Diagnosis of Bacterial Plant Diseases via a Nitroreductase-Activated Fluorescent Sensor.

Plant diseases caused by bacteria have become one of the serious problems that threaten human food security, which led to the remarkable reduction of agricultural yields and economic loss. Nitroreductase (NTR), as an important biomarker, is highly expressed in bacteria, and the level of NTR is closely related to the progression of pathogen infection. Therefore, the design of small-molecule fluorescent sensors targeting NTR is of great significance for the detection and diagnosis of plant pathogenic bacteria. In this study, a new fluorescent sensor targeting NTR was discovered and then successfully applied to the imaging of zebrafish and pathogenic bacteria. Most importantly, the developed sensor achieved the real-time diagnosis of Brassica napus L. infected with bacteria, which provides a promising tool for examining the temporal and spatial infection of plant pathogens in precision agriculture.

High-performance imaging with an advanced non-imaging lens based on full-path optical diffraction calculation in two-dimensional space.

High-performance image-forming systems often require high system complexity due to the overdetermined nature of optical aberration correction. What we present here is a novel computational imaging modality which can achieve high-performance imaging using a simple non-image-forming optical system. The presented optical system contains an aspherical non-imaging lens which is designed with the optimal transfer of light radiation between an object and a detector. All spatial frequencies of the object collected by the non-imaging lens are delivered to the detector. No image is formed on the detector, and a full-path optical diffraction calculation method is developed to recover a high-quality image of the object from multiple intensity measurements. The effectiveness and high performance of the proposed imaging modality is verified by the examples.

Calculation of aberration fields for freeform imaging systems using field-dependent footprints on local tangent planes.

Aberration theory is a fundamental understanding of the optical aberrations and remains the best way to guide optical system design. The nodal aberration theory, which can be used to describe the aberration fields of freeform imaging systems, is limited by the small field of view (FOV) of the imaging system. In this paper, we propose a method to predict the induced aberration of Fringe Zernike terms with field-dependent footprints. The footprint of each field point is calculated in its corresponding local tangent plane of the optical surface; therefore, a more accurate prediction of the induced aberrations of Fringe Zernike terms can be achieved. Both the FOV and highly tilted architecture of freeform imaging systems are considered when calculating the footprints. Two examples are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, which we believe can provide good guidance for the design of freeform imaging systems with a relatively large FOV.

A General Grid-Less Design Method for Location and Pressure Sensors with High Precision.

Bionic electronic skin can accurately sense and locate surface pressure, which is widely demanded in many fields. Traditional electronic skin design usually relies on grid-architecture sensor arrays, requiring complex grid and interconnection arrangements as well as high cost. Grid-less planar sensors can solve the problem by using electrodes only at the edges, but they usually require the use of mapping software such as electrical impedance tomography to achieve high precision. In this work, a design method of high-precision grid-less planar pressure sensors based on the back-propagation (BP) neural network is proposed. The measurement precision of this method is demonstrated to be over two orders of magnitude higher than that of a grid-structure sensor array with the same electrode distribution density. Moreover, this method can be used for irregularly-shaped and non-uniform sensors, which further reduces the manufacturing difficulty and increases the application flexibility.

Blue-/NIR Light-Excited Fluorescence Switch Based on a Carbazole-Dithienylethene-BF2bdk Triad.

The development of novel solid-state fluorescence switches, particularly triggered by visible light, is of increasing interest for the potential application in optical data storage and super-resolution fluorescence microscopies. In this study, two carbazole-dithienylethene-BF2bdk triads CDB1 and CDB2, suspending carbazole and BF2bdk moieties on both sides of dithienylethene unit, have been developed. They exhibit blue-/NIR light-controlled photochromism with solvent-dependent characteristics. Moreover, CDB1 (o) reveals blue-/NIR light-induced reversible fluorescent switching behaviors in toluene, chloroform, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) film, and powder state, while its analogue CDB2 (o) in the powder state exhibits no fluorescence due to a strong intermolecular π-π stacking interaction, and the fluorescent switching performance is observed only in toluene and PMMA film. The density functional theory calculations further validate the differences in their optical properties in the solution and powder states.

DPPX antibody-mediated autoimmune encephalitis：the first case with breast cancer and review of the literature.

Dipeptidyl-peptidase-like protein 6 (DPPX) antibody-mediated encephalitis is a rare type of autoimmune encephalitis (AE), which mainly manifests as diarrhea accompanied by weight loss, cognitive decline, epileptic seizures, and even psychiatric symptoms. Remarkably, it is also reported to be associated with tumors, predominantly B-cell lymphoma. Overall, the AE remains uncharacterized clinically and its long-term prognosis remains elusive. Herein, we report the first case of DPPX antibody-mediated AE secondary to breast cancer. Importantly, it substantially improves after aggressive immunotherapy. Our case highlights DPPX antibody-mediated AE as a paraneoplastic syndrome and discusses the pearls in its diagnosis and management.

Study on the Fermented Grain Characteristics and Volatile Flavor Substances during the Tuqu Fermentation of Hunan Light-Flavor Baijiu.

The present study employed Hunan local Tuqu for fermentation and investigated the physicochemical properties, microbial community composition, and volatile flavor compounds of the fermented grains, as well as the correlation between the physicochemical indicators and the microbial community. The findings reveal that the activities of α-amylase and glucoamylase were highest during the initial stages of the fermentation process. The acid protease activity increased to 30.6 U/g on the second day and then decreased. Cellulose and lipase activities both showed an increasing trend. The moisture content increased sharply to 73.41% and then remained relatively stable. The acidity was highest on the eighth day. Fifty genera of bacteria and twenty-two genera of fungi were detected. Lactobacillus was dominant among bacteria, and Saccharomyces was dominant among fungi. A correlation analysis showed that there were positive correlations between moisture, acidity, cellulose, lipase activities and Lactobacillus, and there were positive correlations between moisture content, acidity, cellulase activity, acidic protease activity and Saccharomyces. A total of 46 volatile flavor compounds were detected, of which 6 alcohols and 14 esters constituted the major portion, and 9 key flavor compounds with an ROAV > 1 were identified throughout the fermentation process. Isoamyl acetate had the highest ROAV and made the greatest contribution to the flavor.

The association between serum heat shock protein 72 and intestinal permeability with intestinal microbiota and clinical severity in patients with cerebral infarction.

Objectives: We aimed to compare serum heat shock protein 72 (HSP72) and intestinal permeability in patients with cerebral infarction (CI) and healthy individuals to reveal their correlations and link to gut microbiota alterations and clinical severity of CI. Methods and results: Stool samples of 50 patients with CI and 46 healthy volunteers were analyzed through 16S rRNA gene sequencing to characterize intestinal flora profiles. Serum HSP72 and zonulin were assayed using enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA). The obtained data were then subjected to comparative and correlative analysis. We found that the levels of zonulin and serum HSP72 were significantly higher in the CI group compared to the healthy group. Serum HSP72 and zonulin levels were positively correlated in the CI group and correlated positively with the clinical severity of CI. ß diversity showed significant differences in intestinal microbiota composition between the two groups. In the CI patient group, the abundance of bacteria Eubacterium_fissicatena_group, Eubacterium_eligens_group, and Romboutsia manifested a remarkably positive correlation with serum HSP72. The abundance of bacteria Eubacterium_fissicatena_group and Acetivibrio had a significantly positive correlation with zonulin levels. Conclusion: Our findings indicated that an increase in serum HSP72 and zonulin levels was manifested in patients with CI and was related to specific gut microbiota alterations and the clinical severity of CI.

Research advances in cGAS-stimulator of interferon genes pathway and central nervous system diseases: Focus on new therapeutic approaches.

Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS), a crucial innate immune sensor, recognizes cytosolic DNA and induces stimulator of interferon genes (STING) to produce type I interferon and other proinflammatory cytokines, thereby mediating innate immune signaling. The cGAS-STING pathway is involved in the regulation of infectious diseases, anti-tumor immunity, and autoimmune diseases; in addition, it plays a key role in the development of central nervous system (CNS) diseases. Therapeutics targeting the modulation of cGAS-STING have promising clinical applications. Here, we summarize the cGAS-STING signaling mechanism and the recent research on its role in CNS diseases.

In vivo fluorescent screening for HPPD-targeted herbicide discovery.

BACKGROUND: 4-Hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD), playing a critical role in vitamin E and plastoquinone biosynthesis in plants, has been recognized as one of the most important targets for herbicide discovery for over 30 years. Structure-based rational design of HPPD inhibitors has received more and more research interest. However, a critical challenge in the discovery of new HPPD inhibitors is the common inconsistency between molecular-level HPPD-based bioevaluation and the weed control efficiency in fields, due to the unpredictable biological processes of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion. RESULTS: In this study, we developed a fluorescent-sensing platform of efficient in vivo screening for HPPD-targeted herbicide discovery. The refined sensor has good capability of in situ real-time fluorescence imaging of HPPD in living cells and zebrafish. More importantly, it enabled the direct visible monitoring of HPPD inhibition in plants in a real-time manner. CONCLUSION: We developed a highly efficient in vivo fluorescent screening method for HPPD-targeted herbicide discovery. This discovery not only offers a promising tool to advance HPPD-targeted herbicide discovery, but it also demonstrates a general path to develop the highly efficient, target-based, in vivo screening for pesticide discovery. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.

Microbial Diversity and Physicochemical Characteristics of the Maotai-Flavored Liquor Fermentation Process.

The grains fermented in Maotai-flavored liquor can be classified into two groups: high-temperature fermented grains generated by stacking and grains fermented in pits. The Maotai-flavor making process enriches a special microbiota from the fermented grains, which makes related studies more difficult. The use of modern molecular techniques to detect and analyze diversity and changes in total bacterial (16S rRNA sequencing) and fungal (internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequencing) counts have helped to overcome the shortcomings of traditional technological research. The total RNA extracted by Fe3O4-SiO2 nanoparticles was retrieved into DNA by MagBeads Total RNA Extraction Kit. However, discrepancies exist in the microbial community structures at different fermentation periods. Dominant bacteria include Escherichia-Shigella, Lactobacillus, Clostridium, and Streptococcus species and dominant fungi include Alternaria, Ciliophora, Pyrenochaetopsis, Cyphellophora, Aspergillus, Issatchenkia, Pichia, Candida, and Zygosaccharomyces species. Analyses of the enzymatic activity of samples at different fermentation stages have revealed that some existing bacilli influence amylase activity. Here, to investigate flavor changes during each fermentation round, the liquor quality at all rounds was comprehensively assessed based on the corresponding physicochemical properties, which were summarized by sensory evaluation. These results suggested that the liquor quality in the third, fourth, and fifth fermentation rounds was superior.

Efficient green light-excited switches based on dithienylethenes with BF2-doped π-conjugated systems.

A series of dithienylethenes 1a-1d with BF2-doped π-conjugation have been successfully developed. Upon alternating irradiation with green light and red/NIR light, they show efficient photochromism and fluorescence switching behaviors in toluene and PMMA film. Moreover, the fluorescence of 1a can be switched effectively in living cells.