[Spatiotemporal Distribution of Ammonia Emissions from Poultry Farming in the Yangtze River Delta Based on Online Monitoring Derived Local Emission Factors].

In order to obtain the ammonia emission level and space-time distribution characteristics of the poultry production industry in the Yangtze River Delta, an online high-resolution monitoring system was used to continuously monitor the atmospheric ammonia concentration in the breeding house and compost shed in a typical large-scale layer farm. By obtaining the ammonia emission level and emission factor during each growth stage, we established the localized ammonia emission inventory for the poultry production industry in the Yangtze River Delta. The results showed that the average daily ρ(NH3) in the breeding house and compost shed for spring, summer, autumn, and winter were (1.85±0.38), (4.58±0.33), (3.87±0.12), and (2.83±0.47) mg·m-3 and (2.04±0.50), (4.04±1.04), (2.51±0.67), and (1.55±0.16) mg·m-3 respectively. Ammonia emissions showed a significant daily hourly change trend. The highest hourly ammonia concentration in the layer house appeared from 13:00-14:00 in the afternoon, and the minimum appeared from 01:00-03:00 in the morning. The highest hourly ammonia concentration in the compost shed occurred between 16:00-19:00 in summer and autumn, whereas the diurnal changes in spring and winter were not significant. Hourly changes in ammonia emissions during the day were mainly affected by daily temperature, poultry activities, and manure management. Ammonia concentrations at different growth stages of laying hens showed significant differences. ρ (NH3) from young chickens, laying hens, and pre-eliminated chickens were (1.85±0.38), (2.83±0.47), and (1.61±0.32) mg·m-3, respectively. The ammonia emission rate from laying hens reached 1.53 times and 1.65 times that of young chickens and pre-eliminated chickens, respectively. Metabolism levels and feed intake at different growth stages were the main reasons for the differences in ammonia emissions. Ammonia emission factors for the layer house and compost shed in spring, summer, autumn, and winter were (0.13±0.02), (0.54±0.01), (0.39±0.01), and (0.17±0.01) g·(bird·d)-1 and (0.07±0.01), (0.17±0.02), (0.08±0.01), and (0.04±0.01) g·(bird·d)-1, respectively. Annual ammonia emission factors reached (0.11±0.06) kg·(bird·a)-1 and (0.03±0.02) kg·(bird·a)-1, respectively. Our results suggest that ambient temperature, ventilation mode, chicken house type, and manure removal frequency were the main influencing factors of ammonia emissions from poultry production. The uncertainty ranges of the ammonia emission coefficients reached±122%,±79%, and±74%, and±56%, respectively. Great uncertainties were generated when empirical emission factors were used for emission inventory establishment. Based on the results of online monitoring, model simulation, and literature analysis, we established an ammonia emission inventory for the poultry production industry within the Yangtze River Delta region by adopting the emission factors of (0.16±0.08) kg·(bird·a)-1. In 2019, the total ammonia emission from poultry production was (108.81±54.41) kt. In terms of spatial distribution, ammonia emission intensities in the northern regions were significantly higher than those in the southern parts. The ammonia emission intensities during summer were 3.38-3.56 times higher than those in spring and winter.

[Emission Characteristics, Transformation Mechanism, and Reduction Potential of Ammonia Emissions from a Crop Rotation System in Yangtze River Delta].

To study the characteristics and reduction potential of the ammonia emissions of a crop rotation system in the Yangtze River Delta, we monitored and compared the ammonia fluxes from two rotation systems:a conventional rice/winter wheat rotation system and a rice-shrimp cultivation/Chinese milk vetch rotation system. This study was conducted through closing chamber methods to investigate the influencing factors and transformation mechanism of ammonium emissions between the two studied cultivation patterns. Additionally, we established the temporal-spatial emission inventory by sorting out the local ammonia emission factors of farmland in the Yangtze River Delta in the last ten years. The emission reduction effects under different ammonia emission reduction paths were also obtained. The results showed that, the cumulative amount of ammonia emissions throughout the whole monitoring year for the conventional rice/winter wheat rotation system (CR-W) and the rice-shrimp cultivation/Chinese milk vetch rotation system (RS-C) were 65.95 and 20.31 kg·hm-2, respectively, whereas the ammonia loss rates of CR-W and RS-C were 10.86% and 9.20%, respectively. Field surface water NH4+-N, field surface water pH, and topsoil NH4+-N were the major internal factors of ammonia emissions from paddy fields, whereas topsoil NH4+-N and atmospheric temperature had an important impact on ammonia emissions in the wheat season. The ammonia flux/field NH4+-N ratio (ARN) of field surface water under the CR and RS modes in the rice season reached 0.35±0.27 and 0.14±0.19, respectively, which was 10-25 times that of topsoil in the wheat season, such that the ammonia emission flux in the rice season was significantly higher than that in the wheat season. Under the conditions of high field water pH (8.0-9.0), atmospheric temperature (>28℃), and wind speed (>5.0 m·s-1), the ammonia flux/field NH4+-N ratios (ARN) were around 1.6-4.6 times that under low pH, temperature, and wind speed conditions, indicating that those three factors were the main factors affecting the conversion of NH4+-N from farmland to atmospheric NH3. Fertilization types also had significant effects on ARN; under different conditions, the ARN of urea was 1.5-5.5 times that of organic fertilizer. In 2019, the ammonia emission flux of rice and wheat under a conventional planting pattern in the Yangtze River Delta were (49.2±17.6) kg·hm-2 and (16.0±13.5) kg·hm-2, respectively, whereas the ammonia loss rates of rice and wheat were (20.1±5.7)% and (5.9±3.6)%, respectively. The ammonia emission loss rate of the former was about three times that of the latter. The ammonia emission inventory built by local factors shows that the total ammonia emissions of the farmland rotation system in the Yangtze River Delta reached (400.3±206.4) kt in 2019, which was mainly concentrated in the central and northern regions of Anhui province and Jiangsu province, and the ammonia emission intensity reached (1.33±1.39) t·km-2. The selection of different emission factors had a relatively large impact on the change range of the inventory results, reaching the standard of -51.6%~51.6%. Through combing and analyzing the six main paths of ammonia emission reduction in farmland, it was found that nitrogen fertilizer synergism was the best way to reduce ammonia emissions, with the efficiency of (30.9±51.4)%; however, the grain yield increase rate was (-4.2±17.4)%, with great uncertainty. The ammonia emission reduction effect of adding soil additives was relatively poor (-5.4±45.1)%; however, the grain yield increase rate was the highest among those of the six emission reduction paths, reaching (6.8±23.9)%. The ammonia emission reduction effect and grain yield increase rate of the ecological planting and breeding mode were (22.3±15.1)% and (5.6±3.8)%, respectively, which had the advantages of reducing ammonia emissions and increasing crop yield.

Application of dairy manure as fertilizer in dry land in East China: field monitoring and model estimation of heavy metal accumulation in surface soil.

Manure-based fertilizer is usually applied to agricultural soils to increase soil fertility and improve soil quality. However, this practice has an impact on the soil environment, e.g., increasing heavy metal contents. The aim of this study was to evaluate and estimate the accumulation tendencies of eight heavy metals, including arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), and zinc (Zn) in a soil fertilized continuously with dairy manure through a 5 years' field-scale experiment. Contents of the As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, and Zn gradually increased with the fertilization time of dairy manure at the stable rate of around 326 t hm-2 year-1, leading to annual mean increases of 3.6%, 2.4%, 3.9%, 3.8%, 4.2%, and 6.1%, respectively. Based on the prediction of a dynamic mass balance model using the current practice, the contents of Cd and Zn in the fertilized soil would reach the Chinese standard values for agricultural soils in 48 and 35 years. The mitigation measures, such as lower application rates, for the environmental risk of heavy metal accumulation should be considered.

[Accumulation of Cd in Different Crops and Screening of Low-Cd Accumulation Cultivars].

Pot-culture experiments were carried out in Shanghai to screen crop varieties with low bioaccumulation properties with respect to cadmium (Cd). Eight common crops, such as green pepper, cucumber, cowpea, spinach, cauliflower, tomatoes, rice, and wheat, were planted in contaminated soil with different Cd concentrations of 0.23, 0.6, 1.2, 1.8, 2.4, and 3.0 mg·kg-1 to investigate the effects on biomass, Cd accumulation characteristics, and edible risk safety. The results indicated that:① With the increase in soil Cd content, the aboveground biomass of crops increased firstly and then decreased. The different crop types had different tolerance to Cd, with green pepper showed the strongest tolerance and spinach and tomato showed the least tolerance. ② The bioaccumulation factor of Cd in the edible parts of eight crops ranged in order of wheat > spinach > rice > green pepper > cauliflower > tomato > cucumber > cowpea. ③ Total Cd content in soil was significantly correlated with Cd content in the crops (P<0.05), and the order of the correlation coefficients was spinach > wheat > tomato > cucumber > green pepper > rice > cauliflower > cowpea. ④ The risk threshold value of Cd in soil based on the edible safety of different crops ranged in order of cowpea > cucumber > cauliflower > green pepper > tomato > rice > spinach > wheat. Cucumber, cowpea, and cauliflower were selected as the low-Cd-accumulating varieties according to their tolerance to soil Cd, bioaccumulation capacity, and edible risk threshold values.

HspX promotes the polar localization of mycobacterial protein aggregates.

Misfolding of translated proteins occurs in all domains of life. In most cells, misfolded proteins coalesce in discrete aggregates at distinct cellular locations. In many bacteria, including mycobacteria, protein aggregates are located at the cellular pole. Yet the mechanism by which aggregates are sorted to the mycobacterial pole is not known. Here, we show that in Mycobacterium smegmatis, the small heat shock protein HspX plays a critical role in the polar localization of aggregates of a model fluorescent misfolded protein, GLR103. HspX itself has a polar localization, which is dependent on its N-terminal domain. In a strain deleted for hspX, GLR103 is less liable to aggregation and no longer localizes to the pole, and redirecting HspX to the septum radically disrupts the normal polar localization of GLR103 aggregates. To further investigate the role of HspX in native protein aggregation, we performed semi-quantitative mass-spectrometry of mycobacterial protein aggregates in wild-type, hspX-deleted and hspX-overexpressing strains. We identified a subset of proteins that appeared to be HspX-dependent for aggregate formation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that for validated native protein aggregates, sorting to the cellular pole following proteotoxic stress required HspX. In summary, we have identified the cellular function of HspX in Mycobacterium smegmatis as both a pro-aggregase and polar sortase.

The type 2 diabetes mellitus susceptibility gene IGF2BP2 is associated with schizophrenia in a Han Chinese population.

BACKGROUND: Patients with schizophrenia have an increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus, and type 2 diabetes mellitus has shown an association with the rs4402960 gene polymorphism in the insulin-like growth factor II messenger RNA (mRNA)-binding protein 2 gene (IGF2BP2). We tested this polymorphism and mRNA expression levels of IGF2BP2 for an association in Han Chinese patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls. METHOD: The rs4402960 polymorphism was genotyped in 790 chronic schizophrenic patients (diagnosed according to DSM-IV) and 1,083 unrelated healthy controls in a case-control design. The IGF2BP2 gene expression levels were assayed in 34 patients with chronic schizophrenia and 30 healthy controls by using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The study was conducted between 2005 and 2007. RESULTS: We found significant differences in the rs4402960 genotype (χ(2)2 = 7.316, P = .026) and allele (χ(2)1 = 7.056, P = .008) distributions between the patient and control groups. The rs4402960 T allelic frequency was significantly higher in male schizophrenic patients than male controls (28.9% vs 23.5%; P = .004) but not in female patients compared to female controls (27.1% vs 25.5%; P = .498). When real-time PCR was used, the IGF2BP2 gene's isoform B expression levels were significantly greater in schizophrenia than controls (P = .0008). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the IGF2BP2 gene may play a role in susceptibility to schizophrenia, supporting the hypothesis that the co-occurrence of type 2 diabetes mellitus and schizophrenia may be explained by shared genetic risk variants. However, this finding remains preliminary since this association has yet to be replicated.

No association between the type 2 diabetes mellitus susceptibility gene, SLC30A8 and schizophrenia in a Chinese population.

BACKGROUND: The co-occurrence of schizophrenia and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has been well documented. Recent genome-wide association studies and meta-analyses have shown robust associations of the solute carrier family 30 member 8 (SLC30A8) gene variants with T2DM in various populations. We examined the involvement of the SLC30A8 in the susceptibility to schizophrenia in a Han Chinese population. METHODS: The SLC30A8 rs13266634 gene polymorphism was genotyped in 837 chronic schizophrenic and 1109 unrelated healthy controls by using a case control design. We also assessed clinical symptoms. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the rs13266634 genotype (χ(2) = 1.95, df = 2, p = 0.38) and allele (χ(2) = 0.47, df = 1, p = 0.50) distributions between the patient and control groups. There was no association between rs13266634 and clinical symptoms. CONCLUSION: The SLC30A8 gene variation does not appear to contribute a genetic basis for the co-occurrence of schizophrenia and T2DM.

Genetic and functional study of the IPO5 gene in schizophrenia.

The present work reported on a weak association of the importin 5 (IPO5) gene with schizophrenia in combined family and case-control samples and also investigated a possible mechanism by which the IPO5 gene may contribute to the development of the disease in a Chinese population. Our results suggest that abnormal expression and alternative splicing of the IPO5 gene may be involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.

[Changes of cycle and apoptosis of spermatogenic cells and antioxidant capacity in male rats with diabetes mellitus].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the changes of cycle and apoptosis of spermatogenic cells and antioxidant capacity of the serum and testis in male rats with diabetes mellitus. METHODS: Thirty male rats were divided into two groups, 10 for normal control and 20 for the diabetes group. The rats were injected intraperitoneally with streptozocin (TZ) to develop diabetes, and 12 weeks later, their survival rate and testis weight were recorded. The percentage of G0/G, S and G2/M phases and apoptosis in spermatogenic cells were measured with flow cytometry (FCM). Malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) levels, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and NO synthase (NOS) activities in the serum and testis were measured with thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARs), nitric acid reoxidized enzyme, xanthine oxidative enzyme, 5,5 Dithiobis (2,2 nitrobenzoate) (TNB) and visible light photometer methods, respectively. RESULTS: Twelve weeks after the male rats got diabetes, their survival rate, body weight and testis weight were significantly lower (p < 0.05), and the percentages of G0/G1 phases and apoptotic spermatogenic cells were obviously higher (P < 0.05) than the normal control. At the same time, the percentage of S and G2/M phases spermatogenic cells decreased. So the spermatogenic cells were arrested in G0/G1 phase. In the diabetic rat serum and testis, especially in the testis, MDA levels were distinctly higher and SOD activities were significantly lower than those in the control. Serum GSH-Px activities of the diabetic rats were significantly lower (p < 0.05), while testis GSH-Px activities were significantly higher than those in control group (P < 0.01). NO contents in the serum and testis of the diabetic rats (P < 0.01) increased significantly, particularly the former, while NOS activities in the serum decreased significantly as compared with the control (P < 0.5). CONCLUSION: The increase in testis and serum MDA levels and NO contents and the decrease in the antioxidant enzyme activity of the diabetic rats may be relevant to spermatogenic disorder caused by the increase of G0/G1 phases arrest and spermatogenic cells apoptosis.