Farmland Use Transition in a Typical Farming Area: The Case of Sihong County in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain of China

An in-depth exploration of the dynamics and existing problems in farmland morphology is crucial to formulate targeted protection policies. In this study, we constructed a morphological evaluation index system to identify the characteristics of farmland use transition in Sihong County of the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, China. The dominant morphology in terms of area and landscape pattern and the recessive morphology focusing on function were considered in this work. Based on this information, the driving factors of farmland use transition were quantitatively analyzed via the mixed regression model. The following major findings were determined: (1) The area showed a U-shaped change trend during 2009–2018. The patch density (PD) showed an upward trend, and the mean patch size (MPS) showed a downward trend, indicating that the degree of farmland fragmentation increased. The implementation of land consolidation projects increased the area and aggregation of farmland, while urbanization and road construction occupied and divided the farmland, leading to a reduction in area and increase in the degree of fragmentation. (2) The crop production, living security, and eco-environmental function of farmland showed a trend of first decreasing and then increasing. Urbanization increased the demand for agricultural products and the degree of large-scale agricultural production and had a positive impact on the crop production and eco-environmental function of farmland. Our research highlights that increasing farmland fragmentation should be addressed in the farming area. Therefore, the government should formulate efficient policies to curb farmland occupation for urban and traffic utilization

The Antiobesity Effect of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists Alone or in Combination with Metformin in Overweight /Obese Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objectives. Both glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) and metformin (MET) have markedly antiobesity effects in overweight/obese polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients. However, there was no literature to compare the antiobesity effects of these two medicines. Therefore, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted in our present study to evaluate the antiobesity effects of GLP-1RAs either as monotherapy or combined with MET in comparison with MET alone in overweight/obese PCOS patients. Methods. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which reported the efficacy of GLP-1RAs and MET in overweight/obese PCOS patients in Medline (from Pubmed), Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were independently searched by two reviewers. The random-effect model was used to pool data extracted from the included literature. The weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to present the meta-analysis results (PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020173199). Results. A total of eight eligible RCTs were finally enrolled in our meta-analysis from the 587 retrieved literature. The results showed that GLP-1RAs alone or combined with MET was associated with a greater weight loss (N = 318, WMD = −2.61, 95% CI: −3.51 to −1.72, P≤0.001, I2 = 77.5%), more obvious reduction of waist circumference (N = 276, WMD = −3.46, 95% CI: −4.36 to −2.56, P≤0.001, I2 = 0.0%), and body mass index (BMI) (N = 318, WMD = −0.93, 95% CI: −1.60 to −0.26, P=0.007, I2 = 84.9%) in overweight/obese PCOS patients when compared with MET alone. Further sensitivity analysis demonstrated that the meta-analysis results of the efficacy differences in terms of body weight, waist circumference, and BMI were relatively stable and reliable. Conclusion. Our meta-analysis demonstrated that the antiobesity effect of GLP-1RAs alone or combined with MET  was superior to MET  alone in terms of weight loss, the reduction of waist circumference, and BMI. More large-scale, high-quality RCTs are needed to further confirm these results in PCOS patients

Distinct AMPK-Mediated FAS/HSL Pathway Is Implicated in the Alleviating Effect of Nuciferine on Obesity and Hepatic Steatosis in HFD-Fed Mice

Nuciferine (Nuci), the main aporphine alkaloid component in lotus leaf, was reported to reduce lipid accumulation in vitro. Herein we investigated whether Nuci prevents obesity in high fat diet (HFD)-fed mice and the underlying mechanism in liver/HepG2 hepatocytes and epididymal white adipose tissue (eWAT) /adipocytes. Male C57BL/6J mice were fed with HFD supplemented with Nuci (0.10%) for 12 weeks. We found that Nuci significantly reduced body weight and fat mass, improved glycolipid profiles, and enhanced energy expenditure in HFD-fed mice. Nuci also ameliorated hepatic steatosis and decreased the size of adipocytes. Furthermore, Nuci remarkably promoted the phosphorylation of AMPK, suppressed lipogenesis (SREBP1, FAS, ACC), promoted lipolysis (HSL, ATGL), and increased the expressions of adipokines (FGF21, ZAG) in liver and eWAT. Besides, fatty acid oxidation in liver and thermogenesis in eWAT were also activated by Nuci. Similar results were further observed at cellular level, and these beneficial effects of Nuci in cells were abolished by an effective AMPK inhibitor compound C. In conclusion, Nuci supplementation prevented HFD-induced obesity, attenuated hepatic steatosis, and reduced lipid accumulation in liver/hepatocytes and eWAT/adipocytes through regulating AMPK-mediated FAS/HSL pathway. Our findings provide novel insight into the clinical application of Nuci in treating obesity and related complications

Targeted DNA methylation profiling reveals epigenetic signatures in peanut allergy

DNA methylation (DNAm) has been shown to play a role in mediating food allergy; however, the mechanism by which it does so is poorly understood. In this study, we used targeted next-generation bisulfite sequencing to evaluate DNAm levels in 125 targeted highly informative genomic regions containing 602 CpG sites on 70 immune-related genes to understand whether DNAm can differentiate peanut allergy (PA) versus nonallergy (NA). We found PA-associated DNAm signatures associated with 12 genes (7 potentially novel to food allergy, 3 associated with Th1/Th2, and 2 associated with innate immunity), as well as DNAm signature combinations with superior diagnostic potential compared with serum peanut–specific IgE for PA versus NA. Furthermore, we found that, following peanut protein stimulation, peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMCs) from PA participants showed increased production of cognate cytokines compared with NA participants. The varying responses between PA and NA participants may be associated with the interaction between the modification of DNAm and the interference of environment. Using Euclidean distance analysis, we found that the distances of methylation profile comprising 12 DNAm signatures between PA and NA pairs in monozygotic (MZ) twins were smaller than those in randomly paired genetically unrelated individuals, suggesting that PA-related DNAm signatures may be associated with genetic factors

CEPC Conceptual Design Report: Volume 2 - Physics & Detector

The Circular Electron Positron Collider (CEPC) is a large international scientific facility proposed by the Chinese particle physics community to explore the Higgs boson and provide critical tests of the underlying fundamental physics principles of the Standard Model that might reveal new physics. The CEPC, to be hosted in China in a circular underground tunnel of approximately 100 km in circumference, is designed to operate as a Higgs factory producing electron-positron collisions with a center-of-mass energy of 240 GeV. The collider will also operate at around 91.2 GeV, as a Z factory, and at the WW production threshold (around 160 GeV). The CEPC will produce close to one trillion Z bosons, 100 million W bosons and over one million Higgs bosons. The vast amount of bottom quarks, charm quarks and tau-leptons produced in the decays of the Z bosons also makes the CEPC an effective B-factory and tau-charm factory. The CEPC will have two interaction points where two large detectors will be located. This document is the second volume of the CEPC Conceptual Design Report (CDR). It presents the physics case for the CEPC, describes conceptual designs of possible detectors and their technological options, highlights the expected detector and physics performance, and discusses future plans for detector R&D and physics investigations. The final CEPC detectors will be proposed and built by international collaborations but they are likely to be composed of the detector technologies included in the conceptual designs described in this document. A separate volume, Volume I, recently released, describes the design of the CEPC accelerator complex, its associated civil engineering, and strategic alternative scenarios