The microRNA408-plantacyanin module balances plant growth and drought resistance by regulating reactive oxygen species homeostasis in guard cells.

The conserved microRNA (miRNA) miR408 enhances photosynthesis and compromises stress tolerance in multiple plants, but the cellular mechanism underlying its function remains largely unclear. Here, we show that in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), the transcript encoding the blue copper protein PLANTACYANIN (PCY) is the primary target for miR408 in vegetative tissues. PCY is preferentially expressed in the guard cells, and PCY is associated with the endomembrane surrounding individual chloroplasts. We found that the MIR408 promoter is suppressed by multiple abscisic acid (ABA)-responsive transcription factors, thus allowing PCY to accumulate under stress conditions. Genetic analysis revealed that PCY elevates reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in the guard cells, promotes stomatal closure, reduces photosynthetic gas exchange, and enhances drought resistance. Moreover, the miR408-PCY module is sufficient to rescue the growth and drought tolerance phenotypes caused by gain- and loss-of-function of MYB44, an established positive regulator of ABA responses, indicating that the miR408-PCY module relays ABA signaling for regulating ROS homeostasis and drought resistance. These results demonstrate that miR408 regulates stomatal movement to balance growth and drought resistance, providing a mechanistic understanding of why miR408 is selected during land plant evolution and insights into the long-pursued quest of breeding drought-tolerant and high-yielding crops.

Efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness analysis of Cerebrolysin in acute ischemic stroke: A rapid health technology assessment.

This study conducts a rapid health technology assessment to systematically evaluate the effectiveness, safety, and cost-effectiveness of Cerebrolysin as an adjunctive therapy for acute ischemic stroke to provide evidence-based medicine for clinical decisions of Cerebrolysin. All systematic reviews/meta-analyses, pharmacoeconomic studies, and health technology assessment reports of Cerebrolysin for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke before August 17, 2023, were retrieved from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, Weipu, Sinomed database and the official website of health technology assessment. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 2 researchers independently carried out screening, data extraction, and quality evaluation and descriptively analyzed the results of the included studies. A total of 14 pieces of literature were incorporated, comprising 8 systematic reviews/meta-analyses and 6 pharmacoeconomic studies. In terms of effectiveness, compared to control groups, the use of Cerebrolysin as a treatment for acute ischemic stroke demonstrates certain advantages, including enhancement in total efficacy rate, neurological function, upper limb motor dysfunction, and facilitation of the recovery of activities of daily living. Especially in patients with moderate to severe acute ischemic stroke, Cerebrolysin has demonstrated the ability to enhance neurological function recovery and ameliorate disabilities. Regarding safety, adverse reactions were mild or comparable to those in the control group. The primary findings of economic studies reveal that advocating for the use of Cerebrolysin offers certain cost-effectiveness advantages. Cerebrolysin contributes to improved clinical efficacy and evaluation indexes while demonstrating favorable safety and economic benefits.

Time series single-cell transcriptional atlases reveal cell fate differentiation driven by light in Arabidopsis seedlings.

Light serves as the energy source for plants as well as a signal for growth and development during their whole life cycle. Seedling de-etiolation is the most dramatic manifestation of light-regulated plant development processes, as massive reprogramming of the plant transcriptome occurs at this time. Although several studies have reported about organ-specific development and expression induced by light, a systematic analysis of cell-type-specific differentiation and the associated transcriptional regulation is still lacking. Here we obtained single-cell transcriptional atlases for etiolated, de-etiolating and light-grown Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings. Informative cells from shoot and root tissues were grouped into 48 different cell clusters and finely annotated using multiple markers. With the determination of comprehensive developmental trajectories, we demonstrate light modulation of cell fate determination during guard cell specialization and vasculature development. Comparison of expression atlases between wild type and the pifq mutant indicates that phytochrome-interacting factors (PIFs) are involved in distinct developmental processes in endodermal and stomatal lineage cells via controlling cell-type-specific expression of target genes. These results provide information concerning the light signalling networks at the cell-type resolution, improving our understanding of how light regulates plant development at the cell-type and genome-wide levels. The obtained information could serve as a valuable resource for comprehensively investigating the molecular mechanism of cell development and differentiation in response to light.

Mindfulness-based stress reduction combined with early cardiac rehabilitation improves negative mood states and cardiac function in patients with acute myocardial infarction assisted with an intra-aortic balloon pump: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To investigate the clinical effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention combined with early cardiac rehabilitation (CR) on patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) assisted with an intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP). Methods: A total of 100 AMI patients with IABP assistance due to hemodynamic instability at Wuhan Asia Heart Hospital were enrolled in the study. The participants were divided into two groups using the random number table method (n = 50 each group). Patients receiving routine CR were assigned to the CR control group, while patients receiving MBSR plus CR were assigned to the MBSR intervention group. The intervention was performed twice a day until the removal of the IABP (5-7 days). Each patient's level of anxiety/depression and negative mood state were evaluated before and after intervention using the self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), self-rating depression scale (SDS), and profiles of mood state scale (POMS). The results of the control and intervention groups were compared. IABP-related complications and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), measured with echocardiography, were also assessed and compared between the two groups. Results: The SAS, SDS, and POMS scores were lower in the MBSR intervention group than in the CR control group (P < 0.05). There were also less IABP-related complications in the MBSR intervention group. LVEF was significantly improved in both groups, but the degree of LVEF improvement was more significant in the MBSR intervention group than in the CR control group (P < 0.05). Conclusions: MBSR combined with early CR intervention can assist in alleviating anxiety, depression, and other negative mood states, reduce IABP-related complications, and further improve cardiac function in AMI patients with IABP assistance.

Theory, Method and Practice of Metal Deformation Instability: A Review.

Deformation instability is a macroscopic and microscopic phenomenon of non-uniformity and unstable deformation of materials under stress loading conditions, and it is affected by the intrinsic characteristics of materials, the structural geometry of materials, stress state and environmental conditions. Whether deformation instability is positive and constructive or negative and destructive, it objectively affects daily life at all times and the deformation instability based on metal-bearing analysis in engineering design has always been the focus of attention. Currently, the literature on deformation instability in review papers mainly focuses on the theoretical analysis of deformation instability (instability criteria). However, there are a limited number of papers that comprehensively classify and review the subject from the perspectives of material characteristic response, geometric structure response, analysis method and engineering application. Therefore, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the existing literature on metal deformation instability, covering its fundamental principles, analytical methods, and engineering practices. The phenomenon and definition of deformation instability, the principle and viewpoint of deformation instability, the theoretical analysis, experimental research and simulation calculation of deformation instability, and the engineering application and prospect of deformation instability are described. This will provide a reference for metal bearing analysis and deformation instability design according to material deformation instability, structural deformation instability and localization conditions of deformation instability, etc. From the perspective of practical engineering applications, regarding the key problems in researching deformation instability, using reverse thinking to deduce and analyze the characteristics of deformation instability is the main trend of future research.

LettuceGDB: The community database for lettuce genetics and omics.

As a globally popular leafy vegetable and a representative plant of the Asteraceae family, lettuce has great economic and academic significance. In the last decade, high-throughput sequencing, phenotyping, and other multi-omics data in lettuce have accumulated on a large scale, thus increasing the demand for an integrative lettuce database. Here, we report the establishment of a comprehensive lettuce database, LettuceGDB (https://www.lettucegdb.com/). As an omics data hub, the current LettuceGDB includes two reference genomes with detailed annotations; re-sequencing data from over 1000 lettuce varieties; a collection of more than 1300 worldwide germplasms and millions of accompanying phenotypic records obtained with manual and cutting-edge phenomics technologies; re-analyses of 256 RNA sequencing datasets; a complete miRNAome; extensive metabolite information for representative varieties and wild relatives; epigenetic data on the genome-wide chromatin accessibility landscape; and various lettuce research papers published in the last decade. Five hierarchically accessible functions (Genome, Genotype, Germplasm, Phenotype, and O-Omics) have been developed with a user-friendly interface to enable convenient data access. Eight built-in tools (Assembly Converter, Search Gene, BLAST, JBrowse, Primer Design, Gene Annotation, Tissue Expression, Literature, and Data) are available for data downloading and browsing, functional gene exploration, and experimental practice. A community forum is also available for information sharing, and a summary of current research progress on different aspects of lettuce is included. We believe that LettuceGDB can be a comprehensive functional database amenable to data mining and database-driven exploration, useful for both scientific research and lettuce breeding.

Miniature Inverted-repeat Transposable Elements Drive Rapid MicroRNA Diversification in Angiosperms.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are fast evolving endogenous small RNAs that regulate organism function and behavior in both animals and plants. Although models for de novo miRNA biogenesis have been proposed, the genomic mechanisms driving swift diversification of the miRNA repertoires in plants remain elusive. Here, by comprehensively analyzing 21 phylogenetically representative plant species, ranging from green algae to angiosperms, we systematically identified de novo miRNA events associated with 8,649 miRNA loci. We found that 399 (4.6%), 466 (5.4%), and 1,402 (16.2%) miRNAs were derived from inverted gene duplication events, long terminal repeats of retrotransposons, and miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs), respectively. Among the miRNAs of these origins, MITEs, especially those belonging to the Mutator, Tc1/Mariner, and PIF/Harbinger superfamilies, were the predominant genomic source for de novo miRNAs in the 15 examined angiosperms but not in the six non-angiosperms. Our data further illustrated a transposition-transcription process by which MITEs are converted into new miRNAs (termed MITE-miRNAs) whereby properly sized MITEs are transcribed and therefore become potential substrates for the miRNA processing machinery by transposing into introns of active genes. By analyzing the 58,038 putative target genes for the 8,095 miRNAs, we found that the target genes of MITE-miRNAs were preferentially associated with response to environmental stimuli such as temperature, suggesting that MITE-miRNAs are pertinent to plant adaptation. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that molecular conversion of MITEs is a genomic mechanism leading to rapid and continuous changes to the miRNA repertoires in angiosperm.

PmiREN2.0: from data annotation to functional exploration of plant microRNAs.

Nearly 200 plant genomes have been sequenced over the last two years, and new functions of plant microRNAs (miRNAs) have been revealed. Therefore, timely update of the plant miRNA databases by incorporating miRNAs from the newly sequenced species and functional information is required to provide useful resources for advancing plant miRNA research. Here we report the update of PmiREN2.0 (https://pmiren.com/) with an addition of 19 363 miRNA entries from 91 plants, doubling the amount of data in the original version. Meanwhile, abundant regulatory information centred on miRNAs was added, including predicted upstream transcription factors through binding motifs scanning and elaborate annotation of miRNA targets. As an example, a genome-wide regulatory network centred on miRNAs was constructed for Arabidopsis. Furthermore, phylogenetic trees of conserved miRNA families were built to expand the understanding of miRNA evolution across the plant lineages. These data are helpful to deduce the regulatory relationships concerning miRNA functions in diverse plants. Beside the new data, a suite of design tools was incorporated to facilitate experimental practice. Finally, a forum named 'PmiREN Community' was added for discussion and resource and new discovery sharing. With these upgrades, PmiREN2.0 should serve the community better and accelerate miRNA research in plants.

Intensification of biodiesel production using dual-frequency counter-current pulsed ultrasound.

Biodiesel production from soybean oil deodorizer distillate intensified by dual-frequency counter-current pulsed ultrasound and the kinetics were studied. Results indicated that the biodiesel conversions enhanced by single-frequency were lower than those enhanced by dual-frequency. For dual-frequency, the biodiesel conversion of SMM was higher than those of SQM. The biodiesel conversion of the combination of 20/28kHz is the highest. The effects of 20/28kHz SMM on biodiesel production were studied and optimal conditions were: methanol to triglyceride molar ratio 8:1, catalyst content 1.8%, the water content in feedstock should be less than 0.4%, the acid value of feedstock should be less than 2mgKOH·g-1, the biodiesel conversion could reach 96.3%. The kinetics of SMM and SSPU were studied and results showed that the transesterification reaction was pseudo-second order and the energy activation obtained by SMM and SSPU were 18.122kJ·mol-1 and 26.034kJ·mol-1, respectively. These results showed that transesterification reaction intensified by SMM is easier to take place than SSPU.