Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of DREB family genes in cotton.

BACKGROUND: Dehydration responsive element-binding (DREB) transcription factors are widely present in plants, and involve in signalling transduction, plant growth and development, and stress response. DREB genes have been characterized in multiple species. However, only a few DREB genes have been studied in cotton, one of the most important fibre crops. Herein, the genome­wide identification, phylogeny, and expression analysis of DREB family genes are performed in diploid and tetraploid cotton species. RESULTS: In total, 193, 183, 80, and 79 putative genes containing the AP2 domain were identified using bioinformatics approaches in G. barbadense, G. hirsutum, G. arboretum, and G. raimondii, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis showed that based on the categorization of Arabidopsis DREB genes, 535 DREB genes were divided into six subgroups (A1-A6) by using MEGA 7.0. The identified DREB genes were distributed unevenly across 13/26 chromosomes of A and/or D genomes. Synteny and collinearity analysis confirmed that during the evolution, the whole genome duplications, segmental duplications, and/or tandem duplications occurred in cotton DREB genes, and then DREB gene family was further expanded. Further, the evolutionary trees with conserved motifs, cis-acting elements, and gene structure of cotton DREB gene family were predicted, and these results suggested that DREB genes might be involved in the hormone and abiotic stresses responses. The subcellular localization showed that in four cotton species, DREB proteins were predominantly located in the nucleus. Further, the analysis of DREB gene expression was carried out by real-time quantitative PCR, confirming that the identified DREB genes of cotton were involved in response to early salinity and osmotic stress. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively, our results presented a comprehensive and systematic understanding in the evolution of cotton DREB genes, and demonstrated the potential roles of DREB family genes in stress and hormone response.

Mitigation of microbial corrosion by Cu addition to X65 pipeline steel by Pseudomonas aeruginosa MCCC 1A00099.

Microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) is becoming a knotty problem for transmission pipelines. Developing MIC mitigation strategies for pipelines is increasingly urgent. In this study, MIC resistance against Pseudomonas aeruginosa of the X65 pipeline steels with (X65Cu) and without (X65) Cu addition was comparatively studied by electrochemical measurements and surface observation. Experimental results demonstrated that the corrosion rate of X65Cu steel was lower than that of X65 steel no matter in sterile or bacteria-containing media. Cu addition is helpful to the formation of the rust layer in the sterile medium. Surface observation showed that X65Cu steel exhibited a better MIC resistance against P. aeruginosa than that of X65 steel. Cu ions released from the X65Cu steel could effectively kill the P. aeruginosa attached on the steel surface, thus evidently decreased the pit depth and diameter.

Value of Visceral Fat Area in the Preoperative Discrimination of Peritoneal Metastasis from Gastric Cancer in Patients with Different Body Mass Index: A Prospective Study.

PURPOSE: Although peritoneal metastasis (PM) is associated with poor prognosis in gastric cancer (GC) patients, it is difficult to discriminate preoperatively. Our previous study has demonstrated visceral fat area (VFA) is a better obesity index than body mass index (BMI) in predicting abdominal metastasis. This study aimed to further explore the relationship between obesity and PM. PATIENTS AND METHODS: VFA was retrieved for 859 consecutive patients undergoing radical gastrectomy between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2013. A receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to determine the BMI-specific cutoff values for VFA. Univariate and multivariate analyses evaluating the risk factors for PM at different BMI levels were performed. RESULTS: The optimal cutoff values for VFA were 67.28, 88.03, and 175.32 cm2 for low, normal, and high BMI patients, respectively, and 18 (15.52%), 220 (40.15%), and 61 (31.28%) patients were classified as having high VFA in each group. Univariate logistic regression revealed that the association between high VFA and PM was not dependent on BMI (odds ratio [OR]=9.048, P=0.007 for low BMI, OR=3.827, P<0.001 for normal BMI, and OR=2.460, P=0.049 for high BMI). In multivariate logistic regression analysis, high VFA (OR=3.816, P<0.001) and vascular invasion (OR=1.951, P=0.039) were independent risk factors for PM only in the normal BMI group. CONCLUSION: VFA only effectively predicted PM for GC patients with normal BMI, rather than those with low and high BMI. More attentions should be paid to those GC patients with high VFA and normal BMI.

Use of radiomics to extract splenic features to predict prognosis of patients with gastric cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Radiomics allows for mining of imaging data to examine tissue characteristics non-invasively, which can be used to predict the prognosis of a patient. This study explored the use of imaging techniques to evaluate splenic tissue characteristics to predict the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Computed tomography images from patients with gastric cancer were collected retrospectively. Splenic image characteristics, extracted with pyradiomics, of patients in the training group were randomly divided. Characteristics with a P value < 0.1 were selected for lasso regression to construct a survival risk model. Models for high-and low-risk groups were established. Patients were divided into the high- and low-risk groups for univariate and multivariate regression analysis of survival-related factors, and a visual prognostic prediction model was established. RESULTS: The splenic characteristic prognostic model was consistent in the training and verification groups (p < 0.001 and p = 0.016, respectively). The two groups that displayed different splenic characteristics showed no statistical difference in other basic data except the tumour-node-metastasis (pTNM) stage (p = 0.007). Univariate and multivariate analysis of survival risk factors showed that splenic characteristics (p = 0.042), age (p < 0.001), tumor location (p = 0.002), and pTNM stage (p < 0.001) were independent risk factors for survival. The prognostic prediction model combined with splenic characteristics significantly improved the accuracy of prognosis, predicting one-and three-year survival rates. CONCLUSION: Splenic features extracted from imaging technology can accurately predict the long-term survival of patients with gastric cancer. Splenic characteristic grouping can effectively improve the accuracy of survival prediction and gastric cancer prognosis.

The screening and identification of DNA barcode sequences for Rehmannia.

In this study, ITS, ITS2, matK, rbcL and psbA-trnH in Rehmannia were successfully amplified and sequenced, but some ITS sequences need to be proofread according to ITS2 sequences. Compared with rbcL, matK and psbA-trnH, ITS and ITS2 had higher mutation rate and more information sites, and ITS2 had higher interspecific diversity and lower intraspecific variation in Rehmannia, but the interspecific genetic variation of rbcL and matK was lower. Furthermore, the obvious barcoding gap was found in psbA-trnH or ITS2 + psbA-trnH, and the overlap between interspecific and intraspecific variation of ITS, ITS2 or matK was less. In addition, the phylogenetic tree based on ITS or ITS2 indicated that R. glutinosa, R. chingii or R. henryi with obvious monophyly could be successfully identified, but R. piasezkii and R. elata were clustered into one branch, R. solanifolia could not be distinguished from R. glutinosa, and R. chingii was closer to R. henryi. In phylogenetic tree based on psbA-trnH or ITS2 + psbA-trnH, cultivars and wild varieties of R. glutinosa could be distinguished, were clearly separated from other Rehmannia species, and cultivars or wild varieties of R. glutinosa could be also distinguished by matK. Taken together, ITS2 has great potential in systematic study and species identification of Rehmannia, the combination of ITS2 and psbA-trnH might be the most suitable DNA barcode for Rehmannia species.

Preoperative Cachexia predicts poor outcomes in young rather than elderly gastric cancer patients: a prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Cachexia affects nearly 50-80% of cancer patients, and most studies have only focused on elderly patients. We investigated preoperative cachexia in gastric cancer (GC) patients by age group and comprehensively analyzed the impact of preoperative cachexia on the prognosis of GC patients in all age groups. METHODS: In total, 575 patients were prospectively analyzed. The effect of preoperative cachexia on overall survival (OS) in all the patients and in patients with different age groups were investigated using log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards regression, respectively. RESULTS: In total, 35.8% (206 of 575) individuals were diagnosed with cachexia. The median survival of cachexia patients (29.2 months) was shorter than that of non-cachexia patients (35.7 months). Cachexia (HR =1.976, P<0.001), age (HR =1.811, P<0.001), readmission (HR =2.559, P<0.001), tumor size (HR =1.639, P=0.003), TNM stage (stage II: HR =2.215, P=0.017; stage III: HR =5.758, P<0.001), whole stomach cancer (HR =2.639, P<0.001), and combined operation (HR =1.598, P=0.032) were independently associated with worse OS. After grouping by age, cachexia was associated with OS in patients younger than 50 years old (HR =4.947, P=0.029), patients 51-60 years old (HR =2.232, P=0.026), and patients 61-70 years old (HR =1.806, P=0.032), but not in patients older than 71 years (HR =1.411, P=0.119). Further, cachexia only significantly affected the postoperative length of stay (P=0.015) and hospitalization costs (P=0.032) in patients younger than 50 years old. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative cachexia predicts poor outcome in younger GC patients, and greater attention should be paid to these patients.

A quantified risk-scoring system including the visceral fat area for peritoneal metastasis of gastric cancer.

Background: Peritoneal metastases of gastric cancer are usually detected using imaging, However, the results of imaging modalities are not always reliable; therefore, the prediction of prognosis based on these findings is therefore inaccurate. As visceral obesity has been identified as a potential risk factor for cancer, the present study aimed to evaluate the predictive value of visceral fat area (VFA), a representative marker of visceral obesity, for peritoneal metastasis in patients with gastric cancer and to construct a reliable preoperative prediction system for peritoneal metastasis. Patients and methods: We enrolled 859 patients with gastric cancer. The VFA and other objective clinical tumor characteristics were evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Independent predictors of peritoneal metastasis were determined using logistic regression analysis; a prediction system was also evaluated using ROC curves. Results: The ROC curves indicated a VFA cutoff value of 91.00 cm2 as predictive of peritoneal metastasis. On logistic regression, visceral obesity (VFA ≥91.00 cm2) was identified as an independent predictor of peritoneal metastasis, with an area under the ROC curve of 0.659; the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), invasion depth, and vascular invasion were also identified as independent predictors. On integrating these predictors into a single prediction system, peritoneal metastases were more reliably predicted (area under the ROC curve=0.779). Conclusions: Visceral obesity, as defined by the VFA, effectively predicted peritoneal metastases in our cohort. Our scoring system may be a reliable instrument for identifying patients with peritoneal metastasis.