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Summary Recent studies on co-transformation of the growth regulator, TaGRF4-GIF1 chimera (Growth Regulating Factor 4-GRF Interacting Factor 1), in cultivated wheat varieties (Triticum aestivum), showed improved regeneration efficiency, marking a significant breakthrough. Here, a simple and reproducible protocol using the GRF4-GIF1 chimera was established and tested in the medicinal orchid Dendrobium catenatum, a monocot orchid species. TaGRF4-GIF1 from T. aestivum and DcGRF4-GIF1 from D. catenatum were reconstructed, with the chimeras significantly enhancing the regeneration efficiency of D. catenatum through in planta transformation. Further, mutating the microRNA396 (miR396) target sites in TaGRF4 and DcGRF4 improved regeneration efficiency. The target mimicry version of miR396 (MIM396) not only boosted shoot regeneration but also enhanced plant growth. Our methods revealed a powerful tool for the enhanced regeneration and genetic transformation of D. catenatum.

Abstract The molecular basis of orchid flower development involves a specific regulatory program in which MADS-box transcription factors play a central role. The recent ‘perianth code’ model hypothesizes that two types of higher-order heterotetrameric complexes, namely SP complex and L complex, play pivotal roles in the orchid perianth organ formation. Therefore, we explored their roles and searched for other components of the regulatory network. Through the combined analysis for transposase-accessible chromatin with high-throughput sequencing and RNA sequencing of the lip-like petal and lip from Phalaenopsis equestris var.trilip, transcription factor-(TF) genes involved in lip development were revealed. PeNAC67 encoding a NAC-type TF and PeSCL23 encoding a GRAS-type TF were differentially expressed between the lip-like petal and the lip. PeNAC67 interacted with and stabilized PeMADS3, which positively regulated the development of lip-like petal to lip. PeSCL23 and PeNAC67 competitively bound with PeKAN2 and positively regulated the development of lip-like petal to petal by affecting the level of PeMADS3. PeKAN2 as an important TF that interacts with PeMADS3 and PeMADS9 can promote lip development. These results extend the ‘perianth code’ model and shed light on the complex regulation of orchid flower development.

The Tibetan Plateau has exhibited a discernible trend towards increased precipitation over the past 50 years. However, previous research predominantly focused on thermal stability of permafrost without the consideration of water flux boundary conditions, and therefore ignored the dynamics of water migration and its impacts on the embankment stability. To bridge this gap, a novel water-heat transfer model incorporating rainfall and water migration was developed and subsequently validated using monitored data. Comparative analyses were then conducted across three distinct rainfall intensities to investigate the variations in the moisture and temperature of superficial soil. Results indicate rainfall events exert a notable cooling effect during warm seasons but have little influence on cooling during cold seasons. By increasing the latent heat of evaporation, sensible heat and reducing the soil heat flux, rainfall results in embankment cooling, and the cooling effect correlates positively with rainfall intensity. Disregarding the water flux boundary conditions will overestimate the embankment temperature and underestimate the variation of water content, especially at the superficial soil. Rainfall results in a decline in water vapor flux and an increase in liquid water flux, which facilitates rapid downward transport and accumulation of liquid water. Despite the increased convective heat transfer of liquid water, the decrease in heat conduction, latent heat of evaporation and convective heat transfer of water vapor in the embankment is more pronounced. Rainfall changes the stability of permafrost embankment mainly by adjusting the energy distribution, which delays temperature increases in the underlying permafrost. When predicting the stability of permafrost, it is recommended to incorporate the water flux boundary conditions.

To date, extensively high demand for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has been predominantly supplied by the anthraquinone process for several worldwide applications, encompassing wastewater treatment, environmental remediation, and chemical synthesis. However, the compacted manufacturing, massive energy input and the release of tremendous wastes have restricted commercialization feasibility. Regards to mitigate such issues, the photocatalytic H2O2 production by utilizing g-C3N4 catalysts has endowed a greener, sustainable and promising alternative, considering that it involves water and oxygen as reactants in the present of sunlight as energy input. Herein, we have manifested a comprehensive overview of the research progress for g-C3N4-based semiconductors for photocatalytic H2O2 generation. This review has systematically elucidated state-of-the-art development of different modifications on g-C3N4 to unravel the fundamental mechanism of H2O2 evolution via oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and water oxidation reaction (WOR). In addition, the contribution made by vacancy introduction, doping, heterogenization, and co-catalyst passivation with respect to photoefficiency enhancement have been clarified. Furthermore, the current challenges and perspective of future development directions on photocatalytic H2O2 production have also been highlighted. As such, g-C3N4 stands as the next step toward advancement in the configuration and modulation of high-efficiency photocatalysts.

Obesity is one of the major factors threatening human health. Excessive fat accumulation not only has detrimental effects on human metabolism and cardiovascular system, but also is highly correlated to the incidence and mortality of various tumors. Fatty acid binding protein-4 (FABP4) is a small molecule protein mainly expressed in adipocytes and macrophages, and is responsible for participating in fatty acid transport and lipid response. It has been found that FABP4 levels are not only associated with body fat content, but also aberrantly expressed in various obesity-associated tumor cells and tumor microenvironment, which is closely related to obesity-associated carcinogenesis, metastasis, recurrence and patient prognosis. Since FABP4 expression varies in different types of obesity-associated tumors, suggesting a complex role of FABP4 in tumorigenesis. Based on this, this article reviews different roles of FABP4 in multiple obesity-associated tumors.

The hydraulic conductivity of frozen soil is crucial for predicting water migration and frozen heave. Many models have been proposed to estimate the hydraulic conductivity, which involves factors such as unfrozen water content, specific surface area, grain size distribution, and pore size distribution. However, the bottleneck effect on the hysteresis of unfrozen water has not been adequately considered. This study proposed a hydraulic conductivity model based on the fractal theory by assuming the capillary tubes with a pore throat. Subsequently, the hydraulic conductivity was expressed as the product of the saturated and relative hydraulic conductivity, both of which can be determined from the microscopic fractal characteristics. Finally, the proposed model was verified using the experimental data and existing models, and a sensitivity analysis of the relative hydraulic conductivity was conducted. The validation showed that the predicted results agree well with the experimental data. Meanwhile, the proposed model can better describe the hysteresis effect of unfrozen water content during the freezing-thawing process than other commonly used models. Relative hydraulic conductivity is sensitive to pore structure characteristics and unfrozen water content. Immobile water saturation evidently influenced the relative hydraulic conductivity when it reached 0.7. The proposed model can be simplified as a power function in which the exponent can be calculated using the fractal dimension. The results help simulate the dynamic process of unfrozen water in frozen soil and may help understand the complex mechanisms of hysteresis and transport processes in frozen soil.

Abstract Background Cancer is the leading cause of death among Asian Americans, who often face barriers to cancer care. Cancer supportive care needs among Asian Americans remain understudied. Aims We examined cancer supportive care needs and participant factors correlated with these needs, identified profiles of supportive care needs, and examined whether needs profiles are associated with quality of life among Asian American adults. Methods and Results We recruited 47 Asian American adults with colorectal, liver, or lung cancer who spoke Chinese, English, or Vietnamese, and were starting or undergoing cancer treatment. We assessed cancer supportive care needs in four domains: cancer information, daily living, behavioral health, and language assistance. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify clusters of participants based on their supportive need profiles to further examine the association between need profiles and quality of life (QoL) assessed by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy. Participants (mean age = 57.6) included 72% males and 62% spoke English less than very well. Older participants (age ≥ 65) and those with annual income

Background Older adults with asthma have the greatest burden and worst outcomes, and there is increasing evidence that chronic cough (CC) is associated with asthma severity and poor prognosis. However, the clinical characteristics of older adult patients with both asthma and CC remain largely unknown. Methods Participants with stable asthma underwent two cough assessments within 3 months to define the presence of CC. Patients were divided into four groups based on CC and age (cut-off ≥60 years). Multidimensional assessment was performed at baseline, followed by a 12-month follow-up to investigate asthma exacerbations. Logistic regression models were used to explore the interaction effect of CC and age on asthma control and exacerbations. Results In total, 310 adult patients were prospectively recruited and divided into four groups: older CC group (n=46), older non-CC group (n=20), younger CC group (n=112) and younger non-CC group (n=132). Compared with the younger non-CC group, the older CC group had worse asthma control and quality of life and increased airflow obstruction. The older CC group showed an increase in moderate-to-severe exacerbations during the 12-month follow-up. There was a significant interaction effect of CC and ageing on the increased moderate-to-severe exacerbations (adjusted risk ratio 2.36, 95% CI 1.47–3.30). Conclusion Older asthma patients with CC have worse clinical outcomes, including worse asthma control and quality of life, increased airway obstruction and more frequent moderate-to-severe exacerbations, which can be partly explained by the interaction between CC and ageing.

Low-light image enhancement is an important task in computer vision. Deep learning-based low-light image enhancement has made significant progress. But the current methods also face the challenge of relying on a wide variety of low-light/normal-light paired images and amplifying noise while enhancing brightness. Based on existing experimental observation that most luminance information concentrates on amplitudes while noise is closely related to phases, an unsupervised low-light image enhancement method in the Fourier transform domain is proposed. In our method, the low-light image is firstly transformed into the amplitude component and phase component via Fourier transform. The luminance of low-light image is enhanced by CycleGAN in the amplitude domain, and the phase component is denoising. The cycle consistency losses both in the Fourier transform domain and spatial domain are used in training. The proposed method has been validated on publicly available test sets and shows that our method achieves superior results than other approaches in low-light image enhancement and noise suppression.

The sesquiterpene alkaloid dendrobine, widely recognized as the main active compound and a quality control standard of medicinal orchids in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, demonstrates diverse biological functions. In this study, we engineered Dendrobium catenatum as a chassis plant for the production of dendrobine through the screening and pyramiding of key biosynthesis genes. Initially, previously predicted upstream key genes in the methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway for dendrobine synthesis, including 4-(Cytidine 5′-Diphospho)-2-C-Methyl-d-Erythritol Kinase (CMK), 1-Deoxy-d-Xylulose 5-Phosphate Reductoisomerase (DXR), 2-C-Methyl-d-Erythritol 4-Phosphate Cytidylyltransferase (MCT), and Strictosidine Synthase 1 (STR1), and a few downstream post-modification genes, including Cytochrome P450 94C1 (CYP94C1), Branched-Chain-Amino-Acid Aminotransferase 2 (BCAT2), and Methyltransferase-like Protein 23 (METTL23), were chosen due to their deduced roles in enhancing dendrobine production. The seven genes (SG) were then stacked and transiently expressed in the leaves of D. catenatum, resulting in a dendrobine yield that was two-fold higher compared to that of the empty vector control (EV). Further, RNA-seq analysis identified Copper Methylamine Oxidase (CMEAO) as a strong candidate with predicted functions in the post-modification processes of alkaloid biosynthesis. Overexpression of CMEAO increased dendrobine content by two-fold. Additionally, co-expression analysis of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) retrieved one regulatory transcription factor gene MYB61. Overexpression of MYB61 increased dendrobine levels by more than two-fold in D. catenatum. In short, this work provides an efficient strategy and prospective candidates for the genetic engineering of D. catenatum to produce dendrobine, thereby improving its medicinal value.

In an attempt to solve the uncontrollable water absorption of a superabsorbent polymer (SAP), microcapsules (MPCP), with calcium alginate and paraffin powder as the main raw materials, were prepared. The structure and water absorption properties of the MPCP was characterised and its influence on the shrinkage performance of a cement mortar was studied. The shrinkage-reducing mechanism of the MPCP was analysed through the heat of cement hydration, pore structure and relative humidity (RH) of the cement mortar. The results show that the MPCP particles are based on a calcium alginate network skeleton structure with a paraffin wax filling the round particles in the skeleton cracks, where its content determines the water absorption of the MPCP. The MPCP exhibited a good internal curing effect. The internal RH of the mortar containing the pre-absorbed MPCP basically changed as much as that containing the pre-absorbed SAP. The shrinkage of the MPCP-containing mortar reduced by more than 8% compared with the SAP-containing mortar after 7 days. The reason was that the MPCP absorbed the heat of the cement hydration and reduced the shrinkage caused by the excessive heat of the early cement hydration. In addition, because the water absorption of the MPCP is controllable, the MPCP exhibits little effect on the pore structure of cement-based materials. Therefore, the compressive strength of the cement mortar with the pre-absorbed MPCP content is 39 times that of the pre-absorbed SAP, which was only 2.3 MPa lower than that of the corresponding SAP-containing cement mortar.

Flower breeders are continually refining their methods for producing high-quality flowers. Phalaenopsis species are considered the most important commercially grown orchids. Advances in genetic engineering technology have provided researchers with new tools that can be used along with traditional breeding methods to enhance floral traits and quality. However, the application of molecular techniques for the breeding of new Phalaenopsis species has been relatively rare. In this study, we constructed recombinant plasmids carrying flower color-related genes, Phalaenopsis Chalcone synthase (PhCHS5) and/or Flavonoid 3′,5′-hydroxylase (PhF3′5′H). These genes were transformed into both Petunia and Phalaenopsis plants using a gene gun or an Agrobacterium tumefaciens-based method. Compared with WT, 35S::PhCHS5 and 35S::PhF3′5′H both had deeper color and higher anthocyanin content in Petunia plants. Additionally, a phenotypic comparison with wild-type controls indicated the PhCHS5 or PhF3′5′H-transgenic Phalaenopsis produced more branches, petals, and labial petals. Moreover, PhCHS5 or PhF3′5′H-transgenic Phalaenopsis both showed deepened lip color, compared with the control. However, the intensity of the coloration of the Phalaenopsis lips decreased when protocorms were co-transformed with both PhCHS5 and PhF3′5′H. The results of this study confirm that PhCHS5 and PhF3′5′H affect flower color in Phalaenopsis and may be relevant for the breeding of new orchid varieties with desirable flowering traits.

Objective To explore the preoperative factors affecting the immediate remission of Cushing's disease after transsphenoidal surgery. Methods A total of 420 patients with Cushing's disease (led by Dr. Feng Ming) in the Department of Neurosurgery of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College from January 2014 to August 2020 were included. Univariate and multivariate Logistic regression analyses were performed to find risk factors for immediate remission after operation of Cushing's disease, and receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to predict the cut⁃off value of immediate remission after operation. Results Among 420 patients with Cushing's disease, 318 patients had immediate remission after operation, and the immediate remission rate was 75.71%. Logistic regression analysis showed that non⁃primary surgery (OR = 3.904, 95%CI: 2.199-6.930; P = 0.000) and high adrenocorticotropic hormone level (OR = 0.995, 95%CI: 0.991-0.999; P = 0.027) were risk factors for immediate remission after opration in patients with Cushing's disease. ROC showed the area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity of 85.45 pg/ml adrenocorticotropic hormone level (best threshold) for predicting immediate remission after operation were 0.586 (95%CI: 0.524-0.648, P = 0.009), 0.510 and 0.640. Conclusions Preoperative adrenocorticotropic hormone and the first operation are important factors affecting the immediate remission of patients with Cushing's disease after transsphenoidal operation. Endocrinologists and neurosurgeons should pay attention to the factors affecting the prognosis of patients during the preoperative evaluation of patients with Cushing's disease and make good communication between doctors and patients.

Nervous system diseases are associated with complexity and diversity. As a result, the prognosis of patients deeply depends on physicians' clinical experience and their diagnosis and treatment level. With the exponential growth of medical big data and the development of statistical analysis tools, more researchers discover the pathogenesis of diseases and assist clinical process through the mining of big data, so as to improve the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of nervous system diseases. This paper elaborates the application of three kinds of medical big data in nervous system diseases, including structured data, radiomics, and bioinformatics. doi：10.3969/j.issn.1672⁃6731.2021.03.002

With the development of molecular biology technology, the era of precision medicine is gradually coming. Standardized clinical database can provide a platform for clinicians to integrate clinical and molecular data, so as to make diagnosis and treatment plans more effectively. This paper summarizes the research progress of pituitary adenoma databases at home and abroad in recent years, expounds the management and application of database, and prospects the development of big data of pituitary adenoma. doi：10.3969/j.issn.1672⁃6731.2021.03.003

With rapid aging worldwide, stroke disease has become the second leading cause of death in people over 60 years old, following the cancer disease. The large⁃scale medical database provides epidemiological data by systematically integrating medical data and transforming research hypotheses into evidence⁃based medicine evidence to guide clinical practice, widely used in clinical medical research. This article describes different stroke databases to explain their application and research progress in stroke diseases, and describes the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in database construction, aiming to promote the construction of stroke databases and conduct high⁃quality stroke research. doi：10.3969/j.issn.1672⁃6731.2021.03.004

Objective To retrospectively analyze the clinical characteristics of patients with Cushing's syndrome (CS) complicated with perioperative pulmonary embolism (PE). Methods Depending on Chinese Pituitary Disease Registry Network (CPDRN) and Pituitary Tumor Database in Peking Union Medical College Hospital, 20 patients with CS complicated perioperative PE were collected from January 1, 2013 to September 30, 2020, and the clinical manifestations and laboratory examination data of the patients were investigated. The clinical characteristics were compared between ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone syndrome (EAS) and CS with PE during the perioperative period. In addition, clinical characteristics were also studied in these patients before and after the operation. Results According to etiology, they were divided into CS (7 cases), EAS (9 cases) and adrenal adenoma (4 cases). The course of CS was longer than EAS (t = ⁃ 2.938, P = 0.011). According to the occurrence time of PE, the patients were divided into preoperative PE (13 cases) and postoperative PE (7 cases). The patients with postoperative PE had a lower body mass index (t = 2.427, P = 0.026) and a higher fibrinogen (t = ⁃ 2.162, P = 0.047). The patients with PE before surgery included 5 cases of CS, 5 cases of EAS, and 3 cases of adrenal adenomas, while those who with PE after surgery included 2 cases of CS, 4 cases of EAS, and one case of adrenal adenoma. Among the 7 patients with PE after surgery, 5 cases did not get remission. Compared with preoperative examination, the erythrocyte count (t = ⁃ 2.032, P = 0.042) and hemoglobin (t = 9.807, P = 0.001) were decreased after operation, the prothrombin time (t = ⁃ 2.847, P = 0.047) and international normalized ratio (t = ⁃ 3.059, P = 0.038) were increased after operation. Conclusions Longer course of disease and no remission hypercortisolemia after surgery may be the risk factors for perioperative PE in CS patients. Patients with elevated fibrinogen before surgery and reduced red blood cell count and hemoglobin after surgery should be alert to the risk of PE. doi：10.3969/j.issn.1672⁃6731.2021.03.009

Objective To summarize the clinical features of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)⁃dependent Cushing's syndrome (CS) with multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN). Methods Based on the pituitary tumor database of Peking Union Medical College Hospital of China Pituitary Disease Register Network (CPDRN), 18 patients with ACTH ⁃ dependent CS complicated with MEN from January 1984 to September 2020 were collected. The clinical manifestations, involved other endocrine glands, laboratorial and imageological examinations were analyzed. Results Among 18 patients, 13 cases were Cushing's disease and 5 cases were ectopic ACTH syndrome (EAS); 15 cases were MEN1 type, 2 cases were MEN2 type and one case was MEN4 type. The clinical manifestations were subclinical CS in 6 cases and overt CS in 12 cases. All cases had osteopenia or osteoporosis. Urolithiasis accounted for 11/18 cases. Regarding the involved endocrine glands, pituitary ACTH adenoma accounted for 13/18 cases, prolactinoma accounted for 4/18 cases, hyperparathyroidism accounted for 15/18 cases, pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors accounted for 13/18 cases and adrenal adenomas and hyperplasia accounted for 10/18 cases. Laboratorial examinations showed the average morning serum cortisol was (652.90 ± 254.90) nmol/L, the morning ACTH was (13.38 ± 8.73) pmol/L and the 24 h urinary free cortisol was 446.35 (233.08, 531.10) µg. Serum prolactin was elevated in 2 cases, parathyroid hormone was elevated in 13 cases and serum calcium was elevated in 11 cases. In imageological examinations, there were pituitary microadenoma in 12 cases, pituitary macroadenoma in 3 cases, adrenal adenoma in 8 cases, thickened adrenal in 4 cases, adrenal pheochromocytoma in 2 cases, and paraganglioma in one case. Genetic test showed 3 cases had MEN1 gene mutation including c.1183C ＞ T, c.1579C ＞ T and c.1174G ＞ T. Conclusions ACTH⁃dependent CS with MEN is a rare disease with complex manifestations. The most common symptom is osteopenia/osteoporosis. The most common cause of CS is pituitary microadenoma. MEN1 is the most common MEN type, and primary hyperparathyroidism is the most common type of affected endocrine glands, followed by pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. doi：10.3969/j.issn.1672⁃6731.2021.03.008

Objective To explore the imaging data of spontaneous intraparenchymal hemorrhage (sIPH) extracted from the Chinese Intracranial Hemorrhage Imaging Database (CICHID), and analyze the distribution of characteristics and features of hematoma expansion (HE) in patients with more than one non⁃contrast CT within 24 h. Methods There were 831 patients who received recurrent head CT scans involved the inclusion criteria analyzed from January 2016 to June 2020. The cutoff of HE was defined a 6 ml, and the patients were divided into HE group (≥ 6 ml) and non ⁃HE group (＜ 6 ml) to explore the characteristics of patients and their imaging. To explore more features, the HE group was subdivided into groups. According to the cutpoints of the expansion volume in hematoma volume, the groups were subdivided into group A (reduce/no change), group B (＜ 3 ml), group C (3-5.99 ml), group D (6-12.49 ml) and group E (≥ 12.50 ml). According to the expansion rate in hematoma volume, there were group F (＜ 26%), group G (26%-32%) and group H (≥ 33%). Results Among 831 patients, there were 155 patients (18.65%) with hematoma expansion. Compared to non ⁃ HE group, the patients in HE group had larger initial hematoma volume (t = ⁃ 6.148, P = 0.000), higher rate of hematoma breaking into ventricle (χ2 = 20.812, P = 0.000) and shorter interval time between CTs (t = 2.306, P = 0.021). When subdivided as 3, 6 and 12.50 ml, there were significant differences among the groups, which including initial hematoma volume (H = 97.129, P = 0.000), rate of hematoma breaking into ventricle (χ2 = 50.043, P = 0.000) and interval time between CTs (t = 2.306, P = 0.021), the initial hematoma volume (P = 0.014, 0.005, 0.000) and the rate of hematoma breaking into ventricle (P = 0.000, 0.000, 0.000) in 3-5.99 ml group, 6-12.49 ml group and ≥ 12.50 ml group were higher than ＜ 3 ml group, the interval time between CTs in ≥ 12.50 ml group was shorter than ＜ 3 ml group (P = 0.000). And subdivided as 26% and 33%, only the rate of hematoma breaking into ventricle showed significant difference among groups (χ2 = 15.649, P = 0.001). Conclusions In the studies, there was 18.65% sIPH patients occurred HE within 24 h and the risk factors might be initial hematoma volume, rate of hemorrhage breaking into ventricle and interval time between CTs. doi：10.3969/j.issn.1672⁃6731.2021.03.010

Objective To validate the agreement among the convolution neural network segmentation algorithm, Tada formula and manual segmentation for subdural/epidural hemorrhage volume. Methods A total of 129 cases with 352 subdural/epidural hemorrhage CT scans were extracted from Chinese Intracranial Hemorrhage Image Database (CICHID) from January 2017 to June 2019. All CT scans were measured by three methods including manual segmentation, algorithm segmentation and Tada formula. The manual segmentation was regarded as the "golden standard" and the agreement test among three methods was performed. We explored the influence factors in different measurement methods, such as the shape or boundary of hematoma. Results Compared with the Tada formula method, the percentage error of segmentation algorithm was small (23.62%), and the agreement between algorithm and the manual reference was strong, which 94.89% (334/352) of the data was within the 95% limits of agreement (95%LoA), however, the 95%LoA was broad. And the performance of segmentation algorithm showed better in asymmetry (P = 0.000) and clear boundary hematoma (P = 0.000). Conclusions The segmentation algorithm based on convolution neural network has a certain application prospect, but need to be validated in large sample research. doi：10.3969/j.issn.1672⁃6731.2021.03.011

This study compared the digestibility of protein and fat components of pasture-raised and grain-finished beef using an in vitro oral-gastro-small intestinal digestion model. Two commonly consumed beef cuts, tenderloin (Psoas major) and striploin (Longissimus dorsi) were selected for this study. There were no substantial differences between the pasture-raised and grain-finished cuts of meat in terms of protein digestibility, as shown by the protein and peptide breakdown (observed through SDS-PAGE) and the degree of hydrolysis as measured by free amino nitrogen. Tenderloin, however, showed significantly (p < 0.05) higher overall protein digestibility than striploin. Both striploin and tenderloin digests from pasture-raised beef released significantly (p < 0.05) higher total amounts of free long-chain n−3 PUFAs and lower amounts of many free saturated fatty acids, notably palmitic and myristic acids, than those from grain-finished animals. The results suggest greater health benefits from consuming pasture-raised beef, particularly tenderloin.

Abstract Background There is limited information on the difference in epidemiology, clinical characteristics and outcomes of the initial outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan (the epicenter) and Sichuan (the peripheral area) in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. This study was conducted to investigate the differences in the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19 between the epicenter and peripheral areas of pandemic and thereby generate information that would be potentially helpful in formulating clinical practice recommendations to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods The Sichuan & Wuhan Collaboration Research Group for COVID-19 established two retrospective cohorts that separately reflect the epicenter and peripheral area during the early pandemic. The epidemiology, clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients in the two groups were compared. Multivariate regression analyses were used to estimate the adjusted odds ratios (aOR) with regard to the outcomes. Results The Wuhan (epicenter) cohort included 710 randomly selected patients, and the peripheral (Sichuan) cohort included 474 consecutive patients. A higher proportion of patients from the periphery had upper airway symptoms, whereas a lower proportion of patients in the epicenter had lower airway symptoms and comorbidities. Patients in the epicenter had a higher risk of death (aOR=7.64), intensive care unit (ICU) admission (aOR=1.66), delayed time from illness onset to hospital and ICU admission (aOR=6.29 and aOR=8.03, respectively), and prolonged duration of viral shedding (aOR=1.64). Conclusions The worse outcomes in the epicenter could be explained by the prolonged time from illness onset to hospital and ICU admission. This could potentially have been associated with elevated systemic inflammation secondary to organ dysfunction and prolonged duration of virus shedding independent of age and comorbidities. Thus, early supportive care could achieve better clinical outcomes.

Abstract Background Auxin is critical to plant growth and development, as well as stress responses. Small auxin-up RNA (SAUR) is the largest family of early auxin responsive genes in higher plants. However, the function of few SAUR genes is known owing to functional redundancy among the many family members. Results In this study, we conducted a phylogenetic analysis using protein sequences of 795 SAURs from Anthoceros angustus, Marchantia polymorpha, Physcomitrella patens, Selaginella moellendorffii, Ginkgo biloba, Gnetum montanum, Amborella trichopoda, Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, Zea mays, Glycine max, Medicago truncatula and Setaria italica. The phylogenetic trees showed that the SAUR proteins could be divided into 10 clades and three subfamilies, and that SAUR proteins of three bryophyte species were only located in subfamily III, which suggested that they may be ancestral. From bryophyta to anthophyta, SAUR family have appeared very large expansion. The number of SAUR gene in Fabaceae species was considerably higher than that in other plants, which may be associated with independent whole genome duplication event in the Fabaceae lineages. The phylogenetic trees also showed that SAUR genes had expanded independently monocotyledons and dicotyledons in angiosperms. Conserved motif and protein structure prediction revealed that SAUR proteins were highly conserved among higher plants, and two leucine residues in motif I were observed in almost all SAUR proteins, which suggests the residues plays a critical role in the stability and function of SAUR proteins. Expression analysis of SAUR genes using publicly available RNA-seq data from rice and soybean indicated functional similarity of members in the same clade, which was also further confirmed by qRT-PCR. Summarization of SAUR functions also showed that SAUR functions were usually consistent within a subclade. Conclusions This study provides insights into the evolution and function of the SAUR gene family from bryophyta to anthophyta, particularly in Fabaceae plants. Future investigation to understand the functions of SAUR family members should employ a clade as the study unit.

Purpose: We hypothesized that radiation-induced lymphopenia could be predicted by the effective dose to the circulating immune cells (EDIC) in advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated with trimodality therapy according to the Dutch ChemoRadiotherapy for Oesophageal cancer followed by Surgery Study (CROSS) trial regimen. To test this hypothesis, we examined the effect of EDIC on the degree of lymphocyte drop (lymphocyte nadir). Methods and Materials: Patients with advanced nonmetastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated in a single tertiary cancer center from 2012 to 2018 were eligible for this study. All patients had to have a radiation therapy plan available for EDIC computation and received neoadjuvant chemoradiation according to the Dutch CROSS trial regimen before radical esophagectomy. The EDIC was calculated as a function of integral doses to the lung, heart, and total body with a verified mathematical model. The association between EDIC and lymphocyte nadir was studied, and the relationships of overall survival (OS) with lymphocyte nadir and EDIC were assessed using multivariable Cox regression model. Results: This analysis included 92 eligible consecutive patients (77 men and 15 women). The mean EDIC was 2.8 Gy (range, 0.6-4.4). EDIC was significantly correlated with lymphocyte nadir (Spearman coefficient = –0.505; P < .01), and lymphocyte nadir was a significant independent factor for shorter OS (hazard ratio = 0.63; P < .001). Lymphocyte nadir was also the most significant factor in determining OS among other clinical parameters. Exploratory analysis showed significant OS differences between EDIC groups (4 Gy). The 2–year OS rates were 66.7%, 42.7%, and 16.7% for EDIC 4 Gy, respectively. Conclusions: There was a significant correlation between radiation dose to circulating immune cells and lymphocyte nadir, which in turn affected OS in patients with advanced nonmetastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated by trimodality therapy.

Objectives: Hemorrhage expansion (HE) is a common and serious condition in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). In contrast to the volume changes, little is known about the morphological changes that occur during HE. We developed a novel method to explore the patterns of morphological change and investigate the clinical significance of this change in ICH patients.Methods: The morphological changes in the hematomas of ICH patients with available paired non-contrast CT data were described in quantitative terms, including the diameters of each hematoma in three dimensions, the longitudinal axis type, the surface regularity (SR) index, the length and direction changes of the diameters, and the distance and direction of movement of the center of the hematoma. The patterns were explored by descriptive analysis and difference analysis in subgroups. We also established a prognostic nomogram model for poor outcomes in ICH patients using both morphological changes and clinical parameters.Results: A total of 1,094 eligible patients from four medical centers met the inclusion criteria. In 266 (24.3%) cases, the hematomas enlarged; the median absolute increase in volume was 14.0 [interquartile range (IQR), 17.9] mL. The initial hematomas tended to have a more irregular shape, reflected by a larger surface regularity index, than the developed hematomas. In subtentorial and deep supratentorial hematomas, the center moved in the direction of gravity. The distance of center movement and the length changes of the diameters were small, with median values of less than 4 mm. The most common longitudinal axis type was anterior–posterior (64.7%), and the axis type did not change between initial and repeat imaging in most patients (95.2%). A prognostic nomogram model including lateral expansion, a parameter of morphological change, showed good performance in predicting poor clinical outcomes in ICH patients.Conclusions: The present study provides a morphological perspective on HE using a novel automatic approach. We identified certain patterns of morphological change in HE, and we believe that some morphological change parameters could help physicians predict the prognosis of ICH patients.

The digital beamforming synthetic aperture radar (DBF-SAR) is proposed by scholars as a promising solution to overcome the constraint of the minimum antenna area of the traditional single-channel SAR to achieve high resolution and wide swath (HRWS) by scan-on-receive (SCORE) in the elevation multiple channel. However, the inevitable channel imbalance between the elevation channels of DBF-SAR will degrade the DBF-SAR image quality. In this paper, we present a method to estimate the sampling time delay error, amplitude error and phase error based on the external calibration data. For the sampling time delay deviation, we adopt to calculate the statistical average of the position deviation of several external calibration points in the reference channel image with that of the error channel image. To avoid noise interference, we image the DBF-SAR original echo-carrying amplitude information to obtain the amplitude error between channels by dividing the absolute values of the complex image data of the error channel. Due to the phase error between channels, the image contrast will decrease. Therefore, the problem of estimating the phase error can be transformed into the problem of maximizing the image contrast. So, in this paper, we use the gradient descent method to optimally estimate the phase error. Finally, the effectiveness of the method is verified by the simulation of airborne measured data and simulation data.

The germination of seeds and establishment of seedling are the preconditions of plant growth and are antagonistically regulated by multiple phytohormones, e.g., ethylene, abscisic acid (ABA), and gibberellic acid (GA). However, the interactions between these phytohormones and their upstream transcriptional regulation during the seed and seedling growth in rice remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrated a rice NAC (NAM-ATAF-CUC) transcription factor, OsNAC2, the overexpression of which increases the ethylene sensitivity in rice roots during the seedling period. Further study proved that OsNAC2 directly activates the expressions of OsACO and OsACO3, enhancing ethylene synthesis, and then retards seedling establishment. Moreover, OsNAC2 delays the germination of seeds and coleoptile growth through the ABA pathway instead of the ethylene and GA pathway, by targeting the promoters of OsNCED3, OsZEP1, and OsABA8ox1. We also found that OsNAC2 regulates downstream targets in a time-dependent manner by binding to the promoter of OsKO2 in the seedling period but not in the germination stage. Our finding enriched the regulatory network of ethylene, ABA, and GA in the germination of rice seeds and seedling growth, and uncovered new insights into the difference of transcription factors in targeting their downstream components.

A chirp-mismatch echo signal can be generated by exchanging the I and Q baseband signals of a received SAR signal. In this paper, the basic generation principles of a chirp-mismatch echo signal are analyzed. Then, a suppression jamming method with controllable jamming position and coverage area is proposed. This method firstly performs chirp-mismatch processing on the received SAR signals, then controls the range jamming coverage and center position through range shift-frequency modulation and time delay, and controls the azimuth jamming coverage and center position through motion modulation and azimuth shift-frequency modulation. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that this method can effectively control the location and coverage of a jamming result without convolution modulation, and it is easy to implement in engineering. The simulation results verify the correctness of the theoretical model, which can provide a basis for the implementation and application of SAR jamming based on the active radar transponder.

Background: Cancer is the second leading cause of death before the age of 70. Improved cancer survival has put increasing demands on cancer care. Palliative care is the specialized multi-disciplinary care providing relief from the pain, symptoms, and stress of serious illness. The study aims to evaluate the adjunctive effect of acupuncture for advanced cancer patients in a collaborative model of palliative care. Methods/Design: This is a single-blinded, randomized, sham-controlled trial. One hundred twenty advanced cancer patients undergoing palliative care will be randomized in a ratio of 2:1:1 to manual acupuncture plus standard care group (ASC), sham acupuncture plus standard care group (SSC), and standard care group (SC). Patients in ASC and SSC will receive 9 sessions of acupuncture or sham acupuncture for 3 weeks, and will be followed up for 2 months. The primary measure is the change from baseline score of the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System at 3 weeks. The secondary measures include the Brief Fatigue Inventory, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Insomnia Severity Index, Numeric Rating Scale, and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life 15 items Questionnaire for Palliative Care. Discussion: The finding of this trial will provide high-quality evidence on the adjunctive effect of acupuncture to standard care on advanced cancer patients undergoing palliative care. Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT04398875 ( https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04398875 ), Registered on 21 May 2020.

With the increasing number of infrastructures constructed in marine and cold regions, research on and applications of calcium sulphoaluminate (CSA) cement have been flourished, but the hydration process of CSA at low temperature has not been systematically investigated. To characterize the influence of low temperature on the hydration characteristics, freshly mixed CSA mortars were cured at −10, −5, 0, 5, and 20°C, respectively. The hydration process was investigated by electrical resistivity, compressive strength, and microstructure analyses. Results show that the hydration process (especially the induction period) is lengthened by low curing temperature. Both the electrical resistivity and compressive strength increase with an increase in the curing temperature. The compressive strength was reduced at a low curing temperature. Among these five curing temperatures, 5°C is the optimal curing temperature. Low temperatures do not change the kinds of hydrates, but reduce their amount. The scanning electron microscopy results illustrate that fewer hydrates fill the pores in specimens cured at low temperatures, while more hydrates form at higher temperatures. Moreover, low curing temperature contributes to the formation of coarse ettringite crystals. For the cement used at low temperature, the induction period should be reduced by adjusting the calcining process and composition proportion.

Gamma (γ)-irradiation can induce changes in plant morphology, cellular physiological activities, and genetic material. To date, there has been limited research on the molecular basis of leaf morphological abnormalities and physiological changes in irradiated rose plants. In this study, Rosa multiflora ‘Libellula’ plants were treated with 60Co γ-rays. The irradiation resulted in the distortion of blade morphology. Additionally, the leaf chlorophyll content decreased, whereas the accumulation of reactive oxygen species increased. The differentially expressed genes between the control and 2–3 plants irradiated with 50 Gy were analyzed by RNA-seq technology, which revealed genes related to chlorophyll metabolism were differentially expressed. The expression levels of genes related to the regulation of antioxidant enzyme synthesis were downregulated. An RNA-seq analysis also identified the differentially expressed regulatory genes involved in leaf morphology development. Four genes (RcYABBY1, RcARF18, RcARF9, and RcWOX8) were selected, and their expression patterns in different leaf development stages and in various plant organs were analyzed. Furthermore, virus-induced gene silencing technology was used to verify that RcYABBY1 is involved in the morphogenesis of R. multiflora ‘Libellula’ leaves. The results of this study are useful for clarifying the molecular, physiological, and morphological changes in irradiated rose plants.

Past redistributions of the Earth’s mass resulting from the Earth’s viscoelastic response to the cycle of deglaciation and glaciation reflect the process known as glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA). GPS data are effective at constraining GIA velocities, provided that these data are accurate, have adequate spatial coverage, and account for competing geophysical processes, including the elastic loading of ice/snow ablation/accumulation. GPS solutions are significantly affected by common mode errors (CMEs) and the choice of optimal noise model, and they are contaminated by other geophysical signals due primarily to the Earth’s elastic response. Here, independent component analysis is used to remove the CMEs, and the Akaike information criterion is used to determine the optimal noise model for 79 GPS stations in Antarctica, primarily distributed across West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula. Next, a high-resolution surface mass variation model is used to correct for elastic deformation. Finally, we use the improved GPS solution to assess the accuracy of seven contemporary GIA forward models in Antarctica. The results show that the maximal GPS crustal displacement velocity deviations reach 4.0 mm yr−1, and the mean variation is 0.4 mm yr−1 after removing CMEs and implementing the noise analysis. All GIA model-predicted velocities are found to systematically underestimate the GPS-observed velocities in the Amundsen Sea Embayment. Additionally, the GPS vertical velocities on the North Antarctic Peninsula are larger than those on the South Antarctic Peninsula, and most of the forward models underestimate the GIA impact on the Antarctic Peninsula.

Abstract Background Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crops have been cultivated at a large scale over the past several decades, which have raised concern about unintended effects on natural environments. Microbial communities typically contain numerous rare taxa that make up the majority of community populations. However, the response of dominant and rare taxa for fungal diversity to the different root environments of Bt plants remains unclear. Results We quantified fungal population sizes and community composition via quantitative PCR of ITS genes and 18S rRNA gene sequencing of, respectively, that were associated with Bt and conventional cotton variety rhizosphere soils from different plant growth stages. qPCR analyses indicated that fungal abundances reached their peak at the seedling stage and that the taproots and lateral root rhizospheres of the Bt cotton SGK321 were significantly different. However, no significant differences in population sizes were detected between the same root zones from Bt and the conventional cotton varieties. The overall patterns of fungal genera abundances followed that of the dominant genera, whereas overall patterns of fungal genera richness followed those of the rare genera. These results suggest that the dominant and rare taxa play different roles in the maintenance of rhizosphere microhabitat ecosystems. Cluster analyses indicated a separation of fungal communities based on the lateral roots or taproots from the three cotton varieties at the seedling stage, suggesting that root microhabitats had marked effects on fungal community composition. Redundancy analyses indicated that pH was more correlated to soil fungal community composition than Bt protein content. Conclusions In conclusion, these results indicate that dominant and rare fungal taxa differentially contribute to community dynamics in different root microhabitats of both Bt and conventional cotton varieties. Moreover, these results showed that the rhizosphere fungal community of Bt cotton did not respond significantly to the presence of Bt protein when compared to the two conventional cotton varieties.

We report the findings of a multi-language and multi-lab investigation of young infants' ability to discriminate lexical tones as a function of their native language, age and language experience, as well as of tone properties. Given the high prevalence of lexical tones across human languages, understanding lexical tone acquisition is fundamental for comprehensive theories of language learning. While there are some similarities between the developmental course of lexical tone perception and that of vowels and consonants, findings for lexical tones tend to vary greatly across different laboratories. To reconcile these differences and to assess the developmental trajectory of native and non-native perception of tone contrasts, this study employed a single experimental paradigm with the same two pairs of Cantonese tone contrasts (perceptually similar vs. distinct) across 13 laboratories in Asia-Pacific, Europe and North-America testing 5-, 10- and 17-month-old monolingual (tone, pitch-accent, non-tone) and bilingual (tone/non-tone, non-tone/non-tone) infants. Across the age range and language backgrounds, infants who were not exposed to Cantonese showed robust discrimination of the two non-native lexical tone contrasts. Contrary to this overall finding, the statistical model assessing native discrimination by Cantonese-learning infants failed to yield significant effects. These findings indicate that lexical tone sensitivity is maintained from 5 to 17 months in infants acquiring tone and non-tone languages, challenging the generalisability of the existing theoretical accounts of perceptual narrowing in the first months of life.

Unlike the traditional oil-lubricated bearing, the water-lubricated bearing has unique advantages because of which lead it has important applications in all types of high-speed rotating machinery. Under actual working conditions, the lubrication water will inevitably mix with a certain amount of undissolved gas, which too will participate in the lubrication process. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software Fluent was used to analyze the characteristics of the high-speed water-lubricated bearing and to investigate the influence of the amount of undissolved gas on the phase distribution of the gas phase, pressure peak value, and bearing performance. The full cavitation model and gas-liquid mixture model were employed in this study. The results show that in the highspeed water-lubricated bearing clearance, the gas phase is distributed in the divergence wedge, and the maximum gas volume fraction exists on the surface of the shaft; When the eccentricity is small, a certain amount of undissolved gas can offset the gas phase distribution in the bearing gap and reduce the load-carrying capacity of the bearing. However, the gas appears to have no clear influence on the pressure peak and the frictional power consumption. As the bearing eccentricity increases, the influence of the undissolved gas disappears gradually.

Because of lower inductance and higher commutation frequency, caused by high-frequency current harmonics induced by the PWM control, super high speed permanent magnet brushless motors commonly face overheating of both the rotor and stator. For chopping directly at the inverter, the frequency should be increased to reduce the current harmonics. But for the 10 kW class motor drives used in the air compressors of fuel cell vehicles, the power switch devices currently do not fulfill the needs of switch frequency and power simultaneously. Therefore, it is not a good choice to regulate the speed by chopping at the inverter. Aimed at reducing losses in the stators and rotors, this paper presented the design of a pre-Buck square wave drive for reducing current harmonics. By optimizing the back electromotive force (EMF) filter circuit and commutation compensation angle, the operation range of sensorless control CAN was extended to 3000-100000 r·min-1. The key points encountered during the drive development were analyzed and solutions proposed. Finally, the excellent performance of the drive was demonstrated by experiment.

Pulsed electric fields (PEF) in conjunction with sous vide (SV) cooking has been explored for meat tenderisation. The aim of this experiment was to study the effect of PEF–SV treatment on the muscle structure and in vitro protein digestibility of beef brisket. Pulsed electric field treatment (specific energy of 99 ± 5 kJ/kg) was applied to bovine Deep and Superficial pectoral muscles in combination with sous vide (SV) cooking (60 °C for 24 h). A similar micro- and ultrastructure was detected between the control SV-cooked and PEF-treated SV-cooked pectoral muscles. The combined PEF–SV treatment increased the in vitro protein digestibility of the pectoral muscles by approximately 29%, in terms of ninhydrin-reactive free amino nitrogen released at the end of simulated digestion. An increment in proteolysis of the PEF-treated SV-cooked meat proteins (e.g., myosin heavy chains and C-protein) during simulated digestion was also observed using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. More damaged muscle micro- and ultrastructure was detected in PEF-treated SV-cooked muscles at the end of in vitro digestion, showing its enhanced digestive proteolysis compared to the control cooked meat.

Clematis plants play an important role in botanical gardens. Heat stress can destroy the activity, state and conformation of plant proteins, and its regulatory pathway has been well characterized in Arabidopsis and some crop plants. However, the heat resistance response mechanism in horticultural plants including Clematis has rarely been reported. Here, we identified a heat-tolerant clematis species, Clematis vitalba. The relative water loss and electrolytic leakage were significantly lower under heat treatment in Clematis vitalba compared to Stolwijk Gold. Differential expression heat-tolerant genes (HTGs) were identified based on nonparametric transcriptome analysis. For validation, one heat shock transcription factor, CvHSF30-2, extremely induced by heat stimuli in Clematis vitalba, was identified to confer tolerance to heat stress in Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Furthermore, silencing of HSF30-2 by virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) led to heat sensitivity in tobacco and Clematis, suggesting that the candidate heat-resistant genes identified in this RNA-seq analysis are credible and offer significant utility. We also found that CvHSF30-2 improved heat tolerance of Clematis vitalba by elevating heat shock protein (HSP) expression, which was negatively regulated by CvHSFB2a. Taken together, this study provides insights into the mechanism of Clematis heat tolerance and the findings can be potentially applied in horticultural plants to improve economic efficiency through genetic approaches.