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The blood‐brain barrier is a dynamic and complex neurovascular unit that protects neurons from somatic circulatory factors as well as regulates the internal environmental stability of the central nervous system. Endothelial glycocalyx is a critical component of an extended neurovascular unit that influences the structure of the blood‐brain barrier and plays various physiological functions, including an important role in maintaining normal neuronal homeostasis. Specifically, glycocalyx acts in physical and charge barriers, mechanical transduction, regulation of vascular permeability, modulation of inflammatory response, and anticoagulation. Since intact glycocalyx is necessary to maintain the stability and integrity of the internal environment of the blood‐brain barrier, damage to glycocalyx can lead to the dysfunction of the blood‐brain barrier. This review discusses the role of glycocalyx in the context of the substantial literature regarding the blood‐brain barrier research, in order to provide a theoretical basis for the diagnosis and treatment of neurological diseases as well as point to new breakthroughs and innovations in glycocalyx‐dependent blood‐brain barrier function. Endothelial glycocalyx as an important factor in composition of blood‐brain barrier and significance.

In this paper, the relationship between strong L-fuzzy convex structures and L-fuzzifying interval operators are investigated. It is proved that there is a Galois correspondence between the category of strong L-fuzzy convex spaces and that of L-fuzzifying interval spaces. Also, the concept of arity 2 strong L-fuzzy convex structures is presented, which can be reflectively embedded into the category of L-fuzzifying interval spaces. Finally, the ways of L-fuzzy preorders inducing strong L-fuzzy convex structures and strong L-fuzzy convex structures inducing L-fuzzy preorders are given. It is shown that a strong L-fuzzy convex structure generated by an L-fuzzy preorder is an arity 2 strong L-fuzzy convex structure.

Epigenetic regulation plays a critical role in the development, progression, and treatment of tumors. The most common chemical modification of mRNA, called m 6 A, is essential for controlling mRNA stability, splicing, and translation. Methyltransferase-like 3 (METTL3) is an important m6A methyltransferase. The mechanism of action of METTL3 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains unclear. In this investigation, we sought to clarify the function and clinical importance of METTL3 in ESCC and investigate its underlying mechanisms. We discovered that METTL3 has a significant proliferative effect in ESCC cells by using lentiviral construction of stable cell lines overexpressing METTL3 (METTL3-OE) and knocking down METTL3 (sh-METTL3). To create a xenograft tumor model, we inoculated KYSE510 cells subcutaneously into BALB/c nude mice and discovered that sh-METTL3 inhibited the tumorigenicity of esophageal cancer KYSE510 cells in the nude mouse tumor model. MeRIP-seq and RNA-seq analysis revealed IFIT2 to be a METTL3 target gene. The findings revealed that METTL3 regulates IFIT2 and thus influences malignant biological behaviors such as proliferation, migration, and invasion of ESCC, as well as the immune microenvironment of tumors.

Changes in vegetation cover can significantly affect streamflow. Two common methods for estimating vegetation effects on streamflow are the paired catchment method and the time trend analysis technique. In this study, the performance of these methods is evaluated using data from paired catchments in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Results show that these methods generally yield consistent estimates of the vegetation effect, and most of the observed streamflow changes are attributable to vegetation change. These estimates are realistic and are supported by the vegetation history. The accuracy of the estimates, however, largely depends on the length of calibration periods or pretreatment periods. For catchments with short or no pretreatment periods, we find that statistically identified prechange periods can be used as calibration periods. Because streamflow also responds to climate variability, in assessing streamflow changes it is necessary to consider the effect of climate in addition to the effect of vegetation. Here, the climate effect on streamflow was estimated using a sensitivity‐based method that calculates changes in rainfall and potential evaporation. A unifying conceptual framework, based on the assumption that climate and vegetation are the only drivers for streamflow changes, enables comparison of all three methods. It is shown that these methods provide consistent estimates of vegetation and climate effects on streamflow for the catchments considered. An advantage of the time trend analysis and sensitivity‐based methods is that they are applicable to nonpaired catchments, making them potentially useful in large catchments undergoing vegetation change.

Aims/Introduction Insulin‐treated diabetes patients are at high risk for lipohypertrophy (LH), but this clinical problem has been overlooked by some medical professionals. In addition, studies differed from each other significantly in regard to the prevalence of LH. The present systematic review aimed to determine pooled prevalence levels of LH among insulin‐injecting diabetes patients. Materials and Methods Four electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library and Scopus) were searched for eligible studies from their inception until April 2017, and reference lists were searched manually to identify additional studies. Studies containing data on LH in patients with diabetes mellitus were included. Meta‐analysis was carried out with a random effects model. Results A total of 26 studies with a total of 12,493 participants met the inclusion criteria. Meta‐analysis showed that the pooled prevalence of LH was 38% (95% confidence interval [CI] 29–46%, I2 = 99.1%). The main influence on LH was the type of diabetes mellitus. The pooled prevalence of LH among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus was higher than patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (49%, 95% CI 23–74% vs 34%, 95% CI 19–49%). The pooled prevalence of LH of studies involving a mixed type of diabetes mellitus was 37% (95% CI 25–48%, I2 = 98.3%). Conclusion The prevalence of LH was high in insulin‐treated diabetes patients. It showed that diabetes nurses should screen for LH regularly in their patients, and teach them how to prevent LH in their daily management of diabetes mellitus. 26 studies reported with a total of 12493 participants met the inclusion criteria. Meta‐analysis revealed that the pooled prevalence of lipohypertrophy was 38%.

Abscisic acid (ABA) regulates plant development and adaptation to environmental conditions. Although the ABA biosynthesis pathway in plants has been thoroughly elucidated, how ABA biosynthetic genes are regulated at the molecular level during plant development is less well understood. Here, we show that the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) zinc finger transcription factor SlZFP2 is involved in the regulation of ABA biosynthesis during fruit development. Overexpression of SlZFP2 resulted in multiple phenotypic changes, including more branches, early flowering, delayed fruit ripening, lighter seeds, and faster seed germination, whereas down-regulation of its expression caused problematic fruit set, accelerated ripening, and inhibited seed germination. SlZFP2 represses ABA biosynthesis during fruit development through direct suppression of the ABA biosynthetic genes NOTABILIS, SITIENS, and FLACCA and the aldehyde oxidase SlAO1. We also show that SlZFP2 regulates fruit ripening through transcriptional suppression of the ripening regulator COLORLESS NON-RIPENING. Using bacterial one-hybrid screening and a selected amplification and binding assay, we identified the (A/T)(G/C)TT motif as the core binding sequence of SlZFP2. Furthermore, by RNA sequencing profiling, we found that 193 genes containing the SlZFP2-binding motifs in their promoters were differentially expressed in 2 d post anthesis fruits between the SlZFP2 RNA interference line and its nontransgenic sibling. We propose that SlZFP2 functions as a repressor to fine-tune ABA biosynthesis during fruit development and provides a potentially valuable tool for dissecting the role of ABA in fruit ripening.

This study focuses on a 200 t/d glass fiber furnace with an electric boosting system using oxygen and air as the oxidizers. A furnace model, including the combustion space and glass melt, was developed using CFD numerical simulation techniques. Temperature fields, velocity fields, and glass particle trajectories were used to compare the operating conditions of air-fuel and oxy-fuel combustion, analyzing the impact of the oxy-fuel system on the glass furnace. Additionally, the residence time distribution, melting factor, and mixing factor were used as quality indicators to assess the performance and production quality of the glass furnace. The results demonstrated that in the oxy-fuel electric boosting process, the flame-covered zone reached higher temperatures, the high-temperature region was larger, and the maximum temperature difference was about 378.5 K, which improved the heat transfer efficiency to the glass melt. Additionally, the oxy-fuel process promoted glass flow, and enhanced the mixing of the glass melt, although the residence time of the fastest-moving particles was only 8.0 h, which might have an inferior melting quality. These research findings can provide valuable insights for the engineering optimization of the oxy-fuel electric boosting process.

MicroRNAs have been identified as key players in the development and progression of osteosarcoma, which is the most common primary malignancy of bone. Sequencing-based miR-omic and quantitative real-time PCR analyses suggested that the expression of miR-193a-3p and miR-193a-5p was decreased by DNA methylation at their promoter region in a highly metastatic osteosarcoma cell line (MG63.2) relative to their expression in the less metastatic MG63 cell line. Further wound-healing and invasion assays demonstrated that both miR-193a-3p and miR-193a-5p suppressed osteosarcoma cell migration and invasion. Moreover, introducing miR-193a-3p and miR-193a-5p mimics into MG63.2 cells or antagomiRs into MG63 cells confirmed their critical roles in osteosarcoma metastasis. Additionally, bioinformatics prediction along with biochemical assay results clearly suggested that the secretory small GTPase Rab27B and serine racemase (SRR) were direct targets of miR-193a-3p and miR-193a-5p, respectively. These two targets are indeed involved in the miR-193a-3p- and miR-193a-5p-induced suppression of osteosarcoma cell migration and invasion. MiR-193a-3p and miR-193a-5p play important roles in osteosarcoma metastasis through down-regulation of the Rab27B and SRR genes and therefore may serve as useful biomarkers for the diagnosis of osteosarcoma and as potential candidates for the treatment of metastatic osteosarcoma.

The heat tolerance of rice and tomato plants is increased by overexpression of the ERECTA gene. The detrimental effects of global warming on crop productivity threaten to reduce the world's food supply 1 , 2 , 3 . Although plant responses to changes in temperature have been studied 4 , genetic modification of crops to improve thermotolerance has had little success to date. Here we demonstrate that overexpression of the Arabidopsis thaliana receptor-like kinase ERECTA (ER) in Arabidopsis , rice and tomato confers thermotolerance independent of water loss and that Arabidopsis er mutants are hypersensitive to heat. A loss-of-function mutation of a rice ER homolog and reduced expression of a tomato ER allele decreased thermotolerance of both species. Transgenic tomato and rice lines overexpressing Arabidopsis ER showed improved heat tolerance in the greenhouse and in field tests at multiple locations in China during several seasons. Moreover, ER -overexpressing transgenic Arabidopsis , tomato and rice plants had increased biomass. Our findings could contribute to engineering or breeding thermotolerant crops with no growth penalty.

In this study, the calibration and validation period with stable underlying surface conditions was determined by using a statistically significant change point of the annual streamflow in several catchments of the Wei River basin (WRB). The effects of climate changes and human activities on streamflow were estimated by using the sensitivity-based method and the dynamic water balance model, respectively. The contributions of climate effects and human activities effects on streamflow were also investigated. The results showed that almost all the catchments exhibited significant decreasing trend of streamflow in the early 1990s. The streamflow was more sensitive to changes in precipitation than changes in potential evapotranspiration (PET). Effects of climate due to changes in precipitation and PET are weak in Linjiacun, Weijiabao and Xianyang catchments, while it is strong in the catchments controlled by other hydrological stations, accounting for more than 40 % of streamflow reduction. Effects of human activities on streamflow in Linjiacun, Weijiabao, Xianyang and Zhangjiashan catchments accounted for more than 50 % of the streamflow reduction. The study provides scientific foundation to understand the causes of water resources scarcity and useful information for the planning and management of water resources in the ecological fragile arid area.