Interlayer Potassium Single-Atom-Coordinated g-C3N4 for Significantly Boosted Visible Light Photocatalytic H2 Production.

In recent years, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has attracted considerable attention because it includes earth-abundant carbon and nitrogen elements and exhibits good chemical and thermal stability owing to the strong covalent interaction in its conjugated layer structure. However, bulk g-C3N4 has some disadvantages of low specific surface area, poor light absorption, rapid recombination of photogenerated charge carriers, and insufficient active sites, which hinder its practical applications. In this study, we design and synthesize potassium single-atom (K SAs)-doped g-C3N4 porous nanosheets (CM-KX, where X represents the mass of KHP added) via supramolecular self-assembling and chemical cross-linking copolymerization strategies. The results show that the utilization of supramolecules as precursors can produce g-C3N4 nanosheets with reduced thickness, increased surface area, and abundant mesopores. In addition, the intercalation of K atoms within the g-C3N4 nitrogen pots through the formation of K-N bonds results in the reduction of the band gap and expansion of the visible-light absorption range. The optimized K-doped CM-K12 nanosheets achieve a specific surface area of 127 m2 g-1, which is 11.4 times larger than that of the pristine g-C3N4 nanosheets. Furthermore, the optimal CM-K12 sample exhibits the maximum H2 production rate of 127.78 µmol h-1 under visible light (λ ≥ 420 nm), which is nearly 23 times higher than that of bare g-C3N4. This significant improvement of photocatalytic activity is attributed to the synergistic effects of the mesoporous structure and K SAs doping, which effectively increase the specific surface area, improve the visible-light absorption capacity, and facilitate the separation and transfer of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Besides, the optimal sample shows good chemical stability for 20 h in the recycling experiments. Density functional theory calculations confirm that the introduction of K SAs significantly boosts the adsorption energy for water and decreases the activation energy barrier for the reduction of water to hydrogen.

The Botrytis cinerea effector BcXYG1 suppresses immunity in Fragaria vesca by targeting FvBPL4 and FvACD11.

Botrytis cinerea is one of the most destructive pathogens in strawberry cultivation. Successful infection by B. cinerea requires releasing a large number of effectors that interfere with the plant's immune system. One of the effectors required by B. cinerea for optimal virulence is the secreted protein BcXYG1, which is thought to associate with proteins near the plasma membrane of the host plant to induce necrosis. However, the host proteins that associate with BcXYG1 at the plasma membrane are currently unknown. We found that BcXYG1 binds to FvBPL4 and FvACD11 at the plasma membrane. Both FvBPL4 and FvACD11 are negative regulators of plant immunity in strawberry. Our results demonstrate that degradation of FvBPL4 by BcXYG1 promotes disease resistance while stabilization of FvACD11 by BcXYG1 suppresses the immune response. These findings suggest that BcXYG1 suppresses plant immunity and promotes B. cinerea infection by regulating FvBPL4 and FvACD11 protein levels.

The high-quality genome of Cryptotaenia japonica and comparative genomics analysis reveals anthocyanin biosynthesis in Apiaceae.

Cryptotaenia japonica, a traditional medicinal and edible vegetable crops, is well-known for its attractive flavors and health care functions. As a member of the Apiaceae family, the evolutionary trajectory and biological properties of C. japonica are not clearly understood. Here, we first reported a high-quality genome of C. japonica with a total length of 427 Mb and N50 length 50.76 Mb, was anchored into 10 chromosomes, which confirmed by chromosome (cytogenetic) analysis. Comparative genomic analysis revealed C. japonica exhibited low genetic redundancy, contained a higher percentage of single-cope gene families. The homoeologous blocks, Ks, and collinearity were analyzed among Apiaceae species contributed to the evidence that C. japonica lacked recent species-specific WGD. Through comparative genomic and transcriptomic analyses of Apiaceae species, we revealed the genetic basis of the production of anthocyanins. Several structural genes encoding enzymes and transcription factor genes of the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway in different species were also identified. The CjANSa, CjDFRb, and CjF3H gene might be the target of Cjaponica_2.2062 (bHLH) and Cjaponica_1.3743 (MYB). Our findings provided a high-quality reference genome of C. japonica and offered new insights into Apiaceae evolution and biology.

MRPL48 is a novel prognostic and predictive biomarker of hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent forms of cancer and poses a threat to the health and survival of humans. Mitochondrial ribosomal protein L48 (MRPL48) belongs to the mitochondrial ribosomal protein family, which participates in energy production. Studies have shown that MRPL48 can predict osteosarcoma incidence and prognosis, as well as promotes colorectal cancer progression. However, the role of MRPL48 in HCC remains unknown. METHODS: TCGA, GEO, HCCDB, CPTAC, SMART, UALCAN, Kaplan-Meier plotter, cBioPortal, and MethSurv were performed for bioinformatics purposes. Quantitative RT-PCR, immunoblotting, and functional studies were conducted to validate the methodology in vitro. RESULTS: MRPL48 was greatly overexpressed in HCC tissues, compared with healthy tissue, which was subsequently demonstrated in vitro as well. The survival and regression analyses showed that MRPL48 expression is of significant clinical prognostic value in HCC. The ROC curve and nomogram analysis indicated that MRPL48 is a powerful predictor of HCC. MRPL48 methylation was adversely associated with the expression of MRPL48, and patients with a low level of methylation had poorer overall survival than those with a high level of methylation. GSEA showed that the expression of the MRPL48 was correlated with Resolution of Sister Chromatid Cohesion, Mitotic Prometaphase, Retinoblastoma Gene in Cancer, RHO Gtpases Activate Formins, Mitotic Metaphase and Anaphase, and Cell Cycle Checkpoints. An analysis of immune cell infiltration showed a significant association between MRPL48 and immune cell infiltration subsets, which impacted the survival of HCC patients. Additionally, MRPL48 knockdown reduced HCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in vitro. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that MRPL48 expression may be associated with HCC development and prognosis. These findings may open up new research directions and opportunities for the development of HCC treatments.

Isolated traumatic gallbladder injury: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Isolated gallbladder injury (GI) (IGI) directly induced by abdominal trauma is rare. Symptoms, indications, and imaging examinations of IGI are frequently non-specific, posing tremendous diagnostic challenges, which are simple to overlook and may have severe implications. Improving doctors' understanding of gallbladder injury (GI) facilitates early detection and decreases the likelihood of severe consequences, including death. CASE SUMMARY: We report a case of IGI caused by blunt violence (after falling from three meters with the umbilicus as the stress point) and performed laparoscopic repair of the gallbladder rupture, which helps clinicians understand IGI and reduce the severe consequences of delayed diagnosis. Through extensive medical history and dynamic abdominal ultrasound evaluation, doctors can identify GI early and begin surgery, thereby decreasing the devastating repercussions of delayed diagnosis. CONCLUSION: This article aims to improve clinicians' understanding of IGI and propose a method for the diagnosis and treatment of GI.

The dynamic arms race during the early invasion of woodland strawberry by Botrytis cinerea revealed by dual dense high-resolution RNA-seq analyses.

Necrotrophic pathogens replicate massively upon colonizing plants, causing large-scale wilting and death of plant tissues. Understanding both mechanisms of pathogen invasion and host response processes prior to symptom appearance and their key regulatory networks is therefore important for defense against pathogen attack. Here, we investigated the mechanisms of interaction between woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) leaves and gray mold pathogen (Botrytis cinerea) at 14 infection time points during the first 12 hours of the infection period using a dense, high-resolution time series dual transcriptomic analysis, characterizing the arms race between strawberry F. vesca and B. cinerea before the appearance of localized lesions. Strawberry leaves rapidly initiated strong systemic defenses at the first sign of external stimulation and showed lower levels of transcriptomic change later in the infection process. Unlike the host plants, B. cinerea showed larger-scale transcriptomic changes that persisted throughout the infection process. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis identified highly correlated genes in 32 gene expression modules between B. cinerea and strawberry. Yeast two-hybrid and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays revealed that the disease response protein FvRLP2 from woodland strawberry interacted with the cell death inducing proteins BcXYG1 and BcPG3 from B. cinerea. Overexpression of FvRLP2 in both strawberry and Arabidopsis inhibited B. cinerea infection, confirming these genes' respective functions. These findings shed light on the arms race process by which B. cinerea invades host plants and strawberry to defend against pathogen infection.

Different evolutionary patterns of TIR1/AFBs and AUX/IAAs and their implications for the morphogenesis of land plants.

BACKGROUND: The plant hormone auxin is widely involved in plant growth, development, and morphogenesis, and the TIR1/AFB and AUX/IAA proteins are closely linked to rapid auxin response and signal transmission. However, their evolutionary history, historical patterns of expansion and contraction, and changes in interaction relationships are still unknown. RESULTS: Here, we analyzed the gene duplications, interactions, and expression patterns of TIR1/AFBs and AUX/IAAs to understand their underlying mechanisms of evolution. The ratios of TIR1/AFBs to AUX/IAAs range from 4:2 in Physcomitrium patens to 6:29 in Arabidopsis thaliana and 3:16 in Fragaria vesca. Whole-genome duplication (WGD) and tandem duplication have contributed to the expansion of the AUX/IAA gene family, but numerous TIR1/AFB gene duplicates were lost after WGD. We further analyzed the expression profiles of TIR1/AFBs and AUX/IAAs in different tissue parts of Physcomitrium patens, Selaginella moellendorffii, Arabidopsis thaliana and Fragaria vesca, and found that TIR1/AFBs and AUX/IAAs were highly expressed in all tissues in P. patens, S. moellendorffii. In A. thaliana and F. vesca, TIR1/AFBs maintained the same expression pattern as the ancient plants with high expression in all tissue parts, while AUX/IAAs appeared tissue-specific expression. In F. vesca, 11 AUX/IAAs interacted with TIR1/AFBs with different interaction strengths, and the functional specificity of AUX/IAAs was related to their ability to bind TIR1/AFBs, thus promoting the development of specific higher plant organs. Verification of the interactions among TIR1/AFBs and AUX/IAAs in Marchantia polymorpha and F. vesca also showed that the regulation of AUX/IAA members by TIR1/AFBs became more refined over the course of plant evolution. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that specific interactions and specific gene expression patterns both contributed to the functional diversification of TIR1/AFBs and AUX/IAAs.

Variations and effects of bladder and rectal volume following uniform preparation procedure in cervical cancer: Five fractions of 6 Gy.

Purpose: To analyze the effects of different bladder and rectal volumes on the dose of organ at risks (OARs) and primary tumors following uniform preparation procedure. Material and methods: In this retrospective study, a total of 60 patients with cervical cancer treated with external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) combined with chemotherapy and brachytherapy (BT) during 2019-2022 were included (300 insertions). Then, tandem-ovoid applicators were placed and computed tomography (CT) scanning was performed after each insertion. Delineation of OARs and clinical target volumes (CTVs) were done according to GEC-ESTRO group recommendations. Finally, doses of high-risk clinical target volume (HR-CTV) and OARs were obtained from dose volume histogram (DVH) automatically generated by BT treatment planning system. Results: Following a uniform preparation procedure, the median bladder volume of 68.36 cc (range, 29.9-235.68 cc) was in optimal agreement with the recommended bladder volume of ≤ 70 ml, which avoided more manipulation and possible risk of adverse events during general anesthesia. As the bladder filling volume increased, there was no corresponding increase in rectal, HR-CTV, and small bowel volumes, while the sigmoid colon volume decreased. The median rectal volume was 54.95 cc (range, 24.92-168.1 cc), and as the rectal volume increased, HR-CTV, sigmoid colon, and rectum volumes increased, and conversely, small bowel volume decreased. HR-CTV changes with volume affected the rectum, bladder, and HR-CTV, but not the sigmoid colon and small intestine. Conclusions: Following a uniform preparation procedure, the bladder and rectum can also be controlled to an optimal volume (B ≤ 70 cc, R ≈ 40 cc), which is related to the dose of the bladder, rectum, and sigmoid colon.

The telomere-to-telomere genome of Fragaria vesca reveals the genomic evolution of Fragaria and the origin of cultivated octoploid strawberry.

Fragaria vesca, commonly known as wild or woodland strawberry, is the most widely distributed diploid Fragaria species and is native to Europe and Asia. Because of its small plant size, low heterozygosity, and relative ease of genetic transformation, F. vesca has been a model plant for fruit research since the publication of its Illumina-based genome in 2011. However, its genomic contribution to octoploid cultivated strawberry remains a long-standing question. Here, we de novo assembled and annotated a telomere-to-telomere, gap-free genome of F. vesca 'Hawaii 4', with all seven chromosomes assembled into single contigs, providing the highest completeness and assembly quality to date. The gap-free genome is 220 785 082 bp in length and encodes 36 173 protein-coding gene models, including 1153 newly annotated genes. All 14 telomeres and seven centromeres were annotated within the seven chromosomes. Among the three previously recognized wild diploid strawberry ancestors, F. vesca, F. iinumae, and F. viridis, phylogenomic analysis showed that F. vesca and F. viridis are the ancestors of the cultivated octoploid strawberry F. × ananassa, and F. vesca is its closest relative. Three subgenomes of F. × ananassa belong to the F. vesca group, and one is sister to F. viridis. We anticipate that this high-quality, telomere-to-telomere, gap-free F. vesca genome, combined with our phylogenomic inference of the origin of cultivated strawberry, will provide insight into the genomic evolution of Fragaria and facilitate strawberry genetics and molecular breeding.

In situ and real-time vibrational spectroscopic characterizations of the photodegradation of nitrite in the presence of methanediol.

Nitrite (NO2-) is one of the common salts in aqueous aerosols, and its photolytic products, nitric oxide (NO) and hydroxyl radical (OH), have potential for use in the oxidation of organic matter, such as dissolved formaldehyde, methanediol (CH2(OH)2), which is regarded as the precursor of atmospheric formic acid. In this work, the simulation of UVA irradiation in an aqueous mixture of NaNO2/CH2(OH)2 was carried out via continuous exposure with a 365 nm LED lamp, and the reaction evolutions were probed by in situ and real-time infrared and Raman spectroscopy, which provided multiplexity in the identification of the relevant species and the corresponding reaction evolution. Although performing infrared absorption measurements in aqueous solution seemed impracticable due to the strong interference of water, the multiplexity of the vibrational bands of parents and products in the non-interfered infrared regimes and the conjunction with Raman spectroscopy still make it possible to perform in situ and real-time characterization of the photolytic reaction in the aqueous phase, supplementary to chromatographic approaches. During the 365 nm irradiation, NO2- and CH2(OH)2 gradually decreased, concomitant with the formation of nitrous oxide (N2O) and formate (HCOO-) in the early period and carbonate (CO32-) in the late period, as revealed by the vibrational spectra. The losses or the gains of the aforementioned species increased with increases in the concentration of CH2(OH)2 and the irradiation flux of the 365 nm UV light. The ionic product HCOO- was also confirmed by ion chromatography, but oxalate (C2O42-) was absent in the vibrational spectra and ion chromatogram. The reaction mechanism is reasonably proposed on the basis of the evolutions of the aforementioned species and the predicted thermodynamic favorableness.

A model based on machine learning for the prediction of cyclosporin A trough concentration in Chinese allo-HSCT patients.

BACKGROUND: Cyclosporin A is a calcineurin inhibitor which has a narrow therapeutic window and high interindividual variability. Various population pharmacokinetic models have been reported; however, professional software and technical personnel were needed and the variables of the models were limited. Therefore, the aim of this study was to establish a model based on machine learning to predict CsA trough concentrations in Chinese allo-HSCT patients. METHODS: A total of 7874 cases of CsA therapeutic drug monitoring data from 2069 allo-HSCT patients were retrospectively included. Sequential forward selection was used to select variable subsets, and eight different algorithms were applied to establish the prediction model. RESULTS: XGBoost exhibited the highest prediction ability. Except for the variables that were identified by previous studies, some rarely reported variables were found, such as norethindrone, WBC, PAB, and hCRP. The prediction accuracy within ±30% of the actual trough concentration was above 0.80, and the predictive ability of the models was demonstrated to be effective in external validation. CONCLUSION: In this study, models based on machine learning technology were established to predict CsA levels 3-4 days in advance during the early inpatient phase after HSCT. A new perspective for CsA clinical application is provided.

Treatment of four-part proximal humerus fractures with depressed humeral head collapse using strut allograft with locking plates / 中国骨伤

OBJECTIVE@#To evaluate the clinical outcomes of allogeneic femoral head as strut allograft combined with proximal humeral internal locking system (PHILOS) in the treatment of proximal humeral Neer grade Ⅳ fracture with humeral head collapse.@*METHODS@#From January 2018 to November 2020, 18 patients with Neer grade Ⅳ fracture with humeral head collapse were treated with strut allograft with PHILOS, including 4 males and 14 females, aged from 55 to 78 years old, with an average of (68.11±7.20) years old. The operation time, intraoperative bleeding, postoperative drainage volume, fracture healing time, neck-shaft angle and the height of the humeral head, failure of internal fixation the shoulder function at the last follow-up was assessed using Neer's scoring system.@*RESULTS@#All 18 patients were followed up, and the duration ranged from 10 to 12 months, with an average of (11.08±0.65) months. The operation time was (66.44±5.06) min, the intraoperative bleeding volume was (206.67±36.14) ml, the postoperative drainage volume was (76.11±9.63) ml, and the fracture healing time was (17.28±3.92) weeks. At the last follow-up, the degree of loss of neck-shaft angle was (5.44±0.86) ° and the loss of the height of humeral head was (1.43±0.27) mm. All 18 patients had healing without complications such as fracture, withdrawal, penetration of internal fixation and necrosis of humeral head. According to Neer's evaluation standard, the total score was (89.61±5.60), 10 cases got an excellent result, 6 good, 2 fair.@*CONCLUSION@#Allogeneic femoral head combined with PHILOS is an appropriate treatment for the four-part proximal humerus fractures with humeral head collapse, exhibiting good clinic outcome.

Evolution and functional analysis of the GRAS family genes in six Rosaceae species.

BACKGROUND: GRAS genes formed one of the important transcription factor gene families in plants, had been identified in several plant species. The family genes were involved in plant growth, development, and stress resistance. However, the comparative analysis of GRAS genes in Rosaceae species was insufficient. RESULTS: In this study, a total of 333 GRAS genes were identified in six Rosaceae species, including 51 in strawberry (Fragaria vesca), 78 in apple (Malus domestica), 41 in black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis), 59 in European pear (Pyrus communis), 56 in Chinese rose (Rosa chinensis), and 48 in peach (Prunus persica). Motif analysis showed the VHIID domain, SAW motif, LR I region, and PFYRE motif were considerably conserved in the six Rosaceae species. All GRAS genes were divided into 10 subgroups according to phylogenetic analysis. A total of 15 species-specific duplicated clades and 3 lineage-specific duplicated clades were identified in six Rosaceae species. Chromosomal localization presented the uneven distribution of GRAS genes in six Rosaceae species. Duplication events contributed to the expression of the GRAS genes, and Ka/Ks analysis suggested the purification selection as a major force during the evolution process in six Rosaceae species. Cis-acting elements and GO analysis revealed that most of the GRAS genes were associated with various environmental stress in six Rosaceae species. Coexpression network analysis showed the mutual regulatory relationship between GRAS and bZIP genes, suggesting the ability of the GRAS gene to regulate abiotic stress in woodland strawberry. The expression pattern elucidated the transcriptional levels of FvGRAS genes in various tissues and the drought and salt stress in woodland strawberry, which were verified by RT-qPCR analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The evolution and functional analysis of GRAS genes provided insights into the further understanding of GRAS genes on the abiotic stress of Rosaceae species.

Diversity and conservation of plant small secreted proteins associated with arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis (AMS) is widespread mutualistic association between plants and fungi, which plays an essential role in nutrient exchange, enhancement in plant stress resistance, development of host, and ecosystem sustainability. Previous studies have shown that plant small secreted proteins (SSPs) are involved in beneficial symbiotic interactions. However, the role of SSPs in the evolution of AMS has not been well studied yet. In this study, we performed computational analysis of SSPs in 60 plant species and identified three AMS-specific ortholog groups containing SSPs only from at least 30% of the AMS species in this study and three AMS-preferential ortholog groups containing SSPs from both AMS and non-AMS species, with AMS species containing significantly more SSPs than non-AMS species. We found that independent lineages of monocot and eudicot plants contained genes in the AMS-specific ortholog groups and had significant expansion in the AMS-preferential ortholog groups. Also, two AMS-preferential ortholog groups showed convergent changes, between monocot and eudicot species, in gene expression in response to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Rhizophagus irregularis. Furthermore, conserved cis-elements were identified in the promoter regions of the genes showing convergent gene expression. We found that the SSPs, and their closely related homologs, in each of three AMS-preferential ortholog groups, had some local variations in the protein structural alignment. We also identified genes co-expressed with the Populus trichocarpa SSP genes in the AMS-preferential ortholog groups. This first plant kingdom-wide analysis on SSP provides insights on plant-AMS convergent evolution with specific SSP gene expression and local diversification of protein structures.

Development of a single-cell atlas for woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) leaves during early Botrytis cinerea infection using single cell RNA-seq.

Pathogen invasion leads to fast, local-to-systemic signal transduction that initiates plant defense responses. Despite tremendous progress in past decades, aspects of this process remain unknown, such as which cell types respond first and how signals are transferred among cell types. Here, we used single-cell RNA-seq of more than 50 000 single cells to document the gene expression landscape in leaves of woodland strawberry during infection by Botrytis cinerea and identify major cell types. We constructed a single-cell atlas and characterized the distinct gene expression patterns of hydathode, epidermal, and mesophyll cells during the incubation period of B. cinerea infection. Pseudotime trajectory analysis revealed signals of the transition from normal functioning to defense response in epidermal and mesophyll cells upon B. cinerea infection. Genes related to disease resistance showed different expression patterns among cell types: disease resistance-related genes and gene encoding transcription factors were highly expressed in individual cell types and interacted to trigger plant systemic immunity to B. cinerea. This is the first report to document the of single-cell transcriptional landscape of the plant pathogenic invasion process, it provides new insights into the wholistic dynamics of host-pathogen interactions and can guide the identification of genes and the formulation of strategies for resistant cultivar development.

Different scales of gene duplications occurring at different times have jointly shaped the NBS-LRR genes in Prunus species.

In this study, genome-wide identification, phylogenetic relationships, duplication time and selective pressure of the NBS-LRR genes, an important group of plant disease-resistance genes (R genes), were performed to uncover their genetic evolutionary patterns in the six Prunus species. A total of 1946 NBS-LRR genes were identified; specifically, 589, 361, 284, 281, 318, and 113 were identified in Prunus yedoensis, P. domestica, P. avium, P. dulcis, P. persica and P. yedoensis var. nudiflora, respectively. Two NBS-LRR gene subclasses, TIR-NBS-LRR (TNL) and non-TIR-NBS-LRR (non-TNL), were also discovered. In total, 435 TNL and 1511 non-TNL genes were identified and could be classified into 30/55/75 and 103/158/191 multi-gene families, respectively, according to three different criteria. Higher Ks and Ka/Ks values were detected in TNL gene families than in non-TNL gene families. These results indicated that the TNL genes had more members involved in relatively ancient duplications and were affected by stronger selection pressure than the non-TNL genes. In general, the NBS-LRR genes were shaped by species-specific duplications, and lineage-specific duplications occurred at recent and relatively ancient periods among the six Prunus species. Therefore, different duplicated copies of NBS-LRRs can resist specific pathogens and will provide an R-gene library for resistance breeding in Prunus species.

[Prevalence of and associated factors for prostate calcification in ≥40-year-old males with benign prostatic enlargement].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of and risk factors for prostate calcification (PCal) in ≥40 years old males with benign prostatic enlargement (BPE) found in health checkup. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the data on 671 ≥40-year-old men found with BPE in health checkup and investigated the prevalence of and risk factors for PCal in BPE males aged ≥40 years by univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: Among 1 582 men aged ≥40 years undergoing health checkup, 671 were found with BPE and 274 (17.3%) with both BPE and PCal. The incidence rate of PCal was 40.8% (274/671) in the BPE patients, which was increased with age (trend χ2 = 5.289, P = 0.021), with statistically significant differences in different age groups (χ2 = 9.243, P = 0.026). Significant differences were also observed in age, height, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), urine pH level and the number of cases of uneven prostatic echoes between the BPE patients with and those without PCal (P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that age (OR = 1.027, 95% CI: 1.010－1.044), urine pH (OR = 1.446, 95% CI: 1.148－1.823) and uneven prostatic echoes (OR = 2.150, 95% CI: 1.108－4.174) were the associated factors for PCal in BPE patients aged ≥40 years. CONCLUSION: The incidence rate of PCal is high and increased with age in BPE patients aged ≥40 years, and age, urine pH and uneven prostatic echoes are associated factors for PCal in this cohort.

Recent Duplications Dominate VQ and WRKY Gene Expansions in Six Prunus Species.

Genes encoding VQ motif-containing (VQ) transcriptional regulators and WRKY transcription factors can participate separately or jointly in plant growth, development, and abiotic and biotic stress responses. In this study, 222 VQ and 645 WRKY genes were identified in six Prunus species. Based on phylogenetic tree topologies, the VQ and WRKY genes were classified into 13 and 32 clades, respectively. Therefore, at least 13 VQ gene copies and 32 WRKY gene copies were present in the genome of the common ancestor of the six Prunus species. Similar small Ks value peaks for the VQ and WRKY genes suggest that the two gene families underwent recent duplications in the six studied species. The majority of the Ka/Ks ratios were less than 1, implying that most of the VQ and WRKY genes had undergone purifying selection. Pi values were significantly higher in the VQ genes than in the WRKY genes, and the VQ genes therefore exhibited greater nucleotide diversity in the six species. Forty-one of the Prunus VQ genes were predicted to interact with 44 of the WRKY genes, and the expression levels of some predicted VQ-WRKY interacting pairs were significantly correlated. Differential expression patterns of the VQ and WRKY genes suggested that some might be involved in regulating aphid resistance in P. persica and fruit development in P. avium.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Mactra quadrangularis (Mactridae).

The whole mitochondrial genome sequence of Mactra quadrangularis (Reeve, 1854) was determined. It had a total length of 16,848 bp and it contained 12 protein coding genes, 2 ribosome RNA genes, and 22 transfer RNA genes. The base composition was 25.75% A, 20.82% G, 11.53% C, and 41.90% T, respectively. Furthermore, state codon of ND4 was ATT; ND1 and CYTB were ATA; COX1 was GTG; ND5, COX2, ND4L, ND6, ND2, COX3, ATP6, and ND3 were ATG. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that M. quadrangularis was most closely related to Mactra chinensis. The mitochondrial genome will provide reference for the further investigation and research of M. quadrangularis.

Fluorescence sensing of heparin and heparin-like glycosaminoglycans by stabilizing intramolecular charge transfer state of dansyl acid-labeled AG73 peptides with glutathione-capped gold nanoclusters.

Sensors that can specifically and accurately detect glycosaminoglycans are rare. Here, a dual-mode platform for fluorescence intensity and lifetime sensing of plasma heparin and fluorescence imaging of heparan sulfate proteoglycan-expressed cancer cells was developed by stabilizing the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) state of dansyl acid-labeling AG73 (DA-AG73) peptide with glutathione-capped gold nanoclusters (GSH-AuNCs). DA-AG73 peptides, including an electron-donor dimethylamino group and an electron-withdrawing sulfonamide moiety in the labeled DA molecules, emitted weak fluorescence due to the formation of the twisted ICT excited state. The complexation of heparin with DA-AG73 peptides followed by interacting with the GSH-AuNCs could restrict the rotation of the dimethylamino groups of the labeled DA molecules, triggering the transition from their twisted ICT state to ICT excited state. As a result, the fluorescence intensity and lifetime of the labeled DA molecules in DA-AG73 peptides were gradually enhanced with increasing the heparin concentration. The proposed platform provided excellent selectivity toward heparin and heparan sulfate and exhibited two linear calibration curves for quantifying 20-800 nM and 20-1000 nM heparin in the fluorescence intensity and lifetime modes, respectively. The proposed platform was practically applied for the fluorescence intensity and lifetime determination of plasma heparin and for the selective imaging of heparan sulfate proteoglycan-expressed cells.