Origin and evolution of the bread wheat D genome.

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) is a globally dominant crop and major source of calories and proteins for the human diet. Compared with its wild ancestors, modern bread wheat shows lower genetic diversity, caused by polyploidisation, domestication and breeding bottlenecks1,2. Wild wheat relatives represent genetic reservoirs, and harbour diversity and beneficial alleles that have not been incorporated into bread wheat. Here we establish and analyse extensive genome resources for Tausch's goatgrass (Aegilops tauschii), the donor of the bread wheat D genome. Our analysis of 46 Ae. tauschii genomes enabled us to clone a disease resistance gene and perform haplotype analysis across a complex disease resistance locus, allowing us to discern alleles from paralogous gene copies. We also reveal the complex genetic composition and history of the bread wheat D genome, which involves contributions from genetically and geographically discrete Ae. tauschii subpopulations. Together, our results reveal the complex history of the bread wheat D genome and demonstrate the potential of wild relatives in crop improvement.

Adaptive carrier-phase-noise-canceled LiDAR for range-Doppler imaging beyond hundreds of laser coherence length.

Carrier-phase noise limits both the performance and the maximum operation range of coherent LiDAR. To address this issue, we propose a carrier-phase-noise-canceled LiDAR based on an auxiliary interferometer and adaptive filters. Compared to previous methods, this approach is calibration-free and offers higher compensation accuracy, as well as applicability of dynamic target detection. Experiments of range-Doppler imaging for stationary targets and rotating extended targets have been performed, and the detection results close to the theoretical resolution were obtained at the round trip distance to the target beyond 981 times and 106 times coherence length, respectively.

Augmented photocatalytic NO removal by the S-scheme Bi7O9I3/Bi2S3 heterojunctions with surface oxygen vacancies: Experimental analyses and theoretical calculations.

The establishment of S-scheme heterojunctions represents an effective strategy for enhancing the transfer and separation of charge carriers, thereby bolstering redox capacities and consequently benefiting subsequent photocatalytic reactions. In this study, the pristine Bi7O9I3 underwent a facile vulcanization process to in-situ produce various composites. Systematical characterizations confirmed the simultaneous generation of Bi7O9I3/Bi2S3 (BI-BS) heterojunctions with surface oxygen vacancies (OVs). Under visible light, these BI-BS composites exhibited improved NO removal efficiencies with reduced NO2 generation compared to bare Bi7O9I3. Particularly, the best candidate BI-BS2 possesses the highest NO removal (43.02%) and lowest NO2 generation (5.44%) among all tested samples. The improvement was primarily attributed to synergetic effects of heterojunction and surface OVs, including enhanced charge separation, heightened light responsiveness, and improved generation of reactive oxygen-containing species through an S-scheme mode. Furthermore, the Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations had demonstrated that the establishment of BI-BS heterojunctions with surface OVs not only optimized the electronic structure to facilitate the transfer and separation of charge carriers, but also significantly enhanced the adsorption of NO, H2O, and O2 molecules, ultimately favoring the generation of NO3- species. These as-synthesized composites indicated sufficient structural stability and hold potential for the photocatalytic removal of NO at ppb levels.

[Construction of a risk prediction model for bronchiolitis obliterans in children with refractory Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia]. / 难治性肺炎支原体肺炎患儿并发闭塞性细支气管炎风险预测模型的构建.

OBJECTIVES: To explore the establishment of a risk prediction model for concurrent bronchiolitis obliterans (BO) in children with refractory Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (RMPP). METHODS: A retrospective study included 116 RMPP children treated in the Department of Pediatrics of Xiangya Changde Hospital from June 2021 to December 2023. Eighty-one cases were allocated to the training set and thirty-five cases to the validation set based on a 7:3 ratio. Among them, 26 cases in the training set developed BO, while 55 did not. The multivariate logistic regression was used to select variable factors for constructing the BO risk prediction model. Nomograms were drawn, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to assess the discriminative ability of the model, while calibration curves and Hosmer-Lemeshow tests evaluated the model's calibration. RESULTS: Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that several factors were significantly associated with concurrent BO in RMPP children, including length of hospital stay, duration of fever, atelectasis, neutrophil percentage (NEUT%), peak lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), ferritin, peak C reactive protein (CRP), oxygenation index (PaO2/FiO2), ≥2/3 lung lobe consolidation, pleural effusion, bronchial mucous plugs, bronchial mucosal necrosis, and arterial oxygen partial pressure (PaO2) (P<0.05). ROC curve analysis for the training set indicated an area under the curve of 0.904 with 88% sensitivity and 83% specificity; the validation set showed an area under the curve of 0.823 with 76% sensitivity and 93% specificity. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test's Chi-square values for the training and validation sets were 2.17 and 1.92, respectively, with P values of 0.221 and 0.196, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The risk prediction model for BO in RMPP children based on logistic regression has good performance. Variables such as length of hospital stay, duration of fever, atelectasis, peak LDH, peak CRP, NEUT%, ferritin, ≥2/3 lung lobe consolidation, pleural effusion, bronchial mucous plugs, bronchial mucosal necrosis, PaO2/FiO2, andPaO2 can be used as predictors.

Let-7c-5p down-regulates immune-related CDCA8 to inhibit hepatocellular carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of let-7c-5p on the malignant behaviors of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and its specific molecular pathway. METHODS: Differential expression and survival analysis of let-7c-5p were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas database, and then its expression level was preliminarily verified through qPCR. The effect of let-7c-5p on the malignant phenotype of HCC cells was subsequently evaluated using CCK-8, transwell, wound healing, and flow cytometry assays. Downstream mRNA regulated by let-7c-5p was identified and confirmed by ENCORI database, dual-luciferase reporter, and western blot assays. The immunocorrelation of genes was evaluated by Xiantao tool, and TIMER and TISIDB databases. RESULTS: The expression level of let-7c-5p in HCC was obviously reduced, which was found to be closely associated with the short survival time of HCC patients. Cell phenotypic experiments showed that let-7c-5p inhibited proliferation, invasion, and migration and promoted apoptosis of HCC cells. Dual-luciferase reporter and western blot analysis demonstrated that CDCA8 is a downstream mRNA of let-7c-5p and is negatively regulated by it. Rescue experiment revealed that CDCA8 reversed the effect of let-7c-5p on the malignant phenotype of HCC cells. Furthermore, analysis of the public database revealed that CDCA8 is related to some immune cells and immunomodulators, and that it may participate in the regulation of some immune pathways and immune functions. CONCLUSION: Let-7c-5p has been proved to suppress HCC by down-regulating immune-related CDCA8, which will help understand the pathogenesis of HCC and develop drugs for its treatment.

Safety findings after intravenous administration of sulfur hexafluoride microbubbles to 463,434 examinations at 24 centers.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate the safety of the ultrasound contrast agent sulfur hexafluoride microbubbles in a large group of patients referred for routine contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS). METHODS: A retrospective assessment was made of all patients that received sulfur hexafluoride microbubbles intravenously for CEUS at 24 centers between January 2006 and April 2019. Patient demographic details, examination type, and the dose of sulfur hexafluoride microbubbles administered were recorded with specific adverse events (AEs) documentation tools at each center. All AEs were recorded as serious or non-serious. Non-serious AEs were classified by intensity as mild, moderate, or severe according to ACR criteria. The frequencies of AEs across patient subgroups were compared using the chi-square test. RESULTS: A total of 463,434 examinations were evaluated. Overall, 157 AEs (153 [0.033%] non-serious; 4 [0.001%] serious) were reported after sulfur hexafluoride microbubbles administration, giving an AE frequency of 0.034% (157/463,434). Among the non-serious AEs, 66 (0.014%) were mild, 70 (0.015%) moderate, and 17 (0.004%) severe in intensity. The liver was the most common examination site, presenting an AE frequency of 0.026%. The highest AE frequency (0.092%) was for patients undergoing CEUS for vascular disease. There were no significant gender differences in either the total number or the severity of non-serious AEs (chi-square = 2.497, p = 0.287). The onset of AEs occurred within 30 min of sulfur hexafluoride microbubbles administration in 91% of cases. CONCLUSION: The frequency of AEs to sulfur hexafluoride microbubbles is very low and severe reactions are rare, confirming that sulfur hexafluoride microbubbles are appropriate for routine CEUS applications. KEY POINT: • The frequency of AEs to sulfur hexafluoride microbubbles is very low and severe reactions are rare.

TRIM69: a marker of metastasis and potential sensitizer to 5-Fluorouracil and PD-1 blockers in colon adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Several proteins in the tripartite-motif (TRIM) family are associated with the development of colorectal cancer (CRC), but research on the role of TRIM69 was lacking. The present study examined the correlation between TRIM69 expression and colon adenocarcinoma (COAD). METHODS: mRNA sequencing data for COAD patients was extracted from The Cancer Genome Atlas to analyze correlations between TRIM69 expression and patients' clinical features as well as survival. Potential associations with immune cells and chemosensitivity also were predicted using various algorithms in the TIMER, Limma, clusterProfiler, GeneMANIA, and Gene Set Cancer Analysis platforms. Subsequently, polymerase chain reaction analysis and immunohistochemical staining were used to detect TRIM69 expression in COAD tissue samples from real-world patients. RESULTS: TRIM69 expression was lower in COAD tissues than in normal tissues and correlated with the pathologic stage and metastasis (M category). Additionally, TRIM69 was found to be involved in several immune-related pathways, notably the NOD-like signaling pathway. These results suggest that high TRIM69 expression has the potential to enhance tumor sensitivity to 5-fluorouracil and programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) blockers. CONCLUSIONS: From our findings that TRIM69 expression was significantly reduced in COAD compared with non-cancer tissues and associated with pathologic stage and metastasis, we conclude that increasing TRIM69 expression and/or activity may help to improve therapeutic outcomes. Accordingly, TRIM69 represents a potentially valuable marker of metastasis and target for adjuvant therapy in COAD.

miR-29c Suppresses the Malignant Phenotype of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells In Vitro by Mediating TPX2 Associated with Immune Infiltration.

BACKGROUND: miR-29-3p, an important tumor suppressor, with inhibitory effects in multiple cancers that have been studied. Its exact molecular function is in HCC, however, still not been explored clearly. The purpose of our study is to make certain how miR-29c-3p affects HCC through TPX2. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Expression profile data of miR-29c-3p and TPX2 were acquired and downloaded from the TCGA database, and the respective differential expression was verified by qPCR and immunohistochemistry. The StarBase and dual luciferase reporter confirmed TPX2 targeting miR-29c-3p. Their effects on the biological functions of Hep3B and HepG2 were investigated by cellular assays. RESULTS: miR-29-3p was found to be significantly down-regulated in HCC, and the miR-29-3p low expression group had a poor prognosis. Overexpression of miR-29-3p was detrimental to invasion and migration ability of HCC cells and promoted their apoptosis. We identified miR-29c-3p targeting TPX2 by predictive analysis. TPX2 was significantly upregulated in HCC, and patients with high TPX2 expression had a poor prognosis. TPX2 knockdown partially counteracted the promoting effect of miR-29-3p inhibition on hepatocellular carcinoma cells, and its effect on hepatocellular carcinoma cell biology was similar to miR-29c-3p overexpression. CONCLUSION: miR-29c, a key gene regulating HCC, is lowly expressed in HCC, its overexpression can remarkably inhibit the biological function of tumor cells. miR-29c can perform this function by regulating the expression of TPX2.

Confirmation of eosinophilic sialodochitis by terminal duct biopsy.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the histopathological features of eosinophilic sialodochitis by using terminal duct biopsy. METHODS: Sixty-five patients with suspected eosinophilic sialodochitis and four with chronic obstructive sialadenitis were prospectively enrolled. Clinical features, laboratory tests and sialograms were comparatively analysed. Terminal duct biopsy of the parotid or submandibular glands was performed concomitantly with endoscopy-assisted duct dilatation to determine the histopathological features of eosinophilic sialodochitis. RESULTS: Based on eosinophil quantification, the samples of suspected patients were scored as 'definite', 'highly suspected' and 'negative' in 26 (40%), 15 (23.1%) and 24 (36.9%) cases, respectively. Gland types and peripheral blood eosinophil counts were significantly different among these three groups. The proportions of itching glands, mucus plug exudations and elevated immunoglobulin E levels were higher in the 'definite' group than in the other two groups; however, the intergroup differences were insignificant. The primary pathological features of eosinophilic sialodochitis were abundant eosinophils and lymphocytes infiltrated around the duct, degranulation of eosinophils, extensive fibrosis and scattered mastocytes. Periductal eosinophils were not found in cases of chronic obstructive sialadenitis. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that terminal duct biopsy is safe and valuable for the pathological confirmation of eosinophilic sialodochitis, and can be used simultaneously with endoscopy-assisted duct dilatation.

Imaging-based diagnosis and classification of radioactive iodine-induced sialadenitis.

OBJECTIVES: To establish an inflammation grading system for radioactive iodine-induced sialadenitis (RAIS) based on spiral computed tomography (CT), ultrasonography and sialography. METHODS: In all, 120 RAIS patients (18 males and 102 females) were retrospectively included. Spiral CT, ultrasonography and sialography appearances were analysed and categorized as follows: grade I, approximately normal or mild sialadenitis; grade II, moderate sialadenitis; and grade III, severe sialadenitis. Adenitis severity was analysed relative to sex, age, RAI treatment sessions and cumulative doses. RESULTS: Spiral CT showed heterogeneous (78.9%) and atrophic changes (36.8%) in the parotid glands (PGs) and duct ectasia (24.8%) in the submandibular glands (SMGs). Ultrasonography showed heterogeneous echogenicity (54.3%) and diminished gland size (30.2%) in PGs and duct ectasia in SMGs (34.7%). Sialography showed duct obliteration in 25.3% PGs and 3.2% SMGs. Statistical analysis showed good consistency among the three imaging grading results. The incidence and severity of PG lesions were significantly higher than that of SMGs (p < 0.001). As for PGs, adenitis severity was associated with both treatment sessions and cumulative doses; but in SMGs, disease severity was only related to treatment sessions. CONCLUSIONS: A grading system for severity of RAIS was established based on spiral CT, ultrasonography and sialography appearances.

Massive formation of early diagenetic dolomite in the Ediacaran ocean: Constraints on the "dolomite problem".

Paleozoic and Precambrian sedimentary successions frequently contain massive dolomicrite [CaMg(CO3)2] units despite kinetic inhibitions to nucleation and precipitation of dolomite at Earth surface temperatures (<60 °C). This paradoxical observation is known as the "dolomite problem." Accordingly, the genesis of these dolostones is usually attributed to burial-hydrothermal dolomitization of primary limestones (CaCO3) at temperatures of >100 °C, thus raising doubt about the validity of these deposits as archives of Earth surface environments. We present a high-resolution, >63-My-long clumped-isotope temperature (TΔ47) record of shallow-marine dolomicrites from two drillcores of the Ediacaran (635 to 541 Ma) Doushantuo Formation in South China. Our T∆47 record indicates that a majority (87%) of these dolostones formed at temperatures of <100 °C. When considering the regional thermal history, modeling of the influence of solid-state reordering on our TΔ47 record further suggests that most of the studied dolostones formed at temperatures of <60 °C, providing direct evidence of a low-temperature origin of these dolostones. Furthermore, calculated δ18O values of diagenetic fluids, rare earth element plus yttrium compositions, and petrographic observations of these dolostones are consistent with an early diagenetic origin in a rock-buffered environment. We thus propose that a precursor precipitate from seawater was subsequently dolomitized during early diagenesis in a near-surface setting to produce the large volume of dolostones in the Doushantuo Formation. Our findings suggest that the preponderance of dolomite in Paleozoic and Precambrian deposits likely reflects oceanic conditions specific to those eras and that dolostones can be faithful recorders of environmental conditions in the early oceans.

[Multi-classification prediction model of lung cancer tumor mutation burden based on residual network].

Medical studies have found that tumor mutation burden (TMB) is positively correlated with the efficacy of immunotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and TMB value can be used to predict the efficacy of targeted therapy and chemotherapy. However, the calculation of TMB value mainly depends on the whole exon sequencing (WES) technology, which usually costs too much time and expenses. To deal with above problem, this paper studies the correlation between TMB and slice images by taking advantage of digital pathological slices commonly used in clinic and then predicts the patient TMB level accordingly. This paper proposes a deep learning model (RCA-MSAG) based on residual coordinate attention (RCA) structure and combined with multi-scale attention guidance (MSAG) module. The model takes ResNet-50 as the basic model and integrates coordinate attention (CA) into bottleneck module to capture the direction-aware and position-sensitive information, which makes the model able to locate and identify the interesting positions more accurately. And then, MSAG module is embedded into the network, which makes the model able to extract the deep features of lung cancer pathological sections and the interactive information between channels. The cancer genome map (TCGA) open dataset is adopted in the experiment, which consists of 200 pathological sections of lung adenocarcinoma, including 80 data samples with high TMB value, 77 data samples with medium TMB value and 43 data samples with low TMB value. Experimental results demonstrate that the accuracy, precision, recall and F1 score of the proposed model are 96.2%, 96.4%, 96.2% and 96.3%, respectively, which are superior to the existing mainstream deep learning models. The model proposed in this paper can promote clinical auxiliary diagnosis and has certain theoretical guiding significance for TMB prediction.

Novel Polycyclic Fused Amide Derivatives: Properties and Applications for Sky-blue Electroluminescent Devices.

Aromatic imide derivatives play a critical role in boosting the electroluminescent (EL) performance of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). However, the majority of aromatic imide-based materials are limited to long wavelength emission OLEDs rather than blue emissions due to their strong electron-withdrawing characteristics. Herein, two novel polycyclic fused amide units were reported as electron acceptor to be combined with either a tetramethylcarbazole or acridine donor via a phenyl linker to generate four conventional fluorescence blue emitters of BBI-4MeCz, BBI-DMAC, BSQ-4MeCz and BSQ-DMAC for the first time. BSQ-4MeCz and BSQ-DMAC based on a BSQ unit exhibited higher thermal stability and photoluminescence quantum yields than BBI-4MeCz and BBI-DMAC based on a BBI unit due to their more planar acceptor structure. The intermolecular interactions that exist in the BSQ series materials effectively inhibit the molecular rotation and configuration relaxation, and thus allow for blue-shifted emissions. Blue OLED devices were constructed with the developed materials as emitters, and the effects of both the structure of the polycyclic fused amide acceptor and the electron donor on the EL performance were clarified. Consequently, a sky-blue OLED device based on BSQ-DMAC was created, with a high maximum external quantum efficiency of 4.94% and a maximum luminance of 7761 cd m-2.

Antimony transformation and mobilization from stibnite by an antimonite oxidizing bacterium Bosea sp. AS-1.

Soils and waters are heavily contaminated by antimony in Xikuangshan (XKS) mine area. It is widely accepted that oxidative dissolution of sulfide minerals and aqueous dissolution are the most prevalent geochemical mechanisms for the release of Sb to the environment. Bosea sp. AS-1 is an antimonite-oxidizer isolated from the mine slag in Xikuangshan Sb mine. Whole genome sequencing revealed the presence of multiple sulfur-oxidizing genes, antimony (Sb) metabolism genes and carbon fixation genes in AS-1's genome. We therefore hypothesized that under oxic conditions, AS-1 could mediate the oxidation of sulfide and Sb(III) in stibnite (Sb2S3) and lead to the release of Sb. Indeed, strain AS-1 was discovered as an autotrophic Sb(III)-oxidizer. Antimony mobilization studies conducted with strain AS-1 showed significantly enhanced mobilization of Sb, and complete oxidation of released Sb and sulfur to Sb(V) and sulfate. In addition, AS-1 induced a faster release of Sb under heterotrophic condition, and new acicular minerals might form. These findings support the hypothesis that microorganisms play an important role in the mobilization and transformation of Sb in XKS mine area and may contribute to our further understanding of the Sb biogeochemical redox cycle in natural environment.

Transcriptome revealed the molecular mechanism of Glycyrrhiza inflata root to maintain growth and development, absorb and distribute ions under salt stress.

BACKGROUND: Soil salinization extensively hampers the growth, yield, and quality of crops worldwide. The most effective strategies to counter this problem are a) development of crop cultivars with high salt tolerance and b) the plantation of salt-tolerant crops. Glycyrrhiza inflata, a traditional Chinese medicinal and primitive plant with salt tolerance and economic value, is among the most promising crops for improving saline-alkali wasteland. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms for the adaptive response of G. inflata to salinity stress remain largely unknown. RESULT: G. inflata retained a high concentration of Na+ in roots and maintained the absorption of K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ under 150 mM NaCl induced salt stress. Transcriptomic analysis of G. inflata roots at different time points of salt stress (0 min, 30 min, and 24 h) was performed, which resulted in 70.77 Gb of clean data. Compared with the control, we detected 2645 and 574 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) at 30 min and 24 h post-salt-stress induction, respectively. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses revealed that G. inflata response to salt stress post 30 min and 24 h was remarkably distinct. Genes that were differentially expressed at 30 min post-salt stress induction were enriched in signal transduction, secondary metabolite synthesis, and ion transport. However, genes that were differentially expressed at 24 h post-salt-stress induction were enriched in phenylpropane biosynthesis and metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, glycerol metabolism, hormone signal transduction, wax, cutin, and cork biosynthesis. Besides, a total of 334 transcription factors (TFs) were altered in response to 30 min and 24 h of salt stress. Most of these TFs belonged to the MYB, WRKY, AP2-EREBP, C2H2, bHLH, bZIP, and NAC families. CONCLUSION: For the first time, this study elucidated the salt tolerance in G. inflata at the molecular level, including the activation of signaling pathways and genes that regulate the absorption and distribution of ions and root growth in G. inflata under salt stress conditions. These findings enhanced our understanding of the G. inflata salt tolerance and provided a theoretical basis for cultivating salt-tolerant crop varieties.

Morphologic analysis of alveolar bone in maxillary and mandibular incisors on sagittal views.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to analyze the morphologic features of alveolus in relatively healthy maxillary and mandibular incisors using cone-beam-computed tomography (CBCT). METHODS: CBCT images of 318 patients were retrospectively acquired. Alveolar bone in incisive area was divided into: type 1 (thick), type 2 (relatively thick with mono-plate concavity), type 3 (thin with double-plate concavities), and type 4 (vulnerably thin). Alveolus prevalence and widths were analyzed statistically relative to age, gender, and molar relationship. RESULTS: Prevalence of type 1 alveolus was 78.9% in maxillary central incisors, 15.1% in maxillary lateral incisors, 24.1% in mandibular central incisors, and 5.0% in mandibular lateral incisors. Type 2 alveolus was commonly observed in the maxillary lateral incisors (82.2%), mandibular central incisors (66.2%), and mandibular lateral incisors (87.9%). Prevalence of type 3 and 4 alveoli ranged from 0.0 to 9.4%. As for maxillary central incisors, type 1 was the widest both at the alveolar crest (7.77 ± 0.58 mm) and apical area (9.05 ± 1.86 mm), while type 3 had the lowest width at the apical region (4.08 ± 0.51 mm). Among maxillary central incisors, prevalence of type 1 tended to decrease with age. At all maxillary and mandibular incisor sites, alveolus widths were significantly thicker in males than in females. At maxillary lateral incisor and mandibular incisor sites, prevalence of alveolus type was significantly different among three molar relationships. CONCLUSION: A 4-type classification system was suggested for alveolus morphology in incisive region. Identification of alveolus type might aid in the corresponding treatment.

A diurnal flux balance model of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 metabolism.

Phototrophic organisms such as cyanobacteria utilize the sun's energy to convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into organic carbon, resulting in diurnal variations in the cell's metabolism. Flux balance analysis is a widely accepted constraint-based optimization tool for analyzing growth and metabolism, but it is generally used in a time-invariant manner with no provisions for sequestering different biomass components at different time periods. Here we present CycleSyn, a periodic model of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 metabolism that spans a 12-hr light/12-hr dark cycle by segmenting it into 12 Time Point Models (TPMs) with a uniform duration of two hours. The developed framework allows for the flow of metabolites across TPMs while inventorying metabolite levels and only allowing for the utilization of currently or previously produced compounds. The 12 TPMs allow for the incorporation of time-dependent constraints that capture the cyclic nature of cellular processes. Imposing bounds on reactions informed by temporally-segmented transcriptomic data enables simulation of phototrophic growth as a single linear programming (LP) problem. The solution provides the time varying reaction fluxes over a 24-hour cycle and the accumulation/consumption of metabolites. The diurnal rhythm of metabolic gene expression driven by the circadian clock and its metabolic consequences is explored. Predicted flux and metabolite pools are in line with published studies regarding the temporal organization of phototrophic growth in Synechocystis PCC 6803 paving the way for constructing time-resolved genome-scale models (GSMs) for organisms with a circadian clock. In addition, the metabolic reorganization that would be required to enable Synechocystis PCC 6803 to temporally separate photosynthesis from oxygen-sensitive nitrogen fixation is also explored using the developed model formalism.

Antiproliferative effect and autophagy induction of curcumin derivative ZYX02-Na on the human lung cancer cells A549.

At present, a large number of curcumin derivatives had been produced and identified aiming to replace the curcumin in view of its low bioavailability and stability. Here, a novel curcumin derivative ZYX02-Na was first used to reduce the cell viability of human non-small cell lung cells A549, which was confirmed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. Flow cytometry and Western blot analysis showed that ZYX02-Na could lead to cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase, which demonstrated that ZYX02-Na inhibited the proliferation of A549 cells. Furthermore, the AMPK/mTOR/4E-BP1 signaling pathway was activated in ZYX02-Na-treated A549 cells. Besides, wounding healing and transwell experiments showed that ZYX02-Na could also inhibited the migration ability of A549 cells. Moreover, we also found that ZYX02-Na could induce autophagy of A549 cells by acridine orange staining, GFP-LC3 subcellular localization observation and Western blotting analysis, respectively. In short, our current studies indicated that ZYX02-Na possessed the antiproliferation effect and autophagy induction on A549 cells, while in vivo anticancer study of ZYX02-Na needs to be done in future.

Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of different enzymatic hydrolysates from desalted duck egg white.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to look for optimal preparation of hydrolysates of desalted duck egg white powder (DDEWP) by the three different proteases and to investigate their antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. METHODS: DDEWP was hydrolyzed by three proteases, including pepsin (PEP), Bacillus spp. (BA) and natokinase (NAT) with three different enzyme concentrations (0.1%, 0.3%, and 0.5%), individually. The important key hydrolysis parameters such as hydrolysis degree, yield, antioxidant and antimicrobial activity were evaluated in this experiment. RESULTS: The results showed that the degree of hydrolysis (DH) of all treatments increased with increasing hydrolysis time and protease concentrations. The antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of the hydrolysates were affected by type and concentration of protease as well as hydrolysis time. Hydrolysis of PEP significantly (p<0.05) obtained the highest yield of hydrolysates, however, both of BA and NAT showed substantially lower DH values and still did not exceed 5% by the end of hydrolysis. Among the different hydrolysates, PEP exhibited significantly higher 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity than BA and NAT. All DDEWP hydrolysates from PEP had low ferrous ion chelating activity (<37%) that was significantly lower than that of NAT (>37% to 92%) and BA (30% to 79%). Besides, DDEWP hydrolysates of PEP presented significantly higher reducing power than BA and NAT. In antimicrobial activities, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were not effectively inhibited by any DDEWP hydrolysates of PEP except for Staphylococcus aureus. Especially, the excellent antibacterial activity against S. aureus only was displayed in DDEWP hydrolysates of PEP 0.1%. CONCLUSION: DDEWP hydrolysates from PEP demonstrated significantly better DH, yield, DPPH radical scavenging activity and reducing power, furthermore, had excellent inhibitory on S. aureus due to large clear zone and moderated inhibitory in bactericidal inhibition.

Evaluation of Parotid Gland Function Before and After Endoscopy-Assisted Stone Removal.

PURPOSE: To quantify gland function before and after endoscopy-assisted lithectomy for patients with parotid stones and to analyze correlations among different evaluation modalities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study investigated 58 patients (27 men and 31 women) with a stone larger than 5 mm or multiple parotid stones who underwent successful endoscopy-assisted surgery at the authors' center from August 2007 through September 2017. Meticulous postoperative manipulations were administered routinely for 3 to 6 months to promote functional recovery of the affected gland. Gland function was evaluated preoperatively and 6 to 36 months (mean, 12 months) postoperatively by sialography, scintigraphy, and sialometry. Statistical analyses were conducted to quantify gland function recovery and to distinguish correlations among the 3 objective tests. RESULTS: Preoperative sialograms exhibited ductal ectasia at the stone site with ductal stenosis anterior to the stone (n = 53) or duct interruption at the stone site (n = 5). Postoperative sialograms of 45 patients without stones were categorized as approximately normal (type I; n = 17); showing ectasia or stenosis of the main duct without persistent contrast on the functional film (type II; n = 16); showing ectasia or stenosis of the main duct with mild contrast retention (type III; n = 6); or showing poor ductal shape with evident contrast retention (type IV; n = 6). Scintigraphy of 23 preoperative and 12 postoperative patients and sialometry of 24 preoperative and 12 postoperative patients indicated severe preoperative impairment and postoperative improvement of gland function. Postoperatively, although no relevant differences in saliva flow rate were found between the 2 sides, scintigraphy showed lower function of the affected gland compared with the control side. Statistical data showed positive correlations among the 3 methods. Sialography intuitively reflected the ductal shape, whereas sialometry and scintigraphy were more sensitive for evaluating gland function. CONCLUSION: For patients with parotid stones, minimally invasive endoscopic surgery and meticulous postoperative manipulations help preserve the glands and facilitate recovery of gland function. The 3 evaluating modalities have certain positive correlations.