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Abstract Background Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is one of the most common metabolic disorders during pregnancy and is associated with adverse outcomes in both mothers and their children. After delivery, women who experience GDM are also at higher risk of both subsequent GDM and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) than those who do not. Therefore, healthcare providers and public health practitioners need to develop targeted and effective interventions for GDM. In this study, we aimed to explore the perceptions regarding health behaviors and related factors during the inter-pregnancy period among Chinese women with a history of GDM through the lens of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Methods Between December 2021 and September 2022, 16 pregnant Chinese women with a history of GDM were purposively recruited from a tertiary maternity hospital in Shanghai for face-to-face semi-structured interviews. They were asked questions regarding their health behaviors and related factors. The transcribed data were analyzed using a directed qualitative content analysis method based on the theory of TPB. Results The health-related behaviors of the women varied substantially. We identified five domains that influenced women’s behaviors according to TPB constructs and based on the data collected: behavioral attitude (perceived benefits of healthy behaviors and the relationship between experience and attitude towards the oral glucose tolerance testing); subjective norms (influences of significant others and traditional cultural beliefs); perceived behavior control (knowledge of the disease, multiple-role conflict, the impact of COVID-19, an unfriendly external environment and difficulty adhering to healthy diets), incentive mechanisms (self-reward and external incentives); preferences of professional and institutional support (making full use of social media platform and providing continuous health management). Conclusions The health-related behaviors of women with a history of GDM were found to be affected by multiple factors. Healthcare professionals are recommended to provide women with sufficient information regarding the disease and to take advantage of the power of the family and other social support networks to improve women’s subjective norms and to promote the adoption of a healthy lifestyle.

To study the influencing factors on the quality of cultivated varieties of Radix Aconitum Vilmoriniani, a toxic medicinal material for traumatology in Yunnan Province, the chloroplast genomes of samples from 10 different cultivation bases were sequenced by Illumina HiSeq 4000 high-throughput sequencing platform. Then the sequencing data were assembled and annotated followed by analysis of the characteristics of the chloroplast genomes by bioinformatics tools and construction of the phylogenetic trees. The results were as follows: (1) The full length of chloroplast genome of the 10 cultivated varieties from different regions were 155 744-155 937 bp, the large single copy region (LSC) and small single copy region (SSC) were 86 363-86 548 bp and 16 921-17 007 bp, respectively, the size of the inverted repeat region (IR) was 26 170-26 236 bp. The GC content of chloroplast genome of 10 cultivated varieties was 38.1%, with obvious AT preference, and 131 genes were annotated, including 85 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes and 8 rRNA genes. (2) These sequences identified 60-73 SSR sites, and genome comparative analysis found that the length of chloroplast genome of 10 cultivated varieties ranged from 155 744 to 155 937 bp with moderate expansion. Some variation hot spots were found, such as trnK-UUU-trnQ-UUG, trnY-GUA-trnE-UUC, trnC-GCA-trnT-GGU, ycf4-cemA, ycf1 and ndhF, etc. (3) Phylogenetic analysis based on the two datasets showed that JS-1-4, QJ-1-2, LX-1-3, LJ-3-2 were closely related to Aconitum vilmorinianum and LQ-1-3, GJ-1-3, NL-1-3, DC-2-2 were closely related to A. austroyunnanense. In the phylogenetic tree, which was constructed based on the complete chloroplast genomes, LJ-4-3 was closely related to A. delavayi and LJ-1-2 was closely related to A. duclouxii; while in the phylogenetic tree which was constructed based on the protein coding gene sequences (PCGs), LJ-4-3 was closely related to A. episcopale and LJ-1-2 was closely related to A. contortum. In summary, the hybrid origins of cultivation of Radix Aconitum Vilmoriniani include at least the two original plants: A. vilmorinianum and A. austroyunnanense, and other species of Aconitum even existed in individual cultivation bases. The mixed origins of cultivation may be one of the influencing factors on instability of the quality of Radix Aconitum Vilmoriniani.

Abstract Background Regular prenatal physical activity provides numerous health benefits to both mother and fetus. However, little is known about the physical activity status of pregnant women in China and whether they meet the current guidelines for prenatal physical activity. The aims of the study were to assess physical inactivity status and associated factors among pregnant women in Shanghai, China. Methods A cross-sectional study of 1636 pregnant women were recruited at a tertiary obstetrics and gynecology hospital in Shanghai. Maternal sociodemographic characteristics and health information were obtained using structured questionnaires or from the electronic medical records. Physical inactivity status was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form. Factors pertinent to physical inactivity were identified by binary logistic regression and were reported with adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). All statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS software package. Results In total, the prevalence of physical inactivity was 47.5%. Walking was the main form of physical activity and only 2.8% of the pregnant women achieved the goal of at least 150 min of moderate-intensity physical activity weekly. Multivariate logistic regression identified a significant negative association of physical inactivity with personal monthly income (adjusted OR 0.648, 95% CI 0.505–0.831), engagement in regular exercise before pregnancy (adjusted OR 0.575, 95% CI 0.464–0.711) and in the second (adjusted OR 0.534, 95% CI 0.411–0.693) or third (adjusted OR 0.615, 95% CI 0.470–0.806) trimester of pregnancy. Women with nausea or vomiting during pregnancy were more likely to be physically inactive during pregnancy (adjusted OR 1.307, 95% CI 1.002–1.705). Conclusion Physical inactivity is highly prevalent among pregnant women in China. Further efforts should be taken to overcome the barriers to prenatal physical activity and to promote moderate- to vigorous-intensity activities among Chinese pregnant women.

Objective This meta-analysis aimed to update knowledge about the association between the SLC4A7 variant rs4973768 and breast cancer incidence. Methods Studies were identified from relevant digital databases. Fixed- or random-effects models were used to calculate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Statistical Q and I 2 tests and sensitivity analyses were used to detect interstudy heterogeneity and test the statistical stability of overall estimates, respectively. Egger’s tests were applied to detect publication bias among included studies. In silico analysis was used to ascertain increased expression of SLC4A7 mRNA in rs4973768 with the mutant allele. Trial sequential analysis was used to calculate the study’s sample size. Results The overall odds ratios reflected a positive correlation between the SLC4A7 rs4973768 polymorphism and susceptibility to breast cancer in five genetic comparisons of alleles T and C, and tests revealed significant heterogeneity in the allele comparison. After stratification by ethnicity, heterogeneity in Asian and White populations substantially decreased (Ph = 0.984, I 2 = 0%) and remained stable (Ph = 0.083, I 2 = 46.3%), respectively. The mutant allele was associated with increased expression of SLC4A7 mRNA in rs4973768. The cumulative z curve indicated that our conclusions were robust. Conclusions Our updated consequence shows that the SLC4A7 rs4973768 polymorphism is associated with increased breast cancer risk.

In recent years, researchers have looked at how tube-like nanostructures respond to moving loads and masses. However, no one has explored the scenario of a nanostructure embedded in a vibrating medium used for moving nano-objects. In this study, the governing equations of the problem are methodically derived using the nonlocal elasticity of Eringen as well as the Rayleigh and Reddy–Bickford beam theories. Analytical and numerical solutions are developed for capturing the nonlocal dynamic deflection of the nanostructure based on the moving nanoforce approach (excluding the inertia effect) and the moving nanomass approach (including the inertia effect), respectively. The results predicted by the established models are successfully verified with those of other researchers in some special cases. The results reveal that for low velocities of the moving nano-object in the absence of the medium excitation, the midspan deflection of the simply supported nanotube exhibits an almost symmetric time-history curve; however, by increasing the nano-object velocity or the medium excitation amplitude, such symmetry is violated, mainly due to the lateral inertia of the moving nano-object, as displayed by the corresponding three-dimensional plots. The study addresses the effects of the mass and velocity of the moving nano-object, amplitude, and frequency of the medium excitation, and the lateral and rotational stiffness of the nearby medium in contact with the nanostructure on the maximum dynamic deflection. The achieved results underscore the significance of considering both the inertial effect of the moving nano-object and the shear effect of stocky nanotubes embedded in vibrating media. This research can serve as a strong basis for conducting further investigations into the vibrational properties of more intricate tube-shaped nanosystems that are embedded in a vibrating medium, with the aim of delivering nano-objects.

Financial management and decision-making of universities play an essential role in their development. Predicting fund revenue and expenditure of universities can provide a necessary basis for funds risk prevention. For the lack of solid data reference for financial management and funds risk prevention in colleges and universities, this paper presents a prediction model of University fund revenue and expenditure based on fuzzy time series with a periodic factor. Combined with the fuzzy time series, this prediction method introduces the periodic factor of university funds. The periodic factor is used to adjust the proportion of the predicted value of the fuzzy time series and the periodic observation value. A fund revenue prediction model and a fund expenditure prediction model are constructed, and an experiment is carried out with the actual financial data of a university in China. The experimental result shows the effectiveness of the proposed model, which can provide solid references for financial management and funds risk prevention in universities.

Abstract Background Bletilla striata is one of the important species belonging to the Bletilla genus of Orchidaceae. Since its extracts have an astringent effect on human tissues, B. striata is widely used for hemostasis and healing. Recently, some other beneficial effects have also been uncovered, such as antioxidation, antiinflammation, antifibrotic, and immunomodulatory activities. As a key step towards a thorough understanding on the medicinal ingredient production in B. striata, deciphering the regulatory codes of the metabolic pathways becomes a major task. Results In this study, three organs (roots, tubers and leaves) of B. striata were analyzed by integrating transcriptome sequencing and untargeted metabolic profiling data. Five different metabolic pathways, involved in polysaccharide, sterol, flavonoid, terpenoid and alkaloid biosynthesis, were investigated respectively. For each pathway, the expression patterns of the enzyme-coding genes and the accumulation levels of the metabolic intermediates were presented in an organ-specific way. Furthermore, the relationships between enzyme activities and the levels of the related metabolites were partially inferred. Within the biosynthetic pathways of polysaccharides and flavonoids, long-range phytochemical transportation was proposed for certain metabolic intermediates and/or the enzymes. Conclusions The data presented by this work could strengthen the molecular basis for further studies on breeding and medicinal uses of B. striata.

Abstract As one of the important species belonging to the Bletilla genus of Orchidaceae, Bletilla striata (Thunb.) Rchb. f., possesses both ornamental and medicinal values. Its dried tubers are used as a traditional Chinese medicine, and several secondary metabolites have been indicated to be the active ingredients. However, the molecular mechanisms related to the regulation of secondary metabolism have not been characterized in B. striata. In this study, integrated analysis of RNA sequencing (RNA‐seq), small RNA sequencing (sRNA‐seq), and degradome sequencing (degradome‐seq) data from three organs (leaf, root, and tuber) of B. striata provided us with a comprehensive view of the microRNA (miRNA)‐mediated regulatory network. Firstly, based on the RNA‐seq data, the organ‐specific expression patterns of the protein‐coding genes, especially for those related to secondary metabolism, were investigated. Secondly, 342 conserved miRNA candidates were identified from B. striata. These miRNAs were assigned to 88 families, some of which were selected for expression pattern analysis. Additionally, 31 hairpin‐structured precursors encoding 23 novel miRNAs were uncovered from the transcriptome assembly. Thirdly, based on the degradome signatures, 1,142 validated miRNA–target pairs (involving 167 conserved miRNAs and six novel miRNAs and 51 target genes) were included in the regulatory network. Organ‐specific expression level comparison between the miRNAs and their targets revealed some interesting miRNA–target pairs. Fourthly, some valuable subnetworks were extracted for further functional studies. Additionally, some regulatory pathways were indicated to be monocot specific. Summarily, our results lay a solid basis for in‐depth studies on the regulatory mechanisms underlying the production of the medicinal ingredients in B. striata.

The composites of expanded graphite (EG) and magnetic particles have good electromagnetic wave attenuation properties in the centimeter band, which is valuable in the field of radar wave interference. In this paper, a novel preparation method of Ni–Zn ferrite intercalated EG (NZF/EG) is provided in order to promote the insertion of Ni–Zn ferrite particles (NZF) into the interlayers of EG. The NZF/EG composite is in situ prepared via thermal treatment of Ni–Zn ferrite precursor intercalated graphite (NZFP/GICs) at 900 °C, where NZFP/GICs is obtained through chemical coprecipitation. The morphology and phase characterization demonstrate the successful cation intercalation and NZF generation in the interlayers of EG. Furthermore, the molecular dynamics simulation shows that the magnetic particles in the EG layers tend to disperse on the EG layers rather than aggregate into larger clusters under the synergy of van der Waals forces, repulsive force, and dragging force. The radar wave attenuation mechanism and performance of NZF/EG with different NZF ratios are analyzed and discussed in the range of 2–18 GHz. The NZF/EG with the NZF ratio at 0.5 shows the best radar wave attenuation ability due to the fact that the dielectric property of the graphite layers is well retained while the area of the heterogeneous interface is increased. Therefore, the as-prepared NZF/EG composites have potential application value in attenuating radar centimeter waves.

This work is concerned with the computational solution of the time-dependent 3D parabolic Heston–Cox–Ingersoll–Ross (HCIR) PDE, which is of practical importance in mathematical finance. The HCIR dynamic states that the model follows randomness for the underlying asset, the volatility and the rate of interest. Since the PDE formulation has degeneracy and non-smoothness at some area of its domain, we design a new numerical solver via semi-discretization and the radial basis function–finite difference (RBF-FD) scheme. Our scheme is built on graded meshes so as to employ the lowest possible number of discretized nodes. The stability of our solver is proven analytically. Computational testing is conducted to uphold the analytical findings in practice.

The self-sustaining combustion of energetic materials, especially for propellants and pyrotechnics, is highly expected because it is related to various issues, such as combustion efficiency, ignition energy, and environmental protection. In this work, we present a method to solve the discontinuous and quenching combustion issues of energetic coordination polymer (ECP) by introducing graphene oxide (GO) into the growth of ECP. An ECP [(NiC2H4N8O4)n, Ni-BTO] constructed from Ni2+ and H2BTO [1H,1′H-(5,5′-bitetrazole)-1,1′-bis(olate)] ligand is in situ grown on GO layers. The abundant active sites of GO derived from its oxygen groups make it participate in the coordination and polymerization of Ni-BTO, thereby inducing a new kind of ECP (GO-Ni-BTO). The induction effect of GO reduces the size of Ni-BTO particles to the nanoscale and allows them to chemically bond to GO layers. The effects of different GO contents on the exothermic, combustion, and pressure-generation properties of GO-Ni-BTO are systematically investigated. Results indicate that GO-Ni-BTO ECP with 7.5 ​wt% GO content can solve the quenching and discontinuous combustion issues presented by micro-size Ni-BTO with a higher heat output (3265.58 J·g−1) because of the reduced size of GO-Ni-BTO, oxygen-release ability of GO, and strong thermal conductivity of reduced GO. Correspondingly, the peak pressure and pressurization rate of GO-Ni-BTO ECP with 7.5 ​wt% GO content are also greatly enhanced. This interesting GO-Ni-BTO ECP can be used as a heat source for the initiation of secondary explosives and as a gas generator for the propulsion system.

Social recommendation systems can improve recommendation quality in cases of sparse user–item interaction data, which has attracted the industry’s attention. In reality, social recommendation systems mostly mine real user preferences from social networks. However, trust relationships in social networks are complex and it is difficult to extract valuable user preference information, which worsens recommendation performance. To address this problem, this paper proposes a social recommendation algorithm based on multi-graph contrastive learning. To ensure the reliability of user preferences, the algorithm builds multiple enhanced user relationship views of the user’s social network and encodes multi-view high-order relationship learning node representations using graph and hypergraph convolutional networks. Considering the effect of the long-tail phenomenon, graph-augmentation-free self-supervised learning is used as an auxiliary task to contrastively enhance node representations by adding uniform noise to each layer of encoder embeddings. Three open datasets were used to evaluate the algorithm, and it was compared to well-known recommendation systems. The experimental studies demonstrated the superiority of the algorithm.

Background: This study investigates the mediating effect of rumination on the associations between depressive symptoms and insomnia.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Ruminant Response Scale (RRS) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were determined in 12,178 college students in Qinghai province by a questionnaire network platform.Results: The prevalence of insomnia was 38.6% in the participants. Insomnia symptoms [interquartile range: 6 (3, 9)], depressive symptoms [interquartile range: 5 (1, 9)], and rumination [interquartile range: 22 (20, 26)] were positively correlated (r = 0.25–0.46, p < 0.01). Mediation effect analysis showed that the depressive symptoms affected insomnia directly and indirectly. The direct effect and the indirect effect through rumination account for 92.4 and 7.6% of the total effect, respectively.Conclusion: The study shows that insomnia, depressive symptoms, and rumination are related constructs in college students in Qinghai province. It demonstrates the direct effects and the rumination-mediated indirect effects between depressive symptoms and insomnia; the direct effects seem to be dominant.

Abstract We analyze and explore the potential of using a polymer horizontal slot waveguide as light-analyte interactive region to implement a low-cost and highly sensitive liquid refractive index sensor. Numerical analysis shows that the optimized polymer horizontal slot waveguide is able to realize high waveguide sensitivity. With the optimized horizontal slot waveguide, polymer liquid refractive index sensors based on Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) and microring resonator (MRR) are then investigated numerically, and the results show that the MZI-based sensor can achieve high sensitivity of 17024nm/RIU and low limit of detection (LOD) of 1.76×10−6 RIU while the MRR-based sensor can achieve the sensitivity of 177nm/RIU and the LOD of 1.69×10−4 RIU with a very small footprint. Compared with the sensors employing conventional silicon or silicon nitride vertical slot waveguide, the sensors employing polymer horizontal slot waveguide exhibit comparable performances but simpler and lower fabrication costs.

Abstract Background MicroRNAs (miRNAs) constitute a well-known small RNA (sRNA) species with important regulatory roles. To date, several bioinformatics tools have been developed for large-scale prediction of miRNAs based on high-throughput sequencing data. However, some of these tools become invalid without reference genomes, while some tools cannot supply user-friendly outputs. Besides, most of the current tools focus on the importance of secondary structures and sRNA expression patterns for miRNA prediction, while they do not pay attention to miRNA processing for reliability check. Results Here, we reported a pipeline PmiRDiscVali for plant miRNA discovery and partial validation. This pipeline integrated the popular tool miRDeep-P for plant miRNA prediction, making PmiRDiscVali compatible for both reference-based and de novo predictions. To check the prediction reliability, we adopted the concept that the miRNA processing intermediates could be tracked by degradome sequencing (degradome-seq) during the development of PmiRDiscVali. A case study was performed by using the public sequencing data of Dendrobium officinale, in order to show the clear and concise presentation of the prediction results. Conclusion Summarily, the integrated pipeline PmiRDiscVali, featured with degradome-seq data-based validation and vivid result presentation, should be useful for large-scale identification of plant miRNA candidates.

Adipose tissue has long been considered as an energy storage organ. Adipokines, produced by and secreted from adipose tissues, play an important role in regulating fat accumulation, energy balance, and glucose metabolism. Adiponectin receptors (AdipoR1 and AdipoR2) are expressed in various sheep tissues, including adipose tissue. However, the role of adiponectin receptor-mediated signalling has never been investigated in sheep adipose tissue. In this study, sheep preadipocytes were ultimately differentiated into typical adipocytes in vitro 7 days after differentiation. The expression levels of LPL (lipoprotein lipase), HSL (Hormone-sensitive lipase), FAS (fatty acid synthase), and PPARα/PPARγ (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha/gamma) were significantly changed in the sheep preadipocytes during differentiation for 7 days. After induction of preadipocyte differentiation, lipid accumulation increased significantly in the transfected preadipocytes of AdipoR1-siRNA1 but decreased in the AdipoR1-overexpression (AdipoR1-GFP) preadipocytes. In addition, the expression of HSL and PPARγ was significantly changed in preadipocytes by transfected with AdipoR1-siRNA1 or AdipoR1-GFP. However, the lipid accumulation and adipogenic gene expression were not significantly changed in preadipocytes by transfected with AdipoR2-siRNA2 and AdipoR2-GFP. Taken together, these results indicate that AdipoR1 could regulate sheep adipose metabolism via regulating HSL and PPARγ expression during adipocyte differentiation.Highlights We first established an in vitro culture system for sheep preadipocytes derived from the paraspinal muscle adipose. Sheep preadipocytes were ultimately differentiated into typical adipocytes after induction and differentiation. Both suppression and overexpression of adiponectin receptor 1 expression affect lipid accumulation and adipocyte metabolism during adipocyte differentiation.

College English classroom teaching evaluation is an important basis for understanding teaching level and improving teaching quality. The traditional college English classroom teaching evaluation is mainly carried out through questionnaires and scales, but this method is time-consuming and laborious, inevitably introduces subjective errors, and reduces the accuracy and credibility of the evaluation results. In recent years, the rise and development of wisdom education not only provides a more convenient and efficient modern education form but also brings new ideas for classroom teaching evaluation. A subjective and objective fusion statistical evaluation model based on multidirectional genetic variation method and optimized neural network is proposed. The algorithm avoids subjective errors and improves the accuracy and reliability of the evaluation results, and a comprehensive evaluation model is constructed. Finally, according to different evaluation indexes, a systematic visualization scheme is designed to generate students’ classroom learning evaluation report and teachers' classroom teaching evaluation report, respectively, and visualize them on the web.

Abstract The next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology has revolutionized our previous understanding of the plant genomes, relying on its innate advantages, such as high throughput and deep sequencing depth. In addition to the protein-coding gene loci, massive transcription signals have been detected within intergenic or intragenic regions. Most of these signals belong to non-coding ones, considering their weak protein-coding potential. Generally, these transcripts could be divided into long non-coding RNAs and small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) based on their sequence length. In addition to the well-known microRNAs (miRNAs), many plant endogenous sRNAs were collectively referred to as small interfering RNAs. However, an increasing number of unclassified sRNA species are being discovered by NGS. The high heterogeneity of these novel sRNAs greatly hampered the mechanistic studies, especially on the clear description of their biogenesis and action pathways. Fortunately, public databases, bioinformatics softwares and NGS datasets are increasingly available for plant sRNA research. Here, by summarizing these valuable resources, we proposed a general workflow to decipher the RDR (RNA-dependent RNA polymerase)- and DCL (Dicer-like)-dependent biogenesis pathways, and the Argonaute-mediated action modes (such as target cleavages and chromatin modifications) for specific sRNA species in plants. Taken together, we hope that by summarizing a list of the public resources, this work will facilitate the plant biologists to perform classification and functional characterization of the interesting sRNA species.

Degradome sequencing (degradome-seq) was widely used for cleavage site mapping on the microRNA (miRNA) targets. Here, the application value of degradome-seq data in tracking the miRNA processing intermediates was reported. By adopting the parameter “signal/noise” ratio, prominent degradome signals on the miRNA precursors were extracted. For the 15 species analyzed, the processing of many miRNA precursors were supported by the degradome-seq data. We found that the supporting ratio of the “high-confidence” miRNAs annotated in miRBase was much higher than that of the “low-confidence.” For a specific species, the percentage of the miRNAs with degradome-supported processing signals was elevated by the increment of degradome sampling diversity. More interestingly, the tissue- or cell line-specific processing patterns of the miRNA precursors partially contributed to the accumulation patterns of the mature miRNAs. In this study, we also provided examples to show the value of the degradome-seq data in miRNA annotation. Based on the distribution of the processing signals, a renewed model was proposed that the stems of the miRNA precursors were diced through a “single-stranded cropping” mode, and “loop-to-base” processing was much more prevalent than previously thought. Together, our results revealed the remarkable capacity of degradome-seq in tracking miRNA processing signals.

There is increasing evidence suggesting the contribution of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) to the phenotypic and physiological complexity of organisms. A novel ncRNA species has been identified near the transcription boundaries of protein-coding genes in eukaryotes, bacteria, and archaea. This review provides a detailed description of these transcription boundary-associated RNAs (TBARs), including their classification. Based on their genomic distribution, TBARs are divided into two major groups: promoter-associated RNAs (PARs) and terminus-associated RNAs (TARs). Depending on the sequence length, each group is further classified into long RNA species (>200 nt) and small RNA species (

Hints from animals point to the existence of two novel small RNA (sRNA) species surrounding the transcription start sites (TSSs) and the termini of the genes, respectively. In this study, we performed a comprehensive search for the two sRNA species named promoter-associated sRNAs (PASRs) and terminus-associated sRNAs (TASRs) in Arabidopsis. By using sRNA sequencing data from wild type plants and several mutants related to the sRNA biogenesis, Argonaute (AGO) 1- and AGO4-associated sRNA sequencing data, double-stranded RNA sequencing (dsRNA-seq) data, and DNA methylation profiling data, the biogenesis and action pathways of the PASRs and the TASRs were investigated. PASR and TASR peaks were identified on hundreds of the protein-coding genes. Deep analysis uncovered that some of the sRNA peaks were covered by dsRNA-seq reads, and these peaks were significantly repressed in specific mutants. Besides, certain PASRs and TASRs were preferentially recruited by AGO4, and site-specific DNA methylation signals encompassing the genomic loci of these sRNAs were also detected. Accordingly, we proposed a model that certain PASRs and TASRs were generated through a specific Pol IV-, RDR-, DCL-dependent pathway, and they were associated with AGO4 to perform site-specific DNA methylation on their host genes. The above results indicate the existence of PASRs and TASRs in plants. The proposed biogenesis pathway and action mode of the PASRs and TASRs could facilitate us to perform in-depth functional studies on these novel sRNA species.

BackgroundCompared with open oesophagectomy (OE), minimally invasive oesophagectomy (MIO) proves to have benefits in reducing the risk of pulmonary complications for patients with resectable oesophageal cancer. However, it is unknown whether MIO has superiority in reducing the occurrence of in-hospital mortality (IHM).ObjectiveThe objective of this meta-analysis was to explore the effect of MIO vs. OE on the occurrence of in-hospital mortality (IHM).Data sourcesSources such as Medline (through December 31, 2014), Embase (through December 31, 2014), Wiley Online Library (through December 31, 2014), and the Cochrane Library (through December 31, 2014) were searched.Study selectionData of randomized and non-randomized clinical trials related to MIO versus OE were included.InterventionsEligible studies were those that reported patients who underwent MIO procedure. The control group included patients undergoing conventional OE.Study appraisal and synthesis methodsFixed or random -effects models were used to calculate summary odds ratios (ORs) or relative risks (RRs) for quantification of associations. Heterogeneity among studies was evaluated by using Cochran's Q and I2 statistics.ResultsA total of 48 studies involving 14,311 cases of resectable oesophageal cancer were included in the meta-analysis. Compared to patients undergoing OE, patients undergoing MIO had statistically reduced occurrence of IHM (OR=0.69, 95%CI =0.55 -0.86). Patients undergoing MIO also had significantly reduced incidence of pulmonary complications (PCs) (RR=0.73, 95%CI = 0.63-0.86), pulmonary embolism (PE) (OR=0.71, 95%CI= 0.51-0.99) and arrhythmia (OR=0.79, 95%CI = 0.68-0.92). Non-significant reductions were observed among the included studies in the occurrence of anastomotic leak (AL) (OR=0.93, 95%CI =0.78-1.11), or Gastric Tip Necrosis (GTN) (OR=0.89, 95%CI =0.54-1.49).LimitationMost of the included studies were non-randomized case-control studies, with a diversity of study designs, demographics of participants and surgical intervention.ConclusionsMinimally invasive oesophagectomy (MIO) has superiority over open oesophagectomy (OE) in terms of the occurrence of in-hospital mortality (IHM) and should be the first-choice surgical procedure in esophageal surgery.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a pivotal role in plant development. The expression patterns of the miRNA genes significantly influence their regulatory activities. By utilizing small RNA (sRNA) high-throughput sequencing (HTS) data, the miRNA expression patterns were investigated in four organs (flowers, leaves, roots and seedlings) of Arabidopsis. Based on a set of criteria, dozens of organ-specific miRNAs were discovered. A dominant portion of the organ-specific miRNAs identified from the ARGONAUTE 4-enriched sRNA HTS libraries were highly expressed in flowers. Additionally, the expression of the precursors of the organ-specific miRNAs was analyzed. Degradome sequencing data-based approach was employed to identify the targets of the organ-specific miRNAs. The miRNA-target interactions were used for network construction. Subnetwork analysis unraveled some novel regulatory cascades, such as the feedback regulation mediated by miR161, the potential self-regulation of the genes miR172, miR396, miR398 and miR860, and the miR863-guided cleavage of the SERRATE transcript. Our bioinformatics survey expanded the organ-specific miRNA-target list in Arabidopsis, and could deepen the biological view of the miRNA expression and their regulatory roles.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are ∼21-nucleotide small RNAs (sRNAs) with essential regulatory roles in plants. They are generated from stem-loop-structured precursors through two sequential Dicer-like 1 (DCL1)-mediated cleavages. To date, hundreds of plant miRNAs have been uncovered. However, the question, whether the sequences reverse complementary (RC) to the miRNA precursors could form hairpin-like structures and produce sRNA duplexes similar to the miRNA/miRNA* pairs has not been solved yet. Here, we interrogated this possibility in 16 plant species based on sRNA high-throughput sequencing data and secondary structure prediction. A total of 59 RC sequences with great potential to form stem-loop structures and generate miRNA/miRNA*-like duplexes were identified in ten plants, which were named as RC-miRNA precursors. Unlike the canonical miRNAs, only a few cleavage targets of the RC-miRNAs were identified in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and rice (Oryza sativa), and none in Soybean (Glycine max) based on degradome data. Surprisingly, the genomic regions surrounding some of the RC-miRNA target recognition sites were observed to be specifically methylated in both Arabidopsis and rice. Taken together, we reported a new class of miRNAs, called RC-miRNAs, which were generated from the antisense strands of the miRNA precursors. Based on the results, we speculated that the mature RC-miRNAs might have subtle regulatory activity through target cleavages, but might possess short interfering RNA-like activity by guiding sequence-specific DNA methylation.