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Landslides induced by reservoir inundation are common in Southwest China, negatively influencing hydropower stations. The Wunonglong hydropower station dam was constructed in the upper reaches of the Lancang River, accordingly causing the water level at the Lajinshengu slope to increase by 30 m. A tension crack with a visible depth of 8 m was observed in the upper sector of the Lajinshengu slope after reservoir impoundment for 170 d. In the following days, numerous cracks appeared on the surface of the slope, and the maximum displacement of the slope reached 3.22 m. Then, a large-scale active deformation body within the Lajinshengu slope formed with an area of 2.62 × 105 m2 and a volume of 1.65 × 107 m3. Detailed field investigations, on-site monitoring, and centrifugal model tests were carried out to analyze the surface features, deformation characteristics, and failure mechanism of the Lajinshengu slope. The results show that the slope is an ancient landslide, divided into two parts (i.e. zone A and zone B) by the gully. Zone B is a traction landslide caused by the displacement of zone A. The long-term inundation weakens the soft rock at the slope foot, intensifying the toppling of bedrock and consequently triggering the sliding of the overburden in zone A. The failure mode of the Lajinshengu slope is a typical case of toppling-sliding failure, and the underlying rock toppling drives the overlying sliding. In addition, early identification methods for toppling deformation covered by overburdened soil were proposed based on monitoring data and deformation signs.

In the context of repositories for nuclear waste, understanding the behavior of gas migration through clayey rocks with inherent anisotropy is crucial for assessing the safety of geological disposal facilities. The primary mechanism for gas breakthrough is the opening of micro-fractures due to high gas pressure. This occurs at gas pressures lower than the combined strength of the rock and its minimum principal stress under external loading conditions. To investigate the mechanism of microscale mode-I ruptures, it is essential to incorporate a multiscale approach that includes subcritical microcracks in the modeling framework. In this contribution, we derive the model from microstructures that contain periodically distributed microcracks within a porous material. The damage evolution law is coupled with the macroscopic poroelastic system by employing the asymptotic homogenization method and considering the inherent hydro-mechanical (HM) anisotropy at the microscale. The resulting permeability change induced by fracture opening is implicitly integrated into the gas flow equation. Verification examples are presented to validate the developed model step by step. An analysis of local macroscopic response is undertaken to underscore the influence of factors such as strain rate, initial damage, and applied stress, on the gas migration process. Numerical examples of direct tension tests are used to demonstrate the model's efficacy in describing localized failure characteristics. Finally, the simulation results for preferential gas flow reveal the robustness of the two-scale model in explicitly depicting gas-induced fracturing in anisotropic clayey rocks. The model successfully captures the common behaviors observed in laboratory experiments, such as a sudden drop in gas injection pressure, rapid build-up of downstream gas pressure, and steady-state gas flow following gas breakthrough.

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy in combination with sequence regimens are recognized as the current major strategy for suppressing postoperative tumor recurrence. However, systemic side effects and poor in-field cooperation of the two therapies seriously impair the therapeutic efficacy of patients. The combination of brachytherapy and chemotherapy through innovative biomaterials has proven to be an important strategy to achieve synergistic effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy in-time and in-field. However, for postoperative chemoradiotherapy, as far as we know, there are few relevant reports. Herein, an injectable pH-responsive polypeptide-polysaccharide depot for concurrent in situ chemotherapy and brachytherapy was developed by encapsulating vincristine into iodine-125 radionuclide labeled hydrogel. This depot hydrogel was prepared by dynamic covalent bonds of Schiff base between aldehydeated hyaluronic acid and polyethylene glycol-polytyrosine. Therefore, this hydrogel enables smart response to tumor acidic microenvironment, rapid release of the encapsulated vincristine and an enhanced uptake effect by tumor cells, which significantly reduces IC50 of vincristine for the anaplasia Wilms' tumor cells in vitro. This depot hydrogel shows excellent stability and biocompatibility, and maintains for 14 days after in situ injection in a postoperative model of anaplasia Wilms' tumor. After injection at the cavity of tumor excision, responsively-released vincristine and the radioactive iodine-125 exerted excellent killing effects on residual tumor cells, inhibiting tumor relapse and liver metastasis of the recurrent tumor. Hence, this study proposes an effective therapeutic strategy for inhibiting anaplasia Wilms’ tumor recurrence, which provides a new approach for concurrent postoperative chemo-radiotherapy and a desirable guidance in regimen execution of pediatric refractory tumors.

Hypospadias is one of the most common congenital anomalies of the male urogenital system, and di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), a widely used endocrine-disrupting chemical (EDC), is considered a significant risk factor for this condition. Mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (MEHP), the toxic active metabolite of DEHP, has been proven to affect penile development and ultimately result in the hypospadias phenotype. However, while it is acknowledged that hypospadias arises from the aberrant development of multiple penile tissues, the specific impact of MEHP on human foreskin tissue development and its underlying molecular mechanisms of action remain unclear. In this study, we constructed an in vitro toxicity assay for MEHP using human foreskin fibroblasts and employed high-throughput RNA sequencing to investigate the molecular mechanisms subserving the defects in cellular function. We subsequently conducted multi-omics data analysis using public databases to analyze key target genes, and identified MMP11 as a chief downstream gene responsible for the effects of MEHP on HFF-1 cell migration. Through molecular docking analysis and molecular biology experiments, we further demonstrated that the nuclear receptor PPAR-gamma was activated upon binding with MEHP, leading to the suppression of MMP11 expression. Additionally, we found that epigenetic modifications induced by MEHP were also involved in its pathogenic effects on hypospadias. Our research highlights the crucial role of impaired cellular proliferation and migration in MEHP-induced hypospadias. We identified the MEHP/PPAR-gamma/MMP11 pathway as a novel pathogenic mechanism, providing important potential targets for future preventive strategies with respect to hypospadias.

Ambient air pollution has been reported to be a risk factor for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP). Past studies have reported supportive evidence, but evidence from China is scarce and does not integrate the different periods of the pregnancy course. In this study, 1945 pregnant women with HDP and healthy pregnancies between 2016 and 2022 from the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University registry network database were analysed. The geographic information, biological information and demographic information of the case were fused in the analysis. Machine learning methods were used to obtain the weight of the variable. Then, we used the generalized linear mixed model to evaluate the relationship between increased exposure to each pollutant at different periods of HDP and examined it in different groups. The results showed that SO2 had the predominate impact (12.65 %) on HDP compared with other air pollutants. SO2 exposure was associated with an increased risk of HDP. Increased unit SO2 concentrations were accompanied by an increased risk of HDP (OR = 1.33, 95 % CI: 1.13, 1.566), and the susceptible window for this effect was mainly in the first trimester (OR = 1.242, 95 % CI: 1.092, 1.412). In addition, SO2 exposure was associated with an increased risk of HDP in urban maternity (OR = 1.356, 95 % CI: 1.112, 1.653), obese maternity (OR = 3.58, 95 % CI: 1.608, 7.971), no higher education maternity (OR = 1.348, 95 % CI: 1.065, 1.706), nonzero delivery maternity (OR = 1.981, 95 % CI: 1.439, 2.725), maternal with first time maternity (OR = 1.247, 95 % CI: 1.007, 1.544) and other groups. In summary, SO2 exposure in early pregnancy is one of the risk factors for HDP, and the increased risk of HDP due to increased SO2 exposure may be more pronounced in obese, urban, low-education, and nonzero delivery populations.

The treat of climate warming is expected to increase the frequency and severity of droughts and significantly affect tree growth and distribution ranges, particularly in regions without monsoons. The distribution limits of tree species are highly susceptible to climate change. A deeper understanding of how tree species respond to climate across their distribution ranges is crucial for accurately predicting forest dynamics in the face of climate warming. Using tree ring width data from 586 trees at 19 sites spanning the northernmost and southernmost limits of Juniperus rigida (near-threatened, IUCN: NT), we assessed the growth responses of J. rigida to climate at different distribution range limits. We observed significant differences in tree-growth variability between the southern and northern populations of J. rigida, characterized by an increasing growth trend at the southern range limit, but a decreasing trend at the northern limit since 1996. Moreover, tree growth at their northern limit was hindered by high temperatures and SPEI during summer months, whereas it was constrained by low temperatures in March and precipitation in June at the southern limit. Particularly noteworthy is the increased sensitivity of growth to SPEI and precipitation in recent decades (1996–2018) compared to previous decades (1961–1995), particularly at their northern distribution edge. We therefore conclude that the growth of J. rigida trees at the southern limit could benefit from climate warming, while increasing warming and drought could limit tree growth or even cause tree mortality at the northern range limits. These findings may serve as an early warning for the growth and survival of J. rigida trees in open forests at their northern distribution edges in the face of future climate warming.

Revealing the matching relationship of “precipitation − vegetation” and its impact on sediment yield is of great scientific significance for controlling soil erosion and promoting coordinated environmental development. Based on GPM precipitation data and MODIS 250 m NDVI, the temporal distribution pattern and matching relationship between precipitation and vegetation within a year are analyzed, and the annual sediment yield index (ASYI) is constructed to reflect the sediment yield status of the basin. Furthermore, multiple regression analysis is conducted using precipitation, NDVI and its distribution parameters, as well as ASYI and actual sediment yield. The results show that (1) the inhibitory effect of vegetation on erosion varies little between years, while the fluctuation of precipitation distribution is more pronounced than that of vegetation; (2) the correlation between the constructed ASYI index and the actual sediment yield reaches 0.877, indicating that the index can well reflect the sediment yield; when fitting ASYI to sediment yield using a quadratic function, R2 reaches 0.9193; (3) there is a positive correlation between precipitation and sediment yield, but it is not necessarily that the larger the precipitation, the greater the sediment yield, and the annual distribution pattern of precipitation is the dominant factor affecting sediment yield; (4) the model which considering precipitation, NDVI, distribution parameters and ASYI, can achieve the best fit, and R2 reached 0.9129. In summary, the matching pattern of “precipitation − vegetation” within a year has a significant impact on sediment yield. When ASYI is greater than 1.63, the sediment yield will increase sharply. This paper provides a new perspective for studying the relationship and quantitative expression between precipitation and sediment yield. The proposed index can be easily applied to other regions due to its good operability.

The power grid’s geomagnetically induced currents (GIC) during geomagnetic storms, are associated with a broad and abrupt harmonic impact, with the potential for grid paralysis and extensive power outages in severe scenarios. Therefore, the harmonic characteristics of geomagnetically induced currents in China’s ultra-high voltage (UHV) AC/DC power grid are analyzed in this paper. Firstly, a harmonic equivalent model of transformer GIC is established, and the injection of harmonics into the UHV AC/DC power grid during GIC events is quantified. Secondly, a harmonic state-space model is established by combining the 12-pulse converter switching function theory with the exponential Fourier series. The harmonic transmission and dynamic coupling characteristics of GIC in the UHV AC/DC power grid are analyzed using the harmonic equivalent model of the main transformer GIC and the harmonic equivalent model of the converter transformer GIC. Finally, a harmonic simulation model of the UHV AC/DC power grid under GIC is constructed using PSCAD, and the distribution of harmonics in the UHV AC/DC power grid under GIC is calculated. The calculations indicate that with 30 A injected GIC in the sending end transformers, the 2nd harmonic current on the sending end network side alone is 61.45 A, and the 3rd harmonic voltage on the valve side is 8.57 kV. The characteristics of harmonic transmission in the power grid result in a 2nd harmonic current of 34.87 A on the receiving end network side. Simultaneously, the total harmonic distortion of the AC power grid at the sending end is 2.35 %, surpassing the permissible limit established by the national standard. Consequently, this issue should be prioritized by the relevant power authorities.

Introduction: Fine-wool sheep are the most common breed used by the wool industry worldwide. Fine-wool sheep have over a three-fold higher follicle density and a 50% smaller fiber diameter than coarse-wool sheep. Objectives: This study aims to clarify the underlying genetic basis for the denser and finer wool phenotype in fine-wool breeds. Method: Whole-genome sequences of 140 samples, Ovine HD630K SNP array data of 385 samples, including fine, semi-fine, and coarse wool sheep, as well as skin transcriptomes of nine samples were integrated for genomic selection signature analysis. Results: Two loci at keratin 74 (KRT74) and ectodysplasin receptor (EDAR) were revealed. Fine-scale analysis in 250 fine/semi-fine and 198 coarse wool sheep narrowed this association to one C/A missense variant of KRT74 (OAR3:133,486,008, P = 1.02E-67) and one T/C SNP in the regulatory region upstream of EDAR (OAR3:61,927,840, P = 2.50E-43). Cellular over-expression and ovine skin section staining assays confirmed that C-KRT74 activated the KRT74 protein and specifically enlarged cell size at the Huxley’s layer of the inner root sheath (P

Autologous nerve transplantation (ANT) is currently considered the gold standard for treating long-distance peripheral nerve defects. However, several challenges associated with ANT, such as limited availability of donors, donor site injury, mismatched nerve diameters, and local neuroma formation, remain unresolved. To address these issues comprehensively, we have developed porous poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) electrospinning fiber nerve guide conduits (NGCs) that are optimized in terms of alignment and conductive coating to facilitate peripheral nerve regeneration (PNR) under electrical stimulation (ES). The physicochemical and biological properties of aligned porous PLGA fibers and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sodium sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) coatings were characterized through assessments of electrical conductivity, surface morphology, mechanical properties, hydrophilicity, and cell proliferation. Material degradation experiments demonstrated the biocompatibility in vivo of electrospinning fiber films with conductive coatings. The conductive NGCs combined with ES effectively facilitated nerve regeneration. The designed porous aligned NGCs with conductive coatings exhibited suitable physicochemical properties and excellent biocompatibility, thereby significantly enhancing PNR when combined with ES. This combination of porous aligned NGCs with conductive coatings and ES holds great promise for applications in the field of PNR.

To investigate the specific creep behavior of ultra-deep buried salt during oil and gas exploitation, a set of triaxial creep experiments was conducted at elevated temperatures with constant axial pressure and unloading confining pressure conditions. Experimental results show that the salt sample deforms more significantly with the increase of applied temperature and deviatoric loading. The accelerated creep phase is not occurring until the applied temperature reaches 130 °C, and higher temperature is beneficial to the occurrence of accelerated creep. To describe the specific creep behavior, a novel three-dimensional (3D) creep constitutive model is developed that incorporates the thermal and mechanical variables into mechanical elements. Subsequently, the standard particle swarm optimization (SPSO) method is adopted to fit the experimental data, and the sensibility of key model parameters is analyzed to further illustrate the model function. As a result, the model can accurately predict the creep behavior of salt under the coupled thermo-mechanical effect in deep-buried condition. Based on the research results, the creep mechanical behavior of wellbore shrinkage is predicted in deep drilling projects crossing salt layer, which has practical implications for deep rock mechanics problems.

Primary toppling usually occurs in layered rock slopes with large anti-dip angles. In this paper, the block toppling evolution was explored using a large-scale centrifuge system. Each block column in the layered model slope was made of cement mortar. Some artificial cracks perpendicular to the block column were prefabricated. Strain gages, displacement gages, and high-speed camera measurements were employed to monitor the deformation and failure processes of the model slope. The centrifuge test results show that the block toppling evolution can be divided into seven stages, i.e. layer compression, formation of major tensile crack, reverse bending of the block column, closure of major tensile crack, strong bending of the block column, formation of failure zone, and complete failure. Block toppling is characterized by sudden large deformation and occurs in stages. The wedge-shaped cracks in the model incline towards the slope. Experimental observations show that block toppling is mainly caused by bending failure rather than by shear failure. The tensile strength also plays a key factor in the evolution of block toppling. The simulation results from discrete element method (DEM) is in line with the testing results. Tensile stress exists at the backside of rock column during toppling deformation. Stress concentration results in the fragmented rock column and its degree is the most significant at the slope toe.

Great potential of underground gas/energy storage in salt caverns seems to be a promising solution to support renewable energy. In the underground storage method, the operating cycle unfortunately may reach up to daily or even hourly, which generates complicated pressures on the salt cavern. Furthermore, the mechanical behavior of rock salt may change and present distinct failure characteristics under different stress states, which affects the performance of salt cavern during the time period of full service. To reproduce a similar loading condition on the cavern surrounding rock mass, the cyclic triaxial loading/unloading tests are performed on the rock salt to explore the mechanical transition behavior and failure characteristics under different confinement. Experimental results show that the rock salt samples present a diffused shear failure band with significant bulges at certain locations in low confining pressure conditions (e.g. 5 MPa, 10 MPa and 15 MPa), which is closely related to crystal misorientation and grain boundary sliding. Under the elevated confinement (e.g. 20 MPa, 30 MPa and 40 MPa), the dilation band dominates the failure mechanism, where the large-size halite crystals are crushed to be smaller size and new pores are developing. The failure transition mechanism revealed in the paper provides additional insight into the mechanical performance of salt caverns influenced by complicated stress states.

Parasitoids are key regulators in ecological communities and widely used as agents in biocontrol programmes. The fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda, recently invaded multiple continents and caused substantial economic losses in agriculture. Pyemotes zhonghuajia, a newly identified mite parasitoid, has shown potential for controlling various agricultural insect pests. Therefore, this study tested the performance of P. zhonghuajia in parasitising S. frugiperda. We also investigated the sublethal effects of parasitism by P. zhonghuajia on host fitness traits, transgenerational impacts, and cellular and humoral immunity. Our result showed that the fifth-instar larvae of S. frugiperda parasitised by 40 P. zhonghuajia were all dead (i.e., a lethal effect), while parasitism by 5 or 10 P. zhonghuajia was considered sublethal since many S. frugiperda survived to adulthood and produced offspring after mating. The sublethal influences from parasitism by P. zhonghuajia resulted in reduced pupal weight, adult emergence rate and fecundity, but increased developmental time and longevity. Parasitism at both lethal (40 mites) and sublethal (10 mites) levels impaired the cellular and humoral immunity of S. frugiperda. This study presents the first empirical evidence that mite parasitoids can negatively influence host immunity. Moreover, it provides insights into the biocontrol potential of mite parasitoids and their interactions with hosts.

A reasonable evaluation of unloading deformation characteristics is of great significance for the effective analysis of deformation and stability of surrounding rocks after underground excavation. In this study, the damage-controlled cyclic triaxial loading tests were conducted to investigate the pore compaction mechanism and its influences on the unloading deformation behavior of red sandstone, including Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, volumetric strain, and irreversible strain. The experimental results show that the increases of volumetric and irreversible strains of rocks can be attributed to the compaction mechanism, which almost dominates the entire pre-peak deformation process. The unloading deformation consists of the reversible linear and nonlinear strains, and the irreversible strain under the influence of the porous grain structure. The pre-peak Young's modulus tends to increase and then decrease due to the influence of the unloading irreversible strain. However, it hardly changes with the increasing volumetric strain compaction under the influence of reversible nonlinear strain. Instead, the initial unloading tangent modulus is highly related to the volumetric strain, and clearly reflects the compaction state of red sandstone. Furthermore, both the reversible nonlinear and irreversible unloading deformations are independent of confining pressure. This study is beneficial for the theoretical modeling and prediction of cyclic unloading deformation behavior of red sandstone.

ABSTRACT: Longitudinal traits, such as milk production traits in dairy cattle, are featured by having phenotypic values at multiple time points, which change dynamically over time. In this study, we first imputed SNP chip (50–100K) data to whole-genome sequence (WGS) data in a Chinese Holstein population consisting of 6,470 cows. The imputation accuracies were 0.88 to 0.97 on average after quality control. We then performed longitudinal GWAS in this population based on a random regression test-day model using the imputed WGS data. The longitudinal GWAS revealed 16, 39, and 75 quantitative trait locus regions associated with milk yield, fat percentage, and protein percentage, respectively. We estimated the 95% confidence intervals (CI) for these quantitative trait locus regions using the logP drop method and identified 581 genes involved in these CI. Further, we focused on the CI that covered or overlapped with only 1 gene or the CI that contained an extremely significant top SNP. Twenty-eight candidate genes were identified in these CI. Most of them have been reported in the literature to be associated with milk production traits, such as DGAT1, HSF1, MGST1, GHR, ABCG2, ADCK5, and CSN1S1. Among the unreported novel genes, some also showed good potential as candidate genes, such as CCSER1, CUX2, SNTB1, RGS7, OSR2, and STK3, and are worth being further investigated. Our study provided not only new insights into the candidate genes for milk production traits, but also a general framework for longitudinal GWAS based on random regression test-day model using WGS data.

Background: Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is characterized by the involuntary leakage of urine during activities that increase abdominal pressure. In recent years, a considerable number of studies on SUI surgery have been published. However, there has been a lack of systematic quantification and comprehensive summarization of these studies. Bibliometrics is a discipline that utilizes measurement methods to quantify scientific literature. Thus, this study utilized publications from the Web of Science (WOS) as a data source and conducted a comprehensive analysis and visualization of studies related to SUI surgery in recent years using bibliometric techniques. Methods: We conducted a search and retrieved information on 988 studies related to SUI surgery in the WOS Core Collection. The data covered ten years from September 7, 2013, to September 7, 2023. We employed VOSviewer software, CiteSpace software, and Bibliometrix for analysis and visualization. Results: Over the ten years, the number of publications exhibited a fluctuating trend, initially decreasing and then increasing. The United States emerged as the leading contributor in terms of both publication volume and quality. The University of Alabama Birmingham ranked as the institution with the highest number of publications, while the International Urogynecology Journal featured the most publications among journals. Conclusions: This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of publications related to SUI surgery from 2013 to 2023. The aim is to offer researchers a concise overview of the field and inspire future research directions.

Chronic prostatitis (CP)/chronic pelvic-pain syndrome (CPPS) is a common urinary-system disease with a high incidence in young and middle-aged men, seriously affecting patients’ ability to work and their quality of life (QoL). Western medicine (WM) has some limitations in treating CP/CPPS. Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese medical method that is commonly used to treat this condition and has a relatively good effect on it. Many randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on this subject have been published. For this study, we searched the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Science and Technology Periodical (VIP), Wanfang, SinoMed, and PubMed databases for RCTs on acupuncture treatment of CP/CPPS in the last 5 years (2016/01/01–2021/12/01). In addition, we conducted analysis and research, aiming to summarize acupuncture treatment in CP/CPPS RCTs and the clinical efficacy, with the goal of providing clinical reference. A total of 466 related documents were retrieved in the search, and 62 articles were retained after screening. We obtained RCT information on acupuncture treatment of CP/CPPS. The results showed that several relevant clinical studies have been performed over the last 5 years and that acupuncture and moxibustion have better curative effect on CP/CPPS than WM. Due to the small number of included studies, more experimental evidence is needed to verify the clinical efficacy of acupuncture.

Summary: Comparing transcriptome can help us reveal the genetic and evolutionary architecture underlying complex phenotypes within and between species. Here, by analyzing 386 publicly available RNA sequencing samples using a uniform bioinformatics pipeline, we systematically compared expression profiles of 10 immune-relevant tissues across humans, mice, pigs, cattle, sheep, and chickens. In general, we demonstrated that gene expression of orthologous genes was conserved within tissues across species. By integrating our findings with results of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) from 17 health-relevant traits in humans and 16,539 health-relevant quantitative trait loci (QTLs) in animals, we found that transcriptionally conserved genes were significantly enriched for more heritability of complex traits, compared to species-specific genes. In conclusion, our results advanced the knowledge of the transcriptome evolution of immune tissues and demonstrated that multi-species transcriptome comparison is highly informative for understanding the genetics of complex traits/disease.

Summary: Reducing the rate of translation promotes longevity in multiple organisms, representing a conserved mechanism for lifespan extension. Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) catalyze the loading of amino acids to their cognate tRNAs, thereby playing an essential role in translation. Mutations in ARS genes are associated with various human diseases. However, little is known about the role of ARSs in aging, particularly whether and how these genes regulate lifespan. Here, using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model, we systematically characterized the role of all three types of ARS genes in lifespan regulation, including mitochondrial, cytoplasmic, and cyto-mito bifunctional ARS genes. We found that, as expected, RNAi knockdown of mitochondrial ARS genes extended lifespan. Surprisingly, knocking down cytoplasmic or cyto-mito bifunctional ARS genes shortened lifespan, though such treatment reduced the rate of translation. These results reveal opposing roles of mitochondrial and cytoplasmic ARSs in lifespan regulation, demonstrating that inhibiting translation may not always extend lifespan.

Bark is an important protective tissue and vegetative organ of woody plants. Variations in bark thickness have a direct effect on plant growth and development, forest community structure, and terrestrial ecosystem function. However, the characteristics of these variations in tree bark thickness (BT) and adaptation to environmental factors remain unclear. In this study, we established comprehensive BT traits and environmental factor dataset for 75 major woody plant species in China and analyzed the spatial pattern and factors driving BT traits in the major woody plants of China. As results, the BT of major woody plants in China varied significantly with spatial location (latitude and longitude) (P

The radiotherapy modulators used in clinic have disadvantages of high toxicity and low selectivity. For the first time, we used the in situ enzyme-instructed self-assembly (EISA) of a peptide derivative (Nap-GDFDFpYSV) to selectively enhance the sensitivity of cancer cells with high alkaline phosphatase (ALP) expression to ionizing radiation (IR). Compared with the in vitro pre-assembled control formed by the same molecule, assemblies formed by in situ EISA in cells greatly sensitized the ALP-high-expressing cancer cells to γ-rays, with a remarkable sensitizer enhancement ratio. Our results indicated that the enhancement was a result of fixing DNA damage, arresting cell cycles and inducing cell apoptosis. Interestingly, in vitro pre-formed assemblies mainly localized in the lysosomes after incubating with cells, while the assemblies formed via in situ EISA scattered in the cell cytosol. The accumulation of these molecules in cells could not be inhibited by endocytosis inhibitors. We believed that this molecule entered cancer cells by diffusion and then in situ self-assembled to form nanofibers under the catalysis of endogenous ALP. This study provides a successful example to utilize intracellular in situ EISA of small molecules to develop selective tumor radiosensitizers.

Gaomiaozi (GMZ) bentonite is a potential buffer/backfill material for a deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste. It has a wide pore size distribution (PSD) with sizes ranging from several nanometers to more than one hundred microns. Thus, properly characterizing the pore structures of GMZ bentonite is a challenging issue. In this study, pressure-controlled porosimetry (PCP), rate-controlled porosimetry (RCP), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to investigate the PSD of GMZ bentonite. The results indicate that each method has its limitation, and a combined use of PCP and RCP is suitable to obtain the full-scale PSD of GMZ bentonite. Moreover, we also compared the full-scale PSD with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) result. It is found that there is no significant difference in the range of PSD characterization between NMR and mercury intrusion method (PCP and RCP). However, in a certain range, the detection accuracy of NMR is higher than that of mercury injection method. Finally, permeability prediction based on PCP and SEM data was conducted, and both of the two methods were found to be able to predict the permeability. The combined method is effective to obtain the full-scale PSD of GMZ bentonite, which is the key to estimation of the sealing ability of bentonite buffer. Keywords: Gaomiaozi (GMZ) bentonite, Pore size distribution (PSD), Pressure-controlled porosimetry (PCP), Rate-controlled porosimetry (RCP), Permeability, High-level radioactive waste

Summary: Neurotransmitter receptors are involved in cancer progression. Among them, the heterodimeric GABAB receptor, activated by the main inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA, is composed of the transmembrane GABAB1 and GABAB2 subunits. The oncogenic role of the isoform GABAB1e (GB1e) containing only the extracellular domain of GABAB1 remains unclear. We revealed that GB1e is largely expressed in human breast cancer (BrCa) cell lines as well as in BrCa tissues where it is upregulated. Moreover, GB1e promoted the malignancy of BrCa cells both in vitro and in vivo. We propose that GB1e favors EGFR signaling by interacting with PTPN12 to disrupt the interaction between EGFR and PTPN12, and phosphorylation of Y230 and Y404 on GB1e is required in this process. Our data highlight that the GABBR1 gene through the expression of the GB1e isoform might play an important oncogenic role in BrCa and that GB1e is of interest for the treatment of some cancers.

Investigating the relationship between landscape pattern and water quality is essential for making sustainable landscape development policies. A clear understanding of such relationship remains elusive partly due to ubiquitous nonlinearity, behind which the landscape threshold can potentially act as quantifiable target of landscape conservation. In the upper Huai River Basin in China, six landscape metrics were quantified for forested, agricultural, and residential land use categories at broad sub-basin and finer riparian buffer scales. Five water quality indicators were collected from 24 monitoring stations during the period of 2006–2012. On the basis of nonlinear regression models, including power, exponential, quadratic, and segmented regressions, one-to-one relations between landscape metrics and water quality variables were fitted with R2 generally varying between 0.32 and 0.74. Meanwhile, three types of defined landscape thresholds were also identified on the basis of the fitted nonlinear relations. From the perspective of spatial scale dependence, the percentage of landscape area and largest patch index could well explain water quality variables at a broad sub-basin scale; the opposite could be said for patch density. The type-1 and type-2 landscape thresholds can act as the long-term targets where landscape pattern management strategy should be timely adjusted. By contrast, the type-3 landscape threshold can be set as a short-term target of landscape conservation to ensure water quality up to a certain management requirement. This study suggests that considering nonlinearity and threshold effect could provide insights into the complicated landscape pattern–water quality relations and thus provide a scientific basis for balancing the coupled socioecological system of landscape development and water quality protection.

Vitamin C is an electron donor and is involved in a variety of biochemical reactions in stem cell and cancer stem cell, as well as collagen synthesis and the regulation of hypoxia-inducible factor synthesis, which two affect extracellular matrix remodelling and hence cancer metastasis. Specific doses of vitamin C can stop cancer cell glycolysis and block nitroso synthesis, indicating the potential of vitamin C in cancer treatment. Recent studies preliminary revealed Vitamin C enhance the cancer’s immune response to anti PD-L1 therapy through multiple indirect approaches. Herein we reviewed the recent function of vitamin C for further research in sequential aspects of cancer stem cell, extracellular matrix remodeling, cancer metastasis and cancer immunotherapy.

This work developed a super-high performance of engineering carbonaceous adsorbents from waste banana-peel via an optimized KOH-impregnated approach, which affords outstanding structural property (SBET = 3746.5 m2 g−1, Vtotal = 2.50 cm3 g−1), far outperforming KOH-grinding method-induced counterpart and other known banana peel-derived those. Thereby, this triggers a record-high capture value of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) specific to benzene (27.55 mmol g−1) and toluene (23.82 mmol g−1) in the all known results. The structural expression characters were accurately correlated with excellent adsorption efficiency of VOCs by investigating the synthetic factor-controlling comparative samples. Ulteriorly, the adsorption selectivity prediction at different relative humidity was demonstrated through the DIH (difference of the isosteric heats), highlighting the good superiority in selective adsorption of toluene compared to benzene even under humid atmosphere. Our findings provide the possibility for the practical application and fabrication of waste biomass (banana peel)-derived functional biochar adsorbent in the environmental treatment of threatening VOCs pollutants.

Summary: Chronic exposure to nicotine upregulates nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), and such upregulation is critical for the development of nicotine dependence in humans and animal models. However, how nicotine upregulates nAChRs is not well understood. Here, we identify a key role for microRNA in regulating nicotine-dependent behavior by modulating nAChR expression in C. elegans. We show that the nAChR gene acr-19 and alg-1, a key Argonaute-family member in the microRNA machinery, are specifically required for nicotine withdrawal response following chronic nicotine treatment. Chronic exposure to nicotine downregulates alg-1, leading to upregulation of acr-19. This effect is mediated by the microRNA miR-238 that recognizes the 3′ UTR of acr-19 transcript. Our results unveil a previously unrecognized role for microRNA in nicotine signaling, providing insights into how chronic nicotine administration leads to upregulation of nAChR and ultimately nicotine dependence. : Chronic exposure to nicotine upregulates nAChR, which is critical for the development of nicotine dependence. However, the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Here, the authors identify a key role for microRNA in mediating nicotine-induced upregulation of nAChR and nicotine-dependent behavior using a C. elegans model. Keywords: neuron, tobacco, addiction

Background: Platycladus orientalis has an extremely long life span of several thousands of years, attracting great interests in the mechanisms involved in such successful senescence regulation and resistance at physiological and molecular levels. Results: The levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were higher in 3,000-year-old than in 20-year-old P. orientalis, and the activities of GR and GSH demonstrated the same trend. We produced and analyzed massive sequence information from pooled samples of P. orientalis through transcriptome sequencing, which generated 51,664 unigenes with an average length of 475 bp. We then used RNA-seq analysis to obtain a high-resolution age–course profile of gene expression in 20- and 3,000-year-old P. orientalis individuals. Totally, 106 differentially expressed genes were obtained, of which 47 genes were downregulated and 59 upregulated in the old tree. These genes were involved in transcription factors, hormone-related responses, ROS scavengers, senescence-related responses, stress response, and defense and possibly play crucial roles in tackling various stresses in the 3,000-year-old P. orientalis during its life time. The expression patterns of genes related to ROS homeostasis further indicated that the high ability of ROS scavenging could be helpful for the 3,000-year-old P. orientalis to resist senescence. Conclusions: This study provides a foundation for the elucidation of senescence resistance through molecular studies and the discovery of useful genes in P. orientalis.

Background: Ethylene plays an important role in the regulation of floral organ development in soybean, and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate synthase (ACS) is a rate-limiting enzyme for ethylene biosynthesis. However, whether ACS also regulates floral organ differentiation in soybean remains unknown. To address this, we constructed an RNAi vector to inhibit ACS expression in cotyledonary nodes. Linear DNA cassettes of RNAi-ACS obtained by PCR were used to transform soybean cotyledonary nodes. Results: In total, 131 of 139 transiently transformed plants acquired herbicide resistance and displayed GUS activities in the new buds. In comparison to untransformed seedling controls, a greater number of flower buds were differentiated at the cotyledonary node; GM-ACS1 mRNA expression levels and ethylene emission in the transformed buds were reduced. Conclusion: These results indicate that the cotyledonary node transient transformation system may be suitable for stable transformation and that the inhibition of ACS expression may be an effective strategy for promoting floral organ differentiation in soybean.

Background: Ethylene is capable of promoting seed germination in some plant species. Mobilization of metals such as Fe, Cu, Mn, and Zn in mature seeds takes place when seeds are germinating. However, whether ethylene is involved in the regulation of soybean seed germination and metal element mobilization during early seed germination stage remains unknown. In the present study, seeds were treated with ethylene synthesis inhibitor aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG) and ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC), and double distilled H2O (ddH20) treatment was used as control. Ethylene emission, ACC synthase (ACS) expression, ACS enzyme activity and Ca, Zn, Mn, Cu and Fe content in hypocotyls were qualified to analyze the relationship between ethylene and mobilization of these elements. Results: The results showed that ACS expression, ACS enzyme activity and ethylene emission peaked at 1 and 7 d after sowing. AVG inhibited ethylene production, promoted the hypocotyls length, ACS expression and its activity, concentrations of total and HCl-extractable Zn, and HCl-extractable Fe in hypocotyls, while ACC caused opposite effects. AVG and ACC treatment had no significantly effects on total and HCl-extractable Ca, Cu and HCl-extractable Mn. Total Mn concentration was promoted by AVG at 1, 3, and 5 d significantly, while ACC treatment tended to have no significantly effects on Mn concentration. Conclusion: These findings suggested that ethylene is at least partly involved in the regulation of soybean seed germination. Remobilization of Zn and Fe may be negatively regulated by ethylene.

Temperature profoundly affects aging in both poikilotherms and homeotherms. A general belief is that lower temperatures extend lifespan, whereas higher temperatures shorten it. Although this “temperature law” is widely accepted, it has not been extensively tested. Here, we systematically evaluated the role of temperature in lifespan regulation in C. elegans. We found that, although exposure to low temperatures at the adult stage prolongs lifespan, low-temperature treatment at the larval stage surprisingly reduces lifespan. Interestingly, this differential effect of temperature on longevity in larvae and adults is mediated by the same thermosensitive TRP channel TRPA-1 that signals to the transcription factor DAF-16/FOXO. DAF-16/FOXO and TRPA-1 act in larva to shorten lifespan but extend lifespan in adulthood. DAF-16/FOXO differentially regulates gene expression in larva and adult in a temperature-dependent manner. Our results uncover complexity underlying temperature modulation of longevity, demonstrating that temperature differentially regulates lifespan at different stages of life.

Diet affects nearly every aspect of animal life such as development, metabolism, behavior, and aging, both directly by supplying nutrients and indirectly through gut microbiota. C. elegans feeds on bacteria, and like other animals, different bacterial diets induce distinct dietary responses in the worm. However, the lack of certain critical tools hampers the use of worms as a model for dietary signaling. Here, we genetically engineered the bacterial strain OP50, the standard laboratory diet for C. elegans, making it compatible for dsRNA production and delivery. Using this RNAi-compatible OP50 strain and the other bacterial strain HT115, we feed worms different diets while delivering RNAi to interrogate the genetic basis underlying diet-dependent differential modulation of development, metabolism, behavior, and aging. We show by RNAi that neuroendocrine and mTOR pathways are involved in mediating differential dietary responses. This genetic tool greatly facilitates the use of C. elegans as a model for dietary signaling.