1,8-Cineole alleviates Nrf2-mediated redox imbalance and mitochondrial dysfunction in diabetes mellitus by targeting Sirt1.

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is primarily attributed to impaired insulin secretion caused by β cell dysfunction. 1,8-Cineole is a key bioactive compound in the essential oil extracted from Fructus Alpiniae Zerumbet, which possesses anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Nevertheless, it remains elusive about the protective effect and precise mechanisms of 1,8-Cineole against the β cell deterioration in T2DM.

Tissue-adhesive, stretchable and compressible physical double-crosslinked microgel-integrated hydrogels for dynamic wound care.

Integrated wound care through sequentially promoting hemostasis, sealing, and healing holds great promise in clinical practice. However, it remains challenging for regular bioadhesives to achieve integrated care of dynamic wounds due to the difficulties in adapting to dynamic mechanical and wet wound environments. Herein, we reported a type of dehydrated, physical double crosslinked microgels (DPDMs) which were capable of in situ forming highly stretchable, compressible and tissue-adhesive hydrogels for integrated care of dynamic wounds.

Observation of the Fermionic Joule-Thomson Effect.

We report the first observation of the quantum Joule-Thomson (JT) effect in ideal and unitary Fermi gases. We study the temperature dynamics of these systems while they undergo an energy-per-particle conserving rarefaction. For scale-invariant systems, whose equations of state satisfy the relation U∝PV, this rarefaction conserves the specific enthalpy, which makes it thermodynamically equivalent to a JT throttling process.

Rice false smut virulence protein subverts host chitin perception and signaling at lemma and palea for floral infection.

The flower-infecting fungus Ustilaginoidea virens causes rice false smut, which is a severe emerging disease threatening rice (Oryza sativa) production worldwide. False smut not only reduces yield, but more importantly produces toxins on grains, posing a great threat to food safety. U.

Enantioselective Synthesis of the 1,3-Dienyl-5-Alkyl-6-Oxy Motif: Method Development and Total Synthesis.

The 1,3-dienyl-5-alkyl-6-oxy motif is widely found in various types of bioactive natural products. However, present synthesis is mainly non-asymmetric which relied upon different olefination or transition metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions using enantioenriched precursors. Herein, based upon a newly developed enantioselective α-alkylation of conjugated polyenoic acids, a variety of 1,3-dienyl-5-alkyl-6-oxy motif (with E-configured internal olefin) was generated as the corresponding α-adducts in a highly enantioselective and diastereoselective manner.

A novel truncated variant in SPAST results in spastin accumulation and defects in microtubule dynamics.

Objective: Haploinsufficiency is widely accepted as the pathogenic mechanism of hereditary spastic paraplegias type 4 (SPG4). However, there are some cases that cannot be explained by reduced function of the spastin protein encoded by SPAST. The aim of this study was to identify the causative variant of SPG4 in a large Chinese family and explore its pathological mechanism.

Validation of a training system for laparoscopic longitudinal suturing in lesion.

Background: A training system that allows the trainee to perform laparoscopic suturing in a realistic environment and measures the force applied to the tissue would be invaluable. This study aims to establish the construct and content validity of the training system we developed for the objective assessment of surgeons' skills.

Methods: Ten novices, 6 residents, and 6 experts performed the suturing and knot-tying task using the training system.

Treating SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infection by molnupiravir for pandemic mitigation and living with the virus: a mathematical modeling study.

Treating severe COVID-19 patients and controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2 are concurrently important in mitigating the pandemic. Classically, antiviral drugs are primarily developed for treating hospitalized COVID-19 patients with severe diseases to reduce morbidity and/or mortality, which have limited effects on limiting pandemic spread. In this study, we simulated the expanded applications of oral antiviral drugs such as molnupiravir to mitigate the pandemic by treating nonhospitalized COVID-19 cases.

A natural allele of proteasome maturation factor improves rice resistance to multiple pathogens.

Crops with broad-spectrum resistance loci are highly desirable in agricultural production because these loci often confer resistance to most races of a pathogen or multiple pathogen species. Here we discover a natural allele of proteasome maturation factor in rice, UMP1, that confers broad-spectrum resistance to Magnaporthe oryzae, Rhizoctonia solani, Ustilaginoidea virens and Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae.

Stability of the Repulsive Fermi Gas with Contact Interactions.

We report the creation and the study of the stability of a repulsive quasihomogeneous spin-1/2 Fermi gas with contact interactions. For the range of scattering lengths a explored, the dominant mechanism of decay is a universal three-body recombination toward a Feshbach bound state. We observe that the recombination coefficient K_{3}∝ε_{kin}a^{6}, where the first factor, the average kinetic energy per particle ε_{kin}, arises from a three-body threshold law, and the second one from the universality of recombination.

Overproduction of OsRACK1A, an effector-targeted scaffold protein promoting OsRBOHB-mediated ROS production, confers rice floral resistance to false smut disease without yield penalty.

Grain formation is fundamental for crop yield but is vulnerable to abiotic and biotic stresses. Rice grain production is threatened by the false smut fungus Ustilaginoidea virens, which specifically infects rice floral organs, disrupting fertilization and seed formation. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms of the U.

Loss and Natural Variations of Blast Fungal Avirulence Genes Breakdown Rice Resistance Genes in the Sichuan Basin of China.

is the causative agent of rice blast, a devastating disease in rice worldwide. Based on the gene-for-gene paradigm, resistance (R) proteins can recognize their cognate avirulence (AVR) effectors to activate effector-triggered immunity. genes have been demonstrated to evolve rapidly, leading to breakdown of the cognate resistance genes.

Enantioselective Total Synthesis of Hyperforin and Pyrohyperforin.

Capitalizing on the late-stage diversification of an essential 1,3-diene intermediate, we describe herein a 9-step enantioselective total synthesis of (+)-hyperforin and (+)-pyrohyperforin, starting from commercially available allylacetone. Our convergent synthesis features a series of critical reactions: 1) an enantioselective deconjugative α-alkylation of α,β-unsaturated acid using chiral lithium amides as noncovalent stereodirecting auxiliaries; 2) a HfCl -mediated carbonyl α-tert-alkylation to forge the intricate bicyclo[3.3.

Estimating the burden and modeling mitigation strategies of pork-related hepatitis E virus foodborne transmission in representative European countries.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an emerging zoonotic pathogen posing global health burden, and the concerns in Europe are tremendously growing. Pigs serve as a main reservoir, contributing to pork-related foodborne transmission. In this study, we aim to specifically simulate this foodborne transmission route and to assess potential interventions.

Distinct effectiveness in containing COVID-19 epidemic: Comparative analysis of two cities in China by mathematical modeling.

For better preparing future epidemic/pandemic, important lessons can be learned from how different parts of China responded to the early COVID-19 epidemic. In this study, we comparatively analyzed the effectiveness and investigated the mechanistic insight of two highly representative cities of China in containing this epidemic by mathematical modeling. Epidemiological data of Wuhan and Wenzhou was collected from local health commission, media reports and scientific literature.

Blocking Osa-miR1871 enhances rice resistance against Magnaporthe oryzae and yield.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play vital roles in plant development and defence responses against various stresses. Here, we show that blocking miR1871 improves rice resistance against Magnaporthe oryzae and enhances grain yield simultaneously. The transgenic lines overexpressing miR1871 (OX1871) exhibit compromised resistance, suppressed defence responses and reduced panicle number resulting in slightly decreased yield.

Rice miR1432 Fine-Tunes the Balance of Yield and Blast Disease Resistance via Different Modules.

microRNAs act as fine-tuners in the regulation of plant growth and resistance against biotic and abiotic stress. Here we demonstrate that rice miR1432 fine-tunes yield and blast disease resistance via different modules. Overexpression of miR1432 leads to compromised resistance and decreased yield, whereas blocking miR1432 using a target mimic of miR1432 results in enhanced resistance and yield.

Blocking miR530 Improves Rice Resistance, Yield, and Maturity.

MicroRNAs fine-tune plant growth and resistance against multiple biotic and abiotic stresses. The trade-off between biomass and resistance can penalize crop yield. In this study, we have shown that rice miR530 regulates blast disease resistance, yield, and growth period.

The Flower-Infecting Fungus Subverts Plant Immunity by Secreting a Chitin-Binding Protein.

is a biotrophic fungal pathogen specifically colonizing rice floral organ and causes false smut disease of rice. This disease has emerged as a serious problem that hinders the application of high-yield rice cultivars, by reducing grain yield and quality as well as introducing mycotoxins. However, the pathogenic mechanisms of are still enigmatic.

Enantioselective Total Synthesis of Berkeleyone A and Preaustinoids.

Herein we report the first enantioselective total synthesis of 3,5-dimethylorsellinic acid-derived meroterpenoids (-)-berkeleyone A and its five congeners ((-)-preaustinoids A, A1, B, B1, and B2) in 12-15 steps, starting from commercially available 2,4,6-trihydroxybenzoic acid hydrate. Based upon the recognition of latent symmetry within D-ring, our convergent synthesis features two critical reactions: 1) a symmetry-breaking, diastereoselective dearomative alkylation to assemble the entire carbon core, and 2) a Sc(OTf) -mediated sequential Krapcho dealkoxycarbonylation/carbonyl α-tert-alkylation to forge the intricate bicyclo[3.3.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic outbreak on education and mental health of Chinese children aged 7-15 years: an online survey.

Background: The emerging of psychological problems triggered by COVID-19 particularly in children have been extensively highlighted and emphasized, but original research in this respect is still lagging behind. Therefore, we designed this study to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and the effectiveness and attitudes towards online education among Chinese children aged 7-15 years.

Methods: A detailed questionnaire, comprising of 62 questions was designed and parents or caretakers of 7 to 15 years old children were invited to participate via WeChat, a multi-purpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app, which is widely used by the Chinese population.