Genome-wide analysis of IDD genes identifies as a regulator of leaf angle.

The INDETERMINATE DOMAIN (IDD) gene family, encoding a class of C2H2 transcription factor, played diverse roles in land plants. The IDD family in tobacco () has not been characterized. In this study, 26 NtIDDs were identified in the tobacco genome.

Increasing plant diversity enhances soil organic carbon storage in typical wetlands of northern China.

Soil organic carbon plays an important role in climate change mitigation, and can be strongly affected by plant diversity. Although a positive effect of plant diversity on soil organic carbon storage has been confirmed in grasslands and forests, it remains unclear whether this effect exists in wetlands. In this study, we investigated plant diversity, soil properties and soil organic carbon across five typical wetlands of northern China, to test the effect of plant diversity on soil organic carbon and clarified the regulators.

Effect of Dual Shot Peening on Microstructure and Wear Performance of CNT/Al-Cu-Mg Composites.

This work systematically investigated the effect of dual shot peening (DSP) and conventional shot peening (CSP) on the microstructure, residual stress and wear performance of the CNT/Al-Cu-Mg composites. The results indicated that compared with CSP, DSP effectively reduced surface roughness (Rz) from 31.30 to 12.

TGF-β1 maintains the developmental potential of embryonic submandibular gland epithelia separated with mesenchyme.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) on epithelial development using an ex vivo model of submandibular gland (SMG) epithelial-mesenchymal separation.

Materials And Methods: The ex vivo model was established by separating E13 mouse SMG epithelia and mesenchyme, culturing them independently for 24 h, recombining them, and observing branching morphogenesis. Microarray analysis was performed to evaluate the transcriptome of epithelia treated with and without 1 ng/ml TGF-β1.

Transferring Adult-like Phase Images for Robust Multi-view Isointense Infant Brain Segmentation.

Accurate tissue segmentation of infant brain in magnetic resonance (MR) images is crucial for charting early brain development and identifying biomarkers. Due to ongoing myelination and maturation, in the isointense phase (6-9 months of age), the gray and white matters of infant brain exhibit similar intensity levels in MR images, posing significant challenges for tissue segmentation. Meanwhile, in the adult-like phase around 12 months of age, the MR images show high tissue contrast and can be easily segmented.

A genetic optimisation and iterative reconstruction framework for sparse multi-dimensional diffusion-relaxation correlation MRI.

Multi-dimensional diffusion-relaxation correlation (DRC) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques have recently been developed to investigate tissue microstructures. Sub-voxel tissue heterogeneity is resolved from the local correlation distributions of relaxation time and molecular diffusivity. However, the implementation of these techniques considerably increases the total acquisition time, and simply reducing the scan time may be at the expense of detailed structural resolution.

Deep-learning-based super-resolution for accelerating chemical exchange saturation transfer MRI.

Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI is a molecular imaging tool that provides physiological information about tissues, making it an invaluable tool for disease diagnosis and guided treatment. Its clinical application requires the acquisition of high-resolution images capable of accurately identifying subtle regional changes in vivo, while simultaneously maintaining a high level of spectral resolution. However, the acquisition of such high-resolution images is time consuming, presenting a challenge for practical implementation in clinical settings.

Multimodal Brain Tumor Segmentation Boosted by Monomodal Normal Brain Images.

Many deep learning based methods have been proposed for brain tumor segmentation. Most studies focus on deep network internal structure to improve the segmentation accuracy, while valuable external information, such as normal brain appearance, is often ignored. Inspired by the fact that radiologists often screen lesion regions with normal appearance as reference in mind, in this paper, we propose a novel deep framework for brain tumor segmentation, where normal brain images are adopted as reference to compare with tumor brain images in a learned feature space.

Evaluation of the causal effects of blood metabolites on irritable bowel syndrome: Mendelian randomization.

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by abdominal pain, discomfort, and changes in bowel habits. The mechanism underlying IBS remains unclear, and little evidence exists for clarifying the causal relationship between blood metabolites and IBS.

Methods: We conducted a Mendelian randomization (MR) study using two samples.

A New Multi-Atlas Based Deep Learning Segmentation Framework With Differentiable Atlas Feature Warping.

Deep learning based multi-atlas segmentation (DL-MA) has achieved the state-of-the-art performance in many medical image segmentation tasks, e.g., brain parcellation.

Separation, identification, and structural characterization of sucrose ester isomers from tobacco.

Sucrose esters (SEs) are crucial tobacco smoke flavor precursors and play a significant role in tobacco's functionality. Due to their structural complexity, the separation and analysis of SEs in tobacco remain a major challenge, and massive structures of SEs have not yet been fully identified. In this study, the fractions enriched in SEs were obtained from oriental and flue-cured tobacco through a series of pretreatments, and two types of SEs (Types I and II) were distinguished by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS ) analysis, with Type II SEs newly characterized in tobacco.

The implementation of an easy-to-apply NMR cryoporometric instrument for porous materials.

Time-domain NMR has been extensively utilised to study various characteristics of fluid-saturated porous,materials for instance their mobility, dynamics, stiffness, viscosity and rigidity features, particularly for solid hydrocarbons, rubbers and other polymers. As a unique time-domain technique available for over 30 years, NMR cryoporometry (NMRC) may be used to obtain pore-size distributions of the measured samples. To accurately control the sample temperature, a Peltier thermo-electrically cooled variable temperature probe has been developed and integrated with a highly compact precision NMR time-domain relaxation spectrometer, therefore providing the community with a high-performance instrument for NMR Cryoporometry.

Comparison of complications and bowel function among different reconstruction techniques after low anterior resection for rectal cancer: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

Background: Anastomosis for gastrointestinal reconstruction has been contentious after low anterior resection of rectal cancer for the past 30 years. Despite the abundance of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on colon J-pouch (CJP), straight colorectal anastomosis (SCA), transverse coloplast (TCP), and side-to-end anastomosis (SEA), most studies are small and lack reliable clinical evidence. We conducted a systematic review and network meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of the four anastomoses on postoperative complications, bowel function, and quality of life in rectal cancer.

Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of and its phylogenomic inference in plantaginaceae.

, which is an annual flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae, has commonly used as a Chinese herbal medicine to treat malaria in China. Here, the complete plastome of was successfully assembled based on genome skimming sequencing. The plastome of was 149,386 bp in length, comprising a pair of inverted repeats (IR; 24,946 bp) separated by a large single-copy (LSC) region (82,004 bp) and a small single-copy (SSC) region (17,490 bp).

Stability improvement of emulsion gel fabricated by Artemisia sphaerocephala Krasch. polysaccharide fractions.

Artemisia sphaerocephala Krasch. polysaccharide (ASKP) contained two fractions of 60P and 60S with different molecular weight. It was found the potential performance of interface adsorption and gelation activities for the high molecular weight of 60P in comparison with low molecular weight of 60S.

RNA sequencing reveals transcriptomic changes in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) following NtCPS2 knockdown.

Background: Amber-like compounds form in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) during leaf curing and impact aromatic quality. In particular, cis-abienol, a polycyclic labdane-related diterpenoid, is of research interest as a precursor of these compounds. Glandular trichome cells specifically express copalyl diphosphate synthase (NtCPS2) at high levels in tobacco, which, together with NtABS, are major regulators of cis-abienol biosynthesis in tobacco.

Infection with Hepatitis B Virus May Increase the Serum Concentrations of Osteopontin.

Background: Serum osteopontin (OPN) concentrations were found to be significantly increased in patients infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the association among HCC, OPN, and HBV.

Methods: Two hundred and forty-one subjects were recruited and divided into 6 groups: healthy controls, asymptomatic HBsAg carriers, HBsAg (-) patients with other tumors, HBsAg (+) chronic liver disease patients, HBsAg (+) patients with HCC, and HBsAg (-) patients with HCC or liver cirrhosis (LC).

Reconstruction of parotid duct defect with autologous vein graft and vascular coupler after buccal mucosa cancer resection.

The distal end of parotid duct is often inevitably resected en-block with the buccal mucosa cancer to obtain safety margin and prevent local recurrence. Ligation of duct frequently causes complications like cheek swelling, fistula and gland function loss. The authors describe a novel procedure of combined use of autologous vein graft and vascular coupler to reconstruct the parotid duct defect for buccal mucosa cancer patients who undergo radical neck dissection and free-flap reconstruction, no lumen-stent or cannula is needed.

Changing risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma in hyperendemic regions in the era of universal hepatitis B vaccination.

Background: LongAn, Guangxi, was the first county in China to implement universal childhood hepatitis B virus (HBV) immunization. We aimed to determine its long-term effects in preventing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) 32 years after the immunization programme was launched.

Methods: Information on HCC deaths for LongAn and its neighbouring county, BinYang (where universal hepatitis B vaccination was not started till 2002), were obtained from the national mortality surveillance system.

C6-ceramide induces salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma cell apoptosis via IP3R-activated UPR and UPR-independent pathways.

C6-ceramide is an exogenous short-chain ceramide which can induce apoptosis of multiple cancer cells. Salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma (SACC) is a common salivary gland cancer, which possesses of high rate of local recurrence and distant metastasis. The mechanism of ceramide-induced SACC-83 and SACC-LM cell apoptosis has not been revealed.

A novel two-dimensional NMR relaxometry pulse sequence for petrophysical characterization of shale at low field.

Low field two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (2D-NMR) relaxometry is a powerful probe for the characterization of heterogenous, porous media and provides geometrical, physical and chemical information about samples at a molecular level and has been widely used in shale studies. However, NMR signals of shale decay so rapidly, dry sample for particular, that the conventional two-dimensional pulse sequence is either not sensitive enough to short relaxation components or takes too much measurement time. In this paper, 2D-NMR relaxometry correlation based on partial inversion recovery CPMG (PIR-CPMG) pulse sequence is proposed and illustrated to improve the contrast over saturation recovery CPMG (SR-CPMG) and reduces the T encoding time of inversion recovery CPMG (IR-CPMG) for petrophysical characterization of shale.

Novel subgenotype D11 of hepatitis B virus in NaPo County, Guangxi, bordering Vietnam.

Hepatitis B virus has been classified into 10 genotypes and 48 subgenotypes worldwide. We found previously, through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of a sample collected in 2011, that an HBsAg carrier was infected with two genotypes (B and D) of HBV. We carried out cloning, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of the complete genomes and, for confirmation, analysed a sample collected from the same individual in 2018.

Asymptomatic hepatitis B carriers who were vaccinated at birth.

The long-term persistence of immunity following universal infant immunization against hepatitis B virus (HBV) and the need for a subsequent booster dose in adolescence remain under debate. With data derived from Long'an County, Guangxi, China, we reported previously that the prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) among adults born from 1987 to 1993 increases with age, although these individuals had received a first dose of the vaccine within 24 hours of birth. Here, we sought the source of transmission by comparison of genotypes among their family members using phylogenetic analysis of complete HBV S gene sequences.

New magnet array design for downhole NMR azimuthal measurement.

In low-field NMR, depth information and radial profile information of downhole formation can be easily acquired with the help of static gradient magnetic field produced by permanent magnets, called downhole NMR imaging. Based on the hypothesis that the formation is homogeneous, average signals detected by centralized or decentralized sensors can provide enough information for petrophysical parameters. In fact, the inhomogeneity of formation may have serious impact on description of the characteristics of formation and oil/gas location which is rarely studied in NMR well-logging.