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Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) is a small pulp shrub, which prefers to grow on a soilless culture. For soilless culture, nutritional management remains typically vital for blueberry production. However, the effect of different nutritional treatments on blueberry growth and production is largely unknown. This study was designed to investigate to formulate a specific nutritional treatment for blueberry. The results showed that NH4+-N: NO3−-N ratios significantly affected the growth, nutrient uptake, physiological characteristics, and flowering, as well as the fruiting characteristics of blueberry plants. The number of shoots and top projection area was increased considerably by 25:75 treatment. In contrast, 50:50 treatment promotes plant height, shoot length, and stem thickness, increasing chlorophyll contents, photosynthetic capacity, and P, Ca, and Mg in leaves. In contrast, 50:50 treatment promotes the flowering fruiting rate and prolongs the blueberry flowering period. The maximum soluble sugar contents were noted in 25:75, while maximum starch contents were reported in the 50:50 treatment. The treatments 100:0 and 75:25 promote early flowering and accelerate fruit set. Notably, NH4+-N: NO3−-N ratios; 50:50 treatment significantly encourages plant growth, nutrient uptake, chlorophyll contents, photosynthetic capacity, and fruit setting rate in blueberry plants. These findings suggested that NH4+-N: NO3−-N ratios 50:50 is the most appropriate treatment that significantly promotes vegetative growth and enhances production in blueberry plants. This study provides valuable information for improved blueberry production under a controlled environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saikosaponin‐D (SSD), an active ingredient in Bupleurum chinense, exerts anticancer effects in various cancers by inhibiting cancer proliferation and inducing apoptosis. However, whether SSD can induce other forms of cell death is unknown. The current study aims to demonstrate that SSD can induce pyroptosis in non‐small‐cell lung cancer. In this study, HCC827 and A549 non‐small‐cell lung cancer cells were treated with different concentrations of SSD for 1.5 h. HE and TUNEL staining were used to verify cell damage caused by SSD. Immunofluorescence and western blotting were performed to verify the effect of SSD on the NF‐κB/NLRP3/caspase‐1/gasdermin D (GSDMD) pathway. Changes in inflammatory factors were detected by ELISAs. Finally, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger N‐acetylcysteine (NAC) was introduced to verify that SSD induces pyroptosis through the ROS/NF‐κB pathway. The results of the HE and TUNEL staining showed that SSD resulted in balloon‐like swelling of NSCLC cells accompanied by increased DNA damage. Immunofluorescence and western blot assays confirmed that SSD treatment activated the NLRP3/caspase‐1/GSDMD pathway, stimulated an increase in ROS levels and activated NF‐κB in lung cancer cells. The ROS scavenger N‐acetylcysteine significantly attenuated SSD‐induced NF‐κB/NLRP3/caspase‐1/GSDMD pathway activation and inhibited the release of the inflammatory cytokines IL‐1β and IL‐18. In conclusion, SSD induced lung cancer cell pyroptosis by inducing ROS accumulation and activating the NF‐κB/NLRP3/caspase‐1/GSDMD pathway. These experiments lay the foundation for the application of SSD in the treatment of non‐small‐cell lung cancer and regulation of the lung cancer immune microenvironment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper considers the path planning problem for deployment and collection of a marsupial vehicle system which consists of a ground mobile robot and two aerial flying robots. The ground mobile robot, usually unmanned ground vehicle (UGV), as a carrier, is able to deploy and harvest the aerial flying robots, and each aerial flying robot, usually unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), takes off from and lands on the carrier. At the same time, owing to the limited duration in the air in one flight, UAVs should return to the ground mobile robot timely for its energy-saving and recharge. This work is motivated by cooperative search and reconnaissance missions in the field of heterogeneous robot system. Especially, some targets with given positions are assumed to be visited by any of the UAVs. For the cooperative path planning problem, this paper establishes a mathematical model to solve the path of two UAVs and UGV. Many real constraints including the maximum speed of two UAVs and UGV, the minimum charging time of two UAVs, the maximum hovering time of UAVs, and the dynamic constraints among UAVs and UGV are considered. The objective function is constructed by minimizing the time for completing the whole mission. Finally, the path planning problem of the robot system is transformed into a multi-constrained optimization problem, and then the particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to obtain the path planning results. Simulations and comparisons verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The biological function of p27 Kip1 largely depends on its subcellular localization and phosphorylation status. Different subcellular localizations and phosphorylation statuses of p27 Kip1 may represent distinct clinical values, which are unclear in ovarian cancer. This study aimed to elucidate different subcellular localizations of p27 Kip1 and pSer10p27 in predicting prognosis and chemotherapy response in ovarian cancer., Methods: Meta-analyses were executed to evaluate the association of p27 Kip1 and phosphorylated p27 Kip1 with the prognosis of ovarian cancer patients. The expression levels and patterns of p27 Kip1 and pSer10p27 were evaluated by immunohistochemistry. The correlations between different p27 Kip1 states, clinicopathological features, and prognosis were analyzed. p27 Kip1 and pSer10p27 expression levels in cisplatin-sensitive and cisplatin-resistant ovarian cancer cell lines were detected using WB. KEGG analysis and WB were performed to evaluate the pathways in which p27 Kip1 was involved., Results: Meta-analyses showed that p27 Kip1 was associated with significantly better overall survival (OS) in ovarian cancer (HR=2.14; 95% CI [1.71-2.68]) and pSer10p27 was associated with significantly poor OS in mixed solid tumors (HR=2.56; 95% CI [1.76-3.73]). In our cohort of ovarian cancer patients, low total p27 Kip1 remained independent risk factors of OS (HR=2.097; 95% CI [1.121-3.922], P =0.021) and PFS (HR=2.483; 95% CI [1.364-4.518], P =0.003), while low cytoplasmic pSer10p27 had independent protective effects in terms of OS (HR=0.472; 95% CI [0.248-0.898], P =0.022) and PFS (HR=0.488; 95% CI [0.261-0.910], P =0.024). Patients with low total p27 Kip1 /pSer10p27 and low nuclear p27 Kip1 had worse chemotherapy responses, while patients with low cytoplasmic pSer10p27 expression had better chemotherapy responses. The protein levels of p27 Kip1 and pSer10p27 were significantly reduced in the cisplatin-resistant cell lines SKOV3-cDDP and A2780-cDDP, and the level of p27 Kip1 /pSer10p27 was subjective to Akt activation., Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that p27 Kip1 and cytoplasmic pSer10p27 are promising biomarkers for predicting prognosis and chemotherapy response in ovarian cancer., (©The Author(s) 2024. Open Access. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY International License.)

Blueberry ( Vaccinium corymbosum ) is a small pulp shrub, which prefers to grow on a soilless culture. For soilless culture, nutritional management remains typically vital for blueberry production. However, the effect of different nutritional treatments on blueberry growth and production is largely unknown. This study was designed to investigate to formulate a specific nutritional treatment for blueberry. The results showed that NH 4 + -N: NO 3 - -N ratios significantly affected the growth, nutrient uptake, physiological characteristics, and flowering, as well as the fruiting characteristics of blueberry plants. The number of shoots and top projection area was increased considerably by 25:75 treatment. In contrast, 50:50 treatment promotes plant height, shoot length, and stem thickness, increasing chlorophyll contents, photosynthetic capacity, and P, Ca, and Mg in leaves. In contrast, 50:50 treatment promotes the flowering fruiting rate and prolongs the blueberry flowering period. The maximum soluble sugar contents were noted in 25:75, while maximum starch contents were reported in the 50:50 treatment. The treatments 100:0 and 75:25 promote early flowering and accelerate fruit set. Notably, NH 4 + -N: NO 3 - -N ratios; 50:50 treatment significantly encourages plant growth, nutrient uptake, chlorophyll contents, photosynthetic capacity, and fruit setting rate in blueberry plants. These findings suggested that NH 4 + -N: NO 3 - -N ratios 50:50 is the most appropriate treatment that significantly promotes vegetative growth and enhances production in blueberry plants. This study provides valuable information for improved blueberry production under a controlled environment., 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 Anwar, Zheng, Chen, Chen, Xue, Wang, Su, Chen and Song.)

High-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) is the most common type of epithelial ovarian cancer with insidious onset, rapid growth, and invasive spread. Here, we reported the diagnosis and treatment of a 53-year-old patient with a history of hysterectomy aided by the 68 Ga-FAPI PET/MR scan. The patient was first presented to the local hospital with a lump on the left side of the neck with a biopsy suggesting metastatic cancer. Pelvic ultrasonography revealed two irregular masses. After admission, tumor markers, pathology consultation of the biopsy, and the 68 Ga-FAPI PET/MR scan were administered. The biopsy of the lump suggested poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma and CA125 was elevated at 530.6 U/ml. The 68 Ga-FAPI PET/MR scan showed several abnormal lymph nodes and two soft tissue masses with borders of dispersed restriction displaying internally uneven signals depicted by slightly elongated T1 and T2 signals within the pelvic cavity suggesting that pelvic mass could be the primary lesion. The patient received cytoreductive surgery including bilateral adnexectomy, omentectomy, and appendectomy. Post-surgical pathology suggested left and right HGSOC with left fallopian tube invasion. The patient completed six courses of first-line chemotherapy and remained progression-free for 14 months up to date. To conclude, 68 Ga-FAPI PET/MR aids in primary tumor determination and tumor burden assessment and provides a guide for the management of late-stage HGSOC patients., Competing Interests: None., (AJNMMI Copyright © 2024.)

Nitenpyram is a neonicotinoid insecticide that is commonly found in the environment. However, its biodegradation by pure cultures of bacteria has not been widely investigated and the catabolic pathway (s) for nitenpyram metabolism remain elusive. In this study, the aerobic strain DF-1, isolated from a wastewater-treatment pool contaminated with nitenpyram. The strain was designated an Ochrobactrum sp. utilizing a combination of traditional methods and molecular ones. Strain DF-1 can use nitenpyram as a sole carbon or nitrogen source for growth. In liquid medium, 100 mg·L -1 nitenpyram was metabolized to undetectable levels within 10 days. Four metabolites were found by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses during nitenpyram degradation. According to the aforementioned data, a partial metabolic pathway of nitenpyram was proposed of strain DF-1. Inoculation of strain DF-1 promoted nitenpyram (10 mg·kg -1 ) degradation in either sterile or non-sterile soil. To our knowledge, this is the first characterization of nitenpyram degradation by a specific bacterium and likely to be exploited for the remediation of nitenpyram-contaminated sites., 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 © 2023 Wang, Chen, Jiang and Zhang.)

Among base metals used for C-H activation reactions, chromium(III) is rather unexplored despite its natural abundance and low toxicity. We report herein chromium(III)-catalyzed C(sp 2 )-H functionalization of an ortho -position of aromatic and α,β-unsaturated secondary amides using readily available AlMe 3 as a base and using bromoalkynes, allyl bromide, and 1,4-dihydro-1,4-epoxynaphthalene as electrophiles. This redox-neutral reaction taking place at 70-90 °C, requires as low as 1-2 mol % of CrCl 3 or Cr(acac) 3 as a catalyst without any added ligand, and tolerates functional groups such as aryl iodide, boronate, and thiophene groups. Stoichiometric and kinetics studies as well as kinetic isotope effects suggest that the catalytic cycle consists of a series of thermally stable but reactive intermediates bearing two molecules of the amide substrate on one chromium atom and also that one of these chromate(III) complexes takes part in the alkynylation, allylation, and naphthalenation reactions. The proposed mechanism accounts for the effective suppression of methyl group delivery from AlMe 3 for ortho -C-H methylation.

To illustrate the synthetic significance of C-C activation methods, here we describe an efficient strategy for the enantioselective total syntheses of (-)-cycloclavine and (-)-5- epi-cycloclavine, which is enabled by an asymmetric Rh-catalyzed "cut-and-sew" transformation between benzocyclobutenones and olefins. Despite the compact structure of cycloclavine with five-fused rings, the total synthesis was accomplished in 10 steps with a 30% overall yield. Key features of the synthesis include (1) a Pd-catalyzed tandem C-N bond coupling/allylic alkylation sequence to construct the nitrogen-tethered benzocyclobutenone, (2) a highly enantioselective Rh-catalyzed carboacylation of alkenes to forge the indoline-fused tricyclic structure, and (3) a diastereoselective cyclopropanation for preparing the tetrasubstituted cyclopropane ring. Notably, an improved catalytic condition has been developed for the nitrogen-tethered cut-and-sew transformation, which uses a low catalyst loading and allows for a broad substrate scope with high enantioselectivity (94-99% e.e.). The C-C activation-based strategy employed here is anticipated to have further implications for syntheses of other natural products that contain complex fused or bridged rings.

Background: Anti-metabolites are less-myelosuppressive than DNA-damaging anticancer drugs and may be useful against brain tumors., Materials and Methods: We evaluated the asparagine/glutamine-deaminating agent Erwinaze with/without temozolomide against brain tumor cells and mouse medulloblastomas., Results: Erwinaze treatment of cell lines and neurospheres led to dose-dependent reductions of cells (reversible by L-glutamine), with half maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC 50 s) of 0.12->10 IU/ml. Erwinaze at <1 IU/ml reduced temozolomide IC 50 s by 3.6- to 13-fold (300-1,200 μM to 40-330 μM). Seven-week-old SMO/SMO mice treated with Erwinaze (regardless of temozolomide treatment) had better survival 11 weeks post-therapy, compared to those not treated with Erwinaze (81.25% vs. 46.15, p=0.08). Temozolomide-treated mice developed 10% weight loss, impairing survival. All 16 mice treated with temozolomide (regardless of Erwinaze treatment) succumbed by 40-weeks of age, whereas 5/8 animals treated with Erwinaze alone and 2/6 controls survived (p=0.035)., Conclusion: Erwinaze enhances cytotoxicity of temozolomide in vitro, and improves survival in SMO/SMO mice, likely by reducing cerebrospinal fluid glutamine. Temozolomide-associated toxicity prevented demonstration of any potential combinatorial advantage with Erwinaze in vivo., (Copyright© 2018, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.)