Functional ingredients in blueberry have the best health benefits. To obtain a better understanding of the health role of blueberry in chronic disease, we conducted systematic preventive strategies ...for functional ingredients in blueberry, based on comprehensive databases, especially PubMed, ISI Web of Science, and CNKI for the period 2008⁻2018. Blueberry is rich in flavonoids (mainly anthocyanidins), polyphenols (procyanidin), phenolic acids, pyruvic acid, chlorogenic acid, and others, which have anticancer, anti-obesity, prevent degenerative diseases, anti-inflammation, protective properties for vision and liver, prevent heart diseases, antidiabetes, improve brain function, protective lung properties, strong bones, enhance immunity, prevent cardiovascular diseases, and improve cognitive decline. The anthocyanins and polyphenols in blueberry are major functional ingredients for preventive chronic disease. These results support findings that blueberry may be one of the best functional fruits, and further reveals the mechanisms of anthocyanins and polyphenols in the health role of blueberry for chronic disease. This paper may be used as scientific evidence for developing functional foods, nutraceuticals, and novel drugs of blueberry for preventive chronic diseases.
Cadmium (Cd) pollution in soil is a serious problem affecting environmental safety and human health, and the majority of Cd in human body comes from edible vegetables, especially leafy vegetables. ...Therefore, it is necessary to understand the absorption and transport of Cd soil by leafy vegetables. In this study, the meta-analysis method was firstly employed to study the relationship of Cd in leafy vegetables and soil systems. The results showed that different kinds of leafy vegetables have different abilities of Cd accumulation (measured by bioconcentration factor (BCF)) and transportation (measured by translocation factor (TF)): Brassica juncea (BCF = 5.10) and Brassica pekinensis (BCF = 1.90) had significantly higher ability to absorb cadmium in soil among the 19 studied species, Brassica pekinensis (TF = 2.52), Coriandrum sativum (TF = 2.18) had significantly higher cadmium transport capacity than other 11 species. To further clarify the influence of the three main factors of soil pH, Cd content and leafy vegetable species on the Cd enrichment ability of leafy vegetables, the regression equation was obtained by meta-regression analysis. BCF is affected by species, soil pH, soil cadmium content in the order from high to low. It was found that the estimated range of SOM for safe production of leafy vegetables is 20–30 g/kg. It could also be observed that soil cation exchange capacity (CEC) had a negative correlation with BCF, while soil salinity had a strong positive correlation with BCF. This study can provide a reliable reference for leafy vegetable security production in the Cd polluted field and aids in selecting species suitable for avoiding the absorption of heavy metals from polluted soil.
Display omitted
•Cd transfer in different leafy vegetables-soil systems was studied by meta-analysis.•Cd absorption of leafy vegetables was mainly affected by species, soil pH and Cd content in descending order.•To ensure safe production of leafy vegetables, the suggested SOM range is 20–30 g/kg.•In the studied species, Brassica juncea absorbs Cd most easily while Brassica pekinensis transports Cd most readily.
Avascular necrosis of the femoral head (ANFH) is one of the most complicated bone disorders; management remains challenging. We evaluated the effect of lncRNA-MALAT1 suppression on ANFH rats.
...Dexamethasone was injected intravenously at 0.5 mg/kg daily for 30 days to induce ANFH; an lncRNA-MALAT1 inhibitor group received the inhibitor for the entire 30 days. LncRNA-MALAT1 suppression was evaluated by measuring blood hexosamine and hydroxyproline levels, and that of circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs). Changes in femoral head bone ultrastructure were assessed via transmission electron microscopy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We used reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting to measure gene and protein expression levels in femoral head tissue.
The blood hexosamine level rose and that of hydroxyproline fell in the LncRNA-MALAT1 inhibitor group compared to the ANFH group. LncRNA-MALAT1 suppression increased the level of circulating EPCs. Ultrastructural changes in the femoral bone head were alleviated by the lncRNA-MALAT1 inhibitor. LncRNA-MALAT1 suppression lowered the levels of AMPK, mTOR, and Beclin-1 in rat tissue homogenates.
LncRNA-MALAT1 suppression attenuated dexamethasone-induced femoral head necrosis by regulating AMPK/mTOR/Beclin-1 signaling.
Countries in developed and developing worlds have faced growing challenges to solve affordable housing shortages for lower-income households, prompting the adoption of various types of mandates to ...compel local implementation of affordable housing policy. A large volume of literature has focused on whether and how such top-down mandate indeed improves local supply of affordable housing. Insufficient understanding has been provided regarding the multi-faceted nature of local strategic responses to a top-down housing mandate. This research addresses this intellectual gap with an empirical study of local strategic behavior in response to the affordable housing mandate that was announced by the central government during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011–2015). Through systematic content analysis of local news reports on affordable housing from 41 Chinese cities from various provinces, we describe the multiple-dimensional characteristics of local policy actions as cities were compelled to complied with the mandate. We further employ a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method to investigate how top-down political pressure combines with local policy interpretation, resource mobilization capacity, and local public pressure lead to more diverse policy actions in affordable housing. This research enriches the understanding of how city governments respond to top-down housing mandate, as well as offers valuable policy implications for affordable housing policy.
The ultrastructure of the sensilla on the proboscis of ten species of butterflies, Iphiclides podalirius, Parara guttata, Colias fieldii, Celastrina oreas, Sasakia charonda, Tirumala limniace, Acraea ...issoria, Stichophthalma neumogeni, Callerebia suroia, and Libythea celtis, among five families were investigated using scanning electron microscopy. They were compared to reveal the morphological differences in the proboscis sensilla among these butterflies. Four distinct types of sensilla were found on the proboscis among these species. The types of proboscis sensilla of I. podalirius and T. limniace were sensilla chaetica, sensilla coeloconica, and sensilla basiconica. The types in the other eight species were sensilla chaetica, sensilla styloconica, and sensilla basiconica. The number of sensilla styloconica on the proboscis of non-flower-visiting species was greater than that of flower-visiting species.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Microbes isolated from hyperaccumulating plants have been reported to be effective in achieving higher phytoextraction efficiency. The plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) SaMR12 from the cadmium ...(Cd)/zinc hyperaccumulator Sedum alfredii Hance could promote the growth of a non-host plant, oilseed rape, under Cd stress. However, the effect of SaMR12 on Brasscia juncea antioxidative response under Cd exposure was still unclear.
A hydroponic experiment was conducted to study the effects of Sphingomonas SaMR12 on its non-host plant Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. under four different Cd treatments. The results showed that SaMR12 could colonize and aggregate in the roots and then move to the shoots. SaMR12 inoculation promoted plant growth by up to 71% in aboveground biomass and 81% in root biomass over that of the non-inoculated plants. SaMR12-inoculated plants significantly enhanced root Cd accumulation in the 10 and 20 μM Cd treatments, with 1.72- and 0.86-fold increases, respectively, over that of the non-inoculated plants. SaMR12 inoculation not only decreased shoot hydrogen peroxide (H
O
) content by up to 38% and malondialdehyde (MDA) content by up to 60% but also reduced proline content by 7-30% in shoots and 17-32% in roots compared to the levels in non-inoculated plants. Additionally, SaMR12 inoculation promoted the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and facilitated the relative gene expression levels of dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and glutathione reductase (GR) involved in the glutathione (GSH)-ascorbic acid (AsA) cycle.
The results demonstrated that, under Cd stress, SaMR12 inoculation could activate the antioxidative response of B. juncea by decreasing the concentrations of H
O
, MDA and proline, increasing the activities of antioxidative enzymes, and regulating the GSH-AsA cycle. These results provide a theoretical foundation for the potential application of hyperaccumulator endophytic bacteria as remediating agents to improve heavy metal tolerance within non-host plant species, which could further improve phytoextraction efficiency.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Aims
For a metal hyperaccumulator plant
Sedum alfredii,
the recruitment of unique rhizospheric bacterial communities from bulk soils has been well studied. However, in the root-soil interface, the ...knowledge on the establishment of endospheric microbiomes from rhizospheric soil is still scarce.
Methods
In this study, we combined culture-independent that was 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, and culture-dependent methods that included bacterial isolation, heavy metal tolerance and plant growth-promoting traits.
Results
The Cd/Zn concentrations in endosphere were significantly higher than in soil, while Pb concentration in endosphere was significantly lower than in soil. The α-diversity in rhizosphere soils was higher than in root endosphere, and the compartments as a major determinant revealed 85.9% of the taxa variations. The relative abundance of
Proteobacteria
increased in endosphere compared to rhizosphere. The difference of Cd/Zn tolerance between endospheric and rhizospheric isolates was not obvious, while the Pb tolerance of endospheric isolates significantly decreased compared to rhizosphere.
Conclusions
The results suggest that
S. alfredii
recruits Cd/Zn-tolerant but not Pb-tolerant endospheric bacterial communities from its rhizospheric soil. The difference in the microbial structure and function in the root-soil interface might be related to the selective absorption of metals in
S. alfredii.
In this paper, we proposed a novel power allocation algorithm based on hierarchical game in 5G heterogeneous integrated networks. The radio network controller is the first layer, the base stations ...are the second layer, and the base station users are the third layer. The stackelberg game model is used between the first and second layers, in which the radio network controller is the leader and the base stations are the followers. The radio network controller sets the interference prices for the base stations and the users in the third layer can update their transmission power by non-cooperative game based on the setting interference price. According to the proposed scheme, the users power allocation can reach the Nash equilibrium through by non-cooperative game and obtain the optimal transmission power. Moreover, it is proved that the equilibrium solution is composed of the optimal price and the optimal transmission power, and the convergence of this algorithm is also verified. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can decrease the interference and improve the system capacity.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Considering that ANSYS software will automatically quit or the computer will freeze when generating random aggregate models of concrete by using some existing methods that are based on the ANSYS ...parametric design language (APDL), a new method of random aggregate placement using the ESEL command in APDL and the rotation of the local coordinate system is proposed in this paper. According to this method, a multiscale macroscopic and mesoscopic finite element model of the No. 9 non-overflow dam section of Shimantan dam is constructed. In addition, considering that most of the damage models adopted by the existing mesoscale simulation of concrete damage and fracture cannot take into account the interaction between aggregates, interfacial transition zone (ITZ), and mortar, an improved anisotropic temperature damage model is proposed in this paper. The aggregate placement simulation results show that the method presented in this paper can quickly generate two-dimensional (2D) random concrete aggregates, and the generation of three-dimensional (3D) aggregates can also be completed in a very short time, which can greatly improve the aggregate generation efficiency. Moreover, the aggregate shape generated by this method is very close to the real concrete aggregate shape. The crack propagation simulation results show that the sudden rise and fall of temperature can cause damage in the mortar and ITZ of concrete inside the dam body, which is the main reason for the generation of macroscopic through-cracks in the No. 9 non-overflow dam section of Shimantan dam during the operation period. Finally, it can be learned from the results that the method presented in this paper is reasonable and feasible, and can be extended to the crack propagation simulation of some other concrete gravity and arch dams.
Intercropping with hyperaccumulators can facilitate the safe utilization of cadmium-contaminated soil. However, the effectiveness of this approach is influenced by plant species and varieties, which ...necessitates research on optimal plant consortia. In this study, 8 tomato varieties (3 cherry tomatoes and 5 common large-fruit tomatoes) were intercropped with Sedum alfredii in a moderately Cd-contaminated vegetable field. The results showed that the Cd concentration in the fruits of common large-fruit tomato varieties under monoculture was 1.03–1.50 mg/kg, while that in the fruits of cherry tomato varieties was 0.67–0.71 mg/kg. After intercropping with S. alfredii, the fruit Cd concentrations of Hangza 501, Hangza 503, and Hangza 108 decreased by 16.42 %, 19.72 %, and 6.76 %, respectively, while those of the other varieties significantly increased, except for those of Hangza 8. In contrast, the shoot Cd concentration of cherry tomatoes was greater than that of large-fruit tomatoes under monoculture. Furthermore, a significant increase in the shoot Cd concentration was noted in the Hangza 501, Hangza 503 and Hangza 603 plants following intercropping. Additionally, intercropping with S. alfredii increased the concentration of soluble sugars in the fruits of Hangza 8, Hangza 501, Hangza 503 and Hangza 603 by 4.66 %, 17.91 %, 10.60 % and 17.88 %, respectively. Intercropping with tomatoes resulted in a decrease in both the biomass and Cd uptake of S. alfredii. Interestingly, the inhibitory effect on S. alfredii was less pronounced when intercropped with cherry tomatoes than when intercropped with large-fruit tomatoes. Among the intercropping treatments, S. alfredii exhibited the greatest total Cd accumulation (0.06 mg/plant) when intercropped with Hangza 503. In conclusion, the cherry tomato variety Hangza 503 was the most suitable for intercropping with S. alfredii and can be used safely for vegetable production and simultaneous phytoremediation of polluted soil. Our findings suggest that strategic selection of tomato varieties can optimize the effectiveness of “phytoextraction coupled with agro-safe production” technology for managing soil Cd concentrations.
Display omitted
•Cherry tomatoes have notably lower fruit Cd concentration than common large fruit tomatoes.•Intercropping with S. alfredii reduced the fruit Cd concentration of cherry tomatoes.•Inhibition of cherry tomatoes on Cd uptake of S. alfredii is lower than that of large fruit tomatoes.•Cherry tomato Hangza 503 found well-adapted for both monoculture and intercropping with S. alfredii.
PDF
