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In this work, MOFs materials functionalized (HC-MOFs) with heterocyclic ligands (thiophene-TPC, pyrrole-PCA and furfural-FUR) were prepared by a one-step method and used for cobalt ion separation studies. The results showed that the maximum adsorption of cobalt ions by the three adsorbents was 141.0 mg/g (UiO-66-TPC), 146.0 mg/g (UiO-66-PCA), and 150.6 mg/g (UiO-66-FUR), respectively, at pH 8.3 and a temperature of 298 K. In addition, The HC-MOFs showed good stability under different doses (0 ~ 200 kGy) of γ-ray irradiation and have great potential for application in the separation of practical radioactive wastewater containing 60Co. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pinus massoniana (P. massoniana) is an important fast-growing tree species in China. To explore photosynthesis-related gene resources and find possible targets for high photosynthetic-efficiency breeding of P. massoniana, we cloned two full-length cDNAs with conserved sequences of RubisCO activase (RCA) genes from P. massoniana. The RCA enzyme is important in maintaining the activity of RubisCO in vivo. Two genes, named PmRCA1 and PmRCA2, showed high similarity to RCA genes from other species and were identical to each other except for a 137 bp intervening sequence in the open reading frame (ORF) of PmRCA1, which led to different protein products, herein referred to as PmRCA1 and PmRCA2, respectively. PmRCA1 and PmRCA2 showed high homology to RCA of Pinus halepensis, and PmRCA1 had two cysteine residues in its carboxyl-terminal extension that were unique to the large RCA isoform. To characterize the function of PmRCA1 and PmRCA2, plant expression vectors driven by the constitutive 35S promoter were transformed in tobacco plants. Transgenic plants of PmRCA2 were grown better than wild tobacco plants and had significantly more leaves. Overexpression of PmRCA2 increased the maximum net photosynthetic rate and dark respiration rate of tobacco by 16.49% and 81.85%, respectively. Overexpression of PmRCA1 increased the maximum net photosynthetic rate and dark respiration rate of tobacco more than overexpression of PmRCA2, but it simultaneously enhanced photoinhibition of photosynthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To compare the effectiveness of caries arrest by micro-operative treatment (sealing) to operative treatment (flowable resin composite restoration) through a 2-year randomized controlled clinical trial. Materials and methods: A prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted among 7-9-year-old children. At baseline, 630 subjects were screened and 92 children who had at least one carious lesion classified as ICDAS 3 on the pit and fissure of first permanent molar were included. Then they were randomly assigned to the sealant group (73 lesions) and the flowable resin composite group (76 lesions) to receive the corresponding intervention. Lesions status in each group was evaluated every 6 months up to 24 months. Clinical progression of dental caries and materials retention were the outcomes used for group comparisons at p-value < 0.05. Results: After 24 months, three lesions (4.1%) in the sealant group clinically progressed to dentin caries. No lesion in the flowable composite group was observed a progression. The results of Life-table survival analysis show that the cumulative caries arrest rate had no statistically significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.075). However, the cumulative retention rate was 57.5% in the sealant group and 92.1% in the flowable composite group, with significant differences (p < 0.001). The multilevel mixed model showed the sealant had higher risk of retention failure than the flowable composite (OR = 8.66, p < 0.001), while tooth position did not influence material retention (p = 0.083). In addition, the results of Fisher Exact test show that dentin lesions had more retention failure than enamel lesions in the sealant group (p = 0.026). Conclusion: Although sealing microcavitated carious lesions of the first permanent molar achieved lower retention rate than resin composite restoration, both sealing and restoration effectively arrested caries progression for two years. Clinical relevance: To preserving dental structure and delaying or eliminating the need for operative procedures, microcavitated carious lesion can be arrested by sealing. Trial registration: Registered at ; Feb 15th, 2020; No. ChiCTR2000029862. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new sesquiterpene lactone, namely, eupachiilide A (1), as well as two known sesquiterpene lactones, eupachinilide B (2), and eupalinilide G (3), were isolated from the whole plant of Eupatorium chinense L. The new structure was elucidated by spectral methods, especially 2D NMR techniques. The three natural compounds were all Michael addition acceptors, whose electrophilic moiety could react with the nucleophilic residues of the relevant active site and produce a variety of bioactivities. Eupachiilide A demonstrated potent cytotoxicity against two TNBC cell lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Light provides the energy for photosynthesis and determines plant morphogenesis and development. Low light compromises photosynthetic efficiency and leads to crop yield loss. It remains unknown how rice responds to low light stress at a proteomic level. Results: In this study, the quantitative proteomic analysis with isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) was used and 1221 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were identified from wild type rice plants grown in control or low light condition (17% light intensity of control), respectively. Bioinformatic analysis of DEPs indicated low light remarkably affects the abundance of chloroplastic proteins. Specifically, the proteins involved in carbon fixation (Calvin cycle), electron transport, and ATPase complex are severely downregulated under low light. Furthermore, overexpression of the downregulated gene encoding rice β subunit of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (OsGAPB), an enzyme in Calvin cycle, significantly increased the CO2 assimilation rate, chlorophyll content and fresh weight under low light conditions but have no obvious effect on rice growth and development under control light. Conclusion: Our results revealed that low light stress on vegetative stage of rice inhibits photosynthesis possibly by decreasing the photosynthetic proteins and OsGAPB gene is a good candidate for manipulating rice tolerance to low light stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The durability of commercial vehicles is heavily dependent on the design of their suspension systems’ hard points. The design optimization of hard points involves a large number of design parameters. However, traditional surrogate model-assisted multi-objective optimization (MOO) methods face challenges for high-dimensional problems due to the expensive computational cost required to generate accurate metamodels. To mitigate the aforementioned limitations, this study proposes a serial combinational MOO design framework based on a validated multi-body dynamic model, which focuses on the hard point optimization of a double wishbone independent suspension. The proposed method involves two optimization stages. At Optimization Stage I (i.e., warm-up stage), Taguchi-based grey relational analysis is performed to determine a preliminary solution based on the data from the design of experiment in a large design space. At Optimization Stage II, a hybrid surrogate model with the highest average R-squared value is chosen based on the reduced design space obtained from Optimization Stage I. Furthermore, the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II is applied to search for optimal points in a relatively small design space. Subsequently, a unique optimal solution is obtained by employing the improved multi-objective decision-making model based on entropy weight and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution methods. When the improvement of the optimal solution fails to meet the desired objective, Stage I and iteration follow. Several representative functions are utilized as demonstration examples to verify the developed optimization method. Then, the proposed method is applied to solve a typical engineering optimization problem, namely, suspension optimization with a large design space. Results show that the two-stage method considerably reduces the pseudo damage of the suspension when compared to the conventional one-stage optimization method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three-dimensionally ordered macroporous microspheres (3DOMMs) with copolymer skeletons have been successfully fabricated using a colloidal crystal templating method. The spherical SiO2 colloidal crystal was firstly self-assembled as template via the evaporation-induced self-assembly process in a water/oil suspension system. The 3DOMMs were obtained by sealing the silica colloidal crystal template with polyethylene glycol 1500 (PEG 1500) after the infiltration of the precursor into the interstice of the template. The compositions of the precursor had an important effect on the structural order and integrity of the 3DOMMs. The structural strength of the microspheres was obviously improved by adding 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and 3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl methacrylate (KH570) into the precursor. The chromatographic column packed with the 3DOMMs showed higher permeability and lower backpressure compared with the column packed with the traditional bulk materials and was suitable for the fast chromatographic separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose and demonstrate a 2 × 2 optical Benes switching unit based on two nested silicon microring resonators (MRRs) monolithically integrated on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer. High extinction ratios (ERs) of about 44.7/38.0 dB and low crosstalk values of about −37.5/−45.2 dB at cross/bar states are obtained with the fabricated device. The operation principle is theoretically studied and the switching function is verified by system demonstration experiments with 10 and 12.5 Gb/s non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signals. The switching speed on the order of gigahertz based on free carrier effect in silicon is also experimentally demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The NF-κB signaling pathway is an important downstream pathway of oncogenic Notch1 in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) cells. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the cascade activation of Notch1 in T-ALL cells are poorly understood. Here, we evaluated the role of CARMA1 in Notch1-induced NF-κB activation in T-ALL cells. CARMA1 was highly and specifically expressed in T-ALL cells and correlated with the prognosis of T-ALL patients. Interestingly, CARMA1 knockdown only inhibited the growth and proliferation of SIL-TAL1 fusion gene-negative T-ALL cells. In addition, CARMA1 knockdown arrested T-ALL cells at the G1 phase. Furthermore, CARMA1 knockdown significantly inhibited the proliferation of T-ALL cells in vivo and prolonged the survival of mice. Mechanistically, CARMA1 deficiency abolished Notch1-induced NF-κB transcriptional activation and significantly reduced expression levels of the NF-κB target genes c-Myc, Bcl-2, and CCR7. Taken together, these results of our study identify CARMA1 as one of the crucial mediators of Notch1-induced transformation of T-All cells, suggesting that CARMA1 is a promising therapeutic target for T-ALL due to its specific expression in lymphocytes. Key messages: CARMA1 contributes to cell survival only in SIL-TAL1 negative T-ALL cells. CARMA1 is a crucial mediator of Notch1-induced activation of NF-κB pathway. CARMA1 is a promising therapeutic target for T-ALL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key message: GWAS identified 559 significant SNPs associated with the remodelling of the root architecture in response to salt, and 168 candidate genes were prioritized by integrating RNA-seq, DEG and WGCNA data. Salinity is a major environmental factor limiting crop growth and productivity. The root is the first plant organ to encounter salt stress, yet the effects of salinity on maize root development remain unclear. In this study, the natural variations in 14 root and 4 shoot traits were evaluated in 319 maize inbred lines under control and saline conditions. Considerable phenotypic variations were observed for all traits, with high salt concentrations decreasing the root length, but increasing the root diameter. A genome-wide association study was conducted to analyse these traits and their plasticity (relative variation). We detected 559 significant single nucleotide polymorphisms, of which 125, 181 and 253 were associated with the control condition, stress condition and trait plasticity, respectively. A total of 168 of 587 candidate genes identified by genome-wide association study were supported by the differentially expressed genes or co-expression networks. Two candidate genes ZmIAA1 and ZmGRAS43 were validated by resequencing. Among these genes, 130 were detected under stress condition or trait plasticity that involved in diverse biological processes including plant hormone signal transduction, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and fatty acid biosynthesis. Our findings clarify the root remodelling to salinity, and the identified loci and candidate genes may be important for the genetic improvement of root traits and salt tolerance in maize. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transcription factors (TFs) play crucial regulatory roles in controlling the expression of the target genes in plants. APETALA2/Ethylene-responsive factors (AP2/ERF) are part of a large superfamily of plant-specific TFs whose members are involved in the control of plant metabolism, development and responses to various biotic and abiotic stresses. However, the AP2/ERF superfamily has not been identified systematically in Masson pine (Pinus massoniana), which is one of the most important conifer in southern China. Therefore, we performed systematic identification of the AP2/ERF superfamily using transcriptome sequencing data from Masson pine. In the current study, we obtained 88 members of the AP2/ERF superfamily. All PmAP2/ERF members could be classified into 3 main families, AP2 (7 members), RAV (7 members), ERF (73 members) families, and a soloist protein. Subcellular localization assays suggested that two members of PmAP2/ERF were nuclear proteins. Based on pine wood nematode (PWN) inoculated transcriptome and qPCR analysis, we found that many members of PmAP2/ERF could respond to PWN inoculation and PWN related treatment conditions in vitro. In general, members of the AP2/ERF superfamily play an important role in the response of Masson pine responds to PWN. Furthermore, the roles of the AP2/ERF superfamily in other physiological activities of Masson pine remain to be further studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biological ethylene production is a promising sustainable alternative approach for fossil-based ethylene production. The high glucose utilization of Z. mobilis makes it as a promising bioethylene producer. In this study, Zymomonas mobilis has been engineered to produce ethylene through the introduction of the synthetic ethylene-forming enzyme (EFE). We also investigated the effect of systematically knocking out the competitive metabolic pathway of pyruvate in an effort to improve the availability of pyruvate for ethylene production in Z. mobilis expressing EFE. Guided by these results, we tested a number of conjectures that could improve the α-ketoglutarate supply. Optimization of these pathways and different substrate supplies resulted in a greater production of ethylene (from 1.36 to 12.83 nmol/OD600/mL), which may guide future engineering work on ethylene production using other organisms. Meanwhile, we achieved an ethylene production of 5.8 nmol/OD600/mL in the ZM532-efe strain using enzymatic straw hydrolysate of corn straw as the sole carbon source. As a preferred host in biorefinery technologies using lignocellulosic biomass as feedstock, heterologous expression of EFE in Z. mobilis converts the non-ethylene producing strain into an ethylene-producing one using a metabolic engineering approach, which is of great significance for the utilization of cellulosic biomass in the future. Key points: • Heterologous expression of EFE in Z. mobilis successfully converted the non-ethylene producing strain into an ethylene producer (1.36 nmol/OD600/mL). Targeted modifications of the central carbon metabolism can effectively improve ethylene production (peak production: 8.3 nmol/OD600/mL). • The addition of nutrients to the medium can further increase the production of ethylene (peak production: 12.8 nmol/OD600/mL). • The ZM532-efe strain achieved an ethylene production of 5.8 nmol/OD600/mL when enzymatic hydrolysate of corn straw was used as the sole carbon source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Malvidin is one of the most widespread anthocyanidins which exhibits significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effects of Malvidin on osteoarthritis (OA). Materials and methods: We created an animal model of OA using Wistar rats administered by monosodium iodoacetate (MIA). Effects of Malvidin on hyperalgesia were evaluated by paw pressure tests and compression threshold test. Articular chondrocytes were isolated from the OA rats to detect the apoptotic chondrocytes using senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) staining kit. The expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) were assessed by western blot and qPCR. Luciferase assay was used to determine the impact of Malvidin on nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) pathway. Results: Malvidin treatment exhibited significant pain-relieving effects in OA rats and decreased the expression level of apoptotic marker SA-β-gal in chondrocytes. We found that the upregulated expressions of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and MMPs induced by MIA in cartilage tissues were significantly reversed by Malvidin. Furthermore, Malvidin inhibited NF-κB pathway via an NF-κB inhibitor (IκBα)-independent manner through suppressing p65 nuclear transportation in vitro. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that Malvidin significantly attenuates the OA-induced pain and inflammation by inhibiting NF-κB signaling pathway and suppressing pro-inflammatory cytokine expression and chondrocyte apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new method for simulating the evolution of a gully head in a loess catchment with cellular automata (CA) based on the Fisher discriminant. The experimental site is an indoor loess catchment that was constructed in a fixed-intensity rainfall erosion test facility. Nine high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) data sets were gathered by close range photogrammetry during different phases of the experiment. To simulate the evolution of the catchment gully head, we assumed the following. First, the 5th and 6th DEM data sets were used as a data source for acquiring the location of the catchment gully head and for obtaining spatial variables with GIS spatial analysis tools. Second, the Fisher discriminant was used to calculate the weight of the spatial variables to determine the transition probabilities. Third, CA model was structured to simulate the evolution of the gully head by iterative looping. The status of the cell in the CA models was dynamically updated at the end of each loop to obtain realistic results. Finally, the nearest neighbor, G-function, K-function, Moran's I and fractal indexes were used to evaluate the model results. Overall, the CA model can be used to simulate the evolution of a loess gully head. The experiment demonstrated the advantages of the CA model which can simulate the dynamic evolution of gully head evolution in a catchment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a novel soft-hard template method towards the direct fabrication of graphene films on silicon/silica substrate is developed via a tri-constituent self-assembly route. Using cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) as a soft template, silica (SiO2) from tetramethoxysilane as a hard template, and pyrene as a carbon source, the self-assembly process allows the formation of a sandwich-like SiO2/CTAB/pyrene composite, which can be further converted to high quantity graphene films with a thickness of ~1 nm and a size of over 5 μm by thermal treatment. The morphology and thickness of the graphene films can be effectively controlled through the adjustment of the ratio of pyrene to CTAB. Furthermore, a high nonlinear refractive index n2 of ~10−12 m2 W−1 is measured from graphene/silica hybrid film, which is six orders of magnitude larger than that of silicon and comparable to the graphene from chemical vapor deposition process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]