No abstract

The diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella, is a lepidopteran insect that mainly harms cruciferous vegetables, with strong resistance to a variety of agrochemicals, including Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins. This study intended to screen genes associated with Bt resistance in P. xylostella by comparing the midgut transcriptome of Cry1Ac-susceptible and -resistant strains together with two toxin-treated strains 24 h before sampling. A total of 12 samples were analyzed by BGISEQ-500, and each sample obtained an average of 6.35 Gb data. Additionally, 3284 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in susceptible and resistant strains. Among them, five DEGs for cadherin, 14 for aminopeptidase, zero for alkaline phosphatase, 14 for ATP binding cassette transport, and five heat shock proteins were potentially involved in resistance to Cry1Ac in P. xylostella. Furthermore, DEGs associated with “binding”, “catalytic activity”, “cellular process”, “metabolic process”, and “cellular anatomical entity” were more likely to be responsible for resistance to Bt toxin. Thus, together with other omics data, our results will offer prospective genes for the development of Bt resistance, thereby providing a brand new reference for revealing the resistance mechanism to Bt of P. xylostella.

Background Cognitive impairment often arises in patients suffered from stroke. Acupuncture is a recommended treatment option for stroke by the World Health Organization (WHO) and has been shown to improve the cognitive function of patients with poststroke cognitive impairment (PSCI). Methods In the present study, we assessed the efficacy of scalp acupuncture with cluster needling on PSCI patients. Fifty six PSCI patients were randomly separated into the reference group who received drug treatment only and the treatment group who received cluster needling of scalp acupuncture on top of drug treatment. Cognitive function was compared between the two groups before and after treatment. We also took the advantage of functional near‐infrared spectroscopy to assess the cerebral hemoglobin levels. Results We reveal that applying cluster needling of scalp acupuncture on top of drug treatment can significantly improve the cognitive function and elevate the cerebral hemoglobin levels compared to patients treated with drug only. Conclusions Our results suggest that cluster needling of scalp acupuncture is an effective treatment against PSCI and shed light on its application on other neurological disorders.

An integrated system model was developed in UniSim Design for a dual fluidized bed (DFB) biomass gasifier and a rotary biomass dryer using a combination of user-defined and built-in unit operations. A quasi-equilibrium model was used for modelling biomass steam gasification in the DFB gasifier. The biomass drying was simulated with consideration of mass and energy balances, heat transfer, and dryer's configuration. After validation using experimental data, the developed system model was applied to investigate: (1) the effects of gasification temperature and steam to biomass (S/B) ratio on the gasification performance; (2) the effect of air supplied to the fast fluidized bed (FFB) reactor and feed biomass moisture content on the integrated system performance, energy and exergy efficiencies. It was found that gasification temperature and S/B ratio have positive effects on the gasification yields; a H 2 /CO ratio of 1.9 can be achieved at the gasification temperature of 850 °C with a S/B ratio of 1.2. Consumption of excessive fuel in the system at higher biomass feed moisture content can be compensated by the heat recovery such as steam generation while it has adverse impact on exergy efficiency of the system.