Overexpression of CsATG3a improves tolerance to nitrogen deficiency and increases nitrogen use efficiency in arabidopsis.

Nitrogen (N) is a major nutrition element for tea plant. However, application of high levels of N negatively causes environmental problems. Therefore, improved N use efficiency (NUE) of tea plant will be highly desirable and crucial for sustainable tea cultivation.

A New 3D Carbon Allotrope Composed of Penta-graphene Nanotubes with Low Lattice Thermal Conductivity.

Motivated by the unique geometries and novel properties of penta-graphene (PG) and its derivatives, we propose a new stable 3D carbon allotrope, penta-C72, which is composed of PG nanotubes by connecting adjacent tubes in a tip-to-tip manner. Using first-principles calculations, we confirm its dynamical, thermal, and mechanical stabilities and find that penta-C72 is semiconducting with an indirect bandgap of 2.12 eV.

Ca deficiency triggers panicle degeneration in rice mediated by Ca /H exchanger OsCAX1a.

Increasing rice yield has always been one of the primary objectives of rice breeding. However, panicle degeneration often occurs in rice-growing regions and severely curbs rice yield. In this study, we obtained a new apical panicle degeneration mutant, which induces a marked degeneration rate and diminishes the final grain yield.

Iterative learning control for lane-changing trajectories upstream off-ramp bottlenecks and safety evaluation.

This paper proposes an iterative learning control framework for lane changing to improve traffic operation and safety at a diverging area nearby a highway off-ramp in an environment with connected and automated vehicles (CAVs). This framework controls CAVs in the off-ramp bottlenecks by imitating the trajectories optimized by machine learning algorithms. Next Generation Simulation (NGSIM) dataset is utilized as the raw data and filtered by cost function.

Characterization of l-fucose isomerase from Paenibacillus rhizosphaerae to produce l-fuculose from hydrolyzed fucoidan and commercial fucose.

Aims: l-Fuculose is a valuable rare sugar that is used to treat a variety of ailments, including HIV, cancer, Hepatitis B, human lysosomal disease (fucosidosis), and cardio-protective medications. The enzymatic approach for the production of l-fuculose using l-fucose as a substrate would be an advantageous method with a wide range of industrial applications. The objective of this study is the characterization of recombinant l-fucose isomerase from Paenibacillus rhizosphaerae (Pa-LFI) for the production of l-fuculose from an inexpensive and natural source (fucoidan) as well as its comparison with commercial l-fucose (Sigma-Aldrich).

Properties and Applications of Random Lasers as Emerging Light Sources and Optical Sensors: A Review.

In a random laser (RL), optical feedback arises from multiple scattering instead of conventional mirrors. RLs generate a laser-like emission, and meanwhile take advantage of a simpler and more flexible laser configuration. The applicability of RLs as light sources and optical sensors has been proved.

Development of SNP Markers for Original Analysis and Germplasm Identification in .

Tea plants are widely grown all over the world because they are an important economic crop. The purity and authenticity of tea varieties are frequent problems in the conservation and promotion of germplasm resources in recent years, which has brought considerable inconvenience and uncertainty to the selection of parental lines for breeding and the research and cultivation of superior varieties. However, the development of core SNP markers can quickly and accurately identify the germplasm, which plays an important role in germplasm identification and the genetic relationship analysis of tea plants.

Experimental Validation of Shifted Position-Diffuse Reflectance Imaging (SP-DRI) on Optical Phantoms.

Numerous diseases such as hemorrhage, sepsis or cardiogenic shock induce a heterogeneous perfusion of the capillaries. To detect such alterations in the human blood flow pattern, diagnostic devices must provide an appropriately high spatial resolution. Shifted position-diffuse reflectance imaging (SP-DRI) has the potential to do so; it is an all-optical diagnostic technique.

Successful Manipulation of the Product Spectrum of the Levansucrase by Modifying the Residues around loop1, Loop 3, and Loop 4.

Levansucrase (LS, EC 2.4.1.

Characterization of a processive inulosucrase from Lactobacillus mulieris for efficient biosynthesis of high-molecular-weight inulin.

Inulin has been determined to have many exceptional properties and functions and has been used in the food and pharmaceutical fields. Recently, microbial high-molecular-weight inulin synthesized from sucrose by inulosucrase attracted much attention. In this study, a novel inulosucrase from Lactobacillus mulieris was constructed, overexpressed, purified, and identified.

Deep learning based on carotid transverse B-mode scan videos for the diagnosis of carotid plaque: a prospective multicenter study.

Objectives: Accurate detection of carotid plaque using ultrasound (US) is essential for preventing stroke. However, the diagnostic performance of junior radiologists (with approximately 1 year of experience in carotid US evaluation) is relatively poor. We thus aim to develop a deep learning (DL) model based on US videos to improve junior radiologists' performance in plaque detection.

Supply chain risk management with machine learning technology: A literature review and future research directions.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has placed tremendous pressure on supply chain risk management (SCRM) worldwide. Recent technological advances, especially machine learning (ML) technology, have shown the possibility to prevent supply chain risk (SCR) by decreasing the need for human labor, increasing response speed, and predicting risk. However, the literature lacks a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between ML and SCRM.

Structural insights into the regulation of Cas7-11 by TPR-CHAT.

The CRISPR-guided caspase (Craspase) complex is an assembly of the target-specific RNA nuclease known as Cas7-11 bound to CRISPR RNA (crRNA) and an ancillary protein known as TPR-CHAT (tetratricopeptide repeats (TPR) fused with a CHAT domain). The Craspase complex holds promise as a tool for gene therapy and biomedical research, but its regulation is poorly understood. TPR-CHAT regulates Cas7-11 nuclease activity via an unknown mechanism.

Mechanism of cyclic β-glucan export by ABC transporter Cgt of Brucella.

Polysaccharides play critical roles in bacteria, including the formation of protective capsules and biofilms and establishing specific host cell interactions. Their transport across membranes is often mediated by ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, which utilize ATP to translocate diverse molecules. Cyclic β-glucans (CβGs) are critical for host interaction of the Rhizobiales, including the zoonotic pathogen Brucella.

Co-learning of appearance and shape for precise ejection fraction estimation from echocardiographic sequences.

Accurate estimation of ejection fraction (EF) from echocardiography is of great importance for evaluation of cardiac function. It is usually obtained by the Simpson's bi-plane method based on the segmentation of the left ventricle (LV) in two keyframes. However, obtaining accurate EF estimation from echocardiography is challenging due to (1) noisy appearance in ultrasound images, (2) temporal dynamic movement of myocardium, (3) sparse annotation of the full sequence, and (4) potential quality degradation during scanning.

Artificial Intelligence-Assisted Ultrasound Diagnosis on Infant Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip Under Constrained Computational Resources.

Objectives: Ultrasound (US) is important for diagnosing infant developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). However, the accuracy of the diagnosis depends heavily on expertise. We aimed to develop a novel automatic system (DDHnet) for accurate, fast, and robust diagnosis of DDH.

Dual-Modality Molecular Imaging of Tumor via Quantum Dots-Liposome-Microbubble Complexes.

Molecular imaging has demonstrated promise for evaluating the expression levels of biomarkers for the early prediction of tumor progression and metastasis. However, most of the commonly used molecular imaging modalities are relatively single and have difficulties imaging complex biological processes. Here, we fabricated αvβ3-integrin-targeted quantum-dots-loaded liposome-microbubble (iRGD-QDLM) complexes that combined ultrasound imaging with optical imaging.

Lactic acid modified rare earth-based nanomaterials for enhanced radiation therapy by disturbing the glycolysis.

Deficient deposition of X-rays and strong capacity of repairing damage DNA of cancer cells limit the effect of radiation therapy (RT). Herein, we synthesize CsLuF nanoparticles with lactic acid (LA) ligands (CsLuF-LA) to overcome these limitations. The high-Z atoms of Lu and Cs can deposit more X-rays for generating enhanced hydroxyl radicals (·OH).

Improved Segmentation of Echocardiography With Orientation-Congruency of Optical Flow and Motion-Enhanced Segmentation.

Quantification of left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) from echocardiography depends upon the identification of endocardium boundaries as well as the calculation of end-diastolic (ED) and end-systolic (ES) LV volumes. It's critical to segment the LV cavity for precise calculation of EF from echocardiography. Most of the existing echocardiography segmentation approaches either only segment ES and ED frames without leveraging the motion information, or the motion information is only utilized as an auxiliary task.

The anterior nucleus of the thalamus plays a role in the epileptic network.

Objectives: We investigated both the metabolic differences and interictal/ictal discharges of the anterior nucleus of the thalamus (ANT) in patients with epilepsy to clarify the relationship between the ANT and the epileptic network.

Methods: Nineteen patients with drug-resistant epilepsy who underwent stereoelectroencephalography were studied. Metabolic differences in ANT were analyzed using [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography with three-dimensional (3D) visual and quantitative analyses.

A penta-silicene nanoribbon-based 3D silicon allotrope with high carrier mobility and thermoelectric performance.

Motivated by the successful synthesis of penta-silicene nanoribbons using various experimental techniques, we design a new 3D silicon allotrope, labeled cco-Si, by assembling such nanoribbons, confirm its dynamical, thermal and mechanical stabilities, and further study its electron/phonon transport and linear optical properties based on the state-of-the-art theoretical calculations. We find that cco-Si is a direct bandgap semiconductor with a gap of 1.46 eV, exhibiting a high hole mobility in the magnitude of 10 cm V s and a low lattice thermal conductivity of 6.

Chemical Pressure Tuning Magnetism from Pyrochlore to Triangular Lattices.

Geometrically frustrated lattices combined with magnetism usually host quantum fluctuations that suppress magnetic orders and generate highly entangled ground states. Three-dimensionally (3D) frustrated magnets generally exist in the diamond and pyrochlore lattices, while two-dimensionally (2D) frustrated geometries contain Kagomé, triangular, and honeycomb lattices. In this work, we reported using chemical pressure to tune the magnetism of the pyrochlore lattice in LiYbSe into a triangular lattice by doping Ga or In.