Recent Changes of Suspended Sediment Yields in the Upper Yangtze River and Its Headwater Tributaries

Abstract: Suspended sediment yields in the Upper Yangtze River and its four headwater tributaries (i.e., Jinsha, Min, Jialing and Wu) have declined significantly during the recent decades. Compared with 1956Compared with -1970, mean annual suspended sediment yield during 2001-2011wasreduced by 84% in the Upper Yangtze River at Yichang, by 34% in the Jinsha at Pingshan, by 84% in the Jialing at Beibei, by 75% in the Wu at Wulong, and by 48% in the Min at Gaochang. Linking the observed decadal changes of runoff discharge and suspended sediment load to dam construction and multiple environmental rehabilitation projects (e.g., soil-water conservation, reforestation) during the past decades, it can be concluded that the construction of large dams on the main stem and major tributaries of the Upper Yangtze River has played a principal role in the reduction of fluvial suspended sediment yields, while the environment rehabilitation projects may make limited contributions to the changes in suspended sediment yields except for the Jialing River

Farmers’ Sustainable Strategies for Soil Conservation on Sloping Arable Lands in the Upper Yangtze River Basin, China

The Upper Yangtze River Basin comprises a densely-populated agricultural region with mountainous and hilly landforms. Intensive cultivation has been extended onto steep hillslopes, which constitute the principal source area for sediment production. Soil conservation on sloping arable lands is thus of utmost priority for persisting sustainable agricultural production and maintaining sound ecosystem services. Although there have been many soil conservation techniques, either promoted by the government or adopted by local farmers, the practiced area was very limited relative to the total area affected by soil erosion. This paper attempts to introduce four popular soil conservation measures on sloping arable lands in this region to enhance a broader scale of implementation, including hedgerow buffers, level trenches, sloping terraces and limited downslope tillage. These practices, although developed from local farmers’ indigenous knowledge for productive purposes, have well conformed to our contemporary understanding of soil erosion processes on sloping landscape affected by human disturbances, were of sound suitability to regional manual tillage agriculture and more trade-off-efficient on rill prevention, runoff harvest and nutrient management

Characterization of the digital stabilization of low phase noise lasers

REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT

Recent development on synthetic biological devices treating bladder cancer

Synthetic biology is an emerging field focusing on engineering genetic devices and biomolecular systems for a variety of applications from basic biology to biotechnology and medicine. Thanks to the tremendous advances in genomics and the chemical synthesis of DNA in the past decade, scientists are now able to engineer genetic devices and circuits for cancer research and intervention, which offer promising therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment. In this article, we provide a systemic review on recent development achieved by the synthetic biologists, oncologists and clinicians of one National “973” Plan. We expand the synthetic biology toolkits involving DNA, RNA and protein bio-parts to explore various issues in cancer research, such as elucidation of mechanisms and pathways, creation of new diagnostic tools and invention of novel therapeutic approaches. We claimed that the Chinese synthetic biologists are promoting the basic research productions of tumor synthetic biology into the clinic

Involvement of Bim in Photofrin-Mediated Photodynamically Induced Apoptosis

Background/Aims: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising noninvasive technique, which has been successfully applied to the treatment of human cancers. Studies have shown that the Bcl-2 family proteins play important roles in PDT-induced apoptosis. However, whether Bcl-2-interacting mediator of cell death (Bim) is involved in photodynamic treatment remains unknown. In this study, we attempt to determine the effect of Bim on Photofrin photodynamic treatment (PPT)-induced apoptosis in human lung adenocarcinoma ASTC-a-1 cells. Methods: The translocation of Bim/Bax of the cells were monitored by laser confocal scanning microscope. The levels of Bim protein and activated caspase-3 in cells were detected by western blot assay. Caspase-3 activities were measured by Caspase-3 Fluorogenic Substrate (Ac-DEVD-AFC) analysis. The induction of apoptosis was detected by Hoechst 33258 and PI staining as well as flow cytometry analysis. The effect of Bim on PPT-induced apoptosis was determined by RNAi. Results: BimL translocated to mitochondria in response to PPT, similar to the downstream pro-apoptotic protein Bax activation. PPT increased the level of Bim and activated caspase-3 in cells and that knockdown of Bim by RNAi significantly protected against caspase-3 activity. PPT-induced apoptosis were suppressed in cells transfected with shRNA-Bim. Conclusion: We demonstrated the involvement of Bim in PPT-induced apoptosis in human ASTC-a-1 lung adenocarcinoma cells and suggested that enhancing Bim activity might be a potential strategy for treating human cancers

Potential Role of lncRNA H19 as a Cancer Biomarker in Human Cancers Detection and Diagnosis: A Pooled Analysis Based on 1585 Subjects

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been reported to serve as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of cancers, which play vital roles in tumorigenesis and tumor progression. Several studies have been performed to explore diagnostic value of lncRNA H19 in cancer detection and diagnosis. However, there are still inconsistent results in diagnostic accuracy and reliability in individual studies. Therefore, the present study was performed to summarize the overall diagnostic performance of lncRNA H19 in cancer detection and diagnosis. A total of eight studies with 770 cases and 815 controls were included in this pooled analysis. The pooled diagnostic results were as follows: sensitivity, 0.69 (95%CI=0.62-0.76), specificity, 0.79 (95% CI=0.70-0.86), positive likelihood ratio (PLR), 3.31 (95%CI=2.29-4.78), negative likelihood (NLR), 0.39 (95%CI=0.31-0.49), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR), 8.53 (95%CI=4.99-14.60), and area under the curve (AUC), 0.79 (95%CI=0.76-0.83). Deeks’ funnel plot asymmetry test (P=0.13) suggested no potential publication bias. Our results indicated that lncRNA H19 had a relatively moderate accuracy in cancer detection and diagnosis. Further comprehensive prospective studies with large sample sizes are urgently required to validate our findings

Field-programmable-gate-array-based digital frequency stabilization of low-phase-noise diode lasers

10.1063/5.0152305REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS94

Long non-coding RNA DANCR promotes malignant phenotypes of bladder cancer cells by modulating the miR-149/MSI2 axis as a ceRNA

Abstract Background Accumulating evidences have indicated that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are potential biomarkers that play key roles in tumor development and progression. Differentiation antagonizing non-protein noding RNA (DANCR) is a novel lncRNA that acts as a potential biomarker and is involved in the development of cancers. However, the clinical significance and molecular mechanism of DANCR in bladder cancer is still unknown. Methods The relative expression level of DANCR was determined by Real-Time qPCR in a total of 106 patients with urothelial bladder cancer and in different bladder cancer cell lines. Loss-of-function experiments were performed to investigate the biological roles of DANCR on bladder cancer cell proliferation, migration, invasion and tumorigenicity. Comprehensive transcriptional analysis, RNA-FISH, dual-luciferase reporter assay and western blot were performed to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying the functions of DANCR. Results In this study, we found that DANCR was significantly up-regulated in bladder cancer. Moreover, increased DANCR expression was positively correlated with higher histological grade and advanced TNM stage. Further experiments demonstrated that knockdown of DANCR inhibited malignant phenotypes and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of bladder cancer cells. Mechanistically, we found that DANCR was distributed mostly in the cytoplasm and DANCR functioned as a miRNA sponge to positively regulate the expression of musashi RNA binding protein 2 (MSI2) through sponging miR-149 and subsequently promoted malignant phenotypes of bladder cancer cells, thus playing an oncogenic role in bladder cancer pathogenesis. Conclusion This study is the first to demonstrate that DANCR plays a critical regulatory role in bladder cancer cell and DANCR may serve as a potential diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target of bladder cancer