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Background: During conversion of bamboo into biofuels and chemicals, it is necessary to efficiently predict the chemical composition and digestibility of biomass. However, traditional methods for determination of lignocellulosic biomass composition are expensive and time consuming. In this work, a novel and fast method for quantitative and qualitative analysis of chemical composition and enzymatic digestibilities of juvenile bamboo and mature bamboo fractions (bamboo green, bamboo timber, bamboo yellow, bamboo node, and bamboo branch) using visible-near infrared spectra was evaluated. Results: The developed partial least squares models yielded coefficients of determination in calibration of 0.88, 0.94, and 0.96, for cellulose, xylan, and lignin of bamboo fractions in raw spectra, respectively. After visible-near infrared spectra being pretreated, the corresponding coefficients of determination in calibration yielded by the developed partial least squares models are 0.994, 0.990, and 0.996, respectively. The score plots of principal component analysis of mature bamboo, juvenile bamboo, and different fractions of mature bamboo were obviously distinguished in raw spectra. Based on partial least squares discriminant analysis, the classification accuracies of mature bamboo, juvenile bamboo, and different fractions of bamboo (bamboo green, bamboo timber, bamboo yellow, and bamboo branch) all reached 100%. In addition, high accuracies of evaluation of the enzymatic digestibilities of bamboo fractions after pretreatment with aqueous ammonia were also observed. Conclusions: The results showed the potential of visible-near infrared spectroscopy in combination with multivariate analysis in efficiently analyzing the chemical composition and hydrolysabilities of lignocellulosic biomass, such as bamboo fractions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The retinoid isomerohydrolase RPE65 has received considerable attention worldwide since a successful clinical gene therapy was approved in 2017 as the first treatment for vision loss associated with RPE65-mediated inherited retinal disease. Identifying patients with RPE65 mutations is a prerequisite to assessing the patients' eligibility to receive RPE65-targeted gene therapies, and it is necessary to identify individuals who are most likely to benefit from gene therapies. This study aimed to investigate the RPE65 mutations frequency in the Chinese population and to determine the genetic and clinical characteristics of these patients.Results: Only 20 patients with RPE65 mutations were identified, and RPE65 mutations were determined to be the 14th most common among all patients with genetic diagnoses. Ten novel variants and two hotspots associated with FAP were identified. A literature review revealed that a total of 57 patients of Chinese origin were identified with pathogenic mutations in the RPE65 gene. The mean best Snellen corrected visual acuity was worse (mean 1.3 ± 1.3 LogMAR) in patients older than 20 years old than in those younger than 15 years old (0.68 ± 0.92 LogMAR). Bone spicule-like pigment deposits (BSLPs) were observed in six patients; they were older than those without BSLP and those with white-yellow dots. Genotype-phenotype analysis revealed that truncating variants seem to lead to a more severe clinical presentation, while best corrected visual acuity testing and fundus changes did not correlate with specific RPE65 variants or mutation types.Conclusions: This study provides a detailed clinical-genetic assessment of patients with RPE65 mutations of Chinese origin. These results may help to elucidate RPE65 mutations in the Chinese population and may facilitate genetic counseling and the implementation of gene therapy in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) captured in electroencephalography (EEG) have a high diagnostic value for epileptic patients. Extending the recording time may increase the possibility of obtaining IEDs. The purpose of our research was to determine how long it took for various epileptic individuals to receive their first IEDs. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed patients who were diagnosed with epilepsy and had no anti-seizure medications (ASMs) between September 2018 and March 2019 in the neurology department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University. Each individual underwent a 24-h long-term video electroencephalographic monitoring (VEM) procedure. Clinical information including age, gender, age of seizure onset, frequency of seizures, the interval between last seizure and VEM, and results of neuroimaging were gathered. We also calculated the times from the start of the VEM to the first definite IEDs. Results: A total of 241 patients were examined, including 191 with focal-onset epilepsy and 50 with generalized epilepsy. In individuals with focal-onset epilepsy, the median latency to the first IED was 63.0 min (IQR 19.0–299.0 min), as compared to 30.0 min (IQR 12.5–62.0 min) in patients with generalized epilepsy (p < 0.001). The latency to the first IED is significantly related to the age of seizure onset (HR = 0.988, p = 0.049), the interval between last seizure and VEM (HR = 0.998, p = 0.013). But it is not correlated with seizure frequency, gender and age. Conclusions: IEDs were discovered during 24-h EEG monitoring in 222/241(92.1%) of the epilepsy patients that were included. Compared to focal-onset epilepsy, generalized epilepsy demonstrated a much shorter latency to IED. Patients with late-onset epilepsy or those without recent episodes may require longer EEG monitoring periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: A pneumonia associated with 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV, subsequently named SARS-CoV2) emerged worldwide since December, 2019. We aimed to describe the epidemiological characteristics of 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Shaanxi province of China. Results: 1. Among the 245 patients, 132 (53.9%) were males and 113 (46.1%) were females. The average age was 46.15±16.43 years, ranging from 3 to 89 years. 2. For the clinical type, 1.63% (4/245) patients were mild type, 84.90% (208/245) were moderate type, 7.76% (19/245) were severe type, 5.31% (13/245) were critical type and only 0.41% (1/245) was asymptomatic. 3. Of the 245 patients, 116 (47.35%) were input case, 114 (46.53%) were non-input case, and 15 (6.12%) were unknown exposure. 4. 48.57% (119/245) cases were family cluster, involving 42 families. The most common pattern of COVID-19 family cluster was between husband and wife or between parents and children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To investigate predictors of postoperative acute intracranial hemorrhage (AIH) and recurrence of chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) after burr hole drainage.Methods: A multicenter retrospective study of patients who underwent burr hole drainage for CSDH between January 2013 and March 2019.Results: A total of 448 CSDH patients were enrolled in the study. CSDH recurrence occurred in 60 patients, with a recurrence rate of 13.4%. The mean time interval between initial burr hole drainage and recurrence was 40.8 ± 28.3 days. Postoperative AIH developed in 23 patients, with an incidence of 5.1%. The mean time interval between initial burr hole drainage and postoperative AIH was 4.7 ± 2.9 days. Bilateral hematoma, hyperdense hematoma and anticoagulant drug use were independent predictors of recurrence in the multiple logistic regression analyses. Preoperative headache was an independent risk factor of postoperative AIH in the multiple logistic regression analyses, however, intraoperative irrigation reduced the incidence of postoperative AIH.Conclusions: This study found that bilateral hematoma, hyperdense hematoma and anticoagulant drug use were independently associated with CSDH recurrence. Clinical presentation of headache was the strongest predictor of postoperative AIH, and intraoperative irrigation decreased the incidence of postoperative AIH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Follicle selection in chickens refers to the process of selecting one follicle from a group of small yellow follicles (SY, 6–8 mm in diameter) for development into 12–15 mm hierarchal follicles (usually F6 follicles), which is controlled by sex hormones including follicle-stimulating factor (FSH), estrogen and progesterone. Follicle selection is a critical process impacting egg production in chicken, therefore, is the focus of many studies. Phosphorylation is important for the proper function of proteins, thus, needs to be analyzed by proteomic level. Result: In this study, we compared the phosphoproteomes of SY and F6 follicles in laying hens and identified 2,386 phosphoproteins and 5,940 phosphosites, of which 4,235 sites of 1,963 phosphoproteins were quantified. From SY to F6 follicles, 190 phosphorylation sites of 149 proteins changed significantly, among which the phosphorylation level of lysine demethylase 1 A (LSD1) at the conserved 54th serine (LSD1Ser54p) was significantly upregulated in F6 follicles compared to SY follicles (p < 0.05); however, the expression of chicken LSD1 were not significantly different on both mRNA and protein levels. LSD1Ser54p is mainly located in the nucleus of both SY and F6 follicles, and was higher in F6 follicles than that of SY follicles revealed by both immunofluorescence and Western blotting. LSD1Ser54p level increased after treatment with 5 ng/mL and 10 ng/mL of FSH in the theca cells and the granulosa cells of pre-hierarchal follicles, and with 50 ng/mL in granulosa cells of hierarchal follicles. In the theca cells of hierarchal follicles, estrogen stimulated the level of LSD1Ser54p in a dosage-dependent manner, and in granulosa cells of pre-hierarchal follicles, 10 ng/mL of estrogen increased LSD1Ser54p expression. Treatment with 50 ng/mL of progesterone increased LSD1Ser54p expression in theca cells of pre-hierarchal follicles, and with 10 to 100 ng/ml enhanced LSD1Ser54p expression in the granulosa cells of hierarchal follicles. Conclusion: The expression dynamics of LSD1Ser54p in follicles from SY to F6 and its regulation by sex hormones suggest that it is involved in chicken follicle selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adoptive transfer of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) holds promises to cure cancer. However, this treatment is hindered by lacking a robust way to specifically expand out CTLs. Here, we developed a hybrid of B lymphoblastic cell line and T lymphoblastic cell line (T2 cells) as a substitute of dendritic cells, together with irradiated autologous peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) as feeder cells and rhIL-2, to activate and expand Her-2/neu-specific CD8+ T cells from human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (Her-2/neu) and human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A2 double positive advanced breast cancer patients in vitro. These Her-2/neu-loaded T2 cells reproducibly activated and expanded out Her-2/neu-specific CD8+ T cells to 107 in 8 weeks. Furthermore, these Her-2/neu-specific CD8+ T cells had good sensitivity of recognition and killing Her-2/neu-overexpressed breast cancer cell line SK.BR.3. This technique gives us another insight on how to rapidly obtain sufficient CTLs for adoptive cancer immunotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As one of "γδ-high" species, chicken is an excellent model for the study of γδ T cells in non-mammalian animals. However, a comprehensive characterization of the TCRγδ repertoire is still missing in chicken. The objective of this study was to characterize the expressed TCRγ repertoire in chicken thymus using high-throughput sequencing. Methods: In this study, we first obtained the detailed genomic organization of the TCRγ locus of chicken based on the latest assembly of the red jungle fowl genome sequences (GRCg6a) and then characterized the TCRγ repertoire in the thymus of four chickens by using 5′ Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends (5′ RACE) along with high-throughput sequencing (HTS). Results: The chicken TCRγ locus contains a single Cγ gene, three functional Jγ segments and 44 Vγ segments that could be classified into six subgroups, each containing six, nineteen, nine, four, three and three members. Dot-plot analysis of the chicken TCRγ locus against itself showed that almost all the entire zone containing Vγ segments had arisen through tandem duplication events, and the main homology unit, containing 9 or 10 Vγ gene segments, has tandemly duplicated for four times. For the analysis of chicken TCRγ repertoire, more than 100,000 unique Vγ-region nucleotide sequences were obtained from the thymus of each chicken. After alignment to the germline Vγ and Jγ segments identified above, we found that the four chickens had similar repertoire profile of TCRγ. In brief, four Vγ segments (including Vγ3.7, Vγ2.13, Vγ1.6 and Vγ1.3) and six Vγ-Jγ pairs (including Vγ3.7-Jγ3, Vγ2.13-Jγ1, Vγ2.13-Jγ3, Vγ1.6-Jγ3, Vγ3.7-Jγ1 and Vγ1.6-Jγ1) were preferentially utilized by all four individuals, and vast majority of the unique CDR3γ sequences encoded 4 to 22 amino acids with mean 12.90 amino acids, which exhibits a wider length distribution and/or a longer mean length than CDR3γ of human, mice and other animal species. Conclusions: In this study, we present the first in-depth characterization of the TCRγ repertoire in chicken thymus. We believe that these data will facilitate the studies of adaptive immunology in birds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As one of "γδ-high" species, chicken is an excellent model for the study of γδ T cells in non-mammalian animals. However, a comprehensive characterization of the TCRγδ repertoire is still missing in chicken. The objective of this study was to characterize the expressed TCRγ repertoire in chicken thymus using high-throughput sequencing. Methods: In this study, we first obtained the detailed genomic organization of the TCRγ locus of chicken based on the latest assembly of the red jungle fowl genome sequences (GRCg6a) and then characterized the TCRγ repertoire in the thymus of four chickens by using 5′ Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends (5′ RACE) along with high-throughput sequencing (HTS). Results: The chicken TCRγ locus contains a single Cγ gene, three functional Jγ segments and 44 Vγ segments that could be classified into six subgroups, each containing six, nineteen, nine, four, three and three members. Dot-plot analysis of the chicken TCRγ locus against itself showed that almost all the entire zone containing Vγ segments had arisen through tandem duplication events, and the main homology unit, containing 9 or 10 Vγ gene segments, has tandemly duplicated for four times. For the analysis of chicken TCRγ repertoire, more than 100,000 unique Vγ-region nucleotide sequences were obtained from the thymus of each chicken. After alignment to the germline Vγ and Jγ segments identified above, we found that the four chickens had similar repertoire profile of TCRγ. In brief, four Vγ segments (including Vγ3.7, Vγ2.13, Vγ1.6 and Vγ1.3) and six Vγ-Jγ pairs (including Vγ3.7-Jγ3, Vγ2.13-Jγ1, Vγ2.13-Jγ3, Vγ1.6-Jγ3, Vγ3.7-Jγ1 and Vγ1.6-Jγ1) were preferentially utilized by all four individuals, and vast majority of the unique CDR3γ sequences encoded 4 to 22 amino acids with mean 12.90 amino acids, which exhibits a wider length distribution and/or a longer mean length than CDR3γ of human, mice and other animal species. Conclusions: In this study, we present the first in-depth characterization of the TCRγ repertoire in chicken thymus. We believe that these data will facilitate the studies of adaptive immunology in birds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As one of "γδ-high" species, chicken is an excellent model for the study of γδ T cells in non-mammalian animals. However, a comprehensive characterization of the TCRγδ repertoire is still missing in chicken. The objective of this study was to characterize the expressed TCRγ repertoire in chicken thymus using high-throughput sequencing. Methods: In this study, we first obtained the detailed genomic organization of the TCRγ locus of chicken based on the latest assembly of the red jungle fowl genome sequences (GRCg6a) and then characterized the TCRγ repertoire in the thymus of four chickens by using 5′ Rapid Amplification of cDNA Ends (5′ RACE) along with high-throughput sequencing (HTS). Results: The chicken TCRγ locus contains a single Cγ gene, three functional Jγ segments and 44 Vγ segments that could be classified into six subgroups, each containing six, nineteen, nine, four, three and three members. Dot-plot analysis of the chicken TCRγ locus against itself showed that almost all the entire zone containing Vγ segments had arisen through tandem duplication events, and the main homology unit, containing 9 or 10 Vγ gene segments, has tandemly duplicated for four times. For the analysis of chicken TCRγ repertoire, more than 100,000 unique Vγ-region nucleotide sequences were obtained from the thymus of each chicken. After alignment to the germline Vγ and Jγ segments identified above, we found that the four chickens had similar repertoire profile of TCRγ. In brief, four Vγ segments (including Vγ3.7, Vγ2.13, Vγ1.6 and Vγ1.3) and six Vγ-Jγ pairs (including Vγ3.7-Jγ3, Vγ2.13-Jγ1, Vγ2.13-Jγ3, Vγ1.6-Jγ3, Vγ3.7-Jγ1 and Vγ1.6-Jγ1) were preferentially utilized by all four individuals, and vast majority of the unique CDR3γ sequences encoded 4 to 22 amino acids with mean 12.90 amino acids, which exhibits a wider length distribution and/or a longer mean length than CDR3γ of human, mice and other animal species. Conclusions: In this study, we present the first in-depth characterization of the TCRγ repertoire in chicken thymus. We believe that these data will facilitate the studies of adaptive immunology in birds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Follicle selection in chickens refers to the process of selecting one follicle from a group of small yellow follicles (SY, 6–8 mm in diameter) for development into 12–15 mm hierarchical follicles (usually F6 follicles), which is an important process affecting laying performance in the poultry industry. Although transcriptomic analysis of chicken ovarian follicles has been reported, integrated analysis of chicken follicles for selection by using both transcriptomic and proteomic approaches is still rarely performed. In this study, we compared the proteomes and transcriptomes of SY and F6 follicles in laying hens and identified several genes involved in chicken follicle selection. Results: Transcriptomic analysis revealed 855 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between SY follicles and F6 follicles in laying hens, among which 202 were upregulated and 653 were downregulated. Proteomic analysis revealed 259 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs), including 175 upregulated and 84 downregulated proteins. Among the identified DEGs and DEPs, changes in the expression of seven genes, including VLDLR1, WIF1, NGFR, AMH, BMP15, GDF6 and MMP13, and nine proteins, including VLDLR, VTG1, VTG3, PSCA, APOB, APOV1, F10, ZP2 and ZP3L2, were validated. Further analysis indicated that the mRNA level of chicken VLDLR was higher in F6 follicles than in SY follicles and was also higher in granulosa cells (GCs) than in thecal cells (TCs), and it was stimulated by FSH in GCs. Conclusions: By comparing the proteomes and transcriptomes of SY and F6 follicles in laying hens, we identified several differentially expressed proteins/genes that might play certain roles in chicken follicle selection. These data may contribute to the identification of functional genes and proteins involved in chicken follicle selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Soil alkalinity shows significant constraints to crop productivity; however, much less attention has been paid to analyze the effect of soil alkalinity on plant growth and development. Shanrong No. 4 (SR4) is an alkalinity tolerant bread wheat cultivar selected from an asymmetric somatic hybridization between the bread wheat cultivar Jinan 177 (JN177) and tall wheatgrass (Thinopyrum ponticum), which is a suitable material for studying alkalinity tolerant associate genes. Results: The growth of SR4 plant seedlings was less inhibited than that of JN177 when exposed to alkalinity stress conditions. The root cytosolic Na+/K+ ratio in alkalinity stressed SR4 was lower than in JN177, while alkalinity stressed SR4 contained higher level of nutrient elements than in JN177. SR4 plant seedlings accumulated less malondialdehyde (MDA) and reactive oxygen species (ROS), it also showed higher activity of ROS scavenging enzymes than JN177 under alkalinity stress. The root intracellular pH decreased in both alkalinity stressed JN177 and SR4, however, it was much lower in SR4 than in JN177 under alkalinity stress. The transcriptomes of SR4 and JN177 seedlings exposed to alkalinity stress were analyzed by digital gene expression tag profiling method. Alkalinity stress conditions up- and down-regulated a large number of genes in the seedling roots that play the functions in the categories of transcription regulation, signal transduction and protein modification. Conclusions: SR4 expresses a superior tolerance to alkaline stress conditions which is due to its strong absorbing ability for nutrient ions, a strong regulating ability for intracellular and rhizosphere pH and a more active ROS scavenging ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Bacterial blight, caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), is a devastating rice disease worldwide. Xa39 is a resistance (R) gene with a broad-spectrum hypersensitive response (BSHR) to Xoo. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms of resistance mediated by Xa39 remain unclear. In this study, the transcriptome profiling of a rice line carrying Xa39 and its parents at the early stage of Xoo infection were investigated. Results: A rice introgression line H471 carrying Xa39 exhibited a typical local hypersensitive response phenotype, accompanied by programmed cell death after inoculation with the Xoo Philippines' race 9b. Transcriptome profiling of H471 and its parents at 1 and 2 days post-inoculation was performed using RNA sequencing. In total, 306 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in H471 compared with its recurrent parent Huang-Hua-Zhan after inoculation with Xoo. Among them, 121 (39.5%) genes, with functional enrichments that were related to defense response, protein amino acid phosphorylation, and apoptosis, were found to be constitutively expressed. The other 185 (60.5%) genes, with GO terms that belonged to defense response, were significantly responsive to Xoo infection in H471. Ten up-regulated and 12 down-regulated genes encoding intracellular immune receptors were identified in H471 compared with Huang-Hua-Zhan. LOC_Os11g37759, which was located in the fine-mapping region harboring Xa39, is a Xa39 candidate gene. The putative BSHR-related co-regulatory networks were constructed using 33 DEGs from four functional groups, including gibberellic acid receptors and brassinosteroid regulators, which were differentially co-expressed with LOC_Os11g37759 in infected H471. Our results indicated that there might be cross-talk between the Xa39-mediated signal transduction cascades and the GA/BR signaling pathway, and that the defense mechanism was related to diverse kinases, transcription factors, post-translational regulation, and R genes. Conclusions: The present study provides the comprehensive transcriptome profile of a rice introgression line carrying Xa39 and its parents, and identifies a set of DEGs involved in BSHR mediated by Xa39. These data provide novel insights into the regulatory networks of plant disease resistance mediated by R genes, and the identified DEGs will serve as candidates for Xa39 cloning and for further understanding the molecular mechanism of BSHR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Cold stress is an important factor limiting rice yield in many areas of high latitude and altitude. Considerable efforts have been taken to genetically dissect cold tolerance (CT) in rice using DNA markers. Because of possible epistasis and gene × environment interactions associated with identified quantitative trait loci, the results of these genetic studies have unfortunately not been directly applicable to marker-assisted selection for improved rice CT. In this study, we demonstrated the utility of a selective introgression strategy for simultaneous improvement and genetic dissection of rice seedling CT. Results A set of japonica introgression lines (ILs) with significantly improved seedling CT were developed from four backcross populations based on two rounds of selection. Genetic characterization of these cold-tolerant ILs revealed two important aspects of genome-wide responses to strong phenotypic selection for rice CT: (1) significant over-introgression of donor alleles at 57 loci in 29 functional genetic units (FGUs) across the rice genome and (2) pronounced non-random associations between or among alleles at many unlinked CT loci. Linkage disequilibrium analyses of the detected CT loci allowed us to construct putative genetic networks (multi-locus structures) underlying the seedling CT of rice. Each network consisted of a single FGU, with high introgression as the putative regulator plus two to three groups of highly associated downstream FGUs. A bioinformatics search of rice genomic regions harboring these putative regulators identified a small set of candidate regulatory genes that are known to be involved in plant stress response. Conclusions Our results suggest that CT in rice is controlled by multiple pathways. Genetic complementarity between parental-derived functional alleles at many loci within a given pathway provides an appropriate explanation for the commonly observed hidden diversity and transgressive segregation of CT and other complex traits in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Actually, the atuhors used the 3' end reads which contain the C -specific reverse primer for 5' RACE and 250 bp in length to analyze the optimal germline V and J segments that participated in V -J rearrangement. Correction to: Characterization of the chicken T cell receptor repertoire by high-throughput sequencing Reference 1 Zhang T, Li Q, Li X. Characterization of the chicken T cell receptor repertoire by high-throughput sequencing. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Non-host resistance in rice to its bacterial pathogen, Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzicola (Xoc), mediated by a maize NBS-LRR type R gene, Rxo1 shows a typical hypersensitive reaction (HR) phenotype, but the molecular mechanism(s) underlying this type of non-host resistance remain largely unknown. Results: A microarray experiment was performed to reveal the molecular mechanisms underlying HR of rice to Xoc mediated by Rxo1 using a pair of transgenic and non-transgenic rice lines. Our results indicated that Rxo1 appeared to function in the very early step of the interaction between rice and Xoc, and could specifically activate large numbers of genes involved in signaling pathways leading to HR and some basal defensive pathways such as SA and ET pathways. In the former case, Rxo1 appeared to differ from the typical host R genes in that it could lead to HR without activating NDR1. In the latter cases, Rxo1 was able to induce a unique group of WRKY TF genes and a large set of genes encoding PPR and RRM proteins that share the same G-box in their promoter regions with possible functions in post-transcriptional regulation. Conclusions: In conclusion, Rxo1, like most host R genes, was able to trigger HR against Xoc in the heterologous rice plants by activating multiple defensive pathways related to HR, providing useful information on the evolution of plant resistance genes. Maize non-host resistance gene Rxo1 could trigger the pathogen-specific HR in heterologous rice, and ultimately leading to a localized programmed cell death which exhibits the characteristics consistent with those mediated by host resistance genes, but a number of genes encoding pentatricopeptide repeat and RNA recognition motif protein were found specifically up-regulated in the Rxo1 mediated disease resistance. These results add to our understanding the evolution of plant resistance genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Inhibition of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) has been intensively studied to lower low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of anti-PCSK9 antibodies in randomized, controlled trials (RCTs).Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, CENTRAL databases, and recent conferences were searched. Safety outcomes were rates of common adverse events. Efficacy outcomes included percentages of LDL-C lowering and other lipid changes compared with placebo and ezetimibe, respectively.Results: Twenty-five RCTs encompassing 12,200 patients were included. The rates of common adverse events were firstly reported in our study by pooling together all evidence in RCTs, showing largely no significant difference between anti-PCSK9 antibodies and placebo (or ezetimibe), except that alirocumab was associated with reduced rates of death (relative risk (RR): 0.43, 95 % confidence interval (CI): 0.19 to 0.96, P = 0.04) and an increased rate of injection-site reactions (RR: 1.48, 95 % CI: 1.05 to 2.09, P = 0.02); evolocumab reduced the rate of abnormal liver function (RR: 0.43, 95 % CI: 0.20 to 0.93, P = 0.03), both compared with placebo. No significant difference in safety outcomes was detected between monthly 420 mg and biweekly 140 mg evolocumab treatments. Monthly 420 mg evolocumab treatment significantly reduced LDL-C by -54.6 % (95 % CI: -58.7 to -50.5 %) and by absolute -78.9 mg/dl (95 % CI: -88.9 to -68.9 mg/dl) versus placebo, and by -36.3 % (95 % CI: -38.8 to -33.9 %) versus ezetimibe, and increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) by 7.6 % (95 % CI: 5.7 to 9.5 %) versus placebo and 6.4 % (95 % CI: 4.3 to 8.4 %) versus ezetimibe. An equal or even greater change was observed following biweekly 140 mg administration. Significant and favorable changes were also detected in other lipids following evolocumab treatment. Biweekly 50 to 150 mg alirocumab lowered LDL-C by -52.6 % (95 % CI: -58.2 to -47.0 %) versus placebo, by -29.9 % (95 % CI: -32.9 to -26.9 %) versus ezetimibe, and increased HDL-C by 8.0 % (95 % CI: 4.2 to 11.7 %) versus placebo.Conclusions: Evolocumab and alirocumab were safe and well-tolerated from our most-powered analyses. Both antibodies substantially reduced the LDL-C level by over 50 %, increased the HDL-C level, and resulted in favorable changes in other lipids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]