Arabidopsis Putative Deacetylase AtSRT2 Regulates Basal Defense by Suppressing PAD4, EDS5 and SID2 Expression

The silent information regulator protein (Sir2) and its homologs are NAD+-dependent deacetylase enzymes that play important roles in a variety of physiological processes. However, the functions of the Sir2 family in plants are poorly understood. Here, we report that Arabidopsis AtSRT2, a homolog of yeast Sir2, negatively regulates plant basal defense against the pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (PstDC3000). In response to PstDC3000 infection, the expression of AtSRT2 was down-regulated in a salicylic acid (SA)-independent manner. In addition, knock-out of AtSRT2 (srt2) enhanced resistance against PstDC3000 and increased expression of pathogenesis-related gene 1 (PR1). Conversely, overexpression of AtSRT2 resulted in hypersusceptibility to PstDC3000 and impaired PR1 induction. Consistent with this phenotype, expression of PAD4, EDS5 and SID2, three essential genes in the SA biosynthesis pathway, were increased in the srt2 mutant and decreased in AtSRT2-overexpressing plants. Taken together, these results demonstrate that AtSRT2 is a negative regulator of basal defense, possibly by suppressing SA biosynthesis

Cancer cells remodeling and quality control are inextricably linked to autophagy

Autophagy is a normal cellular physiological process. As one of the cell degradation systems, it participates in the lysosomal pathway process of degrading damaged proteins and subcellular organelles to maintain cell metabolism and energy states. Moreover, autophagy is essential for regulating organelle quality control and cell homeostasis. In recent decades, a large number of studies have demonstrated that autophagy abnormalities are present in a variety of human malignancies and that autophagy plays a crucial role in all stages of tumor development. Multiple tumors interfere with autophagy's normal regulation and use autophagy's essential properties to restructure their proteome, reprogram their metabolism, and adapt to stress. This article primarily discusses how autophagy either promotes or inhibits cancer development, the significance of autophagy in maintaining cell genome stability, and the role of selective autophagy in the reshaping and quality control of tumor cells

Four sulfur mustard exposure cases: Overall analysis of four types of biomarkers in clinical samples provides positive implication for early diagnosis and treatment monitoring

AbstractIn one event, Chinese male individuals accidentally exposed to unknown chemicals and emerged erythema or blisters on contacted organism derma, then hospitalized. To identify the causative agents, blood, urine and exudate samples were collected from the patients during the therapeutic course. Five established liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) and gas chromatography (GC)–MS methods were employed to analyze the samples. Here, an overall analysis of four types of sulfur mustard biomarkers, including the hydrolysis/oxidation products, β-lyase metabolites, DNA adducts and hemoglobin adducts, was conducted toward the samples from exposed individuals. The results of all the four types of biomarkers in different biomedical matrices showed high relevance, and verified that this exposure is indeed originated from sulfur mustard. The concentrations of the biomarkers in specimens revealed a good correlation with the severity of the patient's symptom. The concentration-time profile demonstrated that most of the biomarkers quickly achieved maximum at the beginning of the course, and then decreased and kept a detectable level until the 7th day after exposure. The DNA adducts in urine samples still appeared on the 30th day, and the N-terminal valine adducts in hemoglobin could be monitored for over 90 days, which was meaningful for the concurrent study of clinical samples. To the best of our knowledge, this work provides the total analysis and profile of four categories of biomarkers in human specimens for the first time, and the good accordance between concentration and level of burns, between time course and biomarkers will be of great importance for early diagnosis and medical treatment monitoring of sulfur mustard exposure

Identification of Pns6, a putative movement protein of RRSV, as a silencing suppressor

RNA silencing is a potent antiviral response in plants. As a counterdefense, most plant and some animal viruses encode RNA silencing suppressors. In this study, we showed that Pns6, a putative movement protein of Rice ragged stunt virus (RRSV), exhibited silencing suppressor activity in coinfiltration assays with the reporter green fluorescent protein (GFP) in transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana line 16c. Pns6 of RRSV suppressed local silencing induced by sense RNA but had no effect on that induced by dsRNA. Deletion of a region involved in RNA binding abolished the silencing suppressor activity of Pns6. Further, expression of Pns6 enhanced Potato virus × pathogenicity in N. benthamiana. Collectively, these results suggested that RRSV Pns6 functions as a virus suppressor of RNA silencing that targets an upstream step of the dsRNA formation in the RNA silencing pathway. This is the first silencing suppressor to be identified from the genus Oryzavirus

NTIRE 2023 Quality Assessment of Video Enhancement Challenge

This paper reports on the NTIRE 2023 Quality Assessment of Video Enhancement Challenge, which will be held in conjunction with the New Trends in Image Restoration and Enhancement Workshop (NTIRE) at CVPR 2023. This challenge is to address a major challenge in the field of video processing, namely, video quality assessment (VQA) for enhanced videos. The challenge uses the VQA Dataset for Perceptual Video Enhancement (VDPVE), which has a total of 1211 enhanced videos, including 600 videos with color, brightness, and contrast enhancements, 310 videos with deblurring, and 301 deshaked videos. The challenge has a total of 167 registered participants. 61 participating teams submitted their prediction results during the development phase, with a total of 3168 submissions. A total of 176 submissions were submitted by 37 participating teams during the final testing phase. Finally, 19 participating teams submitted their models and fact sheets, and detailed the methods they used. Some methods have achieved better results than baseline methods, and the winning methods have demonstrated superior prediction performance

Numerical analysis of blade icing influence on the dynamic response of an integrated offshore wind turbine

When a wind turbine is working in a cold and humid environment, icing may occur which lead to its performance reduction or even blades fracture. In this paper, a CFD-WTIA (Wind Turbine Integrated Analysis) coupled method is established to analyze the blade icing process and its influence on the overall dynamic performance of an integrated jacket-support offshore wind turbine. Firstly, motions of the blades are calculated by the WTIA method and used as input into CFD. Then, dispersed multi-phase model and melting-solidification model are used to simulate the icing growth phenomenon of three-dimensional blades. The k-ε turbulence model is used to calculate the aerodynamic performance before and after icing. Finally, the aerodynamic results after blade icing are returned to WTIA for integrated dynamic response acquisition. At the same time, the dynamic response of the wind turbine under the combined influence of ice and sea ice is analyzed. Results show that the blade ice-accretion increases linearly along the blade span-wise direction and is mainly concentrated on the leading edge of the blade. Lift and drag coefficients are seen deceased and increased respectively after icing. Power production, generator torque, rotor speed, as well as blade vibration are quantitatively studied. The methodology and findings of this paper can provide a good reference for the safety performance evaluation of an icing offshore wind turbine

Impact of Distributed Generation Capacity on the Voltage of Distribution System

Abstract. Large-scale grid-connected distributed generation (DG) will cause out-of-limit of voltage deviation. The model of voltage drop caused by loads and voltage rise caused by distributed generators are established under different loads or DG distribution modes along the line, and the maximum allowable capacity of power injected into the grid without causing over-voltage is calculated, assuming the bus voltage deviation reaching the upper limit. The maximum DG penetration level of typical distribution lines is derived under the condition that generators is of the same distribution mode with loads, and the voltage margin at the head end of the line without causing over-voltage is proposed. The results show that over-headlines can carry much more DG power than cables, and over-voltage will be avoided by controlling the DG capacity according to the connected bus voltage, and suitably lowering the bus voltage will allow much more DG to connect into the grid

Impact of Distributed Generation Capacity on the Voltage of Distribution System

Abstract. Large-scale grid-connected distributed generation (DG) will cause out-of-limit of voltage deviation. The model of voltage drop caused by loads and voltage rise caused by distributed generators are established under different loads or DG distribution modes along the line, and the maximum allowable capacity of power injected into the grid without causing over-voltage is calculated, assuming the bus voltage deviation reaching the upper limit. The maximum DG penetration level of typical distribution lines is derived under the condition that generators is of the same distribution mode with loads, and the voltage margin at the head end of the line without causing over-voltage is proposed. The results show that over-headlines can carry much more DG power than cables, and over-voltage will be avoided by controlling the DG capacity according to the connected bus voltage, and suitably lowering the bus voltage will allow much more DG to connect into the grid

Clinical Study on the Combination of Xiaotan Huayu Tongyi Granules, Channel Kaijie Pills and Chemotherapy in the Treatment of Esophageal Cancer

Background Esophageal cancer threatens the life and health of patients due to its complex etiology and poor prognosis, and individualized combination treatment of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine has certain advantages. Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of the combination of Xiaotan Huayu Tongyi Granules, Channel Kaijie Pills and CF regimen (fluorouracil+cisplatin) on the treatment of stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ phlegm-stasis interjunction esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Methods A total of 99 patients with phlegm-stasis interjunction type esophageal squamous cell carcinoma diagnosed and treated in Henan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Anyang Cancer Hospital and Henan Cancer Hospital from February 2020 to February 2021 were selected as the study objects and randomly divided into the control group, treatment groupⅠand treatment groupⅡ, with 33 cases in each group. The control group was treated with CF regimen, the treatment groupⅠwas treated with Xiaotan Huayu Tongyi Granules combined with CF regimen, and the treatment groupⅡ was treated with the combination of Xiaotan Huayu Tongyi Granules, Channel Kaijie Pills and CF regimen. A total of 4 courses of chemotherapy were administered with 21 days as a course. The differences in TCM syndrome score, quality of life score, Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) score, lesion remission rate, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC) and toxic side effects among the three groups were observed. Results There was no significant difference in gender, age, body mass and tumor staging among the three groups (P>0.05). Compared with pre-treatment, retrosternal chest pain, nausea and vomiting, mucus and vomit, vomitus scores and total score were reduced in the three groups, dysphagia, oligophagia and dry stool scores were reduced in the control group and treatment group Ⅱafter treatment (P<0.05) ; quality of life score and KPS score were increased, CEA and SCC levels were reduced in the three groups after treatment (P<0.05). After treatment, dysphagia, retrosternal chest pain, nausea and vomiting, vomitus, oligophagia, dry stool scores and total score in treatment groupⅡwere lower than the control group and treatment groupⅠ, and mucus and vomit score was lower than the control group (P<0.05) ; quality of life score and KPS score in both treatment groups were higher than the control group, KPS score in the treatment groupⅡwas higher than the treatment groupⅠ, CEA and SCC levels in the treatment groupⅡwere lower than the treatment groupⅠand control group (P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the lesion remission rate and toxic side effects among the three groups after treatment (P>0.05) . Conclusion The combination of Xiaotan Huayu Tongyi Granules, Channel Kaijie Pills and CF regimen in the treatment of stageⅢ-Ⅳphlegm-stasis interjunction esophageal squamous cell carcinoma can improve clinical symptoms, reduce the levels of tumor markers, and improve the quality of life of patients

Operation Optimization in a Smart Micro-Grid in the Presence of Distributed Generation and Demand Response

With the application of distributed generation and the development of smart grid technology, micro-grid, an economic and stable power grid, tends to play an important role in the demand side management. Because micro-grid technology and demand response have been widely applied, what Demand Response actions can realize the economic operation of micro-grid has become an important issue for utilities. In this proposed work, operation optimization modeling for micro-grid is done considering distributed generation, environmental factors and demand response. The main contribution of this model is to optimize the cost in the context of considering demand response and system operation. The presented optimization model can reduce the operation cost of micro-grid without bringing discomfort to the users, thus increasing the consumption of clean energy effectively. Then, to solve this operational optimization problem, genetic algorithm is used to implement objective function and DR scheduling strategy. In addition, to validate the proposed model, it is employed on a smart micro-grid from Tianjin. The obtained numerical results clearly indicate the impact of demand response on economic operation of micro-grid and development of distributed generation. Besides, a sensitivity analysis on the natural gas price is implemented according to the situation of China, and the result shows that the natural gas price has a great influence on the operation cost of the micro-grid and effect of demand response