Comparative Transcriptomics Uncovers Upstream Factors Regulating BnFAD3 Expression and Affecting Linolenic Acid Biosynthesis in Yellow-Seeded Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.).

α-Linolenic acid (ALA) is an important nutrient component in rapeseed oil, and rapeseed breeders want to either restrain or enhance the function of fatty acid desaturases (FADs) in the ALA biosynthesis pathway. To determine the reason for the upregulation of rapeseed BnFAD genes in two high-ALA accessions, R8Q10 and YH25005, we compared their transcriptome profiles in the seed at 24 days after pollination (DAP) with those of two low-ALA lines, A28 and SW. The expression levels of twenty-eight important genes in the seed samples at 20, 27, and 34 DAP were also investigated using an RT-qPCR. The expression levels of genes involved in flavonoid and proanthocyanidin synthesis, including BnCHS, BnCHI, BnDFR, BnFLS1, BnLDOX, BnBAN, BnTT10, and BnTT12 and genes encoding the transcription factors BnTT1, BnTT2, BnTT8, and BnTT16 were lower in R8Q10 and YH25005 than in A28 and SW. The expression levels of genes encoding master transcription factors in embryo development, such as BnLEC1, BnABI3, BnFUS3, BnL1L, BnAREB3, and BnbZIP67, were elevated significantly in the two high-ALA accessions. Combined with previous results in the Arabidopsis and rapeseed literature, we speculated that the yellow-seededness genes could elevate the activity of BnLEC1, BnABI3, BnFUS3, and BnbZIP67, etc., by reducing the expression levels of several transparent testa homologs, resulting in BnFAD3 and BnFAD7 upregulation and the acceleration of ALA synthesis. Yellow-seededness is a favorable factor to promote ALA synthesis in the two high-ALA accessions with the yellow-seeded trait. These findings provide initial insights into the transcriptomic differences between high-/low-ALA germplasms and a theoretic basis for seed quality breeding.

An investigation into the correlation between visual performance in simulated complex environments and academic attainment among primary school students.

Traditional vision screenings in schools are limited to simple visual tasks, yet students in their daily learning face more complex visual environments. Binocular rivalry tasks can partially simulate the visual challenges of real visual environments and activate advanced visual processing mechanisms that simple visual tasks cannot. Therefore, by superimposing binocular rivalry-state tasks onto simple visual tasks, we have developed an innovative vision screening program to rapidly and extensively assess students' visual performance in complex environments. This is a cross-sectional study in which we investigated the performance of 1126 grade 1-6 students from a primary school in Wuxi, China, in rivalry-state stereoscopic vision tasks. The correlation between the screening results of 1044 students and their academic achievements was also statistically analyzed. The study results revealed pass rates of 53.5-60.5% across various visual tests. Specifically, for first-grade students, there was a statistically significant difference in standardized Chinese scores between the group that failed and the group that passed the rivalry-state stereoscopic vision test (- 0.49 ± 3.42 vs. 0.22 ± 0.58, t = - 2.081, P = 0.04). This result underscores the importance of focusing on the visual adaptability of first graders in complex environments.Trail registration: Ethics Committee of Affiliated Children's Hospital of Jiangnan University-Certificate number: WXCH2022-04-027.

Redox mediator chlorophyll accelerates low-temperature biological denitrification with responses of extracellular polymers and changes in microbial community composition.

Low temperatures limit the denitrification wastewater in activated sludge systems, but this can be mitigated by addition of redox mediators (RMs). Here, the effects of chlorophyll (Chl), 1,2-naphthoquinone-4-sulfonic acid (NQS), humic acid (HA), and riboflavin (RF), each tested at three concentrations, were compared for denitrification performance at low temperature, by monitoring the produced extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), and characterizing microbial communities and their metabolic potential. Chl increased the denitrification rate most, namely 4.12-fold compared to the control, followed by NQS (2.62-fold increase) and HA (1.35-fold increase), but RF had an inhibitory effect. Chl promoted the secretion of tryptophan-like and tyrosine-like proteins in the EPS and aided the conversion of protein from tightly bound EPS into loosely bound EPS, which improved the material transfer efficiency. NQS, HA, and RF also altered the EPS components. The four RMs affected the microbial community structure, whereby both conditionally abundant taxa (CAT) and conditionally rare or abundant taxa (CRAT) were key taxa. Among them, CRAT members interacted most with the other taxa. Chl promoted Flavobacterium enrichment in low-temperature activated sludge systems. In addition, Chl promoted the abundance of nitrate reduction genes narGHI and napAB and of nitrite reduction genes nirKS, norBC, and nosZ. Moreover, Chl increased abundance of genes involved in acetate metabolism and in the TCA cycle, thereby improving carbon source utilization. This study increases our understanding of the enhancement of low-temperature activated sludge by RMs, and demonstrates positive effects, in particular by Chl.

Characterization of the MIKCC-type MADS-box gene family in blueberry and its possible mechanism for regulating flowering in response to the chilling requirement.

MAIN CONCLUSION: The expression peak of VcAP1.4, VcAP1.6, VcAP3.1, VcAP3.2, VcAG3, VcFLC2, and VcSVP9 coincided with the endo-dormancy release of flower buds. Additionally, GA4+7 not only increased the expression of these genes but also promoted flower bud endo-dormancy release. The MIKCC-type MADS-box gene family is involved in the regulation of flower development. A total of 109 members of the MIKCC-type MADS-box gene family were identified in blueberry. According to the phylogenetic tree, these 109 MIKCC-type MADS-box proteins were divided into 13 subfamilies, which were distributed across 40 Scaffolds. The results of the conserved motif analysis showed that among 20 motifs, motifs 1, 3, and 9 formed the MADS-box structural domain, while motifs 2, 4, and 6 formed the K-box structural domain. The presence of 66 pairs of fragment duplication events in blueberry suggested that gene duplication events contributed to gene expansion and functional differentiation. Additionally, the presence of cis-acting elements revealed that VcFLC2, VcAG3, and VcSVP9 might have significant roles in the endo-dormancy release of flower buds. Meanwhile, under chilling conditions, VcAP3.1 and VcAG7 might facilitate flower bud dormancy release. VcSEP11 might promote flowering following the release of endo-dormancy, while the elevated expression of VcAP1.7 (DAM) could impede the endo-dormancy release of flower buds. The effect of gibberellin (GA4+7) treatment on the expression pattern of MIKCC-type MADS-box genes revealed that VcAP1.4, VcAP1.6, VcAP3.1, VcAG3, and VcFLC2 might promote flower bud endo-dormancy release, while VcAP3.2, VcSEP11, and VcSVP9 might inhibit its endo-dormancy release. These results indicated that VcAP1.4, VcAP1.6, VcAP1.7 (DAM), VcAP3.1, VcAG3, VcAG7, VcFLC2, and VcSVP9 could be selected as key regulatory promoting genes for controlling the endo-dormancy of blueberry flower buds.

Clinical Implementation of Dual-Energy CT Technical for Hepatobiliary Imaging.

Dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) applies two energy spectra distributions to collect raw data based on traditional CT imaging. The application of hepatobiliary imaging, has the advantages of optimizing the scanning scheme, improving the imaging quality, highlighting the disease characterization, and increasing the detection rate of lesions. In order to summarize the clinical application value of DECT in hepatobiliary diseases, we searched the technical principles of DECT and its existing studies, case reports, and clinical guidelines in hepatobiliary imaging from 2010 to 2023 (especially in the past 5 years) through PubMed and CNKI, focusing on the clinical application of DECT in hepatobiliary diseases, including liver tumors, diffuse liver lesions, and biliary system lesions. The first part of this article briefly describes the basic concept and technical advantages of DECT. The following will be reviewed:the detection of lesions, diagnosis and differential diagnosis of lesions, hepatic steatosis, quantitative analysis of liver iron, and analyze the advantages and disadvantages of DECT in hepatobiliary imaging. Finally, the contents of this paper are summarized and the development prospect of DECT in hepatobiliary imaging is prospected.

Optimizing the Spatial Density of Single Co Sites via Molecular Spacing for Facilitating Sustainable Water Oxidation.

Advances in single-atom (-site) catalysts (SACs) provide a new solution of atomic economy and accuracy for designing efficient electrocatalysts. In addition to a precise local coordination environment, controllable spatial active structure and tolerance under harsh operating conditions remain great challenges in the development of SACs. Here, we show a series of molecule-spaced SACs (msSACs) using different acid anhydrides to regulate the spatial density of discrete metal phthalocyanines with single Co sites, which significantly improve the effective active-site numbers and mass transfer, enabling one of the msSACs connected by pyromellitic dianhydride to exhibit an outstanding mass activity of (1.63 ± 0.01) × 105 A·g-1 and TOFbulk of 27.66 ± 1.59 s-1 at 1.58 V (vs RHE) and long-term durability at an ultrahigh current density of 2.0 A·cm-2 under industrial conditions for oxygen evolution reaction. This study demonstrates that the accessible spatial density of single atom sites can be another important parameter to enhance the overall performance of catalysts.

Magnetite nanoparticle coating chemistry regulates root uptake pathways and iron chlorosis in plants.

Understanding the fundamental interaction of nanoparticles at plant interfaces is critical for reaching field-scale applications of nanotechnology-enabled plant agriculture, as the processes between nanoparticles and root interfaces such as root compartments and root exudates remain largely unclear. Here, using iron deficiency-induced plant chlorosis as an indicator phenotype, we evaluated the iron transport capacity of Fe3O4 nanoparticles coated with citrate (CA) or polyacrylic acid (PAA) in the plant rhizosphere. Both nanoparticles can be used as a regulator of plant hormones to promote root elongation, but they regulate iron deficiency in plant in distinctive ways. In acidic root exudates secreted by iron-deficient Arabidopsis thaliana, CA-coated particles released fivefold more soluble iron by binding to acidic exudates mainly through hydrogen bonds and van der Waals forces and thus, prevented iron chlorosis more effectively than PAA-coated particles. We demonstrate through roots of mutants and visualization of pH changes that acidification of root exudates primarily originates from root tips and the synergistic mode of nanoparticle uptake and transformation in different root compartments. The nanoparticles entered the roots mainly through the epidermis but were not affected by lateral roots or root hairs. Our results show that magnetic nanoparticles can be a sustainable source of iron for preventing leaf chlorosis and that nanoparticle surface coating regulates this process in distinctive ways. This information also serves as an urgently needed theoretical basis for guiding the application of nanomaterials in agriculture.

TMJ degenerative joint disease: relationships between CBCT findings, clinical symptoms, and signs.

OBJECTIVES: The relationships between cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) findings, Temporomandibular disorder (TMD) symptoms, and signs were investigated in patients with TMJ degenerative joint disease (DJD). MATERIAL AND METHODS: Adult patients with Diagnostic Criteria for TMDs (DC/TMD)-defined intra-articular conditions were enrolled and subjected to CBCT assessment. The participants were organized into three groups, namely no (NT), early (ET), and late (LT) TMJ DJD based on radiographic findings. TMD symptoms/signs were appraised using the DC/TMD methodology. Statistical analyses were performed using Chi-square/non-parametric tests and Kappa statistics (α = 0.05). RESULTS: The mean age of the participants (n = 877) was 30.60 ± 11.50 years (86.6% women). NT, ET, and LT were observed in 39.7%, 17.0%, and 43.3% of the study sample. Significant differences in the prevalence of TMD symptoms (TMD pain, TMJ sounds, opening, and closing difficulty) and signs (TMD/TMJ pain, TMJ clicking/crepitus, and opening limitation) were discerned among the three groups (p ≤ .001). TMD/TMJ pain and opening difficulty/limitation were more prevalent in early rather than late degenerative changes. While moderate agreements between symptoms and signs were observed for TMD pain/opening limitation, the concurrence for TMJ sounds was fair. CONCLUSIONS: Young adults with TMJ sounds and pain should be examined with CBCT to establish the extent/progress of osseous changes.

A new polar alkaline earth-rare earth iodate: Ba2Ce(IO3)8(H2O).

A new alkaline earth-rare earth iodate, Ba2Ce(IO3)8(H2O), has been synthesised by a hydrothermal method and its structure has been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Ba2Ce(IO3)8(H2O) crystallises in the polar space group Pna21 (No. 33) with unit cell parameters of a = 15.5042(5) Å, b = 7.8841(3) Å, c = 19.5359(8) Å, V = 2388.00(15) Å3, and Z = 4. The structure of Ba2Ce(IO3)8(H2O) is characterised by zero-dimensional (0D) [Ce(IO3)8(H2O)]4- units separated by Ba2+ cations. Large crystals of Ba2Ce(IO3)8(H2O) with dimensions of a few millimetres have been grown. The UV-vis-NIR transmission spectroscopy measurements of the compound showed that it has a short wavelength absorption edge at 381 nm. Ba2Ce(IO3)8(H2O) exhibits a relatively weak second-harmonic-generation (SHG) response, about 0.2 times that of KDP, which is mainly due to the fact that the polarisation effects of the IO3 groups in the structure largely cancel each other out. The relationships between the structure and the physical properties of Ba2Ce(IO3)8(H2O) have also been calculated theoretically. Ba2Ce(IO3)8(H2O) has a band gap of 2.44 eV, which is determined by the Ce-O and I-O interactions and is larger than those of many simple metal iodates. The introduction of alkaline earth metals favours an increase in band gap. Our work shows that the SHG and birefringence properties are closely related to the arrangement of the functional groups in the compounds.

[Exploration on acupuncture treatment ideas for knee osteoarthritis from the perspective of Dongyuan needling technology].

The treatment ideas with acupuncture for knee osteoarthritis (KOA) are explored on the base of Dongyuan needling technology. Regarding the rules of acupoint selection, Zusanli (ST 36) is predominant, the back-shu points are used for the disorders related to the invasion of exogenous factors, and the front-mu points are for the cases caused by internal injury. Besides, the xing-spring points and shu-stream points are preferred. In treatment of KOA, besides the local points, the front-mu points, i.e. Zhongwan (CV 12), Tianshu (ST 25) and Guanyuan (CV 4), are selected specially to tonifying the spleen and stomach. The earth points and acupoints on the earth meridians (i.e. Yinlingquan [SP 9], Xuehai [SP 10], Liangqiu [ST 34], Dubi [ST 35], Zusanli [ST 36] and Yanglingquan [GB 34]) are optional to coordinate yin and yang, essence and qi , and regulate the qi movement of spleen and stomach. The shu-stream points of liver, spleen and kidney meridians (Taichong [LR 3], Taibai [SP 3] and Taixi [KI 3]) are chosen to promote meridian circulation and regulate zangfu functions.

Viability of the quintessential 5 temporomandibular disorder symptoms as a TMD screener.

OBJECTIVE: This study explored the viability of using the 5 temporomandibular disorder (TMD) symptoms (5Ts) of the Diagnostic Criteria for TMDs (DC/TMD) as a TMD screener. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 1039 adults (≥18 years old) with a mean age of 32.65 ± 12.95 years (77.4% women) from a tertiary dental hospital were enrolled. The 5Ts questionnaire (involving items on TMD/facial pain, headaches, temporomandibular joint noises, and closed- and open-locking) was administered, and TMD diagnoses were derived through clinical interviews and examinations, radiographic investigations, and the DC/TMD diagnostic algorithms and diagnostic tree. Diagnostic accuracy of the 5Ts was assessed using the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve and various measures, including sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and likelihood ratios. RESULTS: Among the participants, 80.2% (n = 833) were 5Ts-positive, and 19.8% (n = 206) were 5Ts-negative, whereas 51.3% and 85.7% received at least 1 pain-related and intra-articular DC/TMD diagnosis, respectively. The 5Ts showed high accuracy for detecting all TMDs, pain-related and intra-articular, with area under the receiver operating characteristics curves of 0.98, 1.00, and 0.98, respectively. Sensitivity ranged from 96.1% to 99.2%, whereas specificity was 100.0%. CONCLUSIONS: The 5Ts demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy for identifying pain-related and/or intra-articular disorders.

Functional, physical and psychosocial impact of degenerative temporomandibular joint disease.

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the functional, physical and psychosocial impacts of TMJ degenerative joint disease (DJD). The bearing of TMJ osteoarthrosis/osteoarthritis and early/late TMJ DJD on oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) were also compared. METHODS: Participants were enrolled from a TMD/oro-facial pain centre. Those diagnosed with intra-articular conditions based on the Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular disorders (DC/TMD) were subjected to CBCT assessment and categorised into four discrete groups: NN-no TMJ DJD and no arthralgia; NA-no TMJ DJD with arthralgia; TO-TMJ osteoarthrosis; and TR-TMJ osteoarthritis. The TO/TR groups were subdivided into early/late TMJ osteoarthrosis (EO/LO) and osteoarthritis (ER/LR). OHRQoL was examined using the OHIP-TMD, and data were appraised with the Kruskal-Wallis/Mann-Whitney U tests (α = 0.05). RESULTS: The study participant (n = 358) had a mean age of 31.85 ± 12.39 years (85.6% women). Frequencies of the TMD groups were as follows: NN-23.2%; NA-27.1%; TO-19.0%; and TR-30.7%. Participants with TR/NA had significantly worse OHRQoL than those with TO/NN. Additionally, participants with ER/LR reported significantly poorer OHRQoL than their counterparts with EO/LO. For all TMD groups and TMJ DJD subgroups, the psychological discomfort domain was generally the most impaired. Differences in global OHIP scores were significant between participants with and without arthralgia (i.e., NA-NN, ER-EO and LR-LO). CONCLUSIONS: The presence of TMJ pain appeared to impair OHRQoL more than the severity of TMJ DJD. As psychological domains were most impacted, psychosocial care should be incorporated when managing patients with painful TMJ DJD.

Chemical constituents of Viscum coloratum (Kom.) Nakai and their cytotoxic activities.

A new diarylheptanoid, (1 R,2S,3S,5S)-2,3-dihydroxy-3',3''-dimethoxy-4'-de-O-methylcentrolobine (1) and a new bisabolane-type sesquiterpenoid, (1 R,7S)-1,12,13-trihydroxybisabola-3,10-diene (2), together with nineteen known compounds (3-21) were isolated from the EtOH extract of the stems and branches of Viscum coloratum (Kom.) Nakai. Their structures were elucidated by extensive analysis of 1 D and 2 D NMR spectra and from the HRESIMS. All the compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxic activity against eight human tumor cell lines.

Deep learning-based evaluation of the relationship between mandibular third molar and mandibular canal on CBCT.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of our study was to develop and validate a deep learning approach based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for automatic detection of the mandibular third molar (M3) and the mandibular canal (MC) and evaluation of the relationship between them on CBCT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A dataset of 254 CBCT scans with annotations by radiologists was used for the training, the validation, and the test. The proposed approach consisted of two modules: (1) detection and pixel-wise segmentation of M3 and MC based on U-Nets; (2) M3-MC relation classification based on ResNet-34. The performances were evaluated with the test set. The classification performance of our approach was compared with two residents in oral and maxillofacial radiology. RESULTS: For segmentation performance, the M3 had a mean Dice similarity coefficient (mDSC) of 0.9730 and a mean intersection over union (mIoU) of 0.9606; the MC had a mDSC of 0.9248 and a mIoU of 0.9003. The classification models achieved a mean sensitivity of 90.2%, a mean specificity of 95.0%, and a mean accuracy of 93.3%, which was on par with the residents. CONCLUSIONS: Our approach based on CNNs demonstrated an encouraging performance for the automatic detection and evaluation of the M3 and MC on CBCT. Clinical relevance An automated approach based on CNNs for detection and evaluation of M3 and MC on CBCT has been established, which can be utilized to improve diagnostic efficiency and facilitate the precision diagnosis and treatment of M3.

Novel manifold learning based virtual sample generation for optimizing soft sensor with small data.

Due to the extremely complex mechanism and strong non-linear characteristics of industrial processes, data-driven soft sensor technologies play a key role in the intelligent measurement of process industries. However, the information of the collected process data in the steady stage is quite limited and unreliable, causing the small sample problem. As a result, it becomes an intractable challenge to catch the nature of the process and build accurate soft sensor models. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a novel manifold learning based virtual sample generation method (Isomap-VSG) to generate feasible virtual samples in the information gaps for supplementing the original small sample space. To find data sparse regions reasonably, one kind of manifold learning methods called Isomap is used to visualize process data with high dimension. Then virtual samples can be generated by the interpolation method and extreme learning machine. The simulation results on a standard dataset and a real-world application demonstrate that, compared with other advanced methods, the proposed Isomap-VSG method can achieve better performance in terms of generating feasible virtual samples and improving the accuracy of soft sensor models using limited samples.

Effect of rigid gas permeable contact lens on keratoconus progression: a review.

The prevalence of keratoconus is 1/2000 in the general population and is high in adolescents. Keratoconus is a progressive disease, which has a great impact on patients' quality of life and mental health. It can be managed by surgical and non-surgical means, rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lens as its main non-surgical method is widely used in clinic. The efficacy of wearing RGP contact lens has been confirmed to some extent, but some studies have found that wearing RGP contact lens has adverse effects, which may promote disease progression. In this paper, the advantages and disadvantages of RGP contact lens in controlling keratoconus were reviewed to provide more suggestions and references for the clinical application of RGP contact lens.

Towards breeding of rapeseed (Brassica napus) with alien cytoplasm and powdery mildew resistance from Ethiopian mustard (Brassica carinata).

Powdery mildew (PM), caused by Erysiphe cruciferarum, is an epidemic of oil rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) growing worldwide, but PM resistant germplasm is rare in this species. We screened 102 accessions of B. napus and other cruciferous species and found an Ethiopian mustard (Brassica carinata) cultivar 'White flower' immune to PM in both the field and greenhouse. Outcrossing in the female parent 'White flower' was promoted by using a chemical gametocide tribenuron-methyl, to obtain hybrid seeds of distant hybridization with an elite B. napus cultivar 'Zhongshuang11'. Three true F1 hybrids with B. carinata cytoplasm were obtained without using embryo rescue, which showed complete male sterility and light yellow petals. The hybrid plants and the progenies derived from backcrossing were validated using morphological traits, seed quality, and molecular markers. Five lines in the BC1F3 generation, named 'W7-1', 'W7-4', 'W7-6', 'W8-1', and 'W8-3', and one BC2F2 line 'W3PS-1', whose young leaf was yellow green, were identified to be resistant or moderately resistant to PM. The seed quality and some morphological traits of these lines resembled the parent 'Zhongshuang11', indicating that the resistance gene(s) has been preliminarily introduced into B. napus.

CsVO2 F(IO3 ): An Excellent SHG Material Featuring an Unprecedented 3D [VO2 F(IO3 )]- Anionic Framework.

The first alkali-metal vanadium iodate fluoride, CsVO2 F(IO3 ), with a novel 3D anionic framework, has been rationally designed and hydrothermally synthesized. The 3D [VO2 F(IO3 )]- framework in CsVO2 F(IO3 ) is built from 0D Λ-shaped cis-[VO3 F(IO3 )2 ]4- polyanions via corner-sharing of oxo anions and bridging of the iodate groups. CsVO2 F(IO3 ) displays both a strong second-harmonic generation (SHG) 1.1 times as strong as KTiOPO4 (KTP) under 2.05 µm laser radiation and high laser-induced damage threshold (LIDT) of 107.9 MW cm-2 . This work provides a new route to design SHG crystals with stable 3D anionic structures from low-dimensional structural building units.

A new iodate-phosphate Pb2(IO3)(PO4) achieving great improvement in birefringence activated by (IO3)- groups.

The first divalent-metal iodate-phosphate, Pb2(IO3)(PO4), has been prepared via the strategy of introducing (IO3)- into phosphate. The structure features a unique 3D network where [Pb(IO3)]∞+ and [Pb(PO4)]∞- layers are alternatively interconnected. The birefringence of Pb2(IO3)(PO4) is greatly increased to 0.060 at 1064 nm.

Immunomodulatory Effects of Fruiting Body Extract and Solid-State-Cultivated Mycelia of Taiwanofungus camphoratus.

Taiwanofungus camphoratus is a rare and valuable medicinal mushroom indigenous to Taiwan. It has traditionally been used to promote good health. This study aimed to explore the immunomodulatory effects of "Leader Deluxe Taiwanofungus camphoratus capsule" (LDAC). LDAC is a healthy food product composed of fruiting body extract and solid-state-cultivated mycelia of T. camphoratus. Two complementary studies were performed. In the first, LDAC was orally administered to BABL/c female mice for 6 weeks as part of a non-specific immune study. In the second, mice were treated with LDAC for 8 weeks and immunized with ovalbumin (OVA) in a specific immune study. LDAC increased the growth of splenic immune cells and enhanced the activity of macrophages and natural killer cells. It increased the levels of interleukin (IL)-2, interferon (IFN)-γ, serum immunoglobulin (Ig)G, and OVA-IgG, and decreased the levels of IL-4, IL-5, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, serum IgE, and OVA-IgE. Thus, the findings of this study strongly supported the idea that LDAC possesses immunomodulatory activity.