De Novo Design of a Highly Stable Ratiometric Probe for Long-Term Continuous Imaging of Endogenous HClO Burst.

Long-term continuous imaging of endogenous HClO burst is of great importance for the elucidation of various physiological or pathological processes. However, most of the currently reported HClO probes have failed to achieve this goal due to their insufficient photobleaching resistance under a laser source. Herein, a highly stable ratiometric probe, HFTC-HClO 1, which is capable of continuously monitoring endogenous HClO burst over a long period of time, has been judiciously developed. Briefly, the de novo development of HFTC-HClO 1 mainly involved three main steps: (1) novel coumarins (HFTC 1-5) were designed and synthesized; (2) the most stable scaffold, HFTC 3, was selected through dye screening and cell imaging validation; and (3) based on HFTC 3, three candidate HClO probes were constructed, and HFTC-HClO 1 was finally selected due to its superior sensing properties toward HClO. Furthermore, HFTC-HClO 1 can quantitatively measure HClO levels in various real samples with excellent recovery (>90.4%), and the use of HFTC-HClO 1-coated test strips for qualitative analysis of HClO in real samples was also achieved. In addition, the application of HFTC-HClO 1 for long-term continuous monitoring of intracellular HClO burst was successfully demonstrated. Significantly, HFTC-HClO 1 was able to visualize HClO generated in the rheumatoid arthritis mouse model.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Allium fistulosum L. (Amaryllidaceae).

Allium fistulosum L. (Linnaeus, Carolus, 1753) is an aromatic vegetable with health benefits and medicinal value. In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome of A. fistulosum was determined. Circular mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was 382,053 bp in size, encoded 44 genes, and contained 26 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 14 tRNAs, and four rRNAs. Phylogenetic analysis of amino acid sequences of the 26 PCGs revealed that the closest relationship was between A. fistulosum and Allium cepa. The high-quality mitochondrial genomic sequences of A. fistulosum presented in this study will serve as a useful resource for a range of genetic, functional, evolutionary, and comparative genomic studies on this species of the Amaryllidaceae family.

Genome-Wide Analysis of the BAHD Family in Welsh Onion and CER2-LIKEs Involved in Wax Metabolism.

BAHD acyltransferases (BAHDs), especially those present in plant epidermal wax metabolism, are crucial for environmental adaptation. Epidermal waxes primarily comprise very-long-chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) and their derivatives, serving as significant components of aboveground plant organs. These waxes play an essential role in resisting biotic and abiotic stresses. In this study, we identified the BAHD family in Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum). Our analysis revealed the presence of AfBAHDs in all chromosomes, with a distinct concentration in Chr3. Furthermore, the cis-acting elements of AfBAHDs were associated with abiotic/biotic stress, hormones, and light. The motif of Welsh onion BAHDs indicated the presence of a specific BAHDs motif. We also established the phylogenetic relationships of AfBAHDs, identifying three homologous genes of CER2. Subsequently, we characterized the expression of AfCER2-LIKEs in a Welsh onion mutant deficient in wax and found that AfCER2-LIKE1 plays a critical role in leaf wax metabolism, while all AfCER2-LIKEs respond to abiotic stress. Our findings provide new insights into the BAHD family and lay a foundation for future studies on the regulation of wax metabolism in Welsh onion.

Characterization and functional analyses of wheat TaPR1 genes in response to stripe rust fungal infection.

The pathogenesis-related protein-1 (PR1) gene is important for plants to respond to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Unlike those in model plants, PR1 genes in wheat have not been systematically studied. Herein, we identified 86 potential TaPR1 wheat genes using bioinformatics tools and RNA sequencing. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis indicated that the TaPR1 genes were involved in the salicylic acid signalling pathway, MAPK signalling pathway, and phenylalanine metabolism in response to Pst-CYR34 infection. Ten of the TaPR1 genes were structurally characterized and validated by RT‒PCR. One particular gene, TaPR1-7, was found to be associated with resistance to Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (Pst) in a biparental wheat population. Virus-induced gene silencing showed that TaPR1-7 is important for Pst resistance in wheat. This study provides the first comprehensive study on wheat PR1 genes, improving our overall understanding of these genes in plant defenses, particularly against stripe rust.

Characteristics of Visual Fixation in Chinese Children with Autism During Face-to-Face Conversations.

Few eye tracking studies have examined how people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) visually attend during live interpersonal interaction, and none with the Chinese population. This study used an eye tracker to record the gaze behavior in 20 Chinese children with ASD and 23 children with typical development (TD) when they were engaged in a structured conversation. Results demonstrated that children with ASD looked significantly less at the interlocutor's mouth and whole-face, and more at background. Additionally, gaze behavior was found to vary with the conversational topic. Given the great variability in eye tracking findings in existing literature, future explorations might consider investigating how fundamental factors (i.e., participant's characteristics, tasks, and context) influence the gaze behavior in people with ASD.

Use of Oculomotor Behavior to Classify Children with Autism and Typical Development: A Novel Implementation of the Machine Learning Approach.

This study segmented the time series of gaze behavior from nineteen children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 20 children with typical development in a face-to-face conversation. A machine learning approach showed that behavior segments produced by these two groups of participants could be classified with the highest accuracy of 74.15%. These results were further used to classify children using a threshold classifier. A maximum classification accuracy of 87.18% was achieved, under the condition that a participant was considered as 'ASD' if over 46% of the child's 7-s behavior segments were classified as ASD-like behaviors. The idea of combining the behavior segmentation technique and the threshold classifier could maximally preserve participants' data, and promote the automatic screening of ASD.

AfCHIL, a Type IV Chalcone Isomerase, Enhances the Biosynthesis of Naringenin in Metabolic Engineering.

Naringenin is an essential precursor for all flavonoids, and effectively promoting naringenin production is crucial in metabolic engineering. The interaction between plant metabolic enzymes ensures metabolic flux. The effect can effectively improve the natural product synthesis of engineering microbial systems. In this study, chalcone isomerase genes in Allium fistulosum have been identified. The expression of AfCHIL is closely related to the accumulation of anthocyanins, and the expression of AfCHIL and AfCHS was highly synchronized. Yeast two-hybrid and firefly luciferase complementation imaging assay further confirmed AfCHIL physically interacted with AfCHS/AfCHI. The bioconversion experiment confirmed that AfCHIL reduced the derailment produced by AfCHS and increased the yield of naringenin. In addition, a system of biosynthesis naringenin involved in AfCHS was constructed, and these results suggested that the potential function between CHS with CHIL advanced naringenin production effectively. In conclusion, this study illustrated the function of AfCHIs in Allium fistulosum and provided new insight into improving the synthesis efficiency of naringenin.

Identifying Autism with Head Movement Features by Implementing Machine Learning Algorithms.

Our study investigated the feasibility of using head movement features to identify individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Children with ASD and typical development (TD) were required to answer ten yes-no questions, and they were encouraged to nod/shake head while doing so. The head rotation range (RR) and the amount of rotation per minute (ARPM) in the pitch (head nodding direction), yaw (head shaking direction) and roll (lateral head inclination) directions were computed, and further fed into machine learning classifiers as the input features. The maximum classification accuracy of 92.11% was achieved with the decision tree classifier with two features (i.e., RR_Pitch and ARPM_Yaw). Our study suggests that head movement dynamics contain objective biomarkers that could identify ASD.

Random and Short-Term Excessive Eye Movement in Children with Autism During Face-to-Face Conversation.

This study investigated the oculomotor performance in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during a face-to-face conversation. A head mounted eye tracker recorded the eye movements in 20 children with ASD and 23 children with typical development (TD). Group comparisons were conducted on the randomness and the quantity of eye movement. The amount of time needed to reveal group difference was also examined. Results showed that the randomness of eye movement was significantly higher at all examined time durations, and the amount of eye movement was significantly greater within 3 s in the ASD group. These findings demonstrated an atypical pattern of oculomotor dynamics in children ASD, which might facilitate the objective identification of ASD during daily social interaction.

Ascorbic Acid-Induced Photosynthetic Adaptability of Processing Tomatoes to Salt Stress Probed by Fast OJIP Fluorescence Rise.

In this study, the protective role of exogenous ascorbic acid (AsA) on salt-induced inhibition of photosynthesis in the seedlings of processing tomatoes under salt stress has been investigated. Plants under salt stress (NaCl, 100 mmol/L) were foliar-sprayed with AsA (0.5 mmol/L), lycorine (LYC, 0.25 mmol/L, an inhibitor of key AsA synthesis enzyme l-galactono-γ-lactone dehydrogenase activity), or AsA plus LYC. The effects of AsA on fast OJIP fluorescence rise curve and JIP parameters were then examined. Our results demonstrated that applying exogenous AsA significantly changed the composition of O-J-I-P fluorescence transients in plants subjected to salt stress both with and without LYC. An increase in basal fluorescence (F o) and a decrease in maximum fluorescence (F m) were observed. Lower K- and L-bands and higher I-band were detected on the OJIP transient curves compared, respectively, with salt-stressed plants with and without LYC. AsA application also significantly increased the values of normalized total complementary area (Sm), relative variable fluorescence intensity at the I-step (VI), absorbed light energy (ABS/CSm), excitation energy (TRo/CSm), and reduction energy entering the electron transfer chain beyond QA (ETo/CSm) per reaction centre (RC) and electron transport flux per active RC (ETo/RC), while decreasing some others like the approximated initial slope of the fluorescence transient (Mo), relative variable fluorescence intensity at the K-step (VK), average absorption (ABS/RC), trapping (TRo/RC), heat dissipation (DIo/RC) per active RC, and heat dissipation per active RC (DIo/CSm) in the presence or absence of LYC. These results suggested that exogenous AsA counteracted salt-induced photoinhibition mainly by modulating the endogenous AsA level and redox state in the chloroplast to promote chlorophyll synthesis and alleviate the damage of oxidative stress to photosynthetic apparatus. AsA can also raise the efficiency of light utilization as well as excitation energy dissipation within the photosystem II (PSII) antennae, thus increasing the stability of PSII and promoting the movement of electrons among PS1 and PSII in tomato seedling leaves subjected to salt stress.

Transcriptome and metabolome analyses revealing the potential mechanism of seed germination in Polygonatum cyrtonema.

Polygonatum cyrtonema Hua (Huangjing, HJ) has medicinal and edible value in China. However, the seeds of this plant are naturally difficult to germinate. Therefore, to elucidate the mechanism underlying the germination of this plant in order to meet the market demand, the metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses were performed in this study. We observed that plant hormones and α-amylase activity were differentially regulated when comparing germinated and un-germinated seeds. In addition, the metabolites related to phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthesis were significantly up-accumulated in germinated seeds. Hydroxycinnamoyl derivatives and organic acids were observed to be significantly decreased during germination. The results of this study suggested that compared to un-germinated seeds, germinated seeds promote flavonoid synthesis and inhibit lignin synthesis which could be beneficial to the germination of HJ seeds. Furthermore, these results suggested that starch if hydrolyzed into glucose, which could provide the necessary energy for germination. Our results may help to establish a foundation for further research investigating the regulatory networks of seed germination and may facilitate the propagation of HJ seeds.

Mitral valve repair with artificial chordae replacement in children: a single-center experience.

OBJECTIVES: To summarize the experience of mitral valve (MV) repair with artificial chordae replacement in children, and analyze early and intermediate outcomes. METHODS: From January 2011 to May 2019, all patients (< 18 years) who received MV repair with artificial chordae replacement were retrospectively reviewed. Freedom from MV reoperation, MV dysfunction, moderate or severe MR were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier curve and log-rank test. RESULTS: A total of 30 patients were included in this study. According to our definition, 15 patients had simple lesions and 15 patients had complex lesions. During 36 months' follow-up (range 3-97 months), two patients received MV reoperation and seven patients developed MV dysfunction, including six patients with moderate or severe MR and one patient with mitral stenosis. Freedom from MV reoperation at 1, 5 and 8 years were 100%, 91.3% and 91.3%, respectively. And freedom from MV dysfunction at 1, 3 and 5 year were 96.0%, 77.1% and 61.8%, respectively. Five-year freedom from MV dysfunction showed significant differences between patients with simple lesions and patients with complex lesions (100% vs 32.7%, log-rank P = 0.008), and between patients aged less than 12 years and patients aged more than 12 year (33.5% vs 90.0%, log-rank P = 0.025). CONCLUSION: The early and intermediate outcomes of mitral valve repair with artificial chordae replacement were acceptable in children, and the outcomes were optimal in patients with simple lesions, and patients aged more than 12 years.

Molecular mapping of a novel lesion mimic gene (lm4) associated with enhanced resistance to stripe rust in bread wheat.

BACKGROUND: Lesion mimics (LMs) are disease-like symptoms that occur randomly on plant green leaves in the absence of pathogens. A previous study showed that LMs are related to enhanced resistance to a broad spectrum of diverse pathogen races and programmed cell death (PCD). Stripe rust is a globally epidemic fungal disease that can substantially reduce the quality and yield of crops. The development of resistant cultivars is an economical and environmentally friendly way to enhance the adaptability and yield stability of crops instead of the use of fungicide applications. RESULTS: In this study, a novel LM gene affording Pst resistance was identified and mapped with molecular markers developed for marker-assisted selection (MAS)-based wheat breeding. In this study, a novel LM gene named lm4, which is closely linked (8.06 cM) to SSR markers Xgwm210 and Xgwm455, was identified by using a Yanzhan 1/Neixiang 188 RIL population. The genetic distance of lm4 was then narrowed such that it was flanked by SSR markers with 0.51 cM and 0.77 cM intervals. Two SSR markers, lm4_01_cib and lm4_02_cib, were developed based on the content in the Chinese Spring genome database and wheat 660 K SNP results; these markers can be used to conduct MAS of LMs in wheat. The results also showed that lm4 significantly improved the resistance of stripe rust in wheat. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, lm4 is associated with stripe rust resistance, which may provide theoretical support for future crop disease-resistance breeding and for understanding the plant apoptosis mechanism.

Atypical Head Movement during Face-to-Face Interaction in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The present study implemented an objective head pose tracking technique-OpenFace 2.0 to quantify the three dimensional head movement. Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typical development (TD) were engaged in a structured conversation with an interlocutress while wearing an eye tracker. We computed the head movement stereotypy with multiscale entropy analysis. In addition, the head rotation range (RR) and the amount of rotation per minute (ARPM) were calculated to quantify the extent of head movement. Results demonstrated that the ASD group had significantly higher level of movement stereotypy, RR and ARPM in all the three directions of head movement. Further analyses revealed that the extent of head movement could be significantly explained by movement stereotypy, but not by the amount of visual fixation to the interlocutress. These results demonstrated the atypical head movement dynamics in children with ASD during live interaction. It is proposed that head movement might potentially provide novel objective biomarkers of ASD. LAY SUMMARY: Our study used an objective tool to quantify head movement in children with autism. Results showed that children with autism had more stereotyped and greater head movement. We suggest that head movement tracking technique be widely used in autism research.

The VvSUPERMAN-like Gene Is Differentially Expressed between Bicarpellate and Tricarpellate Florets of Vitis vinifera L. Cv. 'Xiangfei' and Its Heterologous Expression Reduces Carpel Number in Tomato.

Multicarpellate fruits are larger and produce more seeds than mono- or bicarpellate fruits, enhancing the reproductive capacity of the plant. To identify the phenotypic and molecular differences among florets of different carpel types, we studied carpel formation and fusion in the grapevine (Vitis vinifera) cultivar 'Xiangfei', which produces a high proportion of multicarpellate fruit. We also determined the function of VvSUPERMAN-like (VvSUP-like) and explored its relationship with VvWUS (VvWUSCHEL) and VvAG1 (VvAGAMOUS), which is related to the formation of carpel primordia. We showed that carpel formation and fusion were largely consistent between bicarpellate and tricarpellate ovaries, which both involve congenital fusion; rather, the differences between these ovary types arose from variation in carpel primordia number and location. Transgenic tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants expressing VvSUP-like produced significantly fewer carpels and other floral organs than the wild type. Moreover, transcriptome sequencing results indicate that VvSUP-like was more highly expressed in bicarpellate than in tricarpellate 'Xiangfei' florets. Luciferase reporter assays indicated that VvSUP-like inhibits the expression of VvAG1 and VvWUS by directly binding to their promoters, and VvWUS promotes VvAG1 expression by directly binding to its promoter. VvSUP-like inhibits the feedback signaling between VvWUS and VvAG1. Together, these results suggest that VvSUP-like negatively regulates the number of carpels that develop by inhibiting VvAG1 and VvWUS expression.

A biotechnology-based male-sterility system for hybrid seed production in tomato.

Incorporating male sterility into hybrid seed production reduces its cost and ensures high varietal purity. Despite these advantages, male-sterile lines have not been widely used to produce tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) hybrid seeds. We describe the development of a biotechnology-based breeding platform that utilized genic male sterility to produce hybrid seeds. In this platform, we generated a novel male-sterile tomato line by clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9)-mediated mutagenesis of a stamen-specific gene SlSTR1 and devised a transgenic maintainer by transforming male-sterile plants with a fertility-restoration gene linked to a seedling-colour gene. Offspring of crosses between a hemizygous maintainer and the homozygous male-sterile plant segregated into 50% non-transgenic male-sterile plants and 50% male-fertile maintainer plants, which could be easily distinguished by seedling colour. This system has great practical potential for hybrid seed breeding and production as it overcomes the problems intrinsic to other male-sterility systems and can be easily adapted for a range of tomato cultivars and diverse vegetable crops.

Ultrasound Identifies Broken Drainage Tube Postthyroidectomy.

Drains are routinely used after thyroidectomy and lateral neck dissection. In rare cases, the drainage tube is broken and retained in the neck. It is difficult to identify the sonographic features of the remnant tube due to variable reasons. However, through comparative and phantom observations, we noticed the double-tract sign of the tube wall and drainage holes as the key points to solving this problem. We report such a case of the ultrasound-guided localization of a broken drainage tube that was retained in the patient.