Simulated Effects of Cropland Expansion on Summer Climate in Eastern China in the Last Three Centuries

To understand the effects of the land use/cover changes due to agricultural development on summer climate in Eastern China, four 12-year simulations using the WRF-SSiB model were performed. We found that agricultural development resulted in warming and rainy effects. In the middle to lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, the warming effects were approximately 0.6°C and resulted from increased surface net radiation and sensible heat fluxes. In Northeast China, the warming effects were very small due to increases in latent heat fluxes which resulted from the extensive conversion from grassland to cropland. The rainy effect resulted from increases in convective rainfall, which was associated with a warming surface in certain areas of the Yellow River and Yangtze River and a large increase in the surface moisture flux in Northeast China. Conversely, in the middle to lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, the grid-scale rainfall decreased because the climatological northward wind, which is moist and warm, was partially offset by a southward wind anomaly. These findings suggest that the agricultural development left footprints not only on the present climate but also on the historical climate changes before the industrial revolution

Spatio-temporal distribution and source partitioning of formaldehyde over Ethiopia and Kenya

Understanding the local sources of atmospheric formaldehyde (HCHO) is a key step in accurately determining the inversion of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs). This study aims to clarify the main sources and emission patterns of local total HCHO column densities over Ethiopia and Kenya. Between 2005 and 2015, the total monthly HCHO varied from 3.7 x 10(15) molecules/cm(2) to 7.7 x 10(15) molecules/cm(2). Monthly HCHO showed a strong seasonal pattern with annual peaks on March, July (small peak) and October, which well matched with the rainy seasons in Ethiopia and Kenya. Natural sources contributed 36% to the total HCHO in the study area. Grassland and savannas showed high column densities in the long rainy season starting from March, with the monthly average emission value of 5.6 x 10(15) molecules/cm(2). Multiple regression result showed that vegetation contributed 3.5 x 10(13) molecules/cm(2) to monthly HCHO, with grassland and forest in eastern Kenya and the boundary of Ethiopia and Kenya were the main contributors in these regions. Biomass burning and methane contributed to HCHO emission in the western and northern Ethiopia with a magnitude of 1.4 x 10(14) molecules/cm(2) and 6.2 x 10(16) molecules/cm(2) per month, respectively. Economic activities showed negative response to HCHO columns, except over the two small-scale regions of Addis Ababa City and Nairobi City. This study quantified the HCHO from various sources and suggested that natural sources produce more HCHO than anthropogenic sources over Ethiopia and Kenya.Peer reviewe

Long Non-Coding RNA TUG1 Attenuates Insulin Resistance in Mice with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus via Regulation of the MicroRNA-328-3p/SREBP-2/ERK Axis

Background Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been illustrated to contribute to the development of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). In the present study, we aimed to elucidate how lncRNA taurine upregulated gene 1 (TUG1) influences insulin resistance (IR) in a high-fat diet (HFD)-induced mouse model of GDM. Methods We initially developed a mouse model of HFD-induced GDM, from which islet tissues were collected for RNA and protein extraction. Interactions among lncRNA TUG1/microRNA (miR)-328-3p/sterol regulatory element binding protein 2 (SREBP-2) were assessed by dual-luciferase reporter assay. Fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting insulin (FINS), homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), HOMA pancreatic β-cell function (HOMA-β), insulin sensitivity index for oral glucose tolerance tests (ISOGTT) and insulinogenic index (IGI) levels in mouse serum were measured through conducting gain- and loss-of-function experiments. Results Abundant expression of miR-328 and deficient expression of lncRNA TUG1 and SREBP-2 were characterized in the islet tissues of mice with HFD-induced GDM. LncRNA TUG1 competitively bound to miR-328-3p, which specifically targeted SREBP-2. Either depletion of miR-328-3p or restoration of lncRNA TUG1 and SREBP-2 reduced the FBG, FINS, HOMA-β, and HOMA-IR levels while increasing ISOGTT and IGI levels, promoting the expression of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathway-related genes, and inhibiting apoptosis of islet cells in GDM mice. Upregulation miR-328-3p reversed the alleviative effects of SREBP-2 and lncRNA TUG1 on IR. Conclusion Our study provides evidence that the lncRNA TUG1 may prevent IR following GDM through competitively binding to miR-328-3p and promoting the SREBP-2-mediated ERK signaling pathway inactivation

Lead detoxification of edible fungi Auricularia auricula and Pleurotus ostreatus: the purification of the chelation substances and their effects on rats

Lead is a global pollutant that causes widespread concern. When a lead enters the body, it is distributed throughout the body and accumulates in the brain, bone, and soft tissues such as the kidney, liver, and spleen. Chelators used for lead poisoning therapy all have side effects to some extent and other drawbacks including high cost. Exploration and utilization of natural antidotes become necessary. To date, few substances originating from edible fungi that are capable of adsorbing lead have been reported. In this study, we found that two commonly eaten mushrooms Auricularia auricula and Pleurotus ostreatus exhibited lead adsorption capacity. A. auricula active substance (AAAS) and P. ostreatus active substance (POAS) were purified by hot-water extraction, ethanol precipitation from its fruiting bodies followed by ion exchange chromatography, ultrafiltration, and gel filtration chromatography, respectively. AAAS was 3.6 kDa, while POAS was 4.9 kDa. They were both constituted of polysaccharides and peptides. The peptide sequences obtained by liquid chromatography combined with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) proved that they were rich in amino acids with side chain groups such as hydroxyl, carboxyl, carbonyl, sulfhydryl, and amidogen. Two rat models were established, but only a chronic lead-induced poisoning model was employed to determine the detoxification of AAAS/POAS and their fruiting body powder. For rats receiving continuous lead treatment, either AAAS or POAS could reduce the lead levels in the blood. They also promoted the elimination of the burden of lead in the spleen and kidney. The fruiting bodies were also proved to have lead detoxification effects. This is the first study to identify new functions of A. auricula and P. ostreatus in reducing lead toxicity and to provide dietary strategies for the treatment of lead toxicity

Crop Yield and Temperature Changes in North China during 601–900 AD

Depending on the descriptions of crop yield and social response to crop failure/harvest from Chinese historical documents, we classified the crop yield of North China during 601–900 AD into six categories and quantified each category to be the crop yield grades. We found that the regional mean crop yield had a significant (P<0.01) negative trend at the rate of −0.24% per decade. The interannual, multiple-decadal, and century-scale variability accounted for ~47%, ~30%, and ~20% of the total variations of crop yield, respectively. The interannual variability was significantly (P<0.05) persistent across the entire period. The multiple-decadal variability was more dominant after 750 AD than that before 750 AD, while the century-scale variability was more dominant before 750 AD than that after 750 AD. The variations of crop yield could be partly explained by temperature changes. On one hand, the declining trend of crop yield cooccurred with the climate cooling trend from 601 to 900 AD; on the other hand, the crop yield was positively correlated with temperature changes at 30-year resolution with the correlation coefficient of 0.59 (P<0.1). These findings supported that high (low) crop yield occurred in the warming (cooling) climate

Simulation for non-point source pollution based on QUAL2E in the Jinghe River, Shaanxi Province, China

Wang, J., Huo, A., Hu, A., Zhang, X., & Wu, Y. (March-April, 2017). Simulation for non-point source pollution based on QUAL2E in the Jinghe River, Shaanxi Province, China. Water Technology and Sciences (in Spanish), 8(2), 117-126. Water pollution in river basins is significantly influenced by point-source and non-point-source pollutants. Compared with point-source pollutants, the identification and quantification of non-point-source pollutants are critical but difficult issues in water environmental pollution studies. The Jinghe River is one of the main tributaries of the Weihe River. However, the non-point-source pollution of this river is not well understood. In order to analyze the sources of pointand non-point loads to river water, the river water quality model QUAL2E and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) & Factor Analysis (FA) were applied simultaneously to calculate the point- and non-point-source loads of ammonia nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen, respectively, in dry and wet seasons from 2002 to 2007. The results show that NO3 - -N can be associated with point-source pollution, such as domestic sewage in dry seasons, but non-point-source pollution generated by precipitation in wet seasons. NH4 +-N can be associated with point-source pollution throughout the year. The methods applied in this research provide reliable results on non-point-source pollution caused by storm runoff

Preparation, Structural Characterization and Biological Activity of Phosphorylated Polysaccharide from Undaria pinnatifida Suringar

The polysaccharide purified from Undaria pinnatifida Suringar was phosphorylated using phosphate as a cross-linking agent. The structure of the phosphorylated polysaccharide was characterized by ultraviolet (UV) absorption spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS), periodate oxidation and Smith degradation, Congo red test, β-elimination reaction, and iodine-potassium iodide test, and the free radical scavenging capacity and hypoglycemic activity of the raw and modified polysaccharide were evaluated. The results showed that the substitution degree of phosphate was 9.26, and the characteristic absorption peaks of P=O and P–O–C appeared at 1 216 and 886 cm-1, indicating that the phosphorylation modification was successful. The maximum relative molecular mass of the phosphorylated polysaccharide was 94.4 × 103. It had a triple-stranded helical structure and was composed of glucopyranose unis linked together by β-glycosidic bonds. The polysaccharide and amino acids were linked together mainly by –O– glycopeptide bonds. The main linkages between monosaccharides were 1→3, 1→2,1→4 and 1→6 glycosidic bonds, the molar ratio was 0.494:0.504:0.002, and the sugar chain had a branched structure. The scavenging capacity against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, superoxide anion radical (O2-·) and hydroxyl radical (·OH) and the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity of the polysaccharide were significantly increased by 34.76%, 12.30%, 76.05% and 3.70% after the phosphorylation modification (P < 0.05), indicating that phosphorylation modification enhanced the free radical scavenging capacity and hypoglycemic activity of the polysaccharide from Undaria pinnatifida Suringar

Risk of cardiac-related death in astrocytoma patients treated with chemotherapy: A competing risk analysis using the SEER database

PurposeTo explore the impact of chemotherapy on the risk of cardiac-related death in astrocytoma patients.MethodsWe retrospectively evaluated astrocytoma patients diagnosed between 1,975 and 2016 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Using Cox proportional hazards models, we compared the risks of cardiac-related death between a chemotherapy group and non-chemotherapy group. Competing-risks regression analyses were used to evaluate the difference in cardiac-related death. Also, propensity score matching (PSM) was employed to reduce confounding bias. The robustness of these findings was evaluated by sensitivity analysis, and E values were calculated.ResultsA total of 14,834 patients diagnosed with astrocytoma were included. Chemotherapy (HR = 0.625, 95%CI: 0.444–0.881) was associated with cardiac-related death in univariate Cox regression analysis. Chemotherapy was an independent prognostic factor for a lower risk of cardiac-related death before (HR = 0.579, 95%CI: 0.409–0.82, P = 0.002) and after PSM (HR = 0.550, 95%CI: 0.367–0.823 P = 0.004). Sensitivity analysis determined that the E-value of chemotherapy was 2.848 and 3.038 before and after PSM.ConclusionsChemotherapy did not increase the risk of cardiac-related death in astrocytoma patients. This study highlights that cardio–oncology teams should provide comprehensive care and long-term monitoring for cancer patients, especially those with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease

Response of urban heat island to future urban expansion over the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei metropolitan area

Urban expansion plays a dominant role in the urban heat island (UHI) formation and is thus the essence and fundamental characteristic of the urban fabric. In this study, the responses of UHI to the urban expansion in the past decades were simulated using the coupled weather research forecast/urban canopy model (WRF/UCM) system from the 1980s to 2005 and in the future in 2050 embedded with the fine spatial resolution land use/land cover (LULC) datasets over the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) metropolitan area. With the urban expansion, the validations suggested that the designed models in this research can well simulate the generation and development of UHI. Due to urban expansion, the minimum temperature would rise by about 5 K in the newly developed areas. The temperature over the old urban areas would also increase (<1 K) because of the surrounding newly developed urban areas. The footprint of urban growth, in particular the minimum temperature, was clearly captured in the three scenarios by almost all the variables. These results were quite interesting, and it indicated a more uncomfortable urban environment in the future, especially at night, when the temperature changes are larger due to urban expansion

Pathogenic invasive microbes Trichoderma pleuroticola transform bacterial and fungal community diversity in Auricularia cornea crop production system

Pathogenic invasion of Trichoderma pleuroticola profoundly altered microflora in the Auricularia cornea crop production system, impacting diversity and composition in both artificial bed-log and fruiting bodies. A more complex ecological network between the diseased and healthy bodies. Researchers still have poor knowledge about how the important agricultural relationship between the composition of the microbiome of the artificial bed-log and the fruiting bodies is infected by the pathogenic invasive microbes T. pleuroticola, but this knowledge is crucial if we want to use or improve it. Here, we investigated 8 groups (48 biological samples) across 5 growth stages of the A. cornea production system using metagenomic technology. Diseased and healthy fruiting bodies exhibited distinct microbial compositions, while core members in artificial bed-logs remained stable. Core microbiota analysis highlighted Pseudomonas and Pandoraea bacterial genera, as well as Sarocladium, Cephalotrichum, Aspergillus, and Mortierella fungal genera as biomarker species after the bodies were treated with the pathogenic invasive microbes T. pleuroticola. In diseased bodies, these core members upregulated pathways including polymyxin resistance, L-arginine degradation II, superpathway of L-arginine and L-ornithine degradation, glucose degradation (oxidative), glucose and glucose-1-phosphate degradation, promoting fruit spoilage. Our data confirm that T. pleuroticola plays an important role in the early stages of disease development in the A. cornea crop generation system. The exposed volatile core microbiome may play an important role in accelerating T. pleuroticola-induced decay of fruiting bodies