Detection and Attribution of Observed Changes in the Hydrological Cycle under Global Warming

The progress and advances of the detection and attribution of changes in the hydrological cycle in the IPCC Assessment Reports of WGI and WGII from 1990 to 2007 are reviewed. Accomplishment and endorsed by the joint Expert Meeting on Detection and Attribution in 2009, the Good Practice Guidance Paper (GPGP) for IPCC Lead Authors with its main content and characteristics are briefly introduced. Based on the review and the purpose of the GPGP, some characteristics on the detection and attribution of global warming and of changes in the hydrological cycle are presented. Liu, C., and J. Xia, 2011: Detection and attribution of observed changes in the hydrological cycle under global warming. Adv. Clim. Change Res., 2 (1), doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1248.2011.00031

Properties of Cement Thermal Insulation Materials Containing Tailing Waste for Connecting Mines Assessed Using the Orthogonal Method with the Response Surface Method

High temperature in deep mines has become the main concern to limit the production capacity of mines. To mitigate the adverse impact of the underground high-temperature environment on mine production, an orthogonal test was used to design an experimental scheme, i.e., the contents of tailings, glass beads, and ordinary Portland cement PC32.5 (PC) were set as the main horizontal factors to prepare thermal insulation material samples with different combination ratios. Compressive strength and thermal conductivity were investigated, as well as the microstructure. Based on the response surface method (RSM), the interaction between the horizontal factors was explored and analyzed using Design Expert 12 software, and thus non-linear fitting equations were established with the volume fractions of the main horizontal factors as independent variables and compressive strength and thermal conductivity as dependent variables in the analysis parameters of thermal insulation materials. The results showed that errors between the fitted calculated values of compressive strength and thermal conductivity and the experimental results were only 0.42% and 1.2%, respectively, indicating that the process parameters obtained with the optimum fitting ratio under the established fitting equation are highly reliable and have excellent compressive strength and thermal insulation properties. The optimized results obtained by combining the orthogonal method and the RSM show accurate prediction and applicability in the field of thermal insulation materials in mines

Regulative Effect of Mir-205 on Osteogenic Differentiation of Bone Mesenchymal Stem Cells (BMSCs): Possible Role of SATB2/Runx2 and ERK/MAPK Pathway

Bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) have multiple potentials to differentiate into osteoblasts and adipocytes, and methods to enhance their osteogenic differentiation are gaining increasing attention. MicroRNAs are critical regulation factors during the process of the osteogenic induction in BMSCs, and mir-205 has been substantiated to be involved in the osteogenic process, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The purpose of this article is to investigate the role of mir-205 in the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs. We found that mir-205 expression was down-regulated in a time-dependent manner during BMSC osteo-induction. Inhibition of mir-205 enhanced osteogenic abilities by up-regulating bone sialoprotein (BSP) and osteopontin (OPN) protein levels and increasing alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and osteocalcin secretion. Furthermore, we found that mir-205 could regulate protein expression of special AT-rich sequence-binding protein 2 (SATB2) and runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2), and over-expression of SATB2 activated Runx2 and reversed the negative effects of mir-205 on osteoblastic differentiation. Furthermore, we examined the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) pathways during osteogenic induction and our data indicates that mir-205 might exert negative functions on the osteogenic differentiation in BMSCs at least partly via altering phosphorylation of ERK and p38 MAPK. These results shed new light on the molecular mechanisms of microRNAs in governing differentiation of BMSCs

High-throughput sequencing of small RNAs revealed the diversified cold-responsive pathways during cold stress in the wild banana (Musa itinerans)

Abstract Background Cold stress is one of the most severe abiotic stresses affecting the banana production. Although some miRNAs have been identified, little is known about the role of miRNAs in response to cold stress in banana, and up to date, there is no report about the role of miRNAs in the response to cold stress in the plants of the cultivated or wild bananas. Result Here, a cold-resistant line wild banana (Musa itinerans) from China was used to profile the cold-responsive miRNAs by RNA-seq during cold stress. Totally, 265 known mature miRNAs and 41 novel miRNAs were obtained. Cluster analysis of differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs indicated that some miRNAs were specific for chilling or 0 °C treated responses, and most of them were reported to be cold-responsive; however, some were seldom reported to be cold-responsive in response to cold stress, e.g., miR395, miR408, miR172, suggesting that they maybe play key roles in response to cold stress. The GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of DE miRNAs targets indicated that there existed diversified cold-responsive pathways, and miR172 was found likely to play a central coordinating role in response to cold stress, especially in the regulation of CK2 and the circadian rhythm. Finally, qPCR assays indicated the related targets were negatively regulated by the tested DE miRNAs during cold stress in the wild banana. Conclusions In this study, the profiling of miRNAs by RNA-seq in response to cold stress in the plants of the wild banana (Musa itinerans) was reported for the first time. The results showed that there existed diversified cold-responsive pathways, which provided insight into the roles of miRNAs during cold stress, and would be helpful for alleviating cold stress and cold-resistant breeding in bananas

Numerical Simulation of Temperature Fields in a Three-Dimensional SiC Crystal Growth Furnace with Axisymmetric and Spiral Coils

Three-dimensional numerical simulation platform for silicon carbide crystal growth furnace was established using C programing language, where a physical model of the furnace was built based on cylindrical coordinates; governing equations for electromagnetic and temperature fields were discretized by finite volume method; radiation characteristics were studied with the help of S2S model (surface to surface radiation model); and the least distance method was proposed to check radiation faces visibility efficiently. LU decomposition algorithm based on graphic processing unit (GPU) technology was developed to accelerate the solving process of surface to surface radiation. Then the radiation heat transfer in silicon carbide crystal (SiC) growth chamber and temperature field of silicon carbide growth furnace were studied quantificationally at I = 1250 A and F = 16 kHz. The effects of coil structures (axisymmetric and spiral) on temperature field and its gradient distributions were investigated by standard deviation method. The simulation results demonstrate that spiral electromagnetic coil generates non-axisymmetric temperature field easily; the radiation heat flux is 102~103 times more than conduction heat flux, radiation heat transfer is helpful to increase temperature evenness; the spiral temperature field on the SiC crystal cross-section reduces the poor homogeneity of temperature gradient, which will cause crystal to generate large defects

Exogenous Melatonin Enhances Cold Resistance by Improving Antioxidant Defense and Cold-Responsive Genes’ Expression in Banana

Accumulated evidence has revealed the mitigation effects of exogenous melatonin on cold stress in plants. In this study, to investigate the defensive roles of exogenous melatonin in banana under cold stress, we researched the influences of exogenous melatonin on the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, antioxidant defense indexes and expression levels of cold-responsive genes in cold-stressed ‘Brazil’ banana seedlings. Results showed that 100 μM of exogenous melatonin achieved the best cold-resistance-promoting effect in banana. Exogenous melatonin treatment significantly increased the electron transfer rate, light harvesting efficiency, total antioxidant capacity, catalase and superoxidase activities and proline and soluble sugar contents and significantly reduced the accumulations of malondialdehyde, superoxide anion and hydrogen peroxide in the leaves of cold-stressed banana. In addition, under cold stress, melatonin significantly induced the expression of low-temperature-responsive genes, such as MaChiI1, MaCSD1C, MaWhy1, MaKIN10, MaADA1 and MaHOS1. It was concluded that the application of exogenous melatonin enhanced antioxidant defense and induced the expression of cold-responsive genes, thereby improving the cold resistance of banana. Our study will provide a basis for the application of exogenous melatonin in improving plant cold resistance

Influences of Serendipita indica and Dictyophorae echinovolvata on the Growth and Fusarium Wilt Disease Resistance of Banana

Recently, many control methods have been tried and applied in the Fusarium wilt disease control of banana and have achieved definite progresses. In this study, by using ‘Zhongjiao No.3’ and ‘Zhongjiao No.4’ banana seedlings as materials, the effects of Serendipita indica and bamboo fungus (Dictyophorae echinovolvata) culture substrates on the growth and Fusarium wilt disease resistance of banana were investigated. Results showed that the plant height, leaf length, leaf width, root length and root thickness, aboveground part fresh weight, root fresh weight, and relative chlorophyll content and nitrogen content in leaves of banana seedlings colonized with S. indica were all greater than those of non-colonized controls, while these parameters of banana seedlings grown in nutrient soil containing D. echinovolvata culture substrates were significantly suppressed. Both S. indica non-colonized and colonized seedlings cultivated in nutrient containing 1/4 D. echinovolvata culture substrates showed much milder symptoms compared with those cultivated in normal nutrient soil, indicating that the addition of bamboo fungus substrates to the soil can enhance the Fusarium wilt resistance of banana. The results obtained in this study can provide a basis for the application of S. indica and bamboo fungus in the prevention and control of banana Fusarium wilt disease

Genome-wide identification and characterization of mRNAs and lncRNAs involved in cold stress in the wild banana (<i>Musa itinerans</i>)

<div><p>Cold stress seriously affects banana growth, yield and fruit quality. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been demonstrated as key regulators of biotic and abiotic stress in plants, but the identification and prediction of cold responsive mRNAs and lncRNAs in wild banana remains unexplored. In present study, a cold resistant wild banana line from China was used to profile the cold-responsive mRNAs and lncRNAs by RNA-seq under cold stress conditions, i.e. 13°C (critical growth temperature), 4°C (chilling temperature), 0°C (freezing temperature) and normal growing condition, i.e. 28°C (control group). A total of 12,462 lncRNAs were identified in cold-stressed wild banana. In mRNA, much more alternative splicing events occurred in wild banana under the cold stress conditions compared with that in the normal growing condition. The GO analysis of differential expression genes (DEGs) showed the biochemical processes and membrane related genes responded positively to the cold stress. The KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of the DEGs showed that the pathways of photosynthesis, photosynthesis–antenna proteins, circadian rhythm–plant, glutathione metabolism, starch and sucrose metabolism, cutin/suberine/biosynthesis were altered or affected by the cold stress conditions. Our analyses of the generated transcriptome and lncRNAs provide new insights into regulating expression of genes and lncRNAs that respond to cold stress in the wild banana.</p></div

Neuromodulatory Effect of Sensorimotor Network Functional Connectivity of Temporal Three-Needle Therapy for Ischemic Stroke Patients with Motor Dysfunction: Study Protocol for a Randomized, Patient-Assessor Blind, Controlled, Neuroimaging Trial

Background. The clinical efficacy of temporal three-needle therapy for stroke dysfunction has been previously demonstrated in China. However, the central mechanism of temporal three-needle therapy remains unclear. Temporal three-needle projects the sensory cortex and the motor cortex, which may impact the cortex function. Current studies seldom focus on it. Hence, according to the “scalp-cortex corresponding theory,” the underlying mechanism of temporal three-needle remains a domain for further research. Methods. This trial is designed to provide objective and visual evidence for the neuromodulatory effect and neuroimaging mechanism of temporal three-needle therapy for stroke patients. This ongoing study is a prospective, randomized, controlled, patient-assessor blind, single-center, neuroimaging trial involving two-parallel patient groups and a healthy control group. Forty eligible patients will be recruited from Shenzhen Nanshan District People’s Hospital and randomized into either the experimental group or the control group. Twenty healthy volunteers will be recruited in the healthy control group and undergo baseline magnetic resonance imaging scans without any intervention. Patients in the control group will receive acupuncture at Dingnieqianxiexian (MS6), in addition to basic medicine and rehabilitative treatments. Patients in the experimental group will receive temporal three-needle therapy plus basic medicine and rehabilitative treatments 5 days per week, 10 sessions over two consecutive weeks. The primary outcome is resting-state functional connectivity, and the secondary outcomes are regional homogeneity, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations, Fugl–Meyer assessment of the upper limb, and modified Barthel Index. All outcome measures will be assessed at baseline and after 2 weeks of intervention. Discussion. The results will explore the neuromodulatory effects and illustrate the central mechanism of temporal three-needle treatment from the network-level viewpoint of sensorimotor network functional plasticity and promote widespread application in real-world practice. This trial was registered at Chinese Clinical Trial Registry on 14 March 2018 with ChiCTR1800015209