The APSES Transcription Factor SsStuA Regulating Cell Wall Integrity Is Essential for Sclerotia Formation and Pathogenicity in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum.

APSES (Asm1p, Phd1p, Sok2p, Efg1p, and StuAp) family transcription factors play crucial roles in various biological processes of fungi, however, their functional characterization in phytopathogenic fungi is limited. In this study, we explored the role of SsStuA, a typical APSES transcription factor, in the regulation of cell wall integrity (CWI), sclerotia formation and pathogenicity of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, which is a globally important plant pathogenic fungus. A deficiency of SsStuA led to abnormal phosphorylation level of SsSmk3, the key gene SsAGM1 for UDP-GlcNAc synthesis was unable to respond to cell wall stress, and decreased tolerance to tebuconazole. In addition, ΔSsStuA was unable to form sclerotia but produced more compound appressoria. Nevertheless, the virulence of ΔSsStuA was significantly reduced due to the deficiency of the invasive hyphal growth and increased susceptibility to hydrogen peroxide. We also revealed that SsStuA could bind to the promoter of catalase family genes which regulate the expression of catalase genes. Furthermore, the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation was found to be increased in ΔSsStuA. In summary, SsStuA, as a core transcription factor involved in the CWI pathway and ROS response, is required for vegetative growth, sclerotia formation, fungicide tolerance and the full virulence of S. sclerotiorum.

Identification and functional prediction of long non-coding RNA and mRNA related to connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung diseases.

Objective: Recently, the role of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) in rheumatic immune diseases has attracted widespread attention. However, knowledge of lncRNA in connective tissue disease-associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD) is limited. This study explored the expression profile and possible mechanisms of lncRNA and mRNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of CTD-ILD patients, especially systemic sclerosis (SSc)-ILD and rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-ILD. Methods: LncRNA microarray analysis identified 240 diferentially expressed lncRNAs and 218 diferentially expressed mRNA in the CTD-ILD group and the connective tissue disease without associated interstitial lung disease (CTD-NILD) group. The bioinformatics analysis of diferential genes has identified several important biological processes and signal pathways, including nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappa B) signaling pathway, interleukin 17 (IL-17) signaling pathway, B cell receptor signaling pathway. Relative expression levels of five diferentially expressed lncRNAs and one mRNA in 120 SSc and RA patients with or without ILD were detected by quantitative reverse-transcription (PCR). Results: The ENST00000604692 expression level was significantly higher in the ILD than the without interstitial lung disease (NILD) group; T311354 and arginase-1 were significantly higher in SSc than RA group. Conclusion: These data suggest that the specific profile of lncRNA in PBMCs of CTD-ILD patients and the potential signal pathways related to the pathogenesis of CTD-ILD, which may provide newfound insights for the diagnosis and treatment of CTD-ILD patients.

Chairman's Communist Party of China member status and targeted poverty alleviation: Evidence from China.

Based on the data of Chinese listed private companies from 2016 to 2020, this paper investigates the influence of the Chairman's member status of Communist Party of China (CPC) on targeted poverty alleviation. The research results demonstrate that the Chairman's CPC member status of private companies significantly increases the companies' willingness and the amounts of investment in poverty alleviation. The construction of the CPC organization can strengthen the role of the chairman's Communist Party of China member status in promoting targeted poverty alleviation. The conclusions are still valid through robustness tests, such as substituting dependent variables, adjusting the sample range, and PSM-paired samples. In addition, the Impact Threshold for a Confounding Variable is used to deal with endogenous problems.

Expression Profile of Pyroptosis-Related Genes and the Associated Regulatory Axis in Primary Gout Patients.

Purpose: Analyzed the expression characteristics of pyroptosis-related genes (PRGs) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of gout patients by microarray, and constructed ceRNA network to explore the molecular mechanism of RNA-mediated pyroptosis regulation. Patients and Methods: Human mRNA, lncRNA, circRNA microarray data were used to identify differentially expressed in PBMCs from patients with primary gout and healthy controls. Differential PRGs in PBMCs of gout patients identified by Genecard database and mRNA microarray data. GO and KEGG enrichment analyses of these genes were then conducted. Protein-protein interaction networks and cytoHubba were used to identify hub genes. Combining the lncRNA and circRNA microarray data, a ceRNA network was constructed by Cytoscape to screen out key non-coding RNA molecules that can regulate target PRGs. Finally, the relative expression levels of target miRNA and circRNA in 60 gout patients and 40 healthy subjects were detected by qRT-PCR. Results: The results revealed 30 differentially expressed PRGs. GO and KEGG analysis of these genes were mainly concentrated in the production and regulation of cytokines, NOD-like receptor signaling pathway and so on. Nine hub genes were screened by PPI network, including IL1B, DDX3X, NLRP3, NLRP9, AIM2, CASP8, P2XR7, CARD8 and IFI16. The has_circRNA_102906\hsa_circRNA_102910\hsa_circRNA_102911-hsa-miR-129-5p-DDX3X\NLRP3\NLRP9 regulatory network was constructed. The expression of has_circRNA_102906, hsa_circRNA_102910, hsa_circRNA_102911 were up-regulated and hsa-miR-129-5p down-regulated in PBMCs of gout patients. The relative expression of hsa_circRNA_102911 was positively correlated with clinical inflammatory indicators associated with gout, and the area under the curve of hsa_circRNA_102911 for gout diagnosis was 0.85 (95% CI: 0.775-0.925; p < 0.001). Conclusion: There are several differentially expressed PRGs in PBMCs of gout patients, which are involved in the regulation of gout inflammation through multiple pathways. hsa_circRNA_102911-hsa-miR-129-5p-DDX3X\NLRP3\NLRP9 may be the key regulatory pathway for pyroptosis to regulate gout inflammation, and hsa_circRNA_102911 may be a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of primary gout.

Emission reduction effect of digital finance: evidence from China.

This paper investigates the relationship between digital finance and carbon emissions and explores the ecological effects of digital finance. Based on a panel data of 256 cities in China from 2011 to 2018, this paper investigates the impact of digital finance on carbon emissions and its intrinsic mechanisms. First, digital finance significantly suppresses the intensity of regional carbon emission, and the breadth of coverage, depth of use, and degree of digital support of digital finance together curb regional carbon emissions, with the strongest suppressive effect being the breadth of coverage. In addition, the regression results remain significant after a series of robustness tests. Second, it reveals the potential mechanism of digital finance to curb urban carbon emissions. These mechanisms include the three channels: promoting industrial advancement, green technology innovation, and optimizing labor resource allocation. Third, the heterogeneity test finds that the energy saving and emission reduction effects of digital finance are significantly stronger in non-low-carbon pilot cities with low urbanization rates, confirming the emission reduction utility of digital finance development. Therefore, we should take advantage of digital finance to improve the green development of financial services and adopt diverse policy measures according to local conditions to maximize the ecological effects of digital finance on energy saving and emission reduction. In the context of the development strategy of "carbon peaking and carbon neutral," this study has some implications for management in developing a regional green development system supported by digital finance.

Establishment and Validation of Predictive Model of Tophus in Gout Patients.

(1) Background: A tophus is a clinical manifestation of advanced gout, and in some patients could lead to joint deformities, fractures, and even serious complications in unusual sites. Therefore, to explore the factors related to the occurrence of tophi and establish a prediction model is clinically significant. (2) Objective: to study the occurrence of tophi in patients with gout and to construct a predictive model to evaluate its predictive efficacy. (3) Methods: The clinical data of 702 gout patients were analyzed by using cross-sectional data of North Sichuan Medical College. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and multivariate logistic regression were used to analyze predictors. Multiple machine learning (ML) classification models are integrated to analyze and identify the optimal model, and Shapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) interpretation was developed for personalized risk assessment. (4) Results: Compliance of urate-lowering therapy (ULT), Body Mass Index (BMI), course of disease, annual attack frequency, polyjoint involvement, history of drinking, family history of gout, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were the predictors of the occurrence of tophi. Logistic classification model was the optimal model, test set area under curve (AUC) (95% confidence interval, CI): 0.888 (0.839-0.937), accuracy: 0.763, sensitivity: 0.852, and specificity: 0.803. (5) Conclusions: We constructed a logistic regression model and explained it with the SHAP method, providing evidence for preventing tophus and guidance for individual treatment of different patients.