Transcriptome differences between 20- and 3,000-year-old Platycladus orientalis reveal that ROS are involved in senescence regulation

Background: Platycladus orientalis has an extremely long life span of several thousands of years, attracting great interests in the mechanisms involved in such successful senescence regulation and resistance at physiological and molecular levels. Results: The levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were higher in 3,000-year-old than in 20-year-old P. orientalis, and the activities of GR and GSH demonstrated the same trend. We produced and analyzed massive sequence information from pooled samples of P. orientalis through transcriptome sequencing, which generated 51,664 unigenes with an average length of 475 bp. We then used RNA-seq analysis to obtain a high-resolution age\u2013course profile of gene expression in 20- and 3,000-year-old P. orientalis individuals. Totally, 106 differentially expressed genes were obtained, of which 47 genes were downregulated and 59 upregulated in the old tree. These genes were involved in transcription factors, hormone-related responses, ROS scavengers, senescence-related responses, stress response, and defense and possibly play crucial roles in tackling various stresses in the 3,000-year-old P. orientalis during its life time. The expression patterns of genes related to ROS homeostasis further indicated that the high ability of ROS scavenging could be helpful for the 3,000-year-old P. orientalis to resist senescence. Conclusions: This study provides a foundation for the elucidation of senescence resistance through molecular studies and the discovery of useful genes in P. orientalis

Inversion for Damping Ratio of Flat Blade Based on BP Neural Network

Aero engine is impacted by foreign objects frequently during daily usage, including runway gravel, birds, fuselage components and so on, so the fan and compressor may damage, resulting in serious air crash. Thus, simulating the impact of blades and establishing the numerical analysis model of dynamic response demand immediate attention. In the analysis model, damping coefficient is one of the most important physical parameters of the blade structure and cannot be directly measured. Rayleigh damping is widely applied and can be converted to direct modal damping in ABAQUS. BP neural network is a multi-layer feedforward neural network using back propagation algorithm to adjust the network weights. It can be proved that there exists a three-layer BP network to realize the mapping of arbitrary continuous functions with arbitrary precision. In this study, a novel method for obtaining the damping ratio of the flat blade which applies BP neural network inversion is proposed. In order to demonstrate this method, a simplified experiment was conducted. Firstly, fix a section of aluminum plate and then conduct two set of drop tests on different positions with different impact velocities by a steel ball. At the same time, vibration response was recorded by displacement sensor. Secondly, establish a finite element model using ABAQUS to simulate the drop test. Adopt twenty groups of models with different damping ratio and then obtain their amplitudes and decay time, respectively. Thirdly, train a BP neural network using MATLAB program and then establish the mapping relationship between amplitude, decay time and damping ratio. Fourth, a set of experimental amplitude and decay time is substituted into the previously obtained BP neural network mapping model, and then the real damping ratio is obtained by inference. Finally, the real damping ratio is applied to the flat blade impact simulation of the other set of drop test for validation. The numerical results are consistent with the experimental data, which indicates that the damping ratio obtained by BP neural network inversion is reasonable and reliable

Activity of and Resistance to Moxifloxacin in Staphylococcus aureus

Moxifloxacin has enhanced potency against Staphylococcus aureus, lower propensity to select for resistant mutants, and higher bactericidal activity against highly resistant strains than ciprofloxacin. Despite similar activity against purified S. aureus topoisomerase IV and DNA gyrase, it selects for topoisomerase IV mutants, making topoisomerase IV the preferred target in vivo

PREDICTION OF AIRCRAFT NORMAL OVERLOAD EXTREME VALUE BASED ON PEARSON-Ⅲ DISTRIBUTION

Based on Pearson-Ⅲ distribution（ P-Ⅲ） representing much capacity for fitting extreme value data,research on Nzextreme values were carried on. Calculation method on the deviation coefficients Φp of skew coefficients Cswas deduced and established,which eliminated look-up and interpolation errors. In consideration that there was not uniform quantitative judge standard on optional curving fitting when fitting real data by P-Ⅲ distribution on the curve-fitting method,Using the maximum membership principle judged curving fitting level according to fuzziness of flight data,and membership function was deduced in detail. Finally through calculation and analysis the conclusions were obtained: it’s scientific and rational that Nzextreme value was conformed with P-Ⅲ distribution from the aspects of mean relative error,maximum error and degree of membership between fitted values and real values,and that membership function seen as optimized objective function was more advantageous than curve-fitting method

Characterization of NorR Protein, a Multifunctional Regulator of norA Expression in Staphylococcus aureus

We characterized a Staphylococcus aureus norA gene expression regulator, NorR, initially identified from its binding to the norA promoter. The norR gene was 444 bp in length, located ∼7 kb upstream from the norA gene, and encoded a predicted 17.6-kDa protein. Overexpression of norR in wild-type S. aureus strain ISP794 led to a fourfold decrease in sensitivity to quinolones and ethidium bromide and an increase in the level of norA transcripts, suggesting that NorR acts as a positive regulator of norA expression. Overexpression of norR in sarA and agr mutants did not alter quinolone sensitivity or levels of norA transcription, indicating that the presence of these two global regulatory systems is necessary for NorR to affect the expression of norA. Insertion and disruption of norR in ISP794 increased resistance to quinolones by 4- to 16-fold but had no effect on norA transcription, suggesting that NorR acts as a repressor for another unidentified efflux pump or pumps. These mutants also exhibited an exaggerated clumping phenotype in liquid media, which was complemented fully by a plasmid-encoded norR gene. Collectively, these results indicate that NorR is a multifunctional regulator, affecting cell surface properties as well as the expression of NorA and likely other multidrug resistance efflux pumps

The global prevalence of oral leukoplakia: a systematic review and meta-analysis from 1996 to 2022

Abstract Background Oral leukoplakia(OLK) is a common oral potentially malignant disorder. The global prevalence of solely OLK was published in 2003, while the prevalence varied among different studies. In recent years, large-scale summary and definition-related analyses obtain insufficient attention. This study aimed to perform a systematic review of prevalence studies of oral leukoplakia and assess predisposing factors of its occurrence. Methods The search terms ("Oral leukoplakia" OR OLK OR leukoplakia) AND (prevalence OR incidence OR epidemiology) were searched in databases (Pubmed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science) for OLK studies published from January 1996 until December 2022. The estimated prevalence calculation and risk of bias analysis used STATA 16.0. Results We obtained 69 studies, including 1,263,028 participants, from 28 countries, and 6 continents. The prevalence was 1.39%, varying from 0.12 to 33.33%. The overall pooled estimated prevalence of OLK was 2.23% for population-based studies, 1.36% for clinic-based population studies, and 9.10% for specific populations. The pooled prevalence in different continents ranged from 0.33 to 11.74% with a statistical difference in the population-based calculation. The estimated prevalence of OLK was higher in males than in females. Those who smoked and consumed alcohol had a higher prevalence than those who did not. Conclusion Combining data from 69 published studies, the prevalence of OLK was determined as 1.39% and the pooling estimated global prevalence was 3.41%. The prevalence was relatively consistent and stable across different continents and different definitions. A higher pooled estimated prevalence was found among males, those aged over 60 years old, smokers, and alcohol consumers. The results from the included studies in this systematic review revealed that the prevalence was relatively consistent and stable across various definitions and continents, which may help in developing global treatment and prevention strategies for oral leukoplakia

Assessment of the Urban Expansion and Its Impact on the Eco-Environment—A Case Study of Hefei Municipal Area

With the advancement of urbanization, the ecological environmental changes caused by the continuous expansion of cities have become a major concern. Thus, this study is based on a remote sensing image map of Hefei city from 1984 to 2020, which is now in the process of rapid development. We constructed an index system with ecological land, ecosystem service value, ecological environment quality, urban land expansion coefficient, urban heat island rate index, total pollutant emissions, ecological pressure, and ecological deficit, and then evaluated the ecological environment of Hefei city with the help of the entropy weight comprehensive evaluation method. The results show that (1) in the positive evaluation index, the ecological land area was reduced to half of the original area, the ecological service value was reduced by 0.37 times its initial value, and the eco-environmental index was <35 and still decreasing. (2) In the negative evaluation index, the urban heat island ratio index increased by nearly 10 times its initial value, the total emission of various pollutants increased by 6.64 times its initial value, the ecological deficit increased year by year after 1999, and the ecological pressure in 2020 increased to 3 times that in 1999. (3) The overall environmental score of the Hefei urban area has decreased by 48.6 times its initial value. The values of positive evaluation indexes are decreasing, whereas the values of negative evaluation indexes are increasing, and both these items are moving backward, leading to the decrease in the comprehensive ecological environmental score. It can be noticed that the urban expansion of Hefei has had a severe impact on the ecological environment, resulting in the continuous reduction in the ecological land area, a serious urban heat island effect, and continuous weakening of regional ecological service functions. The study results can be used for reference in alleviating the impacts of urban expansion on the environment, promoting the optimization of the urban landscape and the sustainable development of the social economy and environment