Abiotic stresses substantially affect the growth and development of plants. Plants have evolved multiple strategies to cope with the environmental stresses, among which transcription factors play an important role in regulating the tolerance to abiotic stresses. Basic leucine zipper transcription factors (bZIP) are one of the largest gene families. The stability and activity of bZIP transcription factors could be regulated by different post-translational modifications (PTMs) in response to various intracellular or extracellular stresses. This paper introduces the structural feature and classification of bZIP transcription factors, followed by summarizing the PTMs of bZIP transcription factors, such as phosphorylation, ubiquitination and small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) modification, in response to abiotic stresses. In addition, future perspectives were prospected, which may facilitate cultivating excellent stress-resistant crop varieties by regulating the PTMs of bZIP transcription factors.
Basic-Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors/genetics* ; Protein Processing, Post-Translational ; Phosphorylation ; Transcription Factors/genetics* ; Stress, Physiological/genetics*

Objective:To explore the efficacy of subcutaneous injection of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in preventing invasive fungal disease (IFD) in patients with multiple myeloma (MM).Methods:The clinical data of 222 patients who were admitted to the Second Hospital of Harbin Medical University from January 2015 to June 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients was given GM-CSF (3-5 μg·kg -1·d -1, GM-CSF group) or granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF, 2-5 μg·kg -1·d -1, G-CSF group) when neutrophils (ANC) ≤1.5×10 9/L after induction chemotherapy. Patients were discontinued when white blood cell count (WBC) ≥10.0×10 9/L. The incidence of IFD (including confirmed, clinical and proposed diagnosis) and breakthrough invasive fungal infections was compared between the two groups. Results:The incidence of IFD was 8.1% (18/222) in all patients. The incidence of IFD was 3.5% (3/85) and 10.9% (15/137) in the GM-CSF and G-CSF groups, respectively, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant ( χ2 = 3.88, P = 0.049). In 9 patients of GM-CSF group receiving fungal infection prophylaxis and in 15 patients of G-CSF group receiving fungal infection prophylaxis, the incidence of breakthrough invasive fungal infections was 0 and 7 cases, respectively, and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant ( P = 0.022). Conclusions:GM-CSF application in MM patients can reduce the incidence of IFD and breakthrough invasive fungal infections.

Pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 component subunit beta-1 (PDHB-1) is a gene encoding the β-subunit of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, which plays an important role in fruit acid accumulation. The aim of this study was to investigate the evolution characteristics of apple PDHB-1 family and its expression in apples with different acid contents. Bioinformatics analysis was performed using databases including NCBI, Pfam and software including ClustalX, MEGA, and TBtools. By combining titratable acid content determination and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR), the expression of this family genes in the peel and pulp of apple 'Asda' and 'Chengji No.1' with different acid content were obtained, respectively. The family members were mainly located in chloroplast, cytoplasm and mitochondria. α-helix and random coil were the main factors for the formation of secondary structure in this family. Tissue-specific expression profiles showed that the expression of most members were higher in fruit than in other tissues. qRT-PCR results showed that the expression profile of most members was consistent with the profile of titratable acid contents. In the peel, the expression levels of 14 members in 'Asda' apples with high acid content were significantly higher than that in 'Chengji No.1' apples with low acid content, where the expression difference of MdPDHB1-15 was the most significant. In the pulp, the expression levels of 17 members in 'Asda' apples were significantly higher than that in 'Chengji No.1' apples, where MdPDHB1-01 was the most highly expressed. It was predicted that PDHB-1 gene family in apple plays an important role in the regulation of fruit acidity.
Malus/metabolism* ; Fruit/genetics* ; Protein Structure, Secondary

The vagina contains at least a billion microbial cells,dominated by lactobacilli.Here we perform metagenomic shotgun sequencing on cervical and fecal samples from a cohort of 516 Chinese women of reproductive age,as well as cervical,fecal,and salivary samples from a second cohort of 632 women.Factors such as pregnancy history,delivery history,cesarean section,and breastfeeding were all more important than menstrual cycle in shaping the microbiome,and such information would be necessary before trying to interpret differences between vagino-cervical micro-biome data.Greater proportion of Bifidobacterium breve was seen with older age at sexual debut.The relative abundance of lactobacilli especially Lactobacillus crispatus was negatively associated with pregnancy history.Potential markers for lack of menstrual regularity,heavy flow,dysmenor-rhea,and contraceptives were also identified.Lactobacilli were rare during breastfeeding or post-menopause.Other features such as mood fluctuations and facial speckles could potentially be predicted from the vagino-cervical microbiome.Gut and salivary microbiomes,plasma vitamins,metals,amino acids,and hormones showed associations with the vagino-cervical microbiome.Our results offer an unprecedented glimpse into the microbiota of the female reproductive tract and call for international collaborations to better understand its long-term health impact other than in the settings of infection or pre-term birth.

Objective:To explore the influence of nursing organization atmosphere on clinical nurses' workplace loneliness, verify and analyze the mediating role of psychological capital between nursing organization atmosphere and workplace loneliness.Methods:This study was a cross-sectional survey, using the convenience sampling to select clinical nurses from two Class Ⅲ Grade A hospitals in Shanxi Province from October to December 2019 as the research object. The survey was conducted using the General Information Questionnaire, Organizational Climate Scale for Nursing, Questionnaire about Workplace Loneliness, and Psychological Capital Scale. The structural equation model was used to analyze the mediating effect of psychological capital between nursing organization atmosphere and workplace loneliness. A total of 1 035 questionnaires were collected in this study, with 963 valid questionnaires, and the effective response rate was 93.04%.Results:Among 963 clinical nurses, the total scores of Organizational Climate Scale for Nursing, Questionnaire about Workplace Loneliness, and Psychological Capital Scale were (88.08±10.08) , (30.42±5.23) and (83.21±12.62) respectively. The structural equation model showed that the nursing organization atmosphere had a direct and indirect predictive effect on nurses' workplace loneliness, and the path coefficients were -0.27 and -0.22 respectively. Psychological capital had a mediating effect between the nursing organization atmosphere and workplace loneliness.Conclusions:Psychological capital plays a mediating role between nursing organization atmosphere and workplace loneliness. Nursing managers should take effective measures to create a good organizational atmosphere, improve the level of psychological capital of clinical nurses, and reduce nurses' workplace loneliness.

Objective To evaluate surgical complications and outcomes based on prostate size in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) treated with plasmakinetic enucleation of prostate (PKEP).Methods A retrospective review was conducted of PKEP performed in 326 patients with BPH.According to the prostate size on preoperative transrectal ultrasonography measurement,patients were divided into three groups:groupl:＜40ml (n =92),group2:40～80ml (n =155),and group3:＞80ml (n =79).Intraoperative and perioperative parameters were evaluated.Patient perioperative data and postoperative outcomes were compared.Patients were followed up at 1,3,6 and 12 months after surgery.Early and late complications were recorded.Results There were significant differences among three groups regarding the mean operative time (P ＜ 0.01) and the mean resected tissue weight (P ＜ 0.01).However,enucleation efficiency (P ＜ 0.01) in gm tissue per minute increased significantly as prostate size increased.Mean hemoglobin decrease (P ＞0.05),mean serum sodium decrease (P ＞0.05),mean postoperative irrigation time (P ＞ 0.05),mean catheter time (P ＞ 0.05) and mean hospital stay (P ＞0.05) did not differ significantly among three groups.Three groups had a similar and significant postoperative improvement in international prostate symptom score (IPSS),quality of life (QOL),maximum urine rate (Qmax),and post-void residual urine volume(PVR) independent of prostate size (P ＜ 0.01),but no significant difference was found among three groups during 1,3,6 and 12-month follow-up (P ＞ 0.05).Perioperative and postoperative complications did not depend on prostate size (P ＞ 0.05).Conchsions Although patients with a larger BPH required significantly longer operation time in PKEP,prostate size did not affect perioperative and postoperative complications or micturition improvement.

BACKGROUND:An ideal scaffold material needs appropriate degradation rate and certain mechanical properties, but the traditional colagen sponge scaffold has rapid degradation velocity and low mechanical strength, which is easy to colapse and difficult to maintain its natural form. Traditional cross-linking methods also have the problems of cytotoxicity or colagen denaturation, severely limiting the application of colagen. OBJECTIVE:To design a new cross-linking method for colagen and to optimize the self-assembly process so as to develop a colagen sponge scaffold with good mechanical properties and resistance to degradation. METHODS:Colagens were modified by self-assembly technology to prepare colagen fibrils which were then freeze-dried into fibrilar colagen sponges. Meanwhile, we optimized the conditions of self-assembly by using orthogonal experiment based on univariate analysis of the effect of initial colagen mass concentration, final phosphate concentration and pH value on the conversion yield of colagen self-assembly. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:We optimized the conditions of self-assembly revealed that the optimum conditions to prepare colagen fibrils were determined as pH=8.0, initial colagen concentration=2 mg/mL, and final concentration of phosphate=15 mmol/L. The results of scanning electron microscope showed that fibrilar colagen sponges were characterized by refined porous structure which was connected by colagen fibrils. In addition, the fibrilar colagen sponges showed better equilibrium-sweling ratio, water retaining property and mechanical strength compared with unmodified colagen spondages (P < 0.05), to solve the problems in rapid degradation.

Recent researches show that follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) plays an important regulatory role in the angiogenesis of ovarian cancer by influencing the level of some factors such as hypoxia inducefactor-1 ( HIF-1 ) ,vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Meanwhile, recent studies report that FSH and FSH receptor(FSHR) may also participate in the angiogenesis of other solid tumors like lung cancer. FSH is closely related to the tumor angiogenesis, which provides a novel therapeutic target for anti-angiogenesis thera-py.

The present study investigated the enhanced radiosensitivity of U-251 cells induced by sodium butyrate (NaB) and its possible mechanisms. Increased radiosensitivity of U251 cells was examined by clonogenic cell survival assays. The expression of Ku70 mRNA and protein was detected by using RT-PCR and Western blotting respectively. γ-H2AX foci were measured at different time points after ionizing irradiation alone or combined with NaB treatment. The results showed that cell survival rate was significantly reduced, both D0 and Dq values were decreased (D0: 1.43 Gy vs. 1.76 Gy; Dq: 1.22 Gy vs. 2.05 Gy) after the combined treatment as compared with irradiation alone, and sensitivity enhancing ratio (SER) reached 1.23. The average number of γ-H2AX foci per cell receiving the combined treatment was significantly increased at different time points, and the expression levels of Ku70 mRNA and protein were suppressed by NaB in a dose-dependent manner. It was concluded that enhanced radiosensitivity induced by NaB involves an inhibited expression of Ku70 and an increase in γ-H2AX foci, which suggests decreased ability in DSB repair.

The present study investigated the enhanced radiosensitivity of U-251 cells induced by sodium butyrate (NaB) and its possible mechanisms.Increased radiosensitivity of U251 cells was examined by clonogenic cell survival assays.The expression of Ku70 mRNA and protein was detected by using RT-PCR and Western blotting respectively.γ-H2AX foci were measured at different time points after ionizing irradiation alone or combined with NaB treatment.The results showed that cell survival rate was significantly reduced,both D0 and Dq values were decreased (D0:1.43 Gy vs.1.76 Gy; Dq:1.22 Gy vs.2.05 Gy) after the combined treatment as compared with irradiation alone,and sensitivity enhancing ratio (SER) reached 1.23.The average number ofγ-H2AX foci per cell receiving the combined treatment was significantly increased at different time points,and the expression levels of Ku70mRNA and protein were suppressed by NaB in a dose-dependent manner.It was concluded that enhanced radiosensitivity induced by NaB involves an inhibited expression of Ku70 and an increase in γ-H2AX foci,which suggests decreased ability in DSB repair.