Search

Objectives Our aim was to generalize the available evidence and evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture for urinary incontinence in middle-aged and elderly women. Methods Six databases including VIP, CNKI, Wan Fang, Web of Science, PubMed and The Cochrane Library were systematically searched to retrieve similar studies updated to December 2019 to gather RCTs regarding the effectiveness of acupuncture for middle-aged and elderly women with urinary incontinence. Two researchers independently performed the whole process of retrieving the studies, extracting the data and assessing the risk of bias of the included studies. The current meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. Results A total of eight studies with 607 patients were included in the evaluation. The current meta-analysis showed that Compared with rehabilitation exercise or medication, acupuncture intervention significantly improved the clinical effectiveness (OR = 5.52, 95 % CI, 3.13–9.73), reduced the urine leakage in pad test (SMD = −2.67, 95 % CI, −4.05 to −1.29) and decrease the ICIQ-SF score (MD = −3.46, 95 % CI, −3.69 to −3.22). The results indicated that acupuncture intervention can help the patients alleviate the symptoms effectively. Conclusion Based on this study, acupuncture intervention of stress urinary incontinence in middle-aged and elderly women can improve the clinical effectiveness, reduce the urine leakage in pad test and ICIQ-SF score. More high-quality studies with large sample size are required for further verification.

After water-soluble nickel (Ni) is added to soils, its bioavailability/toxicity, isotopic exchangeability, and extractability decline over time. Two separate semi-mechanistic models (Sqrt-model and Ln-model), have been developed to predict short- and long-term aging of Ni added to soils. To continuously predict Ni aging in one model, a semi-mechanistic model (Erfc-model) was developed in the present study where the description of the diffusion process was based on a complementary error function. The Erfc-model for whole course aging predicted short- and long-term Ni aging continuously with regression coefficients (R2) of 0.87 and 0.94, which were comparable with the Sqrt-model (0.91) and Ln-model (0.89). Based on the Erfc-model, soil pH and aging time were two important factors influencing the Ni aging processes. An additional 45 soils covering short and long terms of aging were applied to validate the model. A strong correlation (R2 = 0.85) was found between the measured and the predicted lability of Ni in soils with root-mean-square-error (RMSE) of 8.97%, illustrating that the Erfc-model could continuously predict short- and long-term aging processes of Ni added to soils. The model could be used as an alternative to normalize ecotoxicological data for driving soil environmental quality standards.

Purpose We summarized the evidence on the effects of heat and cold exposures on mortality in China. We included studies published on this topic in both Chinese and English, thereby filling a gap in knowledge using data from a country that consists of one-fifth of the world's population. Methods We conducted a systematic search of peer-reviewed studies on the association between daily mean temperature and mortality published from 2001 up to July 2018. We searched one Chinese database (China National Knowledge infrastructure, http://www.cnki.net ) and three English databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science). We converted the effect estimates of heat/cold to rate ratios (RRs) associated with 1° increase/decrease beyond the heat/cold reference temperatures. For studies that provided lag-specific estimates, we used both the maximum and minimum of RR estimates. We calculated summary effect estimates for all-cause and cause-specific mortalities, as well as RRs stratified by sex, age, and socioeconomic status. We also investigated patterns of heat and cold adaptation at different latitudes, and at different reference temperatures. Results In total, 45 articles were included in this systematic review. For every 1° temperature increase/decrease beyond reference points, the rate of non-accidental mortality increased by 2% (RR, 1.02; 95% confidence interval (95% CI [1.01–1.02]) for heat and 4% (RR, 1.04; 95% CI [1.03–1.04]) for cold, respectively; the rate of cardiovascular mortality increased 3% (RR, 1.03; 95% CI [1.03–1.04]) for heat and 6% (RR, 1.06; 95% CI [1.04–1.07]) for cold; the rate of respiratory mortality increased 2% (RR, 1.02; 95% CI [1.01–1.03]) for heat and 2% (RR, 1.02; 95% CI [1.00–1.04]) for cold; the rate of cerebrovascular mortality increased 2% (RR, 1.02; 95% CI [1.02–1.03]) for heat and 3% (RR, 1.03; 95% CI [1.02–1.04]) for cold. We identified a variation in optimal temperature range related to latitude of the residential area, and differences in people's capability to adapt to heat versus cold. Conclusion We found consistent evidence of the association between temperature and mortality, as well as evidence of patterns in human adaptation, and we discussed the implications of our findings.

Purpose To evaluate the reliability of the methodological quality and outcome measures of systematic review (SR) /meta-analysis (MA) of acupuncture for insomnia. Methods We conducted a comprehensive literature search for SRs with MAs in seven international and Chinese databases. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed the methodological quality of the reviews according to the Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR-2), the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) was used to rate the quality of evidence. Results Thirty-four reviews were included. The AMSTAR-2 score showed that most of the included studies were of low methodological quality and included only two high-quality literatures. The lowest score were the item 10 (all the studies didn't report on the sources of funding for the studies included in the review), item 7(32 studies didn't provide a list of excluded studies and justify the exclusions) and item 3 (27 studies didn't explain their selection of the study designs for inclusion in the review). Conclusion Most of the reviews included suggested that the acupuncture group was more effective than the control group in the treatment of insomnia, but the methodological quality of most of the studies and the quality of evidence were low.

St John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum, SJW) is widely used to treat postpartum depression (PPD) because of its high safety. Hypericin (HY) is the main effective component of SJW. The physiological roles of NLRP3 inflammasome activation and glucocorticoid metabolism are closely linked to depression. But, it remains elusive whether HY relieve PPD through targeting NLRP3 inflammasome activation or other mechanism. This study aimed to clarify the therapeutic effects of HY on PPD model rats and its underlying mechanisms in vivo.hormone-simulated pregnancy model was used, and behavioral tests was used to assess depressive state. Inflammatory factors in serum were tested by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Changes in the classic behavioral tests reflected that HY could alleviate the symptoms of PPD as effective as fluoxetine (FLU). Both of HY and FLU could significantly inhibit the protein expression of NLRP3, caspase-1 in hypothalamus and decrease the levels of inflammatory factors (IL-6, IL-1β, TNF - α) in serum. For hormone level determination, HY can not only significantly reduce the level of CORT, but also reverse the activity of 11β - HSD2 enzyme, which is different from FLU.More experiments will be needed to verify the target of HY.All those data suggest that HY can effectively relieve PPD by reversing glucocorticoid metabolism, increasing ER expression, and then relieve neuroinflammation.

Land application of animal manures is a major dissemination route for antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in agro-ecosystems, which are a potential risk to public health if they migrate into the food chain. Despite the fact that animal manure is a rich reservoir of ARGs our knowledge of the impacts of different types and amounts of animal manures on the temporal succession of a wide array of ARGs and potential ARG-hosts remains limited. Here, we constructed soil microcosms amended with two levels of swine, poultry or cattle manures to explore the time-course patterns of ARGs, mobile genetic elements (MGEs) including integrons and transposons, and bacterial communities. The high-throughput quantitative PCR detected 260 unique ARGs, and the application of all manure types, especially at the higher concentration (80 mg manure g−1 soil), significantly increased the diversity and abundances of ARGs and MGEs. The abundance of ARGs in manured soils declined over time, but was still higher than that in untreated soils after 120 days, indicating the persistence of ARGs in manured soils. The next-generation sequencing revealed a clear shift in the bacterial community compositions of manured soils during the incubation. Mantel test and network analysis revealed that the ARG profile was strongly correlated with the bacterial community compositions. Variation partitioning analysis, and structure equation models, further indicated that bacterial phylogeny played a primary role in shaping the ARG profiles in manured soils. However, the significant correlation between the abundances of MGEs and ARGs suggested that the potential effects of horizontal gene transfer on the persistence of ARGs should not be overlooked. In addition, soil properties, which were strongly affected by the added manures, could also affect the ARG patterns. These findings demonstrated the temporal patterns and dissemination risk of ARGs in manured soils, which might contribute to the development of effective strategies to minimise the spread of ARGs in agro-ecosystems.

To estimate the health risk of haloacetonitriles in different kinds of drinking water, the concentrations of haloacetonitriles in tap water, boiled water and direct drinking water were detected. The physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model was used to calculate internal dose in the human body for haloacetonitriles through ingestion, and the probability distributions of the non-carcinogenic risk of haloacetonitriles for human via drinking water were assessed. This study found that the mean concentrations of dichloroacetonitrile (DCAN) in tap water, boiled water and direct drinking water were 0.955 μg/L, 0.207 μg/L and 0.127 μg/L, and those of dibromoacetonitrile (DBAN) were 0.221 μg/L, 0.104 μg/L, 0.089 μg/L, respectively. In China, direct drinking water is used most frequently, so the concentrations of haloacetonitriles in direct drinking water were used to obtain data on the internal dose of haloacetonitriles. In addition, the simulation results for the PBPK model showed that the highest and lowest concentrations of DCAN occurred in the liver and venous blood, respectively. The peak concentrations of DBAN in each tissue were in the decreasing order liver > rapidly perfused tissue > kidney > slowly perfused tissues > fat > arterial blood (venous blood). In addition, the highest 95th percentile hazard quotients (HQ) value of haloacetonitriles via drinking water for humans was 8.89 × 10-3, much lower than 1. The 95th percentile hazard index (HI) was 0.046, which was also lower than 1, suggesting that there was no obvious non-carcinogenic risk.

Given ongoing changes in regional climate and hydrologic conditions, a vast of studies have reported that under-prediction or over-prediction of the trophic status of a water body was widely existing by classic trophic state index method, it would create serious problems in management aspects such as allowing over-fertilization of the eutrophic water body. Each lake needs to establish its own trophic state evaluation method. Therefore, based on the concept of lake-specific and segmentation, a new assessment method for lake eutrophication is proposed: a Trophic State Footprint Index (TFI). This method constructed a concise response relationship between the response index (chlorophyll a) and the main cause index (such as total phosphorus and total nitrogen) with segmented data. This method is an improvement over the Modified Trophic State Index method and TFI is simpler, easier to conduct, and more accurate. It has been applied in Dianchi Lake of China and proved to be effective.

Multi-stage constructed wetland microcosms (mixing and sedimentation pond (MS), vertical-flow constructed wetland (VFCW) and surface-flow constructed wetland (SFCW)) were designed to co-treat high-strength acid mine drainage (AMD) and domestic wastewater, with agricultural waste (straw and cow manure) fermentation liquor as stimulation substrate. The 270-day lab-scale study showed that this system was highly effective in enhancing effluent pH (from 2.5 to 8.1) and removing dissolved metals (89.4% of Mn, and over 99% of Fe, Zn, Cd and Cu), sulfate (51.9%) and organic/nutrient pollutants (COD, NH4+-N, NO3--N, and TP). The mixing and sedimentation pretreatment could alleviate the burden (strong acidity and high-strength metals) and clogging of wetlands, and the formed metal-rich sludge offered the possibility of metals reclaiming. Quantitative supplementary of fermentation liquor promoted sulfidogenic activity in VFCW, also avoiding excessive release of organic/nutrient pollutants. SFCW was effective in treating residual metals (especially Mn) and organic/nutrients. High-throughput sequencing test showed that the diverse microbe (such as sulfate reducing bacteria, nitrifying bacteria, and denitrifying bacteria) co-existing in this multi-stage system predominantly contributed to the effective remediation. Metal amounts assimilated by wetland plants were very limited (e.g. 1% for Mn) for metals remediation. The multi-stage constructed wetlands co-treatment system quantitatively supplied with liquid waste as carbon source may offer a promising eco-technology for the remediation of AMD.

Developing indicators for monitoring biodiversity, as called for by the Convention on Biological Diversity and 2020 Aichi Targets, is challenging in many countries due to data and capacity gaps. One proposed solution is to disaggregate global datasets to generate national-level indicators for countries where these values do not exist, but to date there are few examples where this approach has been systematically applied and its efficacy investigated. Using comparisons of disaggregated global data and data generated nationally for four indicators in five tropical Andean countries, we show that the two approaches can often lead to divergent values. Differences between values gathered using these two methods vary according to country and indicator, with the average differences for all countries as 26% for forest cover loss (maximum Bolivia 31%), 10% for the Red List Index (maximum Venezuela 27% for birds), 14% for protected area coverage of Key Biodiversity Areas (maximum Colombia 25%), and 67% for carbon sequestration potential (maximum Peru 102%). Most of the variations are due to methodological differences, calling into question the reliability of inter-country comparisons and roll-ups of national indicator data to regional or global scales. Nationally-generated indicators are desirable because they have the greatest power to influence national policy. However, in cases where regional or global consistency is needed, such as assessments by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services and Global Environmental Outlook, assessors should rely on global and regionally-disaggregated global data to elucidate trends and spatial patterns for most indicators. To broaden the utility of nationally-generated indicators, the biodiversity indicators community must agree on methodological standards, ensure that local stakeholders' needs are understood and addressed, develop incentives for the use of these standards, and communicate them to practitioners at all levels.

The structures and magnetic properties of YMn1−xCrxO3 (x=0-0.1) were investigated in this study. Powder x-ray diffraction shows that YMn1−xCrxO3 (x=0-0.1) maintains a hexagonal structure with P63cm space group, as observed for YMnO3. The temperature dependence of magnetization indicates that the magnetization of YMn1−xCrxO3 increases as Cr doping concentration increases at low temperatures, and the spin-glass state appeared in the Cr doped samples. The antiferromagnetic transition temperature increases in the Cr-doped YMnO3, which is originated from the magnetic coupling between the Mn3+ ions in the inter-plane. The spin glass phase providing a pinning force from some frozen spins to the rotatable spins gives the key to explain the exchange bias effects.

The objective of the present study was to exhibit the enhanced water-solubility and in vivo oral absorption when febuxostat (FXT) became the salt formation of choline. The formation of the choline salt of febuxostat was confirmed by X-ray powder diffraction, infrared spectroscopy analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. The direct filling method was used to develop a capsule formulation. Cellactose 80 was used as the filler due to its good fluidity, while cross-linked polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVPP) and magnesium stearate (MS) were used as the disintegrant and lubricant, respectively. Then the in vitro release of the formulation was carried out in five different dissolution media including HCl solution (pH 1.2), acetate buffer (pH 4.5), phosphate buffer (pH 6.8 and pH 7.2) and water. Evident improvement of release for choline febuxostat (CXT) was presented in water while the dissolution degree was decreased for CXT in the medium of phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) in comparison with FXT. Furthermore, the pharmacokinetics of CXT was studied in rats using UPLC-MS/MS compared with FXT. The data acquired illustrated that AUC 0-24h of CXT and FXT were 22,245.96 ± 7342.92 µg⋅h/l and 12,249.70 ± 2024.04 µg⋅h/l, respectively. The relative bioavailability of CXT to FXT was about 181.6% and the P value of AUC 0-24h was less than 0.05. It showed significant difference between the two drugs after oral administration. In conclusion, the water-solubility and oral bioavailability were both improved remarkably for the choline salt of febuxostat and choline salinization was proved an effective way to increase the in vivo absorption for FXT.

Soil amendments of wheat straw biochar (BC), lignocellulosic substrate (LS), BC+LS, and BC+LS+BR (surfactant Brij30) were investigated for the first time in order to remedy polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)-polluted soil using pilot scale microcosm incubation. We hypothesized that the removal of PAHs could be inhibited due to the adsorption and immobilization of biochar and the inhibition depends on the molecular-weight of PAHs. The removal rates of phenanthrene (PHE) and Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) ranked as C=BC>LS=LS+BC=LS+BC+BR and C=BC=LS+BC+BR>LS=LS+BC. Wheat straw biochar inhibited the removal of PHE and accelerated BaP removal. The activity of Dehydrogenase (DH) was depressed by the addition of the biochar while the activity of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) was stimulated. Lignocellulose and surfactant are favourable to sustain soil microbiological activity and the removal of PAHs although the diversity of bacterial community was not significantly changed. The findings implied that the components of PAHs are necessary to consider when the amendments are implemented by associated biochar in PAH-polluted soil.

The effluents from wastewater treatment plants have been recognized as a significant environmental reservoir of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Reclaimed water irrigation (RWI) is increasingly used as a practical solution for combating water scarcity in arid and semiarid regions, however, impacts of RWI on the patterns of ARGs and the soil bacterial community remain unclear. Here, we used high-throughput quantitative PCR and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism techniques to compare the diversity, abundance and composition of a broad-spectrum of ARGs and total bacteria in 12 urban parks with and without RWI in Victoria, Australia. A total of 40 unique ARGs were detected across all park soils, with genes conferring resistance to β-lactam being the most prevalent ARG type. The total numbers and the fold changes of the detected ARGs were significantly increased by RWI, and marked shifts in ARG patterns were also observed in urban parks with RWI compared to those without RWI. The changes in ARG patterns were paralleled by a significant effect of RWI on the bacterial community structure and a co-occurrence pattern of the detected ARG types. There were significant and positive correlations between the fold changes of the integrase intI1 gene and two β-lactam resistance genes (KPC and IMP-2 groups), but no significant impacts of RWI on the abundances of intI1 and the transposase tnpA gene were found, indicating that RWI did not improve the potential for horizontal gene transfer of soil ARGs. Taken together, our findings suggested that irrigation of urban parks with reclaimed water could influence the abundance, diversity, and compositions of a wide variety of soil ARGs of clinical relevance.Irrigation of urban parks with treated wastewater significantly increased the abundance and diversity of various antibiotic resistance genes, but did not significantly enhance their potential for horizontal gene transfer.

In this paper, we study the long time behavior of solutions of a reaction–diffusion model with a protection zone and a free boundary in one dimensional space. We prove that there exists a critical value L ∗ such that a vanishing–spreading dichotomy result holds when the length of the protection zone is smaller than L ∗ ; only spreading happens when the length of the protection zone is larger than L ∗ . This suggests that the protection zone works when its length is larger than the critical value L ∗ .

Genome-wide association study (GWAS) has identified that rs10757278 in chromosome 9p21 was a risk loci of ischemic stroke (IS). Interferon-beta 1 (IFNB1), located on 9p21, has a protective role in IS. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether the rs10757278, rs9333358 and rs1051922 in IFNB1 were related to the risk of IS. The 3 polymorphisms were genotyped using a TaqMan allelic discrimination assay in 505 patients with IS and 652 controls with frequencies matched to cases regarding age, gender, living area, and ethnicity. The IFNB1 mRNA levels were determined using quantitative polymerase chain reaction and relative luciferase activity was measured using the Dual Luciferase reporter assay. An increased risk of IS was found for both the rs10757278 (GG vs. AA: adjusted OR = 1.80, 95% CI: 1.27-2.55, P 0.001; GG vs. AA/AG: adjusted OR = 1.57, 95% CI: 1.18-2.10, P = 0.002; G vs. A: adjusted OR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.13-1.61, P 0.001) and the rs9333358 (GG vs. AA: adjusted OR = 1.91, 95% CI: 1.27-2.88, P = 0.002; GG vs. AA/AG: adjusted OR = 1.81, 95% CI: 1.23-2.68, P = 0.003; G vs. A: adjusted OR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.12-1.64, P = 0.002). Similarly, a higher risk of IS was also observed in the combined genotypes of the rs10757278 AG/GG and rs9333358 AG/GG (95% CI: 1.34-2.83, P 0.001). Moreover, individuals carrying the rs9333358 GG genotype exhibited lower levels of IFNB1 mRNA and the rs9333358 G allele displayed a reduced transcriptional activity. These findings suggest that 9p21 rs10757278-IFNB1 rs9333358 may have both single and joint effects on the development of IS.

With tremendous biodiversity but increasing threats, Southeast Asia faces challenges in meeting its commitments to the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 2020 Aichi Targets. The use of indicators to monitor, evaluate and guide conservation progress is increasingly urgent. We quantified indicator use by 10 Southeast Asian governments in the 4th and 5th national reports submitted to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2010 and 2015. We found indicator use variable among nations but increasing. Use of quantitative trend indicators doubled from an average of 6–12. There was no change in the number of non-quantitative (mean of 2) or quantitative baseline indicators (those measured once; mean of 9). Indicators most frequently addressed habitat condition and extent, species diversity, protected areas, and agriculture (means of 2–6 indicators each). They were rarely used (mean ​

Little is known about the effects of different fertilizers and manure use on the yield stability and sustainability of crop in a rice-wheat cropping system. Therefore, a 34-year field experiment (conducted from 1982 to 2015) was used to evaluate the effect of continuous application of inorganic fertilizers and organic manure, supplied at different combinations, on the stability and sustainability of rice and wheat yields. Eight treatments consisted of unfertilized control (CK), inorganic fertilizers (N, NP, NPK) and organic manure (M) either alone or in combination (MN, MNP, MNPK). There was no significant trend of rice grain yield over time for any of the treatments. Wheat yield had an increasing tendency in all the fertilization treatments, including the unfertilized control. Organic manure in combination with chemical fertilizer supported high rice and wheat yields and sustainable yield index (SYI), with decreased coefficient of variance (CV) of rice and wheat yields. The SYI value clearly indicates that rice yield was more sustainable than wheat yield. In conclusion, the combined use of both organic manure and inorganic fertilizer can improve not only crop grain yield but also yield stability and sustainability.

To compare the structure of microbial community in the oily wastewater treatment plants (OWWTPs) located in China, and to discern the impacts of environment variables on the variance of microbial community, activated sludge samples from six typical OWWTPs were taken and the structure of microbial community of these six samples were analyzed via Illumina high-throughput sequencing. 18 core genera including Comamonas, Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Thauera, Paenibacillus, etc. were shared by all OWWTPs. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) suggested that temperature, oil concentration, DO and pH exhibited significant impacts in shaping the structure of microbial community. Variance partitioning analyses (VPA) illuminated that the most variation in microbial community was contributed to geographic location, explaining 36.4% of the total variations obtained, followed by wastewater characteristics (18.7%) and operational parameters (8.6%). This work offered insights into the structure of microbial community in OWWTPs at different geographic locations and illustrated the correlations between environment variables and microbial community in OWWTPs.

Purpose Conducting an overview of systematic reviews (SRs)/Meta analyses (MAs) to assess the effectiveness of cognitive interventions on participants with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia and evaluate the methodological quality of SRs/MAs. Methods PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, Web of science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Chinese Biomedical Databases (CBM) were systematically searched from inception to January 1, 2019 to identify SRs/MAs. Three reviewers independently screened the articles, extracted data and assessed the quality of the included studies according to the Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews 2 (AMSTAR-2), the Grading of Recommendations Assessment Development and Evaluation (GRADE) was used to evaluate the quality of evidence. Results A total of 22 reviews were included. New meta-analyses (36 RCTs) showed that cognitive interventions were more effective than routine therapies for the alleviation of MCI and dementia symptoms (SMD: 0.62; 95%CI: 0.47, 0.78; I2 = 53.9%). The results of AMSTAR-2 showed that the methodological quality of most included studies was critically low, and two reviews were low quality. The lowest score was item 10, none of reviews reported on the sources of funding for the included studies. Followed by the “provide a list of excluded studies and justify the exclusions” item with only one (4.5%) reviews conforming to this item. Results of GRADE manifested that moderate quality evidence was provided in 11 reviews (39.3%), 12 (42.9%) were low quality and 5 (17.8%) were very low. Conclusion The present SRs/MAs indicated that persons with MCI or dementia could benefit from cognitive interventions. Future trial designs should focus on measuring changes in individual specific cognitive functions. More high-quality evidence is needed to further determine the effectiveness of cognitive interventions.

Shotgun proteomics generates valuable information from large-scale and target protein characterizations, including protein expression, protein quantification, protein post-translational modifications (PTMs), protein localization, and protein–protein interactions. Typically, peptides derived from proteolytic digestion, rather than intact proteins, are analyzed by mass spectrometers because peptides are more readily separated, ionized and fragmented. The amino acid sequences of peptides can be interpreted by matching the observed tandem mass spectra to theoretical spectra derived from a protein sequence database. Identified peptides serve as surrogates for their proteins and are often used to establish what proteins were present in the original mixture and to quantify protein abundance. Two major issues exist for assigning peptides to their originating protein. The first issue is maintaining a desired false discovery rate (FDR) when comparing or combining multiple large datasets generated by shotgun analysis and the second issue is properly assigning peptides to proteins when homologous proteins are present in the database. Herein we demonstrate a new computational tool, ProteinInferencer, which can be used for protein inference with both small- or large-scale data sets to produce a well-controlled protein FDR. In addition, ProteinInferencer introduces confidence scoring for individual proteins, which makes protein identifications evaluable.This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Computational Proteomics.

Protein arginylation is a post-translational modification with an emerging global role in the regulation of actin cytoskeleton. To test the role of arginylation in the skeletal muscle, we generated a mouse model with Ate1 knockout driven by skeletal muscle-specific creatine kinase (Ckmm) promoter. Such Ckmm-Ate1 mice were viable and outwardly normal, however their skeletal muscle strength was significantly reduced compared to the control. Mass spectrometry of the isolated skeletal myofibrils showed a limited set of proteins arginylated on specific sites, including myosin heavy chain. Atomic force microscopy measurements of the contractile strength in individual myofibrils and isolated myosin filaments from these mice showed a significant reduction of contractile forces, which, in the case of the myosin filaments could be fully rescued by re-arginylation with purified Ate1. Our results demonstrate that arginylation regulates force production in the muscle and exerts a direct effect on muscle strength through arginylation of myosin.

Oncogene-induced senescence is an important tumor-suppressing defense mechanism. However, relatively little is known about the signaling pathway mediating the senescence response. Here, we demonstrate that a multifunctional acetyltransferase Tip60 plays an essential role in oncogenic ras-induced senescence. Further investigation reveals a novel cascade of posttranslational modifications involving p38, Tip60 and PRAK, three proteins that are essential for ras-induced senescence. Upon activation by ras, p38 induces the acetyltransferase activity of Tip60 through phosphorylation of Thr158; activated Tip60 in turn directly interacts with and induces the protein kinase activity of PRAK through acetylation of K364 in a manner that depends on phosphorylation of both Tip60 and PRAK by p38. These posttranslational modifications are critical for the pro-senescent function of Tip60 and PRAK, respectively. These results have defined a novel signaling pathway that mediate oncogene-induced senescence, and identified novel posttranslational modifications that regulate the enzymatic activity and biological functions of Tip60 and PRAK.

Protein arginylation mediated by arginyltransferase (ATE1) is essential for heart formation during embryogenesis, however its cell-autonomous role in cardiomyocytes and the differentiated heart muscle has never been investigated. To address this question, we generated cardiac muscle-specific Ate1 knockout mice, in which Ate1 deletion was driven by α-myosin heavy chain promoter (αMHC-Ate1 mouse). These mice were initially viable, but developed severe cardiac contractility defects, dilated cardiomyopathy, and thrombosis over time, resulting in high rates of lethality after 6months of age. These symptoms were accompanied by severe ultrastructural defects in cardiac myofibrils, seen in the newborns and far preceding the onset of cardiomyopathy, suggesting that these defects were primary and likely underlay the development of the future heart defects. Several major sarcomeric proteins were arginylated in vivo. Moreover, Ate1 deletion in the hearts resulted in a significant reduction of active and passive myofibril forces, suggesting that arginylation is critical for both myofibril structural integrity and contractility. Thus, arginylation is essential for maintaining the heart function by regulation of the major myofibril proteins and myofibril forces, and its absence in the heart muscle leads to progressive heart failure through cardiomyocyte-specific defects.

A study was conducted in an 11-year field experiment in a winter wheat–summer maize rotation agroecosystem in the North China Plain. We aimed to evaluate the changes in soil physico-chemical parameters and the abundance, diversity and community structure of soil mites, under organic fertilizer (OF) and chemical fertilizer (CF) treatments, compared to unfertilized soil as the control (U). Soil organic matter content, available potassium (K), total nitrogen (N) and hydrolyzable N were significantly higher in the plots under the OF treatment than under the other treatments. Available phosphorus (P) content was similar in OF and CF plots and higher than in the control. After continuous 11-year application, both the organic and chemical fertilizer treatments reduced the abundance and diversity of soil mites. Both types of fertilizer significantly reduced the abundance of Oribatida such as Epilohmannia sp., Xylobates sp., Scheloribates sp., and Cultroribula sp. This result was positively related to the high level of phosphorus in the two treatments, which probably suppressed fungi, thus reducing the food resources for mycophagous mites. However, the organic fertilizer remarkably increased the abundance of r-strategic, predatory Mesostigmata, such as Ascidae, possibly due to abundant prey under the nutrient-rich conditions. However, the number of predatory mites did not increase in the chemical fertilizer treatment. While organic fertilizer application did not increase the overall abundance and diversity of soil mites, especially Oribatida, parallel studies (unpublished) show that the increase in predatory Mesostigmata reflected enhanced biological activity and functioning of the bacterial decomposition pathway especially in the food web of this treatment.

Integrating spatial analysis with the supply and demand of biocapacity is critical for the sustainable development of regional eco-economic systems. Previous studies have focused on the temporal analysis of biocapacity at broad geographical scales, but lacked the systematic spatial realization at fine scales. An improvement is proposed of this conventional methodology of the ecological footprint by incorporating land-use data derived from high-resolution remote-sensing images into the calculation of biocapacity supply at regional, provincial and county levels in Northwestern China in 2000. The spatial heterogeneity and its effect on the biocapacity supply were systematically revealed for this region. First, the biocapacity supply declined from the east (the Guanzhong Basin and the Loess Plateau) to the middle (the Qaidam Basin and the Turpan Basin), and turned to rise from the middle to the west (the northwest of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomy). Second, although the gap between biocapacity supply and demand resulted in a small ecological deficit at the regional level, a large ecological deficit was observed at the provincial and county levels, highlighting an unsustainable situation for some of the sub-regions. Importantly, a power law relationship was unveiled between the biocapacity supply and population density, suggesting that (i) the biocapacity supply as a critical indicator could reflect the intensity of human exploitation on local biophysical resources and (ii) humans tend to have a preference to inhabit those areas with high biological productivity. These results provide opportunities to enhance policy development by central and local governments as part of the long-term Great Western Development Strategy of China.

X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) is a potent antagonist of caspase apoptotic activity. XIAP also functions as an E3 ubiquitin ligase, targeting caspases for degradation. However, molecular pathways controlling XIAP activities remain unclear. Here we report that nitric oxide (NO) reacts with XIAP by S-nitrosylating its RING domain (forming SNO-XIAP), thereby inhibiting E3 ligase and antiapoptotic activity. NO-mediated neurotoxicity and caspase activation have been linked to several neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases. We find significant SNO-XIAP formation in brains of patients with these diseases, implicating this reaction in the etiology of neuronal damage. Conversely, S-nitrosylation of caspases is known to inhibit apoptotic activity. Unexpectedly, we find that SNO-caspase transnitrosylates (transfers its NO group) to XIAP, forming SNO-XIAP, and thus promotes cell injury and death. These findings provide unique insights into the regulation of caspase activation in neurodegenerative disorders mediated, at least in part, by nitrosative stress.

Two 2D rhombic grid-like organic–inorganic hybrid compounds [{M(2,2′-bpy)2}2{PMo11VO40}] (M = Cd(1), Zn(2); bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine) have been hydrothermally synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, TG analysis, luminescence spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. They are isomorphic and their structures can be considered that the Keggin-heteropolyanion [PMo11VO40]4− are bridged by {M(2,2′-bpy)2} groups through the O–M–O bridges into a 2D covalent network. It is noteworthy that the adjacent layers stack each other to form 3D supermolecular structure via extended C–H⋯O interaction between Keggin-anions and 2,2′-bpy ligands of different layers. Furthermore, the electrochemical behavior of 1-CPE (1-modified carbon paste electrode) and 2-CPE and their electrocatalytic reduction of nitrite were investigated.

Mass spectrometry has been widely used to analyze biological samples and has evolved into an indispensable tool for proteomics research. Our desire to understand the proteome has led to new technologies that push the boundary of mass spectrometry capabilities, which in return has allowed mass spectrometry to address an ever-increasing array of biological questions. The recent development of a novel mass spectrometer (Orbitrap) and new dissociation methods such as electron-transfer dissociation has made possible the exciting new areas of proteomic application. Although bottom-up proteomics (analysis of proteolytic peptide mixtures) remains the workhorse for proteomic analysis, middle-down and top-down strategies (analysis of longer peptides and intact proteins, respectively) should allow more complete characterization of protein isoforms and post-translational modifications. Finally, stable isotope labeling strategies have transformed mass spectrometry from merely descriptive to a tool for measuring dynamic changes in protein expression, interaction, and modification.

The soil microorganisms at different depths play an important role in soil formation, ecosystem biogeochemistry, recycling of nutrients, and degradation of waste products. The aims of this study were to observe the microbial diversity in the profile of an agricultural soil in northern China, and to research the correlation between soil microbes and geochemistry. First, the soil geochemistry of the profile was investigated through 25 chemical elements. Secondly, the various physiological groups of microorganisms were studied by traditional culture methods. Thirdly, the functional diversity on sole carbon source utilization (SCSU) was evaluated by the BIOLOG system. Finally, the correlation between the soil microbial diversity and geochemistry was analyzed statistically. The results showed that the amounts and proportions of various physiological groups of microorganisms changed with depth. The bacterial functional diversity on SCSU decreased with increasing depth, but evenness of the substrate utilization increased. Although the microbial metabolic diversity was different at every depth, it could be classified into three main groups by principal component analysis and cluster analysis. The various physiological groups of microorganisms showed remarkable correlation with relevant soil chemical elements. The sensitive microbial indicators of soil health were expected to be screened out from actinomyces or ammonifying bacteria.

Soil microbes play a major role in ecological processes and are closely associated with the aboveground plant community. In order to understand the effects of vegetation type on the characteristics of soil microbial communities, the soil microbial communities were assessed by plate counts, phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) and Biolog microplate techniques in five plant communities, i.e., soybean field (SF), artificial turf (AT), artificial shrub (AS), natural shrub (NS), and maize field (MF) in Jinan, Shandong Province, North China. The results showed that plant diversity had little discernible effect on microbial biomass but a positive impact on the evenness of utilized substrates in Biolog microplate. Legumes could significantly enhance the number of cultural microorganisms, microbial biomass, and community catabolic diversity. Except for SF dominated by legumes, the biomass of fungi and the catabolic diversity of microbial community were higher in less disturbed soil beneath NS than in frequently disturbed soils beneath the other vegetation types. These results confirmed that high number of plant species, legumes, and natural vegetation types tend to support soil microbial communities with higher function. The present study also found a significant correlation between the number of cultured bacteria and catabolic diversity of the bacterial community. Different research methods led to varied results in this study. The combination of several approaches is recommended for accurately describing the characteristics of microbial communities in many respects.

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On the basis of a conventional direct-current glow discharge plasma chemical vapor deposition (DC-PCVD), we succeeded in raising the deposition rate of diamond films to a large extent by increasing its discharge power. The maximum deposition rate reached about 20 μm/h. The quality of diamond films was also much improved. The maximum thermal conductivity of diamond films prepared by our process was 15.1 W/K cm. Diamond films with such high thermal conductivity can meet the need of many thermal management applications. In this paper, the influences of the deposition techniques on the characteristics of diamond films were studied experimentally from the viewpoint of discharge current.

A kind of high frame rate (HFR) 2D and 3D imaging method was developed by Jianyu Lu in 1997. Because only one transmission is required to construct a frame of image, this method can reach an ultra high frame rate (about 3750 volumes or frames per second for biological soft tissues at a depth of 200 mm). In this paper, a new HFR method is presented in the view of angular spectrum. Compared with conventional dynamic focusing method which uses delay-and-sum processing, and Lu’s HFR method which uses a kind of special weighting on the received signal, the new method only uses the Fourier transform algorithm to construct image. So the system implementation of the method could be greatly simplified. During constructing image, several array beams with different parameter are used as transmitted signal, and the spectrum of a frame of image is obtained by synthesizing the image spectrums related to different transmit event. The simulation result shows that the solution not only suppresses the sidelobe of system greatly and obtains the high quality image, but also still keeps high frame rate to some extent.

Ultrasonic high frame rate (HFR) method was developed by Jianyu Lu in 1997. This method constructs images in frequency domain; the spectrum of space domain objects is calculated based on the spectrum of echo signals, and the image is obtained by using IFFT (inverse fast Fourier transform). Because of this imaging process, the echo signal from each individual scatterer cannot be obtained directly. In this paper, we present a method, which can pick up the echo signal of every scatterer in HFR imaging method. Computer simulation has been performed to verify our method. With the new method we have developed, many other imaging methods, such as Doppler blood flow and elastic imaging, can be easily combined with HFR method to give more information of the imaged objects.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by loss of A9 dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). An association has been reported between PD and exposure to mitochondrial toxins, including environmental pesticides paraquat, maneb, and rotenone. Here, using a robust, patient-derived stem cell model of PD allowing comparison of A53T α-synuclein (α-syn) mutant cells and isogenic mutation-corrected controls, we identify mitochondrial toxin-induced perturbations in A53T α-syn A9 DA neurons (hNs). We report a pathway whereby basal and toxin-induced nitrosative/oxidative stress results in S-nitrosylation of transcription factor MEF2C in A53T hNs compared to corrected controls. This redox reaction inhibits the MEF2C-PGC1α transcriptional network, contributing to mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptotic cell death. Our data provide mechanistic insight into gene-environmental interaction (GxE) in the pathogenesis of PD. Furthermore, using small-molecule high-throughput screening, we identify the MEF2C-PGC1α pathway as a therapeutic target to combat PD., Parkinson Society Canada (Fellowship), United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation (grant), National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH grant P01 HD29587), National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH grant P01 ES016738), National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH grant P30 NS076411), National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH grant R37 CA084198)