Abstract
Afforestation plays an important role in soil carbon storage and water balance. However, there is a lack of information on deep soil carbon and water storage. The study investigates the ...effect of returning farmland to the forest on soil carbon accumulation and soil water consumption in 20-m deep soil profile in the hilly and gully region of the Chinese Loess Plateau. Four sampling sites were selected:
Platycladus orientalis
(Linn.) Franco forest (PO: oriental arborvitae),
Pinus tabulaeformis
Carr. Forest (PT: southern Chinese pine), apple orchard (AO) and farmland (FL, as a control). Soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil inorganic carbon (SIC) content were measured in 50-cm sampling intervals of 20-m soil profiles, as well as the associated factors (e.g. soil water content). The mean SOC content of PT was the highest in the 1–5 m layer and that of FL was the lowest (
p
< 0.05). Compared with FL, the SOC storages of PO, PT and AO increased by 2.20, 6.33 and 0.90 kg m
−2
(
p
> 0.05), respectively, in the whole profile. The SIC content was relatively uniform throughout the profile at all land-use types and SIC storage was 9–10 times higher than SOC storage. The soil water storage of PO, PT and AO was significantly different from that of FL with a decrease of 1169.32, 1161.60 and 1139.63 mm, respectively. After the 36-yrs implementation of the “Grain for Green” Project, SOC in 20 m soil profiles increased as a water depletion cost compared with FL. Further investigation is still needed to understand the deep soil water and carbon interactions regarding ecological restoration sustainability in the Northern Loess Plateau.
Magnesium as an enzymatic activator is essential for various physiological functions such as cell cycle, metabolic regulation, muscle contraction, and vasomotor tone. A growing body of evidence ...supports that magnesium supplementation (mainly magnesium sulfate and magnesium oxide) prevents or treats various types of disorders or diseases related to respiratory system, reproductive system, nervous system, digestive system, and cardiovascular system as well as kidney injury, diabetes and cancer. The ongoing pandemic coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) characterized by respiratory tract symptoms with different degrees of important organ and tissue damages has attracted global attention. Particularly, effective drugs are still lacking in the COVID-19 therapy. In this review, we find and summarize the effectiveness of magnesium supplementation on the disorders or diseases, and provide a reference to the possibility of magnesium supplementation for supportive treatment in patients with COVID-19.
High dietary fructose is a major contributor to insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome, disturbing tissue and organ functions. Fructose is mainly absorbed into systemic circulation by glucose ...transporter 2 (GLUT2) and GLUT5, and metabolized in liver to produce glucose, lactate, triglyceride (TG), free fatty acid (FFA), uric acid (UA) and methylglyoxal (MG). Its extrahepatic absorption and metabolism also take place. High levels of these metabolites are the direct dangerous factors. During fructose metabolism, ATP depletion occurs and induces oxidative stress and inflammatory response, disturbing functions of local tissues and organs to overproduce inflammatory cytokine, adiponectin, leptin and endotoxin, which act as indirect dangerous factors. Fructose and its metabolites directly and/or indirectly cause oxidative stress, chronic inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, autophagy and increased intestinal permeability, and then further aggravate the metabolic syndrome with tissue and organ dysfunctions. Therefore, this review addresses fructose-induced metabolic syndrome, and the disturbance effects of direct and/or indirect dangerous factors on the functions of liver, adipose, pancreas islet, skeletal muscle, kidney, heart, brain and small intestine. It is important to find the potential correlations between direct and/or indirect risk factors and healthy problems under excess dietary fructose consumption.
Background and Purpose
Excessive fructose consumption is a risk factor for liver fibrosis. Pterostilbene protects against liver fibrosis. Here, we investigated the potential role and the mechanisms ...underlying the hepatocyte epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT) in fructose‐induced liver fibrosis and protection by pterostilbene.
Experimental Approach
Characteristic features of liver fibrosis in 10% fructose‐fed rats and EMT in 5 mM fructose‐exposed BRL‐3A cells with or without pterostilbene and the change of miR‐34a/Sirt1/p53 and transforming growth factor‐β1 (TGF‐β1)/Smads signalling were examined. MiR‐34a inhibitor, miR‐34a minic, or p53 siRNA were used to explore the role of miR‐34a/Sirt1/p53 signalling in fructose‐induced EMT and the action of pterostilbene.
Key Results
Pterostilbene prevented fructose‐induced liver injury with fibrosis in rats. Fructose caused hepatocyte undergoing EMT, gaining fibroblast‐specific protein 1 and vimentin, and losing E‐cadherin, effects attenuated by pterostilbene. Moreover, fructose induced miR‐34a overexpression in hepatocytes with down‐regulated Sirt1, increased p53 and ac‐p53, and activated TGF‐β1/Smads signalling, whereas these disturbances were suppressed by miR‐34a inhibitor. Additionally, miR‐34a inhibitor and p53 siRNA prevented TGF‐β1‐driven hepatocyte EMT under fructose exposure. Pterostilbene down‐regulated miR‐34a, up‐regulated Sirt1, and suppressed p53 activation and TGF‐β1/Smads signalling in fructose‐stimulated animals and cells but showed no additional effects with miR‐34a inhibitor on miR‐34a/Sirt1/p53 signalling in fructose‐exposed hepatocytes.
Conclusions and Implications
These results strongly suggest that activation of miR‐34a/Sirt1/p53 signalling is required for fructose‐induced hepatocyte EMT mediated by TGF‐β1/Smads signalling, contributing to liver fibrosis in rats. Pterostilbene exhibits a protective effect against liver fibrosis at least partly through inhibiting miR‐34a/Sirt1/p53 signalling activation.
Oxidative stress is a critical factor in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease pathogenesis. MicroRNA-200a (miR-200a) is reported to target Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1), which regulates ...nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) anti-oxidant pathway. Polydatin (3,4′,5-trihydroxy-stilbene-3-β-D-glucoside), a polyphenol found in the rhizome of Polygonum cuspidatum, have anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory and anti-hyperlipidemic effects. However, whether miR-200a controls Keap1/Nrf2 pathway in fructose-induced liver inflammation and lipid deposition and the blockade of polydatin are still not clear. Here, we detected miR-200a down-regulation, Keap1 up-regulation, Nrf2 antioxidant pathway inactivation, ROS-driven thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) over-expression, NOD-like receptor (NLR) family, pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation and dysregulation of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-α (PPAR-α), carnitine palmitoyl transferase-1 (CPT-1), sterol regulatory element binging protein 1 (SREBP-1) and stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 (SCD-1) in rat livers, BRL-3A and HepG2 cells under high fructose induction. Furthermore, the data from the treatment or transfection of miR-200a minic, Keap1 and TXNIP siRNA, Nrf2 activator and ROS inhibitor demonstrated that fructose-induced miR-200a low-expression increased Keap1 to block Nrf2 antioxidant pathway, and then enhanced ROS-driven TXNIP to activate NLRP3 inflammasome and disturb lipid metabolism-related proteins, causing inflammation and lipid deposition in BRL-3A cells. We also found that polydatin up-regulated miR-200a to inhibit Keap1 and activate Nrf2 antioxidant pathway, resulting in attenuation of these disturbances in these animal and cell models. These findings provide a novel pathological mechanism of fructose-induced redox status imbalance and suggest that the enhancement of miR-200a to control Keap1/Nrf2 pathway by polydatin is a therapeutic strategy for fructose-associated liver inflammation and lipid deposition.
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•Fructose decreases miR-200a expression to impair Keap1/Nrf2 pathway in NAFLD.•MiR-200a-driven oxidative stress is a causer in fructose-induced NAFLD.•Polydatin elevates miR-200a to regulate Keap1/Nrf2 pathway in fructose-induced NAFLD.•Polydatin lowers fructose-caused oxidative stress, inflammation and lipid deposition.•Enhancement of miR-200a expression by polydatin is a therapeutic strategy for NAFLD.
Quantum dynamics induced in quenching a d-dimensional topological phase across a phase transition may exhibit a nontrivial dynamical topological pattern on the (d−1)D momentum subspace, called band ...inversion surfaces (BISs), which have a one-to-one correspondence to the bulk topology of the postquench phase. Here we report the experimental observation of such dynamical bulk-surface correspondence through measuring the topological charges in a 2D quantum anomalous Hall model realized in an optical Raman lattice. The system can be quenched with respect to every spin axis by suddenly varying the two-photon detuning or phases of the Raman couplings, in which the topological charges and BISs are measured dynamically by the time-averaged spin textures. We observe that the total charges in the region enclosed by BISs define a dynamical topological invariant, which equals the Chern number of the postquench band and also characterizes the topological pattern of a dynamical field emerging on the BISs, rendering the dynamical bulk-surface correspondence. This study opens a new avenue to explore topological phases dynamically.
•Robust superhydrophobic coating was prepared by the electrophoretic deposition.•The coating exhibits outstanding mechanical durability.•The prepared superhydrophobic coating shows superior ...anti-corrosion performance.•Self-healing performance was obtained after inhibitor incorporation.
The practical application of superhydrophobic surfaces in corrosion protection often suffers from complicated fabrication processes, requirement for high-cost fluorosilane modification and poor mechanical durability. In order to address above mentioned drawbacks, in this work, robust protective superhydrophobic SiO2 coatings are fabricated on electrically conductive metal surfaces by a single one-step electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique from EPD bath containing superhydrophobic SiO2 nanoparticles (SH-SiO2 NPs) and resin-based adhesive. The as-prepared superhydrophobic coatings exhibit good anti-corrosion performance in 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution. Furthermore, additional corrosion inhibition is achieved after incorporation of inhibitors into the above superhydrophobic coatings by deposition of inhibitor-loaded SH-SiO2 NPs.
Super-hydrophobic surfaces are fabricated on mild steel substrates via two-step methodologies. Firstly, highly porous and hierarchically nano/micro-structural silica films are prepared by ...electrodeposition technology. Superhydrophobicity is then achieved by further modification with a long alkyl-chained dodecyltrimethoxysilane. The superhydrophobic film provides effective protection for the mild steel when immersed in aggressive sodium solution by monitoring the change of contact angle, by iron dissolution test and by electrochemical measurements. The superhydrophobic surface as-prepared by this method shows high mechanical durability for abrasion against SiC paper. Furthermore, the superhydrophobicity provided by the rigid SiO2 matrix exhibits good reparability for heat destruction treatment.
In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of the potential health benefits of the natural environment for human well-being. Given the fast-paced nature of contemporary lifestyles, research ...into the use of virtual environments as a means to provide various seasonal landscapes has gained increasing importance.
The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of different sensory modes on the preferences and therapeutic effects of virtual autumn landscapes on university campuses.
In this study, 320 participants, with an average age of 21.11 years (±1.21 years), were exposed to virtual environments featuring autumn color landscapes and bare tree landscapes using visual, auditory, and combined conditions. A control group was included for comparison. Differences in participants' physiological indicators (EEG, heart rate) and psychological measures (POMS, PANAS, SVS, ROS) were analyzed, with the use of the Holm correction (P < 0.05).
(1) Autumn virtual landscapes with color had a superior therapeutic effect. (2) There were significant differences in the therapeutic effects of different sensory modes within the same season's landscape categories, suggesting that incorporating additional sensory dimensions may enhance therapeutic outcomes.
Based on the study's findings, we recommend that when designing therapeutic environments, attention should be given to seasonal variations and the integration of various sensory modes to optimize therapeutic results.
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