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In order to investigate the relationship between antioxidant efficacy and active components of Smilax riparia, the HPLC fingerprint of S. riparia extracts were determined, similarity evaluation and cluster analysis were carried out, while analysis software was used for PLSR to establish the spectra effect relationship, and validation test of in vitro anti-oxidation was carried out. The results were as follows: (1)HPLC fingerprints of 13 batches of S. riparia with 14 main common peaks were established. (2) Thirteen batches of S. riparia samples were grouped into two categories, the samples of S. riparia with close geographical location were clustered into one group, and the chemical fingerprints of S. riparia with close geographical location were highly similar. (3) PLSR showed that the areas of peaks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9 and 14 in the fingerprint were positively correlated with the antioxidant effect, while the areas of peaks 4, 7, 8, 10, 11 and 12 were negatively correlated with the antioxidant effect, the VIP values of peaks 9, 11, 3, 4 and 5 were all greater than 1. (4) Peak 9 was oleanolic acid, Peak 10 was ursolic acid, and Peak 9 had the largest scavenging capacity for ABTS free radicals. Therefore, antioxidant efficacy of S. riparia is contributed by a combined action of multi-components rather than one component, and Peak 9 (oleanolic acid) may be the material basis of the antioxidation effect of S. riparia.

Abstract Background Listeria monocytogenes can survive in cold and wet environments, such as tree fruit packing facilities and it has been implicated in outbreaks and recalls of tree fruit products. However, little is known about microbiota that co-occurs with L. monocytogenes and its stability over seasons in tree fruit packing environments. In this 2-year longitudinal study, we aimed to characterize spatial and seasonal changes in microbiota composition and identify taxa indicative of L. monocytogenes contamination in wet processing areas of three tree fruit packing facilities (F1, F2, F3). Methods A total of 189 samples were collected during two apple packing seasons from floors under the washing, drying, and waxing areas. The presence of L. monocytogenes was determined using a standard culturing method, and environmental microbiota was characterized using amplicon sequencing. PERMANOVA was used to compare microbiota composition among facilities over two seasons, and abundance-occupancy analysis was used to identify shared and temporal core microbiota. Differential abundance analysis and random forest were applied to detect taxa indicative of L. monocytogenes contamination. Lastly, three L. monocytogenes-positive samples were sequenced using shotgun metagenomics with Nanopore MinION, as a proof-of-concept for direct detection of L. monocytogenes’ DNA in environmental samples. Results The occurrence of L. monocytogenes significantly increased from 28% in year 1 to 46% in year 2 in F1, and from 41% in year 1 to 92% in year 2 in F3, while all samples collected from F2 were L. monocytogenes-positive in both years. Samples collected from three facilities had a significantly different microbiota composition in both years, but the composition of each facility changed over years. A subset of bacterial taxa including Pseudomonas, Stenotrophomonas, and Microbacterium, and fungal taxa, including Yarrowia, Kurtzmaniella, Cystobasidium, Paraphoma, and Cutaneotrichosporon, were identified as potential indicators of L. monocytogenes within the monitored environments. Lastly, the DNA of L. monocytogenes was detected through direct Nanopore sequencing of metagenomic DNA extracted from environmental samples. Conclusions This study demonstrated that a cross-sectional sampling strategy may not accurately reflect the representative microbiota of food processing facilities. Our findings also suggest that specific microorganisms are indicative of L. monocytogenes, warranting further investigation of their role in the survival and persistence of L. monocytogenes. Video Abstract

Abstract Background Coronavirus-2019 pandemic in China aroused increasing interest in telemedicine-supported glycaemic control. We hypothesize that age might influence usage and efficacy of telemedicine-supported glycaemic control. This study aims to measure the effects of a doctor-nurse-patient Mobile Health Management System (MHMS) for fasting plasma glucose (FPG) control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods Four hundred sixty four patients with T2DM were recruited. A one-hour diabetes education provided to each patient and subsequent follow-ups arranged in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 8th, and 12th week after enrollment were recorded in MHMS. The effectiveness of MHMS was defined as the proportion of patients achieving FPG target (below 126 mg/dL or 7.0mml/L). Results Among the enrolled 464 patients (age: 55.0 ± 13.7 years) who were divided into three groups: young (18–40 years), middle-aged (41–65 years) and elderly (> 65 years), 424 ones completed all follow-ups of 12 weeks. FPG decreased from 178.38 ± 95.04 to 117.90 ± 14.22 mg/dL in the young group, from 180.00 ± 91.08 to 122.94 ± 37.95 mg/dL in the middle-aged group, and from 174.24 ± 80.64 to 128.88 ± 23.4 mg/dL in the elderly group. The proportion of FPG-target-achieved patients increased from 46.2 to 90.4% in the young group, from 32.6 to 82.8% in the middle-aged group, and from 29.5 to 73.3% in the elderly group. The proportion of FPG-target-achieved patients between three age groups were statistically significant (P

The present study aimed to assess the role of urocortin II (UII) in the process of vascular calcification in vitro by using a calcification model, to detect the changes in the mRNA and protein levels of associated markers in rat adventitial fibroblasts (AFs) during their phenotypic transformation to osteoblast cellsto clarify the main signal transduction pathway of UII responsible for regulating vascular calcification and AF phenotypic transformation of osteoblast cells, and to prove that UII was an endogenous factor promoting vascular calcification, so as to provide an effective experimental basis for the clinical regulation of related diseases caused by vascular calcification. Finally, we successfully constructed the calcified cell model, found that UII was an endogenous substance regulating vascular calcification, regulated the vascular calcification by promoting apoptosis and inhibiting autophagy through up- and downregulated BAX and BCL-2/BECLIN 1 (BECN1) level, and the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway was involved.

Introduction. Urotensin II (U II) is a kind of active peptide with a variety of biological effects, such as promoting cell proliferation and endocrine effects. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of urotensin II on the proliferation and secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in cultured rat dermal papilla cells (DPCs), and to explore its molecular mechanism. Materials and Methods. We used the DPCs isolated from the thoracic aortas of Wistar-Kyoto rats to run the CCK8 and ELISA assay, RC-PCR and Western blotting techniques to identify the effect of Urotensin II on the proliferation and secretion of VEGF in DPCs, data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA or t-test. Results. U II can increase the mRNA expression of proliferation markers Ki67 and PCNA. In addition, the Wnt/β-catenin pathway was activated by U II, but Wnt inhibitor DKK1 reversed the effect of U II. Conclusions. U II promoted the proliferation and secretion of VEGF in rat DPCs through activation of the Wnt-β-catenin signaling pathway.

Background: Aldosterone is an important hormone in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), and playing a pivotal role in the development of hypertension, heart failure, and other cardiovascular diseases. Material and method: In this study, the role of the aldosterone in vascular calcification was underwent in rat model compared with other drugs. Vascular calcification, calcium concentration, activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aldosterone, Urotensin II, mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) and Osteopontin (OPN) were detected or confirmed by the von Kossa staining, colorimetric assays, immunohistochemistry and radioimmunoassay, separately. Result: Results revealed that the aldosterone was significantly increased compared calcification + aldosterone group with calcification group, whereas it was notably decreased in calcification + Spironolactone group in the aortic wall. Compared with control group and aldosterone group, calcium content in vascular tissues was increased in calcification group and calcification + aldosterone group. As the immunoreactivity of the MR, OPN, Urotensin II, IL-6, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, and deposition of collagen in calcification group and aldosterone group, they all were increased slightly, but were significantly increased in calcification + aldosterone group. Conclusion: It is implied that aldosterone may be involved in the development of vascular calcification, however, the mechanism needs to be further studied.

Soil temperature is an important physical variable that characterises geothermal conditions and influences geophysical, biological and chemical processes in the earth sciences. Soil temperature is not only affected by climatic and geographical factors; it is also modulated by local factors such as snow cover and vegetation. This paper investigates the relationship between snow cover and vegetation and soil temperature with the help of two classical remote sensing indicators, the Snow Cover Days (SCD) based Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)-based Global Inventory Modelling and Mapping Studies, to analyse the influence of local factors on soil temperature in the Three River Source Region (TRSR). Combing multi-layer geothermal observations from 23 stations in the TRSR with meteorological dataset, soil properties datasets, snow cover and vegetation indices, a non-linear model, the Random Forest model, is used to establish a multi-layer soil temperature dataset to analyse the influence of surface cover factors in each depth. The results showed that the annual SCD had a decreasing trend during 1982–2015 and was negatively correlated with the annual mean soil temperature; the annual NDVI had no significant trend, but it was positively correlated with the annual mean soil temperature. Regionally, there was a significant decrease in SCD in the mountainous areas bordering the source areas of the three rivers, and there was a trend of increasing NDVI in the northwest and decreasing vegetation in the southwest in the TRSR. The stronger the correlation with soil temperature in areas with a larger SCD, the more the snow has a cooling effect on the shallower soil temperatures due to the high albedo of the accumulated snow and the repeated melting and heat absorption of the snow in the area. The snow has an insulating effect on the 40 cm soil layer by impeding the cooling effect of the atmosphere in winter. In sparsely vegetated areas, vegetation lowers ground albedo and warms the soil, but in July and August, in areas with more vegetation, NDVI is negatively correlated with soil temperature, with heavy vegetation intercepting summer radiant energy and having a cooling effect on the soil.

Abstract Background Multistate foodborne disease outbreaks and recalls of apples and apple products contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes demonstrate the need for improved pathogen control in the apple supply chain. Apple processing facilities have been identified in the past as potential sources of persisting L. monocytogenes contamination. In this study, we sought to understand the composition of microbiota in built apple and other tree fruit processing environments and its association with the occurrence of the foodborne pathogen L. monocytogenes. Results Analysis of 117 samples collected from three apple and other tree fruit packing facilities (F1, F2, and F3) showed that facility F2 had a significantly higher L. monocytogenes occurrence compared to F1 and F3 (p < 0.01). The microbiota in facility F2 was distinct compared to facilities F1 and F3 as supported by the mean Shannon index for bacterial and fungal alpha diversities that was significantly lower in F2, compared to F1 and F3 (p < 0.01). Microbiota in F2 was uniquely predominated by bacterial family Pseudomonadaceae and fungal family Dipodascaceae. Conclusions The composition and diversity of microbiota and mycobiota present in the investigated built food processing environments may be indicative of persistent contamination with L. monocytogenes. These findings support the need for further investigation of the role of the microbial communities in the persistence of L. monocytogenes to support the optimization of L. monocytogenes control strategies in the apple supply chain.

This white paper presents a series of perspectives on current and future phytobiome management, discussed at the Wild and Tamed Phytobiomes Symposium in University Park, PA, U.S.A., in June 2018. To enhance plant productivity and health, and to translate lab- and greenhouse-based phytobiome research to field applications, the academic community and end-users need to address a variety of scientific, practical, and social challenges. Prior discussion of phytobiomes has focused heavily on plant-associated bacterial and fungal assemblages, but the phytobiomes concept covers all factors that influence plant function. Here we discuss various management considerations, including abiotic conditions (e.g., soil and nutrient applications), microorganisms (e.g., bacterial and fungal assemblages, bacterial and fungal inoculants, and viruses), macroorganisms (e.g., arthropods and plant genetics), and societal factors (e.g., communication approaches and technology diffusion). An important near-term goal for this field should be to estimate the potential relative contribution of different components of the phytobiome to plant health, as well as the potential and risk of modifying each in the near future.

Quantum verification has been highlighted as a significant challenge on the road to scalable technology, especially with the rapid development of quantum computing. To verify quantum states, self-testing is proposed as a device-independent concept, which is based only on the observed statistics. Previous studies focused on bipartite states and some multipartite states, including all symmetric states, but only in the case of three qubits. In this paper, we first give a criterion for the self-testing of a four-qubit symmetric state with a special structure and the robustness analysis based on vector norm inequalities. Then we generalize the idea to a family of parameterized four-qubit symmetric states through projections onto two subsystems.

Abstract Cluster states, whose model are a remarkably rich structure in measurement-based quantum computation, hold high degree of entanglement, while entanglement is very fragile during the process of transmission because of the inevitable interaction with the environment. We propose two entanglement concentration protocols for four-particle linear cluster states which and are susceptible to the decoherence and the imperfect communication setups. In the first protocol, POVM operators are introduced to maximize the success probability, and the second protocol is based on cross-Kerr nonlinearity which is utilized to check the parity between the original particle and the ancillary particle. Both of the protocols have their own advantages. The first one can be easily realized in experiment by linear optics, while the one with cross-Kerr nonlinearity reach more than 90% success probability by iteration. Since the wide application of cluster states, the two protocols are efficient and valuable to different fields of quantum communication.

Visible light communication (VLC) can provide short-range optical wireless communication, together with illumination using light-emitting diode (LED) lightings. Since conventional forward error correction (FEC) codes cannot provide two lighting related features, dimming support, and flicker mitigation, the existing coding schemes for reliable VLC usually rely on auxiliary coding techniques, which cause a complicated structure and a low transmission efficiency. In this paper, based on polar codes, an efficient and flicker-free FEC coding scheme for dimmable VLC is proposed to increase the transmission efficiency and simplify the coding structure. Taking advantage of polar codes' recursive encoding structure, the proposed scheme can guarantee the equal probability and the short runs of 1 s and 0 s for arbitrary code rate without extra coding components. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme can have twice higher transmission efficiency than the existing schemes. Furthermore, at a dimming ratio of 25% or 75%, the coding gain of the proposed scheme is about 4.6 dB and 1.4 dB higher than that of the Reed-Solomon (RS) codes based scheme and the low-density parity check code based scheme, respectively.

Objective This study aimed to examine the relationship between the follicular output rate (FORT) and clinical outcomes in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Methods A total of 841 patients with PCOS undergoing in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) were divided into three groups according to their FORT (low, middle, and high). Controlled ovarian hyperstimulation and clinical outcomes were compared retrospectively. Results Serum estradiol levels on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin (3780.5, 3599.9, and 3375.7 pg/mL) and the number of retrieved oocytes (17.5, 16.1, and 14.8) decreased from the high to low FORT groups. Pre-ovulatory follicle counts were significantly higher in the high FORT group than in the middle and low FORT groups. The number of retrieved oocytes, high-quality embryo rate, and clinical pregnancy rate decreased from the high to low FORT groups. The incidence of moderate and severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) in the middle FORT group was significantly lower than that in the high and low FORT groups. Conclusions FORT may be used to predict clinical outcomes of IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection-embryo transfer in patients with PCOS. Efforts should be made to prevent OHSS in patients with PCOS and a high or low FORT in controlled ovarian hyperstimulation cycles.

CoO/g-C3N4 hybrid catalyst is facilely prepared for application to photocatalytic H2 evolution from water splitting by the vacuum rotation–evaporation and in situ thermal method. The physical and chemical properties of CoO/g-C3N4 are determined by a series of characterization methods. The g-C3N4 with 0.6 wt% Co loading exhibits superior photocatalytic hydrogen evolution activity with an H2 evolution amount of 23.25 mmol g−1 after 5 h. The obtained 0.6 wt% CoO/g-C3N4 can split water to generate 0.39 mmol g−1 H2 without sacrificial agent and noble metal, while the pure g-C3N4 is inactive under the same reaction conditions. The remarkable enhancement of photocatalytic H2 evolution activity of CoO/g-C3N4 composites is mainly ascribed to the effective separation of electron–hole pairs and charge transfer. The work creates new opportunities for the design of low-cost g-C3N4-based photocatalysts with high photocatalytic H2 evolution activity from overall water splitting.

Recent advances in theoretical and experimental quantum computing raise the problem of verifying the outcome of these quantum computations. The recent verification protocols using blind quantum computing are fruitful for addressing this problem. Unfortunately, all known schemes have relatively high overhead. Here we present a novel construction for the resource state of verifiable blind quantum computation. This approach achieves a better verifiability of 0.866 in the case of classical output. In addition, the number of required qubits is 2N+4cN, where N and c are the number of vertices and the maximal degree in the original computation graph, respectively. In other words, our overhead is less linear in the size of the computational scale. Finally, we utilize the method of repetition and fault-tolerant code to optimise the verifiability.

BACKGROUND: Osteogenic induction and bone formation are heavily affected by environmental factors, including estrogen, estrogen receptors, and coregulatory proteins, such as the recently reported proline-, glutamic acid-, and leucine-rich protein 1(Pelp1). OBJECTIVE: To investigate Pelp1 expression in rat bone mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSCs) during cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation. METHODS: rBMSCs were cultured in routine and osteogenic differentiation media. Cell proliferation was assessed at days 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 14, and 21. Pelp1 protein expression in the nucleus and cytoplasm were detected by immunocytochemical analysis. Real-time RT-PCR and western blot were used to detect mRNA and protein expressions of Pelp1, osteocalcin (OCN), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP). RESULTS: Over 21 days, rBMSCs in routine culture exhibited a 1-2 day lag phase and exponential growth from day 3 to 9, plateauing at day 9, and correlated with temporal mRNA expression of Pelp1, which almost reached baseline levels at day 21. In osteogenic induction cultures, Pelp1 mRNA levels rose at day 9 and steadily increased until day 21, reaching 6.8-fold greater value compared with day 1. Interestingly, Pelp1 mRNA expression in osteogenic cultures exhibited a trend similar to that of OCN expression. Pelp1 knockdown by siRNA transfection inhibited undifferentiated rBMSC proliferation, and bone markers OCN and ALP expressions in rBMSCs cultured in routine and osteogenic differentiation media. CONCLUSIONS: Pelp1 may be a key player in BMSCs proliferation and osteogenic differentiation, meriting further consideration as a target for development of therapies for pathological bone loss conditions, such as menopausal bone loss.