Stroke, including acute ischaemic stroke and intracerebral haemorrhage, results in neuronal cell death and the release of factors such as damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) that elicit ...localised inflammation in the injured brain region. Such focal brain inflammation aggravates secondary brain injury by exacerbating blood–brain barrier damage, microvascular failure, brain oedema, oxidative stress, and by directly inducing neuronal cell death. In addition to inflammation localised to the injured brain region, a growing body of evidence suggests that inflammatory responses after a stroke occur and persist throughout the entire brain. Global brain inflammation might continuously shape the evolving pathology after a stroke and affect the patients' long-term neurological outcome. Future efforts towards understanding the mechanisms governing the emergence of so-called global brain inflammation would facilitate modulation of this inflammation as a potential therapeutic strategy for stroke.
Aim
Climate change is expected to have important effects on plant phenology and carbon storage, with further shifts predicted in the future. Therefore, we proposed the community carbon accumulation ...rate (CAR) from the start of the growing season (SOS) to the peak of the growing season (POS) to fill the gap that the dynamic interactions between plant phenology and plant carbon research.
Location
Tibetan Plateau.
Major taxa
Alpine grassland plants.
Time period
2015.
Methods
We conducted a transect survey across grasslands to measure community aboveground net primary production and carbon concentration. Additionally, phenology indicator data (SOS and POS) were extracted from the Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) normalized difference vegetation index version 3 database. Next, we used ‘changepoint’ analysis to detect the patterns of CARs, and performed linear regression and one‐way ANOVA to explore the variability of CARs in response to the environmental factors. Ultimately, the total effects of environmental factors on CARs were illustrated by a structural equation model.
Results
Our results indicated that three CAR patterns were detected, which are low‐CAR (0.15 g/m2/day), medium‐CAR (0.31 g/m2/day) and high‐CAR (0.84 g/m2/day) patterns. We found that the availabilities of water and heat mediated CARs by regulating soil nutrition variability, and that drought climate and insufficient soil resources co‐constrained the community CAR at long time‐scales. In contrast, high CAR could be explained by more water and heat availability via either direct or indirect effects on soil moisture and soil nutrients.
Main conclusions
Our findings highlight that water and heat availability are critical driving factors in ecological carbon accumulation processes undergoing climate change. Meanwhile, the vegetative phenology also has important effect on carbon accumulation. Consequently, we propose incorporating the dynamic interactions between plant phenology and plant carbon into the ecological carbon cycle model to improve our understanding of resource utilization and survival strategies of plants under environmental change.
Summary
FtsZ is a tubulin‐like GTPase that polymerizes to initiate the process of cell division in bacteria. Heterocysts are terminally differentiated cells of filamentous cyanobacteria that have ...lost the capacity for cell division and in which the ftsZ gene is downregulated. However, mechanisms of FtsZ regulation during heterocyst differentiation have been scarcely investigated. The patD gene is NtcA dependent and involved in the optimization of heterocyst frequency in Anabaena sp. PCC 7120. Here, we report that the inactivation of patD caused the formation of multiple FtsZ‐rings in vegetative cells, cell enlargement, and the retention of peptidoglycan synthesis activity in heterocysts, whereas its ectopic expression resulted in aberrant FtsZ polymerization and cell division. PatD interacted with FtsZ, increased FtsZ precipitation in sedimentation assays, and promoted the formation of thick straight FtsZ bundles that differ from the toroidal aggregates formed by FtsZ alone. These results suggest that in the differentiating heterocysts, PatD interferes with the assembly of FtsZ. We propose that in Anabaena FtsZ is a bifunctional protein involved in both vegetative cell division and regulation of heterocyst differentiation. In the differentiating cells PatD‐FtsZ interactions appear to set an FtsZ activity that is insufficient for cell division but optimal to foster differentiation.
Background
Preoperative diagnosis of liver fibrosis in children with pancreaticobiliary maljunction (PBM) is needed to guide clinical decision‐making and improve patient prognosis.
Purpose
To develop ...and validate an MR‐based radiomics‐clinical nomogram for identifying liver fibrosis in children with PBM.
Study Type
Retrospective.
Population
A total of 136 patients with PBM from two centers (center A: 111 patients; center B: 25 patients). Cases from center A were randomly divided into training (74 patients) and internal validation (37 patients) sets. Cases from center B were assigned to the external validation set. Liver fibrosis was determined by histopathological examination.
Field Strength/Sequence
A 3.0 T (two vendors)/T1‐weighted imaging and T2‐weighted imaging.
Assessment
Clinical factors associated with liver fibrosis were evaluated. A total of 3562 radiomics features were extracted from segmented liver parenchyma. Maximum relevance minimum redundancy and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator were recruited to screen radiomics features. Based on the selected variables, multivariate logistic regression was used to construct the clinical model, radiomics model, and combined model. The combined model was visualized as a nomogram to show the impact of the radiomics signature and key clinical factors on the individual risk of developing liver fibrosis.
Statistical Tests
Mann–Whitney U and chi‐squared tests were used to compare clinical factors. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant in the final models.
Results
Two clinical factors and four radiomics features were selected as they were associated with liver fibrosis in the training (AUC, 0.723, 0.927), internal validation (AUC, 0.718, 0.885), and external validation (AUC, 0.737, 0.865) sets. The radiomics‐clinical nomogram yielded the best performance in the training (AUC, 0.977), internal validation (AUC, 0.921), and external validation (AUC, 0.878) sets, with good calibration (P > 0.05).
Data Conclusion
Our radiomic‐based nomogram is a noninvasive, accurate, and preoperative diagnostic tool that is able to detect liver fibrosis in PBM children.
Evidence Level
3.
Technical Efficacy
Stage 2.
Antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) are world-wide contaminants posing potential health risks. Quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) and heavy metals can apply selective pressure on antibiotic ...resistance. However, there is a lack of evidence regarding their coupled effect on changes in ARGs and virulence factor genes (VFGs) in various soil types and their plastispheres. Herein, we conducted a microcosm experiment to explore the abundances and profiles of ARGs and VFGs in soil plastispheres from three distinct types of soils amended with Cu and disinfectants. The plastispheres enriched the ARGs’ abundance compared to soils and stimulated the coupling effect of combined pollutants on promoting the abundances of ARGs and VFGs. Horizontal gene transfer inevitably accelerates the propagation of ARGs and VFGs in plastispheres under pollutant stress. In plastispheres, combined exposure to disinfectants and Cu increased some potential pathogens’ relative abundances. Moreover, the combined effect of disinfectants and Cu on ARGs and VFGs changed with soil type in plastispheres, emphasising the necessity to incorporate soil type considerations into health risk assessments for ARGs and VFGs. Overall, this study highlights the high health risks of ARGs under the selective pressure of combined pollutants in plastispheres and provides valuable insights for future risk assessments related to antibiotic resistance.
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•Plastispheres enrich the abundance of ARGs compared to soils.•Plastispheres stimulate the coupling effect of combined pollutants on the ARGs and VFGs.•Combined exposure to disinfectants and Cu increases some potential pathogens’ relative abundances.•Combined effect of pollutants on ARGs and VFGs changes with soil type in plastispheres.
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