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Current anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) therapy for oral cancer does not provide satisfactory efficacy due to drug resistance or reduced EGFR level. As an alternative candidate target for therapy, here we identified an oncogene, ROS1, as an important driver for oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) metastasis. Among tumors from 188 oral cancer patients, upregulated ROS1 expression strongly correlated with metastasis to lung and lymph nodes. Mechanistic studies uncover that the activated ROS1 results from highly expressed ROS1 gene instead of gene rearrangement, a phenomenon distinct from other cancers. Our data further reveal a novel mechanism that reduced histone methyltransferase EZH2 leads to a lower trimethylation of histone H3 lysine 27 suppressive modification, relaxes chromatin, and promotes the accessibility of the transcription factor STAT1 to the enhancer and the intron regions of ROS1 target genes, CXCL1 and GLI1, for upregulating their expressions. Down-regulation of ROS1 in highly invasive OSCC cells, nevertheless, reduces cell proliferation and inhibits metastasis to lung in the tail-vein injection and the oral cavity xenograft models. Our findings highlight ROS1 as a candidate biomarker and therapeutic target for OSCC. Finally, we demonstrate that co-targeting of ROS1 and EGFR could potentially offer an effective oral cancer therapy.

Salicylic acid (SA) has emerged as an excellent phyto-hormone to improve stress tolerance in plants. However, no information is available about the role of SA under combined SS and HS. Therefore, this study was performed to underpin the potential role of SA to mitigate SS and HS in wheat crop. The study was comprised of different treatments: control, SS (8 dS m-1), HS (imposed at flag leaf stage) and combination of SS (8 dS m-1) and HS and different levels of SA: control, 50 mM, 100 mM and 150 mM. Salinity and HS substantially decreased the growth, and yield traits of wheat that was linked with increased electrolyte leakage (EL), malondialdehyde (MDA) and hdrogen peroxid (H2O2) production, sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl-) accumulation and decrease in relative water contents (RWC), photosynthetic pigments, total soluble proteins (TSP) and free amino acids (FAA) accumulation and nutrient uptake. Nonetheless, foliar applied SA particularly 150 mM appreciably improved the growth and yield of wheat crop by increasing RWC, antioxidant activity soluble sugars, proline, TSP, FAA accumulation, nutrient uptake and decreasing EL, electrolyte leakage, MDA and H2O2 and restricting the entry of toxic ions. Therefore, these findings suggested that SA could improve the growth and yield of wheat under SS and HS stresses by improving physiological activity, photosynthetic pigments, antioxidant activity and accumulation of osmolytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The food and water security are the most critical issues across the globe owing to the continuous growing population. The agriculture sector is a largest consumer of fresh water and unwise use of water and poor irrigation systems are leading to rapid depletion of freshwater sources. Recently precision agriculture has emerged as an effective tool to improve the crop productivity while saving irrigation water. Agriculture is a complex system owing to different soil and climatic conditions, crops and topography and its interconnections with scarcity and availability of water. Thus, it is mandatory to understand these variables as well as spatial and temporal behavior which is essential to support precision agriculture through the implementation of optimum use of irrigation water. Different cost and time effective methods have been developed to optimize the crop productivity' without affecting the quality as well as quantity of different resources. Recently, remote sensing (RS) has emerged as an excellent tool to improve the crop productivity while saving the irrigation water. The application of remote sensing provides the information about the areas of interest from regional to farm scales while geophysics can investigate the sub-surface soil which can help to save the irrigation with improving crop productivity. Therefore, in present review we highlighted the role of remote sensing, geophysics and crop modelling in improving irrigation management to get maximum productivity while saving water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nonlinear free vibration of an axially translating viscoelastic beam with an arbitrarily varying length and axial velocity is investigated. Based on the linear viscoelastic differential constitutive law, the extended Hamilton’s principle is utilized to derive the generalized third-order equations of motion for the axially translating viscoelastic Bernoulli–Euler beam. The coupling effects between the axial motion and transverse vibration are assessed under various prescribed time-varying velocity fields. The inertia force arising from the longitudinal acceleration emerges, rendering the coupling terms between the axial beam acceleration and the beam flexure. Semi-analytical solutions for the governing PDE are obtained through the separation of variables and the assumed modes method. The modified Galerkin’s method and the fourth-order Runge–Kutta method are employed to numerically analyze the resulting equations. Further, dynamic stabilization is examined from the system energy standpoint for beam extension and retraction. Extensive numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the influences of varying translating velocities and viscoelastic parameters on the underlying dynamic responses. The material viscosity always dissipates energy and helps stabilize the transverse vibration.

Dendrobium williamsonii and Dendrobium cariniferum (Orchidaceae) are endangered perennial herbs, and they are very similar in morphology. Chloroplast genome sequencing technology provides a powerful tool for molecular analysis to get more infomation for phylogenetic analysis and identification of Dendrobium species. In this study, the complete chloroplast genomes of Dendrobium williamsonii and Dendrobium cariniferum were assembled and characterized using Illumina NovaSeq 6000. The genome sizes are 159 695 and 159 479 bp, including pairs of inverted repeats (27 055 and 27 024 bp) each separated by small single-copy regions (18 451 and 18 488 bp) and large single-copy regions (87 134 and 86 943 bp). The chloroplast genome overall GC content was 37.11% and 37.13%, respectively. Each chloroplast genome encoded the same number (147) of genes, including 88 protein-coding genes, 51 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. Comparative analysis of chloroplast genomes revealed the high degree of divergence included accD-psaL and ycf4 -cemA. The phylogenetic tree showed the two Dendrobium species formed only one small clade. A pair of primers that could effectively identify the two Dendrobium species were also screened. This study will provide theoretical basis for species identification, genetic breeding, and evolution of Dendrobium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preventing extinction is one of the greatest challenges facing the global community. Nursery stock breeding is an effective means to restore endangered species, such as Horsfieldia hainanensis Merr., with difficulty in natural regeneration period. In this study, we investigated the optimum combination of irradiance and nitrogen for the cultivation of H. hainanensis seedlings by comparing twenty treatments with different combinations of irradiances (100, 67.5, 45.7, 15.6 % of full natural irradiance) and five levels of N supply (0, 1.8, 3.6, 5.4, 7.2 g plant-1). We found that the growth and photosynthetic efficiency of seedlings under full irradiance were significantly inhibited compared with shaded seedlings. Under full irradiance, a lack of N resulted in reduced chlorophyll (Chl) synthesis, causing lower photosynthetic efficiency and an imbalance in metabolism. Proper shading (67.5 and 45.7 % of natural irradiance) and N addition (1.8 - 5.4 g plant-1) promoted root development, increase Chl content and photosynthesis, and ultimately the accumulation of larger amount of biomass. The biomass of the shaded seedlings was mainly distributed to aboveground tissues, while seedlings exposed to stronger radiation accumulated greater root biomass. Therefore, the best seedling management for this species is a combination of 67.5 % of natural irradiance and moderate N supply (4.6 g plant-1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the association of menopausal status and symptoms with depressive symptoms. A community-based cross-sectional survey recruited 6745 women aged 40–55 years in the eastern, central and western regions of China in 2018. Menopausal status was categorized into reproductive stage, perimenopause or postmenopause according to the Stages of Reproductive Aging Workshop classification. Menopausal symptoms were determined by the modified Kupperman Menopausal Index and classified as none (total score < 15), mild (15 ≤ total score ≤ 24) or moderate to severe (total score ≥ 25). Logistic regression models were used to examine the associations of menopausal status and symptoms with depressive symptoms assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. The prevalence of depressive symptoms among women in the reproductive stage, perimenopause and postmenopause was 15.4%, 23.9% and 22.8%, respectively. After multivariable adjustment, perimenopause (odds ratio [OR] = 1.21, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.01–1.47) and postmenopause (OR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.04–1.58) were associated with higher risk for depressive symptoms than during the reproductive stage. Mild (OR = 5.55, 95% CI: 4.68–6.59) and moderate-to-severe (OR = 14.77, 95% CI: 10.94–19.94) menopausal symptoms were associated with increased likelihood of depressive symptoms compared to the group reporting no menopausal symptoms. Menopausal status and symptoms were independently associated with the risk of depressive symptoms in middle-aged Chinese women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]