We investigated the association between maternal zinc level during pregnancy and the risks of low birth weight (LBW) and small for gestational age (SGA) infants in a large population-based birth ...cohort study. In this study, 3187 pregnant women were recruited. For serum zinc level, 2940 pregnant women were sufficient (≥56 μg/dL) and 247 deficient (<56 μg/dL). Of interest, 7.3% newborns were with LBW among subjects with low zinc level (RR: 3.48; 95% CI: 2.03, 5.96; P < 0.001). Adjusted RR for LBW was 3.41 (95% CI: 1.97, 5.91; P < 0.001) among subjects with low zinc level. Moreover, 15.0% newborns were with SGA among subjects with low zinc level (RR: 1.98; 95% CI: 1.36, 2.88; P < 0.001). Adjusted RR for SGA was 1.93 (95% CI: 1.32, 2.82; P < 0.001) among subjects with low zinc level. A nested case-control study within above cohort showed that maternal serum zinc level was lower in SGA cases as compared with controls. By contrast, maternal serum C-reactive protein, TNF-α and IL-8 levels were significantly higher in SGA cases than that of controls. Moreover, nuclear NF-κB p65 was significantly up-regulated in placentas of SGA cases as compared with controls. Taken together, maternal zinc deficiency during pregnancy elevates the risks of LBW and SGA infants.
SUMMARY
Drought is a major environmental stress that severely affects plant growth and crop productivity. FRIGIDA (FRI) is a key regulator of flowering time and drought tolerance in model plants. ...However, little is known regarding its functions in woody plants, including citrus. Thus, we explored the functional role of the citrus FRI ortholog (CiFRI) under drought. Drought treatment induced CiFRI expression. CiFRI overexpression enhanced drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis and citrus, while CiFRI suppression increased drought susceptibility in citrus. Moreover, transcriptomic profiling under drought conditions suggested that CiFRI overexpression altered the expression of numerous genes involved in the stress response, hormone biosynthesis, and signal transduction. Mechanistic studies revealed that citrus dehydrin likely protects CiFRI from stress‐induced degradation, thereby enhancing plant drought tolerance. In addition, a citrus brassinazole‐resistant (BZR) transcription factor family member (CiBZR1) directly binds to the CiFRI promoter to activate its expression under drought conditions. CiBZR1 also enhanced drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis and citrus. These findings further our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the CiFRI‐mediated drought stress response in citrus.
Significance Statement
Citrus FRIGIDA (CiFRI) regulates drought tolerance. Citrus dehydrin protects CiFRI from stress‐induced degradation, thereby enhancing plant drought tolerance.
We demonstrate herein a promising pathway towards low‐energy CO2 capture and release triggered by UV and visible light. A photosensitive diarylethene ligand was used to construct a photochromic ...diarylethene metal–organic framework (DMOF). A local photochromic reaction originating from the framework movement induced by the photoswitchable diarylethene unit resulted in record CO2‐desorption capacity of 75 % under static irradiation and 76 % under dynamic irradiation.
Low‐energy CO2 capture and release was possible with a metal–organic framework containing a photosensitive diarylethene ligand. The local framework flexibility caused by the photoswitchable diarylethene ligand (see picture) led to a record high CO2‐desorption capacity of 75 % under static irradiation and 76 % under dynamic irradiation.
► Effects of various factors in UAE on all-trans-lycopene yield were investigated. ► The yield was significantly influenced by time, temperature and duty cycle. ► UAE shows considerable advantages on ...the extraction yield of all-trans-lycopene. ► We explore the stability of all-trans-lycopene with structure changes in UAE. ► A new method to make isomers of lycopene was discovered.
The effects of various factors, including the extraction time, temperature, solvent/material ratio, the ultrasonic intensity and duty cycle of ultrasonic irradiation on the extraction yield of all-trans-lycopene from red grapefruit by ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) were investigated. In comparison with conventional solvent extraction (CSE), UAE showed a pronounced greater extraction yield and reduced extraction time effectively with a peak value at 30min. The extraction yield was significantly influenced by temperature and the optimum condition was 30°C. The extraction yield increased with increasing of solvent/material ratio until equilibrium was arrived at the optimal ratio of 3:1 (mL/g). The extraction yield increased first and then decreased with an increase in ultrasonic intensity. The extraction yield of UAE increased with the increase of duty cycle, whereas pulsed ultrasound with proper intervals was more efficient than continuous ultrasonication. The degradation via isomerisation of all-trans-lycopene under ultrasonic treatment was also observed with the formation of 9,13′-di-cis-, 9,13-di-cis-, 15-cis-, 13-cis- and 9-cis-lycopene isomers which were tentatively identified by HPLC-PAD.
Drought stress is one of the major causes of crop loss. WRKY transcription factors, as one of the largest transcription factor families, play important roles in regulation of many plant processes, ...including drought stress response. However, far less information is available on drought-responsive WRKY genes in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), one of the three staple food crops.
Forty eight putative drought-induced WRKY genes were identified from a comparison between de novo transcriptome sequencing data of wheat without or with drought treatment. TaWRKY1 and TaWRKY33 from WRKY Groups III and II, respectively, were selected for further investigation. Subcellular localization assays revealed that TaWRKY1 and TaWRKY33 were localized in the nuclei in wheat mesophyll protoplasts. Various abiotic stress-related cis-acting elements were observed in the promoters of TaWRKY1 and TaWRKY33. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis showed that TaWRKY1 was slightly up-regulated by high-temperature and abscisic acid (ABA), and down-regulated by low-temperature. TaWRKY33 was involved in high responses to high-temperature, low-temperature, ABA and jasmonic acid methylester (MeJA). Overexpression of TaWRKY1 and TaWRKY33 activated several stress-related downstream genes, increased germination rates, and promoted root growth in Arabidopsis under various stresses. TaWRKY33 transgenic Arabidopsis lines showed lower rates of water loss than TaWRKY1 transgenic Arabidopsis lines and wild type plants during dehydration. Most importantly, TaWRKY33 transgenic lines exhibited enhanced tolerance to heat stress.
The functional roles highlight the importance of WRKYs in stress response.
The glacial-interglacial transitions of ice ages are associated with large, rapid changes in climate, which potentially can be reconstructed from stratigraphic profiles of the chemical index of ...alteration (CIA). Here, we present a case study based on high-resolution CIA profiles of Neoproterozoic glacial deposits from South China (paleolatitude ~30° N) as a record of the climate transition at the termination of the Sturtian Glaciation (~663 Ma). Drillcore ZK2115 (Gaodi Deposit) exhibits a progressive upsection increase in mean CIA over a ~50-m interval, from 58 (range 52–65; note: all ranges are given as 16th–84th percentiles) in the synglacial upper Tiesi'ao Formation to 67 (range 64–69) in the deglacial basal Datangpo Formation cap carbonates, and to 68 (range 66–70) in the postglacial Datangpo Formation black shales. A coeval section from the Lijiawan Deposit also exhibits an increasing CIA trend upsection within shallow-water Mn-carbonate facies. These CIA patterns show no relationship to lithology and are interpreted to reflect climatic warming and intensified chemical weathering during the Sturtian deglaciation. Similar large increases in postglacial CIA values are seen in Paleoproterozoic and Late Paleozoic successions, and at least moderate increases in CIA values are recorded during warm stages of the late Quaternary (e.g., the Bølling-Allerød and Holocene) relative to the cold stages (e.g., the Last Glacial Maximum and Younger Dryas). The rapidity of CIA changes in Quaternary systems (~1 to 10 kyr) suggests that weathering intensity may have changed at similarly rapid rates in more poorly dated deep-time glacial successions, with potential implications for Snowball versus Slushball models of Cryogenian glaciations. These examples show that CIA can be a robust proxy for climate changes (i.e., enhanced chemical weathering intensity) during glacial-interglacial transitions of both ancient and recent ice ages.
•Large increases in chemical index of alteration (CIA) during major deglaciations.•Case study of CIA changes in end-Sturtian deposits of Nanhua Basin (South China).•CIA increase from 59 ± 6 in synglacial Tiesi'ao Fm. to 66 ± 3 in postglacial Datangpo Fm.•CIA increase concentrated within terminal glacial deposits of uppermost Tiesi'ao Fm.•Similar CIA increases for glacial-interglacial transitions from Paleoproterozoic to Recent.
Cyclopropene hydrofunctionalization has been a promising strategy for accessing multi‐substituted cyclopropanes; however, cyclopropene hydroalkylation remains underdeveloped. Herein, we report a ...low‐valent CoH‐catalyzed facial‐selective cyclopropene hydroalkylation to access multi‐substituted cyclopropanes. This reaction exhibits a broad substrate scope of alkyl halides and cyclopropenes and tolerates many functional groups. Moderate‐to‐good facial‐selectivity is obtained without any directing groups. Mechanism studies provide evidence that alkyl radicals are generated from alkyl halides and irreversible CoH insertion is responsible for the facial‐selectivity. Our preliminary exploration demonstrates that asymmetric cyclopropene hydroalkylation can be realized without conspicuous auxiliary groups.
Low‐valent CoH‐catalyzed facial‐selective cyclopropene hydroalkylation has been reported. The reaction works in the absence of any additional directing groups.
Matrix factorization is one of the fundamental approaches of recommender systems. With the popular L2 loss, learning models tend to overfit significantly deviated predictions. However, predicting the ...actual rating of 5 as 1 or 2 makes no essential difference in the application. In this paper, we design a sigmoid-like function to control the loss of each individual prediction, which has two advantages. First, it reduces the loss corresponding to significantly deviated predictions. Therefore, the impact of these predictions, some of which may be caused by outliers, is also reduced. Second, it is independent of two classical over-fitting control techniques using regular terms and validation data, respectively. Hence, it can be combined with them to form a more powerful method. Experiments are undertaken on six benchmark datasets in comparison with different losses. Results show that the proposed loss function has good performance in terms of MAE, RMSE, and NDCG, however not so good in terms of HR and MAP.
•We design a sigmoid-like function to control the loss of each individual prediction.•This function is combined with regular terms and validation data to handle over-fitting better.•Results validate its effectiveness in comparison with popular loss functions.
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