I discuss the inferential richness within the notion of Carlquistian paedomorphosis, including detailed functional inferences regarding ray cell orientation. My final example comes from his very recent work offering the first satisfactory hypothesis accounting for the geographical and histological distribution of scalariform perforation plates as an adaptation, including "Carlquist's Ratchet", why scalariform plates are adaptive but do not re-evolve once lost. This extraordinarily rich production over six decades is filled with comparative inferences that should keep students of xylem function busy testing for decades to come.Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, in which angiogenesis is highly required for lung cancer cell growth and metastasis. Genetic regulation of this multistep process is being studied extensively, however, relatively less is known about the epigenetic regulation of angiogenesis in lung cancer. Several epigenetic alterations contribute to regulating angiogenesis, such as epimodifications of DNA, posttranslational modification of histones, and expression of noncoding RNAs. Here, we review the current knowledge of the epigenetic regulation of angiogenesis and discuss the potential clinical applications of epigenetic-based anticancer therapy in lung cancer. Overall, epigenetic-based therapy will likely emerge as a prominent approach to treat lung cancer in the future.Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the primary cause of death worldwide. Vaspin was a recently described adipokine, playing a protective role in many metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. This study aimed to assess the relation of serum vaspin levels and vaspin rs2236242 polymorphisms with CAD. The study included 105 healthy subjects and 105 CAD patients. Serum vaspin concentrations and vaspin rs2236242 polymorphisms were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and polymerase chain reaction, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the genotypes of CAD patients (TT 26.7%, TA 71.4%, and AA 1.9%) and controls (TT 70.5%, TA 28.6%, and AA 1%; χ2  = 40.3; df = 2; p = .000). The TA genotype increased the risk of CAD (odds ratio [OR] = 6.60; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.60-12.1; p = .000) as compared to the TT genotype. There was a statistically significant difference between the allelic distribution of CAD patients (T 62.4% and A 37.6%) and controls (T 84.8% and A 15.2%; χ2  = 27.0; df = 1; p = .000). Those carrying the A allele had a higher risk of CAD compared to those with the T allele (OR = 3.35; 95% CI = 2.10-5.36; p = .000). The serum vaspin concentrations of the patients with TT, TA, and AA genotypes were 30.4 ± 1.72, 28.4 ± 2.89, and 36.4 ± 6.38 pg/ml, respectively, and there was no significant difference between the serum vaspin levels and vaspin genotypes (p = .696). All of the above suggested that the vaspin rs2236242 polymorphism was associated with CAD in the Turkish population.The morphological, physicochemical, and biochemical properties of soluble and insoluble dietary fiber from seven types of algae were investigated. The soluble dietary fiber (SDF) contents (6.48 to 60.90% of the total fiber) in most of the investigated algae were significantly lower than the insoluble dietary fiber (IDF) contents (39.10 to 93.52% of the total fiber). It can be inferred from the infrared and UV-Vis spectra that the SDF and IDF of algae may contain cellulose, hemicellulose, various monosaccharides, phenolic compounds, and quinone pigments. The bound phenolic in the seven algae varied widely in contents (3.76 to 14.08 mg GAE/g in IDF and 1.94 to 8.61 mg GAE/g in SDF), whose antioxidant activities in the IDF were stronger than those in SDF because of different phenolic compositions. The HPLC-mass spectrometry (MS)/MS results showed that the IDF may contain methyl-8α-hydroxy-grindelate-7β-O-7'β-ether hydrate, hydroxydecanoic acid, and malyngic acid. PRACTICAL APPLICATION Polysaccharides of high content in algae cannot be digested by humans, hence regarded as dietary fibers. A large amount of bound phenolic compounds in dietary fibers can add to the biological activities of dietary fibers. These topics are important to the development of seaweed-based functional foods.
  The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has rapidly developed into a pandemic. Increased levels of ferritin due to cytokine storm and secondary hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis were found in severe COVID-19 patients. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the role of ferritin in COVID-19.
 
  Studies investigating ferritin in COVID-19 were collected from PubMed, EMBASE, CNKI, SinoMed, and WANFANG. A meta-analysis was performed to compare the ferritin level between different patient groups non-survivors versus survivors; more severe versus less severe; with comorbidity versus without comorbidity; ICU versus non-ICU; with mechanical ventilation versus without mechanical ventilation.
 
  A total of 52 records involving 10614 COVID-19-confirmed patients between December 25, 2019, and June 1, 2020, were included in this meta-analysis, and 18 studies were included in the qualitative synthesis. The ferritin level was significantly increased in severe patients compared with the level in non-severe patients [WMD 397.77 (95% CI 306.51-489.02), P<.001]. Non-survivors had a significantly higher ferritin level compared with the one in survivors [WMD 677.17 (95% CI 391.01-963.33), P<.001]. Patients with one or more comorbidities including diabetes, thrombotic complication, and cancer had significantly higher levels of ferritin than those without (P<.01). Severe acute liver injury was significantly associated with high levels of ferritin, and its level was associated with intensive supportive care, including ICU transfer and mechanical ventilation.
 
  Ferritin was associated with poor prognosis and could predict the worsening of COVID-19 patients.
 Ferritin was associated with poor prognosis and could predict the worsening of COVID-19 patients.Genome instability in cancer drives tumor heterogeneity, undermines the success of therapies, and leads to metastasis and recurrence. Condensins are conserved chromatin-binding proteins that promote genomic stability, mainly by ensuring proper condensation of chromatin and mitotic chromosome segregation. Condensin mutations are found in human tumors, but it is not known how or even if such mutations promote cancer progression.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/ugt8-in-1.html  In this study, we focus on condensin II subunit CAPH2 and specific CAPH2 mutations reported to be enriched in human cancer patients, and we test how CAPH2 cancer-specific mutations may lead to condensin II complex dysfunction and contribute to genome instability. We find that R551P, R551S, and S556F mutations in CAPH2 cause genomic instability by causing DNA damage, anaphase defects, micronuclei, and chromosomal instability. DNA damage and anaphase defects are caused primarily by ataxia telangiectasia and Rad3-related-dependent telomere dysfunction, as anaphase bridges are enriched for telomeric repeat sequences.