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Abstract Background High-efficiency prime editing (PE) is desirable for precise genome manipulation. The activity of mammalian PE systems can be largely improved by inhibiting DNA mismatch repair by coexpressing a dominant-negative variant of MLH1. However, this strategy has not been widely used for PE optimization in plants, possibly because of its less conspicuous effects and inconsistent performance at different sites. Results We show that direct RNAi knockdown of OsMLH1 in an ePE5c system increases the efficiency of our most recently updated PE tool by 1.30- to 2.11-fold in stably transformed rice cells, resulting in as many as 85.42% homozygous mutants in the T0 generation. The high specificity of ePE5c is revealed by whole-genome sequencing. To overcome the partial sterility induced by OsMLH1 knockdown of ePE5c, a conditional excision system is introduced to remove the RNAi module by Cre-mediated site-specific recombination. Using a simple approach of enriching excision events, we generate 100% RNAi module-free plants in the T0 generation. The increase in efficiency due to OsMLH1 knockdown is maintained in the excised plants, whose fertility is not impaired. Conclusions This study provides a safe and reliable plant PE optimization strategy for improving editing efficiency without disturbing plant development via transient MMR inhibition with an excisable RNAi module of MLH1.

Abstract Background Gut microbiota is significantly influenced by altitude. However, the dynamics of gut microbiota in relation to altitude remains undisclosed. Methods In this study, we investigated the microbiome profile of 610 healthy young men from three different places in China, grouped by altitude, duration of residence, and ethnicity. We conducted widely targeted metabolomic profiling and clinical testing to explore metabolic characteristics. Results Our findings revealed that as the Han individuals migrated from low altitude to high latitude, the gut microbiota gradually converged towards that of the Tibetan populations but reversed upon returning to lower altitude. Across different cohorts, we identified 51 species specifically enriched during acclimatization and 57 species enriched during deacclimatization to high altitude. Notably, Prevotella copri was found to be the most enriched taxon in both Tibetan and Han populations after ascending to high altitude. Furthermore, significant variations in host plasma metabolome and clinical indices at high altitude could be largely explained by changes in gut microbiota composition. Similar to Tibetans, 41 plasma metabolites, such as lactic acid, sphingosine-1-phosphate, taurine, and inositol, were significantly elevated in Han populations after ascending to high altitude. Germ-free animal experiments demonstrated that certain species, such as Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, which exhibited altitude-dependent variations in human populations, might play crucial roles in host purine metabolism. Conclusions This study provides insights into the dynamics of gut microbiota and host plasma metabolome with respect to altitude changes, indicating that their dynamics may have implications for host health at high altitude and contribute to host adaptation. Video Abstract

Abstract This qualitative study investigated the impact of discussion panels on language education, focusing on willingness to communicate (WTC), growth mindfulness, and autonomy among Chinese learners at intermediate and upper-intermediate proficiency levels. The study, conducted in Hebei, China, involved 27 learners, with 14 in the experimental group exposed to discussion panels and 13 in the control group receiving traditional teacher-fronted lessons. The research design employed semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis for data collection, analyzed manually through thematic analysis. Results revealed that learners in the experimental group exhibited heightened WTC, increased growth mindfulness, and greater autonomy compared to the control group. The discussion panels facilitated authentic language use, collaborative discourse, and turn-taking, aligning with communication theory, sociocultural theory (SCT), and learner-centered pedagogy. Findings also resonated with the significance of WTC in language learning, supported by established theories. Additionally, the study contributes to the growing literature on the intersection of mindfulness, autonomy, and language education. Implications for language teachers, policy-makers, syllabus-designers, and materials developers are discussed, emphasizing the potential benefits of integrating discussion panels. The study concludes with insights into limitations, suggestions for further research, and a call for pedagogical innovation to enhance language learning experiences.

β-galactosidase, as a safe and nontoxic enzyme preparation, has been not only widely used in food industry and medical fields, but also has great application potential in biotechnology fields, such as enzyme engineering and protein engineering. Microbial fermentation, as a mainstream production method of β-galactosidase, still has some problems including long fermentation time and low extraction rate. While using the heterologous expression system of engineering bacteria to produce β-galactosidase shows the advantages of high expression quantity and low cost. This paper focuses on the gene source, expression host bacteria, expression methods of β-galactosidase heterologous expression system and its application value, to be aimed at providing scientific basis and theoretical reference for the development and utilization of novel β-galactosidase products.

Base editors of the Cas9 system have been widely used for precise nucleotide substitution in crops. In this study, Cas12a was applied to construct plant cytosine base editors (CBEs). The main elements of Cas12a-CBEs were engineered and their efficiency was evaluated in stably transformed rice cells. An optimized ttCas12a-hyA3Bctd editor, consisting of a LbCas12a variant carrying catalytic inactive D832A and temperature-tolerance D156R double mutations, a truncated human APOBEC3B deaminase, a human RAD51 single-stranded DNA-binding domain, and double copies of UGI, outperformed other Cas12a-CBEs in base editing efficiency. In T0 transgenic rice plants, ttCas12a-hyA3Bctd edited an average of 42.01% and a maximum of 68.75% of lines at six genomic targets. A-to-G conversions were generated in rice by an adenine base editor with a similar architecture to the optimized CBE. Our results provide preliminary evidence for the feasibility of robust and efficient plant Cas12a base editing systems, which could be useful for precise crop breeding.

This work aimed to explore low-intensity ultrasound-assisted adaptive laboratory evolution (US-ALE) of Bacillus velezensis and fermentation performance of mutant strains were investigated by nitrogen transformation metabolism. Results showed ultrasound accelerated the process of adaptive evolution and enhanced cell dry weight, amylase and protease activity of mutant strains, accompanied with the improved transformation abilities of NO–3-N to NH4+-N. Compared with original strain, the total peptide-N, peptide-N (

IntroductionPrior MRI studies have shown that patients with subcortical ischemic vascular disease (SIVD) exhibited white matter damage, gray matter atrophy and memory impairment, but the specific characteristics and interrelationships of these abnormal changes have not been fully elucidated.Materials and methodsWe collected the MRI data and memory scores from 29 SIVD patients with cognitive impairment (SIVD-CI), 29 SIVD patients with cognitive unimpaired (SIVD-CU) and 32 normal controls (NC). Subsequently, the thicknesses and volumes of the gray matter regions that are closely related to memory function were automatically assessed using FreeSurfer software. Then, the volume, fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) values of white matter hyperintensity (WMH) region and normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) were obtained using SPM, DPARSF, and FSL software. Finally, the analysis of covariance, spearman correlation and mediation analysis were used to analyze data.ResultsCompared with NC group, patients in SIVD-CI and SIVD-CU groups showed significantly abnormal volume, FA, MD, ALFF, and ReHo values of WMH region and NAWM, as well as significantly decreased volume and thickness values of gray matter regions, mainly including thalamus, middle temporal gyrus and hippocampal subfields such as cornu ammonis (CA) 1. These abnormal changes were significantly correlated with decreased visual, auditory and working memory scores. Compared with the SIVD-CU group, the significant reductions of the left CA2/3, right amygdala, right parasubiculum and NAWM volumes and the significant increases of the MD values in the WMH region and NAWM were found in the SIVD-CI group. And the increased MD values were significantly related to working memory scores. Moreover, the decreased CA1 and thalamus volumes mediated the correlations between the abnormal microstructure indicators in WMH region and the decreased memory scores in the SIVD-CI group.ConclusionPatients with SIVD had structural and functional damages in both WMH and NAWM, along with specific gray matter atrophy, which were closely related to memory impairment, especially CA1 atrophy and thalamic atrophy. More importantly, the volumes of some temporomesial regions and the MD values of WMH regions and NAWM may be potentially helpful neuroimaging indicators for distinguishing between SIVD-CI and SIVD-CU patients.

Reliable lithology spatial distribution directly reflects the geological situation of the reservoir, which is the basis of stratigraphic correlation, sedimentary modeling, and other geological research. Under the condition of limited reservoir data, it is a challenging task to accurately depict the lithology spatial distribution and provide a quantitative reliability analysis of the results. In this study, we propose a flexible spatial distribution prediction and model reliability analysis method. Firstly, the method develops a spatially dependent deep Kriging technology to fit the heterogeneous characteristics of the reservoir lithology, and adopts the extracted spatial key information and related reservoir attributes to invert lithology spatial distribution intelligently. Then, it focuses on the real-time assimilation of non-Gaussian data in the reliability modeling and quantitatively analyzes the reliability of the prediction system under the non-Gaussian hypothesis. Finally, the method is applied to the actual heterogeneous reservoir, good results are achieved in the prediction accuracy, model fitting degree, model reliability, and time performance compared with other methods. The method is conducive to finding future mineral deposits locations and reducing exploration costs.

Abstract Background Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported to play regulatory roles in ulcerative colitis (UC). In this study, we aimed to determine the specific roles and action mechanism of the nuclear paraspeckle assembly transcript 1 (NEAT1) in UC. Methods Reverse transcription‐quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT‐qPCR) was used to determine the lncRNA NEAT1 and miR‐493‐5p expression levels in patients with UC and healthy volunteers. We determine the forecast linkage points of NEAT1 and miR‐493‐5p using Starbase and those of miR‐493‐5p and Rab27A using TargetScan, and further verified them using a double luciferase gene reporter kit. RT‐qPCR and Western blot analysis were used to determine the lncRNA NEAT1, miR‐493‐5p, and Rab27A expression levels in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐induced Caco‐2 cells. Flow cytometry and cell counting kit‐8 were used to assess Caco‐2 cell viability. Tumor necrosis factor‐α, interleukin (IL)‐6, IL‐8, and IL‐1β levels were determined via an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay. Results Expression levels of NEAT1 were upregulated and those of miR‐493‐5p were downregualted in 10 ng/mL LPS‐treated Caco‐2 cells and patients with UC. Dual‐luciferase gene reporter assay revealed that miR‐493‐5p is linked to NEAT1, and Rab27A is a downstream target of miR‐493‐5p. Overexpression of miR‐493‐5p inhibited the apoptosis and inflammation in LPS‐treated Caco‐2 cells. Moreover, downregulation of lncRNA NEAT1 expression also inhibited the apoptosis and inflammation in LPS‐treated Caco‐2 cells, which was reversed by Rab27A plasmid cotransfection. Conclusion Our results revealed that NEAT1 participates in UC progression by inhibiting miR‐493‐5p expression.

The effects of power ultrasound (US) pretreatment on the preparation of soy protein isolate hydrolysate (SPIH) prepared at the same degree of hydrolysis (DH) of 12 % were measured. Cylindrical power ultrasound was modified into mono-frequency (20, 28, 35, 40, 50 kHz) ultrasonic cup coupled with an agitator to make it applicable for high density SPI (soy protein isolate) solutions (14 %, w/v). A comparative study of the alterations of the hydrolysates molecular weight, hydrophobics, antioxidants and functional properties change as well as their relation were explored. The results showed that under the same DH, ultrasound pretreatment decelerated the degradation of protein molecular mass and the decrease rate of the degradation lessened with the increase of ultrasonic frequency. Meanwhile, the pretreatments improved the hydrophobics and antioxidants properties of SPIH. Both surface hydrophobicity (H0) and relative hydrophobicity (RH) of the pretreated groups increased with the decrease of ultrasonic frequency. Lowest frequency (20 kHz) ultrasound pretreatment had the most improved emulsifying properties and water holding capacities, although decrease in the viscosity and solubility were found. Most of these alterations were correspondence toward the change in hydrophobics properties and molecular mass. In conclusion, the frequency selection of ultrasound pretreatment is essential for the alteration of SPIH functional qualities prepared at the same DH.

Otostigmus (O.) lewisi Song et al., 2005 was described from sub-adult specimens from Jiacha County (Xizang, China), but was synonymized by Lewis (2010) with the Nepalese species O. (O.) beroni Lewis, 2001. The latter was also recorded from Jilong County (Xizang, China) by Song et al. (2005). Following a comparison of O. (O.) beroni from Jilong County with new materials of O. (O.) lewisi from Jiacha County, we reaffirm that O. (O.) lewisi is a valid species.

Corn gluten meal is a major by-product of corn wet-milling process in the starch industry. The low water solubility and deficiency of essential amino acids of corn gluten meal limits its application in the food industry, while corn polypeptides after enzymatic hydrolysis can greatly improve its functions and biological activities, it is one of the high value-added utilization methods. This review encompasses the studies reported to date on the main preparation methods of corn polypeptides, and also describes its bioactivities including antioxidant, antiglycemia, antihypertensive, hepatoprotective, pointing out the existing problems and future development prospects. The paper is of great significance for food enterprises to utilize corn gluten meal efficiently to develop bioactive peptides and improve economic benefits of the industry.

BackgroundRectal cancer patients who received neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) may have a lower cancer stage and a better prognosis. Some patients may be able to avoid invasive surgery. It is critical to accurately assess lymph node metastases (LNM) after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy. The goal of this study is to identify clinical variables associated with LNM and to develop a nomogram for LNM prediction in rectal cancer patients following nCRT.MethodsFrom 2010 to 2015, patients were drawn from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. To identify clinical factors associated with LNM, the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) aggression and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used. To predict the likelihood of LNM, a nomogram based on multivariate logistic regression was created using decision curve analyses.ReslutThe total number of patients included in this study was 6,388. The proportion of patients with pCR was 17.50% (n=1118), and the proportion of patients with primary tumor pCR was 20.84% (n = 1,331). The primary tumor was pCR in 16.00% (n=213) of the patients. Age, clinical T stage, clinical N stage, and histology were found to be significant independent clinical predictors of LNM using LASSO and multivariate logistic regression analysis. The nomogram was developed based on four clinical factors. The 5-year overall survival rate was 78.9 percent for those with ypN- and 66.3 percent for those with ypN+, respectively (P

Abstract Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin produced by Aspergillus and Penicillium genera. It is hepatotoxic, nephrotoxic and carcinogenic. The growing contamination of OTA in wine and grape juice is a great threat to human. In this study, different enzymes were screened for the detoxification of OTA in wine and grape juice. The results indicated that seven enzymes had OTA degradation capacity in the buffer, and the degradation rate of carboxypeptidase A (CPA), lipase, pancreatin and thermolysin were 100%, 100%, 75.72%, and 73.45%, respectively. In grape beverages, pancreatin and CPA showed the most promising result with OTA degradation of 53.24% and 61.56% at 37°C. The LC‐MS/MS analysis further indicated that OTA produced nontoxic OTα and phenylalanine under treatment with three enzymes (carboxypeptidase A, lipase, and pancreatin). Furthermore, pancreatin and CPA had a clarifying effect on wine and grape juice, but had a slight effect on the organic acids and flavor components of them. It suggested that pancreatin and CPA could be used for OTA degradation in grape beverages.

Low-lethality ultrasound technology has received more and more attention in regulating microorganisms of fermentation industry. Herein, two representative Ames tester strains TA97a and TA98 as model organisms were used to explore the effects of ultrasound on insertion-deletion (InDel) polymorphisms of microbial DNA and its underlying mechanisms. Results revealed that a promotion was observed in the reversion mutation of TA98 upon sonication. Sequencing results from 1752 TA98 revertants showed that there was a total of 127 InDels, of which the InDels unique to ultrasound were 36 more than that of the control. Compared with the control, ultrasound-mediated InDels of DNA displayed additional −29 bp deletion and +7 ∼ +43 bp insertions of direct repeat sequences. Combined with the analysis of transcriptomics and prediction of secondary structure of single-stranded DNA from InDels core region (No. 832 ∼ 915 bp) in hisD3052 gene of TA98 strain, ultrasound-mediated “thermal breathing” mechanism was proposed based on the formation of DNA hairpin structure with micro-homologous sequence. This finding implied that low-intensity ultrasound is expected to be developed a new low-lethal mutagenic technology for continuous mutagenesis.

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) has a high prevalence and poor prognosis. This study aimed to identify biomarkers related to the clinical stage (I-IV) of CRC. Methods: The LinkedOmics database was used as the discovery cohort, and two Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases (GSE41258 and GSE422848) served as validation cohorts. The trend test of genes related to clinical stage (I-IV) of CRC patients was identified by the Jonckheere-Terpstra test. The cBioPortal database, Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis (GEPIA) and PrognoScan databases were used to explore the expression change and prognostic value of clinical stage-related genes in CRC patients. CRC cells overexpressed AGPAT5 were constructed and used for cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), flow cytometric, and wound healing assays in vitro. Results: We identified four clinical stage-related genes, GSR, AGPAT5, CRLF1, and NPR3, in CRC. The CNA frequencies of GSR, CRLF1, AGPAT5, and NPR3 occurred in 11%, 2.4%, 13%, and 3% of patients, respectively. The expression of GSR and AGPAT5 tended to decrease with CRC stage (I-IV) progression, and the expression of CRLF1 and NPR3 tended to increase with CRC stage (I-IV) progression. Compared with the normal group, AGPAT5 expression was markedly decreased in stage IV CRC. Higher GSR and AGPAT5 expression levels were associated with better overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) in CRC patients. Lower CRLF1 and NPR3 expression levels were associated with better OS and DFS in CRC. GSR, CRLF1, AGPAT5, and NPR3 expression were related to CRC progression, microsatellite instability, and tumour purity in CRC. Furthermore, AGPAT5 was downregulated in CRC cell lines, and overexpression of AGPAT5 inhibited cell proliferation and migration and promoted cell apoptosis in CRC cells. Conclusion: Low AGPAT5 expression may serve as a poor prognostic factor and clinical stage biomarker in CRC. In addition, AGPAT5 acts as a tumour suppressor in CRC progression.

PurposeThis study aimed to investigate the relationship between serum C-reactive protein (CRP)/Albumin ratio (CAR) and postoperative delirium (POD) in patients older than 60 years following total knee arthroplasty (TKA).MethodsFrom January 2019 to January 2021, 268 patients were recruited in this prospective observational investigation. Patients with serum CRP, Alb, CAR, delirious status and delirious score were assessed. The effect of CRP, Alb, CAR on predicting delirium was assessed with the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC).ResultsThe study found that higher CRP level (P

Abstract Background The widespread pandemic of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses an unprecedented global health crisis. In the United States (US), different state governments have adopted various combinations of non-pharmaceutical public health interventions (NPIs), such as non-essential business closures and gathering bans, to mitigate the epidemic from February to April, 2020. Quantitative assessment on the effectiveness of NPIs is greatly needed to assist in guiding individualized decision making for adjustment of interventions in the US and around the world. However, the impacts of these approaches remain uncertain. Methods Based on the reported cases, the effective reproduction number (R t ) of COVID-19 epidemic for 50 states in the US was estimated. Measurements on the effectiveness of nine different NPIs were conducted by assessing risk ratios (RRs) between R t and NPIs through a generalized linear model (GLM). Results Different NPIs were found to have led to different levels of reduction in R t . Stay-at-home contributed approximately 51% (95% CI 46–57%), wearing (face) masks 29% (15–42%), gathering ban (more than 10 people) 19% (14–24%), non-essential business closure 16% (10–21%), declaration of emergency 13% (8–17%), interstate travel restriction 11% (5–16%), school closure 10% (7–14%), initial business closure 10% (6–14%), and gathering ban (more than 50 people) 7% (2–11%). Conclusions This retrospective assessment of NPIs on R t has shown that NPIs played critical roles on epidemic control in the US in the past several months. The quantitative results could guide individualized decision making for future adjustment of NPIs in the US and other countries for COVID-19 and other similar infectious diseases.

A highly regioselective reaction of 2-indolylmethanols with enamides has been developed at room temperature by using AlCl3 as a catalyst. A wide range of hybrids (40 examples) of indoles and enamides were obtained in moderate to good yields (up to 98% yield). This transformation represents the efficient way to introduce biologically important indoles and enamides skeleton into structurally complex hybrids.

Shamanic culture, which adheres to the worldview of connecting earth and heaven, has been marginalized in the discourse of the modern material world and separated from mainstream society. However, with the increase in personal problems in civil society and the rise of regional cultural identity since the reform and opening up in China, shamanic practitioners have again become active. Adapting to the official ideology, shamanic culture has emerged in China as a new form of folk culture and cultural heritage. Using Michael Herzfeld’s theory of “cultural intimacy” to a limited extent, this paper regards the new image of the shamanic tradition that has appeared in the new era as a manifestation of “cultural intimacy”, which does not infringe the authority of official discourse, nor damage the interests of government departments, and is in line with the imagination of official discourse about culture. Within the shaman cultural community, the shamanic tradition continues to connect earth and heaven, helping to solve difficult personal problems, alleviating the pressure of the material world, and at the same time making the sacred expression of the members of the shaman cultural community possible. In this way, the shaman tradition, which has emerged in a new image since the new era, has maintained the ecological balance between government and folk practices and formed a more stable pattern of cooperation.

Background: Renal fibrosis is a key driver of progression in chronic kidney disease (CKD). Recent advances in diagnostic imaging techniques have shown promising results for the noninvasive assessment of renal fibrosis. However, the specificity and accuracy of these techniques are controversial because they indirectly assess renal fibrosis. This limits fibrosis assessment by imaging in CKD for clinical practice. To validate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assessment for fibrosis, we derived representative models by mapping histology-proven renal fibrosis and imaging in CKD. Methods: Ninety-seven adult Chinese CKD participants with histology were studied. The kidney cortex interstitial extracellular matrix volume was calculated by the Aperio ScanScope system using Masson’s trichrome slices. The kidney cortex microcirculation was quantitatively assessed by peritubular capillary density using CD34 staining. The imaging techniques included intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion-weighted imaging and magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) imaging. Relevant analyses were performed to evaluate the correlations between MRI parameters and histology variables. Multiple linear regression models were used to describe the relationships between a response variable and other variables. The best-fit lines, which minimize the sum of squared residuals of the multiple linear regression models, were generated. Results: MRE values were negatively associated with the interstitial extracellular matrix volume (Rho = −0.397, p < 0.001). The best mapping model of extracellular matrix volume with the MRE value and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) we obtained was as follows: Interstitial extracellular matrix volume = 218.504 – 14.651 × In(MRE) – 18.499 × In(eGFR). DWI-fraction values were positively associated with peritubular capillary density (Rho = 0.472, p < 0.001). The best mapping model of peritubular capillary density with DWI-fraction value and eGFR was as follows: Peritubular capillaries density = 17.914 + 9.403 × (DWI – fraction) + 0.112 × (eGFR). Conclusions: The study provides histological evidence to support that MRI can effectively evaluate fibrosis in the kidney. These findings picture the graphs of the mapping model from imaging and eGFR into fibrosis, which has significant value for clinical implementation.

An iterative pairwise maximum likelihood (ML) receiver is proposed for asymmetrically clipped optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (ACO-OFDM) in visible light communications (VLC). With the aid of the pairwise ML detection, half of the received ACO-OFDM samples are forced to zero in time domain. However, when the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is low, the pairwise ML detection may cause misjudgment. With the iterative pairwise ML detection, the ACO-OFDM symbols are detected in frequency domain and the SNR gain of 3 dB could be available. Simulation results show that the pairwise ML receiver without iteration provides the SNR improvement of 1.5∼2.7 dB for 7% forward error correction (FEC) limit. The proposed iterative receiver gives a SNR gain of 2.6∼2.9 dB with 7% FEC limit.

A single Fourier transform (FFT) receiver with pairwise maximum likelihood (ML) is proposed for layered asymmetrically clipped optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (LACO-OFDM). To improve the single-FFT receiver, the pairwise ML detection is made in time domain after a layer diversion in LACO-OFDM. With only one FFT block, the proposed receiver has a low complexity. Simulation results show that the proposed receiver has the better bit error ratio (BER) performance than the conventional iterative scheme for the LACO-OFDM system with 2 layers in additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. Furthermore, it is proved that compared with the conventional iterative receiver, the proposed receiver is less sensitive to the clipping distortion. As the nonlinearity increased, the proposed scheme can outperform the conventional iterative solution in nonlinearity channel for LACO-OFDM in visible light communications.

Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a serious complication of diabetes that can lead to heart failure and death, for which there is no effective treatment. Rhynchophylline (Rhy) is the main effective component of the Chinese herbal medicine Uncaria rhynchophylla, which mainly acts on the cardiovascular and nervous systems. However, its role in protecting against DCM remains unexplored. The present study sought to reveal the mechanism of Rhy in improving type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) myocardial lesions from the perspective of regulating calcium homeostasis in cardiomyocytes. We prepared a mouse model of T2DM using a high-fat diet combined with low doses of streptozotocin. The T2DM mice were given 40 mg/kg of Rhy for 8 weeks. The results showed that Rhy can attenuate cardiac pathological changes, slow down the heart rate, decrease serum cardiac enzyme levels, reduce cardiomyocyte apoptosis, enhance cardiomyocyte contractility, and raise the calcium transient amplitude in T2DM mice. Further, Rhy downregulated the phosphorylation level of ryanodine receptor 2, upregulated the phosphorylation level of phospholamban, protected mitochondrial structure and function, and increased adenosine triphosphate levels in the cardiac tissue of T2DM mice. Our results demonstrated that Rhy may protect against myocardial damage in T2DM mice and promote cardiomyocyte contraction, and its mechanism of action seems to be related to the regulation of intracellular calcium homeostasis.

The efficiency of plant cytidine base-editing systems is limited, and unwanted mutations frequently occur in transgenic plants. We increased the cytidine editing frequency and fidelity of the plant base editor 3 (BE3) and targeted activation-induced cytidine deaminase (CDA) (target-AID) systems by coexpressing three copies of free uracil–DNA glycosylase (UDG) inhibitor (UGI). The editing efficiency of the improved BE3 and CDA systems reached as high as 88.9% and 85.7%, respectively, in regenerated rice plants, with a very low frequency of unwanted mutations. The low editing frequency of the BE3 system in the GC context could be overcome by the modified CDA system. These results provide a high-fidelity and high-efficiency solution for rice genomic base editing.

Abstract Background Our study aims to develop and validate diagnostic models of the common parotid tumors based on whole-volume CT textural image biomarkers (IBMs) in combination with clinical parameters at a single institution. Methods The study cohort was composed of 51 pleomorphic adenoma (PA) patients and 42 Warthin tumor (WT) patients. Clinical parameters and conventional image features were scored retrospectively and textural IBMs were extracted from CT images of arterial phase. Independent-samples t test or Chi-square test was used for evaluating the significance of the difference among clinical parameters, conventional CT image features, and textural IBMs. The diagnostic performance of univariate model and multivariate model was evaluated via receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and area under ROC curve (AUC). Results Significant differences were found in clinical parameters (age, gender, disease duration, smoking), conventional image features (site, maximum diameter, time-density curve, peripheral vessels sign) and textural IBMs (mean, uniformity, energy, entropy) between PA group and WT group (P

Abstract Background The main cause of cancer death is lung cancer (LC) which usually presents at an advanced stage, but its early detection would increase the benefits of treatment. Blood is particularly favored in clinical research given the possibility of using it for relatively noninvasive analyses. Copy number variation (CNV) is a common genetic change in tumor genomes, and many studies have indicated that CNV‐derived cell‐free DNA (cfDNA) from plasma could be feasible as a biomarker for cancer diagnosis. Methods In this study, we determined the possibility of using chromosomal arm‐level CNV from cfDNA as a biomarker for lung cancer diagnosis in a small cohort of 40 patients and 41 healthy controls. Arm‐level CNV distributions were analyzed based on z score, and the machine‐learning algorithm Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) was applied for cancer prediction. Results The results showed that amplifications tended to emerge on chromosomes 3q, 8q, 12p, and 7q. Deletions were frequently detected on chromosomes 22q, 3p, 5q, 16q, 10q, and 15q. Upon applying a trained XGBoost classifier, specificity and sensitivity of 100% were finally achieved in the test group (12 patients and 13 healthy controls). In addition, five‐fold cross‐validation proved the stability of the model. Finally, our results suggested that the integration of four arm‐level CNVs and the concentration of cfDNA into the trained XGBoost classifier provides a potential method for detecting lung cancer. Conclusion Our results suggested that the integration of four arm‐level CNVs and the concentration from of cfDNA integrated withinto the trained XGBoost classifier could become provides a potentially method for detecting lung cancer detection. Key points Significant findings of the study: Healthy individuals have different arm‐level CNV profiles from cancer patients. Amplifications tend to emerge on chromosome 3q, 8q, 12p, 7q and deletions tend to emerge on chromosome 22q, 3p, 5q, 16q, 10q, 15q. What this study adds: CfDNA concentration, arm 10q, 3q, 8q, 3p, and 22q are key features for prediction. Trained XGBoost classifier is a potential method for lung cancer detection.

Abstract Background Decline in cognition and in locomotion is associated with aging. However, the relationship between them and the current occurrence of them in Chinese elderly people was weak. Methods To investigate the details of these two functions in Chinese elderly people and to try to find some early recognition and intervention clues, data of MMSE test and usual gait speed from 4487 elderly people from seven provinces in China were analysed. Results The prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia in persons aged 60 and over was 17.83% and 4.08%, respectively. Among 11 items of MMSE, calculation, three‐word recall, drawing two pentagons, and temporal orientation were the most commonly impaired items in persons with MCI or dementia. The gait speed of old persons with dementia was significantly slower than that of persons with MCI or NCI. Meanwhile, old persons with gait speed >1.39 m/s fast gait speed also had high MMSE scores and no dementia was detected by MMSE. Conclusion The prevalence of dementia observed in this population was similar to that reported 20 years ago. Loss of temporal orientation and drawing two pentagons may supply more information for early recognition of cognitive impairment. Maintaining locomotion in a proper way may help old persons to prevent cognitive function decline.

Reference evapotranspiration (ET0) is an important component of the global water cycle, and its long-term change directly influences the regional water supply and demand balance. Under the background of global change, investigating spatiotemporal trends in ET0 and its response to climate change is of great importance for the conservation and rational utilization of water resources. Based on daily climate data from 91 meteorological stations during 1960–2017 in Northeast China, this study calculated ET0 using the Penman-Monteith method and analyzed its spatiotemporal change trends and primary driving factors. The results show the following: (1) During 1960–2017, the annual ET0 in Northeast China showed a nonsignificant upward trend at a rate of 1.45 mm/10a. A mutation point of ET0 was detected in 1993. From 1960 to 1993, ET0 experienced a significant decrease (p < 0.1), while annual air temperature showed a significant upward trend (p < 0.01), which indicated the appearance of an evaporation paradox. This was because the remarkable drop in wind speed and sunshine duration played a great role in the reduction of ET0. From 1994 to 2017, the evaporation paradox disappeared. (2) ET0 trend in Northeast China was significantly and positively related to altitude. In the lower altitude regions (ET0 generally decreased, while in the higher altitude areas (>500 m), ET0 displayed an upward trend. (3) Based on the results of multiple regression analysis, relative humidity was the primary driving factor for ET0 trends in Northeast China during 1960–2017. At diverse altitudes, the primary climatic factors influencing ET0 were different. In high-altitude areas (>500 m), the change in ET0 was mainly influenced by relative humidity, while wind speed was the primary driving factor at low altitudes (

Mesobuthus martensii, a famous and important Traditional Chinese Medicine has a long medical history and unique functions. It is the first scorpion species whose whole genome was sequenced worldwide. In addition, it is the most widespread and infamous poisonous animal in northern China with complex habitats. It possesses several kinds of toxins that can regulate different ion channels and serve as crucial natural drug resources. Extensive and in-depth studies have been performed on the structures and functions of toxins of M. martensii. In this research, we compared the morphology of M. martensii populations from different localities and calculated the COI genetic distance to determine intraspecific variations. Transcriptome sequencing by RNA-sequencing of the venom glands of M. martensii from ten localities and M. eupeus from one locality was analyzed. The results revealed intraspecific variation in the expression of sodium channel toxin genes, potassium channel toxin genes, calcium channel toxin genes, chloride channel toxin genes, and defensin genes that could be related to the habitats in which these populations are distributed, except the genetic relationships. However, it is not the same in different toxin families. M. martensii and M. eupeus exhibit sexual dimorphism under the expression of toxin genes, which also vary in different toxin families. The following order was recorded in the difference of expression of sodium channel toxin genes: interspecific difference; differences among different populations of the same species; differences between sexes in the same population, whereas the order in the difference of expression of potassium channel toxin genes was interspecific difference; differences between both sexes of same populations; differences among the same sex in different populations of the same species. In addition, there existed fewer expressed genes of calcium channel toxins, chloride channel toxins, and defensins (no more than four members in each family), and their expression differences were not distinct. Interestingly, the expression of two calcium channel toxin genes showed a preference for males and certain populations. We found a difference in the expression of sodium channel toxin genes, potassium channel toxin genes, and chloride channel toxin genes between M. martensii and M. eupeus. In most cases, the expression of one member of the toxin gene clusters distributed in series on the genome were close in different populations and genders, and the members of most clusters expressed in same population and gender tended to be the different. Twenty-one toxin genes were found with the MS/MS identification evidence of M. martensii venom. Since scorpions were not subjected to electrical stimulation or other special treatments before conducting the transcriptome extraction experiment, the results suggested the presence of intraspecific variation and sexual dimorphism of toxin components which revealed the expression characteristics of toxin and defensin genes in M. martensii. We believe this study will promote further in-depth research and use of scorpions and their toxin resources, which in turn will be helpful in standardizing the identification and medical applications of Quanxie in traditional Chinese medicine.

Abstract Background Next-generation sequencing technology is developing rapidly and the vast amount of data that is generated needs to be preprocessed for downstream analyses. However, until now, software that can efficiently make all the quality assessments and filtration of raw data is still lacking. Results We developed FastProNGS to integrate the quality control process with automatic adapter removal. Parallel processing was implemented to speed up the process by allocating multiple threads. Compared with similar up-to-date preprocessing tools, FastProNGS is by far the fastest. Read information before and after filtration can be output in plain-text, JSON, or HTML formats with user-friendly visualization. Conclusions FastProNGS is a rapid, standardized, and user-friendly tool for preprocessing next-generation sequencing data within minutes. It is an all-in-one software that is convenient for bulk data analysis. It is also very flexible and can implement different functions using different user-set parameter combinations.

Patients with subcortical ischemic vascular disease (SIVD) exhibit a high risk of cognitive impairment that might be caused by neurologic deficits and vascular injuries. However, the mechanism remains unknown. In current study, 24 normal controls (NC) and 54 SIVD patients, including 26 SIVD patients with no cognitive impairment (SIVD-NCI) and 28 SIVD patients with mild cognitive impairment (SIVD-MCI) underwent the resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) and neuropsychological assessments. We combined regional homogeneity (ReHo) and cerebral blood flow (CBF) by using the global ReHo-CBF correlations coefficient and the ReHo/CBF ratio to detect the inner link between neuronal activity and vascular responses. Correlations between the ReHo/CBF ratio and neuropsychological assessments were explored in patients with SIVD. As a result, we identified significantly decreased global ReHo-CBF coupling in the SIVD-NCI group and SIVD- MCI group with respect to the NC. The SIVD-MCI group showed more serious decoupling of the global ReHo-CBF correlation. We also found a significantly abnormal ReHo/CBF ratio predominantly located in cognitive-related brain regions, including the left insula, right middle temporal gyrus, right precuneus, left precentral gyrus, and left inferior parietal lobule but not the supramarginal and angular gyri. The SIVD-MCI group showed more severe disorders of neurovascular coupling than the other two groups. Moreover, the ReHo/CBF ratio in the left precentral gyrus of the SIVD-NCI group exhibited a positive correlation with the MMSE scores. These findings suggested that patients with SIVD show abnormal neurovascular coupling at the early stage of the disease and during disease development. It might be associated with disease severity and cognitive impairment. Neurovascular decoupling in brain may be a possible neuropathological mechanism of SIVD.

Subcortical ischemic vascular disease (SIVD) is a major cause of vascular cognitive impairment (CI) and features extensive atrophy in the cerebral cortex. We aimed to test the hypothesis that cognitive deficits in SIVD are linked to decreased cortical thickness in specific brain regions, which may constitute neuroimaging biomarkers of CI. Sixty-seven SIVD patients without (SIVD-NC, n = 35) and with (SIVD-CI, n = 32) CI and a group of healthy controls (HCs, n = 36) underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and cognitive functional assessments. FreeSurfer was used to preprocess structural MRI data and to calculate and compare cortical thickness. The correlation between cortical thickness and cognitive scores was examined in SIVD patients. Significantly altered cortical thickness in the bilateral insula, middle and inferior temporal lobes, precuneus, and medial temporal lobe (MTL) was identified among the three groups (p < 0.05, Monte Carlo simulation corrected). Post hoc results showed significantly decreased thickness in the bilateral insula and temporal lobe in SIVD-NC and SIVD-CI patients compared with HCs. However, the areas with reduced cortical thickness were larger in SIVD-CI than SIVD-NC patients. SIVD-CI patients had significantly reduced thickness in the bilateral precuneus and left MTL (Bonferroni corrected) compared with SIVD-NC patients when we extracted the mean thickness for each region of interest. In SIVD patients, the thicknesses of the left MTL and bilateral precuneus were positively correlated with immediate recall in the memory test. SIVD might lead to extensive cerebral cortical atrophy, while atrophy in the MTL and precuneus might be associated with memory deficits.

Objective: Changes in the normal asymmetry of the human brain often mean pathology. Current studies on the correlation between asymmetry and cognitive impairment have focused on Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD-related mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in gray matter asymmetry and their relationship with cognitive impairment in patients with subcortical ischemic vascular disease (SIVD) by using voxel-based morphological measurements.Methods: Fifty-nine SIVD patients with (subcortical vascular cognitive impairment, SVCI, N = 30) and without (pre-SVCI, N = 29) cognitive impairment and 30 normal controls (NC, N = 30) underwent high-resolution structural MRI and neuropsychological examinations. The differences in gray matter asymmetry among the three groups were estimated by using one-way ANOVA. Moreover, partial correlation analysis was performed to explore the relationships between the asymmetry index (AI) values and cognitive assessments controlled for age, sex, and education.Results: The gray matter asymmetries in the fusiform and parahippocampal gyruses of the SVCI group were significantly different from those of the NC group and the pre-SVCI group, while no differences were found between the NC group and the pre-SVCI group in the same areas. More specifically, in the fusiform and parahippocampal gyruses, the SVCI group displayed a dramatic rightward asymmetry, whereas the NC group and pre-SVCI group exhibited a marked leftward asymmetry. The results of the correlation analysis showed that the “mean AI” in significant cluster was strongly correlated with the changes in cognitive outcomes.Conclusion: This study demonstrated different lateralization in the fusiform and parahippocampal gyruses of SIVD patients with cognitive impairment compared to healthy subjects and SIVD patients without cognitive decline. Our findings may contribute to better understanding the possible mechanism of cognitive impairment in patients with SIVD, and they suggest the possibility of using gray matter asymmetry as a biomarker for disease progression.

Cr and Al coating were respectively deposited on Zr-4 alloy by magnetron sputtering and high temperature oxidation (HTO) tests were conducted in air environment at 1200 °C for 3 h for Cr-coated and Al-coated specimens. The morphology and phase composition of the specimens were detected by SEM, EDS and XRD. The adhesion properties were characterized by scratch test. The XRD results revealed that the two coatings were crystalline with preferred orientation. The results of scratch testing showed that critical load of Cr coating was higher than that of Al coating. After HTO test, the Cr-coated specimen was intact without cracking and spalling off, only the outermost layer of Cr coating was oxidized to a Cr2O3 layer of about 4 μm thick with a residual Cr layer of about 4 μm thick, and the internal zirconium alloy was not oxidized. For Al-coated specimen, besides the complete oxidation of the Al coating, there were also about 500 μm Zr-4 alloy oxidized on each side, and there were a lot of voids and cracks in the specimen. The EDS results indicated that a thickness of about 5 μm Cr-Zr diffusion layer developed at the interface between Cr coating and Zr-4 alloy for the Cr-coated Zr-4 specimen. While, for the Al-coated Zr-4 specimen, Al diffused into the specimen to a depth of about 100 μm, and Zr diffused almost to the outermost layer. Moreover, Sn in the Zr-4 alloy is concentrated at the interface between the residual Zr-4 alloy and ZrO2 layer. The obtained results manifested that Cr coating shows better oxidation resistance than Al coating.

Objective This study comprehensively estimated the excess cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality attributable to influenza in an older (age ≥65 years) population.Design Ecological study.Setting Aggregated data from administrative systems on CVD mortality, influenza surveillance and meteorological data in Beijing, China.Main outcome measure Excess overall CVD, and separately for ischaemic heart disease (IHD), ischaemic stroke, haemorrhagic stroke mortality attributable to influenza, adjusting for influenza activity, time trend, seasonality and ambient temperature.Results CVD (risk ratio (RR) 1.02, 95% CI 1.01, 1.02), IHD (RR 1.01, 95% CI 1.01, 1.02), ischaemic stroke (RR=1.03, 95% CI 1.02, 1.04), but not haemorrhagic stroke (RR=1.00, 95% CI 0.99, 1.01) mortality, were significantly associated with every 10% increase in influenza activity. An increase in circulating A(H1N1)09pdm, A(H3N2) and B type virus were all significantly associated with CVD and ischaemic stroke mortality, but only A(H3N2) and B type virus with IHD mortality. The strongest increase in disease mortality was in the same week as the increase in influenza activity. Annual excess CVD mortality rate attributable to influenza ranged from 54 to 96 per 100 000 population. The 3%–6% CVD mortality attributable to influenza activity was related to an annual excess of 916–1640 CVD deaths in Beijing, China.Conclusions Influenza activity has moderate to strong associations with CVD, IHD and ischaemic stroke mortality in older adults in China. Promoting influenza vaccination could have major health benefit in this population.Background Influenza may trigger serious CVD events. An estimation of excess CVD mortality attributable to influenza has particular relevance in China where vaccination is low and CVD burden is high.Methods This study analysed data at the population level (age ≥65 years) using linked aggregated data from administrative systems on CVD mortality, influenza surveillance and meteorological data during 2011 to 2018. Quasi-Poisson regression models were used to estimate the excess overall CVD, and separately for IHD, ischaemic stroke, haemorrhagic stroke mortality attributable to influenza, adjusting for influenza activity, time trend, seasonality and ambient temperature. Analyses were also undertaken for influenza subtypes (A(H1N1)09pdm, A(H3N2) and B viruses), and mortality risk with time lags of 1–5 weeks following influenza activity in the current week.

Prime-editing systems have the capability to perform efficient and precise genome editing in human cells. In this study, we first developed a plant prime editor 2 (pPE2) system and test its activity by generating a targeted mutation on an HPT-ATG reporter in rice. Our results showed that the pPE2 system could induce programmable editing at different genome sites. In transgenic T0 plants, pPE2-generated mutants occurred with 0%–31.3% frequency, suggesting that the efficiency of pPE2 varied greatly at different genomic sites and with prime-editing guide RNAs of diverse structures. To optimize editing efficiency, guide RNAs were introduced into the pPE2 system following the PE3 and PE3b strategy in human cells. However, at the genomic sites tested in this study, pPE3 systems generated only comparable or even lower editing frequencies. Furthemore, we developed a surrogate pPE2 system by incorporating the HPT-ATG reporter to enrich the prime-edited cells. The nucleotide editing was easily detected in the resistant calli transformed with the surrogate pPE2 system, presumably due to the enhanced screening efficiency of edited cells. Taken together, our results indicate that plant prime-editing systems we developed could provide versatile and flexible editing in rice genome.

ABSTRACT The intestinal microbiota is significantly affected by the external environment, but our understanding of the effects of extreme environments such as plateaus is far from adequate. In this study, we systematically analyzed the variation in the intestinal microbiota and 76 blood clinical indexes among 393 healthy adults with different plateau living durations (Han individuals with no plateau living, with plateau living for 4 to 6 days, with plateau living for >3 months, and who returned to the plain for 3 months, as well as plateau-living Tibetans). The results showed that the high-altitude environment rapidly (4 days) and continually (more than 3 months) shaped both the intestinal microbiota and clinical indexes of the Han population. With prolongation of plateau living, the general characteristics of the intestinal microbiota and clinical indexes of the Han population were increasingly similar to those of the Tibetan population. The intestinal microbiota of the Han population that returned to the plain area for 3 months still resembled that of the plateau-living Han population rather than that of the Han population on the plain. Moreover, clinical indexes such as blood glucose were significantly lower in the plateau groups than in the nonplateau groups, while the opposite result was obtained for testosterone. Interestingly, there were Tibetan-specific correlations between glucose levels and Succinivibrio and Sarcina abundance in the intestine. The results of this study suggest that a hypoxic environment could rapidly and lastingly affect both the human intestinal microbiota and blood clinical indexes, providing new insights for the study of plateau adaptability. IMPORTANCE The data presented in the present study demonstrate that the hypoxic plateau environment has a profound impact on the gut microbiota and blood clinical indexes in Han and Tibetan individuals. The plateau-changed signatures of the gut microbiota and blood clinical indexes were not restored to the nonplateau status in the Han cohorts, even when the individuals returned to the plain from the plateau for several months. Our study will improve the understanding of the great impact of hypoxic environments on the gut microbiota and blood clinical indexes as well as the adaptation mechanism and intervention targets for plateau adaptation.

Abstract Background Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a T cell-mediated autoimmune disease. The aetiology and molecular mechanisms of OLP remain unclear. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is a causal factor in the development of various diseases, but the clinical relevance of HCMV in OLP has not been thoroughly investigated. Methods In the present study, we firstly examined twenty-three HCMV-encoded microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles in plasma from training set that including 21 OLP patients and 18 healthy controls using RT-qPCR technology. Dysregulated miRNAs were subsequently confirmed in another larger cohort refereed as validation set consisting of 40 OLP patients and 33 healthy controls. HCMV DNA in peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs) was also measured in an additional cohort of 13 OLP patients and 12 control subjects. Furthermore, bioinformatics analyses, luciferase reporter assay and western blotting were also performed to predict and verify the direct potential targets of HCMV-encoded miRNAs. Results The RT-qPCR results showed that the plasma levels of five HCMV-encoded miRNAs including hcmv-miR-UL112-3p, hcmv-miR-UL22a-5p, hcmv-miR-UL148d, hcmv-miR-UL36-5p and hcmv-miR-UL59 were significantly increased in OLP patients in both training and validation sets. HCMV DNA in PBLs was also significantly higher in OLP patients than in control subjects. Additionally, by using a combination of luciferase reporter assay and western blotting, we demonstrated that cytomegalovirus UL16-binding protein 1, a molecule that mediates the killing of virus-infected cells by natural killer cells, is a direct target of hcmv-miR-UL59. Conclusions Our results demonstrate a distinct expression pattern of HCMV-encoded miRNAs in OLP patients, which may provide insight into the relationship between HCMV infection and OLP, and warrants additional study in the diagnosis and aetiology of OLP.

Dopamine agonists such as bromocriptine and cabergoline are the predominant treatment drugs for prolactinoma by inhibiting prolactin secretion and shrinking tumor size. However, the pathways of either dopamine or its agonists that lead to the death of cells are incompletely understood and some are even conflicting conclusions. The main aim of this paper is to review the different pathways of dopamine and its agonists in prolactinomas to help to gain a better understanding of their functions and drug resistance mechanisms.

The microstructural evolution of dilute Al–Ag alloys in its early aging stage and at low temperatures ranging from 15 K to 300 K was studied by the combined use of Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), and positron annihilation Coincidence Doppler broadening (CDB) techniques. It is shown that at low temperatures below 200 K, an Ag–vacancy complex is formed in the quenched alloy, and above 200 K, it decomposes into Ag clusters and monovacancies. Experimental and calculation results indicate that Ag clusters in Al–Ag alloys can act as shallow trapping sites, and the positron trapping rate is considerably enhanced by a decreasing measurement temperature.

Titanium nitride (TiN) coatings were deposited on Zr-4 substrate by direct current magnetron sputtering. The microstructural property of the as-deposited coating was studied by means of x-ray diffraction (XRD). The microstructural parameters, such as crystal size, lattice strain, lattice deformation stress and lattice deformation energy density, were investigated in detail by employed modified Debye–Scherrer method (MDS) and Williamson-Hall methods by assuming three models namely uniform deformation model, uniform stress deformation model and uniform energy density deformation model. And the effects of sputtering power, substrate temperature and substrate bias on microstructural parameters were investigated. The results show that TiN coating deposited by magnetron sputtering presents lattice compressive strain, except for sample X3 - 1 which is prepared by substrate bias of −50 V. It is also shown that sputtering power, substrate temperature and substrate bias have great influence on crystal size, lattice strain, lattice deformation stress and lattice deformation energy density of the as-deposited TiN coating. Especially the influence of substrate bias is very significant.

Endogenous small non-coding RNAs play pivotal roles in regulating gene expression in eukaryotes. Many studies have investigated the function and molecular mechanism of microRNAs in the development and disease of various organisms via mRNA repression of protein-coding genes. Recent findings indicate microRNAs might trigger the generation of trans-acting small interfering RNAs (ta-siRNAs). The interaction among different types of small RNA molecules reveals an even more complicated and elaborate pattern of RNA regulation during gene expression than previously thought. We developed a method for mining ta-siRNA sequences and evaluated the performance of our novel method using data from Arabidopsis thaliana. Additionally, using small RNA and degradome data for the human brain, we identified 155 small RNAs that satisfied ta-siRNA characteristics. The DRAXIN and ATCAY genes, which are preferentially expressed in the human brain, were predicted to be the targets of 12 potential ta-siRNAs.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) mediate various biological processes by actively fine-tuning gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. With the identification of numerous human and viral miRNAs, growing evidence has indicated a common role of miRNAs in mediating the interactions between humans and viruses. However, there is only limited information about Cross-Kingdom miRNA target sites from studies. To facilitate an extensive investigation on the interplay among the gene regulatory networks of humans and viruses, we designed a prediction pipeline, mirTarP, that is suitable for miRNA target screening on the genome scale. By applying mirTarP, we constructed the database mirTar, which is a comprehensive miRNA target repository of bidirectional interspecies regulation between viruses and humans. To provide convenient downloading for users from both the molecular biology field and medical field, mirTar classifies viruses according to “ICTV viral category” and the “medical microbiology classification” on the web page. The mirTar database and mirTarP tool are freely available online.

To derive the critical density for exposure-path prevention in three-dimensional wireless sensor networks (3D WSNs), a bond-percolation-based scheme is proposed, which can generate the tighter lower and upper bounds of critical density. Firstly, the exposure-path prevention problem and system models based on Gaussian distribution are introduced in this paper. Then, according to percolation theory, we present a bond-percolation model to put this problem into a 3D uniform lattice. With this model, the lower and upper bounds of critical density for 3D WSNs are derived in the light of our scheme. Extensive simulations and contrast experiments also validate our developed models and evaluate the performance of the proposed schemes. Therefore, our scheme can be applied to determine a practically reliable density and detect intruders in sensor networks.

Reducing and sequestering agricultural carbon is a crucial measure for achieving carbon neutrality and carbon peak, as well as an integral component of agricultural modernization. This study uses the super-efficiency Slack-based measure-Data envelopement analysis (SBM-DEA) and Exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) models to examine the spatiotemporal differentiation characteristics of agricultural ecological efficiency (AEE) in 38 districts and counties of Chongqing. The results indicate that the CRR-DEA model disregards the impact of undesirable output factors and overestimates the actual utilization of agricultural resources, whereas the super-efficiency SBM-DEA model is more consistent with the actual agricultural production process. Chongqing's AEE was at a high level of efficiency and the distribution of spatial pattern is uneven, displaying a development pattern of "The urban agglomeration in the Three Gorges Reservoir area of Northeast Chongqing (UTC)>Main urban metropolitan area (MUA) > Wuling Mountain urban agglomeration in southeast Chongqing (WUC)", and there is a significant agglomeration characteristic among various districts and counties. The High-High (H-H) agglomeration is primarily concentrated in the central urban area and the Low-Low (L-L) agglomeration area is primarily located in the eastern portion of UTC. Consequently, all regions in Chongqing should combine their own agricultural development characteristics, maximize their strengths, compensate for their weaknesses, and thereby enhance the AEE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]