A photo-responsive F-box protein FOF2 regulates floral initiation by promoting FLC expression in Arabidopsis.

Floral initiation is regulated by various genetic pathways in response to light, temperature, hormones and developmental status; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying the interactions between different genetic pathways are not fully understood. Here, we show that the photoresponsive gene FOF2 (F-box of flowering 2) negatively regulates flowering. FOF2 encodes a putative F-box protein that interacts specifically with ASK14, and its overexpression results in later flowering under both long-day and short-day photoperiods. Conversely, transgenic plants expressing the F-box domain deletion mutant of FOF2 (FOF2ΔF), or double loss of function mutant of FOF2 and FOL1 (FOF2-LIKE 1) present early flowering phenotypes. The late flowering phenotype of the FOF2 overexpression lines is suppressed by the flc-3 loss-of-function mutation. Furthermore, FOF2 mRNA expression is regulated by autonomous pathway gene FCA, and the repressive effect of FOF2 in flowering can be overcome by vernalization. Interestingly, FOF2 expression is regulated by light. The protein level of FOF2 accumulates in response to light, whereas it is degraded under dark conditions via the 26S proteasome pathway. Our findings suggest a possible mechanistic link between light conditions and the autonomous floral promotion pathway in Arabidopsis

Case report: Clinical, imaging, and genetic characteristics of type B niemann pick disease combined with segawa syndrome diagnosed via dual gene sequencing

Niemann Pick disease B (NPB) often presents with hepatosplenomegaly and lung pathological changes, but it usually does not present with central nervous system symptoms. This report presents the unique case of a 21-year-old woman with a 10-year history of hard skin and hepatosplenomegaly. Genetic sequencing revealed NPB and also suggested Segawa syndrome. Although symptomatic supportive treatments were administered in an attempt to improve muscle tone and treat the skin sclerosis, their efficacy was not satisfactory, and the patient refused further treatment. This case provides several noteworthy findings. First, although NPB and Segawa syndrome are rare, both are autosomal recessive inherited diseases that share common clinical symptoms and imaging manifestations. Second, when NPB and Segawa syndrome are highly suspected, screening for tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase-1 (SMPD1) gene mutations is critical to determine an accurate diagnosis. Finally, early diagnosis and comprehensive therapies are crucial for improving the prognosis of patients with NPB and Segawa syndrome

Wetting and deposition characteristics of air-assisted spray droplet on large broad-leaved crop canopy

Precision and efficient pesticide spraying is an important part of precision agriculture, banana is a large broad-leaved plant, with pests and diseases, has a high demand for spraying and pest control. The purpose of this study was to clarify the wettability of different pesticides on the banana leaf surface, and the effects of nozzle type and working parameters on the deposition distribution performance under air-assisted spray conditions. The wettability test results of different pesticides on banana leaf surfaces showed that the wettability of the adaxial side was always stronger than that of the abaxial side, the smaller the surface tension of the droplets, the better the wettability on the surface. The spray experiment was carried out on the previously developed air-assisted sprayer with the latest developed intelligent variable spray control system. Three types of nozzles were used to spray with different combinations of working parameters. The deposition distribution performance on the banana leaf surface was obtained by image processing using a self-compiled program. The experimental results show that the nozzle type, wind speed, and spray pressure have significant effects on the deposition distribution performance. Through the study of the interaction and coupling effect of nozzle type and working parameters on the spray droplet deposition distribution on both sides of banana leaves, the results show that under the conditions of hollow cone nozzle, 0.5Mpa spray pressure and 3-5 m/s wind speed, the spray coverage and droplet density are in the optimal state. This is mainly due to the low spray pressure and/or wind speed is not enough to make the banana leaves vibrate and improve the performance of pesticide deposition. excessive spray pressure and/or wind speed will cause large deformation of banana leaves and make them airfoil stable, which reduces the surface deposition performance. It is of great significance for promoting sustainable and intelligent phytoprotection

Original Article SOD2 rs4880 CT/CC genotype predicts poor survival for Chinese gastric cancer patients received platinum and fluorouracil based adjuvant chemotherapy

Abstract: Adjuvant chemotherapy is a standard therapy for gastric cancer patients, however, treatment response is quite heterogeneous. Molecular biomarkers will be highly valuable to guide the therapy and predict the response and prognosis in these patients. The antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) and glutathione S-transferase pi 1 (GSTP1) are involved in oxidative stress and drug detoxification, which modulate the efficacy of anticancer drugs. Here, we investigated the clinical associations of two functional single nucleotide polymorphisms of SOD2 and GSTP1 in stage II-III postoperative gastric cancer patients. SOD2 rs4880 and GSTP1 rs1695 were genotyped in 207 patients received postoperative platinum and fluorouracil based chemotherapy and 304 patients who did not. SOD2 rs4880 CT/CC significantly associated with decreased median overall survival time of 23 months when compared to the TT genotype (mean overall survival time of 65.2 months, P=0.002) only for patients received adjuvant chemotherapy. Stratification analysis showed SOD2 rs4880 C

Association of Antioxidative Enzymes Polymorphisms with Efficacy of Platin and Fluorouracil-Based Adjuvant Therapy in Gastric Cancer

Background/Aims: Imbalance of oxidative/antioxidative enzymes in cells is associated with carcinogenesis and cancer cell chemoresistance. The aim of this study was to examine the clinical significance of potentially functional single nucleotides polymorphisms (SNPs) in antioxidative enzymes, GPxs and CAT, in stages II and III gastric cancer patients. Methods: A total of 591 gastric cancer patients who had radical gastrectomy were recruited. 207 patients received platinum and fluorouracil-based (PF-based) adjuvant chemotherapy and 384 patients were untreated. GPx1 rs1050450, GPx2 rs4902346, GPx3 rs736775, rs3828599 and CAT rs769218 were genotyped in the DNA samples extracted from paraffin-embedded tumor tissue. Results: CAT rs769218 was significantly correlated with the overall survival (OS) in the dominant model (P = 0.014). Multivariate analysis revealed that CAT rs769218 GA/AA (HR, 0.715; 95%CI, 0.562-0.910, P = 0.006) was an independent prognostic marker indicating improved survival. After adjustments, GPx3 rs736775 TC/CC was significantly associated with improved OS (HR, 0.621; 95%CI, 0.399-0.965; P=0.034) in patients treated with PF-based adjuvant chemotherapy, and CAT rs769218 GA/AA was significantly associated with improved OS (HR, 0.646; 95% CI, 0.482-0.864; P = 0.003) in the untreated patients. PF-based chemotherapy significantly decreased risk of death for patients carrying GPx3 rs736775 TC/CC and age ≤ 60 years or with diffused type adenocarcinoma compared to surgery alone. Conclusion: our findings suggested CAT rs769218 and GPx3 rs736775 may be considered as prognostic markers in gastric cancer. Patient stratification by GPx3 rs736775 and conventional pathological parameters may provide additional predictive information in treatment decision-making

Analysis and Research on the Characteristics of COVID-19 Epidemic in Urban Village and Its Prevention and Control Strategies in Primary Care Institutions

BackgroundFor a period of time, the outbreak of the COVID-19 outbreak in many urban villages in our country had caused concern. The dense and complex population structure of urban villages, with their inter-regional mobility, posed a challenge to the prevention and control of the epidemic.ObjectiveUrban village areasare more prone to regional outbreaks of infectious diseases because of their spatial environment, demographic characteristics, cross-regional mobility and the characteristics of residents' medical treatment behavior. The purpose of this study was tounderstand the characteristics of the COVID-19 epidemic situation in urban villages and the current situation and difficulties of primary care institutions in carrying out COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control measures, in order to provide references for primary care institutions to deal with normalized prevention and control, social dynamic clearing work and future infectious disease prevention and control.MethodsBy using public opinion analysis, literature retrieval, online interviews with epidemic prevention and control personnel and experts in urban village, the epidemic situation, prevention and control status of urban village were summarized, and the existing weak links and important loopholes were analyzed.ResultsBased on the relevant information, a total of six points of concern were extracted: (1) The number of mapping and screening objects was large, which was the focus and difficulty of epidemic prevention and control work in urban villages. (2) There was not strict closed-loop management lead to virus carriers who were not timely controlled, which caused a risk of spreading the epidemic. (3) The prevention and control of nosocomial infection in primary care institutions was not in place. (4) There were loopholes in the inspection of close contacts in the principle of territorial management; close contacts who did not live and work in the same administrative area but only screened in their living places, which may lead to the spread of the epidemic in workplaces where secondary close contacts may be at risk of infection were not screened in a timely manner. (5) Overload had become the norm, highlighting the large gap in primary health care manpower. (6) During the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, residents were paralyzed and careless, and the phenomenon of not wearing masks in public places and crowd gathering was common. Health education still needs to be strengthened and emphasized that residents were the first responsible for their own health.ConclusionPrimary care providers played an important role in the prevention and control of COVID-19 in urban village by undertaking community management, outpatient treatment, public health services, health education, vaccination, quarantine hotel stationing, joint prevention and control, etc. It was recommended that additional fever sentinel clinics be set up for early detection and isolation to avoid further spread of the epidemic, rental houses be requisitioned to meet the demand for isolated medical observation, primary care institutions be strengthened for hospitalization and prevention, green relief channels be opened to protect special groups from medical treatment, volunteers be organized to reinforce primary care institutions, and health education emphasized that residents were the first to be responsible for maintaining their own health and raised personal awareness of the risk of COVID-19 prevention and control

Purification and Characterization of Two New Allergens from the Venom of Vespa magnifica

Due to poor diagnostic facilities and a lack of medical alertness, allergy to Vespa wasps may be underestimated. Few allergens have been identified from Vespa wasps

Suppressive Effects on the Immune Response and Protective Immunity to a JEV DNA Vaccine by Co-administration of a GM-CSF-Expressing Plasmid in Mice

As a potential cytokine adjuvant of DNA vaccines, granulocyte-macrophage colony–stimulating factor (GM-CSF) has received considerable attention due to its essential role in the recruitment of antigen-presenting cells, differentiation and maturation of dendritic cells. However, in our recent study of a Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) DNA vaccine, co-inoculation of a GM-CSF plasmid dramatically suppressed the specific IgG response and resulted in decreased protection against JEV challenge. It is known that GM-CSF has been used in clinic to treat neutropenia for repopulating myeloid cells, and as an adjuvant in vaccine studies; it has shown various effects on the immune response. Therefore, in this study, we characterized the suppressive effects on the immune response to a JEV DNA vaccine by the co-administration of the GM-CSF-expressing plasmid and clarified the underlying mechanisms of the suppression in mice. Our results demonstrated that co-immunization with GM-CSF caused a substantial dampening of the vaccine-induced antibody responses. The suppressive effect was dose- and timing-dependent and likely related to the immunogenicity of the antigen. The suppression was associated with the induction of immature dendritic cells and the expansion of regulatory T cells but not myeloid-derived suppressor cells. Collectively, our findings not only provide valuable information for the application of GM-CSF in clinic and using as a vaccine adjuvant but also offer further insight into the understanding of the complex roles of GM-CSF

A Novel High-Throughput Vaccinia Virus Neutralization Assay and Preexisting Immunity in Populations from Different Geographic Regions in China

Background: Pre-existing immunity to Vaccinia Tian Tan virus (VTT) resulting from a large vaccination campaign against smallpox prior to the early 1980s in China, has been a major issue for application of VTT-vector based vaccines. It is essential to establish a sensitive and high-throughput neutralization assay to understand the epidemiology of Vaccinia-specific immunity in current populations in China. Methodology/Principal Findings: A new anti-Vaccinia virus (VACV) neutralization assay that used the attenuated replication-competent VTT carrying the firefly luciferase gene of Photinus pyralis (rTV-Fluc) was established and standardized for critical parameters that included the choice of cell line, viral infection dose, and the infection time. The current study evaluated the maintenance of virus-specific immunity after smallpox vaccination by conducting a non-randomized, crosssectional analysis of antiviral antibody-mediated immune responses in volunteers examined 30–55 years after vaccination. The rTV-Fluc neutralization assay was able to detect neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) against Vaccinia virus without the ability to differentiate strains of Vaccinia virus. We showed that the neutralizing titers measured by our assay were similar to those obtained by the traditional plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT). Using this assay, we found a low prevalence of NAb to VTT (7.6%) in individuals born before 1980 from Beijing and Anhui provinces in China, and when present, anti-VTT NAb titers were low. No NAbs were detected in all 222 samples from individuals born after 1980. There was no significan

A Highly Conserved, Small LTR Retrotransposon that Preferentially Targets Genes in Grass Genomes

LTR retrotransposons are often the most abundant components of plant genomes and can impact gene and genome evolution. Most reported LTR retrotransposons are large elements (>4 kb) and are most often found in heterochromatic (gene poor) regions. We report the smallest LTR retrotransposon found to date, only 292 bp. The element is found in rice, maize, sorghum and other grass genomes, which indicates that it was present in the ancestor of grass species, at least 50–80 MYA. Estimated insertion times, comparisons between sequenced rice lines, and mRNA data indicate that this element may still be active in some genomes. Unlike other LTR retrotransposons, the small LTR retrotransposons (SMARTs) are distributed throughout the genomes and are often located within or near genes with insertion patterns similar to MITEs (miniature inverted repeat transposable elements). Our data suggests that insertions of SMARTs into or near genes can, in a few instances, alter both gene structures and gene expression. Further evidence for a role in regulating gene expression, SMART-specific small RNAs (sRNAs) were identified that may be involved in gene regulation. Thus, SMARTs may have played an important role in genome evolution and genic innovation and may provide a valuable tool for gene tagging systems in grass