Harmonic Scalpel Assisted Uvalopalatopharyngoplasty

Objectives: To investigate the evaluation of the harmonic scalpel-assisted uvulopalatopharyn-goplasty (UPPP) surgery with posterior wall of uvula mucosa sutured with anterior wall. Design: According to the diagnostic criteria published by Chinese medical association of otolaryngology-head and neck, 21 cases were performed UPPP with the harmonic scalpel. The Regional Ethics Committee of our hospital approved the study protocol. Informed written consent was obtained from all participants. Setting: A single specialist hospital. Participants: 21 patients with OSAHS. Participants were not randomized in groups and were performed UPPP with the harmonic scalpel. Main Outcome Measures: Part of the uvula muscle and the anterior wall of the uvula mucosa were removed, and the mucosa of posterior wall was preserved. The mucosa of the posterior wall was sutured with the remaining part of the anterior wall. The AHI and LaSO2 were measured both before and six months after the operation by Polysomnography (PSG). Results: This study reported a significant improvement (p ± s) was 48.6 ± 12.65, and LSaO2 (± s) was 67.4% ± 9.18%;postoperative AHI was 10.9 ± 9.29, and postoperative LSaO2 was 91.0 ± 1.47. The mean operation duration was 30.1 minutes. Conclusion: The use of HS in UPPP is efficient and shows some advantages over conventional method: its use provided a blood free surgery field, and shorter operation duration.

Spatial distribution and focal mechanism solutions of the Wenchuan earthquake series:Results and implications

We relocate the spatial distribution of its aftershocks. The relocation database is obtained the devastating 12 May 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and from 89 stations deployed by the China Earthquake Administration, including 54 525 seismograms from 1 376 local earthquakes over Ms3.5 between 12 May 2008 and 3 August 2008. The cross-correlation technique used in this paper has greatly improved the relocation precision by giving much more accurate P-wave differential travel-time measurements than those obtained from routinely picked phase onsets. At the same time, we pick P-wave polarity observations of the Wenchuan earthquake series （hereafter referred to as WES） from 1023 stations in China and 59 IRIS （Incorporated Research Institutions of Seismology） stations. Then, employing a newly developed program CHNYTX, we obtain 83 well-determined focal mechanism solutions （hereafter referred to as FMSs）. Based on spatial distribution and FMSs of the WES, we draw following conclusions： （1） The region near the main shock exhibits a buried low-angle northwest-dipping seismic zone with the main shock at its upper end and two conjugated seismic zones dipping southeast with roughly equal dip-angle; （2） The compressional directions of all kinds of FMSs of the WES are subhorizontal, which reflects the dominant stress in this area is eompressional; （3） The principal compressional direction of the regional stress around Wenchuan is roughly perpendicular to the strike of Beichuan-Yingxiu fault, while around Qingchuan it is roughly parallel to the strike of Qingehuan fault. In intermediate part of the Longmenshan area, the principal compressional direction of the stress should be in-between; （4） The possibly existed molten materials in the lower crust of Songpan-Garze terrain have small contribution to the local stress state in Longmenshan area. The listric geometries of the Longmenshan faults most probably resulted from subhorizontal compression along NW-SE direction in history.

新冠病毒传播的可能路径:自然宿主-环境介质-人

传统上,识别第一个感染病例(零号病人)是追溯病毒来源的关键,但是,常常很难找到零号病人。特别是如果零号病人无症状或症状非常轻微,无看医生或相关病情记录,可能永远也无法找到。因此,是否可以跳过零号病人追溯到病毒的来源?针对上述问题,研究中分析了人类历史上的病毒暴发以及病毒在环境中的存活时间等。发现很大比例的疫情事件都是由人类直接接触带有传染性病毒的环境介质而引起的,同时病毒可以在环境介质中长期保持活性。另一方面,随着人类活动能力不断增强,与动物等生存空间的逐渐重叠,人类与带病毒环境介质(我们称之为"环境准宿主")之间的接触大大增加。因此,研究中提出了跳过零号病人在环境中追溯病毒来源的可能路径,即以携带SARS-CoV-2或RaTG3相关冠状病毒的环境介质为目标,基于自然宿主-环境介质(环境准宿主)-人的传播路径,进行新冠病毒溯源。

Application of support vector machine to synthetic earthquake prediction

This paper introduces the method of support vector machine （SVM） into the field of synthetic earthquake prediction, which is a non-linear and complex seismogenic system. As an example, we apply this method to predict the largest annual magnitude for the North China area （30°E-42°E, 108°N-125°N） and the capital region （38°E-41.5°E, 114°N-120°N） on the basis of seismicity parameters and observed precursory data. The corresponding prediction rates for the North China area and the capital region are 64.1% and 75%, respectively, which shows that the method is feasible.

用于室温全固态锂金属电池的精准丁二腈官能团化聚氧化乙烯固态电解质

聚环氧乙烷(PEO)聚合物电解质有望应用于全固态锂金属电池.然而,目前还没有提出有效的方法制备全固态PEO电解质,以克服其在室温下无法使用的局限性.在本研究中,我们基于聚合物C-H键功能化策略,通过在聚合物链上直接共价连接具有锂配位活性的丁二腈官能团,设计出了一种高离子导电性PEO电解质.该官能团有效增强了PEO链的无序性和流动性,同时也作为链间快速离子传导的活性位点,从而实现了离子周围自由体积和迁移行为的双重优化.得益于官能团对离子输运的精准调节,新型电解质表现出更强的离子传导性(离子电导率提升100倍)、更高的转移数(tLi+=0.51)和更宽的电化学窗口(>0.47 V).特别是功能化的PEO300k电解质具有超高室温离子电导率(25℃时为1.01×10^(-4)S cm^(-1))并且能够在室温下稳定工作,该研究为开发具有实际应用价值的聚合物电解质提供了新的途径.

Tuning the local coordination environment of silver(Ⅰ) coordination networks with counterions for enhanced electrocatalytic CO_(2) reduction

Very recently, the local coordination environment of active sites has been found to strongly influence their performance in electrocatalytic CO_(2) reduction by tuning the intrinsic kinetics of CO_(2) activation and intermediate stabilization. It is imperative to elucidate the mechanism for such an influence towards the rational design of efficient catalysts;however, the complex interactions between the multiple factors involved in the system make it challenging to establish a clear structure–performance relationship. In this work, we chose ion-intercalated silver(I)-based coordination networks(AgCNs) with a well-defined structure as a model platform, which enables us to understand the regulation mechanism of counterions as the counterions are the only tuning factor involved in such a system. We prepared two isostructural Ag CNs with different intercalation ions or counterions of BF_(4)^(-) and ClO_(4)^(-)(named as AgCNs-BF_(4) and AgCNs-ClO_(4)) and found that the former has a more competitive CO_(2) electroreduction performance than the latter. AgCNs-BF_(4) achieves the highest Faradaic efficiency for CO_(2) to CO of 87.1% at-1.0 V(vs. RHE) with a higher partial current density, while AgCNs-ClO_(4) exhibits only 77.2% at the same applied potential.Spectroscopic characterizations and theoretical calculation reveal that the presence of BF_(4)^(-)is more favorable for stabilizing the COOH^(*) intermediate by weakening hydrogen bonds, which accounts for the superior activity of Ag CNs-BF_(4).

Bridging molecular photosensitizer and catalyst on carbon nanotubes toward enhanced selectivity and durability for CO_(2)photoreduction

Homogenous molecular photocatalysts for CO_(2)reduction,especially metal complex-based photosensitizer-catalyst assemblages,have been attracting extensive research interests due to their efficiency and customizability.However,their low durability and recyclability limit practical applications.In this work,we immobilized the catalysts of metal terpyridyl complexes and the photosensitizer of[Ru(bpy)3]Cl2onto the surface of carbon nanotubes through covalent bonds and electrostatic interactions,respectively,transforming the homogeneous system into a heterogeneous one.Our characterizations prove that these metal complexes are well dispersed on CNTs with a high loading(ca.12 wt.%).Photocatalytic measurements reveal that catalytic activity is remarkably enhanced when the molecular catalysts are anchored,which is three times higher than that of homogeneous molecular catalysts.Moreover,when the photosensitizer of[Ru(bpy)3]Cl2is immobilized,the side reaction of hydrogen evolution is completely suppressed and the selectivity for CO production reaches 100%,with its durability also significantly improved.This work provides an effective pathway for constructing heterogeneous photocatalysts based on rational assembly of efficient molecular photosensitizers and catalysts.

Climate change and food security:Plant science roles

In a broad sense,climate change is a long-term shift in global or regional climate patterns on Earth,which can be driven by both natural dynamics such as solar cycles or volcanic eruptions and human activities.However,it has been shown that deforestation since the dawn of Industrial Revolution,combined with the persistent emission of greenhouse gases(e.g.,CO_(2)and methane,which trap the Sun's heat)from intense agricultural and industrial activities,are the primary drivers of climate change over the past two centuries(Ritchie,2020;Lynas et al.,2021).

The winners of Rising Stars in Plant Sciences 2023

Molecular Plant and its sister journal Plant Communications initiated the"Rising Stars in Plant Sciences"(RSPS)award in 2022,aiming to encourage the new generation of scientists to devote themselves to cutting-edge and innovative plant science research and to provide plant science solutions to the challenges faced by human beings in food,environment,and energy.

A Single Amino-Acid Substitution at Lysine 40 of an Arabidopsis thaliana α-tubulin Causes Extensive Cell Proliferation and Expansion Defects

Microtubules are highly dynamic cytoskeletal polymers of α/β-tubulin heterodimers that undergo multiple post-translational modifications essential for various cellular functions in eukaryotes. The lysine 40 （K40） is largely conserved in α-tubulins in many eukaryote species, and the post-translational modification by acetylation at K40 is critical for neuronal development in vertebrates. However, the biological function of K40 of α-tubulins in plants remains unexplored. In this study, we show in Arabidopsis thaliana that constitutive expression of mutated forms of α-tubulin6 （TUA6） at K40 （TUA6K40A or TUA6K40Q ）, in which K40 is replaced by alanine or glutamine, result in severely reduced plant size. Phenotypic characterization of the 35S：TUA6K40A transgenic plants revealed that both cell proliferation and cell expansion were affected. Cytological and biochemical analyses showed that the accumulation of α- and β-tubulin proteins was significantly reduced in the transgenic plants, and the cortical microtubule arrays were severely disrupted, indicating that K40 of the plant α-tubulin is critical in maintaining microtubule stability. We also constructed 35S：TUA6K40R transgenic plants in which K40 of the engineered TUA6 protein is replaced by an arginine, and found that the 35S：TUA6K40R plants were phenotypically indistinguishable from the wild-type. Since lysine and arginine are similar in biochemical nature but arginine cannot be acetylated, these results suggest a structural importance for K40 of α-tubulins in cell division and expansion.

Plant Communications: An Open Access Venue for Communicating Diverse Plant Science Discoveries

With the coming of the new year 2020,we are pleased to invite you to join us in celebrating the birth of a new plant science journal,Plant Communications,by reading this editorial.Together with Cell Press,a well-known life science publisher,we are launching Plant Communications as an open access journal sister to Molecular Plant,one of the leading plant science journals,which has published cutting-edge research for 12 years along with continuously improved services to the global plant science community.

A New Wave of Hormone Research： Crosstalk Mechanisms

Phytohormones regulate numerous aspects of plant growth, development, and responses to biotic and abiotic stress conditions. At least seven groups of phytohormones have been well characterized, including abscisic acid （ABA）, auxin, brassinosteroid （BR）, cytokinin （CK）, ethylene, gibberellin （GA）, and jasmonate （JA）. Hormone research in the past dec- ades has focused on elucidating signal transduction pathways from hormone perception to response and such effort has been well paid off by recent discoveries of almost all recep- tors for major classes of plant hormones.

Clonal Propagation of Hybrid Seeds

Since the 20th century, hybrid breeding has been proven to be an efficient approach to in crease crop yield, because hybrid plants derived from the cross of two varieties outperform their parents, showing hybrid vigor or heterosis such as high yielding, better adaptability, and improved stress tolerance. Three-line and/or two-line breeding systems have been established for hybrid seed product!on in major crops.

Engineering Pathogen Resistance by miRNA Target Mimic

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of 20- to 24-nt noncoding RNAs that function as important regulators of plant development and stress responses. Most 21-nt miRNAs direct the cleavage of complementary target mRNAs or inhibit their translation, while some 22-nt miRNAs not only cleave target mRNAs but also trigger the bioge nesis of sec on dary small in terfering RNAs (siRNAs) to further repress target mRNAs.

Designing Microalgal Oils

Vegetative oils are closely associated with our daily life. They are widely used in food, both in cooking and as nutritional supplements, as well as in cosmetics and as fuels. Contrary to animal fats, vegetative oils are mixtures of liquid triacylglycerols (TAGs) with a high proportion of unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs). However, in many higher plants, only their fruits and/ or seeds contain a significant amount of oils that are valuable for industrial utilization. Microalgae are single-cell photosynthetic organisms. They contain all the oil-producing machinery present in higher plants and are original oil producers on Earth. Importantly, they can be cultivated on a large scale for production of microalgal oils with rare long-chain polyunsaturated FAs (LC-PUFAs) such as omega-3 FAs and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), which have health ben efits. The geno mes of human and vertebrate animals do not encode enzymes for synthesizing LC-PUFAs, and thus they have to acquire these so-called "essential FAs" via diet.

Next-Generation Crop Breeding Methods

Different from conventional labor-intensive and time-consuming breeding approaches such as genetic cross and mutation screening, new breeding technologies such as double haploid (DH) and CRISPR/Cas-mediated genome editing can greatly enhance breeding efficiency and accelerate crop improvement. DH tech no logy relies on an inducer line for haploid inducti on (HI) when pollination onto elite varieties or inbred lines. DH lines with desired traits are then obtained from haploids in a subsequent generation by natural or artificial chromosome doubling using mitotic inhibitors.

Focus on Rice： Towards Better Understanding of the Life Cycle of Crop Plants

Rice is the most widely consumed cereal for more than half of the world＇s population, especially in Asian countries. In addition to its utmost economic importance as a staple food crop, rice has become an ideal model species for biologi- cal research of monocot crop plants, because of the avail- ability of whole-genome sequences for both indica and ialJonica subspecies,

A Special Issue on Plant Stress Biology： From Model Species to Crops

As sessile organisms, the growth and productivity of land plants are continuously confronted with a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses. As a consequence, land plants have evolved a set of perception and signaling mechanisms to respond or adapt to adverse environmental conditions via regulation of transcription and gene expression, finetuning protein translation, modification and degradation,

Mucilage Secretion from Plants:Friends or Foes?

The seeds and roots of many angiosperm species can produce polysaccharide-rich mucilage,which directly interacts with the surrounding biosphere and potentially alters the soil microenvironment.Seed mucilage produced by cells in the outer layer of seeds upon hydration is relatively well characterized, commonly consisting of pectin,cellulose,hemicellulose,and a small amount of proteins,chemically similar to the primary cell wall.

The winners of rising stars in plant sciences 2022

Aiming to recognize excellnt early-career plant scientists and to encourage new geneations of scientists to conduct cutting-edge plant research,Molecular Plant and Plant Communications were proud to announce the establishment of the Rising Stars in Plant Sciences(RSPS)award and initiated a worldwide campaign to encourage the application for RSPS2022 in the early part of this year.Thanks to the incalculable support from the global plant science community and the scientific comittee,RSPS2022 ended with great success by recognizing five young plant scientists as the winners in July,2022.They are Dr.Yang Bai,Dr.PierreMarc Delaux,Dr.Xiaoqi Feng,Dr.Yangnan Gu,and Dr.Rosa Lozano-Duran.Big congratulations to these five winners of RSPS2022!In this Editorial,we brefly introduce their research interests and scientific achievements to the community.