Psychometric testing of the Chinese version of the Perceived Maternal Parenting Self-Efficacy Scale among postpartum women.

BACKGROUND: Maternal parenting self-efficacy plays a critical role in facilitating positive parenting practices and successful adaption to motherhood. The Perceived Maternal Parenting Self-Efficacy Scale (PMPS-E), as a task-specific measure, confirms its psychometric properties in cultural contexts. Compared with other tools, the advantages of the PMPS-E are as follows: (i) specific context or time period during the lifespan of a child, (ii) explicitly assess parenting self-efficacy across a diverse enough range of parenting tasks or activities during the perinatal/postnatal period and (iii) having robust psychometric properties. The aim of this study was to translate and determine the psychometric properties of the PMPS-E among Chinese postpartum women (C-PMPS-E). METHOD: The cross-cultural adaptation process followed Beaton et al.'s intercultural debugging guidelines. A total of 471 women were included to establish the psychometric properties of the C-PMPS-E. Mothers were asked to complete the C-PMPS-E, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and several demographic questions. The psychometric testing of the C-PMPS-E was established through item analysis, construct validity and internal consistency reliability. RESULTS: Item analysis showed that the critical ratios of all items were greater than 3 between the low-score group and high-score group, and all item-total correlation coefficients were greater than 0.4. The fit indices showed that the original correlated four-factor model of C-PMPS-E was observed to be an excellent fit to the data. The PMPS-E was negatively correlated with the EPDS and GAD-7 demonstrating its discriminant validity. As expected, no significant correlation was found between PMPS-E total or subscale scores and mothers' age. In addition, statistically significant differences for parity were detected for C-PMPS-E total and subscale scores with multipara having higher scores. This was taken as further evidence of the scale known-groups discriminant validity. In terms of internal consistency, the Cronbach's alpha of the C-PMPS-E total scale was 0.950, and subscales ranged from 0.76 to 0.89. Furthermore, a ROC curve analysis was conducted to establish the ability of the C-PMPS-E to distinguish between symptoms of depression and symptoms of anxiety. A cut-off value of 55 was identified that resulted in good specificity and fair sensitivity. CONCLUSION: The C-PMPS-E is a reliable and valid tool to assess maternal parenting self-efficacy in a Chinese context.

[The role of plant WRKY transcription factors against salt stress: a review].

High salt content in soils severely hampers plant growth and crop yields. Many transcription factors in plants play important roles in responding to various stresses, but their molecular mechanisms remain unclear. WRKY transcription factors are one of the largest families of transcription factors in higher plants that are involved in and influence many aspects of plant growth and development. They play important roles in responding to salt stress. The regulation of gene expression by WRKY proteins is mainly achieved by binding to the DNA's specific cis-regulatory elements, the W-box elements (TTGACC). In recent years, there have been many studies revealing the roles and mechanisms of WRKY family members, from model plant Arabidopsis to agricultural crops. This paper reviews the latest research progress on WRKY transcription factors in response to salt stress and discusses the current challenges and future perspectives of WRKY transcription factor research.

Solasonine Inhibits Cancer Stemness and Metastasis by Modulating Glucose Metabolism via Wnt/ß-Catenin/Snail Pathway in Osteosarcoma.

Solasonine (SS) is a natural glycoalkaloid compound that has been reported to possess a significant anticancer function. However, its anticancer effects and related mechanisms in osteosarcoma (OS) have not been studied. This study sought to investigate the impact of SS on the growth of OS cells. OS cells were treated with different concentrations of SS for 24[Formula: see text]h, and the results showed that SS attenuated the survival of OS cells in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, SS suppressed cancer stem-like properties and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) by inhibiting aerobic glycolysis in OS cells in an ALDOA-dependent manner. Additionally, SS reduced the levels of Wnt3a, [Formula: see text]-catenin, and Snail in OS cells in vitro. Furthermore, Wnt3a activation reversed the SS-induced inhibition of glycolysis in OS cells. Collectively, this study discovered a novel effect of SS in inhibiting aerobic glycolysis, in addition to cancer stem-like features and EMT, implying that SS could be a therapeutic candidate for OS treatment.

Effects of Ultrasound-Guided Transversus Thoracic Muscle Plane Block on Postoperative Pain and Side Effects: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

The effects of the transversus thoracic muscle plane (TTP) block on postoperative pain have become increasingly controversial. This meta-analysis compared the effects of the TTP block versus no block on postoperative analgesia and side effects to determine whether this new technique is a reliable alternative for pain management. PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chongqing VIP information, and Wanfang Data were searched for clinical studies investigating the analgesic effect of the TTP block compared to controls. The primary outcomes included the postoperative pain scores at rest and during movement, morphine consumption in 24 hours, and the rate of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV). Eleven randomized controlled trials (RCTs), including 682 patients, were reviewed. The meta-analysis showed that the TTP block significantly could reduce the pain scores at 0 (at rest: mean difference [MD], -2.28; 95% CI: -2.67 to -1.90) (during movement: MD: -2.09, 95% CI: -2.62 to -1.56) and 12 hours (at rest: -1.42, 95% CI: -2.03 to -0.82) (during movement: MD: -2.13, 95% CI: -2.80 to -1.46) after surgery, 24-hour postoperative analgesic consumption (MD: -23.18, 95% CI: -33.71 to -12.66), and the incidence of PONV (odds ratio, 0.36, 95% CI: 0.15-0.88). Furthermore, the trial sequence analysis confirmed the result of less 24-hour postoperative analgesic consumption in the TTP block group. As a novel technique, the TTP block exhibited a superior postoperative analgesic effect during the early postoperative period. Nevertheless, additional well-designed RCTs are needed.

Potential value of serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor, vascular endothelial growth factor, and S100B for identifying major depressive disorder in knee osteoarthritis patients.

Background: The chronic pain and functional limitations in osteoarthritis (OA) patients can increase risk of psychiatric disorders, e.g., major depression disorder (MDD), which may further aggravate the clinical symptoms of OA. Early detection of MDD is essential in the clinical practice of OA. Materials and methods: Two hundred and fifteen participants with knee OA were recruited, including 134 MDD patients (i.e., MDD group) and 81 ones without MDD (i.e., control group). Among them, 81 OA participants in the control group received a 3-year follow-up and were divided into trans-MDD group (who transforming into MDD; N = 39) and non-MDD group (who keeping non-MDD; N = 42) at the end of the follow-up. The 17-item Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD-17), Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) were performed. Furthermore, serum levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), S100B, and IGF-1 were detected. Results: (1) Compared with OA participants without MDD, there were significant decrease in serum BDNF and significant increase in serum VEGF and S100B and VAS scores in OA participants with MDD. (2) A mediation of the association was found between the VAS scores and the HAMD-17 scores through the BDNF as mediator in OA participants with MDD. (3) Significantly lower baseline BDNF levels and higher baseline S100B levels were detected in OA participants who transforming to MDD after a 3-year follow-up when compared with those who keeping non-MDD. (4) In the trans-MDD group, significant associations of the change of serum BDNF levels with rate of change of HAMD-17 scores were found, and baseline serum S100B levels positively correlated with the HAMD-17 scores at the end of the follow-up. (5) In OA participants, the composite indicator of BDNF, VEGF, and S100B differentiated MDD patients from controls with the area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.806, and the combined indicator of baseline BDNF and S100B distinguished trans-MDD participants from non-MDD ones with an AUC value of 0.806. Conclusion: Serum BDNF, VEGF, and S100B may be potential biomarkers to identify MDD in OA patients. Meanwhile, serum BDNF and S100B shows great potential to predict the risk of MDD for OA.

Nurses' knowledge on pressure ulcer prevention: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis based on the Pressure Ulcer Knowledge Assessment Tool.

Background: Pressure ulcers (PUs) are an indicator of the quality of nursing care and nurses can prevent PUs well if they have sufficient knowledge. Numerous studies in this field have reported different results. The aim of this study was to estimate the pooled score of nurses' knowledge about PU prevention based on the Pressure Ulcer Knowledge Assessment Tool (PUKAT). Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, databases including Web of Science, ScienceDirect, PubMed, and Scopus were searched. All studies published in English between 2011 and 2022 that reported the status of nurses' knowledge of PU prevention based on PUKAT were included in the analysis. Based on heterogeneity between the studies, the data were analyzed using a random effects model. Results: The pooled scores of PU prevention knowledge in nurses and nursing students were (51.5%; 95% CI: 45.8-57.2%) and (48.9%; 95% CI: 42.5-55.2%), respectively. As the age of the participants increased, the pooled score of pressure ulcer prevention knowledge increased significantly (p = 0.028). The publication bias was not significant. The highest and lowest knowledge scores in nurses and nursing students were related to the fourth dimension (nutrition) and the fifth dimension (preventive measures to reduce the amount of pressure/shear), respectively. Conclusion: Knowledge of nurses and nursing students about PU prevention is insufficient. Providing regular training to nurses and including the principles of PU prevention in the curriculum of nursing students to improve their knowledge seems necessary.

[Advances in the plant multicellular network analysis].

Multicellular network analysis is a method for topological properties analysis of cells. The functions of organs are determined by their inner cells. The arrangement of cells within organs endows higher-order functionality through a structure-function relationship, though the organizational properties of these multicellular configurations remain poorly understood. Multicellular network analysis with multicellular models established by 3D scanning of plants, will further discover the plant development mechanism, and provide clues for synthesizing plant multicellular systems. In this paper, we review the development of multicellular models, summarize the process of multicellular network analysis, and describe the development and application of multicellular network analysis in plants. In addition, this review also provides perspective on future development of plant multicellular network analysis.

Potential association of bone mineral density loss with cognitive impairment and central and peripheral amyloid-ß changes: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: There is some evidence in the literature that older adults with cognitive impairments have a higher risk for falls and osteoporotic hip fractures. Currently, the associations between bone health and cognitive health have not been extensively studied. Thus, the present cross-sectional study aims to investigate the relationship between markers of bone loss and cognitive performance in older adults with and without osteopenia as well as older adults with cognitive impairments (i.e., Alzheimer's disease [AD]). METHODS: Sixty-two non-osteopenia participants and one hundred three osteopenia participants as the cohort 1 and 33 cognitively normal non-AD participants and 39 AD participants as the cohort 2 were recruited. To assess cognitive and bone health, hip bone mineral density (BMD) and cognitive performance (via Minimal Mental State Examination [MMSE] and/or Auditory Verbal Learning Test-delayed recall [AVLT-DR]) were assessed. Furthermore, in cohort 1, plasma amyloid-ß (Aß) levels, and in cohort 2, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) Aß levels were determined. RESULTS: We observed that (1) compared with non-osteopenia participants, BMD values (t = - 22.806; 95%CI: - 1.801, - 1.484; p < 0.001), MMSE scores (t = - 5.392; 95%CI: - 3.260, - 1.698; p < 0.001), and AVLT-DR scores (t = - 4.142; 95%CI: - 2.181, - 0.804; p < 0.001), plasma Aß42 levels (t = - 2.821; 95%CI: - 1.737, - 0.305; p = 0.01), and Aß42/40 ratio (t = - 2.020; 95%CI: - 0.009, - 0.001; p = 0.04) were significantly lower in osteopenia participants; (2) plasma Aß42/40 ratio showed a mediate effect for the association between BMD values and the performance of cognitive function in osteopenia participants by mediation analysis, adjusting age, sex, years of education, and body mass index (BMI); (3) BMD values (95%CI: - 1.085, 0.478; p < 0.001) were significantly reduced in AD participants as compared with cognitively normal non-AD participants; (4) in AD participants, the interactive effects of BMD and CSF Aß42/40 ratio on MMSE scores was found by regression analysis, controlling age, sex, years of education, and BMI; (5) BMD can distinguish AD participants from cognitively normal non-AD participants with AUC of 0.816 and distinguish participants with the cognitive impairment from cognitively normal participants with AUC of 0.794. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest a relationship between bone health and cognitive health. Given the correlations between BMD and important markers of cognitive health (e.g., central and peripheral pathological change of Aß), BMD might serve as a promising and easy-accessible biomarker. However, more research is needed to further substantiate our findings.

Overexpression of Peroxisome-Localized GmABCA7 Promotes Seed Germination in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Peroxisome is one of the important organelles for intracellular lipid metabolism in plant cells and ß-oxidation of fatty acids in peroxisomes provides the energy for oil-containing seed germination. In this study, we identified an ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter gene, GmABCA7 from soybean, which is highly expressed in the different developmental stages of seeds. Transient expression of GmABCA7 in tobacco epidermal cells showed that GmABCA7 was specifically localized at the peroxisomes. Overexpression of GmABCA7 in Arabidopsis does not change seed phenotypes, or the overall levels of lipid, protein and sugar stored in the seeds; however, the transgenic seeds produced more gluconeogenic pathway precursors such as succinate and malate and germinated earlier compared to the wild type seeds. These results suggest that GmABCA7 may affect the ß-oxidation of fatty acids and play an important role in seed germination.

Humerus trochlear angle (HTa)-a possible alternative for Baumann angle in the reduction of supracondylar humerus fractures.

BACKGROUND: The supracondylar humerus fractures are the most common fracture in children's elbows. Generally, close reduction and percutaneous pinning can provide satisfactory outcomes after adequate reduction. Baumann angle is commonly used to evaluate reduction quality, however, it may fail to assess reduction well when the elbow is in flexion and/or when the patient is young. We conducted this study to evaluate the potential value of the humerus trochlear angle (HTa) for the reduction evaluation and compare it with the Baumann angle. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed supracondylar humerus fractures in our trauma center from 2016 to 2019. Patients were grouped as followed: in the HTa group, an arthrogram was used to evaluate the HTa angle and reduction (HTa, defined by the intersection of the axis of the humerus shaft and the tangent of the articular surface of the trochlear); In the Baumann group, the Baumann angle was used to assess the reduction. Baumann angle ratio (BA of injured side/BA of contralateral side) was calculated to evaluate the reduction quality between groups. Flynn's grading criteria were utilized to evaluate both function and cosmetic outcomes in two groups during the follow-up. Operation time, fluoroscopy shots, complications and Flynn's grading scores were compared between groups. RESULTS: A total of 57 patients with an average age of 4.62 years and follow-up duration of 21.49 ± 5.40 months were included in the analysis. The gender and age distributions were similar in the two groups. Fluoroscopy shots in the HTa group were significantly less than in Baumann group (16.17 ± 0.73 vs. 21.85 ± 0.78, p < 0.0001), and operation time were also less in HTa group (45.78 ± 1.96 min vs. 62.21 ± 1.58 min, p < 0.0001). Baumann ratio showed no significant difference between the two groups (1.002 ± 0.023 in the Baumann group and 1.01 ± 0.023 in HTa group, p < 0.0001). Length of hospitalization, complications, and Flynn's grading scores were similar between groups. The HTa angle was positively correlated with Baumann angle in the HTa group (R-value is 0.71 and P = 0.0002). CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant difference in reduction quality and Flynn's scores between HTa and Baumann groups. Furthermore, HTa was associated with shorter operation time and less radiation exposure in this investigation. Therefore, HTa may be a convenient and reliable parameter that could guide the reduction of supracondylar humerus fractures, especially for young children.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Regional Ecological Civilization Policy: Evidence from Jiangsu Province, China.

Evaluating the effectiveness of ecological civilization policies is the basis from which policymakers can optimize policies. From the perspective of the overall effectiveness of regional policies, and taking Jiangsu Province as an example, this study constructed a quantitative evaluation model of eco-civilization policy text and an eco-civilization evaluation index system. Using these tools, this paper evaluates the effectiveness of 53 ecological civilization policies issued by Jiangsu Province during 2004-2019 to promote the construction of ecological civilization in the four fields of resource utilization, environmental protection, economic development, and social life. There are three key findings. (1) During the period of 2004-2019, the effectiveness of the textual content of ecological civilization policies in Jiangsu Province generally showed a fluctuating upward trend. (2) The construction effectiveness indexes of the four fields of eco-civilization all showed a growth trend, but the construction effect varied greatly. The index of economic development had grown rapidly, while environmental protection had grown slowly. (3) Ecological civilization policies in Jiangsu Province were effective in promoting the construction of ecological civilization. However, the effects of different policy dimensions on ecological civilization development in the four fields were significantly different. Finally, based on these results, powerful recommendations are provided for the optimization of eco-civilization policies in Jiangsu Province. Moreover, Jiangsu is the first province in China to launch a provincial-level ecological civilization construction plan. Its policy optimization to promote ecological civilization construction can also provide an example and realistic basis for reference for the construction of eco-civilization in other provinces in China.

Beclin 1 deficiency causes hepatic cell apoptosis via endoplasmic reticulum stress in zebrafish larvae.

Beclin 1/Atg6 is an essential autophagy gene, and deficiency of this gene in organisms leads to impaired autophagic flux, usually with cell apoptosis; however, the causative mechanism of cell apoptosis is not clear. Here, we knocked out the beclin 1 gene in zebrafish and found that autophagic flux is disrupted in mutants. Beclin 1-deficient zebrafish live through embryogenesis but die at larval stage. We found accumulated protein aggregates and vigorous apoptosis in mutant larvae, predominantly in the liver. The hepatic cell apoptosis in mutants results from an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response; however, it is not the leading cause of mutant larval lethality. Our work proposes that ER stress induces cell apoptosis in Beclin 1-deficient organisms.

Ectopic Expression of Poplar ABC Transporter PtoABCG36 Confers Cd Tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Cadmium (Cd) is one of the most toxic heavy metals for plant growth in soil. ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters play important roles in biotic and abiotic stresses. However, few ABC transporters have been characterized in poplar. In this study, we isolated an ABC transporter gene PtoABCG36 from Populus tomentosa. The PtoABCG36 transcript can be detected in leaves, stems and roots, and the expression in the root was 3.8 and 2 times that in stems and leaves, respectively. The PtoABCG36 expression was induced and peaked at 12 h after exposure to Cd stress. Transient expression of PtoABCG36 in tobacco showed that PtoABCG36 is localized at the plasma membrane. When overexpressed in yeast and Arabidopsis, PtoABCG36 could decrease Cd accumulation and confer higher Cd tolerance in transgenic lines than in wild-type (WT) lines. Net Cd2+ efflux measurements showed a decreasing Cd uptake in transgenic Arabidopsis roots than WT. These results demonstrated that PtoABCG36 functions as a cadmium extrusion pump participating in enhancing tolerance to Cd through decreasing Cd content in plants, which provides a promising way for making heavy metal tolerant poplar by manipulating ABC transporters in cadmium polluted areas.

Robust auto-weighted projective low-rank and sparse recovery for visual representation.

Most existing low-rank and sparse representation models cannot preserve the local manifold structures of samples adaptively, or separate the locality preservation from the coding process, which may result in the decreased performance. In this paper, we propose an inductive Robust Auto-weighted Low-Rank and Sparse Representation (RALSR) framework by joint feature embedding for the salient feature extraction of high-dimensional data. Technically, the model of our RALSR seamlessly integrates the joint low-rank and sparse recovery with robust salient feature extraction. Specifically, RALSR integrates the adaptive locality preserving weighting, joint low-rank/sparse representation and the robustness-promoting representation into a unified model. For accurate similarity measure, RALSR computes the adaptive weights by minimizing the joint reconstruction errors over the recovered clean data and salient features simultaneously, where L1-norm is also applied to ensure the sparse properties of learnt weights. The joint minimization can also potentially enable the weight matrix to have the power to remove noise and unfavorable features by reconstruction adaptively. The underlying projection is encoded by a joint low-rank and sparse regularization, which can ensure it to be powerful for salient feature extraction. Thus, the calculated low-rank sparse features of high-dimensional data would be more accurate for the subsequent classification. Visual and numerical comparison results demonstrate the effectiveness of our RALSR for data representation and classification.

Comprehensive evaluation on low-carbon development of coal enterprise groups.

Scientifically evaluating the level of low-carbon development in terms of theoretical and practical significance is extremely important to coal enterprise groups for implementing national energy-related systems. This assessment can assist in building institutional mechanisms that are conducive for the economic development of coal business cycle and energy conservation as well as promoting the healthy development of coal enterprises to realize coal scientific development and resource utilization. First, by adopting systematic analysis method, this study builds low-carbon development evaluation index system for coal enterprise groups. Second, to determine the weight serving as guideline and criteria of the index, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is applied using integrated linear weighted sum method to evaluate the level of low-carbon development of coal enterprise groups. Evaluation is also performed by coal enterprise groups, and the process comprises field analysis and evaluation. Finally, industrial policies are proposed regarding the development of low-carbon coal conglomerate strategies and measures. This study aims mainly to guide the low-carbon development of coal enterprise groups, solve the problem of coal mining and the destruction of ecological environment, support the conservation of raw materials and various resources, and achieve the sustainable development of the coal industry.

Allocating on coal consumption and CO2 emission from fair and efficient perspective: empirical analysis on provincial panel data of China.

This paper considers a problem of how to allocate resource effectively and equitably among provinces. To address the problem, a total factor resource input-oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA) model is used to evaluate the energy and environmental efficiency for 30 provinces in China during 2009-2013 in this paper. Based on the evaluation results, from efficient and fair perspective, a revised DEA-based resource allocation model is established. It is worth pointing out that the model takes the input orientation and output orientation into account at the same time and can be used to allocate coal consumption and carbon emission by 2020 for 30 provinces in China. Results indicate that if the Chinese government wants to fulfill the CO2 emission reduction targets of 40-45% by 2020, and coal consumption intensity reduction target during 13th Five-Year Plan, inefficient provinces will undertake more coal consumption and carbon emission intensity reduction obligation share. And provinces with historical high coal consumption and high CO2 emission intensity will have greater potential of coal consumption and carbon emission intensity reduction. In addition, this paper set several scenarios of gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate, under the scenarios analysis, finds the growth rate of GDP has negative effect on reduction of coal consumption and carbon dioxide emissions intensity. This research provides more realistic practical significance for achieving sustainable economic development.

A Novel UDP-Glycosyltransferase of Rhodiola crenulata Converts Tyrosol to Specifically Produce Icariside D2.

Rhodiola crenulata is a Tibetan native herbal plant belonging to the family of Crassulaceae, which produces the pharmaceutical icariside D2 with the activities of inhibiting angiotensin-converting enzyme and killing leukemia cancer cells. In this study, we functionally characterized a novel UDP-glycosyltransferase (RcUGT1) that converted tyrosol to specifically produce icariside D2 from R. crenulata at molecular and biochemical levels. RcUGT1 was highly expressed in flowers and roots, while the icariside D2 content was much higher in stems than that in other organs, suggesting the potential translocation of icariside D2 from flowers and roots to stems. The high production of icariside D2 in stems provided a reasonable suggestion to farmers to harvest stems instead of roots for icariside D2 production. Enzymatic assays of recombinant RcUGT1 indicated that it converted tyrosol to specifically form icariside D2, with the values of Km 0.97±0.10 mM, Vmax 286±8.26 pKat/mg, Kcat 0.01552 s-1, and Kcat/Km 159.55 s-1 M-1. Functional identification of RcUGT1 facilitated the icariside D2 production through metabolic engineering in plants or synthetic biology in microbes.

Overexpression of PtABCC1 contributes to mercury tolerance and accumulation in Arabidopsis and poplar.

Mercury (Hg) is a highly biotoxic heavy metal that contaminates the environment. Phytoremediation is a green technology for environmental remediation and is used to clean up Hg contaminated soil in recent years. In this study, we isolated an ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter gene PtABCC1 from Populus trichocarpa and overexpressed it in Arabidopsis and poplar. The transgenic plants conferred higher Hg tolerance than wild type (WT) plants, and overexpression of PtABCC1 could lead to 26-72% or 7-160% increase of Hg accumulation in Arabidopsis or poplar plants, respectively. These results demonstrated that PtABCC1 plays a crucial role in enhancing tolerance and accumulation to Hg in plants, which provides a promising way for phytoremediation of Hg contamination.

Arabidopsis PWWP domain proteins mediate H3K27 trimethylation on FLC and regulate flowering time.

LHP1 mediates recruitment of the PRC2 histone methyltransferase complex to chromatin and thereby facilitates maintenance of H3K27me3 on FLC, a key flowering repressor gene. Here, we report that the PWWP domain proteins (PDPs) interact with FVE and MSI5 to suppress FLC expression and thereby promote flowering. We demonstrated that FVE, MSI5, and PDP3 were co-purified with LHP1. The H3K27me3 level on FLC was decreased in the pdp mutants as well as in the fve/msi5 double mutant. This study suggests that PDPs function together with FVE and MSI5 to regulate the function of the PRC2 complex on FLC.

Restoration of osteogenic differentiation by overexpression of cannabinoid receptor 2 in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells isolated from osteoporotic patients.

Cannabinoid receptor 2 (CNR2) has a critical role in osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). CNR2 expression was found to be downregulated in osteoporotic patients. The present study aimed to investigate the functionality of CNR2 in restoring osteogenic differentiation and mineralization of BMSCs isolated from osteoporotic patients. CNR2 was overexpressed in osteoporotic BMSCs by a lentivirus. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity staining and alizarin red S staining were performed to examine the osteogenic differentiation of osteoporotic BMSCs. Reverse-transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis was performed to examine the expression of osteogenic genes in BMSCs. Western blot analysis was used to study the activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) during osteogenic differentiation of osteoporotic BMSCs after lentivirus-mediated overexpression of CNR2. The results demonstrated that overexpression of CNR2 in osteoporotic BMSCs increased ALP activity, promoted expression of osteogenic genes and enhanced deposition of mineralized extracellular matrix. In addition, phosphorylation of p38 MAPK was found to be increased by overexpression of CNR2. In conclusion, the present study indicated that restoration of CNR2 recovered the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs isolated from osteoporotic patients. This finding may provide a novel strategy for a treatment approach for osteoporosis.