Expanding previous efforts to survey the visual opsin repertoires of the Hemiptera, this study confirms that homologs of the UV- and LW-opsin subfamilies are conserved in all Hemiptera, while the B-opsin subfamily is missing from the Heteroptera and subgroups of the Sternorrhyncha and Auchenorrhyncha, i.e. aphids (Aphidoidea) and planthoppers (Fulgoroidea), respectively. Unlike in the Heteroptera, which are characterized by multiple expansions of the LW-opsin subfamily, the lack of B-opsin correlates with the presence of tandem-duplicated UV-opsins in aphids and planthoppers. Available data on organismal wavelength sensitivities and retinal gene expression patterns lead to the conclusion that, in both groups, one UV-opsin paralog shifted from ancestral UV peak sensitivity to derived blue sensitivity, thereby compensating for the lost B-opsin. Two parallel bona fide tuning site substitutions compare to 18 non-corresponding amino acid replacements in the blue-shifted UV-opsin paralogs of aphids and planthoppers. Most notably, while the aphid blue-shifted UV-opsin clade is characterized by a replacement substitution at one of the best-documented UV/blue tuning sites (Rhodopsin site 90), the planthopper blue-shifted UV-opsin paralogs retained the ancestral lysine at this position. The combined findings identify aphid and planthopper UV-opsins as a new valuable data sample for studying adaptive opsin evolution.

Cervical cancer is associated with persistent infections by high-risk HPV types that may have nucleotide polymorphisms and, consequently, different oncogenic potentials. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the genetic variability and structural effects of E7 oncogene of HPV58 in cervical scraping samples from Brazilian women. The study was carried out with patients from hospitals in metropolitan area of Recife, PE, Brazil. The most frequent HPV type was HPV16, 18 and 58, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the isolates were classified as sublineages A2, C1 and D2. Two positively selected mutations were found in E7: 63G and 64T. The mutations G41R, G63D and T64A in E7 protein were predicted to reduce the stability of the protein structure. Regarding the interaction of the E7 variant of HPV58 with the signaling of the NF-kB pathway, we observed that the variant HPV58/UFPE-54S decreased the activity of the pathway when compared to the prototype and the other variants behaved similarly to the prototype and the prototype increased the activity of the pathway when compared to pcDNA. In this study, it was possible to identify mutations that may interfere in the molecular interaction between the viral oncoproteins and host proteins.

In China, the demand for rabbit meat is also increasing, and the production for rabbit meat is important. However, the underlying mechanisms of regulate skeletal muscle growth and development in rabbits remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to identify candidate genes related to skeletal muscle growth in rabbits and explore their potential regulatory mechanisms. RNA-seq technique was used to compare the differences of skeletal muscle transcriptome in Fujian white rabbits at different developmental stages (day 20 and 26 of embryos and birth 1, 30 and 60-day-olds) with a total of 25 individual selected. A total of 9737 DEGs that were acquired from the five groups were annotated into three ontologies of the GO database: biological process (BP), cell component (CC), and molecular function (MF). For KEGG analysis, there are 8249 genes were enriched in 1148 pathways, of which 67 pathways were significantly enriched, mainly in Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), the PPAR signaling pathway, MAPK signaling pathway. Among all comparison groups, SE was the most abundant AS event. Real-time PCR verified that the expression patterns of differential genes were consistent with the transcriptome sequencing results. These results will provide a molecular regulation mechanism of muscle growth and development in Fujian white rabbits, and should serve an important theoretical basis for improving meat performance and growth rate of Chinese local meat rabbit breeds.

MicroRNAs (MiRNAs) are a class of non-coding single-stranded RNA molecules of approximately 20-24 nucleotides in plants that play an important regulatory role in a variety of biological processes such as plant growth and development and response to various abiotic stresses. For example Drought, Salt, Cold, High temperature, Heavy metals and Nutrition. MiRNAs affect gene expression by manipulating the cleavage, translational expression or DNA methylation of target mRNAs. This review describes the current progress made on the way miRNAs are produced and regulated and the way miRNA/target gene is used in plant responses to abiotic stresses. Studying the molecular mechanism of action of miRNAs downstream target genes can optimize the genetic manipulation of crop growth and development conditions that provide a more theoretical basis for improving crop production.

Plant Cysteine Oxidase (PCO) is a plant O2-sensing enzyme of catalyzing oxidation of cysteine to Cys-sulfinic acid at the N-termini of target proteins. To better understand the Brassica napus PCO gene family, PCO genes in B. napus and related species were analyzed. In this study, 20, 7 and 8 PCO genes were identified in Brassica napus, Brassica rapa and Brassica oleracea, respectively. According to phylogenetic analysis, the PCOs were divided into five groups: PCO1, PCO2, PCO3, PCO4 and PCO5. Gene organization and motif distribution analysis suggested that PCO gene family was relatively conserved during evolution. Expression analysis showed that PCO genes were expressed in different tissues at different developmental stages. Interestingly, most of the Bna/Br/BoPCO5 members were expressed in leaves, roots, flowers, buds and siliques, suggesting an important role in both vegetative and reproductive development. Expression of BnaPCO was induced by various abiotic stress, especially waterlogging stress, which was consistent with the result of cis-element analysis. In this study, the PCO gene family of Brassicaceae was analyzed for the first time, which contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the origin and evolution of PCO genes in Brassicaceae and the function of BnaPCO in regulating plant responses to abiotic stresses.

Gene therapy has seen major progress in recent years. Viral vectors have made a significant contribution through efficient engineering for improved delivery and safety. A large variety of indications such as cancer, cardiovascular, metabolic, hematological, neurological, muscular, ophthalmological, infectious diseases, and immunodeficiency have been targeted. Viral vectors based on adenoviruses, adeno-associated viruses, herpes simplex viruses, retroviruses including lentiviruses, alphaviruses, flaviviruses, measles viruses, rhabdoviruses, Newcastle disease virus, poxviruses, picornaviruses, reoviruses, and polyomaviruses have been used. Proof-of-concept has been demonstrated for different indications in animal models. Therapeutic efficacy has also been achieved in clinical trials. Several viral vector-based drugs have been approved for the treatment of cancer, and hematological, metabolic, and neurological diseases. Moreover, viral vector-based vaccines have been approved against COVID-19 and Ebola virus disease.

Background and Objectives: Light therapy (LT) is used as an adjunctive treatment for sleep problems. This study evaluates the impact of LT on sleep quality and sleep-related parameters in patients with sleep disorders. Materials and Methods: We performed a pilot randomized, open-label clinical trial. Fourteen patients aged 20–60 years with sleep disorders for more than three months were randomized into the control and LT groups (1:1 ratio). The LT group was instructed to use a device that provides bright LT (6000 K, 380 lux, wavelength 480 nm) for at least 25 minutes before 09:00 am for two weeks. A self-reported questionnaire was used to evaluate circadian preference, mood, and sleep-related parameters. We analyzed serum cortisol levels and clock genes expression. Results: The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), insomnia severity index, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality index were significantly improved within the LT group only after the two-week period. When comparing the two groups, only the change in ESS significant was significant (mean difference; control: -0.14 vs LT: -1.43, p=0.021) after adjusting for baseline characteristics. There were no significant differences in serum cortisol or clock genes expression. Conclusions: LT can improve daytime sleepiness in patients with sleep disorders; however, further well-designed studies are warranted to confirm its efficacy.

In this study, we de novo assembled whole genomes of two small body-sized West Pacific sciaenids (Larimichthys polyactis and Collichthys lucidus) and compared them with published genome data of two closely-related, large body-sized species (Larimichthys crocea and Miichthys miiuy) and one distantly-related, large body-sized outgroup species (Dicentrarchus labrax). The phylogeny constructed using 7,403 single-copy orthologs shared among the five species indicated that L. crocea and L. polyactis diverged about 42 MYA. The two sibling taxa are more closely-related to C. lucidus than M. miiuy. We further identified four growth-related genes (CDHR2, PGC, PTN and PDGFA) that host five diagnostic amino acid variants on body size traits in the fishes, splitting small-body sized L. polyactis and C. lucidus from large-body sized L. crocea, M. miiuy and D. labrax. The results provide new genomic resources and guidelines to facilitate future endeavors in studying functional genomics and developing selective breeding programs for desirable growth traits in sciaenids.

The mitochondrial marker, cytochrome oxidase subunits II gene (mtDNA-COII) was employed to assess the genetic structure and diversity of Anopheles funestus, a very important malaria vector in Africa, that adapt and colonize different ecological niches in western Kenya. Mosquitoes were collected using mechanical aspirators in four sites (Bungoma, Port Victoria, Kombewa and Migori) in western Kenya. Following morphological identification, PCR was used to confirm species. The mtDNA-COII gene was amplified, sequenced and analyzed to determine genetic diversity and population structure. A total of 126 (Port Victoria-38, Migori-38, Bungoma-22 and Kombewa-28) sequences of mtDNA-COII were used for population genetic analysis. Anopheles funestus had high haplotype diversity (Hd= 0.97 to 0.98) but low nucleotide diversity (π =0.004 to 0.005). The neutrality test revealed significant (p<0.05) negative Tajima’s D and Fs values indicating population expansion with an excess of low-frequency variation due to evolutionary forces across all sites. No genetic differentiation or structure was observed across the sites (Fst = -0.01) and a high level of gene flow (Gamma St, Nm = 17.99 to 35.22) was observed among the populations. Population expansion suggests the high adaptability of this species to various ecological requirements hence sustaining its vectorial capacity and malaria transmission.

The rising global incidence of acute and chronic kidney diseases has increased the demand for renal replacement therapy. This issue, compounded with the limited availability of viable kidneys for transplantation, has propelled the search for alternative strategies to address the growing health and economic burdens associated with these conditions. In the search for such alternatives, significant efforts have been devised to augment the current and primarily supportive management of renal injury with novel regenerative strategies. For example, gene- and cell-based approaches that utilize recombinant peptides/proteins, gene, cell, organoid, and RNAi technologies have shown promising outcomes primarily in experimental models. Supporting research has also been conducted to improve our understanding of the critical aspects that facilitate the development of efficient gene- and cell-based techniques that the complex structure of the kidney has traditionally limited. This manuscript is intended to communicate efforts that have driven the development of such therapies by identifying the vectors and delivery routes needed to drive exogenous transgene incorporation that may support the treatment of acute and chronic kidney diseases.

Due to an increase in the consumption of food, feed, and fuel and to meet global food security needs for the rapidly growing human population, there is a necessity to obtain high-yielding crops that can adapt to future climate changes. Currently, the main feed source used for ruminant livestock production is forage grasses. In temperate climate zones, perennial grasses grown for feed are widely distributed and tend to suffer under unfavorable environmental conditions. Gene editing has been shown to be an effective tool for the development of abiotic stress-resistant plants. The highly versatile CRISPR-Cas system enables increasingly complex modifications in genomes while maintaining precision and low off-target frequency mutations. In this review, we provide an overview of forage grass species that have been subjected to gene editing. We offer a perspective view on the generation of plants resilient to abiotic stresses. Due to the broad factors contributing to these stresses the review focuses on drought, salt, heat, and cold stresses. The application of new genomic techniques (e.g., CRISPR-Cas) allows addressing several challenges caused by climate change and abiotic stresses for developing forage grass cultivars with improved adaptation to the future climatic conditions. Gene editing will contribute towards developing safe and sustainable food systems.

Delayed cancer detection is one of the common causes of poor prognosis in case of many cancers including the cancers of the oral cavity. Despite improvement and development of new and efficient gene therapy treatments, very little has been done to algorithmically assess the impedance of these carcinomas. In this work, we attempt to annotate viable attributes in oral cancer gene datasets for identification of gingivobuccal cancer (GBC). We further apply supervised and unsupervised machine learning methods to the gene datasets revealing key candidate attributes for GBC prognosis. Our work highlights the importance of automated identification of key genes responsible for GBC that could perhaps be easily replicated to other forms of oral cancer detection.

Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is a haematological neoplasm driven by the BCR/ABL fusion oncogene. The monogenic aspect of the disease and the feasibility of ex vivo therapies in haematological disorders make CML an excellent candidate for gene therapy strategies. The ability to abolish any coding sequence by CRISPR-Cas9 nucleases offers a powerful therapeutic opportunity to CML patients. However, a definitive cure can only be achieved when only CRISPR-edited cells are selected. A gene-trapping approach combined with CRISPR technology would be an ideal approach to ensure this. Here, we have developed a CRISPR-Trap strategy that efficiently inserts a donor gene trap (SA-CMV-Venus) cassette into the BCR-ABL1-specific fusion point in the CML K562 human cell line. The trapping cassette interrupts the on-cogene coding sequence and expresses a reporter gene that enables the selection of edited cells. Quantitative expression analyses showed significantly higher level of expression of the BCR-Venus allele coupled with a drastically lower level of BCR/ABL expression in Venus+ cell fractions. Functional in vitro experiments showed cell proliferation arrest and apoptosis in selected Venus+ cells. Finally, xenograft experiments with the selected Venus+ cells showed a large reduction in tumour growth, thereby demonstrating a therapeutic benefit in vivo. This study is a proof of concept for the therapeutic potential of a CRISPR-Trap system as a novel strategy for gene elimination in haematological neoplasms.

leaf beetle (BLB) (Ootheca mutabilis) has emerged as an important bean pest in Uganda, leading to devastating crop losses. There is limited information on the population genetic structure of BLB despite their importance. In this study, novel microsatellite markers and the partial mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (mtCOI) gene sequences were used to analyze the spatial population genetic structure, genetic differentiation, gene flow and haplotype diversity of 87 O. mutabilis samples from five populations. We identified 19,356 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) (mono, di, tri, tetra, penta, and hexa-nucleotides) of which 81 di, tri and tetra-nucleotides were selected for primer synthesis. Five highly polymorphic SSR markers (4-21 alleles, heterozygosi-ty 0.59-0.84, polymorphic information content (PIC) 50.13-83.14%) were used for this study. Analyses of the five O. mutabilis populations with these five novel SSRs found 89% of genetic variation occurring within individuals, 9% among individuals and 2% among populations. Genetic differentiation was low but significant for SSR and insignificant for mtCOI partial sequence data while gene flow was high across the populations. There was no evidence of isolation by distance between geographical and genetic distances. Bayesian clustering identified signature of admixture that suggests genetic contributions from two ancestral genetic lineages, and the median-joining haplotype network showed low differentiation of many different haplotypes from the most common haplotype. Low genetic differentiation and high gene flow indicates unrestricted migrations between populations. This information will contribute to the design of BLB control strategies.

Biotechnological application of the green microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii hinges on the availability of selectable markers for effective expression of multiple transgenes. However, biological safety concerns limit the establishment of new antibiotic resistance genes and until today, only few auxotrophic markers exist for C. reinhardtii. The recent improvements in gene editing via CRISPR/Cas9 allows directed exploration of new endogenous selectable markers. Since editing frequencies with CRISPR/Cas9 techniques are often low, the Cas9-sgRNA ribonucleoprotein (RNP) delivery protocol was strategically optimized by applying nitrogen starvation to the pre-culture, increasing editing frequencies from 10% to 66% after pre-selection. Probing the essential polyamine biosynthesis pathway, the spermidine synthase gene (SPD1) is shown to be a potent selectable marker with versatile biotechnological applicability. Very low levels of spermidine (0.75 mg/L) were required to maintain normal mixotrophic and phototrophic growth in newly designed spermidine auxotrophic strains. Complementation of these strains with a synthetic SPD1 gene was achieved when the mature protein was targeted to either the cytosol or the chloroplast. This work highlights the potential of new selectable markers for biotechnology as well as basic research and proposes an effective pipeline for the identification of new auxotrophies in C. reinhardtii.

Identification of the differentially-expressed genes is important for clarification of the complex molecular mechanisms under drought conditions. In this experiment, transcriptome profiles of sensitive and tolerant tomato genotypes under drought stress were analyzed. Three up-regulated genes were selected, included CAB3 (Chlorophyll a-b binding protein3), SAMDC (S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase proenzyme), and ACS9 (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase 9). After bioinformatics analysis, tomato genotypes were subjected to drought stress and gene expression was determined using Real-Time-PCR. Physiological parameters of genotypes were also measured by spectrophotometer-based methods. According to the results, these three genes play a key role in stress tolerance. Expression of the CAB3 gene in both sensitive and tolerant genotypes was not significantly different compared to the control, but the SAMDC gene decreased in both genotypes and the ACS9 gene decreased in sensitive genotype and increased in tolerant genotype. The physiological analysis also showed that under stress conditions, the photosynthetic system of the plant was disrupted and the chlorophyll content was reduced, but, proline content and antioxidant enzymes activity increased, in which their quantity in the tolerant genotype was significantly higher than sensitive. Under drought stress, due to damage to the lipid membrane, Malondialdehyde content also increased, in which the sensitive genotype was more affected.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most prevalent and disabling mental disorders worldwide. Among the symptoms of MDD, sleep disturbance such as insomnia is prominent and the first reason patients may seek professional help. However, the underlying pathophysiology of this comorbidity is still elusive. Recently, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have begun to unveil the genetic background of several psychiatric disorders, including MDD and insomnia. Identifying the shared genomic risk loci between comorbid psychiatric disorders could be a valuable strategy to understand their comorbidity. This study seeks to identify the shared genes and biological pathways between MDD and insomnia based on their shared genetic variants. First, we performed a meta-analysis based on the GWAS summary statistics of MDD and insomnia obtained from Psychiatric Genomics Consortium and UK Biobank, respectively. Next, we associated shared genetic variants to genes using two gene mapping strategies: (a) positional mapping based on genomic proximity and (b) expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) mapping based on gene expression linkage across multiple tissues. As a result, a total of 719 shared genes were identified. Over half (51%) of them are protein-coding genes. Functional enrichment analysis shows that the most enriched biological pathways are related to epigenetic modification, sensory perception, and immunologic signatures. We also identified druggable targets using a network approach. Together these results may provide insights into understanding the genetic predisposition and underlying biological pathways of comorbid MDD and insomnia symptoms.

Pratylenchus loosi is an important root-lesion nematode that cause damage to tea plantations in Iran and all over the world. The present study reports on the characterization and evolution of three ß-1,4-engoglucanase genes Pl-eng-2, Pl-eng-3 and Pl-eng-4. The gene structure of Pl-eng-2 was fully determined with the predicted signal peptide and devoid of the linker domain and carbohydrate-binding domain, while Pl-eng-3 and Pl-eng-4 were only partially sequenced. The transcription of Pl-eng-2 was localized in the secretory esophageal glands of all life stages, but it was upregulated in male and females stages. Exon/intron structures of Pl-eng-2, Pl-eng-3 and Pl-eng-4 confirmed that they resulted from gene duplication followed by sequence and gene structure diversification with loss of linker domain and carbohydrate-binding domain during evolution. Phylogenetic analysis further confirmed that nematode endoglucanases resulted from horizontal gene transfer of a bacterial gene as Pl-eng-3 showed sister relationships with CelB cellulase of Bacillus subtilis. Silencing Pl-eng-2 by in vitro RNA interference, produced a 60% decrease of the transcript level. The reproductive ability of silenced P. loosi showed a 35% reduction of eggs and larval stages compared to untreated nematodes suggesting that this gene is involved in the early steps of invasion.

The excellent properties of nanomaterials have been confirmed in many fields, but the effects on plants are still unclear. In this study, we have found that bismuth vanadium promoted the growth of taproots and the development of lateral roots, increased the roots activity by regulating the expression of polyamine or hormone-related genes and reducing the accumulation of reactive oxygen species in Arabisdopsis thaliana. Meantime, BV had higher antimicrobial effect than that of graphene oxide (GO). These results showed us a new perspective possibility of nanomaterials assisting the development of plants and crops, which is expected to become one of the ways to solve the problem of controlling and promoting the development of plants and crops.

Ophiura sarsii is a common brittle star species across Arctic and subarctic regions of Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In the Barents Sea O. sarsii is among the dominant echinoderms. We studied genetic diversity of O. sarsii by sequencing the 548 bp fragment of mitochondrial COI gene. O.sarsii demonstrated high genetic diversity in the Barents Sea. Both major Atlantic mtDNA lineages were present in the Barents Sea and were evenly distributed between the northern waters around Svalbard archipelago and the southern part near Murmansk coast of Kola Peninsula. Both regions, as well as other parts of the O.sarsii range, were characterized by high haplotype diversity with a significant number of private haplotypes, being mostly satellites to the two dominant haplotypes, each belonging to a different mtDNA clade. Demographic analyses indicated that the demographic and spatial expansion of Ophiura sarsii in the Barents Sea most plausibly has started during the Bølling–Allerød interstadial, during the deglaciation of the western margin of the Barents Sea.

Burn-induced cardiac dysfunction is thought to involve mitochondrial dysfunction although the mechanisms responsible are unclear. In this study, we used our established model of in vivo burn injury to understand the genetic evidence of burn-induced mitochondrial metabolism confusion by describing cardiac mitochondrial metabolism-related gene expression after burn. Cardiac tissue was collected at 24 hours after burn injury. An O2K respirometer system was utilized to measure cardiac mitochondrial function. Oxidative phosphorylation complex activities were determined using enzyme activity assays. RT Profiler PCR array was used to identify differential regulation of genes involved in mitochondrial biogenesis and metabolism. Quantitative qPCR and Western Blotting were applied to validate differentially expressed genes. Burn-induced cardiac mitochondrial dysfunction was supported by the finding of decreased state 3 respiration and decreased mitochondrial electron transport chain activity in complex I, III, IV, and V following burn injury. Eighty-four mitochondrial metabolism-related gene profiles were measured. The mitochondrial gene profile showed that one third of genes related to mitochondrial energy and metabolism was differentially expressed. Of these 28 genes, 15 were more than 2-fold upregulated and 13 were more than 2-fold downregulated. All genes were validated using qPCR; 4 genes had a protein level which correlated with the observed change in gene expression. This study provides preliminary evidence that a large percentage of mitochondrial metabolism-related genes in cardiomyocytes were significantly affected by burn injury.

In the present work we present a methodology for teaching the basis of the genetic code through music composition, with the aim to combine science and arts learning. The project was carried out by 155 students, the so-called MARGA Consortium, with ages comprised between 10 and 17 years from different public schools located in the Principality of Asturias, Spain. The different groups generated 8 different music works using a short genetic sequence obtained from the human notch1 gene, receptor of mutations leading to chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) is an important factor of stress tolerance in microbial cells. In yeast, the major enzyme of polyP biosynthesis is Vtc4, a subunit of the vacuole transporter chaperone (VTC) complex. In this study, we demonstrated that Vtc4 knockout in Saccharomyces cerevisiae not only decreased polyP content but also caused shifts in the composition of the intracellular polyP pool and changed the stress tolerance profile. In the mutant S. cerevisiae, the level of short-chain acid-soluble polyPs was decreased nearly 10-fold, whereas that of longer acid-insoluble polyPs was decreased only 2-fold, suggesting the existence of other enzymes compensating the production of long-chain polyPs. The Δvtc4 mutant showed inhibition of Mg2+-dependent phosphate uptake and decreased resistance to alkaline stress but increased tolerance to oxidation and heavy metal ions, especially Mn2+. Quantitative PCR revealed the upregulation of the DDR2 gene implicated in multiple stress responses and downregulation of PHO84 encoding a phosphate and Mn2+ transporter, which could account for the effects on phosphate uptake and Mn2+-related stress response in the Δvtc4 mutant. Our study indicates that short-chain polyPs, plays an important role in the regulation of stress response in yeast.

Molluscan aquaculture is a major contributor to global seafood production, but is hampered by infectious disease outbreaks which can cause serious economic losses. Selective breeding has been widely used to improve disease resistance in major agricultural and aquaculture species, and has clear potential in molluscs, albeit its commercial application remains at a formative stage. Advances in genomic technologies, especially development of cost-efficient genomic selection, have potential to accelerate genetic improvement. However, tailored approaches are required due to the distinctive reproductive and lifecycle characteristics of molluscan species. Transgenesis and genome editing, in particular CRISPR/Cas systems, have been successfully trialled in molluscs, and may further understanding and improvement of genetic resistance to disease through targeted changes to the host genome. Whole organism genome editing is achievable on a much greater scale compared to other farmed species, making genome-wide CRISPR screening approaches plausible. This review discusses the current state and future potential of selective breeding, genomic tools, and genome editing approaches to understand and improve host resistance to infectious disease in molluscs.

Genes coding for enzymes of the denitrification pathway appear randomly distributed among isolates of the ancestral genus Thermus, but only in few strains of the species T. thermophilus the pathway has been studied to a certain detail. Here, we review the enzymes involved in this pathway present in T. thermophilus NAR1, a strain extensively employed as a model for nitrate respiration, on the light of its full sequence recently assembled through a combination of PacBio and Illumina technologies in order to counteract the systematic errors introduced by the former technique. The genome of this strain is divided in four replicons, a chromosome of 2,021,843 pb, two megaplasmids of 370,865 and 77,135 bp and a small plasmid of 9,799 pb. Nitrate respiration is encoded in the largest megaplasmid, pTTHNP4, within a region that includes operons for O2 and nitrate sensory systems, a nitrate reductase, nitrate and nitrite transporters and a nitrate specific NADH dehydrogenase, in addition to multiple insertion sequences (IS), suggesting its mobility-prone nature. Despite nitrite is the final product of nitrate respiration in this strain, the megaplasmid encodes two putative nitrite reductases of the cd1 and Cu-containing types, apparently inactivated by IS. No nitric oxide reductase genes have been found within this region, although the NorR sensory gene, needed for its expression, is found near the inactive nitrite respiration system. These data clearly support that partial denitrification in this strain is the consequence of recent deletions and IS insertions in genes involved in nitrite respiration. Based on these data, the capability of this strain to transfer or acquire denitrification clusters by horizontal gene transfer is discussed.

Selection of biologically relevant genes from high dimensional expression data is a key research problem in gene expression genomics. Most of the available gene selection methods are either based on relevancy or redundancy measure, which are usually adjudged through post selection classification accuracy. Through these methods the ranking of genes was done on a single high-dimensional expression data, which leads to the selection of spuriously associated and redundant genes. Hence, we developed a statistical approach through combining Support Vector Machine with Maximum Relevance and Minimum Redundancy under a sound statistical setup for the selection of biologically relevant genes. Here, the genes are selected through statistical significance values computed using a non-parametric test statistic under a bootstrap based subject sampling model. Further, a systematic and rigorous evaluation of the proposed approach with nine existing competitive methods was carried on six different real crop gene expression datasets. This performance analysis was carried out under three comparison settings, i.e. subject classification, biological relevant criteria based on quantitative trait loci, and gene ontology. Our analytical results showed that the proposed approach selects genes that are more biologically relevant as compared to the existing methods. Moreover, the proposed approach was also found to be better with respect to the competitive existing methods. The proposed statistical approach provides a framework for combining filter, and wrapper methods of gene selection.

As a major infectious disease in chickens, Newcastle disease causes considerable economic losses in the poultry industry, especially in developing countries where there is limited access to effective vaccination. Therefore, enhancing resistance to the virus in commercial chickens through breeding is a promising way to promote poultry production. In this study, we investigated gene expression changes at 2 and 6 dpi after infection at day21 with a lentogenic Newcastle disease virus in a commercial egg-laying chicken hybrid using RNA sequencing analysis. By comparing NDV challenged and nonchallenged groups, 526 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (FDR &lt; 0.05) were identified at 2 dpi, and only 36 at 6 dpi. For the DEGs at 2 dpi, IPA analysis predicted inhibition of multiple signaling pathways in response to NDV that regulate immune cell development and activity, neurogenesis and angiogenesis. Upregulation of Interferon Induced Protein with Tetratricopeptide Repeats 5 (IFIT5) in response to NDV was consistent between the current and most previous studies. Sprouty RTK Signaling Antagonist 1 (SPRY1), a DEG in the current study is located in a significant QTL associated with virus load at 6 dpi in the same population. These identified pathways and DEGs provide potential targets to further study breeding strategy to enhance NDV resistance in chickens.

Between 25 and 30% of the nearly one million military personnel who participated in the 1991 Persian Gulf War became ill with chronic symptoms ranging from gastrointestinal to nervous system dysfunction. This disorder is now referred to as Gulf War Illness (GWI) and the underlying pathophysiology has been linked to exposure-based neuroinflammation caused by organophosphorous (OP) compounds coupled with high circulating glucocorticoids. In a mouse model of GWI we developed, corticosterone was shown to act synergistically with an OP (diisopropylflurophosphate) to dramatically increase proinflammatory cytokine gene expression in the brain. Because not all Gulf War participants became sick, the question arises as to whether differential genetic constitution might underlie individual differences in susceptibility. To address this question of genetic liability, we tested the impact of OP and glucocorticoid exposure in a genetic reference population of 30 inbred mouse strains. We also studied both sexes. The results showed wide differences among strains and overall that females were less sensitive to the combined treatment than males. Furthermore, we identified one OP-glucocorticoid locus and nominated a candidate gene—Spon1—that may underlie the marked differences in response.

The importance of genome organization at the supranucleosomal scale in the control of gene expression is increasingly recognized today. In mammals, Topologically Associating Domains (TADs) and the active / inactive chromosomal compartments are two of the main nuclear structures that contribute to this organization level. However, recent works reviewed here indicate that, at specific loci, chromatin interactions with nuclear bodies could also be crucial to regulate genome functions, in particular transcription. They moreover suggest that these nuclear bodies are membrane-less organelles dynamically self-assembled and disassembled through mechanisms of phase separation. We have recently developed a novel genome-wide experimental method, High-salt Recovered Sequences sequencing (HRS-seq), which allows the identification of chromatin regions associated with large ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes and nuclear bodies. We argue that the physical nature of such RNP complexes and nuclear bodies appears to be central in their ability to promote efficient interactions between distant genomic regions. The development of novel experimental approaches, including our HRS-seq method, is opening new avenues to understand how self-assembly of phase separated nuclear bodies possibly contributes to mammalian genome organization and gene expression.

We assessed the growth performance, physiological traits, and gene expressions in steers fed with dietary rumen-protected L-tryptophan (RPT) under cold environment. Eight Korean native steers were assigned to two dietary groups, no RPT (Control) and RPT (0.1% RPT supplementation on a dry matter basis), 6 wks. Maximum and minimum temperatures throughout the experiment were 6.7°C and -7.0°C, respectively. Supplementation of 0.1% RPT to a total mixed ration did not increase body weight but had positive effects of elevating average daily gain (ADG) and reducing the feed conversion ratio (FCR) at day 27 and 48. Metabolic parameter showed higher glucose level (at day 27) in the 0.1% RPT group compared to the control group. Real-time PCR analysis showed no significant differences in the expression of muscle (MYF6, MyoD, and Desmin) metabolism genes between the two groups, whereas the expression of fat (PPARγ, C/EBPα, and FABP4) metabolism genes was lower in the 0.1% RPT group than in the control group. Thus, we demonstrate that long-term (6 wks) dietary supplementation of 0.1% RPT was beneficial owing to enhanced growth performance by increasing ADG and glucose level, decreasing FCR, and maintaining homeostasis in immune responses in beef steers during cold environment.

Background: Biomarkers are essential for identification of individuals at high risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) for potential prevention of dementia. We investigated DNA methylation in the ApoE gene and plasmatic apolipoprotein E (ApoE) levels as MCI biomarkers in Colombian subjects with MCI and controls. Methods: 100 participants were included (71% women, average age, 70 yrs., range 43-91). MCI was diagnosed by neuropsychological testing, medical and social history, activities of daily living, cognitive symptoms and neuroimaging. Multivariate logistic regression models adjusted by age and gender were performed to examine the risk association of MCI with plasma ApoE and APOE methylation Results: MCI was diagnosed in 41 subjects (average age, 66.5±9.6 yrs.) and compared with 59 controls. Elevated plasma ApoE and APOE methylation of CpGs 165, 190, and 198 were risk factors for MCI (P<0.05). Higher CpG-227 methylation correlated with lower risk for MCI (P=0.002). Only CpG-227 was significantly correlated with plasmatic ApoE levels (correlation coefficient=-0.665; P=0.008). Conclusion: Differential APOE methylation and increased plasma ApoE levels were correlated with MCI. These epigenetic patterns can be used as potential biomarkers to identify early stages of MCI.

Suppressors of cytokine signaling (SOCS) influence cytokine and growth factor signaling by negatively regulating the JAK-STAT pathway. This maintains homeostasis during host immune response. However, functional characterization of SOCS family members in invertebrates is limited. In this study, we discovered the Type-I subfamily of the SOCS genes in the mealworm beetle, T. molitor. The full-length ORFs of TmSOCS5, TmSOCS6, and TmSOCS7 consisted of 1,389, 897 and 1,458 nucleotides, encoding polypeptides of 462, 297 and 485 amino acids, respectively, The C-terminal region of TmSOCS was highly conserved in the SH2 and SOCS box domains. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the three SOCS genes clustered within the same sub-family and the highest amino acid identity was with the Tribolium castaneum SOCS genes (TcSOCS). While the expression of TmSOCS5 and TmSOCS6 was low in larval, pupal, and adult stages of the insect, TmSOCS7 showed higher expression. The expression of TmSOCS5 and TmSOCS6 was higher in larval hemocytes and adult ovary. The microbes expressed the three TmSOCS genes to varying degrees. C. albicans elicited the strongest response in the host with highest 15-fold expression in TmSOCS7 3 h post-inoculation. Collectively, these data suggest that the Type I TmSOCS could play a role in eliciting host immunity.

Croton L. (Euphorbiaceae) is a very specious genus and consists of about 1,250 species, mainly distributed in tropical Asia and China. The first complete plastome sequence from the genus, Croton tiglium, is reported in this study (NCBI acc. No. MH394334). The plastome is 150,021 bp in length. The lengths of LSC and SSC are 111,654 bp and 18,167 bp, respectively. However, the length of the IR region is only 10,100 bp and includes only four rrn and four trn genes, and a small part of the ycf1 gene. We propose two-step IR contractions to explain this unique IR region of the C. tiglium plastome. First, the IR contracted from rps19-rpl2 to ycf2-trnL-CAA on the LSC/IRb boundary. Second, the IR contracted from ycf2-trnL-CAA to rrn16-trnV-GAC on the LSC/IRa boundary. In addition, duplicated copies of psaI genes were discovered in the C. tiglium plastome. Both copies were located side by side between accD and ycf4 genes, but one copy was pseudogenized because of a five-basepair (TAGCT) insertion in the middle of the gene following frameshift mutation. The plastome contains 112 genes, of which 78 are protein-coding genes, 30 are tRNA genes, and four are rRNA genes. Sixteen genes contain one intron and two genes have two introns. The infA gene is lost. Twelve large repeats were detected in the plastome. All large repeats are located in the LSC region. Also, 272 simple sequence repeats (SSRs) were identified. The penta-SSRs accounted for 45% of total SSRs, followed by mono- (32%), di- (12%), tetra (6%) and tri-SSRs (5%). Most of them were distributed in the large single copy (LSC) region (85%). In addition, 76% of the SSRs were located in the intergenic spacer (IGS). Phylogenetic analysis suggested that C. tiglium is a sister group of Jatropha curcas with 100% bootstrap support. Seven Euphorbiaceae species formed one clade with 100% bootstrap support.

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/associated protein 9 nuclease (CRISPR/Cas9) technology guided by a single-guide RNA (sgRNA) has recently opened a new avenue for antiviral therapy. A unique capability of the CRISPR/Cas9 system is multiple genome engineering. However, there are few applications in insect viruses by a single Cas9 enzyme targeting two or more sgRNA at different genomic sites for simultaneous production of multiple DNA breaks. To address the need for multi-gene editing and sustained delivery of multiplex CRISPR/Cas9-based genome engineering tools, we developed a one-vector (pSL1180-Cas9-U6-sgRNA) system to express multiple sgRNA and Cas9 protein to excise Bombyx mori nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV) in insect cells. Here, ie-1, gp64, lef-11, and dnapol genes were screened and identified as multiple sgRNA editing sites according to the BmNPV system infection and DNA replication mechanism. Furthermore, we constructed a multiplex editing vector sgMultiple to efficiently regulate multiplex gene editing steps and inhibit BmNPV replication after viral infection. This is the first report that describes the application of multiplex CRISPR/Cas9 system inhibiting insect virus replication. This multiplex system can significant enable the potential of CRISPR/Cas9-based multiplex genome engineering in transgenic silkworms.

Phosphate (Pi) deficiency reduces nodule formation and development in different legume species including common bean. Despite the significant progress in the understanding of the genetic responses underlying the adaptation of nodules to Pi deficiency, it is still unclear whether this nutritional deficiency interferes with the molecular dialog between legumes and rhizobia, if so, what part of the molecular dialog is impaired? In this study, we provide evidence demonstrating that Pi deficiency negatively affects critical early molecular and physiological responses required for a successful symbiosis between common bean and rhizobia. We demonstrated that the infection thread formation and the expression of PvNSP2, PvNIN, and PvFLOT2, genes controlling the nodulation process, were significantly reduced in Pi-deficient common bean seedlings. Further transcriptional analysis revealed that the expression of hormones-related genes is compromised in Pi-deficient seedlings inoculated with rhizobia. Additionally, we showed that regardless of the presence or absence of rhizobia, the expression of PvRIC1 and PvRIC2, two genes participating in the autoregulation of nodule number, was higher in Pi-deficient seedlings than in control seedlings. The data presented in this study shed light on the understanding of how Pi deficiency impacts the early steps of the symbiosis between common bean and rhizobia.

Data generation using high throughput technologies has led to the accumulation of diverse types of molecular data.These data have different types (discrete,real,string etc.) and occur in various formats and sizes. Datasets including gene expression, miRNA expression, protein-DNA binding data (ChIP-Seq/ChIP-ChIP), mutation data(copy number variation, single nucleotide polymorphisms), GO annotations, protein-protein interaction and disease-gene association data are some of the commonly used genomic datasets to study biological processes. Each of them provides a unique, complementary and partly independent view of the genome and hence embed essential information about their regulatory mechanisms. In order to understand the functions of genes, proteins and analyze mechanisms arising out of their interactions, information provided by each of these datasets individually may not be sufficient. Therefore integrating these multi-omic data and inferring regulatory interactions from the integrated dataset provides a system level biological insights in predicting gene functions and their phenotypic outcomes. To study genome functionality through interaction networks, different methods have been proposed for collective mining of information from an integrated dataset. We survey here data integration approaches using state-of-the-art techniques such as network integration, Bayesian networks, regularized regression (LASSO) and multiple kernel learning methods.

Many dioecious plants have sex chromosomes that are cytologically heteromorphic, but about half of species lack cytological differences between males and females and are thus homomorphic. Very little is known about the size and content of the non-recombining sex-determining region (SDR) in these species. Here, we assess the size and content of the SDR of the diploid dioecious herb Mercurialis annua, which has homomorphic sex chromosomes and shows signatures of mild Y-chromosome degeneration. We used RNAseq to identify new Y-linked markers for M. annua. Twelve of 24 transcripts with male-specific and male-biased expression could only be PCR-amplified from males and are thus Y-linked. We found a further six Y-linked sequences that were present in males but not females using genome capture data from multiple populations. We used the Y-linked sequences to identify and sequence 17 sex-linked bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs), which form 11 groups of non-overlapping sequence, covering a total sequence length of about 1.5 Mb. Content analysis of this region suggests it is enriched for repeats, has a low gene density and contains few candidate sex-determining genes. The BACs map to a subset of the sex-linked region of the genetic map, which is estimated to be at least 14.5 Mb. This is substantially larger than estimates for other dioecious plants with homomorphic sex chromosomes, especially given the small genome size of M. annua. Our data provide a rare, high-resolution view of the homomorphic Y chromosome of a dioecious plant.

Cholangiocarcinoma is an epithelial malignancy arising in the region between the intrahepatic bile ducts and the ampulla of Vater at the distal end of the common bile duct. The effect of current chemotherapy regimens against cholangiocarcinoma is limited, and the prognosis of patients with cholangiocarcinoma is poor. Aberrant DNA methylation and histone modification induce silencing of tumor suppressor genes and chromosomal instability during carcinogenesis. Studies have shown that the tumor suppressor genes and microRNAs (miRNAs) including MLH1, p14, p16, DAPK, miR-370 and miR-376c are frequently methylated in cholangiocarcinoma. Silencing of these tumor suppressor genes and miRNAs plays critical roles in the initiation and progression of cholangiocarcinoma. In addition, recent studies have demonstrated that DNA methylation inhibitors induce expression of endogenous retroviruses and exert the anti-tumor effect of via an anti-viral immune response. Aberrant DNA methylation of tumor suppressor genes and miRNAs could be a powerful biomarker for diagnosis and treatment of cholangiocarcinoma. Epigenetic therapy with DNA methylation inhibitors hold considerable promise for the treatment of cholangiocarcinoma through re-activation of tumor suppressor genes and miRNAs as well as induction of an anti-viral immune response.

The present study was performed to examine that transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) in root-surrounding tissues on deciduous teeth during the physiological root resorption regulates the differentiation induction into odontoclast. We prepared root-surrounding tissues with (R) or without (N) physiological root resorption scraped off at three regions (R1-R3 or N1-N3) from the cervical area to the apical area of the tooth and measured both TGF-β and the tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) activities. The TGF-β activity level was increased in N1-N3, whereas the TRAP activity was increased in R2 and R3. In vitro experiments for RANKL-mediated osteoclast differentiation revealed that TGF-β in N1-N3 and R1-R3 enhanced the TRAP activity in RAW264 cells. A genetic study indicated that the mRNA level of TGF-β1 in N1 and N2 was significantly increased, and corresponded with that of osteoprotegerin (OPG). In contrast, the expression level of receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) was increased in R2 and R3. Our findings suggest that TGF-β is closely related to the regulation of OPG induction and RANKL-mediated odontoclast differentiation depending on the timing of RANKL and OPG mRNA expression in the root-surrounding tissues of deciduous teeth during physiological root resorption.

Background: Capsaicinoid are a group of compounds and widely used in the food, medical, and pharmaceutical industries. Capsaicinoid are unique synthesized and accumulated in the pepper fruits. MeJA can enhance the capsaicinoid production. Temporal and spatial expression of capsaicinoid biosynthetic genes are helpful to understand the molecular mechnism of capsaicinoid biosynthesis in the fruits of pepper. Although some of the capsaicinoid biosynthetic genes in pepper have been identified, the expression of these genes at different developing stages of fruit has not been systemically investigated, and little is known about the molecular basis of MeJA inducing capsaicinoid biosynthesis. Results: HPLC study revealed that the capsaicinoid accumulation in the developing fruit of pepper initially appeared at 24 DAP (day after pollination), was actively development at 36 DAP and peaked at 48 DAP. 11 genes that encoded enzymes involved in capsaicinoid biosynthesis were isolated and characterized. Gene expression with quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis demonstrated that the CaCS was unique expressed in placenta and the other 10 genes were expressed in all selected tissues and 9 of 11 genes (except CaCa4H and CaCa3H) were strongly expressed in placenta tissue. Spatial expression analysis demostrated that the 11 gene could be collectively grouped into four categories based on the patterns of relative expression of the genes during fruit development. Category I has 2 and they displayed a bell-shaped expression pattern with the peak expression at 24 DAP, Category II contains 5 genes and expression of the 5 genes was constantly increased from 0 to 36 DAP and peaked at 36 DAP. Category III comprises of 2 genes and both genes reached the peak at 48 DAP. Category IV consists of 2 genes and they showed a high expression at 36 and 48 DAF, but unexpressed from 0 to 12 DAP. The gene expressions of the 11 genes were up-regulated by MeJA. 3 genes showed a high expression at 24 h; 4 genes reached the peak at 12 h; the top expression were observed at 18 h; The last one, CaACYase, achieved the highest level at 8 h. Conclusion: The biosynthesis of capsaicinoid in pepper fruit is developmentally regulated. The expression of the majority of capsaicinoid biosynthetic genes is highly consistent with the development accumulation of capsaicinoid in pepper fruit. These results not only provide the initial information on spatial and temporal expression of capsaicinoid biosynthetic genes in pepper developing fruit, but are also valuable to identify the MeJA-induced genes for capsaicinoid biosynthesis and accumulation during pepper fruit development.

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) based gene-editing has begun to transform the treatment landscape of genetic diseases. The history of the discovery of CRISPR/CRISPR-associated (Cas) proteins/single guide RNA (sgRNA)-based gene-editing since the first report of repetitive sequences of unknown significance in 1987 is fascinating, instructive, and inspiring for future advances. The recent approval of CRISPR-Cas9-based gene therapy to treat patients with severe sickle cell anemia and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia has renewed hope for treating other hematologic diseases, including patients with germline predisposition to hematologic malignancies, who would benefit greatly from the development of CRISPR-based gene therapies. The purpose of this manuscript is three-fold: first, a chronological description of the history of CRISPR-Cas9-sgRNA-based gene editing; second, a brief description of the current state of clinical research in hematologic diseases, including selected applications in treating hematologic diseases with CRISPR-based gene therapy; and third, the current progress in gene therapies in inherited hematologic diseases and bone marrow failure syndromes, to hopefully stimulate efforts towards developing these therapies for patients with inherited bone marrow failure syndromes and other inherited conditions with germline predisposition to hematologic malignancies.

The cyclamen mite, Phytonemus pallidus, is one of the important pests in strawberry cultivation in Canada. This insect pest hides on young strawberry leaves that have not yet opened, which limits their control. In addition, the fight against the latter involves the use of synthetic chemicals that are not without effect on the environment, human health and beneficial organisms. We hypothesized that vectorization by bees could reduce the number of applications, product runoff and provide targeted control of these pathogens. To do this, field trials were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of bumblebees Bombus terrestris in propagating Beauveria bassiana to control this pest. Our results showed that bumblebees were able to disseminate the inoculum on strawberry plants. Also, all the products used (B. bassiana and neem oil) were effective on P. pallidus. It should be noted that high mortality has been noted on this pest thanks to the application of this entomopathogen by spraying. In addition, neither of the two products tested had a significant effect on lady beetles C. septempunctata. These results therefore suggest the use of bee vectoring and neem essential oils in the sustainable management of strawberry mites.

The mechanism by which the human nose perceives an odor is complex and involves various chemical reactions in the transformation of the odorous molecule into an electrical impulse sent to the brain that returns the sensation of smell. The smell is classified and quantified, and its instrumental detection can be carried out through the “electronic nose”, an interactive device that lends itself to various applications. In the agri-food sector, the development of portable devices makes possible to smell foods and measure their level of deterioration and maturation; this is undoubtedly useful for reducing waste, identifying the best moment for food consumption, and improving the level of food safety. With regard to the environmental compatibility of materials and techniques for packing and laying conglomerates (for example bituminous), the problem of olfactory nuisance for the population residing in the neighborhood is still an unresolved problem. The approach based on electronic noses is very effective. The electronic nose also represents an important resource in the screening of respiratory pathologies, where there is the need to identify a rapid and reliable diagnostic test for pathologies such as pneumonia or seasonal flu. Environmental monitoring of pollutants is of particular relevance today and the electronic nose is an important candidate for the use in this field. The gas sensor market leverages physics, chemistry and materials engineering to develop highly sensitive, reliable and stable sensor platforms, capable of detecting very small amounts of gas molecules in the environment. To develop competitive gas sensing platforms, new materials are being considered, including polymers, nanostructured metal oxides and nanostructured carbon-based materials (CNTs). In addition to the experimental aspects, in particular Raman and electron spectroscopy techniques together with atomic force microscopy, theoretical-mathematical modeling plays an extremely important role in this sector, with particular attention to the case of micro and nanometric dimensions. Many efforts are now aimed in improving the sensitivity of these devices and this is related to the diffusion of carriers in them. The paper also offers an overview of the mathematical models relating to mechanical processes and dynamics at the micro-nanometric scale, lastly focusing on the Drude-Lorentz type models, with related more recent generalizations.

Aiming at the problem that dynamic targets in indoor environments lead to low accuracy and large errors in the localization and position estimation of visual SLAM systems and the inability to build maps containing semantic information, a semantic visual SLAM algorithm based on the semantic segmentation network DeepLabV3+ and LK optical flow is proposed based on ORB-SLAM2 system. First, the dynamic target feature points are detected and rejected based on the lightweight semantic segmentation network DeepLabV3+ and LK optical flow method. second, the static environment occluded by the dynamic target is repaired using the time-weighted multi-frame fusion background repair technique. Lastly, the filtered static feature points are used for feature matching and position calculation. Meanwhile, the semantic labeling information of static objects obtained based on the lightweight semantic segmentation network DeepLabV3+ is fused with the static environment information after background repair to generate dense point cloud maps containing semantic information, and the semantic dense point cloud maps are transformed into semantic octree maps using the octree spatial segmentation data structure. The localization accuracy of the visual SLAM system and the construction of the semantic maps are verified using the TUM RGB-D widely used dataset and real scene data, respectively. The experimental results show that the proposed semantic visual SLAM algorithm can effectively reduce the influence of dynamic targets on the system, has a higher localization accuracy, and compared with other advanced algorithms, such as DynaSLAM, has the highest performance in indoor dynamic environments while considering both localization accuracy and real-time performance. In addition, semantic maps can be constructed so that the robot can better understand and adapt to the indoor dynamic environment.

This comparative study aims to investigate environmental awareness, knowledge, and safety among students in Montenegro and North Macedonia, considering the unique socio-cultural and environmental contexts of both countries. A mixed-methods approach involving surveys and interviews was employed to gather data from students in educational institutions across Montenegro and North Macedonia. The study assessed various factors, including students' awareness of environmental issues, their perceived level of knowledge, and their attitudes towards safety measures. A comprehensive series of 400 face-to-face interviews was carried out and these interviews encompassed 200 students from Montenegro and an equal number from North Macedonia, taking place at two esteemed academic institutions: The University of Montenegro in Podgorica and The University of St. Clement of Ohrid, Bitola, Republic of North Macedonia. Our hypothetical conceptual framework proposes that a combination of variables, including gender (H1), age (H2), year of study (H3), and rate of study (H4), significantly influences the attitudes of students from Montenegro and North Macedonia towards environmental awareness, safety, and knowledge. Research findings indicate significant variations in environmental awareness and knowledge perception among students in the two countries. While both Montenegro and North Macedonia face environmental challenges, differences in educational systems and socio-economic factors contribute to distinct attitudes and behaviors towards environmental issues and safety practices. This study sheds light on the importance of understanding regional differences in environmental awareness and knowledge perception among students. By identifying areas of strength and areas needing improvement, policymakers and educators can develop targeted interventions to enhance environmental education and foster a culture of sustainability in both Montenegro and North Macedonia.

For the first time, the effect of a significant change in the resistance of the aquatic environment of a population of protozoan microorganisms under the influence of radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation from cell phones has been experimentally studied. The results of the experiment demonstrate the biological nature of the changes occurring in the “water population of protozoa” system, which indicates that the impact of radiation directly affects the cell. This conclusion is confirmed by the same order of magnitude time of information exchange between individual individuals of the population in the calculation and in the experiment. An extremely low concentration of protozoa in the experiment was established, equal to 1000 pcs./liter, at which the indicated effect is observed.An unambiguous dependence of the biological effect in the “water – amoeba population” system on the average power of electromagnetic radiation of cell phones, both in standby mode and in talk mode, has been established. It is concluded that the presented method of changing the physical properties of the aquatic environment of a population of protozoa under the influence of electromagnetic fields can be a model experiment in identifying the mechanisms of interaction of biological systems with electromagnetic radiation, determining the response time of biological systems to external electromagnetic influence, and establishing the degree of influence of radiation in the 4G, 5G ranges.

Today's city needs more than ever methodological devices that ensure a specific urbanism, in keeping with the complexity of relationships that occur in the urban space. Networks or systems of diverse nature must be activated to achieve a certain success of the city, even more so in its fragile central fabrics. The study is focused on the historic neighborhoods of the city of Jaén (Spain), which have a high vulnerability index. The aim is to establish a strategy to revitalize their urban and social capital and improve their articulation with the rest of the urban and territorial structure. A methodological proposal for the analysis of vulnerability factors and an urban and cartographic analysis of the public space is addressed through an interweaving of a triple network: environmental, social, and urban. For this purpose, the configuration of this overlapping network of analysis and formulation of criteria is presented, which considers the urban multiplicity and promotes new dynamics for the integrated urban regeneration of the area and for the activation of public and collective urban spaces.

The assessment of concrete structures' durability in chlorine environments is significantly impacted by the uncertainty inherent in existing durability models. It introduce an integrated approach for updating these models, based on detection information of existing structures. This approach narrows the gap between theoretical predictions and observed structural durability. Specifically, we refine the probability model of critical chloride content by analyzing steel bar corrosion sample proportions, using Bayesian theory for greater accuracy. The enhanced model enables more reliable life expectancy prediction, forming a solid foundation for maintaining and strengthening existing structures.This method was demonstrated through a case study of a reinforced concrete industrial building with a service life of 12 years.

This study delves into the critical domain of public procurement, specifically focusing on Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) considerations within the context of South Korea. The aim of this research is to empirically scrutinize the factors influencing the impact index of SPP, with a particular emphasis on services related to labor standards. The investigation spans three years, from January 1, 2019, to July 31, 2021, encompassing state agency orders and post-implementation legal changes. Leveraging the comprehensive Korea On-line E-Procurement Sys-tem(KONEPS) platform, we meticulously collected data, ultimately culminating in 21,573 services meeting our criteria, from which 250 cases underwent an in-depth analysis. The study sheds light on the influence of social responsibility evaluation cri-teria on overall procurement scores, while also uncovering the moderating effects of various factors. The outcomes of this study offer valuable insights into the impact index of social responsibility evaluation criteria within South Korea's public procurement landscape. Factors including procurement year, classification, service period, and estimated price were identified as significant influencers. Moreover, the number and location of evalu-ation criteria items, inclusion of sincerity elements, and the evaluating agency were deemed pivotal determinants of the influence index. These findings hold profound implications for policymakers, procurement practitioners, and researchers and provide a roadmap for optimizing the utilization of social responsibility evaluation criteria to advance responsible and sustainable procurement practices. Future research avenues include conducting further study of additional moderat-ing variables, expanding datasets to encompass a broader spectrum of procurement contexts, and evaluating the long-term repercussions of social responsibility evaluation on procurement outcomes. These endeavors promise to further refine and advance public procurement practices in South Korea and beyond.

In Yaoundé, Cameroon, where walking is a leading transport mode, pedestrian safety remains an issue as they account for a fair share of road traffic casualties, partly due to the lack of walking policies and data on pedestrian facilities safety, hindering targeted intervention. This study investigated road segments using the Pedestrian Safety Index (PSI) and the Global Walkability Index (GWI) across 12 key roads frequented by diverse pedestrian groups, especially students. The indexes were graded from E to A and analyzed using description and rank correlation analysis. Only one segment (R7) achieved a grade C, while the remainder scored D or E, indicating poor pedestrian safety conditions and unpleasant walking experience. The strong correlation coefficient (0.69) between the PSI and GWI at a 99% significance level validated the safety assessment, providing confidence in the safety results. Leveraging these findings, a seven-year (2024-2030) safety strategy was developed aiming to upgrade all roads to grade B. This strategy contains interventions including engineering improvement, proven effective. The study offers evidence for city officials to improve pedestrian safety and informs walking policies development and upcoming projects implementation. Future research should include more road segments and validate indexes with crash or conflict data.

Environment pollution is one of the major problem that faces by our civilization . Textile industry is one of the factor for pollute the environment. In this study various causes that occurs by textile industry and pollute the environment will be shown and described. In textile industry for energy to run the factory various kind of fuel are used and in the industry there are many chemicals and dyes are used for the textile products. Plastic is one of the main substance for making the synthetic fabric. They pollute the air, water, soil and also they pollute the ecosystem of the various animals and destroy the ozone surface of the earth. For various kind of pollution that causes by textile industry the life of normal life hampered. They got ill and many time men and women lost their organs and sometimes they got attacked by various life taking illness.

The variety of risks due to climate change with a potential impact on Cultural Heritage CH requires a multidisciplinary approach and a preliminary overview of the existing methods for risk analysis and assessment in different fields. Thus, the starting point of the research conducted by the Sapienza PNRR working group consists in a systematic literature review of risk assessment approaches, methods and indicators. As a first outcome, the research has designed a multidisciplinary comprehensive framework consisting of the definition of risk categorization, the framework represented by a measurable index and the main target, according to the classification of Cultural Heritage based on the harmonization of European vocabularies definitions and protocols. The risk assessment framework sets the methodological core of a future multi criteria matrix and digital platform for decision focused on the historic built environment and it is functional to the definition of specific operational guidelines connected to each risk for elaborating descriptive/predictive Architectural Heritage’s transformation scenarios to support the development of mitigation and adaptation strategies.

The visual perception of leisure spaces between residences in cold regions is important for public health. To compensate for the existing researches` lack of ignoring the cold snow season`s influence, this study selected two types of outdoor leisure space environments in non-snow and snow seasons as research objects. An eye tracker combined with a Semantic Difference (SD) questionnaire was used to verify the feasibility of the application of virtual reality technology, screen out leisure gaze characteristics, and reveal the environmental factors related to leisure visual perception. In snow season, spatial aspect ratio (SAR), building elevation saturation (BS), and grass proportion in the field of view (GP) showed strong correlation to the leisure visual perception scores (W). In non-snow season, apart from the above three factors, roof height difference (RHD), tall tree height (TTH) and color contrast (HC) also influenced W obviously. The effects of factors on W were revealed in immersive virtual en-vironment (IVE) orthogonal experiments and genetic algorithm (GA) and k-nearest neighbor algorithm (KNN) were combined to optimized the environmental factors. The optimized threshold ranges in the non-snow season environment were SAR: 1.82‒2.15, RHD: 10.81 m‒20.09 m, BS: 48.53‒61.01, TTH: 14.18 m‒18.29 m, GP: 0.12‒0.15, and HC: 18.64‒26.83. In the snow season environment, the optimized threshold ranges were SAR: 2.22‒2.54, BS: 68.47‒82.34, and GP: 0.1‒0.14.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is increasingly being viewed as an evolutionary mismatch disorder that manifests in women after exposure to a range of lifestyle and environmental factors. Although there is ongoing debate regarding the pathogenesis, international guidelines recommend lifestyle treatment, with diet and exercise, as the first line of management in all women with PCOS. In addition, accumulating evidence suggests that environmental factors such as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC) may be involved in the pathogenesis of PCOS due to their known hormonal and metabolic effects. As a result, international professional bodies have recommended that all pregnant women be advised of the risks of EDC and that education programs be developed to inform health professionals. Microparticulate air pollution (MAP) is also a significant environmental exposure that has been associated with a variety of chronic diseases, including PCOS. We performed a systematic review of studies examining the relationship between MAP and PCOS using the PRISMA methodology. The review identified 214 records from PubMed, Cochrane, and Scopus databases, and 4 studies that met the inclusion criteria for qualitative assessment. Preliminary data suggest that MAP may contribute to the pathogenesis of PCOS via a number of mechanisms. This review highlights the need for greater awareness and further research on the effects of MAP in women with PCOS.

This investigation delves into the profound interplay between the e-commerce environment and the agricultural system, while scrutinizing the intricate human-land coupling dynamics engen-dered by transformations within the agricultural domain. Focusing on the expansion of orchards in Pinghe County, a pivotal epicenter for Chinese sweet pomelo production, this study eluci-dates the reverberations of Rural E-commerce Environment Development on Orchard Expansion through the lens of Tele-coupling. In doing so, it unveils the nuanced tapestry of the human-land coupling associations latent within the evolutionary trajectory of the agricultural system amidst the blossoming information society. The findings underscore a symbiotic relationship between the augmentation of orchard acreage and the burgeoning rural e-commerce landscape, effec-tively propelling the economic prosperity of the agricultural system. Moreover, a tele-coupling phenomenon has emerged, underscoring the intricate web of interconnections binding the mat-uration of the rural e-commerce ecosystem with the proliferation of orchards. The research illu-minates that the transformation of land utilization, imbricated within the agricultural system, manifests as a distinctive form of tele-coupling intricately woven into the fabric of urbanization and information technology advancements. Consequently, adopting a comprehensive theoreti-cal perspective, amalgamating disparate domains across distinct geographic realms, becomes imperative for discerning the intricate nuances of the human-land coupling nexus within these multifaceted, open systems.

Global climate change and associated environmental extremes present a pressing need to understand and predict social-environmental impacts while identifying opportunities for mitigation and adaptation. In support of informing a more resilient future, emerging data analytics technologies can leverage the growing availability of Earth observations from diverse data sources ranging from satellites to sensors to social media. Yet, there remains a need to transition from research for knowledge gain to sustained operational deployment. In this paper, we use the Wisdom-Knowledge-Information-Data (WKID) Innovation framework to inform solutions-oriented science in an integrated Research to Commercialization (R2C) model that explores market viability for value-added analytics. We conduct a case study using this R2C model to address the wicked wildfire problem. By integrating WKID and human centered design (HCD), through an industry-university partnership called the Climate Innovation Collaboratory between the University of Colorado Boulder and Deloitte Consulting, we systematically evaluated 39 different user stories across 8 user personas and identified common gaps, how to define information technologies that add value, and how to develop a marketable product. This R2C model could enable transition of knowledge to operational implementation informing policy and decision makers, tasked with addressing some of our most challenging environmental problems.

In recent years, due to the low energy utilization of the whole life-cycle of buildings and the di-minished indoor and outdoor comfort of buildings and the impact on the surrounding environ-ment caused by the carbon emissions of the building life-cycle, the establishment of a whole life- cycle carbon emission model for buildings to improve their energy utilization at all stages of their life-cycle has received unprecedented attention. In China, the construction industry has become a major carbon emitter, and traditional houses, as a green development building type, are an effec-tive way to achieve carbon neutrality in buildings, but the existing green building evaluation system lacks quantitative indicators of carbon emissions in the building life-cycle. The exclusive evaluation indexes for regional and characteristic buildings, such as traditional houses, are ne-glected; This study explored the formula for calculating the life-cycle carbon emissions model of traditional residential houses under a carbon emission intervention and used real measurements of the physical environment and comparative analysis of the limitations of existing local stand-ards; The results showed that the carbon emission calculation formulas for each stage of the life-cycle of traditional residential houses must be established by combining the selection of local building materials, and the materials for sustainable energy and carbon sinks of green systems. Based on the results of indoor and outdoor heat and humidity environmental tests of residential houses and an analysis of the limitations of existing evaluation indexes due to locality, four im-portant factors affecting locality green buildings in terms of energy utilization, site ecology and landscape, land saving and material saving were extracted; on this basis, the whole life-cycle carbon emission model of traditional residential houses is constructed by combining the existing green building evaluation standards with the carbon emission indexes of the life-cycle of tradi-tional residential houses.

Tourism sustainability is a significant approach to forming a synergistic model of industry and ecology in ecologically vulnerable areas. Scientifically detecting the effect mechanism of tourism development (TDI) on eco-environment resilience (ERI) is important in achieving regional social-ecological system sustainability. Empirical exploration is conducted on the levels of TDI and ERI in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) to study the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of TDI's effect on ERI. The results indicate a significant growth in TDI in the YREB, with the formation of tourist clusters around Shanghai and Chongqing as the core. Although ERI typically exhibits a declining trend, the rate of decline has notably slowed, forming a "high at the sides and low in the middle" spatial pattern. TDI and ERI are spatially dependent in the YREB, with predominantly high-high (HH) and low-high (LH) clusters in Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu. Conversely, upstream regions with strong eco-environmental foundations exhibit low-low (LL) and high-low (HL) clusters. In general, TDI promotes ERI, but there is significant spatiotemporal heterogeneity in the YREB. Positive impact regions are expanding, while negative impact regions are shrinking. These results could provide scientific evidence for differentiated classification and control policies in the YREB.

Developing novel wound dressings containing medicinal plant extracts can have several potential benefits, including improving the therapeutic value of the dressings and reducing the cost of producing wound dressings. In this study, we prepared foam dressing containing Eclipta prostrata leaf extract and gelatin (Eclipta prostrata dressing). Chemical composition was verified using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and pore structure was obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The physical properties, including absorption and dehydration properties, were also evaluated. The chemical properties were measured to determine the pH environment after being submerged with Eclipta prostrata dressings. The results revealed that the Eclipta prostrata dressing had a pore structure with an appropriate pore size (313.25 ± 76.51 µm and 383.26 ± 64.45 µm for the Eclipta prostrata A and Eclipta prostrata B dressings, respectively). The Eclipta prostrata B dressing was more consistent porosity, resulting in a higher absorption capacity and faster dehydration rate. According to physical properties, the Eclipta prostrata B dressing is best used on low-exuding wounds. Furthermore, the Eclipta prostrata A and B dressings make a slightly acidic environment. Therefore, our foam dressing will not interfere wound healing process.

This study focuses on land cover and land management changes in relation to food security and environmental services in a semi-arid area of East Nusa Tenggara (ENT) – Indonesia. The study was conducted in Central Sumba District of ENT Province. Classification and regression tree (CART) for land cover classification has been analyzed using machine learning techniques using Google Earth Engine. A survey with Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and followed with in-depth interviews were conducted for primary data collection involving a total of 871 respondents. The Socio-economic data analyzed statistics descriptively and non-parametric tests. The study showed that: 1). There has been a substantial land use change during the devo-lution era that has both positive and negative implications for food security and envi-ronmental services. 2). There has been population pressure in the fertile or agricultur-al land as the direct impact of the development of city infrastructures; and 3). Nation-al intervention through the Food Estate program has fostered and shaped land use change and land management in Central Sumba District. The study highlights the importance that the devolution spirit should help to well manage the limited ara-ble/agricultural land in dominated semi-arid to ensure food security and environment services.

With the rise of powerful computational technologies, healthcare systems are going through a paradigm shift to the era of healthcare 5.0, also known as" smart healthcare". This new-age healthcare system not only enhances the life of patients but also aims to reduce healthcare costs significantly. People's health data collected through various means, including various Internet of Things (IoT) devices, is too sensitive to be regulated by particular organisations owing to increasing privacy and security threats. The sheer size of data makes it difficult for centralised bodies to regulate, due to which third-party involvement is introduced, which again poses threats to the privacy of the data holder. Motivated by the abovementioned gaps, we propose a decentralised approach using Ethereum blockchain technology and Oasis protocol. The patient-driven solution approach effectively solves the privacy problem by providing complete control of data to the owner. Along with this, byproducts such as fine-grained access control and on-chain data processing capabilities are also obtained.

Transcutaneous injection laryngoplasty is a well-known procedure for treating paralyzed vocal fold by injecting augmentation material into it. Hence, vocal fold localization plays a vital role in the preoperative planning as the fold location is required to determine the optimal injection route. In this communication, we propose a mirror environment based reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm for localizing the right and left vocal folds in preoperative neck CT. RL-based methods commonly showed noteworthy outcome in general anatomic landmark localization problem in the recent years. However, such methods suggest training individual agent for localizing each fold, though the right and left vocal folds are located in close proximity and have high feature-similarity. Utilizing the lateral symmetry between the right and left vocal folds, the proposed mirror environment allows for a single agent for localizing both the folds by treating the left fold as a flipped version of the right fold. Thus, localization of both folds can be trained using a single training session which utilizes the inter-fold correlation and avoids redundant feature learning. Experiment with 120 CT volumes showed improved localization performance and training efficiency of the proposed method compared with the standard RL method.

Indoor crop cultivation systems such as vertical farms or plant factories necessitate artificial lighting. Light spectral quality can affect plant growth and metabolism and, consequently, the amount of biomass produced and the value of the produce. Conflicting results on the effects of light spectrum in different plant species and cultivars make it critical to implement a singular lighting solution. In this study we explored the response of green and red leaf lettuce cultivars (’Aquino’, CVg, or ‘Barlach’, CVr, respectively) to long-term blue-enriched light application (WB). Plants were grown for 30 days in a growth chamber with optimal environmental condi-tions (temperature: 20°C, relative humidity: 60%, ambient CO2, Photon Flux Density (PFD) of 260 µmol m-2 s-1 over an 18-h photoperiod). At 15 days after sowing (DAS) white spectrum LEDs (WW) were compared to WB (λPeak = 423 nm) maintaining the same PFD of 260 µmol m-2 s-1. At 30 DAS, both lettuce cultivars resulted adapted to the blue light variant, though the adaptive re-sponse was specific to the variety. Rosette weight, light use efficiency and maximum operating efficiency of PSII photochemistry in the light, Fv/Fm’, were comparable between the two light treatments. Significant light quality effect was detected on stomatal density and conductance (20% and 17% increase under WB, respectively, in CVg) and, on the modified anthocyanin re-flectance index (mARI) (40% increase under WB, in CVr). Net photosynthesis response was gen-erally stronger in CVg compared to CVr; e.g. net photosynthetic rate, Pn, at 1000 µmol m-2 s-1 PPFD increased from WW to WB by 23% in CVg, compared to 18% in CVr. Results obtained suggest the occurrence of distinct physiological adaptive strategies in green and red pigmented lettuce cultivars to adapt to the higher proportion of blue light environment.

Human leptospirosis cannot be investigated without studying zoonotic and environmental as-pects of the disease. The objectives of this study are to explore the abundance of Leptospira in dif-ferent climate zones of Sri Lanka and to describe the presence of Leptospira in same water source at different time points. First, water and soil samples were collected from whole-island, secondly, water sampling continued only in dry-zone, finally serial sampling of water from ten open wells was performed at five different time points. Quantitative PCR for water and metagenomic se-quencing for soil were used to detect Leptospira. In first component, 2 out of 12 water sites were positive and both are situated in wet-zone. Very small quantities of Genus Leptospira was detect-ed by metagenomic analysis of soil. Only 5 out of 26 samples were positive in the second compo-nent. Six, five, four, five, six wells were positive respectively in serial measurements of third component. All wells were positive at least one measurement while only one well was positive in all measurements. Closer to tank and higher distance from main road were significant risk fac-tors associated with well positivity. Presence of Leptospira seems not consistent indicating ran-dom abundance of Leptospira in natural environment.

The aim of study was to assess empirical model of factors determining the attitude towards learning communicative competences among nurses participating in the program of speciality training courses. A research by method a cross-sectional study. A representative group of the 1,010 Polish registered nurses that took part in the postgraduate education course answered self-report survey (three instruments: NEO-PI-R questionnaire, Communication Skills Attitude Scale (CSAS) and Empathy Understanding Questionnaire of other people (KRE II)) between beginning of March to the end of May 2018, which was evaluated using path analysis. The research results conducted confirmed the soundness of the created theoretical model (χ2 = 0.278, P = 0.598, RMSEA &lt;0.05). It was proved that learning communicative competences in nurses is determined with factors such as professional experience, emphatic tendencies and the intensity of agreeableness, whereby these factors are bound with each other creating a homogeneous network. The developed model demonstrated that the skills can be shaped most effectively on an individual attitude based on positive mentoring in work environment..

Objective: Application of ERA methods to investigate the atmospheric pollution and built environment factors influencing lung cancer incidence rate in Chinese women. Methods: Lung cancer incidence rate among Chinese women at 339 cancer registries were obtained from the China Cancer Registry Annual Report 2017, air quality and built environment data were obtained from the Greenpeace and China Construction Yearbook. After multiple covariates variables were eliminated, an exploratory regression analysis was performed using the world standardized population incidence rate as the dependent variable. Air quality and built environment factors as the independent variable. Results: Shandong Peninsula, Hebei and Liaoning are high incidence rate areas of female lung cancer in China, with significant regional aggregation. In addition to air quality factors such as industrial smoke emission data, the association between built environmental factors such as urbanization rate, development LUI, population density and greening coverage of built-up areas and female lung cancer incidence rate is statistically significant. Conclusion: In addition to air quality factors, urban spatial factors can also significantly affect respiratory health. The LUI is positively while urbanization rates and population density are negatively correlated with the incidence rate of lung cancer. The role of green space for respiratory health has not been proven. In addition, there is little relationship between income and health, and similar findings are found for indicators such as the public transportation and roads network.

This paper analyzes the theoretical and pragmatic implications, for international relations and world politics, of the new holistic approach to climate change articulated by Pope Francis in the Encyclical Laudato si’, particularly through the notion “integral ecology”. Far for being just a new chapter in the unfolding process of the “greening” of religions, the document raises in radical terms the issue of the sustainability of the present world system. I contend that the perspective of the Encyclical calls for a radical transformation of international relations, since it puts emphasis on the deep implications of environmental issues on the entire spectrum of security, development, economic and ethical challenges of contemporary world politics. Against this backdrop, I connect the main tenets of the Encyclical to the environmental turn in International Relations Theory and to the new epistemological challenges related to paradigm shift induced by the new planetary condition of the Anthropocene and the questions arising for a justice encompassing the humanity-earth system. Practicing sustainable international relations means exiting the logic of power or hegemony, operationalizing the concept of care.

The important characteristic that could assist in autonomous navigation is the ability of a mobile robot to concurrently construct a map for an unknown environment and localize itself within the same environment. This computational problem is known as Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). In literature, researchers have studied this approach extensively and have proposed a lot of improvement towards it. More so, we are experiencing a steady transition of this technology to industries. However, there are still setbacks limiting the full acceptance of this technology even though the research had been conducted over the last 30 years. Thus, to determine the problems facing SLAM, this paper conducted a review on various foundation and recent SLAM algorithms. Challenges and open issues alongside the research direction for this area were discussed. However, towards addressing the problem discussed, a novel SLAM technique will be proposed.

Abstract: The study focuses on how socio-economic and demographic indicators affect fertilization sustainability (excessive amount of fertilization). Principally we aim to examine the significance magnitude of the effects of three socio-demographic variables such as traditional way of fertilization, rental land farming, and farmers’ younger age on over-fertilization in Bangladesh and other developing countries. In 1960s, Bangladesh state authority launched a campaign ‘Grow more Food’ to feed huge numbers of population and thus the farmers are provided chemical fertilizers and pesticides at a subsidized low price. Farmers began to use huge amount of fertilizers for gaining high yields and continued it to present causing environmental woes a lot. We interview (face-to-face, focus group discussion, and phone interview) 210 Bangladesh farmers in 2016 by semi-structured questionnaire. Data has been analyzed using General Linear Model (GLM) in Univariate Analysis of Variance. The study found the effect of traditional way of fertilization on excessive amount of fertilization is strongly significant at 1% level. Apart from, rental land farming and farmers’ younger age have a significant influence on over- fertilization; though their significance level (5% and 10% respectively) is quasi-strong. Policy makers can be able to formulate fertilizer policy on the basis of these findings.

Intelligent systems are driven by the latest technological advances in so different areas as sensing, embedded systems, wireless communications or context recognition. This paper focuses on some of those areas. Concretely, the paper deals with wireless communications issues on embedded systems. More precisely, the paper combines the multi-hop networking with Bluetooth technology and a quality of service (QoS) metric, the latency. Bluetooth is a radio license free worldwide communication standard that makes low power multi-hop wireless networking available. It establishes piconets (point-to-point and point-to-multipoint links) and scatternets (multi-hop networks). As a result, many Bluetooth nodes can be interconnected to set up ambient intelligent networks. Then, this paper presents the results of the investigation on multi-hop latency with park and sniff Bluetooth low power modes conducted over the hardware test bench previously implemented. In addition, the empirical models to estimate the latency of multi-hop communications over Bluetooth Asynchronous Connectionless Links (ACL) in park and sniff mode are given. The designers of devices and networks for intelligent systems will benefit from the estimation of the latency in Bluetooth multi-hop communications that the models provide.

In urban area, one of the great problem is the rise of temperature, which leads to form the urban heat island effect. This paper refers to the trend of the urban surface temperature extracted from the Landsat images from which to consider changes in the formation of surface urban heat island for the north of Ho Chi Minh city in period 1995-2015. Research has identified land surface temperature from thermal infrared band, according to the ability of the surface emission based on characteristics of normalized difference vegetation index NDVI. The results showed that temperature fluctuated over the city with a growing trend and the gradual expansion of the area of the high-temperature zone towards the suburbs. Within 20 years, the trend of the formation of surface urban heat island with two typical locations showed a clear difference between the surface temperature of urban areas and rural areas with space expansion of heat island in 4 times in 2015 compared to 1995. An extreme heat island located in the inner city has an area of approximately 18% compared to the total area of the region. Since then, the solution to reduce the impact of urban heat island has been proposed, in order to protect the urban environment and the lives of residents in Ho Chi Minh City becoming better

The mechanisms of the innate immunity control on equine infectious anaemia virus in asymptomatic horses are not yet widely described. Horse monocytes from peripheral blood can be differentiated in vitro into macrophages, that generally gives rise to mixed populations, morphologically referable to M1 and M2. The addition of specific cytokines or of virus, results in a more specific differentiation. As stated for other species (Crespo et al, 2013), stimulation with equine recombinant cytokine IFNγ polarized horse macrophages towards the M1 phenotype while equine recombinant cytokine IL4 polarized towards the M2 phenotype. EIAV Wyoming and Miami strains infection resulted in morphological transformation of macrophages compatible with the M1 pattern of differentiation. In this study MMP13 represented a reliable target gene to evaluate proinflammatory status of macrophages in horses since IFNγ and EIAV infection considerably increased its expression. A more in-depth study of the expression genes of both cytokine-induced and virus-induced markers of eMDM polarization may help us to understand whether these are the same in the horse as those found in other animal species with similar modes of activation of innate immunity. The identification of the markers of each population of macrophages would allow to analyze the differentiation profiles, and to check the control of virus infectivity in equid populations envisioning therapeutic strategies through the use of this information.

Identifying the primary site of origin of metastatic cancer is vital for guiding treatment decisions, especially for patients with cancer of unknown primary (CUP). Despite advanced diagnostic techniques, CUP remains difficult to pinpoint and is responsible for a considerable number of cancer-related fatalities. Understanding its origin is crucial for effective management and potentially improving patient outcomes. This study introduces a machine learning framework ONCOfind-AI that leverages transcriptome-based gene set features to enhance the accuracy of predicting the origin of metastatic cancers. By ensuring compatibility between RNA-sequencing and micro-array data, we were able to construct a more comprehensive training dataset. Integrating data from different platforms improved the accuracy of our machine learning models for predicting cancer origins. Our method was validated using external data from clinical samples collected through Kangbuk Samsung Medical Center and the Gene Expression Omnibus. The external validation results demonstrated a top-1 accuracy ranging from 0.80 to 0.86, with a top-2 accuracy of 0.90. This study highlights that incorporating biological knowledge through curated gene sets can merge gene expression data from different platforms, enhancing the compatibility needed for more effective machine learning prediction models.

Retention of placenta (RP) in crossbred cattle poses health, reproductive, and economic challenges linked to oxidative stress, hormonal imbalances, and complex causative factors. Emphasizing the key role of mitochondria in oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and hormone synthesis, our study is the first to explore differences in OXPHOS activity, mitochondrial content, and mtDNA-encoded gene expression between normal and RP. In addition, gross morphological examination of placental tissues from both groups revealed noticeable disparities in cotyledons of RP as compared to normal placenta. Moreover, OXPHOS complex I specific activity was decreased in RP, and RT-qPCR analysis unveiled a significant reduction in transcript levels of 10 mtDNA-encoded protein genes. While COX3 and ATP8 genes showed no significant changes, ND6 increased in RP. Whereas, mtDNA copy number varied between animals but showed no statistically significant differences among groups. Retained placenta manifests alterations in the transcript levels of various mitochondrial genes, complex activity, and mtDNA content, potentially linked to heightened energy demands or mitochondrial insufficiency, posing an elevated risk. Overall, our study suggests a link between mitochondrial abnormalities, gene expression, and RP. This connection could influence the removal of fetal membranes by affecting energy supply, hormonal balance, and oxidative stress. This study also offers novel insights and serves as a valuable animal model for studying placental insufficiency in humans. Moving forward, comprehensive investigations are imperative to unravel underlying mechanisms and intricate roles of mitochondria in the context of RP, paving the way for targeted interventions to mitigate health, reproductive, and economic challenges in crossbred cattle.

Transcription factors (TFs) are crucial in modulating gene expression and sculpting cellular and organismal phenotypes. The identification of TF-target gene interactions is pivotal for comprehending molecular pathways and disease etiologies but has been hindered by the demanding nature of traditional experimental approaches. This paper introduces a novel web application, utilizing the R programming language, which predicts TF-target gene relationships and vice versa. Our application integrates the predictive power of various bioinformatic tools, leveraging their combined strengths to provide robust predictions. It merges databases for enhanced precision, incorporates gene expression correlation for accuracy, and employs pan-tissue correlation analysis for context-specific insights. The application also enables the integration of user data with established resources to analyze TF-target gene networks. Despite its current limitation to human data, it provides a platform for exploring gene regulatory mechanisms comprehensively. This integrated, systematic approach offers researchers an invaluable tool for dissecting the complexities of gene regulation, with the potential for future expansions to include a broader range of species.

Background: The commonly known assumption that combinations of several herbs in one formulation can have better efficacy due to additive or synergistic effects has not been systematically studied despite some evidence supporting the synergy concept. Study aim: The study aimed to reveal the molecular interactions in situ of host cells in response to the intervention of BHP and justify the benefits of implementing BHP in clinical practice. Results: This overview provides the results of recent clinical and network pharmacology studies of botanical herbal preparations (BHP) of Rhodiola with other plants, including Ashwagandha, Green Tea, Eleutherococcus, Schisandra, Eleutherococcus, Leuzea, Caffeine, Cordyceps, Gingko, Black Cohosh, saffron, and L-carnosine. Conclusions: The most important finding from network pharmacology studies of BHP was the evidence supporting the synergistic interaction of BHP ingredients, revealing unexpected new pharmacological activities unique and specific to the new BHP. Some studies show the superior efficacy of BHP compared with mono-drugs. At the same time, some a priori-designed combinations can fail, presumably due to antagonistic interactions and crosstalk between molecular targets within molecular networks involved in the cellular and overall response of organisms on the intervention. Network pharmacology studies help predict the results of studies to discover new indications and unpredicted adverse events.

Streptomyces sp. HNS054, which was previously isolated from a marine sponge, demonstrates vigorous growth and facile genetic modification. This study explores its potential as a marine ac-tinomycete chassis through complete genome sequencing and genetic engineering. With a 7.5 Mb genome containing 6678 predicted genes, 21 secondary metabolic biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs), and 8 common site-specific recombination (SSR) system attB loci, HNS054 shows a close phylogenetic relation to S. griseoincarnatus strain RB7AG. Utilizing multiplexed site-specific ge-nome engineering (MSGE) and the CRISPR/Cas9 method, engineered strains derived from HNS054 (with three copies of the target BGCs) produce higher amounts of aborycin and ac-tinorhodin than S. coelicolor M1346 (containing three copies of the same BGCs). HNS054 stands out for its remarkable characteristics, including salt tolerance, rapid growth, and compatibility with synthetic biology tools, and positions it as a promising candidate for developing marine ac-tinomycete hosts to enhance secondary metabolite production.

The corneal epithelium (CE) is spread between two domains, the outer vascularized limbus and the avascular cornea proper. Epithelial cells undergo constant migration from the limbus to the vision-critical central cornea. Coordinated with this migration the cells undergo differentiation changes where a pool of unique stem/precursor cells at the limbus yields the mature cells that reach the corneal center. Differentiation is heralded by the expression of the corneal-specific Krt12. Processing data acquired by scRNA-Seq we found that the increase of Krt12 expression occurs in four distinct steps within the limbus plus a single continuous increase in the cornea. Differential gene analysis demonstrated that these domains reflect discreet stages of CE differentiation and yielded extensive information of the genes undergoing down or up regulation in the sequential transition from less to more differentiate conditions. The approach allowed the identification of multiple gene cohorts, including a) the genes that have maximal expression in the most primitive, Krt12-negative cell cohort, which is likely to include the stem/precursor cells; b) the sets of genes that undergo continuous increase or decrease along the whole differentiation path, and c) and the genes showing maximal positive or negative correlation with the changes in Krt12.

Coilia nasus is a typical anadromous migratory fish in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Every year, C. nasus cluster offshore and swim upstream along the Yangtze River into the tributaries and lakes in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River to breed. In this study, female C. nasus collected as the subjects from Chongming section in Shanghai, Taizhou section in Jiangsu and Anqing section in Anhui. The ovaries were used for examining in tissue sections and researching of gene expression including follicle stimulating hormone receptor (fshr), luteinizing hormone receptors (lr), kisspeptin-1 (kiss1) and forkhead box l2 (foxl2) related to the reproductive development, and the estrogen (estradiol, E2) and progesterone (17α,20β-dihydroxy-4-pregenen-3-one, 17α,20β-DHP) were also analyzed in serum levels. The results showed that, first, the growth period of oocytes was small in stage II of ovarian development, in which both E2, 17α,20β-DHP levels and gene expression were low. Then, in stage Ⅲ, the growth period of oocytes were become large, as well as the yolk granules and oil droplets began to appear. Simultaneously, E2 and expression of kiss1 and foxl2 were significantly elevated. Finally, stage Ⅳ was the period of large accumulation of nutrients in oocytes, and 17α,20β-DHP level and expression of fshr and lhr were significantly elevated. The results have enriched the theoretical study of ovarian development in the natural population of C. nasus, supplemented the biological basis of C. nasus reproduction, and scientifically supported the study of C. nasus population ecology and resource conservation.

Glaucoma is a group of ocular diseases that causes irreversible blindness worldwide and is characterized by a multifactorial degeneration of optic nerve and retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), leading to vision loss. One of the significant risk factors in glaucoma pathogenesis is glia-driven neuroinflammation. Impairment of mitochondrial dynamics and bioenergetics is associated with glaucomatous neurodegeneration and is linked to neuroinflammation. Apolipoprotein A-I binding protein (AIBP) binds to toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and facilitates the removal of excess cholesterol from the plasma membrane in activated cells, suggesting the regulation of cholesterol-driven inflammation by inhibiting the TLR4-associated lipid rafts. AIBP is localized in mitochondria and regulates mitophagy by ubiquitination of mitofusin 1 and 2. We observed elevated intraocular pressure-induced AIBP deficiency in glaucomatous neurodegeneration. We also observed that AIBP deficiency activated TLR4 in Müller glia, triggered mitochondrial dysfunction in both RGCs and Müller glia and impaired visual function. In mouse models of glaucoma, AIBP treatment protects RGCs by reducing inflammatory responses. Here, our review focuses on investigating the role of AIBP in the retina and examining the underlying mechanism by which AIBP contributes to the pathogenesis of glaucoma, aiming to provide new insight into the therapeutic potential for the treatment of glaucoma.

Flax seed is one of the richest plant sources of linolenic acid (LIN) and also contains unsaturated linoleic acid (LIO) and oleic acid (OLE). Stearoyl-ACP desaturases (SAD) and fatty acid desaturases (FAD) play a key role in the synthesis of flax fatty acids (FA). We sequenced flax seed transcriptomes at the 3, 7, 14, 21, and 28 day after flowering (DAF) for ten flax varieties with different oil FA compositions grown under three temperature/watering conditions. Expression levels of 25 genes of SAD, FAD2, and FAD3 families were evaluated. FAD3b, FAD3a, FAD2b-2, SAD3-1, SAD2-1, SAD2-2, SAD3-2, FAD2a-1, and FAD2a-2 had the highest expression levels, which changed significantly during seed development. These genes probably play a key role in the FA synthesis in flax seeds. High temperature and insufficient watering shifted the maximum expression levels of the FAD and SAD genes to earlier development stages, while the opposite trend was observed for low temperature and excessive watering. Differences in FAD and SAD expression profiles under different growth conditions could contribute to the FA composition of linseed oil. Stop codons in the FAD3a gene, resulting in reduced LIN content, decreased the level of the FAD3a transcript. Some difference in reaching the maximum expression level during seed development was observed between 1) SAD3-1, SAD3-2, and FAD2b-2 and 2) SAD2-1, SAD2-2, FAD2a-1, FAD2a-2, FAD3a, and FAD3b. These groups possibly contribute somewhat differently to the synthesis of FA at different development stages.

GvHD still remains, despite the continuous improvement of transplantation platforms, a fearful complication of transplantation from allogeneic donors. Being able to separate GvHD from GvL represents the greatest challenge in the allogeneic transplant setting. This may be possible through continuous improvement of cell therapy techniques. In this review, current cell therapies are taken into consideration which are based on the use of TCR alpha/beta depletion, CD45 RA depletion, T regulatory cells enrichment, NK cell-based immunotherapies and suicide gene therapies in order to prevent GvHD and maximally amplify the GvL effect in the setting of haploidentical transplantation.

The pro-protein convertase FURIN (PCSK3) is implicated in a wide range of normal and pathological biological processes such as infectious disease, cancer and cardiovascular disease. Previously, we performed a systemic inhibition of FURIN in a mouse model of atherosclerosis and demonstrated significant plaque reduction and alterations in macrophage function. To understand the cellular mechanisms affected by FURIN inhibition in myeloid cells, we optimized a CRISPR-mediated gene deletion protocol for successfully deriving hemizygous (HZ) and nullizygous (NZ) FURIN knockout clones in U937 monocytic cells using lipotransfection based procedures and a dual guide RNA delivery strategy. We observed differences in monocyte and macrophage functions involving phagocytosis, lipid accumulation, cell migration, inflammatory gene expression, cytokine release patterns, secreted proteomics (cytokines) and whole-genome transcriptomics between wild-type, HZ and NZ FURIN clones. These studies provide a mechanistic basis on the possible roles of myeloid cell FURIN in cardiovascular disorders.

Colorectal cancer is a high-incidence tumor that has a high mortality rate due to its frequent metastasis to the liver. The difference in genes, proteins, and immune microenvironment between the primary and metastatic sites causes them to show different responses to treatment. Colorectal cancer liver metastasis patients also tend to show poorer treatment response and prognosis. Therefore, in this paper, we summarize the heterogeneity exhibited after colorectal cancer liver metastasis from five aspects (gene, transcriptome, protein, metabolism, and immunity), and we found that except for the genetic heterogeneity, the other four aspects exhibite significant heterogeneity, which might serve as a new therapeutic direction and a prognostic marker for patients with liver metastasis. Finally, the therapeutic modalities regarding tumors are rapidly evolving, and we have also summarize the new clinical therapeutic modalities currently proposed based on these heterogeneities, aiming to provide new therapeutic ideas for the clinical treatment of patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases.

Neonatal diffuse cutaneous mastocytosis (NDCM) is defined as the infiltration of the epidermis by a clonal proliferation of mast cells, observed at birth, without initial signs of systemic involvement. The typical driver mutation is located in the KIT gene. We report a rare case of a boy, born at term, presenting already at birth with generalized subcutaneous nodules, on the face, scalp, trunk, back, hands, and feet. The spleen, liver and inflammatory markers were normal at birth. Tryptase was significantly elevated. Bone marrow biopsy showed no mast cell involvement at age 2 months. A punch biopsy at age 2 months revealed CD117-positive cells diffusely infiltrating the skin, with subsequent DNA NGS sequencing for the formalin fixed paraffin embedded tissue (FFPE) identifying the pathogenic NM_000222.3:c.1504_1509dup; p.(Ala502_Tyr503dup) variant in the KIT gene previously associated with cutaneous mastocytosis. At 2 years follow-up, he had splenomegaly and multiple cervical, and inguinal adenopathy while the skin nodules persisted especially on the scalp with accompanying pruritus. He received oral and local sodium cromoglycate, oral antihistamines, antibiotic cream for skin infection, and iron supplementation, however compliance to treatment was relatively low. The prognosis is difficult to predict, as he developed systemic involvement, failure to thrive and mild psychomotor delay. A case aggregation of NDCM reported in the literature was performed to provide a comprehensive overview of this rare pathology, to better understand the prognosis. NDCM is a life-threatening disease with severe complications. Almost half had severe complications, such as mast hepatosplenomegaly, adenopathy, bacterial infections, mast cell leukaemia, and systemic involvement.

Powdery mildew disease, caused by Sphaerotheca fusca, is a major disease affecting cucumbers cultivated in greenhouses. This study was conducted to find defense genes induced by DL-3-amino-butyric acid (BABA) and powdery mildew in cucumber. The 2000 and 5000 mg/L BABA treated cucumber exhibited disease severity of 25% and 5%, respectively, whereas the water treated cucumber leaves were severely infected, with a disease severity of 90%. BABA did not effect spore germination of the powdery mildew pathogen,. showing BABA is not antifungal agent against the pathogen. In quantitative real-time PCR analysis, BABA treated cucumber upregulated transcriptional level of the defense genes CsPAL, CsPR3,CsPR1, CsLOX1, CsLOX23, Cs LecRK6.1, CsWRKY20, and Cupi4 in cucumber to maximum levels at 48 h, whereas CsLecRK6.1 reached maximum expression after 24 h and futher salicylic acid (SA) levels were significantly increased in BABA-treated cucumber plants. In addition, the infected cucumber with powdery mildew enhanced the expression levels from1.6 to 47.3 fold of the defense genes PAL, PR3, PR1, Lox1, Lox 23, LecRK6.1, WRKY20, and Cupi4 compared to heathy cucumber. The results suggests the BABA induced defense response is associated with SA signal pathway-dependent systemic acquired resistance (SAR) in cucumber, which is involved in plant resistance mechanisms.

Cancer metastasis accounts for approximately 90% of cancer deaths, and elucidating markers in metastasis is the first step in its prevention. To characterize metastasis marker genes of breast cancer (MGs), XGBoost models that classify metastasis status were trained with gene expression profiles from TCGA. Then, a metastasis score (MS) was assigned to each gene by calculating the inner product between the feature importance and AUC performance of the models. As a result, the 54, 202, and 357 genes with the highest MS were characterized as MGs by empirical P-value cutoffs of 0.001, 0.005, and 0.01, respectively. The three sets of MGs were compared with those from existing metastasis marker databases, which provided significant results in most comparisons. We noticed that the set of MGs with the median EP cutoff showed better performance than the other two sets, suggesting the importance of the cutoff used in determining MGs. They were also significantly enriched in biological processes associated to breast cancer metastasis. The MGs that could not be identified by statistical analysis (e.g., GOLM1, ELAVL1, UBP1, and AZGP1) as well as the MGs with the highest MS (e.g., ZNF676, FAM163B, LDOC2, IRF1, and STK40) were verified via the literature. Additionally, we checked how close the MGs are located to each other in the protein–protein interaction networks. We expect that the characterized markers will help understand and prevent breast cancer metastasis.

The availability of multiple sequenced genomes from a single species made it possible to explore intra- and inter-specific genomic comparisons at higher resolution and build clade-specific pangenomes of several crops. The pan-genomes of crops constructed from various cultivars/accessions, landraces, and wild ancestral species represent a compendium of genes and structural variations and allow researchers to search for the novel genes and alleles that were inadvertently lost in domesticated crops during the historical process of crop domestication or in the process of extensive plant breeding. Fortunately, many valuable genes and alleles associated with desirable traits like disease resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, plant architecture, and nutrition qualities exist in landraces, ancestral species, and crop wild relatives. The novels genes from the wild ancestors and landraces can be introduced back to high-yielding varieties of modern crops by implementing classical plant breeding, genomic selection, and transgenic/gene editing approaches. Thus, pan-genomic represents a great leap in plant research and offers new avenues for targeted breeding for mitigating the impact of global climate change. Here we summarize the tools used for pangenome assembly and annotations, web-portals hosting plant pangenomes. Furthermore, we highlight a few discoveries made in crops using the pan-genomic approach and its future potential.

Background: The presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms in the gene encoding key en-zyme in the folate pathway methyltetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), causes methylation disorders associated with CAD development. Methods: Study group: 42 patients with CAD con-firmed by coronary angiography. Controls: 16 patients without CAD symptoms or significant coronary artery stenosis, based on invasive coronary angiography or multislice computed to-mography with coronary artery calcification scoring. Real-time PCR genotyping was assessed using TaqMan™ probes. Folic acid and 5-MTHF concentrations in blood serum were determined by LC-MS. Results: c.[1286A>C];[1286A>C] MTHFR polymorphism occurred significantly more often in (CAD+) patients compared to (CAD-) cohort and to the European population. The con-centration of 5-MTHF and folic acid in the subgroups of patients with methylation disorders di-vided by genotypes and (CAD+) was lower compared to (CAD-). Conclusions: The homozygous c.1286 A>C MTHFR variant can be considered as CAD genetic marker. In the subjects with the c.1286 A>C heterozygous and homozygous genotypes, lower concentrations of methyltetrahy-drofolate (5-MTHF) were observed. 5-MTHF can be considered as a biomarker of CAD. Identifi-cation of people at high risk of CAD using genetic tests can contribute to personalized therapy using active (methylated) form of folic acid (5-MTHF) in CAD patients with MTHFR polymor-phisms.

The Shisa family is a type of single-transmembrane adaptor proteins containing an N-terminal cysteine-rich domain and a proline-rich C-terminal region. Nine Shisa subfamily genes have been proposed in most vertebrates; however, some of them might be species-specific. The number of Shisa genes present in zebrafish remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the evolutionary relationships among Shisa family genes in zebrafish (TU strain) using phylogenetic and syntenic analyses. The function of shisa-2 was preliminarily examined via CRISPR/Cas13d-mediated knockdown. Following identification in zebrafish,10 Shisa family genes, namely shisa-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9a, and 9b, were classified into three main clades and six subclades. Their encoding proteins contained a cysteine-rich N-terminal domain and a proline-rich C-terminal region containing different motifs. A specific syntenic block containing atp8a2 and shisa-2 was observed to be conserved across all species. Furthermore, all these genes were found to be expressed during embryogenesis. shisa-2 was expressed in the presomitic mesoderm, somites, and so on. shisa-2 was identified as a regulator of the expression of the somite formation marker mesp-ab. Overall, our study provides new insights into the evolution of Shisa family genes and the control of shisa-2 over the convergent extension cells of somatic precursors in zebrafish.

The Sry-related HMG-box (Sox) family is a group of transcriptional regulators that play a critical role in many important developmental processes in both vertebrates and invertebrates. In aquatic animals, the function of Sox genes on sexual development has been gained particular attentions. The present study reported the molecular characterization of a Sox member (PtSoxE) in the swimming crab, Portunus trituberculatus, and tissue distribution analysis showed it was male-specific. Since the most highly expression of PtSoxE was found in the androgenic gland (AG), its relation to the insulin-like androgenic gland hormone (IAG) was further investigated. The PtSoxE siRNA caused a significant decrease in IAG expression in both AG and testis, whereas PtSoxE expression could be induced by treating with AG homogenate and rIAG. The result suggested a transcriptional interaction between PtSoxE and IAG. In addition, PtSoxE expression showed a closely positive correlation with several reported spermatogenesis-related genes, suggesting its involvement in testicular development of P. trituberculatus.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) has been extensively investigated for genetic associations utilizing both candidate gene approaches and genome-wide scans. Here, we comprehensively evaluated the available literature to determine the association of candidate genes in AD to gain additional insight in the etiopathogenesis of the disease. We systematically screened all studies that explored the association between polymorphisms and AD risks in cases of European and Asian ancestry and synthesized the available evidence through random-effects meta-analysis. We identified 97 studies that met our inclusion/exclusion criteria that examined 17 candidate loci in Europeans and 14 candidate genes in Asians. We confirmed the significant associations between FLG variants in both European and Asian populations and AD risk, while additional synthesis of available data revealed novel loci mapped to IL18 and TGFB1 genes in Europeans and IL12RB1 and MIF in Asians, that have not yet been identified by genome-wide association studies. Our findings provide comprehensive evidence for AD risk loci in cases of both European and Asian ancestries, validating previous associations as well as revealing novel loci that could imply previously unexplored biological pathways.

The chitin synthase B gene is a key enzyme in the chitin synthesis of insect peritrophic matrix (PM), affecting insects' feeding behavior. The chitin synthase B gene has been cloned from the transcription library of Heortia vitessoides Moore. RT-qPCR showed that HvChsb was highly expressed in the larval stage of H. vitessoides, especially on the first day of the prepupal stage, and in the midgut of larvae and the abdomen of adults. After starvation treatment, HvChsb was found to be significantly inhibited with time. After 48 h of starvation, the feeding experiment showed that HvChsb increased with the prolongation of the refeeding time. The experimental data showed that feeding affected the expression of HvChsb. HvChsb was effectively silenced by RNA interference, so its function was lost, significantly decreasing the survival rate of H. vitessoides. The survival rate from larval-to-pupal stages was only 43.33%, accompanied by abnormal phenotypes. It can be seen that HvChsb plays a key role in the average growth and development of H. vitessoides.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) account for about 17.3 million annual deaths worldwide. 85% of these deaths occurred as a result of myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke. Chronic heart diseases, such as arterial hypertension (AH), coronary heart disease, various cerebrovascular diseases, dilated and hypertrophic cardiomyopathies are widespread, with a fairly high incidence of mortality and disability. Most of these diseases are characterized by cardiac arrhythmias, conduction and contractility disorders. Additionally, interruption of the electrical activity of the heart, the appearance of extensive ectopic foci and heart failure are all symptoms of a number of severe hereditary diseases. The molecular mechanisms leading to the development of CVD are associated with impaired permeability and excitability of cell membranes and mainly caused by dysfunction of cardiac Ca2+ channels. Acquired channelopathies are caused by metabolic disorders, increased tone of the sympathetic nervous system, age-related changes that lead to deterioration of coronary blood flow and hemodynamics. Currently known channelopathies, such as the long or short QT syndromes, Brugada and Lenegre syndromes, catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia, etc., are congenital and genetic disorders caused by mutations of genes "responsible" for the conductive properties of certain channel-forming proteins, including pore-forming subunits of Ca2+ channels. Over the past 50 years, more than 100 varieties of ion channels have been found in the cardiovascular system cells. The relationship between the activity of these channels and cardiac pathology, as well as the general cellular biological function, has been intensively studied on several cell types and experimental animal models in vivo и in situ. In this review, we discuss the origin of Ca2+ channelopathies and the role of Ca2+ channels of various types: L- R-, T-types voltage-gated calcium channels, RyR2, non-selective hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channels, transient receptor potential (TRPC, TRPM7, TRPA1) channels in the development of cardio-vascular pathology.

Leaf color mutants (LCMs) are important resources for studying diverse metabolic processes such as chloroplast biogenesis and differentiation, pigments’ biosynthesis and accumulation, and photosynthesis. However, in Dendrobium officinale, LCMs are yet to be fully studied and exploited due to the unavailability of reliable RGs (reference genes) for qRT-PCR (quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR) normalization. Hence, this study took advantage of previously released transcriptome data to select and evaluate the suitability of ten candidate RGs, including Actin (Actin), polyubiquitin (UBQ), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), elongation factor 1-α (EF1α), β-tubulin (β-TUB), α-tubulin (α-TUB), 60S ribosomal protein L13-1 (RPL13AD), aquaporin PIP1-2 (PIP1-2), Intima protein (ALB3) and Cyclin (CYCB1-2) for normalizing leaf color-related genes’ expression levels via qRT-PCR. Stability rankings analysis via common software Best-Keeper, GeNorm, and NormFinder disclosed that both ten genes met the requirements of RGs. Of them, EF1α exhibited the highest stability and was selected as the most reliable. The reliability and accuracy of EF1α were confirmed through qRT-PCR analysis of fifteen chlorophyll pathway-related genes. The expression patterns of these genes via EF1α normalization were consistent with the results by RNA-Seq. Our results will pave the way for molecular dissection of leaf color mutations in D. officinale.

Hypoxia represents one of the key factors that stimulate the growth of leukemic cells in their niche. Leukemic cells in hypoxia are forced to reprogram their original transcriptome, miRNome, and metabolome. How the coupling of miRNAs/mRNAs helps to maintain or progress the leukemic status is still not fully described. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate practically all biological processes within cells and play a crucial role in leukemia development/progression. Here we worked with the human cell line MEC-1 (human chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL)) where we deleted mature miR-155 by CRISPR/Cas9. MEC-1 cells in hypoxia showed a higher proliferation rate with a relatively low level of apoptosis. Interestingly, miR-155 deficiency decreased the proliferation rate in both, normoxia and hypoxia. Besides common hypoxia-related genes (HIF1α, EGLN1, VHL, HK1, and HK2), we also measured, genes for glucose transporters SLC2A1 (GLUT1) and SLC2A3 (GLUT3). Surprisingly, only SLC2A3 (GLUT3) showed significant overexpression in hypoxia conditions in miR-155 deficient MEC-1cells which points to the possible novel target of miR-155 in CLL. Increased glucose uptake and decreased lactate support our hypothesis that miR-155 deficiency and hypoxia transform cell metabolism. To conclude, miR-155 deficiency and hypoxia-impaired glucose metabolism stimulate GLUT3 in CLL cells.

During the response of plants to adverse stresses, aquaporin (AQP) plays a prominent role in membrane water transport based on received upstream signals. In addition, they have various physical parts for dealing with environmental stresses. Due to the importance of the AQP gene family, studies have been conducted investigating the function and regulatory system of these genes. However, many of their molecular aspects are still unknown. This study aims to carry out a genomic-wide investigation of the AQP gene family in durum wheat using bioinformatics tools and to investigate the expression patterns of some members in response to salt stress. Our results showed that there are 80 TtAQP genes in durum wheat, which are classified into four main groups based on phylogenetic analysis. Many duplications were observed between the members of the TtAQP gene family, and high diversity in response to post-translational modifications was observed between TtAQP family members. The expression pattern of TtAQP genes disclosed that these genes are primarily upregulated in response to salt stress. Besides, qPCR data revealed that TtAQPs are more induced in delayed responses to salinity stress. Overall, our findings illustrate that TtAQP members are diverse in terms of their structure, regulatory systems and expression levels.

Sulfate transporters (SULTRs) are responsible for the uptake of the sulfate (SO42−) ions in the rhizosphere by the roots and their distribution in plant organs. In this study, SULTR family members in the genome of the two oilseed crops, Camelina sativa, and Brassica napus, were identified and characterized based on their sequence structure, duplication events, phylogenetic relationships, phosphorylation sites, and expression levels. Herein, 36 and 45 putative SULTR genes were recognized from the genome of C. sativa, and B. napus, respectively. SULTR proteins were predicted as basophilic proteins with low hydrophilicity in both studied species. According to phylogenetic relationships, we divided SULTRs into five groups, in which SULTRs 3 showed highest variation. Besides, several duplication events were observed between SULTRs. The first duplication event was predicted approximately five million years ago between three SULTRs 3.1 in C. sativa. Two subunits were indicated in the 3D structure of SULTRs that the active binding sites differed between C. sativa and B. napus. According to available RNA-seq data, SULTRs showed diverse expression in tissues and response to stimuli. SULTRs 3 showed an expression in all tissues. SULTRs 3.1 were more upregulated in response to abiotic stresses in C. sativa, while SULTRs 3.3, and SULTRs 2.1 showed an upregulation in B. napus. Furthermore, SULTRs 3 and SULTRs 4.1 showed an upregulation in response to biotic stresses in B. napus. Based on the distribution of cis-regulatory elements in the promoter region, we speculated that SULTRs might be controlled by phytohormones such as ABA, and MeJA. Therefore, it seems that SULTR genes in C. sativa have been more influenced by evolutionary processes and have acquired more diversity.

At least 50% of factors predisposing to alcohol dependence (AD) are genetic and women affected with this disorder present with more psychiatric comorbidities, probably indicating different genetic factors involved. We aimed to run a genome-wide association study (GWAS) followed by a bioinformatic functional annotation of associated genomic regions in male and female patients with AD and eight related clinical measures. A genome-wide significant association of rs220677 with AD (p-value = 1.33×10^-8 calculated with the Yates-corrected Chi-square test under the assumption of dominant inheritance) was discovered in female patients. Associations of AD and related clinical measures with seven other single nucleotide polymorphisms listed in previous GWAS of psychiatric and addiction traits were differently replicated in male and female patients. The bioinformatic analysis showed that regulatory elements in the eight associated linkage disequilibrium blocks define the expression of 80 protein-coding genes. Nearly 68% of these and of 120 previously published coding genes associated with alcohol phenotypes directly interact in a single network. This study indicates that a number of genes behind the pathogenesis of AD are different in male and female patients, but implicated molecular mechanisms are functionally connected. The results also suggest the genetic basis of sex-specific psychiatric comorbidities of AD.

Shewanella spp. are gram-negative bacteria that thrive in aquatic niches and also cause infectious diseases as opportunistic pathogens. Chromosomal integrons (CI) and mobile integrons (MI) were previously described in some Shewanella isolates. Here, we evaluated the occurrence of integrase genes, the integron systems and their genetic surroundings in the genus. We identified 22 integrase gene types, 17 of which were newly described, in different Shewanella species, evidencing multiple gain and loss events. Phylogenetic analysis showed that most of them were strain-specific, except for Shewanella algae, which seem to have co-evolve within the host as typical CIs. Noteworthy, co-existence of up to 5 different integrase genes, as well as their wide dissemination to Alteromonadales, Vibronales, Chromatiales, Oceanospirillales and Enterobacterales was observed. Identification of novel MIs suggests that lateral genetic transfer may have occurred resembling the behavior of class 1 integrons. The constant emergence of determinants associated to antimicrobial resistance worldwide, concomitantly with novel MIs in strains capable to harbor several types of integrons may be an alarming threat for the recruitment of novel antimicrobial resistance gene cassettes in the genus Shewanella, and its evolution towards the multidrug resistance.