Search Results (9,898)

Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium) is a globally significant ornamental plant, whose growth, development, and ornamental quality are frequently impaired by salt stress. DOF (DNA-binding with one finger) family transcription factors extensively act as crucial regulators in medicating reactions to environmental pressures on plants. But their specific functions in regulating salt stress tolerance in chrysanthemum still remain largely elusive and require further investigation. Here, we isolated CmDOF2, a DOF family transcription factor from chrysanthemum, whose expression was up-regulated in chrysanthemums under salt stress. Functional analysis demonstrated that CmDOF2 functions as a nuclear-localized transcriptional activator. Comprehensive phenotypic and physiological characterization showed that heterologous expression of CmDOF2 in Arabidopsis thaliana conferred markedly increased salt stress tolerance, as reflected by higher chlorophyll, leaf relative water, and proline content; lower leaf relative electric conductivity and malondialdehyde content; and increased activities of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and catalase. Furthermore, qRT-PCR analyses confirmed that stable expression of CmDOF2 in Arabidopsis led to increased transcript levels of key salt-responsive genes, including stress marker genes (AtRD29A, AtRD29B), components of the SOS signaling pathway (AtSOS1, AtSOS2, AtSOS3), genes involved in osmotic adjustment (AtP5CS1, AtP5CS2), and genes encoding antioxidant enzymes (AtSOD1, AtPOD34, AtCAT3). Collectively, our data demonstrate that CmDOF2 serves as a nuclear-localized transcriptional regulator with activation activity and positively regulates salt stress tolerance by mediating the transcript levels of stress-related genes in multiple signaling pathways. Full article

Background: The root of Schisandra propinqua (Wall.) Baill. var. sinensis Oliv is a traditional ethnomedicine in China; it was widely used to treat abscesses, sores, carbuncles, rheumatism, and so on. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the bacteriostatic mechanism of the ethyl acetate extract from the root of Schisandra propinqua (Wall.) Baill. var. Sinensis Oliv (Xiao Xue Teng) against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 (S. aureus ATCC 25923). Methods: Bioactive bacteriostatic constituents in Xiao Xue Teng were identified through Hybrid Quadrupole-TOF LC/MS/MS. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of Xiao Xue Teng against S. aureus ATCC 25923 was determined using the microbroth dilution method. A time–kill curve analysis was used to evaluate the bacteriostatic effects. SDS-PAGE coupled with nano-liquid NanoLC-ESI-MS/MS, real-time PCR, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to study the bacteriostatic mechanism of Xiao Xue Teng against S. aureus ATCC 25923. Results: The MIC of Xiao Xue Teng against S. aureus ATCC 25923 was determined to be 15.625 µg/mL. The translation initiation factor (IF-2) and elongation factor (EF-Tu) were significantly decreased in S. aureus ATCC 25923 after treatment with Xiao Xue Teng, while the proteins SodA and AhpC were obviously increased. The intracellular levels of total reactive oxygen species (ROS) and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) were significantly increased (p < 0.01) after the treatment with Xiao Xue Teng. Concurrently, the activities of SOD, CAT and GSH-Px were significantly increased (p < 0.01). Moreover, cellular swelling and shrinkage were observed using SEM. Conclusions: The bacteriostatic mechanism of Xiao Xue Teng against S. aureus ATCC 25923 was related to eliciting oxidative stress, inhibiting protein synthesis and enhancing cytoplasmic membrane permeability. Full article

Timely and accurate identification of learning disability (LD) severity is critical for early screening and for guiding appropriate clinical and educational interventions. This study developed a machine learning model with feature selection and hyperparameter optimization (MLFSHO) architecture to predict the severity of LD using heterogeneous clinical data with clinical expert labeling. Four machine learning models including eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGB), Categorical Boosting (CAT), Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LGBM), and Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) were implemented within the MLFSHO architecture that integrates HSIC-based feature selection and Optuna-based joint optimization of feature-related parameters and model hyperparameters. Experiment results indicated all machine learning-based (ML-based) models can provide average accuracy of more than 85%. In addition, hyperparameter optimization consistently improved most predictive performance. Joint optimization of feature-related parameters and model hyperparameters achieved the best overall performance across models. These findings suggest that treating feature selection and hyperparameter tuning as a unified optimization problem can improve the reliability of severity prediction in learning disabilities and support early screening in clinical settings. The proposed MLFSHO architecture provides a systematic approach for modeling heterogeneous clinical data and improves the performance of LD severity prediction. Full article

Salinity and drought are major constraints to wheat productivity, affecting growth, photosynthesis, and cellular homeostasis. While many studies have examined responses to these stresses individually, comparative evaluation of genotypes under both stresses using an integrated physiological, biochemical, and multivariate framework remains limited. Here, six wheat genotypes were evaluated at the seedling stage under controlled salinity and drought treatments to identify key morphological and physio-biochemical markers associated with stress resilience. Both stresses reduced shoot and root growth, biomass, gas exchange, and photosynthetic pigments, with drought causing stronger inhibition. Among genotypes, Akbar-2019 exhibited the greatest tolerance, maintaining higher growth, pigment stability, photosynthetic performance, and membrane integrity, whereas Subhani-2021 was the most sensitive. Stress-induced osmotic adjustment was evident from increased proline, soluble sugars, and free amino acids, particularly in Akbar-2019. Antioxidant enzymes (SOD, POD, CAT, APX) were elevated under both stresses; Akbar-2019 combined stronger antioxidant activity with lower malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide levels, indicating effective mitigation of oxidative damage. Multivariate analyses (PCA, heatmap clustering, and MGIDI) consistently ranked Akbar-2019 as the most resilient genotype. These findings provide a novel, integrative framework for screening wheat under multiple abiotic stresses, identify promising genotypes for breeding and cultivation in stress-prone environments, and highlight combined morpho-physiological stability, osmolyte accumulation, and antioxidant capacity as informative markers for stress tolerance. Full article

Background/Objectives: Predicting 30-day mortality after in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) remains challenging. We developed an interpretable CatBoost model that incorporates the m-NUTRIC score, age, and selected micronutrient biomarkers (i.e., magnesium, zinc, vitamin D, and vitamin B12). We compared its performance with that of logistic regression and quantified variable contributions using SHAP. Methods: Variables were extracted from the electronic medical records of 880 patients with IHCA admitted to a medical intensive care unit. The CatBoost and logistic regression models were trained on a stratified 80/20 split. The decision threshold was optimized using the Youden index (0.482). Discrimination (ROC-AUC with bootstrap confidence intervals), classification metrics, precision–recall analysis, calibration, and decision curve analysis were reported. Results: CatBoost achieved a ROC-AUC of 0.850 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.822–0.879) in the training set and 0.827 (95% CI: 0.760–0.887) in the internal test set, outperforming logistic regression (0.797; 95% CI: 0.720–0.861). The test set accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, specificity, and average precision were 0.761, 0.847, 0.790, 0.817, 0.702, and 0.909, respectively. The Brier score was 0.186. Decision curve analysis showed net benefit across threshold probabilities of 0.20–0.70. The SHAP analysis identified m-NUTRIC and age as the dominant predictors, whereas micronutrients served as complementary contextual factors. Conclusions: The CatBoost model consistently outperformed the logistic regression and warrants prospective multicenter validation. Full article

Bilateral idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a neuromuscular condition involving the compression of the median nerve at both wrists, leading to pain, neurological symptoms, and loss of function. This paper proposes a robust machine-learning framework for a randomized crossover clinical trial comparing two physiotherapeutic treatment regimens: stretching followed by myofascial mobilization (S/M) and the reverse sequence (M/S). Instead of making inferences about the superiority of one treatment over another, the treatment regimen serves as a structured analytical label for investigating predictive separability, feature representation, and model stability within a controlled experimental setting. The clinical dataset of 73 patients underwent rigorous preprocessing, including strength feature aggregation and principal component analysis (PCA). Various classifiers were evaluated, with CatBoost achieving an ROC-AUC of 0.985 and a test accuracy of 96.5%, while Random Forest demonstrated strong adversarial robustness with an adversarial accuracy of 96.83%. To assess robustness, clinically constrained perturbations were introduced into the PCA feature space, simulating realistic input variability. The findings indicate that ensemble learning algorithms can capture structured patterns in crossover clinical datasets and remain stable under low-magnitude adversarial perturbations. The study underscores the importance of robustness evaluation and interpretability when applying machine learning models to biomedical data, particularly in small and well-structured clinical cohorts. Full article

Endoperoxide-containing molecules based on the antimalarial drug artemisinin have demonstrated various biological properties, including modulation of calcium homeostasis. This study evaluated the toxicity and osteogenic activity of five newly developed tetraoxanes (YB1, YB9, YB11, YB17 and T2), alongside three of their non-peroxidic analogues (IC22, IC26 and IC33), in zebrafish (Danio rerio) larvae. For each compound, LC₅₀ values were first determined. Behavioural responses and morphological alterations were studied as indicators of toxicological impact. The osteogenic activity was assessed through the operculum assay, followed by the analysis of gene expression markers related to calcium homeostasis (atp2a1), oxidative stress (sod1, cat), and osteogenesis (sp7, oc2). All the compounds evaluated induced an inhibition of osteogenic activity. T2, YB11, IC33 and IC26 affected the locomotor function by decreasing swimming activity. IC26 and IC33 induced morphological toxicity, characterized by a curved trunk and alterations in larval body curvature. From all the compounds studied, YB1, YB9, YB17 and IC22 showed selective anti-osteogenic activity, without displaying significant behavioural or morphological toxicity. In conclusion, the presence of a peroxide bond in the molecular structure of the compounds increases the anti-osteogenic activity at lower concentrations. All evaluated compounds exhibited anti-osteogenic activity and can be regarded as anti-osteogenic agents. However, YB17 did not induce transcription alterations in the genes analyzed and may thus represent the most promising compound in conditions where a controlled inhibition of bone formation is desirable. Full article

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) disrupts intestinal barrier integrity, induces inflammation, and alters gut microbial balance, leading to diarrhea and growth impairment. Probiotics are considered promising alternatives to antibiotics for managing enteric infections, yet the functional properties and underlying mechanisms of feline-derived strains remain unclear. This study evaluated the protective effects of Ligilactobacillus (L.) agilis ZY25 and L. salivarius ZY35, isolated from healthy cats, against EPEC-induced intestinal injury in C57BL/6 mice, with a focus on barrier function, immune modulation, and microbial homeostasis. In this 21-day experiment, 48 mice were assigned to six groups (n = 8/group): control, EPEC model (MOD), chlortetracycline treatment (CTC), probiotic treatment (PRO-T; post-infection only), probiotic pre-treatment (PRO-P; pre-infection only), and continuous probiotic supplementation (PRO; pre- and post-infection). EPEC challenge (0.2 mL; 1 × 10⁹ CFU/mL) was performed daily during experimental days 8–14. EPEC challenge resulted in weight loss (p < 0.05), increased (p < 0.05) diarrhea incidence, elevated (p < 0.05) serum D-lactate, diamine oxidase, and lipopolysaccharide levels, impaired intestinal morphology, immune imbalance, and microbial dysbiosis. Probiotic administration alleviated these alterations, as evidenced by restored intestinal morphology, reduced serum markers of barrier permeability (D-lactate, DAO, LPS), enhanced systemic immunoglobulins (IgA, IgG, IgM), a balanced cytokine profile (increased IL-4, IL-10; decreased TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, IFN-γ, CRP), and modulation of the gut microbiota (enrichment of beneficial taxa such as Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136_group and suppression of pro-inflammatory Desulfovibrio). The continuous supplementation regimen (PRO) produced the most consistent improvements among the three intervention strategies tested. These findings suggest that feline-derived probiotics mitigate EPEC-induced intestinal dysfunction, accompanied by improved barrier-related indices, immune rebalancing, and microbial stabilization, thereby providing proof-of-concept evidence for their further evaluation in feline gastrointestinal health. Full article

Background: Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) is a well-established tool in human cardiology for detecting subtle myocardial dysfunction using strain indices. In cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), STE has been applied in several studies and has identified myocardial deformation abnormalities. This study aimed to identify sensitive echocardiographic markers of myocardial dysfunction in cats with HCM by comparing global strain and strain rate parameters with those of healthy cats. Methods: Sixty cats were examined, including 31 healthy controls and 29 HCM-affected cats. Echocardiographic assessments included global circumferential strain (GCS), global radial strain (GRS), global longitudinal strain (GLS), their corresponding strain rates (GCSR, GRSR, and GLSR), left atrial ejection fraction (LAEF), and atrial reservoir strain (RS). Results: GLS and GRS were significantly lower in HCM cats than in controls, while GCS showed no significant difference. Among strain rate parameters, only GRSR was significantly reduced in the HCM group. Additionally, both LAEF and RS were markedly decreased, suggesting atrial dysfunction associated with HCM. Conclusions: These findings indicate that GLS and GRS are reliable indicators of left ventricular dysfunction in feline HCM and that GRSR may offer additional insight into myocardial deformation dynamics. Overall, STE provides a useful, non-invasive tool for improving the diagnosis and clinical evaluation of feline HCM. Full article

Sea buckthorn pericarp pomace, a major by-product of juice processing, represents a promising food-grade source of bioactive flavonoids. This study investigated the hypolipidemic effects and underlying mechanisms of total flavonoids extracted from Sea buckthorn pericarp pomace (TFSP) in mice with high-fat diet (HFD)-induced hyperlipidemia. TFSP intervention significantly suppressed body weight gain and improved serum lipid profiles by reducing total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), while increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). Hepatic lipid accumulation and injury were alleviated, accompanied by enhanced activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, GSH-Px) and reduced oxidative stress markers. At the molecular level, TFSP downregulated key lipogenic proteins—including ACC and FAS—and upregulated markers of fatty acid oxidation and triglyceride hydrolysis—namely CPT-1α, PPARα, and ATGL. Moreover, TFSP restored HFD-induced gut microbiota dysbiosis, increased the relative abundance of beneficial genera such as Akkermansia, and decreased that of potentially harmful taxa including Allobaculum. These findings demonstrate that TFSP—a value-added food processing by-product—ameliorates hyperlipidemia through coordinated regulation of hepatic lipid metabolism and gut microbial composition, supporting its potential application as a natural, food-derived ingredient in lipid-lowering functional foods. Full article

Melatonin plays a crucial role in modulating plant stress responses; however, its potential for mitigating salt–alkali stress remains incompletely understood. This study evaluates the efficacy of exogenous melatonin in alleviating moderate salt–alkali stress (120 mM) in poplar (Populus davidiana × P. bolleana ‘Baicheng Shanxinyang No. 1’) seedlings, investigating both pre- and post-stress treatments across a concentration range of 0–1000 μM. Physiological and morphological parameters, including chlorophyll content, antioxidant enzyme activities, and osmolyte accumulation, were analyzed to assess stress responses. Under salt–alkali stress, seedlings exhibited elevated stress markers and osmolyte levels, reflecting activated stress responses. Melatonin at concentrations of 200–400 μM was the most effective in mitigating stress, significantly enhancing antioxidant enzyme activities such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), restoring chlorophyll content, and reducing oxidative damage markers such as malondialdehyde (MDA). It also regulated osmotic balance in leaves, indicating improved cellular stability under stress. Notably, post-stress application required slightly higher melatonin concentrations to achieve comparable recovery, highlighting the critical influence of application timing. These findings provide valuable insights for optimizing melatonin use to improve poplar growth in saline–alkali environments and support molecular breeding efforts aimed at developing salt–alkali-tolerant poplar varieties. Full article

Cognitive dysfunction and neurodegenerative disorders represent an increasing clinical challenge in aging dogs and cats, while objective and minimally invasive biomarkers for early detection and disease monitoring remain limited. Tear film is a biologically active fluid reflecting both local and systemic processes and offers a practical, non-invasive source of potential biomarkers in geriatric veterinary patients. Proteomic analyses of canine and feline tear film have revealed a complex protein composition, including molecules involved in inflammation, oxidative stress, immune regulation, and cellular homeostasis—processes implicated in neurodegeneration. However, growing evidence from human and veterinary research emphasizes the importance of CNS-specific and mechanistically informative biomarkers, such as markers of axonal injury, synaptic degeneration, and glial activation, which may provide a more precise framework for interpreting peripheral proteomic alterations. This review summarizes current knowledge on tear film proteomics in dogs and cats and discusses its potential relevance to cognitive dysfunction and neurodegenerative processes. Particular attention is given to the integration of tear-derived proteins with validated blood and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, as well as to methodological challenges and future research priorities. With appropriate standardization and clinical validation, tear film proteomics may contribute to the development of novel diagnostic and monitoring strategies for neurodegenerative disorders in companion animals. Full article

Salt stress severely constrains wheat growth and yield by inducing osmotic imbalance, ion toxicity, and excessive accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Although salt-tolerant cultivars can adapt through rapid signaling transduction and maintenance of cellular homeostasis, the underlying dynamic regulatory networks remain insufficiently characterized. In this study, we reanalyzed publicly available time-series RNA-seq data (0, 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 h) from the salt-tolerant wheat cultivar Xiaoyan22 under salt stress and constructed a time-series-based co-expression network using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Multiple gene modules were identified, among which the black module showed significant positive correlations with both salt treatment (treatment_bin) and stress duration (time_h). This module displayed a progressively increasing eigengene expression pattern throughout the stress period. Gene significance (GS) was positively correlated with module membership (MM), facilitating the identification of highly connected hub genes within this module. Functional enrichment analysis indicated that genes in the black module were primarily associated with DNA replication and genome stability maintenance, RNA metabolic regulation, phenylpropanoid metabolism, and cuticle/suberin/wax biosynthesis. Physiological analysis further revealed enhanced activities of superoxide (SOD), peroxide (POD), and catalase (CAT), enhanced accumulation of proline and soluble sugars, and a time-dependent increase in MDA under salt stress. qRT-PCR confirmed significant induction of candidate genes, including a ZAR1-like receptor kinase, Remorin, and NETWORKED 1D. Collectively, these findings integrate co-expression network inference with physiological and molecular validation, providing candidate regulators and pathways for understanding salt tolerance and supporting future molecular breeding efforts. Full article

This study investigates the fuel discrimination capability of the flame volume mixing method (FV mixing method) in predicting the lean blowout (LBO) limits of different fuels. Conventional FV-based models exhibit limited sensitivity to variations in fuel properties, especially under lean conditions and for sustainable aviation fuels. In this work, an improved FV mixing method is proposed by replacing the classical droplet evaporation treatment with the Abramzon–Sirignano droplet evaporation model, which accounts for fuel-dependent liquid properties, Stefan flow, and coupled convective heat and mass transfer between the gas phase and droplets. As a result, the proposed method shows enhanced sensitivity to fuel variability and improves the prediction accuracy of the LBO limit for the sustainable aviation fuel Cat-C1. The model performance is validated through numerical simulations and compared with experimental data. The results indicate that, compared with the baseline FV mixing method, the proposed approach reduces the LBO prediction error by 5.7%. The improved FV mixing method provides a more robust framework for LBO prediction, with potential applications in fuel characterization and combustion optimization. Full article

Background/Objectives: Habitat degradation and fragmentation reduce population size, genetic diversity, and connectivity, increasing extinction risk in small and isolated populations. Coastal wetlands of northwestern Peru have undergone extensive anthropogenic modification, yet the genetic and ecological status of resident carnivore populations remains poorly documented. This study aimed to assess genetic diversity, relatedness, demographic signals, and diet composition of a Pampas cat (Leopardus garleppi) population inhabiting the Mangroves San Pedro de Vice (MSPV), a Ramsar-listed coastal wetland. Methods: We combined noninvasive fecal genotyping using eight nuclear microsatellite loci with vertebrate DNA metabarcoding. Scat samples were collected across three field seasons (2019–2021). Individual identification, genetic diversity metrics, genetic mark–recapture estimation of census size (Nc), effective population size (Ne), bottleneck tests, and relatedness analyses were performed to evaluate population status and kin structure. Dietary composition was characterized using metabarcoding and assessed for sex-specific differences. Results: Sixty-eight scats yielded multilocus genotypes for nine individuals (six males, three females). Genetic analyses revealed moderate diversity (mean allelic richness = 3.47; observed heterozygosity = 0.69; expected heterozygosity = 0.58) and evidence consistent with a recent genetic bottleneck. Genetic mark–recapture analyses estimated a small census size (Nc = 9; 95% CI: 7.0–9.0), while the effective population size was markedly low (Ne = 2.4; 95% CI: 1.5–7.4), yielding an Ne/Nc ratio of ~0.27. Multiple first-order kin dyads were detected, indicating strong local kin structure and limited external recruitment. Metabarcoding identified eight vertebrate prey species, with diet dominated by the native rodent Aegialomys xanthaeolus. No significant sex-specific differences in diet composition were detected. Conclusions: The MSPV Pampas cat population represents a small, kin-structured range-edge population showing signatures consistent with recent genetic erosion and restricted connectivity. These patterns align with isolation in a degraded coastal wetland landscape, highlighting the importance of habitat protection, prey resource conservation, and restoration of functional connectivity to support long-term population persistence. Full article