Search

Roots are fundamental for plants to adapt to variable environmental conditions. The development of a robust root system is orchestrated by numerous genetic determinants and, among them, the MADS‐box gene ANR1 has garnered substantial attention. Prior research has demonstrated that, in chrysanthemum, CmANR1 positively regulates root system development. Nevertheless, the upstream regulators involved in the CmANR1‐mediated regulation of root development remain unidentified. In this study, we successfully identified bric‐a‐brac, tramtrack and broad (BTB) and transcription adapter putative zinc finger (TAZ) domain protein CmBT1 as the interacting partner of CmANR1 through a yeast‐two‐hybrid (Y2H) screening library. Furthermore, we validated this physical interaction through bimolecular fluorescence complementation and pull‐down assays. Functional assays revealed that CmBT1 exerted a negative influence on root development in chrysanthemum. In both in vitro and in vivo assays, it was evident that CmBT1 mediated the ubiquitination of CmANR1 through the ubiquitin/26S proteasome pathway. This ubiquitination subsequently led to the degradation of the CmANR1 protein and a reduction in the transcription of CmANR1‐targeted gene CmPIN2, which was crucial for root development in chrysanthemum. Genetic analysis suggested that CmBT1 modulated root development, at least in part, by regulating the level of CmANR1 protein. Collectively, these findings shed new light on the regulatory role of CmBT1 in degrading CmANR1 through ubiquitination, thereby repressing the expression of its targeted gene and inhibiting root development in chrysanthemum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To compare the performance of logistic regression and machine learning methods in predicting postoperative delirium (POD) in elderly patients. Method: This was a retrospective study of perioperative medical data from patients undergoing non‐cardiac and non‐neurology surgery over 65 years old from January 2014 to August 2019. Forty‐six perioperative variables were used to predict POD. A traditional logistic regression and five machine learning models (Random Forest, GBM, AdaBoost, XGBoost, and a stacking ensemble model) were compared by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC‐ROC), sensitivity, specificity, and precision. Results: In total, 29,756 patients were enrolled, and the incidence of POD was 3.22% after variable screening. AUCs were 0.783 (0.765–0.8) for the logistic regression method, 0.78 for random forest, 0.76 for GBM, 0.74 for AdaBoost, 0.73 for XGBoost, and 0.77 for the stacking ensemble model. The respective sensitivities for the 6 aforementioned models were 74.2%, 72.2%, 76.8%, 63.6%, 71.6%, and 67.4%. The respective specificities for the 6 aforementioned models were 70.7%, 99.8%, 96.5%, 98.8%, 96.5%, and 96.1%. The respective precision values for the 6 aforementioned models were 7.8%, 52.3%, 55.6%, 57%, 54.5%, and 56.4%. Conclusions: The optimal application of the logistic regression model could provide quick and convenient POD risk identification to help improve the perioperative management of surgical patients because of its better sensitivity, fewer variables, and easier interpretability than the machine learning model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Better understanding of wood‐boring beetle distribution patterns and underlying mechanisms is a central issue for forest protection and management. The primary aim of this study was to detect how these pest guilds are distributed in forests and optimize elimination and control strategies. 2. We placed flight intercept traps in the canopy and understory areas of three climatically different forest types across a large elevation gradient and focussed on two important wood‐boring beetles, longhorn and bark beetles, in Yunnan, Southwest China. 3. The results showed that species richness and abundance of two selected wood‐boring beetles between the canopy and understory areas had different patterns across the climatically different forest vegetation types. Bark and longhorn beetles tended to stay in understory and canopy areas, respectively, based on the recorded abundance data. However, richness data showed different responses to the climatically different forest types for both longhorn and bark beetles assemblages. Bark beetles species richness did not significantly differ between the canopy and understory areas across all three forest types in the present study. Longhorn beetles had significantly higher richness values in the canopy areas of tropical and subtropical forests but lower in temperate forest. 4. The community compositions of both the longhorn and bark beetles varied greatly among forest vegetation types but relatively little between the canopy and understory areas across the vegetation types. Thus, considering different heights and positions in different forests during trap deployment is necessary and needed to optimize wood‐boring pest control strategies when various forest types and pests are targeted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non‐invasive dynamic tracking of lysosomes and their interactions with other organelles is important for the study of lysosomal function and related diseases. However, many fluorescent dyes developed so far to target lysosomes cannot be used to monitor these processes due to the high concentrations required for imaging, long cell penetration times, and non‐ideal photostability. In this regard, we synthesized three lysosomal targeting probes with large Stokes shifts, good stability, and high brightness. The Q‐P‐ARh dye, developed by us for the first time, can stain lysosomes at ultra‐low concentrations (1.0 nM) without affecting the physiological functions of the lysosomes. More importantly, its excellent anti‐interference ability and ultrafast lysosomal staining ability (within 1.0 min) clearly monitored the entire dynamic process of lipophagy. Ultimately, this method can greatly contribute to the study of autophagy pathways. This novel fluorescence platform shows great promise for the development of biological probes for application in pathological environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The SiO2@SiO2:Tb(1,2‐BDC)3phen microspheres with monodispersed core‐shell structure, are kind of fluorescent particles, which are prepared by a seeded growth method under the catalysis of glacial acetic acid (1,2‐BDC, 1,2‐benzenedicarboxylic acid; phen, 1,10‐phenanthroline). Firstly, silica seed was fabricated by the hydrolysis of ethyl orthosilicate, and the Tb(1,2‐BDC)3phen was prepared by using 1,2‐BDC and phen. Then, a thin mesoporous silica shell doped with Tb(1,2‐BDC)3phen was grown on the prepared monodisperse silica colloids. The prepared phosphor was analyzed by Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric and fluorescence spectroscopy. The experimental results showed that the diameter of the SiO2@SiO2:Tb((1,2‐BDC)3phen microsphere was about 200 nm with a typical core‐shell structure, among which the diameter of the silica core was 180 nm, and that of the mesoporous silicon shell doped with terbium complex was about 10 nm. The fluorescence intensity of SiO2@SiO2:Tb((1,2‐BDC)3phen microsphere is nearly three times higher than that of Tb((1,2‐BDC)3phen complexes. The prepared microspheres could be widely used in bio‐imaging, optoelectronic appliances and medical diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed an online continuous‐flow spectrophotometric method for determination of ferrous iron and total iron mass fractions in various types of geological certified reference materials (CRMs) using a Schlenk line technique to exclude oxygen during the digestion process. The continuous‐flow technique enabled automatic, reliable and real‐time analysis, and decreased sample and reagent consumption. The Schlenk line expels air to prevent oxidation during sample digestion. Compared with traditional spectrophotometric procedures, this analytical procedure is easier, more automated and more accurate. The composition of the acid matrix and time used to dissolve the samples were carefully examined. The procedure was tested on 186 replicates of twenty‐seven rock CRMs, and the results showed good agreement with the compiled values from the literature. Based on the statistical data, the proposed procedure was found to be accurate within 0.12% m/m for ferrous iron mass fraction and 0.084% m/m for total iron mass fraction compared with the certified/recommended values. The proposed procedure is accurate, reproducible and has a high throughput (ten samples per hour). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The abnormality of the plasma membrane (PM) is an important biomarker for cell status and many diseases. Hence, visualizing the PM, especially in complex systems, is an emerging field in the life sciences, especially in low‐resource settings. Herein, we developed a water‐soluble PM‐specific probe utilizing electrostatic and hydrophobic interaction strategies with aggregation‐induced emission as the signal output. The probe could image the PM with many advanced features (wash‐free, ultrafast staining process, excellent PM specificity, and good biocompatibility), which were demonstrated by the PM imaging of neurons. The probe allowed for the first time the imaging of erythrocytes in the complex brain environment through a fluorescence‐based method. Moreover, the PM of the epidermal and partial view of the eyeball structure of live zebrafish are also revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agasicles hygrophila has been introduced worldwide as a control agent for the invasive weed Alternanthera philoxeroides. However, global warming has potential impact on its controlling efficacy. The aim of this research was to explore the primary factors responsible for the greatly reduced A. hygrophila population in hot summers. To imitate the temperature conditions in summers, different developmental stages of A. hygrophila were treated with high temperatures from 32.5 °C to 45 °C for 1–5 h. Based on the survival rate, the heat tolerance of each developmental stage was ranked from lowest to highest as follows: egg, 1st, 2nd, 3rd instar larva, adult and pupa. Eggs showed the lowest heat tolerance with 37.5 °C as the critical temperature affecting larval hatching. Heat treatment of the A. hygrophila eggs at 37.5 °C for 1 h decreased the hatch rate to 24%. Our results indicated that when compared with the control at 25 °C, 1 h treatment at 37.5 °C prolonged the duration of the egg stage, shortened the duration of oviposition and total longevity, and changed the reproductive pattern of A. hygrophila. The net reproductive rate, intrinsic rate and finite rate were all significantly reduced. The results suggest that low heat tolerance of the eggs was the major factor responsible for the reduction of A. hygrophila populations, and the key temperature was 37.5 °C. Therefore, appropriate measures should be taken to protect eggs in order to maintain the efficacy of A. hygrophila in the biological control of A. philoxeroides in hot summers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a constructive stabilisation and H∞ robust controller design method for stochastic non‐linear systems from a novel dissipation analysis and energy point of view. First, the authors propose a sufficient condition for the dissipation of stochastic Hamiltonian systems and discuss the energy property of the systems, which will be used for the stability analysis and feedback controller design. Then, the authors show that the system is (asymptotically) stable in probability if it is (strictly) dissipative. By completing the Hamiltonian realisation of the stochastic non‐linear systems, a feedback controller is proposed to stabilise the system under the condition of dissipation and zero state detectability. For stochastic non‐linear systems subjected to external disturbances, an energy‐based H∞ controller was proposed by choosing the Hamiltonian function to construct a solution of Hamiltonian–Jacobi inequality. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method was illustrated via the inverted pendulum systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stretchable electrochemical sensors are conceivably a powerful technique that provides important chemical information to unravel elastic and curvilinear living body. However, no breakthrough was made in stretchable electrochemical device for biological detection. Herein, we synthesized Au nanotubes (NTs) with large aspect ratio to construct an effective stretchable electrochemical sensor. Interlacing network of Au NTs endows the sensor with desirable stability against mechanical deformation, and Au nanostructure provides excellent electrochemical performance and biocompatibility. This allows for the first time, real-time electrochemical monitoring of mechanically sensitive cells on the sensor both in their stretching-free and stretching states as well as sensing of the inner lining of blood vessels. The results demonstrate the great potential of this sensor in electrochemical detection of living body, opening a new window for stretchable electrochemical sensor in biological exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bemisia tabaci ( Gennadius) ( Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a highly polyphagous herbivore. This research was conducted to compare the development of B. tabaci reared in a multi-plant treatment (polyculture) with those in single-plant treatments (monocultures). Adult B. tabaci females fed on a mixture of tomato, cabbage, cotton, cucumber, and kidney bean survived longer and laid more eggs than those fed exclusively on one of these plant species. Egg numbers per plant laid in the polyculture treatment were positively correlated with those laid on the same plant species in the monoculture treatments, and egg numbers per plant laid on tomato, cotton, and cucumber in the polyculture were significantly higher than those laid on the same plants in the monocultures. Concentrations of total protein and trehalose in B. tabaci were not significantly different after 7 days of feeding in the respective treatments, but activities of superoxide dismutases ( SOD) and alkaline phosphatase ( AKP) of B. tabaci in polyculture were lower than those in monoculture. Conversely, activities of trehalase, sucrase, and amylase in B. tabaci kept in polyculture were higher than those of insects from the monoculture. In each of the monoculture treatments, there was a negative correlation between AKP in B. tabaci and oviposition, and also between AKP and amylase. SOD and sucrase activities in B. tabaci were positively correlated with polyphenol oxidase ( PPO) and peroxidase ( POD) activities in plants. In the plants damaged by whiteflies in the polyculture treatment, activities of SOD in cucumber, PPO in cotton and kidney bean, and POD in tomato and cucumber were lower than those in the monoculture treatments, whereas SOD in cabbage and catalase ( CAT) in tomato in the polyculture treatment were higher than those in the monoculture treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]