Cu-Promoted Divergent Phosphination of Alkynylsulfonium Salts with Diarylphosphines.

An efficient copper-promoted divergent phosphination of alkynylsulfonium salts with secondary diarylphosphines that tolerates a wide range of functional groups under mild conditions is reported. The use of excess alkynyl dibenzothiophenium salts (/ > 1, mole ratio) enables the phosphination to deliver alkynyl monophosphine products via a C(sp)-P cross-coupling in good to high yields, while the use of excess secondary diarylphosphines (/ < 0.5, mole ratio) leads to a type of -ethenyl bisphosphine products via sequential stereoselective double phosphination.

ZmWRKY30 modulates drought tolerance in maize by influencing myo-inositol and reactive oxygen species homeostasis.

Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important food crop with a wide range of uses in both industry and agriculture. Drought stress during its growth cycle can greatly reduce maize crop yield and quality.

Palladium-catalyzed regio- and stereo-selective phosphination of cyclic biarylsulfonium salts to access atropoisomeric phosphines.

A palladium-catalyzed regio- and stereo-selective phosphination of cyclic biarylsulfonium salts (racemic) with HPArAr for straightforward synthesis of atropoisomeric phosphines (P,S-ligands) bearing a stereogenic axis or both a stereogenic axis and a P-stereogenic center is reported. The high reactivity and regio- and stereo-selectivity originate from the torsional strain release and palladium catalysis, and the construction of a P-stereogenic center is enabled by an efficient dynamic kinetic resolution. The high performance of the nascent P,S-ligands has been demonstrated in palladium-catalyzed asymmetric allylic substitutions, indicating the great potential of the present methodology.

The maize WRKY transcription factor ZmWRKY64 confers cadmium tolerance in Arabidopsis and maize (Zea mays L.).

ZmWRKY64 positively regulates Arabidopsis and maize Cd stress through modulating Cd uptake, translocation, and ROS scavenging genes expression. Cadmium (Cd) is a highly toxic heavy metal with severe impacts on crops growth and development. The WRKY transcription factor is a significant regulator influencing plant stress response.

Copper hexacyanoferrate/carbon sheet combination with high selectivity and capacity for copper removal by pseudocapacitance.

The efficient capture of copper ions (Cu) in wastewater has dual significance in pollution control and resource recovery. Prussian blue analog (PBA)-based pseudocapacitive materials with open frameworks and abundant metal sites have attracted considerable attention as capacitive deionization (CDI) electrodes for copper removal. In this study, the efficiency of copper hexacyanoferrate (CuHCF) as CDI electrode for Cu treating was evaluated for the first time upon the successful synthesis of copper hexacyanoferrate/carbon sheet combination (CuHCF/C) by introducing carbon sheet as conductive substrate.

A Comprehensive Identification and Expression Analysis of the WUSCHEL Homeobox-Containing Protein Family Reveals Their Special Role in Development and Abiotic Stress Response in L.

Maize is an important food and cash crop worldwide. The WUSCHEL (WUS)-related homeobox (WOX) transcription factor (TF) family plays a significant role in the development process and the response to abiotic stress of plants. However, few studies have been reported on the function of genes in maize.

ZmB12D, a target of transcription factor ZmWRKY70, enhances the tolerance of Arabidopsis to submergence.

Submergence stress represents a serious threat to the yield and quality of maize because it can lead to oxygen deficiency and the accumulation of toxic metabolites. However, the mechanisms by which maize resists the adverse effects of submergence stress have yet to be fully elucidated. Here, we cloned a gene from maize Balem (Barley aleurone and embryo), ZmB12D, which was expressed at significant levels in seed embryos during imbibition and in leaves under submergence stress.

The Genome-Wide Identification, Characterization, and Expression Analysis of the Strictosidine Synthase-like Family in Maize ( L.).

Maize is often subjected to various environmental stresses. The strictosidine synthase-like (SSL) family is thought to catalyze the key step in the monoterpene alkaloids synthesis pathway in response to environmental stresses. However, the role of genes in maize growth and development and its response to stresses is unknown.

ZmWRKY70 activates the expression of hypoxic responsive genes in maize and enhances tolerance to submergence in Arabidopsis.

Hypoxic stress due to submergence is a serious threat to the growth and development of maize. WRKY transcription factors are significant regulators of plant responses to various abiotic and biotic stresses. Nevertheless, their function and regulatory mechanisms in the resistance of maize to submergence stress remain unclear.

Enhanced etching resolution of self-assembled PS-b-PMMA block copolymer films by ionic liquid additives.

Polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) is one of the most widely studied block copolymers for direct self-assembly because of its excellent compatibility with traditional processes. However, pattern transfer of PS-b-PMMA block copolymers (BCPs) remains a great challenge for its applications due to the insufficient etching resolution. In this study, the effect of ionic liquid 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate (HMHF) additives on the line edge roughness (LER) performances of PS-b-PMMA self-assembled patterns was studied.

Combined high-throughput and fractionation approaches reveal changes of polysaccharides in blueberry skin cell walls during fermentation for wine production.

There have been rare reports about the structure/composition of polymers in blueberry skin and their changes during fermentation for wine production. In this study, the compositional changes occurring in blueberry skin during fermentation were tracked by a combination of cell wall analysis techniques including infra-red spectroscopy, monosaccharide analysis, and comprehensive microarray polymer profiling (CoMPP). The cross-corroborating data revealed that blueberry skin cell wall is particularly rich in xyloglucan.

Efficacy of SG Shield in reducing droplet contamination during collection of oropharyngeal swab culture specimens.

Introduction: Oropharyngeal swabs for diagnosis of COVID-19 often induce violent coughing, which can disperse infectious droplets onto providers. Incorrectly doffing personal protective equipment (PPE) increases the risk of transmission. A cheap, single-use variation of the face shield invented by a Singaporean team, SG Shield, aims to reduce this risk.

Atypical triggers in trigeminal neuralgia: the role of A-delta sensory afferents in food and weather triggers.

Background: Trigeminal neuralgia is a debilitating craniofacial pain syndrome that is characterized by paroxysms of intense, short-lived electric shock-like pains in the trigeminal nerve distribution. Recently, the presence of triggers has become one of the key diagnostic criteria in the 3rd edition of the International Classification of Headache Disorders. Light touch is the most common trigger, however other non-mechanical triggers, such as cold weather and certain foods, have been thought to provoke trigeminal neuralgia anecdotally.

The Influence of Additives on the Interfacial Width and Line Edge Roughness in Block Copolymer Lithography.

The challenges of patterning next generation integrated circuits have driven the semiconductor industry to look outside of traditional lithographic methods in order to continue cost effective size scaling. The directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCPs) is a nanofabrication technique used to reduce the periodicity of patterns prepared with traditional optical methods. BCPs with large interaction parameters ( ), provide access to smaller pitches and reduced interface widths.

Supramolecular Chiral Aggregates Exhibiting Nonlinear CD-ee Dependence.

Although a linear relationship between the optical activity (normally the CD signal) and the enantiomeric excess (ee) of chiral auxiliaries has been the most commonly observed dependence in dynamic supramolecular helical aggregates, positive nonlinear CD-ee dependence, known as the "majority-rules effect" (MRE), indicative of chiral amplification, has also been well documented and to some extent understood. In sharp contrast, the negative nonlinear CD-ee dependence has been much less reported and is not well understood. Here, the state of the art of both the positive and negative nonlinear CD-ee dependence in noncovalently bound supramolecular helical aggregates is summarized, with the hope that the vast examples of supramolecular aggregates showing positive nonlinear dependence, in terms of the methods of investigations, variations in the structure of the building block (single species or multiple species), and theoretical modeling using the mismatch penalty energy and helix reversal penalty energy, would help to guide the design of building blocks to form aggregates showing negative nonlinear dependence, and thus to understand the mechanisms.

FengLiao affects gut microbiota and the expression levels of Na+/H+ exchangers, aquaporins and acute phase proteins in mice with castor oil-induced diarrhea.

The severe side effects of chemosynthetic anti-diarrhea drugs have created an interest in low-toxic alternative plant-derived compounds. FengLiao consists of Polygonum hydropiper Linn. and Daphniphyllum calycinum Bench.

Comparative analysis of chemical constituents and bioactivities of the extracts from leaves, seed coats and embryoids of L.

A total of 25 compounds including terpenoids, flavonoids, biflavonoids and ginkgolic acids were identified and quantified with a reliable, simple, and simultaneous method from Ginkgo leaves, seed coats and embryoids with different tree ages (approximately identified as 25, 500, 1000 and 2000 years). Leaves had the highest amount of total bioactive compounds. Seed coats had moderate contents of flavonoids, which was 15 times higher than embryoids.

Design of Chiral Supramolecular Polymers Exhibiting a Negative Nonlinear Response.

Many synthetic and supramolecular chiral polymeric systems are known to exhibit the "majority rules effect" (MRE), a positive nonlinear response in which a small enantiomeric excess () of the chiral building blocks leads to unproportionally large chiroptical signals near zero . In contrast, the opposite "racemate rules effect" (RRE), a negative nonlinear response in which the chiroptical signals are flat near zero , while giving large nonlinear chiroptical responses to at high values, has only been occasionally observed. The origin of this unusual dependence remains elusive largely because few systems have been established that exhibit this effect.

Engineering the Kinetics of Directed Self-Assembly of Block Copolymers toward Fast and Defect-Free Assembly.

Directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCPs) can achieve perfectly aligned structures at thermodynamic equilibrium, but the self-assembling morphology can become kinetically trapped in defective states. Understanding and optimizing the kinetic pathway toward domain alignment is crucial for enhancing process throughput and lowering defectivity to levels required for semiconductor manufacturing, but there is a dearth of experimental, three-dimensional studies of the kinetic pathways in DSA. Here, we combined arrested annealing and TEM tomography to probe the kinetics and structural evolution in the chemoepitaxy DSA of PS- b-PMMA with density multiplication.

Ionic Liquids as Additives to Polystyrene- Block-Poly(Methyl Methacrylate) Enabling Directed Self-Assembly of Patterns with Sub-10 nm Features.

Polystyrene- block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS- b-PMMA) is one of the prototypical block copolymers in directed self-assembly (DSA) research and development, with standardized protocols in place for processing on industrially relevant 300 mm wafers. Scaling of DSA patterns to pitches below 20 nm using PS- b-PMMA, however, is hindered by the relatively low Flory-Huggins interaction parameter, χ. Here, we investigate the approach of adding small amounts of ionic liquids (ILs) into PS- b-PMMA, which selectively segregates into the PMMA domain and effectively increases the χ parameter and thus the pattern resolution.

Misleading hepatitis B serology following Rho (D) immune globulin (human) injection and influenza vaccine.

Having a hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb) titre of more than 10 mIU/mL after hepatitis B vaccination is generally considered to confer immunity to hepatitis B. This case report discusses an unusual case of a false positive hepatitis B core total antibody (HBcAb) following administration of either Rho (D) immune globulin (Human) injection or influenza vaccine in a patriuent who was previously immunised against hepatitis B.