OsUVR8b, rather than OsUVR8a, plays a predominant role in rice UVR8-mediated UV-B response.

UV RESISTANCE LOCUS 8 (UVR8) has been identified in Arabidopsis thaliana as the receptor mediating responses to UV-B radiation. However, UVR8-mediated UV-B signaling pathways in rice, which possesses two proteins (UVR8a and UVR8b) with high identities to AtUVR8, remain largely unknown. Here, UVR8a/b were found to be predominantly expressed in rice leaves and leaf sheaths, while the levels of UVR8b transcript and UVR8b protein were both higher than those of UVR8a.

Uncovering Unrecognized Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction Among Individuals With Obesity and Dyspnea.

Background: Although heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) has become the predominant heart failure subtype, it remains clinically under-recognized. HFpEF diagnosis is particularly challenging in the setting of obesity given the limitations of natriuretic peptides and resting echocardiography. We examined invasive and noninvasive HFpEF diagnostic criteria among individuals with obesity and dyspnea without known cardiovascular disease to determine the prevalence of hemodynamic HFpEF in the community.

Identifying high risk clinical phenogroups of pulmonary hypertension through a clustering analysis.

Introduction: The classification and management of pulmonary hypertension (PH) is challenging due to clinical heterogeneity of patients. We sought to identify distinct multimorbid phenogroups of patients with PH that are at particularly high-risk for adverse events.

Methods: A hospital-based cohort of patients referred for right heart catheterization between 2005-2016 with PH were included.

Association of Initial and Longitudinal Changes in C-reactive Protein With the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, and Mortality.

Objective: To evaluate the value of serial C-reactive protein (CRP) measurements in predicting the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, and mortality.

Methods: The analysis was performed using data from two prospective, population-based observational cohorts: the Prevention of Renal and Vascular End-Stage Disease (PREVEND) study and the Framingham Heart Study (FHS). A total of 9253 participants had CRP measurements available at two examinations (PREVEND: 1997-1998 and 2001-2002; FHS Offspring cohort: 1995-1998 and 1998-2001).

Multiple Prior Live Births Are Associated With Cardiac Remodeling and Heart Failure Risk in Women.

Objective: Greater parity has been associated with cardiovascular disease risk. We sought to find whether the effects on cardiac remodeling and heart failure risk are clear.

Methods: We examined the association of number of live births with echocardiographic measures of cardiac structure and function in participants of the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) using multivariable linear regression.

Association of Cardiometabolic Disease With Cancer in the Community.

Background: Obesity and cardiometabolic dysfunction have been associated with cancer risk and severity. Underlying mechanisms remain unclear.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine associations of obesity and related cardiometabolic traits with incident cancer.

Association of Pulmonary Artery Pulsatility Index With Adverse Cardiovascular Events Across a Hospital-Based Sample.

Background: The pulmonary artery pulsatility index (PAPi), calculated from the ratio of the pulmonary artery pulse pressure to right atrial pressure, is a predictor of right ventricular failure after inferior myocardial infarction and left ventricular assist device implantation. Whether PAPi is associated with adverse outcomes across a heterogeneous population is unknown.

Methods: We examined consecutive patients undergoing right heart catheterization between 2005 and 2016 in a hospital-based cohort.

Arterial Stiffness and Vascular Load in HFpEF: Differences Among Women and Men.

Background: Mechanisms underlying sex differences in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) are poorly understood. We sought to examine sex differences in measures of arterial stiffness and the association of arterial stiffness measures with left ventricular hemodynamic responses to exercise in men and women.

Methods: We studied 83 men (mean age 62 years) and 107 women (mean age 59 years) with HFpEF who underwent cardiopulmonary exercise testing with invasive hemodynamic monitoring and arterial stiffness measurement (augmentation pressure [AP], augmentation index [AIx], and aortic pulse pressure [AoPP]).

Cardiovascular disease related circulating biomarkers and cancer incidence and mortality: is there an association?

Aims: Recent studies suggest an association between cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer incidence/mortality, but the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying these associations are unclear. We aimed to examine biomarkers previously associated with CVD and study their association with incident cancer and cancer-related death in a prospective cohort study.

Methods And Results: We used a proteomic platform to measure 71 cardiovascular biomarkers among 5032 participants in the Framingham Heart Study who were free of cancer at baseline.

Correction: Mechanistic details of the cobalt-mediated dehydrogenative dimerization of aminoquinoline-directed benzamides.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1039/D0SC02066D.].

Association of obesity-related inflammatory pathways with lung function and exercise capacity.

Background: Obesity has multifactorial effects on lung function and exercise capacity. The contributions of obesity-related inflammatory pathways to alterations in lung function remain unclear.

Research Question: To examine the association of obesity-related inflammatory pathways with pulmonary function, exercise capacity, and pulmonary-specific contributors to exercise intolerance.

Sex differences in inflammatory markers in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 infection: Insights from the MGH COVID-19 patient registry.

Background: Men are at higher risk for serious complications related to COVID-19 infection than women. More robust immune activation in women has been proposed to contribute to decreased disease severity, although systemic inflammation has been associated with worse outcomes in COVID-19 infection. Whether systemic inflammation contributes to sex differences in COVID-19 infection is not known.

The rice germin-like protein OsGLP1 participates in acclimation to UV-B radiation.

Exposure to ultraviolet B radiation (UV-B) stress can have serious effects on the growth and development of plants. Germin-like proteins (GLPs) may be involved in different abiotic and biotic stress responses in different plants, but little is known about the role of GLPs in UV-B stress response and acclimation in plants. In the present study, knockout of GLP 8-14 (OsGLP1) using the CRISPR/Cas9 system resulted in mutant rice (Oryza sativa L.

The role of obesity in inflammatory markers in COVID-19 patients.

Obesity has emerged as a significant risk factor for severe COVID-19 worldwide. Given both COVID-19 infection and obesity have been associated with increased systemic inflammation, we evaluated inflammatory markers in obese and non-obese individuals hospitalized for COVID-19 at Massachusetts General Hospital. We hypothesized that obese patients would have a more exuberant inflammatory response as evidenced by higher initial and peak inflammatory markers along with worse clinical outcomes.

Mechanistic details of the cobalt-mediated dehydrogenative dimerization of aminoquinoline-directed benzamides.

Key mechanistic features of the cobalt-mediated and aminoquinoline-directed dehydrogenative aryl-aryl coupling were investigated computationally and experimentally. A series of Co and Co complexes relevant to the proposed reaction cycle have been synthesized and characterized. Stoichiometric reactions and electrochemical studies were used to probe the role of different additives in the reaction pathway.

Achieving Nonenzymatic Blood Glucose Sensing by Uprooting Saturation.

The saturation of nonenzymatic blood glucose sensors at lower than normal blood glucose levels has blocked their practical applications. The mechanistic understanding of the saturation, however, has long been under debate. Employing cyclic voltammetry, amperometry, and FTIR with various electrolytes of varying concentrations, we were able to uproot the saturation cause.

Overexpression of OsIAAGLU reveals a role for IAA-glucose conjugation in modulating rice plant architecture.

OsIAAGLU could catalyze the reaction of IAA with glucose to generate IAA-glucose. Overexpression of OsIAAGLU in rice resulted in altered rice shoot architecture and root gravitropism. The distribution and levels of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) within plant tissues are well known to play vital roles in plant growth and development.

Two NCA1 isoforms interact with catalase in a mutually exclusive manner to redundantly regulate its activity in rice.

Background: NCA1 (NO CATALASE ACTIVITY 1) was recently identified in Arabidopsis as a chaperone protein to regulate catalase (CAT) activity through maintaining the folding of CAT. The gene exists mainly in higher plants; some plants, such as Arabidopsis, contain only one NCA1 gene, whereas some others such as rice harbor two copies. It is not yet understood whether and how both isoforms have functioned to regulate CAT activity in those two-copy-containing plant species.

Engineering a New Chloroplastic Photorespiratory Bypass to Increase Photosynthetic Efficiency and Productivity in Rice.

Over the past few years, three photorespiratory bypasses have been introduced into plants, two of which led to observable increases in photosynthesis and biomass yield. However, most of the experiments were carried out using Arabidopsis under controlled environmental conditions, and the increases were only observed under low-light and short-day conditions. In this study, we designed a new photorespiratory bypass (called GOC bypass), characterized by no reducing equivalents being produced during a complete oxidation of glycolate into CO catalyzed by three rice-self-originating enzymes, i.

The oxalyl-CoA synthetase-regulated oxalate and its distinct effects on resistance to bacterial blight and aluminium toxicity in rice.

Oxalic acid is widely distributed in biological systems and known to play functional roles in plants. The gene AAE3 was recently identified to encode an oxalyl-CoA synthetase (OCS) in Arabidopsis that catalyses the conversion of oxalate and CoA into oxalyl-CoA. It will be particularly important to characterise the homologous gene in rice since rice is not only a monocotyledonous model plant, but also a staple food crop.

Divergent biochemical and enzymatic properties of oxalate oxidase isoforms encoded by four similar genes in rice.

The biochemical and enzymatic properties of four highly similar rice oxalate oxidase proteins (OsOxO1-4) were compared after their purification from the leaves of transgenic plants each overexpressing the respective OsOxO1-4 genes. Although alignment of their amino acid sequences has revealed divergence mainly in the signal peptides and they catalyze the same enzymic (oxalate oxidase) reaction, divergence in apparent molecular mass, Km, optimum pH, stability and responses to inhibitors and activators was uncovered by biochemical characterization of the purified OsOxO1-4 proteins. The apparent molecular mass of oligomer OsOxO1 was found to be similar to that of OsOxO3 but lower than the other two.

Relationship between disease resistance and rice oxalate oxidases in transgenic rice.

Differential expression of rice oxalate oxidase genes (OsOxO1-4) in rice leaves (Oryza sativa L.) in response to biotic stress was assayed using RT-PCR. OsOxO4 was induced transiently at 12 h in plants inoculated with the pathogens of bacterial blight and that of the wounding control.

Systemic acquired resistance in Cavendish banana induced by infection with an incompatible strain of Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense.

Fusarium wilt of banana is caused by the soil-borne fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc).