•An AGPP data was generated through building its yearly mapping schemes•Chinese total AGPP was 7.39±0.62 PgC yr−1 with a growth rate of 0.095 PgC yr−2•Chinese AGPP trends spatially decreased from ...east to west•Ecosystem responses dominate AGPP trends via structural properties in north regions•Ecosystem responses dominate AGPP trends in west and south regions via functional properties
The annual gross primary productivity (AGPP) forms the foundation for terrestrial carbon sink. AGPP trends stem from the combined impacts of environmental factors and ecosystem responses to those factors. These responses include model structure modifications altering both the structural properties (represented by leaf area index) and the functional properties (represented by per leaf AGPP). Understanding the contributions of ecosystem responses to AGPP trends is crucial for accurately assessing spatiotemporal variations in AGPP, which aids in effective carbon management. Based on eddy covariance measurements of AGPP in China, we generated AGPP during 2000-2020 by constructing yearly AGPP mapping schemes from site measurements and analyzed AGPP trends. The roles of ecosystem responses and their pathways were further elucidated by employing analysis of variance. Results showed that the total AGPP in China was 7.39±0.62 PgC yr−1, with an increasing trend of 0.095 PgC yr−2. This increase primarily sourced from the total AGPP in Subtropical Evergreen Needleleaf Forest. AGPP trends spatially decreased from east to west, with most regions showing positive values. Structural and functional properties contributed similarly to AGPP trends, with varying regional contributions. The structural properties played a dominant role in north regions while the functional properties were more important in south and west regions. Ecosystem responses similarly determined the trends of ecosystem properties, which decreased from west to east. Ecosystem responses thus dominated AGPP trends through the structural properties in north regions but through the functional properties in south and west regions. Therefore, Chinese AGPP exhibited a spatially varied increasing trend during 2000-2020. Ecosystem responses dominated AGPP trends through divergent properties across regions. Our results highlight the significanc of ecosystem responses in AGPP trends and their divergent pathways across regions. This also provides independent data support for quantifying regional carbon budgets.
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Understanding the genetic changes underlying phenotypic variation in sheep (Ovis aries) may facilitate our efforts towards further improvement. Here, we report the deep resequencing of 248 sheep ...including the wild ancestor (O. orientalis), landraces, and improved breeds. We explored the sheep variome and selection signatures. We detected genomic regions harboring genes associated with distinct morphological and agronomic traits, which may be past and potential future targets of domestication, breeding, and selection. Furthermore, we found non-synonymous mutations in a set of plausible candidate genes and significant differences in their allele frequency distributions across breeds. We identified PDGFD as a likely causal gene for fat deposition in the tails of sheep through transcriptome, RT-PCR, qPCR, and Western blot analyses. Our results provide insights into the demographic history of sheep and a valuable genomic resource for future genetic studies and improved genome-assisted breeding of sheep and other domestic animals.
Plant chloroplast genes are usually co-transcribed while its posttranscriptional splicing is fairly complex and remains largely unsolved. On basis of sequencing the three complete Camellia (Theaceae) ...chloroplast genomes for the first time, we comprehensively analyzed the evolutionary patterns of ycf15, a plastid gene quite paradoxical in terms of its function and evolution, along the inferred angiosperm phylogeny. Although many species in separate lineages including the three species reported here contained an intact ycf15 gene in their chloroplast genomes, the phylogenetic mixture of both intact and obviously disabled ycf15 genes imply that they are all non-functional. Both intracellular gene transfer (IGT) and horizontal gene transfer (HGT) failed to explain such distributional anomalies. While, transcriptome analyses revealed that ycf15 was transcribed as precursor polycistronic transcript which contained ycf2, ycf15 and antisense trnL-CAA. The transcriptome assembly was surprisingly found to cover near the complete Camellia chloroplast genome. Many non-coding regions including pseudogenes were mapped by multiple transcripts, indicating the generality of pseudogene transcriptions. Our results suggest that plastid DNA posttranscriptional splicing may involve complex cleavage of non-functional genes.
An increase in the incidence of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) cases has been observed in the Hunan province of mainland China since 2009 with a particularly higher level of severe cases in ...2010-2012. Intestinal viruses of the picornaviridae family are responsible for the human syndrome associated with HFMD with enterovirus 71 (EV71) and Coxsackievirus A16 (Cox A16) being the most common causative strains. HFMD cases associated with EV71 are generally more severe with an increased association of morbidity and mortality. In this study, the etiology surveillance data of HFMD cases in Hunan province from March 2010 to October 2012 were analyzed to determine if there is a statistically relevant linear correlation exists between the detection rate of EV71 in mild cases and the proportion of severe cases among all HFMD patients. As the cases progressed from mild to severe to fatal, the likelihood of EV71 detection increased (25.78%, 52.20% and 84.18%, respectively). For all cases in the timeframe evaluated in this study, the presence of virus was detected in 63.21% of cases; among cases showing positivity for virus, EV71 infection accounted for 50.14%. These results provide evidence to support the observed higher morbidity and mortality associated with this outbreak and emphasizes the importance of early detection in order to implement necessary prevention measures to mitigate disease progression.
Guideline development should be based on the quality of evidence, balance of benefits and harms, economic evaluation and patients' views and preferences. Therefore, these factors were considered in ...the development of a new guideline for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of vancomycin.
To develop an evidence-based guideline for vancomycin TDM and to promote standardized vancomycin TDM in clinical practice in China.
We referred to the WHO Handbook for Guideline Development and used the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system to rate the quality of evidence and grade the strength of recommendations, according to economic evaluation and patients' views and preferences. We used the GRADE Grid method to formulate the recommendations.
The guideline presents recommendations about who should receive vancomycin TDM, how to monitor vancomycin efficacy and renal safety, therapeutic trough concentrations, time to start initial vancomycin TDM, loading dose and how to administer and adjust the vancomycin dose.
We developed an evidence-based guideline for vancomycin TDM, which provides recommendations for clinicians and pharmacists to conduct vancomycin TDM in China.
RATIONALE:Vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation and migration are crucial events involved in the pathophysiology of vascular diseases. Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), a class III histone deacetylase ...(HDAC), has been reported to have the function of antiatherosclerosis, but its role in neointima formation remains unknown.
OBJECTIVE:The present study was designed to investigate the role of SIRT1 in the regulation of neointima formation and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms.
METHODS AND RESULTS:A decrease in SIRT1 expression was observed following carotid artery ligation. smooth muscle cell (SMC)–specific human SIRT1 transgenic (Tg) mice were generated. SIRT1 overexpression substantially inhibited neointima formation after carotid artery ligation or carotid artery wire injury. In the intima of injured carotid arteries, VSMC proliferation (proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA)–positive cells) was significantly reduced. SIRT1 overexpression markedly inhibited VSMC proliferation and migration and induced cell cycle arrest at G1/S transition in vitro. Accordingly, SIRT1 overexpression decreased the induction of cyclin D1 and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) expression by treatment with serum and TNF-α, respectively, whereas RNAi knockdown of SIRT1 resulted in the opposite effect. Decreased cyclin D1 and MMP-9 expression/activity were also observed in injured carotid arteries from SMC-SIRT1 Tg mice. Furthermore, 2 targets of SIRT1, c-Fos and c-Jun, were involved in the downregulation of cyclin D1 and MMP-9 expression.
CONCLUSIONS:Our findings demonstrate the inhibitory effect of SIRT1 on the VSMC proliferation and migration that underlie neointima formation and implicate SIRT1 as a potential target for intervention in vascular diseases.
Highlights • miR-379-5p is significantly down-regulated in HCC. • miR-379-5p can inhibit HCC invasion and metastasis. • FAK is a direct target of miR-379-5p. • miR-379-5p exerts its functions through ...inhibiting FAK/AKT signaling. • miR-379-5p might be a potential therapeutic target and prognostic marker for HCC.
Liver plays a central role in modulating blood glucose level. Our most recent findings suggested that supplementation with microbiota metabolite sodium butyrate (NaB) could ameliorate progression of ...type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and decrease blood HbA1c in db/db mice. To further investigate the role of butyrate in homeostasis of blood glucose and glycogen metabolism, we carried out the present study. In db/db mice, we found significant hypertrophy and steatosis in hepatic lobules accompanied by reduced glycogen storage, and expression of GPR43 was significantly decreased by 59.38 ± 3.33%; NaB administration significantly increased NaB receptor G-protein coupled receptor 43 (GPR43) level and increased glycogen storage in both mice and HepG2 cells. Glucose transporter 2 (GLUT2) and sodium-glucose cotransporter 1 (SGLT1) on cell membrane were upregulated by NaB. The activation of intracellular signaling Protein kinase B (PKB), also known as AKT, was inhibited while glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK3) was activated by NaB in both in vivo and in vitro studies. The present study demonstrated that microbiota metabolite NaB possessed beneficial effects on preserving blood glucose homeostasis by promoting glycogen metabolism in liver cells, and the GPR43-AKT-GSK3 signaling pathway should contribute to this effect.
Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is a male reproductive toxicant. This research is aimed at investigating the effect of pubertal DEHP exposure on testicular endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and ...germ cell apoptosis. Five-week-old male mice were orally administered with DEHP (0, 0.5, 50, or 500 mg/kg/day) for 35 days. Testis weight and sperm count were reduced in mice exposed to 500 mg/kg/day DEHP. The number of seminiferous tubules in stages VII–VIII, mature seminiferous tubules, was reduced and the number of seminiferous tubules in stages IX–XII, immature seminiferous tubules, was elevated in mice treated with 500 mg/kg/day DEHP. Numerous apoptotic germ cells were observed in mouse seminiferous tubules exposed to 50 and 500 mg/kg/day DEHP. Moreover, cleaved caspase-3 was elevated in mouse testes exposed to 500 mg/kg/day DEHP. In addition, Bcl-2 was reduced and Bax/Bcl-2 was elevated in mouse testes exposed to 500 mg/kg/day DEHP. Additional experiment showed that GRP78, an ER molecular chaperone, was downregulated in mouse testes exposed to 500 mg/kg/day DEHP. Testicular p-IRE-1α, p-JNK, and CHOP, three markers of ER stress, were upregulated in mice exposed to 500 mg/kg/day DEHP. These results suggest that pubertal exposure to high doses of DEHP induces germ cell apoptosis partially through initiating ER stress in testes.
Theoretical predictions of the ideal strength of materials range from E/30 to E/10 (E is Young's modulus). However, despite intense interest over the last decade, the value of the ideal strength ...achievable through experiments for metals remains a mystery. This study showcases the remarkable spall strength of Cu
Zr
amorphous alloy that exceeds the E/10 limit at strain rates greater than 10
s
through laser-induced shock experiments. The material exhibits a spall strength of 11.5 GPa, approximately E/6 or 1/13 of its P-wave modulus, which sets a record for the elastic limit of metals. Electron microscopy and large-scale molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the primary failure mechanism at extreme strain rates is void nucleation and growth, rather than shear-banding. The rate dependence of material strength is explained by a void kinetic model controlled by surface energy. These findings help advance our understanding on the mechanical behavior of amorphous alloys under extreme strain rates.