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Aiming at the extraction and recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) in low-concentration rare earth leaching tailings, a kind of phosphorylated conjugated microporous organic polymer (P-CMP) was prepared and applied to adsorb rare earth ions (Nd3+, Dy3+, Y3+). The structure of P-CMP was characterized by FT-IR. SEM and EDS were utilized to illustrate the surface morphology and element distribution of P-CMP, respectively.The adsorption mechanism of P-CMP was determined by XPS. The effects of pH, ion concentration and adsorption time on adsorption capacity were investigated. The isotherm of the rare earth adsorption process was fitted by Langmuir and Freundlich models, and the kinetics was fitted by Pseudo-firstorder and Pseudo-second-order. The results show that P-CMP is an amorphous microporous material, which has strong interaction with Nd3+ (30.18 mg/g), Dy3+ (37.84 mg/g) and Y3+ (22.01 mg/g), and the synergistic effect of amino and phosphate groups provides good selectivity (S.F.(Nd3+/Men+) = 5*103~5*104). The PCMP selectively adsorbs rare earth ions in the actual system and cycles 8 times.

In the absence of experimental investigations on column members of underground structures, full‐scale column specimens were tested to explore the seismic behavior of shallow‐buried subway stations at various depths. The axial compression ratios of internal column specimens were set as 0.16, 0.33, and 0.40. Both hybrid simulations and quasi‐static tests were performed on the station columns. The hybrid simulations illustrated the drift demands of internal columns, while the load‐carrying capacity and deformation capacity were obtained from the quasi‐static tests. Hybrid simulations at low, moderate, and high‐intensity levels were conducted to study the seismic responses of shallow‐buried rectangular stations. The hybrid simulations suggest that the most severe damage occurred in the station when the axial compression ratio of the tested column reached 0.40. Central columns suffered severe stiffness deterioration under high‐level earthquake excitation, especially in stations at greater depths. Meanwhile, the quasi‐static test results indicate that the ultimate load of the central columns increases with increasing axial compression, but this leads to a significant decrease in the ductility of columns. Besides, the sectional analysis results show that the central columns are prone to tension‐controlled failure, and the safety margin for flexural response deteriorates with an increasing axial compression ratio. The test results indicate that shallow‐buried rectangular stations are susceptible to flexure‐controlled structural failure when their central columns possess a relatively low axial compression ratio and a high shear span‐to‐depth ratio. The failure mechanism of station columns is revealed by both the hybrid simulations and quasi‐static tests, and the findings from the full‐scale tests are beneficial for the practical design of shallow‐buried rectangular stations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fructans are water-soluble carbohydrates that accumulate in wheat and are thought to contribute to a pool of stored carbon reserves used in grain filling and tolerance to abiotic stress. Results: In this study, transgenic wheat plants were engineered to overexpress a fusion of two fructan biosynthesis pathway genes, wheat sucrose: sucrose 1-fructosyltransferase (Ta1SST) and wheat sucrose: fructan 6-fructosyltransferase (Ta6SFT), regulated by a wheat ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase small subunit (TaRbcS) gene promoter. We have shown that T4 generation transgene-homozygous single-copy events accumulated more fructan polymers in leaf, stem and grain when compared in the same tissues from transgene null lines. Under water-deficit (WD) conditions, transgenic wheat plants showed an increased accumulation of fructan polymers with a high degree of polymerisation (DP) when compared to non-transgenic plants. In wheat grain of a transgenic event, increased deposition of particular fructan polymers such as, DP4 was observed. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that the tissue-regulated expression of a gene fusion between Ta1SST and Ta6SFT resulted in modified fructan accumulation in transgenic wheat plants and was influenced by water-deficit stress conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) and lactate in ruminal fluid are products resulting from the microbial fermentation of substrates and can be used to reflect the composition and activity of the ruminal microbiome. Determination of SCFA and D-/L-lactate in ruminal fluid currently requires two separate protocols, which is time-consuming and costly. In this study, we have optimised and validated a simple and unified 3-nitrophenylhydrazine (3-NPH) derivatisation protocol and a 20 min chiral-LC-MS method for the simultaneous quantification of all SCFA and D- and L-lactate in ruminal fluid. This method, which requires no sample pretreatment or purification shows adequate sensitivity (limit of detection (LOD): 0.01 µg/mL), satisfactory accuracy (recovery: 88–103%), and excellent reproducibility (relative standard deviation (RSD) for repeated analyses < 3% for most analytes). The application of this method to a cohort of 24 animals allowed us to reveal a large inter-cow variation in ruminal SCFA and lactate level, the concentration range for each species, the widespread correlation between different SCFA, and the strong correlation between D- and L-lactate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ferroptosis is an important mode of regulated cell death (RCD). Its inhibition is closely related to therapeutic resistance and poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Previous reports have demonstrated ferroptosis as a biological process highly dependent on selective autophagy, such as ferritinophagy, lipophagy, and clockophagy. Our study also revealed a role for ER-phagy-mediated ferroptosis in HCC cells treated with multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). In the current study, we found that the homologous circular RNA (circRNA) of the family with sequence similarity 134, member B (FAM134B), hsa_circ_0128505 (was abbreviated as circFAM134B in the present study), was identified to specifically target ER-phagy to promote lenvatinib (LV)-induced ferroptosis using reactive oxygen species (ROS), Fe2+, malondialdehyde (MDA), and western blot (WB) assays in HCC cells. RNA pull-down and mass spectrometry analyses suggested that circFAM134B and FAM134B mRNA were enriched with several common interacting proteins. Among them, poly (A) binding protein cytoplasmic 4 (PABPC4) was identified as the most enriched binding partner. It was proven to be a novel antagonist against the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) mechanism. We then applied RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP), RNA pull-down, luciferase reporter, and NMD reporter gene assays to further explore the exact role and underlying mechanism of circFAM134B-PABPC4-FAM134B axis in HCC cells. circFAM134B was confirmed as a sponge that competitively interacted with PABPC4, thereby influencing FAM134B mRNA nonsense decay. Our results provide novel evidences and strategies for the comprehensive treatment of HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Batocera horsfieldi (Hope) is an important wood-boring pest in China. This pest primarily infests tree trunks by feeding on the woody tissue, creating a network of interconnected tunnels within the trunk. These tunnels become blocked with insect feces and wood debris, causing damage, decay, and even the death of the host plant's tissues. In this study, single-molecule real-time sequencing (SMRT) and Illumina RNA-seq technologies were employed to conduct full-length transcriptome sequencing of male and female adults of B. horsfieldi. A total of 20,356,793 subreads (38.26 G, clean reads) were generated, including 432,091 circular consensus sequences and 395,851 full-length non-chimera reads. Clustering and redundancy removal of the full-length non-chimera reads resulted in 39,912 consensus reads. Additionally, functional annotation was performed on a total of 84,650 transcripts in seven different databases. This study provides an important foundation for future exploration of gene regulation in the interaction between B. horsfieldi and host plants using RNA interference (RNAi), and it offers a scientific basis for the prevention and control of B. horsfieldi. Batocera horsfieldi (Hope) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) is an important forest pest in China that mainly infests timber and economic forests. This pest primarily causes plant tissue to necrotize, rot, and eventually die by feeding on the woody parts of tree trunks. To gain a deeper understanding of the genetic mechanism of B. horsfieldi, this study employed single-molecule real-time sequencing (SMRT) and Illumina RNA-seq technologies to conduct full-length transcriptome sequencing of the insect. Total RNA extracted from male and female adults was mixed and subjected to SMRT sequencing, generating a complete transcriptome. Transcriptome analysis, prediction of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), coding sequences (CDs), analysis of simple sequence repeats (SSR), prediction of transcription factors, and functional annotation of transcripts were performed in this study. The collective 20,356,793 subreads (38.26 G, clean reads) were generated, including 432,091 circular consensus sequences and 395,851 full-length non-chimera reads. The full-length non-chimera reads (FLNC) were clustered and redundancies were removed, resulting in 39,912 consensus reads. SSR and ANGEL software v3.0 were used for predicting SSR and CDs. In addition, four tools were used for annotating 6058 lncRNAs, identifying 636 transcription factors. Furthermore, a total of 84,650 transcripts were functionally annotated in seven different databases. This is the first time that the full-length transcriptome of B. horsfieldi has been obtained using SMRT sequencing. This provides an important foundation for investigating the gene regulation underlying the interaction between B. horsfieldi and its host plants through gene editing in the future and provides a scientific basis for the prevention and control of B. horsfieldi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon fixation and conversion based on Clostridium ljungdahlii have great potential for the sustainable production of biochemicals (i.e., 2,3-butanediol, acetic acid, and ethanol). Here, the effects of reducing agents on the production of biochemicals from H2/CO2 using C. ljungdahlii were studied. It was found that the element S and reducing power could significantly affect the production of biochemicals, and cysteine (Cys) was better than sodium sulfide for the production of biochemicals, especially for the production of 2,3-butanediol. Moreover, comparing to the control (i.e., without the addition of Cys), the gene expression profiles indicated that the fdh and adhE1 were significantly upregulated with the addition of Cys, which involved in pathways of the CO2 fixation and ethanol production. Therefore, the irreplaceability of Cys on the production of biochemicals was both caused by its utilization as a reducing agent and its effect on the metabolic pathway. Finally, compared to the control, the production of 2,3-butanediol was increased by 2.17 times under the addition of 1.7 g/L Cys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Milk is a rich source of lipids, with the major components being triglycerides (TAG) and phospholipids (mainly phosphatidylcholine (PC), sphingomyelin (SM), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylserine (PS) and phosphatidylinositol (PI)). Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is the predominant technique for lipid identification and quantification across all biological samples. While fatty acid (FA) composition of the major lipid classes of milk can be readily determined using tandem MS, elucidating the regio-distribution and double bond position of the FA remains difficult. Various workflows have been reported on the quantification of lipid species in biological samples in the past 20 years, but no standard or consensus methods are currently available for the quantification of milk phospholipids. This study will examine the influence of several common factors in lipid analysis workflow (including lipid extraction protocols, LC stationary phases, mobile phase buffers, gradient elution programmes, mass analyser resolution and isotope correction) on the quantification outcome of bovine milk phospholipids. The pros and cons of the current LC-MS methods as well as the critical problems to be solved will also be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the influence of friction coefficient and equivalent radius on the seismic reduction effect of friction pendulum bearings in the underground station under far-field and near-field earthquakes with different strength. It is found that the parameters of the friction pendulum bearings will obviously influence seismic reduction effectiveness. By combining genetic algorithm with finite element method, the parameters of friction pendulum bearings in the station can be optimized. By using this method, the optimal parameters range can be obtained, which can provide reference for parameter design of friction pendulum bearings in underground stations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An accurate dry matter intake (DMI) measurement method is of great importance for determining the performance of dairy cows. While n-alkane technique is commonly used to estimate the DMI of ruminants, the protocols used to measure alkanes are complex, time consuming and low throughput. Herein we present a simplified and miniaturised protocol that combines a smaller sample matrix (60 mg of faeces or herbage), a shorter (3 h) saponification step and a direct purification of the crude extract by filtration through silica powder or mixing with silica powder prior to GC-FID analysis. In addition to a much higher throughput compared with the existing methods, by skipping the commercial SPE columns and reducing the organic solvent volume, our miniaturised protocol should significantly reduce the sample processing cost and is thus suitable for alkane determination for large-scale experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ferroptosis is a kind of cell death closely related to selective autophagy, such as ferritinophagy, lipophagy, clockophagy and chaperone-mediated autophagy. However, the role of reticulophagy, which specifically degrades endoplasmic reticulum (ER) fragments (also known as ER-phagy), in ferroptosis regulation is still unclear. In this study, we found that sorafenib (ferroptosis inducer) can effectively activate the receptor protein FAM134B-mediated ER-phagy, and FAM134B knockdown not only blocked ER-phagy but also significantly strengthened cellular sensitivity to ferroptosis without affecting macroautophagy. In vivo experiments also yielded similar results. These evidences provided new clues for ferroptosis regulation. Subsequently, bioinformatic analysis combined with RNA binding protein immunoprecipitation and polyribosome fractionation preliminarily indicated that PABPC1 can interact with FAM134B mRNA and promote its translation. Taken together, this study revealed the role of the PABPC1-FAM134B-ER-phagy pathway on ferroptosis, providing important evidence for novel anti-cancer strategies. • ER-phagy was effectively induced by sorafenib in HCC cells. • FAM134B-mediated ER-phagy was closely related to ferroptosis. • FAM134B knockdown-mediated ER-phagy inhibition might enhance cellular sensitivity to ferroptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glucosinolates (GSLs) are important secondary metabolites that play important defensive roles in cruciferous plants. Chinese flowering cabbage, one of the most common vegetable crops, is rich in GSLs and thus has the potential to reduce the risk of cancer in humans. Many genes that are involved in GSL biosynthesis and metabolism have been identified in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana ; however, few studies investigated the genes related to GSL biosynthesis and metabolism in Chinese flowering cabbage. In the present study, the GSL composition and content in three different organs of Chinese flowering cabbage (leaf, stalk, and flower bud) were determined. Our results showed that the total GSL content in flower buds was significantly higher than in stalks and leaves, and aliphatic GSLs were the most abundant GSL type. To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the variations of GSL content, we analyzed the expression of genes encoding enzymes involved in GSL biosynthesis and transport in different tissues of Chinese flowering cabbage using RNA sequencing; the expression levels of most genes were found to be consistent with the pattern of total GSL content. Correlation and consistency analysis of differentially expressed genes from different organs with the GSL content revealed that seven genes (Bra029966 , Bra012640 , Bra016787 , Bra011761 , Bra006830 , Bra011759 , and Bra029248) were positively correlated with GSL content. These findings provide a molecular basis for further elucidating GSL biosynthesis and transport in Chinese flowering cabbage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFA, C2-C5) in milk and serum are derived from rumen bacterial fermentation and, thus, have the potential to be used as biomarkers for the health status of dairy cows. Currently, there is no comprehensive and validated method that can be used to analyse all SCFAs in both bovine serum and milk. This paper reports an optimised protocol, combining 3-nitrophenylhydrazine (3-NPH) derivatisation and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis for quantification of SCFA and β-hydroxybutyric acid (BHBA) in both bovine milk and bovine serum. This method is sensitive (limit of detection (LOD) ≤ 0.1 µmol/L of bovine milk and serum), accurate (recovery 84–115% for most analytes) and reproducible (relative standard deviation (RSD) for repeated analyses below 7% for most measurements) with a short sample preparation step. The application of this method to samples collected from a small cohort of animals allowed us to reveal a large variation in SCFA concentration between serum and milk and across different animals as well as the strong correlation of some SCFAs between milk and serum samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient controlling plant growth and development through the regulation of basic metabolic processes. Soil P deficiency is one of the major limiting factors for sustainable crop production worldwide. Previous studies have demonstrated that silicon (Si), as a beneficial element, promotes plant nutrition, growth, development, and responses to low P (LP) stress; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying Si-mediated LP tolerance remain largely unclear. Here, we found that LP + Si treatment increased the net photosynthetic rate and shoot fresh weight by 34.3%, and 121.3%, respectively compared with LP alone. RNA-sequencing and metabolomic analyses were subsequently performed with tomato plants grown under control and P depleted conditions with or without Si amendment. RNA-sequencing showed that Si supply alters not only the expression of genes involved in the metabolism of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and P but also phosphorylation processes and metabolism of glutathione and reactive active oxygen in tomato roots. Si also affected the expression of genes encoding major transcription factors such as WRKY and MYB under LP stress. Moreover, a set of genes encoding the enzymes or regulators of organic acid (OA) metabolism or secretion were differentially expressed in Si-treated P deficient roots compared with those in LP stress alone. Furthermore, the metabolomic analysis showed that the levels of several OAs were significantly elevated in Si-treated P deficient roots. Taken together, these results indicate that exogenous Si increases the secretion of OAs by modulating C/N metabolism in LP-treated tomato roots and thereby improving plant growth under LP stress. • Silicon (Si) improved antioxidant defense and mitigated low phosphorus (LP) stress. • RNA-sequencing revealed regulation of GSH and ROS metabolism by Si under LP stress. • Si also altered the transcripts of major transcription factors such as WRKY and MYB. • Genes involved in organic acid (OA) metabolism were differentially modulated by Si. • Metabolomic analysis showed accumulation of OAs in Si-treated roots under LP stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine the clinical and prognostic significance of cell-cycle progression gene 1 (CCPG1) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We firstly analyzed CCPG1 expression in various cancers using The Cancer Genome Atlas and the Genotype-Tissue Expression project databases. The relative expression levels of CCPG1 were determined in 164 paired HCC and adjacent tissues using immunohistochemistry. The correlation between CCPG1 and clinicopathological characteristics of HCC was analyzed. Cox proportional models were used to identify the prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). The expression of CCPG1 was lower in HCC tissues than in adjacent non-tumor liver tissues. The expression of CCPG1 was significantly correlated with tumor number (p = 0.02) and tumor differentiation (p = 0.04) in HCC. Lower expression of CCPG1 in HCC patients was associated with poor OS and DFS (p < 0.01). Relative low expression of CCPG1 in HCC is significantly correlated with the poor prognosis of HCC patients after surgical resection, suggesting its possible role as a potential prognostic marker for HCC.

Plant specialization and pollination network structure play important roles in community assembly. Floral traits can mediate plant-pollinator interactions and thus have important impacts on nestedness and modularity of pollination network. When such traits are phylogenetically conserved, therefore, phylogeny and traits should predict network structure to similar degrees. Moreover, conserved network structures were also found attributed to pollination syndrome or pollination system. However, we still know little about the relation between pollination syndrome and pollination network, especially under a phylogenetic framework. Herein, we established a phylogenetic framework including five floral traits (flower density, floral size, floral shape, floral symmetry, and floral color) and five species-level metrics (species strength, weighted closeness, specialization d ', nestedness contribution, and modularity contribution) to test how floral traits could directly or indirectly influence species' specialization and network structure in central China. Phylogenetic signals were found in all floral traits except flower density. Structural equation model and phylogenetic structural equation model results showed that both floral size and floral density affected plant specialization and its contribution to network modularity indirectly. However, compared with phylogenetic independent flower density, phylogenetic conserved floral size had much more complexed influences, having a direct influence both on species' specialization and on modularity contribution. In this nested and modular network, abundant species with larger flowers tend to be more central and had larger values of z . Floral shape, symmetry, and color could act as co-flowering filters in pollination sharing and help to shape network modularity. Our results emphasize that phylogenetically conserved traits partially represent pollination syndrome and are important drivers for modular structure of local pollination network. This study may improve the understanding how the evolutionary history and ecological process drive local network structure and dynamics., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Xiang, Jiang, Lan, Huang, Hao, Liu and Xia.)

Milk is a rich source of lipids, with the major components being triglycerides (TAG) and phospholipids (mainly phosphatidylcholine (PC), sphingomyelin (SM), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylserine (PS) and phosphatidylinositol (PI)). Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is the predominant technique for lipid identification and quantification across all biological samples. While fatty acid (FA) composition of the major lipid classes of milk can be readily determined using tandem MS, elucidating the regio-distribution and double bond position of the FA remains difficult. Various workflows have been reported on the quantification of lipid species in biological samples in the past 20 years, but no standard or consensus methods are currently available for the quantification of milk phospholipids. This study will examine the influence of several common factors in lipid analysis workflow (including lipid extraction protocols, LC stationary phases, mobile phase buffers, gradient elution programmes, mass analyser resolution and isotope correction) on the quantification outcome of bovine milk phospholipids. The pros and cons of the current LC-MS methods as well as the critical problems to be solved will also be discussed.