A Brassica miRNA Regulates Plant Growth and Immunity through Distinct Modes of Action

In plants, high disease resistance often results in a reduction of yield. Therefore, breeding crops with balanced yield and disease resistance has become a major challenge. Recently, microRNA (miRNA)-mediated R gene turnover has been shown to be a protective mechanism used by plants to prevent autoimmunity in the absence of pathogens. However, whether these miRNAs play a role in plant growth and how miRNA-mediated R gene turnover responds to pathogen infection have rarely been explored. Here, we found that a Brassica miRNA, miR1885, targets both an immune receptor gene and a development-related gene for negative regulation through distinct modes of action. MiR1885 directly silences the TIR-NBS-LRR class of R gene BraTNL1 but represses the expression of the photosynthesis-related gene BraCP24 by targeting the Trans-Acting Silencing (TAS) gene BraTIR1 for trans-acting small interfering RNAs (tasiRNAs)-mediated silencing. We found that, under natural conditions, miR1885 was kept at low levels to maintain normal development and basal immunity but peaked during the floral transition to promote flowering. Interestingly, upon Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) infection, miR1885-dependent trans-acting silencing of BraCP24 was enhanced to speed up the floral transition, whereas miR1885-mediated R gene turnover was overcome by TuMV-induced BraTNL1 expression, reflecting precise regulation of the arms race between plants and pathogens. Collectively, our results demonstrate that a single Brassica miRNA dynamically regulates both innate immunity and plant growth and responds to viral infection, revealing that Brassica plants have developed a sophisticated mechanism in modulating the interplay between growth, immunity, and pathogen infection.

Autonomous Self-Healing Silk Fibroin Injectable Hydrogels Formed via Surfactant-Free Hydrophobic Association

Many natural materials, such as silk, animal bone, nacre, and plant fibers, achieve outstanding strength and toughness through the rupture of sacrificial bonds between chain segments in the organic phase. In this work, we present a bioinspired strategy to fabricate silk fibroin-based hydrophobic-association (HA) hydrogels by incorporating the hydrophobic interaction as a sacrificial bond into the alginate ionic network, which not only enhanced the mechanical extensibility, strength, and toughness of the hydrogels but also enabled self-recovery and self-healing properties via reversible hydrophobic interactions without external stimuli at room temperature. The hydrophobic interaction system consisted of the hydrophobic monomer stearyl methacrylate (C18M) and an amphiphilic regenerated silk fibroin (RSF) solution. The mechanical tests and rheometry indicated that the hydrophobic interaction served as the sacrificial bond that preferentially ruptures prior to the alginate ionic network under an external load, which dissipated enormous amounts of energy and conferred an improved mechanical performance. Moreover, the structure of HA gels could be quickly recovered after injection due to the existence of hydrophobic interactions. In addition, the degradability of the HA gels in a protease XIV solution was strongly dependent upon the C18M component, which significantly promoted the degradation rate of HA gels. The biomimetic mineralization process of HA gels within a simulated body fluid (SBF), mimicking the inorganic composition of human blood plasma, was performed and the calcium phosphate nanoparticles on the hydrogel were observed. Importantly, in vivo experiments illustrated that the HA gels exhibited satisfactory biocompatibility, and the mouse osteoblasts (MC3T3-E1) could attach and spread on the hydrogels. Overall, the self-healing, biocompatibility, and high mechanical properties of the HA gels render them potentially suitable for load-bearing applications in drug delivery or other soft tissue-engineering applications.

Bioinspired hierarchical helical nanocomposite macrofibers based on bacterial cellulose nanofibers

Bio-sourced nanocellulosic materials are promising candidates for spinning high-performance sustainable macrofibers for advanced applications. Various strategies have been pursued to gain nanocellulose-based macrofibers with improved strength. However, nearly all of them have been achieved at the expense of their elongation and toughness. Inspired by the widely existed hierarchical helical and nanocomposite structural features in biosynthesized fibers exhibiting exceptional combinations of strength and toughness, we report a design strategy to make nanocellulose-based macrofibers with similar characteristics. By combining a facile wet-spinning process with a subsequent multiple wet-twisting procedure, we successfully obtain biomimetic hierarchical helical nanocomposite macrofibers based on bacterial cellulose nanofibers, realizing impressive improvement in their tensile strength, elongation and toughness simultaneously. The achievement certifies the validity of the bioinspired hierarchical helical and nanocomposite structural design proposed here. This bioinspired design strategy provides a potential platform for further optimizing or creating many more strong and tough nanocomposite fiber materials for diverse applications.

MicroRNA-124 regulates lactate transportation in the muscle of largemouth bass (micropterus salmoides) under hypoxia by targeting MCT1

Carbohydrate metabolism switches from aerobic to anaerobic (glycolysis) to supply energy in response to acute hypoxic stress. Acute hypoxic stress with dissolved oxygen (DO) levels of 1.2 ± 0.1 mg/L for 24 h and 12 h re-oxygenation was used to investigate the response of the anaerobic glycolytic pathway in Micropterus salmoides muscle. The results showed that the glucose concentration was significantly lower in muscle, while the lactic acid and pyruvic acid concentrations tended to increase during hypoxic stress. No significant difference was observed in muscle glycogen, and ATP content fluctuated significantly. The activities of gluconeogenesis-related enzymes were slightly elevated, such as phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK). The activities of the glycolytic enzymes increased after the induction of hypoxia, such as hexokinase (HK), pyruvate kinase (PK), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). Curiously, phosphofructokinase (PFK) activity was significantly down-regulated within 4 h during hypoxia, although these effects were transient, and most indices returned to control levels after 12 h of re-oxygenation. Upregulated hif-1α, ampkα, hk, glut1, and ldh mRNA expression suggested that carbohydrate metabolism was reprogrammed under hypoxia. Lactate transport was regulated by miR-124-5p according to quantitative polymerase chain reaction and dual luciferase reporter assays. Our findings provide new insight into the molecular regulatory mechanism of hypoxia in Micropterus salmoides muscle.

Enterotype Bacteroides Is Associated with a High Risk in Patients with Diabetes: A Pilot Study

BACKGROUND

More and more studies focus on the relationship between the gastrointestinal microbiome and type 2 diabetes, but few of them have actually explored the relationship between enterotypes and type 2 diabetes. Materials and Methods. We enrolled 134 patients with type 2 diabetes and 37 nondiabetic controls. The anthropometric and clinical indices of each subject were measured. Fecal samples of each subject were also collected and were processed for 16S rDNA sequencing. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to determine the associations of enterotypes with type 2 diabetes. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between lipopolysaccharide levels and insulin sensitivity after adjusting for age, BMI, TG, HDL-C, DAO, and TNF-α. The correlation analysis between factors and microbiota was identified using Spearman correlation analysis. The correlation analysis between factors was identified using partial correlation analysis.

RESULTS

Gut microbiota in type 2 diabetes group exhibited lower bacterial diversity compared with nondiabetic controls. The fecal communities from all subjects clustered into two enterotypes distinguished by the levels of Bacteroides and Prevotella. Logistic regression analysis showed that the Bacteroides and Bacteroides and Prevotella enterotype. Partial correlation analysis showed that lipopolysaccharide was closely associated with diamine oxidase, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and Gutt insulin sensitivity index after adjusting for multiple covariates. Furthermore, the level of lipopolysaccharide was found to be an independent risk factor for insulin sensitivity.

CONCLUSIONS

We identified two enterotypes, Bacteroides and Prevotella, among all subjects. Our results showed that the Bacteroides enterotype was an independent risk factor for type 2 diabetes, which was due to increased levels of lipopolysaccharide causing decreased insulin sensitivity.Bacteroides and Prevotella enterotype. Partial correlation analysis showed that lipopolysaccharide was closely associated with diamine oxidase, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and Gutt insulin sensitivity index after adjusting for multiple covariates. Furthermore, the level of lipopolysaccharide was found to be an independent risk factor for insulin sensitivity. Bacteroides and.

Regioselective synthesis of substituted thiazoles via cascade reactions from 3-chlorochromones and thioamides

An efficient and regioselective strategy to synthesize substituted thiazoles via a cascade reaction in an environmentally benign medium was developed.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Three-Dimensional Whole-Heart Magnetic Resonance Angiography to Detect Coronary Artery Disease with Invasive Coronary Angiography as a Reference: A Meta-Analysis

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of three-dimensional whole-heart magnetic resonance coronary angiography (MRCA) in detecting coronary artery disease (CAD) with invasive coronary angiography as the reference standard.Methods: We searched PubMed and Embase for studies evaluating the diagnostic performance of three-dimensional whole-heart MRCA for the diagnosis of CAD with invasive coronary angiography as the reference standard. The bivariate mixed-effects regression model was applied to synthesize available data. The clinical utility of whole-heart MRCA was calculated by the posttest probability based on Bayes’s theorem.Results: Eighteen studies were included, of which 16 provided data at the artery level. Patient-based analysis revealed a pooled sensitivity of 0.90 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.87‐0.93) and specificity of 0.79 (95% CI 0.73‐0.84), while the pooled estimates were 0.86 (95% CI 0.82‐0.89) and 0.89 (95% CI 0.84‐0.92), respectively, at the artery level. The areas under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve were 0.93 (95% CI 0.90‐0.95) and 0.92 (95% CI 0.90‐0.94) at the patient and artery levels, respectively. With a pretest probability of 50%, the patients’ posttest probabilities of CAD were 81% for positive results and 11% for negative results.Conclusions: Whole-heart MRCA can be an alternative noninvasive method for diagnosis and assessment of CAD.

TGF-β1 facilitates cell-cell communication in osteocytes via connexin43- and pannexin1-dependent gap junctions

Connexins and pannexins are two families of channel forming proteins that are able to pass small molecules to achieve communication between cells. While connexins have been recognized to mediate gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC), pannexins are far less known. Our previous study reported the potential role of TGF-β1 in mediating of connexins in osteocytes in vitro. Herein, we aimed to elucidate the influence of TGF-β1 on cell-cell communication based on gap junctions assembled by connexins and pannexins in vitro and ex vivo. We first showed that TGF-β1 positively affected the elongation of dendritic processes of osteocytes. Our data indicated that TGF-β1 increased expressions of connexin43 (Cx43) and pannexin1 (panx1), which are indispensable for hemichannel formation in gap junctions, in osteocytes in vitro and ex vivo. TGF-β1 enhanced gap junction formation and impacted cell-cell communication in living osteocytes, as indicated by the scrape loading and Lucifer yellow transfer assays. TGF-β1 enhanced the expressions of Cx43 and panx1 via activation of ERK1/2 and Smad3/4 signalling. The TGF-β1-restored expressions of Cx43 and panx1 in osteocytes in the presence of an ERK inhibitor, U0126, further demonstrated the direct participation of Smad3/4 signalling. TGF-β1 increased the accumulation of Smad3 in the nuclear region (immunofluorescence assay) and promoted the enrichment of Smad3 at the binding sites of the promoters of Gja1 (Cx43) and Panx1 (ChIP assay), thereby initiating the enhanced gene expression. These results provide a deep understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the modulation of cell-cell communication in osteocytes induced by TGF-β1.

High-Strength, Self-Adhesive, and Strain-Sensitive Chitosan/Poly(acrylic acid) Double-Network Nanocomposite Hydrogels Fabricated by Salt-Soaking Strategy for Flexible Sensors

As a promising functional material, hydrogels have attracted extensive attention, especially in flexible wearable sensor fields, but it remains a great challenge to facilely integrate excellent mechanical properties, self-adhesion, and strain sensitivity into a single hydrogel. In this work, we present high in strength, stretchable, conformable, and self-adhesive chitosan/poly(acrylic acid) double-network nanocomposite hydrogels for application in epidermal strain sensor via in situ polymerization of acrylic acid in chitosan acid aqueous solution with tannic acid-coated cellulose nanocrystal (TA@CNC) acting as nanofillers to reinforce tensile properties, followed by a soaking process in a saturated NaCl solution to cross-link chitosan chains. With addition of a small amount of TA@CNC, the double-network nanocomposite hydrogels became highly adhesive and mechanically compliant, which were critical factors for the development of conformable and resilient wearable epidermal sensors. The salt-soaking process was applied to cross-link chitosan chains by shielded electrostatic repulsions between positively charged amino groups, drastically enhancing the mechanical properties of the hydrogels. The obtained double-network nanocomposite hydrogels exhibited excellent tunable mechanical properties that could be conveniently tailored with fracture stress and fracture strain ranging from 0.39 to 1.2 MPa and 370 to 800%, respectively. Besides, the hydrogels could be tightly attached onto diverse substrates, including wood, glass, plastic, polytetrafluoroethylene, glass, metal, and skin, demonstrating high adhesion strength and compliant adhesion behavior. In addition, benefiting from the abundant free ions from strong electrolytes, the flexible hydrogel sensors demonstrated stable conductivity and strain sensitivity, which could monitor both large human motions and subtle motions. Furthermore, the antibacterial property originating from chitosan made the hydrogels suitable for wearable epidermal sensors. The facile soaking strategy proposed in this work would be promising in fabricating high-strength multifunctional conductive hydrogels used for wearable epidermal devices.

Early detection of left atrial dysfunction assessed by CMR feature tracking in hypertensive patients

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate whether early left atrial (LA) dysfunction in hypertension (HTN), with or without left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), can be detected by cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking (CMR-FT).

METHODS

Seventy-three HTN patients and 29 healthy controls were retrospectively recruited. HTN patients were divided into the LVH (n = 29) and non-LVH group (n = 44). LA performance was analysed using CMR-FT in 2- and 4-chamber cine images, including LA reservoir function (total ejection fraction [EF], total strain [εs], peak positive strain rate [SRs]), conduit function (passive EF, passive strain [εe], peak early negative strain rate [SRe]) and booster pump function (booster EF, active strain [εa], late peak negative strain rate [SRa]). One-way analysis of variance with post hoc LSD tests, Spearman analysis, receiver operating characteristic curve and intra-class correlation coefficient analysis were applied for statistical analyses.

RESULTS

Compared with healthy controls, LA reservoir (LA total EF, εs, SRs) and conduit function (LA passive EF, εe, SRe) were significantly impaired in HTN patients with or without LVH, and these parameters significantly correlated with mitral E/A < 1 (all p < 0.05). However, LA booster pump function was relatively preserved in non-LVH patients, representing an intermediate stage between the LVH group and controls. Among LA deformation parameters, εe showed the highest diagnostic value for differentiation of HTN patients with healthy controls (AUC, 0.82; sensitivity, 80.82%; specificity, 72.41%). Observer reproducibility was good-excellent (ICC, 0.83-0.97) for all CMR-FT derived parameters.

CONCLUSIONS

CMR-FT is a promising tool for quantification of LA function. LA reservoir and conduit dysfunction might be detected early by CMR-FT in HTN patients before the presence of LVH.

KEY POINTS

• CMR-FT is a promising tool in quantifying LA function, including deformation and volumetric parameters. • LA reservoir and conduit dysfunction might be detected early by CMR-FT in HTN patients with or without LVH. • The LA booster pump function was relatively preserved in non-LVH patients.

Improving the Virtual Screening Ability of Target-Specific Scoring Functions Using Deep Learning Methods

Scoring functions play an important role in structure-based virtual screening. It has been widely accepted that target-specific scoring functions (TSSFs) may achieve better performance compared with universal scoring functions in actual drug research and development processes. A method that can effectively construct TSSFs will be of great value to drug design and discovery. In this work, we proposed a deep learning–based model named DeepScore to achieve this goal. DeepScore adopted the form of PMF scoring function to calculate protein–ligand binding affinity. However, different from PMF scoring function, in DeepScore, the score for each protein–ligand atom pair was calculated using a feedforward neural network. Our model significantly outperformed Glide Gscore on validation data set DUD-E. The average ROC-AUC on 102 targets was 0.98. We also combined Gscore and DeepScore together using a consensus method and put forward a consensus model named DeepScoreCS. The comparison results showed that DeepScore outperformed other machine learning–based TSSFs building methods. Furthermore, we presented a strategy to visualize the prediction of DeepScore. All of these results clearly demonstrated that DeepScore would be a useful model in constructing TSSFs and represented a novel way incorporating deep learning and drug design.

Data Engineering for Machine Learning in Women's Imaging and Beyond

OBJECTIVE. Data engineering is the foundation of effective machine learning model development and research. The accuracy and clinical utility of machine learning models fundamentally depend on the quality of the data used for model development. This article aims to provide radiologists and radiology researchers with an understanding of the core elements of data preparation for machine learning research. We cover key concepts from an engineering perspective, including databases, data integrity, and characteristics of data suitable for machine learning projects, and from a clinical perspective, including the HIPAA, patient consent, avoidance of bias, and ethical concerns related to the potential to magnify health disparities. The focus of this article is women's imaging; nonetheless, the principles described apply to all domains of medical imaging. CONCLUSION. Machine learning research is inherently interdisciplinary: effective collaboration is critical for success. In medical imaging, radiologists possess knowledge essential for data engineers to develop useful datasets for machine learning model development.

Botulinum Toxin Type A Attenuates Apoptosis in Human Dermal Microvascular Endothelial Cells Exposed to an In Vitro Model of Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury

BACKGROUND

Botulinum toxin type A (BTXA) has been reported to increase survival of critically ischemic skin flaps; however, the effect of BTXA in human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (HDMECs) remains to be investigated. This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of BTXA in HDMECs exposed to an in vitro model of ischemia/reperfusion injury.

METHODS

HDMECs were isolated from human upper eyelid tissue and were randomly divided into 3 groups: 1.

CONTROL GROUP

culture under normoxic conditions (95% air and 5% CO₂); 2. hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) group: culture in a hypoxic incubator (94% N₂ + 5% CO₂ + 5% O₂) for 8 hours, followed by culture in saturated aerobic culture medium for 24 hours; and 3. BTXA group: treatment with BTXA for 12 hours before exposure to hypoxic conditions. Flow cytometry was used to analyze the apoptosis of HDMECs, and western blotting was used to detect the expression of apoptosis-related proteins.

RESULTS

H/R leads to severe injury in HDMECs, as evidenced by an increase in the percentage of apoptosis and an increase in expression of apoptosis-related proteins (Bax, cleaved-caspase-3, and cytochrome C). Moreover, H/R results in a decrease in expression of anti-apoptotic protein (Bcl-2), which can be significantly attenuated with BTXA treatment.

CONCLUSION

BTXA protects against apoptosis in HDMECs exposed to an in vitro model of H/R-induced injury.

Efficient Low-PAR Waveform Design Method for Extended Target Estimation Based on Information Theory in Cognitive Radar

This paper addresses the waveform design problem of cognitive radar for extended target estimation in the presence of signal-dependent clutter, subject to a peak-to-average power ratio (PAR) constraint. Owing to this kind of constraint and the convolution operation of the waveform in the time domain, the formulated optimization problem for maximizing the mutual information (MI) between the target and the received signal is a complex non-convex problem. To this end, an efficient waveform design method based on minimization-maximization (MM) technique is proposed. First, by using the MM approach, the original non-convex problem is converted to a convex problem concerning the matrix variable. Then a trick is used for replacing the matrix variable with the vector variable by utilizing the properties of the Toeplitz matrix. Based on this, the optimization problem can be solved efficiently combined with the nearest neighbor method. Finally, an acceleration scheme is used to improve the convergence speed of the proposed method. The simulation results illustrate that the proposed method is superior to the existing methods in terms of estimation performance when designing the constrained waveform.

Mimicking Dynamic Adhesiveness and Strain-Stiffening Behavior of Biological Tissues in Tough and Self-Healable Cellulose Nanocomposite Hydrogels

Although self-healing gels with structural resemblance to biological tissues attract great attention in biomedical fields, it remains a dilemma for combination between fast self-healing properties and high mechanical toughness. On the basis of the design of dynamic reversible cross-links, we incorporate rigid tannic acid-coated cellulose nanocrystal (TA@CNC) motifs into the poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-borax dynamic networks for the fabrication of a high toughness and rapidly self-healing nanocomposite (NC) hydrogel, together with dynamically adhesive and strain-stiffening properties that are particularly indispensable for practical applications in soft tissue substitutes. The results demonstrate that the obtained NC gels present a highly interconnected network, where flexible PVA chains wrap onto the rigid TA@CNC motifs and form the dynamic TA@CNC-PVA clusters associated by hydrogen bonds, affording the critical mechanical toughness. The synergetic interactions between borate-diol bonds and hydrogen bonds impart a typical self-healing behavior into the NC gels, allowing the dynamic cross-linked networks to undergo fast rearrangement in the time scale of seconds. Moreover, the obtained NC hydrogels not only mimic the main feature of biological tissues with the unique strain-stiffening behavior but also display unique dynamic adhesiveness to nonporous and porous substrates. It is expected that this versatile approach opens up a new prospect for the rational design of multifunctional cellulosic hydrogels with remarkable performance to expand their applications.