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Background: It remains controversial on the optimal timing of cholecystectomy for patients with mild acute biliary pancreatitis. This study aimed at comparing the safety, feasibility, and cost-effectiveness of early laparoscopic cholecystectomy (ELC, within 72 h after admission) versus delayed laparoscopic cholecystectomy (DLC, beyond 72 h after admission) for patients with mild acute biliary pancreatitis.Methods: We performed a systematic search in the following databases: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane library. We only included articles from RCTs which designed to evaluate the complications, conversion to open cholecystectomy, recurrence of acute pancreatitis, the length of hospital stay, and costs between patients undergoing ELC and those undergoing DLC. We schemed to analyze data using STATA 15.0 with both the random-effects and the fixed-effect models. We computed relative risk (RR) and weighted mean difference (WMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) based on the intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis.Results: A total of 4 studies involving 439 (215 vs 224) patients were included. The difference of complication rate [3.3% vs 3.2%; RR 1.03 (0.35, 3.01), P = 0.961] and rate of conversion to open cholecystectomy [3.8% vs 3.3%; RR 1.13 (0.37, 3.43), P = 0.830] are insignificant between patients who underwent ELC and ones who underwent DLC. The difference of rate of recurrence of acute pancreatitis is significant between ELC and DLC (2.17% vs 8.99%; RR 0.24 (0.08-0.70), P = 0.009). ELC does not shorten the length of hospital stay (random-effects model analysis: WMD -1.09 days (-2.67, 0.48), P = 0.173; fixed-effect model analysis: WMD -0.62 days (-1.00, -0.24), P = 0.001).Conclusion: Compared to DLC, ELC is equally safe and feasible both in complication rate and rate of conversion to open procedure, and significantly reduces the recurrence rate of acute pancreatitis.Prospero Registration Number: CRD42018116239. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The ankyrin repeat (ANK) protein family plays a crucial role in plant growth and development and in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. However, no detailed information concerning this family is available for tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) due to the limited information on whole genome sequences. In this study, we identified a total of 130 ANK genes in tomato genome (SlANK), and these genes were distributed across all 12 chromosomes at various densities. And chromosomal localizations of SlANK genes indicated 25 SlANK genes were involved in tandem duplications. Based on their domain composition, all of the SlANK proteins were grouped into 13 subgroups. A combined phylogenetic tree was constructed with the aligned SlANK protein sequences. This tree revealed that the SlANK proteins comprise five major groups. An analysis of the expression profiles of SlANK genes in tomato in different tissues and in response to stresses showed that the SlANK proteins play roles in plant growth, development and stress responses. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a genome-wide analysis of the tomato ANK gene family. This study provides valuable information regarding the classification and putative functions of SlANK genes in tomato. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: NAC (NAM, ATAF1,2, and CUC2) proteins constitute one of the largest families of plant-specific transcription factors. To date, little is known about the NAC genes in the apple (Malus domestica). In this study, a total of 180 NAC genes were identified in the apple genome and were phylogenetically clustered into six groups (I–VI) with the NAC genes from Arabidopsis and rice. The predicted apple NAC genes were distributed across all of 17 chromosomes at various densities. Additionally, the gene structure and motif compositions of the apple NAC genes were analyzed. Moreover, the expression of 29 selected apple NAC genes was analyzed in different tissues and under different abiotic stress conditions. All of the selected genes, with the exception of four genes, were expressed in at least one of the tissues tested, which indicates that the NAC genes are involved in various aspects of the physiological and developmental processes of the apple. Encouragingly, 17 of the selected genes were found to respond to one or more of the abiotic stress treatments, and these 17 genes included not only the expected 7 genes that were clustered with the well-known stress-related marker genes in group IV but also 10 genes located in other subgroups, none of which contains members that have been reported to be stress-related. To the best of our knowledge, this report describes the first genome-wide analysis of the apple NAC gene family, and the results should provide valuable information for understanding the classification and putative functions of this family. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Effect of miR-483−3p on RA FLSs proliferation, apoptosis, & cell cycle was studied. • miR-483−3p levels were increased in synovium and FLSs of patients with RA. • Up-regulated miR-483−3p promoted proliferation and suppressed apoptosis. • Insulin-like growth factor 1 was verified as a direct target gene of miR-483−3p. • Our findings might provide a potential therapeutic target for RA. Accumulating evidence suggests that miR-483−3p is implicated in maintaining biological properties in human cancers. However, its biological roles in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remain unknown. miR-483−3p levels in synovial tissue samples and fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLSs) were determined using quantitative real-time PCR. The CCK-8 assay and EdU staining were performed to assess cell proliferation in RA FLSs after transfection with miR-483−3p mimics or inhibitor. Flow cytometry with Annexin V-FITC staining or PI staining was performed to assess apoptosis or cell cycle progression in RA FLSs, respectively. miR-483−3p was upregulated in RA, which markedly promoted cell proliferation, induced the G0/G1-to-S phase transition, and suppressed apoptosis in RA FLSs, whereas miR-483−3p silencing yielded opposite results. Moreover, insulin growth factor 1 (IGF-1) was detected as a direct miR-483−3p target. IGF-1 silencing partially restored cell proliferation, the G0/G1-to-S phase transition, and apoptosis suppression in RA FLSs via miR-483−3p inhibition. Our results showed that miR-483−3p promotes RA FLSs proliferation by targeting IGF-1, suggesting a potential strategy for diagnostic and treatment strategy for RA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CsCHYR1 (CHY ZINC-FINGER AND RING PROTEIN1) encodes a RING (Really Interesting New Gene) finger E3 ubiquitin ligase involved in ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation and plays an important role for cucumber to resist drought stress. Here, we obtain one of the candidate proteins CsCHYR1 that probably interacts with CsATAF1 by yeast-two hybrid screening. Subsequently, it is verified that CsCHYR1 interacts with CsATAF1 and has self-ubiquitination activity. When the cysteine residue at 180 in the RING domain of CsCHYR1 is replaced by serine or alanine, ubiquitin could not be transported from E2 to the substrate. CsCHYR1 ubiquitinates CsATAF1 and affects the stability of CsATAF1 when plants are subjected to drought stress. The expression level of CsCHYR1 is increased by 4-fold after ABA treatment at 9 h. The Atchyr1 mutants perform an ABA-hyposensitive phenotype and have a lower survival rate than Col-0 and CsCHYR1 Atchyr1 lines. In addition, CsCHYR1 interacts with CsSnRK2.6. Therefore, our study reveals a CsSnRK2.6-CsCHYR1-CsATAF1 complex to promote the drought stress response by decreasing CsATAF1 protein accumulation and inducing stomatal closure. Those findings provide new ideas for cucumber germplasm innovation from the perspective of biochemistry and molecular biology. • CsCHYR1 interacts with and ubiquitinates CsATAF1. • Cys180 is substituted by Ser or Ala, and the E3 activity of CsCHYR1 is abolished. • The stability of CsATAF1 is affected by drought stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) is a high water-demanding and drought-susceptible vegetable crop. Basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors (TFs) have been linked to drought stress response in plants. Here we characterized a G subfamily gene in cucumber, CsbZIP50 , which was strongly induced by drought stress and an exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) treatment. Under drought stress, CsbZIP50 -overexpressing plants exhibited enhanced drought tolerance compared with wild-type plants, as indicated by the higher antioxidant enzyme activities but lower reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde contents. In addition, overexpression of CsbZIP50 enhanced cucumber's sensitivity to exogenously applied ABA, and up-regulated the expression of its stress-related genes. Moreover, we found that CsbZIP50 activated CsRD29 expression by directly binding to the G-box/ABRE cis-acting element in its promoter, both in vitro and in vivo. Yeast two-hybrid, luciferase complementation imaging, and pull-down assays showed that CsbZIP50 physically interacted with two IQ domain-containing proteins, CsIQD1 and CsIQD4, both of which promoted the ability of CsbZIP50 to activate the expression of CsRD29. Taken together, our results show that CsbZIP50 enhances drought stress tolerance in cucumber by regulating drought-responsive gene expression and ROS levels. • CsbZIP50 is a G subfamily of the bZIP TF, which was induced by drought stress and exogenous ABA treatment. • Expression of CsbZIP50 positively regulates drought tolerance by improving stomata closure and ROS scavenging. • CsbZIP50 targeted CsRD29A and the expression activation effect was enhanced by interacting with CsIQD1 and CsIQD4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Overexpression of CsSNAT increases the endogenous melatonin content in cucumber. • Overexpression of CsSNAT increases the tolerance of cucumber seedlings to salt stress. • CsSNAT positively regulates seed development and seedling growth of cucumber by promoting melatonin biosynthesis. Salt stress is an important limiting factor in agricultural production. Previous studies have shown that exogenous melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) promotes plant defense against various abiotic stresses in a concentration dependent manner. It is an efficient and convenient way to improve the resistance of plants by modulating the endogenous melatonin at a moderately high level by utilizing the plant's own regulatory mechanism. Serotonin N-acetyltransferase (SNAT) is a key enzyme in the melatonin synthesis pathway. In this study, CsSNAT overexpression lines and CsSNAT RNA interference (RNAi) lines were generated. The content of endogenous melatonin increased 2-3-fold in overexpression lines (OE-15 and OE-40) and decreased 0.5-0.6-fold in RNAi lines (RNAi-5 and RNAi-7). After three days of treatment with 100 mM NaCl, the overexpression lines exhibited stronger salt tolerance compared to wild type and RNAi lines. The malondialdehyde (MDA) content, relative electrical conductivity (REC), proline content, maximum photochemical efficiency of photosystem II (Fv/Fm), reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, and the activities of antioxidant enzymes showed more significant salt stress injury in the RNAi lines. Under salt stress, there was significantly higher expression of stress resistance-related genes such as CsSOD, CsCAT, CsP5CS1, CsP5CS2, CsPIP, and CsHSP90 in the overexpression lines compared to the wild type and the RNAi lines. Further analysis revealed that overexpression of the CsSNAT gene in cucumber promoted seed germination. The growth of cucumber seedlings of the RNAi lines was severely inhibited. Taken together, our results suggest that CsSNAT positively regulates salt tolerance and growth of cucumber seedlings by promoting melatonin synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]