Publications by authors named "Dechun Zhang"

Article Synopsis
  • * This research utilized bisulfite sequencing and transcriptome analysis, revealing a significant reduction in CG methylation during leaf angle development, highlighting its importance in this process.
  • * The study found that inactive DNA methyltransferases and the application of a methylation inhibitor increased leaf angle, while decreased levels of 24-nucleotide siRNAs were associated with hypomethylated regions linked to leaf angle inclination.
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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the effectiveness and safety of minimally invasive proctectomy (MIP) compared to conventional open proctectomy (COP) in patients with locally advanced colon cancer, a condition historically considered less suitable for MIP.* -
  • Data from 21 articles involving 10,132 participants showed that MIP resulted in shorter operation times, less blood loss, quicker recovery of diet and bowel function, and fewer complications compared to COP, indicating better perioperative outcomes for MIP.* -
  • Despite the advantages in surgical outcomes, the study concluded that there is no significant difference in long-term cancer-related outcomes between the two approaches, highlighting the need for further research in multi-center settings.*
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Background: Minimally invasive total mesorectal excision (MiTME) and transanal total mesorectal excision (TaTME) are popular trends in mid and low rectal cancer. However, there is currently no systematic comparison between MiTME and TaTME of mid and low-rectal cancer. Therefore, we systematically study the perioperative and pathological outcomes of MiTME and TaTME in mid and low rectal cancer.

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Sorghum seed germination is accompanied by increases in nutrient contents and reduced levels of antinutrients and is therefore being applied to food processing. However, the characterization of acetylated histone H3 at lysine residue 9 (H3K9ac) in sorghum postgermination has lagged. In this study, we performed chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) to identify H3K9ac enrichment and obtained transcriptome in postgermination stages.

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Introduction: Social media infuses modern relationships with vitality and brings a series of information dissemination with subjective consciousness. Studies have indicated that official Chinese media channels are transforming their communication style from didactic hard persuasion to softened emotional management in the digital era. However, previous studies have rarely provided valid empirical evidence for the communicational transformation.

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We show that the knockout of a sugar transporter gene OsSWEET15 led to a significant drop in rice fertility with around half of the knockout mutant's spikelets bearing blighted or empty grains. The rest of the spikelets bore fertile grains with a slightly reduced weight. Notably, the ovaries in the blighted grains of the ossweet15 mutants expanded after flowering but terminated their development before the endosperm cellularization stage and subsequently aborted.

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Background: Self-expandable metallic stent (SEMS), an alternative to diverting stoma (DS), has been used as a "bridge to surgery" (BTS) to decompress acute obstruction of colorectal cancer (CRC) for decades. However, whether SEMS is a safe technique for obstruction of CRC without compromising the long-term survival of patients remains unidentified compared to those of DS. The aim of the present study was to elucidate the safety and survival outcomes of SEMS and DS.

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Background: Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) is one of the key factors for the DNA replication process and DNA damage repair. Most proteins interacting with PCNA have a common binding motif: PCNA interacting protein box (PIP box). However, some proteins with non-canonical PIP-box have also been reported to be the key factors that interacted with PCNA.

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Transposons significantly contribute to genome fractions in many plants. Although numerous transposon-related mutations have been identified, the evidence regarding transposon-derived genes regulating crop yield and other agronomic traits is very limited. In this study, we characterized a rice Harbinger transposon-derived gene called PANICLE NUMBER AND GRAIN SIZE (PANDA), which epigenetically coordinates panicle number and grain size.

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Ever since China has formally joined the WHO-backed global COVID-19 vaccine initiative known as COVAX, there is a presumed notion that China's vaccine diplomacy will make a significant contribution to the international public good and thus uplift Beijing's role as the rule-maker of international order. To scrutinize this, the paper asks if China succeeded in proliferating its weaponized vaccine policy to obtain maximum diplomatic gains and soft power projection to intensify its international image, geopolitical power, and domestic politico legitimacy. The authors argue that despite its vaccine diplomacy demonstrated the robust governance capacity and responsibility to be a great power.

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Sucrose-proton symporters play important roles in carbohydrate transport during plant growth and development. Their physiological functions have only been partly characterized and their regulation mechanism is largely unclear. Here we report that the knockout of a sucrose transporter gene, OsSUT1, by CRISPR-Cas9 mediated gene editing resulted in a slightly dwarf size and complete infertility of the gene's homozygous mutants.

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Background: GROWTH-REGULATING FACTORs (GRFs), a type of plant-specific transcription factors, play important roles in regulating plant growth and development. Although GRF gene family has been identified in various plant species, a genome-wide analysis of this family in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) has not been reported yet.

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Sugar transporters play important or even indispensable roles in sugar translocation among adjacent cells in the plant. They are mainly composed of sucrose-proton symporter SUT family members and SWEET family members. In rice, 5 and 21 members are identified in these transporter families, and some of their physiological functions have been characterized on the basis of gene knockout or knockdown strategies.

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The possible molecular mechanisms regulating sorghum callus regeneration were revealed by RNA-sequencing. Plant callus regeneration has been widely applied in agricultural improvement. Recently, callus regeneration has been successfully applied in the genetic transformation of sorghum by using immature sorghum embryos as explants.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study analyzed the antibody responses of 285 COVID-19 patients, finding that all tested positive for IgG within 19 days of symptom onset.
  • IgG and IgM antibodies either developed at the same time or one after the other, reaching stable levels within 6 days post-seroconversion.
  • Serological tests could aid in diagnosing COVID-19, especially in cases with negative RT-PCR results and in detecting asymptomatic infections.
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CHR721 functions as a chromatin remodeler and interacts with a known single-stranded binding protein, OsRPA1a, to regulate both male and female reproductive development in rice. Reproductive development and fertility are important for seed production in rice. Here, we identified a sterile rice mutant, chr721, that exhibited defects in both male and female reproductive development.

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Periplaneta americana is an important medicinal insect. A series of new drugs developed from it have remarkable clinical effects and are in great demand in the market. Because of unclear biology, the quality and yield of P.

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() homologs are crucial regulators of flower development in angiosperms. In this study, we isolated the homolog from , a basal angiosperm belonging to the Magnoliaceae. Molecular phylogenetic analysis suggested that was grouped into the PI/GLO lineages of B-class MADS-box gene with the distinctive PI motif.

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The major pathways and key events related to somatic embryo development in Catalpa bungei were illustrated by deep analysis of DEGs and quantification of hormone contents. Catalpa bungei C.A.

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Phylogenetic analysis uses nucleotide or amino acid sequences or other parameters, such as domain sequences and three-dimensional structure, to construct a tree to show the evolutionary relationship among different taxa (classification units) at the molecular level. Phylogenetic analysis can also be used to investigate domain relationships within an individual taxon, particularly for organisms that have undergone substantial change in morphology and physiology, but for which researchers lack fossil evidence due to the organisms' long evolutionary history or scarcity of fossilization. In this text, a detailed protocol is described for using the phylogenetic method, including amino acid sequence alignment using Clustal Omega, and subsequent phylogenetic tree construction using both Maximum Likelihood (ML) of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis (MEGA) and Bayesian Inference via MrBayes.

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Multispecies microbial community in natural solid-state fermentation (SSF) is crucial for the formation of Chinese Pu-erh tea's unique quality. However, the association between microbiota and tea quality are still poorly understood. Herein, shotgun metagenomic and metabolomic analysis showed that significant variations in composition of microbiota, collective functional genes, and flavour compounds occurred during SSF process.

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Double-flower phenotype is more popular and attractive in garden and ornamental plants. There is great interest in exploring the molecular mechanisms underlying the double-flower formation for further breeding and selection. , a commercial ornamental shrub of the Rosaceae family, is considered an excellent system to determine the mechanisms of morphological alterations, because it naturally has a single-flower form and double-flower variant with homeotic conversion of stamens into petals and carpels into leaf-like carpels.

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Objective: Traction achieved using an intraoperative femoral fracture reduction device (IFFRD) was compared with that observed using a traction table (TT) for closed reduction of trochanteric fractures and cephalomedullary nail fixation.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Level 1 trauma center.

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The dioecious relic Cercidiphyllum japonicum is one of two species of the sole genus Cercidiphyllum, with a tight inflorescence lacking an apparent perianth structure. In addition, its systematic place has been much debated and, so far researches have mainly focused on its morphology and chloroplast genes. In our investigation, we identified 10 floral organ identity genes, including four A-class, three B-class, two C-class and one D-class.

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