Integrated optical frequency division for microwave and mmWave generation.

The generation of ultra-low-noise microwave and mmWave in miniaturized, chip-based platforms can transform communication, radar and sensing systems1-3. Optical frequency division that leverages optical references and optical frequency combs has emerged as a powerful technique to generate microwaves with superior spectral purity than any other approaches4-7. Here we demonstrate a miniaturized optical frequency division system that can potentially transfer the approach to a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible integrated photonic platform. Phase stability is provided by a large mode volume, planar-waveguide-based optical reference coil cavity8,9 and is divided down from optical to mmWave frequency by using soliton microcombs generated in a waveguide-coupled microresonator10-12. Besides achieving record-low phase noise for integrated photonic mmWave oscillators, these devices can be heterogeneously integrated with semiconductor lasers, amplifiers and photodiodes, holding the potential of large-volume, low-cost manufacturing for fundamental and mass-market applications13.

Microbial difference and its influencing factors in ice-covered lakes on the three poles.

Most lakes in the world are permanently or seasonally covered with ice. However, little is known about the distribution of microbes and their influencing factors in ice-covered lakes worldwide. Here we analyzed the microbial community composition in the waters of 14 ice-covered lakes in the Hoh Xil region of northern Qing-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), and conducted a meta-analysis by integrating published microbial community data of ice-covered lakes in the tripolar regions (the Arctic, Antarctica and QTP). The results showed that there were significant differences in microbial diversity, community composition and distribution patterns in the ice-covered tripolar lakes. Microbial diversity and richness were lower in the ice-covered QTP lakes (including the studied lakes in the Hoh Xil region) than those in the Arctic and Antarctica. In the ice-covered lakes of Hoh Xil, prokaryotes are mainly involved in S-metabolic processes, making them more adaptable to extreme environmental conditions. In contrast, prokaryotes in the ice-covered lakes of the Arctic and Antarctica were predominantly involved in carbon/nitrogen metabolic processes. Deterministic (salinity and nutrients) and stochastic processes (dispersal limitation, homogenizing dispersal and drift) jointly determine the geographical distribution patterns of microorganisms in ice-covered lakes, with stochastic processes dominating. These results expand the understanding of microbial diversity, distribution patterns, and metabolic processes in polar ice-covered lakes.

Microbial carbon fixation and its influencing factors in saline lake water.

Microbial carbon fixation in saline lakes constitutes an important part of the global lacustrine carbon budget. However, the microbial inorganic carbon uptake rates in saline lake water and its influencing factors are still not fully understood. Here, we studied in situ microbial carbon uptake rates under light-dependent and dark conditions in the saline water of Qinghai Lake using a carbon isotopic labeling (14C-bicarbonate) technique, followed by geochemical and microbial analyses. The results showed that the light-dependent inorganic carbon uptake rates were 135.17-293.02 µg C L-1 h-1 during the summer cruise, while dark inorganic carbon uptake rates ranged from 4.27 to 14.10 µg C L-1 h-1. Photoautotrophic prokaryotes and algae (e.g. Oxyphotobacteria, Chlorophyta, Cryptophyta and Ochrophyta) may be the major contributors to light-dependent carbon fixation processes. Microbial inorganic carbon uptake rates were mainly influenced by the level of nutrients (e.g., ammonium, dissolved inorganic carbon, dissolved organic carbon, total nitrogen), with dissolved inorganic carbon content being predominant. Environmental and microbial factors jointly regulate the total, light-dependent and dark inorganic carbon uptake rates in the studied saline lake water. In summary, microbial light-dependent and dark carbon fixation processes are active and contribute significantly to carbon sequestration in saline lake water. Therefore, more attention should be given to microbial carbon fixation and its response to climate and environmental changes of the lake carbon cycle in the context of climate change.

Salinity change induces distinct climate feedbacks of nitrogen removal in saline lakes.

Current estimations of nitrogen biogeochemical cycling and N2O emissions in global lakes as well as predictions of their future changes are overrepresented by freshwater datasets, while less consideration is given to widespread saline lakes with different salinity (representing salinization or desalinization). Here, we show that N2O production by denitrification is the main process of reactive nitrogen (Nr, the general abbreviations of NH4+-N, NO2--N and NO3--N) removal in hypersaline lake sediments (e.g. Lake Chaka). The integration of our field measurements and literature data shows that in response to natural salinity decrease, potential Nr removal increases while N2O production decreases. Furthermore, denitrification-induced N2 production exhibits higher salinity sensitivity than denitrification-induced N2O production, suggesting that the contribution of N2O to Nr removal decreases with decreasing salinity. This field-investigation-based salinity response model of Nr removal indicates that under global climate change, saline lakes in the process of salinization or desalination may have distinct Nr removal and climate feedback effects: salinized lakes tend to generate a positive climate feedback, while desalinated lakes show a negative feedback. Therefore, salinity change should be considered as an important factor in assessing future trend of N2O emissions from lakes under climate change.

[Genome-wide identification of BvHAK gene family in sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) and their expression analysis under salt treatments].

High-affinity K+ transporter (HAK) is one of the most important K+ transporter families in plants and plays an important role in plant K+ uptake and transport. To explore the biological functions and gene expression patterns of the HAK gene family members in sugar beet (Beta vulgaris), physicochemical properties, the gene structure, chromosomal location, phylogenetic evolution, conserved motifs, three-dimensional structure, interaction network, cis-acting elements of promoter of BvHAKs were predicted by bioinformatic analysis, and their expression levels in different tissues of sugar beet under salt stress were analyzed by qRT-PCR. A total of 10 BvHAK genes were identified in the sugar beet genome. They contained 8-10 exons and 7-9 introns. The average number of amino acids was 778.30, the average molecular weight was 88.31 kDa, and the isoelectric point was 5.38-9.41. The BvHAK proteins contained 11-14 transmembrane regions. BvHAK4, -5, -7 and -13 were localized on plasma membrane, while others were localized on tonoplast. Phylogenetic analysis showed that HAK in higher plants can be divided into five clusters, namely cluster Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ, Ⅳ, and Ⅴ, among which the members of cluster Ⅱ can be divided into three subclusters, including Ⅱa, Ⅱb, and Ⅱc. The BvHAK gene family members were distributed in cluster Ⅰ-Ⅳ with 1, 6, 1, and 2 members, respectively. The promoter of BvHAK gene family mainly contained stress responsive elements, hormone responsive elements, and growth and development responsive elements. The expression pattern of the BvHAK genes were further analyzed in different tissues of sugar beet upon salt treatment, and found that 50 and 100 mmol/L NaCl significantly induced the expression of the BvHAK genes in both shoots and roots. High salt (150 mmol/L) treatment clearly down-regulated their expression levels in shoots, but not in roots. These results suggested that the BvHAK gene family plays important roles in the response of sugar beet to salt stress.

Analysis of Spatial Distribution of CVD and Multiple Environmental Factors in Urban Residents.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) poses a serious threat to urban health with the development of urbanization. There are multifaceted and comprehensive influencing factors for CVD, so clarifying the spatial distribution characteristics of CVD and multiple environmental influencing factors is conducive to improving the active health intervention of urban environment and promoting the sustainable development of cities The spatial distribution characteristics of CVD deaths in a certain district, Bengbu City, Huaihe River Basin, China, in 2019 were explored, and the correlation between multiple environmental factors and CVD mortality was investigated in this study, to reveal the action mechanism of multiple environmental factors affecting the risk of mortality. Relevant studies have shown that (1) CVD deaths are characterized as follows: male deaths are more than females; the mortality is higher in those of higher age; most of them are unemployed; cardiocerebral infarction is the main cause of death; and the deaths are mainly distributed in the central city and near the old urban area. (2) The increased CVD mortality can be attributed to the increased density of restaurants and cigarette and wine shops around the residential area, the increased traffic volume, the dense residential and spatial forms, the low green space coverage, and the distance from rivers. Therefore, appropriate urban planning and policies can improve the active health interventions in cities and reduce CVD mortality.

Distinct gene expression pattern of RUNX1 mutations coordinated by target repression and promoter hypermethylation in acute myeloid leukemia.

Runt-related transcription factor 1 (RUNX1) is an essential regulator of normal hematopoiesis. Its dysfunction, caused by either fusions or mutations, is frequently reported in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, RUNX1 mutations have been largely under-explored compared with RUNX1 fusions mainly due to their elusive genetic characteristics. Here, based on 1741 patients with AML, we report a unique expression pattern associated with RUNX1 mutations in AML. This expression pattern was coordinated by target repression and promoter hypermethylation. We first reanalyzed a joint AML cohort that consisted of three public cohorts and found that RUNX1 mutations were mainly distributed in the Runt domain and almost mutually exclusive with NPM1 mutations. Then, based on RNA-seq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas AML cohort, we developed a 300-gene signature that significantly distinguished the patients with RUNX1 mutations from those with other AML subtypes. Furthermore, we explored the mechanisms underlying this signature from the transcriptional and epigenetic levels. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing data, we found that RUNX1 target genes tended to be repressed in patients with RUNX1 mutations. Through the integration of DNA methylation array data, we illustrated that hypermethylation on the promoter regions of RUNX1-regulated genes also contributed to dysregulation in RUNX1-mutated AML. This study revealed the distinct gene expression pattern of RUNX1 mutations and the underlying mechanisms in AML development.

Influence of salinity on the diversity and composition of carbohydrate metabolism, nitrogen and sulfur cycling genes in lake surface sediments.

Exploring functional gene composition is essential for understanding the biogeochemical functions of lakes. However, little is known about the diversity and composition of biogeochemical cycling genes and their influencing factors in saline lakes. In this study, metagenomic analysis was employed to characterize the diversity and composition of microbial functions predicted from genes involved in carbohydrate metabolisms, nitrogen, and sulfur cycles in 17 surface sediments of Qinghai-Tibetan lakes with salinity ranging from 0.7 to 31.5 g L-1. The results showed that relative abundances of carbohydrate-active enzyme (CAZy), nitrogen, and sulfur cycling genes were 92.7-116.5, 15.1-18.7, 50.8-63.9 per 1,000 amino acid coding reads, respectively. The Shannon diversity indices of CAZy and sulfur cycling genes decreased with increasing salinity, whereas nitrogen cycling gene diversity showed an opposite trend. Relative abundances of many CAZy (i.e., carbohydrate-binding module and carbohydrate esterase), nitrogen (i.e., anammox and organic degradation and synthesis) and sulfur (i.e., dissimilatory sulfur reduction and oxidation, link between inorganic and organic sulfur transformation, sulfur disproportionation and reduction) cycling gene categories decreased with increasing salinity, whereas some CAZy (i.e., auxiliary activity), nitrogen (i.e., denitrification) and sulfur (i.e., assimilatory sulfate reduction and sulfur oxidation) gene categories showed an increasing trend. The compositions of CAZy, nitrogen, and sulfur cycling genes in the studied lake sediments were significantly (p < 0.05) affected by environmental factors such as salinity, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus, with salinity having the greatest influence. Together, our results suggest that salinity may regulate the biogeochemical functions of carbohydrate metabolisms, nitrogen, and sulfur cycles in lakes through changing the diversity and composition of microbial functional genes. This finding has great implications for understanding the impact of environmental change on microbial functions in lacustrine ecosystems.

The Outcome of Discontinuing Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in Advanced Sarcoma Following a Favorable Tumor Response to Antiangiogenics Therapy.

(1) Background: The use of antiangiogenic TKIs (AA-TKIs) has recently emerged as a major paradigm shift in the treatment of advanced sarcoma. However, the feasibility of drug holidays for patients demonstrating a very favorable response remains unknown. (2) Methods: We aim to explore the outcomes of patients with advanced sarcoma who discontinued AA-TKIs after a (near-) complete remission or were long-term responders. Patients with advanced disease were included if they had bilateral or multiple lung metastases, extrapulmonary recurrence, a short disease-free interval, etc., at the initiation of AA-TKIs. (3) Results: A total of 22 patients with AA-TKI discontinuation were analyzed, with a median follow-up of 22.3 months post-discontinuation. Prior to discontinuation, there were four drug-induced complete remissions (CRs), twelve surgical CRs, and six long-term responders. Disease progression was observed in 17/22 (77.3%) patients, with a median of 4.2 months. However, since the majority were still sensitive to the original AA-TKIs and amenable to a second surgical remission, 7 out of these 17 patients achieved a second CR after disease progression and were thus considered as relapse-free post-discontinuation (pd-RFS). Therefore, the pd-RFS and post-discontinuation overall survival (pd-OS) in the last follow-up were 12/22 (54.5%) and 16/22 (72.7%), respectively. Remarkably, surgical CR and drug tapering off (versus abrupt stopping) were associated with a greater pd-RFS and pd-OS (p < 0.05). Furthermore, higher necrosis rates (p = 0.040) and lower neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios (NLR) (p = 0.060) before discontinuation tend to have a better pd-RFS. (4) Conclusions: Our results suggest that AA-TKI discontinuation with a taper-off strategy might be safe and feasible in highly selected patients with advanced sarcoma. Surgical CR, NLR, and tumor necrosis rates before discontinuation were potential biomarkers for AA-TKI withdrawal.

Nitrite- and N2O-reducing bacteria respond differently to ecological factors in saline lakes.

The distribution of nitrite- and N2O-reducing bacteria is key to potential N2O emission from lakes. However, such information in highland saline lakes remains unknown. Here, we investigated the abundance and community composition of nitrite- and N2O-reducing bacteria in the sediments of six saline lakes on the Qing-Tibetan Plateau. The studied lakes covered a wide range of salinity (1.0-340.0 g/L). Results showed that in the studied saline lake sediments, nitrite-reducing bacteria were significantly more abundant than N2O-reducing bacteria, and their abundances ranged 7.14 × 103-8.26 × 108 and 1.18 × 106-6.51 × 107 copies per gram sediment (dry weight), respectively. Nitrite-reducing bacteria were mainly affiliated with α-, ß- and γ-Proteobacteria, with ß- and α-Proteobacteria being dominant in low- and high-salinity lakes, respectively; N2O-reducing bacterial communities mainly consisted of Proteobacteria (α-, ß-, γ- and δ-subgroups), Bacteroidetes, Verrucomicrobia, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadetes and Balneolaeota, with Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes/Verrucomicrobia dominating in low- and high-salinity lakes, respectively. The nitrite- and N2O-reducing bacterial communities showed distinct responses to ecological factors, and they were mainly regulated by mineralogical and physicochemical factors, respectively. In response to salinity change, the community composition of nitrite-reducing bacteria was more stable than that of N2O-reducing bacteria. These findings suggest that nitrite- and N2O-reducing bacteria may prefer niches with different salinity.

Bicarbonate uptake rates and diversity of RuBisCO genes in saline lake sediments.

There is limited knowledge of microbial carbon fixation rate, and carbon-fixing microbial abundance and diversity in saline lakes. In this study, the inorganic carbon uptake rates and carbon-fixing microbial populations were investigated in the surface sediments of lakes with a full range of salinity from freshwater to salt saturation. The results showed that in the studied lakes light-dependent bicarbonate uptake contributed substantially (>70%) to total bicarbonate uptake, while the contribution of dark bicarbonate uptake (1.35-25.17%) cannot be ignored. The light-dependent bicarbonate uptake rates were significantly correlated with pH and turbidity, while dark bicarbonate uptake rates were significantly influenced by dissolved inorganic carbon, pH, temperature and salinity. Carbon-fixing microbial populations using the Calvin-Benson-Bassham pathway were widespread in the studied lakes, and they were dominated by the cbbL and cbbM gene types affiliated with Cyanobacteria and Proteobacteria, respectively. The cbbL and cbbM gene abundance and population structures were significantly affected by different environmental variables, with the cbbL and cbbM genes being negatively correlated with salinity and organic carbon concentration, respectively. In summary, this study improves our knowledge of the abundance, diversity and function of carbon-fixing microbial populations in the lakes with a full range of salinity.

Towards high-power, high-coherence, integrated photonic mmWave platform with microcavity solitons.

Millimetre-wave (mmWave) technology continues to draw great interest due to its broad applications in wireless communications, radar, and spectroscopy. Compared to pure electronic solutions, photonic-based mmWave generation provides wide bandwidth, low power dissipation, and remoting through low-loss fibres. However, at high frequencies, two major challenges exist for the photonic system: the power roll-off of the photodiode, and the large signal linewidth derived directly from the lasers. Here, we demonstrate a new photonic mmWave platform combining integrated microresonator solitons and high-speed photodiodes to address the challenges in both power and coherence. The solitons, being inherently mode-locked, are measured to provide 5.8 dB additional gain through constructive interference among mmWave beatnotes, and the absolute mmWave power approaches the theoretical limit of conventional heterodyne detection at 100 GHz. In our free-running system, the soliton is capable of reducing the mmWave linewidth by two orders of magnitude from that of the pump laser. Our work leverages microresonator solitons and high-speed modified uni-traveling carrier photodiodes to provide a viable path to chip-scale, high-power, low-noise, high-frequency sources for mmWave applications.

Onshore soil microbes and endophytes respond differently to geochemical and mineralogical changes in the Aral Sea.

There is limited knowledge about how microbiome develops along the geochemical and mineralogical change in onshore soils derived from continuous desiccation of lakes. In this study, geochemistry and mineralogy were studied in the Aral Sea onshore soils exposed in different periods (from the 1970s to 2018), followed by microbial analyses on the studied soils and the aboveground organs of dominant plants. The soils exhibited an increasing gradient of total soluble salts (TSS: 0.4-0.5 g/L to 71.3 g/L) and evaporite minerals (e.g., gypsum, halite) from the farshore to the nearshore. In the studied soils, microbial diversity decreased with increasing TSS, and microbial community dissimilarities among samples was positively correlated with the contents of gypsum and calcite minerals. Among the measured environmental variables, minerals contributed most to the observed microbial variation. In contrast, the endophytic microbial communities in the aboveground organs of dominant plants were not related to any of the measured variables, indicating that they differed from their soil counterparts with respect to their responses to geochemical and mineralogical variations in soils. In summary, these results help us understand the response of onshore soil microbiome to the decline of lake water caused by continuous desiccation.

Melatonin increases the chemosensitivity of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma cells to epirubicin by inhibiting P-glycoprotein expression via the NF-κB pathway.

BACKGROUND: Epirubicin is a first-line chemotherapeutic drug for the clinical treatment of diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), but the overexpression of multidrug resistance (MDR) transporter proteins, especially P-glycoprotein (P-gp), renders epirubicin ineffective. Some studies reveal the potential role of melatonin in chemotherapeutic synergy and MDR. METHODS: The cell viability and apoptosis were determined by CCK-8 assay and acridine orange/ethidium bromide (AO/EB) fluorescence staining assay. Immunofluorescence and immunohistochemical staining were used to detect the expression of P-gp in DLBCL cells and tissues. Rhodamine-123 accumulation assay was used to evaluate the pump function of P-gp. The possible mechanisms of melatonin sensitize DLBCL cells to epirubicin were explored by western blotting, cytochrome C release, and pulldown assay. RESULTS: Melatonin significantly enhanced the epirubicin-induced cell proliferation suppression, epirubicin-induced apoptosis, and reduced the IC50 value of epirubicin. Further, melatonin synergized with epirubicin to promote the activation of the mitochondria-mediated apoptosis pathway and increased the accumulation of epirubicin in DLBCL cells by inhibiting the expression and function of P-gp. Immunohistochemical staining studies revealed that P-gp expression was positively correlated with P65 expression. Epirubicin was subsequently discovered to upregulate the expression of P-gp by activating the NF-κB pathway in the DLBCL cells. Melatonin reduced the amount of P65 protein in the nucleus and abrogated the ability of P65 to bind to the ABCB1 promoter, decisively suppressing P-gp expression. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated that melatonin inactivates the NF-κB pathway and downregulates the expression of P-gp, ultimately sensitizing DLBCL cells to the epirubicin that suppresses their growth.

Vernier frequency division with dual-microresonator solitons.

Microresonator solitons are critical to miniaturize optical frequency combs to chip scale and have the potential to revolutionize spectroscopy, metrology and timing. With the reduction of resonator diameter, high repetition rates up to 1 THz become possible, and they are advantageous to wavelength multiplexing, coherent sampling, and self-referencing. However, the detection of comb repetition rate, the precursor to all comb-based applications, becomes challenging at these repetition rates due to the limited bandwidth of photodiodes and electronics. Here, we report a dual-comb Vernier frequency division method to vastly reduce the required electrical bandwidth. Free-running 216 GHz "Vernier" solitons sample and divide the main soliton's repetition frequency from 197 GHz to 995 MHz through electrical processing of a pair of low frequency dual-comb beat notes. Our demonstration relaxes the instrumentation requirement for microcomb repetition rate detection, and could be applied for optical clocks, optical frequency division, and microwave photonics.

Distinct co-occurrence patterns of prokaryotic community between the waters and sediments in lakes with different salinity.

Temporal variations and co-occurrence patterns of the prokaryotic community in saline lakes remain elusive. In this study, we investigated the temporal variations of the prokaryotic community in six lakes with different salinity by using Illumina sequencing. The results showed that prokaryotic community compositions exhibited temporal variations in all studied lakes, which may be partially caused by temporal fluctuations of environmental variables (e.g. salinity, temperature, total nitrogen). Salinity fluctuations exhibited stronger influences on temporal variations of prokaryotic community composition in the lakes with low salinity than in those with high salinity. Stochastic factors (i.e. neutral processes) also contributed to temporal variations of prokaryotic community composition, and their contributions decreased with increasing salinity in the studied saline lakes. Network analysis showed that prokaryotic co-occurrence networks of the studied lakes exhibited non-random topology. Salinity affected the phylogenetic composition of nodes in the studied networks. The topological features (e.g. average connectivity and modularity) of the studied networks significantly differed between lake waters and sediments. Collectively, these results expand our knowledge of the mechanisms underlying prokaryotic community assembly and co-occurrence relationships in saline lakes with different salinity.

Microbial Responses to Simulated Salinization and Desalinization in the Sediments of the Qinghai-Tibetan Lakes.

Uncovering microbial response to salinization or desalinization is of great importance to understanding of the influence of global climate change on lacustrine microbial ecology. In this study, to simulate salinization and desalinization, sediments from Erhai Lake (salinity 0.3-0.8 g/L) and Chaka Lake (salinity 299.3-350.7 g/L) on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau were transplanted into different lakes with a range of salinity of 0.3-299.3 g/L, followed by in situ incubation for 50 days and subsequent geochemical and microbial analyses. Desalinization was faster than salinization in the transplanted sediments. The salinity of the transplanted sediment increased and decreased in the salinization and desalinization simulation experiments, respectively. The TOC contents of the transplanted sediments were lower than that of their undisturbed counterparts in the salinization experiments, whereas they had a strong negative linear relationship with salinity in the desalinization experiments. Microbial diversity decreased in response to salinization and desalinization, and microbial community dissimilarity significantly (P < 0.01) increased with salinity differences between the transplanted sediments and their undisturbed counterparts. Microbial groups belonging to Gammaproteobacteria and Actinobacteria became abundant in salinization whereas Bacteroidetes and Chloroflexi became dominant in desalinization. Among the predicted microbial functions, hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis, methanogenesis through CO2 reduction with H2, nitrate/nitrogen respiration, and nitrification increased in salinization; in desalinization, enhancement was observed for respiration of sulfur compounds, sulfate respiration, sulfur respiration, thiosulfate respiration, hydrocarbon degradation, chemoheterotrophy, and fermentation, whereas depressing was found for aerobic ammonia oxidation, nitrate/nitrogen respiration, nitrification, nitrite respiration, manganese oxidation, aerobic chemoheterotrophy, and phototrophy. Such microbial variations could be explained by changes of transplantation, salinity, and covarying variables. In summary, salinization and desalinization had profound influence on the geochemistry, microbial community, and function in lakes.

Potential utilization of terrestrially derived dissolved organic matter by aquatic microbial communities in saline lakes.

Lakes receive large amounts of terrestrially derived dissolved organic matter (tDOM). However, little is known about how aquatic microbial communities interact with tDOM in lakes. Here, by performing microcosm experiments we investigated how microbial community responded to tDOM influx in six Tibetan lakes of different salinities (ranging from 1 to 358 g/l). In response to tDOM addition, microbial biomass increased while dissolved organic carbon (DOC) decreased. The amount of DOC decrease did not show any significant correlation with salinity. However, salinity influenced tDOM transformation, i.e., microbial communities from higher salinity lakes exhibited a stronger ability to utilize tDOM of high carbon numbers than those from lower salinity. Abundant taxa and copiotrophs were actively involved in tDOM transformation, suggesting their vital roles in lacustrine carbon cycle. Network analysis indicated that 66 operational taxonomic units (OTUs, affiliated with Alphaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidia, Bacilli,  Gammaproteobacteria, Halobacteria, Planctomycetacia, Rhodothermia, and Verrucomicrobiae) were associated with degradation of CHO compounds, while four bacterial OTUs (affiliated with Actinobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Bacteroidia and Gammaproteobacteria) were highly associated with the degradation of CHOS compounds. Network analysis further revealed that tDOM transformation may be a synergestic process, involving cooperation among multiple species. In summary, our study provides new insights into a microbial role in transforming tDOM in saline lakes and has important implications for understanding the carbon cycle in aquatic environments.

Benthic Algal Community Structures and Their Response to Geographic Distance and Environmental Variables in the Qinghai-Tibetan Lakes With Different Salinity.

Uncovering the limiting factors for benthic algal distributions in lakes is of great importance to understanding of their role in global carbon cycling. However, limited is known about the benthic algal community distribution and how they are influenced by geographic distance and environmental variables in alpine lakes. Here, we investigated the benthic algal community compositions in the surface sediments of six lakes on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), China (salinity ranging from 0.8 to 365.6 g/L; pairwise geographic distance among the studied lakes ranging 8-514 km) employing an integrated approach including Illumina-Miseq sequencing and environmental geochemistry. The results showed that the algal communities of the studied samples were mainly composed of orders of Bacillariales, Ceramiales, Naviculales, Oscillatoriales, Spirulinales, Synechococcales, and Vaucheriales. The benthic algal community compositions in these QTP lakes were significantly (p < 0.05) correlated with many environmental (e.g., dissolved inorganic and organic carbon, illumination intensity, total nitrogen and phosphorus, turbidity and water temperature) and spatial factors, and salinity did not show significant influence on the benthic algal community structures in the studied lakes. Furthermore, geographic distance showed strong, significant correlation (r = 0.578, p < 0.001) with the benthic algal community compositions among the studied lakes, suggesting that spatial factors may play important roles in influencing the benthic algal distribution. These results expand our current knowledge on the influencing factors for the distributions of benthic alga in alpine lakes.

BMExpert: Mining MEDLINE for Finding Experts in Biomedical Domains Based on Language Model.

With the rapid development of biomedical sciences, a great number of documents have been published to report new scientific findings and advance the process of knowledge discovery. By the end of 2013, the largest biomedical literature database, MEDLINE, has indexed over 23 million abstracts. It is thus not easy for scientific professionals to find experts on a certain topic in the biomedical domain. In contrast to the existing services that use some ad hoc approaches, we developed a novel solution to biomedical expert finding, BMExpert, based on the language model. For finding biomedical experts, who are the most relevant to a specific topic query, BMExpert mines MEDLINE documents by considering three important factors: relevance of documents to the query topic, importance of documents, and associations between documents and experts. The performance of BMExpert was evaluated on a benchmark dataset, which was built by collecting the program committee members of ISMB in the past three years (2012-2014) on 14 different topics. Experimental results show that BMExpert outperformed three existing biomedical expert finding services: JANE, GoPubMed, and eTBLAST, with respect to both MAP (mean average precision) and P@50 (Precision). BMExpert is freely accessed at http://datamining-iip.fudan.edu.cn/service/BMExpert/.