Publications by authors named "Xiao-Fei Wang"

Alginate oligosaccharides (AOs), derived from alginate degradation, exhibit diverse biological activities and hold significant promise in various fields. The enzymatic preparation of AOs relies on alginate lyases, which offers distinct advantages. In contrast to the conventional use of sodium alginate derived from brown algae as the substrate for the enzymatic preparation of AOs, AO preparation directly from brown algae is more appealing due to its time and energy efficiency.

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Purpose: To quantitatively characterize the posterior morphology of high myopia eyes with posterior staphyloma.

Methods: Surface points of the eyeball were automatically extracted from magnetic resonance imaging scans using deep learning. Subsequently, the topography of posterior staphylomas was constructed to facilitate accurate visualization and quantification of their location and severity.

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Background: Gastric ulcers (GUs) have a high risk of clinical morbidity and recurrence, and further exploration is needed for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease.

Aim: To investigated the effects of a diet plan on pepsinogen (PG) I, PG II, gastrin-17 (G-17) levels and nutritional status in patients with GUs.

Methods: A total of 100 patients with GUs treated between May 2022 and May 2023 were enrolled, with 47 patients in the control group receiving routine nursing and 53 patients in the experimental group receiving dietary nursing intervention based on a diet plan.

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Fruit colour is a critical determinant for the appearance quality and commercial value of apple fruits. Viroid-induced dapple symptom severely affects the fruit coloration, however, the underlying mechanism remains unknown. In this study, we identified an apple dimple fruit viroid (ADFVd)-derived small interfering RNA, named vsiR693, which targeted the mRNA coding for a bHLH transcription factor MdPIF1 (PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR 1) to regulate anthocyanin biosynthesis in apple.

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Endogenous opioid antinociception is a self-regulatory mechanism that reduces chronic pain, but its underlying circuit mechanism remains largely unknown. Here, we showed that endogenous opioid antinociception required the activation of mu-opioid receptors (MORs) in GABAergic neurons of the central amygdala nucleus (CEA) in a persistent-hyperalgesia mouse model. Pharmacogenetic suppression of these CEA neurons, which mimics the effect of MOR activation, alleviated the persistent hyperalgesia.

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Article Synopsis
  • Fungal pathogens induce necrosis in apple fruits, creating a red circle that indicates a response to infection, though the molecular process behind this is not well understood.
  • This study identified that salicylic acid (SA) accumulation from fungal infection stimulates anthocyanin production via the MdNPR1-MdTGA2.2 pathway in apples, correlating with the red circle's coloration.
  • Suppressing or overexpressing either MdNPR1 or MdTGA2.2 affected the fruit's color, confirming their critical roles in regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis in response to pathogens.
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Knowledge about the neuronal dynamics and the projectome are both essential for understanding how the neuronal network functions in concert. However, it remains challenging to obtain the neural activity and the brain-wide projectome for the same neurons, especially for neurons in subcortical brain regions. Here, by combining in vivo microscopy and high-definition fluorescence micro-optical sectioning tomography, we have developed strategies for mapping the brain-wide projectome of functionally relevant neurons in the somatosensory cortex, the dorsal hippocampus, and the substantia nigra pars compacta.

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  • Alginate oligosaccharides (AOS), derived from alginate breakdown, have beneficial properties and diverse uses, but finding alginate lyases that produce consistent AOS has been challenging.
  • The enzyme AlyC7, sourced from sp. C42, was identified as a highly active lyase that specifically produces trisaccharides, achieving significant yields in a lab setup.
  • The AOS produced by AlyC7 demonstrated positive effects on plant growth, boosting root lengths in various crops, thus showcasing its potential for agricultural applications.
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  • BTB and TAZ domain proteins (BTs) are crucial adaptors for the CUL3-RING ubiquitin ligase complex, which helps target proteins for ubiquitination under various conditions.
  • The study reveals that the calmodulin-like protein MdCML15 negatively regulates the function of the apple scaffold protein MdBT2, influencing processes related to membrane H-ATPase regulation and tolerance to iron deficiency.
  • The findings suggest that MdCML15, through its interactions with MdBT2 and the target protein MdbHLH104, plays a significant role in lowering rhizosphere pH and maintaining iron balance in apple plantlets.
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The Tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR)-like superfamily with TPR conserved domains is widely involved in the growth and abiotic stress in many plants. In this report, the gene MdTPR16 belongs to the TPR family in apple (Malus domestica). Promoter analysis reveal that MdTPR16 incorporated various stress response elements, including the drought stress response elements.

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Article Synopsis
  • Overexpression of the MdLBD3 gene in Arabidopsis enhances the plant's resistance to salt and drought stress while also promoting early flowering.
  • The study identifies and analyzes the LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARY DOMAIN (LBD) protein family in apples, noting the limited understanding of their roles in woody plants.
  • Findings suggest that MdLBD3, localized in the nucleus and expressed in various tissues, could be a valuable genetic resource for breeding apples with improved tolerance to environmental stresses.
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Background: This study aimed to identify prognostic factors for pregnancy outcomes and construct a prognostic model for pregnancy outcomes in women with Recurrent Spontaneous Abortions (RSA) treated with cyclosporin A.

Methods: A total of 154 RSA patients treated with cyclosporin A between October 2016 and October 2018 were retrospectively recruited. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to identify the prognostic factors for pregnancy success in RSA women treated with cyclosporin A.

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Artificially enhancing photosynthesis is critical for improving crop yields and fruit qualities. Nanomaterials have demonstrated great potential to enhance photosynthetic efficiency; however, the mechanisms underlying their effects are poorly understood. This study revealed that the electron transfer pathway participated in nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs)-induced photosynthetic efficiency enhancement (24.

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Plants possess the remarkable ability to sense detrimental environmental stimuli and launch sophisticated signal cascades that culminate in tailored responses to facilitate their survival, and transcription factors (TFs) are closely involved in these processes. Phytochrome interacting factors (PIFs) are among these TFs and belong to the basic helix-loop-helix family. PIFs are initially identified and have now been well established as core regulators of phytochrome-associated pathways in response to the light signal in plants.

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Abscisic acid (ABA), as a plant hormone, plays a positive role in leaf chlorosis; however, the underlying molecular mechanism is less known. Our findings provide ABA treatment reduced the chlorophyll accumulation in apple, and Sucrose Non-fermenting 1-Related Protein Kinase 1.1 ( participates in the process.

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Purpose: PAFAH1B1, also known as LIS1, is associated with type I lissencephaly in humans, which is a severe developmental brain disorder believed to result from abnormal neuronal migration. Our objective was to characterize the genotypes and phenotypes of PAFAH1B1-related epilepsy.

Methods: We conducted a comprehensive analysis of the medical histories, magnetic resonance imaging findings, and video-electroencephalogram recordings of 11 patients with PAFAH1B1 variants at the Neurology Department of Beijing Children's Hospital from June 2017 to November 2022.

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Drought stress is one of the main environmental factors limiting plant growth and development. Plants adapt to changing soil moisture by modifying root architecture, inducing stomatal closure, and inhibiting shoot growth. The AP2/ERF transcription factor DREB2A plays a key role in maintaining plant growth in response to drought stress, but the molecular mechanism underlying this process remains to be elucidated.

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Cuticular waxes play important roles in plant development and the interaction between plants and their environment. Researches on wax biosynthetic pathways have been reported in several plant species. Also, wax formation is closely related to environmental condition.

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Cancer is associated with the highest mortality rate globally. While life-saving screening and treatments exist, better awareness is needed. RNF187, an E3 ligase regulating biological processes, belongs to the RING domain-containing E3 ligase family.

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Plants have evolved a complex and elaborate signaling network to respond appropriately to the pathogen invasion by regulating expression of defensive genes through certain transcription factors. The APETALA2/ethylene response factor (AP2/ERF) family members have been determined as key regulators in growth, development, and stress responses in plants. Moreover, a growing body of evidence has demonstrated the critical roles of AP2/ERFs in plant disease resistance.

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Thermally active delayed fluorescence (TADF) molecules have potentially applications in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) and biomedical sensing. Although TADF emitters have witnessed a rapid development, it remains challenging to study the relationship between molecular structures and luminescence properties as well as carrier mobility transfer properties in theory. In this work, the photophysical properties and luminescence mechanisms of isomers TPA-APQDCN-C (donors at para-position) and TPA-APQDCN-Y (donors at ortho-position) were studied based on density functional theory (DFT) and thermal vibration correlation function (TVCF) method.

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The itch-scratching cycle is mediated by neural dynamics in the brain. However, our understanding of the neural dynamics during this cycle remains limited. In this study, we examine the neural dynamics of 126 mouse brain areas by measuring the calcium signal using fiber photometry.

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