Contrasting effects of experiencing temporally heterogeneous light availability versus homogenous shading on plant subsequent responses to light conditions.

Temporally heterogeneous environments is hypothesized to correlate with greater plasticity of plants, which has rarely been supported by direct evidence. To address this issue, we subjected three species from different ranges of habitats to a first round of alternating full light and heavy shading (temporally heterogeneous light experience), constant moderate shading and full light conditions (temporally homogeneous light experiences, control) and a second round of light-gradient treatments. We measured plant performance in a series of morphological, biomass, physiological and biochemical traits at the end of each round. Compared to constant full light experience, temporally heterogeneous light conditions induced immediate active biochemical responses (in the first round) with improved late growth in biomass (during the second round); constant moderate shading experience increased photosynthetic physiological and biomass performances of plants in early response, and decreased their late growth in biomass. The karst endemic species of Kmeria septentrionalis showed greater improvement in late growth of biomass and lower decrease in biochemical performance, due to early heterogeneous experience, compared to the non-karst species of Lithocarpus glaber and the karst adaptable species of Celtis sinensis. Results suggested plants will prefer to produce morphological and physiological responses that are less reversible and more costly in the face of more reliable environmental cues at early stage in spite of decreased future growth potential, but to produce immediate biochemical responses for higher late growth potential when early environmental cues are less reliable, to avoid the loss of high costs and low profits. Typical karst species should be more able to benefit from early temporally heterogeneous experience, due to long-term adaptation to karst habitats of high environmental heterogeneity and low resource availability.

Experimental study on tilting deformation and a new method for landslide prediction with retaining-wall locked segment.

The destruction of the locked-segment type landslide is often accompanied by the destruction of the locked segment with cumulative effects. Investigating the failure mode and instability mechanism of locked-segment type landslides is crucial. The study uses physical models to examine the evolution of locked-segment type landslides with retaining-walls. It utilizes a variety of instruments (tilt sensors, micro earth pressure sensors, pore water pressure sensors, strain gauges, and others) to conduct physical model tests of locked-segment type landslide with retaining-wall and to reveal the tilting deformation and evolution mechanism of retaining-wall locked landslide under the condition of rainfall. The results showed that the regularity of tilting rate, tilting acceleration, strain, and stress change in the retaining-wall locked segment is consistent with the landslide evolution process, indicating that tilting deformation can be used as the criterion of landslide instability and that the locked segment plays a vital role in controlling the landslide stability. The tertiary creep stages of tilting deformation are divided into initial, medium, and high tertiary creep stages using an improved angle tangent method. This establishes the failure criterion for locked-segment type landslides with tilting angles of 0.34°, 1.89°, and 4.38°. In addition, the tilting deformation curve of a locked-segment type landslide with a retaining-wall is utilized to predict the landslide instability by the reciprocal velocity method.

Clinical effect of micturition interruption exercise on urinary incontinence after radical prostatectomy.

PURPOSE: To explore the effectiveness of micturition interruption exercise in improving the incidence of urinary incontinence after radical prostatectomy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: With a retrospective case-control study, 96 patients admitted in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University from August 2014 to August 2020 and underwent radical prostatectomy were collected as the subjects. Those patients who used micturition interruption exercise (n = 48) were set as the therapy group, and the control group was collected according to the ratio of 1:1; the patients used Kegel exercise (n = 48) to compare the rehabilitation of urinary incontinence in patients and the effect of training compliance on rehabilitation. RESULTS: The recovery time of urinary incontinence in the therapy group was significantly shorter than that of the control group. In the therapy group, 83.3% of patients with training compliance reached an average or above, while the control group only accounted for 58.3%. International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Short-Form score of the therapy group was lower than that of the control group after surgery. Spearman analysis suggests that there is a negative correlation between the postoperative urinary incontinence recovery time and compliance with the micturition interruption exercise. CONCLUSIONS: Micturition interruption exercise could not only improve the compliance of patients with exercise, but also significantly shorten the recovery time of urinary incontinence after radical prostatectomy.

Induction of Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress by Cadmium and Its Regulation on Nrf2 Signaling Pathway in Kidneys of Rats.

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to investigate the regulation of endoplasmic reticulum stress on Nrf2 signaling pathway in the kidneys of rats. METHODS: Rats were divided into twelve groups of six animals each. Some groups were pre-administered with bacitracin or tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA), and all of them were treated with 5-20 µmol/kg cadmium (Cd) for 48 h. The oxidative stress levels were analyzed using kits. The mRNA and protein expression levels of endoplasmic reticulum stress-related factors and Nrf2 signaling pathway-related factors were determined using RT-PCR and western blot. RESULTS: Cd exposure resulted in oxidative stress in the kidneys of rats and upregulated the expression of endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS)-related factors and Nrf2 signaling pathway-related factors, especially at doses of 10 and 20 µmol/kg Cd, and the expression changes were particularly obvious. Moreover, after pretreatment with bacitracin, Cd upregulated the expression of ERS-related factors to a certain extent and, at higher doses, increased the mRNA expression of Nrf2. After pretreatment with TUDCA, Cd reduced the level of ERS to a certain extent; however, at these doses, there were no significant changes in the expression of Nrf2. CONCLUSION: Cadmium can result in ERS and oxidative stress in the kidneys of rats, activate Nrf2, and upregulate the transcriptional expression of phase II detoxification enzymes under these experimental conditions. ERS has a positive regulation effect on Nrf2 signaling pathway but has little effect on the negative regulation of Nrf2 signaling pathway in cadmium toxicity.

Cloning, expression, and characterization of a four-component O-demethylase from human intestinal bacterium Eubacterium limosum ZL-II.

Eubacterium limosum ZL-II was described to convert secoisolariciresinol (SECO) to its demethylating product 4,4'-dihydroxyenterodiol (DHEND) under anoxic conditions. However, the reaction cascade remains unclear. Here, the O-demethylase being responsible for the conversion was identified and characterized. Nine genes encoding two methyltransferase-Is (MT-I), two corrinoid proteins (CP), two methyltransferase-IIs (MT-II), and three activating enzymes (AE) were screened, cloned, and expressed in Escherichia coli. Four of the nine predicted enzymes, including ELI_2003 (MT-I), ELI_2004 (CP), ELI_2005 (MT-II), and ELI_0370 (AE), were confirmed to constitute the O-demethylase in E. limosum ZL-II. The complete O-demethylase (combining the four components) reaction system was reconstructed in vitro. As expected, the demethylating products 3-demethyl-SECO and DHEND were both produced. During the reaction process, ELI_2003 (MT-I) initially catalyzed the transfer of methyl group from SECO to the corrinoid of ELI_2004 ([CoI]-CP), yielding demethylating products and [CH3-CoIII]-CP; then ELI_2005 (MT-II) mediated the transfer of methyl group from [CH3-CoIII]-CP to tetrahydrofolate, forming methyltetrahydrofolate and [CoI]-CP. Due to the low redox potential of [CoII]/[CoI], [CoI]-CP was oxidized to [CoII]-CP immediately in vitro, and ELI_0370 (AE) was responsible for catalyzing the reduction of [CoII]-CP to its active form [CoI]-CP. The active-site residues in ELI_2003, ELI_2005, and ELI_0370 were subsequently determined using molecular modeling combined with site-directed mutagenesis. To our knowledge, this is the first study on the identification and characterization of a four-component O-demethylase from E. limosum ZL-II, which will facilitate the development of method to artificial synthesis of related bioactive chemicals.

[Observation on therapeutic effect of Jingjin therapy on migraine].

OBJECTIVE: To observe therapeutic effect of Jingjin therapy on migraine and search for an ideal way for non-medical treatment of migraine. METHODS: One hundred cases of migraine were randomly divided into a observation group and a control group, 50 cases in each group. The observation group were treated with Jingjin therapy, and the control group with oral administration of Nimodipine. RESULTS: The total effective rate was 100.0% in the observation group and 70.0% in the control group with a significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.01). The therapeutic effect for attacking times, attacking lasting time, headache index and accompanied symptoms in the observation group was better than that in the control group (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION Jingjin therapy has an obvious therapeutic effect on migraine.

[Clinical observation on hemiplegia early rehabilitation effects of different acupuncture programs].

OBJECTIVE: To observe early rehabilitation of two different acupuncture programs for hemiplegia due to stroke. METHODS: Seventy cases of early hemiplegia due to stroke were randomly divided into a treatment group and a control group. The treatment group were treated by acupuncture at acupoints of both the healthy and affected sides, twice each day, respectively, and the control group by acupuncture at the affected side, once daily. Their therapeutic effects were evaluated by the brief Fugl-Meyer movement scale and the modified Barthel indexes. RESULTS: The patients with over grade IV for FMA accounted for 68.6% and the good rate for ADL was 74.3% in the treatment group, and 31.4% and 42.8% in the control group, respectively, the therapeutic effect of the treatment group being better than that of the control group (P<0.01 or P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The acupuncture program in which acupoints at both the healthy and affected sides are applied alternately is more beneficial to recovery of motor function and activity daily living (ADL) of the patient with hemiplegia due to stroke.