Co-evolution of soil and water conservation policy and human–environment linkages in the Yellow River Basin since 1949

Policy plays a very important role in natural resource management as it lays out a government framework for guiding long-term decisions, and evolves in light of the interactions between human and environment. This paper focuses on soil and water conservation (SWC) policy in the Yellow River Basin (YRB), China. The problems, rural poverty, severe soil erosion, great sediment loads and high flood risks, are analyzed over the period of 1949–present using the Driving force–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR) framework as a way to organize analysis of the evolution of SWC policy. Three stages are identified in which SWC policy interacts differently with institutional, financial and technology support. In Stage 1 (1949–1979), SWC policy focused on rural development in eroded areas and on reducing sediment loads. Local farmers were mainly responsible for SWC. The aim of Stage 2 (1980–1990) was the overall development of rural industry and SWC. A more integrated management perspective was implemented taking a small watershed as a geographic interactional unit. This approach greatly improved the efficiency of SWC activities. In Stage 3 (1991 till now), SWC has been treated as the main measure for natural resource conservation, environmental protection, disaster mitigation and agriculture development. Prevention of new degradation became a priority. The government began to be responsible for SWC, using administrative, legal and financial approaches and various technologies that made large-scale SWC engineering possible. Over the historical period considered, with the implementation of the various SWC policies, the rural economic and ecological system improved continuously while the sediment load and flood risk decreased dramatically. The findings assist in providing a historical perspective that could inform more rational, scientific and effective natural resource management going forwar

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

A novel control strategy of virtual synchronous generator in island micro-grids

The control strategy of virtual synchronous generator (VSG) is an effective and efficient technique to provide frequency supporting for distributed generations. However, the effect of damping is often neglected in a large number of control strategies about VSG. The damping is often used to reduce the active power oscillation, and it relates to the steady-state performance of the system in island micro-grids. This paper analyses the influence of the parameters of damping and inertia on the system in island micro-girds. Furthermore, a hybrid control method of the inertia and the damping is proposed to optimize the frequency curve of the system and enhance the stability of the system. By deploying this method, the decay rate of frequency under load disturbance becomes slower, and the recovery rate of frequency becomes faster after disturbance. Finally, the simulation results show that the proposed method improves the dynamic and static performance of the system in island micro-grids

Transfer of Copper (Cu) in the Soil&ndash;Plant&ndash;Mealybug&ndash;Ladybird Beetle Food Chain

Copper, an essential trace element, is vital for living organisms&rsquo; survival; however, despite its importance, an excessive amount of this micro-nutrient can cause harmful effects to plants and animals. The present study investigates Cu bio-transfer across multi-trophic food chain comprising soil (spiked with various concentrations of Cu), eggplant (Solanum melongena), mealybug (Ferrisia virgata), and ladybird (Nephus ryuguus). Soils were spiked with Cu at rates of 0, 100, 200, 400, and 800 mg/kg (w/w). A dose-dependent increase in the levels of Cu in plant, mealybug, and ladybird was observed in response to Cu contents of soil. Different Cu amendment caused a significant reduction in the average root and shoot dry weights per plant as well as the average body weights of F. virgata and N. ryuguus. Our findings affirmed the importance of additional research to explain the processes involved in the bio-transfer of copper across the food chain

Short, Lipidated Dendrimeric γ-AApeptides as New Antimicrobial Peptidomimetics

Antibiotic resistance is one of the most significant issues encountered in global health. There is an urgent demand for the development of a new generation of antibiotic agents combating the emergence of drug resistance. In this article, we reported the design of lipidated dendrimeric γ-AApeptides as a new class of antimicrobial agents. These AApeptides showed excellent potency and broad-spectrum activity against both Gram-positive bacteria and Gram-negative bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The mechanistic studies revealed that the dendrimeric AApeptides could kill bacteria rapidly through the permeabilization of bacterial membranes, analogous to host-defense peptides (HDPs). These dendrimers also did not induce antibiotic resistance readily. The easy access to the synthesis, together with their potent and broad-spectrum activity, make these lipidated dendrimeric γ-AApeptides a new generation of antibacterial agents

Data_Sheet_1_Bioprospecting Deep-Sea Actinobacteria for Novel Anti-infective Natural Products.pdf

<p>The global prevalence of drug resistance has created an urgent need for the discovery of novel anti-infective drugs. The major source of antibiotics in current clinical practice is terrestrial actinobacteria; the less-exploited deep-sea actinobacteria may serve as an unprecedented source of novel natural products. In this study, we evaluated 50 actinobacteria strains derived from diverse deep water sponges and environmental niches for their anti-microbial activities against a panel of pathogens including Candida albicans, Clostridium difficile, Staphylococcus aureus, and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. More than half of the tested strains (27) were identified as active in at least one assay. The rare earth salt lanthanum chloride (LaCl₃) was shown to be as an effective elicitor. Among the 27 strains, the anti-microbial activity of 15 were induced or enhanced by the addition of LaCl₃. This part of study focused on one strain R818, in which potent antifungal activity was induced by the addition of LaCl₃. We found that the LaCl₃-activated metabolites in R818 are likely antimycin-type compounds. One of them, compound 1, has been purified. Spectroscopic analyses including HR-MS and 1D NMR indicated that this compound is urauchimycin D. The antifungal activity of compound 1 was confirmed with a minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 25 μg/mL; the purified compound also showed a moderate activity against C. difficile. Additional notable strains are: strain N217 which showed both antifungal and antibacterial (including P. aeruginosa) activities and strain M864 which showed potent activity against C. difficile with an MIC value (0.125 μg/mL) lower than those of vancomycin and metronidazole. Our preliminary studies show that deep-sea actinobacteria is a promising source of anti-infective natural products.</p