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Brassica oleracea is one of the important vegetable crops in China. Its seeds are primarily imported. Hence, developing innovative varieties belonging to China is an urgent requirement. Since broccoli is a cross-pollinated crop systematic selection and cross-breeding are challenging, and the application of radiation mutagenesis breeding in broccoli has not been reported. In this study, the seeds of Brassica oleracea were irradiated using carbon ion beams to investigate the biological effects of these beams on broccoli. The growth indices, antioxidant enzyme activity, photosynthetic indices, and chlorophyll fluorescence were detected at the seedling stage. The results revealed that irradiation with 100–500 Gy exhibited no significant effect on the germination of Brassica oleracea, while the germination of seeds was significantly inhibited at 600 Gy. After irradiation with 100–600 Gy, the root length, shoot length, seedling height, and leaf area decreased with the increase in irradiation dose. The Median lethal dose (LD50) of Brassica oleracea irradiated using a carbon ion beam was 415.89 Gy, and the dose that halved the root length was 495.12 Gy. After irradiation, the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) were higher than that of the control plants, while the activity of catalase (CAT) was lower than that of the control plants. The content of malondialdehyde (MDA) increased significantly at a dose of 400 Gy. The photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and carotenoids) showed an increasing trend initially, and then a decreasing trend with an increasing irradiation dose, and the highest value was detected at a dose of 300 Gy. Net photosynthesis, transpiration rate, and stomatal conductance exhibited a negative correlation with irradiation dose, while the non-photosynthetic quenching coefficient exhibited a significant increase after irradiation. The findings indicated that heavy ion beam radiation inhibited the growth of broccoli plants and affected the activity of antioxidant enzymes and photosynthesis. The study provided basic data for the radiation mutation breeding of Brassica oleracea.

The most common subtype of lung cancer is non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) , accounting for 80% to 85% of lung cancer. During the development process, the tumor is easily metastasized to the brain, seriously affecting the treatment prognosis and quality of life of patients. At present, the main treatment options for brain metastasis of lung cancer are surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. In recent years, breakthroughs have been made in the application of immune checkpoint inhibitors, and some combination immunotherapies have been clinically approved. According to the Chinese Experts Consensus on Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors for Non-small Cell Lung Cancer, there have been certain studies showing that immunotherapy can be applied to the treatment of advanced NSCLC. Immunotherapy is like a double-edged sword, and its practical clinical significance still needs further exploration. This article reviews the progress of immunotherapy for brain metastasis of NSCLC and explores more reasonable clinical treatment plans for patients with brain metastasis of lung cancer.

In order to improve the comprehensive performance of aluminium alloys for the aviation application, it is necessary to experimentally characterize the microstructure, and thus to build a bridge between the microstructure and macro-performance of aluminum alloys. This paper introduces the brief developing course of 2xxx, 6xxx and 7xxx aluminum alloys and their microstructure evolution during artificial aging.The structural characteristics of significant phases like GP zones in Al-Cu alloys and GPB zones in Al-Cu-Mg alloys, and the precipitation behavior of S phase in Al-Cu-Mg alloys, etc, are thoroughly studied. The application of Transmission Electron Microscopy, Scanning-Transmission Electron Microscopy, 3-Dimentional Atom Probe in the investigations of structure, morphology, composition, interface structures, intergranular corrosion resistance and so on has been reviewed, especially the Ω phase in Al-Cu-Mg-Ag alloys and β" phase in Al-Mg-Si-Cu alloys. Our group has finished the works such as the simulation and characterization of complex selected area electron diffraction patterns in Al alloys, as well as the measuring of the precipitates' volume fraction with high accuracy which is based on the convergent beam electron diffraction.

The ICME (Integrated Computational Materials Engineering) for aluminum alloys was applied to combine key experiments with multi-scale numerical simulations from nano (10-10-10-8 m) to micro (10-8-10-4 m) to meso (10-4-10-2 m) and to macro (10-2-10 m) during the whole R&D (research and development) process of aluminum alloys. Using integrated analysis of the composition-processing-structure-properties, the methodology for developing aluminum alloys was promoted from trial and error to scientific design, SO the R & D of aluminum alloys was significantly speed up and the cost was reduced. In this paper, multi-scale simulation approaches including Ab-initio, CALPHAD (CALculation of PHAse Diagram), phase field, and finite element method together with experimental methods characterizing structure and properties are elaborated. The function of each method in the R & D of aluminum alloys is carefully discussed. Based on ICME, the framework for R & D of aluminum alloys, involving end-user demand, product design and industrial design, is established. Two application examples are presented to describe the important role of ICME during the development stage of aluminum alloys, which provides an innovative pattern for R & D of advanced aluminum alloys.

It is known that low-frequency pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) can promote the differentiation and maturation of rat calvarial osteoblasts (ROBs) cultured in vitro . However, the mechanism that how ROBs perceive the physical signals of PEMFs and initiate osteogenic differentiation remains unknown. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the promotion of osteogenic differentiation of ROBs by 0.6 mT 50 Hz PEMFs and the presence of polycystin2 (PC2) located on the primary cilia on the surface of ROBs. First, immunofluorescence staining was used to study whether PC2 is located in the primary cilia of ROBs, and then the changes of PC2 protein expression in ROBs upon treatment with PEMFs for different time were detected by Western blotting. Subsequently, we detected the expression of PC2 protein by Western blotting and the effect of PEMFs on the activity of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), as well as the expression of Runx-2, Bmp-2, Col-1 and Osx proteins and genes related to bone formation after pretreating ROBs with amiloride HCl (AMI), a PC2 blocker. Moreover, we detected the expression of genes related to bone formation after inhibiting the expression of PC2 in ROBs using RNA interference. The results showed that PC2 was localized on the primary cilia of ROBs, and PEMFs treatment increased the expression of PC2 protein. When PC2 was blocked by AMI, PEMFs could no longer increase PC2 protein expression and ALP activity, and the promotion effect of PEMFs on osteogenic related protein and gene expression was also offset. After inhibiting the expression of PC2 using RNA interference, PEMFs can no longer increase the expression of genes related to bone formation. The results showed that PC2, located on the surface of primary cilia of osteoblasts, plays an indispensable role in perceiving and transmitting the physical signals from PEMFs, and the promotion of osteogenic differentiation of ROBs by PEMFs depends on the existence of PC2. This study may help to elucidate the mechanism underlying the promotion of bone formation and osteoporosis treatment in low-frequency PEMFs.