Linoleic acid alleviates aluminum toxicity by modulating fatty acid composition and redox homeostasis in wheat (Triticum aestivum) seedlings.

Lipids, as key components of biological membranes, play vital roles in sensing and initiating plant responses to various abiotic stresses. Here, the alteration of membrane fatty acids in wheat roots under Al stress was investigated using two genotypes differing in Al tolerance, and the role of linoleic acid in Al tolerance was comprehensively explored. Significant differences in the fatty acid profiles were observed, with increased linoleic acid accumulation in the Al-tolerant genotype.

Perturbation of periodic spot-generation balance leads to diversified pigmentation patterning of harlequin Phalaenopsis orchids: in silico prediction.

Background: A retrotransposon HORT1 in the promoter of the anthocyanin activator gene PeMYB11, microRNA858 (miR858) that targets PeMYB11, and a repressor PeMYBx have been implicated in pigmentation patterning diversity of harlequin Phalaenopsis orchids. However, the interrelationship among them remains to be elucidated.

Results: To understand how these factors interact to generate anthocyanin spots in Phalaenopsis, we successfully developed a mathematical model based on the known reaction-diffusion system to simulate their interplay and refined the conceptual biological model.

Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Cerebral Vascular Permeability in Type 2 Diabetes-Related Cerebral Microangiopathy.

Aims: Diabetes-related cerebral microangiopathy can manifest as cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) and exhibit cognitive decline. To find the early change of function in advance, this study examined the spatiotemporal dynamics of cerebral vascular permeability () in the progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Methods: was cross-sectionally measured in T2DM and non-diabetes groups with or without CSVD using dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI).

Improvement of Sensitivity of Pooling Strategies for COVID-19.

Group testing (or pool testing), for example, Dorfman's method or grid method, has been validated for COVID-19 RT-PCR tests and implemented widely by most laboratories in many countries. These methods take advantages since they reduce resources, time, and overall costs required for a large number of samples. However, these methods could have more false negative cases and lower sensitivity.

An Innovative Wearable Device For Monitoring Continuous Body Surface Temperature (HEARThermo): Instrument Validation Study.

Background: Variations in body temperature are highly informative during an illness. To date, there are not many adequate studies that have investigated the feasibility of a wearable wrist device for the continuous monitoring of body surface temperatures in humans.

Objective: The objective of this study was to validate the performance of HEARThermo, an innovative wearable device, which was developed to continuously monitor the body surface temperature in humans.

Trajectories of hepatic and coagulation dysfunctions related to a rapidly fatal outcome among hospitalized patients with dengue fever in Tainan, 2015.

Background: Hepatic dysfunction and coagulopathy are common in acute dengue illness. We analyzed the trajectories of the above parameters in the survivors and fatal patients in the outbreak in Tainan, 2015.

Methods: A retrospective study was conducted using data from a tertiary hospital between January and December 2015.

Symptoms associated with adverse dengue fever prognoses at the time of reporting in the 2015 dengue outbreak in Taiwan.

Background: Tainan experienced the most severe dengue epidemic in Taiwan in 2015. This study investigates the association between the signs and symptoms at the time of reporting with the adverse dengue prognoses.

Methods: A descriptive study was conducted using secondary data from the Dengue Disease Reporting System in Tainan, Taiwan, between January 1 and December 31, 2015.

High estimated prevalence of asymptomatic dengue viremia in blood donors during a dengue epidemic in southern Taiwan, 2015.

Background: Southern Taiwan experienced a severe dengue epidemic in 2015. Adult asymptomatic cases would raise concerns on transfusion-transmitted dengue virus (DENV) infection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the magnitude of such a risk in Tainan City during this epidemic.

Effects of Estimators on Ultrasound Nakagami Imaging in Visualizing the Change in the Backscattered Statistics from a Rayleigh Distribution to a Pre-Rayleigh Distribution.

Ultrasound Nakagami imaging has recently attracted interest as an imaging technique for analyzing envelope statistics. Because the presence of structures has a strong effect on estimation of the Nakagami parameter, previous studies have indicated that Nakagami imaging should be used specifically for characterization of soft tissues with fewer structures, such as liver tissues. Typically, changes in the properties of the liver parenchyma cause the backscattered statistics to transform from a Rayleigh distribution to a pre-Rayleigh distribution, and this transformation can be visualized using a Nakagami imaging technique.

Ultrasound temperature estimation based on probability variation of backscatter data.

Purpose: In recent years, ultrasound imaging has become an attractive modality for noninvasive temperature monitoring. Temperature variations that occur during tissue heating could induce changes in various acoustic parameters that may affect the echo interference so as to make ultrasound backscattering a random process. In this study, we assumed that the degree of variation in the probability distribution of the backscattered signals is temperature dependent.

Using ultrasound CBE imaging without echo shift compensation for temperature estimation.

Clinical trials have demonstrated that hyperthermia improves cancer treatments. Previous studies developed ultrasound temperature imaging methods, based on the changes in backscattered energy (CBE), to monitor temperature variations during hyperthermia. Echo shift, induced by increasing temperature, contaminates the CBE image, and its tracking and compensation should normally ensure that estimations of CBE at each pixel are correct.

Using ultrasound Nakagami imaging to assess liver fibrosis in rats.

This study explored the feasibility of using the ultrasound Nakagami image to assess the degree of liver fibrosis in rats. The rat has been widely used as a model in investigations of liver fibrosis. Ultrasound grayscale imaging makes it possible to observe fibrotic rat livers in real time.