Nano-selenium enhances sugarcane resistance to Xanthomonas albilineans infection and improvement of juice quality.

Selenium is an important trace element that is beneficial to human health and can enhance plant resistance and crop quality. The occurrence of up-to-date nanotechnology greatly promotes the beneficial efficiency of this trace element on crops. The discovery of nano-Se increased the crop quality and reduced plant disease in different plant. In this study, we reduced sugarcane leaf scald disease incidence by exogenously spraying different concentrations (5 mg/L and 10 mg/L) of nano-Se. Additional studies revealed that spraying of nano-Se reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) and H2O2 accumulation, and increased antioxidant enzyme activities in sugarcane. The nano-selenium treatments also increased the content of jasmonic acid (JA) and the expression of JA pathway genes. Furthermore, we also found that use nano-Se treatment in an appropriate way can enhance the quality of cane juice. The brix of the cane juice of the selenium-enriched treatment was significantly higher than that of the control group, which was 10.98% and 20.81% higher than that of the CK group, respectively. Meanwhile, the content of certain beneficial amino acids was increased, with the highest being 3.9 times higher than the control. Taken together, our findings inferred that nano-Se could act as a potential eco-fungicide to protect sugarcane from can be used as a potential ecological bactericide to protect sugarcane from Xanthomonas albilineans infections, and improve sugarcane quality. The results arising from this study not only introduces an ecological method to control X. albilineans, but also provides a deep insight into this trace elements for improving juice quality.

A 3D adult zebrafish brain atlas (AZBA) for the digital age.

Zebrafish have made significant contributions to our understanding of the vertebrate brain and the neural basis of behavior, earning a place as one of the most widely used model organisms in neuroscience. Their appeal arises from the marriage of low cost, early life transparency, and ease of genetic manipulation with a behavioral repertoire that becomes more sophisticated as animals transition from larvae to adults. To further enhance the use of adult zebrafish, we created the first fully segmented three-dimensional digital adult zebrafish brain atlas (AZBA). AZBA was built by combining tissue clearing, light-sheet fluorescence microscopy, and three-dimensional image registration of nuclear and antibody stains. These images were used to guide segmentation of the atlas into over 200 neuroanatomical regions comprising the entirety of the adult zebrafish brain. As an open source, online (azba.wayne.edu), updatable digital resource, AZBA will significantly enhance the use of adult zebrafish in furthering our understanding of vertebrate brain function in both health and disease.

Highly efficient electrochemical gas reduction on a three-dimensional foam electrode: mechanism and application for the determination of hazardous mercury in complex matrix.

For the first time a nickel foam electrode (NFE) is applied in the field of electrochemical vapor generation (EVG) to carry out the electrochemical vapor phase conversion of mercury. Systematical electrochemical and morphological research has demonstrated that the specific surface area of the NFE was several times larger than that of the metal/non-metal electrode with the same geometric size. At the same time, the 3D porous channel composed of multi-layer nickel wire ensures the full contact between reactant and interface. The evident enhancement of spectral signals on a Ni electrode (283%), compared with Pt (27%) and graphite (109%), confirmed that the NFE effectively enhances the yield of mercury reduction. The NFE exhibits low limit of detection (0.017 µg L-1) and a wide linear range (0.2-20 µg L-1) with recoveries of actual samples in the range 87.8-117% towards Hg2+. Although the NFE has no advantage in electronic transmission and catalytic performance, its excellent stability, especially anti-interference and other characteristics, is sufficient for the analysis of hazardous mercury in complex matrix including certified reference materials and real samples.

Adipocytes promote tumor progression and induce PD-L1 expression via TNF-α/IL-6 signaling.

BACKGROUND: Obesity confers increased risk for various types of cancer. PD-L1 is a key molecule in tumor immune evasion by inducing T cell exhaustion. The relationship between obesity and PD-L1 is still ambiguous. This study was designed to reveal the development of hepatocellular carcinoma and melanoma in obese mice and to investigate if adipocytes regulate PD-L1 expression and the underlying mechanism. METHODS: Monosodium glutamate-induced obese mice were inoculated with H22 tumor cells and High fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mice were inoculated with B16-F1 mouse melanoma cells. Human hepatoma HepG2 cells and B16-F1 cells were treated with conditional media from 3T3-L1 adipocytes (adi-CM). Neutralized anti-TNF-α and anti-IL-6 antibodies and inhibitor of NF-κB or STAT3 were used to reveal the mechanism of effect of adi-CM. RESULTS: In obese mice, H22 and B16-F1 tumor tissues grew faster and PD-L1 expression in tumor tissue was increased. Adi-CM up-regulated PD-L1 level in HepG2 and B16-F1 cells in vitro. Differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes secreted TNF-α and IL-6, and neutralizing TNF-α and/or IL-6 reduced PD-L1 expression in adi-CM-treated cells. p-NF-κB/NF-κB level was downregulated in HepG2 and B16-F1 cells, and p-STAT3/STAT3 level was also decreased in HepG2 cells. In addition, inhibitor of NF-κB or STAT3 reversed the effect of adi-CM on PD-L1 expression. CONCLUSIONS: TNF-α and IL-6 secreted by adipocytes up-regulates PD-L1 in hepatoma and B16-F1 cells, which may be at least partially involved in the role of obesity in promoting tumor progression.

Rapid extraction of arsenic species from traditional Chinese herbal by dual-frequency ultrasound-assisted enzymatic digestion prior to spectral analysis.

Considering the huge difference of biological toxicity, it is extremely significant to recognize the exact content of arsenic species in actual samples. In this paper, a novel pretreatment technique for the efficient extraction of arsenic species from herbal samples is developed by dual-frequency ultrasound-assisted enzymatic digestion (DUED). The preservation of arsenic original form, reduction of the actual analysis time, environmental friendliness and free-interference in subsequent detection make this method over the traditional method such as wet digestion, ashing and some solvent extraction technologies. The combination of DUED and atomic fluorescence spectrometry realize the speciation analysis of arsenic in traditional Chinese medicine. The optimizations of experimental parameters have been achieved, and the potential mechanism is discussed. The experimental data showed that cellulase is suitable for the digestion of herbal matrix than α-amylase and papain. Ultrasound can significantly increase the rate of enzymatic hydrolysis of biological molecules, especially under dual-frequency ultrasound irradiation. The highest relative extraction efficiency can be obtained by combining 40 kHz ultrasonic bath (UB) with 20 kHz ultrasonic probe (UP). Two certified reference materials [CRMs, GBW(E)090066 and GBW(E)090067] and four practical herbs were used to evaluate the accuracy and practicability of the method. Inorganic arsenic, including trivalent arsenic and pentavalent arsenic, was the main species in the four herbal samples.

Magnetic graphitic carbon nitride nano-composite for ultrasound-assisted dispersive micro-solid-phase extraction of Hg(II) prior to quantitation by atomic fluorescence spectroscopy.

A nanosheet structure of Fe3O4/g-C3N4 magnetic composite has been prepared and utilized as adsorbent for the ultrasound-assisted dispersive magnetic micro-solid-phase extraction of the ultra-trace inorganic mercury [Hg(II)]. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Fouries transform infrared spectroscopy images manifested that the hydrothermal systhesis promoted the binding of Fe3O4 particles with g-C3N4. The enrichment performance of composites depended on their compositions, and the recovery of Hg(II) on C-m30 (with Fe3O4/g-C3N4 mass ratio 2:3) was higher than that on other ratios. Recorded data showed that ultrasound wave was an effective method for reducing the agglomeration of magnetic materials and enhancing their adsorption properties. The Hg signal obtained by 80% power input is 3.2 times stronger than the signal by strring mode. X-ray diffraction characterization of the recovered adsorbent showed that g-C3N4 needed to be updated after repeated use for four times. In addition, competitive adsorption may be main factor affecting the inhibitory effect of high concentration methylmercury on inorganic mercury. Under the optimized conditions, the detection limit of the proposed method was 1.4 ng L-1 and relative standard deviation of 4.6% for 0.05 µg L-1 Hg(II) was obtained. The linear calibration range was 0.005-0.4 µg L-1. The accuracy of the method was verified through analysis of the certificated reference materials. The proposed method has been applied in the determination of inorganic Hg in natural water samples.

Case of Childhood Absence Epilepsy with Focal Spikes.

BACKGROUND: Childhood absence epilepsy is a common generalized epilepsy syndrome characterized by childhood onset of frequent sporadic absence seizures. During onset, the electroencephalogram exhibits bilateral, symmetric, and synchronous discharges of approximately 3 Hz of generalized spike-and-wave complexes. Focal spikes are often found in children with focal epilepsy but are not common in absence epilepsy. CASE DESCRIPTION: In the case patient, focal spikes were observed during active onset of absence epilepsy and at 5 years after the first hospital visit, at which time absence epilepsy was controlled and medication was withdrawn without focal seizure attack in the interim. CONCLUSIONS: This case demonstrates that focal spikes associated with childhood absence epilepsy do not require specific treatment in the absence of focal seizures.

Pentamethylquercetin protects against cardiac remodeling via activation of Sestrin2.

Oxidative stress is widely involved in pathophysiological processes of cardiac remodeling. Molecules associated with antioxidant functions may be ideal targets for reversing cardiac remodeling. Sestrin2 is the important component of endogenous antioxidant defense, while there is little information on the pathophysiological roles of it in cardiac remodeling. The aim of this study was to investigate whether Sestrin2 is closely involved in cardiac remodeling, and whether the protective effect of pentamethylquercetin (PMQ) on cardiac remodeling is related to upregulation of the Sestrin2 endogenous antioxidant system. We generated a transverse aorta constriction (TAC)-induced pressure-overload cardiac-remodeling model in mice, and also established an isoproterenol (ISO)-induced neonatal rat cardiomyocyte (NRCM) hypertrophy model. The data showed Sestrin2 expression was downregulated significantly, and Nrf2 and HO-1 expression was also reduced in myocardial tissue or NRCM of model group, whereas keap1 expression was upregulated. PMQ significantly ameliorated cardiac remodeling and rectified the abnormal expression of Sestrin2/Nrf2/keap1. Sestrin2 small interfering RNA (SiRNA) reduced the protective effect of PMQ on NRCMs, as well as abolished its regulating effect on the Nrf2/keap1 pathway. In conclusion, Sestrin2 may be an important target in the anti-myocardial remodeling of PMQ.

Analysis of heart rate variability-related indexes in the interictal period in patients with focal epilepsy.

AIMS: Changes in cardiac autonomic nervous function have been evaluated by studying the related indexes of heart rate variability (HRV) in patients with focal epilepsy (FE) in the interictal period. MAIN METHODS: A total of 30 FE patients who were treated in our department from July 2015 to May 2017, were included into this study. These patients were divided into three pairs of groups: less frequent seizure group and more frequent seizure group; medication group and non-medication group; <10 years disease group and ≥10 years disease group. In addition, 16 normal healthy subjects were enrolled as the control group. The time domain and frequency domain indexes of HRV indexes between subgroups and the control group were retrospectively analyzed. KEY FINDINGS: The low-frequency/high-frequency ratio (LF/HF) in the interictal period was higher in the more frequent seizure group than in the control group and less frequent seizure group (P < 0.05). Furthermore, differences in interictal LF/HF and very low frequency (VLF) between the medication group and non-medication group and control group were statistically significant (P < 0.05). SIGNIFICANCE: In interictal period FE patients who present with an imbalance in autonomic nervous function, LF/HF can serve as an indicator to evaluate the interictal cardiac sympathetic activity of FE patients. Furthermore, the dynamic observation of changes in the HRV-related indexes of FE patients can prevent the choice of antiepileptic drugs that affect heart function, which is of guiding significance for evaluating autonomic nervous function.

Fabrication of a porous hydrangea-like Fe3O4@MnO2 composite for ultra-trace arsenic preconcentration and determination.

Fe3O4@MnO2 magnetic composite microsphere with hierarchical shells structure has been synthesized through a facile two-step hydrothermal reaction for ultra-trace arsenic enrichment. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy images clearly indicated that the as-synthesized material is a porous hydrangea-like morphology, as well as the size of the composite microspheres and the widths of pore are related to the reaction conditions. The N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms demonstrated that the specific surface areas and pore volume of Fe3O4@MnO2 with 8 h hydrothermal synthesis are 121.9260 m2 g-1 and 0.21 cm3 g-1, respectively. The enrichment performance of composites depends on their compositions, and the recovery of As(III) on Fe3O4@MnO2 with Mn/Fe ratio 1:2 was 1-2.3 times of that on other ratios. In comparison with As(V), experimental data indicated that the prepared composites have faster adsorption rate for As(III). In addition, slurry sampling chemical hydride generation technology can effectively remove and reduce the adsorbed As(III) or As(V) to the gaseous product, thus ensuring that the composite is at least repeated over 5 times. Under the optimized conditions, the detection limit of the proposed method was 2.9 ng L-1 and relative standard deviation of 4.8% for 0.1 µg L-1 As(III) was obtained. The linear calibration range was 0.01-1.5 µg L-1. The accuracy of the method was verified through analysis of the certificated reference materials. The proposed method has been applied to the determination of inorganic As in natural water samples.

Highly efficient electrocatalytic vapor generation of methylmercury based on the gold particles deposited glassy carbon electrode: A typical application for sensitive mercury speciation analysis in fish samples.

A gold particle deposited glassy carbon electrode (Au/GCE) was first used in electrochemical vapor generation (ECVG) technology and demonstrated to have excellent catalytic property for the electrochemical conversion process of aqueous mercury, especially for methylmercury (CH3Hg+), to gaseous mercury. Systematical research has shown that the highly consistent or distinct difference between the atomic fluorescence spectroscopy signals of CH3Hg+ and Hg2+ can be achieved by controlling the electrolytic parameters of ECVG. Hereby, a new green and accurate method for mercury speciation analysis based on the distinguishing electrochemical reaction behavior of Hg2+ and CH3Hg+ on the modified electrode was firstly established. Furthermore, electrochemical impedance spectra and the square wave voltammetry displayed that the ECVG reaction of CH3Hg+ may belong to the electrocatalytic mechanism. Under the selected conditions, the limits of detection of Hg2+ and CH3Hg+ are 5.3 ng L-1 and 4.4 ng L-1 for liquid samples and 0.53 pg mg-1 and 0.44 pg mg-1 for solid samples, respectively. The precision of the 5 measurements is less than 6% within the concentration of Hg2+ and CH3Hg+ ranging from 0.2 to 15.0 µg L-1. The accuracy and practicability of the proposed method was verified by analyzing the mercury content in the certified reference material and several fish as well as water samples.

The critical roles of TBC proteins in human diseases.

The Tre-2/Bub2/Cdc16 (TBC) domain is a conserved protein motif consisting of approximately 200 amino acids, and is present in many eukaryotic proteins. TBC domain-containing proteins (TBC proteins) function as GTPase activating proteins (GAPs) for the small GTPase Rab, which can promote the hydrolysis of Rab-GTP to Rab-GDP in regulation of specific intracellular trafficking pathways. Several TBC proteins play important roles in cellular functions in mammals, and defects of which are closely associated with numerous disease processes. In this review, we summarize the structures and functions of the mammalian TBC proteins and recent advances in understanding their critical roles in the development of human diseases. This review serves as a reference for further investigations on the functions of TBC proteins in disease pathogeneses.