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Precipitation δ18O has offered valuable insights into the evolution of the Asian monsoon. Recent researches focusing on precipitation Δ′17O has enhanced our understanding by offering new perspectives beyond those of δ18O, revealing insights into vapor sources and continental recycling. Nevertheless, there remains a lack of interannual triple oxygen isotope data, particularly in the Asian monsoon region. In this study, we analyzed the triple oxygen isotopes and hydrogen isotopes in monthly precipitation samples collected from Chongqing in Southwest China between 2019 and 2022 A.D. Seasonal variations in δD, δ18O, δ17O, and d‐excess values were observed, with lower values during the rainy season and higher values during the dry season, highlighting the impact of changes in moisture sources and local meteorological conditions on seasonal shifts in δD, δ18O, and δ17O. While, mean Δ′17O values were higher in rainy season and lower in dry season. Notably, during rainy season, there is a negative correlation between monthly Δ′17O values and the RH of the vapor source area, as well as a positive correlation with d‐excess. Recalculated Δ′17O values based on RH of oceanic moisture source, are higher than the measured values for this period, indicating the contribution of terrigenous moisture to precipitation in SW China. Precipitation Δ′17O values provide a more precise reflection of changes in moisture source, continental recycling, and evapotranspiration processes that drive water cycling compared Integrating modeling works in future will facilitate the use of precipitation Δ′17O values to quantify the impact of different moisture source on precipitation. Plain Language Summary: In the context of climatic warming, changes in water vapor source areas have substantial implications for the stability of regional water resources. Despite the importance of these changes, few studies have analyzed them using precipitation data from SW China. We conducted monthly measurements of isotopic compositions in precipitation samples collected in monsoonal SW China between 2019 and 2022 A.D. Seasonal variations in δD, δ18O, δ17O, and d‐excess revealed low values during the rainy season (May–October) and significantly higher values during the dry season (November–April). These variations are primarily attributed to different water vapor sources in distinct seasons. Moreover, we observed a negative correlation between precipitation Δ′17O and relative humidity in the source area of the water vapor during the rainy season, suggesting that Δ′17O contains valuable information about the water vapor's source area. Additionally, the relatively higher Δ′17O values observed in the rainy season imply the influence of continental recycling and evapotranspiration processes. Key Points: Characteristics of triple oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in precipitation were analyzed based on a 4‐year monitoring period in Southwest ChinaTriple oxygen isotopes in precipitation serve as indicators of the extent of isotopic fractionation in water vapor between different seasonsChanges in precipitation Δ′17O show a negative correlation with relative humidity from the moisture source area during the rainy season [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: B(A) phenotype is usually formed by nucleotide mutations in the ABO*B.01 allele, with their products exhibiting glycosyltransferases (GTs) A and B overlapping functionality. We herein report a B(A) allele found in a Chinese family. Materials and Methods: The entire ABO genes of the probands, including flanking regulatory regions, were sequenced through PacBio third‐generation long‐read single‐molecule real‐time sequencing. 3D molecular models of the wild‐type and mutant GTB were generated using the DynaMut web server. The effect of the mutation on the enzyme function was predicted by PROVEAN and PolyPhen2. The predictions of stability changes were performed using DynaMut and SNPeffect. Results: Based on serological and sequencing features, we concluded the two probands as possible cases of the B(A) phenotype. Crystallization analysis showed that Thr266 substitution does not disrupt the hydrogen bonds. However, some changes in interatomic contacts, such as loss of ionic interactions and hydrophobic contacts, and addition of weak hydrogen bonds, may have affected protein stability to some extent. This mutation was predicted to have a benign effect on enzyme function and slightly reduce protein stability. Conclusion: The probands had the same novel B(A) allele with a c.797T>C (p.Met266Thr) mutation on the ABO*B.01 backbone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Arabidopsis RESISTANCE TO POWDERY MILDEW 8.1 (RPW8.1) is an important tool for engineering broad‐spectrum disease resistance against multiple pathogens. Ectopic expression of RPW8.1 leads to enhanced disease resistance with cell death at leaves and compromised plant growth, implying a regulatory mechanism balancing RPW8.1‐mediated resistance and growth. Here, we show that RPW8.1 constitutively enhances the expression of transcription factor WRKY51 and activates salicylic acid and ethylene signalling pathways; WRKY51 in turn suppresses RPW8.1 expression, forming a feedback regulation loop. RPW8.1 and WRKY51 are both induced by pathogen infection and pathogen−/microbe‐associated molecular patterns. In ectopic expression of RPW8.1 background (R1Y4), overexpression of WRKY51 not only rescues the growth suppression and cell death caused by RPW8.1, but also suppresses RPW8.1‐mediated broad‐spectrum disease resistance and pattern‐triggered immunity. Mechanistically, WRKY51 directly binds to and represses RPW8.1 promoter, thus limiting the expression amplitude of RPW8.1. Moreover, WRKY6, WRKY28 and WRKY41 play a role redundant to WRKY51 in the suppression of RPW8.1 expression and are constitutively upregulated in R1Y4 plants with WRKY51 being knocked out (wrky51 R1Y4) plants. Notably, WRKY51 has no significant effects on disease resistance or plant growth in wild type without RPW8.1, indicating a specific role in RPW8.1‐mediated disease resistance. Altogether, our results reveal a regulatory circuit controlling the accumulation of RPW8.1 to an appropriate level to precisely balance growth and disease resistance during pathogen invasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tumor necrosis factor receptors (TNFRs) are promising targets for cancer therapy. However, activating their downstream signaling requires cross‐linking of TNFRs. Herein, to devise strong agonists of TNFRs, ligands targeting TNFRs, such as OX40L and tumor necrosis factor‐related apoptosis‐inducing ligand (TRAIL), were fused with a multivalent protein scaffold (MV) to prepare multivalent agonists for cross‐linking TNFRs. The nano‐clustered multivalent‐OX40L (MV‐OX40L) and MV‐TRAIL could promote T cell activation and directly induce tumor cell apoptosis. Moreover, to develop a universal nano‐adaptor for the rapid preparation of multivalent agonists of different TNFRs, the Fc receptor that could immobilize antibodies was fused with MV to prepare MV‐FcR, which could multimerize commercial agonist antibodies targeting TNFRs, such as anti‐OX40 antibody (αOX40). Simply incubating αOX40 with MV‐FcR could prepare MV‐αOX40 to enhance its antitumor efficacy. In addition, MV‐FcR could multimerize with other therapeutic antibodies, such as anti‐PD‐L1 antibody, to enhance their valency. This study provides a promising strategy for engineering multivalent antitumor protein drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: The Rh blood group system is the most polymorphic human blood group system. Previous studies have investigated variants in the RHD and RHCE promoter. The relevance of these variants to the Chinese Han population is further clarified in this study. Materials and Methods: In total, 317 donors (223 Rh D‐positive [D+], including 20 Del and 94 Rh D‐negative [D−]) were randomly selected. The promoter regions and exon 1 of RHD and RHCE were amplified through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) whose products were directly sequenced using forward and reverse primers. Results: Expected PCR products of the RHD promoter and exon 1 were amplified in 223 D+ individuals, including 20 Del individuals, and were absent in 81 of 94 D− individuals. Expected PCR products of RHCE were observed in all donors. Two single nucleotide variants (SNVs) were observed in the RHD promoter region. Moreover, 11 SNVs were observed in the promoter and exon 1 of RHCE. rs4649082, rs2375313, rs2281179, rs2072933, rs2072932, rs2072931 and rs586178 with strong linkage disequilibria were significantly different between the D+ and D− groups. [A;C] was the most common haplotype in the RHD promoter (NC_000001.11:g.[−1033A>G;−831C>T]). [G;T;T;A;T;A;C;G;A;C;G] was the most predominant haplotype in both total and D− groups. In D+ individuals, [A;C;T;G;C;G;C;G;C;C;C] was the most frequent haplotype in the RHCE promoter (NC_000001.11:g.[−1080A>G;−958C>T;−390T>C;−378G>A;−369C>T;−296G>A;−144C>G;−132G>A;−122C>A;28C>T;48C>G]). Conclusion: We speculate that the SNVs/haplotypes found in this article cannot significantly affect gene expression. The present study findings should help elucidate the molecular basis of the polymorphic expression of RHD and RHCE promoter regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polyurethane elastomers (PUEs) serve a vital role in our daily life and various industrial applications, but their flammability has been proven to be a significant drawback. In this work, we have successfully fabricated two modified gallic acids (GAP and GAN) by simple esterification, both of which are effective flame retardants and cross‐linkers for PUEs. According to thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and limiting oxygen index (LOI) tests, the introduction of GAP and GAN conspicuously improves the char yield (4.9~5.8 wt.%) and LOI value of PUEs (33~35 %). The cone calorimetry tests suggest that the peak heat release rate (PHRR) and total heat release (THR) of PUE decrease significantly, while the fire performance index (FPI) value increase after GAP or GAN modification. Both GAP and GAN enhance the density and strength of carbon residues, and inhibit the generation of combustible volatile gas during the combustion process, thereby improving the fire safety of PUEs. In addition, both GAP and GAN contain multiple benzene rings and hydrogen bonding, which can improve the cross‐linking density of PUEs to enhance their mechanical properties (the elongation at break: 844~951 %; tensile strength: 6.37~8.13 MPa). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are considered a major cause of ageing and ageing‐related diseases through protein carbonylation. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms that confer protection against ROS. Here, we observed that, compared with nondiapause‐destined pupae, high protein carbonyl levels are present in the brains of diapause‐destined pupae, which is a 'non‐ageing' phase in the moth Helicoverpa armigera. Protein carbonyl levels respond to ROS and decrease metabolic activity to induce diapause in order to extend lifespan. However, protein carbonylation in the brains of diapause‐destined pupae still occurs at a physiological level compared to young adult brains. We find that ROS activate Akt, and Akt then phosphorylates the transcription factor CREB to facilitate its nuclear import. CREB binds to the promoter of carbonyl reductase 1 (CBR1) and regulates its expression. High CBR1 levels reduce protein carbonyl levels to maintain physiological levels. This is the first report showing that the moth brain can naturally control protein carbonyl levels through a distinct ROS‐Akt‐CREB‐CBR1 pathway to extend lifespan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Arabidopsis RESISTANCE TO POWDERY MILDEW 8.2 (RPW8.2) is specifically induced by the powdery mildew (PM) fungus (Golovinomyces cichoracearum) in the infected epidermal cells to activate immunity. However, the mechanism of RPW8.2‐induction is not well understood.Here, we identify a G. cichoracearum effector that interacts with RPW8.2, named Gc‐RPW8.2 interacting protein 1 (GcR8IP1), by a yeast two‐hybrid screen of an Arabidopsis cDNA library.GcR8IP1 is physically associated with RPW8.2 with its REALLY INTERESTING NEW GENE finger domain that is essential and sufficient for the association. GcR8IP1 was secreted and translocated into the nucleus of host cell infected with PM. Association of GcR8IP1 with RPW8.2 led to an increase in RPW8.2 in the nucleus. In turn, the nucleus‐localized RPW8.2 promoted the activity of the RPW8.2 promoter, resulting in transcriptional self‐amplification of RPW8.2 to boost immunity at infection sites. Additionally, ectopic expression or host‐induced gene silencing of GcR8IP1 supported its role as a virulence factor in PM.Altogether, our results reveal a mechanism of RPW8.2‐dependent defense strengthening via altered partitioning of RPW8.2 and transcriptional self‐amplification triggered by a PM fungal effector, which exemplifies an atypical form of effector‐triggered immunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of studies have found that long non‐coding RNA (lncRNA) play important roles in driving the progression of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Our microarray screening revealed that expression of the lncRNA long intergenic non‐protein coding RNA 173 (LINC00173) was upregulated in NPC. However, its role and mechanism in NPC have not yet been elucidated. In this study, we demonstrate that high LINC00173 expression indicated a poor prognosis in NPC patients. Knockdown of LINC00173 significantly inhibited NPC cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro. Mechanistically, LINC00173 interacted and colocalized with Ras‐related protein Rab‐1B (RAB1B) in the cytoplasm, but the modulation of LINC00173 expression did not affect the expression of RAB1B at either the mRNA or protein levels. Instead, relying on the stimulation of RAB1B, LINC00173 could facilitate the extracellular secretion of proliferation‐associated 2G4 (PA2G4) and stromal cell‐derived factor 4 (SDF4; also known as 45‐kDa calcium‐binding protein) proteins, and knockdown of these proteins could reverse the NPC aggressive phenotype induced by LINC00173 overexpression. Moreover, in vivo LINC00173‐knockdown models exhibited a marked slowdown in tumor growth and a significant reduction in lymph node and lung metastases. In summary, LINC00173 serves as a crucial driver for NPC progression, and the LINC00173–RAB1B–PA2G4/SDF4 axis might provide a potential therapeutic target for NPC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method for identifying the relaxation modulus or creep compliance of composite propellant based on indentation technique is proposed, which can rapidly and nondestructively measure the mechanical properties of solid rocket motor grain in storage. According to viscoelastic indentation theories, a constitutive model for conical indentation is derived to predict the mechanical parameters of composite propellants. The indentation test with different loading rates and the traditional tensile stress relaxation test for a certain PBT composite propellant were carried out to verify the feasibility of the proposed method. The results show that the prediction results calculated by the constitutive model are in good agreement with the load‐displacement curves of the indentation test, and the mechanical parameters identified by the constitutive model are similar to those parameters fitted by the tensile stress relaxation test. Relevant methods and conclusions can provide a reference for structural analysis and storage life prediction of solid rocket motors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, published in the journal Transfusion, discusses the identification of a novel DEL allele with a synonymous mutation on the RHD*01EL.01 allele background. The DEL phenotype is characterized by extremely low levels of D-antigen expression and can only be detected through specific tests. The study presents the case of a Chinese male blood donor who was found to have this novel DEL allele. The mutation resulted in a synonymous mutation in the 137th amino acid. The article provides detailed methods and results of the study, including the sequencing of the RHD, RHCE, and RHAG genes. The frequency of this novel DEL allele and its association with other genes is not available. The study was supported by the Science and Technology Plan Project of Liaoning Province and the authors declare no conflict of interest. [Extracted from the article]

Summary: Rice production is threatened by multiple pathogens. Breeding cultivars with broad‐spectrum disease resistance is necessary to maintain and improve crop production. Previously we found that overexpression of miR160a enhanced rice blast disease resistance. However, it is unclear whether miR160a also regulates resistance against other pathogens, and what the downstream signaling pathways are.Here, we demonstrate that miR160a positively regulates broad‐spectrum resistance against the causative agents of blast, leaf blight and sheath blight in rice. Mutations of miR160a‐targeted Auxin Response Factors result in different alteration of resistance conferred by miR160a. miR160a enhances disease resistance partially by suppressing ARF8, as mutation of ARF8 in MIM160 background partially restores the compromised resistance resulting from MIM160.ARF8 protein binds directly to the promoter and suppresses the expression of WRKY45, which acts as a positive regulator of rice immunity. Mutation of WRKY45 compromises the enhanced blast resistance and bacterial leaf blight resistance conferred by arf8 mutant.Overall, our results reveal that a microRNA coordinates rice broad‐spectrum disease resistance by suppressing multiple target genes that play different roles in disease resistance, and uncover a new regulatory pathway mediated by the miR160a‐ARF8 module. These findings provide new resources to potentially improve disease resistance for breeding in rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The olive genus Olea includes c. 30–40 taxa in three subgenera (Olea, Tetrapilus, and Paniculatae) within the family Oleaceae. Historically, the Olea genus was classified into four groups that were overall well supported by reconstructed phylogenies, despite incomplete sampling of subgenus Tetrapilus and poor resolution within clades. These analyses also showed that the genus was not monophyletic. Reliable identification of Olea species is important for both their conservation and utilization of this economically important genus. In this study, we used phylogenomic data from genome skimming to resolve relationships within Olea and to identify molecular markers for species identification. We assembled the complete plastomes, and nrDNA of 26 individuals representing 13 species using next‐generation sequencing and added 18 publicly available accessions of Olea. We also developed nuclear SNPs using the genome skimming data to infer the phylogenetic relationships of Olea. Large‐scale phylogenomic analyses of 138 samples of tribe Oleeae supported the polyphyly of Olea, with Olea caudatilimba and Olea subgenus Tetrapilus not sharing their most recent common ancestor with the main Olea clade (subgenus Paniculatae and subgenus Olea). The interspecific phylogenetic resolution was poor owing to a possible rapid radiation. By comparing with the plastome data, we identified the markers ycf1b and psbE‐petL as the best Olea‐specific chloroplast DNA barcodes. Compared with universal barcodes, specific DNA barcodes and super‐barcode exhibited higher discriminatory power. Our results demonstrated the power of phylogenomics to improve phylogenetic relationships of intricate groups and provided new insights into barcodes that allow for accurate identification of Olea species. Highlights: Genus Olea was a polyphyletic group and had undergone rapid radiation.ycf1b and psbE‐petL were two Olea‐specific chloroplast DNA barcodes.Plastome sequence data had effective power to improve phylogenetic resolution and species discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is widely used in breast cancer screening. Accurate prediction of the axillary lymph nodes metastasis (ALNM) is essential for breast cancer surgery and treatment. However, there is no mature and effective discerning method for ALNM based on multiparametric MRI. Purpose: To evaluate the ALNM using T1‐weighted imaging (T1WI), T2‐weighted imaging (T2WI), and diffusion‐weighted imaging (DWI) sequences, respectively, and construct a quantitative ALNM discerning model of integrated multiparametric MRI. Study Type: Retrospective. Population: Three‐hundred forty‐eight breast cancer patients, 163 with ALNM (99.39% females), and 185 without ALNM (100% females). The dataset was randomly divided into the training set (315 cases) and the testing set (33 cases). Field Strength/Sequence: 1.5 T; T1WI (VIBRANT), T2WI (FSE), and DWI (echo planar imaging [EPI]). Assessment: The lesion region of interest images were cropped and sent to a pretrained ResNet50 network. Then, the results of different sequences were sent to a classifier for ensemble learning to construct the ALNM model of multiparametric MRI. Statistical Tests: Performance indicators such as accuracy, the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) were calculated. Student's t‐test, chi‐square test, Fisher's exact test, and Delong test were performed, and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: T2WI performed the best among the three sequences, and achieved the accuracy and AUC of 0.933/0.989 in the testing set. Compared to T1WI with the accuracy and AUC of 0.691/0.806, the increase is significant. While compared to DWI with the accuracy and AUC of 0.800/0.910, the improvement is not significant (P = 0.126). After integrating three sequences, the accuracy and AUC improved to 0.970 and 0.996. Data Conclusion: T2WI performed better than DWI and T1WI in discerning ALNM in this breast cancer dataset. The proposed quantitative model of integrated multiparametric MRI could effectively help the ALNM diagnosis. Level of Evidence: 1 Technical Efficacy Stage: 2 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, published in the journal Transfusion, discusses the identification of a novel O allele in the ABO blood group system. The study used PacBio sequencing to analyze the ABO gene in a Chinese individual with a B(A) phenotype. The results revealed a c.777C>G variant on the ABO*O.01.02 allele background, which encodes a truncated, inactive protein. This novel allele is rare and has not been previously reported. The findings contribute to the understanding of genetic diversity in the ABO blood group system. [Extracted from the article]

Pyroptosis is associated with various cardiovascular diseases. Increasing evidence suggests that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been implicated in gene regulation, but how lncRNAs participate in the regulation of pyroptosis in the heart remains largely unknown. In this study, we aimed to explore the antipyroptotic effects of lncRNA FGF9-associated factor (FAF) in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The expression patterns of lncRNA FAF, miR-185-5p and P21 activated kinase 2 (PAK2) were detected in hypoxia/ischaemia-induced cardiomyocytes. Hoechst 33342/PI staining, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assay, immunofluorescence and Western blotting were conducted to assay cell pyroptosis. The interaction between lncRNA FAF, miR-185-5p and PAK2 was verified by bioinformatics analysis, small RNA sequencing luciferase reporter assay and qRT-PCR. The expression of LncRNA FAF was downregulated in hypoxic cardiomyocytes and myocardial tissues. Overexpression of lncRNA FAF could attenuate cardiomyocyte pyroptosis, improve cell viability and reduce infarct size during the procession of AMI. Moreover, lncRNA FAF was confirmed as a sponge of miR-185-5p and promoted PAK2 expression in cardiomyocytes. Collectively, our findings reveal a novel lncRNA FAF/miR-185-5p/PAK2 axis as a crucial regulator in cardiomyocyte pyroptosis, which might be a potential therapeutic target of AMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, metal‐organic frameworks composed of polydentate carboxylic acid esters and pyridyl ligands have attracted much attention because these ligands can adopt a variety of coordination modes to form crystalline products exhibiting interesting structures and various properties. A new cadmium(II) metal‐organic framework (MOF), poly[[half[μ5‐2,5‐di(4‐carboxy‐phenylthio) terephthalic acid‐κ5O1#3 : O2#3 : O3#2 : O4 : O4#2]][μ2‐1,2‐di(pyridin‐4‐yl)diazene‐κ2N1 : N4#1]cadmium(II)], namely [Cd(C22H10O8S2)0.5(C10H10N4)]n or [Cd(PSTP)0.5(4‐DiPyDz)]n, is constructed from CdII ions, 2,5‐di(4‐carboxy‐phenylthio) terephthalic acid (H4PSTP) and 1,2‐di(pyridin‐4‐yl)diazene (4‐DiPyDz) ligands under solvothermal conditions. The title compound was structurally characterized by single crystal X‐ray diffraction analysis, elemental analysis, powder X‐ray diffraction and IR spectroscopy. This structure indicates that in situ reduction of 4‐DiPyDz occurs during synthesis, containing a CdII center, a primary ligand H4PSTP and an ancillary ligand 4‐DiPyDz in one asymmetric unit. Thermal stability, solid state photoluminescence, and the ability to detect small organic molecules as fluorescent probes have also been investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play vital roles in plant development and defence responses against various stresses. Here, we show that blocking miR1871 improves rice resistance against Magnaporthe oryzae and enhances grain yield simultaneously. The transgenic lines overexpressing miR1871 (OX1871) exhibit compromised resistance, suppressed defence responses and reduced panicle number resulting in slightly decreased yield. In contrast, the transgenic lines blocking miR1871 (MIM1871) show improved resistance, enhanced defence responses and significantly increased panicle number leading to enhanced yield per plant. The RNA‐seq assay and defence response assays reveal that blocking miR1871 resulted in the enhancement of PAMP‐triggered immunity (PTI). Intriguingly, miR1871 suppresses the expression of LOC_Os06g22850, which encodes a microfibrillar‐associated protein (MFAP1) locating nearby the cell wall and positively regulating PTI responses. The mutants of MFAP1 resemble the phenotype of OX1871. Conversely, the transgenic lines overexpressing MFAP1 (OXMFAP1) or overexpressing both MFAP1 and miR1871 (OXMFAP1/OX1871) resemble the resistance of MIM1871. The time‐course experiment data reveal that the expression of miR1871 and MFAP1 in rice leaves, panicles and basal internode is dynamic during the whole growth period to manipulate the resistance and yield traits. Our results suggest that miR1871 regulates rice yield and immunity via MFAP1, and the miR8171‐MFAP1 module could be used in rice breeding to improve both immunity and yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY Many rice microRNAs have been identified as fine‐tuning factors in the regulation of agronomic traits and immunity. Among them, Osa‐miR535 targets SQUAMOSA promoter binding protein‐like 14 (OsSPL14) to positively regulate tillers but negatively regulate yield and immunity. Here, we uncovered that Osa‐miR535 targets another SPL gene, OsSPL4, to suppress rice immunity against Magnaporthe oryzae. Overexpression of Osa‐miR535 significantly decreased the accumulation of the fusion protein SPL4TBS‐YFP that contains the target site of Osa‐miR535 in OsSPL4. Consistently, Osa‐miR535 mediated the cleavage of OsSPL4 mRNA between the 10th and 11th base pair of the predicted binding site at the 3′ untranslated region. Transgenic rice lines overexpressing OsSPL4 (OXSPL4) displayed enhanced blast disease resistance accompanied by enhanced immune responses, including increased expression of defense‐relative genes and up‐accumulated H2O2. By contrast, the knockout mutant osspl4 exhibited susceptibility. Moreover, OsSPL4 binds to the promoter of GH3.2, an indole‐3‐acetic acid‐amido synthetase, and promotes its expression. Together, these data indicate that Os‐miR535 targets OsSPL4 and OsSPL4‐GH3.2, which may parallel the OsSPL14‐WRKY45 module in rice blast disease resistance. Significance Statement: Previously, Osa‐miR535 was identified to target SPL14 to regulate rice immunity. Here, we identified that Osa‐miR535 targets another SPL family gene, OsSPL4. OsSPL4 binds the promoter of GH3.2 to positively regulate rice immunity, which functionally parallels with OsSPL14‐WRKY45 module downstream of Osa‐miR535. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel dual‐band dual‐polarization Fabry‐Pérot resonator antenna (FPRA) is presented, which is composed of double‐layer frequency selective surfaces (FSS1 and FSS2) and planar patch antenna. By analyzing the passband and stopband characteristics of the FSS1 and the FSS2, it is revealed that FSS1 has stopband characteristic for low frequency and passband characteristic for high frequency, while FSS2 shows stopband characteristic for high frequency and passband characteristic for low frequency. Based on these traits, the gain is improved by the high‐reflection coefficient of FSS1 at low frequency. The linear to circular polarization (CP) conversion is achieved by FSS2 at high frequency. To verify the performance of this proposed design, a prototype FPRA is fabricated and measured. The measurement results show that the peak gain of antenna reaches 16.1 dBic with CP at 9.4 GHz and 15.3 dBi with linear polarization at 5.6 GHz. The measured 3‐dB gain bandwidths is from 5.35 GHz to 5.8 GHz in the lower band, and the combined fractional bandwidth (−10 dB impedance matching, 3‐dB measured gain, and 3‐dB axial ratio) from 9.27 to 9.55 GHz in the upper band is achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peonies (the Paeoniaceae, Paeonia L.) are famous garden flowers, medicinal plants, and edible oil crops, but their evolutionary history largely remains unknown. To probe into their phylogenetic relationships, evolutionary history, formation of present distribution pattern, and origins of tetraploids, we sequenced 25 fragments belonging to 20 single copy nuclear genes and 14 chloroplast regions of all species in the genus to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships, date the divergence times of lineages, infer the ancestral biogeographical regions, and document the parents of tetraploids. Our results show that Paeoniaceae separated from the other members in Saxifragales in the Campanian of the late Cretaceous and diverged into two clades, woody and herbaceous clades, in the late Oligocene or early Miocene. They survived and early diverged in the Pan‐Himalaya where they migrated eastwards to East Asia and further to NW America, and northwards to Middle Asia, and further to Europe. The woody lineage differentiated into two sublineages with accelerated root or floral disk evolution, while the herbaceous lineage diverged into five sublineages. Multiple glacial and interglacial cycles in Europe in the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene created opportunities for the peony species to meet and hybridize in the Mediterranean refugia, giving rise to eight allotetraploid species and four infraspecific tetraploids. Paeonia daurica Andrews, P. obovata Maxim., and P. tenuifolia L. served as the most important parents. The phylogeny of Paeonia L. implies that a new taxonomic system with two subgenera and seven sections should be proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This research aims to analyze the diagnostic contribution of different discriminative regions of the breast ultrasound image and develop a more effective diagnosis method taking advantage of the discriminative regions' complementarity. Methods: First, the discriminative regions of the original breast ultrasound image as the inner region of the lesion, the marginal zone of the lesion, and the posterior echo region of the lesion were defined. The pretrained Inception‐V3 network was used to analyze the diagnostic contribution of these discriminative regions. Then, the network was applied to extract the deep features of the original image and the other three discriminative region images. Since there are many features, principal components analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the dimensionality of the extracted deep features. The selected deep features from different discriminative regions were fused to original image features and sent to the stacking ensemble learning classifier for classification experiments. In this study, 479 cases of breast ultrasound images, including 356 benign lesions and 123 malignant ones, were collected retrospectively and randomly divided into the training and validation set. Results: Experimental results show that by using Inception‐V3, the diagnostic performance of each discriminative region is different, and the diagnostic accuracy and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of the lesion marginal zone image (78.3%, 0.798) are higher than those of the lesion inner region image (73.3%, 0.763) and the posterior echo region image (71.7%, 0.688), but lower than those of the original image (80.0%, 0.817). Furthermore, the best classification performance was obtained when all the four types of deep features (from the original image and three discriminative region images) were fused, and the ensemble learning for classification evaluation was employed. Compared with the original image, the classification accuracy and AUC increased from 80.83%, 0.818 to 85.00%, 0.872, and the classification sensitivity and specificity varied from 0.710, 0.798 to 0.871, 0.787. Conclusions: The inner region of the lesion, the marginal zone of the lesion, and the posterior echo region of the lesion play significant roles in the diagnosis of the breast ultrasound image. Deep feature fusion of these three kinds of images and the original image can effectively improve the accuracy of diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The brown planthopper (BPH) and striped stem borer (SSB) are the most devastating insect pests in rice (Oryza sativa) producing areas. Screening for endogenous resistant genes is the most practical strategy for rice insect‐resistance breeding. Forty‐five mutants showing high resistance against BPH were identified in a rice T‐DNA insertion population (11,000 putative homozygous lines) after 4 years of large‐scale field BPH‐resistance phenotype screening. Detailed analysis showed that deficiency of rice mitochondrial outer membrane protein 64 (OM64) gene resulted in increased resistance to BPH. Mitochondrial outer membrane protein 64 protein is located in the outer mitochondrial membrane by subcellular localization and its deficiency constitutively activated hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) signaling, which stimulated antibiosis and tolerance to BPH. The om64 mutant also showed enhanced resistance to SSB, a chewing insect, which was due to promotion of Jasmonic acid biosynthesis and related responses. Importantly, om64 plants presented no significant changes in rice yield‐related characters. This study confirmed OM64 as a negative regulator of rice herbivore resistance through regulating H2O2 production. Mitochondrial outer membrane protein 64 is a potentially efficient candidate to improve BPH and SSB resistance through gene deletion. Why the om64 mutant was resistant to both piercing‐sucking and chewing insects via a gene deficiency in mitochondria is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species concept and delimitation are fundamental to taxonomic and evolutionary studies. Both inadequate informative sites in the molecular data and limited taxon sampling have often led to poor phylogenetic resolution and incorrect species delineation. Recently, the whole chloroplast genome sequences from extensive herbarium specimen samples have been shown to be effective to amend the problem. Stachyuraceae are a small family consisting of only one genus Stachyurus of six to 16 species. However, species delimitation in Stachyurus has been highly controversial because of few and generally unstable morphological characters used for classification. In this study, we sampled 69 individuals of seven species (each with at least three individuals) covering the entire taxonomic diversity, geographic range, and morphological variation of Stachyurus from herbarium specimens for genome‐wide plastid gene sequencing to address species delineation in the genus. We obtained high‐quality DNAs from specimens using a recently developed DNA reconstruction technique. We first assembled four whole chloroplast genome sequences. Based on the chloroplast genome and one nuclear ribosomal DNA sequence of Stachyurus, we designed primers for multiplex polymerase chain reaction and high throughput sequencing of 44 plastid loci for species of Stachyurus. Data of these chloroplast DNA and nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer sequences were used for phylogenetic analyses. The phylogenetic results showed that the Japanese species Stachyurus praecox Siebold & Zucc. was sister to the rest in mainland China, which indicated a typical Sino‐Japanese distribution pattern. Based on diagnostic morphological characters, distinct distributional range, and monophyly of each clade, we redefined seven species for Stachyurus following an integrative species concept, and revised the taxonomy of the family based on previous reports and specimens, in particular the type specimens. Furthermore, our divergence time estimation results suggested that Stachyuraceae split from its sister group Crossosomataceae from the New World at ca. 54.29 Mya, but extant species of Stachyuraceae started their diversification only recently at ca. 6.85 Mya. Diversification time of Stachyurus in mainland China was estimated to be ca. 4.45 Mya. This research has provided an example of using the herbarium specimen‐based phylogenomic approach in resolving species boundaries in a taxonomically difficult genus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are known to fine‐tune growth, development, and stress‐induced responses. Osa‐miR1873 is a rice‐specific miRNA targeting LOC_Os05g01790. Here, we show that Osa‐miR1873 fine‐tunes rice immunity against Magnaporthe oryzae and yield traits via LOC_Os05g01790. Osa‐miR1873 was significantly upregulated in a susceptible accession but downregulated in a resistance accession at 24 h post‐inoculation (hpi) of M. oryzae. Overexpressing Osa‐miR1873 enhanced susceptibility to M. oryzae and compromised induction of defense responses. In contrast, blocking Osa‐miR1873 through target mimicry compromised susceptibility to M. oryzae and enhanced induction of defense responses. Altered expression of Osa‐miR1873 also resulted in some defects in yield traits, including grain numbers and seed setting rate. Moreover, overexpression of the target gene LOC_Os05g01790 increased rice blast disease resistance but severely penalized growth and yield. Taken together, we demonstrate that Osa‐miR1873 fine‐tunes the rice immunity‐growth trade‐off via LOC_Os05g01790, and blocking Osa‐miR1873 could improve blast disease resistance without significant yield penalty. Thus, the Osa‐miR1873‐LOC_Os05g01790 regulatory module is valuable in balancing yield traits and blast resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grain size is a major determinant of cereal grain yields; however, the relevant regulatory mechanisms controlling this trait have not been fully elucidated. The rice (Oryza sativa) mutant short grain6 (sg6) was identified based on its reduced grain length and weight. Here, we functionally characterized the role of SG6 in determining grain size through the regulation of spikelet hull cell division. SG6 encodes a previously uncharacterized plant AT‐rich sequence and zinc‐binding (PLATZ) protein that is ubiquitously localized throughout the cell and is preferentially expressed in the early developing panicles but not in the endosperm. The overexpression of SG6 resulted in significantly larger and heavier grains, as well as increased plant heights, which is consistent with its elevated spikelet hull cell division rate. Yeast two‐hybrid analyses revealed that SG6 interacts with the core cell cycle machinery DP protein and several other putative cell division regulators, consistent with our transcriptomic analysis, which showed that SG6 activates the expression of many DNA replication and cell‐cycle‐related genes. These results confirm the crucial role of SG6 in determining grain size by regulating spikelet hull cell division and provide clues for understanding the functions of PLATZ family proteins and the network regulating cereal grain size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a dependent risk factor in the progression of intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD). High glucose supply has negative effects on nucleus pulpous (NP) cell and mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) biology. However, the effect of hyperglycaemia on the biological characterization of nucleus pulpous‐derived mesenchymal stem cell (NPMSC) has not been investigated previously. Therefore, further exploration of the effects of DM‐associated hyperglycaemia on NPMSC biology is important to better understand and develop endogenous repair strategies of DM patient‐associated IVDD. Therefore, the cell biological characteristics were compared between NPMSC cultured in media with low glucose concentration (LG‐NPMSC) and high glucose concentration (HG‐NPMSC). The results demonstrated that HG‐NPMSC showed significantly decreased cell proliferation, colony formation ability, migration and wound‐healing capability compared with those of LG‐NPMSC. HG‐NPMSC also showed significantly decreased expressions of stemness genes and mRNA and protein expressions of silent information regulator protein 1 (SIRT1), SIRT6, hypoxia inducible factor‐1α (HIF‐1α) and glucose transporter 1 (GLUT‐1), whereas increased cell apoptosis, cell senescence and caspase‐3 expression. These results suggest that high glucose may decrease proliferation and stemness maintenance ability and increase apoptosis and senescence of NPMSC. Significance of the study: We found that high glucose concentration significantly decreased cell proliferation, colony formation ability, migration and wound‐healing capability of nucleus pulposus‐derived mesenchymal stem cells. Moreover, high glucose cultured nucleus pulposus‐derived mesenchymal stem cells showed significantly decreased expression of stemness genes, related mRNA and protein, whereas increased cell apoptosis, cell senescence and expression of caspase‐3. The present study indicated that better control of high concentration glucose in the early stage of diabetes mellitus should be recommended to prevent or limit intervertebral disc degeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gene flow is an important evolutionary force that enables adaptive responses of plant pathogens in response to changes in the environment and plant disease management strategies. In this study, we made a direct inference concerning gene flow in the Irish famine pathogen Phytophthora infestans between two of its hosts (potato and tomato) as well as between China and India. This was done by comparing sequence characteristics of the eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1 alpha (eEF‐1α) gene, generated from 245 P. infestans isolates sampled from two countries and hosts. Consistent with previous results, we found that eEF‐1α gene was highly conserved and point mutation was the only mechanism generating any sequence variation. Higher genetic variation was found in the eEF‐1α sequences in the P. infestans populations sampled from tomato compared to those sampled from potato. We also found the P. infestans population from India displayed a higher genetic variation in the eEF‐1α sequences compared to China. No gene flow was detected between the pathogen populations from the two countries, which is possibly attributed to the geographic barrier caused by Himalaya Plateau and the minimum cross‐border trade of potato and tomato products. The implications of these results for a sustainable management of late blight diseases are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photinia and its morphologically similar allies in Maleae (Rosaceae) consist of five currently recognized genera: Aronia, Heteromeles, Photinia, Pourthiaea, and Stranvaesia, and 68 species, distributed in Asia and North and Central America. Despite previous efforts to clarify relationships in this group, the generic delimitations have remained uncertain. Our goals were to reconstruct a robust phylogeny of Photinia and its close allies to test the monophyly of the currently recognized genera, especially Photinia and Stranvaesia, and the hybrid origin hypothesis of Photinia bodinieri. This study employs complete plastomes and the entire nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) repeats assembled from the genome skimming approach with a broad taxon sampling of 81 species in 30 genera of Rosaceae, especially Maleae. Based on three datasets, including the whole plastome, coding sequence, and nrDNA repeats, the results of maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference analyses showed that the previously circumscribed Stranvaesia and Photinia were each non‐monophyletic. Six clades have been recovered herein within Photinia and its allied genera: Aronia, Heteromeles, Photinia s.s., Pourthiaea, Stranvaesia, and a new genus Phippsiomeles consisting of the Central American species formerly placed in Photinia. The strong conflicts between the plastome and nrDNA phylogenies of Phippsiomeles and Stranvaesia tomentosa suggest the possibility that they may have each originated involving hybridization events, while no incongruence among datasets was detected to support the hybrid origin of Photinia bodinieri. We provide 12 new combinations, to transfer eight taxa of the New World Photinia into Phippsiomeles and clarify the generic placements of several species of Photinia and Stranvaesia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The tumor‐associated antigen mucin 1 (MUC1) has been pursued as an attractive target for cancer immunotherapy, but the poor immunogenicity of the endogenous antigen hinders the development of vaccines capable of inducing effective anti‐MUC1 immunodominant responses. Herein, we prepared synthetic anti‐MUC1 vaccines in which the hydrophilic MUC1 antigen was N‐terminally conjugated to one or two palmitoyl lipid chains (to form amphiphilic Pam‐MUC1 or Pam2‐MUC1). These amphiphilic lipid‐tailed MUC1 antigens were self‐assembled into liposomes containing the NKT cell agonist αGalCer as an adjuvant. The lipid‐conjugated antigens reshaped the physical and morphological properties of liposomal vaccines. Promising results showed that the anti‐MUC1 IgG antibody titers induced by the Pam2‐MUC1 vaccine were more than 30‐ and 190‐fold higher than those induced by the Pam‐MUC1 vaccine and the MUC1 vaccine without lipid tails, respectively. Similarly, vaccines with the TLR1/2 agonist Pam3CSK4 as an adjuvant also induced conjugated lipid‐dependent immunological responses. Moreover, vaccines with the αGalCer adjuvant induced significantly higher titers of IgG antibodies than vaccines with the Pam3CSK4 adjuvant. Therefore, the non‐covalent assembly of the amphiphilic lipo‐MUC1 antigen and the NKT cell agonist αGalCer as a glycolipid adjuvant represent a synthetically simple but immunologically effective approach for the development of anti‐MUC1 cancer vaccines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Ischemic cerebral stroke is a leading cause of death and long‐term disability world‐wide. Neuronal injury following cerebral ischemia initiates a complex series of signaling cascades that lead to neuronal cell death. MicroRNA 29b (miR‐29b) has reported involvement in the pathogenic process of ischemic brain injury. Dexmedetomidine (Dex) is a highly selective α2 adrenergic receptor stimulant that exerts a protective effect on brain tissue. To determine whether Dex might directly influence miR‐29b expression after an ischemic injury, human neuroblastoma SK‐N‐SH cells were subjected to oxygen‐glucose deprivation (OGD) for the purpose of creating a neuronal injury model that mimics the effects of brain ischemia in vitro. Next, the association of miR‐29b with the protective effect of Dex against ischemic brain injury was studied through the enhancement or inhibition of miR‐29b expression by transfection with an miR‐29b mimic or inhibitor. We demonstrated that Dex treatment could reduce miR‐29b expression, increase cell viability, and inhibit cell apoptosis in the OGD‐induced neuronal injury model in vitro. Furthermore, down‐regulation of miR‐29b expression produced effects on OGD‐induced neuronal injuries that were similar to those produced by Dex treatment. Moreover, up‐regulation of miR‐29b reversed the protective effect of Dex treatment against OGD‐induced neuronal injury. Therefore, down‐regulation of miR‐29b expression might play a role in anti‐apoptotic signaling similar to that played by Dex. Elucidation of the role played by miR‐29b in ischemia, and identification of a definite association between Dex and miR‐29b may lead to the development of new strategies for treating ischemic brain injuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: We aimed to investigate the diagnostic performance of shear wave elastography (SWE) combined with conventional ultrasonography (US) for differentiating between benign and malignant thyroid nodules of different sizes. Methods: A total of 445 thyroid nodules from 445 patients were divided into 3 groups based on diameter (group 1, ≤ 10 mm; group 2, 10–20 mm; and group 3, > 20 mm). The mean elasticity index of the whole lesion was automatically calculated, and the threshold for differentiation between benign and malignant nodules was constructed by a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Diagnostic performances of conventional US and SWE were compared by using pathologic results as reference standards. Results: The mean elasticity was significantly higher in malignant versus benign nodules for all size groups. The differences in mean elasticity in the size groups were not statistically significant for malignant or benign nodules. The specificity of US combined with SWE for group 1 was significantly higher than that for groups 2 and 3 (77.8% versus 62.9% and 53.3%; P < .05), and compared with group 1, the sensitivity was significantly higher for groups 2 and 3 (92.4% and 94.3% versus 80.7%; P < .05). When SWE was added, the specificity increased and the sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy decreased for group 1, and the sensitivity increased and the specificity decreased for groups 2 and 3; however, the differences were not significant. Conclusions: Combined with SWE, US yielded higher specificity for nodules of 10 mm and smaller and higher sensitivity for nodules larger than 10 mm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the difference and agreement between ultrasonography (US) and computed tomography (CT) for identifying calcifications in thyroid nodules. Methods: Data from the medical records of 20,248 patients were reviewed for preoperative diagnostic investigations and postoperative pathologic diagnoses. In total, 5247 records were selected for analysis based on the presence of calcifications reported in any of the following 3 modes: US, CT, and pathologic analysis. All 5247 patients underwent US examinations, whereas 3827 underwent cervical CT examinations. All patients had a postoperative pathologic diagnosis serving as a reference. The value of US for identification of calcifications and prediction of malignancy was analyzed on the basis of the entire cohort of 5247 records, whereas that of CT was based on 3827 records. The agreement between US and CT was analyzed on the basis of the 3827 common records. Results: Of the 5247 patients who underwent US, 4855 (92.5%) were found to have calcifications, whereas of the 3827 patients who underwent CT, 2040 (53.3%) were found to have calcifications (P <.0005). Among the 404 cases with calcifications reported by pathologic analysis, the agreement rate between US and pathologic findings was significantly higher than that between CT and pathologic findings (87.9% versus 81.9%, respectively; P =.018). Conclusions: US is more sensitive and accurate than CT for detecting calcifications in thyroid nodules. Hence, US is recommended as the preferred imaging modality for calcification detection in thyroid nodules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective spin mixing conductance (ESMC) across the nonmagnetic metal (NM)/ferromagnet interface, spin Hall conductivity (SHC), and spin diffusion length (SDL) in the NM layer govern the functionality and performance of pure spin current devices. It is shown that all three parameters can be tuned significantly via the spin orbit coupling (SOC) strength of the NM layer by virtue of the unique Pd1‐xPtx/Y3Fe5O12 system. Surprisingly, the ESMC is observed to increase significantly with x changing from 0 to 1.0, due to the enhanced local density of states for Pt‐rich alloys. The SHC in PdPt alloys turns out to be dominated by the skew scattering term. In particular, the skew scattering parameter has for the first time been rigorously demonstrated to increase with increasing SOC strength. Meanwhile, the SDL is found to decrease when Pd atoms are replaced by heavier Pt atoms, validating the SOC induced spin flip scattering model in polyvalent PdPt alloys. A thorough grasp of the dependence of these parameters on the SOC strength in the present work can help to develop a better theoretical graph on the physics of SOC and spin orbit torque switching, relevant to next generation spintronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT A wideband dual-polarized antenna for 2G/3G/4G mobile communication base station systems is presented in this article. The proposed antenna is composed of two pairs (four) of metal sheets as the main radiation elements. Downward stubs at the end corners of the metal sheets are used to reduce the size of the antenna and for the convenience of tuning. Cylinder with slots is placed at the center of the antenna as balun. Cable is used for the feeding and part of the outer conductor is removed for tuning. An antenna prototype was fabricated. The measured results show that a bandwidth of 53% (1.70-2.95 GHz) for VSWRs < 1.5 is obtained for both polarization ports, which can cover the 2G/3G/4G mobile communication frequency band (1.71-2.69 GHz). The isolation between two ports is larger than 28 dB and the radiation patterns of the antenna are stable over the entire operating frequency band (1.71-2.69 GHz). © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 58:1329-1332, 2016 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An UWB circularly polarised (CP) slot antenna with simple structure is presented in this Letter. By etching a simple C‐shaped slot on the planar ground, adopting an L‐shaped strip as a radiator, and employing an off‐centre‐fed structure, the proposed CP antenna can easily be realised with both wideband impedance bandwidth (IBW) and 3 dB axial‐ratio bandwidth (ARBW). The impedance and ARBWs of this antenna can be further expanded by adding a matching stub and cutting an L‐shaped slit on the lower ground. This antenna can realise a wideband IBW (S11 < −10 dB) of about 3.62 GHz (124.4%, 1.10–4.72 GHz) and 3 dB ARBW of about 3.6 GHz (115.2%, 1.26–4.68 GHz). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key points Ghrelin, a hunger signalling peptide derived from the peripheral tissues, overcomes the satiety signals evoked by anorexigenic molecules, such as cholecystokinin (CCK) and leptin, to stimulate feeding., Using in vivo and in vitro electrophysiological techniques, we show that ghrelin hyperpolarizes neurons and inhibits currents evoked by leptin and CCK-8., Administering a KATP channel antagonist or silencing Kir6.2, a major subunit of the KATP channel, abolished ghrelin inhibition., The inhibitory actions of ghrelin were also abolished by treating the vagal ganglia neurons with pertussis toxin, as well as phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) or extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 and 2 (Erk1/2) small interfering RNA., Feeding experiments showed that silencing Kir6.2 in the vagal ganglia abolished the orexigenic actions of ghrelin., These data indicate that ghrelin modulates vagal ganglia neuron excitability by activating KATP conductance via the growth hormone secretagogue receptor subtype 1a-Gαi-PI3K-Erk1/2-KATP pathway., This provides a mechanism to explain the actions of ghrelin with respect to overcoming anorexigenic signals that act via the vagal afferent pathways., Abstract Ghrelin is the only known hunger signal derived from the peripheral tissues. Ghrelin overcomes the satiety signals evoked by anorexigenic molecules, such as cholecystokinin (CCK) and leptin, to stimulate feeding. The mechanisms by which ghrelin reduces the sensory signals evoked by anorexigenic hormones, which act via the vagus nerve to stimulate feeding, are unknown. Patch clamp recordings of isolated rat vagal neurons show that ghrelin hyperpolarizes neurons by activating K+ conductance. Administering a KATP channel antagonist or silencing Kir6.2, a major subunit of the KATP channel, abolished ghrelin inhibition in vitro and in vivo. Patch clamp studies show that ghrelin inhibits currents evoked by leptin and CCK-8, which operate through independent ionic channels. The inhibitory actions of ghrelin were abolished by treating the vagal ganglia neurons with pertussis toxin, as well as phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) or extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 and 2 (Erk1/2) small interfering RNA. In vivo gene silencing of PI3K and Erk1/2 in the nodose ganglia prevented ghrelin inhibition of leptin- or CCK-8-evoked vagal firing. Feeding experiments showed that silencing Kir6.2 in the vagal ganglia abolished the orexigenic actions of ghrelin. These data indicate that ghrelin modulates vagal ganglia neuron excitability by activating KATP conductance via the growth hormone secretagogue receptor subtype 1a-Gαi-PI3K-Erk1/2-KATP pathway. The resulting hyperpolarization renders the neurons less responsive to signals evoked by anorexigenic hormones. This provides a mechanism to explain the actions of ghrelin with respect to overcoming anorexigenic signals that act via the vagal afferent pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated system enables biologists to edit genomes precisely and provides a powerful tool for perturbing endogenous gene regulation, modulation of epigenetic markers, and genome architecture. However, there are concerns about the specificity of the system, especially the usages of knocking out a gene. Previous designing tools either were mostly built-in websites or ran as command-line programs, and none of them ran locally and acquired a userfriendly interface. In addition, with the development of CRISPR-derived systems, such as chromosome imaging, there were still no tools helping users to generate specific end-user spacers. We herein present CRISPR Primer Designer for researchers to design primers for CRISPR applications. The program has a user-friendly interface, can analyze the BLAST results by using multiple parameters, score for each candidate spacer, and generate the primers when using a certain plasmid. In addition, CRISPR Primer Designer runs locally and can be used to search spacer clusters, and exports primers for the CRISPR-Cas system-based chromosome imaging system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND To decrease the methanol content of the sugar cane sprits, mutagenesis of ultraviolet (UV) coupled with diethyl sulfate (DES) was used to generate a mutant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae with lower methanol content. Meanwhile, the effects of the additions of pectinase, cellulase and glycine on the production of methanol in sugar cane spirits were evaluated. RESULTS After mutagenesis of UV coupled with DES, a mutant S. cerevisiae DU9 with low production of methanol (97.3 ± 1.7 mg/L) was selected, with a 12.3% decrease of that of S. cerevisiae D4 only with DES treatment, and with a 27.8% reduction of that of the strain without any treatment. Pectinase and cellulase significantly increased the methanol levels of the sugar cane spirits. The results showed that there was linear relationship between glycine (concentration within 0∼0.9 g/L) and methanol in sugar cane sprits and the linear equation was y = 104.7 × −4.79 with the conversion rate of glycine conversion to methanol as 24.56%. CONCLUSION Mutagenesis of UV coupled with DES is an efficient way to generate a mutant of S. cerevisiae with lower methanol content. Also, it is necessary to control the additions of pectinase, cellulase and glycine in the fermentation medium, and other unknown ways to generate methanol metabolic pathway in yeasts may need further study. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To help improve efficacy of screening mammography by eventually establishing a new optimal personalized screening paradigm, the authors investigated the potential of using the quantitative multiscale texture and density feature analysis of digital mammograms to predict near-term breast cancer risk. Methods: The authors' dataset includes digital mammograms acquired from 340 women. Among them, 141 were positive and 199 were negative/benign cases. The negative digital mammograms acquired from the "prior" screening examinations were used in the study. Based on the intensity value distributions, five subregions at different scales were extracted from each mammogram. Five groups of features, including density and texture features, were developed and calculated on every one of the subregions. Sequential forward floating selection was used to search for the effective combinations. Using the selected features, a support vector machine (SVM) was optimized using a tenfold validation method to predict the risk of each woman having image-detectable cancer in the next sequential mammography screening. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used as the performance assessment index. Results: From a total number of 765 features computed from multiscale subregions, an optimal feature set of 12 features was selected. Applying this feature set, a SVM classifier yielded performance of AUC= 0.729±0.021. The positive predictive value was 0.657 (92 of 140) and the negative predictive value was 0.755 (151 of 200). Conclusions: The study results demonstrated a moderately high positive association between risk prediction scores generated by the quantitative multiscale mammographic image feature analysis and the actual risk of a woman having an image-detectable breast cancer in the next subsequent examinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Panax bipinnatifidus species complex ( P. bipinnatifidus and its close relatives) in the Sino-Himalayan region has been taxonomically difficult. Evolutionary analyses using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers were carried out on 125 individuals representing 11 populations of the P. bipinnatifidus species complex and one population of P. stipuleanatus Tsai & Feng as an outgroup. The populations from the eastern Himalayan region, sampled from Nepal and eastern Tibet, formed two main groups in the neighbor-joining and split network analyses. The Pailong population (Tibet-PL) in eastern Tibet showed a highly distinct AFLP profile and was placed as the most basally branched group in the neighbor-joining tree. The remaining Himalayan populations showed three subgroups: the Nepal-HB and Nepal-HS subgroup, the Nepal HH subgroup, and the Tibet-BY subgroup. The three Himalayan subgroups had very limited gene flow among them and showed subtle morphological differences. The populations in eastern, central, and western China showed clear geographic patterns and can be sorted into several geographical groups. Each major group in the species complex has strong bootstrap support, but relationships among them are poorly resolved, which is consistent with a pattern of evolutionary radiation. The strong geographic grouping, high Nei's population differentiation index, and limited gene flow among populations in different regions support the importance of geographic isolation in the diversification of the P. bipinnatifidus species complex in the Sino-Himalayan region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is an important agent responsible for hand-foot-and-mouth disease (HFMD), which can cause severe neurological complications and death in children. However, there is no specific treatment for EV71 infection, and a safe and effective vaccine is needed urgently. In this study, an effective and economical method for the production of EV71-VP1 protein was developed, and the VP1 protein was evaluated in humoral and cellular immune responses as an EV71 vaccine. The results revealed that the VP1 protein induced high titers of cross-neutralizing antibodies for different EV71 subtypes, and elicited significant splenocyte proliferation. The high levels of IFN-r and IL-10 showed the VP1 protein induced a mixed Th1 and Th2 immune response. Vaccinated female mice could confer protection in their neonatal offspring. Compared with the inactivated EV71, the VP1 protein elicited similar humoral and cellular responses, but the engineered protein is safer, less expensive and can be produced more efficiently. Therefore, EV71-VP1 protein can induce effective immunologic protection against EV71 and is an ideal candidate against EV71 infection. J. Med. Virol. 87:256-262, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the first time, octahedral NiGa2O4 nanocrystals having reactive pH-dependent {111} facets are synthesized through a facile hydrothermal route without using any template or organic surfactant. The {111} facets of octahedral NiGa2O4 display clearly enhanced photocatalytic generation of hydrogen and oxygen from water splitting and good photocatalytic stability. Density functional calculations suggest that mixed statistically occupied Ga/Ni (fourfold- and sixfold-coordinated Ga/Ni) are most likely to be exposed at the {111} surface of NiGa2O4, which is very favorable for enhancing the photocatalytic activities, and the photoelectrochemical properties show that the NiGa2O4 octahedron displays a better photocurrent than NiGa2O4 nanorods with the [100] growth direction. The transient photocurrent decay scan results demonstrate that the NiGa2O4 octahedron exposed {111} facet electrode exhibits a transient decay time of 4 s, whereas this time is only 2 s for NiGa2O4 nanorod electrodes with the [100] growth direction. This longer transient decay time indicates that the charge-carrier recombination rate is lower in the NiGa2O4 octahedron electrode, which will contribute to the enhancement of the photocatalytic activity. The present study also demonstrates that designing nanostructures with the appropriate morphology and surface structures is a feasible approach for enhancing the photoexcited charge-transfer lifetime and developing highly active semiconductor photocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new copper-catalyzed regioselective cross-dehydrogenative coupling of coumarins with benzylic Csp3-H bonds has been developed. This reaction provides direct access to a wide range of 3-benzylcoumarins in moderate to good yields. The protocol was also extended successfully to other heterocyclic compounds, such as quinolinones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A broadband and high-gain slot antenna array operating in the Ku-band is reported in this study. The antenna is with waveguide-fed cavity backed configuration and made entirely via simple milling process. The overall antenna structure consists of four layers. The bottom layer is a waveguide feed network to provide corporate power division. In turn, the waveguide feed network is excited by a conventional coaxial probe from the back. The waveguide network couples energy to an array of cavity via an aperture plate. These constitute the middle two layers. Each cavity then excites a subarray of 2 × 2 radiating slots in the top layer. The radiating slot elements and the feed network are designed to achieve wide bandwidth and high-gain performance. Finally, an 8 × 8 array antenna has been designed and fabricated with about 25 dBi gain over 14.8% bandwidth, and the cross-polarisation was around -30 dB in the boresight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two polyoxometalate inorganic-organic hybrids based on octamolybdate and a multidentate N-donor ligand, [Ag4L4(γ-Mo8O26)] ·2H2O ( 1), [Ni2L2(γ-Mo8O26)(H2O)8] ·3H2O ( 2), in which L = 2,4,5-tri(4-pyridyl)imidazole, were synthesized under hydrothermal conditions. Compound 1 is constructed from octamolybdates (γ-Mo8O26)4-, 1D AgL chains, and 2D AgL layers, which are held together through N-H ···O hydrogen bonds between the chain/layer and the octamolybdates, extending into a 3D supramolecular structure. Compound 2 displays a 1D infinite chain structure. The chains are formed by coordination of the nitrogen atoms of the ligand to the five-coordinate molybdenum atoms of (γ-Mo8O26)4- and the Ni ions through the Mo-N-Ni bond and are further linked by N-H ···O hydrogen bonds to form a 3D supramolecular architecture. Compound 2, to the best of our knowledge, is the first example of an octamolybdate anion decorated by a big tridentate N-donor organic molecule. The compounds were further characterized by IR spectroscopy, UV/Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, photoluminescent spectroscopy, magnetic measurements, thermogravimetric analysis, and powder X-ray diffraction. Moreover, their photocatalysis properties for degradation of methylene blue upon UV irradiation were examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radically changing benzyls: An efficient method for the benzylarylation of activated alkenes has been developed through a copper‐catalyzed tandem radical addition/cyclization strategy (see scheme). This oxidative coupling between acrylamides and benzylic hydrocarbons provides access to diverse alkyl‐substituted oxindoles in good to excellent yields. A variety of functional groups were tolerated in this transformation (TBPB=tert‐butylperoxy benzoate). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]