Colonization of Morus alba L. by the plant-growth-promoting and antagonistic bacterium Burkholderia cepacia strain Lu10-1

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Anthracnose, caused by <it>Colletotrichum dematium</it>, is a serious threat to the production and quality of mulberry leaves in susceptible varieties. Control of the disease has been a major problem in mulberry cultivation. Some strains of <it>Burkholderia cepacia </it>were reported to be useful antagonists of plant pests and could increase the yields of several crop plants. Although <it>B. cepacia </it>Lu10-1 is an endophytic bacterium obtained from mulberry leaves, it has not been deployed to control <it>C. dematium </it>infection in mulberry nor its colonization patterns in mulberry have been studied using GFP reporter or other reporters. The present study sought to evaluate the antifungal and plant-growth-promoting properties of strain Lu10-1, to clarify its specific localization within a mulberry plant, and to better understand its potential as a biocontrol and growth-promoting agent.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Lu10-1 inhibited conidial germination and mycelial growth of <it>C. dematium </it>in vitro; when applied on leaves or to the soil, Lu10-1 also inhibited the development of anthracnose in a greenhouse, but the effectiveness varied with the length of the interval between the strain treatment and inoculation with the pathogen. Strain Lu10-1 could survive in both sterile and non-sterile soils for more than 60 days. The strain produced auxins, contributed to P solubilization and nitrogenase activity, and significantly promoted the growth of mulberry seedlings. The bacteria infected mulberry seedlings through cracks formed at junctions of lateral roots with the main root and in the zone of differentiation and elongation, and the cells were able to multiply and spread, mainly to the intercellular spaces of different tissues. The growth in all the tissues was around 1-5 × 10⁵CFU per gram of fresh plant tissue.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p><it>Burkholderia cepacia </it>strain Lu10-1 is an endophyte that can multiply and spread in mulberry seedlings rapidly and efficiently. The strain is antagonistic to <it>C. dematium </it>and acts as an efficient plant-growth-promoting agent on mulberry seedlings and is therefore a promising candidate as a biocontrol and growth-promoting agent.</p

Original Article Synergy between IL-6 and TGF-β signaling promotes FOXP3 degradation

Abstract: The forkhead family transcription factor FOXP3 is critical for the differentiation and function of CD4 + CD25 + regulatory T cells (Treg). How FOXP3 protein level is negatively regulated under the inflammatory microenvironment is largely unknown. Here we report that the combination of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) and IL-6 treatment (IL-6/TGF-β) can synergistically downregulate FOXP3 at the posttranslational level by promoting FOXP3 protein degradation. In our FOXP3 overexpression model, we found that IL-6/TGF-β treatment upregulated IL-6R expression but did not affect the stability of FOXP3 mRNA. Moreover, we found that the proteasome inhibitor MG132 could inhibit IL-6/TGF-β-mediated downregulation of FOXP3 protein, which reveals a potential pathway for modulating Treg activity by preventing FOXP3 degradation during inflammation

Modeling cross‐border supply chain collaboration: the case of the Belt and Road Initiative

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has resulted in international, cross-border supply chains returning to a new prominence. The BRI presents opportunities for cross-border supply chain collaboration (SCC) research. Assessing the influencing factors of cross-border SCC is beneficial for understanding and improving this evolving, globally influential international trade policy. The BRI is quite complex so that subjective assessment methods are useful but need to be improved. To address this issue, this paper initially develops a cross-border SCC factor framework based on synergetic theory. A vague set and DEMATEL methods are integrated to form a unified model to support the assessment. A combination weighting that uses analytic hierarchy process and an entropy weighting method, that is, a data crawler for BRI-related documents, to ensure that objective importance weights of the factors in the Belt and Road context are achieved. The results show that information sharing, profit allotment, the degree of trust, and goal congruence as common drivers of SCC are not driving factors in the Belt and Road cross-border context. They are core issues that do not affect cross-border SCC directly. Senior manager support and customs regulation are two important drivers of cross-border SCC. The practitioners of cross-border SCC should not only focus on the support from senior managers and customs regulation but also attempt to improve performance, such as information sharing and trust, to obtain more support from senior managers and policy makers to promote cross-border SCC indirectly

Immune checkpoint inhibitors and acute kidney injury

As a new type of anti-tumor immunotherapy, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have improved the prognosis of multiple malignancies. However, renal complications are becoming more frequent. Nephrotoxicity often manifests as acute kidney injury (AKI), and the most common histopathological type is acute tubulointerstitial nephritis (ATIN). Based on previous studies of the incidence and potential risk factors for nephrotoxicity, in this review, we describe the mechanism of AKI after ICIs treatment, summarize the incidence, risk factors, and outcomes of AKI, and discuss the diagnosis and management of immune checkpoint inhibitors-associated acute kidney injury (ICI-AKI). In addition, we review the current status of ICIs rechallenge and the therapeutic strategies of ICIs applied in kidney transplant recipients. Finally, we emphasize the importance of collaboration between nephrologists and oncologists to guide the treatment of ICIs and the management of renal complications

Prevalence of Osteoporosis in Chinese Elderly People: a Meta-analysis

BackgroundThe prevalence of osteoporosis is high and increases gradually with age. Osteoporosis and its related fractures have exerted a heavy economic burden on patients&apos; families, and the society, so it is urgent to prevent and treat osteoporosis. Understanding osteoporosis prevalence is a prerequisite for containing osteoporosis in China.ObjectiveTo understand osteoporosis prevalence in Chinese elderly people through a meta-analysis.MethodsPubMed, CNKI, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform and VIP databases were searched to collect cross-sectional studies about osteoporosis prevalence in Chinese elderly people published from January 1, 2000 to March 20, 2021. Data from eligible studies were extracted, and methodological quality of these studies was assessed. Meta-analysis was performed by using Stata 12.0.ResultsA total of 48 studies involving 68 932 cases were included. Meta-analysis showed that the overall prevalence of osteoporosis in Chinese adults aged ≥60 years was 37.7%〔95%CI (33.8%, 41.7%) 〕. Subgroup analyses indicated that osteoporosis prevalence in Chinese adults aged ≥60 years was 35.9%〔95%CI (31.1%, 40.8%) 〕 from 2010 to 2020, while that was 39.6%〔95%CI (33.4%, 45.9%) 〕 between 2000 and 2009. Osteoporosis prevalence in this age group in southern and northern China was 39.7%〔95%CI (34.0%, 45.5%) 〕, and 35.7%〔95%CI (30.1%, 41.2%) 〕, respectively. Osteoporosis prevalence in men, and women of this age group was 27.3%〔95%CI (23.9%, 30.7%) 〕 and 48.4%〔95%CI (42.7%, 54.1%) 〕, respectively. The prevalence of osteoporosis in those aged 60-69, 70-79, and over 80 was 32.2%〔95%CI (28.6%, 35.7%) 〕, 41.9%〔95%CI (36.9%, 46.9%) 〕 and 51.8%〔95%CI (43.9%, 59.7%) 〕, respectively.ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that the prevalence of osteoporosis in Chinese older adults is 37.7%, and it increased with age

Prediction Model of Hydropower Generation and Its Economic Benefits Based on EEMD-ADAM-GRU Fusion Model

As an important function of hydraulic engineering, power generation has made a great contribution to the growth of national economies worldwide. Therefore, it is of practical engineering significance to analyze and predict hydropower generation and its economic benefits. In order to predict the amount of hydropower generation in China and calculate the corresponding economic benefits with high precision, Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD), Adaptive Moment Estimation (ADAM) and Gated Recent Unit (GRU) neural networks are integrated. Firstly, the monitoring data of hydropower generation is decomposed into several signals of different scales by the EEMD method to eliminate the non-stationary components of the data. Then, the ADAM optimization algorithm is used to optimize the parameters of the GRU neural network. The relatively stable component signals obtained from the decomposition are sent to the optimized GRU model for training and predicting. Finally, the hydropower generation prediction results are obtained by accumulating the prediction results of all components. This paper selects the time series of China’s monthly power generation as the analysis object and forecasts the economic benefits by constructing the fusion prediction model. The RMSE EEMD-ADAM-GRU model is reduced by 16.16%, 20.55%, 12.10%, 17.97% and 7.95%, respectively, of compared with the NARNET, EEMD-LSTM, AR, ARIMA and VAR models. The results show that the proposed model is more effective for forecasting the time series of hydropower generation and that it can estimate the economic benefits quantitatively

Combining theory and experiment analysis in molten BFS waste heat recovery integrated with coal gasification

A novel method that a heat recovery system from blast furnace slag integrated with coal gasification reaction to generate syngas was proposed. The motion characteristic and critical velocity of the coal particles in the molten slag were estimated. Meanwhile, the effects of temperature and steam to coal ratio on coal gasification product distribution and gas characterization were discussed. The results showed that the coal particles (~75 μm) would break through the bondage of bubbles and transport into molten slag when the velocity of coal particles were above 4.20 m·s-1 and the diameter of bubbles were less 6 mm. There had higher gasification efficiency, gas yield production and H2 production by this method. The results suggested that the optimal conditions for slag waste heat recovery were achieved at 1623 K and steam to coal ratio of 2.0. Under these conditions, the gas yield and carbon conversion reached 133.48 mol·kg-1 and 97.81%, respectively. The proposed method enhanced the coal gasification efficiency and recovered the high quality of molten blast furnace slag waste heat effectively, and had important guidance for industrial manufacture