Unraveling patterns, causes, and nature-based remediation strategy for non-grain production on farmland in hilly regions.

The surge in non-grain production on farmland (NGPF) poses significant threats to food security and land sustainability, particularly in hilly regions. However, there remains a lack of clarity on how to effectively balance grain and non-grain production in relation to land remediation. Using Wannian County as a case study, we investigate the evolution of this by leveraging high-precision land surveys and satellite imagery. Through the application of bootstrapped partial linear regression models, we identify key influencers behind each type of NGPF. In proposing land remediation solutions, we integrate the results of NGPF and land quality evaluations to identify mismatches between non-grain production and land attributes (i.e., topography, geology, soil, and land use). Our findings reveal a substantial growth in NGPF, expanding from 3838.72 ha to 5659.64 ha (2010-2020), and predominantly occurring on farmland with favorable natural conditions and connected locations such as proximity to roads, town centers, and industrial plants. Surprisingly, the basic farmland protection policy shows limited effectiveness in curbing NGPF, except for garden operations. We identify 1674 NGPF patches suitable for conversion to grain production and provide land remediation suggestions tailored to low-quality farmland with specific natural barriers, thus complementing the demand for regional non-grain production. This study thereby innovatively proposes nature-based land remediation strategies to address the non-grain production dilemma by tailoring NGPF and land quality, offering valuable insights for sustainable farmland management in China and beyond.

LNAS: a clinically applicable deep-learning system for mediastinal enlarged lymph nodes segmentation and station mapping without regard to the pathogenesis using unenhanced CT images.

BACKGROUND: The accurate identification and evaluation of lymph nodes by CT images is of great significance for disease diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. PURPOSE: To assess the lymph nodes' segmentation, size, and station by artificial intelligence (AI) for unenhanced chest CT images and evaluate its value in clinical scenarios. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This retrospective study proposed an end-to-end Lymph Nodes Analysis System (LNAS) consisting of three models: the Lymph Node Segmentation model (LNS), the Mediastinal Organ Segmentation model (MOS), and the Lymph Node Station Registration model (LNR). We selected a healthy chest CT image as the template image and annotated 14 lymph node station masks according to the IASLC to build the lymph node station mapping template. The exact contours and stations of the lymph nodes were annotated by two junior radiologists and reviewed by a senior radiologist. Patients aged 18 and above, who had undergone unenhanced chest CT and had at least one suspicious enlarged mediastinal lymph node in imaging reports, were included. Exclusions were patients who had thoracic surgeries in the past 2 weeks or artifacts on CT images affecting lymph node observation by radiologists. The system was trained on 6725 consecutive chest CTs that from Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, among which 6249 patients had suspicious enlarged mediastinal lymph nodes. A total of 519 consecutive chest CTs from Qilu Hospital of Shandong University (Qingdao) were used for external validation. The gold standard for each CT was determined by two radiologists and reviewed by one senior radiologist. RESULTS: The patient-level sensitivity of the LNAS system reached of 93.94% and 92.89% in internal and external test dataset, respectively. And the lesion-level sensitivity (recall) reached 89.48% and 85.97% in internal and external test dataset. For man-machine comparison, AI significantly apparently shortened the average reading time (p < 0.001) and had better lesion-level and patient-level sensitivities. CONCLUSION: AI improved the sensitivity lymph node segmentation by radiologists with an advantage in reading time.

Extraordinary Five-Wave Mixing in a Zinc Oxide Microwire on a Au Film.

Coherent multiwave mixing is in demand for optical frequency conversion, imaging, quantum information science, etc., but has rarely been demonstrated in solid-state systems. Here, we observed three- and five-wave mixing (5WM) in a c-axis growth zinc oxide microwire on a Au film with picosecond pulses in the near-infrared region. An output 5WM of 4.7 × 10-7 µW, only 2-3 orders smaller than the three-wave mixing, is achieved when the excitation power is as low as 1.5 mW and the peak power density as weak as ∼107 W/cm2. The excitation power dependence of 5WM agrees well with the perturbation limit under the low intensity but exhibits a strong deviation at a high pumping power. This extraordinary behavior is attributed to the cooperative resonant enhancement effect when pumping in the near-infrared range. Our study offers a potential solid-state platform for on-chip multiwave mixing and quantum nonlinear optics, such as generating many-photon entangled states or the construction of photon-photon quantum logic gates.

Beneficial Effects of Pleurotus citrinopileatus Polysaccharide on the Quality of Cherry Tomatoes During Storage.

Cherry tomatoes are highly well-liked and have a lot of nutritional value. However, the edible value of cherry tomatoes rapidly declines as their storage duration is extended. Pleurotus citrinopileatus polysaccharide (PCP) is a kind of polysaccharide obtained from P. citrinopileatus by water extraction. The effects of PCP were investigated to identify a way to maximally postpone cherry tomato degradation. The results showed that PCP had inhibitory effects on all 10 tested strains, and the inhibitory effect on Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the strongest. PCP could effectively reduce the weight loss rate and malondialdehyde accumulation of cherry tomatoes during storage, weaken the activity of polyphenol oxidase, and delay the decline of hardness, titratable acid content, and VC content compared with untreated cherry tomatoes. PCP solution at a concentration of 2 g/L exerted the best preservation effects. Therefore, PCP can potentially contribute to the preservation of vegetables and fruits.

[Gender differences in antidepressant effect of raw Rehmanniae Radix].

For the first time, this study evaluated the gender differences and mechanisms of the antidepressant effects of raw Rehmanniae Radix(RRR) based on the classic depression model with traditional Chinese medicine syndrome of Yin deficiency and internal heat. The depression model with Yin deficiency and internal heat was established by the widely recognized and applied method of thyroxine induction of the classic depression model with Yin deficiency and internal heat(chronic unpredictable mild stress). Male and female mice were simultaneously treated with RRR. The study analyzed indicators of nourishing Yin and clearing heat, conventional antidepressant efficacy test indicators, and important biomolecules reflecting the pathogenesis and prevention and treatment mechanisms of depression, and conducted a correlation analysis of antidepressant efficacy, Yin-nourishing and heat-clearing efficacy, and biological mechanism in different genders, thereby comprehensively assessing the antidepressant effects of RRR on depression of Yin deficiency and internal heat, as well as its gender differences and mechanisms. RRR exhibited antidepressant effects in both male and female mouse models, and its antidepressant efficacy showed gender differences, with a superior effect observed in females. Moreover, the effects of RRR on enhancing or improving hippocampal neuronal pathology, nucleus-positive areas, postsynaptic dense area protein 95, and synaptophysin protein expression were more significant in females than in males. In addition, RRR significantly reversed the abnormal upregulation of nuclear factor(NF)-κB/cyclooxygenase 2(COX2)/NOD-like receptor thermal protein domain associated protein 3(NLRP3) pathway proteins in the hippocampus of both male and female mouse models. The antidepressant effects of RRR were more pronounced in depression female mice with Yin deficiency and internal heat syndrome, possibly due to the improvement of neuronal damage and enhancement of neuroplasticity. The antidepressant mechanisms of RRR for depression with Yin deficiency and internal heat syndrome may be associated with the downregulation of the NF-κB/COX2/NLRP3 pathway to reduce neuronal damage and enhance neuroplasticity.

Self-Modulation-Guided Growth of 2D Tellurides with Ultralow Thermal Conductivity.

Ultralow thermal conductivity materials have triggered much interest due to diverse applications in thermal insulation, thermal barrier coating, and especially thermoelectrics. Two dimensional (2D) indium tellurides with ultralow thermal conductivity provide a versatile platform for tailoring the heat transfer, exploring new candidates for thermoelectrics, and achieving miniature, lightweight, and highly integrated devices. Unfortunately, their nanostructure and structure-related heat transfer properties at a 2D scale are much less studied due to difficulties in material fabrication. The ionic character between interlayers and strong covalent bonds in 3D directions impede the anisotropic growth of indium telluride flakes; meanwhile, the low environmental stability and chemical reactivity of tellurium also limit the fabrication of high-quality tellurides, thus hindering the exploration of thermal transport properties. Here, a self-modulation-guided growth strategy to synthesize high-quality 2D In4 Te3 single crystals with ultralow thermal conductivity (0.47 W m-1  K-1 ) is developed. This strategy can also be extended to synthesize a series of highly crystallized metal tellurides, providing excellent candidates for further application in thermoelectrics.

Long noncoding RNA PVT1 promotes breast cancer proliferation and metastasis by binding miR-128-3p and UPF1.

BACKGROUND: Mounting evidence supports that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have critical roles during cancer initiation and progression. In this study, we report that the plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) lncRNA is involved in breast cancer progression. METHODS: qRT-PCR and western blot were performed to detect the gene and protein expression. Colony formation would healing and transwell assays were used to detect cell function. Dual-luciferase reporter assay and RNA pull-down experiments were used to examine the mechanisms interaction between molecules. Orthotopic mouse models were established to evaluate the influence of PVT1 on tumor growth and metastasis in vivo. RESULTS: PVT1 is significant upregulated in breast cancer patients' plasma and cell lines. PVT1 promotes breast cancer cell proliferation and metastasis both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, PVT1 upregulates FOXQ1 via miR-128-3p and promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition. In addition, PVT1 binds to the UPF1 protein, thereby inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition, proliferation and metastasis in breast cancer cells. CONCLUSION: PVT1 may act as an oncogene in breast cancer through binding miR-128-3p and UPF1 and represents a potential target for BC therapeutic development.

MicroRNA-301a promotes pancreatic cancer invasion and metastasis through the JAK/STAT3 signaling pathway by targeting SOCS5.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal digestive malignant tumors. We had previously found that microRNA-301a (miR-301a) is a oncogenic microRNA whose recognized conduce to nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) activation in pancreatic cancer, yet the underlying mechanisms of miR-301a in promoting pancreatic cancer invasion and migration is obscure. In this work we found that high expression of miR-301a in human pancreatic cancer patients is related to poor survival. Overexpression of miR-301a enhances pancreatic cancer cell invasion, angiogenesis and migration, whereas inhibition of miR-301a suppresses pancreatic cancer cell invasion and reduces orthotopic pancreatic tumor growth and metastasis. Furthermore, suppressor of cytokine signaling 5 (SOCS5) is identified as a target gene of miR-301a. We found that miR-301a suppressed the expression of SOCS5 leads to janus kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (JAK/STAT3) activation and is related to poor overall survival of pancreatic cancer patients. Taken together, our data show for the first time that the feedback loop between miR-301a and JAK/STAT3 pathway may play a significant role in pancreatic cancer invasion and metastasis. Targeting the loop may prove beneficial to prevent metastasis and provide a more effective therapeutic strategy for pancreatic cancer.

Plasmon catalytic PATP coupling reaction on Ag-NPs/graphite studied via in situ electrochemical surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy.

The p-aminothiophenol (PATP) coupling reaction on plasmon substrates such as Ag and Au nanoparticles has received extensive attention since the catalytic effect of the surface plasmon was found. Currently, in situ kinetic studies of this reaction are rare, especially those focusing on the specific role of the hot electron-hole carriers. Here, in situ electrochemical surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is developed to study the plasmon catalytic reaction of PATP in a controlled aqueous environment involving the factors of O2, electron and hole carriers, and solution pH. Ag nanoparticles supported on graphite serve as a SERS substrate, which could separate hot electron-hole pairs effectively and is beneficial to study the effects of hot carriers on plasmon-driven reactions. In situ electrochemical SERS measurements reveal two reaction paths for the PATP coupling reaction. One is that plasmon-induced hot holes activate the dehydrogenation of PATP and then the radical coupling reaction to form p,p'-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB) under O2-free conditions. Another is likely to be that the surface Ag2O/AgOH, which is generated from Ag and 1O2/O2-, catalyzes the oxidation of PATP and then the coupling process under O2-rich conditions. Benefitting from the potential/atmosphere controlled measurements in situ, the intermediate species of PATP(NH)/PATP(N) are observed with vibrational bands at around 1056, 1202, 1253, 1395, 1514 and 1540 cm-1.

An improved procedure to implement NSGA-III in coordinate waste management for urban agglomeration.

With the growth of urbanization in countries globally, large cities have often formed clusters of urban agglomerations in metropolitan areas. The coordinated management of regional solid waste produced by such urban agglomeration poses a typical high-dimensional, multi-objective optimization issue. This paper aims to introduce a procedure to implement the third-generation genetic algorithm (NSGA-III), an established multi-objective genetic algorithm based on non-dominated sorting mechanisms, for the purpose of evaluating environmental and economic benefits simultaneously while seeking the optimal solutions for coordinated management among multiple recycling centres. In this study, two series of scenarios were abstracted from scrap tire recycling, representing linear calculation and nonlinear calculation cases separately. Several improvements were made to the originally published NSGA-III procedure that solve the problem of non-convergence for hypervolumes of the output. Through comparisons of calculation results, an improved procedure is suggested and shown to have improved performance.

Crosslinked Dextran Gel Microspheres with Computed Tomography Angiography and Drug Release Function.

For computed tomography (CT) angiography and drug release application, a kind of novel dextran hydrogel microspheres were prepared. ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) grafted poly(methyl vinyl ether-altmaleic acid) (PMVE-alt-MA-g-ß-CD) and succinic acid modified dextran (Dex-SA) were first prepared, and then PMVE-alt-MA-g-ß-CD was further used as the cross-linking agent to cross link Dex-SA for the formation of dextran hydrogel microspheres by using an inverse suspension polymerization method for the potential interventional embolization. The average diameter of the dextran hydrogel microspheres was 35 µm with 90% ranging from 20 µm to 50 µm. The obtained microspheres showed a rather high swelling rate and loading capacity of drug doxorubicin hydrochloride with content of 9.2 wt%. The results of in vitro experiments showed that about 35.5% of the total amount of the encapsulated doxorubicin hydrochloride can be released after 4 h at 37 °C. The microspheres had a good mechanical stiffness with Young's modulus of about 20.0 kPa. Iodine molecules (I2) can be incorporated within the cavity of grafted cyclodextrin only through simply soaking in I2 aqueous solution, and these I2-loaded microspheres can preliminarily realize the function of CT angiography. This kind of dextran hydrogel microspheres with good biocompatibility would be a promising embolization material.

H727 Multicellular Spheroids and Its Resistance to Antitumor Drugs Sunitinib and Axitinib.

The three-dimensional (3D) culture model of neuroendocrine tumor H727 cells was established by using the agarose gel as culture matrix, which provided a new method for drug screening of neuroendocrine tumors. As VEGFR inhibitor, sunitinib and axitinib were applied to inhibit human neuroendocrine H727 cell line in two-dimensional (2D) and 3D culture models. The inhibitory rate of H727 cells with different drug concentration were assessed by CCK-8 assay method and combined with using the FDA/PI double staining and the digital microscope analysis system. When the concentration of sunitinib ≥4.0 µmol/L, the H727 spheroids began to split, and the apoptosis of H727 cells occurred, the sizes of multicellular spheroids was significantly reduced in the groups of high-dose axitinib. These results illustrated that sunitinib and axitinib can effectively inhibit the growth and proliferation of neuroendocrine tumor H727 cells. Sunitinib and axitinib can also promote apoptosis of H727 cells.

Thermo-Sensitive PLGA-PEG-PLGA Tri-Block Copolymer Hydrogel as Three-Dimensional Cell Culture Matrix for Ovarian Cancer Cells.

Thermo-sensitive hydrogels which could encapsulate cells and provide a three dimensional (3D) microenvironment have great potential in building new cell culture models in vitro. In this study, a thermal responsive hydrogel based on PLGA-PEG-PLGA tri-block copolymers was developed as matrix for 3D ovarian cancer cell culturing. The gelation of PLGA-PEG-PLGA tri-block copolymer was concentration-dependent. SEM images showed the pores were suitable for the formation of 3D cell structures. Cell morphological results showed that large aggregates of ovarian cancer cells (HO8910) were formed after cultured for 10 days. Therefore, hydrogel based on PLGA-PEG-PLGA tri-block copolymers hold potential as in vitro cell culture matrix for ovarian cancer cells.

The effects of chrysophanol on ovalbumin (OVA)-induced chronic lung toxicology by inhibiting Th17 response.

Chrysophanol (CH), extracted from plants of Rheum genus, possesses various pharmacological effects including anti-inflammatory activity. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the protective effects and the underlying mechanisms of CH on ovalbumin (OVA)-induced asthma in mice. Fifty mice were randomly assigned to five experimental groups: control group, model group, dexamethasone (2 mg/kg) group and CH (5 and 10 mg/kg) groups. The number of eosinophil cells and the production of interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-1ß, IL-17 A and tumor necrosis factor-α in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were measured. In addition, pulmonary histopathology, airway resistance (Raw), T-helper17 (Th17) cells frequency and RORγt expression were evaluated. Our study demonstrated that CH effectively decreased eosinophil count and inflammatory cytokines production in BALF. In addition, treatment with CH significantly inhibited the Raw, Th17 percentage and RORγt expression in OVA-induced animals compared with those in model group. Histological studies also demonstrated that CH significantly suppressed OVA-induced eosinophilia in lung tissue compared with model group. Our findings supported that CH can prevent allergic asthma in the mouse model.

Timosaponin B-II inhibits lipopolysaccharide-induced acute lung toxicity via TLR/NF-κB pathway.

Timosaponin B-II (TB), a main bioactive compound in Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bunge, has various kinds of pharmacological activities, the present study aimed to investigate the protective role of TB on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI). ALI was induced in mice by intratracheal instillation of LPS, and TB (20 and 60 mg/kg) was given orally 1 h prior to LPS administration. After 6 h, bronchoalveolar lavagefluid (BALF) and lung tissue were collected. TB decreased LPS-induced evident lung histopathological changes, lung wet-to-dry weight (W/D) ratio and lung myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity. In addition, TB inhibited inflammatory cells and cytokines including tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in BALF. Furthermore, we demonstrated that TB inhibited the Toll-like receptor-2 (TLR2), Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4), myeloid differentiation primary response gene-88 (MyD88), nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) p65 in LPS-induced ALI. These results showed that administration of TB prior to LPS improves ALI, possibly mediating ALI through suppressing TLR/NF-κB pathway activation.

MicroRNA-195 protects against dementia induced by chronic brain hypoperfusion via its anti-amyloidogenic effect in rats.

Previous studies have demonstrated that chronic brain hypoperfusion (CBH) causes Aß aggregation by upregulating expression of amyloid precursor protein (APP) and ß-site APP cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) protein, which is accompanied by cognitive impairment, but the mechanisms are not fully understood. In this study, we evaluated the effect of microRNA on memory impairment in rats induced by CBH. We show here that CBH generated by bilateral common carotid artery occlusion (2VO) significantly decreased the learning and memory ability in rats, as assessed by Morris water maze, and upregulated expression of APP and BACE1 proteins in the hippocampus and cortex of rats, as evaluated by Western blot and immunofluorescence. In reciprocal, qRT-PCR analysis showed that microRNA-195 (miR-195) was downregulated in both the hippocampus and cortex of rats following CBH, and in the plasma of dementia patients. APP and BACE1 proteins were downregulated by miR-195 overexpression, upregulated by miR-195 inhibition, and unchanged by binding-site mutation or miR-masks, indicating that APP and BACE1 are two potential targets for miR-195. Knockdown of endogenous miR-195 by lentiviral vector-mediated overexpression of its antisense molecule (lenti-pre-AMO-miR-195) elicited dementia in rats, whereas overexpression of miR-195 using lenti-pre-miR-195 reduced dementia vulnerability triggered by 2VO. Additionally, chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis showed that NFκB was bound to the promoter region of miR-195 and inhibited its expression. We conclude that miR-195 may play a key role in determining dementia susceptibility in 2VO rats by regulating APP and BACE1 expression at the post-transcriptional level, and exogenous complement of miR-195 may be a potentially valuable anti-dementia approach.

Analysis of Th1/Th2 response pattern for erythrodermic psoriasis.

As one of the most serious types of psoriasis, pathogenesis of erythrodermic psoriasis (EP) is unclear so far. In this study, we aimed to detect the levels of Th1/Th2 cytokine-associated transcription factors and T-lymphocyte clone in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) derived from EP patients, and gene expression level of T-bet/GATA-3 in skin lesion. The potential role of Th1/Th2 reaction pattern played in the pathogenesis of EP was also discussed. Serum levels of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4 and IL-10 were quantified by ELISA among 16 EP patients, 20 psoriasis vulgaris (PV) patients and 15 healthy controls. The expression levels of T-bet/GATA-3 in the skin lesion and PBMCs were examined by real-time qPCR. The ratio of Th1/Th2 was measured by flow cytometry. The levels of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-4 and IL-10 were higher in EP patients than in the healthy controls. The levels of IL-4 and IL-10 were 69.44±11.45 and 12.62±4.57 pg/mL, respectively, in EP patients, significantly higher than those in PV patients and healthy controls (P<0.05). Flow cytometry revealed the levels of both Th1 and Th2 in PBMCs from EP patients were higher than those in healthy controls, and the Th1/Th2 ratio was dramatically lower than in PV patients (P<0.01). The ratios of IFN-γ/IL-4 and T-bet/GATA-3 in EP patients were both less than 1.0, suggesting a reversal when compared with the other two groups. Our study indicated that the EP patients exerted a Th1/Th2 bidirectional response pattern, and the balance of Th cell subsets inclines to Th2, which might be one of the important mechanisms of EP pathogenesis.

[Establishment of culture system of Silybum marianum hairy roots and determination of silybin].

This research uses six Agrobacterium rhizogenes R1601, R15384, R1000, A4, R1025 and R1 to infect silymarin explants to induce hairy roots and silibin. All of the six A. rhizogenes can induce Silybum marianum to generate hairy roots and the A. rhizogene A4 shows comparatively high infection on the plant. This research determines the condition to induce silymarin hairy roots by the factors of infection time, pre-culturing, co-culturing and pH value. The fact that MS liquid medium fits the proliferation of silymarin hairy roots is determined. Through PCR molecular identification, it can be seen that the DNA plasmids in the A. rhizogenes are successfully integrated into the genome of transformed roots. Using liquid chromatography, it is determined that the silibin content in silymarin hairy roots is 2.5 times that in the plant In this research, the silymarin hairy roots culturing system is established, which lays a foundation for the study of culturing silymarin hairy roots and producing silibin.

Efficient Dynamic Correspondence Network.

We tackle the problem of establishing dense correspondences between a pair of images in an efficient way. Most existing dense matching methods use 4D convolutions to filter incorrect matches, but 4D convolutions are highly inefficient due to their quadratic complexity. Besides, these methods learn features with fixed convolutions which cannot make learnt features robust to different challenge scenarios. To deal with these issues, we propose an Efficient Dynamic Correspondence Network (EDCNet) by jointly equipping pre-separate convolution (Psconv) and dynamic convolution (Dyconv) to establish dense correspondences in a coarse-to-fine manner. The proposed EDCNet enjoys several merits. First, two well-designed modules including a neighbourhood aggregation (NA) module and a dynamic feature learning (DFL) module are combined elegantly in the coarse-to-fine architecture, which is efficient and effective to establish both reliable and accurate correspondences. Second, the proposed NA module maintains linear complexity, showing its high efficiency. And our proposed DFL module has better flexibility to learn features robust to different challenges. Extensive experimental results show that our algorithm performs favorably against state-of-the-art methods on three challenging datasets including HPatches, Aachen Day-Night and InLoc.