QTL Detection and Candidate Gene Identification for Eating and Cooking Quality Traits in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) via a Genome-Wide Association Study.

The eating and cooking quality (ECQ) directly affects the taste of rice, being closely related to factors such as gelatinization temperature (GT), gel consistency (GC) and amylose content (AC). Mining the quantitative trait loci (QTLs), and gene loci controlling ECQ-related traits is vital. A genome-wide association study on ECQ-related traits was conducted, combining 1.2 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with the phenotypic data of 173 rice accessions. Two QTLs for GT, one for GC and five for AC were identified, of which two were found in previously reported genes, and six were newly found. There were 28 positional candidate genes in the region of qAC11. Based on a linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis, three candidate genes were screened within the LD region associated with AC. There were significant differences between the haplotypes of LOC_Os11g10170, but no significant differences were found for the other two genes. The qRT-PCR results showed that the gene expression levels in the accessions with high ACs were significantly larger than those in the accessions with low ACs at 35d and 42d after flowering. Hap 2 and Hap 3 of LOC_Os11g10170 reduced the AC by 13.09% and 10.77%, respectively. These results provide a theoretical and material basis for improving the ECQ of rice.

Effects of air pollution control policies on intracerebral hemorrhage mortality among residents in Tianjin, China.

BACKGROUND: Exposure to air pollution is an important risk factor for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), which is a major cause of death worldwide. However, the relationship between ICH mortality and air quality improvement has been poorly studied. This study aims to evaluate the impact of the air pollution control policies in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region on ICH mortality among Tianjin residents. METHODS: This study used an interrupted time series analysis. We fitted autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models to assess the changes in ICH deaths before and after the interventions of air pollution control policies based on the data of ICH deaths in Tianjin collected by the Tianjin Center for Disease Control and Prevention. RESULTS: Between 2009 and 2020, there were 63,944 ICH deaths in Tianjin, and there was an overall decreasing trend in ICH mortality. The intervention conducted in June 2014 resulted in a statistically significant (p = 0.03) long-term trend change, reducing the number of deaths from ICH by 0.69 (95% confidence interval [CI]: -1.30 to -0.07) per month. The intervention in October 2017 resulted in a statistically significant (p = 0.04) immediate decrease of 25.74 (95% CI: -50.62 to -0.85) deaths from ICH in that month. The intervention in December 2017 caused a statistically significant (p = 0.04) immediate reduction of 26.58 (95% CI: -52.02 to -1.14) deaths from ICH in that month. The intervention in March 2018 resulted in a statistically significant (p = 0.02) immediate decrease of 30.40 (95% CI: -56.41 to -4.40) deaths from ICH in that month. No significant differences were observed in the changes of male ICH mortality after any of the four interventions. However, female ICH deaths showed statistically significant long-term trend change after the intervention in June 2014 and immediate changes after the interventions in December 2017 and March 2018. Overall, the interventions prevented an estimated 5984.76 deaths due to ICH. CONCLUSION: During the study period, some interventions of air pollution control policies were significantly associated with the reductions in the number of deaths from ICH among residents in Tianjin. ICH survivors and females were more sensitive to the protective effects of the interventions. Interventions for air pollution control can achieve public health gains in cities with high levels of air pollution.

Urban-rural disparity in cancer mortality and changing trend in Tianjin, China, during 1999 and 2016.

OBJECTIVE: Compare the urban-rural disparity in cancer mortality and changing trend during the past 18 years in Tianjin, China. METHODS: Cancer death data were obtained from Tianjin All Cause of Death Registration System (CDRS), which covers the whole population of Tianjin. We calculated and compared the constituent ratio of cancer deaths, age-standardized mortality rate(ASR)and changing trends between urban and rural areas. RESULTS: From 1999 to 2016, a total of 245,744 cancer deaths were reported, accounting 21.7% of all deaths in Tianjin. The ASR of total cancer mortality was higher in urban areas than in rural areas. A total of 33,739 persons were avoided dying of cancers in rural area compared to the urban death level from 1999 to 2016, which was 40.1% compare to the current level of rural areas. But the gap between urban and rural areas became narrowed gradually. The urban-rural ratios (urban/rural) of total cancer mortality changed from 1.76 (125.7/71.5)[95%CI,1.67,1.84] in 1999 to 1.11 (99.6/90.0)[95%CI,1.06,1.15] in 2016. The ASR of lung, liver and esophagus cancer became higher in rural areas than in urban areas in 2016. CONCLUSION: Cancer transition was obviously occurred in Tianjin and showed different speeds and big gap between urban and rural areas. Much more attention was needed to pay in rural areas which still have increasing trends in most cancers mortality recently.

Synchronous bone metastasis in lung cancer: retrospective study of a single center of 15,716 patients from Tianjin, China.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to describe the incidence, clinical characteristics, and prognosis of lung cancer patients with synchronous bone metastasis (SBM) and to analyze the prognostic factors of the lung cancer patients with SBM. METHODS: A total of 15,716 lung cancer patients who were diagnosed between 2009 to 2018 in the Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital were retrospectively reviewed. Among them, patients with SBM were checked. Both the demographic and clinical characteristics were included as follows: age, gender, marital status, history of smoking, alcohol consumption, family history of tumor, Karnofsky score, lymph node metastasis, histological type. Besides, laboratory data such as alkaline phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase, carcinoembryonic antigen, squamous cell carcinoma antigen, cytokeratin-19 fragment, and neuron specific enolase were also included. The log-rank test and multivariate Cox regression analysis were employed to reveal the potential prognostic predictors. A further analysis using the Kaplan-Meier was employed to demonstrate the difference on the prognosis of LC patients between adenocarcinoma and non-adenocarcinoma. RESULTS: Among the included patients, 2738 patients (17.42%) were diagnosed with SBM. A total of 938 patients (34.3%) with SBM were successfully followed and the median survival was 11.53 months (95%CI: 10.57-12.49 months), and the 1-, 2-, and 5-year overall survival rate was 51, 17, and 8%, respectively. Multivariable Cox regression results showed history of smoking and high level of NSE were associated with the poor prognosis, while adenocarcinoma histological type was associated with better survival. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of SBM in lung cancer is relatively high with poor survival. The lung cancer patients with SBM showed diverse prognosis. Among all the pathological types, the division of adenocarcinoma suggested different prognosis of the lung cancer patients with SBM. The present study emphasized the importance of pathological diagnosis on prognostic determinants in lung cancer patients with SBM.

Impact of smoke-free legislation on acute myocardial infarction and stroke mortality: Tianjin, China, 2007-2015.

BACKGROUND: Smoke-free legislation is an effective way to protect the population from the harms of secondhand smoke and has been implemented in many countries. On 31 May 2012, Tianjin became one of the few cities in China to implement smoke-free legislation. We investigated the impact of smoke-free legislation on mortality due to acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and stroke in Tianjin. METHODS: An interrupted time series design adjusting for underlying secular trends, seasonal patterns, population size changes and meteorological factors was conducted to analyse the impact of the smoke-free law on the weekly mortality due to AMI and stroke. The study period was from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2015, with a 3.5-year postlegislation follow-up. RESULTS: Following the implementation of the smoke-free law, there was a decline in the annual trends of AMI and stroke mortality. An incremental 16% (rate ratio (RR): 0.84; 95% CI: 0.83 to 0.85) decrease per year in AMI mortality and a 2% (RR: 0.98; 95% CI: 0.97 to 0.99) annual decrease in stroke mortality among the population aged ≥35 years in Tianjin was observed. Immediate postlegislation reductions in mortality were not statistically significant. An estimated 10 000 (22%) AMI deaths were prevented within 3.5 years of the implementation of the law. CONCLUSION: The smoke-free law in Tianjin was associated with reductions in AMI mortality. This study reinforces the need for large-scale, effective and comprehensive smoke-free laws at the national level in China.

Smoking and Mortality in Tianjin, China: A Death Registry-Based Case-Control Study, 2010-2014.

INTRODUCTION: We conducted a mortality case-control study to assess the risks of all-cause and major causes of death attributable to smoking in Tianjin from 2010 through 2014. The death registry-based study used data from The Tianjin All Causes of Death Surveillance System, which collects information routinely on smoking of the deceased in the death certificate of Tianjin Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. METHODS: Cases (n = 154,086) and controls (n = 25,476) were deaths at 35 to 79 years from smoking-related and nonsmoking-related causes, respectively. Mortality rate ratios (RRs) for ever smokers versus never smokers, with adjustment for sex, 5-year age group, education, marital status, and year of death, and smoking-attributed fractions were calculated. RESULTS: The RRs in men were 1.38 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.33-1.43) for all causes and 3.07 (95% CI, 2.91-3.24) for lung cancer, and in women were 1.46 (95% CI, 1.39-1.54) and 4.07 (95% CI, 3.81-4.35). The smoking-attributed fractions for all causes and for lung cancer in men were 15.4% and 50.2%, respectively, and in women were 7.3% and 32.7%, respectively. Smoking annually caused an average of 3,756 (9.4%) deaths, mostly from lung cancer in men (47.4%) and women (66.9%). Women who started smoking before 30 had a higher RR (1.79; 95% CI, 1.63-1.97) than men who did so (1.48; 95% CI, 1.41-1.56). CONCLUSION: Lung cancer was the main cause of smoking-induced deaths in both sexes. Tobacco use is a major cause of premature deaths in men aged 35 to 79 years. Young women must be urged to not start smoking because they could have greater risk of all-cause and lung cancer deaths than men do.

Characterization of bifunctional L-glutathione synthetases from Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae and Actinobacillus succinogenes for efficient glutathione biosynthesis.

Glutathione (GSH), an important bioactive substance, is widely applied in pharmaceutical and food industries. In this work, two bifunctional L-glutathione synthetases (GshF) from Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (GshFAp) and Actinobacillus succinogenes (GshFAs) were successfully expressed in Escherichia coli BL-21(DE3). Similar to the GshF from Streptococcus thermophilus (GshFSt), GshFAp and GshFAs can be applied for high titer GSH production because they are less sensitive to end-product inhibition (Ki values 33 and 43 mM, respectively). The active catalytic forms of GshFAs and GshFAp are dimers, consistent with those of GshFPm (GshF from Pasteurella multocida) and GshFSa (GshF from Streptococcus agalactiae), but are different from GshFSt (GshF from S. thermophilus) which is an active monomer. The analysis of the protein sequences and three dimensional structures of GshFs suggested that the binding sites of GshFs for substrates, L-cysteine, L-glutamate, γ-glutamylcysteine, adenosine-triphosphate, and glycine are highly conserved with only very few differences. With sufficient supply of the precursors, the recombinant strains BL-21(DE3)/pET28a-gshFas and BL-21(DE3)/pET28a-gshFap were able to produce 36.6 and 34.1 mM GSH, with the molar yield of 0.92 and 0.85 mol/mol, respectively, based on the added L-cysteine. The results showed that GshFAp and GshFAs are potentially good candidates for industrial GSH production.

Glutathione production by recombinant Escherichia coli expressing bifunctional glutathione synthetase.

Glutathione (GSH) is an important bioactive substance applied widely in pharmaceutical and food industries. Due to the strong product inhibition in the GSH biosynthetic pathway, high levels of intracellular content, yield and productivity of GSH are difficult to achieve. Recently, a novel bifunctional GSH synthetase was identified to be less sensitive to GSH. A recombinant Escherichia coli strain expressing gshF encoding the bifunctional glutathione synthetase of Streptococcus thermophilus was constructed for GSH production. In this study, efficient GSH production using this engineered strain was investigated. The cultivation process was optimized by controlling dissolved oxygen (DO), amino acid addition and glucose feeding. 36.8 mM (11.3 g/L) GSH were formed at a productivity of 2.06 mM/h when the amino acid precursors (75 mM each) were added and glucose was supplied as the sole carbon and energy source.

[Work environments and mortality attributable to smoking: a study among male citizens from 2010 to 2012 in Tianjin, China].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the mortality attributable to smoking in different work environments among male citizens in Tianjin, China, and to provide scientific evidence for banning smoking in workplaces and public places. METHODS: The data of 38 312 male deaths 18-69 years of age in Tianjin from 2010 to 2012 were collected. The risk of death due to lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases attributed to smoking in different work environments was analyzed. RESULTS: Among the male deaths 18-69 years of age in Tianjin, 22.57% were caused by smoking, and the life scan of smokers was shortened by 5 years on average. The smokers who started smoking at an early age and had high dialy cigarette consumption were at high risk of death.The risk of death due to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases among workers in indoor workshop(OR=1.82,95%CI: 1.55 2.15), indoor office personnel (OR=1.59, 95%CI: 1.39-1.81) Indoor public places (OR=1 .55, 95%U: 1.19 2.01) were higher than outdoor workers (OR=1.23,95%CI: 1.12-1.35). The risk of death due to lung cancer among workers in indoor workshop (OR =3.80,95% CI: 3.03-4.76), indoor office personnel (OR =3.04,95% CI: 2.48-3.73) Indoor public places (OR =4.63,95% CI:3.08-6.96)were higher than outdoor workers (OR 2.57,95% CI:2.22-2.97). The risk of death due to lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases among indoor workers was higher than that among outdoor workers. The risk of death due to lung cancer among indoor workers in public places who started smoking when they were younger than 18 years of age was higher than those among outdoor workers and other indoor workers. CONCLUSION: Smoking is a major risk factor for mortality among male citizens in Tianjin, and also a key factor for the loss of labor productivity. Indoor workers have a higher risk of mortality than outdoor workers. In order to reduce the mortality attributable to smoking, effective actions should be taken as soon as possible to ban smoking in indoor workplaces.

Impact of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Diseases Mortality on Life Expectancy in Tianjin, 2004 and 2020.

This study aims to analyze the impact of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (CCVDs) mortality on Tianjin's life expectancy (LE) in 2004 compared with 2020 using Arriaga's decomposition method. The LE increment for Tianjin residents due to the decrease in CCVDs mortality was 1.54 years (38.7%). Males, females, urban residents, and rural residents contributed 1.29 years (36.83%), 1.76 years (40.25%), 2.11 years (44.41%), and 0.71 years (25.06%), respectively. A total of 38.2% of the LE increment was attributed to deaths from CCVDs in people aged ≥65 years. Cerebral infarction, intracerebral hemorrhage, acute myocardial infarction, and other heart diseases contributed positively to the increase in LE (24.8%, 22.68%, 16.66%, and 11.3%). Sequelae of cerebrovascular disease and other coronary heart diseases contributed negatively to the increase in LE (-25.2% and -17.92%). Therefore, we need to control the risk factors of the elderly, males, rural residents, sequelae of cerebrovascular disease, and other coronary heart diseases.

Variation in brain connectivity during motor imagery and motor execution in stroke patients based on electroencephalography.

Objective: The objective of this study was to analyze the changes in connectivity between motor imagery (MI) and motor execution (ME) in the premotor area (PMA) and primary motor cortex (MA) of the brain, aiming to explore suitable forms of treatment and potential therapeutic targets. Methods: Twenty-three inpatients with stroke were selected, and 21 right-handed healthy individuals were recruited. EEG signal during hand MI and ME (synergy and isolated movements) was recorded. Correlations between functional brain areas during MI and ME were compared. Results: PMA and MA were significantly and positively correlated during hand MI in all participants. The power spectral density (PSD) values of PMA EEG signals were greater than those of MA during MI and ME in both groups. The functional connectivity correlation was higher in the stroke group than in healthy people during MI, especially during left-handed MI. During ME, functional connectivity correlation in the brain was more enhanced during synergy movements than during isolated movements. The regions with abnormal functional connectivity were in the 18th lead of the left PMA area. Conclusion: Left-handed MI may be crucial in MI therapy, and the 18th lead may serve as a target for non-invasive neuromodulation to promote further recovery of limb function in patients with stroke. This may provide support for the EEG theory of neuromodulation therapy for hemiplegic patients.

Genome-wide association mapping of quantitative trait loci for chalkiness-related traits in rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Grain chalkiness directly affects the commercial value of rice. Genes related to chalkiness reported thus far have been discovered in mutants, but it has not been identified whether these genes can be used to improve rice quality by breeding. Therefore, discovering more quantitative trait loci (QTLs) or genes related to chalkiness in the rice germplasm is necessary. This study entails a genome-wide association study on the degree of endosperm chalkiness (DEC) and percentage of grains with chalkiness (PGWC) by combining 1.2 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with the phenotypic data of 173 rice accessions. Thirteen QTLs for DEC and nine for PGWC were identified, of which four were detected simultaneously for both DEC and PGWC; further, qDEC11/qPGWC11 was identified as the major QTL. By combining linkage disequilibrium analysis and SNP information, LOC_Os11g10170 was identified as the candidate gene for DEC. There were significant differences among the haplotypes of LOC_Os11g10170, and the Hap 1 of LOC_Os11g10170 was observed to reduce the DEC by 6.19%. The qRT-PCR results showed that the gene expression levels in accessions with high DEC values were significantly higher than those in accessions with low DEC values during days 21-42 after flowering, with a maximum at 28 days. These results provide molecular markers and germplasm resources for genetic improvement of the chalkiness-related traits in rice.

EMPT: a sparsity Transformer for EEG-based motor imagery recognition.

Introduction: Transformer network is widely emphasized and studied relying on its excellent performance. The self-attention mechanism finds a good solution for feature coding among multiple channels of electroencephalography (EEG) signals. However, using the self-attention mechanism to construct models on EEG data suffers from the problem of the large amount of data required and the complexity of the algorithm. Methods: We propose a Transformer neural network combined with the addition of Mixture of Experts (MoE) layer and ProbSparse Self-attention mechanism for decoding the time-frequency-spatial domain features from motor imagery (MI) EEG of spinal cord injury patients. The model is named as EEG MoE-Prob-Transformer (EMPT). The common spatial pattern and the modified s-transform method are employed for achieving the time-frequency-spatial features, which are used as feature embeddings to input the improved transformer neural network for feature reconstruction, and then rely on the expert model in the MoE layer for sparsity mapping, and finally output the results through the fully connected layer. Results: EMPT achieves an accuracy of 95.24% on the MI EEG dataset for patients with spinal cord injury. EMPT has also achieved excellent results in comparative experiments with other state-of-the-art methods. Discussion: The MoE layer and ProbSparse Self-attention inside the EMPT are subjected to visualisation experiments. The experiments prove that sparsity can be introduced to the Transformer neural network by introducing MoE and kullback-leibler divergence attention pooling mechanism, thereby enhancing its applicability on EEG datasets. A novel deep learning approach is presented for decoding EEG data based on MI.

Electroencephalography-based biological and functional characteristics of spinal cord injury patients with neuropathic pain and numbness.

Objectives: To identify potential treatment targets for spinal cord injury (SCI)-related neuropathic pain (NP) by analysing the differences in electroencephalogram (EEG) and brain network connections among SCI patients with NP or numbness. Participants and methods: The EEG signals during rest, as well as left- and right-hand and feet motor imagination (MI), were recorded. The power spectral density (PSD) of the θ (4-8 Hz), α (8-12 Hz), and ß (13-30 Hz) bands was calculated by applying Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) and Modified S-transform (MST) to the data. We used 21 electrodes as network nodes and performed statistical measurements of the phase synchronisation between two brain regions using a phase-locking value, which captures nonlinear phase synchronisation. Results: The specificity of the MST algorithm was higher than that of the CWT. Widespread non-lateralised event-related synchronization was observed in both groups during the left- and right-hand MI. The PWP (patients with pain) group had lower θ and α bands PSD values in multiple channels of regions including the frontal, premotor, motor, and temporal regions compared with the PWN (patients with numbness) group (all p < 0.05), but higher ß band PSD values in multiple channels of regions including the frontal, premotor, motor, and parietal region compared with the PWN group (all p < 0.05). During left-hand and feet MI, in the lower frequency bands (θ and α bands), the brain network connections of the PWP group were significantly weaker than the PWN group except for the frontal region. Conversely, in the higher frequency bands (ß band), the brain network connections of the PWP group were significantly stronger in all regions than the PWN group. Conclusion: The differences in the power of EEG and network connectivity in the frontal, premotor, motor, and temporal regions are potential biological and functional characteristics that can be used to distinguish NP from numbness. The differences in brain network connections between the two groups suggest that the distinct mechanisms for pain and numbness.

Fecal Immunochemical Testing and the Risk of Advanced Colorectal Neoplasia: A Difference-In-Difference Analysis.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effectiveness of fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) in colorectal cancer screening. METHODS: We conducted a prospective cohort study among 5,598 participants age 40-74 years between 2012 and 2020 in Tianjin, China. Inverse probability weighting was adopted to adjust for potential imbalanced factors between groups. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to estimate the weighted associations between FIT screening and advanced colorectal neoplasia. A difference-in-difference (DID) model was adopted to compare the incidence rates of advanced colorectal neoplasia between groups. RESULTS: In DID analysis, the rate of incidence was reduced by 0.34 cases per person-years in the screening group as compared with the historical FIT screening group (rate ratio [RR], 0.08 [95% CI, 0.07 to 0.10]) and by 0.06 cases per person-years in the non-FIT screening group as compared with the historical non-FIT screening group (RR, 0.37 [95% CI, 0.29 to 0.48]; P < .001 for both comparisons), with a relative reduction of 0.28. Similar benefit effect from FIT screening was observed in sex and age subgroups. CONCLUSION: FIT screening was associated with a reduction in incidence density from advanced colorectal neoplasia.

Multilevel Laser-Induced Pain Measurement with Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Network - Gradient Penalty Model.

Pain is an experience of unpleasant sensations and emotions associated with actual or potential tissue damage. In the global context, billions of people are affected by pain disorders. There are particular challenges in the measurement and assessment of pain, and the commonly used pain measuring tools include traditional subjective scoring methods and biomarker-based measures. The main tools for biomarker-based analysis are electroencephalography (EEG), electrocardiography and functional magnetic resonance. The EEG-based quantitative pain measurements are of immense value in clinical pain management and can provide objective assessments of pain intensity. The assessment of pain is now primarily limited to the identification of the presence or absence of pain, with less research on multilevel pain. High power laser stimulation pain experimental paradigm and five pain level classification methods based on EEG data augmentation are presented. First, the EEG features are extracted using modified S-transform, and the time-frequency information of the features is retained. Based on the pain recognition effect, the 20-40[Formula: see text]Hz frequency band features are optimized. Afterwards the Wasserstein generative adversarial network with gradient penalty is used for feature data augmentation. It can be inferred from the good classification performance of features in the parietal region of the brain that the sensory function of the parietal lobe region is effectively activated during the occurrence of pain. By comparing the latest data augmentation methods and classification algorithms, the proposed method has significant advantages for the five-level pain dataset. This research provides new ways of thinking and research methods related to pain recognition, which is essential for the study of neural mechanisms and regulatory mechanisms of pain.

Deep learning for the rapid automatic segmentation of forearm muscle boundaries from ultrasound datasets.

Ultrasound (US) is widely used in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal diseases. However, the low efficiency and non-uniformity of artificial recognition hinder the application and popularization of US for this purpose. Herein, we developed an automatic muscle boundary segmentation tool for US image recognition and tested its accuracy and clinical applicability. Our dataset was constructed from a total of 465 US images of the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) from 19 participants (10 men and 9 women, age 27.4 ± 6.3 years). We used the U-net model for US image segmentation. The U-net output often includes several disconnected regions. Anatomically, the target muscle usually only has one connected region. Based on this principle, we designed an algorithm written in C++ to eliminate redundantly connected regions of outputs. The muscle boundary images generated by the tool were compared with those obtained by professionals and junior physicians to analyze their accuracy and clinical applicability. The dataset was divided into five groups for experimentation, and the average Dice coefficient, recall, and accuracy, as well as the intersection over union (IoU) of the prediction set in each group were all about 90%. Furthermore, we propose a new standard to judge the segmentation results. Under this standard, 99% of the total 150 predicted images by U-net are excellent, which is very close to the segmentation result obtained by professional doctors. In this study, we developed an automatic muscle segmentation tool for US-guided muscle injections. The accuracy of the recognition of the muscle boundary was similar to that of manual labeling by a specialist sonographer, providing a reliable auxiliary tool for clinicians to shorten the US learning cycle, reduce the clinical workload, and improve injection safety.

A new allele PEL9 GG identified by genome-wide association study increases panicle elongation length in rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Considering the male sterile line has the phenomenon of panicle enclosure, panicle elongation length (PEL) plays an important role in hybrid rice seed production. However, the molecular mechanism underlying this process is poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the PEL phenotypic values of 353 rice accessions across six environments, which shows abundant phenotypic variation. Combining the 1.3 million single-nucleotide polymorphisms, we performed a genome-wide association study on PEL. Three quantitative trait loci (QTL) qPEL4, qPEL6, and qPEL9 were identified as significantly associated with PEL, of which qPEL4 and qPEL6 were previously reported QTLs and qPEL9 was novel. One causal gene locus, PEL9, was identified and validated. The PEL of accessions carrying allele PEL9 GG was significantly longer than that of those carrying allele PEL9 TT. We also demonstrated that the outcrossing rate of female parents carrying allele PEL9 GG increased by 14.81% compared with that of the isogenic line carrying allele PEL9 TT in an F1 hybrid seed production field. The allele frequency of PEL9GG increased gradually with an increase in latitude in the Northern Hemisphere. Our results should facilitate the improvement of the PEL of the female parent of hybrid rice.

High sodium diet intake and cardiovascular diseases: An attributable death study in Tianjin, China.

There is clear evidence that high sodium intake is associated with many health issues including hypertension and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Several national and worldwide studies have estimated deaths from CVDs attributable to high sodium. But how to evaluate the impact of high sodium intake on diseases using regional routine monitoring and investigation data is necessary and important. Our study aimed to quantitatively evaluate the high sodium intake attributed to CVDs deaths based on the routine monitoring data from China National Nutrition and Health Survey (CNNHS) in Tianjin, China. The population attributable fractions (PAF) were calculated by comparing the observed systolic blood pressure (SBP) distribution with the theoretical minimum or counterfactual distribution by sex and age groups. The results showed that CVDs deaths due to elevated SBP were 22728 (95% uncertainty intervals: 22679-23050), accounting for 62.8% of total CVDs deaths. According to sodium intake recommended by World Health Organization (WHO), PAF of CVDs deaths attributable to high sodium diet in our study was 14.6% of total CVDs deaths, accounting for 5228 (95% UI: 5005-5998) cases. The dietary sodium intake of residents is nearly three times than sodium intake recommended by WHO. If sodium intake was reduced to reference level, the potential avoidable CVD deaths attributable to the SBP-raising effect were more than 5200 among adults 25 aged and over in Tianjin. This evaluation method can be extended to other cities.

Decellularized Scaffolds with Double-Layer Aligned Microchannels Induce the Oriented Growth of Bladder Smooth Muscle Cells: Toward Urethral and Ureteral Reconstruction.

There is a great clinical need for regenerating urinary tissue. Native urethras and ureters have bidirectional aligned smooth muscle cells (SMCs) layers, which plays a pivotal role in micturition and transporting urine and inhibiting reflux. Thus far, urinary scaffolds have not been designed to induce the native-mimicking aligned arrangement of SMCs. In this study, a tubular decellularized extracellular matrix (dECM) with an intact internal layer and bidirectional aligned microchannels in the tubular wall, which is realized by the subcutaneous implantation of a template, followed by the removal of the template, and decellularization, is engineered. The dense and intact internal layer effectively increases the leakage pressure of the tubular dECM scaffolds. Rat-derived dECM scaffolds with three different sizes of microchannels are fabricated by tailoring the fiber diameter of the templates. The rat-derived dECM scaffolds exhibiting microchannels of ≈65 µm show suitable mechanical properties, good ability to induce the bidirectional alignment and growth of human bladder SMCs, and elevated higher functional protein expression in vitro. These data indicate that rat-derived tubular dECM scaffolds manifesting double-layer aligned microchannels may be promising candidates to induce the native-mimicking regeneration of SMCs in urethra and ureter reconstruction.