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• The gene GhWRKY46 , encoding WRKY transcription factor protein, was identified to be associated with drought and salt stresses. • The transcription factor GhWRKY46 locates in the nucleus and has transcriptional activation activity in yeast. • GhWRKY46 -overexpressing Arabidopsis enhanced tolerance to salt and drought as well as the expression of the stress-related genes. • GhWRKY46 silencing caused higher sensibility to salt stress and MDA level as well as lower activities of catalase and peroxidasein cotton. • GhWRKY46 positively regulates the responses to drought and salt stresses. Cotton (Upland Cotton) is one of the major fiber crops in the world. Drought and salinity, as abiotic stress factors, dramatically affect the cotton yield, However, the response processes of cotton to drought and salt stress is still not very clear. Previously, the gene GhWRKY46 , encoding WRKY transcription factor protein, was identified to possibly be associated with drought and salt pressure. In present study, the function of GhWRKY46 has been investigated in Arabidopsis and cotton. The transcription factor properties of GhWRKY46 were confirmed by its location in the nucleus and transcriptional activation activity in yeast. Overexpression of GhWRKY46 enhanced tolerance to salt and drought in Arabidopsis , conferring higher survival rates, chlorophyll contents, and biomasses in the overexpression lines under drought stress. Additionally, overexpression of GhWRKY46 enhanced the expression of the stress-related genes AtRD22 , AtCBL10 , and AtCPK3 in the transgenic Arabidopsis. Silencing of GhWRKY46 in cotton by virus-induced gene silencing resulted in higher sensibilities to salt stress and malondialdehyde contents, as well as lower activities of catalase and peroxidase compared with the control; this further confirmed previous results. Our results demonstrated that GhWRKY46 positively regulates the responses to drought and salt stresses, probably by enhancing the expression of stress-related genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We report a novel coupling catalytic dehydration strategy with low energy cost. • The water in chloride hydrate were used as reactant to participate in WGS reaction. • Low water contained MgCl 2 (∼0.64H 2 O) was obtained via this coupling process at 433 K. • The amount of hydrolysis reaction by-product MgOHCl was maintained at very low level. • The autocatalytic mechanism and universality of such novel strategy was revealed. Thermal dehydration process is an indispensable unit operation involving most of the fields in industry. Driven by the imperious demands in energy consumption reduction and quality improvement, we developed a coupling catalytic dehydration strategy, in which the water in the chloride hydrate was directly used as the reactant to participate in water–gas shift reaction. The autocatalytic process is depended on the chemical reactivity of water interacted with the surrounding atoms in certain degree. The thermodynamic minimum temperatures of dehydration could be reduced significantly by coupling WGS reaction compared to the direct dehydration. With the guidance of thermodynamic calculation, an extremely challenging process of bischofite dehydration was performed experimentally. Study demonstrates that the residual crystallized water number was reduced to 0.64 by coupling WGS reaction at 433 K, while there is still 1.54 via the direct dehydration under the N 2 atmosphere. Meanwhile, the amount of by-product MgOHCl is maintained at quite low level, which well solves the seesaw relationship between dehydration and hydrolysis side reaction in traditional process. Subsequently, the autocatalytic mechanism was revealed that CO reacted with the surficial OH group ligated with magnesium to product CO 2 and H 2 , in which the formate species serve as active intermediate species. Furthermore, the universality of such novel strategy was revealed by coupling CaCl 2 ·2H 2 O dehydration with WGS reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapeseed is one of the most important oilseeds crops worldwide. Although stem development greatly affects crop yield, its molecular mechanisms remain elusive in rapeseed. This study found a stem bending 1 (stb1) mutant in rapeseed with abnormal stem development and performed phenotype characterization, genetic analysis, quantitative trait locus mapping, and transcriptome analysis. The key stage of stem bending in stb1 mutant occurred at Biologische Bundesanstalt, Bundessortenamt and CHemical industry (BBCH) stages 59–61, from the end of stem elongation to early flowering. The number of vessels and the degree of development of stem xylem, sclerenchyma, and parenchyma cells were extremely lower in stb1 mutant than in elite cultivar ZS11. Genetic analysis revealed that stb1 is controlled by a single recessive locus located between markers Bn-A01-p2421445 and Bn-A01-p4230829 on chromosome A01. Using RNA-seq, identified 1631 genes that differentially expressed between mutant and normal F 2 plants in the shoot apical meristem and stem. The down-regulated genes were mainly overrepresented in auxin transport and coenzyme metabolism processes. Combining data on the auxin concentrations in stem and expression of candidate genes within the mapping interval in the mutant, it was speculated that the phenotype of the stb1 mutant may be caused by defects in polar auxin transport, as two auxin transport-related genes were obviously down-regulated in the mutant. Among them, BnSOS3-INTERACTING PROTEIN3 , which encodes a CBL-interacting protein kinase, was considered the most promising candidate gene for further investigation. These results lay a foundation for better understanding the molecular mechanisms of stem development in rapeseed. • Abnormal stem development of a stem bending 1 (stb1) mutant was found in rapeseed at the BBCH stages 59 to 61. • The stb1 is controlled by a single recessive locus located between markers Bn-A01-p2421445 and Bn-A01-p4230829. • The phenotype of stb1 may be caused by mutation of BnSOS3-INTERACTING PROTEIN3 that controls polar auxin transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Keratoacanthoma (KA) is a benign keratinocytic neoplasm that spontaneously regresses after 3-6 months and shares features with squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs). Furthermore, there are reports of KAs that have metastasized, invoking the question of whether KA is a variant of SCC (Hodak et al., 1993). To date, no reported criteria are sensitive enough to discriminate reliably between KA and SCC, and consequently there is a clinical need for discriminating markers. Our previous study analyzed 132 KAs and 29 SCCs and revealed significantly different regions of genomic aberrations using chromosomal comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). In the present study, we applied array CGH to investigate 98 KAs and 22 SCCs from the above samples. The result shows that all KAs and SCCs have some degree of genetic aberrations. The distribution of numbers of aberrant clones per sample differed significantly between KAs and SCCs (P<0.02), which also demonstrated recurrent aberrations that differed significantly (P<0.001), as illustrated by unsupervised cluster analysis. Classifiers for clinicopathological parameters of KAs were established based on t-test statistics and permutation tests. Tumor size, fibrosis, and inflammation, which are related to the developmental stages of KAs, showed significant (t-test, permutation test) associations with aberrations of selected genomic regions. This suggests chromosomal instability during the whole life cycle of KAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers in Denmark and in the western world in general, and the prognosis is generally poor. According to the traditional molecular classification of sporadic colorectal cancer, microsatellite stable (MSS)/chromosome unstable (CIN) colorectal cancers constitute approximately 85% of sporadic cases, whereas microsatellite unstable (MSI) cases constitute the remaining 15%. In this study, we used array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) to identify genomic hotspot regions that harbor recurrent copy number changes. The study material comprised fresh samples from 40 MSS tumors and 20 MSI tumors obtained from 60 Danish CRC patients. We identified five small genomic regions (<15 megabases) exhibiting recurrent copy number loss, which, to our knowledge, have not been reported in previously published aCGH studies of CRC: 3p25.3, 3p21.2-p21.31, 5q13.2, 12q24.23-q24.31, and 12q24.23-q24.31. These regions contain several potentially important tumor suppressor genes that may play a role in a significant proportion of both sporadic MSS CRC and MSI CRC. Furthermore, the generated aCGH data are in support of the recently proposed classification of sporadic CRC into MSS CIN+, MSI CIN-, MSI CIN+, and MSS CIN- cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the efficacy of radionuclide imaging in the detection of coronary artery disease in patients with valvular disease pre-operation in China. Number of patients with results of radionuclide imaging similar to coronary angiography; Rate of concordance; Percent of negative predictability.