Influence of SiO2, Al2O3 and TiO2 nanoparticles on okra seed germination under PEG-6000 simulated water deficit stress

Abstract: A comparative study for evaluating the influence of metal oxide nanoparticles (MONPs) (Al2O3, TiO2, and SiO2) on seed germination and seedling growth in okra was implemented under water deficit stress stimulated by PEG-6000. The results revealed that additive of SiO2 nanoparticles (SNPs) and Al2O3 (ANPs) have significant positive effect on seeds germination, while a reduction of that were observed by using TiO2 nanoparticles (TNPs) at 50 mg.L-1 concentration under 5% PEG-6000 stimulated drought stress as compared to that without MONPs. Further, relative to non-MONPs treatment, all the tested MONPs dramatically enhanced the drought stress tolerance in okra seedlings due to the improvement of morphological growth despite a few traits were inhibited under certain water deficiency to some degree. Improvement of drought resistance induced by TNPs and ANPs were found to be higher than that by SNPs. Our finding provides a promising approach to cope with water scarcity, as application of metal oxide nanoparticles to be a potential option to protect okra plants against drought stress

Study on the work of new food additive safety evaluation in China

Objective Summarize and analyze the common issues on new food additive applications, and make suggestions on both processes of submission and evaluation of applications for new food additives, and facilitate scientific, reasonable and standardized evaluation. Methods Use the "health administrative authorization management system" to obtain the statistics of new food additives applied in the year of 2010-2019, analyze the common problems, and put forward suggestions from technical aspects for new food additives. Results By analyzing final decisions of 769 new food additives applied in 2010-2019, common problems in both reception and safety evaluation stage were pointed out. On this basis, suggestions were put forward to further improve dossier requirements and safety data requirements from the management perspective. Conclusion The existing new food additive regulations and requirements can basically meet the needs of the safety evaluation. It is suggested to further refine the application requirements, formulate the application guidelines, and reinforce the safety evaluation requirements of new food additives

Thirty-six months recurrence after acute ischemic stroke among patients with comorbid type 2 diabetes: A nested case-control study

Background: Stroke patients have to face a high risk of recurrence, especially for those with comorbid T2DM, which usually lead to much more serious neurologic damage and an increased likelihood of death. This study aimed to explore determinants of stroke relapse among patients with comorbid T2DM. Materials and methods: We conducted this case-control study nested a prospective cohort of ischemic stroke (IS) with comorbid T2DM. During 36-month follow-up, the second stroke occurred in 84 diabetic IS patients who were allocated into the case group, while 613 patients without recurrence were the controls. We collected the demographic data, behaviors and habits, therapies, and family history at baseline, and measured the variables during follow-up. LASSO and Logistic regression analyses were carried out to develop a prediction model of stroke recurrence. The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve was employed to evaluate the performance of the prediction model. Results: Compared to participants without recurrence, the higher levels of pulse rate (78.29 ± 12.79 vs. 74.88 ± 10.93) and hypertension (72.6 vs. 61.2 %) were recorded at baseline. Moreover, a lower level of physical activity (77.4 vs. 90.4 %), as well as a higher proportion of hypoglycemic therapy (36.9 vs. 23.3 %) was also observed during 36-month follow-up. Multivariate logistic regression revealed that higher pulse rate at admission (OR = 1.027, 95 % CI = 1.005 – 1.049), lacking physical activity (OR = 2.838, 9 5 % CI = 1.418 – 5.620) and not receiving hypoglycemic therapy (OR = 1.697, 95 % CI = 1.013 – 2.843) during follow-up increased the risk of stroke recurrence. We developed a prediction model using baseline pulse rate, hypoglycemic therapy, and physical activity, which produced an area under ROC curve (AUC) of 0.689. Conclusion: Physical activity and hypoglycemic therapy play a protective role for IS patients with comorbid diabetes. In addition to targeted therapeutics, the improvement of daily-life habit contributes to slowing the progress of the IS

Research and analysis on feedback from national food safety special follow-up evaluation

Objective To obtain the comprehensive evaluation from stakeholders by carrying out special follow-up evaluation on national food safety standards, so as to provide reference for further improvement of China's national food safety standards system. Methods Questionnaire was designed, and the opinions of stakeholders were collected through National Food Safety Standards Follow-up Evaluation and Feedback Platform. Excel 2013 was used to sort out the original data and make descriptive statistical analysis. Results The analysis of 5 467 questionnaires showed that more than 90% of the respondents thought that the food classification in the current national food safety general standards was clear and the limits were scientific and reasonable. The food products could be covered by the corresponding food safety standards and code of practice standards. The comprehensive score of food safety product standards was 4.37 (out of 5), and the comprehensive score of code of practice standards was 4.42 (out of 5). Conclusion China’s current food safety standards system framework is basically perfect, and the convergence between standards is smooth. The coverage rate of general standards, product standards and code of practice standards for all kinds of food products exceeds 90%, and the system setting is reasonable and perfect. It is suggested to further improve the national food safety standard system, make full use of the result of food safety standard follow-up evaluation, and continue to actively explore follow-up evaluation method to be brought in line with international practice

Formation of interference-sensitive meiotic cross-overs requires sufficient DNA leading-strand elongation

Meiosis is essential for eukaryotic sexual reproduction, and meiotic recombination redistributes genetic variations among progeny. Homologous recombination is also important for DNA repair and genome stability. Current recombination models include DNA synthesis, particularly leading-strand synthesis, but its role has not been tested experimentally. Here, we showed that mutations in a DNA polymerase required for leading-strand elongation caused reduced fertility, defects in meiotic chromosome fragmentation and segregation, and reduction of interference-sensitive cross-overs (COs). Because the majority of meiotic COs are produced from the interference-sensitive pathway in budding yeast, mammals, and flowering plants, the discovery of leading-strand elongation in the differentiation of meiotic recombination pathways has important implications in understanding of human reproductive health and crop breeding

Study on tinnitus-related electroencephalogram microstates in patients with vestibular schwannomas

Tinnitus is closely associated with cognition functioning. In order to clarify the central reorganization of tinnitus in patients with vestibular schwannoma (VS), this study explored the aberrant dynamics of electroencephalogram (EEG) microstates and their correlations with tinnitus features in VS patients. Clinical and EEG data were collected from 98 VS patients, including 76 with tinnitus and 22 without tinnitus. Microstates were clustered into four categories. Our EEG microstate analysis revealed that VS patients with tinnitus exhibited an increased frequency of microstate C compared to those without tinnitus. Furthermore, correlation analysis demonstrated that the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) score was negatively associated with the duration of microstate A and positively associated with the frequency of microstate C. These findings suggest that the time series and syntax characteristics of EEG microstates differ significantly between VS patients with and without tinnitus, potentially reflecting abnormal allocation of neural resources and transition of functional brain activity. Our results provide a foundation for developing diverse treatments for tinnitus in VS patients

The DNA Replication Factor RFC1 Is Required for Interference-Sensitive Meiotic Crossovers in Arabidopsis thaliana

During meiotic recombination, induced double-strand breaks (DSBs) are processed into crossovers (COs) and non-COs (NCO); the former are required for proper chromosome segregation and fertility. DNA synthesis is essential in current models of meiotic recombination pathways and includes only leading strand DNA synthesis, but few genes crucial for DNA synthesis have been tested genetically for their functions in meiosis. Furthermore, lagging strand synthesis has been assumed to be unnecessary. Here we show that the Arabidopsis thaliana DNA REPLICATION FACTOR C1 (RFC1) important for lagging strand synthesis is necessary for fertility, meiotic bivalent formation, and homolog segregation. Loss of meiotic RFC1 function caused abnormal meiotic chromosome association and other cytological defects; genetic analyses with other meiotic mutations indicate that RFC1 acts in the MSH4-dependent interference-sensitive pathway for CO formation. In a rfc1 mutant, residual pollen viability is MUS81-dependent and COs exhibit essentially no interference, indicating that these COs form via the MUS81-dependent interference-insensitive pathway. We hypothesize that lagging strand DNA synthesis is important for the formation of double Holliday junctions, but not alternative recombination intermediates. That RFC1 is found in divergent eukaryotes suggests a previously unrecognized and highly conserved role for DNA synthesis in discriminating between recombination pathways

The auxin influx carrier, OsAUX3, regulates rice root development and responses to aluminium stress

In rice, there are five members of the auxin carrier AUXIN1/LIKE AUX1 family; however, the biological functions of the other four members besides OsAUX1 remain unknown. Here, by using CRISPR/Cas9, we constructed two independent OsAUX3 knock‐down lines, osaux3‐1 and osaux3‐2, in wild‐type rice, Hwayoung (WT/HY) and Dongjin (WT/DJ). osaux3‐1 and osaux3‐2 have shorter primary roots (PRs), decreased lateral root (LR) density, and longer root hairs (RHs) compared with their WT. OsAUX3 expression in PRs, LRs, and RHs further supports that OsAUX3 plays a critical role in the regulation of root development. OsAUX3 locates at the plasma membrane and functions as an auxin influx carrier affecting acropetal auxin transport. OsAUX3 is up‐regulated in the root apex under aluminium (Al) stress, and osaux3‐2 is insensitive to Al treatments. Furthermore, 1‐naphthylacetic acid accented the sensitivity of WT/DJ and osaux3‐2 to respond to Al stress. Auxin concentrations, Al contents, and Al‐induced reactive oxygen species‐mediated damage in osaux3‐2 under Al stress are lower than in WT, indicating that OsAUX3 is involved in Al‐induced inhibition of root growth. This study uncovers a novel pathway alleviating Al‐induced oxidative damage by inhibition of acropetal auxin transport and provides a new option for engineering Al‐tolerant rice species

Bibliometric and visual analysis of spinal cord injury-associated macrophages from 2002 to 2023

BackgroundSpinal cord injury (SCI) triggers motor, sensory, and autonomic impairments that adversely damage patients' quality of life. Its pathophysiological processes include inflammation, oxidative stress, and apoptosis, although existing treatment options have little success. Macrophages have a vital function in controlling inflammation in SCI, with their M1-type and M2-type macrophages dominating early inflammatory effects and late brain tissue repair and regeneration, respectively. However, there is a dearth of rigorous bibliometric study in this sector to explore its dynamics and trends. This study intends to examine the current status and trends of macrophage usage in SCI using bibliometric methodologies, which may drive novel therapeutic options.MethodsIn this study, the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC) was utilized to collect publications and reviews on macrophages in SCI from 2002 to 2023. Bibliometrics and visualization analyses were performed by VOSviewer, CiteSpace, the R package “bibliometrix”, and online analytic platforms. These analyses covered a variety of aspects, including countries and institutions, authors and co-cited authors, journals and co-cited journals, subject categories, co-cited references, and keyword co-occurrences, in order to provide insights into the research trends and hotspots in this field.Results1,775 papers were included in the study, comprising 1,528 articles and 247 reviews. Our research analysis demonstrates that the number of relevant studies in this sector is expanding, specifically the number of publications in the United States and China has risen dramatically. However, there are fewer collaborations between institutions in different nations, and international cooperation needs to be reinforced. Among them, Popovich PG became the leader in the field, and significant journals include Experimental Neurology, Journal of Neurotrauma, and Journal of Neuroscience. Research hotspots involve macrophage polarization, microglia, astrocytes, signaling, cytokines, inflammation, and neuroprotection.ConclusionsThis analysis gives, for the first time, a comprehensive overview of bibliometric studies on macrophages in SCI over the past 20 years. This study not only gives an extensive picture of the knowledge structure but also indicates trends in the subject. The systematic summarization gives a complete and intuitive understanding of the link between spinal cord damage and macrophages and provides a great reference for future related studies