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In this article, the experimental and finite element analysis is utilized to investigate the quasi-static compression features of sandwich constructions built with tapered tubes. 3D printing technology was utilized to create the hollow centers of the tapering tubes, with and without corrugations. The results demonstrate that the energy absorption (EA) and specific energy absorption (SEA) of the single corrugated tapered tube sandwich are 51.6% and 19.8% higher, respectively, than those of the conical tube sandwich. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that energy absorbers can benefit from corrugation in order to increase their efficiency. Additionally, the tapered corrugated tubes’ resistance to oblique impacts was studied. Compared to a straight tube, the tapered tube is more resistant to oblique loads and has a lower initial peak crushing force (PCF), according to numerical simulations. After conducting a parametric study, it was discovered that the energy absorption performance of the sandwich construction is significantly affected by the amplitude, number of corrugations, and wall thickness. EA and SEA of DTS with corrugation number of 8 increased by 17.4% and 29.6%, respectively, while PCF decreased by 9.2% compared to DTS with corrugation number of 10.

Plants need to maintain a low Na+/K+ ratio for their survival and growth when there is high sodium concentration in soil. Under these circumstances, the high affinity K+ transporter (HKT) and its homologs are known to perform a critical role with HKT1;5 as a major player in maintaining Na+ concentration. Preferential expression of HKT1;5 in roots compared to shoots was observed in rice and rice-like genotypes from real time PCR, microarray, and RNAseq experiments and data. Its expression trend was generally higher under increasing salt stress in sensitive IR29, tolerant Pokkali, both glycophytes; as well as the distant wild rice halophyte, Porteresia coarctata, indicative of its importance during salt stress. These results were supported by a low Na+/K+ ratio in Pokkali, but a much lower one in P. coarctata. HKT1;5 has functional variability among salt sensitive and tolerant varieties and multiple sequence alignment of sequences of HKT1;5 from Oryza species and P. coarctata showed 4 major amino acid substitutions (140 P/A/T/I, 184 H/R, D332H, V395L), with similarity amongst the tolerant genotypes and the halophyte but in variance with sensitive ones. The best predicted 3D structure of HKT1;5 was generated using Ktrab potassium transporter as template. Among the four substitutions, conserved presence of aspartate (332) and valine (395) in opposite faces of the membrane along the Na+/K+ channel was observed only for the tolerant and halophytic genotypes. A model based on above, as well as molecular dynamics simulation study showed that valine is unable to generate strong hydrophobic network with its surroundings in comparison to leucine due to reduced side chain length. The resultant alteration in pore rigidity increases the likelihood of Na+ transport from xylem sap to parenchyma and further to soil. The model also proposes that the presence of aspartate at the 332 position possibly leads to frequent polar interactions with the extracellular loop polar residues which may shift the loop away from the opening of the constriction at the pore and therefore permit easy efflux of the Na+. These two substitutions of the HKT1;5 transporter probably help tolerant varieties maintain better Na+/K+ ratio for survival under salt stress.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), although most commonly demonstrates respiratory symptoms, but there is a growing set of evidence reporting its correlation with the digestive tract and faeces. Interestingly, recent studies have shown the association of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection with gastrointestinal symptoms in infected patients but any sign of respiratory issues. Moreover, some studies have also shown that the presence of live SARS-CoV-2 virus in the faeces of patients with COVID-19. Therefore, the pathophysiology of digestive symptoms associated with COVID-19 has raised a critical need for comprehensive investigative efforts. To address this issue we have developed a bioinformatics pipeline involving a system biological framework to identify the effects of SARS-CoV-2 messenger RNA expression on deciphering its association with digestive symptoms in COVID-19 positive patients. Using two RNA-seq datasets derived from COVID-19 positive patients with celiac (CEL), Crohn's (CRO) and ulcerative colitis (ULC) as digestive disorders, we have found a significant overlap between the sets of differentially expressed genes from SARS-CoV-2 exposed tissue and digestive tract disordered tissues, reporting 7, 22 and 13 such overlapping genes, respectively. Moreover, gene set enrichment analysis, comprehensive analyses of protein–protein interaction network, gene regulatory network, protein–chemical agent interaction network revealed some critical association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and the presence of digestive disorders. The infectome, diseasome and comorbidity analyses also discover the influences of the identified signature genes in other risk factors of SARS-CoV-2 infection to human health. We hope the findings from this pathogenetic analysis may reveal important insights in deciphering the complex interplay between COVID-19 and digestive disorders and underpins its significance in therapeutic development strategy to combat against COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants need to maintain a low Na+/K+ ratio for their survival and growth when there is high sodium concentration in soil. Under these circumstances, the high affinity K+ transporter (HKT) and its homologs are known to perform a critical role with HKT1;5 as a major player in maintaining Na+ concentration. Preferential expression of HKT1;5 in roots compared to shoots was observed in rice and rice-like genotypes from real time PCR, microarray, and RNAseq experiments and data. Its expression trend was generally higher under increasing salt stress in sensitive IR29, tolerant Pokkali, both glycophytes; as well as the distant wild rice halophyte, Porteresia coarctata , indicative of its importance during salt stress. These results were supported by a low Na+/K+ ratio in Pokkali, but a much lower one in P. coarctata. HKT1;5 has functional variability among salt sensitive and tolerant varieties and multiple sequence alignment of sequences of HKT1;5 from Oryza species and P. coarctata showed 4 major amino acid substitutions (140 P/A/T/I, 184 H/R, D332H, V395L), with similarity amongst the tolerant genotypes and the halophyte but in variance with sensitive ones. The best predicted 3D structure of HKT1;5 was generated using Ktrab potassium transporter as template. Among the four substitutions, conserved presence of aspartate (332) and valine (395) in opposite faces of the membrane along the Na+/K+ channel was observed only for the tolerant and halophytic genotypes. A model based on above, as well as molecular dynamics simulation study showed that valine is unable to generate strong hydrophobic network with its surroundings in comparison to leucine due to reduced side chain length. The resultant alteration in pore rigidity increases the likelihood of Na+ transport from xylem sap to parenchyma and further to soil. The model also proposes that the presence of aspartate at the 332 position possibly leads to frequent polar interactions with the extracellular loop polar residues which may shift the loop away from the opening of the constriction at the pore and therefore permit easy efflux of the Na+. These two substitutions of the HKT1;5 transporter probably help tolerant varieties maintain better Na+/K+ ratio for survival under salt stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]