microRNA-8514-5p regulates adipokinetic hormone/corazonin-related peptide receptor to affect development and reproduction of Plutella xylostella.

BACKGROUND: Dicer1 plays a crucial role in regulating the development and reproduction of insects. Knockout of Dicer1 causes pupal deformity, low eclosion and low fecundity in Plutella xylostella, but the mechanism behind this phenomenon is not clear. This study aims to identify differentially-expressed genes and miRNAs in the Dicer1-knockout strain (ΔPxDcr-1) and assess their impact on the reproduction and development of P. xylostella. RESULTS: The knockout of Dicer1 affected the expression of genes including the adipokinetic hormone/corazonin-related peptide receptor (PxACPR). The expression of PxACPR was upregulated, and the expression of miR-8514-5p was downregulated in ΔPxDcr-1 of P. xylostella. The dual luciferase reporter assay and pull-down assay showed that miR-8514-5p bound to PxACPR in vitro and in vivo. The expression profiles demonstrated a negative correlation between PxACPR mRNA and miR-8514-5p in different developmental stages of the wild-type strain. Both the miR-8514-5p agomir and double-stranded RNA of ACPR (dsPxACPR) injected into the pre-pupae inhibited the mRNA level of PxACPR, causing high mortality and deformity of pupae, and low fecundity and hatching rate, which were consistent with the phenotype of ΔPxDcr-1. The injection of miR-8514-5p antagomir caused a similar phenotype to the injection of miR-8514-5p agomir. Additionally, the injection of miR-8514-5p antagomir significantly rescued the phenotype caused by dsPxACPR. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that miR-8514-5p affects the development and reproduction of P. xylostella by regulating PxACPR, and the homeostasis of PxACPR expression is essential for the development and reproduction of P. xylostella. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

The roles of resilience, peer relationship, teacher-student relationship on student mental health difficulties during COVID-19.

The present cross-sectional study aimed to (a) expand our understanding of the role of risk and resilience factors for adolescent adjustment during coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and (b) examine personal resilience, peer and teacher-student relationships as protective factors against mental health difficulties. A total of 3,662 students from 4th to 11th grades in Urumchi, China completed a survey in June 2020. Urumchi is an ethnically diverse city, with nearly 40% of the population in this school district being ethnic minority students. The schools of Urumchi closed in February 2020 and reopened in April 2020. The results of latent moderated structural equation modeling suggested that peer victimization was associated with greater mental health difficulties in students. Personal resilience and teacher-student relationships were promotive factors for better mental health and also served as a buffer from the negative effect of peer victimization on mental health. The results also showed divergent patterns for elementary versus secondary school students as well as gender differences. Implications for how schools can support students during COVID-19 were discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Pricking and penetrating moxibustion therapy in patients with refractory insomnia: a randomized and controlled clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical effect of pricking and penetrating moxibustion therapy on refractory insomnia. METHODS: Totally 60 subjects were randomly divided into treatment group and control group, 30 in each group. The treatment group was treated with pricking and penetrating moxibustion therapy, the control group with penetrating moxibustion therapy, the treatment was given once every day, two groups of patients were treated 20 times, compared the efficacy, pinsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) and Traditional Chinese Medicine symptom, safety evaluation between the two groups. RESULTS: Compared with 10, 20 times after the treatment, the effective rate of the treatment group (93.3%) higher than that of the control group (80.0%) (P < 0.05); Compared with before treatment, 20 times after treatment, the PSQI and TCM symptom pattern scores of the two groups were significantly decreased (P < 0.01); Compared with 10, 20 times after the treatment, the treatment group are better than the control group in improving the total score and the integral of PSQI (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01); The treatment group are better than the control group in improving the TCM symptom pattern score, difficulty in going to sleep, palpitation, amnesia, fidget, sweating, impaired concentration (P < 0.01 or P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The pricking and penetrating moxibustion therapy is safe and effective in the treatment of refractory insomnia and the treatment can improve the curative effect of the therapy that uses penetrating moxibustion only.

Complete mitogenome of tea green leafhopper, Empoasca onukii (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) from Anshun, Guizhou Province in China.

Tea green leafhopper, Empoasca onukii (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), is one of the most serious pest insects in tea plantations in Asia. In this study, Mitogenome of this species was assembled with high coverage using Illumina sequencing data and the 15,167 bp length was acquired. The base composition is 38.1% for A, 11.2% for C, 10.5% for G, and 40.2% for T. The mitogenome includes 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA, and two ribosomal RNA genes. The phylogeny showed that it is closely related to E. vitis with high bootstrap value supported. The complete mitogenome of E. onukii can provide essential DNA molecular data for further phylogenetic and evolutionary analysis.

[Distribution of waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio and their values in obesity screening among 3-9 years old Han and Uygur ethnic children in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the distributions of waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) in Han and Uygur ethnic children aged 3-9 years in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Xinjiang) and discuss their values in obesity screening in children. METHODS: Stratified cluster random sampling was conducted to select Han and Uygur ethnic children from kindergartens and primary schools in four areas of Xinjiang in April 2014. The children's standing height, body weight and waist circumference were measured by trained investigators according to standard protocol. WC>or=P80 and WHtR>or=0.48 were used as the cutoff value for abdominal obesity screening in children with normal BMI. The association between overweight/obese prevalence rate and obesity related indicators, such as BMI, WC, WHtR, were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 4024 Han and Uygur ethnic children were investigated, in which 2461 were in Han ethnic group, 1563 were in Uygur ethnic group. The WC and WHtR at P50 and P80 were differed significantly. In both Han and Uygur ethnic groups, there were some children with WC>or=P80 or WHtR>or=0.48, although they had normal BMI. This proportion decreased with age. CONCLUSIONS: The WC and WHtR are similar in Han and Uygur ethnic children aged 3-9 years. WC and WHtR have values in obesity screening for children with normal BMI which suggested to use it as the supplementation of BMI in obesity screening in preschool aged children.

[Peak Detection Algorithm of Optical Fiber SPR Signal Based on the Gaussian Fitting].

The spectrum of optical fiber surface plasmon resonance (SPR) shows the characteristics of wider full width at half-maximum (FWHM) and smaller peak value. The traditional peak detection algorithm cannot calculate the resonance wavelength of this kind of spectrum accurately. Therefore, efficient methods to calculate the resonance wavelength are required. This paper presents a method to process the SPR signal based on the Gaussian fitting. Combined with the trust region algorithm to determine the Gaussian fitting function, and then the resonance wavelength be calculated by line search method. Data processing of standard spectrum of glycerin with different concentration proves that this algorithm can adapt to optical fiber SPR spectrum characteristics, and calculate resonance wavelength accurately. The experiment measures the SPR signals of sucrose under different concentrations through the self-building SPR measure system. By using the proposed method, the weighted centroid method and the tracking centroid method to calculate the resonance wavelength, the result shows that the Gaussian fitting method can effectively improve resolution and have a short operation time which is conducive to engineering application.