The B-biotype of Bemisia tabaci (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) has become extremely resistant to commonly used insecticides in China. To further explore the mechanisms of resistance to diafenthiuron, the ...diafenthiuron induction profiles of carboxylesterase (COE1), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and seven cytochrome P450 genes in both resistant (R-DfWf) and susceptible (S-Lab) strains were characterized. The detoxification genes GST, CYP6CX4, CYP6DW3, CYP6DZ6 and CYP9F, which are known to be constitutively over-expressed in the R-DfWf strain, were significantly upregulated in R-DfWf and S-Lab strains exposed to diafenthiuron at LC50 compared with their levels in strains treated with distilled water (controls); however, CYP6CX1, another detoxification gene, was not upregulated. The upregulation was more pronounced in the R-DfWf strain than in the S-Lab strain exposed to different concentrations of diafenthiuron (LC10 or LC50). Interestingly, COE1, CYP6CM1 and CYP6A, which are not constitutively over-expressed in the R-DfWf strain, were all significantly upregulated after exposure to diafenthiuron. Similarly, significant differences in the expression of these detoxification genes, with the exception of CYP6CM1 in the S-Lab strain, were also observed after exposure to diafenthiuron. However, the induction of CYP6A and COE1 was more pronounced in the S-Lab strain than in the R-DfWf strain after treatment with diafenthiuron at both concentrations, indicating that diafenthiuron induction of CYP6CM1 is specific to the R-DfWf strain, while diafenthiuron induction of the other genes is common to both the R-DfWf and S-Lab strains. These results demonstrate that multiple detoxification genes are co-upregulated in the R-DfWf strain through both constitutive over-expression and induction mechanisms. This knowledge will be useful for rational selection of insecticides for use in resistance management and control of this species.
Source, sink, and translocation capacity of assimilates play important roles during the formation of grain yield. The present study was conducted to characterize the genetic bases of traits ...representing source, sink and transport tissue, and their relationships with yield traits in rice, by analyzing QTLs for these traits and various ratios among them. The genetic materials were a recombinant inbred population derived from a cross between two indica cultivars Zhenshan 97 and Minghui 63, the parents of the most-widely grown hybrid rice in China. Using a linkage map that covers a total of 1,796 cM based on 221 molecular marker loci, a total of 81 QTLs were identified for the 15 traits studied (three leaf areas as the source, total spikelets per panicle as the sink, the number of large vascular bundles in the stem as transport tissue, three source to sink ratios, three transport tissue to source ratios, one transport tissue to sink ratio and three yield traits). The amount of variation explained by individual QTLs ranged from 1.12% to 24.14%. Five QTLs were identified to show interaction effects with the environment, which explained from 3.19% to 9.15% of the variation. The results showed that close linkage or pleiotropy is the genetic basis for the correlations of grain yield traits with source, sink, transport tissue and the various ratios among them. Of the 25 QTLs identified for source-sink-transport tissue trait, and 43 for various ratios, 8 and 22 QTLs, respectively, were mapped to the similar genomic blocks harboring QTLs for yield traits, especially for grain weight. Co-location of QTLs for yield traits with those for ratios among source, sink and transport tissue may provide a genetic explanation for the physiological expression of yield traits, and also suggest that improvement in ratios among source, sink and transport tissue may result in improvement in yield potential.
A total of 1145 samples were collected from chicken breeder farms, hatcheries, broiler farms, a slaughterhouse and retail refrigerated chicken stores in an integrated broiler supply chain in ...Guangdong Province, China, in 2013. One-hundred and two Salmonella enterica strains were isolated and subjected to serotyping, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, virulence profile determination and molecular subtyping by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The contamination rates in samples from breeder farms, hatcheries, broiler farms, the slaughterhouse and retail stores were 1·46%, 4·31%, 7·00%, 62·86% and 54·67%, respectively. The isolated strains of S. enterica belonged to 10 serotypes; most of them were S. Weltevreden (46·08%, 47/102) and S. Agona (18·63%, 19/102). Isolates were frequently resistant to streptomycin (38·2%), tetracycline (36·3%), sulfisoxazole (35·3%) and gentamicin (34·3%); 31·4% of isolates were multidrug resistant. The isolates were screened for 10 virulence factors. The Salmonella pathogenicity island genes avrA, ssaQ, mgtC, siiD, and sopB and the fimbrial gene bcfC were present in 100% of the strains. PFGE genotyping of the 102 S. enterica isolates yielded 24 PFGE types at an 85% similarity threshold. The PFGE patterns show that the genotypes of S. enterica in the production chain are very diverse, but some strains have 100% similarity in different parts of the production chain, which indicates that some S. enterica persist throughout the broiler supply chain.
With increased measurement tasks of space science, more requirements for the spacecraft environment have been put forward. Those tasks (e.g. the measurement of Earth's steady state gravity field ...anomalies) lead to the desire for developing drag-free control. Higher requirements for the thruster performance are made due to the demand for the drag-free control system and real-time compensation for non-conservative forces. Those requirements for the propulsion system include wide continuous throttling ability, high resolution, rapid response, low noise and so on. As a promising candidate, the cusped field thruster has features such as the high working stability, the low erosion rate, a long lifetime and the simple structure, so that it is chosen as the thruster to be discussed in this paper. Firstly, the performance of a new cusped field thruster is tested and analyzed. Then a drag-free control scheme based on the cusped field thruster is designed to evaluate the performance of this thruster. Subsequently, the effects of the thrust resolution, transient response time and thrust uncertainty on the controller are calculated respectively. Finally, the performance of closed-loop system is analyzed, and the simulation results verify the feasibility of applying cusped field thruster to drag-free flight in the space science measurement tasks.
•The dynamic performance of a cusped field thruster is tested and analyzed.•A drag-free control system is designed to evaluate thruster performance.•Effects of thruster performance parameters on whole system are compared.•This thruster meets the requirements of drag-free flight in space science tasks.
The Chongming Island Landsenses Ecol-industrial Park is a demonstration park which integrates many kinds of industrial functions to realize the scientific development of clean energy and ecological ...agriculture, including photovoltaic power generation, freshwater aquaculture, and sightseeing agriculture. In order to establish an Ecol-industrial park with an intergrowth between production process and ecological construction, resource utilization and green development, as well as industrial function design and landsense creation, this study aims to plan and design the landsenses of the Chongming Island Landsenses Ecol-industrial Park based on the landsenses idea of 'the sun-moon shine together on the five continents' and the technology of Environmental Internet of Things. The Chongming Island Landsenses Ecol-industrial Park incorporates various industrial models and areas, including an ecological photovoltaic demonstration area, a landsenses ecology demonstration area, and a Popular Science recreation area, which would create a demonstration park for the industrialization of ecological resources, the ecologicalization of industries, and the characteristic services of landsenses. This study addresses the value-added services of ecological asset and the integration of industry in the traditional industrial park, and provides a theoretical and technical demonstration of industrial planning and landsense design for other industrial parks in the future.
Summary
Background
The incidence of infections among cancer patients is as high as 23.2–33.2% in China. However, the lack of information and data on the number of antibiotics used by cancer patients ...is an obstacle to implementing antibiotic management plans.
Aim
This study aimed to investigate bacterial infections and antibiotic resistance in Chinese cancer patients to provide a reference for the rational use of antibiotics.
Design
This was a 5-year retrospective study on the antibiotic resistance of cancer patients.
Methods
In this 5-year surveillance study, we collected bacterial and antibiotic resistance data from 20 provincial cancer diagnosis and treatment centers and three specialized cancer hospitals in China. We analyzed the resistance of common bacteria to antibiotics, compared to common clinical drug-resistant bacteria, evaluated the evolution of critical drug-resistant bacteria and conducted data analysis.
Findings
Between 2016 and 2020, 216 219 bacterial strains were clinically isolated. The resistance trend of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae to amikacin, ciprofloxacin, cefotaxime, piperacillin/tazobactam and imipenem was relatively stable and did not significantly increase over time. The resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains to all antibiotics tested, including imipenem and meropenem, decreased over time. In contrast, the resistance of Acinetobacter baumannii strains to carbapenems increased from 4.7% to 14.7%. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) significantly decreased from 65.2% in 2016 to 48.9% in 2020.
Conclusions
The bacterial prevalence and antibiotic resistance rates of E. coli, K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, A. baumannii, S. aureus and MRSA were significantly lower than the national average.
Long-range chromatin interactions control metazoan gene transcription. However, the involvement of intra- and interchromosomal interactions in development and oncogenesis remains unclear. TAL1/SCL is ...a critical transcription factor required for the development of all hematopoietic lineages; yet, aberrant TAL1 transcription often occurs in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL). Here, we report that oncogenic TAL1 expression is regulated by different intra- and interchromosomal loops in normal hematopoietic and leukemic cells, respectively. These intra- and interchromosomal loops alter the cell-type-specific enhancers that interact with the TAL1 promoter. We show that human SET1 (hSET1)-mediated H3K4 methylations promote a long-range chromatin loop, which brings the +51 enhancer in close proximity to TAL1 promoter 1 in erythroid cells. The CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) facilitates this long-range enhancer/promoter interaction of the TAL1 locus in erythroid cells while blocking the same enhancer/promoter interaction of the TAL1 locus in human T-cell leukemia. In human T-ALL, a T-cell-specific transcription factor c-Maf-mediated interchromosomal interaction brings the TAL1 promoter into close proximity with a T-cell-specific regulatory element located on chromosome 16, activating aberrant TAL1 oncogene expression. Thus, our study reveals a novel molecular mechanism involving changes in three-dimensional chromatin interactions that activate the TAL1 oncogene in human T-cell leukemia.
The present study aimed to investigate the compensatory effect of early protein restriction followed by a realimentation on growth performance of lamb and to explore the transcriptomic changes in ...liver. Thirty-two lambs with an initial birth weight of 2.3 ± 0.20 kg that were weaned on day 15 were randomly divided into two groups. The lambs were fed a basal diet with normal protein level (NPL, protein level in the milk replacer and starter, 25 and 21%, respectively) or low protein level (LPL, protein level in the milk replacer and starter, 19 and 15%, respectively) from 15 to 60 d, after which all lambs consumed the same diet with a normal protein level from 61 to 90 d. Protein restriction led to a significant decrease in average daily gain (ADG), body weight and liver weight (P < 0.05). Transcriptome analysis showed that 302 or 12 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified during the restriction or recovery periods, respectively (P < 0.05). The Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis indicated that DEGs enriched in nutrient metabolism and antioxidant capacity were down-regulated, while vessel development and immunity response-related genes up-regulated. The genes involved in metabolism of tyrosine were still down-regulated in the realimentation phase. Studies in this area indicated the accelerated growth effect of early protein restriction followed by a realimentation on growth performance of lambs and explored the transcriptomics change of liver which can help to develop feeding strategies to optimize the use of feedstuffs and in providing a new perspective for the study of early nutrition and epigenetics in later life.
Background
Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common complication in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) that severely affects the patients' quality of life. However, the effectiveness of oral ...phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors in these patients is poor. Sphingosine‐1‐phosphate (S1P) and S1P receptor 2 (S1PR2) are important factors regulating the Rho‑kinase pathway, and understanding these factors may provide ideas for new therapeutic strategies for ED.
Objectives
To investigate whether the S1PR2 receptor antagonist JTE‐013 could improve DM‐induced ED (DMED) in rats and to explore the potential mechanisms.
Materials and methods
We used 50 male Sprague Dawley rats (8 weeks old) for this experiment. Type Ⅰ DM was induced in forty‐two rats via streptozotocin administration; the rest of the rats served as controls. Eight weeks after DM induction, rats with ED were selected via an apomorphine test. Eight of them were injected intraperitoneally with JTE‐013 each day for 4 weeks. The rest were fed under the same conditions for 4 weeks. Erectile function was measured by cavernous nerve electrostimulation. The expression levels of related signaling pathways were evaluated using Western blotting, real‐time PCR, and immunohistochemistry.
Results
Erectile function was significantly impaired in the DMED group compared with the control group and was partially improved in the DMED + JTE‐013 group. The expression of S1PR2 and the activity of the RhoA/ROCK/phospho‐myosin phosphatase target subunit 1 (p‐MYPT1) pathway proteins were higher in the DMED group than in the other two groups, and JTE‐013 treatment significantly reduced the expression/activity of these proteins. Furthermore, the DMED group showed severe corporal fibrosis, a higher apoptotic index and increased activity in the TGF‐β1/LIMK2/Cofilin pathway compared with the control group. JTE‐013 supplementation significantly ameliorated these pathological changes.
Discussion and conclusion
JTE‐013 supplementation partially improved erectile function in rats with DMED, likely by inhibiting smooth muscle contraction, corporal fibrosis, and apoptosis.
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