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This work is a typical demonstration of setting up a bridge between theory and experiment to give a promising way to the rational design of advanced photocatalysts and atomic understanding of the reaction mechanism. Ethylene response factors (ERFs) are involved in the regulation of plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Here we provide evidence for a role of ERF96, a member of the ERF transcription factor group IX, in selenite tolerance in Arabidopsis. ERF96 gene was rapidly up-regulated in response to selenite stress. Overexpression of ERF96 enhanced Arabidopsis resistance to selenite stress, while ERF96-silenced plants demonstrated wild-type (WT) resistance to selenite. In addition, the overexpression plants had significantly lower selenium (Se) content in shoots when subjected to selenite stress. Further investigation indicated that overexpression of ERF96 reduced transcript levels of selenite/phosphate transporters PHT1;1 and PHT2;1, which influenced Arabidopsis Se uptake and allocation in the presence of selenite. Moreover, our experiments showed that overexpression of ERF96 enhanced Arabidopsis antioxidant activity. Under selenite stress, ERF96-overexpressing lines exhibited the significant increases in catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activities as well as the glutathione (GSH) content, while had a decrease in reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation compared to WT. Taken together, our results demonstrate that ERF96 plays a positive role in the regulation of selenite tolerance in Arabidopsis. Serine protease inhibitors (SPIs) play an important role in cell survival, development and host defense. In plants, serine protease inhibitors such as the Kunitz-type inhibitor (KTI) and the Bowman-Birk inhibitor (BBI) have been shown to be induced in response to abiotic stress such as salinity and drought resulting in tolerance to these stresses. In this study, Arabidopsis thaliana (T3) plants overexpressing the BBI gene from maize were generated and subjected to drought stress in order to study the role of BBI protease inhibitor in drought tolerance. Drought treatment of four-week-old Arabidopsis plants was performed by withholding water from plants for nine days and harvested plant material was used for physiological and biochemical analysis. The transgenic lines exhibited normal growth after nine days of drought as compared to the wild-type. The results also showed a higher leaf relative water content (RWC) in transgenic lines when compared to the wild-type (WT), with line 2 having the highest RWC of 72% and the WT having the lowest RWC of 32%. Trypsin-inhibitor activity indicated that the total protein of the positive transgenic plants had stronger protease inhibitory activity than the wild-type. Transgenic lines overexpressing BBI also showed reduced lipid peroxidation (MDA content) as well as enhanced activity of antioxidants glutathione-s-transferase (GST) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX). These results suggest that BBI protease inhibitor leads to drought tolerance associated with reduction in drought-induced oxidative stress. Autoimmune diseases are characterized by alteration in balance of various cytokines. Rheumatoid arthritis is a well-known inflammatory disease leading to destruction of cartilage at knee and hands. Collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) is a common autoimmune model for rheumatoid arthritis study. Here, we have investigated the therapeutic role of medicarpin, a natural pterocarpan with known anti-osteoclastogenic activities, in postmenopausal polyarthritis model of DBA/1J mice. For this, mice were ovariectomized and CIA was induced in OVx animals with primary immunization. After 21 days, booster dose was injected in Ovariectomy (OVx) mice to develop postmenopausal poly-arthritis mice model. Medicarpin treatment in mice at dose of 10.0 mg/kg/body wt was started after 21 days of primary immunization for one month of time period every day orally. We found that medicarpin prevented alteration of TH-17/Treg ratio in CIA model leading to reduced osteoclastogenesis. Micro Computed Tomography (Micro-CT) analysis demonstrated that medicarpin prevents cartilage erosion in joints and restores loss of trabeculae parameters in distal tibia. Treatment with medicarpin also prevented alteration of various cytokines level by down-regulating various pro-inflammatory cytokines like TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-17A, while up-regulating anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in CIA model of mice. Biological marker of arthritis is cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP). COMP level was up-regulated in CIA induced mice while treatment with medicarpin significantly restored the serum level of COMP compared with untreated groups. Cartilage staining by Safranin-O also indicates that cartilage destruction in joints of CIA mice was prevented by medicarpin treatment. From this study, we can conclude that medicarpin is effective in preventing arthritis in post-menopausal conditions. Atopic dermatitis (AD) is one of the most common pediatric dermatologic disorders and is associated with an increased risk of recurrent bacterial and viral cutaneous infections, such as impetigo, the most common bacterial infection in children. AD may impair patient quality of life in a number of ways, one of which is its impact on sleep. The way that the condition affects sleep has not yet been fully elucidated; it is clear that the symptoms of the disease such as pruritus and scratching can affect sleep but other factors, such as changes in the immunological system related to the disease can also have an effect. We argue that this relationship may be bi-directional, with changes to the skin barrier (barrier dysfunction, alterations in its microbiome and oxidative stress) and immunological function caused by the condition impairing sleep and leading to imbalanced inflammatory pathways that exacerbate AD and other associated conditions such as impetigo. We highlight the need for further studies to investigate this correlation between AD and sleep to make the role of this relationship clearer. Development of resistance to anti-androgen therapy limits the usefulness of second-generation androgen receptor (AR) antagonists including enzalutamide and abiraterone in castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) patients. Recent genomic studies reveal that AR-regulated genes contribute to CRPC emergence. selleck compound Several reasons for the development of resistance towards anti-androgens have been hypothesized, including intracellular testosterone production, androgen overexpression, somatic mutations of AR resulting in a gain of function, constitutive activation of AR splice variants, imbalance in AR regulators, and bypass of AR in CRPC progression. Recent findings suggest that epigenetic alterations are involved in the deregulation of AR signaling. Overexpression of enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2), the enzymatic member of the polycomb repressor complex PRC2, has emerged as a key activator of AR in CRPC. Studies indicate that overabundance of EZH2 in localized prostate tumors increases the risk of biochemical recurrence after surgery, as it activates AR by enhancing methylation, resulting in the suppression of tumor suppressor genes and activation of oncogenes.