Photothermal therapy (PTT) has been widely applied in cancer therapy as a result of its non-invasive, localized treatment and good therapeutic effect. In general, the final therapeutic effect of PTT ...mainly depends on the photothermal materials, which can be further considered to be determined by the photothermal conversion efficiency, biocompatibility, and photothermal stability of photothermal materials. In this review, photothermal materials including inorganic materials, organic materials, and organic-inorganic composite materials in recent years have been summarized in terms of the mechanism, preparation, and cancer therapy applications. In the end, the perspectives and obstacles in their further development are overviewed.
We outlined NIR photothermal materials for photothermal cancer therapy and proposed three key metrics for evaluating the materials from physical, chemical, and bio/medical perspectives.
Previous studies have indicated a heightened susceptibility to cataract and glaucoma among rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, while it remains uncertain whether RA is causally associated with ...cataract and glaucoma. A two-sample mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was used to investigate the causal associations between RA, cataract and glaucoma in European and East Asian populations.
In the European population, genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics for cataract (372,386 individuals) and glaucoma (377,277 individuals) were obtained from the FinnGen consortium (R9), while RA summary data were derived from a meta-analysis of GWAS encompassing 97173 samples. In the East Asian population, summary data for cataract (212453 individuals), glaucoma (212453 individuals), and RA (22515 individuals) were sourced from the IEU Open GWAS project. Inverse-variance weighted (IVW, random-effects) method served as the primary analysis, complemented by MR‒Egger regression, weighted median, weighted mode and simple mode methods. Additionally, various sensitivity tests, including Cochran's Q test, MR‒Egger intercept, MR pleiotropy Residual Sum and Outlier test and leave-one-out test were performed to detect the heterogeneity, horizontal pleiotropy and stability of the analysis results.
Following stringent screening, the number of selected instrumental variables ranged from 8 to 56. The IVW results revealed that RA had an increased risk of cataract (OR = 1.041, 95% CI = 1.019-1.064; P = 2.08×10-4) and glaucoma (OR = 1.029, 95% CI = 1.003-1.057; P = 2.94×10-2) in European populations, and RA displayed a positive association with cataract (OR = 1.021, 95% CI = 1.004-1.039; P = 1.64×10-2) in East Asian populations. Other methods also supported those results by IVW, and sensitivity tests showed that our analysis results were credible and stable.
This study revealed a positive causality between RA and the increased risk of cataract and glaucoma, which provides guidance for the early prevention of cataracts and glaucoma in patients with RA and furnishes evidence for the impact of RA-induced inflammation on ophthalmic diseases.
Polymer materials have broad potential applications for saving water and increasing crop yields in irrigated agricultural systems. However, little is known about how polymers affect the distribution ...and transformation of soil organic carbon. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of humic acid (H) (an alkali extract of cottonseed meal), modified polymer (P) (a mixture of anionic polyacrylamide, polyvinyl alcohol, and manganese sulfate), and composite polymer (HP) (a 1:1 mixture of H and P) applied with drip irrigation on soil aggregate stability and organic carbon stability. The results demonstrated that the H and P treatments significantly increased soil aggregate stability and organic carbon content, compared with the HP treatment. Compared with the controls for corpped soils (CK) and uncorpped soils (CK-NP), the DR0.25 (>0.25 mm soil mechanical-stable aggregate), W-MWD (mean weight diameter of water stable aggregate), and W-GMD (geometric mean diameter of water stable aggregate) of the H treatment increased by 3.9%, 33.1%, and 23.2%, respectively (p < 0.05); the WR0.25 (>0.25 mm soil water stable aggregate), W-MWD, and W-GMD of the H-NP treatment (H treatment for uncorpped soils) increased by 44.7%, 38.0%, and 37.6%, respectively (p < 0.05); the WR0.25 and W-GMD of the P treatment increased by 29.8% and 26.8%, respectively (p < 0.05); and the W-GMD of the P-NP treatment (P treatment for uncorpped soils) increased by 16.5% (p < 0.05). Although the HP treatment also increased the organic carbon content of soil aggregates, it was less effective for improving soil aggregate stability. During the first 20 days of incubation, the mineralisation rate of the CK was the highest. Then, the mineralisation rates for the H and HP treatments increased more rapidly than that of the CK (p < 0.05), with increases of 27.6% and 54.4%, respectively. Results from field experiments (soil microbial biomass carbon content) supported this result. Compared with the CK, the H and P treatments rapidly increased soil labile organic carbon (LOC). The LOC content for the H treatment was 28.9% and 21.6% higher than that of the CK after 30 and 90 days, respectively (p < 0.05), whereas the LOC content for the P treatment was 32.8% and 20.2% higher than that of the CK after 60 and 90 days, respectively (p < 0.05). Redundancy analyses revealed that cultivation vs fallow treatments affected how polymer materials transform soil organic carbon. Cultivation allowed humic acid to improve soil aggregate mechanical-stability, promoting microbial decomposition of carbon and increasing organic carbon content. Modified polymer improved soil aggregate water-stability and reduced aggregate destruction, increasing the proportion of soil organic carbon that can be easily oxidised.
•Humic acid and modified polymers could increase soil aggregate stability.•Three polymers suppressed soil organic carbon mineralisation in the early stage.•The sustained release time of the modified polymer was longer than that of humic acid.•Polymers increased soil organic carbon fractions by improving soil aggregates stability.
The nuclear factor Y (NF-Y) transcription factor contains three subfamilies: NF-YA, NF-YB, and NF-YC. The NF-Y family have been reported to be key regulators in plant growth and stress responses. ...However, little attention has been given to these genes in melon (
L.). In this study, twenty-five
were identified in the melon genome, including six
, eleven
, and eight
. Their basic information (gene location, protein characteristics, and subcellular localization), conserved domains and motifs, and phylogeny and gene structure were subsequently analyzed. Results showed highly conserved motifs exist in each subfamily, which are distinct between subfamilies. Most
were expressed in five tissues and exhibited distinct expression patterns. However,
,
, and
were not expressed and might be pseudogenes. Twelve
were induced by cold stress, indicating the NF-Y family plays a key role in melon cold tolerance. Taken together, our findings provide a comprehensive understanding of
genes in the development and stress response of melon and provide genetic resources for solving the practical problems of melon production.
Superoxide dismutase (SOD) can greatly scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plants. SOD activity is highly related to plant stress tolerance that can be improved by overexpression of SOD genes. ...Identification of SOD activity-related loci and potential candidate genes is essential for improvement of grain quality in wheat breeding. However, the loci and candidate genes for relating SOD in wheat grains are largely unknown. In the present study, grain SOD activities of 309 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from the 'Berkut' x 'Worrakatta' cross were assayed by photoreduction method with nitro-blue tetrazolium (NBT) in four environments. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) of SOD activity were identified using inclusive composite interval mapping (ICIM) with the genotypic data of 50 K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. Six QTL for SOD activity were mapped on chromosomes 1BL, 4DS, 5AL (2), and 5DL (2), respectively, explaining 2.2 ~ 7.4% of the phenotypic variances. Moreover, QSOD.xjau-1BL, QSOD.xjau-4DS, QSOD.xjau-5 A.1, QSOD.xjau-5 A.2, and QSOD.xjau-5DL.2 identified are likely to be new loci for SOD activity. Four candidate genes TraesCS4D01G059500, TraesCS5A01G371600, TraesCS5D01G299900, TraesCS5D01G343100LC, were identified for QSOD.xjau-4DS, QSOD.xjau-5AL.1, and QSOD.xjau-5DL.1 (2), respectively, including three SOD genes and a gene associated with SOD activity. Based on genetic effect analysis, this can be used to identify desirable alleles and excellent allele variations in wheat cultivars. These candidate genes are annotated for promoting SOD production and inhibiting the accumulation of ROS during plant growth. Therefore, lines with high SOD activity identified in this study may be preferred for future wheat breeding.
Introduction High-yield and high-quality production of silage maize in cold regions is crucial for ensuring the sustainable development of livestock industry. Methods This study first conducted an ...experiment to select the optimized silage maize varieties and densities using a split-plot design. The tested maize varieties were Xuntian 3171, Xuntian 16, Xunqing 858, and Fengtian 12, with each variety planted at densities of 67,500, 79,500, and 90,000 plants ha -1 . Following the variety and density selection, another experiment on optimizing nitrogen management for silage maize was carried out using a completely randomized design: no nitrogen fertilizer (T1), applying urea-N 320 kg ha -1 (T2), applying urea-N 240 kg ha -1 (T3), applying polymer-coated urea-N 240 kg N ha -1 (T4), and ratios of polymer-coated urea-N to urea-N at 9:1 (T5), 8:2 (T6), 7:3 (T7), and 6:4 (T8). T5-T8 all applied 240 kg N ha -1 . The yield and quality of silage maize, nitrogen use efficiency and balance, and economic benefits were evaluated. Results Results showed that Xunqing 858 had significantly higher plant height (8.7%-22.6% taller than the other three varieties) and leaf area (30.9% larger than Xuntian 3171), resulting in yield 11.5%-51.6% higher than the other three varieties. All varieties achieved maximum yields at a planting density of 79,500 plants ha -1 . Integrated management strategy 7 (T7: Xunqing 858, 79,500 plants ha -1 , polymer-coated urea-N to urea-N ratio of 7:3) achieved the highest yield of 73.1 t ha -1 , a 6.1%-58.1% increase over other treatments. This strategy also produced the highest crude protein (11.1%) and starch (19.1%) contents, and the lowest neutral detergent fiber content (50.6%), with economic benefits improved by 10.3%-97.8% compared to other strategies. Additionally, T7 improved nitrogen use efficiency by 15.4%-94.5%, reduced soil nitrate leaching by 4.4%-36.5%, and decreased nitrogen surplus by 7.0%-46.6%. Conclusion and discussion Comprehensive analysis revealed that the integrated management strategy 7 significantly improved silage maize yield and quality in cold regions while enhancing nitrogen use efficiency and reducing the risk of nitrate leaching, aligning with green agriculture development requirements. These findings will provide vital theoretical insights and practical guidance for high-yield and high-quality silage maize production in cold regions worldwide.
During the adaptive evolution of animals, the host and its gut microbiota co-adapt to different elevations. Currently, there are few reports on the rumen microbiota–hepato-intestinal axis of Tibetan ...sheep at different altitudes. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the regulatory effect of rumen microorganism–volatile fatty acids (VFAs)–VFAs transporter gene interactions on the key enzymes and genes related to gluconeogenesis in Tibetan sheep. The rumen fermentation parameters, rumen microbial densities, liver gluconeogenesis activity and related genes were determined and analyzed using gas chromatography, RT-qPCR and other research methods. Correlation analysis revealed a reciprocal relationship among rumen microflora–VFAs-hepatic gluconeogenesis in Tibetan sheep at different altitudes. Among the microbiota, Ruminococcus flavefaciens (R. flavefaciens), Ruminococcus albus (R. albus), Fibrobactersuccinogenes and Ruminobacter amylophilus (R. amylophilus) were significantly correlated with propionic acid (p < 0.05), while propionic acid was significantly correlated with the transport genes monocarboxylate transporter 4 (MCT4) and anion exchanger 2 (AE2) (p < 0.05). Propionic acid was significantly correlated with key enzymes such as pyruvate carboxylase, phosphoenolpyruvic acid carboxylase and glucose (Glu) in the gluconeogenesis pathway (p < 0.05). Additionally, the expressions of these genes were significantly correlated with those of the related genes, namely, forkhead box protein O1 (FOXO1) and mitochondrial phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase 2 (PCK2) (p < 0.05). The results showed that rumen microbiota densities differed at different altitudes, and the metabolically produced VFA contents differed, which led to adaptive changes in the key enzyme activities of gluconeogenesis and the expressions of related genes.
Introduction Improvement of root architecture is crucial to increasing nutrient acquisition. Methods Two pot experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of different concentrations of urea ...ammonium nitrate solution (UAN) and ammonium polyphosphate (APP) on lettuce root architecture and the relationship between roots and nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) absorption. Results The results showed that lettuce yield, quality, and root architecture were superior in the APP4 treatment compared to other P fertilizer treatments. The N480 treatment (480 mg N kg -1 UAN) significantly outperformed other N treatments in terms of root length, root surface area, and root volume. There were significant quantitative relationships between root architecture indices and crop uptake of N and P. The relationships between P uptake and root length and root surface area followed power functions. Crop N uptake was significantly linearly related to the length of fine roots with a diameter of <0.5 mm. Conclusion and discussion The length of fine roots played a more prominent role in promoting N absorption, while overall root size was more important for P absorption. APP has a threshold of 9.3 mg P kg -1 for stimulating the root system. Above this threshold, a rapid increase in root absorption of P. UAN can promote extensive growth of fine roots with a diameter less than 0.5 mm. Applying appropriate rates of APP and limiting UAN application to less than 400 mg N kg -1 can improve root architecture to enhance N and P absorption by lettuce. These results highlight a new possibility to improve nutrients use efficiency while maintaining high yields.
Tibetan sheep can maintain a normal life and reproduce in harsh environments under extreme cold and lack of nutrition. However, the molecular and metabolic mechanisms underlying the adaptability of ...Tibetan sheep during the cold season are still unclear. Hence, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of rumen epithelial morphology, epithelial transcriptomics, microbiology and metabolomics in a Tibetan sheep model. The results showed that morphological structure of rumen epithelium of Tibetan sheep in cold season had adaptive changes. Transcriptomics analysis showed that the differential genes were primarily enriched in the PPAR signaling pathway (ko03320), legionellosis (ko05134), phagosome (ko04145), arginine and proline metabolism (ko00330), and metabolism of xenobiotics by cytochrome P450 (ko00980). Unique differential metabolites were identified in cold season, such as cynaroside A, sanguisorbin B and tryptophyl-valine, which were mainly enriched in arachidonic acid metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism and linolenic acid metabolism pathways, and had certain correlation with microorganisms. Integrated transcriptome-metabolome-microbiome analysis showed that epithelial gene-
expression was upregulated in the metabolism of xenobiotics by the cytochrome P450 pathway during the cold season, leading to the downregulation of some harmful metabolites;
gene expression was upregulated and
gene expression was downregulated in the legionellosis pathway during the cold season. This study comprehensively described the interaction mechanism between the rumen host and microbes and their metabolites in grazing Tibetan sheep during the cold season. Rumen epithelial genes, microbiota and metabolites act together in some key pathways related to cold season adaptation.
There exists a positive correlation between the unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) content in the bovine species and their taste and nutritional significance. Long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase 1 (ACSL1) is ...known to be involved in lipid synthesis as well as fatty acid transport and degradation. This gene has been identified as the key candidate gene for regulating lipid composition in the bovine skeletal muscle; however, its mechanism of action in regulating UFA synthesis in bovine adipocytes is unclear. In this study, we used a recombinant adenovirus vector (Ad-ACSL1) to overexpress the ACSL1 gene using Ad-NC (recombinant adenovirus of green fluorescent protein) as the control. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was done to examine the gene expression associated with the synthesis of UFA, followed by the analysis of the fatty acid composition. Oil red O staining was done to examine the aggregation of lipid droplets. We found that ACSL1 overexpression was associated with an upregulated expression of PPARγ, FABP3, ACLY, SCD1, and FASN, and downregulated expression of CPT1A. Additionally, ACSL1 overexpression resulted in elevated saturated fatty acid content, especially C16:0 and C18:0, than the control group (Ad-NC cells) (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the overexpression of ACSL1 enhanced the proportion of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), decreased the proportion of C22:4, and significantly upregulated polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content. These results were supported by oil red O staining, which revealed an increase in the lipid droplets in bovine adipocytes after the overexpression of the ACSL1 gene. Thus, the results of this study indicated that ACSL1 positively regulated PUFA synthesis in bovine adipocytes.
•The nutritional value and eating qualities of beef are enhanced when the unsaturated fatty acid content of fat is increased.•The ACSL1 gene has been identified as the key gene for manipulation of fatty acid composition in bovine skeletal muscle.•Long-chain acyl-CoA synthetase 1 (ACSL1) positively regulated PUFA synthesis in bovine adipocytes.
