No abstract

No abstract

A reconstruction method is presented for the generation of three-dimensional maps of the grain boundaries within powders or polycrystals. The grains are assumed to have a mosaic spread below 1 . They are mapped layer by layer in a non-destructive way by diffraction with hard X-rays. First the diffraction spots are sorted with respect to grain of origin by the indexing program GRAINDEX. Next for each grain the reconstruction is performed by ART ± an iterative algebraic algorithm. The method is optimized by simulations. It is veri®ed by a 50 keV study on one embedded layer in an aluminium specimen. The layer comprises $50 grain sections of an average size of 100 mm. Based on the use of ®ve re¯ections per grain, a resolution of $5 mm is inferred.

No abstract

Kinesin family member C1 (KIFC1, also known as HSET) is a minus end-directed motor protein, which is critical in centrosome clustering. The present study investigated the expression of KIFC1 in paired hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues and adjacent non-cancerous tissues from 91 patients by immunohistochemical analysis; clinical data were concomitantly collected. KIFC1 was expressed at high levels in HCC tissues, compared with that in peritumoral tissues (54.9 vs. 14.3%; P<0.01), and its expression correlated with tumor emboli, metastasis, recurrence and time of recurrence. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the expression of KIFC1 was significantly associated with tumor-free survival rates. In addition, multivariate analyses revealed that the overexpression of KIFC1was an independent predictive marker in patients with HCC. Consistently, data derived from GEPIA was in agreement with the results. In vitro, KIFC1 knockdown effectively decreased HCC cell viability, and induced apoptosis and cell death. KIFC1 knockdown also significantly suppressed tumor cell migration and invasion in vitro. Mechanistically, the apoptosis-related protein, B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), was downregulated in KIFC1 small interfering RNA-treated groups, whereas thee levels of Bcl-2-associated X protein and p53 were upregulated. In addition, the expression levels of phosphorylated phosphoinositide 3-kinase and phosphorylated AKT were decreased significantly when KIFC1 was silenced. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition-related proteins, N-cadherin, matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), β-catenin, Slug, and Zinc finger E-box-binding homeobox 1, were downregulated, whereas the expression of E-cadherin was upregulated. The overexpression of KIFC1 was correlated closely with the progression of HCC and poor prognosis, and suggested that the expression levels of KIFC1 are a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in HCC.

Uptake of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) of nine vegetables including potherb mustard, bok choy, celery, spinach, cabbage, leaf of tube, lettuce, garlic, and edible amaranth in plastic film greenhouses with different plastic films, film thickness, greenhouse age, and greenhouse height was studied. The results showed that the higher the DEHP content of film, the thicker the film, the lower the height of the greenhouse, and the younger the age of the greenhouse were, the higher the DEHP concentration of vegetables was. The results afford significant information for production of safe vegetables with low level DEHP contamination.

Pollen grains are regularly used as markers to determine an insect’s movement patterns or host (plant) feeding behavior, yet conventional morphology-based pollen grain analysis (or palynology) encounters a number of important limitations. In the present study, we combine conventional analytical approaches with DNA meta-barcoding to identify pollen grains attached to migrating adults of the turnip moth, Agrotis segetum (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Northeast China. More specifically, pollen grains were dislodged from 2566 A. segetum long-distance migrants captured on Beihuang Island (Bohai Sea) and identified to many (plant) species level. Pollen belonged to 26 families of plants, including Fagaceae, Oleaceae, Leguminosae, Asteraceae, Pinaceae and Rosaceae, including common species such as Citrus sinensis, Olea europaea, Ligustrum lucidum, Robinia pseudoacacia, Castanopsis echinocarpa, Melia azedarach and Castanea henryi. As the above plants are indigenous to southern climes, we deduce that A. segetum forage on plants in those locales prior to engaging in northward spring migration. Our work validates the use of DNA-assisted approaches in lepidopteran pollination ecology research and provides unique and valuable information on the adult feeding range and geographical origin of A. segetum. Our findings also enable targeted (area-wide) pest management interventions or guide the future isolation of volatile attractants.

In this study, we determined the host relationship of Agrotis ipsilon moths by identifying pollen species adhering them during their long-distance migration. Pollen carried by A. ipsilon moths was collected from 2012 to 2014 on a small island in the center of the Bohai Strait, which is a seasonal migration pathway of this pest species. Genomic DNA of single pollen grains was amplified by using whole genome amplification technology, and a portion of the chloroplast rbcL sequence was then amplified from this material. Pollen species were identified by a combination of DNA barcoding and pollen morphology. We found 28 species of pollen from 18 families on the tested moths, mainly from Angiosperm, Dicotyledoneae. From this, we were able to determine that these moths visit woody plants more than herbaceous plants that they carry more pollen in the early and late stages of the migration season, and that the amounts of pollen transportation were related to moth sex, moth body part, and plant species. In general, 31% of female and 26% of male moths were found to be carrying pollen. Amounts of pollen on the proboscis was higher for female than male moths, while the reverse was true for pollen loads on the antennae. This work provides a new approach to study the interactions between noctuid moth and their host plants. Identification of plant hosts for adult moths furthers understanding of the coevolution processes between moths and their host plants.