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A bio-matrix material (BMM) system is used to pretreat swine wastewater and reduce the nitrogen (N) concentration to the tolerance range of plants in constructed wetlands. In this study, rice straw (RS), wheat straw (WS), and corn stalk (CS) were applied to treat pollutants from swine wastewater, respectively. This one year-long field experiment make up for the lack of long-term experiments and mechanistic investigations of BMM. The pollutant removal efficiency, degradation process of crop straw, and the abundance of nitrogen cycling genes were determined in different BMM systems. The results showed that the removal efficiency of COD, TN, NH 4 + , and NO 3 - was the best in the initial 6 months. Furthermore, RS and WS exhibited favorable annual removal efficiency of TN and NH 4 + , which were 32.81% and 32.99%, 35.3% and 34.97%, respectively. Moreover, the removal efficiency of COD was 30.81% in three BMM systems. Meanwhile, it was found that the dry matter (DM) degradation of crop straws was fast in the first 4-5 months. The degradation rates of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin were 94.19%, 94.36%, and 87.32%, respectively, in 1 year. The abundance of nitrogen cycling genes significantly increased by adding BMM, compared with CK (P < 0.05). This showed the abundance of the hzsB gene in RS was the highest, while nirK, nirS, AOA, and AOB were the highest in WS. The addition of RS and WS was better than that of CS in promoting the abundance of nitrogen cycling microorganisms. The results indicated that adding BMM could enhance the anaerobic ammonia oxidation, nitrification, and denitrification. This study not only extends our comprehension of BMM mechanisms in swine wastewater treatment but also serves as a guiding light for numerous farms in similar climate regions., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

How microbial communities respond to wastewater fluctuations is poorly understood. Full-scale surface flow constructed wetlands (SFCWs) were constructed for investigating microbial communities. Results showed that influent wastewater changed sediment bacterial community composition seasonally, indicating that a single bacterial taxonomic group had low resistance (especially, Actinobacteriota and Gammaproteobacteria). However, copy numbers of 16S rRNA, ammonia oxidizing archaea, ammonia oxidizing bacteria, nirS and nirK in the first stage SFCWs were 2.49 × 10 10 , 3.48 × 10 9 , 5.76 × 10 6 , 8.77 × 10 8 and 9.06 × 10 8  g -1 dry sediment, respectively, which remained stable between seasons. Moreover, decreases in the nitrogen concentration in wastewater, changed microbial system state from heterotrophic to autotrophic. Micro-eukaryotic communities were more sensitive to wastewater fluctuations than bacterial communities. Overall, results revealed that microbial communities responded to spatio-temporal fluctuations in wastewater through state changes and species asynchrony. This highlighted complex processes of wastewater treatment by microbial components in SFCWs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Milk glycans play key roles in shaping and maintaining a healthy infant gut microbiota. Core fucosylation catalyzed by fucosyltransferase (Fut8) is the major glycosylation pattern on human milk N -glycan, which was crucial for promoting the colonization and dominant growth of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus spp. in neonates. However, the influence of core-fucose in breast milk on the establishment of early-life immune tolerance remains poorly characterized. In this study, we found that the deficiency of core-fucose in the milk of maternal mice caused by Fut8 gene heterozygosity (Fut8 +/- ) resulted in poor immune tolerance towards the ovalbumin (OVA) challenge, accompanied by a reduced proportion of intestinal RORγt + Treg cells and the abundance of Lactobacillus spp., especially L. reuteri and L. johnsonii , in their breast-fed neonates. The administration of the L. reuteri and L. johnsonii mixture to neonatal mice compromised the OVA-induced allergy and up-regulated the intestinal RORγt + Treg cell proportions. However, Lactobacillus mixture supplementation did not alleviate allergic responses in RORγt + Treg cell-deficient mice caused by Rorc gene heterozygosity (Rorc +/- ) post OVA challenge, indicating that the intervention effects depend on the RORγt + Treg cells. Interestingly, instead of L. reuteri and L. johnsonii , we found that the relative abundance of another Lactobacillus spp., L. murinus , in the gut of the offspring mice was significantly promoted by intervention, which showed enhancing effects on the proliferation of splenic and intestinal RORγt + Treg cells in in vitro studies. The above results indicate that core fucosylation of breast milk N -glycans is beneficial for the establishment of RORγt + Treg cell mediated early-life immune tolerance through the manipulation of symbiotic bacteria in mice.

Vitamin K2 (MK-7) has been shown to cause significant changes in different physiological processes and diseases, but its role in acute lung injury (ALI) is unclear. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to evaluate the protective effects of VK2 against LPS-induced ALI in mice. The male C57BL/6J mice were randomly divided into six groups (n = 7): the control group, LPS group, negative control group (LPS + Oil), positive control group (LPS + DEX), LPS + VK2 (L) group (VK2, 1.5 mg/kg), and LPS + VK2 (H) group (VK2, 15 mg/kg). Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining of lung tissue was performed. Antioxidant superoxide dismutase (SOD) and total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) activities, and the Ca 2+ level in the lung tissue were measured. The effects of VK2 on inflammation, apoptosis, tight junction (TJ) injury, mitochondrial dysfunction, and autophagy were quantitatively assessed using Western blot analysis. Compared with the LPS group, VK2 improved histopathological changes; alleviated inflammation, apoptosis, and TJ injury; increased antioxidant enzyme activity; reduced Ca 2+ overload; regulated mitochondrial function; and inhibited lung autophagy. These results indicate that VK2 could improve tight junction protein loss, inflammation, and cell apoptosis in LPS-induced ALI by inhibiting the mitochondrial dysfunction and excessive autophagy, indicating that VK2 plays a beneficial role in ALI and might be a potential therapeutic strategy.

Vitamin K (VK) comprises a group of substances with chlorophyll quinone bioactivity and exists in nature in the form of VK1 and VK2. As its initial recognition originated from the ability to promote blood coagulation, it is known as the coagulation vitamin. However, based on extensive research, VK has shown potential for the prevention and treatment of various diseases. Studies demonstrating the beneficial effects of VK on immunity, antioxidant capacity, intestinal microbiota regulation, epithelial development, and bone protection have drawn growing interest in recent years. This review article focuses on the mechanism of action of VK and its potential preventive and therapeutic effects on infections (eg, asthma, COVID-19), inflammation (eg, in type 2 diabetes mellitus, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, cancer, aging, atherosclerosis) and autoimmune disorders (eg, inflammatory bowel disease, type 1 diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis). In addition, VK-dependent proteins (VKDPs) are another crucial mechanism by which VK exerts anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects. This review explores the potential role of VK in preventing aging, combating neurological abnormalities, and treating diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Although current research appoints VK as a therapeutic tool for practical clinical applications in infections, inflammation, and autoimmune diseases, future research is necessary to elucidate the mechanism of action in more detail and overcome current limitations., Competing Interests: Jiepeng Chen and Lili Duan are affiliated with Sungen Bioscience Co., Ltd. The authors declare no other conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2024 Xie et al.)

Objective: Use red blood cell stabilizer to store the antibody screening and antibody identification reagent red blood cells (RBCs) treated with 0.01 mol/L DTT and investigate its value in the pre-transfusion examinations of patients treated with daratumumab., Method: Determined the optimal incubation time for the 0.01 mol/L DTT-treated RBCs method by evaluating the effect of treatment at different time points. Added ID-CellStab to store DTT-treated RBCs, determined the maximum shelf life of reagent RBCs by monitoring the hemolysis index, and assessed changes in the antigenicity of blood group antigens on the surface of RBCs during storage with antibody reagents., Result: A protocol for long-term storage of reagent red blood cells treated with the 0.01 mol/L DTT method was established. The optimal incubation time was 40-50 min. RBCs could be stored stably for 18 days after adding ID-CellStab. The protocol was able to eliminate pan-agglutination caused by daratumumab, with no significant changes in the antigens of most blood group systems, except for some attenuation of K antigen and Duffy blood group system antigens during the storage period., Conclusion: The storage protocol of reagent RBCs based on the 0.01 mol/L DTT method does not affect the detection of most blood group antibodies and retains a certain degree of detection ability for anti-K antibodies, allowing patients treated with daratumumab to quickly perform pre-transfusion examinations, making up for the shortcomings of currently commercial reagent RBCs.

Background: Probiotic fermentation is a promising strategy for improving the nutritional and functional properties of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs). Ganoderma lucidum and Raphani Semen are famous TCMs that have been shown to help alleviate immune system disorders. However, few studies have experimentally investigated the effects of probiotic-fermented G.lucidum and Raphani Semen on the immune system., Purpose: We established the in vitro fermentation of G. lucidum and Raphani Semen with a probiotic mixture (Bifidobacterium longum, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and l. fermentum) (GRFB), investigated its ameliorating effect against cyclophosphamide (CTX)-induced immunosuppression, and explored its possible mechanisms., Methods: First, the different components in GRFB were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography. Second, its immune-stimulatory activities were evaluated in CTX-treated mice. Lastly, its possible in vitro and in vivo mechanisms were studied., Results: Probiotic fermentation of G. lucidum and Raphani Semen altered some of its chemical constituents, potentially helping improve the ability of GRFB to alleviate immunosuppression. As expected, GRFB effectively ameliorated CTX-induced immunosuppression by increasing the number of splenic lymphocytes and regulating the secretion of serum and ileum cytokines. GRFB supplementation also effectively improved intestinal integrity in CTX-treated mice by upregulating tight junction proteins. It also protects against CTX-induced intestinal dysbiosis by increasing the abundance of beneficial bacteria and reducing the abundance of harmful bacteria. GRFB could directly promote intestinal immunity but not systemic immunity in vitro, suggesting a microbiota-dependent regulation of GRFB. Interestingly, cohousing CTX-induced immunosuppressed mice with GRFB-treated mice promoted their symptoms recovery. Enhanced CTX-induced immunosuppression by GRFB in vitro depended on the gut microbiota. Remarkably, a Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis showed that the GRFB-reprogrammed microbiota was significantly enriched in DNA damage repair pathways, which contribute to repairing the intestinal mucosal barrier., Conclusion: This is the first study to suggest that compare with unfermented G. lucidum and Raphani Semen, GRFB can more effectively promote intestinal immunity and manipulate the gut microbiota to promote immunostimulatory activity and repair immunosuppression-induced intestinal barrier damage by biotransforming G.lucidum and Raphani Semen components., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier GmbH.. All rights reserved.)

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a life-threatening disease that has received considerable critical attention in the field of intensive care. This study aimed to explore the role and mechanism of vitamin K2 (VK2) in ALI. Intraperitoneal injection of 7 mg/kg LPS was used to induce ALI in mice, and VK2 injection was intragastrically administered with the dose of 0.2 and 15 mg/kg. We found that VK2 improved the pulmonary pathology, reduced myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity and levels of TNF-α and IL-6, and boosted the level of IL-10 of mice with ALI. Moreover, VK2 played a significant part in apoptosis by downregulating and upregulating Caspase-3 and Bcl-2 expressions, respectively. As for further mechanism exploration, we found that VK2 inhibited P38 MAPK signaling. Our results also showed that VK2 inhibited ferroptosis, which manifested by reducing malondialdehyde (MDA) and iron levels, increasing glutathione (GSH) level, and upregulated and downregulated glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expressions, respectively. In addition, VK2 also inhibited elastin degradation by reducing levels of uncarboxylated matrix Gla protein (uc-MGP) and desmosine (DES). Overall, VK2 robustly alleviated ALI by inhibiting LPS-induced inflammation, apoptosis, ferroptosis, and elastin degradation, making it a potential novel therapeutic candidate for ALI., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Wang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Swine wastewater contains high concentration of nitrogen (N), causing pollution of surrounding water bodies. Constructed wetlands (CWs) are considered as an effective ecological treatment measure to remove nitrogen. Some emergent aquatic plants could tolerate high ammonia, and play a crucial part in CWs to treat high concentration N wastewater. However, the mechanism of root exudates and rhizosphere microorganisms of emergent plants on nitrogen removal is still unclear. Effects of organic and amino acids on rhizosphere N cycle microorganisms and environmental factors across three emergent plants were investigated in this study. The highest TN removal efficiency were 81.20% in surface flow constructed wetlands (SFCWs) plant with Pontederia cordata. The root exudation rates results showed that organic and amino acids were higher in 56 d than that in 0 d in SFCWs plants with Iris pseudacorus and P. cordata. The highest ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) gene copy numbers were found in I. pseudacorus rhizosphere soil, while the highest nirS, nirK, hzsB and 16S rRNA gene copy numbers were detected in P. cordata rhizosphere soil. Regression analysis results demonstrated that organic and amino acids exudation rates were positive related to rhizosphere microorganisms. These results indicated that organic and amino acids secretion could stimulate growth of emergent plants rhizosphere microorganisms in SFCWs for swine wastewater treatment. In addition, the EC, TN, NH 4 + -N and NO 3 - -N were negatively correlated with organic and amino acids exudation rates, and abundances of rhizosphere microorganisms via Pearson correlation analysis. These results imply that organic and amino acids, and rhizosphere microorganisms synergically affected on the nitrogen removal in SFCWs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To explore the effect of role reversal and standardized patient simulation on the training of new nurses., Method: This study was conducted in a territory hospital in China between August 2021 and August 2022. The selected staff were all newly recruited and trained nurses, with a total of 58 cases. This study is a randomised controlled trial. The selected nurses were randomly divided into two groups. One group of 29 nurses (the control group) received routine training and assessment; the other group (the experimental group) was given role reversal combined with a standardized vertebral patient training examination. The implementation effects of different training and assessment methods were compared and analysed., Results: Before the training, the core competence scores of nurses in the two groups were lower, and there was no significant data difference (P > 0.05). After training, the core competence scores of nurses were improved, and the score of nurses in the experimental group was 165.49 ± 22.34. The difference was statistically significant when compared with the score of nurses in the control group (P < 0.05), indicating that nurses in the experimental group had better abilities. At the same time, the satisfaction of the two groups of nurses with the training was 96.55% (experimental group) and 75.86% (control group), and the difference in data was significant (P < 0.05). The satisfaction of the experimental group of nurses was higher, and the training effect was better., Conclusion: In the training of new nurses, the combined application of role interchange and standardized patient training and assessment methods has significant effects, which can improve the core competency of nurses and improve the training satisfaction of nurses, which is significant., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Long-round needle usage can treat muscular pain, but there is little research on cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR)., Objective: To explore the efficacy and safety of long-round needle usage in treating CSR., Methods: Ninety-eight patients with CSR were randomly divided into control and observation groups. They were treated with filiform needles and long-round needles, respectively. The therapeutic effect, safety, inflammatory factors and neck dysfunction index (NDI), McGill pain questionnaire (MPQ) and Generic Quality of Life Inventory-74 (GQOL-74) scores were compared between the two groups., Results: After treatment, the effective rate and safety of the observation group were better than those of the control group. The NDI and MPQ scores in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group, and the GQOL-74 score was higher than that in the control group. The level of interleukin-8 in the observation group was significantly lower than that in the control group, and the level of interleukin-10 was significantly higher than that in the control group., Conclusions: Long-round needle therapy has a good effect on patients with CSR, which can safely improve the quality of life of patients with mild local inflammatory damage.

This study analyzes and compares the structure and diversity of gut microbiota in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) in Northern China to healthy individuals to identify clinical features associated with dysbiosis. We included 60 Chinese pSS patients and 50 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. DNA was extracted from stool samples and subjected to 16S ribosomal RNA gene analysis (V3-V4) for intestinal dysbiosis. In addition, patients were examined for laboratory and serological pSS features. A Spearman's correlation analysis was performed to assess correlations between individual bacteria taxa and clinical characteristics. The alpha-diversity (Chao1 and Shannon Index) and beta-diversity (unweighted UniFrac distances) of the gut microbiota differed significantly between pSS patients and healthy controls. Further analysis showed that several gut opportunistic pathogens (Bacteroides, Megamonas, and Veillonella) were significantly more abundant in pSS patients and positively correlated with their clinical indicators. In contrast, some probiotic genera (Collinsella, unidentified&#95;Ruminococcaceae, Romboutsia, and Dorea) were significantly decreased in pSS patients and negatively correlated with their clinical indicators. Therefore, pSS patients in Northern China showed a dysbiotic intestinal microbiome enriched for potentially pathogenic genera that might be associated with autoimmune disease., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2022 Li et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Multidimensional (coupled land use, soil properties, and topography) landscape effects on stream water nitrogen (N) are complex and scale-dependent. However, studies that identify critical buffer zones that explain large variations in riverine N, and estimate specific thresholds of multidimensional landscape patterns at the class level, result in a sudden changes in riverine N pollution, are still limited. Here, a new multidimensional landscape metric that combined land use, soil properties, and topography effects was applied to various riparian buffer zones and sub-watershed scales, and their relationships to riverine N levels were investigated. We used stream water ammonium-N, nitrate-N, and total-N concentrations datasets, from 2010 to 2017, in the nine subtropical sub-watersheds in China. The results of model selection and model averaging in ordinary least squares regressions, indicated that the riparian buffer zone with widths of 400 m, had more pronounced influence on water NH 4 -N and TN levels than at other scales. Within the 400 m buffer zone, the key landscape metrics for NH 4 -N, NO 3 -N and TN concentrations in stream water were different, and explained up to 43.35%-76.55% (adjusted R 2 ) of the total variation in river N levels. When ENN&#95;MN Class17 below 39-56 m, PD Class8 above 4.63-6.55 n/km 2 , PLAND Class27 above 23-29%, and CONTIG&#95;MN Class42 below 0.35-0.37% within the 400 m buffer zone, riverine NH 4 -N and TN would be abruptly increased. This study provided practical ideas for regulation regarding landscape management linked to watershed structure, and identified reference thresholds for multidimensional landscape metrics, which should help reduce riverine N pollution in subtropical China., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The catchment phosphorus buffering capacity (PBF) determines the pressure-state-response relationship between anthropogenic P inputs and aquatic ecosystems at a catchment scale, and is affected by biogeochemical, hydrological, and ecological catchment characteristics. However, the complex relationship between these catchment characteristic factors and their impact pathways on PBF remains ambiguous, leading to large uncertainty in balancing agricultural productivity and water conservation via improving BF through management practices. In this study, the short-term buffering index, calculated from net anthropogenic P input and riverine P exports, was used to quantify the spatiotemporal variations in PBF in source agricultural catchments in the Dongting Lake basin. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to investigate the relationship between the PBF and the catchment characteristics. The results indicate that catchment PBF was directly determined by soil properties and hydrological conditions, while landscape patterns significantly mediated the effects of topography on soil and hydrology. Considering the pathway preferences of the model, landscape patterns could be the priority for characterizing and regulating PBF. According to a change-point analysis, the probability of PBF weakening increases dramatically when the proportion of farmland (Farm%) > 24.6%, degree of patch interspersion (Contagion index) < 64.5%, and Perimeter-Area Ratio Distribution (PARA) > 348.7. These findings provide new insights into catchment buffering mechanisms and can be used to promote the simultaneous achievement of agricultural production and environmental conservation goals., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Traditional pre-job training mainly provides theoretical lectures and operational skill training for new nurses. However, it has a single teaching method, lacks in comprehensiveness and flexibility, and has unsatisfactory teaching effects. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the influence of the flipped classroom and mind map in the pre-job training of newly recruited nurses., Method: A total of 92 nurses newly recruited in 2019 were included in the present study and randomly divided into two groups: the intervention group and the control group (n = 46, each). An ordinary training program was applied in the control group, and the flipped classroom + mind map training method was applied in the intervention group. All the new nurses were evaluated using the autonomous learning ability scale before and after pre-job training., Results: The results of the present study showed that before the pre-job training, the total scores of independent learning ability, learning motivation, self-management ability, learning cooperation ability and information quality of nursing staff were similar in the control group and the intervention group; the differences were not statistically significant (P > 0.05). After the application of different training methods, the total score of independent learning ability (84.95 ± 5.146 vs. 66.73 ± 11.213), learning motivation (28.65 ± 3.198 vs. 22.78 ± 5.995), self-management ability (24.97 ± 3.586 vs. 17.89 ± 4.153), learning and cooperation ability (14.391 ± 1.584 vs. 12.17 ± 2.584) and information quality score (16.93 ± 1.306 vs. 13.89 ± 2.651) in the intervention group were significantly higher than in the control group; the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05)., Conclusion: The flipped classroom + mind map training method can effectively improve the autonomous learning ability of newly recruited nurses., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease, in addition, gut microbiota plays an important role in the etiology of RA. However, our understanding of alterations to the gut fungal microbiota in Chinese population with RA is still limited., Methods: Serum samples were obtained from 62 patients with RA, and 39 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HCs). Fecal samples were obtained from 42 RA patients and 39 HCs. Fecal fungal microbiota targeting internal transcribed spacer region 2 (ITS2) rRNA genes was investigated using MiSeq sequencing, as well as their associations with some diagnostic biomarkers for RA., Results: Our results showed that the fungal diversity did not alter in RA patients but taxonomic composition of the fecal fungal microbiota did. The gut mycobiota of RA patients was characterized by decreased abundance of Pholiota , Scedosporium , and Trichosporon . The linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size analysis (LEfSe) analysis identified several RA-enriched fungal genera, which were positively correlated with most RA biomarkers. Furthermore, since RA is an age- and gende-related disease, we classified RA patients into subgroups with age and gender and analyzed the sequencing results. Our data demonstrated that Wallemia and Irpex were the most discriminatory against RA patients over 60 years old, while Pseudeurotiaceae was the most discriminatory against female RA patients., Conclusions: The case-control study presented here confirmed the alterations of gut fungal microbiota in Chinese patients with RA, and we speculated that the fungal dysbiosis may contribute to RA development., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2022 Sun et al.)

Landscape composition and configuration determine the exchange of matter and energy among different landscape patches and may affect riverine phosphorus (P) exports derived from watershed legacy sources. However, a lack of understanding of landscape pattern effects on legacy P releases has yielded large uncertainties in mitigating watershed water quality using management practices or landscape planning. This study revealed the significance of legacy effect in the headwater catchments through the time-lag response of the long-term trend of river P exports to the change of net anthropogenic P input (NAPI). By constructing empirical statistical models that incorporated NAPI, hydroclimatic, terrain factors, soil chemical properties, and land use variables, the sources of annual riverine total phosphorus (TP) and dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP) exports were divided into current annual NAPI input and legacy sources inputs. The model estimations indicated that the contribution of legacy sources to riverine TP exports was 0.33-1.12 kg ha -1  yr -1 (50.7-82.8%), which was significantly higher than the contribution to DIP exports (0.18-0.49 kg ha -1  yr -1 , 42.4-81.4%) in 2012-2017. Redundancy analysis (RDA) and variance partitioning analysis (VPA) methods were used to quantify the relative contribution of landscape patterns, soil P content, and terrain factors to legacy P releases. Results revealed that the relative contribution of the landscape composition and configuration to the total variations of legacy P releases was greater than that of the soil P and terrain factors. For different land use patches, a large area of woodland with a high aggregation degree and a large area of ponds with multiple net structures may significantly alleviate legacy P releases. In contrast, the legacy P releases were significantly positively associated with highly aggregated agricultural, tea plantation, and residential patches. This study provides theoretical support for strategies aiming to control legacy P from the perspective of landscape planning., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

QKI is a vital regulator in RNA splicing and maturation, but its role in cervical cancer (CC) is little known. In this study, we found that QKI is decreased in human CC, and overexpression of QKI inhibits HeLa cell proliferation and promotes the apoptosis of cancer cells. We identified hundreds of endogenous QKI-regulated alternative splicing events (ASEs) and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in QKI-overexpressed HeLa cells by RNA-seq and selectively validated their expression by quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. The gene ontology and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis showed that QKI-regulated ASEs and DEGs were closely related to cancer, apoptosis, and transcriptional regulatory functions. In short, QKI may affect the occurrence and development of CC by regulating gene expression through AS.

Ganoderma lucidum is a legendary traditional Chinese medicine with various bioactivities. This study was conducted (a) to explore the in vitro fermentation of the water extracts of G. lucidum fruiting body with Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium breve and (b) to investigate the effect of fermentation broth (GLFB) on dexamethasone (DEX)-induced immunosuppressed mice. Our results demonstrated that probiotic fermentation of G. lucidum fruiting body extracts underwent structural changing of major ganoderic acid components, such as ganoderic acid A (GA) into GC2, and this fermentation process involves changing of several metabolic pathways in the probiotic strains. GLFB could significantly improve the immunity, intestinal integrity, and gut microbiota dysbiosis in DEX-treated mice, and the immunostimulatory activity of GLFB was found closely related to its direct regulation on the expansion of CD4 + T cells in Peyer's patches of mice. These data implied that probiotic fermentation of G. lucidum fruiting body extracts promoted its immunostimulatory activity via biotransformation of components such as GA. This research provides a theoretical support for the development and application of G. lucidum fermentation by probiotics., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.. All rights reserved.)

Understanding the relationship between integrated landscape patterns (coupled land use, soil properties, and topography) and stream water quality in different seasons promotes appropriate landscape planning. However, this relationship is unclear. Here, water quality nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) levels and the integrated landscape patterns were investigated in ten Chinese subtropical catchments during 2010-2017, using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regressions method and redundancy analysis (RDA). The results suggested that stream water N and P levels were significantly higher in the fallow season than in the rice-growing season (p < 0.05). The N and P levels in the rice-growing season were elevated with the increasing area proportions of tea fields in Ultisols on the medium slope (16.06-28.02°), and larger isolation, diversity, and geometric complexity of landscape patches, but decreased with the increasing area proportions of forests in Ultisols on the steep slope (28.02-80.30°) and interspersion of landscape patches. Stream water N and P levels were more likely influenced by landscape configuration in the rainy rice-growing season, mainly due to the rapid velocities and high quantities of surface flow strengthening landscape configuration effects on the N and P migration and exchange. In the fallow season, the N and P levels were heightened with the increasing area proportions of tea fields, residential areas, and paddy fields in Ultisols on the relative flat (0-16.06°) and medium slopes, and larger isolation of landscape, and could be greatly reduced if the area proportions of forests in Ultisols on the steep slope is increased. The N and P levels were more likely determined by landscape composition in the dry fallow season, associated with the slow and poor subsurface and underground hydrological flows. Therefore, the results promoted reasonable landscape management in different seasons and suitable soil and topography conditions for improving stream water quality., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study aimed at determining the beneficial effect of Clostridium butyricum (CB) RH2 on ceftriaxone-induced dysbacteriosis. To this purpose, BALB/c mice were exposed to ceftriaxone (400 mg/ml) or not (control) for 7 days, and administered a daily oral gavage of low-, and high-dose CB RH2 (10 8 and 10 10 CFU/ml, respectively) for 2 weeks. CB RH2 altered the diversity of gut microbiota, changed the composition of gut microbiota in phylum and genus level, decreased the F/B ratio, and decreased the pro-inflammatory bacteria ( Deferribacteres , Oscillibacter , Desulfovibrio , Mucispirillum and Parabacteroides ) in ceftriaxone-treated mice. Additionally, CB RH2 improved colonic architecture and intestinal integrity by improving the mucous layer and the tight junction barrier. Furthermore, CB RH2 also mitigated intestinal inflammation through decreasing proinflammatory factors (TNF-α and COX-2) and increasing anti-inflammatory factors (IL-10). CB RH2 had direct effects on the expansion of CD4 + T cells in Peyer's patches (PPs) in vitro , which in turn affected their immune response upon challenge with ceftriaxone. All these data suggested that CB RH2 possessed the ability to modulate the intestinal mucosal and systemic immune system in limiting intestinal alterations to relieve ceftriaxone-induced dysbacteriosis., Competing Interests: Authors HC and LZ were employed by the company Hangzhou Grand Biologic Pharmaceutical INC. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Li, Liu, Liu, Sui, Liu, Wei, Liu, Cheng, Ye, Gao, Wang, Lu, Cheng, Zhang, Yuan and Li.)

How sediment bacterial community structure and diversity responds to different gradients of nitrogen (N) in swine wastewater is poorly understood. Here, the effects of different total nitrogen (TN) concentrations in swine wastewater on the microbial diversity and community composition in surface flow constructed wetlands (SFCWs) were investigated. The five concentration gradients included 2, 250, 300, 350, and 400 mg L -1 . Under high N concentrations (>300 mg L -1 ), the Ace and Chao1 indexes increased, however, the Shannon index declined with increasing N concentration. The relative abundance of Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria showed an increasing trend. In contrast, under relatively low N concentrations (≤300 mg L -1 ), Shannon index increased with increasing N concentration. The relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and Verrucomicrobia exhibited an increasing trend with increasing N concentration. TN, NH 4 + and NO 3 - significantly influenced on the microbial community distribution and composition (P < 0.05). These findings provide evidence that N concentration of swine wastewater is powerful predictor of bacterial diversity and community composition in SFCWs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Constipation is one of the most common functional gastrointestinal disorders accompanied with intestinal dysbiosis. Laxatives for constipation usually have side effects. Bee honey is a natural food with unique composition, antimicrobial properties, and bifidogenic effect. In order to assess whether honey can ameliorate loperamide-induced constipation in BALB/c mice through the alteration of the gut microbiota, the present study was undertaken. Mice were given Jarrah honey (7.5 g/kg body weight) by gavage once per day for 5 days. Fecal water content, intestinal transit rate together with the colon concentrations of substance P (SP), vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), and serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) were evaluated. Furthermore, we determined the effect of honey treatment on gut microbiota in mice using stool genomic 16S rRNA sequencing. As a result, honey showed an obvious improvement in fecal water content and alleviated constipation by modulating the microbial composition of the microbiota, and this was highly associated with a proportional decrease in gut Desulfovibrio . In addition, we found that the colon level of neurotransmitters SP and VIP was significantly related to microbial variations. Our results indicate that gut microbiota is involved in the alleviation of loperamide-induced constipation by honey supplementation in mice, and it could be considered as an evaluating parameter in constipation therapy strategies., Competing Interests: The authors have declared no conflict of interest., (© 2020 The Authors. Food Science & Nutrition published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Purpose: DCBLD2 expression dysregulation has been reported in several types of human cancer. As yet, however, the role of DCBLD2 in colorectal cancer (CRC) is not known., Methods: CRC tissues were obtained from patients undergoing surgery from February 2009 to May 2014 (n = 90). Tissue microarray construction and immunohistochemistry were carried out to determine DCBLD2 expression. In vivo studies were performed in 4-week-old BALB/c nude mice. In vitro studies were conducted using CRC-derived HT29 and HCT116 cell lines., Results: DCBLD2 expression was found to be significantly increased in CRC tissues compared to adjacent normal tissues (p < 0.001). In addition, we found that DCBLD2 expression was positively correlated with the stage of the disease, the degree of differentiation and vascular invasion. High DCBLD2 expression was significantly associated with a poor overall survival. In vitro, DCBLD2 expression downregulation significantly reduced CRC cell proliferation and invasion. In a mouse xenograft model, DCBLD2 expression downregulation reduced lung metastasis and increased overall survival. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) revealed that DCBLD2 overexpression induces epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and activates the JAK/STAT3 pathway., Conclusions: We found that high DCBLD2 expression correlated with a poor clinical outcome, as well as tumorigenesis, invasion and metastasis of CRC cells. DCBLD2 may serve as a prognostic biomarker and a novel therapeutic target for CRC.

Gut dysbiosis induced by high-fat diet (HFD) may result in low-grade inflammation leading to diverse inflammatory diseases. The beneficial effects of probiotics and prebiotics on obesity have been reported previously. However, their benefits in promoting human health and the underlying mechanisms still need to be further characterized. This study is aimed at understanding how probiotic Bacillus licheniformis Zhengchangsheng® (BL) and prebiotic xylooligosaccharides (XOS) influence the health of a rat model with HF (60 kcal %) diet-induced obesity. Five groups of male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were fed a normal fat diet (CON) or an HFD with or without BL and XOS supplementation for 3 weeks. Lipid profiles, inflammatory biomarkers, and microbiota composition were analyzed at the end of the experiment. Rats fed an HFD exhibited increased body weight and disordered lipid metabolism. In contrast, combined BL and XOS supplementation inhibited body weight gain and returned lipid metabolism to normal. Furthermore, BL and XOS administration changed the gut microbiota composition and modulated specific bacteria such as Prevotellaceae , Desulfovibrionaceae , and Ruminococcaceae . In addition, supplements of combined BL and XOS obviously reduced the serum LPS level, which was significantly related to microbial variations. Our findings suggest that modulation of the gut microbiota as a result of probiotic BL and prebiotic XOS supplementation has a positive effect on HFD-induced obesity in rats., Competing Interests: The authors have declared no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Yuyuan Li et al.)

In this study, Myriophyllum elatinoides growth under different nitrogen (N) concentrations (2, 250, 300, 350 and 400 mg L -1 ) and changes in rhizosphere bacterial community structure were investigated. High N (>300 mg L -1 ) concentrations caused reduction in M. elatinoides biomass. Growth tended to stabilize at 49 days. N concentration in roots were higher than that in stems and leaves under high N conditions. TN and NH 4 + removal efficiencies reached 84.0% and 87.2%, respectively, in M. elatinoides surface flow constructed wetlands (SFCWs). Rhizosphere bacterial diversity increased over time. Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Cyanobacteria, and Bacteroidetes dominated at the phylum level. Genera Turicibacter, Allochromatium, and Methylocystis increased at low N (<300 mg L -1 ) concentrations, while Pseudomonas increased at high N concentrations over the experimental period. Redundancy analysis showed that pH was strongly correlated with changes in rhizosphere bacterial community structure. These findings helped to insight into N removal mechanism in M. elatinoides., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A multi-stage surface flow constructed wetland (SFCW) is used to treat decentralized rural domestic sewage. The performance of a multi-stage SFCW located in Hunan, China, and the associated microbial community structures were investigated. The average removal rates of the multi-stage SFCW planted with Myriophyllum elatinoides were 1.0 g m - 2 d - 1 , 0.84 g m - 2 d - 1 , 61.3 mg m - 2 d - 1 , and 85.3 mg m - 2 d - 1 for total nitrogen (TN), ammonia (NH 4 + ), nitrate (NO 3 - ), and total phosphorus (TP), respectively. Furthermore, the sediment and presence of plants were found to be important for the removal N and P. The average removal rates by sediment and plants were 196.6 mg N m - 2 d - 1 and 49.9 mg P m - 2 d - 1 , 17.6 mg N m - 2 d - 1 and 8.1 mg P m - 2 d - 1 , respectively. The microbial community profiles demonstrated that Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Euryarchaeota were the predominant phyla in each stage and at different sampling times. The concentrations of NO 3 - , TP, TN, and NH 4 + , and the pH of the sediment and water had a significant effect on the presence of denitrifying bacteria in the anaerobic environment. Whereas, dissolved oxygen (DO) and redox potential (Eh) had a significant effect on the presence of nitrifying bacteria in the aerobic environment. This research strongly supports that the use of the multi-stage SFCW promotes bacterial diversity and changes bacterial community in the sediment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Based on the approach of merged pharmacophores of GPR119 agonists and DPP-4 inhibitors, a series of tetrahydropyridopyrimidine compounds were designed as dual GPR119 and DPP-4 modulators with hypoglycemic activity. Seven fragments extracted from DPP-4 inhibitors were hybridized with the scaffold of tetrahydropyridopyrimidine. Among them, compound 51 displayed most potent GPR119 agonistic activity (EC 50  = 8.7 nM) and good inhibition rate of 74.5% against DPP-4 at 10 μM. Furthermore, the blood glucose AUC 0-2h of 51 was reduced to 19.5% in the oral glucose tolerance test (oGTT) at the dose of 30 mg/kg in C57BL/6N mice, which was more potent than that of vildagliptin (16.4%) at the same dose. The docking study of compound 51 with DPP-4 indicated GPR119 agonists could inhibit DPP-4 to serve as dual GPR119 and DPP-4 modulators., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Constructed wetlands have recently been studied as a form of green infrastructure for the enhanced removal of nitrogen (N). This study aimed to demonstrate the use of multistage surface flow constructed wetland (SFCW) for treatment of swine wastewater. The results showed chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), NH 4 + , and NO 3 - removal rates of 16.3 g m -2 d -1 , 9.14 g m -2 d -1 , 7.75 g m -2 d -1 , and 45.49 mg m -2 d -1 , respectively. The sediment and plant absorption N rates were 2.44 g m -2 d -1 , and 1.24 g m -2 d -1 , respectively. Moreover, the microbial process which is the primary process, by which N is removed, accounted for 56.75-65.35%. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) revealed the highest microbial abundance in the segment of the SFCW with high N concentration. Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nirK could be primarily responsible for the high removal rate of N. Factors like pH, DO, COD, N, and OM play an important role in influencing microbial abundance. It is suggested that the multistage SFCW has a promising future for the large scale treatment of swine wastewater., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Managing waste produced from swine farming operations is a significant agricultural and environmental challenge. Confined animal feeding operations continually generate large amounts of animal waste, which necessitates adequate waste management systems. This study examines the use of multistage surface flow constructed wetlands (SFCWs) to treat pig farm sewage. The wastewater removal rate, sediment deposits, physicochemical properties, and microbial community compositions of each segment of a SFCW were examined. The results indicated that removal rates of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), NH 4 + , NO 3 - , and total phosphorus (TP) were 89.8%, 97.9%, 98.2%, 87.6%, and 96.4%, respectively, in the multistage SFCW. The general trend showed increase in the dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations and oxidation reduction potential (Eh) from the beginning of the SFCW to its end. Sediment concentrations of N and P in each segment of the SFCW generally decreased, suggesting their accumulation in each segment. High-throughput sequencing indicated that the bacterial diversity increased over time. Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, and Firmicutes were dominant in multistage SFCW bacterial communities at the phylum level. Results further indicate that DO and Eh are major environmental factors that influence the bacterial community distribution. Overall, our findings suggest that multistage SFCWs not only improve contaminant removal but also change the bacterial community composition and promote bacterial community diversity.

Exploring the relationship between net anthropogenic phosphorus input (NAPI) and soil available P (SAP) content could inform applied issues related to environmental quality and agronomic productivity and increase our knowledge of element biogeochemical cycles. Here, the NAPI was estimated and the SAP content determined in eight counties in subtropical China from 1980 to 2010. It is suggested that the NAPI ranging 318-924 km -2  yr -1 in 1980 had increased substantially to 865-3601 km -2  yr -1 in 2010 across the eight counties, in which the P fertilizer application was estimated to represent the largest individual source of NAPI, accounting for an average of 36.1-74.6% of the NAPI. The NAPI in agricultural land (NAPI a ) was the largest component of the NAPI, and 60.7-77.1% of the NAPI a accumulated in the upper 20 cm layer of agricultural soils, which significantly increased soil total-P (TP) and SAP contents. The increases in SAP, resulting from 10,000 kg P km -2 of the NAPI a (IOP NAPI ), were estimated to be 1.61-4.36 mg P kg -1 in the counties. Both the correlation and variation partitioning analyses (VPAs) suggested that the soil pH and organic matter content (SOM) were the most important factors influencing the variations of IOP NAPI (determination coefficient: 72.5%). Therefore, the contribution of soil pH and SOM should be considered in enriching soil SAP levels and implementing optimal P management strategies to improving the agronomic effectiveness of P fertilization and further reduce the environmental risk of P loss in subtropical region., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Surface flow constructed wetlands (SFCWs) planted with Myriophyllum elatinoides for treatment of swine wastewater were examined to evaluate the effect of season, segment (site S1, S2, and S3), and treatment (100mgL -1 TN, T1; 300mgL -1 TN, T2; 500mgL -1 TN, T3) on the activity, and abundances of nitrifying and, denitrifying microorganisms, and on the abundance of sediment bacteria. The activity and abundances of nitrifiers, denitrifiers, and the abundance of bacteria were the highest in T3 samples, especially in S1 (P<0.05). The potential nitrification rate (PNR) was highest in the summer and potential denitrification rate (PDR) showed an increasing trend over seasons. The abundance of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) was strongly correlated with PNR, while abundance of denitrifying gene (nirK) was strongly correlated with PDR. These results indicate that M. elatinoides SFCWs for swine wastewater treatment stimulate the growth of nitrifiers, denitrifiers and bacteria in sediments., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background/aims: Emerging evidence suggests a close link between gut microbiota and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between gut microbiota and the DNA methylation of adiponectin (an adipocyte-specific adipocytokine) in rats, following diet-induced NAFLD., Methods: 50 male SD rats were randomly divided into five groups with or without a high fat diet (HFD), antibiotics, and probiotics, in order to establish an imbalanced gut microbiota and probiotic treatment model in NAFLD rats. After 13 weeks of treatment, blood, liver, and cecal tissue samples were collected. Serum lipids, liver function indexes by biochemical analyzers, and changes in liver pathology with hematoxylin-eosin (HE) and masson staining were detected. Furthermore, the serum adiponectin by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and liver adiponectin methylation levels in the promoter regions by pyrophosphate sequencing were determined. High throughput Illumina sequencing targeted microbial 16S genes, bioinformatics and statistical analysis identified cecal-associated gut microbiota., Results: HFD with antibiotic exposure showed the most severe steatohepatitis and a severe gut microbiota alteration. Reduced bacterial diversity was also seen and the abundances of Firmicutes, Lactobacillus, Cyanobacteria, Acidobacteria, Chlamydiae, Chlamydiales, Rubrobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Blautia, Shewanella, Bacteroides, Bacteroides acidifaciens, and Bacteroides uniformis, were shown to be partly reversed by probiotic treatment. Decreased serum adiponectin levels and increased DNA methylation levels of adiponectin promoter regions were also markedly associated with the NAFLD progression during gut microbiota alteration., Conclusion: Our results suggested that both gut microbiota alteration and adiponectin variability may be drivers of NAFLD progression and that targeting the gut microbiota, such as via administration of a probiotic, may delay NAFLD progression via adiponectin., (© 2018 The Author(s). Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.)

The kidney plays a central role in the regulation of the body water balance. The process of targeting the water channel aquaporin-2 (AQP2) on the apical plasma membrane of the collecting duct (CD) principal cells is mainly regulated by the antidiuretic peptide hormone arginine vasopressin (AVP), which is responsible for the maintenance of water homeostasis. Recently, much attention has been focused on the local factors modulating renal water reabsorption by AQP2 in the collecting ducts, especially prostaglandin E2 (PGE₂). PGE₂ is a lipid mediator involved in a variety of physiological and pathophysiological processes in the kidney. The biological function of PGE₂ is mainly mediated by four G-protein-coupled receptors, namely EP1-4, which couple to drive separate intracellular signaling pathways. Increasing evidence demonstrates that PGE₂ is essential for renal water transport regulation via multiple mechanisms. Each EP receptor plays a unique role in regulating water reabsorption in renal collecting ducts. This brief review highlights the role of PGE₂ in the regulation of water reabsorption and discusses the involvement of each EP receptor subtype in renal collecting duct. A better understanding of the role of PGE₂ in renal water transport process may improve disease management strategies for water balance disorders, including nephrogenic diabetes insipidus., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Increased nitrogen (N) concentrations in water bodies have highlighted issues regarding nutrient pollution in agricultural catchments. In this study, the ammonium-N (NH 4 + -N), nitrate-N (NO 3 - -N), and total N (TN) concentrations were observed in the stream water and groundwater of two contrasting catchments (named Tuojia and Jianshan) in subtropical central China from 2010 to 2014, to determine the rice agriculture impacts on the hydrographic patterns, and N export characteristics of the catchments. The results suggested that greater amounts of stream flow (523.0 vs. 434.7 mm year -1 ) and base flow (237.6 vs. 142.8 mm year -1 ) were produced in Tuojia than in Jianshan, and a greater base flow contribution to stream flow and higher frequencies of high-base flow days were observed during the fallow season than during the rice-growing season, indicating that intensive rice agriculture strongly influences the catchment hydrographic pattern. Rice agriculture resulted in moderate N pollution in the stream water and groundwater, particularly in Tuojia. Primarily, rice agriculture increased the NH 4 + -N concentration in the stream water; however, it increased the NO 3 - -N concentrations in the groundwater, suggesting that the different N species in the paddy fields migrated out of the catchments through distinct hydrological pathways. The average TN loading via stream flow and base flow was greater in Tuojia than in Jianshan (1.72 and 0.58 vs. 0.72 and 0.15 kg N ha -1  month -1 , respectively). Greater TN loading via stream flow was observed during the fallow season in Tuojia and during the rice-growing season in Jianshan, and these different results were most likely a result of the higher base flow contribution to TN loading (33.5 vs. 21.3%) and greater base flow enrichment ratio (1.062 vs. 0.876) in Tuojia than in Jianshan. Therefore, the impact of rice agriculture on catchment eco-hydrological processes should be considered when performing water quality protection and treatment in subtropical central China.

Backgroud: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an autoimmune inflammatory disorder, which is characterized by severe attacks of optic neuritis and myelitis. Antibodies (Ab) to aquaporin-4 (AQP4) (or NMO-IgG) as a serological biomarker of NMO have been widespread used. Nevertheless, some NMO patients remain seronegative for AQP4-Ab and/or have no detected optic nerve involvement. In addition, no consensus exists on the association between AQP4-Ab serostatus and visual outcome in NMO. To drive a more precise estimate of this postulated relationship, a metaanalysis was performed based on existing relevant studies., Methods: Studies were searched by PubMed and MEDLINE up to March 2016. Study quality was assessed, and meta-analysis was conducted using the RevMan 5.1. Odds ratios with 95% confidence interval were calculated and funnel plot was applied to assess the potential publication bias., Results: In a total of 1288 relevant studies, 18 studies satisfied the eligibility criteria and were included in the systemic review. Only 9 studies appeared eligible for the meta-analysis, together including 624 AQP4-Ab-positive and 119 AQP4-Ab-negative NMO patients. The results revealed associations between AQP4-Ab seropositivity and visual impairment in NMO (OR, 3.16; 95% CI, 1.09, 9.19; P = 0.03). The results of subgroup analyses based on different methods of AQP-4 detection also showed significantly differences between AQP4-Ab seropositivity and visual impairment in NMO, especially in CBA subgroup., Conclusion: This meta-analysis indicates that AQP4-Ab serostatus has the positive with poor visual outcome in NMO., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.)

Neuronal PAS domain protein 3 (NPAS3) and VGF (VGF Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) Inducible) are important for neurogenesis and psychiatric disorders. Previously, we have demonstrated that NPAS3 regulates VGF at the transcriptional level. In this study, VGF (non-acronymic) was found regulated by NPAS3 in neuronal stem cells. However, the underlying mechanism of this regulation remains unclear. The aim of this study was to explore the correlation of NPAS3 and VGF, and their roles in neural cell proliferation, in the context of psychiatric illnesses. First, we focused on the structure of NPAS3, to identify the functional domain of NPAS3. Truncated NPAS3 lacking transactivation domain was also found to activate VGF, which suggested that not only transactivation domain but other structural motifs were also involved in the regulation. Second, Mutated enhancer box (E-box) of VGF promoter showed a significant response to this basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor, which suggested an indirect regulatory mechanism for controlling VGF expression by NPAS3. κB site within VGF promoter was identified for VGF activation induced by NPAS3, apart from direct binding to E-box. Furthermore, ectopically expressed NPAS3 in PC12 cells produced parallel responses for nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells [NF-κB (P65)] expression, which specifies that NPAS3 regulates VGF through the NF-κB signaling pathway. Over-expression of NPAS3 also enhances the cell proliferation, which can be blocked by knockdown of VGF. Finally, NPAS3 was found to influence proliferation of neural cells through VGF. Therefore, downstream signaling pathways that are responsible for NPAS3-VGF induced proliferation via glutamate receptors were explored. Combining this work and published literature, a potential network composed by NPAS3, NF-κB, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), NGF and VGF, was proposed. This network collectively detailed how NPAS3 connects with VGF and intersected neural cell proliferation, synaptic activity and psychiatric disorders.

A one-step construction of quinoline-fused lactones was achieved by visible-light-induced photocatalytic aerobic oxidation/Povarov cyclization reaction. This method provides a new access to the synthesis of important fused heterocycles under mild reaction conditions.

This study was performed to investigate the relationship between the abundance of pathogenic gut microbes in Chinese patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and disease severity.We collected clinical data and fecal samples from 47 therapy-naive Chinese patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), 67 patients with Crohn disease (CD), and 48 healthy volunteers. Bacteria levels of Fusobacterium species (spp), enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis (B fragilis), enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (E coli), and Enterococcus faecalis (E faecalis) were assessed by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to test associations between bacterial content and clinical parameters.Compared to healthy controls, the levels of both Fusobacterium spp and E faecalis were significantly increased in the feces of patients with IBD (P < 0.01). B fragilis levels were higher (P < 0.05) and E faecalis levels lower (P < 0.05) in patients with CD compared to those with UC. Increased E faecalis colonization in CD associated positively with disease activity (P = 0.015), Crohn disease activity index (CDAI; R = 0.3118, P = 0.0108), and fecal calprotectin (P = 0.016).E faecalis and Fusobacterium spp are significantly enriched in patients with IBD, and increased E faecalis infection is associated with clinically active CD., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

A highly efficient intramolecular selective aryl migration/desulfonylation of 2-bromo-N-aryl-N-(arenesulfonyl)amide via visible light-induced photoredox catalysis has been accomplished. This approach allows for the construction of a variety of multisubstituted N,2-diarylacetamide under mild reaction conditions.

Objective: This study investigated the incidence, risk factors, and clinical characteristics of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) in Chinese patients., Methods: Fecal specimens of patients with antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD) were collected to test C. difficile toxin A and B using enzyme-linked fluorescent assay to identify CDAD. By adopting a nested case-control design, the matched people (ratio 1:3) without AAD were included as controls., Results: Out of 56,172 inpatients, 39,882 (71.0%) used antibiotics, 470 suffered from AAD, and 93 were diagnosed with CDAD. The incidence of nosocomial CDAD was 166 per 100,000. The proportion of CDAD in AAD was 19.8%. CDAD patients presented with more severe clinical manifestations and exhibited more concurrent illness. Logistic regression analysis showed the risk factors of CDAD: advanced age, nasogastric tube-feeding, high APACHE II scores, high level of serum C-reaction protein, low level of serum albumin, severe underlining disease or comorbidity, and number of antibiotic intake. Twenty-nine patients (31.2%) were cured with vancomycin, 54 (58.1%) were cured after dual therapy of vancomycin plus metronidazole, 7 (7.5%) died of underlying diseases aggravated with CDAD, and 3 (3.2%) were transferred to other hospitals for personal reasons., Conclusion: The incidence of nosocomial CDAD in China was high. Some risk factors could predispose CDAD.

An efficient intramolecular dearomative cyclization via visible light-induced photoredox catalysis allows for a highly regioselective dearomative cyclization of α-bromo-N-benzyl-alkylamides to construct 2-azaspiro[4.5]decanes in the presence of an iridium catalyst.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an increasing cause of serious infection, both in the community and hospital settings. Despite sophisticated strategies and efforts, the antibiotic options for treating MRSA infection are narrowing because of the limited number of newly developed antimicrobials. Here, four newly-isolated MRSA-virulent phages, IME-SA1, IMESA2, IME-SA118 and IME-SA119, were sequenced and analyzed. Their genome termini were identified using our previously proposed "termini analysis theory". We provide evidence that remarkable conserved terminus sequences are found in IME-SA1/2/118/119, and, moreover, are widespread throughout Twortlikevirus Staphylococcus phage G1 and K species. Results also suggested that each phage of the two species has conserved 5' terminus while the 3' terminus is variable. More importantly, a variable region with a specific pattern was found to be present near the conserved terminus of Twortlikevirus S. phage G1 species. The clone with the longest variable region had variable terminus lengths in successive generations, while the clones with the shortest variable region and with the average length variable region maintained the same terminal length as themselves during successive generations. IME-SA1 bacterial infection experiments showed that the variation is not derived from adaptation of the phage to different host strains. This is the first study of the conserved terminus and variable region of Twortlikevirus S. phages.

Objectives: Ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase-L1 (UCH-L1) has been established as a potential biomarker of neuronal damage. There is not much information about the effects of white matter lesions (WMLs) on serum and urine UCH-L1 levels in white matter disease patients. This study was aimed to assess whether serum or urine UCH-L1 levels are a reliable marker of brain damage in patients with WMLs., Design and Methods: Serum and urine levels of UCH-L1 were assessed in 125 patients with dizziness, hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, or dyslipidemia. Of these 125 patient cases, 41 showed periventricular WMLs (P-WMLs), 46 showed subcortical WMLs (S-WMLs), and 38 displayed no well-defined WMLs (controls)., Results: Serum UCH-L1 levels were significantly different between the WML group and controls (p<0.05). Further subgroup analysis proved that serum UCH-L1 levels in participants with S-WMLs were significantly increased when compared with controls (p<0.001), but there was no significant differences between controls and patients with P-WMLs (p>0.05). However, urine levels of UCH-L1 were similar between these three groups (p>0.05). In addition, multivariate analysis showed that increased serum UCH-L1 levels were independently associated with the severity of WMLs using Fazekas scale (β=0.432, p<0.001)., Conclusions: These findings suggest that serum UCH-L1 levels may serve as a novel biomarker for neuronal damage from WMLs, especially S-WMLs., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Serum ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1) has been proposed as a biomarker of traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, previous studies on levels of UCH-L1 in serum remain inconsistent. This systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted on observational studies that reported the association between serum UCH-L1 levels and TBI., Methods: Studies were identified by searching PubMed and ISI Web of Science up to February 2015. For the continuous outcomes, we calculated the weighted mean difference and 95% confidence interval. The statistical analysis was performed by RevMan 5.1 and Stata 12 software. Only case-control studies were included if they had data on serum UCH-L1 levels in TBI patients and healthy controls. Funnel plot and Egger's regression test were applied to assess the potential publication bias., Results: Of the 145 selected studies, 11 observational studies (including 9 case-control and 2 case-crossover studies) met the selection criteria, containing a total of 1138 TBI cases and 1373 controls. Finally, 5 case-control studies (including 673 TBI and 1004 controls) were eligible for the present meta-analysis. The results of our study showed that there was a significant increase in serum UCH-L1 levels in patients with TBI compared to controls (weighted mean difference, 0.96; 95% confidence interval, 0.31-1.61; P = .004)., Conclusion: In conclusion, TBI cases had higher serum UCH-L1 concentrations than matched controls. This reinforces the conceptualization of UCH-L1 as a potential biomarker of TBI., (Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

High nitrogen (N) concentrations in rural domestic water supplies have been attributed to excessive agricultural N leaching into shallow groundwater systems; therefore, it is important to determine the impact of agriculture (e.g., rice production) on groundwater quality. To understand the impact of agricultural land use on the N concentrations in the shallow groundwater in subtropical central China, a large observation program was established to observe ammonium-N (NH4-N), nitrate-N (NO3-N), and total N (TN) concentrations in 161 groundwater observation wells from April 2010 to November 2012. The results indicated that the median values of NH4-N, NO3-N, and TN concentrations in the groundwater were 0.15, 0.39, and 1.38 mg N L(-1), respectively. A total of 36.3 % of the water samples were categorized as NH4-N pollution, and only a small portion of the samples were categorized as NO3-N pollution, based on the Chinese Environmental Quality Standards for Groundwater of GB/T 14848-93 (General Administration of Quality Supervision of China, 1993). These results indicated of moderate groundwater NH4-N pollution, which was mainly attributed to intensive rice agriculture with great N fertilizer application rates in the catchment. In addition, tea and vegetable fields showed higher groundwater NO3-N and TN concentrations than other agricultural land use types. The factorial correspondence analysis (FCA) suggested that the flooded agricultural land use types (e.g., single-rice and double-rice) had potential to impose NH4-N pollution, particularly in the soil exhausting season during from July to October. And, the great N fertilizer application rates could lead to a worse NO3-N and TN pollution in shallow groundwater. Hence, to protect groundwater quality and minimize NH4-N pollution, managing optimal fertilizer application and applying appropriate agricultural land use types should be implemented in the region.

Water eutrophication, particularly that caused by phosphorus runoff, is of major concern in China due to the serious threats it poses to watershed environments. We investigated one forested and nine agricultural watersheds with areas of 9-5212 ha in a hilly region of Hunan Province in a subtropical region of southern China from 2010 to 2012 to study total phosphorus (TP) loads and contributing factors. The annual TP loads varied from 35.7 to 222.1 kg P km(-2) year(-1) among the different watersheds, with the rainy season of spring and summer accounting for 56.3-82.0% of TP loss. The highest total maximum daily load (TMDL, 0.5 kg P km(-2) day(-1)) and existing exported daily TP loads (DTPL, 1.8 kg P km(-2) day(-1)) were observed under high flow and moist flow conditions in the ten watersheds. However, the target daily reduction ratios for the DTPLs to reach the water quality standard of 0.05 mg P L(-1) varied little with flow condition in the stream but depended on the type of watershed, i.e., <50, <80, and 80-90% for forested, agricultural, and livestock-dominated watersheds, respectively. Gray relational analysis (GRA) suggested that livestock density was the most important factor for watershed TP load under various hydrologic conditions, while livestock density (LD), soil available phosphorous (SAP), cropland percentage, and mean shape index (SHMN) were notable factors for daily reduction rate (DRR) under high and moist flow conditions. Therefore, to protect the local watershed environments, watershed management approaches that include the regulation of livestock production are recommended as the most effective means of reducing P loads at the watershed scale in subtropical areas of southern China.

The correlation between liver stiffness (LS), measured by ultrasonic transient elastometry (FibroScan), and the presence and severity of esophageal varices (EV) in patients with viral cirrhosis of the liver has not been well documented to date. The study described here investigated the value of using FibroScan to predict EV. Patients with cirrhosis (200 patients: 167 cases caused by hepatitis B virus and 33 cases caused by hepatitis C virus) underwent both upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and FibroScan. Demographic, clinical, biochemical and endoscopic data and FibroScan-obtained LS parameters were collected. The mean LS value in patients with EV (33.2 kPa) was significantly higher than the mean LS value in patients without EV (18.6 kPa) (p < 0.05). The mean LS value in patients with grade 2 and 3 EV (38.3 kPa) was significantly higher than that in patients with grade 1 EV (24.8 kPa) (p < 0.05). Overall, FibroScan was 86.4% sensitive and 72.2% specific in predicting the presence of EV, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.84. The sensitivity and specificity for the patients with grade 2 or 3 EV were 84% and 73% (AUROC = 0.86). When FibroScan was combined with platelet count, the overall sensitivity and specificity of prediction increased to 84% and 80% (AUROC = 0.88), respectively, and 84% and 75% (AUROC = 0.89), respectively, in patients with grade 2 and 3 EV. FibroScan alone or combined with platelet count might predict the presence and severity of EV in patients with hepatitis B or C-related viral cirrhosis., (Copyright © 2015 World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A [Ir(ppy)2(dtb-bpy)]PF6-catalyzed intramolecular radical cyclization of o-iodophenylacrylamides affording indolin-2-ones in moderate to excellent yields via 5-exo-trig radical cyclization under visible light is presented. This method provides new access to the synthesis of indolin-2-ones under mild reaction conditions.