PennPRS: a centralized cloud computing platform for efficient polygenic risk score training in precision medicine.

Polygenic risk scores (PRS) are becoming increasingly vital for risk prediction and stratification in precision medicine. However, PRS model training presents significant challenges for broader adoption of PRS, including limited access to computational resources, difficulties in implementing advanced PRS methods, and availability and privacy concerns over individual-level genetic data. Cloud computing provides a promising solution with centralized computing and data resources.

The transcription factor WRKY41-FLAVONOID 3'-HYDROXYLASE module fine-tunes flavonoid metabolism and cold tolerance in potato.

Cold stress adversely affects crop growth and productivity. Resolving the genetic basis of freezing tolerance is important for crop improvement. Wild potato (Solanum commersonii) exhibits excellent freezing tolerance.

Biomass Hydrogel Electrolytes toward Green and Durable Supercapacitors: Enhancing Flame Retardancy, Low-Temperature Self-Healing, Self-Adhesion, and Long-Term Cycling Stability.

Hydrogels have shown promise as quasi-solid-state electrolytes for flexible supercapacitors but face challenges such as poor self-repair, unstable electrode adhesion, limited temperature range, and flammability. Herein, an all-round green hydrogel electrolyte (silk nanofibers (SNFs)/peach gum polysaccharide (PGP)/borax/glycerol (SPBG)-ZnSO) addresses these issues through dynamic cross-linking of peach gum polysaccharide and silk nanofibers with borax, integrating varieties of key property including high water retention, broad temperature tolerance (-20 to 90 °C), excellent self-adhesion (60.7 kPa for carbon cloth electrodes), satisfactory flame retardancy (limited oxygen index of 51%), low-temperature self-healing (-20 °C), and good ionic conductivity (7.

Quantifying Emotional Responses to Immutable Data Characteristics and Designer Choices in Data Visualizations.

Emotion is an important factor to consider when designing visualizations as it can impact the amount of trust viewers place in a visualization, how well they can retrieve information and understand the underlying data, and how much they engage with or connect to a visualization. We conducted five crowdsourced experiments to quantify the effects of color, chart type, data trend, data variability and data density on emotion (measured through self-reported arousal and valence). Results from our experiments show that there are multiple design elements which influence the emotion induced by a visualization and, more surprisingly, that certain data characteristics influence the emotion of viewers even when the data has no meaning.

Eye-brain connections revealed by multimodal retinal and brain imaging genetics.

The retina, an anatomical extension of the brain, forms physiological connections with the visual cortex of the brain. Although retinal structures offer a unique opportunity to assess brain disorders, their relationship to brain structure and function is not well understood. In this study, we conducted a systematic cross-organ genetic architecture analysis of eye-brain connections using retinal and brain imaging endophenotypes.

Advances in the Modulation of Potato Tuber Dormancy and Sprouting.

The post-harvest phase of potato tuber dormancy and sprouting are essential in determining the economic value. The intricate transition from dormancy to active growth is influenced by multiple factors, including environmental factors, carbohydrate metabolism, and hormonal regulation. Well-established environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, and light play pivotal roles in these processes.

Analyzing bivariate cross-trait genetic architecture in GWAS summary statistics with the BIGA cloud computing platform.

As large-scale biobanks provide increasing access to deep phenotyping and genomic data, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) are rapidly uncovering the genetic architecture behind various complex traits and diseases. GWAS publications typically make their summary-level data (GWAS summary statistics) publicly available, enabling further exploration of genetic overlaps between phenotypes gathered from different studies and cohorts. However, systematically analyzing high-dimensional GWAS summary statistics for thousands of phenotypes can be both logistically challenging and computationally demanding.

Transcriptome Analysis Reveals the Molecular Mechanisms of BR Negative Regulatory Factor StBIN2 Maintaining Tuber Dormancy.

Potato is an important food crop. After harvest, these tubers will undergo a period of dormancy. Brassinosteroids (BRs) are a new class of plant hormones that regulate plant growth and seed germination.

StSN2 interacts with the brassinosteroid signaling suppressor StBIN2 to maintain tuber dormancy.

After harvest, potato tubers undergo an important period of dormancy, which significantly impacts potato quality and seed vigor. has been reported as a key gene for maintaining tuber dormancy; in this study, we explored the molecular mechanism by which maintains dormancy. StBIN2 was first identified as a candidate protein that interacts with StSN2 by co-immunoprecipitation/mass spectrometry, and both qPCR and enzyme activity experiments showed that can promote the StBIN2 expression and activity.

StBIN2 Positively Regulates Potato Formation through Hormone and Sugar Signaling.

Potato is an important food crop worldwide. Brassinosteroids (BRs) are widely involved in plant growth and development, and BIN2 (brassinosteroid insensitive 2) is the negative regulator of their signal transduction. However, the function of BIN2 in the formation of potato tubers remains unclear.

[Response of vegetation to terrestrial water storage in Southwest China].

To explore the responses of vegetation growth to change in terrestrial water storage in Southwest China, we analyzed the change trend and relationship between vegetation and terrestrial water storage anomaly (TWSA) in Southwest China from January 2003 to December 2021 by using TWSA data of Gravity Recovery and Climate Experi-ment (GRACE) satellite and normalized differential vegetation index (NDVI) data. The results showed that NDVI in Southwest China during the study period showed an overall upward trend. Meanwhile, TWSA showed a significant downward trend in central and southern Tibet, and a significant upward trend in northwest Tibet and southeast region of Southwest China.

Karst study of Jinfo Mountain based on image analysis.

The KDR (karst development rate) of rocks and their PCR(porosity of carbonate rocks) are common research topics in Jinfo Mountain. The use of traditional carbonate research methods (TCRMs) for karst studies has been shown to be costly and time-consuming. Therefore, this study attempted to find a new, reliable, low-cost, and time-saving method for karst research.

H3K27me3-modulated Hofbauer cell BMP2 signalling enhancement compensates for shallow trophoblast invasion in preeclampsia.

Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is a common hypertensive pregnancy disorder associated with shallow trophoblast invasion. Although bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) has been shown to promote trophoblast invasion in vitro, its cellular origin and molecular regulation in placenta, as well as its potential role in PE, has yet to be established. Additionally, whether BMP2 and/or its downstream molecules could serve as potential diagnostic or therapeutic targets for PE has not been explored.

Impact of thyroid autoimmunity on pregnancy outcomes in euthyroid patients with recurrent implantation failure.

Research Question: Does thyroid autoimmunity (TAI) adversely affect pregnancy outcomes after IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) in euthyroid patients with recurrent implantation failure (RIF)?

Design: This retrospective cohort study was conducted at the Reproductive Hospital Affiliated with Shandong University from November 2016 to September 2021. A total of 1031 euthyroid patients diagnosed with RIF were enrolled. Based on serum thyroid autoantibody concentrations, the participants were divided into two groups: the TAI-positive group (219 women with RIF) and the TAI-negative group (812 women with RIF).

No-tillage with straw mulching promotes the utilization of soil nitrogen by rice under wheat-rice and oilseed rape-rice cropping systems.

Introduction: To investigate the effects of no-tillage with straw mulching on the absorption and utilization of soil nitrogen (N), fertilizer N, and straw N by rice under paddy-upland rotations.

Methods: A field experiment with three cropping systems: fallow-rice rotation without straw mulching (FRN), wheat-rice rotation with wheat mulching in rice season (WRS), and oilseed rape-rice rotation with oilseed rape straw mulching in rice season (ORS) was conducted from 2015 to 2017, along with a mini-plot experiment with N-labeled urea and straws, which was conducted in 2017.

Results: No-tillage with straw reduced rice N uptake up to 20 days after transplanting, the total amount of fertilizer N uptake of WRS and ORS rice plants was 46.

Whole exome sequencing in unexplained recurrent miscarriage families identified novel pathogenic genetic causes of euploid miscarriage.

Study Question: Can whole exome sequencing (WES) followed by trio bioinformatics analysis identify novel pathogenic genetic causes of first trimester euploid miscarriage?

Summary Answer: We identified genetic variants in six candidate genes that indicated plausible underlying causes of first-trimester euploid miscarriage.

What Is Known Already: Previous studies have identified several monogenic causes of Mendelian inheritance in euploid miscarriages. However, most of these studies are without trio analyses and lack cellular and animal models to validate the functional effect of putative pathogenic variants.

Eye-brain connections revealed by multimodal retinal and brain imaging genetics in the UK Biobank.

As an anatomical extension of the brain, the retina of the eye is synaptically connected to the visual cortex, establishing physiological connections between the eye and the brain. Despite the unique opportunity retinal structures offer for assessing brain disorders, less is known about their relationship to brain structure and function. Here we present a systematic cross-organ genetic architecture analysis of eye-brain connections using retina and brain imaging endophenotypes.

Three-dimensional printing designed customized plate in the treatment of coronal fracture of distal humerus in teenager: A case report.

Rationale: Because of the complicated anatomy and considerable change in size and morphology with age in teenagers, the appropriate internal fixator of coronal shear fracture of distal humerus is difficult to choose, and therefore, the fixation of this kind of fracture is difficult and controversial. Furthermore, distal humeral fractures in teenagers often involve the epiphysis, the rigid fixation of fracture and the simultaneous minimally invasive and protection of the epiphysis are contradictory. Coronal shear fractures of the distal humerus in teenagers are great challenge for orthopedic surgeons.

Phenotypic variability and genetic diversity analysis of cultivated potatoes in China.

Phenotypic evaluation and molecular biotechnology are both important in the identification and utilization of crop germplasm resources. In this study, the phenotypic variation and genetic diversity of 149 main potato cultivars in China were investigated with 12 phenotypic traits and 24 SSR markers. The coefficient of variation of 12 phenotypic traits ranged from 12.

Bayesian Networks modeling of diarrhetic shellfish poisoning in Mytilus edulis harvested in Bantry Bay, Ireland.

Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning (DSP) results from the human consumption of contaminated shellfish with marine biotoxins, which are produced by some species of marine dinoflagellates, mainly belonging to the genus Dinophysis. Shellfish contamination with marine biotoxins not only pose a threat to human health, but also lead to financial loss to aquaculture operations from the temporary closure of production areas when toxin concentrations exceed regulatory levels. In this study, we developed a Bayesian Network (BN) model for forecasting the short-term variations of DSP toxins in blue mussels (Mytilus edulis) from Bantry Bay, Southwest Ireland.

Snakin-2 interacts with cytosolic glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase 1 to inhibit sprout growth in potato tubers.

The potato tuber is the main nutrient supply and reproductive organ; however, tuber sprouting can reduce its commercial value. Snakin-2 (StSN2) was first reported as an antimicrobial peptide that positively regulates potato disease resistance. Our recent study suggested StSN2 overexpression inhibited sprout growth, while the sprouting process was accelerated in StSN2 RNAi lines.

A novel method to realize a non-uniform heat flux distribution through the variable-speed scanning of an electron beam.

Quartz lamp heaters and hypersonic wind tunnel are currently applied in thermal assessment of heat resistant materials and surface of aircraft. However, it is difficult to achieve precise heat flux distribution by quartz lamp heaters, while enormous energy is required by a large scale hypersonic wind tunnel. Electron beam can be focused into a beam spot of millimeter scale by an electromagnetic lens and electron-magnetically deflected to achieve a rapid scanning over a workpiece.

The Cysteine-Rich Peptide Snakin-2 Negatively Regulates Tubers Sprouting through Modulating Lignin Biosynthesis and HO Accumulation in Potato.

Potato tuber dormancy is critical for the post-harvest quality. Snakin/Gibberellic Acid Stimulated in Arabidopsis (GASA) family genes are involved in the plants' defense against pathogens and in growth and development, but the effect of Snakin-2 (SN2) on tuber dormancy and sprouting is largely unknown. In this study, a transgenic approach was applied to manipulate the expression level of in tubers, and it demonstrated that SN2 significantly controlled tuber sprouting, and silencing resulted in a release of dormancy and overexpressing tubers showed a longer dormant period than that of the control.

A colorimetric indicator-displacement assay based on stable Cu selective carbon dots for fluorescence turn-on detection of pyrophosphate anions in urine.

Determination of PPi levels in urine represents a measurable factor for diagnostic, treatment, and monitoring of urolithiasis. Owing to the quenching ability of Cu on fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) and strong binding affinity between Cu and PPi, we develop a new off-on assay for PPi detection using newly BPHA CDs (BPHA: N,N-bis(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)hexan-1-amine). The fluorescence intensity of BPHA CDs was significantly quenched by Cu ("off") through forming BPHA CDs/Cu complexes and the fluorescence intensity of BPHA CDs /Cu system was completely resumed by PPi ("on") owing to the release of free Cu.