Myocardial ischemia is a major cause of death and remains a disease with extremely deficient clinical therapies and a major problem worldwide. Cold inducible RNA-binding protein (CIRBP) is reported to be involved in multiple pathological processes, including myocardial ischemia. However, the molecular mechanisms of myocardial ischemia remain elusive. Here, we first overexpressed CIRBP by transfection of pc-CIRBP (pcDNA3.1 containing coding sequenced for CIRBP) and silenced CIRBP by transfection of small interfering RNA targeting CIRBP (siCIRBP). pcDNA3.1 and the negative control of siCIRBP (siNC) were transfected into H9C2 cells to act as controls. We then constructed a cell model of myocardial ischemia through culturing cells in serum-free medium with hypoxia in H9C2 cells. Subsequently, AlamarBlue assay, flow cytometry and western blot analysis were used, respectively, to assess cell viability, reactive oxygen species (ROS) level and apoptosis, and expression levels of IκBα, p65 and Bcl-3. We demonstrated that CIRBP overexpression promoted cell proliferation (P<0.001), inhibited cell apoptosis (P<0.05), reduced ROS level (P<0.001), down-regulated phosphorylated levels of IκBα and p65 (P<0.01 or P<0.001), and up-regulated expression of Bcl-3 (P<0.001) in H9C2 cells with myocardial ischemia. The influence of CIRBP knockdown yielded opposite results. Our study revealed that CIRBP could protect H9C2 cells against myocardial ischemia through inhibition of NF-κB pathway.

Saline-sodic stress is a major abiotic constraint responsible for rice (Oryza sativa L.) yield reductions in Northeast China. The rice root system is crucial for yield development, and it is usually recognized as the key for improving future crop productivity. However, most of the saline-sodic soils in these areas contain high levels of soluble Na2CO3 and NaHCO3, which results in a high pH (>8.5), clay dispersion, soil swelling, and overall poor soil physical properties. Isolation, washing and measurement of the rice crown roots is highly time-demanding in this kind of soil. Our aim was to explore whether differences in shoot characters could be reliable indicators, and a low cost and easy method for estimating crown root numbers in rice. In this study, 97 randomly selected feld-grown rice hill plants, with 728 stem samples, of three genotypes at the heading stage were used in saline-sodic soils. Results gave a reliable estimation of values for crown root numbers as indicated by high positive correlations with number of stems (0.788***) and tillers (0.801***); diameter of long (0.545***), short (0.555***), and mean stems (0.586**), and hill (i.e., equal to 5 plants) circumference (0.796***) and mean hill diameter (0.366***) (P<0.001). The method proposed here was very useful in evaluating the crown root numbers through direct measurements under saline-sodic field conditions.

El estrés salino-sódico es una limitante abiótica importante responsable de las reducciones en rendimiento del arroz (Oryza sativa L.) en el Noreste de China. El sistema radical del arroz es crucial para el desarrollo del rendimiento, y usualmente es clave para determinar la futura productividad de la cosecha. Sin embargo, la mayoría de los suelos salino-sódicos en estas áreas contienen altos niveles de Na2CO3 y NaHCO3 solubles, que resultan en un alto pH (>8,5), dispersión de arcilla, hinchamiento del suelo y propiedades físicas del suelo sobre todo bajas. El aislamiento, lavado y medición de las raíces de la corona de arroz es muy demandante de tiempo en esta clase se suelos. Nuestro propósito fue explorar si diferencias en características de la parte aérea podrían ser indicadores confables, y un método fácil y de bajo costo para estimar el número de raíces de la corona en arroz. En este estudio, 97 grupos de 5 plantas de arroz que crecieron en el campo, con 728 muestras de tallo, de tres genotipos en el estado reproductivo se usaron en suelos salino-sódicos. Los resultados dieron una estimación confiable del número de raíces de la corona como se indicó por correlaciones altas positivas con el número de tallos (0,788***) y macollas (0,801***); diámetro de tallos largos (0,545***), cortos (0,555***) y promedio (0,586***), y circunferencia de 5 plantas (0,796***) y diámetro promedio de 5 plantas (0,366***) (P<0,001). El método aquí propuesto fue muy útil para evaluar el número de raíces de la corona a través de mediciones directas bajo condiciones de campo salino-sódicas.

An enterovirus 71 (EV71) vaccine for the prevention of hand, foot, and mouth disease (HMFD) is available, but it is not known whether the EV71 vaccine cross-protects against Coxsackievirus (CV) infection. Furthermore, although an inactivated circulating CVA16 Changchun 024 (CC024) strain vaccine candidate is effective in newborn mice, the CC024 strain causes severe lesions in muscle and lung tissues. Therefore, an effective CV vaccine with improved pathogenic safety is needed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vivo safety and in vitro replication capability of a noncirculating CVA16 SHZH05 strain. The replication capacity of circulating CVA16 strains CC024, CC045, CC090 and CC163 and the noncirculating SHZH05 strain was evaluated by cytopathic effect in different cell lines. The replication capacity and pathogenicity of the CC024 and SHZH05 strains were also evaluated in a neonatal mouse model. Histopathological and viral load analyses demonstrated that the SHZH05 strain had an in vitro replication capacity comparable to the four CC strains. The CC024, but not the SHZH05 strain, became distributed in a variety of tissues and caused severe lesions and mortality in neonatal mice. The differences in replication capacity and in vivo pathogenicity of the CC024 and SHZH05 strains may result from differences in the nucleotide and amino acid sequences of viral functional polyproteins P1, P2 and P3. Our findings suggest that the noncirculating SHZH05 strain may be a safer CV vaccine candidate than the CC024 strain.

With the increasingly acute contradictions between shortage of bonanza phosphorus resources and phosphate fertilizer demands, to develop an efficient use technology for low-grade phosphate rocks (LGPR) was an inevitable choice. In this study, the physicochemical pro-release phosphate rock (PCPR) was prepared by adding modified lignin during the process of ultra-fine grinding LGPR. The relationship between phosphorus chemical composition of PCPR, molecular structure and fertilizer efficiency was explored by chemical analysis, spectral analysis and pot experiment. The results showed that after pro-release treatment of phosphate rock (PR), available phosphorus, reactive phosphorus and soluble phosphorus levels were significantly increased compared with PR. The available phosphorus content increased by 40%, the reactive phosphorus content increased more than 3.5 times, and 6 consecutive extraction soluble phosphorus accumulation increased by 24 times. The structure of the PR showed the pro-release processing would significantly increase particle fineness and specific surface area of PR , strengthen the characteristic absorption peak intensity of PO4(3-), HPO4(2-), replace the Cl-, F-, Fe²+ in the apatite and change the phase composition of PR. Pot experiment results showed corn biomass and phosphorus utilization processed by the PCPR were much higher than superphosphate (SP), diammonium phosphate(DAP), and significantly improve soil phosphorus content. The high soluble phosphorus and active phosphorus in PCPR providing the moderate continuous phosphorus supply intensity was the main reason for its high bioavailability. The combination of a static extraction and continuous extraction of reactive phosphorus and soluble phosphorus was an appropriate evaluation of physicochemical pro-release effect.