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Root‐knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) are plant parasites causing annual economic losses amounting to several billion US dollars worldwide. One of the most aggressive species is M. enterolobii, a growing threat to agriculture due to its broad host range and ability to overcome many known resistance genes. Mungbean, a nutritionally and economically valuable crop, is particularly vulnerable to nematodes and pathogens. However, research focusing on mungbean resistance to M. enterolobii is scarce, and the corresponding defense mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, we screened mungbean accessions and identified an accession strongly resistant to M. enterolobii. Transcriptome analysis revealed 2730 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in this resistant accession (CPI106939) compared to 1777 in the susceptible accession (Crystal) 7 days after nematode inoculation. The gene ontology (GO) upregulated in CPI106939 with functions related to plant‐pathogen interactions, plant hormone signaling, oxidative stress, and plant immunity. Plant defense‐related genes (WRKY, PAL, MAPK, POD and PR) were also significantly induced in CPI106939. Metabolome analysis showed that four secondary metabolites related to phenylpropanoid metabolism and lignification were significantly enriched in CPI106939. The induced immune response and secondary metabolites may underpin the enhanced resistance to M. enterolobii, providing insight into the resistance mechanisms in accession CPI106939 as well as candidate genes controlling the interaction between mungbean and its nematode parasite. Our study therefore provides foundations for the breeding of new varieties with intrinsic M. enterolobii resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a study on gene editing in Salvia miltiorrhiza, a plant used in Eastern medicine to treat cardiovascular diseases. The researchers developed a protoplast regeneration system for S. miltiorrhiza using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology. They targeted seven transcription factor genes involved in the production of bioactive compounds in the plant. The study demonstrated high-efficiency gene editing and the regeneration of knockout plants, which could potentially enhance the contents of active compounds in medicinal plants. [Extracted from the article]

The characteristics of global prevalence and high recurrence of bladder cancer has led numerous efforts to develop new treatments. The spontaneous voiding and degradation of the chemodrug hamper the efficacy and effectiveness of intravesical chemotherapy following tumor resection. Herein, the externally thiolated hollow mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN-SH(E)) is fabricated to serve as a platform for improved bladder intravesical therapy. Enhanced mucoadhesive effect of the thiolated nanovector is confirmed with porcine bladder. The permeation-enhancing effect is also verified, and a fragmented distribution pattern of a tight junction protein, claudin-4, indicates the opening of tight junction. Moreover, MSN-SH(E)-associated reprogramming of M2 macrophages to M1-like phenotype is observed in vitro. The antitumor activity of the mitomycin C (MMC)-loaded nanovector (MMC@MSN-SH(E)) is more effective than that of MMC alone in both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, IHC staining is used to analyze IFN-y, TGF-/1, and TNF-a. These observations substantiated the significance of MMC@MSN-SH(E) in promoting anticancer activity, holding the great potential for being used in intravesical therapy for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) dueto its mucoadhesivity, enhanced permeation, immunomodulation, and prolonged and very efficient drug exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient synthesis of novel dinitrogen‐fused heterocycles such as pyrazolo[1,2‐a]cinnoline derivatives have been accomplished by the rhodium(III)‐catalyzed reaction of N‐arylpyrazol‐5‐ones with α‐diazo compounds. This reaction proceeds through a cascade C−H activation/intramolecular cyclization with a broad substrate scope. Furthermore, this protocol is successfully extended to the unusual phosphorus‐containing α‐diazo compounds and cyclic diazo compounds as the cross‐coupling partners to deliver the two new kinds of pyrazolo[1,2‐a]cinnolinones. The control experiments were performed to reveal insight into the mechanism of this reaction, involving reversible C−H activation, migratory insertion of the diazo compound, and cascade cyclization as the key steps of the transformation. Moreover, gram‐scale synthesis and further transformation of the target product demonstrate the synthetic utility of the present protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three new solution‐processable organic semiconductors (1–3) are synthesized and characterized for p‐type organic field effect transistors (OFETs). The backbone of these small molecules is modified by expanding the central core conjugation from thienothiophene (TT) to dithienothiophene (DTT) and tetrathienoacene (TTA), which are end‐capped with soluble β‐substituted alkyl chains dithienothiophenes (DTTR) to generate DTTR‐TT (1), DTTR‐DTT (2), and DTTR‐TTA (3). The highest mobility of 0.016 cm2 V−1 s−1 is achieved using solution‐sheared DTTR‐TTA film due to the extended conjugated TTA core, which enhances the intermolecular interaction and generates an efficient percolation for the OFET channel. Solution blending of crystalline DTTR‐TT small molecules with oriented‐packing polymer dithienothiophene‐thioalkylbithiophene (PDTT‐SBT) polymer leads to significantly enhanced mobilities from 0.0009 up to 0.22 cm2 V−1 s−1, occurring at an optimized 30% DTTR‐TT composition in the blend. Hole mobility of 30% DTTR‐TT blend is 0.22 cm2 V−1 s−1 which is higher than pristine small molecule DTTR‐TT (0.0009 cm2 V−1 s−1) and polymer PDTT‐SBT (0.067 cm2 V−1 s−1), respectively. An efficient strategy to enhance the mobility of small molecule DTTR‐TT by blending with easily synthesizable PDTT‐SBT polymer is reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ecological risk assessment was undertaken using productivity‐susceptibility analysis (PSA) to determine the relative vulnerability of 52 species caught by fisheries in the waters off eastern Taiwan. Overall, eight and 20 species were classified as having high and moderate vulnerability, respectively, and the remaining 24 species were classified as having low vulnerability. The species with the highest vulnerability scores were caught mainly by longline and gillnet fisheries, highlighting the need for improved data collection to facilitate a more detailed investigation using more quantitative methods. The data quality analysis indicated that the quality of data was classified as "moderate" for economically important species. However, many species were considered data‐limited and thus collecting high‐resolution catch and effort information and conducting biological studies, especially relating to age, growth and reproduction, are recommended to improve the reliability of outputs from data‐limited assessments such as PSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Four soluble dialkylated tetrathienoacene (TTAR)‐based small molecular semiconductors featuring the combination of a TTAR central core, π‐conjugated spacers comprising bithiophene (bT) or thiophene (T), and with/without cyanoacrylate (CA) end‐capping moieties are synthesized and characterized. The molecule DbT‐TTAR exhibits a promising hole mobility up to 0.36 cm2 V−1 s−1 due to the enhanced crystallinity of the microribbon‐like films. Binary blends of the p‐type DbT‐TTAR and the n‐type dicyanomethylene substituted dithienothiophene‐quinoid (DTTQ‐11) are investigated in terms of film morphology, microstructure, and organic field‐effect transistor (OFET) performance. The data indicate that as the DbT‐TTAR content in the blend film increases, the charge transport characteristics vary from unipolar (electron‐only) to ambipolar and then back to unipolar (hole‐only). With a 1:1 weight ratio of DbT‐TTAR DTTQ‐11 in the blend, well‐defined pathways for both charge carriers are achieved and resulted in ambipolar transport with high hole and electron mobilities of 0.83 and 0.37 cm2 V−1 s−1, respectively. This study provides a viable way for tuning microstructure and charge carrier transport in small molecules and their blends to achieve high‐performance solution‐processable OFETs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RATIONALE A comparative strategy has been demonstrated using RNase B, a single-site N-linked high-mannose glycoprotein. Glycoproteins are more common with multiple glycosylation sites and with complex glycans. A strategy capable of differentiating the changes caused by glycoprotein concentration, glycosylation site occupancy, and a glycoform profile of complex glycoproteins would be beneficial. METHODS Tryptic-digested glycoproteins were labeled using 12C,H-formaldehyde and 13C, D-formaldehyde, purified, and then analyzed using capillary reversed-phase liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (RPLC/MS). The relative intensity of non-glycosylated peptides provided information on glycoprotein concentration variation. A site-specific glycoform profile variation was obtained by comparing the glycoform profile of CH2 and 13CD2 glycopeptides. Determining the protein concentration and glycoform profile variations allows the glycosylation site occupancy variation to be calculated. RESULTS A strong correlation between the observed and prepared ratios for fetuin glycopeptides from 0.2 to 5 was obtained. Two fetuin samples with different glycoprotein concentrations (4-fold change), glycoform profiles (normal and modified), and glycosylation site occupancies (100% and 50%) were prepared, labeled, mixed, purified, and analyzed using RPLC/MS. The results of the comparative study had a strong correlation with the prepared values. CONCLUSIONS In this report, we demonstrated a comparative analysis of fetuin, a glycoprotein with multiple glycosylation sites and complex sialyl glycans. Compared to our previous approach, we made several modifications including the use of RPLC, a larger mass difference isotope tag, and isotope overlapping correction. The modified approach is expected to be applicable to most glycoproteins. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few years, we have witnessed a growing interest in cyber physical systems (CPSs) that rely on a strong synergy between computational and physical components. CPSs are expected to have a tremendous impact on many critical sectors (such as energy, manufacturing, healthcare, transportation, and aerospace) of the economy. CPSs have the ability to transform the way human-to-human, human-to-object, and object-to-object interactions take place in the physical and virtual worlds. The increasing pervasiveness of wireless sensor networking (WSN) technologies in many applications makes them an important component of emerging CPS designs. We present some of the most important design requirements of CPS architectures. We discuss key sensor network characteristics that can be leveraged in CPS designs. In addition, we also review a few well-known CPS application domains that depend on WSNs in their design architectures and implementations. Finally, we present some of the challenges that still need to be addressed to enable seamless integration of WSN with CPS designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]