Publications by authors named "Xinhong Chen"

Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has been widely adopted in various applications, yet it faces practical limitations due to high storage and computational demands. Dynamic sparse training (DST) has recently emerged as a prominent approach to reduce these demands during training and inference phases, but existing DST methods achieve high sparsity levels by sacrificing policy performance as they rely on the absolute magnitude of connections for pruning and randomly generating connections. Addressing this, our study presents a generic method that can be seamlessly integrated into existing DST methods in DRL to enhance their policy performance while preserving their sparsity levels.

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  • Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) are important tools used for delivering genes in research and clinical settings, but understanding how these viruses interact with cells can be challenging, especially for those that have been modified through directed evolution.
  • This study uses a human cell microarray platform to uncover how both natural and engineered AAVs connect with human cell receptors, discovering that AAV9 specifically interacts with interleukin 3 (IL3) and that engineered AAVs can interact with the low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 6 (LRP6), which might enhance their ability to cross the blood-brain barrier.
  • The findings also highlight potential side effects from engineered AAVs due to off-target tissue binding, paving the
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Electrocatalytic nitrate reduction to ammonia holds great promise for developing green technologies for electrochemical ammonia energy conversion and storage. Considering that real nitrate resources often exhibit low concentrations, it is challenging to achieve high activity in low-concentration nitrate solutions due to the competing reaction of the hydrogen evolution reaction, let alone considering the catalyst lifetime. Herein, we present a high nitrate reduction performance electrocatalyst based on a Co nanosheet structure with a gradient dispersion of Ru, which yields a high NH Faraday efficiency of over 93% at an industrially relevant NH current density of 1.

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Background: Developing novel germplasm by using wheat wild related species is an effective way to rebuild the wheat resource bank. The Psathyrostachys huashanica Keng (P. huashanica, 2n = 2x = 14, NsNs) is regarded as a superior species to improve wheat breeding because of its multi-resistance, early maturation and numerous tiller traits.

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Lifelong deep reinforcement learning (DRL) approaches are commonly employed to adapt continuously to new tasks without forgetting previously acquired knowledge. While current lifelong DRL methods have shown promising advancements in retaining acquired knowledge, they suffer from significant adaptation efforts (i.e.

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Interactions between microorganisms and plants can stimulate plant growth and promote nitrogen cycling. Nitrogen fertilizers are routinely used in agriculture to improve crop growth and yield; however, poor use efficiency impairs the optimal utilization of such fertilizers. Differences in the microbial diversity and plant growth of rice soil under different nitrogen application conditions and the expression of nitrogen-use efficiency-related genes have not been previously investigated.

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  • Deep-learning methods for protein structure prediction are highly accurate, but there's a gap in predicting which proteins can effectively bind to targets, limiting their practical applications in protein engineering.
  • To address this gap, a new tool called APPRAISE has been developed, which scores the target-binding ability of engineered proteins after their structures are predicted using tools like AlphaFold or ESMFold, doing so in less than a second per model.
  • APPRAISE has been successfully tested for various engineered proteins, including those targeting the SARS-CoV-2 spike and certain viral vectors, and is available online through Google Colaboratory, enhancing protein structure prediction and aiding biomedical research.
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Wheat sheath blight caused by the necrotic fungal pathogen is responsible for severe damage to bread wheat. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are vital for stress resistance by plants and their homeostasis plays an important role in wheat resistance to sheath blight. Valine-glutamine (VQ) proteins play important roles in plant growth and development, and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses.

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Rice is the main food crops with the higher capacity for cadmium (Cd) uptake, necessitating the urgent need for remediation measures to address Cd in paddy soil. Reasonable agronomic methods are convenient and favorable for fixing the issue. In this study, a pot experiment was employed to evaluate the effects of two foliar (NaHPO, SDP; KHPO, PDP) and two solid phosphate fertilizers (double-superphosphate, DSP; calcium-magnesium phosphate, CMP) on uptake and remobilization of Cd in rice plants under the low-P and rich-Cd soil.

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  • The study explores how biofortifying rice with zinc (Zn) and silicon (Si) can reduce harmful cadmium (Cd) accumulation in rice grains.
  • It highlights that applying Zn/Si together significantly lowers Cd levels in roots and promotes the production of protective compounds like phytochelatins and glutathione during Cd stress.
  • The findings suggest that Zn/Si not only helps compartmentalize Cd but also improves the nutritional quality of rice by enhancing amino acid metabolism, which reduces Cd in important protein fractions by nearly 51%.
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  • Integrating cell type-specific enhancers with recombinant adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) allows targeted genetic access to specific cell types, but AAVs have a limited capacity for the size of genetic material they can deliver.
  • The concept of transcriptional crosstalk involves separating large regulatory elements into a second AAV genome, offering a new way to achieve specific gene expression within a certain cell type.
  • The study identifies transcriptional crosstalk in AAVs with 11 mouse brain enhancers, using advanced spatial genomics to examine AAV behavior, and successfully demonstrates cell type-specific gene editing in tissues with minimal invasiveness.
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  • * Researchers identified 131 wheat thaumatin-like protein (TaTLP) genes, including 38 newly discovered ones, and explored their genetic structure, properties, and response to R. cerealis infection.
  • * Gene silencing of TaTLP44 revealed it negatively regulates wheat's resistance by influencing defense-related genes, suggesting potential pathways for enhancing plant resilience to diseases.
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Objective: To evaluate the association between traditional laboratory findings and death, and to find risk factors for death in infants with early onset sepsis (EOS).

Study Design: This was a single-center, case-control, retrospective trial conducted between January 2020 and August 2021. Infants with EOS were enrolled and divided into two groups based on outcome before hospital discharge: non-survivors (Mortality group) and survivors (Survival group).

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Crossing the blood-brain barrier in primates is a major obstacle for gene delivery to the brain. Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) promise robust, non-invasive gene delivery from the bloodstream to the brain. However, unlike in rodents, few neurotropic AAVs efficiently cross the blood-brain barrier in non-human primates.

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  • Modern neuroscience tools, like optogenetics and calcium imaging, help researchers study specific brain circuits in rodents to understand neurological diseases.
  • Using viral vectors, scientists can deliver genetic material to target specific cells in engineered rodents, but applying these methods to nonhuman primates poses challenges due to limited viral vectors.
  • Recent advancements in adeno-associated viral vectors for nonhuman primates could enhance research capabilities, leading to better insights and potential treatments for neurological and neurodegenerative conditions.
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Delivering genes to and across the brain vasculature efficiently and specifically across species remains a critical challenge for addressing neurological diseases. We have evolved adeno-associated virus (AAV9) capsids into vectors that transduce brain endothelial cells specifically and efficiently following systemic administration in wild-type mice with diverse genetic backgrounds, and in rats. These AAVs also exhibit superior transduction of the CNS across non-human primates (marmosets and rhesus macaques), and in ex vivo human brain slices, although the endothelial tropism is not conserved across species.

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  • Psathrostachys huashanica (P. huashanica) is being studied for its potential to enhance wheat varieties due to its advantageous traits.
  • A comparison between a wheat-P. huashanica line (7182-6Ns) and its wheat parents revealed that 7182-6Ns had higher protein content and better dough properties, which were linked to the presence of exogenous gliadin.
  • The incorporation of this gliadin improved biscuit qualities, such as increased diameter and crispness, while reducing thickness and hardness, establishing a foundation for future improvements in wheat for biscuits.
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The blood-brain barrier (BBB) presents a major challenge for delivering large molecules to study and treat the central nervous system. This is due in part to the scarcity of targets known to mediate BBB crossing. To identify novel targets, we leverage a panel of adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) previously identified through mechanism-agnostic directed evolution for improved BBB transcytosis.

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Adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) promise robust gene delivery to the brain through non-invasive, intravenous delivery. However, unlike in rodents, few neurotropic AAVs efficiently cross the blood-brain barrier in non-human primates (NHPs). Here we describe AAV.

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  • Efficient delivery of genes across the brain's blood vessels is crucial for treating neurological diseases, and modified adeno-associated viruses (AAV9) have been developed to target brain endothelial cells effectively in various animal models.
  • These modified AAVs show enhanced ability to transduce cells in non-human primates and human brain tissue, although their targeting efficiency varies across species.
  • The research indicates that these mouse-specific capsids can be utilized to alter the blood-brain barrier, turning it into a functional biofactory that produces beneficial proteins, like Hevin, to improve synaptic function in mice with synaptic deficits.
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  • - The study addresses the challenges of using engineered adeno-associated viral vectors (AAVs) for targeting specific cell types by developing a new method called USeqFISH, which allows for high-resolution spatial profiling of RNA in tissues.
  • - USeqFISH was used to analyze the transduction patterns of six different systemic AAVs in mouse brain regions, revealing unique preferences for certain cell subtypes, such as AAV-PHP.N favoring excitatory neurons.
  • - The method also facilitates the profiling of regulatory elements within AAV genomes and shows promise for applications in studying gene delivery in non-human primates.
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CuO /TiO co-photocatalysts with various Cu loading contents were synthesized by an impregnation method, and their photocatalytic activities were evaluated by photodegradation of organic pollutants under visible light illumination. The as-prepared CuO /TiO composites exhibited a unique structure, in which CuO clusters with about 2-3 nm nanocrystals were uniformly distributed on the TiO cube. The mesoporous Ti/TiO substrate with a uniform pore structure greatly improved the uniformity of the loaded Cu, wherein Ti acted as a reducing agent for reducing Cu to Cu and Cu.

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Heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd) in farmland soil not only affect crop production, but also endanger human health through the food chain. Rice is the main food crop with the strongest ability to absorb Cd, remediation techniques to reduce soil uptake and grain accumulation of Cd are urgently required, for which the application of foliar spraying seems to be a convenient and auspicious method. This study clarified the effects of nitrogen (N), zinc (Zn), 24-epibrassionlide (EBL) and their combined application on the growth performance and physiological characteristics of Cd and Zn in rice plants under Cd stress.

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is a relative of wheat ( L.) with many disease resistance genes that can be used to improve wheat disease resistance. In order to enrich the germplasm resources available in wheat genetics and breeding, we assessed head blight (FHB) resistance in 45 interspecific derivatives between wheat and during two years from 2017-2018.

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