Research on prognostic risk assessment model for acute ischemic stroke based on imaging and multidimensional data

Accurately assessing the prognostic outcomes of patients with acute ischemic stroke and adjusting treatment plans in a timely manner for those with poor prognosis is crucial for intervening in modifiable risk factors. However, there is still controversy regarding the correlation between imaging-based predictions of complications in acute ischemic stroke. To address this, we developed a cross-modal attention module for integrating multidimensional data, including clinical information, imaging features, treatment plans, prognosis, and complications, to achieve complementary advantages. The fused features preserve magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics while supplementing clinical relevant information, providing a more comprehensive and informative basis for clinical diagnosis and treatment. The proposed framework based on multidimensional data for activity of daily living (ADL) scoring in patients with acute ischemic stroke demonstrates higher accuracy compared to other state-of-the-art network models, and ablation experiments confirm the effectiveness of each module in the framework

Genome-Wide Association Study for Plant Height and Grain Yield in Rice under Contrasting Moisture Regimes

Drought is one of the vitally critical environmental stresses affecting both growth and yield potential in rice. Drought resistance is a complicated quantitative trait that is regulated by numerous small effect loci and hundreds of genes controlling various morphological and physiological responses to drought. For this study, 270 rice landraces and cultivars were analyzed for their drought resistance. This was done via determination of changes in plant height and grain yield under contrasting water regimes, followed by detailed identification of the underlying genetic architecture via genome-wide association study (GWAS). We controlled population structure by setting top two eigenvectors and combining kinship matrix for GWAS in this study. Eighteen, five, and six associated loci were identified for plant height, grain yield per plant, and drought resistant coefficient, respectively. Nine known functional genes were identified, including five for plant height (OsGA2ox3, OsGH3-2, sd-1, OsGNA1 and OsSAP11/OsDOG), two for grain yield per plant (OsCYP51G3 and OsRRMh) and two for drought resistant coefficient (OsPYL2 and OsGA2ox9), implying very reliable results. A previous study reported OsGNA1 to regulate root development, but this study reports additional controlling of both plant height and root length. Moreover, OsRLK5 is a new drought resistant candidate gene discovered in this study. OsRLK5 mutants showed faster water loss rates in detached leaves. This gene plays an important role in the positive regulation of yield-related traits under drought conditions. We furthermore discovered several new loci contributing to the three investigated traits (plant height, grain yield, and drought resistance). These associated loci and genes significantly improve our knowledge of the genetic control of these traits in rice. In addition, many drought resistant cultivars screened in this study can be used as parental genotypes to improve drought resistance of rice by molecular breeding

Genome-wide Association Study (GWAS) of mesocotyl elongation based on re-sequencing approach in rice

Annotation of candidate genes anchored by associated SNPs. (XLSX 34 kb

ULK1 phosphorylates Exo70 to suppress breast cancer metastasis

乳腺癌是威胁女性生命健康的“头号杀手”，而远处转移是乳腺癌患者死亡的主要原因。因此，了解乳腺癌如何发动侵袭和转移，对于有效治疗乳腺癌、延长病人生存期具有重要意义。本研究中，该团队发现ULK1通过结合并磷酸化胞泌蛋白复合体关键亚基Exo70来抑制乳腺癌转移。ULK1对Exo70上Ser47，Ser59和Ser89位点的磷酸化，严重地削弱了Exo70的自身寡聚化和与其它胞外分泌复合体亚基的结合，进而减少了细胞运动伪足形成以及基质金属蛋白酶的分泌，从而抑制乳腺癌细胞的迁移和侵袭。该论文首次揭示了胞外分泌复合体重要成员Exo70在乳腺癌中受到ULK1和ERK1/2的双重磷酸化调控，从而使得乳腺癌细胞可以根据外环境来决定潜伏还是发动侵袭转移，为乳腺癌的治疗提供了新的理论基础。 本论文的通讯作者为占艳艳副教授、郭巍教授和胡天惠教授。医学院博士生毛丽媛、占艳艳副教授、吴斌博士和医学院博士生于强为共同第一作者。【Abstract】Increased expression of protein kinase ULK1 was reported to negatively correlate with breast cancer metastasis. Here we report that ULK1 suppresses the migration and invasion of human breast cancer cells. The suppressive effect is mediated through direct phosphorylation of Exo70, a key component of the exocyst complex. ULK1 phosphorylation inhibits Exo70 homo-oligomerization as well as its assembly to the exocyst complex, which are needed for cell protrusion formation and matrix metalloproteinases secretion during cell invasion. Reversely, upon growth factor stimulation, Exo70 is phosphorylated by ERK1/2, which in turn suppresses its phosphorylation by ULK1. Together, our study identifies Exo70 as a substrate of ULK1 that inhibits cancer metastasis, and demonstrates that two counteractive regulatory mechanisms are well orchestrated during tumor cell invasion.This work was supported by the grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81572589, U1405228, 81472568, and 31770860), the Natural Science Foundation of Fujian grant (2017J06020, 2018J01400, 2017R1036-4, 2017R1036-6, 2016R1034-1, and 2016R1034-4), and the Xiamen Science and Technology grant (3502Z20159013) to Y.-y.Z. and T.H., and National Institute of Health R01 GM111128 to W.G.该论文的研究成果是在国家自然科学基金和福建省基金的资助下，与美国宾夕法尼亚大学和清华大学共同协作完成的

Identification of Rice Transcription Factors Associated with Drought Tolerance Using the Ecotilling Method

The drought tolerance (DT) of plants is a complex quantitative trait. Under natural and artificial selection, drought tolerance represents the crop survival ability and production capacity under drought conditions (Luo, 2010). To understand the regulation mechanism of varied drought tolerance among rice genotypes, 95 diverse rice landraces or varieties were evaluated within a field screen facility based on the ‘line–source soil moisture gradient’, and their resistance varied from extremely resistant to sensitive. The method of Ecotype Targeting Induced Local Lesions in Genomes (Ecotilling) was used to analyze the diversity in the promoters of 24 transcription factor families. The bands separated by electrophoresis using Ecotilling were converted into molecular markers. STRUCTURE analysis revealed a value of K = 2, namely, the population with two subgroups (i.e., indica and japonica), which coincided very well with the UPGMA clusters (NTSYS-pc software) using distance-based analysis and InDel markers. Then the association analysis between the promoter diversity of these transcription factors and the DT index/level of each variety was performed. The results showed that three genes were associated with the DT index and that five genes were associated with the DT level. The sequences of these associated genes are complex and variable, especially at approximately 1000 bp upstream of the transcription initiation sites. The study illuminated that association analysis aimed at Ecotilling diversity of natural groups could facilitate the isolation of rice genes related to complex quantitative traits

Assessment of drought resistance among wild rice accessions using a protocol based on single-tiller propagation and PVC-tube cultivation

Abstract To assess the variation in drought resistance among wild rice accessions, a protocol was developed based on single-tiller propagation and PVC-tube cultivation. Severe water stress was applied at late vegetative growth stage. The responses of eight accessions of Oryza rufipogon and one accesstion of O. officinalis were evaluated by measuring the morphological and physiological traits, including leaf rolling score, leaf water potential, free proline content, chlorophyll content, above-ground biomass, maximum root depth, maximum root length, root weight, deep root percentage and root/shoot ratio. Wild rice accessions showed differential abilities to tolerate and recover from the water deficit. The accession of O. officinalis had much stronger drought tolerance than all O. rufipogon accessions. Two O. rufipogon accessions (Or03, Or08) from Hainan (as a tropical island) had the best performance under drought stress, while two other accessions of (Or15, Or33) from Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces were sensitive to water deficit. The results revealed the preliminary evidences that O. rufipogon accessions from tropical area have stronger drought resistance than accessions from sub-tropical areas. Keywords: biomass; drought resistance; root system; vegetative stage; wild rice. Abbreviations: T1, T2-drought stress for 20 days, 28 days; T3-one month after restored irrigation; SWC-soil water content (SWC1 and SWC2 mean the measurements at T1 and T2, similarly for other traits); FPC-free proline content; LWP-leaf water potential; LCC-leaf chlorophyll content; LRS-leaf rolling score; RD -maximum root depth; RL-maximum root length; SRV-shallow root volume; DRV -deep root volume; SRW-shallow root weight; DRW-deep root weight; RW-root weight as the sum of SRW and DRW; AGB-above-ground biomass per tube

Genome-wide association study identifies a gene conferring high physiological phosphorus use efficiency in rice

Phosphate (Pi) is indispensable for the growth and development of plant, and low-Pi stress is a major limitation for crop growth and yield worldwide. The tolerance to low-Pi stress varied among rice germplasm resources. However, the mechanisms underlying the tolerance of rice to low-Pi stress, as a complex quantitative trait, are not clear. We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) through a diverse worldwide collection of 191 rice accessions in the field under normal-Pi and low-Pi supply in two years. Twenty and three significant association loci were identified for biomass and grain yield per plant under low-Pi supply respectively. The expression level of OsAAD as a candidate gene from a associated locus was significantly up-regulated after low-Pi stress treatment for five days and tended to return to normal levels after Pi re-supply in shoots. Suppression of OsAAD expression could improve the physiological phosphorus use efficiency (PPUE) and grain yields through affecting the expression of several genes associated with GA biosynthesis and metabolism. OsAAD would be a promising gene for increasing PPUE and grain yield in rice under normal- and low-Pi supply via genome editing