Identification and expression analysis of the Xyloglucan transglycosylase/hydrolase (XTH) gene family under abiotic stress in oilseed (Brassica napus L.).

XTH genes are key genes that regulate the hydrolysis and recombination of XG components and plays role in the structure and composition of plant cell walls. Therefore, clarifying the changes that occur in XTHs during plant defense against abiotic stresses is informative for the study of the plant stress regulatory mechanism mediated by plant cell wall signals. XTH proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana was selected as the seed sequences in combination with its protein structural domains, 80 members of the BnXTH gene family were jointly identified from the whole genome of the Brassica napus ZS11, and analyzed for their encoded protein physicochemical properties, phylogenetic relationships, covariance relationships, and interoperating miRNAs. Based on the transcriptome data, the expression patterns of BnXTHs were analyzed in response to different abiotic stress treatments. The relative expression levels of some BnXTH genes under Al, alkali, salt, and drought treatments after 0, 6, 12 and 24 h were analyzed by using qRT-PCR to explore their roles in abiotic stress tolerance in B. napus. BnXTHs showed different expression patterns in response to different abiotic stress signals, indicating that the response mechanisms of oilseed rape against different abiotic stresses are also different. This paper provides a theoretical basis for clarifying the function and molecular genetic mechanism of the BnXTH gene family in abiotic stress tolerance in rapeseed.

Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Chinese Patients with Premature Acute Coronary Syndrome.

This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) of Chinese patients with premature acute coronary syndrome (ACS) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). This study was a secondary retrospective analysis involving 2114 ACS patients undergoing PCI at a single center in China. The patients were divided into two groups according to age (premature ACS group: ≤ 55 years in men, ≤ 65 years in women; nonpremature ACS group: > 55 years in men, > 65 years in women). The primary endpoint was all-cause death, and the secondary endpoint was a composite of all-cause death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, target vessel revascularization, and recurrent angina at follow-up, defined as MACEs. The incidence of all-cause death and MACEs was significantly lower in the premature than in the nonpremature ACS group (P < 0.001). Female sex, higher triglyceride levels, and higher low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were identified as independent risk factors that accelerated the development of ACS, whereas higher high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were identified as protective factors. Furthermore, in patients with premature ACS, non-ST-elevation ACS, cardiac insufficiency, multivessel disease, and left main lesion were risk factors for MACEs. Younger individuals, especially females, are advised to undergo early screening for the risk factors of premature ACS. Primary prevention of dyslipidemia should be more aggressively promoted at a young age. For premature ACS patients undergoing PCI, strengthened management and regular re-examinations are necessary to avoid adverse cardiovascular events as much as possible.

Observation of Vector Spin Seebeck Effect in a Noncollinear Antiferromagnet.

Spintronic phenomena to date have been established in magnets with collinear moments, where the spin injection through the spin Seebeck effect (SSE) is always along the out-of-plane direction. Here, we report the observation of a vector SSE in a noncollinear antiferromagnet (AF) LuFeO_{3}, where temperature gradient along the out-of-plane and also the in-plane directions can both inject a pure spin current and generate a voltage in the heavy metal via the inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE). We show that the thermovoltages are due to the magnetization from canted spins in LuFeO_{3}. Furthermore, in contrast to the challenges of generating, manipulating, and detecting spin current in collinear AFs, the vector SSE in LuFeO_{3} is readily viable in zero magnetic field and can be controlled by a small magnetic field of about 150 Oe at room temperature. The noncollinear AFs expand new realms for exploring spin phenomena and provide a new route to low-field antiferromagnetic spin caloritronics and magnonics.

Sophocarpine Alleviates Isoproterenol-Induced Kidney Injury by Suppressing Inflammation, Apoptosis, Oxidative Stress and Fibrosis.

One of the most common diseases affecting people and leading to high morbidity is kidney injury. The alleviation of inflammation and apoptosis is considered a potential therapeutic approach for kidney injury. Sophocarpine (SOP), a tetracyclic quinolizidine alkaloid, exhibits various beneficial biological properties. To investigate the effects of SOP on isoproterenol (ISO)-induced kidney injury, we randomly divided mice into four groups: Control, ISO, ISO+SOP (20 mg/kg) and ISO+SOP (40 mg/kg). SOP was administered intraperitoneally to the mice over two weeks, accompanied by intraperitoneal stimulation of ISO (10 mg/kg) for another four weeks. After the mice were sacrificed, several methods such as ELISA, staining (H&E, TUNEL, DHE and Masson) and Western blotting were applied to detect the corresponding indicators. The kidney injury serum biomarkers SCr and BUN increased after the ISO challenge, while this effect was reversed by treatment with SOP. Pathological changes induced by ISO were also reversed by treatment with SOP in the staining. The inflammatory cytokines IL-ß, IL-6, TNF-α, MCP-1 and NLRP3 increased after the challenge with ISO, while they were decreased by treatment with SOP. The apoptotic proteins cleaved-caspase-3 and Bax increased, while Bcl-2 decreased, after the challenge with ISO, and these effects were reversed by treatment with SOP. The antioxidant proteins SOD-1 and SOD-2 decreased after being stimulated by ISO, while they increased after the treatment with SOP. The fibrotic proteins collagen I, collagen III, α-SMA, fibronectin, MMP-2 and MMP-9 increased after the challenge with ISO, while they decreased after the treatment with SOP. We further discovered that the TLR-4/NF-κB and TGF-ß1/Smad3 signaling pathways were suppressed, while the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway was activated. In summary, SOP could alleviate ISO-induced kidney injury by inhibiting inflammation, apoptosis, oxidative stress and fibrosis. The molecular mechanisms were suppression of the TLR-4/NF-κB and TGF-ß1/Smad3 signaling pathways and activation of the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway, indicating that SOP might serve as a novel therapeutic strategy for kidney injury.

Large Anomalous Nernst Effect in a van der Waals Ferromagnet Fe3GeTe2.

Anomalous Nernst effect, a result of charge current driven by temperature gradient, provides a probe of the topological nature of materials due to its sensitivity to the Berry curvature near the Fermi level. Fe3GeTe2, one important member of the recently discovered two-dimensional van der Waals magnetic materials, offers a unique platform for anomalous Nernst effect because of its metallic and topological nature. Here, we report the observation of large anomalous Nernst effect in Fe3GeTe2. The anomalous Hall angle and anomalous Nernst angle are about 0.07 and 0.09, respectively, far larger than those in common ferromagnets. By utilizing the Mott relation, these large angles indicate a large Berry curvature near the Fermi level, consistent with the recent proposal for Fe3GeTe2 as a topological nodal line semimetal candidate. Our work provides evidence of Fe3GeTe2 as a topological ferromagnet and demonstrates the feasibility of using two-dimensional magnetic materials and their band topology for spin caloritronics applications.

A mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase influences grain size and weight in rice.

Grain size and weight are directly associated with grain yield in crops. However, the molecular mechanisms that set final grain size and weight remain largely unknown. Here, we characterize two large grain mutants, large grain8-1 (large8-1) and large grain8-2 (large8-2). LARGE8 encodes the mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphatase1 (OsMKP1). Loss of function mutations in OsMKP1 results in large grains, while overexpression of OsMKP1 leads to small grains. OsMKP1 determines grain size by restricting cell proliferation in grain hulls. OsMKP1 directly interacts with and deactivates the mitogen-activated protein kinase 6 (OsMAPK6). Taken together, we identify OsMKP1 as a crucial factor that influences grain size by deactivating OsMAPK6, indicating that the reversible phosphorylation of OsMAPK6 plays important roles in determining grain size in rice.

Real-World Relationship Between Proton Pump Inhibitors and Cerebro-Cardiovascular Outcomes Independent of Clopidogrel.

Previous studies have provided established evidence on adverse outcomes of the coadministration of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and clopidogrel, whereas cerebro-cardiovascular outcomes of PPI use in the absence of clopidogrel therapy remain controversial.In this study, we aimed to assess the association between PPIs and cerebro-cardiovascular outcomes independent of clopidogrel.Systematic searches were conducted in the Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Embase databases for all relevant studies up to August 2018. Odds ratios (ORs) with its 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were abstracted and pooled using the random-effects model.A total of 14 observational studies (13 cohort studies and 1 case-control study) were identified. Compared with non-PPI users, PPI users experienced higher risks of stroke (OR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.08-1.36), myocardial infarction (MI; OR: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.14-1.32), cardiovascular death (OR: 1.83, 95% CI: 1.69-1.98), and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs; OR: 1.22, 95% CI: 1.05-1.40) independent of clopidogrel use, but not all-cause death (OR: 1.50, 95% CI: 0.99-2.25). In the subgroup analysis, PPI alone was associated with significant risks of new-onset MI (OR: 1.23, 95% CI: 1.13-1.35) and stroke (OR: 1.17, 95% CI: 1.05-1.30) in patients without previous MI or stoke and recurrent MI (OR: 1.24, 95% CI: 1.02-1.51) and stroke (OR: 1.36, 95% CI: 1.19-1.55) risks in patients with a previous MI.Based on current publications, PPI use seems to be associated with increased risks of stroke, MI, cardiovascular death, and MACEs independent of clopidogrel. Greater caution should be therefore exercised while considering its clinical benefits and further investigate any causal relationships.

Strong and Tunable Spin-Lifetime Anisotropy in Dual-Gated Bilayer Graphene.

We report the discovery of a strong and tunable spin-lifetime anisotropy with excellent out-of-plane spin lifetimes up to 7.8 ns at 100 K in dual-gated bilayer graphene. Remarkably, this realizes the manipulation of spins in graphene by electrically controlled spin-orbit fields, which is unexpected due to graphene's weak intrinsic spin-orbit coupling (∼12 µeV). We utilize both the in-plane magnetic field Hanle precession and oblique Hanle precession measurements to directly compare the lifetimes of out-of-plane vs in-plane spins. We find that near the charge neutrality point, the application of a perpendicular electric field opens a band gap and generates an out-of-plane spin-orbit field that stabilizes out-of-plane spins against spin relaxation, leading to a large spin-lifetime anisotropy (defined as the ratio between out-of-plane and in-plane spin lifetime) up to ∼12 at 100 K. This intriguing behavior occurs because of the unique spin-valley coupled band structure of bilayer graphene. Our results demonstrate the potential for highly tunable spintronic devices based on dual-gated 2D materials.

A comprehensive and precise set of intervarietal substitution lines to identify candidate genes and quantitative trait loci in oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.).

KEY MESSAGE: A set of intervarietal substitution lines were developed in rapeseed by recurrent backcrossing and marker-assisted selection and employed for mapping both qualitative and quantitative traits. Intervarietal substitution lines (ISLs) may be assembled into advanced secondary mapping populations that have remarkable potential for resolving trait loci and mapping candidate genes. To facilitate the identification of important genes in oilseed rape (canola, Brassica napus), we developed 89 ISLs using an elite cultivar 'Zhongyou 821' (ZY821) as the recipient and a re-synthesized line 'No.2127' as the donor. In the whole process of ISLs development, the target chromosome segments were selected based on the genotypes of 300 microsatellite markers evenly distributed across the genome. Eighty-nine ISLs fixed at BC5F4 were genotyped by sequencing using double digestion to survey the lengths of target substitution segments from the donor parent and the background segments from the recurrent parent. The total length of the substituted chromosome segments was 3030.27 Mb, representing 3.56 × of the Darmor-bzh reference genome sequence (version 4.1). Gene mapping was conducted for two qualitative traits, flower colour and seed-coat colour, and nine quantitative traits including yield- and quality-related traits, with 19 QTLs identified for the latter. Overlapping substitution segments were identified for flower colour and seed-coat colour loci, as well as for QTLs consistently detected in 2 or 3 years. These results demonstrate the value of these ISLs for locus resolution and subsequent cloning, targeted mutation or editing of genes controlling important traits in oilseed rape.

Opto-Valleytronic Spin Injection in Monolayer MoS2/Few-Layer Graphene Hybrid Spin Valves.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials provide a unique platform for spintronics and valleytronics due to the ability to combine vastly different functionalities into one vertically stacked heterostructure, where the strengths of each of the constituent materials can compensate for the weaknesses of the others. Graphene has been demonstrated to be an exceptional material for spin transport at room temperature; however, it lacks a coupling of the spin and optical degrees of freedom. In contrast, spin/valley polarization can be efficiently generated in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) such as MoS2 via absorption of circularly polarized photons, but lateral spin or valley transport has not been realized at room temperature. In this Letter, we fabricate monolayer MoS2/few-layer graphene hybrid spin valves and demonstrate, for the first time, the opto-valleytronic spin injection across a TMD/graphene interface. We observe that the magnitude and direction of spin polarization is controlled by both helicity and photon energy. In addition, Hanle spin precession measurements confirm optical spin injection, spin transport, and electrical detection up to room temperature. Finally, analysis by a one-dimensional drift-diffusion model quantifies the optically injected spin current and the spin transport parameters. Our results demonstrate a 2D spintronic/valleytronic system that achieves optical spin injection and lateral spin transport at room temperature in a single device, which paves the way for multifunctional 2D spintronic devices for memory and logic applications.

Omics Approaches for Engineering Wheat Production under Abiotic Stresses.

Abiotic stresses greatly influenced wheat productivity executed by environmental factors such as drought, salt, water submergence and heavy metals. The effective management at the molecular level is mandatory for a thorough understanding of plant response to abiotic stress. Understanding the molecular mechanism of stress tolerance is complex and requires information at the omic level. In the areas of genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics enormous progress has been made in the omics field. The rising field of ionomics is also being utilized for examining abiotic stress resilience in wheat. Omic approaches produce a huge amount of data and sufficient developments in computational tools have been accomplished for efficient analysis. However, the integration of omic-scale information to address complex genetics and physiological questions is still a challenge. Though, the incorporation of omic-scale data to address complex genetic qualities and physiological inquiries is as yet a challenge. In this review, we have reported advances in omic tools in the perspective of conventional and present day approaches being utilized to dismember abiotic stress tolerance in wheat. Attention was given to methodologies, for example, quantitative trait loci (QTL), genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and genomic selection (GS). Comparative genomics and candidate genes methodologies are additionally talked about considering the identification of potential genomic loci, genes and biochemical pathways engaged with stress resilience in wheat. This review additionally gives an extensive list of accessible online omic assets for wheat and its effective use. We have additionally addressed the significance of genomics in the integrated approach and perceived high-throughput multi-dimensional phenotyping as a significant restricting component for the enhancement of abiotic stress resistance in wheat.

A stable and flexible Au@Ag NPs/PVA SERS platform for thiram residue detection on rough surface.

Flexible and transparent surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates have gained great attention in analysis field as they offer a fast, non-destructive, and highly sensitive platform for in-situ detection. In this work, we present a facile one-pot strategy for synthesizing gold-cored silver shell nanoparticles (Au@Ag NPs) in the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) colloid. With no other reducing agents, PVA can serve as both reducing and stabilizing agents for forming Au@Ag NPs. Besides, PVA acts as a scaffold to maintain SERS "hot-spots" by preventing nanoparticle aggregation. By using this flexible Au@Ag NPs/PVA colloid, the analytes can be extracted from rough surfaces for SERS measurements with excellent sensitivity, repeatability and stability. The SERS activity of the Au@Ag NPs/PVA remained at 89.8% even after 120 days of storage at room temperature in sealed air atmosphere. The selective detection of thiram residues on the surface of fruits and vegetables was successfully achieved. The limits of detection for thiram residues on apple and tomato surfaces were measured to be 0.58 and 0.56 ng cm-2, respectively, with recovery rate ranging from 91% to 107%. This work demonstrates the immense application potential of SERS colloid platform in the fields of food safety and environmental analysis.

Overexpression of BnMYBL2-1 improves plant drought tolerance via the ABA-dependent pathway.

Drought stress is a major environmental challenge that poses considerable threats to crop survival and growth. Previous research has indicated anthocyanins play a crucial role in alleviating oxidative damage, photoprotection, membrane stabilization, and water retention under drought stress. However, the presence of MYBL2 (MYELOBBLASTOSIS LIKE 2), an R3-MYB transcription factor (TF) which known to suppress anthocyanin biosynthesis. In this study, four BnMYBL2 members were cloned from Brassica napus L, and BnMYBL2-1 was overexpressed in Triticum aestivum L (No BnMYBL2 homologous gene was detected in wheat). Subsequently, the transgenic wheat lines were treated with drought, ABA and anthocyanin. Results showed that transgenic lines exhibited greater drought tolerance compared to the wild-type (WT), characterized by improved leaf water content (LWC), elevated levels of soluble sugars and chlorophyll, and increased antioxidant enzyme activity. Notably, transgenic lines also exhibited significant upregulation in abscisic acid (ABA) content, along with the transcriptional levels of key enzymes involved in ABA signalling under drought. Results also demonstrated that BnMYBL2-1 promoted the accumulation of ABA and anthocyanins in wheat. Overall, the study highlights the positive role of BnMYBL2-1 in enhancing crop drought tolerance through ABA signalling and establishes its close association with anthocyanin biosynthesis. These findings offer valuable insights for the development of drought-resistant crop varieties and enhance the understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying plant responses to drought stress.

Risk factors analysis and the establishment of nomogram prediction model for PICC-related venous thrombosis in patients with lymphoma: a double-center cohort-based case-control study.

Objective: The objective of this study is to examine the risk factors associated with the occurrence of PICC-Related Venous Thrombosis (PICC-RVTE) in individuals diagnosed with lymphoma, as well as to develop a predictive risk nomogram model. Methods: A total of 215 patients with lymphoma treated at Yunnan Provincial Tumor Hospital from January 2017 to December 2020 were retrospectively evaluated as the training cohort; 90 patients with lymphoma treated at the Department of Oncology of the First People's Hospital of Anning, Affiliated to Kunming University of Science and Technology during the January 2021 to September 2023 were evaluated as the validation cohort. Independent influencing factors were analyzed by logistic regression, a nomogram was developed and validated, and the model was evaluated using internal and external data cohorts for validation. Results: A total of 305 lymphoma patients were selected and 35 (11.48%) PICC-RVTE occurred, the median time was 13 days. The incidence within 1-2week was 65.71%. Multivariate analysis suggested that the activity amount, thrombosis history(within the last 12 months), ATIII, Total cholesterol and D-dimer levels were independently associated with PICC-RVTE, and a nomogram was constructed based on the multivariate analysis. ROC analysis indicated good discrimination in the training set (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.907, 95%CI:0.850-0.964) and the testing set (AUC = 0.896, 95%CI: 0.782-1.000) for the PICC-RVTE nomogram. The calibration curves showed good calibration abilities, and the decision curves indicated the clinical usefulness of the prediction nomograms. Conclusions: Patients should be advised to undergo color Doppler ultrasound system testing within two week after the implantation of a PICC catheter to detect PICC-RVTE at an early stage. The validated nomogram can be used to predict the risk of catheter-related thrombosis (CRT) in patients with lymphoma who received at least one chemotherapy after PICC catheterization, no bleeding tendency, no recent history of anticoagulant exposure and no severe heart, lung, renal insufficiency. This model has the potential to assist clinicians in formulating individualized treatment strategies for each patient.

Detection and genotyping of restriction fragment associated polymorphisms in polyploid crops with a pseudo-reference sequence: a case study in allotetraploid Brassica napus.

BACKGROUND: The presence of homoeologous sequences and absence of a reference genome sequence make discovery and genotyping of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) more challenging in polyploid crops. RESULTS: To address this challenge, we constructed reduced representation libraries (RRLs) for two Brassica napus inbred lines and their 91 doubled haploid (DH) progenies using a modified ddRADseq technique. A bioinformatics pipeline termed RFAPtools was developed to discover and genotype SNPs and presence/absence variations (PAVs). Using this pipeline, a pseudo-reference sequence (PRF) containing 180,991 sequence tags was constructed. By aligning sequence reads to the pseudo-reference sequence, allelic SNPs as well as PAVs were identified and genotyped with RFAPtools. Two parallel linkage maps, one SNP bin map containing 8,780 SNP loci and one PAV linkage map containing 12,423 dominant loci, were constructed. By aligning marker sequences to B. rapa sequence scaffolds, whose genome is available, we assigned 44 unassembled sequence scaffolds comprising 8.15 Mb onto the B. rapa chromosomes, and also identified 14 instances of misassembly and eight instances of mis-ordering sequence scaffolds. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the modified ddRADseq approach is a cost-effective and simple method to genotype tens of thousands SNPs and PAV markers in a polyploidy plant species. The results also demonstrated that RFAPtools developed in this study are powerful to mine allelic SNPs from homoeologous sequences in polyploids, therefore they are generally applicable in either diploid or polyploid species with or without a reference genome sequence.

Development of a core set of single-locus SSR markers for allotetraploid rapeseed (Brassica napus L.).

Brassica napus (AACC) is a recent allotetraploid species evolved through hybridization between two diploids, B. rapa (AA) and B. oleracea (CC). Due to extensive genome duplication and homoeology within and between the A and C genomes of B. napus, most SSR markers display multiple fragments or loci, which limit their application in genetics and breeding studies of this economically important crop. In this study, we collected 3,890 SSR markers from previous studies and also developed 5,968 SSR markers from genomic sequences of B. rapa, B. oleracea and B. napus. Of these, 2,701 markers that produced single amplicons were putative single-locus markers in the B. napus genome. Finally, a set of 230 high-quality single-locus SSR markers were established and assigned to the 19 linkage groups of B. napus using a segregating population with 154 DH individuals. A subset of 78 selected single-locus SSR markers was proved to be highly stable and could successfully discriminate each of the 45 inbred lines and hybrids. In addition, most of the 230 SSR markers showed the single-locus nature in at least one of the Brassica species of the U's triangle besides B. napus. These results indicated that this set of single-locus SSR markers has a wide range of coverage with excellent stability and would be useful for gene tagging, sequence scaffold assignment, comparative mapping, diversity analysis, variety identification and association mapping in Brassica species.

Performance Optimization of Pb0.97La0.03Sc0.45Ta0.45Ti0.1O3 Ceramics by Annealing Process.

The annealing effects on Pb0.97La0.03Sc0.45Ta0.45Ti0.1O3 (PLSTT) ceramics prepared by the solid-state reaction method are systemically investigated using experimental and theoretical techniques. Comprehensive studies are performed on the PLSTT samples by varying annealing time (AT) from t (=0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60) h. The properties involving ferroelectric polarization (FP), electrocaloric (EC) effect, energy harvesting performance (EHP) and energy storage performance (ESP) are reported, compared and contrasted. All these features are seen to gradually improve with the increase in AT, and they all reach the climaxed-shaped values and then decrease by further increasing the AT. For t = 40 h, the maximum FP (23.2 µC/cm2) is attained at an electric field of 50 kV/cm, while the high EHP effects (0.297 J/cm3) and positive EC are achieved (for ΔT~0.92 K and ΔS~0.92 J/(K·kg)) at 45 kV/cm. The EHP value of the PLSTT ceramics increased by 21.7% while the polarization value was enhanced by 33.3%. At t = 30 h, the ceramics have attained the best ESP value of 0.468 J/cm3 with an energy loss of 0.05 J/cm3. We strongly believe that the AT plays a crucial role in the optimization of different traits of the PLSTT ceramics.

Identification of a major QTL for silique length and seed weight in oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.).

Silique length (SL) and seed weight (SW) are two important yield-related traits controlled by quantitative trait loci (QTL) in oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.). The genetic bases underlying these two traits are largely unknown at present. In this study, we conducted QTL analyses for SL and SW using 186 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a cross between S1, an EMS mutant with extremely long siliques and large seeds, and S2, an inbred line with regular silique length and seed size. RILs were grown in Wuhan in the 2008/09 (SS09) and 2009/10 (SS10) growing seasons, and mean SL and SW for each line were investigated. Ten non-redundant QTL were identified for SL. Of these, a major QTL, cqSLA9, consistently explained as much as 53.4% of SL variation across environments. The others are minor QTL and individually explained less than 10% of the SL variation. Nine non-redundant QTL were identified for SW. Of which, one major QTL, cqSWA9, explained as much as 28.2% of the total SW variation in the SS09 and SS10 environments. In addition, three additive by additive interactions with small effects were detected for SL, and no interactions were detected for SW. Interestingly, the two major QTL, cqSLA9 for SL and cqSWA9 for SW colocalized in the same chromosomal region and were integrated into a unique QTL, uqA9. The S1 allele at this locus increases both SL and SW, suggesting that uqA9 has pleiotropic effects on both SL and SW. The existence and effect of uqA9 was confirmed in genetically different RILs derived from the cross between S1 and No2127, a resynthesized DH line having regular silique length and seed size. Individuals in one residual heterozygous line for cqSLA9 showed significant difference in silique length. The results in this study revealed that silique length in the S1 mutant is mainly controlled by the cqSLA9 locus, which will be suitable for fine mapping and marker-assisted selection in rapeseed breeding for high yield.

Anxiety is associated with higher blood pressure rise induced by cuff inflation.

SUBJECTS: To assess whether anxiety is associated with a higher rise of blood pressure induced by cuff inflation. METHODS: At first, intro-aortic blood pressure was continuously record before cuff inflation as baseline value in 234 patients underwent coronary angiography, then the cuff was inflated to 200 mmHg and the intro-aortic blood pressure was record again as cuff inflation blood pressure. According to anxiety score, the patients were divided into anxiety group, subanxiety group, and nonanxiety group. The difference between the baseline blood pressure and the cuff inflation blood pressure was calculated as cuff inflation-induced blood pressure elevation. When the difference ≥10 mmHg, cuff inflation-induced blood pressure elevation was diagnosed. RESULTS: The cuff inflation systolic blood pressure (134.9 ± 22.4 versus 131.6 ± 22.3 mmHg, P < 0.01) and diastolic blood pressure (80.5 ± 11.9 versus 78.4 ± 11.6 mmHg, P < 0.01) were significantly higher than the baseline values, thus the mean cuff inflation-induced blood pressure elevation on systolic blood pressure was 3.3 ± 4.7 mmHg and that on diastolic blood pressure was 2.1 ± 4.9 mmHg. The anxiety subgroup had significantly higher percentage increase-systolic blood pressure and percentage increase-diastolic blood pressure levels (4.5 ± 3.1% and 5.6 ± 6.3%) than the nonanxiety subgroup (1.9 ± 3.3% and 2.0 ± 6.5%), meanwhile these values in the subanxiety subgroup were higher (3.2 ± 4.1% and 3.4 ± 5.7%) than the nonanxiety subgroup. CONCLUSION: Cuff inflation can induce a transient rise of intro-aortic blood pressure. Anxiety is associated with higher cuff inflation-induced blood pressure elevation.

Interpretation for Individual Brain Age Prediction Based on Gray Matter Volume.

The relationship between age and the central nervous system (CNS) in humans has been a classical issue that has aroused extensive attention. Especially for individuals, it is of far greater importance to clarify the mechanisms between CNS and age. The primary goal of existing methods is to use MR images to derive high-accuracy predictions for age or degenerative diseases. However, the associated mechanisms between the images and the age have rarely been investigated. In this paper, we address the correlation between gray matter volume (GMV) and age, both in terms of gray matter themselves and their interaction network, using interpretable machine learning models for individuals. Our goal is not only to predict age accurately but more importantly, to explore the relationship between GMV and age. In addition to targeting each individual, we also investigate the dynamic properties of gray matter and their interaction network with individual age. The results show that the mean absolute error (MAE) of age prediction is 7.95 years. More notably, specific locations of gray matter and their interactions play different roles in age, and these roles change dynamically with age. The proposed method is a data-driven approach, which provides a new way to study aging mechanisms and even to diagnose degenerative brain diseases.