A highly potential Zn biofortification tool: MTP1 in Triticum aestivum.

TaMTPs belong to metal tolerance proteins (MTPs) family in common wheat and have significant potential to address the "hidden hunger" caused by inadequate dietary intake of a key micronutrient (Zn). In this study, a total of 33 MTP members in Triticum aestivum were identified, among which six TaMTP1-likes were closely related to Arabidopsis thaliana MTP1 and were designated as TaMTP1-A/B/D and TaMTP1.1-A/B/D.

Short-term efficacy of microwave ablation in the treatment of liver cancer and its effect on immune function.

Background: Hepatectomy is the first choice for treating liver cancer. However, inflammatory factors, released in response to pain stimulation, may suppress perioperative immune function and affect the prognosis of patients undergoing hepatectomies.

Aim: To determine the short-term efficacy of microwave ablation in the treatment of liver cancer and its effect on immune function.

New method for calculating the windward area of irregular fragments.

Average windward area is an important index for calculating the trajectory, velocity attenuation and terminal effect of explosive fragments. In order to solve the problems that existing theoretical method cannot calculate windward area of irregular fragment and experiment method is not convenient for automatic calculation and has low accuracy, a Monte Carlo subdivision projection simulation algorithm is proposed. The average windward area of arbitrary shaped fragments can be obtained with coordinate translation, random rotation, plane projection, convex-hull triangulation, concave boundary searching and sorting with maximum edge length constraint, subdivision area calculation, and averaging by thousands of cycles.

Pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and safety of frunexian in healthy Chinese volunteer adults: A randomized dose-escalation phase I study.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics (PK), and pharmacodynamics (PD) of frunexian (formerly known as EP-7041 and HSK36273) injection, a small molecule inhibitor of activated coagulation factor XI (FXIa), in healthy Chinese adult volunteers. This study was a randomized, placebo- and positive-controlled, sequential, ascending-dose (0.3/0.

Desloratadine alleviates ALS-like pathology in hSOD1 mice via targeting 5HTR on activated spinal astrocytes.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease with progressive loss of motor neurons in the spinal cord, cerebral cortex and brain stem. ALS is characterized by gradual muscle atrophy and dyskinesia. The limited knowledge on the pathology of ALS has impeded the development of therapeutics for the disease.

Pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and safety of LPM3480392 in two phase I clinical trials in healthy Chinese male subjects.

Drugs for acute postoperative pain and breakthrough cancer pain are still urgent in clinical. LPM3480392 is a G-protein-biased ligand at the μ-opioid receptor and showed potent analgesia in nonclinical studies. Two phase I studies of LPM3480392 were conducted in healthy Chinese male volunteers to explore its tolerability, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics under single ascending doses (Study I 0.

Vincamine as an agonist of G-protein-coupled receptor 40 effectively ameliorates diabetic peripheral neuropathy in mice.

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a common complication of diabetes, which has yet no curable medication. Neuroinflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction are tightly linked to DPN pathology. G-protein-coupled receptor 40 (GPR40) is predominantly expressed in pancreatic β-cells, but also in spinal dorsal horn and dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons, regulating neuropathic pain.

[Bacterial Community Diversity in Channel Sediments of Different Disturbance Sections of the Jialing River].

In order to explore the impact of different anthropogenic disturbances on the ecological environment of natural rivers, the bacterial community in the channel sediments of the Jialing River was taken as the research object, and the high-throughput sequencing technique was used to analyze the community composition and functional changes of bacteria in the channel sediments of rivers with engineering disturbance, tributary disturbance, sand mining disturbance, reclamation disturbance, and undisturbed section. The results showed that there were significant differences in the physical and chemical properties of channel sediments and bacterial community diversity in different disturbance sections of the Jialing River (<0.05).

Acrylamide formation and aroma evaluation of fried pepper sauce under different exogenous Maillard reaction conditions.

To explore the impact of the Maillard reaction on fried pepper sauce (FPS) flavor and safety quality, acrylamide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured in FPS. Acrylamide was detected in 10 Maillard treated groups and a total of 110 VOCs were identified, mainly aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, acids, etc., but the content of each group differed.

Central-to-Folding Chirality Control: Asymmetric Synthesis of Multilayer 3D Targets With Electron-Deficient Bridges.

New multilayer 3D chiral molecules have been designed and synthesized asymmetrically through the strategy of center-to-multilayer folding chirality control and double Suzuki couplings. Individual diastereoisomers were readily obtained and separated flash column chromatography. The key diastereoisomer was further converted into corresponding enantiomers.

Patchouli alcohol as a selective estrogen receptor β agonist ameliorates AD-like pathology of APP/PS1 model mice.

Clinical evidence shows that postmenpausal women are almost twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) as men of the same age, and estrogen is closely related to the occurrence of AD. Estrogen receptor (ER) α is mainly expressed in the mammary gland and other reproductive organs like uterus while ERβ is largely distributed in the hippocampus and cardiovascular system, suggesting that ERβ selective agonist is a valuable drug against neurodegenerative diseases with low tendency in inducing cancers of breast and other reproductive organs. In this study we identified a natural product patchouli alcohol (PTA) as a selective ERβ agonist which improved the cognitive defects in female APP/PS1 mice, and explore the underlying mechanisms.

Asymmetric Catalytic Approach to Multilayer 3D Chirality.

Invited for the cover of this issue is Guigen Li and co-workers at Texas Tech University and Nanjing University. The cover artwork shows that chirality phenomena exists in the universe and in nature, including at micro and molecular levels. Read the full text of the article at 10.

MPT64 assays for the rapid detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). An estimated 1.7 billion people worldwide are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (LTBI) during the incubation period without any obvious symptoms.

Asymmetric Catalytic Approach to Multilayer 3D Chirality.

The first asymmetric catalytic approach to multilayer 3D chirality has been achieved by using Suzuki-Miyaura cross-couplings. New chiral catalysts were designed and screened under various catalytic systems that proved chiral amide-phosphines to be more efficient ligands than other candidates. The multilayer 3D framework was unambiguously determined by X-ray structural analysis showing a parallel pattern of three layers consisting of top, middle and bottom aromatic rings.

High-throughput diagnosis of human pathogens and fecal contamination in marine recreational water.

Waterborne pathogens and their associated diseases are major threats to public health, and surveillance of pathogens and identification of the sources of pollution are imperative for preventing infections. However, simultaneously quantitative detection of multiple pathogens and pollution sources in water environments is the major challenge. In this study, we developed and validated a highly sensitive (mostly >80%) and highly specific (>99%) high-throughput quantitative PCR (HT-qPCR) approach, which could simultaneously quantify 68 marker genes of 33 human pathogens and 23 fecal markers of 10 hosts.

[Remote sensing retrieval of maize residue cover on soil heterogeneous background].

Maize stalk mulching is a conservation tillage method that has been currently promoted in northeastern China Plain. Remote sensing estimation of regional crop residue cover (CRC) can quickly obtain the information of straw mulching in a large area, which plays an important role in monitoring and popularizing the work of straw mulching. In this study, the normalized difference til-lage index (NDTI), simple tillage index (STI), normalized difference residue index (NDRI), and normalized difference index 7 (NDI7) were extracted from Sentinel-2A image and used to establish a linear regression model for CRC and spectral indices in Lishu County of Jilin Province.

Build 3D Nanoparticles by Using Ultrathin 2D MOF Nanosheets for NIR Light-Triggered Molecular Switching.

The coordination interactions between transition-metal ions (Cu, Ag) and sulfur atoms on ultrathin two-dimensional (2D) nanosheets of spin-crossover (SCO) metal-organic frameworks {[Fe(1,3-bpp)(NCS)]} (1,3-bpp = 1,3-di(4-pyridyl)propane), which constructed the ultrathin 2D nanosheets into three-dimensional (3D) nanoparticles, have made a profound effect on the SCO performance. Compared with 2D nanosheets, both the intraligand π-π* transition band and the metal-to-ligand charge transition band from the d(Fe) + π(NCS) to π*(1,3-bpp), for the 3D nanoparticles, have shown dramatic blue-shifts; meanwhile, the d-d transition band for the high-spin (HS) state Fe(II) ions has been generated, suggesting significantly the influence of 3D assemble-caused dimensional changes on the solid-state SCO performance of ultrathin 2D nanosheets. More importantly, by loading on the ytterbium ion (Yb)-sensitized hexagonal phase upconverting nanoparticles in the aqueous colloidal suspension, the near infrared (NIR) light (980 nm) triggered HS (high spin) to LS (low spin) state transitions have been observed, demonstrating the achievement of challenging target of NIR light-triggered molecular conversion under environment conditions.

Preparation of coix seed oil bioactive delivery systems based on homologous polysaccharides and proteins.

Natural products belonging to a class of generally-recognized-as-safe biomaterials have exceptional biocompatibility and biodegradability and can be used as delivery vehicles for a variety of functional foods. Adlay (Coix lacryma-jobi), is a nutritious food, rich in various bioactive ingredients. Coix seed oil extract (CSO) is also bioactive but it is sensitive to oxidation.

Antibiotic resistome in a landfill leachate treatment plant and effluent-receiving river.

Landfills leachate contained diverse antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Treated landfill leachate effluent could enter into the downstream environments, leading to the dissemination of ARGs, which might pose a health risk to public. Here, we used high-throughput qPCR to characterize the resistome and 16S rRNA-based Illumina sequencing to analyze the bacterial community in a leachate treatment plant and the river near the landfill.

Latticed mode: A new control strategy for wind field simulation in a multiple-fan wind tunnel.

On the basis of the actively controlled multiple-fan wind tunnel we designed, this paper proposes a latticed mode-based control strategy for the fan array. The so-called latticed mode is the overall topology of the working fans. In order to investigate the simulation ability of the latticed mode, several latticed modes are designed to analyze the temporal and spatial properties of generated wind fields.

Unraveling the Mechanisms of the Excited-State Intermolecular Proton Transfer (ESPT) for a D-π-A Molecular Architecture.

Precise revealing the mechanisms of excited-state intermolecular proton transfer (ESPT) and the corresponding geometrical relaxation upon photoexcitation and photoionization remains a formidable challenge. In this work, the compound (E)-4-(((4H-1,2,4-triazol-4-yl)imino)methyl)-2,6-dimethoxyphenol (TIMDP) adopting a D-π-A molecular architecture featuring a significant intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) effect has been designed. With the presence of perchloric acid (35 %), TIMDP can be dissolved through the formation of a HClO -H O-OH(TIMDP)-N(TIMDP) hydrogen-bonding bridge.