The paleoclimatic footprint in the soil carbon stock of the Tibetan permafrost region

Data and code availability The authors declare that the majority of the data supporting the findings of this study are available through the links given in the paper. The unpublished data are available from the corresponding author upon request. The new estimate of Tibetan soil carbon stock and R code are available in a persistent repository (https://figshare.com/s/4374f28d880f366eff6d). Acknowledgements This study was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program (A) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA20050101), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41871104), Key Research and Development Programs for Global Change and Adaptation (2017YFA0603604), International Partnership Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (131C11KYSB20160061) and the Thousand Youth Talents Plan project in China. Jinzhi Ding acknowledges the General (2017M620922) and the Special Grade (2018T110144) of the Financial Grant from the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Associations of HLA-DP Variants with Hepatitis B Virus Infection in Southern and Northern Han Chinese Populations: A Multicenter Case-Control Study

) locus has been reported to be associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in populations of Japan and Thailand. We aimed to examine whether the association can be replicated in Han Chinese populations. = 0.097∼0.697 and 0.198∼0.615 in northern Chinese population, respectively). loci were strongly associated with HBV infection in southern and northern Han Chinese populations, but not with HBV progression

Dynamic evolution of schistosomiasis distribution under different control strategies: Results from surveillance covering 1991-2014 in Guichi, China.

BackgroundSince the founding of the China, the Chinese government, depending on the changing epidemiological situations over time, adopted different strategies to continue the progress towards elimination of schistosomiasis in the country. Although the changing pattern of schistosomiasis distribution in both time and space is well known and has been confirmed by numerous studies, the problem of how these patterns evolve under different control strategies is far from being understood. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to investigate the spatio-temporal change of the distribution of schistosomiasis with special reference to how these patterns evolve under different control strategies.Methodology / principal findingsParasitological data at the village level were obtained through access to repeated cross-sectional surveys carried out during 1991-2014 in Guichi, a rural district along the Yangtze River in Anhui Province, China. A hierarchical dynamic spatio-temporal model was used to evaluate the evolving pattern of schistosomiasis prevalence, which accounted for mechanism of dynamics of the disease. Descriptive analysis indicates that schistosomiasis prevalence displayed fluctuating high-risk foci during implementation of the chemotherapy-based strategy (1991-2005), while it took on a homogenous pattern of decreasing magnitude in the following period when the integrated strategy was implemented (2006-2014). The dynamic model analysis showed that regularly global propagation of the disease was not present after the effect of proximity to river was taken into account but local pattern transition existed. Maps of predicted prevalence shows that relatively high prevalence (>4%) occasionally occurred before 2006 and prevalence presents a homogenous and decreasing trend over the study area afterwards.ConclusionsProximity to river is still an important determinant for schistosomiasis infection regardless of different types of implemented prevention and control strategies. Between the transition from the chemotherapy-based strategy to the integrated one, we noticed a decreased prevalence. However, schistosomiasis would remain an endemic challenge in these study areas. Further prevention and control countermeasures are warranted

CO2 fertilization contributed more than half of the observed forest biomass increase in northern extra‐tropical land

The existence of a large-biomass carbon (C) sink in Northern Hemisphere extra-tropical ecosystems (NHee) is well-established, but the relative contribution of different potential drivers remains highly uncertain. Here we isolated the historical role of carbon dioxide (CO2) fertilization by integrating estimates from 24 CO2-enrichment experiments, an ensemble of 10 dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) and two observation-based biomass datasets. Application of the emergent constraint technique revealed that DGVMs underestimated the historical response of plant biomass to increasing [CO2] in forests (β Mod/Forest) but overestimated the response in grasslands (β Mod/Grass) since the 1850s. Combining the constrained β Mod/Forest (0.86 ± 0.28 kg C m−2 [100 ppm]−1) with observed forest biomass changes derived from inventories and satellites, we identified that CO2 fertilization alone accounted for more than half (54 ± 18% and 64 ± 21%, respectively) of the increase in biomass C storage since the 1990s. Our results indicate that CO2 fertilization dominated the forest biomass C sink over the past decades, and provide an essential step toward better understanding the key role of forests in land-based policies for mitigating climate change

Screening and identification of biomarkers in ascites related to intrinsic chemoresistance of serous epithelial ovarian cancers.

OBJECTIVE:The ability to predict responses to chemotherapy for serous epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) would be valuable since intrinsically chemoresistant EOC patients (persistent or recurrent disease within 6 months) gain little benefit from standard chemotherapy. The aim of this study was to screen and identify distinctive biomarkers in ascites of serous EOC associated with intrinsic chemoresistance. METHODS:Protein samples from ascites of 12 chemosensitive and 7 intrinsically chemoresistant serous EOC patients were analyzed using two-dimensional fluorescence difference in gel electrophoresis (2-D DIGE) coupled with matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/TOF MS). Furthermore, the identified proteins were validated by ELISA in ascites samples from 19 chemosensitive and 9 intrinsically chemoresistant EOC patients. RESULTS:The number of spots detected in all 2-D DIGE gels ranged from 1523-1711 using DeCyder software analysis. Thirty-four spots were differentially expressed based on the criteria of an average ratio of more than 1.5 and a student t-test P value <0.05. After MALDI-TOF/TOF MS analysis, 11 differentially expressed proteins, including 3 up-regulated and 8 down-regulated proteins, in ascites of chemoresistant tumors were successfully identified. Of the four selected proteins (ceruloplasmin, apoliprotein A-IV, transthyretin and haptoglobin) in ascites tested by ELISA, only ceruloplasmin was present at significantly different levels between the chemoresistant and chemosensitive ascites samples with average concentrations of 192.2 µg/ml and 157.5 µg/ml, respectively (P = 0.001). CONCLUSION:The significantly up-regulated level of ceruloplasmin in the ascites fluid of intrinsic chemoresistant serous EOC patients suggests its potential as a prognostic biomarker for responses to chemotherapy. This finding prompts further investigation with a larger study in order to validate the clinical utility of ceruloplasmin

TRIM25 Suppresses Rabies Virus Fixed HEP-Flury Strain Production by Activating RIG-1-Mediated Type I Interferons

Rabies remains a great threat to public health worldwide. So far, the mechanism of rabies virus (RABV) infection is not fully understood, and there is no effective treatment for rabies. Identifying more host restriction factors of RABV will spur the development of novel therapeutic interventions against rabies. Accumulating studies suggest that tripartite motif-containing (TRIM) proteins have great effects on virus replication. TRIMs control the antiviral responses through either direct interaction with viral proteins or indirect regulation of innate immune signaling molecules in the host. The role of TRIM25 in rabies virus (RABV) infection is poorly understood. Using next-generation sequencing, we found that TRIM25 is upregulated during HEP-Flury infection. Knockdown of TRIM25 enhances HEP-Flury production, while overexpression of TRIM25 suppresses HEP-Flury replication. Knockdown of interferon α and interferon β weakens the anti-RABV response induced by TRIM25 overexpression, and potentiates RABV production. Furthermore, we found that TRIM25 regulates type-I interferon response by targeting retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) during HEP-Flury infection. Knockdown of RIG-I weakens the anti-HEP-Flury response induced by TRIM25 overexpression, indicating that TRIM25 regulates RABV production via the RIG-I-IFN axis. In addition, we observed that TRIM25 does not directly interact with HEP-Flury structural proteins, suggesting that TRIM25 regulates HEP-Flury production indirectly. Taken together, our work identifies TRIM25 as a new host factor involved in HEP-Flury infection, which may be a potential target for the development of antiviral drugs against RABV

Promoter Effects on Nickel-Supported Magnesium Oxide Catalysts for the Carbon Dioxide Reforming of Methane

The nickel catalysts supported on bare MgO and its binary Mg–Al, Mg–La, and Mg–Fe metal oxides were prepared and used for carbon dioxide reforming of methane to syngas. The effects of Al, La, and Fe metal oxides on the structural properties, reducibility, and metal–support interaction of the Ni catalysts supported on MgO-based binary metal oxide were investigated. The X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and hydrogen temperature-programmed reduction (H₂-TPR) analyses show that the nickel nanoparticles were highly dispersed on the supports. It is found that the Al ions can be well-incorporated into the MgO lattice to form uniform Mg–Al oxides, while isolated lanthanum oxides and iron oxides were observed in the Mg–La and Mg–Fe binary systems by TEM, respectively. Ni/Mg–Al metal oxide exhibits greatly improved catalytic activity, owing to the formation of a homogeneous Mg–Al oxide matrix with small particle sizes of Ni nanoparticles compared to bare Ni/MgO. Very low conversions for both CH₄ and CO₂ were obtained on Ni/Mg–La and Ni/Mg–Fe metal oxides, even at a high temperature of 800 °C, as a result of the incomplete reduction of the nickel nanoparticles