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Plant growth is greatly influenced by the rhizosphere microbiome, which has been traditionally investigated from a bottom-up perspective assessing how resources such as root exudates stimulate microbial growth and drive microbiome assembly. However, the importance of predation as top-down force on the soil microbiome remains largely underestimated. Here, we planted wheat both in natural and in sterilized soils inoculated with the key microbiome predators - bacterivorous nematodes - to assess how plant performance responds to top-down predation of the soil microbiome and specific plant growth-promoting bacteria, namely phosphate-solubilizing bacteria. We found that nematodes enriched certain groups (e.g. Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Firmicutes) and strengthened microbial connectance (e.g. Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria). These changes in microbiome structure were associated with phosphate-solubilizing bacteria that facilitated phosphorus (P) cycling, leading to greater P uptake and biomass of wheat in both soils. However, the enhancement varied between nematode species, which may be attributed to the divergence of feeding behavior, as nematodes with weaker grazing intensity supported greater abundance of phosphate-solubilizing bacteria and better plant performance compared with nematodes with greater grazing intensity. These results confirmed the ecological importance of soil nematodes for ecosystem functions via microbial co-occurrence networks and suggested that the predation strength of nematodes determines the soil bacteria contribution to P biogeochemical cycling and plant growth.

Four multi-catheterized lactating goats were used in a 4 x 4 Latin square experiment to investigate the responses of amino acid metabolism in portal-drained viscera (PDV), liver, and mammary glands to short-term varying supplies of methionine (Met). During the last 45 h in each experimental period, goats were fasted for 12 h and then abomasally infused with an amino acid (AA) mixture plus glucose for 33 h. Treatments consisted of graded removal of Met from an infused AA mixture to achieve Met content in the infusate of 100% (complete), 60%, 30%, or 0% that in casein. Graded Met removal decreased the pro-duction of milk, milk protein, lactose, and fat linearly whilst also decreasing arterial Met concentration linearly (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, net PDV uptake and liver removal of Met decreased linearly (P < 0.05) due to decreased Met affinity of PDV and liver (P < 0.05). Net mammary uptake of Met (P > 0.1) was maintained as Met supply declined. This was achieved through increased mammary affinity (P < 0.05) and increased mammary blood flow (P < 0.05) totally offsetting the negative effect of decreased circu-lating Met concentration. Graded removal of Met from the infusate linearly decreased mammary uptake -to-milk output ratios of Met (P < 0.05) and tended to decrease essential amino acid (EAA) linearly (0.05 < P < 0.1). Treatments also linearly decreased circulating concentration of prolactin and linearly increased insulin concentration (P < 0.05). In conclusion, results of the present study indicated there were several mechanisms used to mitigate a Met deficiency, including reduced catabolism of Met in PDV, liver, and peripheral tissue (including mammary glands) and a linear increase in mammary blood flow. The observed decreases in milk protein production as Met supply decreased appear to be a result of regulatory events which may have been driven by decreased circulating prolactin, rather than as a result of decreased mammary Met uptake.(c) 2023 The Authors. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). National Natural Science Foundation of China [31772623]; China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA Published version The work is funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China under project number 31772623 and by China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA.

Cuticular waxes cover the aerial surfaces of land plants and protect them from various environmental stresses. Alkanes are major wax components and contribute to plant drought tolerance, but the biosynthesis and regulation of alkanes remain largely unknown in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Here, we identified and functionally characterized a key alkane biosynthesis gene ECERIFERUM1-6A (TaCER1-6A) from wheat. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9)-mediated knockout mutation in TaCER1-6A greatly reduced the contents of C27, C29, C31, and C33 alkanes in wheat leaves, while TaCER1-6A overexpression significantly increased the contents of these alkanes in wheat leaves, suggesting that TaCER1-6A is specifically involved in the biosynthesis of C27, C29, C31, and C33 alkanes on wheat leaf surfaces. TaCER1-6A knockout lines exhibited increased cuticle permeability and reduced drought tolerance, whereas TaCER1-6A overexpression lines displayed reduced cuticle permeability and enhanced drought tolerance. TaCER1-6A was highly expressed in flag leaf blades and seedling leaf blades and could respond to abiotic stresses and abscisic acid. TaCER1-6A was located in the endoplasmic reticulum, which is the subcellular compartment responsible for wax biosynthesis. A total of three haplotypes (HapI/II/III) of TaCER1-6A were identified in 43 wheat accessions, and HapI was the dominant haplotype (95%) in these wheat varieties. Additionally, we identified two R2R3-MYB transcription factors TaMYB96-2D and TaMYB96-5D that bound directly to the conserved motif CAACCA in promoters of the cuticular wax biosynthesis genes TaCER1-6A, TaCER1-1A, and fatty acyl-CoA reductase4. Collectively, these results suggest that TaCER1-6A is required for C27, C29, C31, and C33 alkanes biosynthesis and improves drought tolerance in wheat.

Cluster analysis plays a very important role in the field of unsupervised learning. The multikernel function is used to transform the low-dimensional nonlinear relationship of the influencing factors of consumption behavior into a high-dimensional linear problem, thereby improving the aggregation ability of clustering for multidimensional spatial data. In this study, a multikernel fuzzy clustering method is proposed to handle sporting consumption behavior problems. In the clustering process, the weight coefficients of different kernel functions are automatically adjusted based on fuzzy criteria to improve the feature learning ability of the combined kernel function and the generalization ability of the system after clustering. Extensive experimental results show the promising performance of the proposed multikernel clustering method.

Aiming at the problem of permeability enhancement in deep coal roadway strip, it proposed a pressure relief roadway permeability enhancement model, and the model was verified through experiments, theoretical calculations, and field tests. The experiment reveals that the unloading of gas-containing coal can achieve the effect of permeability enhancement. Theoretical calculation shows that with the increase of the distance from the coal seam, the overlying coal seam’s permeability enhancement multiple and the width of the significant permeability enhancement zone gradually decrease, and the width of the general permeability enhancement zone gradually increases and then stabilizes. Field tests show that the pressure relief roadway is arranged 9 m directly below the coal seam; the overlying coal strata has a significant pressure relief and permeability enhancement effect. This research can provide reference value for the high-efficiency permeability enhancement in the deep coal roadway strip.

BackgroundAs an adjunct to diagnostic exome sequencing and whole-genome sequencing, RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) has been demonstrated to improve diagnostic yield for Mendelian diseases. However, systematic evaluation of the associated experimental and computational processes and the establishment of robust and efficient practices for RNA diagnostics implemented in the clinic to analyse readily accessible whole blood samples are still required.MethodsWe simulated clinical conditions in which each patient’s sample is tested only once, and we evaluated the two typical experimental protocols (polyA-selection and rRNA depletion) by comparing the expression profiles, aberrant splicing events and monoallelic expression (MAE) identified from 11 patients in clinical settings with different bioinformatics software.ResultsWe demonstrated that a higher proportion of unique reads from polyA-selection than rRNA depletion were mapped to exons or exon – intron junction regions (84.54% vs. 40.14%), resulting in more detectable OMIM genes (TPM > 1) in the blood (65.29% vs. 59.79%); thus, the rRNA depletion method requires a median of 258 more valid reads per gene to achieve the same level of gene quantification. Moreover, although the transcriptome profiling of protein-coding genes in the two methods is highly correlated, polyA-selection offers more sensitive detection of MAE variants and aberrant splicing under common filtering conditions in combination with DROP.ConclusionsA combination of polyA+ and DROP is recommended when implementing blood-based RNA-seq for the diagnosis of Mendelian diseases in clinical practice, and filtering criteria for aberrant expression, aberrant splicing and MAE variants are suggested for reference.

Heart failure (HF) patients in general have a higher risk of developing cancer. Several animal studies have indicated that cardiac remodeling and HF remarkably accelerate tumor progression, highlighting a cause-and-effect relationship between these two disease entities. Targeting ferroptosis, a prevailing form of non-apoptotic cell death, has been considered a promising therapeutic strategy for human cancers. Exosomes critically contribute to proximal and distant organ-organ communications and play crucial roles in regulating diseases in a paracrine manner. However, whether exosomes control the sensitivity of cancer to ferroptosis via regulating the cardiomyocyte-tumor cell crosstalk in ischemic HF has not yet been explored. Here, we demonstrate that myocardial infarction (MI) decreased the sensitivity of cancer cells to the canonical ferroptosis activator erastin or imidazole ketone erastin in a mouse model of xenograft tumor. Post-MI plasma exosomes potently blunted the sensitivity of tumor cells to ferroptosis inducers both in vitro in mouse Lewis lung carcinoma cell line LLC and osteosarcoma cell line K7M2 and in vivo with xenograft tumorigenesis model. The expression of miR-22-3p in cardiomyocytes and plasma-exosomes was significantly upregulated in the failing hearts of mice with chronic MI and of HF patients as well. Incubation of tumor cells with the exosomes isolated from post-MI mouse plasma or overexpression of miR-22-3p alone abrogated erastin-induced ferroptotic cell death in vitro. Cardiomyocyte-enriched miR-22-3p was packaged in exosomes and transferred into tumor cells. Inhibition of cardiomyocyte-specific miR-22-3p by AAV9 sponge increased the sensitivity of cancer cells to ferroptosis. ACSL4, a pro-ferroptotic gene, was experimentally established as a target of miR-22-3p in tumor cells. Taken together, our findings uncovered for the first time that MI suppresses erastin-induced ferroptosis through releasing miR-22-3p-enriched exosomes derived from cardiomyocytes. Therefore, targeting exosome-mediated cardiomyocyte/tumor pathological communication may offer a novel approach for the ferroptosis-based antitumor therapy.

Slag compositions are significant for the viscosity of blast furnace slag. An improved Urbain model (IUM) was proposed by introducing R5 ((X(CaO) + X(MgO) + 2X(TiO2))/(2X(SiO2) + 3X(Al2O3))) and N (X(MgO)/3X(Al2O3)) as the model parameters. By comparing IUM with other models, the model parameters of R5 and N are more reasonable and suitable for TiO2-bearing blast furnace slag, and IUM for predicting viscosity has a higher precision, and its relative error is only 10%. The viscosity isolines of the CaO–SiO2–15%Al2O3–MgO–2.5% TiO2 system were plotted, and the results show that the viscosity center of the slag is between Rw2 (w(CaO)/w(SiO2)) = 0.77–1.39 and Nw (w(MgO)/w(Al2O3)) = 0–1.37, the value of the viscosity center is 0.3 Pa·s, the viscosity increases gradually from the center to the outside, and the viscosity of the slag gradually decreases with the increase in Nw and Rw2. Furthermore, FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) analysis was carried out in order to understand the mechanism between the slag structure and viscosity. With the increase in Nw and Rw2, the peak values of the symmetrical stretching vibration of non-bridging oxygen in the Si–O tetrahedral structure of slag decrease, and the slag structures depolymerize, which leads to the decrease in the viscosity of the slag.

Background: Due to the heterogeneity of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and variety of neoadjuvant regimen, the best way to provide optimal neoadjuvant regimen in early-stage TNBC is still a challenge. However, the preferred regimen, especially when combining target therapy such as bevacizumab, Poly (adenosine diphosphate [ADP]-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors (PARPi), and PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor, is still not clear. Methods: Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were searched in May 2020 to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs). We conducted a fixed-effect network meta-analysis (NMA) with a Bayesian framework to assess the efficacy and safety of different neoadjuvant regimens for patients with early or locally advanced TNBC. (Registration: PROSPERO CRD42020223012). Results: A total of 35 RCTs involving 8424 participants were included, of which, 22 RCTs with 5203 patients were included in this NMA focusing on pathologic complete response (pCR). Compared to anthracycline-taxane based regimen (AT), an improvement in pCR was observed for anthracycline-taxane based combined platinum (ATP) (odds ratio [OR]=2.04, 95% credible interval [CrI]: 1.69, 2.48), TCb (T= docetaxel; Cb= carboplatin; OR=2.16, 95%CrI: 1.20, 3.91). Combining target therapy (including bevacizumab [Bev], veliparib, atezolizumab, or pembrolizumab) with AT or ATP also improved pCRs. Eleven RCTs reported serious adverse events (SAEs), and five RCTs were included in NMA. TCb was associated with less serious adverse events than AT. However, ATP, AT+Bev, ATP+Bev, ATP+Veliparib and ATP+Pembro were associated with more serious AEs than AT. Conclusions: Platinum-based neoadjuvant regimens increased pCRs in TNBC patients, among which TCb was preferred with less SAEs. Platinum-based regimens should also be considered a preferred option when combining target therapy such as Bev, PARPi, and PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor. Citation Format: Junjie Li, Li Chen, Wei Tan, Fang Qi, Yang Zhang, Zhonghua Wang, Zhimin Shao. Platinum is essential in neoadjuvant treatment of triple negative breast cancer: A network meta-analysis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2021 Dec 7-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-12-19.

Background Camrelizumab and nab-paclitaxel demonstrated promising anti-tumour activity in refractory metastatic immunomodulatory triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) in FUTURE trial. Anti-angiogenic agents have been reported to facilitate immune infiltration. Famitinib is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting VEGFR-2, PDGFR and c-kit. The FUTURE-C-PLUS trial (NCT04129996) which added famitinib to camrelizumab and nab-paclitaxel is a single-arm, phase 2 trial evaluating this novel triplet combinatorial strategy in patients with advanced immunomodulatory TNBC. Study design and the primary endpoint ORR has been reported previously (Zhi-ming Shao, et al. ASCO 2021, Abstract 1007). Here, we reported the updated results of this trial. Method Briefly, this study enrolled women aged 18-70 years, with previously untreated, histologically confirmed, unresectable, locally advanced, recurrent or metastatic immunomodulatory TNBC. Immunomodulatory TNBC was defined as CD8 expression on at least 10% of cells using immunohistochemistry analysis. Eligible patients received the triple therapy. Study design has been reported previously in ASCO 2021. Results Between Oct 2019 and Oct 2020, 48 patients were enrolled and treated. 39 (81.3%, 95% CI 70.2-92.3) patients had a confirmed objective response which has been reported in ASCO 2021. At this updating data cutoff (June 30, 2021), the median progression-free survival was 11.9 months (95% CI, 7.3-16.5) with the median follow-up was 14.0 months. While overall survival data were not mature yet, a promising overall survival rate was observed at 12 months (84•2%, 95% CI 73.4-95.0) and 18 months (73.6%, 95% CI 52.0-95.2). In the 39 responders, median duration of response was also not mature. The disease control rate was 95.8% (46/48). The most common treatment-related grade 3 or 4 adverse events were neutropenia (16 [33.3%]), anemia (5 [10.4%]), febrile neutropenia (5 [10.4%]), and thrombocytopenia (4 [8.3%]). No treatment-related deaths were reported. Conclusions These data, combined with those from our previous reports, provide further evidence for the triplet combination of famitinib, camrelizumab and nab-paclitaxel as an active therapy in advanced Immunomodulatory TNBC. To our knowledge, this is the best objective response rate reached in first-line treatment of advanced TNBC. A randomized controlled FUTURE-Super trial (NCT04395989) is keeping recruiting patients to further validate those findings. Citation Format: Li Chen, Yi-Zhou Jiang, Songyang Wu, Jiong Wu, Genhong Di, Guangyu Liu, Keda Yu, Lei Fan, Junjie Li, Yifeng Hou, Zhen Hu, Canming Chen, Xiaoyan Huang, Ayong Cao, Xin Hu, Shen Zhao, Xiaoyan Ma, Xiaoyu Zhu, Jianjun Zou, Wentao Yang, Zhonghua Wang, Zhi-ming Shao. Updated data from FUTURE-C-PLUS: Combination of famitinib with camrelizumab plus nab-paclitaxel as first-line treatment for advanced, immunomodulatory triple-negative breast cancer, an open-label, single-arm, phase 2 trial [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2021 Dec 7-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-14-04.

ZnO/AgCl composites prepared by high-energy ball milling showed excellent photocatalytic activity for RhB degradation and 1,4-DHP dehydrogenation under visible-light irradiation.

IntroductionSesame seeds have become an irreplaceable source of edible oils and food products with rich nutrients and a unique flavor, and their metabolite contents and physiological functions vary widely across different seed coat colors. Although the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for genetic variation in seed coat color have been extensively investigated, the identification of unique genetic loci for intermediate colors such as brown has not been reported due to their complexity.MethodsHere, we crossed the white sesame ‘Yuzhi No. 8’ (YZ8) and the brown sesame ‘Yanzhou Erhongpi’ (YZEHP) to construct a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population with consecutive self-fertilization for ten generations.ResultsThe selfed F1 seeds were brown which was controlled by a dominant gene. Based on the genotyping by whole-genome resequencing of the RILs, a major-effect QTL for brown coat color was identified through both bulk segregant analysis (BSA) and genetic linkage mapping in sesame, which was located within a 1.19 Mb interval on chromosome 6 (qBSCchr6). Moreover, we found that the YZEHP seed coat initially became pigmented at 20 days post-anthesis (DPA) and was substantially colored at 30 DPA. We screened 13 possible candidate genes based on the effects of genetic variants on protein coding and predicted gene functions. Furthermore, qRT‒PCR was used to verify the expression patterns of these genes in different post-anthesis developmental periods. We noted that in comparison to YZ8 seeds, YZEHP seeds had expression of SIN_1023239 that was significantly up-regulated 2.5-, 9.41-, 6.0-, and 5.9-fold at 15, 20, 25, and 30 DPA, respectively, which was consistent with the pattern of brown seed coat pigment accumulation.DiscussionThis study identified the first major-effect QTL for the control of the brown seed coat trait in sesame. This finding lays the foundation for further fine mapping and cloning as well as investigating the regulatory mechanism of seed coat color in sesame.

Wheat yield is highly correlated with plant height, heading date, spike characteristics, and kernel traits. In this study, we used the wheat55K single nucleotide polymorphism array to genotype a recombinant inbred line population of 165 lines constructed by crossing two tetraploid wheat materials, Icaro and Y4. A genetic linkage map with a total length of 6244.51 cM was constructed, covering 14 chromosomes of tetraploid wheat. QTLs for 12 important agronomic traits, including plant height (PH), heading date (HD), awn color (AC), spike-branching (SB), and related traits of spike and kernel, were mapped in multiple environments, while combined QTL-by-environment interactions and epistatic effects were analyzed for each trait. A total of 52 major or stable QTLs were identified, among which may be some novel loci controlling PH, SB, and kernel length-width ratio (LWR), etc., with LOD values ranging from 2.51 to 54.49, thereby explaining 2.40–66.27% of the phenotypic variation. Based on the ‘China Spring’ and durum wheat reference genome annotations, candidate genes were predicted for four stable QTLs, QPH.nwafu-2B.2 (165.67–166.99 cM), QAC.nwafu-3A.1 (419.89–420.52 cM), QAC.nwafu-4A.1 (424.31–447.4 cM), and QLWR.nwafu-7A.1 (166.66–175.46 cM). Thirty-one QTL clusters and 44 segregation distortion regions were also detected, and 38 and 18 major or stable QTLs were included in these clusters and segregation distortion regions, respectively. These results provide QTLs with breeding application potential in tetraploid wheat that broadens the genetic basis of important agronomic traits such as PH, HD, AC, SB, etc., and benefits wheat breeding.

Diet and species are important factors affecting the rumen microbiota, with roughage stimulating rumen development and concentrate feeds being broken down by the decomposition of Ruminal flora to provide the organism with a large amount of energy. This study aimed to explore the effects of host and dietary factors on rumen flora composition and diversity, as well as on host metabolism. The study reports the research conducted on 5-month-old male Small-tail Han sheep and 5-month-old male Boer goat, each with an average weight of 33.87 ± 1.70 kg. Five animals of each species were divided into two groups, namely, the S group (Small-tail Han sheep) and the B group (Boer goat). The experiment was carried out in two various periods, namely, X and Y for groups S and B, respectively. The rations were fed with concentrate-to-roughage ratios of 3:7 and 5:5, respectively. Growth performance was measured by the weight increase index. The results showed that, under the same raising conditions, the ratio between body weight increases and the amount of feed was lower in the S group than in the B group, but the differences were not significant. According to the analysis of the apparent digestibility ratio of nutrition ingredients, the XS group had a significantly higher apparent digestibility ratio for acid detergent fiber than the XB group (p < 0.05). Even though the analysis of rumen fermentation parameters showed that the rumen pH has no significant differences between the XS and XB groups, it was significantly lower in the YS group than in the YB group. The XS group contained a significantly lower content of total volatile fatty acids than the XB group (p < 0.05). Analysis of the 16S rDNA sequencing results revealed that, compared to the B group, the S group was highly enriched with the following bacteria: Proteobacteria, γ-proteobacteria, Aeromonadales, and Succinivibrionaceae. Thus, the host species affected the abundance and diversity of rumen bacteria. Feed utilization efficiency of Small-tail Han sheep was higher than Boer goats, which might be specifically associated with Succinivibrionaceae. The results from this study show that animals belonging to the same family but different genera and species can differ in metabolic pathways even when they are provided with the same animal feed.

When preparing lightweight ceramsite using carbide slag, trace amounts of toxic elements are released into the atmosphere due to high-temperature calcination, posing a significant risk to the environment. The real-time monitoring of the released gases is challenging under laboratory conditions while preparing large quantities of ceramsite. Therefore, heating was simulated using experimental data and the FactSage 7.0 thermochemical database to study the release of harmful Al-, C-, H-, S-, and F-containing elements when using carbide slag to prepare lightweight ceramsite. The results indicated that no Al, C, H, S, or F elements were evident in the high-temperature liquid products obtained in a 50 °C to 1150 °C calcination temperature range. Al was present in a solid state with no gaseous products. When the temperature reached 450 °C, CO gas was released and its level increased as the temperature rose. H and S mainly combined into H2S gas, starting at 250 °C and reaching a peak at 1050 °C. H and F primarily combined into HF, starting at 400 °C. Other F-containing gases mainly included SiF4 and TiF3, which began to release at 800 °C and 900 °C, respectively. The release trends of HF, SiF4, and TiF3 were consistent with those of CO. This study aimed to conduct an environmental impact and management assessment for the preparation of lightweight ceramsite using carbide slag. The use of raw material carbide slag for the low-cost treatment of tail gas was proposed, which provides theoretical and up-to-date support for greening the application of the process.

Background: The inequality caused by circumstances is known as "inequality of opportunity" (IOp). Many scholars have studied IOp in the health field, but few studies have quantified contributors to the IOp of health service utilization among middle-aged and elderly people. This study measured the IOp of health service utilization and decomposed the contributors to IOp present among Chinese middle-aged and elderly people.Methods: Data were obtained from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in 2013, 2015 and 2018. A mean-based regression method was adopted to measure the IOp of health service utilization. Shapley–Shorrocks decomposition was used to analyze the main contributors to IOp seen among the middle-aged and elderly.Results: Although the absolute IOp of health service utilization decreased over time, the inequality due to circumstance factors still accounted for a large part of the total inequality. The absolute IOp and relative IOp were greatest in the areas of self-treatment and inpatient care utilization, respectively. The IOp of health service utilization in urban areas was greater than that in rural areas, and the heterogeneity between urban and rural areas was more prominent in the area of inpatient care utilization. The out-of-pocket (OOP) ratio contributed most significantly to the IOp of outpatient care utilization; meanwhile, work status and income had a great impact on the IOp of inpatient care utilization. Among urban-dwelling middle-aged and elderly individuals, apart from the OOP ratio, work status largely explained the IOp of outpatient care and self-treatment utilization, while distance greatly explained the IOp of outpatient care utilization in rural areas. Work status, education, and income level contributed more to the IOp of inpatient care utilization in rural areas than in urban areas.Conclusions: Strategies aimed at achieving equal opportunities remain necessary to ensure the fairness of health service utilization. Policy measures should pay more attention to middle-aged and elderly residents of rural areas, and efforts should be made to further optimize health resource allocation, improve social security systems, and narrow the socioeconomic gap between urban and rural areas in China.

Although the interaction between P and Zn has long been recognized in plants, the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying P and Zn interactions are poorly understood. We show here that P supply decreases the Zn concentration in maize shoots and roots. Compared to +P + Zn (addition of both P and Zn), +P-Zn reduced and -P-Zn increased the total length of 1° lateral roots (LRs). Under +P + Zn, both P and Zn concentrations were lower in the sl1 mutant roots than in wild-type (WT) maize roots, and P accumulation did not reduce the Zn concentration in ll1 mutant roots. Transcriptome profiling showed that the auxin signaling pathway contributed to P-mediated Zn homeostasis in maize. Auxin production and distribution were altered by changes in P and Zn supply. Cytosolic Zn co-localized with auxin accumulation under +P + Zn. Exogenous application of 1-NAA and L-Kyn altered the P-mediated root system architecture (RSA) under Zn deficiency. -P-Zn repressed the expression of miR167. Overexpression of ZmMIR167b increased the lengths of 1° LRs and the concentrations of P and Zn in maize. These results indicate that auxin-dependent RSA is important for P-mediated Zn homeostasis in maize.HighlightAuxin-dependent RSA is important for P-mediated Zn homeostasis in maize.

Lodging is a major problem limiting maize yield worldwide. However, the mechanisms of lodging resistance remain incompletely understood for maize. Here, we evaluated 443 maize accessions for lodging resistance in the field. Five lodging-resistant accessions and five lodging-sensitive accessions were selected for further research. The leaf number, plant height, stem diameter, and rind penetrometer resistance were similar between lodging-resistant and -sensitive inbred lines. The average thickness of sclerenchymatous hypodermis layer was thicker and the vascular area was larger in the lodging-resistant lines compared with lodging-sensitive lines. Although total lignin content in stem tissue did not significantly differ between lodging-resistant and -sensitive lines, phloroglucinol staining revealed that the lignin content of the cell wall in the stem cortex and in the stem vascular tissue near the cortex was higher in the lodging-resistant lines than in the lodging-sensitive lines. Analysis of strand-specific RNA-seq transcriptome showed that a total of 793 genes were up-regulated and 713 genes were down-regulated in lodging-resistant lines relative to lodging-sensitive lines. The up-regulated genes in lodging-resistant lines were enriched in cell wall biogenesis. These results indicated that modification of cell wall biosynthesis would contribute to lodging resistance of maize.

ObjectivesThe dynamic stability of large ocean-going passenger vessel is of great important to ensuring the safety of a large number of passengers. Thus, it is necessary to carry out vulnerability assessment and optimization for typical failure modes.MethodsThis study adopts the assessment methods and criteria of parametric rolling, pure loss of stability and excessive acceleration developed by the international maritime organization's (IMO) second generation intact stability criteria. For the first time, the vulnerability assessment of dynamic stability failure modes is conducted for the design scheme project of a large ocean-going passenger vessel. In order to fulfill the requirements of this project, an optimization scheme is studied and proposed for the design from a practical point of view.ResultsThe assessment results show that the original ship design scheme is not vulnerable to the evaluated dynamic stability failure modes except the pure loss of stability failure mode without considering the speed limit, that means the safety level can meet the requirement. However, the scheme cannot fulfill the requirements of pure loss of stability criterion, when the service speed needs to be increased to 24.8 kn. By slightly adjusting the design of hull and windows to improve the reserve buoyancy, the safety level of pure loss of stability failure mode can be effectively increased, and the service speed limit can be eliminated.ConclusionsThe design scheme of large ocean-going passenger vessel has a high safety margin of dynamic stability, which can fully ensure the dynamic stability and safety of large passenger vessels sailing in serious sea conditions.

Fatty aldehydes (FALs) are involved in various biological processes, and their abnormal metabolism is related to the occurrence and development of neurological diseases. Because of their low ionization efficiency, methods for

Bio-organic fertilizers (BOF) containing both organic amendments and beneficial microorganisms have been consistently shown to improve soils fertility and yield. However, the exact mechanisms which link amendments and yields remain disputed, and the complexity of bio-organic fertilizers may work in parallel in several ways. BOF may directly improve yield by replenishing soil nutrients or introducing beneficial microbial genes or indirectly by altering the soil microbiome to enrich native beneficial microorganisms. In this work, we aim to disentangle the relative contributions of direct and indirect effects on pear yield. We treated pear trees with either chemical fertilizer or organic fertilizer with/without the plant-beneficial bacterium Bacillus velezensis SQR9. We then assessed, in detail, soil physicochemical and biological properties (metagenome sequencing) as well as pear yield. We then evaluated the relative importance of direct and indirect effects of soil amendments on pear yield. Both organic treatments increased plant yield by up to 20%, with the addition of bacteria tripling the increase driven by organic fertilizer alone. This increase could be linked to alterations in soil physicochemical properties, bacterial community function, and metabolism. Supplementation of organic fertilizer SQR9 increased rhizosphere microbiome richness and functional diversity. Fertilizer-sensitive microbes and functions responded as whole guilds. Pear yield was most positively associated with the

Detailed knowledge on tissue-specific metabolic reprogramming in diabetic nephropathy (DN) is vital for more accurate understanding the molecular pathological signature and developing novel therapeutic strategies. In the present study, a spatial-resolved metabolomics approach based on air flow-assisted desorption electrospray ionization (AFADESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) integrated mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) was proposed to investigate tissue-specific metabolic alterations in the kidneys of high-fat diet-fed and streptozotocin (STZ)-treated DN rats and the therapeutic effect of astragaloside IV, a potential anti-diabetic drug, against DN. As a result, a wide range of functional metabolites including sugars, amino acids, nucleotides and their derivatives, fatty acids, phospholipids, sphingolipids, glycerides, carnitine and its derivatives, vitamins, peptides, and metal ions associated with DN were identified and their unique distribution patterns in the rat kidney were visualized with high chemical specificity and high spatial resolution. These region-specific metabolic disturbances were ameliorated by repeated oral administration of astragaloside IV (100 mg/kg) for 12 weeks. This study provided more comprehensive and detailed information about the tissue-specific metabolic reprogramming and molecular pathological signature in the kidney of diabetic rats. These findings highlighted the promising potential of AFADESI and MALDI integrated MSI based metabolomics approach for application in metabolic kidney diseases., Graphical abstract The present study revealed region-specific metabolic reprogramming during diabetic nephropathy (DN) by using air flow-assisted desorption electrospray ionization (AFADESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry imaging (MSI).Image 1

The development of an efficient photocatalyst with superior activity under visible light has been regarded as a significant strategy for pollutant degradation and environmental remediation. Herein, a series of WO3/Ag2CO3 mixed photocatalysts with different proportions were prepared by a simple mixing method and characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, and DRS techniques. The photocatalytic performance of the WO3/Ag2CO3 mixed photocatalyst was investigated by the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under visible light irradiation (λ > 400 nm). The photocatalytic efficiency of the mixed WO3/Ag2CO3 photocatalyst was rapidly increased with the proportion of Ag2CO3 up to 5%. The degradation percentage of RhB by WO3/Ag2CO3-5% reached 99.7% within 8 min. The pseudo-first-order reaction rate constant of WO3/Ag2CO3-5% (0.9591 min-1) was 118- and 14-fold higher than those of WO3 (0.0081 min-1) and Ag2CO3 (0.0663 min-1). The catalytic activities of the mixed photocatalysts are not only higher than those of the WO3 and Ag2CO3 but also higher than that of the WO3/Ag2CO3 composite prepared by the precipitation method. The activity enhancement may be because of the easier separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. The photocatalytic mechanism was investigated by free radical capture performance and fluorescence measurement. It was found that light-induced holes (h+) was the major active species and superoxide radicals (·O2 -) also played a certain role in photocatalytic degradation of RhB.