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Rice ARGONAUTE2 (OsAGO2) is a core component of rice RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC), which is repressed by Magnaporthe oryzae (M. oryzae) infection. Whether and how OsAGO2-mediated gene silencing plays a role in rice blast resistance and which sRNAs participate in this process are unknown. Our results indicate that OsAGO2 is a key immune player that manipulates rice defense responses against blast disease. OsAGO2 associates with the 24-nt miR1875 and binds to the promoter region of HEXOKINASE1 (OsHXK1), which causes DNA methylation and leads to gene silencing. Our multiple genetic evidence showed that, without M. oryzae infection, OsAGO2/miR1875 RISC promoted OsHXK1 promoter DNA methylation and OsHXK1 silencing; after M. oryzae infection, the reduced OsAGO2/miR1875 led to a relatively activated OsHXK1 expression. OsHXK1 acts as a positive regulator of blast disease resistance that OsHXK1-OE rice exhibited enhanced resistance, whereas Cas9-Oshxk1 rice showed reduced resistance, against M. oryzae infection. OsHXK1 may function through its sugar sensor activity since glucose induced defense-related gene expression and ROS accumulation in Nipponbare and OsHXK1-OE but not in Cas9-Oshxk1 rice. OsAGO2 itself is delicately regulated by OsPRMT5, which senses M. oryzae infection and attenuates OsAGO2-mediated gene silencing through OsAGO2 arginine methylation. Our study reveals an OsPRMT5-OsAGO2/miR1875-OsHXK1 regulatory module that fine-tunes rice defense response to blast disease. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Research on plant–virus–vector interactions has revealed that viruses can enhance their spread to new host plants by attracting nonviruliferous vectors to infected plants or driving viruliferous vectors to noninfected plants. However, whether viruses can also modulate the feeding preference of viruliferous vectors for different plant parts remains largely unknown. Here, by using rice stripe virus (RSV) and its vector, the small brown planthopper (SBPH), as a model, the effect of the virus on the feeding preference of its vector was studied by calculating the number of nonviruliferous and viruliferous SBPHs settling on different parts of rice plants. The results showed that the RSV-free SBPHs significantly preferred feeding on the stems of rice plants, whereas RSV-carrying SBPHs fed more on rice leaves. Moreover, the rice plants inoculated with RSV on the leaves showed more severe symptoms, with enhanced disease incidence and virus accumulation compared with rice plants inoculated at the top and bottom of stems, suggesting that the leaves are more susceptible to RSV than the stems of rice plants. These results demonstrate that RSV modulates the feeding preference of its transmitting vector SBPH from the stems to leaves of rice plants to promote virus infection. Interestingly, we also found that the leaves were more susceptible than the stems to rice black-streaked dwarf virus. This study proves that the feeding preference of insect vectors can be modulated by plant viruses to facilitate virus transmission.

In the context of the continuous growth of the digital economy, the steady and sustainable development and growth of enterprises are increasingly dependent on the quality of innovation and knowledge capital. Based on the resource-based view and from the perspective of knowledge capital, this paper takes the knowledge capital index composed of human resource capital, innovation and R&D capability capital, innovation facility capital and relational capital as the intermediary variable and explores the mechanism of the influence of innovation quality on the growth performance of entrepreneurial enterprises from the enterprise level. Taking computer, communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing enterprises listed on GEM from 2017 to 2021 as the research object, this paper uses hierarchical regression and Bootstrap methods to explore the specific path of the impact of innovation quality on the growth performance of entrepreneurial enterprises and conducts an empirical analysis and robust analysis. This research shows that the innovative quality of entrepreneurial enterprises can significantly promote growth performance, and knowledge capital plays an intermediary role in it. The conclusion of this paper provides theoretical support for this kind of enterprise to improve the quality of innovation and make good use of knowledge capital and provides an empirical basis and reference for their sustainable and stable growth.

Although molecular hydrogen has potential therapeutic effects in animals, whether or how this gas functions in plant disease resistance has not yet been elucidated. RSV was considered the most devastating plant virus in rice, since it could cause severe losses in field production.

10-Hydroxy-2-decenoic acid (10-HDA) is an α,β-unsaturated medium-chain carboxylic acid containing a terminal hydroxyl group. It has various unique properties and great economic value. We improved the two-step biosynthesis method of 10-HDA. The conversion rate of the intermediate product

Rice black-streaked dwarf virus disease (RBSDVD) and southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus disease (SRBSDVD) are the most destructive viral diseases in rice. Progress is limited in breeding due to lack of resistance resource and inadequate knowledge on the underlying functional gene. Using genome-wide association study (GWAS), linkage disequilibrium (LD) decay analyses, RNA-sequencing, and genome editing, we identified a highly RBSDVD-resistant variety and its first functional gene. A highly RBSDVD-resistant variety W44 was identified through extensive evaluation of a diverse international rice panel. Seventeen quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were identified among which qRBSDV6-1 had the largest phenotypic effect. It was finely mapped to a 0.8-1.2 Mb region on chromosome 6, with 62 annotated genes. Analysis of the candidate genes underlying qRBSDV6-1 showed high expression of aspartic proteinase 47 (OsAP47) in a susceptible variety, W122, and a low resistance variety, W44. OsAP47 overexpressing lines exhibited significantly reduced resistance, while the knockout mutants exhibited significantly reduced SRBSDVD and RBSDVD severity. Furthermore, the resistant allele Hap1 of OsAP47 is almost exclusive to Indica, but rare in Japonica. Results suggest that OsAP47 knockout by editing is effective for improving RBSDVD and SRBSDVD resistance. This study provides genetic information for breeding resistant cultivars.

Background: Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are considered a promising tool for treating cerebral ischemic injury. However, their poor survival after transplantation limits their therapeutic effect and applications. Salidroside has been reported to exert potent cytoprotective and neuroprotective effects. This study aimed to investigate whether salidroside could improve MSC survival under hypoxic-ischemic conditions and, subsequently, alleviate cerebral ischemic injury in a rat model.Methods: MSCs were pretreated by salidroside under hypoxic-ischemic conditions. The cell proliferation, migratory capacity, and apoptosis were evaluated by means of Cell Counting Kit (CCK)-8, transwell assay, and flow cytometry. MSCs pretreated with salidroside were transplanted into the rats subsequent to middle cerebral artery occlusion. The grip strength, 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride, and hematoxylin-eosin staining were used to analyze the therapeutic efficiency and pathological changes. The mature neuron marker NeuN and astrocyte marker GFAP in the focal area were detected by immunofluorescence.Results: These results indicated that salidroside promoted the proliferation, migration and reduced apoptosis of MSCs under hypoxic-ischemic conditions. In vivo experiments revealed that transplantation of salidroside-pretreated MSCs strengthened the therapeutic efficiency by enhancing neurogenesis and inhibiting neuroinflammation in the hippocampal CA1 area after ischemia.Conclusion: Our results suggest that pretreatment with salidroside could be an effective strategy to enhance the cell survival rate and the therapeutic effect of MSCs in treating cerebral ischemic injury.

Saltation is the major particle movement type in wind erosion process. Saltating sand grains can rebound up to tens of times larger in length and height over hard surface (such as gravel surface) than over loose sand surface. Gravels usually have different faces, causing distinct response of the impacting grains, but the effects of the grain and gravel-surface contact angle on grain rebound are not yet well quantified. We performed full-range controlled experiments of grain saltation using different contact angles, grain sizes and impact speeds in still air, to show that contact angle increases the height of representative saltation path but decreases particle travel length. The results were compared with outputs from the COMprehensive numerical model of SALTation (COMSALT). Large saltation height of 4.8 m and length of 9.0 m were recorded. The maximum and representative saltation height over the gravel surface were found to be about 4.9 times and 12.8 times those over the loose sandy surface, respectively. The maximum saltation length may be reduced by 58% and the representative saltation height may be increased by 77% as contact angle increases from 20° to 40°. We further showed that the collision inertia contributes 60% of the saltation length, and wind contributes to the other 40%. These quantitative findings have important implications for modeling saltation trajectory over gravel surface.

This study was aimed at exploring the diagnostic value of high-frequency ultrasound imaging based on a fully convolutional neural network (FCN) for peripheral neuropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). A total of 70 patients with T2D mellitus were selected and divided into a lesion group ( n = 31 ) and a nonlesion group ( n = 39 ) according to the type of peripheral neuropathy. In addition, 30 healthy people were used as controls. Hypervoxel-based and FCN-based high-frequency ultrasound images were used to examine the three groups of patients to evaluate their diagnostic performance and to compare the changes of peripheral nerves and ultrasound characteristics. The results showed that the Dice coefficient (92.7) and mean intersection over union (mIOU) (82.6) of the proposed algorithm after image segmentation were the largest, and the Hausdorff distance (7.6) and absolute volume difference (AVD) (8.9) were the smallest. The high-frequency ultrasound based on the segmentation algorithm showed higher diagnostic accuracy (94.0% vs. 86.0%), sensitivity (87.1% vs. 67.7%), specificity (97.1% vs. 94.2%), positive predictive value (93.1% vs. 86.7%), and negative predictive value (94.4% vs. 84.0%) ( P < 0.05 ). There were significant differences in the detection values of the three major nerve segments of the upper limbs in the control group, the lesion group, and the nonlesion group ( P < 0.05 ). Compared with the nonlesion group, the patients in the lesion group were more likely to have reduced nerve bundle echo, blurred reticular structure, thickened epineurium, and unclear borders of adjacent tissues ( P < 0.05 ). In summary, the high-frequency ultrasound processed by the algorithm proposed in this study showed a high diagnostic value for peripheral neuropathy in T2D patients, and high-frequency ultrasound can be used to evaluate the morphological changes of peripheral nerves in T2D patients.

Tris (2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (TEHP) is a common organophosphorus flame retardant analog with considerable ecological toxicity. Here, novel strain Ochrobactrum tritici WX3-8 capable of degrading TEHP as the sole C source was isolated. Our results show that the strain's TEHP degradation efficiency reached 75% after 104 h under optimal conditions, i.e., 30 °C, pH 7, bacterial inoculum 3%, andinitial concentration 100 mg L

Bamboo charcoal powder-based polyurethane (BC-PU) was firstly applied in biotrickling filter to treat n-hexane and dichloromethane (DCM) simultaneously. Maximum elimination capacity of 12.68 g m-3 h-1 n-hexane was achieved and exceed 30.28 g m-3 h-1DCM could be degraded. BTF respond quickly to the mixed shock loadings, and recovered to 76% and 100% respectively in less than 1 hour. By increasing inlet loading (IL) of DCM from 6.20 g m-3 h-1 to 28.36 g m-3 h-1, the removal efficiency of n-hexane decreased from 73.4% to 55.9% corresponding to the IL of 19.96 g m-3 h-1. N-hexane degradation was inhibited by high IL of DCM due to enzymes competition for active sites. The growth of key microorganisms Mycobacterium sp., Hyphomicrobium sp. was stimulated and colonized. BC-PU is an innovative and applicable bio-based material in the process of biological purification, which could be widely applied to treat hydrophobic pollutants in the pharmaceutical industry.

A family of directly β,γ-linked BODIPY oligomers up to pentamers were regioselectively prepared via Pd(II)-catalyzed oxidative C-H cross-coupling. The structural integrity of β,γ-linked dimers was unambiguously confirmed by X-ray crystallography. These structurally unprecedented oligomers showed red-shifted absorptions and near-infrared emissions along with efficient intersystem crossing, giving ΦΔ in the range of 12-43%, for potential use as heavy-atom-free photosensitizers.

Subtidal motions, such as large-scale circulations and mesoscale eddies, frequently occupy on the propagation path of internal waves in the ocean. Through solving a modified Taylor–Goldstein equation with subtidal currents, density stratification, and the earth rotation, this study investigates the impacts of subtidal motions and the earth rotation on the modal characteristics of the semidiurnal internal tide (SIT) based on long-term mooring measurements in the northern South China Sea (SCS). It is shown that the modal characteristics of the SIT are significantly influenced by the time-varying subtidal current and density stratification associated with energetic subtidal motions in the northern SCS. The earth rotation plays a minor role in modulating the modal characteristics of the SIT in the northern SCS, but it becomes effective at middle and high latitudes when strong subtidal current shear associated with subtidal motions is present. Moreover, the strong subtidal current associated with subtidal motions may significantly affect the critical latitude of the SIT. The observational results reported here will help to improve our understanding of the modal characteristics of internal tides under the influence of subtidal motions in global oceans.

Large amounts of natural gas have been discovered recently, both in carbonate reservoirs and in shales in the Sinian–Silurian strata of the Sichuan Basin, southern China. Although numerous studies have been conducted to learn about the accumulation of conventional and shale gas, the gas generation history, the origins of the two types of gas, and gas resources in the basin remain unclear. In this study, the hydrocarbon generation histories of Cambrian and Silurian source rocks were reconstructed on the basis of thermal history and hydrocarbon generation kinetic parameters. Intensive cracking of crude oil to generate considerable amounts of secondary cracking gas in Silurian and Cambrian formations occurred during deep burial. The high abundance of overmature pyrobitumen in carbonate reservoirs and shale demonstrates the occurrence of large-scale in situ cracking of liquid hydrocarbons. A mixing model was proposed to quantitatively determine the contribution of kerogen and oil-cracking gas in shale gas accumulations. The mixing of two thermogenic gases with different maturities resulted in a reversal and a rollover of the carbon isotope compositions of shale gas. Moreover, gas resources from the cracking of three occurrence states of liquid hydrocarbons—including dispersed residual bitumen in source rocks, dispersed oil outside the source, and accumulated oil in reservoirs—were evaluated in Sinian–Cambrian and Silurian petroleum systems in the Sichuan Basin, providing a guide for future deep gas exploration of similar formations in China and elsewhere.

The variations in average particle size, zeta potential, free fatty acids (FFA) release rate, and the bioavailability of menthol under in vitro simulated digestion conditions of peppermint oil nanoemulsion were investigated. 3D confocal laser scanning microscopy and Cryo-scanning electron microscopy were used to observe the microstructure characteristics of peppermint oil nanoemulsion, which indicated that soybean protein was completely adsorbed at the oil-water interface of the nanoemulsion and presented a core shell structure. And the results indicated that FFA release rate and menthol bioavailability of peppermint oil nanoemulsion prepared by using high-pressure homogenization were much higher. In the simulated gastric digestion phase, the average particle size and the zeta potential of the nanoemulsion increased, and droplet polymerization appeared. After the simulated intestinal, the interfacial protein of nanoemulsion was hydrolyzed, and the oil droplets were digested, which resulted in the decreased particle size and increased absolute value of zeta potential.

ARGONAUTE (AGO) proteins play crucial roles in plant defence against virus invasion. To date, the role of OsAGO2 in rice antiviral defence remains largely unknown. In this study, we determined that the expression of OsAGO2 in rice was induced upon rice black‐streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV) infection. Using transgenic rice plants overexpressing OsAGO2 and Osago2 mutants generated through transposon‐insertion or CRISPR/Cas9 technology, we found that overexpression of OsAGO2 enhanced rice susceptibility to RBSDV infection. Osago2 mutant lines exhibited strong resistance to RBSDV infection through the elicitation of an early defence response, including reprogramming defence gene expression and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Compared to Nipponbare control, the expression level of OsHXK1 (HEXOKINASE 1) increased significantly, and the methylation levels of its promoter decreased in the Osago2 mutant on RBSDV infection. The expression profile of OsHXK1 was the opposite to that of OsAGO2 during RBSDV infection. Overexpression of OsHXK1 in rice also induced ROS production and enhanced rice resistance to RBSDV infection. These results indicate that OsHXK1 controls ROS accumulation and is regulated by OsAGO2 through epigenetic regulation. It is noteworthy that the Osago2 mutant plants are also resistant to southern rice black‐streaked dwarf virus infection, another member of the genus Fijivirus. Based on the results presented in this paper, we conclude that OsAGO2 modulates rice susceptibility to fijivirus infection by suppressing OsHXK1 expression, leading to the onset of ROS‐mediated resistance. This discovery may benefit future rice breeding programmes for virus resistance., Expression of OsAGO2 is induced on rice black‐streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV) infection, which represses OsHXK1 expression via DNA methylation and controls reactive oxygen species‐mediated resistance in an inactivated mode to facilitate RBSDV infection.

Co-delivery of anti-tumor agents with outstanding stimulus-triggered drug release in tumor cells, especially with the aid of nanotechnology, provided the possibility to enhance delivery efficiency for targeting tumor cells and antitumor efficacy. In this paper, docetaxel-dihydroartemisinin nanoconjugates linked by disulfide bond were designed to increase co-delivery and anti-tumor efficacy. Docetaxel and dihydroartemisinin were synthesized using two-step reaction and furtherly assembled to nanoconjugates. Nanoprescription was optimized to evaluate its physicochemical properties. In vitro anti-tumor activities of nanoformulation were assessed by MTT. The flow cytometry was adopted to analyze cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. The wound healing assay was used to evaluate antimigratory-property. In vivo pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies were investigated in rats and 4T1 bearing Balb/c mice model after intravenous injection, respectively. The chemical structure of conjugate was confirmed. The prepared nanoparticles possessed uniform size distribution (172.10 ± 1.70 nm, PDI 0.05 ± 0.01), was stable during storage period, sustained release profiles and sensitive reduction responsiveness. MTT assay indicated that the toxicity of nanoconjugates was slightly weak. Flow cytometry studies showed that nanoconjugates could promote early apoptosis significantly and mainly arose from G0/G1 phase. The wound healing assay provided an obvious antimetastatic potential of nanoparticles in 4T1 cells. The result of pharmacokinetic study suggested that nanoconjugates exhibited higher exposure levels. In vivo pharmacodynamic research showed that mice treated with docetaxel-dihydroartemisinin nanoconjugates had lower systemic toxicity and higher survival ratio than those of control groups. This potential of nanoconjugates was developed as a novel nanoplateform to treat tumor.

Experiments were conducted to distinguish oil cracking in reservoir rock versus source rock. Oil and source rock samples were heated in pressure vessels at 380 °C for 72 hours, which resulted in oil cracking to gas and pyrobitumen with some residual liquid. The oil samples were heated with different minerals (fine-grained quartz, calcium carbonate, montmorillonite, kaolinite and illite) employing different ratios of the oil to the mineral in each case. Heating oil with quartz or calcium carbonate was used to simulate oil cracking in reservoirs, while heating oil with clay minerals was used to simulate oil cracking within source rocks. Based on the experiments, oil cracking in reservoirs versus source rocks can be differentiated by relative concentrations of the prominent C7 hydrocarbons: n-heptane, methylcyclohexane and methylbenzene (toluene) in the liquid products. The light hydrocarbon distribution in the final cracking products is affected by the “matrix effect” from clay minerals and the surrounding medium in reservoirs and source rocks during oil cracking. No relationship between the types of marine source rock or total organic content (TOC) and the distribution of light liquid hydrocarbons generated by catalysis on clay minerals at high temperature was observed. Future studies are needed to evaluate different types of source rock (e.g., terrigenous versus marine, clastic versus calcareous), and the relationship between light liquid hydrocarbon yield and the quantity of each clay mineral.

The role of mesoscale eddies in modulating the semidiurnal internal tide (SIT) in the northern South China Sea (SCS) is examined using the data from a cross-shaped mooring array. From November 2013 to January 2014, an anticyclonic eddy (AE) and cyclonic eddy (CE) pair crossed the westward SIT beam originating in Luzon Strait. Observations showed that, because of the current and stratification modulations by the eddy pair, the propagation speed of the mode-1 SIT sped up (slowed down) by up to 0.7 m s−1 (0.4 m s−1) within the AE’s (CE’s) southern portion. As a result of the spatially varying phase speed, the mode-1 SIT wave crest was clockwise rotated (counterclockwise rotated) within the AE (CE) core, while it exhibited convex and concave (concave and convex) patterns on the southern and northern peripheries of the AE (CE), respectively. In mid-to-late November, most of the mode-1 SIT energy was refracted by the AE away from Dongsha Island toward the north part of the northern SCS, which resulted in enhanced internal solitary waves (ISWs) there. Corresponding to the energy refraction, responses of the depth-integrated mode-1 SIT energy to the eddies were generally in phase at the along-beam-direction moorings but out of phase in the south and north parts of the northern SCS at the cross-beam-direction moorings. From late December to early January, intensified mode-2 SIT was observed, whose energy was likely transferred from the mode-1 SIT through eddy–wave interactions. The observation results reported here are helpful to improve the capability to predict internal tides and ISWs in the northern SCS.

This study examined and compared the intended mathematics curricula according to topic coverage, focus, coherence, and learning progression in grades 1 – 12 within China and the province of Ontario, Canada. The findings show that the overall topics in the two curricula are similar: Chinese curriculum covers 78 topics out of 79 while the Ontario curriculum covers 76. The two curricula also share a similar general sequence such as topics for transfer stages from numbers to functions by starting with constant mathematics, then variable mathematics, and finally functions. However, the detailed topic design of the 2 curricula differs markedly. The Chinese curriculum includes few topics in each year, a short duration or span of each topic, and a fast-paced topic progression. The Ontario curriculum, in contrast, includes more topics each year, longer duration of many topics, and a small pace of topic progression in grades 1 – 8 and a fast pace of topic progression in grades 9 – 12. Because of different curriculum designs in grades 1 – 12, the intended curriculum may influence students’ cognitive structures of mathematics, learning behavior and thinking, learning efficiency and achievement, and teachers’ professional development. This calls for more refined and advanced research on the defined list of topics, topic organization, and terms to study curriculum in order to increase student learning opportunities.

Exploring the regulatory mechanism played by endogenous rice miRNAs in defense responses against the blast disease is of great significance in both resistant variety breeding and disease control management. We identified rice defense-related miRNAs by comparing rice miRNA expression patterns before and after Magnaporthe oryzae strain Guy11 infection. We discovered that osa-miR164a expression reduced upon Guy11 infection at both early and late stages, which was perfectly associated with the induced expression of its target gene, OsNAC60. OsNAC60 encodes a transcription factor, over-expression of which enhanced defense responses, such as increased programmed cell death, greater ion leakage, more reactive oxygen species accumulation and callose deposition, and upregulation of defense-related genes. By using transgenic rice over-expressing osa-miR164a, and a transposon insertion mutant of OsNAC60, we showed that when the miR164a/OsNAC60 regulatory module was dysfunctional, rice developed significant susceptibility to Guy11 infection. The co-expression of OsNAC60 and osa-miR164a abolished the OsNAC60 activity, but not its synonymous mutant. We further validated that this regulatory module is conserved in plant resistance to multiple plant diseases, such as the rice sheath blight, tomato late blight, and soybean root and stem rot diseases. Our results demonstrate that the miR164a/OsNAC60 regulatory module manipulates rice defense responses to M. oryzae infection. This discovery is of great potential for resistant variety breeding and disease control to a broad spectrum of pathogens in the future.

MicroRNAs play crucial roles in plant responses to pathogen infections. The rice blast disease, caused by the fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, is the most important disease of rice (Oryza sativa). To explore the microRNA species that participate in rice immunity against the rice blast disease, we compared the expression of small RNAs between mock- and M. oryzae-treated rice. We found that infection by M. oryzae strain Guy11 specifically induced the expression of rice miR319 and, consequently, suppressed its target gene TEOSINTE BRANCHED/CYCLOIDEA/PROLIFERATING CELL FACTOR1 (OsTCP21), which encodes a transcription factor. Using transgenic rice that overexpresses miR319b (OE) or expresses OsTCP21-Res (which is resistant to miR319-mediated silencing), we found that OsTCP21 is a positive regulator of the rice defense response against the blast disease. When wild-type and miR319b-OE rice were infected by Guy11, multiple jasmonic acid (JA) synthetic and signaling components were suppressed, indicating that Guy11 suppresses JA signaling through inducing miR319. In particular, we found that LIPOXYGENASE2 (LOX2) and LOX5 were specifically suppressed by miR319 overexpression or by Guy11 infection. LOXs are the key enzymes of JA synthesis, which catalyze the conversion of α-linoleic acid to hydroperoxy-octadecadienoic acid. The application of α-linoleic acid rescued disease symptoms on the OsTCP21-Res rice but not wild-type rice, supporting our hypothesis that OsLOX2 and OsLOX5 are the key JA synthesis genes hijacked by Guy11 to subvert host immunity and facilitate pathogenicity. We propose that induced expression of OsLOX2/5 may improve resistance to the rice blast disease.

Small RNA (sRNA) is a class of noncoding RNA that can silence the expression of target genes. In rice, the majority of characterized sRNAs are within the range of 21 to 24 nucleotides (nt) long, whose biogenesis and function are associated with a specific sets of components, such as Dicer-like (OsDCLs) and Argonaute proteins (OsAGOs). Rice sRNAs longer than 24 nt are occasionally reported, with biogenesis and functional mechanism uninvestigated, especially in a context of defense responses against pathogen infection. By using deep sequencing, we identified a group of rice long small interfering RNAs (lsiRNAs) that are within the range of 25 to 40 nt in length. Our results show that some rice lsiRNAs are differentially expressed upon infection of Rhizoctonia solani, the causal agent of the rice sheath blight disease. Bioinformatic analysis and experimental validation indicate that some rice lsiRNAs can target defense-related genes. We further demonstrate that rice lsiRNAs are neither derived from RNA degradation nor originated as secondary small interfering RNAs (siRNAs). Moreover, lsiRNAs require OsDCL4 for biogenesis and OsAGO18 for function. Therefore, our study indicates that rice lsiRNAs are a unique class of endogenous sRNAs produced in rice, which may participate in response against pathogens.

A new reaction-based, colorimetric fluorescent sensor of BODIPY derivative ( 1 ) for cysteine (Cys) has been designd and synthesized. This probe shows highly selective detection of Cys over homocysteine (Hcy), glutathione (GSH) as well as other amino acids with a dramatic color change from wine red to fluorescence green because of the significant increase of the visible light excitable fluorescence intensity with the addition of Cys, due to their different reaction rates of the Michael addition reaction. The detection limit for Cys was 8.57 × 10 −7 M. Possible mechanism for sensing of Cys by BODIPY 1 was studied by NMR and HRMS. Probe 1 has been successfully applied to the biological imaging of Cys in living cells.

The single hot thermocouple technique (SHTT) and high temperature equilibrium technique were combined to investigate the phase diagram of the CaO−SiO2−5%MgO−20%Al2O3−TiO2 system. The 1300 °C to 1500 °C liquidus lines are calculated according to the thermodynamic equations based on the pseudo-melting temperatures measured by the single hot thermocouple technique. The phase equilibria relationships are experimentally determined at 1400 °C using the high temperature equilibria technique followed by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis. The liquid phase(L), melilite solid solution phase ((C2MS2,C2AS)ss), diopside phase(CMS2) and perovskite phase (CaO·TiO2) are found. Coupled with the liquidus lines and equilibria results, the phase diagram is constructed for the specified region of the CaO−SiO2−5%MgO−20%Al2O3−TiO2 system.

The variations in average particle size, zeta potential, free fatty acids (FFA) release rate, and the bioavailability of menthol under in vitro simulated digestion conditions of peppermint oil nanoemulsion were investigated. 3D confocal laser scanning microscopy and Cryo-scanning electron microscopy were used to observe the microstructure characteristics of peppermint oil nanoemulsion, which indicated that soybean protein was completely adsorbed at the oil-water interface of the nanoemulsion and presented a core shell structure. And the results indicated that FFA release rate and menthol bioavailability of peppermint oil nanoemulsion prepared by using high-pressure homogenization were much higher. In the simulated gastric digestion phase, the average particle size and the zeta potential of the nanoemulsion increased, and droplet polymerization appeared. After the simulated intestinal, the interfacial protein of nanoemulsion was hydrolyzed, and the oil droplets were digested, which resulted in the decreased particle size and increased absolute value of zeta potential.

A convenient procedure for the preparation of functionalized BODIPYs bearing both F and an organo substituent at the boron center, using one-pot reactions between in situ formed dipyrromethenes and organotrifluoroborate salts, has been reported. The complexation reaction utilizes stable and commercial accessible organotrifluoroborate potassium salts and provides a facile access to a variety of novel B-functionalized BODIPYs, which are hard to access through current synthetic methods.

There are several thousands of kilometers of traffic lines in desert regions that are facing blown-sand related difficulties, such as sand burial. When designing a sand control project, the width of it should be specific for different regions due to differences in regional climate, sand source richness, and wind intensity. Currently, there is no universally applicable method to judge the proper width value. The value should ensure an optimization between protection effect and economic cost. After investigating 24 sand control projects in North China and comparing several common equations for climate and wind force, we propose a new sand control index to estimate an optimal width for sand control measures and meet 5 levels of protection expectation from failed to excellent, which can reflect the characteristics of regional climate, local sand richness, and the direction of the protected facility. Threshold values for the 5 levels are decided as 13.5, 27.5, 48, and 100. This new index is validated by applying to the two stages of sand control project of the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, and the results agree well with the level-5 and level-2 control effects before and after the second stage of project. This index can be applied in a variety of situations, as it covers a wide range of climatic regions and engineering conditions.