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Background Aim Study Design Results Conclusions Relevance for Clinical Practice Approximately 16%–89% of patients developed delirium during hospitalization in the intensive care unit (ICU). Studies on the accuracy and clinical application of ICU delirium screening tools exist, but the results are inconsistent. Moreover, the accuracy of different screening tools varied greatly.To compare the diagnostic accuracy of Confusion Assessment Method‐Intensive Care Unit (CAM‐ICU) and Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist (ICDSC) for delirium screening in critically ill patients in the ICU.We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Medline, and SciELO databases for relevant studies by combining relevant medical subject headings (MeSH) and keywords. Each database was searched from its creation to 30 January 2024. The included literature was screened by title, abstract, and full text. The diagnostic studies were summarized using Stata 14.0 software. SEN, SPE, PLR, NLR, DOR, and 95% confidence interval (CI) of the diagnostic studies were combined, the SROC analysis was performed, and the area under curve was estimated.Thirty‐two articles from the database met the inclusion criteria. The number of studies on CAM‐ICU and ICDSC was 28 and 14, respectively. For CAM‐ICU, the pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.81 (95% CI: 0.81–0.81) and 0.94 (95% CI: 0.94–0.94), and the hierarchical SROC curve was 0.96 (95% CI: 0.93–0.97). Regarding the ICDSC, The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.79 (95% CI: 0.68–0.86) and 0.90 (95% CI: 0.84–0.93), and the hierarchical SROC curve was 0.92 (95% CI: 0.89–0.94). Regarding the likelihood ratio, the CAM‐ICU has a high PLR of 14.24 (95% CI: 14.24–14.24) and a low NLR of 0.20 (95% CI: 0.20–0.20). The ICDSC has a low PLR of 7.64 (95% CI: 5.37–10.87) and a high NLR of 0.24 (95% CI: 0.16–0.35).CAM‐ICU showed good performance in terms of screening and diagnostic efficacies for delirium in critically ill patients. In view of the diagnostic accuracy of these two tools in delirium assessment, the strategies on how to increase their implementation in delirium screening among ICU patients are the focus of future research.CAM‐ICU is recommended as the first choice to evaluate delirium in clinical practice, followed by ICDSC. Future studies can explore the predictive value of CAM‐ICU and ICDSC in different special populations and different types of delirium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of high-performance computing systems has led to a rapid increase in the speed of flow field simulation calculations. However, large-scale simulation output data lead to storage bottlenecks and inefficient data analysis. In this work, we used in situ visualization to process the simulation analysis of large-scale flow fields. Combined with narrative visual analysis, we designed a large-scale ocean flow field eddy evolution analysis system based on in situ visualization. Our system can generate high-precision eddy streamline structures in real time and supports eddy statistical analysis and tracking analysis at different ocean regional scales. Through the case data analysis of ocean simulation, we demonstrated the efficiency and effectiveness of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alcoholic liver disease is currently the most clinically concerning liver disease, which occurs from chronic alcohol abuse. Flos Puerariae and Semen Hoveniae have been used to treat alcohol drinking excessively for thousands of years in China. In this study, the ethanol extract of the medicine pair was qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed by high‐performance liquid chromatography and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. First, the high‐performance liquid chromatography fingerprint was established to obtain the overall chromatographic data of its chemical constituents. Next, high‐performance liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry was applied to identify its chemical constituents. Then, the characteristic constituents were simultaneously quantified by high‐performance liquid chromatography. In addition, the chemical constituents that were absorbed into rat plasma were identified by high‐performance liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry. As a result, a total of 48 chemical constituents in the medicine pair were detected and identified in vitro. Meanwhile, the content of seven representative constituents, including dihydromyricetin, glycitin, genistin, tectoridin, glycitein, genistein, and tectorigenin were simultaneously determined. Furthermore, a total of 19 chemical constituents were detected in rat plasma after oral administration. In short, the chemical constituents of the medicine pair were initially investigated in this study, which will lay the foundation for the discovery of its pharmacodynamic substances in further works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytic acid (PA) is a major antinutrient that cannot be digested by monogastric animals, but it can decrease the bioavailability of micronutrients (e.g., Zn and Fe). Lowering the PA content of crop seeds will lead to enhanced nutritional traits. Low-PA mutant crop lines carrying more than one mutated gene (lpa) have lower PA contents than mutants with a single lpa mutant gene. However, little is known about the link between PA pathway intermediates and downstream regulatory activities following the mutation of these genes in soybean. Consequently, we performed a comparative transcriptome analysis using an advanced generation recombinant inbred line with low PA levels [2mlpa (mips1/ipk1)] and a sibling line with homozygous non-mutant alleles and normal PA contents [2MWT (MIPS1/IPK1)]. An RNA sequencing analysis of five seed developmental stages revealed 7945 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the 2mlpa and 2MWT seeds. Moreover, 3316 DEGs were associated with 128 metabolic and signal transduction pathways and 4980 DEGs were annotated with 345 Gene Ontology terms related to biological processes. Genes associated with PA metabolism, photosynthesis, starch and sucrose metabolism, and defense mechanisms were among the DEGs in 2mlpa. Of these genes, 36 contributed to PA metabolism, including 22 genes possibly mediating the low-PA phenotype of 2mlpa. The expression of most of the genes associated with photosynthesis (81 of 117) was down-regulated in 2mlpa at the late seed developmental stage. In contrast, the expression of three genes involved in sucrose metabolism was up-regulated at the late seed developmental stage, which might explain the high sucrose content of 2mlpa soybeans. Furthermore, 604 genes related to defense mechanisms were differentially expressed between 2mlpa and 2MWT. In this study, we detected a low PA content as well as changes to multiple metabolites in the 2mlpa mutant. These results may help elucidate the regulation of metabolic events in 2mlpa. Many genes involved in PA metabolism may contribute to the substantial decrease in the PA content and the moderate accumulation of InsP3–InsP5 in the 2mlpa mutant. The other regulated genes related to photosynthesis, starch and sucrose metabolism, and defense mechanisms may provide additional insights into the nutritional and agronomic performance of 2mlpa seeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is characterized by peripheral insulin resistance and insufficient insulin secretion caused by pancreatic β-cell dysfunction. Excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and activation of caspases in mitochondria inhibit insulin secretion and promote apoptosis of pancreatic β-cells. Studies have demonstrated that positive correlation between the consumption of flavonoid-rich diets and diabetes prevention. Zanthoxylum bungeanum leaves have been used as food for a long time and are rich in flavonoids with strong radical scavenging abilities. We and others have identified hyperoside as the major bioactive component of total flavonoids exacted from Zanthoxylum bungeanum leaves. We hypothesize that hyperoside from Z. bungeanum leaves (HZL) may prevent T2DM by inhibiting excessive ROS formation and reducing pancreatic β-cells apoptosis. In current study, HZL was administered to high fat diet and alloxan-induced diabetic mice, and appeared to significantly ameliorate the damage of glucose metabolism and insulin secretion as well as restore the structural integrity of pancreas, and inhibit β-cell apoptosis. Pancreatic antioxidant enzyme activities were also restored by HZL supplementation. In cultured MIN6 cells, which produce and secret insulin, HZL treatment restored insulin secretion through inhibiting the expression of TXNIP and lowering intracellular calcium concentration. These observations mechanistically linked the beneficial effects of HZL with the regulation on cellular redox status and mitochondrial function. Taken together, our findings suggest that HZL has protective effect on pancreatic β-cell function and may be a beneficial nutritional supplementation for prevention and adjuvant therapy of T2DM. Image 1 • Hyperoside (HZL) is the major bioactive component of Zanthoxylum bungeanum leaves. • HZL restores antioxidant enzymes activity and reduces pancreatic β-cells apoptosis. • HZL restores structural integrity of pancreas and insulin secretion in diabetic mice. • HZL regulates intracellular calcium concentration and TXNIP expression in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction and retrieval of indoor maps are important for indoor positioning and navigation. It is necessary to ensure a good user experience while meeting real-time requirements. Unlike outdoor maps, indoor space is limited, and the relationship between indoor objects is complex which would result in an uneven indoor data distribution and close relationship between the data. A data storage model based on the octree scene segmentation structure was proposed in this paper initially. The traditional octree structure data storage model has been improved so that the data could be backtracked. The proposed method will solve the problem of partition lines within the range of the object data and improve the overall storage efficiency. Moreover, a data retrieval algorithm based on octree storage structure was proposed. The algorithm adopts the idea of "searching for a point, points around the searched point are within the searching range." Combined with the octree neighbor retrieval methods, the closure constraints are added. Experimental results show that using the improved octree storage structure, the retrieval cost is 1/8 of R-tree. However, by using the neighbor retrieval, it improved the search efficiency by about 27% on average. After adding the closure constraint, the retrieval efficiency increases by 25% on average. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Cervical cancer (CC) patients usually have poor prognosis. The present study aims to find a DNA methylation signature for predicting survival of CC patients.Methods: We selected CC patients at pathological stage I-III with corresponding information on radiotherapy and overall survival (OS) from TCGA. Differential expression and methylation analysis was done between patients with and without radiotherapy. We selected feature genes using recursive feature elimination algorithm to build a support vector machine classifier. DNA methylation biomarkers predictive of prognosis were identified using a LASSO Cox-Proportional Hazards model to construct a prognostic scoring model. The classifier and the prognostic model were tested on the training set and the validation set. Nomogram combining risk score and prognostic clinical factors were used.Results: We obtained 497 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 865 differentially methylated genes (DMGs). Fifteen feature genes were selected from the 292 common genes between the DEGs and the DMGs to construct a classification model for radiotherapy. A DNA methylation signature including 10 genes was identified and used to establish a prognostic scoring model. The 10-gene methylation signature could effectively separate patients into two risk groups with markedly different OS time. Predictive capability of the methylation signature was successfully confirmed on the validation set. A nomogram comprised of risk score, radiotherapy, and recurrence was applied, with calibration plots displaying good concordance between predicted and actual OS. The DEGs were involved in 12 KEGG pathways most of which were correlated with metastasis and proliferation of various cancers, such as pathways in cancer, basal cell carcinoma, transcriptional misregulation in cancer and ECM-receptor interaction.Conclusion: We Identified a 10-gene methylation signature for risk stratification of CC patients at pathological stages I-III, and ten methylation biomarkers might be novel therapeutic targets for CC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Seed germination is essential to crop growth and development, and ultimately affects its harvest. It is difficult to breed soybeans low in phytic acid with a higher seed field emergence. Although additional management and selection could overcome the phytate reduction, the mechanisms of seed germination remain unknown. Results: A comparative proteomic analysis was conducted between two low phytic acid (LPA) soybean mutants (TW-1-M and TW-1), both of which had a deletion of 2 bp in the GmMIPS1 gene. However, the TW-1 seeds showed a significantly lower field emergence compared to the TW-1-M. There were 282 differentially accumulated proteins (DAPs) identified between two mutants at the three stages. Among these DAPs, 80 were down-accumulated and 202 were up-accumulated. Bioinformatic analysis showed that the identified proteins were related to functional categories of oxidation reduction, response to stimulus and stress, dormancy and germination processes and catalytic activity. KEGG analysis showed that these DAPs were mainly involved in energy metabolism and anti-stress pathways. Based upon the conjoint analysis of DAPs with the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) previously published among three germination stages in two LPA mutants, 30 shared DAPs/DEGs were identified with different patterns, including plant seed protein, beta-amylase, protein disulfide-isomerase, disease resistance protein, pyrophosphate-fructose 6-phosphate 1-phosphotransferase, cysteine proteinase inhibitor, non-specific lipid-transfer protein, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and acyl-coenzyme A oxidase. Conclusions: Seed germination is a very complex process in LPA soybean mutants. The TW-1-M and TW-1 showed many DAPs involved in seed germination. The differential accumulation of these proteins could result in the difference of seed field emergence between the two mutants. The high germination rate in the TW-1-M might be strongly attributed to reactive oxygen species-related and plant hormone-related genes. All these findings would help us further explore the germination mechanisms in LPA crops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Graphene with a large amount of topological defects possesses abundant catalytically active sites and strong adsorption capacity of CO 2 , and exhibits excellent electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction performance. Abstract The rational synthesis of earth-abundant materials with excellent electrocatalytic performances plays a critical role in electrochemical CO 2 reduction (ECR) to obtain value-added chemical products or fuels. Here we demonstrate a defective graphene (DG) as such an electrocatalyst candidate via a nitrogen removal method. The graphene with a large amount of topological defects offered abundant catalytically active sites, high electronic conductivity and strong adsorption of CO 2. Attributed to these features, the DG exhibited significantly higher electrocatalytic CO 2 reduction performances with an excellent faradaic efficiency of ∼84% at −0.6 V vs. reversible hydrogen electrode and a larger current density, compared to pristine graphene, nitrogen-doped graphene and edge-rich graphene. This work suggests a promising method for further designing efficient metal-free electrocatalysts for CO 2 reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of human motion capture, realistic human motion capture data has been widely implemented to many fields. However, segmenting motion capture data sequences manually into distinct behavior is time-consuming and laborious. In this paper, we introduce an efficient unsupervised method based on graph partition for automatically segmenting motion capture data. For N-Frame motion capture data sequence, we construct an undirected, weighted graph G = G ( V , E ) , where the node set V represent frames of motion sequence and the weight of the edge set E describes similarity between frames. In this way, behavioral segmentation problem can be transformed into graph cut problem. However, traditional graph cut problem is NP hard. By analyzing the relationship between graph cut and spectral clustering, we apply spectral clustering to the NP hard problem of graph cut. In this paper, two methods of spectral clustering, t-nearest neighbors and the Nystrom method, are employed to cluster motion capture data for getting behavioral segmentation. In addition, we define an energy function to refine the results of behavioral segmentation. Extensive experiments are conducted on the dataset of multi-behavior motion capture data from CMU database. The experimental results prove that our novel method is robust and effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's agriculture is characterized by small-scale farms whose overuse of chemical fertilizers is widespread. This makes it a key challenge for China to sustainably feed its growing population. In this study, we investigate the role of farm size in maize production and how it relates to farmers' fertilizer application strategies. We use cross-sectional survey data of 774 maize-producing farms in northern China, and develop a conceptual framework that links farm production, on-farm resources, the socio-economic characteristics of the households and farmers' knowledge and perceptions as a whole. We use linear and logistic regression models to show that despite the recent declines in fertilizer application rates, excessive fertilizer use persists in maize cultivation in northern China. Farm size has a negative effect on chemical fertilizer use and a positive effect on maize yield. In addition, farmers on large farms achieve significantly higher knowledge scores in terms of fertilizer use and maize cultivation. They are also more likely to attend agricultural training and adopt scientific fertilizer use techniques. Increased farm size, participation in training, better farming knowledge, and having a family member as a village cadre are associated with farmers' decisions to reduce the use of conventional fertilizers. The key to achieving more sustainable grain production in China is to increase farm size, while enhancing the effectiveness of agricultural extension and promoting scientific fertilization techniques. Social networks within and between villages should also be utilized for knowledge transfer. In addition, cooperation between research institutions and fertilizer companies should be further emphasized to improve the accessibility of regionally adjusted formulated fertilizers. • Excessive fertilizer use persists in maize production in northern China. • A conceptual framework linking natural and socioeconomic aspects of maize farms is developed. • Increasing farm size has a negative (positive) effect on fertilizer use (maize yield). • Smallholder farmers on average have less farming knowledge. • Training has the greatest impact on farmers' decision to reduce fertilizer use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study was to evaluate the viability and gene expression relating to probiotic functionality of encapsulated Lactobacillus plantarum CCTCC M 2014170 during freeze-drying. Sodium alginate with or without inulin was applied as an inner layer and skim milk was used as an outer layer for coating sodium alginate particles. The results indicated that skim milk coated inulin-sodium alginate (ISA) encapsulation beads improved the survival of L. plantarum during exposure to adverse environment. The viability of L. plantarum from ISA encapsulation beads did not change after 2 h incubation in simulant gastric fluid (SGF). In 1% bile salt solution, the L. plantarum from ISA encapsulation beads only had 1.21 log CFU/mL reduction after 2 h treatment. After 7 weeks storage, the survival rate of L . plantarum was 20.89%, which showed reduction from 8.52 to 7.84 log CFU/mL. In addition, all genes relating to probiotic functionality of L. plantarum were similarly but not significantly up-regulated except the plnEF , which exhibited the highest up-regulation at more than 17-fold increase. This study indicated that encapsulation with alginate and skim milk in the presence of inulin before freeze-drying protected and improved the probiotic functionality of L. plantarum from the adverse freeze drying environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sugar and protein are important quality traits in soybean seeds for making soy-based food products. However, the investigations on both compositions and their relationship have rarely been reported. In this study, a total of 35 soybean germplasms collected from Zhejiang province of China, were evaluated for both water-soluble sugar and protein. The total water-soluble sugar (TWSS) content of the germplasms studied ranged from 84.70 to 140.91 mg/g and the water-soluble protein (WSP) content varied from 26.5% to 36.0%. The WSP content showed positive correlations with the TWSS and sucrose contents but negative correlations with the fructose and glucose contents. The clustering showed the 35 germplasms could be divided into four groups with specific contents of sugar and protein. The combination of water-soluble sugar and protein profiles provides useful information for future breeding and genetic research. This investigation will facilitate future work for seed quality improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gaotian, one typical conservative village in rural area of South China, is differentiated from other adjacent village for its longevity and health situation of residents. To ascertain the difference of intestinal microbial community between Gaotian and other region, high-throughput sequencing and systematical bioinformation analyses was adopted to compare 21 samples in long life group with 28 in control group. The α diversity showed that the diversity of species of intestinal flora of Gaotian villagers was higher than that of control group, while the β diversity showed that the similarity of intestinal flora for Gaotian residents was also much higher than that of control group. OTU cluster analysis and Venn diagram showed that the intestinal microbial community of Gaotian villagers is different from that of control group. To quantitatively compare the main flora constitution in all samples, real-time PCR was performed, and the results showed that the biomass of Enterococcus, Lactobacillus, Enterobacteriaceae, Clostridium perfringens, and Bacteroides of Gaotian villages is generally significantly higher than that of control group. Remarkably, some special species, i.e., Methanobacterium, Butyricimonas, Deinococcus, and Streptococcaceae, have been found in Gaotian villagers. Overall, this study lays a preparatory basis for exploration of the resources of special species from healthy and long-living elderly Gaotian villagers and for proposal of a hypothesis, namely, the diversity in intestinal flora of Gaotian might contribute to the longevity and health of local residents. Further study should be focused on screening and functional evaluation of the special species in the long-life residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) concepts and practices including voluntary codes of conduct in China has grown considerably over the past decade, providing an opportunity to examine the dynamics and impacts of codes of conduct in stemming labour abuses. This article uses an in-depth case study of the implementation of codes of conduct at a Chinese supplier factory for Reebok, a leading brand in the global athletic footwear industry, to explore how and why codes of conduct, as a privatised form of global labour regulation, are effective in some respects but also ineffective in other respects in terms of improving labour standards in the global production system. This article sheds light on the influences of a variety of related factors that are embedded in overlapping international, industrial, national and local contexts to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the effectiveness of codes of conduct at curbing labour abuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Predicting the short-term prognosis and severity of tuberculosis meningitis (TBM) patients without HIV infection can be challenging, and there have been no prior studies examining the neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as a potential predictor of short-term prognosis or its relationship to TBM severity. We hypothesized that NLR might serve as an independent indicator of short-term prognostic significance and that there might be a correlation between NLR and severity. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of NLR as a predictor of short-term prognosis and its relationship to severity of tuberculosis meningitis patients without HIV infection. Methods: We retrospectively collected data from patients diagnosed with TBM in the West China Hospital, Sichuan University, from the period between January 1st, 2018 and August 1st, 2019. Multivariable analysis was executed by the logistic regression model to verify the independence of the 28-day mortality, the discriminative power for predicting short-term prognosis was evaluated using a Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve, survival outcomes were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and Pearson's correlation analysis was performed to discuss correlation between NLR and the severity of TBM. Results: We collected data from 231 TBM patients without HIV infection. 68 (29.4%) patients are classified as stage (I) 138(59.8%) patients are stage (II) 25(10.8%) patients are stage (III) 16(6.9%) patients died during the follow-up period of 28 days. By multiple logistic regression analyses, the NLR (OR = 1.065, 95% CI = 1.001–1.133, P = 0.045), peripheral neurological deficit (OR 7.335, 95% CI 1.964–27.385, P = 0 0.003) and hydrocephalus (OR 11.338, 95% CI 2.397–53.633, P = 0 0.002) are independent risk factors of 28-day mortality. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) for predicting short prognosis using NLR is 0.683 (95% CI 0.540–0.826, P = 0.015), the optimal cutoff value is 9.99(sensitivity: 56.3%, specificity: 80.9%). The Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that patients with higher NLR(>9.99) had significantly worse survival outcomes(P<0.01).Pearson's correlation analysis presents a significant positive correlation between the severity of TBM and NLR (r = 0.234, P<0.01). Conclusions: NLR, peripheral neurological deficit, and hydrocephalus are independent risk factors of 28-day mortality, NLR can predict the short-term prognosis of TBM patients without HIV infection. NLR is also found to be significantly and positively correlated with the severity of TBM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is an important cause of high mortality in breast cancer. Twist1 is one of the EMT transcription factors (EMT-TFs) with a noticeably short half-life, which is regulated by proteasome degradation pathways. Recent studies have found that USP13 stabilizes several specific oncogenic proteins. As yet, however, the relationship between Twist1 and USP13 has not been investigated. Methods: Co-Immunoprecipitation, GST-pulldown, Western blot, qRT-PCR and immunofluorescence assays were used to investigate the role of USP13 in de-ubiquitination of Twist1. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and Luciferase reporter assays were used to investigate the role of Twist1 in inhibiting USP13 reporter transcription. Scratch wound healing, cell migration and invasion assays, and a mouse lung metastases assay were used to investigate the roles of USP13 and Twist1 in promoting breast cancer metastasis. Results: We found that Twist1 can be de-ubiquitinated by USP13. In addition, we found that the protein levels of Twist1 dose-dependently increased with USP13 overexpression, while USP13 knockdown resulted in a decreased expression of endogenous Twist1. We also found that USP13 can directly interact with Twist1 and specifically cleave the K48-linked polyubiquitin chains of Twist1 induced by FBXL14. We found that the effect of USP13 in promoting the migration and invasion capacities of breast cancer cells can at least partly be achieved through its regulation of Twist1, while Twist1 can inhibit the transcriptional activity of USP13. Conclusions: Our data indicate that an interplay between Twist1 and USP13 can form a negative physiological feedback loop. Our findings show that USP13 may play an essential role in breast cancer metastasis by regulating Twist1 and, as such, provide a potential target for the clinical treatment of breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical relevance of multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat (VNTR) analysis (MLVA) in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) by Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae) is unknown. A multi-center, prospective study was conducted from November 2010 to April 2012. Nine hundred and fifty-four CAP patients were consecutively enrolled. M. pneumoniae clinical isolates were obtained from throat swabs. MLVA typing was applied to all isolates. Comparison of pneumonia severity index (PSI) and clinical features among patients infected with different MLVA types of M. pneumoniae were conducted. One hundred and thirty-six patients were positive with M. pneumoniae culture. The clinical isolates were clustered into 18 MLVA types. One hundred and fourteen (88.3%) isolates were resistant to macrolide, covering major MLVA types. The macrolide non-resistant rate of M. pneumoniae isolates with Mpn13-14-15-16 profile of 3-5-6-2 was significantly higher than that of other types (p≤0.001). Patients infected with types U (5-4-5-7-2) and J (3-4-5-7-2) had significantly higher PSI scores (p<0.001) and longer total duration of cough (p = 0.011). Therefore it seems that there is a correlation between certain MLVA types and clinical severity of disease and the presence of macrolide resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we found that it is possible to screen Lactobacillus strains that enhance the immune function of mice using HCT-8 cells. Lactobacillus were co-incubated with intestinal epithelial HCT-8 cells to detect and screen the strains that induced more interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the culture supernatant. Simultaneously, a mouse model of low immunity was established to administer the screened lactobacilli by gavage. After 4 weeks of continuous gavage, related cytokines in blood and immune cell indexes in organs were detected to comprehensively evaluate the feasibility of in vitro cell culture model for screening immune-enhancing strains. The content of IL-6 in the culture supernatant of HCT-8 cells induced by the three tested strains increased approximately 5, 8 and 15 fold compared with that of the control group. IL-6 content in serum of mice was significantly higher than that of the control group provided with cyclophosphamide (CTX). Lactobacillus paracasei ZLPC01 presented a higher ability to protect against the immune damage of CTX by decreasing the serum IgG level, increasing the transformation of mouse splenocytes, and the activity of NK cells. Furthermore, L. paracasei ZLPC01 increased cytokine content in serum (IL-6, IL-2, TNF-α and IFN-γ) and colon (IL-6 and TNF-α) in CTX-treated mice. Screening strains that enhance immunity via an in vitro cell-line is simple in operation, and the results are well correlated with those of animal experiments, which is feasible and effective in practice. In addition, L. paracasei ZLPC01 could have the potential to enhance the immunity of mice effectively through inducing intestinal cells to produce IL-6, TNF-α and other cytokines. • The co-incubation of probiotics and HCT-8 can screen for immune-enhancing strains. • L. paracasei ZLPC01 was the strain that improves markers of immunity in the cell-based model. • L. paracasei ZLPC01 can improve the immunity deficiency caused by cyclophosphamide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Space mutation causes genetic and phenotypic changes in biological materials. Transposon activation is an adaptive mechanism for organisms to cope with changes in the external environment, such as space mutation. Although transposon alterations have been widely reported in diverse plant species, few studies have assessed the global transposon alterations in plants exposed to the space environment. In this study, for the first time, the effects of transposon alterations in soybean caused by space mutation were considered. A new vegetable soybean variety, 'Zhexian 9' (Z9), derived from space mutation treatment of 'Taiwan 75' (T75), was genetically analyzed. Comparative analyses of these two soybean genomes uncovered surprising structural differences, especially with respect to translocation breakends, deletions, and inversions. In total, 12,028 structural variations (SVs) and 29,063 transposable elements (TEs) between T75 and Z9 were detected. In addition, 1336 potential genes were variable between T75 and Z9 in terms of SVs and TEs. These differential genes were enriched in functions such as defense response, cell wall-related processes, epigenetics, auxin metabolism and transport, signal transduction, and especially methylation, which implied that regulation of epigenetic mechanisms and TE activity are important in the space environment. These results are helpful for understanding the role of TEs in response to the space environment and provide a theoretical basis for the selection of wild plant materials suitable for space breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our study aimed to comprehensively investigate the genetic polymorphisms of CYP3A4 in Han Chinese. We sequenced the gene regions of CYP3A4, including its promoter, exons, surrounding introns and 3′ untranslated region (3′UTR), from 100 unrelated-healthy Han Chinese individuals. We detected 11 SNPs, three of which are novel. According to in silico functional prediction of novel variants, 20148 A>G in exon 10, resulting in substitution of Tyr319 with Cys (CYP3A4*21), may induce dramatic alteration of protein conformation, and 26908 G>A in 3′UTR may disrupt post-transcriptional regulation. We identified five alleles in Han Chinese, the allele frequencies of CYP3A4*1, *5, *6, *18 and *21 are 97, 0.5, 1, 1 and 0.5%, respectively. Haplotype inference revealed 14 haplotypes, of which the major haplotype CYP3A4*1A constitutes 59% of the total chromosomes. We also examined the possible role of natural selection in shaping the variation of CYP3A4 and confirmed a trend, consistent with the action of positive selection. We systematically screened the genetic polymorphisms of CYP3A4 in Han Chinese, highlighted possible functional impairment of the novel allele and summarized the distinct allele and haplotype frequency distribution, with an emphasis on detecting the footprint of recent positive selection on the CYP3A4 gene in Han Chinese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are pivotal regulators involved in various physiological and pathological processes via their post-transcriptional regulation of gene expressions. We sequenced 14 libraries of small RNAs constructed from samples spanning the life cycle of silkworms, and discovered 50 novel miRNAs previously not known in animals and verified 43 of them using stem-loop RT-PCR. Our genome-wide analyses of 27 species-specific miRNAs suggest they arise from transposable elements, protein-coding genes duplication/transposition and random foldback sequences; which is consistent with the idea that novel animal miRNAs may evolve from incomplete self-complementary transcripts and become fixed in the process of co-adaptation with their targets. Computational prediction suggests that the silkworm-specific miRNAs may have a preference of regulating genes that are related to life-cycle-associated traits, and these genes can serve as potential targets for subsequent studies of the modulating networks in the development of Bombyx mori. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this report, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) was used to study the binding interactions between calmodulin and two target peptides (melittin and substance P). Various matrix conditions were tested and the less acidic matrix DHAP and THAP were found to favor the survival of the intact calcium–calmodulin as well as the calmodulin–peptide complexes. However, the application of direct MALDI-MS to detect the intact complexes turned out to be very difficult due to the dissociation of the complexes and the formation of nonspecific aggregates. In contrast, the specific binding of the target peptides to calmodulin could be easily deduced using intensity-fading (IF) MALDI-MS. Compared with the nonbinding control, clear reduction in the ion abundances of the target peptides was observed with the addition of calmodulin. Relative binding affinities of different peptides towards the protein could also be estimated using IF-MALDI-MS. This study may extend the application of IF-MALDI-MS in the analysis of noncovalent complexes and offer a perspective into the utility of MALDI-MS as an alternative approach to study the peptides binding to calmodulin. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• First reported of bioavailability of yunaconitine and indaconitine in mice. • First reported UPLC-MS/MS method for the measurement of yunaconitine and indaconitine in vivo. • The method only required 20 µL of treated blood for accurate analysis. Yunaconitine and indaconitine are active ingredients from the rhizomes of Aconitum plants. In this study, an ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method was developed to measure the concentrations of the yunaconitine and indaconitine in mouse blood, and the method was applied in measuring the pharmacokinetics of the two alkaloids after oral and intravenous administration. A UPLC HSS T3 column (2.1 mm × 100 mm, 1.8 μm particle size) was used for chromatographic separation by gradient elution using acetonitrile–water (0.1% formic acid) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.4 mL/min. Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode and electrospray ionization (ESI) (positive-ion mode) were used to monitor the transitions of each analyte by tandem mass spectrometry for quantitative analysis. Yunaconitine and indaconitine were administered to the mice orally at 2 mg/kg and intravenously at 0.05 mg/kg. Blood was collected at various time intervals, and the blood samples were processed after collection and analyzed by UPLC-MS/MS. The standard curve generated for each analyte was linear over the concentration range of 0.5–500 ng/mL. The intra-day and inter-day accuracy of yunaconitine and indaconitine were 90%–103% and 86%–106%, respectively, and the precision (RSD, %) was less than 15% for both intra-day and inter-day measurements. The matrix effect ranged from 96% to 109%, and the recovery was higher than 72%. The UPLC-MS/MS method developed herein was successfully applied to measuring the pharmacokinetic parameters of yunaconitine and indaconitine in mice after intravenous and oral administration. The bioavailability of yunaconitine and indaconitine were 27.4% and 25.8%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gene CP0718 encoding a putative manganese-containing superoxide dismutase of Chlamydia pneumoniae AR39 was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. Characterization showed that the expressed protein with a monomeric molecular mass of 23.1 kDa had superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and the cofactor of CpSOD was a bivalent manganese cation. It is unexpected that this enzyme was hyperthermostable, and maintained about 90% activity after incubation at 70°C for 60 min. Manganese binding residues found in the SOD sequences from different species are conserved in CpSOD. Bioinformatics analysis compared with Propionibacterium shermanii MnSOD was performed to elucidate the CpSOD hyperthermostability based on amino acid sequences. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Complexes [MCl2{CH3N(CH2CH2PPh2)2}] (1, M=Co; 2, Fe) were prepared by a modified procedure. The X-ray structural determination of 1 reveals that the cobalt(II) complex is four-coordinate with a distorted tetrahedral coordination geometry. The tertiary amine CH3N(CH2CH2PPh2)2 acts as a bidentate ligand through two phosphorus atoms. The Co&z.sbnd;P distances of 2.3666(14) and 2.3731(15) A˚ found in 1 are significantly longer than general Co&z.sbnd;P bond lengths. The incoordinate N atom of the ligand locates at the apical position trans to one of the chlorides. The catalytic properties of 1 and 2 in combination with ethylaluminoxane (EAO) as cocatalyst for ethylene oligomerization were studied. The activities of 89.4 kg oligomers mol−1 Co h−1 for 1 and 81.2 kg oligomers mol−1 Fe h−1 for 2 (100 equivalents of EAO, 180 °C and 1.8 MPa ethylene) were observed with high selectivity to linear C4–10 olefins. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objective: To investigate risk factors associated with long-term mortality in patients with stage II and III tuberculous meningitis (TBM). Methods: This retrospective analysis examined patients who were first diagnosed with stage II and III TBM at West China Hospital of Sichuan University between January 1, 2018 and October 1, 2019. Patients were followed via telephone and categorized into survival and mortality groups based on 4-year outcomes. Multivariate logistic regression identified independent risk factors for long-term mortality in stage II and III TBM. Results: In total, 178 patients were included, comprising 108 (60.7%) males and 36 (20.2%) non-survivors. Mean age was 36 ± 17 years. Compared to survivors, non-survivors demonstrated significantly higher age, heart rate, diastolic blood pressure, blood glucose, rates of headache, neurological deficits, cognitive dysfunction, impaired consciousness, hydrocephalus, and basal meningeal inflammation. This group also exhibited significantly lower Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) scores, blood potassium, albumin, and cerebrospinal fluid chloride. Multivariate analysis revealed age (OR 1.042; 95% CI 1.015–1.070; P = 0.002), GCS score (OR 0.693; 95% CI 0.589–0.814; P < 0.001), neurological deficits (OR 5.204; 95% CI 2.056–13.174; P < 0.001), and hydrocephalus (OR 2.680; 95% CI 1.081–6.643; P = 0.033) as independent mortality risk factors. The ROC curve area under age was 0.613 (95% CI 0.506–0.720; P = 0.036) and 0.721 (95% CI 0.615–0.826; P < 0.001) under GCS score. Conclusion: Advanced age, reduced GCS scores, neurological deficits, and hydrocephalus were identified as independent risk factors for mortality in stage II and III TBM patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cervical cancer (CC) is a prevalent gynecological cancer worldwide that significantly impacts the quality of life and the physical and mental well-being of women. However, there have been limited studies utilizing Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to investigate the connection between immune cells and CC. This study is to investigate the causal effects of immune traits on CC and non-neoplastic conditions of the cervix. The GWAS data for 731 immunophenotypes and six GWAS data for CC from the FinnGen database were downloaded. Subsequently, a two-sample MR analysis was conducted using the MR Egger, Weighted median, Inverse variance weighted (IVW), Simple mode, and Weighted mode methods. Our study has identified the potential causal effects of immune traits on inflammatory diseases of the cervix, other noninflammatory disorders of the cervix uteri, carcinoma in situ of cervix uteri, adenocarcinomas of cervix, squamous cell neoplasms and carcinoma of cervix, as well as malignant neoplasm of the cervix uteri, with the respective numbers being 8, 6, 11, 8, 23, and 12, respectively. A strong correlation between classic monocytes and various cervical diseases was revealed. Furthermore, we discovered that B cells expressing BAFF-R have the ability to impede the advancement of malignant CC, specifically squamous cell neoplasms and carcinoma of cervix. Our study has demonstrated a significant association between immune traits and both CC and non-neoplastic conditions of the cervix through two-sample Mendelian randomization, providing valuable insights for future clinical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we found that the antioxidant activity of Bifidobacterium bifidum WBBI03 and Listeria monocytogenes CMCC 54001 was increased after co-incubation. Therefore, the molecular mechanism of enhancing antioxidant activity was explored through isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ). Analysis of differentially expressed proteins revealed increased expression of a series of antioxidant-related proteins, including glutaredoxin and thioredoxin in B. bifidum WBBI03, and universal stress protein UspA and aldo/keto reductase in L. monocytogenes CMCC 54001. Based on previous studies, certain antioxidant genes were selected for fluorescence quantitative PCR analysis to find out transcriptionally up-regulated genes. It was also detected that superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) enzyme activities increased after interaction of the two strains. These results may partially explain the improved survival of B. bifidum WBBI03 and L. monocytogenes CMCC 54001 after interaction in strong oxidizing environments containing hydrogen peroxide or cumene hydroperoxide (CHP). It is speculated that L. monocytogenes (a representative opportunistic pathogenic bacterium) may help B. bifidum (a representative probiotic bacterium) to resist damages caused by oxygen species in the gastrointestinal tract, which may part of the biological significance of its presence in the intestinal microbial ecosystem. • Increased expression of antioxidant-related proteins in strains after interaction. • Enhance antioxidant enzyme activity after interaction of Listeria and Bifidobacterium. • Improve each strain survival after interacting in an oxygen stress environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Necroptosis, a form of programmed cell death, can occur in the placenta of patients with preeclampsia (PE). Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) can inhibit necroptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells under the high glucose-induced injury. Whether H2S can protect trophoblasts against necroptosis underlying PE has not been elucidated. This study aimed to explore the protective role of H2S in trophoblast cells against necroptosis underlying PE. Design: This is an in vitro experimental study. Participants: A total of 10 pregnant women with severe PE and 10 matched control normotensive pregnant women were included. The placenta tissues were extracted from participators. The human JEG-3 trophoblasts were commercially available. Methods: The expression and localization of necrotic proteins were assayed in human placenta samples, and the effect of necrotic cell death on the proliferation and apoptosis of human JEG-3 trophoblasts was evaluated. The component expressions of inflammatory cytokine and p38MAPK signaling pathway were measured in samples pretreated with or without NaHS (H2S donor) and SB203580 (p38 inhibitor). Results: RIPA1, RIPA3, and p-p38 levels were significantly higher in PE placental tissue, whereas cystathionine β-synthase expression was decreased. In JEG-3 trophoblasts, necroptosis increased apoptotic cell numbers, suppressed cell proliferation, increased inflammatory cytokine expression, and increased p38MAPK activation, which can be prevented by NaHS. Limitations: In the present study, we did not provide sufficient evidence that necroptosis was a part of the pathogenesis of PE. Conclusions: We proposed the putative role of necroptosis in early-onset PE, reflected by the blockage of caspase-8/3 and increased expression of RIPA1 and RIPA3 in PE placenta tissues. Furthermore, we demonstrated that exogenous H2S protected cytotrophoblasts against ceramide-induced necroptosis via the p38MAPK pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS) has a critical role in post-translational protein modification that is essential for the maintenance of all cellular functions, including immune responses. The proteasome complex is ubiquitously expressed and is responsible for degradation of short-lived structurally abnormal, misfolded and not-needed proteins that are targeted for degradation via ubiquitin conjugation. Over the last 14 years, an increasing number of human diseases have been linked to pathogenic variants in proteasome subunits and UPS regulators. Defects of the proteasome complex or its chaperons – which have a regulatory role in the assembly of the proteasome – disrupt protein clearance and cellular homeostasis, leading to immune dysregulation, severe inflammation, and neurodevelopmental disorders in humans. Proteasome-associated diseases have complex inheritance, including monogenic, digenic and oligogenic disorders and can be dominantly or recessively inherited. In this review, we summarize the current known genetic causes of proteasomal disease, and discuss the molecular pathogenesis of these conditions based on the function and cellular expression of mutated proteins in the proteasome complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Legume nodulation requires light perception by plant shoots and precise long‐distance communication between shoot and root. Recent studies have revealed that TGACG‐motif binding factors (GmSTFs) integrate light signals to promote root nodulation; however, the regulatory mechanisms underlying nodule formation in changing light conditions remain elusive.Here, we applied genetic engineering, metabolite measurement, and transcriptional analysis to study soybean (Glycine max) nodules.We clarify a fine‐tuning mechanism in response to ultraviolet B (UV‐B) irradiation and rhizobia infection, involving GmUVR8‐dependent UV‐B perception and GmSTF3/4‐GmMYB12‐GmCHS‐mediated (iso)flavonoid biosynthesis for soybean nodule formation. GmUVR8 receptor‐perceived UV‐B signal triggered R2R3‐MYB transcription factors GmMYB12‐dependent flavonoid biosynthesis separately in shoot and root. In shoot, UV‐B‐triggered flavonoid biosynthesis relied on GmUVR8a, b, c receptor‐dependent activation of GmMYB12L‐GmCHS8 (chalcone synthase) module. In root, UV‐B signaling distinctly promotes the accumulation of the isoflavones, daidzein, and its derivative coumestrol, via GmMYB12B2‐GmCHS9 module, resulting in hypernodulation. The mobile transcription factors, GmSTF3/4, bind to cis‐regulatory elements in the GmMYB12L, GmMYB12B2, and GmCHS9 promoters, to coordinate UV‐B light perception in shoot and (iso)flavonoid biosynthesis in root.Our findings establish a novel shoot‐to‐root communication module involved in soybean nodulation and reveal an adaptive strategy employed by soybean roots in response to UV‐B light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used bifidobacterial exopolysaccharides (EPSs) from the selected strains of Bifidobacterium bifidum WBBI01 and WBIN03, Bifidobacterium breve WBBR04, Bifidobacterium infantis WBAN07 and Bifidobacterium longum WBLO01 to explore the EPSs regulatory effect on anaphylaxis in mice. First of all, allergy mouse models were established via subcutaneous injection followed by OVA gavage, and then the EPSs from the five Bifidobacteria were fed into the mice via continuous gavage. Samples were taken from the mice periodically to determine the changes of cytokine levels in serum, including those of IgE, IgG, IL-4, IL-5, IL-13 and INF-γ. The test revealed that the EPSs from B. breve WBBR04 could considerably relieve food allergy in the mouse models, but the effect of B. infantis WBAN07 was unsatisfactory. Based on the above conclusions, the EPSs of B. bifidum WBBR04 and WBIN03, B. breve WBBR04, and B. longum WBLO01 were respectively incubated with the small intestine tissue sections of an allergic mouse model. The resulting culture supernatants were then tested. Based on the above, it can be concluded that EPS of B. breve WBBR04 can enhance the intestinal barrier integrity by attaching themselves onto the inner walls of the small intestine, hence effectively isolating the allergens and preventing food allergy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) is one of the most harmful pathogens in soybeans, causing large yield losses. Therefore, it is very important to breed resistant soybean cultivars, but first we need to understand the genetics of soybean. Genetic maps are efficient tools in plant genetics and molecular-assisted breeding. In this study, a large-scale survey of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) using the specific length amplified fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq) technique was used to construct the fine gene mapping for two soybean cultivars. The cultivar Tianlong No. 1 (TL1) is resistant to the SC9 strain, but Zhexiandou No. 4 (ZXD4) is susceptible to this strain. All F1 individuals showed the susceptible phenotype for strain SC9. Among the 425 F2 plants derived from F1 individuals, 309 had the susceptible phenotype and 116 were resistant (χ2 = 1.1929, P = 0.725). The results indicated that TL1 harbors a recessive gene underlying resistance to strain SC9. A total of 28.91 million sequencing reads were obtained, with average sequencing depths of over 17-fold for TL1 and ZXD4 and 63-fold for the F2 offspring. In summary, 144,754 high-quality SLAFs were obtained, of which 30,578 were polymorphic. In all, 8738 SNPs were selected to construct the fine gene mapping with an average genetic distance of 1.30 cM between adjacent markers. Approximately 148 target genes were mapped in the intervening genomic region of chromosome 2. The results of this study will not only provide a fine gene mapping for SMV resistance research but will also serve as a robust tool for the molecular breeding of soybean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It would be interesting to further investigate the disease mechanisms in different tissues and study the reason why the I MEFV i S242R mutation in PANND presents with severe cutaneous manifestation, while I MEFV i S242G mutation manifests with IBD. Appendix Methods Patients Patients were evaluated under the protocol approved by the Institutional Review Board Children's Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine. To the Editor, Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. [Extracted from the article]

Chiral sulfones are recurrent motifs in pharmaceuticals and bioactive molecules. Although chemical methods have been developed to afford α‐ or β‐ chiral sulfones, these protocols rely heavily on the pre‐synthesis of structurally complicated starting materials and chiral metal complexes. Herein, we described a photoenzymatic approach for the radical‐mediated stereoselective hydrosulfonylation. Engineered variants of ene reductases provide efficient biocatalysts for this transformation, enabling to achieve a series of β‐chiral sulfonyl compounds with high yields (up to 92 %) and excellent e.r. values (up to 99 : 1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chiral sulfones are recurrent motifs in pharmaceuticals and bioactive molecules. Although chemical methods have been developed to afford α‐ or β‐ chiral sulfones, these protocols rely heavily on the pre‐synthesis of structurally complicated starting materials and chiral metal complexes. Herein, we described a photoenzymatic approach for the radical‐mediated stereoselective hydrosulfonylation. Engineered variants of ene reductases provide efficient biocatalysts for this transformation, enabling to achieve a series of β‐chiral sulfonyl compounds with high yields (up to 92 %) and excellent e.r. values (up to 99 : 1). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase (FBA) is an important catalytic enzyme in carbon metabolism and plays an important role in plant growth and development. Currently, the biological functions of FBA in soybean (Glycine max) remain unknown. In this study, we conducted research on FBA in soybean and identified 14 GmFBA genes. Among them, GmFBAc1 and GmFBAc2 are broadly expressed in different tissues. Double mutant lines of GmFBAc1 and GmFBAc2 were obtained by CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology. Compared with the wild type, the double-gene homozygous mutant gmfbac1gmfbac2 exhibited dwarf seedlings and narrow leaflets, indicating that GmFBAc1 and GmFBAc2 are critical for soybean growth and development. The gmfbac1gmfbac2 metabolomic analysis revealed that compared to the wild type, carbohydrate metabolism was reduced and amino acid metabolism was enhanced in gmfbac1gmfbac2 mutant leaves. Transcriptomic analysis showed that genes in IAA signaling and JA signaling were downregulated and upregulated, respectively. Our study demonstrates an important role of GmFBAc1 and GmFBAc2 in modulating carbon metabolism and phytohormone homeostasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of efficient hydrogen evolution reaction electrocatalysts is critical to the realization of clean hydrogen fuel production, while the sluggish kinetics of the Volmer-step substantially restricts the catalyst performances in alkali electrolyzers, even for noble metal catalysts such as Pt. Here, a Pt-decorated Ni3N nanosheet electrocatalyst is developed to achieve a top performance of hydrogen evolution in alkaline conditions. Possessing a high metallic conductivity and an atomic-thin semiconducting hydroxide surface, the Ni3N nanosheets serve as not only an efficient electron pathway without the hindrance of Schottky barriers, but also provide abundant active sites for water dissociation and generation of hydrogen intermediates, which are further adsorbed on the Pt surface to recombine to H2. The Pt-decorated Ni3N nanosheet catalyst exhibits a hydrogen evolution current density of 200 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of 160 mV versus reversible hydrogen electrode, a Tafel slope of ≈36.5 mV dec−1, and excellent stability of 82.5% current retention after 24 h of operation. Moreover, a hybrid cell consisting of a Pt-decorated Ni3N nanosheet cathode and a Li-metal anode is assembled to achieve simultaneous hydrogen evolution and electricity generation, exhibiting >60 h long-term hydrogen evolution reaction stability and an output voltage ranging from 1.3 to 2.2 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT A one-dimensional (1D) Ku-band electrically scanning leaky-wave antenna (LWA) is presented. The antenna is based on Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity leaky-waveguide, which is composed of a partially reflective surface (PRS) and a tunable high impedance surface (HIS). The PRS consists of a tapered dipole array and the configuration is modulated to reduce the side-lobe level (SLL). The varactor diodes are loaded on the HIS to achieve the steerable radiation angle. Both simulated and experimental results confirm well that the scanning scope as wide as 30 degree can be obtained and the low SLL can be observed. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 58:2512-2516, 2016 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Colon cancer is a common malignant tumor that occurs in the digestive tract of the colon. At present, the treatment of colon cancer is unsatisfactory, and its recurrence and drug resistance are common. It is important to find an effective treatment for colon cancer. In this study, we found that coxsackievirus group B3 can induce pyroptosis in colon cancer cell lines, which shows its oncolytic activity. Based on these findings, we believe that CVB3 may play an important role in the treatment of colon cancer as an oncolytic virus. Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death, and there are few effective therapies for colon cancer. This study explored the use of coxsackievirus group B3 (CVB3) as an oncolytic virus for the treatment of colon cancer. In this study, we verified that CVB3 induces death of colon cancer cell lines by directly observing cell morphology and Western blot results, and observed the oncolytic effects of CVB3 by constructing an immunodeficient nude mice model. Our data show that CVB3 induces pyroptosis in colon cancer cell lines. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that CVB3 causes cleavage of gasdermin E (GSDME), but not gasdermin D (GSDMD), by activating caspase-3. This leads to production of GSDME N-termini and the development of pores in the plasma membrane, inducing pyroptosis of colon cancer cell lines. We also demonstrate that CVB3-induced pyroptosis is promoted by reactive oxygen species (ROS). Finally, in vivo studies using immunodeficient nude mice revealed that intratumoral injection of CVB3 led to significant tumor regression. Our findings indicate that CVB3 has oncolytic activity in colon cancer cell lines via GSDME-mediated pyroptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Alport syndrome (AS) is an inherited type IV collagen–related disorder with an irreversible tendency to progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). X-linked AS (XLAS) is caused by mutations in the COL4A5 gene. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of underlying mutations on clinical manifestations and the response to therapy in XLAS. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 187 Chinese male patients with XLAS confirmed by pathological examination and genetic analysis. The Kaplan–Meier method and Cox proportional hazards model were used to assess the age and risk of progression to ESRD under different genotypes and treatment conditions. Results A strong relationship between transcript type and renal outcome was observed, with the median age of ESRD onset being 22 years for truncating mutations and 39 years for non-truncating mutations. The response of affected patients to renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS) blockers was genotype-associated. This therapy delayed the onset of ESRD by 16 years in patients with non-truncating mutations and 3 years in patients with truncating mutations. The efficacy of RAAS blockers functioned in a time-dependent manner, with a 7% reduction in the risk of progression to ESRD per each 6-month increase in treatment duration [hazard ratio 0.93 (95% confidence interval 0.89–0.96); P < 0.001]. Conclusions Clinical features and response to RAAS blockers were observed to be strongly correlated with the genotypes of male XLAS patients. Genotyping of COL4A5 gene mutations is essential and is a useful tool to assess the prognosis of AS patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infection is a huge obstacle to wound healing. Thus, to enhance the healing of infected wounds, wound dressings that permit the dual delivery of antimicrobials and antioxidants are highly desirable. In this study, a series of gelatin-based nanofiber membranes with different curcumin contents were fabricated via solution electrospinning. The obtained membranes were characterized in terms of their morphologies, in addition to their physical, mechanical, and in vitro properties. The results showed that the membranes maintained an integrated morphology, excellent water absorption capability, satisfactory mechanical properties, and a high dissolution rate of curcumin. The addition of curcumin and borneol conferred the membranes the ability to inhibit Staphylococcus aureus and eliminate free radicals. Furthermore, cytocompatibility testing using the L929 cell line confirmed the excellent biocompatibility of the membranes. These gelatin-based nanofiber membranes loaded with curcumin and borneol can therefore be considered as promising materials for dressing wounds. Moreover, the use of biodegradable polymers and environmentally sustainable production techniques in this system render it suitable for the commercial manufacture of composite membranes. • Curcumin and borneol were successfully loaded on membranes. • Fabricated membranes show Antibacterial and Antioxidant properties. • Fabricated membranes show excellent mechanical and sound cytocompatibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Progesterone supplementation is recommended to prevent spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) in clinical practice. However, the exact mechanism is still unclear. This study aims to better understand the mechanisms that progesterone can prevent PTB. Methods: Late pregnant mice were given various doses of progesterone receptor antagonist mifepristone, and pregnancy outcomes were observed. Then, non‐pregnant and pregnant mice were given a subcutaneous injection of 40 mg/kg progesterone and 5 mg/kg mifepristone, respectively. CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ Treg cells in peripheral blood and decidua basalis were detected by FACS. Expressions of FoxP3 and TGF‐β1 in the decidua basalis were detected. Results: Mifepristone induced preterm birth, and an obvious dose‐response was found. Proportions of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ Treg cells in the peripheral blood of non‐pregnant mice increased significantly after progesterone injection. CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ Treg cells in the peripheral blood of pregnant mice increased significantly compared with those of non‐pregnant mice. In pregnant mice, mifepristone significantly decreased the proportions of CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ Treg cells in peripheral blood, and reduced proportions of Treg cells at the maternal‐fetal interface and expressions of FoxP3 and TGF‐β1 in the maternal‐fetal interface. Total 40 mg/kg of progesterone did not increase CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ Treg in the peripheral blood of pregnant mice, but increased proportions of Treg cells at the maternal‐fetal interface and up‐regulated FoxP3 and TGF‐β1 expressions in the maternal‐fetal interface. Conclusion: Progesterone promotes pregnancy immune homeostasis by up‐regulating Treg cells and TGF‐β1 expression in the maternal‐fetal interface. It may be one of the mechanisms of progesterone in preventing sPTB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known that preserving depth edges is an effective solution for achieving the accurate disparity map in stereo matching, but many state‐of‐the‐art methods do not preserve depth edges well. In order to solve it efficiently, the cell structure containing irregular and regular shape regions is designed to preserve depth edges. Based on the well‐designed cell structure, a novel disparity estimation method for stereo matching is proposed, in which a two‐layer disparity optimization method is proposed to refine the disparity plane; it includes the front‐parallel disparities computation and slanted‐surfaces disparity plane refinement. In the framework of front‐parallel disparities computation, a tree‐based cost aggregation method is presented to make full use of the segmentation information of cells and then performing semi‐global cost aggregation. In the framework of slanted‐surfaces disparity plane refinement, a new probability model is proposed that employs Bayesian inference for refining disparities in textureless, weak texture and occluded regions. Experimental results show that higher accuracy could be achieved via the proposed method compared with some known state‐of‐the‐art stereo methods on KITTI 2015 and Middlebury dataset, which are the standard benchmarks for testing the stereo matching methods. It can also be indicated that the proposed method can produce accurate disparity map and have good generalization performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge graph completion (KGC) is an important technique for implicitly identifying missing entities or relations in knowledge graphs (KGs) that are employed in various real-world applications such as question answering, information retrieval, and making recommendations. Knowledge graph embedding (KGE) is a typical KGC approach that embeds entity and relation vectors into a low-dimensional vector space for this purpose. In this paper, we present a novel KGE approach called QLogicE. It integrates translation and quantum embedding to capture features of elements within a fact, in the form of word embedding and the logical relationship among facts over KG, in the form of quantum logic. Extensive experimental results on challenging benchmark datasets confirm that the proposed approach QLogicE achieves impressive and (sometimes) surprising performance on 8 embedding dimensions, whereas state-of-the-art KGE approaches typically achieve their best performance at approximately 200 embedding dimensions. In addition, the proposed model achieves 94.84% Hits@1 on the challenging dataset FB15k237, which is almost twice as good as the best performance reported in this metric. • A combining model for knowledge graph completion is proposed and it achieves surprising performance results. • The embedding dimension of the proposed model is only 8 which means very low computing cost. • The low embedding dimension is even lower than the lower-bound of the baseline model and inspired us the idea of Dense Feature Model. • Research results show that neural networks may be not the best model for KGC task and the logical rules based one may be a good alternative. • The metric Hits@1 is up to 94.84% on dataset FB15k237 seems get very close to the solutions of KGC problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vegetable soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) plant is commonly consumed in Southeast Asian countries because of its nutritional value and desirable taste. A "pandan-like" aroma is an important value-added quality trait that is rarely found in commercial vegetable soybean varieties. In this study, three novel aromatic soybean cultivars with a fragrant volatile compound were isolated. We confirmed that the aroma of these cultivars is due to the potent volatile compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2AP) that was previously identified in soybean. A sequence comparison of GmBADH1/2 (encoding an aminoaldehyde dehydrogenase) between aromatic and non-aromatic soybean varieties revealed a mutation with 10 SNPs and an 11-nucleotide deletion in exon 1 of GmBADH2 in Quxian No. 1 and Xiangdou. Additionally, a 2-bp deletion was detected in exon 10 of GmBADH2 in ZK1754. The mutations resulted in a frame shift and the introduction of premature stop codons. Moreover, genetic analyses indicated that the aromatic trait in these three varieties was inherited according to a single recessive gene model. These results suggested that a mutated GmBADH2 may be responsible for the aroma of these three aromatic soybean cultivars. The expression and function of GmBADH2 in aromatic soybean seeds were confirmed by qRT-PCR and CRISPR/Cas9. A functional marker developed on the basis of the mutated GmBADH2 sequence in Quxian No. 1 and Xiangdou was validated in an F2 population. A perfect association between the marker genotypes and aroma phenotypes implied that GmBADH2 is a major aroma-conferring gene. The results of this study are potentially useful for an in-depth analysis of the molecular basis of 2-AP formation in soybean and the marker-assisted breeding of aromatic vegetable soybean cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid estimation of the accurate disparity between pixels is the goal of stereo matching. However, it is very difficult for the 3D labels‐based methods due to huge search space of 3D labels, especially for high‐resolution images. In this paper, a novel superpixel cut‐based method is proposed, in an attempt to get the accurate disparity map efficiently, including the multi‐layer superpixel optimization and iteractive local α‐expansion in parallel. As for the multi‐layer superpixel optimization, feature point optimization is designed to get accurate candidate labels that are set for most pixels using non‐local cost aggregation strategy and update per‐pixel labels of the corresponding superpixels from the candidate label sets on the small‐size superpixel layer, and then update the middle to large‐size superpixel layers progressively using non‐local cost aggregation strategy. In order to provide more prior information to identify weak texture and textureless regions in non‐local cost aggregation, the weight combination of "intensity + gradient + binary image" is proposed for constructing an optimal minimum spanning tree (MST) to calculate the aggregated matching cost and obtain the labels of minimum aggregated matching cost. Moreover, the local patch surrounding the corresponding superpixels is designed to accelerate superpixel optimization in parallel, and a neighborhood structure is presented to optimize the algorithm in this study, including superpixel neighborhood and patch neighborhood. As for the iteractive local α‐expansion, three layers of patch structure corresponding to the superpixel neighborhood structure is proposed for optimizing the algorithm in this study. The experimental results show that higher accuracy could be achieved via the method in this study compared with some known state‐of‐the‐art stereo methods on KITTI 2015 and Middlebury benchmark V3, which are the standard benchmarks for testing the stereo matching methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Objectives: An outbreak of bacteremia caused by Pseudomonas spp (P. fulva and P. putida) was first identified in our hospital in the summer of 2010 and reoccurred in the following year. Based on the epidemiological data collected in these 2 years, we initiated an investigation on the source of the outbreak. The aim of this study was to report the results of the investigation, as well as the intervention strategies that resulted in successful control of the outbreak. Methods: An infection control team was set up consisting of infectious disease specialists, microbiologists, infection control practitioners, and head nurses. The microbiology and medical records of case-patients with P. fulva or P. putida bloodstream infections were reviewed. Environmental samples and intravenous (IV) solutions from the wards and the pharmacy center were collected for culturing. The molecular characteristics of the bacterial isolates were studied by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Strict infection control strategies were implemented. Results: A total of 20 case-patients from five inpatient wards were identified during three summer seasons from 2010 to 2012. Nineteen of them recovered with proper antibiotics. Unfortunately one died from complications of heart failure. A total of 19 isolates of P. fulva and four of P. putida were identified, of which 20 were from blood, two from environmental surface samples from the hospital pharmacy, and one from an in-use compounded solution from a case-patient in the cardiology ward. Molecular analysis revealed that the P. fulva isolated from the in-use compounded solution (5% glucose solution containing insulin, isosorbide dinitrate, and potassium magnesium aspartate) and the environmental samples had the same PFGE type as the clinical isolates. Conclusions: The investigation identified that contaminated IV solution was the source of the P. fulva bacteremia, which prompted us to implement intensified control measures that resulted in successful control of the outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]