REGγ, a proteasome activator and beyond?

REGγ, a member of the 11S proteasome activators, has been shown to bind and activate the 20S proteasome to promote proteasome-dependent degradation of important regulatory proteins, such as SRC-3 and cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors p21, p16, and p19, in a ubiquitin- and ATP-independent manner. Furthermore, REGγ has been shown to facilitate the turnover of tumor suppressor p53 by promoting MDM2-mediated p53 ubiquitination. The discovery that REGγ regulates cell-cycle regulators is consistent with previous studies where REGγ-deficient mice have shown retardation in body growth, decreased cell proliferation and increased apoptosis, indicating a potential role of REGγ in cancer development. Additionally, REGγ’s ability to promote viral protein degradation suggests its involvement in viral pathogenesis. This review presents an overview of the function of REGγ, a summary of the current literature, and insight into the possible biological function of REGγ relating to cancer, viral pathogenesis, and other diseases.     

基于机器视觉的螺纹参数检测

依靠机器视觉技术,对螺纹检测的图形处理技术进行了研究,提出了螺纹多参数的检测方法。介绍了图像处理技术中的预处理、边缘轮廓提取、参数标定等技术,并研制了相应的检测软件。实验结果表明该软件能对螺纹进行实时、高速的检测。     

一种新的镜头边界检测和静态视频摘要提取方法

提出一种新的融合图像分割和注意力模型的静态视频摘要自动生成方法.该方法将视频中的每帧图像分割成块,分别计算连续2帧对应块的匹配距离;在此基础之上,根据各个块不同的重要性用线性融合的方法求出2帧之间的匹配距离;然后通过计算匹配距离的期望和标准差自动地求出阈值,进而检测出镜头边缘;最后根据每个镜头的匹配距离,提取出静态视频摘要.仿真结果表明:与同类方法相比,该方法能够快速高效地检测出各种镜头边界,提取的静态视频摘要能够有效反映视频的内容.     

基于弧长法的南瓜型超压气球非线性后屈曲分析

稳定性研究是南瓜型超压气球设计面临的重要课题。针对南瓜球非线性屈曲过程,对含初始缺陷南瓜球的稳定性进行研究。首先,对南瓜球进行特征值屈曲分析,得到前8阶屈曲模态及线性屈曲临界载荷。然后,基于特征值分析的模态构型给出初始缺陷分布,进一步利用非线性有限元中的弧长法分别计算临界缺陷模态和组合缺陷模态下对应的屈曲临界载荷。结果表明,南瓜球对初始缺陷较敏感,缺陷的幅值和分布形式对承压能力和失稳形态均有影响,承压能力随缺陷幅值增大而降低,说明提高南瓜球稳定性需要提高气球的加工精度。同时,对已失稳南瓜球的应力分布进行分析,发现失稳状态下南瓜球高应力区的应力水平远高于相同载荷下未失稳南瓜球的应力水平。可见,失稳现象极大降低了气球的承压能力。     

Postzygotic HRAS and KRAS mutations cause nevus sebaceous and Schimmelpenning syndrome

Nevus sebaceous is a common congenital cutaneous malformation. Affected individuals may develop benign and malignant secondary tumors in the nevi during life. Schimmelpenning syndrome is characterized by the association of nevus sebaceous with extracutaneous abnormalities. We report that of 65 sebaceous nevi studied, 62 (95%) had mutations in the HRAS gene and 3 (5%) had mutations in the KRAS gene. The HRAS c.37G>C mutation, which results in a p.Gly13Arg substitution, was present in 91% of lesions. Nonlesional tissues from 18 individuals had a wild-type sequence, confirming genetic mosaicism. The HRAS c.37G>C mutation was also found in 8 of 8 associated secondary tumors. Mosaicism for HRAS c.37G>C and KRAS c.35G>A mutations was found in two individuals with Schimmelpenning syndrome. Functional analysis of HRAS c.37G>C mutant cells showed constitutive activation of the MAPK and PI3K-Akt signaling pathways. Our results indicate that nevus sebaceous and Schimmelpenning syndrome are caused by postzygotic HRAS and KRAS mutations. These mutations may predispose individuals to the development of secondary tumors in nevus sebaceous.     

Identification of cancer stem cell-like cells from human epithelial ovarian carcinoma cell line

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) play an important role in the development, invasion, and drug resistance of carcinoma, but the exact phenotype and characteristics of ovarian CSCs are still disputable. In this study, we identified cancer stem cell-like cells (CSC-LCs) and investigated their characteristics from the ovarian adenocarcinoma cell line 3AO. Our results showed that CSC-LCs were enriched in sphere-forming test and highly expressed CD44⁺CD24⁻. The spheres and CD24⁻ cells possessed strong tumorigenic ability by transplantation into nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient mice. CD44⁺CD24⁻ cells expressed stem cell markers and differentiated to CD44⁺CD24⁺ cells by immunofluorescence assay and fluorescence-activated cell-sorting analysis. In vitro experiments verified that CD44⁺CD24⁻ cells were markedly resistant to carboplatin and paclitaxol. In conclusion, our study identifies the CD44⁺CD24⁻ phenotype, self-renewal, high tumorigenicity, differentiation potential, and drug resistance of ovarian CSC-LCs. Our findings may provide the evidence needed to explore a new strategy in the treatment of ovarian cancer.     

体育统计中均数检验新公式的探索

本文指出当前体育指标的均数检验实为两种不同类型,并根据类型概率特征,首次提出一种新的均数检验统计量函数式。     

Human and yeast ζ-crystallins bind AU-rich elements in RNA

ζ-crystallins constitute a family of proteins with NADPH:quinone reductase activity found initially in mammalian lenses but now known to be present in many other organisms and tissues. Few proteins from this family have been characterized, and their function remains unclear. In the present work, ζ-crystallins from human and yeast (Zta1p) were expressed, purified and characterized. Both enzymes are able to reduce ortho-quinones in the presence of NADPH but are not active with 2-alkenals. Deletion of the ZTA1 gene makes yeast more sensitive to menadione and hydrogen peroxide, suggesting a role in the oxidative stress response. The human and yeast enzymes specifically bind to adenine-uracil rich elements (ARE) in RNA, indicating that both enzymes are ARE-binding proteins and that this property has been conserved in ζ-crystallins throughout evolution. This supports a role for ζ-crystallins as trans-acting factors that could regulate the turnover of certain mRNAs. Received 21 February 2007; received after revision 16 April 2007; accepted 23 April 2007 M. R. Fernández, S. Porté: These authors contributed equally to this work.     

Cell surface adenylate kinase activity regulates the F1-ATPase/P2Y13-mediated HDL endocytosis pathway on human hepatocytes

We have previously demonstrated on human hepatocytes that apolipoprotein A-I binding to an ecto-F₁-ATPase stimulates the production of extracellular ADP that activates a P2Y₁₃-mediated high-density lipoprotein (HDL) endocytosis pathway. Therefore, we investigated the mechanisms controlling the extracellular ATP/ADP level in hepatic cell lines and primary cultures to determine their impact on HDL endocytosis. Here we show that addition of ADP to the cell culture medium induced extracellular ATP production that was due to adenylate kinase and nucleoside diphosphokinase activities, but not to ATP synthase activity. We further observed that in vitro modulation of both ecto-NDPK and AK activities could regulate the ADP-dependent HDL endocytosis. But interestingly, only AK appeared to naturally participate in the pathway by consuming the ADP generated by the ecto-F₁-ATPase. Thus controlling the extracellular ADP level is a potential target for reverse cholesterol transport regulation. Received 13 July 2006; received after revision 29 August 2006; accepted 19 September 2006