Structural and metabolic responses of Ceratophyllum demersum to eutrophic conditions

Eutrophication in water bodies affects the growth of aquatic plants. In this study, we conducted static experiments to better understand the structural and metabolic responses of Ceratophyllum demersum under eutrophication conditions. The anatomical structure, nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) levels in tissue, malondiadehyde (MDA), and activities of three antioxidases (peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and catalase (CAT)) of C. dermersum cultured at different nutrient levels (oligotropher, mesotropher, eutropher, and hypertrophics) were investigated. The results showed that with nutrient concentration increase, disordered anatomical structures and a cavity in stem of C. demersum existed; there was also an increase in the N and P contents of C. demersum. The MDA content improved with nutrient increase while POD and SOD activities initially increased and later decreased. CAT activity also increased during the experimental period. These finding suggested that changes in stem anatomical structure and the increase in antioxidant enzyme activity can be served as the indicators of the response of C. demersum to eutrophication conditions.Keywords: Submerged aquatic plants, anatomical structure, antioxidant enzymes, nitrogen and phosphorus eutrophicationAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 9(35), pp. 5722-5729, 30 August, 201

Cisplatin inhibits the proliferation of Saos-2 osteosarcoma cells via the miR-376c/TGFA pathway

The transforming growth factor alpha (TGFA) gene is involved in the proliferation and metastasis of various tumors, but its role in cell sensitivity to cisplatin chemotherapy is unclear. In this study, we investigated the mechanism underlying inhibitory effects of cisplatin on growth and proliferation of osteosarcoma cells. Osteosarcoma and normal skeletal muscle tissues were collected from 26 patients by biopsy. TGFA was silenced or overexpressed in Saos-2 osteosarcoma cells by transfection with TGFA-shRNA or TGFA ORF clone, respectively. MiR-376c was inhibited or overexpressed by transfection of Saos-2 cells with miR-376c sponge or miR-376c mimics, respectively. Cell growth was analyzed by MTT assay and cell proliferation by BrdU assay. MiR-376c and TGFA mRNA expression was detected by quantitative reverse transcription PCR and TGFA protein expression by Western blot. The target relationship between miR-376c and TGFA was assessed by luciferase reporter assay. Both in osteosarcoma tissues and Saos-2 cells, miR-376c expression was significantly decreased and TGFA mRNA expression was significantly increased compared with control. Transfection of Saos-2 cells with TGFA-shRNA silenced TGFA expression and significantly inhibited cell growth and proliferation. TGFA mRNA and protein expression in Saos-2 cells significantly decreased with increasing cisplatin concentrations (2.5–10 mg/L). Transfection with TGFA ORF clone reversed the inhibitory effects of cisplatin on Saos-2 cell proliferation. Compared with cisplatin (10 mg/L) treatment alone, the combined treatment with cisplatin and miR-376c mimics inhibited the proliferation of Saos-2 cells more significantly. MiR-376c suppressed TGFA expression by directly interacting with its 3' UTR region. Overall, cisplatin inhibited the proliferation of Saos-2 cells by upregulating miR-376c and downregulating TGFA expression

Land Inequality and Its Influencing Factors in Rural China in Modern Times: A Systematic Review

Land inequality is a global and historic issue. There is a problem of unequal distribution of land ownership in modern China; research results on this topic are extensive, but the conclusions are quite different or even completely opposite. This study systematically reviewed the research results obtained for land inequality in modern China and performed an international comparison. The results show that the debate on the estimation of land inequality in modern China has existed for a long time. The overall estimation of land inequality has been repeatedly revised, and many subdivision estimates show great regional variability. The application of the Gini coefficient and other methods can address the drawbacks of traditional methods. A change trend toward equality was found to be more likely in the late modern period. The majority of studies support the notion that debt burden, power, and strength exacerbated land inequality in modern China, whereas the inheritance system with equal sharing, revolution, and reform reduced the land inequality. However, the impact of disasters and commercialization remains controversial. Compared with relevant international studies, the study on land inequality in modern China focused on estimations with unique interpretation perspectives, but there are limitations in terms of the research methods used

Land Inequality and Its Influencing Factors in Rural China in Modern Times: A Systematic Review

Land inequality is a global and historic issue. There is a problem of unequal distribution of land ownership in modern China; research results on this topic are extensive, but the conclusions are quite different or even completely opposite. This study systematically reviewed the research results obtained for land inequality in modern China and performed an international comparison. The results show that the debate on the estimation of land inequality in modern China has existed for a long time. The overall estimation of land inequality has been repeatedly revised, and many subdivision estimates show great regional variability. The application of the Gini coefficient and other methods can address the drawbacks of traditional methods. A change trend toward equality was found to be more likely in the late modern period. The majority of studies support the notion that debt burden, power, and strength exacerbated land inequality in modern China, whereas the inheritance system with equal sharing, revolution, and reform reduced the land inequality. However, the impact of disasters and commercialization remains controversial. Compared with relevant international studies, the study on land inequality in modern China focused on estimations with unique interpretation perspectives, but there are limitations in terms of the research methods used

Machine Learning Accelerated Discovery of Promising Thermal Energy Storage Materials with High Heat Capacity

Thermal energy storage offers numerous benefits by reducing energy consumption and promoting the use of renewable energy sources. Thermal energy storage materials have been investigated for many decades with the aim of improving the overall efficiency of energy systems. However, finding solid materials that meet the requirement of high heat capacity has been a grand challenge for material scientists. Herewith, by training various machine learning models on 3377 high-quality data from full density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we efficiently search for potential materials with high heat capacity. We build four traditional machine learning models and two graph neural network models. Cross-comparison of the prediction performance and model accuracy was conducted among different models. The deeperGATGNN model exhibits high prediction accuracy and is used for predicting the heat capacity of 32,026 structures screened from the open quantum material database. We gain deep insight into the correlation between heat capacity and structure descriptors such as space group, prototype, lattice volume, atomic weight, etc. Twenty-two structures were predicted to possess high heat capacity, and the results were further validated with DFT calculations. We also identified one special structure, namely, MnIn2Se4, with space group no. 227 (Fd3̅m), that exhibits extremely high heat capacity, even higher than that of the Dulong–Petit limit at room temperature. This study paves the way for accelerating the discovery of novel thermal energy storage materials by combining machine learning with minimal DFT inquiry

Advances of metabolomics in ocular diseases

Ocular diseases pose a significant challenge to global health. The field of metabolomics, which involves the systematic identification and quantification of metabolites within a biological system, has emerged as a promising research approach for unraveling disease mechanisms and discovering novel biomarkers. Through its application, metabolomics has yielded valuable knowledge pertaining to the initiation and advancement of various ocular diseases. This review presents an overview of metabolomics and examines recent research progess in four ocular diseases, specifically diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and dry eye, summarizing potential biomarkers and metabolic pathways associated with these diseases. Additionally, this review offers insights into the future prospects of utilizing metabolomics for the management and treatment of ocular diseases

Effects of molybdenum on Endogenous Hormone Contents in winter wheat under low temperature stress

Molybdenum (Mo) is an essential element for higher plants. Recent research indicated that Mo application enhanced cold-resistance of winter wheat. In order to improve our understanding of the mechanisms of cold resistance enhanced by molybdenum application in winter wheat, liquid nutrient culture experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of molybdenum on endogenesis hormone in winter wheat (Mo efficient cv. 97003 and Mo inefficient cv. 97014) under low temperature stress. The results showed that Mo application increased the AO activities, the contents of abscisic acid (ABA) and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) in the leaves of +Mo winter wheat under low temperature stress. No significant difference in the contents of GA3 and Z was detected between -Mo and +Mo winter wheat at the earlier stage of low temperature stress, whereas the contents of gibberellin (GA3) increased significantly, and zeatin (Z) decreased significantly in the leaves of +Mo winter wheat at the later stage of low temperature stress. Mo-deficiency also induced the drastic decrease of the ABA/GA in the leaves of winter wheat under low temperature stress. These results indicated that Mo regulated the ABA and IAA biosynthesis via AO in winter wheat and the response of ABA and IAA to Mo deficiency was prior to that of GA3 and ZT. The dramatic decrease in ABA and IAA levels in Mo deficient winter wheat may affect the homeostasis of endogenous hormones and Mo regulated cold resistance via the levels and balance of endogenous hormone in winter wheat

Phenanthrene Mitigates Cadmium Toxicity in Earthworms <i>Eisenia fetida</i> (Epigeic Specie) and <i>Aporrectodea caliginosa</i> (Endogeic Specie) in Soil

In classical toxicology studies, the interaction of combined doses of chemicals with dissimilar modes of toxic action in soil is complex and depending on the end point investigated and the experimental protocol employed. This study was used to examine the interactive effect of phenanthrene and Cadmium on two ecologically different species of earthworms; Eisenia. fetida and Aporrectodea. caliginosa. This interactive effect was scrutinized by using the acute toxicity test with the concentrations of 2.51 mg kg&#8722;1 and 3.74 mg kg&#8722;1, respectively, being lethal for 50% of E. fetida and A. caliginosa. The results showed that in the mixture treatment, phenanthrene at 5, 10, 15 and 20 mg kg&#8722;1 significantly mitigated both earthworms species mortality and body-mass loss. Moreover, the factor of Cd accumulated in E. fetida and A. caliginosa tissues was significantly decreased by about 12% and 16%, respectively. Linear regression correlation coefficient revealed that the reduction of both earthworm species mortality was negatively and significantly correlated (r2 = 0.98 &#177; 0.40 and 1 &#177; 3.9 p &lt; 0.001) with phenanthrene concentration in soil. However, over 20 mg kg&#8722;1 of phenanthrene, both organisms mortality rate increased again, as was the Bioaccumulation factor of phenanthrene. Thus, this study proposes that the antagonistical effect of phenanthrene on Cd at a degree of concentration can be used to mitigate Cd effect on soil living organisms. However, as an implication of these results, the interpretation of standardized toxicity bioassays, including whole effluent toxicity tests and single-compound toxicity tests, should be performed with caution. In addition, risk assessment protocols for environment pollution by a mixture of metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons should include robust methods that can detect possible interactive effects between contaminants to optimize environmental protection