Plastic film mulching has played an important role in Chinese agriculture due to its soil warming and moisture conservation effects. With the help of plastic film mulch technology, grain and cash ...crop yields have increased by 20-35% and 20-60%, respectively. The area of plastic film coverage in China reached approximately 20 million hectares, and the amount of plastic film used reached 1.25 million tons in 2011. While producing huge benefits, plastic film mulch technology has also brought on a series of pollution hazards. Large amounts of residual plastic film have detrimental effects on soil structure, water and nutrient transport and crop growth, thereby disrupting the agricultural environment and reducing crop production. To control pollution, the Chinese government urgently needs to elevate plastic film standards. Meanwhile, research and development of biodegradable mulch film and multi-functional mulch recovery machinery will help promote effective control and management of residual mulch pollution.
Cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are key stroma cells that play dominant roles in tumor progression. However, the CAFs-derived molecular determinants that regulate colorectal cancer (CRC) ...metastasis and chemoresistance have not been fully characterized.
CAFs and NFs were obtained from fresh CRC and adjacent normal tissues. Exosomes were isolated from conditioned medium and serum of CRC patients using ultracentrifugation method and ExoQuick Exosome Precipitation Solution kit, and characterized by transmission electronic microscopy, nanosight and western blot. MicroRNA microarray was employed to identify differentially expressed miRNAs in exosomes secreted by CAFs or NFs. The internalization of exosomes, transfer of miR-92a-3p was observed by immunofluorescence. Boyden chamber migration and invasion, cell counting kit-8, flow cytometry, plate colony formation, sphere formation assays, tail vein injection and primary colon cancer liver metastasis assays were employed to explore the effect of NFs, CAFs and exosomes secreted by them on epithelial-mesenchymal transition, stemness, metastasis and chemotherapy resistance of CRC. Luciferase report assay, real-time qPCR, western blot, immunofluorescence, and immunohistochemistry staining were employed to explore the regulation of CRC metastasis and chemotherapy resistance by miR-92a-3p, FBXW7 and MOAP1.
CAFs promote the stemness, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), metastasis and chemotherapy resistance of CRC cells. Importantly, CAFs exert their roles by directly transferring exosomes to CRC cells, leading to a significant increase of miR-92a-3p level in CRC cells. Mechanically, increased expression of miR-92a-3p activates Wnt/β-catenin pathway and inhibits mitochondrial apoptosis by directly inhibiting FBXW7 and MOAP1, contributing to cell stemness, EMT, metastasis and 5-FU/L-OHP resistance in CRC. Clinically, miR-92a-3p expression is significantly increased in CRC tissues and negatively correlated with the levels of FBXW7 and MOAP1 in CRC specimens, and high expression of exosomal miR-92a-3p in serum was highly linked with metastasis and chemotherapy resistance in CRC patients.
CAFs secreted exosomes promote metastasis and chemotherapy resistance of CRC. Inhibiting exosomal miR-92a-3p provides an alternative modality for the prediction and treatment of metastasis and chemotherapy resistance in CRC.
Species of the genus Moina Baird (Cladocera: Moinidae) often dominate freshwater crustacean communities in temporary water bodies. Several species of Moina are used as food for fish larvae in ...aquaculture, as bioindicators in toxicological studies, and as common subjects for physiological studies. The aim of this paper is to estimate biodiversity of Moina in northern Eurasia using the standard DNA barcoding approach based on the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene. We analysed 160 newly obtained and 157 existing COI sequences, and found evidence for 21 phylogroups of Moina, some of which were detected here for the first time. Our study confirmed the opinion that the actual species diversity of cladocerans is several times higher than is presently accepted. Our results also indicated that Moina has the second richest species diversity among the cladoceran genera (with only Daphnia O. F. Mueller having a greater diversity of species). Our study strongly supports division of Moina into two faunistic groups: European-Western Siberian and Eastern Siberian-Far Eastern, with a transitional zone at the Yenisey River basin (Eastern Siberia). Here, we refrain from taxonomic descriptions of new species, as this requires a thorough morphological and taxonomic study for each putative taxon.
Species with a large geographic distributions present a challenge for phylogeographic studies due to logistic difficulties of obtaining adequate sampling. For instance, in most species with a ...Holarctic distribution, the majority of studies has concentrated on the European or North American part of the distribution, with the Eastern Palearctic region being notably understudied. Here, we study the phylogeography of the freshwater cladoceran Daphnia magna Straus, 1820 (Crustacea: Cladocera), based on partial mitochondrial COI sequences and using specimens from populations spread longitudinally from westernmost Europe to easternmost Asia, with many samples from previously strongly understudied regions in Siberia and Eastern Asia. The results confirm the previously suspected deep split between Eastern and Western mitochondrial haplotype super-clades. We find a narrow contact zone between these two super-clades in the eastern part of Western Siberia, with proven co-occurrence in a single lake in the Novosibirsk region. However, at present there is no evidence suggesting that the two mitochondrial super-clades represent cryptic species. Rather, they may be explained by secondary contact after expansion from different refugia. Interestingly, Central Siberia has previously been found to be an important contact zone also in other cladoceran species, and may thus be a crucial area for understanding the Eurasian phylogeography of freshwater invertebrates. Together, our study provides an unprecedented complete, while still not global, picture of the phylogeography of this important model species.
We demonstrate that dwarf galaxies (10 super(7) < M sub(stellar) < 10 super(9) M sub(middot in circle), -12 < M sub(r) > -18) with no active star formation are extremely rare (<0.06%) in the field. ...We examine the relative number of quenched versus star-forming dwarf galaxies, defining quenched galaxies as having no Halpha emission (EW sub(H)alpha < 2 A) and a strong 4000 A break. The fraction of quenched dwarf galaxies decreases rapidly with increasing distance from a massive host, leveling off for distances beyond 1.5 Mpc. We define galaxies beyond 1.5 Mpc of a massive host galaxy to be in the field. We demonstrate that there is a stellar mass threshold of M sub(stellar) < 1.0 x 10 super(9) M sub(middot in circle) below which quenched galaxies do not exist in the field. The majority of quenched dwarf galaxies (often classified as dwarf elliptical galaxies) are within 2 virial radii of a massive galaxy, and only a few percent of quenched dwarf galaxies exist beyond 4 virial radii.
Green upconversion emission from hexagonal‐phase NaYF4:Yb, Er3+ phosphors can be directly observed with the naked eye. Powders with controlled size and morphology can be synthesized in ethanol and ...show a minimal decrease in luminescence intensity after 24 h (see Figure). The intense upconversion emission suggests good crystallinity of the materials, which may be used in biological labeling.
Highlights • Regional and network functional changes could be seen in the early stage of SCI. • Functional changes were associated with clinical symptom severity in SCI patients. • Functional ...reorganization may reflect a compensatory role in the recovery of SCI.
We present our study on the spatially resolved H and M* relation for 536 star-forming and 424 quiescent galaxies taken from the MaNGA survey. We show that the star formation rate surface density ( ), ...derived based on the H emissions, is strongly correlated with the M* surface density ( ) on kiloparsec scales for star-forming galaxies and can be directly connected to the global star-forming sequence. This suggests that the global main sequence may be a consequence of a more fundamental relation on small scales. On the other hand, our result suggests that ∼20% of quiescent galaxies in our sample still have star formation activities in the outer region with lower specific star formation rate (SSFR) than typical star-forming galaxies. Meanwhile, we also find a tight correlation between and for LI(N)ER regions, named the resolved "LI(N)ER" sequence, in quiescent galaxies, which is consistent with the scenario that LI(N)ER emissions are primarily powered by the hot, evolved stars as suggested in the literature.
Enterococcus faecalis is one of the probiotic groups in the intestinal tract which has varieties of functional effects in the host, such as a protective barrier, nutritional efficacy and ...antibacterial effects. Stress conditions such as low pH, bile salts, and hypertonicity are inevitable negative factors for the normal survival of E. faecalis in the gastrointestinal tract. Under the stress and inhibition of bile salt, E. faecalis needs specific adaptation and coping style if it wants to successfully colonize the intestine stably. The appropriate concentration of flavonoids can assist probiotics to serve a beneficial role and help them resist the stress of external irresistible environmental factors. In the present research, RNA‐sequence (RNA‐seq) technology was employed to investigate the influence of Cyclocarya paliurus flavonoids (CPF) on E. faecalis 131‐2 (E. faecalis 131‐2) exposed to bile salt stress. Analysis results revealed that under bile salt stress, many genes related to cellular process, catalytic activity and transport activity were significantly differentially expressed (P < 0·05), and some not expected variations of which could be partly alleviated by supplementation of CPF, indicating its capacity to improve the bile salt tolerances of E. faecalis 131‐2. Additionally, CPF alleviated the obvious inhibitory effects of bile salt stress on the exponential growth of E. faecalis 131‐2. An overall view of the physiological and transcriptomic changes of E. faecalis 131‐2 under bile salt stresses with or without CPF will further deepen our understanding of the mechanism by which CPF assists E. faecalis 131‐2 to perform beneficial functions in the gastrointestinal environment.
Significance and Impact of the Study: This study will further deepen our understanding of the functional mechanism of CPF assisted Enterococcus faecalis 131‐2 (E. faecalis 131‐2) in the gastrointestinal environment. The result showed that many genes related to cell process, metabolic process and transport activity were significantly differentially expressed under bile salt stress (P < 0·05), while the intervention of Cyclocarya paliurus flavonoids (CPF) could alleviate the occurrence of negative phenomena to a certain extent. At the same time, CPF effectively reduces the significant inhibition of the bile salt stress to the exponential growth of E. faecalis 131‐2. This will provide a more comprehensive perspective for the future research of E. faecalis 131‐2.