Monitoring soil moisture in winter wheat with crop water stress index based on canopy-air temperature time lag effect.

Crop water stress index (CWSI) has been widely used in soil moisture monitoring. However, the influence of the time lag effect between canopy temperature and air temperature on the accuracy of soil moisture monitoring with different CWSI models has not been further investigated. Therefore, based on the continuous record of canopy temperature and air temperature, this study explored the influence of canopy-air temperature hysteresis on the diagnosis of soil moisture with three CWSI models (CWSIT-theoretical, CWSIE-empirical, CWSIH-hybrid). The results show (1) the peak time of canopy temperature was ahead of that of air temperature, and the lag time varied under different soil moisture conditions. When the soil moisture was seriously deficient, the lag time decreased. However, from jointing-heading period to filling-ripening period, the lag time became longer. (2) The values of CWSIT, CWSIE, and CWSIH decreased when the time lag effect was considered. In jointing-heading period, heading-filling period, and filling-ripening period, CWSIT had the highest accuracy in soil moisture monitoring without the consideration of the time lag effect. When the time lag effect was considered, the monitoring accuracy of CWSIE and CWSIH was greatly improved and higher than that of CWSIT, while that of CWSIT was reduced. The findings provided a basis for further improving the accuracy of soil moisture monitoring with CWSI models.

Unraveling the relationship between soil carbon-degrading enzyme activity and carbon fraction under biogas slurry topdressing.

Biogas slurry, a by-product of the anaerobic digestion of biomass waste, predominantly consisting of livestock and poultry manure, is widely acclaimed as a sustainable organic fertilizer owing to its abundant reserves of essential nutrients. Its distinctive liquid composition, when tactfully integrated with a drip irrigation system, unveils immense potential, offering unparalleled convenience in application. In this study, we investigated the impact of biogas slurry topdressing as a replacement for chemical fertilizer (BSTR) on soil total organic carbon (TOC) fractions and carbon (C)-degrading enzyme activities across different soil depths (surface, sub-surface, and deep) during the tasseling (VT) and full maturity stage (R6) of maize. BSTR increased the TOC content within each soil layer during both VT and R6 periods, inducing alterations in the content and proportion of individual C component, particularly in the topsoil. Notably, the pure biogas slurry topdressing treatment (100%BS) compared with the pure chemical fertilizer topdressing treatment (CF), exhibited a 38.9% increase in the labile organic carbon of the topsoil during VT, and a 30.3% increase in the recalcitrant organic carbon during R6, facilitating microbial nutrient utilization and post-harvest C storage during the vigorous growth period of maize. Furthermore, BSTR treatment stimulated the activity of oxidative and hydrolytic C-degrading enzymes, with the 100%BS treatment showcasing the most significant enhancements, with its average geometric enzyme activity surpassing that of CF treatment by 27.9% and 27.4%, respectively. This enhancement facilitated ongoing and efficient degradation and transformation of C. Additionally, we screened for C components and C-degrading enzymes that are relatively sensitive to BSTR. The study highlight the advantages of employing pure biogas slurry topdressing, which enhances C component and C-degrading enzyme activity, thereby reducing the risk of soil degradation. This research lays a solid theoretical foundation for the rational recycling of biogas slurry.

A Lightweight Recognition Method for Rice Growth Period Based on Improved YOLOv5s.

The identification of the growth and development period of rice is of great significance to achieve high-yield and high-quality rice. However, the acquisition of rice growth period information mainly relies on manual observation, which has problems such as low efficiency and strong subjectivity. In order to solve these problems, a lightweight recognition method is proposed to automatically identify the growth period of rice: Small-YOLOv5, which is based on improved YOLOv5s. Firstly, the new backbone feature extraction network MobileNetV3 was used to replace the YOLOv5s backbone network to reduce the model size and the number of model parameters, thus improving the detection speed of the model. Secondly, in the feature fusion stage of YOLOv5s, we introduced a more lightweight convolution method, GsConv, to replace the standard convolution. The computational cost of GsConv is about 60-70% of the standard convolution, but its contribution to the model learning ability is no less than that of the standard convolution. Based on GsConv, we built a lightweight neck network to reduce the complexity of the network model while maintaining accuracy. To verify the performance of Small-YOLOv5s, we tested it on a self-built dataset of rice growth period. The results show that compared with YOLOv5s (5.0) on the self-built dataset, the number of the model parameter was reduced by 82.4%, GFLOPS decreased by 85.9%, and the volume reduced by 86.0%. The mAP (0.5) value of the improved model was 98.7%, only 0.8% lower than that of the original YOLOv5s model. Compared with the mainstream lightweight model YOLOV5s- MobileNetV3-Small, the number of the model parameter was decreased by 10.0%, the volume reduced by 9.6%, and the mAP (0.5:0.95) improved by 5.0%-reaching 94.7%-and the recall rate improved by 1.5%-reaching 98.9%. Based on experimental comparisons, the effectiveness and superiority of the model have been verified.

Optimization of Extraction Process and Dynamic Changes in Triterpenoids of Lactuca indica from Different Medicinal Parts and Growth Periods.

In this study, the triterpenoids in the leaves of Lactuca indica L.cv. Mengzao (LIM) were extracted via microwave-assisted ethanol extraction, and the optimum extraction conditions for triterpenoids were determined through single-factor experiments and the Box-Behnken method. The effects of three factors (solid-liquid ratio, microwave power and extraction time) on the total triterpenoids content (TTC) were evaluated. The TTC of different parts (roots, stems, leaves and flowers) of LIM in different growth stages was studied, and the scavenging effects of the highest TTC parts on DPPH, ABTS and hydroxyl free radicals were investigated. The results showed that the optimum extraction conditions for microwave-assisted extraction of total triterpenoids from LIM leaves were as follows: solid-liquid ratio of 1:20 g/mL; microwave power of 400 W; and extraction time of 60 min. Under these conditions, the TTC was 29.17 mg/g. Compared with the fresh raw materials, the TTC of the materials increased after freeze drying. The leaves of LIM had the highest TTC, and the flowering stage was the best time. The triterpenoids from the leaves had a strong ability to eliminate DPPH and ABTS free radicals, and the elimination effect of dried leaves was better than that of fresh leaves, while the elimination effect of hydroxyl free radicals was not obvious. The tested method was used to extract total triterpenoids from LIM using a simple process at low cost, which provides a reference for developing intensive processing methods for L. indica.

Size-dependent growth tactics of a partially migratory fish before migration.

In many migratory species, smaller migrants suffer higher mortality rates during the risky migration. To minimize the size-selective mortality, migrants with smaller body sizes would need to accelerate growth rates or delay migration timing to attain a large enough body size prior to migration. To test these predictions, we investigated size-dependent patterns of growth rates and migration timing of juvenile masu salmon (Oncorhynchus masou) before their oceanic migration. We tracked uniquely marked individuals in a study population consisted of oceanic migrants and river-dwelling residents using mark-recapture surveys and PIT-tag antenna-reader system. Data supported our predictions about size-dependent growth rates and migration timing. For approximately 6 months before outmigration (i.e., between the decision of migration and the start of migration), eventual migrants grew more than residents if their initial size was smaller, but such a difference in growth rate diminished for fish with larger initial sizes. In addition, smaller eventual migrants delayed the timing of outmigration compared to larger individuals, to attain a larger body size in the river prior to migration. These results suggest that size-selective mortality during migration has shaped size-dependent patterns of the pre-migration growth in migratory masu salmon. Size-conditional changes in growth rate and duration of pre-migration period may be an adaptive tactic for the migratory animals.

Integrated Physiological, Transcriptomic, and Metabolomic Analyses of the Response of Peach to Nitrogen Levels during Different Growth Stages.

This study performed physiological, transcriptome, and metabolite analyses of peach fruit under different nitrogen (N) conditions at different growth stages. Nitrogen management directly affected the yield, fruit quality, and metabolites of peach in different growth stages. Different fertilizing time influenced yield and leaf N concentration. RNA-Seq was used to analyze the influence of N levels at the fruit pit hardening (PH) and fruit expansion (FE) stages. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis revealed differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to carbon and nitrogen metabolite processes. Metabolome analysis shows that applying different nitrogen fertilizers at different growth stages of peach mainly affected metabolites related to carbon and amino acids. This research provides insight into the metabolic processes underlying different N responses during different growth stages and provides a foundation to improve the efficiency of N use in peach.

Photosynthetic acclimation during low-light-induced leaf senescence in post-anthesis maize plants.

Low light conditions not only induce leaf senescence, but also photosynthetic acclimation. This study aimed to determine whether plants exhibit photosynthetic acclimation during low-light-induced leaf senescence. The influences of shading on leaf senescence and photosynthetic acclimation were explored in post-anthesis maize plants. The results showed that whole shading (WS) of maize plants accelerated leaf senescence, whereas partial shading (PS) slowed leaf senescence. WS led to larger decreases in the photosynthetic rate (Pn) and stomatal conductance (Gs) compared to those of the PS treatment. Interestingly, chlorophyll a fluorescence (ChlF) demonstrated that the absorption flux (ABS/CSo) and trapped energy flux (TRo/CSo) per cross section in leaves remained relatively stable under WS, whereas significant decreases in the active PSII reaction centers (RC/CSo) resulted in considerable increases in absorption (ABS/RC) and trapped energy flux (TRo/RC) per reaction center. ABS/CSo, TRo/CSo, ABS/RC, and TRo/RC increased markedly under PS, whereas there were slight decreases in RC/CSo and electron transport activity. These results suggest that the PS treatment resulted in obvious improvements in the absorption and capture of light energy in shaded leaves. Further analysis demonstrated that both the WS and PS treatments resulted in a greater decrease in the activity of Rubisco compared to that of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC). Moreover, PEPC activity in PS was maintained at a high level. Consequently, the current study proposed that the improvement of the absorption and capture of light energy and the maintenance of PEPC activity of mesophyll cells were due to photosynthetic acclimation of low-light-induced leaf senescence in maize plants. In addition, the rate of senescence of vascular bundle cells in maize leaves exceeded that of mesophyll cells under low light, showing obvious tissue specificity.

Endophytic bacterial communities and spatiotemporal variations in cotton roots in Xinjiang, China.

Endogenous bacteria are important for maintaining the health and other ecologically relevant functions of cotton plants. However, little is known about the community structures and diversity of endophytic bacteria in cotton plants. In our study, we used the Illumina amplicon sequencing technology to study the endophytic bacteria found in cotton root tissue in Xinjiang, China. A total of 60.84 × 106 effective sequences of the 16S rRNA gene in the V5-V6 variable region revealed a large number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs), namely 81-338 OTUs, at a cut-off level of 3% and a sequencing depth of 50 000 sequences. Among the 23 classes identified, Gammaproteobacteria was the dominant group, followed by Alphaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Bacillus. The diversity of endogenous bacteria differed at different growth periods, with the most OTUs detected in seedlings (654), followed by the budding stage (381), flowering stage (350), and flocking stage (351). A total of 217 OTUs were common to all four stages. Pantoea tags were more common to the Shihezi region, whereas Erwinia labels were more common to the Hami region. These results suggest that the dynamics of endophytic bacterial communities are affected by plant growth stage. This highlights the relevance of microbial diversity studies in improving our understanding of endophyte communities.

[Nonfusion procedures in pediatric scoliosis]. / Nonfusionsverfahren bei kindlichen Skoliosen.

The treatment of early onset scoliosis (EOS) in children is a complex and demanding challenge in the treatment of spinal deformities. Conservative treatment with physiotherapy is indicated in mild forms with a Cobb angle from 10° and additionally a corset treatment with a Cobb angle of more than 20°. After exhaustion of the conservative measures or a progression of spinal scoliosis of 10° or deformities of more than 35°, a surgical approach should be considered in order to prevent respiratory insufficiency as well as severe postural and thoracic deformities. In situations where growth is still ongoing fusion operations can lead to stunted growth, a crankshaft phenomenon or degeneration of alignment. Meaningful alternatives to a fusion are so-called growing rods as a distraction-based nonfusion technique, e.g. traditional growing rods (TGR) and magnetically controlled growing rods (MCGR) or as a further method a vertical expandable prosthetic titanium rib (VEPTR) device. The advantages and disadvantages of each operative procedure must be considered with respect to the risk profile of each patient and the experience of the surgeon in order to guarantee the best possible treatment.

[Apophyseal injuries in sports]. / Apophysenschäden im Sport.

The number of adolescents and children in elite and high-intensity mass sports is increasing, with respect to industrial nations. High-intensity training can cause overload due to the increased traction effect, particularly on tendon and muscle insertion sites. Apophyses are the center for ossification in tendon and muscle insertions and are therefore particularly vulnerable in youths to overload-related pathologies. Core measures in the prevention are a systematic planning of training and the avoidance of mechanical overstraining in the growth period. An exact imaging enables the diagnosis of apophyseal structural damage at an early stage, which in this phase can be healed by a pause in training and conservative measures.

Dynamics of gene expression associated with arsenic uptake and transport in rice during the whole growth period.

BACKGROUND: Genes associated with arsenite uptake and transport in rice plants (i.e., OsLsi1, OsLsi2, OsLsi3, OsLsi6 and OsABCC1) have been identified to date. However, their expression over time during the whole growth period of rice under arsenite stress conditions is still poorly understood. In this study, the dynamics of gene expression associated with arsenite transport and arsenic concentrations in different organs of rice were investigated to determine the critical period(s) of arsenite uptake and translocation regulated by gene expression during the whole growth period. RESULTS: The relative expression of OsLsi2 and OsLsi1 in the roots was upregulated and reached its highest value (2-∆∆Ct = 4.04 and 1.19, respectively) at the jointing stage (9 weeks after transplantation), in which the arsenic concentration in roots also was the highest at 144 mg/kg. A range from 45.1 to 61.2% of total arsenic accumulated in the roots during seedling to heading stages (3-16 weeks), which was mainly associated with the relatively high expression of OsABCC1 (1.50-7.68), resulting in arsenic located in the vacuoles of roots. Subsequently, the As translocation factor from root to shoot increased over time from heading to milky ripe (16-20 weeks), and 74.3% of the arsenic accumulated in shoots at the milk stage. Such an increase in arsenic accumulation in shoots was likely related to the findings that (i) OsABCC1 expression in roots was suppressed to 0.14-0.75 in 18-20 weeks; (ii) OsLsi3 and OsABCC1 expression in nodes I, II, and III was upregulated to 4.01-25.8 and 1.59-2.36, respectively, in 16-20 weeks; and (iii) OsLsi6 and OsABCC1 expression in leaves and husks was significantly upregulated to 2.03-5.26 at 18 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: The jointing stage is the key period for the expression of arsenite-transporting genes in roots, and the heading to milky ripe stages are the key period for the expression of arsenite-transporting genes in shoots, both of which should be considered for regulation during safe rice production in arsenic-contaminated paddy soil.

Analysis of endophytic bacterial community diversity and metabolic correlation in Cinnamomum camphora.

The structure and diversity of microbial communities in the leaves of Cinnamomum camphora at different growth stages were studied by high-throughput sequencing. Moreover, the relationships between microbial communities and borneol content were analyzed in this paper. The results indicated that the community structure of endophytic bacteria in C. camphora exhibited temporal variations, with the microbial diversity presented as follows: T1 (low content period) > T3 (peak period) > T2 (small peak period). The population of endophytic bacteria and the ratio of primary metabolism in the leaves of C. camphora were T2 > T1 > T3, while the metabolic intensity of endophytic bacterial terpenoids and polyketides was T3 > T2 > T1, which had the same trend as borneol content in C. camphora. The metabolic ratio of terpenoids and polyketides in T3 was 7.44% higher than that in T1, while that in T2 was 4.10% higher than that in T1. The abundance and diversity of Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1, Ochrobactrum, Escherichia-Shigella, Pseudomonas, and Massilia significantly promoted the content of terpenoids in C. camphora. Together, those results provide the first evidence that borneol content and potential metabolic intensity in leaves of C. camphora greatly depend on microbial communities composition and diversity.

Monitoring Wheat Growth Using a Portable Three-Band Instrument for Crop Growth Monitoring and Diagnosis.

An instrument developed to monitor and diagnose crop growth can quickly and non-destructively obtain crop growth information, which is helpful for crop field production and management. Focusing on the problems with existing two-band instruments used for crop growth monitoring and diagnosis, such as insufficient information available on crop growth and low accuracy of some growth indices retrieval, our research team developed a portable three-band instrument for crop-growth monitoring and diagnosis (CGMD) that obtains a larger amount of information. Based on CGMD, this paper carried out studies on monitoring wheat growth indices. According to the acquired three-band reflectance spectra, the combined indices were constructed by combining different bands, two-band vegetation indices (NDVI, RVI, and DVI), and three-band vegetation indices (TVI-1 and TVI-2). The fitting results of the vegetation indices obtained by CGMD and the commercial instrument FieldSpec HandHeld2 was high and the new instrument could be used for monitoring the canopy vegetation indices. By fitting each vegetation index to the growth index, the results showed that the optimal vegetation indices corresponding to leaf area index (LAI), leaf dry weight (LDW), leaf nitrogen content (LNC), and leaf nitrogen accumulation (LNA) were TVI-2, TVI-1, NDVI (R730, R815), and NDVI (R730, R815), respectively. R2 values corresponding to LAI, LDW, LNC and LNA were 0.64, 0.84, 0.60, and 0.82, respectively, and their relative root mean square error (RRMSE) values were 0.29, 0.26, 0.17, and 0.30, respectively. The addition of the red spectral band to CGMD effectively improved the monitoring results of wheat LAI and LDW. Focusing the problem of vegetation index saturation, this paper proposed a method to construct the wheat-growth-index spectral monitoring models that were defined according to the growth periods. It improved the prediction accuracy of LAI, LDW, and LNA, with R2 values of 0.79, 0.85, and 0.85, respectively, and the RRMSE values of these growth indices were 0.22, 0.23, and 0.28, respectively. The method proposed here could be used for the guidance of wheat field cultivation.

Effects of different mulching and fertilization on phosphorus transformation in upland farmland.

In the present study, the impact of different soil surface mulching, fertilization on phosphorus mineralization and bio-availability of spring maize at various growth stages and soil layers (0-20 and 20-40 cm soil layer) were evaluated. The results indicated that the contents of total P and Olsen-Phosphorus (Olsen-P) in the soils of 0-20 cm soil layer were significantly higher than those in the 20-40 cm soil layer at different stages. The addition of organic fertilizer significantly increased the soil total P and Olsen-P content in the 0-20 cm soil layer. The different surface mulching, no mulching (NM), gravel mulching (GM) and film mulching (FM) were significantly affected by the content of Olsen-P in both soil layers during the critical growth period of spring maize. The Ca10-P contents in both soil layers were the maximum in terms of the inorganic phosphorus content in soils with different surface mulching and different fertilization. Surface mulching significantly affected the transformation of inorganic phosphorus in different soil layers of dry-land farmland, and accelerated the increase of Ca2-P content (first phosphorus source) in 0-20 cm soil layer by GM and FM. In addition, phosphorus combined with inorganic nitrogen fertilizer increased Ca8-P (second Olsen-P source) to a certain extent, and reduced the relative content of Ca2-P (first phosphorus source). Compared with phosphate (P), nitrogen and phosphorus (NP) treatments, manure and nitrogen and phosphorus (MNP) treatments increased the contents of Ca2-P (first phosphorus source) and Ca8-P (second effective phosphorus source), while it reduced the insoluble phosphorus source (O-P) content.

Characterization of Two Growth Period QTLs Reveals Modification of PRR3 Genes During Soybean Domestication.

Soybean yield is largely dependent on growth period. We characterized two growth period quantitative trait loci, Gp11 and Gp12, from a recombinant inbred population generated from a cross of wild (W05) and cultivated (C08) soybean. Lines carrying Gp11C08 and Gp12C08 tend to have a shorter growth period and higher expression of GmFT2a and GmFT5a. Furthermore, multiple interval mapping suggests that Gp11 and Gp12 may be genetically interacting with the E2 locus. This is consistent with the observation that GmFT2a and GmFT5a are activated by Gp11C08 and Gp12C08 at ZT4 in the recessive e2 but not the dominant E2 background. Gp11 and Gp12 are duplicated genomic regions each containing a copy of the soybean ortholog of PSEUDO RESPONSE REGULATOR 3 (GmPRR3A and GmPRR3B). GmPRR3A and GmPRR3B from C08 carry mutations that delete the CCT domain in the encoded proteins. These mutations were selected during soybean improvement and they alter the subcellular localization of GmPRR3A and GmPRR3B. Furthermore, GmPRR3A and GmPRR3B can interact with TOPLESS-related transcription factors, suggesting that they function in a transcription repressor complex. This study addresses previously unexplored components of the genetic network that probably controls the growth period of soybean and puts these loci into context with the well-characterized growth period-regulating E loci.

A Widely Metabolomic Analysis Revealed Metabolic Alterations of Epimedium Pubescens Leaves at Different Growth Stages.

Epimedium folium is the major medicinally-used organ of Epimedium species and its metabolic changes during the leaf growth have not been studied at the metabolomic level. E. pubescens is one of five recorded species in the Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China and widely grows in China. A UPLC-ESI-MS/MS-based targeted metabolomic analysis was implemented to explore the metabolite composition in E. pubescens leaves under the cultivation condition and further to investigate their temporal variations among four representative growth stages. A total of 403 metabolites, including 32 hitherto known in Epimedium species, were identified in E. pubescens leaf, of which 302 metabolites showed the growth/development-dependent alterations. Flavonoid-type compounds were the major composition of the metabolites identified in this study. Most flavonoids, together with tannin-type and lignans and coumarin-type compounds, were up-regulated with E. pubescens leaf growth and maturation after the full flowering stage. Our results not only greatly enriched the existing Epimedium phytochemical composition database and also, for the first time, provided the metabolomics-wide information on metabolic changes during E. pubescens leaf growth and development, which would facilitate in the choice of an optimum harvest time to balance a higher biomass yield of Epimedium folium with its better medicinal quality.

Interactive effects of multiple vernalization (Vrn-1)- and photoperiod (Ppd-1)-related genes on the growth habit of bread wheat and their association with heading and flowering time.

BACKGROUND: The precise identification of Winterness/Springness (growth habit) for bread wheat, which is determined by genes involved in vernalization and photoperiod, will contribute to the effective utilization of bread wheat varieties. Here, 198 varieties from the Yellow and Huai wheat production region (YHW) in China were collected to identify their vernalization (Vrn-1) and photoperiod (Ppd-1) gene composition via a series of functional markers and their association with vernalization and photoperiod requirements at three locations during two years of experiments. The growth habits were measured during the spring sowing season. RESULTS: The results showed that the semi-winter varieties (grades1-4) were most prevalent in the population. The relative effects of single Vrn alleles on the growth period, such as heading date (HD) and/or flowering date (FD), were as follows: Vrn-B1b > Vrn-B1a > Vrn-D1b > Vrn-D1a > vrn-D1 = vrn-B1. The interactive effects of Vrn-B1 and Vrn-D1 on HD and FD were identical to those of Vrn-B1b. Approximately 35.3% of the cultivars carried Ppd-B1a (photoperiod-insensitive) and exhibited the earliest HD and FD. The Ppd-D1a-insensitive allele (Hapl II) was carried by just 0.5% of the varieties; however, the other two sensitive alleles were present at a higher frequency, and their effects were slightly weaker than those of Ppd-B1a. In addition, strong interactive effects between Ppd-B1 and Ppd-D1 were detected. In terms of mean values among various genotypes, the effects followed the order of Vrn-1 > Ppd-1. CONCLUSIONS: According to the results of ANOVA and least significant range (LSR) tests, we can conclude that Vrn-1 rather than Ppd-1 played a major role in controlling vernalization and photoperiod responses in this region. This research will be helpful for precisely characterizing and evaluating the HD, FD and even growth habit of varieties in the YHW at molecular levels.

Insulin and 20-hydroxyecdysone action in Bombyx mori: Glycogen content and expression pattern of insulin and ecdysone receptors in fat body.

Insulin and ecdysone signaling play a critical role on the growth and development of insects including Bombyx mori. Our previous study showed that Bombyx larvae reached critical weight for metamorphosis between day 3.5 and 4 of the fifth larval instar. The present study showed that the effect of insulin on the accumulation of glycogen in fat body of Bombyx larvae depends on the critical growth period. When larvae are in active growth period (before reaching critical weight), insulin caused increased accumulation of glycogen, while its treatment in larvae at terminal growth period (after critical period) resulted in an increased mobilization of glycogen. During terminal growth period, insulin and 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) showed an antagonistic effect on the accumulation of fat body glycogen in fed, food deprived and decapitated larvae as well as in isolated abdomens. Insulin treatment decreased the glycogen content, whereas, 20E increased it. Food deprivation and decapitation caused an increase in the transcript levels of insulin receptor (InR) and this increase in InR expression might be attributed to a decrease in synthesis/secretion of insulin-like peptides, as insulin treatment in these larvae showed a down-regulation in InR expression. However, insulin showed an up-regulation in InR in isolated abdomens and it suggests that in food deprived and decapitated larvae, the exogenous insulin may interact with some head and/or thoracic factors in modulating the expression of InR. Moreover, in fed larvae, insulin-mediated increase in InR expression indicates that its regulation by insulin-like peptides also depends on the nutritional status of the larvae. The treatment of 20E in fed larvae showed an antagonistic effect on the transcript levels since a down-regulation in InR expression was observed. 20E treatment also led to a decreased expression of InR in food deprived and decapitated larvae as well as in isolated abdomens. Insulin and 20E also modulated the expression level of ecdysone receptors (EcRB1 and USP1). 20E treatment showed an up-regulation in expression of ecdysone receptors, but only in fed larvae, whereas insulin treatment showed a down-regulation in the expression of EcRB1 and USP1 in all the experimental larvae studied. Further, the data indicates that an up-regulation of ecdysone receptors is associated with an increase in fat body glycogen content, whereas an up-regulation of insulin receptor expression causes glycogen mobilization. The study, therefore, suggests that the insulin and ecdysone signaling are linked to each other and that both insulin and ecdysone are involved in regulating the carbohydrate reserves in B. mori.

Differences in humeral retroversion in dominant and nondominant sides of young baseball players.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between the disabled throwing shoulder and humeral retroversion has recently attracted a great deal of attention. However, none of the previous studies clarified when the side-to-side difference of humeral retroversion in young baseball players would start. This study aimed to clarify when the difference of humeral retroversion in the dominant and nondominant sides appeared in baseball players. METHODS: The bicipital-forearm angle in bilateral shoulders of 172 elementary school baseball players was measured by ultrasound. The bicipital-forearm angle was defined as an angle between the perpendicular line to the bicipital groove and the ulnar long axis with the elbow flexed at 90°. The correlation between the bicipital-forearm angle and the grade and the difference of the bicipital-forearm angle between the dominant and nondominant sides were analyzed. RESULTS: In the nondominant shoulders, the bicipital-forearm angle increased with the grade in school (r = 0.32, P < .0001), but this was not observed in the dominant shoulders. In the fourth to sixth graders, the bicipital-forearm angles were significantly smaller in the dominant shoulders than in the nondominant shoulders. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicated that humeral retroversion decreased with age in the nonthrowing side but not in the throwing side and that the side-to-side difference of humeral retroversion in the baseball players became obvious from the fourth grade. We assume that the repetitive throwing motion restricts the physiologic humeral derotation process and the difference became apparent from the fourth grade when the growth spurt begins in boys.

Assessment of the Pubertal Growth Period using the Open Apices of the Lower Teeth.

AIM: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the open apex measurements of the lower teeth can be used for prediction of the pubertal growth spurt. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study group consisted of 150 males and 142 females ranging in age from 10 to 16 years. A total of 292 panoramic and 292 hand-wrist radiographs were obtained and analyzed. The skeletal maturity was determined according to the skeletal maturity indicators (SMIs) developed by Fishman. The open apices measurements of the left lower teeth were made according to the method described by Cameriere. RESULTS: The Spearman rank order correlation coefficient revealed a relationship between the skeletal maturity stages and the open apex measurements. These correlations ranged from 0.577 for the lower second premolar to 0.830 for the lower canine. The measurement of the left lower canine showed the highest correlation, so its relationship with the SMIs was further investigated. The measurements of 6.07 (or greater) indicated to SMI4, and 2.485 (or lesser) indicated to SMI7. CONCLUSION: The skeletal maturity well related to the measurements of the open apices of the lower teeth. Lower canine open apex measurements could be used as an indicator of the SMI4 and SMI7. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The measurements of the open apices of the left lower canines from panoramic radiographs may be clinically useful as an indicator of the beginning and the ending of the pubertal growth period.