PtrWOX13A Promotes Wood Formation and Bioactive Gibberellins Biosynthesis in Populus trichocarpa

WUSCHEL-related homeobox (WOX) genes are plant-specific transcription factors (TFs) involved in multiple processes of plant development. However, there have hitherto no studies on the WOX TFs involved in secondary cell wall (SCW) formation been reported. In this study, we identified a Populus trichocarpa WOX gene, PtrWOX13A, which was predominantly expressed in SCW, and then characterized its functions through generating PtrWOX13A overexpression poplar transgenic lines; these lines exhibited not only significantly enhanced growth potential, but also remarkably increased SCW thicknesses, fiber lengths, and lignin and hemicellulose contents. However, no obvious change in cellulose content was observed. We revealed that PtrWOX13A directly activated its target genes through binding to two cis-elements, ATTGATTG and TTAATSS, in their promoter regions. The fact that PtrWOX13A responded to the exogenous GAs implies that it is responsive to GA homeostasis caused by GA inactivation and activation genes (e.g., PtrGA20ox4, PtrGA2ox1, and PtrGA3ox1), which were regulated by PtrWOX13A directly or indirectly. Since the master switch gene of SCW formation, PtrWND6A, and lignin biosynthesis regulator, MYB28, significantly increased in PtrWOX13A transgenic lines, we proposed that PtrWOX13A, as a higher hierarchy TF, participated in SCW formation through controlling the genes that are components of the known hierarchical transcription regulation network of poplar SCW formation, and simultaneously triggering a gibberellin-mediated signaling cascade. The discovery of PtrWOX13A predominantly expressed in SCW and its regulatory functions in the poplar wood formation has important implications for improving the wood quality of trees via genetic engineering

Sparsity Promoting Regularization for Effective Noise Suppression in SPECT Image Reconstruction

The purpose of this research is to develop an advanced reconstruction method for low-count, hence high-noise, Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) image reconstruction. It consists of a novel reconstruction model to suppress noise while conducting reconstruction and an efficient algorithm to solve the model. A novel regularizer is introduced as the nonconvex denoising term based on the approximate sparsity of the image under a geometric tight frame transform domain. The deblurring term is based on the negative log-likelihood of the SPECT data model. To solve the resulting nonconvex optimization problem a Preconditioned Fixed-point Proximity Algorithm (PFPA) is introduced. We prove that under appropriate assumptions, PFPA converges to a local solution of the optimization problem at a global O (1/k) convergence rate. Substantial numerical results for simulation data are presented to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method in denoising, suppressing artifacts and reconstruction accuracy. We simulate noisy 2D SPECT data from two phantoms: hot Gaussian spheres on random lumpy warm background, and the anthropomorphic brain phantom, at high- and low-noise levels (64k and 90k counts, respectively), and reconstruct them using PFPA. We also perform limited comparative studies with selected competing state-of-the-art total variation (TV) and higher-order TV (HOTV) transform-based methods, and widely used post-filtered maximum-likelihood expectation-maximization. We investigate imaging performance of these methods using: Contrast-to-Noise Ratio (CNR), Ensemble Variance Images (EVI), Background Ensemble Noise (BEN), Normalized Mean-Square Error (NMSE), and Channelized Hotelling Observer (CHO) detectability. Each of the competing methods is independently optimized for each metric. We establish that the proposed method outperforms the other approaches in all image quality metrics except NMSE where it is matched by HOTV. The superiority of the proposed method is especially evident in the CHO detectability tests results. We also perform qualitative image evaluation for presence and severity of image artifacts where it also performs better in terms of suppressing staircase artifacts, as compared to TV methods. However, edge artifacts on high-contrast regions persist. We conclude that the proposed method may offer a powerful tool for detection tasks in high-noise SPECT imaging

How is it effective for farmers to adopt environmentally friendly cultivated land protection technology: a configurational perspective

The adoption of environmentally friendly farmland conservation techniques by farmers is an important way to effectively curb agricultural surface pollution and promote the conservation of farmland quality. Based on 425 farmers’ in-depth interview data, a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method was used to construct a psychological cognition (farmers’ awareness and willingness to participate)—external context (organizational linkages and government regulation)—behavioral effect model to reveal the conditional configuration and multivariate paths of psychological cognition and external contextual factors influencing farmers’ behavioral effects on the adoption of environmentally friendly farmland conservation technologies. The results show that individual behavioral decision factors do not influence the behavioral effects of farmers. The results show that individual behavioral decision factors are not necessary to drive the effective adoption of environmentally friendly farmland conservation technologies and that multiple decision factors interact to form three sets of configurations that enhance the behavioral effectiveness of farmers, summarized as the willingness-to-participate dominant model, the internal and external constraints dominant model, and the external context dominant model

Health promoting properties and sensory characteristics of phytochemicals in berries and leaves of sea buckthorn (Hippophaë rhamnoides)

Sea buckthorn (Hippophaë rhamnoides L., SB), as a multi-functional plant, is widely grown in Asia, Europe and Canada. The berries and leaves of SB contain a diverse array of health-supporting phytochemicals, which are also related to the sensory qualities of berry and berry products. This review summarizes the biologically active key-compounds of the berries and leaves of SB, their health-promoting effects, as well as the contributions to the sensory quality of the berries. The target compounds consist of sugars, sugar derivatives, organic acids, phenolic compounds and lipophilic compounds (mainly carotenoids and tocopherols), which play an important role in anti-inflammatory and antioxidant functions, as well as in metabolic health. In addition, these compounds contribute to the orosensory qualities of SB berries, which are closely related to consumer acceptance and preference of the products. Studies regarding the bioavailability of the compounds and the influence of the processing conditions are also part of this review. Finally, the role of the sensory properties is emphasized in the development of SB products to increase utilization of the berry as a common meal component and to obtain value-added products to support human health.</p

Hydrocarbon origin and reservoir forming model research of Longwangmiao Formation, Moxi-Gaoshiti area, Sichuan Basin

AbstractThis paper focuses on the Longwangmiao gas reservoir in Moxi-Gaoshiti area, Sichuan Basin. Starting from the tectonic evolution perspective, though comparing biological marker compound and analyzing fluid inclusions, the oil & gas origin and accumulation evolution of Longwangmiao Formation are systematic studied with reference to the burial-thermal evolution of single well geological history in the study area. It is suggested that the oil & gas reservoir is generally characterized by early accumulation, multi-stage filling, late cracking and later adjustment. The oil and gas were mainly sourced from lower Cambrian Qiongzhusi Formation, partly from the Permian source rock. During the geological period, 3 major oil & gas fillings occurred in the Longwangmiao Formation, namely Caledonian-Hercynian filling that was small in scale and produced the first phase of paleo-oil reservoir that soon destroyed by Caledonian movement uplift, large-scale Permian filling that gave rise to the second-phase of paleo-oil reservoir and the Triassic-Jurassic filling that enriched the second phase of paleo-oil reservoir. Finally, the paleo-oil reservoir experienced an in-situ cracking during the cretaceous period that gave rise to a natural gas reservoir and left behind carbonaceous bitumen and oily bitumen in the holes of the Longwangmiao Formation

Downregulation of Organic Anion Transporting Polypeptide (OATP) 1B1 Transport Function by Lysosomotropic Drug Chloroquine: Implication in OATP-Mediated Drug-Drug Interactions

Organic anion transporting polypeptide (OATP) 1B1 mediates the hepatic uptake of many drugs including lipid-lowering statins. Decreased OATP1B1 transport activity is often associated with increased systemic exposure of statins and statin-induced myopathy. Antimalarial drug chloroquine (CQ) is also used for long-term treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. CQ is lysosomotropic and inhibits protein degradation in lysosomes. The current studies were designed to determine the effects of CQ on OATP1B1 protein degradation, OATP1B1-mediated transport in OATP1B1-overexpressing cell line, and statin uptake in human sandwich-cultured hepatocytes (SCH). Treatment with lysosome inhibitor CQ increased OATP1B1 total protein levels in HEK293-OATP1B1 cells and in human SCH as determined by OATP1B1 immunoblot. In HEK293-FLAG-tagged OATP1B1 stable cell line, co-immunofluorescence staining indicated that intracellular FLAG-OATP1B1 is colocalized with lysosomal associated membrane glycoprotein (LAMP)-2, a marker protein of late endosome/lysosome. Enlarged LAMP-2-positive vacuoles with FLAG-OATP1B1 protein retained inside were readily detected in CQ-treated cells, consistent with blocking lysosomal degradation of OATP1B1 by CQ. In HEK293-OATP1B1 cells, without pre-incubation, CQ concentrations up to 100 μM did not affect OATP1B1-mediated [3H]E217G accumulation. However, pre-incubation with CQ at clinically relevant concentration(s) significantly decreased [3H]E217G and [3H]pitavastatin accumulation in HEK293-OATP1B1 cells and [3H]pitavastatin accumulation in human SCH. CQ pretreatment (25 μM, 2 h) resulted in ∼1.9-fold decrease in Vmax without affecting Km of OATP1B1-mediated [3H]E217G transport in HEK293-OATP1B1 cells. Pretreatment with monensin and bafilomycin A1, which also have lysosome inhibition activity, significantly decreased OATP1B1-mediated transport in HEK293-OATP1B1 cells. Pharmacoepidemiologic studies using data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System indicated that CQ plus pitavastatin, rosuvastatin, and pravastatin, which are minimally metabolized by the cytochrome P450 enzymes, led to higher myopathy risk than these statins alone. In summary, the present studies report novel findings that lysosome is involved in degradation of OATP1B1 protein and that pre-incubation with lysosomotropic drug CQ downregulates OATP1B1 transport activity. Our in vitro data in combination with pharmacoepidemiologic studies support that CQ has potential to cause OATP-mediated drug–drug interactions

Detection of circulating IgG antibodies to apolipoprotein B100 in acute myocardial infarction

AbstractA number of studies have reported an association between increased levels of antibodies against oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) and cardiovascular disease, but the anti-oxLDL antibody has not been confirmed to serve as an effective biomarker for prediction of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Apolipoprotein B100 (ApoB100)-derived peptide fragments generated by proteolytic degradation and aldehyde modification are the major antigens in oxLDL, and so the present work was undertaken to detect circulating IgG for Apo-B100-derived peptide antigens. An in-house enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed with eight ApoB100-derived peptide antigens (Ag1–Ag8) to detect circulating anti-ApoB100 IgG levels in 267 patients with AMI and 201 control subjects. Binary logistic regression analysis revealed that circulating IgG for Ag1 was significantly higher in the patient group than the control group (P<0.001) after adjustment for age, gender, smoking, hypertension, diabetes and circulating levels of cholesterol, HDL, LDL, ApoA and ApoB100. None of the other seven antigens detected an increase in IgG levels in AMI patients compared with control subjects. Spearman correlation analysis showed no correlation between IgG antibody for Ag1 and clinical characteristics. In conclusion, the linear peptide antigens derived from ApoB100 may be suitable for the development of an ELISA antibody test for prediction of AMI, although further confirmation is still needed in large-scale clinical studies