A Novel Cuticular Protein-like Cpr21L Is Essential for Nymph Survival and Male Fecundity in the Brown Planthopper.

Cuticular proteins (CPs) are a large family and perform a variety of functions. However, the physiological roles of cuticle protein 21-like (Cpr21L) in the brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens, BPH), one of the most destructive insect pests of rice, are largely unclear. In this study, Cpr21L was revealed to be expressed in both BPH nymphs and adults, and the mRNA expression level was much higher in male adults than female adults. Spatially, the expression of Cpr21L in the testis was higher than in the ovary. The RNA interference (RNAi) of Cpr21L seriously decreased nymph survival, and no individual survived 8 days post-dsCpr21L injection. The RNAi of Cpr21L in adults also decreased the fertility of males, especially in the dsCpr21L♂ × dsGFP♀ group. The average number of eggs laid by one female in this group significantly decreased by 50.1%, and the eggs' hatchability decreased from 76.5% to 23.8% compared with the control (dsGFP♂ × dsGFP♀). Furthermore, observations under a stereomicroscope showed that the RNAi of Cpr21L severely impaired the development of the testes. Therefore, Cpr21L is essential for the nymphal survival and male fecundity of BPH, thus providing a possible target for pest control.

OTUCD: Unsupervised GCN based metagenomics non-overlapping community detection.

Metagenomics is a discipline that studies the genetic material of all tiny organisms in the biological environment. In recent years, the interaction between metagenomic microbial communities, the transfer of horizontal genes, and the dynamic changes of microbial ecosystems have attracted more and more attention. It is of great significance to use the community detection algorithm to divide the metagenomic microbes into modules, and it has a positive guiding role for the follow-up research on human, drug, microbial interaction study and drug prediction and development. At present, there are challenges in mining the effective information hidden in large-scale microbial sequence data. The non-linear characteristics and non-scalability of microbial sequence data still bother people. This paper proposes an end-to-end unsupervised GCN learning model OTUCD (Operational Classification Unit Community Detection), which divides large-scale metagenomic sequence data into potential gene modules. We construct an OTU network, and then performs subsequent nonoverlapping community detection task with graph convolutional networks. Experimental scores show that the community detection effect of this method is better than other latest metagenomic algorithms.

Rice Defense against Brown Planthopper Partially by Suppressing the Expression of Transferrin Family Genes of Brown Planthopper.

Transferrins are multifunctional proteins, but their role in the interaction of rice and brown planthopper (BPH) remains unclear. In this study, the full-length cDNA of transferrin genes NlTsf1, NlTsf2, and NlTsf3 was cloned. Reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction showed that the expressions of NlTsf1 and NlTsf3 were significantly suppressed in BPH reared on the resistant rice R1 by 68.0 and 86.7%, respectively, compared with that on the susceptible S9. The survival rate decreased to 3.3% for dsNlTsf3-treated nymphs, to 58.9% for dsNlTsf1, and to 56.7% for dsNlTsf2 on day 11. RNAi of NlTsf3 against females largely reduced the number of eggs by 99.4%, and it decreased by 48.6% for dsNlTsf1 but did not significantly decrease for dsNlTsf2. Collectively, NlTsf1, NlTsf2, and NlTsf3 are essential for the survival and fecundity of BPH and are differentially involved in the interaction between rice and BPH. Therefore, NlTsf1 and NlTsf3 may be used as targets to control BPH.

RNAi-mediated silencing of the autophagy-related gene NlATG3 inhibits survival and fecundity of the brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens.

BACKGROUND: The brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens, is a serious insect pest of rice. Autophagy and its related gene ATG3 play multiple roles in insects. However, information about the functions of ATG3 in BPH (NlATG3) is unavailable, and its potential as a target for pest control remains unclear. RESULTS: RT-qPCR results showed a relatively low expression of NlATG3 in 1st-4th-instar nymphs, which increased through 9-day-old adults. The expression of NlATG3 increased continuously in 1-day-old through 5-day-old eggs, whereas it decreased thereafter. The mRNA level of NlATG3 was markedly higher in the ovary (1.16) and head (1.00) compared to the rest body parts of BPH adults. Injecting nymphs with dsNlATG3 at doses from 62.5 to 250 ng per insect had strong lethal effect upon them. For the 5th-instar nymphs, all individuals died within 5 days after receiving the dsNlATG3, and importantly, no individual successfully molted. Transmission electron microscopy revealed the new cuticle of nymphs injected with dsNlATG3 became loose and curved, which is clearly different from that of the control. Correspondingly, the obvious vesicles in epidermal cells disappeared after dsNlATG3-treatment. RNAi of NlATG3 significantly reduced the total number of eggs laid per female as well as the eggs' hatchability, especially in the dsNlATG3♀ × dsGFP♂ group, whose total number of eggs laid per female largely decreased by 80.4%, and whose eggs' hatchability was significantly reduced from 95.7% to zero, when compared with the control (dsGFP♀ × dsGFP♂). CONCLUSION: NlATG3 is a promising target for developing RNAi-based insect management strategies. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation in the patients with chronic liver disease: A mini-review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Chronic liver disease is traditionally conceived as a risk factor for cardiovascular surgery. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has recently burgeoned to precede surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in patients with severe aortic stenosis at intermediate to high surgical risk. The evidence regarding TAVI in the patients with chronic liver disease is currently scarce. METHODS: This article aims to assess the application of TAVI technique in the patients with chronic liver disease. RESULTS: TAVI in the patients with chronic liver disease produced acceptable postoperative results. The post-TAVI outcomes were comparable between the patients with or without chronic liver disease, except for a lower rate of pacemaker implantation in the patients with chronic liver disease (OR, 0.49[0.27-0.87], P = .02). In the patients with chronic liver disease, compared to SAVR, TAVI led to a decrease in the in-hospital mortality (OR, 0.43[0.22-0.86], P = .02) and need for transfusion (OR, 0.39[0.25-0.62], P < .0001). The rest outcomes were similar between the 2 groups. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review and meta-analysis supported that TAVI is a reliable therapeutic option for treating severe aortic stenosis in the patients with chronic liver disease. Future large-scale randomized controlled trials investigating the mid-term and long-term prognosis are needed to further verify these results.

Antiplatelet strategy after transcatheter aortic valve replacement: an updated meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Recently transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has emerged as a feasible alternative for traditional surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in patients with intermediate to high risk. There is currently no clear consensus regarding the optimal antiplatelet strategy after TAVR. The primary objective of this updated meta-analyses was to compare the outcomes of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) versus single antiplatelet therapy (SAPT) following TAVR. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A meta-analysis of eligible studies of patients undergoing TAVR which reported our outcomes of postoperative DAPT in comparison with SAPT, was carried out. The outcomes included the all-cause mortality, stroke, major/life-threatening bleeding, myocardial infarction and a composite endpoint of mortality, stroke, bleeding and myocardial infarction. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Three randomized controlled trials (RCTs, N.=421) and 5 observational studies (N.=6683) were included in this updated meta-analysis. All-cause mortality was comparable between the two groups (OR 1.13 [95% CI: 0.70-1.81], P=0.619). Besides, DAPT resulted in an augmented risk of major/life-threatening bleeding (OR 2.45 [95% CI: 1.08-5.59], P=0.032). No statistically significant difference was found between the two groups in the rates of stroke (OR 0.83 [95% CI: 0.62-1.10], P=0.212) and myocardial infarction (OR 1.17 [95% CI: 0.47-2.91], P=0.728). And DAPT led to an increased rate of the composite endpoint (OR 2.39 [95% CI: 1.63-3.50], P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONSː The updated meta-analysis presents the evidence that post-TAVR DAPT increases bleeding events, with no benefit in survival and ischemic events, in comparison with SAPT. Nevertheless, it is currently difficult to evaluate by a meta-analysis the effectiveness of DAPT versus SAPT to prevent the valve thrombosis resulting in leaflet dysfunction, due to a limited number of existing publications. Additional RCTs are needed to determine the optimal antiplatelet strategy after TAVR.

Arterioplasty in Takayasu's Arteritis With Left Main Coronary Artery Involvement.

Here we report a case of a 24-year-old woman diagnosed with Takayasu's arteritis with left main coronary artery involvement in which we performed the arterioplasty of the left main coronary artery using a glutaraldehyde-fixed autologous pericardial patch. Ten years of follow-up demonstrated the satisfactory patency of the ostium of the left main coronary artery.

Protein phosphatase magnesium-dependent 1δ (PPM1D) mRNA expression is a prognosis marker for hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Protein phosphatase magnesium-dependent 1δ (PPM1D) is an oncogene, overexpressed in many solid tumors, including ovarian cancer and breast cancer. The current study examined the expression and the prognostic value of PPM1D mRNA in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: Total RNA was extracted from 86 HCC and paired non-cancerous liver tissues. PPM1D mRNA expression was determined by real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Immunohistochemistry assay was used to verify the expression of ppm1d protein in the HCC and non-cancerous liver tissues. HCC patients were grouped according to PPM1D mRNA expression with the average PPM1D mRNA level in non-cancerous liver tissue samples as the cut-off. Correlations between clinicopathologic variables, overall survival and PPM1D mRNA expression were analyzed. FINDINGS: PPM1D mRNA was significantly higher in HCC than in the paired non-cancerous tissue (p<0.01). This was confirmed by ppm1d staining. 56 patients were classified as high expression group and the other 30 patients were categorized as low expression group. There were significant differences between the two groups in term of alpha-fetoprotein (α-FP) level (p<0.01), tumor size (p<0.01), TNM stage (p<0.01), recurrence incidence (p<0.01) and family history of liver cancer (p<0.01). The current study failed to find significant differences between the two groups in the following clinical characteristics: age, gender, portal vein invasion, lymphnode metastasis, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and alcohol intake. Survival time of high expression group was significantly shorter than that of low expression group (median survival, 13 months and 32 months, respectively, p<0.01). CONCLUSION: Up-regulation of PPM1D mRNA was associated with progressive pathological feature and poor prognosis in HCC patients. PPM1D mRNA may serve as a prognostic marker in HCC.