Down-regulation of BnDA1, whose gene locus is associated with the seeds weight, improves the seeds weight and organ size in Brassica napus.

Brassica napus L. is an important oil crop worldwide and is the main raw material for biofuel. Seed weight and seed size are the main contributors to seed yield. DA1 (DA means big in Chinese) is an ubiquitin receptor and negatively regulates seed size. Down-regulation of AtDA1 in Arabidopsis leads to larger seeds and organs by increasing cell proliferation in integuments. In this study, BnDA1 was down-regulated in B. napus by over expressed of AtDA1R358K , which is a functional deficiency of DA1 with an arginine-to-lysine mutation at the 358th amino acid. The results showed that the biomass and size of the seeds, cotyledons, leaves, flowers and siliques of transgenic plants all increased significantly. In particular, the 1000 seed weight increased 21.23% and the seed yield per plant increased 13.22% in field condition. The transgenic plants had no negative traits related to yield. The candidate gene association analysis demonstrated that the BnDA1 locus was contributed to the seeds weight. Therefore, our study showed that regulation of DA1 in B. napus can increase the seed yield and biomass, and DA1 is a promising target for crop improvement.

Barriers for Nurses Providing Cancer Pain Management: A Qualitative Systematic Review.

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION: Improperly managed pain can negatively affect physical and mental health, quality of life, and functional status of individuals with cancer. To address nurses' experiences with and barriers to providing cancer pain management, a systematic review was conducted. LITERATURE SEARCH: PubMed®, Embase®, Web of Science, CINAHL®, Cochrane Library, CNKI, VIP Chinese Science and Technology Periodicals Full-Text Database, Wanfang, and SINOMED databases were searched for articles published from database inception through August 2022. DATA EVALUATION: Two researchers independently evaluated the studies' quality, and meta-integration was performed using thematic synthesis. Eighteen qualitative studies, including 277 nurses from 11 different countries, were included in the review. SYNTHESIS: The following three themes regarding nurses' barriers to providing cancer pain management were identified: (a) healthcare professional-related barriers, (b) patient-related barriers, and (c) organizational-related barriers. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: This systematic review provides an evidence-based reference for nurses to manage pain among individuals with cancer and develop appropriate interventions.

Plasmalogenic Lipid Analogs as Platelet-Activating Factor Antagonists: A Potential Novel Class of Anti-inflammatory Compounds.

Plasmalogens and Platelet-Activating Factor (PAF) are both bioactive ether phospholipids. Whereas plasmalogens are recognized for their important antioxidant function and modulatory role in cell membrane structure and dynamics, PAF is a potent pro-inflammatory lipid mediator known to have messenger functions in cell signaling and inflammatory response. The relationship between these two types of lipids has been rarely studied in terms of their metabolic interconversion and reciprocal modulation of the pro-inflammation/anti-inflammation balance. The vinyl-ether bonded plasmalogen lipid can be the lipid sources for the precursor of the biosynthesis of ether-bonded PAF. In this opinion paper, we suggest a potential role of plasmalogenic analogs of PAF as modulators and PAF antagonists (anti-PAF). We discuss that the metabolic interconversion of these two lipid kinds may be explored towards the development of efficient preventive and relief strategies against PAF-mediated pro-inflammation. We propose that plasmalogen analogs, acting as anti-PAF, may be considered as a new class of bioactive anti-inflammatory drugs. Despite of the scarcity of available experimental data, the competition between PAF and its natural plasmalogenic analogs for binding to the PAF receptor (PAF-R) can be proposed as a mechanistic model and potential therapeutic perspective against multiple inflammatory diseases (e.g., cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disorders, diabetes, cancers, and various manifestations in coronavirus infections such as COVID-19).

Plasmalogens Eliminate Aging-Associated Synaptic Defects and Microglia-Mediated Neuroinflammation in Mice.

Neurodegeneration is a pathological condition in which nervous system or neuron losses its structure, function, or both leading to progressive neural degeneration. Growing evidence strongly suggests that reduction of plasmalogens (Pls), one of the key brain lipids, might be associated with multiple neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Plasmalogens are abundant members of ether-phospholipids. Approximately 1 in 5 phospholipids are plasmalogens in human tissue where they are particularly enriched in brain, heart and immune cells. In this study, we employed a scheme of 2-months Pls intragastric administration to aged female C57BL/6J mice, starting at the age of 16 months old. Noticeably, the aged Pls-fed mice exhibited a better cognitive performance, thicker and glossier body hair in appearance than that of aged control mice. The transmission electron microscopic (TEM) data showed that 2-months Pls supplementations surprisingly alleviate age-associated hippocampal synaptic loss and also promote synaptogenesis and synaptic vesicles formation in aged murine brain. Further RNA-sequencing, immunoblotting and immunofluorescence analyses confirmed that plasmalogens remarkably enhanced both the synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis in aged murine hippocampus. In addition, we have demonstrated that Pls treatment inhibited the age-related microglia activation and attenuated the neuroinflammation in the murine brain. These findings suggest for the first time that Pls administration might be a potential intervention strategy for halting neurodegeneration and promoting neuroregeneration.

[Prevalence of diabetes mellitus and impaired fasting glucose of health check-up in a sanatorium of Shanghai in 2003 and 2010].

OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence changes of diabetes mellitus (DM) and impaired fasting glucose (IFG) from 2003 to 2010 in the health check-up subjects in Shanghai. METHODS: Health check-up subjects were divided into ten groups by sex and each 5 years old, and the prevalence of crude DM, crude IFG were calculated first. According to Chinese sex and age structure of China Population Statistics Yearbook 2006, sex and age standardized DM and standardized IFG were computed. RESULTS: In the same year, the prevalences of crude DM and IFG increased with increasing age for both male and female, reached the summit at 60 - 69 age group, when at ≥ 70 age group, they had a down trend and were still at higher level. The prevalences of crude DM were 3.99% (986/24 699) in male and 1.61% (176/10 948) in female in 2003, and were 7.85% (3366/42 899) and 2.55% (531/20 820) in 2010. The prevalences of crude IFG were 9.97% (2462/24 699) in male and 5.88% (644/10 948) in female in 2003, and were 30.96% (13 283/42 899) and 17.16% (3573/20 820) in 2010. The prevalences of age standardized DM in 2003 and 2010 were 3.89% and 6.90% for male (χ(2) = 371.89, P < 0.01), 2.12% and 3.23% for female (χ(2) = 29.32, P < 0.01), respectively. The prevalences of age standardized IFG in 2003 and 2010 were 9.51% and 28.55% (χ(2) = 3865.56, P < 0.01) for male, 6.97% and 17.88% (χ(2) = 790.81, P < 0.01) for female. The prevalences of age and sex standardized DM were 3.00% and 5.05% (χ(2) = 385.39, P < 0.01), and prevalences of age and sex standardized IFG were 8.23% and 23.17% (χ(2) = 4480.21, P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: From 2003 to 2010, prevalences of DM and IFG had increased greatly. It concluded that first-level prevention of DM for health check-up subjects should start from youth, and should lay emphasis on population of IFG, especially for male.