A comparative study of sampling methods in the detection of esophageal cancer-related microbiota.

Esophageal cancer (EC) is a multifaceted disease. Our understanding of the involvement of esophageal microbiota in its pathogenesis and progression is limited, which is due to the lack of proper endoscopic sampling methods. Hereby, we conducted a comparative analysis of paired samples obtained through endoscopic brushing and cytosponge, aiming at assessing the feasibility of using cytosponge as a minimally invasive sampling way for studying esophageal microbiota. Our findings suggest that cytosponge sampling yielded significantly superior community richness and diversity compared to endoscopic brushing in both controls (non-cancerous) and EC individuals. The analysis of beta-diversity revealed distinct microbial community pattern in the genus diversity between the two sampling methods, underscoring the importance of selecting appropriate sampling methods to effectively characterize the esophageal microbiota. Specifically, Lactococcus and Serratia showed higher abundance in the samples collected by endoscopic brushing, while Alloprevotella and Leptotrichia were more enriched in the samples collected by cytosponge. These differences in dominant microbes were associated with metabolic pathways that particularly were related to host inflammation, such as pyruvate and glucose metabolisms. Notably, the phylogenetic levels of the microbiota indicated varied explanatory power for different detection purposes. This study underscores the substantial impact of sampling method selection on the acquisition of esophageal microbiota associated with the EC development, encompassing considerations of both abundance and diversity. This highlights the significance of selecting an appropriate sampling method for investigating the esophageal microbial status and studying the micro-environment in EC-related individuals. IMPORTANCE: This study addresses a critical issue in esophageal cancer study by comparing two different sampling methods, endoscopic brushing and cytosponge, for investigating the esophageal microbiota. Our work highlights the suitability of the cytosponge technique as a minimally invasive sampling method for studying the esophageal microbiota and emphasizes the importance of selecting an appropriate sampling method to characterize the microbial community. Our findings have significant implications for advancing the understanding of the role of the esophageal microbiota in cancer development and will inform future research and clinical approaches in this field.

Data-Driven Subtypes of Multiple System Atrophy and Their Implications for Prognosis.

Background: While multiple system atrophy (MSA) presents with high heterogeneous motor and nonmotor symptoms, the associations between clinical phenotypes and prognosis are unclear. Objective: We aimed to evaluate clinical phenotypes of MSA using data-driven approach and measure the impact of phenotypes on survival and bedbound status. Methods: 193 MSA patients were recruited from Xuanwu Hospital Capital Medical University, whose history, motor and non-motor symptoms were examined using cluster analysis. Ninety-five participants were followed-up via telephone after a mean of 31.87 months. We employed Kaplan- Meier analysis to examine survival and performed Cox and logistic regression analyses to identify factors associated with survival and bedbound status. Results: We identified four clinical profiles of MSA: cerebellar symptom-dominant, sleep and mood disorder-dominant, rigid akinetic-dominant, and malignant diffuse. The overall median survival was 7.75 years (95% CI 7.19-8.31). After adjusting for years from symptom onset to diagnosis, age and sex, patients in the malignant diffuse and rigid akinetic-dominant clusters had greater risk of death than sleep and mood disorder-dominant cluster. Furthermore, patients in the malignant diffuse and rigid akinetic-dominant clusters had higher risk of being bedbound than cerebellar symptom-dominant cluster. Conclusions: The malignant diffuse and sleep and mood disorder-dominant were identified besides the two classical subtypes, parkinsonism, and cerebellar symptom-variant. Patients with rigid-akinetic motor profiles have a worse prognosis than cerebellar symptom-dominant profiles in general. Diffuse symptoms, especially postural instability, and cognitive alterations at diagnosis, indicate rapid functional loss and disease progression. The different profiles and prognoses might indicate varied underlying pathological mechanisms.

Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a complex disease that can affect both movement and non-movement functions of patients. However, we do not know much about how these different symptoms relate to how the patient's health might change over time. In this study, we looked at 193 MSA patients to learn more about if the patients can be distinguished into different subgroups at diagnosis and if the subgroups might be associated with their survival and ability to move in the future. We found four main subgroups of patients: group 1 characterized by the dysfunction of cerebellum (a part of the brain), group 2 characterized by sleep and mood problems, group 3 characterized by rigidity and slow movements, and group 4 with diffuse symptoms mentioned above. After tracking 95 patients for nearly 32 months, we found that those characterized by rigidity and slow movements, and those with diffuse symptoms had a higher chance of dying compared to those characterized by sleep and mood problems. Group 3 and 4 also had a higher chance of becoming unable to move out of bed. This suggests that patients with severe symptoms of rigidity and slowness at diagnosis tend to have a worse outlook than those without. And if multiple MSA symptoms are found when the patient is diagnosed, especially trouble with thinking, are also signs that the disease is getting worse quickly. By understanding these disease patterns, we can better tailor treatments and provide better support for people with MSA.

UDP-Glycosyltransferases UGT350C3 and UGT344L7 Confer Tolerance to Neonicotinoids in Field Populations of Aphis gossypii.

The cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii, is a polyphagous pest that stunts host plant growth via direct feeding or transmitting plant virus. Due to the long-term application of insecticides, A. gossypii has developed different levels of resistance to numerous insecticides. We found that five field populations had evolved multiple resistances to neonicotinoids. To explore the resistance mechanism mediated by uridine diphosphate glycosyltransferases (UGTs), two upregulated UGT genes in these five strains, UGT350C3 and UGT344L7, were selected for functional analysis of their roles in neonicotinoid detoxification. Transgenic Drosophila bioassay results indicated that compared with the control lines, the UGT350C3 and UGT344L7 overexpression lines were more tolerant to thiamethoxam, imidacloprid, and dinotefuran. Knockdown of UGT350C3 and UGT344L7 significantly increased A. gossypii sensitivity to thiamethoxam, imidacloprid, and dinotefuran. Molecular docking analysis demonstrated that these neonicotinoids could bind to the active pockets of UGT350C3 and UGT344L7. This study provides functional evidence of neonicotinoid detoxification mediated by UGTs and will facilitate further work to identify strategies for preventing the development of neonicotinoid resistance in insects.

TMEM79 Ameliorates Cerebral Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury Through Regulating Inflammation and Oxidative Stress via the Nrf2/NLRP3 Pathway.

BACKGROUND: Cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury (CIRI) is still a complicated disease with high fatality rates worldwide. Transmembrane Protein 79 (TMEM79) regulates inflammation and oxidative stress in some other diseases. METHODS: CIRI mouse model was established using C57BL/6J mice through middle cerebral artery occlusion-reperfusion (MCAO/R), and BV2 cells were subjected to oxygen and glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) to simulate CIRI. Brain tissue or BV2 cells were transfected or injected with lentivirus-carried TMEM79 overexpression vector. The impact of TMEM79 on CIRI-triggered oxidative stress was ascertained by dihydroethidium (DHE) staining and examination of oxidative stress indicators. Regulation of TMEM79 in neuronal apoptosis and inflammation was determined using TUNEL staining and ELISA. RESULTS: TMEM79 overexpression mitigated neurological deficit induced by MCAO/R and decreased the extent of cerebral infarct. TMEM79 prevented neuronal death in brain tissue of MCAO/R mouse model and suppressed inflammatory response by reducing inflammatory cytokines levels. Moreover, TMEM79 significantly attenuated inflammation and oxidative stress caused by OGD/R in BV2 cells. TMEM79 facilitated the activation of Nrf2 and inhibited NLRP3 and caspase-1 expressions. Rescue experiments indicated that the Nrf2/NLRP3 signaling pathway mediated the mitigative effect of TMEM79 on CIRI in vivo and in vitro. CONCLUSION: Overall, TMEM79 was confirmed to attenuate CIRI via regulating the Nrf2/NLRP3 signaling pathway.

Preparation of ionic porous polymers for extraction of four phenolic endocrine disrupting chemicals from fish and water samples.

In this paper, series of ionic polymers were synthesized by crosslinking alkyl quaternary ammonium salts with 1,4-bis(chloromethyl)benzene. Among them, hyper-crosslinked polymer fabricated with dodecyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (HCP-DD) as monomer delivered superior adsorption performance for endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The adsorption mechanism mainly includes π-π stacking, hydrophobic and electrostatic interaction. With HCP-DD as solid phase extraction sorbent, a high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection method was developed for the detection of four phenolic EDCs in water and fish samples. The detection limits of the method were 0.005-0.02 ng mL-1 for water samples and 3-30 ng g-1 for fish samples. The recoveries of EDCs in water samples and fish samples were 80-119% and 81.3-117% (relative standard deviations <4.4%), respectively. The study not only provides a route for preparation ionic porous polymers, but also highlights the applications of ionic polymers as efficient adsorbent to enrich organic pollutants.

Solidification/stabilization and optimization of municipal solid waste incineration fly ash with aluminosilicate solid wastes.

Alkali-activation is an effective municipal solid waste incineration fly ash (MSWIFA) solidification/stabilization (S/S) technology. However, the characteristics of calcium-rich silica-poor aluminum phase in MSWIFA easily cause the structural instability and contamination of alkali activated MSWIFA S/S bodies. Therefore, the aluminosilicate solid wastes are used in this work to optimize the immobilization and structural properties. Results showed that incorporation of aluminosilicate solid wastes significantly improved the compressive strength and heavy metals pollution toxicity of MSWIFA S/S bodies. Compared to alkali activated MSWIFA, the compressive strength of S/S bodies with addition of coal fly ash, silica fume and granulated blast furnace slag improved by 31.0%, 47.6% and 50.8% when the curing time was 28 days, respectively. Leachability of Pb, Zn and Cd in these alkali activated MSWIFA S/S bodies was far below the threshold value specified in Standard GB16889. Aluminosilicate solid wastes provided abundant Si/Al structural units, and some new phases such as ettringite(AFt, 3CaO⋅Al2O3⋅3CaSO4⋅32H2O), calcium sulfoaluminate hydrate (3CaO⋅Al2O3⋅CaSO4⋅12H2O) and Friedel's salt (CaO⋅Al2O3⋅CaCl2⋅10H2O) can be detected in S/S matrix with aluminosilicate solid wastes, along comes increased the amount of the amorphous phases. Lower Ca/Si molar ratio tended to form the network structure gel similar to tobermorite with higher polymerization degree. Meanwhile, the silica tetrahedron of the gels changed from the oligomerization state like island to the hyperomerization state like chain, layer network or three-dimensional structure, and average molecular chain length increased. These findings provide theoretical basis for structural properties optimization and resource utilization of MSWIFA S/S matrices.

Consolidation chemotherapy after definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy in patients with inoperable esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a multicenter non-inferiority phase III randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Definitive concurrent chemoradiotherapy (dCCRT) is the gold standard for the treatment of locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). However, the potential benefits of consolidation chemotherapy after dCCRT in patients with esophageal cancer remain debatable. Prospective randomized controlled trials comparing the outcomes of dCCRT with or without consolidation chemotherapy in patients with ESCC are lacking. In this study, we aim to generate evidence regarding consolidation chemotherapy efficacy in patients with locally advanced, inoperable ESCC. METHODS: This is a multicenter, prospective, open-label, phase-III randomized controlled trial comparing non-inferiority of dCCRT alone to consolidation chemotherapy following dCCRT. In total, 600 patients will be enrolled and randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive either consolidation chemotherapy after dCCRT (Arm A) or dCCRT alone (Arm B). Overall survival will be the primary endpoint, whereas progression-free survival, locoregional progression-free survival, distant metastasis-free survival, and treatment-related toxicity will be the secondary endpoints. DISCUSSION: This study aid in further understanding the effects of consolidation chemotherapy after dCCRT in patients with locally advanced, inoperable ESCC. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ChiCTR1800017646.

Mosaic sarbecovirus nanoparticles elicit cross-reactive responses in pre-vaccinated animals.

Immunization with mosaic-8b [60-mer nanoparticles presenting 8 SARS-like betacoronavirus (sarbecovirus) receptor-binding domains (RBDs)] elicits more broadly cross-reactive antibodies than homotypic SARS-CoV-2 RBD-only nanoparticles and protects against sarbecoviruses. To investigate original antigenic sin (OAS) effects on mosaic-8b efficacy, we evaluated effects of prior COVID-19 vaccinations in non-human primates and mice on anti-sarbecovirus responses elicited by mosaic-8b, admix-8b (8 homotypics), or homotypic SARS-CoV-2 immunizations, finding greatest cross-reactivity for mosaic-8b. As demonstrated by molecular fate-mapping in which antibodies from specific cohorts of B cells are differentially detected, B cells primed by WA1 spike mRNA-LNP dominated antibody responses after RBD-nanoparticle boosting. While mosaic-8b- and homotypic-nanoparticles boosted cross-reactive antibodies, de novo antibodies were predominantly induced by mosaic-8b, and these were specific for variant RBDs with increased identity to RBDs on mosaic-8b. These results inform OAS mechanisms and support using mosaic-8b to protect COVID-19 vaccinated/infected humans against as-yet-unknown SARS-CoV-2 variants and animal sarbecoviruses with human spillover potential.

CF2-II Alternative Splicing Isoform Regulates the Expression of Xenobiotic Tolerance-Related Cytochrome P450 CYP6CY22 in Aphis gossypii Glover.

The expression of P450 genes is regulated by trans-regulatory factors or cis-regulatory elements and influences how endogenous or xenobiotic substances are metabolized in an organism's tissues. In this study, we showed that overexpression of the cytochrome P450 gene, CYP6CY22, led to resistance to cyantraniliprole in Aphis gossypii. The expression of CYP6CY22 increased in the midgut and remaining carcass of the CyR strain, and after repressing the expression of CYP6CY22, the mortality of cotton aphids increased 2.08-fold after exposure to cyantraniliprole. Drosophila ectopically expressing CYP6CY22 exhibited tolerance to cyantraniliprole and cross-tolerance to xanthotoxin, quercetin, 2-tridecanone, tannic acid, and nicotine. Moreover, transcription factor CF2-II (XM_027994540.2) is transcribed only as the splicing variant isoform CF2-II-AS, which was found to be 504 nucleotides shorter than CF2-II in A. gossypii. RNAi and yeast one-hybrid (Y1H) results indicated that CF2-II-AS positively regulates CYP6CY22 and binds to cis-acting element p (-851/-842) of CYP6CY22 to regulate its overexpression. The above results indicated that CYP6CY22 was regulated by the splicing isoform CF2-II-AS, which will help us further understand the mechanism of transcriptional adaption of cross-tolerance between synthetic insecticides and plant secondary metabolites mediated by P450s.

18F-FP-DTBZ PET/CT detectable associations between monoaminergic depletion in the putamen with rigidity and the pallidus with tremor in Parkinson's disease.

INTRODUCTION: The motor subtypes of Parkinson's disease (PD) are widely accepted and implemented. However, the motor subtypes have been thought to represent different stages of PD recently because some patients experience tremor-dominant (TD) conversion to the non-tremor-dominant subtype, such as postural instability-gait difficulty (PIGD). In this study, we explore the monoaminergic denervation features of the striatal and extra-striatal areas in patients with different subtypes of PD with 18F-9-fluoropropyl-(+)-dihydrotetrabenazine (18F-FP-DTBZ) PET/CT. METHODS: Sixty-five patients diagnosed with PD were included and classified as TD (n = 25) and PIGD (n = 40). We evaluated the difference of monoaminergic features of each subregion of brain between motor subtypes of PD, as well as associations between these features and Parkinsonian motor symptoms. RESULTS: The striatal standardized uptake value ratios (SUVR) showed that dopaminergic disruption of patients with PIGD was more symmetrical in the posterior ventral putamen (p < 0.001) and more severe in the ipsilateral posterior dorsal putamen (p < 0.001 corrected) compared with that of patients with TD. The severity of PIGD scores was associated with striatal dopaminergic depletion, while tremor was associated with monoaminergic changes in extra-striatal areas, including pallidus, thalamus, and raphe nuclie. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that patients with different motor subtypes may have different underlying mechanisms of PD pathogenesis. Therefore, accurate diagnosis of PD subtypes can aid prognosis evaluation and treatment decision-making.

Chemical Evolution and Biological Evaluation of Natural Products for Efficient Therapy of Acute Lung Injury.

Acute lung injury (ALI) is one of the most common complications in COVID-19 and also a syndrome of acute respiratory failure with high mortality rates, but lacks effective therapeutic drugs. Natural products provide inspiration and have proven to be the most valuable source for bioactive molecule discovery. In this study, the chemical evolution of the natural product Tanshinone IIA (Tan-IIA) to achieve a piperidine-fused scaffold through a synthetic route of pre-activation, multi-component reaction, and post-modification is presented. Through biological evaluation, it is pinpointed that compound 8b is a standout candidate with remarkable anti-inflammation and anti-oxidative stress properties, coupled with low toxicity. The mechanistic study unveils a multifaceted biological profile of 8b and shows that 8b is highly efficient in vivo for the treatment of ALI. Therefore, this work not only provides an effective strategy for the treatment of ALI, but also offers a distinctive natural product-inspired drug discovery.

Solidification of municipal solid waste incineration fly ash with alkali-activated technology.

Alkali-activation is effective municipal solid waste incineration fly ash (MSWIFA) solidification/stabilization (S/S) technology. Percolation and migration of heavy metals in MSWIFA S/S matrix is a complicated and slow process. Here, several alkali-activated MSWIFA samples are selected to comparatively investigate the long-term leaching behavior and environmental availability of Pb, Zn and Cd when exposed in different erosion environment. Acid environment posed the more serious destroy to MSWIFA S/S matrices. RAC demonstrated that potential risk level of heavy metals is higher in acid rain environment, and Cd, Zn showed the prominent risk. When soaked in acid rain solution, the surface of alkali-activated MSWIFA S/S matrices was cracked seriously and a large number of hardened slurry peeled off. However, more stable structural properties and lower heavy metal leachability can be found in alkali-activated MSWIFA/aluminosilicate. The immobilization efficiency of Pb, Zn and Cd were all above 99.0%. Microstructure and morphology results indicated that there is new phase Friedel's salts generated and much more amorphous substance such as C-(A)-S-H gel with incorporation of aluminosilicate, which all contributed much to the formation of compact and stable microstructure, then significantly facilitated the encapsulation of heavy metal. These findings will provide theoretical basis and new insight for resource utilization and security landfill of MSWIFA.

Intermediate conformations of CD4-bound HIV-1 Env heterotrimers.

HIV-1 envelope (Env) exhibits distinct conformational changes in response to host receptor (CD4) engagement. Env, a trimer of gp120 and gp41 heterodimers, has been structurally characterized in a closed, prefusion conformation with closely associated gp120s and coreceptor binding sites on gp120 V3 hidden by V1V2 loops1-4 and in fully saturated CD4-bound open Env conformations with changes including outwardly rotated gp120s and displaced V1V2 loops3-9. To investigate changes resulting from substoichiometric CD4 binding, we solved single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structures of soluble, native-like heterotrimeric Envs bound to one or two CD4 molecules. Most of the Env trimers bound to one CD4 adopted the closed, prefusion Env state, with a minority exhibiting a heterogeneous partially open Env conformation. When bound to two CD4s, the CD4-bound gp120s exhibited an open Env conformation including a four-stranded gp120 bridging sheet and displaced gp120 V1V2 loops that expose the coreceptor sites on V3. The third gp120 adopted an intermediate, occluded-open state10 that showed gp120 outward rotation but maintained the prefusion three-stranded gp120 bridging sheet with only partial V1V2 displacement and V3 exposure. We conclude that most of the engagements with one CD4 molecule were insufficient to stimulate CD4-induced conformational changes, whereas binding two CD4 molecules led to Env opening in CD4-bound protomers only. The substoichiometric CD4-bound soluble Env heterotrimer structures resembled counterparts derived from a cryo-electron tomography study of complexes between virion-bound Envs and membrane-anchored CD4 (ref. 11), validating their physiological relevance. Together, these results illuminate intermediate conformations of HIV-1 Env and illustrate its structural plasticity.

Pd-Catalyzed Regiodivergent Hydrocarboxylation of Olefins with Oxalic Acid: A Remarkable Effect of the Counteranion on Regioselectivity.

A regioselective Pd-catalyzed hydrocarboxylation of vinyl arenes with oxalic acid is described. A wide variety of either linear or branched carboxylic acids can be readily obtained with high regioselectivities under mild reaction conditions. The reaction process is operationally simple and requires no handling of toxic CO. Besides the ligand, the counteranion of the Pd catalyst system plays an important role in the regioselectivity.

Temporal-frequency-phase feature classification using 3D-convolutional neural networks for motor imagery and movement.

Recently, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been widely applied in brain-computer interface (BCI) based on electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. Due to the subject-specific nature of EEG signal patterns and the multi-dimensionality of EEG features, it is necessary to employ appropriate feature representation methods to enhance the decoding accuracy of EEG. In this study, we proposed a method for representing EEG temporal, frequency, and phase features, aiming to preserve the multi-domain information of EEG signals. Specifically, we generated EEG temporal segments using a sliding window strategy. Then, temporal, frequency, and phase features were extracted from different temporal segments and stacked into 3D feature maps, namely temporal-frequency-phase features (TFPF). Furthermore, we designed a compact 3D-CNN model to extract these multi-domain features efficiently. Considering the inter-individual variability in EEG data, we conducted individual testing for each subject. The proposed model achieved an average accuracy of 89.86, 78.85, and 63.55% for 2-class, 3-class, and 4-class motor imagery (MI) classification tasks, respectively, on the PhysioNet dataset. On the GigaDB dataset, the average accuracy for 2-class MI classification was 91.91%. For the comparison between MI and real movement (ME) tasks, the average accuracy for the 2-class were 87.66 and 80.13% on the PhysioNet and GigaDB datasets, respectively. Overall, the method presented in this paper have obtained good results in MI/ME tasks and have a good application prospect in the development of BCI systems based on MI/ME.

UDP-glucuronosyltransferase is involved in susceptibility of Chironomus kiiensis Tokunaga, 1936 (Diptera: Chironomidae) to insecticides.

UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) could transform various exogenous and endogenous compounds, which help detoxification of pesticides in insects. To investigate the role of UGTs in the detoxification metabolism of insecticides in Chironomus kiiensis, CkUGT302M1, CkUGT302N1, CkUGT308N1 and CkUGT36J1 genes were identified with 1449-1599 bp encoding 482-532 amino acids. Four UGT genes shared 40.86∼53.36% identity with other homologous insect species, and expressed in all developmental stages, notably in the larval and adult stages. Expression of CkUGTs was higher in the gastric caecum, midgut and head. Moreover, CkUGTs expression and activity were significantly increased in C. kiiensis larvae in exposure to sublethal concentrations of carbaryl, deltamethrin and phoxim, respectively. To further explore the functions of UGT genes, the CkUGT308N1 was effectively silenced in 4th instar C. kiiensis larvae by RNA interference, which resulted in the mortality of dsCkUGT308N1 treated larvae increased by 71.43%, 111.11% and 62.50% under sublethal doses of carbaryl, deltamethrin and phoxim at the 24-h time point, respectively. The study revealed that the CkUGT308N1 gene in C. kiiensis could contribute to the metabolism of pesticides and provide a scientific basis for evaluating the water pollution of pesticides.

Engineering RNA export for measurement and manipulation of living cells.

A system for programmable export of RNA molecules from living cells would enable both non-destructive monitoring of cell dynamics and engineering of cells capable of delivering executable RNA programs to other cells. We developed genetically encoded cellular RNA exporters, inspired by viruses, that efficiently package and secrete cargo RNA molecules from mammalian cells within protective nanoparticles. Exporting and sequencing RNA barcodes enabled non-destructive monitoring of cell population dynamics with clonal resolution. Further, by incorporating fusogens into the nanoparticles, we demonstrated the delivery, expression, and functional activity of exported mRNA in recipient cells. We term these systems COURIER (controlled output and uptake of RNA for interrogation, expression, and regulation). COURIER enables measurement of cell dynamics and establishes a foundation for hybrid cell and gene therapies based on cell-to-cell delivery of RNA.

Soliton solution, breather solution and rational wave solution for a generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation with Darboux transformation.

In this paper, the exact solutions of generalized nonlinear Schrödinger (GNLS) equation are obtained by using Darboux transformation(DT). We derive some expressions of the 1-solitons, 2-solitons and n-soliton solutions of the GNLS equation via constructing special Lax pairs. And we choose different seed solutions and solve the GNLS equation to obtain the soliton solutions, breather solutions and rational wave solutions. Based on these obtained solutions, we consider the elastic interactions and dynamics between two solitons.

Preparation of Trichoderma asperellum Microcapsules and Biocontrol of Cucumber Powdery Mildew.

Microencapsulation is an important technique for protecting the viability and activity of microorganisms under adverse environmental conditions. To improve biological control, controlled-release microcapsules of Trichoderma asperellum were prepared and embedded in combinations of the biodegradable wall materials sodium alginate (SA). The microcapsules were evaluated for their ability to control cucumber powdery mildew in the greenhouse. The results showed that the highest encapsulation efficiency of 95% was obtained by applying 1% SA and 4% calcium chloride. The microcapsules provided good, controlled release and UV resistance, and could be stored for a long time. The greenhouse experiment revealed that the T. asperellum microcapsules had a maximal biocontrol efficiency of 76% against cucumber powdery mildew. In summary, embedding T. asperellum in microcapsules is a promising technique to improve the survivability of T. asperellum conidia. The T. asperellum microcapsules exerted significant biocontrol efficiency against cucumber powdery mildew. IMPORTANCE Trichoderma asperellum is widely found in plant roots and soil and has been used for the biocontrol of various plant pathogens; however, the control efficiency of T. asperellum is usually unstable in field trials. To improve the control efficiency of T. asperellum, in the present study, T. asperellum microcapsules were prepared using sodium alginate as wall material to reduce the effects of temperature, UV irradiation, and other environmental factors on its activity, and to significantly improve its biocontrol efficiency on cucumber powdery mildew. Microcapsules can prolong the shelf life of microbial pesticides. This study provides a new way to prepare a biocontrol agent against cucumber powdery mildew with high efficiency.