Pantoea stewartii subsp. indologenes (Psi) is a causative agent of leafspot of foxtail millet and pearl millet; however, novel strains were recently identified that are pathogenic on onion. Our recent host range evaluation study identified two pathovars; P. stewartii subsp. indologenes pv. cepacicola pv. nov. and P. stewartii subsp. indologenes pv. setariae pv. nov. that are pathogenic on onion and millets or on millets only, respectively. In the current study we developed a pan-genome using the whole genome sequencing of newly identified/classified Psi strains from both pathovars [pv. cepacicola (n= 4) and pv. setariae (n=13)]. The full spectrum of the pan-genome contained 7,030 genes. Among these, 3,546 (present in genomes of all 17 strains) were the core genes that were a subset of 3,682 soft-core genes (present in ≥16 strains). The accessory genome included 1,308 shell genes and 2,040 cloud genes (present in ≤ 2 strains). The pan-genome showed a clear liner progression with >6,000 genes, suggesting the pan-genome of Psi is open. Comparative phylogenetic analysis showed differences in phylogenetic clustering of Pantoea spp. using PAVs/wgMLST approach in comparison to core genome SNP-based phylogeny. Further, we conducted a horizontal gene transfer (HGT) study including four other Pantoea species namely, P. stewartii subsp. stewartii LMG 2715T, P. ananatis LMG 2665T, P. agglomerans LMG L15, and P. allii LMG 24248T. A total of 317 HGT events among four Pantoea species were identified with most gene transfers observed between Psi pv. cepacicola and Psi pv. setariae. Pan-GWAS analysis predicted a total of 154 genes including seven cluster of genes associated with the pathogenicity phenotype on onion. One of the clusters contain 11 genes with known functions and are found to be chromosomally located.

Obesity has increasingly become a worldwide epidemic, as demonstrated by epidemiological and clinical studies. Obesity may lead to development of a broad spectrum of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), such as coronary heart disease (CHD), hypertension, heart failure (HF), cerebrovascular disease, atrial fibrillation (AF), ventricular arrhythmias, and sudden cardiac death (SCD). In addition to hypertension, there are other cardiometabolic risk factors (CRFs) such as visceral adiposity, dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, diabetes, elevated levels of fibrinogen, and C-reactive protein and others, all of which increase the risk of CVD events. Mechanisms involved between obesity and CVD mainly include insulin resistance, oxidative stress, inflammation, and adipokines dysregulation, which cause maladaptive structural and functional alterations of the heart, particularly left ventricular (LV) remodeling and diastolic dysfunction. Natural products of plants, provide a diversity of nutrients and different bioactive compounds, including phenolics, flavonoids, terpenoids, carotenoids, anthocyanins, vitamins, minerals, fibers, and others, which possess a wide range of biological activities including antihypertensive, antilipidemic, antidiabetic, and other activities, thus conferring cardiometabolic benefits. In this review, we discussed the main therapeutic interventions using extracts from herbs and plants in preclinical and clinical trials with protective properties targeting CRFs. Molecular mechanisms and therapeutic targets of herbs and plants extracts for the prevention and treatment of CRFs are also reviewed.

Adeno-associated viruses (AAV) are widely used as viral vectors for gene delivery in mammalian cells. We focused on the efficacy of transduction of AAV 2/5, 2/6, 2/8 and 2/9 expressing GFP in 3T3-L1 murine preadipocyte cells by live imaging microscopy using IncuCyte S3 and flow cytom-etry. Three transduction modes were assessed: AAV transduction in 3T3-L1 preadipocyte cells with or without further differentiation into mature adipocyte-like cells and injection of AAVs in differ-entiated adipocyte-like cells. AAV2/6 demonstrated the highest transduction efficiency in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes, as it was 1.5–2-fold more effective than AAV2/5, and AAV2/8 in the range of viral concentrations from 2×104 to 1,6×105 VG/cell. AAV2/5 and AAV2/8 showed transduction effi-ciencies similar to each other. The expression of GFP under the CMV promoter remained stable for up to 20 days. The induction of 3T3-L1 differentiation in three days after AAV transduction did not alter the GFP expression level, and AAV2/6 showed the best transduction efficiency. AAV2/6 demonstrated the ability to transduce mature adipocytes. These results were confirmed by in vivo studies on C57BL6 mice AAV2/6 had the highest transducing activity on both inguinal and inter-scapular adipose tissue. Thus, AAV2/6 has demonstrated higher transduction efficacy compared to AAV2/5, AAV2/8 and AAV2/9 both in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and adipose tissue in vivo, which proves its usability along with AAV8 and AAV9 for gene delivery to adipocytes.

Modular nanotransporters (MNTs) are drug delivery systems for targeted cancer treatment. Being composed of several modules, they offer the advantage of high specificity and biocompatibility in delivering drugs to the target compartment of cancer cells. The large carrier module brings together functioning MNT modules and serves as a platform for drug attachment. The development of smaller-sized MNTs via truncation of the carrier module looks advantageous in facilitating tissue penetration. In this study, two new MNTs with a truncated carrier module containing either an N-terminal (MNTN) or a C-terminal (MNTC) part were developed by genetic engineering. Both new MNTs demonstrated high affinity for target receptors, as revealed by fluorescently labeled ligand-competitive binding. The liposome leakage assay proved the endosomolytic activity of MNTs. Binding to the importin heterodimer of each truncated MNT was revealed by a thermophoresis assay, while only MNTN possessed binding to Keap1. Finally, the photodynamic efficacy of the photosensitizer attached to MNTN was significantly higher than when attached to either MNTC or the original MNT. Thus, this work reveals that MNT’s carrier module can be truncated without losing MNT functionality, favoring the N-terminal part of the carrier module due to its ability to bind Keap1.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development is associated with altered modifications in DNA methylation, changing transcriptional regulation. Emerging evidence indicates that DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) plays a key role in carcinogenesis process. This study aimed to investigate how pirfenidone (PFD) modifies this pathway and the effect generated by the association between c-Myc expression and DNMT1 activation. Rats F344 were used for HCC development using 50 mg/kg of diethylnitrosamine (DEN) and 25 mg/kg of 2-aminofluorene (2-AAF). HCC/PFD group received simultaneous doses of 300 mg/kg of PFD. All treatments lasted 12 weeks. On the other hand, HepG2 cells were used to evaluate the effects of PFD in restoring DNA methylation in the presence of the inhibitor 5-Aza. Histopathological, biochemical, immunohistochemical, and western blot analysis were carried out and our findings showed that PFD treatment reduced the amount and size of tumors along with decreased Glipican-3, β-catenin, and c-Myc expression in nuclear fractions. Also, this treatment improved lipid metabolism by modulating PPARγ and SREBP1 signaling. Interestingly, PFD augmented DNMT1 and DNMT3a protein expression, which restores global methylation, both in our in vivo and in vitro models. In conclusion, our results suggest that PFD could slow down HCC development by controlling DNA methylation.

Rice, a globally important food crop, faces significant challenges due to salt and drought stress. These abiotic stresses severely impact rice growth and yield, manifesting as reduced plant height, decreased tillering, reduced biomass, and poor leaf development. Recent advances in molecular biology and genomics have uncovered key physiological and molecular mechanisms that rice employs to cope with these stresses, including osmotic regulation, ion balance, antioxidant re-sponses, signal transduction, and gene expression regulation. Transcription factors such as DREB, NAC, and bZIP, as well as plant hormones like ABA and GA, have been identified as crucial reg-ulators. Utilizing CRISPR/Cas9 technology for gene editing holds promise for significantly en-hancing rice stress tolerance. Future research should integrate multi-omics approaches and smart agriculture technologies to develop rice varieties with enhanced stress resistance, ensuring food security and sustainable agriculture in the face of global environmental changes.

Efficient gene transfer and expression tool is lacking for shrimps and shrimp cells. To solve this, this study has developed a shrimp DNA virus-mediated gene transfer and expression system, consisting of insect Sf9 cells for viral packaging, shrimp viral vector of pUC19-IHHNV-PH-GUS and baculoviral vector of Bacmid or Bacmid-VP28 encoding shrimp WSSV envelope protein VP28. The pUC19-IHHNV-PH-GUS vector was constructed by assembling the genomic DNA of shrimp infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV), which had shortened inverted terminal repeats, into pUC19 backbone, and then an expression cassette of baculoviral polyhedron (PH) promoter-driven GUS reporter gene was inserted immediately downstream of IHHNV for proof-of-concept. It was found that the viral vector of pUC19-IHHNV-PH-GUS could be successfully packaged into IHHNV-like infective virions in the Sf9 cells, and gene transfer efficiency of this system had been evaluated and verified in three systems of Sf9 cells, shrimp hemolymph cells and tissues of infected shrimps, but GUS expression could be detected only in the cases when the viral vector was co-transfected or co-infected with a baculovirus of Bacmid or Bacmid-VP28 due to the Bacmid-dependence of PH promoter. Moreover, the packaging and infection efficiencies could be significantly improved when Bacmid-VP28 was used instead of Bacmid.

Trauma in childhood and adolescence has long-term negative consequences in brain development and behavior and increases the risk for psychiatric disorders. Among them, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during adolescence illustrates the connection between trauma and substance misuse, as adolescents may utilize substances to cope with PTSD. Drug misuse may in turn lead to neuroadaptations in learning processes that facilitate the consolidation of traumatic memories that perpetuate PTSD. This reflects, apart from common genetic and epigenetic modifications, overlapping neurocircuitry engagement triggered by stress and drug misuse that includes structural and functional changes in limbic brain regions and the salience, default-mode, and frontoparietal networks. Effective strategies to prevent PTSD are needed to limit the negative consequences associated with the later development of a substance use disorder (SUD). In this review, we will examine the link between PTSD and SUDs, along with the resulting effects on memory, focusing on the connection between the development of a SUD in individuals who struggled with PTSD in adolescence. Neuroimaging has emerged as a powerful tool to provide insight into the brain mechanisms underlying the connection of PTSD in adolescence and the development of SUDs.

This work explores state-of-the-art approaches for stabilizing an inverted pendulum on a cart system, which has been used for over a century to demonstrate ideas in nonlinear and linear control theory, owing to its simple practical implementation yet complex system dynamics. We introduce energy-based control methods and propose a simple linear controller to quickly force the system to the downward equilibrium before swing-up. By constraining the system to start from a stable equilibrium configuration, the problem of global stability is reduced to ensuring that the system can follow all heteroclinic orbits that start very close to the downward equilibrium. Multiple Lyapunov functions are employed to ensure non-zero tracking, increasing the system's domain of attraction than is achieved by traditional controllers based on a single Lyapunov function. We stabilize our inverted pendulum system in the upright configuration through pole placement using a linear quadratic regulator known for fast settling times and smooth system response and through sliding mode controllers known for their robustness to disturbances and model uncertainties. While sliding mode controllers exhibit faster stabilization of the pendulum angle, they fail to stabilize the cart position in a reasonable amount of time. The paper concludes by suggesting various controller techniques that can enhance the swing-up and stabilization controller architectures, leaving room for future exploration. To facilitate further research and education, an open-source MATLAB simulation code is provided, encapsulating the system dynamics and controller designs. This resource offers flexibility for customization, making it a valuable tool for both researchers and educators working with inverted pendulum systems.

Modified mRNAs (modRNAs) are an emerging delivery method for gene therapy. In particular, the modRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines have proven that modRNA is a safe and effective therapeutic tool. Moreover, modRNA has the potential to treat various human diseases including cardiac dysfunction. Acute myocardial infarction (MI) is a major cardiac disorder that currently lacks curative treatment options. MI is commonly accompanied by fibrosis and impaired cardiac function. Our group previously demonstrated that the matricellular protein CCN5 inhibits cardiac fibrosis (CF) and improves cardiac dysfunction. However, it remains elusive whether the early intervention of CF under stress conditions is beneficial or more detrimental due to potential adverse effects such as left ventricular (LV) rupture. To obtain acute CCN5 expression, we used modRNA-mediated gene transfer in a mouse MI model. To evaluate CCN5 activity, we established two independent experimental schemes: 1) preventive intervention and 2) therapeutic intervention. Cardiac function and structural changes were measured by echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging. Finally, fibrosis and the underlying molecular pathway were analyzed by western blotting, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and immunohistochemistry. The modRNA-CCN5 gene transfer successfully ameliorated CF and enhanced cardiac function in both preventive and therapeutic interventions without LV rupture or any adverse cardiac remodeling. Conclusively, early intervention in CF by modRNA-CCN5 gene transfer is an efficient and safe therapeutic modality for treating MI-induced heart failure without adverse structural remodeling.

This paper introduces a new adaptation of the enthalpic lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) tailored to simulate the intricate dynamics of conjugate heat transfer in non-homogeneous media, showcasing considerable potential for enhancing heat exchanger designs. This approach expands upon the conventional enthalpic LBM framework by seamlessly incorporating tailored source terms, enabling precise representation of local and transient variations in the medium’s thermophysical properties. The resulting LBM model comprehensively captures the energy conservation equation, with exceptions made only for flow compressibility and viscous dissipation, thereby significantly augmenting its versatility in analyzing heat exchanger configurations. Verification tests, comprising assessments of both transient and steady-state solutions, unequivocally validate the accuracy of the proposed model, further bolstering its reliability for analyzing heat exchange processes within intricate heat exchanger geometries. To demonstrate its efficacy, simulations of conjugate heat transfer processes involving fluid natural convection within structured cavities were performed, imposing both Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions to emulate scenarios encountered in practical heat exchanger operations. The findings yield compelling insights, particularly in the transient regime, revealing the beneficial impact of structured cavities on enhancing heat transfer processes. These insights inform potential design optimizations for heat exchangers. The results emphasize the potential of the modified enthalpic LBM approach to elucidate complex heat transfer phenomena in non-homogeneous media and structured geometries, offering valuable implications for heat exchanger engineering and optimization.

Shewanella spp. are gram-negative bacteria that thrive in aquatic niches and also cause infectious diseases as opportunistic pathogens. Chromosomal integrons (CI) and mobile integrons (MI) were previously described in some Shewanella isolates. Here, we evaluated the occurrence of integrase genes, the integron systems and their genetic surroundings in the genus. We identified 22 integrase gene types, 17 of which were newly described, in different Shewanella species, evidencing multiple gain and loss events. Phylogenetic analysis showed that most of them were strain-specific, except for Shewanella algae, which seem to have co-evolve within the host as typical CIs. Noteworthy, co-existence of up to 5 different integrase genes, as well as their wide dissemination to Alteromonadales, Vibronales, Chromatiales, Oceanospirillales and Enterobacterales was observed. Identification of novel MIs suggests that lateral genetic transfer may have occurred resembling the behavior of class 1 integrons. The constant emergence of determinants associated to antimicrobial resistance worldwide, concomitantly with novel MIs in strains capable to harbor several types of integrons may be an alarming threat for the recruitment of novel antimicrobial resistance gene cassettes in the genus Shewanella, and its evolution towards the multidrug resistance.

Inteins, often referred to as protein introns, are highly mobile genetic elements that invade conserved genes throughout the tree of life. Inteins have been found to invade a wide variety of key genes within actinophages. While in the process of conducting a survey of these inteins in actinophages we discovered that one protein family of methylases contained a putative intein, and two other unique insertion elements. These methylases are known to occur commonly in phages as orphan methylases (possibly as a form of resistance to restriction-modification systems). We found that the methylase family is not conserved within phage clusters and has a disparate distribution across divergent phage groups. We determined that two of the three insertion elements have a patchy distribution within the methylase protein family. We also found that the third insertion element is likely a second homing endonuclease, and that all three elements (the intein, the homing endonuclease, and what we refer to as the ShiLan domain) all have different insertion sites that are conserved in the methylase gene family. Furthermore, we find strong evidence that both the intein and ShiLan domain are partaking in long distance horizontal gene transfer events between divergent methylases in disparate phage hosts within the already dispersed methylase distribution. The reticulate evolutionary history of methylases and their insertion elements reveals high rates of gene transfer and within-gene recombination in actinophages.

Genes coding for enzymes of the denitrification pathway appear randomly distributed among isolates of the ancestral genus Thermus, but only in few strains of the species T. thermophilus the pathway has been studied to a certain detail. Here, we review the enzymes involved in this pathway present in T. thermophilus NAR1, a strain extensively employed as a model for nitrate respiration, on the light of its full sequence recently assembled through a combination of PacBio and Illumina technologies in order to counteract the systematic errors introduced by the former technique. The genome of this strain is divided in four replicons, a chromosome of 2,021,843 pb, two megaplasmids of 370,865 and 77,135 bp and a small plasmid of 9,799 pb. Nitrate respiration is encoded in the largest megaplasmid, pTTHNP4, within a region that includes operons for O2 and nitrate sensory systems, a nitrate reductase, nitrate and nitrite transporters and a nitrate specific NADH dehydrogenase, in addition to multiple insertion sequences (IS), suggesting its mobility-prone nature. Despite nitrite is the final product of nitrate respiration in this strain, the megaplasmid encodes two putative nitrite reductases of the cd1 and Cu-containing types, apparently inactivated by IS. No nitric oxide reductase genes have been found within this region, although the NorR sensory gene, needed for its expression, is found near the inactive nitrite respiration system. These data clearly support that partial denitrification in this strain is the consequence of recent deletions and IS insertions in genes involved in nitrite respiration. Based on these data, the capability of this strain to transfer or acquire denitrification clusters by horizontal gene transfer is discussed.

Due to global climate change, cold temperatures have significantly impacted rice production, resulting in reduced yield and quality. In this study, we investigated two traits related to cold tolerance (CT) of 1992 diverse rice accessions at the seedling stage. Geng accessions exhibited higher levels of CT compared to xian accessions, with the GJ-tmp subgroup displaying the strongest CT. However, extreme CT accessions were also identified within the xian subspecies. Through GWAS analysis based on survival rate (SR) and leaf score of cold tolerance (SCT), a total of 30 QTLs associated with CT at the seedling stage were identified, among which four QTLs (qSR3.1a, qSR4.1a, qSR11.1x and qSR12.1a) were found to be important. Furthermore, five candidate genes (LOC_Os03g44760, LOC_Os04g06900, LOC_Os04g07260, LOC_Os11g40610 and LOC_Os12g10710) along with their favorable haplotypes were identified through gene function annotation and haplotype analysis. Pyramiding multiple favorable haplotypes resulted in a significant improvement in CT performance. Subsequently, three selected accessions (CX534, B236, and IRIS_313-8565), carrying different superior alleles for CT, were selected and recommended for molecular breeding for CT using marker-assisted selection (MAS). The findings from this study provide valuable resources for enhancing rice's ability for CT while laying a foundation for future cloning of novel genes involved in conferring CT.

As the demand of heating and air conditioning is increasing day by day due to getting a comfortable life, for that reason, the market for heat pump and air conditioning systems or both, is seeing a steady increase in low global warming potential. All researchers on heat pump and air conditioning systems are searching for environmentally friendly refrigerants. However, a significant number of contemporary refrigerants (HCFCs) have the potential to cause global warming and ozone depletion, such as those found in heat pump air conditioning systems. Using more environmentally friendly refrigerants, including hydrocarbon and blend refrigerant mixtures, is one way to lower GWP and Ozone depletion potential. This study examines the performance of several alternative refrigerants, including R32, R134A, R410A, R22, and R290. In order to examine the performance of R290, theoretical and simulation results are compared on various refrigerants while taking into account a number of performance parameters, including the refrigerant energy efficiency ratio, mass flow rate, coefficient of performance, cooling capacity, and compressor work for one ton of refrigeration (1TR) air conditioners. One player with a very low GWP is R290. However, the only drawback is that it can catch fire and is hazardous to use in split-type commercial heat pump air conditioning applications. The environmental and thermo physical properties of HC-290 are significantly better than those of other materials, according to theoretical and simulation studies utilizing Cool Pack software, hence it is a viable replacement.

Background: Chronic lateral epicondylitis challenges the therapeutical approach; underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood; neuropathic pain and central and peripheral sensitization may explain the fact that botulinum toxin was found to play a role in pain and function management. Methods: We searched the literature for MeSH terms: lateral epicondylitis or synonyms and botulinum toxin. Results: We found 14 papers containing trials on botulinum toxin injection into the tendon or into the extensor muscles (particularly extensor carpi radialis brevis and extensor communis digitorum). We followed the administration pathways, doses, timing and side effects. Conclusion: With chronic course, the focus of the therapy shifts from the afflicted tendon to the inserting muscles, as muscle contracture may create a vicious loop to perpetuate and aggravate the disease. Doses, timing and side effects are discussed.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) tegument protein pp150 is essential for the completion of final steps in virion maturation. Earlier studies indicated that three pp150nt (N terminal one-third of pp150) conformers cluster on each triplex (Tri1, Tri2A and Tri2B) and extend towards small capsid proteins atop nearby major capsid proteins forming a net-like layer of tegument densities that enmesh and stabilize HCMV capsids. Based on this atomic detail, we designed several peptides targeting pp150nt. Our data show significant reduction in virus growth upon treatment with one of these peptides (pep-CR2) with an IC50 of 1.33 μM. Based on 3D modeling, pep-CR2 specifically interferes with the pp150-capsid binding interface. Cells pre-treated with pep-CR2 and infected with HCMV sequester pp150 in the nucleus indicating a mechanistic disruption of pp150 loading onto capsids and subsequent nuclear egress. To enhance the in-vivo inhibitory potential and bioavailability of pep-CR2, we conjugated it with a carrier molecule (elastin like polypeptide (ELP)). The ELP-pep-CR2 conjugate was expressed in E.coli and purified. Upon treatment with ELP-pep-CR2, HCMV showed significant titer reductions with no significant impact on cell viability. These results indicate that CR2 of pp150 is amenable to targeting by a peptide inhibitor and can be developed into an effective antiviral.

Background:Caregiving for individuals with neurological disease involves providing physical, emotional, and social support, which can be a challenging and stressful experience. This study aims to compare the caregivers' burden, including the impact on mental and physical health, social support, and quality of life, in different neurodegenerative disorders. Methods:Fifty-five primary caregivers (F=41;mean age=53.07±12.29) of patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD=26), Multiple System Atrophy (MSA=16), and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS=13), took part in the study. Standardized screening scales for the quality of life (EQ-5D/EQ-VAS and PQoL), levels of the caregiving burden (CBI and FSQ), and the assessment of the anxiety-depressive axis (HADS) were administered. Results: The mean CBI score was higher for caregivers of MSA patients (28.81±21.90) and ALS (25.15±16.23) than for caregivers of PD patients (16.08±10.34; p=0.036). Critical burden (cut-off>36) was present in the caregivers of MSA (31.3%), ALS (23.1%), and PD (19.2%) patients. Caregivers of patients with ALS had a worse perception of quality of life (EQ-5D total score) than caregivers of patients with MSA and PD (p

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a large double stranded DNA arbovirus that is highly contagious and seriously endangers the lives of domestic and wild pigs. In the past decade, African swine fever (ASF) has spread in many countries in the Caucasus, Russian Federation, Eastern Europe and Asia, causing significant losses to the pig industry. At present, there is a lack of effective vaccine and treatment for ASF. Therefore, the rapid and accurate detection is crucial for ASF prevention and control. In this study, we have developed a portable lateral flow strip (LFS) detection method mediated by recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) and DNA enzyme (LwCas13a), which is performed at 37 ℃ and visualized by eyes without the need for complex instruments. This RPA-LwCas13a-LFS is based on the ASFV structural protein p17 gene (D117L), with a detection sensitivity up to 2 gene copies. This method is highly specific and has no cross reactivity to 7 other pig viruses. In the detection of 33 clinical samples, the p17 (D117L) RPA-LwCas13a-LFS had 100% coincidence with conventional quantitative PCR (qPCR). These findings demonstrate the potential of this simple, rapid, sensitive, and specific ASFV detection method for on-site ASFV detection.

While adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors are successfully used in a variety of in vivo gene therapy applications, they continue to be hampered by the immune system. Here, we sought to identify innate and cytokine signaling pathways that promote CD8+ T cell responses against the transgene product upon vector administration to murine skeletal muscle. Eliminating just one of several pathways (including DNA sensing via TLR9, IL-1 receptor signaling, and possibly endosomal sensing of double-stranded RNA) substantially reduced the CD8+ T cell response at lower vector doses but was surprisingly ineffective at higher doses. Using genetic, antibody-mediated, and vector engineering approaches, we show that blockade of at least two innate pathways is required to achieve an effect at higher vector doses. Concurrent blockade of IL-1R1>MyD88 and TLR9>MyD88>IFN I>IFNaR pathways was often but not always synergistic and had limited utility in preventing antibody formation against the transgene product. We further provide evidence that CpG depletion of vector genomes and inclusion of TLR9 inhibitory sequences can have a synergistic effect. However, even low-frequency CD8+ T cell responses could eliminate transgene expression. Thus, innate immune avoidance/blockade strategies, albeit helpful, may not be sufficient to prevent destructive cellular responses in muscle gene transfer because of redundancy of immune activating pathways.

MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs, which contribute to the regulation of many physiolog-ical and pathological processes. Conventionally, miRNAs perform their activity in the cyto-plasm, where they regulate gene expression by interacting in a sequence-specific manner with mature messenger RNAs. Recent studies point to the presence of mature miRNAs in the nucleus. This review summarizes current findings regarding the molecular activities of nuclear miRNAs. These molecules can regulate gene expression at the transcriptional level by directly binding DNA on the promoter or the enhancer of regulated genes. MiRNAs recruit to these regions dif-ferent protein complexes, resulting both in activation or repression of transcription, through a number of molecular mechanisms. Haematopoiesis is presented as a paradigmatic biological process whereby nuclear miRNAs possess a relevant regulatory role. Nuclear miRNAs may af-fect gene expression also acting on nuclear mRNA processing and on the biogenesis of miRNA themselves by regulating pri-miRNA maturation. Overall, nuclear miRNAs are biologically ac-tive molecules that can be critical for the fine tuning of gene expression and deserve further studies in a number of physiological and pathological conditions

Background: This study stands as a pioneer in the histological evaluation of the biological behavior of a novel implant design featuring decompressive cervical blades. Hence, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the healing outcome in cortical regions at where decompressive protocols were adopted using implants equipped with blades. Materials and methods: Blades with varying diameters were integrated into the coronal portion of the implant to prepare the cortical region of rabbit tibiae. The blade diameters differed from the implant collar by the following amounts: control group (0 µm), +50 µm, and +200 µm. Results: No marginal bone loss was detected. Instead, all implants exhibited new bone formation in the coronal region. Complete closure was observed in the CG-0 group, as well as in the TG-50 and TG-200 groups, despite the presence of marginal gaps without primary bone contact at installation. In the apical region, most implants breached the cortical layer. Nevertheless, new bone formation in this region completely closed the osteotomy, effectively isolating the internal environment of the tibia from the external. Conclusions: The use of a blade attached to the implant body enabled precise preparation of the cortical layer, allowing for controlled decompression in the targeted area. This technique resulted in optimal osseointegration with no loss of marginal bone, and complete restoration of marginal gaps ranging from 0 µm to 200 µm.

The existence of multiple copies of genes is a well-known phenomenon. A gene family is a set of sufficiently similar genes, formed by gene duplication. In earlier works conducted on limited number of completely sequenced and annotated genomes it was found that size of gene family and size of genome are positively correlated. Additionally, it was found that several atypical microbes deviated from the observed general trend. In this study, we reexamined these associations on a larger dataset consisting of 1484 prokaryotic genomes and using several ranking approaches. We applied ranking methods in such a way that genomes with lower number of paralogs would have lower rank. Until now only simple ranking methods were used; we applied the Kemeny optimal aggregation approach as well. Regression and correlation analysis were utilized in order to accurately quantify and characterize the relationships between measures of paralog indices and genome size. In addition, boxplot analysis was employed as a method for outlier detection. We found that, in general, all paralog indexes positively correlate with an increase of genome size. As expected, different groups of atypical prokaryotic genomes were found for different types of paralog quantities.

Beta thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder that results in inefficient erythropoiesis due to genetic mutation that leads to reduction or absence of the hemoglobin beta-globulin protein. Approximately 8.5% of UAE residents suffer from β-thalassemia, a significant health and financial problem. The treatment options available for β-Thalassemia major are limited and associated with a wide range of complications. β-thalassemia gene therapy is emerging as a potential novel treatment option that eliminates the complications caused by the current long-term treatment modalities and the associated economic burden. This paper reviews the scientific literature related to emerging gene-therapy for β-Thalassemia by analyzing all the articles published from January 2010 to December 2023 in the English language on Databases like PubMed, Scopus, ProQuest, and CINAHL. The use of gene therapy has demonstrated promising outcomes for a permanent cure of β-Thalassemia. ZYNTEGLO (Betibeglogene autotemcel) is the only cell-based gene therapy which was approved by the FDA on 19th August, 2018. To conclude, Gene therapy is an innovative solution. It demonstrates a promising future, but does come with its own set-backs and is something that must be tackled in-order to revolutionize it in the medical world. FDA approved ZYNTEGLO is a potentially one-time curative treatment for β-Thalassemia. Although cutting-edge, its use is limited because of the high cost; a price of $2.8million per patient.

Scedosporium species are human pathogenic fungi, responsible for chronic, localised, and life-threatening disseminated infections in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised individuals. Diagnosis of Scedosporium infections currently relies on non-specific CT, lengthy and insensitive culture from invasive biopsy, and time-consuming histopathology of tissue samples. At present, there are no rapid antigen tests that detect Scedosporium-specific biomarkers. Here we report the development of a rapid (30 min) and sensitive (pmol/L sensitivity) lateral-flow device (LFD) test, incorporating a Scedosporium-specific IgG1 monoclonal antibody (mAb), HG12, which binds to extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) antigens of between ~15 kDa and 250 kDa secreted during hyphal growth of the pathogens. The test is compatible with human serum, and allows the detection of the Scedosporium species most-frequently reported as agents of human disease (Scedosporium apiospermum, Scedosporium aurantiacum, and Scedosporium boydii), with limits of detection (LOD) of the EPS biomarkers in human serum of ~0.81 ng/mL (S. apiospermum), ~0.94 ng/mL (S. aurantiacum), and ~1.95 ng/mL (S. boydii). The Scedosporium-specific LFD (ScedLFD) test therefore provides a potential novel opportunity for the detection of infections caused by different Scedosporium species.

The next-generation communication systems demand integration of sensing, communication, and power transfer (PT) capabilities, requiring high spectral efficiency, energy efficiency, and low cost, while also necessitating robustness in high-speed scenarios. Integrated sensing and communication systems (ISACS) exhibit the ability to simultaneously perform communication and sensing tasks using a single RF signal, while simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) systems can handle simultaneous information and energy transmission, and orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) signals are adept at handling high Doppler scenarios. Combining the advantages of these three technologies, a novel cyclic prefix (CP) OTFS based integrated simultaneous wireless sensing, communication, and power transfer system (ISWSCPTS) framework is proposed in this work. Within the ISWSCPTS, the CP-OTFS matched filter (MF) based target detection and parameters estimation (MF-TDaPE) algorithm is proposed to endow the system with sensing capabilities. To enhance the system’s sensing capability, a waveform design algorithm based on CP-OTFS ambiguity function shaping (AFS) is proposed, which is solved by iteratively method. Furthermore, to maximize the system’s sensing performance under communication and PT Quality of Service (QoS) constraints, a semidefinite relaxation (SDR) beamforming design (SDR-BD) algorithm is proposed, solved using through SDR technique. Simulation results demonstrate that the ISWSCPTS exhibits stronger parameter estimation performance in high-speed scenarios compared to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), waveform designed by CP-OTFS AFS demonstrates superior interference resilience, and beamforming designed by SDR-BD strikes a balance in the overall performance of the ISWSCPTS.

Continuing the investigation already started (See Farcaş, A.-A.; Bende, A. PCCP 2024, 26, 14937), the light absorption and charge-transfer properties of the dopamine (DA), dopamine zwitterion (called as dopamine-semi-quinone or DsQ) and dopamine-o-quinone (DoQ) adsorbed on the graphene nanoparticle surface have been investigated using the ground state and linear-response time-dependent density functional theories, considering the B97X-D3BJ/def2-TZVPP level of theory. In terms of the strength of molecular adsorption on the surface, the DsQ form has 50 % higher binding energy than that for the DA or DoQ cases (-20.24 kcal/mol vs. -30.41 kcal/mol). The results obtained for electronically excited states and UV-Vis absorption spectra show that the photochemical behavior of DsQ is more similar to DA than that observed for DoQ. Of the three systems analyzed, the DsQ-based complex showed the most active CT phenomenon, both in terms of the number of CT-like states and the amount of charge transferred. Of the first thirty electronically excited states computed for the DsQ case, eleven are purely CT-type and nine are mixed CT and localized (or Frenkel) excitations. By varying the adsorption distance between the molecule and the surface vertically, the amount of charge transfer obtained for DA decreases significantly as the distance increases, for DoQ it remains stable, while for DsQ there are states for which little change is observed, while for others there is a significant change. Furthermore, the mechanistic compilation of the electron orbital diagrams of the individual components cannot describe in detail the nature of the excitations inside the complex.

It is commonly recognized that a ship’s ability to maintain stability is dependent upon the way its loads are distributed. This means making sure the center of gravity is sufficiently low and evenly distributed. Yet when a ship encounters turbulent water with extremely large wave amplitudes, load distribution is a critical factor in determining how stressed the ship becomes. In particular, this article examines several methods for increasing the ship's longitudinal strength to prevent ship structural damage during hogging and sagging. This research presents a number of proposed techniques to enhance the longitudinal strength of cargo ships in order to guarantee minimal stress and deformation during sagging and hogging. The first method is the stern-to-bow use of curved support structures to increase the longitudinal strength of a cargo ship. And another way to stiffen the lateral plate is the proposed use of different designs of the side plate, such as wavy curves, stars, etc. To further boost the strength, the lateral plate upper part is suggested to curve upward. A numerical simulation using ANSYS of the stiffened plate when subjected to uniform load distribution and fixed support on either end shows that there is a decrease in deformation of the plate when we use wavy curved plates compared with those of the other plate stiffening methods used, and furthermore, curving the plate on top increases its strength during sagging as well as hogging. Finally, the use of a curved support structure further enhanced the overall longitudinal strength of the vessel.

Oligopeptide transporters (OPTs) are a group of membrane localized proteins that have a broad range of substrate transport capabilities and contribute to numerous biological processes. However, limited information has been reported on OPTs in higher plants. In this study, a comprehensive analysis of the OPT gene family in Medicago truncatula was performed. A total of 26 OPT genes (MtOPT01-MtOPT26) have been identified in the Medicago truncatula genome. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that MtOPTs consisted of two distinct subgroups, 12 MtOPTs belonged to the peptide transport subgroup (PT-OPT) based on their predicted amino acid sequences containing the two highly conserved motifs (NPG and KIPPR) and 14 MtOPTs belonged to yellow stripe subgroup (YS-OPT). The MtOPTs distributed on each of 8 chromosomes in Medicago truncatula. Sequence analysis verified that MtOPTs significant similar to those in other plants. The copy number of MtOPTs was low and the multiply of MtOPTs was simple relatively. Gene structure analysis showed that most of the MtOPTs have various numbers of introns. The multiple of MtOPTs might play different biological roles which were supported by the fact that MtOPTs have a distinct tissue-specific expression pattern. The data obtained in this study will help to better understand the complexity of the MtOPTs gene family and provide new evidence for the function and evolution of the OPT gene family in higher plants.

The search of DNA polymorphisms useful for the genetic improvement of dairy farm animals lasts more than 40 years with relevant findings in cattle for milk traits, where the best combination of alleles for dairy processing have been found in casein genes and in the DGAT1. Nowadays, similar results are not reached yet in river buffaloes despite advanced genomic technologies and accurate phenotype records are available. The aim of the present study was to investigate and validate in a larger buffalo population the effect on six milk traits of four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in the CSN1S1, CSN3, SCD and LPL genes, previously reported to be associated with or affect dairy traits in smaller populations often belonging to one farm. A total of 800 buffaloes were genotyped. Daily milk yield (dMY, kg), protein yield (dPY, kg) and fat yields (dFY, kg), fat and protein contents (dFP, % and dPP, %), somatic cell count (SCC, 103cell/ml) and urea (mg/dl) were individually recorded in each month for the whole lactation from 2010 to 2021. A total of 15,742 individual milk test day records (2,496 lactations) were available on 680 buffalo cows with 3.6±1.7 parity (from 1 to 13) and 6.1±1.2 test day records per lactation on average. Three out four SNP in CSN1S1, CSN3 and LPL were associated with at least one of analyzed traits. In particular, the CSN1S1 (AJ005430:c.578C>T) gave favorable associations with all yield traits (dMY, p=0.022; dPY, p=0.014 ; dFY, p=0.029) and SCS (p=0.032), whereas the CSN3 (HQ677596: c.536C>T) positively associated with SCS (p=0.005) and milk urea (p=0.04). Favorable effect on dMY (p=0.028), dFP (p=0.027) and dPP (p=0.050) were observed for the LPL. Conversely, SCD did not show any association with milk traits. This is the first example of confirmation study carried out in the Mediterranean river buffalo for genes of economic interest in dairy field and it represents a very important indication for the preselection of young bulls destined to breeding programs in the view of a more sustainable dairy production.

Biohydrogen is a versatile energy carrier for the generation of electric energy from renewable sources. Hydrogenases can be used in enzymatic fuel cells to oxidize dihydrogen. The rate of electron transfer (ET) at the anodic side between the [NiFe]-hydrogenase enzyme distal iron-sulfur cluster and the electrode surface can be described by the Marcus equation. All parameters for the Marcus equation are accessible from DFT calculations. The distal cubane FeS-cluster has a three cysteine and one histidine coordination [Fe₄S₄](His)(Cys)₃ first ligation sphere. The reorganization energy (inner- and outer-sphere) is almost unchanged upon a histidine-to-cysteine substitution. Differences in rates of electron transfer between the wild-type enzyme and the all-cysteine mutant can be rationalized by a diminished electronic coupling between the donor and acceptor molecules in the [Fe₄S₄](Cys)₄ case. The fast and efficient electron transfer from the distal iron-sulfur cluster is realized by a fine-tuned protein environment which facilitates the flow of electrons. This study enables the design and control of electron transfer rates and pathways by protein engineering.

Electricity load forecasting is a crucial undertaking within all the deregulated markets globally. In contemporary times, the transition from conventional electricity grids to Smart Grids constitutes an area where extensive research is conducted on a global scale. Among the research challenges, the investigation of Deep Transfer Learning (DTL) in the field of electricity load forecasting represents a fundamental effort that imparts generality to Artificial Intelligence applications, due to new capabilities, such as knowledge transfer and computational power reduction. In this paper a comprehensive study is conducted for day-ahead electricity load forecasting. For this purpose, three Sequence-to-Sequence (Seq2seq) Deep Learning (DL) models are used, namely the Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and the Ensemble Learning Model (ELM), which is consisted of the weighted combination of the outputs of MLP and CNN models. Also, the study focuses on the development of different forecasting strategies based on DTL and emphasizing the way the datasets are trained and fine-tuning for higher forecasting accuracy. In order to implement the forecasting strategies using Deep Learning models, load datasets from three Greek islands, Rhodes, Lesvos, and Chios, are used. The main purpose is to apply DTL for day-ahead predictions (1-24 hours) for each month of the year for Chios dataset after training and fine-tuning the models using the datasets of the three islands in various combinations. After several trials, four DTL strategies are illustrated. In the first strategy (DTL Case 1), each of the three DL models is trained using only Lesvos dataset, while fine-tuning is performed on the dataset of Chios island, in order to create day-ahead predictions for Chios load. In the second strategy (DTL Case 2), data from both Lesvos and Rhodes concurrently are used for the DL model training period, and fine-tuning is performed on the data from Chios. The third DTL strategy (DTL Case 3) contains the training of the DL models using Lesvos dataset, and the testing period performed directly on the Chios dataset without fine-tuning. The fourth strategy is a Multi-task Deep Learning (MTDL) approach, which has been extensively studied in recent years. In MTDL, the three DL models are trained simultaneously on all three datasets and the final predictions are made on the unknown part of the dataset of Chios. In this paper, we explore the performance of DTL and compare the results with those produced with MTDL. The results demonstrated that DTL can be applied with high efficiency for day-ahead load forecasting. Specifically, the two cases with fine-tuning (DTL Case 1 and 2) outperformed MTDL in terms of load prediction accuracy. Regarding the DL models, all three exhibit very high prediction accuracy, especially in the two cases with fine-tuning. The ELM excels compared to the single models. More specifically, for conducting day-ahead predictions, it has been concluded that the MLP model presents best monthly forecasts with a MAPE of 6.24% and 6.01% for the first two cases, the CNN model presents best monthly forecasts with a MAPE of 5.57% and 5.60% respectively and the ELM model achieves best monthly forecasts with a MAPE of 5.29% and 5.31%, respectively, indicating the very high accuracy it can achieve.

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a vital process for depositing thin films of various materials with precise control over thickness, composition, and properties. Understanding the heat and mass transfer mechanisms during CVD is essential for optimizing process parameters and ensuring high-quality film deposition. This review provides an overview of recent advancements in the heat and mass transfer modeling for chemical vapor deposition processes. It explores innovative modeling techniques, recent research findings, emerging applications, and challenges in the field. Additionally, it discusses future directions and potential areas for further advancement in CVD modeling.

Weedy sunflower is an invasive plant on the territory of the Republic of Serbia, which causes high yield losses in many crops. During the harvesting of the sunflower crops the dispersal of the seeds occurs, and as a result- the volunteer plants appear next year. Weedy sunflowers originate from volunteer plants that live through a longer period in one place. Spontaneous hybridization of weedy sunflower with other sunflower forms makes them more aggressive. If the volunteer plants originate from the hybrids tolerant to ALS inhibiting herbicides, they can be the carriers of herbicide tolerance genes and thus will not be sensitive to these herbicides. The exchange of the genetic material also enables the transfer of the ALS (AHAS) gene (responsible for the tolerance to the ALS inhibiting herbicides) to the progeny. In this study we have examined the spontaneous hybridization between different sunflower forms (volunteer sunflowers, weedy sunflowers, susceptible and tolerant sunflower hybrids to ALS inhibiting herbicides) in field conditions during three years. The progeny (F1 generation), which was assumed to possess the ALS gene, was tested with the application of the recommended doses of the Express (a.i. tribenuron-methyl) and Pulsar 40 herbicides (a.i. imazamox). The significant percent of the progeny of different forms of sunflowers, survived the herbicide treatment (6-31%). Molecular analysis of the ALS gene sequence in weedy sunflower progeny confirmed gene transfer in two cases at a distance of 30 and 120 m from the gene donor, i.e. tolerant hybrid Sumo 1 PR.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between clinical outcomes and lateral thrust before and after unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) using inertial measurement sensor units. Eleven knees were evaluated with gait analysis. The varus angular velocity was used to evaluate lateral thrust. The femoro-tibial angle (FTA) and hip-knee-ankle angle (HKA) were used to evaluate lower limb alignment, and Oxford Knee Score (OKS) and Japanese Orthopaedic Association Score (JOA) were used to evaluate clinical outcomes. The mean pre-UKA peak varus velocity was 37.1 ± 9.8°/sec, and that of post-UKA was 28.8 ± 9.1°/sec (p=0.00003). Assuming the definition of lateral thrust is when varus angular velocity is more than 28.1°/sec, 81.8% of patients had lateral thrust preoperatively, but this decreased to 55.6% postoperatively. Both OKS and JOA improved after surgery. In addition, HKA was -7.9° preoperatively and -5.8° postoperatively (p=0.024), and FTA was 181.4° preoperatively and 178.4° postoperatively (p=0.012). There was a positive correlation between postoperative JOA and FTA, indicating that changes in postoperative alignment affected clinical outcomes. This study quantitatively evaluated the disappearance of lateral thrust by UKA, and it found that the stability can be achieved by UKA for unstable knees with lateral thrust.

Effective agricultural management in maize production operations starts with the early quantification of seedlings. Accurately determining plant presence allows growers to optimize planting density, allocate resources, and detect potential growth issues early on. This study presents an in-depth analysis of multiple object detection models used by drones to count maize seedlings, while concurrently investigating the influence of planting density, flight altitude, and plant growth stage. The findings of this study demonstrate that one-stage models are able to more accurately detect maize seedlings than two-stage models. In particular, YOLOv8n exhibits outstanding performance, achieving an F1-score of over 0.92 under various density conditions and maintaining a stable performance, especially under densities below 105,000 plants/ha. Additionally, planting density and growth stage were observed to significantly affect detection accuracy, with performance declining as density and growth stage increased. Image resolution and detection were impacted by flight altitude, with lower flights producing higher-quality results. Ultimately, YOLOv8n displays optimal performance under various conditions, providing crucial data to support intelligent decision-making. This research offers valuable insights into the application of object detection technology and provides a basis for the future development of precision agriculture.

As a result of decades of austerity, the economies of the Eurozone are experiencing under-investment and crumbling infrastructures in an era of extremely severe emergencies as the cli-mate change and aggressive global competition. The private savings glut of the rich and the strict fiscal rules suggest a crowding-in approach in partnership with big finance in a new age of in-fra-structures. If governments mint public infrastructures into investable assets, they can gen-erate steady returns for investors and asset managers who look after pensions and insurances schemes and unlock trillions now devoted to welfare state. For the big finance to accept to be partner, however, governments must take the task of de-risking returns. Innovation technology and macro-financial literacy can synergically act to enhance this new de-risking role to address in a financially sustainable way the intense phenomena of Natural Hazards (NHs) that can severely compromise economic growth. This is precisely the aim of our Public-Private Partnership (PPP) among the Department of Economics, Management and Institutions of the University of Naples and a Knowledge Transfert Management, the Department of Engineering and the Aca-demic Spin-Off “STRAIN”, of the University of Campania. Our PPP has been contributing to the eval-uation and mitigation of NHs such as floods, landslides and earthquakes since 2012. The ex-tremely advanced results of this multi-stakeholder partnership ensure a better knowledge of NHs which, as evidenced in the paper, is the fundamental input for the desired Public-Private In-surance Programmes (PIPPs).

Background and objectives: As the oblique lateral interbody fusion at L5/S1 (OLIF51) and lateral corridor approach (LCA) have gained popularity, the understanding of precise vascular structure at L5/S1 level is indispensable. The objectives of this study were to investigate the vascular anatomy at L5/S1 level, and to compare the movement of vascular tissue between supine and lateral decubitus position using the intraoperative enhanced CT and MRI. Materials and Methods: A total of 43 patients who underwent either OLIF51 or LCA were investigated with the average age at surgery of 60.4 (37-80) years old. The preoperative MRI was taken to observe axial and sagittal anatomy of vascular position under supine position. The intraoperative vein-enhanced CT was taken just before incision in the right decubitus position, and compared to supine MRI anatomy. The iliolumbar vein appearance and its types were also classified. Results: The average vascular window allowed for OLIF51 was 22.8 mm and 34.1 mm at either L5 caudal endplate or S1 cephalad endplate level, respectively. It allowed for LCA was 14.2 mm and 12.6 mm at either level, respectively. The left common iliac vein moved 3.8 mm and 6.9 mm to right direction at either level from supine to right decubitus position, respectively. The bifurcation moved 6.3 mm to caudal direction from supine to right decubitus. The iliolumbar vein was located at 31 mm lateral from midline, and MRI detection rate was 52%. Conclusions: The precise measurement of vascular anatomy indicated that OLIF51 approach was the standard minimally invasive anterior approach for L5/S1 disc level compared to LCA, however, there were many variations in quantitative anatomy as well as significant vascular movements between supine and right decubitus position. In the clinical setting of OLIF51 and LCA surgeries, the careful preoperative evaluation and intraoperative 3D imaging are recommended for the safe and accurate surgery.

Abstract: Transcription factors are crucial pre-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms that can modulate the expression of downstream genes by binding to their promoter regions. DOF (DNA binding with One Finger) proteins are a unique class of transcription factors with extensive roles in plant growth and development. Our previous research indicated a decrease in iron content in chlorotic bamboo leaves. However, to our knowledge, genes related to iron metabolism pathways in bamboo species have not yet been studied. Therefore, in the current study, we identified iron metabolism-related (IMR) genes in bamboo and determined the transcription factors that significantly influence them. Among these, DOFs were found to have widespread effects and potentially significant impacts on their expression. We identified specific DOF members in Dendrocalamus latiflorus with binding abilities through homology with Arabidopsis DOF proteins, and established connections between some of these members and IMR genes using RNA-seq data. Additionally, molecular docking confirmed the binding interactions between these DlDOFs and the DOF binding sites in the promoter regions of IMR genes. The co-expression relationship between the two gene sets was further validated using q-PCR experiments. This study paves the way for research into iron metabolism pathways in bamboo and lays the foundation for understanding the role of DOF transcription factors in D. latiflorus.

Hox gene clusters are crucial in Embryogenesis. It was observed that some Hox genes are located in order along the telomeric to centromeric direction of the DNA sequence: Hox1, Hox2, Hox3…. These genes are expressed in the same order in the ontogenetic units of the Drosophila embryo along the Anterior-Posterior axis. The two entities (genome and embryo) differ significantly in linear size and in-between distance. This strange phenomenon was named Spatial Collinearity (SP). Later, it was observed that, particularly in the Vertebrates, a Temporal Collinearity (TC) coexists: first is Hox1 expressed, later Hox2 and even later Hox3,…,. According to a Biophysical Model (BM), pulling forces act at the anterior end of the cluster while a cluster fastening applies at the posterior end. Hox clusters are irreversibly elongated along the force direction. During Evolution, the elongated Hox clusters are broken at variable lengths thus split clusters may be created. An Empirical Rule was formulated distinguishing development due to a complete Hox cluster from development due to split Hox clusters. BM can ‘explain’ this Empirical Rule. In a spontaneous mutation where the cluster fastening is dismantled, a weak pulling force automatically shifts the cluster inside the Hox activation domain. This cluster translocation can probably explain the absence of Temporal Collinearity in Drosophila.

The most important plastic resins used for wire coating are Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Nylon, Polysulfone and Low-high density polyethylene (LDPE / HDPE). In this article,the coating process is performed using elastic-viscous fluid as a coating material for wire coating in a pressure type coating die. The elastic-viscous fluid is electrically conducted in the presence of an applied magnetic field. The governing non-linear equations are modeled and then solved analytically by utilizing an Adomian decomposition method (ADM). The convergence of the series solution is established. The results are also verified by Optimal Homotopy Asymptotic Method (OHAM). The effect of different emerging parameters such as non-Newtonian parameters α and β, magnetic parameter M and the Brinkman number Br on solutions (velocity and temperature profiles) are discussed through several graphs. Additionally, the current result also compares with the published work already available in the literature.

The objective of this work is to analyze the improvement of heat transfer in trapezoidal fin heat exchangers using numerical simulation. Heat exchangers are essential components frequently used in contemporary electronic gadgets to effectively disperse heat produced by high-power components. Nevertheless, as electronic devices continue to advance and become more powerful, the heat transfer capacity of heat exchangers is facing more requirements, therefore requiring enhanced heat dissipation efficiency. Afterwards, various fin angles were adjusted, and the heat transmission efficiency was compared. Modifying the angles can significantly improve the effi-ciency of convective heat dissipation. Moreover, it has been found that employing an optimized trapezoidal fin structure can further enhance the efficiency of heat transfer. The results indicate that trapezoidal fin heat exchangers provide superior heat dissipation efficiency compared to conventional heat exchangers. This is important for enhancing the thermal dissipation capabili-ties of electrical gadgets, hence guaranteeing steady functionality and extending their longevity. Subsequent study might explore supplementary methods to boost heat transmission in different heat exchanger configurations in order to meet the growing requirements for heat dissipation.

Objectives: To investigate the etiology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in an adult female patient. Methods: We conducted trio genome sequencing on a 35-year-old woman with progressive weakness in her left upper limb, as well as on her parents. Prior to sequencing, we performed a comprehensive neurological work-up on the patient, including neurological exam, electrophysiology, biomarker assessment, and brain and spinal cord MRI. Results : The propositus experienced weakness and atrophy in her left hand 6 months before the evaluation. This was associated with brisk reflexes and Hoffman sign in the same arm. Electroneuromyography revealed lower motor neuron involvement in three body regions. Neurofilament light chains were elevated in her cerebrospinal fluid. Brain imaging showed asymmetrical T2 hyperintensity of the corticospinal tracts and T2 linear hypointensity of the precentral gyri. Genome trio sequencing identified a likely pathogenic de novo variant in the propositus’s KIF1A gene (NM_001244008.2): c.574A>G, p.(Ile192Val). Discussion: Pathogenic variants in the KIF1A gene have been associated with a wide range of neurological manifestations called KIF1A-associated neurological diseases (KAND). The present report describe a likely pathogenic de novo variant in KIF1A associated with ALS, expanding the phenotypic spectrum of KAND and our understanding of the pathophysiology of ALS.

Background and Objectives: Most of the research of the BRCA1 inactivation is focused on monoallelic germline alterations and loss of heterozygosity in tumour. The aim of this study was to identify characteristic transcriptomic pattern of monoallelic somatic BRCA1 inactivation and estimate its impact to the event-free breast cancer survival prognosis. Materials and Methods: We conducted global transcriptome sequencing of breast cancer tissue samples to identify differentially expressed genes and signalling pathways associated with monoallelic somatic BRCA1 inactivation. The study group involved 36 patient samples categorized based on BRCA1 inactivation status. Subsequently, the differential gene expression and Kaplan-Meier analyses in the groups with and without monoallelic somatic BRCA1 inactivation were performed. Results: Kaplan-Meier analysis showed tendency for longer event-free survival in patients with monoallelic somatic BRCA1 inactivation, suggesting somatic BRCA1 inactivation is favourable prognostic. Differential gene expression analysis followed by the STRING tool enrichment analysis showed significant enrichment of proteins in the extracellular region and extracellular space. Conclusion: In this study we identified transcriptomic profile of differentially expressed genes TPSD1, FABP4, CARTPT and MMP9 as indicative for homologous recombination impaired tumours with tendency for better therapy results.

Superior fiber quality is one of the most important objectives in cotton breeding. To detect the genetic basis underlying fiber quality, an F2 population containing 413 plants was constructed by crossing Jifeng 914 and Jifeng 173, both of which have superior fiber quality, with Jifeng 173 being better. Five fiber quality traits were investigated in the F2, F2:3, F2:4, and F2:5 populations. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping was conducted based on a high-density genetic map containing 11,488 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and spanning 4,202.12 cM in length. Transgressive segregation patterns and complex correlations in the five tested traits were observed. A total of 108 QTLs were found, including 27 for fiber length (FL), 16 for fiber strength (FS), 24 for micronaire (MC), 17 for fiber uniformity (FU), and 24 for fiber elongation rate (FE). Chromosome A7 contained 12 QTL, ranking the first. No QTL was found on chromosome D1 and D11. Each QTL contributed 1.98%–21.45% to the phenotypic variation (PV), including 13 major effect QTLs that contributed more than 10% toward PV. Two QTLs could be repeatedly detected in three populations, including qFL-D3-2 in F2, F2:4, and F2:5 with 9.18%–21.45% of PV, qFS-A11-1 in F2:3, F2:4 and F2:5 with 6.05%–10.41% of PV. Another seven stable QTLs could be detected in two populations, including four major effect QTLs: qFL-A12-3, qFS-D10-2, qMC-D6-2, and qMC-D8-1. Fourteen QTL-overlapping regions were found, which might explain the complex correlations among the five phenotypic traits. Four regions on chromosome A11, D3, D6, and D10 covered by both stable and major effect QTLs are promising for further fine mapping. The genomic regions of the two QTLs detected in three populations and the four major effect QTLs contain 810 genes. Gene functional analysis revealed that the annotated genes are mainly involved in protein binding and metabolic pathways. Fifteen candidate genes in the qFL-D3-2 region are highly expressed in fiber or ovules during fiber initiation, elongation, secondary cell wall thickening, or maturation stages. qRT-PCR revealed that Ghir_D03G005440.1 and Ghir_D03G011310.1 may play a role in promoting fiber initiation, Ghir_D03G006470.1 may be beneficial for promoting fiber elongation. This study provides more information for revealing the molecular genetic basis underlying cotton fiber quality.

Background. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a devastating disease involving motor neuron degeneration. The few drugs approved for treatment have at most a marginal benefit, and death usually occurs 2-5 years after diagnosis. Methods. A thorough manual examination of the relevant literature, covering over 35,000 papers. Results. Two major phenomena that are generally not known to clinicians were found. First, insulin signaling is impaired in ALS even in patients not diagnosed with diabetes (DB). Almost all studies that have explicitly tested insulin function in non-DB ALS patients using glucose tolerance tests (18 out of 20, 1964-2022, different groups) have found it to be impaired. Second, there is strong evidence for excessive insulin-independent glucose uptake (IIGU) in ALS. In addition, (i) early/late diabetes are associated with increased/decreased risk, respectively; (ii) insulin-based diabetes drugs are protective in ALS in large retrospective human studies; and (iii) strong animal and human evidence shows that insulin opposes all of the major pathological processes in ALS. Conclusion. Most ALS patients have insulin impairment, yet this is commonly not diagnosed, likely because excessive IIGU normalizes glucose levels. The impairment promotes disease progression. Late diabetes is associated with decreased risk because high glucose levels indicate non-excessive IIGU, and because diabetes drugs are protective. Insulin-based treatment (e.g., GLP1 agonists, insulin) is beneficial and can be disease-modifying in ALS and in frontotemporal dementia variants comorbid with ALS. ALS patients should be routinely tested for insulin function and treated if test results are positive.

Background: Targeting Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in human is crucial due to its adverse. Herbal medicine has long been significant in this regard, with flavonoids demonstrating promising results. Hence, establishing a way of identifying flavonoids with anti-HBV activities is the aim of the present study. Methods: Flavonoid structures with anti-HBV activities were retrieved. A flavonol-based pharmacophore model was established using LigandScout v4.4. Screening was performed using the PharmIt server. A QSAR equation was developed and validated with independent sets of compounds. Applicability domain (AD) was defined using Euclidean distance calculations for model validation. Results: The best model, consisting of 57 features was generated. HTS using the flavonol-based model resulted in 509 unique hits. The model's sensitivity and specificity were 71% and 100%, respectively. The QSAR model with two predictors, x4a and qed, exhibited strong predictive performance with an adjusted-R² value of 0.85 and 0.90 of Q2. Conclusion: The QSAR model has been validated with two separate chemical sets, guaranteeing the model's reproducibility and usefulness for other flavonols by utilizing the predictive characteristics of X4A and qed. These results provide new possibilities for discovering future anti-HBV drugs by integrating modeling and experimental research.

This article discusses the application of thermal quality control methods for plant tissues. The purpose of the work is to determine the optimal parameters of thermal impact on a spherical-shaped plant control object, ensuring the detection of surface and subsurface defects. The authors of the work proposed mathematical models of the temperature field for a spherical body with defects and a flat sample when exposed to the thermal influence of a pulsed source. As a result of the use of mathematical models, the thermophysical characteristics of plant tissues of varying degrees of disease damage were obtained, which made it possible to simulate the temperature field of the control object and obtain an image of classified tissues. The developed recommendations made it possible to select the optimal parameters of the thermal effect on the test object.

Due to environmental concerns, natural refrigerants and their use in refrigeration and air conditioning systems are receiving more attention from manufacturers, end users and the scientific community. The study of heat transfer and pressure drop is essential for accurate design and more energy efficient cycles using natural refrigerants. The aim of this work is to provide an overview of the latest outcomes related to heat transfer and pressure drop correlations for ammonia, propane, isobutane and propylene and to investigate the current state of the art in terms of operating conditions. Available data on the existing correlations of heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop for natural refrigerants have been collected through a systematic search. Whenever possible, validity intervals are given for each correlation and the error is quantified. It is the intention of the authors that this could be a valuable support for researchers and an aid to design, with particular reference to heat pumps. A procedure based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement was adopted, and the Scopus database was used to query the relevant literature. A total of 135 publications qualified for inclusion in the survey; 34 articles report experimental investigations for not usual geometric conditions. Of the 101 selected papers related to usual geometric conditions, N = 50 deal only with HTC, N = 16 deal only with pressure drop and the remainder (N = 35) analyse both HTC and pressure drop. Among the 85 HTC papers (N = 53) deal with the evaporating condition, N = 30 with condensation and only N = 2 with the heat transfer correlations under both conditions. Most of the 101 articles concern propane and isobutane. The high temperatures are less widely investigated.

INTRODUCTION There have been several advances in the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection which have resulted in major reductions in the morbidity and mortality from liver-associated disease. These are not widely available in the Caribbean, due in part, to lack of knowledge of the epidemiology of infections with HCV. As efforts are made to eliminate HCV from the region, these and other existing barriers such as lack of an established database on HCV must be addressed. This review seeks to identify gaps in the knowledge of HCV in the Caribbean with respect to seroprevalence, genotype distribution and general epidemiologic characteristics. MATERIALS AND METHODS The literature for the period January 1, 2005, to October 2022, was reviewed to gather country specific data on HCV across the Caribbean. References were identified through indexed journals accessed through established databases. The usage pattern of HCV drugs was determined from data obtained from Pharmacists and Infectious Diseases Specialists across the region. RESULTS The prevalence of HCV in the Caribbean was 1.5%; the region should therefore be considered an area of moderate prevalence. Notably, data from specific countries were limited. The prevalence of HCV among intravenous drug users (21.9-58.8%); persons living with HIV/AIDS (0.8 to 58.5%); prisoners (32.8-64%) and men who have sex with men (MSM) (0.8-6.9%) was generally higher than in the general population (0.8-2.3%). Genotype 1 (83% was most prevalent followed by genotypes 2 (7.2%) and 3(2.1%), respectively. Drugs currently being used for treatment of HCV infections across the Caribbean include Epclusa (Sofosbuvir/velpatasvir), and Harvoni (Ledipasvir/sofosbuvir). Some of these drugs, are only available in the private sector and are sourced externally whenever needed. CONCLUSION There is a paucity of current data on the seroprevalence of HCV in the Caribbean and well-designed prospective studies are indicated to drive the implementation of treatment and control programs for HCV in the region. Barriers which need to be first overcome include unavailability and high cost of drugs used to treat HCV infections, injecting drug use and limited access to medical care and laboratory testing.

Long COVID is a phenomenon in which individuals experience persistent symptoms after recovering from COVID-19. The symptoms are discovered to be unique for every individual and can affect multiple organs systems in the body. This study aims to identify effective natural remedies for long COVID by analyzing hub genes associated with the symptoms of the condition and evaluating the repurposed drugs catered and used for treating the symptoms of long COVID. The most common and prevalent symptoms of long COVID were identified; Fatigue, Shortness of Breath, Loss of Smell, Headache, Brain Fog, Chest Pain, Insomnia, Heart Palpitations, Dizziness, Joint Pain, Depression, Anxiety, Tinnitus, Loss of Appetite. Hub genes for each of the symptoms provided an insight on the key biological pathways of the symptom. Repurposed drugs identified, provided the template to identify the natural compounds with similar structure as a potential therapeutic drug. The natural compounds were retrieved using fingerprint search of the repurposed drugs from the NPASS Database. The findings of this study suggest several natural remedies for each symptom based on the molecular docking of the hub gene and natural compound using iGEMDOCK. The identified natural remedies may hold promise in treating long COVID, but further research is required to explore the efficacy and effectiveness of the proposed natural compounds. The results of the study pose important implications for the development of effective treatments for long COVID.

Background and Objectives Neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1 MIM # 162200), also known as von Recklinghausen disease, is among the most common autosomal dominantly transmitted disorders characterized mainly by neurocutaneous manifestations such as café au lait spots, intertriginous freckling, various types of neurofibromas (cutaneous neurofibromas or plexiform tumors), neurological manifestations, and bone abnormalities. It occurs with an incidence of 1:3000–1:4000 cases. Cone-rod dystrophies belong to the large group of retinal dystrophies, a highly heterogeneous group of disorders clinically manifested mainly by damage to cone and rod cells and have a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations. Many genes are involved in their etiology, with more than 100 currently identified, including the CRX gene responsible for the autosomal dominant form of cone-rod dystrophy (ad CORD). Materials and Methods: The authors present an intriguing case of a patient diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) as an infant and ocular involvement (myopia and astigmatism onset at age 15), which yielded a surprising molecular testing result. Results: Molecular DNA analysis identified a rare occurrence of two mutational variants, including a pathogenic variant in the NF1 gene, c.3871-2A, and a likely pathogenic variant in the CRX gene c.119G>A. Conclusions: The authors present this case to highlight the surprises offered by molecular testing in a condition where the diagnosis is usually based on clinical criteria, thus providing patients with competent genetic advice.

This paper presents an innovative multi-agent, data-driven reinforcement learning (RL) approach to develop and utilize the thermal equivalent network model that represents the motor's thermal dynamics. A multi-agent reinforcement learning is designed and trained to adjust the model parameters using data from several motor driving cycles. To ensure the incoming driving cycle matches the historical data before employing the pre-trained RL agents, offline statistical analysis and clustering techniques are developed and used. Numerical simulations highlighted the RL agent's ability to develop strategies that effectively address the variability of driving cycles. The proposed RL framework showed its capability to accurately reflect the motor's thermal behavior under various driving conditions.

Thorough and precise gene structure annotations are essential for maximizing the benefits of genomic data and unveiling valuable genetic insights. The cucumber genome was first released in 2009 and updated in 2019. To increase the accuracy of predicted gene models, 64 published RNA-seq data and 9 new strand-specific RNA-seq data from multiple tissues were used for manual comparison with the gene models. The updated annotation file (version 2.0) contains increased 24,145 predicted genes from previous version (24317 genes) with a higher BUSCO value of 96.9%. 6231 and 1490 transcripts were adjusted and newly added, respectively, accounting for 31.99% of the overall gene tally. These newly added and adjust genes were renamed (CsaV3.1_XGXXXXX), while genes remaining unaltered preserve their original des ignations. A random selection of 21 modified/added genes were validated using RT-PCR analyses. Additionally, tissue-specific patterns of gene expression were examined using newly obtained transcriptome data with the revised gene prediction model. This improved annotation of cucumber genome will provide essential and accurate resources for studies in cucumber.

The oscillating heat pipe (OHP) is a new member in the family of heat pipes, and it has great potential applications in energy conservation. However, the fluid flow and heat transfer in the OHP as well as the fundamental effects of inner diameter on them have not been fully understood, which are essential to the design and optimization of the OHP in real applications. Therefore, by combining the high-speed visualization method and infrared thermal imaging technique, the fluid flow and thermal performance in the OHPs with inner diameters of 1, 2 and 3 mm are presented and analyzed. The results indicate that three fluid flow motions, including small oscillation, bulk oscillation and circulation, coexist or, respectively, exist alone with the increasing heating load under different inner diameters, with three flow patterns occurring in the OHPs, viz. bubbly flow, slug flow and annular flow. These fluid flow motions are closely correlated with the heat and mass transfer performance in the OHPs, which can be reflected by the characteristics of infrared thermal images of condensers. The decrease in the inner diameter increases the frictional flow resistance and capillary instability while restricting the nucleate boiling in OHPs, which leads to a smaller proportion of bubbly flow, a larger proportion of short slug flow, a poorer thermal performance, and easier dry-out of working fluid. In addition, when compared with the 2 mm OHP, the increasing role of gravity induces the thermosyphon effect and weakens the 'bubble pumping' action, which results in a little smaller and bigger thermal resistances of 3 mm OHP under small and bulk oscillation of working fluid, respectively.

Surface initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (SI-ATRP) is one of the most versatile technique to modify the surface properties of material. Recent developed metal free SI-ATRP makes such technique more widely applicable. Herein photo-induced metal-free SI-ATRP of methacrylates, such as methyl methacrylate, N-isopropanyl acrylamide, and N,N- dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate, on the surface of SBA-15 was reported to fabricate organic-inorganic hybrid materials. SBA-15 based polymeric composite with adjustable graft ratio was obtained. The structure evolution during the SI-ATRP modification of SBA-15 was monitored and verified by FT-IR, XPS, TGA, BET, and TEM. The obtained polymeric composite showed enhanced adsorption ability for the model compound toluene in aqueous. This procedure provides a low cost, ready availability, and facile modification way to synthesize the polymeric composites without the contamination of metal.

The COVID-19 pandemic over the past years has shown a great need for rapid, low-cost and on-site detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In this paper, an aptamer-based colloidal gold nanoparticle lateral flow test strip was well developed to realize the visual detection of wild type SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (SP) and multiple variants. Under the optimal reaction conditions, a low detection limit of SARS-CoV-2 S protein of 0.68 nM was acquired, and the actual detection recovery was 83.3% to 108.8% for real world samples. This suggests a potential tool for the prompt detection of SARS-CoV-2 with good sensitivity and accuracy, and a new method for the development of alternative antibody test strips for the detection of other viral targets.

Nutrition therapy is the best solution to human chronic diseases, especially beer and barley which play an important role in human health and civilization. We demonstrated the actional mechanism of functional ingredients in beer and barley to combat chronic diseases, based on PubMed, google, CNKI, and ISI Web of Science databases from 1997 to 2024. Beer is rich in functional ingredients that is a complex of barley malt and hops; the health effect of beer against 26 chronic diseases is highly similar to that of barley, due to molecular mechanism of polyphenols (phenolic acids, flavonoids), melatonin, minerals, bitter acids, vitamins, and peptides. The ancient German Beer Purity Law provides much scientific basis today, especially indirectly supporting the human one cell disease theory. Low purine beer can be produced by enzymatic and biological degradation and adsorption of purines as well as dandelion addition. Functional beer with low purine and high active ingredients made from Beer Purity and barley malt as well as functional foods addition will be the key and important development direction, such as ginger beer and ginseng beer, especially coix-lily beer at the ancestors ca. 9000 years ago. This review paper not only reveals the actional mechanism of beer overcoming human chronic diseases, but also provides scientific basis for the development of functional beer for the prevention and treatment of human chronic diseases.

. Protein cysteine S-glycosylation is a relatively rare and less well characterized post-translational modification (PTM). Creating reliable model proteins that carry this modification is challenging. The lack of available model or natural S-glycosylated proteins significantly hampers the development of MS-based methodologies for detecting protein cysteine S-glycosylation in real-world proteomic studies. There is also limited MS-sequencing data describing easier to create synthetic S-glycopeptides. Here, we present the results of an in-depth manual analysis of automatically annotated CID/HCD spectra for model S-glucopeptides. The CID spectra show a long series of y/b-fragment ions with retained S-glucosylation, regardless of the dominant m/z signals corresponding to neutral loss of 1,2-anhydroglucose from the precursor ions. In addition, the spectra show signals manifesting glucosyl transfer from the cysteine position onto Lys, Arg side chains, and a peptide N-terminus. Other spectral evidence indicates that the N-glucosylated initial products of transfer are converted into N-furanosylated (i.e., glycated) structures due to Amadori rearrangement. We discuss the peculiar transfer of the glucose oxocarbenium ion (Glc+) to positively charged guanidinium residue (ArgH+) and propose a mechanism for the gas-phase Amadori rearrangement involving a hydride ion shift.

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to determine the association between umbilical venous blood flow (UVBF) to placental pulsatility index (PPI) ratio and gestational age (GA) in women undergoing prenatal assessments and adverse pregnancy outcome (APO) screening Methods: Between January and December 2022, sonographic examinations were conducted to assess the fetal umbilical cord insertion site in singleton fetuses, and hemodynamic indices of the umbilical artery, umbilical vein, and uterine artery were computed. Through regression analysis, we derived the optimal regression equation to elucidate the UVBF/PPI ratio parameters based on GA. Results: Among 492 singleton fetuses between 21+0 and 40+6 weeks of gestation in the final study. The average fetal UVBF/PPI ratio was 180.45±119.32. Correlation analysis revealed a positive relationship between the UVBF/PPI ratio and GA(p = .000). Using regression analysis, the best-fit regression equation was the linear function model, which explains the value of UVBF/PPI ratio parameters based on GA. Lower UVBF/PPI ratio revealed a positive relationship in the low birth weight fetuses (p=0.021) and higher preterm delivery rate (p=0.034). Cerebroplacental ratio (CPR) showed a high correlation with the UVBF/PPI ratio (r=0.471, p=0.000). Conclusions: The findings of our analyses revealed that contribute to our understanding of fetal hemodynamics and highlight the potential of UVBF/PPI ratio as a predictive marker for adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as preterm birth, low birth weight, or potential fetal hypoxemia. It might be useful for prenatal counseling and clinical purposes.

Acting as the most abundant and widely distributed volatile secondary metabolites in plants, terpenoids play crucial roles in diverse physiological regulations and metabolic processes. Terpene synthases occupy a decisive proportion in determining the composition and diversity of terpenoids; though their regulatory effects have been extensively investigated across various plant species, limited studies have focused on the upstream transcriptional regulation of terpene synthases. In this study, we unveil linalool as the predominant volatile compound in Freesia hybrida flowers, demonstrating a gradual release pattern during flower blooming. In the context of the transcriptome, a typical MYB transcription factor, FhMYB108, was screened based on digital expression profile correlation analysis and homologous gene comparison. FhMYB108 is capable of regulating the expression of terpene synthase FhTPS1, and both their expression levels exhibit a gradual increase concomitant with flower opening. Moreover, transcriptional regulation and transient expression assays revealed that FhMYB108 exerts a stimulatory effect on the transcription of A. thaliana AtTPS14, while no significant increase in AtTPS14 expression was observed upon stabilization of FhMYB108 in Arabidopsis. Investigate its reason, the highly expressed AtMYC2 in A. thaliana can interact with FhMYB108 to suppress the activation of AtTPS14 by FhMYB108. The present study not only elucidated the regulatory mechanism underlying linalool synthesis, but also discovered the synergistic effect of MYB and bHLH transcription factors in governing the biosynthesis of volatile terpenoids.

An electrochemical bioassay based on the rotating droplet electrochemistry by using electron transfer mediator was developed for the evaluation of a wide variety of pollutants such as antibiotics, heavy metals and pesticides in the water environment. Ferricyanide was used as electron transfer mediator for obtaining the catalytic response of Escherichia coli. The electrochemical response of E.coli was measured via hydrodynamic chronoamperometry in a microdroplet on a screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE). The constructed electrode system successfully evaluate the catalytic response of E.coli solution in presence of ferricyanide. The assay for antibiotic toxicity on E.coli was carried out. The EC50 for ampicillin, sulfamonomethoxine, chlorotetracycline, tetracycline and oxytetracycline valuated by the pre-incubation method were 0.26, 0.77, 5.25, 18.5, 19.0 µM, respectively. The toxicity order was ampicillin > sulfamonomethoxine > chlorotetracycline > tetracycline>oxytetracycline. The proposed method can be used to evaluate the antibiotic toxicities in different real sample, such as pond water, powder and raw milk. Recoveries were found in the range 90 and 99%. The developed methods do not require additional incubation time to evaluate toxicity.

The two combined technologies WPT and AI still have huge prospects for several industries such as consumer electronics and industry. This paper looks at the recent developments in WPT, particularly concerning AI-improved efficiency, range, and reliability. AI-driven also works to control power, manage device alignment, and test when maintenance is necessary, this makes powering smarter and more efficient. Accuracy is given by deploying machine learning and computer vision, and on the other hand, the maintenance procedure is done through predictions. Furthermore, the ability of the management system to include the use of AI in power regulation enables the control of consumption based on the load. In this study, the positive future effect of AI is discussed concerning improvements in WPT technologies, which is paramount in subsequent applications. Based on the results, it is essential to continue the investigation of the topic within this interdisciplinary science to advance existing problems and discover novel possibilities for evolution. Data based on experiments shows a significant improvement in the efficiency of information transfer where AI is used with rates up to 25% higher than those using the traditional ways. Additionally, advanced maintenance forecasting algorithms improve system availability by cutting down on 30% of the downtimes when applied in real-life applications of AI technology. The study also looks at the possibilities of the outlook to the future including emergence of the distributed artificial intelligence for autonomous WPT network, and additional potential of quantum computing for the use to improve the algorithm. This indicates that there is a new era for the convergence of WPT and AI to enhance the progress of power transfer system in conditions of elegant, efficient, and robust.

We calculate energies of shallow donors confined in a rolled-up quantum well in the presence of the electric field by solving numerically the Schrödinger equation in natural curvilinear coordinates. It is found that the curves of density of states (DOS) are very sensitive to the variation of the donor position, the geometry of the spiral and the applied electric field value. Novel results for dependencies of donor’s dipole moment and its polarizability on the electric field strength and its orientation, for different donor positions are presented. Also, we found that anisotropic Stark effect of the first order provides in this structure a dependency of the polarizability on the external electric field in a spike-like shape, giving rise to a sharp variation of the dipole moment.

We developed a protein to rapidly and accurately diagnose Chagas disease, a life-threatening illness identified by the WHO as a critical worldwide public health risk. Complicating the current health situation are serological test limitations that contribute to most infected persons being unaware of their condition and therefore untreated. To improve diagnostic testing, we developed an immunological mimic of the etiological agent, Trypanosoma cruzi, by combining ten pathogen specific epitopes within the beta-barrel protein structure of Thermal Green Protein. The resulting multi-epitope protein, DxCruziV3, displayed high specificity and sensitivity as the antibody capture reagent in an ELISA platform with an analytical sensitivity that exceeds WHO recommendations. Within an immunochromatographic platform, DxCruziV3 showed excellent performance for the point of application diagnosis in a region endemic for multiple diseases, the municipality of Barcelos in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. In total, 167 individuals were rapidly tested using whole blood from a finger stick. As recommended by the Brazilian Ministry of Health, venous blood samples were laboratory tested by conventional assays for comparison. Test results suggest utilizing DxCruziV3 in different assay platforms can confidently diagnosis chronic infections by T. cruzi. Rapid and more accurate results will benefit everyone but will have the most noticeable impact in resource-limited rural areas where the disease is endemic.

Background: We evaluate the genetic and phenotypic features of a cohort of 12 Italian patients affected by Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) associated with RP1 sequence variants.; Methods: Retrospective, single center study (Careggi Hospital, Florence), including a cohort of twelve Italian patients (Five male and seven female) affected by RP carrying pathogenic variants of the RP1 gene. A complete ophthalmic assessment and pedigree analysis was conducted with focus on the onset of disease symptoms, the patient’s age at the first diagnosis, the follow up duration and the possible presence of comorbidities; Results: The mean age at onset of symptoms was 31,0 ± 24,1 years old, with a mean follow-up period of 9,1± 2,4 years. The main symptoms at presentation were hemeralopia and visual field constriction. Fundus evaluation revealed a classic type of RP. Fundus autofluorescence (FAF), Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), Electroretinogram (ERG), and visual field confirmed in most of the cases the typical features of classic retinitis pigmentosa.; (4) Conclusions: This single-center cohort of Italian patients provided information on the clinical and genetic features of RP1-associated RP. By comprehensively clarifying the genetic variations and their associated clinical manifestations, we can better tailor therapeutic interventions aimed at targeting specific genetic abnormalities. This ultimately promises to improve the prognosis and quality of life for individuals with RP-associated RP1.

Soluble inorganic pyrophosphatase (sPPase), a pyrophosphate hydrolase, has been shown to play an important role in several physiological processes such as plant growth and development, metabolic activities, and response to abiotic stresses, but sPPase has been less studied in woody plants. In order to preliminarily verify whether the soluble inorganic pyrophosphatase in Eucommia ulmoides Oliver (E. ulmoides) has a role in resistance to drought stress, we amplified the EuSIP5 (E. ulmoides soluble inorganic pyrophosphatase 5) cDNA sequence from E. ulmoides by RT-PCR. In order to study the drought resistance of the Eucommia ulmoides soluble inorganic pyrophosphatase 5 (EuSIP5) gene, the cDNA sequence of the EuSIP5 gene was amplified from Eucommia ulmoides Oliver by RT-PCR. Bioinformatic analysis indicated that EuSIP5 might be an unstable amphipathic protein, mainly located in the cytoplasm. E. ulmoides, the highest expression of the EuSIP5 gene was found in male leaves and pericarp from April to October, and in leaves of E. ulmoides in July and September. During drought, the expression of EuSIP5 in seedling E. ulmoides leaves was significantly higher than that of the control. An overexpression vector harboring the EuSIP5 was constructed and introduced into the tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi). We found that during drought stress, the appearance of wilting was delayed by 4 days in transgenic tobacco plants (OE) compared with wild type plants (WT), and the expression of drought-related genes DET2, CYP85A1, P5CS, ERF1 and F-box was found to be increased in transgenic tobacco leaves, as well as the enzyme activities of the protective enzymes: peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) were significantly higher than those of the WT, and the malondialdehyde (MDA) content was lower than the WT. These results indicated that the introduction of EuSIP5 gene into tobacco increased the expression of drought-related genes, enhanced the anti-membrane oxidation ability of tobacco, and reduced the oxidative stress damage, thus improving the drought resistance of tobacco.

ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that children and also adults can develop. A complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors may underlie interindividual variability in ADHD and potentially related aggressive behavior. Using high-resolution molecular biology techniques, we investigated the impact of some MAOA and SLC6A4 variations on ADHD and aggressive behavior in a group of 80 Italian children with ADHD and in 80 healthy controls.We found that homozygous genotypes of MAOA rs6323 and rs1137070 were associated with an increased risk of ADHD (p=0.02 and p=0.03, respectively), instead the heterozygous genotypes (GT of rs6323 and CT of rs1137030) (p=0.0002 and p=0.0006) were strongly linked to a lower risk of developing this disorder. In patients with aggressive behavior, we highligted only a weak negative association of both MAOA polymorphisms (heterozygous genotypes) with aggressiveness then, suggesting that these genotypes maybe protective towards specific changes in behavior (p=0.05). Interestingly, an increase of the GG genotype of rs6323 (p=0.01) and a decrease of GT genotype (p=0.0005) was also found in patients without aggressive behavior compared with controls. Regarding 5HTT gene genotyping, no allele and genotype differences have been detected among patients and controls. Our work shows that defining a genetic profile of ADHD may help to early detect those patients who are more vulnerable to ADHD and/or antisocial and aggressive behavior and to design precision-targeted therapies.

Introduction: The association of gene variants for interleukin 6(IL-6) (rs1800796), interleukin 10 (IL-10) (rs1800896) and tumor necrosis factorα (TNFα (rs1800629) with the occurrence of spontaneous preterm birth (PTB) was investigated to determine whether these genetic variants are a risk factor. Materials and methods: 199 blood samples from pregnant women who had given birth prematurely and 200 control blood samples were analyzed to determine single nucleotide polymor-phisms (SNPs) of genes for IL-6 (rs1800796), IL-10 (rs1800896) and TNFα (rs1800629). The control samples were samples from pregnant women with term delivery. Isolation of DNA was per-formed on mini-spin columns according to the manufacturer's protocol. The quality and purity of the isolated DNA were tested using a Qubit 3 fluorometer. Genotyping was performed with an ABI PRISM 7500 SDS using TaqMan SNP genotyping assays. The genotypes obtained were an-alyzed using the 7500 Software v2.3 package. Results: Carriers of the A/A genotype for the rs1800629 of the TNFα gene have 4.81 times greater chance of late-onset PTB compared to carriers of the G/G and A/G genotypes in the recessive inheritance model. The presence of the G/G genotype in the recessive inheritance model compared with the G/A and A/A genotypes for the rs1800896 of the IL-10 gene represents a potentially protective factor, with mothers in the term-birth group having an almost 2-fold lower odds of PTB in general and an almost 10-fold lower odds of early PTB. On the other hand, carriers of the A/G genotype of rs1800896 have a 1.54-fold higher chance of preterm birth in general and a 1.6-fold higher chance of late preterm birth in the super dominant inheritance model compared to the A/A and G/G genotypes in the group of mothers with PTB. In this study, no association was found between PTB and rs1800796 of the IL-6 gene. Conclusion: rs1800629 in mothers was associated with PTB. rs1800896 shows a potentially protective effect for the occurrence of PTB in this study. No association was found between PTB and rs1800796.

Alzheimer’s is a degenerative brain condition brought on by intricate brain changes after cell injury. The prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease is highest in those over 65. Presently, AD is detected by manual examination of a patient’s Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan and neuropsychological assessments. Due to its subpar accuracy and performance, solutions based on artificial intelligence (AI) have not been made more widely available. This paper proposes a deep Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) with the pre-trained MobileNet-V2 architecture as the model’s base for feature extraction and reducing the parameter size and training time. The proposed model accurately classifies various early stages of AD. The proposed approach visualizes the class activation maps in the form of a heat map on brain MRI scans via the Grad-CAM algorithm that lifts the black-box nature of the deep model. To handle the imbalance problem of the AD data set acquired from Kaggle, the oversampling algorithm SMOTE interpolates new images to even the class samples. The proposed multi-class classification deep model is named Bio-AD and evaluated using different quality metrics. The Bio-AD model has the following values for evaluation metrics: 97.92%, 99.87%, 97.87%, 98%, 98%, and 0.0646 for accuracy, Area Under the Curve (AUC), F1-score, Precision, Recall, and loss respectively. The proposed Bio-AD model is compared with DenseNet-169, VGG-19, and InceptionResNet-V2 using different quality metrics and outperformed in comparison with all other models using the AD data set.

In this paper, the ratio of gross agricultural production (GAP) and agricultural carbon emission is defined as agricultural carbon emission efficiency (ACEE). Considering rural labor transfer (RLT) increases the agricultural machinery intensity (AMI), the two are substitutes for each other and may interact with agricultural carbon emission efficiency (ACEE), we constructed a Simultaneous Equations Model (SEM) of ACEE, RLT and AMI, and analyzed the interaction mechanism of these three variables by using the Three-Stage Least Squares (3SLS) method to solve the endogeneity of the model. The following conclusions are drawn. First, RLT and AMI significantly promote the improvement of ACEE, while the improvement of ACEE and AMI further promotes RLT. Secondly, the causal relationship and influence mechanism of ACEE, RLT and AMI are interactive and multi-directional. An increase in AMI promotes ACEE, but an increase in ACEE inhibits an increase in AMI, suggesting that the marginal rate of substitution of machinery for labor is decreasing. Finally, China has significant regional heterogeneity. Labor transfer and machinery are only direct factors in increasing ACEE, while factors such as economic base, technology level and farmers' attitudes provide environmental support for the effective improvement of ACEE.

This article traces the origination, distribution, kinematics, function, and nature of alternative lateral horse gaits, i.e. intermediate speed lateral-sequence gaits involving the synchronization of ipsilateral limbs in the swing phase. Such alternative lateral horse gaits (namely, the running walk, rack, broken pace, hard pace, and broken trot) have been prized by equestrians for their comfort, and have been found in select horse breeds for hundreds of years and even exhibited in fossil equid trackways. After exploring the evolution and development of alternative lateral gaits via fossil equid trackways, human art and historical writings, and the genetics and history of modern horse breeds, functional and biomechanical reasons are offered for the genesis of these gaits. The article concludes by tracing similarities and differences between and within the expression of these alternative lateral gaits by various horse breeds. Fast and low-swinging hard pacing gaits are common in several horse breeds of East and North Asia, high-stepping rack and running walk gaits are often displayed in European and North and South American breeds, the broken pace is found in breeds of Central Asia, Southeast Asia, West Asia, Western North America, and Brazil in South American, and the broken trot occurs in breeds of North Asia, South Asia, and the Southern United States, and Brazil South America.

With metal oxide semiconductors being a promising candidate for accurate indoor air quality assessments, multiple drawbacks of the gas sensors prevent their widespread use. Examples include poor selectivity, instability over time, and sensor poisoning. Complex calibration methods and advanced operation modes can solve some of those drawbacks. However, this leads to long calibration times, which are unsuitable for mass production. In recent years, multiple attempts to solve calibration transfer have been made with the help of direct standardization, orthogonal signal correction, and many more methods. Besides those, a new promising approach is transfer learning from deep learning. This article will compare different calibration transfer methods, including direct standardization, piecewise direct standardization, transfer learning for deep learning models, and global model building. The machine learning methods to calibrate the initial models for calibration transfer are feature extraction, selection, and regression (established methods) and a custom convolutional neural network TCOCNN. It is shown that transfer learning can outperform the other calibration transfer methods regarding the root mean squared error, especially if the initial model is built with multiple sensors. It was possible to reduce the number of calibration samples by up to 99.3 % (from 10 days to approximately 2 hours) and still achieve an RMSE for acetone of around 18 ppb (15 ppb with extended individual calibration) if six different sensors were used for building the initial model. Furthermore, it was shown that the other calibration transfer methods (direct standardization and piecewise direct standardization) also work reasonably well for both machine learning approaches, primarily when multiple sensors are used for the initial model.

Extracellular electron transfer (EET) is key to the success of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Clostridium sp. often occurs in MFC anode communities, but its ability to perform EET remains controversial. We have employed Clostridium pasteurianum DSM 525 as biocatalyst in a glycerol-fed MFC, designated MFC_DSM. We have also followed the EET of this biocatalyst in the presence of a mediator, namely soluble neutral red (NR), soluble methyl viologen (MV), neutral red film (FNR), or methyl viologen film (FMV). MFC_DSM provided power and current densities (j) of 0.39 mW.cm^-2 and 2.47 mA.cm^-2, respectively, which evidenced that the biocatalyst performs direct electron transfer (DET). Introducing 150.0 µM NR or MV into the MFC_DSM improved the current density by 7.0- and 3.7-fold (17.05 and 8.45 mA.cm^-2), respectively. After 20 cyclic voltammetry (CV) cycles, the presence of FNR in the MFC_DSM anodic chamber provided almost twofold higher current density (30.76 µA.cm^-2) compared the presence of NR in the MFC_DSM. Introducing MV or FMV into the MFC_DSM anodic chamber gave practically the same current density after 10 CV cycles. The MFC_DSM anodic electrode might interact with FMV weakly than with FNR, so FNR is more promising to enhance C. pasteurianum DSM 525 EET within MFC_DSM.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects both the upper and lower motor neurons in the nervous system, causing muscle weakness and severe disability. The progressive course of the disease reduces the functional capacity in the affected patients, limits daily activities and leads to complete dependence on caregivers, ultimately resulting in a fatal outcome. Respiratory dysfunction mostly occurs later in the disease and is associated with a worse prognosis. 46 participans were included in our study, with 23 patients in ALS group and 23 individuals in the control group. The ultrasound examination of the phrenic nerve (PN) was performed by two authors using a high-resolution "Philips EPIQ 7" ultrasound machine with a linear 4-18 MHz transducer. Our study revealed that the phrenic nerve is significantly smaller on both sides in ALS patients compared to the control group arba controls (p < 0.001). Only one significant study on PN ultrasound in ALS, conducted in Japan, also showed significant results (p < 0.00001). These small studies are particularly promising, as they suggest that ultrasound findings could serve as a additinioal diagnostic tool for ALS

This work attempts to answer in a clear way the following key questions regarding the optimal initialization of the Sysmon tool, towards the identification of Lateral Movement in the MS Windows ecosystem. First, from an expert’s standpoint and with reference to the relevant literature, what are the criteria of determining the possibly optimal initialization features of the Sysmon’s event monitoring tool, which are also applicable as custom rules within the config.xml configuration file? Second, based on the identified features, how can a functional configuration file, able to identify as many LM variants as possible, be generated? To answer these questions, we relied on the MITRE ATT&amp;CK knowledge base of adversary tactics and techniques, and focused on the execution of the nine commonest LM methods. The conducted experiments, performed on a properly configured testbed, suggested a great number of interrelated networking features, that were implemented as custom rules in the Sysmon’s config.xml file. Moreover, by capitalizing on the rich corpus of the 870K Sysmon logs collected, we create and evaluate in terms of TP and FP rates an extensible Python .evtx file analyzer, dubbed PeX, which can be used towards automatizing the parsing and scrutiny of such voluminous files. Both the .evtx logs dataset and the developed PeX tool are provided publicly for further propelling future research in this interesting and rapidly evolving field.

Using a three-dimensional, hydrostatic, primitive-equation ocean model, this study investigates the dynamics of lateral circulation in a partially stratified tidal inlet, the Barataria Pass in the Gulf of Mexico, over a 25.6-hour diurnal tidal cycle. Model performance is assessed against observational data. During flood tide, the lateral circulation exhibits the characteristics similar to that induced by differential advection, i.e., lateral flow consists of two counter-rotating cells and is convergent at the surface. The analysis of momentum balance indicates that, in addition to the pressure gradient and vertical stress divergence, nonlinear advection and horizontal stress divergence are also important contributors. During ebb phase, the lateral circulation is mostly eastward for the whole water column and persisting for almost the whole period. The surface divergence suggested by the differential advection mechanism lasts for a very short period, if it ever exists. The main momentum balance across most of the transect during ebb is between the along-channel advection of cross-channel momentum and pressure gradient. The sectional averaged lateral velocity magnitude during ebb is comparable to that during flood, which is different from the idealized numerical experiment result.

In this study, we present comprehensive climatologies of effective ultraviolet (UV) quantities and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) over Cyprus for the period 2004 to 2023, leveraging the synergy of earth observation (EO) data and radiative transfer model simulations. The EO dataset, encompassing satellite and re-analysis data for aerosols, total ozone column, and water vapor, alongside cloud modification factors, to capture the nuanced dynamics of Cyprus's atmospheric conditions. With a temporal resolution of 15 minutes and a spatial of 0.05°x0.05°, these climatologies undergo rigorous validation against established satellite datasets and are further evaluated through comparisons with ground-based global horizontal irradiance measurements provided by the Meteorological Office of Cyprus. This dual-method validation approach not only underscores the models' accuracy but also highlights their proficiency in capturing intra-daily cloud coverage variations. Our analysis extends to investigating the long-term trends of these solar radiation quantities, examining their interplay with changes in cloud attenuation, aerosol optical depth (AOD), and total ozone column (TOC). Significant decreasing trends in the noon ultraviolet index (UVI), of -2 to -4% per decade have been found in Autumn, especially marked on the island’s Northeastern part, mainly originating from the (significant) positive trends in TOC. The significant decreasing trends in TOC, of -2 to -3% per decade that were found in Spring do not result in correspondingly significant positive trends in the noon UVI since variations in cloudiness and aerosols also have a strong impact on the UVI in this season. The seasonal trends in the Daylight Integral (DLI) were generally not significant. These insights provide a valuable foundation for further studies aimed at developing public health strategies and enhancing agricultural productivity, highlighting the critical importance of accurate and high-resolution climatological data.

Based on some experiments, the paper describes with the help of polarization the physic-chemical processes that take place in the contact area of friction pairs, during the selective transfer as a result of the change in the input speed of the lubricant (glycerin), as well as how it influences their wear. Through polarization, the quantitative and qualitative transformations of glycerin are studied during frictional stress with selective transfer, the determination of the properties of the selective solution, and the damage to the metals and alloys of the friction pairs, but also after frictional stress.

The development of straddle-type monorail tour-transit systems (MTTSs) has received keen attention, raising the need for revisions on related design codes. This work presents a comprehensive assessment of the lateral stiffness limit of steel substructures in MTTSs. Firstly, a wind‒vehicle‒bridge coupling model was established, integrating multibody dynamics and finite element methods. This model was then validated against field test results, considering measured track irregularities as the excitation. Afterwards, a trend analysis and a variance-based sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the effect of various factors on the dynamic response of MTTS. Referring to existing specifications, an evaluation index for the lateral stiffness of pier columns and track beams was proposed. Results indicate that the pier height significantly impacts the lateral displacement of the pier top, accounting for 87% of the first-order sensitivity index and 75% of the total sensitivity index. In comparison, the lateral stiffness of track beams contributes over 70% to the maximum lateral acceleration and displacement at the mid-span. Finally, the lateral limited values for the displacement at the pier top and the deflection–span ratio of the track beam were determined as 8.04 mm and L/4200, respectively. These findings can serve as valuable references for future research and designs in this field.

Darier disease (DD) is an autosomal dominant disorder due to mutation of ATP2A2 gene causing an isolated skin manifestation based on keratinocyte disconnection and apoptosis. Systemic manifestations of DD have not been demonstrated so far although a high incidence of neuropsychiatric syndromes suggest an involvement of central nervous system. A Novel ATP2A2 Gene Mutation c.118G>A, causing keratinocyte and cardiomyocyte disconnection in Darier disease, is reported. Their common pathologic pathway, still unreported, was documented by both skin and left ventricular endomyocardial biopsy because of cardiac dilatation and dysfunction appeared several decades after skin manifestations.Keratinocyte disconnection was paralleled by cardiomyocyte separation at lateral junction. Cardiomyocyte separation was associated to cell disarray, sarcoplasmic reticulum dilatation and increased myocyte apoptosis. Clinically, hyperkeratotic skin papules were associated to chest pain, severe muscle exhaustion and ventricular arrhythmias that improved following administration of aminophylline, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor enhancing SERCA2 protein phosphorylation.Specific mutations of ATP2A2 gene may cause cardiac involvement in patients with DD. Cardiac pathologic changes are similar to those documented in the skin including cardiomyocyte disconnection that promotes precordial pain and cardiac arrhythmias. Phosphodiesterase inhibitors, enhancing SERCA2 protein phosphorylation may substantially attenuate the symptoms.

Retroviruses perpetuate their survival by incorporating a copy of their genome into the host cell, a critical step catalyzed by the virally encoded integrase. The viral capsid plays an important role during the viral life-cycle, including nuclear importation in case of lentiviruses and integration targeting events, hence, targeting the integrase and the viral capsid is a favorable therapeutic strategy. While integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) are recommended as first-line regimens given their high efficacy and tolerability, lenacapavir is the first capsid inhibitor and the newest addition to the HIV treatment arsenal. These inhibitors are however designed for treatment of HIV-1 infection, and their efficacy against HIV-2 remains widely understudied and inconclusive, supported only by few limited phenotypic susceptibility studies. We therefore carried out inhibition profiling of a panel of second-generation INSTIs and lenacapavir against HIV-2 in cell culture, utilizing pseudovirion inhibition profiling assays. Our results show that the tested INSTIs and lenacapavir exerted excellent efficacy against ROD-based HIV-2 integrase, and interestingly, raltegravir also showed modest antiviral activity against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in antiviral assays carried out in Vero E6 cells.

The AREB/ABF (ABA response element binding) proteins in plants are vital for plant stress responses, but the understanding of AREB/ABFs in orchid species, an important traditional medicinal and ornamental plants, is limited. Here, twelve AREB/ABF genes were identified within three orchids’ complete genome and classified into three groups (groups I, II, and III) via a phylogenetic analysis, which was further supported by the analysis of their conserved motifs and gene structures. The cis-elements analysis showed that hormone response elements followed by light and stress responses were widely rich in AREB/ABFs. A prediction analysis of orchid ABRE/ABF-mediated regulatory network was further constructed through cis-regulatory elements (CREs) analysis of their promoter regions and revealed that several transcriptional factor (TF) gene family were abundant as the potential regulators for orchid AREB/ABFs. Expression profile analysis based on public transcriptomic data showed that most AREB/ABF genes have distinct tissue-specific expression patterns in orchid plants. Additionally, DcaABI5 as the homolog of ABA INSENSITIVE 5 (ABI5) from Arabidopsis was selected for further analysis. The results showed that Arabidopsis transgenic overexpressing DcaABI5 could rescue the ABA insensitive phenotype in the mutant abi5. Collectively, these findings will provide valuable information on AREB/ABF genes in orchids.

Originating in the Mediterranean, B. oleracea is grown all over the world and is highly valued for its nutritional value and variety in cooking. Its susceptibility to pests, diseases, and environmental stressors, however, poses significant challenges to sustaining consistent crop quality and productivity. The BASIC PENTACYSTEINE gene significantly impacts plant growth and responses to abiotic stresses. Nevertheless, little is known about its precise role and the underlying biological processes in B. oleracea. Eleven BPC genes in B. oleracea were identified by a thorough genome-wide investigation and categorized into three categories according to their structural traits and gene motifs. There were eight different chromosomes on which these BoBPCs were located. Comparative synteny analysis was used to reveal the evolutionary traits of potatoes, Arabidopsis, and B. oleracea. The BoBPC family genes in B. oleracea were found to have specific cis-elements linked to growth, stress responses, and hormone regulation when their promoter regions were studied. Cuticular wax synthesis expression revealed that all BoBZR1 genes, from wild to mutant, expressed at varied amounts in distinct types. Moreover, distinctive BoBPC gene expression patterns were found in the seven distinct tissues that were studied. Our thorough analysis shows that the BoBPC family is widely involved in B. oleracea developmental processes. The present findings provide an established theoretical basis for further exploration into the composition and roles of BoBPC in B. oleracea.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease. Despite new methods of diagnostics and treatment as well as extensive biological and immunosuppressive treatment, the etiology of RA is not fully understood. Moreover, the problem of diagnosis and treatment of RA patients is still current and affects a large group of patients. It is suggested that these ER-related features may impair adaptation to chronic stress, inferring the risk of rheumatoid arthritis. The main goal in this study was evaluation of changes in mRNA translation to determine chronic ER stress conditions in rheumatoid arthritis patients. The study group consist of 86 individuals including total 56 rheumatoid arthritis patients and 30 healthy controls. The expression level of mRNA form blood samples of RA patients as well as controls of the PERK-UPR associated genes: p-eIF2, BCL-2, PERK, ATF4, BAX were investigated by Real-Time qPCR. GAPDH expression was used as a standard control. Considering the median, the expression of PERK, BCL-2, p-eIF2, ATF4, BAX was found to be significantly increased in the blood of RA patients compared with the control group. The p-value for the PERK gene was 0.0000000036, the p-value for the BCL-2 gene was 0.000000014, the p-value for the p-eIF2 gene was 0.006948, the p-value for the ATF4 gene was 0.0000056 and the p-value for the BAX gene was 0.00019, respectively. Thus, it can be concluded that targeting of the components of the PERK-dependent UPR signaling pathway via small-molecule PERK inhibitors, may contribute to the development of novel, innovative treatment strategies against rheumatoid arthritis.

Previous high throughput screening studies indicated trans-eQTLs tend to be tissue specific. In this study, I probed if this feature can be used to identify tissue-specific gene regulatory networks. eQTL data (P<5e-8) for 16,259 genes were identified and their summary association statistics were obtained from the eQTLGene database. Next, eQTLs that display both cis and trans regulatory effects were selected and the association between their corresponding genes were examined using Mendelian randomization. A total of 169 genes that exerted trans-regulatory impacts on 692 genes were identified. 90% of the genes (N=749) aggregated into a gene regulatory network significantly enriched in hemo-immune processes. The robustness of finding was confirmed through simulation. The identified network displayed the scale-free topology. This provided the reason to examine the association of the network’s hub genes with the phenome. The outcome of analyses revealed GSDMB and ORMDL3 impact several disorders of immune origin and ALDH2 overexpression contributes to obesity. This study reports trans-eQTLs can be used to identify tissue-specific gene regulatory networks and describes a workflow to achieve this purpose. The network identified in this study showed scale-free topology indicating the hub genes of a GRN could be targeted to prevent disease outcomes.

At present, magnetic selection of genetically modified cells is mainly performed with surface markers naturally expressed by cells such as LNGFR, CD4 and H-2Kk. The disadvantage of such markers is the possibility of their undesired and poorly predictable expression by unmodified cells before or after cell manipulation, which makes it essential to develop new surface markers that would not have such a drawback. Earlier, modified CD52 surface protein variants with embedded HA and FLAG epitope tags (CD52/FLAG and CD52/HA) were developed by the group of Dr. Mazurov for selection of CRISPR-modified cells using FACS. In the current study, we tested whether these markers can be used for magnetic selection of transduced cells. For this purpose, appropriate constructs were created in MigR1-based bicistronic retroviral vectors containing EGFP and DsRedExpress2 as fluorescent reporters. Cytometric analysis of the transduced NIH 3T3 cell populations after magnetic selection evaluated the efficiency of isolation and purity of the obtained populations, as well as the change in the median fluorescence intensity (MFI). The results of this study demonstrate that the surface markers CD52/FLAG and CD52/HA can be effectively used for magnetic cell selection, and their efficiencies are comparable to that of the commonly used LNGFR marker. At the same time, the significant advantage of these markers is the absence of HA and FLAG epitope sequences in cellular proteins, which rules out spurious co-isolation of negative cells.

The Double U-pipe ground heat exchanger, recognized for its straightforward process, cost-effectiveness, high heat exchange efficiency, and low thermal resistance, stands as the predominant ground heat exchanger type in today's shallow geothermal energy development and utilization. Recent years have seen significant research into the heat transfer influencing factors and heat exchange performance of Double U-pipe ground heat ex-changers via experimental testing methods. Yet, studies integrating numerical simulation with in-situ testing have been less frequent. Drawing on the cylindrical heat source model theory and the outcomes of regional in-situ thermal response tests, this paper develops a Double U-pipe ground heat transfer model by establishing physical, mathematical, and heat transfer geometric models. It assesses the impact of varying inlet temperatures, flow rates, and initial ground temperatures on heat exchange efficiency under heating conditions. The results validate the precision of the double U-pipe ground heat exchanger model based on in-situ testing. They show that enhancing the temperature differential between the inlet and initial temperatures, elevating the initial ground temperature, and moderately increasing the flow rate can boost the system's heat exchange efficiency.

In the sphere of urban renewal in historic districts, preserving and innovatively reinterpreting traditional architectural styles remains a primary research focus. However, the modernization and adaptive reuse of traditional buildings often necessitate changes in their functionality. To cater to the demands of tourism in historic districts, many traditional residential buildings require conversion to commercial use, resulting in a mismatch between their external form and internal function. This study explores an automated approach to transform traditional residences into commercially viable designs, offering an efficient and scalable solution for the modernization of historic architecture. We developed a methodology based on diffusion models, focusing on a dataset of nighttime shopfront facades. By training a Low-Rank adaptation (LoRA) model and integrating the ControlNet model, we enhanced the accuracy and stability of generated images. The methodology’s performance was validated through qualitative and quantitative assessments, optimizing batch size, repetition, and learning rate configurations. These evaluations confirmed the method’s effectiveness. Our findings significantly advance the modern commercial style transformation of historical architectural facades, providing a novel solution that maintains aesthetic and functional integrity, thereby fostering breakthroughs in traditional de-sign thinking and exploring new possibilities for the preservation and commercial adaptation of historical buildings.

Seed potato treatment is vital for plant protection, yield enhancement, and product quality. In the conducted research, the plant biostimulator Supporter was applied to evaluate its impact on potato yields. Field studies were conducted in Northeastern, Northwestern, Western, and Southwest Poland from 2015 to 2017, using a randomized complete block design with a split-plot arrangement. The use of seed treatment technology with the Supporter product resulted in increased overall and commercial potato yields and improved yield tuber structure compared to traditional cultivation methods without tuber treatment before planting. Conclusion: The application of the plant biostimulator Supporter in seed potato treatment technology brings significant benefits, including, increased potato yield and improved yield structure. The cultivation location significantly influences potato yield and tuber structure. Understanding these differences can aid in better adapting cultivation practices and selecting varieties to specific local conditions, potentially leading to increased potato crop productivity. In terms of efficiency and yield quality, further research into its application in agricultural practice is recommended, which may contribute to further increasing potato production efficiency and quality. Developing more ecological and efficient farming practices can help meet society's growing food needs.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a progressive and potentially fatal complication of sickle cell disease (SCD) affecting 6-10% of adult SCD patients. Various mechanisms and theories have been evaluated to explain the pathophysiology of the disease. However, questions remain, particularly regarding the clinical heterogeneity of the disease in terms of symptoms, complications, and survival. Beyond the classical mechanisms that have been thoroughly investigated and include hemolysis, nitric oxide availability, endothelial disorders, thrombosis, and left heart failure, attention is focused nowadays on the potential role of the genes involved in such processes. Potential candidate genes are investigated through next-generation sequencing, with the TGF-β pathway being the initial target. This field of research may also provide novel targets for pharmacologic agents in the future as is already the case with idiopathic PH. The collection and processing of data and samples from multiple centers can yield safe results that will allow a better understanding of SCD-related PH as a part of the disease’s clinical spectrum. The following review attempts to capture the most recent findings of studies on gene polymorphisms that have been associated with PH in SCD patients.

The retinoblastoma (RB) transcriptional corepressor 1 (RB1) is a critical tumor suppressor gene, governing diverse cellular processes implicated in cancer biology. Dysregulation or deletion in RB1 contributes to the development and progression of various cancers, making it a prime target for therapeutic intervention. RB1's canonical function in cell cycle control and DNA repair mechanisms underscores its significance in restraining aberrant cell growth and maintaining genomic stability. Understanding the complex interplay between RB1 and cellular pathways is beneficial to fully elucidate its tumor-suppressive role across different cancer types and for therapeutic development. As a result, investigating vulnerabilities arising from RB1 deletion-associated mechanisms offers promising avenues for targeted therapy. Recently, several findings highlighted multiple methods as a promising strategy for combating tumor growth driven by RB1 loss, offering potential clinical benefits in various cancer types. This review summarizes the multifaceted role of RB1 in cancer biology and its implications for targeted therapy.

Background: The lateral antebrachial cutaneous nerve (LACN) is the terminal sensory branch of musculocutaneous nerve and is rarely entrapped or injured. This study describes the electrodiagnostic (EDX) findings and etiologies of LACN neuropathy. Methods: This is a review of 49 patients with pain and/or paresthesia of the forearm who underwent EDX studies. The diagnosis of LACN neuropathy was based on clinical and sensory conduction abnormalities. Results: The most common etiology of LACN neuropathy was iatrogenic injury in 30 (61.2%) patients, primarily due to biceps tendon repair at the elbow (11 [36.7%]) and phlebotomy (5 [16.7%]. Fifteen (30.6%) patients sustained a non-iatrogenic injury at the proximal forearm/elbow, consisting of 6 (60%) laceration injuries and 5 (33.3%) stretch injuries. Four (8.2%) patients comprised the “other” etiology category, including 2 mass lesions causing LACN compression. Pain, paresthesia, and/or numbness in the LACN distribution were reported in 33 (67.3%), 27 (55.1%), and 23 (46.9%) patients, respectively. Hypoesthesia was detected in 45 (91.8%) patients, and dysesthesia in 7 (14.3%). The sensory nerve action potentials (SNAPs) of the LACN on the symptomatic side were absent in 44 (89.8%) patients. Of the 5 patients whose SNAPs of the LACN were detected, all had a decreased amplitude and 2 had increased sensory latency. Conclusion: The most common etiology for LACN neuropathy in this series was iatrogenic injury; repair of biceps tendon at the elbow was the most frequent provoking cause. Protection of the LACN during surgical procedures at the elbow and forearm is vital to prevent iatrogenic injury.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a severe and incurable neurodegenerative disease, char-acterized by the progressive death of motor neurons, leading to paralysis and death. It is a rare disease distinguished by high patient-to-patient heterogeneity, making its study arduous and complex. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) emerged as an important player in ALS development. Thus, ALS phenotype-expressing cells can spread their abnormal bioactive cargos through the secretion of EVs, even at far distant tissues. Importantly, due to their nature and composition, EVs’ formation and cargo can be exploited for the better comprehension of this elusive disease and identification of novel biomarkers, as well as for potential therapeutic applications, such as those based on stem cell-derived exosomes. This review highlights the recent advances in the identification of the role of EVs in ALS etiopathology and how EVs can be promising new approaches for therapeutic strategies.

The gut microbiota has been suggested as an important factor in the pathogenic mechanisms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This study aimed to investigate whether the intake of different kinds of dietary fiber was related to the disease progression rate (∆FS) and survival time. In total, 272 sporadic ALS patients diagnosed according to the revised EI Escorial criteria were recruited from March 2011 and were followed-up until the occurrence of events or the end of September 2020. The events included percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, tracheostomy, and death. Dietary fiber intake was calculated based on a 24-hour dietary recall and classified according to five major fiber-rich foods: vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, and nuts/seeds. Among the total participants, the group with ∆FS values lower than the mean ∆FS (0.75) was noted in the highest tertiles of total and vegetable fiber intake. Participants with the highest tertile of vegetable fiber intake showed longer survival in the Kaplan–Meier analysis (p = 0.033). Notably, vegetable fiber intake was negatively correlated with pro-inflammatory cytokine (interleukin [IL]-1β, IL-6, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1) levels in the cerebrospinal fluid. This study showed that vegetable fiber intake could influence the disease progression rate and survival time. Further clinical trials are needed to confirm whether dietary fiber supplementation improves the prognosis of ALS.

This investigation is part of a topical situation where wireless equipment is gradually being used for energy transfer, particularly for autonomous systems and the use of decarbonized en-ergies. A characteristic example of decarbonized autonomous use is linked to the substitution of thermal engine vehicles by electric vehicles (EVs) equipped with energy storage batteries. This response was considered in an ecological context of reducing air pollution and defending plane-tary biodiversity, which are currently vital. These EVs ultimately operate thanks to the wireless charging of their batteries when stationary or running. By changing long-established means of transport that have become a threat to biodiversity, it is necessary to ensure that innovative re-placement solutions protect this biodiversity. In addition, the construction of wireless power transfer (WPT) battery chargers for these EVs must offer an optimal ecology of clean energy saving. In such a context, the two concepts of One Health (OH) and Responsible Attitude (RA) will find their place in the design and control of WPT tools in EVs. This contribution aims to il-lustrate and analyze the roles of the green and non-wasteful OH and RA approaches in the de-sign and control of WPT embedded in EVs for the smart city (SC) environment. In the paper, WPT tools are first introduced. The design and control of EV battery charging tools are then examined. The biological effects on living tissues due to the electromagnetic field (EMF) radia-tion of WPT are analyzed. The phenomena and equations governing the design of WPT and the effects of EMF radiation are then exposed. The OH and RA approaches in the SC context are af-terward analyzed. The protection against the unsafe effects of WPT tools in the SC environment is consequently explored. The analyses followed in the paper are supported by examples of lit-erature.

Magnaporthe oryzae is a filamentous heterothallic ascomycete fungus globally distributed in rice-growing regions and serves as the causative agent of rice blast disease. Populations shaped by environmental factors and human intervention play important roles in the formation of genetic structure. In this study, population structures and spatiotemporal dynamics were investigated based on the large-scale whole genomic sequences of rice-infecting M. oryzae around the world. By analyzing the genetic structures, we identified divergent clades that crossed geographic boundaries. While we observed associations between the isolates and their geographic origins, we also found that there were frequent migration events occurring worldwide. The populations in Asia demonstrated the highest genetic diversity due to the continent’s history of rice domestication, followed by separate gene flows to Africa, North America, South America and Europe. Within Asia, China was the migration origin, facilitating gene flows to Japan and South Korea. Additionally, our analysis of the evolutionary history of global M. oryzae populations provided insights into the population expansion that has taken place in recent decades. Overall, our findings indicate that human-mediated gene flows played a pivotal role in shaping the genetic structure of M. oryzae.

With rapid advances in gene editing and gene therapy technologies, the development of genetic, cell, or protein-based cures to disease are no longer the realm of science fiction but that of today’s practice. The impact of these technologies are rapidly bringing them to the veterinary market as both enhanced therapeutics and towards modeling their outcomes for translational application. Simply put, gene editing enables scientists to modify an organism’s DNA a priori through the use of site-specific DNA targeting tools like clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9). Gene therapy is a broader definition that encompasses the addition of exogenous genetic materials into specific cells to correct a genetic defect. More precisely, the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines gene therapy as “a technique that modifies a person’s genes to treat or cure disease” by either (i) replacing a disease-causing gene with a healthy copy of the gene; (ii) inactivating a disease-causing gene that was not functioning properly; or (iii) introducing a new or modified gene into the body to help treat a disease. In some instances, this can be accomplished through direct transfer of DNA or RNA into target cells of interest or more broadly through gene editing. While gene therapy is possible through the simple addition of genetic information into cells of interest, gene editing allows the genome to be reprogrammed intentionally through the deletion of diseased alleles, reconstitution of wild type sequence, or targeted integration of exogenous DNA to impart new function. Cells can be removed from the body, altered, and reinfused, or edited in vivo. Indeed, manufacturing and production efficiencies in gene editing and gene therapy in the 21^st century has brought the therapeutic potential of in vitro and in vivo reprogrammed cells, to the front lines of therapeutic intervention (Brooks et al., 2016). For example, CAR-T cell therapy is revolutionizing hematologic cancer care in humans and is being translated to canines by us and others, and gene therapy trials are ongoing for mitral valve disease in dogs.

The study of the pathogenesis of febrile seizures and their consequences frequently necessitates gene expression analysis. The primary methodology employed for such analysis is reverse transcription with quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). To guarantee the accuracy of data obtained by RT-qPCR, it is crucial to utilize stably expressed reference genes. The objective of this study was to identify the most suitable reference genes for use in the analysis of mRNA production in various brain regions of rats following prolonged neonatal febrile seizures. The expression stability of eight housekeeping genes was evaluated using the online tool RefFinder in the dorsal and ventral hippocampal regions and in the temporal and medial prefrontal cortex of the brain. The Ppia gene exhibited the greatest stability of expression. Conversely, the genes with the least stable expression level are Actb and Ywhaz; thus, it is not recommended to use them for normalization in a febrile seizure model. Additionally, the majority of housekeeping genes demonstrate age-related, region-specific fluctuations. Therefore, it is crucial to employ the appropriate housekeeping genes for each brain structure under investigation when examining the expression dynamics of genes of interest in a febrile seizure model.