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Objective: To investigate the associations of Insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF2) gene, Insulin-like growth factor-II receptor (IGF2R) gene and Insulin-like growth factor-II binding protein 2 (IGF2BP2) gene polymorphisms with the susceptibility to gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in Chinese population. Methods: A total of 1703 pregnant women (835 GDM and 868 Non-GDM) were recruited in this case-control study. All participants underwent prenatal 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) examinations during 24–28 gestational weeks at the Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province from January 15, 2018 to March 31, 2019. Genotyping of candidate SNPs (IGF2 rs680, IGF2R rs416572, IGF2BP2 rs4402960, rs1470579, rs1374910, rs11705701, rs6777038, rs16860234, rs7651090) was performed on Sequenom MassARRAY platform. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate the associations between candidate SNPs and risk of GDM. In addition, multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) method was applied to explore the effects of gene-gene interactions on GDM risk. Results: There were significant distribution differences between GDM group and non-GDM group in age, pre-pregnancy BMI, education level and family history of diabetes (P < 0.05). After adjusted for age, pre-pregnancy BMI, education level and family history of diabetes, there were no significant associations of the candidate SNPs polymorphisms and GDM risk (P > 0.05). Furthermore, there were no gene-gene interactions on the GDM risk among the candidate SNPs (P > 0.05). However, the fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels of rs6777038 CT carriers were significantly lower than TT carriers (4.69±0.69 vs. 5.03±1.57 mmol/L, P < 0.01), and the OGTT-2h levels of rs6777038 CC and CT genotype carriers were significantly lower than TT genotype carriers (8.10±1.91 and 8.08±1.87 vs. 8.99±2.90 mmol/L, P < 0.01). Conclusions: IGF2 rs680, IGF2R rs416572, IGF2BP2 rs4402960, rs1470579, rs11705701, rs6777038, rs16860234, rs7651090 polymorphisms were not significantly associated with GDM risk in Wuhan, China. Further lager multicenter researches are needed to confirm these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Airborne dust aerosols impact negatively the climate, ecosystems, air quality, and human health. To mitigate these impacts, it is crucial to identify their three–dimensional spatiotemporal distribution, transport pathways and driving factors. In this study, the three–dimensional spatiotemporal variations and distribution of dust aerosols in China from 2007 to 2021 were first analyzed using multiple dust datasets, including Modern Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications version 2 (MERRA–2) dust aerosol optical depth (DAOD) data, ultraviolet aerosol index (UVAI) data from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), and the Vertical Feature Mask (VFM) product of Cloud–Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP). Also, the transport pathways and potential source regions for dust haze in principle provincial capital cities of West and North China in spring were identified using the Hybrid Single–Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model and Potential Source Contribution Function (PSCF). Additionally, DAOD variations over different land cover types and the impacts of meteorological driving factors were discussed with geographic detectors. Results indicate that: (1) The multi–year average of DAOD in China from 2007 to 2021 was 0.076. A mutation in annual average DAOD occurred between 2010 and 2011, with an insignificant increasing trend between 2007–2010, a downward trend between 2011–2021 and a significant downward trend between 2014–2017. (2) The Taklamakan Desert exhibited the highest DAOD for the entire China during spring throughout the years, with DAOD values ranging from 0.4 to 0.6 and UVAI values exceeding 2.0. The highest frequency of dust occurrence in the northwest and northern regions is at an altitude of 2–4 km in spring and summer, and of 0–2 km in autumn and winter, while it is at an altitude of 4–6 km for the Qinghai–Tibet region. (3) The dust transport routes for the provincial capital cities can be primarily divided into: western, northwestern, northern, southwestern, and local. Northwest cities are notably affected by dust from surrounding deserts. Dust originating from the Qaidam Basin and the Hexi Corridor can be carried further downwind to inland cities, such as Xining and Lanzhou. A dust backflow was found in Beijing and Tianjin. Moreover, the discussion revealed that barren and cropland had the highest DAOD and additionally precipitation, evaporation, and soil moisture were identified as the strongest driving factors affecting dust aerosol variations. The combination effect of precipitation and temperature had the highest explanatory power, ranging from 0.72–0.84, followed by 0.75–0.81 for precipitation and U10m wind speed and 0.67–0.75 for temperature and evaporation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Pistachio (Pistacia vera), one of the most important commercial nut crops worldwide, is highly adaptable to abiotic stresses and is tolerant to drought and salt stresses. Results Here, we provide a draft de novo genome of pistachio as well as large-scale genome resequencing. Comparative genomic analyses reveal stress adaptation of pistachio is likely attributable to the expanded cytochrome P450 and chitinase gene families. Particularly, a comparative transcriptomic analysis shows that the jasmonic acid (JA) biosynthetic pathway plays an important role in salt tolerance in pistachio. Moreover, we resequence 93 cultivars and 14 wild P. vera genomes and 35 closely related wild Pistacia genomes, to provide insights into population structure, genetic diversity, and domestication. We find that frequent genetic admixture occurred among the different wild Pistacia species. Comparative population genomic analyses reveal that pistachio was domesticated about 8000 years ago and suggest that key genes for domestication related to tree and seed size experienced artificial selection. Conclusions Our study provides insight into genetic underpinning of local adaptation and domestication of pistachio. The Pistacia genome sequences should facilitate future studies to understand the genetic basis of agronomically and environmentally related traits of desert crops.