One of the basic questions in the aging field is whether there is a fundamental difference between the aging of lower invertebrates and mammals. A major difference between the lower invertebrates and mammals is the abundancy of noncoding RNAs, most of which are not conserved. We have previously identified a noncoding RNA Terc-53 that is derived from the RNA component of telomerase Terc. To study its physiological functions, we generated two transgenic mouse models overexpressing the RNA in wild-type and early-aging Terc-/- backgrounds. Terc-53 mice showed age-related cognition decline and shortened life span, even though no developmental defects or physiological abnormality at an early age was observed, indicating its involvement in normal aging of mammals. Subsequent mechanistic study identified hyaluronan-mediated motility receptor (Hmmr) as the main effector of Terc-53. Terc-53 mediates the degradation of Hmmr, leading to an increase of inflammation in the affected tissues, accelerating organismal aging. adeno-associated virus delivered supplementation of Hmmr in the hippocampus reversed the cognition decline in Terc-53 transgenic mice. Neither Terc-53 nor Hmmr has homologs in C. elegans. Neither do arthropods express hyaluronan. These findings demonstrate the complexity of aging in mammals and open new paths for exploring noncoding RNA and Hmmr as means of treating age-related physical debilities and improving healthspan.
Animals ; Mice ; RNA, Untranslated/metabolism* ; Aging/genetics* ; Mice, Transgenic ; Telomerase/metabolism* ; RNA/genetics* ; Hippocampus/metabolism* ; Humans ; Mice, Inbred C57BL

Ribosomopathies encompass a spectrum of disorders arising from impaired ribosome biogenesis and reduced functionality.Mutation or dysexpression of the genes that disturb any finely regulated steps of ribosome biogenesis can result in different types of ribosomopathies in clinic,collectively known as ribosomopathy genes.Emerging data suggest that ribosomopathy patients exhibit a significantly heightened susceptibility to cancer.Abnormal ribosome biogenesis and dysregulation of some ribo-somopathy genes have also been found to be intimately associated with cancer development.The cor-relation between ribosome biogenesis or ribosomopathy and the development of malignancies has been well established.This work aims to review the recent advances in the research of ribosomopathy genes among human cancers and meanwhile,to excavate the potential role of these genes,which have not or rarely been reported in cancer,in the disease development across cancers.We plan to establish a theoretical framework between the ribosomopathy gene and cancer development,to further facilitate the potential of these genes as diagnostic biomarker as well as pharmaceutical targets for cancer treatment.

Protein nitration and nitrosylation are essential post-translational modifications (PTMs) involved in many fundamental cellular processes. Recent studies have revealed that excessive levels of nitration and nitrosylation in some critical proteins are linked to numerous chronic diseases. Therefore, the identification of substrates that undergo such modifications in a site-specific manner is an important research topic in the community and will provide candidates for targeted therapy. In this study, we aimed to develop a computational tool for predicting nitration and nitrosylation sites in proteins. We first constructed four types of encoding features, including positional amino acid distributions, sequence contextual dependencies, physicochemical properties, and position-specific scoring features, to represent the modified residues. Based on these encoding features, we established a predictor called DeepNitro using deep learning methods for predicting protein nitration and nitrosylation. Using n-fold cross-validation, our evaluation shows great AUC values for DeepNitro, 0.65 for tyrosine nitration, 0.80 for tryptophan nitration, and 0.70 for cysteine nitrosylation, respectively, demonstrating the robustness and reliability of our tool. Also, when tested in the independent dataset, DeepNitro is substantially superior to other similar tools with a 7%-42% improvement in the prediction performance. Taken together, the application of deep learning method and novel encoding schemes, especially the position-specific scoring feature, greatly improves the accuracy of nitration and nitrosylation site prediction and may facilitate the prediction of other PTM sites. DeepNitro is implemented in JAVA and PHP and is freely available for academic research at http://deepnitro.renlab.org.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Amino Acids ; metabolism ; Deep Learning ; Humans ; Internet ; Neural Networks (Computer) ; Nitrosation ; Proteins ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Reproducibility of Results ; Software

Objective To investigate the advantages of glucocorticoid combined with traditional meth-ods and to explore glucocorticoid use in appropriate time in the whole course of the disease and the appropriate dose.Methods With reference to Kawasaki disease(KD)diagnostic criteria,363 cases of patients with KD were enrolled,and divided into conventional treatment group and combined hormone group randomly. Combined hormone group according to clinical manifestations can be divided into sub groups as typical KD and atypical KD group. We analyzed respectively before and after 1 week treatment in two groups of children with the onset of age,gender,heating duration after treatment, IVIG treatment time, hospitalization days and total hospitalization expenses,tips and course of acute stage,recovery period the relevant indexes to the test,and coronary artery le-sion( CAL) in one month. Results Thermal process after treatment,hospitalization duration and hospitalization expenses decreased significantly in combined hormone group compared with conventional treatment group. The difference between the two,in the clinical laboratory indexes and CAL have no obvious difference. In different types of KD, the thermal process after treatment, hospitalization days and hospitalization expenses, have de-creased significantly in typical KD sub group when treating with combined hormone therapy comparing with hor-mone therapy atypical sub group. Other clinical laboratory indexes and CAL have no obvious differences in com-pared between the sub groups. Conclusion Combined hormone therapy for KD patients,plays an important role in shortening the thermal process after treatment and reducing the hospitalization expense.

Objective To construct recombinant plasmids containing HPV18E7 gene ,and explore the optimization condition of its expression in Escherichia coli .Methods The genomic DNA extracted from HeLa cell line which served as a template to the HPV18 E7 gene was amplified using PCR method ;and the amplified product of HPV18E7 gene was connected to the pET-32a(+ ) vector ,which composed the pET-32a(+ )-HPV18E7 recombinant plasmid ;the positive recombinant plasmids were transformed into BL21-DE3-pLysS competent cells and the optimized expression condition was explored in order to obtain a large amount of HPV18E7 oncogenic protein .Results The fragment length of PCR products of HeLa cell genomic DNA was consistent with that of HPV18 E7 gene .In LB medium ,the expression level of the target protein was not high under such conditions as different concentra-tion of IPTG and lactose ,different temperatures and different induction starting amount .Therefore the ZYM-5052 auto-induction medium was tried in this experiment ,and the expression amount of the fusion protein was much higher than that induced with IPTG and lactose .Conclusion The amount of HPV18E7 fusion protein in ZYM-5052 automatic induction medium is much higher than that induced with IPTG and lactose .

Objective To explore the origin of fluoride in the coal-combustion endemic fluorosis areas in the middle part of Hunan Province and to provide basic data for making preventive measure in the regions. Methods In November, 2006, the prevalence rate of dental fluorosis of children aged 10-12 years were examined, the villages were divided into three groups based on the prevalence rate of dental fluorosis. The fluoride content in the drinking water, coal, briquettes, briquette ash, clay and indoor air was determined by fluoride ion selective electrode. The quantity of fluoride release was calculated. Results There was no significant difference in the concentration of fluoride in water among the three groups, and it was below 1.0 mg/L in fluorosis and non-fluorosis areas. The fluoride levels in the coal, briquette ash and indoor air showed no statistical difference among groups. The fluoride levels of briquettes, clay and the quantity of fluorine release showed significant difference (P

plant height.Multiple regression analysis showed that branch height from base(X_2),number of primary branches(X_4),number of effective cones per plant(X_6),number of ineffective cones per plant(X_7),number of grains per cone(X_9),and diameter of primary head(X_(10)) were the main factors affecting flower yield(Y) per plant.Multiple regression equation of flower yield per plant and six characters was Y=-3.037 0+(0.002 7) X_2+0.045 9 X_4+0.074 5 X_6+0.043 2 X_7+0.023 0 X_9+1.148 2 X_(10)(F=21.84~()).The direct effect of number of effective cones per plant was the strongest,followed by diameter of primary head.There were significant differences within the flower yield per plant and the safflor yellow A content of different species.The correlation between the safflor yellow A content and the flower yield per plant was insignificant.Conclusion High-yield and high-quality are compatible in breeding of safflower which is used as herbal medicine.Number of effective cones per plant and diameter of primary head are focused on the high yield breeding and cultivation of safflower species.The plant type of higher flower yield safflower species should have more effective cone numbers,more number of cones,number of branches,number of primary branches,bigger diameter of primary head,moderate plant height,branch height from base,and ineffective cones per plant.Of all accessions,PI 239226,PI 253540,PI 367833,and Jianyang Honghua are outstanding and optimal for cultivating in Sichuan Province.

Objective To explore the adverse effect of endemic fluorosis caused by fluoride from coal burning on the intelligence of children. Methods Four primary schools were selected respectively from slight, moderate, severe endemic fluorosis areas and the control area in Xinhua county of Hu'nan Province, and twenty children of grade 5 were randomly chosen in each school. The seriousness of dental fluorosis was examined by Dean's method and intelligence level was evaluated by CRT-RC. The morning urine was collected and the fluoride content in urine was measured by fluoride ion selection electrode method. Results The dental fluorosis was positively related to the fluoride content in urine (P0.05), but the difference was significant in the abilities of comparative inference, serial relationship and abstract inference (P