Database of space life investigations and information on spaceflight plant biology.

Extensive spaceflight life investigations (SLIs) have revealed observable space effects on plants, particularly their growth, nutrition yield, and secondary metabolite production. Knowledge of these effects not only facilitates space agricultural and biopharmaceutical technology development but also provides unique perspectives to ground-based investigations. SLIs are specialized experimental protocols and notable biological phenomena. These require specialized databases, leading to the development of the NASA Science Data Archive, Erasmus Experiment Archive, and NASA GeneLab. The increasing interests of SLIs across diverse fields demand resources with comprehensive content, convenient search facilities, and friendly information presentation. A new database SpaceLID (Space Life Investigation Database http://bidd.group/spacelid/ ) was developed with detailed menu search tools and categorized contents about the phenomena, protocols, and outcomes of 459 SLIs (including 106 plant investigations) of 92 species, where 236 SLIs and 57 plant investigations are uncovered by the existing databases. The usefulness of SpaceLID as an SLI information source is illustrated by the literature-reported analysis of metabolite, nutrition, and symbiosis variations of spaceflight plants. In conclusion, this study extensively investigated the impact of the space environment on plant biology, utilizing SpaceLID as an information source and examining various plant species, including Arabidopsis thaliana, Brassica rapa L., and Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. The findings provide valuable insights into the effects of space conditions on plant physiology and metabolism.

Experimental and Numerical Study of the Ultimate Flexural Capacity of a Full-Size Damaged Prestressed Concrete Box Girder Strengthened with Bonded Steel Plates.

Using steel plates attached with epoxy resin adhesive to strengthen prestressed reinforced concrete bridges has become a common method to increase bearing capacity in engineering because of the simple technology, low cost and good strengthening effects. The strengthening method of steel plates has been gradually applied to repair damaged bridges in practical engineering. After a cross-line box girder bridge was struck by a vehicle, the steel bars and concrete of a damaged girder were repaired and strengthened by steel plates, and then the ultimate bending bearing capacity was studied through a destructive test. The results of the destructive test were compared with those of an undamaged girder to verify the effect of the repair and strengthening of the damaged girder. The results showed that the actual flexural bearing capacity of the repaired girder strengthened by steel plates was 1.63 times the theoretical bearing capacity, 36.7% more than that of the damaged girder and 95.3% of that of an undamaged girder. The flexural cracking moment of the repaired girder strengthened by steel plates reached 66.3% of that of the undamaged girder. The maximum crack width decreased by 24.6%, and the maximum deflection increased by 2.7%, compared with the undamaged girder when the repaired girder strengthened by steel plates finally failed. Moreover, this method of attaching steel plates can increase the ductility of bridges and reduce the degree of cracking. Additionally, the actual safety factor of the repaired girder was greater than three, and it had a large safety reserve.

Anammox bacterial abundance and diversity in different temperatures of purple paddy soils by 13C-DNA stable-isotope probing combined with high-throughput sequencing.

Introduction: Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) plays a vital role in the global nitrogen cycle by oxidizing ammonium to nitrogen under anaerobic environments. However, the existence, abundance, and diversity of anammox bacteria between different temperatures are less studied, particularly in purple paddy soils. Methods: 13C-DNA stable-isotope probe combined with Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing was employed to explore soil abundance and diversity of anammox bacteria. In doing so, 40-60 cm depth soils from typical purple paddy soils in Chongqing, southwest China, were cultured under 12CO2-labeled and 13CO2-labeled at 35°C, 25°C, 15°C, and 5°C for 56 days. Results and Discussion: Anammox bacteria were not labeled at all by 13CO2 at 5°C. The highest abundance of anammox bacteria was found at 25°C (3.52 × 106~3.66 × 106 copies·g-1 dry soil), followed by 35°C and 15°C (2.01 × 106~2.37 × 106 copies·g-1 dry soil) and almost no increase at 5°C. The relative abundance of Candidatus Jettenia sp. was higher at 25°C and 15°C, while Candidatus Brocadia sp. was higher at 35°C and 5°C. Our results revealed differences in anammox bacteria at different temperatures in purple paddy soils, which could provide a better understanding of soil N cycling regulated by anammox bacteria.

Database of space life investigations and bioinformatics of microbiology in extreme environments.

Biological experiments performed in space crafts like space stations, space shuttles, and recoverable satellites has enabled extensive spaceflight life investigations (SLIs). In particular, SLIs have revealed distinguished space effects on microbial growth, survival, metabolite production, biofilm formation, virulence development and drug resistant mutations. These provide unique perspectives to ground-based microbiology and new opportunities for industrial pharmaceutical and metabolite productions. SLIs are with specialized experimental setups, analysis methods and research outcomes, which can be accessed by established databases National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Life Science Data Archive, Erasmus Experiment Archive, and NASA GeneLab. The increasing research across diverse fields may be better facilitated by databases of convenient search facilities and categorized presentation of comprehensive contents. We therefore developed the Space Life Investigation Database (SpaceLID) http://bidd.group/spacelid/, which collected SLIs from published academic papers. Currently, this database provides detailed menu search facilities and categorized contents about the studied phenomena, materials, experimental procedures, analysis methods, and research outcomes of 448 SLIs of 90 species (microbial, plant, animal, human), 81 foods and 106 pharmaceuticals, including 232 SLIs not covered by the established databases. The potential applications of SpaceLID are illustrated by the examples of published experimental design and bioinformatic analysis of spaceflight microbial phenomena.

Experimental-Numerical Study on the Flexural Ultimate Capacity of Prestressed Concrete Box Girders Subjected to Collision.

Precise evaluation for flexural ultimate capacity of bridges which are subjected to the collision of over-height trucks is essential for making decisions on corresponding maintenance, strengthening or replacement. When the span of a cross-line continuous bridge with a double-box girder was hit by an overly high vehicle, the concrete floor of one girder was severely damaged, and part of the prestressed strands and reinforcements in the girder were broken. After the double-box girder was removed and separated into two single box girders, the ultimate flexural capacity of both box girders was studied by destructive tests, and a comparison was made between the damaged and undamaged girders. Moreover, finite element analysis was conducted to simulate the failure process. The results show that the flexural bearing capacity of the damaged box girder decreased by 33%, but it was still 1.07 times greater than the design bearing capacity, which basically meets the design requirements. Also, the damaged box girder showed a desirable serviceable limit state for three-axle vehicles and five-axle vehicles, but showed an undesirable serviceable limit state for six-axle vehicles. This study shows that repairing or strengthening the damaged span may be better than demolishing and rebuilding the whole superstructure bridge.

[Effects of Heavy Metal Content on Fungal Community Structure in Urban Soil].

As an important part of the soil microbial system, fungi can clearly indicate changes in the soil environment.Human activities in the city can easily affect the soil condition, so the phenomenon of artificial heavy metal enrichment often appears in urban soil. The objective of this study was to analyze the fungal community structure in different urban functional areas and to determine the effect of heavy metal content in different urban functional areas on the soil fungal community structure. This study provides theoretical basis for protecting and repairing the urban soil ecosystem and transforming and improving urban environmental quality. Soil samples from eight sampling sites in five functional areas of Beibei District in Chongqing were taken as the research objects. The diversity and community structure of fungi in soil were studied using high-throughput sequencing technology. The content of Cd and Hg in the soil of different functional areas in Beibei District exceeded the environmental background value of Chongqing. The 20-40 cm and 40-60 cm soil layers of JD were slightly polluted. The 20-40 cm soil layer and 0-20 cm soil layer of JLD and ZYY, respectively, were in the alerting state of heavy metal pollution. The Sobs index, Chao 1 index, and Ace index of most sampling points decreased with the increase in soil depth. The NMDS analysis showed that the composition of fungal communities between the 0-20 cm and 20-40 cm soil depths in both JD and ZYY were quite different. From the perspective of community composition, Ascomycota was the most abundant phylum in the soil, followed by unclassified _k _Fungi and Basidiomycota. At the genus level, unclassified_k_Fungi, unclassified_p_Ascomycota, unclassified_o_Sordariales, Scopuloides, Robillarda, and Dactylonectria had higher abundances. The redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that Pb and Zn had the greatest effect on the samples, and the effect on the fungal community structure was significantly different. This study has deepened the understanding of the relationship between the content of heavy metals in different urban functional areas and the structure of fungal communities and has provided a scientific basis for the rational use and planning of urban soil.

Prevalence and Risk Factors of Stress Urinary Incontinence Among Perimenopausal Women and Its Influence on Daily Life in Women with Sexual Desire Problem.

The prevalence of, and related factors to, stress urinary incontinence (SUI) among perimenopausal Chinese women and its impact on daily life among those women with sexual desire problem in Hubei province were investigated. In this study, 1519 perimenopausal women aged 40 to 65 years were selected from three urban communities in the Wuhan area, and two impoverished, mountainous communities in Hubei province, and followed from April to October 2014. Detailed information about demographic characteristics, menstruation, pregnancy, sexual life and chronic diseases was collected. A cross-sectional survey was carried out following information collection by Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression analysis. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the potential factors associated with developing SUI were old age (OR=3.4, 95% CI: 1.92-6.04), vaginal delivery (OR=0.623, 95% CI: 0.45-0.87), low income (OR=0.063, 95% CI: 0.40-0.92), atrophic vaginitis (OR=1.4, 95% CI: 1.03-1.80), pelvic organ prolapse (OR=2.81, 95% CI: 1.36-5.80), chronic pelvic pain (OR=2.17, 95% CI: 1.90-4.03), constipation (OR=1.44, 95% CI: 1.07-1.93) and incontinence of feces (OR=3.32, 95% CI: 2.03-5.43). Moreover, the ratio of SUI (33.2%) was higher than the ratio of urgency urinary incontinence (24.1%) or the ratio of mixed urinary incontinence (17.4%), and SUI had a greater impact on daily life among women with decreased sexual desire. In conclusion, SUI is a common disorder affecting over one third of the women surveyed, and has a severe impact on the daily life of perimenopausal women with declined sexual desire. Age, mode of delivery, and monthly income are major risk factors involved in the development of SUI.