Effects and mechanisms of nutritional interventions on extradigestive complications in obese patients.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is associated with an increased risk of multiple extradigestive complications. Thus, understanding the global epidemiology of obesity and its relationship with extradigestive complications, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is important. However, nutritional intervention can positively manage issues associated with obesity. Hence, the identification of the current high prevalence of extradigestive complications among patients with obesity and the potential role of nutritional interventions is also essential. AIM: To determine the relationship between obesity and extradigestive complications and emphasize the importance of nutritional interventions in the management of patients with obesity. METHODS: Overall, 110 patients with obesity admitted to our hospital from February 2020 to November 2022 and 100 healthy individuals were included in the present study. Information of the study population, including demographic characteristics, such as age, sex, body mass index, indicators of extradigestive complications, dietary intake, and biomarkers was collected. The study design, participant selection, interventions, and development of the nutritional intervention program were described. The collected data were analyzed to assess the effect of nutritional interventions on extradigestive complications. RESULTS: As a part of nutritional intervention, the dietary structure was modified to decrease the saturated fatty acid and cholesterol intake and increase the dietary fiber and polyunsaturated fatty acid intake to improve the blood lipid levels and cardiovascular health. Mechanistic studies showed that these nutritional interventions positively affected mechanisms that regulate lipid metabolism, improved inflammatory markers in the blood, and improved vascular functions. CONCLUSION: The study discusses the consistency of the present results with previous findings to assess the clinical significance of the present findings. The study provides direction for future research on improving nutritional intervention strategies.

Continuous blood pressure measurement from one-channel electrocardiogram signal using deep-learning techniques.

Continuous blood pressure (BP) measurement is crucial for reliable and timely hypertension detection. State-of-the-art continuous BP measurement methods based on pulse transit time or multiple parameters require simultaneous electrocardiogram (ECG) and photoplethysmogram (PPG) signals. Compared with PPG signals, ECG signals are easy to collect using wearable devices. This study examined a novel continuous BP estimation approach using one-channel ECG signals for unobtrusive BP monitoring. A BP model is developed based on the fusion of a residual network and long short-term memory to obtain the spatial-temporal information of ECG signals. The public multiparameter intelligent monitoring waveform database, which contains ECG, PPG, and invasive BP data of patients in intensive care units, is used to develop and verify the model. Experimental results demonstrated that the proposed approach exhibited an estimation error of 0.07 ± 7.77 mmHg for mean arterial pressure (MAP) and 0.01 ± 6.29 for diastolic BP (DBP), which comply with the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation standard. According to the British Hypertension Society standards, the results achieved grade A for MAP and DBP estimation and grade B for systolic BP (SBP) estimation. Furthermore, we verified the model with an independent dataset for arrhythmia patients. The experimental results exhibited an estimation error of -0.22 ± 5.82 mmHg, -0.57 ± 4.39 mmHg, and -0.75 ± 5.62 mmHg for SBP, MAP, and DBP measurements, respectively. These results indicate the feasibility of estimating BP by using a one-channel ECG signal, thus enabling continuous BP measurement for ubiquitous health care applications.

Self-healable, tough and highly stretchable ionic nanocomposite physical hydrogels.

We present a facile strategy to synthesize self-healable tough and highly stretchable hydrogels. Our design rationale for the creation of ionic cross-linked hydrogels is to graft an acrylic acid monomer on the surface of vinyl hybrid silica nanoparticles (VSNPs) for the growth of poly(acrylic) acid (PAA), and the obtained VSNP-PAA nanobrush can be used as a gelator. Physical cross-linking through hydrogen bonding and ferric ion-mediated ionic interactions between PAA polymer chains of the gelators yielded ionic nanocomposite physical hydrogels with excellent and balanced mechanical properties (tensile strength 860 kPa, elongation at break ∼2300%), and the ability to self-repair (tensile strength ∼560 kPa, elongation at break ∼1800%). The toughness and stretchability arise from the reversible cross-linking interactions between the polymer chains that help dissipate energy through stress (deformation) triggered dynamic processes. These unique properties will enable greater application of these hydrogel materials, especially in tissue engineering.

Highly stretchable and super tough nanocomposite physical hydrogels facilitated by the coupling of intermolecular hydrogen bonds and analogous chemical crosslinking of nanoparticles.

Highly stretchable and super tough nanocomposite physical hydrogels (NCP gels) were fabricated by a facile and one-pot process. NCP gels show superior mechanical properties with tensile strength of 73 kPa-313 kPa and elongation at break of 1210-3420%. This is due to the effective strengthening mechanism: under stretching, the intermolecular hydrogen bonds can dynamically break and recombine to dissipate energy and homogenize the gel network. In addition, vinyl hybrid silica nanoparticles (VSNPs) can work as stress transfer centres to transfer stress to the grafted polymer chains.

Purification and characterization of a chymosin from Rhizopus microsporus var. rhizopodiformis.

Purification and characterization of a chymosin from Rhizopus microsporus var. rhizopodiformis were investigated in the present study. A newly isolated R. microsporus var. rhizopodiformis F518 produced a high level of milk-clotting activity (1,001 SU/mL). A chymosin from the fungus was purified 3.66-fold with a recovery yield of 33.2 %. The enzyme appeared as a single protein band on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) with a molecular mass of 37.0 kDa. It was optimally active at 60 °C and was stable up to 40 °C. The purified enzyme was an acid protease with an optimum pH of 5.2 and retained 80 % of residual activity within pH 2.0-8.0. The inhibition of 96 and 100 % by pepstatin A at 0.01 and 0.02 mM, respectively, revealed that the enzyme is an aspartic protease. Thus, high milk-clotting activity of the chymosin with good stability will strengthen the potential use of the chymosin as a substitute for calf rennet in cheese manufacturing.

Overexpression of the trehalose-6-phosphate synthase gene OsTPS1 enhances abiotic stress tolerance in rice.

Trehalose plays an important role in metabolic regulation and abiotic stress tolerance in a variety of organisms. In plants, its biosynthesis is catalyzed by two key enzymes: trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (TPS) and trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase (TPP). The genome of rice (Oryza sativa) contains 11 OsTPS genes, and only OsTPS1 shows TPS activity. To demonstrate the physiological function of OsTPS1, we introduced it into rice and found that OsTPS1 overexpression improved the tolerance of rice seedling to cold, high salinity and drought treatments without other significant phenotypic changes. In transgenic lines overexpressing OsTPS1, trehalose and proline concentrations were higher than in the wild type and some stress-related genes were up-regulated, including WSI18, RAB16C, HSP70, and ELIP. These results demonstrate that OsTPS1 may enhance the abiotic stress tolerance of plants by increasing the amount of trehalose and proline, and regulating the expression of stress-related genes. Furthermore, we found that overexpression of some Class II TPSs also enhanced plant tolerance of abiotic stress. This work will help to clarify the role of trehalose metabolism in abiotic stress response in higher plants.

[Atmospheric correction of hyperion hyperspectral image based on FLAASH].

Atmospheric correction of remote sensing image is the premise of quantitative remote sensing. The present paper evaluated the capability of FLAASH (fast line-of-sight atmospheric analysis of spectral hypercubes)in ENVI software to make atmospheric correction for EO-1 Hyperion hyperspectral image. Hyperion hyperspecreal image of Zhangye city in Heihe River valley of Gansu province, China was acquired on September 10, 2007. Canopy spectra, biochemical component and GPS data of 41 plots were measured in near real-time during the satellite overpass. Hyperion hyperspectral image was geometrically corrected using Lansat-7 ETM+ image, then DN values were transformed to radiance and apparent reflectance, and atmospheric correction of Hyperion image was made using FLAASH. The resulting radiance, apparent reflectance and reflectance after FLAASH of four typical objects, including corn, water body, desert and building, were compared. ASD spectra of corn were resampled to Hyperion corresponding bands using Gaussian filter function. The comparison between ASD resampled spectra and Hyperion spectra after FLAASH demonstrated that the atmospheric correction using FLAASH is very effective and these two spectra are consistent with each other and the correlation coefficient reached 0.987.

Over-expression of OsDREB genes lead to enhanced drought tolerance in rice.

The DREB transcription factors, which specifically interact with C-repeat/DRE (A/GCCGAC), play an important role in plant abiotic stress tolerance by controlling the expression of many cold or/and drought-inducible genes in an ABA-independent pathway. We have isolated three novel rice DREB genes, OsDREB1E, OsDREB1G, and OsDREB2B, which are homologous to Arabidopsis DREB genes. The yeast one-hybrid assay indicated that OsDREB1E, OsDREB1G, and OsDREB2B can specifically bind to the C-repeat/DRE element. To elucidate the function of respective OsDREB genes, we have stably introduced these to rice by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Transgenic rice plants analysis revealed that over-expression of OsDREB1G and OsDREB2B in rice significantly improved their tolerance to water deficit stress, while over-expression of OsDREB1E could only slightly improved the tolerance to water deficit stress, suggesting that the OsDREBs might participate in the stress response pathway in different manners.

Functional characterization of a putative nitrate transporter gene promoter from rice.

Drought is one of the most significant abiotic stresses that influence plant growth and development. Expression analysis revealed that OsNRT1.3, a putative nitrate transporter gene in rice, was induced by drought. To confirm if the OsNRT1.3 promoter can respond to drought stress, a 2019 bp upstream sequence of OsNRT1.3 was cloned. Three OsNRT1.3 promoter fragments were generated by 5'-deletion, and fused to the beta-glucuronidase (GUS) gene. The chimeric genes were introduced into rice plants. NRT2019::GUS, NRT1196::GUS and NRT719::GUS showed similar expression patterns in seeds, roots, leaves and flowers in all transgenic rice, and GUS activity conferred by different OsNRT1.3 promoter fragments was significantly upregulated by drought stress, indicating that OsNRT1.3 promoter responds to drought stress and the 719 bp upstream sequence of OsNRT1.3 contains the drought response elements.

Isolation and characterization of OsGSTL1 promoter from rice.

OsGSTL1 gene was isolated from the rice genomic library. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that the expression of the OsGSTL1 in rice was not induced by chlorsulfuron, ethylene, abscisic acid, salicylic acid, and methyl jasmonate. In order to investigate the cis-elements of OsGSTL1 promoter, the promoter regions with different lengths were fused to the beta-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene. All constructs were transformed into onion epidermal cells or A. thaliana plants to detect the expression patterns. In onion epidermal cells, the 160 bp fragment and longer ones were functional for directing GUS expression. In transgenic A. thaliana, the 2,155 bp upstream region of OsGSTL1 gene directed the GUS expression only in cotyledon after germination, but not in the root of young seedlings. In the later seedling, the 2,155 bp upstream region of OsGSTL1 gene directed GUS expression in roots, stems, and leaves. However, the GUS gene directed by a 1,224 bp upstream fragment is expressed in all the checked tissues. These results suggest that the spatiotemporal expression response elements of OsGSTL1 existed in the 5'-upstream region between -2,155 and -1,224 bp.

[Mapping of seedlessness gene in grapes using SCAR markers].

Nine primers (including UBC-269 and GSLP1) were designed and synthesized based on DNA sequences of UBC-269(484) and GSLP1(569). The template DNA from Red Globe (seeded paternal parent) and Flame Seedless (seedless maternal parent) were screened using these primers. For Flame Seedless,GSLP1 yielded specific marker GSLP1(569); No. 39970524-5 primer yielded specific marker 39970524-5-564; and No. 6 primer yielded specific marker 39970524-6-1538 and 39970524-6-1200. GSLP1, No. 39970524-5, and No. 39970524-6 primers were used specifically to screen template DNA from the experimental plant materials. The results showed that the specific markers GSLP1(569), 39970524-5-564,39970524-6-1538 and 39970524-6-1200 were cosegregating with the major seedlessness gene. All these specific loci were also present in Thompson Seedless which was the initial donor of the seedlessness gene. It suggests that these SCAR markers are linked to a major grape seedlessness gene S. Markers order and map distance were estimated using the software 'QTXb17'. This showed that GSLP1(569), 39970524-5-564,39970524-6-1538 and 39970524-6-1200 were tightly linked to gene S. When P = 0.01,confidence limits for map distance ranged from 0.2 to 9.9; standard errors of map distance were from 0.6 to 1.9; LOD for linkage were from 32.7 to 46.4. These markers and the gene S were found to be in the same group. The markers were located on either side of gene S, covering 12.3 cM of the grape genome. The genetic distances between gene S and 39970524-5-564, GSLP1(569), 39970524-6-1538 and 39970524-6-1200 were 0.6 cM, 1.2 cM, 4.9 cM and 11.1 cM respectively.

Genome-wide ORFeome cloning and analysis of Arabidopsis transcription factor genes.

Here, we report our effort in generating an ORFeome collection for the Arabidopsis transcription factor (TF) genes. In total, ORFeome clones representing 1,282 Arabidopsis TF genes have been obtained in the Gateway high throughput cloning pENTR vector, including 411 genes whose annotation lack cDNA support. All the ORFeome inserts have also been mobilized into a yeast expression destination vector, with an estimated 85% rate of expressing the respective proteins. Sequence analysis of these clones revealed that 34 of them did not match with either the reported cDNAs or current predicted open-reading-frame sequences. Among those, novel alternative splicing of TF gene transcripts is responsible for the observed differences in at least five genes. However, those alternative splicing events do not appear to be differentially regulated among distinct Arabidopsis tissues examined. Lastly, expression of those TF genes in 17 distinct Arabidopsis organ types and the cultured cells was profiled using a 70-mer oligo microarray.