Soil moisture decline in China's monsoon loess critical zone: More a result of land-use conversion than climate change.

Soil moisture (SM) is essential for sustaining services from Earth's critical zone, a thin-living skin spanning from the canopy to groundwater. In the Anthropocene epoch, intensive afforestation has remarkably contributed to global greening and certain service improvements, often at the cost of reduced SM. However, attributing the response of SM in deep soil to such human activities is a great challenge because of the scarcity of long-term observations. Here, we present a 37 y (1985 to 2021) analysis of SM dynamics at two scales across China's monsoon loess critical zone. Site-scale data indicate that land-use conversion from arable cropland to forest/grassland caused an 18% increase in SM deficit over 0 to 18 m depth (P < 0.01). Importantly, this SM deficit intensified over time, despite limited climate change influence. Across the Loess Plateau, SM storage in 0 to 10 m layer exhibited a significant decreasing trend from 1985 to 2021, with a turning point in 1999 when starting afforestation. Compared with SM storage before 1999, the relative contributions of climate change and afforestation to SM decline after 1999 were -8% and 108%, respectively. This emphasizes the pronounced impacts of intensifying land-use conversions as the principal catalyst of SM decline. Such a decline shifts 18% of total area into an at-risk status, mainly in the semiarid region, thereby threatening SM security. To mitigate this risk, future land management policies should acknowledge the crucial role of intensifying land-use conversions and their interplay with climate change. This is imperative to ensure SM security and sustain critical zone services.

Extended Conjugation Strategy Enabling Red-Shifted and Efficient Emission of Orange-Red Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials.

In account of the energy gap law, the development of efficient narrow-band gap thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials remains a major challenge for the application of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The orange-red TADF materials are commonly designed with either large π-conjugated systems or strong intramolecular donor-acceptor (D-A) interactions for red-shift emission and small singlet-triplet energy gap (ΔEST). There are rare reports on the simultaneous incorporation of these two strategies on the same material systems. Herein, two orange-red emitters named 1P2D-BP and 2P2D-DQ have been designed by extending the conjugation degree of the center acceptor DQ and increasing the number distribution of the peripheral donor PXZ units, respectively. The emission peak of 1P2D-BP is red-shifted to 615 nm compared to 580 nm for 2P2D-DQ, revealing the pronounced effect of the conjugation extension on the emission band gap. In addition, the distorted molecular structure yields a small ΔEST of 0.02 eV, favoring the acquisition of a high exciton utilization through an efficient reverse intersystem crossing process. As a result, orange-red OLEDs with both 1P2D-BP and 2P2D-DQ have achieved an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of more than 17%. In addition, the efficient white OLED based on 1P2D-BP is realized through precise exciton assignment and energy transport modulation, showing an EQE of 23.6% and a color rendering index of 82. The present work provides an important reference for the design of high-efficiency narrow-band gap materials in the field of solid-state lighting.

Deciphering microbiomes dozens of meters under our feet and their edaphoclimatic and spatial drivers.

Microbes inhabiting deep soil layers are known to be different from their counterpart in topsoil yet remain under investigation in terms of their structure, function, and how their diversity is shaped. The microbiome of deep soils (>1 m) is expected to be relatively stable and highly independent from climatic conditions. Much less is known, however, on how these microbial communities vary along climate gradients. Here, we used amplicon sequencing to investigate bacteria, archaea, and fungi along fifteen 18-m depth profiles at 20-50-cm intervals across contrasting aridity conditions in semi-arid forest ecosystems of China's Loess Plateau. Our results showed that bacterial and fungal α diversity and bacterial and archaeal community similarity declined dramatically in topsoil and remained relatively stable in deep soil. Nevertheless, deep soil microbiome still showed the functional potential of N cycling, plant-derived organic matter degradation, resource exchange, and water coordination. The deep soil microbiome had closer taxa-taxa and bacteria-fungi associations and more influence of dispersal limitation than topsoil microbiome. Geographic distance was more influential in deep soil bacteria and archaea than in topsoil. We further showed that aridity was negatively correlated with deep-soil archaeal and fungal richness, archaeal community similarity, relative abundance of plant saprotroph, and bacteria-fungi associations, but increased the relative abundance of aerobic ammonia oxidation, manganese oxidation, and arbuscular mycorrhizal in the deep soils. Root depth, complexity, soil volumetric moisture, and clay play bridging roles in the indirect effects of aridity on microbes in deep soils. Our work indicates that, even microbial communities and nutrient cycling in deep soil are susceptible to changes in water availability, with consequences for understanding the sustainability of dryland ecosystems and the whole-soil in response to aridification. Moreover, we propose that neglecting soil depth may underestimate the role of soil moisture in dryland ecosystems under future climate scenarios.

Reforestation regulated soil bacterial community structure along vertical profiles in the Loess Plateau.

Introduction: Reforestation is a widely used strategy for ecological restoration in areas facing ecological degradation. Soil bacteria regulate many functional processes in terrestrial ecosystems; however, how they respond to reforestation processes in surface and deep soils remains unclear. Methods: Artificial Robinia pseudoacacia plantation with different stand ages (8, 22, and 32 years) in a typical fallow forest on the Loess Plateau was selected to explore the differential response of soil bacterial community to reforestation in different soil depths (surface 0-200 cm, middle 200-500 cm, and deep 500-100 cm). Soil bacterial diversity, community composition and the co-occurrence patterns, as well as the functions were analyzed. Results and discussion: The results showed that alpha diversity and the presence of biomarkers (keynote species) decreased with the increasing soil depth, with a sharp reduction in family-level biomarker numbers in 500-1,000 cm depth, while reforestation had a positive impact on bacterial alpha diversity and biomarkers. Reforestation induced a more loosely connected bacterial community, as evidenced by an increase of 9.38, 22.87, and 37.26% in the average path length of the co-occurrence network in all three soil layers, compared to farmland. In addition, reforestation reduced the hierarchy and complexity but increased the modularity of the co-occurrence network in top and deep soil layers. Reforestation also led to enrichment in the relative abundance of functional pathways in all soil layers. This study sheds light on the strategies employed by deep soil bacteria in response to reforestation and underscores the significant potential of deep soil bacteria in terrestrial ecosystems, particularly in the context of human-induced environmental changes.

Elevated serum trimethylamine oxide levels as potential biomarker for diabetic kidney disease.

Background: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) has become a major cause of chronic kidney disease. However, early diagnosis of DKD is challenging. Trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) is an intestinal microbial metabolite which might be associated with diabetes complications. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between TMAO and DKD. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 108 T2DM patients and 33 healthy subjects were enrolled in this study. Multiple logistic regression analyses and area under receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROC) were performed to evaluate the correlation between serum TMAO and DKD. Results: Serum TMAO levels were significantly higher in DKD patients than healthy control group and the NDKD (T2DM without combined DKD) group (P < 0.05). TMAO levels were negatively correlated with eGFR and positively correlated with urea nitrogen, ACR and DKD (P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis indicated that serum TMAO was one of the independent risk factors for DKD patients (P < 0.05). In the diagnostic model, the AUROC of TMAO for the diagnosis of DKD was 0.691. Conclusion: Elevated levels of serum TMAO levels were positively associated with the risk of DKD in T2DM patients, which might be a potential biomarker for DKD.

Research progress on the role and mechanism of action of exosomes in autoimmune thyroid disease.

Exosomes are widely distributed extracellular vesicles (EVs), which are currently a major research hotspot for researchers based on their wide range of sources, stable membrane structure, low immunogenicity, and containing a variety of biomolecules. A large number of literatures have shown that exosomes and exosome cargoes (especially microRNAs) play an important role in the activation of inflammation, development of tumor, differentiation of cells, regulation of immunity and so on. Studies have found that exosomes can stimulate the immune response of the body and participate in the occurrence and development of various diseases, including autoimmune diseases. Furthermore, the potential of exosomes as therapeutic tools in various diseases has also attracted much attention. Autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD) is one of the most common autoimmune diseases, mainly composed of Graves' disease (GD) and Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT), which affects the health of many people and has a genetic predisposition, but its pathogenesis is still being explored. Starting from the relevant biological characteristics of exosomes, this review summarizes the current research status of exosomes and the association between exosomes and some diseases, with a focus on the situation of AITD and the potential role of exosomes (including substances in their vesicles) in AITD in combination with the current published literature, aiming to provide new directions for the pathogenesis, diagnosis or therapy of AITD.Supplemental data for this article is available online at.

Circular RNA profile in Graves' disease and potential function of hsa_circ_0090364.

Background: Graves' disease is a common autoimmune disease. Cytokines and their signalling pathways play a major part in the pathogenesis of Graves' disease; however, the underlying mechanism needs to be clarified. Aims: The aim of this study was to explore whether circular RNAs participate in the immunological pathology of Graves' disease via cytokine-related signalling pathways. Methods: Bioinformatics analysis was performed to identify differentially expressed circular RNAs and their targets and associated pathways. A total of three patients with Graves' disease and three sex- and age-matched healthy controls were enrolled for validation with microarray analysis and real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). An additional 24 patients with Graves' disease and 24 gender- and age-matched controls were included for validation by real-time fluorescent qPCR. Flow cytometry and CCK8 assays were used to detect the apoptotic and proliferative levels of Jurkat cells (T lymphocytes) with the silenced expression of circRNA. ELISA was performed to detect the growth and apoptosis-related proteins. The competition mechanism of endogenous RNA was explored by real-time fluorescence qPCR. Results: A total of 366 significantly differentially expressed circular RNAs were identified in the Graves' disease group compared to healthy controls. The level of hsa_circ_0090364 was elevated in Graves' disease patients and positively correlated with thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor antibodies. Further analyses suggested that hsa_circ_0090364 may regulate the JAK-STAT pathway via the hsa-miR-378a-3p/IL-6ST/IL21R axis to promote cell growth. Conclusions: These results provide novel clues into the pathophysiological mechanisms of Graves' disease and potential targets for drug treatment.

Strategies to Improve the Stability of Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes: Progress and Perspective.

Perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) featuring excellent electroluminescent (EL) characteristics and facile production have been emerging as promising candidates for next-generation high-definition displays. In recent years, tremendous advances have been achieved in the EL efficiency of PeLEDs. However, their poor operational stability impedes practical applications. Particularly, the severe spectral instability of pure-blue and pure-red PeLEDs lags far behind the requirements of commercial displays. In this Perspective, the critical factors related to device degradation are first summarized, including perovskite crystal defects, unbalanced charge injection, Auger recombination, and Joule heating. Then, the recent progress in improving the operational and spectral stabilities is reviewed in categories. Considering the present achievements, we provide potential research directions for further development of stable PeLEDs.

The Effect of Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines on TRAB in Graves' Disease.

Background: The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has forced the development of vaccines. Reports have suggested that vaccines play a role in inducing autoimmune diseases (AIDs). Scattered cases have reported that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccines may promote thyroid disease, including Graves' disease (GD). However, the effect of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine on GD remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the response of thyrotropin receptor antibody (TRAB) to inactivated SARS-COV-2 vaccines. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study to observe the differences in thyroid function and TRAB trends between pre-vaccination (n=412) and post-vaccination (n=231) groups at an interval of 2 months. We then retrospectively observed the differences in serum thyroid function and TRAB levels at 3 months before (n=280), 1 month before (n=294), 1 month after (n=306), and 3 months after (n=250) vaccination. Subsequently, 173 GD patients who were not vaccinated with inactivated SARS-COV-2 vaccines were selected for a prospective study. Thyroid function and TRAB assessment were performed before 3 and 1 months and 1 and 3 months after the first dose of vaccination and were then compared by repeated measures ANOVA to explore their dynamic changes. Results: A retrospective study preliminarily observed that the trend of TRAB post-vaccination was opposite of that pre-vaccination (p=0.000), serum TRAB levels decreased before vaccination and increased after vaccination. In this prospective study, repeated measures ANOVA indicated significant differences in serum FT3 (p=0.000), FT4 (p=0.000), TSH (p=0.000), and TRAB (p=0.000) levels at different time points before and after vaccination. Serum TRAB levels showed dynamic changes that decreased significantly at 1 month before vaccination (p=0.000), no significant differences at 1 month after vaccination (p=0.583), and reflected an upward trend at 3 months after vaccination (p=0.034). Serum FT3 and FT4 levels showed similar trends to serum TRAB levels before and after vaccination. Instead, the serum TSH levels showed a continuous upward trend over time. Conclusion: Based on the results obtained in both retrospective and prospective studies, we concluded that serum TRAB levels decreased less after inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and showed an upward trend, which may be related to humoral immunity induced by vaccination.

Factors controlling the spatial variability of soil aggregates and associated organic carbon across a semi-humid watershed.

Soil aggregates (SA) play crucial roles in soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration. Different SA fractions contribute differently to the sequestration of SOC. However, few studies have examined the factors controlling SA fractions and associated SOC contents across a watershed. Soil samples were collected at 0-10 cm (surface layer) and 10-20 cm (subsurface layer) from 88 sites across a semi-humid watershed (1.1 km2) on the Loess Plateau, China. These samples were separated into macroaggregates (MA), microaggregates (MI), and silt + clay fractions (SC) by wet-sieving, and SOC content of each fraction was determined. The objectives were to: 1) investigate the spatial variability of SA fractions and associated SOC contents as well as their main controls across an entire watershed, and 2) explore the linkages between soil aggregation and SOC sequestration. The bulk and aggregate SOC contents of all SA fractions showed moderate variability, with coefficient of variations of 23.3-31.9%. Geostatistical analysis indicated that the spatial patterns of SA fractions and SOC content varied with aggregate size. From combined Spearman's correlation analysis and structural equation modelling, we found that soil texture was an important control on the spatial variability of all SA fractions and associated SOC contents. Vegetation dynamics and management practices associated with land use were also important controls on MA and MI and their associated SOC contents, especially in the surface layer. However, SC and its associated SOC content were more sensitive to eco-hydrological processes related to topography. Among the land uses, grassland had the greatest SOC sequestration potential. The fine roots of herbs can wrap MI in MA and increase SOC content within MA, which is the primary mechanism responsible for SOC sequestration in grasslands. These results indicate that using vegetation with fine root systems for restoration is a good strategy to increase SOC sequestration in this region.

High T3 Induces ß-Cell Insulin Resistance via Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress.

Hyperthyroidism can cause glucose metabolism disorders and insulin resistance. Insulin resistance in muscle and adipose tissues has been extensively studied, whereas investigations on ß-cell insulin resistance are limited. This study preliminarily explored the effects of high T3 levels on ß-cell line (MIN6) insulin resistance, as well as the roles of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS). In this study, we treated ß-cell line with T3, with or without an inhibitor of phosphotyrosine phosphatases (PTPs, sodium vanadate) or ERS inhibitor (4-PBA). The results indicated that high levels of T3 significantly inhibited insulin secretion in ß-cell line. In addition, we observed an upregulation of p-IRS-1ser307 and downregulation of Akt. These results can be corrected by sodium vanadate. Moreover, high T3 levels upregulate the ERS-related proteins PERK, IRE1, ATF6, and GRP78, as well as ERS-related apoptosis CHOP and caspase-12. Similarly, this change can be corrected by 4-PBA. These results suggest that high T3 levels can induce insulin resistance in ß-cell line by activating ERS and the apoptotic pathway.

Abnormal Iodine Nutrition-Induced ER Stress Upregulates MCP-1 Expression Through P38/MAPK Signaling Pathway in Thyroid Cells.

Iodine is an important chemical for thyroid hormone synthesis. The association between iodine nutrition status and the risk of disease present U-shaped curve, as either low or high iodine nutrition status will increase the risk of thyroid diseases. Endoplasmic reticulum stress (ER stress), which can induce over expressions of inflammation factors, like monocyte chemo-attractant protein-1 (MCP-1), is related to the pathogenesis of thyroid disease. However, the correlations among iodine, MCP-1 and ER stress are not entirely clear during the pathogenesis of thyroid diseases. Present study aims to investigate how iodine nutrition status influences MCP-1 expression through P38/MAPK pathway as well as the roles of ER stress in this process. Human thyroid cells (Nthy-ori-3-1) was used as a cell model in this study. The expressions of p-P38, PERK, IRE1, ATF6, and MCP-1 were detected after the cells were treated with iodine at different concentrations with or without ER stress inhibitor (4-PBA) or P38/MAPK blocker (SB203580). The expressions of p-P38, PERK, IRE1, ATF6, and MCP-1 in Nthy-ori-3-1 cells treated with iodine at abnormal concentrations were all significantly higher than those in cells treated with iodine at normal concentration. However, addition of ER stress blocker, 4-PBA in the abnormal-iodine treated cells, decreased the expressions of p-P38, PERK, IRE1, ATF6, and MCP-1. Similarly, P38/MAPK activity inhibitor, SB203580, also decreased the expressions of p-P38 and MCP-1. Abnormal iodine nutrition status triggered ER stress and upregulated MCP-1 expression through P38/MAPK signaling pathway in thyrocyte.