Galium aparine L. var. echinospermum (Wallr.) Cuf., an annual or winter annual broadleaf weed in the Rubiaceae family, has become troublesome due to its herbicide resistance in the wheat fields of the Huang-Huai-Hai region in China. Four cleavers populations (JS-15, SD-10, JS-22, and AH-20) were collected from the wheat fields of Jiangsu, Shandong, and Anhui Province, where florasulam control was absent. This study identified the herbicide resistance patterns and investigated the mechanism underlying the florasulam resistance. The whole-plant dose-response experiments revealed a notable variation in the degree of resistance exhibited by three specific populations towards florasulam, in comparison to the most sensitive populations (S and AH-9), with the highest resistance index reaching 841.4. Acetolactate Synthase gene-sequencing assay found that R plants from JS-15, JS-22, and AH-20 had a Trp-574-Leu mutation, while no known ALS resistance mutations were discovered in SD-10 plants. In vitro ALS enzyme activity assays also indicated that the extractable ALS from the resistant plants of JS-15, JS-22, and AH-20 was greatly resistant to florasulam relative to that of the susceptible. Additionally, according to the resistance rating system, all resistant populations were susceptible to Carfentrazone-ethyl + MCPA-Na and Bipyrazone + Fluroxypyr-methyl. AH-20, JS-15, and JS-22 exhibited resistance to selected ALS, 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase, and photosystem Ⅱ complex inhibitors, demonstrating RR and RRR resistance profiles, whereas AH-9 displayed S-sensitivity to virtually all tested agents. SD-10, on the other hand, showed RR and RRR resistance to HPPD and PSII inhibitors, but exhibited S-sensitivity specifically to tribenuron-methyl. These findings indicate that a target site-based mechanism drives the resistance to the ALS inhibitor florasulam in cleavers populations, but NTSR resistance may have also contributed (was not investigated). Other herbicides with different sites of action were tested and were active against cleavers.

Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) is a distinctive member of the serine–threonine protein AGC kinase family and an effective kinase for cAMP signal transduction. In recent years, scuticociliate has caused a lot of losses in domestic fishery farming, therefore, we have carried out morphological and molecular biological studies. In this study, diseased guppies (Poecilia reticulata) were collected from an ornamental fish market, and scuticociliate Philaster apodigitiformis Miao et al., 2009 was isolated. In our prior transcriptome sequencing research, we discovered significant expression of the β-PKA gene in P. apodigitiformis during its infection process, leading us to speculate its involvement in pathogenesis. A complete sequence of the β-PKA gene was cloned, and quantified by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction to analyse or to evaluate the functional characteristics of the β-PKA gene. Morphological identification and phylogenetic analysis based on small subunit rRNA sequence, infection experiments and haematoxylin–eosin staining method were also carried out, in order to study the pathological characteristics and infection mechanism of scuticociliate. The present results showed that: (1) our results revealed that β-PKA is a crucial gene involved in P. apodigitiformis infection in guppies, and the findings provide valuable insights for future studies on scuticociliatosis; (2) we characterized a complete gene, β-PKA, that is generally expressed in parasitic organisms during infection stage and (3) the present study indicates that PKA plays a critical role in scuticociliate when infection occurs by controlling essential steps such as cell growth, development and regulating the activity of the sensory body structures and the irritability system.

Silver/titanium dioxide (Ag/TiO2) membranes were successfully deposited on poly(sulfone amide) substrates by direct current magnetron sputtering and radio frequency magnetron sputtering techniques with pure silver (Ag) and TiO2 targets. The prepared membranes were systematically characterized by scanning electron microscopy X-ray diffraction, insulation tests, and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry. The dependence of the main sputtering parameters on optical and thermal properties of the film was investigated by an orthogonal analysis method. Optimal parameters of fabricate Ag/TiO2 membranes with better comprehensive performances could be obtained ultimately. The infrared reflection rate and temperature difference of the Ag/TiO2 film deposited with the optimized parameters were 81.6% and 90 °C, respectively. The high infrared reflection and excellent thermal conductivity properties of the Ag/TiO2 composite membrane make it a promising candidate for thermal insulating coatings on fabrics, and can be used for the development of high-performance protective garments in the future.

Many components in diet have regulated oxidative stress, inflammatory reaction and even balance oestrogen levels. Because these factors are closely associated with depressive symptoms in postmenopausal women, it is considered that dietary factors are able to prevent and control depressive symptoms. On the other hand, a dietary pattern that considers the correlations and synergies between foods and nutrients is expected to have a greater impact on disease risk. The aim of the present study is to evaluate whether dietary patterns are associated with depressive symptoms in Chinese postmenopausal women. A cross-sectional study of 2051 postmenopausal women (mean age: 58·8 (sd 7·4) years) was conducted in Tianjin, China. Dietary consumption was assessed by a valid self-administered FFQ. Principal component analysis was used to derive three major dietary patterns: ‘healthy’, ‘sweets’ and ‘traditional Tianjin’ from eighty-eight food items. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, and cut-off point of 48 indicating serious depressive symptoms. The association between quartile of dietary patterns and depressive symptoms was assessed using multiple logistic regression analysis. The multivariable-adjusted OR of having depressive symptoms for increasing quartile of dietary patterns were as follows: healthy, 1·00, 0·79 (95 % CI 0·49, 1·28), 0·62 (95 % CI 0·37, 1·04) and 0·57 (95 % CI 0·33, 0·97); sweets, 1·00, 0·75 (95 % CI 0·42, 1·3), 1·08 (95 % CI 0·64, 1·81) and 1·66 (95 % CI 1·03, 2·71); and traditional Tianjin, 1·00, 1·02 (95 % CI 0·58, 1·79), 0·96 (95 % CI 0·54, 1·71) and 2·53 (95 % CI 1·58, 4·16), respectively. The present study demonstrated that a healthy dietary pattern was inversely associated with depressive symptoms. On the contrary, greater adherence to sweets and traditional Tianjin dietary patterns was associated with a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms.

The coronal is the origins of large-scale solar activity and disastrous space weather, it contains extremely rich information and various physical processes. The coronal loop is a kind of bright structure with hot plasma which is bounded by magnetic field in the coronal, it is a good reflection of the magnetic structure that we can hardly observe directly. It is also the energy channel between the photosphere and coronal, and the study of coronal loop is helpful for us to understand the magnetic line foot movement.

In recent decades, in silico absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion (ADME), and toxicity (T) modelling as a tool for rational drug design has received considerable attention from pharmaceutical scientists, and various ADME/T-related prediction models have been reported. The high-throughput and low-cost nature of these models permits a more streamlined drug development process in which the identification of hits or their structural optimization can be guided based on a parallel investigation of bioavailability and safety, along with activity. However, the effectiveness of these tools is highly dependent on their capacity to cope with needs at different stages, e.g. their use in candidate selection has been limited due to their lack of the required predictability. For some events or endpoints involving more complex mechanisms, the current in silico approaches still need further improvement. In this review, we will briefly introduce the development of in silico models for some physicochemical parameters, ADME properties and toxicity evaluation, with an emphasis on the modelling approaches thereof, their application in drug discovery, and the potential merits or deficiencies of these models. Finally, the outlook for future ADME/T modelling based on big data analysis and systems sciences will be discussed.

Excellent sites are necessary for developing and installing ground-based large telescopes. For very-high-resolution solar observations, it had been unclear whether there exist good candidate sites in the west areas in China, including the Tibetan Plateau and the Pamirs Plateau. The project of solar site survey for the next-generation large solar telescopes, i.e., the Chinese Giant Solar Telescope (CGST) and the large coronagraph, has been launched since 2011. Based on the close collaboration among Chinese solar society and the scientists from NSO, HAO and other institutes, we have successfully developed the standard instruments for solar site survey and applied them to more than 50 different sites distributed in Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Ningxia provinces. We have built two long-term monitoring sites in Tibet and the large Shangri-La to take systematic site data. Clear evidence, including the key parameters of seeing factor, sky brightness and water vapor content, has indicated that a few potential sites in the large Tibetan areas should obtain the excellent astronomical conditions for our purpose to develop CGST and large coronagraph. We introduce the fresh site survey results in this report.