Scientific reports
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Image scoring sustains cooperation in the repeated two-player prisoner's dilemma through indirect reciprocity, even though defection is the uniquely dominant selfish behaviour in the one-shot game. Many real-world dilemma situations, however, firstly, take place in groups and, secondly, lack the necessary transparency to inform subjects reliably of others' individual past actions. Instead, there is revelation of information regarding groups, which allows for 'group scoring' but not for image scoring. ⋯ We show that under pure group scoring, that is, under the complete absence of image-scoring information, cooperation is unsustainable. Away from this extreme case, however, the necessary degree of image scoring relative to group scoring depends on the population size and is generally very small. We thus conclude that the positive results based on image scoring apply to a much broader range of informational settings that are relevant in the real world than previously assumed.
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Insomnia increases type-2 diabetes (T2D) risk. The 12q24 locus is linked to T2D, depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety. At the 12q24 locus, the Proteasome-Modulator 9 (PSMD9) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs74421874 [intervening sequence (IVS) 3+nt460-G>A], rs3825172 (IVS3+nt437-C>T) and rs14259 (E197G-A>G) are linked to: T2D, depression, anxiety, maturity-onset-diabetes-of the young 3/MODY3, obesity, waist circumference, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, T2D-macrovascular disease, T2D-microvascular disease, T2D-neuropathy, T2D-carpal-tunnel syndrome, T2D-nephropathy, T2D-retinopathy and non-diabetic retinopathy. ⋯ Non-parametric-linkage analysis, linkage-disequilibrium-model analysis, single-SNP analysis, cluster-based-parametric analysis, quantitative-trait and variant-component analysis were performed using Merlin software. To validate data, 1000 replicates were executed for the significant non-parametric data. PSMD9 rs74421874 (IVS3+nt460-G>A), rs3825172 (IVS3+nt437-C>T) and rs1043307/rs14259 (E197G-A>G) SNPs are linked to insomnia in our Italian families.
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β-Thalassemia is one of the most common genetic blood diseases and is caused by either point mutations or deletions in the β-globin (HBB) gene. The generation of patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and subsequent correction of the disease-causing mutations may be a potential therapeutic strategy for this disease. Due to the low efficiency of typical homologous recombination, endonucleases, including TALENs and CRISPR/Cas9, have been widely used to enhance the gene correction efficiency in patient-derived iPSCs. ⋯ In addition, more obvious off-target events were observed for CRISPR/Cas9 compared to TALENs. Finally, TALENs-corrected iPSC clones were selected for erythroblast differentiation using the OP9 co-culture system and detected relatively higher transcription of HBB than the uncorrected cells. This comparison of using TALENs or CRISPR/Cas9 to correct specific HBB mutations in patient-derived iPSCs will guide future applications of TALENs- or CRISPR/Cas9-based gene therapies in monogenic diseases.
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This study aimed to explore the effect and mechanisms of rhein on sepsis-induced acute kidney injury by injecting lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) in vivo, and on LPS-induced HK-2 cells in vitro. For histopathological analysis, rhein effectively attenuated the severity of renal injury. Rhein could significantly decrease concentration of BUN and SCr and level of TNF-α and IL-1β in two different mouse models of experimental sepsis. ⋯ All these results suggest that rhein has protective effects on endotoxin-induced kidney injury. The underlying mechanism of rhein on anti-endotoxin kidney injury may be closely related with its anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties by decreasing NF-κB activation through restraining the expression and phosphorylation of the relevant proteins in NF-κB signal pathway, hindering transcription of NF-κB p65. These evidence suggest that rhein has a potential application to treat endotoxemia-associated acute kidney injury.
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Infection in humans by severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV), a novel bunyavirus transmitted by ticks, is often associated with pronounced liver damage, especially in fatal cases. Little has been known, however, about how liver cells respond to SFTSV and how the response is regulated. In this study we report that proinflammatory cytokines were induced in liver tissues of C57/BL6 mice infected with SFTSV, which may cause tissue necrosis in mice. ⋯ Viral nonstructural protein NSs was inhibitory to the induction of IFN-β, but interestingly, NFκB activation was enhanced in the presence of NSs. Therefore, NSs plays dual roles in the suppression of antiviral IFN-β induction as well as the promotion of proinflammatory responses. Our findings provide the first evidence for elucidating host responses and regulation in liver epithelial cells infected by an emerging bunyavirus.