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Abstract Natural soil has the ability to suppress the soil-borne pathogen to a certain extent, and the assemblage of soil microbiome plays a crucial role in maintaining such ability. Long-term monoculture accelerates the forms of soil microbiome and leads to either disease conducive or suppressive soils. Here, we explored the impact of soil conditions on bacterial wilt disease (healthy or diseased) under long-term tobacco monoculture on the assemblage of bacterial and fungal communities in bulk and rhizosphere soils during the growth periods. With Illumina sequencing, we compared the bacterial and fungal composition of soil samples from tobacco bacterial wilt diseased fields and healthy fields in three growth periods. We found that Proteobacteria and Ascomycota were the most abundant phylum for bacteria and fungi, respectively. Factors of soil conditions and tobacco growth periods can significantly influence the microbial composition in bulk soil samples, while the factor of soil conditions mainly determined the microbial composition in rhizosphere soil samples. Next, rhizosphere samples were further analyzed with LEfSe to determine the discriminative taxa affected by the factor of soil conditions. For bacteria, the genus Ralstonia was found in the diseased soils, whereas the genus Flavobacterium was the only shared taxon in healthy soils; for fungi, the genus Chaetomium was the most significant taxon in healthy soils. Besides, network analysis confirmed that the topologies of networks of healthy soils were higher than that of diseased soils. Together, our results suggest that microbial assemblage in the rhizosphere will be largely affected by soil conditions especially after long-term monoculture.

Summary: CRISPR-associated Rossmann fold (CARF) domain signaling underpins modulation of CRISPR-Cas nucleases; however, the RtcR CARF domain controls expression of two conserved RNA repair enzymes, cyclase RtcA and ligase RtcB. Here, we demonstrate that RtcAB are required for RtcR-dependent transcription activation and directly bind to RtcR CARF. RtcAB catalytic activity is not required for complex formation with CARF, but is essential yet not sufficient for RtcRAB-dependent transcription activation, implying the need for an additional RNA repair-dependent activating signal. This signal differs from oligoadenylates, a known ligand of CARF domains, and instead appears to originate from the translation apparatus: RtcB repairs a tmRNA that rescues stalled ribosomes and increases translation elongation speed. Taken together, our data provide evidence for an expanded range for CARF domain signaling, including the first evidence of its control via in trans protein-protein interactions, and a feed-forward mechanism to regulate RNA repair required for a functioning translation apparatus.

In the carbon neutrality strategy, understanding the effects of green finance on green technology innovation is conductive to promoting the green transformation of the economy. Based on the micro-level and provincial panel data of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed companies from 2012 to 2019, this study explored the impact of green financial development on the enterprises’ green technology innovation. Both mediating effect and moderating effect models were employed to determine the impact of green finance on green technological innovation. It was found that green finance significantly improved the enterprises’ green technology innovation, despite sufficient incentives for “quantity” and relatively insufficient motivation for “quality”. The mechanistic tests demonstrated that the green finance could encourage enterprises to improve green technology innovation by alleviating corporate financing constraints. The green innovation effect of green finance was gradually increased when the regional intellectual property protection was improved. The heterogeneity test indicated that the incentive effect of green financial development on green technology innovation was more evident in state-owned enterprises, enterprises with good internal control quality, and enterprises in the growth period. If only enterprises in the recession stage received green financial support, a “green innovation bubble” might occur. The research conclusions enrich the theories on the driving factors of enterprise green innovation and provide empirical evidence for enhancing the competitiveness of enterprise green innovation and achieving carbon neutrality.

Growth promotion and stress tolerance induced by endophytes have been observed in various plants, but their effects on mulberry regularly suffering flood in the hydro-fluctuation belt are less understood. In the present study, endophytic Klebsiella aerogenes HGG15 was screened out from 28 plant growth promotion (PGP) bacteria as having superior PGP traits in vitro and in planta as well as biosafety for silkworms. K. aerogenes HGG15 could actively colonize into roots of mulberry and subsequently transferred to stems and leaves. The 16S ribosomal RNA (V3–V4 variable regions) amplicon sequencing revealed that exogenous application of K. aerogenes HGG15 altered the bacterial community structures of mulberry roots and stems. Moreover, the genus of Klebsiella was particularly enriched in inoculated mulberry roots and was positively correlated with mulberry development and soil potassium content. Untargeted metabolic profiles uncovered 201 differentially abundant metabolites (DEMs) between inoculated and control mulberry, with lipids and organo-heterocyclic compounds being particularly abundant DEMs. In addition, a high abundance of abiotic stress response factors and promotion growth stimulators such as glycerolipid, sphingolipid, indole, pyridine, and coumarin were observed in inoculated mulberry. Collectively, the knowledge gained from this study sheds light on potential strategies to enhance mulberry growth in hydro-fluctuation belt, and microbiome and metabolite analyses provide new insights into the growth promotion mechanisms used by plant-associated bacteria.

Mechanically flexible single crystals are promising materials for advanced technological applications. Here, the authors study the high pressure response of a plastically flexible coordination polymer and provide indication of an overall disparate mechanical response of bulk flexibility and quasi-hydrostatic compression within the same crystal lattice.

Bacterial wilt, caused by the plant pathogen Ralstonia solanacearum, occurs more severely in acidified soil according to previous reports. However, R. solanacearum cannot grow well in acidic environments under barren nutrient culture conditions, especially when the pH is lower than 5. With the worsening acidification of farmland, further determination of how R. solanacearum adapts to the long-term acidic environment is worthwhile. In this study, experimental evolution was applied to evaluate the adaptability and mechanism of the R. solanacearum experimental population responding to long-term acid stress. We chose the CQPS-1 strain as the ancestor, and minimal medium (MM medium) with different pH values as the culture environment to simulate poor soil. After 1500 generations of serial passage experiments in pH 4.9 MM, acid-adapted experimental strains (denoted as C49 strains) were obtained, showing significantly higher growth rates than the growth rates of control experimental strains (serial passage experiment in pH 6.5 MM, denoted as C65 strains). Competition experiments showed that the competitive indices (CIs) of all selected clones from C49 strains were superior to the ancestor in acidic environment competitiveness. Based on the genome variation analysis and functional verification, we confirmed that loss of function in the phcA gene was associated with the acid fitness gain of R. solanacearum, which meant that the inactivation of the PhcA regulator caused by gene mutation mediated the population expansion of R. solanacearum when growing in an acidic stress environment. Moreover, the swimming motility of acid evolution strains and the phcA deletion mutant was significantly enhanced compared to CQPS-1. This work provided evidence for understanding the adaptive strategy of R. solanacearum to the long-term acidic environment.

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria have been shown to play important roles in maintaining host fitness under periods of abiotic stress, and yet their effect on mulberry trees which regularly suffer drought after flooding in the hydro-fluctuation belt of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region in China remains largely uncharacterized. In the present study, 74 bacterial isolates were obtained from the rhizosphere soil of mulberry after drought stress, including 12 phosphate-solubilizing and 10 indole-3-acetic-acid-producing isolates. Bacillus megaterium HGS7 was selected for further study due to the abundance of traits that might benefit plants. Genomic analysis revealed that strain HGS7 possessed multiple genes that contributed to plant growth promotion, stress tolerance enhancement, and antimicrobial compound production. B. megaterium HGS7 consistently exhibited antagonistic activity against phytopathogens and strong tolerance to abiotic stress in vitro. Moreover, this strain stimulated mulberry seed germination and seedling growth. It may also induce the production of proline and antioxidant enzymes in mulberry trees to enhance drought tolerance and accelerate growth recovery after drought stress. The knowledge of the interactions between rhizobacteria HGS7 and its host plant might provide a potential strategy to enhance the drought tolerance of mulberry trees in a hydro-fluctuation belt.

The effects of global warming have warmed the climate of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) leading to changes in plant growth and soil nutrients in the alpine meadows. However, few studies have addressed the effects of warming on plant allometric growth and soil stoichiometry in these meadows on a long-term scale. Therefore, the effects of soil stoichiometry on plant allometric growth remain unclear under long-term warming in the alpine meadows. This study adopted infrared radiators to conduct an 8-year warming experiment in a permafrost region on the QTP starting in 2010, and surveyed growth indices of the plant community during the growing season. Soil organic carbon (C), total nitrogen (N), and total phosphorus (P) in an alpine meadow were measured. We initially learned that the aboveground part of the alpine meadow vegetation in the warming treatment changed from an isometric to an allometric growth pattern while the allometric growth pattern of the belowground part was further strengthened. Second, the contents of soil C, N, and P decreased at the 0–20 cm depth and increased at the 20–30 cm depth in warming. The ratios of soil C:N, C:P, and N:P showed increasing trends at different soil depths with artificial warming, and their amplitudes increased with soil depths. Warming promoted the migration of soil stoichiometric characteristics of C, N, and P to deep soil. Finally, the correlations of plant growth with soil stoichiometric characteristics were weakened by warming, demonstrating that the downward migration of soil stoichiometric characteristics to deep soil in warming had effects on the growth of vegetation in the alpine meadow. It concludes that the change in soil stoichiometric characteristics with soil depths promotes plant allometric growth in the alpine meadow under climate warming.

The cause of some patients with negative RT-PCR results experienced turn-positive after treatment remains unclear. In addition, understanding the correlation between changes in clinical data in the course of COVID-19 and treatment outcomes is of great importance in determining the prognosis of COVID-19. To perform cause analysis of RT-PCR turn-positive and the effective screening factors related to treatment outcome in COVID-19. Clinical data, including clinical manifestations, laboratory tests, radiography results, treatment methods and outcomes, were retrospectively collected and analyzed from January to March 2020 in Renmin Hospitals of Wuhan University. 116 COVID-19 patients (40 in recurrent group, 29 in recovered group and 47 in unrecovered group) were recruited. In the recurrent group, white blood cell, Neutrophils, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, CD3, CD4, CD8, ratio of CD4/CD8, IgG and C4 complement were of significant difference among the baseline, negative and turn-positive time points. CD19 and CT scan results were found notable difference between recurrent group and recovered group. Odds from CD3, CD4, CD8, CD19, IgM, C3 complement, C4 complement and CT scan results validated associations with clinical outcomes of COVID-19. The so-called recurrence in some COVID-19 patients may be due to the false-negative of nucleic acid test results from nasopharyngeal swabs. Levels of CD3, CD4, CD8, CD19, IgM, C3 complement, C4 complement and CT results were significantly correlated with the outcome of COVID-19. The cellular immunity test could be beneficial to further screen the reliability of RT-PCR test on the basis of CT images.

Abstract Background Cervical cancer (CC) is the one of most common malignant gynecological tumors, which is characterized with the high mortality and recurrence rate. Previous studies have elucidated the oncogenic role of small nucleolar RNA host gene 6 (SNHG6) in some types of human cancers, whereas it is unclear whether it functions as an oncogene in CC. This study was aimed at unveiling the role of SNHG6 in CC. Methods qRT-PCR analysis was implemented to evaluate the expression levels of SNHG6, miR-485-3p and STYX in CC cells. RNA pull down assay and luciferase reporter assay were conducted to verify the interaction between miR-485-3p and SNHG6 or STYX. Functional assays, such as colony formation assay, JC-1 assay and TUNEL assay were applied to detect the biological behaviors of CC cells. The resistance of CC cells to radiation was evaluated by colony formation assay. Results SNHG6 was expressed at a high level in CC cells. Silenced SNHG6 suppressed cell proliferation but promoted cell apoptosis. Additionally, silenced SNHG6 could sensitize CC cells to radiation treatment. miR-485-3p could bind to both SNHG6 and STYX. Knockdown of miR-485-3p or overexpression of STYX could abolish the effects of SNHG6 silencing on CC cell growth. Conclusions LncRNA SNHG6 enhances the radioresistance of CC cells and promotes CC cell growth by sponging miR-485-3p to release STYX.

ABSTRACT Bacterial wilt is accompanied by microbial communities shift and soil acidification. However, the relationship between the changes of bacterial communities and bacterial wilt under the influence of different acidification levels has not been fully elucidated. Here, we analyzed the abundance of Ralstonia solanacearum, rhizosphere bacterial communities and carbon metabolism at differently acidic levels (pH 6.45, pH 5.60, pH 5.35, pH 4.90 and pH 4.45) and soil amendment treatment (CaO). The results indicated that both the abundance of R. solanacearum and the incidence of bacterial wilt showed a significant trend of first increasing and then decreasing with the increase of soil pH. The Firmicutes phylum and potentially beneficial genera Bacillus, Paenibacillus, Flavobacterium and Pseudomonas were significantly enriched at pH 6.45. The metabolic ability in response to the l-arginine and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid was significantly increased at pH 6.45. After using CaO to increase the pH of diseased soil from 5.45 to 6.05, the abundance of R. solanacearum and the incidence of bacterial wilt were significantly reduced, the Firmicutes and potentially beneficial genera Bacillus and Pseudomonas were significantly enriched. Overall, alleviating soil acidification to a slightly acidic level (pH 6.0–6.5) could suppress bacterial wilt by suppressing the growth of R. solanacearum and enriching the rhizosphere potentially beneficial bacteria, and further emphasized the importance of increasing soil pH in biological control of bacterial wilt. IMPORTANCE The rhizosphere microbiota and soil acidification have been shown to have impacts on bacterial wilt. However, the influence of different acidification levels on the rhizosphere communities and bacterial wilt has not been fully studied. In this study, the potentially beneficial bacteria (Bacillus and Pseudomonas) were significantly enriched in the slightly acidic soil (pH 6.45), leading to the increase of the metabolism of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid and the decrease of pathogenic R. solanacearum, thereby alleviating the occurrence of bacterial wilt. The changes of potentially beneficial bacteria and pathogenic R. solanacearum in strongly acidic soil (pH 5.35) with the highest incidence of bacterial wilt were just the opposite. These findings help clarify the mechanisms by which soil bacteria exert influence on bacterial wilt outbreak under different soil acidification levels.

Long-term monoculture cropping is usually accompanied by soil acidification and microbial community shifts. Soil aluminum ions are dissolved under acidic condition (pH < 5.0), and the resulting aluminum bioavailability can cause toxic effects in plants. In this study, we investigated the bacterial community compositions and aluminum toxicity in fields monocultured with ginger for 35 years, 15 years, and 1 year. Within these fields are ginger plants without and with ginger bacterial wilt disease. The results confirmed that the degree of aluminum toxicity in the diseased soil was more severe than that in the healthy soil. Continuous cropping can significantly increase the bacterial diversity and change the bacterial community composition of ginger rhizosphere soil. The relative abundance of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs) was increased in the soils used for the continuous cropping of ginger. Additionally, aluminum toxicity had a significant positive correlation with Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Arthrobacter, and Serratia in healthy soils. Based on these results, aluminum stress may stimulate the increase of PGPRs (Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Arthrobacter, and Serratia), thereby alleviating ginger aluminum toxicity and bacterial wilt in extremely acidic soil (pH < 4.5).

Bacteriophage T7 infects Escherichia coli and evades the host restriction/modification system. The Ocr protein of T7 was shown to exist as a dimer mimicking DNA and to bind to host restriction enzymes, thus preventing the degradation of the viral genome by the host. Here we report that Ocr can also inhibit host transcription by directly binding to bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP) and competing with the recruitment of RNAP by sigma factors. Using cryo electron microscopy, we determined the structures of Ocr bound to RNAP. The structures show that an Ocr dimer binds to RNAP in the cleft, where key regions of sigma bind and where DNA resides during transcription synthesis, thus providing a structural basis for the transcription inhibition. Our results reveal the versatility of Ocr in interfering with host systems and suggest possible strategies that could be exploited in adopting DNA mimicry as a basis for forming novel antibiotics.

In this study, heat and relative humidity (HRH) treatment was applied in highland barley for γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) accumulation. Tibetan highland barley cultivars (25) were selected for comparison and analysis. HRH treatment could accumulate GABA in several hours with low moisture content and high temperature, and the grains were treated for 2.5 h at 65 °C in this study. The GABA content of processed grains under HRH optimal condition ranged from 26.91 to 76.28 mg·100 g−1, which was significantly higher than the initial content (12.78–43.00 mg·100 g−1). The highest GABA accumulation capacity was observed in two-row yellow cultivars (YT1), increasing from 36.52 to 76.28 mg·100 g−1. Correlation analysis showed that the accumulation of GABA after HRH treatment was positively and significantly (p < 0.05) correlated with the contents of protein (0.52), total free amino acids (0.68), threonine (0.53), serine (0.51), glutamate (0.69), glycine (0.49), alanine (0.46), cysteine (0.57), tyrosine (0.50), lysine (0.53), proline (0.40), and glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) activity (0.62), which were closely related to GABA-shunt pathway. The polyamines contents, diamine oxidase (DAO) and polyamine oxidase (PAO) activities, as the substrates and critical enzymes of polyamine degradation pathway, showed no significant correlation with GABA accumulation. The results suggested that the main pathway of GABA accumulation in highland barley under HRH treatment was GABA-shunt pathway.

Abstract Chloropicrin is widely used to control ginger wilt in China, which have an enormous impact on soil microbial diversity. However, little is known on the possible legacy effects on soil microbial community composition with continuous fumigation over different years. In this report, we used high throughput Illumina sequencing and Biolog ECO microplates to determine the bacterial community and microbial metabolic activity in ginger harvest fields of non-fumigation (NF), chloropicrin-fumigation for 1 year (F_1) and continuous chloropicrin-fumigation for 3 years (F_3). The results showed that microbial richness and diversity in F_3 were the lowest, while the metabolic activity had no significant difference. With the increase of fumigation years, the incidence of bacterial wilt was decreased, the relative abundance of Actinobacteria and Saccharibacteria were gradually increased. Using LEfSe analyses, we found that Saccharibacteria was the most prominent biomarker in F_3. Eight genera associated with antibiotic production in F_3 were screened out, of which seven belonged to Actinobacteria, and one belonged to Bacteroidetes. The study indicated that with the increase of fumigation years, soil antibacterial capacity may be increased (possible reason for reduced the incidence of bacterial wilt), and Saccharibacteria played a potential role in evaluating the biological effects of continuous fumigation.

Wild species of Oryza are extremely valuable sources of genetic material that can be used to broaden the genetic background of cultivated rice, and to increase its resistance to abiotic and biotic stresses. Until recently, there was no sequence information for the BBCC Oryza genome; therefore, no special markers had been developed for this genome type. The lack of suitable markers made it difficult to search for valuable genes in the BBCC genome. The aim of this study was to develop microsatellite markers for the BBCC genome. We obtained 13,991 SSR-containing sequences and designed 14,508 primer pairs. The most abundant was hexanuclelotide (31.39%), followed by trinucleotide (27.67%) and dinucleotide (19.04%). 600 markers were selected for validation in 23 accessions of Oryza species with the BBCC genome. A set of 495 markers produced clear amplified fragments of the expected sizes. The average number of alleles per locus (Na) was 2.5, ranging from 1 to 9. The genetic diversity per locus (He) ranged from 0 to 0.844 with a mean of 0.333. The mean polymorphism information content (PIC) was 0.290, and ranged from 0 to 0.825. Of the 495 markers, 12 were only found in the BB genome, 173 were unique to the CC genome, and 198 were also present in the AA genome. These microsatellite markers could be used to evaluate the phylogenetic relationships among different Oryza genomes, and to construct a genetic linkage map for locating and identifying valuable genes in the BBCC genome, and would also for marker-assisted breeding programs that included accessions with the AA genome, especially Oryza sativa.

Resistance to radiation therapy is a major obstacle for the effective treatment of cancers. Lin28 has been shown to contribute to breast tumorigenesis; however, the relationship between Lin28 and radioresistance remains unknown. In this study, we investigated the association of Lin28 with radiation resistance and identified the underlying mechanisms of action of Lin28 in human breast cancer cell lines. The results showed that the expression level of Lin28 was closely associated with resistance to radiation treatment. The T47D cancer cell line, which highly expresses Lin28, is more resistant to radiation than MCF7, Bcap-37 or SK-BR-3 cancer cell lines, which have low-level Lin28 expression. Transfection with Lin28 siRNA significantly led to an increase of sensitivity to radiation. By contrast, stable expression of Lin28 in breast cancer cells effectively attenuated the sensitivity to radiation treatment. Stable expression of Lin28 also significantly inhibited radiation-induced apoptosis. Moreover, further studies have shown that caspases, H2A.X and Let-7 miRNA were the molecular targets of Lin28. Stable expression of Lin28 and treatment with radiation induced H2AX expression, while inhibited p21 and γ-H2A.X. Overexpression of Let-7 enhanced the sensitivities to radiation in breast cancer cells. Taken together, these results indicate that Lin28 might be one mechanism underlying radiation resistance, and Lin28 could be a potential target for overcoming radiation resistance in breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: The association between the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T/A1298C polymorphisms and the susceptibility to cervical lesions was unclear. This study was designed to investigate their precise association using a large-scale meta-analysis. METHODS: The previous 16 studies were identified by searching PubMed, Embase and CBM databases. The crude odds ratios and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to estimate the association between the MTHFR C677T/A1298C polymorphisms and the susceptibility to the cervical lesions. The subgroup analyses were made on the following: pathological history, geographic region, ethnicity, source of controls and source of DNA for genotyping. RESULTS: Neither of the polymorphisms had a significant association with the susceptibility to the cervical lesions in all genetic models. Similar results were found in the subgroup analyses. No association was found between the MTHFR C677T polymorphism and the cervical lesions in the Asia or the America populations though a significant inverse association was found in the Europe population (additive model: P = 0.006, OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.72-0.95; CT vs. CC: P = 0.05, OR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.69-1.00; TT vs. CC: P = 0.05, OR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.53-1.00). Interestingly, women with the MTHFR A1298C polymorphisms had a marginally increased susceptibility to invasive cancer (ICC) when compared with no carriers but no statistically significant difference in the dominant model (P = 0.06, OR = 1.21, 95% CI = 0.99-1.49) and AC vs. AA (P = 0.09, OR = 1.21, 95% CI = 0.97-1.51). CONCLUSIONS: The MTHFR C677T and A1298C polymorphisms may not increase the susceptibility to cervical lesions. However, the meta-analysis reveals a negative association between the MTHFR C677T polymorphisms and the cervical lesions, especially in the European populations. The marginal association between the MTHFR A1298C polymorphisms and the susceptibility to cervical cancer requires a further study.

Resistance to chemotherapy is a major obstacle for the effective treatment of cancers. Lin28 has been shown to contribute to tumor relapse after chemotherapy; however, the relationship between Lin28 and chemoresistance remained unknown. In this study, we investigated the association of Lin28 with paclitaxel resistance and identified the underlying mechanisms of action of Lin28 in human breast cancer cell lines and tumor tissues. We found that the expression level of Lin28 was closely associated with the resistance to paclitaxel treatment. The T47D cancer cell line, which highly expresses Lin28, is more resistant to paclitaxel than the MCF7, Bcap-37 or SK-BR-3 cancer cell lines, which had low-level expression of Lin28. Knocking down of Lin28 in Lin28 high expression T47D cells increased the sensitivity to paclitaxel treatment, while stable expression of Lin28 in breast cancer cells effectively attenuated the sensitivity to paclitaxel treatment, resulting in a significant increase of IC50 values of paclitaxel. Transfection with Lin28 also significantly inhibited paclitaxel-induced apoptosis. We also found that Lin28 expression was dramatically increased in tumor tissues after neoadjuvant chemotherapy or in local relapse or metastatic breast cancer tissues. Moreover, further studies showed that p21, Rb and Let-7 miRNA were the molecular targets of Lin28. Overexpression of Lin28 in breast cancer cells considerably induced p21 and Rb expression and inhibited Let-7 miRNA levels. Our results indicate that Lin28 expression might be one mechanism underlying paclitaxel resistance in breast cancer, and Lin28 could be a potential target for overcoming paclitaxel resistance in breast cancer.

Patulin contamination is a serious issue that restricts the development of the global fruit processing industry. Yeasts adsorb patulin more effectively than other microbial adsorbents, and this adsorption process depends mainly on the function of the cell wall. The present study examined the effect of exogenous calcium, in concentrations ranging from 0 to 1 mol/L, on Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell wall structure and on patulin adsorption capability; the patulin adsorption capability of yeast was found to strengthen with an increase in exogenous calcium concentrations from 1×10-4 to 1×10-2 mol/L. Moreover, yeast cell wall thickness, β-1,3-glucan content, and the activities of the key catalytic enzymes β-1,3-glucanase and β-1,3-glycosyl transferase were all increased within this range. The results indicate that exogenous calcium activates key enzymes that are crucial for cell wall network formation and patulin adsorption capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development and popularization of automatic weather stations, testing the performance of the recording precipitation gauges and deriving the adjustment algorithm have become the top priority. This study mainly analyzed the losses of TRwSSA (TRwS204 shielded with a single Alter) through correlation and regression methods, and derived the correction algorithm from August 2014 to August 2016 in the Qilian Mountains, China. Results show that precipitation collected with TRwSSA was 116.2, 5.8, and 7.6 mm less than the true precipitation during the experiment for rain, sleet, and snow, respectively. For the losses, specific errors account for a larger proportion than systematic errors for rainfall and snowfall events, while systematic errors account for a larger proportion than specific errors for sleet events. Regression analyses show that the amount of precipitation and mean air temperature can affect specific errors, particularly for snowfall events. On average, the specific errors per event were 0.6, 0.0, and 0.4 mm for rain, sleet, and snow, respectively, and the systematic errors per event were 0.1, 0.1 and 0.0 mm for rain, sleet, and snow, respectively. For systematic errors, wind speed was still the most significant factor for the catch ratio (CR) of rain and sleet, whereas humidity affected the CR of snow to a certain extent. Currently, given that the transfer functions were agreed to derive from the DFAR (DFIR fence + automatic weighing gauge + shield + precipitation detector), considerable attention should be focused on the specific errors of the automatic weighing gauge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer-associated inflammation is a key determinant of disease progression and survival in most cancers. The aim of our study was to assess the predictive value of preoperative inflammatory markers, such as the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-lymphocyte ratio, red cell distribution width (RDW), and mean platelet volume, for survival in breast cancer patients. In total, 608 breast cancer patients operated on between January 2009 and December 2011 were included in this observational study. The association between preoperative inflammatory markers and survival outcomes was analyzed. Patients with high NLR (>2.57) or high RDW (>13.45%) showed a significantly lower overall survival rate than those with lower NLR (⩽2.57) or lower RDW (⩽13.45%). NLR and RDW, along with node stage and molecular subtypes, were independent prognostic factors. There was a significant survival difference according to NLR in the luminal A and triple-negative subtypes (93.3% versus 99.3%, P=0.001; 68.8% versus 95.1%, P=0.000, respectively). The triple-negative subtype was the only subtype in which higher RDW patients showed significantly poor prognosis (81.3% versus 95.5%, P=0.025). Pre-operation NLR and RDW is a convenient, easily measured prognostic indicator for patients with breast cancer, especially in patients with the triple-negative subtype. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  Novel nitro-azobenzene dyes bearing one or two benzophenone branches were proposed and synthesized to improve their photophysical and photochemical properties. The new dyes exhibited double UV/visible bands, and they displayed weak fluorescence emission as excited at 350 nm. Single crystal X-ray diffraction data showed that two phenyl rings of azobenzene was almost coplanar, and the benzophenone part was neither coplanar nor linear connection with azobenzene via ether bridged bond, which have good fit with molecular geometry optimization calculation results. The cyclic voltammeric results of nitro-azobenzene dyes were firstly reported in this paper, which demonstrated that the electrochemical properties of nitro-azobenzene dyes was altered by the substitution of benzophenone part. Thermal stabilities of the new dyes were studied by the analysis of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermograving (TG) in this paper. Efficient visible-light photoinitiating polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) by the novel nitro-azobenzene dyes was presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which explores mechanisms of DNA opening revealed in AAA+ transcription complex structures. It mentions that gene transcription as carried out by RNA polymerase (RNAP) and requires the conversion of the initial closed promoter complex, where DNA is double stranded, to a transcription-competent open promoter complex, where DNA is opened up.

Carcinoma of the bladder metastatic to the breast is only sporadically reported in the literature. To the best of our knowledge, the present report is the first described case of signet ring cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder metastasizing to the breast. The patient was a 43-year-old woman who underwent transurethral partial cystectomy for signet ring cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder and adjuvant chemotherapy with cisplatin and gemcitabine. At 7 months postcystectomy, the patient presented with a solitary nodule in the right breast. Following transdermic core needle puncture biopsy of the lesion and histological examination, the tumor was found to be composed of signet ring cells, which were similar to the cells in the original cystectomy specimen. The patient underwent mastectomy without further chemotherapy and has remained free from metastasis to other organs during 1 year follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the application of microscope becomes more and more important in students' quality education, the ergonomic adaptability in the process of microscope application has evolved as an important challenge in the application of microscope teaching. Although existing studies have reported a series of microscope designs for students applied in different teaching scenes, relevant scholars have not explored the physiological and psychological factors affecting the use of microscopes in primary school students. In this study, Kansei Engineering is taken as the theoretical basis from the perspective of ergonomic adaptability of classroom microscope of primary school students, this research utilizes User Observation Method and Semantic Differential Method to collect user information, analyzes the factors influencing students' use of microscopes from the physiological and psychological levels, and then discusses the design scheme of students' microscope ergonomic adaptability and evaluates it. The research results show that: Physiologically, there are health hazards in the upper arm and elbow joints of primary school students when operating microscopes, and the adjustment of the height of eyepieces may reduce the angle deviation of the upper arm joints and thus improve the operation posture. Psychologically, the product features such as simplicity, fun and lightness are in line with the user's perceptual image of primary school students' microscope. This study can provide theoretical reference and practical experience for integrating microscope into students' teaching scene and improving their scientific literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the food industry needs to be controlled with effective antimicrobials. In this study, bacteriocin MN047 A (BMA) was found to have antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant bacteria. It was produced by Lactobacillus crustorum MN047, which was first isolated from koumiss, a traditional fermented dairy product from Xinjiang Autonomous Region, China. It was purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation, ionexchange chromatography, and reversed-phase chromatography. It had a low molecular mass of 1,770.89 Da according to matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and the sequence was identified as QLPWQILGIVAGMFQA by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis and MASCOT searching. It was proteinaceous in nature: the bacteriocin was digested by protease but not by α-amylase or lipase. It showed broad pH toleration (pH 2-11), good thermostability, and good storage stability. It had a broad inhibitory spectrum, including both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Growth curve and time-kill kinetics indicated that it was bactericidal to the indicator strains, and this finding was verified by scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope after treatment with BMA. As well, BMA halted the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli in the G1 and G2/M phases according to cell-cycle analysis by flow cytometry, indicating that BMA had comprehensive inhibitory effects against foodborne pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]