Salvaging Complex Lower Extremity Injury with Laparoscopically Harvested Omental Flaps

Background: Traumatic injuries to the lower extremities are frequently accompanied by extensive soft tissue loss, combined with vascular damage or exposure of bony tissues, making it difficult to reconstruct; consequently, patients are commonly at risk of amputation. Due to its superior anatomical and biochemical properties, the omental flap has been used to reconstruct soft tissue defects for decades. However, few studies have reported the omental flap's effectiveness in treating severe and complex lower extremity deformities. We attempted to use a laparoscopically harvested omental flap in conjunction with a second-stage skin graft to reduce infections during limb preservation, increase flap survival probability, and restore the aesthetic and functional integrity of the affected extremity. Methods: Seventeen patients with severe lower extremity wounds underwent omental flap transplantation and were followed up for 6 to 12 months to check for surgical complications, evaluate cosmetic results, and ensure proper limb function. Results: There were no complications, such as intestinal adhesion, intestinal volvulus, and peritonitis, with any of the omental grafts. The affected extremities were well-functioning and aesthetically pleasing. Conclusion: Laparoscopically harvested omental flap transplantation with skin grafting is an alternative reconstruction technique for severe lower extremity injuries with massive soft tissue loss and exposed bones and tendons

The Southern China monsoon rainfall experiment (SCMREX)

The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00235.1A unique program is developed for improving heavy rainfall forecasts over southern China during the presummer rainy season through field campaigns and research on physical mechanisms and convection-permitting modeling.Public Welfare Scientific Research Projects in MeteorologyScientific Projects of the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences (CAMS)Outreach Projects of the State Key Laboratory of Severe WeatherNational Basic Research Program of China (973 Program)GYHY201406013 (PWSRPM)GYHY201406003 (PWSRPM)GYHY201306004 (PWSRPM)GYHY201406007 (PWSRPM)2014Z004 (CAMS)2014LASW-B04 (OPSKLSW)2014LASW-B05 (OPSKLSW)2012CB417202 (973 Program)2014CB441402 (973 Program

Efficient and risk-reduced genome editing using double nicks enhanced by bacterial recombination factors in multiple species

Site-specific DNA double-strand breaks have been used to generate knock-in through the homology-dependent or -independent pathway. However, low efficiency and accompanying negative impacts such as undesirable indels or tumorigenic potential remain problematic. In this study, we present an enhanced reduced-risk genome editing strategy we named as NEO, which used either site-specific trans or cis double-nicking facilitated by four bacterial recombination factors (RecOFAR). In comparison to currently available approaches, NEO achieved higher knock-in (KI) germline transmission frequency (improving from zero to up to 10% efficiency with an average of 5-fold improvement for 8 loci) and 'cleaner' knock-in of long DNA fragments (up to 5.5 kb) into a variety of genome regions in zebrafish, mice and rats. Furthermore, NEO yielded up to 50% knock-in in monkey embryos and 20% relative integration efficiency in non-dividing primary human peripheral blood lymphocytes (hPBLCs). Remarkably, both on-target and off-target indels were effectively suppressed by NEO. NEO may also be used to introduce low-risk unrestricted point mutations effectively and precisely. Therefore, by balancing efficiency with safety and quality, the NEO method reported here shows substantial potential and improves the in vivo gene-editing strategies that have recently been developed

The Southern China Monsoon Rainfall Experiment (SCMREX)

A unique program is developed for improving heavy rainfall forecasts over southern China during the presummer rainy season through field campaigns and research on physical mechanisms and convection-permitting modeling.Public Welfare Scientific Research Projects in Meteorology [GYHY201406013, GYHY201406003, GYHY201306004, GYHY201406007]; Scientific Research Projects of the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences (CAMS) [2014Z004]; Outreach Projects of the State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather [2014LASW-B04, 2014LASW-B05]; National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) [2012CB417202, 2014CB441402]SCI(E)ARTICLE5999-10139

Systematic genome editing of the genes on zebrafish Chromosome 1 by CRISPR/Cas9

Genome editing by the well-established CRISPR/Cas9 technology has greatly facilitated our understanding of many biological processes. However, a complete whole-genome knockout for any species or model organism has rarely been achieved. Here, we performed a systematic knockout of all the genes (1333) on Chromosome 1 in zebrafish, successfully mutated 1029 genes, and generated 1039 germline-transmissible alleles corresponding to 636 genes. Meanwhile, by high-throughput bioinformatics analysis, we found that sequence features play pivotal roles in effective gRNA targeting at specific genes of interest, while the success rate of gene targeting positively correlates with GC content of the target sites. Moreover, we found that nearly one-fourth of all mutants are related to human diseases, and several representative CRISPR/Cas9-generated mutants are described here. Furthermore, we tried to identify the underlying mechanisms leading to distinct phenotypes between genetic mutants and antisense morpholino-mediated knockdown embryos. Altogether, this work has generated the first chromosome-wide collection of zebrafish genetic mutants by the CRISPR/Cas9 technology, which will serve as a valuable resource for the community, and our bioinformatics analysis also provides some useful guidance to design gene-specific gRNAs for successful gene editing