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Most of the antitumor chemotherapeutic drugs execute the therapeutic performance upon eliciting tumor cell apoptosis, which may cause chemoresistance of tumors. Design of novel drugs to eradicate apoptosis-resistant tumors via non-apoptotic cell death pathways is promising for improving the long-term chemotherapeutic efficacy. Herein, a Fe(III)-Shikonin metal-polyphenol-coordinated supramolecular nanomedicine for combined therapy of tumor via ferroptosis and necroptosis is designed. The construction of the nanomedicine based on the coordinated self-assembly between Fe3+ and Shikonin not only overcomes the shortcomings of Shikonin including its low bioavailability and high toxicity toward normal tissues, but also integrates the theranostics functions of Fe ions. Under the exposure of the high concentration of glutathione (GSH) in tumor cells, the as-prepared nanomedicine will disassemble into Fe2+ and Shikonin, followed by stimulating the tumor cell death through ferroptosis and necroptosis. In addition, benefiting from the stealth effect of polyethylene glycol (PEG) and the targeting ability of cyclo(Arg-Gly-Asp-d-Phe-Lys) (cRGD) to αv β3 -integrin, NH2 -PEG-cRGD-modified nanomedicine exhibits a GSH-responsive therapy toward 4T1 tumor in vivo and self-enhanced longitudinal relaxation (T1 )-weighted imaging property. Since the self-assembly of natural Shikonin and human body-necessary Fe element is facile and feasible, the work may provide a promising supramolecular nanomedicine for next-generation chemotherapeutic applications.

Indirect nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from rivers draining agricultural watersheds are of increasing concerns due to riverine abundant sources of nitrogen loaded through leaching and runoff. However, the seasonal variation of N2O emissions from agricultural drainage rivers is poorly explored, especially the uncertainty in quantifying indirect N2O emission factors (EFs) from these aquatic environments. Here, a two-year study (2014-2016) was conducted to quantify indirect N2O emissions from a river draining a rice paddy watershed in subtropical China. Indirect N2O fluxes were simultaneously determined using the floating chamber method (chamber-based) and the gas exchange modeling approach (model-based) based on the measurement of dissolved N2O concentration. Results showed that seasonal dissolved N2O concentration and N2O fluxes had a similar variation pattern, with the highest and the lowest levels in summer and winter, respectively. The annual mean of model-based N2O fluxes (20.24 ± 3.34 μmol m−2 d−1) was generally in agreement with chamber-based N2O fluxes (18.70 ± 3.56 μmol m−2 d−1). The indirect emission factor of N2O was highly dependent on the surface water NO3−-N concentration. Annual mean indirect EF of N2O from the drainage river was estimated to be 0.00051, which was significantly lower than the default EF5r value (0.0025) proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). These results suggest that the use of IPCC default value might have overestimated indirect N2O emissions from agricultural impacted riverine systems. Our study also highlights that more extensive in-situ measurements are required for monitoring indirect N2O emissions from agricultural impacted waters with different drainage characteristics, which would benefit for refining the IPCC EF5r default value to further constrain global N2O budget.

Subtropical agricultural soils are hotspots of nitrogen(N)-oxide emissions, whereas the spatiotemporal variability and driving factors of their emissions in different cultivation systems are poorly understood. Here, to assess the magnitude and pattern of soil N-oxide emissions, we conducted measurements of nitrous oxide (N2O) and nitric oxide (NO) fluxes from the soil between rows and under the canopy of tea plants in two subtropical tea plantations over a one-year period. Results showed that N2O and NO emissions from the soil between rows were 32.6 and 9.1 kg N ha−1 for the Yixing (YX) site and 33.9 and 9.9 kg N ha−1 for the Jurong (JR) site, respectively. Across both sites, N2O and NO emissions from the soil between rows were 2.8–5.2 and 1.4–4.0 times, respectively, larger than those from the soil under the canopy. We attributed greater N-oxide emissions from the soil between rows mainly to increased soil mineral N and water contents as compared to the soil under the canopy. On average, N2O and NO emissions from the soil under the canopy accounted for 36% and 44% of the total losses from the entire field, respectively. For the entire tea field, N2O emissions were 12.6 and 15.7 kg N ha−1 for the YX and JR sites, respectively, but the difference was not statistically different. In contrast, NO emissions from the YX and JR sites were 3.8 and 5.7 kg N ha−1 and differed significantly between the two sites, which was due to higher NO emissions from the soil under the canopy in the JR site. The greatest N-oxide fluxes occurred in the spring and summer seasons after topdressing when soil conditions were conducive to microbial N-oxide production. The structural equation modeling analyses suggested that the variables explaining the variances of soil N-oxide emissions were different between the two tea plantations. Our results indicated that microbial nitrification and abiotic chemodenitrification processes were likely the major pathways leading to N-oxide emissions in the soil under the canopy. Our findings highlight the importance of N-oxide fluxes simultaneously taken from the soil between rows and under the canopy and implementing mitigation practices in subtropical tea plantations.

Mercury pollution in fields has become a potential threat to human health. Planting wheat cultivars with low mercury accumulation in slight or medium mercury-polluted fields is an efficient solution to ensure food safety. Therefore, this study evaluated the mercury resistance and accumulation characteristics of 30 generalized wheat cultivars in major wheat-producing areas of China. A modified membership function that considers the weight of each trait was used. Results demonstrated that the plant height of wheat significantly increased under both low mercury and high mercury stresses. The uppermost internode length significantly increased while the spikelet number significantly decreased under low mercury stress. Yield-related traits, including total grain number, fresh grain yield, and dry grain yield, significantly decreased under high mercury stress. The mercury concentrations in wheat grains presented a significant negative correlation with the mercury resistance coefficients of plant height (−0.38*), spike length (−0.39*), and fresh grain yield (−0.38*) under high mercury stress. The heritability of all traits reached medium to high levels, ranging from 0.31 to 0.68. This finding suggested that the investigated traits are stable and suitable for the assessment system. Selection criteria for wheat mercury resistance were established using discriminant analysis, which integrated the mercury resistance coefficients of effective tiller number, fresh grain yield, and dry biomass into the discriminant function under low mercury stress and the mercury resistance coefficients of dry grain yield and dry biomass under high mercury stress. Ultimately, Liangxing-99, Nongda-3163, and Gaocheng-8901 were screened for high mercury resistance and low mercury accumulation. These wheat cultivars could be planted in fields with low or medium mercury pollution to obtain safe grains.

Animal models of the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta), the most widely used nonhuman primate, have been irreplaceable in neurobiological studies. However, a population-averaged macaque brain diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) atlas, including comprehensive gray and white matter labeling as well as bony and facial landmarks guiding invasive experimental procedures, is not available. The macaque white matter tract pathways and microstructures have been rarely recorded. Here, we established a population-averaged macaque brain atlas with high-resolution ex vivo DTI integrated into in vivo space incorporating bony and facial landmarks, and delineated microstructures and three-dimensional pathways of major white matter tracts in vivo MRI/DTI and ex vivo (postmortem) DTI of ten rhesus macaque brains were acquired. Single-subject macaque brain DTI template was obtained by transforming the postmortem high-resolution DTI data into in vivo space. Ex vivo DTI of ten macaque brains was then averaged in the in vivo single-subject template space to generate population-averaged macaque brain DTI atlas. The white matter tracts were traced with DTI-based tractography. One hundred and eighteen neural structures including all cortical gyri, white matter tracts and subcortical nuclei, were labeled manually on population-averaged DTI-derived maps. The in vivo microstructural metrics of fractional anisotropy, axial, radial and mean diffusivity of the traced white matter tracts were measured. Population-averaged digital atlas integrated into in vivo space can be used to label the experimental macaque brain automatically. Bony and facial landmarks will be available for guiding invasive procedures. The DTI metric measurements offer unique insights into heterogeneous microstructural profiles of different white matter tracts.

Cancer multimodal treatment by combining the effects of different theranostics agents can efficiently improve treatment efficacy and reduce side effects. In this work, we demonstrate the theranostics nanodevices on the basis of Cu2+-loaded polydopamine nanoparticles (CuPDA NPs), which are able to offer magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided thermochemotherapy (TCT). Systematical studies reveal that after Cu2+ ions loading, the molar extinction coefficient of PDA NPs is greatly enhanced by 4 times, thus improving the performance in photothermal therapy. Despite Cu2+ ions being toxic, the release of Cu2+ is mainly stimulated in acidic environment. Once the NPs deposit in the slightly acidic tumor microenvironment (pH ≈ 6.5–6.8), the release rate boosts ∼30%, which effectively avoids the systematic toxicity during chemotherapy. Meanwhile, due to the increment of the electron–proton dipole–dipole interaction correlation time τC, the spin–lattice relaxation time (T1) for PDA NPs is found to be shortened by Cu...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are typically persistent organic pollutants with hypertoxicity and widespreading, attracting increasing attention in recent years. Six paddy land sites soils irrigated from different rivers in the Nansi Lake area of Shandong Province, China, were studied to analyze and assess the source and risk of PAHs.Analysis revealed total PAHs (TPAHs) concentrations in topsoil ranging from 57.49 to 2046.47 μg kg−1, meanwhile, Weishan County (WS) was highly contaminated primarily from coal combustion based on the Nemerow composite index and geochemical indices.Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) suggested that bacterial species were affected by pH, TPAHs, and soil organic matter (SOM), while covariables analysis confirmed that most effects of PAHs on bacterial diversity were attributed to the PAHs effect alone rather than the combined effects of PAHs and soil properties. The average daily human exposure (ADE) in children was approximately 2 times higher than that in ...

Nanomaterials and nanocarriers have shown great potential in tumor theranostics, but low tumor uptake rate casts doubt on their practical applications due to competitive uptake by normal tissues and the immune system. In this work, we demonstrate the influence of electrostatic attraction and shuttle-like morphology on tumor uptake by designing positively charged Cu(II) and Fe(III) doped polyaniline (CuPani) nanoshuttles (NSs). The experimental results indicate that such nanomaterials promote cellular adhesion/internalization in vitro, and therefore enhance retention in tumor tissues. The CuPani NSs show electrostatic attraction driven nonspecific tumor recognition between oral epithelial carcinoma (KB) and Henrietta Lacks cancer (Hela) tumors. The uptake rate of CuPani NSs by negatively charged Hela tumors is up to 7.9% ID per g without any surface modification, while the uptake rate by KB tumors with a weaker charge is only 2.8% ID per g. The high tumor uptake rate is attributed to the strong electrostatic attraction of CuPani NSs with tumor tissues, which is efficient when competing against clearance by the immune system. In addition, compared with stealth effect-matched nanoparticles, the NSs show an improved tumor uptake rate due to the one-dimension-like morphology for effective cellular internalization. The synergetic enhancement of tumor uptake by electrostatic attraction and shuttle-like morphology may be helpful in the design of novel nanodevices for performing tumor theranostics.

In view of the high coupling characteristics between supply and demand sides in regional integrated energy system (RIES), a bi-level interactive decision-making model with multiple agents is proposed. A RIES market with multiple micro integrated energy grid investors and integrated energy customer aggregator is constructed. To study the operation of regional integrated energy market, a multi-agent interactive decision-making model is established, and a bi-level optimization algorithm is used to solve the equilibrium of the model. In the external level, multiple market players participate in non-cooperative game in order to maximize their own profits, reinforcement learning algorithm is adopted to search the optimal bidding strategies. In the internal level, RIES operator clears the market under the constraints of safe and stable operation in RIES, Aiming at maximizing the social welfare in RIES, the interior point method is applied to optimize the clearing results. Finally, a simulation example is given to study the non-cooperative dynamic game process of the proposed model in RIES market.

Ambient vibration sources are commonly available in abundance and characterized by low-level vibration of low frequency (

Interest in Organic light-emitting diode (OLEO) technology was extensive lately, because of the unique advantages compared to its inorganic counterpart and other technologies. With extensive research of more than two decades, OLEO has advanced from pure laboratory research and stepped into the commercial world, however, due to current limitation in efficiency, yield and cost, OLEO technology has still a long way to go to be a dominant force in display and lighting market. DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (EEE)

Chemotherapy is one of the most common and effective ways for the clinical treatment of tumors, but tumor cells develop resistance toward drugs after a long period of chemotherapy. Interestingly, the gene expression of resistant cells usually generates increased sialic acid and raises the negative potential of the cell membranes, which is potentially useful to design novel theranostic models. In this work, we demonstrate multidrug resistant tumors-aimed theranostics by the virtue of the strong electrostatic attraction between resistant cells and nanomaterials. Human oral epithelial carcinoma vincristine-resistant tumor (KBV) and human oral epithelial carcinoma tumor (KB) were employed and compared as the tumor models. Polyethylene glycol-coated and Cu(ii) and vincristine codoped polyaniline nanoshuttles (VCR-PEG-CuPani NSs), which possessed multifunctions, positive charges, and blood circulation half-life of 6.26 ± 0.16 h, were employed as the nanomaterials for performing the tumor theranostics. Because of the stronger electrostatic attraction with KBV than that with KB, VCR-PEG-CuPani NSs showed higher enrichment of 8.05 ± 0.39% ID g-1 for KBV and a lower value of 6.02 ± 0.22% ID g-1 for KB. The higher accumulation of VCR-PEG-CuPani NSs in KBV tumors further improved the efficacy of tumor theranostics, such as those using magnetic resonance imaging, chemotherapy, and photothermal therapy.

Asymmetry has been proved to exist in the human brain structure, function and behavior. Most of the existing brain asymmetry findings are originated from the western populations, while studies about the brain structural and functional asymmetries in East Asians are limited. Extensive evidence suggested that cultural differences, e.g. education and language, may lead to differences in brain structure and function between races. Therefore, we hypothesized that differences in brain structural asymmetries exist between East Asians and Westerners. In this study, we performed a comprehensive surface-based morphometric (SBM) analysis of brain asymmetries in cortical thickness, volume and surface area in two well-matched groups of right-handed, Chinese (n = 45) and Caucasian (n = 45) young male adults (age = 22–29 years). Our results showed consistent inter-hemispheric asymmetries in the three brain morphological measures in multiple brain regions in the Chinese young adults, including the temporal, frontal, parietal, occipital, insular cortices and the cingulate gyrus. Comparing with the Caucasians, the Chinese group showed greater structural asymmetry in the frontal, temporal, occipital and insular cortices, and smaller asymmetry in the parietal cortex and cingulate gyrus. These findings could provide a new neuroanatomical basis for understanding the distinctions between East Asian and Caucasian in brain functional lateralization.

Uncovering the genetic basis of key agronomic traits, and particularly of drought tolerance, addresses an important priority for durum wheat improvement. Here, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in 493 durum wheat accessions representing a worldwide collection was employed to address the genetic basis of 17 agronomically important traits and a drought wilting score. Using a linear mixed model with 4 inferred subpopulations and a kinship matrix, we identified 90 marker-trait-associations (MTAs) defined by 78 markers. These markers could be merged into 44 genomic loci by linkage disequilibrium (r2 > 0.2). Based on sequence alignment of the markers to the reference genome of bread wheat, we identified 14 putative candidate genes involved in enzymes, hormone-response, and transcription factors. The GWAS in durum wheat and a previous quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis in bread wheat identified a consensus QTL locus.4B.1 conferring drought tolerance, which was further scanned for the presence of potential candidate genes. A haplotype analysis of this region revealed that two minor haplotypes were associated with both drought tolerance and reduced plant stature, thought to be the effect of linkage with the semi-dwarfing gene Rht-B1. Haplotype variants in the key chromosome 4B region were informative regarding evolutionary divergence among durum, emmer and bread wheat. Over all, the data are relevant in the context of durum wheat improvement and the isolation of genes underlying variation in some important quantitative traits.

To date, there is an urgent need for cancer treatment to improve in many ways in order to successfully cure all cancers. Retinoic acid (RA) is a promising anti-cancer drug through influencing cancer stem cells (CSCs). Taxol is a chemotherapy drug for many cancers. To increase the anti-cancer effects of RA and taxol, we created a novel RA nanoparticle, FCRAN, which has the ability of carrying a second anti-cancer drug, taxol, using nanotechnological methods. The results of this study demonstrated that this RA nanoparticle was water-soluble and retained the same effects as RA on cancer cells, such as inhibiting the proliferation of CSCs, inducing the differentiation of CSCs, and enhancing the sensitivity of CSCs to chemotherapeutic drugs. In addition, this RA nanoparticle can be used to carry a second anticancer drug, taxol, to become FCRAN/T and synergistically enhance the anti-cancer effects of both drugs in vivo. Interestingly, the FCRAN/T is a targetable anti-cancer nanoparticle in the presence of higher levels of glutathione (GSH) in cancer cells. Our results demonstrate that our novel synthesized nanoparticles not only retain the RA functions, but can also carry a second anticancer drug to play a synergistic anticancer role with good water solubility, in particular FCRAN/T can target cancer cells. Therefore, our novel synthesized targetable anti-cancer nanoparticles have a better application prospect than that of RA or taxol alone.

At present, with the rapid development of Internet technology, the traditional Internet technology is no longer applicable to the current new Internet technology. At present, Internet technology is gradually found in the direction of Internet of Things technology, and gradually appears in people’s production and life. In this paper, the architecture of the current Internet of Things technology is analyzed and discussed, and its key technologies are gradually analyzed. At the same time, this paper also analyses and discusses the problems existing in the current power communication system, and puts forward the application of the current Internet of Things technology in many aspects, such as automation, emergency communication and so on. At the same time, this paper also hopes to promote the vigorous development of smart grid construction in China through the research and discussion of this topic. In addition, this paper mainly from a professional point of view as a starting point, to explore the functional ...

Fertilization has been shown to affect nitrogen (N) cycling and its related functional microbes in agricultural soils. However, the linkage between soil N2O emissions and N-related functional genes under different fertilization strategies from wheat in a wheat-rice double cropping system is rarely examined. Here, we carried out a two-year field study to examine the response of soil N2O emissions driven by N cycling functional genes [archaeal and bacterial amoA (AOA + AOB), nirS, nirK and nosZ] to different fertilization strategies in a wheat cropland of subtropical China. Three fertilizer treatments were established consisting of chemical phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) fertilizer application (PK), chemical N (urea) and PK fertilizer application (NPK), and chemical NPK fertilizer application with chemical N partially replaced with manure (composted pig manure) (NPKM). Over the two wheat seasons, seasonal total N2O emissions averaged 0.66, 3.60 and 3.11 kg N ha−1 for PK, NPK and NPKM plots, respectively. Relative to the NPK treatment, the NPKM treatment significantly decreased N2O emissions by 14 % without compromising grain yield, with a lowered combined fertilizer-induced emission factor (EF) of 1.02 %. Compared with the PK treatment, N fertilization consistently and significantly increased the abundance of ammonium-oxidation bacteria (AOB), nirS, nirK and nosZ genes. The nosZ gene, which drives N2O reduction during denitrification, showed a greater extent under NPKM with manure N combination. The AOB had a more sensitive response than ammonium-oxidation archaea (AOA) to chemical N fertilization. Seasonal N2O emissions showed significant positive correlations with AOB gene abundance and the ratio of (nirK+nirS)/nosZ, while had a negative correlation with nosZ gene abundance across N fertilized treatments. The N2O-related microbial composition of functional genes was significantly changed by N fertilizer application and also showed contrasting patterns between treatments of chemical N fertilizer with and without manure N substitution. Together, partially replacing chemical N fertilizer with manure reduced N2O emissions from wheat in a wheat-rice double cropping system, mainly through decreasing AOB associated-nitrifying potential, and particularly stimulating N2O reduction.

The optimization of fertilization management has the potential to improve crop yield, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and enhance nitrogen agronomy efficiency (NAE). However, less is known about whether these benefits can be simultaneously achieved by optimizing fertilization regimes in Chinese croplands. We carried out a year-round field experiment to measure methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes, crop yield and NAE under different fertilization regimes in a subtropical double-rice cropping system. Relative to the conventional chemical N fertilizer application (F), alternative fertilization strategies significantly decreased N2O emissions by 26–78% when averaged across the options of chemical N fertilizer application with reduced rates (RF, 30% off), chemical N fertilizer fully replaced by organic N fertilizer with reduced rates (OF, 30% off) and chemical N fertilizer fully replaced by controlled-release N fertilizer with reduced rates (CF, 30% off), with the largest mitigation potential occurring in OF-treated plots, but comparable extents between the early- and late-rice seasons. Soil CH4 emissions had no consistent response to alternative fertilization regimes, showing contrasting seasonal patterns between in the early- and late-rice seasons. Alternative fertilization options consistently increased NAE by 7–36% and 30–38% in the early- and late-rice seasons, respectively, and this benefit was maximized in OF-treated plots. Direct emission factors of N fertilizer for N2O and the combined greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) of N2O and CH4 were negatively related to NAE while rice yield was positively related to NAE. Our findings suggest that optimized fertilization strategies especially through the option of chemical N fertilizer fully substituted by organic N fertilizer can reconcile low climatic impact and high NAE, but without compromising yield in double-rice cropping systems.

Mordenite molecular sieves were employed for the isomerization of α-pinene to produce limonene and camphene. To decrease diffusion resistance of α-pinene molecules, nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) was employed as the mesoporous filler to prepare hierarchical mordenite within 6 h under microwave radiation. NCC crystals present as a rod-like morphology twining around crystals and interact with Al(OH)xOy and Si(OH)xOy species. Stronger interaction with Al(OH)xOy species inhibits the incorporation of aluminum into zeolitic framework. The acidity decreases due to a lower surface Si/Al ratio. Besides creating mesopores and macropores, NCC inhibits the growth or assembly of crystals in the short transverse direction of particles. Compared to mordenite without NCC, conversion increases by ∼50 % and the total yields of camphene and limonene are ∼52 % using mordenite catalysts with NCC. It indicates that macro/mesopores enhance the diffusion of α-pinene in mordenites, increase the accessibility of α-pinene with acid sites. After 5-times cycle tests, the conversion decreases from 63 % to 43 % due to the destruction of zeolitic structure during thermal treatment. In this study, a green synthesis route templated with NCC and green application in isomerization of α-pinene are proposed. These results are important for the synthesis of zeolites using biomass templates rapidly for biomass conversion process.

While water management has been documented to regulate CH4 emissions from rice paddies, the mechanisms behind the association between CH4 emissions and functional microbes remain unclear under water-saving ground cover rice production systems (GCRPS). In GCRPS, the soil is kept aerobic by maintaining 80 %–90 % of the water holding capacity but without standing water over the entire rice-growing season, and the soil surface is covered with rice straw or plastic film to reduce water evaporation. A split-plot field experiment was conducted to examine the effects of various GCRPS-related water-saving regimes on CH4 emissions by linking to CH4-related microbes over the 2015 and 2016 rice growing seasons in a typical Chinese rice field. Methane fluxes and related functional genes [methanogens (mcrA and methanogenic archaeal 16S rRNA) and methanotrophs (pmoA)] abundances were simultaneously measured using the closed chamber method and molecular techniques, respectively. The results showed that relative to the conventional waterlogged control (WRPS), GCRPS-related water-saving practices consistently reduced CH4 emissions, which was largely attributed to the decreased relative abundance of the methanogenic functional gene mcrA while the methanotrophic functional gene pmoA increased. When averaged over the two rice seasons, the grain yield was 17.38 % and 12.22 % greater under the GCRPS-straw and GCRPS-film water-saving systems relative to WRPS, respectively. Water-saving regimes decreased the yield-scaled CH4 emissions as compared with the WRPS, especially under GCRPS-film. The CH4 fluxes showed a positive correlation with the relative abundance of mcrA and its ratio to pmoA, but a negative correlation with the relative abundance of pmoA. The performance of CH4-simulated models could be improved by incorporating microbial parameters to predict CH4 emissions from rice fields. Overall, this study updates our understanding of the microbial mechanisms underlying CH4 emissions from water-saving GCRPSs. We proposed the GCRPS regime with biodegradable film mulching as a desirable water-saving strategy to reconcile high yields and low CH4 emissions in rice production.

The growth hormone (GH)-insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) axis plays an important role in normal brain development, and GH deficiency inevitably affects the growth of the cerebral cortex. This study was designed to analyze morphological differences in gray matter volume, cortical surface area, and gray matter thickness between children with isolated growth hormone deficiency (IGHD) and children with idiopathic short stature (ISS). Twenty-four children with IGHD (mean age 9.42 years, peak GH 5 μg/l) and 24 controls with ISS (mean age 9.21 years, peak GH 10 μg/l) were included. High-resolution three-dimensional T1-weighted MRIs were acquired at participants' first visit. Measurements of gray matter volume, cortical surface area and gray matter thickness were obtained using FreeSurfer. The total and regional differences between groups were statistically analyzed. Correlations between the FreeSurfer results and GH and IGF-I levels were also obtained. The gray matter volume, cortical surface area and gray matter thickness of the total brain and of the bilateral hemispheres of children with IGHD were significantly smaller than those of children with ISS (all P values 0.05). All the measurements had similar cortical distributions between groups but varied across regions. Cortical regions with significant differences in the mean gray matter volume and surface area were mainly distributed around the bilateral central sulci and the lateral and basal parts of the temporal lobes (all P values 0.05). There were negative correlations between gray matter volume, cortical surface area and GH levels, and the right hemispheric and total cortical surface area correlated significantly with GH levels (all P values 0.05) in children with IGHD. There were significant positive correlations between gray matter volume, cortical surface area and IGF-I levels (all P values 0.05) in both groups, except for in left hemispheric gray matter volume in children with ISS. Children with IGHD have significant morphological changes in the cerebral cortex, which were partially influenced by GH and IGF-I levels. These cortical changes may be related to deficits in their relatively slower development in intelligence, motor performance, and other functions.

To evaluate the adsorption characteristics and effects of dissolved organic matter (DOM) from wheat straw (DOMW) and swine manure (DOMS) on mercury [Hg(II)] adsorption by soils, a series of experiments was conducted on 26 soils with different soil properties.Results showed that the values of Kd (a solid–liquid partition coefficient) of soils varied within a range of 0.768–14.386 L g−1. Kd values were mainly controlled by soil organic matter (SOM), cation exchange capacity (CEC), soil nitrogen (N), and soil sulfur (S). When DOMW and DOMS were added to the soil samples, the amount of Hg(II) adsorbed by the soils decreased significantly. Furthermore, based on the decreased percentage of adsorption of Hg(II) by soil upon adding DOMW (PDOMW) or DOMS (PDOMS), about 73.08% soils, the values of PDOMS were smaller than those of PDOMW. The PDOMW values were related to SOM, pH, free Fe oxide content, and CEC, whereas PDOMS values were related to soil free Fe/Al oxide contents. Therefore, we should pay more a...

Soils are among the important sources of atmospheric nitric oxide (NO) and nitrous oxide (N2O), acting as a critical role in atmospheric chemistry. Updated data derived from 114 peer-reviewed publications with 520 field measurements were synthesized using meta-analysis procedure to examine the N fertilizer-induced soil NO and the combined with N2O (NO+N2O) emissions across global soils. Besides factors identified in earlier reviews, additional factors responsible for NO fluxes were fertilizer type, soil C/N ratio, crop residue incorporation, tillage, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, drought and biomass burning. When averaged across all measurements, soil NO-N fluxes were estimated to be 4.06 kg ha−1 yr−1, with the greatest (9.75 kg ha−1 yr−1) in vegetable croplands and the lowest (0.11 kg ha−1 yr−1) in rice paddies. Soil NO emissions were more enhanced by synthetic N fertilizer (+38%), relative to organic (+20%) or mixed N (+18%) sources. Compared with synthetic N fertilizer alone, synthetic N fertilizer combined with nitrification inhibitors substantially reduced soil NO emissions by 81%. The global mean direct emission factors of N fertilizer for NO (EFNO) and combined NO+N2O (EFc) were estimated to be 1.16% and 2.58%, with 95% confidence intervals of 0.71–1.61% and 1.81–3.35%, respectively. Forests had the greatest EFNO (2.39%). Within the croplands, the EFNO (1.71%) and EFc (4.13%) were the greatest in vegetable cropping fields. Among different chemical N fertilizer varieties, ammonium nitrate had the greatest EFNO (2.93%) and EFc (5.97%). Some options such as organic instead of synthetic N fertilizer, decreasing N fertilizer input rate, nitrification inhibitor, and low irrigation frequency could be adopted to mitigate soil NO emissions. More field measurements over multi-years are highly needed to minimize the estimate uncertainties and mitigate soil NO emissions, particularly in forests and vegetable croplands. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Nanodevices for multimodal tumor theranostics have shown great potentials for noninvasive tumor diagnosis and therapy, but the libraries of multimodal theranostic building blocks should be further stretched. In this work, Cu(II) ions are doped into polyaniline (Pani) nanoshuttles (NSs) to produce Cu-doped Pani (CuPani) NSs, which are demonstrated as new multimodal building blocks to perform tumor theranostics. The CuPani NSs are capable of shortening the longitudinal relaxation (T1) of protons under magnetic fields and can help light up tumors in T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. In addition, the released Cu(II) ions from CuPani NSs lead to cytotoxicity, showing the behavior of chemotherapeutic agent. The good photothermal performance of CuPani NSs also makes them as photothermal agents to perform thermochemotherapy. By combining near-infrared laser irradiation, a complete tumor ablation is achieved and no tumor recurrence is observed.

Iron oxide (Fe3O4), polydopamine (PDA), and in particular their composites are examples of the safest nanomaterials for developing multifunctional nanodevices to perform noninvasive tumor diagnosis and therapy. However, the structures and performances of Fe3O4-PDA nanocomposites should be further perfected to enhance the theranostic efficiency. In this work, we demonstrate the fabrication of PDA-capped Fe3O4 (Fe3O4@PDA) superparticles (SPs) employing preassembled Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) as the cores. Owing to the collective effect of preassembled Fe3O4 NPs, the superparamagnetism and photothermal performance of Fe3O4@PDA SPs are greatly enhanced, thus producing nanodevices with improved magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided photothermal efficiency. Systematical studies reveal that the molar extinction coefficient of the as-assembled Fe3O4 SPs is 3 orders of magnitude higher than that of individual Fe3O4 NPs. Also due to the high aggregation degree of Fe3O4 NPs, the T2-weighted MRI contrast is greatly enhanced for the SPs with r2 relaxivity of 230.5 mM(-1) s(-1), which is ∼2.5 times larger than that of individual Fe3O4 NPs. The photothermal stability, physiological stability, and biocompatibility, as well as the photothermal performance of Fe3O4 SPs, are further improved by enveloping with PDA shell.

Exotic plant invasions may alter ecosystem carbon processes, especially when native plants are displaced by plants of a different functional group. Forb invasions into grasslands are common, yet little is known about how they impact carbon cycling. We conducted a field study over 2 years from April 2010 to March 2012 in China to examine changes in soil respiration (Rsoil) following invasion of exotic perennial forb species (Alternanthera philoxeroides or Solidago canadensis) into an annual grassland dominated by a native annual graminoid (Eragrostis pilosa). Measurements of Rsoil were taken once a week in stands of the native annual graminoid or one of the forb species using static chamber-gas chromatograph method. Aboveground litterfall of each of the three focal species was collected biweekly and litter decomposition rates were measured in a 6-month litterbag experiment. The monthly average and annual cumulative Rsoil increased following invasion by either forb species. The increases in cumulative Rsoil were smaller with invasion of Solidago (36%) than Alternanthera (65%). Both invasive forbs were associated with higher litter quantity and quality (e.g., C:N ratio) than the native annual graminoid. Compared to the native annual graminoid, the invasive forbs Alternanthera (155%) and Solidago (361%) produced larger amounts of more rapidly decomposing litter, with the litter decay constant k being 3.8, 2.0 and 1.0 for Alternanthera, Solidago and Eragrostis, respectively. Functional groups of the invasive plants and the native plants they replaced appear to be useful predictors of directions of changes in Rsoil, but the magnitude of changes in Rsoil seems to be sensitive to variations in invader functional traits.

The potential of biochar for mitigating climatic impacts of coastal saline bioenergy production is not well established. A full accounting of net greenhouse gas balance (NGHGB) and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) affected by biochar amendment combined with or without nitrogen (N) fertilizer application was examined in an annual coastal reclaimed Jerusalem artichoke bioenergy cropping system. The net ecosystem exchange of CO 2 (NEE) was determined by the difference between soil heterotrophic respiration ( R H ) and net primary production (NPP) using static chamber method. Biochar amendment raised the seasonal R H but without suppressing the NPP during the Jerusalem artichoke cropping season. Soil CH 4 emissions were 72% and 80% lower in the biochar amended than unamended plots when combined with N fertilizer application during the Jerusalem artichoke cropping and non-cropping seasons, respectively. The biochar-induced soil N 2 O mitigation efficiency was weakened by N fertilizer input over the annual cycle. Annual NGHGB and GHGI were negative for all the field treatments and were significantly lower in biochar amended than in unamended soils, suggesting that Jerusalem artichoke cropping system served as a net sink of GHGs due to net ecosystem CO 2 and biochar-induced C sequestration exceeding CO 2 -equivalents released as CH 4 and N 2 O emissions. On average, biochar amendment significantly enhanced GHGs sink capacity by resulting in almost 4–5 folds decrease in annual NGHGB or GHGI when combined with N fertilizer application or not. Therefore, higher biomass gain as potential alternative source of biofuels but lower climatic impacts of bioenergy production would be reconciled by biochar use in southeast coastal China.

Background Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is a frequently diagnosed life-threatening oral cancer worldwide and has become one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality. However, the pathogenesis of this disease is very limited. Objective In this study, we aimed to investigate the functional relationship between OSCC and a potential tumor related gene ubiquitin-specific proteases 39 (USP39). Methods The lentivirus-based RNA interference was utilized to knock down USP39 expression in human OSCC CAL27 cells. The effect of USP39 on cell proliferation was detected by MTT and colony formation assays. Results The results uncovered that the proliferation rate was significantly decreased in specific USP39-targeting lentivirus infected cells compared to control lentivirus infected cells. The colony formation capacity was also attenuated in CAL27 cells after USP39 knockdown. Moreover, knockdown of USP39 arrested CAL27 cells in S and G1/M phases of the cell cycle. Furthermore, USP39 silencing induced apoptosis of CAL27 cells via activations of Caspase 3 and PARP. Conclusions In conclusion, the inhibition of USP39 in CAL27 cells suppressed cell growth probably via induction cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. USP39 might act as an oncogenic factor in OSCC and could be a potential molecular target for OSCC gene therapy.

Aquaculture is an important source of atmospheric methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), while few direct flux measurements are available for their regional and global source strength estimates. A parallel field experiment was performed to measure annual CH4 and N2O fluxes from rice paddies and rice paddy-converted inland crab-fish aquaculture wetlands in southeast China. Besides N2O fluxes dependent on water/sediment mineral N and CH4 fluxes related to water chemical oxygen demand, both CH4 and N2O fluxes from aquaculture were related to water/sediment temperature, sediment dissolved organic carbon, and water dissolved oxygen concentration. Annual CH4 and N2O fluxes from inland aquaculture averaged 0.37 mg m(-2) h(-1) and 48.1 μg m(-2) h(-1), yielding 32.57 kg ha(-1) and 2.69 kg N2O-N ha(-1), respectively. The conversion of rice paddies to aquaculture significantly reduced CH4 and N2O emissions by 48% and 56%, respectively. The emission factor for N2O was estimated to be 0.66% of total N input in the feed or 1.64 g N2O-N kg(-1) aquaculture production in aquaculture. The conversion of rice paddies to inland aquaculture would benefit for reconciling greenhouse gas mitigation and agricultural income increase as far as global warming potentials and net ecosystem economic profits are of concomitant concern. Some agricultural practices such as better aeration and feeding, and fallow season dredging would help to lower CH4 and N2O emissions from inland aquaculture. More field measurements from inland aquaculture are highly needed to gain an insight into national and global accounting of CH4 and N2O emissions.

The short lifetime in blood circulation and unspecific uptake of positively charged nanocarriers shed doubt on in vivo applications. Herein, positive charged polyaniline nanoshuttles (Pani NSs) are modified with cancerous cell membranes (CCMs). The Pani NSs/CCMs composites maintain the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrasting and photothermal converting performance in vivo. The CCMs modulation could mainly improve following aspects: 1) Improve the biocompatibility by depressing toxic release of Cu2+. 2) Increase the immune invisibility and the half-life (t1/2) is prolonged from 4.0 to 13.8 h in blood circulation. 3) The homologous KB tumor targeting efficiency is dramatically enhanced from 3.2 to 11.5 %ID/g. However, elongated t1/2 also reserves the non-homologous tumor uptake rate as 5.6 %ID/g, indicating insufficient targeting specificity of CCMs modulating strategy. This work gives deep understanding for the fundamental necessity of long lifetime in tumor uptake, which is prior to homologous targeting, and it signifies for the functional design and surface modification of nanoagents with enhanced theranostic performance.

Organ carbon are often used to enhance denitrification in wastewater treatment. However, their possible effects on microbial interactions are very limited. In this work, an anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) coupled with sulfur autotrophic/mixotrophic denitrification (SAD/SMD) system was used to investigate the changes in microbial interactions among the microbial communities under different nutrient condition. The removal efficiency of total nitrogen increased from 70% (SAD) to 97% (SMD). The Illumina sequencing analysis indicated that Planctomycetes was the most dominant bacterial phylum in anammox system. Thiobacillus and Sulfurimonas, two typical autotrophic denitrifiers, decreased significantly from 31.9% to 17.7%-12.2% and 9.3%, when the nutrient condition changed from SAD to SMD (P 0.05). Meanwhile, some heterotrophic or mixotrophic denitrifying bacteria, including Gemmobacter, Pseudomonas and Thauera increased significantly (P 0.05). Molecular ecological network (MEN) analysis showed that the addition of organic carbon substantially altered the overall architecture of the network. Compared with SAD, the SMD had shorter path lengths, indicating higher transfer efficiencies of information and materials among different microorganism. The addition of organic carbon increased the microbial interaction complexity of Proteobacteria. The links of Thiobacillus, which was a typical sulfur-oxidizing autotrophic denitrifying bacteria, significantly reduced (P 0.05) with the addition of organic carbon, while the links of the heterotrophic bacteria Geobacter significantly increased (P 0.05). This study provided new insights into our understanding of the shifts in the bacteria community and their microbial interactions under different nutrient conditions (SAD and SMD) in sulfur-supported denitrification system.

Acidic soils are hotspots of nitrous oxide (N2O) and nitric oxide (NO) and biochar is documented to have the potential for mitigating N2O and NO. The N2O and NO emissions associated with soil functional genes and physicochemical properties under biochar amendment remains unclear in acidic soils. Here, we carried out a two-year field study to examine the responses of soil N2O and NO emissions to biochar amendment in a subtropical tea plantation in China. Measurements of N2O and NO fluxes were taken from inter-row soils using the static chamber method. We also measured the seasonal changes in soil key nitrogen (N)-cycling functional genes and physicochemical properties. Annual N2O and NO emissions averaged 27.31 kg N2O-N ha−1 yr−1 and 8.75 kg NO-N ha−1 yr−1 for the N fertilizer applied plots, which were decreased by 24% and 16% due to biochar application, respectively. In addition, both potential nitrification (PNR) and denitrification (PDR) rates were stimulated by biochar amendment, which significantly increased the abundances of bacterial amoA (AOB), nirK and nosZ genes. Changes in the composition of the N2O-related microbial functional community were closely associated with soil PNR, pH, DOC, and NO3−-N contents. The ratios of NO/N2O were mainly lower than 1, suggesting that N2O was produced mostly through denitrification rather than nitrification. There were negative correlations between soil N2O and NO emissions and soil PDR and pH, and soil N2O emissions were negatively correlated with nosZ gene abundances. Together, the decrease in N2O and NO emissions following biochar application could be largely attributed to the enhanced denitrification process, in which biochar enriched the nirK and nosZ genes abundance, resulting from the enhancement of soil DOC and pH in acidic soils.

Safety signs are an important guarantee for the safe operation of a substation. The proper placements of all safety signs in a substation as well as accurate detection and identification of them provide the basis for future defect detection of safety signs. With the use of LABVIEW programming language and MATLAB mathematical software, a method of detecting and recognizing security signs is proposed. First of all, the returned images during the substation inspection will be preprocessed. Then the warning signs will be extracted by color features, and each part of the warning signs will be segmented. Finally, the safety signs will be identified by neural network matching.

During the 3(rd) trimester, dramatic structural changes take place in the human brain, underlying the neural circuit formation. The survival rate of premature infants has increased significantly in recent years. The large morphological differences of the preterm brain at 33 or 36 postmenstrual weeks (PMW) from the brain at 40PMW (full term) make it necessary to establish age-specific atlases for preterm brains. In this study, with high quality (1.5×1.5×1.6mm(3) imaging resolution) diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data obtained from 84 healthy preterm and term-born neonates, we established age-specific preterm and term-born brain templates and atlases at 33, 36 and 39PMW. Age-specific DTI templates include a single-subject template, a population-averaged template with linear transformation and a population-averaged template with nonlinear transformation. Each of the age-specific DTI atlases includes comprehensive labeling of 126 major gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) structures, specifically 52 cerebral cortical structures, 40 cerebral WM structures, 22 brainstem and cerebellar structures and 12 subcortical GM structures. From 33 to 39 PMW, dramatic morphological changes of delineated individual neural structures such as ganglionic eminence and uncinate fasciculus were revealed. The evaluation based on measurements of Dice ratio and L1 error suggested reliable and reproducible automated labels from the age-matched atlases compared to labels from manual delineation. Applying these atlases to automatically and effectively delineate microstructural changes of major WM tracts during the 3(rd) trimester was demonstrated. The established age-specific DTI templates and atlases of 33, 36 and 39 PMW brains may be used for not only understanding the complicated yet precisely organized functional and structural maturational processes but also detecting neural disorder biomarkers of the preterm brains as clinical references.

Grassland ecosystems are sensitive to invasions by plants from other functional groups which can alter soil greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes. However, the effects of plant invasion on net GHG exchanges between soils and the atmosphere, plant production, and global warming potential (GWP) of annual grasslands is poorly understood. To evaluate the impacts of perennial forb invasions on GHG budgets of an annual grassland in China, we measured soil carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes over two years in replicated invaded (dominated by Alternanthera philoxeroides or Solidago canadensis) and non-invaded (dominated by the annual grass Eragrostis pilosa or the annual forb Sesbania cannabina) field sites. On average, soil CO2 and N2O emissions from invaded sites were 30% and 76% higher, respectively, relative to sites dominated by native species. Emissions of N2O and CO2 were especially high in Solidago and Alternanthera dominated sites, respectively. Soil CH4 emissions did not vary with plant species. On average, total biomass C of invaded sites was higher than that of the native dominated sites but this reflected the high C in Solidago dominated sites. Global warming potential (GWP) was increased by Alternanthera invasions and decreased by Solidago invasions. Plant invasions affected GWP of these annual grasslands through higher emissions of some GHGs but also sometimes higher biomass C. Together, this suggests that perennial forb invasions could change the net source or sink role of annual grasslands for GHG budgets, but the effects on GWP vary among species depending on GHG responses and C storage.

Agricultural nitrate leaching and runoff incurs high nitrogen loads in agricultural irrigation watersheds, constituting one of important sources of atmospheric nitrous oxide (N2O). Two independent sampling campaigns of N2O flux measurement over diel cycles and N2O flux measurements once a week over annual cycles were carried out in an agricultural irrigation watershed in southeast China using floating chamber (chamber-based) and gas transfer equation (model-based) methods. The diel and seasonal patterns of N2O fluxes did not differ between the two measurement methods. The diel variation in N2O fluxes was characterized by the pattern that N2O fluxes were greater during nighttime than daytime periods with a single flux peak at midnight. The diel variation in N2O fluxes was closely associated with water environment and chemistry. The time interval of 9:00–11:00 a.m. was identified to be the sampling time best representing daily N2O flux measurements in agricultural irrigation watersheds. Seasonal N2O fluxes showed large variation, with some flux peaks corresponding to agricultural irrigation and drainage episodes and heavy rainfall during the crop-growing period of May to November. On average, N2O fluxes calculated by model-based methods were 27% lower than those determined by the chamber-based techniques over diel or annual cycles. Overall, more measurement campaigns are highly needed to assess regional agricultural N2O budget with low uncertainties.

The net balance of greenhouse gas (GHG) exchanges between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere under elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO

// Fabin Han 1, 6, * , Chao Chen 1, * , Wei Wang 1, * , Hao Song 1 , Sen Li 1 , Jing Duan 1 , Xianjie Lu 1 , Shichao Wu 1 , Nan Zhang 1 , Qingfa Chen 1 , Yan Wang 1 , Shuwei Liu 2 , Chongluo Fu 3 , Chengbiao Lu 4 and Paul Lu 5 1 Centre for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine, The Institute for Tissue Engineering & Regenerative Medicine, Liaocheng University/The Liaocheng People’s Hospital, Liaocheng, Shandong, China 2 Department of Human Anatomy, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China 3 College of Biological Science, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, Shandong, China 4 Department of Neurobiology, Xinxiang Medical College, Xinxiang, Henan, China 5 Department of Neurosciences, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA 6 The Institute for Translational Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Fabin Han, email: fhan2013@126.com Keywords: Parkinson's disease; dopamine neuronal differentiation; umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cell; transplantation; gerotarget Received: July 29, 2017 Accepted: January 01, 2018 Published: January 02, 2018 ABSTRACT Cell therapy have a great potential for the treatment of neurodegenerative disease, such as Parkinson's disease (PD). Human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (hUC-MSCs) have been reported to have multipotent differentiation ability. However, the therapeutic impact and mechanisms of dopamine neuronal differentiation from hUC-MSCs in PD are not determined. Here we developed a new protocol to induce dopamine neuron conversion from hUC-MSCs by addition of the growth cocktail containing noggin, CHIR99021, SHH, FGF8, TGFβ, GDNF, and BDNF. Then we transplanted the hUC-MSCs and the growth factor cocktail into the lesion side of the midbrain of 6-OHDA lesioned rat model of PD. The effects of hUC-MSC transplantation on the dopaminergic neuronal differentiation and motor behaviors of the rats were investigated. We found that in the presence of these molecules, the cultured hUC-MSCs showed a high efficient DA neuronal conversion in vitro . In combination with the growth cocktail, grafted hUC-MSCs also showed a highly efficient DA neuronal conversion in the midbrain of 6-OHDA lesioned rats. Both the grafted hUC-MSCs and the differentiated TH-positive neurons survived in 6-OHDA lesioned rats during the post-grafting period of 16 weeks. The hUC-MSCs-derived TH-positive neurons displayed the same electrophysiological profile as DA neurons in vivo . More importantly, rats with transplanted hUC-MSCs showed progressive improvements in motor behaviors compared to controls from weeks 4 to 16 post-grafting. These results demonstrated the efficacy and usefulness of the growth cocktail in combination with hUC-MSC transplantation in 6-OHDA lesioned rats and provided a promising cell-based treatment strategy for the PD patients.

Table S1. The 49 â knownâ miRNAs, belonging to 27 families. (DOCX 13 kb)

Table S4. The â novelâ miRNAs with homologs in other species. (DOCX 13 kb)

Efforts to advance our knowledge on the potential of bioenergy instead of fossil fuels in terms of mitigating climatic impact are in urgent need. No data is currently available on the use of urease and nitrification inhibitors in costal saline bioenergy cropping systems. An overall accounting of net greenhouse gas balance (NGHGB) and greenhouse gas intensity (GHGI) affected by combined effects of urease inhibitor hydroquinone (HQ) and nitrification inhibitor dicyandiamide (DCD) amendment was examined in a coastal saline Jerusalem artichoke bioenergy cropping system. The net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE) was determined by the difference between soil heterotrophic respiration (RH) and net primary production (NPP) using static chamber method. Urease and nitrification inhibitors amendment increased the NPP but exerted a suppression effect on soil RH over the Jerusalem artichoke cropping system. A trade-off relationship was observed by decreasing soil N2O but stimulating soil CH4 emissions following HQ+DCD amendment. The plots combined urea with HQ+DCD application increased soil CH4 by 167% while decreased N2O by 16% as compared to with urea only in the bioenergy cropping system. On average, the fertilizer N-induced emission factor of N2O was estimated to be 0.25% across the fertilized plots. Compared with urea, the plots with urea and HQ+DCD resulted in a further decrease by 37% and 15% in estimated NGHGB and GHGI over the Jerusalem artichoke cropping system, respectively. Overall, Jerusalem artichoke production would achieve higher biomass as source of biofuels but lower climatic impacts, particularly when together with urease and nitrification inhibitors amendment in coastal saline soils.

This paper presents design, analysis, fabrication, and measurement of airflow sensors with three hot-wire resistors on an out-of-plane glass bubble. The fabrication process is based on etching cavities in silicon wafer, followed by anodic bonding of a thin Pyrex glass wafer to the etched silicon wafer. The bonded wafers are then heated inside a furnace at a temperature above the softening point of the glass, and because of the expansion of the trapped gas in the silicon cavities, the glass is blown into three-dimensional (3-D) spherical glass bubbles. Resistors patterned on the glass wafer above the cavities are elevated above the base during the glass bubble blowing process. An optimization analysis on the structure and geometry of the sensor, fabrication process, and properties of multilayer thin-film resistors on glass has been conducted in an attempt to improve the sensitivity. [2014-0177]

Biochar as a carbon-rich coproduct of pyrolyzing biomass, its amendment has been advocated as a potential strategy to soil carbon (C) sequestration. Updated data derived from 50 papers with 395 paired observations were reviewed using meta-analysis procedures to examine responses of soil carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes, soil organic C (SOC), and soil microbial biomass C (MBC) contents to biochar amendment. When averaged across all studies, biochar amendment had no significant effect on soil CO2 fluxes, but it significantly enhanced SOC content by 40% and MBC content by 18%. A positive response of soil CO2 fluxes to biochar amendment was found in rice paddies, laboratory incubation studies, soils without vegetation, and unfertilized soils. Biochar amendment significantly increased soil MBC content in field studies, N-fertilized soils, and soils with vegetation. Enhancement of SOC content following biochar amendment was the greatest in rice paddies among different land-use types. Responses of soil CO2 fluxes and MBC to biochar amendment varied with soil texture and pH. The use of biochar in combination with synthetic N fertilizer and waste compost fertilizer led to the greatest increases in soil CO2 fluxes and MBC content, respectively. Both soil CO2 fluxes and MBC responses to biochar amendment decreased with biochar application rate, pyrolysis temperature, or C/N ratio of biochar, while each increased SOC content enhancement. Among different biochar feedstock sources, positive responses of soil CO2 fluxes and MBC were the highest for manure and crop residue feedstock sources, respectively. Soil CO2 flux responses to biochar amendment decreased with pH of biochar, while biochars with pH of 8.1–9.0 had the greatest enhancement of SOC and MBC contents. Therefore, soil properties, land-use type, agricultural practice, and biochar characteristics should be taken into account to assess the practical potential of biochar for mitigating climate change.

In this study, we clarified the gender and age-related asymmetries of the central sulcus (CS) in early adulthood using a parametric ribbon method. The CS was reconstructed and parameterized automatically from 3D MR images of 112 healthy right-handed subjects. The 3D anatomic morphology of the CS was presented using 5 sulcal parameters, including sulcal depth position-based profile (DPP), average depth (AD), average width (AW), top length (TL) and bottom length (BL). Asymmetry differences in DPPs were found in the medial and lateral part of the CS. In addition, significant gender differences were observed in the medial and middle parts of the right CS DPPs but scattered in the left side. We found leftward asymmetries of TL in males, but rightward asymmetries of AW in females. Males had a greater AW than females in the right hemisphere. Moreover, the females had bilateral longer TL and a longer left BL than did males. We also found significant age-related reductions in bilateral TL and increases in bilateral AW, with males presenting more obvious age-related change than females. There were sexual differences of the CS patterns, in which Type b was the most dominant sulcal pattern in males, whereas Type a was dominant in females. Three-way ANOVA revealed sexual and asymmetry changes of TL and BL among different CS patterns. Our findings indicate that the lateralization performances of the CS manifest as sexually and regionally different. In addition, it is suggested that males may undergo a faster progress of aging compared to females.

Qiaowen Yu,1 Qisen Guo,2 Liangan Chen,3 Shuwei Liu1 1Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, Research Center for Sectional and Imaging Anatomy, Shandong University School of Medicine, 2Respiratory Medicine, Shandong Cancer Hospital, Jinan, 3Department of Respiratory Diseases, People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing, People’s Republic of China Background: CDH1 is a protein encoded by the CDH1 gene in humans. Mutations in this gene are linked with several types of cancer. Loss of CDH1 function contributes to the progression of cancer by increasing proliferation, invasion, and/or metastasis. However, the association between and clinicopathological significance of CDH1 promoter methylation and lung cancer remains unclear. In this study, we systematically reviewed the studies of CDH1 promoter methylation and lung cancer, and evaluated the association between CDH1 promoter methylation and lung cancer using meta-analysis methods.Methods: A comprehensive search of the PubMed and Embase databases was performed up to July 2014. The methodological quality of the studies was also evaluated. The data were extracted and assessed by two reviewers independently. Analyses of pooled data were performed. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated and summarized.Results: Finally, an analysis of 866 patients with non-small cell lung cancer from 13 eligible studies was performed. The CDH1 methylation level in the cancer group was significantly higher than in the controls (OR 3.89, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.87–5.27, P

In the process of cement equipment manufacturing, the demand of rectangle pieces of steel structure is very large. The traditional manual nesting, which is simply cutting by hand-making according to the arrangement of the number and size, causes the low efficiency and material wasting. To solve the problem above, this paper proposes an optimizing model for nesting problem of rectangle pieces. Firstly, with the aim of the maximum utilization ratio of the sheet, the optimization mathematical model for nesting problem of rectangle pieces is established. The lowest horizontal line searching algorithm is described in detail. Secondly, the mathematical model is solved to get the optimal solution by the combination of genetic algorithm and the lowest horizontal line searching algorithm. In the solution process, this paper presents the methods of gene encoding and decoding, definition of fitness function, the design of genetic operators and the design of algorithm operating parameters. Finally, we use one sheet as an example to illustrate the proposed model and algorithm process. Experimental results have shown that the proposed approach is able to achieve rectangle pieces nesting with the maximum material utilization ratio.

To identify and justify the best section to reveal each segment of the abducens nerve according to 3D-SPACE magnetic resonance sequences and correlate with cryosectional specimens.Thirty-four healthy adults were recruited for MRI using a 3D-SPACE sequence. Eighteen adult head specimens were cut into serial transverse, sagittal and coronal section using an electric band saw after the specimens were frozen. The MRI characteristics and the anatomical features of the abducens nerve were analyzed by correlation with the cryosection.We divided the abducens nerve into five segments, the cisternal segment, Dorello canal (DC) segment, cavernous sinus (CS) segment, superior orbital fissure (SOF) segment and intraorbital segment. In the transverse sections, the detection rates for the cisternal and Dorello canal segments of the abducens nerve were 97.06 and 94.12 %, respectively, on 3D-SPACE MR images. In the sagittal section of the frozen specimens, only the cisternal segment of the abducens nerve could be observed, and its detection rate was 51.50 %. In the coronal section, the CS segment of the abducens nerve was located inferior lateral to the ICA as well as, inferior to the oculomotor and trochlear nerves, and the detection rate of the CS segment was 42.60 % on 3D-SPACE MR images.3D-SPACE sequence MR scanning was a useful method for observing the cisternal and DC segment of the abducens nerve in a transverse section, observing the cisternal segment in a sagittal section and observing the CS segment in a coronal section.