Wheat kinase TaSnRK2.4 forms a functional module with phosphatase TaPP2C01 and transcription factor TaABF2 to regulate drought response

SNF1-related protein kinase 2(SnRK2)family members are essential components of the plant abscisic acid(ABA)signaling pathway initiated by osmotic stress and triggering a drought stress response.This study characterized the molecular properties of TaSnRK2.4 and its function in mediating adaptation to drought in Triticum aestivum.Transcripts of TaSnRK2.4 were upregulated upon drought and ABA signaling and associated with drought-and ABA-responsive cis-elements ABRE and DRE,and MYB and MYC binding sites in the promoter as indicated by reporter GUS protein staining and activity driven by truncations of the promoter.Yeast two-hybrid,BiFC,and Co-IP assays indicated that TaSnRK2.4 protein interacts with TaPP2C01 and an ABF transcription factor(TF)TaABF2.The results suggested that TaSnRK2.4 forms a functional TaPP2C01-TaSnRK2.4-TaABF2 module with its upstream and downstream partners.Transgene analysis revealed that TaSnRK2.4 and TaABF2 positively regulate drought tolerance whereas TaPP2C01 acts negatively by modulating stomatal movement,osmotic adjustment,reactive oxygen species(ROS)homeostasis,and root morphology.Expression analysis,yeast one-hybrid,and transcriptional activation assays indicated that several osmotic stress-responsive genes,including TaSLAC1-4,TaP5CS3,TaSOD5,TaCAT1,and TaPIN4,are regulated by TaABF2.Transgene analysis verified their functions in positively regulating stomatal movement(TaSLAC1-4),proline accumulation(TaP5CS3),SOD activity(TaSOD5),CAT activity(TaCAT1),and root morphology(TaPIN4).There were high correlations between plant biomass and yield with module transcripts in a wheat variety panel cultivated under drought conditions in the field.Our findings provide insights into understanding plant drought response underlying the SnRK2 signaling pathway in common wheat.

Alcohol-dispersed polymer complex as an effective and durable interface modifier for n-i-p perovskite solar cells

Abundant interfacial defects remain a significant challenge that hampers both the efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells(PSCs).Herein,an alcohol-dispersed conducting polymer complex,denoted as PEDOT:F(Poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):Perfluorinated sulfonic acid ionomers),is introduced into the interface between perovskite and hole transporting layer in regular-structured PSCs.PEDOT:F serves as a multi-functional interface layer(filling grain boundaries and covering perovskite's grain-surface)to achieve a robust interaction with organic groups within perovskites,which could induce a structural transformation of PEDOT to increase its conductivity for the efficient hole-transport.Furthermore,the strong interaction between PEDOT and perovskites could promote an effective coupling of undercoordinated Pb~(2+)ions with the lone electron pairs near O&S atoms in PEDOT molecules,thereby enhancing defect passivation.Additionally,PEDOT:F with inherent hydrophobic properties prevents effectively moisture invasion into perovskites for the improved long-term stability of the PSCs.Consequently,the PEDOT:F-based PSCs achieved a champion efficiency of 24.81%,and maintained ca.92%of their initial efficiency after 7680 h of storage in a dry air environment,accompanied by the enhanced photothermal stability.

Experimental observations on the nonproportional multiaxial ratchetting of cast AZ91 magnesium alloy at room temperature

The nonproportional multiaxial ratchetting of cast AZ91 magnesium (Mg) alloy was examined by performing a sequence of axial-torsional cyclic tests controlled by stress with various loading paths at room temperature (RT).The evolutionary characteristics and path dependence of multiaxial ratchetting were discussed.Results illustrate that the cast AZ91 Mg alloy exhibits considerable nonproportional additional softening during cyclic loading with multiple nonproportional multiaxial loading paths;multiaxial ratchetting presents strong path dependence,and axial ratchetting strains are larger under nonproportional loading paths than under uniaxial and proportional45°linear loading paths;multiaxial ratchetting becomes increasingly pronounced as the applied stress amplitude and axial mean stress increase.Moreover,stress-strain curves show a convex and symmetrical shape in axial/torsional directions.Multiaxial ratchetting exhibits quasi-shakedown after certain loading cycles.The abundant experimental data obtained in this work can be used to develop a cyclic plasticity model of cast Mg alloys.

Characteristics and expression of the TCP transcription factors family in Allium senescens reveal its potential roles in drought stress responses

Allium senescens,is an important economic and ecological grassland plant with drought-resistant characteristics.A TCP protein transcription factor is important in the regulation of plant development and adverse responses.However,the mechanism by which TCP transcription functions in drought resistance in Allium senescens is still not clear.Here,we obtained a total of 190,305 transcripts with 115,562 single gene clusters based on RNA-Seq sequencing of Allium senescens under drought stress.The total number of bases was 97,195,096 bp,and the average length was 841.06 bp.Furthermore,we found that there were eight genes of the TCP family that showed an upregulated expression trend under drought stress in Allium senescens.We carried out an investigation to determine the evolution and function of the AsTCP family and how they produce an effect in drought resistance.The 14 AsTCP genes were confirmed and divided into class I and class II containing CIN and CYC/TBI subfamilies,respectively.We also found that the expression of AsTCP17 was remarkably upregulated with drought treatment.Besides,the transformation of AsTCP17 in Arabidopsis revealed that the protective enzymes,namely polyphenol oxidase(POD)and superoxide dismutase(SOD),were increased by 0.4 and 0.8 times,respectively.Chlorophyll content was also increased,while the H2O2 and malondialdehyde(MDA)contents were decreased.Staining assays with 3,3′-diaminobenzidine(DAB)also suggested that the AsTCP17 downregulates reactive oxygen species(ROS)accumulation.In addition,overexpression of the AsTCP17 affected the accumulation of drought-related hormones in plants,and the synthesis of ABA.The expression of AtSVP and AtNCED3,related ABA synthesis pathway genes,indicated that the level of expression of AtSVP and AtNCED3 was obviously enhanced,with the overexpression of line 6 showing a 20.6-fold and 7.0-fold increase,respectively.Taken together,our findings systematically analyze the AsTCPs family at the transcriptome expression level in Allium senescens,and we also demonstrated that AsTCP17 protein,as a positive regulator,was involved in drought resistance of Allium senescens.In addition,our research contributes to the comprehensive understanding of the drought stress defense mechanism in herbaceous plants.

Application of U-Net and Optimized Clustering in Medical Image Segmentation:A Review

As a mainstream research direction in the field of image segmentation,medical image segmentation plays a key role in the quantification of lesions,three-dimensional reconstruction,region of interest extraction and so on.Compared with natural images,medical images have a variety of modes.Besides,the emphasis of information which is conveyed by images of different modes is quite different.Because it is time-consuming and inefficient to manually segment medical images only by professional and experienced doctors.Therefore,large quantities of automated medical image segmentation methods have been developed.However,until now,researchers have not developed a universal method for all types of medical image segmentation.This paper reviews the literature on segmentation techniques that have produced major breakthroughs in recent years.Among the large quantities of medical image segmentation methods,this paper mainly discusses two categories of medical image segmentation methods.One is the improved strategies based on traditional clustering method.The other is the research progress of the improved image segmentation network structure model based on U-Net.The power of technology proves that the performance of the deep learning-based method is significantly better than that of the traditional method.This paper discussed both advantages and disadvantages of different algorithms and detailed how these methods can be used for the segmentation of lesions or other organs and tissues,as well as possible technical trends for future work.

Experimental study on uniaxial ratchetting-fatigue interaction of extruded AZ31 magnesium alloy with different plastic deformation mechanisms

The uniaxial ratchetting-fatigue interaction of extruded AZ31 magnesium(Mg)alloy is investigated by uniaxial stress-controlled cyclic tests at room temperature and with addressing the roles of different plastic deformation mechanisms.Different stress levels are prescribed to reflect the cyclic plasticity of the alloy controlled by diverse deformation mechanisms(i.e.,dislocation slipping,deformation twinning and detwinning ones),and then the influences of stress level and stress rate on the ratchetting and fatigue life are discussed.The experimental results demonstrate that different evolution characteristics of whole-life ratchetting and fatigue life presented during cyclic tests with various mean stresses,stress amplitudes and stress rates are determined by the dominated plastic deformation mechanisms.It’s worth noting that the ratchetting can occur in the compressive direction even in the cyclic tests with a positive(tensile)mean stress,and the fatigue life increases first and then decreases with the increase of mean stress on account of the interaction between dislocation slipping and twinning/detwinning mechanisms.Comparing the fatigue lives obtained in the asymmetric stress-controlled and symmetrical strain-controlled cycle tests,it is seen that the ratchetting deformation causes an additional damage,and then leads to a shortening of fatigue life.

Experimental investigation on uniaxial cyclic plasticity of cast AZ91 magnesium alloy

The uniaxial cyclic plasticity of cast AZ91 magnesium(Mg) alloy was investigated by conducting a series of cyclic straining and stressing tests at room temperature, and a unique cyclic plasticity(especially for ratchetting) and its physical nature were revealed. The experimental results demonstrate that the cast AZ91 Mg alloy behaviors tension-compression symmetry, because the dislocation slipping and twinning occur during both the tensile and compressive deformations;although the cast AZ91 alloy presents a certain pseudo-elastic behavior during unloading due to the detwinning, there is no obvious S-shaped asymmetric hysteresis loop like that of wrought Mg alloy in the cyclic tensile-compressive tests, and an obvious cyclic hardening is observed;moreover, the ratchetting of the cast AZ91 alloy presented in the cyclic stressing tests depends remarkably on the prescribed mean stress and stress amplitude, but slightly changes with the stress rate, and the evolution of responding peak/valley strain greatly differs from that of wrought Mg alloys and stainless steels. This work provides rich experimental data for establishing the constitutive model of cast Mg alloys.

Protective effect of brain and muscle arnt-like protein-1 against ethanol-induced ferroptosis by activating Nrf2 in mice liver and HepG2 cells

Alcohol abuse has recently become a serious health concern worldwide,and the incidence of alcoholic liver disease(ALD)is rapidly increasing with high morbidity and mortality.Ferroptosis is a newly recognized form of regulated cell death caused by the iron-dependent accumulation of lipid peroxidation.Here we showed that the circadian clock protein brain and muscle arnt-like protein-1(BMAL1)in hepatocytes is both necessary and sufficient to protect against ALD by mitigating ferroptosis.U pon exposure to alcohol(5%Lieber-DeCarli liquid alcohol diet for 10 days before binged alcohol with 5 g/kg body weight in vivo,300 mmol/L for 12 h in vitro,respectively),the content of iron,reactive oxygen species(ROS)and malondialdehyde(MDA)was boosted signifi cantly while glutathione(GSH)was decreased that mainly based on the downregulated protein expression of ferritin heavy chain(FTH),ferroportin(FPN),heme oxygenase1(HO-1)and anti-cystine/glutamate antiporter(SLC7A11),while these changes could be abolished by ferroptosis inhibitor Ferrostatin-1[Fer-1(5 mg/kg body weight for 10 days in vivo,10μmol/L for 2 h in vitro,respectively)].Further study indicated that the alcohol could activate the protein expression of BMAL1 which exerts a protective effect against ferroptosis through promoting nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2(Nrf2)translocation into nuclear and subsequently stimulating its downstream proteins FTH,FPN,glutathione peroxidase 4 activity(GPX4),HO-1,SLC7A11,while knockdown of BMAL1 and Nrf2 by RNA interference further downregulated the expression of these protein and thus promoting ferroptosis in response to alcohol.Collectively,our results unveiled that the protective action of BMAL1 during alcohol challenge depends on its ability to activate Nrf2-ARE antiferroptosis pathway and targeting hepatic BMAL1 to dampen hepatic ferroptosis signaling may have therapeutic potential for ALD.

Host Genetic Background Impacts Microbiome Composition in Newborn Alligator

Genetic factors play a key role in determination of the structure of the cloacal flora for newborn Chinese Alligators.We collected the cloacal microbiomes for 24 newborn Chinese Alligators from three different genetic backgrounds for 16S gene amplicon sequencing.The number of cloacal flora for the Chinese Alligators from different groups was comparable but differed structurally.There were variations in proportions of floral compositions at the phylum and family levels;however,the main difference was at the genus level.There were two significant differences in richness and evenness among the three groups.Non-metric multidimensional scaling NMDS analysis revealed that the 24 samples could be clearly divided into three categories based on their genetic backgrounds(stress=0.0244).Thus,we postulated that newborn Chinese Alligators with different genetic backgrounds have different immune strengths,which affects individual responses to environmental microorganisms.In summary,newborn Chinese Alligators from different genetic backgrounds exhibit variations in cloacal microbiome.

2023年国际阿尔茨海默病大会(AAIC)前沿报告

2023年7月,阿尔茨海默病协会国际会议(Alzheimer's Association International Conference,AAIC)在荷兰召开。近10000名世界各地的研究者汇聚阿姆斯特丹,共话阿尔茨海默病(Alzheimer's Disease,AD)和痴呆症研究领域最新研究成果。大会持续五天,呈现了超过3000个学术报告,通过专题研讨、壁报展示等活动,促进全球研究者深入开展交流研讨,探索AD创新发展新格局。本报告结合AAIC面向全球发布的《Advancements In Treatment,Diagnosis and Risk Reduction Strategies Highlighted at AAIC》,对2023年AAIC亮点进行整合。

Artificial Logging or Natural Growth

Global climate change makes forestry carbon sequestration a hot issue. In order to improve the comprehensive benefits of forest management, this paper studies the carbon accounting problem, and uses the forest stock conversion factor method to create a carbon sequestration accounting model based on the reserve transformation method. Then, the HWP carbon sequestration accounting algorithm is obtained after the improvement of the reserve change method and the atmospheric flow method with the HWP half-life as a bridge. Based on the ecological and economic benefits, a multi-objective and multi-attribute decision-making model for forest management plan is constructed, and the optimal strategy of stand structure based on selective cutting is proposed. Finally, the entropy weight TOPSIS method is used to quantitatively analyze the comprehensive benefit value and provide suggestions for forestry departments. To verify the model, we chose the Greater Khingan Mountains forest region as the research site. Through successive iterations of CSAM, we calculate that the forest will absorb 534 million tons of live forest and forest products in 100 years. From the stand structure of the forest area, when the selected cutting intensity is 20% and the selected cutting cycle is 10.7 years, the comprehensive benefit value of the Greater Khingan Mountains is the highest.

Magnetic Fe_3O_4-Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanocomposites-Based Electrochemical Biosensing

An electrochemical biosensing platform was developed based on glucose oxidase(GOx)/Fe3O4-reduced graphene oxide(Fe3O4-RGO) nanosheets loaded on the magnetic glassy carbon electrode(MGCE).With the advantages of the magnetism, conductivity and biocompatibility of the Fe3O4-RGO nanosheets, the nanocomposites could be facilely adhered to the electrode surface by magnetically controllable assembling and beneficial to achieve the direct redox reactions and electrocatalytic behaviors of GOx immobilized into the nanocomposites. The biosensor exhibited good electrocatalytic activity, high sensitivity and stability. The current response is linear over glucose concentration ranging from 0.05 to 1.5 m M with a low detection limit of0.15 μM. Meanwhile, validation of the applicability of the biosensor was carried out by determining glucose in serum samples. The proposed protocol is simple, inexpensive and convenient, which shows great potential in biosensing application.

Thermal conductivity of PVDF/PANI-nanofiber composite membrane aligned in an electric field

Poly(vinylidene fluoride)(PVDF) is a semi-crystalline thermoplastic polymer with excellent thermal stability,electrochemical stability and corrosion resistance, which has been widely studied and applied in industrial nonmetallic heat exchanger and piezoelectric-film sensor. In this study, polyaniline(PANI) nanofibers were synthesized using dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid as the surfactant. The obtained PANI nanofibers were blended in PVDF matrix to enhance thermal conductivity and tensile strength of composite materials. Electric field was applied for the orientation of membrane structure during membrane formation. Scanning electron microscope(SEM) images exhibited that the PANI nanofibers were well-dispersed in the composite membranes. The structure of composite membranes was more orderly after alignment. X-ray diffraction(XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry(DSC) indicated that the content of PANI nanofibers contributed to the transformation of PVDF from α-phase to β-phase. Both the tensile strength and thermal conductivity of composite membranes were significantly improved. This tendency was further enhanced by the application of electric field. The maximum tensile strength was obtained when the content of PANI nanofibers was 3 wt%, which was 46.44% higher than that of pure PVDF membrane. The maximum thermal conductivity of composite membranes after alignment was 84.5% greater than that of pure PVDF membrane when the content of PANI nanofibers was 50 wt%. The composite membrane is a promising new potential material in heat transfer field and the mechanism explored in this study would be informative for further development of similar thermal conductive polymeric materials.

A Novel Dynamic Watermarking-Based EKF Detection Method for FDIAs in Smart Grid

Dear editor,The existing bad data detection(BDD)cannot effectively detect false data injection attacks(FDIAs)in smart grid.The objectiveness of this letter is to investigate a novel dynamic watermarking(DW)-based extended Kalman filter(EKF)detection method to detect FDIAs.Firstly,security weakness of traditional χ^(2) detector is analyzed,and a novel DW-based EKF detection method is proposed for FDIAs.Secondly,the detection effectiveness and security property of the proposed method are analyzed theoretically,where not only the positive correlation between the detection performance and DW signal intensity but also zero impact of FDIAs not being detected on smart grid(SG)are revealed.Finally,the effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed by experimental results.

Effects of soy hull polysaccharide on dyslipidemia and pathoglycemia in rats induced by a high-fat-high-sucrose diet

The present work aimed at investigating the effects of soy hull polysaccharide(SHP)in alleviating adverse effects in rats fed a high-fat-high-sucrose diet.After SHP feeding for 4 weeks,the fasting blood glucose(FBG),serum triglyceride(TG),serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C),short chain fatty acids(SCFAs),and 16S rDNA gene sequence were determined.Administration of SHP significantly decreased body fat content and TG levels,and increased water intake and HDL-C levels after 4 weeks of treatment.The antihyperglycemic effect of SHP at a dose of 400 mg/kg mb had the most significant effects among the three dosage groups.SHP notably restored the FBG in rats fed a high-fat-high-sucrose diet(P<0.05).Furthermore,SHP at 400 mg/kg mb increased the abundance of Bacteroidetes and decreased that of Firmicutes and Actinobacteria at the phylum level.The polysaccharide treated groups had significantly higher content of total SCFAs,and the main fermentation products were acetic,propionic,n-valeric and i-valeric acids.Thus,SHP restores blood lipid levels in rats fed a high-fat-high sucrose diet through regulation of the gut microbiota.

Microphone Array-Based Sound Source Localization Using Convolutional Residual Network

Microphone array-based sound source localization(SSL)is widely used in a variety of occasions such as video conferencing,robotic hearing,speech enhancement,speech recognition and so on.The traditional SSL methods cannot achieve satisfactory performance in adverse noisy and reverberant environments.In order to improve localization performance,a novel SSL algorithm using convolutional residual network(CRN)is proposed in this paper.The spatial features including time difference of arrivals(TDOAs)between microphone pairs and steered response power-phase transform(SRPPHAT)spatial spectrum are extracted in each Gammatone sub-band.The spatial features of different sub-bands with a frame are combine into a feature matrix as the input of CRN.The proposed algorithm employ CRN to fuse the spatial features.Since the CRN introduces the residual structure on the basis of the convolutional network,it reduce the difficulty of training procedure and accelerate the convergence of the model.A CRN model is learned from the training data in various reverberation and noise environments to establish the mapping regularity between the input feature and the sound azimuth.Through simulation verification,compared with the methods using traditional deep neural network,the proposed algorithm can achieve a better localization performance in SSL task,and provide better generalization capacity to untrained noise and reverberation.

浅谈中央空调系统设计和运行节能管理

当今世界经济发展迅速,着重提倡节能减排措施,有效保护环境,节约资源,尤其是公共建筑中的中央空调的系统设计和运行节能管理非常重要,如果能够有良好的设计与运行,就能够减少很大的消耗,但是当今中央空调在设计和运行中时常因为管理不善而引发许多不必要的消耗和浪费现象。在一些公共建筑中经常出现在冬天温度非常高,而在夏天温度过低的情况,这都是存在管理不善的现象所致。所以要不断地提倡中央空调在系统设计和运行中最大限度地减少运行费用,加强经济的可持续发展之路。从中央空调工程设计与应用过程中的设计选型环节管理、中央空调应用过程中的节电措施管理和中央空调的质量管理工作三方面,对中央空调控制系统的节电措施进行了剖析。

二氧化碳浓度增加和气候变暖导致太白山林线树木生长与氮有效性关系减弱

全球气候变暖、大气二氧化碳浓度(C_(a))升高和氮有效性正对全球森林生态系统产生深远影响,尤其是在高海拔林线地区。本研究结合树木生长指标和树轮稳定同位素指标,探讨了太白山林线树种太白红杉(Larix chinensis)对环境胁迫的生理生态响应。研究结果表明,近60年来太白红杉的生长速度显著增加,且该林线树木生长对春季温度特别敏感。太白红杉的潜在水分利用效率(iWUE)的持续上升与大气二氧化碳浓度升高和气候变暖紧密相关,共同促进了树木的生长。1851-1964年,树轮δ^(15)N随树木生长速度的加快逐渐增大;1964年之后转变为不显著的下降,打破了原有的碳-氮平衡。分析结果表明,自20世纪60年代以来气候变暖和iWUE的迅速增加已经取代氮有效性成为树木生长的主要驱动因子。随着树木持续加速生长,氮有效性在未来可能会显著下降甚至供不应求。本研究深入揭示了植物对生长环境变化响应的生理生态机制,这将提高我们预测未来高海拔地区森林生态系统演变的能力。

基于质谱的多尺度代谢组学技术进展及其在生命医学研究中的应用

代谢组学是20世纪后期出现的一个新兴研究领域,主要关注各类生命体中代谢物的全面分析.随着分析手段的飞速发展,这一领域在过去几十年取得了显著进步.精密的分析技术,如液相色谱-质谱(LCMS)、气相色谱-质谱(GC-MS)、毛细管电泳-质谱(CE-MS)以及核磁共振等构成了代谢组分析的技术基础.基于这些技术手段的一系列全新改进和融合不断推动着代谢组学的发展.在近几十年里,单细胞或单细胞器水平上进行代谢组学检测一直是一个具有挑战性的任务,该领域近年来出现了重要突破,如单细胞质谱技术和单细胞器质谱技术实现了对细胞和细胞器水平上代谢组成分的检测,并深入揭示了代谢组在细胞或细胞器水平的异质性及其在生命活动中的重要意义;空间代谢组学使得原位代谢组分析成为可能,并结合三维重构技术清晰地展示了代谢物在组织内含量和分布情况.代谢组学技术的不断进步对于生物学和临床研究都具有重要意义,例如新型代谢通路的发现、细胞分化命运与代谢之间关系、以及病理诊断相关生物标志物等.本文总结了传统代谢组学技术和新型多尺度代谢组学技术的最新进展,以及这些技术在生物医学中的应用.

High-sensitive refractive index sensing and excellent slow light based on tunable triple plasmon-induced transparency in monolayer graphene based metamaterial

A patterned monolayer graphene metamaterial structure consisting of six graphene blocks and two graphene strips is proposed to generate triple plasmon-induced transparency(PIT).TriplePIT can be effectively modulated by Fermi levels of graphene.The theoretically calculated results by coupled mode theory show a high matching degree with the numerically simulated results by finite-difference time-domain.Intriguingly,the high-sensitive refractive index sensing and excellent slow-light performance can be realized in the proposed graphene metamaterial structure.The sensitivity(S)and figure of merit can reach up to 5.7115 THz RIU^(-1)and 116.32,respectively.Moreover,the maximum group refractive index is 1036.Hence,these results may provide a new idea for designing graphene-based sensors and slow light devices.