Genome-wide analysis of radish AHL gene family and functional verification of RsAHL14 in tomato.

The AT-hook motif nuclear localized (AHL) gene family is a highly conserved transcription factors involved in plant growth, development, and stress responses. However, AHLs have not been systematically analyzed in radish (Raphanus sativus). Therefore, we performed genome-wide identification and expression pattern, gene structure, and function verifications of radish AHLs. We identified 52 radish AHLs (RsAHL1-RsAHL52), which were unevenly distributed across nine chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the RsAHLs were divided into two clades (A and B) and subdivided into three types (I, II, and III). Collinearity analysis revealed that the 52 RsAHLs produced 49 repeat events. Tissue expression profiles revealed differential expression of RsAHLs across different tissues, with higher expression observed in flower organs, particularly petals and anthers. qRT-PCR results indicated that RsAHLs responded to abscisic acid, methyl jasmonate, and abiotic stress (low and high temperatures and drought). Additionally, RsAHL14 induced a dwarf phenotype in tomato plants, and RsAHL14-overexpression tomato plants presented significantly decreased expression levels of the gibberellin (GA) synthetic genes ent-Copalyl diphosphatase, GA3ox-3/-4/-5, and GA20ox-1/-2/-3, but significantly increased expression of the degradation gene GA2ox-1/-3. Thus, RsAHL14 might affect plant growth by regulating GA content. Collectively, our study comprehensively identified RsAHLs in radish and provided a reference for further research on these genes.

Effect of acupuncture in eczema: An overview of systematic reviews.

BACKGROUND: Eczema is a common chronic relapsing inflammatory skin disease, which is characterized by intense itching. Acupuncture can be effective for eczema, and it is thus regarded as a common complementary treatment. OBJECTIVE: The intention of this overview is to methodically appraise and synthesize evidence about systematic reviews/meta-analyses (SRs/MAs) on acupuncture in eczema. METHODS: We searched for SRs/MAs of acupuncture with eczema in eight databases. We evaluated the methodological quality by Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR-2), the reporting quality with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA 2020 Checkist), and the evidence quality according to the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system. RESULTS: A total of 7 SRs/MAs were included. According to AMSTAR-2, all the SRs/MAs included were categorized as critically low-quality. According to the PRISMA 2020 checklist, none of the reviews completed all the 27 items, thus their compliance was relatively weak. On the base of GRADE system, 2 of the 12 outcomes were rated as moderate, and 5 outcomes were rated as low-quality, while the others were regarded as very low-quality. CONCLUSION: Compared with the control group, the included reviews of the acupuncture group were more effective and safer; however, the conclusion should be treated cautiously because the quality of evidence was not high enough to support it. In order to improve the quality, more rigorous, standardized, and comprehensive SRs/MAs need designing in the future.

Efficacy of Longdan Xiegan Decoction on the Treatment of Eczema: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Longdan Xiegan decoction (LDXGD) has been widely used in the treatment of eczema. In recent years, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of LDXGD for the treatment of eczema have gradually increased. Most of the results show that LDXGD is effective in treating eczema. However, whether these conclusions are reliable or not requires meta-analysis. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to systematically evaluate the clinical efficacy of LDXGD in the treatment of eczema. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seven electronic databases, including PubMed, Excerpta Medica Database (EMBASE), Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedical Literature on Disc (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WanFang, and Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database (VIP) were systematically searched from their inception until January 2021. Risk of bias was assessed using criteria from the Cochrane Collaboration and meta-analysis was conducted on the screened literature data using Review Manage (RevMan 5.3). Then, to assess the quality of evidence, the GRADE criteria was adopted. RESULTS: 14 RCTs with 1080 participants were identified. Meta-analysis indicated that compared with western medicine (WM), the cure rate and the total effective rate of LDXGD in treating eczema were higher. Meanwhile, the recurrence rate and the levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) after treatment were lower. The adverse reaction was reported in 5 out of 14 studies without significant statistical difference. According to GRADE criteria, the quality of evidence was low for all outcomes except for the cure rate (moderate-quality evidence) and the total effective rate (moderate-quality evidence). CONCLUSION: The clinical efficacy of LDXGD in the treatment of eczema was more effective compared with the one of conventional WM alone. However, due to the limitation of the quality of the included studies, additional studies are required to further confirm these results.

Systematic Review of Herbal Tea (a Traditional Chinese Treatment Method) in the Therapy of Chronic Simple Pharyngitis and Preliminary Exploration about Its Medication Rules.

BACKGROUND: Chronic simple pharyngitis (CSP) is a common clinical chronic respiratory inflammation with persistent and intransigent symptoms. We analyzed the clinical data to find the evidence that herbal tea, a traditional Chinese medicine treatment in China, could improve the symptoms of CSP patients in a simple way. METHODS: We systematically reviewed the clinical data of randomized controlled treatments from April 2019 and evaluated the results using the improved Jadad scale and the Cochrane bias risk assessment tool. RevMan 5.3 software was used for chart analysis. In addition, we used Excel to conduct frequency statistics on Chinese herbs from included articles and analyze its medication rules. RESULTS: Among the collection of 161 articles, 6 RCTs published in Chinese journals were included in this review. The methodological quality of the treatments was low, and most of them only provide diagnostic criteria. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were not specified, and none of the 6 RCTs used the blind method on the result evaluator. Furthermore, only one RCT evaluated the baseline level variance. For these reasons, we did not make a network meta-analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The traditional Chinese herbs involved in herbal tea did have ingredients to alleviate CSP symptoms. However, our research showed that the current research could not draw any credible conclusions on the curative effect of herbal tea, which indicated that the overall level of TCM clinical research needs to be improved to evaluate the efficacy of herbal tea.

Nitrous oxide emissions from wetland rice-duck cultivation systems in Southern China.

Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from a rice-duck cultivation system in the subtropical region of China and its regulating factors were investigated by using a static chambers technique during rice growth seasons in 2006 and 2007. The experimental field was equally divided into six plots for two different treatments: One was a conventional rice field (CK) and the other was a rice-duck ecosystem (RD). With the same amount of urea applied as basal fertilization, N2O emission fluxes from RD and CK followed a similar seasonal variation trend. During the flooding seasons, the N2O emission flux was not correlated with temperature, but it was significantly related to soil inorganic nitrogen (SIN) (p < 0.01) and soil pH (p < 0.01). After drainage, the N2O emission flux was not correlated with temperature, SIN, and soil pH. Our experimental data showed that peaks of N2O emission flux occurred both in 2 weeks after urea application and after drainage. Compared to CK, RD could significantly increase N2O emission. We evaluated the integrated global warming potentials (GWPs) of a rice-duck cultivation system based on methane (CH4) and N2O emission, which showed that RD could suppress the total amount of CH4 and N2O emissions from rice paddies. Moreover, because the decrease of CH4 emissions from RD compared to CK was far more than the increase of N2O emissions from RD compared to CK, RD greatly reduced integrated GWPs (CH4 + N2O) compared to CK. So, the rice-duck cultivation system is an effective strategy for reducing integrated GWPs of the rice-duck cultivation systems based on CH4 and N2O in southern China and will contribute to alleviating global warming.

[Effects of rice-duck farming on paddy field's methane emission].

By using closed-chamber technique, the characteristics of CH4 emission from an integrated rice-duck ecosystem were studied in 2006 and 2007. The results showed that comparing with conventional flooded rice ecosystem (CK), integrated rice-duck system (RD) was distinguished in its high dissolved oxygen (DO) in field surface water and significantly lower CH4 emission, due to the activities of duck. In 2006, the average CH4 emission flux and the total CH4 emission during the whole rice growth period of RD were 6.84 +/- 1.49 mg +/- m(-2) x h(-1) and 19.34 +/- 1.15 g x m(-2), being 32.7% and 26.3% lower than those of CK (10.17 +/- 1.25 mg x m(-2) x h(-1) and 26.25 +/- 2.17 g respectively; while in 2007, the values of the two test items of RD were 7.68 +/- 0.74 mg x m(-2) x h(-1) and 18.41 +/- 1.05 g x m(-2), being 19.0% and 19.3% lower than those of CK (9.53 +/- 0.40 mg x m(-2) x h(-1) and 22.81 +/- 0.75 g +/- m(-2)), respectively. The emission flux of CH4 had two peaks, being appeared at tillering and heading stages, respectively. The seasonal fluctuations of CH4 emission flux had significant positive correlations with soil temperature and soil dissolved organic carbon content (DOC), but no obvious correlation with soil total organic carbon.