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© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Society for the Study of Reproduction.BACKGROUND Inflammation is a major risk factor for frailty, but n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) has been suggested as an anti-inflammatory agent. The present study aimed to investigate the hypothesis that the higher erythrocyte levels of long-chain n-3 PUFA were associated with lower odds of frailty and frailty criterion. METHODS Cross-sectional analysis from the Korean Frailty and Aging Cohort Study, a total of 1,435 people aged 70-84 years were included. Sex- and age-stratified community residents, drawn in urban and rural regions nationwide, were eligible for participation in the study. All participants were categorized as frail and non-frail according to the Cardiovascular Health Study index. RESULTS The likelihood of frailty was inversely associated with the erythrocyte levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; odds ratio, OR per unit 0.33; 95% confidence interval, CI 0.14-0.77; P for trend = 0.002) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; OR per unit 0.42; 95% CI 0.20-0.87; P for trend = 0.018). Among each frailty criterion, the likelihood of slow walking speed was associated with erythrocyte levels of EPA and DHA, and the likelihood of exhaustion was inversely associated with the erythrocyte levels of DHA. CONCLUSIONS The present study showed that the frailty and frailty criterion were significantly associated with lower erythrocyte levels of long-chain n-3 PUFA, suggesting that lower n-3 PUFA could be a marker for the risk of frailty. © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.Early stage of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is known to be accompanied by angiogenesis and morphological changes of microvessels. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/ag-1478-tyrphostin-ag-1478.html Transcription factor Sox2 is amplified in various cancers including ESCC, but the role of Sox2 in the carcinogenesis and angiogenesis has not been determined. Hence, we aimed to investigate the role of Sox2 in the early stage of ESCC. We found that the expression of Sox2 was significantly higher in early stage ESCC tissues than that in their adjacent normal tissues. We then established Sox2-inducible normal human esophageal squamous cell line (HetSox2) to investigate the role of Sox2 in esophageal carcinogenesis and angiogenesis in vitro. Sox2 overexpression led to increased cell proliferation and spheroid formation. The culture supernatant of Sox2-overexpressing HetSox2 induced migration and sprouting of endothelial cell line HUVEC. As for the mechanism, we found that the expression of secreted protein Suprabasin was directly induced by Sox2. Suprabasin enhanced proliferation of normal human esophageal squamous cells and HUVEC when added to the culture. Moreover, Suprabasin enhanced migration and sprouting of HUVEC cells, which were observed with the culture supernatant of Sox2-oversxpressing HetSox2. This angiogenic effect of Suprabasin was abolished by inhibiting AKT phosphorylation, which suggested its dependence on AKT signaling. Finally, we showed that Suprabasin expression and the density of microvessels were significantly higher in ESCC tissues with high Sox2 expression. Our study suggested that increased Sox2 expression in esophageal squamous cells induced Suprabasin expression, and as a result initiated the carcinogenesis via increased cell proliferation and angiogenesis. © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email journals.permissions@oup.com.BACKGROUND AND AIMS Camelina (Camelina sativa, Brassicaceae) has attracted interest in recent years as a novel oilseed crop, and an increasing number of studies have sought to enhance camelina's yield potential or to modify the composition of its oil. The ability of camelina to cross hybridize with its wild relative, C. microcarpa, is of interest as a potential source of genetic variability for the crop. METHODS Manual crosses were performed between the crop C. sativa and its wild relative C. microcarpa F1 and F2 progenies were obtained. Cytology was used to study meiosis in the parents and F1s and to evaluate pollen viability. Flow cytometry was used to estimate nuclear DNA amounts, and FAME analysis was used to evaluate the lipid composition of F3 seeds. KEY RESULTS The F1 plants obtained by interspecific crosses presented severe abnormalities at meiosis, low pollen viability, and produced very few F2 seeds. The F2s presented diverse phenotypes, in some cases severe developmental abnormalities. Many F2s were aneuploid. F2s produced highly variable numbers of F3 seeds, and certain F3 seeds presented atypical lipid profiles. CONCLUSIONS Considering the meiotic abnormalities observed and the probability of aneuploidy in the F2 plants, the C. microcarpa accessions used in this study would be difficult to use as sources of genetic variability for the crop. © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.BACKGROUND The role of dairy in health can be elucidated by investigating circulating metabolites associated with intake. OBJECTIVES We sought to identify metabolites associated with quantity and type of dairy intake in the Framingham Heart Study Offspring and Third Generation (Gen3) cohorts. METHODS Dairy intake (total dairy, milk, cheese, yogurt, and cream/butter) was analyzed in relation to targeted (Offspring, n = 2205, 55.1 ± 9.8 y, 52% female, 217 signals; Gen3, n = 866, 40.5 ± 8.8 y, 54.9% female, 79 signals) and nontargeted metabolites (Gen3, ∼7031 signals) in a 2-step analysis including orthogonal projections to latent structures with discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) in discovery subsets to identify metabolites distinguishing between high and low intake; and linear regression in confirmation subsets to assess putative associations, subsequently tested in the total samples. Previously reported associations were also investigated. RESULTS OPLS-DA in the Offspring targeted discovery subset resulted in a Reports about diet-metabolite relations and confirmation of previous findings might be limited by specificity of dietary intake and breadth of measured metabolites. Copyright © The Author(s) 2020.In Escherichia coli, the endoribonuclease E (RNase E) can recruit several other ribonucleases and regulatory proteins via its noncatalytic domain to form an RNA degradosome that controls cellular RNA turnover. Similar RNA degradation complexes have been found in other bacteria; however, their compositions are varied among different bacterial species. In cyanobacteria, only the exoribonuclease PNPase was shown to bind to the noncatalytic domain of RNase E. Here, we showed that Alr1240, a member of the RNB family of exoribonucleases, could be co-isolated with RNase E from the lysate of the cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC 7120. Enzymatic analysis revealed that Alr1240 is an exoribonuclease II (RNase II), as it only degrades non-structured single-stranded RNA substrates. In contrast to known RNase E-interacting ribonucleases, which bind to the noncatalytic domain of RNase E, the Anabaena RNase II was shown to associate with the catalytic domain of RNase E. Using a strain in which RNase E and RNase II were tagged in situ with GFP and BFP, respectively, we showed that RNase E and RNase II form a compact complex in vivo by a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) assay. RNase E activity on several synthetic substrates was boosted in the presence of RNase II, suggesting that the activity of RNase E could be regulated by RNase II-RNase E interaction. To our knowledge, Anabaena RNase II is an unusual ribonuclease that interacts with the catalytic domain of RNase E, and it may represent a new type of RNA degradosome and a novel mechanism for regulating the activity of the RNA degradosome. As Anabaena RNase E interacts with RNase II and PNPase via different regions, it is very likely that the three ribonucleases form a large complex and cooperatively regulate RNA metabolism in the cell. © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.Tumor cell heterogeneity, either at the genotypic or the phenotypic level, is a hallmark of cancer. Tumor cells exhibit large variations, even among cells derived from the same origin, including cell morphology, speed and motility type. However, current work for quantifying tumor cell behavior is largely population based and does not address the question of cell heterogeneity. In this article, we utilize Lévy distribution analysis, a method known in both social and physical sciences for quantifying rare events, to characterize the heterogeneity of tumor cell motility. Specifically, we studied the breast tumor cell (MDA-MB-231 cell line) velocity statistics when the cells were subject to well-defined lymphoid chemokine (CCL19) gradients using a microfluidic platform. Experimental results showed that the tail end of the velocity distribution of breast tumor cell was well described by a Lévy function. The measured Lévy exponent revealed that cell motility was more heterogeneous when CCL19 concentration was near the dynamic kinetic binding constant to its corresponding receptor CCR7. This work highlighted the importance of tumor microenvironment in modulating tumor cell heterogeneity and invasion. © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.BACKGROUND Persons following plant-based diets have lower bone mineral density (BMD) and higher fracture risk, possibly due to suboptimal nutrient supply. However, anthropometric measures were not considered as potential confounders in many previous studies, and body mass index (BMI) is positively associated with BMD but also generally lower among vegans and vegetarians. OBJECTIVES Our objective was to investigate if BMD measurements differ between vegetarians and nonvegetarians from the adult general population when accounting for important determinants of BMD, especially BMI and waist circumference. METHODS Using data from the NHANES (cycles 2007-2008 and 2009-2010), we evaluated the differences in BMD (femoral neck, total femoral, and total lumbar spine) between adult vegetarians and nonvegetarians. Linear regression models were used to determine the associations between BMD and diet. Statistical models were adjusted for important factors, i.e., age, sex, race/ethnicity, smoking status, alcohol consumption, serum vitamin D and calcium concentrations, waist circumference, and BMI. RESULTS In statistical models adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, menopausal status, and education level, BMD values were significantly lower among vegetarians than among nonvegetarians (P less then 0.001). These differences were attenuated upon adjustment for lifestyle factors, and became statistically nonsignificant upon adjustment for anthropometric variables (BMI and waist circumference) for femoral neck (0.77 compared with 0.79 g/cm2 among vegetarians versus nonvegetarians, P = 0.10) and total femoral BMD (0.88 compared with 0.90 g/cm2, P = 0.12). A small but statistically significant difference remained for total lumbar spine BMD (1.01 compared with 1.04 g/cm2, P = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that lower BMD among adult vegetarians is in larger parts explained by lower BMI and waist circumference. Copyright © The Author(s) 2020.
