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Heavy metals not only adversely affect the quality of tobacco leaves, but also very adverse effects on human health. In order to find out the effective cultivation method of controlling heavy metal content in flue-cured tobacco, the content of four kinds of heavy metals in soil and tobacco leaves in different intercropping treatments was tested. The results showed that there were significant differences between the effects of interheavy metal content in tobacco leaves and play a very important and positive role in actual production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pigment is one of the most important metabolites in red yeast rice. However, citrinin may accumulate and cause quality security issues. In the present study, the effect of ascorbic acid (EAA) on the pigment and citrinin was studied, and the metabolic mechanism was discussed using comparative transcriptomics. The introduction of EAA increased the pigment by 58.2% and decreased citrinin by 65.4%. The acid protease activity, DPPH scavenging rate, and total reducing ability also increased by 18.7, 9.0, and 26.7%, respectively. Additionally, a total of 791 differentially expressed genes were identified, and 79 metabolic pathways were annotated, among which carbon metabolism, amino acid metabolism, and fatty acid metabolism were closely related to the biosynthesis of pigment and citrinin. Ethanol dehydrogenase ( M pigC ), oxidoreductase ( M pigE ), reductase ( M pigH ), and monooxygenase ( M pigN ) may be related to the increase of pigment. ctnC and pksCT contributed to the decline of citrinin., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Jiang, Duan, Yin, Zhang, Chen, Lan, Xiao, Tang, Wang and Zuo.)

Pathological remodeling of the right ventricular (RV) contributes to the mortality of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) patients, and RV myocardial apoptosis and metabolism play decisive roles in RV remodeling. Qiliqiangxin (QLQX), a traditional Chinese medicine, has a cardio-protective effective on left ventricular remodeling. However, whether QLQX can decrease RV myocardial apoptosis, improve metabolism, and attenuate RV remodeling remain uncertain. This study investigated the effects of QLQX on RV remodeling, myocardial mitochondria, apoptosis, and metabolism reprogramming. RV remodeling was induced by intraperitoneal injection of Monocrotaline (MCT). We first discovered that QLQX improved hemodynamic parameters and inhibited MCT-induced RVH. Next, QLQX significantly attenuated RV remodeling which covered RV myocardial fibrosis, and RV capillary density. Furthermore, we uncovered that QLQX attenuated RV myocardial apoptosis. We also confirmed that QLQX reversed metabolic shift toward glycolysis which decreased the uptake of glucose showed by fluorodeoxyglucose F 18 positron emission tomography (18FDG-PET). Mechanistically, QLQX optimized mitochondrial function by ameliorating structural abnormality of mitochondria, reducing the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria, and upregulating the expression of SOD2. Mitochondria-dependent apoptosis and mitochondria-associated metabolism were involved in QLQX regulation of RV. Moreover, our study showed that PINK1/Parkin 2 pathway was involved in improving mitochondrial function. We concluded that QLQX could inhibit PAH-induced RV remodeling by decreasing mitochondria associated apoptotic pathway and reversing mitochondrial related metabolic shift. The PINK1/Parkin mitophagy pathway may play a key role in mitochondria protection., Competing Interests: None., (AJTR Copyright © 2020.)

The narrow absorption and emission bands, long fluorescence lifetime, and excellent stability of rare earth nanoparticles (referred to as RE NPs) make them very attractive for multimodal imaging and therapy of cancer. Their narrow absorption requires the careful selection of laser wavelength to achieve the best performance, particularly for RE NPs simultaneously having photothermal and photoluminescent properties (e.g., Nd-based nanoparticles), which has not been investigated. Herein, we prepared a series of different-sized NaNdF 4 nanoparticles (referred to as NNF NPs) (i.e., 4.7, 5.9, 12.8, and 15.6 nm) from ultrasmall nanoclusters and investigated their in vitro and in vivo size-dependent photothermal conversion and photoluminescence under irradiation by a 793 nm laser and an 808 nm laser, respectively. We find that all nanoparticles exhibited the better photothermal conversion performance under the irradiation of the 808 nm laser than under the 793 nm laser, of which 12.8 nm NNF NPs showed the best performance, and the temperature of their solution can be quickly increased from 30 °C to around 60 °C within 10 min under the irradiation of the 808 nm laser with a power intensity of 0.75 W/cm 2 . When we used the 793 nm laser to excite these NNF NPs, we found that all nanoparticles exhibited the stronger photoluminescence in the second near-infrared window (NIR-II) than under the excitation by the 808 nm laser, of which 15.6 nm NNF NPs possessed the strongest NIR-II luminescence. We then modified 12.8 nm NNF NPs with phospholipid carboxyl PEG and functionalized with RGD for actively targeted imaging of cancer. The NaNdF 4 @PEG@RGD nanoparticles (referred to as NNF-P-R NPs) have good biocompatibility, stability, and excellent targeting capability. The in vivo result show that 12.8 nm NNF NPs exhibited better photothermal conversion performance under the irradiation of the 808 nm laser, and stronger NIR-II fluorescence under irradiation of the 793 nm laser, which are consistent with the in vitro result. This work demonstrates the significance of selection of the proper laser wavelength for maximally taking advantage of RE nanoparticles for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

The whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a cryptic species complex and widely distributed throughout tropical and subtropical regions. To understand the B. tabaci cryptic species diversity in China more comprehensively, in the year 2014 and 2016, a large-scale sampling was conducted from the famous biodiversity hotspot of China, Yunnan province. Mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene sequences were used to identify new putative cryptic species. Phylogenetic analyses were performed using Bayesian methods to evaluate the position of new cryptic species in the context of the B. tabaci diversity in Asia. Two new cryptic species, China 5 and Asia V were identified. In total, 19 B. tabaci cryptic species are present in China, two invasive (MED and MEAM1) and 17 indigenous. A new sibling species of B. tabaci was first defined and reported. Based on the mtCOI sequences and haplotype network analyses, the genetic diversity of MED was far higher than MEAM1. We confirmed the exotic MED was originated from the western Mediterranean regions and first invaded into Yunnan, China. The genetic structures of other four indigenous species (Asia I, Asia II 1, Asia II 6, and China 1) with relatively wide distribution ranges in China were also discussed.

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important messenger molecule and effector molecule. This study aimed to investigate the relation of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) gene polymorphism with ischemic stroke in Han Chinese of North China. This was a case-control study. A total of 413 patients with ischemic stroke were recruited from Han Chinese of North China. There were 201 males and 212 females. In addition, 477 healthy subjects served as controls including 224 males and 253 females. Multiplex SNaPshot was employed to detect nNOS gene polymorphism (rs2293050, rs2139733, rs7308402, and rs1483757). Results showed that the rs1483757, rs2139733, and rs2293050 genotypes and allele frequencies were comparable between patients and controls. However, ischemic stroke patients had significantly reduced AG genotype and A allele frequency when compared with controls (P = 0.037, P = 0.041). After adjusting confounding factors (gender, age, smoking, history of drinking, hypertension, and diabetes), AG genotype and A allele were still related to ischemic stroke (OR = 0.572, 95% CI: 0.335-0.978, P = 0.041; OR = 0.611, 95% C: 0.378-0.985, and P = 0.041) and both were found to be protective factors. Our results showed that rs7308402 gene polymorphism of nNOS is related to ischemic stroke in Han Chinese of North China.