Effects of abamectin nanocapsules on bees through host physiology, immune function, and gut microbiome.

Pesticide usage is a common practice to increase crop yields. Nevertheless, the existence of pesticide residues in the surrounding environment presents a significant hazard to pollinators, specifically the potential undisclosed dangers related to emerging nanopesticides. This study examines the impact of abamectin nanocapsules (AbaNCs), created through electrostatic self-assembly, as an insecticide on honey bees. It was determined that AbaNCs upregulated detoxification genes, including CYP450, as well as antioxidant and immune genes in honey bees. Furthermore, AbaNCs affected the activity of crucial enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD). Although no apparent damage was observed in bee gut tissue, AbaNCs significantly decreased digestive enzyme activity. Microbiome sequencing revealed that AbaNCs disrupted gut microbiome, resulting in a reduction of beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus. Additionally, these changes in the gut microbiome were associated with decreased activity of digestive enzymes, including lipase. This study enhances our understanding of the impact of nanopesticides on pollinating insects. Through the revelation of the consequences arising from the utilization of abamectin nanocapsules, we have identified potential stress factors faced by these pollinators, enabling the implementation of improved protective measures.

[Clinical analysis of transcranial facial nerve bridging with interpositional graft for the treatment of facial nerve injury].

Objective:To retrospectively analyze the effectiveness of transcranial facial nerve bridging in the treatment of facial nerve dysfunction. Methods:A retrospective analysis was conducted on 27 patients with facial nerve dysfunction who underwent transcranial facial nerve bridging at the Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat Hospital affiliated with Fudan University from 2017 to 2022. The main collected data includes the patient's age, gender, primary lesion, damaged location, interval from facial paralysis to surgery, and preoperative and postoperative House-Brackmann（HB） scale for facial nerve function. Statistical comparisons were made between the average HB level of patients before and after surgery. Results:A total of 27 patients included 17 males and 10 females. The average age of patients during surgery is（42.50±3.38） years old. Primary lateral skull base diseases include trauma（n=3）, tumors（n=22）, and infections（n=2）. The duration of facial paralysis varies from 6 months to 5 years. Statistics analysis has found that the average postoperative HB score of patients who underwent transcranial facial nerve bridging was significantly lower at（3.750 ± 0.183） compared to preoperative（4.875±0.168）. The proportion of patients with good facial nerve function increased significantly from 7.4% before surgery to 42.9% after surgery. Conclusion:Transcranial facial nerve bridging surgery with interpositional graft has a significant effect on improving facial nerve function in patients with facial nerve injury. Further research is still needed to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of this surgery, to determine the optimal patient selection criteria and postoperative rehabilitation strategies.

Four New Species and One New Record of Thelephora from China.

Species of the genus Thelephora (Thelephorales, Thelephoraceae) are ectomycorrhizal symbionts of coniferous and broad-leaved plants, and some of them are well-known edible mushrooms, making it an exceptionally important group ecologically and economically. However, the diversity of the species from China has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we conducted a phylogenetic analysis based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions, using Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian analyses, along with morphological observations of this genus. Four new species from China are proposed, viz., T. dactyliophora, T. lacunosa, T. petaloides, and T. pinnatifida. In addition, T. sikkimensis originally described from India is reported for the first time from China. Thelephora dactyliophora, T. pinnatifida, and T. sikkimensis are distributed in subtropical forests and mainly associated with plants of the families Fagaceae and Pinaceae. Thelephora lacunosa and T. petaloides are distributed in tropical to subtropical forests. Thelephora lacunosa is mainly associated with plants of the families Fagaceae and Pinaceae, while T. petaloides is mainly associated with plants of the family Fagaceae. Line drawings of microstructures, color pictures of fresh basidiomes, and detailed descriptions of these five species are provided.

Effect of initial moisture content, resulting from different ratios of vegetable waste to maize straw, on compost was mediated by composting temperatures and microbial communities at low temperatures.

Owing to the huge amounts and perishable character of vegetable wastes, composting is one of the best options for recycling vegetable wastes post-harvest. The initial moisture content (MC) is critical for optimizing composting process, but the effect of high MC in undehydrated vegetable wastes on composting was rarely reported. For this, the plant-scale windrows were prepared by mixing cauliflower waste and maize straw at different ratios to control initial MC of 70 % (T1-70) and 80 % (T2-80), respectively, and composted in winter. As composting progressed, substantial organic matter degradation, progressive humification, decreases in electrical conductivity and increases of pH and germination index (GI) were observed in both treatments. Nonetheless, T1-70 accelerated heating rate early during composting, prolonged high temperature period (>50 °C) by 30 d, thus increased the harmless level of composting, and significantly improved the humification of end-products compared to T2-80. Results also revealed that T1-70 activated more indigenous microbes and enhanced microbial interactions early during composting, with the fungi enriched in T1-70 playing an important role in accelerating the composting process. Remarkably, the difference in composting temperatures, humification degree, and microbial communities between the two treatments was most significant during the maturation phase. In this phase, MWH_CFBk5, Planktosalinus, Pseudopedobacter, and Luteimonas enriched in T1-70 were positively correlated with humification indices. It is suggested that the effect of initial MC, resulting from different ratios of vegetable waste to maize straw, on their composting was mediated by the composting temperature and microbial communities at low temperatures.

Physiological Functions of the Cello-Oligosaccharides Binding CebE in the Pathogenic Streptomyces sp. AMCC400023.

Potato common scab, an economically important disease worldwide, is caused by pathogenic Streptomyces strains mainly through the effects of thaxtomin. The cello-oligosaccharides binding protein CebE is proposed as a gateway to the pathogenic development of Streptomyces scabiei. In this study, two functional CebE encoding genes, GEO5601 and GEO7671, were identified in pathogenic Streptomyces sp. AMCC400023. With a higher binding affinity towards signal molecules, the deletion of GEO5601 severely impaired thaxtomin-producing capacity and reduced the strain's pathogenicity. Transcriptional analysis confirmed that CebE5601 is also responsible for the import and provision of carbon sources for cell growth. With lower binding affinity, the pathogenicity island (PAI)-localized CebE7671 may assume a new function of mediating the biological process of sporulation, given the significantly impaired formation of ΔGEO7671 spores. The mechanisms of action of CebE proteins unraveled in Streptomyces sp. AMCC400023 will help pave the way for more effective prevention of the potato common scab disease.

Effects of Salmonella Typhimurium Infection on the Gut Microbiota of Cherry Valley Meat Ducks.

Salmonella infection causes serious economic losses, threatens food safety, and is one of the most important diseases threatening meat duck farming. The gut microbiome is critical in providing resistance against colonization by exogenous microorganisms. Studying the relationship between Salmonella and gut microbiota can help us better understand the threat of the pathogenic mechanism of Salmonella and provide a more scientific theoretical basis for its prevention and treatment. This study uses Salmonella Typhimurium as the research object and Cherry Valley meat duck as the model with which to study the impact of Salmonella infection on ducks. In this field trial, 2 × 108 CFUs Salmonella Typhimurium were administered to 3-day-old ducks. After infection, duck viscera were collected to detect the colonization of Salmonella, and cecal contents were collected to analyze the changes in gut microbiota. The results show that Salmonella Typhimurium can colonize ducks three days after infection and alter the gut microbiota composition, mainly by increasing the abundance of Ruminococcaceae and Lachnospiraceae. In conclusion, Salmonella Typhimurium infection significantly alters the intestinal microbiota of ducks and poses a serious public health risk.

Efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine containing hawthorn for hyperlipidemia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

The traditional Chinese herb hawthorn is gaining attention for its potential to lower lipid levels due to its active components that positively influence lipid metabolism. Our meta-analysis of fourteen randomized controlled trials compared traditional Chinese medicine containing hawthorn with conventional lipid-lowering drugs for hyperlipidemia. Hawthorn-based medicine showed promise in reducing total cholesterol and triglycerides while increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, albeit less effective than standard drugs in lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. However, caution is needed due to methodological limitations in some trials, emphasizing the importance of further well-designed studies to clarify hawthorn's efficacy in managing hyperlipidemia.

A molecular mechanism for embryonic resetting of winter memory and restoration of winter annual growth habit in wheat.

The staple food crop winter bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) acquires competence to flower in late spring after experiencing prolonged cold in temperate winter seasons, through the physiological process of vernalization. Prolonged cold exposure results in transcriptional repression of the floral repressor VERNALIZATION 2 (TaVRN2) and activates the expression of the potent floral promoter VERNALIZATION 1 (TaVRN1). Cold-induced TaVRN1 activation and TaVRN2 repression are maintained in post-cold vegetative growth and development, leading to an epigenetic 'memory of winter cold', enabling spring flowering. When and how the cold memory is reset in wheat is essentially unknown. Here we report that the cold-induced TaVRN1 activation is inherited by early embryos, but reset in subsequent embryo development, whereas TaVRN2 remains silenced through seed development, but is reactivated rapidly by light during seed germination. We further found that a chromatin reader mediates embryonic resetting of TaVRN1 and that chromatin modifications play an important role in the regulation of TaVRN1 expression and thus the floral transition, in response to developmental state and environmental cues. The findings define a two-step molecular mechanism for re-establishing vernalization requirement in common wheat, ensuring that each generation must experience winter cold to acquire competence to flower in spring.

Comparison of Easydo Activator, ultrasonic and needle irrigation techniques on sealer penetration and smear layer removal in vitro.

The effects of Easydo Activator (EA), a new sonic irrigation system, on sealer penetration at the root apex were compared to needle irrigation (NI) and passive ultrasonic irrigation (PUI) in this study. Forty-two single-rooted teeth were prepared and randomly divided into three groups (n = 14): group 1: NI; group 2: PUI; and group 3: EA. A solution of 3% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) was used for irrigation. Nine teeth in each group were filled with AH Plus sealer mixed with CY5 fluorescent dye and a single gutta-percha cone. The sealer penetration area, maximum penetration depth and percentage of sealer penetration at 5 mm and 1 mm from the apex were analyzed by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). The remaining 5 teeth in each group were subjected to test smear layer scores by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The CLSM evaluation showed that increases in the area, depth and percentage of sealer penetration were detected at 1 and 5 mm from the root apex in the PUI group compared with the NI group, and greater increases were observed in the EA group (P < 0.05). The SEM experiment showed that the lowest scores for the smear layer and debris removal were achieved by the EA group when compared with the PUI and NI groups (P < 0.05). In conclusion, EA was superior to PUI and NI regarding sealer penetration at the root apex during endodontic treatment, and it could provide a new technical idea for clinical root canal therapy.

Structural basis of the subcortical maternal complex and its implications in reproductive disorders.

The subcortical maternal complex (SCMC) plays a crucial role in early embryonic development. Malfunction of SCMC leads to reproductive diseases in women. However, the molecular function and assembly basis for SCMC remain elusive. Here we reconstituted mouse SCMC and solved the structure at atomic resolution using single-particle cryo-electron microscopy. The core complex of SCMC was formed by MATER, TLE6 and FLOPED, and MATER embraced TLE6 and FLOPED via its NACHT and LRR domains. Two core complexes further dimerize through interactions between two LRR domains of MATERs in vitro. FILIA integrates into SCMC by interacting with the carboxyl-terminal region of FLOPED. Zygotes from mice with Floped C-terminus truncation showed delayed development and resembled the phenotype of zygotes from Filia knockout mice. More importantly, the assembly of mouse SCMC was affected by corresponding clinical variants associated with female reproductive diseases and corresponded with a prediction based on the mouse SCMC structure. Our study paves the way for further investigations on SCMC functions during mammalian preimplantation embryonic development and reveals underlying causes of female reproductive diseases related to SCMC mutations, providing a new strategy for the diagnosis of female reproductive disorders.

The Electrical Behaviors of Grain Boundaries in Polycrystalline Optoelectronic Materials.

Polycrystalline optoelectronic materials are widely used for photoelectric signal conversion and energy harvesting and play an irreplaceable role in the semiconductor field. As an important factor in determining the optoelectronic properties of polycrystalline materials, grain boundaries (GBs) are the focus of research. Particular emphases are placed on the generation and height of GB barriers, how carriers move at GBs, whether GBs act as carrier transport channels or recombination sites, and how to change the device performance by altering the electrical behaviors of GBs. This review introduces the evolution of GB theory and experimental observation history, classifies GB electrical behaviors from the perspective of carrier dynamics, and summarizes carrier transport state under external conditions such as bias and illumination and the related band bending. Then the carrier scattering at GBs and the electrical differences between GBs and twin boundaries are discussed. Last, the review describes how the electrical behaviors of GBs can be influenced and modified by treatments such as passivation or by consciously adjusting the distribution of grain boundary elements. By studying the carrier dynamics and the relevant electrical behaviors of GBs in polycrystalline materials, researchers can develop optoelectronics with higher performance.

Epidemiological characteristics of respiratory viruses in children during the COVID-19 epidemic in Chengdu, China.

IMPORTANCE: During the coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic, the Chinese government launched and used a series of nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), including banning social gatherings, wearing face masks, home isolation, and maintaining hand hygiene, to control the disease spread. Whether and how NPIs influence other respiratory viruses in children remain unclear. In this article, we analyzed relative data and found that the number of samples and positive proportion of respiratory viruses decreased significantly compared with that before the epidemic. Clinicians and public health policymakers should pay attention to changes in the epidemic trends and types of respiratory viruses and maintain monitoring of respiratory-related viruses to avoid possible abnormal rebounds and epidemic outbreaks of these viruses.

Toxic effects of the heavy metal Cd on Apis cerana cerana (Hymenoptera: Apidae): Oxidative stress, immune disorders and disturbance of gut microbiota.

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic non-essential metal element that can enter the honey bee body through air, water and soil. Currently, there is a lack of sufficient research on the effects of Cd on A. cerana cerana, especially the potential risks of long-term exposure to sublethal concentrations. In order to ascertain the toxicological effects of the heavy metal Cd on bees, we performed laboratory-based toxicity experiments on worker bees and conducted analyses from three distinctive facets: antioxidative, immunological, and gut microbiota. The results showed that exposure of bees to high concentrations of Cd resulted in acute mortality, and the increase in mortality was concentration dependent. In long-term exposure to sublethal concentrations, Cd reduced the number of transcripts of antioxidant genes (AccSOD1, AccTPx3 and AccTPx4) and superoxide dismutase activity, causing an increase in malondialdehyde content. Simultaneously, the transcription of immune-related genes (AccAbaecin and AccApidaecin) and acetylcholinesterase activities was inhibited. Furthermore, Cd changes the structural characteristics of bacterial and fungal communities in the gut, disrupting the balance of microbial communities. In conclusion, the health and survival of honey bees are affected by Cd. This study provides a scientific basis for investigating the toxicological mechanisms and control strategies of the heavy metal Cd on honey bees, while facilitating a better understanding and protection of these valuable honey bees.

NLRP14 deficiency causes female infertility with oocyte maturation defects and early embryonic arrest by impairing cytoplasmic UHRF1 abundance.

Oocyte maturation is vital to attain full competence required for fertilization and embryogenesis. NLRP14 is preferentially expressed in mammalian oocytes and early embryos. Yet, the role and molecular mechanism of NLRP14 in oocyte maturation and early embryogenesis are poorly understood, and whether NLRP14 deficiency accounts for human infertility is unknown. Here, we found that maternal loss of Nlrp14 resulted in sterility with oocyte maturation defects and early embryonic arrest (EEA). Nlrp14 ablation compromised oocyte competence due to impaired cytoplasmic and nuclear maturation. Importantly, we revealed that NLRP14 maintained cytoplasmic UHRF1 abundance by protecting it from proteasome-dependent degradation and anchoring it from nuclear translocation in the oocyte. Furthermore, we identified compound heterozygous NLRP14 variants in women affected by infertility with EEA, which interrupted the NLRP14-UHRF1 interaction and decreased UHRF1 levels. Our data demonstrate NLRP14 as a cytoplasm-specific regulator of UHRF1 during oocyte maturation, providing insights into genetic diagnosis for female infertility.

Multimodal contrastive representation learning for drug-target binding affinity prediction.

In the biomedical field, the efficacy of most drugs is demonstrated by their interactions with targets, meanwhile, accurate prediction of the strength of drug-target binding is extremely important for drug development efforts. Traditional bioassay-based drug-target binding affinity (DTA) prediction methods cannot meet the needs of drug R&D in the era of big data. Recent years we have witnessed significant success on deep learning-based models for drug-target binding affinity prediction task. However, these models only considered a single modality of drug and target information, and some valuable information was not fully utilized. In fact, the information of different modalities of drug and target can complement each other, and more valuable information can be obtained by fusing the information of different modalities. In this paper, we introduce a multimodal information fusion model for DTA prediction that is called FMDTA, which fully considers drug/target information in both string and graph modalities and balances the feature representations of different modalities by a contrastive learning approach. In addition, we exploited the alignment information of drug atoms and target residues to capture the positional information of string patterns, which can extract more useful feature information in SMILES and target sequences. Experimental results on two benchmark datasets show that FMDTA outperforms the state-of-the-art model, demonstrating the feasibility and excellent feature capture capability of FMDTA. The code of FMDTA and the data are available at: https://github.com/bestdoubleLin/FMDTA.

CPT1A mediates chemoresistance in human hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma via ATG16L1-dependent cellular autophagy.

Hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HSCC) is a highly aggressive malignancy that constitutes approximately 95% of all hypopharyngeal carcinomas, and it carries a poor prognosis. The primary factor influencing the efficacy of anti-cancer drugs for this type of carcinoma is chemoresistance. Carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A (CPT1A) has been associated with tumor progression in various cancers, including breast, gastric, lung, and prostate cancer. The inhibition or depletion of CPT1A can lead to apoptosis, curbing cancer cell proliferation and chemoresistance. However, the role of CPT1A in HSCC is not yet fully understood. In this study, we discovered that CPT1A is highly expressed in HSCC and is associated with an advanced T-stage and a poor 5-year survival rate among patients. Furthermore, the overexpression of CPT1A contributes to HSCC chemoresistance. Mechanistically, CPT1A can interact with the autophagy-related protein ATG16L1 and stimulate the succinylation of ATG16L1, which in turn drives autophagosome formation and autophagy. We also found that treatment with 3-methyladenine (3-MA) can reduce cisplatin resistance in HSCC cells that overexpress CPT1A. Our findings also showed that a CPT1A inhibitor significantly enhances cisplatin sensitivity both in vitro and in vivo. This study is the first to suggest that CPT1A has a regulatory role in autophagy and is linked to poor prognosis in HSCC patients. It presents novel insights into the roles of CPT1A in tumorigenesis and proposes that CPT1A could be a potential therapeutic target for HSCC treatment.

Halomonas ventosae JPT10 promotes salt tolerance in foxtail millet (Setaria italica) by affecting the levels of multiple antioxidants and phytohormones.

Plant growth-promoting bacterias (PGPBs) can increase crop output under normal and abiotic conditions. However, the mechanisms underlying the plant salt tolerance-promoting role of PGPBs still remain largely unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that Halomonas ventosae JPT10 promoted the salt tolerance of both dicots and monocots. Physiological analysis revealed that JPT10 reduced reactive oxygen species accumulation by improving the antioxidant capability of foxtail millet seedlings. The metabolomic analysis of JPT10-inoculated foxtail millet seedlings led to the identification of 438 diversely accumulated metabolites, including flavonoids, phenolic acids, lignans, coumarins, sugar, alkaloids, organic acids, and lipids, under salt stress. Exogenous apigenin and chlorogenic acid increased the salt tolerance of foxtail millet seedlings. Simultaneously, JPT10 led to greater amounts of abscisic acid (ABA), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), salicylic acid (SA), and their derivatives but lower levels of 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid (OPDA), jasmonate (JA), and JA-isoleucine (JA-Ile) under salt stress. Exogenous JA, methyl-JA, and OPDA intensified, whereas ibuprofen or phenitone, two inhibitors of JA and OPDA biosynthesis, partially reversed, the growth inhibition of foxtail millet seedlings caused by salt stress. Our results shed light on the response of foxtail millet seedlings to H. ventosae under salt stress and provide potential compounds to increase salt tolerance in foxtail millet and other crops.

Integrated single cell and bulk sequencing analysis identifies tumor reactive CXCR6+ CD8 T cells as a predictor of immune infiltration and immunotherapy outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: Various immune cell types in the tumor microenvironment (TME) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have been identified as important parameters associated with prognosis and responsiveness to immunotherapy. However, how various factors influence immune cell infiltration remains incompletely understood. Hence, we investigated the single cell multi-omics landscape of immune infiltration in HCC, particularly key gene and cell subsets that influence immune infiltration, thus potentially linking the immunotherapy response and immune cell infiltration. Methods: We grouped patients with HCC according to immune cell infiltration scores calculated by single sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA). Differential expression analysis, functional enrichment, clinical trait association, gene mutation analysis, tumor immune dysfunction and exclusion (TIDE) and prognostic model construction were used to investigate the immune infiltration landscape through multi-omics. Stepwise regression was further used to identify key genes regulating immune infiltration. Single cell analysis was performed to explore expression patterns of candidate genes and investigate associated cellular populations. Correlation analysis, ROC analysis, Immunotherapy cohorts were used to explore and confirm the role of key gene and cellular population in predicting immune infiltration state and immunotherapy response. Immunohistochemistry and multiplexed fluorescence staining were used to further validated our results. Results: Patients with HCC were clustered into high and low immune infiltration groups. Mutations of CTNNB1 and TTN were significantly associated with immune infiltration and altered enrichment of cell populations in the TME. TIDE analysis demonstrated that T cell dysfunction and the T cell exclusion score were elevated in the high and low infiltration groups, respectively. Six risk genes and five risk immune cell types were identified and used to construct risk scores and a nomogram model. CXCR6 and LTA, identified by stepwise regression, were highly associated with immune infiltration. Single cell analysis revealed that LTA was expressed primarily in tumor infiltrating T lymphocytes and partial B lymphocytes, whereas CXCR6 was enriched predominantly in T and NK cells. Notably, CXCR6+ CD8 T cells were characterized as tumor enriched cells that may be potential predictors of high immune infiltration and the immune-checkpoint blockade response, and may serve as therapeutic targets. Conclusion: We constructed a comprehensive single cell and multi-omics landscape of immune infiltration in HCC, and delineated key genes and cellular populations regulating immune infiltration and immunotherapy response, thus providing insights into the mechanisms of immune infiltration and future therapeutic control.

Flowering repressor CmSVP recruits the TOPLESS corepressor to control flowering in chrysanthemum.

Plant flowering time is induced by environmental and endogenous signals perceived by the plant. The MCM1-AGAMOUSDEFICIENS-Serum Response Factor-box (MADS-box) protein SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (SVP) is a pivotal repressor that negatively regulates the floral transition during the vegetative phase; however, the transcriptional regulatory mechanism remains poorly understood. Here, we report that CmSVP, a chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat.) homolog of SVP, can repress the expression of a key flowering gene, a chrysanthemum FLOWERING LOCUS T-like gene (CmFTL3), by binding its promoter CArG element to delay flowering in the ambient temperature pathway in chrysanthemum. Protein-protein interaction assays identified an interaction between CmSVP and CmTPL1-2, a chrysanthemum homologue of TOPLESS (TPL) that plays critical roles as transcriptional corepressor in many aspects of plant life. Genetic analyses revealed the CmSVP-CmTPL1-2 transcriptional complex is a prerequisite for CmSVP to act as a floral repressor. Furthermore, overexpression of CmSVP rescued the phenotype of the svp-31 mutant in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), overexpression of AtSVP or CmSVP in the Arabidopsis dominant-negative mutation tpl-1 led to ineffective late flowering, and AtSVP interacted with AtTPL, confirming the conserved function of SVP in chrysanthemum and Arabidopsis. We have validated a conserved machinery wherein SVP partially relies on TPL to inhibit flowering via a thermosensory pathway.