Search

Abstract To investigate the effect and safety of percutaneous endovascular angioplasty (PEA) with optional stenting for the treatment of severe stenosis or occlusion of subclavian artery, patients with severe stenosis ≥ 70% or occlusion of subclavian artery treated with PEA were retrospectively enrolled. The clinical data were analyzed. A total of 222 patients were retrospectively enrolled, including 151 males (68.0%) and 71 females (32.0%) aged 48–86 (mean 63.9 ± 9.0) years. Forty-seven (21.2%) patients had comorbidities. Subclavian artery stenosis ≥ 70% was present in 201 (90.5%) patients and complete subclavian occlusion in 21 (9.5%) cases. Angioplasty was successfully performed in all (100%) patients. Balloon-expandable stents were used in 190 (85.6%) cases, and self-expandable stents in 20 (9.0%) cases. Only 12 (5.4%) cases were treated with balloon dilation only. Among 210 patients treated with stent angioplasty, 71 (33.8% or 71/210) cases underwent balloon pre-dilation, 139 (66.2% or 139/210) had direct deployment of balloon-expandable stents, and 2 (1.0% or 2/210) experienced balloon post-dilation. Distal embolization protection devices were used in 5 (2.3% or 5/222) cases. Periprocedural complications occurred in 3 (1.4%) patients, including aortic dissection in 2 (0.9%) cases and right middle cerebral artery embolism in 1 (0.5%). No hemorrhage occurred. Among 182 (82.0%) patients with 6-month follow-up, restenosis > 70% occurred in 1 (0.5%) patient, and among 68 (30.6%) patients with 12-month follow-up, restenosis > 70% took place in 11 (16.2%) patients. Percutaneous endovascular angioplasty can be safely and efficiently performed for the treatment of severe stenosis ≥ 70% or occlusion of subclavian artery.

Summary: Chemical‐inducible gene expression systems are commonly used to regulate gene expression for functional genomics in various plant species. However, a convenient system that can tightly regulate transgene expression in Nicotiana benthamiana is still lacking.In this study, we developed a tightly regulated copper‐inducible system that can control transgene expression and conduct cell death assays in N. benthamiana. We tested several chemical‐inducible systems using Agrobacterium‐mediated transient expression and found that the copper‐inducible system exhibited the least concerns regarding leakiness in N. benthamiana. Although the copper‐inducible system can control the expression of some tested reporters, it is not sufficiently tight to regulate certain tested hypersensitive cell death responses. Using the MoClo‐based synthetic biology approach, we incorporated the suicide exon HyP5SM/OsL5 and Cre/LoxP as additional regulatory elements to enhance the tightness of the regulation.This new design allowed us to tightly control the hypersensitive cell death induced by several tested leucine‐rich repeat‐containing proteins and their matching avirulence factors, and it can be easily applied to regulate the expression of other transgenes in transient expression assays.Our findings offer new approaches for both fundamental and translational studies in plant functional genomics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich repeat (NLR) proteins play crucial roles in immunity against pathogens in both animals and plants. In solanaceous plants, activation of several sensor NLRs triggers their helper NLRs, known as NLR-required for cell death (NRC), to form resistosome complexes to initiate immune responses. While the sensor NLRs and downstream NRC helpers display diverse genetic compatibility, molecular evolutionary events leading to the complex network architecture remained elusive. Here, we showed that solanaceous NRC3 variants underwent subfunctionalization after the divergence of Solanum and Nicotiana, altering the genetic architecture of the NRC network in Nicotiana. Natural solanaceous NRC3 variants form three allelic groups displaying distinct compatibilities with the sensor NLR Rpi-blb2. Ancestral sequence reconstruction and analyses of natural and chimeric variants identified six key amino acids involved in sensor-helper compatibility. These residues are positioned on multiple surfaces of the resting NRC3 homodimer, collectively contributing to their compatibility with Rpi-blb2. Upon activation, Rpi-blb2-compatible NRC3 variants form membrane-associated punctate and high molecular weight complexes, and confer resistance to the late blight pathogen Phytophthora infestans. Our findings revealed how mutations in NRC alleles lead to subfunctionalization, altering sensor-helper compatibility and contributing to the increased complexity of the NRC network. Author summary: Plants utilize complex immune systems to fend off invading pathogens. The nucleotide-binding domain and leucine-rich repeat (NLR) proteins function as intracellular immune receptors and play major roles in plant immunity. In solanaceous plants, several sensor NLRs form a complex genetic network with helper NLRs called NRCs (NLR-required for cell death) to trigger immune responses. However, the evolution of genetic compatibility between sensor NLRs and NRCs was unclear. Here, we showed that NRC3, one of the NRC subgroups in solanaceous plants, underwent subfunctionalization after the Solanum-Nicotiana divergence, altering the NRC network in Nicotiana. Using natural, chimeric, and reconstructed ancestral NRC variants, we mapped six critical residues on multiple protein surfaces of NRC3 contributing to subfunctionalization. These findings reveal how mutations in NRC alleles lead to subfunctionalization, altering sensor-helper NLR compatibility and increasing the complexity of plant immune systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radial injection of shear-thinning fluids into rock fractures is ubiquitous in subsurface engineering practices, including drilling, hydraulic fracturing, and rock grouting. Yet, the effect of injection-induced fracture deformation on radial displacement behavior of shear-thinning fluids remains unclear. Through radial injection experiments of shear-thinning fluids displacing an immiscible Newtonian fluid in a Hele–Shaw cell, we investigate the fracture deformation behavior during injection and the fluid–fluid displacement patterns under this impact. A mixed displacement pattern is observed where the invasion front gradually evolves from unstable (viscous fingering) to stable (compact displacement) as the injection proceeds. We demonstrate that the combined effect of shear-thinning property and radial flow geometry plays a controlling role in the evolution of the patterns. At high flow rates, the fracture dilation induced by high injection pressure tends to reduce the displacement efficiency in stages. Based on linear stability analysis, we propose a theoretical criterion for the transition of interfacial stability considering the viscosity of injected fluids and fracture deformation, which agrees well with the experimental observations. This research underscores the importance of rock deformation on two-phase flow dynamics in fractured media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a more viscous fluid displaces a less viscous one in porous media, viscous pressure drop stabilizes the displacement front against capillary pressure fluctuation. For this favorable viscous ratio conditions, previous studies focused on the front instability under slow flow conditions but did not address competing effects of wettability and flow rate. Here we study how this competition controls displacement patterns. We propose a theoretical model that describes the crossover from fingering to stable flow as a function of invading fluid contact angle θ and capillary number Ca. The phase diagram predicted by the model shows that decreasing θ stabilizes the displacement for θ≥45° and the critical contact angle θc increases with Ca. The boundary between corner flow and cooperative filling for θ < 45° is also described. This work extends the classic phase diagram and has potential applications in predicting CO2 capillary trapping and manipulating wettability to enhance gas/oil displacement efficiency.