Myopia is a huge public health problem worldwide, reaching the highest incidence in Asia. Identification of susceptible genes is crucial for understanding the biological basis of myopia. In this paper, we have identified and characterized a functional myopia-associated gene using a specific mouse-knockout model. Mice lacking the muscarinic cholinergic receptor gene (M2; also known as Chrm2) wer...

Tides and their dynamic processes in the South China Sea (SCS) are studied by assimilating Topex/Poseidon altimetry data into a barotropic ocean tide model for the eight major constituents (M2 S2 K1 O1 N2 K2 P1 Q1) using a tidal data inversion scheme. High resolution ( 10 km) and large model domain are adopted to better resolve the physical processes involved and to minimize the uncertainty fro...

M2 tumor-associated macrophage has been found to play a supportive role in the progression of glioma. The underlying mechanism, nevertheless, has been largely unknown. In our study, to investigate how M2 macrophage played role in glioma, firstly we've analyzed the clinicopathological significance of M2 macrophage existence on clinical tissues of glioma using detection of CD163 expression with i...

The major challenge for progressive multiple sclerosis therapy is the promotion of remyelination from inflammation-induced demyelination. A switch from an M1- to an M2-dominant polarization of microglia is critical in these repair processes. In this study, we identified the homeobox gene msh-like homeobox-3 (Msx3) as a new pivotal regulator for microglial polarization. MSX3 was induced during m...

Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) is a serious complication of age‑related macular degeneration. The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression and distribution of M1 and M2 macrophages in a laser‑induced CNV adult mouse model. The mRNA expression levels of M1, M2 and pan macrophage markers, and macrophage‑associated angiogenic cytokines, were determined by reverse transcriptio...

Statistical models (16) were compared for birth weight of 24,741 Columbia lambs recorded at the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station (USSES; 1950 to 1998). The goal was to estimate fractions of variance due to cytoplasmic line (c2; n = 590) and sire x cytoplasmic line interaction (sc2; n = 12,831) with other nuclear and environmental effects included in the model. The basic model included direct genet...

BACKGROUND COPD is a multi-pathogenesis disease mainly caused by smoking. A further understanding of the mechanism of smoking-related COPD might contribute to preventions and treatments of this disease in the early stages. This study was designed to identify the characteristics of M2 macrophages in COPD for a better understanding about their potential role. MATERIALS AND METHODS COPD models w...

Efforts to develop a broadly protective vaccine against the highly pathogenic avian influenza A (HPAI) H5N1 virus have focused on highly conserved influenza gene products. The viral nucleoprotein (NP) and ion channel matrix protein (M2) are highly conserved among different strains and various influenza A subtypes. Here, we investigate the relative efficacy of NP and M2 compared to HA in protect...