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Limited research exists regarding the relationship between fasting plasma C-peptide levels and sarcopenia. As a result, our study aimed to examine this association in elderly Chinese diabetic patients. This cross-sectional study included 288 elderly patients with diabetes mellitus from the Fourth People's Hospital in Guiyang who were enrolled prospectively between March 2020 and February 2023. The independent variable of interest was fasting plasma C-peptide, while the dependent variable was sarcopenia. Data on several covariates, including demographic factors, lifestyle habits, co-morbidities, anthropometric indicators, and laboratory indicators, were also collected. Of the 288 participants, 27.43% (79/288) had sarcopenia. After adjusting for potential confounding variables, we found a U-shaped association between fasting plasma C-peptide levels and sarcopenia, with inflection points identified at approximately 774 pmol/L and 939 mmol/L. Within the range of 50-744 pmol/L, each 100 pmol/L increase in CysC was associated with a 37% decrease in the odds of sarcopenia (odds ratio [OR], 0.63; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.49 to 0.83; P < 0.001). Additionally, within the range of 939-1694 pmol/L, each 100 pmol/L increase in fasting plasma C-peptide was associated with a 76% increase in the odds of sarcopenia (odds ratio [OR], 1.76; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.11 to 2.81; P = 0.017). Our study revealed a U-shaped association between fasting plasma C-peptide levels and the likelihood of sarcopenia, with lower risk in the range of 774-939 pmol/L. These findings may assist in the development of more effective prevention and treatment strategies for sarcopenia in elderly diabetic patients., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Chen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The rich genetic diversity in Citrullus lanatus and the other six species in the Citrullus genus provides important sources in watermelon breeding. Here, we present the Citrullus genus pan-genome based on the 400 Citrullus genus resequencing data, showing that 477 Mb contigs and 6249 protein-coding genes were absent in the Citrullus lanatus reference genome. In the Citrullus genus pan-genome, there are a total of 8795 (30.5%) genes that exhibit presence/absence variations (PAVs). Presence/absence variation (PAV) analysis showed that a lot of gene PAV were selected during the domestication and improvement, such as 53 favorable genes and 40 unfavorable genes were identified during the C. mucosospermus to C. lanatus landrace domestication. We also identified 661 resistance gene analogs (RGAs) in the Citrullus genus pan-genome, which contains 90 RGAs (89 variable and 1 core gene) located on the pangenome additional contigs. By gene PAV-based GWAS, 8 gene presence/absence variations were found associated with flesh color. Finally, based on the results of gene PAV selection analysis between watermelon populations with different fruit colors, we identified four non-reference candidate genes associated with carotenoid accumulation, which had a significantly higher frequency in the white flesh. These results will provide an important source for watermelon breeding., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Due to its rarity, the features and prognosis of giant cell carcinoma of the lung (GCCL) are not well defined. The present study aimed to describe the clinicopathological features and prognostic analysis of this rare disease, compare it with lung adenocarcinoma (LAC), further determine the prognostic factors and establish a nomogram., Methods: Patients diagnosed with GCCL and LAC were identified from the SEER database between 2004 and 2016. The features and survival between GCCL and LAC were compared in the unmatched and matched cohorts after propensity score matching (PSM) analysis. Univariate and multivariate Cox analyses were used to identify the prognostic factors, and a nomogram was constructed. Area under the curve (AUC), C-index, calibration curve and decision curve analysis (DCA) were used to confirm the established nomogram., Results: A total of 295 patient diagnosed with GCCL and 149 082 patients with LAC were identified. Compared with LAC, patients with GCCL tend to be younger, male, black and have pathological Grade III/IV GCCL, more proportion of AJCC-TNM-IV, T3/T4 and distant metastases. The 1-, 2- and 5-year OS rates of the patients with GCCL were 21.7%, 13.4% and 7.9%, respectively. The median OS and CSS were 3 and 4 months, respectively. Patients with GCCL had significantly shorter OS and CSS than those with LAC in the unmatched and matched cohorts after PSM. Multivariate Cox analysis demonstrated that T, N and M stages and use of chemotherapy and surgery were independent of survival. Furthermore, we constructed a prognostic nomogram for OS and CSS by using independent prognostic factors. The C-index of OS-specific nomogram is 0.78 (0.74-0.81), and the C-index of CSS-specific nomogram is 0.77 (0.73-0.80). The calibration curve and ROC analysis showed good predictive capability of these nomograms. DCA showed that the nomogram had greater clinical practical value in predicting the OS and CSS of GCCL than TNM staging., Conclusion: GCCL have distinct clinicopathological characteristics and significantly worse clinical outcomes. Prognostic nomograms for overall survival (OS) and CSS were constructed., (© 2023 The Authors. The Clinical Respiratory Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Pear ( Pyrus spp.) is one of the most common fruit crops grown in temperate regions worldwide. Genetic enhancement of fruit quality is a fundamental goal of pear breeding programs. The genetic control of pear fruit quality traits is highly quantitative, and development of high-density genetic maps can facilitate fine-mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and gene identification. Bin-mapping is a powerful method of constructing high-resolution genetic maps from large-scale genotyping datasets. We performed whole-genome sequencing of pear cultivars 'Niitaka' and 'Hongxiangsu' and their 176 F 1 progeny to identify genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers for constructing a high-density bin-map of pear. This analysis yielded a total of 1.93 million SNPs and a genetic bin-map of 3190 markers spanning 1358.5 cM, with an average adjacent interval of 0.43 cM. This bin-map, along with other high-density genetic maps in pear, improved the reference genome assembly from 75.5 to 83.7% by re-anchoring the scaffolds. A quantitative genetic analysis identified 148 QTLs for 18 fruit-related traits; among them, QTLs for stone cell content, several key monosaccharides, and fruit pulp acids were identified for the first time in pear. A gene expression analysis of six pear cultivars identified 399 candidates in the identified QTL regions, which showed expression specific to fruit developmental stages in pear. Finally, we confirmed the function of PbrtMT1, a tonoplast monosaccharide transporter-related gene responsible for the enhancement of fructose accumulation in pear fruit on linkage group 16, in a transient transformation experiment. This study provides genomic and genetic resources as well as potential candidate genes for fruit quality improvement in pear., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nanjing Agricultural University.)

Terpene synthase (TPS) catalyzes the synthesis of terpenes and plays an important role in plant defense. This study identified 45 OsTPS genes (32 core genes and 13 variable genes) based on the high-quality rice gene-based pan-genome. This indicates limitations in OsTPS gene studies based on a single reference genome. In the present study, through collinearity between multiple rice genomes, one OsTPS gene absent in the reference (Nipponbare) genome was found and two TPS genes in the reference genome were found to have atypical structures, which would have been ignored in single genome analysis. OsTPS genes were divided into five groups and TPS-b was lost according to the phylogenetic tree. OsTPSs in TPS-c and TPS-g were all core genes indicating these two groups were stable during domestication. In addition, through the analysis of transcriptome data, some structural variations were found to affect the expression of OsTPS genes. Through the Ka/Ks calculation of OsTPS genes, we found that different OsTPS genes were under different selection pressure during domestication; for example, OsTPS22 and OsTPS29 experienced stronger positive selection than the other OsTPS genes. After Chilo suppressalis larvae infesting, 25 differentially expressed OsTPS genes were identified, which are involved in the diterpene phytoalexins precursors biosynthesis and ent-kaurene biosynthesis pathways. Overall, the present study conducted a bioinformatics analysis of OsTPS genes using a high-quality rice pan-genome, which provided a basis for further study of OsTPS genes., Competing Interests: J-PN and X-DK were employed by the JiguangGene Biotechnology Co., Ltd. WW was employed by the Wuhu Qingyijiang Seed Industry Co., Ltd. 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. The reviewer LH declared a shared affiliation with the author Y-JZ to the handling editor at the time of review., (Copyright © 2022 Sun, Zhang, Kou, Han, Fang, Ni, Jiang, Wang, Zhang, Wang and Kong.)

Objective: The study was undertaken to determine the clinical effectiveness of percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) with unilateral balloon infusion of low dose of bone cement for treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs) in the elderly., Patients and Methods: A retrospective study was carried out. A total of 36 patients with OVCFs treated by PKP from August 2019 and August 2020 were included. Patients were divided into two groups according to the amount of bone cement infused into the vertebral body. The amount of cement in conventional-dose group was 3.5-6.0 mL and the amount of cement in small-dose group was 1.8-3.0 mL. Pain relief before and after the operation were evaluated, and the leakage of bone cement in the two groups was also observed., Results: Two groups of patients have obtained a good clinical efficacy. Pain has significant differences before and after the operation (p < 0.05). More importantly, compared with conventional-dose group, small-dose group has lower bone cement leakage rate (p < 0.05)., Conclusions: PKP with small-dose bone cement infusion can obtain the same clinical effects of conventional-dose, but the incidence of bone cement leakage is lower and safe.

In this study, a simple strategy to fabricate the cellulose aerogel with homogeneous porous structure and good compression strength properties has been demonstrated. The cellulose aerogel was simply prepared by adding styrene acrylic emulsion (SAE) to the TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofibrils (CNF), followed by freeze-drying and oven-heating, in which covalent bond between CNF and SAE was confirmed by FT-IR. Meanwhile, the regulation process of porous structure of cellulose aerogels was investigated by varying the properties of CNF, and the addition of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and SAE. The results demonstrated that the porous structure of cellulose aerogel was gradually improved with increasing carboxyl content of CNF. CMC could effectively increase in specific surface area of cellulose aerogel, achieving a more preferred porous structure due to the elimination of hornification. SAE could highly enhance the uniformity of structure with specific surface area up to 184 m 2 /g, porosity up to 99%, and successfully improve the strength properties, showing the fabricated cellulose aerogel as a potential cushion packaging material., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The hydrograph of Hanfeng Lake, which is the largest pre-dam of theThree Gorges Reservoir, varied between the fluvial stage and lake stage after the lake was officially operated, resulting in large shifts in the aquatic biogeochemical processes. To explore the spatial-temporal distribution of nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations and identify their influencing factors in Hanfeng Lake, seven sampling sites were set up to monitor the changes of nutrients and other water indicators at different water depths monthly from January to December 2018. The results showed that completely vertical mixing across water profiles was observed. The nutrient concentrations were not significantly different between the top, middle, and bottom water depths ( P >0.05). Total nitrogen concentration decreased from January to September but gradually increased from October to December, with a monthly average concentration of 1.52 mg·L -1 . NO 2 - -N concentration decreased in the first four months, increased sharply from May to June, and decreased from July to December with a monthly average concentration of 0.05 mg·L -1 . NO 3 - -N concentration gradually decreased from January to June, and gradually increased from July to December. NH 4 + -N concentration was the highest in July, with a concentration of 0.44 mg·L -1 , and the change in other months was not notable, with a monthly average concentration of 0.09 mg·L -1 . The concentrations of total phosphorus (TP), dissolved phosphorus, and soluble reactive phosphorus showed insignificant changes in trends throughout the year, with monthly average concentrations of 0.17 mg·L -1 , 0.11 mg·L -1 , and 0.05 mg·L -1 , respectively. The phosphate concentration was mainly sourced from the upstream Nan River and Taoxi River, and gradually decreased from upper Zhendong to the downstream regulating dam. Of these nutrients, TP was the key factor in the growth of algae in Hanfeng Lake.

Based on the pattern of citrus tree/stropharia mushrooms intercropping, returning-straw was used as the raw material for the stropharia mushrooms, and an in-situ experiment was conducted to monitor soil CO 2 emissions under different dosage of straw application during the stropharia growth period. Soil CO 2 emissions and the influencing factors were analyzed under different treatments of cultivated (HSM, ASM, and DSM) and uncultivated stropharia mushrooms (HS, AS, and DS). The mushroom yield and soil carbon emission efficiency (CEE) were used to provide a theoretical basis for improving the use of land under citrus orchards. The results showed that:① Straw return increased the cumulative CO 2 emissions compared with the control system (conventional planting, CK) and cumulative CO 2 emissions increased with the dosage of straw application. Cumulative CO 2 emissions from soil treated with cultivated stropharia mushrooms were higher than those from soil treated with uncultivated stropharia mushrooms, in the order of DSM (52.09 t·hm -2 ) > ASM (41.10 t·hm -2 ) > HSM (33.20 t·hm -2 ) > DS (27.15 t·hm -2 ) > AS (25.34 t·hm -2 ) > HS (18.94 t·hm -2 ) > CK (12.16 t·hm -2 ). Cumulative CO 2 emissions under the DSM treatment significantly increased by 328.37% compared with CK. ② For the treatment of cultivated stropharia mushrooms, peak soil CO 2 emissions occurred during the period of mycelium growth. The highest cumulative CO 2 emissions during this period were obtained under the DSM treatment and accounted for 43.27% of the total cumulative emissions. This was followed by ASM and HSM which accounted for 42.63% and 40.57% of emissions, respectively. ③ Cultivated stropharia mushrooms reduced the temperature sensitivity coefficient ( Q 10 ). The soil temperature (5 cm depth) had a significant effect on the soil CO 2 emission rate ( P <0.01) but soil moisture did not ( P >0.05). Soil temperature explained 27% to 71% of the variation in soil CO 2 emissions rates, and the two-factor fitting of soil temperature and soil moisture explained 36% to 82% of the variation. ④ For the treatment of cultivated stropharia mushrooms, the ranked yield of each treatment was DSM (49.7 t·hm -2 ) > ASM (47.0 t·hm -2 ) > HSM (23.3 t·hm -2 ), and ASM had the highest soil CEE (1.14). Therefore, under the system of citrus tree/stropharia mushroom intercropping, straw return can increase soil CO 2 emissions, with the highest emissions being obtained when a double dosage of straw was applied. However, the optimal amount of straw still needs to be determined in combination with changes in soil nutrients and crop yields.

Long-term field monitoring data was analyzed regarding the characteristics of nitrogen and phosphorus in the soil and shallow groundwater of different land use types in a typical small watershed of the Three Gorges Reservoir area. Furthermore, the relationships among soil nitrogen and phosphorus contents, concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in shallow groundwater, and slope surface runoff were analyzed. The results showed that the average contents of TN and NO 3 - -N in terrace soil were significantly higher than those in sloping upland soil ( P < 0.05), for which the average content of paddy terrace was highest (1.49 g·kg -1 ). The average contents of TP in the soil of sloping upland and mulberry-sloping upland were significantly higher than those in the soil of other land types. The average content of NO 3 - -N in the soil of dryland terrace was highest of all land use types and its discrete degree was also largest. The slope land use type had greater impact on the concentrations of TN and NO 3 - -N in shallow groundwater, but it had little influence on TP concentration. In addition, the shallow groundwater TN concentration and NO 3 - -N concentration had significant positive correlation, and the average contribution rate of NO 3 - -N to TN in five wells ranged from 67.82% to 78.51%. The monthly average concentration of TN and NO 3 - -N in shallow groundwater changed little, only showing a significant upward trend after the fertilization stage of the two crops in spring and autumn. The average contents of TN and NO 3 - -N in the slope soil were significantly correlated with the TN and NO 3 - -N concentrations in the shallow groundwater, but there was no significant correlation between the TN and NO 3 - -N concentrations in the surface runoff. When the slope surface runoff TP concentration was>0.1 mg·L -1 , the average content of TP had a significant linear correlation with it. There was a significant power function relationship between the concentrations of TN and NO 3 - -N in the surface runoff and concentrations of TN and NO 3 - -N in the shallow groundwater, with higher correlation of NO 3 - -N concentrations between surface runoff and shallow groundwater.

This paper used three plots of paddy field in Wangjiagou small catchment in Fuling District, Chongqing Municipality as a case study. Wangjiagou, located in Three Gorges Reservoir Area, provided a good case in terms of its closeness of surface runoff. The samples of individual rainfall of twelve times and process of two typical individual rainfalls on three plots of sloping paddy field were collected from 2014 to 2015. These samples were used to analyze the influence of spatial pattern of sloping paddy field on the concentration of nitrogen and phosphorus in the surface runoff. The samples of daily runoff in subcatchments in 2010 and 2015 were used to analyze the influence of spatial pattern change of subcatchments' paddy field on the concentration of nitrogen and phosphorus in the surface runoff. The results indicated that the removal rates of TN, NO 3 - -N and TP of paddy field at the valley bottom were higher than those in the mid-slopes. The removal rate of TP would be higher if plot size of paddy field at the bottom got bigger. During individual rainfall event, the losses concentration of TN, NO 3 - -N and TP in the paddy fields was significantly different among three different spatial patterns during the previous period of heavy rain event, but it became different during the next period of moderate rain event. The two subcatchments' spatial pattern change of paddy field had weakened the intercepting purification ability of nitrogen and phosphorus losses of paddy field in 2015, compared with that in 2010. TN's losses concentration increased significantly during the periods of light and moderate rain event and base flow. TP's losses concentration fluctuated during the event from moderate rain to heavy rain. Hence, increasing the area of paddy field of catchment and optimizing its spatial pattern reasonably were found as effective measures to control agricultural non-point source pollution in the Three Gorges Reservoir Region.

In order to study the efficiency and mechanism of capping with purple parent rocks to control phosphorus release from sediments, three kinds of purple parent rocks (Fei-xian-guan Formation, Peng-lai-zhen Formation and Sui-ning Formation) which distribute widely in Chongqing, and two types of rock (limestone and calcite) which have been found to effectively control the release of phosphorus from sediments, were selected as active covering materials to cap the sediments to conduct simulation experiment. The results indicated that: all three kinds of purple parent rocks showed strong inhibition of total phosphorus release from sediments to the overlying water, far better than limestone and calcite ( P <0.05), and the highest removal rate of total phosphorus was 94.4% in the disposal of Fei-xian-guan Formation. Those five kinds of covering materials could promote the release and transformation of total phosphorus in sediments, which could significantly promote the in situ conversion of OP to Ca-P, while the three kinds of purple parent rocks were more conducive to convert the released phosphorus into inorganic phosphorus and organic phosphorus. At the same time, those five kinds of covering materials could also change the microbial community structure in sediments and overlying water, and the numbers of bacteria (labeled as PLFA16:0) were significantly negatively correlated with the content of total phosphorus in the overlying water.

A strain of photosynthetic bacterium named psb1 capable of ammonia-nitrogen degradation was isolated from a swamp in Yunnan. The psb1 was similar to Rhodopseudomonas sp. according to its cell morphological properties and absorption spectrum analysis of living cells. The alignment result of 16S rDNA amplification sequence with specific primers of photosynthetic bacteria showed that the homology between strain psb1 and Rhodopseudomonas sp. was 99%, and the alignment results of protein sequences of bacterial chlorophyll Y subunit showed that the strain psb1 and Rhodopseudomonas palustris were the most similar, with a similarity of 99%. But there was a great difference in the biological properties of the strains psb1 and Rhodopseudomonas palustris according to physiological biochemical characteristics and main fatty acid analysis. For example, strain psb1 could not utilize glucose and mannitol as carbon source, and had specific fatty acid C 18:1ω6c . The results of single factor test showed that:the optimal growth was obtained at pH 7.0 and 40℃, the optimal nitrogen source was yeast extract. The optimal conditions for ammonia nitrogen biodegradation were as following:anaerobic, light, initial pH 6.0-7.0, temperature 30℃, inoculation volume 0.4%. Under that cultural condition, the degradation rate of ammonia nitrogen in wastewater could reach 99%. The results indicated that strain psb1 might be a novel bacterium in genus Rhodopseudomonas with high ammonia removal efficiency, and can be applied in the bioremediation of polluted landscape water.

As an independent water-collecting area, small catchment is the source of non-point source pollution in Three Gorges Region. Choosing 3 kinds of the most representative land-use types and using them to lay monitoring points of overland runoff within the small catchment of Wangjiagou in Fuling of Three Gorges Region, the author used the samples of surface runoff collected through the twelve natural rainfalls from May to December to analyze the feature of spatial-temporal change of Nitrogen's losses concentrations under the influence of different land use types and the hillslopes and small catchments composed by those land use types, revealing the relation between different land-use types and Nitrogen's losses of small catchments in Three Gorges Region. The result showed: the average losses concentration of TN showed the biggest difference for different land use types during the period of spring crops, and the average value of dry land was 1. 61 times and 6.73 times of the values of interplanting field of mulberry and paddy field, respectively; the change of the losses concentration of TN was most conspicuous in the 3 periods of paddy field. The main element was NO₃⁻-N, and the relation between TN and NO₃⁻-N showed a significant linear correlation. TN's and NO₃⁻-N's losses concentrations were significantly and positively correlated with the area ratio of corn and mustard, but got a significant negative correlation with the area ratio of paddy and mulberry; NH₄⁺-N's losses concentrations got a significant positive correlation with the area ratio of mustard. Among all the hillslopes composed by different land use types, TN's average losses concentration of surface runoff of the hillslope composed by interplantating field of mulberry and paddy land during the three periods was the lowest, and the values were 2.55, 11.52, 8.58 mg · L⁻¹, respectively; the hillslope of rotation plough land of corn and mustard had the maximum value, and the values were 27.51, 25.11, 27.11 mg · L⁻¹, respectively; different land use types and spatial combination ways of subcatchment had a greater influence on TN's losses concentrations, so using a reasonable way to adjust land use structure and spatial arrangement of whole catchment was an effective measure to control the source of non-point source pollution of Three Gorges Region.

High concentrations of ammonium, nitrate and nitrite nitrogen were employed to clarify the abilities of heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification of Arthrobacter arilaitensis strain Y-10. Meanwhile, by means of inoculating the strain suspension into the mixed ammonium and nitrate, ammonium and nitrite nitrogen simulated wastewater, we studied the simultaneous nitrification and denitrification ability of Arthrobacter arilaitensis strain Y-10. In addition, cell optical density was assayed in each nitrogen removal process to analyze the relationship of cell growth and nitrogen removal efficiency. The results showed that the hypothermia denitrification strain Arthrobacter arilaitensis Y-10 exhibited high nitrogen removal efficiency during heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification. The ammonium, nitrate and nitrite removal rates were 65.0%, 100% and 61.2% respectively when strain Y-10 was cultivated for 4 d at 15°C with initial ammonium, nitrate and nitrite nitrogen concentrations of 208.43 mg · L⁻¹, 201.16 mg · L⁻¹ and 194.33 mg · L⁻¹ and initial pH of 7.2. Nitrite nitrogen could only be accumulated in the medium containing nitrate nitrogen during heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification process. Additionally, the ammonium nitrogen was mainly removed in the inorganic nitrogen mixed synthetic wastewater. In short, Arthrobacter arilaitensis Y-10 could conduct nitrification and denitrification effectively under aerobic condition and the ammonium nitrogen removal rate was more than 80.0% in the inorganic nitrogen mixed synthetic wastewater.

Background: Anthranilic diamide insecticides containing pyridylpyrazole-5-carboxamide are extremely important in modern agriculture. New structurally modified compounds with high insecticidal activity were discovered by designing a series of novel pyridylpyrazole-4-carboxamides (9I to 9IV) and pyridylpyrazole-4-carboxamides (10I to 10IV), the latter designed by the cyclisation of two amides. The structure-activity relationship (SAR) between the two series is of interest., Results: Two series of novel anthranilic diamides containing pyridylpyrazole-4-carboxamide were synthesised and characterised via melting point, (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR, MS and elemental analyses. The insecticidal activities of these compounds against Plutella xylostella were evaluated. At a concentration of 100 mg L(-1), the compounds with unmodified amide moieties (9I to 9IV) exhibited much better larvicidal activities than the other derivative compounds (10I to 10IV). Most of the compounds 9I to 9IV showed over 90% larvicidal activity at 100 mg L(-1). Furthermore, compounds 9IIIa, 9IIIc, 9IIId and 9IVd displayed significant insecticidal activity at 10 mg L(-1). Density functional theory (DFT) calculation was carried out to provide more information regarding SAR., Conclusion: Thirty-two new anthranlic diamides containing pyridylpyrazole-4-carboxamide were designed and obtained. SAR analysis and DFT calculation results revealed that the amide moiety had a very important effect on bioactivity. This work has provided information that could aid investigations of novel insecticides., (© 2014 Society of Chemical Industry.)

The existing forms of phosphorus in seven organic waste materials including biogas residues of swine manure (ZZ), biogas residues of cattle manure (NZ), compost of cattle manure and corn straw (NJD), compost of sewage sludge (WD) and compost of rural daily garbage (NSLD) were characterized according to phosphorus fractionation procedures developed by DOU et al. The result showed that there was a great difference in the total phosphorus (TP) and the total phosphorus of various forms (P(t)) among different organic materials. ZZ had the highest content of TP with the value of 23.59 g x kg(-1); while NZ had the lowest TP content with the value of 3.61 g x kg(-1). The contents and proportions of phosphorus fractions in ZZ, NZ, NJD and WD followed the order of HCl-P > Residues-P > NaHCO3-P > NaOH-P > H2O-P, while followed the order of HC1-P > Residues-P > H2O-P > NaHCO3-P > NaOH-P in the three NSLDs. The proportion of HCl-P in the total fractionated phosphorus (P(tt)) in seven organic materials ranged from 47.75% to 84.96%, which indicated that most of P in organic materials existed in the forms that were easier to be extracted by strong extracting agents like HCl, which was difficult to be absorbed by plants. The inorganic phosphorus accounted for 79.72% -94.76% of the total phosphorus in the organic materials. Of all the phosphorus forms, the NaHCO3-P had the highest inorganic phosphorus fractions, but the inorganic phosphorus was mainly distributed in HCl-P. The organic phosphorus was mainly distributed in HCl-P and Residues-P. In addition, the higher proportions of inorganic phosphorus in NJD than those of NZ demonstrated that the composting process was benefit for the mineralization of organic phosphorus in organic materials and thus improving its availability.

In order to determine the challenge dose of pigeon paramyxovirus type 1 (PPMV-1) inactivated vaccine (S-1 strain). The virus titer of PPMV-1 E5 allantoic fluid (Chuansha strain) was determined using SPF chicken embryos in this research. After inoculating 30-day-old and 120-day-old pigeons with low-HI antibody against PPMV-1 (HI antibody < or =2) with different doses of PPMV-1 (Chuansha strain), the clinical symptoms and histopathological lesions of the challenged pigeons were examined. The results showed that the minimal lethal dose (MLD) of PPMV-1 (Chuansha strain) was 102.5 ELD50, so we determined that 10(5.5) ELD50, which was 1000 times the MLD, could be taken as the challenge dose in the vaccine efficacy test for PPMV-1 inactivated vaccine (S-1 strain).

Objective: To discuss surgical procedures and curative effect of ankylosing spondylitis with cervical spine fracture., Methods: From January 2003 to October 2011, 8 patients with ankylosing spondylitis with cervical spine fracture were respectively treated by surgical treatment (7 cases) and conservative treatment (1 case), 8 cases were male with an average of age 41 years old (ranged, 27 to 49). All patients were confirmed by CT and MRI,and 6 cases combined with spinal cord injury. One case was treated with skull-neck-thorax model, 7 cases were treated by surgery. The procedures included anterior approach (5 cases), posterior approach (1 case), and combined anteroposterior approach (1 case). Fracture fusion condition were evaluated according to CT at the final following up, improvement of spinal cord injury were assessed according to Frankel classification., Results: Eight patients were followed up from 4 to 38 months with an average of 34 months. Seven cases obtained bone healing, 3 patients without spinal cord injury remained intact after operation, 5 patients with spinal cord injury improved at different degree after operation. Frankel classification of 7 patients were improved 1 degree, and 1 case delayed union for following up., Conclusion: Ankylosing spondylitis with cervical spine fracture is a special kind of trauma, which have a high rate of neurological deficits. Surgery should be performed as early as possible, and procedures were chosen depending on particular case.

Based on a long-term experiment of using hedgerow to control soil and water loss, this paper studied the composition and stability of soil aggregates in a hedgerow-crop slope land. Compared with those under routine contour cropping, the contents of > 0.25 mm soil mechanical-stable and water-stable aggregates under the complex mode hedgerow-crop increased significantly by 13.3%-16.1% and 37.8% -55.6%, respectively. Under the complex mode, the contents of > 0.25 mm soil water-stable aggregates on each slope position increased obviously, and the status of > 0.25 mm soil water-stable aggregates being relatively rich at low slope and poor at top slope was improved. Planting hedgerow could significantly increase the mean mass diameter and geometric mean diameter of soil aggregates, decrease the fractal dimension of soil aggregates and the destruction rate of > 0.25 mm soil aggregates, and thus, increase the stability and erosion-resistance of soil aggregates in slope cropland. No significant effects of slope and hedgerow types were observed on the composition, stability and distribution of soil aggregates.

Background: Phthalic acid diamide derivatives are among the most important classes of synthetic insecticides. In this study, a 3,3-dichloro-2-propenyloxy group, the essential active group of pyridalyl derivatives, was incorporated into phthalic acid diamide derivatives with the aim of combining the active groups to generate more potent insecticides., Results: Thirty-one new phthalic acid diamides were obtained, and these were characterised by (1) H and (13) C NMR. The structure of N(2) -[1,1-dimethyl-2-(methoxy)ethyl]-3-iodo-N(1) -[4-(3,3-dichloro-2-propenyloxy)-3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-1,2-benzenedicarboxamide was determined by X-ray diffraction crystallography. The insecticidal activities of the compounds against Plutella xylostella were evaluated. The title compounds exhibited excellent larvicidal activities against P. xylostella. Structure-activity relationships revealed that varying the combination of aliphatic amide and aromatic amide moieties, or the nature and position of substituent Y on the aniline ring, could aid the design of structures with superior performance., Conclusion: A series of novel phthalic acid diamides containing a 3,3-dichloro-2-propenyloxy group at the 4-position of the aniline ring were designed and synthesised. Structure-activity relationships with the parent structure provided information that could direct further investigation on structure modification., (Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry.)

Phthalic acid diamides have received considerable interest in agricultural chemistry due to a novel action mode, extremely high activity against a broad spectrum of lepidopterous insects, low acute toxicity to mammals, and environmentally benign characteristics. A series of phthalic acid diamides (4I-4IV) with the CF3 group at meta position on the aniline ring were synthesized. Their structures were characterized by (1)H NMR and (13)C NMR (or elemental analysis). The structure of N(2)-[1,1-dimethyl-2-(methylthio)ethyl]-3-iodo-N(1)-[3-fluoro-5-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-1,2-benzenedicarboxamide (4If) was determined by X-ray diffraction crystallography. Their insecticidal activities against Plutella xylostella were evaluated. The results show that some of the title compounds exhibit excellent larvicidal activities against P. xylostella, and improvement in larvicidal activity requires a reasonable combination of substituents in the parent structure, which provides some hints for further investigation on structure modification.

Chloropyridinyl neonicotinoid insecticides play a major role in crop protection and flea control on cats and dogs. Imidacloprid, thiacloprid and acetamiprid have in common the 6-chloro-3-pyridinylmethyl group but differ in the nitroguanidine or cyanoamidine substituent on an acyclic or cyclic moiety. Our previous study found that Stenotrophomonas maltophilia CGMCC 1.1788 could hydroxylate imidacloprid to 5-hydroxy imidacloprid, and 5-hydroxy imidacloprid was easily converted to 10-19 times higher insecticidal olefin imidacloprid against aphid or whitefly. Acetamiprid could be transformed by S. maltophilia to form N-demethylation product(IM 2-1). In this paper, we examined S. maltophilia CGMCC 1.1788's ability of transformation of thiacloprid. S. maltophilia CGMCC 1.1788 can hydroxylate thiacloprid to 4-hydroxy thiacloprid characterized by HPLC-MS/MS and NMR analysis, however 4-hydroxy thiacloprid could not be converted to olefin thiacloprid under acid conditions like imidacloprid, whereas oxidized and decyonated simultaneously to form 4-ketone thiacloprid imine in alkaline solution. Bioassays indicated that 4-hydroxy thiacloprid had 156 times lower insecticidal activity than thiacloprid, and the ketone-imine derivative almost had no toxicity towards aphid. Though both imidacloprid and thiacloprid are hydroxylated by S. maltophilia CGMCC 1.1788 at the same carbon atom position, however the structural difference between in imidacloprid and thiacloprid, originate the entire discrepancy in bioefficacy of metabolite and its further degrading pathway. These results explain that why thiacloprid is classified as not relevant grade for soil and seed applications, whereas imidacloprid is recommended and acetamiprid is limited.

Our previous study found that Stenotrophomonas maltophilia CGMCC 1.1788 could hydroxylate imidacloprid (IMI) to 5-hydroxy IMI. Here we first report that S. maltophilia CGMCC 1.1788 can demethylate acetamiprid (AAP) to form IM 2-1 that was characterized by HPLC-MS/MS and NMR. IM 2-1 retained only 10.5% contact activity and 13.1% oral activity of AAP against horsebean aphid. Time course of biotransformation under existing of sucrose revealed that 58.9% of AAP disappeared, but only 16.7% of reduced AAP was transformed to IM 2-1, after 8 days. Both demethylation and degradation of AAP contribute to the weak bioefficacy of AAP in soil application. The differences in metabolism and detoxification pathways between AAP and IMI are probably originated from the structural differences of these insecticides.

Microorganisms that bring about the aerobic transformation of imidacloprid (IMI) were isolated and screened, and the microbial regio- and stereoselective hydroxylation of IMI was studied. Some bacteria and fungi transformed IMI to 5-hydroxyl IMI. Bacterium Stenotrophomonas maltophilia CGMCC 1.1788 resting cells transformed IMI into R-5-hydroxyl IMI at the highest conversion rate. The enzyme catalyzed the stereoselective hydroxylation at position C12 of IMI in the imidazolidine ring. Under acidic conditions, 5-hydroxyl IMI was converted into olefin IMI in high molar conversion yield. The olefin IMI exhibited about 19 and 2.2 times more insecticidal efficacy than IMI against horsebean aphid imago and nymph, respectively, and about 1.4 times more active than IMI against brown planthopper imago. The transformation rate of IMI by resting cells of S. maltophilia CGMCC 1.1788 was promoted significantly by some carbohydrates and organic acids. The reaction medium with 5% sucrose resulted in 8.3 times greater biotransformation yield as compared with that without sucrose.