Influence of crop residue-induced Fe-DOC complexation on nitrate reduction in paddy soil.

Although complexation between dissolved organic matter (DOM) and ubiquitous Fe is known to have a major influence on electron transferring ability in redoximorphic soil, it was unclear whether and how this complexation affected nitrate reduction and N2O productivity. The nitrate reduction of paddy soil in the presence of crop residues returning under flooding conditions was explored in this study. The rate of nitrate reduction in control soil was 0.0677 d-1, while it improved 1.99 times in treatment soil with Chinese milk vetch (CMV) straw returning. During a 28-day incubation period, N2O productivity decreased 0.08-0.91 ppb in CMV soil and 0.43-0.50 ppb in rice straw soil compared with control. The presence of crop residue increased DOC content and Fe (III) reduction rate, which aided in the formation of Fe (II)-DOC complexation. Meanwhile, the addition of CMV increased the content of DOC by 5.14-78.77 mg/kg and HCl extractable Fe (II) by 35.12-1221.03 mg/kg. Crop residues returning to soil increased the relative abundance of iron reductive and electroactive genera, as well as denitrifying genera with more copies of denitrification genes (Archangiaceae, Gemmatimonadaceae, and Burkholderiaceae). The synergistic effect of Fe-DOC complexation, electroactive genera, and denitrifying genera contributed to up-regulated expression of napA and narG (5.84 × 106 and 3.39 × 107 copies increased in the CMV soil compared to the control) numbers and equally accelerated reduction of nitrate to nitrite, while further nitrite reduction was primarily attributed to the abiotic reaction by Fe (II). From a bio-electrochemical point of view, this work provided new insight into the nitrate reduction of paddy soil impacted by Fe-DOC complexation.

Atypical mandibulofacial dysostosis with microcephaly diagnosed through the identification of a novel pathogenic mutation in EFTUD2.

BACKGROUND: Mandibulofacial dysostosis with microcephaly (MFDM, OMIM# 610536) is a rare monogenic disease that is caused by a mutation in the elongation factor Tu GTP binding domain containing 2 gene (EFTUD2, OMIM* 603892). It is characterized by mandibulofacial dysplasia, microcephaly, malformed ears, cleft palate, growth and intellectual disability. MFDM can be easily misdiagnosed due to its phenotypic overlap with other craniofacial dysostosis syndromes. The clinical presentation of MFDM is highly variable among patients. METHODS: A patient with craniofacial anomalies was enrolled and evaluated by a multidisciplinary team. To make a definitive diagnosis, whole-exome sequencing was performed, followed by validation by Sanger sequencing. RESULTS: The patient presented with extensive facial bone dysostosis, upward slanting palpebral fissures, outer and middle ear malformation, a previously unreported orbit anomaly, and spina bifida occulta. A novel, pathogenic insertion mutation (c.215_216insT: p.Tyr73Valfs*4) in EFTUD2 was identified as the likely cause of the disease. CONCLUSIONS: We diagnosed this atypical case of MFDM by the detection of a novel pathogenetic mutation in EFTUD2. We also observed previously unreported features. These findings enrich both the genotypic and phenotypic spectrum of MFDM.

A Study on Intelligent Optical Bone Densitometry.

Osteoporosis is a prevalent chronic disease worldwide, particularly affecting the aging population. The gold standard diagnostic tool for osteoporosis is Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA). However, the expensive cost of the DXA machine and the need for skilled professionals to operate it restrict its accessibility to the general public. This paper builds upon previous research and proposes a novel approach for rapidly screening bone density. The method involves utilizing near-infrared light to capture local body information within the human body. Deep learning techniques are employed to analyze the obtained data and extract meaningful insights related to bone density. Our initial prediction, utilizing multi-linear regression, demonstrated a strong correlation (r = 0.98, p-value = 0.003**) with the measured Bone Mineral Density (BMD) obtained from Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA). This indicates a highly significant relationship between the predicted values and the actual BMD measurements. A deep learning-based algorithm is applied to analyze the underlying information further to predict bone density at the wrist, hip, and spine. The prediction of bone densities in the hip and spine holds significant importance due to their status as gold-standard sites for assessing an individual's bone density. Our prediction rate had an error margin below 10% for the wrist and below 20% for the hip and spine bone density.

Brain tumor grading diagnosis using transfer learning based on optical coherence tomography.

In neurosurgery, accurately identifying brain tumor tissue is vital for reducing recurrence. Current imaging techniques have limitations, prompting the exploration of alternative methods. This study validated a binary hierarchical classification of brain tissues: normal tissue, primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL), high-grade glioma (HGG), and low-grade glioma (LGG) using transfer learning. Tumor specimens were measured with optical coherence tomography (OCT), and a MobileNetV2 pre-trained model was employed for classification. Surgeons could optimize predictions based on experience. The model showed robust classification and promising clinical value. A dynamic t-SNE visualized its performance, offering a new approach to neurosurgical decision-making regarding brain tumors.

Unravelling inulin molecules in food sources using a matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization magnetic resonance mass spectrometry (MALDI-MRMS) pipeline.

Inulin, a polysaccharide characterized by a ß-2,1 fructosyl-fructose structure terminating in a glucosyl moiety, is naturally present in plant roots and tubers. Current methods provide average degrees of polymerization (DP) but lack information on the distribution and absolute concentration of each DP. To address this limitation, a reproducible (CV < 10 %) high throughput (<2 min/sample) MALDI-MRMS approach capable of characterizing and quantifying inulin molecules in plants using matched-matrix consisting of α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid butylamine salt (CHCA-BA), chicory inulin-12C and inulin-13C was developed. The method identified variation in chain lengths and concentration of inulin across various plant species. Globe artichoke hearts, yacón and elephant garlic yielded similar concentrations at 15.6 g/100 g dry weight (DW), 16.8 g/100 g DW and 17.7 g/100 g DW, respectively, for DP range between 9 and 22. In contrast, Jerusalem artichoke demonstrated the highest concentration (53.4 g/100 g DW) within the same DP ranges. Jerusalem artichoke (DPs 9-32) and globe artichoke (DPs 9-36) showed similar DP distributions, while yacón and elephant garlic displayed the narrowest and broadest DP ranges (DPs 9-19 and DPs 9-45, respectively). Additionally, qualitative measurement for all inulin across all plant samples was feasible using the peak intensities normalized to Inulin-13C, and showed that the ratio of yacón, elephant garlic and Jerusalem was approximately one, two and three times that of globe artichoke. This MALDI-MRMS approach provides comprehensive insights into the structure of inulin molecules, opening avenues for in-depth investigations into how DP and concentration of inulin influence gut health and the modulation of noncommunicable diseases, as well as shedding light on refining cultivation practices to elevate the beneficial health properties associated with specific DPs.

A pilot trial of neoadjuvant pyrotinib plus trastuzumab, dalpiciclib, and letrozole for triple-positive breast cancer.

Triple-positive breast cancer (TPBC) poorly responds to current standard neoadjuvant therapy (trastuzumab plus pertuzumab and chemotherapy). Our previous MUKDEN 01 study showed a promising total pathological complete response (tpCR) rate of 30.4% with neoadjuvant pyrotinib (pan-human epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor) plus dalpiciclib (cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitor) and letrozole, but the efficacy remains suboptimal. This pilot study (NCT05228951) explored adding trastuzumab to this triplet neoadjuvant regimen in patients with stage II-III TPBC. The primary endpoint was tpCR (ypT0/is, ypN0) rate. Between February 2022 and June 2022, 12 patients were enrolled, and seven (58%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 27.7%-84.8%) patients achieved tpCR. The rate of residual cancer burden (RCB) 0-I was 75% (95% CI, 46.8%-91.1%). The objective response rate (ORR) was 92% (95% CI, 64.6%-98.5%). Mean Ki-67 level was significantly reduced from 45.0% (95% CI, 19.5%-70.5%) at baseline to 17.2% (95% CI, 0.7%-33.7%) after neoadjuvant therapy (p = 0.03). The most common grade 3 adverse events were diarrhea (four [33%]) and decreased neutrophil count (three [25%]). No grade 4 adverse events or treatment-related deaths occurred. This four-drug neoadjuvant regimen shows promising pathological response with an acceptable safety profile in patients with TPBC. A randomized controlled trial (NCT05638594) of this regimen is being conducted.

Hypoxia induced exosomal Circ-ZNF609 promotes pre-metastatic niche formation and cancer progression via miR-150-5p/VEGFA and HuR/ZO-1 axes in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Exosomes derived from cancer are regarded as significant mediators of cancer-host crosstalk. Hypoxia, on the other hand, is one of the essential characteristics of solid tumors. This research set out to discover how circulating exosomes from hypoxic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) contribute to the formation of metastatic niches and distant metastasis. First, we noticed that human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) had their tight connections disrupted and the expression of proteins involved in angiogenesis boosted by ESCC hypoxic exosomes. Hypoxia significantly induced Circ-ZNF609 expression in exosomes from ESCC, which was then internalized by HUVECs, as determined by circular RNA screening. High Circ-ZNF609 expression in HUVECs facilitated angiogenesis and vascular permeability, thereby promoting pre-metastatic niche formation, and enhancing distant metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Exosomal Circ-ZNF609 activated vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) mechanistically by sponging miR-150-5p. Exosomal Circ-ZNF609 also interacted with HuR and inhibited HuR binding to ZO-1, Claudin-1, and Occludin mRNAs, thereby reducing their translation. Collectively, our findings identified an essential function for exosomal Circ-ZNF609 from ESCC cells, suggesting the potential therapeutic value of exosomes for ESCC patients.

A novel inducible von Willebrand Factor Cre recombinase mouse strain to study microvascular endothelial cell-specific biological processes in vivo.

Mouse models are invaluable to understanding fundamental mechanisms in vascular biology during development, in health and different disease states. Several constitutive or inducible models that selectively knockout or knock in genes in vascular endothelial cells exist; however, functional and phenotypic differences exist between microvascular and macrovascular endothelial cells in different organs. In order to study microvascular endothelial cell-specific biological processes, we developed a Tamoxifen-inducible von Willebrand Factor (vWF) Cre recombinase mouse in the SJL background. The transgene consists of the human vWF promoter with the microvascular endothelial cell-selective 734 base pair sequence to drive Cre recombinase fused to a mutant estrogen ligand-binding domain [ERT2] that requires Tamoxifen for activity (CreERT2) followed by a polyadenylation (polyA) signal. We initially observed Tamoxifen-inducible restricted bone marrow megakaryocyte and sciatic nerve microvascular endothelial cell Cre recombinase expression in offspring of a mixed strain hemizygous C57BL/6-SJL founder mouse bred with mT/mG mice, with >90% bone marrow megakaryocyte expression efficiency. Founder mouse offspring were backcrossed to the SJL background by speed congenics, and intercrossed for >10 generations to develop hemizygous Tamoxifen-inducible vWF Cre recombinase (vWF-iCre/+) SJL mice with stable transgene insertion in chromosome 1. Microvascular endothelial cell-specific Cre recombinase expression occurred in the sciatic nerves, brains, spleens, kidneys and gastrocnemius muscles of adult vWF-iCre/+ SJL mice bred with Ai14 mice, with retained low level bone marrow and splenic megakaryocyte expression. This novel mouse strain would support hypothesis-driven mechanistic studies to decipher the role(s) of specific genes transcribed by microvascular endothelial cells during development, as well as in physiologic and pathophysiologic states in an organ- and time-dependent manner.

SORBS1 inhibits epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) of breast cancer cells by regulating PI3K/AKT signaling and macrophage phenotypic polarization.

This study aimed to explore the regulatory role of SORBS1 in macrophage polarization and the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, as well as analyze its mechanism in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of breast cancer cells. We established SORBS1-overexpressing and knockout cell lines and verified the effects of SORBS1 on cell viability, invasion, and migration by phenotyping experiments and assaying the expression of associated proteins. Furthermore, we established a breast cancer cell and macrophage co-culture system to validate the effect of SORBS1 expression on macrophage polarization and killing of breast cancer cells. Bioinformatics analysis showed that SORBS1 was lowly expressed in breast cancer (BRCA) samples and highly expressed in healthy tissues. Decreased SORBS1 expression was associated with poor prognosis, and the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway was the most significantly enriched pathway. In vitro experiments showed that high expression of SORBS1 inhibited the migration of breast cancer cells, as well as the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, and blocked EMT of these cells. In addition, SORBS1 induced macrophage polarization to the M1-type and enhanced the killing effect on breast cancer cells in the co-culture system. In conclusion, we successfully verified that SORBS1 inhibits the invasion and migration of breast cancer cells, induces macrophage M1-type polarization, and blocks EMT of breast cancer cells, and it may act by regulating the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

A photoelectrochemical aptasensor based on double Z-scheme α-Fe2O3/MoS2/Bi2S3 ternary heterojunction for sensitive detection of circulating tumor cells.

A novel photoelectrochemical (PEC) aptasensor based on a dual Z-scheme α-Fe2O3/MoS2/Bi2S3 ternary heterojunction for the ultrasensitive detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) was developed. The α-Fe2O3/MoS2/Bi2S3 nanocomposite was prepared via a step-by-step route, and the photoproduced electron/hole transfer path was speculated by conducting trapping experiments of reactive species. α-Fe2O3/MoS2/Bi2S3-modified electrodes exhibited greatly enhanced photocurrent under visible light due to the double Z-scheme charge transfer process, which met the requirement of the PEC sensor for detecting larger targets. After the aptamer was conjugated on the photoelectrode through chitosan (CS) and glutaraldehyde (GA), when MCF-7 cells were presented and captured, the photocurrent of the PEC biosensing system decreased due to steric hindrance. The current intensity had a linear relationship with the logarithm of MCF-7 cell concentration ranging from 10 to 1×105 cells mL-1, with a low detection limit of 3 cell mL-1 (S/N = 3). The dual Z-scheme α-Fe2O3/MoS2/Bi2S3 ternary heterojunction-modified PEC aptasensor exhibited high sensitivity and excellent specificity and stability. Additionally, MCF-7 cells in human serum were determined by this PEC aptasensor, exhibiting great potential as a promising tool for clinical detection.

Association of Monocyte Count With Lung Function and Exercise Capacity Among Hospitalized COVID-19 Survivors: A 2-Year Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Abnormal changes of monocytes have been observed in acute COVID-19, whereas associations of monocyte count with long COVID were not sufficiently elucidated. METHODS: A cohort study was conducted among COVID-19 survivors discharged from hospital. The primary outcomes were core symptoms of long COVID, distance walked in 6 min, and lung function, and the secondary outcomes were health-related quality of life and healthcare use after discharge. Latent variable mixture modeling was used to classify individuals into groups with similar trajectory of monocyte count from discharge to 2-year after symptom onset. Multivariable adjusted generalized linear regression models and logistic regression models were used to estimate the associations of monocyte count trajectories and monocyte count at discharge with outcomes. RESULTS: In total, 1389 study participants were included in this study. Two monocyte count trajectories including high to normal high and normal trajectory were identified. After multivariable adjustment, participants in high to normal high trajectory group had an odds ratio (OR) of 2.52 (95% CI, 1.44-4.42) for smell disorder, 2.27 (1.27-4.04) for 6-min walking distance less than lower limit of normal range, 2.45 (1.08-5.57) for total lung capacity (TLC) < 80% of predicted, 3.37 (1.16-9.76) for personal care problem, and 1.70 (1.12-2.58) for rehospitalization after discharge at 2-year follow-up compared with those in normal trajectory group. Monocyte count at discharge showed similar results, which was associated with smell disorder, TLC < 80% of predicted, diffusion impairment, and rehospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: Monocyte count may serve as an easily accessible marker for long-term management of people recovering from COVID-19.

Analysis of depression status and influencing factors in middle-aged and elderly patients with chronic diseases.

Objectives: To explore prevalence of depression and its influencing factors in middle-aged and elderly patients with chronic diseases. Method: Data were extracted from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Tracking Survey (CHARLS) for 6,704 middle-aged and elderly patients ≥45 years with chronic diseases. The influencing variables were selected based on LASSO-logistic regression model, and a nomogram was further drawn to visualize regression results. Results: Comorbidity between chronic diseases and depression symptoms were detected in 3058 individuals (45.6%). Female, rural, lower education, poor, insomnia, multiple chronic disease, and functional impairment were associated with a higher proportion of depression. Meanwhile, family interaction, intergenerational financial support, social activity intensity, and satisfaction with life can protect against depression. Conclusion: Depressive symptoms are common in Chinese older adults with chronic diseases. They need regular assessment and intervention, especially those with multiple diseases, female, rural, alone, impaired, poor sleep, or poor economy. These high-risk elders also need family, medical, and social support and care.

RAPID-ED: A predictive model for risk assessment of patient's early in-hospital deterioration from emergency department.

Introduction: The objective of this multi-center retrospective cohort study was to devise a predictive tool known as RAPID-ED. This model identifies non-traumatic adult patients at significant risk for cardiac arrest within 48 hours post-admission from the emergency department. Methods: Data from 224,413 patients admitted through the emergency department (2016-2020) was analyzed, incorporating vital signs, lab tests, and administered therapies. A multivariable regression model was devised to anticipate early cardiac arrest. The efficacy of the RAPID-ED model was evaluated against traditional scoring systems like National Early Warning Score (NEWS) and Modified Early Warning Score (MEWS) and its predictive ability was gauged via the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) in both hold-out validation set and external validation set. Results: RAPID-ED outperformed traditional models in predicting cardiac arrest with an AUC of 0.819 in the hold-out validation set and 0.807 in the external validation set. In this critical care update, RAPID-ED offers an innovative approach to assessing patient risk, aiding emergency physicians in post-discharge care decisions from the emergency department. High-risk score patients (≥13) may benefit from early ICU admission for intensive monitoring. Conclusion: As we progress with advancements in critical care, tools like RAPID-ED will prove instrumental in refining care strategies for critically ill patients, fostering an improved prognosis and potentially mitigating mortality rates.

Understanding drought propagation through coupling spatiotemporal features using vine copulas: A compound drought perspective.

Accurately evaluating drought impact on agriculture poses a challenge to regional food security, particularly in compound drought (i.e., meteorological and agricultural drought co-occurring) scenarios. This study presents a novel approach utilizing Vine copula for coupling spatiotemporal features to evaluate drought propagation. Three-dimensional clustering method was employed to identify meteorological and agricultural drought events, which excelled in capturing dynamic evolution characteristics (duration, area, severity, etc.) as well as integrating them into comprehensive meteorological drought intensity (IMD) and agricultural drought intensity (IAD). Through spatiotemporal matching, compound drought events were extracted from the meteorological-agricultural drought event pairs. From compound drought perspective, compound duration (CD) and compound area (CA) were devised to characterize drought propagation potential across time and space. Finally, the Vine copula method was employed to model the interdependence between four key coupling features, namely IMD, IAD, CD, and CA, and evaluate the probability of triggering agricultural drought with different intensity levels. Results showed that CD and CA can respectively characterize the temporal and spatial accumulation scale of drought propagation. At a certain IMD level, CD significantly influences the propagation probability (i.e., "stratification" phenomenon), while CA increases the probability proportionally. Probability evaluation lacking spatiotemporal information may underestimate the likelihood of drought propagation characterized by "low-IMD" but "long-CD" or "large-CA". The four-dimensional Vine copula structure can effectively couple dependence relationships of compound drought characteristics, and exhibits reliable robustness. This research provides stakeholders accurate probabilistic evaluation under compound drought scenarios, offering new insight into drought propagation.

The role of Tetraspanins in digestive system tumor development: update and emerging evidence.

Digestive system malignancies, including cancers of the esophagus, pancreas, stomach, liver, and colorectum, are the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide due to their high morbidity and poor prognosis. The lack of effective early diagnosis methods is a significant factor contributing to the poor prognosis for these malignancies. Tetraspanins (Tspans) are a superfamily of 4-transmembrane proteins (TM4SF), classified as low-molecular-weight glycoproteins, with 33 Tspan family members identified in humans to date. They interact with other membrane proteins or TM4SF members to form a functional platform on the cytoplasmic membrane called Tspan-enriched microdomain and serve multiple functions including cell adhesion, migration, propagation and signal transduction. In this review, we summarize the various roles of Tspans in the progression of digestive system tumors and the underlying molecular mechanisms in recent years. Generally, the expression of CD9, CD151, Tspan1, Tspan5, Tspan8, Tspan12, Tspan15, and Tspan31 are upregulated, facilitating the migration and invasion of digestive system cancer cells. Conversely, Tspan7, CD82, CD63, Tspan7, and Tspan9 are downregulated, suppressing digestive system tumor cell metastasis. Furthermore, the connection between Tspans and the metastasis of malignant bone tumors is reviewed. We also summarize the potential role of Tspans as novel immunotherapy targets and as an approach to overcome drug resistance. Finally, we discuss the potential clinical value and therapeutic targets of Tspans in the treatments of digestive system malignancies and provide some guidance for future research.

Genetically predicted telomere length and the risk of 11 hematological diseases: a Mendelian randomization study.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have demonstrated that various hematologic diseases (HDs) induce alterations in telomere length (TL). The aim of this study is to investigate whether genetically predicted changes in TL have an impact on the risk of developing HDs. METHODS: GWAS data for TL and 11 HDs were extracted from the database. The R software package "TwoSampleMR" was employed to conduct a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis, in order to estimate the influence of TL changes on the risk of developing the 11 HDs. RESULTS: We examined the effect of TL changes on the risk of developing the 11 HDs. The IVW results revealed a significant causal association between genetically predicted longer TL and the risk of developing acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), acute myeloid leukemia (AML), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), mantle cell lymphoma (MANTLE), and hodgkin lymphoma (HODGKIN). However, there was no significant causal relationship observed between TL changes and the risk of developing chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), diffuse large b-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), marginal zone b-cell lymphoma (MARGINAL), follicular lymphoma (FOLLICULAR), monocytic leukemia (MONOCYTIC), and mature T/NK-cell lymphomas (TNK). CONCLUSIONS: The MR analysis revealed a positive association between genetically predicted longer TL and an increased risk of developing ALL, AML, CLL, MANTLE, and HODGKIN. This study further supports the notion that cells with longer TL have greater proliferative and mutational potential, leading to an increased risk of certain HDs.

Zebrafish Mbd5 binds to RNA m5C and regulates histone deubiquitylation and gene expression in development metabolism and behavior.

Complex biological processes are regulated by both genetic and epigenetic programs. One class of epigenetic modifications is methylation. Evolutionarily conserved methyl-CpG-binding domain (MBD)-containing proteins are known as readers of DNA methylation. MBD5 is linked to multiple human diseases but its mechanism of action remains unclear. Here we report that the zebrafish Mbd5 does not bind to methylated DNA; but rather, it directly binds to 5-methylcytosine (m5C)-modified mRNAs and regulates embryonic development, erythrocyte differentiation, iron metabolism, and behavior. We further show that Mbd5 facilitates removal of the monoubiquitin mark at histone H2A-K119 through an interaction with the Polycomb repressive deubiquitinase (PR-DUB) complex in vivo. The direct target genes of Mbd5 are enriched with both RNA m5C and H2A-K119 ubiquitylation signals. Together, we propose that zebrafish MBD5 is an RNA m5C reader that potentially links RNA methylation to histone modification and in turn transcription regulation in vivo.

Study of ischemic progression in different intestinal tissue layers during acute intestinal ischemia using swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography.

In acute intestinal ischemia, the progression of ischemia varies across different layers of intestinal tissue. We established a mouse model and used swept-source optical coherence tomography (OCT) to observe the intestinal ischemic process longitudinally in different tissue layers. Employing a method that combines asymmetric gradient filtering with adaptive weighting, we eliminated the vessel trailing phenomenon in OCT angiograms, reducing the confounding effects of superficial vessels on the imaging of deeper vasculature. We quantitatively assessed changes in vascular perfusion density (VPD), vessel length, and vessel average diameter across various intestinal layers. Our results showed a significant reduction in VPD in all layers during ischemia. The mucosa layer experienced the most significant impact, primarily due to disrupted capillary blood flow, followed by the submucosa layer, where vascular constriction or decreased velocity was the primary factor.

[Effects of Organic Fertilizer of Kitchen Waste on Soil Microbial Activity and Function].

Changes in soil microbial activity and ecological function can be used to assess the level of soil fertility and the stability of ecosystems. To assess the fertility and safety of organic fertilizer of kitchen waste (OFK), soils containing 0% (CK), 1%, 3%, and 5% OFK were cultured, and the physical, chemical, and microbial properties of the soils were measured dynamically with routine agrochemical analysis measures and amplicon sequencing. The results showed that compared with those in CK, the contents of organic matter, available phosphorus, available potassium, NH4+-N, and NO3--N in soils with OFK increased by 23.80%-35.13%, 13.29%-29.72%, 16.91%-39.37%, 164.7%-340.2%, and 28.56%-32.71%, respectively. The activities of hydrolases related to the cycle of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus (α-glucosidase, leucine aminopeptidase, acid phosphatase, etc.) were also significantly higher than those of the CK treatment. OFK stimulated the growth of soil microorganisms and increased the carbon content of the microbial biomass. The amplicon sequencing analysis found that the microbial community structures of different treatments were significantly different at both the class and genus levels. In addition, it was found that the abundance of beneficial microbes in the soils with OFK increased, whereas pathogenic microbes decreased. RDA results confirmed that soil properties (including soil pH, organic matter, available nutrients, and microbial biomass) had a significant impact on microbial community structure. The results of investing bacterial community based on PICRUSt and FAPROTAX revealed that the function of the soil bacterial community was similar in the four treatments, but OFK supply significantly improved the microbial carbon utilization and metabolic ability. Moreover, by using the FUNGuild software, we found that the application of OFK increased the proportion of saprotroph-symbiotroph and symbiotroph and stimulated the growth of ectomycorrhizal fungi-undefined saprophytic fungi but inhibited plant and animal pathogenic fungi in soil. These results implied that OFK could promote the establishment of symbiotic relationships and inhibit the growth of pathogenic fungi. In summary, OFK could improve soil fertility and hydrolase activity, stimulate the growth of beneficial microorganisms, and defend against pathogens, indicating a promising use as safe and efficient organic fertilizer.