BnaC03.BIN2 regulates plant height by affecting the main inflorescence length and first effective branch height in Brassica napus L.

Rapeseed(Brassica napus L.)is one of the main oil crops in the world,and increasing its yield is of great significance for ensuring the safety of edible oil.Presently,improving rapeseed plant architecture is an effective way to increase rapeseed yield with higher planting density.However,the regulatory mechanism of rapeseed plant architecture is poorly understood.In this study,a dwarf rapeseed mutant dwarf08(df08)is obtained by ethyl methane sulfonate(EMS)-mutagenesis.The decrease in plant height of df08 is mainly caused by the reduction in main inflorescence length and first effective branch height and controlled by a single semi-dominant gene.The hybrid plants(F1)show a semi-dwarf phenotype.Through map-based cloning and transgenic assay,we confirm that the nonsynonymous single nucleotide variant(SNV)(C to T)in BnaC03.BIN2,which is homologous with Arabidopsis(Arabidopsis thaliana)BIN2,is responsible for the dwarfism of df08.BnaC03.BIN2 interacts with BnaBZR1/BES1 and involves in brassinosteroids(BRs)signal transduction.Proline to Leucine substitution in 284(P284L)enhances the protein stability of BnaC03.bin2-D,disrupts BRs signal transduction and affects the expression of genes regulating cell division,leading to dwarfism of df08.This study provides a new insight for the mechanism of rapeseed plant height regulation and creates an elite germplasm that can be used for genetic improvement of rapeseed architecture.

Predicate Oriented Pattern Analysis for Biomedical Knowledge Discovery

In the current biomedical data movement, numerous efforts have been made to convert and normalize a large number of traditional structured and unstructured data (e.g., EHRs, reports) to semi-structured data (e.g., RDF, OWL). With the increasing number of semi-structured data coming into the biomedical community, data integration and knowledge discovery from heterogeneous domains become important research problem. In the application level, detection of related concepts among medical ontologies is an important goal of life science research. It is more crucial to figure out how different concepts are related within a single ontology or across multiple ontologies by analysing predicates in different knowledge bases. However, the world today is one of information explosion, and it is extremely difficult for biomedical researchers to find existing or potential predicates to perform linking among cross domain concepts without any support from schema pattern analysis. Therefore, there is a need for a mechanism to do predicate oriented pattern analysis to partition heterogeneous ontologies into closer small topics and do query generation to discover cross domain knowledge from each topic. In this paper, we present such a model that predicates oriented pattern analysis based on their close relationship and generates a similarity matrix. Based on this similarity matrix, we apply an innovated unsupervised learning algorithm to partition large data sets into smaller and closer topics and generate meaningful queries to fully discover knowledge over a set of interlinked data sources. We have implemented a prototype system named BmQGen and evaluate the proposed model with colorectal surgical cohort from the Mayo Clinic.

Topological Anderson insulator in two-dimensional non-Hermitian systems

We study the disorder-induced phase transition in two-dimensional non-Hermitian systems.First,the applicability of the noncommutative geometric method(NGM)in non-Hermitian systems is examined.By calculating the Chern number of two different systems(a square sample and a cylindrical one),the numerical results calculated by NGM are compared with the analytical one,and the phase boundary obtained by NGM is found to be in good agreement with the theoretical prediction.Then,we use NGM to investigate the evolution of the Chern number in non-Hermitian samples with the disorder effect.For the square sample,the stability of the non-Hermitian Chern insulator under disorder is confirmed.Significantly,we obtain a nontrivial topological phase induced by disorder.This phase is understood as the topological Anderson insulator in non-Hermitian systems.Finally,the disordered phase transition in the cylindrical sample is also investigated.The clean non-Hermitian cylindrical sample has three phases,and such samples show more phase transitions by varying the disorder strength:(1)the normal insulator phase to the gapless phase,(2)the normal insulator phase to the topological Anderson insulator phase,and(3)the gapless phase to the topological Anderson insulator phase.

Genome-wide identification, phylogenetic and expression analysis of SMAX1-Like genes in rapeseed(Brassica napus L.)

SMAX1-LIKE(SMXL) family members have played important roles in regulating plant growth and development in Arabidopsis and rice, but few have been studied in Brassica napus(rapeseed). In this study, 31 SMXL genes(BnaSMXL) were identified in rapeseed by whole genome bioinformatics. Detailed information were characterized, including genomic distribution, phylogenetic relationship, evolutionary selection pattern, structural and motif features. Phylogenetic analysis classified BnaSMXL genes into 4 distinct sub-clades representing clear orthologous relationships to their family members in Arabidopsis and rice. Conserved motif analysis indicated that the motif 16 mediating strigolactones(SLs) or karrikins(KARs) signaling was absent in SMXL3-5 genes. Orthologous gene pairs between Arabidopsis and 3 Brassica species were extracted, and 8 SMXL genes in Arabidopsis genome had 16, 16 and 31 corresponding genes in B. oleracea, B. rapa and rapeseed genomes respectively. Evolutionary selection pattern showed that most of SMXL genes had undergone stronger negative selection. BnaSMXLs expression showed diverse patterns in 10 tissues of both vegetative and reproductive organs. Subcellular localization analysis showed that BnaSMXL proteins were exclusively localized in nucleus.

Effects of Qidi Tangshen granules and their separate prescriptions on podocytes in mice with diabetic nephropathy

Objective:Previous studies have found that Qidi Tangshen granules(QDTS),a combination therapy of supplementing essence(Tianjing,TJ)and unblocking the collaterals(Tongluo,TL),can reduce kidney damage in db/db mice.This study aimed to explore the effect of QDTS and their separate prescriptions on podocytes in mice with diabetic nephropathy.Methods:The db/db mice were used in this experiment as an animal model,while wild-type C57BL/6J mice were used as normal controls.At the age of 12 weeks,the db/db mice were randomly divided into 5 groups(db/db,db/dbþvalsartan,db/dbþQDTS,db/dbþTJ and db/dbþTL).The urine albumin excretion ratio(UAE)was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay before and after the intervention.The ultrastructure of the kidney podocytes was observed by transmission electron microscopy.The protein expression levels of nephrin and desmin were detected by immunohistochemistry.Results:QDTS and their separate prescriptions significantly decreased the UAE and attenuated the renal pathological injury.QDTS and their separate prescriptions also reduced the fusion rate of the foot processes and increased the expression of nephrin protein.In contrast,QDTS and their separate prescriptions(TJ and TL)reduced the expression level of desmin protein.Conclusion:QDTS and their separate prescriptions might reduce diabetes-induced renal injury by reducing podocyte damage.The therapeutic effect of QDTS was more pronounced than TJ and TL.

Effective method for isolating liquid endosperm and improved procedure for subsequent DNA extraction in Brassica napus

The important agronomic traits of seed size and seed oil content in oilseed rape were af-fected by maternal effect. The maternal tissue endosperm, generated by fertilization of the diploid central cell in the female gametophyte, is essential for embryo and seed development. Imprinting is primarily re-stricted to the endosperm of flowering plants and is associated with differential DNA methylation of paren-tal alleles. Therefore, it is necessary to find out whether the endosperm influences these traits. If so, whether DNA methylation participated in these processes？ To answer these questions, isolation of pure liquid endosperm qualified for extraction genomic DNA and RNA was the prerequisite. However, it was not easy to conduct this isolation due to endosperm is encapsulated by tiny seed coat and it adjoins to de-veloping embryo. This research adopted a procedure for isolation pure lipid endosperm from 25DAF （days after flowering） ovules of Brassica napus and improved procedure for subsequent DNA extraction. With the optimized procedures, we successfully extracted genomic DNA of liquid endosperm from 500 mg o-vules with high concentration （ ≥2. 5μg/μl, 200μl） and high purity, which were proved by the subse-quent analysis.

无序非厄密系统中的体-边对应

尽管广义布里渊区理论已经被提出,但考虑到广泛应用的非布洛赫能带理论往往只适用于干净体系,对于无序系统的体-边对应及其相关理论一直没有得到恰当的处理.本文提出无平移对称性体系的普适体-边对应方案.该方案建议通过最小化F=|det[E-HOBC]-det[E-HPBC]|以求重建体-边对应,并给出了无序作用下的广义布里渊区理论.基于该理论,作者不仅阐明了无序系统中缠绕数与非厄密趋肤效应的内在一致性的起源,而且给出的解析结果准确地刻画体系非厄密趋肤效应的强度与方向随参数的演化趋势,并预言了无序调控的非厄密趋肤效应以及耦合诱导非厄米趋肤效应反转等多种现象.

Self-templating construction of hollow microspheres assembled by nanosheets with exposed active planes for sodium ion storage

P2-type layered metal oxides have been considered as one of the promising cathode candidates for high-performance Na-ion batteries(SIBs).However,it is still challenging to balance the contradiction of high energy density and long cycle life due to the structural degradation and sluggish ion diffusion dynamics.Here,the hierarchical P2-Na2/3Ni1/3Mn2/3O2 hollow microspheres assembled by nanosheets are constructed via a self-template approach.The obtained nanosheets with more exposed electrochemical active planes serving as desodiation/sodiation reactors can provide substantial Na+channels,shorten the diffusion pathways,and accommodate the volume changes during charge/discharge process.Benefiting from the facile Na+diffusion paths and optimal architecture modulation,the cathode delivers a high initial Coulombic efficiency of 96.0%with a high energy density of 299.7 Wh·kg^(−1).The highly reversible structural evolutions processes are verified by galvanostatic intermittent titration technique(GITT)and operando electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS)measurement,which would significantly improve the cycle stability(83.3%capacity retention at 1.0 C over 500 loops).Furthermore,the full cell assembled by hard carbon presents a high reversible capacity of 71 mAh·g^(−1)at 0.2 C and promising capacity retention(91.5%after 50 cycles).The designing concept of morphological configuration in this work paves an accessible route for building high-performance electrode materials.

Corrosion formation and phase transformation of nickel-iron hydroxide nanosheets array for efficient water oxidation

Designing earth-abundant electrocatalysts with high performance towards water oxidation is highly decisive for the sustainable energy technologies. This study develops a facile natural corrosion approach to fabricate nickel-iron hydroxides for water oxidation. The resulted electrode demonstrates an outstanding activity and stability with an overpotential of 275 mV to deliver 10 mA·cm^(−2). Experimental and theoretical results suggest the corrosion-induced formation of hydroxides and their transformation to oxyhydroxides would account for this excellent performance. This work not only provides an interesting corrosion approach for the fabrication of excellent water oxidation electrode, but also bridges traditional corrosion engineering and novel materials fabrication, which would offer some insights in the innovative principles for nanomaterials and energy technologies.

Inhibition effects of benzalkonium chloride on Chlorella vulgaris induced corrosion of carbon steel

In this work,a surfactant,benzalkonium chloride(BAC),was used to study its effects on both the growth of Chlorella vulgaris and the corrosion caused by its biofilm.Experimental results indicated that BAC at a low concentration of 3 mg/L suppressed C.vulgaris growth and achieved 81%corrosion inhibition based on weight loss reduction.The inhibition effects increased when the BAC dosage was increased.At 30 mg/L,the corrosion inhibition increased to 95%.Electrochemical results supported surface pitting analysis,weight loss results data and confirmed the corrosion inhibition.

Characterizations of the biomineralization film caused by marine Pseudomonas stutzeri and its mechanistic effects on X80 pipeline steel corrosion

Microbiologically influenced corrosion(MIC)of steel generates a corrosion product film,which can also be called biomineralization film.It is critical to understand the structure of biomineralization film since it dominates the corrosion behavior of metal.In this work,Pseudomonas stutzeri(P.stutzeri)was isolated from seawater,and the biomineralization film caused by marine P.stutzeri was characterized by Transmission electron microscopy(TEM),scanning electron microscopy(SEM),X-ray diffraction(XRD),etc.The mechanistic effects of the biomineralization film on X80 pipeline steel corrosion were also investigated.The results indicate that the minerals are mainly composed of nano FeOand FeOOH,according to TEM and XRD results.The particle sizes of biominerals are below 10 nm.This work also provides an insight strategy to prepare nanomaterials by MIC caused by P.stutzeri.In addition,P.stutzeri can grow well with COas a carbon source and iron as an electron donor.The corrosion rates(CRs)of specimens are closely related to the structure of biomineralization film.The CRs increase with the decrease of initial cell concentration.P.stutzeri with an initial concentration of 10~7 cells/mL can promote the formation of a compact biomineralization film with a thickness of 145.8±4.8μm,leading to corrosion inhibition with a CR of 0.058±0.008 mm/y.But some corrosion pits can be observed due to the formation of small anodes.Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS)data show higher impedance values and two time-constants,which imply the formation of a compact biomineralization film.

Mitigation of sulfate reducing Desulfovibrio ferrophilus microbiologically influenced corrosion of X80 using THPS biocide enhanced by Peptide A

Tetrakis hydroxymethyl phosphonium sulfate(THPS) was enhanced by a 14-mer Peptide A, with its core12-mer sequence mimicking part of Equinatoxin II protein, in the mitigation of sulfate reducing Desulfovibrio ferrophilus MIC(microbiologically influenced corrosion) of X80 carbon steel. Results proved that50 ppm(w/w) THPS was sufficient to mitigate the D. ferrophilus biofilm, and its very agressive MIC(19.7mg/cm^(2) in 7 days or 1.31 mm/a), but not 20 ppm THPS. To achieve effective mitigation at a low dosage of THPS, biofilm-dispersing Peptide A was added to 20 ppm THPS in the culture medium. Sessile cell counts were reduced by 2-log and 4-log after enhancement by 10 ppb and 100 ppb Peptide A, respectively. Enhancement efficiency(further reduction in corrosion rate) reached 69% for 10 ppb Peptide A and 83% for100 ppb Peptide A compared with 20 ppm THPS alone treatment, indicating that Peptide A was a good biocide enhancer for THPS.

Probing Patient Messages Enhanced by Natural Language Processing:A Top-Down Message Corpus Analysis

Background.Patients increasingly use asynchronous communication platforms to converse with care teams.Natural language processing(NLP)to classify content and automate triage of these messages has great potential to enhance clinical efficiency.We characterize the contents of a corpus of portal messages generated by patients using NLP methods.We aim to demonstrate descriptive analyses of patient text that can contribute to the development of future sophisticated NLP applications.Methods.We collected approximately 3,000 portal messages from the cardiology,dermatology,and gastroenterology departments at Mayo Clinic.After labeling these messages as either Active Symptom,Logistical,Prescription,or Update,we used NER(named entity recognition)to identify medical concepts based on the UMLS library.We hierarchically analyzed the distribution of these messages in terms of departments,message types,medical concepts,and keywords therewithin.Results.Active Symptom and Logistical content types comprised approximately 67%of the message cohort.The“Findings”medical concept had the largest number of keywords across all groupings of content types and departments.“Anatomical Sites”and“Disorders”keywords were more prevalent in Active Symptom messages,while“Drugs”keywords were most prevalent in Prescription messages.Logistical messages tended to have the lower proportions of“Anatomical Sites,”,“Disorders,”,“Drugs,”,and“Findings”keywords when compared to other message content types.Conclusions.This descriptive corpus analysis sheds light on the content and foci of portal messages.The insight into the content and differences among message themes can inform the development of more robust NLP models.

Direct integration of ultralow-platinum alloy into nanocarbon architectures for efficient oxygen reduction in fuel cells

Developing efficient platinum(Pt)-based electrocatalysts is enormously significant for fuel cells.Herein,we report an integrated electrocatalyst of ultralow-Pt alloy encapsulated into nitrogen-doped nanocarbon architecture for efficient oxygen reduction reaction.This hybrid Pt-based catalyst achieves a mass activity of 3.46 A mg^(-1)_(pt)the potential of 0.9 V vs.RHE with a negligible stability decay after 10,000 cycles.More importantly,this half-cell activity can be expressed at full cell level with a high Pt utilization of 10.22 W mg^(-1)_(Pt cathode)and remarkable durability after 30,000 cycles in single-cell.Experimental and theoretical investigations reveal that a highly strained Pt structure with an optimal Pt-0 binding energy is induced by the incorporation of Co/Ni into Pt lattice,which would account for the improved reaction kinetics.The synergistic catalysis due to nitrogen-doped nanocarbon architecture and active Pt component is responsible for the enhanced catalytic activity.Meanwhile,the strong metal-support interaction and optimized hydrophilic properties of nanocarbon matrix facilitate efficient mass transport and water management.This work may provide significant insights in designing the low-Pt integrated electrocatalysts for fuel cells and beyond.