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Lycium ruthenicum is an important ecoeconomic thorny shrub. In this study, the L. ruthenicum plants of a clone showed two types of ‘fewer leaves without thorn’ and ‘more leaves with thorns’ under the same condition after transplanting. Microscopic observation revealed that the apical buds of the thornless (Thless) and thorny (Thorny) branches should be selected as materials for further study. RNA-Seq analysis showed that the KEGG pathway of starch and sucrose metabolism and differentially expressed genes of sugar transport protein 13 (SUT13), sucrose synthase (SUS), trehalose-phosphate phosphatase (TPP) and trehalose-phosphate synthase (TPS) were significantly up-regulated in Thorny. The results of qRT-PCR confirmed the accuracy and credibility of the RNA-Seq. The content of sucrose in Thorny was significantly higher than that in Thless, but the content of trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P) was opposite. Leaf-clipping treatments reduced sucrose content and inhibited the occurrence/development of branch-thorns; exogenous sucrose of 16 g l−1 significantly promoted the occurrence and growth of branch-thorns, and the promotion effects were significantly higher than those treated with non-metabolizable sucrose analogs (isomaltolose and melitose). These findings suggested that sucrose might play a dual role of energy and signal in the occurrence of branch-thorns. Higher sucrose supply in apical buds from more leaves promoted the occurrence of branch-thorns via a lower content of T6P and higher expression levels of SUS, TPP and TPS, whereas fewer leaves inhibited the occurrence. The molecular hypothesis model of the leaf number/sucrose supply regulating the occurrence of branch-thorns in L. ruthenicum was established in the study, which provides foundation for breeding both Thless L. ruthenicum and Thless types of other species.

Pharmacodynamic studies of everolimus and sapanisertib treated PDX-PNETs using Western blot analysis of mTOR pathway targets.

Patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNET) commonly develop advanced disease and require systemic therapy. However, treatment options remain limited, in part, because experimental models that reliably emulate PNET disease are lacking. We therefore developed a patient-derived xenograft model of PNET (PDX-PNET), which we then used to evaluate two mTOR inhibitor drugs: FDA-approved everolimus and the investigational new drug sapanisertib. PDX-PNETs maintained a PNET morphology and PNET-specific gene expression signature with serial passage. PDX-PNETs also harbored mutations in genes previously associated with PNETs (such as MEN1 and PTEN), displayed activation of the mTOR pathway, and could be detected by Gallium-68 DOTATATE PET-CT. Treatment of PDX-PNETs with either everolimus or sapanisertib strongly inhibited growth. As seen in patients, some PDX-PNETs developed resistance to everolimus. However, sapanisertib, a more potent inhibitor of the mTOR pathway, caused tumor shrinkage in most everolimus-resistant tumors. Our PDX-PNET model is the first available, validated PDX model for PNET, and preclinical data from the use of this model suggest that sapanisertib may be an effective new treatment option for patients with PNET or everolimus-resistant PNET.

Kidney transplantation is the gold standard for the treatment of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). However, the scarcity of kidneys has caused more and more ESRD patients being stuck on the waiting-list for surgery. Improving the survival rate of kidney grafts as much as possible is not only responsible for patients, but also an alternative solution to kidney shortage. Thus, rapid diagnosis and timely management of surgical complications are of vital importance to the success of renal transplantation but lack efficient methods and technologies. Herein, a fluorescence technology based on bright, photostable, and long-circulating aggregation-induced emission (AIE) active NIR-II nano contrast agent for the whole-process monitoring and evaluation of renal transplantation has been reported. The outstanding optical property and long-circulating characteristic of the AIE NPs help to achieve renal angiography in the kidney retrieval surgery, donor kidney quality evaluation before transplantation, diagnosing vascular complications, and assessment of renal graft reperfusion after revascularization, which considerably outperforms the clinically approved indocyanine green (ICG).

Microbially induced calcium carbonate deposition (MICP) restoration technology has good restoration effects and low environmental pollution compared with traditional restoration methods, and this technology has been applied in actual projects. However, grouting components such as bacterial solutions are easily lost in vertical cracks due to their low viscosity as well as their self-weight. In this paper, cracks were repaired using microbial mineralization by sealing the bottom of vertical cracks and pressure grouting. Controlled tests were designed based on three variables: crack width, presence or absence of media in the crack, and grouting method. The results show that the smaller the crack width, the easier it is to achieve a seal. The addition of media in the cracks can improve the repair efficiency. As the amount of grouting increases, the amount of calcium carbonate production in the cracks gradually increases, and the height and thickness of calcium carbonate deposition also gradually increases. The bottom closure pressure grouting method can not only reduce the amount of grouting fluid, but also shorten the test period. This method overcomes the difficulty that grouting poses as it should not be left in vertical cracks and plays an important role in reducing costs and shortening repair time.

Micropropagation is very important for rapid clonal propagation and scientific research of woody plants. However, the micropropagated materials usually show hyperhydricity, which seriously hinders application of the micropropagation. Lycium ruthenicum is an important species of eco-economic forests. Herein, treatment of ‘starvation and drying combined with 30 μM AgNO3’ (SDCAg+) removed serious hyperhydricity of L. ruthenicum buds regenerated from its green-inflorescence-explants, and then gene expression, metabolites of various phytohormones, chloroplasts, chlorophyll (Chl) and total soluble proteins of the hyperhydric and dehyperhydric leaves were compared and analyzed. The results suggested that the SDCAg+ treatment might remove hyperhydricity of L. ruthenicum through: reducing water uptake; increasing water loss; up-regulating the expression of chloroplast-ribosomal-protein genes from nuclear genome; down-regulating the expression of cytoplasmic-ribosomal-protein genes; up-regulating the synthesis of the total soluble proteins; restoring the lamellar structure of chloroplast grana and matrix; improving Chl synthesis and reducing Chl metabolism; increasing expression of light-harvesting Chl protein complex genes and content of Chla and b; up-regulating both photosynthesis and starch and sucrose metabolism KEGG pathways; up-regulating abscisic acid, salicylic acid and their signaling; down-regulating cytokinin, jasmonic acid, jasmonoyl-l-isoleucine and their signaling. Also, the above events interact to form a regulatory network of dehyperhydricity by SDCAg+ treatment. Overall, the study indicated key genes/pathways and physiological/subcellular changes involved in dehyperhydricity and then established a dehyperhydric mechanism model of L. ruthenicum. This not only proposed clues for preventing or removing hyperhydricity but also laid foundations for molecular breeding of L. ruthenicum and other species.

MOF-based foam has potential applications in removing antibiotics from water.

In this paper, we establish the global existence of strong solution to the chemotaxis-shallow water system with vacuum in a bounded domain Ω ⊂ R 2 provided that the initial data is partially small. We first get a new blow-up criterion and then we use bootstrap argument to obtain the global existence of strong solution.

The effective control of the sample concentration within droplets is essential in a broad range of assays in chemistry and biochemistry. Here we provide an electrical method for producing batches of aqueous droplets with various chemical concentrations by exploiting fixed-potential induced-charge electroosmosis (ICEO) flow around a bipolar electrode. By applying an AC electric signal to the bipolar electrode and changing the zeta potential on it, the bipolar electrode acts as a gate electrode for generating asymmetric ICEO flow. The ICEO flow induced transverse vortexes interact with two parallel laminar streams with different chemical compositions. Controlled mixing of the aqueous solutions can be achieved by adjusting the shape and size of the asymmetric vortexes

In the present research, structural representation, phase transition, and dielectric characteristics of Ta5+ ionic substituted Co0.5Ti0.5(Nb1-xTax)O4 (x = 0–1) ceramics were thoroughly investigated. Combined with the changes of diffraction peaks in the X-ray diffraction spectra, such as (002) and (101) crystalline planes near 20°, and the evolutionary trend of the strongest peak in the Raman spectra, a phase transition from rutile to trirutile structure at x = 0.6 was confirmed, suggesting the emergence of structural evolution. Thus, the structural evolution showed a significant impact on the dielectric characteristics, as evidenced by the weakening of the dielectric polarizability with the increasing amount of Ta5+ ion, which led to a reduction in the dielectric constant; the dielectric loss is also closely related to the packing fraction (PF) arising from the structural changes. Additionally, infrared and THz time-domain spectroscopy revealed that the dielectric losses in the microwave band were originated from the oscillatory absorption of structural phonons and supported that the effects of structural evolution on the intrinsic dielectric properties due to the introduction of Ta5+ ion.

A novel inverse photoconductivity horizon in perovskite photo-memristor applications with various iodine concentrations, electrodes, and modified layers.

Soil erosion features and ideal tillage practices are not very clear at the crop seedling stage in Chinese Mollisols. Simulated rainfall experiments were conducted at the rainfall intensities of 50 and 100 mm h-1 to investigate the differences in soil erosion of a 5° hillslope during the maize seedling stage between conservation and conventional tillage measures, including cornstalk mulching (Cm), horizontal ridging (Hr), horizontal ridging + mulching (Hr+Cm), vertical ridging + mulching (Vr+Cm), flat-tillage (CK), and vertical ridging (Vr). The results demonstrated that crops could remit soil erosion at the seedling stage by reducing the kinetic energy and changing the distribution of raindrops. The conservation tillage measures significantly alleviated total runoff (11.7 %–100 %) and sediment yield (71.1 %–100 %), postponed runoff-yielding time (85 s–26.1 min), decreased runoff velocity (71.5 %–96.7 %), and reduced runoff and soil loss rate, compared to the conventional tillage measures. Practices with mulching showed better performance than Hr. Mulching reduced sediment concentration (~70.6 %–100 %) by decreasing runoff velocity and soil particle filtration in a manner similar to buffer strips. The contour ridge ruptured earlier at 100 mm h-1 than at 50 mm h-1 and changed the characteristics of the soil erosion by providing a larger sediment source to the surface flow. Runoff strength, rather than soil erodibility, was the key factor affecting soil erosion. Decreasing runoff velocity was more important than controlling runoff amount. The Hr + Cm treatment exhibited the lowest soil erosion and is, thus, is recommended for adoption at the corn seedling stage in sloping farmlands.

ObjectiveWe aim to study the relationship between occupation distribution within each county and COVID-19 cumulative incidence and vaccination rate in the United States.MethodsWe collected county-level data from January 22, 2020 up to December 25, 2021. We fit multivariate linear models to find the relationship of the percentage of people employed by 23 main occupations.ResultsCounties with more health-related jobs, office support roles, community service, sales, production and material moving occupations had higher COVID-19 cumulative incidence. During the uptick of the “Delta” COVID variant (stratified period July 1-Dec 25), counties with more transportation occupations had significantly more COVID-19 cumulative incidence than before.SignificanceUnderstanding the association between occupations and COVID-19 cumulative incidence on an ecological level can provide information for precision public health strategies for prevention and protecting vulnerable workers.Impact StatementWe used data from US Census and COVID-19 data to explore the association between occupations and COVID-19 cumulative incidence and vaccination rate on an ecological level, which can provide information for precision public health strategies for prevention of spread of disease and protecting vulnerable workers.

Supplementary Material 5: Supplementary Table 4. The primers used in ChIP analysis.

Supplementary Material 2: Supplementary Table 1. The sequences used for yeast one hybrid.

Supplementary Material 6

Supplementary Material 4: Supplementary Table 3. The sequences of the probes used in EMSA assay.

Supplementary Material 1: Supplementary Fig. 1 Comparison of pHIS2, the newly constructed pHIS2 prey library, and the previously constructed pHIS2 prey library. The green line indicates the two flanking sequences of the Sma I sites. (1) The map of pHIS2. (2) The prey library built in this study. (3) The prey library built in the previous study, which contains two types of pHIS2. The insertion is underlined.

Supplementary Material 3: Supplementary Table 2. The primers for the construction of the recombination Vector MBP-ERF2.

Background: Leukocyte telomere length shortening is a characteristic of premature senescence, a process that can be accelerated by oxidative stress. In general, patients with end-stage renal disease undergoing regular hemodialysis (HD) are repeatedly exposed to oxidative stress. Patients undergoing HD tend to have cardiovascular diseases associated with oxidative stress and inflammation. Therefore, we assumed that telomere length is associated with HD vintage and the degree of vascular calcification. Methods: A total of 144 patients undergoing regular HD before kidney transplantation and 62 patients on hemodialysis, but not undergoing kidney transplantation, were enrolled. We measured common laboratory values, such as calcium, phosphate, and hemoglobin levels, and assessed the degree of vascular calcification in the patients. The leukocyte telomere length was measured using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, and Spearman correlation was used for correlation analysis. Results: The leukocyte telomere length was negatively associated with age (rho = −0.306, P＜0.01); it was shorter in middle-aged patients than in young patients (13.48 ± 4.80 vs. 15.86 ± 4.51, P

Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) UNFERTILIZED EMBRYO SAC 12 (AtUNE12) belongs to the basic helix–loop–helix DNA-binding superfamily of proteins. However, its function is not well known. Here, we found that AtUNE12 plays an important role in mediating salt tolerance. AtUNE12 is a transcriptional activator located in the nucleus whose expression is induced by NaCl, mannitol, and abscisic acid. In addition to binding to the G-box “CACGTG”, AtUNE12 also binds to the low temperature responsive element 15 (LTRE15) “CCGAC”. Furthermore, the serine residue at position 108 of AtUNE12 is phosphorylated during the salt stress response, enabling AtUNE12 to trigger gene expression by binding to G-box and/or LTRE15 motifs. Phosphorylated AtUNE12 regulates the expression of the genes involved in ion transport leading to reduced Na+ accumulation and K+ loss. At the same time, phosphorylation of AtUNE12 also induces the expression of AtMYB61 to decrease stomatal aperture, leading to a reduced transpiration rate. Overall, AtUNE12 serves as a transcriptional activator that is induced and phosphorylated upon salt stress, and the induction and phosphorylation of AtUNE12 in turn activate the salt-overly-sensitive pathway and decrease the stomatal aperture, enabling improved salt tolerance.

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) have been attracting extensive research interests in designing advanced nanomaterials, while their precise control is still in the infancy stage. Herein, we have reported a well-defined PtBiPbNiCo hexagonal nanoplates (HEA HPs) as high-performance electrocatalysts. Structure analysis decodes that the HEA HP is constructed with PtBiPb medium-entropy core and PtBiNiCo high-entropy shell. Significantly, the HEA HPs can reach the specific and mass activities of 27.2 mA cm

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are important in abiotic stress tolerance. Here, we identified salt-responsive genes and lncRNAs in the roots and leaves of Betula platyphylla Suk. (birch), and characterized their lncRNAs functions. In total, 2660 mRNAs and 539 lncRNAs responding to salt treatment were identified using RNA-seq. The salt-responsive genes were substantially enriched in ‘cell wall biogenesis’ and ‘wood development’ in the roots and were enriched in ‘photosynthesis’ and ‘response to stimulus’ in the leaves. Meanwhile, the potential target genes of the salt-responsive lncRNAs in roots and leaves were both enriched in ‘nitrogen compound metabolic process’ and ‘response to stimulus’. We further built a method for quickly identifying abiotic stress tolerance of lncRNAs, which employed transient transformation for overexpression and knock-down of the lncRNA, enabling gain- and loss-of-function analysis. Using this method, 11 randomly selected salt-responsive lncRNAs were characterized. Among them, six lncRNAs confer salt tolerance, two lncRNAs confer salt sensitivity, and the other three lncRNAs are not involved in salt tolerance. In addition, a lncRNA, LncY1, was further characterized, which improves salt tolerance by regulating two transcription factors, BpMYB96 and BpCDF3. Taken together, our results suggested that lncRNAs play important roles in the salt response of birch plants.

In this paper a high capacitance ratio and low actuation voltage RF MEMS switch is designed and fabricated for Ka band RF front-ends application. The metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors is employed on a signal line to improve the capacitance ratio, which will not degrade the switch reliability. To reduce the actuation voltage, a low spring constant bending folding beam and bilateral drop-down electrodes are designed in the MEMS switch. The paper analyzes the switch pull-in model and deduces the elastic coefficient calculation equation, which is consistent with the simulation results. The measured results indicated that, for the proposed MEMS switch with a gap of 2 μm, the insertion loss is better than −0.5 dB and the isolation is more than −20 dB from 25 to 35 GHz with an actuation voltage of 15.8 V. From the fitted results, the up-state capacitance is 6.5 fF, down-state capacitance is 4.3 pF, and capacitance ratios is 162. Compared with traditional MEMS capacitive switches with dielectric material Si3N4, the proposed MEMS switch exhibits high on/off capacitance ratios of 162 and low actuation voltage.