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Keloids are pathological scars that invade normal surrounding tissue without self-limitation, causing pain, itching, cosmetic disfigurement, etc. Knowledge of the molecular mechanisms underlying keloids remains unclear; thus, there are no available biomarkers for its diagnosis, resulting in a diagnostic accuracy of only 81%, which may be resolved by seeking an effective biomarker. Given that keloids possess pathogenic features similar to those of autoimmune skin disease, this study aimed to utilise the single-cell V(D)J sequencing method to identify a potential biomarker and clarify the underlying biological mechanisms. Single-cell V(D)J sequencing was used to detect T cell receptor (TCR) diversity between keloid patients and healthy donors using peripheral blood samples, the results of which were further validated using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Flow cytometry was used to analyse the mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cell percentage, cytokine production, and activation marker expression levels in peripheral blood samples of keloid patients and normal donors. An immunofluorescence test was used to quantitatively analyse the distribution of MAIT cells in scar and healthy donor skin tissues. Single-cell V(D)J sequencing analysis showed that the usage frequency of the TRAJ33-one invariant chain of the TCR of MAIT cells was decreased in keloid patients. This result was validated by RT-PCR, which showed that significantly lower TCR Vα7.2-Jα33 was expressed in keloid patients compared with that in healthy donors and hypertrophic scar patients (p 0.05). Flow cytometry and immunofluorescence tests further verified that MAIT cells decreased significantly both in the peripheral blood sample and lesions of keloid patients compared with those of healthy controls (p 0.05). MAIT cells from keloid patients secreted less interferon (IFN)-γ than those from the healthy controls and hypertrophic scar group (p 0.001). The percentage of PLZF+ MAIT cells was lowest in the peripheral blood samples of keloid patients (p 0.05). The percentage of IL-18+ MAIT cells was lower in the peripheral blood samples of keloid patients compared with that in healthy donors (p 0.05). These findings indicate that MAIT cells could be associated with keloids and may serve as potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets in the diagnosis of keloids.

Ductal origin of one distal pulmonary artery (DODPA) is a rare congenital cardiovascular anomaly, with an incidence of approximately 1 in 200,000 people1-3 . It refers to the proximal interruption of one pulmonary artery branch, with the distal part arising from the base of the brachiocephalic artery(BA) via the ipsilateral ductus arteriosus (DA) and being commonly intact in the lungs. If timely treatment is not provided after birth, severe hypoplasia is highly likely to occur in the lungs supplied by the abnormal pulmonary artery due to DA closure. Hence, the prenatal diagnosis of fetal DODPA is important to help initiate prostaglandin treatment and the early rehabilitation of the affected lung. Herein, we report three cases of fetal DODPA diagnosed via two-dimensional (2D) ultrasonography combined with the four-dimensional (4D) spatiotemporal image correlation (STIC) technique. Moreover, a literature review was performed, and ultrasonographic findings and the importance of 2D and 4D ultrasonography in obtaining an accurate prenatal diagnosis of DODPA were explored. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Contrary to the existing theories of private label products, we demonstrate that the introduction of a private label product by a retailer may improve the profits of the supplier of a competing national brand product. Our theory is built on two main elements. First, the introduction of a private label product may expand the total demand for the products carried by the retailer and thus enlarge the joint profit to be split between the retailer and the supplier of the national brand product. Second, in an environment where consumers do not know the quality of the private label product, the national brand serves as a bond to assure consumers that the retailer sells high-quality products only. This quality assurance enhances the joint profit generated by the introduction of the private label product, which, in conjunction with the weakening of the retailer’s bargaining position caused by asymmetric information, may enable the national brand supplier to earn a larger profit than in the absence of the private label product.

Targeted therapies tend to have biomarker defined subgroups that derive differential efficacy from treatments. This article corrects three prevailing oversights in stratified analyses comparing treatments in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with binary and time-to-event outcomes: 1.Using efficacy measures such as odds ratio (OR) and hazard ratio (HR) can make a prognostic biomarker appear predictive, targeting wrong patients, because the inference is affected by a confounding/covert factor even with ignorable treatment assignment in an RCT. As shown analytically and with real immunotherapy patient level data, OR and HR cannot meet the causal Estimand requirement of ICH E9R1. 2.Mixing efficacy in subgroups by prevalence, the prevailing practice, can give misleading results also, for any efficacy measured as a ratio. However, mixing relative response (RR) and ratio of median (RoM) survival times by the prognostic effect, the confounding/covert factor hiding in plain sight, will give causal inference in an RCT. 3.Effects in subgroups should not be mixed on the logarithmic scale, because it creates an artificial Estimand for the whole population which changes depending on how the population is divided into subgroups. Current computer package implementations contain all these oversights. Probabilities, including survival curve probabilities, naturally average within each treatment arm by prevalence. The subgroup mixable estimation (SME) principle fixes the oversights by first averaging probabilities (not their logarithms) within each treatment arm, then computing simultaneous confidence intervals for ratio efficacy in subgroups and their mixtures based on rigorous mathematical derivation, to finally provide causal inference in the form of apps.

High temperature (HT) has an adverse effect on rice grain filling by inhibiting the accumulation of storage materials. However, the regulatory mechanism of this inhibition remains unknown. Here, we report that Opaque2 like transcription factor OsbZIP58 is a key factor regulating storage material accumulation under HT. The OsbZIP58 gene promotes expression of many seed storage protein genes and starch synthesis genes while inhibits expression of some starch hydrolyzing α-amylase genes under HT. The loss of OsbZIP58 function leads to floury and shrunken endosperms and dramatically reduced storage materials in the seeds under HT. HT is found to affect alternative splicing of OsbZIP58, promoting the formation of the truncated OsbZIP58β protein form over the full-length OsbZIP58α protein form. The OsbZIP58β form has a lower transcriptional activity than the OsbZIP58α form, especially under HT condition. Interestingly, rice varieties with less heat sensitivity have reduced alternative splicing of OsbZIP58. Therefore, OsbZIP58 is a crucial gene in regulating storage material accumulation under HT and lower alternative splicing of OsbZIP58 may contribute to heat tolerance during grain filling.

International audience; Placobranchus ocellatus, regarded as a “solar-powered” sacoglossan mollusk, is well known to produce diverse and complex γ-pyrone polypropionates. Unexpectedly, in this study, the chemical investigation of P. ocellatus from the South China Sea led to the discovery of ocellatusones AD, a series of racemic non-γ-pyrone polyketides with novel skeletons, characterized by a bicyclo[3.2.1]octane (1, 2), a bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane (3) or a mesitylene-substituted dimethylfuran-3(2H)-one core (4). Extensive spectroscopic analysis, quantum chemical computation, chemical synthesis, and/or X-ray diffraction analysis were used to determine the structure and absolute configuration of the new compounds, including each enantiomer of racemic compounds 14 after chiral HPLC resolution. An important array of new and diversity-generating rearrangements is proposed to explain the biosynthesis of these unusual compounds based on careful structural analysis and comparison with six known co-occurring γ-pyrones (510). Furthermore, the successful biomimetic synthesis of ocellatusone A (1) from its γ-pyrone precursor (5) confirmed the biosynthetic relationship of these two compounds and the proposed rearrangement through an unprecedented acid promoted cascade reaction. Besides, an initially untargeted semisynthetic product, polycyclic lactone 11 with another novel carbocyclic skeleton was proved to be naturally occurring in the mollusk by comparative LC-MS/MS analysis, which provides a strategy to fish a vast number of novel trace components in Nature.

Fish processing produces a lot of by‐products highly containing large amount of proteins which mainly consist of collagen, implying great potential value for application as nutraceutical ingredients. In present study, two kinds of sharks, Chiloscyllium plagiosum and Mustelus griseus, were used as raw material to gain three kinds of “compound peptides” (CPs) by enzymolysis, FCP (CPs from the flesh of C. plagiosum), SCP (CPs from the skin of C. plagiosum), and SMG (CPs from the skin of M. griseus). According to a series of constituent analysis, the molecule weights of FCP, SCP, and SMG were under 800 Da; amino acids composition analysis of FCP, SCP, and SMG showed that there were high glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline and low cysteine contents in SCP and SMG, which is the characteristic of collagen peptides; their total protein contents were 87.500%, 91.875%, and 95.625%, respectively; and heavy metal contents of CPs were all beneath national standards. After three kinds of CPs were administrated intragastrically to C57BL/6 mice at a total dosage of 15 g/kg, bone‐strengthening effects of SCP and SMG were manifested by osteoblasts activity promotion, bone mineral density (BMD) increase, and marrow adipocyte number decrease, yet nonsignificant effects were shown in FCP group. No index showed toxicity of SCP and SMG in subacute toxicology trial, indicating their safety as functional foods. Herein, industrial application foundation of the skins from these two sharks was explored but more efforts should subsequently be implemented for further exploitation.

The spontaneous reaction between Zn and H

Developing an autonomous self-healing polyurethane (PU) elastomer with excellent mechanical properties and high ductility has attracted increasing attention. Nowadays, the synthesis of elastomers with excellent mechanical properties and rapid self-healing at room temperature faces a huge challenge. Herein, This work reports a new supramolecular PU with excellent mechanical properties and rapid self-healing at room temperature through the introduction of T-type chain extender into the supramolecular polymer chain. The introduction of T-chain extender can be used to enhance the mechanical strength of PU, and the multiple hydrogen bonds on the side-chain provide theoretical support for the rapid self-healing ability of PU. Maximum stress of the synthesized PU can reach 3.4 ± 0.15 Mpa, and maximum elongation at break can reach 3200% ± 160%. Due to flexibility and re-constructability of side-chain hydrogen bonds, PU stress repair efficiency can reach 96.7%, and can be self-healing scratches rapidly and effectively at room temperature. The mechanical properties and self-healing properties of PU can be adjusted by the content of T-type chain extender. The PU is applied to the metal surface coating, which has excellent acid-base resistance, bond strength up to 2.9 ± 0.1 Mpa, and the ability to eliminate local damage on the coating surface quickly at room temperature.

A 2D coordination polymer containing a free ligand (Lf ), fixed by hydrogen bonds, transformed into a 3D metal-organic framework (MOF) in a single-crystal to single-crystal fashion. This transformation occurs through the combined stimuli of temperature and solvent. From 50 to 90 °C, a series of changes take place in a gradual form: the Lf is slowly moved to the cobalt center, which is accompanied by a contraction of unit cell and hydrogen bond. When the temperature rises to 95 °C, the hydrogen bond is destroyed, and Lf is suddenly combined with the cobalt ion to form an intricate 3D structure. This mutation process is irreversible and cannot occur just with the stimulus of either temperature or solvent. Notably, even under the combined stimuli, this mutation phenomena is difficult to reproduce when the solvent species and proportions change. DFT calculations were used to try to explain the nature of the phenomenon.

Summary High temperature significantly alters the amylose content of rice, resulting in mature grains with poor eating quality. However, only few genes and/or quantitative trait loci involved in this process have been isolated and the molecular mechanisms of this effect remain unclear. Here, we describe a floral organ identity gene, OsMADS7, involved in stabilizing rice amylose content at high temperature. OsMADS7 is greatly induced by high temperature at the early filling stage. Constitutive suppression of OsMADS7 stabilizes amylose content under high temperature stress but results in low spikelet fertility. However, rice plants with both stable amylose content at high temperature and normal spikelet fertility can be obtained by specifically suppressing OsMADS7 in endosperm. GBSSI is the major enzyme responsible for amylose biosynthesis. A low filling rate and high expression of GBSSI were detected in OsMADS7 RNAi plants at high temperature, which may be correlated with stabilized amylose content in these transgenic seeds under high temperature. Thus, specific suppression of OsMADS7 in endosperm could improve the stability of rice amylose content at high temperature, and such transgenic materials may be a valuable genetic resource for breeding rice with elite thermal resilience.

Deferoxamine grafted alginate (SA-DFA) was successfully synthesized via amidation of sodium alginate with deferoxamine mesylate as determined by H-NMR and elemental analysis. SA-DFA with different graft yield was obtained by adjusting the ratio of sodium alginate and deferoxamine mesylate. It was found that aqueous solution of SA-DFA could form hydrogel spontaneously due to hydrogen bonding interactions, which also endowed the SA-DFA hydrogel with self-healing capability. The healing efficiency of SA-DFA hydrogels ranged from 53.64 to 90.16%. In addition, surface morphologies of SA-DFA hydrogels before/after self-healing process were demonstrated by SEM images. We anticipated that such self-healable alginate hydrogel would be applied in the field of wound healing. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017

This study focused on the bioremediation role of Pleurotus eryngii in different characteristics soils contaminated with nickel (Ni) and fluoranthene. The results of bioremediation experiments showed that fluoranthene had a positive effect on the growth of P. eryngii, whereas Ni exerted a negative influence. The concentration of fluoranthene significantly decreased in inoculated soil accounting for 86.39–91.95% of initial concentration in soils and 71.46–81.76% in non-inoculated soils, which showed that the dissipation of fluoranthene was enhanced by mushroom inoculating. The highest removal rates of fluoranthene in sandy loam, loamy clay, and sandy soils reached to 87.81, 86.39, and 91.95%, respectively, which demonstrated that P. eryngii was more suitable for the bioremediation of sandy soil contaminated with fluoranthene. In addition, the presence of Ni tended to decrease the dissipation of fluoranthene in inoculated soil. Higher ligninolytic enzymes activities were detected in inoculated soils, resulting in the enhanced dissipation of fluoranthene in inoculated soils. Furthermore, P. eryngii had the ability to uptake Ni (4.88–39.53 mg kg−1) in co-contamination soil. In conclusion, the inoculating of P. eryngii was effective in remediating of Ni-fluoranthene co-contaminated soils.

Two Kagóme cobalt(II)-organic layers of [Co3 (μ3 -OH)2 (bdc)2 ]n (1) and [Co3 (μ3 -OH)2 (chdc)2 ]n (2) (bdc=o-benzenedicarboxylate and chdc=1,2-cyclohexanedicarboxylate) that bear bridging OH(-) ligands were explored as water oxidation catalysts (WOCs) for photocatalytic O2 production. The activities of 1 and 2 towards H2 O oxidation were assessed by monitoring the in situ O2 concentration versus time in the reaction medium by utilizing a Clark-type oxygen electrode under photochemical conditions. The oxygen evolution rate (RO2 ) was 24.3 μmol s(-1) g(-1) for 1 and 48.8 μmol s(-1) g(-1) for 2 at pH 8.0. Photocatalytic reaction studies show that 1 and 2 exhibit enhanced activities toward the oxidation of water compared to commercial nanosized Co3 O4 . In scaled-up photoreactions, the pH value of the reaction medium decreased from 8.0 to around 7.0 after 20 min and the O2 production ceased. Based on the amounts of the sacrificial oxidant (K2 S2 O8 ) used, the yield of O2 produced is 49.6 % for 2 and 29.8 % for 1. However, the catalyst can be recycled without a significant loss of catalytic activity. Spectroscopic studies suggest that the structure and composition of recycled 1 and 2 are maintained. In isotope-labeling H2 (18) O (97 % enriched) experiments, the distribution of (16) O(16) O/(16) O(18) O/(18) O(18) O detected was 0:7.55:92.45, which is comparable to the theoretical values of 0.09:5.82:94.09. This work not only provides new catalysts that resemble ligand-protected cobalt oxide materials but also establishes the significance of the existence of OH(-) (or H2 O) binding sites at the metal center in WOCs.

The repair of a cartilage lesion with a hydrogel requires a method for long-term fixation of the hydrogel in the defect site. Attachment of a hydrogel to a base that allows for integration with bone can enable long-term fixation of the hydrogel, but current methods of forming bonds to hydrogels have less than a tenth of the shear strength of the osteochondral junction. This communication describes a new method, nanofiber-enhanced sticking (NEST), for bonding a hydrogel to a base with an adhesive shear strength three times larger than the state-of-the-art. An example of NEST is described in which a nanofibrous bacterial cellulose sheet is bonded to a porous base with a hydroxyapatite-forming cement followed by infiltration of the nanofibrous sheet with hydrogel-forming polymeric materials. This approach creates a mineralized nanofiber bond that mimics the structure of the osteochondral junction, in which collagen nanofibers extend from cartilage into a mineralized region that anchors cartilage to bone.

To increase efficiency of water and nitrogen (N) fertilizer use, this study was conducted with a split-root pot experiment to investigate the effects of different forms of N fertilizer on root growth, photosynthesis, instantaneous water use efficiency (IWUE), and yield of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) under alternate partial root-zone irrigation (APRI). Three irrigation modes comprised conventional irrigation (CI) and two kinds of APRI, i.e., APRI with water content in the drying soil compartment controlled at ≥ 60% or 40% of the water-holding capacity (APRI-60, APRI-40). Two N forms included ammonium-N and nitrate-N supplied as calcium nitrate or ammonium sulfate, respectively. The results show that APRI-60 enhanced root growth and increased leaf IWUE with a slight yield reduction compared with CI regardless of the N form supplied. In contrast, APRI-40 significantly decreased root growth and inhibited photosynthesis, thereby resulting in a significant yield loss. In addition, at the flowering stage tomato plants grew better with ammonium-N than nitrate-N supply; however, at the fruit expansion stage and maturity stage, the tomato plants had a higher biomass accumulation and yield with nitrate-N than ammonium-N supply. Therefore, the application of APRI should consider the soil water condition coupled with an appropriate N form. In the present study, APRI controlled at ≥ 60% of the water-holding capacity (WHC) for the drying soil side with nitrate-N supply was the best water-fertilizer supply for tomato cultivation.

Nitric oxide (NO) is considered as a signaling molecule involved in regulation of diverse physiological processes and stress responses in animals and plants. However, whether NO regulates fungal, particularly edible fungi, response to heavy metal stresses, is unknown. This study investigated the effect of nitric oxide on biological responses of mycelia of Ganoderma lucidum to cadmium (Cd) toxicity. Exposure of Ganoderma lucidum to Cd (400 µM) triggered production of H2O2 and O2(-) in the mycelia and further induced lipid peroxidation as well as sharply decrease of fresh biomass. However, such an effect can be reversed by exogenous supply of NO. Mycelia treated with 100 µM SNP accumulated less H2O2, O2(-), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and fresh biomass of this treatment was improved. Treatment with SNP significantly increased activities of antioxidant enzyme (peroxidase and catalase) to resist Cd stress. Meanwhile, NO-mediated alleviation of Cd toxicity was closely related to the accumulated proline as well as reduced Cd accumulation. These results suggested that NO plays a crucial role in preventing the mycelia of Ganoderma lucidum from Cd toxicity.

The increasing popularity of the Internet and social media is creating new and unique challenges for parents and adolescents regarding the boundaries between parental control and adolescent autonomy in virtual spaces. Drawing on developmental psychology and Communication Privacy Management CPM theory, we conduct a qualitative study to examine the challenge between parental concern for adolescent online safety and teens' desire to independently regulate their own online experiences. Analysis of 12 parent-teen pairs revealed five distinct challenges: a increased teen autonomy and decreased parental control resulting from teens' direct and unmediated access to virtual spaces, b the shift in power to teens who are often more knowledgeable about online spaces and technology, c the use of physical boundaries by parents as a means to control virtual spaces, d an increase in indirect boundary control strategies such as covert monitoring, and e the blurring of lines in virtual spaces between parents' teens and teens' friends.