ABSTRACT
Anthurium andraeanum Linden is a prominent ornamental plant belonging to the family Araceae and is cultivated worldwide. The morphology characteristics are crucial because they significantly impact ornamental values, commercial properties, and the efficiency of space utilization in production. However, only a few related investigations have been conducted in anthurium to date. In this study, an F1 genetic segregation population containing 160 progenies was generated through hybridization between potted and cut anthurium varieties. Fifteen morphological traits were assessed and revealed substantial levels of genetic variation and widespread positive correlation. Based on specific length amplified fragment (SLAF) sequencing technology, 8171 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were developed, and the high-density linkage map of 2202.27 cM in length distributed on 15 linkage groups was constructed successfully, with an average distance of 0.30 cM. Using the inclusive composite interval mapping (ICIM) method, 59 QTLs related to 15 key morphological traits were successfully identified, which explained phenotypic variance (PVE) ranging from 6.21% to 17.74%. Thirty-three of those associated with 13 traits were designated as major QTLs with PVE > 10%. These findings offer valuable insights into the genetic basis of quantitative traits and are beneficial for molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS) in anthurium breeding.
ABSTRACT
Background: Current staging systems for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) still have limitations in clinical practice. Our study aimed to explore the prognostic factors and develop a new nomogram to predict the cancer-specific survival (CSS) for patients with HCC. Methods: A total of 6,166 HCC patients were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Patients were randomly grouped into the training cohort (70%) and validation cohort (30%). Multivariate Cox analysis was used to identify prognostics factors for CSS of patients, then we incorporated these variables and presented a new nomogram to predict 2- and 5-year CSS. The performance of the nomogram was assessed with respect to its calibration, concordance index (C-index), area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC), and decision curve analysis (DCA). Results: Multivariate Cox analysis revealed that American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stage, race, grade, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, tumor size, bone metastasis (BM), and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) were independently associated with CSS. The prediction nomogram which contained these predictors showed good performance, with a C-index of 0.802 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.792-0.812] in the training cohort and 0.801 (95% CI, 0.787-0.815) in the validation cohort. The calibration curves demonstrated good agreement between the actual observation and the nomogram prediction. Furthermore, the nomogram showed improved discriminative capacity (AUC, 0.873 and 0.875 for 2- and 5-year CSS in validation set) compared to the 7th tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging system (AUC, 0.735 and 0.717). The DCA also indicated good application of the nomogram. Conclusions: This study presents a novel nomogram that incorporates the important prognostic factors of HCC, which can be conveniently used to accurately predict the 2- and 5-year CSS of patients with HCC, thus assisting individualized clinical decision making.
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Alcoholysis of propylene oxide (PO) is achieved over azolate ionic liquids (IL, e.g., 1-hydroxyethyl-3-methyl imidazolium imidazolate) at room temperature, accessing glycol ethers in high yields with excellent selectivity (e.g., >99%). Mechanism investigation indicates that cooperation of hydrogen-bonding of the anion with methanol and that of the cation with PO catalyses the reaction.
ABSTRACT
Successful completion of a PhD is challenging for both the candidate and the supervisor. While doctoral students' emotional burdens received much attention, their supervisors' emotional experiences remain under-explored. Moreover, while teacher education research stressed the importance of teacher emotion regulation, empirical studies on doctoral supervisors' emotion regulation barely exist. The current qualitative study explored 17 computer science supervisors' emotions unfolding in doctoral supervision and their emotion regulation strategies. Semi-structured interviews revealed the supervisors' wide-ranging emotions, with their negative emotions more diverse and common than positive ones. The supervisors also regulated their emotions through multiple strategies within antecedent-focused and response-focused approaches. As one of the initial studies on doctoral supervisors' emotion and emotion regulation in their own right, the current study not only uncovers the complexity of the emotion-laden dimension of supervision, but also highlights the need for all stakeholders to attend to supervisors' psychological well-being in tandem with their students'.
ABSTRACT
A novel method based on direct analysis in real time integrated with mass spectrometry was established and applied into rapid determination of ginkgolic acids in Ginkgo biloba kernels and leaves. Instrument parameter settings were optimized to obtain the sensitive and accurate determination of ginkgolic acids. At the sample introduction speed of 0.2 mm/s, high intensity of [M-H]- ions for ginkgolic acids were observed in the negative ion mode by utilization of high-purity helium gas at 450°C. Two microliters of methanol extract of G. biloba kernels or leaves dropped on the surface of Quick-Strip module was analyzed after solvent evaporated to dryness. A series of standard solutions of ginkgolic acid 13:0 in the range of 2-50 mg/L were analyzed with a correlation coefficient r = 0.9981 and relative standard deviation (n = 5) from 12.5 to 13.7%. The limit of detection was 0.5 mg/L. The results of direct analysis in real time-mass spectrometry were in agreement with those observed by thermochemolysis gas chromatography. The proposed method demonstrated significant potential in the application of the high-throughput screening and rapid analysis for ginkgolic acids in dietary supplements.
Subject(s)
Ginkgo biloba/chemistry , Plant Leaves/chemistry , Salicylates/isolation & purification , Dietary Supplements/analysis , Mass SpectrometryABSTRACT
The modern statistical and data mining technology is used to analyze the law of the acupoint selection in the treatment of insomnia with acupuncture and moxibustion. The clinical literature on the treatment of insomnia with acupuncture and moxibustion in recent 10 years is collected from China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). Excel software is applied to establish the database of acupuncture prescriptions for insomnia so as to conduct the descriptive analysis, association rule analysis and clustering analysis on the data. In the treatment of insomnia with acupuncture and moxibustion, Shenmen (HT 7) is of the highest frequency and most acupoints were selected from the Governor Vessel. The commonly used acupoints are located on the head, face, neck and nape region. The combination of the local acupoints with the distal ones is predominated. The crossing points among the specific points present the advantage in the treatment. The association: rule analysis indicates the highest, correlation among Taixi (KI 3), Sishencong (EX-HN 1) and Shenmen (HT 7). The clustering analysis results in 6 effective clusters and 10 pairs of key points and summarizes the common law of the acupoint combination for insomnia. All of these provide the reference to the treatment of insomnia with acupuncture and moxibustion.
