Nano-selenium enhances sugarcane resistance to Xanthomonas albilineans infection and improvement of juice quality.

Selenium is an important trace element that is beneficial to human health and can enhance plant resistance and crop quality. The occurrence of up-to-date nanotechnology greatly promotes the beneficial efficiency of this trace element on crops. The discovery of nano-Se increased the crop quality and reduced plant disease in different plant. In this study, we reduced sugarcane leaf scald disease incidence by exogenously spraying different concentrations (5 mg/L and 10 mg/L) of nano-Se. Additional studies revealed that spraying of nano-Se reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) and H2O2 accumulation, and increased antioxidant enzyme activities in sugarcane. The nano-selenium treatments also increased the content of jasmonic acid (JA) and the expression of JA pathway genes. Furthermore, we also found that use nano-Se treatment in an appropriate way can enhance the quality of cane juice. The brix of the cane juice of the selenium-enriched treatment was significantly higher than that of the control group, which was 10.98% and 20.81% higher than that of the CK group, respectively. Meanwhile, the content of certain beneficial amino acids was increased, with the highest being 3.9 times higher than the control. Taken together, our findings inferred that nano-Se could act as a potential eco-fungicide to protect sugarcane from can be used as a potential ecological bactericide to protect sugarcane from Xanthomonas albilineans infections, and improve sugarcane quality. The results arising from this study not only introduces an ecological method to control X. albilineans, but also provides a deep insight into this trace elements for improving juice quality.

[Temporal and spatial evolution of regional cultural landscape under the influence of construction land expansion: A case study of Hanjiang delta in Guangdong, China.] / å»ºè®¾ç”¨åœ°æ‰©å¼ å¯¹åŒºåŸŸæ–‡åŒ–æ™¯è§‚æ—¶ç©ºæ¼”å˜çš„å½±å“­­ä»¥å¹¿ä¸œçœéŸ©æ±Ÿä¸‰è§’洲为例.

Cultural landscapes are the products of combination of natural and human factors with constant change in response to human behavior. Exploring the impacts of construction land expansion on cultural landscapes is the key to understand the formal connotations and value characteristics of human activities interfering with cultural landscapes. In this study, we first classified the cultural landscape of the Hanjiang Delta and then used the landscape index to quantitatively describe the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of the cultural landscape from 1980 to 2018. Finally, we analyzed the spatial effect between construction land expansion and the cultural landscape with a spatial panel econometric model. The results showed that a total of seven cultural landscape types were identified at the regional level. From 1980 to 2000, the cultural landscape pattern in the study area changed substantially, with increasing fragmentation, deepening irregularity, and increasing diversity. The proportion of regional construction land increased from 14.8% to 29.9%. The year 2000 was the cut-off point for the rate of construction land expansion, and the chronological characteristics of cultural landscape change coincided with it. There was a spatial dependency between the expansion of construction land and the change of cultural landscape. With the expansion of construction land, the sprawl town landscape in sand dike became the dominant type, and the paddy scattered historical villages, the wetland agglomeration town landscape, and the paddy wetland landscape in net river lowland faced extinction. Construction land expansion affected the local landscape pattern and had spatial spillover effects on neighboring areas. For a particular landscape type, the expansion of construction land led to a general increase in the degree of patch integration and an enhanced landscape agglomeration effect. For different types, this led to a decrease in inter-landscape sprawl, an increase in patch irregularity, and enhanced fragmentation. This study could provide a reference for the human history inheritance and ecological pattern optimization in the Hanjiang Delta.

Mesenchymal Stem Cells Decrease M1/M2 Ratio and Alleviate Inflammation to Improve Limb Ischemia in Mice.

BACKGROUND Limb ischemia (LI) is the underlying pathology of peripheral artery disease (PAD). Macrophages play a critical role in inflammation and can contribute to the exacerbation or reduction of inflammation. Transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is an emerging therapeutic strategy for PAD. However, the mechanism by which human placenta-derived mesenchymal stem cells (PMSCs) regulate macrophage differentiation in ischemic tissue remains unclear. MATERIAL AND METHODS Placentas were obtained from healthy donors with normal 38- to 40-week gestation, and PMSCs were isolated from the placentas and cultured. A mouse model of hind-limb ischemia was established. Ischemic limbs were injected intramuscularly with about 5×106 PMSCs in the PMSCs group or a placebo solution (phosphate-buffered saline) in the control group at 4 different sites 1 day after the procedure. The blood perfusion of hind-limbs and the histological morphology were observed at day 1, 7, and 14 after the surgical procedure. Macrophages were detected by flow cytometry. The expression of serum tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-10 were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The expression of CD31 and smooth muscle alpha-actin (alpha-SMA) in frozen muscle samples were detected by immunofluorescence staining. RESULTS In the PMSCs group, blood perfusion was gradually recovered and ischemic injury was markedly alleviated. The percentage of M2-like macrophages was increased dramatically, while the M1/M2 macrophage ratio was reduced. The expression of TNF-alpha and IL-6 was reduced, while the IL-10 level was elevated. The expression and density of CD31- and alpha-SMA-positive vessels were both significantly increased. CONCLUSIONS Transplanted PMSCs alleviated inflammation, promoted neovascularization, and improved hind limb ischemia through regulating macrophage differentiation toward the M2 phenotype and cytokine secretion. Cytokine manipulation of macrophage phenotypes may have potential therapeutic benefits in injured ischemic limbs.

Application of real-time shear wave elastography in the assessment of torsional cervical dystonia.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the value of real-time shear wave elastography (SWE) in the assessment of torsional cervical dystonia (TCD). METHODS: Ninety healthy volunteers and 30 TCD patients were recruited, and elastography was performed at musculi sternocleidomastoideus (MSD) and musculi splenius capitis (MSC). Mean shear elastic modulus of right MSD and MSC in healthy controls and bilateral MSD and MSC in TCD patients was determined. The thickness of MSD and MSC of affected muscles was measured in TCD patients. RESULTS: In TCD patients, the mean shear elastic modulus of affected MSD and MSC was significantly higher than that of corresponding normal muscles (P<0.01) and that of controls (P<0.01). The diagnostic threshold was 24.9 kPa for MSD and 25.07 kPa for MSC (for MSD and MSC, the area under ROC was 0.979 and 0.979, with a sensitivity of 90% and 91.3%, and a specificity of 95.6% and 96.7%, respectively). The elastic modulus of neither affected nor normal MSD and MSC was significantly related to age and body mass index (P>0.05). The shear elastic modulus of affected MSD and MSC was positively related to the peak electromyography (r=0.83-0.73, P<0.01). The thickness of affected MSD and MSC was significantly thicker than that of corresponding normal muscles in TCD patients (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Real-time SWE can identify the difference in shear elastic modulus of MSD and MSC between the affected and normal side in TCD patients, indicating important diagnostic value in the assessment of muscular status for these patients.

[Role of uteroglobin-binding protein in antiflammin-1 promoting IL-10 expression and secretion in RAW264.7 cells induced by endotoxin].

The present study investigated the effect of antiflammin-1 (AF-1) on LPS-induced IL-10 secretion from RAW264.7 cells through uteroglobin-binding protein (UGBP). Cultured RAW264.7 cells, a murine monocyte-macrophage cell line, were divided as following: control group, LPS group (1 µg/mL LPS), AF-1 group (100 µmol/L AF-1), LPS+AF-1 group (2 h of 100 µmol/L AF-1 pretreatment before LPS addition), and LPS+AF-1+anti-UGBP group (30 min of anti-UGBP antibody pretreatment before successive treatments with AF-1 and LPS). IL-10 concentration in the supernatants was detected by ELISA assay, and the level of IL-10 mRNA expression in macrophage was detected by using RT-PCR method. The results showed that AF-1 significantly increased LPS-induced IL-10 secretion in RAW264.7 cells in a dose dependent way, and up-regulated its mRNA level. Anti-UGBP antibody pretreatment attenuated the augmented effect of AF-1 on LPS-induced IL-10 secretion and gene expression. These results suggest that AF-1 promotes LPS-induced IL-10 secretion from macrophages, and this effect is mediated by UGBP.

[Dithiobis-succinimidyl propionate on gold island films: surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy study].

Dithiobis-succinimidyl propionate (DTSP), an important homobifunctional crosslinker, has been widely used for the covalent immobilization of proteins onto solid supports by amine coupling. In the present study, adsorption of DTSP on vacuum-deposited gold island films was analyzed by means of surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRAS). For the sake of a reliable assignment of the vibrational spectra, IR intensity of the adsorption model of TSP on one gold surface was calculated using density functional theory (DFT) at the Beck' s three-parameter Lee-Yang-Parr (B3LYP) level with the LANL2DZ basis set. SEIRAS and multiple-angle-of-incidence polarization infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy indicated that TSP is arranged orderly in a tilted fashion with a dihedral angle of 65 degrees between the plane of succinimidyl ring and the gold surface. The binding kinetics revealed that that the time constant of self-assembly of the TSP layer is 220 sec. Furthermore, the coupling process of amino-nitrilotriacetic acid (ANTA) with surface-bound TSP monolayer was monitored in situ by SEIRAS. Three negative bands observed at 1 807, 1 776, and 1 728 cm(-1) respectively provided direct evidence for the reaction of the succinimidyl ester. The appearance of one intense band at 1 566 cm(-1) gave a clear support for the presence of the cross-link between ANTA and TSP. We hope that the results in current investigation will contribute to the better understanding of properties of DTSP and related reactions at the molecular level.