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Introduction. We studied the impact of vibratory stimulation on the electrophysiological features of digital sensory nerve action potential (SNAP). Methods. The antidromic digit 3 SNAP was recorded in 19 healthy adults before, during, and after applying a vibration to either 3rd or 5th metacarpal phalangeal joint (MCPJ) at 60 Hz and amplitude of 2 mm. 100% supramaximal stimulus intensity was performed in 5 subjects (randomly selected from the 19 subjects) where the SNAP sizes were recorded. Results. The amplitude of digit 3 SNAP declined to 58.9±8.6% when a vibration was applied to MCPJ digit 3. These impacts did not change by increasing the electrical stimulus intensity. The SNAP regained its baseline value immediately after the cessation of vibration stimulation. The magnitude of size reduction of digit 3 SNAP was less when vibration was moved to from MCPJ of digit 3 to MCPJ of digit 5. Discussion. The marked drop of the SNAP size during vibratory stimulation reflects the decreased responsiveness of Aβ afferents to electrical stimulation, which deserve further investigation in the study of focal vibration in neurorehabilitation.

Zoysia japonica is a warm-season turfgrass that is extensively used in landscaping, sports fields, and golf courses worldwide. Uncovering the low-temperature response mechanism of Z. japonica can help to accelerate the development of new cold-tolerant cultivars, which could be used to prolong the ornamental and usage duration of turf. A novel Z. japonica biotype, YueNong-9 (YN-9), was collected from northeastern China for this study. Phenotypic measurements, cold-tolerance investigation, and whole-transcriptome surveys were performed on YN-9 and LanYin-3 (LY-3), the most popular Z. japonica cultivar in Southern China. The results indicated the following: YN-9 has longer second and third leaves than LY-3; when exposed to the natural low temperature during winter in Guangzhou, YN-9 accumulated 4.74 times more anthocyanin than LY-3; after cold acclimation and freezing treatment, 83.25 ± 9.55% of YN-9 survived while all LY-3 leaves died, and the dark green color index (DGCI) value of YN-9 was 1.78 times that of LY-3; in YN-9, there was a unique up-regulation of Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), Homeobox-leucine Zipper IV (HD-ZIP), and ATP-Binding Cassette transporter B8 (ABCB8) expressions, as well as a unique down-regulation of zinc-regulated transporters and iron-regulated transporter-like proteins (ZIPs) expression, which may promote anthocyanin biosynthesis, transport, and accumulation. In conclusion, YN-9 exhibited enhanced cold tolerance and is thus an excellent candidate for breeding cold-tolerant Z. japonica variety, and its unique low-temperature-induced anthocyanin accumulation and gene responses provide ideas and candidate genes for the study of low-temperature tolerance mechanisms and genetic engineering breeding.

For the fact that articular cartilage is a highly organized and avascular tissue, cartilage defects are limited to spontaneously heal, which would subsequently progress to osteoarthritis. Many methods have been developed to enhance the ability for cartilage regeneration, among which magnetically actuated manipulation has attracted interests due to its biocompatibility and non-invasive manipulation. Magnetically actuated manipulation that can be achieved by introducing magnetic nanoparticles and magnetic field. This review summarizes the cutting-edge research on the chondrogenic enhancements via magnetically actuated manipulation, including cell labeling, cell targeting, cell assembly, magnetic seeding and tissue engineering strategies.

Quality credit has attracted considerable interest in both academia and business world in recent years in China. This study aims to discuss the development of quality credit evaluation system, and then based on an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to construct an evaluation system for Internet companies. Firstly, the quality credit evaluation three-level pyramid model for Internet companies has been established, including the willingness of quality credit, the ability of quality credit, and the basis of quality credit. Secondly, priorities of the criteria and sub-criteria are assigned and identified by the AHP with 12 experts those who are representatives from Internet companies, research experts, and government staffs. Finally, several US Internet companies are evaluated by using this evaluation system, and practical suggestions are provided for the future based on data evaluation results. This paper finds that in the criteria of quality credit evaluation system, the most significant indicators are credit records and quality of product, while qualification rate of product supervise, operating legitimacy and quality accident are the most primary indicators in the sub-criteria level.

ABSTRACT Hepatitis E virus (HEV), a single-strand positive-sense RNA virus, is an understudied but important human pathogen. The virus can establish infection at a number of host tissues, including the small intestine and liver, causing acute and chronic hepatitis E as well as certain neurological disorders. The retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) pathway is essential to induce the interferon (IFN) response during HEV infection. However, the pathogen-associated motif patterns (PAMPs) in the HEV genome that are recognized by RIG-I remain unknown. In this study, we first identified that HEV RNA PAMPs derived from the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of the HEV genome induced higher levels of IFN mRNA, interferon regulatory factor-3 (IRF3) phosphorylation, and nuclear translocation than the 5′ UTR of HEV. We revealed that the U-rich region in the 3′ UTR of the HEV genome acts as a potent RIG-I PAMP, while the presence of poly(A) tail in the 3′ UTR further increases the potency. We further demonstrated that HEV UTR PAMPs induce differential type I and type III IFN responses in a cell type-dependent fashion. Predominant type III IFN response was observed in the liver tissues of pigs experimentally infected with HEV as well as in HEV RNA PAMP-induced human hepatocytes in vitro. In contrast, HEV RNA PAMPs induced a predominant type I IFN response in swine enterocytes. Taken together, the results from this study indicated that the IFN response during HEV infection depends both on viral RNA motifs and host target cell types. The results have important implications in understanding the mechanism of HEV pathogenesis. IMPORTANCE Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an important human pathogen causing both acute and chronic viral hepatitis E infection. Currently, the mechanisms of HEV replication and pathogenesis remain poorly understood. The innate immune response acts as the first line of defense during viral infection. The retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I)-mediated interferon (IFN) response has been implicated in establishing antiviral response during HEV infection, although the HEV RNA motifs that are recognized by RIG-I are unknown. This study identified that the U-rich region in the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of the HEV genome acts as a potent RIG-I agonist compared to the HEV 5′ UTR. We further revealed that the HEV RNA pathogen-associated motif patterns (PAMPs) induced a differential IFN response in a cell type-dependent manner: a predominantly type III IFN response in hepatocytes, and a predominantly type I IFN response in enterocytes. These data demonstrate the complexity by which both host and viral factors influence the IFN response during HEV infection.

In rice, the contents of protein and amino acids are the major parameters of nutritional quality. Co-localization of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for heading date and protein content were reported, but pleiotropism of heading-date genes on protein contents has not been investigated. Here, we reported that rice florigen gene RFT1 plays an important role in controlling amino acid contents of rice grain. Firstly, 73 QTLs for the contents of 17 amino acids in unmilled rice were detected using recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of the indica rice cross Zhenshan 97 (ZS97)/Milyang 46 (MY46). Then, the effect of the largest cluster consisting of 14 QTLs, located in proximity to the rice florigen genes RFT1 and Hd3a, was validated using three populations consisting of near isogenic lines (NILs) that only segregated a region covering the target QTL. The first and second NIL populations were derived from a residual heterozygote identified from the ZS97/MY46 RIL population, consisting of homozygous lines that were only segregated in a 29.9-kb region covering the two florigen genes and a 1.7-kb region for RFT1, respectively. The third NIL population was segregated for the RFT1ZS97 transgene in the background of japonica rice cultivar Zhonghua 11. In all the three NIL populations, RFT1 was shown to have a strong effect on the contents of most amino acids, with the ZS97 allele always having the reducing effects. By comparing QTLs for amino acid contents detected in the ZS97/MY46 RIL population and genes/QTLs previously identified for heading date difference between ZS97 and MY46, possible pleiotropism on amino acid contents was also shown for other key heading-date genes including Hd1, Ghd7, and OsGI.

Cadmium (Cd) contamination in rice has been a hot topic of research because of its potential risk to human health. In this study, a double haploid (DH) population derived from Zhongjiazao 17 (YK17) (an early-season indica cultivar)×D50 (a tropical japonica cultivar) was used to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with Cd concentration in brown rice (CCBR) and Cd concentration in milled rice (CCMR). Continuous and wide variation for CCBR and CCMR were observed among the DH population. Correlation analysis revealed a positive and highly significant correlation between the two traits. A total of 18 QTLs for CCBR and 14 QTLs for CCMR were identified in five different pot and field trials. Two pairs of QTLs for CCBR (qCCBR2-1 and qCCBR2-2, qCCBR9-1 and qCCBR9-2) and one pair of QTLs for CCMR (qCCMR5-1 and qCCMR5-2) were detected in multiple trials. The alleles increasing CCBR at the qCCBR2-1/qCCBR2-2 and qCCBR9-1/qCCBR9-2 QTLs were contributed by YK17 and D50, respectively, whereas the D50 allele at the qCCMR5-1/qCCMR5-2 QTLs increased CCMR. Eight pairs of QTLs for CCBR and CCMR, qCCBR2-2 and qCCMR2-2, qCCBR3 and qCCMR3, qCCBR4-2 and qCCMR4-1, qCCBR4-3 and qCCMR4-2, qCCBR4-4 and qCCMR4-3, qCCBR5 and qCCMR5-2, qCCBR7 and qCCMR7, and qCCBR11-1 and qCCMR11-2, co-localized on chromosomes 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 11, respectively. For all of these QTL pairs, except qCCBR5/qCCMR5-2, the additive effects came from YK17. In addition, four CCMR QTLs showing significant additive×environment interaction and two pairs of CCMR QTLs with bi-allelic epistatic interactions were identified. The results of this study could facilitate marker-assisted selection of breeding rice varieties with low Cd accumulation in grain.

Abstract Background Lipid accumulation by oleaginous microorganisms is of great scientific interest and biotechnological potential. While nitrogen limitation has been routinely employed, low-cost raw materials usually contain rich nitrogenous components, thus preventing from efficient lipid production. Inorganic phosphate (Pi) limitation has been found sufficient to promote conversion of sugars into lipids, yet the molecular basis of cellular response to Pi limitation and concurrent lipid accumulation remains elusive. Results Here, we performed multi-omic analyses of the oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides to shield lights on Pi-limitation-induced lipid accumulation. Samples were prepared under Pi-limited as well as Pi-repleted chemostat conditions, and subjected to analysis at the transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic levels. In total, 7970 genes, 4212 proteins, and 123 metabolites were identified. Results showed that Pi limitation facilitates up-regulation of Pi-associated metabolism, RNA degradation, and triacylglycerol biosynthesis while down-regulation of ribosome biosynthesis and tricarboxylic acid cycle. Pi limitation leads to dephosphorylation of adenosine monophosphate and the allosteric activator of isocitrate dehydrogenase key to lipid biosynthesis. It was found that NADPH, the key cofactor for fatty acid biosynthesis, is limited due to reduced flux through the pentose phosphate pathway and transhydrogenation cycle and that this can be overcome by over-expression of an endogenous malic enzyme. These phenomena are found distinctive from those under nitrogen limitation. Conclusions Our data suggest that Pi limitation activates Pi-related metabolism, RNA degradation, and TAG biosynthesis while inhibits ribosome biosynthesis and TCA cycle, leading to enhanced carbon fluxes into lipids. The information greatly enriches our understanding on microbial oleaginicity and Pi-related metabolism. Importantly, systems data may facilitate designing advanced cell factories for production of lipids and related oleochemicals.

Abstract Background Genotype 3 hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection is generally associated with mild disease. However, recently eight genotype 3 HEV isolates were identified from patients with severe hepatitis. Importantly, three mutations (S605P, I978V and V1213A) in these genotype 3 isolates were found to be typical of genotype 4 HEV, which is sometime associated with more severe hepatitis. Therefore in this study we seek to determine if these unique mutations contribute to enhanced virus replication and thus potentially severe disease. Methods In the lack of an efficient cell culture system to study the effect of mutations on HEV replication, we developed a genotype 3 HEV replicon with Renilla luciferase (Rluc) as reporter and subsequently used it to construct numerous mutants, including swMu-1 (V1213A), swMu-2 (Q1246H), swMu-3 (V1213A and Q1246H), swMu-4 (S605P and I978V), and swMu-5 (V1213A, S605P and I978V). RNA transcripts from mutant replicons were transfected into Huh7 S10–3 liver cells to measure the effect of mutations on HEV replication efficiency. Results The results showed that the V1213A mutant had the highest reduction in HEV replication efficiency than other mutants. The V1213A and S605P + I978V mutations have a cumulative, if not synergistic, effect on HEV replication. The Q1246H mutant decreased HEV replication compared to the wild-type HEV Rluc replicon but replicated better than the V1213A mutant. The amino acid residue V1213 favors the replication of both genotypes 3 and 4 HEV strains, but not genotype 1 HEV. Conclusion The results suggested that the V1213A mutation reduced HEV replication, but is likely not associated with the reported severe hepatitis caused by genotype 3 HEV isolates containing this mutation.

Path planning technology is significant for planetary rovers that perform exploration missions in unfamiliar environments. In this work, we propose a novel global path planning algorithm, based on the value iteration network (VIN), which is embedded within a differentiable planning module, built on the value iteration (VI) algorithm, and has emerged as an effective method to learn to plan. Despite the capability of learning environment dynamics and performing long-range reasoning, the VIN suffers from several limitations, including sensitivity to initialization and poor performance in large-scale domains. We introduce the double value iteration network (dVIN), which decouples action selection and value estimation in the VI module, using the weighted double estimator method to approximate the maximum expected value, instead of maximizing over the estimated action value. We have devised a simple, yet effective, two-stage training strategy for VI-based models to address the problem of high computational cost and poor performance in large-size domains. We evaluate the dVIN on planning problems in grid-world domains and realistic datasets, generated from terrain images of a moon landscape. We show that our dVIN empirically outperforms the baseline methods and generalize better to large-scale environments.

It has long been believed that the core-hole lifetime (CHL) of an atom is an intrinsic physical property, and controlling it is significant yet is very hard. Here, the CHL of the 2p state of a W atom is manipulated experimentally by adjusting the emission rate of a resonant fluorescence channel with the assistance of an x-ray thin-film planar cavity. The enhanced emission rate is linearly accelerated by the photonic density of states inside the cavity, which can be directly controlled by adjusting the cavity field amplitude through choosing different cavity modes or changing the angle offset in experiment. This experimental observation is in good agreement with the prediction of a developed theoretical model. It is found that the manipulated resonant fluorescence channel can even dominate the CHL. The controllable CHL realized here will facilitate the nonlinear investigations and modern x-ray scattering techniques in the hard x-ray region.

Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) monolayers are promising materials for light-emitting devices due to their excellent electric and optical properties. However, defects are inevitably introduced in the fabrication of TMDC monolayers, significantly influencing their emission properties. Although photoluminescence (PL) is considered as an effective tool for investigating the defects in TMDC monolayers. However, the PL from the defect-bound excitons is revealed only at low temperatures. Here, we show that the PL from the defect-bound excitons in a WS2 monolayer can be effectively revealed at room temperature by exploiting the transverse electric polarized wave supported by a Si3N4/Ag heterostructure. It is revealed that the defect-bound excitons in all possible positions of the WS2 monolayer can be effectively excited by the TE wave with significantly enhanced in-plane electric field localized on the surface of the Si3N4 layer. In addition, the emission from defect-bound excitons can propagate to the collection point with small attenuation. More importantly, the exciton dynamics in the WS2 monolayer can be modified by the Si3N4/Ag heterostructure, allowing the simultaneous excitation of neutral excitons, charge excitons (trions), and defect-bound excitons in the WS2 monolayer attached on the Si3N4/Ag heterostructure. We inspect the PL spectra obtained at different positions and find that the relative intensity of defect-bound excitons depends on the collection position. We also examine the dependences of the PL intensity and bandwidth on the excitation power for the three types of excitons. It is found that they exhibit different behaviors from those observed in the optical measurements by using the traditional excitation method. Our findings suggest a new way for exciting and studying the dynamics of multi-excitons at room temperature and indicate the potential applications of the TE wave in probing the defects in TMDC monolayers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC), such as molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), have attracted great interest owing to their excellent electronic and optical properties. Efficient second harmonic generation (SHG) has been successfully demonstrated in the MoS2 monolayer, in sharp contrast to the negligible SHG from the bulk material. Here, the nonlinear optical responses of hexagonal‐prism‐like MoS2 nanoparticles are investigated, which support Mie resonances in the near infrared spectral range. It is revealed that the Mie resonances of such a MoS2 nanoparticle can be clarified into two types, which exhibit enhanced and suppressed SHG. It is verified that the SHG from the MoS2 nanoparticle is strongly correlated with the electric field distribution at the optical resonance. For the electric quadrupole mode with an anti‐symmetric electric field distribution, the SHG is greatly suppressed. As a result, a nanohole appears in the emission pattern of the SHG from the MoS2 nanoparticle. In sharp contrast, the SHG from the electric dipole mode with a symmetric electric field distribution can be one order of magnitude stronger than that from a MoS2 monolayer. The findings open new horizons for manipulating the nonlinear optical responses of TMDC nanoparticles and pave the way for realizing photonic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In the present study, we investigated the role of brexpiprazole on cell proliferation and lipogenesis in colorectal cancer (CRC) and its molecular mechanism. Methods: The effect of brexpiprazole on CRC cell proliferation was determined by CCK‐8, EdU assay, cell clone formation. The flow cytometry was evaluated cell cycle. Differential expression genes (DEGs) were identified by RNA‐seq assay after treating HCT116 cells with or without 20 μM brexpiprazole for 24 h. Then, the top 120 DEGs were analyzed by GO and KEGG enrichment analysis. After that, Oil red O staining and the levels of total cholestenone and triglyceride were measured to assess lipogenesis capacity in CRC cells. The related molecules of cell proliferation, lipogenic and AMPK/SREBP1 signal pathways were measured by q‐PCR, western blot and immunohistochemical staining. Results: Brexpiprazole remarkably suppressed cell proliferation, lipogenesis, and induced cell cycle arrest in CRC. The underlying mechanisms probably involved the suppression of SREBP1 and the stimulation of AMPK. Conclusion: Brexpiprazole inhibited cell proliferation and de novo lipogenesis through AMPK/SREBP1 pathway in CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]