Unraveling a Small Secreted Peptide SUBPEP3 That Positively Regulates Salt-Stress Tolerance in Pyrus betulifolia.

Small secreted peptides (SSPs) play important roles in regulating plants' growth and development in response to external stimulus, but the genes and functions of SSPs in many species are still unknown. Therefore, it is particularly significant to characterize and annotate SSP genes in plant genomes. As a widely used stock of pears, Pyrus betulifolia has strong resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. In this study, we analyzed the SSPs genes in the genome of P. betulifolia according to their characteristics and homology. A total of 1195 SSP genes were identified, and most of them are signaling molecules. Among these, we identified a new SSP, subtilase peptide 3 (SUBPEP3), which derived from the PA region of preSUBPEP3, increasing the expression level under salt stress. Both adding synthetic peptide SUBPEP3 to the culture medium of pears and the overexpression of SUBPEP3 in tobacco can improve the salt tolerance of plants. In summary, we annotated the SSP genes in the P. betulifolia genome and identified a small secreted peptide SUBPEP3 that regulates the salt tolerance of P. betulifolia, which provides an important theoretical basis for further revealing the function of SSPs.

Saccharin Sodium Coupling Fluorinated Solvent Enabled Stable Interface for High-Voltage Li-Metal Batteries.

Optimizing the electrode/electrolyte interface structure is the key to realizing high-voltage Li-metal batteries (LMBs). Herein, a functional electrolyte is introduced to synergetically regulate the interface layer structures on the high-voltage cathode and the Li-metal anode. Saccharin sodium (NaSH) as a multifunctional electrolyte additive is employed in fluorinated solvent-based electrolyte (FBE) for robust interphase layer construction. On the one hand, combining the results of ex-situ techniques and in-situ electrochemical dissipative quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM-D) technique, it can be seen that the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layer constructed by NaSH-coupled fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) on Li-metal anode significantly inhibits the growth of lithium dendrites and improves the cyclic stability of the anode. On the other hand, the experimental results also confirm that the cathode-electrolyte interface (CEI) layer induced by NaSH-coupled FEC effectively protects the active materials of LiCoO2 and improves their structural stability under high-voltage cycling, thus avoiding the material rupture. Moreover, theoretical calculation results show that the addition of NaSH alters the desolvation behavior of Li+ and enhances the transport kinetics of Li+ at the electrode/electrolyte interface. In this contribution, the LiCoO2 ǁLi full cell containing FBE+NaSH results in a high capacity retention of 80% after 530 cycles with a coulombic efficiency of 99.8%.

Ionic Conductivity and Cycling Performance in PEO Polymer Electrolyte Enhanced by Non-Milled In Situ Nano-LLZO Powders.

High Li+ conductivity, good interfacial compatibility, and nano-scale particle size have always been essential conditions for selecting inorganic fillers in high-performance composite solid electrolytes. In this study, non-milled in situ LLZO fillers with nanosize was synthesized via the sol-gel method by rapid heating sintering, which resulted in more surface defects and fewer impurities in LLZO. Compared with milled LLZO fillers, these non-milled LLZO fillers with more surface defects and fewer impurities can effectively reduce the crystallinity of PEO and agglomeration in PEO, which can form composite electrolytes with high Li+ conductivity. Most importantly, the discharge capacity of the 7.5% non-milled LLZO-PEO-based LiFePO4/Li battery is about 135.5 mA h g-1 at 1C and 60 °C. After 100 cycles, the discharge specific capacity remains at 99%. It is worth noting that nano-sized non-milled LLZO will improve the discharge capacity of LiFePO4/Li batteries to 122.1 mA h g-1 at 0.2C and 30 °C.

The ß-1,3-Glucanase Degrades Callose at Plasmodesmata to Facilitate the Transport of the Ribonucleoprotein Complex in Pyrus betulaefolia.

Grafting is widely used to improve the stress tolerance and the fruit yield of horticultural crops. Ribonucleoprotein complexes formed by mRNAs and proteins play critical roles in the communication between scions and stocks of grafted plants. In Pyrus betulaefolia, ankyrin was identified previously to promote the long-distance movement of the ribonucleoprotein complex(PbWoxT1-PbPTB3) by facilitating callose degradation at plasmodesmata. However, the mechanism of the ankyrin-mediated callose degradation remains elusive. In this study, we discovered a ß-1,3-glucanase (EC 3.2.1.39, PbPDBG) using ankyrin as a bait from plasmodesmata by co-immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry. Ankyrin was required for the plasmodesmata-localization of PbPDBG. The grafting and bombardment experiments indicated that overexpressing PbPDBG resulted in decreased callose content at plasmodesmata, and thereby promoting the long-distance transport of the ribonucleoprotein complex. Altogether, our findings revealed that PbPDBG was the key factor in ankyrin-mediated callose degradation at plasmodesmata.

Achieving Practical High-Energy-Density Lithium-Metal Batteries by a Dual-Anion Regulated Electrolyte.

Lithium-metal batteries (LMBs) using lithium-metal anodes and high-voltage cathodes have been deemed as one of the most promising high-energy-density battery technology. However, its practical application is largely hindered by the notorious dendrite growth of lithium-metal anodes, the fast structure degradation of the cathode, and insufficient electrode-electrolyte interphase kinetics. Here, a dual-anion regulated electrolyte is developed for LMBs using lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) and lithium difluoro(bisoxalato)phosphate (LiDFBOP) as anion regulators. The incorporation of TFSI- in the solvation sheath reduces the desolvation energy of Li+ , and DFBOP- promotes the formation of highly ion-conductive and sustainable inorganic-rich interphases on the electrodes. Significantly enhanced performance is demonstrated on Li||LiNi0.83 Co0.11 Mn0.06 O2 pouch cells, with 84.6% capacity retention after 150 cycles in 6.0 Ah pouch cells and an ultrahigh rate capability up to 5 C in 2.0 Ah pouch cells. Furthermore, a pouch cell with an ultralarge capacity of 39.0 Ah is fabricated and achieves an ultrahigh energy density of 521.3 Wh kg-1 . The findings provide a facile electrolyte design strategy for promoting the practical utilization of high-energy-density LMBs.

Surficial Oxidation of Phosphorus for Strengthening Interface Interaction and Enhancing Lithium-Storage Performance.

By virtue of high theoretical capacity and appropriate lithiation potential, phosphorus is considered as a prospective next-generation anode material for lithium-ion batteries. However, there are some problems hampering its practical application, such as low ionic conductivity and serious volume expansion. Herein, we demonstrated an in situ preoxidation strategy to build a oxidation function layer at phosphorus particle. The oxide layer not only acted as a protective layer to prolong the storage time of phosphorus anode in air but also carbonized N-methyl pyrrolidone and poly (vinylidene fluoride), strengthening the interfacial interaction between phosphorus particles and binder. The oxide layer further induced the formation of a stable solid electrolyte interface with high lithium-ion conductivity. The oxidized P-CNT maintained high specific capacity of 1306 mAh g-1 and 89% capacity after 100 cycles, much higher than that of pristine P-CNT (17.1%). The strategy of in situ oxidation is facile and conducive to the practical application of phosphorus-based anodes.

Endoscopic ultrasonography diagnosis of gastric glomus tumors.

BACKGROUND: A gastric glomus tumor is relatively rare, and there is little knowledge on its endoscopic ultrasound findings. AIM: To assess the accuracy of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) in the diagnosis of gastric glomus tumor and to discuss its value by reviewing the literature. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of the EUS characteristics of gastric glomus tumor (such as tumor location, shape, size, echogenicity, homogeneity, margins, layer of origin, and so on) was performed. The study included 12 cases of gastric glomus tumor confirmed by surgery and pathology (7 females and 5 males, age range 36-74 years, average age was 58.2 years). RESULTS: All the lesions were located in the gastric antrum (12 cases), protruding into the cavity, with a diameter between 1 and 3.5 cm. Glomus tumor of the stomach manifested as a circumscribed and slightly hypoechoic mass in the fourth layer, with an internal heterogeneous echo mixed with hyperechogenic spots and a marginal more hypoechoic halo. Smooth muscle actin, h-caldesmon and vimentin were shown to be positive by immunohistochemistry. CONCLUSION: Although glomus tumor of the stomach is relatively rare, a typical glomus tumor of the stomach has characteristic changes under EUS.

Counterintuitive solvation effect of ionic-liquid/DMSO solvents on acidic C-H dissociation and insight into respective solvation.

How would acidic bond dissociation be affected by adding a small quantity of a weakly polar ionic liquid IL (the "apparent" or "measured" dielectric constant ε of the IL is around 10-15) into a strongly polar molecular solvent (e.g., ε of DMSO: 46.5), or vice versa? The answer is blurred, because no previous investigation was reported in this regard. Toward this, we, taking various IL/DMSO mixtures as representatives, have thoroughly investigated the effects of the respective solvent in ionic-molecular binary systems on self-dissociation of C-H acid phenylmalononitrile PhCH(CN)2 via pK a determination. As disclosed, in this category of binary media, (1) no linear correspondence exists between pK a and molar fractions of the respective solvent components; (2) only ∼1-2 mol% of weakly polar ILs in strongly polar DMSO make C-H bonds even more dissociative than in neat DMSO; (3) a small fraction of DMSO in ILs (<10 mol%) can dramatically ease acidic C-H-dissociation; and (4) while the DMSO fraction further increases, its acidifying effect becomes much attenuated. These findings, though maybe counterintuitive, have been rationalized on the basis of the precise pK a measurement of this work in relation to the respective roles of each solvent component in solvation.

Synchronous gastrointestinal cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumors: a single-institution experience.

BACKGROUND: A study was conducted to investigate the clinicopathological features and survival outcomes of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) that are synchronous with other gastrointestinal cancers. METHODS: Clinical and pathological data of 286 patients with primary GIST from a single institution from January 2009 to December 2014 were reviewed. RESULTS: The entire study population comprised 286 patients with GISTs. Of these patients, 167 (58.4%) were males and 119 (41.6%) were females. The median age was 58 years old (in the range 29-86 years). A total of 47 patients were diagnosed with GISTs synchronous with other digestive tract malignancies (synchronous group), whereas 239 patients were diagnosed with non-synchronous disease (non-synchronous group). The concomitant digestive tumors in 27, 12, 7, and 1 patients were diagnosed as gastric carcinoma, esophageal carcinoma, colorectal carcinoma, and pancreatic adenocarcinoma, respectively. Compared with the synchronous group, the non-synchronous group exhibited a higher percentage of increased mitotic count (P = 0.011). The difference in tumor diameter between the two groups was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Patients in the non-synchronous group exhibited larger tumor size than the patients in the synchronous group (5.9 ± 3.5 cm vs. 1.6 ± 0.4 cm, P < 0.001). The majority of GIST lesions in the synchronous group were located in the stomach (P = 0.020). Lower risk stratifications and worse ECOG performance statuses were observed in the synchronous group (P < 0.001) than in the non-synchronous group. The 5-year overall survival rate was significantly higher in patients with no synchronous digestive tract malignancies than in patients with synchronous disease (70.8 vs. 34.1%, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with GIST synchronous with other gastrointestinal cancers show worse prognosis than those with non-synchronous tumors. Clinicians should pay more attention to this subgroup.

Weakly Polar Aprotic Ionic Liquids Acting as Strong Dissociating Solvent: A Typical "Ionic Liquid Effect" Revealed by Accurate Measurement of Absolute pKa of Ylide Precursor Salts.

Absolute pKas of selected salts with different counter-anions were measured with high precision in four aprotic ionic liquids (AILs), which enables a detailed examination of solvation effect of ILs on salts. Interestingly, the counter-anions of the ylide precursor salts, protic amine, and phenol salts of this study, though differing dramatically in size and electron dispersion, were found to have no effect on the respective pKas of the substrates. This indicates that the ionic species generated upon acidic dissociation of the salts in weakly polar AILs of low dielectric constant (ε: 10-15) are not ion-paired, or in other words, behave like "free ions" as if in strongly dissociating molecular solvents of high polarity (e.g., DMSO). This suggests that the widely assumed ion-pairing phenomenon, an issue of much debate, is not important in the AILs under our experimental conditions, presenting a typical "ionic-liquid effect" on the solvation of charged species in AILs.

Diagnostic Value of Common Inflammatory Markers on Fever of Unknown Origin.

This study was designed to evaluate the diagnostic value of common inflammatory markers with regard to fever of unknown origin (FUO). We investigated 383 patients who were hospitalized with FUO at the Henan Province People's hospital between January 2009 and June 2015. Of all the cases, infectious diseases accounted for 33.9%, neoplasms for 21.1%, collagen vascular diseases for 25.1%, miscellaneous diseases for 4.7%, and no diagnosis for 15.1%. Patients in the neoplasm group were older than those in the infectious disease, collagen vascular disease, and miscellaneous disease groups (p = 0.006, p < 0.0001, and p = 0.001, respectively). The duration of fever before admission of patients in the neoplasm and collagen vascular disease group was longer than that of patients in the infectious disease group (p = 0.002 and p = 0.007, respectively). The diagnostic time after admission of patients from the neoplasm and collagen vascular disease groups was longer than that for patients from the infectious disease group (both p < 0.0001). Serum ferritin levels of patients in the infectious disease group were lower than those of patients in the neoplasm and collagen vascular disease groups (p = 0.029 and p = 0.032, respectively), while serum procalcitonin (PCT) levels in the infectious disease group was higher than that in the neoplasm and collagen vascular disease groups (p = 0.016 and p = 0.007, respectively). Therefore, FUO remains a clinical problem in China and serum ferritin and PCT may be useful in discriminating infectious from non-infectious causes (neoplasms and collagen vascular diseases) in patients with FUO.

Association between genetic variants in NOD2, C13orf31, and CCDC122 genes and leprosy among the Chinese Yi population.

BACKGROUND: A significant association between single nucleotide polymorphisms in NOD2, C13orf31, and CCDC122 genes and leprosy has been reported in a previous genome-wide association study of leprosy in the Chinese Han population. However, it remains unknown whether this association exists among the Chinese Yi population. The aim of this study was to investigate whether single nucleotide polymorphisms in NOD2, C13orf31, and CCDC122 genes are associated with leprosy among the Chinese Yi population in China. METHODS: We genotyped rs9302752, rs7194886, rs8057341, and rs3135499 in the NOD2 gene; rs3764147 and rs10507522 in the C13orf31 gene; and rs3088362 and rs9533634 in the CCDC122 gene in a Chinese Yi cohort comprised of 319 patients with leprosy and 355 ethnic-matched controls. The differences between the patients and healthy controls were analyzed using chi-squared analysis. RESULTS: Significant differences of rs3135499 in NOD2, rs3764147 and rs10507522 in C13orf31, and rs3088362 and rs9533634 in CCDC122 were observed between the patients and the healthy control groups in the cohort. The allelic P values and odd ratios were as follows: rs3135499, 1.0 × 10(-8) and 2.55; rs3764147, 1.7 × 10(-7) and 1.88; rs10507522, 1.16 × 10(-5) and 1.95; rs3088362, 8.2 × 10(-4) and 1.51; rs9533634, 5.34 × 10(-5) and 1.73. No significant differences were found in the distributions of rs9302752, rs7194886, and rs8057341 between the patients and healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated that genetic variants in the NOD2, C13orf31, and CCDC122 genes are closely associated with leprosy among the Chinese Yi population, which implicates the pathogenic role of NOD2, C13orf31, and CCDC122 genes in a different ethnicity.

Is Amine a Stronger Base in Ionic Liquid Than in Common Molecular Solvent? An Accurate Basicity Scale of Amines.

The equilibrium basicities of 21 frequently used amines in two room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) were measured precisely. The standard deviation was much superior to that sparsely reported elsewhere. The data comparisons revealed that amines are stronger bases in ionic ligquids than in DMSO and water but weaker base than in acetonitrile (AN). Interestingly, regression analyses demonstrate that the basicity scales obtained in two RTILs correlate well with that in AN but not with those in water and DMSO.

Cationic lipid-assisted polymeric nanoparticle mediated GATA2 siRNA delivery for synthetic lethal therapy of KRAS mutant non-small-cell lung carcinoma.

Synthetic lethal interaction provides a conceptual framework for the development of wiser cancer therapeutics. In this study, we exploited a therapeutic strategy based on the interaction between GATA binding protein 2 (GATA2) downregulation and the KRAS mutation status by delivering small interfering RNA targeting GATA2 (siGATA2) with cationic lipid-assisted polymeric nanoparticles for treatment of non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) harboring oncogenic KRAS mutations. Nanoparticles carrying siGATA2 (NPsiGATA2) were effectively taken up by NSCLC cells and resulted in targeted gene suppression. NPsiGATA2 selectively inhibited cell proliferation and induced cell apoptosis in KRAS mutant NSCLC cells. However, this intervention was harmless to normal KRAS wild-type NSCLC cells and HL7702 hepatocytes, confirming the advantage of synthetic lethality-based therapy. Moreover, systemic delivery of NPsiGATA2 significantly inhibited tumor growth in the KRAS mutant A549 NSCLC xenograft murine model, suggesting the therapeutic promise of NPsiGATA2 delivery in KRAS mutant NSCLC therapy.

[Application of nested PCR in diagnosis of imported malaria].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the usefulness of nested PCR method in the diagnosis of imported malaria. METHODS: A total of 210 blood smears and blood samples on filter paper were taken from persons returned from highly malaria endemic countries. The results of both nested PCR and microscopy for 210 samples were compared. RESULTS: Among the 210 persons, 43 were hospitalized due to malaria, and positive by nested PCR test Among the rest 157 people at high risk of getting malaria, 3 were found plasmodium-positive by microscope (1.91%), and 5 were positive by nested PCR (3.18%). In four samples with discrepancy between the two methods, 1 was microscopy positive and PCR negative, and 3 were microscopy negative and PCR positive. Positive and negative coincidence rate between the two tests was 66.7% and 98.1%, respectively. The coincidence between the two methods was 97.5%. CONCLUSION: Nested PCR is useful for monitoring, identification and diagnosis of imported malaria.

[Study on pharmacognosy of Ginkgo leaf].

The primary study of Ginkgo leaf such as crude drug macroscopic and powder characteristics were carried out, and the flavonoids content in the leaf of Ginkgo in different areas of Gansu province was determined by HPLC, in order to provide scientific references for the exploitation of Ginkgo in Gansu province.

[Study of corrected visual performance and vision quality].

OBJECTIVE: The present study was designed to examine the visual acuity (VA) and contrast sensitivity function (CSF) under three refractive correction methods, the visual performance and vision quality under different correction methods were compared and analyzed. METHODS: Twenty three college students with myopia (41 eyes, myopia range: -1.25 D approximately 9.25 D; astigmatism < 0.50 D) were enrolled and fully corrected by three different methods: 1) spectacles with resin lens material (SP); 2) soft contact lens (SCL); 3) rigid gas-permeable lens (RGP). The distant and near LogMar VA and CSF were examined. To avoid the subjective bias, the correction procedure was randomly selected and the VA chart and CSF chart used had the same pattern but different letters' organization or directions. RESULTS: The best corrected distant VA was significantly higher in RGP wearing eyes than those in the Soft-CL and SP wearing eyes (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively). No statistically significant difference was detected between the SP and SCL wearing eyes. There was no significant difference in the near VA among these three conditions, although the near VA in RGP group was slightly better than that in the SCL condition. There was no significant difference in CSF value at low spatial frequencies (1.5 cpd and 3 cpd) among these three conditions. However, at middle and high spatial frequencies (6 cpd, 12 cpd and 18 cpd), the RGP curve was the highest and followed by the SCL and SP curves. CONCLUSION: RGP correction offers the best visual acuity quality for myopia subjects. The CSF assessment can be used as an indirect method to evaluate the quality of corrected retinal image.