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Rice, a crucial staple in China, is cultivated through various techniques, including seedling transplanting, dry direct seeding, and film mulching. Despite its significance, rice production is a considerable environmental burden. Using a life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, this study aimed to evaluate the environmental impacts of four rice cultivation methods (transplanting rice, dry direct-seeding rice, dry direct-seeding rice with polyethylene film (PE), and dry direct-seeding rice with biodegradable film) in Northeast China. The results indicate that the magnitude of environmental impacts among treatments was consistent across years. The potential values of all environmental impacts of the four different cultivation methods of rice in the 2021 field trial were smaller than the results of the same cultivation method of rice system in the 2022 field trial. Among the four rice cultivation methods, the consumption of energy showed inconsistency over the two years, with the highest energy consumption in the first year being for dry seeding with PE film and in the second year for dry seeding without film. Additionally, transplanting exhibited the highest impact on water resource consumption and climate change. Dry direct-seeding rice displayed the highest eutrophication and ecotoxicity. Dry direct-seeding rice with a biodegradable film had the least impact in terms of acidification. Moreover, dry direct-seeding rice with a biodegradable film minimized water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions without compromising yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chicken internal organs are indispensable parts of the body, but their genetic architectures have not been commonly understood. Herein, we estimated the genetic parameters for heart weight (HW), liver weight (LW), spleen weight (SpW), testis weight (TW), glandular stomach weight (GSW), muscular stomach weight (MSW) and identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and potential candidate genes associated with internal organ weights in an F2 population constructed by crossing broiler cocks derived from Arbor Acres with high abdominal fat content and Baier layer dams (a Chinese native breed). The restricted maximum likelihood (REML) method was applied for genetic parameters estimation of internal organ weights using GCTA software. The results showed that heritabilities of internal organ traits ranged from 0.336 to 0.673 and most of the genetic and phenotypic correlations amongst internal organs weights were positive. A genome‐wide association study (GWAS) was performed based on a mixed linear model (MLM) in GEMMA software. Genotypic data were produced from the whole genome re‐sequenced (26 F0 individuals were re‐sequenced at 10 × coverage; 519 F2 individuals were re‐sequenced at 3 × coverage). A total of 7,890,258 SNPs remained to be analysed after quality control and genotype imputation. The GWAS results indicated that significant SNPs responsible for internal organ traits were scattered on the different chicken chromosomes 1–5, 8, 11, 14, 16, 18, 19 and 27. Amongst the annotated genes, fibronectin type III domain containing 3A (FNDC3A), LOC101748122, membrane palmitoylated protein 6 (MPP6), LOC107049584 and KAT8 regulatory NSL complex subunit 1 (KANSL1) were the most promising candidates for internal organ traits. The findings will provide instrumental information for understanding the genetic basis of internal organ development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

KLF3 is a member of the Kruppel‐like factor (KLF) family of transcription factors, and plays an important role in several biological processes, including adipogenesis, erythropoiesis and B‐cell development. The purposes of this study are to search for polymorphisms of KLF3 coding region and to provide functional evidence for abdominal fat in chickens. A total of 168 SNPs in KLF3 coding region were detected in a unique chicken population, the Northeast Agricultural University broiler lines divergently selected for abdominal fat content (NEAUHLF). Of which three single nucleotide polymorphisms (g.3452T > C, g.8663A > G and g.10751G > A) were significantly correlated with abdominal fat weight (AFW) and abdominal fat percentage (AFP) of 329 birds from the 19th generation of NEAUHLF (FDR < 0.05). The reporter gene assay was performed to verify functionality of these three SNPs in both ICP‐1 and DF1 cells. Results showed that the luciferase activity of G allele was significantly higher than that of A allele in g.10751G > A (p < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences between different alleles of others two SNPs in luciferase activity. Overall, KLF3 is an important candidate gene that affects chicken abdominal fat content, and the g.10751G > A is a functional variant that potential would be applied to marker‐assisted selection (MAS) for selective breeding programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: DKK1 is an antagonist of the Wnt signaling pathway that has various roles in human physiology. Notably, aberrant DKK1 expression is observed in several cancers. In this retrospective study, we assessed the association between DKK1 expression levels and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and its prognostic value.Materials and methods: Using RNA-seq data from HNSCC tumors (N=520) and adjacent normal tissue (N=44) in The Cancer Genome Atlas, we evaluated DKK1 expression levels. Additionally, we evaluated the association of DKK1 expression levels and pathophysiological features of patients with HNSCC and the value of DKK1 expression for prediction of overall survival (OS). We also explored the correlation between DKK1 expression and methylation of its promoter in HNSCC.Results: DKK1 expression was significantly upregulated in HNSCC compared with normal tissues. Moreover, DKK1 expression was significantly associated with smoking, alcohol abuse, sex, human papillomavirus status, tumor site, tumor invasion, and pathologic stage in HNSCC patients. Kaplan–Meier curves showed that high DKK1 expression was correlated with inferior OS. In addition, univariate and multivariate analyses showed that elevated DKK1 expression was an independent prognostic factor for poor OS (HR: 1.85, 95% CI: 1.31–2.62, P [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid growth is one of the most important economic traits in broiler breeding programs. Identifying markers and genes for growth traits may not only benefit marker-assisted selection (MAS)/genomic selection (GS) but also provide important information for understanding the genetic architecture of growth traits in broilers. In the present study, an F 2 resource population derived from a cross between the broiler and Baier yellow chicken (a Chinese local breed) was used and body weights from 1 to 12 weeks of age [body weight (BW) 1-BW12)] were measured. A total of 519 F 2 birds were genome re-sequenced, and a combination of genome-wide association study (GWAS) and selective sweep analysis was carried out to characterize the genetic architecture affecting chicken body weight comprehensively. As a result, 1,539 SNPs with significant effects on body weights at different weeks of age were identified using a genome-wide efficient mixed-model association (GEMMA) package. These SNPs were distributed on chromosomes 1 and 4. Besides, windows under selection identified for BW1-BW12 varied from 1,581 to 2,265. A total of 42 genes were also identified with significant effects on BW1-BW12 based on both GWAS and selective sweep analysis. Among these genes, diacylglycerol kinase eta ( DGKH ), deleted in lymphocytic leukemia ( DLEU7 ), forkhead box O17 ( FOXO1 ), karyopherin subunit alpha 3 ( KPNA3 ), calcium binding protein 39 like ( CAB39L ), potassium voltage-gated channel interacting protein 4 ( KCNIP4 ), and slit guidance ligand 2 ( SLIT2 ) were considered as important genes for broiler growth based on their basic functions. The results of this study may supply important information for understanding the genetic architecture of growth traits in broilers., Competing Interests: FX, HsG, and HhG are/were employed by Fujian Sunnzer Biotechnology Development Co., Ltd, China. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Wang, Wang, Li, Xiao, Guo, Gao, Wang, Zhang and Li.)

Objective: To study the clinicopathological characteristics, diagnosis and differential diagnosis of hypopharyngeal carcinosarcoma., Method: Clinical data of one case with hypopharyngeal carcinosarcoma proved by pathology were analyzed retrospectively. The related literatures were reviewed., Result: The masses were surgically removed,and the postoperative diagnosis was confirmed to be carcinosarcoma by histopathological examination. After radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the patient recovered well postoperatively without recurrence during 18-month follow-up., Conclusion: Carcinosarcoma of the hypopharynx is an extremely rare malignant tumor with distinctive histological, clinical and immunohistochemical features. The final diagnosis depends on histopathology. This tumor should be differentiated from other tumors such as sarcomatoid carcinoma and the reaction of radiotherapy of carcinoma. Surgery is the proper treatment strategy for carcinosarcoma of the hypopharynx. The patients with locally advanced, postoperative residual tumor or tumor without clear safe surgical margin should undergo radiotherapy, and the postoperative follow up should be in time.