Associations of prenatal blood pressure trajectory and variability with child neurodevelopment at 2 years old.

BACKGROUND: The patterns of blood pressure (BP) change throughout the pregnancy were related to adverse birth outcomes. However, little is known about the long-term effect of BP change patterns on child neurodevelopment. This study aimed to explore the relationship between the BP trajectory and BP variability during pregnancy and early childhood neurodevelopment. METHOD: A total of 2797 mother-newborn pairs were derived from the Wuhan Healthy Baby Cohort Study. BP was measured during each antenatal visit, and Mental and Psychomotor Development Indexes (MDI and PDI) were assessed using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID) when the children were 2 years old. Delayed neurodevelopment was defined as scores of PDI or MDI less than - 1SD relative to the mean score of the study population. A group-based multi-trajectory model was adopted to identify multi-trajectories of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). Visit-to-visit BP variability was assessed by the coefficient of variation (CV), standard deviation (SD), and average real variability (ARV). Generalized linear models and multivariate logistic regressions were used to assess the associations of BP trajectories and variability with BSID scores and delayed neurodevelopment, respectively. RESULTS: Five distinct trajectories for SBP and DBP were identified, namely, "Low-increasing," "Low-stable," "Moderate-decreasing," "Moderate-increasing," and "High-stable" groups. Compared with the "Low-stable" group, the children whose mothers' BP fell into the other four groups had lower PDI scores, and mothers in the "Low-increasing," "Moderate-increasing," and "Moderate-decreasing" groups had 43% (OR: 1.43, 95% CI: 1.01, 2.03), 48% (OR: 1.48, 95% CI: 1.05, 2.08) and 45% (OR:1.45, 95% CI: 1.03, 2.04) higher risk of having offspring with delayed psychomotor neurodevelopment, respectively. High DBP variability was associated with lower BSID scores, and delayed psychomotor neurodevelopment (OR = 1.46, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.92 for DBP-SD; OR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.16, 2.02 for DBP-CV). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that BP change patterns assessed by multi-trajectory and visit-to-visit variability were associated with lower BSID scores and delayed neurodevelopment. Health professionals should be aware of the influence of BP level and its oscillations during pregnancy on the risk of delayed neurodevelopment.

Pyridine-Bridged Covalent Organic Frameworks with Adjustable Band Gaps as Intelligent Artificial Enzymes for Light-Augmented Biocatalytic Sensing.

One of the biggest challenges in biotechnology and medical diagnostics is finding extremely sensitive and adaptable biosensors. Since metal-based enzyme-mimetic biocatalysts may lead to biosafety concerns on accumulative toxicity, it is essential to synthesize metal-free enzyme-mimics with optimal biocatalytic activity and superior selectivity. Here, the pyridine-bridged covalent organic frameworks (COFs) with specific oxidase-like (OXD-like) activities as intelligent artificial enzymes for light-augmented biocatalytic sensing of biomarkers are disclosed. Because of the adjustable bandgaps of pyridine structures on the photocatalytic properties of the pristine COF structures, the pyridine-bridged COF exhibit efficient, selective, and light-responsive OXD-like biocatalytic activity. Moreover, the pyridine-bridged COF structures show tunable and light-augmented biocatalytic detection capabilities, which outperform the recently reported state-of-the-art OXD-mimics regarding biosensing efficiency. Notably, the pyridine-bridged COF exhibits efficient and multifaceted diagnostic activity, including the extremely low limit of detection (LOD), which enables visual assays for abundant reducibility biomarkers. It is believed that this design will offer unique metal-free biocatalysts for high-sensitive and low-cost colorimetric detection and also provide new insights to create highly efficient enzyme-like COF materials via linkage-modulation strategies for future biocatalytic applications.

Pathogen invasion increases the abundance of predatory protists and their prey associations in the plant microbiome.

Soil and plant-associated protistan communities play a key role in shaping bacterial and fungal communities, primarily through their function as top-down predators. However, our understanding of how pathogen invasion influences these protistan communities and their relationships with bacterial and fungal communities remains limited. Here, we studied the protistan communities along the soil-plant continuum of healthy chilli peppers and those affected by Fusarium wilt disease (FWD), and integrated bacterial and fungal community data from our previous research. Our research showed that FWD was associated with a significant enrichment of phagotrophic protists in roots, and also increased the proportion and connectivity of these protists (especially Cercozoa and Ciliophora) in both intra- and inter-kingdom networks. Furthermore, the microbiome of diseased plants not only showed a higher relative abundance of functional genes related to bacterial anti-predator responses than healthy plants, but also contained a greater abundance of metagenome-assembled genomes with functional traits involved in this response. The increased microbial inter-kingdom associations between bacteria and protists, coupled with the notable bacterial anti-predator feedback in the microbiome of diseased plants, suggest that FWD may catalyse the associations between protists and their microbial prey. These findings highlight the potential role of predatory protists in influencing microbial assembly and functionality through top-down forces under pathogenic stress.

Development and Validation of a Nomogram for Predicting Acute Kidney Injury in Pediatric Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication after cardiac surgery and associated with adverse outcomes. The purpose of this study is to construct a nomogram to predict the probability of postoperative AKI in pediatric patients undergoing cardiac surgery. We conducted a single-center retrospective cohort study of 1137 children having cardiac surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass. We randomly divided the included patients into development and validation cohorts at a ratio of 7:3. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression model was used for feature selection. We constructed a multivariable logistic regression model to select predictors and develop a nomogram to predict AKI risk. Discrimination, calibration and clinical benefit of the final prediction model were evaluated in the development and validation cohorts. A simple nomogram was developed to predict risk of postoperative AKI using six predictors including age at operation, cyanosis, CPB duration longer than 120 min, cross-clamp time, baseline albumin and baseline creatinine levels. The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve of the nomogram was 0.739 (95% CI 0.693-0.786) and 0.755 (95% CI 0.694-0.816) for the development and validation cohort, respectively. The calibration curve showed a good correlation between predicted and observed risk of postoperative AKI. Decision curve analysis presented great clinical benefit of the nomogram. This novel nomogram for predicting AKI after pediatric cardiac surgery showed good discrimination, calibration and clinical practicability.

Association between postoperative ibuprofen exposure and acute kidney injury after pediatric cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication after pediatric cardiac surgery and is associated with worse outcomes. Ibuprofen is widely used in the perioperative period and can affect kidney function in children. However, the association between ibuprofen exposure and AKI after pediatric cardiac surgery has not been determined yet. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, children undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass were studied. Exposure was defined as given ibuprofen in the first 7 days after surgery. Postoperative AKI was diagnosed using the KDIGO criteria. A multivariable Cox regression model was used to assess the association between ibuprofen exposure and postoperative AKI by taking ibuprofen as a time-varying covariate. RESULTS: Among 1,112 included children, 198 of them (17.8%) experienced AKI. In total, 396 children (35.6%) were exposed to ibuprofen. AKI occurred less frequently among children who were administered ibuprofen than among those who were not (46 of 396 [11.6%] vs. 152 of 716 [21.2%], p < 0.001). Using the Cox regression model accounting for time-varying exposures, ibuprofen treatment was not associated with AKI (adjusted HR, 0.99; 95% CI 0.70-1.39, p = 0.932). This insignificant association was consistent across the sensitivity and subgroup analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Postoperative ibuprofen exposure in pediatric patients undergoing cardiac surgery was not associated with an increased risk of AKI.

Comparative chloroplast genomics reveals the phylogeny and the adaptive evolution of Begonia in China.

BACKGROUND: The Begonia species are common shade plants that are mostly found in southwest China. They have not been well studied despite their medicinal and decorative uses because gene penetration, decreased adaptability, and restricted availability are all caused by frequent interspecific hybridization. RESULT: To understand the patterns of mutation in the chloroplast genomes of different species of Begonia, as well as their evolutionary relationships, we collected seven Begonia species in China and sequenced their chloroplast genomes. Begonia species exhibit a quadripartite structure of chloroplast genomes (157,634 - 169,694 bp), consisting of two pairs of inverted repeats (IR: 26,529 - 37,674 bp), a large single copy (LSC: 75,477 - 86,500 bp), and a small single copy (SSC: 17,861 - 18,367 bp). 128-143 genes (comprising 82-93 protein-coding genes, 8 ribosomal RNAs, and 36-43 transfer RNAs) are found in the chloroplast genomes. Based on comparative analyses, this taxon has a relatively similar genome structure. A total of six substantially divergent DNA regions (trnT-UGU-trnL-UAA, atpF-atpH, ycf4-cemA, psbC-trnS-UGA, rpl32-trnL-UAG, and ccsA-ndhD) are found in the seventeen chloroplast genomes. These regions are suitable for species identification and phylogeographic analysis. Phylogenetic analysis shows that Begonia species that were suited to comparable environments grouped in a small clade and that all Begonia species formed one big clade in the phylogenetic tree, supporting the genus' monophyly. In addition, positive selection sites were discovered in eight genes (rpoC1, rpoB, psbE, psbK, petA, rps12, rpl2, and rpl22), the majority of which are involved in protein production and photosynthesis. CONCLUSION: Using these genome resources, we can resolve deep-level phylogenetic relationships between Begonia species and their families, leading to a better understanding of evolutionary processes. In addition to enhancing species identification and phylogenetic resolution, these results demonstrate the utility of complete chloroplast genomes in phylogenetically and taxonomically challenging plant groupings.

Early Postoperative Acetaminophen Administration and Severe Acute Kidney Injury After Cardiac Surgery.

RATIONALE & OBJECTIVE: Oxidative stress may contribute to the development of acute kidney injury (AKI) after cardiac surgery. Acetaminophen can be considered an antioxidant because it inhibits hemoprotein-catalyzed lipid peroxidation. We hypothesized that perioperative acetaminophen administration is associated with reduced AKI after cardiac surgery. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective observational cohort study. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS: Patients aged≥18 years who had cardiac surgery were identified from 2 publicly available clinical registries: the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC-III) and the eICU Collaborative Research Database (eICU). EXPOSURE: Administration of acetaminophen in the first 48 hours after surgery. OUTCOME: Severe AKI in the first 7 days after surgery, defined as stage 2 or stage 3 AKI according to KDIGO criteria. ANALYTICAL APPROACH: Multivariable cause-specific hazards regression analysis. RESULTS: We identified 5,791 patients from the MIMIC-III and 3,840 patients from the eICU registries. The overall incidence of severe AKI was 58% (3,390 patients) in the MIMIC-III cohort and 37% (1,431 patients) in the eICU cohort. Acetaminophen was administered in the early postoperative period to 4,185 patients (72%) and 2,737 patients (71%) in these 2 cohorts, respectively. In multivariable regression models, early postoperative use of acetaminophen was associated with a lower risk of severe AKI in both the MIMIC-III (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR], 0.86 [95% CI, 0.79-0.94]) and eICU (AHR, 0.84 [95% CI, 0.72-0.97]) cohorts. The benefit was consistent across sensitivity and subgroup analyses. LIMITATIONS: No data on acetaminophen dose. CONCLUSIONS: Early postoperative acetaminophen administration was independently associated with a lower risk of severe AKI in adults recovering from cardiac surgery. Prospective trials are warranted to assess the extent to which the observed association is causal and estimate the extent to which acetaminophen administration might prevent or reduce the severity of AKI. PLAIN-LANGUAGE SUMMARY: There is uncertainty about whether antioxidant medications such as acetaminophen may protect against kidney injury. Therefore, we evaluated the associations between acetaminophen use and kidney outcomes in adults recovering from cardiac surgery in 2 large clinical registries. Acetaminophen treatment was significantly associated with a 14%-16% lower risk of severe and any-stage acute kidney injury but similar risks of kidney replacement therapy and in-hospital mortality. Our findings suggest that acetaminophen use may protect against kidney injury in adult patients recovering from cardiac surgery.

Dual-wavelength hologram of high transmittance metasurface.

In this work, a simple dielectric metasurface hologram is proposed and designed by combining the electromagnetic vector analysis method and the immune algorithm, which can realize the holographic display of dual wavelength orthogonal-linear polarization light in visible light band, solve the problem of low efficiency of the traditional design method of metasurface hologram, and effectively improve the diffraction efficiency of metasurface hologram. The titanium dioxide metasurface nanorod based on rectangular structure is optimized and designed. When the x-linear polarized light with wavelength of 532 nm and y-linear polarized light with wavelength of 633 nm are incident on the metasurface respectively, different display output images with low cross-talk can be obtained on the same observation plane, and the transmission efficiencies of x-linear and y-linear polarized light are as high as 68.2% and 74.6% respectively in simulation. Then the metasurface is fabricated by Atomic Layer Deposition method. The experimental results are consistent with the design results, which proves that the metasurface hologram designed by this method can completely realize the feasibility of wavelength and polarization multiplexing holographic display, and has potential application value in holographic display, optical encryption, anti-counterfeiting, data storage and other fields.

Home confinement's impact on myopia control by using orthokeratology in school-aged children.

BACKGROUND: Home confinement during the epidemic has a significant impact on the lifestyle and behavior of school-aged children, who have exhibited an increase in the prevalence and development of myopia. Our research will look at if home confinement will affect school-aged children on myopia control with orthokeratology. METHOD: Data on axial length was gathered from school-aged children who had received OK lenses treatment. The entire data was separated into subgroups based on gender, age, and initial refraction, and the AL changes for each period were calculated using the formula defined in our study. Finally, the acquired data will be examined using various statistical approaches, and the ideas of slow, moderate, and rapid myopia progression will be applied to our study. RESULT: A total of 258 study subjects met the requirements to be included in the study. We discovered that the percentage of rapid myopia growth increased during the epidemic. In addition, the AL changes before and during the epidemic were found to be statistically significant in 171 subjects in the overall data. (P = 0.041) In the high age group, the AL changes before and during the epidemic、(P = 0.033) before and after the epidemic (P = 0.023) were found to be statistically significant. The AL changes before and during the epidemic (P = 0.035) were shown to be statistically significant in the moderate myopia group. Finally, we did not find statistically significant results for other groups. CONCLUSION: We cannot conclude that home confinement did have a negative impact on myopia control with orthokeratology in school-aged children. But we found there was an increase in the percentage of patients with OK treatment that had fast myopia progression during the confinement. We also observed that older children with higher initial refraction were more likely to be affected by home confinement.

Association of early postoperative serum magnesium with acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery.

INTRODUCTION: Dysmagnesemia has been demonstrated to be involved in the pathophysiology of kidney diseases and is common in cardiac surgical patients. It remains unknown whether changes of serum magnesium after cardiac surgery affect AKI. We aimed to investigate the association of early postoperative magnesium with cardiac surgery-associated AKI in adults. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter retrospective cohort study involving patients who underwent cardiac surgery in the eICU Collaborative Research Database between 2014 and 2015. AKI within 7 days after surgery was defined using both serum creatinine and urine output criteria of Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes definition. Postoperative AKI was analyzed using multivariable logistic regression with early postoperative serum magnesium measured within the first 24 h after surgery as a continuous variable and categorically by quartiles. RESULTS: Postoperative AKI was identified in 3498 of 6124 (57.1%) patients receiving cardiac surgery. The median (25th-75th percentiles) early postoperative serum magnesium level of the study population was 2.3 (2.0-2.7) mg/dL. Higher serum magnesium level was associated with a higher risk of developing postoperative AKI (adjusted odds ratio (OR), 1.46 per 1 mg/dL increase; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.31-1.62; p<.001). The multivariable-adjusted ORs (95% CIs) of postoperative AKI across increasing quartiles of serum magnesium were 1.00 (referent), 1.11 (0.95-1.29), 1.30 (1.12-1.52), and 1.72 (1.47-2.02) (p for trend <.001). CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate a significantly higher incidence of AKI in patients with higher early postoperative serum magnesium who underwent cardiac surgery.

Induced-Fit-Identification in a Rigid Metal-Organic Framework for ppm-Level CO2 Removal and Ultra-Pure CO Enrichment.

Removing CO2 from crude syngas via physical adsorption is an effective method to yield eligible syngas. However, the bottleneck in trapping ppm-level CO2 and improving CO purity at higher working temperatures are major challenges. Here we report a thermoresponsive metal-organic framework (1 a-apz), assembled by rigid Mg2 (dobdc) (1 a) and aminopyrazine (apz), which not only affords an ultra-high CO2 capacity (145.0/197.6 cm3 g-1 (0.01/0.1 bar) at 298 K) but also produces ultra-pure CO (purity ≥99.99 %) at a practical ambient temperature (TA ). Several characterization results, including variable-temperature tests, in situ high-resolution synchrotron X-ray diffraction (HR-SXRD), and simulations, explicitly unravel that the excellent property is attributed to the induced-fit-identification in 1 a-apz that comprises self-adaption of apz, multiple binding sites, and complementary electrostatic potential (ESP). Breakthrough tests suggest that 1 a-apz can remove CO2 from 1/99 CO2 /CO mixtures at practical 348 K, yielding 70.5 L kg-1 of CO with ultra-high purity of ≥99.99 %. The excellent separation performance is also revealed by separating crude syngas that contains quinary mixtures of H2 /N2 /CH4 /CO/CO2 (46/18.3/2.4/32.3/1, v/v/v/v/v).

Botrytis cinerea BcSSP2 protein is a late infection phase, cytotoxic effector.

Botrytis cinerea is a broad-host-range necrotrophic phytopathogen responsible for serious diseases in leading crops. To facilitate infection, B. cinerea secretes a large number of effectors that induce plant cell death. In screening secretome data of B. cinerea during infection stage, we identified a phytotoxic protein (BcSSP2) that can also induce immune resistance in plants. BcSSP2 is a small, cysteine-rich protein without any known domains. Transient expression of BcSSP2 in leaves caused chlorosis that intensifies with time and eventually leads to death. Point mutations in eight of 10 cysteine residues abolished phytotoxicity, but residual toxic activity remained after heating treatment, suggesting contribution of unknown epitopes to protein phytotoxicity. The expression of bcssp2 was low during the first 36 h after inoculation and increased sharply upon transition to late infection stage. Deletion of bcssp2 did not cause statistically significant changes in lesions size on bean and tobacco leaves. Further analyses indicated that the phytotoxicity of BcSSP2 is negatively regulated by the receptor-like kinases BAK1 and SOBIR1. Collectively, our findings show that BcSSP2 is an effector protein that toxifies the host cells, but is also recognized by the plant immune system.

Association between early ondansetron administration and in-hospital mortality in critically ill patients: analysis of the MIMIC-IV database.

BACKGROUND: While ondansetron (OND) is widespread availability, the contribution of OND to improve patient outcomes among intensive care unit (ICU) patients has not been examined. This study aimed to illustrate the association between early OND use and in-hospital mortality in critically ill patients and investigate whether this association differed according to OND dose. METHODS: The MIMIC-IV database was employed to identify patients who had and had not received OND. Statistical approaches included multivariate logistic regression, propensity score matching (PSM), and propensity score-based inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) models to ensure the robustness of our findings. RESULTS: In total, 51,342 ICU patients were included. A significant benefit in terms of in-hospital mortality was observed in the OND patients compared to the non-OND group in the early stage [odds ratio (OR) = 0.75, 95% CI 0.63-0.89, p < 0.001]. In the circulatory system group, the early OND administration was associated with improved in-hospital mortality in ICU patients (OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.34-0.66; P < 0.001). The risk of in-hospital mortality was also lower in early OND users than in non-OND users both in the medical admission group and the surgical ICU admission group, and ORs were 0.57 (95% CI 0.42-0.76; P < 0.001) and 0.79 (95% CI 0.62-0.91; P < 0.001), respectively. A positive role of daily low- and moderate-dose OND treatment in early-stage was showed on the in-hospital mortality in PSM cohort, and the ORs were 0.75 (95% CI 0.62-0.90; P < 0.001) and 0.63 (95% CI 0.43-0.91; P < 0.001), respectively. The relationship between the daily low- and moderate-dose of OND and in-hospital mortality was also significant in ICU patients with cardiovascular diseases, and ORs were 0.51(95% CI 0.36-0.73; P < 0.001), and 0.26(95% CI 0.11-0.65; P < 0.001), respectively. Daily low-to-moderate dose of OND was also associated with in-hospital mortality in ICU entire cohort. CONCLUSIONS: Early OND use is closely associated with lower in-hospital mortality in ICU patients. Daily low-to-moderate dose of OND application is protective against in-hospital mortality. This association is more evident in the circulatory system group.

Impacts of global change on the phyllosphere microbiome.

Plants form complex interaction networks with diverse microbiomes in the environment, and the intricate interplay between plants and their associated microbiomes can greatly influence ecosystem processes and functions. The phyllosphere, the aerial part of the plant, provides a unique habitat for diverse microbes, and in return the phyllosphere microbiome greatly affects plant performance. As an open system, the phyllosphere is subjected to environmental perturbations, including global change, which will impact the crosstalk between plants and their microbiomes. In this review, we aim to provide a synthesis of current knowledge of the complex interactions between plants and the phyllosphere microbiome under global changes and to identify future priority areas of research on this topic.

Impact of early term and late preterm birth on infants' neurodevelopment: evidence from a cohort study in Wuhan, China.

BACKGROUND: The incidences of early term and late preterm birth have increased worldwide during recent years. However, there is a lack of prospective study about the influence of early term and late preterm birth on infants' neurodevelopment, especially at the early stage. Therefore, we conducted this cohort study to investigate the impact of early term and late preterm birth on infants' neurodevelopment within 6 months. METHODS: This cohort study was conducted in Wuhan, China, between October 2012 and September 2013. A total of 4243 singleton infants born within 34-41 weeks of gestation at Wuhan Children's Hospital were included. The Gesell Developmental Scale (GDS) was utilized to evaluate the neurodevelopment of infants. RESULTS: Among the 4243 included participants, 155 (3.65%) were late preterm infants, 1288 (30.36%) were early term infants, and 2800 (65.99%) were full term infants. After adjusted for potential confounders, significant negative relationship was shown between late preterm birth and development quotient (DQ) in all domains of neurodevelopment: gross motor (ß = - 17.42, 95% CI: - 21.15 to - 13.69), fine motor (ß = - 23.61, 95% CI: - 28.52 to - 18.69), adaptability (ß = - 10.10, 95% CI: - 13.82 to - 6.38), language (ß = - 6.28, 95% CI: - 9.82 to - 2.74) and social behavior (ß = - 5.99, 95% CI: - 9.59 to - 2.39). There was a significant negative trend for early term birth in DQ of fine motor (ß = - 2.01, 95% CI: - 3.93 to - 0.09). Late preterm infants had a significantly elevated risk of neurodevelopmental delay in domains of gross motor (adjusted OR = 3.82, 95% CI: 2.67 to 5.46), fine motor (adjusted OR = 3.51, 95% CI: 2.47 to 5.01), and adaptability (adjusted OR = 1.60, 95% CI: 1.12 to 2.29), whereas early term birth was significantly associated with neurodevelopmental delay of fine motor (adjusted OR = 1.22, 95% CI: 1.05 to 1.42). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggested that late preterm birth mainly elevated the risk of neurodevelopmental delay of gross motor, fine motor, and adaptability, whereas early term birth was associated with the developmental delay of fine motor within 6 months. Further research is needed to determine the effectiveness and necessity of the interventions at the early stage for early term and late preterm infants who had suspected neurodevelopmental delay.

Effectiveness of a combined problem-based learning and flipped classroom teaching method in ophthalmic clinical skill training.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have primarily implemented problem-based learning (PBL) or flipped classroom (FC) teaching models in different majors; however, research on the combined PBL-FC teaching method in clinical medicine is scarce. Therefore, we investigated the combined PBL-FC teaching method in teaching ocular trauma on students' competencies. METHOD: About 75 ophthalmology postgraduates were randomly divided into PBL-FC and traditional teaching groups. Students completed pre-and post-class theoretical examinations, skills evaluation, learning ability scales, and feedback questionnaires. RESULTS: Both groups showed significantly higher theoretical scores and improved learning ability. Feedback questionnaire scores of the PBL-FC group's postgraduates without clinical experience were significantly higher than the traditional group's for some items; there was no difference between groups in postgraduates with clinical experience. PBL-FC group's pre-class preparation time was significantly longer than the traditional group's, but the post-class review time was significantly shorter. PBL-FC group's post-class theoretical performance was significantly higher than the traditional group's. There was no statistical difference between the groups regarding skill operation. Among postgraduates without clinical experience, the PBL-FC group's skill operation performance was significantly higher than the traditional group's; for postgraduates with clinical experience, the traditional group's skill operation performance was significantly higher than the PBL-FC group's. CONCLUSIONS: PBL-FC teaching is better for students without clinical experience or knowledge of ophthalmic diseases. Meanwhile, traditional teaching is a good choice for students with clinical experience who need more relevant knowledge.

Full-Length Transcriptomic Sequencing and Temporal Transcriptome Expression Profiling Analyses Offer Insights into Terpenoid Biosynthesis in Artemisia argyi.

Artemisiae argyi Folium is a traditional herbal medicine used for moxibustion heat therapy in China. The volatile oils in A.argyi leaves are closely related to its medicinal value. Records suggest that the levels of these terpenoids components within the leaves vary as a function of harvest time, with June being the optimal time for A. argyi harvesting, owing to the high levels of active ingredients during this month. However, the molecular mechanisms governing terpenoid biosynthesis and the time-dependent changes in this activity remain unclear. In this study, GC-MS analysis revealed that volatile oil levels varied across four different harvest months (April, May, June, and July) in A. argyi leaves, and the primarily terpenoids components (including both monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes) reached peak levels in early June. Through single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing, corrected by Illumina RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq), 44 full-length transcripts potentially involved in terpenoid biosynthesis were identified in this study. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) exhibiting time-dependent expression patterns were divided into 12 coexpression clusters. Integrated chemical and transcriptomic analyses revealed distinct time-specific transcriptomic patterns associated with terpenoid biosynthesis. Subsequent hierarchical clustering and correlation analyses ultimately identified six transcripts that were closely linked to the production of these two types of terpenoid within A. argyi leaves, revealing that the structural diversity of terpenoid is related to the generation of the diverse terpene skeletons by prenyltransferase (TPS) family of enzymes. These findings can guide further studies of the molecular mechanisms underlying the quality of A. argyi leaves, aiding in the selection of optimal timing for harvests of A. argyi.

Diversity and potential biogeochemical impacts of viruses in bulk and rhizosphere soils.

Viruses can affect microbial dynamics, metabolism and biogeochemical cycles in aquatic ecosystems. However, viral diversity and functions in agricultural soils are poorly known, especially in the rhizosphere. We used virome analysis of eight rhizosphere and bulk soils to study viral diversity and potential biogeochemical impacts in an agro-ecosystem. The order Caudovirales was the predominant viral type in agricultural soils, with Siphoviridae being the most abundant family. Phylogenetic analysis of the terminase large subunit of Caudovirales identified high viral diversity and three novel groups. Viral community composition differed significantly between bulk and rhizosphere soils. Soil pH was the main environmental driver of the viral community structure. Remarkably, abundant auxiliary carbohydrate-active enzyme (CAZyme) genes were detected in viromes, including glycoside hydrolases, carbohydrate esterases and carbohydrate-binding modules. These results demonstrate that virus-encoded putative auxiliary metabolic genes or metabolic genes that may change bacterial metabolism and indirectly contribute to biogeochemical cycling, especially carbon cycling, in agricultural soil.

Rare taxa maintain the stability of crop mycobiomes and ecosystem functions.

Plants harbour highly diverse mycobiomes which sustain essential functions for host health and productivity. However, ecological processes that govern the plant-mycobiome assembly, interactions and their impact on ecosystem functions remain poorly known. Here we characterized the ecological role and community assembly of both abundant and rare fungal taxa along the soil-plant continuums (rhizosphere, phyllosphere and endosphere) in the maize-wheat/barley rotation system under different fertilization practices at two contrasting sites. Our results indicate that mycobiome assembly is shaped predominantly by compartment niche and host species rather than by environmental factors. Moreover, crop-associated fungal communities are dominated by few abundant taxa mainly belonging to Sordariomycetes and Dothideomycetes, while the majority of diversity within mycobiomes are represented by rare taxa. For plant compartments, the abundant sub-community is mainly determined by stochastic processes. In contrast, the rare sub-community is more sensitive to host selection and mainly governed by deterministic processes. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that rare taxa play an important role in fungal co-occurrence network and ecosystem functioning like crop yield and soil enzyme activities. These results significantly advance our understanding of crop mycobiome assembly and highlight the key role of rare taxa in sustaining the stability of crop mycobiomes and ecosystem functions.

Host selection shapes crop microbiome assembly and network complexity.

Plant microbiomes are essential to host health and productivity but the ecological processes that govern crop microbiome assembly are not fully known. Here we examined bacterial communities across 684 samples from soils (rhizosphere and bulk soil) and multiple compartment niches (rhizoplane, root endosphere, phylloplane, and leaf endosphere) in maize (Zea mays)-wheat (Triticum aestivum)/barley (Hordeum vulgare) rotation system under different fertilization practices at two contrasting sites. Our results demonstrate that microbiome assembly along the soil-plant continuum is shaped predominantly by compartment niche and host species rather than by site or fertilization practice. From soils to epiphytes to endophytes, host selection pressure sequentially increased and bacterial diversity and network complexity consequently reduced, with the strongest host effect in leaf endosphere. Source tracking indicates that crop microbiome is mainly derived from soils and gradually enriched and filtered at different plant compartment niches. Moreover, crop microbiomes were dominated by a few dominant taxa (c. 0.5% of bacterial phylotypes), with bacilli identified as the important biomarker taxa for wheat and barley and Methylobacteriaceae for maize. Our work provides comprehensive empirical evidence on host selection, potential sources and enrichment processes for crop microbiome assembly, and has important implications for future crop management and manipulation of crop microbiome for sustainable agriculture.