[Effects of Cotton Stalk Biochar on the Structure and Function of Fungi Community in Alkaline Rhizosphere Soil of Rice Under Cadmium Pollution].

To study the effects of cotton stalk biochar on the regulation of fungal diversity, the structure and function of alkaline rice rhizosphere soil under cadmium pollution was investigated. An outdoor pot experiment was conducted by adding cotton stalk biochar (0%, 1%, and 5%) to an alkaline paddy soil with a cadmium concentration of 0.1 and 8 mg·kg-1. Taking rice rhizosphere soil as the research object, Illumina HiSeq sequencing was used to analyze the effects of cotton stalk biochar and cadmium pollution on the diversity, structure, abundance, and function of fungi in an alkaline rhizosphere soil, and to explore the correlation between soil environmental factors and the fungal community under the control of cotton stalk biochar. The results showed that:① the application of cotton stalk biochar significantly increased the soil pH, available nutrients, and organic matter, and reduced the content of reducible cadmium in the soil (P<0.05). ② The distribution of rice rhizosphere soil fungi was mainly Ascomycota, Aphelidiomycota, and Chytridiomycota, which accounted for 57% of all mycophytes. The genus was mainly Mortierella, Alternaria, and Fusarium. There was a significant difference in the α-diversity of the fungal community among the treatments (P<0.05). In the absence of cotton stalk biochar (C0), the increase in the cadmium concentration reduced the relative abundance and fungal diversity index (Shannon index) of Chytridiomycota, Mortierella, and Alternaria in the soil. Under different concentrations of cadmium (Cd0, Cd1, and Cd8), increasing cotton stalk biochar reduced the fungal community richness index (Chao1 index) and Shannon index. Cadmium pollution resulted in an increase in the relative abundance of Chytridiomycota in the soil, but decreased the abundance of Alternaria. The application of cotton stalk biochar could significantly increase the relative abundance of Chytridiomycota (P<0.05). Cadmium pollution reduced the abundance of Mortierella and Alternaria, but the application of cotton stalk biochar could increase the relative abundance of Alternaria. Increasing cotton stalk biochar means that soil will have more endophytes, plant pathogens, and saprophytes; while increasing cadmium pollution will reduce endophytes, plant pathogens, and saprophytes in the soil. ③ The main environmental factors affecting the diversity and structure of fungal communities are the available potassium, organic matter, and pH of the soil. The reducible cadmium content, which comprises the largest proportion of cadmium in rice soil, was significantly positively correlated to Rotifera, Aphelidiomycota, and Ascomycota (P<0.05), but negatively correlated to other mycophytes (P<0.05). The results indicate that cotton stalk biochar plays a certain role in the microecological regulation of alkaline cadmium-contaminated soil.

[Research progress on the biological regulatory function of lysophosphatidic acid in bone tissue cells].

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is a small phospholipid that is present in all eukaryotic tissues and blood plasma. As an extracellular signaling molecule, LPA mediates many cellular functions by binding to six known G protein-coupled receptors and activating their downstream signaling pathways. These functions indicate that LPA may play important roles in many biological processes that include organismal development, wound healing, and carcinogenesis. Recently, many studies have found that LPA has various biological effects in different kinds of bone cells. These findings suggest that LPA is a potent regulator of bone development and remodeling and holds promising application potential in bone tissue engineering. Here, we review the recent progress on the biological regulatory function of LPA in bone tissue cells.

Testicular germ cell tumor: a comprehensive review.

Testicular tumors are the most common tumors in adolescent and young men and germ cell tumors (TGCTs) account for most of all testicular cancers. Increasing incidence of TGCTs among males provides strong motivation to understand its biological and genetic basis. Gains of chromosome arm 12p and aneuploidy are nearly universal in TGCTs, but TGCTs have low point mutation rate. It is thought that TGCTs develop from premalignant intratubular germ cell neoplasia that is believed to arise from the failure of normal maturation of gonocytes during fetal or postnatal development. Progression toward invasive TGCTs (seminoma and nonseminoma) then occurs after puberty. Both inherited genetic factors and environmental risk factors emerge as important contributors to TGCT susceptibility. Genome-wide association studies have so far identified more than 30 risk loci for TGCTs, suggesting that a polygenic model fits better with the genetic landscape of the disease. Despite high cure rates because of its particular sensitivity to platinum-based chemotherapy, exploration of mechanisms underlying the occurrence, progression, metastasis, recurrence, chemotherapeutic resistance, early diagnosis and optional clinical therapeutics without long-term side effects are urgently needed to reduce the cancer burden in this underserved age group. Herein, we present an up-to-date review on clinical challenges, origin and progression, risk factors, TGCT mouse models, serum diagnostic markers, resistance mechanisms, miRNA regulation, and database resources of TGCTs. We appeal that more attention should be paid to the basic research and clinical diagnosis and treatment of TGCTs.

Differential expression of miRNAs in esophageal cancer tissue.

The aim of this study was to explore the association of specific microRNAs (miRNAs) with the development of esophageal cancer (EC) and to identify new molecular markers for EC by analyzing the expression profiles of miRNAs in EC tissues. The expression profiles of miRNAs in paired EC and paracancerous normal tissues were detected and bioinformatically analyzed using miRNA assays. The outcomes were validated using real-time polymerase chain reaction. The miRNA assays revealed a total of 60 differentially expressed miRNAs in the EC tissues compared with those in the paracancerous normal tissues. Among them, 51 had doubled or more than doubled their expression levels and 9 had halved their expression levels. The most markedly upregulated miRNAs were hsa-miR-15a, hsa-miR-28-3p, hsa-miR-31, hsa-miR-99b, hsa-miR-101, hsa-miR-130a, hsa-miR-143, hsa-miR-196b, hsa-miR-200a, hsa-miR-210, hsa-miR-452 and hsa-miR-27a, whereas the most markedly downregulated miRNAs included hsa-miR-30b, hsa-miR-223, hsa-miR-454, hsa-miR-486, hsa-miR-574-3p and hsa-miR-126. Specific miRNA expression profiles exist in EC tissues and may serve as novel EC molecular markers.

Screening of microRNA in patients with esophageal cancer at same tumor node metastasis stage with different prognoses.

Patients at the same pathological stage of esophageal cancer (EC) that received the same surgical therapy by the same surgeon may have distinct prognoses. The current study aimed to explore the possibility of differentially- expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) underlying this phenomenon. Samples were collected from EC patients at the same tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage but with different prognoses. Paracancerous normal tissues were taken as controls. The specimens were histopathologically analyzed. Differentially-expressed miRNAs were analyzed using real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Compared with patients with poor prognosis, those with good prognosis exhibited 88 two-fold or more than two-fold increased miRNA fragments and 4 half-decreased miRNAs. The most noticeably up-regulated miRNAs included hsa-miR-31, hsa-miR- 196b, hsa-miR-652, hsa-miR-125a-5p, hsa-miR-146b, hsa-miR-200c, hsa-miR-23b, hsa-miR-29a, hsa-miR-186, hsa-miR-205, hsa-miR-376a, hsa-miR-410, hsa-miR-532-3p, and hsa-miR-598, whereas the most significantly- downregulated miRNAs were hsa-let-7e, hsa-miR-130b, and hsa-miR-103. EC patients at same TNM stage but with different prognoses show differentially-expressed miRNAs.

[Application of near-infrared absorption spectrum scanning techniques in gas quantitative measurement].

A practical gas sensing system utilizing absorption spectrum scanning techniques was developed. Using the narrow-band transmission of a fiber tunable filter (TOF) and wavelength modulation technique, the so-called cross-sensing effects of the traditional spectrum absorption based gas sensor were reduced effectively and thus the target gas was detected sensitively and selectively. In order to reduce the effects of nonlinearity of TOF on the measurement results and improve the system stability in operation, the reflection spectrum of a reference FBG was monitored and employed to control the modulation region and center of TOF wavelength precisely. Moreover, a kind of weak signal detecting circuits was developed to detect the weak response signal of the system with high sensitivity. The properties of the proposed system were demonstrated experimentally by detection of acetylene. Approximate linear relationships between the system responses and the input acetylene concentrations were demonstrated by experiments. The minimum detectable acetylene of 5 x 10(-6), with signal-noise ratio of 3, was also achieved by experiments.

[Application of PSO algorithm in wavelength detection of FBG sensors].

In order to improve the measurement accuracy of FBG sensing system, particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm combined with reference FBGs array was applied to investigate the nonlinearity and hysteresis character of Fabry-Parot filter (FPF). A method of modeling the wavelength-voltage relationship of FPF online in each FPF scanning cycle was proposed in the present paper. The feature of particle swarm optimization algorithm such as fast convergence and simple implementation makes the process of modeling wavelength-voltage relationship of FPF be completed with low computing cost and high accuracy. With the set-up model, the absolute error in wavelength detection of FBG sensors was demonstrated by experiments to be as low as 0.03 nm. The structure of the system is compact and the proposed modeling approach has important meaning in FBG sensors system when FPF is used as wavelength demodulator.