Advancements in Reference Gene Selection for Fruit Trees: A Comprehensive Review.

Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) has been widely used in gene expression analyses due to its advantages of sensitivity, accuracy and high throughput. The stability of internal reference genes has progressively emerged as a major factor affecting the precision of qRT-PCR results. However, the stability of the expression of the reference genes needs to be determined further in different cells or organs, physiological and experimental conditions. Methods for evaluating these candidate internal reference genes have also evolved from simple single software evaluation to more reliable and accurate internal reference gene evaluation by combining different software tools in a comprehensive analysis. This study intends to provide a definitive reference for upcoming research that will be conducted on fruit trees. The primary focus of this review is to summarize the research progress in recent years regarding the selection and stability analysis of candidate reference genes for different fruit trees.

Clinical efficacy of total laparoscopic splenectomy for portal hypertension and its influence on hepatic hemodynamics and liver function.

BACKGROUND: The liver hemodynamic changes caused by portal hypertension (PH) are closely related to various complications such as gastroesophageal varices and portosys-temic shunts, which may lead to adverse clinical outcomes in these patients, so it is of great clinical significance to find treatment strategies with favorable clinical efficacy and low risk of complications. AIM: To study the clinical efficacy of total laparoscopic splenectomy (TLS) for PH and its influence on hepatic hemodynamics and liver function. METHODS: Among the 199 PH patients selected from October 2016 to October 2020, 100 patients [observation group (OG)] were treated with TLS, while the remaining 99 [reference group (RG)] were treated with open splenectomy (OS). We observed and compared the clinical efficacy, operation indexes [operative time (OT) and intraoperative bleeding volume], safety (intraperitoneal hemorrhage, ascitic fluid infection, eating disorders, liver insufficiency, and perioperative death), hepatic hemodynamics (diameter, velocity, and flow volume of the portal vein system), and liver function [serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and serum total bilirubin (TBil)] of the two groups. RESULTS: The OT was significantly longer and intraoperative bleeding volume was significantly lesser in the OG than in the RG. Additionally, the overall response rate, postoperative complications rate, and liver function indexes (ALT, AST, and TBil) did not differ significantly between the OG and RG. The hepatic hemodynamics statistics showed that the pre- and postoperative blood vessel diameters in the two cohorts did not differ statistically. Although the postoperative blood velocity and flow volume reduced significantly when compared with the preoperative values, there were no significant inter-group differences. CONCLUSION: TLS contributes to comparable clinical efficacy, safety, hepatic hemodynamics, and liver function as those of OS in treating PH, with a longer OT but lesser intraoperative blood loss.

Discovery of a High-Efficient Algicidal Bacterium against Microcystis aeruginosa Based on Examinations toward Culture Strains and Natural Bloom Samples.

Harmful cyanobacterial blooms occur worldwide and pose a great threat to aquatic ecosystems and public health. The application of algicidal bacteria represents an eco-friendly strategy for controlling harmful cyanobacterial blooms; thus, searching for a high efficiency of algicidal bacteria has been becoming an important and continuous task in science. Herein, we identified a bacterial strain coded Streptomyces sp. HY with a highly algicidal activity, and investigated its algicidal efficiency and mechanism against Microcystis aeruginosa. The strain HY displayed high algicidal activity toward Microcystis aeruginosa cells, with a removal rate of 93.04% within 2 days via indirect attack. Streptomyces sp. HY also showed the ability to lyse several genera of cyanobacterial strains, including Dolichospermum, Pseudanabaena, Anabaena, and Synechocystis, whereas it showed a minor impact on the green alga Scenedesmus obliquus, demonstrating its selectivity specially for targeting cyanobacteria. Its algicidal mechanism involved damages to the photosynthesis system, morphological injury of algal cells, oxidative stress, and dysfunction of the DNA repair system. Furthermore, HY treatment reduced the expression levels of genes (mcyB and mcyD) related to microcystin biosynthesis and decreased the total content of microcystin-leucine-arginine by 79.18%. Collectively, these findings suggested that the algicidal bacteria HY is a promising candidate for harmful cyanobacterial bloom control.

HuNAC20 and HuNAC25, Two Novel NAC Genes from Pitaya, Confer Cold Tolerance in Transgenic Arabidopsis.

NAC transcription factors are one of the largest families of transcriptional regulators in plants, and members of the gene family play vital roles in regulating plant growth and development processes including biotic/abiotic stress responses. However, little information is available about the NAC family in pitaya. In this study, we conducted a genome-wide analysis and a total of 64 NACs (named HuNAC1-HuNAC64) were identified in pitaya (Hylocereus). These genes were grouped into fifteen subgroups with diversities in gene proportions, exon-intron structures, and conserved motifs. Genome mapping analysis revealed that HuNAC genes were unevenly scattered on all eleven chromosomes. Synteny analysis indicated that the segmental duplication events played key roles in the expansion of the pitaya NAC gene family. Expression levels of these HuNAC genes were analyzed under cold treatments using qRT-PCR. Four HuNAC genes, i.e., HuNAC7, HuNAC20, HuNAC25, and HuNAC30, were highly induced by cold stress. HuNAC7, HuNAC20, HuNAC25, and HuNAC30 were localized exclusively in the nucleus. HuNAC20, HuNAC25, and HuNAC30 were transcriptional activators while HuNAC7 was a transcriptional repressor. Overexpression of HuNAC20 and HuNAC25 in Arabidopsis thaliana significantly enhanced tolerance to cold stress through decreasing ion leakage, malondialdehyde (MDA), and H2O2 and O2- accumulation, accompanied by upregulating the expression of cold-responsive genes (AtRD29A, AtCOR15A, AtCOR47, and AtKIN1). This study presents comprehensive information on the understanding of the NAC gene family and provides candidate genes to breed new pitaya cultivars with tolerance to cold conditions through genetic transformation.

Lung cancer induced by Benzo(A)Pyrene: ChemoProtective effect of sinapic acid in swiss albino mice.

Cancer of lung is the utmost typical cause of death and the number of cases is increasing rapidly, which has emerged as a major leading health problem. A large amount of reports suggested that Benzo(a)pyrene [B(a)P] in cigarette smoke plays the major function in an initiation of cancer of lung. Cancer prevention or chemoprevention has become a compelling approach recently for treatment of lung cancer. So, discovering a fresh candidate with reduced toxicity for targeting lung cancer is vital and urgent. Sinapic acid which is a widely extracted in various vegetables and fruit exhibits rich anti-oxidant content, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor activity. But, the chemopreventive action of sinapic acid against lung cancer initiated by B[a]P remain unclear. Following, an in-vivo B[a]P-stimulated lung cancer in swiss albino mice and an in-vitro human lung cancer cell (A549) model were established to examine the chemopreventive activities of sinapic acid. The levels of immunoglobulins (IgG and IgM), oxidative and inflammatory markers, and tumor markers level was studied using kits and standard methods. The results showed administration of sinapic acid ameliorates the exposure of B[a]P mediated lung cancer in swiss albino mice by a decline in IgG and IgM level, leukocyte count, neutrophil function tests, soluble immune complex, lipid peroxidation, pro-inflammatory cytokines, tumor markers (AHH, LDH, GGT, 5'NT and CEA) and enhanced phagocytic index, activity index and antioxidant defense enzymes. In addition, in-vitro studies showed potential cytotoxicity against human lung cancer and exhibited a potential cytotoxic (MTT assay) and apoptotic activity by elevation of ROS production and caspase activity (caspase-3 and caspase-9). Collectively, the results, clearly specifies sinapic acid can be utilized as an effective chemo preventative agent against lung carcinogenesis.

Tantalum oxide submicro-particles into microporous coating on polyimide possessing antibacterial property and inducing cellular response for orthopedic application.

Surface characteristics of the biomaterials have significant effects on response of osteoblast and formation of new bone tissue. In this study, to improve the bio-performance of polyimide (PI) as an implantable material for bone substitute, concentrated sulfuric acid suspension with tantalum (V) oxide (vTO) submicro-particles of 10w% (PIST10) and 15w% (PIST15) was utilized to modify PI surface. After sulfonation, microporous coatings including vTO particles were created on PI (PIST10 and PIST15) while microporous coating without vTO particles was also created on PI (PIS). Results showed that surface roughness, hydrophilicity and protein adsorption of PIST15 was remarkably higher than PIST10 and PIS. Furthermore, after soaking into simulated body fluid (SBF), no apatite mineralization on PIS was found, while PIST15 with high vTO content exhibited better apatite mineralization compared with PIST10. Moreover, PIS showed low antibacterial property, while PIST15 with high vTO content revealed better antibacterial property compared with PIST10. In addition, cellular response (such as adhesion, proliferation and alkaline phosphatase activity) of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC) of rat to PIST15 was higher than PIST10 and PIS. In conclusion, the microporous coating of PIST15 including vTO submicro-particles possessed good antibacterial property and bioactivity, which significantly promoted the responses of BMSC. Therefore, PIST15 has potential application prospects for bone substitute.

A microporous surface containing Si3N4/Ta microparticles of PEKK exhibits both antibacterial and osteogenic activity for inducing cellular response and improving osseointegration.

As an implantable biomaterial, polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) exhibits good mechanical strength but it is biologically inert while tantalum (Ta) possesses outstanding osteogenic bioactivity but has a high density and elastic modulus. Also, silicon nitride (SN) has osteogenic and antibacterial activity. In this study, a microporous surface containing both SN and Ta microparticles on PEKK (STP) exhibiting excellent osteogenic and antibacterial activity was created by sulfonation. Compared with sulfonated PEKK (SPK) without microparticles, the surface properties (roughness, surface energy, hydrophilicity and protein adsorption) of STP significantly increased due to the SN and Ta particles presence on the microporous surface. In addition, STP also exhibited outstanding antibacterial activity, which inhibited bacterial growth in vitro and prevented bacterial infection in vivo because of the presence of SN particles. Moreover, the microporous surface of STP containing both SN and Ta particles remarkably induced response (e.g., proliferation and differentiation) of rat bone mesenchymal stem (rBMS) cells in vitro. Furthermore, STP significantly improved new bone regeneration and osseointegration in vivo. Regarding the induction of cellular response in vitro and improvement of osseointegration in vivo, the microporous surface containing Ta was better than the surface with SN particles. In conclusion, STP with optimized surface properties activated cellular responses in vitro, enhanced osseointegration and prevented infection in vivo. Therefore, STP possessed the dual biofunctions of excellent osteogenic and antibacterial activity, showing great potential as a bone substitute.

Implantable PEKK/tantalum microparticles composite with improved surface performances for regulating cell behaviors, promoting bone formation and osseointegration.

Polyetherketoneketone (PEKK) exhibits admirable biocompatibility and mechanical performances but bioinert while tantalum (Ta) possesses excellent osteogenesis and osseointegration but high elastic modulus and density, and processing is too difficult and expensive. In the present study, combining of the advantages of both PEKK and Ta, implantable composites of PEKK/Ta were fabricated by blending PEKK with Ta microparticles of 20 v% (PT20) and 40 v% (PT40) content. In comparison with PT20 and PEKK, the surface hydrophilicity, surface energy, roughness and proteins adsorption as well as mechanical performances of PT40 significantly increased because of the higher Ta particles content in PEKK. Furthermore, PT40 exhibited the mechanical performances (e.g., compressive strength and modulus of elasticity) close to the cortical bone of human. Compared with PT20 and PEKK, PT40 with higher Ta content remarkably enhanced the responses (including adhesion, proliferation and osteogenic differentiation) of MC3T3-E1 cells in vitro. Moreover, PT40 markedly improved bone formation as well as osseointegration in vivo. In short, incorporation of Ta microparticles into PEKK created implantable composites with improved surface performances, which played key roles in stimulating cell responses/bone formation as well as promoting osseointegration. PT40 might have great potential for bear-loading bone substitute.

Construction of a hierarchical micro & nanoporous surface for loading genistein on the composite of polyetheretherketone/tantalum pentoxide possessing antibacterial activity and accelerated osteointegration.

Nanoporous tantalum pentoxide (NTP) particles with a pore size of about 10 nm were synthesized and blended with polyetheretherketone (PEEK) to fabricate a PEEK/NTP composite (PN). Subsequently, PN was treated by concentrated sulfuric acid to create a microporous surface (pore size of around 2 µm) on sulfonated PN (SPN), which formed a hierarchical micro & nanoporous surface. Compared with PN, the porous surface of SPN exhibited higher roughness, hydrophilicity, and surface energy. In addition, genistein (GT) was loaded into the porous surface of SPN (SPNG), which showed high GT loading capacity and sustained release of GT into phosphate buffered saline (PBS). Moreover, SPNG revealed excellent antibacterial activity, which inhibited bacterial (E. coli and S. aureus) growth in vitro due to the synergistic effects of both sulfonic acid (SO3H) groups and the sustained release of GT. Compared with PN, SPN significantly improved the adhesion, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation of bone mesenchymal stem cells in vitro. Moreover, compared with SPN, SPNG further enhances the cell responses. Compared with PN, SPN remarkably improved bone formation and osteointegration in vivo. Furthermore, compared with SPN, SPNG further enhanced the osteointegration. In short, SPNG with a micro & nanoporous surface, SO3H groups, and the sustained release of GT exhibited antibacterial activity and accelerated osteointegration, which would have tremendous potential as drug-loaded implants for bone substitute.

Gene polymorphisms of DISC1 is associated with schizophrenia: Evidence from a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies suggest an association between Disrupted in schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) polymorphisms and schizophrenia (SCZ). However, the available data are often inconsistent, regarding the difference in sample size, ethnicity, genotyping method, etc. Thus, we carried out a meta-analysis to determine whether DISC1 polymorphisms contributed susceptibility to SCZ. METHODS: A methodical literature review was operated using the English and Chinese core electronic databases. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were applied to determine the correlation between DISC1 gene polymorphisms and SCZ susceptibility. Subgroup analyses were carried out by stratification of ethnicity. P values were Bonferroni adjusted to account for multiple testing. Publication bias was evaluated by funnel plots, Egger's test and the trim and fill method. RESULTS: Meta-analyses results suggested that DISC1 polymorphisms (rs821616 and rs821597) increased SCZ risk in overall populations. In subgroups of ethnicity, DISC1 polymorphisms (rs821616 and rs821597) was associated with susceptibility to SCZ among the Chinese population (for rs821616: TT+AT vs. AA: OR=1.338, 95% CI=1.124-1.592, P=0.001; T vs. A: OR=1.300, 95% CI=1.124-1.504, P<0.000; for rs821597: AA+AG vs. GG: OR=1.508, 95% CI=1.268-1.794, P<0.001; A vs. G: OR=1.345, 95% CI=1.184-1.527, P<0.001). A positive correlation was also observed between the single marker rs821616 and SCZ among the Japanese population in the recessive model (TT vs. AT+AA: OR=1.524, 95% CI=1.185-1.959, P=0.001). There was no significant relationship between other DISC1 polymorphisms (rs3738401, rs2273890, rs3738398, rs3738402, rs2492367, rs843979, rs3737597, rs4658971, rs1538979, rs1000731 and rs3738399) and SCZ. CONCLUSIONS: DISC1 polymorphisms increased a risk of SCZ, especially in the Chinese population. In order to further corroborate our findings, large well-designed epidemiological studies are needed.

Decreased empathy response to other people's pain in bipolar disorder: evidence from an event-related potential study.

Bipolar disorder (BD) patients often demonstrate poor socialization that may stem from a lower capacity for empathy. We examined the associated neurophysiological abnormalities by comparing event-related potentials (ERP) between 30 BD patients in different states and 23 healthy controls (HCs, matched for age, sex, and education) during a pain empathy task. Subjects were presented pictures depicting pain or neutral images and asked to judge whether the person shown felt pain (pain task) and to identify the affected side (laterality task) during ERP recording. Amplitude of pain-empathy related P3 (450-550 ms) of patients versus HCs was reduced in painful but not neutral conditions in occipital areas [(mean (95% confidence interval), BD vs. HCs: 4.260 (2.927, 5.594) vs. 6.396 (4.868, 7.924)] only in pain task. Similarly, P3 (550-650 ms) was reduced in central areas [4.305 (3.029, 5.581) vs. 6.611 (5.149, 8.073)]. Current source density in anterior cingulate cortex differed between pain-depicting and neutral conditions in HCs but not patients. Manic severity was negatively correlated with P3 difference waves (pain - neutral) in frontal and central areas (Pearson r = -0.497, P = 0.005; r = -0.377, P = 0.040). Electrophysiological correlates of empathy processing are reduced in BD depending on manic symptom severity.

Impairment of the executive attention network in premenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer treated with tamoxifen.

Tamoxifen (TAM) is most commonly prescribed for patients with hormone-sensitive breast cancer and exerts agonistic/antagonistic effects on estrogen receptors throughout the body. Accumulating evidence has revealed that breast cancer patients receiving TAM manifest cognitive dysfunction. However, whether these patients have a global attention deficit or a more selective impairment of specific attention networks remains unknown. In the present study, we sought to explore the attention function of premenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer treated with TAM using the attention network test (ANT). The subjects included breast cancer patients receiving TAM (TAM, N=43), breast cancer patients not receiving TAM (non-TAM, N=41), and matched healthy controls (HC, N=46). The subjects completed the ANT and neuropsychological tests, which measure three independent attention networks and executive function performance, respectively. Our results indicated that patients in the TAM group had significant deficits in their executive control component but not in the alerting or orienting components. Moreover, the patients showed poor executive function performance in the neuropsychological tests. Additionally, in the TAM group, significant correlations were found between the decreased efficiency of the executive control component and their reduced performance in executive function tests. This study demonstrates that premenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer treated with TAM have impairment of the executive attention network and that this impairment was associated with differences in executive function performance.

Difference in the binocular rivalry rate between depressive episodes and remission.

Binocular rivalry refers to a phenomenon in which, when different images are presented to each eye simultaneously, perception alternates spontaneously between monocular views rather than being a superposition of the two images. Recently, the involvement of serotonin systems has been reported to be related to the phenomenon. There is abundant evidence for abnormalities of the serotonin systems in depression and the antidepressants that enhance 5-HT transmission, which in turn improves mood and behavior. However, the available data with respect to rivalry rates in depression are less clear. Therefore, we aimed to explore whether perceptual rivalry was affected by a dysfunctional serotonin system in patients with depression and whether there was a rivalry rate difference between episode and remission states in depression patients. Twenty-eight patients with depression and 30 healthy controls were recruited in the study. We assessed the rivalry rate and the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) in patients with depression during clinical episode and remission states. The results suggested that alternation rates for patients during episodes were significantly slower than during remission and than in healthy controls. Also, alternation rates for patients during remission were slower than in healthy controls. These results may provide further clues to serotonergic neural systems contributing to the dynamics of perception rivalry and may foster enlightenment regarding the field of binocular rivalry in psychiatric disorders other than bipolar disorder.

Selective impairment of attention networks in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy treatment.

INTRODUCTION: Complaints about attention disorders are common among breast cancer survivors who have undergone chemotherapy treatment. However, it is not known whether these complaints indicate a global attention deficit or the selective impairment of attention networks. OBJECTIVE: This study sought to investigate the attentional abilities of breast cancer patients after chemotherapy treatment using the attention network test (ANT). METHODS: The participants included breast cancer patients who had undergone chemotherapy (CT, N = 58), patients who had not undergone chemotherapy (non-CT, N = 53), and matched healthy controls (HC, N = 55). All participants completed the ANT, which provides measures of three independent attention networks (alerting, orienting, and executive control) and neuropsychological background tests. RESULTS: Our results indicated that the chemotherapy-treated breast cancer patients had significant deficits in the alerting and executive control networks but not in the orienting network. The CT group scored significantly lower in several cognitive tasks, including attention, memory, and information processing tasks, relative to the other two groups. Additionally, significant correlations were found between information processing and the efficiency of the executive control network within the CT group. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the three attention networks were selectively impaired following chemotherapy treatment, which affected different brain areas in the breast cancer survivors.

Fast and selective recognizes polysaccharide by surface molecularly imprinted film coated onto aldehyde-modified magnetic nanoparticles.

In this work, a starch imprinted magnetic nanoparticles composite material has been successfully synthesized. This molecular imprinted material has promising practical utility in capturing polysaccharides for pharmacology applications. First, we synthesized Fe3O4 nanoparticles by coprecipitation, followed by the modification of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and functional amino group and aldehyde group, respectively. Then we used functionalized Fe3O4@SiO2 as the magnetic cores, starch as the template, 3-aminophenylboronic acid (APBA) as the functional monomer and ammonium persulphate (APS) as the initiator. Magnetic molecularly imprinted nanoparticles (MMIPs) were synthesized by surface-imprinted polymerization under airtight tubes at room temperature for 24 h. MMIPs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analysis. This showed a high saturation magnetization value (5.59 emu g(-1)) easily reached under an external magnetic field. The binding experiments were shown to have relatively high adsorption capacity (15.45 mg g(-1)) and selective recognition ability over structurally related compounds. Therefore, MMIPs provide a sensitive and selective approach and offer the potential to become a new key for polysaccharide separation and purification.

Characterization and bioactivity of polysaccharides obtained from pine cones of Pinus koraiensis by graded ethanol precipitation.

Pinus koraiensis polysaccharides (PKP) were extracted by hot water from P. koraiensis pine cones. Five polysaccharide fractions named PKP-A, PKP-B, PKP-C, PKP-D and PKP-E were successfully separated at final ethanol concentrations of 30%, 50%, 60%, 70% and 80%, respectively. HPLC, FT-IR, GC-MS and automatic amino-acid analysis were applied to investigate their chemical characteristics. Monosaccharide component analysis indicated that the five fractions were all composed of D-ribose, L-rhamnose, L-arabinose, D-xylose, D-mannose, D-glucose and D-galactose, but their molar ratios were quite different. HPLC results revealed that the polysaccharides precipitated by higher concentrations of ethanol solution had lower molecular masses. Moreover, the antioxidant activities of the five fractions were studied on the basis of hydroxyl radical and ABTS radical scavenging tests. The five graded polysaccharide fractions exhibited good inhibitory power, and MTT tests in vitro showed the IC50 of PKP-A and PKP-E were 1,072.5 and 2,070.0 µg · mL-1, respectively. These results demonstrated that the PKP could be a potential source of natural antioxidants or dietary supplements.

Chemical composition and antioxidant activities of three polysaccharide fractions from pine cones.

The traditional method of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for monosaccharide component analysis with pretreatment of acetylation is described with slight modifications and verified in detail in this paper. It was then successfully applied to the quantitative analysis of component monosaccharides in polysaccharides extracted from the pine cones. The results demonstrated that the three pine cone polysaccharides all consisted of ribose, rhamnose, arabinose, xylose, mannose, glucose and galactose in different molar ratios. According to the recovery experiment, the described method was proved accurate and practical for the analysis of pine cone polysaccharides, meeting the need in the field of chemical analysis of Pinus plants. Furthermore; the chemical characteristics, such as neutral sugar, uronic acids, amino acids, molecular weights, and antioxidant activities of the polysaccharides were investigated by chemical and instrumental methods. The results showed that the chemical compositions of the polysaccharides differed from each other, especially in the content of neutral sugar and uronic acid. In the antioxidant assays, the polysaccharide fractions exhibited effective scavenging activities on ABTS radical and hydroxyl radical, with their antioxidant capabilities decreasing in the order of PKP > PAP > PSP. Therefore, although the polysaccharide fractions had little effect on superoxide radical scavenging, they still have potential to be developed as natural antioxidant agents in functional foods or medicine.