Regulation of the growth and photosynthesis of cherry tomato seedlings by different light irradiations of light emitting diodes (LED)

The growth and photosynthetic characteristics of cherry tomato seedlings were investigated under seven light irradiations such as dysprosium lamps (white light; control, C), red light emitting diodes (LEDs) (R), blue LEDs (B), orange LEDs (O), green LEDs (G), red and blue LEDs (RB) and red, blue and green LEDs (RBG) with the same photosynthetic photon flux density (about 320 μmol m-2 s-1) for 30 days. Morphological appearances of seedlings were significantly different between light treatments, that is, the plants under RB and RBG were shorter and stronger than those under C, while those under O, G and R were higher and weaker. The higher carbohydrate contents were in plants containing blue treatment, B, RB and RBG. Photosynthetic pigments were shown to have significant difference under respective light irradiations of LEDs. The higher photosynthetic pigments were in leaves of seedlings containing blue light treatment, RBG, RB, B, C and G treatments, the lower the pigments were in those with R and O treatments. Net photosynthesis (Pn) was the highest in leaves of seedlings with RB and RBG and the lowest in those with G. Compared with C treatment, light compensation point and light saturation point of seedlings with R, RB and RBG increased, but those with O and G decreased. Electron transport rate (ETR), quantum efficiency of photosystem II photochemistry (ΦPSII), photochemical quenching (qP) and efficiency of excitation energy capture by open PSII reaction centres (Fv′/Fm′) in seedlings with B, RB and RBG treatments were significantly greater than those of the other treatments. Taken together, RB and RBG of LEDs were shown to be beneficial factors for the growth and photosynthesis in cherry tomato seedlings.Key words: Light-emitting diode (LED), light quality, cherry tomato, growth, photosynthetic characteristics

Effects of NO (3) (-) -N on the growth and salinity tolerance of Tamarix laxa Willd

The influence of NO (3) (-) -N on growth and osmotic adjustment was studied in Tamarix laxa Willd., a halophyte with salt glands on its twigs. Seedlings of T. laxa Willd. were exposed to 1 mM (control) or 300 mM NaCl, with 0.05, 1 or 10 mM NO (3) (-) -N for 24 days. The relative growth rate of seedlings at 300 mM NaCl was lower than that of control plants at all NO (3) (-) -N levels, but the concentrations of organic N and total N in the twigs did not differ between the two NaCl treatments. Increasing NO (3) (-) supply under 300 mM NaCl improved the growth of T. laxa, indicating that NO (3) (-) played positive roles in improving salt resistance of the plant. The twigs of T. laxa Willd. accumulated mainly inorganic ions, especially Na+ and Cl-, to lower osmotic potential (Is): the contributions of Na+ and Cl- to Is were estimated at 31% and 27% respectively, at the highest levels of supply of both NaCl and NO (3) (-) -N. The estimated contribution of NO (3) (-) -N to Is was as high as 20% in the twigs in these conditions, indicating that NO (3) (-) was also involved in osmotic adjustment in the twigs. Furthermore, increases in tissue NO (3) (-) were accompanied by decreases in tissue Cl- and proline under 300 mM NaCl. The estimated contribution of proline to Is declined as with NO (3) (-) -N supply increased from 1 to 10 mM, while the contributions of nitrate to Is were enhanced under 300 mM NaCl. This suggested that higher accumulation of nitrate in the vacuole alleviated the effects of salinity stress on the plant by balancing the osmotic potential. In conclusion, NO (3) (-) -N played both nutritional and osmotic roles in T. laxa Willd. in saline conditions

Associations between early-life screen viewing and 24 hour movement behaviours : findings from a longitudinal birth cohort study

Background Screen viewing is a sedentary behaviour reported to interfere with sleep and physical activity. However, few longitudinal studies have assessed such associations in children of preschool age (0-6 years) and none have accounted for the compositional nature of these behaviours. We aimed to investigate the associations between total and device-specific screen viewing time at age 2-3 years and accelerometer-measured 24 h movement behaviours, including sleep, sedentary behaviour, light physical activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) at age 5.5 years. Methods The Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) study is an ongoing longitudinal birth cohort study in Singapore, which began in June 2009. We recruited pregnant women during their first ultrasound scan visit at two major public maternity units in Singapore. At clinic visits done at age 2-3 years, we collected parent-reported information about children's daily total and device-specific screen viewing time (television, handheld devices, and computers). At 5.5 years, children's movement behaviours for 7 consecutive days were measured using wrist-worn accelerometers. We assessed the associations between screen viewing time and movement behaviours (sedentary behaviour, light physical activity, MVPA, and sleep) using Dirichlet regression, which accounts for the compositional nature of such behaviours. This study is active but not recruiting and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01174875. Findings Between June 1, 2009, and Oct 12, 2010, 1247 pregnant women enrolled and 1171 singleton births were enrolled. 987 children had parent-reported screen data at either 2 or 3 years, of whom 840 attended the clinic visit at age 5.5 years, and 577 wore an accelerometer. 552 children had at least 3 days of accelerometer data and were included in the analysis. Total screen viewing time at age 2-3 years had a significant negative association with sleep (p=0.008), light physical activity (p= 3 h screen viewing time]), and less light physical activity (384.6 vs 356.2 mins per day), and MVPA (76.2 vs 63.4 mins per day) at age 5.5 years. No significant differences in time spent sleeping were observed between the groups (539.5 vs 540.4 mins per day). Similar trends were observed for television viewing and handheld device viewing. Interpretation Longer screen viewing time in children aged 2-3 years was associated with more time spent engaged in sedentary behaviour and shorter time engaged in light physical activity and MVPA in later childhood. Our findings indicate that screen viewing might displace physical activity during early childhood, and suggest that reducing screen viewing time in early childhood might promote healthier behaviours and associated outcomes later in life. Copyright (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Investigating the Role of P311 in the Hypertrophic Scar

The mechanisms of hypertrophic scar formation are not fully understood. We previously screened the differentially expressed genes of human hypertrophic scar tissue and identified P311 gene as upregulated. As the activities of P311 in human fibroblast function are unknown, we examined the distribution of it and the effects of forced expression or silencing of expression of P311. P311 expression was detected in fibroblast-like cells from the hypertrophic scar of burn injury patients but not in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, epidermal cells or normal skin dermal cells. Transfection of fibroblasts with P311 gene stimulated the expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), TGF-β1 and α1(I) collagen (COL1A1), and enhanced the contraction of fibroblast populated collagen lattices (FPCL). In contrast, interference of fibroblast P311 gene expression decreased the TGF-β1 mRNA expression and reduced the contraction of fibroblasts in FPCL. These results suggest that P311 may be involved in the pathogenesis of hypertrophic scar via induction of a myofibroblastic phenotype and of functions such as TGF-β1 expression. P311 could be a novel target for the control of hypertrophic scar development

Family-focused contextual factors associated with lifestyle patterns in young children from two mother-offspring cohorts : GUSTO and EDEN

Background Integrated patterns of energy balance-related behaviours of preschool children in Asia are sparse, with few comparative analyses. Purpose Using cohorts in Singapore (GUSTO) and France (EDEN), we characterized lifestyle patterns of children and investigated their associations with family-focused contextual factors. Methods Ten behavioural variables related to child's diet, walking, outdoor play and screen time were ascertained by parental questionnaires at age 5-6 years. Using principal component analysis, sex-specific lifestyle patterns were derived independently for 630 GUSTO and 989 EDEN children. Contextual variables were organised into distal (family socio-economics, demographics), intermediate (parental health, lifestyle habits) and proximal (parent-child interaction factors) levels of influence and analysed with hierarchical linear regression. Results Three broadly similar lifestyle patterns were identified in both cohorts: "discretionary consumption and high screen time", "fruit, vegetables, and low screen time" and "high outdoor playtime and walking". The latter two patterns showed small differences between cohorts and sexes. The "discretionary consumption and high screen time" pattern was consistently similar in both cohorts; distal associated factors were lower maternal education (EDEN boys), no younger siblings (GUSTO boys) and Malay/Indian ethnicity (GUSTO), while intermediate and proximal associated factors in both cohorts and sexes were poor maternal diets during pregnancy, parents allowing high child control over food intake, snacking between meals and having television on while eating. Conclusions Three similar lifestyle patterns were observed among preschool children in Singapore and France. There were more common associated proximal factors than distal ones. Cohort specific family-focused contextual factors likely reflect differences in social and cultural settings. Findings will aid development of strategies to improve child health.Peer reviewe

Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models in basic and translational breast cancer research

Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of a growing spectrum of cancers are rapidly supplanting long-established traditional cell lines as preferred models for conducting basic and translational preclinical research. In breast cancer, to complement the now curated collection of approximately 45 long-established human breast cancer cell lines, a newly formed consortium of academic laboratories, currently from Europe, Australia, and North America, herein summarizes data on over 500 stably transplantable PDX models representing all three clinical subtypes of breast cancer (ER+, HER2+, and "Triple-negative" (TNBC)). Many of these models are well-characterized with respect to genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic features, metastatic behavior, and treatment response to a variety of standard-of-care and experimental therapeutics. These stably transplantable PDX lines are generally available for dissemination to laboratories conducting translational research, and contact information for each collection is provided. This review summarizes current experiences related to PDX generation across participating groups, efforts to develop data standards for annotation and dissemination of patient clinical information that does not compromise patient privacy, efforts to develop complementary data standards for annotation of PDX characteristics and biology, and progress toward "credentialing" of PDX models as surrogates to represent individual patients for use in preclinical and co-clinical translational research. In addition, this review highlights important unresolved questions, as well as current limitations, that have hampered more efficient generation of PDX lines and more rapid adoption of PDX use in translational breast cancer research

Methylprednisolone as Adjunct to Endovascular Thrombectomy for Large-Vessel Occlusion Stroke

Importance It is uncertain whether intravenous methylprednisolone improves outcomes for patients with acute ischemic stroke due to large-vessel occlusion (LVO) undergoing endovascular thrombectomy. Objective To assess the efficacy and adverse events of adjunctive intravenous low-dose methylprednisolone to endovascular thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke secondary to LVO. Design, Setting, and Participants This investigator-initiated, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was implemented at 82 hospitals in China, enrolling 1680 patients with stroke and proximal intracranial LVO presenting within 24 hours of time last known to be well. Recruitment took place between February 9, 2022, and June 30, 2023, with a final follow-up on September 30, 2023.InterventionsEligible patients were randomly assigned to intravenous methylprednisolone (n = 839) at 2 mg/kg/d or placebo (n = 841) for 3 days adjunctive to endovascular thrombectomy. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary efficacy outcome was disability level at 90 days as measured by the overall distribution of the modified Rankin Scale scores (range, 0 [no symptoms] to 6 [death]). The primary safety outcomes included mortality at 90 days and the incidence of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage within 48 hours. Results Among 1680 patients randomized (median age, 69 years; 727 female [43.3%]), 1673 (99.6%) completed the trial. The median 90-day modified Rankin Scale score was 3 (IQR, 1-5) in the methylprednisolone group vs 3 (IQR, 1-6) in the placebo group (adjusted generalized odds ratio for a lower level of disability, 1.10 [95% CI, 0.96-1.25]; P = .17). In the methylprednisolone group, there was a lower mortality rate (23.2% vs 28.5%; adjusted risk ratio, 0.84 [95% CI, 0.71-0.98]; P = .03) and a lower rate of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (8.6% vs 11.7%; adjusted risk ratio, 0.74 [95% CI, 0.55-0.99]; P = .04) compared with placebo. Conclusions and Relevance Among patients with acute ischemic stroke due to LVO undergoing endovascular thrombectomy, adjunctive methylprednisolone added to endovascular thrombectomy did not significantly improve the degree of overall disability.Trial RegistrationChiCTR.org.cn Identifier: ChiCTR210005172

Global importance of large-diameter trees

Aim: To examine the contribution of large‐diameter trees to biomass, stand structure, and species richness across forest biomes. Location: Global. Time period: Early 21st century. Major taxa studied: Woody plants. Methods: We examined the contribution of large trees to forest density, richness and biomass using a global network of 48 large (from 2 to 60 ha) forest plots representing 5,601,473 stems across 9,298 species and 210 plant families. This contribution was assessed using three metrics: the largest 1% of trees ≥ 1 cm diameter at breast height (DBH), all trees ≥ 60 cm DBH, and those rank‐ordered largest trees that cumulatively comprise 50% of forest biomass. Results: Averaged across these 48 forest plots, the largest 1% of trees ≥ 1 cm DBH comprised 50% of aboveground live biomass, with hectare‐scale standard deviation of 26%. Trees ≥ 60 cm DBH comprised 41% of aboveground live tree biomass. The size of the largest trees correlated with total forest biomass (r2 = .62, p < .001). Large‐diameter trees in high biomass forests represented far fewer species relative to overall forest richness (r2 = .45, p < .001). Forests with more diverse large‐diameter tree communities were comprised of smaller trees (r2 = .33, p < .001). Lower large‐diameter richness was associated with large‐diameter trees being individuals of more common species (r2 = .17, p = .002). The concentration of biomass in the largest 1% of trees declined with increasing absolute latitude (r2 = .46, p < .001), as did forest density (r2 = .31, p < .001). Forest structural complexity increased with increasing absolute latitude (r2 = .26, p < .001). Main conclusions: Because large‐diameter trees constitute roughly half of the mature forest biomass worldwide, their dynamics and sensitivities to environmental change represent potentially large controls on global forest carbon cycling. We recommend managing forests for conservation of existing large‐diameter trees or those that can soon reach large diameters as a simple way to conserve and potentially enhance ecosystem services