Full-length transcriptome reveals the pivotal role of ABA and ethylene in the cold stress response of Tetrastigma hemsleyanum.

Tetrastigma hemsleyanum is a valuable herb widely used in Chinese traditional and modern medicine. Winter cold severely limits the artificial cultivation of this plant, but the physiological and molecular mechanisms upon exposure to cold stress in T. hemsleyanum are unclear. T. hemsleyanum plants with different geographical origins exhibit large differences in response to cold stress. In this research study, using T. hemsleyanum ecotypes that exhibit frost tolerance (FR) and frost sensitivity (FS), we analyzed the response of cottage seedlings to a simulated frost treatment; plant hormones were induced with both short (2 h) and long (9 h) frost treatments, which were used to construct the full-length transcriptome and obtained 76,750 transcripts with all transcripts mapped to 28,805 genes, and 27,215 genes, respectively, annotated to databases. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis showed enrichment in plant hormone signaling pathways. Further analysis shows that differently expressed genes (DEGs) concentrated on calcium signaling, ABA biosynthesis and signal transduction, and ethylene in response to cold stress. We also found that endogenous ABA and ethylene content were increased after cold treatment, and exogenous ABA and ethylene significantly improved cold tolerance in both ecotypes. Our results elucidated the pivotal role of ABA and ethylene in response to cold stress in T. hemsleyanum and identified key genes.

Expression and Significance of Galectin-1 and Galectin-3 in the Serum and Placental Tissues of Patients with Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy.

Background: Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP) is a pregnancy-specific liver disease, usually occurring in the third trimester of pregnancy. Its typical clinical manifestations are itching and elevated serum total bile acid levels, which are more harmful to the fetus, and can lead to a variety of adverse pregnancy outcomes. This paper discusses the expressions of galectin -1 and 3 in the serum and placenta of ICP patients and their relationship with the effect of the incidence of ICP. Methods: Galectin-1 and 3 in serum and placenta were detected in 22 pregnant women with ICP and 20 healthy pregnant women admitted to the obstetrics Department of Northern Jiangsu People's Hospital from May 2021 to February 2022. Results: Serum levels of galectin-1 and galectin-3 in ICP pregnant women were significantly higher than those in controls, with significant differences (P<0.05). Placental galectin-1 and 3 were higher in normal pregnant women, and there were statistical differences between groups (P<0.05). Conclusion: In ICP, the maternal serum and placental galectin-1 and 3 levels were significantly increased, both of which may play an important role in the development of ICP, which may be the initiation factor of ICP pathophysiology, a marker of ICP prediction, and a target of ICP prevention strategies.

Lattice Strain Mediated Reversible Reconstruction in CoMoO4·0.69H2O for Intermittent Oxygen Evolution.

A heterogeneous interface usually plays a versatile role in modulating catalysis and the durability of hybrid electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), and its intrinsic mechanism is still in dispute due to an uncertain correlation of initial, intermediate and active phases. In this article, the CoMoO4·0.69H2O/Co3O4 heterogeneous interface is configured to understand the evolution kinetics of these correlated phases. Due to the chemically and electrochemically "inert" character of Co3O4 support, lattice strain with 3.31% tuning magnitude in primary CoMoO4·0.69H2O can be inherited after spontaneous dissolution of molybdenum cations in electrolyte, dominating catalytic activity of the reconstructed CoOOH. In situ Raman spectroscopy demonstrates reversible conversion between active CoOOH and amorphous cobalt oxide during OER when positive and negative potentials are sequentially supplied onto hybrid catalysts with favorable strain. Therefore, superior durability with negligible decay after 10 cycles is experimentally identified for intermittent oxygen evolution. Theoretical calculations indicate that appropriate stress within the electrocatalyst could reduce the reaction energy barrier and enhance the OER performance by optimizing the adsorption of intermediates.

Identification of twist-angle-dependent excitons in WS2/WSe2 heterobilayers.

Stacking atomically thin films enables artificial construction of van der Waals heterostructures with exotic functionalities such as superconductivity, the quantum Hall effect, and engineered light-matter interactions. In particular, heterobilayers composed of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides have attracted significant interest due to their controllable interlayer coupling and trapped valley excitons in moiré superlattices. However, the identification of twist-angle-modulated optical transitions in heterobilayers is sometimes controversial since both momentum-direct (K-K) and -indirect excitons reside on the low energy side of the bright exciton in the monolayer constituents. Here, we attribute the optical transition at ∼1.35 eV in the WS2/WSe2 heterobilayer to an indirect Γ-K transition based on a systematic analysis and comparison of experimental photoluminescence spectra with theoretical calculations. The exciton wavefunction obtained by the state-of-the-art GW-Bethe-Salpeter equation approach indicates that both the electron and hole of the excitons are contributed by the WS2 layer. Polarization-resolved k-space imaging further confirms that the transition dipole moment of this optical transition is dominantly in-plane and is independent of the twist angle. The calculated absorption spectrum predicts that the so-called interlayer exciton peak coming from the K-K transition is located at 1.06 eV, but with a much weaker amplitude. Our work provides new insight into the steady-state and dynamic properties of twist-angle-dependent excitons in van der Waals heterostructures.

Comparative Analysis of Proanthocyanidin Metabolism and Genes Regulatory Network in Fresh Leaves of Two Different Ecotypes of Tetrastigma hemsleyanum.

Tetrastigma hemsleyanum Diels et Gilg is a rare and wild medicinal resource. Metabolites, especially secondary metabolites, have an important influence on T. hemsleyanum adaptability and its medicinal quality. The metabolite proanthocyanidin (PA) is a polyphenol compound widely distributed in land plants, which can be used as antioxidants and anticancer agents. Here, we discovered that three types of PA accumulated in large amounts in purple leaves (PL), but not in green leaves (RG), based on widely non-targeted metabolomics. In addition, we further found that catechins and their derivatives, which are the structural units of PA, are also enriched in PL. Afterwards, we screened and obtained five key genes, DNR1/2, ANS, ANR and LAR closely related to PA biosynthesis through transcriptome analysis and found they were all highly expressed in PL compared to RG. Therefore, observed the regulatory relationship between the main compounds and genes network, and the PA metabolism regulatory pathway was complicated, which may be different to other species.

Transcriptome and Metabolome Integrated Analysis of Two Ecotypes of Tetrastigma hemsleyanum Reveals Candidate Genes Involved in Chlorogenic Acid Accumulation.

T. hemsleyanum plants with different geographical origins contain enormous genetic variability, which causes different composition and content of flavonoids. In this research, integrated analysis of transcriptome and metabolome were performed in two ecotypes of T. hemsleyanum. There were 5428 different expressed transcripts and 236 differentially accumulated metabolites, phenylpropane and flavonoid biosynthesis were most predominantly enriched. A regulatory network of 9 transcripts and 11 compounds up-regulated in RG was formed, and chlorogenic acid was a core component.

Conformal Shell Amorphization of Nanoporous Ag-Bi for Efficient Formate Generation.

Simultaneous attainments of high conductivity and superior catalysis are major challenges for amorphous electrocatalysts in carbon dioxide electroreduction at high overpotential. In this study, one protocol is first demonstrated to drive the shell amorphization of nanoporous Ag-Bi (a-NPSB) catalyst with the spatially interconnected ligament during the initial stage of CO2ER. This newborn a-NPSB bestows the outstanding catalysis, evidenced by a Faradaic efficiency of 88.4% for formate production at -1.15 V vs RHE, specific current density of 21.2 mA cm-2, and mass specific current density of 321 mA mg-1. The unique catalysis is considered as the collective contribution of the conductive ligament internally and amorphous Bi2O3 shell with about 3.2 nm thickness externally. Simultaneous obtaining of the conductivity of inner metals and catalytic activity of the amorphous shell will pave a new avenue for designing a robust electrode during electrochemical reaction.

Integrated analysis of the transcriptome and metabolome of purple and green leaves of Tetrastigma hemsleyanum reveals gene expression patterns involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis.

To gain better insight into the regulatory networks of anthocyanin biosynthesis, an integrated analysis of the metabolome and transcriptome in purple and green leaves of Tetrastigma hemsleyanum was conducted. Transcript and metabolite profiles were archived by RNA-sequencing data analysis and LC-ESI-MS/MS, respectively. There were 209 metabolites and 4211 transcripts that were differentially expressed between purple and green leaves. Correlation tests of anthocyanin contents and transcriptional changes showed 141 significant correlations (Pearson correlation coefficient >0.8) between 16 compounds and 14 transcripts involved in the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway. Some novel genes and metabolites were discovered as potential candidate targets for the improvement of anthocyanin content and superior cultivars.

Preparation and Mechanical Behavior of Ultra-High Strength Low-Carbon Steel.

The low-carbon steel (~0.12 wt%) with complete martensite structure, obtained by quenching, was cold rolled to get the high-strength steel sheets. Then, the mechanical properties of the sheets were measured at different angles to the rolling direction, and the microstructural evolution of low-carbon martensite with cold rolling reduction was observed. The results show that the hardness and the strength gradually increase with increasing rolling reduction, while the elongation and impact toughness obviously decrease. The strength of the sheets with the same rolling reduction are different at the angles of 0°, 45°, and 90° to the rolling direction. The tensile strength (elongation) along the rolling direction is higher than that in the other two directions, but the differences between them are not obvious. When the aging was performed at a low temperature, the strength of the initial martensite and deformed martensite increased with increasing aging time during the early stages of aging, followed by a gradual decrease with further aging. However, the elongation increases with increasing aging time. The change of hardness is consistent with that of strength for the cold-rolled martensite, while the hardness of the initial martensite decreases gradually with increasing aging time.

Genetic alterations and expression of PTEN and its relationship with cancer stem cell markers to investigate pathogenesis and to evaluate prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma.

AIMS: To investigate molecular alteration and expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN) gene in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and to evaluate the correlation between PTEN and cancer stem cell (CSC) markers and the prognostic value of these markers. METHODS: We evaluated changes of PTEN and CSC markers (CD133, epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) and CK19) in 183 resection specimens by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and detected PTEN and phosphoinositide-3-kinase catalytic-alpha (PIK3CA) gene by fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) in some specimens. RESULTS: PTEN and CD133, EpCAM and CK19 in 183 resection specimens were studied by IHC, and PTEN and PIK3CA genes were detected by FISH. PTEN expression was reduced in 92 HCC tissues (50.3%). There were 16 HCCs with PTEN deletion (51.6%). Comparison between PTEN IHC and FISH showed that the analysis was highly concordant (54/59, 91.5%). There were 19 HCCs with PIK3CA amplification. Deletion of PTEN was positively correlated with amplification of PIK3CA. Positive expression of CD133, EpCAM and CK19 was correlated with steatosis, moderate to poor differentiation, and so on. Reduction of PTEN expression was negatively correlated with positive expression of CD133, EpCAM and CK19. Reduced expression of PTEN (p=0.028) was an independent predictor for HCC recurrence and overall survival in HCC. PTEN-/CD133+ group had shorter OS and RFS time. CONCLUSIONS: PTEN plays a key role in hepatocarcinogenesis and reduction of PTEN expression is related to increased expression of CD133, EpCAM and CK19, which is a useful tool to evaluate HCC prognosis and recurrence.

An ultranarrow SPR linewidth in the UV region for plasmonic sensing.

Conventional surface plasmon resonance (SPR) modes based on gold and silver nanostructures only operate in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) regions. Nowadays, with the rapid development of strong coupling between molecules and plasmonic nanostructures and surface enhanced spectroscopy, it is highly desired to modulate the SPR modes with a narrow linewidth toward the ultraviolet (UV) wavelength region through a low cost and reproducible fabrication method. Herein, laser interference lithography is utilized to manufacture stable Al plasmonic arrays with well-controlled and tunable geometries. Importantly, an ultranarrow linewidth of SPR modes as narrow as 14 nm has been successfully obtained in the near UV region. The fabricated Al plasmonic arrays show a high sensitivity toward 485 nm RIU-1 when it is used as a refractive index sensor. The results reported here make a valuable extension of plasmonic resonant modes spanning visible and NIR into the UV region, and it may provide a robust way to achieve alternative plasmonic materials for plasmon-enhanced molecular sensing, plasmonic nanolasers, non-linear optics, strong coupling and surface enhanced spectroscopy in the UV regions.

Stromal morphological changes and immunophenotypic features of precancerous lesions and hepatocellular carcinoma.

AIMS: To evaluate stromal histopathological features and immunostaining expression for differential diagnosis of low- and high-grade dysplastic nodules (HGDN) to early and progressed hepatocellular carcinomas (eHCC, pHCC). MATERIALS: We evaluated sinusoid capillarisation (SC), solitary artery (SA), ductular reaction (DR), stromal invasion and expression of six biomarkers (GPC3, HSP70, GS, CD34, CK19, EpCAM) in a series of 97 cases. RESULTS: Stromal morphological changes, including SC, DR and SA, exhibited significant differences in differential diagnosis. In one indicator, SC had the best sensitivity (90.00%) and accuracy (85.42%), and SA had the best specificity at 88.89 %. In combinations, SC +and SA +were favourable and optimal. The immunoreactivity of GPC3, HSP70 and GS increased significantly in line with the stepwise progression of hepatocarcinogenesis. CONCLUSIONS: Stromal histopathology features are useful for diagnosing HGDN, eHCC and small HCC. The immunostaining panel of GPC3, HSP70 and GS can also be supplementary.

Spatially-Controllable Hot Spots for Plasmon-Enhanced Second-Harmonic Generation in AgNP-ZnO Nanocavity Arrays.

Plasmon-enhanced second-harmonic generation (PESHG) based on hybrid metal-dielectric nanostructures have extraordinary importance for developing efficient nanoscale nonlinear sources, which pave the way for new applications in photonic circuitry, quantum optics, and biosensors. However, the relatively high loss of excitation energies and the low spatial overlapping between the locally enhanced electromagnetic field and nonlinear materials still limit the promotion of nonlinear conversion performances in such hybrid systems. Here, we design and fabricate an array of silver nanoparticle-ZnO (AgNP-ZnO) nanocavities to serve as an efficient PESHG platform. The geometry of AgNP-ZnO nanocavity arrays provides a way to flexibly modulate hot spots in three-dimensional space, and to achieve a good mutual overlap of hot spots and ZnO material layers for realizing efficient SH photon generation originating from ZnO nanocavities. Compared to bare ZnO nanocavity arrays, the resulting hybrid AgNP-ZnO design of nanocavities reaches the maximum PESHG enhancement by a factor of approximately 31. Validated by simulations, we can further interpret the relative contribution of fundamental and harmonic modes to Ag-NP dependent PESHG performances, and reveal that the enhancement stems from the co-cooperation effect of plasmon-resonant enhancements both for fundamental and harmonic frequencies. Our findings offer a previously unreported method for designing efficient PESHG systems and pave a way for further understanding of a surface plasmon-coupled second-order emission mechanism for the enhancement of hybrid systems.

Clinicopathological features and differential diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in extrahepatic metastases.

Extrahepatic metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) may cause a diagnostic problem. All 195 cases of histologic and immunostained sections were reviewed retrospectively in one center. The expression of arginase-1 (Arg-1), hepatocyte paraffin-1 (HepPar-1), glypican-3 (GPC-3), and α-Fetoprotein (AFP) was evaluated. Eighty cases of metastatic tumors of the liver were also collected to verify their effectiveness. Totally 151 cases had previous history of HCC, in whom 49 had history of liver transplantation. Forty-four cases were diagnosed as metastatic HCC at initial presentation. The most common extrahepatic metastatic sites were bone (57%), followed by lung, lymph node, etc. Around 19 cases were positive for 1 marker, 22 were positive for 2 markers, 95 were positive for 3 markers, and 59 were positive for 4 markers. With the number of antibody increased in the panel, the negative cases decreased. The sensitivity of ARG, GPC-3, HepPar-1, and AFP was 82.6%, 89.2%, 83.6% and 53.8%, and the specificity was 98.3%, 94.8%, 96.2% and 100%, respectively. These data suggest that the panel of ARG-1, GPC-3, HepPar-1 and AFP has a high sensitivity and specificity to differentiate HCC from non-HCC. This study indicated that HCC should be considered when diagnosing metastasis of unclear origin. It is recommended to use the panel of ARG-1, GPC-3, HepPar-1 and AFP to differentiate HCC from non-HCC in extrahepatic metastasis, because of their sensitivity and specificity, especially in poorly differentiated lesions.

Diagnostic value of serum dihydrodiol dehydrogenase 2 levels in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer.

OBJECTIVES: Dihydrodiol dehydrogenase 2 (DDH2) plays an important role in pathogenesis of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study aimed to evaluate the value of serum DDH2 levels in NSCLC patients. METHODS: Serum samples were obtained from 863 NSCLC patients and 439 healthy controls. The samples were randomly divided into a training set and a test set. Serum DDH2 levels were assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS: The levels of DDH2 in NSCLC patients were significantly higher than those in healthy controls ( P < 0.001). The diagnostic use of DDH2 in lung adenocarcinoma was significantly greater than that of carcinoembryonic antigen, cytokeratin 19 fragment (CYFRA21-1), and carbohydrate antigen 125 ( P < 0.001). Combining DDH2 with carcinoembryonic antigen, CYFRA21-1, and carbohydrate antigen 125 was more effective for lung adenocarcinoma diagnosis than DDH2 alone. In addition, the levels of DDH2 could contribute to the diagnosis of lung squamous cell carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: The measurement of serum DDH2 is a valuable diagnostic marker for NSCLC patients.

Nanoporous Au-Ag shell with fast kinetics: integrating chemical and plasmonic catalysis.

Nanoporous noble metals and alloys are widely utilized as efficient catalysts, because they have high surface-to-volume ratios for sufficient active sites and induce molecule polarization through plasmon excitation as well. Herein, we demonstrate one approach to fabricate nanoporous Au-Ag shell. Such material represents the dual functions serving as efficient catalysts and high-performance surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrate. In situ spectrum acquisition can track the conversion of p-nitrothiophenol to 4, 4'-dimercapto-azobenzene at ambient temperature. In particular, as a result of chemical catalysis of Ag elements and strong plasmon-molecule coupling, catalytic kinetics of nanoporous Au-Ag shell is 79.2-123.8 times faster than Au nanoparticles (NPs), and 2.2-3.3 times faster than Ag NPs. This investigation offers a route to design superior catalysts to integrate chemical and plasmonic catalysis.

Prognostic significance of serum chemerin levels in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Chemerin plays an important role in adipogenesis and chemotaxis of the innate immune system. The aim of this study was to explore the significance and prognostic value of serum chemerin levels in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Serum specimens from 189 NSCLC patients and 120 healthy controls were collected. The levels of serum chemerin were measured by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The serum chemerin levels were significantly elevated in NSCLC patients compared with healthy controls (P < 0.001). Higher serum chemerin levels were associated with advanced TNM stage, lymph node metastasis, and distant metastasis. Area under receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) for serum chemerin was 0.809 (95% CI: 0.722-0.896) at a sensitivity of 0.624 and of specificity 0.675. The cut-off value of chemerin was 1500 pg/ml for discriminating NSCLC from healthy controls. Kaplan-Meier log rank analysis revealed that the higher serum chemerin patients had a shorter overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) compared with lower chemerin patients (P = 0.004, P = 0.001, respectively). Further univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that serum chemerin was an independent risk factor of prognosis of NSCLC patients. In conclusion, measurement of chemerin might be a useful diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for NSCLC patients.

Diagnostic and prognostic value of serum periostin in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

The periostin protein is expressed in a variety of human malignancies. The aim of this study was to explore the diagnostic and prognostic value of serum periostin levels in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We measured serum periostin levels by ELISA in 296 NSCLC patients, 120 benign lung diseases (BLD) patients and 160 healthy controls. The levels of serum periostin in NSCLC patients were significantly elevated compared with those in healthy controls (P < 0.001) and BLD patients (P < 0.001). Using a cutoff value of 30.87 ng/ml, the sensitivity and specificity of periostin in differentiating between NSCLC patients and BLD patients, and between NSCLC patients and healthy controls was, 48.6 and 91.7%, and 51.4 and 97.5%, respectively. Kaplan-Meier log rank analysis revealed that the higher serum periostin levels group had a poorer progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) compared with lower periostin group (P = 0.024, P = 0.015, respectively). Further univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that serum periostin was an independent risk factor of prognosis of NSCLC patients. In conclusion, our study suggests that serum periostin could be considered as a diagnostic and prognostic marker for NSCLC patients.

Topography-specific isotropic tunneling in nanoparticle monolayer with sub-nm scale crevices.

Material used in flexible devices may experience anisotropic strain with identical magnitude, outputting coherent signals that tend to have a serious impact on device reliability. In this work, the surface topography of the nanoparticles (NPs) is proposed to be a parameter to control the performance of strain gauge based on tunneling behavior. In contrast to anisotropic tunneling in a monolayer of spherical NPs, electron tunneling in a monolayer of urchin-like NPs actually exhibits a nearly isotropic response to strain with different loading orientations. Isotropic tunneling of the urchin-like NPs is caused by the interlocked pikes of these urchin-like NPs in a random manner during external mechanical stimulus. Topography-dependent isotropic tunneling in two dimensions reported here opens a new opportunity to create highly reliable electronics with superior performance.

How To Light Special Hot Spots in Multiparticle-Film Configurations.

The precise control over the locations of hot spots in a nanostructured ensemble is of great importance in plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy, chemical sensing, and super-resolution optical imaging. However, for multiparticle configurations over metal films that involve localized and propagating surface plasmon modes, the locations of hot spots are difficult to predict due to complex plasmon competition and synergistic effects. In this work, theoretical simulations based on multiparticle-film configurations predict that the locations of hot spots can be efficiently controlled in the particle-particle gaps, the particle-film junctions, or in both, by suppressing or promoting specific plasmonic coupling effects in specific wavelength ranges. These findings offer an avenue to obtain strong Raman signals from molecules situated on single crystal surfaces and simultaneously avoid signal interference from particle-particle gaps.