Abstract:Sharing attention with interactive social partners, referred to as social attention, is fundamental to our efficient social interactions and adaptive functioning, since it enables us to learn about the other person’s inner state and where the important events are in the environment. In recent years, researchers have systematically investigated the specific cognitive and neural mechanisms of social attention using a combination of psychophysical paradigms (e.g., adapted central cueing paradigm), neuroimaging techniques (e.g., ERP, fMRI, MEG) as well as neuropsychological methods (e.g., brain-damaged patients). Some studies have demonstrated that social cues (e.g., eye gaze, head orientation and biological motion walking direction) can trigger reflexive attentional orienting effect, which is unique and qualitatively distinct from the attentional effect induced by nonsocial cues (e.g., arrow) in terms of both behavioral responses and neural activities. However, other studies have found that social and nonsocial attention share common neural substrates, and there is still controversy concerning the specificity of social attention. Combined with previous evidence, the major distinction between social and nonsocial attention is plausible that social attention might be mediated by an innate and genetically determined module, while nonsocial attention may occur as a result of long-term experience (overlearning). Future research, exploring the genetic origins of social and nonsocial attention, may help to provide evidence for the existence of “social attention detector” and highlight the role of social attention in the early diagnosis and clinical intervention of autism.

Abstract:Krüppel-like factor 7(KLF7) is one of the members of specificity protein/krüppel-like factor(SP/KLF) transcription factor family, which play crucial roles in diverse arrays of biological processes including cell stemness, proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and energy metabolism. Klf7-null mice died within the first 3 days of life due to abomoality in nervous system. Genetics and epigenetics studies showed that KLF7 is associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, leukemia, diffuse gastric cancer, rectal adenocarcinoma, face development disordered, oxidative phosphorylation deficient, and type 1 autoimmune pancreatitis. Functional analysis revealed KLF7 is a key regulator of neurogenesis and neuron development, and inhibit preadipocyte differentiation and promote proliferation. In addition, KLF7 mediates muscle stem cell quiescence and suppresses hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell function. However, among the SP/KLF family members, the roles of KLF7 in these biological processes are only beginning to be understood, and most of the mechanisms remain unclear. This review summarizes the latest research progress of KLF7 in the structure and fuctions, and highlights its importance in tissue development, cell proliferation and differentiation, and disease generation.

Abstract:In recent years, long non-coding RNA is found to play an important role in the regulation of cell growth, differentiation and other biological functions, and is closely related to the occurrence and development of cancer. The long non-coding RNA gene, PVT1, located in the fragile chromosome 8q24 region has been widely concerned. LncRNA PVT1 is highly expresses in many types of cancer, and act as potential oncogene. It is commonly to form new fusion gene by chromosome break, and translocation, and regulation of tumor cell function; it also interact with MYC and participate in tumor cell proliferation, apoptosis by multiple pathways. However, the specific molecular mechanisms that occur in the development of cancer still need further research. In this paper, we summarized the features, functions and roles of PVT1 in human cancer.

Abstract:Mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) are isolated from the inner cell mass (ICM) of the pre-implantation embryos. They can be maintained indefinitely as self-renewing populations while retaining the pluripotency to differentiate into the cells of all three primary germ layers when cultured under appropriate conditions in vitro. The transcriptional factor inhibitor of DNA binding 1 (Id1) can promote mESC self-renewal in serum condition without LIF. However, whether the other Id family members, such as Id2 and Id3, have similar function in mESCs is still unclear. In this study, we overexpressed Id2 and Id3 in 46C mESCs respectively, and found that both factors are able to support mESC self-renewal in the absence of LIF, while the self-renewal-promoting effect of Id2 is stronger than Id3. RNA-sequence approach revealed that Id2 is capable of upregulating c-Myc and n-Myc expression levels. Functional studies demonstrated that knockdown of c-Myc and n-Myc together could greatly reduce the function of Id2 in sustaining the undifferentiated state of mESCs, indicating that Myc family members have functional redundancy and can mediate the self-renewal-promoting effect of Id2 in mESCs. Our results will expand the current understanding of the pluripotency regulation network of embryonic stem cells.

Abstract:The anaphylatoxin C3a specific receptor C3aR plays a critical role in the renal diseases, but little is known about the regulation of C3aR expression. Tubulointerstitial hypoxia is common in kidney diseases and is an important pathogenic factor contributing to renal injuries. To investigate whether hypoxia is involved in the regulation of C3aR expression in tubular epithelial cell, in the present study, we investigated the effect of hypoxia on C3aR expression and the underlying mechanism. The human proximal tubular epithelial cells (HK-2) were cultured in hypoxic condition mimicked by addition of NaN₃. The mRNA expression of C3aR was analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR; the protein level of C3aR was evaluated by Western blotting and immunofluorescence. The levels of HIF-1α and NF-κB in nucleus, as well as the effect of HIF-1α or NF-κB inhibition on the expression of C3aR were also examined. We found that hypoxia induced upregulation of C3aR expression both in mRNA and protein level. The protein levels of HIF-1α and NF-κB in nucleus were increased in hypoxic condition. Pre-incubation with HIF-1α or NF-κB inhibitor, both inhibited the C3aR mRNA and protein expression induced by hypoxia. In addition, supplementation with HIF-1α inhibitor decreased the nuclear translocation of NF-κB. These results indicated that hypoxia could induce the expression of C3aR in tubular epithelial cells through HIF-1α/NF-κB pathway.

Abstract:In order to study the effects and mechanisms of macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF) on invasion and migration in human cervical cancer cells (HeLa cell line)，the empty vectors (pCMV/cyto/myc) and recombinant vectors (pCMV/cyto/myc-M-CSF) were transfected into HeLa cells to establish the stable cell line with high expression of cytoplasmic M-CSF (HeLa-M cells). Transwell tests were used to observe the effect of cytoplasmic M-CSF on the cell invasion and migration. MMP-2 activity was detected by gelatin zymography assay. The expression of mRNA and protein was measured by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting. The results showed that the high expression of cytoplasmic M-CSF significantly enhanced the ability of invasion and migration ability in HeLa cells, compared with the empty vector transfected HeLa cells (HeLa-C cells) and the control group (HeLa cells). Our findings suggested that the mechanisms were closely related to the expressions of Rho GTPases (Rac1、cdc42), and the increasing activity and expression of MMP2.

Abstract:To identify signature genes for the pathogenesis of breast cancer, which provides a theoretical support for prevention and early diagnosis of breast cancer. The pattern recognition method was used to analysis the genome-wide gene expression data which was collected from the breast cancer part of TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) database.336 gene expression signature genes were selected by means of a combination of statistical methods such as correlation, t test, confidence interval, etc. The accuracy can be as high as 98% through the machine learning method modeling, which is higher compared with the previous study. The KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) pathway analysis and GO (Gene Ontology) enrichment analysis indicated the significant correlation among eight and eighteen kinds of genes respectively. A functional analysis of the part of the eight pathways showed theirs close relationship at the level of gene regulation which indicted the identified signature genes play an important role in the pathogenesis of breast cancer and is very important for understanding the pathogenesis of breast cancer and the early diagnosis of breast cancer.

Abstract:In order to improve the quality of photoacoustic image reconstruction, aiming at the problems that the signal-to-noise ratio of the original photoacoustic signal is poor, the reconstructed image contrast is low and the resolution is insufficient in the process of photoacoustic image reconstruction, based on the quality of photoacoustic signal which collected from the optimized photoacoustic imaging system, a reconstructed filtering algorithm in view of Renyi entropy is proposed(before using the delay superposition algorithm to reconstruct the image, the original photoacoustic signal is filtered by Renyi entropy filter). Compared with the existing classical filtering algorithm (modulus maxima method and threshold denoising method), the contrast ratio of the algorithm is improved by 18.27% on average, the resolution is increased by 23.69% on average, the SNR is increased by 2.90% on average, and the mean square error is reduced by 2.61% on average by using Renyi algorithm. The photoacoustic signal of the pencil (zero-dimension), hair (one dimension) and mouse cortical blood vessels (two-dimensional) was filtered by the Renyi entropy filter before performing the photoacoustic image reconstruction. After Renyi entropy filtering, the contrast of the photoacoustic reconstructed images was greatly improved by 36.75% (pencil cross section, zero dimension), 30.22% (hairline, one dimension) and 30.38% (mouse cortical blood vessels, two-dimensional). The resolution of reconstructed images also increased significantly, but the resolution of mouse cortical blood vessels was limited (17.65%) compared with zero-dimensional and one-dimensional samples. We speculate that this is related to the selection of biological samples (the first two samples were imitation, the samples of mouse cortical blood vessels were in vivo, and the differences in the photoacoustic signals between the mouse cortical blood vessels and the surrounding biological tissues were weaker than those). The signal-to-noise ratio of reconstructed images was significantly increased by 43.20% (pencil cross section, zero dimension), 51.60% (hairline, one dimension) and 48.20% (mouse cortical blood vessels, two dimensions). Finally, the mean square error of reconstructed images decreased by 7.10% (pencil core cross section, zero dimension), 28.57% (hairline, one dimension) and 69.38% (mouse cortical blood vessels, two dimensions), with the increase of the sample dimension, the mean square error of the image is greatly reduced. We assume that this is due to the increase in the size of the sample with the increase of the sample, and the average error of the whole image is reduced, so that the mean square error corresponding to the reconstructed image is reduced.
The experimental results show that the reconstructed images of the photoacoustic reconstructed by Renyi entropy compared with the reconstructed images obtained from the original photoacoustic signal, the contrast ratio of the photoacoustic reconstructed image is enhanced by 32.45%, the resolution is increased by 30.78% and the signal-to-noise ratio is increased by 47.66%, and the mean square error is reduced by 35.01%. The Renyi entropy filter processing algorithm improves the quality of photoacoustic image reconstruction which will help to promote the clinical application of photoacoustic imaging in biomedical diagnosis and treatment, for example, the early diagnosis about the arthritis, breast cancer and epilepsy and other lesions.

Abstract:Syntaxin is a multi-domain protein that is specifically distributed in the presynaptic membrane of neuron. It is one of the key proteins in membrane fusion. However, the roles of Syntaxin in nerve cell differentiation remain unclear. In this study, wild type and different mutats of Syntaxin were overexpressed in the mouse neuroblastoma cells (N2a). Parameters such as differentiation rate of the cell, number of branches and total length of the neurite were analyzed to determine the effects of Syntaxin in neuronal differentiation. Our results suggested the Habc domain of Syntaxin was the main functional structure in differentiation process. The number of branches and total length of the neurite, but not the differential rate, were affected by Syntaxin overexpression.

Abstract:Maturing low-cost acquisition technology of multi-omics data, e.g. transcriptome and proteome data, continues to generate extensive amounts of cellular response data in numerous physiological and pathological condition. Researchers can use these data to explore the mechanism of biological processes, infer the generation and development of diseases, and discover the targets of drugs. In 2010, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched a project named Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signatures (LINCS). The project established an integrated network-based cellular response database by measuring the change of gene expression and other levels of cellular response after a series of perturbations, illustrated that how cell reacts under multiple genetic and environmental stresses, and connected basic medical research and clinical therapy to promote the rapid development of translational medicine. Here we review the origin, significance, experimental technology, quality control, data content and analysis tools of the LINCS project. We also summarize the applied research of the LINCS project in the aspects of gene regulation, disease generation, and adverse drug reactions.

Abstract:Local details first：sensory perception in autism