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Stem color is an important agronomic trait of wax gourds. However, its regulatory genes have not been identified. In this study, 105 inbred lines constructed from two parents (GX-71 and MY-1) were sequenced and quantitative trait loci sequencing was used to mine the genes that regulate stem color in wax gourds. The results identified two quantitative trait loci related to stem color, qSC5 and qSC12, located on Chr05 (11,134,567–16,459,268) and Chr12 (74,618,168–75,712,335), respectively. The qSC5 had a phenotypic variation rate of 36.9% and a maximum limit of detection of 16.9. And the qSC12 had a phenotypic variation rate of 20.9%, and a maximum limit of detection of 11.2. Bch05G003950 (named BchAPRR2) and Bch12G020400 were identified as candidate genes involved in stem color regulation in wax gourds. The chlorophyll content and expression of BchAPRR2 and Bch12G020400 were significantly higher in green-stemmed wax gourds than in white-stemmed ones. Therefore, BchAPRR2 and Bch12G020400 were considered the main and secondary regulatory genes for wax gourd stem color, respectively. Finally, InDel markers closely linked to BchAPRR2 were developed to validate the prediction of wax gourd stem color traits in 55 germplasm lines, with an accuracy of 81.8%. These findings lay the foundation for exploring the genetic regulation of wax gourd stem color and future research on wax gourd breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The delayed treatment effect is a common feature of immunotherapy, characterized by a gradual onset of action ranging from no effect to full effect. In this study, we propose a generalized delayed treatment effect function to depict the delayed effective process precisely and flexibly. To reduce potential power loss caused by the delayed treatment effect in a group sequential trial, we employ the maximin efficiency robust test, which enhances power robustness across a range of possible delays. We present novel approaches based on the Markov chain method for determining group sequential boundaries, calculating the power function, and estimating the maximum sample size through iterative regressions between the square root of the maximum sample size and the normal quantile of power. Extensive simulation studies validate the effectiveness of our approaches, particularly in balanced trials, demonstrating the validity of group sequential boundaries and the accuracy of maximum sample size estimations. Additionally, we utilize a real trial as an example to compare our considered trial with group sequential trials using the log‐rank and generalized piecewise weighted log‐rank tests. The results show significantly reduced maximum sample sizes, highlighting the economic advantage of our approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particular interest has been focused on the modulation of solid state charge transport in proteins via π–π interactions. Nevertheless, molecular design with the π–π interaction mode for electronic applications remains a challenge in light of the complexity of protein structures. Here, we investigate the pattern of regulating peptide charge transport via different types of π–π interactions in peptide-based frameworks. We applied aromatic amino acid containing peptides labelled with a 1-methyl-1′-aminoethyl-4,4′-bipyridinium salt (MV2+) to construct well-defined self-assembled monolayers as the model. When the π–π interactions are improved by the size of aromatic amino acid side chains, the peptide charge transport can be promoted mainly by the reduced energy barrier and not by the weakened peptide−electrode coupling. When the π–π interactions are attenuated rapidly by increasing the distance between aromatic groups, the molecule–electrode coupling is enhanced sharply, which becomes the main factor to facilitate the charge transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The composition and structure of proteins are crucial for charge migration in the solid‐state charge transport (CTp). Despite much progress, it is still challenging to explore the relationship between conformational change and CTp in the complex protein system. Herein, we design three improved light‐oxygen‐voltage (iLOV) domains, and efficiently regulate the CTp of the iLOV self‐assembled monolayers (SAMs) by pH induced conformation variation. The current density can be controlled in the range of one order of magnitude. Interestingly, the CTp of iLOV displays negative linear relations with the β‐sheet contents. Single‐level Landauer fitting and transition voltage spectroscopy analysis suggest that β‐sheet‐dependent CTp would be related to the coupling between iLOV and electrodes. This work proposes a new strategy to explore the CTp in complex molecular system. Our findings deepen the understanding on protein structure‐CTp relationship, and provide predictive mode of protein CTp responses for the design of functional bioelectronics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, real-world study has attracted wide attention for drug development. In bioequivalence study, the reference drug often has been marketed for many years and accumulated abundant real-world data. It is therefore appealing to incorporate these data in the design to improve trial efficiency. In this paper, we propose a Bayesian method to include real-world data of the reference drug in a current bioequivalence trial, with the aim to increase the power of analysis and reduce sample size for long half-life drugs. We adopt the power prior method for incorporating real-world data and use the average bioequivalence posterior probability to evaluate the bioequivalence between the test drug and the reference drug. Simulations were conducted to investigate the performance of the proposed method in different scenarios. The simulation results show that the proposed design has higher power than the traditional design without borrowing real-world data, while controlling the type I error. Moreover, the proposed method saves sample size and reduces costs for the trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]