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Insulators are crucial insulation components and structural supports in power grids, playing a vital role in the transmission lines. Due to temperature fluctuations, internal stress, or damage from hail, insulators are prone to injury. Automatic detection of damaged insulators faces challenges such as diverse types, small defect targets, and complex backgrounds and shapes. Most research for detecting insulator defects has focused on a single defect type or a specific material. However, the insulators in the grid's transmission lines have different colors and materials. Various insulator defects coexist, and the existing methods have difficulty meeting the practical application requirements. Current methods suffer from low detection accuracy and mAP0.5 cannot meet application requirements. This paper proposes an improved you only look once version 7 (YOLOv7) model for multi-type insulator defect detection. First, our model replaces the spatial pyramid pooling cross stage partial network (SPPCSPC) module with the receptive filed block (RFB) module to enhance the network's feature extraction capability. Second, a coordinate attention (CA) mechanism is introduced into the head part to enhance the network's feature representation ability and to improve detection accuracy. Third, a wise intersection over union (WIoU) loss function is employed to address the low-quality samples hindering model generalization during training, thereby improving the model's overall performance. The experimental results indicate that the proposed model exhibits enhancements across various performance metrics. Specifically, there is a 1.6% advancement in mAP_0.5, a corresponding 1.6% enhancement in mAP_0.5:0.95, a 1.3% elevation in precision, and a 1% increase in recall. Moreover, the model achieves parameter reduction by 3.2 million, leading to a decrease of 2.5 GFLOPS in computational cost. Notably, there is also an improvement of 2.81 milliseconds in single-image detection speed. This improved model can detect insulator defects for diverse materials, color insulators, and partial damage shapes in complex backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The safe operation of high-voltage transmission lines ensures the power grid's security. Various foreign objects attached to the transmission lines, such as balloons, kites and nesting birds, can significantly affect the safe and stable operation of high-voltage transmission lines. With the advancement of computer vision technology, periodic automatic inspection of foreign objects is efficient and necessary. Existing detection methods have low accuracy because foreign objects attached to the transmission lines are complex, including occlusions, diverse object types, significant scale variations, and complex backgrounds. In response to the practical needs of the Yunnan Branch of China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd., this paper proposes an improved YOLOv8m-based model for detecting foreign objects on transmission lines. Experiments are conducted on a dataset collected from Yunnan Power Grid. The proposed model enhances the original YOLOv8m by incorporating a Global Attention Module (GAM) into the backbone to focus on occluded foreign objects, replacing the SPPF module with the SPPCSPC module to augment the model's multiscale feature extraction capability, and introducing the Focal-EIoU loss function to address the issue of high- and low-quality sample imbalances. These improvements accelerate model convergence and enhance detection accuracy. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed model achieves a 2.7% increase in mAP_0.5, a 4% increase in mAP_0.5:0.95, and a 6% increase in recall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C. officinalis Kuan is the dry root of Cyathula officinalis Kuan. Clinically, it is used for fall and flutter injury, rheumatism and arthralgia. Phytoecdysteroids have significant anti-inflammatory effects, and the phytoecdysteroids present in C. officinalis Kuan exhibit potential for treating rheumatoid arthritis. This study first developed a selective, accurate and efficient LC-MS/MS method for 12-day pharmacokinetic studies regarding the simultaneous determination of cyasterone, 25-epi-28-epi-cyasterone, precyasterone and capitasterone from C. officinalis Kuan phytoecdysteroids extract in normal and adjuvant arthritis rats. An Agilent Eclipse Plus C18 RRHD column (1.8 µm, 50mm × 2.1 mm) with a gradient mobile phase consisting of water (A) and acetonitrile (B) was used for analysis. The mass analysis was performed in an Agilent 6430 QQQ-MS mass spectrometer with positive mode multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). The results indicated that the AUC0-t and AUC0-∞ values of the four phytoecdysteroids in adjuvant arthritis rats were different from those in normal rats on the first day, which could provide a helpful reference for pharmacological and toxicological studies, as well as clinical applications of C. officinalis Kuan in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. 1. C. officinalis Kuan is the dry root of Cyathula officinalis Kuan which has been used for the treatment of flapping injury, rheumatism arthralgia, foot flaccidity, and tendon contracture thousands of years in China, and has been officially included in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. 2. A highly accurate, stable, and sensitive ultra-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method was first established and validated for simultaneously determination four phytoecdysteroids: cyasterone, 25-epi-28-epi-cyasterone, precyasterone and capitasterone in normal and adjuvant arthritis rats plasma samples 12 days of continuous gavage of C. officinalis Kuan phytoecdysteroids extract. 3. The phytoecdysteroids is the important component of C. officinalis Kuan, which is difficult to separated. And there is no report for the pharmacokinetic study of phytoecdysteroids from C. officinalis Kuan. And the method provides a good reference for the follow-up studies clinical medication of the phytoecdysteroids from C. officinalis Kuan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article extends stochastic input‐to‐state stability (SISS$$ \mathrm{SISS} $$) to stochastic time‐delayed hybrid systems with the properties of edge dependent. By quoting multiple Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional, comparison principle in association with admissible edge‐dependent average dwell time (AED‐ADT$$ \mathrm{AED}\hbox{-} \mathrm{ADT} $$) approach and admissible amputated edge‐dependent average impulsive interval (AAED‐AII$$ \mathrm{AAED}\hbox{-} \mathrm{AII} $$) technology, several novel stability criteria of hybrid time‐delayed stochastic systems are established. We allow impulsive jump and subsystem switching to occur at different instants. Furthermore, a new method named AAED‐AII is recommended for gap between impulses, which is an improvement for mode‐dependent average impulsive interval. Finally, a practical example is given to show the effectiveness of the new design techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we developed an ultra-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry (UHPLC-ESI-MS/MS) method to simultaneously determine Picroside-I, Picroside-II, Picroside-III, minecoside, and sweroside in rat plasma. The chromatographic column was an ACQUITY UHPLC® BEH Amide Column (2.1 × 100 mm, 1.7 µm; Waters, MA, USA), column temperature 40 °C. The mobile phase was 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution–0.1% formic acid acetonitrile solution. The flow rate was 0.4 mL/min. Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) and negative ion modes were adopted. The results showed that the calibration curves of five compounds in plasma showed good linearity (r > 0.9911) over the studied dose range. The lower limits of quantification (LLOQ) for Picroside-I, Picroside-II, Picroside-III, minecoside, and sweroside were 6.876, 5.193, 5.040, 1.260, and 4.527 ng/mL, respectively. The intra-day and inter-day precision were <15%. The matrix effects ranged from 95.77 to 101.9%. The Tmax were 1.1 ± 0.2, 1.1 ± 0.1, 0.8 ± 0.1, 1.0 ± 0.2, and 2.1 ± 0.1 h. This study will be useful in understanding the behavior of drugs in the body and the body's effect on drugs. It also offers theoretical underpinnings and highlights the importance of clinical applications and creating novel drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dimorphic flowers growing on a single individual plant play a critical role in extreme adaption and reproductive assurance in plants and have high ecological and evolutionary significance. However, the omics bases underlying such a differentiation and maintenance remain largely unknown. We aimed to investigate this through genomic, transcriptome and metabolomic analyses of dimorphic flowers in an alpine biennial, Sinoswertia tetraptera (Gentianaceae). A high‐quality chromosome‐level genome sequence (903 Mb) was first assembled for S. tetraptera with 31,359 protein‐coding genes annotated. Two rounds of recent independent whole‐genome duplication (WGD) were revealed. Numerous genes from the recent species‐specific WGD were found to be differentially expressed in the two types of flowers, and this may have helped contribute to the origin of this innovative trait. The genes with contrasting expressions between flowers were related to biosynthesis of hormones, floral pigments (carotenoids and flavonoids) and iridoid compounds, which are involved in both flower development and colour. Metabolomic analyses similarly suggested differential concentrations of these chemicals in the two types of flowers. The expression interactions between multiple genes may together lead to contrasting morphology and chemical concentration and open versus closed pollination of the dimorphic flowers in this species for reproductive assurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies integral input-to-state stability (iISS) of a class of hybrid delayed systems with impulse and switching behavior, in which the delay-dependent impulse and switching behavior are allowed for asynchronous occurrence. Relative to admissible edge-dependent average dwell time (AED-ADT) concept of the switching signal, a fresh concept of admissible edge-dependent average impulsive interval (AED-AII) is proposed for the impulse signal. Several sufficient criteria for iISS are achieved by using multiple Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional (MLKF) tool, AED-ADT switching, and AED-AII schemes. An improved inequality that describing the relation among Lyapunov function continuous switching signal and discrete impulse is constructed, where the jump amplitude at discrete switching points and impulsive moments including delay-dependent part and delay-independent part are involved. Compared with existing results, our conclusions have the following novelties: (1) the influence of time delay existing in continuous dynamics and discrete impulse on the function part of L-K functional is dug out, which is less conservative; (2) the AED-AII scheme proposed in this paper is combined with the AED-ADT switching method, which contains a larger set of the impulsive and switching signal. Moreover, the stability criterion is suitable for the arbitrary time delay in situation that all the subsystems are destabilizing. Finally, an example is given to verify the validity of the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: A sensitive and rapid ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC–MS/MS) method was successfully applied to the determination of 10 alkaloids in beagle dog plasma following a single oral dose of Xiatianwu capsules and enteric‐coated capsules, with theophylline serving as the internal standard (IS). Methods: Plasma samples were preprocessed using liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) with ethyl acetate ahead to separation using a gradient elution procedure on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC HSS T3 column (1.8 μm, 100 × 2.1 mm). The mobile phase was composed of 0.1% formic acid solution and acetonitrile at the flow rate of 0.3 ml/min. Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) was used to determine the analytes in the positive ion mode. Results: The calibration curves for 10 analytes demonstrated a high degree of linearity (r ≥ 0.9920). The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) values for 10 alkaloids were all more than 1.074 ng/ml, and matrix effects varied from 94.25% to 106.15%. The mean extraction recovery of quality control samples at low (LQC), medium (MQC) and high (HQC) concentrations, as well as IS, was all more than 76.60%. The intra‐day and inter‐day precision (RSD) also satisfied the requirement. Simultaneously, the variation of assay accuracies (RE) was between 13.05% and 9.38%. Conclusion: The test was validated in accordance with regulatory bioanalytical guidelines and was found to be suitable for use in a pharmacokinetic investigation of these compounds in beagle dogs after oral administration of Xiatianwu general capsules and enteric‐coated capsules. The Cmax of 10 alkaloids ranged from 52.61 to 192.46 ng/ml after oral administration of Xiatianwu capsules, and from 67.50 to 247.36 ng/ml. The Tmax was between 0.59 and 1.33 h of Xiatianwu capsules, and between 1.08 and 2.00 h of enteric‐coated capsules. The t1/2 ranged from 3.18 to 7.47 h of general capsules, and from 6.01 to 11.36 h. AUC0‐t ranged from 181.06 to 722.74 ng·h/ml of Xiatianwu capsules, and from 275.03 to 884.17 ng·h/ml of enteric‐coated capsules. The Cmax of enteric‐coated capsules were significantly increased except for tetrahydropalmatine and berberine. Tmax of general capsules were less than 1 h, and of enteric‐coated capsules were less than 2 h. The t1/2 of dehydrocorydaline, palmatine, tetrahydrojatrorrhizine, jatrorrhizine and coptisine in enteric‐coated capsules was longer than that in ordinary capsule. The AUC0‐t and AUC0‐∞ of bicuculline, dehydrocorydaline, protopine, magnoflorine, tetrahydrojatrorrhizine, jatrorrhizine, berberine and coptisine were all significantly higher in enteric‐coated capsules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incidence of colon cancer is increasing year over year, seriously affecting human health and quality of life in recent years. However, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been utilized for the treatment of colon cancer. S. officinalis Saponins (S-Saponins), the potential compound of TCM, displays multiple biological activities in colon cancer treatment. In our study, ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) combined with multivariate statistical analysis were performed to analyze and identify raw and processed saponins. Then, MTT and cell migration assays were used to preliminarily explore the effects of saponins in vitro on colon cancer cells. The results showed that 29 differential saponins compounds under Paozhi were identified by UHPLC-MS/MS. Moreover, in vitro validation showed that Sprocessed better inhibited the proliferation and migration of colon cancer cells than Sraw. This study provides a basis for the determination of the chemical fundamentals of the efficacy changes during Paozhi through inferring the changes in saponin components and its possible transformation mechanisms before and after processing S. officinalis. Meanwhile, it also provides new insights into potential bioactive ingredients for the treatment of colon cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A selective and rapid ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC–MS/MS) method was established and validated for the determination of ziyuglycoside I, 3β,19α-dihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic-acid 28-β-d-glucopyranosyl ester, and pomolic acid in rats after the oral administration of ziyuglycoside I, 3β,19α-dihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic-acid 28-β-d-glucopyranosyl ester, pomolic acid, and Sanguisorba officinalis L. extract. The separation was carried out on an ACQUITY UPLC®HSS T3 column (2.1 mm × 100 mm, 1.8 μm), using methanol and 5 mmol/L ammonium acetate water as the mobile phase. The three compounds were quantified using the multiple reaction monitoring mode with the electrospray ion source in both the positive and negative mode. Liquid-liquid extraction was applied to the plasma sample preparation. Bifendate was selected as the internal standard. The intra-day and inter-day precision and the accuracy of the method were all within receivable ranges. The lower limit of quantification of ziyuglycoside I, 3β,19α-dihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic-acid 28-β-d-glucopyranosyl ester, and pomolic acid were 6.50, 5.75, and 2.63 ng/mL, respectively. The extraction recoveries of analytes in rat plasma ranged from 83 to 94%. The three components could be rapidly absorbed into the blood (Tmax, 1.4–1.6 h) both in the single-administration group or S. officinalis extract group, but the first peak of PA occurred at 0.5 h and the second peak at 4–5 h in the S. officinalis extract. Three compounds were eliminated relatively slowly (t1/2, 7.3–11 h). The research was to establish a rapid, sensible, and sensitive UHPLC–MS/MS method using the multi-ion mode for multi-channel simultaneous mensuration pharmacokinetics parameters of three compounds in rats after oral administration of S. officinalis extract. This study found, for the first time, differences in the pharmacokinetic parameters of the three compounds in the monomer compounds and S. officinalis extract administration, which preliminarily revealed the transformation and metabolism of the three compounds in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on a class of nonlinear random impulsive and switched systems for stochastic input-to-state stability. The impulse is divided into two types: single jump map and multiple jump maps. When the impulse is chosen as single jump map, it means that the impulse between the two adjacent switching times is single as well as impulse and switching occur simultaneously, in which the impulsive moments are fixed. When the impulse is chosen as multiple jump maps, in this model, the impulse is not only limited by multiple maps, but also the impulse instants are assumed to be random. Therefore, this model is an extension of the traditional impulsive and switched system. In view of admissible edge-dependent average dwell time switching signal and the impulse dynamic satisfying Poisson's process, sufficient conditions for the stochastic input-to-state stability are introduced into nonlinear impulsive switched system with random impulses. Three significant distinctions from the existing results rest with that (1) a new multiple Lyapunov functions are first created; the novelty contains discontinuity at the discrete points including switching moments and the impulse jump instants of Lyapunov-like functional; (2) the coefficient of derivative of a Lyapunov-like functions is permitted to be either positive or negative, which is less conservative; (3) the adopted admissible edge-dependent average dwell time switching scheme delves into less conservative stochastic input-to-state stability condition than mode-dependent average dwell time switching, nonlinear impulsive switched system with various jump maps. Numerical examples are simulated to manifest the validity of the main results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medicago ruthenica has been recently cultivated as a new forage crop and has been recognized as a source of genes to improve abiotic stress tolerance in cultivated alfalfa because of its remarkable tolerance to drought, salinity‐alkalinity, and cold and snowy winters. Here, we reveal a chromosome‐scale genome sequence of M. ruthenica based on Illumina, PacBio, and Hi‐C data. The assembled genome consists of 903.56 Mb with 50,268 annotated protein‐coding genes, which is larger and contains relatively more genes than Medicago truncatula (420 Mb and 44,623 genes) and Medicago sativa spp. caerulea (793 Mb and 47,202 genes). All three species shared the ancestral Papilionoideae whole‐genome duplication event before their divergence. The more recent expansion of repetitive elements compared to that in the other two species was determined to have contributed greatly to the larger genome size of M. ruthenica. We further found that multiple gene and transcription factor families (e.g., SOS homologous genes, NAC, C2H2, and CAMTA) have expanded in M. ruthenica, which might have led to its enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress. In addition, M. ruthenica harbors more genes involved in the lignin and cellulose biosynthesis pathways than the other two species. Finally, population genomic analyses revealed two genetic lineages, reflecting the west and east of its geographical distribution, respectively. The two lineages probably diverged during the last glaciation and survived in multiple refugia at the last glacial maximum, followed by recent expansion. Our genomic data provide a genetic basis for further molecular breeding research on M. ruthenica and alfalfa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the asynchronous l 2 − l ∞ filtering problem is directed at a kind of discrete-time impulsive switched systems, where 'asynchronous' implies that there is a delay when switching occurs between filter modes and system modes. A novel Lyapunov function has been constructed. The inventiveness lies in discontinuity of Lyapunov-like function at both the switching time and the instant when the system modes and filter modes are matched. An improved inequality portraying the relationship among Lyapunov-like function, impulse, asynchronous phenomena and disturbance is built to pledge the l 2 − l ∞ performance. On the basis of directed graph, the novel Lyapunov function, the improved inequality and admissible edge-dependent average dwell time technology, some criteria suitable for proving the globally uniformly exponential stability of filtering error system are proposed with l 2 − l ∞ performance index, and the relevant filter can also be designed. Finally, three numerical examples show the availability of the obtained conclusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genome size varies greatly across the flowering plants and has played an important role in shaping their evolution. It has been reported that many factors correlate with the variation in genome size, but few studies have systematically explored this at the genomic level. Here, we scan genomic information for 74 species from 74 families in 38 orders covering the major groups of angiosperms (the taxonomic information was acquired from the latest Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG IV) system) to evaluate the correlation between genome size variation and different genome characteristics: polyploidization, different types of repeat sequence content, and the dynamics of long terminal repeat retrotransposons (LTRs). Surprisingly, we found that polyploidization shows no significant correlation with genome size, while LTR content demonstrates a significantly positive correlation. This may be due to genome instability after polyploidization, and since LTRs occupy most of the genome content, it may directly result in most of the genome variation. We found that the LTR insertion time is significantly negatively correlated with genome size, which may reflect the competition between insertion and deletion of LTRs in each genome, and that the old insertions are usually easy to recognize and eliminate. We also noticed that most of the LTR burst occurred within the last 3 million years, a timeframe consistent with the violent climate fluctuations in the Pleistocene. Our findings enhance our understanding of genome size evolution within angiosperms, and our methods offer immediate implications for corresponding research in other datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pregnane X receptor (PXR) as a ligand dependent transcription factor, is capable of regulating gene expression of cytochromes P450 and transporters involved in xenobiotic/drug metabolism and elimination. Due to the species differences in the regulatory specificity of PXR, gene regulation should not be extrapolated from mammal to fish without research data. The aim of present study was to investigate the effect of 27 natural products on PXR, CYP3A30 and MDR1 genes in channel catfish (Ietalurus punetaus) kidney cells (CC-K). The results showed that bisdemethoxycurcumin, glycyrrhetnic acid, rotenone, artemisinin, dihydroartemisinin, ligustilide and matrine strongly induced the mRNA levels of PXR. Additionally, the up-regulation of CYP3A30 gene ran parallel with PXR gene after the treatment of demethoxycurcumin, glycyrrhetnic acid, artemisinin, matrine, baicalein, schisantherin A, ligustilide, and dihydroartemisinin. Moreover, we found that natural products schisandrin A, schisandrin B, schisandrol A, and schisandrol B significantly up-regulated the mRNA level of MDR1 gene. Our work with a view to provide experimental data support for further research, which will make for the rational application of natural products in channel catfish, such as to avoid adverse herb-drug interactions or accelerating the residue elimination of chemical medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The residue depletion of niclosamide (NIC) in freshwater fish including blunt snout bream (Megalobrama amblycephala), yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco) and channel catfish (Ietalurus Punetaus) were investigated under laboratory conditions. NIC concentrations in fish were determined by Liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) with heated electrospray ionisation. The mean recoveries were in the range of 75.5-98.5%, with relative standard deviations ranging from 1.0 to 9.4%. The depletion results showed that the long half-life of NIC was 8.8-22.1 days. Risk assessment of NIC residue in edible tissues (muscle and skin) of the three species of freshwater fish was performed using the quotient (RQ), because of no maximum residue limit (MRL) has been set for NIC in fish. The results demonstrated that the RQ values were all significantly lower than 1. Therefore, the effect of NIC residues in the three species of freshwater fish at the immersion concentration was negligible to Chinese people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) shows high efficiency in the plasma sample preparation. However, this extraction method is not optimal for the biological samples containing complex organic interferences, such as liver and brain tissues. Some plant secondary metabolites can be converted between water-insoluble and water-soluble forms by pH adjustment. Objective: A two-step pH-dependent LLE method was introduced in this study to eliminate both water-soluble and lipidic interferences using the properties of pH-dependent interconvertible forms of analytes during sample preparation. A sensitive and reliable method using a reverse-phase HPLC coupled with a fluorescence detector was developed and validated. Materials and methods: 10-Hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT) with internal standard camptothecin and liver tissues were used as model compounds and biological samples. The lactone form of HCPT was converted to the water-soluble carboxylate form under moderate alkaline conditions, and the water-insoluble interferences were extracted with a nonpolar solvent. Afterward, the water-insoluble lactone form of HCPT was regenerated by acidification and then extracted using an organic solvent in a second LLE step. Results: The calibration curve was linear ( r2 > 0.999) for HCPT concentrations ranging from 2.5 to 160 ng/mL. The mean recoveries of HCPT were 114.94 ± 3.98, 104.30 ± 2.44 and 95.90 ± 1.40% ( n = 6) at concentrations of 2.5, 10 and 80 ng/mL, respectively. The stability determination data showed that no significant degradation occurred under the experimental conditions. This method was successfully applied to liver tissue distribution study of HCPT in mice. Discussion and conclusion: This two-step LLE can be applied to distribution studies of compounds with pH-dependent interconvertible forms in other biological matrices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application value of repeated intra-articular pulsed radiofrequency for the treatment of knee joint pain has remained to be determined. To investigate this, a total of 64 patients with chronic knee joint pain admitted to Caoxian People's Hospital (Caoxian, Chine) between October 2016 and May 2018 were enrolled in the present study and analyzed prospectively. The patients were randomly divided into a control group, receiving treatment with a single intra-articular pulsed radiofrequency through the knee joint (n=32), and an experimental group, receiving multiple intra-articular pulsed radiofrequency treatments through the knee joint (n=32). The visual analog scale score (VAS), clinical efficacy and adverse reactions prior to and after treatment were compared between the two treatments. Synovial fluid cytokines were measured using ELISA prior to and after treatment. After the treatment, the control group and the experimental group both had a lower VAS (P<0.001) and the control group had a higher VAS and lower pain relief than the experimental group (P<0.001). The control group had a total effectiveness rate of 78.13%, with 13 patients experiencing complete relief (40.63%), 12 patients exhibiting a marked improvement (37.5%) and 7 patients reporting no effects (21.87%). The experimental group had a total effectiveness rate of 90.63%, with 18 patients (56.25%) being cured, 11 patients having a marked effect (34.37%) and 3 patients reporting no effects (9.38%). The experimental group had a higher incidence of adverse reactions than the control group (P<0.05). After treatment, the two groups had decreased IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α levels in the knee joint synovial fluid (P<0.05), with the experimental group having lower cytokine levels than the control group (P<0.05). These results indicated that repeated intra-articular pulsed radiofrequency is an effective method for the treatment of knee joint pain and may be used in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel analytical method involving high-performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light scattering detection (HPLC-ELSD) was developed for simultaneous determination of 11 phenolic acids and 12 triterpenes in Sanguisorba officinalis L. Chromatographic separation was conducted with gradient elution mode by using a DiamonsilTM C18 column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) with the mobile phase of 0.1% acetic acid water (A) and methanol (B). The drift tube temperature of ELSD was set at 70 °C and the nitrogen cumulative flow rate was 1.6 L/min. The method was fully validated to be linear over a wide concentration range (R2 ≥ 0.9991). The precisions (RSD) were less than 3.0% and the recoveries were between 97.7% and 101.4% for all compounds. The results indicated that this method is accurate and effective for the determination of 23 functional components in Sanguisorba officinalis L. and could also be successfully applied to study the influence of processing method on those functional components in Sanguisorba officinalis L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to study the stability and stabilization problems for a class of impulsive switched systems with inappropriate impulsive switching signals under asynchronous switching. Here, "inappropriate" means that the impulse jump moment may be inconsistent with the asynchronous switching moment or the system switching moment. And "asynchronous" implies that the switching of controller modes lags behind that of system modes. The hybrid case of stable or unstable subsystems combining with stable and unstable impulses is explored. A novel Lyapunov-like function is constructed, which is discontinuous at some special instants, including the switching instants, the instants when the system modes and filter modes are matched, and the impulse jump instants. Based on the novel multiple Lyapunov-like function, the sufficient conditions for the closed loop system to be globally uniformly exponentially stable (GUES) are obtained with admissible edge-dependent switching signals. Furthermore, by excogitating the state-feedback switching controller, the gain matrix of the controller can be obtained by solving the linear matrix inequalities. Finally, two numerical examples and simulation results are given to prove the effectiveness of our main results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-wood forest products (NWFPs) derived from understory plants are attracting attention about sustainable forestry development. Geographical distribution and climate correlates of bioactive compounds are important to the regional management for the natural reserves of medical plants in forests. In this study, we collected Eleutherococcus senticosus individuals from 27 plots to map the special distribution of concentrations of eleutheroside B, eleutheroside E, and isofraxidin in forests of Northeast China. Compound concentrations in both aerial and underground organs were further detected for relationships with the average of 20-year records of temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity (RH). We found higher shoot eleutheroside B concentration in populations in northern and low-temperature regions (R = −0.4394; P = 0.0218) and in eastern and high-RH montane forests (R = 0.5003; P = 0.0079). The maximum-likelihood regression indicated that both RH (Pr > Chi-square, 0.0201) and longitude (Pr > Chi-square, 0.0026) had positive contributions to eleutheroside B concentration in roots, but precipitation had strongly negative contributions to the concentrations of eleutheroside E (Pr > Chi-square, 0.0309) and isofraxidin (Pr > Chi-square, 0.0014) in roots. Both geography and climate factors had effects on the special distribution of medical compounds in E. senticosus plants in natural populations in Northeast China. The management of NWFP plants at the regional scale should consider effects from climatic geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complete mitochondrial genome ofElaphe carinatawas sequenced and analysed using muscle tissue for the first time. The genome is 17 154 bp in length. The complete mitochondrial genome contains 22 tRNA genes, 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two rRNA genes, two control regions (CRI and CRII) and one putative origin of L-strand replication. The gene order and nucleotide composition ofE. carinataare very similar withE. davidi, E. schrenckii,E. anomalaandE. bimaculata.A phylogenetic tree of mitochondrial genomes analyses of 16 species snakes of Colubridae was made based on the Neighbour-Joining (NJ) method,E. carinatahas the most closely relationship withE. davidi, whileE. poryphyraceaandEuprepiophis perlaceaare special species. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Cucurbit chlorotic yellows virus (CCYV), a bipartite crinivirus, causes chlorotic leaf spots and yellowing symptoms on cucurbit leaves. We previously developed an infectious clone of CCYV. Limited work has been conducted on the construction of a crinivirus green fluorescence protein (GFP) expression vector to date. Finding: We constructed a CCYV GFP expression vector using the "add a gene" strategy based on CCYV RNA2 cDNA constrcut. Three resultant clones, pCCYVGFPSGC, pCCYVGFPCGC, and pCCYVGFPCGS, were constructed with different promoters used to initiate GFP and CP expression. At 25 dpi GFP fluorescence was detectable not only in leaf veins but also in the surrounding cells. pCCYVGFPCGC-infected cucumber leaves exhibited cell spread at 25 dpi, whereas pCCYVGFPSGC and pCCYVGFPCGS were mainly found in single cells. Further observation of pCCYVGFPCGC GFP expression at 30 dpi, 40 dpi, and 50 dpi showed phloem-limited localization in the systemic leaves. Conclusions: We developed of a CCYV GFP expression vector that will be useful for further study of CCYV movement in cucurbits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Asian gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar , as one of the most important forest pests in the world, can feed on more than 500 species of host plants, causing serious damage to the forests. Poplar is one of the favorite host plants of L. dispar. The present study aimed to explore the effects of poplar secondary metabolites on the growth and detoxification function of L. dispar larvae. We also aimed to study the expression of glutathione S-transferase (GST) genes in different developmental stages and in response to treatment with secondary metabolites. Six kinds of main secondary metabolites and three groups of characteristic mixed secondary metabolites were selected as follows: Caffeic acid, salicin, rutin, quercetin, catechol, flavone, mixture 1 (salicin and flavone), mixture 2 (salicin, caffeic acid and catechol), and mixture 3 (flavone, caffeic acid and catechol) according to the content changes of secondary metabolites in poplar. The thirteen GST genes were selected as candidate genes to study the expression of GST genes in different developmental stages and after treatment with secondary metabolites using quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR. The LdGSTe4 and LdGSTo1 genes could be induced by secondary metabolites and were screened to explore their detoxification function against secondary metabolites using RNA interference technology. The results showed that salicin and rutin significantly induced the expression of LdGSTe4 and LdGSTo1. Under the stress of secondary metabolites, LdGSTe4 silencing affected the adaptability of L. dispar larvae to salicin and rutin. LdGSTe4 silencing resulted in a significant decrease in the body weight of L. dispar , but had little effect on the relative growth rate, relative consumption rate, efficiency of conversion of ingested food, efficiency of conversion of digested food, and approximate digestibility, as well as the survival rate and development time. These results provide a deeper understanding of the adaptive mechanism of L. dispar to host plants, form the foundation for the further research into the host resistance mechanism, and identify target genes for breeding resistant transgenic poplar. Thirteen GST family genes were identified from the transcriptome of gypsy moth by bioinformatics analysis. After feeding with six main poplar secondary metabolites, the changes of GSTs gene expression level contribute to the defense function of gypsy moth. Among them, salicin and rutin significantly induced the expressions of LdGSTe4 and LdGSTo1 genes. Under the stress of secondary metabolites, LdGSTe4 silencing affected the adaptability of L. dispar larvae to salicin and rutin. [Display omitted] • Thirteen GST genes were identified from the Asian gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar. • The developmental expression of GST genes was studied. • GST expressions in response to poplar secondary metabolites were studied. • Larval LdGSTe4 and LdGSTo1 expression was induced by salicin and rutin stresses. • LdGSTe4 silencing affected the adaptability of L. dispar larvae to salicin and rutin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malvaceae comprise some 4,225 species in 243 genera and nine subfamilies and include economically important species, such as cacao, cotton, durian, and jute, with cotton an important model system for studying the domestication of polyploids. Here, we use chromosome-level genome assemblies from representatives of five or six subfamilies (depending on the placement of Ochroma ) to differentiate coexisting subgenomes and their evolution during the family's deep history. The results reveal that the allohexaploid Helicteroideae partially derive from an allotetraploid Sterculioideae and also form a component of the allodecaploid Bombacoideae and Malvoideae. The ancestral Malvaceae karyotype consists of 11 protochromosomes. Four subfamilies share a unique reciprocal chromosome translocation, and two other subfamilies share a chromosome fusion. DNA alignments of single-copy nuclear genes do not yield the same relationships as inferred from chromosome structural traits, probably because of genes originating from different ancestral subgenomes. These results illustrate how chromosome-structural data can unravel the evolutionary history of groups with ancient hybrid genomes., Competing Interests: Competing interests statement:The authors declare no competing interest.

Bacteria have evolved a variety of enzymes to eliminate endogenous or host-derived oxidative stress factors. The Dps protein, first identified in Escherichia coli, contains a ferroxidase center, and protects bacteria from reactive oxygen species damage. Little is known of the role of Dps-like proteins in bacterial pathogenesis. Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae causes pleuropneumonia, a respiratory disease of swine. The A. pleuropneumoniae ftpA gene is upregulated during shifts to anaerobiosis, in biofilms and, as found in this study, in the presence of H 2 O 2 . An A. pleuropneumoniae ftpA deletion mutant (Δ ftpA ) had increased H 2 O 2 sensitivity, decreased intracellular viability in macrophages, and decreased virulence in a mouse infection model. Expression of ftpA in an E. coli dps mutant restored wild-type H 2 O 2 resistance. FtpA possesses a conserved ferritin domain containing a ferroxidase site. Recombinant rFtpA bound and oxidized Fe 2+ reversibly. Under aerobic conditions, the viability of an Δ ftpA mutant was reduced compared with the wild-type strain after extended culture, upon transition from anaerobic to aerobic conditions, and upon supplementation with Fenton reaction substrates. Under anaerobic conditions, the addition of H 2 O 2 resulted in a more severe growth defect of Δ ftpA than it did under aerobic conditions. Therefore, by oxidizing and mineralizing Fe 2+ , FtpA alleviates the oxidative damage mediated by intracellular Fenton reactions. Furthermore, by mutational analysis, two residues were confirmed to be critical for Fe 2+ binding and oxidization, as well as for A. pleuropneumoniae H 2 O 2 resistance. Taken together, the results of this study demonstrate that A. pleuropneumoniae FtpA is a Dps-like protein, playing critical roles in oxidative stress resistance and virulence. IMPORTANCE As a ferroxidase, Dps of Escherichia coli can protect bacteria from reactive oxygen species damage, but its role in bacterial pathogenesis has received little attention. In this study, FtpA of the swine respiratory pathogen A. pleuropneumoniae was identified as a new Dps-like protein. It facilitated A. pleuropneumoniae resistance to H 2 O 2 , survival in macrophages, and infection in vivo . FtpA could bind and oxidize Fe 2+ through two important residues in its ferroxidase site and protected the bacteria from oxidative damage mediated by the intracellular Fenton reaction. These findings provide new insights into the role of the FtpA-based antioxidant system in the pathogenesis of A. pleuropneumoniae, and the conserved Fe 2+ binding ligands in Dps/FtpA provide novel drug target candidates for disease prevention.

Astragaloside IV (AS-IV) is an active ingredient in Astragalus membranaceus and is involved in various biological processes, such as regulating the immune system, and counteracting inflammation and malignancy. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of AS-IV on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells. Cell counting kit (CCK)-8 assay and flow cytometry were performed to investigate cell survival and cell death, and Western blotting was performed to assess protein expression. We found that AS-IV inhibited the migration and proliferation of NSCLC cells and caused a noticeable increase in cell death. Furthermore, the expression of Bax, a marker of cell death, was increased, whereas the expression of Bcl-2, an antiapoptotic protein, was reduced. AS-IV also promoted cleavage of caspase-3, another indication of apoptosis. Finally, the Akt/GSK-3β/β-catenin axis was suppressed in response to AS-IV. Taken together, these findings provide evidence that AS-IV inhibits NSCLC development via inhibition of the Akt/GSK-3β/β-catenin signaling axis. We therefore propose that AS-IV represents a promising novel agent for the treatment of NSCLC.

A simple and high sensitive ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of peimine and peiminine in beagle dog plasma after the oral administration of Fritillariae ussuriensis Maxim and Fritillariae thunbergii Miq powder. Chromatographic separation was achieved on an ACQUIT UPLC ® BEH C 18 column (1.7 μm, 2.1 × 100 mm) in a gradient elution way with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile and water containing 0.1% formic acid at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. The plasma samples were prepared by a liquid⁻liquid extraction (LLE) method with ethyl acetate. The analytes were detected with a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (MS) in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode and a positive ion electrospray ionization (ESI) of the transitions at m / z 432.4→414.4 for peimine and m / z 430.3→412.3 for peiminine. The method was linear for two analytes over the investigated range with all determined correlation coefficients exceeding 0.9900. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 0.988 ng/mL for peimine and 0.980 ng/mL for peiminine. The mean extraction recoveries of peimine and peiminine at three quality control samples (QC) levels were ranged from 82.56 to 88.71%, and matrix effects ranged from 92.06 to 101.2%. The intra-day and inter-day precision and accuracy were within the acceptable limits at LLOQ and QC levels. The method was effectively and successfully applied to the pharmacokinetics of peimine and peiminine after oral administration of powder to beagle dogs. The obtained results may be help to guide the clinical application of Fritillaria ussuriensis Maxim and Fritillaria thunbergii Miq.

Burrowing nematodes (Radopholus similis) cause severe harm in many agronomic and horticultural crops and are very difficult to manage. Cathepsin S is one of the most important cysteine proteinases and plays key roles in nematodes and many other parasites. To evaluate the effect of in planta RNAi on the control of this nematode, a specific fragment from the protease gene, cathepsin S (Rs-cps), was cloned into the binary vector pFGC5941 in the forward and reverse orientations to construct recombinant plant RNAi vectors. Transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana plants expressing Rs-cps dsRNA were obtained and studied. The transcript abundance of Rs-cps dsRNA appeared to be diverse in the different transgenic lines. Moreover, the bioassay results revealed that Rs-cps transgenic N. benthamiana plants were resistant to R. similis and the transcription level of Rs-cps in R. similis was drastically decreased. In addition, the reproduction and hatching rate of R. similis isolated from the Rs-cps transgenic plants were also significantly reduced. Our results suggest that Rs-cps is essential for the reproduction and pathogenicity of R. similis. This is the first study to employ in planta RNAi approach to target the Rs-cps gene for the control of plant parasitic nematodes.

Background: Cucurbit chlorotic yellows virus (CCYV) is a recently reported bipartite crinivirus that causes chlorotic leaf spots and yellowing symptoms on the leaves of cucurbit plants. The virus-host interaction of CCYV remains to be elucidated, and the influence of criniviruses on the host gene transcriptome requires analysis., Methods: We used transcriptome sequencing to analyse the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) caused by CCYV infection., Results: CCYV infection resulted in 865 DEGs. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis identified 67 pathways, and the three major enrichment pathways (according to the P-values) were photosynthesis-antenna proteins (KO00196), phenylalanine metabolism (KO00360a), and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis (KO00940). Of the 13 DEGs identified in phenylalanine metabolism, 11 genes encode disease resistance-related phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) genes. Using quantitative real-time PCR, we validated the differential expression of 12 genes., Conclusions: Our study based on the CCYV-cucumber interaction provides comprehensive transcriptomic information, and will improve our understanding of host-crinivirus interactions.

Cucurbit chlorotic yellows virus (CCYV), a recently identified bipartite crinivirus, causes economic losses in cucurbit plants. CCYV is naturally transmitted only by whitefly Bemisia tabaci. Here we constructed full-length cDNA clones of CCYV (RNA1 and RNA2) fused to the T7 RNA polymerase promoter and the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. CCYV replicated and accumulated efficiently in Cucumis sativus protoplasts transfected with in vitro transcripts. Without RNA2, RNA1 replicated efficiently in C. sativus protoplasts. Agroinoculation with the infectious cDNA clones of CCYV resulted in systemic infection in the host plants of C. sativus and Nicotiana benthamiana. Virus derived from the infectious clones could be transmitted between cucumber plants by vector whiteflies. This system will greatly enhance the reverse genetic studies of CCYV gene functions.