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ObjectiveTo examine the prevalence and associates of influenza vaccination among adult community residents in urban and rural Anhui province. MethodsWith stratified multistage sampling and a self-designed question-naire, we conducted an on-site self-administered survey with interviewer assistance among 978 residents aged 16 years and older in 8 urban and rural communities of Anhui province during July – December 2021. The participants′ information on demographics, influenza vaccination in past one year, cognition about coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, and history of COVID-19 vaccination were collected and analyzed using χ2 test; multivariate analysis was adopted to explore influencing factors of influenza vaccination. Results Among the 833 participants with valid responses, 232 (27.85%, 95% confidence interval [95%CI]: 24.73 – 31.14%) reported receiving influenza vaccination in past one year. Of the participants not receiving influenza vaccination, 57.57% reported being unaware of influenza vaccination. The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the participants with following characteristics were more likely to receive influenza vaccination: male gender (odds ratio [OR] = 1.43, 95%CI: 1.01 – 2.04), with the education of junior high school and above (OR = 1.81, 95%CI: 1.03 – 3.17), with a higher self-rated risk of COVID-19 infection (OR = 1.50, 95%CI: 1.02 – 2.20), ever receiving COVID-19 vaccination (OR = 9.20, 95%CI: 3.28 – 25.80), and being satisfied with community-based measures for prevention and control of COVID-19 epidemic (OR = 1.61, 95%CI: 1.06 – 2.47). ConclusionThe acceptance of influenza vaccination is mainly influenced by gender, education, knowledge about COVID-19 epidemic, and history of COVID-19 vaccination among urban and rural adult community residents in Anhui province.

Photoperiod is a pivotal regulatory factor in the flowering of Camellia oleifera Abel. (C. oleifera). GIGANTEA (GI) serves as a pivotal regulator, not only orchestrating the intricate circadian rhythm but also governing photoperiod-dependent flowering. In order to explore the function of GI in C. oleifera (CoGI), we obtained a CoGI gene-coding sequence and analyzed a CoGI protein sequence using bioinformatics. Furthermore, we conducted a spatiotemporal expression analysis of CoGI. And a yeast two-hybridization assay was used to screen the interacting proteins of CoGI. Evolutionary analysis revealed high conservation of the CoGI protein, which clustered with the GI protein from Camellia sinensis (CsGI) on a common evolutionary branch. The expression of CoGI was different in each part, and a tissue expression analysis revealed that the relative expression level of the CoGI gene is highest in the leaves of C. oleifera, while it is at its lowest in the seed coats. Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) overexpressing CoGI exhibited early flowering under long-day conditions. In addition, the yeast two-hybrid library screening revealed interactions between seven C. oleifera proteins and CoGI: CoACR9, CoLAO, CoDExH12-like, CoIT1K-like, CoUPF0481, CoIDM3, and CoAt4g27190-like. The findings demonstrated that CoGI is crucial to C. oleifera’s flowering.

ABSTRACTInfluenza is a significant public health threat associated with high morbidity and mortality globally. This study investigated the influenza vaccination rate (IVR) among community residents in Anhui province, China, and explored the association between participants’ influenza vaccination and their key sociodemographic characteristics, perception of COVID-19 as well as COVID-19 vaccination behavior. We found that the IVR among respondents in Anhui province was 27.85% in 2020. Regression analyses revealed that males (OR = 1.41, 95% CI: 1.01 ~ 1.96), residents with above middle school education (OR = 1.88, 95% CI: 1.04 ~ 3.39), considered themselves likely to be infected with COVID-19 (OR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.04 ~ 2.24), had received the COVID-19 vaccine (OR = 9.85, 95% CI: 3.49 ~ 27.78), did not plan to receive COVID-19 vaccine in the future (OR = 1.70, 95% CI: 1.17 ~ 2.47), and had no adverse reactions after COVID-19 vaccination (OR = 1.54, 95% CI: 1.04 ~ 2.27) were associated with a higher IVR. The acceptance of influenza vaccination was mainly associated with respondents’ gender, education, perception of COVID-19, history of COVID-19 vaccination in city and countryside community residents in Anhui province.

DREB is a plant-specific transcription factor family that plays a pleiotropic regulatory role in response to abiotic stresses such as drought and cold. In this study, we identified 51 DREB genes of Camellia oleifera. These CoDREBs ranged from 88 to 518 amino acids (average/median 259/237 aa). The predicted molecular weights (MW) of the CoDREB proteins ranged from 9.7 kDa to 59.6 kDa, and the isoelectric points (pI) ranged from 4.62 to 10.44. A gene structure analysis showed that 43/51 (84.3%) CoDREBs were intronless, and the number of exons varied from one to three. Then, we focused on the response of CoDREB genes in terms of plant drought and cold acclimation. Under short-/long-term drought stress, CoDREB1.2/4.1/4.4/4.8/4.12/4.15/5.1/5.3/5.5/6.2 have different regulations in response to long-term drought response, and CoDREB1.4/2.5/4.6/4.1/6.3/6.5 specifically in the short term. Additionally, in response to mild/severe drought and followed by recovery, we found that CoDREBs may be involved in a complex drought-responsive regulatory network. Under cold stress, CoDREB5.2 and CoDREB6.5 are significantly up-regulated, and CoDREB may participate in the regulation of the low-temperature response of C. oleifera.

Abstract Background Camellia oleifera Abel. (C. oleifera) is an important traditional woody species in China that produces edible oil. However, the current literature lacks a proper understanding of C. oleifera’s ability to adapt to different photoperiods. Results Our results indicate that the photoperiod can significantly impact flowering time in C. oleifera. We grew a total of nine samples under the short day condition (SD), middle day condition (MD) and long day condition (LD). Transcriptome analysis yielded 66.94 Gb of high-quality clean reads, with an average of over 6.73 Gb of reads for per sample. Following assembly, a total of 120,080 transcripts were obtained and 94,979 unigenes annotated. A total of 3475 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between the SD_MD, SD_LD, and MD_LD gene sets. Moreover, WGCNA identified ten gene modules. Genes in pink module (92 genes) were positively correlated with SD, and negatively correlated with both MD and LD. Genes in the magenta module (42 genes) were positively correlated with MD and negatively correlated with both LD and SD. Finally, genes in the yellow module (1758 genes) were positively correlated with both SD and MD, but negatively correlated with LD. KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that genes in the pink, magenta, and yellow modules were involved in flavonoid biosynthesis, amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism and circadian rhythm pathways. Additionally, eight hub genes (GI, AP2, WRKY65, SCR, SHR, PHR1, ERF106, and SCL3) were obtained through network analysis. The hub genes had high connectivity with other photoperiod-sensitive DEGs. The expression levels of hub genes were verified by qRT-PCR analysis. Conclusion An increase in light duration promotes earlier flowering of C. oleifera. Flavonoid biosynthesis, amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism, and circadian rhythm pathways may function in the photoperiodic flowering pathway of C. oleifera. We also identified eight hub genes that may play a role in this pathway. Ultimately, this work contributes to our understanding of the photoperiodic flowering pathway of C. oleifera and further informs molecular breeding programs on the plant’s photoperiodic sensitivity.

Red and blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) affect the quality of sweet potato leaves and their nutritional profile. Vines cultivated under blue LEDs had higher soluble protein contents, total phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and total antioxidant activity. Conversely, chlorophyll, soluble sugar, protein, and vitamin C contents were higher in leaves grown under red LEDs. Red and blue light increased the accumulation of 77 and 18 metabolites, respectively. Alpha-linoleic and linolenic acid metabolism were the most significantly enriched pathways based on Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses. A total of 615 genes were differentially expressed between sweet potato leaves exposed to red and blue LEDs. Among these, 510 differentially expressed genes were upregulated in leaves grown under blue light compared with those grown under red light, while the remaining 105 genes were expressed at higher levels in the latter than in the former. Among the KEGG enrichment pathways, blue light significantly induced anthocyanin and carotenoid biosynthesis structural genes. This study provides a scientific reference basis for using light to alter metabolites to improve the quality of edible sweet potato leaves.

Camellia oleifera Abel., which produces fruits of high comprehensive utilization value, is an important woody oil tree in China. ZEITLUPE (ZTL) is a blue light receptor and clock component protein that is involved in various physiological and biochemical processes. However, the expression pattern and function of C. oleifera ZTL (CoZTL) remain unclear. In this study, the coding sequence of the CoZTL gene was isolated and the protein function was explored using bioinformatics and expression analyses and heterologous expression techniques. The results showed that the CoZTL protein was highly conserved during evolution and was on the same branch of the evolutionary tree as the ZTL proteins from Ipomoea nil and Nicotiana attenuata. CoZTL was mainly expressed in the fruit shells and stems of C. oleifera, and its expression level fluctuated greatly during flower bud development. Transgenic CoZTL-overexpressing Arabidopsis plants showed delayed flowering under long-day conditions as well as light-dependent promotion of hypocotyl elongation. Furthermore, yeast two-hybrid library screening revealed that seven C. oleifera proteins (CoAAT, Coβ-GAL, CoLAT52-like, CoCAR4-like, CoAO, CoUQCC1, and CoADF 2) interacted with CoZTL. Our results indicate that CoZTL plays an important role in C. oleifera flowering and hypocotyl growth.

Rapid growth and scattered plant types are urgent issues for potted Melaleuca alternifolia. An effective strategy for dwarfing cultivation is the exogenous application of plant growth regulators (PGRs) to plants. However, for many non-wood forest species, there is currently limited understanding of the regulatory mechanism of dwarfing effects of PGRs, which greatly limits the application of PGRs. In this study, three PGRs, paclobutrazol (PP333), uniconazole (S3307), and chlormequat chloride (CCC) were applied to dwarf terpinen-4-ol M. alternifolia. By observing the morphological characteristics and leaf anatomy of M. alternifolia after dwarfing and measuring its photosynthetic characteristics and physiological and biochemical indexes, the dwarfing effect of the three PGRs and the underlying mechanisms were investigated to provide a reference for the cultivation of M. alternifolia by dwarfing. The results show that the PP333 (P3) treatment at 2000 mg·L−1 had the best dwarfing effect on M. alternifolia, with a compact plant shape, thicker stems, and green leaf color. At the same time, it increased the chlorophyll contents, changed the blade structure, increased the content of soluble substances and the activity of antioxidant enzymes, increased the endogenous hormones indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), gibberellin A3 (GA3), and trans-zeatin-riboside (ZR), and decreased abscisic acid (ABA) levels.

Background Proximal humeral fractures (PHFs) account for 4–5% of all fractures in the elderly. There is still a controversy among the treatments in the displaced PHFs. Our aim was to explore the clinical outcome of PHFs with the treatment of MultiLoc nail or Philos plate in the elderly patients. Methods A total of 82 sustained elderly patients with PHFs were finally recruited between Dec 2016 and Dec 2017. 34 patients were treated with MultiLoc nail and 48 patients were treated with Philos plate. The demographics, fracture types, blood loss, operation time, union time, postoperative complications, visual analog scores (VASs), Constant scores, American Shoulder and Elbow Scores (ASESs), and neck-shaft-angle (NSA) between the two groups were compared. Results No differences were observed in the demographics, fracture types, VAS, Constant scores, and ASES scores between the two groups at final follow-up. Compared with the plate group, the blood loss, operation time, and union time were significantly lower in the nail group (all P < .05). The rate of general complications was 54.17% in the plate group, which was higher than that in the nail group (26.47%, P = .01). Three patients experienced reoperation in the plate group (3/48; 6.25%), but none in the nail group. Although there were no significant differences in intraoperative NSA between the two groups, the NSA at final follow-up in the nail group was much higher than the plate group (137.55 ± 5.53°vs 134.47 ± 5.92°, P = .02). Conclusions Multiloc intramedullary nail showed the similar effectiveness of final VAS, final Constant scores, and ASES scores in PHFs treatment with Philos plate. However, MultiLoc nail is superior to Philos plate in blood loss, operation time, complications, reoperation rate, and the change of NSA.

‘Huaxin’ is a new high-yielding timber cultivar of Camellia oleifera of high economic value, and has been widely cultivated in the red soil hilly region of Hunan Province of the People´s Republic of China in recent years. However, its quality and production are severely affected by low temperatures during flowering. To find genes related to cold tolerance and further explore new candidategenes for chilling-tolerance, Illumina NGS (Next Generation Sequencing) technology was used to perform transcriptomic analyses of C. oleifera ‘Huaxin’ leaves under long-term cold stress. Nine cDNA libraries were sequenced, and 58.31 Gb high-quality clean reads were obtained with an average of 5.92 Gb reads for each sample. A total of 191,150 transcripts were obtained after assembly. Among them, 100,703 unigenes were generated, and 44,610 unigenes were annotated. In total, 1564 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified both in the A_B and A_C gene sets. In the current study, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were performed, andrevealed a group of cold-responsive genes related to hormone regulation, photosynthesis, membrane systems, and osmoregulation; these genes encoded many key proteins in plant biological processes, such as serine/threonine-protein kinase (STPK), transcription factors (TFs), fatty acid desaturase (FAD), lipid-transfer proteins (LTPs), soluble sugars synthetases, and flavonoid biosynthetic enzymes. Some physiological indicators of C. oleifera ‘Huaxin’ were determined under three temperature conditions, and the results were consistent with the molecular sequencing. In addition, the expression levels of 12 DEGs were verified using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). In summary, the results of DEGs analysis together with qRT-PCR tests contribute to the understanding of cold tolerance and further exploring new candidate genes for chilling-tolerance in molecular breeding programs of C. oleifera ‘Huaxin’.

Red and blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) affect the quality of sweet potato leaves and their nutritional profile. Vines cultivated under blue LEDs had higher soluble protein contents, total phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and total antioxidant activity. Conversely, chlorophyll, soluble sugar, protein, and vitamin C contents were higher in leaves grown under red LEDs. Red and blue light increased the accumulation of 77 and 18 metabolites, respectively. Alpha-linoleic and linolenic acid metabolism were the most significantly enriched pathways based on Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses. A total of 615 genes were differentially expressed between sweet potato leaves exposed to red and blue LEDs. Among these, 510 differentially expressed genes were upregulated in leaves grown under blue light compared with those grown under red light, while the remaining 105 genes were expressed at higher levels in the latter than in the former. Among the KEGG enrichment pathways, blue light significantly induced anthocyanin and carotenoid biosynthesis structural genes. This study provides a scientific reference basis for using light to alter metabolites to improve the quality of edible sweet potato leaves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a new strategy for achieving rapid volumetric heating of moldable low-dielectric-loss glass over a wide temperature range using only microwave sources. As a proof of concept, both multi-physics modeling and experimental demonstration of microwave heating (MWH) of Pyrex 7740 glass are performed. The results reveal that there is an activation threshold of 400 °C for this glass, i.e., below this threshold the glass is mainly heated by SiC molds through interfacial heat transfer, while above it the glass can be directly heated by 2.45-GHz MWs through volumetric dielectric loss. As a result, the glass preform can attain an internal temperature of 727 °C (well above its transition point) within a short MWH process (130 s), at a low level of specific energy consumption (6.43 kW h/kg). The average volumetric heating rate of the glass is estimated as 5.44 °C/s, which outperforms the reported rates (2.00−3.60 °C/s) in previous precision glass molding (PGM) studies. Furthermore, the temperature difference in the entire glass can be minimized through MWH combined with post-annealing. With the demonstrated capabilities of instantaneous, volumetric, and selective heating, the proposed MWH strategy holds great promise in PGM and many other glass thermoforming sectors.

Isometric exercise (IE) is a promising intervention of noninvasive revascularization in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This study aimed to investigate the impact and mechanisms of IE training on arteriogenesis in AMI. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned into the sham-operation group (SO), myocardial infarction (MI) group, and 13 IE subgroups treated according to training intensity, frequency, duration, or monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), or/and fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) inhibitors for eight weeks. Our results demonstrated that the IE group achieved superior improvement compared with the MI group in terms of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), myocardial infarction size (MIS), arterial density (AD), monocytes (MNCs), smooth muscle cells (SMCs), endothelial cells (ECs), relative collateral blood flow (RCBF), MCP-1, and FGF-2 at the endpoint. Positive correlations between MCP-1 and MNCs, MNCs and FGF-2, FGF-2 and SMCs, SMCs and AD, as well as AD and RCBF were observed. This study demonstrated that with MI of 100% load 20 times daily for eight weeks, the arteriogenesis was improved, which may be attributed to the recruitment of MNCs and SMCs in remote ischemic myocardium caused by increases in MCP-1 and FGF-2 expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airborne laser scanning (ALS) has recently been identified as a potential tool in topographic mapping for archaeological prospection. However, most existing applications in this field refers to manned ALS systems, for which the high operation and maintenance costs limits its application in small-scale archaeological investigation. In this paper, we conducted an exploratory study on the application of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) laser scanning (ULS) system in ancient micro-topography detection over wooded areas. Compared with manned ALS technology, we analyzed the advantages and potentials of ULS technology for archaeological applications. Then we outlined existing mainstream survey-grade UAV-based laser scanners, data processing and visualization approaches. Furthermore, we performed case studies in three cultural heritage sites in Zhejiang Province, China using two representative mainstream survey-grade ULS systems. Results were then verified by an in-site investigation. Finally, the correct selection of ULS devices, the planning of data acquisition missions and the use of appropriate data processing methods specifically for archaeological prospection were discussed. This paper provides a cost-effective and flexible solution for micro-topography detection in wooded areas. ULS technology, as demonstrated here, can be an important supplement to existing archaeological investigation methods, particularly for small-scale areas, and has promising prospects in archaeological applications.

Lipidomics is an emerging field, where the structures, functions and dynamic changes of lipids in cells, tissues or body fluids are investigated. Due to the vital roles of lipids in human physiological and pathological processes, lipidomics is attracting more and more attentions. However, because of the diversity and complexity of lipids, lipid analysis is still full of challenges. The recent development of methods for lipid extraction and analysis and the combination with bioinformatics technology greatly push forward the study of lipidomics. Among them, mass spectrometry (MS) is the most important technology for lipid analysis. In this review, the methodology based on MS for lipid analysis was introduced. It is believed that along with the rapid development of MS and its further applications to lipid analysis, more functional lipids will be identified as biomarkers and therapeutic targets and for the study of the mechanisms of disease.

The clinically widely-used anticancer drug, cisplatin, binds strongly to DNA as a DNA-damaging agent. Herein, we investigated the interaction of cisplatin with a 15-mer single-stranded C,T-rich oligodeoxynucleotide, 5′-CCTT4CTT7G8C9T10TCTCC-3′ (ODN15), using ultra-high resolution Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) in conjunction with tandem mass spectrometry (top-down MS). Top-down MS analysis with collision-induced dissociation (CID) fragmentation of the mono-platinated and di-platinated ODN15 provided abundant and informative Pt-containing or Pt-free a/[a − B], w and internal fragments, allowing the unambiguous identification of T4, T7, C9, and T10 as the platination sites on the cisplatin-ODN15 adducts. These results revealed that, in addition to the well-established guanine site, the unexpected thermodynamic binding of cisplatin to cytosine and thymine bases was also evident at the oligonucleotide level. Furthermore, the binding models of cisplatin with cytosine and thymine bases were built as the Pt coordinated to cytosine-N(3) and thymine-N(3) with displacement of the proton or tautomerization of thymine. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the mechanism of action of cisplatin and its preference for gene loci when the drug binds to cellular DNA, and also demonstrate the great potential and superiority of FT-ICR MS in studying the interactions of metallodrugs with large biomolecules.

Sedum rubrotinctum is widely grown as an ornamental because of its attractive leaf shape and color. Increasing the morphological diversity and color will greatly add to its ornamental value. Environmental conditions such as light and temperature can change the leaf color of succulent plants, but the mechanism is uncertain. To examine this mechanism, we tested the effects of two commercial chemical products Sowing Goodliness (Sg) and Aromatic Garden (Ag) on the morphology, pigment content, and growth performance of Sedum rubrotinctum seedlings. The Sg treatment did not change foliage color, but can accelerate plant growth and increase lateral bud number. The Ag treatment had marked changes on the relative proportions of pigments and leaf color, and plant growth was severely reduced with mortality observed in some plants. After Ag stress was discontinued, the surviving plants began to regrow and had good ornamental value but had the fewest number of lateral buds and leaves, and the smallest leaf length and thickness, canopy diameter, and plant height. Foliage color changes are caused directly by shifts in the relative proportions of pigments, particularly chlorophyll b and anthocyanin. In Ag-treated plants, chlorophyll b declined much faster than chlorophyll a, indicating that the transformation of chlorophyll b into chlorophyll a is an important step in the chlorophyll degradation pathway. Ag provides a way to learn more about the mechanism of chlorophyll degradation and should be investigated further. Ag enhanced anthocyanin production rapidly and improved the ornamental value of Sedum rubrotinctum. Different concentrations of Ag and Sg were not studied in this trial and might be tested to determine the ideal balance between leaf color and plant growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]