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BackgroundThe prevalence of diabetes in the United States is high and increasing, and it is also the most expensive chronic condition in the United States. Self-monitoring of blood glucose or continuous glucose monitoring are potential solutions, but there are barriers to their use. Remote patient monitoring (RPM) with appropriate support has the potential to provide solutions. ObjectiveWe aim to investigate the adherence of Medicaid patients with diabetes to daily RPM protocols, the relationship between adherence and changes in blood glucose levels, and the impact of daily testing time on blood glucose changes. MethodsThis retrospective cohort study analyzed real-world data from an RPM company that provides services to Texas Medicaid patients with diabetes. Overall, 180 days of blood glucose data from an RPM company were collected to assess transmission rates and blood glucose changes, after the first 30 days of data were excluded due to startup effects. Patients were separated into adherent and nonadherent cohorts, where adherent patients transmitted data on at least 120 of the 150 days. z tests and t tests were performed to compare transmission rates and blood glucose changes between 2 cohorts. In addition, we analyzed blood glucose changes based on their testing time—between 1 AM and 10 AM, 10 AM and 6 PM, and 6 PM and 1 AM. ResultsMean patient age was 70.5 (SD 11.8) years, with 66.8% (n=255) of them being female, 91.9% (n=351) urban, and 89% (n=340) from south Texas (n=382). The adherent cohort (n=186, 48.7%) had a mean transmission rate of 82.8% before the adherence call and 91.1% after. The nonadherent cohort (n=196, 51.3%) had a mean transmission rate of 45.9% before and 60.2% after. The mean blood glucose levels of the adherent cohort decreased by an average of 9 mg/dL (P=.002) over 5 months. We also found that variability of blood glucose level of the adherent cohort improved 3 mg/dL (P=.03) over the 5-month period. Both cohorts had the majority of their transmissions between 1 AM and 10 AM, with 70.5% and 53.2% for the adherent and nonadherent cohorts, respectively. The adherent cohort had decreasing mean blood glucose levels over 5 months, with the largest decrease during the 6 PM to 1 AM time period (30.9 mg/dL). Variability of blood glucose improved only for those tested from 10 AM to 6 PM, with improvements of 6.9 mg/dL (P=.02). Those in the nonadherent cohort did not report significant changes. ConclusionsRPM can help manage diabetes in Medicaid clients by improving adherence rates and glycemic control. Adherence calls helped improve adherence rates, but some patients still faced challenges in transmitting blood glucose levels. Nonetheless, RPM has the potential to reduce the risk of adverse outcomes associated with diabetes.

Purpose: The prognostic nutritional index (PNI), which is derived from the albumin concentration and absolute lymphocyte number, is an effective indicator of cancer patients’ nutritional and immunological status. According to multiple studies, PNI was strongly linked to the prognosis of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The predictive value of PNI for survival outcomes in NSCLC patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is still in dispute at present. This meta-analysis is devoted to fill this information gap and investigate the predictive ability of PNI in NSCLC patients treated with ICIs. Methods: The PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library databases, and conference proceedings were searched for eligible studies without language restriction. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were included. The predictive value of PNI was estimated using hazard ratios and their 95% confidence intervals. Results: Thirteen relevant retrospective cohort studies were included and these studies included 1119 patients with stage III-IV NSCLC. Lower PNI status was found to be an independent risk factor for worse survival outcomes in patients with NSCLC (OS HR = 2.68; 95%CI: 1.76–4.06; P

PurposeNephrolithiasis is thought to be a risk factor for osteoporosis, but data assessing if osteoporosis predisposes to the risk of nephrolithiasis are lacking. The present study aims to investigate whether patients with nephrolithiasis have a prominently higher prevalence of osteoporosis than the controls and vice versa via a cumulative analysis.MethodsFour databases were used to detect the eligible studies. We calculated the relative risk (RR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) to assess the combined effect. The methodologies for conducting this study followed the PRISMA guidelines and were registered in the PROSPERO (ID: CRD42023395875),ResultsNine case-control or cohort studies with a total of 454,464 participants were finally included. Combined results indicated that there was a significantly higher prevalence of osteoporosis in patients with nephrolithiasis as compared to the general population without nephrolithiasis (overall RR from six studies= 1.204, 95%CI: 1.133 to 1.28, P< 0.001; heterogeneity: I2 = 34.8%, P= 0.162). Conversely, osteoporosis was significantly correlated to an increased risk of nephrolithiasis as compared to the controls without osteoporosis (overall RR from four studies= 1.505, 95%CI: 1.309 to 1.731, P< 0.001; I2 = 89.8%, P< 0.001). Sensitivity analysis on the two categories validated the above findings. No significant publication bias was identified in this study.ConclusionsThe present study highlighted a significantly high prevalence of osteoporosis in patients with nephrolithiasis and vice versa. This reciprocal association reminded the clinicians to conduct a regular follow-up assessment when managing patients with nephrolithiasis or osteoporosis, especially for the elderly.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/#searchadvanced, identifier CRD42023395875.

Citrus reticulatae pericarpium (CRP) is regarded as a valuable functional food in many countries due to its pharmacological activities and unique aroma. In this study, CRP was treated by different A. niger to accelerate aging. Headspace-gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (HS-GC-IMS) fingerprinting was adopted to rapidly and comprehensively evaluate the flavor compounds of CRP and to identify their dynamic changes at different storage time. Results revealed that the hesperidin content of DOL groups reduced more clearly than other groups during storage. A total of 134 volatile flavor compounds were identified. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) showed that the lemon, sweet with the musk aroma of CRP, changed to apple, pineapple, and coffee odors during storage. The principal component analysis (PCA) and fingerprint similarity analysis (FSA) results showed that the CRP was clearly distinguished at different storage time. DOL-3 and DOS-6 differ the most from the DOW-3,6, respectively. This work provided helpful information for accelerating the aging of CRP and has great potential for industrial application.

AbstractStigma maydis (SM) possesses remarkable nutritional value due to the presence of health-protective chemical constituents in it. Despite its commercial uses, there is a lack of information on changes in the nutritional profile of SM during Shenke 601 waxy corn development by following four different maturity stages (silking stage; blister stage; milky stage; dough stage). In this study, the ideal times for the development of seven active compounds (polysaccharides, saponin, rutin, luteolin, quercetin, kaempferol and chlorogenic acid) were at the silking stage. The total flavonoid and total phenol content increased as the SM matured. Except for the above-mentioned active compounds, the content of major nutritional components of dough stage was higher than that of three other stages. The extract of Stigma maydis exhibited good α-amylase, α-glucosidase and pancreatic lipase inhibition activities. The ethanolic SM extracts showed better inhibitory effects than aqueous SM extracts with a dose–effect relationship. The hypoglycemic activity of ethanolic extract was higher than that of aqueous extract at each stage. This provided an important basis for the application of SM.

Due to the wide availability of functional data from multiple disciplines, the studies of functional data analysis have become popular in the recent literature. However, the related development in censored survival data has been relatively sparse. In this work, we consider the problem of analyzing time-to-event data in the presence of functional predictors. We develop a conditional generalized Kaplan–Meier (KM) estimator that incorporates functional predictors using kernel weights and rigorously establishes its asymptotic properties. In addition, we propose to select the optimal bandwidth based on a time-dependent Brier score. We then carry out extensive numerical studies to examine the finite sample performance of the proposed functional KM estimator and bandwidth selector. We also illustrated the practical usage of our proposed method by using a data set from Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative data.

Selective activation of C–H bonds is a key challenge in organic reactions. Here, the authors achieve the selective activation of four quasi-equivalent C–H bonds, leading to the formation of N-doped graphene nanoribbons with partial corannulene motifs.

Abstract After completing an introductory biostatistics course, public health students often need to take one or more follow-on courses focusing on specialized areas of biostatistics. While there exists decades’ worth of pedagogical research on teaching introductory statistics to non-statistics majors, few systematic attempts have been made to explore innovative ways to teaching follow-on courses to non-statistics majors such as public health students. Extending previous research on teaching categorical data analysis to public health students, this paper explores ways to harness the power of computational thinking in teaching conceptual knowledge in a follow-on course on longitudinal data analysis. The proposed approach aims to keep students in their zone of proximal development by using computational experiments as a tool for developing understanding of conceptual knowledge. Learning activities center on experiments that explore the likelihood function. Illustrative examples of actual student work are used to demonstrate a practical way of integrating computational thinking into biostatistics course content.

The importance of teaching the Luria-Delbrück experiment to biology students is increasingly recognized by educators, and improved pedagogical methods for teaching the classic experiment have been proposed and tested in the classroom. However, there are still obstacles that impede the proper teaching of the classic experiment. This note proposes two strategies to further improve the teaching of the classic experiment. The first strategy is to be frank with an inherent limitation of the classic experiment, and instructors should explain from a logical point of view why the classic experiment cannot be used to refute the possibility of directed mutation. The second strategy is to emphasize the pioneering work of Delbrück on developing the mutant distribution that enables researchers to estimate microbial mutation rates using data generated by fluctuation experiments, and instructors should shift their attention to the overlooked essential role of the mutant distribution.

Abstract Background Neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR), monocyte-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) are blood indicators of systemic inflammation. This study aims to compare the levels of inflammatory indicators derived from blood routine tests between adolescents with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and those with non-NSSI. Methods A total of 201 adolescents with mood or emotional disorders were enrolled in this study, among which 106 had engaged in NSSI and 95 had never engaged in NSSI. NLR, MLR, and PLR were calculated based on the complete blood cell count. Results There was no significant difference in demographic data between the two groups. The NSSI group exhibited significantly higher MLR (P = 0.001) and PLR (P = 0.007) than the non-NSSI group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that MLR (OR 1.545, 95%CI [1.087–2.281], P = 0.021) and PLR (OR 1.327, 95%CI [1.215–1.450], P

Abstract The solubility of luminescent materials is a key parameter to improve the electroluminescent performances of solution-processed organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The through-space charge transfer (TSCT) materials provide an alternative to introduce the solubilizing groups (SGs) to the linker. Herein, the tert-butyl and n-hexyl groups are introduced as SGs at C7 positions of spiro structure, named C6-DMB and tBu-DMB, away from the acceptor. This has no influence on the photophysical properties of the parent TSCT molecule. Highly efficient solution-processed OLEDs were demonstrated with the maximum external quantum efficiencies of 21.0% and 21.7%, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, these are champions in the state-of-the-art solution-processed OLEDs with TSCT emitters. This work confirmed our conjecture of constructing highly efficient soluble emitters by transforming an outstanding TSCT material from thermal evaporation to solution-processed OLEDs with SGs simply integrated on the ‘bridge’ linker.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) derived metallic nanoparticles embedded nano-porous carbon (NPC) composites have shown to be promising microwave absorbing materials. Although MOF precursors with diverse compositions and morphologies have been extensively investigated, anionic MOFs are rarely explored for this utility. In addition to the metal sites and ligands on the MOF framework, the guest counter-cations in the void provide supplementary parameters to tune the capability of microwave absorption. Herein, we applied an anionic NixCoy-MOF featuring N-rich ligands and hierarchical porous structures as a precursor for microwave absorption. The obtained dielectric-magnetic NixCoy@NPC composites with rich N dopants and multiple hetero-interfaces promote the microwave attenuation capability through enhanced dipole/interfacial relaxation. The synergistic effects of magnetic loss and conduction loss induced by metallic nanoparticles (NPs) and porous graphitic layers further facilitate the microwave dissipation. More significantly, impedance matching can be effectively improved by tuning the Co/Ni amount in the precursors to realize the modulation of electromagnetic parameters. Consequently, Ni@NPC exhibits the optimal electromagnetic wave (EMW) absorption with minimum reflection loss of −66 dB at only 2 mm and broad effective absorption band covering 4.56 GHz at a thin thickness of 2.07 mm, making this material promising absorber for EMW elimination.

Abstract Necroptotic cell death is mediated by a super-molecular complex called necrosome which consists of receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 and 3 (RIPK1, RIPK3) and mixed-lineage kinase domain-like protein (MLKL). The role of these kinases has been extensively investigated in the regulation of necroptosis. However, whether the protein phosphatase is involved in necroptosis is still largely unknown. Here, we identified protein phosphatase 6 catalytic subunit (PPP6C) promotes TNF-induced necroptosis by genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 library screening. We found that PPP6C deficiency protects cells from TNF-induced necroptosis in a phosphatase-activity-dependent manner. Mechanistically, PPP6C acts as a TGF-β activated kinase 1 (TAK1) phosphatase to inactivate its kinase activity. Deletion of PPP6C leads to hyperactivation of TAK1 and reduced RIPK1 kinase activity upon TNF stimulation. We further showed that heterozygous deletion of Ppp6c in mouse gastrointestinal tract alleviates necroptosis-related tissue injury and inflammation. Thus, our study identifies PPP6C as an important regulator of necroptosis and highlights a central role of phosphatase in the regulation of necroptosis-related diseases.

ABSTRACT: Fowl adenovirus serotype-4 (FAdV-4) is highly lethal to poultry, making it one of the leading causes of economic losses in the poultry industry. However, a small proportion of poultry can survive after FAdV-4 infection. It is unclear whether there are genetic factors that protect chickens from FAdV-4 infection. Therefore, the livers from chickens uninfected with FAdV-4 (Normal), dead after FAdV-4 infection (Dead) or surviving after FAdV-4 infection (Survivor) were collected for RNA-seq, and 2,649 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified. Among these, many immune-related cytokines and chemokines were significantly upregulated in the Dead group compared with the Survivor group, which might indicate that death is related to an excessive inflammatory immune response (cytokine storm). Subsequently, the KEGG results for DEGs specifically expressed in each comparison group indicated that cell cycle and apoptosis-related DEGs were upregulated and metabolism-related DEGs were downregulated in the Dead group, which also validated the reliability of the samples. Furthermore, GO and KEGG results showed DEGs expressed in all three groups were mainly associated with cell cycle. Among them, BRCA1, CDK1, ODC1, and MCM3 were screened as factors that might influence FAdV-4 infection. The qPCR results demonstrated that these 4 factors were not only upregulated in the Dead group but also significantly upregulated in the LMH cells after 24 h infection by FAdV-4. Moreover, interfering with BRCA1, CDK1, ODC1, and MCM3 significantly attenuated viral replication of FAdV-4. And interfering of BRCA1, CDK1, and MCM3 had more substantial hindering effects. These results provided novel insights into the molecular changes following FAdV-4 infection but also shed light on potential factors driving the survival of FAdV-4 infection in chickens.

ObjectiveUnilateral biportal endoscopy (UBE) represents a relatively recent development in minimally invasive spine surgery. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of UBE foraminotomy and diskectomy combined with piezosurgery for treating cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR) with neuropathic radicular pain.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the outcomes in 12 patients with CSR who underwent UBE foraminotomy and diskectomy combined with piezosurgery. The intraoperative blood loss, operative time, visual analog scale (VAS) scores for the neck and arm, neck disability index (NDI) scores, and complications were recorded.ResultsPostoperative VAS scores of the neck and arm and NDI scores were significantly improved. Additionally, a postoperative CT scan revealed adequate enlargement of the cervical canal and nerve root. No specific complications occurred during surgery and the immediate postoperative period.ConclusionsThis primary study indicated that the UBE foraminotomy and diskectomy with piezosurgery is a promising technique for treating cervical spondylotic radiculopathy with neuropathic radicular pain.

BackgroundPrevious studies have suggested that dietary salt intake affects atrial fibrillation (AF); however, the causal association between them still remains unclear. Thus, we conducted this Mendelian randomization (MR) study to explore the correlation between them.MethodsGenetic instruments for dietary salt intake were from a genome-wide association study (GWAS), which included 462,630 European individuals. Summary-level data for AF were obtained from another published GWAS (22,068 cases and 116,926 controls). The inverse-variance weighting (IVW) method was performed as the primary MR analysis. Multiple MR methods, including Robust Adjusted Profile Score (MR-RAPS), maximum likelihood estimation, and Mendelian randomization pleiotropy residual sum and outlier test (MR-PRESSO) were conducted as complementary analyses. The MR-Egger regression intercept and MR-PRESSO global test were conducted to test potential horizontal pleiotropy. The IVW (Q) method and MR-Egger were performed to detect heterogeneity.ResultsOur results suggested that high dietary salt intake was significantly correlated with increased risk of AF [IVW: odds ratio (OR), 1.36; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.04–1.77; p = 2.25E-02]. The maximum likelihood estimation (OR, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.05–1.78; p = 2.09E-02), MR-RAPS (OR, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.03–1.81; p = 2.79E-02), and MR-PRESSO method (OR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.05–1.76; p = 2.37E-02) also showed that dietary salt intake was significantly correlated with the risk of AF.ConclusionThe findings of this study provide robust evidence supporting the correlation between dietary salt intake and the risk of AF. Future studies are required to further clarify this relationship and translate the findings into clinical and public health practice.

A 57-year-old Malay nullipara initially presented with a right breast lump that was increasing in size but defaulted follow-up. Two years later, she developed a contralateral breast lump. She only returned to the hospital when the right breast lump had become painful, 4 years from its onset. The biopsy of the right breast lump was a phylloides tumor and that of the left breast lump was a carcinoma. She had bilateral palpable axillary lymph nodes. She underwent bilateral mastectomy and axillary dissection. The pathology report confirmed the right breast lesion to be a malignant phylloides and the left breast lesion to be a carcinoma (pT3N2). She declined adjuvant treatment. A year after the surgical operation of the metachronous lesions, she had a right chest wall recurrence with widespread pulmonary metastases. She was given palliative chemotherapy but succumbed several months later.

BackgroundTakayasu arteritis (TA) is a chronic granulomatous vasculitis with unknown pathophysiology. TA with severe aortic obstruction has a poor prognosis. However, the efficacy of biologics and appropriate timing of surgical intervention remain controversial. We report a case of tuberculosis (TB)-associated TA with aggressive acute heart failure (AHF), pulmonary hypertension (PH), thrombosis, and seizure, who failed to survive after surgery.Case presentationA 10-year-old boy who developed a cough with chest tightness, shortness of breath, hemoptysis with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction, PH, and increased C-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate was hospitalized at the pediatric intensive care unit of our hospital. He had strongly positive purified protein derivative skin test and interferon-gamma release assay result. Computed tomography angiography (CTA) showed occlusion of proximal left subclavian artery and stenosis of descending aorta and upper abdominal aorta. His condition did not improve after administration of milrinone, diuretics, antihypertensive agents, and intravenous methylprednisolone pulse followed by oral prednisone. Intravenous tocilizumab was administered for five doses, followed by two doses of infliximab, but his HF worsened, and CTA on day 77 showed complete occlusion of the descending aorta with large thrombus. He had a seizure on day 99 with deterioration of renal function. Balloon angioplasty and catheter-directed thrombolysis were performed on day 127. Unfortunately, the child's heart function continued to deteriorate and died on day 133.ConclusionTB infection may be related to juvenile TA. The biologics, thrombolysis, and surgical intervention failed to achieve the anticipated effect in our case with aggressive AHF due to severe aortic stenosis and thrombosis. More studies are needed to determine the role of biologics and surgery in such dire cases.

Saline water irrigation contributes significantly to forage yield. However, the acceptable salinity levels for saline water irrigation of tall wheatgrass remains unclear. In this study, field supplemental irrigations of transplanted-tall wheatgrass with saline drainage waters having salinities of electrical conductivity (ECw) = 2.45, 4.36, 4.42, and 5.42 dS m−1 were conducted to evaluate the effects of saline water irrigation on forage yield and soil salinization. In addition, the effects of plastic film mulching, fertilization, and saline water irrigation on sward establishment of seed-propagated tall wheatgrass were determined. Finally, a pot experiment was carried out to confirm the above field results. The results showed that two irrigations with ECw = 2.45 and 4.36 dS m−1 saline waters produced the highest dry matter yield, followed by one irrigation with ECw = 4.42 or 5.42 dS m−1. After rainfall leaching, the soil EC1:5 was reduced by 41.7–79.3% for the saline water irrigation treatments. In combination with saline water irrigation, plastic film mulching promoted sward establishment and enhanced the plant height and dry matter yield of seed-propagated tall wheatgrass, while fertilization played a marginal role. However, two irrigations with ECw = 7.13 and 4.36 dS m−1 saline waters resulted in rates of 3.2% and 16.0% of dead plants under the mulching and no mulching conditions, respectively. Furthermore, a pot experiment demonstrated that irrigation with ECw = 5.79 dS m−1 saline water led to the lowest reduction in forage yield and the highest crude protein content in leaves. However, the plants irrigated with ECw ≥ 6.31 dS m−1 saline water enhanced soil salinity and reduced the plant height, leaf size, and gas exchange rate. Conclusively, one irrigation with ECw ≤ 5.42 dS m−1 and SAR ≤ 36.31 saline water at the end of April or early May could be acceptable for tall wheatgrass production and minimize the soil salinization risk in the coastal saline–alkaline land around the Bohai Sea.

Ferula sinkiangensis K. M. Shen (Apiaceae) is distributed in arid desert areas of Xinjiang, and its resin is a traditional Chinese medicine to treat gastrointestinal digestive diseases. To explore bioactive components from F. sinkiangensis, three new lignans and thirteen known components were isolated. The structural elucidation of the components was established utilizing spectroscopic analyses together with ECD calculations. Griess reaction results indicated new compounds 1 and 2 significantly decreased NO production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages, and ELISA results indicated that they effectively attenuated LPS-induced inflammation by inhibiting TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 expressions. The in silico approach confirmed that compound 1 docked into the receptors with strong binding energies of −5.84~−10.79 kcal/mol. In addition, compound 6 inhibited the proliferation of AGS gastric cancer cells with IC50 values of 15.2 μM by suppressing the cell migration and invasion. This study disclosed that F. sinkiangensis might be a promising potential resource for bioactive components.

High efficiency microwave absorption (MA) materials with tunable electromagnetic (EM) features have been highly sought. However, it is still a challenge to achieve multi-bands absorption performance by simple optimizing the chemical composition of MA materials. Herein, a simple solvothermal method was used to embed magnetic Fe3O4 nanoclusters on MoS2 nanosheets, in which magnetic nanoclusters were quantitatively customized. More importantly, the MA frequency and MA properties of the material are highly tailored, and multi-bands absorption is achieved. The minimum reflection loss (RL) of Fe3O4/MoS2 composite reaches −87.24 dB and is about 4 times more than pure MoS2 nanosheets. The effective absorption bandwidth reaches 5.52 GHz (≤-10 dB). These desirable properties result from the introduction of appropriate magnetic Fe3O4 nanoclusters, which provide optimal synergistic effect of dielectric and magnetic losses. This result provides a feasible idea for designing high efficiency MA materials with tunable EM features in the future.

Understanding the ripening of core-shell nanostructures is challenging. Here, the authors use liquid cell transmission electron microscopy to show that the atomic ripening pathway for Cd-CdCl2 core-shell nanoparticles is mediated by crack defects.

MicroRNA (miRNA) has vital regulatory effects on the proliferation, differentiation and secretion of ovarian granulosa cells, but the role of miR-99a-5p in goat ovarian granulosa cells (GCs) is unclear. Both miR-99a-5p and Frizzled-5 (FZD5) were found to be expressed in GCs in goat ovaries via fluorescence in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, respectively, and FZD5 was verified (P

The whispering-gallery mode and the atomic collapse state are two distinct resonances in condensed matter associated with relativistic massless charge carriers. Now, it is shown that these states can coexist in graphene/WSe2 heterostructure quantum dots.

To investigate the effect of nano-indentation depth on the elastic–plastic transition mechanism of 6H-SiC, the loading process of nano-indentation on a 6H-SiC⟨0001⟩ crystal surface is analyzed by using the molecular dynamics method. Diamond indenters and 6H-SiC amorphous nanolayers are constructed; Tersoff and Vashishta potential functions are established to describe the interactions between atoms; and simulated environmental factors, such as relaxation conditions, ensemble, and loading speed, are optimized. The stress distribution and internal deformation characteristics are analyzed by combining load–displacement curves, radial distribution curves, dislocation nucleation, and their evolutive processes. The load–displacement curve deviates from the theoretical value at a depth of 3.8 nm and enters the elastic to plastic transition phase, where the shear stresses generated by friction on the contact surfaces cause the atoms on the stacked layers in the elastic phase to move in a directional manner and form dislocations: edge-type dislocations connecting the two layer dislocations and horizontal spiral dislocations. The plastic deformation phase starts at a depth of 5.9 nm, the atoms keep migrating and reorganizing, the original dislocation rings break to form incomplete dislocations, and the new dislocations formed by the combination of partial edge-type dislocation rings expand internally until fracture. The formation and expansion of dislocations contribute to the elasto-plastic transformation of 6H-SiC, and amorphous states are found to be involved in the deformation process at both the indentation contact surface and the deformation layer. Moreover, there are differences in the direction of dislocation expansion due to the inhomogeneous stress distribution at the contact surface.

Thinopyrum ponticum (Podp.) Barkworth and D.R. Dewey is a decaploid species that has served as an important genetic resource for improving wheat for the better part of a century. The wheat–Th. ponticum 4Ag (4D) disomic substitution line Blue 58, which was obtained following the distant hybridization between Th. ponticum and common wheat, has been stably resistant to powdery mildew under field conditions for more than 40 years. The transfer of 4Ag into the susceptible wheat cultivar Xiaoyan 81 resulted in powdery mildew resistance, indicating the alien chromosome includes the resistance locus. Irradiated Blue 58 pollen were used for the pollination of the recurrent parent Xiaoyan 81, which led to the development of four stable wheat–Th. ponticum 4Ag translocation lines with diverse alien chromosomal segments. The assessment of powdery mildew resistance showed that translocation line L1 was susceptible, but the other three translocation lines (WTT139, WTT146, and WTT323) were highly resistant. The alignment of 81 specific-locus amplified fragments to the Th. elongatum genome revealed that 4Ag originated from a group 4 chromosome. The corresponding physical positions of every 4Ag-derived fragment were determined according to a cytogenetic analysis, the amplification of specific markers, and a sequence alignment. Considering the results of the evaluation of disease resistance, the Pm locus was mapped to the 3.79–97.12 Mb region of the short arm of chromosome 4Ag. Because of its durability, this newly identified Pm locus from a group 4 chromosome of Th. ponticum may be important for breeding wheat varieties with broad-spectrum disease resistance.

The gut microbiota plays a key role in the function of the host immune system and neuroimmune diseases. Alterations in the composition of the gut microbiota can lead to pathology and altered formation of microbiota-derived components and metabolites. A series of neuroimmune diseases, such as myasthenia gravis (MG), multiple sclerosis (MS), neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSDs), Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS), and autoimmune encephalitis (AIE), are associated with changes in the gut microbiota. Microecological therapy by improving the gut microbiota is expected to be an effective measure for treating and preventing some neuroimmune diseases. This article reviews the research progress related to the roles of gut microbiota and fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) in neuroimmune diseases.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) represent a group of neurodevelopmental defects characterized by social deficits and repetitive behaviors. Alteration in Glycosylation patterns could influence the nervous system development and contribute to the molecular mechanism of ASD. Interaction of environmental factors with susceptible genes may affect expressions of glycosylation-related genes and thus result in abnormal glycosylation patterns. Here, we used an environmental factor-induced model of autism by a single intraperitoneal injection of 400 mg/kg valproic acid (VPA) to female rats at day 12.5 post-conception. Following confirmation of reduced sociability and increased self-grooming behaviors in VPA-treated offspring, we analyzed the alterations in the expression profile of glycan patterns and glycan-related genes by lectin microarrays and RNA-seq, respectively. Lectin microarrays detected 14 significantly regulated lectins in VPA rats, with an up-regulation of high-mannose with antennary and down-regulation of Siaα2-3 Gal/GalNAc. Based on the KEGG and CAZy resources, we assembled a comprehensive list of 961 glycan-related genes to focus our analysis on specific genes. Of those, transcription results revealed that there were 107 differentially expressed glycan-related genes (DEGGs) after VPA treatment. Functional analysis of DEGGs encoding anabolic enzymes revealed that the process trimming to form core structure and glycan extension from core structure primarily changed, which is consistent with the changes in glycan patterns. In addition, the DEGGs encoding glycoconjugates were mainly related to extracellular matrix and axon guidance. This study provides insights into the underlying molecular mechanism of aberrant glycosylation after prenatal VPA exposure, which may serve as potential biomarkers for the autism diagnosis.

Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most common pollutants in the environment. It can cause irreversible tissue damage and apoptosis in invertebrates. This study investigated the relationship between Cd exposure and oxidative damage and apoptosis in the ovarian cell of the clam Meretrix meretrix. The clams were exposed to different concentrations of Cd2+ (0, 1.5, 3, 6 and 12 mg L−1) for 5 days, and the accumulated level of Cd2+ in the ovarian tissue, and the degree of oxidative damage, changes in morphology and the response of apoptosis-related factors in the ovarian cell were determined. The bioaccumulation of Cd2+ and the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA), protein carbonylation (PCO), and DNA-protein crosslinking (DPC) in the ovary were found to increase significantly when the clams were exposed to increasing concentrations of Cd2+. The structure of the ovarian tissue was severely damaged, and the ovarian cells displayed an irregular arrangement. The results of AO/EB staining and flow cytometry showed that the apoptotic rate of the ovarian cells increased with increasing Cd2+ concentrations. The activities of caspase-3, -8, -9, and the mRNA levels of p53, Bax and Caspase-3 in the ovary were also significantly increased. Furthermore, the level of p53 mRNA was positively correlated with the levels of MDA, PCO, DPC and ROS, but negatively correlated with the levels of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and Bcl-2 mRNA. Taken together, these results indicated that Cd2+ exposure would result in oxidative damage and apoptosis for the ovarian cells, suggesting that Cd2+ toxicity could negatively affect the reproductive capacity of M. meretrix, thus threatening the reproductive development of the shellfish.

Abstract In this study, a non-tensor product B-spline algorithm is applied to the search space of the registration process, and a new method of image non-rigid registration is proposed. The tensor product B-spline is a function defined in the two directions of x and y, while the non-tensor product B-spline S 2 1 Δ mn 2 $$ {S}_2^1\left({\Delta}_{mn}^{(2)}\right) $$ is defined in four directions on the 2-type triangulation. For certain problems, using non-tensor product B-splines to describe the non-rigid deformation of an image can more accurately extract the four-directional information of the image, thereby describing the global or local non-rigid deformation of the image in more directions. Indeed, it provides a method to solve the problem of image deformation in multiple directions. In addition, the region of interest of medical images is irregular, and usually no value exists on the boundary triangle. The value of the basis function of the non-tensor product B-spline on the boundary triangle is only 0. The algorithm process is optimized. The algorithm performs completely automatic non-rigid registration of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging images of patients. In particular, this study compares the performance of the proposed algorithm with the tensor product B-spline registration algorithm. The results elucidate that the proposed algorithm clearly improves the accuracy.

Abstract Background Cardiac hemangiomas are rare in all kinds of benign cardiac tumors. Although cardiac hemangiomas affect all ages and may occur anywhere within the heart, right ventricular hemangiomas are extremely uncommon. Case presentation We report a 56-year-old woman presented with chest tightness and breath shortness for 3 months. Transthoracic echocardiography and coronary computed tomography angiography showed a mass located adjacent to the apex of the right ventricle but both failed to figure out where the mass originated from, remaining a diagnostic mystery preoperatively. The mass was removed successfully and the histopathological examination confirmed it was hemangioma. Conclusions Cardiac magnetic resonance should be the ultimate diagnostic tool of cardiac tumors. Surgical removal, associated with a low recurrence rate and long-term survival benefits, should be the first choice of therapy for cardiac hemangiomas.

The evolution of superconductivity in LiFeAs with respect to pressure or strain remains elusive. Here, the authors observe different response of superconducting states due to different orientations of local wrinkles on the surface of LiFeAs.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become one of the most prominent causes of chronic liver diseases and malignancies. However, few therapy has been approved. Radix Bupleuri (RB) is the most frequently used herbal medicine for the treatment of liver diseases. In the current study, we aim to systemically evaluate the therapeutic effects of saikosaponin A (SSa) and saikosaponin D (SSd), the major bioactive monomers in RB, against NAFLD and to investigate the underlying mechanisms. Our results demonstrated that both SSa and SSd improved diet-induced NAFLD. Integrative lipidomic and transcriptomic analysis revealed that SSa and SSd modulated glycerolipid metabolism by regulating related genes, like Lipe and Lipg. SSd profoundly suppressed the fatty acid biosynthesis by downregulating Fasn and Acaca expression and promoted fatty acid degradation by inducing Acox1 and Cpt1a expression. Bioinformatic analysis further predicted the implication of master transcription factors, including peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα), in the protective effects of SSa and SSd. These results were further confirmed in vitro in mouse primary hepatocytes. In summary, our study uncoded the complicated mechanisms underlying the promising anti-steatosis activities of saikosaponins (SSs), and provided critical evidence inspiring the discovery of innovative therapies based on SSa and SSd for the treatment of NAFLD and related complications.

Abstract Rhei Radix et Rhizoma, also known as rhubarb or Da Huang, has been widely used as a spice and as traditional herbal medicine for centuries, and is currently marketed in China as the principal herbs in various prescriptions, such as Da-Huang-Zhe-Chong pills and Da-Huang-Qing-Wei pills. Emodin, a major bioactive anthraquinone derivative extracted from rhubarb, represents multiple health benefits in the treatment of a host of diseases, such as immune-inflammatory abnormality, tumor progression, bacterial or viral infections, and metabolic syndrome. Emerging evidence has made great strides in clarifying the multi-targeting therapeutic mechanisms underlying the efficacious therapeutic potential of emodin, including anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, anti-fibrosis, anti-tumor, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-diabetic properties. This comprehensive review aims to provide an updated summary of recent developments on these pharmacological efficacies and molecular mechanisms of emodin, with a focus on the underlying molecular targets and signaling networks. We also reviewed recent attempts to improve the pharmacokinetic properties and biological activities of emodin by structural modification and novel material-based targeted delivery. In conclusion, emodin still has great potential to become promising therapeutic options to immune and inflammation abnormality, organ fibrosis, common malignancy, pathogenic bacteria or virus infections, and endocrine disease or disorder. Scientifically addressing concerns regarding the poor bioavailability and vague molecular targets would significantly contribute to the widespread acceptance of rhubarb not only as a dietary supplement in food flavorings and colorings but also as a health-promoting TCM in the coming years.

BackgroundThe emergence of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has significantly improved the clinical outcomes of patients with metastatic melanoma. However, survival benefits are only observed in a subset of patients. The fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) family genes are frequently mutated in melanoma, yet their impacts on the efficacy of ICIs remain unclear. Our study aimed to explore the association of FGFR mutations with ICIs efficacy in metastatic melanoma.MethodsThe Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) data (PanCancer Atlas, skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM), n = 448) in cBioPortal were collected as a TCGA cohort to investigate the association between FGFR mutations and prognosis of melanoma patients. To explore the impact of FGFR mutations on the efficacy of ICIs in melanoma, clinical and tumor whole-exome sequencing (WES) data of four ICI-treated studies from cBioPortal were consolidated as an ICIs-treated cohort. Moreover, the relationship between FGFR mutations and immunogenicity (tumor mutation burden (TMB), neo-antigen load (NAL), mismatch repair (MMR)-related genes and DNA damage repair (DDR)-related genes) of melanoma was evaluated utilizing data from the ICIs-treated cohort. The influence of FGFR mutations on the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) of melanoma was also analyzed using the TCGA cohort.ResultsIn the TCGA cohort, survival in melanoma patients with or without FGFR mutations was nearly equivalent. In the ICIs-treated cohort, patients with FGFR mutations had better survival than those without (median overall survival: 60.00 vs. 31.00 months; hazard ratio: 0.58, 95% CI: 0.42-0.80; P = 0.0051). Besides, the objective response rate was higher for patients harboring FGFR mutations (55.56%) compared to wild-type patients (22.40%) (P = 0.0076). Mechanistically, it was revealed that FGFR mutations correlated with increased immunogenicity (e.g., TMB, NAL, MMR-related gene mutations and DDR-related gene mutations). Meanwhile, FGFR mutant melanoma tended to exhibit an enhanced antitumor TIME compared with its wild-type counterparts.ConclusionsOur study demonstrated that FGFR mutations is a promising biomarker in stratifying patients with advanced melanoma who might benefit from ICIs therapy.

Neutrophils play a key role in the occurrence and development of cancer. However, the relationship between neutrophils and cancer prognosis remains unclear due to their great plasticity and diversity. To explore the effects of neutrophils on the clinical outcome of bladder cancer, we acquired and analyzed gene expression data and clinical information of bladder cancer patients from IMvigor210 cohort and The Cancer Genome Atlas dataset (TCGA) database. We established a neutrophil-based prognostic model incorporating five neutrophil-related genes (EMR3, VNN1, FCGRT, HIST1H2BC, and MX1) and the predictive value of the model was validated in both an internal and an external validation cohort. Multivariate Cox regression analysis further proved that the model remained an independent prognostic factor for overall survival and a nomogram was constructed for clinical practice. Additionally, FCGRT was identified as the key neutrophil-related gene linked to an adverse prognosis of bladder cancer. Up-regulation of FCGRT indicated activated cancer metabolism, immunosuppressive tumor environment, and dysregulated functional status of immune cells. FCGRT overexpression was also correlated with decreased expression of PD-L1 and low levels of tumor mutation burden (TMB). FCGRT predicted a poor response to immunotherapy and had a close correlation with chemotherapy sensitivity. Taken together, a novel prognostic model was developed based on the expression level of neutrophil-related genes. FCGRT served as a promising candidate biomarker for anti-cancer drug response, which may contribute to individualized prognostic prediction and may contribute to clinical decision-making.

ObjectiveTo determine the short-term effectiveness safety of baricitinib in children with refractory and/or severe juvenile dermatomyositis (rsJDM) in a real-world setting.MethodsThis was a single-center retrospective study, including 20 children with rsJDM. They were all treated using baricitinib combined with steroids and other immunosuppressive agents. The childhood myositis assessment scale (CMAS) and PRINTO remission criteria were used to evaluate the disease severity and treatment outcome at 0, 4, 12, and 24 weeks after initiation of baricitinib.ResultsThe skin rash improved in 95% of patients (19/20) at week 24, with a significant decrease of skin-DAS at weeks 12 (6.0 vs. 2.0, p < 0.05] and week 24 [6.0 vs. 1.0, p < 0.05) by median statistics. The CMAS score increased significantly at week 12 (41.0 [29.0, 44.0] vs. 46.0 [42.0, 52.0], p < 0.05) and week 24 (41.0 [29.0, 44.0] vs. 50.0 [45.0, 52.0], p < 0.05), as did the manual muscle testing (MMT)-8 score at week 24 (73.0 [610, 76.0] vs. 79.0 [77.0, 80.0], p < 0.05). At 24 weeks, the complete response (CR) and partial response (PR) were achieved in 75% (15/20) and 15% (3/20), respectively. The dose of corticosteroids (CS) decreased by 37% from the baseline (0.53 [0.42, 1.00] mg/kg) to week 12 (0.33 [0.18, 0.40] mg/kg) (p < 0.05), and by 49% at week 24 (p < 0.05). No serious side effects were observed.ConclusionBaricitinib combined with traditional immunosuppressants treatment was efficacious in rsJDM. Add-on therapy of baricitinib was helpful for tapering CS dose. No serious side effects were observed in this study.

Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is a significant cause of end-stage kidney failure and there are few effective drugs for treating this inherited condition. Numerous aberrantly expressed non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), particularly microRNAs (miRNAs), may contribute to PKD pathogenesis by participating in multiple intracellular and intercellular functions through post-transcriptional regulation of protein-encoding genes. Insights into the mechanisms of miRNAs and other ncRNAs in the development of PKD may provide novel therapeutic strategies. In this review, we discuss the current knowledge about the roles of dysregulated miRNAs and other ncRNAs in PKD. These roles involve multiple aspects of cellular function including mitochondrial metabolism, proliferation, cell death, fibrosis and cell-to-cell communication. We also summarize the potential application of miRNAs as biomarkers or therapeutic targets in PKD, and briefly describe strategies to overcome the challenges of delivering RNA to the kidney, providing a better understanding of the fundamental advances in utilizing miRNAs and other non-coding RNAs to treat PKD.

It is universally acknowledged that lncRNA plays an important role in the regulation of animal skeletal muscle development regulation. However, there is a lack of relevant research on lncRNA in rabbit skeletal muscle development. Thus, we explored the expression profiles of lncRNA in rabbits at three growth stages (2-week-old fetus, 6-week-old post-weaning, and 6-month-old adult) using RNA-seq. A total of 554 differentially expressed lncRNAs (235 up- and 319 down-regulated) were found between the post-weaning and fetus groups and 19 (7 up- and 12 down-regulated) between the post-weaning and adult groups and 429 (115 up- and 314 down-regulated) between the fetus and adult. The enrichment pathways in the post-weaning and fetus groups were mainly concentrated at AMPK and PI3K-Akt signaling pathways, and the co-expression results revealed that LINC-2903, LINC-2374, LINC-8591 plays a role in early maintenance of skeletal muscle development. The enriched pathways in the fetus and adult groups were mainly involved in PI3K-Akt signaling pathways with a strong association found in mTOR signaling pathways. Analysis of the co-expression results suggests that LINC-5617 may be involved in the proliferation of embryonic skeletal muscle cells, and that LINC-8613 and LINC-8705 may provide energy for postnatal skeletal muscle development. The specific roles of different lncRNAs in different developmental stages of New Zealand White rabbits obtained. This will contribute to the subsequent study on the regulatory mechanism of muscle development in New Zealand White rabbits.

The key issue at this stage is how to mine the large amount of valuable user sentiment information from the massive amount of web text and create a suitable dynamic user text sentiment analysis technique. Hence, this study offers a writing feature abstraction process based on ON-LSTM and attention mechanism to address the problem that syntactic information is ignored in emotional text feature extraction. The study found that the Att-ON-LSTM improved the micro-average F1 value by 2.27% and the macro-average F value by 1.7% compared to the Bi-LSTM model with the added attentivity mechanisms. It is demonstrated that it can perform better extraction of semantic information and hierarchical structure information in emotional text and obtain more comprehensive emotional text features. In addition, the ON-LSTM-LS, a sentiment analysis model based on ON-LSTM and tag semantics, is planned to address the problem that tag semantics is ignored in the process of text sentiment analysis. The experimental consequences exposed that the accuracy of the ON-LSTM and labeled semantic sentiment analysis model on the test set is improved by 0.78% with the addition of labeled word directions compared to the model Att-ON-LSTM without the addition of labeled semantic information. The macro-averaged F1 value improved by 1.04%, which indicates that the sentiment analysis process based on ON-LSTM and tag semantics can effectively perform the text sentiment analysis task and improve the sentiment classification effect to some extent. In conclusion, deep learning models for dynamic user sentiment analysis possess high application capabilities.

Abstract Background The purpose of this study was to explore the efficacy and safety of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in gastric cancer with liver metastasis (GCLM) patients who were contraindicated for either hepatectomy or radiofrequency ablation (RFA). Methods This is a prospective, observational study on GCLM patients with 1–3 liver metastases. The primary gastric lesions were thoroughly resected and any case that exhibited extra-hepatic metastasis was excluded. A 1:2:2 propensity score-matching analysis was performed using a logistic regression model on the HIFU group, best supportive care (BSC) group, and palliative chemotherapy (PC) group. The primary endpoints include progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Results Forty patients were finally included, there were 8 cases in HIFU group, 16 cases in BSC group, and 16 cases in PC group. The median follow-up time for the entire cohort was 10 months. The median PFS was 16.5 months in HIFU group, 2 months in BSC group, and 5 months in PC group. The median OS was 27.5 months in the HIFU group, 7 months in the BSC group, and 11.5 months in the PC group. Additionally, no grade 3 or higher adverse events occurred in the HIFU group. Conclusion The results of this study showed that HIFU treatment could improve the long-term prognosis of GCLM patients without a significant increase in the occurrence of adverse events. Compared with PC and BSC, HIFU is the preferred treatment option when GCLM patients without extra-hepatic metastasis are unable to undergo either surgery or RFA.

Abstract Background miRNA is one of the crucial roles in the complex and dynamic network that regulates the development of skeletal muscle. The landscape of skeletal muscle miRNAs from fetus to adult in New Zealand rabbits has not been revealed yet. Results In this study, nine RNA-seq libraries of fetus, child and adult rabbits’ leg muscles were constructed. A total of 278 differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) were identified. In the fetus vs. child group, the main functional enrichments were involved in membrane and transport. Pathway enriched terms of up-regulated DEmiRNAs were connected with the differentiation and hypertrophy of skeletal muscle, and down-regulated ones were related to muscle structure and metabolic capacity. In the child vs. adult group, functions were associated to positioning and transportation, and pathways were relevant to ECM, muscle structure and hypertrophy. Finally, ocu-miR-185-3p and ocu-miR-370-3p, which had the most target genes, were identified as hub-miRNAs in these two groups. Conclusions In short, we summarized the highly expressed and uniquely expressed DEmiRNAs of fetus, child and adult rabbits’ leg muscles. Besides, the potential functional changes of miRNAs in two consecutive stages have been explored. Among them, the ocu-miR-185-3p and ocu-miR-370-3p with the most target genes were selected as hub-miRNAs. These data improved the understanding of the regulatory molecules of meat rabbit development, and provided a novel perspective for molecular breeding of meat rabbits.

Abstract Background The temporal expression pattern of circular RNAs (circRNAs) across developmental stages is essential for skeletal muscle growth and functional analysis. However, there are few analyses on the potential functions of circRNAs in rabbit skeletal muscle development. Results Initially, the paraffin sections showed extremely significant differences in the diameter, number, area and density of skeletal muscle fibers of the fetus, child, adult rabbit hind legs (P

Background: Increased iron deposition in nigrosome as assessed by susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) is involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD). This study investigated the effects of antiparkinson drugs on iron deposition in the nigrosome of PD patients.Methods: Based on the retrospective analysis of clinical data, alterations in iron deposition in the substantia nigra were investigated in 51 PD patients across different types of therapies and in nine Parkinson-plus syndrome patients. The Movement Disorder Society revision of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS) Part Ⅲ/Ⅳ (UPDRS Ⅲ/Ⅳ) was utilized to evaluate motor function and complications. SWI (slice = 0.6 mm) was used to detect iron deposition in the nigrosome and substantia nigra. Nigrosome loss was scored on a 1-point nigrosome visibility scale. Visual assessment of dorsolateral nigral hyperintensity (DNH) was separately performed for each side of the nigrosome with SWI.Results: Increased UPDRS Ⅲ scores were correlated with low nigrosome scores based on correlation analysis at a disease duration of 6–12 months (r = −0.8420). The loss of the nigrosome on SWI was clearly inhibited in PD patients with a 3–5-year duration of administration of antiparkinson medications compared with no treatment. Decreased UPDRS Ⅲ scores and increased nigrosome scores were observed in the regular treatment of PD patients with a 6–7-year disease duration. For patients with Parkinson-plus syndromes, such as multiple system atrophy, iron accumulation was apparent in the corpus striatum and substantia nigra compared with that for patients with progressive supranuclear palsy.Conclusions: Early and regular treatment with antiparkinson drugs not only alleviates the chance of PD disability but also prevents the loss of DNH, namely, iron accumulation in the nigrosome.

Cyst nematodes are considered a dominant threat to yield for a wide range of major food crops. Current control strategies are mainly dependent on crop rotation and the use of resistant cultivars. Various crops exhibit single dominant resistance (R) genes that are able to activate effective host-specific resistance to certain cyst nematode species and/or populations. An example is the potato R gene Gpa2, which confers resistance against the potato cyst nematode (PCN), Globodera pallida population D383. Activation of Gpa2 results in a delayed resistance response, which is characterized by a layer of necrotic cells formed around the developing nematode feeding structure. However, knowledge about the Gpa2-induced defense pathways is still lacking. Here, we uncover the transcriptional changes and gene expression network induced upon Gpa2 activation in potato roots infected with G. pallida. To this end, in vitro-grown Gpa2-resistant potato roots were infected with the avirulent population D383 and virulent population Rookmaker. Infected root segments were harvested at 3 and 6 dpi and sent for RNA sequencing. Comparative transcriptomics revealed a total of 1,743 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) upon nematode infection, of which 559 DEGs were specifically regulated in response to D383 infection. D383-specific DEGs associated with Gpa2-mediated defense mainly relates to calcium-binding activity, salicylic acid (SA) biosynthesis, and systemic acquired resistance (SAR). These data reveal that cyst nematode resistance in potato roots depends on conserved downstream signaling pathways involved in plant immunity, which are also known to contribute to R genes-mediated resistance against other pathogens with different lifestyles.

Abstract is missing (Short communication)