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The dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the surface water of Huguangyan Maar Lake was continuously monitored based on once per week sampling frequency of 4 locations from June 2018 to May 2019. The DOC concentrations and its seasonal variation were discussed by correlating with the rainfall, water temperature, and pH of lake water. The results showed that the weekly DOC varied from 8.15 to 32.65 mg/L with an annual average concentration of 17.96 mg/L. There was a significant difference in the average DOC concentrations between the rainy and dry seasons as the monthly average DOC concentration was 21.72 mg/L for the wet season compared to the dry season concentration of 14.21 mg/L. The rainfall shows a significant effect on the DOC concentration of lake water, as DOC concentration was much high during the wet season. There were no significant spatial variations in the average monthly concentration among the four sampling locations except occasional variation during the wet season. The reason for the wet season DOC differences among four sampling locations is likely due to the uneven runoff and underground water inputs and the relatively slow circulation of lake water. Finally, the seasonal fluctuation of DOC concentration in this closed lake water suggests that dissolved soil organic matter inputs through the rainfall related to surface runoff and subsurface infiltration from the surrounding watershed land is important to the primary production and organic matter deposition in the lake sediments.

Background: Paranasal sinusitis is frequently encountered in clinical practice. The application of imaging techniques has highlighted the high incidence of incidental sinus abnormalities. Additionally, the adverse impact of smoking on paranasal sinusitis has been verified; however, few studies have compared the characteristics of affected sinuses between non-smokers and smokers. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of paranasal sinusitis detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and determine its characteristics and affected sinuses in smokers. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 4813 participants from two communities in Shanghai, China. Demographic data were recorded, and participants underwent a physical examination and head MRI. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between smoking and paranasal sinusitis and the Cochran–Armitage test to analyze age-specific prevalence of paranasal sinusitis in smokers versus non-smokers. Results: Among the 4813 participants (2368 men, 2445 women; mean age, 53.0±10.1 years), the prevalence of paranasal sinusitis was 15.4 %, being higher in men (20.1 %) than in women (10.8 %; p

Significance Plants recognize insect-derived molecules and make the accurate defense response during herbivory. However, insects release effectors that disturb host plant defense responses for fitness. Effectors are crucial components in biotic interactions. We identified a caterpillar-derived effector (HARP1) from oral secretion of cotton bollworm, a devastating agricultural pest. HARP1 is released from larvae to plant leaves during feeding and is able to migrate from wounding site into plant cells automatically. HARP1 interacts with JASMONATE-ZIM-domain (JAZ) proteins, the suppressor of Jasmonate (JA) pathway, and blocks signaling transduction by preventing JAZ degradation. HARP1-like proteins are widely distributed and have conserved function in noctuids, and they may contribute to insect adaptation to host plants during coevolution., Insects have evolved effectors to conquer plant defense. Most known insect effectors are isolated from sucking insects, and examples from chewing insects are limited. Moreover, the targets of insect effectors in host plants remain unknown. Here, we address a chewing insect effector and its working mechanism. Cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) is a lepidopteran insect widely existing in nature and severely affecting crop productivity. We isolated an effector named HARP1 from H. armigera oral secretion (OS). HARP1 was released from larvae to plant leaves during feeding and entered into the plant cells through wounding sites. Expression of HARP1 in Arabidopsis mitigated the global expression of wounding and jasmonate (JA) responsive genes and rendered the plants more susceptible to insect feeding. HARP1 directly interacted with JASMONATE-ZIM-domain (JAZ) repressors to prevent the COI1-mediated JAZ degradation, thus blocking JA signaling transduction. HARP1-like proteins have conserved function as effectors in noctuidae, and these types of effectors might contribute to insect adaptation to host plants during coevolution.

The mechanism of superconductivity in cuprates remains one of the big challenges of condensed matter physics.High Tc cuprates crystallize into layered perovskite structure featuring copper oxygen octahedral coordination. Due to the Jahn Teller effect in combination with the strong static Coulomb interaction, the octahedra in high Tc cuprates are elongated along the c axis, leading to a 3dx2-y2 orbital at the top of the band structure wherein the doped holes reside.This scenario gives rise to two dimensional characteristics in high Tc cuprates that favor d wave pairing symmetry. Here we report superconductivity in a cuprate Ba2CuO4-y wherein the local octahedron is in a very exceptional compressed version.The Ba2CuO4-y compound was synthesized at high pressure at high temperatures, and shows bulk superconductivity with critical temperature Tc above 70 K at ambient conditions. This superconducting transition temperature is more than 30 K higher than the Tc for the isostructural counterparts based on classical La2CuO4. X-ray absorption measurements indicate the heavily doped nature of the Ba2CuO4-y superconductor. In compressed octahedron the 3d3z2-r2 orbital will be lifted above the 3dx2-y2 orbital, leading to significant three dimensional nature in addition to the conventional 3dx2-y2 orbital. This work sheds important new light on advancing our comprehensive understanding of the superconducting mechanism of high Tc in cuprate materials., Comment: Total 28 pages incuding 9 Figures

We report studies on the Ba2CuO4- y superconductor (1) with features including compressed local coordination and extreme over-doping level, etc.; while such behaviors are not favorable for superconductivity in previous cuprates (2), Yamamoto (3) raises an inquiry on one of these features: The compressed local octahedron. We have solid evidence to show that what we discussed in our paper has nothing to do with his speculation. There are 2 types of “214” structures with a CuO2 plane, i.e., the T phase based on La2CuO4 and the T′ phase based on Nd2CuO4 due to the different charge reservoir substructures, the rock-salt type for the former and the fluorite type for the latter. The relative strong Coulomb attraction interaction in the rock-salt layer over … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: Jin{at}iphy.ac.cn. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1

Plant reproductive organs are vulnerable to heat, but regulation of heat-shock responses in inflorescence is largely uncharacterized. Here, we report that two of the SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE (SPL) transcriptional factors in Arabidopsis, SPL1 and SPL12, act redundantly in thermotolerance at the reproductive stage. The spl1-1 spl12-1 inflorescences displayed hypersensitivity to heat stress, whereas overexpression of SPL1 or SPL12 enhanced the thermotolerance in both Arabidopsis and tobacco. RNA sequencing revealed 1939 upregulated and 1479 downregulated genes in wild-type inflorescence upon heat stress, among which one-quarter (1,040) was misregulated in spl1-1 spl12-1, indicating that SPL1 and SPL12 contribute greatly to the heat-triggered transcriptional reprogramming in inflorescence. Notably, heat stress induced a large number of abscisic acid (ABA) responsive genes, of which ∼39% were disturbed in heat induction in spl1-1 spl12-1 inflorescence. Preapplication of ABA and overexpression of SPL1 restored the inflorescence thermotolerance in spl1-1 spl12-1 and in the ABA biosynthesis mutant aba2-1, but not in the pyl sextuple mutant defective in ABA receptors PYR1/PYL1/PYL2/PYL4/PYL5/PYL8. Thus, inflorescence thermotolerance conferred by SPL1 and SPL2 involves PYL-mediated ABA signaling. The molecular network consisting of SPL1 and SPL12 illustrated here shed new light on the mechanisms of plant thermotolerance at the reproductive stage.

Immunity deteriorates with age in animals but comparatively little is known about the temporal regulation of plant resistance to herbivores. The phytohormone jasmonate (JA) is a key regulator of plant insect defense. Here, we show that the JA response decays progressively in Arabidopsis. We show that this decay is regulated by the miR156-targeted SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE9 (SPL9) group of proteins, which can interact with JA ZIM-domain (JAZ) proteins, including JAZ3. As SPL9 levels gradually increase, JAZ3 accumulates and the JA response is attenuated. We provide evidence that this pathway contributes to insect resistance in young plants. Interestingly however, despite the decay in JA response, older plants are still comparatively more resistant to both the lepidopteran generalist Helicoverpa armigera and the specialist Plutella xylostella, along with increased accumulation of glucosinolates. We propose a model whereby constitutive accumulation of defense compounds plays a role in compensating for age-related JA-response attenuation during plant maturation., Immunity deteriorates with age in animals but less is known about how aging affects immunity in plants. Here, Mao et al. show that responsiveness to the major insect defense hormone JA declines as plants age, but insect resistance still increases as plants accumulate secondary metabolites such as glucosinolates.