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Understanding the mechanisms underlying plant resistance to virus infections is crucial for viral disease management in agriculture. However, the defense mechanism of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) against cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) infection remains largely unknown. In this study, we performed transcriptomic, metabolomic, and phytohormone analyses of a CGMMV susceptible watermelon cultivar Zhengkang No.2 (ZK) and a CGMMV resistant wild watermelon accession PI 220778 (PI) to identify the key regulatory genes, metabolites, and phytohormones of watermelon responsible for CGMMV resistance. We then tested several phytohormones and metabolites for their roles in watermelon CGMMV resistance via foliar application, followed by CGMMV inoculation. Several phenylpropanoid metabolism-associated genes and metabolites, especially those involved in the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway, were found to be significantly enriched in the CGMMV-infected ‘PI’ plants compared with the CGMMV-infected ‘ZK’ plants. We also identified a gene encoding UDP-glycosyltransferase (UGT), which is involved in kaempferol-3-O-sophoroside biosynthesis, leads to dwarf stature, and promotes disease resistance. Additionally, salicylic acid (SA) biogenesis increased in the CGMMV-infected ‘ZK’ plants, resulting in the activation of a downstream signaling cascade. The level of SA in the assayed watermelon plants correlated with that of total flavonoids, and SA pre-treatment up-regulated the expression of flavonoid biosynthesis genes, thus increasing the total flavonoid content. Furthermore, application of exogenous SA or flavonoids extracted from watermelon leaves suppressed CGMMV infection. In summary, our study demonstrates the role of SA-induced flavonoid biosynthesis in plant development and CGMMV resistance, which could be used to breed for CGMMV resistance in watermelon.

Background Mixed cell ovarian adenocarcinoma (MCOA) is a malignant gynecologic tumor consisting of serous, mucous, and papillary tumor cells. However, the clinical features and prognosis of MCOA patients are unclear. Methods In this study, univariate and multivariate Cox proportional risk models were performed to identify independent prognostic factors. The Kaplan–Meier method was used to assess the relationship between clinical characteristics and patient survival. Finally, a nomogram was constructed and validated to predict patient survival time, and the C-index was used to evaluate the efficacy of the nomogram. Results A total of 2,818 patients diagnosed with MCOA were identified, and the 5-year survival rate was 62%. Univariate and multivariate Cox models suggested that age (HR=1.28, 95% CI[1.15,1.44]), grade (HR=1.26, 95% CI[1.12,1.41]), SEER stage (HR=1.63, 95% CI[1.25,2.13]) and AJCC (American Joint Committee on Cancer) stage (HR=1.59, 95% CI[1.36,1.86]) were independent prognostic factors for MCOA patients. After propensity score matching for age, grade, SEER stage, and AJCC stage, the 5-year survival rate was 69.7% for ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma and 62.9% for ovarian papillary serous cystadenocarcinoma. These results mean that serous adenocarcinoma had the best prognosis of the three pathologic types of ovarian carcinoma (pp=0.712). Finally, a nomogram consisting of age, grade, SEER stage, and AJCC stage was established and validated to predict the survival time, with C-indices of 0.743 and 0.731, respectively. Conclusions In summary, MCOA is uncommon, and age, grade, SEER stage, and AJCC stage are independent prognostic factors. Compared with other common malignant ovarian tumors, MCOA has a poor prognosis.

In June 2021, bacterial stem rot-like symptoms were observed on the stems and leaves of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus cv. ‘Zaojia’) in Pingyu County, Zhumadian City, Henan Province, China (32.44N 114.24E), which showed brown to dark brown lesions on the stems (Fig. 1A). The stems then became scorched, and the leaves showed necrotic lesions with small water-soaked spots (Fig. 1B). Watermelon is a very important economic plant in this small county, where the watermelon planting area accounts for about 15% of the arable land area. Approximately 2 hectares of ‘Zaojia’ have been investigated, and the disease incidence rates were almost 20~30%, thus, causing severe economic losses. Ten symptomatic watermelon stems and leaves were randomly collected based on the typical symptoms, brought into the Lab and used to isolate the pathogen. Each infected tissue was excised and cut into small pieces (about 5 mm×5 mm) and surface disinfected with 1% NaClO for 3 min. The pieces were then rinsed three times in sterile distilled water (SDW) and dried by airing. These pieces (4-5 pieces per sample) were macerated in 200 μL SDW for 60 s in a sterile mortar and pestle. A volume of 5 μL suspensions of each sample were streaked onto two LB agar plates and incubated for 48 h at 28 °C in the dark. After incubation, the colonies on LB agar plate were small, round, raised, white to cream-colored, and had smooth margins (Fig. 2). Two strains from each plate were selected. The genomic DNA of all 40 strains was extracted using a Bacterial Genomic DNA Extraction Kit D1600 (Beijing Solarbio Science & Technology Co., Ltd., Beijing, China) according to the manufacturer's instructions. The 16S ribosomal RNA gene (27F:5'-AGA GTT TGA TCC TGG CTC AG-3', /1492R: 5'-CTA CGG CTA CCT TGT TAC GA-3'), and the three housekeeping genes, including gyrB (Trantas et al., 2013), icdA and proA (Ma et al., 2007), were amplified. Sequence analysis showed that 40 strains shared the same sequence, so only one sequence was submitted into GenBanK.The 16s rDNA partial sequences (SUB12134746) shared 100% similarity with E.mori (CP084692.1), and the gyrB (OP676246), icdA (OP676248) and proA (OP676247) genes shared 98.67%, 99.39% and 97.99% homology with those of E. mori (CP084692.1), respectively. Besides, the phylogenetic tree analysis based on multi-housekeeping gene joint gryB-icdA-proA showed that E.mori（OP676246-OP676248- OP676247）from watermelon was culsterd with the E.mori (CP084692.1) from South Korea and E.mori (CP055276.1) from kiwifruit (Fig. 3). Thus, E.mori was confirmed to be the pathogen responsible for bacterial soft rot of watermelon in this study. To confirm the pathogenicity, 15-day-old healthy cv. ‘Zaojia’ watermelon seedlings were inoculated by spraying all the seedlings with a bacterial suspension (1×10 8 CFU mL-1) at an incubation temperature of 28 °C and 70% relative humidity, and sterile distilled liquid LB medium was applied as a negative control treatment. Three times were conducted for the isolate, and each time included nine watermelon plants. After 10 days, only the inoculated cotyledons and leaves with the bacterial suspension showed bacterial leaf spots that resembled those observed on naturally infected watermelon cotyledons and leaves (Fig. 4A-C), whereas the control plants remained asymptomatic (Fig. 4D). Simultaneously, the watermelon stems were inoculated with the bacterium in vitro. Each stem was slightly wounded with a metal sponge and then sprayed with the bacterial suspension (108 CFU mL-1) of each isolate, and the experiment was repeated three times. Water-soaked symptoms were visible on the stems (Fig. 4E), while the control plants remained asymptomatic (Fig. 4F). The strains were then successfully re-isolated and identified by sequence analyses of their 16S ribosomal RNA gene and gyrB, icdA and proA genes. Therefore, the inoculation experiment of the isolatedbacterium fulfilled Koch’s postulates. Previously, E. mori has been reported to cause bacterial wilt on white mulberry (Morus alba L.) (Zhu et al. 2022), peach fruit (Prunus persica) (Ahmad et al. 2021) and kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa [A. Chev.] CF Liang et AR Ferguson) (Zhang et al. 2021). To our knowledge, this is the first report of E. mori causing bacterial soft rot on watermelon in world.

In this work, we first report the facile synthesis of porous waist drum-like α-Fe2O3 nanocrystals in high yield by hydrothermal method for supercapacitor application. The as-prepared porous waist drum-like α-Fe2O3 nanocrystals have an equatorial diameter of 100–130 nm and length of 150–200 nm, which are self-assembled by numerous nanoparticles. The formation mechanism of the porous waist drum-like α-Fe2O3 nanocrystals was proposed according to a series of time-dependent experiments. The specific surface area and pore size of the porous waist drum-like α-Fe2O3 nanocrystals were measured to be 28.6 m2 g−1 and 1.7 nm, respectively. Electrochemical measurements indicate that the porous waist drum-like α-Fe2O3 nanocrystals electrode exhibits noticeable pseudocapacitive properties with a high specific capacitance up to 234 F g−1 at 2 A g−1 as well as good cycling stability and high capacitance retention of 84.6% after 2000 charge–discharge cycles. The excellent pseudocapacitive performance could be due to the unique nanostructure of the porous waist drum-like α-Fe2O3 nanocrystals, which can provide fast ion/electron transfer.

Hepatic angiosarcoma(HAS) is rare and is the primary vascular-derived malignancy of the liver. Its clinical characteristics, therapeutic strategy management, and the outcome are unclear.This is a retrospective study of patients from the SEER database. Survival analysis was performed by the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate and multivariate Cox models were used to identify risk factors. Propensity Score Matching(PSM) analysis was used to remove confounding bias. The nomogram was constructed, and the performance was measured using the C-index.A total of 300 HAS patients diagnosed between 1975 and 2016 were identified for this study, with an estimated median cancer-specific survival(CSS) of 1 month. The median CSS was 6 months in both the surgery and chemotherapy groups. Age(HR = 1.5206, p = 0.0058), sex(HR = 1.3906, p = 0.0391), SEER stage(HR = 1.4426, p 0.0001), surgery(HR = 0.4493, p = 0.0001) and chemotherapy(HR = 0.28161, p 0.0001) are potential independent prognostic factors. Of these HAS patients, 29 received surgical treatment without chemotherapy, and 63 received chemotherapy without surgery. A 1:1 PSM was performed to select candidates from the surgery-only group and the chemotherapy-only group. The survival analysis showed that the median survival time was 3 months in the surgery-only cohort and 5 months in the chemotherapy-only cohort, and there was no statistical difference between the two groups. Finally, a nomogram was constructed, with a C-index of 0.754.HAS is uncommon and has a poor prognosis. It was found that age, sex, SEER stage, surgery, and chemotherapy were independent prognostic factors for patients. Both surgery and chemotherapy could significantly prolong the survival of patients, and there was no statistical difference between the prognosis of patients treated with chemotherapy alone and those treated with surgery alone.

Objectives: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of early postoperative intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) combined with temozolomide chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with malignant glioma. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study 80 patients with glioma surgery admitted to Chengde Central Hospital from January 2019 to January 2021 were selected and divided into two groups according to postoperative treatment: the experimental group and the control group, with 40 cases in each group. Patients in the experimental group received IMRT combined with temozolomide chemotherapy postoperatively, while those in the control group received IMRT alone. The clinical effects of patients were analyzed before treatment and three months after treatment, and the incidence of adverse reactions such as bone marrow suppression, gastrointestinal reactions, fever, and liver dysfunction were analyzed in the two groups within one month after treatment. Before treatment and two months after treatment, MMSE scale, QOL scale and KPS were used to compare the cognitive function and health status of the patients. All patients were followed up for one year after treatment, and the difference of disease progression-free survival and overall survival rate between the two groups was analyzed. Results: The effective rate of the experimental group was 70% after treatment, while that of the control group was 43.3%, with a statistically significant difference (P=0.04). The incidence of adverse reactions was 50% in the experimental group and 40% in the control group, with no statistically significant difference between the two groups (P=0.25). After treatment, MMSE score, QOL score and KPS score of the experimental group were significantly improved compared with those of the control group, with statistically significant differences between the two groups (MMSE score, QOL, P=0.00; KPS, P=0.01). Moreover, the two groups of patients were followed up for one year after treatment. The disease progression-free survival rate of the experimental group was 70% and that of the control group was 47.5%, with a statistically significant difference (P=0.04), and the overall survival rate of the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group after treatment, with a statistically significant difference (P=0.03). Conclusion: Early postoperative IMRT combined with temozolomide chemotherapy is an effective treatment regimen for patients with malignant glioma, boasting a variety of advantages such as high efficiency, cognitive function, favorable recovery of health status, significantly improved progression-free survival rate and overall survival rate, and no significant increase in adverse reactions. KEYWORDS: . doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.6.5244How to cite this:Zhou H, Wu H, Li M, Dong C, Sun T. Clinical efficacy of early postoperative intensity-modulated radiotherapy combined with Temozolomide chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with malignant glioma. Pak J Med Sci. 2022;38(6):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.6.5244 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Any bacterial infection of the genital tract after childbirth is called maternal puerperal infection. This infection accounts for 13% of pregnancy-related deaths and is the fifth leading cause of maternal mortality. Endometritis (postpartum uterine infection) has been associated with preeclampsia and maternal lethal bleeding in recent decades. In some studies, the presence of meconium in the amniotic fluid has been implicated in the development of endometritis. The study aimed to evaluate the association between interleukin-19 gene polymorphisms and maternal puerperal infection. In this study, 300 pregnant women with a gestational age of at least 37 weeks were studied. Patients were divided into two groups of 150 controls and cases. In the case group, amniotic fluid was impregnated with meconium, and in the control group, it was clear fluid. Both groups underwent cesarean section, and all received prophylactic antibiotics before surgery. Patients were evaluated for purpura infection in the first 40 days after delivery. Five ml of venous blood was taken from each patient and transferred to a tube containing EDTA anticoagulant. Genomic DNA was isolated using a particular kit. Then, the polymerase chain reaction was performed by the ARMS method. Data were analyzed using the chi-square test and SPSS software version 19 in case and control groups. This study's results indicate no significant difference in the frequency of AG, GG, and AA genotypes at position rs2243191 and rs1028181 IL-19 gene polymorphism between patients with puerperal infection and the control group (P0.05). Also, no significant difference was observed in the frequency of both G and A alleles in the mentioned situations between patients and the control group (P0.05). Based on the results of this study, no significant relationship was observed between IL-19 gene polymorphism at rs2243191 and rs1028181 locus and puerperal infection.

Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies worldwide and the third leading cause of cancer-related death. MicroRNAs and transcription factors (TFs) cooperate to regulate the same target gene, thus affecting the progression of HCC. Methods Differentially expressed miRNAs and mRNAs were screened. Functional enrichment analysis of these HCC-related mRNAs was performed, and a protein-protein interaction network was constructed. TFs that regulate these miRNAs and hub genes were also screened. Results Ten differentially upregulated miRNAs and 5 differentially downregulated miRNAs were screened. Additionally, 183 downregulated mRNAs and 303 upregulated mRNAs that are potentially bound to these differentially expressed miRNAs were identified. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) results showed that the differentially expressed mRNAs were significantly enriched in pathways in cancer, the Wnt signaling pathway, and the Rap1 signaling pathway. Then, 220 TFs were identified for 5 candidate genes of the downregulated mRNAs, and 258 TFs were identified for 9 candidate genes of the upregulated mRNAs. Finally, the 9 upregulated hub genes were related to higher overall survival (OS) in the low-expression group, and 4/5 downregulated hub genes were related to higher OS in the high-expression group. Conclusions This study constructed a potential regulatory network between candidate molecules and that need to be further verified. These regulatory relationships are expected to clarify the new molecular mechanisms of the occurrence and development of HCC.

Tailoring the electrode structure and morphology with short diffusion distance for fast ions transport is of significant to improve rate capability for advanced lithium-ion batteries. A novel architecture of hollow Co3O4 nanocrystals in situ anchored on holey graphene is successfully fabricated, and individual hollow Co3O4 nanocrystal is located around one etched hole on graphene sheets. This newly fabricated nanostructure is able to greatly shorten mass diffusion distance for enhancement of Li ion transport, resulting in the best rate performance among previously reported composites of Co3O4 and graphene. This work reveals that high rate lithium-ion batteries can be achieved through constructing the hybrids of Co3O4 nanocrystals on in situ etched holey graphene, while rendering fundamental for enhancement of mass transport rate by highly shortened ions diffusion distance in a nanostructured electrode to accomplish superior rate capability.

SPTBN1 plays an anticancer role in many kinds of tumors and participates in the chemotherapeutic resistance of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Here, we reported that lower SPTBN1 expression was significantly related to advanced EOC stage and shorter progression-free survival. SPTBN1 expression was also higher in less invasive EOC cell lines. Moreover, SPTBN1 decreased the migration ability of the EOC cells A2780 and HO8910 and inhibited the growth of EOC cells in vitro and tumor xenografts in vivo. SPTBN1 suppression increased the epithelial mesenchymal transformation marker Vimentin while decreasing E-cadherin expression. By analyzing TCGA data and immunohistochemistry staining of tumor tissue, we found that SPTBN1 and SOCS3 were positively coexpressed in EOC patients. SOCS3 overexpression or JAK2 inhibition decreased the proliferation and migration of EOC cells as well as the expression of p-JAK2, p-STAT3 and Vimentin, which were enhanced by the downregulation of SPTBN1, while E-cadherin expression was also reversed. It was also verified in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) that loss of SPTBN1 activated the JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway with suppression of SOCS3. Our results suggest that SPTBN1 suppresses the progression of epithelial ovarian cancer via SOCS3-mediated blockade of the JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway.

Embedding metal oxide nanoparticles with high theoretical capacity into graphene-based substrate in a controllable manner is a promising strategy to explore high-performance electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries. In this work, a facile and eco-friendly in situ etching route is developed to prepare ZnO nanoparticles embedded holey reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite with a well-controlled structure. The formation mechanism of ZnO nanoparticles and in situ etched holes are proposed and discussed. The nanocomposite exhibits excellent rate capability, high specific capacity as well as long cycling stability. It is found that the synergetic effects between etching-engineered optimal holes in rGO sheets and embedded ZnO nanoparticles around the holes are responsible for the superior electrochemical properties. This work offers a facile etching strategy to prepare the nanocomposite of metal oxide nanoparticles embedded holey graphene-based supports, and demonstrates a promising electrode architecture to construct high-performance anode for lithium-ion batteries.

Background Gastric cancer (GC) is among the most common forms of cancer affecting the digestive system. This study sought to identify hub genes regulating early GC (EGC) in order to explore their potential for early diagnosis and prognosis of patients. Methods We utilized a publically available dataset from the Gene Expression Omnibus database (GSE55696). Differences between EGC and LGIN with respect to gene expression were compared using the limma software. Identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were subjected to gene ontology (GO) and pathway enrichment analyses with the DAVID application, and the STRING website and Cytoscape software were used to construct a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network incorporating these DEGs. This network was in turn used to identify hub genes among selected DEGs, which were analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier Plotter database. In addition, Western blotting, qRT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, and UALCAN were all employed to validate the relationship between the expression of these genes and GC patient prognosis. Results A total of 482 DEGs were identified, with GO analyses indicating an increase in the expression of genes linked with the development of cancer. Pathway analyses also indicated that these genes play a role in certain cancer-related pathways. The PPI network highlighted four potential hub genes, of which only ICAM1 was linked to a poor GC patient prognosis. This link between ICAM1 and GC patient outcomes was confirmed via UALCAN, Western blotting, immunohistochemistry, and qRT-PCR. Conclusion ICAM1 may therefore modulate tumor progression in GC, thus potentially representing a valuable prognostic and diagnostic biomarker of EGC.

Utilization of the Kirkendall effect, a composite of holey graphene confined hollow nickel oxide nanocrystals is designed and successfully fabricated using an in situ etching approach. The composite exhibits remarkable lithium storage performance including high reversible specific capacity, great cycling durability, and excellent rate capability. This work offers a promising innovative architecture to designing high-performance electrode materials for advanced lithium ion batteries.

Objective. Fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT) is a promising molecular imaging modality for quantifying the three-dimensional (3D) distribution of tumor probes in small animals. However, traditional deep learning reconstruction methods that aim to minimize the mean squared error (MSE) and iterative regularization algorithms that rely on optimal parameters are typically influenced by strong noise, resulting in poor FMT reconstruction robustness. Approach. In this letter, we propose an adaptive adversarial learning strategy (3D-UR-WGAN) to achieve robust FMT reconstructions. Unlike the pixel-based MSE criterion in traditional CNNs or the regularization strategy in iterative solving schemes, the reconstruction strategy can greatly facilitate the performance of the network models through alternating loop training of the generator and the discriminator. Second, the reconstruction strategy combines the adversarial loss in GANs with the L1 loss to significantly enhance the robustness and preserve image details and textual information. Main results. Both numerical simulations and physical phantom experiments demonstrate that the 3D-UR-WGAN method can adaptively eliminate the effects of different noise levels on the reconstruction results, resulting in robust reconstructed images with reduced artifacts and enhanced image contrast. Compared with the state-of-the-art methods, the proposed method achieves better reconstruction performance in terms of target shape recovery and localization accuracy. Significance. This adaptive adversarial learning reconstruction strategy can provide a possible paradigm for robust reconstruction in complex environments, and also has great potential to provide an alternative solution for solving the problem of poor robustness encountered in other optical imaging modalities such as diffuse optical tomography, bioluminescence imaging, and Cherenkov luminescence imaging.

Melon aphid-borne yellows virus (MABYV), a member of the genus Polerovirus in the family Solemoviridae, has widely spread in recent years and cause yellowing disease on cucurbits. Here, we obtained the complete genome sequence of MABYV bottle guard (Lagenaria siceraria) isolate MABYV-KF, and constructed its infectious cDNA clone under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter by Gibson assembly. The 5,677 nt of its genome shared more than 94.00% sequence identity with the two known MABYV isolates. The inoculation results showed that MABYV infectious cDNA clone could systemically infect bottle guard, cucumber and muskmelon plants, and cause typical yellowing symptom. The virus progeny from the infectious clone could be transmitted between bottle guard plants by aphid. Further analyses revealed that point mutations in the F-box-like motif (Pro57) and C-terminal conserved sequence (Phe211) of P0 cause low viral accumulations in systematic leaves and failed to induce symptom. The infectious clone will be potentially a tool in the investigation of viral pathogenesis, virus-virus interaction and virus-host/-vector interactions.

Recombination drives evolution of single-stranded RNA viruses and contributes to virus adaptation to new hosts and environmental conditions. Intraspecific recombinants are common in potyviruses, the largest family of single-stranded RNA viruses, whereas interspecific recombinants are rare. Here, we report an interspecific recombination event between papaya ringspot potyvirus (PRSV) and zucchini tigre mosaic potyvirus (ZTMV), two potyviruses infecting cucurbit crops and sharing similar biological characteristics and close phylogenetic relationship. The PRSV-ZTMV recombinants were detected through small RNA sequencing of viruses infecting cucurbit samples from Guangxi and Henan provinces of China. The complete nucleotide (nt) sequences of the interspecific recombinant viruses were determined using overlapping RT-PCR. Multiple sequence alignment, recombination detection analysis and phylogenetic analysis confirmed the interspecific recombination event, and revealed an additional intraspecific recombination event among ZTMV populations in China. The symptoms and host ranges of two interspecific recombinant isolates, KF8 and CX1, were determined through experimental characterization using cDNA infectious clones. Surveys in 2017 and 2018 indicated that the incidences of the interspecific recombinant virus were 16 and 19.4%, respectively, in cucurbits in Kaifeng of Henan province. The identified interspecific recombinant virus between PRSV and ZTMV and the novel recombination pattern with the recombination site in HC-pro in potyvirid provide insights into the prevalence and evolution of ZTMV and PRSV in cucurbits.