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In this study, a total of 177 NAC members were identified in Avena sativa, located on 21 chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that AsNAC proteins could be divided into seven subfamilies (I–VII), and that proteins in the same subfamily have similar protein motifs. Gene structure analysis found that NAC introns ranged from 1 to 17. Cis-element analysis of the promoter indicated that the gene family may have stress-related elements and growth regulation elements. Through qRT-PCR experiments, we speculated that AsNACs genes can respond to abiotic stresses such as cold, freezing, salt, and saline alkali. This study provides a theoretical basis for further exploring the function of the NAC gene family in A. sativa.

BackgroundWe studied women enrolled in the Boston Mammography Cohort Study to investigate whether subgroups defined by age, race, or family history of breast cancer experienced differences in trends of screening or diagnostic imaging rates during the COVID-19 lockdown and had slower rebound in trends of these rates during reopening.MethodsWe compared trends of monthly breast cancer screening and diagnostic imaging rates over time between the pre-COVID-19, lockdown, and reopening periods and tested for differences in the monthly trend within the same period by age (ResultsOverall, we observed a decline in breast cancer screening and diagnostic imaging rates. The monthly trend of breast cancer screening rates for women age ≥50 was 5% higher (p=0.005) in the pre-COVID-19 period but was 19% lower in the reopening phase than that of women agedDiscussionThe rebound in screening was lower in women age ≥50 and lower in non-White women for diagnostic imaging. Careful attention must be paid as the COVID-19 recovery continues to ensure equitable resumption of care.FundingThe project was supported by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (RT). Researchers were supported by the University of Louisville CIEHS P30 ES030283 (NCD), K01CA188075 (ETW), T32CA09001 (NCD, MOS, MEB) P30 ES000002 (JH, FL), and NIH/NCI K00 CA212222 (MEB). This manuscript is the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

MsCML46 enhances tolerance to abiotic stresses through alleviating osmotic stress and oxidative damage by regulating the expression of stress-related genes to optimize osmolytes levels and antioxidant enzyme activity in transgenic tobacco. Abiotic stresses are major environmental factors that constraint crop productivity worldwide. Various stimuli regulate intracellular calcium levels and calcium-mediated signal transduction, and cellular responses. Ca2+ signals are perceived by different Ca2+ receptors. Calmodulin-like protein (CML) is one of the best-characterized Ca2+ sensors which shares sequence similarity with highly conserved calmodulin (CaM) ubiquitously expressed in plants. Currently, the molecular and physiological functions of CMLs are largely unknown. In this study, the MsCML46 was characterized in alfalfa (Medicago sativa cv. Zhaodong) under freezing stress. Results showed that MsCML46 was localized to the cytoplasm of Arabidopsis, and its expression was strongly elevated by cold, drought, salt, saline-alkali, and ABA treatments. Overexpressing MsCML46 in tobacco enhanced tolerance to freezing, drought, and salt stresses as evidenced by improved contents of osmotic regulatory solutes and antioxidant enzyme activity but decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation. Furthermore, cold, drought, and salt stresses increased the expression of stress-related genes in transgenic tobacco. MsCML46 binds free Ca2+ to promote signal transduction and maintain higher K+/Na+ ratio. In this way, it protects intracellular homeostasis under sodium ion toxicity. These results suggest that MsCML46 plays a crucial role in resisting abiotic stresses and can be exploited in genetic engineering for crops.

Background: WRKY is a transcription factor with 60 highly conserved amino acid region, regulating physiological processes and development in many plants and respond to a variety of abiotic stresses. However, the WRKY gene family has not been systematically studied in multiple legumes.Results: In this study, genome-wide analysis of five legumes (Phaseolus vulgaris, Medicago truncatula, Lotus japonicus, Glycine max, Cicer arietinum) identified 90, 108, 83, 185 and 61 WRKY genes, respectively. Besides, the chromosomal localization, phylogenesis, conserved motifs, gene structure and gene replication analysis were proceed for WRKY genes. The results showed that the legumes WRKY gene branches from the same evolutionary system have similar protein structures. In addition, by analyzing the transcriptome data we figured out that the expression level of WRKY differed in each tissue. Meanwhile, qRT-PCR was carried out to investigate the expression patterns of WRKY under abiotic stress. The results show that WRKY protein play crucial regulatory roles under salt and drought stress. Conclusions: In summary, these results comprehensively describes the WRKY gene of five legumes, which provides a theoretical basis for further exploring the biological functions of members of the WRKY gene family in legumes.

Background: More than 100,000 individuals in the United States are survivors of advanced prostate cancer, defined as metastatic hormone sensitive (mHSPC) or castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). This growing, vulnerable population could be uniquely susceptible or responsive to factors that are associated with overall survival. We investigated the associations of marital status and living arrangements with overall survival among individuals with advanced prostate cancer in the International Registry for Men with Advanced Prostate Cancer (IRONMAN). Methods: We included 2,347 men (ages 40-96 years, median 70 years) with advanced prostate cancer recruited between 2017 and October 2022. Cox proportional hazards models estimated adjusted hazard ratios (adjusted HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the associations between marital status (married vs. not married), living arrangement (living alone vs. not living alone) and all-cause mortality, mutually adjusting for marital status and living arrangement and potential confounders (disease state [mHSPC vs. CRPC], country of enrollment, age at enrollment, race, education, employment status, smoking status, family history of prostate cancer, prostate specific antigen level at enrollment, and Gleason score). We conducted stratified analyses by disease state (mHSPC vs. CRPC), age ( Results: This study included 1524 (65%) participants with mHSPC and 809 (35%) with CRPC. 1690 (77%) were married and 338 (16%) lived alone. Over the follow-up period (maximum: 52 months, median: 6 months, IQR: 13 months), we observed 451 deaths, with 313 deaths among married individuals and 59 deaths among those who lived alone. Overall, married individuals had better survival compared to those not married (adjusted HR: 0.52; 95% CI 0.35, 0.78), while those living alone had better survival compared to those not living alone (adjusted HR: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.29, 0.80). The protective association between being married and survival is stronger among those with mHSPC (adjusted HR: 0.42; 95% CI: 0.24, 0.71) compared to those with CRPC (adjusted HR: 0.72; 95% CI: 0.35, 1.49) and stronger among those with ages 70 or older (adjusted HR: 0.43; 95% CI: 0.25, 0.74) compared to those younger than 70 (adjusted HR: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.36, 1.43). Conclusion: Being married was associated with better survival among advanced prostate cancer survivors. While living alone was also associated with better survival, this finding should be interpreted with caution as there may be residual confounding by socioeconomic status or physical functioning. Citation Format: Naiyu Chen, Colleen B. McGrath, Caroline I. Ericsson, Jane B. Vaselkiv, Michelle O. Sodipo, Emily M. Rencsok, Konrad H. Stopsack, Daniel J. George, Karen A. Autio, Dana E. Rathkopf, Kathryn L. Penney, Lorelei A. Mucci. Marital status, living arrangement, and overall survival among individuals with advanced prostate cancer in the IRONMAN cohort. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 6489.

The fatigue behaviour of a piezoelectric ceramic stack co-fired at low temperatures under the influence of a large cyclic dynamic load was studied. The piezoelectric ceramic stack is equivalent to a parallel plate capacitor with a charge source in parallel. The equations for the total current, output current and capacitor charging current of an equivalent device for an applied load were derived using Kirchhoff’s theoretical formula. A new type of fatigue test equipment was developed for continuous long-term M-shaped wave output. The piezoelectric ceramic stack is positioned between two concrete slabs, forming a pavement-subgrade piezoelectric structure. The fatigue behaviour of the piezoelectric ceramic stack was observed for 800,000 cycles of dynamic load. The results show that the dynamic load studied produced fatigue damage in the piezoelectric ceramic stack. As the number of dynamic loads increased, the electric output capacity of the piezoelectric ceramic stack decreased. Evident stage divisions were observed in the fatigue behaviour of the piezoelectric ceramic stack under cyclic dynamic loading. The electric output capacity of the stack decreased as the number of dynamic loads increased in the early and late stages, whereas it exhibited negligible change during the stable period.

The GRAS transcription factor is an important transcription factor in plants. In recent years, more GRAS genes have been identified in many plant species. However, the GRAS gene family has not yet been studied in Avena sativa. We identified 100 members of the GRAS gene family in A. sativa (Avena sativa), named them AsGRAS1~AsGRAS100 according to the positions of 21 chromosomes, and classified them into 9 subfamilies. In this study, the motif and gene structures were also relatively conserved in the same subfamilies. At the same time, we found a great deal related to the stress of cis-acting promoter regulatory elements (MBS, ABRE, and TC-rich repeat elements). qRT-PCR suggested that the AsGRAS gene family (GRAS gene family in A. sativa) can regulate the response to salt, saline–alkali, and cold and freezing abiotic stresses. The current study provides original and detailed information about the AsGRAS gene family, which contributes to the functional characterization of GRAS proteins in other plants.

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed an unprecedented burden on the healthcare system, disrupting routine care including breast cancer screening. We used data from 2392 women without a history of breast cancer enrolled in the Boston Mammography Cohort Study (BMCS) to investigate whether subgroups defined by age, race, or family history of breast cancer: 1) experienced greater declines in screening or diagnostic imaging during the lockdown; or 2) had slower rebound during reopening. In this interrupted time series analysis, we used Poisson regression with robust standard errors to model expected monthly rates of breast cancer screening and diagnostic imaging from January 2019 through December 2020. We defined the pre-COVID-19 period as January 1, 2019, to February 29, 2020; the lockdown period as March 1 to May 30, 2020; and the reopening period as June 1 to December 31, 2020. We examined changes in trends overall and tested for the difference in trends by age ( Citation Format: Naiyu Chen, David Cheng, Mollie Barnard, Natalie C. DuPre, Rulla M. Tamimi, Erica T. Warner. Impact of age, race, and family history on COVID-19 related changes in breast cancer screening among the Boston Mammography Cohort Study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: 14th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2021 Oct 6-8. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2022;31(1 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-250.