Effects of warming on rice production and metabolism process associated with greenhouse gas emissions.

Evaluating the impact of global warming on rice production and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is critical for ensuring food security and mitigating the consequences of climate change. Nonetheless, the impacts of warming on crop production, GHG emissions, and microbial mechanisms in the single-cropping rice systems remain unclear. Here, a two-year field experiment was conducted to explore the effects of warming (increased by 2.7-3.0 °C on average) in the rice growing season on crop production and functional microorganisms associated with GHG emissions. Results showed that warming resulted in significant reduction (p < 0.01) in the aboveground biomass and grain yield as well as in grain weight, the number of spikelets per panicle, and the seed-setting rate. However, it caused a significant increase (p < 0.01) in the number of panicles by 15.6 % and 34.9 %, respectively. Furthermore, warming significantly increased (p < 0.01) seasonal methane (CH4) emissions but reduced nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, particularly in 2022.The relative abundance of genes associated with CH4 metabolism and nitrogen metabolism was increased by 40.7 % and 32.7 %, respectively, in response to warming. Moreover, warming had a positive impact on the abundance of genes related to CH4 production and oxidation processes but did not affect the denitrification processes associated with N2O production. These results showed that warming decreased rice yield and biomass in the single cropping rice system but increased CH4 emissions and global warming potential. Taken together, to address the increasing food demand of a growing population and mitigate the impacts of global warming, it is imperative to duce GHG emissions and enhance crop yields.

Stimulus-responsive proteins involved in multi-process regulation of storage substance accumulation during rice grain filling under elevated temperature.

BACKGROUND: The intensified global warming during grain filling deteriorated rice quality, in particular increasing the frequency of chalky grains which markedly impact market value. The formation of rice quality is a complex process influenced by multiple genes, proteins and physiological metabolic processes. Proteins responsive to stimulus can adjust the ability of plants to respond to unfavorable environments, which may be an important protein involved in the regulation of quality formation under elevated temperature. However, relatively few studies have hindered our further understanding of rice quality formation under elevated temperature. RESULTS: We conducted the actual field elevated temperature experiment and performed proteomic analysis of rice grains at the early stage of grain filling. Starting with the response to stimulus in GO annotation, 22 key proteins responsive to stimulus were identified in the regulation of grain filling and response to elevated temperature. Among the proteins responsive to stimulus, during grain filling, an increased abundance of signal transduction and other stress response proteins, a decreased abundance of reactive oxygen species-related proteins, and an increased accumulation of storage substance metabolism proteins consistently contributed to grain filling. However, the abundance of probable indole-3-acetic acid-amido synthetase GH3.4, probable indole-3-acetic acid-amido synthetase GH3.8 and CBL-interacting protein kinase 9 belonged to signal transduction were inhibited under elevated temperature. In the reactive oxygen species-related protein, elevated temperature increased the accumulation of cationic peroxidase SPC4 and persulfide dioxygenase ETHE1 homolog to maintain normal physiological homeostasis. The increased abundance of alpha-amylase isozyme 3E and seed allergy protein RA5 was related to the storage substance metabolism, which regulated starch and protein accumulation under elevated temperature. CONCLUSION: Auxin synthesis and calcium signal associated with signal transduction, other stress responses, protein transport and modification, and reactive oxygen species-related proteins may be key proteins responsive to stimulus in response to elevated temperature. Alpha-amylase isozyme 3E and seed allergy protein RA5 may be the key proteins to regulate grain storage substance accumulation and further influence quality under elevated temperature. This study enriched the regulatory factors involved in the response to elevated temperature and provided a new idea for a better understanding of grain response to temperature.

Mitigating the adverse effect of warming on rice canopy and rhizosphere microbial community by nitrogen application: An approach to counteract future climate change for rice.

The adverse impact of climate change on crop production continues to increase, necessitating the development of suitable strategies to mitigate these effects and improve food security. Several studies have revealed how global warming negatively impacts the grain-filling stage of rice and that this effect could be mitigated by nitrogen; however, the impact of nitrogen application on rice canopy and rhizosphere microbial communities remains unclear. We conducted a study using an open-field warming system. Results showed that warming influenced rice canopy by decreasing aboveground biomass and harvest index, whereas nitrogen application had positive effect on rice production under warming conditions by increasing the plant nitrogen content, biomass, harvest index and soil fertilities. Moreover, soil ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) and nitrate nitrogen (NO3--N) contents were significantly decreased under warming, which were higher after nitrogen application. Notably, warming and nitrogen fertilizer caused 19 % (P < 0.01) and 7 % (P < 0.05) variations, respectively, in the ß diversity of the microbial community, respectively. The impact of warming was significant on NH4+-N-related microorganisms; however, this impact was weakened by nitrogen application for microbes in the rhizosphere. This study demonstrated that enhanced nitrogen fertilizer can alleviate the adverse impact of warming by weakening its effects on rhizosphere microbes, improving soil fertility, promoting rice nitrogen uptake, and increasing the aboveground biomass and harvest index. These findings provide an important theoretical basis for developing practical, responsive cultivation strategies.

Multiple regulators were involved in glutelin synthesis and subunit accumulation in response to temperature and nitrogen during rice grain-filling stage.

Rice glutelin is sensitive to temperature and nitrogen, however, the regulatory mechanism of glutelin response to temperature and nitrogen is unclear. In this study, we conducted the open field warming experiment by the Free-air temperature enhancement facility and application of nitrogen during grain filling. In three-year field warming experiments, glutelin relative content was significantly increased under elevated temperature and application of nitrogen. Temperature and nitrogen and their interaction increased the glutelin accumulation rate in the early and middle grain filling stages (10-25d after flowering), but decreased the glutelin accumulation rate in the middle and late grain filling stages (25-45d after flowering). Elevated temperature promoted pro-glutelin levels whereas application of nitrogen under warming increased the amount of α-glutelin. At the transcriptional level, the expression levels of the glutelin-encoding genes and protein disulphide isomerase-like enzyme (PDIL1-1), glutelin precursor accumulation 4 (GPA4), glutelin precursor mutant 6 (GPA2), glutelin precursor accumulation 3 (GPA3) and vacuolar processing enzyme (OsVPE1) of glutelin folding, transport and accumulation-related genes were up-regulated by nitrogen under natural temperature as early as 5d after flowering. However, elevated temperature up-regulated glutelin-encoding genes before 20d after flowering, and the expression of endoplasmic reticulum chaperone (OsBip1), OsPDIL1-1, small GTPase gene (GPA1), GPA2-GPA4 and OsVPE1 were significantly increased post 20d after flowering under warming. In addition, the increase in glutelin content worsened grain quality, particularly chalkiness and eating quality. Overall, the results were helpful to understand glutelin accumulation and provide a theoretical basis for further study the relationship between rice quality and glutelin under global warming.

Effects of Probiotic Enterococcus faecium from Yak on the Intestinal Microflora and Metabolomics of Mice with Salmonella Infection.

Salmonella spp. are pathogenic bacteria that cause diarrhea, abortion, and death in yak and severely harm livestock breeding. Therefore, it is vital to identify a probiotic that effectively antagonizes Salmonella. To the best of our knowledge, few prior studies have investigated the efficacy of Enterococcus faecium against Salmonella. Here, we evaluated the enteroprotective mechanism of E. faecium in a mouse Salmonella infection model using hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) technology, microbial diversity sequencing, and metabonomics. Enterococcus faecium inhibited the proinflammatory cytokines IL-1ß, IL-6, TNF-α, and IFN-γ and promoted the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. The Firmicutes/Bacteroidota (F/B) ratio and the abundances of Firmicutes and Akkermansia were significantly higher in the E. faecium than in the Salmonella group. Metabonomics and microbial diversity sequencing disclosed five different metabolites with variable importance in the projection (VIP) > 3 that were characteristic of both the Salmonella and E. faecium groups. Combined omics revealed that Lactobacillus and Bacteroides were negatively and positively correlated, respectively, with cholic acid, while Desulfovibrio was positively correlated with lipids in both the control and Salmonella groups. Desulfovibrio was also positively correlated with lipids in both the Salmonella and E. faecium groups. Enterococcus faecium antagonizes Salmonella by normalizing the abundance of the intestinal microorganisms and modulating their metabolic pathways. Hence, it may efficaciously protect the host intestine against Salmonella infection.

Screening, Identification, and Probiotic Properties of Bacillus Pumilus From Yak.

The yak has a unique physiological structure suited to life in anoxic and cold environments at high altitudes. The aim of this study was to isolate Bacillus species with good probiotic properties from yak feces. A series of tests were performed on the isolated Bacillus: 16S rRNA identification, antibacterial activity, tolerance to gastroenteric fluid, hydrophobicity, auto-aggregation, antibiotic sensitivity, growth performance, antioxidants, and immune indexes. A safe and harmless Bacillus pumilus DX24 strain with good survival rate, hydrophobicity, auto-aggregation, and antibacterial activity was identified in the yak feces. Feeding mice with Bacillus pumilus DX24 increased their daily weight gain, jejunal villus length, villi/Crypt ratio, blood IgG levels, and jejunum sIgA levels. This study confirmed the probiotic effects of Bacillus pumilus isolated from yak feces and provides the theoretical basis for the clinical application and development of new feed additives.

The progress of radiomics in thyroid nodules.

Due to the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and the improvement of medical imaging equipment, radiomics has become a popular research in recent years. Radiomics can obtain various quantitative features from medical images, highlighting the invisible image traits and significantly enhancing the ability of medical imaging identification and prediction. The literature indicates that radiomics has a high potential in identifying and predicting thyroid nodules. So in this article, we explain the development, definition, and workflow of radiomics. And then, we summarize the applications of various imaging techniques in identifying benign and malignant thyroid nodules, predicting invasiveness and metastasis of thyroid lymph nodes, forecasting the prognosis of thyroid malignancies, and some new advances in molecular level and deep learning. The shortcomings of this technique are also summarized, and future development prospects are provided.

Progress in diagnosing and treating thyroid squamous cell carcinoma under the 5th edition of WHO classification.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the thyroid (SCCT) is a rare thyroid gland malignancy, with only a few hundred cases reported in the literature, mostly as case reports or small sample studies. In the previous WHO classification, squamous cell carcinoma of the thyroid was defined as a carcinoma composed entirely of squamous cells without differentiated carcinoma components. It was once included in the WHO tumor classification separately. However, the 2022 WHO classification of squamous cell carcinoma of the thyroid was reclassified as a morphologic subtype of anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC). The squamous cell carcinoma pattern is similar to the other histologic types of ATC, but the phenotype associated has a poorer prognosis. The typical clinical manifestation of this condition is a cervical mass, accompanied by indications and symptoms of compression on adjacent structures such as the esophagus and trachea in advanced stages. Secondary squamous cell carcinoma of the thyroid may occur due to the spread of squamous carcinoma of the larynx or esophagus or distant metastases from other sites. Diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma of the thyroid includes neck Ultrasound (US), Computed Tomography (CT) or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), puncture tissue biopsy, and full endoscopy to identify metastatic lesions from the nasopharynx, oropharynx, hypopharynx, larynx, esophagus, or bronchi and to help with the initial staging of the tumor. Current treatment modalities include surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or a combination. Because of the poor prognosis of patients with this disease, the short survival period, usually less than one year, and the difficulty of preoperative diagnosis, this article reviews the epidemiological features, origin, clinical features, pathological features, and differential diagnosis to improve the diagnosis and treatment of this disease by clinicians.

Battery-type hollow Prussian blue analogues for asymmetric supercapacitors.

Hollow/porous nanomaterials are widely applicable in various fields. The last few years have witnessed increasing interest in the nanoscale Kirkendall effect as a versatile route to fabricate hollow/porous nanostructures. The transformation of Cu-Co Prussian blue analogue (CuCo-PBA) and FeFe-PBA nanocubes into CuO/Co3O4 and Fe2O3 nanoframes is based on two types of nanoscale Kirkendall effect, which are related to solid-solid interfacial oxidation and solid-gas interfacial reaction, respectively. Both CuO/Co3O4 and Fe2O3 nanoframe electrodes exhibit high reversible discharge capacity, good rate performance and long cycling stability. Moreover, an asymmetric supercapacitor (ASC) is assembled by using CuO/Co3O4 as a cathode and Fe2O3 as an anode, respectively. The ASC can be operated in a wide potential range of 1.4 V with a large specific capacity of 181.8 F g-1, a high energy density of 48.77 W h kg-1 (at 751.2 W kg-1), an outstanding power density of 3657.8 W kg-1 (at 32.9 W h kg-1) and a good capacity retention (73.68%) after 6000 galvanostatic charge-discharge cycles, together with excellent flexibility. The ASC in series can power a LED and work stably under water conditions, delivering excellent practicability.

Study on promoter methylation status of glutathione transferase mu5 gene in MDS and its significance / 中华检验医学杂志

Objective:To investigate the role of methylation status of glutathione transferase mu5 (GSTM5) promoter region in the occurrence and development of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and provide a new potential molecular marker for the early diagnosis of MDS.Method:Bone marrow blood samples were collected from 40 patients with initial diagnosis of MDS [5 cases of MDS with single dysplasia (MDS-SLD), 7 cases of MDS with multilineage dysplasia (MDS-MLD), 6 cases of MDS with ringed sideroblasts (MDS-RS), 13 patients with refractory with excess blast-1 (RAEB1), 9 patients with refractory with excess blast-2 (RAEB2)], 8 patients with AML secondary to MDS and 6 patients with non-malignant blood diseases(4 patients with iron deficiency anemia and 2 patients with nutritional megaloblastic anemia) in PLA General Hospital from October 2018 to June 2021. Methylation status of the promoter region of GSTM5 gene in three groups were detected by the Agena MassArray nucleic acid mass spectrometry. The Wilcoxon nonparametric test (non-normally distributed data, median (IQR)] was used to compare the methylation levels of GSTM5 gene in different groups. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the specificity, sensitivity and accuracy of the test.Results:Cluster analysis showed that the methylation status of GSTM5 in MDS group was higher than that in control group [0.50 (0.27, 0.79) vs.0.29(0.10, 0.45), P<0.05]; The methylation status of GSTM5 in sAML group was significantly higher than that in MDS group [0.67 (0.36, 0.86) vs. 0.50 (0.27, 0.79), P<0.05].The differences in the methylation status of each CpG site were analyzed, and there were statistically significant differences between the MDS group and the control group at CpG_1, CpG_4, 5, CpG_6, 7, 8, CpG_11, CpG_13, 14, CpG_15, CpG_16, CpG_22 and CpG_24 sites ( P<0.05). The results of ROC curve analysis showed that the area under the CpG_6, 7, 8 site curves was the largest, with AUC=0.861(95% CI 0.717-1.000; P<0.05), and the sensitivity and specificity were 85% and 83%, respectively. By analyzing the relationship between GSTM5 methylation and MDS disease development, GSTM5 methylation levels were significantly increased in the higher bone marrow blast group and the high-risk subgroup (RAEB). Conclusion:Aberrant DNA promoter methylation of GSTM5 was a frequent event in MDS and may play an important role in the occurrence and development of MDS. It might be served as a promising biomarker in the diagnosis of MDS.