Brassinosteroids (BRs) are plant‐specific steroid hormones which regulate plant growth, development, and adaptation. Transcriptional regulation plays key roles in plant hormone signaling. A mediator ...can serve as a bridge between gene‐specific transcription factors and the RNA polymerase machinery, functioning as an essential component in regulating the transcriptional process. However, whether a mediator is involved in BR signaling is unknown. Here, we discovered that Oryza sativa mediator subunit 25 (OsMED25) is an important regulator of rice BR signaling. Phenotypic analyses showed that the OsMED25‐RNAi and osmed25 mutant presented erect leaves, as observed in BR‐deficient mutants. In addition, the OsMED25‐RNAi and osmed25 mutant exhibited decreased BR sensitivity. Genetic analysis indicated that OsMED25‐RNAi could suppress the enhanced BR signaling phenotype of Osbzr1‐D. Further biochemical analysis showed that OsMED25 interacts with OsBZR1 in vivo, and OsMED25 is enriched on the promoter of OsBZR1 target genes. RNA sequencing analysis indicated that OsMED25 affects the expression of approximately 45% of OsBZR1‐regulated genes and mainly functions as a corepressor of OsBZR1. Together, these findings revealed that OsMED25 regulates rice BR signaling by interacting with OsBZR1 and modulating the expression of OsBZR1 target genes, thus expanding our understanding of the roles of mediators in plant hormone signaling.
Plant hormone BR controls the rice architecture and final yield. Ideal plant architecture of rice can be bred via manipulating BR signaling. We show that OsMED25 regulates rice BR signaling by interacting with OsBZR1 and modulating the expression of OsBZR1 target genes, which provide a putative target for engineering breeding.
Green public procurement is considered an environmental policy tool with great potential. Having been charged with the responsibility of transforming greenness into a shared social norm, Green public ...procurement has the potential to play an exemplary and guiding role for the individual consumer. This study develops a theoretical model and conducts an empirical analysis of data collected from 336 situational questionnaires. The results indicate that consumer's knowledge of Green public procurement does not directly influence their green consumption attitudes, and the moderation role of collectivism does not significant. However, consumer's knowledge of Green public procurement has an indirect positive effect on their green consumption attitudes through two mediators: (i). perceived value and (ii). perceived consumer effectiveness. This study has extended the research on the effectiveness of Green public procurement to the field of individual green consumption, and the value of the study is to provide new evidence for Green public procurement in promoting social sustainable development and green production of enterprises from the perspective of knowledge transmission. Thus, we believe that it is necessary to disseminate knowledge on Green public procurement to the public. However, presently China has too few Green public procurement information disclosure channels to be known by the public. We suggest that public authorities transmit relevant knowledge to the public through various media. Meanwhile, enterprises should publicize the products on the Green public procurement list.
Objective
To evaluate the effectiveness of bromocriptine for prevention of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS).
Methods
The retrospective study included women at risk of OHSS who were receiving ...gonadotropin‐releasing hormone antagonist protocols, including 52 women given 2.5 mg bromocriptine by rectal insertion, 52 women given 500 ml intravenous hydroxyethyl starch (HES), and 40 women who received no intervention. Treatments were administered daily for 5 days beginning on the day of oocyte retrieval. Baseline information and data related to OHSS were compared.
Results
No significant differences were found among groups in estradiol concentration on the day of trigger or in number of retrieved oocytes. Incidence of mild OHSS was not significantly different among groups, respectively 13.5%, 15.4%, and 17.5% (P > 0.05). The incidence of moderate to severe OHSS was significantly lower in the bromocriptine and HES groups compared with the control group, respectively 7.7%, 5.8%, and 22.5% (P < 0.05). D‐dimer levels were significantly lower in the bromocriptine and HES groups compared with the control group on Day 5 after oocyte retrieval (P < 0.05). No differences in liver or renal function were found in the three groups.
Conclusion
Bromocriptine was apparently as effective as intravenous HES in patients with high risk of OHSS.
Synopsis
Prophylactic rectal administration of bromocriptine showed similar effects to intravenous hydroxyethyl starch in patients with high risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome.
This paper systematically investigates the relationship between digital inclusive finance and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) financing constraints. We extrapolate the influence model between ...them from an economic theory perspective and conduct an empirical test using two-way fixed effects and a mediation effect model. The results show: (1) Digital inclusive finance significantly alleviates the financing constraints of SMEs; (2) Compared to the breadth of coverage, the depth of use of digital inclusive finance has a more noticeable effect; (3) The alleviation effect of digital inclusive finance exhibits heterogeneity. It can correct the attribute mismatch, field mismatch, and regional mismatch of traditional financial loan services; (4) Digital inclusive finance alleviates SME financing constraints by reducing financing costs and controlling leverage levels, increasing internal sources of enterprise funds. This research is significant for promoting digital inclusive finance to alleviate the financing difficulties of SMEs in China and provides valuable solutions for other countries to mitigate the “Macmillan Gap” phenomenon.
•Analyses how digital inclusive finance impacts SME financing constraints.•Reveals that digital inclusive finance eases these constraints, with its depth more impactful than its breadth.•Address mismatches in attributes, fields, and regions inherent in traditional financial loan services.•Highlights that digital finance helps reduce costs, manage leverage, and boost internal funding sources.•Provides insights into China's SME financing and offers global solutions to the '‘Macmillan Gap'’ challenge.
Mn
-doped red-light-emitting phosphors have become a research hotspot that can effectively enhance photosynthesis and promote morphogenesis in plants. Herein, the red phosphor La
Mg
NbO
:Mn
was ...synthesized through the solid-state reaction method. The effects of adding H
BO
and a charge compensator R
(R = Li, Na, K) on the crystal structure, morphology, quantum efficiency, and luminous performance of the La
Mg
NbO
:Mn
phosphor were systematically analyzed, respectively. The results showed that adding H
BO
flux and a charge compensator improved the quantum efficiency and luminescence intensity. The emission intensity of the phosphor was enhanced about 5.9 times when Li
was used as the charge compensator, while it was enhanced about 240% with the addition of H
BO
flux. Remarkably, it was also found that the addition of H
BO
flux and a charge compensator simultaneously improved the thermal stability at 423 K from 47.3% to 68.9%. The prototype red LED fabricated using the La
Mg
NbO
:Mn
,H
BO
,Li
phosphor exhibited a perfect overlap with the phytochrome absorption band for plant growth. All of these results indicate that the La
Mg
NbO
:Mn
,H
BO
,Li
phosphor has great potential for use in agricultural plant lighting.
Abstract
Motivation
Computational protein sequence design has been widely applied in rational protein engineering and increasing the design accuracy and efficiency is highly desired.
Results
Here, we ...present ProDESIGN-LE, an accurate and efficient approach to protein sequence design. ProDESIGN-LE adopts a concise but informative representation of the residue’s local environment and trains a transformer to learn the correlation between local environment of residues and their amino acid types. For a target backbone structure, ProDESIGN-LE uses the transformer to assign an appropriate residue type for each position based on its local environment within this structure, eventually acquiring a designed sequence with all residues fitting well with their local environments. We applied ProDESIGN-LE to design sequences for 68 naturally occurring and 129 hallucinated proteins within 20 s per protein on average. The designed proteins have their predicted structures perfectly resembling the target structures with a state-of-the-art average TM-score exceeding 0.80. We further experimentally validated ProDESIGN-LE by designing five sequences for an enzyme, chloramphenicol O-acetyltransferase type III (CAT III), and recombinantly expressing the proteins in Escherichia coli. Of these proteins, three exhibited excellent solubility, and one yielded monomeric species with circular dichroism spectra consistent with the natural CAT III protein.
Availability and implementation
The source code of ProDESIGN-LE is available at https://github.com/bigict/ProDESIGN-LE.
Adenomyosis has been associated with adverse fertility and pregnancy outcomes, and its impact on the outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF) has received much attention. It is controversial whether ...the freeze-all strategy is better than fresh embryo transfer (ET) in women with adenomyosis. Women with adenomyosis were enrolled in this retrospective study from January 2018 to December 2021 and were divided into two groups: freeze-all (
= 98) and fresh ET (
= 91). Data analysis showed that freeze-all ET was associated with a lower rate of premature rupture of membranes (PROM) compared with fresh ET (1.0% vs. 6.6%,
= 0.042; adjusted OR 0.17 (0.01-2.50),
= 0.194). Freeze-all ET also had a lower risk of low birth weight compared with fresh ET (1.1% vs. 7.0%,
= 0.049; adjusted OR 0.54 (0.04-7.47),
= 0.642). There was a nonsignificant trend toward a lower miscarriage rate in freeze-all ET (8.9% vs. 11.6%;
= 0.549). The live birth rate was comparable in the two groups (19.1% vs. 27.1%;
= 0.212). The freeze-all ET strategy does not improve pregnancy outcomes for all patients with adenomyosis and may be more appropriate for certain patients. Further large-scale prospective studies are needed to confirm this result.
Adjacent segmental degeneration (ASD) is one of the common complications after posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF). Both whole body vibration (WBV) and osteoporosis are important factors ...associated with the biomechanics of the lumbar spine. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies have investigated the effects of osteoporosis on ASD after PLIF under WBV.
In the present study, using one normal model, one PLIF model and one PLIF with osteoporosis model of the L1–S1 segment were developed. A 5-Hz, 40-N sinusoidal vertical load was imposed on the superior surface of L1 of each model to simulate WBV, and the dynamic responses and maximal values of intradiscal pressure, shear stress on annulus fibrosus, total deformation, and disc bulge were evaluated in the L1-L2, L2-L3, L3-L4, and L5-S1 segments.
At the L1-L2, L2-L3, and L3-L4 levels, the differences in the dynamic responses and maximal values in intradiscal pressure, shear stress, total deformation, and disc bulge between the PLIF and PLIF with osteoporosis models were slight. However, at the L5-S1 level, the dynamic response curves and maximal intradiscal pressure, shear stress, and disc bulge values in the PLIF with osteoporosis model were significantly lower than those in the PLIF model.
Osteoporosis can mitigate the development of ASD in the lower adjacent segment but has no obvious influence on the upper adjacent segments during WBV.
Abstract The stomata regulate CO2 uptake and efficient water usage, thereby promoting drought stress tolerance. NAC proteins (NAM, ATAF1/2, and CUC2) participate in plant reactions following drought ...stress, but the molecular mechanisms underlying NAC-mediated regulation of stomatal movement are unclear. In this study, a novel NAC gene from Reaumuria trigyna, RtNAC055, was found to enhance drought tolerance via a stomatal closure pathway. It was regulated by RtMYC2 and integrated with jasmonic acid signaling and was predominantly expressed in stomata and root. The suppression of RtNAC055 could improve jasmonic acid and H2O2 production and increase the drought tolerance of transgenic R. trigyna callus. Ectopic expression of RtNAC055 in the Arabidopsis atnac055 mutant rescued its drought-sensitive phenotype by decreasing stomatal aperture. Under drought stress, overexpression of RtNAC055 in poplar promoted ROS (H2O2) accumulation in stomata, which accelerated stomatal closure and maintained a high photosynthetic rate. Drought upregulated the expression of PtRbohD/F, PtP5CS2, and PtDREB1.1, as well as antioxidant enzyme activities in heterologous expression poplars. RtNAC055 promoted H2O2 production in guard cells by directly binding to the promoter of RtRbohE, thus regulating stomatal closure. The stress-related genes RtDREB1.1/P5CS1 were directly regulated by RtNAC055. These results indicate that RtNAC055 regulates stomatal closure by maintaining the balance between the antioxidant system and H2O2 level, reducing the transpiration rate and water loss, and improving photosynthetic efficiency and drought resistance.
Tetracyclines are antibiotics commonly used in swine farms to treat disease and promote growth. However, there are growing concerns regarding the discharge of animal feces into the environment owing ...to the potential for development and dissemination of tetracycline resistance genes (TRGs). In this study, farming wastewater from one Chinese swine farm as well as river water from seven locations downstream of the farm was sampled. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) showed that 12 TRGs, including six efflux pump genes (tet(B), tet(C), tet(D), tet(E), tet(G) and tet(L)), five ribosomal protection proteins (RPPs) genes (tet(O), tet(M), tet(Q), tet(W) and tet(S)), and one enzymatic modification gene (tet(X)), were present in all wastewater and river water samples. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) showed that the abundance of tet(C), tet(X), tet(O), tet(M), tet(Q) and tet(W) decreased with downstream flow. Among the detected TRGs, tet(C) had the highest abundance, ranging from 459.5 copies/16S rRNA gene copies in wastewater to 33.8 copies/16S rRNA gene copies in river water samples collected from the last location. Furthermore, pig-specific Bacteroidales 16S rRNA genetic marker was quantified by qPCR to determine the level of fecal pollution in the river water. Bivariate correlation analysis confirmed that the total relative abundance of the six TRGs was significantly correlated with the level of swine feces in the aquatic environment (R
2
= 0.63, P < 0.05), suggesting that swine feces mainly contributed to the spread of TRGs in the river water.
Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A to view the free supplemental file.
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