euAP2a, a key gene that regulates flowering time in peach () by modulating thermo-responsive transcription programming.

Frequent spring frost damage threatens temperate fruit production, and breeding of late-flowering cultivars is an effective strategy for preventing such damage. However, this effort is often hampered by the lack of specific genes and markers and a lack of understanding of the mechanisms. We examined a Late-Flowering Peach () germplasm and found that its floral buds require a longer chilling period to release from their dormancy and a longer warming period to bloom than the control cultivar, two key characteristics associated with flowering time.

CW198 acts as a genetic insulator to block enhancer-promoter interaction in plants.

Insulators in vertebrates play a role in genome architecture and orchestrate temporo-spatial enhancer-promoter interactions. In plants, insulators and their associated binding factors have not been documented as of yet, largely as a result of a lack of characterized insulators. In this study, we took a comprehensive strategy to identify and validate the enhancer-blocking insulator CW198.

Rice RS2-9, which is bound by transcription factor OSH1, blocks enhancer-promoter interactions in plants.

Insulators characterized in Drosophila and mammals have been shown to play a key role in the restriction of promiscuous enhancer-promoter interactions, as well as reshaping the topological landscape of chromosomes. Yet the role of insulators in plants remains poorly understood, in large part because of a lack of well-characterized insulators and binding factor(s). In this study, we isolated a 1.

Genome-Wide Changes of Regulatory Non-Coding RNAs Reveal Pollen Development Initiated at Ecodormancy in Peach.

Bud dormancy is under the regulation of complex mechanisms including genetic and epigenetic factors. To study the function of regulatory non-coding RNAs in winter dormancy release, we analyzed the small RNA and long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) expression from peach () floral buds in endodormancy, ecodormancy and bud break stages. Small RNAs underwent a major shift in expression primarily between dormancy and flowering with specific pairs of microRNAs and their mRNA target genes undergoing coordinated differential expression.

The extended lipid panel assay: a clinically-deployed high-throughput nuclear magnetic resonance method for the simultaneous measurement of lipids and Apolipoprotein B.

Background: Standard lipid panel assays employing chemical/enzymatic methods measure total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), from which are calculated estimates of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). These lipid measures are used universally to guide management of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk. Apolipoprotein B (apoB) is generally acknowledged to be superior to LDL-C for lipid-lowering therapeutic decision-making, but apoB immunoassays are performed relatively infrequently due to the added analytic cost.

Distinctive Gene Expression Patterns Define Endodormancy to Ecodormancy Transition in Apricot and Peach.

Dormancy is a physiological state that plants enter for winter hardiness. Environmental-induced dormancy onset and release in temperate perennials coordinate growth cessation and resumption, but how the entire process, especially chilling-dependent dormancy release and flowering, is regulated remains largely unclear. We utilized the transcriptome profiles of floral buds from fall to spring in apricot () genotypes with contrasting bloom dates and peach () genotypes with contrasting chilling requirements (CR) to explore the genetic regulation of bud dormancy.

High Betaine, a Trimethylamine N-Oxide Related Metabolite, Is Prospectively Associated with Low Future Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in the PREVEND Study.

Background: Gut microbiota-related metabolites, trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), choline, and betaine, have been shown to be associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Moreover, lower plasma betaine concentrations have been reported in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, few studies have explored the association of betaine with incident T2DM, especially in the general population.

NMR quantification of trimethylamine-N-oxide in human serum and plasma in the clinical laboratory setting.

Background And Objectives: Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) produced by gut microbiota metabolism of dietary choline and carnitine has been shown to be associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and to provide incremental clinical prognostic utility beyond traditional risk factors for assessing a patient's CVD risk. The aim of this study was to develop an automated nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy assay for quantification of TMAO concentration in serum and plasma using a high-throughput NMR clinical analyzer.

Methods: Key steps in assay development included: (i) shifting the TMAO analyte peak to a less crowded region of the spectrum with a pH buffer/reagent, (ii) attenuating the broad protein background signal in the spectrum and (iii) using a non-negative least squares algorithm for peak deconvolution.

Detecting Intracranial Hemorrhage Using Automatic Tube Current Modulation With Advanced Modeled Iterative Reconstruction in Unenhanced Head Single- and Dual-Energy Dual-Source CT.

Objective: The purpose of our study was to determine diagnostic accuracy, image quality, and radiation dose of low-dose single- and dual-energy unenhanced third-generation dual-source head CT for detection of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH).

Materials And Methods: A total of 123 patients with suspected ICH were examined using a dual-source 192-MDCT scanner. Standard-dose 120-kVp single-energy CT (SECT; n = 36) and 80-kVp and 150-kVp dual-energy CT (DECT; n = 30) images were compared with low-dose SECT (n = 32) and DECT (n = 25) images obtained using automated tube current modulation (ATCM).

Determination of Adsorbate Structures from 1,4-Phenylene Diisocyanide on Gold.

The structure of the 1-D oligomer chains that form on a Au(111) surface following adsorption of 1,4-phenylene diisocyanide (PDI) is explored using reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The experimental work is complemented by first-principles density functional theory calculations, which indicate that the previously proposed gold-PDI oligomer chains in which the PDI molecule bridged gold adatoms are thermodynamically stable. In addition, the calculated vibrational modes for this structure are in excellent agreement with the experimental infrared data.

Linking gold nanoparticles with conductive 1,4-phenylene diisocyanide-gold oligomers.

It is demonstrated that 1,4-phenylene diisocyanide (PDI)-gold oligomers can spontaneously bridge between gold nanoparticles on mica, thereby providing a strategy for electrically interconnecting nanoelectrodes. The barrier height of the bridging oligomer is 0.10 ± 0.

One-dimensional supramolecular surface structures: 1,4-diisocyanobenzene on Au(111) surfaces.

One-dimensional supramolecular structures formed by adsorbing low coverages of 1,4-diisocyanobenzene on Au(111) at room temperature are obtained and imaged by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) under ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) conditions. The structures originate from step edges or surface defects and arrange predominantly in a straight fashion on the substrate terraces along the <110> directions. They are proposed to consist of alternating units of 1,4-diisocyanobenzene molecules and gold atoms with a unit cell in registry with the substrate corresponding to four times the lattice interatomic distance.

Tetranuclear group 7/8 mixed-metal and open trinuclear group 7 metal carbonyl clusters bearing bridging 2-mercapto-1-methylimidazole ligands.

The reactivity of group 7 metal dinuclear carbonyl complexes [M(2)(CO)(6)(mu-SN(2)C(4)H(5))(2)] (1, M = Re; 2, M = Mn) toward group 8 metal trinuclear carbonyl clusters were examined. Reactions of 1 and 2 with [Os(3)(CO)(10)(NCMe)(2)] in refluxing benzene furnished the tetranuclear mixed-metal clusters [Os(3)Re(CO)(13)(mu(3)-SN(2)C(4)H(5))] (3) and [Os(3)Mn(CO)(13)(mu(3)-SN(2)C(4)H(5))] (4), respectively. Similar treatment of 1 and 2 with Ru(3)(CO)(12) yielded the ruthenium analogs [Ru(3)Re(CO)(13)(mu(3)-SN(2)C(4)H(5))] (5), and [Ru(3)Mn(CO)(13)(mu(3)-SN(2)C(4)H(5))] (6), but in the case of 2 a secondary product [Mn(3)(CO)(10)(mu-Cl)(mu(3)-SN(2)C(4)H(5))(2)] (7) was also formed.

Ethyl 1-acetyl-1H-indole-3-carboxyl-ate.

The title compound, C(13)H(13)NO(3), was synthesized by acetyl-ation of ethyl 1H-indole-3-carboxyl-ate. The aromatic ring system of the mol-ecule is essentially planar, but the saturated ethyl group is also located within this plane and the overall r.m.

The surprisingly elusive crystal structure of sodium metabisulfite.

The crystal structure of Na2S2O5, a simple and common ionic compound, is reported here for the first time. The crystals form non-merohedral twins, with the twin domains related by a twofold axis which bisects the angle between the a and c axes of each unit cell. The structure was determined from a single-crystal fragment of a twinned crystal that had undergone cleavage along the twin boundary.

Crystal structure of rat short chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase complexed with acetoacetyl-CoA: comparison with other acyl-CoA dehydrogenases.

The acyl-CoA dehydrogenases are a family of flavin adenine dinucleotide-containing enzymes that catalyze the first step in the beta-oxidation of fatty acids and catabolism of some amino acids. They exhibit high sequence identity and yet are quite specific in their substrate binding. Short chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase has maximal activity toward butyryl-CoA and negligible activity toward substrates longer than octanoyl-CoA.

Enantiospecific Formation of Trans 1,3-Disubstituted Tetrahydro-beta-carbolines by the Pictet-Spengler Reaction and Conversion of Cis Diastereomers into Their Trans Counterparts by Scission of the C-1/N-2 Bond.

The factors which effect the stereoselective formation of trans-1-alkyl-2-benzyl-3-(alkoxycarbonyl)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carbolines and trans-3-(alkoxycarbonyl)-1-alkyl-2-(diphenylmethyl)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carbolines by the Pictet-Spengler cyclization were examined by heating tryptophan derivatives with aldehydes of varied steric bulk under aprotic and acidic conditions, followed by determination of the ratio of cis to trans diastereomers so formed. The presence of a benzyl group at the N(b)-nitrogen atom alters the diastereochemical outcome of this condensation to provide 100% trans stereoselectivity when the cyclization is carried out with cyclohexanecarboxaldehyde. Furthermore, when N(b)-(diphenylmethyl)tryptophan isopropyl ester was condensed with aldehydes of any size, trans diastereomers are formed with 100% stereoselectively.

Bis(1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane)tungsten(0) Complexes Containing Electron-Saturated Metal Centers and Singly-Coordinated Bridging Ligands.

Reaction of 1,4-diisocyanobenzene or 4-isocyanobenzonitrile with trans-W(N(2))(2)(DPPE)(2) (DPPE = 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane) produced cis-WL(2)(DPPE)(2), where L = 1,4-diisocyanobenzene or 4-isocyanobenzonitrile. cis-(CNC(6)H(4)NC)(2)W(DPPE)(2) crystallizes in the triclinic space group P&onemacr;, with a = 12.848(3) Å, b = 13.