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Citrus trees face an array of threats that can impact fruit development and overall tree health. Pests, including aphids, mites, and other insects, can damage fruit and transmit diseases. Extreme weather events, such as hailstorms or heavy rains, can cause physical harm, leading to blemishes and reduced market value. In addition, citrus growers have consistently faced persistent challenges in the form of bacterial diseases, including citrus canker and citrus greening. These diseases not only have a negative impact on the quality of fruits, but also create a potential risk to the long-term viability of citrus industry.

In this article we report on the first year of fruit production in Valencia trees grown under IPCs with special emphasis on internal fruit quality and fruit drop

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Aluminum/epoxy resin interpenetrating phase composites (IPCs) were directly strengthened by adding glass fiber of varying content (80 wt%, 100 wt%, 120 wt% and 140 wt%) inside the epoxy resin. The macro and micro structures of IPCs were intact, and the interface between aluminum and epoxy resin was well combined. As the content of glass fiber increased, the compressive strength of epoxy resin increased, but the failure was advanced, while IPCs displayed the opposite trend. IPCs exhibited three compression deformation modes, namely plastic deformation of aluminum, resin fracture and interface debonding. The digital image correlation and infrared thermal imager were used to characterize the apparent principal strain distribution and temperature distribution of IPCs to verify the deformation modes. The surface temperature damage evolution of IPCs included the rapid temperature rise stage, steady temperature stage and slight temperature drop stage, respectively, mainly corresponding to the linear elastic stage, plateau stage and densification stage in the stress-strain curves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs) are ideal sources for the treatment of diabetes, and the differentiation of ADSCs into insulin-producing cells (IPCs) through transfection of exogenous regulatory genes in vitro has been studied in depth. The differentiation of ADSCs is strictly regulated by a variety of transcription factors such as Pdx1 , Ngn3 , Pax4 , Nkx2.2 , and Sox9 . However, whether these genes can coordinately regulate the differentiation of ADSCs into IPCs is still unknown. In this study, five multigene coexpressing adenovirus vectors ( pAdTrack-Pdx1-Ngn3-AdEasy , pAdTrack-Pdx1-Ngn3-Sox9-AdEasy , pAdTrack-Pdx1-Ngn3-Pax4-Sox9-AdEasy , pAdTrack-Pdx1-Ngn3-Nkx2.2-Sox9-AdEasy , and pAdTrack-Pdx1-Ngn3-Nkx2.2-Pax4-AdEasy ) were constructed, and then the stocks of the packaged adenoviruses were used to infect the canine ADSCs (cADSCs). Based on results of morphological observation, dithizone staining, sugar-stimulated insulin secretion test, cellular insulin immunofluorescence assays, and the detection of pancreatic β-cell development–related genes in the induced cells, the best induction combination ( pAdTrack-Pdx1-Ngn3-Nkx2.2-Pax4-AdEasy ) was identified after comparative screening. This study provides a theoretical reference and an experimental basis for further research on stem cell replacement therapy for diabetes.

Potential trend of regenerative treatment for type I diabetes has been introduced for more than a decade. However, the technologies regarding insulin-producing cell (IPC) production and transplantation are still being developed. Here, we propose the potential IPC production protocol employing mouse gingival fibroblast-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (mGF-iPSCs) as a resource and the pre-clinical approved subcutaneous IPC transplantation platform for further clinical confirmation study. With a multi-step induction protocol, the functional and matured IPCs were generated by 13 days with a long-term survival capability. Further double encapsulation of mGF-iPSC-derived IPCs (mGF-iPSC-IPCs) could preserve the insulin secretion capacity and the transplantation potential of the generated IPCs. To address the potential on IPC transplantation, a 2-step subcutaneous transplantation procedure was established, comprising 1) vascularized subcutaneous pocket formation and 2) encapsulated IPC bead transplantation. The in vivo testing confirmed the safety and efficiency of the platform along with less inflammatory response which may help minimize tissue reaction and graft rejection. Further preliminary in vivo testing on subcutaneous IPC-bead transplantation in an induced type I diabetic mouse model showed beneficial trends on blood glucose control and survival rate sustainability of diabetic mice. Taken together, an established mGF-iPSC-IPC generation protocol in this study will be the potential backbone for developing the iPSC-derived IPC production employing human and animal cell resources. As well as the potential further development of IPC transplantation platform for diabetes treatment in human and veterinary practices using an established subcutaneous encapsulated IPC-bead transplantation platform presented in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aureobasidin A (abA) is a natural depsipeptide that inhibits inositol phosphorylceramide (IPC) synthases with significant broad-spectrum antifungal activity. abA is known to have two distinct conformations in solution corresponding to trans- and cis -proline (Pro) amide bond rotamers. While the trans -Pro conformation has been studied extensively, cis -Pro conformers have remained elusive. Conformational properties of cyclic peptides are known to strongly affect both potency and cell permeability, making a comprehensive characterization of abA conformation highly desirable. Here, we report a high-resolution 3D structure of the cis -Pro conformer of aureobasidin A elucidated for the first time using a recently developed NMR-driven computational approach. This approach utilizes ForceGen's advanced conformational sampling of cyclic peptides augmented by sparse distance and torsion angle constraints derived from NMR data. The obtained 3D conformational structure of cis -Pro abA has been validated using anisotropic residual dipolar coupling measurements. Support for the biological relevance of both the cis -Pro and trans -Pro abA configurations was obtained through molecular similarity experiments, which showed a significant 3D similarity between NMR-restrained abA conformational ensembles and another IPC synthase inhibitor, pleofungin A. Such ligand-based comparisons can further our understanding of the important steric and electrostatic characteristics of abA and can be utilized in the design of future therapeutics.

This study aimed to identify the suitable induction protocol to produce highly qualified insulin producing cells (IPCs) from human adipose tissue derived stem cells (ADSCs) and evaluate the efficacy of the most functionally IPCs in management of diabetes mellitus (DM) in rats. The ADSCs were isolated and characterized according to the standard guidelines. ADSCs were further induced to be IPCs in vitro using three different protocols. The success of trans-differentiation was assessed in vitro through analysis of pancreatic endocrine genes expression, and insulin release in response to glucose stimulation. Then, the functionalization of the generated IPCs was evaluated in vivo. The in vitro findings revealed that the laminin-coated plates in combination with insulin-transferrin-selenium, B27, N2, and nicotinamide could efficiently up-regulate the expression of pancreatic endocrine genes. The in vivo study indicated effectual homing of the PKH-26-labelled IPCs in the pancreas of treated animals. Moreover, IPCs infusion in diabetic rats induced significant improvement in the metabolic parameters and prompted considerable up-regulation in the expression of the pancreatic related genes. The regenerative effect of infused IPCs was determined through histological examination of pancreatic tissue. Conclusively, the utilization of laminin–coated plates in concomitant with extrinsic factors promoting proliferation and differentiation of ADSCs could efficiently generate functional IPCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicon carbide foams (SiCf) are used as potential materials for heat shielding elements in the aerospace, automotive, and chemical industries due to their exceptional thermal stability, low density, and high hardness. However, the very low strength of SiCf limits its use for developing load-bearing structural components. Impregnating a suitable metal into the SiCf makes them suitable for high-strength applications. The processing route designated for impregnating the metal into the SiCf determines the strength of the resulting material. This article outlines the mechanical behaviour of the novel LM25 aluminium alloy-SiCf-based interpenetrating phase composites (IPCs) developed using the gas pressure infiltration technique. The LM25 alloy was infiltrated into SiCf with three different pore sizes, namely 10, 20, and 30 pores per inch (PPI). The macroscopic morphology of the IPCs revealed that a strong bond has been established between LM25 and SiCf. The compressive strengths of IPCs developed using 10, 20, and 30 PPI-SiCf were 97.5, 53.65, and 32.18 times higher than those of the respective SiCf. Similarly, the fracture strength and fracture toughness of the IPCs manufactured using 10, 20, and 30 PPI-SiCf were 7.44, 5.85, and 6.05 times better than those of the respective SiCf. Amongst the three variants of IPCs, the IPC developed using 10 PPI-SiCf possessed the highest values of compressive strength, fracture strength, and fracture toughness. However, the IPC developed using 30 PPI-SiCf exhibited superior resistance to indentation. Macro- and micro-structural analyses were conducted to establish the failure modes of the IPCs under both compression and flexure loads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]