Mitigation effects of plant carbon black on intestinal morphology, inflammation, antioxidant status, and microbiota in piglets challenged with deoxynivalenol.

Introduction: Plant carbon black (PCB) is a new feed additive for zearalenone adsorption in China. However, information regarding whether PCB can effectively absorb deoxynivalenol (DON) is limited. Methods: To explore this research gap, the present study examined the adsorption effectiveness of DON by PCB using a phosphate buffer, artificial gastric juice, and artificial intestinal juice. In a 21-day in vivo trial, 48 male piglets were randomly assigned to four treatment groups: (1) uncontaminated basal diet (CTR), (2) basal diet supplemented with 1 mg/kg PCB(PCB), (3) 2.3 mg/kg DON-contaminated diet (DON), and (4) 2.3 mg/kg DON-contaminated diet supplemented with 0.1% PCB (DON+PCB). Results: When DON concentration was 1 µg/mL, the adsorption rate of PCB on DON in phosphate buffer systems (pH 2.0 and 6.0) and the artificial gastric and intestinal juices were 100%, 100%, 71.46%, and 77.20%, respectively. In the in vivo trial, the DON group significantly increased the DON+deepoxy-deoxynivalenol (DOM-1) content in serum as well as the inflammation cytokine proteins (interleukin-6, interleukin-8, and tumor necrosis factor-α) and mRNA expression of interleukin-6 and longchain acyl-CoA synthetase 4 in the jejunum and ileum. It decreased the villus height, goblet cells, mucosal thickness, and mRNA expression of Claudin-1 compared to the CTR group. In addition, DON decreased the Shannon and Simpson indices; reduced the relative abundances of Firmicutes, Lactobacillus, Candidatus_Saccharimonas, and Ruminococcus; and increased the relative abundances of Terrisporobacter and Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 in the cecal content. Discussion: In conclusion, these results suggest that PCB showed high adsorption efficacy on DON in vitro, and exhibit the protective effects against various intestinal toxicity manifestations in DON-challenged piglets.

The impact of long-term care insurance on the utilization of inpatient service: Evidence and mechanisms in China.

This paper empirically investigates the impact of public long-term care insurance (LTCI) on the utilization of inpatient services and associated expenditures among disabled Chinese individuals, using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study from 2011 to 2018. Employing a staggered difference-in-difference approach within a propensity score matching framework (PSM-DID), the study finds that the introduction of LTCI significantly reduces the likelihood of inpatient service usage by 4.2%, the annual number of inpatient admissions by 10.2%, the annual inpatient cost by 16.2%, the out-of-pocket expenses by 20.7%, and the reimbursement expenditure by the public medical insurer by 9.9%. The study further explores the mechanisms underlying these effects and identifies that the Substitution Effect, where care services in community healthcare centers and nursing homes replace hospitalizations, outweighs the Income Effect generated by LTCI benefits. By leveraging the quasi-natural experimental setting of diverse LTCI policies across cities, the study also examines the heterogeneous impacts of LTCI based on household income, eligibility criteria, and reimbursement methods. The findings underscore the positive role of LTCI in controlling medical expenses and alleviating congestion in urban hospitals, offering valuable insights for promoting "Healthy Aging".

Hemicentin-1 is an essential extracellular matrix component during tooth root formation by promoting mesenchymal cells differentiation.

Introduction: Root dentin formation is an important process in tooth development. We tried to identify potential genes that regulate root dentin formation which could be potentially used for the regeneration and repair of defective or damaged dental roots. Methods: Tissues harvested from the labial and lingual sides of mouse incisors were used for microarray analysis. Gene ontology (GO) analysis of differentially expressed genes indicated the critical role of extracellular matrix in the discrepancy of dentin formation between root and crown, for which hemicentin-1 (Hmcn1) was selected as the target gene. Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis the expression pattern of Hmcn1 at different developmental stages in mouse molars. The spatiotemporal expression of HMCN1 in mouse incisors and molars was detected by immunohistochemical staining. The functions of HMCN1 in human dental pulp cells, including proliferation, differentiation and migration, were examined in vitro by CCK8 assay, BrdU assay, wound-healing assay, ALP staining and alizarin red staining, respectively. Results: It was showed that HMCN1 expression was more pronounced in papilla-pulp on the root than crown side in mouse incisors and molars. In vitro experiments presented inhibited dentinogenesis and migration after HMCN1-knockdown in human dental pulp cells, while there was no significant difference in proliferation between the HMCN1-knockdown group and control group. Discussion: These results indicated that HMCN1 plays an important role in dentinogenesis and migration of pulp cells, contributing to root dentin formation.

Twisted Structure and Multiple Charge-Transfer Channels Endow Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Devices with Small Efficiency Roll-Off and Low Concentration Dependence.

Despite the rapid development of thermally activated delayed fluorescent (TADF) materials, developing organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with small efficiency roll-off remains a formidable challenge. Herein, we have designed a TADF molecule (mClSFO) based on the spiro fluorene skeleton. The highly twisted structure and multiple charge-transfer channels effectively suppress aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) and endow mClSFO with excellent exciton dynamic properties to reduce efficiency roll-off. Fast radiative rate (kr) and rapid reverse intersystem crossing (RISC) rate (kRISC) of 1.6 × 107 s-1 and 1.07 × 106 s-1, respectively, are obtained in mClSFO. As a result, OLEDs based on mClSFO obtain impressive maximum external quantum efficiency (EQEmax) exceeding 20% across a wide doping concentration range of 10-60 wt%. 30 wt% doped OLED exhibits an EQEmax of 23.1% with a small efficiency roll-off, maintaining an EQE of 18.6% at 1000 cd m-2. The small efficiency roll-off and low concentration dependence observed in the TADF emitter underscore its significant potential.

Intramolecular exciplex featuring a bis-sp3 C-locked acceptor-donor-acceptor sandwich.

Intramolecular exciplex systems featuring thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) have garnered significant attention in the realm of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Nonetheless, the occurrence of organic sandwich intramolecular exciplexes remains rare due to structural limitations and synthetic challenges. Herein, we present a novel rigid acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A) sandwich complex, dSFQP, characterized by two sp3 C-locking moieties. This compound exhibits TADF characteristics facilitated by a multiple through-space charge-transfer process. X-ray crystallographic analysis confirms the distinctive sandwich configuration. The parallel spatial arrangement and minimized A-D-A configuration enhance electronic interactions, resulting in a high photoluminescence quantum yield, rapid reverse intersystem crossing rate, and sluggish nonradiative decay rate. OLEDs employing dSFQP as the dopant achieve a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 28.5% with a low efficiency roll-off of merely 2.8% at 1000 cd m-2. Even at a high brightness of 10 000 cd m-2, the EQE remains notably high at 17.5%. Our current results provide an effective way to further innovate the design of new organic charge-transfer complexes.

PemK's Arg24 is a crucial residue for PemIK toxin-antitoxin system to induce the persistence of Weissella cibaria against ciprofloxacin stress.

The toxin-antitoxin (TA) system plays a key role in bacteria escaping antibiotic stress with persistence, however, the mechanisms by which persistence is controlled remain poorly understood. Weissella cibaria, a novel probiotic, can enters a persistent state upon encountering ciprofloxacin stress. Conversely, it resumes from the persistence when ciprofloxacin stress is relieved or removed. Here, it was found that PemIK TA system played a role in transitioning between these two states. And the PemIK was consisted of PemK, an endonuclease toxic to mRNA, and antitoxin PemI which neutralized its toxicity. The PemK specifically cleaved the U↓AUU in mRNA encoding enzymes involved in glycolysis, TCA cycle and respiratory chain pathways. This cleavage event subsequently disrupted the crucial cellular processes such as hydrogen transfer, electron transfer, NADH and FADH2 synthesis, ultimately leading to a decrease in ATP levels and an increase in membrane depolarization and persister frequency. Notably, Arg24 was a critical active residue for PemK, its mutation significantly reduced the mRNA cleavage activity and the adverse effects on metabolism. These insights provided a clue to comprehensively understand the mechanism by which PemIK induced the persistence of W. cibaria to escape ciprofloxacin stress, thereby highlighting another novel aspect PemIK respond for antibiotic stress.

Unraveling the Role of Cuticular Protein 3-like (HvCP3L) in the Chitin Pathway through RNAi and Methoxyfenozide Stress Response in Heortia vitessoides Moore.

Cuticle proteins (CPs) constitute a multifunctional family; however, the physiological role of Cuticle Protein 3-like (CP3L) in Heortia vitessoides Moore remains largely unclear. In this study, we cloned the HvCP3L gene from the transcriptional library of Heortia vitessoides Moore. RT-qPCR results revealed that HvCP3L exhibited high expression levels during the larval stage of Heortia vitessoides Moore, particularly at the L5D1 stage, observed in both larval and adult heads. Through RNA interference, we successfully silenced the HvCP3L gene, resulting in a significant reduction in the survival rate of Heortia vitessoides Moore, with the survival rate from larvae to adults plummeting to a mere 17.7%, accompanied by phenotypic abnormalities. Additionally, we observed that the knockdown of HvCP3L led to the inhibition of genes in the chitin pathway. Following exposure to methoxyfenozide stress, the HvCP3L gene exhibited significant overexpression, coinciding with phenotypic abnormalities. These findings underscore the pivotal role of HvCP3L in the growth and development of Heortia vitessoides Moore.

Extended Conjugation Strategy Enabling Red-Shifted and Efficient Emission of Orange-Red Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials.

In account of the energy gap law, the development of efficient narrow-band gap thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials remains a major challenge for the application of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The orange-red TADF materials are commonly designed with either large π-conjugated systems or strong intramolecular donor-acceptor (D-A) interactions for red-shift emission and small singlet-triplet energy gap (ΔEST). There are rare reports on the simultaneous incorporation of these two strategies on the same material systems. Herein, two orange-red emitters named 1P2D-BP and 2P2D-DQ have been designed by extending the conjugation degree of the center acceptor DQ and increasing the number distribution of the peripheral donor PXZ units, respectively. The emission peak of 1P2D-BP is red-shifted to 615 nm compared to 580 nm for 2P2D-DQ, revealing the pronounced effect of the conjugation extension on the emission band gap. In addition, the distorted molecular structure yields a small ΔEST of 0.02 eV, favoring the acquisition of a high exciton utilization through an efficient reverse intersystem crossing process. As a result, orange-red OLEDs with both 1P2D-BP and 2P2D-DQ have achieved an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of more than 17%. In addition, the efficient white OLED based on 1P2D-BP is realized through precise exciton assignment and energy transport modulation, showing an EQE of 23.6% and a color rendering index of 82. The present work provides an important reference for the design of high-efficiency narrow-band gap materials in the field of solid-state lighting.

Systemic Administration of Cowpea Mosaic Virus Demonstrates Broad Protection Against Metastatic Cancers.

The key challenge in cancer treatment is prevention of metastatic disease which is therapeutically resistant and carries poor prognoses necessitating efficacious prophylactic approaches that prevent metastasis and recurrence. It is previously demonstrated that cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) induces durable antitumor responses when used in situ, i.e., intratumoral injection. As a new direction, it is showed that CPMV demonstrates widespread effectiveness as an immunoprophylactic agent - potent efficacy is demonstrated in four metastatic models of colon, ovarian, melanoma, and breast cancer. Systemic administration of CPMV stimulates the innate immune system, enabling attack of cancer cells; processing of the cancer cells and associated antigens leads to systemic, durable, and adaptive antitumor immunity. Overall, CPMV demonstrated broad efficacy as an immunoprophylactic agent in the rejection of metastatic cancer.

Isolation, full sequence analysis, and in situ hybridization of pigeon paramyxovirus-1 genotype VI.2.1.1.2.2 from oriental turtle doves (Streptopelia orientalis).

Pigeon paramyxovirus-1 (PPMV-1), a genetic variant of avian paramyxovirus-1 (APMV-1), has been identified in Columbiformes and is the primary cause of diseases in captive and free-ranging pigeons. However, it has also been reported that PPMV-1 can infect chickens naturally and experimentally, thus posing a potential threat to the poultry industry. This study investigated a lethal outbreak of paramyxovirus infection that occurred among 16 oriental turtle doves (Streptopelia orientalis) in a walk-in aviary at a zoo from March to April 2021. Necropsies were performed, and histopathological findings revealed mild to moderate lymphoplasmacytic infiltration in several organs, such as the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and lungs. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks, virus isolation from fresh tissue, and in situ hybridization against the fusion (F) protein confirmed the diagnosis for PPMV-1 infection. The isolated strain NTU/C239/21 was fully sequenced by next-generation sequencing, and the results of phylogenetic analyses revealed that the F protein of NTU/C239/21 shared 98.8% nucleotide sequence identity with Pigeon/Taiwan/AHRI121/2017, which was isolated from a feral pigeon in Taiwan. The present study is the first to identify PPMV-1 infection in Streptopelia orientalis and suggests that Streptopelia orientalis may also play an important role in spreading the infection, similar to pigeons in APMV-1 spreading.

Rational Multidimensional Shielded Multiple Resonance Emitter Suppresses Concentration Quenching and Spectral Broadening for Solution-Processed Organic Light-Emitting Diodes.

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) emitters based on multiple resonance (MR) effects are promising for high-definition organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with narrowband emission and high efficiency. However, they still face the challenges of aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) and spectral broadening. Solution-processable MR-TADF emitters with an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of >20% and a full width at half-maximum (fwhm) of <30 nm have rarely been reported. To construct ACQ-resistant emitters without sacrificing color purity, the aggregation-induced MR-TADF material 6TBN with a rigid B,N-containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon core and four carbazole substituents as well as 12 tert-butyl groups on the periphery is designed. The multidimensional shielded effect largely limits the ACQ, intermolecular interactions, and spectral broadening. Consequently, solution-processed OLEDs based on 6TBN exhibit a maximum EQE of 23.0% and high color purity with a fwhm of 25 nm. Furthermore, the nondoped device achieves a high efficiency (12.3%) and merely a slight widening of the fwhm to 27 nm. This work provides a feasible strategy to achieve MR-TADF materials with resistance to concentration quenching and high color purity.

Characterization of Chitin Synthase B Gene (HvChsb) and the Effects on Feeding Behavior in Heortia vitessoides Moore.

The chitin synthase B gene is a key enzyme in the chitin synthesis of insect peritrophic matrix (PM), which affects insects' feeding behavior. The chitin synthase B gene was cloned from the transcription library of Heortia vitessoides Moore. RT-qPCR showed that HvChsb was highly expressed in the larval stage of H. vitessoides, especially on the first day of the pre-pupal stage, as well as in the midgut of larvae and the abdomen of adults. After starvation treatment, HvChsb was found to be significantly inhibited over time. After 48 h of starvation, the feeding experiment showed that HvChsb increased with the prolongation of the re-feeding time. The experimental data showed that feeding affected the expression of HvChsb. HvChsb was effectively silenced via RNA interference; thus, its function was lost, significantly decreasing the survival rate of H. vitessoides. The survival rate from larval-to-pupal stages was only 43.33%, and this rate was accompanied by abnormal phenotypes. It can be seen that HvChsb plays a key role in the average growth and development of H. vitessoides.

Metagenomic and targeted metabolomic analyses reveal distinct phenotypes of the gut microbiota in patients with colorectal cancer and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is an independent risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC), and the patients with CRC and T2DM have worse survival. The human gut microbiota (GM) is linked to the development of CRC and T2DM, respectively. However, the GM characteristics in patients with CRC and T2DM remain unclear. METHODS: We performed fecal metagenomic and targeted metabolomics studies on 36 samples from CRC patients with T2DM (DCRC group, n = 12), CRC patients without diabetes (CRC group, n = 12), and healthy controls (Health group, n = 12). We analyzed the fecal microbiomes, characterized the composition and function based on the metagenomics of DCRC patients, and detected the short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and bile acids (BAs) levels in all fecal samples. Finally, we performed a correlation analysis of the differential bacteria and metabolites between different groups. RESULTS: Compared with the CRC group, LefSe analysis showed that there is a specific GM community in DCRC group, including an increased abundance of Eggerthella , Hungatella , Peptostreptococcus , and Parvimonas , and decreased Butyricicoccus , Lactobacillus , and Paraprevotella . The metabolomics analysis results revealed that the butyric acid level was lower but the deoxycholic acid and 12-keto-lithocholic acid levels were higher in the DCRC group than other groups ( P < 0.05). The correlation analysis showed that the dominant bacterial abundance in the DCRC group ( Parvimonas , Desulfurispora , Sebaldella , and Veillonellales , among others) was negatively correlated with butyric acid, hyodeoxycholic acid, ursodeoxycholic acid, glycochenodeoxycholic acid, chenodeoxycholic acid, cholic acid and glycocholate. However, the abundance of mostly inferior bacteria was positively correlated with these metabolic acid levels, including Faecalibacterium , Thermococci , and Cellulophaga . CONCLUSIONS: Unique fecal microbiome signatures exist in CRC patients with T2DM compared to those with non-diabetic CRC. Alterations in GM composition and SCFAs and secondary BAs levels may promote CRC development.

Mathematical processing of trading strategy based on long short-term memory neural network model.

At present, gold and bitcoin have become mainstream assets in market transactions. Due to the volatility of gold and bitcoin prices, we can buy and sell assets like gold and bitcoin the same way we buy and sell stocks. The research goal of this article is to develop an optimal trading strategy that maximizes our post-trade returns. By studying the relationship between the two, on the one hand, it supplements and enriches the theoretical research on the rate of return of gold and Bitcoin, on the other hand, it provides a certain reference for investors to construct investment strategies. The research on the cointegration relationship between them has important practical significance. At the same time, it has important practical significance for the research on the cointegration relationship between bitcoin and gold.

Predictive value of proteomic markers for advanced rectal cancer with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Preoperative neoadjuvant chemoradiation (nCRT) has been the standard treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer. Serum biomarkers to stratify patients with respect to prognosis and response to nCRT are needed due to the diverse response to the therapy. METHODS: Thirteen paired pre- and post-nCRT sera from rectal cancer patients were analyzed by isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) method. Twenty-five proteins were selected for validation by parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) in ninety-one patients. RESULTS: Totally, 310 proteins were identified and quantified in sera samples. Reactome pathway analysis showed that the immune activation-related pathways were enriched in response to nCRT. Twenty-five proteins were selected for further validation. PRM result showed that the level of PZP was higher in pathological complete response (pCR) patients than non-pCR patients. The Random Forest algorithm identified a prediction model composed of 10 protein markers, which allowed discrimination between pCR patients and non-pCR patients (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.886 on testing set). Higher HEP2 and GELS or lower S10A8 in baseline sera were associated with better prognosis. Higher APOA1 in post nCRT sera was associated with better disease-free survival (DFS). CONCLUSIONS: We identified and confirmed a 10-protein panel for nCRT response prediction and four potential biomarkers HEP2, GELS, S10A8 and APOA1 for prognosis of rectal cancer based on iTRAQ-based comparative proteomics screening and PRM-based targeted proteomic validation.

Platelet-Inspired Intravenous Nanomedicine for Injury-Targeted Direct Delivery of Thrombin to Augment Hemostasis in Coagulopathies.

Severe hemorrhage associated with trauma, surgery, and congenital or drug-induced coagulopathies can be life-threatening and requires rapid hemostatic management via topical, intracavitary, or intravenous routes. For injuries that are not easily accessible externally, intravenous hemostatic approaches are needed. The clinical gold standard for this is transfusion of blood products, but due to donor dependence, specialized storage requirements, high risk of contamination, and short shelf life, blood product use faces significant challenges. Consequently, recent research efforts are being focused on designing biosynthetic intravenous hemostats, using intravenous nanoparticles and polymer systems. Here we report on the design and evaluation of thrombin-loaded injury-site-targeted lipid nanoparticles (t-TLNPs) that can specifically localize at an injury site via platelet-mimetic anchorage to the von Willebrand factor (vWF) and collagen and directly release thrombin via diffusion and phospholipase-triggered particle destabilization, which can locally augment fibrin generation from fibrinogen for hemostatic action. We evaluated t-TLNPs in vitro in human blood and plasma, where hemostatic defects were created by platelet depletion and anticoagulation. Spectrophotometric studies of fibrin generation, rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM)-based studies of clot viscoelasticity, and BioFlux-based real-time imaging of fibrin generation under simulated vascular flow conditions confirmed that t-TLNPs can restore fibrin in hemostatic dysfunction settings. Finally, the in vivo feasibility of t-TLNPs was tested by prophylactic administration in a tail-clip model and emergency administration in a liver-laceration model in mice with induced hemostatic defects. Treatment with t-TLNPs was able to significantly reduce bleeding in both models. Our studies demonstrate an intravenous nanomedicine approach for injury-site-targeted direct delivery of thrombin to augment hemostasis.

LGCCT: A Light Gated and Crossed Complementation Transformer for Multimodal Speech Emotion Recognition.

Semantic-rich speech emotion recognition has a high degree of popularity in a range of areas. Speech emotion recognition aims to recognize human emotional states from utterances containing both acoustic and linguistic information. Since both textual and audio patterns play essential roles in speech emotion recognition (SER) tasks, various works have proposed novel modality fusing methods to exploit text and audio signals effectively. However, most of the high performance of existing models is dependent on a great number of learnable parameters, and they can only work well on data with fixed length. Therefore, minimizing computational overhead and improving generalization to unseen data with various lengths while maintaining a certain level of recognition accuracy is an urgent application problem. In this paper, we propose LGCCT, a light gated and crossed complementation transformer for multimodal speech emotion recognition. First, our model is capable of fusing modality information efficiently. Specifically, the acoustic features are extracted by CNN-BiLSTM while the textual features are extracted by BiLSTM. The modality-fused representation is then generated by the cross-attention module. We apply the gate-control mechanism to achieve the balanced integration of the original modality representation and the modality-fused representation. Second, the degree of attention focus can be considered, as the uncertainty and the entropy of the same token should converge to the same value independent of the length. To improve the generalization of the model to various testing-sequence lengths, we adopt the length-scaled dot product to calculate the attention score, which can be interpreted from a theoretical view of entropy. The operation of the length-scaled dot product is cheap but effective. Experiments are conducted on the benchmark dataset CMU-MOSEI. Compared to the baseline models, our model achieves an 81.0% F1 score with only 0.432 M parameters, showing an improvement in the balance between performance and the number of parameters. Moreover, the ablation study signifies the effectiveness of our model and its scalability to various input-sequence lengths, wherein the relative improvement is almost 20% of the baseline without a length-scaled dot product.

Magnetic layered double hydroxide/zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 nanocomposite as a novel adsorbent for enrichment of four endocrine disrupting compounds in milk samples.

For the first time, a novel nanocomposite, zeolitic imidazolate framework/magnetic layered double hydroxide (Fe3O4@LDH/ZIF), was successfully fabricated through in situ synthetic method with Fe3O4 as magnetic core and composite as shell. The resulting materials were characterized by XRD, TEM, FT-IR, VSM, TGA and nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis. The Fe3O4@LDH/ZIF was employed as a sorbent in dispersive micro-solid phase extraction (D-µ-SPE) for enrichment of four endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) from milk samples prior to ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) analysis. The synthesized nanocomposite showed bigger specific surface area and better absorption capacity than Fe3O4@LDH. The equilibrium adsorption capacities (Qe, mg/g) of EDCs on the Fe3O4@LDH/ZIF reached up to 47.4-138.8 mg/g, mainly resulting from hydrogen bonding, π-π interaction and electrostatic interaction between EDCs and nanocomposite. Several variables affecting the extraction efficiency were investigated and optimized. The method displays low limits of detection (3-15 ng L-1), good linearity (10-5000 ng L-1), acceptable precision (RSD < 7.8%) and accuracy (RE < 5.2%). Satisfactory repeatability was obtained with RSD in the range of 1.2-7.8%. This work provides a promising approach for the development of new sorbent media in sample preparation for the improvement of analytical performance.

Parameter Optimization of a Potted Seedling Tray Prepared from a Mixture of Rice Straw and Fermented Cow Manure Using the Response Surface Methodology.

Biomass is generally regarded as a significant renewable resource, which can be used as the raw material for bioproducts. In the study, a mixture of rice straw and fermented cow manure was utilized to produce potted seedling trays, which are biodegradable and environmentally friendly. The effects of process parameters on the quality of final products were assessed by measuring damage resistance (DR) and expansion ratio (ER). Single-factor experiments and the response surface methodology (RSM) were used to optimize process parameters, including moisture content, forming pressure, mass percentage of straw (the ratio of rice straw to the mixture), and forming temperature as variables, and DR and ER of potted seedling trays as responses. The results showed that moisture content had the largest effect on DR and ER, followed by forming pressure, forming temperature, and mass percentage of straw. The optimal conditions were identified as a moisture content of 13%, forming pressure of 124 kN, mass percentage of straw equal to 8%, and forming temperature of 132 °C. There was a good agreement between the experimental data and the predicted results, indicating the reliability of the optimization process. Under the optimal conditions, the effectiveness of the regression model was further validated by the desirability of 0.97. Our findings shed new light on the perfect utilization of straws and animal manure and provided a reliable reference for the preparation of potted seedling trays from other types of biomass produced by agriculture.

First Report of Root Rot on kiwifruits Caused by Athelia rolfsii in Hefei, China.

Kiwifruits (Actinidia ssp.), known as "King of vitamin C", have been wildly cultivated. In August 2020, about 15% of A. deliciosa (cv. Xuxiang) and A. macrosperma (rootstock) plants displayed symptoms typical of root rot at a farm in Hefei (117°25'E, 31°86'N), Anhui Province of China (Fig.1 a-b). Symptoms first appeared at the root and stem junction which were covered by cottony white mycelium during warm and humid summer. Then, the infected tissues were rotted, and subsequently the whole plant withered. Tan to brown sclerotia were observed on the basal stem epidermis and soil surface surrounding the stem (Fig.1 c-d). Infected plant tissues and sclerotia were collected for isolating the fungal pathogen. The samples were surface sterilized in 70% alcohol for 30 s, followed by 2% sodium hypochlorite for 3 min, washed five times with sterile double-distilled water (ddH2O), dried, placed on potato dextrose agar, and incubated at 25 °C in the dark. In total, twelve fungal isolates were obtained. The mycelia of all the isolates were white with a fluffy appearance (Fig.1 e). Sclerotia formed after 7 days were initially white (Fig.1 f) and gradually turned to dark brown (Fig.1 g) measuring 0.67 to 2.03 mm in diameter (mean = 1.367 ± 0.16 mm; n = 30). Hyphae were hyaline, septate. Some cells possessed multiple nuclei (Fig.1 h) and clamp connections (Fig.1 i). No spores were observed. For species-level identification, ITS1/ITS4 and EF1-983F/EF1-2218R primers were used to amplify the internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS) and translation elongation factor-1 alpha regions (TEF-1α), respectively (White et al. 1990; Rehner & Buckley 2005). Based on ITS and TEF-1α sequence analyses, all 12 isolates were categorized into two groups, group one including isolates NC-1 and NC-6~10 and group two containing NC-2~5 and NC-11~12. The length of ITS sequences for NC-1 (MW311079) was 684bp and 99% to 100% similar to Athelia rolfsii (MN610007.1, MN258360.1). Similarly, ITS sequences for NC-2 (MW311080) were 99% to 100% similar to A. rolfsii (MH858139.1; MN872304.1). Also, TEF-1α sequences of NC-1 (MW322687) and NC-2 (MW322688) were 96% to 99% similar to sequences of A. rolfsii (MN702794.1, GU187681.1, MN702789.1). Based on morphology and phylogenetic analyses (Fig.1 j&k), the isolates NC-1 and NC-2 were identified as Athelia rolfsii (anamorph Sclerotium rolfsii) (Mordue. 1974; Punja. 1985). To fulfill Koch's postulates, ten sclerotia of NC-1 were incorporated into the soil near stems of healthy Xuxiang plants (Fig.2 a). Similar treatments were also used for plants of A. macrosperma or A. arguta (Fig.2 g&m). Each control group had the same number of plants (n=3) for inoculating with ddH2O. The plants were kept in an incubator with a relative humidity of 80% and temperature of 28°C with 16/8 hours light/dark photoperiod. After twenty days, the pathogen-inoculated plants developed similar symptoms of root rot observed in the field (Fig.2 b-d, h-j, n-o). Similarly, four days after inoculation with sclerotia, leaves developed water-soaked lesions (Fig.2 e, k&p). No significant difference in pathogenicity was observed between NC-1 and NC-2. Non-inoculated control plants remained disease-free (Fig.2 f, l&q). The pathogenicity experiments were repeated three times. The pathogen was re-isolated from infected tissues and sclerotia, and isolates were confirmed as A. rolfsii by the ITS sequences. A. rolfsii has been reported to cause root rot in kiwifruit in the USA (Raabe. 1988). To our knowledge, this is the first report A. rolfsii causing root rot on kiwifruits in China.