Abstract:The application of magnetic nanoparticles on biomedicine has gained increased interest in recent years because of their unique magnetic properties such as superparamagnetism. However, magnetic nanoparticles possess these desirable features at the expense of particle size and magnetic properties such as reduced saturation magnetization and susceptibility, which in turn has affected its performance in bioapplication. In comparison with superparamagnettic nanoparticle, magnetic vortex nanoparticles with unique magnetic domain structure and relatively large particle size, has shown superior magnetic properties, which make them a promising candidate for diverse biomedical applications. In this article, we briefly review the progress on synthesis and biomedical application of magnetic vortex nanoparticles. In particular, magnetic vortex iron oxide nanodisks and nanorings are taken as typical examples to demonstrate the vortex domain structure and its magnetization reversal process. Benefits from their unique magnetic properties, these magnetic vortex nanoparticles have significantly improve the performance of MRI diagnostic and anti-tumor hyperthermia treatment as compared to currently available superparamagnetic iron oxides nanoparticles. Ultimately, the highly biocompatible magnetic vortex nanoparticles that we have introduced here can be a promising biomagnetic nanoplatform to construct a variety of high efficient nanoagent systems for biomedical application in the future.

Abstract:Endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition(EndMT) is a parallel process of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition(EMT), during which endothelial cells down-regulate the endothelial cells markers and acquire the phenotype of mesenchymal cells including proliferation, migration and collagen synthesize. Recent studies have shown that EndMT plays crucial physiological and pathophysiological roles in regulation of endothelial function, the development and structural remodel of cardiac muscle, cardiac valve and blood vessels. In this review, we summary the function and the regulation of the EndMT, and then discuss the potential roles of the EndMT in cardiovascular diseases including cardiac fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension and arteriosclerotic vascular remodeling, which may provide novel targets for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

Abstract:Secretory protein growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11) is a newly identified member of the BMPs family and TGF-β superfamily. In early embryo, GDF11 modulates the development and differentiation of a number of vital tissues and organs such as spinal cord, olfactory receptor neurons, bones, kidney, retina, pancreas, etc, showing its essential role in the normal development of the embryo. Recent studies have exhibited that GDF11 significantly improves brain cognition, reverses myocardial hypertrophy and improves the metabolism of skeletal muscle, proposing a wide range of biological effects and its potential in clinical application as a senescence-reversing agent. However, a most recent research obtained opposite results. In this review we will introduce the up-to-date knowledge of GDF11, concerning its discovery and research history, structure, expression regulation, signal transduction pathways and functions in order to provide ideas for future research.

Abstract:G-quadruplex structures of nucleic acids have been demonstrated to be widely existed in the genomes of prokaryotes and eukaryotes, meanwhile, involved in many biological processes, such as gene replication and recombination, telomere elongation, regulation of genetic expression, etc. Studying the interactions between G-quadruplex and ligands, such as Telomestatin, TMPyP4, BRACO-19, RHPS4, contributes to understand the roles of G-quadruplex and the corresponding mechanisms in biological processes. The research relies on a variety of analytical methods. Biochemical methods includes DMS footprinting, EMSA and DNA polymerase stop assay, and spectroscopy methods, such as circular dichroism, fluorescence spectrum, fluorescence resonance energy transfer, nuclear magnetic resonance and X-ray crystal diffraction. In addition, surface plasma resonance, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and capillary electrophoresis are also included. This paper reviews the ligands targeting G-quadruplex and methods mentioned above for characterizing G-quadruplex's structures and interactions with ligands.

Abstract:It has been established that exposure in the hypomagnetic field (HMF), which is one of the environmental factor of outer space, has adverse effects on animal and human behavior and brain function. Thus, it is necessary to develop appropriate counteract strategy to avoid the HMF-induced risks to the health of the astronauts during long-term and long-distance manned space mission. However, the physical and mental effects of the HMF in details still await systematic evaluation and the underlying mechanism remains elusive, so far. In this study, we constructed an HMF animal rearing system (< 500 nT) and examined the effects of one-month HMF exposure on the circadian behavior, pain response and emotions in adult male C57BL/6 mice (4～6 weeks old, (20 ± 2) g). The control animals were reared in the geomagnetic field (GMF). The HMF-exposed animals exhibited a prolonged alteration of the circadian drinking rhythm and a decrease in general activity, accompanied with an increase in thermal hyperalgesia. But the HMF did not induce obvious depression-like and anxiety-related behaviors. The serum noradrenalin concentration in HMF-exposed mice significantly decreased. These findings indicate that the HMF disturbs the behavior rhythm and the function of endocrine system, which probably leads to the subsequently weakened activities of the animal.

Abstract:This study explores whether musical training is able to enhance the perception of pitch- and location- based selective auditory attention, then analyzes the corresponding neural mechanism of the auditory plasticity through musical training. In the auditory perception experiment, listeners were instructed to select one of two simultaneous digits based on either the target digit's pitch or location. In the auditory cognitive experiment, the listeners' brainstem frequency-following responses (FFRs)were recorded in response to the complex tones with various frequency resolutions in both quiet and in noisy acoustic environments. Further, four approaches of FFR analysis were proposed, including short-term phasing locking value of envelope-related frequency-following response (FFR_ENV), polar of FFR's instantaneous phase difference, vector of FFR's grand averaged phase difference, and spectrum signal-to-noise ratio of temporal-fine-structure-related frequency-following response (FFR_TFS). Results show that compared to non-musicians, listeners with musical training were both more accurate at reporting the target digit and had a shorter reaction time, especially for attend-pitch trials. For both groups, noise had little effect on the neural encoding of the fundamental frequency (F0) but significantly degraded the neural encoding of harmonics. Compared to non-musicians, musicians showed enhanced phase locking of F0 as well as more robust phase locking to stimulus harmonics in the noise condition. Neural spectrum SNRs of FFR_TFS to harmonics were correlated with listeners' behavioral correction rate on the pitch-based auditory attention, for which robustness of musicians' FFR out performed the non-musicians'. These findings suggest musician's better pitch perception in auditory selective attention is relevant to their enhanced neural cognition. Musical training is assumed to be able to enhance the FFR_ENV phase locking to the F0, the robustness and continuous phase locking of FFR_TFS to the harmonics, and spectrum SNR FFR_TFS to the harmonics. In conclusion, musical training has a significant effect on listeners' plasticity in auditory selective attention.

Abstract:Anxiety disorders, including some of the most prevalent mental disorders in our society, are generally treated by drugs and psychological therapies. The latter is preferred for better effectiveness and less side-effects and is believed to relieve anxiety status by the beneficial effects of positive memory. However, the corresponding animal model is absent and related mechanisms underlying psychological therapies remain elusive. Based on the elevated plus maze for evaluation of rodent anxiety-related behavior, we used food reward at one open arm to train the mice to form reward memory and to challenge the open arms. The reward-trained mice preferred the reward open arm than the neutral one and stayed longer in open arms than those neutral-trained mice even in the final test without reward. Chelerythrine, a protein kinase C inhibitor, was proven to impair the formation of reward memory and the relief of anxiety-related behavior. Our studies confirm the efficacy of psychological therapy against anxiety disorders and shed light on its cellular mechanism.

Abstract:Ancestral information Markers (AIMs) can be utilized for analysis of population genetic structure. In this study, AIMs were selected from Illumina OvineSNP50 chip in blackbone sheep and other eight kinds of Asian sheep populations by Informativeness-statistic defined by Rosenberg. Then subsets of 20, 50, 100, 500 SNPS loci with higher Informativeness value and the corresponding number of random SNP loci were used to infer the population genetic structure, respectively. Principal component analysis(PCA) and fastSTRUCURE methods evaluated AIMs' role in distinguishing the population structure of these 9 Asian sheep population structure. AIMs screened in our study are usefulness in assigning samples to different genetic groups, helping reducing the number of SNPs in sheep genetic researches. The top 50 AIMs can be used effectively to cluster sheep populations into 4 groups, which is consist with the result by the genome-wide SNPs: 1)blackbone group, 2)changthangi and tibetan group; 3)group of banglandeshi, banglandeshiGarole and IndianGarole, 4) group of sumatran, garut and deccani. Alleles Frequncies of AIMs are significantly different among these sheep populations, inferring these markers may be useful in the genetic evolution analysis of these 9 sheep population.