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Coherent beam combining technology applied to multiple vortex beams is a promising method to generate high-power vortex beams. We utilize the coherent combination of multiple Laguerre-Gaussian beams at the waist plane and propose theoretically a practical generation system for a high-power beam carrying orbital angular momentum by considering oblique incidence. The results demonstrate that the orbital angular momentum distribution of the combined field is similar to that of a single Laguerre-Gaussian beam within the Rayleigh length. Moreover, the combined field has relativistic intensity local spots that exhibit stable spatial propagation. The proposed system may potentially be applied to intense vortical fields, large scale nuclear fusion device, such as suppressing stimulated Raman scattering and filamentation when a laser beam propagates in plasma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the change in the angular momentum of a vortex beam after reflection from a relativistic flying mirror is investigated. This change is determined by performing full three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The results confirm that the spin angular momentum and linear momentum carried by the reflected beam are collinear. In addition, we show that the orbital angular momentum is not collinear with the linear momentum carried by the reflected beam owing to the Doppler effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To build a risk prediction model of gestational diabetes mellitus using nomogram to provide a simple-to-use clinical basis for the early prediction of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). This study is a prospective cohort study including 1385 pregnant women. (1) It is showed that the risk of GDM in women aged ≥ 35 years was 5.5 times higher than that in women aged < 25 years (95% CI: 1.27–23.73, p < 0.05). In the first trimester, the risk of GDM in women with abnormal triglyceride who were in their first trimester was 2.1 times higher than that of lipid normal women (95% CI: 1.12–3.91, p < 0.05). The area under the ROC curve of the nomogram of was 0.728 (95% CI: 0.683–0.772), the sensitivity and specificity of the model were 0.716 and 0.652, respectively. This study provides a simple and economic nomogram for the early prediction of GDM risk in the first trimester, and it has certain accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to analyze the clinical characteristics of lower extremity atherosclerotic disease (LEAD) in Chinese adult type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients, and also explored the risk factors for LEAD and developed simple-to-use nomograms for LEAD and lesion degree in these patients. We retrospectively studied 4422 patients (male = 2084; female = 2338) with T2D who were ≥50. Based on lower extremity arterial ultrasound findings, we divided the patients into three groups: normal, mild, and moderate-to-severe group. The factors related to LEAD in patients with T2D were analyzed by logistic regression analysis. The risk factors for moderate-to-severe LEAD included: high HbA1c (OR = 1.07 95% CI 1.02–1.13), diabetic peripheral neuropathy (OR = 1.93 95% CI 1.57–2.37), and diabetic retinopathy (OR = 1.26 95%CI 1.01–1.57). The overall areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves for the nomograms for predicting the risks of LEAD and moderate-to-severe LEAD in adult T2D patients were 0.793 (95%CI 0.720, 0.824) and 0.736 (95%CI 0.678, 0.795), respectively. The developed nomograms are simple to use and enable preliminary visual prediction of the risk and degree of LEAD in Chinese T2D patients over 50 years. The nomograms are accurate to a certain degree and provide a clinical basis for predicting the occurrence and progression of LEAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of alternative isothermal amplification assays including multiple cross displacement amplification (MCDA) may address speed and portability limitations of real-time PCR (rt-PCR) methods for SARS-CoV-2 detection. We developed a novel SARS-CoV-2 MCDA assay and compared its speed and sensitivity to loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) and rt-PCR. Two MCDA assays targeting SARS-CoV-2 N gene and ORF1ab were designed. The fastest time to detection and sensitivity of MCDA was compared to LAMP and rt-PCR using DNA standards and transcribed RNA. For the N gene, MCDA was faster than LAMP and rt-PCR by 10 and 20 min, respectively with fastest time to detection at 5.2 min. rt-PCR had the highest sensitivity with the limit of detection at 10 copies/µl compared with MCDA (100 copies/µl) and LAMP (500 copies/µl). For ORF1ab, MCDA and LAMP had similar speed with fastest time to detection at 9.7 and 8.4 min, respectively. LAMP was more sensitive for ORF1ab detection with 50 copies/µl compared to MCDA (500 copies/µl). In conclusion, different nucleic acid amplification methods provide different advantages. MCDA is the fastest nucleic acid amplification method for SARS-CoV-2 while rt-PCR is the most sensitive. These advantages should be considered when determining the most suitable nucleic acid amplification methods for different applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herba Epimedii, as a traditional Chinese herb, is divided into large and small flower taxa, and can invigorate sexuality and strengthen muscles and bones. Herba Epimedii is rich in flavonoids, which largely contribute to its medicinal benefits. In our previous studies, we have found that the flavonoids content was much more in small than large flower taxa. To further identify molecular mechanisms of flavonoids metabolism in Herba Epimedii, combined metabolome and transcriptomic analyses were performed to profile leaves and flowers. Association analysis revealed that the expression of genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis showed significant differences between small and large flower taxa. Eleven flavonols significantly increased in small compared to large flower taxa. Moreover, genes encoding O-methyltransferase played crucial roles in flavonoids metabolism by an integrated analysis. Taken together, these data highlight the breeding tendency of small flower taxa to improve the quality of Herba Epimedii. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, seagrass meadows are extremely important marine ecosystems that are disappearing at an alarming rate. Therefore, research into seagrass restoration has become increasingly important. Various strategies have been used in Zostera marina L. (eelgrass) restoration, including planting seeds. To improve the efficiency of restoration by planting seeds, it is necessary to select high-quality seeds. In addition, a suitable antibacterial agent is necessary for wet storage of desiccation sensitive seeds to reduce or inhibit microorganism infection and seed decay. In the present study, an efficient method for selecting for high-quality eelgrass seeds using different specific gravities of salt water was developed, and potential antibacterial agents (nano-silver and copper sulfate) for seed storage were assessed. The results showed that the highest proportion of intact seeds (72.91 ± 0.50%) was recorded at specific gravities greater than 1.20. Therefore, specific gravities greater than 1.20 can be used for selecting high-quality eelgrass seeds. During seed storage at 0 °C, the proportion of intact seeds after storage with nano-silver agent was over 90%, and also higher than 80% with copper sulfate agent, which was significantly higher than control treatments. The findings revealed a potential selection method for high-quality seeds and long-term seed storage conditions for Z. marina, which could facilitate conservation and habitat restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to identify a miRNAs signature for predicting overall survival (OS) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients. MiRNA expression profiles and corresponding clinical information of 119 ESCC patients were obtained from NCBI GEO and used as the training set. Differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) were screened between early-stage and late-stage samples. Cox regression analysis, recursive feature elimination (RFE)-support vector machine (SVM) algorithm, and LASSO Cox regression model were used to identify prognostic miRNAs and consequently build a prognostic scoring model. Moreover, promising target genes of these prognostic miRNAs were predicted followed by construction of miRNA-target gene networks. Functional relevance of predicted target genes of these prognostic miRNAs in ESCC was analyzed by performing function enrichment analyses. There were 46 DEmiRNAs between early-stage and late-stage samples in the training set. A risk score model based on five miRNAs was built. The five-miRNA risk score could classify the training set into a high-risk group and a low-risk group with significantly different OS time. Risk stratification ability of the five-miRNA risk score was successfully validated on an independent set from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Various biological processes and pathways were identified to be related to these miRNAs, such as Wnt signaling pathway, inflammatory mediator regulation of TRP channels pathway, and estrogen signaling pathway. The present study suggests a pathological stage-related five-miRNA signature that may have clinical implications in predicting prognosis of ESCC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of ultra-intense laser technology, MeV ions can be obtained from laser-foil interactions in the laboratory. These energetic ion beams can be applied in fast ignition for inertial confinement fusion, medical therapy, and proton imaging. However, these ions are mainly accelerated in the laser propagation direction. Ion acceleration in an azimuthal orientation was scarcely studied. In this research, a doughnut Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) laser is used for the first time to examine laser-plasma interaction in the relativistic intensity regime in three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. Studies have shown that a novel rotation of the plasma is produced from the hollow screw-like drill of an mode laser. The angular momentum of particles in the longitudinal direction produced by the LG laser is enhanced compared with that produced by the usual laser pulses, such as linearly and circularly polarized Gaussian pulses. Moreover, the particles (including electrons and ions) can be trapped and uniformly compressed in the dark central minimum of the doughnut LG pulse. The hollow-structured LG laser has potential applications in the generation of x-rays with orbital angular momentum, plasma accelerators, fast ignition for inertial confinement fusion, and pulsars in the astrophysical environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The basic leucine zipper (bZIP) is a widely known transcription factors family in eukaryotes. In plants, the role of bZIP proteins are crucial in various biological functions such as plant growth and development, seed maturation, response to light signal and environmental stress. To date, bZIP protein family has been comprehensively identified in Arabidopsis, castor, rice, ramie, soybean and other plant species, however, the complete genome-wide investigation of Carthamus tinctorius-bZIP family still remains unexplained. Here, we identified 52 putative bZIP genes from Carthamus tinctorius using a draft genome assembly and further analyzed their evolutionary classification, physicochemical properties, Conserved domain analysis, functional differentiation and the investigation of expression level in different tissues. Based on the common bZIP domain, CtbZIP family were clustered into 12 subfamilies renamed as (A–J, S, X), of which the X is a unique subfamily to Carthamus tinctorius. A total of 20 conserved protein motifs were found in CtbZIP proteins. The expression profiling of CtbZIP genes deciphered their tissue-specific pattern. Furthermore, the changes in CtbZIP transcript abundance suggested that their transcription regulation could be highly influenced by light intensity and hormones. Collectively, this study highlights all functional and regulatory elements of bZIP transcription factors family in Carthamus tinctorius which may serve as potential candidates for functional characterization in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]