Summary
Nitrogen (N) is one of the key essential macronutrients that affects rice growth and yield. Inorganic N fertilizers are excessively used to boost yield and generate serious collateral ...environmental pollution. Therefore, improving crop N use efficiency (NUE) is highly desirable and has been a major endeavour in crop improvement. However, only a few regulators have been identified that can be used to improve NUE in rice to date. Here we show that the rice NIN‐like protein 4 (OsNLP4) significantly improves the rice NUE and yield. Field trials consistently showed that loss‐of‐OsNLP4 dramatically reduced yield and NUE compared with wild type under different N regimes. In contrast, the OsNLP4 overexpression lines remarkably increased yield by 30% and NUE by 47% under moderate N level compared with wild type. Transcriptomic analyses revealed that OsNLP4 orchestrates the expression of a majority of known N uptake, assimilation and signalling genes by directly binding to the nitrate‐responsive cis‐element in their promoters to regulate their expression. Moreover, overexpression of OsNLP4 can recover the phenotype of Arabidopsis nlp7 mutant and enhance its biomass. Our results demonstrate that OsNLP4 plays a pivotal role in rice NUE and sheds light on crop NUE improvement.
Nitrogen (N) is an essential macronutrient for crop growth and yield. Improving the N use efficiency (NUE) of crops is important to agriculture. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying NUE ...regulation remain largely elusive. Here we report that the OsNLP3 (NIN‐like protein 3) regulates NUE and grain yield in rice under N sufficient conditions. OsNLP3 transcript level is significantly induced by N starvation and its protein nucleocytosolic shuttling is specifically regulated by nitrate. Loss‐of‐function of OsNLP3 reduces plant growth, grain yield, and NUE under sufficient nitrate conditions, whereas under low nitrate or different ammonium conditions, osnlp3 mutants show no clear difference from the wild type. Importantly, under sufficient N conditions in the field, OsNLP3 overexpression lines display improved grain yield and NUE compared with the wild type. OsNLP3 orchestrates the expression of multiple N uptake and assimilation genes by directly binding to the nitrate‐responsive cis‐elements in their promoters. Overall, our study demonstrates that OsNLP3, together with OsNLP1 and OsNLP4, plays overlapping and differential roles in N acquisition and NUE, and modulates NUE and the grain yield increase promoted by N fertilizer. Therefore, OsNLP3 is a promising candidate gene for the genetic improvement of grain yield and NUE in rice.
Summary Statement
Crop nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) is an important agronomic trait. But the molecular mechanisms underlying NUE regulation are not well understood. This study reveals that rice NIN‐like protein 3 (OsNLP3) regulates NUE and grain yield especially under N sufficient conditions and is a promising candidate gene for improving grain yield and NUE in rice.
Nitrogen is essential for plant survival and growth. Excessive application of nitrogenous fertilizer has generated serious environment pollution and increased production cost in agriculture. To deal ...with this problem, tremendous efforts have been invested worldwide to increase the nitrogen use ability of crops. However, only limited success has been achieved to date. Here we report that NLP7 (NIN-LIKE PROTEIN 7) is a potential candidate to improve plant nitrogen use ability. When overexpressed in Arabidopsis, NLP7 increases plant biomass under both nitrogen-poor and -rich conditions with better-developed root system and reduced shoot/root ratio. NLP7-overexpressing plants show a significant increase in key nitrogen metabolites, nitrogen uptake, total nitrogen content, and expression levels of genes involved in nitrogen assimilation and signalling. More importantly, overexpression of NLP7 also enhances photosynthesis rate and carbon assimilation, whereas knockout of NLP7 impaired both nitrogen and carbon assimilation. In addition, NLP7 improves plant growth and nitrogen use in transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). Our results demonstrate that NLP7 significantly improves plant growth under both nitrogen-poor and -rich conditions by coordinately enhancing nitrogen and carbon assimilation and sheds light on crop improvement.
MicroRNA168 (miR168) is a key miRNA that targets Argonaute1 (AGO1), a major component of the RNA-induced silencing complex
. Previously, we reported that miR168 expression was responsive to infection ...by Magnaporthe oryzae, the causal agent of rice blast disease
. However, how miR168 regulates immunity to rice blast and whether it affects rice development remains unclear. Here, we report our discovery that the suppression of miR168 by a target mimic (MIM168) not only improves grain yield and shortens flowering time in rice but also enhances immunity to M. oryzae. These results were validated through repeated tests in rice fields in the absence and presence of rice blast pressure. We found that the miR168-AGO1 module regulates miR535 to improve yield by increasing panicle number, miR164 to reduce flowering time, and miR1320 and miR164 to enhance immunity. Our discovery demonstrates that changes in a single miRNA enhance the expression of multiple agronomically important traits.
Objective
To introduce a 3‐portal approach of arthroscopic for anterior ankle impingement syndrome and to compare this method with 2‐portal arthroscopy.
Methods
From July 2011 to April 2019, a total ...of 52 patients (30 females, 22 males) with anterior ankle impingement syndrome underwent surgery with 2‐portal approach (anterior medial and anterior lateral approach; N = 26) and modified 3‐portal approach (anterior medial, anterior lateral, and an accessory anterior median approach; N = 26) of arthroscopic were recruited retrospectively after we performed a propensity score‐matched analysis (PSMA). The mean age at operation time was 44.1 years (range from 22 years to 74 years) and the mean follow‐up duration was more than two years (range from 2 years to 9 years). Clinical outcomes of all patients were evaluated according to the range of motion (ROM, dorsal flex angle), the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society lesser metatarsophalangeal interphalangeal scale (AOFAS), the visual analogue scale (VAS), and the operation time before and after the surgery.
Results
During the follow‐up period, both two groups indicated significant improvement in these function scores. Clinical assessment showed that for the 2‐portal approach of arthroscopic the total average of AOFAS scores were significantly increased from preoperative 59.91 ± 5.281 points to postoperative 76.18 ± 1.471 points (P = 0.02), the VAS scores were significantly decreased from preoperative 7.64 ± 0.924 points to postoperative 4.18 ± 0.982 points (P = 0.04), and the dorsal flex angle was significantly increased from preoperative 12.27° ± 6.467° to postoperative 21.36° ± 3.931° at the last follow‐up (P = 0.035). However, for the 3‐portal approach of arthroscopic the total average of AOFAS scores were significantly increased from preoperative 48.64 ± 9.646 points to postoperative 79.18 ± 6.555 points (P = 0.015), the VAS scores were significantly decreased from preoperative 7.82 ± 0.751 points to postoperative 2.64 ± 1.629 points (P = 0.01), and the dorsal flex angle was significantly increased from preoperative 13.64° ± 7.775° to postoperative 20.45° ± 6.502° at the last follow‐up (P = 0.045). There were no significant differences among the dorsal flex angle, the AOFAS scores, and the VAS scores between the two groups at the last follow‐up (P > 0.05). Although the operation time of the 3‐portal approach of arthroscopic (74.82 ± 18.395 min) was longer than that of the 2‐portal approach of arthroscopic (92.55 ± 27.153 min), the difference was not significant (P > 0.05).
Conclusion
Both the 2‐portal and the 3‐portal approach of arthroscopic provides almost the same satisfactory clinical outcomes for anterior ankle impingement syndrome, but we strongly suggest the 3‐portal approach of arthroscopic which can supply greater joint contact area to treat advanced impingement syndrome for a good result.
Right talus trochlear horizontal plane: (A) red line show axis sectionof the ankle; (B) far side view of plane fault of the ankle.1. extensor hallucis longus tendon 2.extensor digitorum longustendon 3. talus 4. fibula 5. peroneus longus tendon 6. peroneus brevismuscle 7. small saphenous vein 8. sural nerve 9. anterior tibial tendon10.deep fibular nerve & anterior tibial artery & anterior tibial vein 11. great saphenous vein & saphenous nerve 12. tibia 13. posterior tibial tendon 14. flexor digitorum longus tendon 15. posterior tibial artery & tibial nerve 16. flexor hallucis longus tendon 17. achilles tendon.
Although some cognitive studies provided reasons that children with low socioeconomic status (SES) showed poor mathematical achievements, there was no explicit evidence to directly explain the root ...of lagged performance in children with low SES. Therefore, the present study explored the differences in neural correlates in the process of symbolic magnitude comparison between children with different SESs by the event-related potentials (ERPs). A total of 16 second-graders from low-SES families and 16 from middle/high-SES families participated in this study. According to the results of anterior N1 (early attention) and P2 (extraction of numerical meaning) over the frontal region, the differences among children with different SESs were manifested as differences in general neural activities in terms of attention and top-down cognitive control. In the late stage of cognitive processing, there was no significant difference in the average amplitude of the late positive component (LPC) between children with different SES, indicating that low SES did not influence the information encoding and memory updating of numerical representation, which was responsible by the parietal lobe. The educational implications of this study are mentioned in the discussion.
Background:
The aim was to compare the efficacy and safety of epsilon-aminocaproic acid (EACA) and tranexamic acid (TXA) in total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA).
Methods:
...Potential academic articles were identified from the Cochrane Library, Springer, PubMed, and ScienceDirect databases from inception to December 2019. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-RCTs involving EACA and TXA in THA or TKA were included. Pooled data were analyzed using RevMan 5.1.
Results:
Three RCTs and three non-RCTs met the inclusion criteria. The present meta-analysis reveals that EACA is associated with significantly more blood loss than TXA. No significant differences were identified in terms of blood transfusion rate, transfusion units, hemoglobin (Hb) level at discharge, operation time, length of hospital stay, deep venous thrombosis (DVT), or 30-day readmission.
Conclusions:
Compared with TXA, EACA led to more blood loss in patients undergoing THA or TKA. However, there was no significant difference in the blood transfusion rate, transfusion units, Hb level at discharge, operation time, length of hospital stay, DVT, or 30-day readmission between groups.
Objective
To demonstrate the expression of abnormal spindle microtubule assembly (ASPM) in clinical osteosarcoma tissue specimens collected in our hospital, and to explore the function of ASPM in ...osteosarcoma in vitro and in vivo.
Methods
Tissue specimens from 82 cases of osteosarcoma were collected and analyzed by immunohistochemistry assay. We also investigated the relationship between ASPM expression and clinicopathological characteristics in the patients. We transfected shASPM plasmid and the empty control plasmid, respectively, and then used quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis to detect ASPM expression. Cell colony assay and MTT were used to observe the proliferation ability. In vivo study was undertaken to explore the ASPM function further.
Results
In this study, ASPM showed high expression in osteosarcoma tissue samples compared with non‐tumor normal tissues. ASPM was positively correlated with clinical pathological characteristics, including tumor size (P = 0.024) and clinical stage (P = 0.045). Our results further showed that ASPM depletion dramatically inhibited the proliferation of osteosarcoma cells (with fewer cells in the sh‐RNA‐ASPM group compared with the control group(P < 0.05, respectively), and the in vivo assays further confirmed that ASPM ablation markedly blocked tumor growth compared with control (P < 0.05).
Conclusion
Our data provides strong evidence that the high expression of ASPM in osteosarcoma promotes proliferation in vitro and in vivo, indicating its potential role as an osteosarcoma therapeutic target.
Osteosarcoma is the most common types of bone malignancies with a poor prognosis. In recent years, targeted therapy has a great prospect in the treatment of osteosarcoma, and more effective therapeutic targets for this disease need to be developed. ASPM (Abnormal spindle‐like microcephaly‐associated) is involved in multiple cellular or developmental process, such as neurogenesis and brain growth. ASPM is also reported widely expressed in multiple tumor tissues and involved in the development and progression of several cancers. However, the potential role on ASPM on osteosarcoma is still unclear. In this study, we reported that ASPM was was positively correlated with clinical features including tumor size and clinical stage of osteosarcoma. Our results further showed that ASPM depletion dramatically inhibited the proliferation of osteosarcoma cells, and the in vivo assays further confirmed ASPM ablation markedly blocked tumor growth compared with control. Taken together, our data provides strong evidence that ASPM promotes osteosarcoma proliferation in vitro and in vivo, and indicates its potential role as a osteosarcoma therapeutic target.
Objective
The aim of the study is to evaluate the expression of lysosome‐associated protein transmembrane‐4 (LAPTM4B) in human osteosarcoma tissue samples collected in our hospital, and to explore ...the possible correlations between the clinical pathological features of osteosarcoma patients and LAPTM4B expression.
Methods
Immunohistochemical (IHC) assays were performed to detect the expression levels of LAPTM4B in 62 tissue samples of osteosarcoma tissues and corresponding non‐tumor tissues. According to LAPTM4B staining intensity in tumor tissues, osteosarcoma patients were classified into LAPTM4B high expression and low expression groups. In addition, the potential correlations between LAPTM4B expression levels and clinical pathological features were evaluated. In addition, we detected the effects of LAPTM4B on the proliferation and invasion of esteosarcoma cells through colony formation assay and transwell assay, respectively. We further explored the potential effects of LAPTM4B on tumor growth and metastasis using in vivo animal model.
Results
We revealed that LAPTM4B was highly expressed in human osteosarcoma tissues. We determined the significance between LAPTM4B and clinical features, including the tumor size (P = 0.004*) and the clinical stage (P = 0.035*) of osteosarcoma patients. Our results further demonstrated that ablation of LAPTM4B obviously blocked the proliferation and invasion of osteosarcoma cells in vitro and restrained tumor growth and metastasis in mice.
Conclusion
We investigated the potential involvement of LAPTM4B in osteosarcoma progression and confirmed LAPTM4B as a novel therapeutic target for osteosarcoma.
Background. As an important member of the mitotic kinesin family, kinesin family member C1 (KIFC1) is abnormally expressed in a variety of tumors. However, the roles of KIFC1 in the development of ...osteosarcoma (OS) have never been elucidated. Methods. The expression of KIFC1 in OS tissues which was detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining was further confirmed by Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis 2 (GEPIA2) database. The relationship between KIFC1 and CDC20 was analyzed by clinical data, STRING database, and GEPIA2 database. Survival analysis was performed through GEPIA2 database. To elucidate the roles of KIFC1 in OS, MG-63 and U-2 OS cells were treated with short hairpin RNA (shRNA) to knock down KIFC1 expression, and the knockdown efficiency was validated with quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and western blotting (WB). Moreover, colony formation and Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assays were utilized to evaluate cell proliferation. Results. According to IHC staining and GEPIA2 analysis, the expression of KIFC1 in OS tissues was significantly higher than that in adjacent normal tissues, which was inversely connected to the prognosis. These results were consistent with our clinical data. Besides, KIFC1 was positively correlated with CDC20. In addition, KIFC1 shRNA could effectively silence KIFC1 expression in MG-63 and U-2 OS cells. Furthermore, the knockdown of KIFC1 inhibited the cell proliferation ability with increased cell apoptosis in MG-63 and U-2 OS cells. Conclusion. KIFC1 was significantly upregulated in OS and promoted OS progression by cell proliferation. These findings offered new clues for OS diagnosis and prognosis, suggesting KIFC1 could be a potential therapeutic target for OS in further study.
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