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Abstract Background Bluetongue disease of ruminants is a typical insect-borne disease caused by bluetongue virus (BTV) of the genus Orbivirus (family Reoviridae) and transmitted by some species of Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae). Recently, the detection of BTV in yaks in high altitude meadows of the Shangri-La district of Yunnan Province, China, prompted an investigation of the Culicoides fauna as potential vectors of BTV. Methods A total of 806 Culicoides midges were collected by light trapping at three sites at altitudes ranging from 1800 to 3300 m. The species were identified based on morphology and the DNA sequences of cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1). PCR and quantitative PCR following reverse transcription were used to test for the presence of BTV RNA in Culicoides spp. A phylogenetic analysis was used to analyze the cox1 sequences of some specimens. Results Four species dominated these collections and cox1 barcoding revealed that at least two of these appear to belong to species new to science. Culicoides tainanus and a cryptic species morphologically similar to C. tainanus dominated low altitude valley collections while C. nielamensis was the most abundant species in the high-altitude meadow. A species related to C. obsoletus occurred at all altitudes but did not dominate any of the collections. BTV RT-qPCR analysis detected BTV RNA in two specimens of C. tainanus, in one specimen closely related to C. tainanus and in one specimen closely related to C. obsoletus by barcode sequencing. Conclusions This study suggests that BTV in high altitude areas of Yunnan is being transmitted by three species of Culicoides, two of which appear to be new to science. This research may be useful in improving understanding of the effects of global warming on arboviral disease epidemiology and further study is important in research into disease control and prevention.

In the previous studies on the microstructure and orientation of titanium alloys, the microstructural and orientational evolution of typical titanium alloys during thermal compression have been studied in depth. However, studies of the correlation between hot compression and heat treatment processes on microstructural and orientational changes have been few. It is of great significance to further study this correlation during hot treatment. For this study, during hot compression deformation and subsequent hot treatment of TC17 titanium alloy on a thermal simulator using cylindrical specimens, the microstructure, grain size change, and orientation evolution of TC17 were studied using optical microscopy and backscattered electron diffraction analysis. Grain size, texture distribution, pole figure, and reverse polarity were analyzed. Law and the relation between structure and orientation results show that the primary α-content decreases dramatically and size decreases in tandem with deformation temperature. Most of the α phase grains are dispersed and located on the trigeminal grain boundaries of the high temperature β phase grains. After heat treatment, the α phase and β phase had a clear structure and distinct boundary. The primary α phase still exists and tends to be equiaxed, and the metastable β phase changes formed a lamellar β-transformed structure. The hot deformation reduces the density of the α phase texture. Additionally, with increasing temperature, the density value of the α phase texture also becomes small. The α phase is no longer strongly textured after thermal deformation, and the orientation of the α phase grains is considerably influenced by thermal deformation, which clearly improves the uniformity of orientation. The thermal deformation also reduces the texture polar density value of the β phase, but the effect is not obvious. However, there is still a density of orientation, and the uniformity of the orientation is relatively poor.

Invasive tree species threaten ecosystems, natural resources, and managed land worldwide. Land cover has been widely used as an environmental variable for predicting global invasive tree species distributions. Recent studies have shown that consensus land cover data can be an effective tool for species distribution modelling. In this paper, consensus land cover data were used as prediction variables to predict the distribution of the 11 most aggressive invasive tree species globally. We found that consensus land cover data could indeed contribute to modelling the distribution of invasive tree species. According to the contribution rate of land cover to the distribution of invasive tree species, we inferred that the cover classes of open water and evergreen broadleaf trees have strong explanatory power regarding the distribution of invasive tree species. Under consensus land cover changes, invasive tree species were mainly distributed near equatorial, tropical, and subtropical areas. In order to limit the damage caused by invasive tree species to global biodiversity, human life, safety, and the economy, strong measures must be implemented to prevent the further expansion of invasive tree species. We suggest the use of consensus land cover data to model global invasive tree species distributions, as this approach has strong potential to enhance the performance of species distribution modelling. Our study provides new insights into the risk assessment and management of invasive tree species globally.

The Yi nationality herbal formula Wosi is used in China as a folk medicine to treat arthritis and related diseases. Despite its widespread use, the active ingredients, and pharmacological mechanisms are not performed. This is the first time to identify the active compounds from Wosi with the aim at providing the potential effect of Wosi and exploring its underlying anti-inflammatory mechanism in monosodium urate crystals (MSU)-induced arthritis rats. In this study, anti-hyperuricemia effect was assessed by reducing the serum uric acid levels and increasing uric acid excretion in the urine for the hyperuricemia rat model. Wosi significantly suppressed the degree of joint swelling and improved the symptoms of inflammation induced by MSU crystals. The inhibition of IL-2, IL-1β, IFN-γ, and IL-6 secretion and IL-10 increase in the serum were also observed. This study also focuses on the screening of the main compounds from Wosi against cyclooxygenase for anti-inflammatory properties using molecular docking. The result showed 3-O-[α-L-pyran rhamnose(1-3)-β-D-pyran glucuronic acid]- oleanolic acid, 3-O-(β-D-pyran glucuronic acid)-oleanolic acid-28-O-β-D-pyran glucoside, and 3-O-[α-L-pyran rhamnose(1-3)-β-D-pyran glucuronic acid]-oleanolic acid-28-O-β-D-pyran glucoside with a higher binding affinity for COX-2 than COX-1 which indicated relatively higher interaction than COX-1. The preferential selectivity toward inhibiting COX-2 enzyme over COX-1 of three compounds from Wosi were evaluated using in-vitro cyclooxygenases 1 and 2 (COX-1/2) inhibition assays. Meanwhile, the down-regulated protein expression of COX-2 and VCAM-1 in synovial tissue sections from ankle joints of experiments rats were confirmed by immunohistochemistry analysis after the Wosi treatment. In conclusion, three oleanolic acid glycosides were implied as mainly efficient compounds in Yi nationality herbal formula Wosi for arthritis therapy via selectively influencing COX-2 and VCAM-1 signaling.

Weed expansion has the potential to severely affect global agriculture. Habitat suitability models (HSMs) have been widely used to assess weed expansion to enable effective prevention and control of weeds. However, few studies have focused on the habitat suitability of global croplands for these weeds. Previous studies listed the 10 serious weed species that have the largest negative impact on global agriculture. Here, we used Maxent modeling (an HSM with good performance) to quantify the habitat suitability of global croplands for these 10 weed species using occurrence records and environmental variables (i.e., climate factors, soil properties, and human footprint). We compared the habitat suitability values of these 10 serious weed species in 174 different types of cropland. The habitat suitability values for all the weed species studied was high in global croplands. Furthermore, habitat suitability may depend on the type of cropland and the spatial variation created by varying climate factors, soil properties, and human footprint. Cynodon dactylon, Echinochloa crus-galli, Eleusine indica, Panicum maximum, and Sorghum halepense had the highest habitat suitability values in chicory plantations. Cyperus rotundus and Echinochloa colona had the highest habitat suitability values in olive plantations. The habitat suitability values for Imperata cylindrica was the highest in mustard plantations, Eichhornia crassipes was most suited to expansion in raspberry plantations, and the habitat suitability values for Lantana camara was the highest in chickpea plantations. Risk prevention and control should be based on the cropland type for these 10 serious weed species, taking into account climate factors, soil properties, and human activities. Our study provides guidelines for effective management of weed risk in different croplands globally.

Abstract Conventional therapies for late‐stage colorectal cancer (CRC) have limited effects because of chemoresistance, recurrence, and metastasis. The “hidden” proteins/peptides encoded by long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) may be a novel resource bank for therapeutic options for patients with cancer. Here, lncRNA LOC90024 is discovered to encode a small 130‐amino acid protein that interacts with several splicing regulators, such as serine‐ and arginine‐rich splicing factor 3 (SRSF3), to regulate mRNA splicing, and the protein thus is named “Splicing Regulatory Small Protein” (SRSP). SRSP, but not LOC90024 lncRNA itself, promotes CRC tumorigenesis and progression, while silencing of SRSP suppresses CRC tumorigenesis. Mechanistically, SRSP increases the binding of SRSF3 to exon 3 of transcription factor Sp4, resulting in the inclusion of Sp4 exon 3 to induce the formation of the “cancerous” long Sp4 isoform (L‐Sp4 protein) and inhibit the formation of the “noncancerous” short Sp4 isoform (S‐Sp4 peptide), which lacks the transactivation domain. The upregulated SRSP level is positively associated with malignant phenotypes and poor prognosis in patients with CRC. Collectively, the findings uncover that a lncRNA‐encoded small protein SRSP induces “cancerous” Sp4 splicing variant formation and may be a potential prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for patients with CRC.

Vascular plant richness contributes significantly to ecosystem function and services. Understanding the environmental predictors of vascular plant richness can therefore support conservation efforts of biodiversity and ecosystem services at large spatial scales. This study used protected area data to explore the environmental predictors of vascular plant richness at different taxonomic levels (i.e., family, genus, and species), to improve the integrity and function of protected areas. Climate variables (i.e., annual mean temperature, minimum temperature of the coldest month, and annual precipitation) and soil parameters (i.e., soil texture, soil pH, bulk density, organic carbon stock, and coarse-fragment volume) were found to largely predict vascular plant richness across different taxonomic levels. Moreover, these were the most effective at the family level. The following measures are therefore proposed to improve conservation management of protected areas. 1) The effects of climate change on vascular plant richness should be accounted for during the spatial planning of protected areas. 2) The interaction between vascular plant richness and soil variables should be considered for the management of protected areas. 3) Human activities should be controlled to establish a balance between strict protection and the sustainable use of natural resources in the protected area network. However, the effect of human activities alone could not explain the variance of vascular plant richness at large spatial scales. This study provides effective guidelines for the sustainable management of plant diversity in protected areas at large spatial scales. Keywords: Climatic factors, Conservation management, Human footprint, Plant diversity, Protected area, Soil properties

Larvae of Hermetia illucens, also commonly known as black soldier fly (BSF) have gained significant importance in the feed industry, primarily used as feed for aquaculture and other livestock farming. Mathematical models such as the Von Bertalanffy growth model and dynamic energy budget models are available for modelling the growth of various organisms but have their demerits for their application to the growth and development of BSF. Also, such dynamic models were not yet applied to the growth of the BSF larvae despite models proven to be useful for automation of industrial production process (e.g. feeding, heating/cooling, ventilation, harvesting, etc.). This work primarily focuses on developing a model based on the principles of the afore mentioned models from literature that can provide accurate mathematical description of the dry mass changes throughout the life cycle and the transition of development phases of the larvae. To further improve the accuracy of these models, various factors affecting the growth and development such as temperature, feed quality, feeding rate, moisture content in feed, and airflow rate are developed and integrated into the dynamic growth model. An extensive set of data was aggregated from various literature and used for the model development, parameter estimation and validation. Models describing the environmental factors were individually validated based on the data sets collected. In addition, the dynamic growth model was also validated for dry mass evolution and development stage transition of larvae reared on different substrate feeding rates. The developed models with the estimated parameters performed well, highlighting their potential application in decision-support systems and automation for large scale production.

Visible-light photoredox catalysis has been established as a popular and powerful tool for organic transformations owing to its inherent characterization of environmental friendliness and sustainability in the past decades. The thiol-ene/yne reactions, the direct hydrothiolation of alkenes/alkynes with thiols, represents one of the most efficient and atom-economic approaches for the carbon-sulfur bonds construction. In traditional methodologies, harsh conditions such as stoichiometric reagents or a specialized UV photo-apparatus were necessary suffering from various disadvantages. In particular, visible-light photoredox catalysis has also been demonstrated to be a greener and milder protocol for the thiol-ene/yne reactions in recent years. Additionally, unprecedented advancements have been achieved in this area during the past decade. In this review, we will summarize the recent advances in visible-light photoredox catalyzed thiol-ene/yne reactions from 2015 to 2021. Synthetic strategies, substrate scope, and proposed reaction pathways are mainly discussed.