[Medicinal plant resources in Inner Mongolia autonomous region of China and Mongolia: a comparative study].

Inner Mongolia autonomous region of China and Mongolia are the primary regions where Chinese and Mongolian medicine and its medicinal plant resources are distributed. In this study, 133 families, 586 genera, and 1 497 species of medicinal plants in Inner Mongolia as well as 62 families, 261 genera, and 467 species of medicinal plants in Mongolia were collected through field investigation, specimen collection and identification, and literature research. And the species, geographic distribution, and influencing factors of the above medicinal plants were analyzed. The results revealed that there were more plant species utilized for medicinal reasons in Inner Mongolia than in Mongolia. Hotspots emerged in Hulunbuir, Chifeng, and Tongliao of Inner Mongolia, while there were several hotspots in Eastern province, Sukhbaatar province, Gobi Altai province, Bayankhongor province, Middle Gobi province, Kobdo province, South Gobi province, and Central province of Mongolia. The interplay of elevation and climate made a non-significant overall contribution to the diversity of plant types in Inner Mongolia and Mongolia. The contribution of each factor increased significantly when the vegetation types of Inner Mongolia and Mongolia were broadly divided into forest, grassland and desert. Thus, the distribution of medicinal plant resources and vegetation cover were jointly influenced by a variety of natural factors such as topography, climate and interactions between species, and these factors contributed to and constrained each other. This study provided reference for sustainable development and rational exploitation of medicinal plant resources in future.

Applied phosphorus is maintained in labile and moderately occluded fractions in a typical meadow steppe with the addition of multiple nutrients.

Phosphorus (P) is a limiting nutrient second only to nitrogen (N) in the drylands of the world. Most previous studies have focused on N transformation processes in grassland ecosystems, particularly under artificial fertilization with N and atmospheric N deposition. However, P cycling processes under natural conditions and when P is applied as an inorganic P fertilizer have been understudied. Therefore, it is essential to examine the fate of applied P in grassland ecosystems that have experienced long-term grazing and, under certain circumstances, continuous hay harvest. We conducted a 3-year field experiment with the addition of multiple nutrient elements in a typical meadow steppe to investigate the fate of the applied P in various fractions of P pools in the top soil. We found that the addition of multiple nutrients significantly increased P concentrations in the labile inorganic P (Lab-Pi) and moderately occluded inorganic P (Mod-Pi) fractions but not in the recalcitrant inorganic P (Rec-Pi) fraction. An increase in the concentration of total inorganic P was found only when P and N were applied together. However, the addition of other nutrients did not change P concentrations in any fraction of the mineral soil. The addition of P and N significantly increased the total amount of P taken up by the aboveground plants but had no effect on the levels of organic and microbial P in the soil. Together, our results indicate that the P applied in this grassland ecosystem is taken up by plants, leaving most of the unutilized P as Lab-Pi and Mod-Pi rather than being immobilized in Rec-Pi or by microbial biomass. This implies that the grassland ecosystem that we studied has a relatively low P adsorption capacity, and the application of inorganic P to replenish soil P deficiency in degraded grasslands due to long-term grazing of livestock or continuous harvest of forage in the region could be a practical management strategy to maintain soil P fertility.

Investigation and analysis of the current usage status of OTC drug among Inner Mongolian residents / 中国药房

OBJECTIVE To investigate the current usage status of OTC drug among residents in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region， and to provide evidence for the science popularization of rational drug use. METHODS By approximate random sampling， the questionnaire survey was conducted with the mini-apps Questionnaire Star among the residents aged 19 and above from 7 league or cities of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region， in order to investigate the current situation of OTC drug use in the region. RESULTS A total of 611 people filled in the questionnaire， and 571 people filled in the questionnaire effectively， with an effective filling rate of 93.45%. According to the results， 18.7% of residents said they did not understand the concept of OTC drugs， 36.1% of residents said they did not know the OTC drug label， and 65.3% of residents did not know the difference between class A and B OTC drugs in terms of OTC drug awareness. And there were statistically significant differences in the scores of OTC drug awareness among different genders， education levels， monthly income and places of residence （P＜0.05）. When choosing OTC drugs， 23.5% of residents still believed in advertisements or friends’ recommendations； 14.5% of the residents did not read the drug instructions carefully before taking drugs. In terms of drug risk， 5.1% of residents had long-term use of OTC drugs； 8.6% of residents reported taking three or more OTC drugs； 2.1% of residents often added other drugs with the same effect or increased the dosage by themselves. They took traditional Chinese medicine， Mongolian medicine and other preparations while taking OTC drugs， accounting for 19.6%， 22.6% and 13.0% respectively. CONCLUSIONS Residents in Inner Mongolia have low awareness of OTC drugs， and their habits of drug use need to be improved. Repeated drug use and overdose drug use are serious， it is necessary to strengthen the publicity and popularization of rational use of OTC drugs.

Nutrient budgets drive the changes in shoot N and P concentrations of plants in Inner Mongolia's grasslands over the past 40 years.

The nutrient budgets of grassland ecosystems have been extensively disturbed by human activity. The aims of this study were to quantify nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) budgets, and evaluate their contributions to changes in shoot nutrient concentrations of dominant plants in Inner Mongolia's grasslands over the past 40 years. N and P budgets were assessed using a nutrient budget model based on flowing intensity of nutrients in and out of the grassland. Meta-analysis was then conducted to quantify changes in shoot nutrient concentrations. The N budget remained positive and continued to increase throughout the study period, while enhanced N deposition and increased supplementary feeding dominated N input (76% of the total in 2017). In contrast, the P budget was negative until 2003, and became positive thereafter. The P input was mainly attributed to supplementary feeding (88% of the total in 2017). The mean shoot N concentration in 1979-1986 was 2.25%, while an increase to 2.53% was observed in 2006-2016. In contrast, the mean shoot P concentration was 0.17% in 1979-1991, subsequently leveling off at 0.17% in 2006-2016. The mean shoot N: P ratio basically remain unchanged over time from 16.72 to 15.85. The N surplus caused major increases in the shoot N concentration of the grassland plants; also, the increased P budget to compensate for past P deficiency resulted in no significant change of shoot P concentrations. Consequently, the grassland system had been in the joint N and P co-limitation over the past 40 years.

Non-alkaloidal composition of Ephedra Herb is influenced by differences in habitats.

Ephedra Herb is a crude drug defined as the terrestrial stem of Ephedra sinica, E. intermedia, or E. equisetina. It is often used to treat headaches, bronchial asthma, nasal inflammation, and the common cold. In this study, we isolated characteristic non-alkaloidal constituents from the extracts and identified them in relation to the habitat of Ephedra Herb. Extracts were prepared from Ephedra Herb collected from Inner Mongolia and Gansu. High-performance liquid chromatography was performed to quantitatively analyse the amount of ephedrine alkaloids in each extract. We compared the chemical compositions of the extracts by thin layer chromatography (TLC) to find spot characteristics depending on the habitat. 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, and 2D-NMR spectra of the samples were also examined. The ephedrine content of all extracts satisfied the quality standard stated in the Japanese Pharmacopoeia. Nonetheless, we found each notable constituent characteristic to the Ephedra Herbs from both habitats. In order to identify them, Ephedra Herb extracts were separated by column chromatography, resulting in the isolation of (±)-α-terpineol-ß-D-O-glucopyranoside (1) and (E)-7-hydroxy-3,7-dimethyloct-2-en-1-yl-ß-D-O-glucopyranoside (2) as the characteristic constituents in Ephedra Herb from Inner Mongolia. Epheganoside (3), a new eudesmane-type sesquiterpene glycoside, and scopoletin (4) were found to be the characteristic constituents in Ephedra Herb from Gansu. The results obtained from this study can be used to distinguish between the habitats of Ephedra Herb.

Mitochondrial Genome of an 8,400-Year-Old Individual from Northern China Reveals a Novel Subclade Under C5d.

Ancient DNA studies have always refreshed our understanding of the human past that cannot be tracked by modern DNA alone. Until recently, ancient mitochondrial genomic studies in East Asia were still very limited. Here, we retrieved the whole mitochondrial genome of an 8,400-year-old individual from Inner Mongolia, China. Phylogenetic analyses show that the individual belongs to a previously undescribed clade under haplogroup C5d that most probably originated in northern Asia and may have a very low frequency in extant populations that have not yet been sampled. We further characterized the demographic history of mitochondrial haplogroups C5 and C5d and found that C5 experienced a sharp increase in population size starting around 4,000 years before present, the time when intensive millet farming was developed by populations who are associated with the Lower Xiajiadian culture and was widely adopted in northern China. We caution that people related to haplogroup C5 may have added this farming technology to their original way of life and that the various forms of subsistence may have provided abundant food sources and further contributed to the increase in population size.

[Effects of carbon and nitrogen additions on soil organic C, N, P contents and their catalyzed enzyme activities in a grassland.] / ç¢³æ°®æ·»åŠ å¯¹è‰åœ°åœŸå£¤æœ‰æœºç¢³æ°®ç£·å«é‡åŠç›¸å ³é ¶æ´»æ€§çš„å½±å“.

Soil organic C, N, P contents and their catalyzed enzyme activities play an important role in maintaining and supplying energy and nutrient in grasslands. There is no consensus on the effects of N deposition on soil organic nutrients and enzyme activities in grassland ecosystems. It remains unclear whether C addition will retard the negative effects of N deposition. We carried out an experiment in Hulun Buir grassland of Inner Mongolia to examine the effects of C and N additions on soil organic C, N, P and relative enzyme activities after three years treatments. The experiment was conducted with N treatments at five levels (0, 25, 50, 100 and 200 kg·hm-2·a-1) and with C treatments at three levels (0, 250 and 500 kg·hm-2·a-1). The results showed that higher levels of N addition significantly decreased dehydrogenase (DHA) and ß-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAG) activities by 22.3% and 12.5%, respectively. Nitrogen addition had no significant effect on soil organic N and decreased the organic C and P contents by 6.6% and 14.5%, respectively. High C addition significantly increased DHA, ß-glucosidase (BG) activities and increased soil organic N and organic P by 15.1%, 12.2%, 1.9%, 2.6%, respectively. The results suggested that continuous N inputs inhibited microbial activities and caused losses of soil organic C and organic P. Carbon addition could enhance microbial activities and promote the secretion of enzymes and increase soil organic N and P. The combined C and N addition could play an important role in maintaining the balance and supply of soil C, N, and P in grassland ecosystem.