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SUMMARY: Acteoside is a bioactive phenylethanoid glycoside widely distributed throughout the plant kingdom. Because of its two catechol moieties, acteoside displays a variety of beneficial activities. The biosynthetic pathway of acteoside has been largely elucidated, but the assembly logic of two catechol moieties in acteoside remains unclear. Here, we identified a novel polyphenol oxidase OfPPO2 from Osmanthus fragrans, which could hydroxylate various monophenolic substrates, including tyrosine, tyrosol, tyramine, 4‐hydroxyphenylacetaldehyde, salidroside, and osmanthuside A, leading to the formation of corresponding catechol‐containing intermediates for acteoside biosynthesis. OfPPO2 could also convert osmanthuside B into acteoside, creating catechol moieties directly via post‐modification of the acteoside skeleton. The reverse transcription‐quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT‐qPCR) analysis and subcellular localization assay further support the involvement of OfPPO2 in acteoside biosynthesis in planta. These findings suggest that the biosynthesis of acteoside in O. fragrans may follow "parallel routes" rather than the conventionally considered linear route. In support of this hypothesis, the glycosyltransferase OfUGT and the acyltransferase OfAT could direct the flux of diphenolic intermediates generated by OfPPO2 into acteoside. Significantly, OfPPO2 and its orthologs constitute a functionally conserved enzyme family that evolved independently from other known biosynthetic enzymes of acteoside, implying that the substrate promiscuity of this PPO family may offer acteoside‐producing plants alternative ways to synthesize acteoside. Overall, this work expands our understanding of parallel pathways plants may employ to efficiently synthesize acteoside, a strategy that may contribute to plants' adaptation to environmental challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic is an ongoing global health emergency. The aim of our study was to investigate the changes of liver function and its clinical significance in COVID‐19 patients. Method: This retrospective, single‐centre study was conducted on 115 confirmed cases of COVID‐19 in Zhongnan hospital of Wuhan University from 18 January 2020 to 22 February 2020. Liver function and related indexes were analysed to evaluate its relationship with disease progression in COVID‐19 patients. Results: Part of the COVID‐19 patients presented with varying degrees of abnormality in liver function indexes. However, the levels of ALT, AST, TBIL, GGT and LDH in COVID‐19 patients were not significantly different when compared with hospitalised community‐acquired pneumonia patients, and the levels of albumin is even significantly higher. The levels of ALT, AST, TBIL, LDH and INR showed statistically significant elevation in severe COVID‐19 cases compared with that in mild cases. However, the clinical significance of the elevation is unremarkable. Majority of severe COVID‐19 patients showed significantly decreasing in albumin level and continuously decreasing in the progress of illness. Most of the liver function indexes in COVID‐19 patients were correlated with CRP and NLR, the markers of inflammation. Logistic regression analysis further identified NLR as the independent risk factor for severe COVID‐19, as well as age. Conclusions: Although abnormalities of liver function indexes are common in COVID‐19 patients, the impairment of liver function is not a prominent feature of COVID‐19, and also may not have serious clinical consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Mandarin speakers, like most other language speakers around the world, use spatial terms to talk about time. However, the direction of their mental temporal representation along the front‐back axis remains controversial because they use the spatial term “front” to refer to both earlier times (e.g., front‐year means “the year before last”) and the future (e.g., front‐road means “prospect”). Although the linguistic distinction between time‐ and ego‐reference‐point spatiotemporal metaphors in Mandarin suggests a promising clarification of the above controversy, there is little empirical evidence verifying this distinction. In this study, Mandarin speakers’ time‐ and ego‐reference‐point temporal representations on three axes (i.e., sagittal, lateral, and vertical) were separately examined through two tasks. In a time‐reference‐point task, Mandarin speakers judged whether the time point of the second picture was earlier or later than the time point of the first picture, while in an ego‐reference‐point task, they judged whether an event or phase had happened in the past or would happen in the future. The results indicate that Mandarin speakers construe an earlier‐times‐in‐front‐of‐later‐times temporal sequence and adopt the front‐to‐the‐future orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Combined treatment with intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti- VEGF) and verteporfin photodynamic therapy ( PDT) is widely used for patients with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy ( PCV), although clinical evidence regarding the therapeutic efficacy and safety of such treatment remains lacking. Design/Methods We performed a meta-analysis of previously reported studies comparing combination treatment, PDT monotherapy, and anti- VEGF monotherapy. Primary outcome measures included changes in best-corrected visual acuity ( BCVA) and central retinal thickness ( CRT). The proportion of patients with polyp regression was regarded as the secondary outcome measure. Results Twenty studies (three RCTs and 19 retrospective studies) involving 1,178 patients with PCV were selected. Significant differences in the proportion of patients with polyps were observed between the PDT and anti- VEGF monotherapy groups at 3 and ≥6 months ( P < .00001; and P = .0001, respectively). Significantly greater reductions in CRT were observed in the anti- VEGF than in the PDT group at the 3-month follow-up ( P = .04). Significantly greater improvements in BCVA were observed in the combined therapy group than in the PDT monotherapy group at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months ( P = .03; P = .005; P = .02; and P < .00001, respectively). Combined treatment also resulted in significantly greater improvements in BCVA than monotherapy with anti- VEGF at 6 and 24 months ( P = .001; P < .00001, respectively), and significantly greater polyp regression than that observed following anti- VEGF treatment at 3 and ≥6 months ( P < .00001; P < .0001, respectively). Conclusions Combined therapy involving anti- VEGF agents and PDT may be more effective in improving long-term outcomes for patients with PCV than monotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]