Search

In this study, proteins were prepared from Schizochytrium pombe residue after oil extraction using isoelectric point precipitation, and their physicochemical and emulsifying properties were investigated. Our objective was to assess the suitability of these proteins for functional ingredient applications. Through a one-way experiment and optimization using response surface design, the effects of time, temperature, pH, and the material–liquid ratio of NaOH alkaline extraction were explored. The isoelectric point is verified by isoelectric point precipitation; the results revealed that crude protein from Schizochytrium (SCP) is minimally soluble at pH 4.2. Compared with whey protein (WP), it promotes better emulsion stability through the emulsification test. This study suggests that Schizochytrium oil-processing byproducts represent a promising source of protein, with potential applications as functional ingredients, offering implications for the usage of these byproducts in various industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

6-BA, a small molecule compound of cytokinins, has been proven to delay leaf senescence in different species, including Chinese flowering cabbage; however, its specific mechanism remains relatively unknown. In this study, the application of external 6-BA delayed leaf senescence in Chinese flowering cabbage, showing that 6-BA effectively prevented the decrease in the maximum quantum yield (Fv/Fm) and overall chlorophyll content and suppressed the expression of the senescence-associated gene BrSAG12 over a 7-day period of storage. Moreover, treatment with 6-BA decreased the respiratory rate, NAD(H) content, the activities of hexose phosphate isomerase (PHI), succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), cytochrome c oxidase (CCO), and ascorbic acid oxidase (AAO) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the transcriptional abundance of related genes by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Furthermore, 6-BA also increased the activity and expression levels of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) and 6-phosphate gluconate dehydrogenase (6-PGDH). The group treated with 6-BA retained elevated levels of NADP (H), ATP, total ATPase, and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide kinase (NADK) activity, as well as the expression of respiratory enzymes. Molecular docking indicated that 6-BA hinders the glycolysis pathway (EMP), tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA), and cytochrome pathway (CCP), and sustains elevated levels of the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) through interactions with the PHI, SDH, 6-PGDH, G6PDH, CCO, and AAO proteins, consequently delaying postharvest leaf senescence in Chinese flowering cabbage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the growing demand for railway obstacle monitoring, lidar technology has emerged as an up-and-coming solution. In this study, we developed a mechanical 3D lidar system and meticulously calibrated the point cloud transformation to monitor specific areas precisely. Based on this foundation, we have devised a novel set of algorithms for obstacle detection within point clouds. These algorithms encompass three key steps: (a) the segmentation of ground point clouds and extraction of track point clouds using our RS-Lo-RANSAC (region select Lo-RANSAC) algorithm; (b) the registration of the BP (background point cloud) and FP (foreground point cloud) via an improved Robust ICP algorithm; and (c) obstacle recognition based on the VFOR (voxel-based feature obstacle recognition) algorithm from the fused point clouds. This set of algorithms has demonstrated robustness and operational efficiency in our experiments on a dataset obtained from an experimental field. Notably, it enables monitoring obstacles with dimensions of 15 cm × 15 cm × 15 cm. Overall, our study showcases the immense potential of lidar technology in railway obstacle monitoring, presenting a promising solution to enhance safety in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a high-precision obstacle detection algorithm using 3D mechanical LiDAR to meet railway safety requirements. To address the potential errors in the point cloud, we propose a calibration method based on projection and a novel rail extraction algorithm that effectively handles terrain variations and preserves the point cloud characteristics of the track area. We address the limitations of the traditional process involving fixed Euclidean thresholds by proposing a modulation function based on directional density variations to adjust the threshold dynamically. Finally, using PCA and local-ICP, we conduct feature analysis and classification of the clustered data to obtain the obstacle clusters. We conducted continuous experiments on the testing site, and the results showed that our system and algorithm achieved an STDR (stable detection rate) of over 95% for obstacles with a size of 15 cm × 15 cm × 15 cm in the range of ±25 m; at the same time, for obstacles of 10 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm, an STDR of over 80% was achieved within a range of ±20 m. This research provides a possible solution and approach for railway security via obstacle detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guavas are typical tropical fruit with high nutritional and commercial value. Because of their thin skin and high metabolic rate, guavas are highly susceptible to water loss, physical damage, and spoilage, severely limiting their shelf-life. Guavas can typically only be stored for approximately one week at room temperature, making transportation, storage, and handling difficult, resulting in low profit margins in the industry. This review focuses on the physiological and biochemical changes and their molecular mechanisms which occur in postharvest guavas, and summarizes the various management strategies for extending the shelf-life of these sensitive fruits by means of physical and chemical preservation and their combinations. This review also suggests future directions and reference ideas for the development of safe and efficient shelf-life extension techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oligodendrocytes generate myelin sheaths vital for the formation, health, and function of the central nervous system. Mounting evidence suggests that receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) are crucial for oligodendrocyte differentiation and myelination in the CNS. It was recently reported that discoidin domain receptor 1 (Ddr1), a collagen-activated RTK, is expressed in oligodendrocyte lineage. However, its specific expression stage and functional role in oligodendrocyte development in the CNS remain to be determined. In this study, we report that Ddr1 is selectively upregulated in newly differentiated oligodendrocytes in the early postnatal CNS and regulates oligodendrocyte differentiation and myelination. Ddr1 knock-out mice of both sexes displayed compromised axonal myelination and apparent motor dysfunction. Ddr1 deficiency alerted the ERK pathway, but not the AKT pathway in the CNS. In addition, Ddr1 function is important for myelin repair after lysolecithin-induced demyelination. Taken together, the current study described, for the first time, the role of Ddr1 in myelin development and repair in the CNS, providing a novel molecule target for the treatment of demyelinating diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: High expression of inhibitor of DNA binding 1 (ID1) correlates with poor prognosis in colorectal cancer (CRC). Aberrant enhancer activation in regulating ID1 transcription is limited. Methods: Immunohistochemistry (IHC), quantitative RT-PCR (RT-qPCR) and Western blotting (WB) were used to determine the expression of ID1. CRISPR-Cas9 was used to generate ID1 or enhancer E1 knockout cell lines. Dual-luciferase reporter assay, chromosome conformation capture assay and ChIP-qPCR were used to determine the active enhancers of ID1. Cell Counting Kit 8, colony-forming, transwell assays and tumorigenicity in nude mice were used to investigate the biological functions of ID1 and enhancer E1. Results: Human CRC tissues and cell lines expressed a higher level of ID1 than normal controls. ID1 promoted CRC cell proliferation and colony formation. Enhancer E1 actively regulated ID1 promoter activity. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) bound to ID1 promoter and enhancer E1 to regulate their activity. The inhibitor of STAT3 Stattic attenuated ID1 promoter and enhancer E1 activity and the expression of ID1. Enhancer E1 knockout down-regulated ID1 expression level and cell proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Conclusions: Enhancer E1 is positively regulated by STAT3 and contributes to the regulation of ID1 to promote CRC cell progression and might be a potential target for anti-CRC drug studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schistosomiasis is an immunopathogenic disease characterized by egg granuloma and fibrosis. The hepatic fibrosis of schistosomiasis is caused by the coordinated action of local immune cells, liver-resident cells and related cytokines around the eggs of the liver. B-cell-activating factor (BAFF), expressed in many cells, is an essential factor for promoting the survival, differentiation, and maturation of cells. The overexpression of BAFF is closely related to many autoimmune diseases and fibrosis, but has not been reported to play a role in liver fibrosis caused by schistosomiasis. In the study, we found that, during Schistosoma japonicum (S. japonicum) infection in mice, the level of BAFF and its receptor BAFF-R progressively increased, then decreased with the extension of infection time, which was consistent with the progression of hepatic granuloma and fibrosis. Anti-BAFF treatment attenuated the histopathological damage in the liver of infected mice. The average areas of individual granulomas and liver fibrosis in anti-BAFF treatment mice were significantly lower than those in control mice, respectively. Anti-BAFF treatment increased the IL-10, decreased IL-4, IL-6, IL-17A, TGF-β, and downregulated the antibody level against S. japonicum antigens. These results suggested that BAFF acts a strong player in the immunopathology of schistosomiasis. Anti-BAFF treatment may influence Th2 and Th17 responses, and reduce the inflammatory reaction and fibrosis of schistosomiasis liver egg granuloma. It is suggested that BAFF might be a prospective target for the development of new methods to treat schistosomiasis liver fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil shale is a kind of unconventional energy resource with abundant reserves, but its exploitation has a continuous negative impact on the environment, which has hindered the research and exploitation of oil shale under the international environmental consensus on issues such as climate change. Therefore, more attention should be paid to environmental problems as the side effect of oil shale exploitation. With the combination of field research, literature collection, and tracking survey, the oil shale open-pit exploitation and management process in Maoming, Guangdong, China, has been investigated, and its development and transformation model has been subsequently refined and summarized. The research results show that Maoming oil shale open-pit mine area has gone through four main stages: pre-exploitation stage, large-scale utilization stage, restoration stage, and green development stage. Through the management of mine pit treatment, vegetation restoration, ecological park construction, and tourism resource development, the abandoned open-pit mine has been transformed into an ecological park combining ecosystem, tourism, and cultural resources. In this process, this area has achieved the transformation from rough resource extraction to environment-friendly sustainable growth in its development mode. As a successful case of open-pit mine management in the world, the ecological restoration experience in Maoming can function as a reference for the smooth development and transformation of other oil shale mines in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, nitrogen (N) fertilizer is excessively used in sugarcane planting areas, while the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of sugarcane is relatively low. Mining and identifying the key genes in response to low N stress in sugarcane can provide useful gene elements and a theoretical basis for developing sugarcane varieties with high NUE. In our study, RNA-Seq combined with qRT-PCR analysis revealed that the ScAMT1.1 gene responded positively to low N stress, resulting in the stronger low N tolerance and high NUE ability of sugarcane cultivar ROC22. Then, ScAMT1.1 was cloned from sugarcane. The full-length cDNA of the ScAMT1.1 gene is 1868 bp, containing a 1491 bp open reading frame (ORF), and encoding 496 amino acids. ScAMT1.1 belongs to the AMT superfamily and shares 91.57% homologies with AMT1.1 from Oryza sativa. Furthermore, it was stably overexpressed in rice (O. sativa). Under low N treatment, the plant height and the fresh weight of the ScAMT1.1-overexpressed transgenic rice were 36.48% and 51.55% higher than that of the wild-type, respectively. Both the activity of ammonium assimilation key enzymes GS and GDH, and the expression level of ammonium assimilation key genes, including GS1.1, GS1.2, GDH, Fd-GOGAT, and NADH-GOGAT2 in the transgenic plants, were significantly higher than that of the wild-type. The grain number and grain yield per plant in the transgenic rice were 6.44% and 9.52% higher than that of the wild-type in the pot experiments, respectively. Taken together, the sugarcane ScAMT1.1 gene has the potential to improve ammonium assimilation ability and the yield of transgenic rice under low N fertilizer conditions. This study provided an important functional gene for improving sugarcane varieties with high NUE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The β-ketoacyl CoA synthase encoded by the KCS genes is a rate-limiting enzyme for the synthesis of very-long-chain fatty acid (VLCFA), which catalyzes the VLCFA elongation. Yellow horn (Xanthoceras sorbifolium) is a horticultural tree species known for its kernel oil, which has strong resistance to drought, cold, high temperature, and saline-alkali. The conserved domain FAE1-CUT1-RPPA and ACP-syn-III_C of the KCS gene family were used to search the KCS sequences across the whole genomic sequence of yellow horn; a total of 20 XsKCS genes were identified and divided into four subfamilies. The conserved motif and transmembrane structure analysis revealed that most XsKCSs had a conserved transmembrane domain except XsKCS10 and XsKCS20. The prediction of cis-acting elements of XsKCS genes showed that XsKCS genes contained many stress and hormone response elements, such as ABRE, MBS, and LTR. Furthermore, XsKCS genes exhibited differential expression profiles under abiotic stress and stress-related hormone treatment conditions. Transcriptomic data showed that XsKCS1, XsKCS11, and XsKCS17 had higher expression in yellow horn with high leaf cuticular wax, indicating that they may function in the cuticular wax accumulation and drought response. This study laid a foundation for further functional verification of XsKCS genes in yellow horn stress response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Camelina sativa (camelina) seed, oil, and defatted meal are widely used for food, animal feed, and other purposes. The accurate quantification of camelina glucosinolates is critical as their functionalities are highly dose-dependent. The classic quantification of glucosinolates in camelina products involves tedious desulfation steps, toxic reagents, and a lengthy instrument time because glucosinolates are easy to degrade and subject to interference in the liquid chromatography. Thus, we developed and validated an eco-efficient UPLC-DAD method for determining glucoarabin (GS9), glucocamelinin (GS10), and homoglucocamelinin (GS11) in camelina seed, oil, and defatted meal. Glucosinolates were extracted using 80% cold methanol to denature myrosinase, and were separated by an HSS T3 column without desulfation. Glucotropaeolin was used as an internal standard to track analyte degradation and loss during sample preparation. The method has shown high precision (relative standard deviations ranging from 4.12% to 6.54%) and accuracy (>94.4% spike recovery) for GS9-11, and all validation parameters passed the industry-consensus AOAC Appendix F criteria. To our best knowledge, this is the first eco-efficient and low-cost analytical method that is validated against strict AOAC criteria for the quantification of intact camelina glucosinolates. The method is suitable to be adopted as a new industrial testing standard to assist in the quality control of camelina products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemical nitrogen (N) fertilizer is widely used in sugarcane production, especially in China and India. Understanding the molecular mechanisms and mining miRNAs and their target genes associated with nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) in sugarcane can aid in developing the N-efficient varieties, and thus is beneficial to reduce N fertilizer application. In this study, the root miRNA database of N-efficient sugarcane variety ROC22 under low N stress (0.3 mM NH4NO3) for 3 h was constructed, along with their transcriptome-rearranged data. KEGG analysis indicated that those candidate target genes, corresponding to differentially expressed miRNAs, were mainly enriched in N metabolism, amino acid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, photosynthesis, and hormone signal transduction pathways. It was found that under low N stress for 0–24 h, there was a negative correlation between miR168 and SPX, along with miR396 and acnA. Furthermore, the expression of miR156 in the roots of ROC22 was significantly up-regulated under low N treatment. Compared with the wild-type, the Arabidopsis plants overexpressing sugarcane miR156 exhibited significantly improved length and surface area of roots, while the expression of one NO3− transporter gene NRT1.1, three N assimilation key genes (NR1, NIR1, and GS), and the activity of two N assimilation key enzymes (NR and GS) were up-regulated under low N treatment. It can be reasonably deduced that sugarcane miR156 can enhance the nitrogen assimilation ability of the overexpressed Arabidopsis plants under low N application, and thus has a potential ability for improving sugarcane NUE. The present study should be helpful for understanding the molecular regulatory network in the N-efficient sugarcane genotype responding to low N stress and could provide the candidate miRNAs with a potential function in improving sugarcane NUE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spring frost is a major limiting factor in the production and cultivation of apricot kernels, an ecological and economic dry-fruit tree in China. The frequent occurrence of spring frost often coincides with the blooming period of apricot kernels, resulting in significant damage to floral organs and reductions in yield. We investigated the molecular signature of pistils from two apricot kernel cultivars with different frost-resistance levels using transcriptome data. A total of 3223 differently expressed genes (DEGs) were found between two apricot kernel cultivars under freezing stress, including the bHLH and AP2/ERF-ERF transcription factors. Based on KEGG analysis, DEGs were mostly enriched in the biosynthesis of the secondary metabolites, in the metabolic pathways, and in plant-hormone signal transduction. The co-expression network, which included 81 hub genes, revealed that transcription factors, protein kinases, ubiquitin ligases, hormone components, and Ca2+-related proteins coregulated the ROS-mediated freezing response. Moreover, gene interaction relationships, such as ERF109-HMGCR1, ERF109-GRXC9, and bHLH13-JAZ8, were predicted. These findings revealed the regulatory factors for differences in frost resistance between the two tested apricot kernel cultivars and contributed to a deeper understanding of the comprehensive regulatory program during freezing stress. Some of the hub genes identified in this work provide new choices and directions for breeding apricot kernels with a high frost resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stem diameter, an important agronomic trait, affects cucumber growth and yield. However, no genes responsible for cucumber stem diameter have been identified yet. In this study, the stem diameter of 88 cucumber core germplasms were measured in spring 2020, autumn 2020 and autumn 2021, and a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was carried out based on the gene sequence and stem diameter of core germplasms. A total of eight loci (gSD1.1, gSD2.1, gSD3.1, gSD3.2, gSD4.1, gSD5.1, gSD5.2, and gSD6.1) significantly associated with cucumber stem diameter were detected. Of these, five loci (gSD1.1, gSD2.1, gSD3.1, gSD5.2, and gSD6.1) were repeatedly detected in two or more seasons and were considered as robust and reliable loci. Based on the linkage disequilibrium sequences of the associated SNP loci, 37 genes were selected. By further investigating the five loci via analyzing Arabidopsis homologous genes and gene haplotypes, five genes (CsaV3_1G028310, CsaV3_2G006960, CsaV3_3G009560, CsaV3_5G031320, and CsaV3_6G031260) showed variations in amino acid sequence between thick stem lines and thin stem lines. Expression pattern analyses of these genes also showed a significant difference between thick stem and thin stem lines. This study laid the foundation for gene cloning and molecular mechanism study of cucumber stem development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at solving the problems of large calculation, time-consuming, and low segmentation accuracy of multi-threshold image segmentation, an adaptive threshold value based differential evolution algorithm is proposed in this paper. Firstly, an opposite learning strategy is introduced into the initial population to improve the quality of the initial population; secondly, a threshold-value-based mutation strategy is proposed to balance the exploration and development capabilities of the algorithm, and the number of successfully evolved individuals is considered as a threshold value to adaptively adjust the evolution of superior and inferior individuals. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has better performance in enhancing accuracy and speeding up the convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents provide important insights into the psychology, behaviors, and activities of themselves and their children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). However, it is unknown how prevalent parental participation in IDD research is in general, nor the diversity of geographical locations and research methods of these studies with parental participation. The current review screened 7845 published works in 7 IDD-focused journals between 2010 and 2019. A total of 1519 articles, accounting for 19.37% of all screened works, included at least one parental measure. For each parental article, we coded the country/continent of authors/participants, measurement tools used to obtain data from parents (e.g., questionnaire, interview), and the focus of the measurement (i.e., about parents, child, or both). We found an increasing number and proportion of studies involving parents between 2010 and 2019. Most studies (76%) came from North America and Europe, whereas other continents such as Africa and South America represented less than 1% of all studies reviewed. The predominant (88.0%) measurement tools were questionnaires and interviews. More studies were about both the children and the parents (42.6%) than either only the children (31.3%) or only the parents (26.1%). Together, our review showed a somewhat limited diversity in parental participation in IDD research and these findings have important implications for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-crystalline-quality wide-bandgap metal halide perovskite materials that achieve superior performance in perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have been widely explored. Precursor concentration plays a crucial role in the wide-bandgap perovskite crystallization process. Herein, we investigated the influence of precursor concentration on the morphology, crystallinity, optical property, and defect density of perovskite materials and the photoelectric performance of solar cells. We found that the precursor concentration was the key factor for accurately controlling the nucleation and crystal growth process, which determines the crystallization of perovskite materials. The precursor concentration based on Cs0.05FA0.8MA0.15Pb(I0.84Br0.16)3 perovskite was controlled from 0.8 M to 2.3 M. The perovskite grains grow larger with the increase in concentration, while the grain boundary and bulk defect decrease. After regulation and optimization, the champion PSC with the 2.0 M precursor concentration exhibits a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 21.13%. The management of precursor concentration provides an effective way for obtaining high-crystalline-quality wide-bandgap perovskite materials and high-performance PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spectral unmixing remains the most popular method for estimating the composition of mixed pixels. However, the spectral-based unmixing method cannot easily distinguish vegetation with similar spectral characteristics (e.g., different forest tree species). Furthermore, in large areas with significant heterogeneity, extracting a large number of pure endmember samples is challenging. Here, we implement a fractional evergreen forest cover-self-adaptive parameter (FEVC-SAP) approach to measure FEVC at the regional scale from continuous intra-year time-series normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values derived from moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) imagery acquired over southern China, an area with a complex mixture of temperate, subtropical, and tropical climates containing evergreen and deciduous forests. Considering the cover of evergreen forest as a fraction of total forest (evergreen forest plus non-evergreen forest), the dimidiate pixel model combined with an index of evergreen forest phenological characteristics (NDVIann-min: intra-annual minimum NDVI value) was used to distinguish between evergreen and non-evergreen forests within a pixel. Due to spatial heterogeneity, the optimal model parameters differ among regions. By dividing the study area into grids, our method converts image spectral information into gray level information and uses the Otsu threshold segmentation method to simulate the appropriate parameters for each grid for adaptive acquisition of FEVC parameters. Mapping accuracy was assessed at the pixel and sub-pixel scales. At the pixel scale, a confusion matrix was constructed with higher overall accuracy (87.5%) of evergreen forest classification than existing land cover products, including GLC 30 and MOD12. At the sub-pixel scale, a strong linear correlation was found between the cover fraction predicted by our method and the reference cover fraction obtained from GF-1 images (R2 = 0.86). Compared to other methods, the FEVC-SAP had a lower estimation deviation (root mean square error = 8.6%). Moreover, the proposed method had greater estimation accuracy in densely than sparsely forested areas. Our results highlight the utility of the adaptive-parameter linear unmixing model for quantitative evaluation of the coverage of evergreen forest and other vegetation types at large scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terrestrial ecosystems provide a variety of benefits for human life and production, and are a key link for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). The basin ecosystem is one type of terrestrial ecosystem. Ecological security (ES) assessments are an important component of the overall strategy to achieve regional sustainable development. The Huaihe River Basin (HRB) has the common characteristics of most basins, such as high population density, a rapidly developing economy, and many environmental problems. This study constructed an ES evaluation system by applying a pressure-state-response framework as an assessment method for the sustainable development of basins. Taking the HRB as an example, this study determined the ES status of the region from 2001 to 2019 and analyzed crucial factors for any variation observed by combining remote sensing and climate data, relevant policies, and spatial information technology. The results highlight the importance of reserves and the negative impact of urban expansion on ES. Additionally, the enactment of policies had a positive impact on ES, whereas precipitation had a negative effect on ES in most areas of the HRB. Based on these results, the government should strengthen the protection of forests, grasslands, and wetlands and improve water conservation facilities. This study provides guidance for the subsequent economic development, environmental protection, and the achievements of SDG 15 in the HRB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although memory functions in people with Down Syndrome (DS) have been studied extensively, how well people with DS remember things about everyday life is not well understood. In the current study, 31 adolescents/young adults with DS and 26 with intellectual disabilities (ID) of mixed etiology (not DS) participated. They completed an everyday memory questionnaire about personal facts and recent events (e.g., school name, breakfast). They also completed a standard laboratory task of verbal long-term memory (LTM) where they recalled a list of unrelated words over trials. Results did not indicate impaired everyday memory, but impaired verbal LTM, in people with DS relative to people with mixed ID. Furthermore, the laboratory verbal LTM task predicted everyday memory for both groups after taking into account mental age equivalent. Our research showed both an independence and a connection between everyday memory and the standard laboratory memory task and has important research and clinical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Schistosomiasis is an immunopathogenic disease in which Th17 cells play vital roles. Hepatic granuloma formation and subsequent fibrosis are its main pathologic manifestations and the leading causes of hepatic cirrhosis, and effective therapeutic interventions are lacking. In this study, we explored the effects of fasudil, a selective RhoA–Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) inhibitor, on Th17 cells and the pathogenesis of schistosomiasis. Methods: Mice were infected with Schistosoma japonicum and treated with fasudil. The worm burden, hepatic granuloma formation, and fibrosis were evaluated. The roles of fasudil on Th17, Treg, and hepatic stellate cells were analyzed. Results: Fasudil therapy markedly reduced the granuloma size and collagen deposit in livers from mice infected with S. japonicum. However, fasudil therapy did not affect the worm burden in infected mice. The underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms were investigated. Fasudil suppressed the activation and induced the apoptosis of CD4+ T cells. Fasudil inhibited the differentiation and effector cytokine secretion of Th17 cells, whereas it upregulated Treg cells in vitro. It also restrained the in vivo interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-17 levels in infected mice. Fasudil directly induced the apoptosis of hepatic stellate cells and downregulated the expressions of hepatic fibrogenic genes, such as collagen type I (Col-I), Col-III, and transforming growth factor-1 (TGF-β1). These effects may contribute to its anti-pathogenic roles in schistosomiasis. Conclusions: Fasudil inhibits hepatic granuloma formation and fibrosis with downregulation of Th17 cells. Fasudil might serve as a novel therapeutic agent for hepatic fibrosis due to schistosome infections and perhaps other disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obtaining renewable fuels and chemicals from lignin is an important challenge in the use of biomass to achieve sustainability and energy goals. At present, acid-based catalysts for lignin depolymerization are considered to be a potential but challenging way to produce low-molecular-mass aromatic chemicals. The main concerns with the use of Lewis acids and zeolite catalysts are the corrosive nature of the acids, the possible formation of unwanted byproducts, and the possible formation of harsh reaction conditions. We achieved high-yield conversion using phosphotungstic acid (PTA) polyoxometalate catalysts in ethanol/water under different reaction conditions with little formation of bio-char. The monomeric products were mainly composed of various types of aromatic compounds. Our method does not require the use of precious metals and harsh reaction conditions—it only requires relatively mild reaction conditions and homogeneous catalysis—thereby greatly reducing operating costs and increasing the yields. Therefore, this PTA catalyst, which has excellent performance in bulrush lignin catalysis, would be a good alternative to the traditional catalysts used in lignin depolymerization and have wide application in biomass use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The superhydrophobic surface can change the friction property of the material, reduce the adhesion of the friction interface, and produce a certain slip, thereby reducing the friction coefficient. The laser has high energy, high density, and is especially suitable for the surface treatment of materials. The laser surface texturing is a good way to construct superhydrophobic surfaces. The experiment uses a nanosecond pulse laser to construct the groove texture on the nickel surface. The contact area between the air and the droplets retained on the rough surface is increased, effectively preventing the water droplets from entering the gully of the surface microstructure, reducing the water droplets and the solid surface. The contact area ultimately makes the surface exhibit excellent superhydrophobicity. A superhydrophobic nickel surface having an apparent contact angle of water (ACAW) of 160° and a sliding angle (SA) of less than 10° was prepared. The MM-W1B vertical universal friction and wear tester was used to test the groove texture samples with different depths. The surface texture can capture the wear debris generated by the wear and store the lubricant, which is beneficial to the formation of fluid dynamic pressure lubrication and improve the load. The friction coefficient is reduced from 0.65 of the unprocessed surfaces to 0.25 after the texturing, and the friction performance is greatly improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evergreen trees play a significant role in urban ecological services, such as air purification, carbon and oxygen balance, and temperature and moisture regulation. Remote sensing represents an essential technology for obtaining spatiotemporal distribution data for evergreen trees in cities. However, highly developed subtropical cities, such as Nanjing, China, have serious land fragmentation problems, which greatly increase the difficulty of extracting evergreen trees information and reduce the extraction precision of remote-sensing methods. This paper introduces a normalized difference vegetation index coefficient of variation (NDVI-CV) method to extract evergreen trees from remote-sensing data by combining the annual minimum normalized difference vegetation index (NDVIann-min) with the CV of a Landsat 8 time-series NDVI. To obtain an intra-annual, high-resolution time-series dataset, Landsat 8 cloud-free and partially cloud-free images over a three-year period were collected and reconstructed for the study area. Considering that the characteristic growth of evergreen trees remained nearly unchanged during the phenology cycle, NDVIann-min is the optimal phenological node to separate this information from that of other vegetation types. Furthermore, the CV of time-series NDVI considers all of the phenologically critical phases; therefore, the NDVI-CV method had higher extraction accuracy. As such, the approach presented herein represents a more practical and promising method based on reasonable NDVIann-min and CV thresholds to obtain spatial distribution data for evergreen trees. The experimental verification results indicated a comparable performance since the extraction accuracy of the model was over 85%, which met the classification accuracy requirements. In a cross-validation comparison with other evergreen trees' extraction methods, the NDVI-CV method showed higher sensitivity and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sugarcane borer is the most common and harmful pest in Chinese sugarcane fields, and can cause damage to the whole plant during the entire growing season. To improve borer resistance in sugarcane, we constructed a plant expression vector pGcry2A0229 with the bar gene as the marker and the cry2A gene as the target, and introduced it into embryogenic calli of most widely cultivated sugarcane cultivar ROC22 by particle bombardment. After screening with phosphinothricin in vitro and Basta spray, 21 resistance-regenerated plants were obtained, and 10 positive transgenic lines harboring the cry2A gene were further confirmed by conventional PCR detection. Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis showed that the copy number of the cry2A gene varied among different transgenic lines but did not exceed four copies. Quantitative ELISA analysis showed that there was no linear relationship with copy number but negatively correlated with the percentage of borer-infested plants. The analysis of industrial and agronomic traits showed that the theoretical sugar yields of transgenic lines TR-4 and TR-10 were slightly lower than that of the control in both plant cane and ratoon cane; nevertheless, TR-4 and TR-10 lines exhibited markedly lower in frequency of borer-infested plants in plant cane and in the ratoon cane compared to the control. Our results indicate that the introduction of the cry2A gene via bombardment produces transgenic lines with obviously increased stem borer resistance and comparable sugar yield, providing a practical value in direct commercial cultivation and crossbreeding for ROC22 has been used as the most popular elite genitor in various breeding programs in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes, a silent killer, is one of the most widely prevalent conditions of the present time. According to the 2017 International Diabetes Federation (IDF) statistics, the global prevalence of diabetes among the age group of 20-79 years is 8.8%. In addition, 1 in every 2 persons is unaware of the condition. This unawareness and ignorance lead to further complications. Pre-diabetes is the preceding condition of diabetes, and in most of the cases, this ultimately leads to the development of diabetes. Diabetes can be classified into three types, namely type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and gestational diabetes. The diagnosis of both pre-diabetes and diabetes is based on glucose criteria; the common modalities used are fasting plasma glucose (FPG) test and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). A glucometer is commonly used by diabetic patients to measure blood glucose levels with fast and rather accurate measurements. A few of the more advanced and minimally invasive modalities include the glucose-sensing patch, SwEatch, eyeglass biosensor, breath analysis, etc. Despite a considerable amount of data being collected and analyzed regarding diabetes, the actual molecular mechanism of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is still unknown. Both genetic and epigenetic factors are associated with T2DM. The complications of diabetes can predominantly be classified into two categories: microvascular and macrovascular. Retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy are grouped under microvascular complications, whereas stroke, cardiovascular disease, and peripheral artery disease (PAD) belong to macrovascular complications. Unfortunately, until now, no complete cure for diabetes has been found. However, the treatment of pre-diabetes has shown significant success in preventing the further progression of diabetes. To prevent pre-diabetes from developing into T2DM, lifestyle intervention has been found to be very promising. Various aspects of diabetes, including the aforementioned topics, have been reviewed in this paper.

Environmental irritants are important risk factors for skin diseases, but little is known about the influence of environmental factors on eczema incidence. In this time-series study, our objective was to examine the associations of environmental factors with outpatient visits for eczema. Daily outpatient visits between 2007 and 2011 (1826 days) were collected from Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, China. We used an overdispersed generalized additive model to investigate the short-term association between environmental factors and outpatient visits for eczema. Daily outpatient visits for eczema were significantly associated with air pollution and meteorological factors. For example, a 10 μg/m³ increase of 7-day (lag 06) average concentrations of PM 10 (particulate matter no greater than 10 microns), SO₂, NO₂ was associated with 0.81% (95% confidence intervals (CI) 0.39%, 1.22%), 2.22% (95% CI: 1.27%, 3.16%) and 2.31% (95% CI: 1.17%, 3.45%) increase in outpatient visits for eczema, respectively. A 10 °C elevation of temperature on lag 0 day were associated with 8.44% (95% CI: 4.66%, 12.22%) increase in eczema visits, whereas 10 unit decrease of 7-day average relative humidity were associated with 10.86% (95% CI: 8.83%, 12.89%) increase in eczema visits. This study provided clear evidence of ambient air pollution, high temperature and low relative humidity on increasing the incidence of eczema in Shanghai, China., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

To assess the status of, and factors associated with, residents' knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to air pollution and respiratory health of children in Shanghai, we conducted a cross-sectional survey. Demographic factors associated with residents' knowledge were identified by multiple logistic regressions. The questionnaires were completed by 972 participants, half from the Shanghai Children Hospital and the other half from the Jiading communities. Half of the participants' scores of knowledge and attitudes were equal or greater than 8.0 on a 9-point scale, over 75% of respondents' practice scores were equal to or less than 4.0. Our studies demonstrated a significant difference of average knowledge scores between the two groups (t = 1.27, p < 0.05). The parents' educational level (OR = 1.89, 2.48) and average annual household income (AAHI) (OR = 2.37, 2.40, 2.12) were the two strongest factors on knowledge awareness. In addition, statistical analysis revealed a significant difference between the two groups in their attitudes towards air quality and their perception of the government's efforts to alleviate it. The hospital and community groups also showed significant differences in practices geared towards protecting their children's health. Nearly 90% of the respondents agreed that improving air quality is the responsibility of every citizen, and the joint action of governments and all citizens should be utilized for enhanced control. In addition, more resources should be allocated towards providing citizens with appropriate practices to help lessen the effects of poor air quality.