A Modified Sagittal Spine Postural Classification and Its Relationship to Deformities and Spinal Mobility in a Chinese Osteoporotic Population

BACKGROUND: Abnormal posture and spinal mobility have been demonstrated to cause functional impairment in the quality of life, especially in the postmenopausal osteoporotic population. Most of the literature studies focus on either thoracic kyphosis or lumbar lordosis, but not on the change of the entire spinal alignment. Very few articles reported the spinal alignment of Chinese people. The purpose of this study was threefold: to classify the spinal curvature based on the classification system defined by Satoh consisting of the entire spine alignment; to identify the change of trunk mobility; and to relate spinal curvature to balance disorder in a Chinese population. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: 450 osteoporotic volunteers were recruited for this study. Spinal range of motion and global curvature were evaluated noninvasively using the Spinal-Mouse® system and sagittal postural deformities were characterized. RESULTS: We found a new spine postural alignment consisting of an increased thoracic kyphosis and decreased lumbar lordosis which we classified as our modified round back. We did not find any of Satoh's type 5 classification in our population. Type 2 sagittal alignment was the most common spinal deformity (38.44%). In standing, thoracic kyphosis angles in types 2 (58.34°) and 3 (58.03°) were the largest and lumbar lordosis angles in types 4 (13.95°) and 5 (-8.61°) were the smallest. The range of flexion (ROF) and range of flexion-extension (ROFE) of types 2 and 3 were usually greater than types 4 and 5, with type 1 being the largest. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The present study classified and compared for the first time the mobility, curvature and balance in a Chinese population based on the entire spine alignment and found types 4 and 5 to present the worst balance and mobility. This study included a new spine postural alignment classification that should be considered in future population studies

The Euscaphis japonica genome and the evolution of malvids

Malvids is one of the largest clades of rosids, includes 58 families and exhibits remarkable morphological and ecological diversity. Here, we report a high-quality chromosome-level genome assembly for Euscaphis japonica, an early-diverging species within malvids. Genome-based phylogenetic analysis suggests that the unstable phylogenetic position of E. japonica may result from incomplete lineage sorting and hybridization event during the diversification of the ancestral population of malvids. Euscaphis japonica experienced two polyploidization events: the ancient whole genome triplication event shared with most eudicots (commonly known as the c event) and a more recent whole genome duplication event, unique to E. japonica. By resequencing 101 samples from 11 populations, we speculate that the temperature has led to the differentiation of the evergreen and deciduous of E. japonica and the completely different population histories of these two groups. In total, 1012 candidate positively selected genes in the evergreen were detected, some of which are involved in flower and fruit development. We found that reddening and dehiscence of the E. japonica pericarp and long fruit-hanging time promoted the reproduction of E. japonica populations, and revealed the expression patterns of genes related to fruit reddening, dehiscence and abscission. The key genes involved in pentacyclic triterpene synthesis in E. japonica were identified, and different expression patterns of these genes may contribute to pentacyclic triterpene diversification. Our work sheds light on the evolution of E. japonica and malvids, particularly on the diversification of E. japonica and the genetic basis for their fruit dehiscence and abscission.DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT : All sequences described in this manuscript have been submitted to the National Genomics Data Center (NGDC). The raw whole-genome data of E. japonica have been deposited in BioProject/GSA (https://bigd.big.ac.cn/gsa.) under the accession codes PRJCA005268/CRA004271, and the assembly and annotation data have been deposited at BioProject/GWH (https://bigd.big.ac.cn/gwh) under the accession codes PRJCA005268/GWHBCHS00000000. The raw transcriptomes data of E. japonica have been deposited in BioProject/GSA (https://bigd.big.ac.cn/gsa.) under the accession codes PRJCA005298/CRA004272.SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL 1: Supplementary Note 1. Chromosome number assessment. Supplementary Note 2. Whole-genome duplication identification and dating. Supplementary Note 3. Observation of E. japonica seed dispersal. Supplementary Note 4. Determination of pentacyclic triterpene substances. Figure S1. Cytogenetic analysis of E. japonica. Figure S2. Genome size and heterozygosity of E. japonica estimation using 17 k-mer distribution. Figure S3. Interchromosomal of Hi-C chromosome contact map of E. japonica genome. Figure S4. Gene structure prediction results of E. japonica and other species. Figure S5. Venn diagram shows gene families of malvids. Figure S6. Phylogenetic tree constructed by chloroplast genomes from 17 species. Figure S7. Concatenated- and ASTRAL-based phylogenetic trees. Figure S8. Ks distribution in E. japonica. Figure S9. Distributions of synonymous substitutions per synonymous site (Ks) of one-to-one orthologs identified between E. japonica and P. trichocarpa and V. vinifera. Figure S10. Population structure plot. Figure S11. Fixation index (FST) heat map among E. japonica populations. Figure S12. Phylogenetic analysis of MADS-box genes from O. sativa, A. thaliana, E. japonica, and T. cacao. Figure S13. Observation the fruit development. Figure S14. Animal seed dispersal. Figure S15. Anthocyanin biosynthesis in E. japonica fruits. Figure S16. Carotenoid accumulation and the chlorophyll degradation in E. japonica fruits. Figure S17. Expression profile of fruit dehiscence-related genes. Figure S18. Phylogenetic tree of DELLA genes obtained from six malvids species. Figure S19. Phylogenetic tree of CAD genes obtained from seven malvids species. Figure S20. Expression pattern of fruit abscission-related genes. Figure S21. Structure of pentacyclic triterpene compounds separated from Euscaphis. Figure S22. Phylogenetic tree of HMGR gene in plants. Figure S23. Phylogenetic tree of P450s gene family obtained from A. thaliana and E. japonica.SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL 2: Table S1. Assembled statistics of E. japonica genome. Table S2. Evaluation of E. japonica genome assembly. Table S3. Chromosome length of E. japonica. Table S4. Prediction of gene structures of the E. japonica genome. Table S5. Statistics on the function annotation of the E. japonica genome. Table S6. Non-coding RNA annotation results of E. japonica genome. Table S7. BUSCO assessment of the E. japonica annotated genome. Table S8. Statistic of repeat sequence in E. japonica genome. Table S9. Gene-clustering statistics for 17 species. Table S10. KEGG enrichment result of unique genes families of E. japonica. Table S11. Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG enrichment result of significant shared by malvids species gene families. Table S12. Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG enrichment result of significant expansion of E. japonica gene families. Table S13. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment result of significant contraction of E. japonica gene families. Table S14. Statistical sampling population information. Table S15. Statistics population resequencing information. Table S16. Statistical nucleotide polymorphisms in the populations. Table S17. Candidate positive selection genes (PSGs) in the evergreen population. Table S18. Candidate positive selection genes (PSGs) in the deciduous population. Table S19. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment result of significant PSGs in the evergreen population. Table S20. List of MADS-box genes identified in E. japonica. Table S21. Genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis, carotenoid biosynthesis, and chlorophyll degradation. Table S22. Identification fruit dehiscence-related genes in E. japonica. Table S23. Genes related to lignin synthesis that are highly expressed during pericarp dehiscence. Table S24. Gene expression levels (FPKMs) of fruit abscission-related genes in pericarp. Table S25. Triterpene compounds separated from Euscaphis. Table S26. Number of putative pentacyclic triterpene-related genes in the malvids species. Table S27. Identified pentacyclic triterpene synthesis-related genes in E. japonica genome. Table S28. Statistical simple sequence repeat.Fund for Excellent Doctoral Dissertation of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, China; Fujian Provincial Department of Science E. japonica Evolution and Selection of Ornamental Medicinal Resources, China; the Project of Forestry Peak Discipline at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, China; the Collection, Development and Utilization of Eascaphis konlshli Germplasm Resources; the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program and from Ghent University.https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1365313xam2022BiochemistryGeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

Activation of Sirt1 by Resveratrol Inhibits TNF-α Induced Inflammation in Fibroblasts

Inflammation is one of main mechanisms of autoimmune disorders and a common feature of most diseases. Appropriate suppression of inflammation is a key resolution to treat the diseases. Sirtuin1 (Sirt1) has been shown to play a role in regulation of inflammation. Resveratrol, a potent Sirt1 activator, has anti-inflammation property. However, the detailed mechanism is not fully understood. In this study, we investigated the anti-inflammation role of Sirt1 in NIH/3T3 fibroblast cell line. Upregulation of matrix metalloproteinases 9 (MMP-9), interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), IL-6 and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) were induced by tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in 3T3 cells and resveratrol suppressed overexpression of these pro-inflammatory molecules in a dose-dependent manner. Knockdown of Sirt1 by RNA interference caused 3T3 cells susceptible to TNF-α stimulation and diminished anti-inflammatory effect of resveratrol. We also explored potential anti-inflammatory mechanisms of resveratrol. Resveratrol reduced NF-κB subunit RelA/p65 acetylation, which is notably Sirt1 dependent. Resveratrol also attenuated phosphorylation of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and S6 ribosomal protein (S6RP) while ameliorating inflammation. Our data demonstrate that resveratrol inhibits TNF-α-induced inflammation via Sirt1. It suggests that Sirt1 is an efficient target for regulation of inflammation. This study provides insight on treatment of inflammation-related diseases

Application of metal − organic frameworks

The burgeoning field of metal-organic frameworks or porous coordination polymers has received increasing interest in recent years. In the last decade these microporous materials have found several applications including storage and separation of gases, sensors, catalysis and functional materials. In order to better design new metal-organic frameworks and porous coordination polymers with specific functionalities a fundamental issue is to achieve a basic understanding of the relationship between molecular parameters and structures, preferred adsorption sites and properties by using using modern theoretical methods. The focus of this mini-review is a description of the potential and emerging applications of metal-organic framework

Molecular mechanisms of cell death: recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death 2018.

Over the past decade, the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death (NCCD) has formulated guidelines for the definition and interpretation of cell death from morphological, biochemical, and functional perspectives. Since the field continues to expand and novel mechanisms that orchestrate multiple cell death pathways are unveiled, we propose an updated classification of cell death subroutines focusing on mechanistic and essential (as opposed to correlative and dispensable) aspects of the process. As we provide molecularly oriented definitions of terms including intrinsic apoptosis, extrinsic apoptosis, mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT)-driven necrosis, necroptosis, ferroptosis, pyroptosis, parthanatos, entotic cell death, NETotic cell death, lysosome-dependent cell death, autophagy-dependent cell death, immunogenic cell death, cellular senescence, and mitotic catastrophe, we discuss the utility of neologisms that refer to highly specialized instances of these processes. The mission of the NCCD is to provide a widely accepted nomenclature on cell death in support of the continued development of the field

A search for an unexpected asymmetry in the production of e+μ− and e−μ+ pairs in proton-proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at root s = 13 TeV

This search, a type not previously performed at ATLAS, uses a comparison of the production cross sections for e(+)mu(-) and e(-)mu(+) pairs to constrain physics processes beyond the Standard Model. It uses 139 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data recorded at root s = 13 TeV at the LHC. Targeting sources of new physics which prefer final states containing e(+)mu(-) and e(-)mu(+), the search contains two broad signal regions which are used to provide model-independent constraints on the ratio of cross sections at the 2% level. The search also has two special selections targeting supersymmetric models and leptoquark signatures. Observations using one of these selections are able to exclude, at 95% confidence level, singly produced smuons with masses up to 640 GeV in a model in which the only other light sparticle is a neutralino when the R-parity-violating coupling lambda(23)(1)' is close to unity. Observations using the other selection exclude scalar leptoquarks with masses below 1880 GeV when g(1R)(eu) = g(1R)(mu c) = 1, at 95% confidence level. The limit on the coupling reduces to g(1R)(eu) = g(1R)(mu c) = 0.46 for a mass of 1420 GeV