Physiological Modifications Caused by Plum Pox Virus in the Leaves of Peach and Apricot Tree

Symptomatic and asymptomatic leaves of peach (sel. IF7230685) and apricot (cv. Tyrinthos) infected by “plum pox virus” (PPV) were analysed for net photosynthesis, peroxidase activity and chlorophyl content. The presence of the PPV in the leaves excised was verified with the ELISA test. The PPV affected the photosynthetic system more strongly in peach than in apricot. Peroxidase activity (PA) and chlorophyl content were also affected. PA was a good indicator of infection, and also made it possible to distinguish different degrees of infection

Research on quantitative evaluation method of scramjet and integration

The objective of this paper is to develop a method for the advancement quantitative evaluation of scramjet and hypersonic vehicle/scramjet integration. By studying the theory of analytic hierarchy process (AHP), a new method to build the quantitative evaluation system was established. The theory of Nondimensional parameter was also proposed and the results showed that this calculation method is scientific and effective. Both the numerical simulations of the advancement quantitative evaluation of scramjet and hypersonic vehicle/scramjet integration were carried out with a number of calculation examples and the advancements of different projects were obtained, which proved the feasibility and reliability of the evaluation method. This quantitative evaluation method simples the complex problems of scramjet and integration evaluation and lays the foundation for the further research of hypersonic technology

Flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy with a suctioning ureteral access sheath for removing upper urinary calculi under local anesthesia

ObjectivesWe aimed to probe the safety and effectiveness of flexible ureteroscopic lithotripsy (FURL) with a suctioning ureteral access sheath (S-UAS) for removing upper urinary calculi under local anesthesia (LA).Materials and methodsThe clinical data of 56 patients with upper urinary calculi treated by FURL with an S-UAS under LA during the period between September 2019 and November 2022 were analyzed retrospectively. For LA, intramuscular pethidine (1.0–2.0 mg/kg) and phenergan (25 mg) were administered 30 min prior to surgery, and oxybuprocaine hydrochloride gel was administered through the urethra at the start of the surgery. The S-UAS and flexible ureteroscope were used for FURL. Demographic characteristics, stone-related parameters, and clinical outcomes were analyzed.ResultA total of 66 procedures were performed successfully on 46 patients (Group A), who underwent unilateral surgeries, and on 10 patients (Group B) who underwent same-session bilateral surgeries. All 56 patients were operated upon without altering the anesthesia strategy, and none required additional analgesia. The mean stone sizes of the Group A and Group B patients were 20.24 ± 5.45 mm and 29.40 ± 3.89 mm, respectively. The mean operative times of the two groups were 53.04 ± 13.35 min and 90.00 ± 15.81 min, respectively. In Group A, the stone-free rates (SFRs) were 76.1% (35/46) and 85.1% (40/46) at postoperative day 1 and day 30, respectively. In Group B, the SFRs were 80.0% (16/20) and 85.0% (17/20), respectively. Four (8.7%) patients in Group A suffered complications such as fever, stent pain, urosepsis, and steinstrasse. In Group B, one (10%) patient suffered from fever.ConclusionFURL, combined with an S-UAS under LA, is a feasible option and provides satisfactory clinical outcomes for appropriately selected patients

Municipal biowaste treatment plants contribute to the contamination of the environment with residues of biodegradable plastics with putative higher persistence potential

Biodegradable plastics (BDP) are expected to mineralize easily, in particular under conditions of technical composting. However, the complexity of the sample matrix has largely prevented degradation studies under realistic conditions. Here composts and fertilizers from state-of-the-art municipal combined anaerobic/aerobic biowaste treatment plants were investigated for residues of BDP. We found BDP fragments > 1 mm in significant numbers in the final composts intended as fertilizer for agriculture and gardening. Compared to pristine compostable bags, the recovered BDP fragments showed differences in their material properties, which potentially renders them less prone to further biodegradation. BDP fragments < 1 mm were extracted in bulk and came up to 0.43 wt% of compost dry weight. Finally, the liquid fertilizer produced during the anaerobic treatment contained several thousand BDP fragments < 500 µm per liter. Hence, our study questions, if currently available BDP are compatible with applications in areas of environmental relevance, such as fertilizer production

dbDEPC 2.0: updated database of differentially expressed proteins in human cancers

A large amount of differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) have been identified in various cancer proteomics experiments, curation and annotation of these proteins are important in deciphering their roles in oncogenesis and tumor progression, and may further help to discover potential protein biomarkers for clinical applications. In 2009, we published the first database of DEPs in human cancers (dbDEPCs). In this updated version of 2011, dbDEPC 2.0 has more than doubly expanded to over 4000 protein entries, curated from 331 experiments across 20 types of human cancers. This resource allows researchers to search whether their interested proteins have been reported changing in certain cancers, to compare their own proteomic discovery with previous studies, to picture selected protein expression heatmap across multiple cancers and to relate protein expression changes with aberrance in other genetic level. New important developments include addition of experiment design information, advanced filter tools for customer-specified analysis and a network analysis tool. We expect dbDEPC 2.0 to be a much more powerful tool than it was in its first release and can serve as reference to both proteomics and cancer researchers. dbDEPC 2.0 is available at http://lifecenter.sgst.cn/dbdepc/index.do

Mechanism of Taxanes in the Treatment of Lung Cancer Based on Network Pharmacology and Molecular Docking

Taxanes are natural compounds for the treatment of lung cancer, but the molecular mechanism behind the effects is unclear. In the present study, through network pharmacology and molecular docking, the mechanism of the target and pathway of taxanes in the treatment of lung cancer was studied. The taxanes targets were determined by PubChem database, and an effective compounds-targets network was constructed. The GeneCards database was used to determine the disease targets of lung cancer, and the intersection of compound targets and disease targets was obtained. The Protein–Protein Interaction (PPI) network of the intersection targets was analyzed, and the PPI network was constructed by Cytoscape 3.6.0 software. The hub targets were screened according to the degree value, and the binding activity between taxanes and hub targets was verified by molecular docking. The results showed that eight taxane-active compounds and 444 corresponding targets were screened out, and 131 intersection targets were obtained after mapping with lung cancer disease targets. The hub targets obtained by PPI analysis were TP53, EGFR, and AKT1. Gene Ontology (GO) biological function enrichment analysis obtained 1795 biological process (BP) terms, 101 cellular component (CC) terms, and 164 molecular function (MF) terms. There were 179 signaling pathways obtained by Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis. Twenty signaling pathways were screened out, mainly pathways in cancer, proteoglycans in cancer pathway, microRNAs in cancer pathway, and so on. Molecular docking shows that the binding energies of eight taxanes with TP53, EGFR, and AKT1 targets were less than −8.8 kcal/mol, taxanes acts on TP53, EGFR, and AKT1 targets through pathways in cancer, proteoglycans in cancer pathway and microRNAs in cancer pathway, and plays a role in treating lung cancer in biological functions such as protein binding, enzyme binding, and identical protein binding

Over-Expression of an R2R3 MYB Gene, MdMYB108L, Enhances Tolerance to Salt Stress in Transgenic Plants

Plants are affected by various abiotic stresses during their growth and development. In plants, MYB transcription factors are involved in various physiological and biochemical processes, including biotic and abiotic stress responses. In this study, we functionally analyzed MdMYB108L. We examined the transcriptional activity of MdMYB108L under salt stress and determined that the N-terminal domain of MdMYB108L, which was significantly induced under salt stress, has transcriptional activity. MdMYB108L overexpression increased the germination rate, main root length, and the antioxidant activity of catalase and peroxidase in transgenic Arabidopsisthaliana seeds, while reducing reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation. MdMYB108L overexpression also increased the photosynthetic capacity of hairy root tissue (leaves) under salt stress. In addition, the MdMYB108L transcription factor bound to the MdNHX1 promoter positively regulated the transcription of the salt tolerance gene MdNHX1 in apples, improving the salt stress tolerance of transgenic plants. These findings have implications for improving the agricultural yields of apple trees under salt stress

Parameter Optimization of Ultrasonic–Microwave Synergistic Extraction of Taxanes from <i>Taxus cuspidata</i> Needles

Taxanes are the best-known compounds in Taxus cuspidata owing to their strong anticancer effects. However, the traditional taxanes extraction method is the solid–liquid extraction method, which is limited by a large energy consumption and low yield. Therefore, it is urgent to find an efficient method for taxanes extraction. The ultrasonic microwave synergistic extraction (UME) method integrates the cavitation effect of ultrasound and the intensifying heat transfer (ionic conduction and dipole rotation of molecules) effect of microwave to accelerate the release of intracellular compounds and is used in active ingredient extractions. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of UME in extracting taxanes from T. cuspidata needles (dichloromethane-ethanol as extractant). A single-factor experiment, Plackett–Burman design, and the response surface method showed that the optimal UME parameters for taxanes extraction were an ultrasonic power of 300 W, a microwave power of 215 W, and 130 sieve meshes. Under these conditions, the taxanes yield was 570.32 μg/g, which increased by 13.41% and 41.63% compared with the ultrasound (US) and microwave (MW) treatments, respectively. The reasons for the differences in the taxanes yield were revealed by comparing the physicochemical properties of T. cuspidata residues after the UME, US, and MW treatments. The cell structures were significantly damaged after the UME treatment, and numerous tiny holes were observed on the surface. The absorption peaks of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin increased significantly in intensity, and the lowest peak temperature (307.40 °C), with a melting enthalpy of −5.19 J/g, was found after the UME treatment compared with the US and MW treatments. These results demonstrate that UME is an effective method (570.32 μg/g) to extract taxanes from T. cuspidata needles by destroying cellular structures