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Background Plant organelle genomes are a valuable resource for evolutionary biology research, yet their genome architectures, evolutionary patterns and environmental adaptations are poorly understood in many lineages. Rhodiola species is a type of flora mainly distributed in highland habitats, with high medicinal value. Here, we assembled the organelle genomes of three Rhodiola species (R. wallichiana, R. crenulata and R. sacra) collected from the Qinghai-Tibet plateau (QTP), and compared their genome structure, gene content, structural rearrangements, sequence transfer and sequence evolution rates. Results The results demonstrated the contrasting evolutionary pattern between plastomes and mitogenomes in three Rhodiola species, with the former possessing more conserved genome structure but faster evolutionary rates of sequence, while the latter exhibiting structural diversity but slower rates of sequence evolution. Some lineage-specific features were observed in Rhodiola mitogenomes, including chromosome fission, gene loss and structural rearrangement. Repeat element analysis shows that the repeats occurring between the two chromosomes may mediate the formation of multichromosomal structure in the mitogenomes of Rhodiola, and this multichromosomal structure may have recently formed. The identification of homologous sequences between plastomes and mitogenomes reveals several unidirectional protein-coding gene transfer events from chloroplasts to mitochondria. Moreover, we found that their organelle genomes contained multiple fragments of nuclear transposable elements (TEs) and exhibited different preferences for TEs insertion type. Genome-wide scans of positive selection identified one gene matR from the mitogenome. Since the matR is crucial for plant growth and development, as well as for respiration and stress responses, our findings suggest that matR may participate in the adaptive response of Rhodiola species to environmental stress of QTP. Conclusion The study analyzed the organelle genomes of three Rhodiola species and demonstrated the contrasting evolutionary pattern between plastomes and mitogenomes. Signals of positive selection were detected in the matR gene of Rhodiola mitogenomes, suggesting the potential role of this gene in Rhodiola adaptation to QTP. Together, the study is expected to enrich the genomic resources and provide valuable insights into the structural dynamics and sequence divergences of Rhodiola species.

Although drug-eluting stents are the most common interventional devices for patients with coronary disease, drug-coated balloons (DCBs) represent a novel therapeutic alternative in certain scenarios. This prospective, observational all-comers study explored the clinical outcomes of DCB use in patients with coronary lesions. All patients treated with DCBs were enrolled in this study, including patients with in-stent restenosis (ISR) or de novo lesions. The primary outcome was the target lesion revascularization (TLR) rate at one year. We enrolled 2306 patients with 2660 lesions and performed DCB angioplasty in 399 patients (17.3%) with ISR and 1907 patients (82.7%) with de novo lesions. During follow-up (366 ± 46 days), the TLR rate was lower in the de novo lesion group (1.31%) compared to the ISR group (7.02%) [odds ratio (OR) 0.176, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.101–0.305, p

Recovery of rare earth elements (REE) from coal-related resources has recently received significant interest due to supply concerns and their key roles in critical industries and defense-related technologies. An integrated flowsheet consisting of sorting, crushing/grinding, physical separation, acid leaching, solvent extraction, and selective precipitation was designed to achieve continuous production of rare earth products from various coal-related resources such as coarse refuse and acid mine drainage. A pilot plant was constructed that enabled continuous testing of the circuitry on a range of different coal-based feedstocks. Despite achieving significant success in producing high-grade rare earth oxide products, low REE recovery values and high operational costs necessitated a re-evaluation of the process flowsheet. This article describes the circuitry improvements that were based on both laboratory and pilot plant test results. Roasting as a pre-leach treatment was found to significantly improve the leaching rate and overall REE recovery values. After roasting West Kentucky No. 13 and Fire Clay coal refuse materials at 600 °C, REE recovery increased by 60 and 40 absolute percentage points, respectively. Rare earth concentration in the pregnant leachate solution (PLS) was increased to around 700 ppm prior to solvent extraction using a staged precipitation method. REEs in the precipitate were re-dissolved, purified, and extracted from the PLS using solvent extraction and selective precipitation to values of around 80%. As a result of the improvements, chemical consumption in the acid leaching and solvent extraction processes was significantly reduced. A techno-economical assessment of the improved flowsheet indicated significant commercialization potential.

This study was designed to determine whether metaphorical solutions to mental distress problems result in an insightful mental experience and activate the hippocampus and amygdala: areas associated with insight. We recruited 22 healthy university students. Trials presented 75 micro-counseling scenarios while event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was applied to detect neural responses. Each scenario included a mental distress problem and one of the following solution types: metaphorical, literal, or problem-restatement. The results revealed that, compared with literal solutions or problem-restatement solutions, metaphorical solutions activated two neural networks: one associated with basic metaphorical language processing (i.e., the left inferior frontal gyrus and middle and superior temporal gyri), and a specific network associated with insightful problem solving (i.e., the bilateral hippocampus, amygdala, and fusiform gyrus). Our findings indicate that the use of metaphorical solutions to mental distress problems reliably produces salient neural activities for insight.

Rare earth elements (REEs) found in coal are in the form of minerals, ion-adsorbed onto clay surfaces or inner layers, or organically bound. Rare earth minerals such as monazite exist in coal and have grain sizes smaller than 5 µm. In this study, froth flotation was successful in concentrating rare earth minerals existing in a thickener underflow material derived from Fire Clay seam coal that contained around 431 ppm of total rare earth elements (TREE) on a dry ash basis. Conditioning with fatty acid followed by processing using multiple stages of conventional flotation produced a final concentrate containing 2,300 ppm TREE. Using a laboratory flotation column to limit hydraulic entrainment, the TREE content was further enriched to around 4,700 ppm, which equated to an enrichment ratio of 10:1..

With the increasing applications of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO(2) NPs) in industry and daily life, an increasing number of studies showed that TiO(2) NPs may have negative effects on the respiratory or metabolic circle systems of organisms, while very few studies focused on the brain central nervous system (CNS). Synaptic plasticity in hippocampus is believed to be associated with certain high functions of CNS, such as learning and memory. Thus, in this study, we investigated the effects of developmental exposure to TiO(2) NPs on synaptic plasticity in rats' hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) area using in vivo electrophysiological recordings. The input/output (I/O) functions, paired-pulse reaction (PPR), field excitatory postsynaptic potential, and population spike amplitude were measured. The results showed that the I/O functions, PPR, and long-term potentiation were all attenuated in lactation TiO(2) NPs-exposed offspring rats compared with those in the control group. However, in the pregnancy TiO(2) NPs exposure group, only PPR was attenuated significantly. These findings suggest that developmental exposure to TiO(2) NPs could affect synaptic plasticity in offspring's hippocampal DG area in vivo, which indicates that developmental brains, especially in lactation, are susceptible to TiO(2) NPs exposure. This study reveals the potential toxicity of TiO(2) NPs in CNS. It may give some hints on the security of TiO(2) NPs production and application and shed light on its future toxicological studies.

The complete coding sequences of three of sheep genes SLC25A4, SLC25A5 and SLC25A6 were firstly amplified using the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) according to the conserved sequence information of the cattle or other mammals and known highly homologous sheep ESTs. Sheep SLC25A4, SLC25A5 and SLC25A6 genes encode three corresponding proteins of 298 amino acids which contain the identically conserved putative mitochondrial carrier protein domain. Sheep SLC25A4 protein has high homology with the SLC25A4 proteins of six species-cattle (99%), human (95%), rat (95%), mouse (94%), dog (94%) and chicken (89%). Sheep SLC25A5 protein has high identity with the SLC25A5 proteins of five species-cattle (100%), dog (99%), mouse (98%), rat (98%) and human (98%). Sheep SLC25A6 protein also has high homology with the SLC25A6 proteins of four species-cattle (99%), human (97%), pig (97%) and chicken (93%). The phylogenetic tree analysis demonstrated that sheep SLC25A4, SLC25A5 and SLC25A6 proteins share a common ancestor. Moreover, SLC25A4, SLC25A5 and SLC25A6 proteins present stronger interaction each other. The tissue expression analysis indicated that sheep SLC25A4, SLC25A5 and SLC25A6 genes were expressed in a range of tissues including leg muscle, kidney, skin, longissimus dorsi muscle, spleen, heart and liver. Our experiment is the first to provide the primary foundation for further insight into these three sheep genes.