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An imbalance of the gut microbiota, termed dysbiosis, has a substantial impact on host physiology. However, the mechanism by which host deals with gut dysbiosis to maintain fitness remains largely unknown. InC. elegans,E. coli, which is its bacterial diets, proliferates in its intestinal lumen during aging. Here, we demonstrate that progressive intestinal proliferation ofE. coliactivates the transcription factor DAF-16, which is required for maintenance of longevity and organismal fitness in worms with age. DAF-16 up-regulates two lysozymeslys-7andlys-8, thus limiting the bacterial accumulation in the gut of worms during aging. During dysbiosis, the levels of indole produced byE. coliare increased in worms. Indole is involved in the activation of DAF-16 by TRPA-1 in neurons of worms. Our finding demonstrates that indole functions as a microbial signal of gut dysbiosis to promote fitness of the host.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant challenges for energy transition. Concerns about the overwhelming emphasis on economic recovery at the cost of energy transition progress have been raised worldwide. More voices are calling for “green” recovery scheme, which recovers the economy while not compromising on the environment. However, limited academic attention has been paid to comprehensively investigating the implications of COVID-19 for global energy transition. This study thus provides a comprehensive analysis of the dynamics between energy transition and COVID-19 around the world and proposes a low-carbon energy transition roadmap in the post-pandemic era. Using energy data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), we first summarized and reviewed the progress of energy transition prior to COVID-19. Building on prior progress, we identified the challenges for energy transition during the pandemic from the perspectives of government support, fossil fuel divestment, renewable energy production capacity, global supply chain, and energy poverty. However, the pandemic also generates opportunities for global energy transition. We hence also identified potential opportunities for energy transition presented by the pandemic from the perspectives of price competitiveness, policy implementation efficiency, and renewable energy strengths. We further provided an in-depth discussion on the impact of current worldwide economic recovery stimulus on energy transition. Based on the identified challenges and opportunities, we proposed the post-pandemic energy transition roadmap in terms of broadening green financing instruments, strengthening international cooperation, and enhancing green recovery plans. Our study sheds light on a global low-carbon energy transition framework and has practical implications for green recovery schemes in post-pandemic times.

Denitrification, as both origins and sinks of N

Objective To investigate whether visceral metastases have a significant impact on survival in patients with metastasis‐related spinal cord compression (MSCC), and to determine the difference in prognosis between patients with and without visceral metastases. Methods Three institutional databases were searched to identify all patients who had undergone spinal surgery for spinal metastases between March 2002 and June 2010. Data on patient characteristics including pre‐ and post‐operative medical conditions, were collected from medical records or by telephone follow‐up. Survival data were obtained either from medical records or by searching a governmental cancer registry. Results The mean age of study patients was 59.6 ± 10.5 years (range, 18–84 years), of whom 102 were male and 67 female. The median and mean postoperative survival times were 7.0 ± 0.5 (95% CI 6.0–8.0) months and 12.6 ± 1.2 (95% CI 10.1–15.0) months, respectively, in all patients, being 5.0 ± 0.5 (95% CI 4.0–6.0) months and 10.8 ± 2.4 (95% CI 6.1–15.5) months, respectively, for patients with visceral metastases and 7.0 ± 0.8 (95% CI 5.4–8.6) months and 13.0 ± 1.4 (95%CI 10.3–15.6) months, respectively, for patients without visceral metastases (P = 0.87). These survival times did not differ significantly between groups. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regressions showed that visceral metastases had no statistically significant association with survival (P = 0.277), whereas rate of growth of primary tumor (P = 0.003), preoperative Karnofsky performance status (KPS) (P

To increase crops yields, applying large amounts of fertilizers has become increasingly common in agricultural regions, resulting in NO

Environmental finance has gained considerable attention globally as an emerging interdisciplinary research area.This study uses bibliometric analysis to systematically review major studies on environmental finance-relatedareas published since the 1970s. Through a bibliometric analysis of 892 environmental finance-related articlessourced from the Web of Science database, we identified the main research streams and illustrated the trendingresearch themes of environmental finance. We find that publications related to environmental finance haveincreased exponentially over the past decade. Current research streams include corporate and social re-sponsibility (CSR), climate negotiations, natural gas price volatility, national policy, and cost comparisons.Further analysis of the recent five years of literature shows that emerging research topics include climate finance,sustainable finance, firm value, climate risk, and green bonds. Finally, we conclude with a future research agendafor environmental finance.

In North China, high levels of N fertilizer and irrigation water are used in fields, which cause considerable N2O fluxes via several pathways, especially anaerobic denitrification. Anaerobic denitrification is regarded as an important microbial process for N2O production in soils with a low O2 level and high N and labile C availability (the typical soil conditions caused by high levels of N fertilizer and irrigation water in the field). We conducted an anaerobic incubation experiment to determine the impact of soil acidification (with a series of soil pH levels, pH 6.2, pH 7.1, and pH 8.7) on N2O source partitioning with the addition of KNO3 and glucose. Natural abundance isotope techniques and gas inhibitor technique were applied to analyze the N2O flux derived from fungal denitrification and bacterial denitrification and its isotopocule characteristics emitted from soils after the addition of NO- 3 and glucose. A mapping approach was used to obtain further insight into the N2O production processes. Our findings confirmed that soil pH strongly controlled the N2O production and reduction rates of denitrification. Soil acidification significantly increased N2O emissions varied from 0.76 mg N kg-1 for natural soil (pH 8.7), to 1.88 mg N kg-1 for pH 7.1, and to 2.35 mg N kg-1 for pH 6.2, and had a blockage effect on the reduction of N2O to N2. The addition of carbon sources promoted complete denitrification. We assumed a higher contribution of fungal denitrification to N2O production compared to total N2O emission associated with acidified soil. A promotion of the contribution of fungal denitrification-derived N2O was indeed observed with decreasing pH, increasing from 0.28 mg N kg-1 for pH 8.7 to 0.94 mg N kg-1 for pH 6.2. The addition of glucose further increased the contribution of fungal denitrification to N2O production from 0.99 mg N kg-1 for pH 8.7 to 3.66 mg N kg-1 for pH 6.2. The mapping approach provided rational results for correcting N2O reduction compared with the acetylene inhibition method. The results calculated by both methods indicated a reasonably large contribution of fungal denitrification to total N2O production in acidified soils.

Background: Fenofibrate is a peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha agonist, which is widely used in clinical practice to effectively ameliorates the development of NAFLD. However, the molecular mechanism remains largely unknown, the present study aimed to investigate the role and specific mechanism of fenofibrate on lipid metabolism disorders associated diseases.Methods: The male C57BL6/J mice were divided into 3 groups, the mice in control group (n=10) were fed with normal chow diet, and the mice in HFD-fed group (n =10) were fed with a high fat diet (HFD) for 14 weeks. For the fenofibrate +HFD-fed group (n =10), the mice fed HFD were orally gavaged with fenofibrate (40 mg/kg) daily for the last 4 weeks. Body weight and hip width were measured. Macrosteatosis and fat deposition in the liver were measured by H&E staining and Oil red O staining individually. The levels of serum and hepatic triglyceride were measured, and HOMA-IR, HOMA-ISI were analyzed. The levels of SCD-1, Bip, CHOP and SERCA2b were measured by western blotting. The expression of let-7 were analyzed by qPCR, and the complementarity between the 3′-UTR of SERCA2b gene and let-7 was measured by luciferase reporter assay.Results: Fenofibrate reduces hepatic steatosis and insulin resistance in HFD-fed mice. Fnofibrate alleviates endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress) of mice fed a high fat diet (HFD). Fenofibrate increases the levels of Sarco-endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase 2b (SERCA2b) which serves as a regulator of ER stress. Further, the levels of let-7 microRNA is also regulated by fenofibrate, and let-7 directly targets 3’-UTR of SERCA2b. Conclusion: The present data suggests that fenofibrate alleviates ER stress through the let-7/SERCA2b axis to protect against excessive lipid accumulation in the liver of Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) mice.

The detection of metal ions and amino acids by the aniline oligomer-based receptor has not been reported yet, to the best of our knowledge. In this study, an efficient multifunctional cation-amino acid sensor (CAS) with aniline moiety and chiral thiourea binding site was synthesized by the reaction of aniline trimer and (S)-(+)-1-phenyl ethyl isothiocyanate. CAS can sense Fe

Approximately 85% of a single administered dose of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) will be degraded by dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DYPD). Studies have highlighted a link between the complete or partial loss of DYPD function and clinical responses to 5-FU; however, the underlying molecular basis of DPD deficiency remains poorly understood. Hence, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevailing hypothesis which suggests that overexpression of LINC00261 possesses the ability to modulate the methylation-dependent repression of DPYD, ultimately resulting in an elevation of the sensitivity of human esophageal cancer cells to 5-FU. LINC00261 levels were initially quantified, followed by analysis of DYPD methylation within the cancerous tissues collected from 75 patients diagnosed with esophageal cancer undergoing 5-FU-based adjuvant chemotherapy. In an attempt to determine the levels of LINC00261 related to the esophageal cancer cell resistance to 5-FU and to identify the interaction between the levels of LINC00261 and methylation of the DYPD promoter, esophageal cancer cells TE-1 and -5 were prepared, in which LINC00261 and the 5-FU-resistant TE-1 and -5 cells were overexpressed. The levels of LINC00261 were reduced among the cancerous tissues obtained from patients exhibiting resistance to 5-FU. Overexpression of LINC00261 was determined to dramatically inhibit proliferation and resistance to apoptosis among 5-FU-resistant TE-1 and -5 cells, whereas silencing of LINC00261 was determined to enhance proliferation and resistance to apoptosis among the TE-1 and -5 cells. DPYD, a confirmed target of LINC00261, displayed a greater incidence of DNA methylation among patient's sensitive to 5-FU. A key finding revealed that overexpressed LINC00261 could increase the methylation of the DPYD promoter through the recruitment of DNA methyltransferase (DNMT), which, in turn, acts to decrease DPYD activity in 5-FU-resistant TE-1 cells, whereas a reversible change was recorded once the demethylation reagent 5-aza-2'-deoxyctidine was employed to treat the 5-FU-resistant TE-1 cells. Taken together, the results of the study provided evidence emphasizing the distinct antitumor ability of LINC00261 in cases of esophageal cancer, which was manifested by overexpression of LINC00261 detected to increase the sensitivity of human esophageal cancer cells to 5-FU by mediating methylation-dependent repression of DPYD. Our study highlighted the potential of LINC00261 as a novel target capable of improving the chemotherapeutic response and survival of patients with esophageal cancer.-Lin, K., Jiang, H., Zhuang, S.-S., Qin, Y.-S., Qiu, G.-D., She, Y.-Q., Zheng, J.-T., Chen, C., Fang, L., Zhang, S.-Y. Long noncoding RNA LINC00261 induces chemosensitization to 5-fluorouracil by mediating methylation-dependent repression of DPYD in human esophageal cancer.

Organic and inorganic fertilizers are major sources of N2O emission in vegetable field and their combined applications are recommended in China. However, the microbial processes for N2O production and consumption after combined applications of organic and inorganic fertilizers to vegetable field remain unclear making the optimal fertilization scheme less accurate. To address this issue, five substitution rates of organic fertilizer for inorganic fertilizer including 0 (0M), 20 (20M), 50 (50M), 80 (80M), and 100% (100M) and a no fertilizer control (NF) were evaluated on Chinese cabbage (Brassica pekinensis L. var). N2O fluxes, N2O isotopocule ratios, Chinese cabbage yield and environmental parameters were measured. According to the revised dual isotopocule mapping of δ18O vs. δ15NSP (difference value of 15N in Nα–Nβ–O molecule site preference), the nitrification contribution for the 100M, 80M, 50M, 20M, 0M and NF treatments were 41, 28, 33, 34, 39, and 37%, respectively, and the extent of N2O reduction were 74, 67, 48, 35, 11, and 78%, respectively. Such results suggest that denitrification was the major microbial process and was promoted by adding organic fertilizer. Increasing the substitution rates of organic fertilizer improved the extent of N2O reduction and thus mitigated N2O emission. In addition, increasing the substitution rates of organic fertilizer improved C/N ratio and N2O isotopocule deltas, yet reduced N2O emission, Chinese cabbage yield, and soil mineral nitrogen content. In all the evaluated substitution rates, the 20M treatment had the best performance in maintaining the Chinese cabbage yield and reducing the N2O emission. These findings reveal that the dual double isotopocule mapping is useful for partitioning N2O source and sink on a field scale. Adding organic fertilizer could reduce N2O emission by enhancing N2O reduction to N2 and the 20% substitution rate of organic fertilizer is the appropriate substitution rate. Furthermore, an optimal substitution rate of organic fertilizer should be explored between 20% and 50% in later studies.

AIM To investigate the inhibitory effect of Liuwei Dihuang Pill (LDP) on gastric tumorigenesis induced by N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU) in diabetic mice. METHODS Four-week-old mice were divided into four groups: A, 12 db/m mice treated with MNU and saline, as the non-diabetic control; B, 12 db/db mice treated with MNU and saline, as the diabetic control; C, 12 db/db mice treated with MNU and metformin, as the positive control; and D, 12 db/db mice treated with MNU and LDP. MNU was administrated for 20 wk to induce gastric carcinogenesis. LDP was administrated for 10 wk for improvement of insulin resistance. Body weight and food intake were measured every week. Blood samples were collected for assays of fasting blood glucose, insulin, insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1, adiponectin and leptin. Stomach tissues were collected for histopathological analysis, immunohistochemical staining of Ki67, quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blotting. RESULTS The incidence of MNU-induced gastric dysplasia was significantly elevated in diabetic (db/db) mice relative to the control (db/m) mice. The incidence of gastric dysplasia was significantly reduced by LDP with suppression of cell proliferation, as demonstrated by a decrease in Ki67 staining. Hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia and serum IGF-1 were inhibited by LDP. Expression of IGF-1 and insulin receptor mRNAs was decreased, phosphorylation of IGF-1 receptor and AKT protein was reduced in the stomach tissues by LDP. In addition, adiponectin was increased and leptin was decreased in the serum by LDP. CONCLUSION LDP decreased risk of gastric dysplasia in type 2 diabetic mice by down-regulation of IGF and insulin activity and correction of adipokines disorders.

Objective To report the results of the posterior approach for thoracic ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament (TOPLL) by using a special “L” osteotome. Methods The present study enrolled 16 consecutive patients (9 men and 7 women) between May 2009 and September 2013. All patients underwent a posterior circumferential decompression osteotomy and segmental instrumentation with interbody fusion. The mean age at surgery was 57.3 years (range, 37–68 years). Patients’ data, clinical manifestation, blood loss, length of surgery, complications, visual analog scale (VAS), Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA), and Frankel grading system before and after surgery were collected and evaluated, retrospectively. Results The average follow-up period was 30 ± 19 months (range, 12–50 months). All patients were successfully treated with posterior compression and segmental instrumentation with interbody fusion. The average operation time was 261.6 ± 51.3 min (range, 190–310 min). The mean blood loss was 980.3 ± 370.5 mL (range, 600–2100 mL). All patients had subjective improvement of motor power and gait. Average preoperative and postoperative JOA scores were 4.2 ± 1.7 and 7.8 ± 2.5 points, respectively. Differences in the overall JOA scores showed significant postoperative improvement. At the last follow-up, all patients improved either by one or two Frankel grades. There was a significant difference between preoperative VAS scores and those 3 months after surgery (P 0.05). Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage occurred in 3 patients. Acute neurological deterioration was encountered postoperatively in 1 patient. Conclusion Treatment with posterior transpedicular osteotomy and circumferential decompression was found to be safe, effective, reliable, and technically feasible, and keeping the thoracic cavity intact avoids many shortcomings of anterior surgery and results in a satisfactory spinal decompression.

Nitrogen (N) fertilizer is the major deriver of nitrous oxide (N

Agricultural non-point contaminants are the main source of groundwater nitrate in China. The source and transformation of groundwater nitrate in the intensive agricultural region must be understood. To elucidate the overall groundwater nitrate situation in Weifang (a typical representative intensive planting area), groundwater was sampled in 2009 and 2019, respectively. The hydrochemical compositions, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopes were measured to trace the source and transformation of the nitrate and quantify the proportional contribution of nitrate sources of groundwater (including sewage and manure (M&S), soil nitrogen (SN), chemical fertilizer (CF), and atmospheric deposition (AD)) in Weifang, China. The concentration of nitrates in groundwater generally decreased, and the groundwater quality improved significantly. The reasons for the variation of nitrate sources between 2009 and 2019 were likely due to the reduction in the amount of fertilizer, the number of livestock and the area of agricultural land. Land-use affected the concentration of nitrates in groundwater, which ranked as follows: vegetable greenhouse (VG) > winter wheat (WW) > drinking and domestic water (DW). Nitrification was the main process in the study area, and the effect of denitrification was weak. The study area was affected by mixed CF, SN, and M&S contaminants. According to the Bayesian isotope mixing model (SIAR), the proportional contribution of each source was ranked as follows: M&S (65.09%) > SN (17.97%) > AD (9.32%) > CF (7.63%). M&S is the main source of NO3−. In this research, identifying the source of nitrate pollution can cut off the source of pollution in a targeted way, ensure the safety of groundwater in Weifang and protect the agricultural environment of intensive agricultural area, which has significance for nitrate prevention and control in other places.

To determine serum activities of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) as a marker in diagnosis and determine the severity of Alzheimer's disease (AD), METHODS: We measured serum ACE activities in 59 moderate-severe AD, 19 mild AD, 45 amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and 39 controls.We found that patients in moderate-severe AD stages showed significantly higher ACE in comparison to aMCI and controls (ANOVA, LSD post hoc test: p: 0.02 and p: 0.01, respectively). Logistic regression analysis showed that if ACE activities added 200 U/L, the superiority of AD risk was 1.18 times higher than before compared with the control group (OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.01-1.74; P=0.49). By means of multivariate linear regression analysis, we found that age (β coefficient: 7.77; P: 0.01) was significantly associated with ACE activities. However, ACE activities were found to be significantly negatively associated with measures of orientation and immediate recall among the AD patients (r0, P0.05), whereas ACE activities were not associated with any MMSE scores among the non-AD groups (P0.05).uuuu CONCLUSIONS: ACE serum activity that correlates with age is likely to constitute a potential risk factor for the development of AD. ACE serum activity might be a useful biomarker for disease status with increasingly high ACE from mild stage to moderate-severe stage. Moreover, patients with aMCI could take ACE inhibitor (ACEI) to decrease the incidence of AD, and patients with AD could take ACEI to retard cognitive decline in early AD.

A quantitative meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the association of renin-angiotensin system blockade (RASB) use with the incidence of cognitive impairment of aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Pubmed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were searched up to October 2015. Ten studies that assessed the relationship between RASB use and the incidence of cognitive impairment of aging or AD were included. When randomized trials and observational studies were combined, the use of RASB was significantly associated with a reduced risk of AD (risk ratio [RR], 0.80; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.68-0.92) and cognitive impairment of aging (RR, 0.65; 95% CI 0.35-0.94) compared no use of RASB. Meanwhile, in an analysis of subgroups, both subjects with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) and angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) use were lower incidence of AD (RR, 0.87; 95% CI 0.74-1.00; RR, 0.69; 95% CI 0.44-0.93, respectively) than those without, whereas, indirect comparison between ACEI and ARB revealed no significance in the risk of AD (RR, 1.27, 95% CI 0.85-1.89, p=0.245). In an analysis of cognitive impairment of aging, ARB use (RR, 0.40; 95% CI 0.02-0.78), rather than ACEI use (RR, 0.72; 95% CI 0.36-1.09), was shown to decrease the risk of cognitive impairment of aging. In conclusion, RASB treatments, regardless of the drug class, have benefits on prevention of AD, and the effects of ACEI may analogous to ARB. However, the benefit differs according to drug classes for cognitive impairment of aging, with ARB use, rather than ACEI use, being a potential treatment for reducing the incidence of cognitive impairment of aging.

Objective To investigate the effects of Polygoni Cuspidati Rhizoma et Radix (PCRR) and its ingredient resveratrol (Res) on experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis (EAMG). Methods EAMG was induced in Lewis rats by the immunization of a synthetic peptide corresponding to region 97–116 of the rat acetylcholine receptor (AChR) α subunit (R97-116). EAMG rats were randomly divided into PCRR group, Res group, and control (C) group, and were ig administered respectively with PCRR (2 g/kg), Res (20 mg/kg), and DMSO (0.4 mL/kg) every day from day 5 after immunization to day 42. Clinical evaluation, lymphocyte proliferation, cytokines, and anti-97-116 antibodies were performed for examination of their therapeutic effects. Results Treatments with PCRR and Res significantly ameliorated clinical symptoms, down-regulated TNF-α and up-regulated IL-10 in serum and culture supernatants of lymphocytes stimulated with R97-116, and decreased levels of anti-R97-116 IgG1 and IgG2a in serum compared with C group. Unexpectedly, PCRR but not Res inhibited lymphocyte proliferation compared with C group. Conclusion PCRR and Res ameliorating EAMG is associated with suppressing immune response, and indicates a therapeutic potential for EAMG and even human myasthenia gravis (MG). Res may be the main effective ingredient from PCRR ameliorating EAMG, but further experiments are necessary.

The detection of metal ions and amino acids by the aniline oligomer-based receptor has not been reported yet, to the best of our knowledge. In this study, an efficient multifunctional cation-amino acid sensor (CAS) with aniline moiety and chiral thiourea binding site was synthesized by the reaction of aniline trimer and (S)-(+)-1-phenyl ethyl isothiocyanate. CAS can sense Fe3+, Cu2+, Ag+ ions, and L-tryptophan. These results can be recognized by the naked eye. The appropriate pH range for the quantitative analysis of Fe3+, Cu2+, and Ag+ by CAS in DMSO/water (30 vol% water) was evaluated. The interaction between CCS and metal ions was analyzed by 1H NMR titration. The detection limits of CAS for the Cu2+, Ag+, and Fe3+ were 0.214, 0.099, and 0.147 μM, respectively. Moreover, the CAS Cu2+ complex can act as a turn-on fluorescence sensor for L-tryptophan. On the contrary, there is no response upon the addition of other amino acids, such as L-histidine, L-proline, L-phenylalanine, L-threonine, L-methionine, L-tyrosine, and L-cystine to CAS Cu2+ complex.

The quantification of N2O reduction during denitrification is crucial to take measures reducing N2O emissions from arable soils. The analysis of site specific N2O isotopic composition may help to quantify the pathway of N2O reduction to N2 during denitrification process. In manure-amended soil (chicken manure, cow manure and sheep manure), N2O reduction was evaluated by examining the N2O emissions in the presence of acetylene (C2H2) and by analyzing the N2O isotopocule deltas. The results indicated that the three manures had no significant differences for the N2O emission rates and N2O isotopocule deltas. The extent of N2O reduction to N2 was 81–84% using the mapping of Δδ18O(N2O-H2O/N2O-NO3-) (different value of δ18O between the N2O and H2O or NO3−) vs. SP (15N site preference in N2O) and approximately 76% using C2H2 (10% v/v) inhibition method under 60% WFPS (water–filled pore space). Moreover, complete N2O reduction held η18OR and SPR (net isotopocule effect of N2O reduction to N2) values of −13.6‰ and −6.7‰, respectively. It was also found that oxygen exchange between N2O and soil water was approximately 92%. In summary, the mapping of Δδ18O(N2O-H2O/N2O-NO3-) vs. SP was very useful to distinguish the production and consumption pathways of N2O during denitrification. The extent of N2O reduction was underestimated by the C2H2 method. These results provide guidance in correcting the acetylene effect, which is important in evaluating the impact of manure on the N2O reduction.

Nitrogen (N) fertilizer is the major deriver of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions in agricultural soil. In the vegetable fields in China both inorganic and organic fertilizers are largely applied as basic sources of nitrogen. Identifying the effects of fertilizer type on soil microbial activities involved in N2O emissions would be of great help for future development of N2O reduction strategies. N2O isotopocule deltas, including δ15Nbulk, δ18O and SP (the 15N site preference in N2O), have been used to analyze microbial pathways of N2O production under different treatments, including bio–organic fertilizer treatment, half bio–organic fertilizer and half urea (mixed fertilizer) treatment, urea treatment and no fertilizer treatment. We measured environmental factors, N2O fluxes and N2O isotopocule deltas to evaluate the dynamics of N2O emissions and constructed the dual isotopocule plots (δ15Nbulk vs. SP and δ18O vs. SP) of the main N2O emission phases to assess contribution of the involved microbial processes (bacterial nitrification, bacterial denitrification, nitrifier denitrification and fungal denitrification). According to the results of the main N2O emission phases, we found that bio–organic fertilizer and mix fertilizer treatments had significantly lower N2O emissions compared to urea treatment, with average N2O fluxes of 1477 ± 204, 1243 ± 187 and 1941 ± 164 μg m−3 h−1, respectively, but there were no significant effects on mineral N and cabbage yield. In addition, the urea treatment and the mixed fertilizer treatment had close and higher nitrogen use efficiency. Furthermore, the δ18O vs. SP plot was useful for providing insight into microbial processes, showing that fungal denitrification/bacterial nitrification was the dominant microbial pathway and bio–organic fertilizer and mix fertilizer treatments had higher denitrification and N2O reduction compared to urea treatment. Those findings demonstrated that the partial replacement of urea with bio–organic fertilizer was a better choice, by means of enhancing denitrification to reduce N2O emissions and also guaranteeing the nitrogen use efficiency and the cabbage yield.

To clarify the microbial pathway of the N以北京地区白菜地为研究对象进行肥料试验,结合乙炔抑制试验设置有机肥乙炔组、有机肥无乙炔组、无机肥(尿素)乙炔组、无机肥无乙炔组4个处理,利用N

Expansive soil of Nanyang Province in this experiment was as the research object and the different lime-mixed rates and basalt fiber-mixed rates on the strength characteristics of expansive soil were studied. The test results show that the maximum dry density and plasticity index of reinforced expansive soil were decreased along with the increased lime-mixed rates and the optimum water content was increased in the wake of the increased lime-mixed rates under the same compaction effort; unconfined compressive strength would be a peak along with the increased lime-mixed rates, ductility of reinforced expansive soil was enhanced by the basalt fiber; expansibility of reinforced expansive soil was slashed by lime and basalt fiber which was the dominant factor.

Type 2 diabetes can elevate risk of gastric cancer and metformin, an anti-diabetic agent, has an inhibitory effect against gastric cancer cell in vitro. However, the effect of metformin on type 2 diabetes-related gastric tumorigenesis in vivo is still not clear. In the present study, we aim to detect whether metformin can inhibit increased risk of gastric cancer in diabetic db/db mice and which the potential anti-cancer mechanisms of metformin are. 4-week-old mice were divided into 3 groups (2 db/db mice groups and one wild type mice group). All diabetic and non-diabetic mice were treated with N-Methyl-N-Nitrosourea (MNU) for 20 weeks to induce gastric tumorigenesis. At week 21, one db/db mice group were treated with metformin (5 mg/ml) for 10 weeks and the other 2 groups were treated with saline. Blood samples were collected for testing insulin and insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1. Stomach tissues were collected for histopathological evaluation and mRNAs analysis. Metformin significantly decreased incidence of MNU-induced gastric dysplasia and cancer in diabetic db/db mice. Furthermore, metformin reduced serum insulin as well as IGF-1, and also suppressed expression of insulin receptor, IGF-1, IGF-1 receptor and several pro-inflammatory cytokines mRNAs in stomach of db/db mice, but did not significantly influence IGF-2 and IGF-2 receptor expressions. The results show that metformin can prevent the risk of gastric cancer in type 2 diabetes and the protective mechanisms may involve in an inhibitory effect of metformin on insulin as well as IGF-1 signals and cancer related pro-inflammatory cytokines.

Unconfined compressive strength tests and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) quantitative chemical tests are conducted on artificially cemented sand which have different cement ratio (Cv) and curing time (t). Through the analysis of experimental results, the unconfined compressive strength (qu) of cemented sand are affected by curing time (t), cement ratio (Cv) and void ratio (η). Test results show that the longer the curing time (t), the lower the void/cement ratio (η/Cv) and the higher calcium carbonate/calcium hydroxide content ratio (CaCO3/Ca(OH)2 ratio or mC/mH), the higher the unconfined compressive strength (qu) of cemented sand. It is established the compressive strength equation based on the variables of cement ratio (Cv), void ratio (η) and curing time (t). By mC/mH-qu curve analysis, it is obtained the quantitative relation of chemical composition and mechanical strength.

The improvement of cryptogram query hit rate and the reduction of redundant data in query results are the challenges in the outsourced database (ODB) model. A synthetic encryption scheme applied to the ODB is presented to solve the problem of precise query over the cryptogram. This scheme employs encryption scheme on the attribute granularity, which combines a newly k-Mapping Character-data Encryption Scheme (k-MCES) with the existing Order Preserving Encryption Scheme (OPES). The theories and experiments analysis show that queries over encrypted data with this synthetic encryption scheme can return exact results. Furthermore, this scheme is correct and safe.

H.264/AVC, the latest video coding standard of the Joint Video Team, greatly outperforms previous standards in terms of coding bitrate and video quality, because it adopts several new techniques. However, the computational complexity is also considerably increased due to these new components. In this paper, we propose fast algorithms based on statistical learning to reduce the computational cost involved in three main components in H.264 encoder, i.e., intermode decision, multi-reference motion estimation (ME), and intra-mode prediction. First, representative features are extracted to build the learning models. Then, an offline pre-classification approach is used to determine the best results from the extracted features, thus a significant amount of computation is reduced based on the classification strategy. The proposed statistical learning-based approach is applied to the aforementioned three main components in H.264 encoder to speed up the computation. Experimental results show that the ME time of the proposed system is significantly sped up with 12 times faster than the conventional fast ME algorithm of H.264, and the total encoding time of the proposed encoder is greatly reduced with about four times faster than the fast encoder EPZS in the H.264 reference code with negligible video quality degradation.

Well Pai 2 is located at the Chepaizi high relief belt, west Junggar Basin. The Neogene Shawan Formation beach sandbar in the Well Pai 2 is developed by lake wave reconstruction of fan-delta and reworking in its frontal side or flank, which was caused by lake transgression and fan oscillation on the basin slope, in the continuously dextral and uplifting of Chepaizi relief and under the compression background during evolution of the Tertiary quasi-foreland basin. Depositional and electric characteristics of the beach sandbar are characterized by fine, loose grains, small thickness, two-stage cumulative probability curve, C-M chart showing PQRS paragraph mainly, moderate compositional and textural maturity, dactyline self-potential curve, and semi-funnel-shaped resistivity curve. After light oil charging, the beach sandbar reservoir show high amplitude, low-to-moderate frequency, and high absorption coefficient, and its energy amplitude shows clear boundary, convex top, and flat bottom. Beach sandbar has prospects for good physical properties and lithologic reservoirs. Key words: Junggar Basin, Well Pai 2, beach sandbar, petroleum geologic characteristics, exploration significance