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Abstract: Male infertility can result from impaired sperm motility caused by multiple morphological abnormalities of the flagella (MMAF). Distinct projections encircling the central microtubules of the spermatozoal axoneme play pivotal roles in flagellar bending and spermatozoal movement. Mammalian sperm-associated antigen 17 ( SPAG17 ) encodes a conserved axonemal protein of cilia and flagella, forming part of the C1a projection of the central apparatus, with functions related to ciliary/flagellar motility, skeletal growth, and male fertility. This study investigated two novel homozygous SPAG17 mutations (M1: NM_206996.2, c.829+1G>T, p.Asp212_Glu276del; and M2: c.2120del, p.Leu707*) identified in four infertile patients from two consanguineous Pakistani families. These patients displayed the MMAF phenotype confirmed by Papanicolaou staining and scanning electron microscopy assays of spermatozoa. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of patients' spermatozoa also revealed a significant decrease in SPAG17 mRNA expression, and immunofluorescence staining showed the absence of SPAG17 protein signals along the flagella. However, no apparent ciliary-related symptoms or skeletal malformations were observed in the chest X-rays of any of the patients. Transmission electron microscopy of axoneme cross-sections from the patients showed incomplete C1a projection and a higher frequency of missing microtubule doublets 1 and 9 compared with those from fertile controls. Immunofluorescence staining and Western blot analyses of spermatogenesis-associated protein 17 (SPATA17), a component of the C1a projection, and sperm-associated antigen 6 (SPAG6), a marker of the spring layer, revealed disrupted expression of both proteins in the patients' spermatozoa. Altogether, these findings demonstrated that SPAG17 maintains the integrity of spermatozoal flagellar axoneme, expanding the phenotypic spectrum of SPAG17 mutations in humans., (Copyright ©The Author(s)(2024).)

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: The rhizomes of Curcuma phaeocaulis Val. are a Rhizoma curcumae source in Chinese pharmacopoeia, and this traditional Chinese medicine has been extensively used in China to promote blood circulation and remove blood stasis. However, little is known regarding the vasodilatory effects and underlying mechanisms., Aim of the Study: This study investigated the vasorelaxant effects and mechanisms of C. phaeocaulis essential oil (CPEO) and its representative compound, isocurcumenol., Materials and Methods: The effects of CPEO and isocurcumenol on the contractile tension of isolated rat thoracic aortic rings in a resting state and a KCl or phenylephrine (PHE) preincubation state in the tissue organ bath system were studied. The potential vasodilatory mechanisms of CPEO and isocurcumenol were investigated using a series of experiments that included endothelium removal, CPEO and isocurcumenol preincubation, extracellular Ca 2+ -induced contraction and intracellular Ca 2+ release, and incubation with various blockers. Laser confocal microscopy was used to evaluate the effect of isocurcumenol on the intracellular Ca 2+ fluorescence intensity in A7r5 cells. The influence of isocurcumenol on the myosin light chain (MLC) protein expression and phosphorylation was determined using a Western blot assay. Furthermore, the whole-cell patch clamp technique was used to investigate the effect of isocurcumenol on voltage-dependent K ⁺  channel (K v ) current cells., Results: CPEO (0.25-25 mg/L) and isocurcumenol (0.25-25 μM) exhibited concentration-dependent vasodilatory effects on endothelial intact vascular rings that were pre-contracted using KCl or PHE. These vasodilatory effects did not significantly change after the endothelium was removed. Notably, the vasodilatory effects of the CPEO and isocurcumenol were attenuated when preincubation was performed using with 4-aminopyridine (4-AP, a K v channel blocker) or verapamil hydrochloride (an L-type calcium channel blocker). In the cell experiments, isocurcumenol suppressed an increase in the Ca 2+ fluorescence intensity and inhibited the phosphorylation of the MLC protein in A7r5 cells. The results of the whole-cell patch clamp assay indicated that 25 μM of isocurcumenol enhanced K v channel currents., Conclusions: In this study, we confirmed that CPEO and isocurcumenol had significant endothelium-independent vasorelaxant effects. The underlying mechanism was attributed to the activation K v channels and the suppression of L-type calcium channels. This resulted in a Ca 2+ influx decrease in vascular smooth muscle cells and subsequent vascular contraction inhibition., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

It is a great challenge to manufacture room-temperature blue long afterglow phosphorescent materials adapted to environmental conditions. Herein, an Na-based metal-organic framework (MOF) was constructed using Na + and 1H-1,2,4-triazole-3,5-dicarboxylic acid, which exhibits long-lived of 378.9 ms, deep blue and room-temperature phosphorescence, meanwhile possesses the visible blue afterglow for 3~6 seconds after removing excitation light source. The three-dimensional coordination bonds network provided by Na-based MOF protects the organic ligands intrinsic hydrogen bond network, resulting in the phosphor lifetime and residual color remaining unchanged in different gas atmospheres. Furthermore, first-principles time-dependent density functional theory reveals that the rigid Na-based MOF structure can limit the rotation and vibration of the room-temperature phosphorescent organic ligands. This limitation results in the suppression of non-radiative decay for both singlet and triplet excitons, promotes intersystem crossing, and increases the rate of radiative decay, ultimately achieving long-lived room-temperature phosphorescence., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Infertility represents a significant health concern, with sperm quantity and quality being crucial determinants of male fertility. Oligoasthenoteratozoospermia (OAT) is characterized by reduced sperm motility, lower sperm concentration, and morphological abnormalities in sperm heads and flagella. Although variants in several genes have been implicated in OAT, its genetic etiologies and pathogenetic mechanisms remain inadequately understood. In this study, we identified a homozygous nonsense mutation (c.916C>T, p.Arg306*) in the coiled-coil domain containing 146 ( CCDC146 ) gene in an infertile male patient with OAT. This mutation resulted in the production of a truncated CCDC146 protein (amino acids 1-305), retaining only two out of five coiled-coil domains. To validate the pathogenicity of the CCDC146 mutation, we generated a mouse model ( Ccdc146 mut/mut ) with a similar mutation to that of the patient. Consistently, the Ccdc146 mut/mut mice exhibited infertility, characterized by significantly reduced sperm counts, diminished motility, and multiple defects in sperm heads and flagella. Furthermore, the levels of axonemal proteins, including DNAH17, DNAH1, and SPAG6, were significantly reduced in the sperm of Ccdc146 mut/mut mice. Additionally, both human and mouse CCDC146 interacted with intraflagellar transport protein 20 (IFT20), but this interaction was lost in the mutated versions, leading to the degradation of IFT20. This study identified a novel deleterious homozygous nonsense mutation in CCDC146 that causes male infertility, potentially by disrupting axonemal protein transportation. These findings offer valuable insights for genetic counseling and understanding the mechanisms underlying CCDC146 mutant-associated infertility in human males.

The structural integrity of the sperm flagellum is essential for proper sperm function. Flagellar defects can result in male infertility, yet the precise mechanisms underlying this relationship are not fully understood. CCDC181, a coiled-coil domain-containing protein, is known to localize on sperm flagella and at the basal regions of motile cilia. Despite this knowledge, the specific functions of CCDC181 in flagellum biogenesis remain unclear. In this study, Ccdc181 knockout mice were generated. The absence of CCDC181 led to defective sperm head shaping and flagellum formation. Furthermore, the Ccdc181 knockout mice exhibited extremely low sperm counts, grossly aberrant sperm morphologies, markedly diminished sperm motility, and typical multiple morphological abnormalities of the flagella (MMAF). Additionally, an interaction between CCDC181 and the MMAF-related protein LRRC46 was identified, with CCDC181 regulating the localization of LRRC46 within sperm flagella. These findings suggest that CCDC181 plays a crucial role in both manchette formation and sperm flagellum biogenesis.

Microbial instability is a common problem during bio-production based on microbial hosts. Halomonas bluephagenesis has been developed as a chassis for next generation industrial biotechnology (NGIB) under open and unsterile conditions. However, the hidden genomic information and peculiar metabolism have significantly hampered its deep exploitation for cell-factory engineering. Based on the freshly completed genome sequence of H. bluephagenesis TD01, which reveals 1889 biological process-associated genes grouped into 84 GO-slim terms. An enzyme constrained genome-scale metabolic model Halo-ecGEM was constructed, which showed strong ability to simulate fed-batch fermentations. A visible salt-stress responsive landscape was achieved by combining GO-slim term enrichment and CVT-based omics profiling, demonstrating that cells deploy most of the protein resources by force to support the essential activity of translation and protein metabolism when exposed to salt stress. Under the guidance of Halo-ecGEM, eight transposases were deleted, leading to a significantly enhanced stability for its growth and bioproduction of various polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) including 3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB) homopolymer PHB, 3HB and 3-hydroxyvalerate (3HV) copolymer PHBV, as well as 3HB and 4-hydroxyvalerate (4HB) copolymer P34HB. This study sheds new light on the metabolic characteristics and stress-response landscape of H. bluephagenesis, achieving for the first time to construct a long-term growth stable chassis for industrial applications. For the first time, it was demonstrated that genome encoded transposons are the reason for microbial instability during growth in flasks and fermentors., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 International Metabolic Engineering Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Peritoneal metastasis is one of the common site of colorectal cancer metastasis and associated with a poor prognosis. The core strategy for colorectal cancer peritoneal metastasis primarily revolves around a comprehensive treatment approach with cytoreductive surgery and systemic chemotherapy as the mainstay, supplemented by intraperitoneal chemotherapy. As an important supplement to treatment, intraperitoneal chemotherapy has broad application prospects. The main modalities are hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), neoadjuvant intraperitoneal and systemic chemotherapy (NIPS), early postoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy (EPIC), sequential postoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy (SPIC), normothermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (NIPEC) and pressurized intraperitoneal aerosol chemotherapy (PIPAC). To promote the standardized application of intraperitoneal chemotherapy, further research on the mechanisms underlying peritoneal metastasis of colorectal cancer, selection of effective intraperitoneal chemotherapy agents, determination of optimal timing and administration protocols, exploration of the feasibility of sequential intraperitoneal chemotherapy and conduction of valuable basic and clinical research are currently needed. This paper will review the development and origins of intraperitoneal chemotherapy, treatment modalities, as well as the current application status and prospects of various treatment approaches in the context of peritoneal metastasis of colorectal cancer.

Highly efficient degradation of antibiotics is a huge challenge due to the extremely stable molecules and the potential for biological resistance. However, conventional degradation methods are limited to lower degradation rate, higher energy consumption and secondary pollution. Herein, we report a new Cu-based metal-organic framework (MOF), featuring classical planar trinuclear [Cu 3 (µ 3 -O)] 4+ clusters within the pores. The presence of the rich open metal sites and the large pore ratio, as well as the high catalytic activity of Cu 2+ ions, are conducive to boosting the degradation of various antibiotics (>95%) under the activation of peroxymonosulfate. Remarkably, this is the first MOF to achieve such exceptional catalytic performance under neutral and even alkaline conditions, which exceeds those of most reported materials. Mechanism investigation demonstrates that multiple active species were produced and promoted the degradation synergistically during the advanced oxidation processes., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Sensing of benzene vapor is a hot spot due to the volatile drastic carcinogen even at trace concentration. However, achieving convenient and rapid detection is still a challenge. As a sort of functional porous material, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been developed as detection sensors by adsorbing benzene vapor and converting it into other signals (fluorescence intensity/wavelength, chemiresistive, weight or color, etc.). Supramolecular interaction between benzene molecules and the host framework, aperture size/shape and structural flexibility are influential factors in the performance of MOF-based sensors. Therefore, enhancing the host-guest interactions between the host framework and benzene molecules, or regulating the diffusion rate of benzene molecules by changing the aperture size/shape and flexibility of the host framework to enhance the detection signal are effective strategies for constructing MOF-based sensors. This concept highlights several types of MOF-based sensors for the detection of benzene vapor., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Current biodiversity loss is generally considered to have been caused by anthropogenic disturbance, but it is unclear when anthropogenic activities began to affect biodiversity loss. One hypothesis suggests it began with the Industrial Revolution, whereas others propose that anthropogenic disturbance has been associated with biodiversity decline since the early Holocene. To test these hypotheses, we examined the unique vegetation of evergreen broadleaved forests (EBLFs) in East Asia, where humans have affected landscapes since the early Holocene. We adopted a genomic approach to infer the demographic history of a dominant tree (Litsea elongata) of EBLFs. We used Holocene temperature and anthropogenic disturbance factors to calculate the correlation between these variables and the historical effective population size of L. elongata with Spearman statistics and integrated the maximum-entropy niche model to determine the impact of climate change and anthropogenic disturbance on fluctuation in its effective population size. We identified 9 well-defined geographic clades for the populations of L. elongata. Based on the estimated historical population sizes of these clades, all the populations contracted, indicating persistent population decline over the last 11,000 years. Demographic history of L. elongata and human population change, change in cropland use, and change in irrigated rice area were significantly negatively correlated, whereas climate change in the Holocene was not correlated with demographic history. Our results support the early human impact hypothesis and provide comprehensive evidence that early anthropogenic disturbance may contribute to the current biodiversity crisis in East Asia., (© 2023 Society for Conservation Biology.)

Aim: East Asian subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests (EBLFs) are composed of western and eastern subregions with different topographical and environmental conditions. The distribution shifts over time of plants in the two subregions are predicted to be different, but the difference has seldom been investigated., Methods: Potential distributions of 53 Magnoliaceae species (22 in the western and 31 in the eastern subregion) during the last glacial maximum (LGM), present, and the 2070s were predicted using MaxEnt based on 58 environmental variables. The changes in the distribution range size and centroid over time were analyzed. Species-level potential habitats were overlaid to uncover species diversity distribution, and the distributions over time were overlaid to discover long-term refugia., Results: At present, the potential distributions are significantly larger than those shown by the occurrence points. During the LGM, 20/22 species in the western subregion experienced increases in range size through downwards and southward migrations, while decreases in range size in the eastern subregion (27/31 species) were accompanied by northward and eastward migrations. In the future, range size declines and northward shifts will both be found; northwestward shifts will exist in most (20/22 species) species in the western subregion, while both northwest- and northeastward shifts will occur in the eastern subregion. The diversity hotspots experienced a slight southward shift in the past and upwards to the mountain region in the future in the western subregion; in the eastern subregion, shrinks occurred in eastern China in the past and shrinks were shown in all regions in the future. Long-term refugia-preserving diversity was found in the mountains across the entire EBLFs region., Main Conclusions: Significant differences in distribution shifts from past to present and similar distribution shifts from present to future are revealed in the two subregions. Species diversity in both subregions experienced no significant shifts from past to future, and Magnoliaceae plants could be preserved in mountainous regions throughout the EBLFs., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wu, Liu, He, Ye and Tian.)

5-Aminovaleric acid (5-AVA), 5-hydroxyvalerate (5HV), copolymer P(3HB-co-5HV) of 3-hydroxybutyrate (3HB) and 5HV were produced from L-lysine as a substrate by recombinant Halomonas bluephagenesis constructed based on codon optimization, deletions of competitive pathway and L-lysine export protein, and three copies of davBA genes encoding L-lysine monooxygenase (DavB) and 5-aminovaleramide amidohydrolase (DavA) inserted into its genome to form H. bluephagenesis YF117ΔgabT 1+2 , which produced 16.4 g L -1 and 67.4 g L -1 5-AVA in flask cultures and in 7 L bioreactor, respectively. It was able to de novo synthesize 5-AVA from glucose by L-lysine-overproducing H. bluephagenesis TD226. Corn steep liquor was used instead of yeast extract for cost reduction during the 5-AVA production. Using promoter engineering based on P porin mutant library for downstream genes, H. bluephagenesis YF117 harboring pSEVA341-P porin 42 -yqhD EC produced 6 g L -1 5HV in shake flask growth, while H. bluephagenesis YF117 harboring pSEVA341-P porin 42 -yqhD EC -P porin 278 -phaC RE -abfT synthesized 42 wt% P(3HB-co-4.8 mol% 5HV) under the same condition. Thus, H. bluephagenesis was successfully engineered to produce 5-AVA and 5HV in supernatant and intracellular P(3HB-co-5HV) utilizing L-lysine as the substrate., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 International Metabolic Engineering Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Predictability and robustness are challenges for bioproduction because of the unstable intracellular synthetic activities. With the deeper understanding of the gene expression process, fine-tuning has become a meaningful tool for biosynthesis optimization. This study characterized several gene expression elements and constructed a multiple inducible system that responds to ten different small chemical inducers in halophile bacterium Halomonas bluephagenesis. Genome insertion of regulators was conducted for the purpose of gene cluster stabilization and regulatory plasmid simplification. Additionally, dynamic ranges of the multiple inducible systems were tuned by promoter sequence mutations to achieve diverse scopes for high-resolution gene expression control. The multiple inducible system was successfully employed to precisely control chromoprotein expression, lycopene and poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) biosynthesis, resulting in colorful bacterial pictures, optimized cell growth, lycopene and PHB accumulation. This study demonstrates a desirable approach for fine-tuning of rational and efficient gene expressions, displaying the significance for metabolic pathway optimization., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The bio-manufacturing of products with substantial commercial value, particularly polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), using cost-effective carbon sources through microorganisms, has garnered heightened attention from both the scientific community and industry over the past few decades. Opting for industrial PHA production from various organic wastes, spanning industrial, agricultural, municipal, and food-based sources, emerges as a wiser choice. This strategy not only eases the burden of recycling organic waste and curbs environmental pollution but also trims down PHA production costs, rendering these materials more competitive in commercial markets. In addition, PHAs are a family of renewable, environmentally friendly, fully biodegradable and biocompatible polyesters with a multitude of applications. This review provides an overview of recent developments in PHA production from organic wastes. It covers the optimization of diverse metabolic pathways for producing various types of PHA from organic waste sources, pre-treatment and downstream processing for PHA using unrelated organic wastes, and challenges in industrial production of PHA using unrelated organic waste feedstocks and the challenges faced in industrial PHA production from organic wastes, along with potential solutions. Lastly, this study suggests underlying research endeavors aimed at further enhancing of the feasibility of industrial PHA production from organic wastes as an alternative to current petroleum-based plastics in the near future., Competing Interests: The authors declared that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Halophilic Halomonas bluephagenesis has been engineered to produce various added-value bio-compounds with reduced costs. However, the salt-stress regulatory mechanism remained unclear. H. bluephagenesis was randomly mutated to obtain low-salt growing mutants via atmospheric and room temperature plasma (ARTP). The resulted H. bluephagenesis TDH4A 1 B 5 was constructed with the chromosomal integration of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) synthesis operon phaCAB and deletion of phaP 1 gene encoding PHA synthesis associated protein phasin, forming H. bluephagenesis TDH4A 1 B 5 P, which led to increased production of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydrobutyrate) (P34HB) by over 1.4-fold. H. bluephagenesis TDH4A 1 B 5 P also enhanced production of ectoine and threonine by 50% and 77%, respectively. A total 101 genes related to salinity tolerance was identified and verified via comparative genomic analysis among four ARTP mutated H. bluephagenesis strains. Recombinant H. bluephagenesis TDH4A 1 B 5 P was further engineered for PHA production utilizing sodium acetate or gluconate as sole carbon source. Over 33% cost reduction of PHA production could be achieved using recombinant H. bluephagenesis TDH4A 1 B 5 P. This study successfully developed a low-salt tolerant chassis H. bluephagenesis TDH4A 1 B 5 P and revealed salt-stress related genes of halophilic host strains., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 International Metabolic Engineering Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Indoor detection of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) concentration is necessary due to the serious toxicity hazards even at trace level. However, physisorbents usually exhibit weak interactions especially in the presence of trace concentrations of VOCs, thus exhibiting poor responsive signal. Herein, we report a new flexible metal-organic framework (MOF) that exhibits interesting pore-opening behavior after immersing in H 2 O. The pore-opening phase shows significant (≈116 folds) and extremely fast (<1 minute) fluorescence enhancement after being exposed to saturated benzene vapor. The limit of detection concentration for benzene vapor can be calculated as 0.133 mg L -1 . Thus this material represents the first MOF to achieve visual detection of trace benzene vapor by the naked eyes. Theoretical calculations and single-crystal structure reveal that the special "bilateral π-π stacking" interactions between the host and guest, which facilitate electron transfer and greatly enhance the intensity of fluorescence., (© 2023 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

It is difficult to distinguish between H 2 O and D 2 O due to their very similar properties. Triphenylimidazole derivatives with carboxyl groups ( TPI-COOH-2R ) show intramolecular charge transfer that responds to polarities and pH of solvents. Here, a series of TPI-COOH-2R with very high photoluminescence quantum yields (73-98%) were synthesized to distinguish D 2 O from H 2 O by the method of wavelength-changeable fluorescence. In a mixed THF/water solution, the increase of H 2 O and D 2 O contents will separately induce different pendulum-type fluorescence variations and form plots of closed circles with the same starting and ending points from which a THF/water ratio that displays the most different emission wavelengths (up to 53 nm with an LOD of 0.064 vol %) can be determined to further distinguish D 2 O from H 2 O. This is proved to be originated from the various Lewis acidities between H 2 O and D 2 O. The results of theoretical calculations and experiments suggest that, for different substituent groups in TPI-COOH-2R , an appropriate electron-donating effect is beneficial to distinguish between H 2 O and D 2 O, while the electron-pulling effect is adverse. Moreover, because the potential hydrogen/deuterium exchange does not affect the as-responsive fluorescence, this method is reliable. And this work provides a new strategy for the design of fluorescent probes for D 2 O.

A highly selective and divergent synthesis which enabled access to various complex compounds is highly attractive in organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry. Herein, we developed an effective method for divergent synthesis of highly substituted tetrahydroquinolines via Lewis base catalyzed switchable annulations of Morita-Baylis-Hillman carbonates with activated olefins. The reaction displayed switchable [4 + 2] or [3 + 2] annulations via catalyst or substrate control, providing a diverse range of architectures which contained highly substituted tetrahydroquinolines or cyclopentenes with three contiguous stereocenters bearing a quaternary carbon center in high yields with excellent diastereoselectivities and regioselectivities. Furthermore, synthetic utility of this strategy was further highlighted by gram-scale experiments and simple transformations of the products.

Microbial biomanufacturing, powered by the advances of synthetic biology, has attracted growing interest for the production of diverse products. In contrast to conventional microbes, extremophiles have shown better performance for low-cost production owing to their outstanding growth and synthesis capacity under stress conditions, allowing unsterilized fermentation processes. We review increasing numbers of products already manufactured utilizing extremophiles in recent years. In addition, genetic parts, molecular tools, and manipulation approaches for extremophile engineering are also summarized, and challenges and opportunities are predicted for non-conventional chassis. Next-generation industrial biotechnology (NGIB) based on engineered extremophiles promises to simplify biomanufacturing processes and achieve open and continuous fermentation, without sterilization, and utilizing low-cost substrates, making NGIB an attractive green process for sustainable manufacturing., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: East Asia (EA), which falls within the region of the Asian monsoon that is composed of the East Asia monsoon (EAM) and the Indian monsoon (IM), is known for its high species diversity and endemism. This has been attributed to extreme physiographical heterogeneity in conjunction with climate and sea-level changes during the Pleistocene, this hypothesis has been widely proven by phylogeographic studies. Recently, dated phylogenies have indicated that the origins (stem age) of the flora occurred after the Oligocene-Miocene boundary and are related to the establishment of the EAM., Methods: Hence, this study further examined whether the strengthening of the monsoons triggered floral evolution via a meta-analysis of the tempo-spatial pattern of evolutionary radiation dates (crown ages) of 101 endemic seed plant genera., Results: Taxonomic diversification began during the late Eocene, whereas the accumulated number of diversifications did not significantly accelerate until the late Miocene. The distribution of the weighted mean and the average divergence times in the EAM, IM, or transitional regions all fall within the mid-late Miocene. Fossils of the Tertiary relict genera are mostly and widely distributed outside EA and only half of the earliest fossils in the EA region are not older than Miocene, while their divergence times are mostly after the late Miocene. The pattern of divergence time of monotypic and polytypic taxa suggest the climatic changes after the late Pliocene exert more influence on monotypic taxa., Discussion: The two key stages of floral evolution coincide with the intensifications of the EAM and IM, especially the summer monsoon which brings a humid climate. An integrated review of previous studies concerning flora, genus, and species levels further supports our suggestion that monsoon intensification in EA triggered the evolution of its flora., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Ye, Tian and Li.)

The evolution of subtropical evergreen broadleaved forests (EBLFs) in East Asia is interesting while complicated. Genus-level phylogenies indicate that the origins of EBLFs could trace back to the Oligocene-Miocene boundary or even the Eocene, while population-level phylogeographic evidence suggests that they diversified after the Miocene, particularly in the Pleistocene. Here, we review the origins of dominant plant species to better understand the evolution of EBLFs. We compiled published estimates of the timing of origin of dominant species and diversification of evergreen relict genera from East Asian EBLFs. We also traced and visualized the evolution of EBLFs in the region using dated phylogenies and geographic distributions of the reviewed taxa. Most (76.1%) of the dominant species originated after the late Miocene, ca. 8 million years ago. Of the 10 evergreen relict genera, eight diverged near the late Miocene-Pliocene boundary or during the late Pliocene, and the remaining two diverged during the Pleistocene. Over the past 8 million years, geo-climatic changes have triggered origins of most of the dominant EBLF species and provided refugia for evergreen relict genera. Three pulsed phases of evolution are suggested by genetic studies at the genus, species, and population levels. Fossil evidence and spatiotemporal investigations should be integrated to fully understand the evolution of EBLFs in East Asia., (© 2022 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Three new three-dimensional metal-organic frameworks were synthesized based on a naphthalenediimide derivative ligand, all of which exhibit photochromic behaviour due to the presence of the naphthalenediimide core. Interestingly, two of them possess significant colour changes under light, excellent stability, and appropriate photochromic lifetimes, thus showing potential for application in inkless and erasable printing media.

With the rapid development of synthetic biology, a variety of biopolymers can be obtained by recombinant microorganisms. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) is one of the most popular one with promising material properties, such as biodegradability and biocompatibility against the petrol-based plastics. This study reviews the recent studies focusing on the microbial synthesis of PHA, including chassis engineering, pathways engineering for various substrates utilization and PHA monomer synthesis, and PHA synthase modification. In particular, advances in metabolic engineering of dominant workhorses, for example Halomonas, Ralstonia eutropha, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas, with outstanding PHA accumulation capability, were summarized and discussed, providing a full landscape of diverse PHA biosynthesis. Meanwhile, we also introduced the recent efforts focusing on structural analysis and mutagenesis of PHA synthase, which significantly determines the polymerization activity of varied monomer structures and PHA molecular weight. Besides, perspectives and solutions were thus proposed for achieving scale-up PHA of low cost with customized material property in the coming future., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Gao, Yang, Wang, Xie, Liu, Lin, Han, Zhu, Neureiter, Lin and Ye.)

Ligand-induced system plays an important role for microbial engineering due to its tunable gene expression control over timings and levels. An oleic acid (OA)-induced system was recently constructed based on protein FadR, a transcriptional regulator involved in fatty acids metabolism, for metabolic control in Escherichia coli. In this study, we constructed a synthetic FadR-based OA-induced systems in Halomonas bluephagenesis by hybridizing the porin promoter core region and FadR-binding operator (fadO). The dynamic control range was optimized over 150-fold, and expression leakage was significantly reduced by tuning FadR expression and positioning fadO, forming a series of OA-induced systems with various expression strengths, respectively. Additionally, ligand orthogonality and cross-species portability were also studied and showed highly linear correlation among Halomonas spp., Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas spp. Finally, OA-induced systems with medium- and small-dynamic control ranges were employed to dynamically control the expression levels of morphology associated gene minCD, and monomer precursor 4-hydroxybutyrate-CoA (4HB-CoA) synthesis pathway for polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), respectively, in the presence of oleic acid as an inducer. As a result, over 10 g/L of poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) accumulated by elongated cell sizes, and 6 g/L of P(3HB-co-9.57 mol% 4HB) were obtained by controlling the dose and induction time of oleic acid only. This study provides a systematic approach for ligand-induced system engineering, and demonstrates an alternative genetic tool for dynamic control of industrial biotechnology., (Copyright © 2022 International Metabolic Engineering Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Halomonas bluephagenesis has been engineered to produce flexible copolymers P34HB or poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) from glucose and petrol-chemical precursor, γ-butyrolactone. Herein, gene cluster aldD-dhaT was constructed in recombinant H. bluephagenesis for catalyzing 1,4-butanediol (BDO) into 4-hydroxybutyrate, which could grow to 86 g L -1 dry cell mass (DCM) containing 77 wt% P(3HB-co-14 mol% 4HB) in 7-L bioreactor fed with glucose and bio-based BDO. Furthermore, 4HB monomer ratio could be increased to 16 mol% by engineered H. bluephagenesis TDH4-WZY254 with defected outer-membrane. Upon deletion of 4HB degradation pathway, followed by aldD-dhaT integration, the resulted H. bluephagenesis TDB141ΔAC was grown to 95 g L -1 DCM containing 79 wt% P(3HB-co-14 mol% 4HB) with a BDO conversion efficiency of 86% under fed-batch fermentation. Notably, 4HB molar ratio can be significantly improved to 21 mol% with negligible effects on cell growth and P34HB synthesis by adding 50% more BDO. This study successfully demonstrated a fully bio-based P34HB effectively produced by H. bluephagenesis., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Inkless and erasable printing as a new technology has received intense attention in reducing paper waste and environmental hazards caused by the use of large amounts of ink. However, achieving high-resolution printing by inkless and erasable printing for practical applications remains a huge challenge. Herein, a new metal-organic framework (MOF) has been synthesized, which exhibits a reversible photochromic behavior. None of the unpaired electrons of metal ions and a unique three-dimensional network hinder electron transfer between the ligands and metal nodes, as well as between the ligands themselves, which are conducive to prolonging the photo-generated color lifetime and suitable for inkless and erasable printing. By virtue of the proper photo-generated color lifetime, strong contrast color before and after light irradiation, and reversible color transformation, a high-resolution printing content for inkless and erasable printing can be achieved by light irradiation. Notably, the paper coated with this MOF can be used for printing not only simple patterns such as pictures but also even texts for practical applications, surpassing other photochromic MOF materials for inkless and erasable printing, and almost comparable to ink and laser printing in terms of practicality and resolution. In addition, the MOF-coated paper can be reused for multiple cycles without significant deterioration.

Bioactive substances (BAS), such as small molecule drugs, proteins, RNA, cells, etc., play a vital role in many therapeutic applications, especially in tissue repair and regeneration. However, the therapeutic effect is still a challenge due to the uncontrollable release and instable physico-chemical properties of bioactive components. To address this, many biodegradable carrier systems of micro-nano structures have been rapidly developed based on different biocompatible polymers including polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), the microbial synthesized polyesters, to provide load protection and controlled-release of BAS. We herein highlight the developments of PHA-based carrier systems in recent therapeutic studies, and give an overview of its prospective applications in various disease treatments. Specifically, the biosynthesis and material properties of diverse PHA polymers, designs and fabrication of micro- and nano-structure PHA particles, as well as therapeutic studies based on PHA particles, are summarized to give a comprehensive landscape of PHA-based BAS carriers and applications thereof. Moreover, recent efforts focusing on novel-type BAS nano-carriers, the functionalized self-assembled PHA granules in vivo , was discussed in this review, proposing the underlying innovations of designs and fabrications of PHA-based BAS carriers powered by synthetic biology. This review outlines a promising and applicable BAS carrier platform of novelty based on PHA particles for different medical uses., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Zhang, Liu, Yang, Chen, Lin, Han, Cao, Zeng and Ye.)

A new class of aza-crown ether-derived chiral BINOL catalysts were designed, synthesized, and applied in the asymmetric Michael addition of alkenylboronic acids to α,β-unsaturated ketones. It was found that introducing aza-crown ethers to the BINOL catalyst could achieve apparently higher enantioselectivity than a similar BINOL catalyst without aza-crown ethers did, although the host-guest complexation of alkali ions by the aza-crown ethers could not further improve the catalysis effectiveness. Under mediation of the aza-crown ether-derived chiral BINOL and in the presence of a magnesium salt, an array of chiral γ,δ-unsaturated ketones were furnished in good enantioselectivities (81-95% ees)., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Microbial polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) containing short- and medium/long-chain-length monomers, abbreviated as SCL-co-MCL/LCL PHAs, generate suitable thermal and mechanical properties. However, SCL-co-MCL/LCL PHAs with carbon chain longer than nine are difficult to synthesize due to the low specificity of PHA synthase PhaC and the lack of either SCL- or MCL/LCL monomer precursor fluxes. This study succeeds in reprogramming a β-oxidation weakened Pseudomonas entomophila containing synthesis pathways of SCL 3-hydroxybutyryl-CoA (3HB) from glucose and MCL/LCL 3-hydroxyalkanoyl-CoA from fatty acids with carbon chain lengths from 9 to 18, respectively, that are polymerized under a low specificity PhaC 61-3 to form P(3HB-co-MCL/LCL 3HA) copolymers. Through rational flux-tuning approaches, the optimized recombinant P. entomophila accumulates 55 wt% poly-3-hydroxybutyrate in 8.4 g L -1 cell dry weight. Combined with weakened β-oxidation, a series of novel P(3HB-co-MCL/LCL 3HA) copolymers with over 60 wt% PHA in 9 g L -1 cell dry weight have been synthesized for the first time. P. entomophila has become a high-performing platform to generate tailor-made new SCL-co-MCL/LCL PHAs., (© 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Objective: Mild encephalopathy with reversible splenial lesion (MERS) is associated with a variety of infections and anti-epileptic drug withdrawal. Here we report the clinical characteristics of H1N1 influenza A-associated MERS based on our experience of four pediatric cases., Methods: A detailed retrospective analysis of four patients with H1N1 influenza A-associated MERS was performed at Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center., Results: All patients exhibited mild influenza-like illness and seizures. Three patients presented with a new-onset seizure with fever after 5 years of age. 75% patients had altered mental status. For all four patients, influenza A (H1N1) viral RNA was detected in throat swab specimens at least twice. Brain magnetic resonance images revealed similar ovoid lesions in the corpus callosum, mainly in the splenium and for one patient in the splenium and genu of the corpus callosum. Only one patient had an abnormal electroencephalogram tracing. Cells and protein in the cerebrospinal fluid were normal in all patients. All patients received oseltamivir and one patient received intravenous immunoglobulin. As a result, all patients fully recovered after 2 months and showed no neurologic sequelae at discharge., Conclusion: This case series provides insight towards clinical features of H1N1 influenza A-associated MERS., (© 2021. Huazhong University of Science and Technology.)

With the rapid development of systems and synthetic biology, the non-model bacteria, Halomonas spp., have been developed recently to become a cost-competitive platform for producing a variety of products including polyesters, chemicals and proteins owing to their contamination resistance and ability of high cell density growth at alkaline pH and high salt concentration. These salt-loving microbes can partially solve the challenges of current industrial biotechnology (CIB) which requires high energy-consuming sterilization to prevent contamination as CIB is based on traditional chassis, typically, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas putida and Corynebacterium glutamicum. The advantages and current status of Halomonas spp. including their molecular biology and metabolic engineering approaches as well as their applications are reviewed here. Moreover, a systematic strain engineering streamline, including product-based host development, genetic parts mining, static and dynamic optimization of modularized pathways and bioprocess-inspired cell engineering are summarized. All of these developments result in the term called next-generation industrial biotechnology (NGIB). Increasing efforts are made to develop their versatile cell factories powered by synthetic biology to demonstrate a new biomanufacturing strategy under open and continuous processes with significant cost-reduction on process complexity, energy, substrates and fresh water consumption., (© 2021 The Author(s).)

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of CIP2A (cancerous inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A) and the NLR (neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio) in the serum of patients with CRC (colorectal cancer) after resection., Methods: The clinicopathological data of 61 patients who underwent resection between January 2012 and December 2013 were collected. The NLR and CIP2A were divided into low score groups (0) and high score groups (1) with 2.03 and 6.07 as the optimal cut-off value according to the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. To identify the COCN (combination of CIP2A and the NLR) score, we added CIP2A and NLR points together and categorized CRC patients into three groups. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to identify the overall survival (OS) rates of the different groups. Finally, a ROC curve was plotted to evaluate the prognostic efficacy of COCN., Results: The CIP2A was associated with location (P = 0.046) and CEA (P = 0.037) in patients with CRC. Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that the 5-year OS of patients with low level of serum CIP2A was better than that of high level. The 5-year OS of the patients in the low NLR group was better than that of those in the high NLR group. The COCN score was associated with CEA (P < 0.001) and CA19-9 (P = 0.001). The 5-year OS of the patients in the COCN 0 group was highest, followed by that of those in the COCN 1 and COCN 2 groups. Age, N stage and M stage were factors associated with 5-year OS according to the univariate and multivariate analyses (P < 0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) for COCN was largest, indicating that COCN has better prognostic power than CIP2A or the NLR alone., Conclusion: COCN could be used as a better prognostic biomarker for CRC than the NLR or CIP2A alone.

Objective: To investigate the effect of long non-coding RNA-TUC338 on the proliferation and migration of lymphoma cells., Methods: The expression of TUC338 in different lymphoma cells was detected by fluorescence quantitative PCR, cell proliferation by sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay, migration of lymphoma cells by transwell assay, and protein expression in PI3K/AKT signaling pathway by Western blot., Results: The expression levels of TUC338 in lymphoma cells Daudi, U937, BC-3, and Raji significantly increased in comparison with human normal T lymphocytes H9 (t=13.277, 10.103, 16.200, and 26.687, P=0.002, 0.005, 0.001, and 0.000). Compared with NC-siRNA group, the number of cells crossing the chamber of TUC338-siRNA group was significantly reduced (t=30.508, P=0.000), the protein expression levels of p-PI3K and p-AKT significantly decreased (t=16.872 and 18.371, P=0.000 and 0.000), and OD 530 absorbance values at 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h were significantly lower (P<0.05)., Conclusion: The expression of TUC338 significantly increases in lymphoma cells, and silence of TUC338 effectively inhibits the activation of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, thereby inhibiting the proliferation and migration of lymphoma cells, which has a potential application value in diagnosis and treatment of lymphoma.

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of transumbilical single-incision plus one port (SIPOP) robotic total mesorectal excision. Methods: Clinical data of a 70-year-old male patient with BMI 22.1 kg/m(2) who successfully underwent transumbilical single-incision plus 1 port robotic total mesorectal resection of upper rectal cancer at the General Surgery Department of Daping Hospital of Army Military Medical University on September 18, 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. Preoperative colonoscopy revealed that the distance of upper rectal cancer to anal edge was 14 cm, and the tumor size was 2.5 cm×1.5 cm×1 cm. Pathological result confirmed rectal moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma. The preoperative abdominal CT showed thickened bowel-wall of upper rectum and the blurred perirectal fat, suggesting tumor infiltration. Results: The operation was successful. There were no conversion to laparotomy or abdominal auxiliary incision, and the mesorectum of the specimen was intact. The operation time was 165 minutes, the blood loss was about 20 ml, and there were no complications such as injury to peripheral organs. Postoperative pathology showed ulcerative moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of the upper rectum with TNM stage IVA (T4N2b). The postoperative recovery was smooth. Patient ambulated on the 1st day, the catheter was removed on the 7th day, and discharged from the hospital on the 8th day. Conclusion: The transumbilical SIPOP robotic total mesorectal excision is safe, effective and feasible.

Genetically programmed circuits allowing bifunctional dynamic regulation of enzyme expression have far-reaching significances for various bio-manufactural purposes. However, building a bio-switch with a post log-phase response and reversibility during scale-up bioprocesses is still a challenge in metabolic engineering due to the lack of robustness. Here, we report a robust thermosensitive bio-switch that enables stringent bidirectional control of gene expression over time and levels in living cells. Based on the bio-switch, we obtain tree ring-like colonies with spatially distributed patterns and transformer cells shifting among spherical-, rod- and fiber-shapes of the engineered Escherichia coli. Moreover, fed-batch fermentations of recombinant E. coli are conducted to obtain ordered assembly of tailor-made biopolymers polyhydroxyalkanoates including diblock- and random-copolymer, composed of 3-hydroxybutyrate and 4-hydroxybutyrate with controllable monomer molar fraction. This study demonstrates the possibility of well-organized, chemosynthesis-like block polymerization on a molecular scale by reprogrammed microbes, exemplifying the versatility of thermo-response control for various practical uses.

Halomonas bluephagenesis has been successfully engineered to produce multiple products under open unsterile conditions utilizing costly glucose as the carbon source. It would be highly interesting to investigate if H. bluephagenesis, a chassis for the Next Generation Industrial Biotechnology (NGIB), can be reconstructed to become an extracellular hydrolytic enzyme producer replacing traditional enzyme producer Bacillus spp. If successful, cost of bulk hydrolytic enzymes such as amylase and protease, can be significantly reduced due to the contamination resistant and robust growth of H. bluephagenesis. This also allows H. bluephagenesis to be able to grow on low cost substrates such as starch. The modularized secretion machinery was constructed and fine-tuned in H. bluephagenesis using codon-optimized gene encoding α-amylase from Bacillus lichenifomis. Screening of suitable signal peptides and linkers based on super-fold green fluorescence protein (sfGFP) for enhanced expression in H. bluephagenesis resulted in a 7-fold enhancement of sfGFP secretion in the recombinant H. bluephagenesis. When the gene encoding sfGFP was replaced by α-amylase encoding gene, recombinant H. bluephagenesis harboring this amylase secretory system was able to produce poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB), poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-4-hydroxybutyrate) (P34HB), poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV), ectoine and L-threonine utilizing starch as the growth substrate, respectively. Recombinant H. bluephagenesis TN04 expressing genes encoding α-amylase and glucosidase on chromosome and plasmid-based systems, respectively, was able to grow on corn starch to approximately 10 g/L cell dry weight containing 51% PHB when grown in shake flasks. H. bluephagenesis was demonstrated to be a chassis for productions of extracellular enzymes and multiple products from low cost corn starch., (Copyright © 2021 International Metabolic Engineering Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In East Asia, genetic divergence is usually considered to be correlated to different floristic regions, however, subtropical-tropical divergence is largely ignored, compared to widely explored temperate-subtropical divergence. Lindera aggregata (Lauraceae), a dominant species in South-East China was selected to address this issue. Fifteen low-copy nuclear genes (LCGs) and four chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) fragments were used to detect its evolutionary history. In LCGs, STRUCTURE and dated Bayesian phylogeny analyses detect distinct subtropical-tropical divergence since late Pleistocene. Approximate Bayesian calculation (ABC) further supports the distinct subtropical-tropical divergence, and close related Taiwan and South China populations are diverged at the last interglacial. Isolation by distance, isolation by environment and isolation by resistance analyses suggest the current climatic difference rather than geographical distance contributes to the genetic differentiation. Principle component analysis shows populations of tropical cluster occur in warmer area with higher precipitation. Ancestral area reconstruction based on Bayesian phylogeny indicates that ancestral L. aggregata populations are distributed in tropical region. In cpDNA, although unique haplotypes are found in tropical region, distinct subtropical-tropical divergence is absent. In conclusion, distinct late Pleistocene subtropical-tropical divergence of L. aggregata is triggered by climate. It is likely that L. aggregata is originated in Southwest-South China and experienced hierarchical dispersal from south to north. The South China Sea land bridge has dual role in connecting or isolating Taiwan and mainland populations since the last glaciation.

The significance of the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) in maintaining biodiversity for northern China has rarely been shown, as previous phylogeographic studies are mostly woody species and they have revealed that Quaternary refugia are mainly located in mountain regions. We selected a drought-enduring endemic herb, Speranskia tuberculata (Euphorbiaceae), to determine its glacial refugia and postglacial demographic history. To this end, we sampled 423 individuals from 38 populations covering its entire geographic distribution. Three chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) fragments, two low-copy nuclear genes, and six nuclear microsatellites (nSSRs) were used and supplemented with ecological niche modeling (ENM) to infer the phylogeographic history of this species. Populations with private haplotypes and high haplotype diversity of cpDNA are mainly located in the CLP or scattered around northeastern China and the coastal region. Spatial expansion, detected using a neutrality test and mismatch distribution, may have resulted in a widely distributed ancestral cpDNA haplotype, especially outside of the CLP. For nuclear DNA, private haplotypes are also distributed mainly in the CLP. In nSSRs, STRUCTURE clustering identified two genetic clusters, which are distributed in the west (western cluster) and east (eastern cluster), respectively. Many populations belonged, with little to no admixture, to the western cluster while (hardly) pure populations of the eastern cluster were barely found. Genetic differentiation is significantly correlated with geographic distance, although genetic diversity is uniformly distributed. ENM suggests that the distribution of S. tuberculata has recently expanded northwards from the southern CLP, whereas it has experienced habitat loss in the south. Thus, S. tuberculata populations probably survived the last glacial maximum (LGM) in the southern CLP and experienced post-glacial expansion. Wind-dispersed pollen could bring the majority of genotypes to the front during spatial expansion, resulting in uniformly distributed genetic diversity. Based on evidence from molecular data and vegetation and climate changes since the LGM, we conclude that drought-enduring species, especially herbaceous species, are likely to have persisted in the CLP during the LGM and to have experienced expansion to other regions in northern China., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Ye, Wu, Fu, Zhang and Tian.)

Background: Abdominal ventral rectopexy (AVR) with colectomy is controversial in the treatment of obstructed defecation syndrome (ODS). Literature data on this technique for ODS are very limited., Aim: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of AVR with colectomy for selected patients with ODS., Methods: Consecutive patients who underwent AVR with colectomy for ODS were identified prospectively from 2016 to 2017 in our department. Patient demographics, perioperative surgical results, and postoperative follow-up outcomes were collected and analyzed. Long-term follow-up was evaluated with standardized questionnaires. The severity of symptoms was assessed by the objective Wexner Constipation Score (WCS) and ODS Score. The quality of life was assessed by the Patients Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life score. Functional outcome was compared pre- and post-operatively for each patient. The primary outcomes were determined by the improvement in symptoms and quality of life. Secondary outcome measures were operating time, postoperative length of stay, morbidity and mortality, improvement of pelvic floor structure, and patient satisfaction., Results: Four patients underwent robotic-assisted surgery, and two patients underwent a laparoscopic-assisted procedure. The mean operating time for the robotic approach was 243 min (range 160-300 min), and the mean operating time for the laparoscopic approach was 230 min (range 220-240 min). The mean postoperative length of stay was 8.2 d (range 6-12 d). There was no conversion to open procedure and no postoperative mortality. No urinary retention, wound infection, prolonged ileus, pelvic infection and anastomosis leakage occurred. Six patients were followed up for 36 mo. The WCS, ODS, and Patients Assessment of Constipation Quality of Life score improved significantly postoperatively ( P < 0.05). The WCS and ODS scores showed the best remission and stabilization at 6 to 12 mo after surgery. There was no recurrence or novel constipation after surgery. None of the patients used laxative medication., Conclusion: Robotic and laparoscopic-assisted ventral rectopexy with colectomy is a safe and effective procedure for selected patients with ODS. However, comprehensive preoperative evaluation and careful patient selection are essential., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Situs inversus totalis (SIT) is a rare anomaly in which structures are located opposite to their usual positions. It is not a premalignant condition and the association with colorectal cancer (CRC) is rare. We here report a patient with SIT who underwent laparoscopic radical resection of sigmoid colon cancer, and review the pertinent literature., Case Summary: A 53-year-old woman presented with CRC and SIT and underwent a complete examination after admission. The patient then underwent laparoscopic radical resection of sigmoid colon cancer and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy. The operation duration was 120 min, and no intraoperative complications occurred. The final pathological report showed stage T4aN0M0. Postoperative chemotherapy was administered and no evidence of recurrence was observed during 18 mo of follow-up., Conclusion: Surgery in a patient with CRC and SIT can be safely performed on the basis of routine preoperative clinical examination., (©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)

Triphenylimidazole-based ampholytes with intramolecular charge transfer were designed with the introduction of carboxyl groups. In solution, the synergistic solvent and ionization effects on the ampholytes led to a unique pendulum-type fluorescence variation during the water content increasing process. Among them, 4-(4,5-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1H-imidazol-2-yl)benzoic acid showed the most prominent three-step fluorescence switching property.

Background: The clinical incidence of appendiceal mucinous adenocarcinoma is low. Moreover, the case reports of postoperative relapse after surgery are rarely based on literature search results. Here, we report such a case spanning nearly 7 years and and review the relevant literature., Case Presentation: A 50-year-old female underwent additional surgery after appendectomy, and pathological examination confirmed mucinous adenocarcinoma. The patients underwent HIPEC (hyperthermic intraoperative chemotherapy) and adjuvant chemotherapy. Twenty-six months after the previous surgeries, another surgery, HIPEC, and adjuvant chemotherapy were performed again due to tumour recurrence. To date, the follow-up time is 43 months, and no recurrence or metastasis has been found., Conclusions: Appendix mucinous adenocarcinoma has a poor prognosis and the diagnosis depends on pathological and immunohistochemical examinations. Its clinical manifestations are non-specific, and CRS + HIPEC should be used for treatment, which is safe and effective.

Allelopathic effects of Miscanthus floridulus at different growth stages on Brassica peki-nensis , Lactuca sativa , and Oryza sativa were examined using six parameters of seed germination and seedling growth, including germination rate, germination speed index, germination index, root length, stem length, and biomass. The results showed that the allelopathic effects of M. floridulus leaf extract were stronger than that of stem extract, with the germination index and biomass of reci-pient plants treated by leaf extract being significantly lower than those treated by stem extract. The allelopathic effect of M. floridulus in the withering stage was stronger than that in the vigorous growth stage. There was a significant dose-effect relationship between the concentrations of leaf extract and the allelopathic effects on three different receptor plants. The higher the extract concentration was, the stronger the allelopathic inhibition was. Leaf extract of M. floridulus could completely inhibit all the germination indices of B. pekinensis and L. sativa at the concentrations of 0.075 and 0.10 g·mL -1 , respectively. The inhibition rates of 0.10 g·mL -1 leaf extract on germination rate, germination speed index, and germination index of O. sativa were 13.8%, 27.2% and 19.3%, respectively. Leaf extract of M. floridulus could completely inhibit all the growth indices of B. pekinensis and L. sativa at the concentrations of 0.05 and 0.10 g·mL -1 , respectively. However, the inhibition rates of 0.10 g·mL -1 leaf extract on root length, stem length, and biomass of O. sativa were 64.6%, 92.9% and 21.8%, respectively. In summary, according to the comprehensive allelopathy response index (SE) of seed germination and seedling growth, the susceptibility of the three tested species to the extracts of M. floridulus was B. pekinensis (Cruciferae) > L. sativa (Compositae) > O. sativa (Gramineae).

Robotic-assisted transanal total mesorectal excision (R-TaTME) has unique advantage in low rectal cancer. Single incision plus oneport (SIPOP) laparoscopic operation can synchronously cooperate with robotic-assisted transanal operation, in order to the difficulty of operation, improve the quality of operation and shorten the time of operation. A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical and pathological data of one patient who underwent SIPOP synchronously combined with R-TaTME + sigmoid-anal anastomosis + ileostomy at the Department of General Surgery, Army Characteristic Medical Center on September 11, 2019. This 71-year-old patient was male with body mass index of 24.08 kg/m(2) and received preoperative chemotherapy. Rectal adenocarcinoma was confirmed by colonoscopy biopsy, and distance from tumor lower edge to anal verge was 3 cm. MRI indicated T2N1 stage. The operation was completed successfully, and the transabdominal and robotic transanal surgery totaled 117 minutes, with 15 minutes for the robotic transanal preparation step. There was about 20 ml of intraoperative blood loss and no blood transfusion was performed. The patient was discharged 6 days after operation. No intraoperative or postoperative complications occurred. The postoperative TNM staging was stage I (pyT2N0cM0). No recurrence or metastasis was found at postoperative 7 month. It is a safe, effective and feasible technique for patients with low rectal cancer.

Objective: To investigate the expression of Circ&#95;cgga162 in serum of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) patients and analyze its potential as a prognostic biomarker., Methods: The expression of Circ&#95;cgga162 in 86 cases of mantle cell lymphoma and 50 cases of lymph node reactive hyperplasia (RH) were detected by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The relationship between the expression of Circ&#95;cgga162 and clinicopathological features was analyzed by univariate analysis. The relationship of Circ&#95;cgga162 expression with progression-free survival time and overall survival time was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier. The relationship between expression of Circ&#95;cgga162 and prognosis of patients was analyzed by univariate and multivariate analysis., Results: The expression level of Circ&#95;cgga162 in MCL patients was significantly higher than that in control (RH) group (P＜0.01). The expression of Circ&#95;cgga162 not correlated with age, gender, B symptoms and LDH (all P＞0.05), but correlated with the expression of MCL International Prognostic Index (IPI), Ann Arbor stage, bone marrow infiltration and Ki67 (all P＜0.05). In addition, Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the progression-free survival time and overall survival time of the MCL patients with high expression of Circ&#95;cgga162 were significantly shorter than those of the MCL patients with low expression (P＜0.01). Univariate analysis showed that Ann Arbor stage, Circ&#95;cgga162 expression, MIPI, bone marrow infiltration and Ki67 were the prognostic factors for MCL patients (all P＜0.05). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that Ann Arbor stage, Circ&#95;cgga162 expression and MIPI were independent factors affecting the prognosis of MCL patients (all P＜0.05)., Conclusion: Circ&#95;cgga162 is highly expressed in serum of patients MCL, which relates with the prognosis of MCL patients. Circ&#95;cgga162 can be used as a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target for MCL patients.

Purpose: Investigation of the role of sedation during colonoscopy is meaningful as the advantages of colonoscopy performing with sedation are still controversial., Methods: Medical records of patients who underwent colonoscopy in our institution were retrospectively analyzed. The sedation rate, adenoma detection rate (ADR), polyp detection rate (PDR), cecal intubation rate (CIR), iatrogenic colonic perforation rate (ICP) were calculated., Results: A total of 48,838 colonoscopies (24,498 in males) dated from July 2007 to February 2017 were analyzed. The median age was 50 years (range 16-85 years). An overall sedation rate was 80.38%. The PDR was 26.77%, and was not statistically different between colonoscopy with or without sedation (26.67% vs 27.22, p = 0.474). ADR was 12.9% regardless of applying sedation or not (13.0% vs 12.44%, p = 0.337). The CIR was 87.42% in all examinations with an adjusted CIR of 90.34%, and was higher when performed with sedation than without sedation (88.92% vs 80.64%, p < 0.0001). Five cases (0.01%) of ICP were reported, all of which occurred in patients under sedation., Conclusions: The use of sedation is associated with increased CIR, but ADR and PDR remain unchanged with or without sedation. However, perforation rate, albeit very low, is significantly higher in sedated patients.

Background: Although total or subtotal colectomy for slow-transit constipation (STC) has been proven to be a definite treatment, the associated defecation function and quality of life (QOL) are rarely studied., Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of surgery for STC regarding defecation function and QOL., Methods: From March 2013 to September 2017, 30 patients undergoing surgery for STC in our department were analyzed. Preoperative, intra-operative, and postoperative 3-mo, 6-mo, 1-year, and 2-year follow-up details were recorded. Defecation function was assessed by bowel movements, abdominal pain, bloating, straining, laxative, enema use, diarrhea, and the Wexner constipation and incontinence scales. QOL was evaluated using the gastrointestinal QOL index and the 36-item short form survey., Results: The majority of patients (93.1%, 27/29) stated that they benefited from the operation at the 2-year follow-up. At each time point of the follow-up, the number of bowel movements per week significantly increased compared with that of the preoperative conditions ( P < 0.05). Similarly, compared with the preoperative values, a marked decline was observed in bloating, straining, laxative, and enema use at each time point of the follow-up ( P < 0.05). Postoperative diarrhea could be controlled effectively and notably improved at the 2-year follow-up. The Wexner incontinence scores at 6-mo, 1-year, and 2-year were notably lower than those at the 3-mo follow-up ( P < 0.05). Compared with those of the preoperative findings, the Wexner constipation scores significantly decreased following surgery ( P < 0.05). Thus, it was reasonable to find that the gastrointestinal QOL index scores clearly increase ( P < 0.05) and that the 36-item short form survey results displayed considerable improvements in six spheres (role physical, role emotional, physical pain, vitality, mental health, and general health) following surgery., Conclusion: Total or subtotal colectomy for STC is not only effective in alleviating constipation-related symptoms but also in enhancing patients' QOL., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflicts of interest related to this article., (©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)