Thermotolerant plant growth-promoting bacteria enhance growth and nutrient uptake of lettuce under heat stress conditions by altering stomatal movement and chlorophyll fluorescence.

This study investigates the effects of selected PGPB on lettuce growth performance under heat-stress conditions. Bacterial plant growth-promoting potentials have been characterized and identified successfully in ongoing studies. Based on in vitro plant growth-promoting potential, the top five bacteria were ranked and identified as Acinetobacter sp. GRB12, Bacillus sp. GFB04, Klebsiella sp. LFB06, Klebsiella sp. GRB10, and Klebsiella sp. GRB04. They were mixed to inoculate on lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) in temperature-controlled greenhouses. Another in-vivo chamber experiment was conducted by using Bacillus sp. GFB04 and Klebsiella sp. GFB10. Plant physiological traits (chlorophyll fluorescence and transpiration) and nutrient contents were measured at harvest, along with growth, development, and yield component analyses. Uninoculated plants under heat-stress condition showed poor growth performance. In contrast, plants with PGPB inoculation showed improved growth under heat-stress conditions, as the uptake of nutrients was facilitated by the symbionts. Inoculation also improved lettuce photosystem II efficiency and decreased total water use under heat stress. In conclusion, the current study suggests that PGPB inoculation successfully enhances lettuce heat-tolerance. PGPB application could potentially help improve sustainable production of lettuce with less fertilization under increasing temperatures. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12298-024-01470-5.

Human-AI collaboration improves adults' oral biomechanical functions: A multi-centre, self-controlled clinical trial.

OBJECTIVES: Maintenance of oral muscle functions is important for survival and communication. Utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a self-health-management material has shown promise. Here we developed a functional and AI-enabled smartphone e-Oral APP that provided real-time feedback features to let humans collaborate with AI, targeting to improve oral biomechanical and speech functions of adults. METHODS: A total of 113 neurologically healthy Hong Kong citizens over 50 years old were recruited in this study from June to October 2022. A set of 12 exercises of the tongue, lips, and jaw were conducted with guidance provided in the self-developed e-Oral APP, in which visual-audio demonstrations and immediate feedback on facial movements by an open-source AI-pretrained 68-point Ensemble of Regression Tree (ERT) face landmark detector was given to the users. After 8-week exercises, assessments after 1-week and 4-week post-training were conducted. Primary outcomes were measured on oral functions, including occlusal force, masticatory efficiency, tongue strength, along with dry mouth condition, and oral health-related quality of life (OHQoL), while secondary outcomes were comprised of oral diadochokinesis (DDK) and swallowing ability. The usability of the APP was evaluated by a self-written questionnaire. RESULTS: After exercising a set of 12 exercises on the tongue, lips, and jaw for 8 weeks, 70 out of 113 participants (average age of 67.70±4.93 y.o., 52 female and 18 male) had a significant improvement in the occlusal force (p < 0.001), while masticatory efficiency (p = 0.002), tongue pressure (p < 0.001) and endurance (p = 0.004) were also improved. 80.3 % of respondents rated the APP with an overall rating of 3 out of 5 points, and 68.6 % would recommend the APP to others. CONCLUSIONS: AI-based APP can be an effective approach to help healthy adults improve their occlusal force, masticatory efficiency, tongue functions, and oral diadochokinesis after 8-week home oral exercises. Furthermore, these improvements can be sustained for at least four weeks. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: This is the first AI-assisted APP developed for oral muscle training. Our findings demonstrated that a self-administrated human-AI collaboration APP can improve clinically oral muscle biomechanics and functions for healthy adults. AI technology in smartphone gadgets provides a cost-effective, convenient, and reliable means for oral muscles training for adults.

Proteolytic cleavage of amyloid precursor protein by ADAM10 mediates proliferation and migration in breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Amyloid precursor protein (APP), best known for its association with Alzheimer disease, has recently been implicated in breast cancer progression. However, the precise mechanism involved remains unclear. Here, we investigated the role of APP proteolytic cleavage in breast cancer functions. METHODS: The presence of APP proteolytic cleavage products was examined in breast cancer cell lines. The functional roles of APP in breast cancer were studied in vitro and tumor xenograft model using siRNA. The effects of full length APP and the α-secretase cleaved ectodomain fragment, soluble APPα (sAPPα) were further investigated for their overexpression in breast cancers. The α-secretase involved was identified. The α-secretase expression together with APP was examined in clinical breast cancers. RESULTS: We showed that APP underwent proteolytic cleavage in breast cancer cells to generate sAPPα. The sAPPα and full length protein mediated breast cancer migration and proliferation, but in different functional extent. This proteolytic cleavage was mediated by ADAM10. Downregulation of APP and ADAM10 brought about similar functional effects. Overexpression of sAPPα reversed the effects of ADAM10 downregulation. Interestingly, in patients with non-luminal breast cancers, APP and ADAM10 expression correlated with each other and their co-expression was associated with the worst outcome. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrated the contributory role of APP cleavage on its oncogenic roles in breast cancer. ADAM10 was the key α-secretase. APP and ADAM10 co-expression was associated with worse survival in non-luminal breast cancers. Targeting of APP or its processing by ADAM10 might be a promising treatment option in these cancers.