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Hybridization is an important part of species evolution. The hybrid progeny population had rich genetic and phenotypic variation, which made the boundaries between them and their parents blurred and difficult to distinguish. There was little research on the origin of natural hybrids of Triticeae. In this study, we found a large number of putative hybrids of Roegneria in West Sichuan Plateau, China. The hybrid plants showed strong heterosis in plant height, tiller number and floret number. Morphologically, the putative hybrids showed intermediate of Roegneria stricta Keng and Roegneria turczaninovii (Drob.) Nevski. Hybrids had 28 chromosomes corresponding to that of R. stricta and R. turczaninovii (2n=4x=28). Meiotic pairing in hybrids were less regular than those of R. stricta and R. turczaninovii. GISH analysis showed that the hybrid plants had the same genome as that of R. stricta and R. turczaninovii (StY). Phylogenetic analysis based on the single copy nuclear gene DMC1 and chloroplast gene rps16 showed the plants were closely related to R. stricta and R. turczaninovii. This study indicated that the plants were hybrids of R. stricta and R. turczaninovii. The results provided data for the utilization of hybrid. This study provided a case study of natural hybrids.

Promiscuous activities have been related to the capacity to catalyze reactions different from those a protein has evolved to sustain. From this evolutionary perspective, we rethought the serum albumins promiscuous behavior. We found that the cross aldol condensation of acetone and p-formylbenzonitrile is a promiscuous reaction conserved in humans and other mammals. Structural and evolutionary analysis indicates that the involved residues could have evolved for a still unknown biological function. Our results could contribute to better characterize the serum albumin family and raise questions about the evolution of protein promiscuity and function.

Output from a runoff generation models is compared here with information from field measurements, making use of 11 years data from rainfall and runoff events at the Sierra de Enguera Soil Erosion Experimental Station in Eastern Spain.. The model presented simulates overland storm flow on a sloping rough and unvegetated surface, representing an area of 320x320 m. Green-Ampt infiltration constants are randomly assigned to each cell in a 128x128 grid, and rectangular storms applied at a range of total amounts and intensities to simulate runoff at each transect across the area. A simple algebraic expression is developed to estimate total runoff and storage in terms of storm size and duration, and plot length, with parameters that reflect infiltration behaviour, and this expression is compared with the SCS curve number approach. Output of these simulations is compared with measured storm runoff data on bare runoff plots at the Sierra de Enguera experimental Station in SE Spain and gives further support to the proposed expression for storm runoff.

Natural standard grade γ-tocopherol are of great interest due to its good antioxidant activity and special pharmacological functions. This study separated and purified γ-tocopherol from mixed tocopherols using eco-friendly and low toxicity solvents. 0.28 g γ-tocopherol was obtained per performance with a purity of 98.89 ± 0.68% and a recovery yield of 93.23 ± 0.89%. The purification conditions were as follows: elution solvent n-hexane/ethyl acetate 94.5:5.5 (v/v), sample load size 0.5 g, a column height to diameter ratio of 16:1 and an elution rate of 2 mL/min. The purity and structure of γ-tocopherol was confirmed by HPLC, GC/MS and NMR. The adsorption isotherm of γ-tocopherol on silica gel (200-300 mesh) fitted the Langmuir isotherm model well. The antioxidant activity analysis showed that γ-tocopherol had the strongest antioxidant activity followed by δ-tocopherol and α-tocopherol. This study provides an economically attractive solution for the production of natural standard grade γ-tocopherol.

Since the Brazilian Cerrado has been heavily impacted by agricultural activities over the last four to five decades, reference evapotranspiration (ETo) plays a pivotal role in water resources management for irrigation agriculture. The Penman-Monteith (PM) is one of the most accepted models for ETo estimation, but it requires many inputs that are not commonly available. Therefore, assessing the FAO guidelines to compute ETo when meteorological data are missing could lead to a better understanding of how climatic variables are related to water requirements and atmospheric demands for a grass-mixed savanna region and which variable impacts the estimates the most. In this study, ETo was computed from April 2010 to August 2019. We tested twelve different scenarios considering radiation, relative humidity, and/or wind speed as missing climatic data using guidelines given by FAO. When wind speed and/or relative humidity data were the only missing data, the PM method showed the lowest errors in the ETo estimates and correlation coefficient (r) and Willmott’s index of agreement (d) values close to 1.0. When radiation data were missing, computed ETo was overestimated compared to the benchmark. FAO procedures to estimate the net radiation presented good results during the wet season; however, during the dry season, their results were overestimated, especially because the method could not estimate negative Rn. Therefore, we can infer that radiation data have the highest impact on ETo for our study area and also regions with similar conditions and FAO guidelines are not suitable when radiation data are missing.

Aims: To develop a pharmaceutical consultation mode of multidisciplinary individualized medication recommendations, to improve the quantity and quality of clinical pharmacists’ consultations Methods: A retrospective study of 542 clinical pharmacists-led consultations was conducted. In the pre-intervention group, medication advice was given based on the purpose of the consultation. In the post-intervention group, a consultation mode of multidisciplinary individualized medication recommendation was implemented, in which clinical pharmacists with specialties of anticoagulation, gastroenterology and nutrition were asked to give individualized medication recommendations and a set of evaluation criteria for rational drug use was formulated. Outcomes, including the patterns and number of consultations, individualized medication recommendations, acceptance rate and effectiveness rate, were compared between the two periods. Results: A total of 651 cases were reviewed, and 542 cases of which meeting the predesigned inclusion and exclusion criteria were included, with 94 and 448 patients in the pre-intervention and post-intervention groups, respectively. The total number of consultations increased year by year, so did the number of general consultations, multidisciplinary difficult consultations, departments applying for general consultations, departments applying for multidisciplinary difficult consultations, anti-infection consultations and non-anti-infection consultations in details. The effectiveness rate of consultations in the post-intervention group was 81.7% vs 70.2% in the pre-intervention group (P < 0.05). No difference was shown between two groups in acceptance rate (96.9% vs 95.7%, p=0.578).

Hoarding disorder (HD) is characterized by an accumulation of possessions due to excessive acquisition of, or difficulty discarding possessions. Evidence demonstrates an increased cardiovascular response in patients with HD. Cognitive-behavioral therapy modifications are described for HD patients with heart failure to compensate for fatigability, syncope and falls risk.

COVID-19 is a worldwide crisis with a great impact in health structures. Delay in the management of routine medical conditions has been reported during this pandemic. We describe the case of a spontaneous dissection coronary arteries which has been initially misclassified as a case of COVID-19 infection

Complete blood count profiles in children with eczema herpeticumTo the Editor,Eczema herpeticum (EH) is a significant infectious complication of atopic dermatitis (AD) and may lead to serious problems including keratitis, viremia and meningitis (1). The clinical diagnosis of EH may be challenging as the morphology of EH may be mistaken for AD exacerbation and bacterial infection (2). Difficulty in diagnosis may impact treatment decisions while confirmatory testing for herpes simplex virus (HSV) is pending.Previous studies have investigated the association between EH and common laboratory values but have largely been inconclusive. One study in young adults found EH associated with lymphopenia and elevated IgE (3). Another study in children found no relationship between EH and serum total IgE, eosinophil count, or vitamin D level (4).A complete blood count (CBC) is a common test often obtained when there is concern for more severe infection. In this study, we investigated whether CBC profiles can be utilized to distinguish hospitalized children with EH from AD patients with bacterial infections or AD exacerbation.Electronic medical records were reviewed for patients 18 years and younger hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of AD between 2003 to 2018 using International Classification of Diseases -9 and -10 codes (5). The study has been approved by the Institution Review Board at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Patients were sorted into the EH group if there was a positive HSV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab from skin lesions. Subjects who had bacterial infections or AD exacerbation were classified based on clinical history, physical examination findings and discharge diagnosis as previously described (5). Briefly, patients with a discharge diagnosis of cellulitis, skin abscess, bacteremia, osteomyelitis, septic arthritis or endocarditis were classified into bacterial infections whereas those with generalized, severe eczema exacerbation with documented outpatient treatment failure were classified into AD exacerbation. A CBC obtained within 48 hours of admission was utilized. Multivariate linear regression model was used to assess the effect of EH on the CBC profile adjusting for patient age and gender.  Statistical significance was set at 5% level with two-sided test throughout the analysis.  All statistical computations were done by Stata/SE 16.0 (StataCorp, College Station, TX).130 subjects with an admission CBC were included in the study. Twenty-two (17%) had EH based on positive HSV PCR. Forty-nine (38%) had AD exacerbation while fifty-nine (45%) had bacterial infectious complications such as cellulitis, skin abscess, bacteremia, osteomyelitis or septic arthritis.EH patients had significantly lower mean admission white blood cell count (WBC, 9.7 ± 6.4 vs. 15.7 ± 9.1 vs 15.9 ± 6.8;p= <0.0001), absolute neutrophil count (ANC, 4.9 ± 5.0 vs. 5.7 ± 4.7 vs. 9.0 ± 5.6; p =0.01), and absolute lymphocyte count (ALC, 3.5 ± 1.8 vs. 6.4 ± 4.6 vs. 4.9 ± 3.4; p =0.003), as compared to AD exacerbation and bacterial infection, respectively (Table 1). When compared to published reference ranges (6), 13.6% of those with EH, 2% of those with AD exacerbation, and 0% of those with bacterial infection had absolute leukopenia for age (WBC under lower limit of normal) (Table 2A). 4.5% of those with EH, 6.1% of those with AD exacerbation, and 0% of those with bacterial infection had absolute neutropenia for age (Table 2B). 22.7% of patients with EH demonstrated absolute lymphopenia for age (Table 2C). In comparison, 10.2% of those with AD exacerbation and 13.6% of those with bacterial infection had absolute lymphopenia for age.EH is a skin infection caused by HSV that can lead to serious complications including ocular and systemic infections. Therefore, accurate diagnosis is important in determining appropriate treatments. The initiation of acyclovir for EH is based on clinical impression, as test results such as PCR and culture are not immediately available. Our current findings may have clinical implications for treatment when CBC profiles are taken together with physical examination as EH may be difficult to distinguish from some bacterial skin infections. For example, streptococcal pustulosis may present with punched scalloped borders that mimic EH (2).Large studies of EH in children are rare. Our results corroborate Wollenberg et al ’s finding that lymphopenia is more pronounced in patients with EH (3). Lymphopenia in the setting of a normal white blood cell count in EH patients may be a finding related to HSV infection, as another article studying the effect of HSV infection (not specifically EH) on CBC parameters also found lower lymphocyte counts in those with HSV (7).In conclusion, our results show that leukopenia or lymphopenia in light of clinical suspicion of EH may help clinicians in their treatment decision. Our study has limitation in that it is based on hospitalized patients and may not apply to an outpatient setting.Keywords: acyclovir, eczema herpeticum, CBC, lymphopenia, leukopenia, neutropeniaGrace Chan, MDa, Choo Phei Wee, MSb, Peck Y. Ong, MDc,daDivision of General Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital Los AngelesbBiostatistics core, The Saban Research Institute, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and Southern California and Clinical Translation Science Institute, University of Southern California.cDivision of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.dKeck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CaliforniaThis study was funded in part by a Merit Award from The Saban Research Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles to PYO. CPW is supported in part by NIH/NCRR SC-CTSI Grant UL1 TR000130 (Biostatistics core, CHLA/USC).The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.Address correspondence to: Peck Y. Ong, MD, Division of Clinical Immunology and Allergy, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, 4650, Sunset Blvd, MS# 75, Los Angeles, CA 90027. Tel: 323-361-2501. Email: pyong@chla.usc.edu

Abstract: Background： Naïve T and T memory cell subsets can provide important information for the diagnosis and treatment of immunological and hematological disorders. Lymphocyte compartment undergo dramatic changes during adulthood; age-related reference values derived from healthy individuals are crucial. However, extensively detailed immunophenotyping reference values of peripheral blood lymphocytes in whole spectrum of adulthood performed by flow cytometry-based single-platform method are rare. Methods: 309 healthy adult volunteers were recruited from Tianjin in China. The absolute counts and percentages of CD3+CD4+ T cells, CD3+CD8+ T cells, naïve T cells (Tn), T memory stem cells (Tscm), central memory T cells (Tcm), effector memory T cells (Tem), terminal effector T cells (Tte) were determined by flow cytometry with single platform technologies. Results: Reference range of absolute counts and percentage of lymphocyte subsets were formulated by different age and gender. We also find out the changing regularity of them: the cells which have stem cell properties, Tn and Tscm cells, decrease with aging; memory cell subsets, Tcm and Tem increase with aging, which increase from 18 to 64 years old and present no significant change over the 65 years old. Gender have influence on the fluctuation of lymphocyte subsets, absolute count of CD3+CD8+, CD8+ Tcm, CD8+ Tem in male are higher than that in female. Conclusion: The reference values of percentages and absolute numbers of naïve T and T memory cell subsets can help doctors to understand the immune state of patients and to evaluate conditions of prognosis then adjust treatment for patients.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic and systemic autoimmune disease with the decreasing proportion of regulatory T (Treg) cells. Previous studies have shown that microRNAs (miRNAs, miR) act as key regulators of Treg cells. In this study, we assessed the involvement of miR-143-3p on Treg cells differentiation and function in the RA progress. We reported that the expression of miR-143-3p has been negatively associated with RA disease activity, and actively correlated with anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10, which was secreted by Treg cells. In vitro, miR-143-3p expression in the CD4+T cells contributed to the upregulation of forkhead box protein 3 (Foxp3), which was the characteristic transcription factor of Treg cells. Notably, miR-143-3p mimics treatment markedly upregulated the frequency of Treg cells in vivo, effectively prevented CIA development and significantly inhibited inflammation in mice. Altogether, we proposed that MiR-143-3p can alleviate CIA by polarizing naive CD4+T cells into Treg cells, which warrants miR-143-3p as a target for the new therapeutic strategy of Treg-deficiency autoimmune diseases such as RA.

This paper proposes a security algorithm based on thewavelet-alienation-neural technique for detecting, classifying, and locating faults on Thyristor-Controlled Series compensator (TCSC) compensated lines. A fault index has been calculated using wavelet transform and alienation coefficients with post-fault current signals measured/ sampled for quarter cycle time at both near and far end buses for fault detection and classification. The location of the fault is predicted using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) after the fault has been diagnosed. Approximate coefficients (quarter cycle time) of both voltage and current signals, from both buses, were provided as input to ANN. Various case studies, such as variations in TCSC position, fault location, sampling frequency, power flow path, incipient angle of fault, TCSC control strategy, fault resistance, and load switching conditions, have verified the robustness of the proposed safety system.