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Abstract Baicalin is a natural flavonoid shown to attenuate inflammation, tumor, and cardiovascular diseases. However, its effect on endothelial function in diabetes remains unclear and was investigated in current study. A high‐fat diet (60% kcal fat diet) was used to feed male C57BL/6 mice for 14 weeks to build a diet‐induced obese (DIO) diabetic mouse model. Baicalin (50 and 100 mg/kg/day) or vehicle was applied to DIO mice by oral gavage in the last 4 weeks. Separated mouse aortic rings were induced by high glucose and primary rat aortic endothelial cells (RAECs) were stimulated by advanced glycation end products (AGEs), and cotreated with or without varying doses of baicalin and 5′AMP‐activated protein kinase (AMPK) inhibitor Compound C. Forty‐eight‐hour exposure to high glucose impaired acetylcholine‐induced endothelium‐dependent relaxations in mouse aortas and produced excessive levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Similar phenomenon was observed in aortas from DIO mice. Baicalin treatment could alleviate these damage through preventing expression and translocation of nuclear factor (NF)‐κB p65 pathway, accomplished with decreased expressions of vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM‐1) and intracellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM‐1) as well as proinflammatory cytokines including tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF‐α) and interleukin 6 (IL‐6). These improvements were AMPK‐dependent as Compound C abolished the effects. Similar beneficial effects of baicalin and inhibitory effects of Compound C were observed in AGEs (200 µg/mL, 24 h)‐induced RAECs. To conclude, baicalin protects against vascular inflammation and endothelial dysfunction associated with diabetes through suppression on inflammation and oxidative stress via activating AMPK.

Hesperidin is a dihydroflavonoids, accounting for more than 50% of the total flavonoids in Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium (CRP) of traditional Chinese medicine. It is an effective antioxidant and free radical scavenger that has anti-inflammatory, antiviral and hypoglycemic properties. The latest studies reported that hesperidin has a potential for novel coronavirus resistance. However, little is known about the synthesis regulation and accumulation site of hesperidin in plants. In this study, hesperidin synthase gene Crc1,6RhaT was cloned, and the protein can be completely transformed flavanone-7-O-glucoside into hesperidin in vitro and in vivo. Studies on biological characteristics of ovary walls and exocarps showed that the relative expression levels of the Crc1,6RhaT gene and protein decreased gradually with the development of citrus fruits, and the relative content of hesperidin firstly increased, then sequentially decreased. In situ hybridization results further revealed that Crc1,6RhaT transcription was mainly concentrated in the secretory cavity cells, which are revealed to be the site of flavonoid synthesis. Immunocytochemistry localization results showed that the Crc1,6RhaT was mainly located in the endoplasmic reticulum, nucleus and vacuole of secretory cells. We inferred that the Crc1,6RhaT was synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum, then was transported into the vacuoles through enlarged vesicles at the end of the endoplasmic reticulum. Our results not only revealed that Crc1,6RhaT may be involved in the synthesis of hesperidin of the main bioactive substance in the medicinal plant Citrus reticulata ‘Chachi’ fruit, but also provided novel insights into the main subcellular sites of hesperidin biosynthesis in vacuoles.

Abstract Cinnamomum cassia Presl. is a subtropical plant that is used for food and medicine. Climate change has changed the suitable habitats of medicinal plants, which might have repercussions for the efficacy of herbal remedies. In this study, the potential distribution in each period of Cinnamomum cassia was predicted and the quality in different suitable habitats was evaluated. According to the results, (1) precipitation, temperature, and soil are the primary environmental variables influencing C. cassia distribution. (2) The high-suitable habitats of current climate scenarios were predominantly located in the southern regions (Guangdong and Guangxi etc.) of China, with an area of 706,129.08 km2. Under future climate scenarios, suitable habitats will increasingly move northward, with a greater concentration south of the Yangtze River, particularly in the 2090s SSP585 scenario, the total area of newly extended suitable habitat reaches 312,963.53 km2. (3) HPLC and FTIR, combined with chemometrics, can be effective methods for identifying different suitable habitats of C. cassia. The content of trans-cinnamaldehyde (0.85%) is significantly higher in the high suitability habitat compared to the medium-low suitability habitat (0.30%). Our findings can offer valuable guidance for the identification of suitable C. cassia cultivation areas in China, as well as for the evaluation of C. cassia resource quality and the rational use of resources in different suitable habitats.

Citrus Huanglongbing (HLB) is one of the most serious citrus diseases worldwide, causing huge economic losses every year and seriously affecting the development of the global citrus industry. In Lingnan region of China, HLB threatens the growth of important medicinal plants, such as Citrus reticulata 'Chachi', C. grandis 'Tomentosa', and C. medica 'Fingered'. Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) is the most common pathogen, which colonizes the phloem of plants and mainly infects rutaceae citrus species. At present, there is a lack of reports on the successful cultivation of CLas in vitro, making it difficult to study the pathogenic mechanism and control of the disease. Effector (also called effector protein) is a kind of pathogenic factor secreted by pathogens to the host, serving as an important weapon for pathogens to infect plants. The effectors are capable of targeting the key immune signal transduction and regulatory components of host cells, thereby inhibiting plant defense responses and enhancing the pathogenicity of pathogens. CLas can secrete over a hundred effectors, mainly divided into Secdependent effectors and non-classical secretory effectors according to different secretion pathways. Among them, there are 90 Sec-dependent effectors and 15 non-classical secretory effectors. They play a key role in the pathogenic process of infecting the host. Studies have shown that HLB effectors could target multiple cellular processes including plant immune signal transduction, autophagy, salicylic acid signaling pathway, and seriously disrupt the host's defense response to achieve colonization. Combined with recent researches on the pathogenic mechanism of HLB effectors, this article elaborates on the research overview of HLB and the classification of HLB effectors, and summarizes the pathogenic mechanism of effectors that affect citrus defense response. Finally, it offers a prospect on the future research directions, discusses the possibility of searching for important resistance genes to HLB based on identification of effector targets, with a aim to provide guidance for the pathogenic mechanism and disease control of HLB through the study of the effectors.

Medicinal plants contain numerous bioactive secondary metabolites (SMs) that can be used for the treatment and prevention of diseases. SM concentration is a crucial standard for evaluating the quality of medicinal plants. SM accumulation is affected by multiple factors, including genetic background, climate, soil physical and chemical properties, and environmental changes. In recent years, increasing studies have indicated that rhizospheric and endophytic microorganisms, play an essential role in regulating the accumulation of SMs in medicinal plants. While some microorganisms establish symbiotic relationships with medicinal plants to promote plant growth. Other microorganisms can directly synthesize SMs or promote plant SM biosynthesis through multiple strategies, such as activating plant immune signaling pathways and secreting plant hormones into host cells to manipulate hormone-mediated pathways. In contrast, SMs may improve plant resistance to environmental stresses, thereby affecting the composition of rhizospheric and endophytic microorganisms. In this review, we summarized the recent progress in understanding the role of microorganisms in regulating SM accumulation in medicinal plants. Further studies should focus on the application of utilizing microorganisms to enhance the accumulation of bioactive SMs in medicinal plants.

AIM: To investigate the effects of ginsenoside Rg1 injection combined with inosine tablets and vitamin B1 on serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF), pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide(PACAP)and clinical efficacy in primary retinitis pigmentosa.METHODS: A total of 50 patients(100 eyes)with primary retinitis pigmentosa who admitted to the Department of Ophthalmology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Hebei North University from August 2019 to March 2022 were selected as the research object. They were divided into the study group and the control group according to random number table, with 50 eyes in each group. Patients in the control group were treated with inosine tablets and vitamin B1, while patients in the study group were treated with ginsenoside Rg1 injection on the basis of the control group. The expression of BDNF and PACAP in serum, electroretinogram and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography(SD-OCT)were compared before and after treatment, and the retinal thickness(RT), mean deviation(MD), clinical efficacy and safety indexes were compared between the two groups.RESULTS: There were no differences in the MD of the two groups before treatment(t=1.670, P=0.098), while the MD of the study group was significantly lower than that of the control group after treatment(t=3.628, P0.05). After treatment, the results of dark adaptation in the study group were significantly better than those in the control group(all P0.05). After treatment, the results of electroretinogram adaptation in the study group were significantly better than those in the control group(all P0.05). BDNF and PACAP in the study group were higher than those of the control group after treatment(all P

BackgroundCoronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by SARS-CoV-2, has emerged as a infectious disease, coexisting with widespread seasonal and sporadic influenza epidemics globally. Individuals living with HIV, characterized by compromised immune systems, face an elevated risk of severe outcomes and increased mortality when affected by COVID-19. Despite this connection, the molecular intricacies linking COVID-19, influenza, and HIV remain unclear. Our research endeavors to elucidate the shared pathways and molecular markers in individuals with HIV concurrently infected with COVID-19 and influenza. Furthermore, we aim to identify potential medications that may prove beneficial in managing these three interconnected illnesses.MethodsSequencing data for COVID-19 (GSE157103), influenza (GSE185576), and HIV (GSE195434) were retrieved from the GEO database. Commonly expressed differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified across the three datasets, followed by immune infiltration analysis and diagnostic ROC analysis on the DEGs. Functional enrichment analysis was performed using GO/KEGG and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA). Hub genes were screened through a Protein-Protein Interaction networks (PPIs) analysis among DEGs. Analysis of miRNAs, transcription factors, drug chemicals, diseases, and RNA-binding proteins was conducted based on the identified hub genes. Finally, quantitative PCR (qPCR) expression verification was undertaken for selected hub genes.ResultsThe analysis of the three datasets revealed a total of 22 shared DEGs, with the majority exhibiting an area under the curve value exceeding 0.7. Functional enrichment analysis with GO/KEGG and GSEA primarily highlighted signaling pathways associated with ribosomes and tumors. The ten identified hub genes included IFI44L, IFI44, RSAD2, ISG15, IFIT3, OAS1, EIF2AK2, IFI27, OASL, and EPSTI1. Additionally, five crucial miRNAs (hsa-miR-8060, hsa-miR-6890-5p, hsa-miR-5003-3p, hsa-miR-6893-3p, and hsa-miR-6069), five essential transcription factors (CREB1, CEBPB, EGR1, EP300, and IRF1), and the top ten significant drug chemicals (estradiol, progesterone, tretinoin, calcitriol, fluorouracil, methotrexate, lipopolysaccharide, valproic acid, silicon dioxide, cyclosporine) were identified.ConclusionThis research provides valuable insights into shared molecular targets, signaling pathways, drug chemicals, and potential biomarkers for individuals facing the complex intersection of COVID-19, influenza, and HIV. These findings hold promise for enhancing the precision of diagnosis and treatment for individuals with HIV co-infected with COVID-19 and influenza.

AIM: To investigate the protective effect of salvianolic acid B on retina and its influence on angiogenesis in retinal vein occlusion(RVO)injured rats.METHODS: SD rats were randomly divided into control group, model group and salvianolic acid B group, with 10 rats in each group. In addition to the control group, rats in model group and salvianolic acid B group were induced RVO by Bengal red combined with laser photodynamic method. The rats in salvianolic acid B group were intraperitoneally injected with salvianolic acid B 50 mg/(kg·d), while the rats in control group and model group were only given the same amount of normal saline for 21 consecutive days. Fundus fluorescein angiography(FFA)was used to observe the retinal vein structure before and after administration. HE staining was used to observe the pathological changes of rat retina. The retinal function of rats was evaluated by electroretinogram(ERG). The fluorescence expression of vascular endothelial growth factor A(VEGFA)in retina of rats in each group was detected by immunofluorescence staining. The relative expression of HIF-1α, STAT3, p-STAT3 and VEGFA proteins in retinal tissue were detected by Western blotting.RESULTS: Compared with the control group, the blood flow at the retinal obstruction in the model group was recanalized, and the effective collateral circulation was abundant, but the shape was irregular, and there was fluorescence leakage. In salvianolic acid B group, the retinal vein circulation recovered, the shape became regular gradually, and the collateral vessels decreased. The retina of the model group and salvianolic acid B group showed different degrees of pathological damage. At the same time, the amplitude of ERG a wave and b wave, the thickness of retinal total layer(RTL), inner nuclear layer(INL)and outer nuclear layer(ONL)decreased, the fluorescence intensity of VEGFA enhanced, and the relative expression of HIF-1α, p-STAT3 and VEGFA protein increased(P

Amomum villosum Lour. (A. villosum) is the original plant of the medicinal and culinary spice Amomi Fructus (Sharen) and is an important economic crop in the Lingnan region of China. During the cultivation and production of A. villosum, prolonged reliance on single asexual reproduction has exacerbated the degradation of its varieties, leading to inconsistent yields and quality. Building upon earlier cultivar selection efforts, this study provides a comprehensive evaluation of two newly bred A. villosum varieties (A11 and A12) from perspectives including plant traits, product characteristics, active ingredients, and multi-omics analysis. It was found that A12 plants display enhanced robustness, more aromatic fruits, higher yields, and elevated levels of bornyl acetate, A11 shows the advantage of a high camphor content, and the different metabolites and differentially expressed genes of the two varieties were significantly enriched in multiple metabolic pathways. Additionally, A12 contained more terpenoids and substances with aromatic odors such as sweet, fruity, floral, and green. Furthermore, a key gene (Wv_032842) regulating the acetylation of bornyl was discovered, and its significantly higher expression, in A12. In conclusion, this study has a guiding significance for the evaluation of germplasm resources and the breeding of excellent varieties of A. villosum.

Pedestrian vitality in commercial streets is influenced by various factors, among which the spatial form of the street and the resulting thermal environment have a significant impact. This study, from the perspective of thermal comfort, combines thermal comfort simulation with pedestrian simulation to establish an optimization model based on pedestrian vitality. The model aims to analyze and quantify the impact of street spatial form on thermal comfort and pedestrian vitality, providing a comprehensive evaluation of optimization schemes for commercial street spaces. Firstly, the study identifies the levels of spatial design parameters for commercial streets and generates optimized design scenarios for commercial street spaces. Using the simulation platforms Rhino 7 Grasshopper and MATLAB R2023a, a pedestrian simulation model guided by thermal comfort is constructed and validated against empirical data. Next, the influence of commercial street spatial design parameters on store visitations is assessed, identifying the most critical design parameters. Finally, design strategies for commercial streets are proposed based on vitality-oriented layouts. The results indicate that the spatial form of the street significantly affects store visitations, with the street width-to-height ratio being the most influential factor, followed by street orientation and interface form. NW-SE-oriented streets show a 47.2% higher Total Store Visitations (TSV) value compared to E-W-oriented streets, while E-W streets exhibit a Differential Store Visitation (DSV) value 4.47 times that of NW-SE streets. Streets with a W/H ratio of 0.25 have a 54.9% higher Total Store Visitations value than those with a W/H ratio of 0.9, and streets with a W/H ratio of 0.65 exhibit a Differential Store Visitations value 1.21 times that of streets with a W/H ratio of 0.25. Considering overall street vitality, the study recommends NW-SE- and NE-SW-oriented streets, with a width-to-height ratio between 0.25 and 0.4. The study also proposes strategies for the modification and expansion of streets in different orientations, providing the scientific basis and optimization recommendations for the planning and renovation of commercial streets in cold regions during summer.

Abstract Macrophages have a vital role in phagocytosis and antiviral effect against invading influenza viruses. Previously, we found that methionine enkephalin (MENK) inhibited influenza virus infection by upregulating the “antiviral state” of macrophages. To investigate the immunoregulatory mechanism of action of MENK on macrophages, we employed proteomic analysis to identify differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) between macrophages infected with the influenza-A virus and cells infected with the influenza-A virus after pretreatment with MENK. A total of 215 DEPs were identified: 164 proteins had upregulated expression and 51 proteins had downregulated expression. Proteomics analysis showed that DEPs were highly enriched in “cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction”, “phagosome”, and “complement and coagulation cascades pathway”. Proteomics analysis revealed that MENK could be an immune modulator or prophylactic for the prevention and treatment of influenza. MENK promoted the polarization of M1 macrophages, activated inflammatory responses, and enhanced phagocytosis and killing function by upregulating opsonizing receptors.

Abstract Background The medicinal material quality of Citrus reticulata ‘Chachi’ differs depending on the bioactive components influenced by the planting area. Environmental factors, such as soil nutrients, the plant-associated microbiome and climatic conditions, play important roles in the accumulation of bioactive components in citrus. However, how these environmental factors mediate the production of bioactive components of medicinal plants remains understudied. Results Here, a multi-omics approach was used to clarify the role of environmental factors such as soil nutrients and the root-associated microbiome on the accumulation of monoterpenes in the peel of C. reticulata ‘Chachi’ procured from core (geo-authentic product region) and non-core (non-geo-authentic product region) geographical regions. The soil environment (high salinity, Mg, Mn and K) enhanced the monoterpene content by promoting the expression of salt stress-responsive genes and terpene backbone synthase in the host plants from the core region. The microbial effects on the monoterpene accumulation of citrus from the core region were further verified by synthetic community (SynCom) experiments. Rhizosphere microorganisms activated terpene synthesis and promoted monoterpene accumulation through interactions with the host immune system. Endophyte microorganisms derived from soil with the potential for terpene synthesis might enhance monoterpene accumulation in citrus by providing precursors of monoterpenes. Conclusions Overall, this study demonstrated that both soil properties and the soil microbiome impacted monoterpene production in citrus peel, thus providing an essential basis for increasing fruit quality via reasonable fertilization and precision microbiota management. Video Abstract

Abstract All the diagnostic criteria of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) include histopathology. However, some patients may delay getting this examination due to concerns about the risks of liver biopsy. Therefore, we aimed to develop a predictive model of AIH diagnostic that does not require a liver biopsy. We collected demographic, blood, and liver histological data of unknown liver injury patients. First, we conducted a retrospective cohort study in two independent adult cohorts. In the training cohort (n = 127), we used logistic regression to develop a nomogram according to the Akaike information criterion. Second, we validated the model in a separate cohort (n = 125) using the receiver operating characteristic curve, decision curve analysis, and calibration plot to externally evaluate the performance of this model. We calculated the optimal cutoff value of diagnosis using Youden’s index and presented the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy to evaluate the model in the validation cohort compared with the 2008 International Autoimmune Hepatitis Group simplified scoring system. In the training cohort, we developed a model to predict the risk of AIH using four risk factors—The percentage of gamma globulin, fibrinogen, age, and AIH-related autoantibodies. In the validation cohort, the areas under the curve for the validation cohort were 0.796. The calibration plot suggested that the model had an acceptable accuracy (p > 0.05). The decision curve analysis suggested that the model had great clinical utility if the value of probability was 0.45. Based on the cutoff value, the model had a sensitivity of 68.75%, a specificity of 76.62%, and an accuracy of 73.60% in the validation cohort. While we diagnosed the validated population by using the 2008 diagnostic criteria, the sensitivity of prediction results was 77.77%, the specificity was 89.61% and the accuracy was 83.20%. Our new model can predict AIH without a liver biopsy. It is an objective, simple and reliable method that can effectively be applied in the clinic.

As a frequent complication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) was confirmed to not only aggravate the symptoms of IBD but also result in unexpected outcomes, including death. With the increasing prevalence rate of IBD and the updating of CDI diagnosis, the incidence of CDI in IBD patients is also seen rising. Although a detection method consisting of glutamate dehydrogenase immunoassay or nucleic acid amplification test and then toxin A/B enzyme immunoassay was recommended and widely adopted, the diagnosis of CDI in IBD is still a challenge because of the overlap between the symptoms of CDI in IBD and CDI itself. Vancomycin and fidaxomicin are the first-line therapy for CDI in IBD; however, the treatment has different effects due to the complexity of IBD patients’ conditions and the choice of different treatment schemes. Although the use of fecal microbial transplantation is now in the ascendant for IBD management, the prospects are still uncertain and the prevention and treatment of the recurrence of CDI in IBD remain a clinical challenge. In this paper, the epidemiology, pathophysiology, clinical manifestation, prevention, and therapy of CDI in IBD were summarized and presented.

Abstract The fermented milk mainly consists of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus. This research was aimed to investigate the cofermentation characteristics of different L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus strains. Three strains of L. bulgaricus and S. thermophilus ST‐2 were mixed and prepared into the starter (A, B, and C) and applied to milk fermentation for screening of optimal combination, and the commercial starter (D) was used as the reference. The microrheological properties during fermentation were analyzed by using multifrequency diffusion spectroscopy. Meanwhile, the fermented milk's stability, texture, and sensory characteristics were also observed during storage. Microrheology analysis revealed that the time to reach the fermentation endpoint of starters A, B, and C was almost the same during fermentation. Groups A, B, and C showed more elastic solid‐state properties and groups A and C had higher elastic factors, indicating that the gel structure of the sample was relatively strong. During storage, the pH value of fermented milk in each group D, A, C, and B was in sequence from high to low, and the titratable acidity was also in sequence from high to low in B, C, A, and D groups, respectively. The viscosity of group A was significantly higher than that of groups B and C (p 0.05). The sensory score of fermented milk in group A was higher, and the overall texture was good. Results concluded that group A starter culture produced fermented milk with a firm gel structure and excellent texture and flavor. This study will provide data support and methodology for developing and screening compound starters applied for milk fermentation in the future.

AIM: To explore the efficacy of Danshen injection iontophoresis in the treatment of retinal vein occlusion(RVO).METHODS: The clinical data of 90 patients(90 eyes)with RVO treated in our hospital from January 2020 to December 2021 were analyzed retrospectively, and they were divided into control group and observation group according to treatment methods. A total of 38 patients(38 eyes)in the control group were treated with intravenous Xueshuantong+oral compound Xueshuantong capsule+enteric-coated aspirin, and 52 patients(52 eyes)in the observation group were treated with Danshen injection iontophoresis on this basis. The treatment time of the two groups was 3mo. The clinical efficacy, best corrected visual acuity, retinal condition and hemorheological indexes(whole blood low shear viscosity, fibrinogen)were compared between the two groups before and after treatment.RESULTS: The total effective rate of the observation group was significantly higher than that in the control group(87% vs 58%,P

As the wastewater sector moves towards achieving net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, quantifying and understanding fugitive emissions from various sewage treatment steps is crucial for developing effective GHG abatement strategies. Methane (CH4) emissions from a sludge drying pan (SDP) were measured at a wastewater treatment plant in Australia for more than a year, using a micrometeorological technique paired with open-path lasers. The emission rate was tightly associated with sludge additions, climatology, and operational processes. The mean emission rate during the 90 weeks after initial sludge addition was 2.3 (± 0.8) g m−2 d−1, with cumulative emissions of approximately 32 t of CH4. A dynamic temporal pattern of emissions was observed, highlighting the importance of continuous (or near-continuous) measurements for quantifying SDP emissions. A Methane Correction Factor (MCF) expressed as a fraction of the measured chemical oxygen demand of the sludge, was determined to be 0.17 after 63 weeks (the median operational cycle duration at the facility). This is broadly consistent with, albeit slightly less than, the IPCC default value of 0.2 for shallow anaerobic lagoons. These emission measurements will support wastewater utilities that employ open air sludge drying processes to develop effective GHG abatement strategies.

IntroductionRecent studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) in inhibiting testicular growth and development in male animals to achieve castration while improving the meat quality of various livestock species, including cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs.MethodsIn this research, a GnRH-Th vaccine was synthesized using the Fmoc solid-phase synthesis technique, and the T helper (Th) antigen was modified with palmitic acid to improve its efficacy. The vaccine was then coated with a water-in-oil-in-water adjuvant to improve stability and safety. After passing safety and stability tests, the vaccine was administered to 13-week-old boars.ResultsThe results showed that it was stable, safe, and effective for up to 15 months. Moreover, the vaccine did not negatively affect the growth rate and body weight of the pigs. The palmitic acid-modified “GnRH-Th epitope peptide immunocastration vaccine (Water-in-Oil-in-Water (W/O/W)) effectively reduced the testosterone concentration and achieved castration. The concentration of androstenone and skatole hormones significantly decreased, leading to improved meat quality in the boars. The boars were then slaughtered at 33 weeks of age, and the results showed that the meat quality of the vaccinated boars was superior to that of the non-vaccinated control group (p

Pathological gambling leaves seriously negative impacts on individuals, families, and society. With the universal use of internet, online gambling disorder is also increasing worldwide. However, there is currently a lack of effective treatments, especially medical treatments, for online gambling disorder. This study shared 3 cases of online gambling disorder that was treated with combined fluoxetine and risperidone to provide an option for the treatment of online gambling.

Summary: We present a protocol for the eco-friendly synthesis of aryl and alkyl boronic esters from aryl and alkyl carboxylic acids. We describe steps for aryl and alkyl carboxylates preparation. We further detail procedures for the synthesis of borylated products using aryl and alkyl carboxylates through iron-catalyzed decarbonylation at 100°C–130°C, followed by purification of the crude products by flash column chromatography.For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Wen et al. (2022).1 : Publisher’s note: Undertaking any experimental protocol requires adherence to local institutional guidelines for laboratory safety and ethics.

Abstract Background Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common autoimmune system diseases in our world. More studies in recent years have shown that FCRL gene polymorphisms is closely related to autoimmune diseases. It is suggested that genetic factors play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of this disease. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between FCRL1 rs2050568, FCRL3 rs2317230 and FCRL6 rs58240276 polymorphisms and RA risk in the Chinese Han population. 506 with RA patients and 509 healthy controls were recruited in this study, and the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was successfully genotyped using the Agena MassARRAY platform. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) after adjusting for age and gender were conducted to assess these SNPs polymorphisms and RA risk. The multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) method was conducted to analyze SNP-SNP interaction. Results Our results revealed that there no significant association was observed between the allele and genotype frequencies among these SNPs and RA risk (all p > 0.05). Straified analysis by age and gender, the results confirmed that FCRL1 rs2050568 T/T genotype enhanced the risk of RA in females (p = 0.014). The G/T - T/T genotype of FCRL3 rs2317230 was correlated with a decreased RA risk in males (p = 0.021). We also observed that the C/T-T/T genotype of FCRL6 rs58240276 was increased the risk of RA in the group at age > 54 years (p = 0.016). In addition, FCRL1 rs2050568-TT, FCRL6 rs58240276-TT and FCRL1 rs2050568-TT, FCRL3 rs2317230-TT, FCRL6 rs58240276-TT are the best models for multi-site MDR analysis (p

Background: The full lockdown was carried out in China as well as in other countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it proved to be effective in reducing the rate of transmission in the early stage of the pandemic. However, the negative effects of full lockdown on human mental health should be taken into consideration. Case presentation: During COVID-19 lockdown, a 3-month-old male infant was injured with a sewing needle penetrating into his heart by his mother with postpartum depression. The mother had a history of depression, and she reported depressive feelings during quarantine before injuring the infant. In addition, her own mother's health condition had worsened lately following long-term stroke sequelae. These factors may have contributed to her new depressive episode, which caused her to injure her baby with a threaded sewing needle with no witness. The injury was discovered the next day by the infant's paternal grandmother. The baby received an emergency sewing needle removal operation and recovered uneventfully. Conclusions: Special attention should be paid to persons with a high risk of mental disorder during this pandemic, in order to avoid devastating adverse events or deterioration of conditions for them and those around them.

One of the major challenges for the Australian feedlot and meat sectors is to have accurate and robust long-term greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data. Long-term measurements of methane (CH4) emissions (2015–2017) were made at two Australian beef feedlots having different climates, cattle types, and management practices. Emissions were measured using the inverse-dispersion model (IDM) micrometeorological technique, using CH4 concentrations measured at the feedlots with a closed-path Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic technique (CP-FTIR). The emissions data were used to evaluate methods used by the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water to estimate CH4 emissions from feedlots in Australian national inventory calculations. Expressed as a CH4 yield (emissions per unit dry matter intake, DMI), the two feedlots had emissions of 13.1 and 18.9 g CH4 kg−1 DMI. The lower-emitting feedlot had emissions that were 30% lower than the national inventory calculations based on feed intakes, while the second feedlot had emissions that were similar to the inventory calculations. The accurate quantification of emissions from feedlots, as demonstrated as part of this study, is important for validating the national accounting methods and therefore the sector’s GHG emissions profile.

Vacuolar processing enzymes (VPEs) with caspase-1-like activity are closely associated with vacuole rupture. The destruction of vacuoles is one of the characteristics of programmed cell death (PCD) in plants. However, whether VPE is involved in the vacuole destruction of cells during secretory cavity formation in Citrus plants remains unclear. This research identified a CgVPE1 gene that encoded the VPE and utilized cytology and molecular biology techniques to explore its temporal and spatial expression characteristics during the PCD process of secretory cavity cells in the Citrus grandis ‘Tomentosa’ fruit. The results showed that CgVPE1 is an enzyme with VPE and caspase-1-like activity that can self-cleave into a mature enzyme in an acidic environment. CgVPE1 is specifically expressed in the epithelial cells of secretory cavities. In addition, it mainly accumulates in vacuoles before it is ruptured in the secretory cavity cells. The spatial and temporal immunolocalization of CgVPE1 showed a strong relationship with the change in vacuole structure during PCD in secretory cavity cells. In addition, the change in the two types of VPE proteins from proenzymes to mature enzymes was closely related to the change in CgVPE1 localization. Our results indicate that CgVPE1 plays a vital role in PCD, causing vacuole rupture in cells during the development of the secretory cavity in C. grandis ‘Tomentosa’ fruits.

Outlier detection is an important task in the field of big data analysis. The technology has been extensively used in network security, sensor data analysis, public health and so on. In an outlier detection system, with the continuous expansion of upper-layer applications, a system needs to process a large number of query requests in a very short time, which places high requirements on the timeliness of outlier detection algorithms. To solve this problem, in this paper, an efficient algorithm, R-tree based Outlier Detection Algorithm (RODA), is proposed, which can effectively support single query and multiple query processing. For single query processing, we first extended the R-tree index and proposed a new outlier estimation method. Using the techniques above, the algorithm greatly reduces the retrieval space by preferentially scanning data points with high outlier-degrees. For multiple query processing, the algorithm deeply analyzes the sharing mechanism between multiple queries in order to handle multiple detection tasks within one processing. Finally, experiment results show that the RODA proposed in this paper has improved operating efficiency, and has good applicability and practical significance.

The community discovery problem aims to find the close subgraphs from the traditional network. The traditional network with multiple numerical attributes of nodes is called the multi-valued network. The Skyline Community is the largest connected k-core that is not dominated in a multi-valued network, which can be used to solve multi-objective decision-making problems. In this paper, we focus on the skyline community discovery problem. Firstly, we propose a combined index that includes the degree-neighbor (D-N) index and inverted index to manage the multi-valued network. The index can filter the nodes whose degrees do not satisfy ${k}$ . Simultaneously, it can accelerate the judgment of the neighbor relationship between the nodes and improve the query efficiency. Then, we propose the SCDCI (Skyline Community Discovery Algorithm Based on Combined Index Structure) algorithm to compute the skyline community. The algorithm scans the nodes in turn from the inverted indexes, avoiding lots of redundant calculations. The nodes are scanned in descending order by their attributes, therefore, lots of nodes that cannot form a skyline community do not be processed. Finally, the effectiveness of SCDCI algorithm is verified through experiments. Compared with the existing algorithms, the efficiency of our algorithm is improved a lot.

Global largest agricultural ammonia (NH3) emissions in China have caused severe damage to both ecosystem and human health, yet no policy is formulated to reduce NH3 emissions. Here, the authors show that halving agricultural NH3 emissions with feasible technical mitigation options in China generates far more societal benefits than abatement costs.

Abstract Background Maize bsd2 (bundle sheath defective2) is a classical C4 mutant with defective C4 photosynthesis, accompanied with reduced accumulation of Rubisco (ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase oxygenase) and aberrant mature chloroplast morphology in the bundle sheath (BS) cells. However, as a hypothetical chloroplast chaperone, the effects of BSD2 on C4 chloroplast development have not been fully examined yet, which precludes a full appreciation of BSD2 function in C4 photosynthesis. The aims of our study are to find out the role ofBSD2 in regulating chloroplasts development in maize leaves, and to add new insights into our understanding of C4 biology. Results We found that at the chloroplast maturation stage, the thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts in the BS and mesophyll (M) cells became significantly looser, and the granaof chloroplasts in the M cells became thinner stacking in the bsd2 mutant when compared with the wildtype plant. Moreover, at the early chloroplast development stage, the number of dividing chloroplasts and the chloroplast division rate are both reduced in the bsd2 mutant, compared with wild type. Quantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR analysis revealed that the expression of both thylakoid formation-related genesand chloroplast division-related genes is significantly reduced in the bsd2 mutants. Further, we showed that BSD2 interacts physically with the large submit of Rubisco (LS) in Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation assay. Conclusions Our combined results suggest that BSD2 plays an essential role in regulating the division and differentiation of the dimorphic BS and M chloroplasts, and that it acts at a post-transcriptional level to regulate LS stability or assembly of Rubisco.

To observe the complicated physical world, sensor networks are widely used for data collection. Moreover, due to the limited energy, storage and computation capacity of sensor nodes, approximate data acquisition in adaptive sampling manner is a wide choice. Nevertheless, existing data acquisition methods are most designed for univariate data (e.g., temperature), and thus not applicable to image data with high dimensions and complex structures. In this paper, we propose a framework of Physical-world-Aware Adaptive Data Acquisition (PAADA) for image sensor networks, to sample data adaptively with pre-specified error bound. First, based on the convolutional autoencoders (CAEs), PAADA compresses the high-dimensional image data into a feature vector with a handful of hidden variables which compactly capture the key features of the image data. Second, PAADA designs a Physical-world-aware Adaptive Sampling (PAS) algorithm based on the Hermitee interpolation. Under the feature space, the PAS algorithm adjusts the sampling frequency automatically by considering the change trend of the feature vector. In addition, the feature vectors at non-sampling time points can be recovered with O (∈) approximation guarantee to the ground truths. Next, PAADA recovers the image data at non-sampling time points based on the recovered feature vectors. Finally, for each sensor, PAADA returns an image series composed of sampled images (at sampling time points) and approximate images (at non-sampling time points). Experiments on real-world datasets demonstrate that the proposed PAADA has high performance in both accuracy and energy consumption.

Acute liver injury (ALI), often caused by viruses, alcohol, drugs, etc., is one of the most common clinical liver diseases. Although pyroptosis plays an important role in ALI, there is still a lack of effective clinical drugs related to this mechanism. Here, we show that phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC), a natural compound present in cruciferous vegetables, can significantly alleviate concanavalin A (ConA)-induced inflammatory liver damage and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced chemical liver damage in a dose-dependent manner. PEITC dose-dependently reversed the ALI-induced increase in plasma levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and interferon (IFN)-γ and reduced the protein levels of hepatocyte pyroptosis markers such as Nod-like receptor family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3), cleaved caspase-1, and cleaved gasdermin D (GSDMD). In vitro experiments have also verified the inhibitory effect of PEITC on hepatocyte pyroptosis. Furthermore, PEITC inhibits pyroptosis by interacting with cysteine 191 of GSDMD. In summary, our findings establish a role for PEITC in rescuing hepatocyte pyroptosis via direct inhibition of GSDMD, which may provide a new potential therapeutic strategy for ALI.

The problems of high nitrogen (N) fertilizer application rate and low N utilization efficiency are common worldwide in vegetable plantations. Application of brown coal (BC, also known as lignite) can increase crop yield and fertilizer N recovery efficiency (NRE). However, the effect of BC application on the utilization and distribution of exogenous N in the soil–plant system under different fertilization strategies is unclear. The pot experiment was set up in three factors of randomized design, including 15N-labeled urea fertilizer, BC, and organic manure, and pakchoi was used as the test crop. There were five rates of 15N-labeled urea, including 0, 100, 200, 300, and 400 kg N ha−1, two rates of BC with 5 and 0 t ha−1, and the organic manure with 0 t ha−1 which constitutes ten treatments. The other four treatments were the combination of one 15N-labeled urea rate of 100 kg N ha−1, two rates of BC with 5 and 0 t ha−1, and two rates of organic manure with 100 and 0 kg N ha−1. In conclusion, the interaction of all N fertilizer rates combined with BC improved soil 15N retention efficiency by 10.14% compared without BC amendment. Between 200 and 300 kg N ha−1, the average potential loss rate of 15N decreased by 10.41%. The application of BC could reduce N loss by enhancing plant N uptake and increasing soil retention. The combined use of 200 kg N ha−1 fertilizer and 5 t ha−1 of BC would maintain a high fertilizer NRE and ensure pakchoi yield.

The quality of Chinese medicinal materials depends on the content of bioactive components, which are affected by the environmental factors of different planting regions. In this research, integrated analysis of the transcriptome and metabolome of C. reticulata ‘Chachi’ was performed in two regions, and three orchards were included in the analysis. In total, only 192 compounds were found in fresh peels, and among 18 differentially accumulated flavonoid metabolites, 15 flavonoids were enriched in peels from the Xinhui planting region. In total, 1228 genes were up-regulated in peels from Xinhui, including the CHS and GST genes, which are involved in the salt stress response. Overall, based on the correlation analysis of flavonoid content and gene expression in peels of C. reticulata ‘Chachi’, we concluded that the authenticity of the GCRP from Xinhui may be closely related to the higher content of naringin and narirutin, and the increase in the content of these may be due to the highly saline environment of the Xinhui region.

Abstract Hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA quinate transferase (HQT) is one of the key enzymes in the biosynthesis of chlorogenic acid (CGA) in the flowers of Lonicera japonica. However, the spatiotemporal expression patterns of HQT and its relationship to the dynamics of CGA biosynthesis, transport, and storage remain largely unknown. In this study, we collected L. japonica flower samples at different growth stages (S1–S6) and examined the spatiotemporal expression pattern of HQT and the dynamic accumulation patterns of CGA using a combination of molecular and cytological techniques. Our results suggest that the spatiotemporal expression pattern of HQT is directly correlated with dynamic changes in CGA accumulation and distribution in L. japonica flowers. We further show that CGA is synthesized primarily in the cytoplasm and chloroplasts. CGA synthesized in the cytoplasm first accumulates in specialized vesicles and is then transferred to large central vacuoles for storage by fusion of CGA-containing vesicles with vacuoles. Furthermore, CGA synthesized in the chloroplasts appears to be transferred into the vacuoles for storage by direct membrane fusion between the tonoplast and the disrupted chloroplast membranes. Collectively, our results suggest that CGA is synthesized in chloroplasts and cytoplasm and finally transferred to the vacuole for long-term storage.

Motivated by a problem proposed by Seiffert a quarter of century ago, we explicitly evaluate binomial sums with Pell and Lucas polynomials as weight functions. Their special cases result in several interesting identities concerning Fibonacci and Lucas numbers.

Abstract Background Interleukin (IL)‐1 is a cytokine superfamily, which involved in the inflammatory process and immune response in human body. IL‐1 receptor antagonist (IL1RN) has been found to be associated with risk of lumbar disk herniation (LDH) in Finland samples. However, to date, there was no investigation focus on the polymorphisms of IL1RN in Chinese Han LDH patient. Materials and Methods We conducted a case–control study based on 498 LDH patients and 463 controls. Five single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IL1RN were genotyped. Results As a result, we found that the AG and GG genotypes of rs3181052 were associated with decreased risk LDH under the dominant model (OR = 0.74, 95%CI: 0.57–0.96, p = .025). In the stratification analysis, the frequency of the “A” allele of rs17042888 was significantly lower in elder LDH cases than in controls (OR = 0.723, 95%CI: 0.544–0.961, p = .025). In addition, the AG and AA genotypes of rs17042888 were associated with decreased risk of LDH in elder group under the dominant model (OR = 0.69, 95%CI: 0.49–0.98, p = .038). The GG genotype of rs315919 was identified have correlation with decreased risk of LDH in elder group under the recessive model (OR = 0.60, 95%CI: 0.37–0.97, p = .034). Conclusions Our data showed that IL1RN may be a susceptibility gene for risk of LDH in Chinese Han population.

The Flos Lonicerae Japonicae (FLJ), Lonicera japonica Thunb, belonging to the Caprifoliaceae family, is an economically important plant that is highly utilized in traditional Chinese medicine as well as in Japanese medicine. The flowers of these plants are rich in chlorogenic acid (CGA) and luteoloside. Our previous study revealed that tetraploid L. japonica has higher fresh/dry weight, phenolic acids and flavonoids contents than those of diploid plants. However, why tetraploid L. japonica can yield higher CGA and luteolosides than that in diploid and what is the difference in the molecular regulatory mechanism of these pathways between diploid and tetraploids remained unclear. Therefore, in the present study, we performed comprehensive transcriptome analyses of different flowering stages of diploid and tetraploid L. japonica. The CGA content of tetraploid was found higher than that of diploid at all the growth stages. While the luteoloside content of diploid was higher than that of tetraploid at S4 and S6 growth stages. We obtained a high-quality transcriptome assembly (N50 = 2,055 bp; Average length = 1,331 bp) compared to earlier studies. Differential expression analysis revealed that several important genes involving in plant hormone signal transduction, carbon metabolism, starch/sucrose metabolism and plant-pathogen interaction were upregulated in tetraploid compared with the diploid L. japonica, reflecting the higher adaptability and resistance of tetraploid species. Furthermore, by associating the phenotypic data and gene expression profiles, we were able to characterize the potential molecular regulatory mechanism of important biosynthetic pathways at different flowering stages. Overall, our work provides a foundation for further research on these important secondary metabolite pathways and their implications in traditional Chinese/Japanese medicine.

Chuzhou chrysanthemum is well-known in China and has been used to make tea over centuries. However, neither integrated background about the antibacterial activity nor the antibacterial mechanism of Chuzhou chrysanthemum oil (CCO) is available. SDS-PAGE analysis, oxidative respiratory metabolism measurement and the DNA topoisomerase activity were employed to investigate the antibacterial mechanism of CCO. CCO could lead to the leakage of proteins of E. coli and S. aureus cells, and the protein contents in E. coli and S. aureus were dropped by 47.21% and 36.44% respectively after CCO treatment. SDS-PAGE results confirmed the disruptive action of CCO on cytoplasmic membrane of bacteria. CCO could affect the Hexose Monophophate Pathway of E. coli and the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas Pathway of S. aureus. Furthermore, the result of DNA topoisomerase inhibition assay showed that the activity of topoisomerase I and topoisomerase II could be both inhibited by CCO treatment.

Skyline queries play an important role in multiple criteria decision making problems. A representative skyline set contains k skyline points that can represent its full skyline set, which is more significant. The distance-based representative skyline (k-DRS) is a kind of representative skyline, which can describe the tradeoffs among different dimensions offered by the full skyline set. The previous works only focus on the k-DRS queries in total order domains. In this paper, we focus on the k-DRS problem in both total and partial order (PO) domains. Since k-DRS is a NP-hard problem in d-dimensional (d ≥ 3) space, it is impossible to calculate the exact k-DRS in d-dimensional space. By in-depth analyzing the properties of the k-DRS, we propose an algorithm k-DRS query algorithm in total and partial order (DRSTP) to solve the k-DRS problem from a new perspective. In DRSTP, first, a value in PO domain is transformed to numerical values in total order domains. Thus, the distance of any two partial values can be measured using the transformed values. Then, we apply US-ELM to divide the full skyline set into k clusters. Next, in each cluster, we design a method to select a point as the representative point. Experimental results show that our DRSTP significantly outperforms its competitors in terms of both accuracy and efficiency.

Zn2+- and Ca2+-dependent nucleases exhibit activity toward dsDNA in the four classes of cation-dependent nucleases in plants. Programmed cell death (PCD) is involved in the degradation of cells during schizolysigenous secretory cavity formation in Citrus fruits. Recently, the Ca2+-dependent DNase CgCAN was proven to play a key role in nuclear DNA degradation during the PCD of secretory cavity formation in Citrus grandis ‘Tomentosa’ fruits. However, whether Zn2+-dependent nuclease plays a role in the PCD of secretory cells remains poorly understood. Here, we identified a Zn2+-dependent nuclease gene, CgENDO1, from Citrus grandis ‘Tomentosa’, the function of which was studied using Zn2+ ions cytochemical localization, DNase activity assays, in situ hybridization, and protein immunolocalization. The full-length cDNA of CgENDO1 contains an open reading frame of 906 bp that encodes a protein 301 amino acids in length with a S1/P1-like functional domain. CgENDO1 degrades linear double-stranded DNA at acidic and neutral pH. CgENDO1 is mainly expressed in the late stage of nuclear degradation of secretory cells. Further spatiotemporal expression patterns of CgENDO1 showed that CgENDO1 is initially located on the endoplasmic reticulum and then moves into intracellular vesicles and nuclei. During the late stage of nuclear degradation, it was concentrated in the area of nuclear degradation involved in nuclear DNA degradation. Our results suggest that the Zn2+-dependent nuclease CgENDO1 plays a direct role in the late degradation stage of the nuclear DNA in the PCD of secretory cavity cells of Citrus grandis ‘Tomentosa’ fruits.

Abstract Aim In this study, we aimed to evaluate the association between genetic variants of ZC3HC1 and SMARCA4 and hypertension risk in the Chinese Han population. Methods The Agena MassAssary platform was used to determine the genotypes of eight SNPs in ZC3HC1 and SMARCA4 from 350 hypertension patients and 483 healthy controls. Chi‐squared tests and genetic model were used to evaluate the associations. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using unconditional logistic regression. The statistical power of this study was estimated through the Power and Sample Size Calculation online software. Result In the genetic model analysis, we identified that the SNP of rs1464890 in ZC3HC1 was associated with a 0.68‐fold decreased risk of hypertension in the codominant model and 0.65‐fold decreased risk in the dominant model. Rs4507692 in ZC3HC1 was associated with a 0.69‐fold decreased risk of hypertension in the codominant model and 0.66‐fold decreased risk in the dominant model. The genotype “G/A‐A/A” of rs11879293 and the genotype “G/T‐T/T” of rs1122608 in SMARCA4 were significantly associated with decreasing the hypertension risk. In addition, the “Ars2242487 Trs1464890 Trs4507692” ZC3HC1 haplotype was associated with a decreased risk of hypertension. Conclusion The present study suggested that ZC3HC1 and SMARCA4 polymorphism may conducive to play a protective role against the hypertension risk.

Background:Cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) regulates pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic interactions during the process of drug absorption and metabolism, suggesting CYP3A4 plays an important role in drug addiction. However, the association between CYP3A4 polymorphisms and drug addiction risk is still not clear.Methods: This case-control study included 504 drug addicts and 501 healthy controls from Xi'an, China. Four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in CYP3A4 (rs3735451, rs4646440, rs35564277, and rs4646437) were genotyped by Agena MassARRAY platform. After adjusting by age and gender, we calculated odd ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) by logistic regression to estimate the association between CYP3A4 polymorphisms and drug addiction risk.Results: We found rs4646440 and rs4646437 were associated with decreased risk of drug addiction in codominant (rs4646440: OR = 0.41, 95%CI = 0.19–0.92, p = 0.030; rs4646437: OR = 0.19, 95%CI = 0.04–0.87, p = 0.032) and recessive (rs4646440: OR = 0.41, 95%CI = 0.19–0.91, p = 0.028; rs4646437: OR = 0.20, 95%CI = 0.04–0.90, p = 0.036) models. Rs3735451 and rs4646437 were associated with drug addiction risk in the subgroup of middle-aged people (44 < age ≤ 59) and elderly people (age ≥ 60), individually. For men, rs3735451, rs4646440, and rs4646437 had strong relationship with decreased risk of drug addiction (p < 0.05). The effects of rs3735451 on drug addiction risk were related to drug-using time (p < 0.05). We also observed one block (rs4646440 and rs35564277) in haplotype analysis.Conclusion:CYP3A4 polymorphisms were associated with drug addiction risk among the Chinese Han population.

Abstract Background Tuberculosis (TB) is a significant worldwide health problem, and is caused by Mycobacteria tuberculosis. Recent studies have suggested that FOXO3 plays vital roles in the risk of immune–related infectious diseases such as TB. Methods and Results The present study aimed to evaluate FOXO3 genetic variants and TB risk. We recruited 510 TB patients and 508 healthy controls in this study. All subjects were genotyped with the Agena MassARRAY platform. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using logistic regression adjusted for age and gender. Our result revealed that rs3800229 T/G and rs4946935 G/A genotypes significantly increased the risk of TB (OR = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.04–1.74, p = 0.026; OR = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.03–1.73, p = 0.029, respectively). In stratified analysis according to gender and age, we observed that rs3800229 T/G and rs4946935 G/A genotypes were associated with an increase the risk of TB among males and age ≤41 years, respectively (OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.06–2.04, p = 0.022 and OR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.05–2.02, p = 0.025). Conclusions Our study showed that rs3800229 and rs4946935 in FOXO3 were associated with a risk of TB in the Chinese population.

Abstract Background Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common inflammatory disease which refers to bony erosions and joint destruction largely caused by genetic factors. Our study aimed to explore whether interleukin‐7 receptor (IL‐7R) gene polymorphisms influenced RA risk in the Han Chinese population. Methods Five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IL‐7R gene were successfully genotyped using Agena MassARRAY platform. The associations between IL‐7R polymorphisms and RA were evaluated by the Chi‐squared test, T test, genetic model analysis, and haplotype analysis. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) using logistic regression analysis. Results Rs969129 and rs6451231 in the IL‐7R gene were associated with an increased risk of RA in the allele model (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.05–1.49, p = 0.013; OR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.03–1.48, p = 0.023), respectively. In the genetic models, rs969129 and rs6451231 were associated with an increased risk of RA. After stratification analysis by age, rs969129 and rs6451231 were associated with an increased risk of RA in patients (age

Abstract Background Kashin‐Beck Disease (KBD) is a chronic, endemic osteoarthropathy. Inositol 1,4,5‐triphosphate receptor type 2 (ITPR2) gene is involved in chondrocytes. We speculated that single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ITPR2 gene may have an association with KBD in Tibetan. Methods To prove this hypothesis, a total of eight SNPs (rs1049376, rs11048526, rs11048556, rs11048585, rs16931011, rs10842759, rs2230372, and rs7134213) were selected, and genotyped in 316 KBD patients and 320 controls. The association between ITPR2 variants and KBD risk was assessed by logistic regression analysis. Results The study identified significant association (p = 0.019) between KBD and a novel locus, ITPR2 SNP rs11048526 (OR = 1.49, 95% CI = 1.07–2.08). The variant A/G genotype frequency in rs11048526 had a significantly increased risk of KBD in co‐dominant model (OR = 3.70, 95% CI = 1.26–10.89, p = 0.018), dominant model (OR = 3.56, 95% CI = 1.22–10.40, p = 0.020), log‐additive model (OR = 3.00, 95% CI = 1.12–8.00, p = 0.029) after adjusted for age and gender. Conclusion The results indicate a potential association between ITPR2 and KBD risk in Tibetan. Further work is required to confirm these results and explore the mechanisms of these effects.

N6-Methyladenosine (m6A) RNA methylation plays important roles during development in different species. However, knowledge of m6A RNA methylation in monocots remains limited. In this study, we reported that OsFIP and OsMTA2 are the components of m6A RNA methyltransferase complex in rice and uncovered a previously unknown function of m6A RNA methylation in regulation of plant sporogenesis. Importantly, OsFIP is essential for rice male gametogenesis. Knocking out of OsFIP results in early degeneration of microspores at the vacuolated pollen stage and simultaneously causes abnormal meiosis in prophase I. We further analyzed the profile of rice m6A modification during sporogenesis in both WT and OsFIP loss-of-function plants, and identified a rice panicle specific m6A modification motif "UGWAMH". Interestingly, we found that OsFIP directly mediates the m6A methylation of a set of threonine protease and NTPase mRNAs and is essential for their expression and/or splicing, which in turn regulates the progress of sporogenesis. Our findings revealed for the first time that OsFIP plays an indispensable role in plant early sporogenesis. This study also provides evidence for the different functions of the m6A RNA methyltransferase complex between rice and Arabidopsis.

In recent years, entrepreneurship has increasingly become a hot topic for scholars to study innovation and other fields from the perspective of entrepreneurship, especially the research on the characteristics of entrepreneurship and the mechanism of innovation. These scholars are interested in innovation. Starting from the concept of entrepreneurship and the theory of entrepreneurship at the individual level, this paper discusses the innovation mechanism of entrepreneurship by summarizing and combing the research results of entrepreneurship at home and abroad. Based on the analysis of relevant theories, this paper enriches the relevant theories of entrepreneurship and innovation, and lays a theoretical foundation for exploring the research of entrepreneurship that affects innovation.

The small heat shock protein (sHSP) chaperones are required for protecting cellular proteins from damage, as well as re-folding denatured proteins. This study was carried out to investigate the temporal-spatial expression patterns of two sHSP genes in rice. These two genes, named as Os16.9A and Os16.9B, are reverse duplicated genes that adjacently located on chromosome 1 and probably share the same or overlapping DNA region as a promoter. The interval sequence between the start codons of the two genes which are transcribed in opposite directions is only about 2.6 kb. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR was carried out to detect the expression of the two genes under normal growth conditions and different stress conditions. The expression patterns of the two genes were in detail investigated by using β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene fusion system. Results showed that heat shock stress can induce high level expression of the two genes. Under normal growth conditions, Os16.9A and Os16.9B expressed in vegetative organs and young panicles. GUS staining combined with cytological observations showed that the two genes expressed mainly in the vascular tissues of roots, stems and young panicles, implicating that Os16.9A and Os16.9B play important roles not only for heat shock response, but also for normal development in rice.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has been widely used in indoor location tracking, especially serving human beings, due to its advantage of low cost, non-contact communication, resistance to hostile environments and so forth. Over the years, many indoor location tracking methods have been proposed. However, tracking mobile RFID readers in real-time has been a daunting task, especially for achieving high localization accuracy. In this paper, we propose a new Mobile RFID (M-RFID)-based Localization approach for Indoor Human Tracking, named MRLIHT. Based on the M-RFID model where RFID readers are equipped on the moving objects (human beings) and RFID tags are fixed deployed in the monitoring area, MRLIHT implements the real-time indoor location tracking effectively and economically. First, based on the readings of multiple tags detected by an RFID reader simultaneously, MRLIHT generates the response regions of tags to the reader. Next, MRLIHT determines the potential location region of the reader where two algorithms are devised. Finally, MRLIHT estimates the location of the reader by dividing the potential location region of the reader into finer-grained grids. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed MRLIHT performs well in both accuracy and scalability.