Permafrost regions at high latitudes and altitudes store about half of the Earth's soil organic carbon (SOC). These areas are also some of the most intensely affected by anthropogenic climate change. ...The Tibetan Plateau or Third Pole (TP) contains most of the world's alpine permafrost, yet there remains substantial uncertainty about the role of this region in regulating the overall permafrost climate feedback. Here, we review the thermal and biogeochemical status of permafrost on the TP, with a particular focus on SOC stocks and vulnerability in the face of climate warming. SOC storage in permafrost-affected regions of the TP is estimated to be 19.0±6.6 Pg to a depth of 2 m. The distribution of this SOC on the TP is strongly associated with active layer thickness, soil moisture, soil texture, topographic position, and thickness of weathered parent material. The mean temperature sensitivity coefficient (Q10) of SOC decomposition is 9.2±7.1 across different soil depths and under different land-cover types, suggesting that carbon on the TP is very vulnerable to climate change. While the TP ecosystem currently is a net carbon sink, climate change will likely increase ecosystem respiration and may weaken or reverse the sink function of this region in the future. Although the TP has less ground ice than high latitude permafrost regions, the rugged topography makes it vulnerable to widespread permafrost collapse and thermo-erosion (thermokarst), which accelerates carbon losses. To reduce uncertainty about SOC quantities and sensitivity to warming, future studies are needed that explain variation in Q10 (e.g. based on SOC source or depositional position) and quantify the role of nutrient availability in regulating SOC dynamics and ecosystem recovery following disturbance. Additionally, as for the high latitude permafrost region, soil moisture and thermokarst formation remain major challenges to predicting the permafrost climate feedback on the TP. We present a conceptual model for of greenhouse gas release from the TP and outline the empirical observations and modeling approaches needed to test it.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Cellulose nanofibers are selected as nano-spacers, electrolyte nano-reservoirs and hierarchical nanostructure makers of CNF-RGO hybrid aerogel. The CNF-RGO hybrid aerogel based flexible ...supercapacitor exhibits high capacitance (207 F g super(-1)). Taking its higher capacitance, low cost and environmentally friendly nature, they have great potential for use in flexible supercapacitors.
Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) is a newly identified type of noncoding RNA with a length of more than 200 nucleotides. The latest research shows that lncRNAs play important roles in the occurrence and ...development of human tumours by acting both as carcinogenic genes and as tumour suppressor genes. LncRNAs plays a role in various biological processes, such as cell growth, apoptosis, migration and invasion. The newly discovered lncRNA DDX11-AS1 is abnormally highly expressed in various malignant tumours, such as hepatocellular carcinoma, colorectal cancer, osteosarcoma, bladder cancer, NSCLC and gastric cancer. DDX11-AS1 mainly regulates the expression of related genes through direct or indirect ways to perform its functions in carcinogenicity. These results indicate that DDX11-AS1 may be a marker or therapeutic target of tumours. This review summarizes the biological function and mechanism of DDX11-AS1 in the process of tumour development.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) paper with low thermal expansion and electrolyte absorption properties is considered to be a good potential substrate for supercapacitors. Unlike traditional substrates, ...such as glass or plastic, CNFs paper saves surfaces pretreatment when Layer-by-Layer (LbL) assembly method is used. In this study, negatively charged graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene: poly(styrene sulfonate)) (PEDOT:PSS) nanoparticles are deposited onto CNFs paper with positively charged polyaniline (PANI) nanowires as agents to prepare multilayer thin film electrodes, respectively. Due to the different nanostructures of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and PEDOT:PSS, the microstructures of the electrodes are distinguishing. Our work demonstrate that CNFs paper/PANI/RGO electrode provides a more effective pathway for ion transport facilitation compared with CNFs paper/PANI/PEDOT:PSS electrode. The supercapacitor fabricated by CNFs/PANI-RGO8 (S-PG-8) exhibits an excellent areal capacitance of 5.86 mF cm-2 at a current density of 0.0043 mA cm-2, and at the same current density the areal capacitance of the supercapacitor fabricated by CNFs/PANI-PEDOT:PSS8 (S-PP-8) is 4.22 mF cm-2. S-PG-8 also exhibits good cyclic stability. This study provides a novel method using CNFs as substrate to prepare hybrid electrodes with diverse microstructures that are promising for future flexible supercapacitors.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
With more dynamic information available, researchers’ attention has recently shifted from static properties to dynamic properties of protein–protein interaction networks. To compensate the limited ...ability of technologies of detecting dynamic protein–protein interactions, dynamic protein interaction networks (DPINs) can be constructed by involving proteomic, genomic, and transcriptome analyses. Two groups of DPIN construction methods are classified based on the different focuses on dynamic information extracted from gene expression data. The dynamics of one kind of DPINs is reflected by the changes in protein presence varying with time, while that of the other kind of DPINs is reflected by the differences of coexpression under different conditions. In this review, the applications on DPINs will be discussed, including protein complexes/functional modules and network organization analysis, biomarkers detection in the progression or prognosis of the disease, and network medicine. We also point out the challenges in DPINs construction and future directions in the research of DPINs at the end of this review.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common hematological malignancy in the world. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) play an important role in the development of physiology and pathology. Many ...reports have shown that lncRNA HOXA cluster antisense RNA 2 (HOXA-AS2) is a carcinogen and plays an important role in many tumors, but little is known about its role in AML. The aim of this study was to explore the potential mechanism and role of HOXA-AS2 in AML. HOXA-AS2 was upregulated in AML cell lines and tissues, and the overexpression of HOXA-AS2 is negatively correlated with the survival of patients. Silencing HOXA-AS2 can inhibit the proliferation and induce differentiation of AML cells in vitro and in vivo. Overexpressing HOXA-AS2 showed the opposite result. Moreover, more in-depth mechanism studies showed that carcinogenicity of HOXA-AS2 exerted mainly through binding with the epigenetic inhibitor Enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) and then inhibiting the expression of Large Tumor Suppressor 2 (LATS2). Taken together, our findings highlight the important role of HOXA-AS2 in AML, suggesting that HOXA-AS2 may be an effective therapeutic target for patients with AML.
Soil freeze depth (SFD) is an important indicator of cryospheric and climate change. Changes in SFD have important effects on hydrology, the energy balance, carbon exchange, and ecosystem diversity. ...However, quantifying and predicting SFD at large scales remains a challenge due to sparse long-term observations. This study employs the Stefan solution combined with 16 of the coupled model inter-comparison project phase 5 (CMIP5) models over the historical period (1850–2005) and three representative concentration pathways (RCP 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5) for 2006–2100, the Climatic Research Unit dataset (1901–2013), and hundreds of soil temperature, air temperature, precipitation, and snow depth sites to analyze the spatiotemporal variability of SFD in Eurasia under historical and projected climate change. During 1850–2005, a statistically significant SFD decrease of 0.49 ± 0.04 cm/decade is observed. Spatially, the biggest decreases are generally in Siberia and on the Tibetan Plateau. There is a projected decrease in 2006–2100 SFD of 4.58 ± 0.26, 1.85 ± 0.21, and 0.45 ± 0.18 cm/decade for RCP 8.5, 4.5, 2.6, respectively. These variations in SFD provide key insights into spatiotemporal changes in climate, and facilitate improved understanding of variation in frozen ground across Eurasia.
The cryosphere plays an important role in the earth system and has experienced a dramatic and rapid decline due to climate change. Most cryospheric research focuses on changes in individual ...components, but there is no single metric that quantifies the cryosphere as a whole. We initially investigate 17 parameters representing various cryospheric components, and ultimately use principal component analysis on 13 of these variables to define an integrated index that quantifies cryospheric changes. Based on its strong negative correlation with air temperatures, we reconstruct the cryospheric index back to 1850, and also project it to 2100 using different climate model scenarios. An overall decrease is found in the cryospheric index, with interdecadal variability: an increase during 1940–1970, a subsequent strong decrease during the recent 50 years, and a projected fast decline in the future. We assess the associations between the cryospheric index and vegetation, greenhouse gases, and sea level rise. This cryospheric index represents an important new indicator of cryospheric and climatic change, that will be useful to compare against changes in other environmental variables.
•17 variables are identified to assess the 1984–2016 Northern Hemisphere cryosphere.•Principal component analysis combines 13 of the variables into a cryospheric index.•The index is reconstructed to 1850 and projected to 2100 based on air temperature.•Interdecadal variability dominates the index, with a strong decline starting ∼1970.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The response of seasonal soil freeze depth to climate change has repercussions for the surface energy and water balance, ecosystems, the carbon cycle, and soil nutrient exchange. Despite its ...importance, the response of soil freeze depth to climate change is largely unknown. This study employs the Stefan solution and observations from 845 meteorological stations to investigate the response of variations in soil freeze depth to climate change across China. Observations include daily air temperatures, daily soil temperatures at various depths, mean monthly gridded air temperatures, and the normalized difference vegetation index. Results show that soil freeze depth decreased significantly at a rate of −0.18 ± 0.03 cm yr−1, resulting in a net decrease of 8.05 ± 1.5 cm over 1967–2012 across China. On the regional scale, soil freeze depth decreases varied between 0.0 and 0.4 cm yr−1 in most parts of China during 1950–2009. By investigating potential climatic and environmental driving factors of soil freeze depth variability, we find that mean annual air temperature and ground surface temperature, air thawing index, ground surface thawing index, and vegetation growth are all negatively associated with soil freeze depth. Changes in snow depth are not correlated with soil freeze depth. Air and ground surface freezing indices are positively correlated with soil freeze depth. Comparing these potential driving factors of soil freeze depth, we find that freezing index and vegetation growth are more strongly correlated with soil freeze depth, while snow depth is not significant. We conclude that air temperature increases are responsible for the decrease in seasonal freeze depth. These results are important for understanding the soil freeze–thaw dynamics and the impacts of soil freeze depth on ecosystem and hydrological process.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA) is a common complication of pregnancy that affects the physical and mental health of pregnant women, and approximately 50% of the mechanisms are unclear. Our ...previous studies have found that high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) molecules are highly expressed at the maternal-fetal interface of unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (URSA) patients. The purpose of this study was to further detect the expression of HMGB1 and pyroptosis in decidual tissue of URSA patients, and explore the potential mechanism of the protective role of HMGB1 in URSA patients and mouse model. The decidua tissues of 75 URSA patients and 75 women who actively terminated pregnancy were collected, and URSA mouse models were established and treated with HMGB1 inhibitor-aspirin. The expression of HMGB1, and their receptors (RAGE, TLR2, TLR4), pyroptosis-associated proteins (NLRP-3, caspase-1, GSDMD) and NF-κB was examined at the maternal-fetal interface of human and mouse. Our study found that HMGB1, NLRP-3, Caspase-1, GSDMD, RAGE, TLR2 and TLR4 were highly expressed and NF-κB signaling pathway were activated in the decidua tissue of URSA group. Moreover, immune cell disorder and co-localization of HMGB1 and macrophages were found at the maternal-fetal interface of URSA mice. However, HMGB1, TLR2, TLR4, NF-κB, and pyroptosis-associated proteins can be down-regulated by administering low-dose aspirin. These data may indicate that highly expressed HMGB1 was actively secreted by macrophages and then activated pyroptosis through the TLR2/TLR4-NF-κB pathway to cause aseptic inflammation, leading to the occurrence and development of URSA. Moreover, low-dose aspirin can reduce HMGB1 protein levels of serum and decidual in URSA.
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