The growth stage best suitable for wheat yield phenotyping has been a hot topic. This study provides a fresh insight into it, from the perspective of spectral correlation between wheat genotype replications. A number of 340 wheat genotypes and their replication were distributed in separate parts (west and east) of an experiment field (2019–2020) in Ashland, Kansas, USA. Unmanned aerial vehicle based hyperspectral images (400–100 nm) of the experiment field were taken over the late...

At present, values adopted from specifications are mostly used to define the convective heat transfer coefficient ch in localized fire researches. In this paper, the specific scenario of the steel column surrounded by fire plume is selected as a typical case to explore the surface ch change rules of the steel column. This paper conducts a two-way coupling simulation analysis of the fire and the thermal models by means of CFD codes. First, the validity...

Tapered concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns have been used in various structures due to their aesthetic appearance and excellent structural behaviour. However, the research on their fire performance is still insufficient at this stage. In this paper, fire tests of three tapered CFST columns under eccentric load are carried out, and all specimens are protected by intumescent fire coating (IFC). The test results show that the IFC and tapered CSFT specimen can reliably work together...

Tapered concrete-filled steel tubular (CFST) columns have been used in various structures due to their aesthetic appearance and excellent structural behaviour. However, the research on their fire performance is still insufficient at this stage. In this paper, fire tests of three tapered CFST columns under eccentric load are carried out, and all specimens are protected by intumescent fire coating (IFC). The test results show that the IFC and tapered CSFT specimen can reliably work together...

Late Neoproterozoic to Early Cambrian (Cadomian) magmatic rocks are abundant in Iran, but their occurrence in east-central Iran is voluminous. This paper reports, for the first time, on the Cadomian rocks of the eastern Iranian region known as Tapeh Tagh and deals with their geochemistry and uranium-lead (U-Pb) zircon ages. The Tapeh Tagh region contains masses of Cadomian meta-igneous rocks (including various types of granitic gneiss) and overlying meta-sedimentary rocks. The granitic gneisses show tectonic...

To evaluate the relationship between ocular magnification correction and macular choroidal thickness (ChT) measurements in children, and to demonstrate when ocular magnification correction is necessary. Chinese children aged 6–9 years with various refractive statuses were included. Swept-source optical coherence tomography was used to measure macular ChT. A self-designed program was adopted to simulate ChT changes in each sector of the ETDRS grid in the macula under various simulated axial lengths (ALs). ChT measurements were not...

Current medicine for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) cannot effectively reverse or block nerve injury. Traditional Chinese Medicine practice and research imply Aconiti lateralis Radix Praeparata (Fuzi) may meet this goal. Analysing the anti-AD effect of Fuzi and its potential molecular mechanism. AD model cells were treated with Fuzi in 0-300 mg/mL for 24 h in 37 °C. The cell viability (CV) and length of cell projections (LCP) for each group were observed, analysed, and standardised using...

Complement receptor 3 (CD11b/CD18) is an important receptor that mediates adhesion, phagocytosis and chemotaxis in various immunocytes. The conidia of the medically-important pathogenic fungus, Aspergillus fumigatus can be internalized into alveolar epithelial cells to disseminate its infection in immunocompromised host; however, the role of CR3 in this process is poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated the potential role of CR3 on A. fumigatus internalization into type II alveolar epithelial cells and its effect...

Phytochemical investigation on the concentrate of Huangjing wine, resulted in the isolation of three new tyrosol derivatives 4′′′-hydroxyphenethyl 2-(R)-hydroxy-3-phenylpropionate (1), 4′′′-hydroxyphenethyl(4′-hydroxy-3′-methoxyphenyl)propionate (2) and 4′′-hydroxyphenethyl ethyl succinate (3), together with 5 known compounds, ferulic acid (4), L-phenyllactic acid (5), hydroxytyrosol (6), dihydroferulic acid (7), cyclo(L-Pro-D-Tyr) (8). Their structures were elucidated using spectroscopic analysis and by comparison with the literature data. All compounds displayed antioxidant effect in the DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) radical. Among them, the new compound 2...

The theory of optimal design of experiments has been traditionally developed on an Euclidean space. In this paper, new theoretical results and an algorithm for finding the optimal design of an experiment located on a Riemannian manifold are provided. It is shown that analogously to the results in Euclidean spaces, D-optimal and G-optimal designs are equivalent on manifolds, and we provide a lower bound for the maximum prediction variance of the response evaluated over the...

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) cannot be completely cured, mainly due to the existence of a latent HIV-1 reservoir. However, our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the establishment and maintenance of HIV-1 latent reservoir is not comprehensive. Here, using a genome-wide CRISPR-Cas9 activation library screening, we identified E3 ubiquitin ligase F-box protein 34 (FBXO34) and the substrate of FBXO34, heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein U (hnRNP U) was identified by affinity purification mass spectrometry, as new...

High-strength bolts have been widely used in steel bolted connections, and fire-induced high temperatures will affect its basic mechanical properties and fracture behavior, leading to failure of the connection and even collapse of the overall structure. Tensile experiments are conducted on Grade 10.9 high-strength bolts to investigate the effect of stress triaxiality and heating history on their mechanical and fracture properties in the whole process of fire. The true stress-strain curves are obtained to determine...

A novel pectic polysaccharide, named GTPS3-1, was isolated and purified from Laoshan green tea polysaccharide (GTPS) through DEAE Sepharose Fast Flow and Sephacryl S-300 columns, its structure was characterized and its anti-inflammatory activity was explored. GTPS3-1, with a molecular weight of 26.05 kDa, was mainly composed of galacturonic acid, galactose, rhamnose and arabinose in a molar ratio of 4.72:2.5:1.68:1 on the basis of monosaccharide composition. Structural analysis results revealed that GTPS3-1 was a highly branched...

Tissue-resident memory T (TRM) cells, located in the epithelium of most peripheral tissues, constitute the first-line defense against pathogen infections. Our previous study reported that gastric subserous layer (GSL) vaccination induced a “pool” of protective tissue-resident memory CD4+T (CD4+TRM) cells in the gastric epithelium. However, the mechanistic details how CD4+TRM cells form in the gastric epithelium are unknown. Here, our results suggested that the vaccine containing CCF in combination with Silk fibroin hydrogel (SF) broadened...

The highly infectious Delta variant strain of SARS-CoV-2 remains globally dominant and undermines COVID-19 vaccines. Rapid detection of the Delta variant is crucial for the identification and quarantine of infected individuals. In this study, our aim was to design and validate a genotyping RT-LAMP method to detect Delta variants specifically. R203M in the N gene of SARS-CoV-2 was chosen as the Delta variant-specific mutation for genotyping. To target the R203M-harboring region and the conserved sequence...

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are a class of enzymes with detoxification function. GSTs can be used for the degradation of toxic aromatic compounds, such as dyes. In order to promote their application and cost-effective dye degradation and to understand their structure and function more deeply, we cloned and expressed a gst2 gene from Trametes gibbosa—a white rot fungus. T.gibbosa gst2 has a 672-bp open reading frame (ORF) and encodes 223 amino acids. The recombinant Tg-gst2 in...

Obesity, one of the major public health problems worldwide, has attracted increasing attention. Ginsenoside Rb1 is the most abundant active component of Panax ginseng C.A.Mey (Araliaceae) and is reported to have beneficial effects on obesity and diabetes. However, the mechanisms by which Rb1 regulates obesity remain to be explored. This paper intends to further explore the mechanism of Rb1 in regulating obesity. The C57BL/6 obese mice were divided into two groups: the control (CTR) and...

Waning of neutralizing titers along with decline of protection efficacy after the second dose of COVID-19 vaccines was observed, including China-made inactivated vaccines. Efficacy of a heterologous boosting using one dose of a recombinant SARS-CoV-2 fusion protein vaccine (V-01) in inactivated vaccine-primed population was studied, aimed to restore the immunity. A randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled phase Ⅲ trial was conducted in healthy people aged 18 years or older in Pakistan and Malaysia. Each eligible participant...

Phlebotomus chinensis sandfly is a neglected insect vector in China which is well-known for carrying Leishmania. Recent studies have expanded its pathogen repertoire with two novel arthropod-borne phleboviruses capable of infecting human and animals. Despite these discoveries, our knowledge on the general pathogen diversity and overall microbiome composition of this vector species are still very limited. Here we carried out a meta-transcriptomics analysis which simultaneously revealed the actively replicating/transcribing RNA viruses, DNA viruses, bacteria and...

1. A total of 772, 420-day-old Xingguo gray geese (XGG) were sequenced using a low-depth (~1×) whole-genome resequencing strategy to reveal the genetic mechanism of wing length-related traits by genome-wide association analysis (GWAS). 2. The results showed that 119 SNPs had genome-wide significance for wing length in five regions of chromosome 4, of which the most significant locus (P=7.95E-11) was located upstream of RBM47 and explained 7.3% of phenotypic variation. 3. A total of 219...

How much the vaccine contributes to the induction and development of neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) of breakthrough cases relative to those unvaccinated-infected cases is not fully understood. We conducted a prospective cohort study and collected serum samples from 576 individuals who were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 Delta strain infection, including 245 breakthrough cases and 331 unvaccinated-infected cases. NAbs were analyzed by live virus microneutralization test and transformation of NAb titer. NAbs titers against SARS-CoV-2 ancestral and Delta...

The long-term effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been rarely known. This study aimed to investigate healthy outcomes of COVID-19 survivors up to 2 years after the infection. A total of 155 COVID-19 patients, who were discharged from Shenzhen Third People's Hospital from February 2020 to April 2020, were enrolled and followed up until March 4, 2022. COVID-19 survivors received questionnaires of long COVID symptoms and psychological symptoms, pulmonary function tests, chest computed tomography...

Autophagy, a cellular surveillance mechanism, plays an important role in combating invading pathogens. However, viruses have evolved various strategies to disrupt autophagy and even hijack it for replication and release. Here, we demonstrated that Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) non-structural protein 1(nsp1) induces autophagy but inhibits autophagic activity. MERS-CoV nsp1 expression increased ROS and reduced ATP levels in cells, which activated AMPK and inhibited the mTOR signaling pathway, resulting in autophagy induction. Meanwhile, as...

As an important component in steel connections, high-strength bolts have a high stress level and may experience creep deformation at high temperatures. This will lead to great deformation and even failure of steel connections, thus affecting progressive collapse resistance of steel structures. This paper experimentally and numerically investigates the creep behavior of 10.9 high-strength bolts under and after fire. The creep strain-time curves at different temperatures and stress levels were obtained using DIC measurement systems....

Objective Radiation-induced heart disease (RIHD) is one of the most common and serious long-term adverse effect after thoracic radiotherapy. The aim of this paper was to identify the change in gene expression in the heart after radiation and to investigate the potential molecular mechanism underlying RIHD using RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) and bioinformatics methods. Materials and Methods: An RIHD rat model was established and transcription profiles were identified using RNA-seq. Differentially expressed circRNAs, miRNAs and mRNAs were...