Asprosin is a white adipose tissue-derived hormone that increases abnormally in mammals with insulin resistance. However, the role of asprosin in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a disease partly characterized by insulin resistance, and its potential connection with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and PCOS has not been thoroughly elucidated to date. To investigate the association of asprosin with metabolic profiles, sex-related hormones, or inflammation in females with T2DM or PCOS, plasma asprosin and metabolic indicators were measured in 66 healthy females, 53 female patients with T2DM, and 41 patients with PCOS. Spearman's correlation analysis and binary logistic regression analysis models were used. Plasma asprosin was significantly higher in T2DM females than in healthy subjects (P < 0.001) and was positively correlated with fasting blood glucose (FBG), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and HOMA-IR (P < 0.05). Asprosin in PCOS subjects was also higher than in healthy subjects (P < 0.001) but lower than in T2DM subjects (P < 0.05), and it was positively correlated with FBG, HbA1c, HOMA-IR, LDL-c, APOB, APOE, and testosterone (P < 0.05). The BMI-categorized subgroups of PCOS subjects also showed correlations of asprosin with metabolic profiles and sex-related hormones. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that plasma asprosin level acted as an independent risk factor for T2DM or PCOS. These findings suggest the correlation of plasma asprosin level with glucose metabolism, lipid metabolism, sex-related hormones, and inflammation in females, supporting asprosin as a potential predictive factor for females with metabolic-related diseases. This trial is registered with ChiCTR-ROC-17010719.

BackgroundUpon the completion of whole genome sequencing, thorough genome annotation that associates genome sequences with biological meanings is essential. Genome annotation depends on the availability of transcript information as well as orthology information. In teleost fish, genome annotation is seriously hindered by genome duplication. Because of gene duplications, one cannot establish orthologies simply by homology comparisons. Rather intense phylogenetic analysis or structural analysis of orthologies is required for the identification of genes. To conduct phylogenetic analysis and orthology analysis, full-length transcripts are essential. Generation of large numbers of full-length transcripts using traditional transcript sequencing is very difficult and extremely costly.ResultsIn this work, we took advantage of a doubled haploid catfish, which has two sets of identical chromosomes and in theory there should be no allelic variations. As such, transcript sequences generated from next-generation sequencing can be favorably assembled into full-length transcripts. Deep sequencing of the doubled haploid channel catfish transcriptome was performed using Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform, yielding over 300 million high-quality trimmed reads totaling 27 Gbp. Assembly of these reads generated 370,798 non-redundant transcript-derived contigs. Functional annotation of the assembly allowed identification of 25,144 unique protein-encoding genes. A total of 2,659 unique genes were identified as putative duplicated genes in the catfish genome because the assembly of the corresponding transcripts harbored PSVs or MSVs (in the form of pseudo-SNPs in the assembly). Of the 25,144 contigs with unique protein hits, around 20,000 contigs matched 50% length of reference proteins, and over 14,000 transcripts were identified as full-length with complete open reading frames. The characterization of consensus sequences surrounding start codon and the stop codon confirmed the correct assembly of the full-length transcripts.ConclusionsThe large set of transcripts assembled in this study is the most comprehensive set of genome resources ever developed from catfish, which will provide the much needed resources for functional genome research in catfish, serving as a reference transcriptome for genome annotation, analysis of gene duplication, gene family structures, and digital gene expression analysis. The putative set of duplicated genes provide a starting point for genome scale analysis of gene duplication in the catfish genome, and should be a valuable resource for comparative genome analysis, genome evolution, and genome function studies.

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A self-priming centrifugal pump can be used in various areas such as agricultural irrigation, urban greening, and building water-supply. In order to simulate the gas-water two-phase flow in the self-priming process of a self-priming centrifugal pump, the unsteady numerical calculation of a typical self-priming centrifugal pump was performed using the ANSYS Computational Fluid X (ANSYS CFX) software. It was found that the whole self-priming process of a self-priming pump can be divided into three stages: the initial self-priming stage, the middle self-priming stage, and the final self-priming stage. Moreover, the self-priming time of the initial and final self-priming stages accounts for a small percentage of the whole self-priming process, while the middle self-priming stage is the main stage in the self-priming process and further determines the length of the self-priming time.