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Cycling is increasingly promoted worldwide, but many urban areas lack satisfactory cycling environments. Assessing these environments is crucial, but existing methods face data challenges for large urban networks. This study proposes a data‐driven framework using dockless shared bicycle data to efficiently evaluate large‐scale cycling environments. First, critical cycling behaviour features that reflect cyclists' perceptions are identified applying the fuzzy C‐means and random forest model. Then, a distribution‐oriented evaluation method is developed, ensuring the incorporation of cyclist heterogeneity and quantifying the quality differences among road segments by combining statistical analysis with a hierarchical clustering model. The evaluation framework is applied to Yangpu District, Shanghai, using Mobike data covering 114.9 km of cycling roads. Results show that indicators related to speed magnitude and fluctuation are critical, and an experimental study validates the effectiveness of the data‐driven feature extraction method. A minimum trajectory sample size of 260 is required to account for cyclist heterogeneity for one road segment to be evaluated. Further analysis of lower‐performing segments identifies vehicle‐bicycle separation, on‐street parking, and traffic volume as key influencing factors. The rationality of these findings further supports the reliability of the evaluation framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient for plant growth and yield. Low phosphate use efficiency makes it important to clarify the molecular mechanism of low P stress. In our previous studies, a P efficiency gene ZmAPRG was identified. Here, we further screened the upstream regulator ZmNF-YC1 of ZmAPRG by yeast one hybrid (Y1H) assay, and found it was a low inorganic phosphorus (Pi)-inducible gene. The results of dual luciferase assays, expression analysis, and ChIP-qPCR assays showed that ZmNF-YC1 is a positive regulator of ZmAPRG. Overexpression of ZmNF-YC1 improved low P tolerance, whereas knockout of ZmNF-YC1 decreased low P tolerance in maize. Bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC), yeast two hybrid (Y2H) assay, and yeast three hybrid (Y3H) assay further showed that ZmNF-YC1 can interact with ZmNF-YB14, and recruit ZmNF-YA4/10 to form NF-Y complexes. Transcriptional activation assay confirmed that the NF-Y complexes can activate the promoters of ZmAPRG. Meanwhile, transcriptome and metabolome analyses indicated that overexpression of ZmAPRG improves low P tolerance by regulating lipid composition and photosynthetic capacity, and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters provided evidence in support of this hypothesis. Furthermore, overexpression of ZmAPRG increased grain yield in inbred and hybrid maize under low P conditions. Taken together, our research revealed a low P tolerance mechanism of the ZmNF-YC1–ZmAPRG pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salt stress is a major environmental factor limiting crop growth and productivity. Here, we show that Salt‐Tolerant Gene 1 (ZmSTG1) contributes to salt tolerance by maintaining photosystem activity in maize. ZmSTG1 encodes an endoplasmic reticulum localized protein and retrotransposon insertion in the promoter region causes differential expression levels in maize inbred lines. Overexpression of ZmSTG1 improved plant growth vigor, and knockout of ZmSTG1 weakened plant growth under normal and salt stress conditions. Transcriptome and metabolome analyses indicated that ZmSTG1 might regulate the expression of lipid trafficking‐related genes dependent on the abscisic acid (ABA) signaling pathway, thereby increasing the galactolipids and phospholipid concentrations in the photosynthetic membrane under salt stress. Chlorophyll fluorescence parameters showed that the knockout of ZmSTG1 led to significant impairment of plant photosystem II (PSII) activity under normal and salt stress conditions, whereas overexpression of ZmSTG1 dramatically improved plant PSII activity under salt stress conditions. We also demonstrated that the application of the salt‐tolerant locus could enhance salt tolerance in hybrid maize plants. Taken together, we propose that ZmSTG1 may modulate the lipid composition in the photosynthetic membrane by affecting the expression of lipid trafficking‐related genes to maintain the photosynthetic activity of plants under salt stress. Summary Statement: The identification and use of tolerance genes to alleviate the damage caused by salt stress is an effective strategy for crop genetic improvement. Salt‐Tolerant Gene 1 (ZmSTG1) contributes to salt tolerance by maintaining the photosystem activity in maize. The ZmSTG1‐mediated salt stress response can be achieved by modulating the expression of genes associated with lipid trafficking processes and is dependent on the ABA signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf angle and leaf orientation value (LOV) are critical agronomic traits for maize plant architecture. The functions of NUCLEAR FACTOR Y (NF-Y) members in regulating plant architecture have not been reported yet. Here, we identified a regulator of maize plant architecture, NF-Y subunit C13 (ZmNF-YC13). ZmNF-YC13 was highly expressed in the leaf base zone of maize plants. ZmNF-YC13 overexpressing plants showed upright leaves with narrow leaf angle and larger LOV, while ZmNF-YC13 knockout plants had larger leaf angle and smaller LOV compared with wild-type plants. The changes in plant architecture were due to the changes in the expression of cytochrome P450 family members. ZmNF-YC13 interacts with two NF-Y subunit B members (ZmNF-YB9 and ZmNF-YB10) of the LEAFY COTYLEDON1 sub-family, and further recruits NF-Y subunit A (ZmNF-YA3) to form two NF-Y complexes. The two complexes can both activate the promoters of transcriptional repressors (ZmWRKY76 and ZmBT2), and the promoters of PLASTOCHRON group genes can be repressed by ZmWRKY76 and ZmBT2 in maize protoplasts. We propose that ZmNF-YC13 functions as a transcriptional regulator and, together with ZmNF-YBs and ZmNF-YA3, affects plant architecture by regulating the expression of ZmWRKY76 and ZmBT2 , which repress the expression of cytochrome P450 family members in PLASTOCHRON branch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ear shape of maize (Zea mays L.) is related to ear perimeter, kernel row number, and then kernel yield. To study the inheritance of fasciated ear and the relationship between ear flatness and other ear traits is of great importance in improving ear shape and then increasing yield of maize. In this study, the fasciated ear inbred line Yi16 and normal ear inbred line B73 were used to construct F2 and F2:3 populations to study the correlations between ear flatness and other ear traits, and identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) of fasciated ear‐related traits in two environments. The results showed that ear flatness was positively correlated with cob flatness, ear perimeter, cob perimeter, and kernel row number and negatively correlated with ear length. The broad‐sense heritabilities of ear flatness and cob flatness were 59.01 and 67.38%, respectively. A total of 50 QTL were detected. Three QTL (qCF1, qCF4, and qKRN4a) were detected in all generations and environments, and five QTL (qEF4, qCF7, qCP2, qCP4, and qHKW7) were detected in two generations or two environments. The consistent QTL qEF4, qCF4, and qKRN4a were located in the common region of umc1940–umc1631 (bins 4.09) within a distance of 2.4 cM, explaining >10% of phenotypic variation except qKRN4a in F2. The five pairs of QTL (qEF3‐HC × qEF4‐HC, qCF1‐BB × qCF4‐BB, qCF1‐BB × qCF7‐BB, qKRN1a‐BB × qKRN4a‐BB, and qHKW3‐HC × qHKW7‐HC) were detected to have epistatic effects, contributing 7.31–13.95% of phenotypic variance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A genetically induced increase in the niacin concentration of maize kernels is important for the improvement of kernels nutrition. In this paper, the correlation, heredity and variation of free niacin concentration and total niacin concentration in maize kernels were analysed. The results showed that a low or moderate correlation existed between free niacin concentration and total niacin concentration, and that the heritabilities of the two traits were approximately 70%. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis showed that qFNA4a‐HC and qTNA4a‐HC were detected to have a common marker, umc1294 (Bin4.02), in different populations. In population A, qFNA8b and qTNA8a were detected in two generations or two sites, qTNA8c‐F2 and qFNA8b‐HC have a common interval. These QTLs explained 9.7%–17.3% of phenotypic variation. In population B, qFNA4a, explaining 9.3%–11.2% of phenotypic variation, was detected in two environments. Two marker intervals, umc1294‐bnlg490 (Bin4.02‐4.03) and umc1959‐umc1562 (Bin8.05), harbored the QTL for free niacin concentration and total niacin concentration. Furthermore, among a total of 78 QTLs obtained from all datasets, 19, 9 and 9 QTLs were located in Bin8.05‐8.06, Bin4.02‐4.04 and Bin10.01‐10.03, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaf senescence plays an important role in the improvement of maize kernel yields. However, the underlying regulatory mechanisms of leaf senescence in maize are largely unknown. We isolated ZmVQ52 and studied the function of ZmVQ52 which encoded, a VQ family transcription factor. ZmVQ52 is constitutively expressed in maize tissues, and mainly expressed in the leaf; it is located in the nucleus of maize protoplasts. Four WRKY family proteins—ZmWRKY20, ZmWRKY36, ZmWRKY50, and ZmWRKY71—were identified as interacting with ZmVQ52. The overexpression of ZmVQ52 in Arabidopsis accelerated premature leaf senescence. The leaf of the ZmVQ52-overexpression line showed a lower chlorophyll content and higher senescence rate than the WT. A number of leaf senescence regulating genes were up-regulated in the ZmVQ52-overexpression line. Additionally, hormone treatments revealed that the leaf of the ZmVQ52-overexpressed line was more sensitive to salicylic acid (SA) and jasmonic acid (JA), and had an enhanced tolerance to abscisic acid (ABA). Moreover, a transcriptome analysis of the ZmVQ52-overexpression line revealed that ZmVQ52 is mainly involved in the circadian pathway and photosynthetic pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought and salt stress are major abiotic stress that inhibit plants growth and development, here we report a plasma membrane intrinsic protein ZmPIP1;1 from maize and identified its function in drought and salt tolerance in Arabidopsis. ZmPIP1;1 was localized to the plasma membrane and endoplasmic reticulum in maize protoplasts. Treatment with PEG or NaCl resulted in induced expression of ZmPIP1;1 in root and leaves. Constitutive overexpression of ZmPIP1;1 in transgenic Arabidopsis plants resulted in enhanced drought and salt stress tolerance compared to wild type. A number of stress responsive genes involved in cellular osmoprotection in ZmPIP1;1 overexpression plants were up-regulated under drought or salt condition. ZmPIP1;1 overexpression plants showed higher activities of reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging enzymes such as catalase and superoxide dismutase, lower contents of stress-induced ROS such as superoxide, hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde, and higher levels of proline under drought and salt stress than did wild type. ZmPIP1;1 may play a role in drought and salt stress tolerance by inducing of stress responsive genes and increasing of ROS scavenging enzymes activities, and could provide a valuable gene for further plant breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The viruses spread in the air-conditioning room with the droplets produced by talking, coughing, sneezing and other respiratory behavior, which pollute the indoor air and threaten to human health. This paper studies the influence of lateral-supply top-return, upper-supply top-return and bottom-supply upper-return in the transport of coughed droplets by using a Lagrangian model in a conference room, besides no ventilation is considered for comparison. The non-steady-state is used and gravity, drag force and Brownian force of coughed droplets are accounted. The simulation results indicate that the exposed sitting at the middle of conference table are more susceptible to infection for lateral-supply top-return and upper-supply top-return. The exposed sitting near the polluter are more susceptible to infection in bottom-supply upper-return. Bottom-supply upper-return air-flow organization, such as Displacement Ventilation and Underfloor Air Distribution, can control the spread of respiratory diseases effectively and provide people with a healthy and comfortable indoor environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The detection of ultralow concentrations of mercury is a currently significant challenge. Here, a novel strategy is proposed: the colorimetric detection of Hg 2+ based on the aggregation of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) driven by a cationic polymer. In this three-component system, DNA combines electrostatically with phthalic diglycol diacrylate (PDDA) in a solution of AuNPs. In the presence of Hg 2+ , thymine (T)-Hg 2+ -T induced hairpin turns are formed in the DNA strands, which then do not interact with PDDA, enabling the freed PDDA to subsequently facilitate aggregation of the AuNPs. Thus, according to the change in color from wine-red to blue-purple upon AuNPs aggregation, a colorimetric sensor is established to detect Hg 2+ . Under optimal conditions, the color change is clearly seen with the naked eye. A linear range of 0.25–500 nM was obtained by absorption spectroscopy with a detection limit of approximately 0.15 nM. Additionally, the proposed method shows high selectivity toward Hg 2+ in the presence of other heavy metal ions. Real sample analysis was evaluated with the use of lake water and the results suggest good potential for practical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The low lysine content of waxy maize cannot meet the nutritional requirements of humans, livestock, or poultry. In the present study, the high-lysine genes o2 and o16 were backcrossed into wx lines using the maize high-lysine inbreds TAIXI19 (o2o2) and QCL3021 (o16o16) as donors and the waxy maize inbred line QCL5019 (wxwx) as a receptor. In the triple-cross F1, backcross, and inbred generations, the SSR markers phi027 and phi112 within the wx and o2 genes and the SSR marker umc1121 linked to the o16 gene were used for foreground selection. Background selection of the whole-genome SSR markers was performed for the selected individuals. The grain lysine content was determined using the dye-binding lysine method. The waxiness of the grain was determined with the I2-KI staining and dual-wavelength spectrophotometric analysis. The BC2F2 generation included 7 plants of genotype wxwxo2o2O16_, 19 plants of genotype wxwxo16o16O2_, and 3 plants of genotype wxwxo2o2o16o16. In these seeds, the average amylopectin content was 96.67%, 96.87%, and 96.62%, respectively, which is similar to that of QCL5019. The average lysine content was 0.555%, 0.380%, and 0.616%, respectively, representing increases of 75.1%, 19.9%, 94.3%, respectively, over QCL5019. The average genetic background recovery rate of the BC2F3 families was 95.3%, 94.3%, 94.2%, respectively. Among these 3 wxwxo2o2O16O16 families, 4 wxwxo2o2O16o16 families, and 3 wxwxo2o2o16o16 families, the longest imported parent donor fragment was 113.35 cM and the shortest fragment was 11.75 cM. No significant differences in lysine content were found between the BC2F4 seeds and the BC2F3 seeds in these 10 families. This allowed us to increase the lysine content of waxy corn and produce seeds with excellent nutritional characteristics suitable for human consumption, animal feed, and food processing. This may be of significance in the breeding of high-quality corn and in improvement of the nutrition of humans, livestock, and poultry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MYB genes regulate several different aspects of metabolism and development. However, few studies have reported the involvement of MYBs-CesAs network in the regulation of maize kernel development. In this study, yeast one-hybrid (Y1H) assays and dual-luciferase reporter assays showed that ZmMYB109 activated the expression of ZmCesA5 by directly binding to its promoter. Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and transcriptome analyses showed that ZmMYB109 expression increased in ZmCesA5 -OE kernels and decreased in ZmCesA5 -KO kernels. Overexpression of ZmCesA5 produced heavier kernels, whereas loss of function of ZmCesA5 affected starch and sucrose metabolism, resulting in weight reduction of the maize kernels. Collectively, these findings suggest that a new network containing MYB109-ZmCesA5 is involved in kernel development. • ZmMYB109 activates the expression of ZmCesA5 by directly binding to its promoter. • The expression level of ZmMYB109 was increased in ZmCesA5-OE kernels and decreased in ZmCesA5-KO kernels. • There is a new network containing MYB109-ZmCesA5 involved in the kernel development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) is an alternate accelerated form of radiation following breast-conserving surgery (BCS). Lack of data regarding long-term outcomes has limited adoption. We report our experience with IORT in patients undergoing BCS versus whole breast radiation therapy (WBRT).Methods: Retrospective review of patients undergoing BCS with IORT versus WBRT (2012-2017). Inclusion: low grade, T1-2N0M0, estrogen receptor/progesterone receptor positive, and Her2-negative infiltrating ductal carcinomas. IORT was delivered as a single fraction of radiation (20 Gy) intraoperatively. Outcomes were compared using Fisher's test for discrete variables or Wilcoxon signed-rank test for continuous variables. Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate disease-free survival (DFS).Results: Fifty-one patients (44%) received IORT, and 66 (56%) received WBRT. There was no difference in age, tumor size, receptor status, or in-breast recurrence (1.9% vs 0%, all P > .05). Length of follow-up was longer in the WBRT group due to time to inception of IORT (mean ± SD: 44 ± 8.1 vs 73 ± 13 months, P < .001). There was no difference in DFS between the 2 groups (HR 2.5; P = .44). IORT patients experienced delay to BCS (mean ± SD: 38 ± 12.7 vs 27 ± 12.2 days, P < .001) likely due to coordination of care. Analysis demonstrated IORT patients would have traveled a mean distance of 20 miles to the closest WBRT center (range 1-70, miles) for a mean travel time of 31 minutes (range 4-90, minutes) per WBRT treatment.Discussion: IORT produces noninferior oncologic outcomes and decreased skin toxicity compared with WBRT. It can be convenient for patients in rural regions with limited health care access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bone tissue engineering (BTE) is a complex biological process involving the repair of bone tissue with proper neuronal network and vasculature as well as bone surrounding soft tissue. Synthetic biomaterials used for BTE should be biocompatible, support bone tissue regeneration, and eventually be degraded in situ and replaced with the newly generated bone tissue. Recently, various forms of bone graft materials such as hydrogel, nanofiber scaffolds, and 3D printed composite scaffolds have been developed for BTE application. Decellularized extracellular matrix (DECM), a kind of natural biological material obtained from specific tissues and organs, has certain advantages over synthetic and exogenous biomaterial-derived bone grafts. Moreover, DECM can be developed from a wide range of biological sources and possesses strong molding abilities, natural 3D structures, and bioactive factors. Although DECM has shown robust osteogenic, proangiogenic, immunomodulatory, and bone defect healing potential, the rapid degradation and limited mechanical properties should be improved for bench-to-bed translation in BTE. This review summarizes the recent advances in DECM-based BTE and discusses emerging strategies of DECM-based BTE.

Ion transport through biological channels is influenced not only by the structural properties of the channels themselves but also by the composition of the phospholipid membrane, which acts as a scaffold for these nanochannels. Drawing inspiration from how lipid membrane composition modulates ion currents, as seen in the activation of the K + channel in Streptomyces A (KcsA) by anionic lipids, we propose a biomimetic nanochannel system that integrates DNA nanotechnology with two-dimensional graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets. By modifying the length of the multibranched DNA nanowires generated through the hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and varying the concentration of the linker strands that integrate these DNA nanowire structures with the GO membrane, the composition of the membrane can be effectively adjusted, consequently impacting ion transport. This method provides a strategy for developing devices with highly efficient and tunable ion transport, suitable for applications in mass transport, environmental protection, biomimetic channels, and biosensors.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignant tumor in the world, and it is prone to recurrence and metastasis during treatment. Aerobic glycolysis is one of the main characteristics of tumor cell metabolism in CRC. Tumor cells rely on glycolysis to rapidly consume glucose and to obtain more lactate and intermediate macromolecular products so as to maintain growth and proliferation. The regulation of the CRC glycolysis pathway is closely associated with several signal transduction pathways and transcription factors including phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases/protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin (PI3K/AKT/mTOR), adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK), hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), myc, and p53. Targeting the glycolytic pathway has become one of the key research aspects in CRC therapy. Many phytochemicals were shown to exert anti-CRC activity by targeting the glycolytic pathway. Here, we review the effects and mechanisms of phytochemicals on CRC glycolytic pathways, providing a new method of drug development., 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 Zhan, Su, Li, Wen, Wei, He, Chen, Yin, Wang, Cai, Gong, Chen, Ma and Zeng.)

Microneedle permits transdermal biosensing and drug delivery with minor pain. However, accurate microneedle transdermal positioning with minimal skin deformation remains a significant technical challenge due to inhomogeneous skin topology and discontinuous force applied to the microneedle. Here, we introduce bioinspired rotation microneedles for in vivo accurate microneedle positioning as inspired by honeybees' stingers. We demonstrate the benefits of rotation microneedles in alleviating skin resistance through finite element analysis, full-thickness porcine validations, and mathematical derivations of microneedle-skin interaction stress fields. The max penetration force was mitigated by up to 45.7% and the force attenuation rate increased to 2.73 times in the holding stage after penetration. A decrease in max skin deflection and a faster deformation recovery introduced by rotation microneedles implied a more precise penetration depth. Furthermore, we applied the rotation microneedles in psoriasis mice, a monogenic disorder animal model, for minimally invasive biological sample extraction and proinflammatory cytokine monitoring. An ultrasensitive detection method is realized by using only one microneedle to achieve cytokine mRNA level determination compared to commonly required biopsies or blood collection. Thus, rotation microneedles permit a simple, rapid, and ultraminimal-invasive method for subcutaneous trace biological sample acquisition and subsequent point-of-care diagnostics with minimal damage to both microneedles and skins., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article., (Copyright © 2022 Yilin Cai et al.)

Objective: We aimed to examine the effects of sleep quality on the association between pre-bedtime electronic screen media use for entertainment and academic performance among college students. We hypothesized that sleep quality mediates the association between pre-bedtime electronic screen media entertainment use and academic performance among college students., Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey with 1385 participants (age 19.99 ± 1.4 years [range, 17-24 years] and 36.82% males) conducted at Shantou University. The levels of academic performance were based on self-reported academic class ranking from average grades of their last final major examinations. Poor sleep quality was defined as a total score of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index >7. The pre-bedtime prolonged electronic screen media use for entertainment (PESM-E) was defined as the use of electronic screen media for entertainment longer than 60 minutes/night after 10:00 p.m. during the past 6 months., Results: College students with pre-bedtime PESM-E were 1.28-fold more likely to have a poor academic performance than those who used electronic screen media less than 60 minutes (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.04-1.57, P=0.020). Furthermore, pre-bedtime PESM-E was significantly associated with poor sleep quality (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=1.87, 95% CI: 1.27-2.74, P=0.001) after controlling for confounders. Mediation model showed that poor sleep quality accounted for 53.08% of the effect of pre-bedtime PESM-E on lower levels of academic performance (Sobel Z=2.04, P=0.041)., Conclusion: Pre-bedtime PESM-E is associated with poor academic performance in college students, and this association is mediated by poor sleep quality. Our findings highlight the importance of limiting the use of electronic screen media before bedtime in college students., Competing Interests: All authors report no bioMedical financial interests or other potential conflicts of interest for this work., (© 2022 Mao et al.)

Zeaxanthin, a natural fat-soluble pigment, not only increases plant resistance, but also has vital significance for human health. However, quantitative trait loci (QTL) and the epistatic effects of zeaxanthin concentration in maize kernel have not been well studied. To identify QTLs and analyse the epistatic effects of zeaxanthin concentration in maize kernel, two sets of segregating generations derived from the cross between HuangC (a high zeaxanthin concentration inbred line) and Rezi1 (a low zeaxanthin concentration inbred line) were evaluated in three different environments. One major-effect QTL, qZea6a , explains 41.4-71.4% of the phenotypic variation and two QTLs, qZea4a and qZea3a , show LOD > 3 for zeaxanthin concentration detected over two generations and three different environments. Four of the ten QTL pairs show epistatic effects, explaining 7.34-14.3% of the phenotypic variance. Furthermore, additivity was the major allelic action at zeaxanthin concentration QTLs located in F 2 and F 2:3 populations and plants with homozygous HuangC alleles have a strong genetic ability in enhancing zeaxanthin concentration in maize kernel. These results will contribute to understanding these complex loci better and provide awareness about zeaxanthin concentration to maize breeders and scientists involved in maize research., (Copyright © 2020 by JAPANESE SOCIETY OF BREEDING.)

(1) Background: Generally suggested public health measures to reduce obesity were to limit television (TV) viewing, enhance daily physical activities, enable the consumption of fruit and vegetables, and reduce sugar-sweetened beverage intake. This study analyzed the extent to which selected social cognitive theory constructs can predict these behaviors among Chinese undergraduate students. (2) Methods: This cross-sectional study included 1976 undergraduate students from six universities in Chongqing, China. A self-administered five-point Likert common physical activity and nutrition behavior scale based on social cognitive theory was utilized. (3) Results: This study included 687 (34.77%) males and 1289 (65.23%) females. A total of 60.14% of the students engaged in exercise for less than 30 min per day. Approximately 16.5%of the participants spent at least 4 h watching TV and sitting in front of a computer daily. Approximately 79% of the participants consumed less than five cups of fruit and vegetables daily. Undergraduate students who had high self-efficacy scores had more leisure time physical activities. Those who have high expectation scores had considerable time watching TV and sitting in front of a computer. Undergraduate students who had high expectation and self-efficacy scores had substantially low consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. Those who had high self-efficacy scores consumed considerable amounts of fruit and vegetables. Furthermore, the type of university, BMI group, gender, age, lack of siblings, and grade level were associated with the aforementioned four behaviors. (4) Conclusion: Physical inactivity and unhealthy nutrition behaviors are common among undergraduate students. This study used social cognitive theory to provide several implications for limiting the TV viewing, enhancing daily physical activities, consuming fruit and vegetables, and reducing sugar-sweetened beverage intake among undergraduate students., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Super resolution (SR) reconstruction is a profitable technology to acquire high resolution images from low resolution images without replacing devices. This study was concentrated on searching strategies of dealing with color information in the SR reconstruction process. Based on an algorithm with dictionary learning, different algorithms were designed to test which color coordinate systems could obtain better image reconstruction quality, involving color spaces of RGB, YIQ, YCbCr, HSI, HSV, and CIELAB. Their results were compared via typical numerical measures, and the recommended strategies are to adopt merely L* coordinate in CIELAB space or merely Y coordinate of YIQ system.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is an important industrial chemical for polycarbonate (PC) and epoxy resins in paper and plastic industries. In our work, a kind of new method for detection of BPA was designed based on graphene oxide and anti-BPA aptamer. The graphene oxide can specifically adsorb and quench the fluorescence of fluorescently modified ssDNA probes. Meanwhile, the BPA can combine with anti-BPA optamer and switch its configuration to prevent the aptamer from adsorbing on the surface of graphene oxide (GO). Under different concentrations of BPA, based on the target-induced conformational change of anti-BPA aptamer and the interactions between the fluorescently modified anti-BPA aptamer (FAM-ssDNA) and GO, the experimental results show that the intensity of the fluorescence signal was changed. A low limit of detection of 0.05 ng/mL was obtained in the range 0.1-10 ng/mL. In addition, the specificity was outstanding among analogues of BPA. The recovery rate in actual water samples spiked with BPA can be 96.0% to 104.5%. The developed method was successfully used to determine BPA in actual water samples.

The low lysine content of waxy maize cannot meet the nutritional requirements of humans, livestock, or poultry. In the present study, the high-lysine genes o2 and o16 were backcrossed into wx lines using the maize high-lysine inbreds TAIXI19 (o2o2) and QCL3021 (o16o16) as donors and the waxy maize inbred line QCL5019 (wxwx) as a receptor. In the triple-cross F1, backcross, and inbred generations, the SSR markers phi027 and phi112 within the wx and o2 genes and the SSR marker umc1121 linked to the o16 gene were used for foreground selection. Background selection of the whole-genome SSR markers was performed for the selected individuals. The grain lysine content was determined using the dye-binding lysine method. The waxiness of the grain was determined with the I2-KI staining and dual-wavelength spectrophotometric analysis. The BC2F2 generation included 7 plants of genotype wxwxo2o2O16&#95;, 19 plants of genotype wxwxo16o16O2&#95;, and 3 plants of genotype wxwxo2o2o16o16. In these seeds, the average amylopectin content was 96.67%, 96.87%, and 96.62%, respectively, which is similar to that of QCL5019. The average lysine content was 0.555%, 0.380%, and 0.616%, respectively, representing increases of 75.1%, 19.9%, 94.3%, respectively, over QCL5019. The average genetic background recovery rate of the BC2F3 families was 95.3%, 94.3%, 94.2%, respectively. Among these 3 wxwxo2o2O16O16 families, 4 wxwxo2o2O16o16 families, and 3 wxwxo2o2o16o16 families, the longest imported parent donor fragment was 113.35 cM and the shortest fragment was 11.75 cM. No significant differences in lysine content were found between the BC2F4 seeds and the BC2F3 seeds in these 10 families. This allowed us to increase the lysine content of waxy corn and produce seeds with excellent nutritional characteristics suitable for human consumption, animal feed, and food processing. This may be of significance in the breeding of high-quality corn and in improvement of the nutrition of humans, livestock, and poultry.