A Bioinspired Copper-Pair Catalyst in Metal-Organic Frameworks for Molecular Dioxygen Activation and Aerobic Oxidative C-N Coupling.

Open Cu sites were loaded to the UiO-67 metal-organic framework (MOF) skeleton by introduction of flexible Cu-binding pyridylmethylamine (pyma) side chains to the biphenyldicarboxylate linkers. Distance between Cu centers in the MOF pores was tuned by controlling the density of metal-binding side chains. "Interacted" Cu-pair or "isolated" monomeric Cu sites were achieved with high and low (pyma)Cu side chain loading, respectively. Spectroscopic and theoretical studies indicate that "interacted" Cu pairs can effectively bind and activate molecular dioxygen to form Cu2O2 clusters, which showed high catalytic activity for aerobic oxidative C-N coupling. On the contrary, MOF catalyst bearing isolated monomeric Cu sites only showed modest catalytic activity. Enhancement in catalytic performance for the Cu-pair catalyst is attributed to the remote synergistic effect of the paired Cu site, which binds molecular dioxygen and cleaves the O═O bond in a collaborative manner. This work demonstrates that noncovalently interacted metal-pair sites can effectively activate inert small molecules and promote heterogeneous catalytic processes.

The Safety of Injections in the Infraorbital Region.

BACKGROUND:  Infraorbital filler injection is a commonly used minimally invasive cosmetic procedure on the face, which can cause vascular complications. OBJECTIVE:  In this study, we aimed to explore the anatomical structure of the infraorbital vasculature and to establish an accurate protocol for infraorbital filler injection. METHODS:  The vascular structure of the infraorbital region was evaluated in 84 hemifacial specimens using computed tomography. Four segments (P1-P4) and five sections (C1-C5) were considered. We recorded the number of identified arteries in each slice and at each location and the number of deep arteries. Furthermore, we also measured the infraorbital artery (IOA) distribution. RESULTS:  At P1-P4, the lowest number of arteries was detected in segment P4, with a 317/1727 (18.4%) and 65/338 (2.3%) probability of total and deep arterial identification, respectively. The probabilities of encountering an identified artery at the five designated locations (C1-C5) were 277/1727 (16%), 318/1727 (18.4%), 410/1727 (23.7%), 397/1727 (23%), and 325/1727 (18.8%), respectively. The probability of an IOA being identified at C2 was 68/84 (81%). CONCLUSION:  We described an effective filler injection technique in the infraorbital region to minimize the associated risks. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

Clinical Relevance of the Variability of the Infraorbital Arterial Anatomy Evaluated by Three-Dimensional Computed Tomography.

BACKGROUND: Knowledge of the anatomy of the infraorbital artery (IOA) is crucial for the rejuvenation of the anterior medial aspect of the midface; however, studies adequately describing the anatomy of the IOA branches are lacking, and their connection with the ophthalmic artery branches remains unclear. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to elucidate the anatomical characteristics of the IOA in its deployment within the lower eyelid using three-dimensional (3D) technology, thereby offering an anatomical foundation for clinical surgical procedures. METHODS: An analysis was conducted on computed tomography scans of 132 cadaveric head sides post-contrast injection, utilizing the Mimics software for reconstruction. The study focused on examining the anastomosis of the IOA, its principal branches, and the branches emanating from the ophthalmic artery. RESULTS: The prevalence of type I IOA was observed at 38.6% (51/132), while Type II IOA was found in 61.4% (81/132) of cases. A 7.6% incidence (10/132) of IOA directly anastomosing with the angular artery was noted. The presence of palpebral branches (PIOA) was identified in 57.6% (76/132) of instances. In the lower eyelid, four distinct distribution patterns of IOA were discerned: The likelihood of Type I PIOA was 5.3%, whereas for Types IIA, IIB, and IIC PIOA, the probabilities were 8.3%, 32.6%, and 11.4%, respectively. The occurrence of the orbital branch of IOA was recorded at 41.7% (55/132). CONCLUSIONS: 3D technology can map IOA variants and identify the deployment patterns of IOA branches in the lower eyelid vascular vesicles at high resolution as a guide in clinical practice. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266 .

Bulk RNA-sequencing, single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis, and experimental validation reveal iron metabolism-related genes CISD2 and CYP17A1 are potential diagnostic markers for recurrent pregnancy loss.

BACKGROUND: Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) is associated with variable causes. Its etiology remains unexplained in about half of the cases, with no effective treatment available. Individuals with RPL have an irregular iron metabolism. In the present study, we identified key genes impacting iron metabolism that could be used for diagnosing and treating RPL. METHODS: We obtained gene expression profiles from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. The Molecular Signatures Database was used to identify 14 gene sets related to iron metabolism, comprising 520 iron metabolism genes. Differential analysis and a weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) of gene expression revealed two iron metabolism-related hub genes. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and immunohistochemistry were used on clinical samples to confirm our results. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and immune infiltration analysis were conducted. In addition, we analyzed the distribution of genes and performed CellChat analysis by single-cell RNA sequencing. RESULTS: The expression of two hub genes, namely, CDGSH iron sulfur domain 2 (CISD2)and Cytochrome P450 family 17 subfamily A member 1 (CYP17A1), were reduced in RPL, as verified by both qPCR and immunohistochemistry. The Gene Ontology (GO) analysis revealed the genes predominantly engaged in autophagy and iron metabolism. The area under the curve (AUC) demonstrated better diagnostic performance for RPL using CISD2 and CYP17A1. The single-cell transcriptomic analysis of RPL demonstrated that CISD2 is expressed in the majority of cell subpopulations, whereas CYP17A1 is not. The cell cycle analysis revealed highly active natural killer (NK) cells that displayed the highest communications with other cells, including the strongest interaction with macrophages through the migratory inhibitory factor (MIF) pathway. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggested that CISD2 and CYP17A1 genes are involved in abnormal iron metabolism, thereby contributing to RPL. These genes could be used as potential diagnostic and therapeutic markers for RPL.

Room-Temperature Strong Coupling of Few-Exciton in a Monolayer WS2 with Plasmon and Dispersion Deviation.

Engineering room-temperature strong coupling of few-exciton in transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) with plasmons promises to construct compact and high-performance quantum optical devices. But it remains unimplemented due to their in-plane excitons. Here, we demonstrate the strong coupling of few-exciton within 10 in monolayer WS2 with the plasmonic mode with a large tangential component of the electric field tightly trapped around the sharp corners of an Au@Ag nanocuboid, the fewest number of excitons observed in the TMDC family so far. Furthermore, we for the first time report a significant deviation with a relative difference of up to 100.6% between the spectrum and eigenlevel splitting dispersions, which increases with decreasing coupling strength. It is also shown that the coupling strength obtained by the conventional concept of both being equal to the measured spectrum splitting is markedly overestimated. Our work enriches the understanding of strong light-matter interactions at room temperature.

A metal-organic framework-supported dinuclear iron catalyst for hydroboration of carbonyl compounds.

Preparation of catalytically active dinuclear transition metal complexes with an open coordination sphere is a challenging task because the metal sites tend to be "saturated" with excess donor atoms around during synthesis. By isolating the binding scaffolds with the metal-organic framework (MOF) skeleton and installing metal sites through post-synthetic modification, we succeed in constructing a MOF-supported metal catalyst, namely FICN-7-Fe2, with dinuclear Fe2 sites. FICN-7-Fe2 effectively catalyses the hydroboration of a broad range of ketone, aldehyde, and imine substrates with a low loading of 0.05 mol%. Remarkably, kinetic measurements showed that FICN-7-Fe2 is 15 times more active than its mononuclear counterpart FICN-7-Fe1, indicating that cooperative substrate activation on the two Fe centres significantly enhances the catalysis.

Exfoliation of a Two-Dimensional Metal-Organic Framework for Enhanced Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction.

A two-dimensional metal-organic framework, FICN-12, was constructed from tris[4-(1H-pyrazole-4-yl)phenyl]amine (H3TPPA) ligands and Ni2 secondary building units. The triphenylamine moiety in the H3TPPA ligand readily absorbs UV-visible photons and sensitizes the Ni center to drive photocatalytic CO2 reduction. FICN-12 can be exfoliated into monolayer and few-layer nanosheets with a "top-down" approach, which exposes more catalytic sites and increases its catalytic activity. As a result, the nanosheets (FICN-12-MONs) showed photocatalytic CO and CH4 production rates of 121.15 and 12.17 µmol/g/h, respectively, nearly 1.4 times higher than those of bulk FICN-12.

Necroptosis-associated long noncoding RNAs can predict prognosis and differentiate between cold and hot tumors in ovarian cancer.

Objective: The mortality rate of ovarian cancer (OC) is the highest among all gynecologic cancers. To predict the prognosis and the efficacy of immunotherapy, we identified new biomarkers. Methods: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Genotype-Tissue Expression Project (GTEx) databases were used to extract ovarian cancer transcriptomes. By performing the co-expression analysis, we identified necroptosis-associated long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). We used the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) to build the risk model. The qRT-PCR assay was conducted to confirm the differential expression of lncRNAs in the ovarian cancer cell line SK-OV-3. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis, Kaplan-Meier analysis, and the nomogram were used to determine the lncRNAs model. Additionally, the risk model was estimated to evaluate the efficacy of immunotherapy and chemotherapy. We classified necroptosis-associated IncRNAs into two clusters to distinguish between cold and hot tumors. Results: The model was constructed using six necroptosis-associated lncRNAs. The calibration plots from the model showed good consistency with the prognostic predictions. The overall survival of one, three, and five-year areas under the ROC curve (AUC) was 0.691, 0.678, and 0.691, respectively. There were significant differences in the IC50 between the risk groups, which could serve as a guide to systemic treatment. The results of the qRT-PCR assay showed that AL928654.1, AL133371.2, AC007991.4, and LINC00996 were significantly higher in the SK-OV-3 cell line than in the Iose-80 cell line (P < 0.05). The clusters could be applied to differentiate between cold and hot tumors more accurately and assist in accurate mediation. Cluster 2 was more vulnerable to immunotherapies and was identified as the hot tumor. Conclusion: Necroptosis-associated lncRNAs are reliable predictors of prognosis and can provide a treatment strategy by screening for hot tumors.

The complete mitochondrial genome of a marine triclad Miroplana shenzhensis (Platyhelminthes, Tricladida, Maricola).

The complete mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Miroplana shenzhensis Yu & Wang, 2013 is reported in the present study, representing the second mitogenome recorded in the suborder Maricola. The circular mitogenome is 14,344 bp in length, containing 12 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNAs and 22 transfer RNAs. Comparative analysis on mitochondrial gene order reveals a rearrangement in the suborder Maricola, indicating that mitochondrial gene order is conserved only in Continenticola, and is divergent across Tricladida. Phylogenetic analysis shows M. shenzhensis is clustered with an another marine triclad, forming a well-supported monophyletic group of Maricloan.

Room-Temperature Strong Coupling Between a Single Quantum Dot and a Single Plasmonic Nanoparticle.

A single quantum dot (QD) strongly coupled with a plasmonic nanoparticle yields a promising qubit for scalable solid-state quantum information processing at room temperature. However, realizing such a strong coupling remains challenging due to the difficulty of spatial overlap of the QD excitons with the plasmonic electric fields (EFs). Here, by using a transmission electron microscope we demonstrate for the first time that this overlap can be realized by integrating a deterministic single QD with a single Au nanorod. When a wedge nanogap cavity consisting of them and the substrate is constructed, the plasmonic EFs can be more effectively "dragged" and highly confined in the QD's nanoshell where the excitons mainly reside. With these advantages, we observed the largest spectral Rabi splitting (reported so far) of ∼234 meV for a single QD strong coupling with plasmons. Our work opens a pathway to the massive construction of room-temperature strong coupling solid qubits.

Schroth exercises improve health-related quality of life and radiographic parameters in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients.

BACKGROUND: Finding an optimal treatment strategy for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients remains challenging because of its intrinsic complexity. For mild to moderate scoliosis patients with lower skeletal growth potential (Risser 3-5), most clinicians agree with observation treatment; however, the curve progression that occurs during puberty, the adolescent period, and even in adulthood, remains a challenging issue for clinicians. The aim of the study is to investigate the efficacy of Schroth exercise in AIS patients with lower skeletal growth potential (Risser 3-5) and moderate scoliosis (Cobb angle 20°-40°). METHODS: From 2015 to 2017, data of 64 patients diagnosed with AIS in Peking University Third Hospital were reviewed. Forty-three patients underwent Schroth exercise were classified as Schroth group, and 21 patients underwent observation were classified as observation group. Outcomes were measured by health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and radiographic parameters. HRQOL was assessed using the visual analog scale (VAS) scores for back, Scoliosis Research Society-22 (SRS-22) patient questionnaire. Radiographic spinopelvic parameters were obtained from anteroposterior and lateral X-rays. The pre-treatment and post-treatment HRQOL and radiographic parameters were tested to validate Schroth exercise efficacy. The inter-rater reliability of the radiographic parameters was tested using the interclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The paired t test was used to examine HRQOL and radiographic parameters. Clinical relevance between C2-C7 sagittal vertical axis (SVA) and thoracic kyphosis was analyzed using Spearman correlation. RESULTS: In Schroth group, VAS back score, SRS-22 pain, and SRS-22 self-image domain were significantly improved from pre-treatment 3.0 ±â€Š0.8, 3.6 ±â€Š0.5, and 3.5 ±â€Š0.7 to post-treatment 1.6 ±â€Š0.6 (t = 5.578, P = 0.013), 4.0 ±â€Š0.3 (t = -3.918, P = 0.001), and 3.7 ±â€Š0.4 (t = -6.468, P < 0.001), respectively. No significant improvements of SRS-22 function domain (t = -2.825, P = 0.088) and mental health domain (t = -3.174, P = 0.061) were observed. The mean Cobb angle decreased from 28.9 ±â€Š5.5° to 26.3 ±â€Š5.2° at the final follow-up, despite no statistical significance was observed (t = 1.853, P = 0.102). The mean C2-C7 SVA value decreased from 21.7 ±â€Š8.4 mm to 17.0 ±â€Š8.0 mm (t = -1.224 P = 0.049) and mean T1 tilt decreased from 4.9 ±â€Š4.2 ° to 3.5 ±â€Š3.1° (t = 2.913, P = 0.011). No significant improvement of radiographic parameters and HRQOL were observed in observation group. CONCLUSIONS: For AIS patients with a Risser 3-5 and a Cobb angle 20°-40°, Schroth exercises improved HRQOL and halted curve progression during the follow-up period. Both cervical spine alignment and shoulder balance were also significantly improved after Schroth exercises. We recommend Schroth exercises for patients with AIS.

Collagen VI-related myopathy with scoliosis alone: A case report and literature review.

BACKGROUND: Scoliosis is a complex three-dimensional deformity of spine and one of the common complications of collagen VI-related myopathy, caused by mutations in collagen type VI alpha 1 chain (COL6A1), COL6A2, and COL6A3 genes. The typical clinical presentations of collagen VI-related myopathy include weakness, hypotonia, laxity of distal joints, contractures of proximal joints, and skeletal deformities. CASE SUMMARY: A 28-year-old female presented with scoliosis for 28 years without weakness, hypotonia, laxity of distal joints, and contracture of proximal joints. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed hemivertebra, butterfly vertebra, and the missing vertebral space. Patients underwent orthopedic surgery and paravertebral muscle biopsy. The Cobb angle dropped from 103.4° to 52.9°. However, the muscle biopsy showed neurogenic muscular atrophy with myogenic lesions, suggesting congenital muscular dystrophy. Gene analysis indicated that mutations in COL6A1 (c.1612-10G>A) and COL6A2 (c.115+10G>T, c.2749G>A). Immunohistochemistry staining for collagen VI displayed shallow and discontinuous. Eventually, the patient was diagnosed as collagen VI-related myopathy. CONCLUSION: This newly found subtype of collagen VI-related myopathy has no typical manifestations; however, it is characterized by severe scoliosis and congenital vertebral deformity.

MitoFlex: an efficient, high-performance toolkit for animal mitogenome assembly, annotation and visualization.

SUMMARY: MitoFlex is a linux-based mitochondrial genome analysis toolkit, which provides a complete workflow of raw data filtering, de novo assembly, mitochondrial genome identification and annotation for animal High Throughput Sequencing data. The overall performance was compared between MitoFlex and its analogue MitoZ, in terms of protein-coding gene recovery, memory consumption and processing speed. AVAILABILITYAND IMPLEMENTATION: MitoFlex is available at https://github.com/Prunoideae/MitoFlex under GPLv3 license. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Proteomic study of hypothalamus in pigs exposed to heat stress.

BACKGROUND: With evidence of warming climates, it is important to understand the effects of heat stress in farm animals in order to minimize production losses. Studying the changes in the brain proteome induced by heat stress may aid in understanding how heat stress affects brain function. The hypothalamus is a critical region in the brain that controls the pituitary gland, which is responsible for the secretion of several important hormones. In this study, we examined the hypothalamic protein profile of 10 pigs (15 ± 1 kg body weight), with five subjected to heat stress (35 ± 1 °C; relative humidity = 90%) and five acting as controls (28 ± 3 °C; RH = 90%). RESULT: The isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) analysis of the hypothalamus identified 1710 peptides corresponding to 360 proteins, including 295 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs), 148 of which were up-regulated and 147 down-regulated, in heat-stressed animals. The Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) software predicted 30 canonical pathways, four functional groups, and four regulatory networks of interest. The DEPs were mainly concentrated in the cytoskeleton of the pig hypothalamus during heat stress. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, heat stress significantly increased the body temperature and reduced daily gain of body weight in pigs. Furthermore, we identified 295 differentially expressed proteins, 147 of which were down-regulated and 148 up-regulated in hypothalamus of heat stressed pigs. The IPA showed that the DEPs identified in the study are involved in cell death and survival, cellular assembly and organization, and cellular function and maintenance, in relation to neurological disease, metabolic disease, immunological disease, inflammatory disease, and inflammatory response. We hypothesize that a malfunction of the hypothalamus may destroy the host physical and immune function, resulting in decreased growth performance and immunosuppression in heat stressed pigs.

LCAL1 enhances lung cancer survival via inhibiting AMPK-related antitumor functions.

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers and has been the most common cause of cancer deaths for several decades. Recently, lung cancer-associated lncRNA 1 (LCAL1) has been identified to be overexpressed in lung cancer tissues, while inhibiting LCAL1 expression has shown potential to inhibiting lung cancer growth. However, the molecular mechanism between LCAL1 and lung cancer cell survival remains poorly understood. In the present study, we provided the first evidence that LCAL1 may support lung cancer survival via inhibiting the activity of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK). According to our results, LCAL1 may physically interact with the catalytic subunit of tumor suppressor AMPK, prevent AMPK activation by upstream kinase (liver kinase B1), and thus inhibit the downstream AMPK signaling network. Our study revealed that overexpressed LCAL1 may induce aerobic glycolysis in lung cancer cells through AMPK/HIF1α axis, enhance protein synthesis through AMPK/mTOR/S6K axis, and suppress autophagic cell death through AMPK/ULK1 pathway. All these alterations supported rapid proliferation of lung cancer cells, while knockdown of LCAL1 expression demonstrated the potential of inhibiting lung cancer growth by reversing the tumorigenic phenotypes triggered by the loss of AMPK activity, and could become a promising therapeutic strategy for lung cancer treatment.

Design of a microfluidic chip consisting of micropillars and its use for the enrichment of nasopharyngeal cancer cells.

The aim of the present study was to discuss the design of a microfluidic chip consisting of columns, and its use for the enrichment of nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) cells. A microfluidic chip experiment was simulated using FLUENT software. Within the microfluidic chip, aptamers were bound to the reaction chamber (consisting of columns) using a biotin-avidin system. Cell suspension was introduced into the reaction chamber to capture NPC cells. NPC cells were subsequently eluted, and the capture rate of the cells was calculated. The modified aptamer-bound microfluidic chip was able to capture NPC cells with a capture rate of ~90%. The modified aptamer-bound microfluidic chip has a wide range of potential applications for the diagnosis of NPC.

Proteomic analysis of the response of porcine adrenal gland to heat stress.

Heat stress (HS) and its associated pathologies are major challenges facing the pig industry in southern China, and are responsible for large economic losses. However, the molecular mechanisms governing the abnormal secretion of HS-responsive hormones, such as glucocorticoids, are not fully understood. The goal of this study was to investigate differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in the adrenal glands of pigs, and to elucidate changes in the immune neuroendocrine system in pigs following HS. Through a functional proteomics approach, we identified 1202 peptides, corresponding to 415 proteins. Of these, we found 226 DEPs between heat-stressed and control porcine adrenal gland tissue; 99 of these were up-regulated and 127 were down-regulated in response to HS. These DEPs included proteins involved in substrate transport, cytoskeletal changes, and stress responses. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis was used to identify the subcellular characterization, functional pathway involvement, regulatory networks, and upstream regulators of the identified proteins. Functional network and pathway analyses may provide insights into the complexity and dynamics of HS-host interactions, and may accelerate our understanding of the mechanisms of HS.

[The Function of Neuroinflammation in Parkinson Disease].

Parkinson disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by a progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN). The pathology of PD remains unclear. Recent findings suggests neuroinflammation plays a critical role in PD. Occurrence of neuroinflammation, including microglia and astrocyte activation, T lymphocyte infiltration and blood-brain barrier disruption, has been identified in PD. However, the mechanism of neuroinflammation regulation in PD is not fully deciphered. In this review, we focus on the cutting edge in researches of neuroinflammation in PD, which may provide us new ideas in prevention and recovery of PD.

[The influence of carotid artery stenosis on neurological outcomes in patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of carotid artery stenosis on the incidence of neurological complication in patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting. METHODS: We prospectively analyzed 176 consecutive patients ≥ 60 years old undergoing selective off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (from June 2010 to July 2011). Carotid duplex ultrasound screening was used to determine the presence and severity of carotid artery before surgery. Neurological complications 7 days after surgery were compared between the patients with (≥ 75%) and without severe carotid artery stenosis (< 70%). Multivariate analysis was used to determine the predictor of severe carotid artery disease. RESULTS: Sixteen patients (9.1%) were found to have severe carotid artery stenosis before surgery. Thirty-seven patients (20.8%) had single or multiple neurological complications: 1 (0.6%) had stroke; 12 (6.7%) had hypoxic-metabolic encephalopathy; 21 (11.8%) had cognitive dysfunction; 3 (1.7%) had depression. When compared with the counterparts, patients with severe carotid artery stenosis had a higher rate of neurological complications (43.8% vs 18.8%; P = 0.044). In multivariate analysis, significant predictive factor for severe carotid artery stenosis was prior stroke (OR: 4.04; 95%CI 1.22 - 13.37). CONCLUSION: Severe carotid artery stenosis alone is a risk factor for neurological complication after off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting and prior stroke is a predictor for sever carotid artery disease.

[Effects of aluminum stress on ecophysiological characteristics of male and female Populus cathayana seedlings].

This paper studied the sex-specific differences of male and female Populus cathayana seedlings in their ecophysiological characteristics and photosynthesis under the stress of aluminum (216 mg Al(3+) x kg(-1)). Under the effects of aluminum, the malonaldehyde (MDA) and soluble protein (Pr) contents of the male and female seedlings increased significantly (P < 0.001), and the males had a significantly lower MDA content and a significantly higher Pr content than the females. The peroxidase (POD) activity of the males increased but the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity decreased significantly, while the POD and SOD activities of the females had no significant variation. The net photosynthetic rate (Pn) of both male and female seedlings decreased significantly (P = 0.001), and the transpiration rate (Tr) of the female seedlings decreased (P = 0.007) and the instant water use efficiency (WUEi) increased significantly, while no significant variations were observed in the Tr and WUEi of the male seedlings. The total chlorophyll and chlorophyll a contents and chlorophyll a/b ratio of the females decreased significantly, resulting in a significantly higher chlorophyll a/b ratio of the males. The specific leaf area (SLA) of the females decreased but that of the males increased significantly. No significant variation was observed on the leaf- and stem dry mass. Comparing with the females, the males had higher Pr and chlorophyll contents and higher active antioxidant enzymes activity to maintain higher Pn, and thus, had greater resistance against aluminum stress.