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Self-organized blastoids from extended pluripotent stem (EPS) cells possess enormous potential for investigating postimplantation embryo development and related diseases. However, the limited ability of postimplantation development of EPS-blastoids hinders its further application. In this study, single-cell transcriptomic analysis indicated that the “trophectoderm (TE)-like structure” of EPS-blastoids was primarily composed of primitive endoderm (PrE)-related cells instead of TE-related cells. We further identified PrE-like cells in EPS cell culture that contribute to the blastoid formation with TE-like structure. Inhibition of PrE cell differentiation by inhibiting MEK signaling or knockout of Gata6 in EPS cells markedly suppressed EPS-blastoid formation. Furthermore, we demonstrated that blastocyst-like structures reconstituted by combining the EPS-derived bilineage embryo-like structure (BLES) with either tetraploid embryos or tetraploid TE cells could implant normally and develop into live fetuses. In summary, our study reveals that TE improvement is critical for constructing a functional embryo using stem cells in vitro.

Biodegradable plastic mulch film (BDM) is an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional polyethylene mulch, and has been growingly used in agriculture. However, practical degradation performance of BDM, especially the widely used type of blended polylactic acid (PLA)/polybutylene adipate (PBAT) in different ratios, and microbial alteration in soil environments, remain largely unrevealed. In this study, four types of BDM blended with 40-80% PLA and 20-60% PBAT were comparatively investigated through microcosm soil incubation experiments for 105 days, and combined with conditions of different soil moisture or pH. Microbiome within film-surrounding soil were assayed using 16 S rRNA high-throughput sequencing. Results showed a trend of increasing degradation efficiency with the increase of PLA proportion, and 70% PLA and 30% PBAT group presented the highest weight loss rate, i.e., 60.16 ± 5.86%. In addition, degradation and aging of PLA/PBAT varied among different soil moisture and pH values. A moderate moisture, i.e., 60% and a neutral pH7.0 caused significantly high degradation efficiency compared to other moisture or pH conditions. Moreover, bacterial abundance and community structure in the surrounding soil were related to soil moisture and pH. PLA/PBAT incubation treatment induced a remarkable increase in abundance of degradation-related species Pseudomonas and Sphingomonas. Bacterial richness and diversity in soil correspondingly respond to ratio-different PLA/PBAT's degradation under moisture/pH-different conditions through a redundancy analysis. Altogether, these findings indicate that practical degradation of PLA/PBAT film is closely related to soil environments and bacterial community. It is significant for the application of biodegradable plastics in agriculture on the perspective of soil sustainability.

Huangmeixi opera is an integral part of Chinese opera culture and its visual elements are a fountainhead for designers. This study focused on the development of Huangmeixi opera cultural creative products through refining the elements of Huangmeixi opera in points, lines, and colors, redesigning them from the aspects of element extraction, form abstraction, cultural implication abstraction, and exploring the cultural elements of Huangmeixi opera and product development strategy. The goal is to develop cultural creative products based on Huangmeixi opera.

Many elderly individuals suffer from Alzheimer's disease (AD), which causes a growing concern. We investigated the mechanism underlying the effects of vitamin D (VD) as a prophylactic treatment. A mouse model of okadaic-acid-induced AD-like pathology was used in vivo and in vitro. Morris water maze and field trials were used to assess cognitive function. The expression levels of VDR, MTHFR, LCMT-1, PP2A, p-TAU (Thr396), and T-TAU and the methylation level of PP2A were measured by Western blotting, and a reversal of the increase in the levels of these proteins in an AD cell model was observed. We used MTHFR-knockdown SH-SY5Y cells to further test the effects of VD, treated these cells with cycloheximide and MG132, and used RT-PCR to explore the mechanism underlying MTHFR targeting. We found that the effects of VD on AD were impaired by MTHFR knockdown through a pretranscriptional mechanism. In addition, VD attenuated AD-induced cognitive impairment and significantly suppressed the expression of TAU. Our findings indicated that VD treatment alleviated TAU accumulation and rescued methylated PP2A by increasing the expression of LCMT-1 and MTHFR.

Accumulating evidence indicates that plant cell wall-associated receptor-like kinases (WAKs) involve in defense against pathogen attack, but their related signaling processes and regulatory mechanism remain largely unknown. We identified a WAK-like kinase (GhWAKL) from upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) and characterized its functional mechanism. Expression of GhWAKL in cotton plants was induced by Verticillium dahliae infection and responded to the application of salicylic acid (SA). Knockdown of GhWAKL expression results in the reduction of SA content and suppresses the SA-mediated defense response, enhancing cotton plants susceptibility to V. dahliae. And, ecotopic overexpression of GhWAKL in Arabidopsis thaliana conferred plant resistance to the pathogen. Further analysis demonstrated that GhWAKL interacted with a cotton DnaJ protein (GhDNAJ1) on the cell membrane. Silencing GhDNAJ1 also enhanced cotton susceptibility to V. dahliae. Moreover, the mutation of GhWAKL at site Ser628 with the phosphorylation decreased the interaction with GhDNAJ1 and compromised the plant resistance to V. dahliae. We propose that GhWAKL is a potential molecular target for improving resistance to Verticillium wilt in cotton.

A morphology‐based phylogenetic analysis of the tribe Empoascini (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Typhlocybinae) is presented for 58 of 83 formerly recognized genera based on 99 morphological characters of adults. The results support excluding the New World Beamerana generic group from Empoascini. The remaining genera of Empoascini were recovered as a monophyletic sister group of Dikraneurini. Previously recognized tribes Jorumini and Helionini are derived from within Empoascini and are considered synonyms of the latter tribe. Three previously recognized informal generic groups, the Empoasca group, Alebroides group and Usharia group were paraphyletic but the Ficiana group was recovered as monophyletic based on five synapomorphies. Genera previously placed in the Alebroides group represent at least six independent lineages, indicating that the hind wing character separating this group from the Empoasca group (CuA and MP veins free) is highly homoplasious. Empoasca (sensu lato) is also paraphyletic. Thus, twelve previously recognized subgenera of Empoasca are elevated to genus status and five species groups of Empoasca from the New World are recognized as separate new genera. Sikkimasca Dworakowska, 1993 is treated as synonym of Marolda Dworakowska, 1977 based on the phylogeny. Biogeographic analysis suggests that Empoascini most likely first evolved in the Oriental region and spread to other biogeographic realms more recently by multiple independent invasions.

Vitamin D (VD) deficiency plays an important role in the occurrence and development of various uterine diseases. At present, most studies on the mechanism of VD in the Wnt signaling pathway focus on cancer, while there are no relevant reports on its mechanism in endometritis. This study investigated the effect of vitamin D3 (VD3) on the Wnt signaling pathway in endometrial epithelial cells (BEECs) induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). BEECs obtained from bovine uteri were treated with VD3 (0, 50 ng/mL) and LPS (0, 10, 100 ng/mL) separately or in combination, and treated with the Wnt signaling pathway inhibitor IWR-1 to study the mechanism of action. The proliferation of BEECs was evaluated by a CCK-8 assay. qRT-PCR was used to assess the gene expression of Wnt pathway-related factors, including MYC, PCNA, LGR5, GREM1, β-catenin, FZD7, FZD2, Wnt4 and VDR. The results showed that VD3 had no significant effect on cell proliferation (P 0.05); LPS inhibited BEEC proliferation in a time- and dose-dependent manner, and cells treated with LPS at different concentrations for 24-48 h in combination with VD3 promoted cell proliferation to varying degrees. IWR-1 inhibited cell proliferation in a time- and concentration-dependent manner, while LPS + IWR-1 treatment also significantly promoted cell proliferation after VD3 treatment (P 0.01). The qRT-PCR results showed that the expression of Wnt4 and PCNA genes showed different trends with different LPS concentrations for stimulation, and the expression of the MYC and GREM1 genes was only stimulated by high-dose (100 ng/mL) LPS stimulation. The expression of FZD7, LGR5, FZD2 and β-catenin was upregulated by LPS at both concentrations. LPS + VD3 significantly downregulated the expression of the Wnt pathway-related genes MYC, PCNA, LGR5, GREM1 and β-catenin (P 0.001), Wnt4 and FZD2 (P 0.01), and significantly upregulated the expression of VDR (P 0.05). After LPS + IWR-1 treatment, the expression of the β-catenin (P 0.01) and LGR5 (P 0.05) genes was significantly downregulated, while the Wnt4 (P 0.01) and VDR (P 0.001) genes were significantly upregulated, MYC was downregulated but without a significant difference (P 0.05). In conclusion, VD3 treatment can mitigate the LPS-induced abnormal expression of Wnt signaling pathway genes in BEECs, showing that the Wnt pathway may be a protective pathway of VD3 against LPS-induced gene overexpression in BEECs. The results suggest that VD3 may play a regulatory role in pathways other than the Wnt signaling pathway. Whether VD3 affects the Wnt signaling pathway by affecting Wnt4 gene expression requires further study.

Two morphologically similar genera of Penthimiini, Chanohirata Hayashi & Machida, 1996 and Reticuluma Cheng & Li, 2005 are reviewed. Three new species, Chanohirata yunnana, C. minima and C. plania spp. nov., are described and illustrated and a new synonymy is proposed: C. theae (Matsumura, 1912) equals Reticuluma testacea (Kuoh, 1991) syn. nov. The following new combinations are also proposed for species previously included in Reticuluma: C. bipennata (Xu, Yu, Dai & Yang) comb. nov., C. dactyla (Fu & Zhang) comb. nov., C. eurya (Fu & Zhang) comb. nov., C. hamata (Wang & Zhang) comb. nov., C. lini (Cheng & Li) comb. nov., C. lageniformia (Wang & Zhang) comb. nov. and C. spinata (Cheng & Li) comb. nov. As a result, the definition of Reticuluma is restricted to include only the type species, R. citrina Cheng & Li, which differs from Chanohirata in having an apical process on the male pygofer. A species checklist and a key to all known species of Chanohirata are presented along with a distribution map for China.

Thylakoid FtsH complex participates in PSII repair cycle during high light-induced photoinhibition. The Arabidopsis yellow variegated2 (var2) mutants are defective in the VAR2/AtFtsH2 subunit of thylakoid FtsH complex. Taking advantage of the var2 leaf variegation phenotype, dissections of genetic enhancer loci have yielded novel paradigms in understanding functions of thylakoid FtsH complex. Here, we report the isolation of a new var2 enhancer, enhancer of variegation2-1 (evr2-1). We confirmed that EVR2 encodes a chloroplast protein that was known as BALANCE OF CHLOROPHYLL METABOLISM 1 (BCM1), or CHLOROPHYLL BIOSYNTHETIC DEFECT 1 (CBD1). We showed that EVR2/BCM1/CBD1 was involved in the oligomerization of photosystem I complexes. Genetic assays indicated that general defects in chlorophyll biosynthesis and the accumulation of photosynthetic complexes do not necessarily enhance var2 leaf variegation. In addition, we found that VAR2/AtFtsH2 is required for the accumulation of photosynthetic proteins during de-etiolation. Moreover, we identified PSII core proteins D1 and PsbC as potential EVR2-associated proteins using Co-IP/MS. Furthermore, the accumulation of D1 protein was greatly compromised in the var2-5 evr2-1 double mutant during de-etiolation. Together, our findings reveal a functional link between VAR2/AtFtsH2 and EVR2/BCM1/CBD1 in regulating chloroplast development and the accumulation of PSII reaction centre D1 protein during de-etiolation.

Background General practitioners are the main providers of primary care services. To better strengthen the important role of general practitioners in primary healthcare services, China is promoting the general practitioners’ office system. There is a lack of well-accepted methods to measure the performance of general practitioner offices in China. We thus aim to develop a systematic and operable performance measurement system for evaluating the general practitioner’s office. Methods We establish an index pool of the performance measurement system of general practitioners’ offices by a cross-sectional study and the literature research method and adopt the focus group method to establish the preliminary system. The Delphi method is then used to conduct three rounds of consultation to modify indices, which aims to form the final indicator system. We determine the weight of each index by the analytic hierarchy process method, which together with the final indicator system constitutes the final performance measurement system. Finally, we select three offices from three different cities in Sichuan Province, China, as case offices to conduct the case study, aiming to assess its credibility. Results Our results show that the first office scored 958.5 points, the second scored 768.1 points, and the third scored 947.7 points, which corresponds to the reality of these three offices, meaning that the performance measurement system is effective and manoeuvrable. Conclusions Our study provides support for standardizing the functions of China’s general practitioner’s office, improving the health service quality of generalists, and providing a theoretical basis for the standardization of the general practitioner’s office.

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BackgroundDuring mammalian early embryogenesis, expression and epigenetic heterogeneity emerge before the first cell fate determination, but the programs causing such determinate heterogeneity are largely unexplored.ResultsHere, we present MethylTransition, a novel DNA methylation state transition model, for characterizing methylation changes during one or a few cell cycles at single-cell resolution. MethylTransition involves the creation of a transition matrix comprising three parameters that represent the probabilities of DNA methylation-modifying activities in order to link the methylation states before and after a cell cycle. We apply MethylTransition to single-cell DNA methylome data from human pre-implantation embryogenesis and elucidate that the DNA methylation heterogeneity that emerges at promoters during this process is largely an intrinsic output of a program with unique probabilities of DNA methylation-modifying activities. Moreover, we experimentally validate the effect of the initial DNA methylation on expression heterogeneity in pre-implantation mouse embryos.ConclusionsOur study reveals the programmed DNA methylation heterogeneity during human pre-implantation embryogenesis through a novel mathematical model and provides valuable clues for identifying the driving factors of the first cell fate determination during this process.

Gene-targeted animal models that are generated by injecting Cas9 and sgRNAs into zygotes are often accompanied by undesired double-strand break (DSB)-induced byproducts and random biallelic targeting due to uncontrollable Cas9 targeting activity. Here, we establish a parental allele-specific gene-targeting (Past-CRISPR) method, based on the detailed observation that pronuclear transfer-mediated cytoplasmic dilution can effectively terminate Cas9 activity. We apply this method in embryos to efficiently target the given parental alleles of a gene of interest and observed little genomic mosaicism because of the spatiotemporal control of Cas9 activity. This method allows us to rapidly explore the function of individual parent-of-origin effects and to construct animal models with a single genomic change. More importantly, Past-CRISPR could also be used for therapeutic applications or disease model construction., Injecting Cas9 and gRNA into an animal zygote often produces mosaicism and random biallelic targeting. Here, the authors use pronuclear transfer to reduce mosaicism and selectively target parental alleles.

Hydrogen energy is a candidate of the “ultimate energy”. However, the quantified evaluation of hydrogen embrittlement phenomenon remains to be a challenging topic. This paper provides a continuum damage model to quantify hydrogen embrittlement. Firstly, theoretical model of the proposed method was introduced. The proposed model applied multi-axial fracture strain based ductile damage evolution law coupled with HELP mechanism to evaluate hydrogen accelerated micro-void coalescence (MVC) fracture. Void growth and coalescence were described by hydrogen enhanced plastic strain and hydrogen reduced fracture strain. Then, the proposed method was implemented on commercial finite element software package. Compact tensile (CT) test and slow strain rate tensile (SSRT) test of two commercial steels were investigated numerically and compared with available experimental results to verify the rationality of the proposed model. The results indicated the proposed method reproduced CT and SSRT tests result with different hydrogen concentrations precisely. Hydrogen's effect on MVC process was discussed. It is suggested HELP based MVC could be a viable model to quantify hydrogen embrittlement. The proposed method was also highlighted with the advantage of describing hydrogen's effect with only one parameter.

Background Insect glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) play a crucial role in insecticide detoxification. However, there remains a distinct lack of information regarding the role of GSTs in the detoxification of Tolfenpyrad (TFP) in insects. Results Real-time quantitative PCR showed significant upregulation of PxGSTs after exposure to TFP for 6 h. An in vitro inhibition assay showed that TFP could inhibit PxGSTδ, PxGSTe and PxGSTσ, and the most pronounced inhibitory effect was on PxGSTσ. Metabolism assays displayed that PxGSTσ was superior to other test PxGSTs in metabolizing TFP. The molecular docking of TFP and PxGSTσ revealed that the H-bond provided by the sidechains of Tyr107 and Tyr162 were key to the detoxification of TFP by PxGSTσ. Further tests using mutant PxGSTσ proteins at the sites of Tyr107 (PxGSTσY107A) and Tyr162 (PxGSTσY162A) corroborated that the individual replacement of Tyr107 and Tyr162 could greatly weaken the binding and metabolic abilities to TFP. Conclusion Metabolic interactions between the Plutella xylostella (L.) GSTs (PxGSTs) and TFP were deciphered. This study illustrates the molecular metabolism mechanism of PxGSTσ towards TFP and provides theoretical underpinnings for the design and optimization of novel TFP-like insecticides. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Poor oocyte quality is associated with early embryo developmental arrest and infertility. Maternal gene plays crucial roles in the regulation of oocyte maturation, and its mutation is a common cause of female infertility. However, how to improve oocyte quality and develop effective therapy for maternal gene mutation remains elusive. Here, we use Zar1 as an example to assess the feasibility of genome transfer to cure maternal gene mutation-caused female infertility. We first discover that cytoplasmic deficiency primarily leads to Zar1-null embryo developmental arrest by disturbing maternal transcript degradation and minor zygotic genome activation (ZGA) during the maternal-zygotic transition. We next perform genome transfer at the oocyte (spindle transfer or polar body transfer) and zygote (early pronuclear transfer or late pronuclear transfer) stages to validate the feasibility of preventing Zar1 mutation-caused infertility. We finally demonstrate that genome transfer either at the oocyte or at the early pronuclear stage can support normal preimplantation embryo development and produce live offspring. Moreover, those pups grow to adulthood and show normal fertility. Therefore, our findings provide an effective basis of therapies for the treatment of female infertility caused by maternal gene mutation.

Bacotoma Moore, 1885 is reviewed including the description of a new species from Hainan Island, B. hainanensis sp. nov., based on an analysis that combined morphology and mitochondrial DNA. The following taxonomic changes are proposed: Platamonina Shaffer & Munroe, 2007, syn. nov. is synonymized with Bacotoma and ten species are included: B. ampliatalis (Lederer, 1863) comb. nov., B. binotalis (Warren, 1896) comb. nov., B. camillusalis (Walker, 1859), B. cuprealis (Moore, 1877) comb. nov., B. hainanensis sp. nov., B. illatalis (Walker, 1866), B. oggalis (Swinhoe, 1906) comb. nov., B. poecilura (Hering, 1903) comb. nov., B. ptochura (Meyrick, 1894) comb. nov., and B. violata (Fabricius, 1787). Syngamia albiceps Hampson, 1912 syn. nov. is confirmed to be a synonym of Bacotoma binotalis, and Platamonia medinalis Snellen, 1900 syn. nov. is synonymized with Bacotoma illatalis. A key to species examined is also provided based on external morphology and male genitalia.

The complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) of four Satyrini butterflies are newly determined and comparatively analyzed. These mitogenomes are all circular, double-stranded molecules, with the lengths of 15,194 bp (Minois dryas), 15,232 bp (Ypthima motschulskyi), 15,217 bp (Neope muirheadi) and 15,279 bp (Mycalesis francisca). Gene content and arrangement of newly sequenced mitogenomes are highly conserved and are typical of Lepidoptera. Interestingly, in M. francisca, a 48-bp insertion of macrosatellite (TA)24 is present at the trnE and trnF junction, which is rare in Lepidoptera. Among 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) of reported Satyrinae mitogenomes, atp8 is a comparatively fast-evolving gene, and most PCGs of the four species sequenced show significant codon usage bias. Phylogenetic analyses based on the mitogenomes placed the four species sequenced in this study in Satyrini, confirming the result of morphological phylogeny. Moreover, phylogenetic analyses of the family Nymphalidae based on an expanded sampling and gene data from the GenBank and the present study show that several subtribe-level relationships in the speciose Satyrini are well supported as that previously defined by multiple-locus investigations. However, the subfamily-level relationships are not fully consistent across inference methods, and this needs further investigation based on mitogenome sequences of increased taxon sampling.

The inverse problem for the discrete analogue of the exterior transmission eigenvalue problem with a spherically symmetric index of refraction is considered. For the absorbing media, we show that t...

Thirteen new species of the leafhopper genus Agnesiella Dworakowska, Agnesiella (Agnesiella) protensa, A. (A.) recurve, A. (A.) polita, A. (Draberiella) gaura, A. (D.) longisagittata, A. (D.) eleganta, A. (D.) glabra, A. (D.) exigua, A. (D.) mitrata, A. (D.) apiculata, A. (D.) tridigitata, A. (D.) lata and A. (D.) stipitata spp. nov., are described and illustrated. A. (A.) marginata and A. (D.) irma are recorded from China for the first time. A checklist and key to the species (males) from China in Agnesiella are provided.

In this study, the effects of the starter culture Lactobacillus sakei on pH, the total lactic acid concentration, nitrite depletion and histamine reduction of chili sauce were investigated. The nitrite concentration in the CPN sample was significantly lower (p < 0.05) than that of the CPS sample (as control), and decreased by 30.87%.The putrescine and histamine concentration in starter culture inoculated chili sauce were significantly lower (p < 0.05) than that of the control sample, and were decreased by 38.08% and 49.88%, respectively. These results revealed that L. sakei could be used as a potential starter culture for nitrite depletion and biogenic amines reduction of chili sauce with good sensory attributes.

High quality FeySe1−xTex epitaxial thin films have been fabricated on TiO2-buffered SrTiO3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition technology. There is a significant composition deviation between the nominal target and the thin film. Te doping can affect the Se/Te ratio and Fe content in chemical composition. The superconducting transition temperature Tc is closely related to the chemical composition. Fe vacancies are beneficial for the FeySe1−xTex films to exhibit the higher Tc. A 3D phase diagram is given that the optimize range is x = 0.13 − 0.15 and y = 0.73 − 0.78 for FeySe1−xTex films. The anisotropic, effective pining energy and critical current density for the Fe0.72Se0.94Te0.06, Fe0.76Se0.87Te0.13 and Fe0.91Se0.77Te0.23 samples were studied in detail. The scanning transmission electron microscopy images display a regular pattern without obviously scale defects at the interfacial structure.

In this study, the effects of the starter culture Lactobacillus sakei on microbial quality and the bacterial community diversity of chili sauce were investigated. In starter culture inoculated chili sauce (CPN sample), Lactobacillus spp. was predominant bacteria with 86.08% of the relative abundance on the 30th day of fermentation. Meanwhile, the spoilage organisms and pathogenic bacteria, including Staphylococcus spp., Enterobacter spp., Pseudomonas spp. and Neorhizobium spp. were nearly undetectable in starter culture inoculated chili sauce. In contrast, Lactobacillus spp. and Weissella spp. were predominant bacteria, and trace Pseudomonas spp. and Neorhizobium spp. were still detectable at the end of fermentation in the spontaneous fermentation (CPS sample). These results revealed that L. sakei could be used as a potential starter culture for the microbial quality improvement.

Microfibers (MFs) are widely existed in indoor air; however, characteristic of microbiota on MFs is largely unknown. In this study, air-borne MFs were collected from fallout or air-conditioner (AC) filter dust in three types of indoor space including living room, dormitory and office. Both plastic and natural MFs were identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Ultramicroscopic observation showed dense biofilms adhering on surfaces of MFs. Fallout MFs contained more bacteria but fewer fungi than MFs from AC filter dust. MFs-loaded bacteria were of highest abundance in living rooms, following dormitories and offices. Bacterial community and its diversity were further analyzed by 16S rRNA High-throughput sequencing. Up to 4540 of bacterium OTUs were shared in these MFs samples, unique OTUs in fallout and AC filter samples accounting for 26.3 % and 25.7 % of the total. Compared to MFs fallout, AC filter MFs contained more species of pathogenic bacteria, such as Betaproteobacteriales and Ralstonia, with obviously different β-diversity between two groups. Phenotypic analysis showed that fallout and AC filter MFs bacteria presented high index values of film formation, oxidative stress tolerance and potential pathogenicity. Overall, these results suggest that abundant bacteria including pathogen can be loaded on MFs, and would pose health risks through delivery of indoor MFs.

Biodegradable plastics (BDP) are increasingly applied; however, there has been of concerns about their environmental safety, especially from nondegradable additive compositions. Until now, data of ecotoxicity of BDP additives is scarce. Here, nematode C. elegans was used to comparatively evaluate toxicity of an isocyanate additive, i.e., Hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI), a maleic anhydride, i.e., Diallyl maleate (DIM), and other four BDP organic additives. These additives caused lethality of nematodes at µg L

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the current practice, challenges and future development trends of intelligent compaction (IC) technology from a bibliometric perspective. Design/methodology/approach A bibliometric analysis on IC-relevant studies is presented. Through this quantitative manner, insights into the current IC research practice and development trends have been derived from the perspectives of publications and citations, spatial distribution, knowledge construction, structural variations, existing problems, and conclusions and recommendations. Findings Currently, IC applications are confronted with the issues of intelligent compaction measurement values (ICMVs) applicability, autonomous control, specifications and applications. To address the issues, three potential research directions are identified: a comprehensive ICMV measurement system that is designated for single layer analysis; autonomous control mechanisms with integrated management capabilities that can efficiently collaborate all stakeholders; and a standardized application workflow and the cost-benefit evaluation of IC in the context of the full life cycle. Research limitations/implications The literature used in this paper is collected from the Web of Science. Although the database covers almost all the important publications in IC field, studies not indexed by the database are not considered. Originality/value This research quantitatively analyzes the current IC practice and development trends from the perspectives of bibliometric analysis. It provides an overview of the knowledge construction and development of IC technology. The discussions about the problems and the suggested solutions can be useful for those interested in this field.

Increasing evidence suggests that in vitro fertilization (IVF) may be associated with an increased risk of developing obesity and metabolic diseases later in life in the offspring. Notably, the addition of melatonin to culture medium may improve embryo development and prevent cardiovascular dysfunction in IVF adult mice. This study aimed to determine if melatonin supplementation in the culture medium can reverse impaired glucose metabolism in IVF mice offspring and the underlying mechanisms. Blastocysts used for transfer were generated by natural mating (control group) or IVF with or without melatonin (10-6 M) supplementation (mIVF and IVF group, respectively) in clinical-grade culture media. Here, we first report that IVF decreased hepatic expression of Fbxl7, which was associated with impaired glucose metabolism in mice offspring. Melatonin addition reversed the phenotype by up-regulating the expression of hepatic Fbxl7. In vitro experiments showed that Fbxl7 enhanced the insulin signaling pathway by degrading RhoA through ubiquitination and was up-regulated by transcription factor Foxa2. Specific knockout of Fbxl7 in the liver of adult mice, through tail intravenous injection of recombinant adeno-associated virus, impaired glucose tolerance, while overexpression of hepatic Fbxl7 significantly improved glucose tolerance in adult IVF mice. Thus, the data suggest that Fbxl7 plays an important role in maintaining glucose metabolism of mice, and melatonin supplementation in the culture medium may rescue the long-term risk of metabolic diseases in IVF offspring.

Verticillium wilt, mainly caused by a soil-inhabiting fungus Verticillium dahliae, can seriously reduce the yield and quality of cotton. The complex mechanism underlying cotton resistance to Verticillium wilt remains largely unknown. In plants, reactive oxygen species (ROS) mediated by Rbohs is one of the earliest responses of plants to biotic and abiotic stresses. In our previous study, we performed a time-course phospho-proteomic analysis of roots of resistant and susceptible cotton varieties in response to V. dahliae, and found early differentially expressed protein burst oxidase homolog protein D (GhRbohD). However, the role of GhRbohD-mediated ROS in cotton defense against V. dahliae needs further investigation. In this study, we analyzed the function of GhRbohD-mediated resistance of cotton against V. dahliae in vitro and in vivo. Bioinformatics analysis showed that GhRbohD possessed the conservative structural attributes of Rbohs family, 12 members of RbohD out of 57 Rbohs in cotton. The expression of GhRbohD was significantly upregulated after V. dahliae inoculation, peaking at 6 hpi, and the phosphorylation level was also increased. A VIGS test demonstrated that ROS production, NO, H2O2 and Ca2+ contents of GhRbohD-silenced cotton plants were significantly reduced, and lignin synthesis and callose accumulation were damaged, important reasons for the impairment of GhRbohD-silenced cotton’s defense against V. dahliae. The expression levels of resistance-related genes were downregulated in GhRbohD-silenced cotton by qRT-PCR, mainly involving the lignin metabolism pathway and the jasmonic acid signaling pathway. However, overexpression of GhRbohD enhanced resistance of transgenic Arabidopsis to V. dahliae challenge. Furthermore, Y2H assays were applied to find that GhPBL9 and GhRPL12C may interact with GhRbohD. These results strongly support that GhRbohD activates ROS production to positively regulate the resistance of plants against V. dahliae.

Glucosinolates (GSLs), secondary metabolites synthesized by cruciferous plants, can be hydrolyzed by myrosinase into compounds, such as isothiocyanates (ITCs), with various bioactivities. Thus, myrosinase plays an important role in the utilization of GSLs. We isolated a bacterial strain, which was identified as

The superconducting proximity effect (SPE) induces a superconductivity transition in otherwise non-superconducting thin films in proximity with a superconductor. The SPE usually occurs in real space and decays exponentially with film thickness. Herein, an abnormal SPE in a topological insulator (TI)/superconductor heterostructure is unveiled, which is attributed to the topologically protected surface state. Surprisingly, such abnormal SPE occurs in momentum space regardless of the TI film thickness, as long as the topological surface states are robust and form a continuous conduction loop. Combining transport measurements and scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy techniques, the SPE in Bi

Agricultural soil is a sink of microplastics (MPs) in the environment. MPs in topsoil can be transferred deeply or into surrounding water by rainfall. However, little is known about rainfall-induced migration pattern of different MPs in agricultural soil. In this study, soil leaching experiments of 21 d were performed on Nile red-stained size-different polyethylene terephthalate (PET) particles, and shape-different polyethylene (PE) MPs under simulated or natural rainfall. Results showed that simulated rainfall of 5-25 mm/d caused intensity-dependent migration of MPs in horizontal and vertical directions. Maximum migration depth of MP particles arrived up to 4-7 cm. Rise of soil slopes could significantly increase horizontal mobility of MPs. Comparatively, natural rainfall of similar intensity caused relatively high mobility of MPs. Moreover, under both simulative and natural rainfall, mobility of MPs presented size/shape-different characteristics. Comparatively, small-size MPs (especially1 mm) showed relatively high mobility in horizontal or vertical direction, and had high-frequency presence in runoff water. Of four MPs' shapes, fiber and film had relatively high mobility in comparison to particles. These results indicate that rainfall can cause size/shape-dependent migration of MPs in agricultural soil. It suggests size/shape-different environment fate of MPs, and provides a reference for MP control.

Sulforaphane (SFN) is a kind of isothiocyanate from cruciferous vegetables with extensive anti-tumor activity. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a popular malignancy in East Asia, East and South Africa, while the more efficient medicines and therapeutic strategies are still lack. This study aims to explore the anti-tumor activity of SFN alone and combined with Akt/mTOR pathway inhibitors as well as the potential molecular mechanism in ESCC. Cell proliferation, migration, cell cycle phase, apoptosis and protein expression were detected with MTT assay, clone formation experiment, wound healing assays, flow cytometry and Western blot, respectively, after ESCC cells ECa109 and EC9706 treated with SFN alone or combined with Akt/mTOR inhibitors. Xenograft models were used to evaluate the efficiency and mechanism of SFN combined with PP242 in vivo. The results showed that SFN significantly inhibited the viability and induced apoptosis of ECa109 and EC9706 cells by increasing expression of Cleaved-caspase 9. SFN combined with PP242, but not MK2206 and RAD001, synergetic inhibited proliferation of ESCC cells. Moreover, compared to SFN alone, combination of SFN and PP242 had stronger inhibiting efficiency on clone formation, cell migratory, cell cycle phase and growth of xenografts, as well as the more powerful apoptosis-inducing effects on ESCC. The mechanism was that PP242 abrogated the promoting effects of SFN on p-p70S6K (Thr389) and p-Akt (Ser473) in ESCC. Our findings demonstrate that PP242 enhances the anti-tumor activity of SFN by blocking SFN-induced activation of Akt/mTOR pathway in ESCC, which provides a rationale for treating ESCC using SFN combined with Akt/mTOR pathway inhibitors.

Background: Understanding the extent of heritability of plant-associated microbiome (phytobiome) is critical for exploitation of phytobiome in agriculture. Two crosses were made between pairs of cotton cultivars with differential resistance to the Verticillium wilt. F2 plants were grown together with the four parents to study the heritability of cotton rhizosphere microbiome. Amplicon sequencing was used to profile bacterial and fungal communities.Results: F2 hybrid offspring of both crosses had higher alpha diversity indices as well as greater variability than the two parents. Two types of data were used generated to study the heritability of rhizosphere microbiome: principal components (PCs) and individual top microbial OTUs. For the L1×Z49 cross, the variance among the 100 progeny genotypes (VT) was significantly greater than the random variability (VE) for 12 and 34 out of top 100 fungal and bacterial PCs, respectively. For the Z2×J11 cross, the corresponding values were 10 and 20 PCs. Out of the top 100 OTUs, 29 fungal OTUs and 10 bacterial OTUs had VT that was significantly greater than VE for the L1×Z49 cross; the corresponding value for the Z2×J11 cross were 24 and one. The estimated heritability was mostly in the range of 40% to 60%.Conclusions: These results suggested the existence of genetic control in terms of rhizosphere microbiome in cotton.