Root Hairs: An under-explored target for sustainable cereal crop production.

To meet the demands of a rising human population, plant breeders will need to develop improved crop varieties that maximize yield in the face of increasing pressure on crop production. Historically, the optimization of crop root architecture has represented a challenging breeding target due to the inaccessibility of the root systems. Root hairs, single cell projections from the root epidermis, are perhaps the most overlooked component of root architecture traits. Root hairs play a central role in facilitating water, nutrient uptake, and soil cohesion. Current root hair architectures may be suboptimal under future agricultural production regimes, coupled with an increasingly variable climate. Here, we review the genetic control of root hair development in the world's three most important crops: rice, maize and wheat, and highlight conservation of gene function between monocots and the model dicot species Arabidopsis. Advances in genomic techniques including Gene-Editing combined with traditional plant breeding methods have the potential to overcome many inherent issues associated with the design of improved root hair architectures. Ultimately, this will enable detailed characterization of the effects of contrasting root hair morphology strategies on crop yield and resilience, and the development of new varieties better adapted to deliver future food security.

Symptom combinations assessed in traditional Chinese medicine and its predictive role in ACR20 efficacy response in rheumatoid arthritis.

The predictive roles of symptom combination traditionally evaluated in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were explored. Three hundred and ninety six patients were randomly divided into 197 subjects receiving Western medicine therapy (WM) and 199 subjects receiving TCM therapy (TCM). A complete physical examination and 18 clinical manifestations typically assessed in TCM were recorded before the randomization. The ACR responses were used for efficacy evaluation. ACR20 and 50 responses with WM treatment were higher than in the TCM group. The 18 symptoms in RA could be clustered into 4 symptom combinations with factor analysis, which represent joint symptoms, cold pattern, deficiency pattern and hot pattern in TCM respectively. TCM would be more effective in patients with weak-symptom combination 3 (deficiency pattern in TCM), and WM would be more effective in patients with symptom combination 2 (cold pattern in TCM). Symptom combinations judged with TCM may have influence on the efficacy of therapy in the treatment of RA.

Differential effect on symptoms treated with traditional Chinese medicine and western combination therapy in RA patients.

OBJECTIVE: This study is designed to compare the therapeutic effects and safety of traditional Chinese medicine (CM) therapy and western combined therapy (WM) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: After 24 weeks' treatment, the efficacy, safety and the improvement on symptoms of traditional Chinese medicine in 199 patients and western medicine therapy in 197 patients of RA were analyzed. CM therapy included Glucosidorum Tripterygll Totorum tablet and Yishen Juanbi Tablet. The WM therapy included voltaren extended action tablet, methotrexate and sulfasalazine. The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 20, 50 and 70 responses were employed as primary end-point analysis and the 18 symptoms as secondary end-point analysis. All data were analyzed on SPSS11.5 statistical package. RESULTS: The ACR20 and ACR50 responses in WM were higher than in CM group, but more improvement on the symptoms and less adverse events were observed in CM therapy. The 18 CM symptoms in RA could be grouped into four symptom combinations with factor analysis method. The factor loading value difference (which reflects the degree of improvement) in responded cases was lower than in non-responded cases in the symptom combination 1. The loading value difference in both responded and non-responded cases in CM treated patients were higher than those in WM treated group in the symptom combination 2 and 3. CONCLUSIONS: WM combined therapy was more effective in the treatment of RA in ACR20 evaluation, but more improvement on CM symptoms were seen in the CM therapy.

A randomized double blind, placebo controlled trial of topical Tripterygium wilfordii in rheumatoid arthritis: reanalysis using logistic regression analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy of topical Tripterygium wilfordii (TW), a Chinese herbal therapy, in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: A 6 week randomized double blind placebo controlled study of 61 patients with RA meeting American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria was conducted in China. The primary outcome was a modified ACR-20 response rate, analyzed by logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The modified ACR-20 response rate differed significantly (topical TW 58% vs placebo 20%; p = 0.002). There was an 8.1-fold (95% CI 1.9-35.4) increase in the modified ACR-20 response for the TW compared to the placebo group, adjusted for age and erythrocyte sedimentation rate. CONCLUSION: Topical TW appears efficacious for the treatment of RA, but larger studies are needed.