Recently, hydrogel-based conductive materials and their applications as smart wearable devices are paid tremendous attention due to their high stretchability, flexibility, and excellent biocompatibility. Compared with single functional conductive hydrogel,...

High temperature has adverse effects on rice yield and quality. The different influences of night high temperature (NHT) and day high temperature (DHT) on rice quality and seed protein accumulation profiles during grain filling in indica rice '9311' were studied in this research. The treatment temperatures of the control, NHT, and DHT were 28°C/20°C, 27°C/35°C, and 35°C/27°C, respectively, and all the treatments were maintained for 20 days. The result of rice quality analysis indicated that compared with DHT, NHT exerted less effect on head rice rate and chalkiness, whereas greater effect on grain weight. Moreover, the dynamic accumulation change profiles of 61 protein spots, differentially accumulated and successfully identified under NHT and DHT conditions, were performed by proteomic approach. The results also showed that the different suppressed extent of accumulation amount of cyPPDKB might result in different grain chalkiness between NHT and DHT. Most identified isoforms of proteins, such as PPDK and pullulanase, displayed different accumulation change patterns between NHT and DHT. In addition, compared with DHT, NHT resulted in the unique accumulation patterns of stress and defense proteins. Taken together, the mechanisms of seed protein accumulation profiles induced by NHT and DHT during grain filling should be different in rice, and the potential molecular basis is discussed in this study.

Interstrand crosslinks (ICLs) are highly toxic DNA lesions that are repaired via a complex process requiring the coordination of several DNA repair pathways. Defects in ICL repair result in Fanconi anemia, which is characterized by bone marrow failure, developmental abnormalities, and a high incidence of malignancies. SLX4, also known as FANCP, acts as a scaffold protein and coordinates multiple endonucleases that unhook ICLs, resolve homologous recombination intermediates, and perhaps remove unhooked ICLs. In this study, we explored the role of SLX4IP, a constitutive factor in the SLX4 complex, in ICL repair. We found that SLX4IP is a novel regulatory factor; its depletion sensitized cells to treatment with ICL-inducing agents and led to accumulation of cells in the G2/M phase. We further discovered that SLX4IP binds to SLX4 and XPF–ERCC1 simultaneously and that disruption of one interaction also disrupts the other. The binding of SLX4IP to both SLX4 and XPF–ERCC1 not only is vital for maintaining the stability of SLX4IP protein, but also promotes the interaction between SLX4 and XPF–ERCC1, especially after DNA damage. Collectively, these results demonstrate a new regulatory role for SLX4IP in maintaining an efficient SLX4–XPF–ERCC1 complex in ICL repair.

Significance: Oxidative stress is a common denominator of various risk factors contributing to endothelial dysfunction and vascular diseases. Accumulated evidence suggests that sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) expression and/or activity is impaired by supraphysiological levels of oxidative stress, which in turn disrupts endothelial homeostasis. Recent Advances: Several microRNAs (miRNAs) are induced by oxidative stress and termed as oxidative stressresponsive miRNAs. They may play a role linking the imbalanced redox state with dysregulated SIRT1. Critical Issues: This review summarizes recent findings on oxidative stress-responsive miRNAs and their involvement in SIRT1 regulation. Because of the unique characteristics of miRNAs, research in this new area requires an integrative approach that combines bioinformatics and experimental validation. Thus, a research strategy is discussed to identify the SIRT1-regulating miRNAs under oxidative stress and their functional outcomes in relation to endothelial dysfunction. Additionally, the miRNAs implicated in vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis and abdominal aortic aneurysms are discussed along with the translational potential and challenges of using miRNAs and its analogs as therapeutic agents. Future Directions: Although at its infancy, research on oxidative stressresponsive miRNAs and their regulation of SIRT1 may provide new insights in understanding vascular disorders. Moreover, systematic approaches integrating in silico, in vitro, and in vivo observations can be useful tools in revealing the pathways modulating endothelial biology. Antioxid. Redox Signal. 19, 1522Signal. 19, -1538

Sediment particles passing through the guts of deposit feeders are subject to an environment unusually rich in dissolved organic material, especially proteinaceous materials, capable of binding metals. Concentrations of many heavy metals are high in gut fluids of various deposit feeders from pristine environments. Concentrations of Cu and Cd show strong correlations with total acid-hydrolyzed amino acids (TAHAA) in gut fluids in a cross-phyletic survey of 35 deposit feeder species. Similar correspondence with TAHAA obtains among individuals, along longitudinal gut sections, and among molecular weight fractions. Multiple incubations of sediments with a commercial protein solution having similar TAHAA concentration as gut fluid solubilized many metals, showing convergence toward similar composition as gut fluid. Adherence of gut-dissolved metal concentrations to the Irving-Williams order suggests that the rich milieu of soft ligands contained in gut fluids provides a mechanism for mobilization of softer metals in sediments.Dense populations of marine deposit-feeding invertebrates often process large amounts of sediment. As an example, individuals of the lugworm (Arenicola marina, Polychaeta), a common nonselective deposit-feeder species in sandy intertidal zones (Flach and Beukema 1994), can ingest up to 20ϫ their body weight of wet sediments per day (Cadée 1976). Studies on the effects of bioturbation on geochemistry of metals in sediment often emphasize physical movement of particles caused by feeding and burrowing of this species (e.g., Rasmussen et al. 1998), while the impact of digestive processes occurring in the guts of these animals has been largely ignored.Functionally, the tubular guts of deposit feeders often resemble a plug-flow reactor (Penry and Jumars 1987) where transiting sediments are processed. These animals secrete a wide range of digestive agents (e.g., enzymes and surfac-1 Corresponding author (lmayer@maine.edu).

Information recording and encryption/decryption functions are essential due to the prevalence of counterfeiting activities and information leakage in the current age. However, the development of high-resolution information recording and multistage information protection systems to achieve high data security levels, such as self-erasing encrypted data and time-controlled data handling, remains limited. Herein, inspired by the information-recording structure of paper, a multiresponsive nanofiber-reinforced poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) hydrogel (NCPN hydrogel) with improved mechanical properties, solvent-induced high-resolution reversible information recording, self-encryption, and multi-decryption capabilities, is proposed. Due to the unique hydrophilic and hydrophobic structures of the hydrogel matrix, ethanol and other polar analogs can be applied as special inks to record information by changing the lower critical solution temperature to achieve the repeatable transmittance variation. The recorded information can be erased via water wiping or ethanol volatilization. Additionally, self-encryption can be achieved and adjusted based on the ethanol volatilization time and concentration difference, and confidential information can be further decrypted in a water environment or under a thermal stimulus. Furthermore, several stable, repeatable, and fast-response hydrogel-based information-recognition systems are designed and investigated. Therefore, the designed hydrogel-based informational platform provides a universal information-handling system allowing for the reversible recording of information, with self-encryption and multidecryption capabilities.

Hepatoblastoma is a rare disease, and its etiology remains to be revealed. Wilms tumor suppressor-1-associated protein (WTAP) plays a critical role in tumorigenesis. However, whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the WTAP gene predispose to hepatoblastoma risk awaits to be investigated. With the use of the TaqMan assay, we evaluated the genotype frequencies of three WTAP SNPs (rs7766006 G > T, rs9457712 G > A, and rs1853259 A > G) in Chinese children with 313 hepatoblastoma patients and 1,446 controls. Among these three SNPs, only the rs7766006 T allele exhibited a significant association with hepatoblastoma risk (GT versus GG: adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 0.70, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.53–0.92, p = 0.009; GT/TT versus GG: adjusted OR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.57–0.95, p = 0.017). Combined analysis indicated that subjects with two risk genotypes showed significantly higher hepatoblastoma risk, compared to individuals without a risk genotype (adjusted OR = 1.38, 95% CI = 1.02–1.88, p = 0.037). The stratified analysis revealed that the rs1853259 GG genotype, the rs7766006 GT/TT genotype, and two risk genotypes modified hepatoblastoma risk in certain subgroups. The significant results were validated by haplotype analyses and false-positive report probability analyses. Furthermore, the expression quantitative trait locus analysis indicated that rs7766006 T was associated with decreased expression of WTAP mRNA. Collectively, our results suggest that WTAP SNPs may be genetic modifiers for the development of hepatoblastoma.

Injectable hydrogels have attracted growing interests as promising biomaterials for clinical applications, due to their minimum invasive implanting approach and easy-handling performance. Nevertheless, natural biomaterials-based injectable hydrogels with desirable nontoxicity are suffering from limited functions, failing to fulfill the requirements of clinical biomaterials. The development of novel injectable biomaterials with a combination of biocompatibility and adequate functional properties is a growing urgency toward biomedical applications. In this contribution, we report a simple and effective approach to fabricate multi-functional CMC-OSA-DTP hydrogels. Two kinds of natural polysaccharide derived polymers, carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC) and oxidized alginate (OSA) along with 3,3′-dithiopropionic acid dihydrazide (DTP) were utilized to introduce three dynamic covalent bonds. Owing to the existence of triple dynamic bonds, this unique CMC-OSA-DTP hydrogel possessed smart redox and pH stimuli-responsive property, injectability as well as self-healing ability. In addition, the CCK-8 and live/dead assays demonstrated satisfying cytocompatibility of the CMC-OSA-DTP hydrogel in vitro. Based on its attractive properties, this easy-fabricated and multi-functional hydrogel demonstrated the great potential as an injectable biomaterial in a variety of biomedical applications.