| 1. |
- Klionsky, Daniel J., et al.
(författare)
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Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy
- 2012
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Ingår i: Autophagy. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1554-8635 .- 1554-8627. ; 8:4, s. 445-544
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- In 2008 we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, research on this topic has continued to accelerate, and many new scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Accordingly, it is important to update these guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Various reviews have described the range of assays that have been used for this purpose. Nevertheless, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to measure autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. A key point that needs to be emphasized is that there is a difference between measurements that monitor the numbers or volume of autophagic elements (e.g., autophagosomes or autolysosomes) at any stage of the autophagic process vs. those that measure flux through the autophagy pathway (i.e., the complete process); thus, a block in macroautophagy that results in autophagosome accumulation needs to be differentiated from stimuli that result in increased autophagic activity, defined as increased autophagy induction coupled with increased delivery to, and degradation within, lysosomes (in most higher eukaryotes and some protists such as Dictyostelium) or the vacuole (in plants and fungi). In other words, it is especially important that investigators new to the field understand that the appearance of more autophagosomes does not necessarily equate with more autophagy. In fact, in many cases, autophagosomes accumulate because of a block in trafficking to lysosomes without a concomitant change in autophagosome biogenesis, whereas an increase in autolysosomes may reflect a reduction in degradative activity. Here, we present a set of guidelines for the selection and interpretation of methods for use by investigators who aim to examine macroautophagy and related processes, as well as for reviewers who need to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of papers that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a formulaic set of rules, because the appropriate assays depend in part on the question being asked and the system being used. In addition, we emphasize that no individual assay is guaranteed to be the most appropriate one in every situation, and we strongly recommend the use of multiple assays to monitor autophagy. In these guidelines, we consider these various methods of assessing autophagy and what information can, or cannot, be obtained from them. Finally, by discussing the merits and limits of particular autophagy assays, we hope to encourage technical innovation in the field.
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| 2. |
- Ma, Tao, et al.
(författare)
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Genomic insights into salt adaptation in a desert poplar
- 2013
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 4, s. 2797-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Despite the high economic and ecological importance of forests, our knowledge of the genomic evolution of trees under salt stress remains very limited. Here we report the genome sequence of the desert poplar, Populus euphratica, which exhibits high tolerance to salt stress. Its genome is very similar and collinear to that of the closely related mesophytic congener, P. trichocarpa. However, we find that several gene families likely to be involved in tolerance to salt stress contain significantly more gene copies within the P. euphratica lineage. Furthermore, genes showing evidence of positive selection are significantly enriched in functional categories related to salt stress. Some of these genes, and others within the same categories, are significantly upregulated under salt stress relative to their expression in another salt-sensitive poplar. Our results provide an important background for understanding tree adaptation to salt stress and facilitating the genetic improvement of cultivated poplars for saline soils.
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| 3. |
- Ruan, Ting, et al.
(författare)
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Concentrations and composition profiles of benzotriazole UV stabilizers in municipal sewage sludge in China
- 2012
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 46:4, s. 2071-2079
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The environmental contamination and fate of benzotriazole UV stabilizers (BZTs) have received increasing attention due to their large production volume and wide usage in various consumer and industrial products. In the present work, 60 municipal sewage sludge samples from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in 33 cities in China were collected to investigate the occurrence and distribution of 9 frequently used BZTs. The most dominant analogue was 2-[3,5-bis(1-methyl-1-phenylethyl)-2-hydroxyphenyl]benzotriazole (UV-234) at a median concentration of 116 ng/g (dry weight) and accounted on average for 27.2% of total BZTs. The abundance was successively followed by 2-(2-hydroxy-5-tert-octylphenyl)benzotriazole (UV-329, average 24.3%), 2-(2-hydroxy-3-tert-butyl-5-methylphenyl)-5-chlorobenzotriazole (UV-326, average 22.2%), 2-(3,5-di-tert-amyl-2-hydroxyphenyl)benzotriazole (UV-328, average 17.7%), and 2-(2-hydroxy-5-methylphenyl)benzotriazole (UV-P, average 6.6%), with median concentrations of 66.8, 67.8, 57.3, and 20.6 ng/g, respectively. 5-Chloro-2-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-hydroxyphenyl)benzotriazole (UV-327) and 2-(3-sec-butyl-5-tert-butyl-2-hydroxyphenyl)benzotriazole (UV-350) had low detection frequency, while 2-(3,5-di-tert-butyl-2-hydroxyphenyl)benzotriazole (UV-320) and 2-(5-tert-butyl-2-hydroxyphenyl)benzotriazole (UV-PS) were not detectable in any sample. To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting the occurrence of UV-234, UV-329, and UV-350 in sewage sludge in China. Significant correlations were found among the BZT concentrations and also with a WWTP characteristic (daily treatment volume). Furthermore, results from degradation prediction and multimedia fate simulation based on a quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) model at screening level also implied that the commercial BZT chemicals and their plausible transformation products might be persistent in the environment.
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| 4. |
- Wang, Qiang, et al.
(författare)
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Solidified Structure Control of Metallic Materials by Static High Magnetic Fields
- 2010
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Ingår i: ISIJ International. - : Iron and Steel Institute of Japan. - 0915-1559 .- 1347-5460. ; 50:12, s. 1941-1946
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recently the studies on the effects of high magnetic fields on solidification processes have been paid much attention both from the fundamental and applied points of view With the aid of the enhanced Lorentz force and magnetization effect caused by the remarkably increased magnetic field intensity several interesting phenomena such as the control of fluid flow and particle migration in a melt crystal orientation and phase alignment have been obtained Moreover the magnetic force induced by the interaction of magnetization and high magnetic field gradient has been evidenced to show significant effects on the microstructure evolution of alloys In this paper the recent development of the control of the solidification process by high magnetic fields is reviewed from the view point of uniform magnetic fields and magnetic field gradients
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| 5. |
- Dang, D. F., et al.
(författare)
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Manipulating backbone structure with various conjugated spacers to enhance photovoltaic performance of D-A-type two-dimensional copolymerse
- 2014
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Ingår i: Organic Electronics: physics, materials, applications. - : Elsevier BV. - 1566-1199. ; 15:11, s. 2876-2884
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A class of low band-gap two-dimensional conjugated polymers of PBDTT-FQ PBDTT-TQ PBDTT-BTQ and PBDTT-TTQ was designed and synthesized, which contains the same di(alkylthiophene)-substituted benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene (BDTT) and 6,7-difluoro-quinoxaline (Q) units, as well as various conjugated spacers of furan, thiophene, bithiophene and thieno[3,2-b]thiophene in the main chain. Significant effect of the varied spacers between the BDTT and Q units on the thermal, optical, electrochemical and photovoltaic properties was investigated and observed for these two-dimensional copolymers in the polymer solar cells. The maximum power conversion efficiency of 5.9% with a short circuit current of 13.7 mA/cm(2) and a fill factor of 0.56 was obtained for the PBDTT-TQ with thiophene spacer in the bulk hetero-junction PSCs using [6,6]-phenyl-C-71-butyric acid methyl ester as acceptor.
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| 6. |
- Feng, Boya, et al.
(författare)
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Structural and Functional Insights into the Mode of Action of a Universally Conserved Obg GTPase
- 2014
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Ingår i: PLoS biology. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1544-9173 .- 1545-7885. ; 12:5, s. e1001866-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Obg proteins are a family of P-loop GTPases, conserved from bacteria to human. The Obg protein in Escherichia coli (ObgE) has been implicated in many diverse cellular functions, with proposed molecular roles in two global processes, ribosome assembly and stringent response. Here, using pre-steady state fast kinetics we demonstrate that ObgE is an anti-association factor, which prevents ribosomal subunit association and downstream steps in translation by binding to the 50S subunit. ObgE is a ribosome dependent GTPase; however, upon binding to guanosine tetraphosphate (ppGpp), the global regulator of stringent response, ObgE exhibits an enhanced interaction with the 50S subunit, resulting in increased equilibrium dissociation of the 70S ribosome into subunits. Furthermore, our cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of the 50S? ObgE? GMPPNP complex indicates that the evolutionarily conserved N-terminal domain (NTD) of ObgE is a tRNA structural mimic, with specific interactions with peptidyl-transferase center, displaying a marked resemblance to Class I release factors. These structural data might define ObgE as a specialized translation factor related to stress responses, and provide a framework towards future elucidation of functional interplay between ObgE and ribosome-associated (p) ppGpp regulators. Together with published data, our results suggest that ObgE might act as a checkpoint in final stages of the 50S subunit assembly under normal growth conditions. And more importantly, ObgE, as a (p) ppGpp effector, might also have a regulatory role in the production of the 50S subunit and its participation in translation under certain stressed conditions. Thus, our findings might have uncovered an under-recognized mechanism of translation control by environmental cues.
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| 7. |
- Gu, Jian, et al.
(författare)
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TGF-beta-Induced CD4(+) Foxp3(+) T Cells Attenuate Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease by Suppressing Expansion and Killing of Effector CD8(+) Cells
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Immunology. - : The American Association of Immunologists. - 0022-1767 .- 1550-6606. ; 193:7, s. 3388-3397
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The use of TGF-beta-induced CD4(+) Foxp3(+) T cells (induced regulatory T cells [iTregs]) is an important prevention and treatment strategy in autoimmune diseases and other disorders. However, the potential use of iTregs as a treatment modality for acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) has not been realized because they may be unstable and less suppressive in this disease. We restudied the ability of iTregs to prevent and treat aGVHD in two mouse models. Our results showed that, as long as an appropriate iTreg-generation protocol is used, these iTregs consistently displayed a potent ability to control aGVHD development and reduce mortality in the aGVHD animal models. iTreg infusion markedly suppressed the engraftment of donor CD8(+) cells and CD4(+) cells, the expression of granzyme A and B, the cytotoxic effect of donor CD8(+) cells, and the production of T cell cytokines in aGVHD. Therefore, we conclude that as long as the correct methods for generating iTregs are used, they can prevent and even treat aGVHD.
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| 8. |
- Liu, Qiang, et al.
(författare)
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Effect of cooling rate and Ti addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties in as-cast condition of hypereutectic high chromium cast irons
- 2012
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Ingår i: ISIJ International. - : Iron and Steel Institute of Japan. - 0915-1559 .- 1347-5460. ; 52:12, s. 2210-2219
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The effect of cooling rate and Ti additions on the mechanical properties and carbides characteristics such as morphology, size distribution and composition was studied in high-chromium cast irons containing Fe-17 mass%Cr-4 mass%C. Based on the size distribution, composition and morphology, M 7C3 type carbides were roughly classified into "primary M7C3 carbides" and "eutectic M7C3 carbides" with a 11.2μ m border size. Thereafter, the change of the solidification structure and especially the refinement of carbides size were determined. It was found that both the size and number values should be summarized systematically for primary M 7C3 carbides and eutectic M7C3 carbides, respectively. Also, TiC carbides with a high formation temperature can not only act as a nuclei of M7C3 carbides, but they also contain a Ti(C, N) core. In the as-cast condition, the bulk hardness of the cast irons increases with an increased Ti content. In addition, the wear loss increases with an increased Ti content. Neither the bulk hardness nor the wear loss did change too much with an increased cooling rate.
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| 9. |
- Liu, Qiang, et al.
(författare)
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Effect of heat treatment on microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-alloyed hypereutectic high chromium cast iron
- 2012
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Ingår i: ISIJ International. - : Iron and Steel Institute of Japan. - 0915-1559 .- 1347-5460. ; 52:12, s. 2288-2294
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The effect of heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-alloyed hypereutectic High Chromium Cast Iron (HCCI) containing Fe-17 mass%Cr-4 mass%C-1.5 mass%Ti was investigated. The size distribution and the volume fraction of carbides (M7C3 and TiC) as well as the matrix structure (martensite) were examined by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD). It was found that the number of fine secondary M7C3 carbides with a size below 1 μm increases with lower holding temperatures and shorter holding times during heat treatment. The number of coarse primary M7C 3 carbides with a size above 11.2 μm increases with increasing holding temperatures and longer holding times. In addition, the number of TiC carbides increases with increasing holding times, and martensite units are more refined at longer holding times and lower holding temperatures, respectively. Moreover, the volume fraction of martensite increases with increased holding times. In conclusion, low holding temperatures close to the eutectic temperature and long holding times are the best heat treatment strategies in order to improve wear resistance and hardness of Ti-alloyed hypereutectic HCCI.
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| 10. |
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