Description: Background: Soybean cyst nematode (SCN, Heterodera glycines Ichinohe) is one of the most fatal pests of soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) worldwide and causes huge loss of soybean yield each year. Multiple sources of resistance are urgently needed for effective management of SCN via the development of resistant cultivars. The aim of the present study was to investigate the genetic architecture of resistance to SCN HG Type 0 (race 3) and HG Type 1.2.3.5.7 (race 4) in landraces and released elite soybean cultivars mostly from China. Results: A total of 440 diverse soybean landraces and elite cultivars were screened for resistance to SCN HG Type 0 and HG Type 1.2.3.5.7. Exactly 131 new sources of SCN resistance were identified. Lines were genotyped by SNP markers detected by the Specific Locus Amplified Fragment Sequencing (SLAF-seq) approach. A total of 36,976 SNPs were identified with minor allele frequencies (MAF) 〉 4 % that were present in 97 % of all the genotypes. Genome-wide association mapping showed that a total of 19 association signals were significantly related to the resistance for the two HG Types. Of the 19 association signals, eight signals overlapped with reported QTL including Rhg1 and Rhg4 genes. Another eight were located in the linked regions encompassing known QTL. Three QTL were found that were not previously reported. The average value of female index (FI) of soybean accessions with resistant alleles was significantly lower than those with susceptible alleles for each peak SNP. Disease resistance proteins with leucine rich regions, cytochrome P450s, protein kinases, zinc finger domain proteins, RING domain proteins, MYB and WRKY transcription activation families were identified. Such proteins may participate in the resistant reaction to SCN and were frequently found in the tightly linked genomic regions of the peak SNPs. Conclusions: GWAS extended understanding of the genetic architecture of SCN resistance in multiple genetic backgrounds. Nineteen association signals were obtained for the resistance to the two Hg Types of SCN. The multiple beneficial alleles from resistant germplasm sources will be useful for the breeding of cultivars with improved resistance to SCN. Analysis of genes near association signals may facilitate the recognition of the causal gene(s) underlying SCN resistances.

Description: Background: Mangrove restoration seeks to restore or rebuild degraded mangrove systems. The methods of mangrove restoration include ecological projects and restoration-oriented technologies, the latter of which are designed to restore the structure, processes as well as related physical, chemical and biological characteristics of wetlands and to ensure the provision of ecosystem services. As important components of mangrove ecosystem, benthic organisms and crabs play a key role in nutrient cycling. In addition, mangrove restoration, such as vegetation restoration measures, can lead to changes in the benthic faunal communities. This study investigates whether the presence of different mangrove species, age and canopy cover of mangrove communities affect the density of crab burrows. Methods: The Luoyangjiang Estuary, in the southeast of Fujian Province, was selected as our research area. A survey, covering 14 sites, was conducted to investigate the impacts of mangrove restoration on the density of crab burrows in four rehabilitated forests with different stand ages and canopy. Results: It was found that differences in vegetation types had a large impact on crab density and that the density of crab burrows was lower on exposed beaches (non-mangrove) than under mature Kandelia candel, Aegiceras corniculatum and Avicennia marina communities. In general, the amount of leaf litter and debris on mangrove mudflats was greater than on the beaches as food sources for crabs. Two-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) shows that changes in mangrove species and age since restoration had different effects on crab burrow density. The effect of canopy cover was highly significant on crab burrow density. Conclusions: The results suggest that in the process of mangrove restoration the combined effects of mangrove stand age, canopy cover and other factors should be taken into account. This study further supports the findings of the future scientific research and practice on mangrove restoration and management measures.

Description: Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) promotes metastasis, which is the main cause of bladder urothelial carcinoma–related death. Loss of the candidate tumor-suppressor gene Nkx2.8 has been associated with urothelial carcinoma lymph node metastasis. Here, we show that enforced expression of Nkx2.8 is sufficient to inhibit EMT, reduce motility, and blunt invasiveness of urothelial carcinoma cells. Mechanistic investigations showed that Nkx2.8 negatively regulated expression of the EMT inducer Twist1 in urothelial carcinoma cells, at both the level of mRNA and protein accumulation. Nkx2.8 bound directly to the promoter region of this gene and transcriptionally repressed its expression. Twist1 upregulation reversed EMT inhibition by Nkx2.8, restoring the invasive phenotype of urothelial carcinoma cells. In clinical urothelial carcinoma specimens, expression of Nkx2.8 inversely correlated with Twist1 expression, and urothelial carcinoma patients with Nkx2.8 positivity and low Twist1 expression displayed the best prognosis. Our findings highlight the Nkx2.8–Twist1 axis as candidate target for therapeutic intervention in advanced urothelial carcinoma.Significance: These findings highlight a novel EMT signaling axis as a candidate target for therapeutic intervention in advanced urothelial carcinomas. Cancer Res; 78(5); 1241–52. ©2018 AACR.

Description: Water, Vol. 10, Pages 83: Using a Backpropagation Artificial Neural Network to Predict Nutrient Removal in Tidal Flow Constructed Wetlands Water doi: 10.3390/w10010083 Authors: Wei Li Lijuan Cui Yaqiong Zhang Zhangjie Cai Manyin Zhang Weigang Xu Xinsheng Zhao Yinru Lei Xu Pan Jing Li Zhiguo Dou Nutrient removal in tidal flow constructed wetlands (TF-CW) is a complex series of nonlinear multi-parameter interactions. We simulated three tidal flow systems and a continuous vertical flow system filled with synthetic wastewater and compared the influent and effluent concentrations to examine (1) nutrient removal in artificial TF-CWs, and (2) the ability of a backpropagation (BP) artificial neural network to predict nutrient removal. The nutrient removal rates were higher under tidal flow when the idle/reaction time was two, and reached 90 ± 3%, 99 ± 1%, and 58 ± 13% for total nitrogen (TN), ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N), and total phosphorus (TP), respectively. The main influences on nutrient removal for each scenario were identified by redundancy analysis and were input into the model to train and verify the pollutant effluent concentrations. Comparison of the actual and model-predicted effluent concentrations showed that the model predictions were good. The predicted and actual values were correlated and the margin of error was small. The BP neural network fitted best to TP, with an R2 of 0.90. The R2 values of TN, NH4+-N, and nitrate nitrogen (NO3−-N) were 0.67, 0.73, and 0.69, respectively.

Description: Introduction Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a worldwide healthcare burden that is associated with the ageing population. Elderly patients with AF with multiple comorbidities usually present with a high risk of thromboembolism and bleeding. Limited prospective data are available from Asian cohorts on the epidemiology and complications of AF. The present prospective cohort study aims to explore contemporary antithrombotic strategies among the elderly Chinese population in the new era of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants and to compare the clinical characteristics and outcomes between Chinese and European AF populations. Methods and analysis The Optimal Thromboprophylaxis in Elderly Chinese Patients with Atrial Fibrillation (ChiOTEAF) registry will recruit 5000 patients with AF over 65 years of age in China. AF-related risks, including stroke/systemic thromboembolism and bleeding outcomes, will be assessed. Medical history, risk factors, demographic information and management will be collected at baseline, and clinical events during 1 year follow-up will be recorded. Follow-up will be conducted for at least 1 year and then annually thereafter. As our registry has a common protocol to the European Society of Cardiology EURObservational Research Programme AF general registry programme, preplanned analyses comparing the clinical profiles and outcomes will be performed. The ChiOTEAF registry offers an opportunity to provide a better understanding of the clinical profiles and adverse outcomes of patients with AF in China and allow for comparisons with a contemporary European population. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval was granted by the Central Medical Ethic Committee of Chinese PLA General Hospital (approval no S2014-065-01). The (inter)national research presentations, peer-reviewed publications and media coverage of the research will be sued for dissemination of the results.

Description: Soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) cyst nematode (SCN, Heterodera glycines I,) is a major pest of soybean worldwide. The most effective strategy to control this pest involves the use of resistant cultivars. The aim o...

Description: S-Adenosylmethionine (SAM) and S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) are relevant to a variety of diseases. Previous reports that quantified SAM and SAH were based on HPLC or LC–MS/MS. No antib...

Description: To overcome drug resistance caused by apoptosis deficiency in patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), there is a need to identify other means of triggering apoptosis-independent cancer cell death. We are the first to report that isogambogenic acid (iso-GNA) can induce apoptosis-independent autophagic cell death in human NSCLC cells. Several features of the iso-GNA-treated NSCLC cells indicated that iso-GNA induced autophagic cell death. First, there was no evidence of apoptosis or cleaved caspase 3 accumulation and activation. Second, iso-GNA treatment induced the formation of autophagic vacuoles, increased LC3 conversion, caused the appearance of autophagosomes and increased the expression of autophagy-related proteins. These findings provide evidence that iso-GNA induces autophagy in NSCLC cells. Third, iso-GNA-induced cell death was inhibited by autophagic inhibitors or by selective ablation of Atg7 and Beclin 1 genes. Furthermore, the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin increased iso-GNA-induced cell death by enhancing autophagy. Finally, a xenograft model provided additional evidence that iso-GNA exhibited anticancer effect through inducing autophagy-dependent cell death in NSCLC cells. Taken together, our results demonstrated that iso-GNA exhibited an anticancer effect by inducing autophagy-dependent cell death in NSCLC cells, which may be an effective chemotherapeutic agent that can be used against NSCLC in a clinical setting. Scientific Reports 5 doi: 10.1038/srep07697

Description: Author(s): Kun Jiang, Yinying Zhu, Weitao Liu, Hongfang Chen, Cheng Li, Lijuan Ruan, Zebo Tang, and Zhangbu Xu It has been debated for decades whether hadrons emerging from p+p collisions exhibit collective expansion. The signal of the collective motion in p+p collisions is not as clear or as clean as in heavy-ion collisions because of the low multiplicity and large fluctuation in p+p collisions. The Tsallis... [Phys. Rev. C 91, 024910] Published Mon Feb 23, 2015

Description: Background: Muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) is often lethal and non-MIBC (NMIBC) can recur and progress, yet prognostic markers are currently inadequate. SAM68, a member of RNA-binding proteins, has been reported to contribute to progression of other cancers. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential utility of SAM68 in the progression and prognosis of bladder cancer. Methods: Quantitative PCR and immunohistochemistry were utilized to examine the expression of SAM68 in ten pairs of MIBC and adjacent normal bladder urothelium, and eight pairs of MIBC and non-MIBC (NMIBC) tissues from the same patient. Moreover, SAM68 protein expression level and localization were examined by immunohistochemistry in 129 clinicopathologically characterized MIBC samples. Prognostic associations were determined by multivariable analysis incorporating standard prognostic factors. Results: SAM68 expression was elevated in MIBC tissues compared with adjacent normal bladder urothelium, and was increased at both transcriptional and translational levels in MIBC tissues compared with NMIBC tissues of the same patient. For MIBC, high expression and nucleus-cytoplasm co-expression of SAM68 were associated with higher T-stage, higher N-stage and worse recurrence-free survival. Five-year recurrence-free survival was 80% and 52.9% for MIBC patients with low and high SAM68 expression, respectively (p = 0.001). SAM68 nucleus-cytoplasm co-expression associated with worse 5-year recurrence-free survival rate (49.2%) than SAM68 expression confined to the nucleus (82.5%) or cytoplasm (75.5%) alone. On multivariable analysis SAM68 expression level, SAM68 nucleus-cytoplasm co-expression, T-stage, and N-stage were all independent prognostic factors for recurrence-free survival of MIBC patients. Conclusions: SAM68 expression is increased in MIBC when compared to normal urothelium and NMIBC, and appears to be a potentially useful prognostic marker for MIBC.