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As one kind of high nutrition fruits, abandoned Myrica rubra causes great waste due to short storage period. For resource utilization, we herein fabricated the Myrica rubra-based N-doped carbon dots (MN-CDs) by a facile/green hydrothermal method. MN-CDs, fabricated from four regions of China, displayed significant differences in their corresponding fluorescence intensities (FIs). Interestingly, different batches of waxberry samples from the same region (Wenzhou, China) exhibited slight differences in their FIs, and also an excellent anti-photobleaching and anti-salt capacity. Based on Fe3+-triggered quenching effect and fluorescent recovery by redox reaction of AA and Fe3+, MN-CDs were employed to construct an “on-off-on” switch probe for sequential detection of Fe3+ and ascorbic acid (AA). Through Zeta potential, UV spectrum, Stern-Volmer equation, and valence-conduction band theory, the Fe3+-triggered quenching belonged to a static quenching process, which resulted from the synergistic contribution of inner filtering effect and photo-induced electron transfer mechanisms. The linear ranges for Fe3+ and AA detections were 1–1000 and 0.1–1000 mM. The limits of detection were 0.3 μM for Fe3+ in environmental waters, and 0.03 μM for AA in pharmaceutical tablets and fruit juice samples. Under 365-nm UV lamp, the color changes of test papers were easily observed from dark blue and bright blue in the presence of Fe3+ and AA, and thus the MN-CDs-based switch probe could be satisfactorily used for visually qualitative detection of Fe3+ and AA outdoor with our naked eyes. To sum up, MN-CDs not only realize resource reutilization of abandoned Myrica rubra, but also offer an convenient outdoor approach for qualitative detection of Fe3+ and AA in complex matrices.

Myocardial infarction or pressure overload leads to cardiac fibrosis, the leading cause of heart failure. ADAMTS8 (A disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs 8) has been reported to be involved in many fibrosis-related diseases. However, the specific role of ADAMTS8 in cardiac fibrosis caused by myocardial infarction or pressure overload is yet unclear. The present study aimed to explore the function of ADAMTS8 in cardiac fibrosis and its underlying mechanism. ADAMTS8 expression was significantly increased in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy; its expression myocardial infarction and TAC rat models was also increased, accompanied by increased expression of α-SMA and Collagen1. Adenovirus-mediated overexpression of ADAMTS8 through cardiac in situ injection aggravated cardiac fibrosis and impaired cardiac function in the myocardial infarction rat model. Furthermore, in vitro studies revealed that ADAMTS8 promoted the activation of cardiac fibroblasts; ADAMTS8 acted as a paracrine mediator allowing for cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts to communicate indirectly. Our findings showed that ADAMTS8 could damage the mitochondrial function of cardiac fibroblasts and then activate the PI3K-Akt pathway and MAPK pathways, promoting up-regulation of YAP expression, with EGFR upstream of this pathway. This study systematically revealed the pro-fibrosis effect of ADAMTS8 in cardiac fibrosis and explored its potential role as a therapeutic target for the treatment of cardiac fibrosis and heart failure.

Summary: When a biased electric/light field is applied to centrosymmetric crystals like silicon, the broken symmetry creates even-order harmonics radiation which can reveal key insights into the material. Recently, the second harmonic has been generated by THz-induced symmetry breaking, but the observation of higher-order radiation remains largely unexplored. Here, we demonstrate picosecond-level ultrafast, nondestructive symmetry manipulation of silicon crystal by using a 500 kV/cm intense terahertz (THz) electric field. The THz-induced fourth harmonic of the infrared probe is also observed and characterized for the first time. In addition, we find that the even-order harmonics show no dependence on the THz field direction thus it allows for sub-cycle symmetry manipulations. Our study paves the way toward ultrafast all-optical crystal symmetry control in the future high-speed electronics and photonics.

Here, we report the recent progress on the front end developed for the 100 PW-class laser facility. Using 3 stages of optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA) based on lithium triborate (LBO) crystals, we realized a 5.26 J/0.1 Hz amplified output with a bandwidth over 200 nm near the center wavelength of 925 nm. After the compressor, we obtained a pulse duration of 13.4 fs. As the compression efficiency reached 67%, this OPCPA front end could potentially support a peak power of 263 TW at a repetition rate of 0.1 Hz. To the best of our knowledge, among all the 100 TW-level OPCPA systems, it shows the widest spectral width, the shortest pulse duration, and it is also the first OPCPA system working at a repetition-rate mode.

Many studies have shown that Histone deacetylases (HDAC) is involved in the occurrence of malignant tumors and regulates the occurrence, proliferation, invasion, and migration of malignant tumors through a variety of signaling pathways. In the present, we explored the role of Histone deacetylases genes in prognosis and immune response in low-grade glioma. Using consensus clustering, we built the new molecular clusters. Using HDAC genes, we constructed and validated the prognostic model in two independent cohort datasets. Patients were divided into high-risk and low-risk groups. Then, we explored the molecular characteristics, clinical characteristics, tumor microenvironment and immune infiltration levels of two clusters and risk groups. Receiver operating characteristic analyses were built for model assessment. We finally detected the expression levels of signature genes between tumor and normal tissues. Low-grade can be separated into two molecular clusters using 11 HDACs genes. Two clusters had different clinical characteristics and prognosis. Nex, we constructed a prognosis model using six HDAC genes (HDAC1, HDAC4, HDAC5, HDAC7, HDAC9, and HDAC10), which was also validated in an independent cohort dataset. Furthermore, multivariate cox regression indicated that the calculated risk score was independently associated with prognosis in low-grade glioma, and risk score can predict the five-year survival probability of low-grade glioma well. High-risk patients can be attributed to multiple complex function and molecular signaling pathways, and the genes alterations of high- and low-risk patients were significantly different. We also found that different survival outcomes of high- and low- risk patients could be involved in the differences of immune filtration level and tumor microenvironment. Subsequently, using signature genes, we identified several small molecular compounds that could be useful for low-grade glioma patients' treatment. Finally, we detected the expression levels of signature genes in tumor tissues. our study uncovers the biology function role of HDAC genes in low-grade glioma. We identified new molecular subtypes and established a prognostic model based on six HDAC genes, which was well applied in two independent cohort data. The regulation of HDAC genes in low-grade glioma involved in multiple molecular function and signaling pathways and immune infiltration levels. Further experiments in vivo and vitro were required to confirm the present findings.

Soil erosion has a severe impact on habitat and productivity. It is considered to be a major environmental threat prevalent in ecosystems. However, few researchers have studied the spatial distribution of soil erosion intensity among different geographic environmental factors. The Qin River Basin is a geographical unit consisting of mountains, hills, and plains with significant regional characteristics, and it has a basin area of 14,810.91 km2. This study uses the Geographical Information Systems, Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation model to analyze the spatiotemporal changes in the soil-erosion intensity in the Qin River Basin from 1990 to 2018. Different environmental factors of land use, slope and altitude on erosion intensities of 19 secondary land types were analyzed. It can better reflect the soil erosion under different environmental factors and different land use types. Results show that the soil erosion modulus of Qin River Basin were 10.25 t hm-2 a-1, and it belong to slight erosion from 1990 to 2018. Soil erosion intensity is greater in grassland and woodland than in cropland. The strongest soil erosion occurred in the sparse forestland, and the lowest was in beach land. Soil erosion was the highest for a slope of 15~25° and an altitude of 1200~1500 m. Rainfall and slope are important factors lead to soil erosion, indicating weak water and soil conservation implemented in these areas. Therefore, priority should be given to these geomorphic units to formulate and implement soil-erosion control and ecological restoration policies in the Qin River Basin. This study provides a good reference for preventing and controlling soil erosion in river basins.

RC48-ADC is a novel humanized antibody specific for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)in conjugation with a microtubule inhibitor via a cleavable linker. This study was to evaluate the antitumor activity and mechanism of RC48-ADC in gastric cancer (GC) and explore the population that may benefit from RC48-ADC treatment. Four human GC cell lines and nine patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models were exploited to evaluate the antitumor effect of RC48-ADC or trastuzumab treatment in vitro and in vivo. The expression and phosphorylation of HER2 were assessed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining. Critical molecules of downstream PI3K/AKT and cell cycle and apoptosis signaling pathways were detected and quantified by immunoblotting. Combined with preliminary results of preclinical research, three patients with IHC3+, IHC2+/FISH+, and IHC2+/FISH- of HER2 were enrolled to verify the efficacy of RC48-ADC treatment in advanced GC. In vitro, RC48-ADC had superior antiproliferative effects in a dose-dependent manner on GC cells, especially on HER2-positive cells. In vivo, RC48-ADC exceeded trastuzumab in GC PDX models with HER2 expression, even in models with moderate to low expression of HER2. Further exploration of mechanism showed that RC48-ADC exerted the antitumor effect by inhibiting phosphorylation of HER2, inducing G2/M phase arrest and cell apoptosis in HER2-expressed PDX models. In clinical practice, RC48-ADC had satisfactory efficacy in HER2-positive and HER2 moderately expressed GC patients and demonstrated promising efficacy in HER2-positive patients who have progressed after anti-HER2 therapy. In conclusion, RC48-ADC exerted promising antitumor activity in HER2-positive as well as score of 2+ in IHC and ISH-negative AGC patients after progression of systematic treatment.

Integrative analysis was performed in the Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas and The Cancer Genome Atlas to describe the pyroptosis-associated molecular classification and prognostic signature in glioma. Pyroptosis-related genes were used for consensus clustering and to develop a prognostic signature. The immune statuses, molecular alterations, and clinical features of differentially expressed genes were analyzed among different subclasses and risk groups. A lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network was built, and drug sensitivity analysis was used to identify small molecular drugs for the identified genes. Glioma can be divided into two subclasses using 30 pyroptosis-related genes. Cluster 1 displayed high immune signatures and poor prognosis as well as high immune-related function scores. A prognostic signature based on 15 pyroptosis-related genes of the CGGA cohort can predict the overall survival of glioma and was well validated in the TCGA cohort. Cluster 1 had higher risk scores. The high-risk group had high immune cell and function scores and low DNA methylation of pyroptosis-related genes. The differences in pyroptosis-related gene mutations and somatic copy numbers were significant between the high-risk and low-risk groups. The ceRNA regulatory network uncovered the regulatory patterns of different risk groups in glioma. Nine pairs of target genes and drugs were identified. In vitro, CASP8 promotes the progression of glioma cells. Pyroptosis-related genes can reflect the molecular biological and clinical features of glioma subclasses. The established prognostic signature can predict prognosis and distinguish molecular alterations in glioma patients. Our comprehensive analyses provide valuable guidelines for improving glioma patient management and individualized therapy.

Summary: The reverse cholesterol transport pathway is responsible for the maintenance of human cholesterol homeostasis, an imbalance of which usually leads to atherosclerosis. As a key component of this pathway, the ATP-binding cassette transporter ABCG1 forwards cellular cholesterol to the extracellular acceptor nascent high-density lipoprotein (HDL). Here, we report a 3.26-Å cryo-electron microscopy structure of cholesterol-bound ABCG1 in an inward-facing conformation, which represents a turnover condition upon ATP binding. Structural analyses combined with functional assays reveals that a cluster of conserved hydrophobic residues, in addition to two sphingomyelins, constitute a well-defined cholesterol-binding cavity. The exit of this cavity is closed by three pairs of conserved Phe residues, which constitute a hydrophobic path for the release of cholesterol in an acceptor concentration-dependent manner. Overall, we propose an ABCG1-driven cholesterol transport cycle initiated by sphingomyelin-assisted cholesterol recruitment and accomplished by the release of cholesterol to HDL.

Climate is a dominant factor affecting the potential geographical distribution of species. Understanding the impact of climate change on the potential geographic distribution of species, which is of great significance to the exploitation, utilization, and protection of resources, as well as ecologically sustainable development. Betula platyphylla Suk. is one of the most widely distributed temperate deciduous tree species in East Asia and has important economic and ecological value. Based on 231 species distribution data points of Betula platyphylla Suk. in China and 37 bioclimatic, soil, and topography variables (with correlation coefficients < 0.75), the potential geographical distribution pattern of Betula platyphylla Suk. under Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) climate change scenarios at present and in the 2050s and 2070s was predicted using the MaxEnt model. We analyzed the main environmental variables affecting the distribution and change of suitable areas and compared the scope and change of suitable areas under different climate scenarios. This study found: (1) At present, the main suitable area for Betula platyphylla Suk. extends from northeastern to southwestern China, with the periphery area showing fragmented distribution. (2) Annual precipitation, precipitation of the warmest quarter, mean temperature of the warmest quarter, annual mean temperature, and precipitation of the driest month are the dominant environmental variables that affect the potential geographical distribution of Betula platyphylla Suk. (3) The suitable area for Betula platyphylla Suk. is expected to expand under global warming scenarios. In recent years, due to the impact of diseases and insect infestation, and environmental damage, the natural Betula platyphylla Suk. forest in China has gradually narrowed. This study accurately predicted the potential geographical distribution of Betula platyphylla Suk. under current and future climate change scenarios, which can provide the scientific basis for the cultivation, management, and sustainable utilization of Betula platyphylla Suk. resources.

Abstract This letter presents a fast detection algorithm based on a two‐dimensional non‐uniform trilinear autocorrelation function for the manoeuvring target with jerk motion. In the proposed algorithm, the echoes’ energy can be integrated into peaks in a three‐dimensional parameter space coherently, and the range migration and Doppler frequency migration can be compensated simultaneously. Compared with other representative detection algorithms, this proposed algorithm can achieve a good balance between the computational complexity and detection performance.

Abstract Background In this study, Malus doumeri leaf flavonoids (MDLF) were used as the research object to observe their in vitro antioxidant stress ability. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was used to induce oxidative stress in 293 T cells. Methods MTT, flow cytometry, and qPCR were used to verify the effect of MDLF. Results In vitro cell experiments showed that at a concentration of 0–160 μg/mL, MDLF did not affect the normal proliferation of human embryonic kidney 293 T cells (HEK 293 T cells), and MDLF had no cytotoxic effect in this concentration range. It was found that MDLF could maintain the survival of HEK 293 T cells (82.6%) at a high concentration (160 μg/mL). Morphological observation also found that MDLF can inhibit the cell structure imperfection caused by H2O2. It was also observed that MDLF could significantly increase the levels of catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and reduce the level of malondialdehyde (MDA). The results of quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) showed that MDLF could significantly up-regulate the mRNA expression levels of CAT, SOD, GSH, GSH-Px, B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) and downregulate the expression levels of B-cell lymphoma-2 associated x protein (Bax), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) in oxidative stress-injured cells. The HPLC analysis showed that MDLF contained hyperin, isoquercetin, quercitrin, hesperidin, myricetin, baicalin and quercetin. Conclusion From the experimental results, it was observed that MDLF has a strong anti-oxidation ability in vitro, and it can interfere with the oxidative stress damage caused by H2O2 in 293 T cells. Therefore, MDLF is a type of natural substance with good anti-oxidant effect, and it has the potential to interfere with many diseases.

This article considers abbreviations as signs widely used in the contemporary Russian media. The study aims at analysing abbreviations and their functions, finding their connotative meanings and defining their types alongside the reasons behind their appearance. The main aim of this paper is to study abbreviations from the point of view of receptive linguistics, i.e. their perception by readers and listeners. The methodological basis of the research is to prove that an abbreviation is used to: а) make a social factor underlying such a parameter of the secondary sign as a tendency to sacralisation of a particular field of knowledge and b) is independent both from the semantic and the stylistic points of view, which is explained by evaluative connotations that are not inherent in the producing base. The theoretical basis of the study of the word-forming structure and functions of abbreviations are works by E. Zemskaya and E. Klobukov. The research material includes contexts taken from such media sources as Ogonyok, Izvestiya, Kommersant, Literaturnaya Gazeta, Moskovsky Komsomolets, etc. alongside examples from linguistic studies on abbreviations (S. A. Nikishina, А. P. Skovorodnikov). The most important conclusions of the research are as follows: 1. The purely nominative function of abbreviations, which is used to determine their status as a secondary sign, is being replaced by the expressive function in the modern media, making them an independent sign, pragmatically different from their producing base; 2. The wide use of abbreviations in the modern Russian spoken language can be explained not only by the principle of the speaker’s need to save their linguistic effort, but also by the tendency to “corporatise” the language in certain spheres (power structures, bureaucratic apparatus); 3. The influx of abbreviations in modern political speech and media speech has made these language signs an object of aesthetic evaluation (often negative), primarily because of their dissonance (УМДиДО, нацбест) and/or emerging undesirable associations with negative vocabulary content (МРОТ is associated with the Russian word mryot “dies”), or with stylistically reduced vocabulary (МУДО, РЯФКА, педобр). The attitude of native speakers to abbreviations (which is often negative) lets the authors consider these signs an object of receptive linguistics; 4. The way in which an abbreviation is introduced into the text is determined by the degree of its general familiarity. Good speech style and respect for the addressee always imply that an abbreviation should be decoded; 5. The abbreviation also can “re-produce meaning” by introducing it into a well-known word “container” (коронОРВИрус). The mechanism of such a word formation is paronymic attraction.

Abstract Introduction The brittle response (BR) in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) refers to a special type of levodopa‐induced dyskinesia (LID). This study aimed to describe the clinical characteristics of BR patients and to analyze the associated risk factors. Methods A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the data of 97 patients with PD. Patients were divided into a BR group and a non‐brittle response (NBR) group. Demographic and clinical data, motor symptoms, and non‐motor symptoms of the two groups were assessed. Results Among 97 PD patients, 11 were in the BR group and 86 were in the NBR group. The proportion of female patients was 72.7% and 38.3%, respectively, in the BR and NBR groups (P 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that BR patients had lower body weight and higher levodopa dose per weight. Conclusion BR is associated with being female, low body weight, low BMI, long disease duration, high LEDD, and high levodopa dose per weight. Body weight and levodopa dose per body weight are independent risk factors for BR.

A near-infrared (NIR) supercontinuum and ultrashort pulses are generated via phase-mismatched cascaded frequency conversion in DSTMS (4-N, N-dimethylamino-4'-N'-methyl-stilbazolium 2, 4, 6-trimethylbenzenesulfonate) crystal. NIR pulses with a central wavelength of 1.5 μm and 63 fs pulse duration are incident into the crystal, and the spectrum is broadened to over 1200-2100 nm. Compensating the dispersion by fused silica, ultrashort NIR pulses with 16.6 fs pulse duration are obtained. Meanwhile, intense single-cycle terahertz pulses are generated via optical rectification in DSTMS crystal.

This paper focuses on the inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging of nonuniformly rotating targets under low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) environment, and an effective ISAR imaging algorithm based on a novel parameter estimation method is proposed. For nonuniformly rotating targets, the received signals in a range cell can be modeled as multicomponent cubic phase signals (CPSs) after the migration compensation and translation-induced phase error correction. For the CPS model, the chirp rate (CR) and quadratic chirp rate (QCR) will induce image defocus. To estimate the CR and QCR of CPS, a novel parameter method is presented. The basic idea of this method is to design a third order autocorrelation function (TOAF) which enable coherent accumulation of the signal energy in both of the time and lag-time domain. Compared with several state-of-the-art algorithms, the proposed method has a significant anti-noise performance improvement, while offering a proper computational complexity. The effectiveness and the superiority of the proposed ISAR imaging algorithm have been demonstrated through several simulation results.

Over the past decades, plenty of filtering algorithms have been presented to distinguish ground and non-ground points from airborne LiDAR point clouds. However, with the existing methods, it is difficult to derive satisfactory filtering results on rugged terrains with dense vegetation due to the low-level penetration ability of laser pulses. Therefore, a multi-level interpolation-based filter is developed in this paper. The novelty of the algorithm lies within its usage of multi-scale morphological operations and robust z-score to correctly select ground seeds as more as possible, and a terrain-adaptive residual threshold to adapt to various terrain characteristics. Rural samples provided by International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) were employed to assess the performance of the proposed method and its results were compared with 15 filtering algorithms developed in recent 5 years (2015-2019). Results show that the proposed method with the optimized parameters produces the best accuracy with the average total error and kappa coefficient of 1.89% and 87.88%, respectively. We further filtered high-density point clouds in six forested areas with different vegetation covers and terrain slopes. Results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is more accurate than the well-known filtering methods including morphological-based filter, progressive TIN densification filter (PTD), improved PTD and cloth simulation filter, with the average total error decreased by 26.2%, 19.9%, 3.8% and 40.4%, respectively. Moreover, the DEMs of the proposed method have lower average root mean square errors than the four classical filters. Therefore, the proposed method can be considered as an effective ground filtering algorithm for airborne LiDAR point clouds in forested areas.

The advanced driving assistant system (ADAS) is an important vehicle safety technology that can effectively reduce traffic accidents. This system can perceive information about the surrounding environment through in-vehicle cameras. However, these cameras are easily affected by severe weather conditions, such as those involving fog, rain, and snow. The quality of the images acquired by the system is degraded, and the function of the ADAS is thus weakened. In response to this problem, we propose a comprehensive imaging model that can represent the features of fog, rain streaks, raindrops and snowflakes in an image. Subsequently, an algorithm called RASWNet is proposed, which can remove all severe weather features from a degraded image. Based on the generative adversarial network, RASWNet combines the focus capture ability of a visual attention mechanism, the memory ability of the recurrent neural network and the feature extraction ability of the dense blocks approach. We verify the network structure through several ablation studies and use various synthetic and real images to test it. The results of these experiments show that our algorithm is not only better than the commonly used algorithms in terms of its clarity enhancement capacity but is also suitable for all severe weather conditions.

The oxygen content of boiler flue gas is a valid indicator of boiler efficiency and emissions. Measuring the oxygen content of boiler flue gas is time consuming and costly. To overcome the latter shortcomings, a novel deep belief network algorithm based hybrid prediction model for the oxygen content of boiler flue gas is proposed. First, the algorithm is used to build a model based on the historical data collected from the distribution control system. The variables are divided into control variables and state variables to meet the needs of advanced control requirement. Then, a lasso algorithm is used to select variables highly related to the oxygen content as the inputs of the prediction model. Two basic models based on the deep-belief network are established, one using control variables, and the other, state variables. Finally, the two basic models are combined with a least square support vector machine to improve prediction accuracy of the oxygen content of boiler flue gas. To test the accuracy of the proposed algorithm, experiments based on three industrial datasets are performed. Performance of the comparison of the proposed deep belief algorithm is compared with five machine learning algorithms. Computational experience has shown that the model derived with the deep-belief algorithm produced better accuracy than the models generated by the other algorithms.

In this paper, a more generalized dilated nested array (DNA) named multi-level dilated nested array (multi-level DNA), which further extends the original DNA to the general situation and improves the direction of arrival (DOA) estimation performance, is proposed. The original DNA, which consists of a nested array and a time-shifted array, possesses the capabilities of handling more sources and achieving improved estimation accuracy compared with the nested array. However, only one time-shifted array is employed in DNA and the performance improvement is quite limited. Here, a new multi-level DNA, which utilizes multiple time-shifted nested arrays, is proposed. The multi-level DNA can provide more degrees of freedom (DoFs), meanwhile its difference co-array is still hole-free. The closed form expression of uniform DoFs in multi-level DNA is derived. The corresponding DOA Cramér-Rao bound, which gives the low bound on the variance of estimated DOA, is deduced in detail and some properties related to it are concluded. In total, for the DOA estimation, multi-level DNA can detect more sources and achieve more accurate estimation performance compared with the original DNA. Numerical simulations are performed to verify the superiority of the proposed multi-level DNA.

Abstract We assessed the clinical utility of contrast‐enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) in the diagnosis of benign and malignant small renal masses using a meta‐analysis of diagnostic test. We performed a comprehensive online search in the following database including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Wanfang, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure from the inception to August 25, 2019. the following index were calculated for assessing the diagnostic ability, including sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), negative likelihood ratio (NLR), positive likelihood ratio (PLR), area under the curve (AUC) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Seventeen studies were included in the qualitative and quantitative analyses. The overall sensitivity was 0.93 with 95% CI of 0.88‐0.95. The specificity was 0.71 and the 95% CI was 0.60‐0.80. The pooled AUC was 0.91 (95% CI: 0.88‐0.93). The diagnostic odds ratio was 31 (95% CI: 21‐45). The NLR and PLR were 0.10 (95% CI: 0.07‐0.15) and 3.2(95% CI: 2.3‐4.4), respectively. There is a slight heterogeneity within studies. The subgroup analysis was also performed. For retrospective and perspective, the sensitivity and specificity were 0.93, 0.92 and 0.71, 0.73; For different diameter lesions, the sensitivity and specificity were 0.93, 0.94 and 0.64, 0.74; For sample size (≤median vs. >median), the sensitivity and specificity were 0.94, 0.93 and 0.67, 0.77. The Deek's funnel plot asymmetry test in indicated no publication bias. The CEUS have a high diagnostic ability in differentiating benign and malignant small renal masses among Asian population.

Abstract Background Cancer cells always develop ways to resist and evade chemotherapy. To overcome this obstacle, herein, we introduce a programmatic release drug delivery system that imparts avoiding drug efflux and nuclear transport in synchrony via a simple nanostructured drug strategy. Results The programmatic liposome-based nanostructured drugs (LNSD) contained two modules: doxorubicin (DOX) loaded into tetrahedral DNA (TD, ~ 10 nm) to form small nanostructured DOX, and the nanostructured DOX was encapsulated into the pH-sensitive liposomes. In the in vitro and in vivo studies, LNSD shows multiple benefits for drug resistance tumor treatment: (1) not only enhanced the cellular DOX uptake, but also maintained DOX concentration in an optimum level in resistant tumor cells via nanostructure induced anti-efflux effect; (2) small nanostructured DOX efficiently entered into cell nuclear via size depended nuclear-transport for enhanced treatment; (3) improved the pharmacokinetics and biodistribution via reducing DOX leakage during circulation. Conclusions The system developed in this study has the potential to provide new therapies for drug-resistant tumor.

Intramuscular fat (i.m.) is an adipose tissue that is deposited between muscle bundles. An important type of post-transcriptional regulatory factor, miRNAs, has been observed as an important regulator that can regulate gene expression and cell differentiation through specific binding with target genes, which is the pivotal way determining intramuscular fat deposition. Thus, this study intends to use RT-PCR, cell culture, liposome transfection, real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR (qPCR), dual luciferase reporter systems, and other biological methods clarifying the possible mechanisms on goat intramuscular preadipocyte differentiation that is regulated by miR-214-5p. Ultimately, our results showed that the expression level of miR-214-5p peaked at 48 h after the goat intramuscular preadipocytes were induced for adipogenesis. Furthermore, after inhibition of the expression of miR-214-5p, the accumulation of lipid droplets and adipocyte differentiation in goat intramuscular adipocytes were promoted by the way of up-regulation of the expression level of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) (p < 0.05) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) (p < 0.01) but inhibited the expression of hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) (p < 0.01). Subsequently, our study confirmed that Krüppel-like factor 12 (KLF12) was the target gene of miR-214-5p. Inhibition of the expression of KLF12 promoted adipocyte differentiation and lipid accumulation by upregulation of the expression of LPL and CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBPα) (p < 0.01). Overall, these results indicated that miR-214-5p and its target gene KLF12 were negative regulators in progression of goat preadipocyte differentiation. Our research results provided an experimental basis for finally revealing the mechanism of miR-214-5p in adipocytes.

The Xifeng geothermal field is located in the Yangtze Craton, SW China, and is one of the most representative low-temperature geothermal fields in China. Widespread thermal anomalies, hot springs, and geothermal wells have been reported by previous studies. However, the nature and forming mechanisms of the field remain poorly understood. Element geochemical (ions, rare earth elements) and stable isotopic (D, O) composition of hot springs, geothermal fluids, rivers, and cold springs from different locations of the Xifeng geothermal field were analyzed in this study. The ions studies revealed that most samples featured the Ca-Mg-HCO3 type, except Xifeng hot springs, and which were characterized by the Ca-Mg-HCO3-SO4 type. Based on quartz geothermometers, the estimated reservoir temperature was 77°C. The results of stable isotopes (D, O) manifest that the Xifeng geothermal system was recharged by meteoric water at an elevation of 1,583 m from SW to NE. The research of rare earth elements (REE) revealed that their accumulation characteristics and obvious positive Eu anomaly were inherited from host feldspar-bearing reservoir dolomites through water-rock interactions. Combined with these observations, geological setting, and previous studies, it was concluded that the formation of the Xifeng geothermal field resulted from recharge, deep circulation, and secondary rising of the meteoric water along the faults. First, meteoric water infiltrated to depth through faults and crack zones. Second, the deep-infiltrated water was heated by radioactive heat, deep heat, and tectonic frictional heat. Finally, as the warmed-up waters underwent considerable deep circulation in the reservoir, it rose again along the main faults, and mixed with groundwater near the surface. Taken together, we suggest that the Xifeng geothermal system should be assigned as a faults-controlling, and deeply circulating meteoric water of low-temperature category.

A holistic view of scientific literacy-related literature was generated based on bibliometric analysis. The purpose was to provide insight into and knowledge on evolving knowledge fronts and to highlight the turning points in the existing literature between 1980 and 2019. Scientific literacy in society can potentially help to answer unsolved riddles of socio-scientific issues (SSI) to enable people to become smart and responsible global citizens. Specifically, two decades before and after the year 2000 was taken into account as it comprised the most noticeable revolutionary developments in terms of economics, technology, culture, and society. Interestingly, the attention paid to scientific literacy significantly increased after the financial crisis of 2008. International Journal of Science Education and the Journal of Research in Science Teaching were observed to be the top-cited and top publishing journals, respectively. Similarly, Jonathan Osborne, Rosalind Driver, and Norman G. Lederman were recorded as the most cited and most published authors, respectively, during the study period. Alarmingly, most of the literature evolved in and was dominated by the Western region, indicating the need to understand the regional-cultural complexities of the East and the rest of the world. The recent evolving clusters, with titles of literacy (as a concept), learning progression, and informal reasoning, were observed to be currently active knowledge areas in the evolution of the intellectual structure of scientific literacy-related literature. However, no recent trend or emerging research direction was noticed in the last decade, even though new and digital media (including immersive media) have revolutionized the communication channels and public understanding of science and socio-scientific issues.

Gastric cancer (GC) is a typical heterogeneous malignant tumor, whose insensitivity to chemotherapy is a common cause of tumor recurrence and metastasis. There is no doubt regarding the effectiveness of adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) for GC, but the population for whom it is indicated and the selection of specific options remain the focus of present research. The conventional pathological TNM prediction focuses on cancer cells to predict prognosis, while they do not provide sufficient prediction. Enhanced computed tomography (CT) scanning is a validated tool that assesses the involvement of careful identification of the tumor, lymph node involvement, and metastatic spread. Using the radiomics approach, we selected the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression model to build a radiomics signature for predicting the overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) of patients with complete postoperative gastric cancer and further identifying candidate benefits from ACT. The radiomics trait-associated genes captured clinically relevant molecular pathways and potential chemotherapeutic drug metabolism mechanisms. Our results of precise surrogates using radiogenomics can lead to additional benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy and then survival prediction in postoperative GC patients.

ObjectiveEctodysplasin A (EDA), a newly discovered hepatokine, has recently been considered to be closely related to glycolipid metabolism disorders, but the pathophysiological effects of EDA are still poorly understood. This study was the first time to determine the level of serum EDA in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients, and to explore the relationships between serum EDA levels and various metabolic indexes.MethodsA total of 184 subjects were enrolled in the study, including 92 subjects with newly diagnosed T2DM and 92 subjects with age- and sex-matched normal glucose tolerance (NGT). Serum EDA levels were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Oral glucose tolerance test, glycosylated hemoglobin c (HbA1c), and insulin were also measured.ResultsSerum EDA levels were significantly increased in the T2DM group than in the NGT group (359.91 ± 117.99 vs. 265.82 ± 86.51 pg/ml, p < 0.001). Serum EDA levels were positively correlated with body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), HbA1c, 2-hour postprandial plasma glucose (2hPG), fasting plasma insulin (FIns), fasting C peptide (FCP), triglyceride (TG), HOMA-IR, and negatively correlated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c) and HOMA-β (p < 0.05). Multiple stepwise regression analysis demonstrated that 2hPG and FIns were independent influencing factors of serum EDA level (p < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that serum EDA level was significantly independently correlated with T2DM (p < 0.05).ConclusionsSerum EDA levels are significantly higher in T2DM patients, suggesting that EDA may play a role in the occurrence and development of T2DM.

Summary: The lack of haplotype reference panels and whole-genome sequencing resources specific to the Chinese population has greatly hindered genetic studies in the world’s largest population. Here, we present the NyuWa genome resource, based on deep (26.2×) sequencing of 2,999 Chinese individuals, and construct a NyuWa reference panel of 5,804 haplotypes and 19.3 million variants, which is a high-quality publicly available Chinese population-specific reference panel with thousands of samples. Compared with other panels, the NyuWa reference panel reduces the Han Chinese imputation error rate by a margin ranging from 30% to 51%. Population structure and imputation simulation tests support the applicability of one integrated reference panel for northern and southern Chinese. In addition, a total of 22,504 loss-of-function variants in coding and noncoding genes are identified, including 11,493 novel variants. These results highlight the value of the NyuWa genome resource in facilitating genetic research in Chinese and Asian populations.

Bacterial pneumonia is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and exerts a significant burden on health-care resources. Antibiotics have long been used as first-line drugs for the treatment of bacterial pneumonia. However, antibiotic therapy and traditional antibiotic delivery are associated with important challenges, including drug resistance, low bioavailability, and adverse side effects; the existence of physiological barriers further hampers treatment. Fortunately, these limitations may be overcome by the application of nanotechnology, which can facilitate drug delivery while improving drug stability and bioavailability. This review summarizes the challenges facing the treatment of bacterial pneumonia and also highlights the types of nanoparticles that can be used for antibiotic delivery. This review places a special focus on the state-of-the-art in nanomaterial-based approaches to the delivery of antibiotics for the treatment of pneumonia.

In this study, polyamide (PA) thin-film composite (TFC) nanofiltration membranes were fabricated via interfacial polymerization on cellulose acetate (CA)/poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) support layers. Several types of CA/PVDF supports were prepared via the phase inversion method. With increasing CA, the PVDF membrane surface pore size decreased and hydrophilicity increased. The effect of the support properties on the performance and formation mechanism of PA films was systematically investigated via an interfacial polymerization (IP) process. The permselectivity of the resulting TFC membranes was evaluated using a MgSO4 solution. The results show that the desired polyamide TFC membrane exhibited excellent water flux (6.56 L/(m2·h·bar)) and bivalent salt ion rejection (>97%). One aim of this study is to explore how the support of CA/PVDF influences the IP process and the performance of PA film.

Many materials are gradually softened with increasing temperatures in the fire, which will cause severe damage. As a new fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite, the change in mechanical properties of nanometer montmorillonite composite fiber-reinforced bars or plates at elevated temperatures has not been investigated. To obtain a more comprehensive study of the mechanical properties of FRP composites at high temperatures, experimental research on the nanometer montmorillonite composite fiber material under the tensile rate of 1 mm/min was conducted at target temperatures between 20 °C and 350 °C. Finally, the failure mode of the FRP composites after the tensile test was analyzed. The results demonstrate that the elevated temperatures had a major impact on the residual mechanical properties of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites when the exposed temperatures exceeded 200 °C. Below 200 °C, the maximum decrease and increase in the fracture load of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites were between −34% and 153% of their initial fracture load. After exposing to temperatures above 200 °C, the surface color of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites changed from brown to black. When exposed to temperatures between 200 and 300 °C, the ultimate load of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites significantly increased from 731.01 N to 1650.97 N. Additionally, the stress−strain behavior can be accurately predicted by using the proposed Johnson−Cook constitutive model. The experimental results studied in this research can be applied to both further research and engineering applications when conducting a theoretical simulation of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites.

The distribution of beddings varies greatly in shale reservoirs. The influence of beddings on hydraulic fracture propagation has often been studied using simplified geological models, i.e., uniformly distributed bedding models. However, the propagation processes of hydraulic fractures in shale reservoirs with complicated distributed beddings remains unclear. In this research, an outcrop-data-based bedding model of a continental shale formation in the Ordos Basin, China, is built. A mathematical model for fracture propagation is built using the discrete element method and is then verified by a hydraulic fracturing experiment. Reservoir-scale simulations are employed to investigate the influence of geological factors and engineering factors on fracture geometry. The study finds that beddings have significant inhibitory effects on fracture height growth; hydraulic fractures have difficulty in breaking through zones with densely distributed beddings. If a hydraulic fracture encounters a bedding plane with a larger aperture, it is more likely to be captured and expand along the weak interface. High vertical stress difference and a high fluid injection rate can promote the vertical penetration of hydraulic fractures through beddings and activate the bedding system to yield a complex fracture network. Increments in fluid viscosity can increase the resistance of fracture propagation, thereby reducing fracture complexity.

Rhodium (Rh) catalyst has played an indispensable role in many important industrial and technological applications due to its unique and valuable properties. Currently, Rh is considered as a strategic or critical metal as the scarce high-quality purity can only be supplemented by refining coarse ores with low content (2–10 ppm) and is far from meeting the fast-growing market demand. Nowadays, exploring new prospects has already become an urgent issue because of the gradual depletion of Rh resources, incidental pressure on environmental protection, and high market prices. Since waste catalyst materials, industrial equipment, and electronic instruments contain Rh with a higher concentration than that of natural minerals, recovering Rh from scrap not only offers an additional source to satisfy market demand but also reduces the risk of ore over-exploitation. Therefore, the recovery of Rh-based catalysts from scrap is of great significance. This review provides an overview of the Rh metal recovery from spent catalysts. The characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of several current recovery processes, including pyrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and biosorption technology, are presented and compared. Among them, the hydrometallurgical process is commonly used for Rh recovery from auto catalysts due to its technological simplicity, low cost, and short processing time, but the overall recovery rate is low due to its high remnant Rh within the insoluble residue and the unstable leaching. In contrast, higher Rh recovery and less effluent discharge can be ensured by a pyrometallurgical process which therefore is widely employed in industry to extract precious metals from spent catalysts. However, the related procedure is quite complex, leading to an expensive hardware investment, high energy consumption, long recovery cycles, and inevitable difficulties in controlling contamination in practice. Compared to conventional recovery methods, the biosorption process is considered to be a cost-effective biological route for Rh recovery owing to its intrinsic merits, e.g., low operation costs, small volume, and low amount of chemicals and biological sludge to be treated. Finally, we summarize the challenges and prospect of these three recovery processes in the hope that the community can gain more meaningful and comprehensive insights into Rh recovery.

The realization of microsatellite intelligent mission planning is the current research focus in the field of satellite planning, and mission schedulability prediction is the basis of this research. Aiming at the influence of the sequence tasks before and after the task sequence to be predicted, we propose an online schedulability prediction model of satellite tasks based on bidirectional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM) on the basis of describing and establishing the satellite task planning and solving model. The model is trained using satellite offline mission planning data as learning samples. In the experiment, the prediction effect of the model is excellent, with a recall rate of 93.17% and a precision rate of 92.59%, which proves that the model can be effectively applied to predict the schedulability of satellite tasks.

As social innovations that help to transition towards a more sustainable food system, alternative food networks (AFNs) in China have attracted much scholarly attention in recent years. However, studies of the community building behavior of AFNs at the micro-level in the Chinese social context are scant. Through in-depth case studies conducted between 2017 and 2021 and social network analysis, our study examines how founders of AFNs successfully facilitate community building among their customers. We find that in China, the traditional social-cultural construct, guanxi, plays a critical role in AFNs’ community formation and expansion. The study identifies a three-stage framework for understanding the community building process of AFNs. First, a group of guanxi of the same kind would form a guanxi-circle. Second, the initial guanxi-circle is enhanced and expanded to multiple secondary guanxi-circles. Third, these multiple guanxi-circles together and the interactions among them constitute the community of AFNs. We argue that to strengthen the community, AFNs operators should inspire key members to form secondary guanxi-circles by enhancing their cognitive trust and emotional trust.

P systems with active membranes, as a sort of basic P system, include in communication rules and out communication rules, where communication rules are controlled by polarizations. However, the communication of objects among living cells may be controlled by several factors, such as proteins, polarizations, etc. Based on this biological fact, in this article, a new class of P systems, named P systems with proteins on active membranes (known as PAM P systems) is considered, where the movement of objects is controlled by both proteins and polarizations. The computational theory of PAM P systems is discussed. More specifically, we show that PAM P systems achieve Turing universality when the systems use two membranes, one protein and one polarization. Moreover, the PAM P systems, with the help of membrane division rules, make the SAT problem solvable. These results indicate that PAM P systems are also a sort of powerful system.

A simple sample preprocessing method was developed for the quantitative determination of amantadine (AMT) in human plasma by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry cubed (LC-MS3). The LC-MS3 system comprised a Shimadzu Exion LC-20AD HPLC pump coupled with a QTRAP 5500 mass spectrometer. First, the plasma samples were pretreated using acetonitrile as the extracting solution to precipitate protein. Next, amantadine and amantadine-d15 (AMT-d15) were separated on an Agilent Poroshell 120 SB-C18 column (4.6 mm × 50 mm, 2.7 μm) using isocratic elution with solvent A (70% 0.1% formic acid) and solvent B (30% acetonitrile) at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min. The total run time for each sample was 3 min. The system used triple-stage fragmentation transitions at m/z 152.2→135.3→107.4 for AMT quantification in the positive ion mode and m/z 167.0→150.3→118.1 for AMT-d15 quantification. The LC-MS3 assay was linear (r > 0.995) with a concentration range of 50–1500 ng/mL. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 50 ng/mL, and the intra-day and inter-day accuracies and precisions were less than 8.0% at all concentrations. In addition, the recoveries and matrix effect for AMT in human plasma were within acceptable limits. In terms of stability, AMT had no significant degradation under all conditions. All the results met the requirements of the guidelines of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for biological method validation. The novelty of the MS3 assay was that it presented a methodology with higher selectivity and sensitivity. This method was successfully applied to 44 human plasma samples, and the obtained quantitative results were compared with another liquid chromatography-multiple reaction monitoring (LC-MRM) method. The Passing-Bablok regression coefficients and Bland-Altman plot revealed no difference between the LC-MS3 and LC-MRM methods, implying that the developed LC-MS3 method is a reliable and accurate assay for AMT determination in human plasma. These results are also a proof of concept for determining chemicals in biological samples by the LC-MS3 strategy.

Lithium metal batteries are emerging as the next generation of high-density electrochemical energy storage systems because of the ultra-high specific capacity and ultra-low electrochemical potential of the Li metal anode. However, the uneven Li deposition on commercial Cu current collectors result in low Coulombic efficiencies (CEs) and poor cycle life. In this research, we proposed the modification of ZnFx(OH)y on Cu foils to expand the lifespan. As-generated ZnLi alloy and LiF could promote uniform Li nucleation and deposition, thus resulting in an improved Li plating/stripping CE and extended cycle life. The Li-S battery with sulfurized polyacrylonitrile cathode and Li-ZnFx(OH)y@Cu anode (N/P ratio of 1.5:1) maintains 95% capacity after 60 cycles, proving the feasibility of ZnFx(OH)y@Cu for practical applications.

Lithium (Li) metal batteries (LMBs) have received extensive research attention in recent years because of their high energy density. However, uncontrollable Li dendrite growth deteriorates the battery life and brings about severe safety hazards. The rational design of battery separators is an effective approach to regulate uniform Li metal deposition towards boosted cycle life and safety of LMBs. Herein, we review the recent research progress concerning this issue, including mechanically strengthened separator fabrication, functional separator construction towards regulated Li ion deposition, and flame-retardant separator design. Moreover, the key issues and prospects of optimal design of separators are clarified for future development. This minireview is expected to bring new insight into developing advanced separators for long-life and safe LMBs.

Urban water security problems such as water scarcity, water pollution, and flood disasters have restricted the sustainable development of cities. In order to scientifically evaluate the urban water security situation, this study combined the DPSIR (driver, pressure, state, impact, response) model and HEVD (the hazard of disaster-causing factors, the vulnerability of disaster-affected bodies, the instability of the disaster-pregnant environment, and population loss) model to propose a new conceptual framework for DPEBLR (driver, pressure, environment, insecurity-affected body, loss, response). Based on this conceptual framework, 35 indicators were selected to establish an urban water security evaluation index system. In order to solve the problem of randomness and fuzziness of the boundary values of urban water security classification levels, the cloud matter element model was applied. Chongqing was used as an example for verification, and the results showed that the water security status of Chongqing City improved from 2011 (Ⅴ) to 2019 (Ⅱ). This indicates that the water ecology restoration project, centralized water source protection project, centralized water supply project, water-saving society transformation, and flood and drought prevention system construction project implemented in Chongqing has achieved significant results. However, Chongqing still faces the problem that the construction of an urban flood control system cannot meet the speed of urban development. The government should slow down the urbanization and allow the urban flood control system to be ready before the area is occupied. In addition, the awareness of water conservation for industrial use in Chongqing has been formed, and citizens’ awareness of water conservation for domestic use should be enhanced in the future.

The outbreak of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has again emphasized the significance of developing rapid and highly sensitive testing tools for quickly identifying infected patients. Although the current reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) diagnostic techniques can satisfy the required sensitivity and specificity, the inherent disadvantages with time-consuming, sophisticated equipment and professional operators limit its application scopes. Compared with traditional detection techniques, optical biosensors based on nanomaterials/nanostructures have received much interest in the detection of SARS-CoV-2 due to the high sensitivity, high accuracy, and fast response. In this review, the research progress on optical biosensors in SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis, including fluorescence biosensors, colorimetric biosensors, Surface Enhancement Raman Scattering (SERS) biosensors, and Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) biosensors, was comprehensively summarized. Further, promising strategies to improve optical biosensors are also explained. Optical biosensors can not only realize the rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 but also be applied to judge the infectiousness of the virus and guide the choice of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, showing enormous potential to become point-of-care detection tools for the timely control of the pandemic.

Goats are an important livestock and goat meat is essential to local people. The intramuscular fat (IMF) content has a great influence on the quality of goat meat. The intramuscular preadipocytes differentiation is closely related to the IMF deposition; however, its potential regulatory mechanisms remain unclear. CircRNAs were revealed to be involved in multiple biological progressions. In this study, we took primary goat intramuscular preadipocyte (GIMPA) as the study model to verify the function and mechanism of chi-circ_0006511, which was abundant and up-regulated in mature adipocytes (GIMA). The results showed that the expression level of chi-circ_0006511 gradually increased in the early stage of GIMPA differentiation, and chi-circ_0006511 was confirmed to promote GIMPA lipid droplets aggregation and up-regulate the adipogenic differentiation determinants, further promoting GIMPA differentiation. Mechanistically, chi-circ_0006511 exerts its function by sponging novel-miR-87, thereby regulating the expression of CD36. The results from this study provided novel significant information to better understand the molecular regulatory mechanism of intramuscular preadipocytes differentiation, thereby providing a new reference for the intramuscular fat adipogenesis in goats.

CIPK (calcineurin B-like-interacting protein kinase) is a kind of serine/threonine protein kinase widely existing in plants, and it plays an important role in plant growth and development and stress response. To better understand the biological functions of the GhCIPK23 gene in upland cotton, the coding sequence (CDS) of the GhCIPK23 gene was cloned in upland cotton, and its protein sequence, evolutionary relationship, subcellular localization, expression pattern and cis-acting elements in the promoter region were analyzed. Our results showed that the full-length CDS of GhCIPK23 was 1368 bp, encoding a protein with 455 amino acids. The molecular weight and isoelectric point of this protein were 50.83 KDa and 8.94, respectively. The GhCIPK23 protein contained a conserved N-terminal protein kinase domain and C-terminal regulatory domain of the CIPK gene family member. Phylogenetic tree analysis demonstrated that GhCIPK23 had a close relationship with AtCIPK23, followed by OsCIPK23, and belonged to Group A with AtCIPK23 and OsCIPK23. The subcellular localization experiment indicated that GhCIPK23 was located in the plasma membrane. Tissue expression analysis showed that GhCIPK23 had the highest expression in petals, followed by sepals, and the lowest in fibers. Stress expression analysis showed that the expression of the GhCIPK23 gene was in response to drought, salt, low-temperature and exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) treatment, and had different expression patterns under different stress conditions. Further cis-acting elements analysis showed that the GhCIPK23 promoter region had cis-acting elements in response to abiotic stress, phytohormones and light. These results established a foundation for understanding the function of GhCIPK23 and breeding varieties with high-stress tolerance in cotton.

In this study, the complete chloroplast genome of Michelia chartacea B. L. Chen & S. C. Yang was 160,138 bp in length. It includes a large single-copy (LSC) region of 88,164 bp, a small single-copy region (SSC) of 18,824 bp, and with a pair of inverted repeats (IRs) of 26,575 bp. The GC content in the chloroplast genome was 39.23%. In total, 130 genes in the chloroplast genome of Michelia chartacea were annotated, including 83 protein-coding genes, 38 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA genes. The phylogenetic analysis showed that M. chartacea was closely related with M. martini and M. maudiae, forming a clade included in Michelia.

BackgroundLong non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been indicated to play critical roles in gastric cancer (GC) tumorigenesis and progression. However, their roles in GC remain to be further elucidated.MethodsRT-qPCR and fluorescence in situ hybridzation (FISH) were conducted to detect the expression of lncRNA NEAT1 in GC tissues and cell lines. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was performed to screen out potential phenotypes and pathways that NEAT1 may participate in. NEAT1-silenced AGS and MGC803 cells were constructed and a series of functional experiments to investigate the roles of NEAT1 in GC angiogenesis both in vitro and in vivo. RNA pull down and luciferase reporter assays were utilized to illustrate the mechanisms underlying the functions of NEAT1 in GC.ResultsWe observed that NEAT1 was upregulated in most GC specimens and cell lines. NEAT1 high was correlated with poor prognosis of GC patients. In vitro experiments showed that NEAT1 promoted GC angiogenesis by enhancing proliferation, migration, and tube formation ability of endothelial cells. Mechanism researches revealed that NEAT1 could competitively sponge miR-17-5p which targeted TGFβR2 directly. Subsequently, activate TGFβ/Smad pathway by following with upregulation of a series of classical proangiogenic factors especially VEGF.ConclusionThe study unveiled that the LncRNA NEAT1/miR-17-5p/TGFβR2 axis is a novel mechanism in GC angiogenesis. Disrupting this axis may be a potential strategy for GC treatment.

BackgroundAccurate assessment of predictive biomarker expression is critical in patient selection in clinical trials or clinical practice. However, changes in biomarker expression may occur after treatment. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of chemotherapy on MET expression in gastric cancer (GC).MethodsMET expression was examined immunohistochemically before and after treatment in 122 patients with unresectable or recurrent GC, and was evaluated according to H-score or the scoring criteria used in the MetMAb trial. MET gene amplification was assessed by chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH). The antitumor effect of MET targeted therapy was investigated in human gastric cancer cells in vitro and in vivo, and the underlying molecular mechanisms were analyzed by western blot.ResultsMET expression was associated with Lauren classification as well as tumor differentiation by either scoring system. MET amplification was not associated with clinical characteristics. Of the 71 patients who had paired pre- and post-treatment tumor tissues, 28 patients (39%) were initially positive for MET expression, and 43 (61%) were negative. Twenty-five patients (35%) showed significant changes in MET expression after treatment (P=0.007). Additionally, there was a concomitant overexpression of MET and HER2 in a subset of GC patients. MET inhibitor volitinib could significantly inhibit cell proliferation and xenograft growth in vitro and in vivo in MKN45 cells with MET and phosphorylated MET (pMET) high expressions via suppressing downstream PI3K/Akt and MAPK signaling pathways. Furthermore, combination therapy targeting both MET and HER2 demonstrated a synergistic antitumor activity.ConclusionsMET expression is altered post chemotherapy and MET status should be evaluated in real-time. Both MET and pMET expressions might need to be considered for patients suitable for volitinib treatment.

Transient ischemic attack (TIA) has been widely regarded as a clinical entity. Even though magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results of TIA patients are negative, potential neurovascular damage might be present, and may account for long-term cognitive impairment. Animal models that simulate human diseases are essential tools for in-depth study of TIA. Previous studies have clarified that Dl-3-N-butylphthalide (NBP) promotes angiogenesis after stroke. However, the effects of NBP on TIA remain unknown. This study aims to develop an optimized TIA model in C57BL/6 mice to explore the microscopic evidence of ischemic injury after TIA, and investigate the therapeutic effects of NBP on TIA. C57BL/6 mice underwent varying durations (7, 8, 9 or 10 min) of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion were assessed by laser speckle contrast imaging. TIA and ischemic stroke were distinguished by neurological testing and MRI examination at 24 h post-operation. Neuronal apoptosis was examined by TUNEL staining. Images of submicron cerebrovascular networks were obtained via micro-optical sectioning tomography. Subsequently, the mice were randomly assigned to a sham-operated group, a vehicle-treated TIA group or an NBP-treated TIA group. Vascular density was determined by immunofluorescent staining and fluorescein isothiocyanate method, and the expression of angiogenic growth factors were detected by western blot analysis. We found that an 8-min or shorter period of ischemia induced neither permanent neurological deficits nor MRI detectable brain lesions in C57BL/6 mice, but histologically caused neuronal apoptosis and cerebral vasculature abnormalities. NBP treatment increased the number of CD31+ microvessels and perfused microvessels after TIA. NBP also up-regulated the expression of VEGF, Ang-1 and Ang-2 and improved the cerebrovascular network. In conclusion, 8 min or shorter cerebral ischemia induced by the suture MCAO method is an appropriate TIA model in C57BL/6 mice, which conforms to the definition of human TIA, but causes microscopic neurovascular impairment. NBP treatment increased the expression of angiogenic growth factors, promoted angiogenesis and improved cerebral microvessels after TIA. Our study provides new insights on the pathogenesis and potential treatments of TIA.

Herein, we synthesized a kind of magnetic covalent organic framework nanohybrids (NiFe2O4@COF), and integrated it with polydimethyl siloxane and silicone rubber curing agent for solid phase microextraction (SPME) fiber coating. The fiber coating demonstrated a porous and uniform surface with the BET specific surface of 169.7 m2 g-1. As for seven environmental analytes, the NiFe2O4@COF-based SPME fiber coating gave the higher extraction recoveries for triclosan (TCS) and methyltriclosn (MTCS) than those of fenpropathrin, bifenthrin, permethrin, fenvalerate and deltamethrin. Several operational parameters were rigorously optimized, such as extraction temperature, extraction time, thermal desorption time, solution pH and salt effect. Combined with the GC-ECD detection, the newly developed microextraction method supplied the wide linear range of 0.1–1000 µg L-1 with the correlation coefficients of > 0.9995. The limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantitation (LOQs) reached as low as 1–7 ng L-1 and 3.3–23 ng L-1, respectively. The intra-day and inter-day precisions in six replicates (n = 6 ) were

Intramuscular fat (IMF) deposition is a complicated process, and most of the underlying regulators of this biological process are unknown. Here, we cloned the intact CDS of KLF4 gene, investigated the role of KLF4 by gaining or losing function in vitro and further explored the pathways of KLF4 regulating differentiation of intramuscular preadipocytes in goat. Our results show that goat KLF4 gene consists of 1,536 bp encoding a protein of 486 amino acids. The expression of KLF4 is higher in the lung while lower in the heart and muscle in goat. Knockdown of KLF4 mediated by siRNA technique significantly promotes intramuscular preadipocyte lipid accumulation and upregulates mRNA expression of adipogenic related genes including C/EBPα, C/EBPβ, and PPARγ in vivo cultured cells. Consistently, overexpression of KLF4 inhibits intramuscular adipocyte lipid accumulation and significantly downregulation gene expression of C/EBPβ, PPARγ, aP2, and Pref-1. Further, we found that other members of KLFs were upregulated or downregulated after interference or overexpression of KLF4, including KLF2 and KLF5–7. We also found that C/EBPβ was a potential target of KLF4, because it had an opposite expression pattern with KLF4 during the differentiation of intramuscular preadipocytes and had putative binding sites of KLF4. The dual-luciferase reporter assay indicated that overexpression of KLF4 inhibited the transcriptional activity of C/EBPβ. These results demonstrate that KLF4 inhibits the differentiation of intramuscular preadipocytes in goat by targeting C/EBPβ.

Intramuscular fat contributes to the improvement of meat quality of goats. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to regulate adipocyte differentiation and maturation. The aim of our study was to clarify whether miR-10a-5p regulates goat intramuscular preadipocyte (GIPC) differentiation and its direct downstream signaling pathway. GIPCs were isolated from longissimus dorsi, whose miR-10a-5p level was measured at different time point of differentiation induction. Adipogenic differentiation of the GIPCs was evaluated by Oil Red O and BODIPY staining, and the expression changes of adipogenic genes like ACC, ATGL, CEBPβ, PPARγ, etc. Related mechanisms were verified by qPCR, a bioinformatic analysis, a dual-luciferase reporter assay, overexpression, and siRNA transfection. Oil Red O and BODIPY staining both with adipogenic gene detection showed that miR-10a-5p suppressed the accumulation of lipid droplets in GIPCs and inhibited its differentiation. The dual-luciferase reporter assay experiment revealed that miR-10a-5p regulates GIPC differentiation by directly binding to KLF8 3’UTR to regulate its expression. Thus, the results indicated that miR-10a-5p inhibits GIPC differentiation by targeting KLF8 and supply a new target for fat deposition and meat quality improvement.