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Globally, heavy metal pollution of soil has remained a problem for food security and human health, having a significant impact on crop productivity. In agricultural environments, nickel (Ni) is becoming a hazardous element. The present study was performed to characterize the toxicity symptoms of Ni in pepper seedlings exposed to different concentrations of Ni. Four-week-old pepper seedlings were grown under hydroponic conditions using seven Ni concentrations (0, 10, 20, 30, 50, 75, and 100 mg L–1 NiCl2. 6H2O). The Ni toxicity showed symptoms, such as chlorosis of young leaves. Excess Ni reduced growth and biomass production, root morphology, gas exchange elements, pigment molecules, and photosystem function. The growth tolerance index (GTI) was reduced by 88-, 75-, 60-, 45-, 30-, and 19% in plants against 10, 20, 30, 50, 75, and 100 mg L–1 Ni, respectively. Higher Ni concentrations enhanced antioxidant enzyme activity, ROS accumulation, membrane integrity [malondialdehyde (MDA) and electrolyte leakage (EL)], and metabolites (proline, soluble sugars, total phenols, and flavonoids) in pepper leaves. Furthermore, increased Ni supply enhanced the Ni content in pepper’s leaves and roots, but declined nitrogen (N), potassium (K), and phosphorus (P) levels dramatically. The translocation of Ni from root to shoot increased from 0.339 to 0.715 after being treated with 10–100 mg L–1 Ni. The uptake of Ni in roots was reported to be higher than that in shoots. Generally, all Ni levels had a detrimental impact on enzyme activity and led to cell death in pepper seedlings. However, the present investigation revealed that Ni ≥ 30 mg L–1 lead to a deleterious impact on pepper seedlings. In the future, research is needed to further explore the mechanism and gene expression involved in cell death caused by Ni toxicity in pepper plants.

Primary cardiac lymphoma (PCL) is a rare disease, the definite diagnosis of which is sometimes difficult and mainly relies on endomyocardial biopsy. Primary cardiac T-cell lymphoma (PCTL) is an extremely rare sub-type of PCL. Here, we report on a 47-year-old female with PCTL who presented with fever, syncope, palpitations, and a third-degree atrioventricular block (AVB) on electrocardiogram. Chemotherapy was administered with two courses of methotrexate, cyclophosphamide, liposomal doxorubicin, vincristine, and dexamethasone (MTX-CHOP). As the tumor vanished, AVB changed from third degree to second degree and finally to sinus rhythm. In conclusion, endomyocardial biopsy is valuable in the diagnosis of primary cardiac lymphoma. It is worth noting that alterations in the electrocardiogram may indicate an attack on the heart by PCTL.

Chronic kidney disease has attracted great attention as a public health disease and is mainly caused by the retention of uremic toxins in the body. Urea is a kind of representative toxin with high ...

에너지는 경제발전과 국민들의 생활수준에 영향을 미치는 중요한 요소이다. 경제 발전과 에너지는 서로 긴밀한 관계를 맺고 있을 뿐만 아니라 더 나아가 에너지는 경제발전에 있어서 핵심적인 요소라고 할 수 있다. 다시 말해서, 에너지는 경제발전을 위한 필요조건이며 원동력이다. 사회가 지속적으로 발전함에 따라 경제발전에 있어서 에너지에 대한 수요와 의존이 점차 높아지고 있는 상황이며, 특히 대규모 공업생산을 하는 산업화 시대로 접어들게 되면서 경제발전을 위해서는 대량의 에너지가 더욱 필요한 실정이다. 이에 따라, 에너지는 한 나라의 국민경제가 안정적으로 발전하기 위한 필수불가결한 요소라고 할 수 있다. 현대 사회로 접어들면서 에너지와 경제발전 사이에 밀접한 관계가 있다는 것은 잘 알려진 사실이다. 한 국가의 에너지 분야의 발전은 경제발전에 필수적인 동력을 제공하며, 경제발전은 또한 국민의 생활수준을 향상시켜주고 에너지를 이용하는 기술 수준을 높임으로써 에너지 이용효율과 에너지 소비구조를 최적화시킨다는 점에서 에너지 분야의 발전을 촉진시키게 된다. 개혁개방 이래로 중국의 에너지 소비량은 이전에 비해 크게 증가했다. 석탄 소비량의 경우, 1988년 95810만 톤에서 2018년 377000만 톤으로 늘었다. 이는 30년 동안 3.93배 증가한 것이고, 연평균 4.6% 증가한 것으로써 중국은 현재 세계 2위의 에너지 소비국이다. 하지만 최근 들어 중국은 에너지 개발과 에너지를 이용한 분야에서 많은 문제에 직면하고 있다. 대표적으로 중국산업은 구조적으로 에너지와 자본 및 공업발전양식이 밀집된 조방식 형태를 이루고 있기 때문에 발생하는 환경파괴와 같은 문제가 있다. 따라서 어떻게 최소한으로 환경파괴를 하면서 동시에 에너지분야와 경제를 지속적으로 발전시키는가는 중국사회에 있어서 의미있는 주제라고 할 수 있다. 본 논문은 에너지와 경제가 조화롭게 발전하는 것을 목표로 에너지 분야의 발전은 경제발전을 야기하면서 동시에 경제발전이 역으로 에너지 이용효율을 향상시킴으로써 한 국가의 에너지 분야를 발전시킨다는 점을 검증하고자 한다. 본 연구는 벡터자기회귀(VAR)모형을 통해 에너지와 경제발전 사이의 관계를 실증적으로 분석한다. 1988년부터 2018년까지의 중국의 에너지소비, GDP, 자본투입, 제2차 산업노동량투입, 제2차 산업기여율 등의 시계열 자료를 바탕으로 벡터자기회귀(VAR)모형을 구성하고, 각 변수들사이의 상관관계에 대하여 분석한다. 또한 분산분석과 충격반응함수(Impulse Function), 그리고 Granger인과관계를 이용하여 각 변수에 대하여 분석한다.

In this study, a broadband flat-top second-order orbital angular momentum mode (OAM) converter is proposed and demonstrated using a phase-modulated second-order helical long-period fiber grating (HLPG). The proposed HLPG is designed to be inscribed in a thinned four-mode fiber and operated at wavelengths near the dispersion turning point (DTP). In contrast to most of the HLPG-based OAM mode generators reported to date, where the high-order OAM mode and flat-top broadband have rarely been achieved simultaneously, a second-order OAM(OAM-2) mode converter with a flat-top bandwidth of 113 nm @ -20 dB (ranging from 1530—1643 nm) and a depth fluctuation of less than 3 dB @-26 dB has been successfully demonstrated in this study, such flat-top bandwidth covers the entire C + L bands and represents the best result of the HLPGs reported to date. Tolerance analyses for the fabrication of the designed HLPG were also performed. It is believed that the proposed HLPG may find applications in all-fiber vortex lasers as well as the OAM mode division multiplex (MDM) system.

Pepper is an important vegetable in the world. In this work, mRNA and ncRNA transcriptome profiles were applied to understand the heterosis effect on the alteration in the gene expression at the seedling and flowering stages between the hybrid and its parents in Capsicum chinense. Our phenotypic data indicated that the hybrid has dominance in leaf area, plant scope, plant height, and fruit-related traits. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis showed that nine members of the plant hormone signal transduction pathway were upregulated in the seedling and flowering stages of the hybrid, which was supported by weighted gene coexpression network analysis and that BC332_23046 (auxin response factor 8), BC332_18317 (auxin-responsive protein IAA20), BC332_13398 (ethylene-responsive transcription factor), and BC332_27606 (ethylene-responsive transcription factor WIN1) were candidate hub genes, suggesting the important potential role of the plant hormone signal transduction in pepper heterosis. Furthermore, some transcription factor families, including bHLH, MYB, and HSF were greatly over-dominant. We also identified 2,525 long ncRNAs (lncRNAs), 47 micro RNAs (miRNAs), and 71 circle RNAs (circRNAs) in the hybrid. In particular, downregulation of miR156, miR169, and miR369 in the hybrid suggested their relationship with pepper growth vigor. Moreover, we constructed some lncRNA–miRNA–mRNA regulatory networks that showed a multi-dimension to understand the ncRNA relationship with heterosis. These results will provide guidance for a better understanding of the molecular mechanism involved in pepper heterosis.

In terms of research subjects, most scholars both domestic and foreign conduct their studies based on the international energy framework, and most of them use international natural gas price fluctuations to explore its impact on China's macro economy, but it has not been seen that any scholars separately study the transmission mechanism and effect of natural gas price fluctuations on Chinese government spending. In terms of data selection, since China has only started to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) since 2006, this paper selects monthly data on the variables of LNG prices (total weighted average terminal price), LNG operating revenue, non-LNG operating revenue (operating revenue from industries other than natural gas), and government spending in China from January 2007 to March 2021, and uses the ARDL and SVAR models to examine the relationship between LNG prices and revenue, non-LNG revenue, and government spending in China.

The integration of satellite and terrestrial networks is a promising approach for future mobile communications to provide global coverage, seamless connectivity, and all-scenario services. However, the inherent characteristics of satellite communication (SatCom) systems pose challenges to the fulfilment of integrated satellite-terrestrial networks. In this paper, we provide an overview of the background on the evolution of SatCom networks. Based on the architecture options in non-terrestrial networks proposed by 3GPP, we discuss and analyze the key technical issues in network architecture, air interface, and standardization of 5G integrated SatCom networks. Finally, a comprehensive analysis of roadmap for satellite-terrestrial integration is also proposed.

Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) is one of the most popular green leafy vegetables in Asia, with both aquatic and terrestrial characteristics. We report here its high-quality, chromosome-scale genome assembly through a combination of PacBio sequencing, short-read sequencing, 10 × Genomics and a high-density genetic map. This assembly contains 1,392 scaffolds (N50 = 2.75 Mb) covering 93.3% of the estimated genome (550.03 Mb). Of the assembly, 90% was anchored to 15 pseudo-chromosomes containing 162 scaffolds (415.77 Mb). We also assembled a complete chloroplast genome of 165, 294 bp with 111 genes, encoding 84 proteins, 8 rRNA, and 19 tRNA. This species includes 30, 693 predicted protein-coding genes. By clustering results of the genomes, there are 3,431 gene families specific to the four Ipomoea species and 34 gene families in common of O. sativa, U. gibba and I. aquatica. These genes from the 34 gene familes may be related to the aquatic characteristics of plants. Phylogenetic analysis reveals that I. aquatica and the lineage (I. nil, I. trifida and I. triloba) diverged around 7.1 million years ago. Synteny analysis revealed obvious one-to-one collinearity for all 15 pseudo-chromosomes between the genomes of water spinach and I. triloba, with small-scale interchromosomal rearrangements. Compared with Copia, there are more Gypsies in the genome of water spinach suggesting species-specific genome expansion of Gypsy in water spinach. The 4DTv analysis confirmed the WGD event in the ancestor of the Ipomoea lineage and Cuscuta lineage. Transcriptome analysis reveals that there are 23,828 genes co-expressed in roots, flowers, leaves and stems. We also found that heavy metal associated genes were expanded in the genome. The genome sequence is a valuable resource for functional genomics and the genome assisted breeding of water spinach.