The functional and structural alterations of the striatum in chronic spontaneous urticaria

The brain has long been known to be the regulation center of itch, but the neuropathology of chronic itch, such as chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), remains unclear. Thus, we aimed to explore the brain areas involved in the pathophysiology of CSU in hopes that our results may provide valuable insights into the treatment of chronic itch conditions. 40 CSU patients and 40 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. Urticaria activity scores 7 (UAS7) were collected to evaluate patient’s clinical symptoms. Amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF), voxel-based morphometry (VBM), and seed-based resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analysis were used to assess brain activity and related plasticity. Compared with HCs, CSU patients exhibited 1) higher ALFF values in the right ventral striatum / putamen, which were positively associated with clinical symptoms as measured by UAS7; 2) gray matter volume (GMV) increase in the right ventral striatum and putamen; and 3) decreased rs-FC between the right ventral striatum and the right occipital cortex and between the right putamen and the left precentral gyrus. Using multiple-modality brain imaging tools, we demonstrated the dysfunction of the striatum in CSU. Our results may provide valuable insights into the neuropathology and development of chronic itch

The Effect of Climate Change on Spring Maize (Zea mays L.) Suitability across China

Spring maize (Zea mays L.) is a thermophilic C4 crop which is sensitive to climate change. This paper provides a detailed assessment of the effect of climate change on the crop from a new perspective, by predicting the probability of the potential distribution of spring maize across China. The affected area of spring maize suitability was identified, and then the affected area was subdivided into the improved area and the deteriorated area. Our results confirmed that there was a detrimental consequence for spring maize suitability under observed climate change from 1961–1990 to 1981–2010. However, our results revealed that warming scenarios of 1.5 °C and 2 °C were helpful for the suitable area expansion of spring maize. The affected area was smaller under warming scenarios than under historical climate change, revealing that temperature rise alone was not enough to trigger a “tipping point” (a threshold value after which abrupt shifts occur) for spring maize, even if warming is 2 °C above the level of 1961–1990. Our results not only benefit China in the design of mitigation and adaptation strategies, but also provide a theoretical judgement that the impact of global warming on the crop ecosystem is not serious if other climate factors remain unchanged

Grassland Carbon Budget and Its Driving Factors of the Subtropical and Tropical Monsoon Region in China During 1961 to 2013

The southern grasslands are an integral part of the grassland ecosystems of China and play an essential role in the terrestrial carbon cycle of the country. We reproduced the spatiotemporal dynamics of the carbon budget of southern grasslands from 1961 to 2013 using the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model and our results showed that the annual carbon budget varied from -8.12 to 6.16 Tg C y(-1) with an annual average of 0.45 Tg C y(-1) during the study period. Overall, southern grasslands acted as a weak carbon sink and sequestrated 23.83 Tg C from 1961 to 2013. At the seasonal scale, southern grasslands acted as a carbon sink in wet seasons but as a carbon source in dry seasons. During the study period, temperature and precipitation were the main factors driving carbon budget dynamics at the seasonal scale, while soil moisture was the main driving factor at the annual scale. Over the entire study region, 71.81% of the area switched to being a carbon sink while only 5.90% remained stable and the strong carbon sinks were mainly found in the southern, northern and western areas of the southern grasslands

Grassland Carbon Budget and Its Driving Factors of the Subtropical and Tropical Monsoon Region in China During 1961 to 2013

Abstract The southern grasslands are an integral part of the grassland ecosystems of China and play an essential role in the terrestrial carbon cycle of the country. We reproduced the spatiotemporal dynamics of the carbon budget of southern grasslands from 1961 to 2013 using the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model and our results showed that the annual carbon budget varied from −8.12 to 6.16 Tg C y−1 with an annual average of 0.45 Tg C y−1 during the study period. Overall, southern grasslands acted as a weak carbon sink and sequestrated 23.83 Tg C from 1961 to 2013. At the seasonal scale, southern grasslands acted as a carbon sink in wet seasons but as a carbon source in dry seasons. During the study period, temperature and precipitation were the main factors driving carbon budget dynamics at the seasonal scale, while soil moisture was the main driving factor at the annual scale. Over the entire study region, 71.81% of the area switched to being a carbon sink while only 5.90% remained stable and the strong carbon sinks were mainly found in the southern, northern and western areas of the southern grasslands

Increase in flood and drought disasters during 1500–2000 in Southwest China

Climate change has had a huge impact on Southwest China, where extreme weather events have taken on an increasing trend. The region lies in the transition zone of three monsoons (East Asian, Indian, and Tibetan Plateau). We analyzed long-term trends of drought and flood disasters using sequential data on China's drought and flood incidence over 500 years (1501-2000), as well as precipitation records from 45 weather stations during 1961-2010. Results show that both types of disaster became more frequent. During 1501-2000, drought frequency rose from 2.12 to 4.15 per century to 9.03 and flood frequency from 2.06 to 5.09 per century to 11.94. For the 10 decades during 1900-2000, droughts exhibited a significant increasing trend (R (2) = 0.4491), while floods showed a slight increasing trend (R (2) = 0.0346). For extreme floods and droughts in 1961-2010, precipitation records revealed that most (2/3) areas in the region had increasing drought or flood frequencies. Generally, both frequency and intensity of these weather hazards conspicuously increased in Southwest China during 1501-2000

Warm–Wet Climate Trend Enhances Net Primary Production of the Main Ecosystems in China during 2000–2021

A significant greening trend has been reported globally in recent decades. The greening indicates the improvement in net primary production (NPP) in vegetation. Adopting statistics-based regression models, we investigated the dynamics of NPP and its climatic drivers in main ecosystems (forest land, grass land, and unused land) over China during the period 2000–2021. The results confirmed an increasing NPP covering approximately 86% area in the main ecosystems. NPP exhibited an increase rate of 6.11 g C m−2 yr−1 in forest land, 4.77 g C m−2 yr−1 in grass land, and 1.25 g C m−2 yr−1 in unused land, respectively. Over the same period, warm–wet climate trend was observed covering approximately 90% of the main ecosystems. The warm–wet climate has had a positive effect rather than negative effect on NPP in the main ecosystems, judging by their significant positive correlation. Our results suggested that the increase in annual precipitation exerted much more important effect on the increasing NPP. The warm–wet climate trend contributes to the upward trend in NPP, even if variability in NPP might involve the influence of solar radiation, atmospheric aerosols, CO2 fertilization, nitrogen deposition, human intervention, etc

The Effect of Climate Change on Spring Maize (Zea mays L.) Suitability across China

Spring maize (Zea mays L.) is a thermophilic C4 crop which is sensitive to climate change. This paper provides a detailed assessment of the effect of climate change on the crop from a new perspective, by predicting the probability of the potential distribution of spring maize across China. The affected area of spring maize suitability was identified, and then the affected area was subdivided into the improved area and the deteriorated area. Our results confirmed that there was a detrimental consequence for spring maize suitability under observed climate change from 1961–1990 to 1981–2010. However, our results revealed that warming scenarios of 1.5 °C and 2 °C were helpful for the suitable area expansion of spring maize. The affected area was smaller under warming scenarios than under historical climate change, revealing that temperature rise alone was not enough to trigger a “tipping point” (a threshold value after which abrupt shifts occur) for spring maize, even if warming is 2 °C above the level of 1961–1990. Our results not only benefit China in the design of mitigation and adaptation strategies, but also provide a theoretical judgement that the impact of global warming on the crop ecosystem is not serious if other climate factors remain unchanged