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ATP-binding cassette transporter G (ABCG) has been shown to be engaged in export of broad-spectrum compounds with structural differences, but little is known concerning its role in cutin formation of cotton (Gossypium spp.). In this study, we conduct a genome-wide survey and detected 69, 71, 124 and 131 ABCG genes within G. arboretum, G. raimondii, G. hirsutum and G. barbadense, separately. The above ABCGs could be divided into four groups (Ia, Ib, Ic, II). Some ABCG genes such as GhABCG15, whose homologous gene transports cuticular lipid in Arabidopsis, was preferentially expressed in the development of fiber. A weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) demonstrated that GhABCG expression was significantly associated with the amount of 16-Hydroxypalmitate (a main component of cutin precursor) in cotton fibers. Further, silencing of GhABCG15 by virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) in cotton generated brightened and crinkled leaves as well as reduced thickness of cuticle and increased permeability. Chemical composition analysis showed the cutin content in GhABCG15-silenced leaves had decreased while the wax content had increased. Our results provide an insight for better understanding of the role of the Gossypium ABCG family and revealed the essential role of GhABCGs in cotton cutin formation.

Using two monomers of 4,4″-diamino-p-terphenyl and 1,3,5-triformylphloroglucinol, a co-precipitation structured magnetic covalent organic framework adsorbent was fabricated. After that, a high efficient vortex-assisted magnetic solid-phase extraction method was developed prior to gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis for the determination of phthalate esters in milk samples. The fabricated magnetic adsorbent was facilely fabricated, fully characterized, and exhibited high extraction efficiency, which can be attributed to its larger pore size as well as strong hydrophobic and π-π stacking interactions between adsorbent and phthalate esters. Key parameters affecting extraction efficiency were investigated. Under the optimized conditions, the proposed method possessed good linearity (3.0-1000 μg/L), high sensitivity (0.8-2.1 μg/L for limits of detection), and satisfactory recoveries (76.8-99.2%). The relative standard deviations for intra-day was 3.1-4.5% and inter-day was 3.3-6.1%. This work is suitable for high efficient separation/preconcentration of phthalate esters in milk samples.

A simple, rapid and sensitive vortex-assisted magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE) method using core-shell structured magnetic covalent organic frameworks (Fe

Purpose. The available nomograms used to predict acute pancreatitis (AP) are not comprehensive. We sought to investigate the effect of red blood cell distribution width (RDW)-albumin ratio (RA) on prognosis of patients with AP and develop a new nomogram to identify AP patients at high risk for mortality. Methods. We used data from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care IV version 2.0 (MIMIC-IV v2.0). A total of 487 patients with acute pancreatitis were included. Patients enrolled in the study were randomly assigned to the training set and validation set at a 7 : 3 ratio. According to the 30-day mortality rate, the data were divided into a survival group and a death group. Multivariate logistic regression was used to establish a prognostic nomogram for predicting the 30-day mortality in AP patients. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), calibration curve, the net reclassification improvement (NRI), the integrated discrimination improvement (IDI), and a decision curve analysis (DCA) are used to verify the overall performance of the model. Results. Among 487 patients, 54 patients died (11.1%). 338 patients were assigned to the training cohort and 149 were assigned to the validation cohort. The multivariate analysis results showed that RA, age, heart rate, temperature, AST/ALT, BUN, hemoglobin, potassium, and bilirubin were independent risk factors. The prediction performance of the newly established nomogram was better than those of other common scoring systems (including SOFA, OASIS, and APSIII). The nomogram suggests that RA (OR = 1.706, 95% CI: 1.367–2.185) is the most significant laboratory test indicator influencing prognosis. Conclusion. The new nomogram incorporating RA performed well in predicting AP short-term mortality. A prospective study with a larger sample is needed to validate our findings.

This study investigated whether the relationships of personality with safety compliance and safety participation remains significant when safety-specific transformational leadership is supp...

Background The circadian clock not only participates in regulating various stages of plant growth, development and metabolism, but confers plant environmental adaptability to stress such as drought. Pseudo-Response Regulators (PRRs) are important component of the central oscillator (the core of circadian clock) and play a significant role in plant photoperiod pathway. However, no systematical study about this gene family has been performed in cotton. Methods PRR genes were identified in diploid and tetraploid cotton using bioinformatics methods to investigate their homology, duplication and evolution relationship. Differential gene expression, KEGG enrichment analysis and qRT-PCR were conducted to analyze PRR gene expression patterns under diurnal changes and their response to drought stress. Results A total of 44 PRR family members were identified in four Gossypium species, with 16 in G. hirsutum, 10 in G. raimondii, and nine in G. barbadense as well as in G. arboreum. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that PRR proteins were divided into five subfamilies and whole genome duplication or segmental duplication contributed to the expansion of Gossypium PRR gene family. Gene structure analysis revealed that members in the same clade are similar, and multiple cis-elements related to light and drought stress response were enriched in the promoters of GhPRR genes. qRT-PCR results showed that GhPRR genes transcripts presented four expression peaks (6 h, 9 h, 12 h, 15 h) during 24 h and form obvious rhythmic expression trend. Transcriptome data with PEG treatment, along with qRT-PCR verification suggested that members of clade III (GhPRR5a, b, d) and clade V (GhPRR3a and GhPRR3c) may be involved in drought response. This study provides an insight into understanding the function of PRR genes in circadian rhythm and in response to drought stress in cotton.

The field of organic photovoltaics (OPVs) has seen rapid development in the past few years, particularly, with reports on the use of a high performance nonfullerene electron acceptor (named Y6) in binary devices. In this paper, we demonstrate a simple yet effective ternary approach that can simultaneously increase the open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current-density, and fill factor of a binary device based on Y6 and a donor polymer named PM6. By adding a small amount of PCBM into the PM6:Y6 system, we achieved a high efficiency of 16.7%, which is the best value reported for an OPV device to date. Importantly, this ternary material approach has wide-ranging applicability, as we demonstrated the same beneficial effects in multiple systems, including PM6:IT-4F, PM7:IT-4F, PM6:Y6, and PM7:Y6. The LUMO energy (−3.9 eV) of PCBM lies between the LUMO (−3.6 eV) of PM6/PM7 and the LUMO (−4.1 eV) of IT-4F/Y6, which is one reason for the increased Voc. After blending with PCBM, the homogenous fine-film morphology and the π–π stacking patterns of the host binary structure are maintained, while the phase purity is increased, the hole and electron mobilities are increased, and monomolecular recombination is reduced, all of which, plus the visible absorption of PCBM, are the reasons for the concurrently improved fill-factor and increased short-circuit current density. This approach can be used in other OPV systems and should have wide applicability.

The influence of impeller structure on the mass transfer characteristics was studied with the steady-state method for gas-liquid volumetric mass transfer coefficient (k L a). The single-impeller configurations included eight impeller types (three radial flow impellers, four axial flow impellers and one mixed flow impeller), and the doubleimpeller included three configurations (RT+RT, RT+WH D , WH D +WH D ). For single-impeller, the gas-liquid mass transfer rates of radial flow impellers were better than those of axial flow impellers under the same rotation speed and gas flow rate. The mass transfer performance (defined as the volumetric mass transfer coefficient per unit power input) of radial flow impellers were also better than that of axial flow impellers. With the same kLa value under a certain gas flow rate, the local bubble size distribution between radial flow impeller and axial flow impeller was similar. As for double impellers, RT+RT provided the highest mass transfer rate under certain rotation speed and gas flow rate, while WH D +WH D gave the highest values of gas-liquid mass transfer coefficient with the same power consumption.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small molecule RNAs widely involved in responses to plant abiotic stresses. We performed small RNA sequencing of cotton anthers at four developmental stages under normal and high temperature (NT and HT, respectively) conditions to investigate the stress response characteristics of miRNA to HT. A total of 77 miRNAs, including 33 known miRNAs and 44 novel miRNAs, were identified, and 41 and 28 miRNAs were differentially expressed under NT and HT stress conditions, respectively. The sporogenous cell proliferation (SCP), meiotic phase (MP), microspore release period (MRP), and pollen maturity (PM) stages had 10 (including 12 miRNAs), four (including six miRNAs), four (including five miRNAs), and seven (including 11 miRNAs) HT stress-responsive miRNA families, respectively, which were identified after removing the changes in genotype-specific miRNAs under NT condition. Seven miRNA families (miR2949, miR167, and miR160 at the SCP stage, miR156 and miR172 at the MP stage, miR156 at the MRP stage, and miR393 and miR3476 at the PM stage), which had expression abundance of more than 10% of the total expression abundance, served as the main regulators responding to HT stress with positive or negative regulation patterns. These miRNAs orchestrated the expression of the corresponding target genes and led to different responses in the HT-tolerant and the HT-sensitive lines. The results revealed that the HT stress response of miRNAs in cotton anthers were stage-specific and differed with the development of anthers. Our study may enhance the understanding of the response of miRNAs to HT stress in cotton anthers and may clarify the mechanism of plant tolerance to HT stress.

To understand the relationship between nitrogen and carbon removal performance and the microbial community during start-up of simultaneous ANAMMOX and denitrification (SAD), nitrogen and carbon removal performance and microbial community change were studied by gradually increasing the influent COD concentration. The results showed that with the increase of the influent COD concentration, NH

In this paper, the authors put forward a design of solar power generation system, mainly due to the authors in the daily learning process often need stability of 5 v DC regulated power supply. The system mainly include solar panels, solar charge controller (i.e., can realize the overcharge, discharge, overvoltage, undervoltage control functions), lithium batteries, DC DC booster module and load equipment. The authors determine the hardware circuit selection through reasonable analysis and calculation. Finally, the stability and reliability of the designed micro solar power generation system were verified by experiments, which meet the expected goals and requirements of the authors.

Significantly influenced by complex cell morphology, glucoamylase fermentation using Aspergillus niger is characterized by high apparent viscosity and shear-thinning rheology. In this study, the influence of liquid flow field patterns on morphology, broth rheology, mass transfer and glucoamylase production was investigated by applying two different configurations with radial (Ruston Turbine, RT) and axial (Wide-blade hydrofoil upward-pumping, WHu) flow impellers. It was found that empirical correlations for averaged quantities, such as the mass transfer coefficient and viscosity, cannot reasonably explain the observations. Therefore, numerical simulation was carried out to study the detailed characteristics of local field in lab-scale bioreactors. The results showed, under similar glucose and oxygen uptake rates, that the WHu configuration formed relatively homogeneous viscosity and mass transfer fields, while the RT configuration was accompanied with significant heterogeneities. Under these conditions, the fraction of active mycelia in pellets could be highly correlated with enzyme production, and a novel parameter (Active Part Percentage, APP) was defined to introduce the effects of flow field on pelletized morphology. The WHu impellers facilitated the formation of pellets and hairy structures, with a higher APP of the pellets. As a result, the culture with the axial flow impeller configuration exhibited a larger glucoamylase production rate (+25%) and product yield on sugar (+23%) and yield on energy (+60%) in comparison to the radial flow impeller. Computational fluid models were proposed to in-depth understand such results based on local mass transfer and viscosity values, since the average values are similar over the entire fermentation processes.

Ethnopharmacological relevance Disturbed gastrointestinal (GI) motility can be associated with smooth muscle abnormalities and dysfunction. Exploring innovative approaches that can modulate the disturbed colonic motility are of great importance for clinical therapeutics. Naringenin, a flavonoid presented in many traditional Chinese herbal medicines, has been shown to have a relaxant effect on different smooth muscles. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of naringenin on regulation of GI motility. Material and methods Mechanical recording was used to investigate the effect of naringenin on isolated rat colonic smooth muscle spontaneous contractions. Whole cell patch clamp, intracellular [Ca2+] concentration ([Ca2+]i) and membrane potential measurements were examined on primary cultures of colonic smooth muscle cells (SMCs). A neostigmine-stimulated rat model was utilized to investigate the effect of naringenin in vivo. Results Naringenin induced a concentration-dependent inhibition (1–1000 μM) on rat colonic spontaneous contraction, which was reversible after wash out. The external Ca2+ influx induced contraction and [Ca2+]i increase were inhibited by naringenin (100 μM). In rat colonic SMCs, naringenin-induced membrane potential hyperpolarization was sensitive to TEA and selective large-conductance calcium-activated K+ (BKCa) channel inhibitor iberiotoxin. Under whole cell patch-clamp condition, naringenin stimulated an iberiotoxin-sensitive BKCa current, which was insensitive to changes in the [Ca2+]i concentration. Furthermore, naringenin significantly suppressed neostigmine-enhanced rat colon transit in vivo. Conclusion Our results for the first time demonstrated the relaxant effect of flavonoid naringenin on colon smooth muscle both in vitro and in vivo. The relaxant effect of naringenin was attributed to direct activation of BKCa channels, which subsequently hyperpolarized the colonic SMCs and decreased Ca2+ influx through VDCC. Naringenin might be of therapeutic value in the treatment of GI motility disorders.

In the present study, the intracellular regulatory pathways involved in the adrenalin-stimulated chloride secretion across T84 cells were investigated. Biphasic characteristics were observed in the Isc response to the basolateral addition of adrenalin (0.25 nM–100 μM). The biphasic response was almost abolished by removing ambient Cl − . Chloride secretion was found to depend on the activities of basolaterally located Na + -K + -2Cl − cotransporters and K + channels. The α-adrenoceptor antagonist phentolamine did not have any effect on either phase of adrenalin-induced Isc, while after pretreatment of the β-adrenoceptor antagonist propranolol, the adrenalin-induced Isc was substantially abolished, suggesting the biphasic response may be mediated by the β-adrenoceptor. Under whole cell patch-clamp conditions, T84 cells responded to adrenalin with a rise in inward current. The current, which exhibited a linear I–V relationship and time- and voltage-independent characteristics, was inhibited by the chloride channel blocker DPC and the reverse potential was close to the equilibrium potential for Cl − (0 mV), implying that the current was Cl − selective. When preloaded with a Ca 2+ -chelating agent, BAPTA/AM did not affect the Isc response to adrenalin, whereas the Isc was destroyed by pretreating the cells with an adenyl cyclase inhibitor, MDL12330A. These observations were further supported by the intracellular [cAMP] measurement experiment, indicating that adrenalin induced chloride secretion could be mediated by a beta-adrenoceptor only involving cAMP as an intracellular second messenger.

TMT (trimethyltin chloride), an organotin, is ubiquitous in the environment. The consumption of contaminated food may cause exposure of the human diet to this toxic compound. The present study was to investigate the effects of TMT on the regulation of ion transport across the rat distal colon. The rat colonic mucosa was mounted in Ussing chambers. The effects of TMT were assessed using the Isc (short-circuit current). Both apical and basolateral TMT induced, dose-dependently, an increase in Isc, which was due to a stimulation of Cl- secretion as measured using ion substitution experiments and pharmacological manoeuvres. The secretion was also inhibited by several K+ channel blockers administrated at the basolateral side. When the apical side was permeabilized by nystatin, the TMT-induced K+ conductance was effectively blocked by tetrapentylammonium, a Ca2+-sensitive K+ channel blocker. The response of TMT was sensitive to the basolateral Ca2+ and the intracellular Ca2+ store, which could be disclosed by applying the inhibitors of ryanodine receptors and inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptors. In conclusion, TMT led to Cl- secretion, which was essentially regulated by basolateral Ca2+-sensitive K+ channels. These results suggest the importance of K+ channels in the toxicity hazard of TMT.