Argon non-thermal plasma treatment promotes the development of rice (Oryza sativa L.) in saline alkali environments.

Soil salinization leads to a reduction in arable land area, which seriously endangers food security. Developing saline-alkali land has become a key measure to address the contradiction between population growth and limited arable land. Rice is the most important global food crop, feeding half of the world's population and making it a suitable choice for planting on saline-alkali lands. The traditional salt-alkali improvement method has several drawbacks. Currently, non-thermal plasma (NTP) technology is being increasingly applied in agriculture. However, there are few reports on the cultivation of salt/alkali-tolerant rice. Under alkaline stress, argon NTP treatment significantly increased the germination rate of Longdao 5 (LD5) rice seeds. In addition, at 15 kV and 120 s, NTP treatment significantly increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase and SOD. NTP treatment induced changes in genes related to salt-alkali stress in rice seedlings, such as chitinase and xylanase inhibitor proteins, which increased the tolerance of the seeds to salt-alkali stress. This experiment has expanded the application scope of NTP in agriculture, providing a more cost-effective, less harmful, and faster method for developing salt-alkali-tolerant rice and laying a theoretical foundation for cultivating NTP-enhanced salt-alkali-tolerant rice.

Investigation of the antibacterial effect, osteogenic activity, and tracing properties of hydroxyapatite co-doped with Tb3+ and Zn2.

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a biomimetic biomaterial that has been widely used in bone repair for many years. However, the increased risk of infection after surgery and long-time tracing for the material distribution and degradation during bone reconstruction remain challenges in the clinic. Zinc (Zn) is considered as an indispensable microelement for humans and is characterized with antibacterial action and osteogenic activity. Terbium (Tb), a rare-earth element, emits stable fluorescence under ultraviolet light. Here, Tb3+/Zn2+ co-doped hydroxyapatite (HA:Tb/Zn) was prepared to synchronously realize the antibacterial effect, osteogenic activity, and long-time tracing property. We found that HA:Tb/Zn had a strong antibacterial effect on both Gram-positive and Gram-negative clinical infectious bacteria, as well as improved osteogenic activity. HA:Tb/Zn also displayed stable green fluorescence in vitro and in vivo, which indicated great potential for recognizing the material changes during the bone reconstruction process. The combination of the ternary functions is of great significance to control the overuse of antibiotics and realize long-time tracing, and provide a versatile design on biomaterials in bone repair.

Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate-receptor antibody encephalitis combined with syphilis: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate-receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis is a common type of autoimmune encephalitis characterized by complex clinical signs and variable imaging manifestations. The pathogenesis of the disease is unclear. Syphilis is an infectious disease caused by Treponema pallidum that can invade the nervous and immune systems and cause systemic symptoms. There are few reports of anti-NMDAR encephalitis with syphilis, and the association between them is unknown; both diseases are related to immune system damage. We report a case of anti-NMDAR encephalitis with syphilis. CASE SUMMARY: A 32-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with complaints of cognitive decline, diplopia, and walking instability during the previous 6 mo. He developed dysarthria, difficulty swallowing, and involuntary shaking of his head, neck, and limbs during the month prior to presentation. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging showed symmetrical abnormal signals in the pons, midbrain, and bilateral basal ganglia, and inflammatory demyelination was considered. The diagnosis of syphilis was confirmed based on the syphilis diagnosis test and the syphilis rapid test. He was given anti-syphilis treatment, but the above symptoms gradually worsened. Anti-NMDAR antibody was positive in cerebrospinal fluid but was negative in serum. Due to the cerebrospinal fluid findings, anti-NMDAR encephalitis was a consideration. According to the patient's weight, he was treated with intravenous methylprednisolone 1 g QD for 5 d, with the dose gradually decreased for 6 mo, and immunoglobulin 25 g QD for 5 d; his symptoms improved after treatment. CONCLUSION: This case shows that anti-NMDAR encephalitis may be combined with syphilis, which should be recognized to avoid misdiagnosis and treatment delay.

Clinical Efficacy and Transcriptomic Analysis of Congrong Shujing Granules () in Patients with Parkinson's Disease and Syndrome of Shen (Kidney) Essence Deficiency.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of Congrong Shujing Granules ( , CSGs) in treating patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and Chinese medicine (CM) syndrome of Shen (Kidney) essence deficiency, and to investigate the potential mechanism involving efficacy through a transcriptome sequencing approach. METHODS: Eligible PD patients with syndrome of Shen essence defificiency were randomly assigned to a treatment group or a control group by a random number table, and were treated with CSGs combined with Western medicine (WM), or placebo combined with WM, respectively. Both courses of treatment lasted for 12 weeks. The Unifified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) score, the PD Question-39 (PDQ-39) score, CM Syndrome Scale score, and drug usage of all patients were evaluated before and after treatment. Safety was evaluated by clinical laboratory tests and electrocardiographs. Blood samples from 6 patients in each group were collected before and after the trial and used for transcriptomic analysis by gene ontology analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analysis. Differentially expressed genes were validated using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: A total of 86 PD patients were selected from the Third Affifiliated People's Hospital of Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine between January 2017 and December 2017. Finally, 72 patients completed the trial, including 35 in the treatment group and 37 in the control group. When compared with the control group after treatment, patients in the treatment group showed signifificant decreases in UPDRS sub-II score, PDQ-39 score, CM syndrome score, and Levodopa equivalent dose (P<0.05). During the treatment course, no signifificant changes were observed in safety indicators between the two groups (P>0.05). A possible mechanism of clinical effificacy was proposed that involved regulating cell metabolism-related processes and ribosome-related pathways. Treatment with CSGs had shown to affect relevant gene loci for PD, including AIDA, ANKRD36BP2, BCL2A1, BCL2L11, FTH1P2, GCH1, HPRT1, NFE2L2, RMRP, RPS7, TGFBR1, WIPF2, and COX7B. CONCLUSIONS: CSGs combined with WM can be used to treat PD patients with CM syndrome of Shen essence defificiency with a good safety. The possible mechanism of action and relevant gene loci were proposed. (Registration No. ChiCTR-IOR-16008394).

[Genetic variation and pathogenicity analysis of highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus strain TJ in the course of attenuation].

To develop an attenuated vaccine against the highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (HP-PRRS) virus, the HP-PRRS virus strain TJ was attenuated by serial passages and plaque cloned every 5 to 10 passages in Marc-145 cells. Genetic variation and pathogenicity of HP-PRRSV strain TJ in the course of attenuation were analyzed. The results showed that the strain TJ sustained various sequence changes during the course of attenuation. Fifty-eight amino acids changes and a new continuous 120 amino acids deletion after the discontinuous 30 amino acids deletion (sites 481 and 533-561) occurred in strain TJ passages 140, and the position of 120 amino acids deletion was between 628 to 747 according to VR-2332. Animal test showed that the pathogenicity of strain TJ passages 20 was attenuated obviously, so we presume that genetic variation in nonstructural protein nsp2-nsp5, nsp7 and structural protein GP5 during the attenuation provides the molecular bases for the observed attenuated phenotype.