Structural dynamics and divergence of the polygalacturonase gene family in land plants

A distinct feature of eukaryotic genomes is the presence of gene families. The polygalacturonase (PG) (EC3.2.1.15) gene family is one of the largest gene families in plants. PG is a pectin-digesting enzyme with a glycoside hydrolase 28 domain. It is involved in numerous plant developmental processes. The evolutionary processes accounting for the functional divergence and the specialized functions of PGs in land plants are unclear. Here, phylogenetic and gene structure analysis of PG genes in algae and land plants revealed that land plant PG genes resulted from differential intron gain and loss, with the latter event predominating. PG genes in land plants contained 15 homologous intron blocks and 13 novel intron blocks. Intron position and phase were not conserved between PGs of algae and land plants but conserved among PG genes of land plants from moss to vascular plants, indicating that the current introns in the PGs in land plants appeared after the split between unicellular algae and multicelluar land plants. These findings demonstrate that the functional divergence and differentiation of PGs in land plants is attributable to intronic loss. Moreover, they underscore the importance of intron gain and loss in genomic adaptation to selective pressure

Immediate and Sustained Improvement in Behavior and Life Quality by Adenotonsillectomy in Children With Sleep-Disordered Breathing

Objectives To investigate longitudinal changes in behavior and quality-of-life (QoL) in children with sleep disordered breathing (SDB) after adenotonsillectomy (AT). Methods This study prospectively enrolled 148 children who underwent AT for SDB. Caregivers filled out Korean attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) rating scale (K-ARS) and Korean version of the obstructive sleep apnea-18 (KOSA-18) at preoperative 1 day, postoperative 1 month, and postoperative 6 months. Longitudinal changes in K-ARS and KOSA-18 were evaluated and compared among subgroups. Results Both K-ARS and KOSA-18 scores improved immediately at postoperative 1 month and were maintained at postoperative 6 months. The mean preoperative K-ARS scores of the non-ADHD, ADHD-trait, and overt-ADHD groups showed uniformly immediate and sustained improvements. Also, the mean preoperative KOSA-18 scores of the small, moderate, and large impact groups were significantly improved both at postoperative 1 month and 6 months. The changes in behavior and QoL showed no significant differences with regard to the aforementioned factors. Conclusion After AT, we may expect immediate and sustained improvements in behavior and QoL in children with SDB regardless of preoperative symptom severity. Moreover, by performing AT, improvements in behavior and QoL are expected regardless of sex, age, allergic trait, or concurrent coblation-assisted turbinoplasty. These findings may help our colleague physicians counselling pediatric SDB patients and their caregivers

Cost-effectiveness of chuna manual therapy and usual care, compared with usual care only for people with neck pain following traffic accidents: a multicenter randomized controlled trial

This is the first cost-effectiveness analysis of Chuna manual therapy (CMT) plus usual Korean traditional medicine for traffic accident victims using a randomized controlled trial. A total of 132 participants were equally allocated to the intervention group receiving 6–11 sessions of CMT plus usual Korean traditional medicine care for three weeks or usual care including acupuncture, cupping, herbal medicine, moxibustion, and traditional physiotherapy at three hospitals. At 12 weeks, from a healthcare perspective, the intervention group had significantly higher costs (mean (SD), $778 (435) vs.$618 (318); difference, $160; 95$15 to $289; p = 0.005). From a societal perspective, total costs were insignificantly lower in the intervention group (mean (SD),$1077 (1081) vs. $1146 (1485); difference,$−69; 95% CI, $−568 to$377; p = 0.761). The intervention group dominated, with significantly higher QALYs gained at lower overall cost with a 72% chance of being cost-effective. From a societal perspective, the intervention was cost-saving for individuals who had neck pain after car accidents, although it was not cost-effective from the healthcare perspective ($40,038 per QALY gained). Findings support use of CMT as an integrated care treatment for whiplash from a societal perspective. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to determine cost-effectiveness in other cultural contexts

Elemental compositions of smectites reveal detailed sediment provenance changes during glacial and interglacial periods: The Southern Drake Passage and Bellingshausen Sea, Antarctica

Variations in clay mineral assemblages have been widely used to understand changes in sediment provenance during glacial and interglacial periods. Smectite clay minerals, however, have a range of various elemental compositions that possibly originated from multiple different sources. Therefore, it might be crucial to distinguish the various types of smectites by analyzing their elemental composition in order to verify the sediment provenances with certainty. This hypothesis was tested for the clay mineral characteristics in a marine sediment core from the southern Drake Passage (GC05-DP02). Rare earth elements and ε Nd εNd data had previously indicated that fine grained detritus was supplied from the Weddell Sea to the core site during interglacial periods, when the sediments contained more Al-rich smectite (montmorillonite). Indeed, marine sediments collected close to the Larsen Ice Shelf on the eastern Antarctic Peninsula continental shelf, western Weddell Sea embayment, show more Al-rich smectite components as compared with other possible West Antarctic sources, such as the Ross Sea embayment or King George Island, South Shetland Islands. Furthermore, two types of smectite (Al-rich and Al-poor) were identified in core GC360 from the Bellingshausen Sea shelf, suggesting that during glacial periods some sediment is derived from subglacial erosion of underlying pre-Oligocene sedimentary strata containing predominantly Al-rich montmorillonite. This finding reveals different sources for smectites in sediments deposited at site GC360 during the last glacial period and during the present interglacial that show only minor differences in smectite contents. For the interglacial period, two groups of smectite with a wide range of Al-rich and Mg–Fe-rich were identified, which indicate delivery from two different sources: (1) the detritus with high contents of Mg–Fe-rich smectite supplied from Beethoven Peninsula, southwestern Alexander island and (2) the detritus with higher contents of Al-rich smectite (montmorillonite) possibly derived from the subglacial reworking of pre-Oligocene sedimentary strata. These results demonstrate that the elemental compositions of smectites can be used to differentiate the sources of smectites in marine sediments, which is an important tool to define sediment provenance in detail, when down-core changes observed in clay mineral assemblages are interpreted

Comparative effectiveness and safety of concomitant treatment with Chuna Manual Therapy and usual care for whiplash injuries: a multicenter randomized controlled trial

Objectives: We aimed to compare the effectiveness and safety of Chuna manual therapy combined with usual care to those of usual care alone for treating whiplash injuries. Design: A two-arm, parallel, assessor-blinded, multicenter pragmatic randomized clinical trial. Setting: Three hospitals in Korea. Participants: Overall, 132 participants between 19 and 70 years of age, involved in traffic accidents and treated at three hospitals in Korea, >2 but <13 weeks prior to enrollment, with neck pain consistent with whiplash-associated disorder grades I and II and a numeric rating scale score ≥5 were included. Interventions: Participants were equally and randomly allocated to the Chuna manual therapy and usual care (n = 66) or usual care (n = 66) groups and underwent corresponding treatment for three weeks. Primary and secondary outcome measures: The primary outcome was the number of days to achieve a 50% pain reduction. Secondary outcomes included areas under the 50% numeric rating scale reduction curve: pain, disability, quality of life, and safety. Results: The Chuna manual therapy + usual care group (23.31 ± 21.36 days; p = 0.01) required significantly fewer days to achieve 50% pain reduction compared to the usual care group (50.41 ± 48.32 days; p = 0.01). Regarding pain severity, functional index, and quality of life index, Chuna manual therapy and usual care were more effective than usual care alone. Safety was acceptable in both groups. Conclusions: In patients with subacute whiplash injury, Chuna manual therapy showed a rapid rate of recovery, high effectiveness, and safety

Relationship Between Sarcopenia and Prognosis in Patient With Concurrent Chemo-Radiation Therapy for Esophageal Cancer

Background: Sarcopenia, defined as skeletal muscle loss, has been known as a poor prognosis factor in various malignant diseases The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of sarcopenia on prognosis in patients with esophageal cancer who received concurrent chemo- and radiotherapy (CCRT).Methods: We retrospectively collected clinical data of 287 patients with esophageal cancer who were treated by definite CCRT at Gangnam Severance and Severance hospital from August 2005 to December 2014. The cross-sectional area of muscle at the level of the third lumbar vertebra was measured using pre- and post-CCRT computed tomography images. Sarcopenia was defined as skeletal muscle index &lt;49 cm2/m2 for men and of &lt;31 cm2/m2 for women by Korean-specific cutoffs. Overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS) were analyzed according to sarcopenia.Results: Sarcopenia identified before CCRT did not affect OS and PFS. However, patients with post-CCRT sarcopenia showed shorter OS and PFS than patients without it (median OS: 73 months vs. 28 months; median PFS: 34 months vs. 25 months, respectively). Post-CCRT sarcopenia was an independent prognostic factor of poor OS (hazards ratio: 1.697; 95% confidence interval: 1.036–2.780; P = 0.036). In multivariate analysis, male sex (P = 0.004) and presence of CCRT-related complications, such as esophagitis or general weakness were significantly associated with post-CCRT sarcopenia (P = 0.016).Conclusions: Sarcopenia after CCRT can be a useful predictor for long-term prognosis in patients with esophageal cancer. To control CCRT-related complications may be important to prevent skeletal muscle loss during CCRT

Potassium chloride elicits enhancement of bilobalide and Ginkgolides production by Ginkgo biloba cell cultures

This study investigated the ability of potassium chloride (KCl) to elicit the production of bilobalide (BB), ginkgolide A (GA) and ginkgolide B (GB) by Ginkgo biloba cell suspension cultures. The salt stress by KCl treatments increased production of BB, GA and GB in both suspended cells and cultured medium. Especially, treatment of KCl 800 mM of highest concentration was stimulated emission into cultured medium BB, GA and GB compounds accumulated in cells. Although KCl 800 mM severely inhibited cells growth, the maximum content of GA and GB in cells was obtained in the treatment of KCl 800 mM, which was 1.9 and 4.0 times higher than the control. These results thus suggest that salt stress can afford enhanced production of secondary metabolites by plant cell cultures

Spatial and temporal variabilities of spring Asian dust events and their impacts on chlorophyll-a concentrations in the western North Pacific Ocean

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2017. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 44 (2017): 1474–1482, doi:10.1002/2016GL072124.As the western North Pacific Ocean is located downwind of the source regions for spring Asian dust, it is an ideal location for determining the response of open waters to these events. Spatial analysis of spring Asian dust events from source regions to the western North Pacific, using long-term daily aerosol index data, revealed three different transport pathways supported by the westerly wind system: one passing across the northern East/Japan Sea (40°N–50°N), a second moving over the entire East/Japan Sea (35°N–55°N), and a third flowing predominantly over the Siberian continent (>50°N). Our results indicate that strong spring Asian dust events can increase ocean primary productivity by more than 70% (>2-fold increase in chlorophyll-a concentrations) compared to weak/nondust conditions. Therefore, attention should be paid to the recent downturn in the number of spring Asian dust events and to the response of primary production in the western North Pacific to this change.Korean government (MSIP) Grant Numbers: 2015R1C1A1A01052051, NRF-C1ABA001-2011-0021064; Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI) Grant Number: PE17030; NOAA Grant Number: NA11OAR4310063; WHOI2017-08-1