Boyelehman0817

The expression of miR-148b-3p was not related to clinical characteristics, such as age and weight, as observed for the other miRNAs analyzed, suggesting its potential as a biomarker for detection of this pathology.Obesity is a major public health problem worldwide. It has a complex etiology, influenced by environmental and genetic factors. FTO has been recognized as an important genetic factor for obesity development. This study evaluated the contribution of FTO polymorphisms (rs9939609 and rs17817449) for extreme obesity in terms of the period of obesity onset, anthropometric, and biochemical parameters. The haplotype and the combined effects of FTO risk alleles on obesity susceptibility were evaluated. We investigated 169 normal-weight subjects (body mass index, BMI 22.8 [21.0; 24.0] kg/m2) and 123 extremely obese individuals (BMI 47.6 [44.1; 53.1] kg/m2). Genotyping was performed by real time PCR. Our results showed a strong association between FTO variants and extreme obesity. Carriers of the AT haplotype had an increased risk for extreme obesity. Gene scores suggested that the risk of developing extreme obesity was increased 1.37-fold per risk allele added. Both polymorphisms also influenced BMI and body weight. Additionally, rs17817449 influenced triglyceride levels. No effect of FTO variants on the period of obesity onset was found. In conclusion, the FTO polymorphisms showed a strong association with development of extreme phenotype of obesity and adiposity modulation in a Brazilian population.Linear scaling relationships and volcano plots have served as powerful tools for catalyst design and screening in heterogeneous catalysis. Recently, this approach has been introduced in homogeneous catalysis. Seminal reports found that the complicated thermodynamic and kinetic energy profiles of homogeneous catalysis can be successfully described by using very limited energetic descriptors based on linear scaling relationships. This is demonstrated in a number of important catalytic transformations including C-C cross-coupling, N2 reduction, CO2 hydrogenation and alkene hydroformylation. This Frontier highlights the noteworthy impact of scaling relationships and volcano plots on the understanding and design of homogeneous catalysis and discusses the perspectives on the future development of this area.Soybean (Glycine max L.) has been extensively cultivated in maize-soybean relay intercropping systems in southwest China. However, during the early co-growth period, soybean seedlings suffer from severe shading by maize resulting in lodging and significant yield reduction. The purpose of the present research was to investigate the reasons behind severe lodging and yield loss. Therefore, four different soybean genotypes (B3, B15, B23, and B24) having different agronomic characteristics were cultivated in intercropping and monocropping planting patterns. The results showed that under different planting patterns, the stem resistance varied among genotypes (P less then 0.01). The lodging resistance index of B3, B15, B23, and B24 genotypes was 70.9%, 60.5%, 65.2%, and 57.4%, respectively, under intercropping, among which the B24 genotype was less affected by the shade environment as there was little decrease in the lodging resistance index of this genotype under intercropping. The lignin content of B23 and B24 was significantly higher than that of B3 and B15 under both planting patterns. Under intercropping, the hemicellulose content of B23 and B24 stems was significantly higher than that of B3 and B15. Compared to the monocropping, the content of mannose in the structural carbohydrate of soybean stems was decreased in all genotypes except B23, but the difference was not significant. The content of xylose in the structural carbohydrate of soybean stems was significantly higher than that in B3 and B15. Mannose content showed no significant difference among genotypes. The arabinose content of B24 was significantly higher than that of B3, B15, and B23. The effective pod number, seed number per plant, seed weight per plant and yield of soybean plants were significantly decreased under intercropping. Conclusively, manipulation of structural and nonstructural carbohydrate rich soybean genotypes in intercropping systems could alleviate the yield loss due to lodging.Fluid transport confined in nanochannels shows ultrafast permeation and highly efficient separation performance. However, the size-controlled selectivity of hydrated ions with a similar valence and size, such as alkali ions, is well below 5. We propose in this work to boost ion selectivity through the interaction with the wall of flow channels, which can be enhanced by applying an external electric field across the channel. Molecular simulations show that for ions diffusing near the walls of a graphene nanochannel, the hydration shells are perturbed, endowing the contrast in ion-wall interactions to modify the ion-specific free energy landscape. The trapping/hopping nature of ion diffusion near the wall leads to the conclusion that the diffusivity depends on the free energy barriers rather than the hydration size. This effect can be magnified by elevating the field strength, yielding more than ∼10-fold enhancement in the diffusivity-specific selectivity. With recent experimental advances in external electric field control and local electric field modulation near the surface, this work demonstrates a possible route to achieve high selectivity of alkali ions in nanofluidics, and explore the molecular structures and dynamics of hydrated ions near a surface.We report the synthesis, photoluminescence and magnetic properties of two octahedral dysprosium complexes [DyR2(py)4][BPh4]·2py (1) and [DyR2(THF)4][BPh4] (2) (R = carbazolyl, py = pyridine, THF = tetrahydrofuran) exhibiting a quasi linear N-Dy-N angle in the axial direction, suitable for providing a coordination environment allowing the zero-field slow relaxation of magnetization.Aiming to diversify photocatalytic systems for CO2 reduction using metal complexes, this study investigated the use of various ionic liquids as reaction solvents. The photophysical properties of an Ir(iii) complex, functioning as a photosensitiser, and the photocatalytic ability of mixed systems consisting of the Ir(iii) photosensitiser and a Re(i) catalyst in twelve kinds of ionic liquids were systematically investigated by comparison with those in N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMA), which is a standard solvent for photocatalytic CO2 reduction. Even though the photophysical properties of the Ir(iii) complex in ionic-liquid solutions were quite similar to those in DMA, both the photosensitising ability of the Ir complex and the photocatalytic abilities of the systems strongly depended on the structures of the ionic liquids. Several ionic liquids were successfully used as new solvents for the photocatalytic systems showing durability similar to or higher than DMA solutions. The results demonstrated that even a small modification of the molecular structures of ionic liquids can control the efficiencies of both the photosensitising cycles and the catalytic cycles for CO2 reduction.This work employs molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the solvation and transport properties of hydrated excess protons (with a hydronium-like core structure) in non-ionic Igepal CO-520 reverse micelles of various sizes in a non-polar solvent. Multiscale Reactive Molecular Dynamics (MS-RMD) simulations were used to describe vehicular and hopping diffusion during the proton transport process. As detailed herein, an excess proton shows a marked tendency to localize in the interfacial region of micellar water pools. Slow proton transport was observed which becomes faster with increasing micellar size. Further analysis reveals that the slow diffusion of an excess proton is a combined result of slow water diffusion and the low proton hopping rate. This study also confirms that a low proton hopping rate in reverse micelles stems from the interfacial solvation of hydrated excess protons and the immobilization of interfacial water. The low water density in the interfacial region makes it difficult to form a complete hydrogen bond network near the hydrated excess proton, and therefore locks in the orientation of hydrated proton cations. The immobilization of the interfacial water also slows the relaxation of the overall hydrogen bond network.Herein, we report the catalytic potential of short peptide based cross-β amyloid nanotubes with surface exposed histidine capable of binding hemin and showing facile cascade reactions, playing the dual roles of hydrolases and peroxidases, two of the most important classes of enzymes in extant biology. The activity of these simple systems exceeded those of modern and larger proteins like cytochrome C and hemoglobin. Further, evidence suggested that these self-assembled nanotubes foreshadow the process of intermediate channeling, a feature seen in the case of advanced enzymes.Complex, multicomponent, solutions have often been studied solely through the lens of specific applications of interest. Yet advances to both simulation methodologies (enhanced sampling, etc.) and analysis techniques (network analysis algorithms and others), are creating a trove of data that reveal transcending characteristics across vast compositional phase space. This perspective discusses technical considerations of the reliable and accurate simulations of complex solutions, followed by the advances to analysis algorithms that elucidate coupling of different length and timescale behavior (hierarchical phenomena). The different manifestations of hierarchical phenomena are presented across an array of solution environments, emphasizing fundamental and ongoing science questions. With a more advanced molecular understanding in hand, a quintessential application (solvent extraction) is discussed, where significant opportunities exist to re-imagine the technical scope of an established technology.Development of versatile and powerful nanoplatforms for efficient therapeutic delivery represents a major topic for current nanomedicine. Herein, we present the development of core-shell tecto dendrimers (CSTDs) for co-delivery of a therapeutic gene and drug for enhanced anticancer therapy applications. In this work, CSTDs were first prepared via supramolecular recognition of β-cyclodextrin (CD)-decorated generation 5 (G5) poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers as cores and adamantane (Ad)-functionalized G3 PAMAM dendrimers as shell components. The formed CSTDs with each G5 dendrimer surrounded with 4.2 G3 dendrimers were evaluated as a gene vector for delivery of plasmid DNA encoding enhanced green fluorescent protein as well as microRNA 21 inhibitor (miR 21i). We show that under an appropriate N/P ratio, the CSTDs enable effective transfection of both genetic materials to cancer cells. In particular, the transfection of miR 21i led to the inhibition of cancer cell migration, decreased miR 21 gene expression, and the effective regulation of the target genes and proteins (e.g., PTEN, PDCD4, p53, and Caspase-3). Furthermore, we revealed that the CSTDs were able to co-deliver miR 21i and an anticancer drug doxorubicin, leading to enhanced therapeutic efficacy to cancer cells in vitro. Our findings imply that the developed CSTDs could be adopted as a versatile platform for effective co-delivery of different therapeutic components for enhanced anticancer therapy applications.