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Abstract Background The improvement of agricultural crops with regard to yield, resistance and environmental adaptation is a perpetual challenge for both breeding and research. Exploration of the genetic potential and implementation of genome-based breeding strategies for efficient rye (Secale cereale L.) cultivar improvement have been hampered by the lack of genome sequence information. To overcome this limitation we sequenced the transcriptomes of five winter rye inbred lines using Roche/454 GS FLX technology. Results More than 2.5 million reads were assembled into 115,400 contigs representing a comprehensive rye expressed sequence tag (EST) resource. From sequence comparisons 5,234 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified to develop the Rye5K high-throughput SNP genotyping array. Performance of the Rye5K SNP array was investigated by genotyping 59 rye inbred lines including the five lines used for sequencing, and five barley, three wheat, and two triticale accessions. A balanced distribution of allele frequencies ranging from 0.1 to 0.9 was observed. Residual heterozygosity of the rye inbred lines varied from 4.0 to 20.4% with higher average heterozygosity in the pollen compared to the seed parent pool. Conclusions The established sequence and molecular marker resources will improve and promote genetic and genomic research as well as genome-based breeding in rye.

Aim: To assess the efficacy and safety of diacerein monotherapy in adults with obesity. Methods: Forty‐two adults with obesity participated in the study and were randomly assigned to receive diacerein or placebo in addition to lifestyle modification for 14 weeks, in a double‐blinded fashion. Differences in changes in body weight, body composition, metabolic variables, fatty liver‐related indicators, cardiovascular system variables, lifestyle score and metabolic factors were compared. Results: Post‐treatment weight loss percentage from baseline was −6.56% (−8.71%, −4.41%) in the diacerein group and −0.59% (−2.74%, 1.56%) in the placebo group. Compared with the placebo group, the diacerein group showed significant improvements in body composition, metabolic variables and indicators related to fatty liver. In addition, after 14 weeks of treatment, diacerein led to a significant reduction in serum visfatin concentration versus the placebo group. The reductions in total body fat mass and visceral fat area mediated the weight loss induced by diacerein. No significant differences were found between the groups in the number of adverse events and safety variables. Conclusions: For adults with obesity, diacerein led to a clinically meaningful weight loss and provided multiple metabolic benefits with acceptable safety. These results support that diacerein is a promising candidate medicine to be developed for obesity management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This study aims to explore the potential role of vascular endothelial growth factor-B (VEGF-B) in the pathogenesis of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). The expression of VEGFRs were reanalysed by using gene arrays of peripheral nerve samples from mouse models of DPN retrieved from the GEO database. 213 T2D patients as well as 31 healthy individuals were recruited. The serum VEGF-B was detected and its relationship with DPN was analysed. The elevated VEGFR1 was the only change of VEGFR gene expression in the peripheral nerve from mouse models of DPN. The level of serum VEGF-B in T2D patients with DPN was higher than that in T2D patients without DPN and healthy people. Analysis of correlation and binary logistic regression confirmed that the increased serum VEGF-B level was an independent risk factor of DPN in T2D patients. VEGF-B-VEGFR1 signaling pathway may be involved in the development of DPN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the thermal corrosion issue of Cr-containing MCrAlY (M = Fe, Co, Ni) materials used in marine gas turbine hot-end components in a humid marine environment with highly corrosive chloride salts, Mo is anticipated to replace Cr, thereby enhancing the corrosion resistance and mechanical properties. However, excessive Mo facilitates oxidation and creates volatile metal oxides, ultimately jeopardizing the integrity of the oxide film. The alloy composition in the FCC_Ll2+BCC_B2+Ni5Y ternary phase region was designed according to the calculated phase diagrams of the Ni-Mo/Cr-Al-Y system. The influence and mechanism of replacing Cr with minor Mo on phase composition and high-temperature oxidation resistance were investigated. The high-temperature oxidation mass-gain experiments at 750 t indicate that a small amount of Mo (atomic fraction of 0. 5%) promotes the formation of BCC_B2 phase and facilitates the transformation of surface oxide films on the alloy from θ-Al2O3 to stable αα-Al2O3, which is conducive to the formation of dense α-Al2O3 oxide layer during long-term service, thus improving the oxidation resistance performance of the alloy. However, the addition of atomic fraction of 2. 5% Mo causes the transformation of ordered BCC_B2 phase to Mo-rich BCC_A2 phase, which is not conducive to the improvement of oxidation resistance performance. Thus, the present work indicate that the combination of theoretical calculations and experimental verification may provide a effective guidance for the composition design of novel materials with customized structures and properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intrinsic defects are key factors that would affect the performance and stability of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Herein, a sulfonamides additive, methyl 3‐sulfamoyl‐2‐thiophenecarboxylate (MSTC), is introduced into the PbI2 or FAI/MACl/MABr precursor solution, to prepare high‐quality PSCs with a two‐step method. After the addition of MSTC, all the devices show enhanced performance. With optimized MSTC incorporated into PSCs, the champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the PSCs is increased from 19.19% to 22.14%, and the stability is also improved. The MSTC‐FAI based device can still maintain 89% of its initial PCE compared to 68% of the control one after 15 days in ambient condition under relative humidity of 40–50% at room temperature in dark. Test results reveal that amido group in MSTC would coordinate with PbI2 or FAI through hydrogen bonding (NH···I), thus effectively enhancing the performance of devices. Nevertheless, the sulfonyl and carbonyl groups in MSTC would coordinate with the FAI precursor through chemical bond of COS and COC. And with the hydrogen bonding connection between MSTC and FAI, the inherent defects in the MSTC‐FAI based device are effectively suppressed, leading to the enhanced photovoltaic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interface engineering has been demonstrated to be effective in suppressing the defect‐related carrier recombination loss and optimizing the energy level between SnO2 electron transport layer and mixed‐cation perovskite to further improve the performance of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Herein, a versatile organic salt, trigonelline hydrochloride (TH), is selected to modify the SnO2/perovskite interface. TH molecule plays a multifunctional role at the interface: (1) COOH and pyridine cation can passivate the interface defects by esterification and electrostatic interaction, respectively. (2) Cl− plays a vital part in the improvement of perovskite crystallization. (3) Dipole effect can move the energy level of SnO2 resulting in optimized band alignment to more efficient electron extraction. The effects of TH at the interface are revealed by density functional theory calculations, surface chemical analyses, and energy level investigations. As a consequence, the PSCs with TH‐modified SnO2 (SnO2‐TH) exhibit best power conversion efficiency of 21.23%, compared to 19.59% for the reference devices, which mainly results from an enhanced open‐circuit voltage (Voc) from 1.098 V to 1.145 V. Moreover, the humidity stability of the non‐encapsulated devices is also significantly improved after introducing TH to the interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occurrence of acesulfame (ACE) in two full-scale drinking water treatment plants (DWTPs) in Zhejiang Province, China, was investigated. The results showed that ACE was commonly detected in the raw water of the DWTPs at ND–0.125 and ND–0.093 μg/L, respectively. The maximum ACE removal efficiencies in the DWTP with traditional processes were less than 10%, whereas those in the DWTP with advanced ozonation treatment were 36.70–79.59%. Consequently, ACE degradation by ozone and the key influencing factors were examined. Laboratory-scale experiments were performed and revealed that ACE degradation followed a pseudo first-order kinetics pattern under all reaction conditions. The decomposition rate relied heavily on applied ozone dosage rate, pH, reaction temperature, and the presence of water matrix constituents. Higher ozone input, alkaline conditions, and higher temperatures favored ACE removal. Among four anions tested, CO32- exhibited a greater inhibitory effect on ACE decomposition than the other three, namely Cl−, HCO3−, and SO42-, did. Scavenging tests confirmed that direct ozonation accounted for ACE degradation under acidic conditions, whereas the hydroxyl radicals produced by ozone under alkaline conditions gradually promoted ACE degradation with increasing pH. These findings demonstrated that ozonation is a technically viable technology for eliminating ACE from drinking water sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]