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The formation of adventitious roots (ARs) is an ecologically and economically important developmental process in plants. The evolution of AR systems is an important way for plants to cope with various environmental stresses. This review focuses on identified genes that have known to regulate the induction and initiation of ARs and offers an analysis of this process at the molecular level. The critical genes involved in adventitious rooting are the auxin signaling-responsive genes, including the AUXIN RESPONSE FACTOR ( ARF ) and the LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES-DOMAIN ( LOB ) gene families, and genes associated with auxin transport and homeostasis, the quiescent center (QC) maintenance, and the root apical meristem (RAM) initiation. Several genes involved in cell wall modulation are also known to be involved in the regulation of adventitious rooting. Furthermore, the molecular processes that play roles in the ethylene, cytokinin, and jasmonic acid signaling pathways and their crosstalk modulate the generation of ARs. The crosstalk and interaction among many molecular processes generates complex networks that regulate AR generation.

Recent advancements in natural language processing (NLP) technology have enabled the extraction of sentiment information from nursing notes. This study aims to investigate the association between sentiment scores and perioperative complications (POC), as well as the length of stay (LOS) in hospital stay, among patients undergoing hip arthroplasty (HA). A total of 382 patients undergoing HA were enrolled for this retrospective study, with a POC rate of 22.17% and a median LOS in hospital of 3.56 days. First, the variance inflation factor (VIF) was calculated to perform multicollinearity diagnostics. Subsequently, a restricted cubic spline (RCS) curve was fitted to evaluate the linear relationship between sentiment scores and the risk of POC. Next, multiple logistic regression models were constructed for association analysis. Furthermore, subgroup analyses were conducted to identify susceptible populations, while mediation analysis was employed to explore the mediating role of sentiment scores. Finally, we performed a series of analyses focusing on the secondary outcome of LOS in hospital. After adjusting for covariates (Model 1 adjusted for age and hypertension; Model 2 adjusted for some laboratory indicators), elevated sentiment polarity scores reduced the risk of POC (Model 1: OR=0.227, 95%CI: 0.062-0.840; Model 2: OR=0.219, 95%CI: 0.058-0.8214). However, this association was no longer significant after adjusting for the reason of surgery (OR=0.587, 95%CI: 0.152-2.319). After adjusting for the operation reason, the association between sentiment polarity and POC was observed in three subgroups: left HA patients, those without dyslipidemia, and those not taking aspirin (all P < 0.05). We did not observe the mediating effect of sentiment polarity (all P for IE > 0.05). This study also found that higher polarity scores were significantly associated with shorter hospital LOS (β = -2.119, 95%CI: -3.113, -1.124), with POC serving as a mediator in the relationship between sentiment polarity and hospital LOS in both the overall population and the non-dyslipidemia subgroup (P for IE < 0.05). Our findings indicated that sentiment polarity in nursing notes can serve as a valuable predictor of perioperative outcomes in patients undergoing HA.

Sepsis is a life-threatening condition resulting from pathogen infection and characterized by organ dysfunction. Programmed cell death (PCD) during sepsis has been associated with the development of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), impacting various physiological systems including respiratory, cardiovascular, renal, neurological, hematological, hepatic, and intestinal systems. It is well-established that pathogen infections lead to immune dysregulation, which subsequently contributes to MODS in sepsis. However, recent evidence suggests that sepsis-related opportunistic pathogens can directly induce organ failure by promoting PCD in parenchymal cells of each affected organ. This study provides an overview of PCD in damaged organ and the induction of PCD in host parenchymal cells by opportunistic pathogens, proposing innovative strategies for preventing organ failure in sepsis.

Background Sepsis is a leading cause of preventable death around the world. Population-based estimation of sepsis incidence is lacking in China. In this study, we aimed to estimate the population-based incidence and geographic variation of hospitalized sepsis in China. Methods We retrospectively identified hospitalized sepsis from the nationwide National Data Center for Medical Service (NDCMS) and the National Mortality Surveillance System (NMSS) by ICD-10 codes for the period from 2017 to 2019. In-hospital sepsis case fatality and mortality rate were calculated to extrapolate the national incidence of hospitalized sepsis. The geographic distribution of hospitalized sepsis incidence was examined using Global Moran's Index. Results We identified 9,455,279 patients with 10,682,625 implicit-coded sepsis admissions in NDCMS and 806,728 sepsis-related deaths in NMSS. We estimated that the annual standardized incidence of hospitalized sepsis was 328.25 (95% CI 315.41–341.09), 359.26 (95% CI 345.4–373.12) and 421.85 (95% CI 406.65–437.05) cases per 100,000 in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. We observed 8.7% of the incidences occurred among neonates less than 1 year old, 11.7% among children aged 1–9 years, and 57.5% among elderly older than 65 years. Significant spatial autocorrelation for incidence of hospitalized sepsis was observed across China (Moran's Index 0.42, p  = 0.001; 0.45, p  = 0.001; 0.26, p  = 0.011 for 2017, 2018, 2019, respectively). Higher number of hospital bed supply and higher disposable income per capita were significantly associated with a higher incidence of hospitalized sepsis. Conclusion Our study showed a greater burden of sepsis hospitalizations than previous estimated. The geographical disparities suggested more efforts were needed in prevention of sepsis.

Uveal melanoma (UM) is a currently untreatable form of melanoma with a 50% mortality rate. Characterization of the essential signaling pathways driving this cancer is critical to develop target therapies. Activating mutations in the Gαq signaling pathway at the level of GNAQ, GNA11, or rarely CYSLTR2 or PLCβ4 are considered alterations driving proliferation in UM and several other neoplastic disorders. Here, we systematically examined the oncogenic signaling output of various mutations recurrently identified in human tumors. We demonstrate that CYSLTR2 → GNAQ/11 → PLCβ act in a linear signaling cascade that, via protein kinase C (PKC), activates in parallel the MAP-kinase and FAK/Yes-associated protein pathways. Using genetic ablation and pharmacological inhibition, we show that the PKC/RasGRP3/MAPK signaling branch is the essential component that drives the proliferation of UM. Only inhibition of the MAPK branch but not the FAK branch synergizes with inhibition of the proximal cascade, providing a blueprint for combination therapy. All oncogenic signaling could be extinguished by the novel GNAQ/11 inhibitor YM-254890, in all UM cells with driver mutation in the Gαq subunit or the upstream receptor. Our findings highlight the GNAQ/11 → PLCβ → PKC → MAPK pathway as the central signaling axis to be suppressed pharmacologically to treat for neoplastic disorders with Gαq pathway mutations.

PurposeA population-level description and analysis of sepsis-related mortality in China is key to the planning and assessment of interventional strategies.MethodsRetrospective analysis of multiple cause of death (MCOD) recorded in the population-based national mortality surveillance system (NMSS) of China. All sepsis-related deaths occurring in 605 disease surveillance points (DSPs) covering 323.8 million population across China were included in our study. Age-standardized mortality and national estimate of sepsis-related deaths were estimated using the census population in 2010 and 2015, respectively.ResultsIn 2015, a total of 1,937,299 deaths occurring in any of the 605 DSPs and standardized sepsis-related mortality rate was 66.7 (95% confidence interval [CI] 66.4–67.0) deaths per 100,000 population. This produced a national estimate of 1,025,997 sepsis-related deaths. Sepsis-related mortality rates exhibited significant geographic variation. In multilevel analysis, male sex (rate ratio [RR] 1.582, 95% CI 1.570–1.595), increasing age (RR 1.914 for 5-year group, 95% CI 1.910–1.917), and presence of comorbidity (RR 2.316, 95% CI 2.298–2.335) were independently associated with increased sepsis-related mortality. Higher disposable income (RR 0.717 for the fourth interquartile range vs. the first interquartile range, 95% CI 0.515–0.978) and mean years of education (RR 0.808 for the fourth interquartile range vs. the first interquartile range, 95% CI 0.684–0.955) were negatively associated with sepsis-related mortality. However, population-based hospital doctors were not significantly associated with sepsis-related mortality.ConclusionsThe standardized sepsis-related mortality rate in China was high and varied according to socioeconomic indices, even though some uncertainty remained.

Experiments were conducted to determine how exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) mediates the tolerance of plants to cadmium (Cd) exposure. Cd stress strongly reduced all the growth parameters of mung bean seedlings. Cd significantly increased ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and catalase (CAT) activities in roots and stems, and peroxidase (POD) activities in roots, stems, and leaves of mung bean seedlings. Cd caused remarkable increases in the levels of leaf chlorophyll and carotenoid, root polyphenols, and malondialdehyde (MDA) and proline in the three organs. However, Cd greatly decreased leaf CAT activity, root and leaf ascorbic acid (AsA) levels, and stem and leaf polyphenol levels. Foliar application of ABA partially alleviated Cd toxicity on the seedlings. ABA could restore most of the changed biochemical parameters caused by Cd, suggesting that ABA played roles in the protection of membrane lipid peroxidation and the modulation of antioxidative defense systems in response to Cd stress. Our results also implied the differential physiological and biochemical responsive patterns of roots, stems, and leaves to Cd and ABA in mung bean seedlings. The great changes in many biochemical parameters in roots suggested that roots were the first to be affected by Cd and play pivotal roles in response to Cd, especially in chelating Cd and reducing Cd absorption.

The 2019 novel coronavirus pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 remains a serious health threat to humans and there is an urgent need to develop therapeutics against this deadly virus. Recent scientific evidences have suggested that the main protease (M pro ) enzyme in SARS-CoV-2 can be an ideal drug target due to its crucial role in the viral replication and transcription processes. Therefore, there are ongoing research efforts to identify drug candidates against SARS-CoV-2 M pro that resulted in hundreds of X-ray crystal structures of ligand-bound M pro complexes in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) describing the interactions of different fragment chemotypes within different sites of the M pro . In this work, we performed rigorous molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of 62 reversible ligand–M pro complexes in the PDB to gain mechanistic insights about their interactions at the atomic level. Using a total of over 3 µs long MD trajectories, we characterized different pockets in the apo M pro structure, and analyzed the dynamic interactions and binding affinity of ligands within those pockets. Our results identified the key residues that stabilize the ligands in the catalytic sites and other pockets of M pro . Our analyses unraveled the role of a lateral pocket in the catalytic site in M pro that is critical for enhancing the ligand binding to the enzyme. We also highlighted the important contribution from HIS163 in the lateral pocket towards ligand binding and affinity against M pro through computational mutation analyses. Further, we revealed the effects of explicit water molecules and M pro dimerization in the ligand association with the target. Thus, comprehensive molecular-level insights gained from this work can be useful to identify or design potent small molecule inhibitors against SARS-CoV-2 M pro .

Background Relatively little empirical attention has focused on the association between social participation and depressive symptoms amongst older adults in Asian nations, where persons over the age of 65 represent a rapidly growing segment of the population. This study explores the dynamic relationship between participation in social activities and trajectories of depressive symptomatology among older Taiwanese adults surveyed over 18 years. Methods Data are from a nationally representative sample of 1,388 adults aged 60-64 first surveyed in 1989 and followed over an 18-year time period for a total of six waves. Individual involvement in social activities was categorized into continuous participation, ceased participation before age 70, initiating participation in older adulthood, never participated, and dropped out before age 70. Two domains of depressive symptoms--negative affect and lack of positive affect--were measured using a 10-item version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale. Results Analyses using growth curve modeling showed that continuously participating or initiating participation in social activities later life is significantly associated with fewer depressive symptoms among older Taiwanese adults, even after controlling for the confounding effects of aging, individual demographic differences, and health status. Conclusions These findings suggest that maintaining or initiating social participation in later life benefits the mental health of older adults. Facilitating social activities among older adults is a promising direction for programs intended to promote mental health and successful aging among older adults in Taiwan.

Background Hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) has been known to function as a signalling molecule involved in the modulation of various physiological processes in plants. H 2 O 2 has been shown to act as a promoter during adventitious root formation in hypocotyl cuttings. In this study, RNA-Seq was performed to reveal the molecular mechanisms underlying H 2 O 2 -induced adventitious rooting. Results RNA-Seq data revealed that H 2 O 2 treatment greatly increased the numbers of clean reads and expressed genes and abundance of gene expression relative to the water treatment. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses indicated that a profound change in gene function occurred in the 6-h H 2 O 2 treatment and that H 2 O 2 mainly enhanced gene expression levels at the 6-h time point but reduced gene expression levels at the 24-h time point compared with the water treatment. In total, 4579 differentially expressed (2-fold change > 2) unigenes (DEGs), of which 78.3% were up-regulated and 21.7% were down-regulated; 3525 DEGs, of which 64.0% were up-regulated and 36.0% were down-regulated; and 7383 DEGs, of which 40.8% were up-regulated and 59.2% were down-regulated were selected in the 6-h, 24-h, and from 6- to 24-h treatments, respectively. The number of DEGs in the 6-h treatment was 29.9% higher than that in the 24-h treatment. The functions of the most highly regulated genes were associated with stress response, cell redox homeostasis and oxidative stress response, cell wall loosening and modification, metabolic processes, and transcription factors (TFs), as well as plant hormone signalling, including auxin, ethylene, cytokinin, gibberellin, and abscisic acid pathways. Notably, a large number of genes encoding for heat shock proteins (HSPs) and heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) were significantly up-regulated during H 2 O 2 treatments. Furthermore, real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) results showed that, during H 2 O 2 treatments, the expression levels of ARFs , IAAs , AUXs , NACs , RD22 , AHKs , MYBs, PIN1 , AUX15A , LBD29 , LBD41 , ADH1b, and QORL were significantly up-regulated at the 6- and/or 24-h time points. In contrast, PER1 and PER2 were significantly down-regulated by H 2 O 2 treatment. These qRT-PCR results strongly correlated with the RNA-Seq data. Conclusions Using RNA-Seq and qRT-PCR techniques, we analysed the global changes in gene expression and functional profiling during H 2 O 2 -induced adventitious rooting in mung bean seedlings. These results strengthen the current understanding of H 2 O 2 -induced adventitious rooting and the molecular traits of H 2 O 2 priming in plants.