Boron deficiency in rice and the potential of up-regulated rice boron transporter in improving boron deficient symptoms

Boron is one of the essential elements for plant growth and development and its deficiency is known to reduce quantity and quality of agricultural products. In this study, we evaluated the effect of boron limitation on the growth and yields of rice plants using hydroponic culture system. Boron limitation did not affect the plant height of young seedlings, but prolonged limitation of boron clearly reduced the plant height under 0.18 µM boron treatments. Moreover, yields of rice grains were severely impaired under 0.18 µM boron treatments, because of inhibited panicle formation and following reduced spikelet numbers. As a next step, we generated transgenic rice plants expressing rice BOR1-GFP to engineer the crop tolerant to boron limited condition. OsBOR1, a boron efflux transporter in rice mediates efficient boron translocation from root to shoot. Thus generated overexpressors were expected to show enhanced root-to-shoot boron transport. We established 11 independent lines and confirmed the expression of introduced gene in several lines. The initial growth of transgenic plants under boron limitation did not differ among the lines and NT. However, boron concentration in xylem sap was higher in some transgenic lines than NT and transgenic lines not expressing introduced gene. These results suggest that the major boron deficient symptom in rice is impaired development of reproductive tissues and up-regulation of boron transporter has the potential in improving boron acquisition into shoots under boron limited condition

MOESM1 of Evaluation of clinical practice guidelines using the AGREE instrument: comparison between data obtained from AGREE I and AGREE II

Additional file 1: Table S1. Correlation between the AGREE I and AGREE II items. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01

Development of a Series of Near-Infrared Dark Quenchers Based on Si-rhodamines and Their Application to Fluorescent Probes

Near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent probes based on the Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) mechanism have various practical advantages, and their molecular design is generally based on the use of NIR dark quenchers, which are nonfluorescent dyes, as cleavable FRET acceptors. However, few NIR dark quenchers can quench fluorescence in the Cy7 region (over 780 nm). Here, we describe Si-rhodamine-based NIR dark quenchers (SiNQs), which show broad absorption covering this region. They are nonfluorescent independently of solvent polarity and pH, probably due to free rotation of the bond between the N atom and the xanthene moiety. SiNQs can easily be structurally modified to tune their water-solubility and absorption spectra, enabling flexible design of appropriate FRET pair for various NIR fluorescent dyes. To demonstrate the usefulness of SiNQs, we designed and synthesized a NIR fluorescent probe for matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity using SiNQ780. This probe <b>1</b> could detect MMP activity <i>in vitro</i>, in cultured cells and in a tumor-bearing mouse, in which the tumor was clearly visualized, by NIR fluorescence. We believe SiNQs will be useful for the development of a wide range of practical NIR fluorescent probes

Table_1_Ranking important predictors of the need for a high-acuity psychiatry unit among 2,064 inpatients admitted to psychiatric emergency hospitals: a random forest model.docx

AimsIn order to uphold and enhance the emergency psychiatric care system, a thorough comprehension of the characteristics of patients who require a high-acuity psychiatry unit is indispensable. We aimed to clarify the most important predictors of the need for a high-acuity psychiatry unit using a random forest model.MethodsThis cross-sectional study encompassed patients admitted to psychiatric emergency hospitals at 161 medical institutions across Japan between December 8, 2022, and January 31, 2023. Questionnaires were completed by psychiatrists, with a maximum of 30 patients assessed per medical institution. The questionnaires included psychiatrists’ assessment of the patient’s condition (exposure variables) and the need for a high-acuity psychiatry unit (outcome variables). The exposure variables consisted of 32 binary variables, including age, diagnoses, and clinical condition (i.e., factors on the clinical profile, emergency treatment requirements, and purpose of hospitalization). The outcome variable was the need for a high-acuity psychiatry unit, scored from 0 to 10. To identify the most important predictors of the need for a high-acuity psychiatry unit, we used a random forest model. As a sensitivity analysis, multivariate linear regression analysis was performed.ResultsData on 2,164 patients from 81 medical institutions were obtained (response rate, 50.3%). After excluding participants with missing values, this analysis included 2,064 patients. Of the 32 items, the top-5 predictors of the need for a high-acuity psychiatry unit were the essentiality of inpatient treatment (otherwise, symptoms will worsen or linger), need for 24-hour professional care, symptom severity, safety ensured by specialized equipment, and medication management. These items were each significantly and positively associated with the need for a high-acuity psychiatry unit in linear regression analyses (p ConclusionItems related to the patient’s clinical profile might hold greater importance in predicting the need for a high-acuity psychiatry unit than do items associated with age and diagnosis.</p

Whole-body and whole-organ 3D imaging of hypoxia using activatable covalent fluorescent probe compatible with tissue clearing

Elucidation of biological phenomena requires imaging of microenvironments in vivo. Although the seamless visualization of in vivo hypoxia from the level of whole-body to single-cell has a great potential to discover unknown phenomena in biological and medical fields, no methodology for achieving it has been established thus far. Here, we for the first time report the whole-body and whole-organ imaging of hypoxia, an important microenvironment, at single-cell resolution using activatable covalent fluorescent probes compatible with tissue clearing. We initially focused on overcoming the incompatibility of fluorescent dyes and refractive index matching solutions (RIMSs), which has greatly hindered the development of fluorescent molecular probes in the field of tissue clearing. The fluorescent dyes compatible with RIMS were then incorporated into the development of activatable covalent fluorescent probes for hypoxia. We combined the probes with tissue clearing, achieving comprehensive single-cell-resolution imaging of hypoxia in a whole mouse body and whole organs