Portable Photoacoustic Analytical System Combined with Wearable Hydrogel Patch for pH Monitoring in Chronic Wounds.

Timely diagnosis, monitoring, and management of chronic wounds play crucial roles in improving patients' quality of life, but clinical evaluation of chronic wounds is still ambiguous and relies heavily on the experience of clinician, resulting in increased social and financial burden and delay of optimal treatment. During the different stages of the healing process, specific and dynamic changes of pH values in the wound exudate can be used as biomarkers to reflect the wound status. Herein, a pH-responsive agent with well-behaved photoacoustic (PA) properties, nitrazine yellow (NY), was incorporated in poly(vinyl alcohol)/sucrose (PVA/Suc) hydrogel to construct a wearable pH-sensing patch (PVA/Suc/NY hydrogel) for monitoring of pH values during chronic wound healing. According to Rosencwaig-Gersho theory and the combination of 3D printing technology, the PA chamber volume and chopping frequency were systematically optimized to improve the sensitivity of the PA analytical system. The prepared PVA/Suc/NY hydrogel patch had excellent mechanical properties and flexibility and could maintain conformal contact with skin. Moreover, combined with the miniaturized PA analytical device, it had the potential to detect pH values (5.0-9.0) free from the color interference of blood and therapeutic drugs, which provides a valuable strategy for wound pH value monitoring by PA quantitation. This strategy of combining the wearable hydrogel patch with portable PA analysis offers broad new prospects for the treatment and management of chronic wounds due to its features of simple operation, time savings, and anti-interference.

Effect of Sleeve Gastric Surgery on Body Weight and Hypothalamic-Pituitary Axis Hormone Levels in Patients with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common reproductive endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age. It is difficult for patients with PCOS to achieve weight loss with conventional treatment. The aim of this study was to investigate weight loss and changes in hypothalamic-pituitary axis hormone levels in patients with PCOS combined with obesity after sleeve gastrectomy. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 12 patients without PCOS and 24 patients with PCOS who underwent bariatric surgery at Beijing Luhe hospital from 2020 to 2022 was performed. The study assessed the changes in body weight and hormonal indexes of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis before and six months after the surgery. RESULTS: Patients with PCOS experienced greater weight loss compared to those without the condition. Following surgery, individuals with PCOS showed lower levels of postoperative testosterone, prolactin, and free testosterone indices compared to preoperative levels. Additionally, postoperative LH and FSH levels were higher than preoperative levels. Analysis of thyroid axis hormone levels revealed that FT3 and TSH levels were notably reduced in patients with PCOS postoperatively. Furthermore, growth hormone levels were found to be elevated in patients with PCOS following surgery. CONCLUSION: Bariatric surgery enhances hormone levels in the hypothalamic-pituitary axis in women with PCOS, leading to greater improvements in patients with PCOS compared to those with simple obesity.

Stretchable poly[2]rotaxane elastomers.

Mechanically interlocked polymers (MIPs) are promising candidates for the construction of elastomeric materials with desirable mechanical performance on account of their abilities to undergo inherent rotational and translational mechanical movements at the molecular level. However, the investigations on their mechanical properties are lagging far behind their structural fabrication, especially for linear polyrotaxanes in bulk. Herein, we report stretchable poly[2]rotaxane elastomers (PREs) which integrate numerous mechanical bonds in the polymeric backbone to boost macroscopic mechanical properties. Specifically, we have synthesized a hydroxy-functionalized [2]rotaxane that subsequently participates in the condensation polymerization with diisocyanate to form PREs. Benefitting from the peculiar structural and dynamic characteristics of the poly[2]rotaxane, the representative PRE exhibits favorable mechanical performance in terms of stretchability (∼1200%), Young's modulus (24.6 MPa), and toughness (49.5 MJ/m3). Moreover, we present our poly[2]rotaxanes as model systems to understand the relationship between mechanical bonds and macroscopic mechanical properties. It is concluded that the mechanical properties of our PREs are mainly determined by the unique topological architectures which possess a consecutive energy dissipation pathway including the dissociation of host-guest interaction and consequential sliding motion of the wheel along the axle in the [2]rotaxane motif.

Occurrence and Exposure Assessment of Lipophilic Shellfish Toxins in the Zhejiang Province, China.

Although lipophilic shellfish toxins (LSTs) pose a significant threat to the health of seafood consumers, their systematic investigation and risk assessment remain scarce. The goals of this study were as follows: (1) analyze LST levels in commercially available shellfish in Zhejiang province, China, and determine factors influencing LST distribution; (2) assess the acute dietary risk of exposure to LSTs for local consumers during the red tide period; (3) explore potential health risks of LSTs in humans; and (4) study the acute risks of simultaneous dietary exposure to LSTs and paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs). A total of 546 shellfish samples were collected. LSTs were detected in 89 samples (16.3%) at concentrations below the regulatory limits. Mussels were the main shellfish species contaminated with LSTs. Spatial variations were observed in the yessotoxin group. Acute exposure to LSTs based on multiple scenarios was low. The minimum tolerable exposure durations for LSTs calculated using the mean and the 95th percentile of consumption data were 19.7 and 4.9 years, respectively. Our findings showed that Zhejiang province residents are at a low risk of combined exposure to LSTs and PSTs; however, the risk may be higher for children under 6 years of age in the extreme scenario.

Improved Latin hypercube sampling initialization-based whale optimization algorithm for COVID-19 X-ray multi-threshold image segmentation.

Image segmentation techniques play a vital role in aiding COVID-19 diagnosis. Multi-threshold image segmentation methods are favored for their computational simplicity and operational efficiency. Existing threshold selection techniques in multi-threshold image segmentation, such as Kapur based on exhaustive enumeration, often hamper efficiency and accuracy. The whale optimization algorithm (WOA) has shown promise in addressing this challenge, but issues persist, including poor stability, low efficiency, and accuracy in COVID-19 threshold image segmentation. To tackle these issues, we introduce a Latin hypercube sampling initialization-based multi-strategy enhanced WOA (CAGWOA). It incorporates a COS sampling initialization strategy (COSI), an adaptive global search approach (GS), and an all-dimensional neighborhood mechanism (ADN). COSI leverages probability density functions created from Latin hypercube sampling, ensuring even solution space coverage to improve the stability of the segmentation model. GS widens the exploration scope to combat stagnation during iterations and improve segmentation efficiency. ADN refines convergence accuracy around optimal individuals to improve segmentation accuracy. CAGWOA's performance is validated through experiments on various benchmark function test sets. Furthermore, we apply CAGWOA alongside similar methods in a multi-threshold image segmentation model for comparative experiments on lung X-ray images of infected patients. The results demonstrate CAGWOA's superiority, including better image detail preservation, clear segmentation boundaries, and adaptability across different threshold levels.

Semi-supervised correction model for turbulence-distorted images.

Significant progress has been made in addressing turbulence distortion in recent years, but persistent challenges remain. Firstly, existing methods heavily rely on fully supervised optimization strategies and synthetic datasets, posing difficulties in effectively utilizing unlabeled real data for training. Secondly, most approaches construct networks in a straightforward manner, overlooking the representation model of phase distortion and point spread function (PSF) in spatial and channel dimensions. This oversight restricts the potential for distortion correction. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a semi-supervised atmospheric turbulence correction method based on the mean-teacher framework. Our approach imposes constraints on the unlabeled data of student networks using pseudo-labels generated by teacher networks, thereby enhancing the generalization ability by leveraging information from unlabeled data. Furthermore, we introduce to use no-reference image quality assessment criterion to select the most reliable pseudo-label for each unlabeled sample by predicting physical parameters that indicating the level of degradation. Additionally, we propose to combine sliding window-based self-attention with channel attention to facilitate local-global context interaction. This design is inspired by the representation of phase distortion and PSF, which can be characterized by coefficients and basis functions corresponding to the channel-wise representation of convolutional neural network features. Moreover, the base functions exhibit spatial correlation, akin to Zenike and Airy disks. Experimental results show that the proposed method surpasses state-of-the-art models.

Characterizing mid-infrared micro-ring resonator with frequency conversion.

Due to the high cost, low-performance lasers and detectors in the mid-infrared (MIR) band, the development of MIR-integrated devices is very slow. Here, we demonstrate an effective method to characterize the parameters of MIR devices by using frequency conversion technology. We designed and fabricated rib waveguides and the micro-ring resonators (MRRs) on a silicon-on-sapphire platform. The MIR laser for the test is generated by difference frequency generation, and the transmission spectrum of the MIR-MRRs is detected by sum frequency generation. The experimental results show that the waveguide transmission loss is 4.5 dB/cm and the quality factor of the micro-ring reaches 38000, which is in good agreement with the numerical simulations. This work provides a useful method to characterize MIR integrated devices based on the frequency conversion technique, which can boost the development of MIR integrated optics in the future.

The relationship between HbA1c control pattern and atherosclerosis progression of diabetes: a prospective study of Chinese population.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to comprehensively explain of glycosylated Hemoglobin (HbA1c) control patterns and help determine the causal relationship between glycemic control patterns and atherosclerosis progression, thereby contributing to the effective management of diabetes complications. METHOD: All participants registered at the National Metabolic Management Center (MMC) of Beijing Luhe Hospital. The HbA1c pattern was described by HbA1c variability and trajectory groups of HbA1c. Then we examined the associations between the HbA1c pattern and the changes of intima-media thickness (ΔIMT) using covariate-adjusted means (SE) of ΔIMT, which were calculated by multiple linear regression analyses adjusted for the covariates. Finally, a cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) was performed to further verify the bidirectional relationship between IMT and HbA1c. RESULTS: After data cleaning, a total of 1041 type 2 diabetes patients aged 20-80 years were included in this study. Except for average real variability (ARV), the other variation variables of HbA1c were associated with ΔIMT% (P < 0.05). Four discrete trajectories of HbA1c were identified in trajectory analysis. Comparing with the low-stable trajectory group of HbA1c, the covariate-adjusted means (SE) of ΔIMT% were significantly higher in Moderate-increase, U-shape and relative high trajectory groups, the mean (SE) were 7.03 (0.031), 15.49 (0.185), 14.15 (0.029), respectively. Meanwhile, there were significant bidirectional cross-lagged associations between HbA1c and IMT after adjusting for covariates. CONCLUSION: We found four discrete trajectory groups of HbA1c during the long-term follow-up of diabetes. There was a positive association between HbA1c variability and the progression of atherosclerosis. Our study suggested that patients with diabetes should avoid roller coaster changes in glucose over a long period when controlling blood glucose.

Regulate the Solvation Structure and Interface by Nitrate in Phosphate-Based Electrolytes for 4.5 V-Class Ni-Rich Batteries.

Phosphate-based electrolyte propels the advanced battery system with high safety. Unfortunately, restricted by poor electrochemical stability, it is difficult to be compatible with advanced lithium metal anodes and Ni-rich cathodes. To alleviate these issues, the study has developed a phosphate-based localized high-concentration electrolyte with a nitrate-driven solvation structure, and the nitrate-derived N-rich inorganic interface shows excellent performance in stabilizing the LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 (NCM811) cathode interface and modulating the lithium deposition morphology on the anode. The results show that the Li|| NCM811 cell has exceptional long-cycle stability of >80% capacity retention after 800 cycles at 4.3 V, 1 C. A more prominent capacity retention rate of 93.3% after 200 cycles can be reached with the high voltage of 4.5 V. While being compatible with the phosphate-based electrolyte with good flame retardancy and the good electrochemical stability of Ni-rich lithium metal battery (LMBs) systems, the present work expands the construction of anion-rich solvation structures, which is expected to promote the development of the high-performance LMBs with safety.

Radial basis point interpolation for strain field calculation in digital image correlation.

In order to extract smooth and accurate strain fields from the noisy displacement fields obtained by digital image correlation (DIC), a point interpolation meshless (PIM) method with a radial basis function (RBF) is introduced for full-field strain calculation, which overcomes the problems of slow calculation speed and unstable matrix inverse calculation of the element-free Galerkin method (EFG). The radial basis point interpolation method (RPIM) with three different radial basis functions and the moving least squares (MLS) and pointwise least squares (PLS) methods are compared by analyzing and validating the strain fields with high-strain gradients in simulation experiments. The results indicate that the RPIM is nearly 80% more computationally efficient than the MLS method when a larger support domain is used, and the efficiency of the RPIM is nearly 26% higher than that of the MLS method when a smaller support domain is used; the strain calculation accuracy is slightly lower than that of the MLS method by 0.3-0.5%, but the stability of the calculation is significantly improved. In contrast with the PLS method, which is easily affected by the noise and the size of the strain calculation window, the RPIM is insensitive to the displacement noise and the size of the support domain and can obtain a similar calculation accuracy. The RPIM with multiquadric (MQ) radial basis functions performs well in balancing the computational accuracy and efficiency and is insensitive to shape parameters. The application cases show that the method can effectively compute the strain field at the crack tip, validating its applicability to the study of the plastic region at the crack tip. In conclusion, the proposed RPIM-based method provides an accurate, practical, and robust approach for full-field strain measurements.

Icotinib in a lung adenocarcinoma patient with acquired EGFR 19del/C797S mutation-mediated resistance to osimertinib: a case report.

Based on the FLAURA and AURA III trials, compared to first- and second-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), osimertinib provides a longer overall survival benefit for patients with untreated EGFR mutated non-small cell lung cancer. Similar to other EGFR-TKIs, drug resistance is, however, inevitable. The most common mechanism of acquired resistance to first-line osimertinib therapy is the C797S mutation, which accounts for 6% of cases. In view of the current challenges of the development of the next generation of EGFR inhibitors, the mechanism of third-generation targeted drug resistances and targeted strategies are key for further exploration. Our case report discusses a female patient with advanced lung adenocarcinoma carrying the EGFR exon19 E746_A750delinsIP mutation who received osimertinib as first-line therapy and acquired C797S resistance during treatment. The patient was then treated with icotinib for 8 months until the disease progressed. Icotinib may be effective in patients with the EGFR 19del-C797S resistant mutation acquired after osimertinib treatment.

Fast Nano-IR Hyperspectral Imaging Empowered by Large-Dataset-Free Miniaturized Spatial-Spectral Network.

The emerging field of nanoscale infrared (nano-IR) offers label-free molecular contrast, yet its imaging speed is limited by point-by-point traverse acquisition of a three-dimensional (3D) data cube. Here, we develop a spatial-spectral network (SS-Net), a miniaturized deep-learning model, together with compressive sampling to accelerate the nano-IR imaging. The compressive sampling is performed in both the spatial and spectral domains to accelerate the imaging process. The SS-Net is trained to learn the mapping from small nano-IR image patches to the corresponding spectra. With this elaborated mapping strategy, the training can be finished quickly within several minutes using the subsampled data, eliminating the need for a large-labeled dataset of common deep learning methods. We also designed an efficient loss function, which incorporates the image and spectral similarity to enhance the training. We first validate the SS-Net on an open stimulated Raman-scattering dataset; the results exhibit the potential of 10-fold imaging speed improvement with state-of-the-art performance. We then demonstrate the versatility of this approach on atomic force microscopy infrared (AFM-IR) microscopy with 7-fold imaging speed improvement, even on nanoscale Fourier transform infrared (nano-FTIR) microscopy with up to 261.6 folds faster imaging speed. We further showcase the generalization of this method on AFM-force volume-based multiparametric nanoimaging. This method establishes a paradigm for rapid nano-IR imaging, opening new possibilities for cutting-edge research in materials, photonics, and beyond.

Landform and lithospheric development contribute to the assembly of mountain floras in China.

Although it is well documented that mountains tend to exhibit high biodiversity, how geological processes affect the assemblage of montane floras is a matter of ongoing research. Here, we explore landform-specific differences among montane floras based on a dataset comprising 17,576 angiosperm species representing 140 Chinese mountain floras, which we define as the collection of all angiosperm species growing on a specific mountain. Our results show that igneous bedrock (granitic and karst-granitic landforms) is correlated with higher species richness and phylogenetic overdispersion, while the opposite is true for sedimentary bedrock (karst, Danxia, and desert landforms), which is correlated with phylogenetic clustering. Furthermore, we show that landform type was the primary determinant of the assembly of evolutionarily older species within floras, while climate was a greater determinant for younger species. Our study indicates that landform type not only affects montane species richness, but also contributes to the composition of montane floras. To explain the assembly and differentiation of mountain floras, we propose the 'floristic geo-lithology hypothesis', which highlights the role of bedrock and landform processes in montane floristic assembly and provides insights for future research on speciation, migration, and biodiversity in montane regions.

Combining transcriptome and metabolome analysis to understand the response of sorghum to Melanaphis sacchari.

BACKGROUND: The sorghum aphid Melanaphis sacchari (Zehntner) (Homoptera: Aphididae) is an important insect in the late growth phase of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.). However, the mechanisms of sorghum response to aphid infestation are unclear. RESULTS: In this paper, the mechanisms of aphid resistance in different types of sorghum varieties were revealed by studying the epidermal cell structure and performing a transcriptome and metabolome association analysis of aphid-resistant and aphid-susceptible varieties. The epidermal cell results showed that the resistance of sorghum to aphids was positively correlated with epidermal cell regularity and negatively correlated with the intercellular space and leaf thickness. Transcriptome and metabolomic analyses showed that differentially expressed genes in the resistant variety HN16 and susceptible variety BTX623 were mainly enriched in the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway and differentially expressed metabolites were mainly related to isoflavonoid biosynthesis and flavonoid biosynthesis. The q-PCR results of key genes were consistent with the transcriptome expression results. Meanwhile, the metabolome test results showed that after aphidinfestation, naringenin and genistein were significantly upregulated in the aphid-resistant variety HN16 and aphid-susceptible variety BTX623 while luteolin was only significantly upregulated in BTX623. These results show that naringenin, genistein, and luteolin play important roles in plant resistance to aphid infestation. The results of exogenous spraying tests showed that a 1‰ concentration of naringenin and genistein is optimal for improving sorghum resistance to aphid feeding. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, the physical properties of the sorghum leaf structure related to aphid resistance were studied to provide a reference for the breeding of aphid-resistant varieties. The flavonoid biosynthesis pathway plays an important role in the response of sorghum aphids and represents an important basis for the biological control of these pests. The results of the spraying experiment provide insights for developing anti-aphid substances in the future.

Daily occupational exposure in swine farm alters human skin microbiota and antibiotic resistome.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major threat to global public health, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are widely distributed across humans, animals, and environment. Farming environments are emerging as a key research area for ARGs and antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARB). While the skin is an important reservoir of ARGs and ARB, transmission mechanisms between farming environments and human skin remain unclear. Previous studies confirmed that swine farm environmental exposures alter skin microbiome, but the timeline of these changes is ill defined. To improve understanding of these changes and to determine the specific time, we designed a cohort study of swine farm workers and students through collected skin and environmental samples to explore the impact of daily occupational exposure in swine farm on human skin microbiome. Results indicated that exposure to livestock-associated environments where microorganisms are richer than school environment can reshape the human skin microbiome and antibiotic resistome. Exposure of 5 h was sufficient to modify the microbiome and ARG structure in workers' skin by enriching microorganisms and ARGs. These changes were preserved once formed. Further analysis indicated that ARGs carried by host microorganisms may transfer between the environment with workers' skin and have the potential to expand to the general population using farm workers as an ARG vector. These results raised concerns about potential transmission of ARGs to the broader community. Therefore, it is necessary to take corresponding intervention measures in the production process to reduce the possibility of ARGs and ARB transmission.

Association between obstructive sleep apnea severity and depression risk: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has received considerable attention as a potential risk factor for depressive symptoms. The systematic review was conducted to confirm the dose‒response connection between OSA severity and depression risk. A systematic literature search of English and Chinese articles published in PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and SinoMed databases from their inception to 28 August 2023 was conducted. An evaluation using the Newcastle‒Ottawa Scale was performed. A meta-analysis was used to evaluate the impact of OSA severity. A random-effects dose‒response model was conducted to evaluate the linear and nonlinear dose‒response connections. We evaluated publication bias by funnel plots, and symmetry by Egger's test. We identified 18 cross-sectional researches. 3143 participants which were involved in the dose‒response meta-analysis. Contrasted with mild OSA, individuals with severe OSA had a higher adjusted risk of depression (rate ratio: 1.34, 95% confidence interval = 1.05-1.70), with substantial heterogeneity (I2 = 70.9%, Pheterogeneity<0.001). There is a significant linear connection between OSA severity and depression risk. The depression risk increased by 0.4% for every 1 event per hour increase in the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI). The protocol for this unfunded research was drafted and registered at PROSPERO (ID CRD42023474097).

Temporal trends in the prevalence of Parkinson's disease from 1980 to 2023: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, exhibiting an upward trend in prevalence. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of Parkinson's disease, temporal trends between 1980 and 2023, and variations in prevalence by location, age, sex, survey period, sociodemographic index (SDI), human development index (HDI), and study characteristics (sample size, diagnostic criteria, and data source). METHODS: In this systematic review and meta-analysis we searched PubMed, Cochrane, Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, and Global Health for observational studies that reported Parkinson's disease prevalence in the general population from database inception to Nov 1, 2023. We included studies if they were original observational investigations, had participants from the general population or community-based datasets, and provided numerical data on the prevalence of Parkinson's disease either with 95% CIs or with sufficient information to calculate 95% CIs. Studies were excluded if they were conducted in a specific population, had a sample size smaller than 1000, or were review articles, case reports, protocols, meeting abstracts, letters, comments, short communications, posters, and reports. The publication characteristics (first author and publication year), study location (countries, WHO regions, SDI, and HDI), survey period, study design, diagnostic criteria, data source, participant information, and prevalence data were extracted from articles using a standard form. Two authors independently evaluated eligibility, and discrepancies were resolved through discussion with the third author. We used random effect models to pool estimates with 95% CIs. Estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) was calculated to assess the temporal trend in prevalence of Parkinson's disease. The study was registered with PROSPERO, CRD42022364417. FINDINGS: 83 studies from 37 countries were eligible for analysis, with 56 studies providing all-age prevalence, 53 studies reporting age-specific prevalence, and 26 studies providing both all-age and age-specific prevalence. Global pooled prevalence of Parkinson's disease was 1·51 cases per 1000 (95% CI 1·19-1·88), which was higher in males (1·54 cases per 1000 [1·17-1·96]) than in females (1·49 cases per 1000 [1·12-1·92], p=0·030). During different survey periods, the prevalence of Parkinson's disease was 0·90 cases per 1000 (0·48-1·44; 1980-89), 1·38 cases per 1000 (1·17-1·61; 1990-99), 1·18 cases per 1000 (0·77-1·67; 2000-09), and 3·81 cases per 1000 (2·67-5·14; 2010-23). The EAPC of Parkinson's disease prevalence was significantly higher in the period of 2004-23 (EAPC 16·32% [95% CI 6·07-26·58], p=0·0040) than in the period of 1980-2003 (5·30% [0·82-9·79], p=0·022). Statistically significant disparities in prevalence were observed across six WHO regions. Prevalence increased with HDI or SDI. Considerable variations were observed in the pooled prevalence of Parkinson's disease based on different sample sizes or diagnostic criteria. Prevalence also increased with age, reaching 9·34 cases per 1000 (7·26-11·67) among individuals older than 60 years. INTERPRETATION: The global prevalence of Parkinson's disease has been increasing since the 1980s, with a more pronounced rise in the past two decades. The prevalence of Parkinson's disease is higher in countries with higher HDI or SDI. It is necessary to conduct more high-quality epidemiological studies on Parkinson's disease, especially in low SDI countries. FUNDING: National Nature Science Foundation of China. TRANSLATION: For the Chinese translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.

ABA-mediated regulation of rice grain quality and seed dormancy via the NF-YB1-SLRL2-bHLH144 Module.

Abscisic acid (ABA) plays a crucial role in promoting plant stress resistance and seed dormancy. However, how ABA regulates rice quality remains unclear. This study identifies a key transcription factor SLR1-like2 (SLRL2), which mediates the ABA-regulated amylose content (AC) of rice. Mechanistically, SLRL2 interacts with NF-YB1 to co-regulate Wx, a determinant of AC and rice quality. In contrast to SLR1, SLRL2 is ABA inducible but insensitive to GA. In addition, SLRL2 exhibits DNA-binding activity and directly regulates the expression of Wx, bHLH144 and MFT2. SLRL2 competes with NF-YC12 for interaction with NF-YB1. NF-YB1 also directly represses SLRL2 transcription. Genetic validation supports that SLRL2 functions downstream of NF-YB1 and bHLH144 in regulating rice AC. Thus, an NF-YB1-SLRL2-bHLH144 regulatory module is successfully revealed. Furthermore, SLRL2 regulates rice dormancy by modulating the expression of MFT2. In conclusion, this study revealed an ABA-responsive regulatory cascade that functions in both rice quality and seed dormancy.

Preoperative prognostic nutritional index predicts long-term outcomes of patients with ampullary adenocarcinoma after curative pancreatoduodenectomy.

BACKGROUND: The prognostic nutritional index (PNI), a marker of immune-nutrition balance, has predictive value for the survival and prognosis of patients with various cancers. AIM: To explore the clinical significance of the preoperative PNI on the prognosis of ampullary adenocarcinoma (AC) patients who underwent curative pancreaticoduodenectomy. METHODS: The data concerning 233 patients diagnosed with ACs were extracted and analyzed at our institution from January 1998 to December 2020. All patients were categorized into low and high PNI groups based on the cutoff value determined by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. We compared disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) between these groups and assessed prognostic factors through univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: The optimal cutoff value for the PNI was established at 45.3. Patients with a PNI ≥ 45.3 were categorized into the PNI-high group, while those with a PNI < 45.3 were assigned to the PNI-low group. Patients within the PNI-low group tended to be of advanced age and exhibited higher levels of aspartate transaminase and total bilirubin and a lower creatinine level than were those in the PNI-high group. The 5-year OS rates for patients with a PNI ≥ 45.3 and a PNI < 45.3 were 61.8% and 43.4%, respectively, while the 5-year DFS rates were 53.5% and 38.3%, respectively. Patients in the PNI- low group had shorter OS (P = 0.006) and DFS (P = 0.012). In addition, multivariate analysis revealed that the PNI, pathological T stage and pathological N stage were found to be independent prognostic factors for both OS and DFS. CONCLUSION: The PNI is a straightforward and valuable marker for predicting long-term survival after pancreatoduodenectomy. The PNI should be incorporated into the standard assessment of patients with AC.