Mycorrhizal effects on crop yield and soil ecosystem functions in a long-term tillage and fertilization experiment.

It is well understood that agricultural management influences arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, but there is controversy about whether farmers should manage for AM symbiosis. We assessed AM fungal communities colonizing wheat roots for three consecutive years in a long-term (> 14 yr) tillage and fertilization experiment. Relationships among mycorrhizas, crop performance, and soil ecosystem functions were quantified. Tillage, fertilizers and continuous monoculture all reduced AM fungal richness and shifted community composition toward dominance of a few ruderal taxa. Rhizophagus and Dominikia were depressed by tillage and/or fertilization, and their abundances as well as AM fungal richness correlated positively with soil aggregate stability and nutrient cycling functions across all or no-tilled samples. In the field, wheat yield was unrelated to AM fungal abundance and correlated negatively with AM fungal richness. In a complementary glasshouse study, wheat biomass was enhanced by soil inoculum from unfertilized, no-till plots while neutral to depressed growth was observed in wheat inoculated with soils from fertilized and conventionally tilled plots. This study demonstrates contrasting impacts of low-input and conventional agricultural practices on AM symbiosis and highlights the importance of considering both crop yield and soil ecosystem functions when managing mycorrhizas for more sustainable agroecosystems.

Cross-waveband optical computing imaging.

A novel, to the best of our knowledge, cross-spectral optical computing imaging experiment has been achieved through a single exposure of a charge-coupled device. The experimental setup integrates single-pixel imaging (SPI) with ghost imaging (GI) through a photoelectric conversion circuit and a synchronous modulation system. The experimental process involves modulation in one wavelength band (in SPI) and demodulation using the GI algorithm in another. Significantly, our approach utilizes optical computing demodulation, a departure from the conventional electronic demodulation in GI (SPI), which involves the convolution between the bucket optical signals and the modulated patterns on the digital micromirror device. A proof-of-concept cross-band imaging experiment from near-infrared to visible light has been carried out. The results highlight the system's ability to capture images at up to 20 frames per second using near-infrared illumination, which are then reconstructed in the visible light spectrum. This success not only validates the feasibility of our approach but also expands the potential applications in the SPI or GI fields, particularly in scenarios where two-dimensional detector arrays are either unavailable or prohibitively expensive in certain electromagnetic spectra such as x-ray and terahertz.

Maize, wheat, and soybean root traits depend upon soil phosphorus fertility and mycorrhizal status.

Strong effects of plant identity, soil nutrient availability or mycorrhizal fungi on root traits have been well documented, but their interactive influences on root traits are still poorly understood. Here, three crop species (maize, wheat and soybean) were grown under four phosphorus (P) addition levels (0, 20, 40 and 60 mg P kg-1 dry soil), and plants were inoculated with or without five combined arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) species. Plant biomass, nutrient contents, root traits (including total root length, average root diameter, specific root length and root tissue density) and plants' mycorrhizal responses were measured. Crop species, P level, AMF, and their interactions strongly affected plant biomass and root traits. P fertilization promoted plant growth but reduced mycorrhizal benefits on plant biomass and nutrient uptake. Root traits of maize were sensitive to P addition only under the non-mycorrhizal condition, whilst most root traits of soybean and wheat plants were responsive to mycorrhizal inoculation but not P addition. Mycorrhizal colonization reduced the root plasticity in response to P fertility for maize but not for wheat or soybean. This study highlights the importance of soil nutrient fertility and mycorrhizal symbiosis in influencing root traits.

Rapid, Label-Free Prediction of Antibiotic Resistance in Salmonella typhimurium by Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy.

The rapid identification of bacterial antibiotic susceptibility is pivotal to the rational administration of antibacterial drugs. In this study, cefotaxime (CTX)-derived resistance in Salmonella typhimurium (abbr. CTXr-S. typhimurium) during 3 months of exposure was rapidly recorded using a portable Raman spectrometer. The molecular changes that occurred in the drug-resistant strains were sensitively monitored in whole cells by label-free surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). Various degrees of resistant strains could be accurately discriminated by applying multivariate statistical analyses to bacterial SERS profiles. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values showed a positive linear correlation with the relative Raman intensities of I990/I1348, and the R2 reached 0.9962. The SERS results were consistent with the data obtained by MIC assays, mutant prevention concentration (MPC) determinations, and Kirby-Bauer antibiotic susceptibility tests (K-B tests). This preliminary proof-of-concept study indicates the high potential of the SERS method to supplement the time-consuming conventional method and help alleviate the challenges of antibiotic resistance in clinical therapy.

Room Temperature Magnetoelectric Sensor Arrays For Application of Detecting Iron Profiles in Organs.

Noninvasive measurement of liver iron concentration (LIC) is clinically important. Yet, at the present time, it can only be achieved with SQUID technology. However, SQUID based BLS suffers high costs and cumbersome cryogenic requirements that prevent SQUID BLS from being adopted by clinical applications. Recently, we demonstrated that a single channel ME sensor with piezo-single crystals could detect LIC from only 3cc of mouse liver tissue without any magnetic field shielding. The results demonstrated not only the sensitivity of ME sensor system for LIC but also the feasibility for mapping LIC profiles spatially. This investigation further developed ME sensor arrays, exploiting the compact size and room temperature operation. A Dual-Channel 1-D ME sensor array along the vertical, Z-direction, was developed and shown to be sensitive to the skin-liver distance change which can be utilized to calibrate and eliminate the inter-subject variability of the LIC measurement due to skin-liver distance. With phantom having spatially dependent iron concentrations, the 1-D ME sensor array was capable of mapping the one-dimensional profile of the iron concentration in the horizontal X- and Y-directions. The results of the prototype sensor devices show the feasibility of an array ME-sensors for imaging iron profile.

[Efficacy of Shensong Yangxin Capsules in treating bradycardia combined with premature beat: a systematic review and Meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials].

To analyze the efficacy and safety of Shensong Yangxin Capsules in treatment of bradycardia combined with premature beat. Databases, such as CNKI, VIP, WanFang, SinoMed, PubMed, Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials were retrieved by computers for relevant randomized controlled trials of Shensong Yangxin Capsules in treatment of bradycardia combined with premature beat. Two researchers independently screened out the literatures, extracted data according to the inclusion criteria, and applied the Risk of Bias assessment tool in assessing the methodological quality. The Cochrane systematic evaluation software RevMan 5.3 was used for data analysis. Totally 9 randomized controlled trials including 706 subjects were included. The intervention measure was the single administration with Shensong Yangxin Capsules, and the control measure was the blank control. The results showed that Shensong Yangxin Capsules had an obvious effect on average heart rate(MD=6.59, 95%CI[3.87, 9.31], I~2=90%), premature beat efficacy(RR=1.72, 95%CI[1.53, 1.93], I~2=0%), heart rate efficacy(RR=1.74, 95%CI[1.40, 2.17], I~2=47%), and objective efficacy(RR=1.50, 95%CI[1.31, 1.70], I~2=31%). Eight studies reported safety events, with no significant adverse reaction. In conclusion, the single administration with Shensong Yangxin Capsules may have a certain effect in improving heart rate, controlling premature beats and alleviating clinical symptoms in patients with bradycardia combined with premature beat, with no obvious adverse reaction. Shensong Yangxin Capsules can be used in clinic. This potential conclusion needs to be confirmed in future trials using rigorous methodology.

Nrf2 promotes breast cancer cell migration via up-regulation of G6PD/HIF-1α/Notch1 axis.

Abnormal metabolism of tumour cells is closely related to the occurrence and development of breast cancer, during which the expression of NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is of great significance. Metastatic breast cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer death worldwide; however, the molecular mechanism underlying breast cancer metastasis remains unknown. In this study, we found that the overexpression of Nrf2 promoted proliferation and migration of breast cancers cells. Inhibition of Nrf2 and overexpression of Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1) reduced the expression of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) and transketolase of pentose phosphate pathway, and overexpression of Nrf2 and knockdown of Keap1 had opposite effects. Our results further showed that the overexpression of Nrf2 promoted the expression of G6PD and Hypoxia-inducing factor 1α (HIF-1α) in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells. Overexpression of Nrf2 up-regulated the expression of Notch1 via G6PD/HIF-1α pathway. Notch signalling pathway affected the proliferation of breast cancer by affecting its downstream gene HES-1, and regulated the migration of breast cancer cells by affecting the expression of EMT pathway. The results suggest that Nrf2 is a potential molecular target for the treatment of breast cancer and targeting Notch1 signalling pathway may provide a promising strategy for the treatment of Nrf2-driven breast cancer metastasis.

Assessment of the abstract reporting of systematic reviews of dose-response meta-analysis: a literature survey.

BACKGROUND: There is an increasing number of published systematic reviews (SR) of dose-response meta-analyses (DRMAs) over the past decades. However, the quality of abstract reporting of these SR-DRMAs remains to be understood. We conducted a literature survey to investigate the abstract reporting of SR-DRMAs. METHODS: Medline, Embase, and Wiley online Library were searched for eligible SR-DRMAs. The reporting quality of SR-DRMAs was assessed by the modified PRISMA-for-Abstract checklist (14 items). We summarized the adherence rate of each item and categorized them as well complied (adhered by 80% or above), moderately complied (50 to 79%), and poorly complied (less than 50%). We used total score to reflect the abstract quality and regression analysis was employed to explore the potential influence factors for it. RESULTS: We included 529 SR-DRMAs. Eight of 14 items were moderately (3 items) or poorly complied (5 items) while only 6 were well complied by these SR-DRMAs. Most of the SR-DRMAs failed to describe the methods for risk of bias assessment (30.2, 95% CI: 26.4, 34.4%) and the results of bias assessment (48.8, 95% CI: 44.4, 53.1%). Few SR-DRMAs reported the funding (2.3, 95% CI: 1.2, 3.9%) and registration (0.6, 95% CI: 0.1, 1.6%) information in the abstract. Multivariable regression analysis suggested word number of abstracts [> 250 vs. ≤ 250 (estimated ß = 0.31; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.61; P = 0.039)] was positively associated with the abstract reporting quality. CONCLUSION: The abstract reporting of SR-DRMAs is suboptimal, substantial effort is needed to improve the reporting. More word number may benefit for the abstract reporting. Given that reporting of abstract largely depends on the reporting and conduct of the SR-DRMA, review authors should also focus on the completeness of SR-DRMA itself.

Research of stroke combined hyperlipidemia-induced erectile dysfunction in rat model.

Objective: The study was aimed to evaluate the influences of erectile dysfunction (ED) in a rat model of stroke combined with hyperlipidemia (HLP). Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into control and hyperlipidemia (HLP) groups. HLP model was constructed by feeding with high-fat and cholesterol diets. Serum levels of total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein (LDL), high density lipoprotein (HDL), triglyceride (TG), and non-HDL were identified to check the model was success. Stroke model was established by FeCl3. ICP/MAP value was detected to evaluate the erectile function of rats. Serum level of lipoproteins and the expressions of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were detected by ELISA. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining of corpus cavernosum and measurement of penis length were utilized to assessment erectile function. Western blot was used. Results: TC, TG, LDL, and non-HDL-C in serum were up-regulated, while HDL level was attenuated. After treatment, the serum lipid level recovered. From the ICP/MAP values, the erectile function of both two treatment groups recovered. The expression of PDE5A was up-regulated, while the levels of eNOS and cGMP were suppressed after surgery. The length of penis was decreased, and corpus cavernosum was damaged following HLP and stroke. However, the erectile function was recovered after treatment. Conclusion: Stroke combined HLP caused ED through NO-cGMP-PDE5 pathway.

Strategies to improve aerobic granular sludge stability and nitrogen removal based on feeding mode and substrate.

A systemic strategy was proposed to improve aerobic granular sludge (AGS) stability and nitrogen (N) removal efficiency by optimizing feeding mode and substrate aiming at complicated wastewater characteristics. Key functional groups at the genus level identified by high-throughput sequencing were evaluated as well. The results showed that anaerobic feeding mode and acetate promoted the compact AGS formation with excellent total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency (averaging 91.7% ±â€¯4.1%) at various dissolved oxygen conditions. While the aerobic feeding mode led to a loose AGS structure with a vulnerable anaerobic core and poor TN removal efficiency (averaging 58.8% ±â€¯7.4%). Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification process played the dominant role in N removal in compact AGS over the alternating nitrification and denitrification process. High-concentration glucose undermined feast-famine condition with filamentous bacteria growth out of granule and decreased TN removal efficiency to 67.3% ±â€¯15.2%. Lower food to microorganism ratio may result in a lower N removal rate attributed to the sharply increased biomass concentration fed by glucose. Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria, nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, denitrifying bacteria, and denitrifying phosphorus accumulation organisms enriched during AGS granulation also contributed to the efficient N removal. The proposed strategy provided insights into the relationship between various factors and stable AGS formation, and systemic operation methods for various complicated wastewater treatment.

Super-resolution imaging by anticorrelation of optical intensities.

Photon bunching, a feature of classical thermal fields, has been widely exploited to implement ghost imaging. Here we show that spatial photon antibunching can be experimentally observed via low-pass filtering of the intensities of the two thermal light beams from a beamsplitter correlation system. Through suitable choice of the filter thresholds, the minimum of the measured normalized anti-correlation function, i.e., antibunching dip, can be lower than 0.2, while its full-width-at-half-maximum can be much narrower than that of the corresponding positive correlation peak. Based on this anti-correlation effect, a super-resolution negative ghost image is achieved in a lensless scheme, in which the spatial resolution can exceed the Rayleigh diffraction limit by more than a factor of two. The setup is quite simple and easy to implement, which is an advantage for practical applications.

Is TSH necessary for initial assessment of thyroid nodules?

OBJECTIVE: The use of thyrotropin (TSH) in the initial assessment of thyroid nodules is inefficient and leads to unnecessary assessment costs. We compared the total costs of thyroid nodule assessment with or without the use of TSH in the initial assessment. METHODS: A total of 1808 patients with thyroid nodules received TSH, fine-needle aspiration (FNA) and thyroid scintigraphy (TS) assessment, including 83 autonomously functioning thyroid nodule (AFTN) cases and 1725 non-AFTN cases. The total costs of the TSH strategy and non-TSH strategies were compared. The ratio of single-use costs of FNA to TS (CFNA/TS ) was used as the main outcome measure. RESULTS: Only when 6·03 ≤ CFNA/TS ≤ 27·17, the lowest total costs were associated with using the conventional TSH strategy. When CFNA/TS <6·03 or CFNA/TS >27·17, the lowest costs were found with FNA and TS, respectively. CONCLUSION: From the perspective of cost economics, in iodine-sufficient areas, we recommend that the decision on the use of TSH for the initial assessment of thyroid nodules should be based on the testing costs of FNA and TS in that medical unit.

Sub-Rayleigh resolution ghost imaging by spatial low-pass filtering.

A sub-Rayleigh resolution ghost imaging experiment is performed via post-detection spatial low-pass filtering of the instantaneous intensity. A super-resolution reconstructed image has been achieved, in which the spatial resolution can exceed the Rayleigh diffraction limit by more than a factor of two. The resolution depends on the filter threshold, and the Rayleigh limit can be exceeded for a wide choice of threshold values. The setup is simple and easy to implement, which is an advantage for practical applications.

Transforming growth factor ß receptor signaling restrains growth of pancreatic carcinoma cells.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is extremely malignant. Efficient control of cancer growth may substantially improve the survival of PDAC patients. However, no efficient treatments are so far available. Here, we inhibited transforming growth factor ß (TGFß) receptor signaling by overexpression of a key inhibitor of this pathway, SMAD7, in the mouse pancreas, using a recently developed intraductal infusion method. Overexpression of SMAD7 significantly increased growth of both implanted PDAC and PDAC by K-ras modification. Our data thus suggest that TGFß receptor signaling restrains growth of PDAC, and modulation of TGFß receptor signaling may be an effective treatment for PDAC.

[Response and prognosis of patients with multiple myeloma induced by PAD/TAD].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of cytogenetic grouping and autologous stem cell transplantation on the prognosis of patients with multiple myeloma (MM) induced by PAD (velcade+epirubicin+dexamethasone) and TAD (thalidomide+epirubicin+dexamethasone). METHODS: A total of 191 patients with a definite diagnosis of MM were enrolled from May 2008 to December 2013 into this prospective study. They were non-randomly induced by PAD (n = 132) or TAD (n = 59) plus autologous stem cell transplantation or chemotherapy. Response and survival rates were also analyzed between two groups. RESULTS: The overall response rates of PAD and TAD groups were 84.4% (108/128) and 69.5% (41/59) (P = 0.011) respectively. The very good partial remission (VGPR) rates were 70.3% (90/128) and 32.2% (19/59) (P < 0.001) and near complete remission/complete remission (nCR/CR) rates 68.0% (87/128) and 25.4% (15/59) respectively (P < 0.001). Both progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) showed no significant inter-group difference (P = 0.223, 0.989). The survival analysis of PAD group showed that FISH high-risk group had shorter PFS and OS than FISH low-risk group (15.2 vs 19.1 months for PFS, P = 0.098; 41.2 months vs non-attaining for OS, P = 0.017). In FISH high-risk group, patients consolidated with autologous stem cell transplantation showed longer PFS than those with chemotherapy (17.8 vs 14.6 months, P = 0.029) while the OS showed no difference (P = 0.840). In FISH low-risk group, no difference were observed in PFS and OS between patients with consolidation therapies alone (P = 0.131, 0.294). CONCLUSIONS: The response rates are higher in patients induced by PAD than by TAD. After PAD induction, cytogenetic grouping may further distinguish the prognosis of MM patients. For FISH high-risk patients, their PFS is prolonged by autologous stem cell transplantation.

Human heat shock protein-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes display potent antitumour immunity in multiple myeloma.

Tumour cell-derived heat shock proteins (HSPs) are used as vaccines for immunotherapy of cancer patients. However, it is proposed that the peptide chaperoned on HSPs, not HSPs themselves, elicited a potent immune response. Given that HSPs are highly expressed by most myeloma cells and vital to myeloma cell survival, we reasoned that HSPs themselves might be an ideal myeloma antigen. In the present study, we explored the feasibility of targeting HSPs themselves for treating multiple myeloma. We identified and chose HLA-A*0201-binding peptides from human HSPB1 (HSP27) and HSP90AA1 (HSP90), and confirmed their immunogenicity in HLA-A*0201 transgenic mice. Dendritic cells pulsed with HSPB1 and HSP90AA1 peptides were used to stimulate peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy volunteers and myeloma patients to generate HSP peptide-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). HSP peptide-specific CTLs efficiently lysed HLA-A*0201(+) myeloma cells (established cell lines and primary plasma cells) but not HLA-A*0201(-) myeloma cells in vitro, indicating that myeloma cells naturally express HSP peptides in the context of major histocompatibility complex class I molecules. More importantly, HSP peptide-specific CTLs effectively reduced tumour burden in the xenograft mouse model of myeloma. Our study clearly demonstrated that HSPs might be novel tumour antigens for immunotherapy of myeloma.

Lensless ghost imaging with sunlight.

An experiment demonstrating lensless ghost imaging (GI) with sunlight has been performed. A narrow spectral line is first filtered out and its intensity correlation measured. With this true thermal light source, an object consisting of two holes is imaged. The realization of lensless GI with sunlight is a step forward toward the practical application of GI with ordinary daylight as the source of illumination.

A multicenter, open-label phase II study of recombinant CPT (Circularly Permuted TRAIL) plus thalidomide in patients with relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma.

Circularly permuted TRAIL (CPT), a recombinant mutant of human Apo2L/TRAIL, is a novel antitumor candidate for multiple myeloma (MM) and other hematologic malignancies. In this phase II study, the safety and efficacy of CPT plus thalidomide was investigated in thalidomide-resistant MM patients. A total of 43 patients were recruited into three CPT plus thalidomide cohorts based on CPT dosage in sequence: 5 mg/kg (n = 11), 8 mg/kg (n = 17), and 10 mg/kg (n = 15). CPT was administered via intravenous infusion on days 1-5, and thalidomide was given orally at 100 mg once daily in each 21-day cycle. The overall response rate (ORR) of 41 efficacy-evaluable patients was 22.0% (2 complete response, 3 near complete response, and 4 partial response). No significant difference in the ORR was observed among the three dose cohorts; however, the ORR tended to be higher with the higher-dose regimen. Median progression-free survival and median duration of response were 6.6 months and 6.1 months, respectively. The most common treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) were neutropenia (46.5%), leukopenia (41.9%), fever (37.2%), elevated AST (32.6%), and elevated ALT (20.9%). TRAEs of Grade 3-4 were mainly neutropenia (18.6%), anemia (9.3%), elevated AST (7.0%), and leukopenia (4.7%). No significant differences were found in the incidence and severity of TRAEs among the three cohorts. In conclusion, CPT plus thalidomide was well tolerated with no occurrence of dose-limiting toxicities and demonstrated promising antitumor activity in RRMM patients. CPT at 10 mg/kg for 5 days in combination with thalidomide and dexamethason will be studied in the next clinical trial.

An improved algorithm to reduce noise in high-order thermal ghost imaging.

A modified Nth-order correlation function is derived that can effectively remove the noise background encountered in high-order thermal light ghost imaging (GI). Based on this, the quality of the reconstructed images in an Nth-order lensless GI setup has been greatly enhanced compared to former high-order schemes for the same sampling number. In addition, the dependence of the visibility and signal-to-noise ratio for different high-order images on the sampling number has been measured and compared.

Depression in older patients with advanced colorectal cancer is closely connected with immunosuppressive acidic protein.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common tumors. CRC patients are susceptible to suffering from depression. Whether the immune system of CRC patients with depression is impaired or stimulated is controversial. Possible reasons for this conflict are the involvement of confounding factors, such as the age of the patient, the stage of the CRC and the types of treatment in previous studies. To demonstrate clearly the relationship between depression and the immune system in the context of CRC, the present study included only older patients with advanced CRC who received only chemotherapy, and the study adopted immunosuppressive acidic protein (IAP) as an immune parameter for the first time. A total of 56 older patients with advanced CRC completed the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and were divided into two groups according to SDS scores. The patients exhibiting depression were treated with fluoxetine until their symptoms remitted. The serum levels of IAP and the percentages of CD3-positive (CD3+), CD4+, CD8+ T lymphocytes and CD56+ natural killer (NK) cells and Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were calculated at the time of enrollment and once the symptoms remitted. Correlation analyses revealed that the SDS score was positively associated with serum IAP levels but negatively associated with CD3 and CD4 levels. Among the depressed and non-depressed patients, serum IAP levels and the percentages of CD3 and CD4 cells were dramatically different. After the depression symptoms were treated, the IAP levels dramatically decreased, while the levels of CD3, CD4, CD8 and CD56 were unchanged. All of above suggested that IAP was closely correlated with depression and might be a relatively objective parameter for predicting depression.