了厌氧条件下,混合菌群以及纯菌株对1,2,4-TCB还原脱氯的过程,目的是为1,2,4-TCB污染土壤的微生物修复提供依据。     

融合卷积神经网络与视觉注意机制的苹果幼果高效检测方法

果实表型数据高通量、自动获取是果树新品种育种研究的基础,实现幼果精准检测是获取生长数据的关键。幼果期果实微小且与叶片颜色相近,检测难度大。为了实现自然环境下苹果幼果的高效检测,采用融合挤压激发块(Squeeze-and-Excitation block, SE block)和非局部块(Non-Local block, NL block)两种视觉注意机制,提出了一种改进的YOLOv4网络模型(YOLOv4-SENL)。YOLOv4模型的骨干网络提取高级视觉特征后,利用SE block在通道维度整合高级特征,实现通道信息的加强。在模型改进路径聚合网络(Path Aggregation Network, PAN)的3个路径中加入NL block,结合非局部信息与局部信息增强特征。SE block和NL block两种视觉注意机制从通道和非局部两个方面重新整合高级特征,强调特征中的通道信息和长程依赖,提高网络对背景与果实的特征捕捉能力。最后由不同尺寸的特征图实现不同大小幼果的坐标和类别计算。经过1 920幅训练集图像训练,网络在600幅测试集上的平均精度为96.9%,分别比SSD、Faster R-CNN和YOLOv4模型的平均精度提高了6.9百分点、1.5百分点和0.2百分点,表明该算法可准确地实现幼果期苹果目标检测。模型在480幅验证集的消融试验结果表明,仅保留YOLOv4-SENL中的SE block比YOLOv4模型精度提高了3.8百分点;仅保留YOLOv4-SENL中3个NL block视觉注意模块比YOLOv4模型的精度提高了2.7百分点;将YOLOv4-SENL中SE block与NL blocks相换,比YOLOv4模型的精度提高了4.1百分点,表明两种视觉注意机制可在增加少量参数的基础上显著提升网络对苹果幼果的感知能力。该研究结果可为果树育种研究获取果实信息提供参考。