Fabrication and characterization of a bioactive composite scaffold based on polymeric collagen/gelatin/nano ß-TCP for alveolar bone regeneration.

One strategy to correct alveolar bone defects is use of bioactive bone substitutes to maintain the structure of defect site and facilitate cells and vessels' ingrowth. This study aimed to fabricate and characterize the freeze-dried bone regeneration scaffolds composed of polymeric Type I collagen, nano Beta-tricalcium phosphate (ß-TCP), and gelatin. The stable structures of scaffolds were obtained by thermal crosslinking and EDC/NHS ((1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide)/(N-hydroxysuccinimide)) chemical crosslinking processes. Subsequently, the physicochemical and biological properties of the scaffolds were characterized and assessed. The results indicated the bioactive composite scaffolds containing 10% and 20% (w/v) nano ß-TCP exhibited suitable porosity (84.45 ± 25.43 nm, and 94.51 ± 14.69 nm respectively), a rapid swelling property (reaching the maximum swelling rate at 1 h), excellent degradation resistance (residual mass percentage of scaffolds higher than 80% on day 90 in PBS and Type I collagenase solution respectively), and sustained calcium release capabilities. Moreover, they displayed outstanding biological properties, including superior cell viability, cell adhesion, and cell proliferation. Additionally, the scaffolds containing 10% and 20% (w/v) nano ß-TCP could promote the osteogenic differentiation of MC3T3-E1. Therefore, the bioactive composite scaffolds containing 10% and 20% (w/v) nano ß-TCP could be further studied for being used to treat alveolar bone defects in vivo.

Deep learning model for the detection of prostate cancer and classification of clinically significant disease using multiparametric MRI in comparison to PI-RADs score.

BACKGROUND: The Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) is an established reporting scheme for multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) to distinguish clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa). Deep learning (DL) holds great potential for automating csPCa classification on mpMRI. METHOD: To compare the performance between a DL algorithm and PI-RADS categorization in PCa detection and csPCa classification, we included 1,729 consecutive patients who underwent radical prostatectomy or biopsy in Tongji hospital. We developed DL models by integrating individual mpMRI sequences and employing an ensemble approach for distinguishing between csPCa and CiSPCa (specifically defined as PCa with a Gleason group 1 or benign prostate disease, training cohort: 1,285 patients vs. external testing cohort: 315 patients). RESULTS: DL-based models exhibited higher csPCa detection rates than PI-RADS categorization (area under the curve [AUC]: 0.902; sensitivity: 0.728; specificity: 0.906 vs. AUC: 0.759; sensitivity: 0.761; specificity: 0.756) (P < 0.001) Notably, DL networks exhibited significant strength in the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) arm < 10 ng/ml compared with PI-RADS assessment (AUC: 0.788; sensitivity: 0.588; specificity: 0.883 vs. AUC: 0.618; sensitivity: 0.379; specificity: 0.763) (P = 0.041). CONCLUSIONS: We developed DL-based mpMRI ensemble models for csPCa classification with improved sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy compared with clinical PI-RADS assessment. In the PSA-stratified condition, the DL ensemble model performed better than PI-RADS in the detection of csPCa in both the high PSA group and the low PSA group.

Fabrication of vascularized tissue-engineered bone models using triaxial bioprinting.

Bone tissue is a highly vascularized tissue. When constructing tissue-engineered bone models, both the osteogenic and angiogenic capabilities of the construct should be carefully considered. However, fabricating a vascularized tissue-engineered bone to promote vascular formation and bone generation, while simultaneously establishing nutrition channels to facilitate nutrient exchange within the constructs, remains a significant challenge. Triaxial bioprinting, which not only allows the independent encapsulation of different cell types while simultaneously forming nutrient channels, could potentially emerge as a strategy for fabricating vascularized tissue-engineered bone. Moreover, bioinks should also be applied in combination to promote both osteogenesis and angiogenesis. In this study, employing triaxial bioprinting, we used a blend bioink of gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA), sodium alginate (Alg), and different concentrations of nano beta-tricalcium phosphate (nano ß-TCP) encapsulated MC3T3-E1 preosteoblasts as the outer layer, a mixed bioink of GelMA and Alg loaded with human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) as the middle layer, and gelatin as a sacrificial material to form nutrient channels in the inner layer to fabricate vascularized bone constructs simulating the microenvironment for bone and vascular tissues. The results showed that the addition of nano ß-TCP could adjust the mechanical, swelling, and degradation properties of the constructs. Biological assessments revealed the cell viability of constructs containing different concentrations of nano ß-TCP was higher than 90% on day 7, The cell-laden constructs containing 3% (w/v) nano ß-TCP exhibited better osteogenic (higher Alkaline phosphatase activity and larger Osteocalcin positive area) and angiogenic (the gradual increased CD31 positive area) potential. Therefore, using triaxial bioprinting technology and employing GelMA, Alg, and nano ß-TCP as bioink components could fabricate vascularized bone tissue constructs, offering a novel strategy for vascularized bone tissue engineering.

Changes in Microbial Composition During the Succession of Biological Soil Crusts in Alpine Hulun Buir Sandy Land, China.

Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) are considered "desert ecosystem engineers" because they play a vital role in the restoration and stability maintenance of deserts, including those cold sandy land ecosystems at high latitudes, which are especially understudied. Microorganisms participate in the formation and succession of biocrusts, contributing to soil properties' improvement and the stability of soil aggregates, and thus vegetation development. Accordingly, understanding the composition and successional characteristics of microorganisms is a prerequisite for analyzing the ecological functions of biocrusts and related applications. Here, the Hulun Buir Sandy Land region in northeastern China-lying at the highest latitude of any sandy land in the country-was selected for study. Through a field investigation and next-generation sequencing (Illumina MiSeq PE300 Platform), our goal was to assess the shifts in diversity and community composition of soil bacteria and fungi across different stages during the succession of biocrusts in this region, and to uncover the main factors involved in shaping their soil microbial community. The results revealed that the nutrient enrichment capacity of biocrusts for available nitrogen, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total content of water-soluble salt, available potassium, soil organic matter, and available phosphorus was progressively enhanced by the succession of cyanobacterial crusts to lichen crusts and then to moss crusts. In tandem, soil bacterial diversity increased as biocrust succession proceeded but fungal diversity decreased. A total of 32 bacterial phyla and 11 fungal phyla were identified, these also known to occur in other desert ecosystems. Among those taxa, the relative abundance of Proteobacteria and Cyanobacteria significantly increased and decreased, respectively, along the cyanobacterial crust-lichen-moss crust successional gradient. However, for Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Acidobacteria their changed relative abundance was significantly hump-shaped, increasing in the shift from cyanobacterial crust to lichen crust, and then decreasing as lichen crust shifted to moss crust. In this process, the improved soil properties effectively enhanced soil bacterial and fungal community composition. Altogether, these findings broaden our understanding about how soil microbial properties can change during the succession of biocrusts in high-latitude, cold sandy land ecosystems.

Oncogene goosecoid is transcriptionally regulated by E2F1 and correlates with disease progression in prostate cancer.

BACKGROUND: Although some well-established oncogenes are involved in cancer initiation and progression such as prostate cancer (PCa), the long tail of cancer genes remains to be defined. Goosecoid (GSC) has been implicated in cancer development. However, the comprehensive biological role of GSC in pan-cancer, specifically in PCa, remains unexplored. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of GSC in PCa development. METHODS: We performed a systematic bioinformatics exploration of GSC using datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas, Genotype-Tissue Expression, Gene Expression Omnibus, German Cancer Research Center, and our in-house cohorts. First, we evaluated the expression of GSC and its association with patient prognosis, and identified GSC-relevant genetic alterations in cancers. Further, we focused on the clinical characterization and prognostic analysis of GSC in PCa. To understand the transcriptional regulation of GSC by E2F transcription factor 1 (E2F1), we performed chromatin immunoprecipitation quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Functional experiments were conducted to validate the effect of GSC on the tumor cellular phenotype and sensitivity to trametinib. RESULTS: GSC expression was elevated in various tumors and significantly correlated with patient prognosis. The alterations of GSC contribute to the progression of various tumors especially in PCa. Patients with PCa and high GSC expression exhibited worse progression-free survival and biochemical recurrence outcomes. Further, GSC upregulation in patients with PCa was mostly accompanied with higher Gleason score, advanced tumor stage, lymph node metastasis, and elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels. Mechanistically, the transcription factor, E2F1, stimulates GSC by binding to its promoter region. Detailed experiments further demonstrated that GSC acted as an oncogene and influenced the response of PCa cells to trametinib treatment. CONCLUSIONS: GSC was highly overexpressed and strongly correlated with patient prognosis in PCa. We found that GSC, regulated by E2F1, acted as an oncogene and impeded the therapeutic efficacy of trametinib in PCa.

Integrating bioinformatic analysis and detailed experiments reveal an EMT-related biomarker for clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is associated with early recurrence and a poor prognosis in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). Studies have shown that EMT-related genes play an important regulatory role in tumor invasion, metastasis, and drug resistance, but the biological functions of EMT-related genes in ccRCC have not been specifically described. METHODS: The mRNA and clinicopathological data of 532 ccRCC and 72 normal samples were downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas as a training set. The gene expression matrix and survival data of 91 and 101 ccRCC samples were obtained from the International Cancer Genome Consortium and the ArrayExpress databases as validation sets, respectively. Univariate Cox analysis was used to identify and cluster prognostic genes, and multivariate Cox was performed to construct a prognostic signature. Moreover, CIBERSORT and CellMiner were used to assess immune cell infiltration and prognostic gene-drug sensitivity of the signature, respectively. Most importantly, we performed detailed experiments to verify the oncogenic function of a significant gene, OLFML2B, in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS: We constructed a prognostic signature including seven genes and divided patients into high-risk and low-risk groups. The prognosis of the high-risk group was significantly worse than that of the low-risk group through Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. Interestingly, significant differences were observed in clinical characteristics and immune cell infiltration between the two groups. In addition, a significant correlation was found between the expression of prognostic genes and the sensitivity of tumor cells to chemotherapeutics. Most importantly, OLFML2B was proved to contribute to the proliferation and metastasis of ccRCC through detailed functional experiments in vitro and in vivo, and its prognostic efficacy for ccRCC patients was affirmed. CONCLUSION: We identified the prognostic signature of seven genes based on EMT-related genes as prognostic biomarkers for ccRCC. Besides, OLFML2B was validated as a potential diagnostic and therapeutic target for ccRCC by our detailed experiments.

Targeting Alpha-Ketoglutarate Disruption Overcomes Immunoevasion and Improves PD-1 Blockade Immunotherapy in Renal Cell Carcinoma.

The Warburg effect-related metabolic dysfunction of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle has emerged as a hallmark of various solid tumors, particularly renal cell carcinoma (RCC). RCC is characterized by high immune infiltration and thus recommended for immunotherapeutic interventions at an advanced stage in clinical guidelines. Nevertheless, limited benefits of immunotherapy have prompted investigations into underlying mechanisms, leading to the proposal of metabolic dysregulation-induced immunoevasion as a crucial contributor. In this study, a significant decrease is found in the abundance of alpha-ketoglutarate (αKG), a crucial intermediate metabolite in the TCA cycle, which is correlated with higher grades and a worse prognosis in clinical RCC samples. Elevated levels of αKG promote major histocompatibility complex-I (MHC-I) antigen processing and presentation, as well as the expression of ß2-microglobulin (B2M). While αKG modulates broad-spectrum demethylation activities of histone, the transcriptional upregulation of B2M is dependent on the demethylation of H3K4me1 in its promoter region. Furthermore, the combination of αKG supplementation and PD-1 blockade leads to improved therapeutic efficacy and prolongs survival in murine models when compared to monotherapy. Overall, the findings elucidate the mechanisms of immune evasion in anti-tumor immunotherapies and suggest a potential combinatorial treatment strategy in RCC.

Triaxial bioprinting large-size vascularized constructs with nutrient channels.

Bioprinting has demonstrated great advantages in tissue and organ regeneration. However, constructing large-scale tissue and organsin vitrois still a huge challenge due to the lack of some strategies for loading multiple types of cells precisely while maintaining nutrient channels. Here, a new 3D bioprinting strategy was proposed to construct large-scale vascularized tissue. A mixture of gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) and sodium alginate (Alg) was used as a bioink, serving as the outer and middle layers of a single filament in the triaxial printing process, and loaded with human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and human umbilical vein endothelial cells, respectively, while a calcium chloride (CaCl2) solution was used as the inner layer. The CaCl2solution crosslinked with the middle layer bioink during the printing process to form and maintain hollow nutrient channels, then a stable large-scale construct was obtained through photopolymerization and ion crosslinking after printing. The feasibility of this strategy was verified by investigating the properties of the bioink and construct, and the biological performance of the vascularized construct. The results showed that a mixture of 5% (w/v) GelMA and 1% (w/v) Alg bioink could be printed at room temperature with good printability and perfusion capacity. Then, the construct with and without channels was fabricated and characterized, and the results revealed that the construct with channels had a similar degradation profile to that without channels, but lower compressive modulus and higher swelling rate. Biological investigation showed that the construct with channels was more favorable for cell survival, proliferation, diffusion, migration, and vascular network formation. In summary, it was demonstrated that constructing large-scale vascularized tissue by triaxial printing that can precisely encapsulate multiple types of cells and form nutrient channels simultaneously was feasible, and this technology could be used to prepare large-scale vascularized constructs.

A novel gene signature related to oxidative stress predicts the prognosis in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is considered to be related to the worse prognosis, which might in part be attributed to the early recurrence and metastasis, compared with other type of kidney cancer. Oxidative stress refers to an imbalance between production of oxidants and antioxidant defense. Accumulative studies have indicated that oxidative stress genes contribute to the tumor invasion, metastasis and drug sensitivity. However, the biological functions of oxidative stress genes in ccRCC remain largely unknown. In this study, we identified 1,399 oxidative stress genes from GeneCards with a relevance score ≥7. Data for analysis were accessed from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) database, and were utilized as training set and validation set respectively. Univariate Cox analysis, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression and multivariate Cox were employed to construct a prognostic signature in ccRCC. Finally, a prognostic signature including four different oxidative stress genes was constructed from 1,399 genes, and its predictive performance was verified through Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Interestingly, we found that there was significant correlation between the expression of oxidative stress genes and the immune infiltration and the sensitivity of tumor cells to chemotherapeutics. Moreover, the highest hazard ratio gene urocortin (UCN) was chosen for further study; some necessary vitro experiments proved that the UCN could promote the ability of ccRCC proliferation and migration and contribute to the degree of oxidative stress. In conclusion, it was promising to predict the prognosis of ccRCC through the four oxidative stress genes signature. UCN played oncogenic roles in ccRCC by influencing proliferation and oxidative stress pathway, which was expected to be the novel therapeutic target for ccRCC.

Out of the shadows: Impact of SARS experience on Chinese netizens' willingness to donate for COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control.

While charitable donations help to raise funds and contribute to pandemic prevention and control, there are many unanswered questions about how people make such donation decisions, especially in countries like China where charitable donations have played an increasing role in recent years. This study contributes to the literature by assessing the potential impacts of Chinese netizens' experience with the 2002 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic on their willingness to donate for COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control. Specifically, this study applies a difference-in-differences (DID) model to a dataset collected from a nationwide survey to examine how individuals' exposure to the SARS epidemic affects their willingness to donate to alleviate the COVID-19 pandemic. The results suggest that individuals' SARS epidemic experiences in their early lives, especially during the "childhood-adolescence" period, had a lasting and far-reaching impact on their willingness to donate toward COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control. Also, the impacts were likely heterogeneous by such sociodemographic factors as educational background, health status, and income level. The empirical findings highlight the importance of considering early-life experiences in developing and implementing epidemic prevention and control policies. While the SARS experience likely affected Chinese netizens' willingness to donate toward COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control, lessons learned from both the SARS epidemic and COVID-19 pandemic could be used to develop more effective public health education and prevention programs as well as to increase public donations for future pandemic prevention and control.

Hydroxysafflor yellow A protects against ulcerative colitis via suppressing TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway.

Hydroxysafflower yellow A (HSYA) protects against acute kidney injury through TLR4/NF-κB pathway. However, the effect and potential mechanism of HSYA in ulcerative colitis (UC) have been rarely reported, which is thus investigated in this research. An in vivo UC model was established by oral administration of 5% dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) in Sprague-Dawley rats. After HSYA treatment, the daily body weight and colon length of rats were measured. Then rat colon tissues, myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, and the levels of inflammatory cytokines were examined by histopathological examination (HE) staining, immunohistochemistry, ultraviolet spectrophotometry, and enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA) respectively. The activated TLR4/NF-κB pathway was detected by Western blot. RAW 264.7 cell viability was detected by MTT assay after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment, and ELISA and Western blot were performed again to investigate the effects of HSYA on LPS-treated cells. DSS administration increased body weight and colon length of rats and induced colon tissue injury. DSS or LPS treatment up-regulated the levels of TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6 and activated TLR4/NF-κB pathway of colon tissues and cells, respectively. HSYA partially reversed the above effect of DSS and LPS treatment, and the effects of the drug were improved with the dosage. Taken together, HSYA alleviates UC by suppressing TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway, which may provide a new insight for the treatment of UC.

The rhizosphere effect of native legume Albizzia julibrissin on coastal saline soil nutrient availability, microbial modulation, and aggregate formation.

In the coastal zones, numerous ecological shelterbelt projects were conducted to protect against natural hazards. However, it is still not fully understood whether phytoremediation with native legume Albizzia julibrissin plantation can improve saline soil structural development or microbial community structure. In this study, a field experiment was conducted to investigate the responses of rhizosphere soil salinity, nutrients, bacterial community, and aggregate structure to A. julibrissin plantation in a recently reclaimed area along Zhejiang coast, China. After ~3-year plantation, rhizosphere soil pH and EC reduced to 8.25 and 0.14 dS·m-1, respectively, belonging to non-saline soil. Meanwhile, total organic carbon (TOC), permanganate-oxidizable carbon (POXC), total nitrogen (TN), alkali-hydrolyzable nitrogen (AN), and ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) were significantly increased in rhizosphere soil compared with bare land (P < 0.05). Consequently, rhizosphere soil had favorable habitat condition for copiotrophic bacterial taxa (e.g., Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, and Bacteroidates), as well as high diversity, complex co-occurrence network, and catabolism related with nutrient cycling. The soil particle size of bare land was < 0.053 mm, while microaggregate (0.053-0.25 mm) and macroaggregate (0.25-2 mm) were formed in the rhizosphere and coupled with C accumulation and Fe removal. Soil aggregates were of great importance to soil fertility with more efficient bacterial network and biogeochemical cycles of nutrients. N-fixing Rhizobiales preferred to inhabit large soil particle and might primarily contribute to N accumulation. Generally, A. julibrissin was a suitable pioneer tree for mudflat reclamation projects, which effectively improved saline soil rhizosphere environment by reducing salinity, accumulating C and N, and promoting microbial community succession, as well as aggregate structure formation.

LncRNA PVT1 knockdown alleviated ox-LDL-induced vascular endothelial cell injury and atherosclerosis by miR-153-3p/GRB2 axis via ERK/p38 pathway.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: LncRNA plasmacytoma variant translocation 1 (PVT1) plays a regulatory role in some cardiovascular diseases, but its role in atherosclerosis (AS) remains barely explored. The study aimed to investigate the effects of PVT1 on high fat diet-induced AS and its potential mechanisms. METHODS AND RESULTS: ApoE -/- mice were fed with high fat diet for 8 weeks to establish an AS model. Lentiviral vectors containing PVT1 short hairpin RNA (PVT1-shRNA) or NC-shRNA were administered by tail vein injection. Cell viability, apoptosis, inflammatory factor secretion, and cellular oxidative stress were measured to evaluate oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL)-induced human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) injury. Dual-luciferase reporter gene and RNA immunoprecipitation assays were used to confirm the interaction between miR-153-3p and PVT1 or growth factor receptor binding protein 2 (GRB2). Atherosclerotic lesions, lipid deposition, and cell apoptosis in aorta were analyzed by H&E, Oil Red O, and TUNEL straining. PVT1 knockdown alleviated ox-LDL-induced inflammation, apoptosis and oxidative stress in HUVECs. PVT1 acted as a sponge of miR-153-3p, and GRB2 was confirmed as a target of miR-153-3p. MiR-153-3p overexpression attenuated the enhanced effects of PVT1 on ox-LDL-induced cell damage. GRB2 overexpression reversed the mitigating effects of miR-153-3p on ox-LDL-caused injury. Inhibiting PVT1 restrained the activation of ERK1/2 and p38 pathway via miR-153-3p/GRB2 axis. Additionally, silencing PVT1 in vivo reduced atherosclerotic plaques, lipid deposition, inflammation, oxidative stress, and apoptosis in AS mice. CONCLUSION: PVT1 knockdown alleviated ox-LDL-induced vascular endothelial cell injury and atherosclerosis through miR-153-3p/GRB2 axis via ERK1/2 and p38 pathway.

Examining the carbon footprint of rice production and consumption in Hubei, China: A life cycle assessment and uncertainty analysis approach.

This study aimed to quantify greenhouse gas emissions derived from the production-consumption of rice in Hubei-a major rice-producing province in central China. This research employed primary and secondary data collection methods. Primary data sources included interviews and experimental observations from seven counties in Hubei collected from June 2016 to December 2016. Secondary data sources-including national datasets, inter-governmental reports, and peer-reviewed articles-were used to extract relevant data, such as emission factors, and national and provincial rice output. Life Cycle Assessment was employed to build a comprehensive inventory and map of the rice carbon footprint, including the following five stages: production inputs, farm management, growth period, processing and sale, and consumption. Uncertainty analysis was performed to validate the reliability of carbon footprint estimations. Results showed that the carbon footprint for every 1 ton of polished rice in Hubei ranged between 4.19-6.81 t CO2e/t and was 5.39 t CO2e/t on average. Greenhouse gas emissions were primarily produced from rice fields during the growth stage (over 60% of greenhouse gas emissions of the whole life cycle of rice), followed by the consumption stage, and the production and transportation of agricultural inputs. Uncertainty analysis estimations indicated acceptable levels of reliability. This study's results indicate that the production and consumption of rice is a significant contributor to agricultural carbon emissions in Hubei-consistent with national estimates that place China as the largest carbon dioxide emitter globally. This research provides further insight into future policies and targeted initiatives for the efficient use of low-carbon agricultural inputs for rice production and consumption stages in China.

The role of agricultural green production technologies in improving low-carbon efficiency in China: Necessary but not effective.

The effects of agricultural green production technologies (AGPTs) on agricultural productivity and the environment have received increasing attention. With the panel data of agricultural production of mainland China from 2000 to 2017, this study investigates the role of AGPTs adoption rates in improving low-carbon efficiency by adopting a random-effects panel Tobit model. Results indicate that average adoption rates of AGPTs are less than 20% and unbalanced adoptions vary between the main and non-main grain-producing areas, as well as the northern and southern main grain-producing areas. Furthermore, AGPTs adoption reduces low-carbon efficiency at nationwide and main grain-producing areas. In the northern main grain-producing areas, water-saving irrigation and no-tillage seeding reduce low-carbon efficiency, while mechanized returning straw crushing promotes it. In the southern main grain-producing areas, deep tillage with fertilizer application and no-tillage seeding decrease low-carbon efficiency, while mechanized deep ploughing and scarification increases it. We also find that AGPTs can promote low-carbon efficiency through comprehensive mechanization level and mechanical input density. To improve low-carbon efficiency, we suggest that the improvement and diffusion of applicable AGPTs should be adapted to the local production conditions, and the agricultural machinery service, research and development system should be improved as well.

Place attachment, environmental cognition and organic fertilizer adoption of farmers: evidence from rural China.

For preventing the excessive consumption of agricultural resources, it is of vital importance to promote agricultural pro-environmental behavior of farmers. Despite the proven importance of psychological factors in encouraging farmers' adoption of organic fertilizer, the evidence is scarce. To fill this gap, this study aims to explore how place attachment and environmental cognition affect farmers' organic fertilizer adoption with a community sample of 944 rural farmers collected in Hubei province. Specifically, we firstly distinguish two dimensions of place attachment, namely, natural attachment and civic attachment, and then we explore the influence of those dimensions and environmental cognition on farmers' adoption of organic fertilizer. The results reveal that both place attachment and environmental cognition positively affect farmers' organic fertilizer adoption. Furthermore, the roles of place attachment vary across different groups divided by farmers' environmental cognition degree and age. Therefore, to promote green agricultural practices, policy-makers should enhance various farmers' place attachment and environmental cognition by strengthening infrastructure construction, organizing collective activities, and conducting animation propaganda.

Climate change perceptions and the adoption of low-carbon agricultural technologies: Evidence from rice production systems in the Yangtze River Basin.

Using a sample of 1115 rice farmers, we explored climate change perceptions, adoption of agricultural low-carbon technologies (LCTs), and the determinants influencing rice farmers' climate change adaptation in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB), central China. We built a theoretical framework based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and performed both binary and count estimations to explore the determinants affecting farmers' adoption of LCTs. Our results indicated that most rice farmers strongly agreed they observed shifting local weather conditions (52.74% of respondents) and irregular rainfall patterns (52.56%) within the last year. Further, over two-thirds of the respondents perceived that agricultural production contributes to climate variability (26.73% strongly agreed, and 40.54% agreed with that statement). In terms of the adoption intensity of LCTs, we found that about 96% of rice farmers implemented at least one low-carbon technology. Importantly, farmers' perceptions of climate change were positively associated with climate change adaptation. Other significant predictors of climate change adaptation included gender, years of experience, access to agricultural training through extension services, exchange of technical information among farmers, and access to mobile networks and postal services. We underlined policy recommendations that may accelerate climate change adaptation in rice production and complement current agricultural low-carbon programs in China.

Ratoon rice production in central China: Environmental sustainability and food production.

Rice is an important strategic food crop for China concerning food security and environmental sustainability. Ratoon rice (RR) is proposed as a promising rice system to increase grain yield via improving multiple crop index. It is increasingly attractive for farmers due to its high resource efficiency and low labor requirement. Nevertheless, little information is known about the environmental profile of RR production. A comprehensive assessment regarding productivity and sustainability is of urgent importance. This paper aims to investigate the productivity and environmental impact of RR production and to identify its environmental hotspots through life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The analysis was conducted based on land-based and yield-based function units (FUs) using on-farm data from 561 RR producers in Hubei Province, China. The results, which were calculated using the land-based FU, showed that the yields for RR production were an average of 25.3% higher than the yields for traditional single rice production. However, the environmental impacts of RR production disproportionally increased, leading to 23.5% to 35.1% higher pollutant emissions. Opposite results were obtained from the comparisons based on the yield-based FU. The worse environmental results per hectare were canceled out because of its higher yields in RR production, leading to lower environmental impacts per ton of rice. If 18% of the current area that should be planted with traditional double rice shifted into RR instead of traditional single rice, a considerable increase in total rice production would be achieved with minimal environmental impacts. The major contributors to pollutions were methane emissions produced from flooded fields, emissions related to fertilizer and pesticide application, and diesel fuel for machinery. Increased environmental burdens in RR compared to the traditional single rice production were mainly attributed to the additional fertilizers and longer growing period. The study's results indicate that RR can be a viable alternative option to increase productivity with minimal environmental impact in rice production.

Environmental knowledge, risk attitude, and households' willingness to accept compensation for the application of degradable agricultural mulch film: Evidence from rural China.

The promotion and use of degradable agricultural mulch film are satisfactory means to realize the pollution control of agricultural mulch film. Today, when the cost of degradable agricultural mulch film is much higher than that of ordinary agricultural mulch film, appropriate policy tools must be identified. However, relevant research is relatively rare. This paper attempts to understand the acceptability of households of policy tools by investigating households' willingness to apply degradable agricultural mulch film to reduce agricultural mulch film pollution and their requirements for compensation proportion, to make this sector cleaner and pay more attention to the implementation of sustainability principles. The sample is five cities in Hubei province, China; the study is based on extended planned behavior (TPB) theory; and we use the double-hurdle model to analyze "whether to accept compensation" and "proportion of compensation" of households. The main results show that the more households know about policies, the higher the proportion of compensation required. However, households with high knowledge of ecological value are willing to adopt degradable agricultural mulch films even if the government provides less compensation. In addition, risk-biased households are willing to voluntarily bear more additional costs of degradable agricultural mulch films. The results obtained have multiple meanings. First, in today's rural areas of China, compared with the formal government regulations, informal regulations are the key factors to promote degradable agricultural mulch films application. Second, the enhancement of the understanding of the knowledge of ecological value can effectively improve households' consciousness of using degradable agricultural mulch film. Third, to realize the sustainability of policies, households' risk attitude must be strengthened.