Global hotspots for soil nature conservation.

Soils are the foundation of all terrestrial ecosystems1. However, unlike for plants and animals, a global assessment of hotspots for soil nature conservation is still lacking2. This hampers our ability to establish nature conservation priorities for the multiple dimensions that support the soil system: from soil biodiversity to ecosystem services. Here, to identify global hotspots for soil nature conservation, we performed a global field survey that includes observations of biodiversity (archaea, bacteria, fungi, protists and invertebrates) and functions (critical for six ecosystem services) in 615 composite samples of topsoil from a standardized survey in all continents. We found that each of the different ecological dimensions of soils-that is, species richness (alpha diversity, measured as amplicon sequence variants), community dissimilarity and ecosystem services-peaked in contrasting regions of the planet, and were associated with different environmental factors. Temperate ecosystems showed the highest species richness, whereas community dissimilarity peaked in the tropics, and colder high-latitudinal ecosystems were identified as hotspots of ecosystem services. These findings highlight the complexities that are involved in simultaneously protecting multiple ecological dimensions of soil. We further show that most of these hotspots are not adequately covered by protected areas (more than 70%), and are vulnerable in the context of several scenarios of global change. Our global estimation of priorities for soil nature conservation highlights the importance of accounting for the multidimensionality of soil biodiversity and ecosystem services to conserve soils for future generations.

Unearthing the soil-borne microbiome of land plants.

Plant-soil biodiversity interactions are fundamental for the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, the existence of a set of globally distributed topsoil microbial and small invertebrate organisms consistently associated with land plants (i.e., their consistent soil-borne microbiome), together with the environmental preferences and functional capabilities of these organisms, remains unknown. We conducted a standardized field survey under 150 species of land plants, including 58 species of bryophytes and 92 of vascular plants, across 124 locations from all continents. We found that, despite the immense biodiversity of soil organisms, the land plants evaluated only shared a small fraction (less than 1%) of all microbial and invertebrate taxa that were present across contrasting climatic and soil conditions and vegetation types. These consistent taxa were dominated by generalist decomposers and phagotrophs and their presence was positively correlated with the abundance of functional genes linked to mineralization. Finally, we showed that crossing environmental thresholds in aridity (aridity index of 0.65, i.e., the transition from mesic to dry ecosystems), soil pH (5.5; i.e., the transition from acidic to strongly acidic soils), and carbon (less than 2%, the lower limit of fertile soils) can result in drastic disruptions in the associations between land plants and soil organisms, with potential implications for the delivery of soil ecosystem processes under ongoing global environmental change.

A prefix and attention map discrimination fusion guided attention for biomedical named entity recognition.

BACKGROUND: The biomedical literature is growing rapidly, and it is increasingly important to extract meaningful information from the vast amount of literature. Biomedical named entity recognition (BioNER) is one of the key and fundamental tasks in biomedical text mining. It also acts as a primitive step for many downstream applications such as relation extraction and knowledge base completion. Therefore, the accurate identification of entities in biomedical literature has certain research value. However, this task is challenging due to the insufficiency of sequence labeling and the lack of large-scale labeled training data and domain knowledge. RESULTS: In this paper, we use a novel word-pair classification method, design a simple attention mechanism and propose a novel architecture to solve the research difficulties of BioNER more efficiently without leveraging any external knowledge. Specifically, we break down the limitations of sequence labeling-based approaches by predicting the relationship between word pairs. Based on this, we enhance the pre-trained model BioBERT, through the proposed prefix and attention map dscrimination fusion guided attention and propose the E-BioBERT. Our proposed attention differentiates the distribution of different heads in different layers in the BioBERT, which enriches the diversity of self-attention. Our model is superior to state-of-the-art compared models on five available datasets: BC4CHEMD, BC2GM, BC5CDR-Disease, BC5CDR-Chem, and NCBI-Disease, achieving F1-score of 92.55%, 85.45%, 87.53%, 94.16% and 90.55%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Compared with many previous various models, our method does not require additional training datasets, external knowledge, and complex training process. The experimental results on five BioNER benchmark datasets demonstrate that our model is better at mining semantic information, alleviating the problem of label inconsistency, and has higher entity recognition ability. More importantly, we analyze and demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed attention.

Effects of N and P additions on twig traits of wild apple (Malus sieversii) saplings.

BACKGROUND: Wild apple (Malus sieversii) is under second-class national protection in China and one of the lineal ancestors of cultivated apples worldwide. In recent decades, the natural habitation area of wild apple trees has been seriously declining, resulting in a lack of saplings and difficulty in population regeneration. Artificial near-natural breeding is crucial for protecting and restoring wild apple populations, and adding nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) is one of the important measures to improve the growth performance of saplings. In this study, field experiments using N (CK, N1, N2, and N3: 0, 10, 20, and 40 g m- 2 yr- 1, respectively), P (CK, P1, P2, and P3: 0, 2, 4, and 8 g m- 2 yr- 1, respectively), N20Px (CK, N2P1, N2P2, and N2P3: N20P2, N20P4 and N20P8 g m- 2 yr- 1, respectively), and NxP4 (CK, N1P2, N2P2, and N3P2: N10P4, N20P4, and N40P4 g m- 2 yr- 1, respectively) treatments (totaling 12 levels, including one CK) were conducted in four consecutive years. The twig traits (including four current-year stem, 10 leaf, and three ratio traits) and comprehensive growth performance of wild apple saplings were analyzed under different nutrient treatments. RESULTS: N addition had a significantly positive effect on stem length, basal diameter, leaf area, and leaf dry mass, whereas P addition had a significantly positive effect on stem length and basal diameter only. The combination of N and P (NxP4 and N20Px) treatments evidently promoted stem growth at moderate concentrations; however, the N20Px treatment showed a markedly negative effect at low concentrations and a positive effect at moderate and high concentrations. The ratio traits (leaf intensity, leaf area ratio, and leaf to stem mass ratio) decreased with the increase in nutrient concentration under each treatment. In the plant trait network, basal diameter, stem mass, and twig mass were tightly connected to other traits after nutrient treatments, indicating that stem traits play an important role in twig growth. The membership function revealed that the greatest comprehensive growth performance of saplings was achieved after N addition alone, followed by that under the NxP4 treatment (except for N40P4). CONCLUSIONS: Consequently, artificial nutrient treatments for four years significantly but differentially altered the growth status of wild apple saplings, and the use of appropriate N fertilizer promoted sapling growth. These results can provide scientific basis for the conservation and management of wild apple populations.

Multiparametric cardiovascular magnetic resonance characteristics and dynamic changes in asymptomatic heart-transplanted patients.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the dynamic changes in cardiac deformation and tissue characteristics using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) in asymptomatic patients during 12 months after heart transplantation (HT). METHODS: From April 2020 to January 2021, 21 consecutive HT patients without clinical symptoms were included in this prospective study. Multiparametric CMR was performed at 3, 6, and 12 months after HT. Twenty-five healthy volunteers served as controls. RESULTS: During follow-up, a decline in left ventricular (LV) global radial strain (GRS) (p = 0.020) and right ventricular (RV) global longitudinal strain (GLS) (p < 0.001) and an increase in post-contrast T1 (p = 0.024) and T2 (p < 0.001) in asymptomatic HT patients occurred at 3 months, which normalized at 6 months postoperatively, compared with those in healthy controls. A decline in LVGLS (p < 0.001) and LV global circumferential strain (GCS) (p < 0.001) and an increase in native T1 (p < 0.001), T2 (p < 0.001), and extracellular volume (ECV) (p < 0.001) occurred at 3 months. Although most parameters improved gradually, LVGLS, native T1, and ECV remained abnormal compared with those in healthy controls at 12 months; only T2 and LVGCS were normalized at 6 months and 12 months, respectively. ECV was significantly correlated with LVGLS, LVGCS, and LVGRS. CONCLUSION: Cardiac deformation and tissue characteristics were abnormal early after HT, although the patients were clinically asymptomatic. The dynamic changes in CMR characteristics demonstrate a gradual recovery of myocardial injury associated with transplantation during the first 12 months after HT. KEY POINTS: • Multiparametric CMR can detect the dynamic changes of transplantation-associated myocardial injury. • Post-contrast T1, T2, LVGRS, and RVGLS values are normalized at 6 months after HT. • Native T1, ECV, and LVGLS values remain abnormal compared with those in healthy controls at 12 months after HT.

Does dual antiplatelet therapy increase the risk of haematoma enlargement in the acute stage? A retrospective study of the use of stent-assisted coiling versus coiling alone or balloon-assisted coiling for the treatment of ruptured intracranial aneurysms combined with intracranial haematoma.

This study aims to identify the efficacy and safety of stent-assisted coiling (SAC) treatment of ruptured intracranial aneurysms (RIAs) combined with intracranial haematoma (ICH) compared to coiling alone or balloon-assisted coiling (non-SAC). A retrospective analysis of 54 consecutive patients receiving endovascular therapy from 2014 to 2020 was performed. The data collected included baseline characteristics, angiographic results, perioperative complications, immediate aneurysm occlusion, clinical outcomes, follow-up at discharge and after 6 months, hospitalisation costs, and inpatient length of stay. Patients were categorised into the SAC group and the non-SAC group. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify risk factors related to clinical outcomes. Of the 54 patients harbouring RIAs with ICH, 22 (40.74%) and 32 (59.26%) patients were subject to SAC and non-SAC treatments, respectively. Postoperative rebleeding (1 [4.5%] and 3 [9.3%] in SAC and non-SAC groups, respectively, p > 0.05) and Hunt-Hess grade (IV-V) lesions (13.6% vs. 40.6%, p = 0.067) did not differ between the two groups. In total, 10 (45.5%) patients treated with SAC received a Fisher scale score of 0-3 compared with 6 (18.8%) patients treated with non-SAC methods (p = 0.035). Compared with the non-SAC group (7/21.9%), the rate of wide-necked aneurysms was increased in the SAC group (11/50%) (p = 0.031). No differences in poor outcomes (mRS > 2) were noted between the SAC and non-SAC groups (p > 0.05). Multivariate analysis revealed that ischaemic complication events (p = 0.016) represent the only independent risk factor for adverse outcomes, and a trend towards unfavourable clinical outcomes was noted for patients who smoke (p = 0.087). SAC is a safe and efficient treatment for RIAs combined with ICH when dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) is used in the perioperative period. In addition, SAC should be preferentially used in wide-neck RIAs. Ischaemic complications are a risk factor for poor clinical outcomes. Given the small sample size and retrospective bias of this study, these findings should be further verified in a study with a larger sample size or a randomised controlled trial (RCT).

Biocrust diazotrophs and bacteria rather than fungi are sensitive to chronic low N deposition.

Anthropogenic long-term nitrogen (N) deposition may dramatically impact biocrusts due to the overarching N limitation of soil biota in deserts. Even low levels of N may reach a critical loading threshold altering biocrust constituents and function. To identify the impact of chronic and continuous low levels of N deposition on biocrusts, we created a realistic gradient mirroring anthropogenic N addition rate (2:1 NH4 + : NO3 - rates: 0.3, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 3 g N m-2  yr-1 ) and measured the response of bacteria and fungi within cyanobacterial-dominated biocrusts over 8 years in a temperate desert, the Gurbantunggut Desert, China. We found that once N deposition reached 1.5 g N m-2  yr-1 biocrust bacterial communities, including diazotrophs, were altered while no such tipping point existed for fungi. Above the threshold, bacterial richness was enhanced, the relative abundance of Chloroflexi, FBP and Gemmatimonadetes was elevated, and diazotrophs shifted from being dominated by Nostocaceae and Scytonemataceae (Cyanobacteria) to free-living Bradyrhizobiaceae (Alphaproteobacteria). Alternatively, the relative recovery of a few fungal species within the Lecanorales, Pleosporales and Verrucariales became either enriched or diminished due to N deposition. The chronic addition of N resulted in a dense and interconnected bacterial co-occurrence network that accentuated a functional shift from networks dominated by phototrophic species within the Nostocaceae, Xenococcaceae, Phormidiaceae and Scytonemataceae (Cyanobacteria) to ammonia-oxidizing species within the Nitrosomonadaceae (Betaproteobacteria) and nitrifying bacteria [i.e. Nitrospiraceae (Nitrospirae)]. Based on structural equation models, the effects of N additions on biocrust constituents were imposed through indirect effects on pH, soil electrical conductivity and ammonium concentrations. In summary, biocrust constituents are generally insensitive to chronic low levels of N depositions until rates reach above 1.5 g N m-2  yr-1 with diazotrophs being the most sensitive biocrust constituents followed by bacteria and finally fungi. Ultimately once the threshold is reached N deposition favours biocrust constituents utilizing inorganic N and other C sources over relying on phototrophic and/or N-fixing cyanobacteria for C and N.

Heavy metal(loid)s shape the soil bacterial community and functional genes of desert grassland in a gold mining area in the semi-arid region.

Gold mining can create serious environmental problems, such as soil pollution by heavy metal (loid)s. In this study, we assessed the ecological risk of Hatu gold mining activities and synchronously investigated the bacterial community structure, distribution of soil nutrient-element cycling genes (CNPS) and heavy metal resistance genes (MRG) in adjacent desert grassland soil. The study area was above the moderate risk level, with the ecological risk index (RI) of each sampling site greater than 150. Arsenic, mercury and copper were the main pollutants. Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes dominated the phyla of the bacterial communities. Species turnover rather than nestedness accounted for the significant differences in community structure among various regions in the mining area. In addition, the bioavailable heavy metal (loid)s (AHM) content had a strong correlation with beta diversity and species turnover of the bacterial community (p < 0.05). No clear difference was found in the total abundance of CNPS genes among various functional regions, but eight specific functional genes were identified from downwind grasslands with lower pollution levels. Among the MRGs, Hg MRG had the highest average total relative abundance, followed by Cu, Co/Zn/Cd and As. The mercury resistance gene subtype hgcAB was positively related to the diversity of the bacterial community, and the bacterial community of grassland soil showed congruency with the MRGs in the Hatu mining area. Total Hg (THg) showed the highest influence affecting the bacterial community, while NH4+-N had the greatest effect on CNPS genes and MRGs. These results highlighted the role of heavy metal (loid)s in shaping the bacterial community and functional genes in arid and semiarid desert grassland soil in gold mining regions.

BPI-MVQA: a bi-branch model for medical visual question answering.

BACKGROUND: Visual question answering in medical domain (VQA-Med) exhibits great potential for enhancing confidence in diagnosing diseases and helping patients better understand their medical conditions. One of the challenges in VQA-Med is how to better understand and combine the semantic features of medical images (e.g., X-rays, Magnetic Resonance Imaging(MRI)) and answer the corresponding questions accurately in unlabeled medical datasets. METHOD: We propose a novel Bi-branched model based on Parallel networks and Image retrieval for Medical Visual Question Answering (BPI-MVQA). The first branch of BPI-MVQA is a transformer structure based on a parallel network to achieve complementary advantages in image sequence feature and spatial feature extraction, and multi-modal features are implicitly fused by using the multi-head self-attention mechanism. The second branch is retrieving the similarity of image features generated by the VGG16 network to obtain similar text descriptions as labels. RESULT: The BPI-MVQA model achieves state-of-the-art results on three VQA-Med datasets, and the main metric scores exceed the best results so far by 0.2[Formula: see text], 1.4[Formula: see text], and 1.1[Formula: see text]. CONCLUSION: The evaluation results support the effectiveness of the BPI-MVQA model in VQA-Med. The design of the bi-branch structure helps the model answer different types of visual questions. The parallel network allows for multi-angle image feature extraction, a unique feature extraction method that helps the model better understand the semantic information of the image and achieve greater accuracy in the multi-classification of VQA-Med. In addition, image retrieval helps the model answer irregular, open-ended type questions from the perspective of understanding the information provided by images. The comparison of our method with state-of-the-art methods on three datasets also shows that our method can bring substantial improvement to the VQA-Med system.

Leaf-root-soil N:P stoichiometry of ephemeral plants in a temperate desert in Central Asia.

Ephemeral plants are a crucial vegetation component in temperate deserts of Central Asia, and play an important role in biogeochemical cycle and biodiversity maintenance in desert ecosystems. However, the nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) status and interrelations of leaf-root-soil of ephemeral plants remain unclear. A total of 194 leaf-root-soil samples of eight ephemeral species at 37 sites in the Gurbantunggut Desert, China were collected, and then the corresponding N and P concentrations, and the N:P ratio were measured. Results showed that soil parameters presented no significant difference among the eight species. The total soil N:P was only 0.116 (geomean), indicating limited soil N, while the available soil N:P (4.896, geomean) was significantly larger than the total N:P. The leaf N (averagely 30.995 mg g-1) and P (averagely 1.523 mg g-1) concentrations were 2.64-8.46 and 0.93-3.99 times higher than the root N (averagely 8.014 mg g-1) and P (averagely 0.802 mg g-1) concentrations, respectively. Thus, leaf N:P (averagely 21.499) was 1.410-2.957 times higher than root N:P (averagely 11.803). Meanwhile, significant interspecific differences existed in plant stoichiometric traits. At the across-species level, N content scaled as the 3/4-power of P content in both leaves and roots. Leaf and root N:P ratios were mainly influenced by P; however, the leaf-to-root N or P ratio was dominated by roots. Leaf and root N, P contents and N:P were generally unrelated to soil nutrients, and the former presented lower variation than the latter, indicating a strong stoichiometric homeostasis for ephemerals. These results demonstrate that regardless of soil nutrient supply capacity in this region, the fast-growing ephemeral plants have formed a specific leaf-root-soil stoichiometric relation and nutrient use strategy adapting to the extreme desert environment.

Low-profile visualized intraluminal support stent for the endovascular treatment of traumatic intracranial internal carotid artery pseudoaneurysms.

Optimal treatment strategies for traumatic intracranial internal carotid artery (ICA) pseudoaneurysms are controversial. The low-profile visualized intraluminal support (LVIS) device is a braided stent with a metal coverage rate between traditional laser cut stents and flow diversion devices. We report here our therapy strategy using the LVIS stent-assisted coiling for treatment of traumatic intracranial ICA pseudoaneurysms. Patients with traumatic intracranial ICA pseudoaneurysms treated by the LVIS stent-assisted coiling in our center between January 2015 and June 2021 were reviewed. The complications, radiographic, and clinical outcomes of these patients were analyzed. A total of 12 patients with 12 pseudoaneurysms were included. The mean maximum aneurysm diameter was 6.2 ± 3.1 mm. Nine patients had a subarachnoid hemorrhage; five patients with Hunt-Hess grade III and four patients with grade IV. All procedures were successfully performed without intraoperative complications. Immediate postoperative angiogram showed that six (50%) aneurysms were Raymond grade 1, four (33.3%) were grade 2, and two (16.7%) were grade 3. Postoperative multiple cerebral infarction occurred in two patients because of vasospasm. Of the ten patients with angiographic follow-up (mean, 29.9 months), two received additional coiling because of recanalization of the pseudoaneurysm, and all aneurysms were completely obliterated at the last examination of the patients. During the clinical follow-up period (mean, 26.8 months), the overall mortality and morbidity were 25% (3/12) and 8.3% (1/12), respectively. LVIS stent-assisted coiling was a feasible approach for the treatment of traumatic ICA pseudoaneurysms.

Usefulness of Silent Magnetic Resonance Angiography in the Follow-Up of Endovascular-Treated Intracranial Aneurysm: A Prospective Study.

OBJECTIVES: To prospectively evaluate the clinical usefulness of Silent magnetic resonance angiography (Silent MRA) in the follow-up of endovascular-treated intracranial aneurysms by comparing it with time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography (TOF MRA) and digital subtraction angiography (DSA). METHODS: Patients with endovascular-treated saccular aneurysms and followed with Silent MRA, TOF MRA, and DSA in our center were included. The visualization of the treated sites in the two MRA sequences was assessed using a 5-point scale. The aneurysm occlusion status according to each of the three imaging modalities was assessed using a 3-point scale. RESULTS: Forty-one patients with 46 saccular aneurysms were recruited. The image quality score of Silent MRA was significantly higher than that of TOF MRA (4.32 ± 0.87 vs. 3.08 ± 1.48, P < 0.001). In the aneurysms treated by simple coiling, the maximal aneurysm diameter showed a strong negative correlation with image quality score in TOF MRA (Spearman's r = -0.519, P = 0.033), while it showed no significant correlation in Silent MRA (r = -0.037, P = 0.887). For the aneurysm occlusion status, inter-modality agreement was excellent (κ = 0.845) between DSA and Silent MRA, but poor (κ = 0.185) between DSA and TOF MRA. CONCLUSIONS: Silent MRA was superior to TOF MRA in the follow-up of endovascular-treated intracranial aneurysms and showed excellent consistency with DSA in the evaluation of aneurysm occlusion. Therefore, Silent MRA is useful for the follow-up of endovascular-treated aneurysms.

Selective Synthesis of 2,2,4,4-Tetrasilylpentasilane.

A new structural isomer of nonasilane, 2,2,4,4-tetrasilylpentasilane or (H3Si)3SiSiH2Si(SiH3)3, is formed in disproportionational condensation of neopentasilane. This reaction can be catalyzed by a freshly cleaned borosilicate surface, and the catalyzed reaction can have over 85% selectivity for this branched nonasilane near 100 °C. A synthetic method has been developed from this catalytic reaction for making 98 wt % 2,2,4,4-tetrasilylpentasilane. The high-purity 2,2,4,4-tetrasilylpentasilane has a workable shelf life in 316 stainless steel containers.

The variation of vegetation productivity and its relationship to temperature and precipitation based on the GLASS-LAI of different African ecosystems from 1982 to 2013.

In recent years, many studies have focused on the changes of partial or single African ecosystems and the drivers of those changes. However, focusing only on partial or single ecosystems has limited the understanding of the relationships between the vegetation and climate changes in all of the African ecosystems. In this study, the temporal trends of the satellite-derived annual mean leaf area index (GLASS-LAI) were analyzed, and the inter-annual relationships were developed between the annual mean LAI and the climate variables (precipitation and temperature) for the time period ranging from 1982 to 2013. Additionally, this study applied seasonal curves and step-wise multiple regression methods to investigate the relationships between intra-annual LAI and climate changes. It was found that the GLASS-LAI over half of Africa had shown general significant greening or browning trends during the period from 1982 to 2013. From the results of inter-annual analysis, with mean annual precipitation lower than 600 mm, the greening of the savannas and grasslands in the Sahel was found to highly correspond with the increased precipitation. In contrast, the evergreen broadleaf forests in the Gulf of Guinea and Congo Basin showed strongly positive responses to the annual temperature when the mean annual temperature was below 25 °C. In regard to the intra-annual responses, the precipitation with 1-month lags was found to be helpful for the vegetation growth, with the exception of the evergreen broadleaf. The results of this research study indicated that the different land-covers in Africa had displayed clear differences in their annual trends during the examined 32-year period and had responded differently to the inter- and intra-annual climate drivers. This difference was evident by the characteristics of the vegetation covers and the geographic distributions. Therefore, further examinations of these differences can potentially improve the understanding of the land surface-atmosphere interactions among the different African ecosystems.

A case report of spontaneous staphylococcal meningitis in a cynomolgus monkey.

This report describes a suppurative meningitis in a young cynomolgus. The animal had neutrophil aggregation in the subarachnoid space and hemorrhage in bilateral adrenal glands. Staphylococcus was identified by FISH in brain. To our knowledge, this is the first case of staphylococcal meningitis with Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome in a cynomolgus monkey.

Evaluation of novel biomarkers of nephrotoxicity in Cynomolgus monkeys treated with gentamicin.

Most studies to evaluate kidney safety biomarkers have been performed in rats. This study was conducted in Cynomolgus monkeys in order to evaluate the potential usefulness of novel biomarkers of nephrotoxicity in this species. Groups of 3 males were given daily intramuscular injections of gentamicin, a nephrotoxic agent known to produce lesions in proximal tubules, at dose-levels of 10, 25, or 50mg/kg/day for 10days. Blood and 16-h urine samples were collected on Days -7, -3, 2, 4, 7, and at the end of the dosing period. Several novel kidney safety biomarkers were evaluated, with single- and multiplex immunoassays and in immunoprecipitation-LC/MS assays, in parallel to histopathology and conventional clinical pathology parameters. Treatment with gentamicin induced a dose-dependent increase in kidney tubular cell degeneration/necrosis, ranging from minimal to mild severity at 10mg/kg/day, moderate at 25mg/kg/day, and to severe at 50mg/kg/day. The results showed that the novel urinary biomarkers, microalbumin, α1-microglobulin, clusterin, and osteopontin, together with the more traditional clinical pathology parameters, urinary total protein and N-acetyl-ß-D-glucosaminidase (NAG), were more sensitive than blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and serum creatinine (sCr) to detect kidney injury in the monkeys given 10mg/kg/day gentamicin for 10days, a dose leading to an exposure which is slightly higher than the desired therapeutic exposure in clinics. Therefore, these urinary biomarkers represent non-invasive biomarkers of proximal tubule injury in Cynomolgus monkeys which may be potentially useful in humans.

Sensitivity of the xerophytic moss Syntrichia caninervis to prolonged simulated nitrogen deposition.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Biological soil crusts, comprising assemblages of cyanobacteria, fungi, lichens and mosses, are common in dryland areas and are important elements in these ecosystems. Increasing N deposition has led to great changes in community structure and function in desert ecosystems worldwide. However, it is unclear how moss crusts respond to increased atmospheric N deposition, especially in terms of growth and physiological parameters. The aim of this study was to understand how Syntrichia caninervis, a dominant species in moss crusts in many northern hemisphere desert ecosystems, responds to added N. METHODS: The population and shoot growth, and physiological responses of S. caninervis to six different doses of simulated N deposition (0, 0·3, 0·5, 1·0, 1·5 and 3·0 g N m(-2) year(-1)) were studied over a 3 year period. KEY RESULTS: Low amounts of added N increased shoot length and leaf size, whereas high doses reduced almost all growth parameters. Moss shoot density increased, but population biomass decreased with high N. Low N augmented chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll content and soluble protein concentrations, but not chlorophyll a or chlorophyll fluorescence. High N was detrimental to all these indices. Soluble sugar concentration declined with increased N, but proline concentration was not affected significantly. Antioxidant enzyme activities generally decreased with low N additions and increased with high doses of simulated N deposition. CONCLUSIONS: Low amounts of added N (0-0·5 g N m(-2) year(-1)) may enhance moss growth and vitality, while higher amounts have detrimental effects.

Identification of urinary microRNA biomarkers for detection of gentamicin-induced acute kidney injury in rats.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been recently recognized as promising non-invasive biomarkers for detecting the organ injuries. To further understand the sensibility and reliability of miRNA measurements in urine sample for predicting drug-induced early nephrotoxicity, a global urinary miRNA expression analysis was performed in the rodent models with gentamicin-induced acute kidney injury (AKI). Male Wistar rats were daily administrated with gentamicin (0, 60, and 120 mg/kg) for up to 10 days by intraperitoneal injection, and the miRNA profiling of animal urine samples were subsequently analyzed using TaqMan(®) Array Rodent miRNA Cards. The results showed that four miRNAs (mmu-miR-138-5p, mmu-miR-1971, mmu-miR-218-1-3p, and rno-miR-489) were continuously increased in urine samples since day 4 after administration with gentamicin, which was not reflected by the standard markers such as serum creatinine (Cr) and urea nitrogen (BUN). Furthermore, other nine urinary miRNAs were increased in both 60 and 120 mg/kg groups on day 8. Receiver operator characteristics analysis demonstrated that the performance of these miRNAs with time- or dose-dependent increases were comparable to standard biomarkers (i.e. serum Cr and BUN), suggesting that the urinary miRNA panel can be used as potential biomarkers for the detection of gentamicin-induced AKI in rats. Moreover, the computer prediction analysis showed that these differentially expressed miRNAs were potentially targeted to many genes, which were mainly associated with the regulation of metabolic process and signaling. These data will improve the understanding and prediction of toxicology processes induced by nephrotoxicants.

Galactose protects hepatocytes against TNF-α-induced apoptosis by promoting activation of the NF-κB signaling pathway in acute liver failure.

Saccharides are reported to protect hepatocytes from acute liver injury through distinct mechanisms. To date, the protective role of galactose against acute liver injury induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and D-galactosamine (D-GalN) has been attributed to competition with D-GalN. Here, we showed that in addition to its effects on LPS/D-GalN and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α)/D-GalN models, galactose improves hepatic injury in mice challenged with LPS alone or TNF-α/actinomycin D. Consistent with this result, galactose enhanced the viability of TNF-α-stimulated Chang Liver and Hu7.5 hepatic cell lines. Specifically, galactose prevented TNF-α-induced apoptosis of hepatocytes through promoting phosphorylation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) p65. Additionally, galactose enhanced expression of the anti-apoptotic genes, c-IAP1 and A20, and inhibited cleavage of caspase-8 and caspase-3. These findings collectively suggest that galactose prevents TNF-α-induced liver injury through activation of the NF-κB signaling pathway. Considering that monosaccharides protect against liver injury via distinct mechanisms, these compounds may represent a promising clinical approach to treat acute liver failure.