Responses of dry matter accumulation and partitioning to drought and subsequent rewatering at different growth stages of maize in Northeast China.

Introduction: Dry matter accumulation (DMA) and dry matter partitioning (DMP) are important physiological processes determining crop yield formation. Deep understanding of the DMA and DMP processes and their responses to drought are limited by difficulty in acquiring total root biomass. Methods: Pot experiments with treatments quitting and ceasing ear growth (QC) and controlling soil water (WC) during vegetative (VP) and reproductive (RP) growth stages of maize (Zea mays) were conducted in Jinzhou in 2019 and 2020 to investigate the effects of drought and rewatering on DMW and DMP of different organs. Results: The response of DMW of reproductive organ to drought was more sensitive than those of vegetative organs, and was maintained after rehydration. Drought during VP (VPWC) reduced more sharply DMW of stalk than of leaves, and that during RP (RPWC) decreased more substantially leaves DMW. The effect of drought on DMPR was inconsistent with that on DMW for each organ. The DMP patterns of maize in different growth stages have adaptability to some level of water stress, and their responses increased with drought severity. Drought increased significantly DMP rates (DMPRs) of vegetative organs and reduced the ear DMPR and harvest index (HI), attributing to the suppressed photosynthates partitioning into ear and dry matter redistribution (DMRD) of vegetative organs, especially for stalk DMRD decreasing 26%. The persistence of drought impact was related to its occurrence stage and degree as well as the duration during rewatering to maturity. The aftereffect of drought during different growth periods on DMP were various, and that of VPWC enlarged and drastically induced the reduction of HI, also was larger than that of RPWC which demonstrated obvious alleviation in the previous responses of DMP and HI. Root-shoot ratio (RSR) increased under VPWC and RPWC and subsequent rehydration. Discussion: The DMWs of stalk, roots and leaves were affected by VPWC in order from large to small, and were close to or larger than the controls after rehydration, indicating the compensation effect of rewatering after drought. The DMPRs, RSR AND HI are the important parameters in agricultural production, and are often used as the constants, but in fact they vary with plant growth. In addition, the interannual differences in ear and stalk DMPRs in response to drought were probably caused by the difference in degree and occurrence stage of drought, further reflecting the variation in response of allometry growth among organs to the environment. Besides, the persistence of drought impact was related to the occurrence stage and degree of drought, which is also associated with the duration during rewatering to maturity. Notably, the effect of drought on DMW was inconsistent with that on DMPR for each organ meaning that the two variables should be discussed separately. The QC did not affect total DMW but increased RSR, changed and intensified the effect and aftereffect of RPWC on DMP, respectively, indicating that the DMP pattern and its response to drought occur change under the condition of QC.

Deep Q networks-based optimization of emergency resource scheduling for urban public health events.

In today's severe situation of the global new crown virus raging, there are still efficiency problems in emergency resource scheduling, and there are still deficiencies in rescue standards. For the happiness and well-being of people's lives, adhering to the principle of a community with a shared future for mankind, the emergency resource scheduling system for urban public health emergencies needs to be improved and perfected. This paper mainly studies the optimization model of urban emergency resource scheduling, which uses the deep reinforcement learning algorithm to build the emergency resource distribution system framework, and uses the Deep Q Network path planning algorithm to optimize the system, to achieve the purpose of optimizing and upgrading the efficient scheduling of emergency resources in the city. Finally, through simulation experiments, it is concluded that the deep learning algorithm studied is helpful to the emergency resource scheduling optimization system. However, with the gradual development of deep learning, some of its disadvantages are becoming increasingly obvious. An obvious flaw is that building a deep learning-based model generally requires a lot of CPU computing resources, making the cost too high.

Rehabilitation Effects of Acupuncture on the Diaphragm Dysfunction in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Systematic Review.

Introduction: Diaphragm dysfunction is a significant extrapulmonary effect in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is manifested by changes in diaphragm structure and reduced diaphragm strength. Acupuncture is a traditional rehabilitation technique in China, which has been used in rehabilitation for COPD. But whether acupuncture can improve the diaphragm function of COPD patients remains to be verified. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the rehabilitation effects of acupuncture on diaphragm dysfunction in patients with COPD. Methods: The authors retrieved in CNKI, VIP, SinoMed, PubMed, Ebsco, Web of Science, from inception to November 2020, for relevant randomized control trials. Two researchers independently screened the articles and extracted the data. The quality of the included studies was evaluated by Physiotherapy Evidence Database scale. The primary outcome measures were maximal inspiratory pressure and the scale for accessory respiratory muscle mobilization, the secondary outcome measures were pulmonary function-related indicators and arterial blood gas indicators. Results: Nine articles were finally obtained. Seven studies added acupuncture to standard treatment for patients with diaphragm dysfunction in COPD and found statistically significant changes in the maximum inspiratory pressure and the scale for accessory respiratory muscle mobilization. Two studies have proved that use acupuncture combined with other Traditional Chinese Medicine methods in the rehabilitation for COPD can effectively improve the diaphragm strength and diaphragmatic motor performance. Seven studies showed that acupuncture has obvious improvement in pulmonary ventilation function. Seven studies reported significant differences in arterial blood gas pre- to post-intervention. Conclusion: This systematic review found that acupuncture can effectively enhance the diaphragm strength, relieve respiratory muscle fatigue, it can also play a promoting role in improving lung function, hypoxia, and carbon dioxide retention, as well as preventing and alleviating respiratory failure. The generalizability of these results is limited by the design of the included studies.

Prediction of the RNA Secondary Structure Using a Multi-Population Assisted Quantum Genetic Algorithm.

Quantum-inspired genetic algorithms (QGAs) were recently introduced for the prediction of RNA secondary structures, and they showed some superiority over the existing popular strategies. In this paper, for RNA secondary structure prediction, we introduce a new QGA named multi-population assisted quantum genetic algorithm (MAQGA). In contrast to the existing QGAs, our strategy involves multi-populations which evolve together in a cooperative way in each iteration, and the genetic exchange between various populations is performed by an operator transfer operation. The numerical results show that the performances of existing genetic algorithms (evolutionary algorithms [EAs]), including traditional EAs and QGAs, can be significantly improved by using our approach. Moreover, for RNA sequences with middle-short length, the MAQGA improves even this state-of-the-art software in terms of both prediction accuracy and sensitivity.

Combined effects of 17ß-estradiol and exercise training on cardiac apoptosis in ovariectomized rats.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the combined 17ß-estradiol (E2) and exercise training on cardiac pro-survival and anti-apoptotic pathways in ovariectomized rats. METHODS: Fifty-six female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into a sham-operated (Sham), a bilaterally ovariectomized (OVX), an OVX treated with E2 (OVX-E2; 10µg/kg/day), and an OVX with E2 and treadmill exercise training (OVX-E2-EX; 60 min/day, 5 days/week) for 10 weeks. Following 10 weeks of exercise training, rat hearts were isolated for the evaluation of Histopathological analysis, TUNEL assay, and Western blotting. RESULTS: The protein levels of estrogen receptor α (ERα), estrogen receptor ß (ERß), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R), phospho-phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (p-PI3K) (estrogen receptors/IGF-1-related survival pathway) were significantly increased in either the OVX-E2 or OVX-E2-EX group when compared with the OVX group. The protein levels of B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), B-cell lymphoma-extra-large (Bcl-xL) and phosphorylated-Bad (p-Bad) (Bcl-2 family survival pathway) were significantly increased in the OVX-E2-EX group when compared with the OVX group. Only the p-Bad was significantly increased in the OVX-E2 group when compared with the OVX group. The protein levels of truncation of Bid (t-Bid), Bcl-2-associated death promotor (Bad), Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax), Cytochrome c, caspases-9, and caspases-3 (mitochondria-dependent apoptotic pathway), as well as the protein levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), Fas ligand, Fas receptors, Fas-associated death domain (FADD), activated caspase-8 and activated caspase-3 (Fas receptor-dependent apoptotic pathway) were significantly decreased in either the OVX-E2 or OVX-E2-EX group when compared with the OVX group. Furthermore, when compared with the OVX-E2 group, the protein levels of ERß, IGF-1, IGF-1R, Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL were further enhanced in the OVX-E2-EX group as well as the protein levels of Cytochrome c, Fas receptors, FADD, activated caspase-8, activated caspase-9 and activated caspase-3 were further decreased in the OVX-EX-E2 group. CONCLUSIONS: Combined E2 and exercise training exhibited a positive effect of protection on ovariectomy-induced cardiac apoptosis by enhancing ERß-related survival pathways, which might provide a more effective therapeutic effect on cardiac protection in bilaterally oophorectomized or menopausal women than E2 treatment only.

Vosaroxin induces mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis in cervical cancer HeLa cells: Involvement of AMPK/Sirt3/HIF-1 pathway.

Vosaroxin is a quinolone-derivative anticancer agent with inhibitory activity on type II DNA topoisomerases (TOP2). The aim of the present study was to investigate its cytotoxic effect and potential molecular mechanisms in human cervical cancer HeLa cells. Vosaroxin decreased cell viability and increased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release in a dose- and time-dependent manner in HeLa cells, but not in normal cervical epithelial cells. Vosaroxin also induced apoptosis and increased caspase-3 activity in HeLa cells. These effects were accompanied by increased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, lipid peroxidation, mitochondrial swelling and reduced ATP production. Western blot analysis showed that vosaroxin significantly reduced hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α) protein levels. However, it had no effect on HIF-1α protein degradation and HIF-1α mRNA levels. The results showed that vosaroxin inhibited the synthesis of HIF-1α protein and interfered with the dimerization of HIF-1α and aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT). In addition, vosaroxin stimulated mitochondrial enzyme activities and superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) deacetylation via activating (Sir2 like protein 3) Sirt3. More importantly, vosaroxin-induced inhibition on HIF-1α and its cytotoxic effects, as measured by cell viability, LDH release and apoptosis, were partially prevented by Sirt3 knockdown or the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) inhibitor compound C. Overall, vosaroxin is demonstrated to be a chemotherapeutic agent targeting the Sirt3/HIF-1 pathway and could be beneficial for inducing cytotoxicity in human cervical cancer cells.

Facile Synthesis of Copper-Based Metal Oxide Nanoparticles with Exceptional Catalytic Activity for the Selective Oxidation of Styrenes into Benzaldehydes.

The development of highly efficient catalysts for the selective oxidation of styrene to benzaldehyde has attracted great attention in recent years because of its significance in synthetic chemistry. In this study, two different kinds of copper-based metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs), namely, CuO and CuO/Co3 O4 NPs, were synthesized by a simple and scalable method, and these nanoparticles demonstrated efficient catalytic abilities for the selective oxidation of styrene and its derivatives to the corresponding aldehydes in the presence of tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) under mild reaction conditions in excellent yields. Importantly, both of the heterogeneous catalysts can be recycled up to five runs while still maintaining their high catalytic activity.

Latent tuberculosis infection and occupational protection among health care workers in two types of public hospitals in China.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the impact factors of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) and the knowledge of TB prevention and treatment policy among health care workers (HCWs) in different types of hospitals and explore the strategies for improving TB prevention and control in medical institutions in China. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out to evaluate the risk of TB infection and personnel occupational protection among HCWs who directly engage in medical duties in one of two public hospitals. Each potential participant completed a structured questionnaire and performed a tuberculin skin test (TST). Factors associated with LTBI were identified by logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Seven hundred twelve HCWs completed questionnaires and 74.3% (n = 529) took the TST or had previous positive results. The TST-positive prevalence was 58.0% (n = 127) in the infectious disease hospital and 33.9% (n = 105) in the non-TB hospital. The duration of employment in the healthcare profession (6-10 years vs. ≤5 years [OR = 1.89; 95% CI = 1.10, 3.25] and >10 vs. ≤5 [OR = 1.80; 95% CI = 1.20, 2.68]), type of hospital (OR = 2.40; 95% CI = 1.59, 3.62), and ever-employment in a HIV clinic or ward (OR = 1.87; 95% CI = 1.08, 3.26) were significantly associated with LTBI. The main reasons for an unwillingness to accept TST were previous positive TST results (70.2%) and concerns about skin reaction (31.9%). CONCLUSION: A high prevalence of TB infections was observed among HCWs working in high-risk settings and with long professional experiences in Henan Province in China. Comprehensive guidelines should be developed for different types of medical institutions to reduce TB transmission and ensure the health of HCWs.

[Maize growth and its responses to heat condition in Northeast China].

Taking 3 maize cultivars (Danyu 39, Yuandan 29, and Longdan 13) as test materials, a field experiment was conducted to study their growth characteristics and responses to air temperature under the conditions of early, medium and late sowing. For the three cultivars, the days from sowing to seedling emergence under early, medium and late sowing were averagely 13, 11 and 8 d, respectively, and the seedling emergence rate was the fastest when the mean air temperature was about 18 degrees C. Higher or lower air temperature would decrease the seedling emergence rate. The test cultivars had less difference in the days from seedling to jointing, which was slightly affected by air temperature. Compared with Danyu 39 and Yuandan 29, the late-maturing Longdan 13 had an increased growth rate from jointing to mature stage, and thus, the days for mature shortened markedly. For all the three maize cultivars, the days from jointing to mature tended to decrease with increasing air temperature. The dry matter accumulation rate in whole growth period, grain yield, and 100-seed mass were in the order of Danyu 39 > Yuandan 29 > Longdan 13.

[Characteristics of heat island effect in inner and outer suburbs of Shenyang and the relationships with urbanization].

The monthly, annual, and inter-decade variations of heat island effect in inner and outer suburbs of Shenyang and their relationships with urbanization were analyzed, based on the air temperature data from 1961 to 2008. It was indicated that the monthly and annual heat island effect was higher in inner suburb than in outer suburb, and decreased from inner suburb to outer suburb. The variation trend of monthly heat island effect in inner and outer suburbs was similar from March to November, but in contrary from December to next February, possibly due to the effects of heating in winter. The annual heat island effect in both inner and outer suburbs had an increasing trend before 2000 but a decreasing trend after 2000, and was significantly positively correlated with the green land area, population, and established construction area before 2000 (P < 0.05), but significantly negatively correlated with them after 2000 (P < 0.05), the correlation degree being 0.43, 0.52, and 0.26, respectively.

[Vertical distribution of soil organic carbon and total nitrogen in reed wetland].

With element analyzer, this paper measured the variation of organic carbon and total nitrogen in different soil depths of reed wetland. The results showed that soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, and C/N ratio were decreased gradually with increasing soil depth, and their accumulation peaks were differed with soil layers and months. Soil temperature and moisture and the growth status of reed were the main factors caused the differences. Soil organic carbon was strongly positively correlated with soil total nitrogen content in July, August and October, the R2 being 0.73, 0.73 and 0.71 respectively, but weakly correlated in September. Soil C/N ratio was negatively correlated to soil organic carbon and total nitrogen, but the correlativity was higher with soil total nitrogen than with soil organic carbon, suggesting that soil C/N ratio was more determined by the content of soil total nitrogen.

[AIDS complicated by Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia: report of 20 cases].

OBJECTIVE: To report our experience in diagnosis and treatment of AIDS complicated by Pneumocystis Carinii Pneumonia (PCP), and explore the relations between preventive medication and occurrence as well as recurrence of PCP. METHODS: The clinical characteristics of 20 patients with AIDS complicated by PCP (identified from a cohort of 109 patients with AIDS) treated in our hospital during July 2000 to May 2002 were analyzed. RESULTS: All the 20 cases had fever, 90 % of whom also had cough or expectoration, and chest radiography revealed bilateral interstitial changes in 80 % of the cases. CONCLUSION: It is possible to diagnose PCP by typical clinical findings and chest X-ray, and compound sulfamethoxazole may prove effective for preventing the occurrence of PCP.