Calculation and Analysis of the Instream Ecological Flow for the Irtysh River

AbstractInstream ecological flow is essential determinant of river health. In this paper, the monthly minimum flow calculation method, the (new) monthly frequency calculation method were applied to calculate and evaluate the minimum instream ecological flow and the optimal instream ecological flow for the Irtysh River, and the different criteria of instream ecological flow was calculated by the improved Tennant method. It is expected to provide a scientific basis for the reasonable allocation of water resource in Irtysh River basin by calculating the instream ecological flow

Hydrological Variation Characteristics of Rivers in Humid Region: Oujiang River, China

AbstractOujiang River was selected as the case study, and a dataset of daily flow series at Xuren Station was used to explore the hydrologic characteristics of rivers in humid areas, by using the ‘Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration’ approach and ‘Range of Variability Approach’. Results showed that the overall alteration of the hydrological regime for Oujiang River belonged to the low alteration category, and some key eco-hydrological characteristics should be protected in certain key periods to maintain the integrality and health status of river ecosystems

Production of Glycopeptide Derivatives for Exploring Substrate Specificity of Human OGA Toward Sugar Moiety.

O-GlcNAcase (OGA) is the only enzyme responsible for removing N-acetyl glucosamine (GlcNAc) attached to serine and threonine residues on proteins. This enzyme plays a key role in O-GlcNAc metabolism. However, the structural features of the sugar moiety recognized by human OGA (hOGA) remain unclear. In this study, a set of glycopeptides with modifications on the GlcNAc residue, were prepared in a recombinant full-length human OGT-catalyzed reaction, using chemoenzymatically synthesized UDP-GlcNAc derivatives. The resulting glycopeptides were used to evaluate the substrate specificity of hOGA toward the sugar moiety. This study will provide insights into the exploration of probes for O-GlcNAc modification, as well as a better understanding of the roles of O-GlcNAc in cellular physiology

The Effect of Different Laser Irradiation on Cyclophosphamide-Induced Leucopenia in Rats

Objective. To assess the effect of different lasers on cyclophosphamide- (CTX-) induced leucopenia in rats. Methods. 11 rats were normal control and 55 rats were injected with a dose of 80 mg/kg CTX for the first time and 40 mg/kg on the 6th and the 11th days to establish a leucopenia model. Rats of the irradiation groups received a 5-minute laser irradiation with either single 10.6 μm or 650 nm laser or alternatively 10.6 μm–650 nm laser irradiation, besides a sham treatment on acupoint Dazhui (DU 14) and acupoint Zusanli (ST 36) of both sides, 8 times for 16 days. Normal and model control group received no treatment. Results. On day 16 after the first CTX injection, the WBC counts from all the laser irradiation groups were significantly higher than those from the model control and the sham group (P<0.05), while there were no significant differences compared with the normal control (P>0.05). The TI of 10.6 μm–650 nm laser irradiation group was significantly higher than that of the model control group (P<0.05). Conclusions. The single and combined 10.6 μm and 650 nm laser irradiation on ST36 and DU14 accelerated the recovery of the WBC count in the rats with leucopenia

Spatiotemporal variations and overflow risk analysis of the Salt Lake in the Hoh Xil Region using machine learning methods

Global warming is inducing dramatic changes in fluvial geomorphology and reshaping the hydrological connections between rivers and lakes. The water level and area of the Salt Lake have increased rapidly since the outburst of the Zonag Lake in the Hoh Xil region of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau in 2011, threatening the downstream infrastructure. However, fewer studies have focused on its spatiotemporal variation and overflow risk over long time series. Here, we used three machine learning algorithms: Classification and Regression Trees (CART), Random Forest (RF), and Support Vector Machine (SVM) to extract the area of the Salt Lake for a long time series, analyzed its spatiotemporal variation from 1973 to 2021, and finally assessed the overflow risk. The Kappa coefficient (KAPPA) and the overall accuracy (OA) were used to evaluate the performance of the models. The results showed that Random Forest performs superior in lake extraction (KAPPA = 0.98, overall accuracy = 0.99), followed by Classification and Regression Trees and Support Vector Machine. normalized difference water index is the relatively important feature variable in both RF and CART. Before the outburst event, the area change of the Salt Lake was consistent with the variation in precipitation; after that, it showed a remarkable area increase (circa 350%) in all orientations, and the main direction was the southeast. Without the construction of the emergency drainage channel, the simulation result indicated that the earliest and latest times of the Salt Lake overflow event are predicted to occur in 2020 and 2031, respectively. The results of this paper not only demonstrate that RF is more suitable for water extraction and help understand the water system reorganization event

Exome sequencing and functional analysis identifies a novel mutation in <em>EXT1</em> gene that causes multiple osteochondromas

Multiple osteochondromas (MO) is an inherited skeletal disorder, and the molecular mechanism of MO remains elusive. Exome sequencing has high chromosomal coverage and accuracy, and has recently been successfully used to identify pathogenic gene mutations. In this study, exome sequencing followed by Sanger sequencing validation was first used to screen gene mutations in two representative MO patients from a Chinese family. After filtering the data from the 1000 Genome Project and the dbSNP database (build 132), the detected candidate gene mutations were further validated via Sanger sequencing of four other members of the same MO family and 200 unrelated healthy subjects. Immunohistochemisty and multiple sequence alignment were performed to evaluate the importance of the identified causal mutation. A novel frameshift mutation, c.1457insG at codon 486 of exon 6 of EXT1 gene, was identified, which truncated the glycosyltransferase domain of EXT1 gene. Multiple sequence alignment showed that codon 486 of EXT1 gene was highly conserved across various vertebrates. Immunohistochemisty demonstrated that the chondrocytes with functional EXT1 in MO were less than those in extragenetic solitary chondromas. The novel c.1457insG deleterious mutation of EXT1 gene reported in this study expands the causal mutation spectrum of MO, and may be helpful for prenatal genetic screening and early diagnosis of MO

Genome-Wide Profiling of DNA Methylation Reveals a Class of Normally Methylated CpG Island Promoters

The role of CpG island methylation in normal development and cell differentiation is of keen interest, but remains poorly understood. We performed comprehensive DNA methylation profiling of promoter regions in normal peripheral blood by methylated CpG island amplification in combination with microarrays. This technique allowed us to simultaneously determine the methylation status of 6,177 genes, 92% of which include dense CpG islands. Among these 5,549 autosomal genes with dense CpG island promoters, we have identified 4.0% genes that are nearly completely methylated in normal blood, providing another exception to the general rule that CpG island methylation in normal tissue is limited to X inactivation and imprinted genes. We examined seven genes in detail, including ANKRD30A, FLJ40201, INSL6, SOHLH2, FTMT, C12orf12, and DPPA5. Dense promoter CpG island methylation and gene silencing were found in normal tissues studied except testis and sperm. In both tissues, bisulfite cloning and sequencing identified cells carrying unmethylated alleles. Interestingly, hypomethylation of several genes was associated with gene activation in cancer. Furthermore, reactivation of silenced genes could be induced after treatment with a DNA demethylating agent or in a cell line lacking DNMT1 and/or DNMT3b. Sequence analysis identified five motifs significantly enriched in this class of genes, suggesting that cis-regulatory elements may facilitate preferential methylation at these promoter CpG islands. We have identified a group of non-X–linked bona fide promoter CpG islands that are densely methylated in normal somatic tissues, escape methylation in germline cells, and for which DNA methylation is a primary mechanism of tissue-specific gene silencing

Case report: Reversible splenial lesion syndrome caused by diquat poisoning

Diquat (DQ), chemically known as 1,1 ‘-ethylene-2,2’ -bipyridine, is a non-selective herbicide for leaf removal and drying. It has toxic effects on central nervous system cells, and toxic neurological lesions include axonal degeneration and pontine myelolysis. At the same time, DQ can also affect the activity of dopaminergic nerve cells through oxidative stress, causing degeneration and reducing dopamine uptake. With the increasing application of DQ in agricultural production, the clinical reports of neurotoxicity caused by acute DQ poisoning are also increasing. At present, DQ rapid-phase-related toxic encephalopathy mainly involves the pons, midbrain, basal ganglia, thalamus and other brain regions. However, this case is unusual in that the lesion mainly involved the splenium of the corpus callosum. It is also the first time to be reported