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Background: Gout is a chronic inflammatory diseases caused by monosodium urate crystal deposition. However, the role of interleukin (IL)-36 in gout has not dbeen elucidated. Methods: We enrolled 75 subjects, including 20 healthy controls (HC), 30 patients with acute gout attack and 25 patients in remission. Baseline data were obtained through clinical interrogation and laboratory data were obtained through tests of blood samples. Serum levels of IL-36α were detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Spearman correlation analysis was used to investigate the correlation of IL-36α with other parameters. The diagnostic value of IL-36α was demonstrated using a receiver operating characteristic curve. Results: The serum IL-36α level of gout patients in acute attack and remission stage was significantly higher than that of HC. Serum IL-36α was positively correlated with alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST). Serum amyloid A (SAA) levels positively correlated with C-reactive protein levels and erythrocyte sedimentation rates. Glutamyl transpeptidase levels positively correlated with AST and ALT levels. Conclusion: In conclusion, serum IL-36α levels were elevated in patients with gout and correlated with the clinical markers of inflammation. Our findings suggest that IL-36α may be a novel inflammatory indicator for gout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interleukin (IL)-39 is a novel member of IL-12 family and has been reported to play a pro-inflammatory role in lupus-like mice, but its function in concanavalin A (ConA)-induced liver injury is currently unclear. In this study, we investigated the effects of IL-39 expression in a mouse model of ConA induced-hepatitis. We first showed that delivery of plasmid DNA encoding mouse IL-39 using the hydrodynamic tail vein injection method increased IL-39 mRNA and protein levels in the liver. We then administrated mice with IL-39 plasmid before ConA injection and measured serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels, inflammatory infiltration, and hepatocyte necrosis in the liver. Additionally, we further explored the potential mechanism of IL-39 in ConA-induced liver injury by measuring several inflammatory mediators. We found that ectopic IL-39 expression promoted the ConA-induced increase in serum ALT and AST levels, inflammatory infiltration, and hepatocyte necrosis in the liver. We also observed that IL-39 plasmid administration significantly increased serum and liver interferon-γ, tumor necrosis factor-α, and IL-17A levels, but did not affect serum and liver IL-10 levels in ConA-induced hepatitis. Our results suggest that IL-39 can exacerbate ConA-induced hepatitis and may be a therapeutic target in inflammatory liver disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Larch (Larix spp.) is widely distributed in the boreal and temperate areas. Nitrogen (N) is considered as the major limiting element for these areas. Thinning is a common forest management practice. Thus, it is imperative to obtain a better understanding on how thinning could affect N status of larch plantations, and thus optimize the thinning intensity for sustainable forest management. In this study, we measured N concentrations and 15N natural abundance (δ15N) of needles and surface soil (0-10 cm) in a larch plantation with T0, T25 and T50 treatments (0%, 25% and 50% thinning intensities, respectively) in Northeast China. We found that needle and soil δ15N in T25 was the lowest, and the highest in T50. No significant differences were observed for needle and soil N concentrations among the thinning intensities. T25 exhibited the highest N resorption efficiency, indicating highest N use efficiency. Overall, N cycling in T25 was more closed than the control, and with lower soil N availability, while N cycling in T50 was more opened. Our study indicates that foliar 15N natural abundance is sensitive to thinning and can be potentially used to optimize thinning intensity from the perspective of N cycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rainfall is the most important factor influencing the growth and survival of Mongolian pine ( Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica), but the responses of these trees to extremes of rainfall are still poorly understood. Intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE, as proxied by δC), specific leaf area, dry matter content, soil water content and groundwater level were measured in 18-year-old and 38-year-old Mongolian pine stands (young and old) during two conservative years with extreme rainfalls (280 mm, 2009; and 580 mm, 2010). The results indicated that young trees displayed higher δC values of current-year-old needles in 2009 than in 2010, but no difference was detected in old trees. For both age groups of trees, no significant differences were observed in the specific leaf area and dry matter content of current-year-old needles between the two years. These results suggested that the iWUE of young trees was more sensitive to the extreme rainfall than that of the old trees. The groundwater level remained within vertical root distributions for old trees. In 2009, the mean δC value of the current-year-old needles was higher in young trees than in old trees, but this pattern was reversed in 2010. In conclusion, young trees improved iWUE to acclimate to extremely low rainfall, whereas old trees maintained a lower iWUE, possibly because of the uptake of groundwater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural abundance of 15N changes strongly with gradients in soil or environmental conditions across large spatial and temporal scales, but variation in δ15N with stand age at intermediate scales is poorly understood. We analyzed soil and foliar δ15N along a secondary forest chronosequence in Northeast China in mid-growing seasons 2008 and 2009, to address two questions: how does foliar δ15N vary with stand age; and are the variations driven by compositional differences in species among stands, or by consistent changes in δ15N with plant growth forms, and within species. The results showed that community-level foliar δ15N depleted as stand age increased, and these responses were remarkably consistent within three contrasting plant growth forms (herbs, shrubs, and trees), and within individual species. In spite of the three plant growth forms sharing similar responses to the stand age, tree species showed smaller variations in foliar δ15N along stand ages than herbs and shrubs. Soil δ15N also significantly depleted with increasing stand age, which may drive the variations of foliar δ15N. In addition, mycorrhizal fungi discrimination against 15N may also partly affect the patterns of foliar δ15N along stand ages. The results clearly indicate that differences in foliar δ15N among different stand ages are dominantly driven by the δ15N variations at the species levels, which reflects the variations of soil δ15N and mycorrhizal association intensity and association type, not by compositional difference in species among stands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]