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The g-C3N4-based heterojunction photocatalysts have aroused worldwide attention for improving photogenerated charge carrier’s lifetime and photocatalytic activity. In this study, a series of CuWO4/g-C3N4 composites were prepared by a simple hydrothermal method, and then its structural characteristics were analyzed using XRD, SEM, FT-IR, UV–vis DRS, XPS, and N2 adsorption–desorption techniques. The photocatalytical activities of CuWO4/g-C3N4 composites were clearly evaluated by the photodegradation experiments of rhodamine B (RhB). The obtained results shown that CuWO4/g-C3N4 composite with the mass ratio of 10% CuWO4 displayed the highest degradation efficiency (93%) for RhB within 150 min in the photodegradation processes, which corresponded well with the pseudo-first-order kinetics. Obviously, the construction of Z-scheme CuWO4/g-C3N4 heterojunction can effectively improve photocatalytical efficiency, which is owing to fast separation of electron–hole pairs and enhancement of redox ability. Besides, the photodegradation efficiency can still keep more than 80% after four cycles, and then the reaction mechanism of photocatalysis was fully discussed to prove the formation of Z-scheme system. This work provides a certain theoretical foundation for the designation and research of g-C3N4-based Z-scheme heterojunction photocatalyst.

As a large plant-specific gene family, the NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, and CUC2) transcription factor is related to plant growth, development, and response to abiotic stresses. Although the draft genome of garden asparagus (

Early-onset Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a heterogeneous disease with more variable symptoms than other types of SLE. It can begin as early as 12 months after birth, and the clinical process appears to be more severe. The common clinical manifestations of early-onset SLE are skin and mucosal lesions, renal involvement, central nervous system diseases and hematological system abnormalities. Although the disease is well described in the literature, diagnosis is often difficult due to its insidious onset, early onset, and atypical symptoms. Here, we present four cases of early-onset SLE. Next-generation sequencing were performed and detected mutations were confirmed by Sanger sequencing in all four cases. In addition, glucocorticoid, propyl, cyclophosphamide, and other drugs were significantly improved after treatment. Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first case study in China describing early-onset SLE. With the research progress and knowledge integration of basic disciplines such as genomics, epigenetics and immunology, the pathogenesis of early-onset SLE and other rheumatoid immune diseases will be revealed, which will bring more hope for the diagnosis and treatment of early-onset SLE.

Identification of the drug target of lead compounds is an important means for rapid and efficient drug discovery. Protein chips are a high-throughput protein function analysis technology that has been widely used in screening drug protein targets in recent years. However, the verification of the results after high-throughput protein chip screening is still cumbersome. Based on our mature protein chip preparation platform, we prepared a protein chip containing 150 important high-frequency protein targets and used antibodies to prove the availability of the protein chip. To improve the accuracy of target screening, we combined the label-free differential scanning fluorimetry (DSF) with the protein chip, proposing the Chip-DSF strategy. Subsequently, we tested the method with small molecular ginsenoside-Rg2 (Rg2). The Chip-DSF strategy was used to successfully screen the potential target protein KRAS(G12C) of Rg2. Consistently, we found that Rg2 could inhibit NCI-H23 cell proliferation by inducing cell cycle arrest. Also, we found that Rg2 could reduce the amount of KRAS protein and inhibit the phosphorylation of KRAS downstream key signaling protein ERK1, RPS6, and P70S6K in NCI-H23 cells. Collectively, our Chip-DSF strategy could achieve rapid target verification which improved the accuracy and efficiency of target screening of protein chips.

MiRNAs have been proved to participate in the abiotic stress responses in plants. Sugar beet can adapt itself to different abiotic stresses, in particular the alkaline and salinity stresses. Nonetheless, the number, features, sequences and possible effects of miRNAs on the plant responses to alkaline stress remain largely unclear. Small RNA sequencing was carried out in sugar beet cultivar KWS0143 seedling leaves under alkaline solution treatments for 0 (control, C), 3 (short term, ST) as well as 7 (long term, LT) days, respectively. As a result, the RNAs 24 nt in length showed the highest abundance among three sugar beet libraries, followed by those 21 nt and 22 nt in length. Besides, among these three libraries, a total of 2134 miRNAs were identified, which belonged to 47 families. Each of identified known miRNA showed high conservation level among different plant species. 24 novel miRNAs were also identified that possessed standard miRNA* sequences and hairpin precursors, with the length of 20–24 nt. Expression of 222 miRNAs was detected under each treatment, including 169 known and 53 novel miRNAs. Sixteen miRNAs showed specific expression in ST treatment, while twenty-nine showed expression in LT treatment. Besides, we estimated 45 characteristic coding genes as the targets for 67 alkali-responsive miRNAs. According to GO analysis, numerous target genes of differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) showed enrichment into the “redox process,” such as polyphenol oxidase gene LOC04900758. Our results provided a valuable resource on alkali-responsive miRNAs and should benefit the improvement in alkaline stress tolerance in sugar beet.

Nowadays, finding an efficient way to treatment oil spill and oily wastewater emission has attracted much attention all over the world. In this work, we fabricated a superhydrophobic coating (humic...

In this work, SnWO4/ZnFe-layered double hydroxide (LDH) composites were prepared by a simple hydrothermal method. The as-prepared products were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, EDX, FT-IR, XPS, UV–Vis DRS, and N2 adsorption–desorption techniques, which confirmed the successful synthesis and the excellent optical properties of the composites. In addition, the photocatalytic properties of the SnWO4/ZnFe-LDH composites are tightly related to the mass ratio of SnWO4 and LDH. When loaded with 5% ZnFe-LDH, the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of SnWO4/ZnFe-LDH composites for methyl orange (MO) reached 95.14% within 40 min under visible light irradiation. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of SnWO4/ZnFe-LDH composites could be attributed to the concerted photocatalysts effect between two components. Based on various characterization and experimental results, a possible photocatalytic mechanism was proposed. Furthermore, the resultant catalysts possess remarkable reusability and stability in five successive cycles. The SnWO4/ZnFe-LDH composites are expected as a promising catalyst for practical water purification and provide new ideas in the field of photocatalysis.

Facing the increasing organic wastewater pollutants in the world, it is curious to discover novel materials for efficient wastewater separation and organic pollutants degradation. Hence, in order t...

Epilepsy is a common cause of serious cognitive disorders and is known to have impact on patients' memory and executive functions. Therefore, the development of antiepileptic drugs for the improvement of spatial learning and memory in patients with epileptic cognitive dysfunction is important. In the present work, we systematically predicted and analyzed the potential effects of Ginkgo terpene trilactones (GTTL) on cognition and pathologic changes utilizing in silico and in vivo approaches. Based on our established chemogenomics knowledgebase, we first conducted the network systems pharmacology analysis to predict that ginkgolide A/B/C may target 5-HT 1A, 5-HT 1B, and 5-HT 2B. The detailed interactions were then further validated by molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. In addition, status epilepticus (SE) was induced by lithium-pilocarpine injection in adult Wistar male rats, and the results of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) demonstrated that administration with GTTL can increase the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) when compared to the model group. Interestingly, recent studies suggest that the occurrence of a reciprocal involvement of 5-HT receptor activation along with the hippocampal BDNF-increased expression can significantly ameliorate neurologic changes and reverse behavioral deficits in status epilepticus rats while improving cognitive function and alleviating neuronal injury. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of GTTL (bilobalide, ginkgolide A, ginkgolide B, and ginkgolide C) on synergistic antiepileptic effect. Our experimental data showed that the spatial learning and memory abilities (e.g., electroencephalography analysis and Morris water maze test for behavioral assessment) of rats administrated with GTTL were significantly improved under the middle dose (80 mg/kg, GTTL) and high dose (160 mg/kg, GTTL). Moreover, the number of neurons in the hippocampus of the GTTL group increased when compared to the model group. Our studies showed that GTTL not only protected rat cerebral hippocampal neurons against epilepsy but also improved the learning and memory ability. Therefore, GTTL may be a potential drug candidate for the prevention and/or treatment of epilepsy.

In this study, we aimed to explore the expression of the Aicardi-Goutières syndrome (AGS) mutant gene SAMHD1 in paediatric-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (pSLE), its correlations with clinical and laboratory parameters, and the relationship between its expression and the type 1 interferon (IFN) signalling pathway.Peripheral blood from 98 pSLE patients and 44 gender and age-matched healthy individuals were examined. Gene expression levels of SAMDH1 and interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs; MxA, IRF3 and IRF7) were evaluated using real-time RT-PCR assays.SAMHD1 levels in pSLE patients were significantly increased compared to those in healthy donors (p0.001). SAMHD1 was associated with serum ferritin (r=0.221, p=0.042) in pSLE patients. SAMHD1 levels were significantly increased (p0.05) in pSLE patients with butterfly erythema, alopecia, and photosensitivity. SAMHD1 was positively correlated with MxA, IRF3 and IRF7 levels, indicating that SAMHD1 was associated with the type 1 IFN signalling pathway.SAMHD1 was significantly increased and correlated with MxA, IRF3 and IRF7 in pSLE patients.

Childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (cSLE) is a multisystem autoimmune disease characterised and presents partially differently from adults. A large cSLE cohort study is lacking in China. The present study aimed to determine the clinical characteristics in a large population of patients with cSLE, and compare with adult-onset SLE (aSLE) in an SLE cohort of China.The retrospective study included patients with cSLE diagnosed at the Beijing Children's hospital between July 2006 and October 2020. All patients met at least 4 of ACR classification criteria for SLE. In addition, data including demographic, clinical and serologic data were collected. Our data were compared with other cSLE cohorts and Chinese aSLE cohorts.A total of 1020 patients were included in this study, comprising 808 female and 212 male patients (female to male ratio, 3.8:1). The mean age at diagnosis of lupus was 11.1 years (range 1.0-17.2). It took on average 6 months (range 0.1-132) from first symptoms to cSLE diagnosis and over 12 months in 12% of patients. The most common primary manifestations at onset were rash (37.2%), fever (33.4%), nephropathy (14.2%) and arthritis (13.6%). The most common clinical manifestations were rash (67.9%) and fever (57.5%). 59.4% of patients had haematological involvement, 46.0% had lupus nephritis, 33.2% had arthritis. cSLE was more active and associated with more inflammation than aSLE patients.This study is a large single-centre study on cSLE from China and clarifies the clinical phenotype and autoantibody spectrum of cSLE. The clinical manifestations and autoantibody spectrum of cSLE are diverse, with regional and populational differences.

Background Postoperative atelectasis occurs in 90% of patients receiving general anesthesia. Recruitment maneuvers (RMs) are not always effective and frequently associated with barotrauma and hemodynamic instability. It is reported that many natural physiological behaviors interrupted under general anesthesia could prevent atelectasis and restore lung aeration. This study aimed to find out whether a combined physiological recruitment maneuver (CPRM), sigh in lateral position, could reduce postoperative atelectasis using lung ultrasound (LUS). Methods We conducted a prospective, randomized, controlled trial in adults with open abdominal surgery under general anesthesia lasting for 2 h or longer. Subjects were randomly allocated to either control group (C-group) or CPRM-group and received volume-controlled ventilation with the same ventilator settings. Patients in CPRM group was ventilated in sequential lateral position, with the addition of periodic sighs to recruit the lung. LUS scores, dynamic compliance (Cdyn), the partial pressure of arterial oxygen (PaO2) and fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) ratio (PaO2/FiO2), and other explanatory variables were acquired from each patient before and after recruitment. Results Seventy patients were included in the analysis. Before recruitment, there was no significant difference in LUS scores, Cdyn and PaO2/FiO2 between CPRM-group and C-group. After recruitment, LUS scores in CPRM-group decreased significantly compared with C-group (6.00 [5.00, 7.00] vs. 8.00 [7.00, 9.00], p = 4.463e-11 2/FiO2 and Cdyn in CPRM-group increased significantly compared with C-group respectively (377.92 (93.73) vs. 309.19 (92.98), p = 0.008 p = 6.325e-07 Conclusions Sigh in lateral position can effectively reduce postoperative atelectasis even without causing severe side effects. Further large-scale studies are necessary to evaluate it’s long-term effects on pulmonary complications and hospital length of stay. Trial registration ChiCTR1900024379. Registered 8 July 2019

Cell therapy is the frontier technology of biotechnology innovation and the most promising method for the treatment of refractory diseases such as tumours. However, cell therapy has disadvantages, such as toxicity and poor therapeutic effects. Plant extracts are natural, widely available, and contain active small molecule ingredients that are widely used in the treatment of various diseases. By studying the effect of plant extracts on cell therapy, active plant extracts that have positive significance in cell therapy can be discovered, and certain contributions to solving the current problems of attenuation and adjuvant therapy in cell therapy can be made. Therefore, this article reviews the currently reported effects of plant extracts in stem cell therapy and immune cell therapy, especially the effects of plant extracts on the proliferation and differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells and nerve stem cells and the potential role of plant extracts in chimeric antigen receptor T-cell immunotherapy (CAR-T) and T-cell receptor modified T-cell immunotherapy (TCR-T), in the hope of encouraging further research and clinical application of plant extracts in cell therapy.

High-density planting aggravates competition among plants and has a negative impact on plant growth and productivity. Nitrogen application and chemical control can improve plant growth and increase grain yield in high-density planting. Our experiment explored the effects of nitrogen fertilizer and plant growth regulators on maize root-bleeding sap, phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) accumulation and translocation, and grain yield and quality in high-density planting. We established a field study during the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons, with three nitrogen levels of N100 (100 kg ha−1), N200 (200 kg ha−1), and N300 (300 kg ha−1) at high-density planting (90,000 plants ha−1), and applied Yuhuangjin (a plant growth regulator mixture of 3% DTA-6 and 27% ethephon) at the 7th leaf. Our results showed that N200 application combined with chemical control could regulate amino acid and mineral nutrient concentration delivery rates in root-bleeding sap and improve its sap rate. Also, the treated plant exhibited higher P and K uptake and translocation ability. Furthermore, chemical control and N200 treatment maintained a high level of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (RuBPCase), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPCase), nitrate reductase (NR), and glutamine synthetase (GS) enzymatic activities in leaves. In addition, plant growth regulator and nitrogen application improved the enzymatic activities of GS, glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), and glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) and the contents of crude protein, lysine, sucrose, and soluble sugar in grain and ultimately increased maize yield. This study suggests that N200 application in combination with chemical control promotes root vitality and nutrient accumulation and could improve grain yield and quality in high-density planting.

Glucocorticoids are potent anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant medications and remain the mainstay of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) therapy. The potency of a specific glucocorticoid, i.e., the dose of glucocorticoid that is required to produce a specific effect, is dependent on its pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamic (PD) properties. In this review, we summarize the PK/PD properties of commonly used glucocorticoids in an attempt to better delineate their role in the management of children with childhood-onset SLE (cSLE). We also address glucocorticoid side effects as these play a major role when deciding on the dose, frequency, and duration of use. A better understanding of the pharmacology of glucocorticoids appears useful to achieve improved outcomes in the management of cSLE.

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) is a rare and disabling heritable connective tissue disease that is difficult to treat. This study seeks to explore the clinical characteristics, clinical manifestations, treatment and prognosis of FOP to provide a clinical basis for its early diagnosis and treatment. Twenty-six children with FOP were retrospectively analyzed in terms of their onset, clinical manifestations, auxiliary examinations and treatment. Among the 26 cases, the youngest age of manifestation of mass was 8 days after birth, and the average age was 3 years and 2 months. The peak age was 2–5 years old. Inflammatory mass and toe-finger deformity are the main early clinical manifestations of the disease. These inflammatory masses often lead to hard osteogenic deposits that initially mainly involve the central axis, such as the neck (22/26, 84.6%), back (20/26, 76.9%), and head (13/26, 50%). Toe-finger deformity mainly manifests as symmetrical great toe deformity, or short and deformed thumb and little finger. The diagnosis of FOP requires typical clinical manifestations or ACVR1 gene detection. The main therapeutic drugs for FOP include glucocorticoids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Although not compliant with the recommended medical management of FOP, in our clinical practice children with uncontrollable illness could be treated using a variety of immunosuppressive agents in combination. FOP is a rare autosomal dominant heritable disease. The main clinical manifestations observed in this study were recurrent inflammatory mass and toe-finger deformity. If the diagnosis and treatment are not performed in a timely manner, serious complications are likely to affect the prognosis. Therefore, early diagnosis and active treatment should be performed.

More and more attention has been paid to materials with special wettability for the potential application in oil/water separation and oil-spill treatment. In this work, we presented a simple, efficient, and environmentally friendly method to develop a magnetic textile that could achieve switchable wettability by changing the pH value of the surface. The textile was fabricated by a mixture of Fe3O4 nanoparticles and dodecylamine (DDA)-modified TiO2 with high permeate flux, high separation efficiency and good stability. The Fe3O4/DDA-TiO2 textile showed its superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity for neutral water (pH = 7), while the textile became superhydrophilic and underwater superoleophobic for acidic water (pH = 2).The as-prepared textile was investigated using eight different density oil/water mixtures. The results showed that the as-prepared textile possessed excellent separation efficiency (>99%) and high oil flux of about 9400–13,000 L h−1 m-2, water flux of about 6400–6700 L h−1 m-2 and good reusability. Meanwhile, the textile can maintain superhydrophobic under high temperature (˜170 °C), which significantly indicated its practical application in harsh environment. Because of its magnetism, the textile can be recovered and removed by magnets. We believe that this work may provide a number of potential application, such as microfluidic device, oil recovery and sewage purification.

In this paper, we synthesized an innovative Bi2O3/ZnAl-LDH–C photocatalyst via hydrothermal methodology. The as-prepared samples presented remarkable photocatalytic degradation efficiency to various organic contaminations under simulated visible light irradiation, and Bi2O3/ZnAl-LDH–C0.5 composite obtained the highest efficiency. These results attributed to the synergistic effects among the precursors, which effectively enhanced the specific surface area and reaction active sites, and expedited the effective separation of holes and electrons. This work presented a feasible strategy to develop new fashioned photocatalyst through using earth-abundant materials as cocatalysts to solve the water pollution problem.

Cadmium (Cd) pollution was becoming more and more serious; there is an urgent need for an effective solution to inhibit the harm of cadmium stress. Chitosan (CTS) is a biologically active polysaccharide that plays a unique role under abiotic stress. So it was of much improtance to explore the effects of CTS on maize resistance ability. The results showed that maize (Zea mays L.) seedling growth was significantly inhibited, root system was the first organ that contact with cadmium stress, so the roots accumulated a lot of cadmium content, reducing the root activity, root growth was blocked, which led a reduction in nutrients to the leaves, and the chlorophyll content and photosynthetic enzyme activity were decreased. Additionally, the antioxidant enzyme activity was reduced. Under cadmium stress, CTS treatments significantly increased the growth rate and compensated for the function of root system, and which increased SOD, POD, CAT, APX and GR activities and AsA, GSH contents of leaves, but reduced $${\text{O}}_{2}^{{\centerdot \, - }}$$ , H2O2 and MDA contents. CTS increased chlorophyll content, Pn, Gs, Tr, Fv/Fm, ΦPSII, qP and NPQ, reduced Ci, avoided excessive light damage and maintained higher PSII activity. CTS alleviated the destruction of antioxidant enzymes and inhibited the production of reactive oxygen species, which improved the chlorophyll content and photosynthesis of plants. Our results showed that CTS could be used in cadmium-contaminated areas to reduce the toxicity of cadmium stress. The study results provide a theoretical and experimental basis for the safe production of maize in cadmium-contaminated areas.

e14523 Background: ACVR2A (activin A receptor type 2A) encodes a receptor that mediates the functions of activins, and it contains two polyadenine (A8) microsatellite loci, which are located in exon 3 and exon 10. Recent studies have shown that ACVR2A mutant was associated with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) and high tumor mutational burden(TMB-H) in gastrointestinal cancers. However, this association remains unclear in other solid tumors. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the ACVR2A mutations from comprehensive 539-gene profiling of 10434 Chinese patients with pan-cancer. Somatic mutations in tumor tissue were assessed. We screened out ACVR2A mutations, calculated the mutation frequency, TMB in different types of cancer. Results: ACVR2A mutants were detected in 340 (2.9%) samples. The top 5 frequently cancers were colorectal cancer (98, 28.8%), lung carcinoma (68, 20%), hepatocellular carcinoma (64, 18.8%), gastric cancer (48, 14.1%) and biliary tract cancers (19, 5.6%). And 12.7% were other cancers (e.g., pancreatic cancer, small bowel adenocarcinoma, brain cancer). ACVR2A variants included truncation (50%), splicing site variant (9.0%), and other mutant types(41.1%). Truncation was the most common type, recurring in a few hot spots (K437Rfs*5/ K437Rfs*19, D96Tfs*54/ D96Rfs*4, V433del, R438Efs*19). The TMB in ACVR2A mutation group was significantly higher than that in ACVR2A wild-type group (p < 0.001). In addition, TMB ≥10 muts/Mb was seen in 76.7% tumors with ACVR2A truncation or splicing site mutant(INACT) and 20.6% tumors with other mutant types(VUS)(p = 0.002). The median TMB of INACT group and VUS group was 35.46 muts/Mb (0.74-344.12) and 6.62 muts/Mb(0.5-598.53), respectively. Conclusions: We analyzed the distribution of ACVR2A mutants in Chinese patients with solid tumors. Our data shows that ACVR2A truncation or splice site mutant type is significantly associated with TMB-H, and this may be potential molecular marker of immunotherapy.

The diatomite/ZnFe layered double hydroxides hybrid composites (DZF) were synthesized using a facile co-precipitation method. The synthesized DZF hybrid composites were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), N2 adsorption-desorption (BET), and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). In this research, the photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared samples was evaluated through the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and malachite green (MG) under visible light irradiation. 5 wt% loading of modified diatomite was confirmed to be most effective for improving the photocatalytic activity of ZnFe layered double hydroxides for the degradation of MB and MG and approximately 94.46% and 97.02% of degradation was obtained after 180 min and 150 min visible light irradiation, respectively. Besides, kinetics studies were indicated that the photodegradation reaction followed pseudo first order. During the photocatalytic degradation process, h+, e−, O2− and OH are key parameters in photocatalytic reaction. Based on the experimental results, a possible mechanism for photocatalytic degradation was also given in this experiment.

The commercialization of Li-S batteries is hindered by the shuttling of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs), the sluggish sulfur redox kinetics as well as the low sulfur utilization during charge/discharge processes. Herein, a free-standing cathode material was developed, based on Fe-doped NiSe

Objective To study the long-term outcomes, in the context of both mortality and organ damage in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in the Chinese SLE Treatment and Research group (CSTAR) registry cohort. Methods Patients were enrolled from April 2009 to February 2010 and they were followed up. The demographic data, clinical manifestations, labs test results and imaging examinations, disease activity (SLEDAI-2K), damage scores (SLLIC/Damage Index [SDI]), and medications were collected. Data were censored at either the last clinic visit or telephonic interview. Survival rate was analyzed by Kaplan–Meier (KM) method. COX proportional hazard model was adopted to perform the analysis of predicting factors for mortality and organ damage. Logistic regression analysis was employed to discuss the relationship among mortality, organ damage, and flare. Results A total of 2104 patients were recruited at baseline and 1494 patients were followed up. The cumulative 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year survival rates were 98.3%, 96.9%, and 95.7%, respectively. Seventy-eight patients died during follow-up, and the main causes of death were infection (34.6%), active disease (26.9%), cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (5.13%), and malignancy (5.13%). At entry, 247 patients presented with irreversible organ damage and it increased to 398 patients at the endpoint. The major accumulated organ damages were kidney (25.9%), musculoskeletal disease (20.2%), neuropsychiatric disease (12.2%), and pulmonary damage (10.9%). Cox regression analysis further showed that male, late disease onset, delayed diagnosis (diagnosis from disease onset >1 year), baseline organ damage, and specific organ involvements predicted for higher mortality. In addition, early disease onset was a protecting factor for organ damage, and anti-SSA was an independent predicting factor for new organ damage. Logistic regression analysis showed that flare predicted for more organ damage. Conclusion The 5-year survival rate of Chinese SLE patients has improved and is comparable to Caucasians SLE patients. Disease flare impact on prognosis is the increasing risk of damage development. Early diagnosis, prevention for flare and damage to maintain remission, may improve outcome.

Sugar beet is strongly resistant to salt-alkalinity. Understanding the physiological alkali stress resistance mechanism of sugar beet is important for fully utilizing saline–alkaline soil. Sugar beet seedlings from cultivars KWS0143 (alkali-tolerant) and Beta464 (alkali-sensitive) were treated with five concentrations of mixed alkaline solutions (NaHCO3: Na2CO3, 2:1), namely, 0 (control), 25, 50, 75, and 100 mM (mole concentration was calculated in Na+). A sharper decrease in dry weight per plant (87.1%) and total root length (91.7%) of Beta464 were observed compared to the 61.5% and 85.0% decrease in those of KWS0143 under 100 mM alkali treatment. With increasing alkaline stress, Na+ accumulation hindered K+ and Ca2+ absorption by roots. Free polyamines contents and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) activity in roots of both cultivars were all significantly enhanced by 50 and 75 mM alkali treatments. KWS0143 exhibited higher dissociated putrescine (Put), spermine (Spm), as well as spermidine (Spd) levels within the roots compared to Beta464 under alkali conditions. Root free Spd contents of KWS0143 and Beta464 increased by 154.2 and 64.5% treated with 50 mM alkali in comparison with the control. After treated with the dose of 25 mM, root succinic acid (SA) contents of KWS0143 and Beta464 increased by 90.4 and 14.3%, respectively, compared to the plants subjected to the control. Our results imply that polyamines and PEPC contribute to the tolerance of sugar beet to alkali stress. Those results could be useful for enriching the theory of plant stress response.

The Songnen Plain, whose climatic conditions are perfectly suited to sugar beet growth, is located in northeastern China. Unfortunately, this region has a lot of saline-alkaline land, which is the most important factor limiting sugar beet production. This study was undertaken to determine whether biochar-based organic fertilizer could alleviate the negative effect of saline-alkaline soil on sugar beet yield and whether such an effect correlated with changes in nitrogen assimilation, antioxidant system, root activity, and photosynthesis. Three treatments were established: Chemical fertilizers were applied to neutral soil (CK), chemical fertilizers were applied to saline-alkaline soil (SA), and biochar-based organic fertilizer was applied to saline-alkaline soil (SA + B). Our results showed that saline-alkaline stress significantly inhibited the nitrogen assimilation and antioxidant enzymes activities in root, root activity, and photosynthesis, thus significantly reducing the yield and sugar content of sugar beet. Under saline-alkaline conditions, the application of biochar-based organic fertilizer improved the activities of nitrogen assimilation enzymes in the root, at the same time, the antioxidant enzymes activities of the root were significantly increased for improving root activity in this treatment. Moreover, the application of biochar-based organic fertilizer could improve the synthesis of photosynthetic pigments, PSII (Photosystem II) activity, stomatal opening, and photosynthesis of sugar beet under saline-alkaline conditions. Hence, the growth and yield of sugar beet were improved by applying biochar-based organic fertilizer to saline-alkaline soil. These results proved the significance of biochar-based organic fertilizer in alleviating the negative effect of saline-alkaline stress on sugar beet. The results obtained in the pot experiment may not be viable in field conditions. Therefore, in the future, we will verify whether biochar-based organic fertilizer could alleviate the adverse effects of saline-alkaline stress on sugar beets yield under field conditions.

Background Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play crucial roles in regulating numerous biological processes in which complicated mechanisms are involved. Nonetheless, little is known about the number, features, sequences, and possible effects of lncRNAs on plant responses to alkaline stress. Results Leaf samples collected based on the control Beta vulgaris L., as well as those under short-term and long-term alkaline treatments, were subjected to high-throughput RNA sequencing, through which a total of 8535 lncRNAs with reliable expression were detected. Of these lncRNAs, 102 and 49 lncRNA expression profiles were altered after short- and long-term alkaline stress, respectively. Moreover, 7 lncRNAs were recognized as precursors to 17 previously identified miRNAs. Four lncRNAs responsive to alkaline stress were estimated as targets for 8 miRNAs. Moreover, computational analysis predicted 4318 potential target genes as lncRNAs responsive to alkaline stress. Analysis of functional annotations showed that the abovementioned possible target genes were involved in various bioprocesses, such as kinase activity, structural constituents of ribosomes, the ribonucleoprotein complex and protein metabolic processes. Association analysis provided convincing proof of the interplay of specific candidate target genes with lncRNAs. Conclusion LncRNAs likely exert vital roles during the regulation of the alkaline stress response and adaptation in plants through interaction with protein-coding genes. The findings of this study contribute to comprehensively examining lncRNAs in Beta vulgaris L. and shed more light on the possible roles and modulating interplays of lncRNAs responsive to alkaline stress, thereby laying a certain basis for functional analyses of these types of Beta vulgaris L. lncRNAs in the future.

BackgroundBeta vulgarisL. is one of the main sugar-producing crop species and is highly adaptable to saline soil. This study explored the alterations to the carbon and nitrogen metabolism mechanisms enabling the roots of sugar beet seedlings to adapt to salinity.ResultsThe ionome, metabolome, and transcriptome of the roots of sugar beet seedlings were evaluated after 1 day (short term) and 7 days (long term) of 300 mM Na+treatment. Salt stress caused reactive oxygen species (ROS) damage and ion toxicity in the roots. Interestingly, under salt stress, the increase in the Na+/K+ratio compared to the control ratio on day 7 was lower than that on day 1 in the roots. The transcriptomic results showed that a large number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were enriched in various metabolic pathways. A total of 1279 and 903 DEGs were identified on days 1 and 7, respectively, and were mapped mainly to 10 Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways. Most of the genes were involved in carbon metabolism and amino acid (AA) biosynthesis. Furthermore, metabolomic analysis revealed that sucrose metabolism and the activity of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle increased in response to salt stress. After 1 day of stress, the content of sucrose decreased, whereas the content of organic acids (OAs) such as L-malic acid and 2-oxoglutaric acid increased. After 7 days of salt stress, nitrogen-containing metabolites such as AAs, betaine, melatonin, and (S)-2-aminobutyric acid increased significantly. In addition, multiomic analysis revealed that the expression of the gene encoding xanthine dehydrogenase (XDH) was upregulated and that the expression of the gene encoding allantoinase (ALN) was significantly downregulated, resulting in a large accumulation of allantoin. Correlation analysis revealed that most genes were significantly related to only allantoin and xanthosine.ConclusionsOur study demonstrated that carbon and nitrogen metabolism was altered in the roots of sugar beet plants under salt stress. Nitrogen metabolism plays a major role in the late stages of salt stress. Allantoin, which is involved in the purine metabolic pathway, may be a key regulator of sugar beet salt tolerance.

Background: Yunnan Province is a multi-ethnic area located in the southwest of China, and she also is rich in Chinese matiera medica resources, known as the ‘kingdom of plants’. There is abundant of ethnomedicine resources in Yunnan province and many ethnic minorities inherit and retain numerous knowledge of traditional medicine. The biomedicine and big health industry have been the pillar industry of Yunnan since 2016, which is the important pharmaceutical industrial base for Dai Medicine and Yi Medicine in China, for example Yunnan Baiyao with “amazing efficacy” and originating from a Yi medical formula. Yi medicine and Dai medicine of Yunnan Province were investigated in this work focusing on the basic information of Dai patent medicine (DPM) and Yi patent medicine (YPM), including the clinical indications, herbal resources and their sources of traditional knowledge. Methods: The data and information were collected from the published literatures and some public service websites, and the data base of DPM and YPM was established including the information about manufacturer, approval number, clinical indication, prescription composition, dosage form of drug, etc. We investigated the references and literatures including the publicly available pharmaceutical instructions ensuring the authenticity and reliability of the investigation. Results: The results showed that there were 28 varieties of DPMs and 73 varieties of YPMs approved to use in clinical according to the drug regulatory laws of China. In the DPMs and YPMs, about 109 and 197 herbal medicines are recorded in China Pharmacopoeia, 18 and 52 herbs are recorded in Standards for Chinese medicinal materials in Yunnan Province respectively. Nearly 20 herbs have not any quality standard. Among these herbal medicines, there are 10 herbs considered as Dai Medicine and 30 herbs as Yi Medicine. In order to produce these DPMs and YPMs, about 16 animal medicines and 17 rare and endangered medicinal materials would be collected and used. Conclusions: The investigation would provide a more detailed report on Yunnan ethnic medicine industry, and it should be believed reasonably that the ethnomedicine of Yunnan Province will give more choices for human health through scientific experiments and dealing with the sustainable utilization of medicine resources.

Additional file 2: Table S2. Target genes of alkaline-responsive lncRNAs.

Additional file 4: Table S4. The primers used in qRT-PCR.

To achieve the operational objectives of intercity trains, in particular, reducing the station dwell time, it is necessary to improve the boarding and alighting efficiency. The vehicle layout considerably influences the boarding and alighting efficiency. In this paper, a method to simulate pedestrian dynamics is proposed. The effects of three layout factors on the efficiency are investigated; furthermore, the regression curves of different factors and cumulative high density maps are considered for analysis. The results show that when the door width ranges from 800–1900 mm, the relationship between this width and the boarding and alighting efficiency is a quadratic function. When the hall width ranges from 1300–2100 mm, the relationship between this width and the efficiency is a power function. When the aisle width ranges from 650–950 mm, the relationship between this width and the efficiency is a cubic function.

Additional file 3: Table S3. The components of Hoagland solutions.

Additional file 5: Figure. S1. Effects of alkaline treatment on growth characteristics (the scale of this photo was 1:4). (a) Plant morphology growing by means of in the absence or presence of 7 days of 75 mM alkaline treatment (b-e) Variations of transpiration rate (Tr), stomatal conductance (Gs), net photosynthetic rate (Pn), and photosystem II (Y(II)) quantum yield at 7 day after alkaline treatment. C stands for controls, while A indicates the alkaline-challenged leaves. Error bar indicates SDs across 3 biological duplicates (n = 3). Asterisk represents difference with statistical significance in alkaline-challenged samples compared with controls (*P

Additional file 1: Table S1. LncRNAs with differential expression responding to short-term and long-term alkaline treatments.

Novel Fe3O4–CsxWO3/NiAl layered double hydroxide composites (FCW/LDH) for the activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) and the succeeding degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) was synthesized through a simple method. The composites prepared were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS, FT-IR, UV–vis DRS, and N2 physisorption, respectively. It was found that FCW/LDH could effectively catalyze PMS to generate sulfate radicals (SO4•–) to degrade 2,4-D. The added 2,4-D (20 mg/L) was almost completely removed (with a removal of 90.53%) in 180 min by using 1.00 g/L FCW/LDH and 0.50 g/L PMS. Several related factors (PMS concentration, initial pH, disturbing anions) were tested in order to understand their effect on the degradation performance. Furthermore, the photocatalysts exhibited good reusability and stability after four recycles. Finally, a possible degradation mechanism was provided according to theabove experimental results. The desired FCW/LDH composites showed promising application in purifying water.