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•Melatonin may alleviate cold-induced membrane lipid peroxidation.•Melatonin treatment increased the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids.•Melatonin lightened phospholipids ...degradation and gene expression of CaPLD and CaLOX.•Melatonin treatment may activate an antioxidant defense system of bell peppers.•Melatonin treatment may be a reliable method to relieve chilling injury.
Melatonin is a kind of indoleamine that plays an important role against abiotic stress. In the current study, we investigated the effect of exogenous melatonin (100 μM) on bell pepper during storage at 4 °C for 20 d and afterward shelf at 20 °C for 3 d. Melatonin treatment reduced cell structure damage and lightened the increase in chilling injury incidence, membrane permeability, and malonaldehyde (MDA) content under cold stress. The membrane lipid content and the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids increased by reducing the enzymatic activity and transcripts of phospholipase D (PLD) and lipoxygenase (LOX). Besides, melatonin application also inhibited the transcription of CaNAC1, which is the direct targeted regulator of the CaPLD gene. In addition, peppers treated with melatonin had a higher proline content than untreated peppers. Moreover, melatonin triggered the antioxidation protection system in peppers to resist oxidative damage by up-regulating the transcription level of the CaSOD, CaPOD, CaCAT, and CaAPX genes. Our results show that melatonin treatment may be a reliable method to relieve chilling injury in bell pepper fruit via the alleviation of cold-induced membrane lipid peroxidation and activating an antioxidant defense system.
It is being debated whether prostate-specific antigen (PSA)-based screening effectively reduces prostate cancer mortality. Some of the uncertainty could be related to deficiencies in the age-based ...PSA cut-off thresholds used in screening. Current study considered 2779 men with prostate cancer and 1606 men without a cancer diagnosis, recruited for various studies in New Zealand, US, and Taiwan. Association of PSA with demographic, lifestyle, clinical characteristics (for cases), and the aldo-keto reductase 1C3 (AKR1C3) rs12529 genetic polymorphisms were analysed using multiple linear regression and univariate modelling. Pooled multivariable analysis of cases showed that PSA was significantly associated with demographic, lifestyle, and clinical data with an interaction between ethnicity and age further modifying the association. Pooled multivariable analysis of controls data also showed that demographic and lifestyle are significantly associated with PSA level. Independent case and control analyses indicated that factors associated with PSA were specific for each cohort. Univariate analyses showed a significant age and PSA correlation among all cases and controls except for the US-European cases while genetic stratification in cases showed variability of correlation. Data suggests that unique PSA cut-off thresholds factorized with demographics, lifestyle and genetics may be more appropriate for prostate cancer screening.
Our study showed that total urinary arsenic concentrations were positively correlated with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Chronic inflammation is a key player in the development of RCC. This study ...explored the association between nucleotide-binding domain-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) genotypes and the development of RCC. We also investigated whether any of the NLRP3 genotypes modified the risk between arsenic and RCC. We recruited 350 RCC patients and 700 age-sex matched controls. RCC was confirmed by pathological assessment following surgical resection or image-guided biopsy of a renal tumor. Fifteen sites of NLRP3 gene polymorphisms were identified using the Agena Bioscience MassARRAY platform. The concentrations of the urinary arsenic species were determined by HPLC-HG-AAS. There was a significant dose-dependent association between arsenic and RCC. In addition, six of thirteen NLRP3 alleles, including rs12239046 C, rs10925025 G, rs1539019 C, rs10925026 A, rs10157379 T, and rs12143966 A, had increased odds ratios (ORs) for RCC than other NLRP3 alleles. Among these sites, we found the novel haplotype of five tag-SNPs (C-A-A-A-A) was significantly related to RCC, the OR and 95% confidence interval was 1.44 (1.08-1.92). Furthermore, participants with high total urinary arsenic levels and the NLRP3 rs1539019 C allele had significantly multiplicative and additive interactions for the risk of RCC (p
= 0.012). This study is the first to identify the modified effects of NLRP3 risk alleles involved in the association between arsenic and RCC risk in a population with low arsenic exposure.
A PDMS elastomer based on acylhydrazone groups with both acid- and heat-assisted self-healing properties was successfully prepared from tetra-acylhydrazine-terminated PDMS and terephthalaldehyde ...through solution casting. The good healing performance was obtained with catalytic acetic acid for 24 h at 25 °C or by annealing at 120 °C for 2 h. The elastomer exhibited a reversible transition near 80 °C observed by rheological measurements and variable-temperature FTIR, which corresponded to the dissociation and reconstruction of hydrogen bonds between acylhydrazone groups. Since the non-equimolar sample presented similar behaviors with the equimolar sample, it verifies that the reversible dissociation/reformation of hydrogen bonds dominates the heat-assisted self-healing process. This finding will enable better understanding of the contribution of hydrogen bonding interactions in acylhydrazone self-healing systems, thus promoting the development of self-healing bulk materials based on acylhydrazone groups.
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•Self-healing PDMS elastomers based on acylhydrazone groups were prepared.•A reversible transition was observed around 80 °C.•Role of H-bonds on self-healing properties was elucidated.
Infectious disease epidemics have become more frequent and more complex during the 21
century, posing a health threat to the general public and leading to psychological symptoms. The current study ...was designed to investigate the prevalence of and risk factors associated with depression, anxiety and insomnia symptoms during epidemic outbreaks, including COVID-19. We systematically searched the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, OVID, Medline, Cochrane databases, bioRxiv and medRxiv to identify studies that reported the prevalence of depression, anxiety or insomnia during infectious disease epidemics, up to August 14
, 2020. Prevalence of mental symptoms among different populations including the general public, health workers, university students, older adults, infected patients, survivors of infection, and pregnant women across all types of epidemics was pooled. In addition, prevalence of mental symptoms during COVID-19 was estimated by time using meta-regression analysis. A total of 17,506 papers were initially retrieved, and a final of 283 studies met the inclusion criteria, representing a total of 948,882 individuals. The pooled prevalence of depression ranged from 23.1%, 95% confidential intervals (95% CI: 13.9-32.2) in survivors to 43.3% (95% CI: 27.1-59.6) in university students, the pooled prevalence of anxiety ranged from 25.0% (95% CI: 12.0-38.0) in older adults to 43.3% (95% CI: 23.3-63.3) in pregnant women, and insomnia symptoms ranged from 29.7% (95% CI: 24.4-34.9) in the general public to 58.4% (95% CI: 28.1-88.6) in university students. Prevalence of moderate-to-severe mental symptoms was lower but had substantial variation across different populations. The prevalence of mental problems increased over time during the COVID-19 pandemic among the general public, health workers and university students, and decreased among infected patients. Factors associated with increased prevalence for all three mental health symptoms included female sex, and having physical disorders, psychiatric disorders, COVID infection, colleagues or family members infected, experience of frontline work, close contact with infected patients, high exposure risk, quarantine experience and high concern about epidemics. Frequent exercise and good social support were associated with lower risk for these three mental symptoms. In conclusion, mental symptoms are common during epidemics with substantial variation across populations. The population-specific psychological crisis management are needed to decrease the burden of psychological problem and improve the mental wellbeing during epidemic.
•Yellowing of broccoli involved plastid transformation and abnormal chloroplast development.•BoHO1 played a key role in maintaining broccoli as green, which has not been reported previously.•BoHO1, ...BoNYC1 and BoVDE affected cell morphology and pigment content.•BoHO1 and BoZEP interacted with different metabolic pathways that are intrinsically related.
Broccoli undergoes yellowing in unfavorable conditions, thereby diminishing the sensory quality and commodity value. This study aimed to investigate systematically cellular and/or biomolecular changes involved in broccoli yellowing by analyzing changes in microstructural integrity, pigment content, and gene expression. On day-5 of storage at 20 °C, the buds turned yellow without blooming and showed structural damage; ultrastructural analysis revealed plastid transformation and abnormal chloroplast development. Genes regulating pigment content and chloroplast structure directly were identified. More specifically, BoCAO and BoNYC1 regulated chlorophyll turnover, affecting chlorophyll a and b contents. Changes in the β-cryptoxanthin content were influenced by the combined action of up- (BoHYD) and downstream (BoZEP) genes. BoZEP and BoVDE were activated after cold-temperature induction. High BoHO1 expression delayed yellowing at low temperature, inducing BoZEP expression. Color intensity correlated significantly with the chlorophyll b, β-cryptoxanthin, and β-carotene contents, which were associated with increased yellowing of plant tissues.
Data-driven approach has been widely utilized in modeling soft sensor for predicting key quality variables in process engineering area. The soft sensor is generally a time dependent dynamical model ...between the input and the output. Echo state network (ESN) is a typical data-driven modeling tool, which has exhibited excellent performance in temporal data processing area. However, the memory mode in the traditional ESN lacks flexibility. It is sometimes hard to preserve sufficient input features in the states, especially for modeling long-term dependent soft sensors. To solve this problem, this paper proposes an asynchronously deep echo state network (ADESN), which is composed of a number of sub-reservoirs that are connected one by one in sequence. Additionally, time delay modules are inserted between every two adjacent layers. The ADESN scheme preserves more input history in the states. Moreover, it can realize a selective memory. The validity of the ADESN is demonstrated on modeling a number of numerical and real-life soft sensors.
•The proposed ADESN is capable of preserving much more input features than a traditional ESN under the same reservoir size.•The ADESN can realize a selective memory.•The ADESN is prominent in modeling long-term dependent tasks.
Background
Controlling the asymmetric distribution of phospholipids across biological membranes plays a pivotal role in the life cycle of cells; one of the most important contributors that maintain ...this lipid asymmetry are phospholipid‐transporting adenosine triphosphatases (ATPases). Although sufficient information regarding their association with cancer exists, there is limited evidence linking the genetic variants of phospholipid‐transporting ATPase family genes to prostate cancer in humans.
Methods
In this study, we investigated the association of 222 haplotype‐tagging single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in eight phospholipid‐transporting ATPase genes with cancer‐specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) of 630 patients treated with androgen‐deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer.
Results
After multivariate Cox regression analysis and multiple testing correction, we found that ATP8B1 rs7239484 was remarkably associated with CSS and OS after ADT. A pooled analysis of multiple independent gene‐expression datasets demonstrated that ATP8B1 was under‐expressed in tumor tissues and that a higher ATP8B1 expression was associated with a better patient prognosis. Moreover, we established highly invasive sublines using two human prostate cancer cell lines to mimic cancer progression traits in vitro. The expression of ATP8B1 was consistently downregulated in both highly invasive sublines.
Conclusion
Our study indicates that rs7239484 is a prognostic factor for patients treated with ADT and that ATP8B1 can potentially attenuate prostate cancer progression.
Millions of COVID-19 pediatric survivors are facing the risk of long COVID after recovery from acute COVID-19. The primary objective of this study was to systematically review the available ...literature and determine the pooled prevalence of, and risk factors for long COVID among the pediatric survivors.
Studies that assessed the prevalence of, or risk factors associated with long COVID among pediatric COVID-19 survivors were systematically searched in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library up to December 11th, 2022. Random effects model was performed to estimate the pooled prevalence of long COVID among pediatric COVID-19 patients. Subgroup analyses and meta-regression on the estimated prevalence of long COVID were performed by stratification with follow-up duration, mean age, sex ratio, percentage of multisystem inflammatory syndrome, hospitalization rate at baseline, and percentage of severe illness.
Based on 40 studies with 12,424 individuals, the pooled prevalence of any long COVID was 23.36 % (95 % CI 15.27–32.53). The generalized symptom (19.57 %, 95 % CI 9.85–31.52) was reported most commonly, followed by respiratory (14.76 %, 95 % CI 7.22–24.27), neurologic (13.51 %, 95 % CI 6.52–22.40), and psychiatric (12.30 %, 95% CI 5.38–21.37). Dyspnea (22.75 %, 95% CI 9.38–39.54), fatigue (20.22 %, 95% CI 9.19–34.09), and headache (15.88 %, 95 % CI 6.85–27.57) were most widely reported specific symptoms. The prevalence of any symptom during 3–6, 6–12, and> 12 months were 26.41 % (95 % CI 14.33–40.59), 20.64 % (95 % CI 17.06–24.46), and 14.89 % (95 % CI 6.09–26.51), respectively. Individuals with aged over ten years, multisystem inflammatory syndrome, or had severe clinical symptoms exhibited higher prevalence of long COVID in multi-systems. Factors such as older age, female, poor physical or mental health, or had severe infection or more symptoms were more likely to have long COVID in pediatric survivors.
Nearly one quarter of pediatric survivors suffered multisystem long COVID, even at 1 year after infection. Ongoing monitoring, comprehensive prevention and intervention is warranted for pediatric survivors, especially for individuals with high risk factors.
To investigate the effect of Mn and other metal dopants on the photoelectronic performance of CsPbCl3 perovskites, we conducted a series of theoretical analyses. Our findings showed that after Mn ...mono-doping, the CsPbCl3 lattice contracted and the bonding strength increased, resulting in a more compact structure of the metal octahedral cage. The relaxation of the metal octahedral cage, along with the Jahn–Teller effect, results in a decrease in lattice strain between the octahedra and a reduction in the energy of the entire lattice due to the deformation of the metal octahedron. These three factors work together to reduce intrinsic defects and enhance the stability and electronic properties of CsPbCl3 perovskites. The solubility of the Mn dopant is significantly increased when co-doped with Ni, Fe, and Co dopants, as it compensates for the lattice strain induced by Mn. Doping CsPbCl3 perovskites reduces the band gap due to the decreased contributions of 3d orbitals from the dopants. Our analyses have revealed that strengthening the CsPbCl3 lattice and reducing intrinsic defects can result in improved stability and PL properties. Moreover, increasing Mn solubility and decreasing the bandgap can enhance the PLQY of orange luminescence in CsPbCl3 perovskites. These findings offer valuable insights for the development of effective strategies to enhance the photoelectronic properties of these materials.
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