Search Results (25,388)

The purpose of this work is to investigate the binding state of inorganic elements to flavonoid components in aqueous extract of Silybum marianum (SM) seeds, as well as the antioxidant activity of the extract. This study employed reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) to separate silymarin flavonoids in boiling water decoction of SM seeds, and collected the post-column effluent in the segments according to the retention time of seven main silymarin flavonoid components. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was subsequently utilized to quantify nine inorganic elements (As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Zn) in the collected HPLC fractions of the decoction. Meanwhile, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) was employed to assess the free radical scavenging activity of aqueous extract of SM seeds, using the signal intensity changes of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and DMPO-OH• adducts as quantitative metrics. The results showed that essential trace elements (Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn) mainly existed as inorganic ions or strong polar forms in the tea-like infusion, with weak binding to flavonoid compounds. On the other hand, the aqueous extract exhibited significant •OH scavenging capacity, with a scavenging rate of 95% against •OH generated by continuous 5 min ultraviolet irradiation of H₂O₂ aqueous solution. This study provides experimental evidence for the development of SM as a food–medicine dual-purpose resource, proposing that consumption of SM seed tea represents a facile and effective approach to supplement trace elements and intake silymarin for enhancing endogenous antioxidant defense. Full article

Flax (Linum usitatissimum L.) is among the earliest domesticated crops and remains agronomically and economically important due to its dual use for fibre and seed (oil) production. In recent years, renewed interest in flax has emerged from its role in diversified and sustainable agriculture, human nutrition, and bio-based industrial applications. This review provides a comprehensive agronomic synthesis of global flax production, integrating worldwide production trends, genetic resource availability, and the main agronomic drivers governing crop establishment, growth, yield, and quality. Particular emphasis is placed on climatic requirements, soil and nutrient management, crop management practices, and water use, as well as on the contrasting requirements of fibre flax and seed flax. Despite growing research efforts, agronomic knowledge on flax remains fragmented across environments, production purposes, and management strategies, limiting the translation of experimental findings into robust, environment-specific crop management recommendations. Sustainable intensification of flax production will therefore depend on integrating optimized agronomic practices with breeding strategies that exploit existing genetic diversity to improve yield stability, quality, and resilience under increasing climatic variability. Full article

Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is an important source of food and feed and contributes to soil improvement through its association with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. By enabling higher yields and selection of tolerant genotypes, controlled environment agriculture (CEA) could meet increasing nutritional needs despite adverse conditions. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effects of drought stress on the development of vegetable pea genotypes under controlled vertical farming conditions. Plants were grown in CEA and exposed to drought stress at different developmental stages, after flowering and after pod formation. Drought significantly reduced pod and seed numbers, showing a stronger effect than genotype. For example, genotype Favorit produced 7.67 and 9.00 seeds per plant under control conditions, compared with only 2.00 and 2.67 seeds per plant under drought treatments. Pod length, seed number, and seed weight were also lower under stress, highlighting the importance of water availability during seed setting and filling. Fresh and dry biomass were mainly influenced by genotype, indicating differences in stress adaptability. The results also demonstrate that CEA can be used for reproducible abiotic stress experiments relevant to plant breeding and crop production. Full article

Soil-borne diseases have become increasingly serious due to continuous planting. Soil fumigation may be inadequate because of the persistence of soil-borne pathogens on ginger seed rhizome. A combined strategy of soil fumigation and seed rhizome disinfection would be necessary to achieve synergistic control. In this study, the approach of soil fumigation with chloropicrin (CP) coupled with seed rhizome disinfection (Copper, Cu) was first adopted to evaluate the synergistic effects on soil physicochemical properties, enzyme activities and microbial communities, and therefore reveal mechanisms for soil microecological health and crop yield promotion. The results showed the comprehensive strategy could reduce NO₃⁻-N content, and the activities of soil enzymes, while increased NH₄⁺-N content, EX-Cu, and OXI-Cu content, which were positively correlated with ginger yield but negatively correlated with soil-borne pathogens and plant mortality. On the other hand, there was a reduction in bacterial diversity and richness, which was positively correlated with the abundance of soil-borne pathogens. Moreover, some beneficial soil microorganisms’ relative abundance (such as Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, Bacillus, and Sphingomonas.) was increased. The strategy decreased the abundance of Fusarium spp. and Phytophthora spp. by 49.41–90.07% and 43.34–89.21%, respectively. Compared with other treatments, the combination decreased the ginger mortality by 5.70–57.02% and increased the growth of ginger plants and yield by 3.58–139.96%, and 13.11–399.74%, respectively. This study highlights a prospect to promote ginger growth and yield by blocking the transmission of primary infection pathogens in ginger cultivation and improving soil ecological environment. Full article

Background/Objectives: Emotion classification based on eye-movement features has become a widely adopted approach due to the simplicity of data acquisition and the strong association between ocular responses and emotional states. However, several challenges remain with regard to existing emotion recognition methods, including the relatively weak correlation between eye-movement features and emotional labels and the fact that the key features are not prominently presented. Methods: To address abovelimitations, this study proposes an improved CNN-transformer combined with enhanced deep canonical correlation analysis network (ICTD). The proposed method first performs preprocessing and reconstruction of raw eye-movement signals to extract informative features. Subsequently, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and transformer architectures are employed to capture local and global feature, respectively. In addition, an incremental feature feedforward network is incorporated to enhance the transformer, enabling the model to assign higher importance to salient feature information. Finally, the extracted representations are processed through deep canonical correlation analysis based on cosine similarity in order to generate classification outcomes. Results: Experiments conducted on the SEED-IV, SEED-V, and eSEE-d datasets demonstrate that the proposed ICTD framework consistently outperforms baseline approaches and attains optimal classification results. (1) On the eSEE-d dataset, the results of three-category arousal and valence classification reach 81.8% and 85.2%, respectively; (2) on the SEED-IV dataset, the emotion four-category classification result reaches 91.2%; (3) finally, on the SEED-V dataset, the emotion five-category classification result reaches 85.1%. Conclusions: The proposed ICTD framework effectively improves feature representation and classification performance, showing strong potential for practical emotion recognition and physiological signal analysis. Full article

Spiny lobster aquaculture in Southeast Asia represents one of the most economically valuable and socially important forms of small-scale coastal aquaculture globally. Unlike most aquaculture sectors, production in Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines has developed almost entirely on the basis of wild-caught pueruli (postlarval lobsters) rather than hatchery-produced seed. This reliance on wild seed has generated persistent debate regarding biological sustainability, environmental risk, and compatibility with responsible aquaculture principles. Here, we synthesise more than two decades of regional production data, fisheries observations, larval biology research, population genetics, and oceanographic modelling to evaluate the sustainability of puerulus fishing in Southeast Asia. Evidence indicates that many major settlement areas function as recruitment sinks, characterised by extremely high natural mortality and weak coupling between local settlement and local adult spawning biomass. Under these conditions, harvesting pueruli prior to inevitable natural mortality is unlikely to reduce adult lobster stocks when spatially targeted and appropriately regulated. We further demonstrate that puerulus fisheries exhibit exceptionally low environmental impact while underpinning substantial livelihood benefits for coastal communities. We conclude that wild seed fisheries, when embedded within effective governance frameworks, represent a legitimate and sustainable foundation for crustacean aquaculture during the transition toward commercial hatchery technologies. Full article

Cadmium (Cd) contamination severely threatens crop productivity and food safety, particularly in maize (Zea mays L.), which exhibits relatively high capacities for metal uptake and translocation. Metal tolerance proteins (MTPs) play essential roles in metal homeostasis and detoxification; however, the functions of maize MTP under Cd stress remain poorly understood. In this study, a comprehensive expression analysis of the maize MTP gene family revealed that two Zn-CDF members, ZmMTP1-1 and ZmMTP1-2, displayed the strongest and most consistent transcriptional induction in response to Cd stress, especially in roots. Phylogenetic and structural analyses confirmed that both genes are closely related to MTP1 homologs from other plant species, while exhibiting distinct gene structures and regulatory features. Functional characterization in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana demonstrated that overexpression of ZmMTP1-1 or ZmMTP1-2 significantly enhanced tolerance to Cd and Zn stress, as reflected by improved seed germination, root growth, survival, and biomass accumulation. Enhanced metal tolerance was associated with elevated antioxidant enzyme activities, reduced oxidative damage, and coordinated upregulation of endogenous metal transporter genes. Moreover, heterologous expression of ZmMTP1-1 in yeast further supported its conserved role in Cd tolerance. Collectively, these findings indicate that ZmMTP1-1 and ZmMTP1-2 contribute to Cd detoxification through coordinated metal transport and stress-response pathways, providing potential genetic resources for improving heavy metal tolerance in maize. Full article

Extreme droughts are projected to become more frequent and severe under climate change, posing significant risks to wetland ecosystems and submerged macrophyte communities. We combined field surveys in West Dongting Lake, China, combined with controlled greenhouse experiments to examine how drought intensity (expressed as contrasting soil moisture conditions during drought) and drought timing affect submerged macrophyte species richness, biomass, as well as resilience, mediated through species response in their reproductive strategies. Field observations revealed a sharp decline in clonal species (Hydrilla verticillata, Ceratophyllum demersum, Vallisneria spinulosa) following an extreme drought, while the sexual species Najas marina emerged as dominant. Greenhouse experiments confirmed these patterns and elucidated underlying mechanisms: extreme drought suppressed biomass, leaf area, and seedling re-germination in clonal species, whereas N. marina maintained regeneration via a persistent soil seed bank. Moderate drought enhanced leaf area, consistent with the intermediate disturbance hypothesis, while early drawdowns were most detrimental to growth. Species-specific responses highlight the role of reproductive strategy in drought resilience. These findings underscore the need for climate-adaptive water-level management, including limiting early drawdowns, mitigating extreme drought, and conserving seed banks to sustain biodiversity and ecosystem function under increasing hydroclimatic variability. Full article

Sugar metabolism is an important factor in influencing fruit ripening, while the associated mechanism is not well understood. Cell wall invertase (CWIN) inhibitors play important roles in plant organ (such as fruit, seed, leave, tuber) development and stress resistance, as they are able to regulate CWIN activity through protein–protein interaction, affecting sugar levels in plants. Here, we report a novel role of one tomato CWIN inhibitor in regulating fruit ripening. Specifically, knockout of SlINVINH1 gene via CRISPR/Cas9 technique accelerated the onset of fruit ripening process, along with the increase in CWIN activity and contents of sucrose, glucose, fructose and carotenoid and decrease in chlorophyll content in ripening fruits of the CR-slinvinh1 mutants. Transcriptome analysis demonstrated that the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in fruits of CR-slinvinh1 were enriched in several biological pathways related to fruit ripening and/or sugar metabolism. The expression levels of invertase genes and inhibitor genes in CR-slinvinh1 were consistent with the alterations of invertase activity and sugar levels. Moreover, the transcript levels of a set of pivotal ripening-related marker genes including the global ripening regulator gene SlRIN were increased in ripening fruits of CR-slinvinh1. This study provides novel insights into the regulatory network underlying tomato fruit ripening, as well as a new genetic strategy using CWIN inhibitor genes to simultaneously accelerate fruit ripening and increase fruit sweetness. Full article

The objective of this study was to use plant models, Allium cepa and Lepidium sativum, to assess the genotoxic effects of the urban particulate matter (PM) collected in a Northern Italian town. Aqueous extracts of different particle sizes (PM_10–3, PM_3–0.5, PM_0.5) were tested alongside the organic extracts through the standard Ames test. The organic particulate matter extracts were subjected to mutagenicity testing in the Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98 and TA100 (without and with metabolic activation), whereas the aqueous extracts were evaluated for genotoxicity in the emerging seedlings of L. sativum and in the root tips of A. cepa bulbs using the comet test to detect the primary DNA damage. Furthermore, the micronuclei frequency was assessed in the bulbs of A. cepa. As expected, the organic extracts of PM_3–0.5 and PM_0.5 induced point mutations in bacteria. The aqueous extracts of the finest fractions caused a significant increase in genotoxic damage in both plant models. These findings indicate that the two plant models (L. sativum seeds and A. cepa bulbs) are able to detect the genotoxicity of aqueous extracts of air pollutants, with many potential advantages as screening-level tools to complement Ames testing for an easier assessment of urban air quality in terms of DNA toxicity. Full article

The present study aimed to determine the optional alginate and CaCl₂ concentrations in the encapsulation formulation to produce alginate beads of Stachys byzantina, thereby offering a potential alternative method for its propagation. Stem explants were derived from in vitro cultures grown on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 10 μM benzyladenine (BA) and were evaluated for their germination and regeneration potential after a short-term storage period (1, 2, and 3 months). Three different sodium alginate concentrations (2%, 2.5% and 3%) were used for the preparation of alginate beads. For the hardening of the alginate beads, calcium chloride dihydrate (CaCl₂·2H₂O) at four concentrations (50, 100, 200 and 400 mM) was employed for 35 min. The combination of 100 mM calcium chloride with sodium alginate at concentrations of 2.0%, 2.5%, or 3.0% resulted in high germination rates, ranging from 73.33% to 76.60%. However, germination rates declined with increased storage duration. Among the formulations, 2.5% sodium alginate consistently supported higher germination over time, with rates of 53.33% and 36.66% observed after 2 and 3 months of storage, respectively. The decline in germination rate was followed by an increase in bead hardness over time. The optimal encapsulation matrix composition was identified as 2.5% sodium alginate with 100 mM CaCl₂, which yielded the highest regeneration rate of explants after 1, 2 and 3 months of cold storage at 4 °C. Full article

Genome-wide association analysis and transcriptomics were used to investigate salt tolerance traits during germination in 300 Gossypium hirsutum L. germplasm accessions, with the objective of identifying genes and molecular markers associated with salt tolerance. Under 200 mmol L⁻¹ NaCl stress, six traits were evaluated, germination rate, root length, shoot length, root fresh weight, shoot fresh weight, and total fresh weight, as well as their respective salt tolerance indices. A total of 1277 significantly associated single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were identified and mapped to 94 quantitative trait loci (QTLs). Of these, 49 QTLs were detected by three or more analytical models, and three QTLs were prioritized for further investigation. Subsequent analysis of these QTLs identified 73 candidate genes potentially involved in cotton salt tolerance. Integration of transcriptomic data revealed that three candidate genes were among the differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Examination of their RNA-seq expression profiles demonstrated significant differences in fragments per kilobase of transcript per million mapped reads (FPKM) values across sampling time points. These three candidate genes are therefore predicted to be associated with salt tolerance during cotton germination. The results provide new insights into the molecular regulatory mechanisms of salt stress tolerance in cotton and offer valuable genetic resources and molecular markers for the genetic improvement of salt tolerance. Full article

Moist chilling is widely used to overcome seed dormancy in zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica Steud.), but the coordinated physiological and molecular basis remains unclear. Here, freshly matured seeds were subjected to moist chilling at 4 °C in darkness for 0 (Control), 1 (CS1), 2 (CS2), 3 (CS3), or 4 weeks (CS4) and then transferred to germination conditions (30/20 °C, day/night). Prolonged moist chilling progressively improved dormancy release: final germination percentage increased from 40.5% (Control) to 73.5% (CS4), accompanied by a higher germination index and earlier, faster cumulative germination dynamics. Moist chilling also enhanced early seedling vigor, with stronger treatment differentiation in root elongation than in shoot growth. Physiologically, abscisic acid (ABA) content declined while gibberellic acid (GA) content increased, resulting in an elevated GA/ABA ratio with prolonged chilling. Metabolic activation was evidenced by increased α-amylase activity, greater soluble sugar and soluble protein accumulation, and stimulated oxygen uptake. In addition, CAT, SOD, and POD activities were enhanced under prolonged moist chilling, whereas H₂O₂ levels remained relatively stable, suggesting that redox adjustment during dormancy release was characterized by strengthened antioxidant buffering rather than pronounced oxidative accumulation. qRT-PCR supported a mechanistic transition from dormancy maintenance to germination execution, showing moist chilling-associated regulation of ABA/GA metabolism and signaling genes (e.g., NCED, CYP707A, ABI3/ABI5, and GA20ox) and downstream metabolic modules (e.g., GAMYB, AMY, ISA, INV, and HXK1), together with concurrent modulation of respiration- and ROS-related markers (e.g., AOX1a, RBOH, and CAT). Correlation analysis linked germination performance most strongly with α-amylase activity, oxygen uptake, and the GA/ABA ratio. Collectively, our data support a working model in which moist chilling rebalances the ABA–GA gate and activates downstream metabolic and redox adjustment modules to promote dormancy release and improve germination performance in zoysiagrass, providing practical markers for optimizing seed establishment through moist chilling treatment. Full article

Wastewaters from the food industry and domestic sources contain large amounts of ammonium, a major contributor to eutrophication. Recovering this nutrient for fertilizer use offers both environmental and agricultural benefits. Poplar chop-derived biochars were prepared under different pyrolysis temperatures (300–500 °C) and chemical modifications (acidic and alkaline) to optimize ammonium (NH₄⁺) adsorption and fertilizer reuse. The biochars were characterized by zeta potential, SEM–EDX, FTIR, and specific surface area measurements. Batch adsorption tests revealed that the alkaline-modified biochar produced at 300 °C achieved the highest capacity (4.63 mg NH₄⁺/g biochar) and 62% removal efficiency. Adsorption kinetics followed a pseudo-second-order model (R² = 0.97) but showed only marginal differences among models without independent mechanistic evidence. The Temkin isotherm described the equilibrium data the best (R² > 0.99). Ammonium-enriched biochars enhanced seed germination by up to 54% compared to the control and increased plant biomass up to 12-fold in pot experiments. These results demonstrate that optimized biochars can effectively recover ammonium from wastewater; moreover, the observed plant growth improvement suggests potential slow-release behavior, promoting nutrient recycling and sustainable agriculture. Full article

Cartilage is an important yet vulnerable tissue with limited self-healing capacity, where damage often progresses to joint degeneration, which eventually leads to severe osteoarthritis (OA). Current tissue engineering strategies focus on biocompatible scaffolds for cartilage regeneration, particularly amnion (or amniotic membrane), emerging as a promising biomaterial due to its wide availability, low immunogenicity, and naturally derived microenvironment that is advantageous for cartilage regeneration. This systematic review aims to evaluate the existing evidence on the efficacy of amnion as a tissue scaffolding material for cartilage regeneration in both preclinical and clinical studies. Using terms such as “cartilage damage”, “cartilage injuries”, “amnion” and “amniotic membrane”, 19 relevant studies were identified across three major databases (PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science) until 25 December 2025. All preclinical and clinical studies that utilized amnion for cartilage repair or as cartilage tissue engineering scaffolding materials were included. Evidence quality was assessed using the OHAT and MINORS risk of bias tool. This study is prospectively registered in the PROSPERO database under the ID 1178444. The findings consistently indicate that amniotic scaffolds, regardless of processing methods or cell seeding, yield favorable outcomes without adverse effects across different species. In vitro analysis revealed that treatment groups with amnion show better cell attachment, viability, and proliferation, and higher content of cartilage-related markers expressed by the seeded cells, either chondrocyte, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), adipose tissue-derived MSCs, placenta-derived MSCs, umbilical cord-derived MSCs, amniotic MSCs or amniotic epithelial cells. In in vivo and ex vivo studies, amnion-treated groups demonstrated improved quality of the treated cartilage, with better integration, as indicated by higher histological scores and the presence of type II collagen (COL-II). There was an inconsistency in the reporting of cartilage defect dimensions in the in vivo models across the different studies. Nevertheless, the outcome measurements were consistently reported with histological analysis, with or without International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) scoring and immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis, across the studies. Clinically, most subjects show improvement in the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) Sports and Recreation score and KOOS Quality of Life score, as well as reduced Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) average and maximum pain scores. In conclusion, preclinical and clinical studies support amnion as an ideal scaffold material for cartilage tissue engineering and regeneration. Future research should focus on optimizing and standardizing amnion scaffold preparation at a production scale to facilitate the translation of these positive outcomes into clinical applications. This study is funded by the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia via Prototype Research Grant Scheme (PRGS/1/2021/SKK01/UM/02/1) and UM International Collaboration Grant—2023 SATU Joint Research Scheme Program: ST007-2024. Full article