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Diaspora’s Homeland is the first monograph of Shelly Chan, associate professor of history at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Based on diplomatic papers, history and geography collections, biograph...

Based on the background of the development for micro-blogging viral marketing as well as its outstanding characteristics in the garment industries, the thesis, via the manner of a questionnaire, carries out its research upon the target interviewees from 18 to 35 years old in order to cover all the possible elements which might affect the will to disseminate viral marketing in the garment industries. The findings demonstrate that there are 4 main factors contributing to such affiliation, namely individual innovation, perceived usefulness, product quality, as well as the garment enterprise itself, among which the last factor plays the most significant role in influencing the diffusion of wills.

Rebalancing water allocation between human consumptive uses and the environment in water catchments is a global challenge. This paper proposes a socio-hydrological water balance framework by partitioning catchment total evapotranspiration (ET) into ET for society and ET for natural ecological systems, and establishing the linkage between the changes of water balance and its social drivers and resulting environmental consequences in the Murray–Darling Basin (MDB), Australia, over the period 1900–2010. The results show that the 100-year period of water management in the MDB could be divided into four periods corresponding to major changes in basin management within the socio-hydrological water balance framework: period 1 (1900–1956) – expansion of water and land use for the societal system, period 2 (1956–1978) – maximization of water and land use for the societal system, period 3 (1978–2002) – maximization of water use for the societal system from water diversion, and period 4 (2002–present) – rebalancing of water and land use between the societal and ecological systems. Most of management changes in the MDB were passive and responsive. A precautionary approach to water allocation between the societal and ecological systems should be developed. The socio-hydrological water balance framework could serve as a theoretical foundation for water allocation to evaluate the dynamic balance between the societal and ecological systems in catchments.

Diabetic retinopathy(DR)is the most severe complication of diabetic eye disease, which can eventually lead to irreversible blindness, thus seriously impacting on patients' quality of life. At present, surgical operation has been widely carried out on the treatment of DR in China. For the pre proliferative DR(PDR)and PDR, panretinal photocoagulation has often been adopted. By damaging the retina in ischemic area so as to reduce oxygen demand, the neovascularization can be prevented and the patient's condition can be stopped from getting worse. Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)has an abundant and personalized therapeutic regimen for the treatment of DR. This paper reviews the research progress on combined therapy of TCM with laser photocoagulation for treatment of DR.

In this paper, we present an efficient method for nonnegative matrix factorization based on the alternating nonnegative least squares framework. Our approach adopts a monotone projected Barzilai–Borwein (MPBB) method as an essential subroutine where the step length is determined without line search. The Lipschitz constant of the gradient is exploited to accelerate convergence. Global convergence of the proposed MPBB method is established. Numerical results are reported to demonstrate the efficiency of our algorithm.

In search of environmentally benign insecticides with high activity, low toxicity, and low residue, a series of novel anthranilic diamide containing propargyl ether were designed and synthesized. All compounds were characterized by H-1 NMR spectroscopy, high-resolution mass spectrometry, or elemental analysis. The single crystal structure of 18g was determined by X-ray diffraction. The insecticidal activities against Lepidoptera pests of the new compounds were evaluated. Their insecticidal activities against oriental armyworm (Mythimna separata) and diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) indicated that most of the compounds showed moderate to high activities at the tested concentration.

Water use efficiency (WUE) is a crucial parameter to describe the interrelationship between gross primary production (GPP) and evapotranspiration (ET). Incorporating the nonlinear effect of vapor pressure deficit (VPD), underlying WUE (uWUE = GPP · VPD0.5/ET) is better than inherent WUE (IWUE = GPP · VPD/ET) at the half-hourly time scale. However, appropriateness of uWUE has not yet been evaluated at the daily time scale. To determine whether uWUE is better than IWUE, daily data for seven vegetation types from 34 AmeriFlux sites were used to validate uWUE at the daily time scale. First, daily mean VPD was shown to be a good substitute for the effective VPD that was required to preserve daily GPP totals. Second, an optimal exponent, k*, corresponding to the best linear relationship between GPP · VPDk* and ET, was about 0.55 both at half-hourly and daily time scales. Third, correlation coefficient between GPP · VPDk and ET showed that uWUE (k = 0.5 and r = 0.85) was a better approximation of the optimal WUE (k = k* and r = 0.86) than IWUE (k = 1 and r = 0.81) at the daily scale. Finally, when yearly uWUE was used to predict daily GPP from daily ET and mean VPD, uWUE worked considerably better than IWUE. Comparing observed and predicted daily GPP, the average correlation coefficient and Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency were 0.81 and 0.59, respectively, using yearly uWUE, and only 0.59 and −0.83 using yearly IWUE. As a nearly optimal WUE, uWUE consistently outperformed IWUE and could be used to evaluate the effects of global warming and elevated atmosphere CO2 on carbon assimilation and evapotranspiration.

The Budyko hypothesis states that the ratio of the actual evapotranspiration over precipitation (E/P) is fundamentally related to the ratio of the potential evapotranspiration over precipitation (E0/P). A number of Budyko functions have been proposed to describe such a relationship between E0/P and E/P. There is, however, no simple method to generate Budyko functions that meet the water and energy constraints. This study showed analytically that for any Budyko function, the sum of elasticity of evapotranspiration with respect to potential evapotranspiration and that with respect to precipitation is equal to unity. This complementary relationship for sensitivity of evapotranspiration has important implications for evaluating hydrologic impact of change in climate and/or catchment characteristics. More importantly, this study found a function that is monotonically increasing with simple limiting properties. This function can be used to generate numerous valid Budyko functions and can also be used to test the validity of the existing Budyko functions.

a b s t r a c t With rapid socio-economic development over the past three decades in China, adverse effects of human activities on the natural ecosystem are particularly serious in arid regions where landscape ecology is fragile due to limited water resources and considerable interannual climate variability. Data on land use, surface and ground water, climate, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita from the middle Heihe River Basin were used to (i) examine changes in water consumption, land use composition, and vegetation cover; (ii) evaluate the effectiveness of short-term management strategies for environmental protec- tion and improvement, and (iii) apply and extend the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) framework to describe the relationship between economic development and environmental quality in terms of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). The results showed that with rapid development of agri- culture and economy, land use change for the period 1986-2000 was characterized by the expansion of constructed oases, considerable contraction of oasis-desert transitional zone and natural oases. This has led to a decrease in ecosystem stability. Since 2001, effective basin management has brought about improved environment conditions, with a more optimal hierarchical structure of vegetation cover. The original EKC model could not explain most of the observed variation in NDVI (R2 = 0.37). Including addi- tional climate variables, the extended EKC model to explain the observed NDVI was much improved (R 2 = 0.78), suggesting that inclusion of biophysical factors is a necessary additional dimension in the relationship between economic development and environmental quality for arid regions with great cli- mate variability. The relationship between GDP per capita and NDVI, with the effect of precipitation and temperature taken into consideration, was adequately described by an N-shaped curve, suggesting that the relationship between society and the environment followed a process of promotion, contradiction, and coordination.

A new esterase-producing strain ( Bacillus amyloliquefaciens WZZ002) that exhibits high hydrolytic activity, excellent enantioselectivity, and high substrate tolerance on Boc- dl -Alanine methyl ester was isolated from soil samples. The reaction temperature, pH, and neutralizer optima of the cell-mediated biocatalysis were 35 °C, pH 8.0, and NH 3 ·H 2 O, respectively. The optimal substrate concentration was 2 M, with a biocatalyst loading of 50 g/L. Results showed that the enantiomeric excess values of substrate and product were both greater than 99%. Thus, bioprocessing with the use of the isolated strain is a promising route for the commercial production of Boc- d -Ala-OMe.

AIM: To observe the effects of Shuangdanmingmu capsule on VEGF expression and retinal vascular morphology in rats with diabetic retinopathy(DR). METHODS: DR rats were fed with Shuangdanmingmu capsule. By comparing with the normal group, the model control group, and positive control group, the effect of Shuangdanmingmu capsule on retinal tissue of DR rats was observed under electron microscopy. After HE staining, retinal structure was observed under the light microscope. Immunohitochemical staining was used to detect the VEGF expression in retina.RESULTS:Two months after treatment, the layers tissue of retina presented mild edema, capillary pericytes performed edema, mitochondria showed mild swelling and less clear structure, some endothelial cells showed slight proliferation in Shuangdanmingmu group. Compared with the normal group, the expression level of VEGF in retina increased in the other groups, especially in model control group. A significant differential in expression of VEGF was found between Shuangdanmingmu group, positive control group and model control group(PCONCLUSION: Shuangdanmingmu capsule can effectively improve the retinal microvascular, reduce edema and necrosis of each layer of retina, improve the ultrastructure of retina's tissue and inhibit VEGF expression in DR rats.

Hepatic Foxp3+ Treg cells are crucial for maintaining local immune homeostasis in the liver. However, the environmental cues required for hepatic Treg cell homeostasis are unclear. In this study, we showed that the IL-33 receptor ST2 was preferentially expressed on Treg cells in the mouse liver, but it was more lowly expressed in the spleen, mesenteric lymph nodes, and blood. More importantly, we found that IL-33 promoted the proliferation of hepatic Treg cells through myeloid differentiation factor MyD88 signaling concomitant with increased cyclin-dependent kinase 4 and cyclin D1 expression. These results suggest that IL-33 is a potential tissue-specific factor controlling Treg cell homeostasis via increased Treg proliferation in the liver.

Author(s): Zhou, S; Yu, B; Schwalm, CR; Ciais, P; Zhang, Y; Fisher, JB; Michalak, AM; Wang, W; Poulter, B; Huntzinger, DN; Niu, S; Mao, J; Jain, A; Ricciuto, DM; Shi, X; Ito, A; Wei, Y; Huang, Y; Wang, G | Abstract: Water use efficiency (WUE), defined as the ratio of gross primary productivity and evapotranspiration at the ecosystem scale, is a critical variable linking the carbon and water cycles. Incorporating a dependency on vapor pressure deficit, apparent underlying WUE (uWUE) provides a better indicator of how terrestrial ecosystems respond to environmental changes than other WUE formulations. Here we used 20th century simulations from four terrestrial biosphere models to develop a novel variance decomposition method. With this method, we attributed variations in apparent uWUE to both the trend and interannual variation of environmental drivers. The secular increase in atmospheric CO2 explained a clear majority of total variation (66n±n32%: meann±none standard deviation), followed by positive trends in nitrogen deposition and climate, as well as a negative trend in land use change. In contrast, interannual variation was mostly driven by interannual climate variability. To analyze the mechanism of the CO2 effect, we partitioned the apparent uWUE into the transpiration ratio (transpiration over evapotranspiration) and potential uWUE. The relative increase in potential uWUE parallels that of CO2, but this direct CO2 effect was offset by 20n±n4% by changes in ecosystem structure, that is, leaf area index for different vegetation types. However, the decrease in transpiration due to stomatal closure with rising CO2 was reduced by 84% by an increase in leaf area index, resulting in small changes in the transpiration ratio. CO2 concentration thus plays a dominant role in driving apparent uWUE variations over time, but its role differs for the two constituent components: potential uWUE and transpiration.

Accurate estimation of the gross primary production (GPP) of terrestrial vegetation is vital for understanding the global carbon cycle and predicting future climate change. Multiple GPP products are currently available based on different methods, but their performances vary substantially when validated against GPP estimates from eddy covariance data. This paper provides a new GPP dataset at moderate spatial (500 m) and temporal (8-day) resolutions over the entire globe for 2000–2016. This GPP dataset is based on an improved light use efficiency theory and is driven by satellite data from MODIS and climate data from NCEP Reanalysis II. It also employs a state-of-the-art vegetation index (VI) gap-filling and smoothing algorithm and a separate treatment for C3/C4 photosynthesis pathways. All these improvements aim to solve several critical problems existing in current GPP products. With a satisfactory performance when validated against in situ GPP estimates, this dataset offers an alternative GPP estimate for regional to global carbon cycle studies.

Peroxisomes account for ~35% of total H(2)O(2) generation in mammalian tissues. Peroxisomal ACOX1 (acyl‐CoA oxidase 1) is the first and rate‐limiting enzyme in fatty acid β‐oxidation and a major producer of H(2)O(2). ACOX1 dysfunction is linked to peroxisomal disorders and hepatocarcinogenesis. Here, we show that the deacetylase sirtuin 5 (SIRT5) is present in peroxisomes and that ACOX1 is a physiological substrate of SIRT5. Mechanistically, SIRT5‐mediated desuccinylation inhibits ACOX1 activity by suppressing its active dimer formation in both cultured cells and mouse livers. Deletion of SIRT5 increases H(2)O(2) production and oxidative DNA damage, which can be alleviated by ACOX1 knockdown. We show that SIRT5 downregulation is associated with increased succinylation and activity of ACOX1 and oxidative DNA damage response in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Our study reveals a novel role of SIRT5 in inhibiting peroxisome‐induced oxidative stress, in liver protection, and in suppressing HCC development.

The pattern recognition receptor (PRR) scavenger receptor class A (SR-A) has an important function in the pathogenesis of non-infectious diseases and in innate immune responses to pathogen infections. However, little is known about the role of SR-A in the host adaptive immune responses to pathogen infection. Here we show with mouse models of helminth Schistosoma japonicum infection and heat-inactivated Mycobacterium tuberculosis stimulation that SR-A is regulated by pathogens and suppresses IRF5 nuclear translocation by direct interaction. Reduced abundance of nuclear IRF5 shifts macrophage polarization from M1 towards M2, which subsequently switches T-helper responses from type 1 to type 2. Our study identifies a role for SR-A as an innate PRR in regulating adaptive immune responses., Scavenger receptors can function as pattern recognition receptors to sense infection. Here the authors show that, in response to worm and bacterial infection, scavenger receptor class A prevents nuclear localization of IRF5 and thereby drives M2 polarization and associated type 2 immune responses.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens has the unique ability to mediate inter-kingdom DNA transfer, and for this reason, it has been utilized for plant genetic engineering. To increase the transformation frequency in plant genetic engineering, we focused on gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which is a negative factor in the Agrobacterium-plant interaction. Recent studies have shown contradictory results regarding the effects of GABA on vir gene expression, leading to the speculation that GABA inhibits T-DNA transfer. In this study, we examined the effect of GABA on T-DNA transfer using a tomato line with a low GABA content. Compared with the control, the T-DNA transfer frequency was increased in the low-GABA tomato line, indicating that GABA inhibits T-DNA transfer. Therefore, we bred a new A. tumefaciens strain with GABA transaminase activity and the ability to degrade GABA. The A. tumefaciens strain exhibited increased T-DNA transfer in two tomato cultivars and Erianthus arundinacues and an increased frequency of stable transformation in tomato.

International audience; Annual gross primary productivity (GPP) varies considerably due to climate-induced changes in plant phenology and physiology. However, the relative importance of plant phenology and physiology on annual GPP variation is not clear. In this study, a Statistical Model of Integrated Phenology and Physiology (SMIPP) was used to evaluate the relative contributions of maximum daily GPP (GPP max) and the start and end of growing season (GS start and GS end) to annual GPP variability, using a regional GPP product in North America during 2000-2014 and GPP data from 24 AmeriFlux sites. Climatic sensitivity of the three indicators was assessed to investigate the climate impacts on plant phenology and physiology. The SMIPP can explain 98% of inter-annual variability of GPP over mid-and high latitudes in North America. The long-term trend and inter-annual variability of GPP are dominated by GPP max both at the ecosystem and regional scales. During warmer spring and autumn, GS start is advanced and GS end delayed, respectively. GPP max responds positively to summer temperature over high latitudes (40-80°N), but negatively in mid-latitudes (25-40°N). This study demonstrates that plant physiology, rather than phenology, plays a dominant role in annual GPP variability, indicating more attention should be paid to physiological change under futher climate change. The importance of plant phenology shifts and physiology change on annual GPP variability is evident 1-4. Warming-induced earlier leaf emergence enhances terrestrial carbon uptake in spring, whereas later leaf senescence in autumn also leads to a smaller increase in carbon uptake in North American temperate forests 5. However, drought events associated with high temperature and low water availability can decrease plant photo-synthetic uptake 6-8. In regions exposed to summer drought, an increase of leaf area in earlier spring can accelerate soil drying, and lead to increased vulnerability of GPP in summer 9,10. In terms of net carbon balance, carbon loss during summer drought can negate increased uptake in warmer springs and autumns 11-13 , related to the negative covariance between increased spring productivity and decreased yearly productivity. The different responses of plant phenology and physiology to climate anomalies, and the contributions of phenological and physiological changes to annual GPP variability must thus be disentangled. The joint control of plant phenology and physiology on annual GPP can be expressed by constructing a statistical model 4,14 , which uses indicators to represent plant phenological and physiological changes. Phenology is about the time and duration of a process or event. The length of carbon uptake period (CUP), and the start (GS start) and the end (GS end) of the growing season, can be used as indicators of plant phenology. Plant pho-tosynthesis is an important process of plant physiology, and can reflect the responses of plant physiology to

Water use efficiency is a critical index for describing carbon-water coupling in terrestrial ecosystems. However, the nonlinear effect of vapor pressure deficit (VPD) on carbon-water coupling has not been fully considered. To improve the relationship between gross primary production (GPP) and evapotranspiration (ET) at the subdaily time scale, we propose a new underlying water use efficiency (uWUE = GPP · VPD0.5/ET) and a hysteresis model to minimize time lags among GPP, ET, and VPD. Half-hourly data were used to validate uWUE for seven vegetation types from 42 AmeriFlux sites. Correlation analysis shows that the GPP · VPD0.5 and ET relationship (r = 0.844) is better than that between GPP · VPD and ET (r = 0.802). The hysteresis model supports the GPP · VPD0.5 and ET relationship. As uWUE is related to CO2 concentration, its use can improve estimates of GPP and ET and help understand the effect of CO2 fertilization on carbon storage and water loss.

To search for new environmentally benign insecticides with high activity, low toxicity, and low residue, novel chiral configurations introduced into dicarboxamide scaffolds containing N-cyano sulfiliminyl moieties were first studied. Four series of phthalamides with sulfur-containing side chains were designed, synthesized, and evaluated against oriental armyworm (Pseudaletia separata Walker) and diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella (L.)) for their insecticidal activities. All structures were characterized by (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR, and HRMS (or elemental analysis), and their configurations were confirmed by optical polarimetry. The biological assessment indicated that some title compounds exhibited significant insecticidal activities. For oriental armyworm, these stereoisomers exerted different impacts on biological activity following the sequence (Sc, Ss) ≥ (Sc, Rs) ≫ (Rc, Ss)(Rc, Rs), and carbon chirality influenced the activities more strongly than sulfur. Compounds Ia and IIa reached as high an activity as commercial flubendiamide, with LC50 values of 0.0504 and 0.0699 mg L(-1), respectively, lower than that of flubendiamide (0.1230 mg L(-1)). For diamondback moth, the sequence of activity was (Sc, Ss)(Sc, Rs), and the sulfur chirality influenced the activities more greatly than carbon. Compound IIe exhibited even higher activity than flubendiamide, whereas Ie and Ic,d reached the activity of the latter. The results indicated that the improvement of insecticidal activity probably required a coordination of both carbon and sulfur chirality. Comparative molecular field analysis calculation indicated that stereoisomers with Sc configurations containing strong electron-withdrawing groups such as as CN are important in maintaining the high activity. The chiral scaffolds containing the N-cyano sulfiliminyl moiety are also essential for high larvicidal activity. Some title compounds could be considered as potential candidates for ryanodine receptor activators.

Due to a novel mode action, low toxicity to mammals and low residue characteristics, phthalic acid diamides have aroused considerable interests in agricultural chemistry. With introduction of N-cyano, N-trifluoroacetyl, N-carbamoylsulfiliminyl and sulfoximinyl substituents into phthalamides, 12 novel derivatives containing trifluoromethyl moiety were designed and synthesized. All title compounds were characterized by 1H NMR and high-resolution mass spectrometry. The preliminary results of biological activity assessment indicated that some title compounds exhibited moderate to good insecticidal activities against oriental armyworm (Pseudaletia separata Walker). In particular, Va gave higher activity against oriental armyworm and diamondback moth. The present work reported that the new trifluoromethylated diamides incorporating N-trifluoroacetylsulfoximinyl moieties are potential lead compounds for further structure optimization, providing some insight into the relating structure-activity relationship.

Two new complexes with homochiral frameworks, {Co3(EIDC)2(H2O)5}n (1) and {Zn3(EIDC)2(H2O)4}n (2) (H3EIDC = 2-ethyl-1H-imidazole-4,5-dicarboxylic acid), have been synthesized from achiral starting precursors via spontaneous resolution and fully characterized by elemental analyses, IR, circular dichroism, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric analysis. X-ray diffraction data revealed that 1 and 2 have SrSi2 topologies and that both are homochiral metal–organic frameworks. Compound 1 is constructed by left-handed chiral chains; however, right-handed chains constitute the homochiral framework of 2. Variable temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements of 1 indicate strong antiferromagnetic interactions between the magnetic Co centers. Compound 2 exhibited weak blue PL in the solid state at room temperature.

Recently, Yang etal. () reported a decrease in solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) during 2015/2016 El Niño event albeit the increase in enhanced vegetation index (EVI). They interpreted the reduced SIF as a signal of reduced ecosystem photosynthesis. However, we argue that the reduced SIF during 2015/2016 is caused by a decreasing trend of SIF due to sensor degradation and the satellite overpass time is critical for drought impact assessment.

A new sterol, ganodermaside E (1), and 4 known sterols, (22 E,24 R)-3β,5α-dihydroxyergosta-7,22-dien-6-one (2), (22 E,24 R)-3β,5α,9α-trihydroxyergosta-7,22-diene-6-one (3), (22 E,24 R)-ergosta-7,9(11),22-triene-3β,5α,6β-triol (4), and (22 E,24 R)-ergosta-7,22-diene-3β,5α,6α-triol (5), were isolated for the first time from the sporoderm-broken spores of Ganoderm sinense Zhao, Xu et Zhang. Their structures were determined by spectroscopic techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Furthermore, all the compounds were evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxicity and migration inhibition on human non-small-lung cancer A549 cells. Compound 1 exhibited cytotoxicity with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration value of 21.12 ± 1.46 µM. Compound 5 exhibited the strongest and most significant antimetastatic activity at concentrations of 100 and 200 µM.

Plant water use strategy is one of the key factors to predict drought impact on vegetation and land-atmosphere fluxes. Vegetation optical depth (VOD) based on microwave radiative transfer inversion has recently been used to assess plant water use strategy. However, VOD is sensitive to both total aboveground biomass (AGB) and leaf water content, with only the latter being a proxy of leaf water potential whose diurnal variation can be used to characterize vegetation iso/anisohydricity. In this study, by using a network of soil water measurements (used as a proxy for predawn leaf water potential), satellite retrieved normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI, as a proxy for AGB), and two satellite VOD products from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) sensor, we compare three linear models and one machine learning model to investigate to what extent can VOD be used to represent leaf water potential changes during soil moisture dry-down periods. Linear models with both NDVI and leaf water potential, on average, can explain 33% and 51% of VOD variations of each product respectively. Models using only NDVI explain 27% and 46% of the VOD variance, compared to less than 10% by models using leaf water potential only. With the NDVI and leaf water potential (full) model, leaf water potential contributes around 17% of the VOD variance, which is smaller than NDVI (33%). The machine learning model has overall better performance than the linear models, and also highlight the dominant contribution of AGB to VOD signals. After the AGB contribution to VOD is eliminated by normalizing daytime VOD with nighttime VOD, the residuals carry the information of diurnal variations of leaf water potential and calculations from both VOD datasets are consistent with each other (r = 0.42 ± 0.17, P VOD daytime VOD nighttime to soil water potential can also be used as a new metric for ecosystem iso/anisohydricity. Our study demonstrates that a large proportion of variations in VOD are caused by AGB for temperate ecosystems, and higher accuracy VOD products with additional root-zone soil water potential are needed for ecosystem iso/anisohydricity estimations.

Diurnal environmental variations can be dynamically strong (driven by solar radiation) and can lead to hysteretic plant responses. The diurnal hysteresis patterns of ecosystem fluxes and meteorological variables are important to understand the relations and interactions between vegetation and its surrounding environment. To provide new insights on hysteresis at the ecosystem scale, we systematically evaluated the differences in ecosystem fluxes between morning (time of day before the highest potential shortwave incoming) and afternoon (time of day after the highest potential shortwave incoming), as well as both biotic and abiotic driving mechanisms, using half-hourly and hourly data from 82 eddy-covariance sites in the FLUXNET2015 Tier 1 dataset. Results show that gross primary production (GPP) is slightly higher in the morning for most plant functional types (PFTs), with less water stress, yet with higher, compensating, CO2 concentration. Conversely, evapotranspiration (ET) is larger in the afternoon, with higher atmospheric vapor pressure deficit (VPD) and a tendency for decreased stomatal opening, in response to daytime boundary layer warming and drying. The higher ET reduces the afternoon increase of the leaf-scale VPD compared to the atmospheric VPD. A GPP decomposition analysis suggests that changes in light use efficiency (LUE) are the main factor explaining the difference in GPP between the morning and afternoon. Additionally, simulations from an ecosystem conductance model show that plant responses to VPD are higher and interactions with the atmosphere are stronger in the afternoon. Both evaluations of LUE and responses to VPD along a soil-plant-atmosphere continuum model suggest a systematic drop in leaf water potential in the afternoon affecting ecosystem stress responses. Accordingly, the hysteresis effects ultimately result in daytime variations in ET and GPP, through changes in ecosystem conductance coupled to the atmosphere.

We consider the expected residual minimization (ERM) formulation of stochastic linear complementarity problem (SLCP). By employing the Barzilai---Borwein (BB) stepsize and active set strategy, we present a BB type method for solving the ERM problem. The global convergence of the proposed method is proved under mild conditions. Preliminary numerical results show that the method is promising.

Anthranilic diamides are one of the most important classes of modern agricultural insecticides. To discover new structure-modified compounds with high activity, series of novel carbonyl thioureas, carbonyl ureas, oxadiazoles, carbonyl thiophosphorylureas, oxadiazole-containing amides, and thiazoline-containing amides were designed through the modification of the amide bridge based on the structure of chlorantraniliprole and were synthesized, and bioassays were carried out. The compounds were characterized and confirmed by melting point, IR, (1)H NMR, and elemental analyses or HRMS. Preliminary bioassays indicated that some compounds exhibited significant insecticidal activities against oriental armyworm, diamondback moth, beet armyworm, corn borer, and mosquito. Among them, trifluoroethoxyl-containing carbonyl thiourea 20a showed best larvicidal activity against oriental armyworm, with LC50 and LC95 values of 0.1812 and 0.7767 mg/L, respectively. Meanwhile, 20c and 20e showed 86 and 57% death rates against diamondback moth at 0.005 mg/L, and the LC50 values of the two compounds were 0.0017 and 0.0023 mg/L, respectively, which were lower than that of the control chlorantraniliprole. The relationship between structure and insecticidal activity was discussed, and the HF calculation results indicated that the carbonyl thiourea moiety plays an important role in the insecticidal activity. The present work demonstrated that the trifluoroethoxyl-containing carbonyl thioureas can be used as lead compounds for further development of novel insecticides.

Phosphorus is the main nutrient element for plant growth, whereas most of phosphate in soil is fixated by calcium, aluminum, iron and organic compounds. Available phosphate deficiency has been the main limiting factor that influences the yield and quality of agricultural products. P solubilizing microorganisms have been widely reported of solubilizing different forms of insoluble phosphates. P solubilizing Rhizobium, especially for strains with the ability of secreting 3-Indole acetic acid, which is also capable of fixating N and inoculation, is found excellent in promoting growth and yield of legume crops, which decreases the cost of agricultural production and the side effect of P application to the environment. The mechanism and amount range of P solubilization for Rhizobium are varied among strains. These results and phenomena from different studies are discussed in this paper.

To investigate the “methyl” impact on bioactivity of sulfiliminyl dicarboxamides, a total of 16 novel N-cyano and N-trifluoroacetyl sulfiliminyl dicarboxamides containing m-heptafluoroisopropylated aromatic amino moiety were studied. Two series of sulfiliminyl substituents were designed, synthesized and evaluated against oriental armyworm (Pseudaletia separata Walker) for their insecticidal activities. Their chemical structures were established by corresponding $$^{1}\hbox {H}$$ NMR, HRMS and optical polarimetry. Bioassay results revealed that some of the title compounds showed potent insecticidal activities against oriental armyworm. Notably, compounds IIa, IIIa, IVa exhibited 100% activity at $$1\, \hbox {mg}\,\hbox {L}^{-1}$$ , in particular, IIa showed a comparable control efficacy to that of the commercial product flubendiamide. The SAR of these N-cyano sulfiliminyl isomers can be summarized as follows (Sc, Ss) $$\ge $$ (Sc, Rs), while the N-trifluoroacetyl sulfiliminyl isomers is (Sc, Rs) $$\ge $$ (Sc, Ss). Comparative molecular field analysis indicated that an electropositive substituent, $$\hbox {CH}_{3}$$ group in the benzene ring was very important for the improvement in biological activity. These results could hold promise for novel chiral sulfiliminyl RyR regulators.

Fatty acid synthase (FASN) is the terminal enzyme in de novo lipogenesis and plays a key role in cell proliferation. Pharmacologic inhibitors of FASN are being evaluated in clinical trials for treatment of cancer, obesity, and other diseases. Here, we report a previously unknown mechanism of FASN regulation involving its acetylation by KAT8 and its deacetylation by HDAC3. FASN acetylation promoted its degradation via the ubiquitin–proteasome pathway. FASN acetylation enhanced its association with the E3 ubiquitin ligase TRIM21. Acetylation destabilized FASN and resulted in decreased de novo lipogenesis and tumor cell growth. FASN acetylation was frequently reduced in human hepatocellular carcinoma samples, which correlated with increased HDAC3 expression and FASN protein levels. Our results suggest opportunities to target FASN acetylation as an anticancer strategy. Cancer Res; 76(23); 6924–36. ©2016 AACR.

In search of environmentally benign insecticides with high activity, low toxicity, and low residue, a series of novel anthranilic diamide containing propargyl ether were designed and synthesized. All compounds were characterized by H-1 NMR spectroscopy, high-resolution mass spectrometry, or elemental analysis. The single crystal structure of 18g was determined by X-ray diffraction. The insecticidal activities against Lepidoptera pests of the new compounds were evaluated. Their insecticidal activities against oriental armyworm (Mythimna separata) and diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) indicated that most of the compounds showed moderate to high activities at the tested concentration.

Background More than 220 million people worldwide are chronically infected with schistosomes, causing severe disease or even death. The major pathological damage occurring in schistosomiasis is attributable to the granulomatous inflammatory response and liver fibrosis induced by schistosome eggs. The inflammatory response is tightly controlled and parallels immunosuppressive regulation, constantly maintaining immune homeostasis and limiting excessive immunopathologic damage in important host organs. It is well known that the activation of programmed death 1 (PD-1) signaling causes a significant suppression of T cell function. However, the roles of PD-1 signaling in modulating CD4+ T cell responses and immunopathology during schistosome infection, have yet to be defined. Methodology/Principal Findings Here, we show that PD-1 is upregulated in CD4+ T cells in Schistosoma japonicum (S. japonicum)-infected patients. We also show the upregulation of PD-1 expression in CD4+ T cells in the spleens, mesenteric lymph nodes, and livers of mice with S. japonicum infection. Finally, we found that the blockade of PD-1 signaling enhanced CD4+ T helper 2 (Th2) cell responses and led to more severe liver immunopathology in mice with S. japonicum infection, without a reduction of egg production or deposition in the host liver. Conclusions/Significance Overall, our study suggests that PD-1 signaling is specifically induced to control Th2-associated inflammatory responses during schistosome infection and is beneficial to the development of PD-1-based control of liver immunopathology., Author Summary Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease that affects approximately 220 million people and causes serious morbidity and economic problems mainly in (sub)tropical regions. After Schistosoma japonicum or Schistosoma mansoni infection, parasite eggs are trapped in host liver and induce liver inflammation and fibrosis, leading to irreversible impairment of the liver, and even death of the host. Meanwhile, schistosomes also induce strong regulatory mechanisms to suppress inflammation and prevent excessive immunopathology. Considering it is well known that PD-1 plays a critical role in suppressing T cell function, understanding the role of PD-1 in modulating immune responses during schistosome infection is necessary for the development of PD-1-based control of liver damage in schistosomiasis. Here, increased PD-1 expression in CD4+ T cells from both humans and mice with schistosome infection was shown. We further showed that PD-1 blockade preferentially augmented Th2 cell responses and ultimately resulted in more severe liver immunopathology in mice with Schistosomiasis japonica, suggesting that PD-1 signaling is beneficial to further explore therapeutic possibilities for preventing the excessive liver immunopathology.

International audience; Carbon uptake by terrestrial ecosystems is increasing along with the rising of atmospheric CO 2 concentration. Embedded in this trend, recent studies suggested that the interannual variability (IAV) of global carbon fluxes may be dominated by semi-arid ecosystems, but the underlying mechanisms of this high variability in these specific regions are not well known. Here we derive an ensemble of gross primary production (GPP) estimates using the average of three data-driven models and eleven process-based models. These models are weighted by their spatial representativeness of the satellite-based solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF). We then use this weighted GPP ensemble to investigate the GPP variability for different aridity regimes. We show that semi-arid regions contribute to 57% of the detrended IAV of global GPP. Moreover, in regions with higher GPP variability, GPP fluctuations are mostly controlled by precipitation and strongly coupled with evapotranspiration (ET). This higher GPP IAV in semi-arid regions is co-limited by supply (precipitation)-induced ET variability and GPP-ET coupling strength. Our results demonstrate the importance of semi-arid regions to the global terrestrial carbon cycle and posit that there will be larger GPP and ET variations in the future with changes in precipitation patterns and dryland expansion. Carbon uptake through photosynthesis by terrestrial ecosystems is the largest flux in the global carbon cycle 1. This flux, also known as gross primary production (GPP), drives not only ecosystem functioning, but also terrestrial carbon sequestration, which currently offsets more than one third of anthropogenic CO 2 emissions 2. Over the past 50 years, an enhanced seasonal exchange of CO 2 has been observed in the Northern Hemisphere 3 , which was interpreted as increasing GPP in northern ecosystems induced by CO 2 fertilization, extended growing seasons , and nitrogen deposition 3-5. However, the GPP fluctuations superimposed on this increasing trend are less studied. With the increasing frequency of extreme climate events 6 , the interannual variability (IAV) of GPP is also projected to increase 7 , and will cause significant impacts on the global terrestrial carbon cycle 8. The IAV of carbon uptake was shown to have distinctive spatial patterns, with hotspots on semi-arid or grassland ecosystems 9-11. Although these spatial patterns are often explained by the interannual variation of water availability in semi-arid ecosystems, specifically, the precipitation variability, biotic meristem growth potential and their interactions 11

Glaucoma, the second leading cause of blindness, is an irreversible optic neuropathy. The mechanism of optic nerve injury caused by glaucoma is undefined at present. There is no effective treatment method for the injury. Stem cells have the capacity of self-renewal and differentiation. These two features have made them become the research focus on improving the injury at present. This paper reviews the application progress on different types of stem cells therapy for optic nerve injury caused by glaucoma.

To evaluate the immunogenicity and immunoprotective effect of heat shock protein 60 kDa (SjHSP60) of Schistosoma japonicum in mice after immunization and challenge infection, and explore the mechanism.B cell/antibody-related databases and analysis tools were used to predict B-cell epitopes of SjHSP60. The mice were immunized with the recombinant SjHSP60 and challenged with S. japonicum cercariae. SjHSP60-specific antibodies in serum were detected by ELISA. The level of splenocyte proliferation was determined by ³H-TdR incorporation. Ex vivo suppression assay was performed to investigate the effects of CD4⁺CD25⁺ regulatory T cells (Tregs) induced by SjHSP60.SjHSP60 possessed multiple predominant regions of B-cell epitopes. SjHSP60 induced a significant increase in both SjHSP60-specific IgG levels (P0.01) and splenocyte proliferation (P0.01) with a higher IFN-γ production (P0.01). However, the immunization with SjHSP60 resulted no significant reduction in adult worms (P0.05) and liver-accumulated eggs (P0.05) in S. japonicum-infected mice. Ex vivo assay showed that CD4⁺CD25⁺ Tregs from SjHSP60-immunized mice enhanced immunosuppressive activity.SjHSP60 has a dual role in host immune system, being involved in the induction of dominant humoral and cellular immune responses as well as in the enhancement of immunosuppression.

The structure of osthole has been modified to improve its larvicidal activity against mosquitoes. A new efficient synthesis of osthole derivatives with Grignard reagents has been developed, which employs CuI and LiCl as promoters and covers a broad range of substrates to afford the corresponding products in mild to good yields (up to 83%). Bio-activity evaluation showed that several products exhibited better activities than osthole.