As a simple and safe alternative intervention, percutaneous balloon compression (PBC) has been gradually adopted by a growing number of neurosurgeons to treat trigeminal neuralgia. A pear-shaped ...opacity observed fluoroscopically, which indicates full suffusion of Meckel's cave conducting sufficient pressure against Gasserian ganglion, is believed to be the key to its success. Sometimes, a bitten pear may appear due to bubbles in the balloon but is usually ignored.
This study aims to investigate the effects of the bubbles on postoperative outcomes.
Patient data were obtained from the consecutive cases undergoing PBCs in our department between 2019 and 2021. Among them, pain and numbness were used to assess the efficacy of PBC based on Barrow Neurology Institute (BNI) scoring system. It was defined as an effective outcome if the postoperative pain intensity grade was lower than II. And those with numbness grade > II were regarded as numb incidence.
We eventually recruited 59 cases, including 42 in full pear and 17 in bitten pear groups with follow-up time up to 44 months. The early effective rates were 95.2% and 82.4%, respectively (
> 0.05), which turned to 88.1% and 52.9% during the last follow-up period (
< 0.01). This result indicated that the bitten pear gave rise to a significantly higher recurrence. In terms of numbness, there was no significant difference.
Gas does not yield enough pressure as liquid, and cannot exert enough pressure to the semilunar ganglion. Therefore, air evacuation should not be ignored before injection.
Objective: To explore the inhibitory effect of water extract from pear pomace on abdominal fat accumulation and its underlying mechanism in high fat diet-fed animals. Methods: Three groups of male ...C57BL/6J mice were fed with a 60％ kcal fat diet for 8 weeks. Pear pomace water extract (200 or 400 mg/kg body weight) was administered once daily via oral gavage. To confirm the possibility of the water extract of pear pomace acting as an activator of adenosine 5'-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes was induced in the presence of the water extract of pear pomace with or without compound C. Body weight, food efficacy ratio, insulin resistance, and adipogenic protein expression were measured. Moreover, in the 3T3-L1 cells, lipid content and lipogenesis-related proteins were measured using Oil Red O staining and Western blotting analysis. Results: Body weight gain and total abdominal fat weight were reduced in mice treated with pear pomace water extract. Pear pomace water extract reduced fasting blood glucose and insulin, thereby reducing the homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance. It also resulted in dose-dependent decreases in triglyceride, total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol. The protein expression of p-AMPK increased, while the expression of AMPK-downstream proteins including PPAR-γ, C/EBPα, SREBP-1c, ACC, and FAS decreased in the adipose tissue of mice treated with pear pomace water extract. Furthermore, the inhibition of AMPK by compound C blocked pear pomace water extract-induced reduction of lipid content and the expression of lipogenesis-related genes. Conclusions: Pear pomace water extract prevents fat accumulation both in vivo and in vitro by activating AMPK.
In this study, the role of WSC1 in the infection of pear fruit by Penicillium expansum was investigated. The WSC1 gene was knocked out and complemented by Agrobacterium-mediated homologous ...recombination technology. Then, the changes in growth, development, and pathogenic processes of the knockout mutant and the complement mutant were analyzed. The results indicated that deletion of WSC1 slowed the growth rate, reduced the mycelial and spore yield, and reduced the ability to produce toxins and pathogenicity of P. expansum in pear fruits. At the same time, the deletion of WSC1 reduced the tolerance of P. expansum to cell wall stress factors, enhanced antioxidant capacity, decreased hypertonic sensitivity, decreased salt stress resistance, and was more sensitive to most metal ions. Our results confirmed that WSC1 plays an important role in maintaining cell wall integrity and responding to stress, toxin production, and the pathogenicity of P. expansum.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM, UPUK
Long-term storage of pear fruit at low temperature can retard senescence but may result in pericarp browning. We previously reported that increasing endogenous γ-aminobutyrate (GABA) content by ...exogenous GABA treatment can maintain mitochondrial structure integrity, thereby alleviating pericarp browning of ‘Nanguo’ pears after cold storage. Here, we tested the effectiveness of Ca
2+
treatment on pericarp browning in relation to GABA biosynthesis. Fruit browning was reduced by treatment with Ca
2+
after 180 days of storage. Pericarp Ca
2+
and calmodulin content in treated fruit increased, and concomitantly, endogenous GABA content, key GABA synthesis-related enzyme activity, and gene expression were upregulated. Moreover, the mitochondrial structure in the pericarp tissue was found to be well preserved. Thus, Ca
2+
treatment effectively reduced pericarp browning of refrigerated ‘Nanguo’ pears owing to improvement in the GABA biosynthesis capacity in the fruit.
•Pear flowers are less visited by bees than apple flowers.•Bees mainly visit pear flowers for pollen, and apple flowers for nectar.•Nectar sugar concentration is lower in pear than apple ...flowers.•Polypeptide, amino-acid, and phytosterol concentrations are high in pear pollen.•Chemical quality of floral resources appears to explain pollinator behavior.
Pear and apple are among the main fruit crops worldwide. These species can be planted in mixed orchards, and they both depend on insect pollination for fruit set. As pollinating insects are attracted by the floral resources, we investigated nectar and pollen production and chemical composition in four pear (‘Concorde’, ‘Conférence’, ‘Doyenné du Comice’, ‘Triomphe de Vienne’) and five apple (‘Braeburn’, ‘Golden Reinders’, ‘Jonagored’, ‘Pinova’, ‘Wellant’) cultivars commonly grown in Belgium. We also investigated whether insect flower visitation rate and pollination efficiency are linked to floral resource quantity and quality. The pear cultivars flowered one week before the apple cultivars in early spring, and their flowers were about six times less visited by insects. The visitors foraged more on the pollen of the pear trees and the nectar of the apple trees. Pear flowers produced higher volumes of nectar than apple flowers (1.3–3.2μl vs. 0.4-0.6μl), but with lower sugar concentration (9.6%-10.8% vs. 28.3%-36.4%). Pear flowers also produced fewer pollen grains per anther than apple flowers (2425–4937 vs. 3284–7919), but these had higher polypeptide (346–362μg/mg vs. 216–303μg/mg), amino-acid (40–77μg/mg vs. 12–18μg/mg) and phytosterol (21–47μg/mg vs. 15–43μg/mg) concentrations. The foraging behavior of the insects is thus better explained by nectar and pollen quality rather than quantity. Despite the differences in flower visitation rates, pollination of both species resulted in valuable fruit production.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Flavonoid compounds play important roles in the modern diet, and pear fruits are an excellent dietary source of these metabolites. However, information on the regulatory network of flavonoid ...biosynthesis in pear fruits is rare. In this work, 18 putative flavonoid-related MYB transcription factors (TFs) were screened by phylogenetic analysis and four of them were correlated with flavonoid biosynthesis patterns in pear fruits. Among these MYB-like genes, the specific functions of two novel MYB TFs, designated as PbMYB10b and PbMYB9, were further verified by both overexpression and RNAi transient assays. PbMYB10b, a PAP-type MYB TF with atypical motifs in its conserved region, regulated the anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin pathways by inducing the expression of PbDFR, but its function could be complemented by other MYB TFs. PbMYB9, a TT2-type MYB, not only acted as the specific activator of the proanthocyanidin pathway by activating the PbANR promoter, but also induced the synthesis of anthocyanins and flavonols by binding the PbUFGT1 promoter in pear fruits. The MYBCORE-like element has been identified in both the PbUFGT1 promoter and ANR promoters in most species, but it was not found in UFGT promoters isolated from other species. This finding was also supported by a yeast one-hybrid assay and thus enhanced the likelihood of the interaction between PbMYB9 and the PbUFGT1 promoter.
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BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Rootstocks play an essential role to determining orchard performance of fruit trees. Pyrus communis and Cydonia oblonga are widely used rootstocks for European pear cultivars. The lack of rootstocks ...adapted to different soil conditions and different grafted cultivars is widely acknowledged in pear culture. Cydonia rootstocks (clonal) and Pyrus rootstocks (seedling or clonal) have their advantages and disadvantages. In each case, site-specific environmental characteristics, specific cultivar response and production objectives must be considered before choosing the best rootstock. In this study, the influence of three Quince (BA 29, Quince A = MA, Quince C = MC) and a local European pear seedling rootstocks on the scion yield, some fruit quality characteristics and leaf macro (N, P, K, Ca and Mg) and micro element (Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn and B) content of 'Santa Maria' pear (Pyrus communis L.) were investigated.
Trees on seedling rootstock had the highest annual yield, highest cumulative yield (kg tree(-1)), largest trunk cross-sectional area (TCSA), lowest yield efficiency and lowest cumulative yield (ton ha(-1)) in the 10(th) year after planting. The rootstocks had no significant effect on average fruit weight and fruit volume. Significantly higher fruit firmness was obtained on BA 29 and Quince A. The effect of rootstocks on the mineral element accumulation (N, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn and B) was significant. Leaf analysis showed that rootstocks used had different mineral uptake efficiencies throughout the early season.
The results showed that the rootstocks strongly affected fruit yield, fruit quality and leaf mineral element uptake of 'Santa Maria' pear cultivar. Pear seedling and BA 29 rootstock found to be more prominent in terms of several characteristics for 'Santa Maria' pear cultivar that is grown in highly calcareous soil in semi-arid climate conditions. We determined the highest N, P (although insignificant), K, Ca, Mg, Fe and Cu mineral element concentrations on the pear seedling and BA 29 rootstocks. According to the results, we recommend the seedling rootstock for normal density plantings (400 trees ha(-1)) and BA 29 rootstock for high-density plantings (800 trees ha(-1)) for 'Santa Maria' pear cultivar in semi-arid conditions.
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•Two-step methanolysis was optimized using RSM and ANN techniques.•ANN gave better predictions than RSM.•The models predictions correlated well with experimental.•Mild conditions, ...short reaction time and less material requirement was achieved with RSM.
This study aimed at modeling and optimum conditions evaluation of the production of fatty acid methyl esters from high free fatty acid (FFA) and oil content African pear seed. The central composite design of response surface methodology (RSM) was employed for investigating the individual and interactive effect of the process variables (methanol/oil molar ratio, catalyst concentration, temperature and reaction time) on the FFA reduction and African pear seed oil methyl esters (APSOME) yield. A feed-forward neural network model with Levenberg-Marquardt backward propagation training algorithm was also employed to predict the responses. Temperature was found to be the most significant parameter with high F-values of 7.1 and 14.15 and low P-values of 0.0177 and 0.0019 for esterification and transesterification processes respectively. The observed optimum FFA reduction and biodiesel yield were 0.29 wt% and 94.55 wt% respectively, under the optimal conditions of 50 and 63.92 °C, 5.0 and 1.88 wt% catalyst concentration, 60 and 58 min reaction time and 13:1 and 6.86:1 methanol to oil molar ratios for esterification and transesterification processes respectively. At these optimal conditions, the validated experimental responses were 0.26 wt% and 95.027 wt% respectively. The performances of both ANN and RSM models showed adequate prediction of the response, with high coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.899 and 0.909 for esterification and 0.9195 and 0.944 for transesterification processes respectively. The fuel properties of the biodiesel produced at the optimum conditions were found to compare with ASTM D6751 and EN 14214 standard) while the GC–MS characterization showed that the biodiesel has high unsaturation. The overall results confirmed that the biodiesel production using African pear seed oil is viable
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Bud endodormancy represents a pivotal and intricate biological process influenced by both genetic and epigenetic factors, the exact mechanism of which remains elusive. Hydrogen peroxide (Hsub.2 ...Osub.2 ) functions as a signalling molecule in the regulation of dormancy, with peroxidase (POD) playing a crucial role in governing Hsub.2 Osub.2 levels. Our prior transcriptomic and metabolomic investigations into diverse pear dormancy phases posited that POD predominantly oversees pear bud dormancy. In this study, we utilised qRT-PCR to screen the most significantly expressed gene, Pyrus pyrifolia POD4-like (PpPOD4-like), from seven POD genes. Subsequently, Hsub.2 Osub.2 test kits, overexpression methods, and subcellular localisation techniques were employed to assess changes in Hsub.2 Osub.2 content, POD activity, PpPOD4-like expression, and its cellular positioning during pear bud dormancy. Subcellular localisation experiments revealed that PpPOD4-like is situated on the cell membranes. Notably, Hsub.2 Osub.2 content exhibited a rapid increase during endodormancy and decreased swiftly after ecodormancy. The fluctuation pattern of POD activity aligned with that of Hsub.2 Osub.2 content. Additionally, PpPOD4-like expression was markedly upregulated, displaying an overall upward trajectory. Our findings indicate that PpPOD4-like modulates Hsub.2 Osub.2 levels by regulating POD activity, thereby actively participating in the intricate regulation of pear dormancy processes.
Pyrus calleryana, commonly known as bean pear, is a medicinal and edible plant, especially its fruit is utilized in traditional Chinese medicine and processed into fruit wine. Essential oils have ...proven to be potent antibacterial and anti-inflammatory agents. Hence, this study firstly investigated the chemical components, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties of P. calleryana fruit essential oil (EO). According to GC-FID/MS analysis, P. calleryana fruit EO was composed mainly of linalool (20.9 %), α-terpineol (14.4 %), E-nerolidol (11.7 %), trans-3-hexenol (9.4 %), n-hexadecanoic acid (7.4 %), geraniol (6.9 %), and trans-2-hexenol (4.8 %). For antibacterial action against Gram-negative bacteria, it revealed a strong antibacterial effect against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Proteus vulgaris with minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) (19.53–312.50 µg/mL) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) (39.06–625.00 µg/mL) values. In the evaluation of anti-inflammatory activity using Gram-negative bacteria lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 macrophages, P. calleryana fruit EO dramatically suppressed pro-inflammatory mediators (NO and PGE2) and cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6) over-secretion without cytotoxicity. Meanwhile, it decreased LPS-stimulated mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and mRNA and protein expression of iNOS and COX-2. Furthermore, it inhibited LPS-induced ROS generation, MAPKs phosphorylation, and NF-κB nuclear translocation. Hence, P. calleryana fruit EO has bifunctional antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activities and may be a promising therapeutics for infectious diseases with great potential for utilization in the fields of functional foods and pharmaceuticals.
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•Bean pear essential oil (BPEO) has dual antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects.•BPEO showed a strong antibacterial action against Gram-negative bacteria.•It inhibited LPS-induced ROS-mediated MAPKs and NF-κB activation in RAW264.7 cells.•It has high exploitation potential in functional foods and pharmaceuticals.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
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