Large and non-spherical seeds are less likely to form a persistent soil seed bank.

There is some evidence that seed traits can affect the long-term persistence of seeds in the soil. However, findings on this topic have differed between systems. Here, we brought together a worldwide database of seed persistence data for 1474 species to test the generality of seed mass-shape-persistence relationships. We found a significant trend for low seed persistence to be associated with larger and less spherical seeds. However, the relationship varied across different clades, growth forms and species ecological preferences. Specifically, relationships of seed mass-shape-persistence were more pronounced in Poales than in other order clades. Herbaceous species that tend to be found in sites with low soil sand content and precipitation have stronger relationships between seed shape and persistence than in sites with higher soil sand content and precipitation. For the woody plants, the relationship between persistence and seed morphology was stronger in sites with high soil sand content and low precipitation than in sites with low soil sand content and higher precipitation. Improving the ability to predict the soil seed bank formation process, including burial and persistence, could benefit the utilization of seed morphology-persistence relationships in management strategies for vegetation restoration and controlling species invasion across diverse vegetation types and environments.

Succulent-Inspired Implicit Structural Change for Smart "ON/OFF" Switchable and Flexible EMI Shielding Coating.

Modern miniaturized intelligent electronics call for smart switchable and flexible electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding material for highly precise applications. However, most switchable EMI shielding materials are based on an explicit structural change. Herein, we report a succulent-inspired smart switchable MXene (WR-MXene) coating film realized by inner implicit structural change, which benefits from the insertion of our reversible large-cavity yolk-shell biomicrospheres. The novel switchable yolk-shell biomicrospheres contain a soft N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM) hydrogel core, an "ON/OFF" switchable cavity (over 30% volume fraction), and a porous polydopamine (p-PDA) shell. The yolk-shell biomicrospheres can be obtained by a facile two-step polymerization and a simple drying-dehydration treatment. Because of the "ON/OFF" switchable void space brought by the smart biomicrospheres and conductive framework of MXene, an optimized ultralight and flexible WR-MXene coating film (vWR-coating film) showed both large switchable change (over 60 dB) and extraordinary EMI shielding effectiveness, reaching 95 and over 50 dB in the whole X band (8.2-12.4 GHz). These novel reversible yolk-shell biomicrospheres and the succulent-inspired switchable coating films are promising for smart flexible wearable devices and many advanced multifunctional systems needing dynamic real-time response.

Transfer and Retention Effects of a Motor Program in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders.

The current study examined the acquisition, retention, and transfer effects of a motor program. Children with autism spectrum disorder participated in a 9-week program that targeted 13 fundamental motor skills based upon the Test of Gross Motor Development-3. Assessments were conducted before and after the program, as well as at 2-month follow-up. Significant improvements were found on not only the trained fundamental motor skills (acquisition) but also the untrained tasks on balance (transfer). The follow-up tests revealed continuous improvement on the trained locomotor skills (retention), as well as the untrained skills on balance (retention + transfer). These findings highlight the importance of continuous support and long-term participation on motor practices.

Response Time Modulates the Relationship Between Implicit Learning and Motor Ability in Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Preliminary Study.

Difficulty with implicit learning plays an important role in the symptomology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, findings in motor learning are inconsistent. This study evaluated implicit sequence learning and its relationship with motor ability in children with and without ASD. We adopted a classic serial reaction time task with a retention task and three awareness tests. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children was administered to assess children's motor ability. Significant learning differences between children with and without ASD were only found in retention but not immediately after the serial reaction time task. These findings suggest that the impaired implicit learning in ASD is characterized as impaired consolidation where the relatively permanent changes are missing. Exploratory moderation analyses revealed a significant relationship between implicit learning and motor ability for individuals with faster response time. We argue the importance of response speed for optimal learning and should be weighted more for future intervention in children with ASD.

Anthocyanin Biosynthesis and a Regulatory Network of Different-Colored Wheat Grains Revealed by Multiomics Analysis.

Colored wheat has always been a popular research area because of its high performance in the field and significant medical uses. Progress has been made mapping the genes of purple or blue grains; however, the reason why different grain colors form in wheat is not well understood. We created wheat lines with different grain colors (purple and blue) using the white grain cultivar Xiaoyan22 and located the candidate region related to the purple and blue grains in chromosome 2A, 2B, and 4D, 2A, respectively, by the bulked segregant RNA-seq. The transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses of the three grains at different developmental stages indicated that the upregulation of flavonoid 3'-hydroxylase/flavonoid 3',5'hydroxylase 2 and TaMYC1/TaMYC4 was important for the formation of purple/blue grains. The blue TaMYC4 had 16 nonsynonymous single nucleotide variants verified by Sanger sequencing and possessed a different splicing mode in the bHLH_MYC_N domain compared with the reference database. Targeted high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry analysis of anthocyanins found that the purple and blue grains contained more pelargonidin, cyanidin, and delphinidin, respectively. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the different color formations of wheat grains and useful information about genetic improvements in wheat and other crops.

FMS Effects of a Motor Program for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders.

The current study evaluated the effectiveness of a motor program that specifically targeted fundamental motor skills (FMS) in children with ASD. The experimental group (n=21) participated in a 9-week program with motor instructions for 80 minutes/day, three days/week, while the control group (n=29) did not participate in the program. We measured FMS (using the Test of Gross Motor Development-3) one-week before, one-week after, and two-months after the program. Children in the experimental group had significantly larger FMS improvements than the controls on both locomotor and ball skills immediately following the program, and these participants showed continuous improvement on locomotor, but not ball skills, at 2-months follow-up. In individual analyses, 80% of children in the experimental group versus 29% of children in the control group showed continuous locomotor skills improvement beyond their pre-test levels. These findings highlight the importance of both a long-term motor development intervention and an individualized approach for evaluating improved FMS among children with ASD.

Regulatory Network of Preharvest Sprouting Resistance Revealed by Integrative Analysis of mRNA, Noncoding RNA, and DNA Methylation in Wheat.

Preharvest sprouting (PHS) of grain occurs universally and sharply decreases grain quality and yield, but the mechanism remains unclear. MingXian169, a breeding inducer wheat for stripe rust, is widely used in the Huanghuai wheat-producing region, China. In this study, we found that MingXian169 could be considered an ideal material for PHS research because of its high PHS resistance. To further analyze the network of PHS, transcriptome sequencing of mRNA, noncoding RNA (ncRNA), and DNA methylome data were used to comparison germination seeds (GS) and dormant seeds (DS); 3027, 1516, and 22 genes and 95 103 methylation regions were identified as differentially expressed mRNA, DE-microRNAs (DE-miRNA), DE-long noncoding RNAs (DE-lncRNA), and differentially methylated regions (DMRs). Pathway enrichment tests highlighted plant hormone biosynthesis and signal transduction, glutathione-ascorbate metabolism, and starch and sucrose metabolism processes related to PHS mechanisms. Further analysis demonstrated that long noncoding RNA, miRNA, and DNA methylation played critical roles in transcriptional regulation of critical pathways during PHS by modifying and interacting with target genes. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses of mRNA and miRNA confirmed the sequencing results. In the phytohormone content assay, abscisic acid (ABA) and jasmonic acid (JA) increased significantly in DS, and GA19 increased in GS. The ascorbate peroxidase (APX), monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR), and ß-d-glucosidase (BGLU) enzyme activities and the substance content of glutathione and sucrose were significantly higher in GS than in DS, implying that they were responsible for increasing PHS in MingXian169. Our results provide new insights into wheat PHS resistance at mRNA, ncRNA, and DNA methylation levels, with suggestions for crop breeding and production.

Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, and Docking Study of Ring-Opening Amide Analogs of Matrine as Antitumor Agents.

In this article, we designed and synthesized two series of matrine analogs with ring-opening in the lactam portion of the molecule. Our in vitro cytotoxicity study showed that analog N-(3-bromophenyl)-4-[(1R,3aS,10aR,10bS)-decahydro-1H,4H-pyrido[3,2,1-ij][1,6]naphthyridin-1-yl]butanamide (B11) with a meta-bromide on the phenyl ring displayed the best antiproliferative activity. Moreover, B11 induced cell cycle arrest in G1 phase and cell apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner in A549 cells. Molecular modeling revealed that B11 achieved a higher docking score compared to its precursor tert-butyl (1R,3aS,10aR,10bS)-1-[4-(3-bromoanilino)-4-oxobutyl]octahydro-1H,4H-pyrido[3,2,1-ij][1,6]naphthyridine-2(3H)-carboxylate (A11, an analog of B11 with a Boc group) and parent compound matrine, possibly because B11 formed a hydrogen bond with SER91 and a halogen bond with GLN320 on the binding site of annexin A2. Overall, we discovered the potential anticancer lead compound B11, which can be used for further study both in vitro and in vivo.

Brief Report: Does Social Functioning Moderate the Motor Outcomes of a Physical Activity Program for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders-A Pilot Study.

Several recent studies revealed that physical activity programs that focus on fundamental motor skills could enhance both motor and social performance. The purpose of this pilot was to explore whether the social impairment of Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) moderated the motor outcomes of a physical activity program. Nine children with ASD attended a 2-week program that adopted the Classroom Pivotal Response Teaching. Significant improvements on motor skills were found in all participants. Furthermore, children with more social impairment demonstrated greater motor improvement in comparison to those with less social problems. Findings suggest the importance of social factors on the outcomes of physical activity programs and the interplays between social and motor domains in ASD interventions.

Suppression of forkhead box Q1 by microRNA-506 represses the proliferation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of cervical cancer cells.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a pivotal role in cancer progression and development, representing novel therapeutic tools for cancer therapy. Forkhead box Q1 (FOXQ1) functions as an oncogene in various cancer types. However, the functional significance of FOXQ1 in cervical cancer remains unknown. In this study, we investigated the biological function of FOXQ1 in cervical cancer and tested whether or not FOXQ1 can be targeted and regulated by specific miRNAs. We found that FOXQ1 was highly expressed in cervical cancer cell lines. Knockdown of FOXQ1 by small interfering RNA (siRNA) significantly suppressed the proliferation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of cervical cancer cells. FOXQ1 was predicted as a target gene of microRNA-506 (miR-506), and this prediction was validated by dual-luciferase reporter assay. Quantitative real-time PCR and western blot analyses demonstrated that mRNA and protein expression was negatively regulated by miR-506. The expression of miR-506 was downregulated in cervical cancer tissues, and miR-506 expression was inversely correlated with FOXQ1 expression in cervical cancer. The overexpression of miR-506 dramatically suppressed the proliferation and EMT of cervical cancer cells that mimicked the suppression of FOXO1 siRNA. Furthermore, the restoration of FOXQ1 expression significantly reversed the inhibitory effect of miR-506. Overall, our study demonstrated that miR-506 inhibited the proliferation and EMT of cervical cancer cells by targeting FOXQ1 and provided evidence that the miR-506/FOXQ1 axis plays an important role in the pathogenesis of cervical cancer, representing potential molecular targets for the development of anticancer agents for cervical cancer treatment.

C:N:P stoichiometry and leaf traits of halophytes in an arid saline environment, northwest China.

Salinization is an important and increasingly prevalent issue which has broad and profound effects on plant survival and distribution pattern. To understand the patterns and potential drivers of leaf traits in saline environments, we determined the soil properties, leaf morphological traits (specific leaf area, SLA, and leaf dry matter content, LDMC), leaf chemical traits (leaf carbon, C, nitrogen, N, and phosphorus, P, stoichiometry) based on 142 observations collected from 23 sites in an arid saline environment, which is a vulnerable ecosystem in northwest China. We also explored the relationships among leaf traits, the responses of leaf traits, and plant functional groups (herb, woody, and succulent woody) to various saline environments. The arid desert halophytes were characterized by lower leaf C and SLA levels, higher N, but stable P and N:P. The leaf morphological traits were correlated significantly with the C, N, and P contents across all observations, but they differed within each functional group. Succulent woody plants had the lowest leaf C and highest leaf N levels among the three functional groups. The growth of halophytes might be more limited by N rather than P in the study area. GLM analysis demonstrated that the soil available nutrients and plant functional groups, but not salinity, were potential drivers of leaf C:N:P stoichiometry in halophytes, whereas species differences accounted for the largest contributions to leaf morphological variations. Our study provides baseline information to facilitate the management and restoration of arid saline desert ecosystem.

A new absorbent by modifying walnut shell for the removal of anionic dye: kinetic and thermodynamic studies.

A novel, low cost and easy regeneration biosorbent, chem-modified walnut shell (MWNS), was studied to investigate its potential for removal of an anionic dye, reactive brilliant red K-2BP. The MWNS was synthesized with epichlorohydrin and diethylenetriamine as etherifying agent and crosslinking agent, respectively, and its characteristics were performed with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, electron dispersive spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The influences of pH (0.5-11) and adsorbent dosage (0.1-6g/L) on adsorption capacity of MWNS were evaluated. The maximum K-2BP adsorption capacities (Qm) calculated by best fitting model (Langmuir) were 568.18 mg/g at 313 K, which was almost 10 times than that of raw material. The adsorption kinetic was well confirmed with pseudo-second-order equation. Thermodynamic studies demonstrated adsorption process by MWNS was spontaneous and endothermic. Furthermore, the regeneration capability of MWNS implied MWNS was a cheap, excellent and promising biosorbent for K-2BP removal in azo dye wastewater treatment.