Contrerasrafferty1812

© 2020 The Authors. Journal of Evolutionary Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society for Evolutionary Biology.The recently discovered twisted graphene has aroused considerable interest. We have found a simple chemical route to prepare twisted graphene by covalently linking layers of exfoliated graphene containing surface carboxyl groups with an amine-containing linker ( trans -1,4-diaminocyclohexane). The twisted graphene shows the expected selected area electron diffraction pattern with sets of diffraction spots out with different angular spacings, unlike graphene which shows a hexagonal pattern. Twisted multilayer graphene oxide could be prepared by the above procedure. Twisted boron nitride, prepared by cross-linking layers of BN containing surface amino groups with oxalic acid linker, exhibits a diffraction pattern comparable to that of twisted graphene. First-principles DFT calculations throw light on the structures and the nature of interactions associated with twisted graphene/BN obtained by covalent linking of layers. © 2020 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.This study explored the relationships between the decline in sexual function and psychological burdens and life satisfaction in older men with the aim of providing prospective targets for interventions. From January 2016 to January 2019, we selected 1,326 men aged over 50 years old. We adopted the International Index of Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5), self-estimated intravaginal ejaculatory latency time (IELT), the premature ejaculation diagnostic tool (PEDT), the General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), the Patients Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), the satisfaction with life scale and the control, autonomy, self-realisation and pleasure scale (CASP-19) to measure premature ejaculation, erectile dysfunction and well-being (including, depression, anxiety, and life quality and satisfaction) respectively. The individuals were divided into two main groups the decline group and the no-decline group. The incidences of erectile dysfunction (ED), premature ejaculation (PE), anxiety and depression in men who reported a declinine in sexuality. © 2020 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.The Iroquois homeobox gene 5 (IRX5), one of the members of the Iroquois homeobox family, has been identified to correlate with worse prognosis in many cancers, including colorectal cancer (CRC). In this study, upregulation of IRX5 revealed a great reduction in the proliferation of CRC colorectal cancer cell line SW480 and DLD-1, which was accompanied by G1/S arrest, increased expression in cyclin E1, P21, and P53 and a decrease in cyclin A2, B1, and D1. Furthermore, IRX5-mediated an increase expression of RH2A protein, the biomarker of DNA damage. Consequently, the SA-β-gal level is higher in IRX5-overexpression cells compared to control ones, which showed elevated DNA damage triggered cellular senescence. Recapitulating the above findings, IRX5 exhibited higher levels of genomic instability. IRX5 may be a perspective target for cancer therapy and it deserves further investigation. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.An embryonic lethal mutation in chicken named cleft primary palate (cpp) is inherited in an autosomal recessive mode and results in a severely truncated upper beak. In this study, genotyping and sequencing techniques were employed to advance our genetic and genomic knowledge of the mutation's chromosomal location, candidate region and possible causative element using a congenic inbred line. Herein, the candidate region for the cpp developmental mutation was established as a ca. 5.1 Mb region of chicken chromosome 11 (GGA 11) through the use of a 600K Affymetrix SNP array. The SNPs identified from this array linked to cpp were used to genotype individuals from the congenic inbred line over several generations and thereby fine-map the causative region resulting in an approximately 200 kb size reduction. This candidate region (4.9 Mb) was sequenced via capture array in a cohort of 24 individuals, including carriers, mutants and their wild type (wt) siblings. Interestingly, the GGA 11 region for cpp encompasses the predicted centromere location and is thus unlikely to be highly disrupted by further recombination. Here we report on the variation unique to the cpp mutation, i.e. single-nucleotide variants and insertions or deletions. Although the candidate region contains several genes of interest with regard to the cpp phenotype, only one cpp-linked variant was predicted to have a significant physiological effect by causing a frameshift mutation in ESRP2, which has a role in tissue-specific splicing during development. © 2020 The Authors. Animal Genetics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Stichting International Foundation for Animal Genetics.Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is a rare and potentially lethal autoimmune disease that affects the skin and mucous membranes. Injuries caused by the disease cause pain, risk of infection, and other complications that result in a high mortality rate. Frequently, management of the PV requires intensive care and a multidisciplinary approach. Oral lesions of PV are usually the first clinical signs of the disease and the last lesions to heal, requiring treatment by a specialized dental team. The aim of this study was to report two clinical cases of PV with involvement of the oral mucosa. The patients were admitted to an intensive care unit, and underwent multidisciplinary management of their condition along with low-level laser therapy. Both cases demonstrated the importance of specialized dental care in improving the quality of life of patients with PV. © 2020 Special Care Dentistry Association and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.BACKGROUND Short or long interpregnancy interval (IPI) may adversely impact conditions for foetal development. Whether attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is related to IPI has been largely unexplored. OBJECTIVES To examine the association between IPI and ADHD in a large, population-based Finnish study. METHODS All children born in Finland between 1991 and 2005 and diagnosed with ADHD (ICD-9 314x or ICD-10 F90.x) from 1995 to 2011 were identified using data from linked national registers. Each subject with ADHD was matched to 4 controls based on sex, date of birth, and place of birth. A total of 9564 subjects with ADHD and 34,479 matched controls were included in analyses. IPI was calculated as the time interval between sibling birth dates minus the gestational age of the second sibling. The association between IPI and ADHD was determined using conditional logistic regression and adjusted for potential confounders. RESULTS Relative to births with an IPI of 24 to 59 months, those with the shortest IPI ( less then 6 months) had an increased risk of ADHD (odds ratio [OR] 1.30, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.12, 1.51) and the ORs for the longer IPI births (60-119 months and ≥120 months) were 1.12 (95% CI 1.02, 1.24) and 1.25 (95% CI 1.08, 1.45), respectively. The association of longer IPI with ADHD was attenuated by adjustment for maternal age at the preceding birth, and comorbid autism spectrum disorders did not explain the associations with ADHD. CONCLUSIONS The risk of ADHD is higher among children born following short or long IPIs although further studies are needed to explain this association. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Current immunosuppressive agents for organ transplantation are not ideal due to their strong toxicity and adverse effects. Hence, there is an urgent need to develop novel immunosuppressive agents. The compound N, N'-dicyclohexyl-N-arachidonic acylurea (DCAAA) is a novel highly unsaturated fatty acid from the traditional Chinese medicinal plant, Radix Isatidis. In this study, we systematically investigated the toxicity, immunosuppressive effect, and mechanisms underlying this activity of DCAAA. The toxicity tests showed that DCAAA treatment did not lead to red blood cell hemolysis and did not affect the liver and kidney functions in mice. Lymphocyte transformation test showed that DCAAA treatment inhibited lymphocyte proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. In vivo cardiac allotransplantation experiment showed that DCAAA treatment could suppress the immune rejection and significantly prolong the survival of cardiac allografts in recipient mice by reducing the proportion of CD4+ T cells in the spleen and grafts, concentration of interferon-γ in the supernatant and serum, and infiltration of inflammatory cells in the grafts. Moreover, combination treatment with DCAAA and tacrolimus had a synergistic effect in preventing acute rejection of heart transplants. In vitro molecular biology experiments showed that DCAAA treatment inhibited activation of the T cell receptor-mediated phosphoinostide 3-kinase (PI3K)-protein kinase B (Akt) pathway, thereby arresting cell cycle transition from G1 to the S phase, and inhibiting lymphocyte proliferation. Overall, our study reveals a novel, low-toxicity immunosuppressive agent that has the potential to reduce the toxic side effects of existing immunosuppressive agents when used in combination with them. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.PURPOSE The MR properties (chemical shifts and R 2 ∗ decay rates) of dissolved-phase hyperpolarized (HP) 129 Xe are confounded by the large magnetic field inhomogeneity present in the lung. This work improves measurements of these properties using a model-based image reconstruction to characterize the R 2 ∗ decay rates of dissolved-phase HP 129 Xe in healthy subjects and patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). METHODS Whole-lung MRS and 3D radial MRI with four gradient echoes were performed after inhalation of HP 129 Xe in healthy subjects and patients with IPF. A model-based image reconstruction formulated as a regularized optimization problem was solved iteratively to measure regional signal intensity in the gas, barrier, and red blood cell (RBC) compartments, while simultaneously measuring their chemical shifts and R 2 ∗ decay rates. RESULTS The estimation of spectral properties reduced artifacts in images of HP 129 Xe in the gas, barrier, and RBC compartments and improved image SNR by over 20%. R 2 ∗ decay rates of the RBC and barrier compartments were lower in patients with IPF compared to healthy subjects (P less then 0.001 and P = 0.005, respectively) and correlated to DLCO (R = 0.71 and 0.64, respectively). Chemical shift of the RBC component measured with whole-lung spectroscopy was significantly different between IPF and normal subjects (P = 0.022). CONCLUSION Estimates for R 2 ∗ in both barrier and RBC dissolved-phase HP 129 Xe compartments using a regional signal model improved image quality for dissolved-phase images and provided additional biomarkers of lung injury in IPF. © 2020 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a common functional gastrointestinal disorder (FGID), has often been considered rather inappropriately as psychogenic in the past. Though psychological issues are important comorbidities in a proportion of IBS patients, the evidences are far from enough to label this condition as psychogenic only. In the recent past, evidences are emerging that underscores the concept supporting pure psychogenic theory of IBS and suggest this disorder to be rather microorganic. Accordingly, a move of Rome IV Committee attempting to delete the term "functional" and designating these to be disorders of "gut-brain interaction" rather than that of "brain-gut interaction," it emphasizes the importance of the gut over the brain in the pathogenesis. The introduction of the concept of multidimensional clinical profile in Rome IV requires attention to diagnostic category of FGID, overlap, severity, psychological issues, and physiological dysfunction or biomarkers; this attempts to recognize clinical variability and multidimensionality of pathophysiology and management of these disorders.