Kinetic Study on the Effect of Slightly Acidic Electrolyzed Water Immersion on the Storage Quality of Fresh Gastrodia elata Slices

For the purpose of demonstrating the kinetics of immersion in slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW) on the storage quality of fresh-cut Gastrodia elata slices. Pretreated fresh-cut slices of Gastrodia elata were dipped in SAWE at solid-liquid ratios of 1:1, 1:3, 1:5 g/mL, and stored at 4 ℃ for comparison with the untreated group. Establish a quality decay dynamics model system based on a 28-day storage observation experiment, recording and analyzing its physical, chemical and nutritional indicators. SAEW impregnation significantly inhibited browning rate, browning degree, and spoilage occurrence. The total number of colonies in the untreated group, the solid-liquid ratio 1:1, 1:3, and 1:5 groups were 8.25, 5.11, 5.13, and 5.10 lg CFU/g, the vitamin C content was 4.42, 5.66, 4.79, and 4.79 mg/100 g, and the gastrodin content was 0.25%, 0.24%, 0.24%, 0.24%. By kinetic fitting, the variation law of the total number of colonies of Gastrodia elata fresh slices by SAEW immersion treatment conformed to the Logistic model. The water activity index change law was derived using Expdec2. The indicator variation rules were derived from the dynamic model system, and R2 was greater than 0.8, which indicated a good match between indicators. Moreover, SAEW dip treatment effectively suppresses browning, browning rate, rot index, and the total number of colonies of Gastrodia elata fresh slices, and gastrodin and vitamin C content were slowed. For application of SAEW dipping in the storage of fresh-cut products, the relevant results might provide technical guidance

Fat-mass and obesity-associated gene polymorphisms and weight gain after risperidone treatment in first episode schizophrenia

BACKGROUND: Obesity induced by antipsychotics severely increases the risk of many diseases and significantly reduces quality of life. Genome Wide Association Studies has identified fat-mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene associated with obesity. The relationship between the FTO gene and drug-induced obesity is unclear. METHOD: Two hundred and fifty drug naive, Chinese Han patients with first-episode schizophrenia were enrolled in the study, and genotyped for four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs rs9939609, rs8050136, rs1421085 and rs9930506) by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and direct sequencing. Body weight and body mass index (BMI) were measured at baseline and six months after risperidone treatment. RESULTS: At baseline, body weight and BMI of TT homozygotes were lower than those of A allele carriers in rs9939609; body weight of AA homozygotes was higher than those of G allele carriers in rs9930506 (p\u27s \u3c 0.05). After 6 months of risperidone treatment, body weight and BMI of TT homozygotes were lower than those of A allele carriers in rs9939609 (p\u27s \u3c 0.01); body weight and BMI of CC homozygotes were lower than those of A allele carriers in rs8050136 (p\u27s \u3c 0.05); body weight of AA homozygotes was higher than those of G allele carriers in rs9930506 (p\u27s \u3c 0.05). After controlling for age, gender, age of illness onset, disease duration, weight at baseline and education, weight gain of TT homozygotes at 6 months remained to be lower than those of A allele carriers in rs9939609 (p \u3c 0.01); weight gain of CC homozygotes at 6 months was lower than those of A allele carriers in rs8050136 (p = 0.01). Stepwise multiple regression analysis suggested that, among 4 SNPs, rs9939609 was the strongest predictor of weight gain after 6 months of risperidone treatment (p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The FTO gene polymorphisms, especially rs9939609, seem to be related to weight gain after risperidone treatment in Chinese Han patients with first episode schizophrenia

Decreased Functional Connectivity of Insular Cortex in Drug Naive First Episode Schizophrenia: In Relation to Symptom Severity

BACKGROUND: This study was to examine the insular cortical functional connectivity in drug naive patients with first episode schizophrenia and to explore the relationship between the connectivity and the severity of clinical symptoms. METHODS: Thirty-seven drug naive patients with schizophrenia and 25 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. A seed-based approach was used to analyze the resting-state functional imaging data. Insular cortical connectivity maps were bilaterally extracted for group comparison and validated by voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis. Clinical symptoms were measured using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). RESULTS: There were significant reductions in the right insular cortical connectivity with the Heschl\u27s gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and caudate (p\u27s \u3c 0.001) in the patient group compared with the healthy control (HC) group. Reduced right insular cortical connectivity with the Heschl\u27s gyrus was further confirmed in the VBM analysis (FDR corrected p \u3c 0.05). Within the patient group, there was a significant positive relationship between the right insula-Heschl\u27s connectivity and PANSS general psychopathology scores (r = 0.384, p = 0.019). CONCLUSION: Reduced insula-Heschl\u27s functional connectivity is present in drug naive patients with first episode schizophrenia, which might be related to the manifestation of clinical symptoms

Suppression of KRas-mutant cancer through the combined inhibition of KRAS with PLK1 and ROCK

No effective targeted therapies exist for cancers with somatic KRAS mutations. Here we develop a synthetic lethal chemical screen in isogenic KRAS-mutant and wild-type cells to identify clinical drug pairs. Our results show that dual inhibition of polo-like kinase 1 and RhoA/Rho kinase (ROCK) leads to the synergistic effects in KRAS-mutant cancers. Microarray analysis reveals that this combinatory inhibition significantly increases transcription and activity of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21(WAF1/CIP1), leading to specific G2/M phase blockade in KRAS-mutant cells. Overexpression of p21(WAF1/CIP1), either by cDNA transfection or clinical drugs, preferentially impairs the growth of KRAS-mutant cells, suggesting a druggable synthetic lethal interaction between KRAS and p21(WAF1/CIP1). Co-administration of BI-2536 and fasudil either in the LSL-KRAS(G12D) mouse model or in a patient tumour explant mouse model of KRAS-mutant lung cancer suppresses tumour growth and significantly prolongs mouse survival, suggesting a strong synergy in vivo and a potential avenue for therapeutic treatment of KRAS-mutant cancers

COSORE: A community database for continuous soil respiration and other soil‐atmosphere greenhouse gas flux data

Globally, soils store two to three times as much carbon as currently resides in the atmosphere, and it is critical to understand how soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and uptake will respond to ongoing climate change. In particular, the soil‐to‐atmosphere CO2 flux, commonly though imprecisely termed soil respiration (RS), is one of the largest carbon fluxes in the Earth system. An increasing number of high‐frequency RS measurements (typically, from an automated system with hourly sampling) have been made over the last two decades; an increasing number of methane measurements are being made with such systems as well. Such high frequency data are an invaluable resource for understanding GHG fluxes, but lack a central database or repository. Here we describe the lightweight, open‐source COSORE (COntinuous SOil REspiration) database and software, that focuses on automated, continuous and long‐term GHG flux datasets, and is intended to serve as a community resource for earth sciences, climate change syntheses and model evaluation. Contributed datasets are mapped to a single, consistent standard, with metadata on contributors, geographic location, measurement conditions and ancillary data. The design emphasizes the importance of reproducibility, scientific transparency and open access to data. While being oriented towards continuously measured RS, the database design accommodates other soil‐atmosphere measurements (e.g. ecosystem respiration, chamber‐measured net ecosystem exchange, methane fluxes) as well as experimental treatments (heterotrophic only, etc.). We give brief examples of the types of analyses possible using this new community resource and describe its accompanying R software package

Comparative Phosphoproteomic Analysis Reveals the Response of Starch Metabolism to High-Temperature Stress in Rice Endosperm

High-temperature stress severely affects rice grain quality. While extensive research has been conducted at the physiological, transcriptional, and protein levels, it is still unknown how protein phosphorylation regulates seed development in high-temperature environments. Here, we explore the impact of high-temperature stress on the phosphoproteome of developing grains from two indica rice varieties, 9311 and Guangluai4 (GLA4), with different starch qualities. A total of 9994 phosphosites from 3216 phosphoproteins were identified in all endosperm samples. We identified several consensus phosphorylation motifs ([sP], [LxRxxs], [Rxxs], [tP]) induced by high-temperature treatment and revealed a core set of protein kinases, splicing factors, and regulatory factors in response to high-temperature stress, especially those involved in starch metabolism. A detailed phosphorylation scenario in the regulation of starch biosynthesis (AGPase, GBSSI, SSIIa, SSIIIa, BEI, BEIIb, ISA1, PUL, PHO1, PTST) in rice endosperm was proposed. Furthermore, the dynamic changes in phosphorylated enzymes related to starch synthesis (SSIIIa-Ser94, BEI-Ser562, BEI-Ser620, BEI-Ser821, BEIIb-Ser685, BEIIb-Ser715) were confirmed by Western blot analysis, which revealed that phosphorylation might play specific roles in amylopectin biosynthesis in response to high-temperature stress. The link between phosphorylation-mediated regulation and starch metabolism will provide new insights into the mechanism underlying grain quality development in response to high-temperature stress