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Abstract Bladder cancer is characterized by aberrant activation of the phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase (PI3K) signaling, underscoring the significance of directing therapeutic efforts toward the PI3K pathway as a promising strategy. In this study, we discovered that PI3K serves as a potent therapeutic target for bladder cancer through a high-throughput screening of inhibitory molecules. The PI3K inhibitor demonstrated a robust anti-tumor efficacy, validated both in vitro and in vivo settings. Nevertheless, the feedback activation of JAK1-STAT3 signaling reinstated cell and organoid survival, leading to resistance against the PI3K inhibitor. Mechanistically, the PI3K inhibitor suppresses PTPN11 expression, a negative regulator of the JAK-STAT pathway, thereby activating STAT3. Conversely, restoration of PTPN11 enhances the sensitivity of cancer cells to the PI3K inhibitor. Simultaneous inhibition of both PI3K and STAT3 with small-molecule inhibitors resulted in sustained tumor regression in patient-derived bladder cancer xenografts. These findings advocate for a combinational therapeutic approach targeting both PI3K and STAT3 pathways to achieve enduring cancer eradication in vitro and in vivo, underscoring their promising therapeutic efficacy for treating bladder cancer.

Abstract Background Lung cancer remains one of the most prevalent cancer types worldwide, with a high mortality rate. Upregulation of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and its ligand (PD-L1) may represent a key mechanism for evading immune surveillance. Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) antibodies against PD-1 or PD-L1 are therefore widely used to treat patients with lung cancer. However, the mechanisms by which lung cancer and neutrophils in the microenvironment sustain PD-L1 expression and impart stronger inhibition of CD8+ T cell function remain unclear. Methods We investigated the role and underlying mechanism by which PD-L1+ lung cancer and PD-L1+ neutrophils impede the function of CD8+ T cells through magnetic bead cell sorting, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), western blotting, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, confocal immunofluorescence, gene silencing, flow cytometry, etc. In vivo efficacy and safety studies were conducted using (Non-obeseDiabetes/severe combined immune deficiency) SCID/NOD mice. Additionally, we collected clinical and prognostic data from 208 patients who underwent curative lung cancer resection between 2017 and 2018. Results We demonstrated that C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 5 (CXCL5) is markedly overexpressed in lung cancer cells and is positively correlated with a poor prognosis in patients with lung cancer. Mechanistically, CXCL5 activates the phosphorylation of the Paxillin/AKT signaling cascade, leading to upregulation of PD-L1 expression and the formation of a positive feedback loop. Moreover, CXCL5 attracts neutrophils, compromising CD8+ T cell-dependent antitumor immunity. These PD-L1+ neutrophils aggravate CD8+ T cell exhaustion following lung cancer domestication. Combined treatment with anti-CXCL5 and anti-PD-L1 antibodies significantly inhibits tumor growth in vivo. Conclusions Our findings collectively demonstrate that CXCL5 promotes immune escape through PD-L1 upregulation in lung cancer and neutrophils chemotaxis through autocrine and paracrine mechanisms. CXCL5 may serve as a potential therapeutic target in synergy with ICBs in lung cancer immunotherapy.

Abstract Background Adrenal gland is the synthesis and secretion organ of glucocorticoid, which is crucial to fetal development and postnatal fate. Recently, we found that prenatal dexamethasone exposure (PDE) could cause adrenal dysfunction in offspring rats, but its multigenerational genetic effects and related mechanisms have not been reported. Methods The PDE rat model was established, and female filial generation 1 (F1) rats mate with wild males to produce the F2, the same way for the F3. Three generation rats were sacrificed for the related detection. SW-13 cells were used to clarify the epigenetic molecular mechanism. Results This study confirmed that PDE could activate fetal adrenal glucocorticoid receptor (GR). The activated GR, on the one hand, up-regulated Let-7b (in human cells) to inhibit steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) expression directly; on the other hand, down-regulated CCCTC binding factor (CTCF) and up-regulated DNA methyltransferase 3a/3b (Dnmt3a/3b), resulting in H19 hypermethylation and low expression. The decreased interaction of H19 and let-7 can further inhibit adrenal steroidogenesis. Additionally, oocytes transmitted the expression change of H19/let-7c axis to the next generation rats. Due to its genetic stability, F2 generation oocytes indirectly exposed to dexamethasone also inhibited H19 expression, which could be inherited to the F3 generation. Conclusions This cascade effect of CTCF/H19/Let-7c ultimately resulted in the transgenerational inheritance of adrenal steroidogenesis inhibition of PDE offspring. This study deepens the understanding of the intrauterine origin of adrenal developmental toxicity, and it will provide evidence for the systematic analysis of the transgenerational inheritance effect of acquired traits induced by PDE. Video Abstract

Understanding canopy nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) differences is crucial for optimizing plant nutrient distribution and management. This study evaluated leaf N and P content in citrus trees across three cultivation modes: traditional mode (TM), wide-row and narrow-plant mode (WRNPM), and fenced mode (FM). We used hyperspectral data for non-destructive quantification and compared 1080 leaf samples from upper, middle, and lower canopy layers. Four models—Random Forest (RF), Backpropagation Neural Network (BPNN), Partial Least Squares (PLS), and Support Vector Machine (SVM)—were employed for leaf N and P estimation. Results showed that the TM had significantly lower N content compared to the WRNPM and FM, while the WRNPM exhibited higher P content. The canopy layer had minimal impact on N and P in the FM, and leaves in the upper layer had higher nutrient content in the WRNPM and TM. RF provided the best estimation accuracy, with R2 values of 0.66 for N and 0.72 for P. The cultivation mode and canopy layer significantly influenced the estimation accuracy, with the TM yielding the highest R2, followed by the WRNPM and FM obtaining the lowest accuracy. The labor-saving cultivation mode had different nutrient utilization efficiency compared to the TM. The cultivation mode and canopy layer should be considered when hyperspectral data were used for estimating the leaf N and P content. The study can offer new insights for precise fertilization strategies in fruit trees.

This study aimed to determine the effects of different doses of Acremonium terricola culture (ATC) on lactation performance, immune function, antioxidant capacity, and intestinal flora of sows. Forty-five Landrace sows (3–6 parity) were randomly assigned to the following three treatments from 85 days of gestation to 21 days after farrowing: a control diet (CON, basal diet), a low-dose Acremonium terricola culture diet (0.2% ATC, basal diet + 0.2% ATC), and a high-dose Acremonium terricola culture diet (0.4% ATC, basal diet + 0.4% ATC). Compared with the CON group, the supplementation of 0.2% ATC increased the average daily milk yield of sows by 4.98%, increased milk fat, total solids, and freezing point depression on day 1 postpartum (p < 0.05), increased serum concentration of Triiodothyronine, Thyroxin, and Estradiol on day 21 postpartum (p < 0.05). Compared with the CON group, the supplementation of 0.4% ATC increased the average daily milk yield of sows by 9.38% (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the supplementation of 0.2% ATC increased serum concentration of IgG, IgM, and IFN-γ, CD4 on day 1 postpartum (p < 0.05) and increased serum concentration of immunoglobulin A ( IgA), immunoglobulin G (IgG), immunoglobulin M ( IgM), complement 3 (C3), cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4), cluster of differentiation 8 (CD8), interferon-γ (IFN-γ) on day 21 postpartum (p < 0.05), while the supplementation of 0.4% ATC reduced serum concentration of IL-2 on day 21 postpartum (p < 0.05). Moreover, the supplementation of 0.4% ATC significantly increased serum concentration of catalase (CAT) (p < 0.05). Additionally, the supplementation of ATC affected the relative abundance of the intestinal flora at different taxonomic levels in sows and increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria such as in the norank_f__Eubacterium_coprostanoligenes group, Eubacterium_coprostanoligenes group, and Lachnospiraceae_XPB1014 group of sows, while reducing the abundance of harmful bacteria such as Phascolarctobacterium and Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1. These data revealed that the supplementation of ATC during late gestation and lactation can improve lactation performance, immune function, antioxidant capacity, and the gut microbiota. Compared with supplementation of 0.4% ATC, 0.2% ATC enhances the levels of thyroid-related hormones, specific antibodies, and cytokines in serum, promotes the diversity of beneficial gut microbiota, beneficial bacteria in the intestine, reduces the population of harmful bacteria, and thereby bolsters the immunity of sows. Hence, 0.2% ATC is deemed a more optimal concentration.

In general, remote sensing images depict intricate scenes. In cross-modal retrieval tasks involving remote sensing images, the accompanying text includes numerus information with an emphasis on mainly large objects due to higher attention, and the features from small targets are often omitted naturally. While the conventional vision transformer (ViT) method adeptly captures information regarding large global targets, its capability to extract features of small targets is limited. This limitation stems from the constrained receptive field in ViT’s self-attention layer, which hinders the extraction of information pertaining to small targets due to interference from large targets. To address this concern, this study introduces a patch classification framework based on feature similarity, which establishes distinct receptive fields in the feature space to mitigate interference from large targets on small ones, thereby enhancing the ability of traditional ViT to extract features from small targets. We conducted evaluation experiments on two popular datasets—the Remote Sensing Image–Text Match Dataset (RSITMD) and the Remote Sensing Image Captioning Dataset (RSICD)—resulting in mR indices of 35.6% and 19.47%, respectively. The proposed approach contributes to improving the detection accuracy of small targets and can be applied to more complex image–text retrieval tasks involving multi-scale ground objects.

Epigenetics is an expansive and rapidly evolving field, fundamentally concerned with heritable changes in gene expression that do not involve alterations to the underlying DNA sequence [...]

This study’s aim was to detect NR5A2 expression and explore association between single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the NR5A2 gene with reproductive traits in Jiaxing Black (JXB) sows. The expression analysis showed that the expression level of pig NR5A2 mRNA in the ovary and liver was significantly higher (p T, g.84609G > A, g.136759G > C, g.138802T > C, g.138864A > G) met Hardy Weinberg equilibrium conditions. The total number of piglets born (TBA) and number of still born piglets (NSB) of sows with GG genotype at the g.136759G > C loci were higher than the CC genotype (P G loci, individuals with the AA genotype had significantly higher TBA than those of sows with the AG genotype (P G and g.136759G > C loci had significant effects on the NR5A2 mRNA expression level in the ovary. The above results indicated that SNPs within NR5A2 exons of the NR5A2 gene have a certain effect on the reproductive traits of JXB pigs.

To address the demands of precision agriculture and the measurement of plant photosynthetic response and nitrogen status, it is necessary to employ advanced methods for estimating chlorophyll content quickly and non-destructively at a large scale. Therefore, we explored the utilization of both linear regression and machine learning methodology to improve the prediction of leaf chlorophyll content (LCC) in citrus trees through the analysis of hyperspectral reflectance data in a field experiment. And the relationship between phenology and LCC estimation was also tested in this study. The LCC of citrus tree leaves at five growth seasons (May, June, August, October, and December) were measured alongside measurements of leaf hyperspectral reflectance. The measured LCC data and spectral parameters were used for evaluating LCC using univariate linear regression (ULR), multivariate linear regression (MLR), random forest regression (RFR), K-nearest neighbor regression (KNNR), and support vector regression (SVR). The results revealed the following: the MLR and machine learning models (RFR, KNNR, SVR), in both October and December, performed well in LCC estimation with a coefficient of determination (R2) greater than 0.70. In August, the ULR model performed the best, achieving an R2 of 0.69 and root mean square error (RMSE) of 8.92. However, the RFR model demonstrated the highest predictive power for estimating LCC in May, June, October, and December. Furthermore, the prediction accuracy was the best with the RFR model with parameters VOG2 and Carte4 in October, achieving an R2 of 0.83 and RMSE of 6.67. Our findings revealed that using just a few spectral parameters can efficiently estimate LCC in citrus trees, showing substantial promise for implementation in large-scale orchards.

Over the last several decades, China has continuously introduced Duroc boars and used them as breeding boars. Although this crossbreeding method has increased pork production, it has affected pork quality. Nowadays, one of the primary goals of industrial breeding and production systems is to enhance the quality of meat. This research analyzed the molecular mechanisms that control the quality of pork and may be used as a guide for future efforts to enhance meat quality. The genetic mechanisms of cross-breeding for meat quality improvement were investigated by combining transcriptome and metabolome analysis, using Chinese native Jiaxing black (JXB) pigs and crossbred Duroc × Duroc × Berkshire × JXB (DDBJ) pigs. In the longissimus Dorsi muscle, the content of inosine monophosphate, polyunsaturated fatty acid, and amino acids were considerably higher in JXB pigs in contrast with that of DDBJ pigs, whereas DDBJ pigs have remarkably greater levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids than JXB pigs. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differential metabolites were identified using transcriptomic and metabolomic KEGG enrichment analyses. Differential metabolites mainly include amino acids, fatty acids, and phospholipids. In addition, several DEGs that may explain differences in meat quality between the two pig types were found, including genes associated with the metabolism of lipids (e.g., DGKA, LIPG, and LPINI), fatty acid (e.g., ELOVL5, ELOVL4, and ACAT2), and amino acid (e.g., SLC7A2, SLC7A4). Combined with the DEGS-enriched signaling pathways, the regulatory mechanisms related to amino acids, fatty acids, and phospholipids were mapped. The abundant metabolic pathways and DEGs may provide insight into the specific molecular mechanism that regulates meat quality. Optimizing the composition of fatty acids, phospholipids, amino acids, and other compounds in pork is conducive to improving meat quality. Overall, these findings will provide useful information and further groundwork for enhancing the meat quality that may be achieved via hybrid breeding.

BackgroundEarly weaning-induced stress impairs the intestinal barrier function and adversely affects the health of piglet. Probiotics can be used to prevent and treat various intestinal diseases. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG) has an LuxS/AI-2 quorum sensing (QS) system that senses environmental changes through chemical signaling molecules. The aim of the study was to explore whether luxS mutant affects the protective role of LGG in the gut barrier of weaned piglets by comparing the luxS mutant (ΔluxS) with its wild-type (WT).MethodsNewborn piglets were orally administered with WT and ΔluxS at dosage of 109 CFU, respectively. Accordingly, newborn piglets in the Con group were orally administered with PBS. Piglets were weaned on day 21 and euthanized on day 24, three days following weaning.ResultsSupplementation of ΔluxS in advance significantly boosted the relative abundances of healthy microbes (including Catenibacterium, Eubacterium, Lachnospiraceae and Bifidobacterium). WT and ΔluxS maintain intestinal barrier function mainly by promoting intestinal villus to crypt ratio (VCR), occludin protein expression and mucus secretion (P

BackgroundSexual dysfunction (SD) in patients who suffer from inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has not attracted widespread attention, and thus research studies are scarce.ObjectiveThis study aims to evaluate the rates of SD in IBD compared with healthy individuals and elucidate the associated factors.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) and the simplified version of the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) were filled by IBD patients, as well as healthy control individuals.ResultsA total of 208 IBD patients, including 133 with Crohn’s disease (CD) and 75 with ulcerative colitis (UC), and 190 healthy individuals filled out the questionnaires. In women, SD rates were 61.9% in the patients with IBD vs. 24.4% in the healthy controls (p < 0.01). In men, the rates of erectile dysfunction (ED) were 43.5% in the patients with IBD vs. 12.5% in the healthy controls (p < 0.01). Anxiety (OR, 3.092; 95%CI: 1.033-9.252, p = 0.044) and active perianal disease (OR, 4.481; 95%CI: 1.055-19.029, p = 0.042) were independent risk factors for SD in female IBD patients. age (OR, 1.050; 95%CI: 1.007-1.095, p = 0.022), depression (OR, 5.763; 95%CI: 1.864-17.821, p = 0.002) and active perianal disease (OR, 7.117; 95%CI: 1.747-28.983, p = 0.006) were independent risk factors for ED in male patients.ConclusionsIn the IBD patients, 62% of women reported having SD, and 44% of men reported having ED. These higher rates, as compared to the healthy controls, are mostly driven by active perianal disease and psychological factors.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs), as miRNA sponges, have been found to participate in transcriptional control and many important biological processes. Heat stress (HS) severely affects feed intake and milk production of sows. However, the expression and function of circRNAs in the hypothalamus of sows and whether they are involved in the adaptation to HS have not been explored. In this study, RNA sequencing and functional analysis were performed to explore the expression and function of circRNAs in the hypothalamus of heat-stressed sows. Toally, 38,143 circRNAs were identified from the hypothalamus of heat-stressed sows, among which 307 circRNAs (170 upregulated and 137 downregulated) were significantly differentially expressed (DE) in the HS groups compared to the control groups. Their host genes are involved in the cellular component organization or biogenesis, metabolic process, and cellular metabolic process, the MAPK signalling pathway and the TGF-β signalling pathway. And a total of 307 DE circRNAs were found to act as sponges for 457 miRNAs. This research explored the expression profiles of circRNAs in the hypothalamus of heat-stressed sows, which will provide basic data for further investigation of the biological function and the regulatory role of circRNAs in the heat-stressed sows.

Abstract Background Codon usage is an important determinant of gene expression levels that can help us understand codon biology, evolution and mRNA translation of species. The majority of previous codon usage studies have focused on single species analysis, although few studies have focused on the species within the same genus. In this study, we proposed a multispecies codon usage analysis workflow to reveal the genetic features and correlation in citrus. Results Our codon usage analysis workflow was based on the GC content, GC plot, and relative synonymous codon usage value of each codon in 8 citrus species. This approach allows for the comparison of codon usage bias of different citrus species. Next, we performed cluster analysis and obtained an overview of the relationship in citrus. However, traditional methods cannot conduct quantitative analysis of the correlation. To further estimate the correlation among the citrus species, we used the frequency profile to construct feature vectors of each species. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to quantitatively analyze the distance among the citrus species. This result was consistent with the cluster analysis. Conclusions Our findings showed that the citrus species are conserved at the genetic level and demonstrated the existing genetic evolutionary relationship in citrus. This work provides new insights into codon biology and the evolution of citrus and other plant species.

BackgroundPulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare syndrome first described by Rosen et al. in 1958. Despite our considerably evolved understanding of PAP over the past decades, no bibliometric studies have been reported on this field. We aimed to analyze and visualize the research hotspots and current trends of the PAP research field using a bibliometric analysis to help understand the future development of basic and clinical research.MethodsThe literature regarding PAP was culled from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) database. Data were extracted from the relevant articles and visually analyzed using CiteSpace and VOSviewer software.ResultsNine hundred and nine qualifying articles were included in the analysis. Publications regarding PAP increased over time. These articles mainly come from 407 institutions of 57 countries. The leading countries were the USA and Japan. University of Cincinnati (USA) and Niigata University (Japan) featured the highest number of publications among all institutions. Bruce C Trapnell exerts a significant publication impact and has made the most outstanding contributions in the field of PAP. American Journal of Physiology-Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology was the journal with the most publications, and American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine was the most commonly cited journal. All the top 5 co-cited journals belong to Q1. Keyword citation bursts revealed that inflammation, deficiency, tissue resident macrophage, classification, autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, sarcoidosis, gm csf, high resolution ct, and fetal monocyte were the emerging research hotspots.ConclusionResearch on PAP is prosperous. International cooperation is also expected to deepen and strengthen in the future. Our results indicated that the etiology and pathogenesis of PAP, current and emerging therapies, especially the novel pathogenesis-based options will remain research hotspots in the future.

A feeding trial of eight weeks was conducted to examine the influence of food supplementation with lauric acid (LA) on Acanthopagrus schlegelii (juvenile black sea bream). A 24 percent fish meal baseline diet was created, while the other two diets were generated with dietary supplementation of graded points of LA at 0.1 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. Each diet was given a triplicate tank with 20 fish weighing 6.22 ± 0.19 g. In comparison with the control group, the weight gain rate, growth rate, as well as feed efficiency of fish fed of 0.1 percent diet of LA were considerably (P < 0.05) greater. The total body and dorsal muscle proximate compositions did not change significantly between groups (P > 0.05). Triglyceride (TG) content was considerably (P < 0.05) greater in the LA-supplemented meals eating group in comparison with the control group. In the group eating LA-supplemented meals, the height of villus and the number of goblet cells/villus were considerably (P < 0.05) larger. The microbial makeup of the gut was also studied. The differences in phyla, class, and family level were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Firmicutes in the phylum, Betaproteobacteri, Gammaproteobacteria, and Clostridia in the class, and Clostridiaceae in the family were all substantially increased with higher levels of LA supplementation (P < 0.05). According to the findings of this study, an LA-supplemented diet improves fish development, antioxidative capability, gut microbiota and intestinal health.

Due to remarkable reduction of sediment supply, the vulnerability of Yellow River deltaic system increased and ecological impacts occurred to some extent. To have a comprehensive and quantitative understanding of the morphological evolution of deltas, surficial sediments of tidal flat along the abandoned southern Yellow River sub-delta and two adjacent coastal units were systematically collected and evaluated by grain-size analysis in the study. The results reveal that surficial sediments of the abandoned southern Yellow River sub-delta have been coarsening significantly since the 1980s, as characterized by a decrease in both the mud content and the clay/mud ratio. In particular, the transition from cohesive to non-cohesive sediment was completed between 2007 and 2013. With a sharp decrease in sediment flux from the Yellow River estuary, the flood currents from the submarine coastal slope carry few fine particles into the tidal zone, whereas the ebb currents with reverse direction remove some fine particles from the tidal flat. This is a major cause of sediment coarsening in the tidal flat. As sediment coarsening, the coastline of the abandoned southern Yellow River sub-delta has remained stable. The significant change in the grain size of the tidal flat surficial sediments may have a profound impact on the future coastal geomorphic evolution.

Litopenaeus vannamei was divided into seven groups (defined as diets A0–A6) and fed with diets respectively containing 0, 0.5, 1, 2, 4 and 8 g/kg Yarrowia lipolytica (astaxanthin content: 1.5%) and 3 g/kg Haematococcus pluvialis (astaxanthin content: 2%). After an eight-week feeding trial, the results reflected that different levels of Y. lipolytica and H. pluvialis could significantly increase the weight gain rate of L. vannamei (p < 0.05). The condition factor and weight gain rate of group A4 were significantly higher than those of the other groups (p < 0.05); the HSI significantly decreased with the increase of Y. lipolytica (p < 0.05). The addition of Y. lipolytica to the diet had significant effects on total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), malonaldehyde (MDA) and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) (p < 0.05). The total protein and albumin of the A5 and A6 groups were significantly higher than those of the other groups (p < 0.05). The GSH-Px activity of the A5 group was the highest and the T-AOC of the A0 group was the lowest. Inducible nitric oxide synthase (I-NOS) increased with the addition of Y. lipolytica (p < 0.05). Y. lipolytica inclusion had no negative effect on physiological and biochemical parameters and some serum immune and antioxidant indexes (p > 0.05). Astaxanthin in Y. lipolytica had an obvious effect on body color. After cooking, the body color of the shrimp deepened with increasing Y. lipolytica content. The red body color of L. vannamei was significantly improved by adding yeasts hydrolysate 2~8 g/kg to the diet. According to the regression analysis between the level of Y. lipolytica added to the diets and the weight gain rates, the optimal level of Y. lipolytica is 4.64 g/kg.

Lemon is an important economic crop in the world and can bloom several times each year. The Dehong prefecture of Yunnan province is one of the main lemon-producing areas in China, and is a suitable area for planting high-quality lemons in China. However, the hot and rainy summers in Yunnan are not conducive to flower bud differentiation, which leads to low lemon yield. Therefore, normal flower bud differentiation is important to guarantee lemon production and quality. In this study, we selected some lemon trees for a pot experiment, and we sprayed the lemon leaves with gibberellin and paclobutrazol to regulate lemon flower formation. We set four separate concentration gradients for each regulator: 50, 100, 150, and 200 mg/L. The PBZ concentration gradients were 200, 400, 600, and 1200 mg/L. After the experiment, we determined and analyzed the morphological index and fruit quality of the lemon trees. The results showed that under the same cultivation and management conditions, spraying paclobutrazol substantially inhibited the growth of lemon shoots, increased the fruit setting rate, and improved the fruit yield. However, gibberellin considerably reduced the number of lemon flowering branches and promoted the vegetative growth of the lemons. When the concentration of paclobutrazol was 600 mg/L, the amount of lemon fruits reached the maximum, which remarkably increased the titratable acid and soluble solids contents of the fruit and ultimately increased the fruit quality compared with the control. Altogether, selecting the appropriate concentration of regulators to control the flowering and fruit setting of fruit trees is important and has value in guiding actual production.

A thermodynamic study on a toluene chemical looping reforming process with six metal oxides was conducted to evaluate the product distribution for selecting an appropriate oxygen carrier with thermodynamic favorability towards high syngas yield. The results show that a suitable operation temperature for most oxygen carriers is 900 °C considering syngas selectivity and solid C formation whether the toluene is fed alone or together with fuel gas. The syngas selectivity of all oxygen carriers decreases with the increasing equivalence ratio, but the decrease degrees are quite different due to their different thermodynamic natures. With the increasing amounts of H2 and CO, the syngas selectivity for various oxygen carriers correspondingly decreases. The addition of CO2 and H2O(g) benefits reducing the solid C formation, whereas the addition of CH4 leads to more solid C being produced. Under the simulated gasification gas atmosphere, a synergetic elimination of solid C and water–gas shift reactions are observed. In terms of syngas selectivity, Mn2O3 possesses the best performance, followed by CaFe2O4 and Fe2O3, but NiO and CuO exhibit the lowest performance. BaFe2O4 presents a high H2 selectivity but a very poor CO selectivity due to the formation of BaCO3, which has a high thermodynamic stability below 1200 °C. Nevertheless, Mn2O3 is more likely to form solid C than feeding toluene alone and has a lower melting point. Considering syngas selectivity, carbon deposit and melting point, CaFe2O4 exhibits the highest performance concerning the tar chemical looping.

Heat stress negatively influences milk production and disrupts normal physiological activity of lactating sows, but the precious mechanisms by which hyperthermia adversely affects milk synthesis in sows still remain for further study. Circular RNAs are a novel class of non-coding RNAs with regulatory functions in various physiological and pathological processes. The expression profiles and functions of circRNAs of sows in lactogenesis remain largely unknown. In the present study, long-term heat stress (HS) resulted in a greater concentration of serum HSP70, LDH, and IgG, as well as decreased levels of COR, SOD, and PRL. HS reduced the total solids, fat, and lactose of sow milk, and HS significantly depressed CSNαs1, CSNαs2, and CSNκ biosynthesis. Transcriptome sequencing of lactating porcine mammary glands identified 42 upregulated and 25 downregulated transcripts in HS vs. control. Functional annotation of these differentially-expressed transcripts revealed four heat-induced genes involved in lactation. Moreover, 29 upregulated and 21 downregulated circRNA candidates were found in response to HS. Forty-two positively correlated circRNA-mRNA expression patterns were constructed between the four lactogenic genes and differentially expressed circRNAs. Five circRNA-miRNA-mRNA post-transcriptional networks were identified involving genes in the HS response of lactating sows. In this study we establish a valuable resource for circRNA biology in sow lactation. Analysis of a circRNA-miRNA-mRNA network further uncovered a novel layer of post-transcriptional regulation that could be used to improve sow milk production.

Abstract Background Previous studies have demonstrated that elevated homocysteine (Hcy) level represents an independent risk factor for macrovascular disease. However, the relationship between hyperhomocysteinemia and the progression of diabetic retinopathy in patients remains controversial. Hence, the purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to explore any potential association between Hcy and the risk of diabetic retinopathy. Methods PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases were searched to screen studies that fulfilled the inclusion criteria from date of database inception to November 2017. The summary odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) was used to calculate the pooled effect estimate for the relationship between Hcy and diabetic retinopathy risk. Sensitivity, subgroup analyses, and publication bias were also assessed. Results Eleven studies involving a total of 2184 diabetic patients were included in the meta-analysis. The summary OR suggested that increased Hcy level in diabetic patients was associated with an increased risk of diabetic retinopathy (OR 1.62; 95% CI 1.29–2.03; p

Coal gasification is the process that produces valuable gaseous mixtures consisting primarily of H2 and CO, which can be used to produce liquid fuel and various kinds of chemicals. The literature shows that the effect of particle size on coal gasification and fusibility of coal ash is not clear. In this study, the gasification kinetics and ash fusibility of three coal samples with different particle size ranges were investigated. Thermogravimetric results of coal under a CO2 atmosphere showed that the whole weight loss process consisted of three stages: the loss of moisture, the release of volatile matter, and char gasification with CO2. Coal is a heterogeneous material containing impurities. Different grinding fineness leads to different liberation degrees for impurities. As for the effect of particle size on TG (thermogravimetry) curves, we found that the final solid residue amount was the largest for the coal sample with the smallest particle size. The Miura-Maki isoconversional model was proved to be appropriate to estimate the activation energy and its value experienced a slow increase when the particle size of raw coal increased. Further, we found that particle size had an important impact on ash fusion temperatures and small particle size resulted in higher ash fusion temperatures.