Lower Stem Research Articles

Uptake and Translocation of Foliar-Applied L-Proline in Sweet Cherry (Prunus avium L.)

Foliar application of nitrogen (N) may supplement soil-applied N in sweet cherry orchards. The proteinogenic amino acid L-proline is a potential source of organic N. However, little is understood about its uptake and effects on fruit quality. In this study, 15N-labelled L-proline was spray-applied to branches of the cultivar ‘Lapins’ either pre- or post-harvest. Leaves, fruit, and whole branches were sampled to investigate the uptake and allocation of foliar-applied N. Both treatments resulted in elevated 15N levels in leaves, with N derived from proline (%NDP) comprising 0.22% and 0.45% after pre- and post-harvest applications, respectively. The fruit was a sink for pre-harvest L-proline, with the highest %NDP in the pedicel (0.21%), followed by the skin (0.17%) and flesh (0.12%). Quality outcomes of smaller, darker fruit with lower stem retention indicate advanced maturity following L-proline application. Both pre- and post-harvest treatments resulted in the recovery of 15N in branches at late dormancy, with %NDP in bark (0.12%), buds (0.15%), and wood (0.02%) of the post-harvest treatment twice as high compared with those from the pre-harvest treatment. This study demonstrates proof of concept of the uptake of L-proline into the leaves of sweet cherry plants and translocation into the fruit and storage organs of the branch.

Low‐Threshold, External‐Cavity‐Free Flexible Perovskite Lasers

AbstractA distinct advantage of halide perovskite semiconductors is their potential as gain media in high‐performance, all‐solution‐processed flexible lasers. However, most perovskite microlasers employ external optical resonators with rigid and high‐temperature/vaccum‐processed structures unsuitable for flexible applications. Here, low‐threshold, external‐cavity‐free perovskite lasers (≈550 nm, linewidth: ≈0.3 nm, quality factor: ≈1900, room temperature), prepared with excellent reproducibility using simple one‐step spin‐coating and low‐temperature annealing, are demonstrated. Exceptionally low lasing thresholds of 9.3 and 14.6 µJ cm−2 are achieved for external‐cavity‐free perovskite lasers on rigid and flexible substrates, respectively. The thresholds and quality factors are on par with that of high‐performance perovskite microlasers with well‐designed external cavities. The lasers exhibit good operational stability, showing half‐life of >1.8 × 108 pulses under optical pumping in air. Transient optical experiments reveal that the low thresholds stem from enhanced band‐to‐band spontaneous and stimulated emission processes in the high‐quality microcrystalline perovskite, effectively out‐pacing trap‐mediated and Auger processes detrimental to the lasing action. The flexible perovskite lasers retain >95% of the initial intensity after 10000 bending cycles, showing outstanding mechanical durability. As these lasers can be produced from solution within minutes at low costs, the findings are expected to enable high‐throughput, scalable fabrication of perovskite lasers for emerging applications.

Effects of Soil pH on the Growth and Cadmium Accumulation in Polygonum hydropiper (L.) in Low and Moderately Cadmium-Contaminated Paddy Soil

Wetland macrophytes have advantages when used in the remediation of cadmium (Cd)-contaminated paddy fields because they can adapt to overly wet soil environments; however, only a few studies have tested the efficiency of macrophytes in Cd phytoremediation. In this study, we investigated the effect of soil pH (pHs of 5, 6, and 7) on the accumulation and translocation of Cd by Polygonum hydropiper (L.) in low and moderately Cd-contaminated paddy soil (0.56 and 0.92 mg/kg, respectively). Our results indicated that Cd accumulation in stems and roots, as well as subcellular distribution in P. hydropiper, was affected by soil pH, with significant interactions between the soil pH and Cd level. At low soil Cd levels, stem and root Cd contents were higher at a soil pH value of 6. In addition, with higher soil pH values, the proportion of Cd distributed in the cell wall increased, whereas that distributed in the organelles decreased. The Cd content in the roots and stems of P. hydropiper significantly decreased with the increase in soil pH in the moderate Cd-contaminated soil. In addition, with higher soil pH values, the proportion of Cd distributed in the cell wall decreased, whereas that distributed in the organelles increased. The translocation factor (TF) of P. hydropiper was higher than one in all treatments, indicating that it can effectively transport root-absorbed Cd to the aboveground shoots. Based on the relatively high bioconcentration factor and TF, P. hydropiper has the potential to remediate Cd-polluted paddy soil. Furthermore, the remediation efficiency of P. hydropiper can be enhanced by adjusting the pH as per the soil-Cd pollution.

Xylem development and phloem conductivity in relation to the stem mechanical strength of Paeonia lactiflora

The quality of cut Paeonia lactiflora flowers is limited by their low stem mechanical strength, but the underlying mechanism of this low strength is poorly understood. In this study, two P. lactiflora cultivars with distinct stem mechanical strengths (Chui Touhong with low stem mechanical strength and Da Fugui with high stem mechanical strength) were used as test materials. The xylem development was examined at the cellular level, and the phloem conductivity was analyzed by evaluating phloem geometry. The results showed that the secondary cell wall formation of the xylem of Chui Touhong was affected primarily in fiber cells but was affected little in vessel cells. The formation of the secondary cell walls in the xylem fiber cells of Chui Touhong was delayed, resulting in longer and thinner fiber cells with a lack of cellulose and S-lignin in the secondary cell walls. Moreover, the phloem conductivity of Chui Touhong was lower than that of Da Fugui, and more callose was accumulated in the lateral walls of the phloem sieve elements of Chui Touhong. Consequently, the delayed deposition of the secondary cell walls of the xylem fiber cells was the main factor leading to the low stem mechanical strength of Chui Touhong, and the low stem mechanical strength was closely related to the low conductivity of sieve tubes and extensive callose accumulation in the phloem. These findings provide a new perspective on enhancing P. lactiflora stem mechanical strength by targeting single cell level, and lay the foundation for future works on the correlation between phloem long-distance transport and stem mechanical strength.

Multi-component cord blood banking: a proof-of-concept international exercise.

Most public cord blood (CB) banks currently discard more than 80% of umbilical CB units not suitable for hemopoietic stem cell transplant due to low stem cell count. Although CB platelets, plasma, and red blood cells have been used for experimental allogeneic applications in wound healing, corneal ulcer treatment, and neonatal transfusion, no standard procedures for their preparation have been defined internationally. A network of 12 public CB banks in Spain, Italy, Greece, the UK, and Singapore developed a protocol to validate a procedure for the routine production of CB platelet concentrate (CB-PC), CB platelet-poor plasma (CB-PPP), and CB leukoreduced red blood cells (CB-LR-RBC) using locally available equipment and the commercial BioNest ABC and EF medical devices. CB units with >50 mL volume (excluding anticoagulant) and ≥150×109/L platelets were double centrifuged to obtain CB-PC, CB-PPP, and CB-RBC. The CB-RBC were diluted with saline-adenine-glucose-mannitol (SAGM), leukoreduced by filtration, stored at 2-6°C, and tested for hemolysis and potassium (K+) release over 15 days, with gamma irradiation performed on day 14. A set of acceptance criteria was pre-defined. This was for CB-PC: volume ≥5 mL and platelet count 800-1,200×109/L; for CB-PPP: platelet count <50×109/L; and for CB-LR-RBC: volume ≥20 mL, hematocrit 55-65%, residual leukocytes <0.2×106/unit, and hemolysis ≤0.8%. Eight CB banks completed the validation exercise. Compliance with acceptance criteria was 99% for minimum volume and 86.1% for platelet count in CB-PC, and 90% for platelet count in CB-PPP. Compliance in CB-LR-RBC was 85.7% for minimum volume, 98.9% for residual leukocytes, and 90% for hematocrit. Compliance for hemolysis ≤0.8% decreased from 89.0 to 63.2% from day 0 to 15. K+ release increased from 3.0±1.8 to 25.0±7.0 mmol/L from day 0 to 15, respectively. The MultiCord12 protocol was a useful tool to develop preliminary standardization of CB-PC, CB-PPP, and CB-LR-RBC.

Ablation efficacy of 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy on human glioma stem cells.

Cancer cells with stem cell-like features are generally more resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy than differentiated tumor cells. Thus, these cells tend to increase the propensity for tumor recurrence and metastasis. This study investigated the efficacy of 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) in destructing glioma stem cells (GSCs), including the mesenchymal subtype (MES-GSCs) demonstrated to have the lowest radio- and chemosensitivity. Five high-grade glioma (HGG) GSC lines and derived differentiated glioma cell (DGC) lines were examined for protoporphyrin-IX (PpIX) expression using fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and then assessed for ALA-PDT sensitivity using cell viability assays. MES-GSCs surviving ALA-PDT were then isolated and evaluated for stem cell and mesenchymal marker expression levels (CD44, ALDH1A3, KLF4, nestin) by qRT-PCR. The ability of these surviving cells to form tumors was then examined using colony forming and by xenograft tumor assays in athymic mice. Finally, the relationship between PpIX expression level (high versus low) and ALA-PDT sensitivity was examined by FACS and colony forming assays. ALA-PDT was effective against all GSC lines including MES-GSCs. MES-GSC lines exhibited higher PpIX expression than derived DGCs. Surviving MES-GSCs demonstrated lower stem cell marker expression and tumor forming potential than naive MES-GSCs. Higher PpIX production capacity by MES-GSCs was associated with greater colony forming ability, and ALA-PDT was more effective against MES-GSCs with greater PpIX accumulation. ALA-PDT may be clinically effective against HGG by targeting GSCs, including MES-GSCs.

Conserved Structure Associated with Different 3'CITEs Is Important for Translation of Umbraviruses.

The cap-independent translation of plus-strand RNA plant viruses frequently depends on 3' structures to attract translation initiation factors that bind ribosomal subunits or bind directly to ribosomes. Umbraviruses are excellent models for studying 3' cap-independent translation enhancers (3'CITEs), as umbraviruses can have different 3'CITEs in the central region of their lengthy 3'UTRs, and most also have a particular 3'CITE (the T-shaped structure or 3'TSS) near their 3' ends. We discovered a novel hairpin just upstream of the centrally located (known or putative) 3'CITEs in all 14 umbraviruses. These CITE-associated structures (CASs) have conserved sequences in their apical loops and at the stem base and adjacent positions. In 11 umbraviruses, CASs are preceded by two small hairpins joined by a putative kissing loop interaction (KL). Converting the conserved 6-nt apical loop to a GNRA tetraloop in opium poppy mosaic virus (OPMV) and pea enation mosaic virus 2 (PEMV2) enhanced translation of genomic (g)RNA, but not subgenomic (sg)RNA reporter constructs, and significantly repressed virus accumulation in Nicotiana benthamiana. Other alterations throughout OPMV CAS also repressed virus accumulation and only enhanced sgRNA reporter translation, while mutations in the lower stem repressed gRNA reporter translation. Similar mutations in the PEMV2 CAS also repressed accumulation but did not significantly affect gRNA or sgRNA reporter translation, with the exception of deletion of the entire hairpin, which only reduced translation of the gRNA reporter. OPMV CAS mutations had little effect on the downstream BTE 3'CITE or upstream KL element, while PEMV2 CAS mutations significantly altered KL structures. These results introduce an additional element associated with different 3'CITEs that differentially affect the structure and translation of different umbraviruses.

Spatially restricted tumour-associated and host-associated immune drivers correlate with the recurrence sites of pancreatic cancer

ObjectiveMost patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) will experience recurrence after resection. Here, we investigate spatially organised immune determinants of PDAC recurrence.DesignPDACs (n=284; discovery cohort) were classified according to recurrence...

Infestation Phases and Impacts of Dryocoetes confusus in Subalpine Fir Forests of Southern British Columbia

Subalpine fir mortality and stand decline are increasingly evident in British Columbia (B.C.). This long-term study confirmed Dryocoetes confusus to be the major disturbance agent in high-elevation subalpine forests, killing over two-thirds of subalpine fir in eleven one-hectare study plots. D. confusus infestations in mature stands can be described as early-, mid-, or late-phase. The transition from the early- through late-phase is characterized by a lowered stem density as high levels of D. confusus attack and remove the largest trees, while other mortality factors kill smaller trees. Initially, live subalpine fir density and D. confusus activity varied among plots. By a final assessment, very little difference was observed in live stems per hectare. Mortality from all factors ranged from 0.5% to 5% annually, reaching as high as 80% in-stand mortality with &gt;6 times more dead than live volume. When subalpine fir density was reduced to &lt;400 sph, the D. confusus attack rate declined. Cumulative mortality increased the average gap size in plots from 11 m2 to 18 m2. Our study also showed that D. confusus might be able to switch to a univoltine life cycle, taking advantage of warmer and longer growing seasons that, in part, could explain the rapid increase in mortality in stands.

A Career Preparation Course for Biomedical Science Majors Focused on Skills for Diverse Career Paths.

Training in career preparation is vital for biomedical science, microbiology, and related life science undergraduates to know the types of careers available in the field, to obtain employment after graduation, and to be successful in these careers. This is especially critical for historically marginalized students who have lower science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) retention and lower STEM employment rates. Thus, we developed a career preparation course aimed for second- and third-year students in biomedical science, microbiology, biology, and related majors. This course introduced students to diverse careers via guest speakers and provided training and practice in key career skills, like writing CVs and cover letters. In this curriculum article, we present our course curriculum and resources, evidence of student achievement of learning objectives, and evidence that this course supported growth in constructs like science networking and confidence in future self, which are known to support student STEM retention and success.

First report of southern blight of Dendrobium huoshanense caused by Sclerotium rolfsii in Lu'an, China.

Dendrobium, the second largest genus of Orchidacea, are mainly distributed in Asia, Oceania and Europe (Ding et al., 2008). An emerging disease on D. huoshanense with symptoms resembling southern blight Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. occurred during June to September from 2017 to 2020 in Huoshan, Lu'an, China. The yield and quality of D. huoshanense were seriously affected especially under greenhouse conditions in July, with a disease incidence of 42%. Early symptoms consisted of water-soaked lesions on the lower stem tissue. Then leaves turned pale green and withered, a dense white mycelial mat were formed on the lower stem along with 1- to 2-mm-diameter, white round sclerotia. Subsequently, infected stems collapsed with the whole stem yellow and withered, and with many dark brown sclerotia on withered stems. Sclerotia from 5 diseased plants were disinfected in 1% mercury bichloride for 10 s, rinsed in 75% ethanol for 30 s and then rinsed 4 times with sterile water, dried, and transferred to potato dextrose agar (PDA) with the cross section and incubated at 27 °C in darkness. Mycelia were selected from the edge of the colony and transferred to new PDA plates for purification of cultures after 3 days. Fungal colonies with white mycelia and abundant sclerotia developed after 7 days of incubation. Isolate morphological characteristics confirmed the identity as S. rolfsii (Mordue, 1974). To further confirm the identity of the causal fungus, the complete internal transcribed spacer (ITS) rDNA region, the elongation factor-1a gene (EF1a) and the large subunit (LSU) region of one representative isolate, MB-1, was amplified using the primers ITS1/ITS4 (White et al. 1990), EF1-983F/EF1-2218R (Rehner and Buckley 2005), and NL1/NL4 (O' Donnell et al. 1997), respectively. Sequences have been deposited in GenBank (Accession No. OM946593 for ITS, OL416131 for EF1a and OL373917 for LSU). There was 100% sequence identity to Athelia rolfsii (S. rolfsii) with the sequences MN610008.1 (ITS) and MW322687.1 (EF1a), and 99.84% sequence identity to MT225781.1 (LSU). Pathogenicity tests were performed by wound inoculation with culture discs of mycelia ( = 5 mm) on the stem base of 10-12 cm height plants (four stems per pot, one stem inoculated with one culture disc, four replicates). Four healthy stems of the plants served as a control. The test was conducted in an artificial climate incubator at 26±1 °C with a 16h light/8h dark photoperiod and plants were enclosed for 72 h in polyethylene bags (relative humidity = 90%). Two days post-inoculation, white mycelia developed in the wound and the leaves at the upper and lower parts of the wound began to turn yellow. Then the stem softened and turned yellow. White sclerotia were formed by the sixth day. By 12 days post-inoculation, stems were atrophied and collapsed, sclerotia were yellow brown, and most leaves showed yellow discolouration and fell off. S. rolfsii was re-isolated from infected plants. Control plants remained healthy. To our knowledge, this is the first report of S. rolfsii causing southern blight on D. huoshanense in Lu'an, China. Confirmation of the causal agent provides a basis for management of S. rolfsii in cultivated D. huoshanense.

Functional characterization of 5' untranslated region (UTR) secondary RNA structures in the replication of tick-borne encephalitis virus in mammalian cells.

Tick-borne Encephalitis Virus (TBEV) is an emerging flavivirus that causes neurological disorders including viral encephalitis of varying severity. Whilst secondary RNA structures within the 5' untranslated regions (UTRs) of many flaviviruses determine both virus replication and pathogenic outcomes in humans, these elements have not been systematically investigated for TBEV. In this study, we investigated the role of predicted RNA secondary elements of the first 107 nucleotides (nts) of the viral genome forming the stem-loop A (SLA). Experiments were performed in replicons and infectious TBEV system. This region comprises three distinct structures: 5' stem 0 (S0), stem-loop 1 (SL1) and stem-loop 2 (SL2). S0 was found to be essential for virus infection as mutations in the lower stem of this region significantly reduced virus replication. Point mutations in SL1 that preserved the Y-shape confirmation delayed viral RNA replication but did not abolish virus infectivity. Deletion of SL2 did not abolish infectivity but had a negligible effect on virus propagation. No correlation was observed between in vitro translation efficiency and virus infectivity, suggesting that the 5'UTR functions independently to virus translation. Together, these findings reveal distinct RNA elements within the 5'UTR that are essential for the stability and replication of viral RNA. We further identify changes in RNA folding that lead to altered TBEV infectivity and pathogenesis.

Systemic inflammatory regulators and risk of acute-on-chronic liver failure: A bidirectional mendelian-randomization study.

Inflammation plays a role in the pathogenesis of acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF), however, whether there is a causal relationship between inflammation and ACLF remains unclear. A two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) approach was used to investigate the causal relationship between systemic inflammatory regulators and ACLF. The study analyzed 41 cytokines and growth factors from 8,293 individuals extracted from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis database involving 253 ACLF cases and 456,095 controls. Our results showed that lower stem cell factor (SCF) levels, lower basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) levels and higher Interleukin-13 (IL-13) levels were associated with an increased risk of ACLF (OR = 0.486, 95% CI = 0.264-0.892, p = 0.020; OR = 0.323, 95% CI = 0.107-0.972, p = 0.044; OR = 1.492, 95% CI = 1.111-2.004, p = 0.008, respectively). In addition, genetically predicted ACLF did not affect the expression of systemic inflammatory regulators. Our results indicate that cytokines play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of ACLF. Further studies are needed to determine whether these biomarkers can be used to prevent and treat ACLF.

Hyperspectral Inversion Model of Relative Heavy Metal Content in Pennisetum sinese Roxb via EEMD-db3 Algorithm

Detection rapidity and model accuracy are the keys to hyperspectral nondestructive testing technology, especially for Pennisetum sinese Roxb (PsR) due to its extremely high adsorptive heavy metal content. The study of the resolution of PsR is conducive to the analysis of the accumulated heavy metal content in its different parts. In this paper, the contents of Cd, Cu and Zn accumulated in the old leaves, young leaves, upper stem, middle stem and lower stem, as well as the hyperspectral data of the corresponding parts, were measured simultaneously in both fresh and dry states. To begin, the spectral data of PsR were preprocessed by using Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition-Daubechies3 (EEMD-db3), Savitzky–Golay (SG), Symlet3 (sym3), Symlet5 (sym5), and multiplicative scatter correction (MSC). The 40 samples were divided into 32 training sets and 8 validation sets. The preprocessed spectral data were transformed by the first derivative (FD) and reciprocal logarithm (log(1/R)) to highlight the singularities using binary wavelet decomposition. After screening the significant bands from the correlation curve, the competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS) and successive projection algorithm (SPA) were applied to extract the spectral characteristic variables, which were used to establish the partial least-squares (PLS) regression and multiple stepwise linear regression (MSLR) inversion models of Cd, Cu, and Zn contents. Based on EEMD-db3 pretreatment, the inversion model of Zn in the dry (fresh) state had R2 values of 0.884 (0.880), NRMSE values of 0.179 (0.253) and RPD values of 3.191 (3.221), indicating excellent stability and predictive performance. The findings of this study can not only aid in the rapid nondestructive detection of heavy metal adsorption in various parts of PsR, but can also be applied to guide the development and use of animal feed.

Oat companion seeding rate, herbicide, and irrigation effects on alfalfa stand establishment

AbstractAlfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is often grown in water‐limited climates where available soil moisture is a key factor in determining the success or failure of new stand establishment. This study was conducted to determine optimal oat (Avena sativa L.) companion seeding rates for alfalfa establishment across a range of soil moisture levels. The effects of five oat seeding rates (0 [with and without herbicide], 11, 22, 45, and 89 kg ha−1) under five water levels on alfalfa stand establishment, forage yield, and nutritive value were evaluated at North Logan, UT, on a Millville silt loam soil (coarse‐silty, carbonatic, mesic Typic Haploxeroll) in 2019 and 2020. When soil moisture was adequate, first cut alfalfa stem density increased twofold as oat seeding rates decreased from 89 to 11 kg ha−1, but at low soil moisture levels stem density increased fivefold to sevenfold. At second cut, the only stem density differences that remained were at low irrigation. First cut forage yields were lowest in 0 kg ha−1 treatments and increased with increasing oat seeding rates. The opposite was true at second cutting, where yields were greatest where no oat had been planted. Yield differences were more extreme as soil moisture was reduced. The highest oat seeding rate had comparable weed control effects to the herbicide. Generally, the presence of either oat or weeds reduced forage nutritive value when compared to alfalfa alone. Reducing oat seeding rates or eliminating the companion crop altogether appears to improve alfalfa stand establishment when soil moisture is limited.

Understanding the Role of Cancer Stem Cells in Treatment Resistance and Poor Outcomes of Rectal Cancer in Indian Population

Background Rectal cancer is one of the common gastrointestinal cancers and a leading cause for cancer deaths in India especially in the younger population. Cancer stem cells as part of intratumoral heterogeneity are attributed to therapy failure due to stemness related resistance mechanisms. Better understanding of resistant stem cell clones of rectal cancer will increase the success rate of cancer treatment. Methods After Institutional ethical committee approval the primary cell cultures from two tumour specimens of rectal cancer patients planned for chemoradiation and at the time of surgery were prepared. From single cell suspension cultures total stem cell population was estimated based upon Hoechst 33342 dye staining technique and its correlation with patientsrsquo overall survival was evaluated.Results During the study period out of 91 newly diagnosed rectal cancer patients 21 rectal cancer tissue samples were collected before chemoradiation and at the time of surgery from 12 patients consisting of ten males and two females in the age range of 29 to 67 years. Single cell suspension culture from tumour tissue samples collected from eight patients prior to their chemoradiation were prepared with maximum duration of viability of 10 days. Range of percentage of Hoechst low stem cells to Hoechst bright tumours cells was from 0.2 to 0.9 in eight SCSC with significant correlation with overall survival.Conclusion Cancer stem cell populations in rectal cancer patients can be attributed to poor outcomes owing to the resistance mechanisms to chemoradiation termed as stemness. Better understanding of stemness and targeting of pathways by novel therapies can improve current poor outcome.

Crescimento, produtividade e qualidade de tubérculos de clones e cultivares de batata

ABSTRACT This study aimed to evaluate the plant performance of two advanced potato clones compared to two standard cultivars. Field experiments were carried out in Canoinhas-SC, Pelotas-RS and Brasília-DF. The experimental design was in randomized blocks with four replications of plots composed of 44 useful plants plus borders. Four plant samples per plot were collect 30, 44, 56, 72, 86 and 100 days after planting. Morpho-agronomic characters were evaluated throughout the crop cycle, and at the end of the crop cycle tuber yield and frying quality were determined. There was a direct relationship between tuber yield and shoot development. For these characters, both clones F63-10-07 and F21-07-09 presented superior values compared to the standard cultivars in Pelotas, and these together with ‘Atlantic’ were superior to ‘Asterix’ in Canoinhas. In Brasilia, the standard cultivars showed greater shoot development, but the final marketable yield was not statistically different. F63-10-07 and ‘Atlantic’ have a lower stem number per plant, indicating the need to manage this character to adjust the stem density in the field.

The yield and quality of cassiavera (Cinnamomum burmanii L.) oil at different harvest ages from Malalak farmers in West Sumatra

This study compared the oil yield and identified the quality of cassiavera with plants ages 7 years, 18 years, and random (broken) one. Parameters measured included yield, physicochemical properties, and chemical composition. Based on the results, the oil yield was 1%, 0.9%, and 0.7% at ages 8 and 7 years of upper and lower stem parts, as well as for the broken form. This indicates that the longer plant age correlates with a higher yield. The yield at 7 and 18 years is not much different, hence the harvest can be performed at the age of 7 years considering a shorter waiting period. The physicochemical test of oil solubility in 70% ethanol showed a ratio of 1:1 and a clear appearance according to the maximum requirements of INS (Indonesian National Standard) 06-3734:2006, namely 1:3 clear. Meanwhile, the refractive index (RI) test indicated 1.56 as the best value for cassiavera scion at the age of 7 years in line with INS 06-3734:2006 conditions of 1.559 - 1.595. The chemical composition test for the oil as a whole complied with the minimum standard of INS 06-3734:2006, namely 50% cinnamaldehyde.

Development of a lightweight, portable, waterproof, and low power stem respiration system for trees

Stem respiration is a quantitatively important, but poorly understood component of ecosystem carbon cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. However, a dynamic stem gas exchange system for quantifying real-time stem carbon dioxide (CO2) efflux (Es) is not commercially available resulting in limited observations based on the static method where air is recirculated through a stem enclosure. The static method has limited temporal resolution, suffers from condensation issues, requires a leak-free enclosure, which is often difficult to verify in the field, and requires physically removing the chamber or flushing it with ambient air before starting each measurement.•With the goal of improving our quantitative understanding of biophysical, physiological, biochemical, and environmental factors that influence diurnal Es patterns, here we present a custom system for quantifying real-time stem Es in remote tropical forests.•The system is low cost, lightweight, and waterproof with low power requirements (1.2-2.4 W) for real-time monitoring of stem Es using a 3D printed dynamic stem chamber and a 12V car battery. The design offers control over the flow rate through the stem chamber, eliminates the need for a pump to introduce air into the chamber, and water condensation issues by removing water vapor prior to CO2 analysis.•Following a simple CO2 infrared gas analyzer (IRGA) calibration and match procedure with a 400-ppm standard, we quantified diurnal Es observations over a 24-hours period during the summer growing season from an ash tree (Fraxinus sp.) in Fort Collins, Colorado. The results are consistent with previous laboratory and field studies that show Es can be suppressed during the day relative to the night.

A new thinking: deciphering the aberrance and clinical implication of copper-death signatures in clear cell renal cell carcinoma

RationaleRecent research has indicated that cuprotosis, or copper induced cell death, is a novel type of cell death that could be utilized as a new weapon for cancer management. However, the characteristics and implications of such signatures in cancers, especially in clear cell renal cell cancer (ccRCC), remain elusive.MethodsExpression, methylation, mutation, clinical information, copy number variation, functional implication, and drug sensitivity data at the pan-cancer level were collected from The Cancer Genome Atlas. An unsupervised clustering algorithm was applied to decipher ccRCC heterogeneity. Immune microenvironment construction, immune therapy response, metabolic pattern, and cancer progression signature between subgroups were also investigated.ResultsCuprotosis related genes were specifically downregulated in various cancer tissues compared with normal tissues and were correlated with hypermethylation and copy number variation. Cuprotosis scores were also dysregulated in tumor tissues, and we found that such a signature could positively regulate oxidative phosphorylation and Myc and negatively regulate epithelial mesenchymal translation and myogenesis pathways. CPCS1 (cuprotosis scores high) and CPCS2 (cuprotosis scores low) in ccRCC displayed distinctive clinical profiles and biological characteristics; the CPCS2 subtype had a higher clinical stage and a worse prognosis and might positively regulate cornification and epidermal cell differentiation to fuel cancer progression. CPCS2 also displayed a higher tumor mutation burden and low tumor stemness index, while it led to a low ICI therapy response and dysfunctional tumor immunity state. The genome-copy numbers of CPCS2, including arm- gain and arm- loss, were higher than those of CPCS1. The prognostic model constructed based on subgroup biomarkers exerted satisfactory performance in both the training and validation cohorts. In addition, overexpression of the copper death activator DLAT suppressed the malignant ability, including cell migration and proliferation, of renal cell lines in vitro and in vivo. Finally, activation of cuprotosis in tumors could enhance antitumor immunity through dsDNA-cGAS-STING signaling in ccRCC.ConclusionThe activation of cuprotosis might function as a promising approach among multiple cancers. The cuprotosis related signatures could reshape tumor immunity in the ccRCC microenvironment via cGAS-STING signal, thus activating tumor antigen-presenting process. Upregulation of DLAT expression in ccRCC cell lines could reactivate the copper death pattern and be treated as a suitable target for ccRCC.