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APSES (Asm1p, Phd1p, Sok2p, Efg1p, and StuAp) family transcription factors play crucial roles in various biological processes of fungi, however, their functional characterization in phytopathogenic fungi is limited. In this study, we explored the role of SsStuA, a typical APSES transcription factor, in the regulation of cell wall integrity (CWI), sclerotia formation and pathogenicity of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, which is a globally important plant pathogenic fungus. A deficiency of SsStuA led to abnormal phosphorylation level of SsSmk3, the key gene SsAGM1 for UDP-GlcNAc synthesis was unable to respond to cell wall stress, and decreased tolerance to tebuconazole. In addition, ΔSsStuA was unable to form sclerotia but produced more compound appressoria. Nevertheless, the virulence of ΔSsStuA was significantly reduced due to the deficiency of the invasive hyphal growth and increased susceptibility to hydrogen peroxide. We also revealed that SsStuA could bind to the promoter of catalase family genes which regulate the expression of catalase genes. Furthermore, the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation was found to be increased in ΔSsStuA. In summary, SsStuA, as a core transcription factor involved in the CWI pathway and ROS response, is required for vegetative growth, sclerotia formation, fungicide tolerance and the full virulence of S. sclerotiorum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the effects of salt substitution among individuals with normal blood pressure are scarce and controversial. This study sought to assess the effects of a salt substitute (62.5% NaCl, 25% KCl, and 12.5% flavorings) on incidence of hypertension and hypotension among older adults with normal blood pressure. A post hoc analysis was conducted among older adults with normal blood pressure participating in DECIDE-Salt, a large, multicenter, cluster-randomized trial in 48 elderly care facilities for 2 years. We used the frailty survival model to compare risk of incident hypertension and the generalized linear mixed model to compare risk of hypotension episodes. Compared with usual salt group (n = 298), the salt substitute group (n = 313) had a lower hypertension incidence (11.7 vs 24.3 per 100 person-years; adjusted HR: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.39 to 0.92; P = 0.02) but did not increase incidence of hypotension episodes (9.0 vs 9.7 per 100 person-years; P = 0.76). Mean systolic/diastolic blood pressure did not increase from the baseline to the end of intervention in the salt substitute group (mean changes: −0.3 ± 11.9/0.2 ± 7.1 mm Hg) but increased in the usual salt group (7.0 ± 14.3/2.1 ± 7.5 mm Hg), resulting in a net reduction of −8.0 mm Hg (95% CI: −12.4 to –3.7 mm Hg) in systolic and −2.0 mm Hg (95% CI: −4.1 to 0.1 mm Hg) in diastolic blood pressure between intervention groups. In Chinese older adults with normal blood pressure, replacing usual salt with a salt substitute may reduce the incidence of hypertension without increasing hypotension episodes. This suggests a desirable strategy for population-wide prevention and control of hypertension and cardiovascular disease, deserving further consideration in future studies. (Diet Exercise and Cardiovascular Health [DECIDE]—Salt Reduction Strategies for the Elderly in Nursing Homes in China [DECIDE-Salt]; NCT03290716) [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The SWI/SNF complex is guided to the promoters of designated genes by its co‐operator to activate transcription in a timely and appropriate manner to govern development, pathogenesis, and stress responses in fungi. Nevertheless, knowledge of the complexes and their co‐operator in phytopathogenic fungi is still fragmented.We demonstrate that the heat shock transcription factor SsHsf1 guides the SWI/SNF complex to promoters of heat shock protein (hsp) genes and antioxidant enzyme genes using biochemistry and pharmacology. This is accomplished through direct interaction with the complex subunit SsSnf5 under heat shock and oxidative stress. This results in the activation of their transcription and mediates histone displacement to maintain reactive oxygen species (ROS) homeostasis.Genetic results demonstrate that the transcription module formed by SsSnf5 and SsHsf1 is responsible for regulating morphogenesis, stress tolerance, and pathogenicity in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, especially by directly activating the transcription of hsp genes and antioxidant enzyme genes counteracting plant‐derived ROS. Furthermore, we show that stress‐induced phosphorylation of SsSnf5 is necessary for the formation of the transcription module.This study establishes that the SWI/SNF complex and its co‐operator cooperatively regulate the transcription of hsp genes and antioxidant enzyme genes to respond to host and environmental stress in the devastating phytopathogenic fungi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUD: Two‐component histidine kinase (HK) phosphorelay signaling systems play important roles in differentiation, virulence, secondary metabolite production and response to environmental signals. Allyl isothiocyanate (A‐ITC) is a hydrolysis product of glucosinolates with excellent antifungal activity. Our previous study indicated that the mycelial growth of Cochliobolus heterostrophus was significantly hindered by A‐ITC. However, the function of HK in regulating A‐ITC sensitivity was not clear in C. heterostrophus, the causal agent of Southern corn leaf blight. RESULTS: In this study, the role of HKs was investigated in C. heterostrophus. Deletion of the HK coding gene ChNIK1 resulted in dramatically increased sensitivity of C. heterostrophus to A‐ITC. In addition, ΔChnik1 mutant exhibited significantly decreased conidiation and increased sensitivity to NaCl, KCl, tebuconazole and azoxystrobin, but deletion of the other five HK genes did not affect the A‐ITC sensitivity of C. heterostrophus. ChSLN1, ChNIK4, ChNIK8 and ChMAK2 are essential for conidiation and response to H2O2 and sodium dodecyl sulfate. However, deletion of NIKs had on effect on significant virulence. CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrate that the HKs play different roles in A‐ITC sensitivity in C. heterostrophus. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, image processing and computer vision models have played a vital role in moving object detection on the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. Capturing of moving objects in the SAR images is a difficult task. In this study, a new automated model for detecting moving objects is proposed using SAR images. The proposed model has four main steps, namely, preprocessing, segmentation, feature extraction, and classification. Initially, the input SAR image is pre-processed using a histogram equalization technique. Then, the weighted Otsu-based segmentation algorithm is applied for segmenting the object regions from the pre-processed images. When using the weighted Otsu, the segmented grayscale images are not only clear but also retain the detailed features of grayscale images. Next, feature extraction is carried out by gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), median binary patterns (MBPs), and additive harmonic mean estimated local Gabor binary pattern (AHME-LGBP). The final step is classification using deep ensemble models, where the objects are classified by employing the ensemble deep learning technique, combining the models like the bidirectional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM), recurrent neural network (RNN), and improved deep belief network (IDBN), which is trained with the features extracted previously. The combined models increase the accuracy of the results significantly. Furthermore, ensemble modeling reduces the variance and modeling method bias, which decreases the chances of overfitting. Compared to a single contributing model, ensemble models perform better and make better predictions. Additionally, an ensemble lessens the spread or dispersion of the model performance and prediction accuracy. Finally, the performance of the proposed model is related to the conventional models with respect to different measures. In the mean-case scenario, the proposed ensemble model has a minimum error value of 0.032, which is better related to other models. In both median- and best-case scenario studies, the ensemble model has a lower error value of 0.029 and 0.015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) is an essential for in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) and an important aspect of assisted reproductive technology (ART). Individual starting doses of gonadotropin (Gn) is a critical decision in the process of COH. It has a crucial impact on the number of retrieved oocytes, the cancelling rate of ART cycles, and complications such as ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS), as well as pregnancy outcomes. How to make clinical team more standardized and accurate in determining the starting dose of Gn is an important issue in reproductive medicine. In the past 20 years, research teams worldwide have explored prediction models for Gn starting doses. With the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning, it is hoped that there will be more suitable predictive model for Gn starting dose in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decarbonizing transport is one of the core tasks for achieving Net Zero targets, but the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts human mobility and the established transport development strategies. Although existing research has explored the relationship between virus transmission, human mobility, and restrictions policies, few have studied the responses of multimodal human mobility to the pandemic and their impacts on the achievement of decarbonizing transport. This paper employs 32 consecutive biweekly observations of mobile phone application data to understand the influences of the pandemics on multimodal human mobility from February 2020 to April 2021 in London. We here illustrate that multimodal travel behavior and traffic flows significant changed after the pandemic and related lockdowns, but the decline or recovery varies across different travel modes and lockdowns. The car mode has shown the most resilience throughout the pandemic, but the travel modes in the public transit sector were hit hard. Cycle and walk modes remained high at the beginning of the pandemic, but the trend did not continue as the pandemic developed and the season changed. Our findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic brought more challenges to travel mode shifting and the achievement of decarbonizing transport rather than opportunities. This analysis will assist transport authorities to optimize the established transport policies and to redistribute limited resources for accelerating the achievement of decarbonizing transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]