Mixture modeling is a major paradigm for clustering in statistics. In this article, we develop a new block-wise variable selection method for clustering by exploiting the latent states of the hidden Markov model on variable blocks or the Gaussian mixture model. The variable blocks are formed by depth-first-search on a dendrogram created based on the mutual information between any pair of variables. It is demonstrated that the latent states of the variable blocks together with...

Mixture modeling is a major paradigm for clustering in statistics. In this article, we develop a new block-wise variable selection method for clustering by exploiting the latent states of the hidden Markov model on variable blocks or the Gaussian mixture model. The variable blocks are formed by depth-first-search on a dendrogram created based on the mutual information between any pair of variables. It is demonstrated that the latent states of the variable blocks together with...

RNA-seq has been widely used to reveal the molecular mechanism of variants of life process. We have developed an alternative method, MustSeq, which generates multiple second strands along a single 1st strand cDNA by random-priming initiation, immediately after reverse transcription for each RNA extract using sample-barcoded poly-dT primers, then 3ʹ ends-enriching PCR is applied to construct the library. Unlike the conventional RNA seq, MustSeq avoids procedures such as mRNA isolation, fragmentation and RNA 5ʹ-end capture,...

In this research, genotyping data of 43 InDel loci in 311 Han individuals in Ankang City, Shaanxi Province, China were detected using a self-developed five-dye multiplex amplification panel. The allelic frequencies and forensic parameters of all InDel loci were calculated. The combined power of discrimination and probability of exclusion values were 0.999 999 999 999 999 998 827 39 and 0.999 887 424, respectively, which demonstrated that this 43-InDel panel was powerful for individual identifications...

Gut dysbiosis may be implicated in the pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy (IgAN) through immune and/or metabolite pathways. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) could reestablish the micro-ecological balance in IgAN, although this has never been attempted before. We explored whether FMT could be efficacious in treating IgAN in two patients with refractory IgAN. Two Chinese female patients with IgAN failed to achieve clinical remission after receiving several rounds of immunosuppressive therapy and suffered from unbearable adverse effects...

The therapeutic effects of tacrolimus (TAC) versus cyclophosphamide (CTX) were not fully illustrated for patients with idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN). The PubMed, EmBase, Cochrane library, and CNKI were systematically searched throughout March 2020 for randomized controlled trials evaluating the therapeutic effects of TAC versus CTX for IMN patients treated with steroids. The pooled relative risks (RRs) and weighted mean differences (WMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using the random-effects model. Twelve trials recruited...

There is growing evidence that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play a vital role in many kinds of diseases, including erectile dysfunction (ED). Nevertheless, the role of circRNAs in cavernous nerve-damaging ED (CNI-ED) is unknown. Here, we aimed to discover novel circRNAs, probed their potential role in the CNI-ED, and construct a ceRNA network of circRNAs. Twelve male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into 2 groups by us: bilateral cavernous nerve crush (BCNC) and control groups....

During the initial stage of liver regeneration (LR), hepatocytes and liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) initiate regeneration in a hypoxic environment. However, the role of LSECs in liver regeneration in hypoxic environments and their specific molecular mechanism is unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the miRNA–mRNA network that regulates the proliferation of LSECs during hypoxia. In this study, first, we found that the proliferation ability of primary LSECs treated with hypoxia was enhanced compared...

Bladder cancer is one of the most severe genitourinary cancers, causing high morbidity worldwide. However, the underlying molecular mechanism is not clear, and it is urgent to find target genes for treatment. G-protein-coupled receptors are currently a target of high interest for drug design. Thus, we aimed to identify a target gene-related to G-protein-coupled receptors for therapy. We used The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and DepMap databases to obtain the expression and clinical data of...

FAM83D has been demonstrated to contribute to tumorigenesis. However, its immune effects in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have not been reported. This study aimed to identify the immune role of FAM83D in HCC. FAM83D was over-expressed in HCC and contributed to poor prognosis according to the results of data analysis based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Afterward, the levels of immune cells infiltration were found to be correlated with the expression level of FAM83D in...

Vitamin D is widely considered to have a regulatory effect on the immune system. Some clinical investigations have shown that the demand for vitamin D increases with age. Calcitriol is the biologically active form of vitamin D. However, its effect on human natural killer (NK) cells remains unclear. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the anti-aging and immunomodulatory effects of calcitriol on NK cells using a series of immunological methods to explore its important role...

The Triassic igneous complexes in the east flank of the East Kunlun orogenic belt (E-KOB) provide a window through which to investigate the Mesozoic magmatism in the E-KOB. Here, we report the precise timing of Triassic magmatism and magma petrogenesis of different rock types in the east flank of the E-KOB based on the petrology, mineral chemistry, geochemistry, zircon geochronology and Lu-Hf isotopes. Zircon U-Pb dating reveals that the Daheba complex was crystallized in 242–239...

Background: Various studies have examined the psychological ‘typhoon eye’ and ‘ripple’ effects in mental disorders following COVID-19. However, these studies only considered the disorders as entities and assessed severity, and overlooked the differences in specific symptoms of disorders. Objectives: This aim of the study is to assess the psychological typhoon eye and ripple effects at the symptom-level in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is considered as a common psychopathology following the COVID-19 epidemic. Method: In...

Inherited thrombocytopenia 2 (THC2) is difficult to diagnose due to the lack of specific clinical characteristics and diagnostic methods. To identify potential plasma protein biomarkers for THC2, we collected the plasma samples from a THC2 family (9 THC2 and 15 non-THC2 members), enriched the medium and low abundant proteins using Proteominer and analyzed the protein profiles using the liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry in data independent acquisition mode. Initially, we detected 784 proteins in the plasma samples...

The complex-induced aggregation of perylene bisimides by p-sulfonatocalix[n]arenes was studied, where the aggregation stability, aggregation distance, as well as the degree of order of aggregation were all improved.

Until he gets you to the other side: Highly efficient counterion activation by amphiphilic calixarenes (gray cones) can mediate the transport of short peptide substrates for kinases across lipid memb...

We propose a general framework for the specification testing of continuous treatment effect models. We assume a general residual function, which includes the average and quantile treatment effect models as special cases. The null models are identified under the unconfoundedness condition and contain a nonparametric weighting function. We propose a test statistic for the null model in which the weighting function is estimated by solving an expanding set of moment equations. We establish the asymptotic...

Exosomes mediate the interaction between cancer cells and their microenvironment, and play a key role in tumor development. Although exosomes can package lncRNAs to mediate extracellular communication, the role of exosomal lncRNA AY927529 in prostate cancer (PCa) remains unclear. Exosomes were extracted from normal human prostatic epithelial cell lines (BPH-1 and RWPE-1) and PCa cell lines (VCaP and LNCaP, DU145, PC3) by ultrahigh speed centrifugation. Results of Western blot indicated that Alix, HSC70 and TSGl01...

Lung ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury (LIRI) is a common complication after lung transplantation, embolism, and trauma. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) methylation modification is implicated in the pathogenesis of I/R injury. However, there are no or few reports of m6A-related regulators in LIRI till now. In this text, dysregulated genes in lung tissues of LIRI rats versus the sham group were identified by RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). RNA-seq outcomes revealed that only YTH N6-methyladenosine RNA binding protein 3 (YTHDF3) and...

Additional file 1: Table S1. Expression of known miRNAs identified in wheat crown tissues.

Additional file 4: Table S3. Information of wheat_miRNA2693 and wheat_miR5099.

Drug-resistant pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) has severely threatened human health and arouses widespread concern. Sortase A (SrtA) is an essential virulence factor of S. aureus, which is responsible for the covalent anchoring of a variety of virulence-related proteins to the cell wall. SrtA has always been regarded as an ideal pharmacological target against S. aureus infections. In this research, we have determined that orientin, a natural compound isolated from various medicinal plants, can effectively...

New SARS-CoV-2 mutants have been continuously indentified with enhanced transmission ever since its outbreak in early 2020. As an RNA virus, SARS-CoV-2 has a high mutation rate due to the low fidelity of RNA polymerase. To study the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) dynamics of SARS-CoV-2, 158 SNPs with high confidence were identified by deep meta-transcriptomic sequencing, and the most common SNP type was C > T. Analyses of intra-host population diversity revealed that intra-host quasispecies’...

This study sought to investigate incidence and risk factors for acute kidney injury (AKI) in hospitalized COVID-19. In this retrospective study, we enrolled 823 COVID-19 patients with at least two evaluations of renal function during hospitalization from four hospitals in Wuhan, China between February 2020 and April 2020. Clinical and laboratory parameters at the time of admission and follow-up data were recorded. Systemic renal tubular dysfunction was evaluated via 24-h urine collections in a subgroup...