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The aim of the study was to explore the relationship between species diversity of understory ferns and plant biomass in high-nitrogen habitats in China. Four species Cyrtogonellum fraxinellum, Pteris nipponica, Humata griffithiana and Pteris fauriei were chosen to set up three species richness (1, 2 and 4 species) and a total of 11 species combinations at two nitrogen habitats (control and 10 g N m2 yr-1 ). Plant biomass and soil physical and chemical properties were determined. The study had the following results: (1) Species richness had no significant effect on plant biomass under both nitrogen habitats. (2) Under both nitrogen habitats, species combination had a significant effect on plant biomass. (3) The presence of P. nipponica and P. fauriei significantly increased the plant biomass, and the presence of C. fraxinellum significantly reduced the plant biomass under two nitrogen habitats. (4) Nitrogen addition significantly increased soil nitrogen content, but plant species diversity had no significant effect on soil physical and chemical properties. (5) There was a significantly negative correlation between plant biomass (aboveground, underground, and total) and soil phosphorus content; there was also a significantly negative correlation between plant underground biomass and soil pH. Assembling specific species combinations can improve plant biomass and promote ecological restoration under high nitrogen habitat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A composite geomaterial (CGM) is developed using dredged soil, bottom ash, cement and air foam. The engineering properties of the CGM are characterized as a function of the content of the various admixtures and the curing time in a laboratory test program. Several series of unconfined compression tests were carried out to characterize the strength and elastic properties of the CGM. Experimental results indicate that the unconfined compressive strength and modulus of CGM are influenced by the content of each component in the mixture. The unconfined compressive strength of CGM increases with an increase in curing time due to the pozzolanic reaction of the bottom ash. The strength after 28 days of curing is found to be approximately 1.5–2.3 times the strength after 7 days of curing, regardless of mix conditions. The bottom ash materials contain nearly 50% siliceous material and 13.9% CaO. With the removal of particles larger than 4.75 mm, a larger surface area is available to react with cement. It is postulated that the increase in shear strength is caused not only by the development of friction at the interface of the mixture components, but also by bond strength is due to the pozzolanic reaction of the bottom ash. Further study is needed, however, to discern aspects related to increase in pozzolanic reaction of bottom ash with the removal of larger size particles. The secant modulus of CGM is in the range of 185–480 times the unconfined compressive strength. The observed general trend is that the stiffness of CGM is greater than that of lightweight soil not containing the bottom ash as a component. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the release of a new, largefruited kiwifruit cultivar, 'White', selected from Actinidia eriantha. Fruit of 'White' had a mean fruit weight of 94 g, and a maximum fruit weight of 132 g at harvest in Zhejiang, China. The mean fruit weight is c. 2-4 times that of wild A. eriantha fruit found in Zhejiang and nearly 4 times that of 'Bidan', the only other registered A. eriantha cultivar. The fruit are oblong and the peelable skin is covered with dense white hair. The flesh of ripe fruit is green and has good eating quality but little juice. The soluble solids concentration was 14.7%, total sugar 9%, total acid 1.24%, and vitamin C 628.37 mg/100 g fresh weight. Its harvest season is during the last 10 days of October in the south of Zhejiang province, which is c. 2 weeks later than A. deliciosa 'Bruno' in the same area. It is sometimes referred to as the "banana kiwifruit" because the skin is easy to peel. This new cultivar has been registered in China (PVR No. CNA20050673.0). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUCB-MSCs) have gained popularity as a promising cell source for regenerative medicine, but limited in vivo studies have reported cartilage repair. In addition, the roles of MSCs in cartilage repair are not well-understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility of transplanting hUCB-MSCs and hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogel composite to repair articular cartilage defects in a rabbit model and determine whether the transplanted cells persisted or disappeared from the defect site., Design: Osteochondral defects were created in the trochlear grooves of the knees. The hUCB-MSCs and HA composite was transplanted into the defect of experimental knees. Control knees were transplanted by HA or left untreated. Animals were sacrificed at 8 and 16 weeks post-transplantation and additionally at 2 and 4 weeks to evaluate the fate of transplanted cells. The repair tissues were evaluated by gross, histological and immunohistochemical analysis., Results: Transplanting hUCB-MSCs and HA composite resulted in overall superior cartilage repair tissue with better quality than HA alone or no treatment. Cellular architecture and collagen arrangement at 16 weeks were similar to those of surrounding normal articular cartilage tissue. Histological scores also revealed that cartilage repair in experimental knees was better than that in control knees. Immunohistochemical analysis with anti-human nuclear antibody confirmed that the transplanted MSCs disappeared gradually over time., Conclusion: Transplanting hUCB-MSCs and HA composite promote cartilage repair and interactions between hUCB-MSCs and host cells initiated by paracrine action may play an important role in cartilage repair., (Copyright © 2016 Osteoarthritis Research Society International. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

To investigate the role of IL-6 polymorphism (-174G/C and -572C/G) in the development of coronary artery disease (CAD), CAD patients (224) and control subjects (260) were recruited between January 2012 and December 2014. Genotyping at IL-6 -174G/C and -572C/G was conducted via polymerase chain reaction coupled to restriction fragment length polymorphism. Results indicated that several disease risk factors were significantly higher in CAD patients as compared to the control subjects. These factors include hypertension (χ2 = 20.03, P < 0.001), diabetes mellitus (χ(2) = 33.53, P < 0.001), tobacco smoking (χ(2) = 28.17, P < 0.001), body mass indexes (t = 11.39, P < 0.001), total cholesterol (t = 8.25, P < 0.001), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (t = 7.24, P < 0.001), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (t = 3.52, P < 0.001), and triglyceride (t = 6.09, P < 0.001). By unconditional logistic regression analysis, we observed that the CC genotype at IL-6 -174G/C was had a 2.32 (95%CI = 1.33-4.06) fold risk of developing CAD compared to the GG genotype. Moreover, IL-6 -174G/C polymorphism was positively associated with the risk of developing CAD in both dominant (OR = 1.63, 95%CI = 1.12-2.38; P = 0.01) and recessive models (OR = 2.18, 95%CI = 1.26-3.77; P = 0.001). However, no statistically significant association was observed between IL-6 -572C/G polymorphism and risk of CAD. In conclusion, IL-6 -174G/C polymorphisms are associated with the pathogenesis of CAD.

The c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs) constitute one of the three major types of mitogen-activated protein kinases. Previous studies showed that JNK mediates multiple signaling transduction pathways implicated in cell proliferation, differentiation, inflammation, stress response and apoptosis in mammals. In the present study, we use goldfish as a model system and demonstrate that JNK kinases are necessary to promote embryonic survival and regulate eye development in vertebrates. During goldfish development, JNK1 and JNK2 are expressed at every stage from cleavage to hatching larvae. JNK3 is turned on at the gastrulation stage and then expressed at similar level to that of JNK2. JNK1 activity remains slightly fluctuated during different developmental stages. Inhibition of JNK activity caused massive apoptosis of blastula cells and significant death of goldfish embryos, which are associated with altered expression of the anti-apoptotic regulator, Mcl-1 and the proapoptotic regulator, Bak. These results provide novel information regarding the mechanisms by which JNKs promote embryonic survival. In addition, the embryos that survived inhibition of JNK activity displayed severe phenotype in the eye with clear microphthalmia and lens coloboma. To confirm that the observed phenotype is derived from JNK activity deficiency, we expressed JNK dominant negative mutant (DNM-JNK) in goldfish. Expression of DNM-JNK also caused similar phenotypes with altered expression of pax-6, Sox-2 and β-crystallin. Together, our results demonstrate that JNKs play important roles in promoting survival of vertebrate embryos and regulating development of vertebrate eye.

Protein phosphatase-2A (PP-2A) is a major serine/threonine phosphatase abundantly expressed in eukaryotes. PP-2A is a heterotrimer that contains a 65 kD scaffold A subunit, a 36 kD catalytic C subunit, and a regulatory B subunit of variable isoforms ranging from 54-130 kDs. The scaffold subunits, PP2A-Aα/β, act as platforms for both the C and B subunits to bind, and thus are key structural components for PP-2A activity. Mutations in both genes encoding PP2A-Aα and PP2A-Aβ lead to carcinogenesis and likely other human diseases. Our previous work showed that the gene coding for PP2A-Aα is positively regulated by multiple transcription factors including Ets-1, CREB, and AP-2α but negatively regulated by SP-1/SP-3. In the present study, we have functionally dissected the promoter of the mouse PP2A-Aβ gene. Our results demonstrate that three major cis-elements, including the binding sites for Ets-1, SP1/SP3, and RXRα/β, are present in the proximal promoter of the mouse PP2A-Aβ gene. Gel mobility shifting assays reveal that Ets-1, SP1/SP3, and RXRα/β all bind to PP2A-Aβ gene promoter. In vitro mutagenesis and reporter gene activity assays demonstrate that while Ets-1 displays negative regulation, SP1/SP3 and RXRα/β positively regulate the promoter of the PP2A-Aβ gene. Co-expression of the cDNAs encoding Ets-1, SP1/SP3, or RXRα/β and the luciferase reporter gene driven by PP2A-Aβ promoter further confirm their control over the PP2A-Aβ promoter. Finally, ChIP assays demonstrate that Ets-1, SP1/SP3, and RXRα/β can all bind to the PP2A-Aβ gene promoter. Together, our results reveal that multiple transcription factors regulate the PP2A-Aβ gene. Moreover, our results provide important information explaining why PP2A-Aα and PP2A-Aβ display distinct expression levels.

Malignant fibrous histiocytomas (MFH) as primary renal tumours are rare, with less than 50 cases described in the literature. We report a case of primary renal MFH of giant cell type in a 56-year-old man, who presented with bilateral dull flank pain, intermittent gross haematuria and body weight loss (6 kg in 3 months). Intravenous urography, computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance image (MRI) showed right ureteral stones with mild hydronephrosis, and a solid mass at the lower pole of the left kidney associated with staghorn calculi, as well as tumour thrombi in the left renal vein and inferior vena cava. Left radical nephrectomy and evacuation of tumour thrombi from the left renal vein and inferior vena cava were performed. Histopathologic examination revealed malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) of giant cell type. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of primary renal MFH associated with staghorn calculi.