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Alfalfa (Medicago sativasubsp. sativa), the “queen of forage,” is the most important perennial legume, with high productivity and an excellent nutritional profile. Medicago sativasubsp. falcatais a subspecies of the alfalfa complex and exhibits better drought tolerance. However, drought stress significantly hampers their development and yield. The molecular mechanisms underlying the aboveground and underground tissues of sativaand falcataresponding to drought stress remain obscure. Here, we performed a comprehensive comparative analysis of the physiological and transcriptomic responses of sativaand falcataunder drought stress. The results showed that photosynthesis was inhibited, and antioxidant enzymes were activated under drought stress. MsC3H29, a CCCH-type zinc finger protein, was identified as a hub gene through weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) and was significantly induced by drought in underground tissue. The MsC3H29 protein was localized in the nucleus. Overexpression (OE) of MsC3H29can increase the primary root length and fresh weight of transgenic alfalfa hairy roots, while RNA interference (RNAi) decreases them under drought stress. The 2′,7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (H2DCFDA) staining revealed that MsC3H29promoted drought tolerance of alfalfa hairy roots through decreasing ROS accumulation. The targeted metabolome analysis showed that the overexpression of MsC3H29resulted in higher levels of accumulation for flavonoid monomers, including vicenin, daidzein, apigenin, isorhamnetin, quercetin, and tricin, in transgenic alfalfa hairy roots before and after drought stress, while RNAi led to a reduction. Our study provided a key candidate gene for molecular breeding to improve drought resistance in alfalfa.

Background. Transplantation and immunosuppressive therapies are the available treatments for aplastic anemia; however, each strategy has its advantages and disadvantages. Objective. The aim of this study was to find a new strategy for aplastic anemia treatment. Design. This was an experimental and comparative study. Methods. The aplastic anemia model was established by injecting rabbits with benzene and cyclophosphamide. The rabbits with aplastic anemia were divided into low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) and control groups. The distal femoral metaphysis of rabbits in the LIPUS group was treated with ultrasound for 30 days (20 min/d), whereas the control group received a sham treatment. Diarrhea, mortality, and blood cell count were evaluated. The levels of forkhead box P3, interleukin 17, interleukin 4, and interferon gamma were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Bone marrow hyperplasia was observed by hematoxylin-eosin staining and scanning electron microscopy. Results. The numbers of red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs), and platelets (PLTs) were lower, the amount of hematopoietic tissue was lower, and the amount of adipose tissue was higher in the rabbit aplastic anemia model than in the normal rabbits. The numbers of RBCs, WBCs, and PLTs increased after LIPUS treatment. The interleukin 17 level decreased, whereas the forkhead box P3 level increased. The amount of hematopoietic tissue increased, whereas the amount of adipose tissue decreased. Limitations. The number of hematopoietic stem cells could not be evaluated. Conclusions. LIPUS improved the hematopoietic microenvironment, accelerated the reconstruction of bone marrow cells, and increased the quantity and quality of RBCs, WBCs, and PLTs in the peripheral blood. Hence, it can serve as a novel treatment strategy for aplastic anemia in the future., A plastic anemia is a bone marrow hematopoietic failure syndrome caused by various etiologies. It is characterized by the decreased proliferation of bone marrow hematopoietic cells and a decreased number [...]

Tactile image sensors are efficient and useful in the robotics and health-care fields due to their advantage of being impervious to electromagnetic fields. The functionality and applications of the sensors have been extensively researched. Furthermore, the pattern with the arrangement of sizes, colors, shapes, and densities is like the “heart” of tactile image sensors, which immediately determines the results of detecting the position and the force. However, the effect of patterns on the resolution of tactile sensors has not been fully investigated yet. Hence, we experimentally studied the effect of different patterns on the resolution of tactile image sensors due to difficulties in theoretical analysis. Optical fibers and cameras were used to integrate flexible sensors with different features, which are divided into 61 dots. The sensors are put through their trials in various positions and forces, and the data is processed using deep learning methods. The sensors with four different patterns were all successful in distinguishing pressure, shear, and torque. More crucially, the root mean square error (RMSE) values were used to compare the impact of the various patterns on the sensors. All sensors with four types of patterns exhibited outstanding resolution for positions, normal force, shear forces, and torsion, which should be due to the optimization of the neural network and sensor structure. The seven position and force parameters of these four patterned sensors have the same order of magnitude of RMSEs, which suggests that the pattern complexity has negligible influence on the tactile image sensor resolution for these factors in our sensor structure. Moreover, we have demonstrated the outstanding resolution of the sensor with a pure color pattern. This work not only guides the pattern designs of forthcoming tactile image sensors but also enables the mass manufacture of flexible sensors for intelligent robots.

Nonstoichiometric microstructured silicon suboxide (SiOx) could be an attractive alternative to graphite as the anode materials of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to its high theoretical capacity and low cost. However, practical applications of SiOxare hampered by their inferior inherent conductivity and distinct volume changes during cycling. In this work, in order to address these issues simultaneously, we designed and fabricated SiOx-based anode materials with TiO1−yNy-carbon coating layer (SiOx@TiON-C) using a scalable solvothermal and thermal reduction method. Our systematic investigations suggest that TiO1−yNyand the C coating layer could accommodate large volume variation and promote electrical conductivity of SiOxduring cycling, respectively. As a result, the as-prepared SiOx@TiON-C anode exhibits superior lithium storage performance. Specifically, the resultant SiOx@TiON-C anode could deliver an outstanding reversible capacity of 750.2 mA h g−1at 500 mA g−1after 500 cycles, high initial Coulombic efficiency of 75.1% and excellent rate capability. This work offers a promising approach to promote the practical commercialization of microstructured SiOx-based anode materials for next-generation LIBs.