Abstract Background Drought stress has significantly hampered agricultural productivity worldwide and can also result in modifications to DNA methylation levels. However, the dynamics of DNA methylation and its association with the changes in gene transcription and alternative splicing (AS) under drought stress are unknown in linseed, which is frequently cultivated in arid and semiarid regions. Results We analysed AS events and DNA methylation patterns in drought-tolerant (Z141) and drought-sensitive (NY-17) linseed under drought stress (DS) and repeated drought stress (RD) treatments. We found that the number of intron-retention (IR) and alternative 3’ splice site (Alt3’SS) events were significantly higher in Z141 and NY-17 under drought stress. We found that the linseed response to the DS treatment was mainly regulated by transcription, while the response to the RD treatment was coregulated by transcription and AS. Whole genome-wide DNA methylation analysis revealed that drought stress caused an increase in the overall methylation level of linseed. Although we did not observe any correlation between differentially methylated genes (DMGs) and differentially spliced genes (DSGs) in this study, we found that the DSGs whose gene body region was hypermethylated in Z141 and hypomethylated in NY-17 were enriched in abiotic stress response Gene Ontology (GO) terms. This finding implies that gene body methylation plays an important role in AS regulation in some specific genes. Conclusion Our study is the first comprehensive genome-wide analysis of the relationship between linseed methylation changes and AS under drought and repeated drought stress. Our study revealed different interaction patterns between differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and DSGs under DS and RD treatments and differences between methylation and AS regulation in drought-tolerant and drought-sensitive linseed varieties. The findings will probably be of interest in the future. Our results provide interesting insights into the association between gene expression, AS, and DNA methylation in linseed under drought stress. Differences in these associations may account for the differences in linseed drought tolerance.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether thawing rate could be a novel predictor of acute pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) and explore the predictive value of thawing rate as a factor ensuring long-term PVI (vagus reflex). METHODS: A total of 151 patients who underwent cryoballoon ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) were enrolled in this retrospective study between January 2017 and June 2018. The thawing rate was calculated using the thawing phase of the cryoablation curve. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to analyze the predictive value of the thawing rate for acute PVI and vagus reflex. RESULTS: ROC curve analyses revealed that the interval thawing rate at 15°C (ITR15) was the most valuable predictor of PVI, with the highest area under curve (AUC) value of the ROC curve. The best cut-off value of ITR15 for PVI was ≤2.14°C/S and its sensitivity and specificity were 88.62% and 67.18%, respectively. In addition, the ITR15 of the successful PVI group after cryoballoon ablation was significantly slower than the failed PVI group. ITR15 was a predictor of vagus reflex and the occurrence of vagus reflex group had a slower ITR15 compared to the non-occurrence group. CONCLUSIONS: Thawing rate was a novel predictor of acute PVI and the ITR15 was the most valuable predictor of acute PVI. In addition, ITR15 was a predictive factor ensuring long-term PVI (vagus reflex). Our study showed that thawing rate may serve in the early identification of useless cryoballoon ablation.

Para proveer guías acerca de la utilización y conservación de los parasitoides del defoliador forestal Orgyia ericae se inventariaron sus especies de parasitoides. Se identificaron los estados de desarrollo del lepidóptero con las distintas especies de parasitoides así como sus patrones de emergencia. Se adelantaron observaciones de emergencia desde las 7am hasta 12pm hasta que todos los adultos emergieron. Tiempo de pupación, patrones de emergencia y abundancia del parasitoide Exorista larvarum se registró en detalle. Se analizaron la abundancia y patrones de emergencia de Bracon (Habrobracon) sp. y Tetrastichus sp. Bracon (Habrobracon) sp. y E. larvarum exhibieron un solo pico de emergencia mientras que Tetrastichus sp. muestra dos picos. La emergencia diaria de Bracon (Habrobracon) sp., Tetrastichus sp. y E. larvarum fue mayor entre las 3 a 5pm, 3 a 5pm y 7 a 8am, respectivamente. La pupación de E. larvarum mostró dos picos.

To provide guidance on the utilization and conservation of the forest defoliator Orgyia ericae parasitoids, we survey its parasitoid species. We identifed the developmental stages associated with the different parasitoids, and the emergence pattern of adult parasitoids. Observations of hatching were conducted hourly from 7am to 12pm until all adults had emerged. Pupation time, emergence patterns, and the abundance of Exorista larvarum parasitoids were recorded in detail. The abundance and daily emergence patterns of Bracon (Habrobracon) sp., and Tetrastichus sp. were analyzed. Bracon (Habrobracon) sp. and E. larvarum both had only one emergence peak, whereas Tetrastichus sp. had two. The daily emergence of Bracon (Habrobracon) sp., Tetrastichus sp. and E. larvarum peaked at 3 to 5pm, 3 to 5pm and 7 to 8am, respectively. The E. larvarum pupation distribution was characterized by two peaks.