Evaluation of climate-induced crop damages is imperative to formulate innovative technologies and management strategies to reduce the vulnerability of farms and agriculture. Based on a survey of 1232 ...wheat growers from Pakistan, conducted in April and May of 2019, the study estimates the production risk of wheat farms to weather shocks and the effectiveness of physical, non-physical, and innovative management strategies for reducing crop damages. Parametric and non-parametric econometric techniques were applied to approach study objectives. The survey revealed that the adverse effects of extreme weather events on the damages to wheat crop were more significant with the rise of severe weather the closer to harvest time such damages occurred. The results of the propensity score matching (PSM) method found wheat loss when the crop experienced a severe intensity of thunderstorms, windstorms, and hailstorms. The parametric analysis confirmed that with a one-unit increase in the severity of thunderstorms, windstorms, and hailstorms the wheat yield decreased. Surprisingly, even if thunderstorms and hailstorms were rated moderate or low in severity, a significant reduction in wheat yield was found. The Mann-Whitney (MW) test showed that adaptive measures significantly reduced the amount of wheat damage. Particularly, the PSM method confirmed that the adoption of strategies such as watercourse availability, maintenance of watercourse, availability of canal/drain, sowing of stiff-stem wheat variety, plantation of a shelterbelt, and adjustment in irrigation schedule, significantly reduced wheat loss. Furthermore, education, farming experience, family size, cropping area, and access to weather forecast information significantly affected the adaptation of innovative management strategies.
•The study explores response of management in agriculture to extreme weather events.•The PSM method uses to estimate weather-induced wheat yield losses.•The per hectare wheat damages were 43 Maunds, caused by severe storms.•Plantation of shelterbelt & sowing stiff-stem wheat variety reduced the damages.•Use of management strategies reduced wheat losses by 35.6 Maunds per hectare.
The ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), poses a grave threat to global public health and imposes a severe ...burden on the entire human society. Like other coronaviruses, the SARS-CoV-2 genome encodes spike (S) glycoproteins, which protrude from the surface of mature virions. The S glycoprotein plays essential roles in virus attachment, fusion and entry into the host cell. Surface location of the S glycoprotein renders it a direct target for host immune responses, making it the main target of neutralizing antibodies. In the light of its crucial roles in viral infection and adaptive immunity, the S protein is the focus of most vaccine strategies as well as therapeutic interventions. In this review, we highlight and describe the recent progress that has been made in the biosynthesis, structure, function, and antigenicity of the SARS-CoV-2 S glycoprotein, aiming to provide valuable insights into the design and development of the S protein-based vaccines as well as therapeutics.
Abiotic stresses are critical delimiters for the increased productivity and cultivation expansion of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), a root crop with worldwide importance. The increased production of ...glycine betaine (GB) improves plant tolerance to various abiotic stresses without strong phenotypic changes, providing a feasible approach to improve stable yield production under unfavorable conditions. The gene encoding betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase (BADH) is involved in the biosynthesis of GB in plants, and the accumulation of GB by the heterologous overexpression of BADH improves abiotic stress tolerance in plants. This study is to improve sweet potato, a GB accumulator, resistant to multiple abiotic stresses by promoted GB biosynthesis. A chloroplastic BADH gene from Spinacia oleracea (SoBADH) was introduced into the sweet potato cultivar Sushu-2 via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The overexpression of SoBADH in the transgenic sweet potato improved tolerance to various abiotic stresses, including salt, oxidative stress, and low temperature. The increased BADH activity and GB accumulation in the transgenic plant lines under normal and multiple environmental stresses resulted in increased protection against cell damage through the maintenance of cell membrane integrity, stronger photosynthetic activity, reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and induction or activation of ROS scavenging by the increased activity of free radical-scavenging enzymes. The increased proline accumulation and systemic upregulation of many ROS-scavenging genes in stress-treated transgenic plants also indicated that GB accumulation might stimulate the ROS-scavenging system and proline biosynthesis via an integrative mechanism. This study demonstrates that the enhancement of GB biosynthesis in sweet potato is an effective and feasible approach to improve its tolerance to multiple abiotic stresses without causing phenotypic defects. This strategy for trait improvement in sweet potato not only stabilizes yield production in normal soils in unpredictable climates but also provides a novel germplasm for sweet potato production on marginal lands.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Research on perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) continues to grow. However, very little is known about these substances in amphibians. Here we report for the first time on the occurrence, tissue ...distribution, and bioaccumulation of two novel PFASs, chlorinated polyfluorinated ether sulfonic acid (6:2 Cl-PFESA) and hexafluoropropylene oxide trimer acid (HFPO-TA), in the black-spotted frog (Pelophylax nigromaculatus) from China. Frogs from cities with large-scale fluorochemical industries had significantly greater liver ∑PFAS levels (mean 54.28 ng/g in Changshu; 31.22 ng/g in Huantai) than those from cities without similar industry (9.91 ng/g in Zhoushan; 7.68 ng/g in Quzhou). Females had significantly lower liver PFAS levels than males, and older frogs tended to have lower PFAS levels than younger frogs. Skin, liver, and muscle contributed nearly 80% to the whole body burden of 6:2 Cl-PFESA in males, whereas the female ovary alone accounted for 58.4%. These results suggest substantial maternal transfer of 6:2 Cl-PFESA to eggs, raising concern regarding its developmental toxicity on frogs and other species. The bioaccumulation factor results (6:2 Cl-PFESA > PFOS; HFPO-TA > PFOA) suggest a stronger accumulative potential in the black-spotted frog for these alternative substances compared to their predecessors. Future studies on their toxicity and ecology risk are warranted.
Abstract Accumulating evidence suggests that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are playing critical roles in tumorgenesis. LncRNA ANRIL has been reported to promote tumor progression in types of ...cancers. However, the expression and function of ANRIL in cervical cancer are still largely unclear. We measured the expression of ANRIL in cervical cancer tissues and cell lines and analyzed its association with clinicopathological features and prognosis. Loss-of-function experiments were used to identify the biological function of ANRIL. Our results showed that the expression of lncRNA ANRIL was significantly increased both in cervical cancer tissues and cell lines. Patients with high ANRIL expression had advanced FIGO stage, lymph node metastasis and poor overall survival than those with low ANRIL expression. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression analysis suggested that high ANRIL expression was an independent prognostic factor of prognosis. Loss-of-function experiments showed that decreased expression of ANRIL inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion of cervical cancer. Finally, western blot indicated that the PI3K/Akt pathway was found to be inactivated in cervical cancer cells after ANRIL inhibition. These results indicated that lncRNA ANRIL might play an important role in cervical cancer progression and could serve as a novel prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in cervical cancer.
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•The core/shell Cu2O@C nanoparticles were synthesized by photocatalytic method.•The Cu2O@C exhibited excellent OER efficiency.•The carbon shell served as a conducting media and a ...protective layer.•The OER activity was influenced by the thickness and compactness of carbon shell.
This study aims to develop an effective and inexpensive oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts for efficient water splitting. Cu2O nanoparticles coated with carbon (Cu2O@C) were successfully synthesized by photocatalytic method. As a novel non-noble-metal OER catalyst, the Cu2O@C exhibited excellent OER efficiency with an onset overpotential of 250mV and a Tafel slope of 63mVdecade−1. This catalyst maintained its catalytic activity for at least 100h and required only an overpotential of 330mV to attain a current density 10mAcm−2GEO. During OER catalysis, the carbon shell served as a conducting media to quicken the charge transfer and as a protective layer to enhance the phase stability and prevent the aggregation of Cu2O nanoparticles.
In spontaneous food fermentation processes, environmental microbiota affects the yield and quality of the fermentation productions. Although the importance of environmental microbiota has been ...highlighted, the ecological processes that how the environmental microbiota affects the fermentation microbial community are poorly understood. To study the effect of the environmental microbiota on community assembly, the sources of microbiota and the ecological processes of the fermentation were characterized in sauce-flavor Baijiu. Results showed that the process of sauce-flavor Baijiu making could be divided into three phases according to fermentation parameters. Heap fermentation (phase I) was an important period for rapid temperature rise, substrate utilization and production accumulation. The microbial community of heap fermentation was characterized by decrease of diversity and rapid succession of community structure. Virgibacillus, Kroppenstedtia, Bacillus and Oceanobacillus were predominant in the initial heap fermentation, while Lactobacillus was predominant during the later stage. Pichia was the predominant fungal genus during the whole fermentation process. Then, SourceTracker results showed that Daqu provided 95.6% of the bacterial community and 28.10% of the fungal community to heap fermentation, whereas the environments (indoor ground and tools) provided 71.9% of the fungal communities (mainly Pichia) to heap fermentation. Next, the results revealed that the temperature, ethanol and microbial interaction of Pichia synergistically drove the dynamic of the microbial community during the heap fermentation process. Pichia was proved to be the heat-resistant fungi and strong competitor based on growth in different temperature and competition assays in vitro. Finally, the quick succession of heap fermentation microbiota increased the enrichment of volatile flavors such as acids and esters. Our comprehensive methods shows that Pichia, which mainly comes from the environment, can construct the microbial community of Baijiu fermentation, and highlights the importance of environmental microbiota in attempts to control and promote the formation of Baijiu fermentation microbial community. This systematic study of environmental microbiota is valuable for quality control and management during spontaneous fermentation.
•Daqu was the main source of bacteria for heap fermentation.•The environment was the main source of fungi for heap fermentation.•Pichia drove the microbial assembly and metabolism in Baijiu fermentation.
Over the past decades, there has been increasing attention on polyphenol-rich foods including fruits and vegetables on human health. Polyphenols have been shown to possess some potential beneficial ...effects on human health and they are widely found in foods consumed by populations worldwide.
(
) is an important source of different secondary metabolites of interest to humankind. The traditional therapeutic applications of
have been reported in Ancient Romans. Numerous bioactive phytochemical constituents have been isolated and identified from different parts (aerial parts, roots and seeds) of
which are responsible alone or in combination for its various pharmacological activities. Therefore, this paper is a review of publications on the phytochemical and pharmacological properties of
. There is insufficient evidence to suggest that
or its extracts are able to improve the biomarkers of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. However, these studies used different parts of
plant, methods of preparation and types of solvents, which cause the evaluation of activity of
difficult and involve quite heterogeneous data. There is also evidence, although limited, to suggest benefits of
in improving human health. Therefore, the relationship between
and improved human health outcomes requires further study.
Data are an essential factor of production, and their fows across borders are critical to fostering technological innovation and consumer welfare in the digital-based economy (Nguyen & Paczos, OECD ...Digital Economy Papers, 2020). However, many countries have regulated data fows across borders owing to national security and personal privacy. This note examines whether a country’s institutional quality afects its degree of restriction on data fows and whether the relationship depends on the degree of economic development. We frst constructed a data-fow restriction index (DRI) for 60 countries between 2005 and 2018, based on the Digital Trade Estimates (European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE), 2019; https://ecipe.org/ dte/database). The DRI is a weighted sum of two sub-indexes of data restriction policies. The frst category raises the cost of conducting business across borders by either mandating that companies keep data within a certain border or by imposing additional requirements for data to be transferred abroad. The second imposes certain requirements for frms to access, store, separate or more generally make any commercial use of data within a certain jurisdiction.
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