Selection and Validation of qRT-PCR Internal Reference Genes to Study Flower Color Formation in Camellia impressinervis.

Real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) is a pivotal technique for gene expression analysis. To ensure reliable and accurate results, the internal reference genes must exhibit stable expression across varied experimental conditions. Currently, no internal reference genes for Camellia impressinervis have been established. This study aimed to identify stable internal reference genes from eight candidates derived from different developmental stages of C. impressinervis flowers. We employed geNorm, NormFinder, and BestKeeper to evaluate the expression stability of these candidates, which was followed by a comprehensive stability analysis. The results indicated that CiTUB, a tubulin gene, exhibited the most stable expression among the eight reference gene candidates in the petals. Subsequently, CiTUB was utilized as an internal reference for the qRT-PCR analysis of six genes implicated in the petal pigment synthesis pathway of C. impressinervis. The qRT-PCR results were corroborated by transcriptome sequencing data, affirming the stability and suitability of CiTUB as a reference gene. This study marks the first identification of stable internal reference genes within the entire genome of C. impressinervis, establishing a foundation for future gene expression and functional studies. Identifying such stable reference genes is crucial for advancing molecular research on C. impressinervis.

Three cancers in the renal pelvis, bladder, and colon: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Multiple primary cancers are rare occurrences that can involve either metachronous or synchronous development. It is particularly rare for an individual to have more than two primary cancers. In this report, we present a case study of an elderly man who was diagnosed with three heterochronous cancers in the renal pelvis, bladder, and colon. CASE SUMMARY: On December 30, 2014, a 51-year-old Chinese man was admitted to our hospital with complaints of intermittent painless gross hematuria for the preceding week. A computed tomography (CT) scan revealed wall thickening in the left ureter's upper segment, while a CT urography revealed a left renal pelvis tumor. A successful laparoscopic radical resection of the left renal pelvis tumor was subsequently performed at Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital in January 2015. The pathological findings after the surgery revealed a low-grade papillary urothelial carcinoma of the renal pelvis. The final pathological tumor stage was pT1N0M0. After surgery, this patient received 6 cycles of intravenous chemotherapy with gemcitabine and carboplatin, as well as bladder infusion therapy with gemcitabine. On December 18, 2017, the patient was admitted once again to our hospital with a one-day history of painless gross hematuria. A CT scan showed the presence of a space-occupying lesion on the posterior wall of bladder. Cystoscopic examination revealed multiple tumors in the bladder and right cutaneous ureterostomy was performed under general anesthesia on December 29, 2017. The postoperative pathological findings disclosed multifocal papillary urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (maximum size 3.7 cm × 2.6 cm). The bladder cancer was considered a metastasis of the renal pelvis cancer after surgery. The pathological tumor stage was pT1N0M1. The patient refused chemotherapy after surgery. After another six years, the patient returned on February 28, 2023, complaining of periumbilical pain that had lasted six days. This time, a CT scan of the abdomen showed a tumor in the ascending colon, but a subsequent colonoscopy examination indicated a tumor in the descending colon. On March 12, 2023, a subtotal colectomy and an ileosigmoidal anastomosis were carried out under general anesthesia. Postoperative pathological findings revealed that all three tumors were adenocarcinomas. The final pathological tumor stage was pT3N0M0. The patient had an uneventful postoperative recovery and was discharged without complications. CONCLUSION: The case of this elderly man presents a rare occurrence of metachronous primary cancers in the renal pelvis and colon. Bladder cancer is considered a metastasis of renal pelvis cancer after surgery. Optimal treatment can be implemented by evaluating the patient's histological features, clinical history, and tumor distribution correctly.

Possible mechanisms of lycopene amelioration of learning and memory impairment in rats with vascular dementia.

Oxidative stress is involved in the pathogenesis of vascular dementia. Studies have shown that lycopene can significantly inhibit oxidative stress; therefore, we hypothesized that lycopene can reduce the level of oxidative stress in vascular dementia. A vascular dementia model was established by permanent bilateral ligation of common carotid arteries. The dosage groups were treated with lycopene (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg) every other day for 2 months. Rats without bilateral carotid artery ligation were prepared as a sham group. To test the ability of learning and memory, the Morris water maze was used to detect the average escape latency and the change of search strategy. Hematoxylin-eosin staining was used to observe changes of hippocampal neurons. The levels of oxidative stress factors, superoxide dismutase and malondialdehyde, were measured in the hippocampus by biochemical detection. The levels of reactive oxygen species in the hippocampus were observed by dihydroethidium staining. The distribution and expression of oxidative stress related protein, neuron-restrictive silencer factor, in hippocampal neurons were detected by immunofluorescence histochemistry and western blot assays. After 2 months of drug administration, (1) in the model group, the average escape latency was longer than that of the sham group, and the proportion of straight and tend tactics was lower than that of the sham group, and the hippocampal neurons were irregularly arranged and the cytoplasm was hyperchromatic. (2) The levels of reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde in the hippocampus of the model group rats were increased, and the activity of superoxide dismutase was decreased. (3) Lycopene (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg) intervention improved the above changes, and the lycopene 100 mg/kg group showed the most significant improvement effect. (4) Neuron-restrictive silencer factor expression in the hippocampus was lower in the sham group and the lycopene 100 mg/kg group than in the model group. (5) The above data indicate that lycopene 100 mg/kg could protect against the learning-memory ability impairment of vascular dementia rats. The protective mechanism was achieved by inhibiting oxidative stress in the hippocampus. The experiment was approved by the Animal Ethics Committee of Fujian Medical University, China (approval No. 2014-025) in June 2014.

Studies toward understanding the SAR around the sulfoximine moiety of the sap-feeding insecticide sulfoxaflor.

BACKGROUND: The discovery of sulfoxaflor (Isoclast™ active) stemmed from a novel scaffold-based approach toward identifying bioactive molecules. It exhibits broad-spectrum control of many sap-feeding insect pests, including aphids, whiteflies, hoppers and Lygus. Systematic modifications of the substituents flanking each side of the sulfoximine moiety were carried out to determine whether these changes would improve potency. RESULTS: Structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies showed that, with respect to the methylene linker, both mono- and disubstitution with alkyl groups of varying sizes as well as cyclic analogs exhibited excellent control of cotton aphids. However, against green peach aphids a decrease in activity was observed with substituents larger than ethyl as well as larger cycloalkyl groups. At the terminal tail there appeared to be a narrow steric tolerance as well, with linear groups or small rings more active against green peach aphids than bulkier groups. CONCLUSION: A novel series of compounds exploring the substituents flanking the sulfoximine moiety of sulfoxaflor were prepared and tested for bioactivity against cotton aphids and green peach aphids. SAR studies indicated that a decrease in green peach aphid potency was observed at the methylene linker as well as at the terminal tail with bulkier substituents. A quantitative structure-activity relationship analysis of the compounds revealed significant correlation of activity with two molecular descriptors, vol (volume of a molecule) and GCUT_SMR_3 (molar refractivity). This predictive model helps to explain the observed activity with the various substituents. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Dual RBFNNs-Based Model-Free Adaptive Control With Aspen HYSYS Simulation.

In this brief, we propose a new data-driven model-free adaptive control (MFAC) method with dual radial basis function neural networks (RBFNNs) for a class of discrete-time nonlinear systems. The main novelty lies in that it provides a systematic design method for controller structure by the direct usage of I/O data, rather than using the first-principle model or offline identified plant model. The controller structure is determined by equivalent-dynamic-linearization representation of the ideal nonlinear controller, and the controller parameters are tuned by the pseudogradient information extracted from the I/O data of the plant, which can deal with the unknown nonlinear system. The stability of the closed-loop control system and the stability of the training process for RBFNNs are guaranteed by rigorous theoretical analysis. Meanwhile, the effectiveness and the applicability of the proposed method are further demonstrated by the numerical example and Aspen HYSYS simulation of distillation column in crude styrene produce process.

Production and in vitro evaluation of a lamotrigine extended release tablet based on a controlled-porosity osmotic pump system.

Osmotic pump delivery systems have made significant advances in the past decades for controlled drug release over a long period of time. Usually, osmotic pump products require sophisticated and expensive laser drill technology resulting in increase in production cost and decrease in production efficiency. In this study, a lamotrigine extended release tablet based on a controlled-porosity osmotic pump (CPOP) system was developed to circumvent laser drill technology in reference, Lamictal XR®. The tablet core was coated by a polymer blend of Acryl-EZE® and HPMC E5. Lactose and HPMC were added in the CPOP core to adjust the release profile. An orthogonal design was employed to optimize the formulation from factors, i.e., core composition, coating materials ratio and coating levels. Comparisons of in vitro drug release profiles were also conducted. The optimized formulation showed a satisfactory zero-order release profile (R2 = 0.9912). Similarity factor, f2 of 77 was obtained in larger scale. The lamotrigine extended release tablets based on the CPOP system showed ideal reproducibility and stability. The developed system has the ability to be an alternative production method for Lamictal XR®, which could circumvent the laser drill technology and promote the osmotic pump generalization.

SAR studies directed toward the pyridine moiety of the sap-feeding insecticide sulfoxaflor (Isoclast™ active).

Sap-feeding insect pests constitute a major insect pest complex that includes a range of aphids, whiteflies, planthoppers and other insect species. Sulfoxaflor (Isoclast™ active), a new sulfoximine class insecticide, targets sap-feeding insect pests including those resistant to many other classes of insecticides. A structure activity relationship (SAR) investigation of the sulfoximine insecticides revealed the importance of a 3-pyridyl ring and a methyl substituent on the methylene bridge linking the pyridine and the sulfoximine moiety to achieving strong Myzus persicae activity. A more in depth QSAR investigation of pyridine ring substituents revealed a strong correlation with the calculated logoctanol/water partition coefficient (SlogP). Model development resulted in a highly predictive model for a set of 18 sulfoximines including sulfoxaflor. The model is consistent with and helps explain the highly optimized pyridine substitution pattern for sulfoxaflor.

Data-driven MFAC for a class of discrete-time nonlinear systems with RBFNN.

A novel model-free adaptive control method is proposed for a class of discrete-time single input single output (SISO) nonlinear systems, where the equivalent dynamic linearization technique is used on the ideal nonlinear controller. With radial basis function neural network, the controller parameters are tuned on-line directly using the measured input and output data of the plant, when the plant model is unavailable. The stability of the proposed method is guaranteed by rigorous theoretical analysis, and the effectiveness and applicability are verified by numerical simulation and further demonstrated by the experiment on three tanks water level control process.

Novel nicotinic action of the sulfoximine insecticide sulfoxaflor.

The novel sulfoximine insecticide sulfoxaflor is as potent or more effective than the neonicotinoids for toxicity to green peach aphids (GPA, Myzus persicae). The action of sulfoxaflor was characterized at insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) using electrophysiological and radioligand binding techniques. When tested for agonist properties on Drosophila melanogaster Dα2 nAChR subunit co-expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes with the chicken ß2 subunit, sulfoxaflor elicited very high amplitude (efficacy) currents. Sulfoximine analogs of sulfoxaflor were also agonists on Dα2/ß2 nAChRs, but none produced maximal currents equivalent to sulfoxaflor nor were any as toxic to GPAs. Additionally, except for clothianidin, none of the neonicotinoids produced maximal currents as large as those produced by sulfoxaflor. These data suggest that the potent insecticidal activity of sulfoxaflor may be due to its very high efficacy at nAChRs. In contrast, sulfoxaflor displaced [(3)H]imidacloprid (IMI) from GPA nAChR membrane preparations with weak affinity compared to most of the neonicotinoids examined. The nature of the interaction of sulfoxaflor with nAChRs apparently differs from that of IMI and other neonicotinoids, and when coupled with other known characteristics (novel chemical structure, lack of cross-resistance, and metabolic stability), indicate that sulfoxaflor represents a significant new insecticide option for the control of sap-feeding insects.

Biological characterization of sulfoxaflor, a novel insecticide.

BACKGROUND: The commercialization of new insecticides is important for ensuring that multiple effective product choices are available. In particular, new insecticides that exhibit high potency and lack insecticidal cross-resistance are particularly useful in insecticide resistance management (IRM) programs. Sulfoxaflor possesses these characteristics and is the first compound under development from the novel sulfoxamine class of insecticides. RESULTS: In the laboratory, sulfoxaflor demonstrated high levels of insecticidal potency against a broad range of sap-feeding insect species. The potency of sulfoxaflor was comparable with that of commercial products, including neonicotinoids, for the control of a wide range of aphids, whiteflies (Homoptera) and true bugs (Heteroptera). Sulfoxaflor performed equally well in the laboratory against both insecticide-susceptible and insecticide-resistant populations of sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci Gennadius, and brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens (Stål), including populations resistant to the neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid. These laboratory efficacy trends were confirmed in field trials from multiple geographies and crops, and in populations of insects with histories of repeated exposure to insecticides. In particular, a sulfoxaflor use rate of 25 g ha(-1) against cotton aphid (Aphis gossypii Glover) outperformed acetamiprid (25 g ha(-1) ) and dicrotophos (560 g ha(-1) ). Sulfoxaflor (50 g ha(-1) ) provided a control of sweetpotato whitefly equivalent to that of acetamiprid (75 g ha(-1) ) and imidacloprid (50 g ha(-1) ) and better than that of thiamethoxam (50 g ha(-1) ). CONCLUSION: The novel chemistry of sulfoxaflor, its unique biological spectrum of activity and its lack of cross-resistance highlight the potential of sulfoxaflor as an important new tool for the control of sap-feeding insect pests.

Discovery and characterization of sulfoxaflor, a novel insecticide targeting sap-feeding pests.

The discovery of sulfoxaflor [N-[methyloxido[1-[6-(trifluoromethyl)-3-pyridinyl]ethyl]-λ(4)-sulfanylidene] cyanamide] resulted from an investigation of the sulfoximine functional group as a novel bioactive scaffold for insecticidal activity and a subsequent extensive structure-activity relationship study. Sulfoxaflor, the first product from this new class (the sulfoximines) of insect control agents, exhibits broad-spectrum efficacy against many sap-feeding insect pests, including aphids, whiteflies, hoppers, and Lygus, with levels of activity that are comparable to those of other classes of insecticides targeting sap-feeding insects, including the neonicotinoids. However, no cross-resistance has been observed between sulfoxaflor and neonicotinoids such as imidacloprid, apparently the result of differences in susceptibility to oxidative metabolism. Available data are consistent with sulfoxaflor acting via the insect nicotinic receptor in a complex manner. These observations reflect the unique structure of the sulfoximines compared with neonicotinoids.