Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15) is a stress-responsive cytokine that regulates myocardial injury, cardiac overloading pressure, and inflammation and is related to the risk of cardiovascular ...diseases and events. The current study aimed to investigate the correlation of GDF-15 levels with clinical features, biochemical indices, and especially the risk of cardiotoxicity in breast cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant dual anti-HER2 therapy.
A total of 103 HER2-positive breast cancer patients who underwent neoadjuvant dual anti-HER2 therapy (trastuzumab and pertuzumab plus chemotherapy) were included. Serum GDF-15 levels before neoadjuvant treatment were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Cardiotoxicity was evaluated during neoadjuvant therapy by referring to a decline of ≥10 percentage points in the left ventricular ejection fraction from baseline to an absolute level less than 50%.
GDF-15 exhibited a skewed distribution, with a median level of 714 (range: 207-1805) pg/mL. GDF-15 was positively correlated with age (
= 0.037), diabetes (
= 0.036), and the N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide level (
= 0.013) and positively correlated with the total cholesterol level (
= 0.086) and troponin T level (
= 0.082), but these correlations were not statistically significant. A total of 6.8% of patients experienced cardiotoxicity during neoadjuvant therapy. By comparison, the GDF-15 level was greater in patients who experienced cardiotoxicity than in those who did not (
= 0.008). A subsequent receiver operating characteristic curve revealed that GDF-15 predicted cardiotoxicity risk, with an area under the curve of 0.803 (95% CI: 0.664-0.939). After multivariate adjustment, GDF-15 independently predicted a greater risk of cardiotoxicity (
= 0.020).
GDF-15 is a candidate biomarker for increased risk of cardiotoxicity in breast cancer patients receiving neoadjuvant dual anti-HER2 therapy.
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•MPs reduced the water content of limited nutrient soil, which led to the decrease of photosynthetic performance of maize.•The soil environment with more nutrients makes up for the ...negative effects of MPs on maize growth.•The cascade effect between MPs interference and root traits of maize drives maize to regulate growth in response to nutrient cues.•The residual plastics in the soil environment need to be managed to keep the soil healthy.
Microplastics (MPs) is a major threat to agroecosystems. Their accumulation and impacts should be evaluated to advance our understanding of soil function and health. Uncovering the role of cascade effects in regulating crop growth is crucial to understanding the link between MPs disturbance and environmental functions. Therefore, we aimed to assess how the cascade changes between (non-) biological factors and functional traits of maize regulate the response of maize growth to MPs in different nutrient soil environments. We found that soil dehydration induced by MPs may disrupt the balance of the physiological status of maize, negatively affect photosynthetic performance, and enhance competition among organisms for limited nutrients. However, root-responsive nutrient cues with a high degree of tectonic freedom allowed adaptive phenotypic plasticity to occur, masking the negative effects of MPs. In nutrient-rich soil environments, moderate and high intensity (>0.5 %) MPs disturbances initiated root nutrient foraging activities, and maize tended to decrease its cost of investing in root construction, i.e., increasing specific root length (SRL) to promote its own growth. The growth of maize was mainly characterized by increases in the belowground biomass (BGB, 7.11 to 20.81 g) and aboveground biomass (AGB, 61.11 to 118.26 g). Our study suggests that a cascade effect between environmental factors initiated by MPs and the functional architecture of the maize root system drives maize to regulate its growth by responding to nutrient cues. These findings will help to ensure food security, formulate environmental risk management policies and protect soil health, especially in the context of future agriculture.
The vertical root distribution and rooting depth are the main belowground plant functional traits used to indicate drought resistance in arid and semiarid regions. The effects of the slope aspect on ...the aboveground traits are visible but not the belowground deep root traits. We aimed to investigate the fine root traits of the locust tree (
Robinia pseudoacacia
L.) planted on southerly and northerly aspects, and the variations in the rooting depth in regions with different rainfall, as well as assessing how deep rooting, might affect the response to drought in a loess region. We selected three study sites with different rainfall amounts, with six sampling plots at each site (three each with southerly and northerly aspects). Soil core samples were collected down to the depth where no roots were present. The locust trees tended to develop deeper fine roots rather than greater heights. The tree height and diameter were greater for locust trees on northerly aspects, whereas trees on southerly aspects had significantly deeper rooting depths. Fine root traits (root length, root area, and root dry weight density) were higher in the southerly aspect for both Changwu and Ansai, but lower in Suide. The ratio of the root front depth tree height ranged from 1.04 to 3.17, which was higher on southerly than northerly aspects, and it increased as the rainfall decreased. Locust tree growth traits (belowground fine root and aboveground tree height) were positively correlated with the mean annual rainfall. The soil moisture content of the topsoil decreased as the rainfall decreased, but the pattern varied in the deep layer. Our results suggest that the variations in the belowground rooting depth under different slope aspects may be related to plant survival strategies. The vertical extension of the rooting depth and tree height may be key functional traits that determine plant growth in drought-prone regions.
Investigating the spatial distribution characteristics of the interaction between soil salinity and moisture is crucial in revealing moisture–salinity interaction in semi-arid farmland. The sampling ...of soil was performed on the second (S1), fifth (S2), eighth (S3), eleventh (S4), and fourteenth (S5) days after the erosive rainfall. The multifractal method was used to analyze spatial distribution parameters of soil moisture and salinity under the different stages. The findings showed that the soil moisture content decreased from 22.44% to 12.73%, while the salinity increased from 0.71 to 1.18 g kg–1 after the rainfall. As the amount of moisture in the soil decreased, the variability in the distribution of moisture initially increased from S1 to S3 and then decreased, while the salinity content also decreased. The spatial distribution of soil moisture and salinity content showed a strong correlation at S3 to S4 (with the relative water content of soil ranging from 0.52 to 0.75), indicating a significant coupling effect in these stages. However, the distribution of soil salinity was not uniform under high moisture content conditions (S1 to S2), as it was leached unevenly by rainfall, and under low moisture content conditions (S5), it precipitated, resulting in a low correlation between the spatial distribution of soil moisture and salinity content. This research has provided insight into the coupling dynamics of soil moisture and salinity content, revealing the mechanisms governing their spatial distribution in dryland agricultural regions.
•Water consumption by jujube can be regulated by the canopy size.•Pruning effectively decreases water consumption and improves the water use efficiency in jujube.•Pruning can reduce soil water ...consumption and relieve deep soil drying.•Pruning level should be determined based on water consumption and average rainfall.
Soil drying has occurred widely in artificial plantations in the semiarid loess region because the water consumption exceeds the rainfall. Jujube (Ziziphus jujube Mill. CV. Lizao) plantations have been planted to improve the economic income since 2000. In order to prevent soil drying and sustain artificial plantation development, we examined the relationships between the canopy size, water consumption, and water use efficiency in a dry land jujube plantation.
Seven treatments were tested comprising native jujube with no pruning and dwarfing jujube under different pruning levels ranging from 1 to 6. Jujube is a popular dwarfing canopy type in this region with a tree height of 2.2 m and this comprised level 1. Jujube received increased intensities of pruning as well as decreases in tree height and canopy size for levels 2–4. Jujube received severe pruning to a tree height of only 1.1 m at level 5, and the canopy was removed with only 30–40 cm of the trunk left for level 6. Soil water was detected using CNC100 neutron tubes. A thermal diffusion probe was used to monitor the sap flow in jujube trees throughout the whole growth period.
During our study period, 2014 was a wet year with rainfall of 460.4 mm and 2015 was a dry year with rainfall of only 380.8 mm. Transpiration and water consumption by jujube decreased significantly whereas the soil water content increased as the pruning intensity increased in these two years. Compared with 15-year-old native jujube, the annual soil water consumption by 15-year-old dwarfing jujube (pruned at level 1) was 6.54 mm less and the soil water consumption depth moved upward by 2.2 m. The soil water recovered faster for jujube at level 6 and the soil water restoration depth reached 4.6 m after 3 years, with an annual restoration depth of 153.3 cm. Compared with level 1 jujube, at level 5, the height was halved, the transpiration was about 22.1%, and the water use efficiency was significantly improved by 1.1 times, thereby demonstrating that the water consumption could be regulated by the canopy size. Level 2 jujube had the highest water use efficiency with the optimal pruning level in the local region.
We found that pruning could effectively decrease water consumption, relieve deep soil drying, and improve the water use efficiency in jujube. The pruning level should be determined based on the water consumption rate and average rainfall to obtain high yields.
Revealing trade-off and synergistic relationships among ecosystem services plays a key role in ensuring a stable ecosystem for long-term development. It is the crucial precondition for realizing ...watershed protection and high-quality development. The variations in land use during 1990–2020 are investigated by taking the typical areas for returning farmland to forests as an example. The spatiotemporal distributions of six key ecosystem services, namely carbon storage, water yield, net primary productivity (NPP), soil conservation, habitat quality, and forest recreation are quantified by the InVEST model and statistical data. We also uncover the spatial difference in the ecosystem in Loess Plateau, located in northern Shaanxi, with hot spot analysis and probe the trade-off and synergistic correlations among the investigated ecosystem services. The results show that: (1) the farmland decreased dramatically. On the contrary, the forests and orchards increased significantly. (2) During the same period, carbon storage and habitat quality increased, and water yield, NPP, soil conservation, and forest recreation initially declined, but subsequently rose to higher values than that in 1990. All these services in the southeastern part of the research area surpass those found in the northwest. (3) The ecosystem services relationships in northern Shaanxi are mainly characterized by synergistic correlations, which became stronger from 1990 to 2020. The trade-off effects mainly occur among the water yield and other ecosystem services and are distributed in the west and north of the investigated area. Based on these findings, this work provides scientific principles for improving the ecological environment and enhancing the resource sustainability of the study area.
Soil salinization and water deficits in gully consolidation farmland including excavated farmland (EF) and sediment deposited farmland (SF) have become an increasing concern in the Loess Hilly ...region, China. However, the responses of different farmland types and tillage‐mulching practices on soil salt content (SSC) and water use efficiency (WUE) have not been widely studied in this region. Thus, we conducted a two‐year field experiment to assess the soil water content (SWC) and SSC and their effect on the spring maize yield and WUE under different tillage‐mulching practices in EF and SF. Eight treatments incorporating flat cropping without mulching (FC), ridge planting without mulching (RP), ridge cropping with straw mulching (SM), and ridge cropping with plastic mulching (PM) were applied to EF and SF plots, respectively. Our results indicated that the yield of spring maize was limited by SWC (p < 0.01). Although EF had a low yield of spring maize compared to SF, it had the highest WUE (p < 0.01), which was mainly due to the lower groundwater consumption. Meanwhile, the average SSC was significantly lower in EF than in SF (p < 0.01). PM had the highest SWC (14.9%) and significantly reduced the accumulation of SSC (−0.09 g kg−1), thereby improving spring maize yield (12,200 kg ha−1) and WUE (1.71 kg m−3) (p < 0.05). These results suggested that EF with PM is optimal for groundwater conservation, decreasing the risk of soil salinization, and improving WUE and maize yield in dryland agricultural areas.
Understanding how concentrations of elements and their stoichiometry change with plant growth and age is critical for predicting plant community responses to environmental change. We used long-term ...field experiments to explore how the leaf, stem and root carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) concentrations and their stoichiometry changed with growth and stand age in a L. principis-rupprechtii Mayr. plantation from 2012-2015 in the Qinling Mountains, China. Our results showed that the C, N and P concentrations and stoichiometric ratios in different tissues of larch stands were affected by stand age, organ type and sampling month and displayed multiple correlations with increased stand age in different growing seasons. Generally, leaf C and N concentrations were greatest in the fast-growing season, but leaf P concentrations were greatest in the early growing season. However, no clear seasonal tendencies in the stem and root C, N and P concentrations were observed with growth. In contrast to N and P, few differences were found in organ-specific C concentrations. Leaf N:P was greatest in the fast-growing season, while C:N and C:P were greatest in the late-growing season. No clear variations were observed in stem and root C:N, C:P and N:P throughout the entire growing season, but leaf N:P was less than 14, suggesting that the growth of larch stands was limited by N in our study region. Compared to global plant element concentrations and stoichiometry, the leaves of larch stands had higher C, P, C:N and C:P but lower N and N:P, and the roots had greater P and C:N but lower N, C:P and N:P. Our study provides baseline information for describing the changes in nutritional elements with plant growth, which will facilitates plantation forest management and restoration, and makes a valuable contribution to the global data pool on leaf nutrition and stoichiometry.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Interleukin- (IL-) 33 contributes to various inflammatory processes. IL-33/ST2 activation participates in systemic lupus erythematous via binding to the receptor of Suppression of Tumorigenicity 2 ...protein (ST2). However, whether IL-33/ST2 interferes with the nosogenesis of cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) has not been reported so far. Herein, we proposed to disclose the impacts on IL-33/ST2 activation and Ro60 on CLE and their potential implications in the photosensitization of CLE cells. IL-33, ST2, and Ro60 in CLE patients’ skin lesions were detected. Murine keratinocytes stimulated with or without IL-33 were irradiated by ultraviolet B (UVB), and the levels of Ro60 and inflammation markers were determined. Keratinocytes were cocultured with J774.2 macrophages and stimulated with IL-33 for analysis of chemostasis. The results identified that IL-33, ST2, and downstream inflammation markers were significantly upregulated in CLE lesions with Ro60 overexpression. Additionally, IL-33 treatment promoted the upregulation of Ro60 induced by UVB treatment in murine keratinocytes. Moreover, IL-33 stimulates keratinocytes to induce macrophage migration via enhancing the generation of the chemokine (C–C motif) ligands 17 and 22. Meanwhile, the silencing of ST2 or nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) suppression abolished IL-33-induced upregulation of Ro60 in keratinocytes. Similarly, the inhibition of SOX17 expression was followed by downregulation of Ro60 in keratinocytes following IL-33 stimulation. In addition, UVB irradiation upregulated SOX17 in keratinocytes. Conclusively, the IL-33/ST2 axis interferes with Ro60-regulated photosensitization via activating the NF-κB- and PI3K/Akt- and SOX17-related pathways.
Soil physical properties (SPP) are considered to be important indices that reflect soil structure, hydrological conditions and soil quality. It is of substantial interest to study the spatial ...distribution of SPP owing to the high spatial variability caused by land consolidation under various land restoration modes in excavated farmland in the loess hilly area of China. In our study, three land restoration modes were selected including natural restoration land (NR), alfalfa land (AL) and maize land (ML). Soil texture composition, including the contents of clay, silt and sand, field capacity (FC), saturated conductivity (Ks) and bulk density (BD) were determined using a multifractal analysis. SPP were found to possess variable characteristics, although land consolidation destroyed the soil structure and decreased the spatial autocorrelation. Furthermore, SPP varied with land restoration and could be illustrated by the multifractal parameters of
D
1
, Δ
D
, Δ
a
and Δ
f
in different modes of land restoration. Owing to multiple compaction from large machinery in the surface soil, soil particles were fine-grained and increased the spatial variability in soil texture composition under all the land restoration modes. Plough numbers and vegetative root characteristics had the most significant impacts on the improvement in SPP, which resulted in the best spatial distribution characteristics of SPP found in ML compared with those in AL and NR. In addition, compared with ML, Δ
a
values of NR and AL were 4.9- and 3.0-fold that of FC, respectively, and Δ
a
values of NR and AL were 2.3- and 1.5-fold higher than those of K
s
, respectively. These results indicate that SPP can be rapidly improved by increasing plough numbers and planting vegetation types after land consolidation. Thus, we conclude that ML is an optimal land restoration mode that results in favorable conditions to rapidly improve SPP.
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