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Highly substituted perfluoroacylated chitosan can alter the physicochemical properties of chitosan; however, the currently synthesized perfluoroacylated chitosan has a low degree of substitution. In this study, we present a simple method for the homogeneous preparation of highly substituted N-perfluoroacylated chitosan, conducted at room temperature without requiring strict anhydrous or oxygen-free conditions. Various perfluorocarbon chains were successfully attached to chitosan through a reaction between perfluorinated acid esters and amines, catalyzed by DBU. The synthesized N-perfluoroacylated chitosan, with high degree of substitution, demonstrated excellent solubility in common organic solvents. Comprehensive characterization was performed using elemental analysis, nuclear magnetic resonance (including two-dimensional NMR), gel permeation chromatography, infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and thermal analysis. The resulting films exhibited high water contact angles. Notably, as the fluorocarbon chain length increased, tensile strength gradually decreased, while elongation at break improved. Additionally, water uptake, water vapor transmission rate, and oxygen transmission rate all exhibited a declining trend. The films exhibited good biocompatibility, and in the grape preservation experiment, HFBC treatment effectively delayed grape aging and deterioration while enhancing quality preservation. These results suggest that HFBC film holds promising potential for food packaging applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: The newer glucose-lowering drugs (GLDs), including Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT2i), have demonstrated superior cardio- and renal protective benefits compared to older GLDs in individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) at high risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD)., Objective: This study examined the trends of the newer GLDs use in people with T2D who had a history of coronary heart disease or heart failure in the United States., Method: We used 2005-2019 data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Individuals with self-reported diabetes and CVD history were identified., Results: There was a steady increase in the use of GLP-1RA only from 2008 (3 %) to 2019 (21 %) and SGLT2i only from 2014 (5 %) to 2019 (12 %). Individuals with dual use of both newer GLD classes increased from 0.62 % in 2015 to 6 % in 2019. The overall uptake of these two newer drugs in 2019 was less than 40 %. In other words, 60 % of individuals who can substantially benefit from these newer treatments did not use the treatments., Conclusion: The use of GLP-1RA and SGLT2i among individuals with T2D and a history of CVD was low and varied by insurance type. Policy-level interventions are needed to improve the use of these newer treatments further., Summary: We examined how newer glucose-lowering drugs are used among individuals with type 2 diabetes and at high risk for coronary heart disease or heart failure in the US. We found that 60 % of individuals who can substantially benefit from these newer treatments did not use the treatments due to the variation of insurance type., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest “All authors of Trends in Utilization Patterns of Newer Glucose-lowering Drugs in US Adults with Type 2 Diabetes and a History of Cardiovascular Disease: 2005–2019 have no Conflict of Interest of publishing this Brief Research.”, (Copyright © 2024 Primary Care Diabetes Europe. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Data on the pathological responses and survival outcomes after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2)-low breast cancer (BC) are lacking. This study aims to investigate this topic in the real world., Methods: Clinicopathological data from 819 HER2-negative BC patients who underwent NACT between 2010 and 2020 were retrospectively retrieved from the Shanghai Jiaotong University Breast Cancer Database. These patients were categorized into HER2-low and HER2-0 groups. Logistic analyses were conducted to identify predictors of complete pathological response (pCR) and breast pCR. Cox regression analyses were conducted to assess the factors associated with disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Kaplan-Meier (K-M) curves were generated to compare DFS and OS between HER2-low BC and HER2-0 BC., Results: Of the 819 BC patients, 669 (81.7%) had HER2-low tumors, and 150 (18.3%) had HER2-0 tumors. HER2-low BC had a significantly higher ratio of ER ≥ 10%, PR ≥ 20%, and Ki67 ≥ 15% than HER2-0 BC. A significantly higher breast pCR rate was observed in HER2-low BC than in HER2-0 BC (13.6% and 7.3%, respectively, P = .036). Age, HER2 status (low or 0), Ki67, and surgery options were associated with breast pCR in HER2-negative BC. In HER2-low BC, the pCR rate of ER ≥ 10% BC was significantly lower than that of ER < 10% BC, but the DFS and OS of ER 10% BC were significantly higher. The K-M curve showed no significant differences in DFS or OS between HER2-low and HER2-0 BC. Cox regression revealed that ER expression and histological grade (III vs. I∼II) were significantly associated with survival in HER2-low BC., Conclusions: In this real-world data (RWD) study, a significantly higher breast pCR rate was found in HER2-low BC than in HER2-0 BC, although there was no significant difference in survival. Moreover, ER expression had a significant prognostic impact on HER2-low BC., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

How to increase the usable land area by adhering to environmentally friendly ecological restoration of mines with limited funds is a challenge that many cities are currently facing. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) can provide efficient and effective restoration decisions for abandoned mine land (AML) ecological restoration with limited financial resources. Thus, this study proposes an integrated approach for coupling ecological benefits and restoration costs, including hotspots/coldspots analysis based on five ecosystem services (ESs), landscape connectivity analysis based on graph theory model, hidden costs, and project implementation costs to prioritize AML restoration. The study was conducted on 54 abandoned mine lands (AMLs) in Chaoyang city, the ecological security barrier of China's northern sand prevention belt (NSPB). The comprehensive analysis prioritized the restoration of AMLs into four levels, of which 9 mines were in priority I, where restoration was recommended as a priority, and 22 mines were in priority II, where restoration could be carried out within the affordability of funds. In addition, our model indicates areas with high ecological benefits, in which the ecological source area (7423.66 km 2 ) and the ecosystem service hotspots area (2028.44 km 2 ) are mostly distributed in the southwestern part of Chaoyang city, the two mountain ranges of Songling mountain and Nuruerhu mountain. This study provides scientific spatial guidance to ensure that the AMLs realizes effective restoration and management., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Fast fashion is driving the continued growth of the fashion industry's carbon emissions. Understanding how fast fashion consumption exacerbates carbon emissions is critical to guide mitigation strategies for the fashion industry. Taking jeans, a typical fast fashion product as an example, this study developed an LCA model to assess the carbon footprint of fast fashion consumption at global and national levels, and mitigation potentials of product service systems-related scenarios were then explored. Results show that the carbon footprint of fast fashion consumption is 2.50 kgCO 2 e/one wear jeans, 11 times higher than that of traditional fashion consumption. Jeans production and cross-broad transportation contributed 91 % of the carbon footprint of fast fashion consumption. Developed countries have a 53 % higher per capita carbon footprint of fast fashion consumption than developing countries. The second-hand trading model has the highest mitigation potential, reducing carbon emissions by 90 %. This study proposed an analytical framework for the carbon footprint of fast fashion consumption, which provides the basis for the environmental footprints of fast fashion products. Our findings provide insights into the carbon footprints of traditional and fast fashion consumption and strategies for the transition to circular fashion., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rapidly progressive and fatal disease, with right ventricular failure being the primary cause of death in patients with PAH. This study aims to determine the mechanical stimuli that may initiate heart growth and remodelling (G&R). To achieve this, two bi-ventricular models were constructed: one for a control rat heart and another for a rat heart with PAH. The growth of the diseased heart was estimated by warping it to the control heart using an improved large deformation diffeomorphic metric mapping (LDDMM) framework. Correlation analysis was then performed between mechanical cues (stress and strain) and growth tensors, which revealed that principal strains may serve as a triggering stimulus for myocardial growth and remodelling under PAH. The growth tensors, estimated from in vivo images, could explain 84.3% of the observed geometrical changes in the diseased heart with PAH by using a kinematic cardiac growth model. Our approach has the potential to quantify G&R using sparse in vivo images and to provide insights into the underlying mechanism of triggering right heart failure from a biomechanical perspective., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None Declared, (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The preparation of biochar from digestate is one of the effective ways to achieve the safe disposal and resource utilization of digestate. Nevertheless, up to now, a comprehensive review encompassing the factors influencing anaerobic digestate-derived biochar production and its applications is scarce in the literature. Therefore, to fill this gap, the present work first outlined the research hotspots of digestate in the last decade using bibliometric statistical analysis with the help of VOSviewer. Then, the characteristics of the different sources of digestate were summarized. Furthermore, the influencing factors of biochar preparation from digestate and the modification methods of digestate-derived biochar and associated mechanisms were analyzed. Notably, a comprehensive synthesis of anaerobic digestate-derived biochar applications is provided, encompassing enhanced anaerobic digestion, heavy metal remediation, aerobic composting, antibiotic/antibiotic resistance gene removal, and phosphorus recovery from digestate liquor. The economic and environmental impacts of digestate-derived biochar were also analyzed. Finally, the development prospect and challenges of using biochar from digestate to combat environmental pollution are foreseen. The aim is to not only address digestate management challenges at the source but also offer a novel path for the resourceful utilization of digestate., 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 B.V. All rights reserved.)

Ecosystems provide many benefits to humans, and among them, water supply is crucial for human survival and development. This research focused on the Yangtze River Basin as the research area, quantitatively evaluated the temporal-spatial dynamic changes in the supply and demand of water supply services and determined the spatial relationship between the supply and demand regions of water supply services. We constructed the supply-flow-demand model of water supply service to quantify its flow. In our research, the Bayesian model was used to establish a multiscenario model of the water supply service flow path to simulate it and clarify its spatial flow path, flow direction and flow magnitude from the supply region to the demand region and determine its changing characteristics and driving factors in the basin. The results show that (1) In 2010, 2015 and 2020, the amount of water supply services showed a decreasing trend and was approximately 133.57 × 10 12  m 3 , 129.97 × 1012 m 3 and 120.82 × 10 12  m 3 , respectively. (2) From 2010 to 2020, the trend of the cumulative flow of water supply service flow decreased each year and was 59.814 × 10 12  m 3 , 56.930 × 10 12  m 3 , 56.325 × 10 12  m 3 respectively. (3) Under the multiscenario simulation, the flow path of the water supply service was generally the same. The proportion of the water supply region was the highest under the green environmental protection scenario, at 73.8 %, and the proportion of the water demand region was the highest under the economic development and social progress scenario, at 27.3 %. (4) The provinces and municipalities in the basin were divided into three types of regions according to the matching relationship between supply and demand: catchment region, flow pass-through region and outflow region. The number of outflow regions was lowest, accounting for 23.53 %% of the regions, while the number of flow pass-through regions was the highest, accounting for 52.94 %., 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 B.V. All rights reserved.)

Progressive left ventricular (LV) growth and remodelling (G&R) is often induced by volume and pressure overload, characterized by structural and functional adaptation through myocyte hypertrophy and extracellular matrix remodelling, which are dynamically regulated by biomechanical factors, inflammation, neurohormonal pathways, etc. When prolonged, it can eventually lead to irreversible heart failure. In this study, we have developed a new framework for modelling pathological cardiac G&R based on constrained mixture theory using an updated reference configuration, which is triggered by altered biomechanical factors to restore biomechanical homeostasis. Eccentric and concentric growth, and their combination have been explored in a patient-specific human LV model under volume and pressure overload. Eccentric growth is triggered by overstretching of myofibres due to volume overload, i.e. mitral regurgitation, whilst concentric growth is driven by excessive contractile stress due to pressure overload, i.e. aortic stenosis. Different biological constituent's adaptations under pathological conditions are integrated together, which are the ground matrix, myofibres and collagen network. We have shown that this constrained mixture-motivated G&R model can capture different phenotypes of maladaptive LV G&R, such as chamber dilation and wall thinning under volume overload, wall thickening under pressure overload, and more complex patterns under both pressure and volume overload. We have further demonstrated how collagen G&R would affect LV structural and functional adaption by providing mechanistic insight on anti-fibrotic interventions. This updated Lagrangian constrained mixture based myocardial G&R model has the potential to understand the turnover processes of myocytes and collagen due to altered local mechanical stimuli in heart diseases, and in providing mechanistic links between biomechanical factors and biological adaption at both the organ and cellular levels. Once calibrated with patient data, it can be used for assessing heart failure risk and designing optimal treatment therapies. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Computational modelling of cardiac G&R has shown high promise to provide insight into heart disease management when mechanistic understandings are quantified between biomechanical factors and underlying cellular adaptation processes. The kinematic growth theory has been dominantly used to phenomenologically describe the biological G&R process but neglecting underlying cellular mechanisms. We have developed a constrained mixture based G&R model with updated reference by taking into account different mechanobiological processes in the ground matrix, myocytes and collagen fibres. This G&R model can serve as a basis for developing more advanced myocardial G&R models further informed by patient data to assess heart failure risk, predict disease progression, select the optimal treatment by hypothesis testing, and eventually towards a truly precision cardiology using in-silico models., 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 Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Ecological compensation has become very common worldwide due to the imbalance in the development of modern society, economy, and the environment and the increased pressure on ecosystem carrying capacity. Nonetheless, the various approaches for quantifying ecological compensation standards differ significantly. Thus, the process for determining a reasonable ecological compensation threshold is important to understand. To ensure the maximization of ecosystem service supply and economic benefit incentives for farmers, this paper constructs a discriminant model of an ecological compensation threshold based on the minimum data approach and the most appropriate land use scenario to define the ecological compensation threshold of the Sloping Land Conversion Program in the upper Yangtze River basin. The results show that with an increase in the compensation price, the proportion of farmers participating in returning farmland to forests and grassland increases, and water conservation increases. However, the discriminant curve first increases to a certain threshold point and then decreases, after which the ecoefficiency rate obtained from the compensation decreases. The ecological compensation thresholds for Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Hubei, Qinghai, Gansu, Tibet and Shaanxi provinces are 17.74 yuan/m 3 , 13.79 yuan/m 3 , 19.1 yuan/m 3 , 17.79 yuan/m 3 , 15.28 yuan/m 3 , 45.14 yuan/m 3 , 17.23 yuan/m 3 , 25.2 yuan/m 3 and 22.36 yuan/m 3 , respectively. This research examines ecological compensation standards in different watersheds throughout the world and discusses the relationship between ecological compensation and water conservation. The discriminant model of the ecological compensation threshold can provide a new reference for the implementation and management of ecological compensation policies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Chitosan-based nanogels are effective carriers for drug delivery due to their biocompatibility and biodegradability. However, the chemically cross-linked nanogels usually require complicated procedures or tough conditions. Herein, we report a simple approach to generate chitosan-based nanogels by photo-crosslinking of poor solvent-induced nanoaggregates without requiring any emulsifying agent, catalyst, or external crosslinker. O-nitrobenzyl alcohol-modified carboxymethyl chitosan was synthesized and self-crosslinked into the nanogels in a mixed solution of ethanol and water under 365 nm light irradiation due to UV-induced primary amine and o-nitrobenzyl alcohol cyclization. The nanogels (CMC-NBA NPs) and lactobionic acid-decorated nanogels (LACMC-NBA NPs) displayed a uniform diameter (~200 nm) and excellent stability under physiological conditions. Notably, the nanogels exhibited a high loading content (~28 %) due to π-π stacking and electrostatic interactions between doxorubicin (DOX) and the carriers. These DOX-loaded nanogels showed rapid drug release under slightly acidic conditions. The cell and animal experiments confirmed that LACMC-NBA NPs increased cellular uptake, improved cytotoxicity in tumor cells, and enhanced growth inhibition in vivo than CMC-NBA NPs. Thus, these photo-crosslinked nanogels possess great potential for DOX delivery., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study develops a new hybrid active contraction model for myocardial dynamics abstracted from sarcomere by combining the phenomenologically active-stress based Hill model and the micro-structurally motivated active strain approach. This new model consists of a passive branch and a parallel active branch that consists of a serial passive element for active tension transmission and a contractile unit for active tension development. This rheology represents an additive decomposition of the total stress into a passive and active response. The active stress is formulated following the active strain approach based on the sliding filament theory by multiplicatively decomposing the stretch of the contractile element into a fictitious and an active part. The length-dependence and force-velocity are further incorporated in the active strain. We estimate the passive stiffness of the serial passive element using literature data, which is 250 kPa, then the active stress is computed from the serial passive element in the active branch because of its force transmission structure. This one-dimensional contraction model is further generalized to three dimensions for modelling myocardial dynamics. Our results demonstrate that the proposed active contraction model has a high descriptive capability for various experiments, including both isometric and isotonic contraction compared to existing active strain approaches. We also show that it can simulate physiologically accurate cardiac dynamics in humans. The excellent agreement with experimental data and a local sensitivity study highlight the importance of length-dependence and force-velocity in the active strain approach. Our results further show that there exists a tight interaction between the length-dependence and force-velocity relationships. This new hybrid model serves as a step forward in personalized cardiac modelling using an active-strain based contraction model and has the potential to understand the multi-scale coupling in active contraction according to the sliding filament theory., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The investigation of water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), which is important in the biogeochemical cycle of precipitation, can provide a comprehensive view of chromophores within the atmospheric boundary layer. In this work, the optical properties and molecular characteristics of WSOC in precipitation over the Guanzhong Basin (GB) of North China were investigated using ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption and excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectra, and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) coupled with electrospray ionization (ESI). Furthermore, sources and wet deposition of WSOC were estimated using in-situ measurements and modeling. The light-absorption by WSOC at 250-300 nm (UV region) and 400-550 nm (visible region) was 64.17% and 15.36% relative to the estimated total light-absorption, respectively. Parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis revealed three types of fluorophores in WSOC at Xi'an (XN), including two humic-like substances (HULIS) and one protein-like substance (PRLIS), with HULIS accounting for 79% of total fluorescence intensity. FT-ICR MS analysis revealed that CHO and CHON were the most abundant components of WSOC at XN, each containing a variety of lignins, protein/amino sugars, and lipids. Moreover, the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model identified the contributions from three main sources (secondary precursors and aerosols, and coal combustion) of WSOC in precipitation at XN. The annual wet deposition flux of WSOC in precipitation at XN was estimated as about 0.63 g C m -2 yr -1 , lower than that at other polluted cities. These findings add to our understanding of chromophoric dissolved organic carbon budgets, which is critical for accurately assessing the global carbon cycle., 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 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Ti-6Al-4V has been used as a surgical implant material for a long time because of its combination of strength, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility. However, there remains much that is not understood about how the surface reacts with the environment under tribocorrosion conditions. In particular, the conditions under which tribofilms form and their role on friction and wear are not clear. To evaluate the complicated nature of the dynamic surface microstructural changes on the wear track, high resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) have been used to characterise the structure and chemical composition of the tribofilm. Detailed analysis of the formation and structure of the tribofilm and the metal surface deformation behaviour were studied as a function of applied potential and the role of proteins in the lubricant. For the first time, graphitic and onion-like carbon structures from wear debris were found in the testing solution. The presence of carbon nanostructures in the tribocorrosion process and the formation of the tribofilm leads to an improved tribocorrosion behaviour of the system, in particular a reduction in wear and friction. A detailed, quantitative, analysis of surface deformation was undertaken, in particular, the geometrically necessary dislocation (GND) density was quantified using precession electron diffraction (PET). A clear correlation between applied potential, tribofilm formation and the surface strain was established. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: The formation of tribofilm and microstructure modification of the Ti-6Al-4V surface during tribocorrosion in a physiological environment is not fully understood. In particular, the correlation between microstructural changes and electrochemical conditions is not clear. This study presents a detailed investigation of the structure and chemical composition of tribofilms at the nanoscale during tribocorrosion tests in simulated body fluid and gives a detailed and quantitative description of the evolved surface structure. A clear correlation between applied potential, tribofilm formation and the surface strain was established. Moreover, particular attention is paid to the wear debris particles captured from the lubricating solution, including nanocarbon onion structures. The implications for tribocorrosion of the alloy in its performance as an implant are discussed., 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. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Carbon isotopic composition of soil respired CO 2 (soil δ 13 C R ) has been regarded as a good indicator of the linkages between aboveground processes and soil respiration. However, whether δ 13 C R of autotrophic or heterotrophic component of soil respiration dominates the temporal variability of total soil δ 13 C R was rarely examined by previous studies. In this study, carbon isotopic composition of atmospheric CO 2 (δ 13 C air ) and soil δ 13 C R in control (with roots) and trenched (without roots) plots were measured in a temperated mixed forest. A 13 C isotopic profile system and an automated soil respiration system were used for δ 13 C air and soil δ 13 C R measurements, respectively. We found that soil δ 13 C R in the control plots changed substantially in the growing season and it was more negative (by ~0.6‰) than that in the trenched plots, while soil δ 13 C R in the trenched plots showed a minor temporal variability. This suggests that δ 13 C R from the autotrophic respiration is the key decider of the seasonal variation pattern of the soil δ 13 C R . Moreover, the seasonal variation of soil δ 13 C R in the control plots showed a similar pattern with the seasonal variation of δ 13 C air . A significant time-lag was found between δ 13 C air and soil δ 13 C R , showing that soil δ 13 C R generally lagged behind δ 13 C air 15 days. This result supports the hypothesis that soil respiration is closely related to carbon assimilation at the leaf-level and also stressed the importance of δ 13 C air in shaping soil δ 13 C R . These findings are highly valuable to develop the process-based models of the carbon cycle of forest ecosystems., 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.)

Nitrous oxide (N 2 O) is a pollutant released from agriculture soils following N fertilizer application. N stabilizers, such as N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide (NBPT) and 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP) could mitigate these N 2 O emissions when applied with fertilizer. Here, field experiments were conducted to investigate the microbial mechanisms by which NBPT and DMPP mitigate N 2 O emissions following urea application. We determined dynamic N 2 O emissions and inorganic N concentrations for two wheat seasons and combined this with metagenomic sequencing. Application of NBPT, DMPP, and both NBPT and DMPP together with urea decreased mean N 2 O accumulative emissions by 77.8, 91.4 and 90.7%, respectively, compared with urea application alone, mainly via repressing the increase in NO 2 - concentration after N fertilization. Sequencing results indicated that urea application enriched microorganisms that were positively correlated with N 2 O production, whereas N stabilizers enriched microorganisms that were negatively correlated with N 2 O production. Furthermore, compared to urea application alone, NBPT with urea reduced the abundances of genes related to denitrification, including napA/nasA, nirS/nirK, and norBC, resulting in a higher soil NO 3 - pool. Conversely, DMPP application, either alone or together with NBPT, decreased the abundance of genes involved in ammonia oxidation and denitrification, including amoCAB, hao, napA/nasA, nirS/nirK, and norBC, and maintained a greater soil NH 4 + pool. Both N stabilizers resulted in similar abundances of nirABD-which is related to NO 2 - reducers-as when no N fertilizer was applied, which could prevent NO 2 - accumulation, consequently mitigating N 2 O emissions. These findings suggest that the high effectiveness of N stabilizers on mitigating N 2 O emissions could be attributed to changes to soil microbial communities and N-cycling functional genes to control the by-product or intermediate products of microbial N-cycling processes in agricultural soils., 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.)

The synthesis of nanostructured AZ31 powder by cryomilling was studied in this paper. The microstructural evolution during cryomilling, including the changes of particle morphology and internal grain size, was characterized via optical microscopy, SEM, TEM and XRD. Observations during the cryomilling produced four main findings. Firstly, cryomilling can refine the grains of AZ31 particles down to 100 nm after around 1 h milling and the minimum average grain size of about 30 nm was reached when the cryomilling time was extended to 6 h or longer. Secondly, cold welding played a dominant role in the early stage of cryomilling, while fracture took place in the late stage and surpassed cold welding. The former led to a particle size increase while the latter decreased the particle size. The minimum average particle size after 6 h cryomilling was approximately 26 μm. Thirdly, a few particles were agglomerated with other particles and could not be processed by cryomilling due to cold welding. Finally, after cryomilling 6 h and longer times, the hardness reached 162 HV which was much higher than other values reported in AZ31 alloy studies., Competing Interests: 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., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Previous studies have shown that epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) involves reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, but how ferritinophagy-mediated ROS production affects EMT status remains obscure. 2,2'-di-pyridylketone hydrazone dithiocarbamate s-butyric acid (DpdtbA), an iron chelator, exhibited interesting antitumor activities against gastric and esophageal cancer cells. As an extension of our previous research, in this paper we presented the effect of DpdtbA on EMT regulation of gastric cancer lines (SGC-7901 and MGC-803) in both normoxic and hypoxic conditions. The data from immunofluorescent and Western blotting analysis revealed that DpdtbA treatment resulted in EMT inhibition along with downregulation of hypoxia-inducible factor (hif-1α), hinting that prolyl hydroxylase 2 (PHD2) was involved. Knockdown of PHD2 significantly attenuated the action of DpdtbA on EMT regulation, supporting that PHD2 involved the EMT modulation. In addition, the inhibition of EMT involved ROS production that stemmed from DpdtbA induced ferritinophagy; while the accumulation of ferrous iron due to ferritinophagy contributed to PHD2 activation and hif-1α degradation. The correlation analysis revealed that ferritinophagic flux was a dominant driving force in determination of the EMT status. Futhermore, the ferritinophagy-mediated ROS production triggered p53 activation. Taken together, All data supported that DpdtbA induced EMT inhibition was through activation of p53 and PHD2/hif-1α pathway., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Release of contaminants from sediments has been one of the main pollution sources causing eutrophication and malodorous black of ponds. In this study, an iron-rich substrate (IRS) was developed based on iron‑carbon micro-electrolysis and applied for simultaneous sediments and overlying water remediation. IRS obtained high ammonia and phosphate adsorption capacities (Langmuir isotherm) of 13.02 and 18.12 mg·kg -1 , respectively. In the 90-day long-term remediation, IRS reduced NH 4 + -N, PO 4 3- -P, organic-N, organic-P, TN and TP in overlying water by 48.6%, 97.9%, 34.2%, 67.1%, 53.2% and 90.4%, respectively. In sediments, IRS reduced NO 3 ·d - -N, NH 4 ·d + -N and organic-N by 98.5%, 26.5% and 6.3%, respectively. The unstable P-compounds (i.e., organic-P, Ca-bounded-P and labile-P) were effectively transferred (20.1%, 54.3% and 98.2%, respectively) into inert P-compounds (i.e., Fe-bounded-P and residual-P). Meanwhile, flux rates of nitrogen and phosphorus from sediments to overlying water were reduced from 7.02 to 4.92 mg·m -2 ·d -1 (by 29.9%) and from 7.42 to 2.21 mg·m -2 ·d -1 (by 70.2%), respectively. Due to micro-electrolysis, Fe 2+ /Fe 3+ /[H] were in-situ generated from IRS and NO 3 - -N was effectively reduced. Additionally, the generation of O 2 · was promoted by Fe 2+ /[H] and strengthened the NH 4 + -N, organic-N/P oxidation. Fe 3+ enhanced the immobilization of PO 4 3- (e.g., as FePO 4 ·H 2 O and Fe n PO 4 (OH) 3n-3 ). The released Fe 2+ /Fe 3+ from IRS were finally stabilized as poorly reactive sheet silicate (PRS)-Fe and magnetite-Fe in the sediments and hardly showed side effect to sediments and water body. The developed IRS obtained advantages of high efficiency, ecologically safe and cost-effective in contaminated sediments and overlying water remediation., 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 B.V. All rights reserved.)

Cancer metastasis and resistance for chemotherapeutic agent correlate with epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), while ROS production also involves in the EMT process, However, how autophagy mediated ROS production affects EMT remains unclear. Previous study showed that DpdtC (2,2'-di-pyridylketone hydrazone dithiocarbamate) could induce ferritinophagy in HepG2 cell. To insight into more details that how ferritinophagy affects cellular feature, the SGC-7901and BGC-823 gastric cancer cell lines were used. Interestingly DpdtC treatment resulted in EMT inhibition and was ROS dependent. Similar situation occurred in TGF-β1 induced EMT model, supporting that DpdtC was able to inhibit EMT. Next the ability of DpdtC in ferritinophagy induction was further evaluated. As expected, DpdtC induced ferritinophagy in the absence and presence of TGF-β1. The correlation analysis revealed that an enhanced ferritinophagic flux contributed to the EMT inhibition. In addition, ferritinophagy triggers Fenton reaction, resulting in ROS production which give rise of p53 response, thus the role of p53 was further investigated. DpdtC treatment resulted in upregulation of p53, but, the addition of p53 inhibitor, PFT-α could significantly neutralize the action of DpdtC on ferritinophagy induction and EMT inhibition. Furthermore, autophagy inhibitors or NAC could counteract the action of DpdtC, indicating that ferrtinophagy-mediated ROS played an important role in the cellular events. In addition to upregulation of p53, its down-stream targets, AKT/mTor were also downregulated, supporting that DpdtC induced EMT inhibition was achieved through ferritinophagy-ROS vicious cycle mediated p53/AKT/mTor pathway. And the activation of ferritinophagic flux was the dominant driving force in action of DpdtC in gastric cancer cells., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aims: The beneficial effects of cannabinoid type 2 receptor (CB2R) activation have been verified in various tissue repair processes. Our recent study revealed CB2R activation promotes myogenesis partly through Nrf2 signaling in a mouse skeletal muscle ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury model. Other relevant mechanisms need to be further elucidated. Macrophages orchestrate tissue regeneration mainly by changing their phenotype and function. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of CB2R in IR-induced skeletal muscle regeneration, focusing on its impact on macrophage polarization and the consequences on myogenesis., Main Methods: The effects of CB2R on skeletal muscle regeneration, and the macrophage infiltration and M1/M2 polarization were tested with the IR injury model in wild type (WT) and CB2R knockout (CB2R-KO) mice. The effect of CB2R on peritoneal macrophage polarization, and its impact on the myoblasts differentiation was evaluated by co-culture experiments in vitro., Key Findings: The present study revealed the myofiber regeneration was hindered in the CB2R-KO mice. The infiltration of M1 macrophages and relevant markers' protein expression were enhanced in the CB2R-KO mice, while that of M2 macrophages was decreased compared with the WT mice. The in vitro studies further demonstrated that the absence of CB2R promoted M1 polarization while inhibited M2 polarization. The promoted M1 polarization and retarded M2 polarization in CB2R-KO macrophages hindered myoblasts differentiation., Significance: Overall, these results suggested CB2R plays a beneficial effect on skeletal muscle regeneration partly by regulating macrophage M1/M2 polarization after IR injury in mice., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Objective: Fas is a positive regulator of Th17 cells differentiation in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). However, its upstream regulators are still not fully determined. This study was designed to explore the upstream regulators of Fas in regulating Th17 cells differentiation in EAE., Methods: The mouse model of EAE was established by myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein injection. Th17 cells differentiation was induced by IL-23, IL-6 and TGF-β., Results: Down-regulated Hsp70 and miR-374c and up-regulated Fas were observed in the spleen and brain of EAE mice. Hsp70 overexpression evidently reduced Fas protein level, but not mRNA level. The luciferase reporter assay indicated that miR-374c targets Fas. Overexpression of miR-374c down-regulated the mRNA and protein level of Fas. The concentration of IL-17A in CD4+ T-cells was reduced by miR-374c or Hsp70 overexpression, and Fas overexpression altered this trend. Hsp70 did not regulate the expression of miR-374c, and likewise, miR-374c did not regulate the expression of Hsp70. Further results suggested that Hsp70 and miR-374c regulated Fas expression through different ways to affect Th17 cells differentiation in EAE., Conclusions: This study suggested that down-regulated miR-374c and Hsp70 promote Th17 cell differentiation by inducing Fas expression in EAE., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Eight undescribed quinolone alkaloids, pesimquinolones A-H, as well as six known compounds, were isolated from the solid culture broth of the fungus Penicillium simplicissimum. Their chemical structures were characterized by combined analyses of NMR spectroscopy and single-crystal X-ray crystallography. Pesimquinolones A-G are the first examples of naturally occurring quinolone alkaloids possessing a limonene moiety. Their anti-inflammatory activities on LPS-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in adherent cells were evaluated. Pesimquinolones A, E, G, and H showed promising suppressive effect on the production of NO with IC 50 values of 1.94, 1.29, 1.20, and 1.23 μM, respectively., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

It is essential to fully understand the physicochemical properties and sources of atmospheric chromophores to evaluate their impacts on environmental quality and global climate. Three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy is an important method for directly characterizing the occurrences, origins, and chemical behaviors of atmospheric chromophores. However, there is still a lack of adequate information on the sources and chemical structures of EEM-defined chromophores. This situation limits the extensive application of the EEM method in the study of atmospheric chromophores. Under these adverse conditions, this work uses the analysis of EEM data by the parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis model and a comprehensive comparison of the types and abundances of different chromophores in different aerosol samples (combustion source samples, secondary organic aerosols, and ambient aerosols) to demonstrate that the EEM method can distinguish among different chromophore types and aerosol sources. Indeed, approximately half of all fluorescent substances can be attributed to specific chemicals and sources. These findings provide an important basis for the study of the sources and chemical processes of atmospheric chromophores by the EEM approach., 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 B.V. All rights reserved.)

Carbon storage is one of the main objectives for mangrove afforestation. Planting of the exotic species Sonneratia apetala can rapidly increase the mangrove area and biomass. Here, we studied the change in vegetation and the soil carbon stocks along the chronosequence of S. apetala plantations in Qi'ao Island, China. Five sites, including rehabilitated S. apetala of different ages (1, 4, 9, and 15 years) and 40-year-old mature native Kandelia obovata forests were investigated. Vegetation biomass and the soil carbon content from 0 to 100 cm were analyzed. The ecosystem carbon density (vegetation and soil) was then calculated. A positive and linear relationship was observed between the vegetation carbon stocks and age of S. apetala. The 15-year-old S. apetala already had a similar biomass to 40-year-old K. obovata. However, its soil and ecosystem carbon densities remained lower than those of K. obovata. Different from K. obovata, the majority of the biomass of S. apetala was reserved within the stem. Mature K. obovata had a larger proportion of soil carbon stock to ecosystem carbon stock. S. apetala can accumulate biomass rapidly, but it had a lower ecosystem carbon stock than the native mature K. obovata., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We declare that we have no financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that can inappropriately influence our work, there is no professional or other personal interest of any nature or kind in any product, service and/or company that could be construed as influencing the position presented in, or the review of, the manuscript entitled., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Despite carbon sequestration being an important service of mangrove ecosystems, many mangrove reforestation projects have little consideration of the carbon sequestration capacity of species to be planted. Species selection is mostly based on growth rate and convenience in planting. In this study, to compare the quantity and quality of carbon stored in soil, four habitats were selected in Haijiang River Estuary, southern China to assess the contribution by different mangrove species to sediment carbon pool. Two 12-year-old mangrove forests of the exotic Sonneratia apetala and native Kandelia obovata, respectively, and the adjacent sandflat and mudflat as unvegetated referencing sites had been studied. The total sedimentary organic carbon and active sedimentary organic content in sediment suggested that after 12 years of growth, (1) mangrove forests significantly increased the organic carbon content of sediment; (2) total organic carbon in the K. obovata forest was higher than that of the S. apetala forest; but (3) the carbon pool of the K. obovata forest was less stable than that of the S. apetala forest. These results corroborated with other studies that the sediment carbon pool of S. apetala forests reached a stable state after 13 years of growth, while that of K. obovata forests gradually stabilised upon long-term (>13 years) growth. Our study confirms that K. obovata is more conducive to capture carbon in long-term mangrove reforestation projects, demonstrating that the provision of this service may not be directly related to apparently relevant plant traits such as growth rate., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We declare that we have no financial and personal relationships with other people or organizations that can inappropriately influence our work, there is no professional or other personal interest of any nature or kind in any product, service and/or company that could be construed as influencing the position presented in, or the review of, this manuscript., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Ecological floating rafts in restoration of eutrophic freshwaters were deemed to a frequently used method. In this study, a manipulative experiment using ecological floating rafts based on iron-rich substrate (IRS) was conducted. The approach was attempted to study the nutrient removal efficiency and algae inhibition effect of IRS. The results showed that 98.2% chlorophyll-a (chl-a) removal rate was achieved in 7-day restoration by IRS accompanied with high nutrient removal efficiency. In addition, iron-rich substrate based ecological floating beds could reached 82.1% chl-a removal rate and 98.5% total phosphorus (TP) removal rate with the increasing activity of aquatic organisms through a 50-day pilot scale experiment. The findings imply that iron-rich substrate-based ecological floating beds are an alternative method for ecological restoration of eutrophic freshwaters., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study aimed to assess how sediment organic carbon (SOC) dynamics were affected by mangrove community structures. Sediment attributes and community structures of the Avicennia marina, Aegiceras corniculatum, Rhizophora stylosa, and Bruguiera gymnorrhiza communities were analyzed, based upon field investigation in Yingluo Bay of South China. Aboveground biomass (AGB), belowground biomass (BGB) and tree height obviously increased with the self-thinning process, while basal area significantly decreased. The self-thinning exponent was 1.382 for AGB and 1.254 for BGB, conforming to the 4/3 self-thinning rule. However, self-thinning exponent for basal area was only 0.4866. SOC content non-linearly increased with the increase of AGB, BGB, and tree height. Mangrove-derived carbon increased through in situ organic material inputs with mangrove growth. The negative correlation between tree density and SOC content was not in line with the previous studies for planted mangroves. SOC dynamics of natural mangroves may be partially different from planted mangroves., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

It is essential to investigate the role of the surface oxygen content of graphene oxide (GO) in transport processes. In this study, GO was prepared using flake graphite with different radiation doses. The effects of the flow rate and ionic strength (IS) on the migration and co-transport of GO and Pb(II) ions were investigated via laboratory packed-column experiments. The experimental results showed that the mobility of GO in saturated porous media decreased with increasing flow rate. Further, the mobility of GO with a radiation dose of 18 kGy was lower than that of GOs with other radiation doses for an IS below 0.01 M. Regarding the co-transport of irradiated GO and Pb(II) in porous media, the greater the radiation dose, the stronger was the ability of GO to promote Pb(II) transport. The surface oxygen content promoted the ability of GO to remove Pb(II). However, radiation doses exceeding a certain range inhibited the release of Pb(II). The transport of GO in saturated porous media was successfully simulated with the advection-dispersion-reaction (ADR) equation. This study is expected to provide a new perspective on the potential risks of GO due to surface changes during its transport in the environment., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aims: Cannabinoid type 2 (CB 2 ) receptor activation has been shown to attenuate IRI in various organs. NF-E2-related factor (Nrf2) is an anti-oxidative factor that plays multiple roles in regulating cellular redox homeostasis and modulating cell proliferation and differentiation. The protective effects of CB 2 receptor activation on skeletal muscle IRI and the underlying mechanism that involves Nrf2 signaling remain unknown., Main Methods: We evaluated the in vivo effect of CB 2 receptor activation by the CB 2 receptor agonist AM1241 on IR-induced skeletal muscle damage and early myogenesis. We also assessed the effects of CB 2 receptor activation on C2C12 myoblasts differentiation and H 2 O 2 -induced C2C12 myoblasts damage in vitro, with a focus on the mechanism of Nrf2 signaling., Key Findings: Our results showed that CB 2 receptor activation reduced IR-induced histopathological lesions, edema, and oxidative stress 1 day post-injury and accelerated early myogenesis 4 days post-injury in mice. Nrf2 knockout mice that were treated with AM1241 exhibited deteriorative skeletal muscle oxidative damage and myogenesis. In vitro, pretreatment with AM1241 significantly increased the expression of Nrf2 and its nuclear translocation, attenuated the decrease in H 2 O 2 -induced C2C12 cell viability, and decreased reactive oxygen species generation and apoptosis. CB 2 receptor activation also significantly enhanced C2C12 myoblasts differentiation, which was impaired by silencing Nrf2., Significance: Overall, CB 2 receptor activation protected skeletal muscle against IRI by ameliorating oxidative damage and promoting early skeletal muscle myogenesis, which was partly via Nrf2 signaling., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The metal binding potential of dissolved organic matter (DOM) is highly related with its inherent properties such as molecular weight (MW). Here sediment DOMs with different origins, i.e., algae- and macrophyte-dominated sediment DOM (named as ASDOM and MSDOM, respectively), were size-fractionated into low MW (LMW-, <1 kDa) and high MW (HMW-, 1 kDa~0.45 μm) fractions, with the spectral and metal binding properties in different MW fractions exploring via total organic carbon, absorption spectroscopy, fluorescence parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis, and Cu(II) titration techniques. The MSDOM contained more organic carbon, lower specific UV absorbance, lower fluorescence index, higher humification index, and lower biological index compared to the ASDOM. As for the MW-fractionated samples, the humic- and fulvic-like fluorophores were mainly distributed in the LMW-DOM, while the protein-like ones were located richly in the HMW-DOM. Thus, obvious MW- and origin-dependent heterogeneities in abundance and spectral properties were observed for sediment DOMs. One humic-like, one fulvic-like, and two protein-like fluorescent components were identified by PARAFAC analysis, with different components exhibiting different variable patterns in response to Cu(II) addition. Irrespective of sample sources, humic- and fulvic-like components had higher condition stability constants (logK M  > 4.96) than protein-like components (logK M  < 4.86). As for the MW-fractionated samples, the HMW-DOM, especially the HMW humic-/fulvic-like components, exhibited higher metal binding potential than the bulk and LMW counterparts. This study highlighted the importance of HMW-DOM in manipulating the behavior, fate, and bioavailability of heavy metals in lake sediments., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The circadian clock regulates the expression of clock-controlled genes and adapts to environmental changes. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) also undergo circadian rhythms and have a role in circadian timekeeping. To elucidate crosstalk between ROS and the circadian clock in Neurospora crassa, we build an integrative network model, characterizing the circadian oscillator, ROS system and their interactions. Notably, the (de)phosphorylation and nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling of clock proteins are modeled in detail. Simulation results quantitatively reproduce the essential features of circadian rhythm (both in constant darkness and under light/dark cycles) and the changes in period length and phase when ROS levels are altered under diverse conditions. This work clarifies the effects of three interactions between ROS and the clock on the circadian rhythm, suggesting that the regulation of WCC activity by protein phosphatase 2A in an O 2 - -dependent manner plays a predominant role. The functional significance of such modulations is also discussed., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Emission inventory (EI) and receptor model (RM) are two of the three source apportionment (SA) methods recommended by Ministry of Environment of China and used widely to provide independent views on emission source identifications. How to interpret the mixed results they provide, however, were less studied. In this study, a cross-validation study was conducted in one of China's fast-developing and highly populated city cluster- the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region. By utilizing a highly resolved speciated regional EI and a region-wide gridded volatile organic compounds (VOCs) speciation measurement campaign, we elucidated underlying factors for discrepancies between EI and RM and proposed ways for their interpretations with the aim to achieve a scientifically plausible source identification. Results showed that numbers of species, temporal and spatial resolutions used for comparison, photochemical loss of reactive species, potential missing sources in EI and tracers used in RM were important factors contributed to the discrepancies. Ensuring the consensus of species used in EIs and RMs, utilizing a larger spatial coverage and longer time span, addressing the impacts of photochemical losses, and supplementing emissions from missing sources could help reconcile the discrepancies in VOC source characterizations acquired using both approaches. By leveraging the advantages and circumventing the disadvantages in both methods, the EI and RM could play synergistic roles to obtain robust SAs to improve air quality management practices., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Land use changes are often considered to be the main factors influencing soil infiltration. But the difference of soil infiltration capacity for different land use type is less clear. In this paper, we conduct a meta-analysis of all 42 papers that could be found associated with the effects of land use changes on soil infiltration capacity. The results showed that soil initial and steady infiltration rates increased after land use changes from grassland to forest (+41.35%, /), shrubland to forest (+42.73%, /) and cropland to agroforestry (+70.28%, +84.17%). Soil infiltration rates declined after land use changes from grassland to cropland (/, -45.23%), shrubland to cropland (-64.24%, /) and forest to cropland (-53.58%, -42.15%). It was evident that soil infiltration rates were negatively related to soil bulk density and initial moisture and positively related to soil total porosity and organic matter content. In sum, establishing agroforestry ecosystem was beneficial to improve soil infiltration capacity compare to cropland and plantation, which has important implications for developing sustainable agriculture and forest from the viewpoint of soil and water conservation., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In vitro genotoxicity bioassays are cost-efficient methods of assessing potential carcinogens. However, many genotoxicity bioassays are inappropriate for detecting chemicals eliciting non-genotoxic mechanisms, such as tumour promotion, this necessitates the use of in vivo rodent carcinogenicity (IVRC) assays. In silico IVRC modelling could potentially address the low throughput and high cost of this assay. We aimed to develop and combine computational QSAR models of novel bioassays for the prediction of IVRC results and compare with existing software. QSAR models were generated from existing Ames (n = 6512), Syrian Hamster Embryonic (SHE, n = 410), ISSCAN rodent carcinogenicity (ISC, n = 834) and GreenScreen GADD45a-GFP (n = 1415) chemical datasets. These models mapped the molecular descriptors of each compound to their respective assay result using machine learning algorithms (adaboost, k-Nearest Neighbours, C.45 Decision Tree, Multilayer Perceptron, Random Forest). The best performing models were combined with k-Nearest Neighbours to create a cascade model for IVRC prediction. High QSAR model performance was observed from ten time 10-fold cross-validation with above 80% accuracy and 0.85 AUC for each assay dataset. The cascade model predicted rat carcinogenicity with 69.3% accuracy and 0.700 AUC. This study demonstrates the novelty of a combined approach for IVRC prediction, with higher performance than existing software., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Soil respiration is the largest terrestrial carbon flux into the atmosphere, and different tree species could directly influence root derived respiration and indirectly regulate soil respiration rates by altering soil chemical and microbial properties. In this study, we assessed the small scale spatial heterogeneity of soil respiration and the microbial community below the canopy of three dominant tree species (Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis), Mongolian oak (Quercus mongolica), and Manchuria ash (Fraxinus mandshurica)) in a temperate mixed forest in Northeast China. Soil respiration differed significantly during several months and increased in the order of oak

Aim: Ceramic restoration experiences the non-linear wear process during the chewing simulation, which contains running-in, steady and severe wear stages. However since various levels of contact stress may be applied on the occlusal surface during chewing, the cycle-dependent wear behaviors of ceramic crowns may differ. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of contact stress on the development of wear behavior, as tested in a chewing simulator., Materials and Methods: Thirty-six anatomical metal-ceramic crowns using Ceramco III as the veneering porcelain were randomly assigned to two groups based on the contact stress applied in the wear testing. Stainless steel balls served as antagonists. The specimens were dynamically loaded in a chewing simulator up to 2.4×10 6 loading cycles, with additional thermal cycling between 5 and 55℃. For each group, several checkpoints were employed to measure the substance loss of the crowns' occlusal surfaces and to evaluate the microstructure of the worn areas., Results: After 2.4×10 6 cycles, the ceramic restorations with lower contact stress demonstrated a long steady wear stage following the running-in, but without the severe wear stage. And a slowly microstructural degradation was observed that the subsurface defect could not be seen until final. With higher contact stress, however, the ceramic restorations experienced a faster transition from running-in to severe wear stage that the steady wear stage nearly disappeared. And an early formation of subsurface defects and the deterioration of microstructure were observed., Conclusions: Contact stress is a key factor affecting the wear development of ceramic restoration. The higher contact stress promotes the veneering porcelain to evolve into severe wear stage. In contrast, lower contact stress is prone to keep the veneering porcelain operating in steady wear stage, which delays the arrival of severe wear region., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Understanding how heavy metals bind and interact in soils is essential for predicting their distributions, reactions and fates in the environment. Here we propose a novel strategy, i.e., combining two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy (2D COS) and synchrotron radiation based spectromicroscopies, for identifying heavy metal binding to functional groups in soils. The results showed that although long-term (23 yrs) organic fertilization treatment caused the accumulation of Cd (over 3 times) in soils when compared to no fertilization and chemical fertilization treatments, it significantly (p<0.05) reduced the Cd concentration in wheat grain. The 2D COS analyses demonstrated that soil functional groups controlling Cd binding were modified by fertilization treatments, providing implications for the reduced bioavailability of heavy metals in organic fertilized soils. Furthermore, correlative micro X-ray fluorescence spectromicroscopy, electron probe micro-analyzer mapping, and synchrotron-radiation-based FTIR spectromicroscopy analysis showed that Cd, minerals, and organic functional groups were heterogeneously distributed at the micro-scale in soil colloids. Only minerals, rather than organic groups, had a similar distribution pattern with Cd. Together, this strategy has a potential to explore the interactions and binding sites among heavy metals, minerals and organic components in soil., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Metabolic dysregulation is one of the most common and recognizable features of cancer. Triosephosphate isomerase 1 (TPI1), which catalyzes the interconversion of dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) and d-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate (G3P) during glycosis and gluconeogenesis, is a crucial enzyme in the carbohydrate metabolism. However, the biological function and mechanism of TPI1 in cancer remain largely unknown. In this study, we have found that TPI1 expression was greatly decreased in clinical HCC samples, positively correlated with overall survival, and negatively associated with histological differentiation, tumor size and organ metastasis. Forced expression of TPI1 in HCC cells inhibited cell growth, migration, and invasion in vitro. Consistently, knockdown of TPI1 by shRNA promoted cell growth, migration and invasion. Moreover, overexpression of TPI1 led to slowed tumor growth and decreased tumor weight in vivo. Furthermore, cell cycle arrest was induced by TPI1 overexpression. These phenotypes were associated with altered expression of β-catenin, Vimentin, P53, P27 and CyclinD1. Therefore, our data suggested that TPI1 functioned as a tumor suppressor in HCC and might serve as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of HCC., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background Aims: The molecular mechanisms by which stem cell transplantation improves functional recovery after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) are not well understood. Accumulating evidence suggests that microglia cells are activated shortly after ICH and that this activation contributes to secondary ICH-induced brain injury. We studied the effect of human amniotic epithelial stem cells (HAESCs) on microglia activation., Methods: To study the effect of HAESCs in vitro, we used thrombin to activate the microglia cells. Twenty-four hours after thrombin treatment, the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In vivo, the HAESCs were transplanted into the rat striatum 1 day after collagenase-induced ICH. The expression levels of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-12 and microglia infiltration in the peri-hematoma tissues were determined 7 days after ICH through the use of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemical analysis, respectively., Results: Thrombin-activated microglia expression of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β and MMP-12 was significantly reduced through contact-dependent and paracrine mechanisms when the HAESCs were co-cultured with microglia cells. After transplantation of HAESCs in rat brains, the expression levels of MMP-12 and microglia infiltration in the peri-hematoma tissues were significantly reduced., Conclusions: Our observations suggest that microglia activation could be inhibited by HAESCs both in vitro and in vivo, which may be an important mechanism by which the transplantation of HAESCs reduces brain edema and ameliorates the neurologic deficits after ICH. Therefore, we hypothesize that methods for suppressing the activation of microglia and reducing the inflammatory response can be used for designing effective treatment strategies for ICH., (Copyright © 2014 International Society for Cellular Therapy. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)