Pinellia ternata， belonging to the Pinellia genus within the Araceae family， is a medicinal plant due to its tubers. There are severe issues with unclear germplasm and mixed varieties in its cultivation， necessitating urgent new variety protection efforts. The distinctness， uniformity， and stability （DUS） testing of the plant variety is the basis for protecting new plant varieties， and the DUS test guidelines are the technical basis for DUS testing. To develop the DUS test guidelines for P. ternata， agronomic traits of 229 germplasm of P. ternata were observed and measured during its two growth stages over the years， and each character was graded and described. A total of 38 traits were selected as the test traits of the DUS test guideline for P. ternata. There were three plant traits， 19 leaf traits， six flower traits， two fruit traits， two tuber traits， five bulbil traits， and one ploidy trait. These traits could be divided into 22 quality characters， 12 quantitative characters， and four pseudo-quantitative characters， as well as seven groups， including plants， leaves， flowers， fruit， tubers， bulbils， and ploidy. By searching for standard traits， 10 standard varieties were ultimately determined. Preparing these guidelines will have great significance for reviewing and protecting P. ternata varieties， safeguarding breeders' rights， and promoting the development of the P. ternata industry.

Numerous c-mesenchymal-epithelial transition (c-MET) inhibitors have been reported as potential anticancer agents. However, most fail to enter clinical trials owing to poor efficacy or drug resistance. To date, the scaffold-based chemical space of small-molecule c-MET inhibitors has not been analyzed. In this study, we constructed the largest c-MET dataset, which included 2,278 molecules with different structures, by inhibiting the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) of kinase activity. No significant differences in drug-like properties were observed between active molecules (1,228) and inactive molecules (1,050), including chemical space coverage, physicochemical properties, and absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) profiles. The higher chemical diversity of the active molecules was downscaled using t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE) high-dimensional data. Further clustering and chemical space networks (CSNs) analyses revealed commonly used scaffolds for c-MET inhibitors, such as M5, M7, and M8. Activity cliffs and structural alerts were used to reveal "dead ends" and "safe bets" for c-MET, as well as dominant structural fragments consisting of pyridazinones, triazoles, and pyrazines. Finally, the decision tree model precisely indicated the key structural features required to constitute active c-MET inhibitor molecules, including at least three aromatic heterocycles, five aromatic nitrogen atoms, and eight nitrogen-oxygen atoms. Overall, our analyses revealed potential structure-activity relationship (SAR) patterns for c-MET inhibitors, which can inform the screening of new compounds and guide future optimization efforts.

Cancer immunotherapy has great potential and is expected to become the mainstream method of cancer treatment.In the current application of cancer immunotherapy,immune checkpoint inhibitors(ICIs)have achieved remarkable results.The cur-rently widely used ICIs in clinical practice include inhibitors targeting cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen-4(CTLA-4),pro-grammed death-1(PD-1)and programmed death-ligand 1(PD-L1).In addition,new immunotherapies such as oncolytic viruses and chimeric antigen receptor T cells are gradually entering the clinical practice,and combination therapy related to ICIs has shown unique advantages.This article will focus on the current application status of ICIs,oncolytic viruses,and chimeric antigen receptor T cell ther-apies in solid tumors either their individual or combined forms.

Objective To explore the post-traumatic growth course for women with termination of pregnancy due to fetal abnormalities and analyze the promoting factors,in order to provide a basis for nursing and intervention tactics.Methods The purposive sampling and theoretical sampling methods were used to select 16 women who were diagnosed with fetal abnormalities and decided to terminate pregnancy in the obstetrics department of a tertiary care maternity hospital in Beijing from May 2021 to February 2022.Women were interviewed by semi-structured interviews,and the data was analyzed by Charmaz's constructing grounded theory paradigm.Results Women with termination of pregnancy due to fetal abnormalities underwent 4 stages of post-traumatic growth:traumatic stress period,rumination and seeking of help period,and acceptance internalization period,and post-traumatic growth period.The behavior of each period was influenced by the psychological experience of the corresponding period and influenced the experience of the next period.Extroverted personality,previous normal pregnancy and delivery experience,positive perception of events,positive self-identification,good social support,appropriate hospitalization environment and regulations,open mindedness towards death and religious belief,affected women's post-traumatic growth.Conclusion The post-traumatic growth course of women with termination of pregnancy due to fetal anomaly is a complex continuously sublimated process.Medical staff should pay attention to psychological and behavioral changes in women's post-traumatic growth,combine the factors that promote post-traumatic growth,and provide targeted guidance to help them successfully go through this difficult period and achieve personal growth.

Anaerobic granular sludge (AnGS), a self-immobilized aggregate containing various functional microorganisms, is considered as a promising green process for wastewater treatment. AnGS has the advantages of high volume loading rate, simple process and low excess sludge generation, thus shows great technological and economical potentials. This review systematically summarizes the recent advances of the microbial community structure and function of anaerobic granular sludge, and discusses the factors affecting the formation and stability of anaerobic granular sludge from the perspective of microbiology. Moreover, future research directions of AnGS are prospected. This review is expected to facilitate the research and engineering application of AnGS.
Sewage/chemistry* ; Waste Disposal, Fluid ; Anaerobiosis ; Microbiota ; Water Purification ; Bioreactors/microbiology*

Objective:To understand and explore the incidence and influencing factors of malnutrition in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.Methods:This study was a cross-sectional study. Patients with inflammatory bowel disease hospitalized in the Department of Gastroenterology of a tertiary hospital in Shenzhen from March 1 to August 31, 2021 were enrolled. Indicators related to nutrition and clinical outcome were collected, including height, weight, body mass index (BMI), nutritional risk screening (NRS 2002) results, malnutrition diagnosis as per Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Chi-square test, t-test and Wilcoxon rank sum test were used as appropriate for univariate analysis, and binary logistic regression analysis was used for multivariate analysis.Results:A total of 188 patients were included in this survey. There were 145 (77.1%) patients with no malnutrition, 38 (20.2%) with moderate malnutrition, and 5 (2.7%) with severe malnutrition according to GLIM criteria. In the subgroup of 47 ulcerative colitis patients, 12 (25.5%) were with moderate malnutrition and 3 (3.4%) were with severe malnutrition. In the subgroup of 141 Crohn's disease patients, 26 (18.4%) were with moderate malnutrition and 2 (1.4%) were with severe malnutrition. When divided by the presence or absence of malnutrition, there were statistically significant differences in age ( t = -2.237, P = 0.026), disease stage ( χ 2 = 22.299, P < 0.001), history of digestive tract resection ( χ 2 = 6.890, P = 0.009), intestinal infection ( χ 2 = 4.010, P = 0.045), gastrointestinal symptoms ( χ 2 =11.884, P = 0.001), hemoglobin ( t = 5.160, P < 0.001), serum albumin ( t = 3.96, P < 0.001), prealbumin ( t = 5.061, P < 0.001) and PSQI scores ( t = -4.744, P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that the stage of disease, history of partial resection of digestive tract, gastrointestinal symptoms, hemoglobin, prealbumin and PSQI scores were the main influencing factors of malnutrition. Conclusions:IBD patients at older age, at active stage, and with history of partial digestive tract resection, intestinal infection, gastrointestinal symptoms, low hemoglobin, low serum albumin, low prealbumin and poor sleep quality are more likely to develop malnutrition. Timely intervention should be carried out to improve the nutritional status of these patients.

OBJECTIVES: Application of ultrashort wave (USW) to rats with cerebral ischemia and reperfusion injury could inhibit the decrease of expression of secretory pathway Ca²⁺-ATPase 1 (SPCA1), an important participant in Golgi stress, reduce the damage of Golgi apparatus and the apoptosis of neuronal cells, thereby alleviating cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. This study aims to investigate the effect of USW on oxygen-glucose deprivation/reperfusion (OGD/R) injury and the expression of SPCA1 at the cellular level. METHODS: N2a cells were randomly divided into a control (Con) group, an OGD/R group, and an USW group. The cells in the Con group were cultured without exposure to OGD. The cells in the OGD/R group were treated with OGD/R. The cells in the USW group were treated with USW after OGD/R. Cell morphology was observed under the inverted phase-contrast optical microscope, cell activity was detected by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry, and SPCA1 expression was detected by Western blotting. RESULTS: Most of the cells in the Con group showed spindle shape with a clear outline and good adhesion. In the OGD/R group, cells were wrinkled, with blurred outline, poor adhesion, and lots of suspended dead cells appeared; compared with the OGD/R group, the cell morphology and adherence were improved, with clearer outlines and fewer dead cells in the USW group. Compared with the Con group, the OGD/R group showed decreased cell activity, increased apoptotic rate, and down-regulating SPCA1 expression with significant differences (all P<0.001); compared with the OGD/R group, the USW group showed increased cell activity, decreased apoptotic rate, and up-regulating SPCA1 expression with significant differences (P<0.01 or P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS USW alleviates the injury of cellular OGD/R, and its protective effect may be related to its up-regulation of SPCA1 expression.
Animals ; Rats ; Apoptosis ; Brain Ischemia ; Glucose/metabolism* ; Oxygen/metabolism* ; Reperfusion Injury/metabolism* ; Transcriptional Activation ; Up-Regulation ; Calcium-Transporting ATPases/metabolism*

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the regulatory effects of miR-30e-5p on biological behaviors of colorectal cancer cells and the role of PTEN/CXCL12 axis in mediating these effects. METHODS: Bioinformatic analysis was performed to explore the differential expression of miR-30e-5p between colorectal cancer tissues and normal tissues. RT-qPCR was used to detect the differential expression of miR-30e-5p in intestinal epithelial cells and colorectal cancer cells. Bioinformatics and dual luciferase assay were used to predict and validate the targeting relationship between miR-30e-5p and PTEN. Human and murine colorectal cancer cell lines were transfected with miR-30e-5p mimics, miR-30e-5p inhibitor, miR-30e-5p mimics+LV-PTEN, or miR-30e-5p inhibitor + si-PTEN. The changes in biological behaviors of the cells were detected using plate clone formation assay, CCK-8 assay, flow cytometry, scratch healing and Transwell assays. PTEN and CXCL12 expressions in the cancer cells were detected by Western blotting. The effects of miR-30e-5p inhibitor on colorectal carcinogenesis and development were observed in nude mice. RESULTS: Bioinformatic analysis showed that miR-30e-5p expression was significantly elevated in colorectal cancer tissues compared with the adjacent tissue (P < 0.01). Higher miR-30e-5p expression was detected in colorectal cancer cell lines than in intestinal epithelial cells (P < 0.01). Dual luciferase assay confirmed the targeting relationship between miR-30e-5p and PTEN (P < 0.05). Transfection with miR-30e-5p mimics significantly enhanced proliferation and metastasis and inhibited apoptosis of the colorectal cancer cells (P < 0.05), and co-transfection with LV-PTEN obviously reversed these changes (P < 0.05). MiR-30e-5p mimics significantly inhibited PTEN expression and enhanced CXCL12 expression in the cancer cells (P < 0.01), and miR-30e-5p inhibitor produced the opposite effect. Transfection with miR-30e-5p inhibitor caused cell cycle arrest in the cancer cells, which was reversed by co-transfection with si-PTEN (P < 0.05). In the in vivo experiments, the colorectal cancer cells transfected with miR-30e-5p inhibitor showed significantly lowered tumorigenesis. CONCLUSION Overexpression of miR-30e-5p promotes the malignant behaviors of colorectal cancer cells by downregulating PTEN to activate the CXCL12 axis.
Humans ; Animals ; Mice ; MicroRNAs/metabolism* ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation/physiology* ; Mice, Nude ; Cell Movement/physiology* ; Colorectal Neoplasms/pathology* ; Luciferases/metabolism* ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase/metabolism* ; Chemokine CXCL12/metabolism*

Cytosine methylation is one of the major types of DNA epigenetic modifications and plays an important role in maintaining normal cell function and regulating gene expression. Bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP) based cloning and sequencing is a general method for detecting DNA methylation at specific sites, which can clarify the methylation status of each CpG site in the target fragment. However, this method requires large amounts of single-clonal sequencing, which is complicated to operate, time consuming and expensive. Therefore, the development of an accurate, efficient and convenient DNA methylation detection technology is of great significance to improve the efficiency of epigenetic research. Based on the high-throughput mutation detection platform Hi-TOM (high-throughput tracking of mutations) developed by our group, we further established a site-specific DNA methylation high-throughput detection platform Hi-Meth (High-throughput Detection of DNA Methylation). After bisulfite treatment of DNA samples, the specific site-specific DNA methylation analysis results could be obtained through the Hi-Meth platform by performing only one round of PCR amplification. Using the Hi-Meth platform, the DNA methylation status of two promoter regions of rice were detected. The DNA methylation results from Hi-Meth were consistent with the results from BSP-based method. Thus, site-specific DNA methylation analysis results could be obtained accurately and conveniently through the Hi-Meth platform. In conclusion, Hi-Meth provides an important methylation detection platform for specific DNA regions, which has important significance for epigenetic research.
DNA Methylation ; Epigenesis, Genetic ; Epigenomics ; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing/methods* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sequence Analysis, DNA/methods*

ObjectiveTo investigate the effects of different potassium application rates on the growth， yield and quality of two-year-old Belamcanda chinensis and to provide a basis for potassium application to achieve high yield and quality of B. chinensis. MethodOn the basis of nitrogen and phosphorus fertilization at 120 kg·hm^-2， we designed five potassium treatments of 0 （K₀）， 60 （K₆₀）， 120 （K₁₂₀）， 180 （K₁₈₀） and 240 （K₂₄₀） kg·hm^-2 in a field experiment to study the effects of different potassium application rates on the agronomic traits， rhizome yield， flavonoid content and potassium fertilizer utilization efficiency of the two-year-old B. chinensis. ResultThe application of potassium fertilizer promoted the root development and tillering， which significantly improved the yield of B. chinensis. Compared with the K₀ treatment， the other potassium treatments increased the rhizome yield by 16.0%-44.0% and K₁₈₀ had the highest yield. The application of potassium fertilizer increased the accumulation of flavonoids in the rhizomes of B. chinensis. The total accumulation of six flavonoids （mangiferin， tectoridin， iridin， tectorigenin， irigenin and irisflorentin） increased by 33.2% in the K₁₂₀ treatment compared with that in the K₀ treatment. Furthermore， the application of potassium fertilizer promoted the accumulation of N， K， Mg， Fe and Zn. With the increase in potassium application rate， the potassium accumulation of B. chinensis first increased and then decreased， while the partial productivity and the absorptivity of roots and leaves gradually decreased. The agronomic efficiency of potassium fertilizer was higher at low to medium potassium application rates and decreased significantly at high potassium application rates. The results of the principal component analysis indicated that the ranking of the overall quality score of B. chinensis was K₁₂₀>K₁₈₀>K₂₄₀>K₆₀>K₀. ConclusionConsidering factors such as yield， quality and potassium utilization efficiency of two-year-old B. chinensis， the potassium application at 120-166 kg·hm^-2 is recommended for the production of B. chinensis in Tuanfeng County.