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An investigation was conducted through transcriptome sequencing in various tissues at different stages to explore the quercetin biosynthesis pathway in Euphorbia maculata . A total of 83,028 unigenes was assembled utilizing Trinity software, with an N50 length of 1721 bp and a mean length of 1004 bp. Among these unigenes, 51,822 were annotated in six public databases. The transcriptome analysis revealed 45,727 CDS sequences and 56 TF families. Candidate genes involved in quercetin biosynthesis were also revealed, including phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (17 unigenes), cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (3 unigenes), 4-coumarate-CoA ligase (16 unigenes), chalcone synthase (5 unigenes), chalcone isomerase (4 unigenes), flavanone 3-hydroxylase (1 unigene), flavonoid 3′-hydroxylase (4 unigenes), and flavonol synthase (9 unigenes). Additionally, 42 key differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to quercetin biosynthesis were identified in the same tissues at different stages, with 35 DEGs exhibiting down-regulated expression and 7 DEGs displaying up-regulated expression. These findings not only enhance the genetic knowledge of E. maculata , but also establish a basis for further investigating the mechanism of quercetin biosynthesis, and improving the quality of E. maculata .

Histone 3 Lys 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3)-mediated epigenetic silencing plays a critical role in multiple biological processes. However, the H3K27me3 recognition and transcriptional repression mechanisms are only partially understood. Here, we report a mechanism for H3K27me3 recognition and transcriptional repression. Our structural and biochemical data showed that the BAH domain protein AIPP3 and the PHD proteins AIPP2 and PAIPP2 cooperate to read H3K27me3 and unmodified H3K4 histone marks, respectively, in Arabidopsis . The BAH-PHD bivalent histone reader complex silences a substantial subset of H3K27me3-enriched loci, including a number of development and stress response-related genes such as the RNA silencing effector gene ARGONAUTE 5 ( AGO5 ). We found that the BAH-PHD module associates with CPL2, a plant-specific Pol II carboxyl terminal domain (CTD) phosphatase, to form the BAH-PHD-CPL2 complex (BPC) for transcriptional repression. The BPC complex represses transcription through CPL2-mediated CTD dephosphorylation, thereby causing inhibition of Pol II release from the transcriptional start site. Our work reveals a mechanism coupling H3K27me3 recognition with transcriptional repression through the alteration of Pol II phosphorylation states, thereby contributing to our understanding of the mechanism of H3K27me3-dependent silencing. Histone 3 Lys 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3) mediates epigenetic silencing of gene expression. Here, Zhang et al. show that in Arabidopsis, the BAH-domain H3K27me3-reader protein AIPP3 forms a complex with PHD proteins and CPL2, a plant-specific Pol II phosphatase, to inhibit Pol II activity by dephosphorylation.

A novel lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) signal amplification strategy for the detection of Cry1Ab based on amplification via a polylysine (PL) chain and biotin-streptavidin system (BSAS) is described. In this system, multiple fluorescence dyes (FL) were directly coated on the surface of PL and conjugated with antibody via the BSAS for construction of novel signal amplification (FLPL-BSAS-mAb1) conjugates, in which FL, PL and BSAS were employed to improve the sensitivity of LFIA. Compared with conventional LFIA, the sensitivity of FLPL-BSAS-mAb1-based LFIA was increased by approximately 100-fold. Quantified linearity was achieved in the value range of 0–1,000 pg/mL. The limit of detection (LOD) was reached 10 pg/mL after optimization of reaction conditions. To our knowledge, this represents one of the most sensitive LFIA for Cry1Ab yet reported. Furthermore, the detection time for this method was about 10 min. Therefore, it should be an attractive alternative compared to conventional immunoassays in routine control for Cry1Ab.

Background: Stroke is the second leading cause of death in human life health, but current treatment strategies are limited to thrombolytic therapy, and because of the tight time window, many contraindications, and only a very small number of people can benefit from it, new therapeutic strategies are needed to solve this problem. As a physical barrier between the central nervous system and blood, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) maintains the homeostasis of the central nervous system. Maintaining the integrity of the BBB may emerge as a new therapeutic strategy. Liquiritin (LQ) is a flavonoid isolated from the medicinal plant Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. ex DC. (Fabaceae), and this study aims to investigate the protective effects of LQ on brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs), to provide a new therapeutic strategy for stroke treatment, and also to provide research ideas for the development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Methods: The protective effects of LQ on HBMECs under the treatment of hypoxia reoxygenation (H/R) were investigated from different aspects by establishing a model of H/R injury to mimic ischemia-reperfusion in vivo while administrating different concentrations of LQ, which includes: cell proliferation, migration, angiogenesis, mitochondrial membrane potential as well as apoptosis. Meanwhile, the mechanism of LQ to protect the integrity of BBB by antioxidation and inhibiting endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress was also investigated. Finally, to search for possible targets of LQ, a proteomic analysis approach was employed. Results: LQ can promote cell proliferation, migration as well as angiogenesis and reduce mitochondrial membrane potential damage and apoptosis. Meanwhile, LQ can also reduce the expression of related adhesion molecules, and decrease the production of reactive oxygen species. In terms of mechanism study, we demonstrated that LQ could activate Keap1/Nrf2 antioxidant pathway, inhibit ER stress, and maintain the integrity of BBB. Through differential protein analysis, 5 disease associated proteins were found. Conclusions: Studies have shown that LQ can promote cell proliferation, migration as well as angiogenesis, and reduce cell apoptosis, which may be related to its inhibition of oxidative and ER stress, and then maintain the integrity of BBB. Given that five differential proteins were found by protein analysis, future studies will revolve around the five differential proteins.

For a long time, spatial structures have been widely used. However, compared with the high strength of their material, their stability is weak, and especially sensitive to damage and defects. This feature has increased the engineering industry’s high requirements for their stability analysis. As we all know, this problem is more prominent for the reticulated shell structure, which is a classic representative of the spatial structure. However, in the current analysis methods for the stability of reticulated shells, the deterministic analysis method cannot consider the random characteristics of defects. Other random methods, such as the random defect modal method, and many improved methods, require more samples and calculation time. This unfavorable situation makes its engineering application greatly restricted. In addition, the random modal superposition method and derivation method based on Monte Carlo has not fundamentally changed this limitation. In order to fundamentally overcome this traditional shortcoming, this paper comprehensively studies the advantages of the high accuracy of the random defect modal method and the improved method, and at the same time, investigates the speed advantage of the response surface method, and then creates a new stochastic analysis method based on the response surface method. Finally, the analysis results of the calculation examples in this paper prove that it successfully balances and satisfies the dual requirements of accuracy and speed required for calculating the stability of the reticulated shell structure. Moreover, it has universal applicability to different forms of reticulated shells, such as classic 6-point flat domes, traditional reticulated shell structures, and bionic reticulated shell structures, and even other types of spatial structures.

In order to explore the high-efficient utilization of oil shale, the effects of different microwave powers and different kinds of catalysts (metal oxides and metal salts) on the temperature characteristics and product yield towards the oil shale are investigated by microwave catalytic pyrolysis. The results show that the effect of microwave power on the heating and pyrolysis rates of oil shale is significant, and the maximum output of shale oil is 5.1% when the microwave power is 1500W; CaO has a certain effect on the temperature rise of oil shale, and MgO and CuO have a certain degree of inhibition, but the addition of three kinds of metal oxidation is beneficial to increase the shale oil production; From the perspective of unit power consumption and gas production, the catalytic effect order of three kinds of metal oxides is MgO> CaO> CuO; The addition of three kinds of metal salts is favorable for the increase of pyrolysis temperature of oil shale, after adding 5% ZnCl2, the unit power consumption of shale oil and pyrolysis gas increases by 62.60% and 81.96% respectively. After adding 5% NaH2PO3, the unit power consumption of shale oil increases by 64.64%, and reduces by 9.56% by adding 5% MgCl2.

In recent years, engine waste heat utilization technology has become one of the essential directions for green energy-saving development. In this study, the design of a combined refrigeration system for engine waste heat recovery under a two-stage supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle is carried out, and based on the engine top-cycle energy flow and reactive flow characteristics, combined with thermodynamic and economic analysis models, the thermal and reactive efficiencies of the S-CO_2 Brayton cycle system are investigated. The multi-objective optimization model for waste heat recovery was created with hydropower efficiency and investment return as its objectives. The results showed that the minimum values of annual operating cost and initial investment cost of the combined system under the optimized conditions were 104.8 and 505.2 thousand RMB, respectively, and the total system energy loss was 7.25%. By further analyzing the top cycle parameters of the combined system, it is concluded that the combined system has better thermo-economic performance, and the results can provide some references for the combined refrigeration with engine waste heat recovery.

Hearing loss caused by stroke must be taken seriously, as it is a treatable condition that highly depends on timely intervention. This case report presents a rare case of a 75-year-old female with a history of hypertension who visited the Emergency Department of Otolaryngology due to sudden left-sided deafness accompanied by vertigo and vomiting, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated acute posterior circulation cerebral infarction.In the Emergency Department setting, for middle-aged and elderly patients with vascular risk factors, hearing loss may serve as an early warning sign of vertebrobasilar artery ischemic stroke. Immediate stroke screening should always be prioritized, as acute antithrombotic and acute revascularization treatments may be necessary.

Microalgae are one of the most potential biomass energy sources. An efficient drying method is important to development and utilization of microalgae. Microwave drying is receiving increasing attention because it is a rapid, high-efficiency, and economical method compared to conventional drying. Pyrolysis characteristics of microalgae (C. vulgaris) after conventional drying (drying at 105 °C for 20 h) and microwave drying (the microwave drying time of 20, 30, and 40 min) were investigated. The pyrolysis experiment of microalgae was carried out at the heating rates of 10, 20, and 40 °C·min−1 in a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). And the bio-char after pyrolysis of C. vulgaris under different heating powers (conventional power of 2500 W and microwave power of 600, 1000, 1500, and 2250 W) were analyzed. Results show that comprehensive pyrolysis characteristic index (S) of C. vulgaris after microwave drying was higher than conventional drying; however, energy consumption and activation energy (E) after microwave drying were lower. For microwave drying, as microwave drying time increases, ignition temperature (Ti), final temperature detected as mass stabilization (Tf), reaction rate at the second peaks (Rp2), residual mass (Mr), and energy consumption increased, while average reaction rate (Rv) decreased. As the heating rate (β) increased, the Ti, Tf, Rp2, Rv, and S of C. vulgaris increased, while Mr decreased, and E firstly decreased and then increased. And except for microwave power of 600 W, as microwave power increased, the volatile content and the fixed carbon content of C. vulgaris bio-char decreased, and the ash was increased.

This longitudinal study investigated the composition, progression, and clinical implications of symptom clusters among patients with pituitary adenomas across four perioperative time points. A total of 104 patients undergoing transsphenoidal surgery were assessed using validated instruments, including the MDASI-BT, MFI-20, HADS, PSQI, and SF-36. Three major symptom clusters were identified: neurological, endocrine, and fatigue–emotional–sleep disturbance (FES). The FES cluster was associated with the most severe fatigue, poorest sleep quality, and lowest quality of life scores, particularly during the early postoperative period. While patients in the neurological cluster experienced significant recovery over time, those in the endocrine and FES clusters showed more prolonged or fluctuating symptom trajectories. The minimal overlap between clusters revealed a high degree of heterogeneity in symptom experiences, underscoring the importance of tailored management. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first longitudinal studies in a Chinese population to examine symptom cluster dynamics in pituitary tumor patients across multiple time points using multidimensional patient-reported outcomes. These findings contribute to novel insights for precision symptom management, with implications for improving recovery, reducing fatigue, and enhancing quality of life in this unique clinical population.