Effect of dietary Ginkgo biloba leaf on the growth performance and nonspecific immunity of red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii

This trial investigated the effect of dietary Ginkgo biloba leaf (GBL) on the growth performance and nonspecific immunity of red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii. 180 Crayfishes were randomly divided into three groups. One group was fed with basic diet, whereas the other two groups were fed with diets containing 1% and 3% GBL. After 32 days of feeding, GBL addition tended to increase the body weight gain rate compared with control. In 3% GBL group, the bodyweight gain rate of male crayfish was higher than that of female crayfish. While female crayfish were advantageous in terms of meat yield. Liver-related indexes were influenced by GBL addition and 3% GBL could reduce glutamic pyruvic transaminase and glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase as well as total cholesterol in male crayfish, showing its function in liver protection. Moreover, GBL addition effects on liver protection was better in male crayfish than female crayfish

Capsaicin Protects Cardiomyocytes against Anoxia/Reoxygenation Injury via Preventing Mitochondrial Dysfunction Mediated by SIRT1

Capsaicin (Cap) has been reported to have beneficial effects on cardiovascular system, but the mechanisms underlying these effects are still poorly understood. Apoptosis has been shown to be involved in mitochondrial dysfunction, and upregulating expression of SIRT1 can inhibit the apoptosis of cardiomyocytes induced by anoxia/reoxygenation (A/R). Therefore, the aim of this study was to test whether the protective effects of Cap against the injury to the cardiomyocytes are mediated by SIRT1. The effects of Cap with or without coadministration of sirtinol, a SIRT1 inhibitor, on changes induced by A/R in the cell viability, activities of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine phosphokinase (CPK), levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), and mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), related protein expression, mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) opening, and apoptosis rate in the primary neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were tested. Cap significantly increased the cell viability, upregulated expression of SIRT1 and Bcl-2, and decreased the LDH and CPK release, generation of ROS, loss of MMP, mPTP openness, activities of caspase-3, release of the cytochrome c, and apoptosis of the cardiomyocytes. Sirtinol significantly blocked the cardioprotective effects of Cap. The results suggest that the protective effects of Cap against A/R-induced injury to the cardiomyocytes are involved with SIRT1

Three-phase network simulator for horizontal wells with complex advanced well completions

This study presents an integrated steady-state flow network model to predict the flow parameters in horizontal wells and the near wellbore region. The flow parameters are solved for pressure, flow rates and phase fractions. The fundamental network model is flexible and modular in order to simulate the fluid phase behaviors in various production conditions and different advanced well completions. -- Compared to an existing three phase flow model that is based on a liquid-gas formulation, the model for three individual phases proposed in this research is more proper and systematic to portray the fluid behavior during production and enhanced oil recovery processes. -- The network model is based on black oil three phase model in an isothermal environment, and the Newton-Raphson iterative technique is used to solve for the unknowns. The well completions and the near wellbore region are represented by the distribution of nodes that are interconnected by flow channels. -- By using this proposed model, the fluid phase behavior could be predicted for horizontal wells with complex completions, including the open hole, stinger completion, slotted liner, and multiple inflow control devices. -- Generally, water is the third phase flow in addition to oil and gas in the reservoir and wellbore. Therefore, in this research the three-phase flow was considered as oil-water-gas

The complete chloroplast genome of Rhododendron delavayi (Ericaceae)

Rhododendron delavayi, as a member of Ericaceae family, has been widely used as an important garden flower. The cp genome of R. delavayi exhibited a typical quadripartite cycle with 193,798 bp, comprising of a pair of inverted repeats (IRa and IRb) of 15,494 bp intersected by a large single copy (LSC) region of 160,234 bp and a quite small single copy region of 2576 bp. Totally, 123 unique genes were assembled in this cp genome, including 80 protein genes, 35 tRNAs and 8 rRNAs. Out of these assembled genes, 88 genes (71.54%) were single copy. Phylogenetic analysis based on 14 cp genome of related species showed that the R. delavayi was closely related to Vaccinium oldhamii. This study provides important information for future evolution, genetic and molecular biology studies of Rhododendron

Characteristics and Classification of Topological Spatial Relations in 3-D Cadasters

The application of a 3-D topology to cadasters is becoming increasingly important as 3-D cadasters continue to develop and cadastral data applications increase. This study discusses spatial topological relations related to 3-D cadasters, the geometric objects used in 3-D cadastral spatial modelling, and the characteristics of the spatial data. The characteristics of the topological relations for a 3-D cadaster are summarized, and a classification method is proposed. Research on the classification of topological spatial relations in 3-D cadasters provides guidance for the analysis and computation of the topological spatial relations, changing of cadastral parcels, and topological consistency in cadastral spatial data

Interaction between Groundwater and Surface Water in the Qujiang River Basin in China: Evidence from Chemical Isotope Measurements

The Qujiang River Basin is a significant water system located in Zhejiang Province, China, that serves as a primary water source for Quzhou City. For this research, we collected and examined water samples from the Qujiang River Basin. In this study, we collected and analyzed water samples from the Qujiang River Basin and employed a combination of methods, including water balance analysis; Piper trilinear diagram; Gibbs diagram; and environmental tracer techniques, such as hydrochemical and isotopic analysis. These techniques helped us to analyze the spatial distribution patterns and evolutionary trends of surface water and groundwater hydrochemistry, along with the stable isotopes of hydrogen and oxygen, as well as to determine the sources of surface water and groundwater by calculating the conversion ratio between surface water and groundwater. (1) The findings of our study indicate that the primary hydrochemical types in the study area are Ca-HCO3 and Ca-HCO3·Cl, with the ion composition of water primarily influenced by rock weathering and precipitation. (2) Similar spatial variations in hydrochemical indicators were observed between surface water and groundwater in the study area, with frequent transitions between the two. (3) The hydrogen and oxygen isotope content increases downstream, signifying that both groundwater and surface water in the study area are replenished by atmospheric precipitation, as supported by the relationship between hydrogen and oxygen isotopes and the meteoric water line. (4) We determined that groundwater predominantly replenishes surface water in the upstream area. The average contribution rate of groundwater to surface water is 19.67%, with an annual average recharge volume of 1.23 × 106 m3. Midstream and downstream, surface water mainly recharges groundwater, with an average contribution rate of 22.77% and an annual average recharge volume of 1.59 × 106 m3

Specialized core bacteria associate with plants adapted to adverse environment with high calcium contents

<div><p>Karst topography is formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks, such as limestone and dolomite. In soils of such a landform, excessive contents of exchangeable calcium seriously limit the growth of vegetations. Researches have proved that rhizosphere microorganisms and endophytes help host plants to adapt to various adverse environments. The adaptive capacity of plants that grow in adverse environment with salt, drought, thermal and heavy metal stresses partially or completely comes from symbiotic microorganisms. By using the high-throughput amplicon sequencing, the bacterial community structures in soil with high calcium contents and roots and leaves of <i>Cochlearia henryi</i> that is commonly seen in karst area were analyzed. The bacteria community structures in these three compartments showed obvious differences. This indicates that <i>C</i>. <i>henryi</i>, which is adaptive to high calcium stress, selectively co-exists with specific bacteria. Although the bacteria community structures in these three compartments differed significantly, there were 73 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) shared by karst soils as well as roots and leaves of <i>C</i>. <i>henryi</i>. The phylogenetic diversity of these 73 OTUs differed significantly from that of overall OTUs detected. There were also obvious differences in KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) pathways and abundance values between the 73 OTUs and overall bacterial communities. A large number of OTUs shared by the karst soils, roots and leaves of <i>C</i>. <i>henryi</i> had close genetic relationship with known stress-resistant bacterial strains. Our results showed that the functional bacteria can be predicted by exploring core bacteria, bacteria shared by soils, adaptable plant roots and leaves. This information will potentially accelerate studies on natural microbial communities which can promote the adaptive capacity of host plants to high calcium stress, and will be valuable for finding microbial strains for field application in karst topography.</p></div