The Sapria himalayana genome provides new insights into the lifestyle of endoparasitic plants.

BACKGROUND: Sapria himalayana (Rafflesiaceae) is an endoparasitic plant characterized by a greatly reduced vegetative body and giant flowers; however, the mechanisms underlying its special lifestyle and greatly altered plant form remain unknown. To illustrate the evolution and adaptation of S. himalayasna, we report its de novo assembled genome and key insights into the molecular basis of its floral development, flowering time, fatty acid biosynthesis, and defense responses. RESULTS: The genome of S. himalayana is ~ 1.92 Gb with 13,670 protein-coding genes, indicating remarkable gene loss (~ 54%), especially genes involved in photosynthesis, plant body, nutrients, and defense response. Genes specifying floral organ identity and controlling organ size were identified in S. himalayana and Rafflesia cantleyi, and showed analogous spatiotemporal expression patterns in both plant species. Although the plastid genome had been lost, plastids likely biosynthesize essential fatty acids and amino acids (aromatic amino acids and lysine). A set of credible and functional horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events (involving genes and mRNAs) were identified in the nuclear and mitochondrial genomes of S. himalayana, most of which were under purifying selection. Convergent HGTs in Cuscuta, Orobanchaceae, and S. himalayana were mainly expressed at the parasite-host interface. Together, these results suggest that HGTs act as a bridge between the parasite and host, assisting the parasite in acquiring nutrients from the host. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide new insights into the flower development process and endoparasitic lifestyle of Rafflesiaceae plants. The amount of gene loss in S. himalayana is consistent with the degree of reduction in its body plan. HGT events are common among endoparasites and play an important role in their lifestyle adaptation.

The environmental consequences of national Audit governance: An analysis based on county-level data in China.

Recent years have witnessed growing public concern over air pollution in China, posing a challenge to the government's environmental management efforts. Empirical evidence indicates that the digital economy contributes to mitigating environmental pollution. Given that national audits are a crucial part of the national oversight system and considering the significant role of digital technology in audit governance, it is relevant to explore how the digital economy can support national audits in enhancing China's environmental quality. This study investigates the environmental impact of national audit governance, utilizing a dataset from 1540 counties in China spanning from 2005 to 2018. The findings reveal that effective national audits contribute to reducing haze pollution (HP) levels, with the digital economy playing a moderating role. The results also demonstrate heterogeneity; national audits are particularly effective in regions characterized by high urbanization rates, severe HP, and stringent environmental regulations. The mechanism analysis suggests that industrial transformation and enhanced government governance are the key mechanisms through which national audits reduce regional HP. Additionally, reforming the audit management system can amplify the effects of national audits on reducing HP.

Insights into mechanism of peroxymonosufate activation by Mo single-atom catalysts: Singlet oxygen evolution and role of Mo-N coordination.

Recently, the Fenton-like reaction using peroxymonosulfate (PMS) has been acknowledged as a potential method for breaking down organic pollutants. In this study, we successfully synthesized a highly efficient and stable single atom molybdenum (Mo) catalyst dispersed on nitrogen-doped carbon (Mo-NC-0.1). This catalyst was then utilized for the first time to activate PMS and degrade bisphenol A (BPA). The Mo-NC-0.1/PMS system demonstrated the ability to completely degrade BPA within just 20 min. Scavenging tests and density functional theory (DFT) calculations have demonstrated that the primary reactive oxygen species was singlet oxygen (1O2) produced by Mo-N4 sites. The self-cycling of Mo facilitated PMS activation and the transition from a free radical activation pathway to a non-radical pathway mediated by 1O2. Simultaneously, the nearby pyridinic N served as adsorption sites to immobilize BPA and PMS molecules. The exceptionally high catalytic activity of Mo-NC-0.1 derived from its unique Mo-N coordination, which markedly reduced the distance for 1O2 to migrate to the BPA molecules. The Mo-NC-0.1/PMS system effectively reduced the acute toxicity of BPA and exhibited excellent cycling stability with minimal leaching. This study presented a new catalyst with high selectivity for 1O2 generation and provided valuable insights for the application of single atom catalysts in PMS-based AOPs.

Direct Synthesis of Perovskite Quantum Dot Photoresist for Direct Photolithography.

Perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) photoresists are promising building blocks for photolithographically patterned devices. However, their complex synthesis and combination processes limit their optical properties and potential patterning applications. Here, we present an exceptionally simple strategy for the synthesis of PQDs photoresist. Unlike traditional approaches that involve centrifugation, separation, and combination processes, our direct synthesis technique using polymerizable acrylic monomer as solvent to fabricate PQDs photoresists without complex post-synthesis process. We demonstrate that the change in solubility of the precursors is the main reason for the formation of PQDs in the polymerizable monomer. By direct photolithography, colorful PQD patterns with high photoluminescence quantum yields and high thickness are successfully demonstrated. This work opens a new avenue for the direct synthesis of PQDs photoresist, expanding their applications in various integrated applications, such as photonic, energy harvesting, and optoelectronic devices.

Mask configurable readout circuit architecture for an ultra-high-resolution CMOS image sensor: publisher's note.

This publisher's note reports a correction in Appl. Opt.61, 2565 (2022)APOPAI0003-693510.1364/AO.453904.

Mathematical model of potential distribution in a pinned photodiode of an indirect time of flight CMOS image sensor.

This paper focuses on the rapid charge transfer of lock-in pixels in time of flight 3D image sensors. Through the principal analysis, a mathematical model of potential distribution in a pinned photodiode (PPD) in different comb shapes is established. Based on this model, the influence of different comb shapes on the accelerating electric field in PPD is analyzed. The semiconductor device simulation tool SPECTRA is applied to verify the effectiveness of the model, and the simulation results are analyzed and discussed. When the width of comb tooth is in narrow and medium range, the potential changes more obviously with the increase of comb tooth angle α, whereas the potential becomes stable even if the comb tooth angle α increases sharply with the wide comb tooth width. The proposed mathematical model contributes to instructing the design of pixel transferring electrons rapidly and resolving image lag.

Molecular Mechanism of the Role of Apigenin in the Treatment of Hyperlipidemia: A Network Pharmacology Approach.

The therapeutic effect of apigenin (APG) on hyperlipidemia was investigated using network pharmacology combined with molecular docking strategy, and the potential targets of APG in the treatment of hyperlipidemia were explored. Genetic Ontology Biological Process (GOBP) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) Pathway enrichment analysis of common targets were performed. Then, molecular docking was used to predict the binding mode of APG to the target. Finally, Sprague Dawley rats were used to establish a hyperlipidemia model. The expression levels of insulin (INS) and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) mRNA in each group were detected by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Network pharmacological studies revealed that the role of APG in the treatment of hyperlipidemia was through the regulation of INS, VEGFA, tumor necrosis factor, epidermal growth factor receptor, matrix metalloprotein 9, and other targets, as well as through the regulation of the hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) signaling pathway, fluid shear stress, and atherosclerosis signaling pathways, vascular permeability; APG also participated in the regulation of glucose metabolism and lipid metabolism, and acted on vascular endothelial cells, and regulated vascular tone. Molecular docking showed that APG binds to the target with good efficiency. Experiments showed that after APG treatment, the expression levels of INS and VEGFA mRNA in the model group were significantly decreased (p<0.01). In conclusion, APG has multiple targets and affects pathways involved in the treatment of hyperlipidemia by regulating the HIF-1 signaling pathway, fluid shear stress, and the atherosclerosis pathway.

Validation of the GALAD model for early diagnosis and monitoring of hepatocellular carcinoma in Chinese multicenter study.

BACKGROUND: GALAD is an algorithm model estimating the presence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the participants enrolled in the GALAD differ from those of Chinese subjects whose HCCs are mainly hepatitis B virus infection related. Therefore, the cross-sectional as well as longitudinal multicenter study was designed to assess the clinical performances of GALAD in the Chinese population. METHODS: A case-control study of 602 patients with HCC (34.10% within Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer 0-A stage) and 923 subjects without HCC from five Chinese medical centres was conducted. Longitudinally the performances of GALAD identifying HCC were assessed using receiver operating characteristic curves analyses. Furthermore, the surveillance performance of GALAD for 204 HCC patients after radical surgery and for the early detection of HCC prospectively in an independent cohort of chronic hepatitis B were analysed, respectively. RESULTS: We found the GALAD identified early stage HCC at an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) above 0.85 and outperformed significantly than AFP, PIVKAII, AFP-L3 and BALAD-2 respectively. Meanwhile the GALAD could stratify HCC into two distinct subgroups with high or low risks of overall survival and recurrence. The GALAD could detection HCC 24 (AUC: 0.848) or even 48 (AUC: 0.833) weeks before clinical diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates that the GALAD exhibits outstanding performance in the early diagnosis, prognosis prediction as well as risk monitoring of HCC in our cross-sectional and longitudinal multicenter study of 1561 patients. GALAD should be implanted into clinical practice early so as to improve the clinical efficacy of individual biomarkers in HCC early monitoring and prognosis prediction.

End-to-end diabetic retinopathy grading based on fundus fluorescein angiography images using deep learning.

PURPOSE: To develop and validate a deep learning system for diabetic retinopathy (DR) grading based on fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA) images. METHODS: A total of 11,214 FFA images from 705 patients were collected to form the internal dataset. Three convolutional neural networks, namely VGG16, RestNet50, and DenseNet, were trained using a nine-square grid input, and heat maps were generated. Subsequently, a comparison between human graders and the algorithm was performed. Lastly, the best model was tested on two external datasets (Xian dataset and Ningbo dataset). RESULTS: VGG16 performed the best, with a maximum accuracy of 94.17%, and had an AUC of 0.972, 0.922, and 0.994 for levels 1, 2, and 3, respectively. For Xian dataset, our model reached the accuracy of 82.47% and AUC of 0.910, 0.888, and 0.976 for levels 1, 2, and 3. As for Ningbo dataset, the network performed with the accuracy of 88.89% and AUC of 0.972, 0.756, and 0.945 for levels 1, 2, and 3. CONCLUSIONS: A deep learning system for DR staging was trained based on FFA images and evaluated through human-machine comparisons as well as external dataset testing. The proposed system will help clinical practitioners to diagnose and treat DR patients, and lay a foundation for future applications of other ophthalmic or general diseases.

Mask configurable readout circuit architecture for an ultra-high-resolution CMOS image sensor.

As the level of detail in today's images increases, so does the demand for resolution. Due to the necessity of mask stitching technology for full exposure of large array chips, we propose a mask configurable readout circuit architecture, which is suitable for large array structures. However, the stitchable readout circuit architecture has some non-ideal effects: row driver function failure and the column non-consistency problem. In our design, we solve the problem of column non-consistency after stitching. At the same time, we changed the signal transmission structure in order to avoid the row driver function failure caused by the mask stitching. In this paper, a prototype 2130×2130 CMOS image sensor is fabricated in 0.11 µm CMOS technology. The chip can capture images at 20 fps and reduce fixed pattern noise (FPN) from 3.5% to 1.5% through correction techniques. The architecture proposed in this paper is suitable for large array image sensors.

Genetic studies discover novel coding and non-coding mutations in patients with Wilson's disease in China.

OBJECTIVES: Wilson disease (WD) is a rare autosomal recessive genetic disorder associated with various mutations in the ATP7B gene and leads to significant disability or death if untreated. Early diagnosis and proper therapy usually predict a good prognosis, especially in pre-symptomatic WD. Genetic testing provides an accurate and effective diagnostic method for the early diagnosis of WD. METHODS: We recruited 18 clinically diagnosed WD patients from 16 unrelated families and two independent individuals. The next-generation sequencing of the ATP7B gene was performed. The 293T cell lines were divided into wild-type (WT) ATP7B and mutated ATP7B groups. Cell proliferation was determined by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and apoptosis was detected by Annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) assays. RESULTS: Pedigree analysis showed that compound heterozygous variants (17/18, 94.44%) were present in the majority of WD patients. A total of 33 ATP7B gene variants were identified, including three variants with uncertain significance (VUS) [two splice mutations (c.51+2T>G, c.1543+40G>A) and one frameshift mutation (c.3532_3535del)]. The CCK-8 and apoptosis assays demonstrated that the VUS of ATP7B could significantly affect the transportation of copper. CONCLUSIONS: The study revealed genetic defects of 16 Chinese families and two independent individuals with WD, which enriched the mutation spectrum of the ATP7B gene worldwide and provided valuable information for studying the mutation types of ATP7B in the Chinese populations. Genetic testing in WD patients is necessary to shorten the time to initiate therapy, reduce damage to the liver and improve the prognosis.

A Dynamic Task Allocation Algorithm for Heterogeneous UUV Swarms.

Aiming at the task allocation problem of heterogeneous unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) swarms, this paper proposes a dynamic extended consensus-based bundle algorithm (DECBBA) based on consistency algorithm. Our algorithm considers the multi-UUV task allocation problem that each UUV can individually complete multiple tasks, constructs a "UUV-task" matching matrix and designs new marginal utility, reward and cost functions for the influence of time, path and UUV voyage. Furthermore, in view of the unfavorable factors that restrict the underwater acoustic communication range between UUVs in the real environment, our algorithm complete dynamic task allocation of UUV swarms with optimization in load balance indicator by the update of the UUV individual and the task completion status in the discrete time stage. The performance indicators (including global utility and task completion rate) of the dynamic task allocation algorithm in the scenario with communication constraints can be well close to the static algorithm in the ideal scenario without communication constraints. The simulation experiment results show that the algorithm proposed in this paper can quickly and efficiently obtain the dynamic and conflict-free task allocation assignment of UUV swarms with great performance.

Mercury transformation processes in nature: Critical knowledge gaps and perspectives for moving forward.

The transformation of mercury (Hg) in the environment plays a vital role in the cycling of Hg and its risk to the ecosystem and human health. Of particular importance are Hg oxidation/reduction and methylation/demethylation processes driven or mediated by the dynamics of light, microorganisms, and organic carbon, among others. Advances in understanding those Hg transformation processes determine our capacity of projecting and mitigating Hg risk. Here, we provide a critical analysis of major knowledge gaps in our understanding of Hg transformation in nature, with perspectives on approaches moving forward. Our analysis focuses on Hg transformation processes in the environment, as well as emerging methodology in exploring these processes. Future avenues for improving the understanding of Hg transformation processes to protect ecosystem and human health are also explored.

Activatable Persistent Luminescence from Porphyrin Derivatives and Supramolecular Probes with Imaging-Modality Transformable Characteristics for Improved Biological Applications.

Persistent luminescence without excitation light and tissue autofluorescence interference holds great promise for biological applications, but is limited by available materials with long-wavelength emission and excellent clinical potential. Here, we report that porphyrin derivatives can emit near-infrared persistent luminescence over 60 min after cessation of excitation light or on interaction with peroxynitrite. A plausible mechanism of the successive oxidation of vinylene bonds was demonstrated. A supramolecular probe with a ß-sheet structure was constructed to enhance the tumor targeting ability and the photoacoustic and persistent luminescence signals. Such probes featuring light-triggered function transformation from photoacoustic imaging to persistent luminescence imaging permit advanced image-guided cancer surgery. Furthermore, peroxynitrite-activated persistent luminescence of the supramolecular probe also enables rapid and precise screening of immunogenic cell death drugs.

An Activatable Near-Infrared Afterglow Theranostic Prodrug with Self-Sustainable Magnification Effect of Immunogenic Cell Death.

Herein, we report an activatable near-infrared (NIR) afterglow theranostic prodrug that circumvents high background noise interference caused by external light excitation. The prodrug can release hydroxycamptothecin (HCPT) in response to the high intratumoral peroxynitrite level associated with immunogenic cell death (ICD), and synchronously activate afterglow signal to monitor the drug release process and cold-to-hot tumor transformation. The prodrug itself is an ICD inducer achieved by photodynamic therapy (PDT). PDT initiates ICD and recruits first-arrived neutrophils to secrete peroxynitrite to trigger HCPT release. Intriguingly, we demonstrate that HCPT can significantly amplify PDT-mediated ICD process. The prodrug thus shows a self-sustainable ICD magnification effect by establishing an "ICD-HCPT release-amplified ICD" cycling loop. In vivo studies demonstrate that the prodrug can eradicate existing tumors and prevent further tumor recurrence through antitumor immune response.

Boosting Room Temperature Phosphorescence Performance by Alkyl Modification for Intravital Orthotopic Lung Tumor Imaging.

Pure organic persistent room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) materials have attracted wide attention owing to their great potential in various applications, particularly in bioimaging. However, it is still a challenge to manufacture organic RTP materials possessing quite high efficiency and long lifetime, owing to the high requirements for triplet excitons. In this study, a series of keto derivatives with efficient RTP in crystals are developed through the regulation of molecular aggregation states by simple alkyl groups, resulting in impressive luminescence performance with a longer lifetime and higher efficiency of up to 868 ms and 51.59%, respectively. All the alkyl-substituted derivatives exhibit bright RTP intensities after heavy grinding with a pestle, indicating their robust RTP features, which are suitable for many fields. Encouraged by the excellent RTP performance of these luminogens in the crystalline state, successful orthotopic lung tumor imaging with a high signal-to-background ratio (SBR) of 65 is demonstrated in this study to provide the promise of pure organic RTP materials for disease diagnosis, which hold the advantages of low autofluorescence interference and high signal-to-background ratio.

Effects of continuous cropping of sweet potatoes on the bacterial community structure in rhizospheric soil.

BACKGROUND: Continuous cropping obstacles from sweet potatoes are widespread, which seriously reduce the yield and quality, causing certain economic losses. Bacteria of rhizospheric soil are the richest and are associated with obstacles to continuous cropping. However, few studies have examined how continuous sweet potato cropping affects the rhizospheric soil bacterial community structure. RESULTS: In the study, the Illumina MiSeq method was used to explore the variations in rhizospheric soil bacterial community structure of different sweet potato varieties after continuous cropping, as well as the correlation between soil characteristics and the bacterial community. The results showed that (1) the dominant bacterial phyla in rhizospheric soils from both Xushu 18 and Yizi 138 were Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Actinobacteria. The most dominant genus was Subgroup 6_norank. The relative abundance of rhizospheric soil bacteria varied significantly between the two sweet potato varieties. (2) The richness and diversity indexes of bacteria were higher in Xushu 18 rhizospheric soil than in Yizi 138 soil after continuous cropping. Moreover, beneficial Lysobacter and Bacillus were more prevalent in Xushu 18, while Yizi 138 contained more harmful Gemmatimonadetes. (3) Soil pH decreased after continuous cropping, and redundancy analysis indicated that soil pH was significantly correlated with the bacterial community. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient analysis demonstrated that pH was positively associated with Planctomycetes and Acidobacteria, but negatively associated with Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. CONCLUSIONS: After continuous cropping, the bacterial community structure and physicochemical properties of sweet potato rhizospheric soil were changed, and the changes from different sweet potato varieties were different. The contents of Lysobacter and Bacillus were higher in the sweet potato variety resistant to continuous cropping. It provides a basis for developing new microbial fertilizers for sweet potatoes to alleviate the continuous cropping obstacle.

Urinary metabolomics analysis of the protective effects of Daming capsule on hyperlipidemia rats using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

Hyperlipidemia is recognized as one of the most important risk factors for morbidity and mortality due to cardiovascular diseases. Daming capsule, a Chinese patent medicine, has shown definitive efficacy in patients with hyperlipidemia. In this study, serum biochemistry and histopathology assessment were used to investigate the lipid-lowering effect of Daming capsule. Furthermore, urinary metabolomics based on ultra high performance liquid chromatography with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry was conducted to identify the urinary biomarkers associated with hyperlipidemia and discover the underlying mechanisms of the antihyperlipidemic action of Daming capsule. After 10 weeks of treatment, Daming capsule significantly lowered serum lipid levels and ameliorated hepatic steatosis induced by a high-fat diet. A total of 33 potential biomarkers associated with hyperlipidemia were identified, among which 26 were robustly restored to normal levels after administration of Daming capsule. Pathway analysis revealed that the lipid-lowering effect of Daming capsule is related to the regulation of multiple metabolic pathways including vitamin B and amino acid metabolism, tricarboxylic acid cycle, and pentose phosphate pathway. Notably, the study demonstrates that metabolomics is a powerful tool to elucidate the multitarget mechanism of traditional Chinese medicines, thereby promoting their research and development.

Method for power reduction of demodulation driver circuit in indirect time-of-flight CMOS image sensor.

To improve the depth accuracy of an indirect time-of-flight CMOS image sensor, high modulation frequency is often adopted. It will result in high power consumption of an on-chip demodulation driver, and this problem will be much more serious when the resolution of the sensor is much higher. In this paper, a power reduction method that can lower the power consumption of the demodulation driver circuit during the integration time while obtaining accurate high-resolution depth maps is proposed and analyzed theoretically. The method decreases the number of driven pixels at a high-modulation frequency by a programmable resolution adjustment circuit to obtain an accurate low-resolution depth map. A low-depth accuracy high-resolution depth map is obtained at a low modulation frequency, and then a modified super-resolution algorithm is used to obtain an accurate high resolution solution depth map. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a model is established based on the actual indirect time-of-flight sensor architecture, then the depth error and power consumption are analyzed by the simulation results of the model. In the simulation, 25 MHz and 100 MHz are used as the low modulation frequency and high modulation frequency, respectively. With the best scenario in depth accuracy kept, average power consumption decreases 38.47% and peak power consumption decreases 49.83% while the depth error that is represented by RMSE merely increases 8.08%.

Identification of QTL for resistance to root rot in sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam) with SSR linkage maps.

BACKGROUND: Sweetpotato root rot is a devastating disease caused by Fusarium solani that seriously endangers the yield of sweetpotato in China. Although there is currently no effective method to control the disease, breeding of resistant varieties is the most effective and economic option. Moreover, quantitative trait locus (QTL) associated with resistance to root rot have not yet been reported, and the biological mechanisms of resistance remain unclear in sweetpotato. Thus, increasing our knowledge about the mechanism of disease resistance and identifying resistance loci will assist in the development of disease resistance breeding. RESULTS: In this study, we constructed genetic linkage maps of sweetpotato using a mapping population consisting of 300 individuals derived from a cross between Jizishu 1 and Longshu 9 by simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, and mapped seven QTLs for resistance to root rot. In total, 484 and 573 polymorphic SSR markers were grouped into 90 linkage groups for Jizishu 1 and Longshu 9, respectively. The total map distance for Jizishu 1 was 3974.24 cM, with an average marker distance of 8.23 cM. The total map distance for Longshu 9 was 5163.35 cM, with an average marker distance of 9.01 cM. Five QTLs (qRRM_1, qRRM_2, qRRM_3, qRRM_4, and qRRM_5) were located in five linkage groups of Jizishu 1 map explaining 52.6-57.0% of the variation. Two QTLs (qRRF_1 and qRRF_2) were mapped on two linkage groups of Longshu 9 explaining 57.6 and 53.6% of the variation, respectively. Furthermore, 71.4% of the QTLs positively affected the variation. Three of the seven QTLs, qRRM_3, qRRF_1, and qRRF_2, were colocalized with markers IES43-5mt, IES68-6 fs**, and IES108-1 fs, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first report on the construction of a genetic linkage map for purple sweetpotato (Jizishu 1) and the identification of QTLs associated with resistance to root rot in sweetpotato using SSR markers. These QTLs will have practical significance for the fine mapping of root rot resistance genes and play an important role in sweetpotato marker-assisted breeding.