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Background: Natural products are often favored in the study of crop pests and diseases. Previous studies have shown that citronellal has a strong inhibition effect on Magnaporthe oryzae. The objective of this study was to clarify its mechanism of action against M. oryzae. Results: Firstly, the biological activity of citronellal against M. oryzae was determined by direct and indirect methods, and the results show that citronellal had a strong inhibition effect on M. oryzae with EC50 values of 134.00 mg/L and 70.48 μL/L air, respectively. Additionally, a preliminary study on its mechanism of action was studied. After citronellal treatment, electron microscopy revealed that the mycelium became thin and broken; scanning electron microscopy revealed that the mycelium was wrinkled and distorted; and transmission electron microscopy revealed that the mycelium cell wall was invaginated, the mass wall of mycelium was separated, and the organelles were blurred. The mycelium was further stained with CFW, and the nodes were blurred, while the mycelium was almost non-fluorescent after PI staining, and there was no significant difference in the relative conductivity of mycelium. In addition, chitinase was significantly enhanced, and the expression of chitin synthesis-related genes was 17.47-fold upregulated. Finally, we found that the efficacy of citronellal against the rice blast was as high as 82.14% according to indoor efficacy tests. Conclusion: These results indicate that citronellal can affect the synthesis of chitin in M. oryzae and damage its cell wall, thereby inhibiting the growth of mycelium and effectively protecting rice from rice blasts.

Aim: The present study aimed to evaluate the combined value of locoregional extension patterns (LEPs) and circulating cell-free Epstein–Barr virus (cf EBV) DNA for risk stratification of locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (LA-NPC) to better guide therapeutic strategies. Methods: A total of 7227 cases of LA-NPC were reviewed retrospectively and classified into six groups according to their LEP (ascending, descending, or mixed type) and pre-treatment cf EBV-DNA load (⩾ versus

When readers encounter information conflicting with the predictive inferences made earlier, they may update the outdated ones with new ones, a process known as predictive inference revision. The current study examined the revision of disconfirmed predictive inferences by the primarily weakly activated, thus low-competitive inference alternatives during Chinese narrative text reading among Chinese native speakers. We conducted an event-related brain potential (ERP) experiment to study the predictive inference revision with increasingly supportive information for the low-competitive predictive inference alternatives. It serves as the very first attempts to study the predictive inference revision mechanisms by combining a larger range of ERP components, including frontal-Post-N400-Positivity (f-PNP) as an index of revision to examine the influences of the alternative inferences at later stages of reading comprehension. Our results showed that readers could detect inconsistent information (P300), disconfirm the incorrect predictive inferences before successfully integrating the low-competitive alternative predictive inferences with their current situation model (N400), engaging themselves in a second-pass reanalysis process incurring processing costs (P600), and revising the disconfirmed predictive inferences (f-PNP) at a later stage of reading comprehension. Results of this study are supportive of relevant theories in assuming that predictive inference revision does not happen immediately upon encountering conflicting information but happens slowly and incrementally. Our results also unfold the post-revision mechanisms by suggesting the remaining activation and lingering influences of the disconfirmed inferences in the forthcoming reading process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isoalantolactone (ISA) is a sesquiterpene lactone that could be isolated from Inula helenium as well as many other herbal plants belonging to Asteraceae. Over the past 2 decades, lots of researches have been made on ISA, which owns multiple pharmacological effects, such as antimicrobial, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, antidepressant-like activity, as well as others. The anticancer effects of ISA involve proliferation inhibition, ROS overproduction, apoptosis induction and cell cycle arrest. Through inhibiting NF-κB signaling, ISA exerts its anti-inflammatory effects which are involved in the neuroprotection of ISA. This review hackled the reported pharmacological effects of ISA and associated mechanisms, providing an update on understanding its potential in drug development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The amplitude modulation method was used to generate non-Gaussian signals that acted as excitation for fatigue tests. The fatigue life of structures under non-Gaussian excitation has been proven to be closely related to the features of the amplitude modulation signal (AMS) and kurtosis of the structural response. In this study, the modelling of the AMS by Beta and Weibull distributions and the resulting kurtosis range problem is first reviewed. To solve this problem, a new method for creating an AMS based on a linear combination of Beta and Weibull distributions is proposed. To ensure that the high kurtosis of the amplitude-modulated non-Gaussian signal is correctly transferred to the structural response, the method is further developed to fulfil the specifications for the fatigue damage spectrum (FDS) by controlling the spectral content of the AMS. Herein, a Gaussian AMS with a low-pass cutoff frequency is first generated and then converted to a Weibull or Beta AMS based on the cumulative distribution function (CDF) transformation. The proposed method is verified using simulated and fieldmeasured data. The results show that the full range of specified kurtosis is achieved with the new AMS modelling method. The high kurtosis of the non-Gaussian input signal can be transferred to the linear system response if the mean value of AMS during the period of the system impulse response is the same as AMS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: For diabetic patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), there is still a debate about whether an off-pump or on-pump approach is advantageous. Methods: A retrospective review of 1269 consecutive diabetic patients undergoing isolated, primary CABG surgery from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2015 was conducted. Among them, 614 received non-cardiopulmonary bypass treatment during their operation (off-pump group), and 655 received cardiopulmonary bypass treatment (on-pump group). The hospitalization outcomes were compared by multiple logistic regression models with patient characteristics and operative variables as independent variables. Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional-hazard regression models for mid-term (2-year) and long-term (5-year) clinical survival analyses were used to determine the effect on survival after CABG surgery. In order to further verify the reliability of the results, propensity-score matching (PSM) was also performed between the two groups. Results: Five-year all-cause death rates were 4.23% off-pump vs. 5.95% on-pump (p = 0.044), and off-pump was associated with reduced postoperative stroke and atrial fibrillation. Conclusions: These findings suggest that off-pump procedures may have benefits for diabetic patients in CABG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coffee pulp wines were produced through the mixed fermentation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and the flavor and sensory characteristics were comparatively evaluated. A total of 87 volatile components were identified from five coffee pulp wines, of which 68 were present in all samples, accounting for over 99% of the total concentration. The sample fermented contained significantly higher levels of volatile metabolites (56.80 mg/g). Alcohols (22 species) and esters (26 species) were the main flavor components, with the contents accounting for 56.45 ± 3.93% and 31.18 ± 4.24%, respectively, of the total. Furthermore, 14 characteristic components were identified as potential odor-active compounds, contributing to sweet and floral apple brandy flavor. Although the characteristic components are similar, the difference in the content makes the overall sensory evaluation of the samples different. The samples formed by fermentation of four strains, which obtained the highest score (86.46 ± 0.36) in sensory evaluation, were further interpreted and demonstrated through the Mantel test. The results of the component analysis were effectively distinguished by OPLS-DA and PCA, and this validation was supported by sensory evaluation. The research results provided a technical reference for the production of coffee pulp wines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the synchronization of a complex network based on a class of random impulsive differential equation systems. Based on the random impulsive strategy of Poisson distribution, a random impulsive dynamical network model is constructed. Using the Lyapunov principle, random process theory, linear matrix inequality method, and some basic analysis methods, we realize the global mean-square index synchronization of the model. We then get sufficient criteria for the synchronization. By presenting a numerical example, we verified the validity of the theoretical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Unknown etiology. Background: Spinal cord arteriovenous fistula that only manifests as lower back pain is easily misdiagnosed as myofasciitis, lumbar spondylosis, and other diseases, and incorrect treatment such as glucocorticoid blockade might be given, leading to worsening of the condition. Case Report: We analyze the clinical characteristics of a patient with spinal dural arteriovenous fistula who presented with chronic-onset low back pain. A patient with spinal dural arteriovenous fistula presented with chronic-onset low back pain as the only symptom, and was misdiagnosed as having myofasciitis. We assessed the paraclinical data, clinical reasoning, and course of treatment. The patient was an elderly man with low back pain for 1 year. He was diagnosed with myofasciitis in a local hospital and received local blocking treatment using glucocorticoid, and left lower-limb weakness appeared after that. After he was admitted to our hospital, enhanced thoracic and lumbar magnetic resonance imaging and selective spinal angiography were performed, and the results indicated the diagnosis of spinal dural arteriovenous fistula. After surgical treatment, the low back pain and lower-limb weakness were alleviated, and the patient is still under follow-up. Conclusions: The possibility of spinal dural arteriovenous fistula should not be overlooked among patients with chronic low back pain, and caution should be taken when using glucocorticoids for treatment of chronic low back pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]