Organoid forming potential as complementary parameter for accurate evaluation of breast cancer neoadjuvant therapeutic efficacy.

BACKGROUND: 13-15% of breast cancer/BC patients diagnosed as pathological complete response/pCR after neoadjuvant systemic therapy/NST suffer from recurrence. This study aims to estimate the rationality of organoid forming potential/OFP for more accurate evaluation of NST efficacy. METHODS: OFPs of post-NST residual disease/RD were checked and compared with clinical approaches to estimate the recurrence risk. The phenotypes of organoids were classified via HE staining and ER, PR, HER2, Ki67 and CD133 immuno-labeling. The active growing organoids were subjected to drug sensitivity tests. RESULTS: Of 62 post-NST BC specimens, 24 were classified as OFP-I with long-term active organoid growth, 19 as OFP-II with stable organoid growth within 3 weeks, and 19 as OFP-III without organoid formation. Residual tumors were overall correlated with OFP grades (P < 0.001), while 3 of the 18 patients (16.67%) pathologically diagnosed as tumor-free (ypT0N0M0) showed tumor derived-organoid formation. The disease-free survival/DFS of OFP-I cases was worse than other two groups (Log-rank P < 0.05). Organoids of OFP-I/-II groups well maintained the biological features of their parental tumors and were resistant to the drugs used in NST. CONCLUSIONS: The OFP would be a complementary parameter to improve the evaluation accuracy of NST efficacy of breast cancers.

Molecular and pathogenic characterization of new Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae strains from the coastline region of Fangchenggang city in China.

Virulence assays and DNA polymorphism analyses were used to characterize 33 Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) strains collected from the coastline region of Fangchenggang city in China. Two new pathogenic races (FXP1 and FXP2), were determined by leaf-clipping inoculation of 12 near-isogenic International Rice-Bacterial Blight (IRBB) rice lines, each containing a single resistance gene. Race FXP1 consisted of twenty-eight strains that were incompatible on IRBB5 and IRBB7, while race FXP2 included five strains that were incompatible on IRBB5 and IRBB7 and moderately virulent on IRBB8 containing the xa8 gene. Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis revealed that each probe of avrXa10 and IS1112 resolved two haplotypes. In a dendrogram generated from the combined RFLP data, the 33 Xoo strains were resolved into two clusters. There was a weak correlation (r = 0.53) between race and haplotype. All of the rice cultivars planted in the coastline region of Fangchenggang city were susceptible to the representative Xoo strains tested above. However, we found that four rice cultivars used as breeding materials in the laboratory could fully resist infection by the Xoo strains, suggesting that the isolated Xoo strains could be used to detect resistant rice cultivars suitable for planting in the local rice field.

[Macroscopic and microscopic identification of Mongolian medicine Potentilla glabra].

OBJECTIVE: To provide the identification basis for Mongolian medicine Potentilla glabra. METHODS: Macroscopic and microscopic identification were applied to observe macroscopic, histological, superficial, and powder characteristics of its stems and leaves. RESULTS: The following characteristics were observed: The cork layer sandwiched with sclerenchyma ring which was main composed of fibers, accompanied by stone cells and large cell layer; Catheter with fiber existed in xylem; Beaded thickened anticlinal wall in leaf epidermal cell; Stomatal infinitive; Small clusters of calcium oxalate crystal and different type of leaf transverse section. CONCLUSION: These characteristics can provide evidences for the identification and quality control of Potentilla glabra.

[Effects of Microbial Fertilizer on Physicochemical Properties and Bacterial Communities of Saline Soil Under Brackish Water Irrigation].

The improvement of saline soil with microbial fertilizer has numerous advantages including high efficiency, green environmental protection, etc. At the same time, applying microbial fertilizer is an effective way to safely use brackish water. Based on the moderately saline soil in the Hetao irrigation area, four treatments of F1 (4500 kg·km-2), F2 (7500 kg·km-2), F3 (10500 kg·km-2), and CK without microbial fertilizer were applied under brackish water irrigation using Lycium barbarum as the indicator plants. The aim was to study the effects of different microbial fertilizer application rates on soil ions, soil moisture content, pH value, nutrients, and bacterial community in four key growth stages of L. barbarum (flowering stage, fruit expansion stage, full fruit stage, and deciduous stage). The results showed that, compared with that in CK, F1 only significantly decreased Na+ content in the first two growth stages (P<0.05), whereas F2 and F3 significantly decreased Na+ content in the whole growth period (P<0.05), with an average reduction of 33.66% and 57.98%, respectively, and F3 significantly increased soil moisture content (MC), organic matter (OM), alkaline hydrolysis nitrogen (AN), and available phosphorus (AP) contents (P<0.05) during the whole growth period. In the flourishing period of L. barbarum, the Shannon index of F3 increased by 4.41% compared with that of CK. The dominant bacterial phyla in the soil were Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria, and the dominant bacterial genera were Sphingomonas and Pseudomonas. The most abundant functions of bacterial communities in the study area were chemoheterotrophy and aerobic chemoheterotrophy, with an average relative abundance of 15.07% and 13.16%, respectively. The application of microbial fertilizer increased the chitinolysis function and chloroplast functions of soil bacteria, which F2 increased to the highest degree. Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) showed that MC, Na+, and OM were important factors affecting the composition of the bacterial community. The correlation heat map showed that MC was positively correlated with Planctomycetes (P<0.01), and Gp6 was positively correlated with AN (P<0.01). Compared with that in CK, the F3 treatment increased the relative abundance of Gp6 and optimized the community structure during the growth period. In conclusion, the application of 10500 kg·km-2 microbial fertilizer (F3 treatment) under brackish water irrigation could significantly reduce soil salinity, increase nutrients, and improve the diversity of the soil bacterial community structure, which is conducive to the safe utilization of brackish water and the maintenance of soil ecological health.

[Effects of Phosphogypsum and Suaeda salsa on the Soil Moisture, Salt, and Bacterial Community Structure of Salinized Soil].

The improvement of saline soil is an important issue that cannot be ignored in the farmland soil environment. The change in soil salinity will inevitably affect the soil bacterial community. This experiment was based on moderately saline soil in the Hetao Irrigation Area, conducted by applying phosphogypsum (LSG), interplanting Suaeda salsa with Lycium barbarum (JP) and applying phosphogypsum and interplanting S. salsa with L. barbarum (LSG+JP),and the local unimproved soil of a L. barbarum orchard was used as the control (CK), to explore the effects of different improvement methods on soil moisture, salinity, nutrients, and bacterial community structure diversity during the growth period of L. barbarum. The results showed that compared with that under CK, the LSG+JP treatment significantly decreased the soil EC value and pH value from the flowering stage to the deciduous stage (P<0.05), with an average decrease of 39.96% and 7.25%, respectively; the LSG+JP treatment significantly increased soil organic matter (OM) and available phosphorus (AP) content during the whole growth period (P<0.05), with an average annual increase of 81.85% and 203.50%, respectively. The total nitrogen (TN) content was significantly increased in the flowering and deciduous stages (P<0.05), with an annual average increase of 48.91%. The Shannon index of LSG+JP in the early stage of improvement was increased by 3.31% and 6.54% compared with that of CK, and the Chao1 index was increased by 24.95% and 43.26% compared with that of CK, respectively. The dominant bacteria in the soil were Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, and Acidobacteria, and the dominant genus was Sphingomonas. Compared with that in CK, the relative abundance of Proteobacteria in the improved treatment increased by 0.50%-16.27% from the flowering stage to the deciduous stage, and the relative abundance of Actinobacteria in the improved treatment increased by 1.91%-4.98% compared with that in CK in the flowering and full-fruit stages. Redundancy analysis (RDA) results showed that pH, water content (WT), and AP were important factors affecting bacterial community composition, and the correlation heatmap showed that Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and EC values were significantly negatively correlated (P<0.001); Actinobacteria and Nitrospirillum were significantly negatively correlated with EC values (P<0.01). In conclusion, the application of phosphogypsum and interplanting S. salsa with L. barbarum (LSG+JP) could significantly reduce soil salinity, increase nutrients, and improve the diversity of soil bacterial community structure, which is beneficial to the long-term improvement of saline soil in the Hetao Irrigation Area and the maintenance of soil ecological health.

Effects of straw mulching combined with nitrogen application on soil organic matter content and atrazine digestion.

To explore the response of atrazine (AT) degradation rate, soil organic matter (SOM) distribution and the relationship between them to straw mulching and nitrogen application, field experiments were conducted to study the distribution of SOM content and AT degradation rate under different straw returning modes combined with nitrogen fertilization in 2 years in Hetao Irrigation District. No (N0), low (NL), medium (NM), and high (NH) levels of N fertilization were incorporated into the soil combined with the surface coverage straw (Treatment BN0, BNL, BNM, BNH, respectively) and the deeply buried straw (Treatment SN0, SNL, SNM, SNH, respectively). The traditional cultivation was used as a control treatment (Treatment CK). The results showed that SOM content of Treatment B was accumulated in 0~20 cm soil layer. The largest SOM content of Treatments B in 0~20 cm soil layer was found in BNH treatment, with an average increase of 14.2% and 24.1% significantly when compared with those in CK and SNH (P < 0.05), respectively. The SOM content of Treatments B increased with the increase of nitrogen application and decreased with the deepening of soil depth. The SOM content of Treatment S was accumulated in the soil layer (20~40 cm and 40~60 cm) near the inter-layer. With the increase of nitrogen application and depth of soil layer, the SOM content increased firstly and then decreased. SNM had the largest SOM content in the soil layer of 20~40 cm and 40~60 cm, with an average increase of 82.6% and 67.7% when compared with Treatment CK (P < 0.05). In the soil layer over 60 cm, there was no significant difference in SOM content of different straw returning methods under the same nitrogen level (P > 0.05). Straw returning methods and nitrogen application level significantly affected AT digestion rate and digestion half-life, with significant differences among treatments (P < 0.05). It found that treatment SNM had the highest digestion rate and the shortest half-life of AT. Compared with Treatment CK, the digestion rate of Treatment SNM was increased by 5.3% on average, and the half-life was shortened by 3.9 days on average. Single regression and stepwise regression analysis of the half-life of AT degradation and SOM content in different soil layers (0~20 cm and 20~40 cm) showed that the degradation of AT was greatly affected by SOM content of 20~40 cm soil layer. Based on the comprehensive analysis, the effect of straw deep burial combined with medium nitrogen application rate (Treatment SNM) was best, which could achieve the goal of increasing SOM content and shortening the half-life of AT digestion. The research provided a technical support for straw resource utilization, alleviated AT pollution and improved farmland ecological environment in Hetao Irrigated District.

The formulation of irrigation and nitrogen application strategies under multi-dimensional soil fertility targets based on preference neural network.

With the aim of improving soil fertility, it is of great significance to put forward optimal irrigation and nitrogen fertilizer application strategies for improving land productivity and alleviating non-point source pollution effects. To overcome this task, a 6-hidden layer neural network with a preference mechanism, namely Preference Neural network (PNN), has been developed in this study based on the field data from 2018 to 2020. PNN takes soil total nitrogen, organic matter, total salt, pH, irrigation time and target soil depth as input, and irrigation amount and nitrogen application rate (N rate) as output, and the prior preference matrix was used to adjust the learning of weight matrix of each layer. The outcomes indicated that the predictive accuracy of PNN for irrigation amount were (R2 = 0.913, MAE = 0.018, RMSE = 0.022), and for N rate were (R2 = 0.943, MAE = 0.009, RMSE = 0.011). The R2 predicted by PNN at the irrigation amount and N rate were 40.03% to more than 99% and 40.33% to more than 99% higher than those obtained using support vector regression (SVR), linear regression (LR), logistic regression (LOR) and traditional back propagation neural network (BPNN), respectively. In addition, compared with the neural network (Reverse Multilayer Perceptron, RMLP) with the same structure but no preference structure, the R2 of the predicted irrigation amount and N rate by PNN increased by 25.81% and 27.99%, respectively. The results showed that, through the irrigation of 93 to 102, 92 to 98 and 92 to 98 mm, along with nitrogen applications of 65 to 71, 64 to 73 and 72 to 81 kg/hm2 at 17, 59 and 87 days after sowing, respectively, the organic matter, total nitrogen, total salt content and pH of the soil would reach high fertility levels simultaneously.

[Temporal and Spatial Variation Characteristics and Driving Factors of Nitrogen of Shallow Groundwater in Hetao Irrigation District].

As an important food production area in the north of China, the Hetao plain is extremely vulnerable to nitrate pollution caused by agricultural production activities and additional factors. Thus, it is of great significance for the environmental protection and rational use of groundwater to detect the current situation of groundwater nitrate pollution, temporal and spatial evolution characteristics, and main influencing factors in the Hetao irrigation district. We selected the Wualte irrigation area as the study area, and the characteristics of temporal and spatial changes in groundwater nitrate concentration and the main influencing factors in this area were explored. We used statistical analysis to analyze the nitrogen content of groundwater in the study area, and the Piper three-line diagram was used to explore the characteristics of chemical composition and evolution; furthermore, we used ion ratio and correlation analysis methods to explore the source of NO3--N in groundwater. The results showed that NO3--N was the main existing form of nitrogen in the Wulate irrigation area, and its concentration varied from 0.01 to 60.00 mg·L-1, with an exceeding standard rate of 10.50%. In terms of time, the characteristic of time change was that the NO3--N concentration in August of groundwater was the highest (average 6.61 mg·L-1), followed by that in October (6.22 mg·L-1) and November (6.25 mg·L-1), and that in March (average value of 1.77 mg·L-1) was the lowest. With the influence of rainfall and irrigation, the NO3--N in the soil was infiltrated into the groundwater, showing the characteristic that wet season and concentrated irrigation periods were higher than those in other periods. Spatially, it appeared as southwest (8.87 mg·L-1)>northwest (4.25 mg·L-1)>east (0.89 mg·L-1), mainly due to the original geological conditions, land use, and domestic waste stacking. In addition, the concentration of NO3--N of groundwater in the study area was closely related to the depth of groundwater and redox conditions but was relatively less affected by the concentration of water chemical ions. Therefore, identifying the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics and main sources of groundwater nitrogen pollution can provide a scientific basis for scientific fertilization, groundwater nitrate pollution control, and water safety.

[Effects of Straw Mulching and Nitrogen Reduction on the Distribution of Soil Nitrogen and Groundwater Nitrogen Pollution].

To explore the effects of straw mulching and reduced nitrogen fertilization on the temporal and spatial patterns of soil nitrogen, groundwater nitrogen pollution, and summer maize yield, field experiments were carried out in the Hetao irrigation district in 2017 and 2018. The experiment involved the following seven treatments:a control (CK) treatment involving conventional fertilization and traditional tillage, and conventional nitrogen applications reduced by 30% (N1), 20% (N2), and 10% (N3) coupled with either straw surface covering (B) or deep straw burial (S). The results showed that the distribution of soil nitrogen in the CK treatment varied depending on soil depth, with an overall decreasing trend. In the 0-20 cm soil layer under straw surface covering (B) treatments, soil nitrogen was superficially accumulated. NO3--N and NH4+-N content increased by an average of 22.2% and 42.7% compared to the CK treatment, respectively, which decreased significantly at first and then increased slightly with depth. In the 20-40 cm deep soil layer under the deep straw burial (S) treatments, soil nitrogen accumulated and the content of NO3--N and NH4+-N increased by an average of 29.8% and 48.1%, respectively, compared to the CK treatment. Nitrogen accumulation first and then decreased significantly with depth. Nitrogen accumulation under the different straw mulching regimes increased with an increase in the application of reduced nitrogen. After the harvest of summer maize, the accumulation of NO3--N and NH4+-N in the >80 cm soil layer under the B treatments was 19.9%-58.2% and 31.1%-61.7% lower than that of the CK treatment, respectively. This compared to reductions of 36.7%-70.9% and 82.6%-89.2% for the S treatments, respectively. Only the BN3 treatment increased accumulation compared with CK by 0.4% on average, while the SN2 treatment resulted in a 9.3% increase. Summer maize yield and relative indexes were also improved relative to the other treatments. Nonlinear fitting of yield and application reduction showed that deep straw burial was better than surface covering at increasing summer maize production. The effect of deep straw burial and 14%-20% application reduction was better. Straw mulching with reduced nitrogen fertilization can limit nitrogen leaching and thereby reduce the risk of groundwater pollution. After the harvest, groundwater quality was classified in the Ⅱ class, with the risk of nitrogen contamination being lowest under deep straw burial with>20% reduced nitrogen fertilization. These observations show that deep straw deep alongside 14%-20% application reduction could effectively alleviate nitrogen leaching and reduce the risk of nitrogen pollution in groundwater. This approach can help improve the ecological environment and summer maize yields in the Hetao irrigation district.

[Treatment of upper lumbar disc herniation with percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy through two different approaches].

OBJECTIVE: To explore clinical efficacy of percutaneous endoscopic lumbar discectomy through two different approaches in treating upper lumbar disc herniation. METHODS: From March 2015 to August 2019, 32 patients with upper lumbar disc herniation treated by percutaneous endoscopic lumbar dicecromy(PELD) were analyzed retrospectively and divided into percutaneous endoscopic transforaminal discectomy (PETD) and percutaneous endoscopic interlaminar discectomy (PEID) group according to different methods. There were 19 patients in PETD group, including 10 males and 9 females aged from 30 to 65 years old with an average of (44.70±12.08) years old;5 patients on L1, 2, 6 patients on L2, 3, 8 patients on L3, 4;6 patients were central herniation, 8 patients were paracentric herniation, and 5 patients were migration of herniation. There were 13 patients in PEID group, including 4 males and 9 females aged from 25 to 55 years old with an average of (42.23±12.09) years old;the courses of disease ranged from 1 to 7 months with an average of (2.90±3.02) months;3 patients on L1, 2, 4 patients on L2, 3, 6 patients on L3, 4;2 patients were central herniation, 4 patients were paracentric herniation, 3 patients were migration of herniation, 4 patients were prolapse free type protrusion. VAS and ODI score before operation, postoperative at 3 days, 3 and 6 months were compared between two groups, advanced MacNab standard at 1 year after operation were applied to evaluate clinical effects. RESULTS: Operation were successful operated in 32 patients and obtained following up without nerve injury and infection of intervertebral space. One patient in PETD groups occurred dural sac tear in operation, but no adverse reaction afteroperation. PETD group was followed up from 12 to 24 months with an average of (15.80±3.48) months, while PEID group was followed up from 12 to 30 months with an average of (16.70±4.66) months, while there was no statistical difference between two groups (P>0.05). VAS and ODI score at different time points after operation were higher than that of before operation (P<0.05). According to advanced MacNab standard at 1 year after operation, 11 patients obtained excellent results, 6 good, 1 moderate and 1 poor in PETD group;while 7 patients got excellent results, 4 good, 2 moderate in PEID group. CONCLUSION: Both of two surgical approach could achieve satisfactory efficacy in treating upper lumbar disc herniation, PETD is more suitable for central herniation, paracentric herniation and patients with mild displacement, PEID has advantage on prolapse free type protrusion.

The effects of straw mulching combined with nitrogen applications on the root distributions and nitrogen utilization efficiency of summer maize.

To provide an appropriate tillage fertilization model for improving N utilization efficiency and increasing production, the field experiments were conducted to study the effects on root distributions and N utilization efficiency of summer maize involving different straw mulching modes combined with N fertilization. No (N0), low (N1), medium (N2), and high (N3) levels of N fertilization were incorporated into soil combined with the surface coverage straw (Treatment B) and the deeply buried straw (Treatment S). The traditional cultivation was used as control treatment. The results shown that treatments S had significantly promoted deep root growth, and the root length density (RLD) increased with increases in N application rate. SN2 and SN3 treatments' average RLD were significantly increased by 67.5% and 68.1% in the greater than 40 cm soil layers. While the Treatment B had significantly increased the RLD in 0 -30 cm soil layers only. With increases in N application rate, the effect on summer maize yields increase under Treatment B were not significantly, and only BN3 increased by 0.4%, while under Treatments S were found to first increase, and then decrease. The apparent recovery efficiency of applied N, N uptake and summer maize yield of SN2 had increased by 66.8%, 20.4%, and 9.3%. Therefore the rational tillage fertilization model was deeply buried straw combined with medium N fertilizer in Hetao Irrigation District.