Molecular Mechanism of Male Sterility Induced by 60Co γ-Rays on Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus).

Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus) is one of the notorious pests causing substantial loses to numerous cruciferous vegetables across many nations. The sterile insect technique (SIT) is a safe and effective pest control method, which does not pollute the environment and does not produce drug resistance. We used proteomics technology and bioinformatics analysis to investigate the molecular mechanisms responsible for the effects of different doses of radiation treatment on the reproductive ability of male P. xylostella. A total of 606 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were identified in the 200 Gy/CK group, 1843 DEPs were identified in the 400 Gy/CK group, and 2057 DEPs were identified in the 400 Gy/200 Gy group. The results showed that after 200 Gy irradiation, the testes resisted radiation damage by increasing energy supply, amino acid metabolism and transport, and protein synthesis, while transcription-related pathways were inhibited. After 400 Gy irradiation, the mitochondria and DNA in the testis tissue of P. xylostella were damaged, which caused cell autophagy and apoptosis, affected the normal life activities of sperm cells, and greatly weakened sperm motility and insemination ability. Meanwhile, Western blotting showed that irradiation affects tyrosine phosphorylation levels, which gradually decrease with increasing irradiation dose.

Investigation of Ultrasound Parameters for the Differential Diagnosis of Malignant and Benign Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives were to identify the key features of malignant and benign peripheral nerve sheath tumors (PNSTs) and determine a strategy for differentiating them using sonography. METHODS: Forty-six malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs) and 83 benign peripheral nerve sheath tumors (BPNSTs) confirmed by pathology from April 2010 to July 2021 were included. The general data and grayscale and color Doppler ultrasonic manifestations were compared between the two groups. We used single factor, multifactor, and area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses to extract significant malignant risk factors and then established a scoring system with these factors. RESULTS: The significant variables identified in univariate analysis (P < .05) were maximum diameter, location, shape, boundary, encapsulation, echogenicity, texture pattern, calcification, entering or exiting nerve, and vascularity. Shape, boundary and vascularity were significant risk factors, and a scoring system was established. The area under the ROC curve (0.925) confirmed the usefulness of the scoring system for differentiating MPNSTs and BPNSTs. CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasonography is an effective method for differentiating MPNSTs from BPNSTs.

Synergistic effects of botanical curcumin-induced programmed cell death on the management of Spodoptera litura Fabricius with avermectin.

Chemical pesticides and adjuvants have caused many negative effects. Botanical compounds provide solutions for the development of environment friendly pesticides and the management of increasing pest resistance. Curcumin, a natural polyphenol, showed synergistic effects on avermectin upon the destructive agricultural pest, Spodoptera litura. However, the botanical synergist and its relevant mechanisms remain unclear. In the article, curcumin significantly enhanced the growth inhibition and midgut structural damage of avermectin on the larvae of S. litura, and the synergistic effects were confirmed with pot experiments. There were only a few influences on the gene expression of avermectin targets, while apoptotic and autophagic related genes and proteins were accumulated in the avermectin/curcumin mixed regent (0.013/0.0013 µg/mL) treated group. Moreover, the potential mechanism was explored with an in vitro model, insect Spodoptera frugiperda Sf9 cell line. Morphology observation featured the damage on cells and Hoechst33258 staining revealed the fragments of DNA after treating with the avermectin/curcumin mixed regent (10/1 µg/mL). Dansylcadaverine and LysoTracker staining, as well as the gene expressions, supposed that curcumin exhibited autophagy inducing effects and the mixed regent possessed a higher ability to induce apoptosis and autophagy. All these results suggested that the synergistic effects of curcumin on the pest management of avermectin potentially mainly derived from the enhancement of programed cell death. It provides new sights for the application of natural compounds in integrated pest management and enriches examples of synergistic mechanisms.

Polymer Brush Graft-Modified Starch-Based Nanoparticles as Pickering Emulsifiers.

We study biosourced core-shell particles with a starch-based core and thermo-responsive polymer brush shell using surface-initiated single-electron transfer living radical polymerization (SI-SET-LRP) as a Pickering stabilizer. The shell endows the Pickering stabilizer with reversible emulsification/demulsification of oil and water properties. The initiator attached to the starch-based nanosphere (Br-SNP) core particle was first fabricated using the precipitation method. Subsequently, dense poly( N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) brush graft-modified starch-based nanoparticles (SNP- g-PNIPAM) were obtained via the SI-SET-LRP process. Interfacial properties of the resultant particles were analyzed by interfacial tensiometer measurements, as were the effects of the grafted polymer chain length and temperature on the interfacial activity. Pickering emulsion was obtained using SNP- g-PNIPAM particles as the stabilizer. The effect of the concentration of the Pickering stabilizer on the size of emulsion droplets was analyzed. The emulsification/demulsification process of the Pickering emulsion can be reversed and easily repeated by changing the temperature.

Effects of 60Co-γ radiation on testis physiological aspects of Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus).

The diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus), is one of the notorious pests causing substantial loses to many cruciferous vegetables across the nations. Sterile insect technique (SIT) is considered as an effective bio-control agent for controlling numerous lepidopteran pests. We searched the deformity spermatozoon and sperm bundles of diamondback moth. In our research, 200 Gy and 400 Gy 60Co-γ radiation doesn't alter the number of apyrene and eupyrene sperm bundles in testis. However, the ratio of abnormal eupyrene sperm bundles was increasing with radiation dosage. The malformation of mitochondrial derivatives is characterized by "V" shape with 400 Gy. Also, the results showed that the expression of caspase-3 with 200 Gy was down-regulated, but was obviously up-regulated after 400 Gy radiation. Thus the present research investigation highlights that the 60Co-γ radiation treatments alters the physiological development of diamondback moth testis.

Interfacial Activity of Starch-Based Nanoparticles at the Oil-Water Interface.

Understanding the interfacial activity of polysaccharide nanoparticles adsorbed at oil-water interfaces is essential and important for the application of these nanoparticles as Pickering stabilizers. The interfacial properties of starch-based nanospheres (SNPs) at the interface of an n-hexane-water system were investigated by monitoring the interfacial tension at different bulk concentrations. The three-phase contact angle (θ) and the adsorption energy (ΔE) increased with increasing size and degree of substitution with octenyl succinic groups (OSA) in the particles. Compared with the OSA-modified starch (OSA-S) macromolecule, the SNPs effectively reduced the interfacial tension of the n-hexane-water system at a relatively higher concentration. These results and the method reported herein are useful for selecting and preparing polysaccharide nanoparticles as Pickering stabilizers for oil-water emulsions.

Tough, rapid-recovery composite hydrogels fabricated via synergistic core-shell microgel covalent bonding and Fe3+ coordination cross-linking.

We developed tough, rapid-recovery composite hydrogels that are fabricated via core-shell microgel covalent bonding and Fe3+ dynamic metal coordination cross-linking. First, core-shell microgels are used as cross-linking agents and initiators to prepare homogeneous hydrogel networks with rapid recovery in the absence of an organic cross-linking agent. The toughness and recoverability of the composite hydrogels can be improved by adding the dynamic reversibility of ionic cross-linking. Owing to the synergistic effect of microgel covalent bonding, Fe3+ coordination cross-linking, and H-bond cross-linking, the multi-cross-linked composite hydrogels exhibit excellent toughness and a fast recovery rate. These characteristics demonstrate that the dynamic reversibility of the ionic cross-linking can significantly improve the toughness and recoverability of the hydrogels. In addition, the core-shell microgels play a key role in toughening the hydrogels and accelerating their recovery by transferring stress to grafted polymer chains and homogenizing the hydrogel network.

Adaptation, restoration and collapse of anammox process to La(III) stress: Performance, microbial community, metabolic function and network analysis.

During the mining of rare earth mineral, the use of lanthanum-containing fertilizers, and the disposal of lanthanum-containing electronic products, the content of lanthanum (La(III)) in typical ammonia wastewater with low carbon to nitrogen ratio is increasing day by day. Here, effects of La(III) on anammox process in performance, microbial community structure, metabolic function, and microbial co-occurrence network were investigated. The results shown that the nitrogen removal efficiency was declines briefly and then gradually recovers after low dosage (1-5 mg/L) La(III) treatment and the decrease to low level (24.25 ± 1.74%) under high La(III) dosage (10 mg/L). La(III) in the range of 1-5 mg/L significantly promoted the relative abundance of Anammoxoglobus (0.024% to 9.762%). The blocking of key metabolic pathways was confirmed to cause the breakdown of anammox by PICRUSt. Furthermore, network analysis revealed that lack of cooperation bacteria limits the activity of Anammoxoglobus.

Thermoresponsive starch-based particle-stabilized Pickering high internal phase emulsions as nutraceutical containers for controlled release.

Pickering high internal phase emulsions (HIPEs) stabilized solely by bioderived starch-based particles hold potential for application in the food and pharmaceutical fields. This paper reports the use of a thermoresponsive 2-hydroxy-3-butoxypropyl starch (HBPS) particle as a representative natural biocompatible material for use as an effective stabilizer for HIPE formation. HBPS is synthesized by using butyl glycidyl ether as a hydrophobic reagent to change the hydrophobic-hydrophilic balance of starch, and then starch-based particles are fabricated by a simple nanoprecipitation procedure. The size of particles increased with an increase in temperature, and the particles are essentially monodisperse with a PDI of about 0.1 when the temperature was above 15 °C. These HBPS particles were subsequently used as an effective stabilizer to fabricate stable oil-in-water (o/w) Pickering HIPEs with an internal phase volume of 80% at different stabilizer concentrations. The results demonstrated that increasing the particle concentration is conducive to the formation of stable Pickering HIPEs with greater stiffnesses. In addition, the nutraceutical material (ß-carotene) was encapsulated into HIPEs and in vitro release experiments revealed that the release in this system can be controlled by adjusting the temperature.

Water-in-oil Pickering emulsion polymerization of N-isopropyl acrylamide using starch-based nanoparticles as emulsifier.

Inverse Pickering emulsions stabilized by naturally derived particles are of interesting during the past decade. In this study, starch-based nanoparticles were used as a particulate emulsifier to stabilize a w/o Pickering emulsion. The effects of particle concentration and oil volume fraction on the emulsion type and stability were investigated in detail. Catastrophic phase inversion from o/w to w/o emulsions occurred at a volume fraction of oil of 0.3-0.4, without altering the particle wettability. Further, a linear relation existed between the average droplet diameter and total amounts of starch-based nanoparticles. The obtained starch-based nanoparticles also served as a Pickering stabilizer to conduct a w/o Pickering polymerization. Raspberry-like thermoresponsive starch-poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) nanocomposites with a well-defined structure were synthesized.

Fabrication of shape-tunable macroparticles by seeded polymerization of styrene using non-cross-linked starch-based seed.

Nonspherical colloidal particles with various geometries and different compositions have attracted tremendous attention and been widely researched. The preparation of polymer colloidal particles with controlled shapes by seeded polymerization is recognized as the most promising technique owing to the precise control of various morphologies and using non-cross-linked seed particles are of particular interest. Seeds particles derived from natural biopolymers are seldom applied. Hence, non-cross-linked starch-based seed could be used to fabricate the anisotropic particles by soap-free seed polymerization. Non-cross-linked starch-based seed particles were prepared by a nanoprecipitation method. Starch/polystyrene composite colloidal particles with shape-tunable were fabricated by soap-free seeded polymerization using starch-based seed. The effect of the polymerization time, monomer feed ratio and seed type were investigated. The seed particles with a single- or multi-hole structure were obtained after swelling with styrene. The resulting particles including golf-like, raspberry-like, octahedron-like and snowman-like structures, was fabricated on the polymerization process. This study firstly reports that the morphology of composite particles from golf-like to snowman-like at high monomer feed ratio using starch-based seed. At low monomer feed ratio, raspberry-like particles were obtained by surface nucleation increasing process. In addition, seed type also effect the morphology of composite particles.

Trehalose-6-phosphate and SNF1-related protein kinase 1 are involved in the first-fruit inhibition of cucumber.

In cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), the preexisting fruits inhibit the growth of subsequent fruits. To study the mechanism underlying this phenomenon, we examined the sink activity, the level of free sugars, and the activity of SNF1-related protein kinase 1 (SnRK1) in the peduncles of two types of fruits. In the two-fruit cucumber plants, the growth rate and sink activity [evaluated by alkaline alpha-galactosidase (CsAGA) activity in the peduncle] of the first fruit were greater than those of the second fruit. The (14)C-labeling experiment revealed that assimilates produced by the leaves closer to the second fruit tended to move to the first fruit. Sucrose and trehalose-6-phosphate (T6P) levels in the peduncle of the first fruit were higher than those in the peduncle of the second fruit. The SnRK1 activity was lower in the peduncle of the first fruit than in that of the second fruit at 0-8 days after anthesis. The growth rate and sink activity of the second fruit were enhanced after the removal of the first fruit or after treatment with 6-benzyl aminopurine, as determined by comparison with an increase in the sucrose and T6P levels and a decrease in the SnRK1 activity in its peduncle. The SnRK1 activity was inhibited by T6P in an in vitro kinase assay, and the mRNA level of CsAGA1 in cucumber calli was up-regulated by exogenous trehalose treatment, confirming that the SnRK1 activity and CsAGA1 expression can be regulated by T6P levels. Our results suggest that the T6P- and SnRK1-mediated signaling functions are involved in the regulation of first-fruit inhibition in cucumber plants.

A novel application of the Automated Breast Volume Scanner (ABVS) in the diagnosis of soft tissue tumors.

AIM: To explore the feasibility of the application of the Automated Breast Volume Scanner (ABVS) ACUSON S2000 in the diagnosis of soft tissue tumors. METHODS: The data of handheld ultrasound (HHUS) scans and ABVS volume three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction were collected from 66 patients with soft tissue tumors. The diagnosis rates for the two methods were compared. Additionally, the sonographic features of the lesions on ABVS imaging were evaluated. The data of the sonographic "hyperechoic rim sign" and "heterogeneous texture sign" were analyzed for the differential diagnosis. RESULTS: Automatic 3D reconstruction and high-resolution images from the coronal and sagittal planes were obtained using the ABVS. Although the ABVS is similar to HHUS in terms of sensitivity (81.8% vs. 77.3%, respectively), specificity (93.2% vs. 88.6%, respectively), and accuracy (89.4% vs. 84.8%, respectively), the success rates for full view of the lesion and detection rates of multiple lesions are significantly improved by the ABVS. Furthermore, the "hyperechoic rim sign" can be regarded as a specific diagnostic factor for benign tumors, with a diagnostic specificity and a positive predictive value of 86.4% and 91.4%, respectively. Additionally, the "heterogeneous texture" appeared commonly in malignant tumors, with a diagnostic sensitivity and a negative predictive value of 81.8% and 87.5%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Compared with conventional two-dimensional imaging, automatic 3D reconstruction and high-resolution images from three vertical planes can be displayed by the ABVS, and the global anatomy and surrounding tissue of the lesions can be clearly presented. Thus, ABVS imaging may help to differentiate between benign and malignant soft tissue tumors.