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The worldwide-cultivated chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) produces food and beneficial compounds, and young pre-flowering inflorescence stems are newly marketed vegetables. These sink-organs undergo growth by metabolizing sugars of leaf origin; the carbohydrate content and sweetness are crucial aspects for consumers' nutrition and acceptance. NMR profiling of 31 hydrosoluble phytochemicals showed that stem contents varied as influenced by genotype, environment and interaction, and that higher sucrose levels were associated with the sweeter of two landraces. Integrative analyses of metabolic and transcriptomic profile variations allowed the dissection of sucrose pathway. Overall, 427 and 23 unigenes respectively fell into the categories of sucrose metabolism and sugar carriers. Among 10 differentially expressed genes, the 11474/sucrose synthase, 53458/fructokinase, 9306 and 17035/hexokinases, and 20171/SWEET-type genes significantly associated to sugar content variation, and deduced proteins were characterised in silico. Correlation analyses encompassing sugar level variation, expressions of the former genes and of computationally assigned transcription factors (10938/NAC, 14712/bHLH, 40133/TALE and 17846/MIKC) revealed a gene network. The latter was minimally affected by the environment and accomplished with markers, representing a resource for biological studies and breeding.

Background: Several patient and health system factors were associated with the risk of death among patients with hip fracture. However, without knowledge of underlying mechanisms interventions to improve survival post hip fracture can only be designed on the basis of the found statistical associations. Methods: We used the framework developed by Arksey and O’Malley and Levac et al. for synthesis of factors and mechanisms of mortality post low energy hip fracture in adults over the age of 50 years, published in English, between September 1, 2009 and October 1, 2014 and indexed in MEDLINE. Proposed mechanisms for reported associations were extracted from the discussion sections. Results: We synthesized the evidence from 56 articles that reported on 35 patient and 9 system factors of mortality post hip fracture. For 21 factors we found proposed biological mechanisms for their association with mortality which included complications, comorbidity, cardiorespiratory function, immune function, bone remodeling and glycemic control. Conclusions: The majority of patient and system factors of mortality post hip fracture were reported by only one or two articles and with no proposed mechanisms for their effects on mortality. Where reported, underlying mechanisms are often based on a single article and should be confirmed with further study. Therefore, one cannot be certain whether intervening on such factors may produce expected results.