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The production of ethylene (C2H4) is typically accompanied by the formation of impurities like ethane (C2H6), making the separation of C2H4 and C2H6 crucial in industrial processes. Here, we investigated the S-shaped adsorption phenomenon of C2H6 on the metal–organic framework HKUST−1. The virial equation is used to fit the C2H6 and C2H4 adsorption isotherms under low coverage. The results showed that the repulsion energy between neighboring C2H6 molecules was significantly higher than that between neighboring C2H4 molecules, which was an important reason for the lower adsorption of C2H6 by HKUST−1 at low coverage. As more molecules are adsorbed, gas molecules aggregate within pores, leading to more hydrogen bonds formed between HKUST−1 and larger-sized C2H6 under high coverage conditions. This phenomenon plays a crucial role in the S-shaped adsorption behavior of HKUST−1 on C2H6. Additionally, this unique adsorption behavior allows for the efficient separation of C2H4/C2H6 mixtures at low pressures. The ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST) selectivity of HKUST−1 for C2H4/C2H6 mixtures was 3.78 at 283 K and 1 bar, but increased significantly to 7.53 under low pressure. This unique mechanism provides a theoretical basis for the low-pressure separation of C2H4/C2H6 by HKUST−1 and establishes a solid foundation for future practical research applications.

Climatic change and extreme weather events have become a major threat to global agricultural productivity. Plants coexist with microorganisms, which play a significant role in influencing their growth and functional traits. The rhizosphere serves as an ecological niche encompassing plant roots and is a chemically complex environment that supports the growth and development of diverse plant-interactive microbes. Although plant-microbe interactions have been extensively investigated however, limited exploration have been made how abiotic stresses affect the structure and assembly of microbial communities in the rhizosphere. This review highlights climate change influence on plant growth, functional traits, and microbial communities. It explores plant mechanisms for mitigating abiotic stress, such as removing reactive oxygen species (ROS), regulating antioxidant activity and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) production, and controlling growth-inhibitory ethylene levels through colonization by bacteria producing ACC deaminase. Additionally, we elaborated the systematic communicatory network steered by hormonal crosstalk and root exudation, which can modulate and initiate the dialogues between plants and surrounding microbes. This network ultimately promotes the chemotactic movement of microbes towards the rhizosphere, facilitating their early colonization. Finally, we reviewed the recent advancements for understanding how plant-microbe interactions foster resilience under climate stress.

Abstract Three dinuclear Pd(II) complexes (1, 2, and 3) with intense red phosphorescence at room temperature are here synthesized using strong ligand field strength compounds. All three complexes are characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance, high‐resolution mass spectrometry, and elemental analyses. Complexes 2 and 3 are characterized by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. The crystalline data of 2 and 3 reveal complex double‐layer structures, with Pd–Pd distances of 2.8690(9) Å and 2.8584(17) Å, respectively. Furthermore, complexes 1, 2, and 3 show phosphorescence at room temperature in their solid states at the wavelengths of 678, 601, and 672 nm, respectively. In addition, they show phosphorescence at 634, 635, and 582 nm, respectively, in the 2 wt.% (PMMA) films, and phosphorescence at 670, 675, and 589 nm, respectively, in the deoxygenated CH2Cl2 solutions. Among three complexes, complex 1 shows red emission at 634 nm with phosphorescent quantum yield Ф = 67% in the 2 wt.% PMMA film. Furthermore, complex 1‐based organic light‐emitting diode is fabricated using a vapor‐phase deposition process, and their maximum external quantum efficiency reaches 20.52%, which is the highest percentage obtained by using the dinuclear Pd(II) complex triplet emitters with the CIE coordinates of (0.62, 0.38).

Cold stress strongly hinders plant growth and development. However, the molecular and physiological adaptive mechanisms of cold stress tolerance in plants are not well understood. Plants adopt several morpho-physiological changes to withstand cold stress. Plants have evolved various strategies to cope with cold stress. These strategies included changes in cellular membranes and chloroplast structure, regulating cold signals related to phytohormones and plant growth regulators (ABA, JA, GA, IAA, SA, BR, ET, CTK, and MET), reactive oxygen species (ROS), protein kinases, and inorganic ions. This review summarizes the mechanisms of how plants respond to cold stress, covering four main signal transduction pathways, including the abscisic acid (ABA) signal transduction pathway, Ca2+ signal transduction pathway, ROS signal transduction pathway, and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK/MPK) cascade pathway. Some transcription factors, such as AP2/ERF, MYB, WRKY, NAC, and bZIP, not only act as calmodulin-binding proteins during cold perception but can also play important roles in the downstream chilling-signaling pathway. This review also highlights the analysis of those transcription factors such as bHLH, especially bHLH-type transcription factors ICE, and discusses their functions as phytohormone-responsive elements binding proteins in the promoter region under cold stress. In addition, a theoretical framework outlining plant responses to cold stress tolerance has been proposed. This theory aims to guide future research directions and inform agricultural production practices, ultimately enhancing crop resilience to cold stress.

Background: The STimulator of INterferon Genes (STING) plays an essential role in the innate immune system by inducing the expression of type I interferons (IFNs) and inflammatory cytokines upon sensing cytosolic DNA. Although modulating STING has shown promise as a potential treatment for cancers and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases in substantial pre-clinical studies, current preliminary clinical results of STING agonists have demonstrated limited anti-tumor efficacy. Currently, there is ongoing R&D targeting STING and focusing on the delivery of next-generation therapeutics. Whereas no comprehensive analysis on the STING patent landscape has been conducted to fill the gap between basic research progress and drug development and commercialization. Aim of review: This study summarized the current agents in the clinical stage and global patenting profiles to help identify the current status, development trends, and emerging technologies of the nascent field of STING modulation. Key scientific concepts of review: Rapidly increasing R&D efforts and outcomes targeting STING were indicated by the recently increasing number and pharmacologic classes of drug candidates in clinic as well as in emergent technological patenting activities. Despite the overall fragmental ownership of patents, several pioneers that have advanced the clinical evaluation of novel STING agonists have established the basis of STING-relevant inventions through their influential patents in the field. These patents also facilitated progress on novel STING modulators, relevant delivery systems, pharmaceutical compositions, and combination strategies with the potential for further enhancing therapeutic outcomes by targeting STING.

Every late autumn, fluttering poplar leaves scatter throughout the campus and city streets. In this work, poplar leaves were used as the raw material, while H3PO4 and KOH were used as activators and urea was used as the nitrogen source to prepare biomass based-activated carbons (ACs) to capture CO2. The pore structures, functional groups and morphology, and desorption performance of the prepared ACs were characterized; the CO2 adsorption, regeneration, and kinetics were also evaluated. The results showed that H3PO4 and urea obviously promoted the development of pore structures and pyrrole nitrogen (N–5), while KOH and urea were more conductive to the formation of hydroxyl (–OH) and ether (C–O) functional groups. At optimal operating conditions, the CO2 adsorption capacity of H3PO4– and KOH–activated poplar leaves after urea treatment reached 4.07 and 3.85 mmol/g, respectively, at room temperature; both showed stable regenerative behaviour after ten adsorption–desorption cycles.

Organic amine-modified mesoporous carriers are considered potential CO2 sorbents, in which the CO2 adsorption performance was limited by the agglomeration and volatility of liquid amines. In this study, four additives of ether compounds were separately coimpregnated with polyethylene polyamine (PEPA) into MCM-41 to prepare the composite chemisorbents for CO2 adsorption. The textural pore properties, surface functional groups and elemental contents of N for MCM-41 before and after functionalization were characterized; the effects of the type and amount of additives, adsorption temperature and influent velocity on CO2 adsorption were investigated; the amine efficiency was calculated; and the adsorption kinetics and regeneration for the optimized sorbent were studied. For 40 wt.% PEPA-loaded MCM-41, the CO2 adsorption capacity and amine efficiency at 60 °C were 1.34 mmol/g and 0.18 mol CO2/mol N, when the influent velocity of the simulated flue gas was 30 mL/min, which reached 1.81 mmol/g and 0.23 mol CO2/mol N after coimpregnating 10 wt.% of 2-propoxyethanol (1E). The maximum adsorption capacity of 2.16 mmol/g appeared when the influent velocity of the simulated flue gas was 20 mL/min. In addition, the additive of 1E improved the regeneration and kinetics of PEPA-loaded MCM-41, and the CO2 adsorption process showed multiple adsorption routes.

Difenoconazole (DFZ) is a broad-spectrum fungicide widely applied in wheat production. However, excessive accumulation is linked to phytotoxicity. The effects of DFZ on plants and the response mechanisms to DFZ toxicity are poorly understood. Herein, the uptake, accumulation, and translocation of DFZ and induced changes in the morphology, physiology, and gene expression were investigated under hydroculture of roots treated with 50, 100, and 200 mg/L DFZ concentrations. Compared with the control, DEZ treatment upregulated the expression of genes encoding 4-coumarate-CoA ligase (4CL) and peroxidase (POD) involved in the lignin biosynthesis pathway and enhanced lignin biosynthesis. DFZ accumulated more in older leaves (cotyledons and lower true leaves), with 0.49–5.71 and 0.09–2.14 folds higher than levels in new upper leaves and roots, respectively. The excessive accumulation of DFZ in tissues was rapidly degraded, with a 15.7–69.3% reduction of DFZ content in roots and leaves from 3 DAT to 6 DAT. The genes expression and activity of glutathione S-transferase (GST) were increased. Furthermore, DFZ treatments upregulated genes encoding chalcone synthase (CHS), chalcone isomerase (CHI), and anthocyanidin synthase (ANS) involved in the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway and increased the amount of flavonoid and anthocyanins in leaves. This study provides new insights into the self-protective behaviors exhibited by wheat plants under DFZ stress. The mechanisms included hindering DFZ penetration from roots by enhancing lignin biosynthesis, accumulating more in old leaves, degrading by GST, and alleviating oxidative damage by increasing the content of flavonoids and anthocyanins in leaves.

Abstract Persistent infection with high-risk types Human Papillomavirus could cause diseases including cervical cancers and oropharyngeal cancers. Nonetheless, so far there is no effective pharmacotherapy for treating the infection from high-risk HPV types, and hence it remains to be a severe threat to the health of female. Based on drug repositioning strategy, we trained and benchmarked multiple machine learning models so as to predict potential effective antiviral drugs for HPV infection in this work. Through optimizing models, measuring models’ predictive performance using 182 pairs of antiviral-target interaction dataset which were all approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, and benchmarking different models’ predictive performance, we identified the optimized Support Vector Machine and K-Nearest Neighbor classifier with high precision score were the best two predictors (0.80 and 0.85 respectively) amongst classifiers of Support Vector Machine, Random forest, Adaboost, Naïve Bayes, K-Nearest Neighbors, and Logistic regression classifier. We applied these two predictors together and successfully predicted 57 pairs of antiviral-HPV protein interactions from 864 pairs of antiviral-HPV protein associations. Our work provided good drug candidates for anti-HPV drug discovery. So far as we know, we are the first one to conduct such HPV-oriented computational drug repositioning study.

Transcription factors play multifaceted roles in embryonic development and diseases. PAX1, a paired-box transcription factor, has been elucidated to play key roles in multiple tissues during embryonic development by extensive studies. Recently, an emerging role of PAX1 in cancers was clarified. Herein, we summarize the expression and functions of PAX1 in skeletal system and thymus development, as well as cancer biology and outline its cellular and molecular modes of action and the association of PAX1 mutation or dysregulation with human diseases, thus providing insights for the molecular basis of congenital diseases and cancers.

Two years after COVID-19 came into being, many technologies have been developed to bring highly promising bedside methods to help fight this epidemic disease. However, owing to viral mutation, how far the promise can be realized remains unclear. Patents might act as an additional source of information for informing research and policy and anticipating important future technology developments. A comprehensive study of 3741 COVID-19-related patents (3,543 patent families) worldwide was conducted using the Derwent Innovation database. Descriptive statistics and social network analysis were used in the patent landscape. The number of COVID-19 applications, especially those related to treatment and prevention, continued to rise, accompanied by increases in governmental and academic patent assignees. Although China dominated COVID-19 technologies, this position is worth discussing, especially in terms of the outstanding role of India and the US in the assignee collaboration network as well as the outstanding invention portfolio in Italy. Intellectual property barriers and racist treatment were reduced, as reflected by individual partnerships, transparent commercial licensing and diversified portfolios. Critical technological issues are personalized immunity, traditional Chinese medicine, epidemic prediction, artificial intelligence tools, and nucleic acid detection. Notable challenges include balancing commercial competition and humanitarian interests. The results provide a significant reference for decision-making by researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and investors with an interest in COVID-19 control.

DNA methylation is defined as a conserved epigenetic modification mechanism that plays a key role in maintaining normal gene expression without altering the DNA sequence. Several studies have reported that altered methylation patterns were associated with male sterility in some plants such as rice and wheat, but global methylation profiles and their possible roles in cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS), especially in cotton near-isogenic lines, remain unclear. In this study, bisulfite sequencing technology and RNA-Seq were used to investigate CMS line 07-113A and its near-isogenic line 07-113B. Using integrated methylome and transcriptome analyses, we found that the number of hypermethylated genes in the differentially methylated regions, whether in the promoter region or in the gene region, was more in 07-113A than the number in 07-113B. The data indicated that 07-113A was more susceptible to methylation. In order to further analyze the regulatory network of male sterility, transcriptome sequencing and DNA methylation group data were used to compare the characteristics of near-isogenic lines 07-113A and 07-113B in cotton during the abortion stage. Combined methylation and transcriptome analysis showed that differentially expressed methylated genes were mainly concentrated in vital metabolic pathways including the starch and sucrose metabolism pathways and galactose metabolism. And there was a negative correlation between gene methylation and gene expression. In addition, five key genes that may be associated with CMS in cotton were identified. These data will support further understanding of the effect of DNA methylation on gene expression and their potential roles in cotton CMS.

The area of salinized land is gradually expanding cross the globe. Salt stress seriously reduces the yield and quality of crops and endangers food supply to meet the demand of the increased population. The mechanisms underlying nano-enabled plant tolerance were discussed, including (1) maintaining ROS homeostasis, (2) improving plant’s ability to exclude Na+ and to retain K+, (3) improving the production of nitric oxide, (4) increasing α-amylase activities to increase soluble sugar content, and (5) decreasing lipoxygenase activities to reduce membrane oxidative damage. The possible commonly employed mechanisms such as alleviating oxidative stress damage and maintaining ion homeostasis were highlighted. Further, the possible role of phytohormones and the molecular mechanisms in nano-enabled plant salt tolerance were discussed. Overall, this review paper aims to help the researchers from different field such as plant science and nanoscience to better understand possible new approaches to address salinity issues in agriculture.

Root architecture plays a fundamental role in crop yield, which is sensitive to nitrogen fertilizer. Although it is well studied that nitrogen fertilizer significantly promotes peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) growth and yield, less information was available on how its root development responds to nitrogen deficiency. In this study, the growth and development of roots were inhibited, as indicated by the significantly decreased root dry weight and length and the lateral root number, especially under 10 days of nitrogen deficiency treatment. The activities and the expression of the genes related to nitrogen assimilation enzymes including nitrate reductase, glutamine synthetase, glutamate dehydrogenase, and glutamine oxoglutarate aminotransferase and the genes encoding the nitrate transporters were significantly decreased under 10 days of nitrogen deficiency treatment, which may lead to a decrease in nitrate content, as indicated by the significantly decreased nitrogen balance index. Transcriptome sequencing revealed a total of 293 (119 up- and 174 downregulated) and 2271 (1165 up- and 1106 downregulated) differentially expressed genes (DEGs) identified after five and ten days of nitrogen deficiency treatments, respectively. Bioinformatic analysis showed that these DEGs were mainly involved in nitrate transportation and assimilation, phytohormone signal transduction, and the lignin biosynthesis pathway. Furthermore, a putative schematic diagram of nitrogen deficiency inhibiting root growth was established, which gives us a better understanding of nitrogen metabolism in peanut roots and a theoretical basis for improving nitrogen use efficiency.

Background: Monoclonal antibody (mAb) drugs are increasingly important for the pharmaceutical industry across the globe. In China, mAb drug developments face many challenges. Multiple policies have been implemented recently to reinforce support in various areas. This study aims to investigate the latest landscape of mAb drugs in China from policy perspectives encompassing R&D, clinical trials, marketing approval, and talent pools. Methods: Information about mAb drugs approved in the United States, the European Union, Japan, and China by 2017 and mAb-related policies in China were retrieved from government websites and third-party statistical databases for descriptive, statistical, and comparative analysis. Results and discussion: In China, 21 mAb drugs (10 locally-developed and 11 imported) have so far been approved. For the 11 imported mAb drugs in China, the median drug lag in the marketing approval was estimated at 87.1 months, compared with the U.S. (0 months), the EU (8.9 months), and Japan (43.4 months). However, as far as the dramatically changing innovation supporting system in China is concerned, emergence of new biopharmaceutical companies, transformation of the current drug companies and their shift to antibody therapy, and the pooling of high-level talent contribute to mAb development in China. The number of clinical trials and marketing applications and approvals involving mAb drugs is also growing. Favorable policies will continue to play a role in the sustainable development of mAb drugs in China. Conclusion: The research showed that the reform of multiple policies and incentives for attracting/retaining high-level talent has evidently been effective in addressing the drug lag of mAb drugs in China. In future development, China should actively monitor the global R&D outcomes and industrial development trends of mAb drugs and make the policy environment more attractive to enable more mAb drugs to be marketed in China as soon as possible.

Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) is a critical protein for photosynthesis. With small subunits, RBCSs catalyze the fixation of CO2 onto ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate (RuBP). However, the gene characteristics of peanut RBCSs, and the relationship between their expression and peanut growth under nitrogen (N)-deficiency conditions are not yet known. This study targeted the impact of sufficient N (5 mmol/L NO3−) and deficient N (0.1 mmol/L NO3−) on peanut seedlings’ growth, physiology, and molecular aspects. Herein, eight RBCS protein encoding genes were identified in the peanut genome, and their characteristics were described. The leaf areas of Yu Hang Hua 1 (YH1) and An Hua 3 (AH3) were reduced significantly after 10 days while “Pu Ke Hua 18” (PK18) and “Luo Hua 4087” (LH4087) had higher N-deficiency adaptations in the initial N-deficiency stage. The Rubisco carboxylation activities of YH1 and PK18 were significantly increased after 5 days of N-deficiency stress while they decreased under 15 days of N-deficiency conditions. Furthermore, the qRT-PCR results showed that the expressions of AhRBCS 1/5 and AhRBCS2/6 had negative relationships with the morpho-physiological traits of peanut under low-N stress. This study provides the biological information of peanut RBCSs and lays a theoretical foundation for N utilization in crop plants.

Ratoon is the stub or root of a perennial plant that is commonly retained after harvest to produce a following crop. This paper presents a review of ratoon cotton in relation to a broader framework that has been examining perennialization of agriculture for the benefit of ecology and economy. Cotton is botanically indeterminate, but has been treated as an annual after domestication, yet the habit of perenniality is retained and the plants begin to resprout after the first harvest. In some cropping systems, this tendency is exploited using the “ratooning” practice (i.e. growing one or more crops on the rootstock of the first). Ratooning has declined for various reasons such as an increase in the prevalence of pests and diseases and overwintering risk. However, ratooning has many benefits such as no annual tillage before sowing, a well-established root system, and high yield. The three methods of ratooning offer flexibility to balance the environmental and economic benefits in agriculture. The greatest environmental benefits arise from perennial ratoon cropping of semi-wild cotton, and the greatest economic benefit is obtained from biannually cropping modern annual cultivars. However, an optimum solution would be provided by perennial cropping annual cultivars. To realize both environmental and economic benefits, research is needed in the following main areas: preventing the buildup of pests and diseases, breeding the most suitable cotton cultivars for ratooning, and developing light and simplified cultivation (LSC) systems for ratoon cultivation.

Abstract Background Pollen development is an energy-consuming process that particularly occurs during meiosis. Low levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) may cause cell death, resulting in CMS (cytoplasmic male sterility). DNA sequence differences in ATP synthase genes have been revealed between the N- and S-cytoplasms in the cotton CMS system. However, very few data are available at the RNA level. In this study, we compared five ATP synthase genes in the H276A, H276B and fertile F1 (H276A/H268) lines using RNA editing, RNA blotting and quantitative real time-PCR (qRT-PCR) to explore their contribution to CMS. A molecular marker for identifying male sterile cytoplasm (MSC) was also developed. Results RNA blotting revealed the absence of any novel orf for the ATP synthase gene sequence in the three lines. Forty-one RNA editing sites were identified in the coding sequences. RNA editing showed that proteins had 32.43% higher hydrophobicity and that 39.02% of RNA editing sites had proline converted to leucine. Two new stop codons were detected in atp6 and atp9 by RNA editing. Real-time qRT-PCR data showed that the atp1, atp6, atp8, and atp9 genes had substantially lower expression levels in H276A compared with those in H276B. By contrast, the expression levels of all five genes were increased in F1 (H276A/H268). Moreover, a molecular marker based on a 6-bp deletion upstream of atp8 in H276A was developed to identify male sterile cytoplasm (MSC) in cotton. Conclusions Our data substantially contributes to the understanding of the function of ATP synthase genes in cotton CMS. Therefore, we suggest that ATP synthase genes might be an indirect cause of cotton CMS. Further research is needed to investigate the relationship among ATP synthase genes in cotton CMS.

Under the guidance of molecular simulation technology, the Monte Carlo molecular mechanics simulation was used to calculate the compatibility of different lipophilic groups with each component of bitumen, and the compatibility of different hydrophilic groups with water. Based on the calculated results of interaction parameters Chi and mixture energy Emix, the preferred structures of lipophilic and hydrophilic groups of bitumen emulsifier were determined. The target bitumen emulsifier was then synthesized by the reaction of organic acid and polyamine. The molecular simulation results showed that the compatibility of lipophilic group T11 with the bitumen was the best, and the mixing ability of the hydrophilic group H5 with water was excellent. The experimental results show that the preferred structures T11H5 had a good emulsifying performance to prepare emulsified bitumen with good storage stability, consistent with the results of the molecular simulation.

This article aims to explore the trends of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) research and commercialization, mainly to examine the development trajectories by a contrastive exploration of successful and unsuccessful mAb. This work is based on two sets of R&D project reports, consisting of 517 discontinued mAb project reports and 64 marketed mAb project reports, from IMS Lifecycle R&D Focus. The analysis of drug development processes will provide the basic evidences of mAb technology commercialization. We examined the mAb research and commercialization from three perspectives: (1) Countries with mAb research activity; (2) Organizations participating in mAb research and development; and (3) Clusters of keywords (indication and class description) regarding mAb. The technology factor, the market factor and the abilities of participating firms to pursue commercialization were analyzed. Through data analysis, we have discovered that the research and development on mAb has reached a mature and diversified stage.

Abstract Background Ovarian cancer is a leading cause of the death from gynecologic malignancies. Hypoxia is closely related to the malignant growth of cells. However, the molecular mechanism of hypoxia-regulated ovarian cancer cells remains unclear. Thus, this study was conducted to identify the key genes and pathways implicated in the regulation of hypoxia by bioinformatics analysis. Methods Using the datasets of GSE53012 downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened by comparing the RNA expression from cycling hypoxia group, chronic hypoxia group, and control group. Subsequently, cluster analysis was performed followed by the construction of the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network of the overlapping DEGs between the cycling hypoxia and chronic hypoxia using ClusterONE. In addition, gene ontology (GO) functional and pathway enrichment analyses of the DEGs in the most remarkable module were performed using Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) software. Ultimately, the signaling pathways associated with hypoxia were verified by RT-PCR, WB, and MTT assays. Results A total of 931 overlapping DEGs were identified. Nine hub genes and seven node genes were screened by analyzing the PPI and pathway integration networks, including ESR1, MMP2, ErbB2, MYC, VIM, CYBB, EDN1, SERPINE1, and PDK. Additionally, 11 key pathways closely associated with hypoxia were identified, including focal adhesion, ErbB signaling, and proteoglycans in cancer, among which the ErbB signaling pathway was verified by RT-PCR, WB, and MTT assays. Furthermore, functional enrichment analysis revealed that these genes were mainly involved in the proliferation of ovarian cancer cells, such as regulation of cell proliferation, cell adhesion, positive regulation of cell migration, focal adhesion, and extracellular matrix binding. Conclusion The results show that hypoxia can promote the proliferation of ovarian cancer cells by affecting the invasion and adhesion functions through the dysregulation of ErbB signaling, which may be governed by the HIF-1α-TGFA-EGFR-ErbB2-MYC axis. These findings will contribute to the identification of new targets for the diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer.

Bacterial ghosts (BGs) are empty bacterial envelopes of Gram-negative bacteria produced by controlled expressions of cloned gene E, forming a lysis tunnel structure within the envelope of the living bacteria. Globally, BGs have been used as vaccine delivery systems and vaccine adjuvants. There is an increasing interest in the development of novel delivery systems that are based on BGs for biomedical applications. Due to intact reservation of bacterial cell membranes, BGs have an inherent immunogenicity, which enables targeted drug delivery and controlled release. As carrier vehicles, BGs protect drugs from interference by external factors. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in BG-based delivery systems against tumors, inflammation, and infection, among others. Herein, we reviewed the preparation methods for BGs, interactions between BGs and the host, and further highlighted research progress in BG development.

Abstract Non-thermal atmospheric plasma (NTP) has shown its selective anticancer effects in many types of tumors in vitro and one of the main mechanisms is that the different increase of intracellular ROS in cancer and homologous normal cells. In this study, we report that NTP treatment reduces the proliferation in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and normal cell lines. Simultaneously, STAT3 pathway is inhibited by NTP effects. However, it is observed that normal cells MCF10A are more sensitive to ROS toxicity induced by NTP than cancer cells MDA-MB-231. When 5 mM of ROS inhibitor N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) is employed in NTP treatments, the proliferation of normal breast cells MCF10A recovers. Meanwhile, NTP effects remain significant inhibition of MDA-MB-231 cells. Our results further reveal that NTP can induce apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells through inhibiting interleukin-6 receptor (IL-6R) pathway. Moreover, the mechanism of NTP anti-cancer selectivity relates to constantly HER2/Akt activation induced by NTP especially in MCF10A cells but not in MDA-MB-231 cells. Therefore, these two different cell signaling pathways induced by NTP treatments in TNBC and homologous normal cells make NTP becoming a potential tool in future therapy.

High modulus bitumens modified by polystyrene-block-polybutadiene-block-polystyrene (SBS) with different molecular structure were investigated on dynamic shear rheometer and fluorescence microscopy to evaluate viscoelastic properties and morphology of binders. The results shows that storage modulus (G’) is obviously less than loss modulus (G”), which means viscous behaviour of bitumen is dominant, and anti-rutting factor (G* ⁄ sin δ) is markedly enhanced by star SBS than by linear SBS. The morphology indicated that star SBS improved the softening point more obviously, tending to form a cross-linked network in bitumen. As for linear SBS, it is dispersed in bitumen in the form of globules and enhances the ductility of binder.

A novel Mannich-modified imidazoline (MMI) as cationic emulsifier was synthesised for corrosion harm reduction, through three steps — acylation, cyclization, and Mannich reaction. The surface activity was characterized by determination of surface tensions and critical micelle concentration (CMC). The corrosion inhibition performance of five types of steels in the simulated corrosion solution in the presence of the MMI was investigated by static weight loss tests. The results showed that the MMI had good surface activities, with CMC of 19.8 μg g−1 and surface tension of 36.4 mN m−1. The corrosion test results indicated that the corrosion rates of different materials were decreased significantly, and degrees of corrosion inhibition were always higher than 80.0 %. The main inhibition mechanism was most likely due to the adsorption of the corrosion inhibitor on the steel surface, leading to the prevention of corrosion medium from the metal surface.

The therapeutic landscape of melanoma is improving rapidly. Targeted inhibitors show promising results, but drug resistance often limits durable clinical responses. There is a need for in vivo systems that allow for mechanistic drug resistance studies and (combinatorial) treatment optimization. Therefore, we established a large collection of patient-derived xenografts (PDXs), derived from BRAFV600E, NRASQ61, or BRAFWT/NRASWT melanoma metastases prior to treatment with BRAF inhibitor and after resistance had occurred. Taking advantage of PDXs as a limitless source, we screened tumor lysates for resistance mechanisms. We identified a BRAFV600E protein harboring a kinase domain duplication (BRAFV600E/DK) in ∼10% of the cases, both in PDXs and in an independent patient cohort. While BRAFV600E/DK depletion restored sensitivity to BRAF inhibition, a pan-RAF dimerization inhibitor effectively eliminated BRAFV600E/DK-expressing cells. These results illustrate the utility of this PDX platform and warrant clinical validation of BRAF dimerization inhibitors for this group of melanoma patients.

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is an important feature for achieving heterosis in the development of hybrid crops. Mitochondria contribute to CMS, especially via mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) rearrangements and chimeric genes. However, the mechanisms of CMS have not been fully elucidated, and the isonuclear alloplasmic lines used in previous studies have limited utility in cotton CMS research. In this study, three CMS lines (J4A-1, J4A-2 and J4A-3) and their isoplasmic maintainer line (J4B) were analyzed for mtDNA structural differences via high-throughput sequencing. The results showed that mtDNA was conserved (with similarities higher than 99%) among the three CMS lines and their isoplasmic maintainer line. All lines harbored 36 known protein-coding genes, 3 rRNAs, and 15 tRNAs. The protein-coding genes with non-synonymous mutations mainly encoded two types of proteins: ATPase and ribosomal proteins. Four new open reading frames (ORFs) (orf116b, orf186a-1, orf186a-2 and orf305a) were identified as candidate ORFs responsible for CMS. Two of the ORFs (orf186a-1 and orf186a-2) were identified as orf4 and orf4-2 of the upland cotton CMS line 2074A (a line with Gossypium harknessii Brandegee CMS-D2-2 cytoplasm), respectively. These findings provide a reference for CMS research in cotton or other crops.

In order to study the thermal effect and noise of cavitation in hydraulic cone type throttle valve, a cone type throttle valve cavitation experiment platform is built. With the organic glass having a better transparency as the material, the model valve was made. The pressure characteristics of five kinds of spool case cone type throttle valves were analyzed through simulation and experimental study, and the main production parts of cone type throttle valve cavitation bubble were obtained. The results show that the frequency of cone type throttle valve noise is above 8kHz. On this basis, we can determine whether the cone type throttle valve noise is the main source of noise in hydraulic system by measurement of noise spectrum. Based on the above findings, it is concluded that it is helpful for fault diagnosis of hydraulic system. The cavitation has relatively great impact on the hydraulic oil temperature flowing through the throttle valve, and its impact cannot be ignored.

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is a maternally inherited trait that results in the production of dysfunctional pollen. Based on reliable reference gene-normalized real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) data, examining gene expression profile can provide valuable information on the molecular mechanism of kenaf CMS. However, studies have not been conducted regarding selection of reference genes for normalizing RT-qPCR data in the CMS and maintainer lines of kenaf crop. Therefore, we studied 10 candidate reference genes (ACT3, ELF1A, G6PD, PEPKR1, TUB, TUA, CYP, GAPDH, H3, and 18S) to assess their expression stability at three stages of pollen development in CMS line 722A and maintainer line 722B of kenaf. Five computational statistical approaches (GeNorm, NormFinder, ΔCt, BestKeeper, and RefFinder) were used to evaluate the expression stability levels of these genes. According to RefFinder and GeNorm, the combination of TUB, CYP, and PEPKR1 was identified as an internal control for the accurate normalization across all sample set, which was further confirmed by validating the expression of HcPDIL5-2a. Furthermore, the combination of TUB, CYP, and PEPKR1 was used to differentiate the expression pattern of five mitochondria F1F0-ATPase subunit genes (atp1, atp4, atp6, atp8, and atp9) by RT-qPCR during pollen development in CMS line 722A and maintainer line 722B. We found that atp1, atp6, and atp9 exhibited significantly different expression patterns during pollen development in line 722A compared with line 722B. This is the first systematic study of reference genes selection for CMS and will provide useful information for future research on the gene expressions and molecular mechanisms underlying CMS in kenaf.

High input costs combined with multiple management and material inputs have threatened cotton productivity. We hypothesize that this problem can be addressed by a single fertilization at flowering with late sowing in a moderately populated plant stand. Field experiments were conducted to evaluate the cotton biomass accumulation, phosphorus dynamics, and fiber quality under three planting densities (low, 3 × 104; moderate, 6 × 104; and dense, 9 × 104 ha−1) and two cultivars (Zhongmian-16 and J-4B). High planting density had 6.2 and 12.6% larger stems and fruiting nodes m−2, while low density produced a 37.5 and 59.4% maximum height node ratio. Moderate density produced 26.4−15.5%, 24.7−12.6%, and 10.5−13.6% higher biomass accumulation rate at the peak bloom, boll set, and plant removal stages over low and high density in both years, respectively. J-4B produced a higher reproductive organs biomass yield when compared with Zhongmian-16 in both years. This higher biomass formation was due to both the higher average (0.8 VT kg·ha−1·d−1) and maximum (1.0 VM kg·ha−1·d−1) reproductive organ phosphorus uptake, respectively. Plants with low density had 5.3−18.5%, 9.5−15%, and 7.8−12.8% greater length, strength, and micronaire values over moderate and dense plants, respectively. Conclusively, moderate density with J-4B is a promising option for improved biomass, phosphorus acquisition, and fiber quality under a short season.

We report herein that trefoil factor 3 (TFF3) is oncogenic and mediates anti-estrogen resistance in human mammary carcinoma. Forced expression of TFF3 in mammary carcinoma cells increased cell proliferation and survival, enhanced anchorage-independent growth, and promoted migration and invasion. Moreover, forced expression of TFF3 increased tumor size in xenograft models. Conversely, depletion of endogenous TFF3 with small interfering RNA (siRNA) decreased the oncogenicity and invasiveness of mammary carcinoma cells. Neutralization of secreted TFF3 by antibody promoted apoptosis, decreased cell growth in vitro, and arrested mammary carcinoma xenograft growth. TFF3 expression was significantly correlated to decreased survival of estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer patients treated with tamoxifen. Forced expression of TFF3 in mammary carcinoma cells increased ER transcriptional activity, promoted estrogen-independent growth, and produced resistance to tamoxifen and fulvestrant in vitro and to tamoxifen in xenograft models. siRNA-mediated depletion or antibody inhibition of TFF3 significantly enhanced the efficacy of antiestrogens. Increased TFF3 expression was observed in tamoxifen-resistant (TAMR) cells and antibody inhibition of TFF3 in TAMR cells improved tamoxifen sensitivity. Functional antagonism of TFF3 therefore warrants consideration as a novel therapeutic strategy for mammary carcinoma.

Mammary carcinoma cells produce pro-angiogenic factors to stimulate angiogenesis and tumor growth. Trefoil factor-3 (TFF3) is an oncogene secreted from mammary carcinoma cells and associated with poor prognosis. Herein, we demonstrate that TFF3 produced in mammary carcinoma cells functions as a promoter of tumor angiogenesis. Forced expression of TFF3 in mammary carcinoma cells promoted proliferation, survival, invasion and in vitro tubule formation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). MCF7-TFF3 cells with forced expression of TFF3 generated tumors with enhanced microvessel density as compared to tumors formed by vector control cells. Depletion of TFF3 in mammary carcinoma cells by siRNA concordantly decreased the angiogenic behavior of HUVEC. Forced expression of TFF3 in mammary carcinoma cells stimulated IL-8 transcription and subsequently enhanced IL-8 expression in both mammary carcinoma cells and HUVEC. Depletion of IL-8 in mammary carcinoma cells with forced expression of TFF3, or antibody inhibition of IL-8, partially abrogated mammary carcinoma cell TFF3-stimulated HUVEC angiogenic behavior in vitro, as did inhibition of the IL-8 receptor, CXCR2. Depletion of STAT3 by siRNA in MCF-7 cells with forced expression of TFF3 partially diminished the angiogenic capability of TFF3 on stimulation of cellular processes of HUVEC. Exogenous recombinant hTFF3 also directly promoted the angiogenic behavior of HUVEC. Hence, TFF3 is a potent angiogenic factor and functions as a promoter of de novo angiogenesis in mammary carcinoma, which may co-coordinate with the growth promoting and metastatic actions of TFF3 in mammary carcinoma to enhance tumor progression.

Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is an important mediator of extracellular matrix integrin signaling, cell motility, cell proliferation and cell survival. Increased FAK expression is observed in a variety of solid human tumors and increased FAK expression and activity frequently correlate with metastatic disease and poor prognosis. Herein we identify miR-7 as a direct regulator of FAK expression. miR-7 expression is decreased in malignant versus normal breast tissue and its expression correlates inversely with metastasis in human breast cancer patients. Forced expression of miR-7 produced increased E-CADHERIN and decreased FIBRONECTIN and VIMENTIN expression in breast cancer cells. The levels of miR-7 expression was positively correlated with E-CADHERIN mRNA and negatively correlated with VIMENTIN mRNA levels in breast cancer samples. Forced expression of miR-7 in aggressive breast cancer cell lines suppressed tumor cell monolayer proliferation, anchorage independent growth, three-dimensional growth in Matrigel, migration and invasion. Conversely, inhibition of miR-7 in the HBL-100 mammary epithelial cell line promoted cell proliferation and anchorage independent growth. Rescue of FAK expression reversed miR-7 suppression of migration and invasion. miR-7 also inhibited primary breast tumor development, local invasion and metastatic colonization of breast cancer xenografts. Thus, miR-7 expression is decreased in metastatic breast cancer, correlates with the level of epithelial differentiation of the tumor and inhibits metastatic progression.