Diffusion MRI marks progressive alterations in fiber integrity in the zQ175DN mouse model of Huntington's disease.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting motor and cognitive abilities. Multiple studies have found white matter anomalies in HD-affected humans and animal models of HD. The identification of sensitive white-matter-based biomarkers in HD animal models will be important in understanding disease mechanisms and testing the efficacy of therapeutic interventions. Here we investigated the progression of white matter deficits in the knock-in zQ175DN heterozygous (HET) mouse model of HD at 3, 6 and 11 months of age (M), reflecting different states of phenotypic progression. We compared findings from traditional diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and advanced fixel-based analysis (FBA) diffusion metrics for their sensitivity in detecting white matter anomalies in the striatum, motor cortex, and segments of the corpus callosum. FBA metrics revealed progressive and widespread reductions of fiber cross-section and fiber density in myelinated bundles of HET mice. The corpus callosum genu was the most affected structure in HET mice at 6 and 11 M based on the DTI and FBA metrics, while the striatum showed the earliest progressive differences starting at 3 M based on the FBA metrics. Overall, FBA metrics detected earlier and more prominent alterations in myelinated fiber bundles compared to the DTI metrics. Luxol fast blue staining showed no loss in myelin density, indicating that diffusion anomalies could not be explained by myelin reduction but diffusion anomalies in HET mice were accompanied by increased levels of neurofilament light chain protein at 11 M. Altogether, our findings reveal progressive alterations in myelinated fiber bundles that can be measured using diffusion MRI, representing a candidate noninvasive imaging biomarker to study phenotype progression and the efficacy of therapeutic interventions in zQ175DN mice. Moreover, our study exposed higher sensitivity of FBA than DTI metrics, suggesting a potential benefit of adopting these advanced metrics in other contexts, including biomarker development in humans.

Multiple cropping effectively increases soil bacterial diversity, community abundance and soil fertility of paddy fields.

BACKGROUND: Crop diversification is considered as an imperative approach for synchronizing the plant nutrient demands and soil nutrient availability. Taking two or more crops from the same field in one year is considered as multiple cropping. It improves the diversity and abundance of soil microbes, thereby improving the growth and yield of crops. Therefore, the present study was conducted to explore the effects of different multiple winter cropping on soil microbial communities in paddy fields. In this study, eight rice cropping patterns from two multiple cropping systems with three different winter crops, including Chinese milk vetch (CMV), rape, and wheat were selected. The effects of different multiple winter cropping on soil microbial abundance, community structure, and diversity in paddy fields were studied by 16 S rRNA high-throughput sequencing and real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR). RESULTS: The results showed that different multiple winter cropping increased the operational taxonomic units (OTUs), species richness, and community richness index of the bacterial community in 0 ~ 20 cm soil layer. Moreover, soil physical and chemical properties of different multiple cropping patterns also affected the diversity and abundance of microbial bacterial communities. The multiple cropping increased soil potassium and nitrogen content, which significantly affected the diversity and abundance of bacterial communities, and it also increased the overall paddy yield. Moreover, different winter cropping changed the population distribution of microorganisms, and Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Nitrospira, and Chloroflexi were identified as the most dominant groups. Multiple winter cropping, especially rape-early rice-late rice (TR) andChinese milk vetch- early rice-late rice (TC) enhanced the abundance of Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Actinobacteria and decreased the relative abundance of Verrucomicrobia and Euryarchaeota. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, winter cropping of Chinese milk vetch and rape were beneficial to improve the soil fertility, bacteria diversity, abundance and rice yield.

Can urea-coated fertilizers be an effective means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving crop productivity?

Given the significance of nitrogen (N) as the most constraining nutrient in agro-ecosystems, it is crucial to develop an updated model for N fertilizers management to achieve higher crop yields while minimizing the negative impacts on the environment. Coated urea is touted as one of the most important controlled-release N fertilizers used in agriculture to reduce cropland emissions and improve nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) for optimal crop yields. The sustainability of coated urea depends on the trade-offs between crop productivity, NUE and greenhouse gas emissions (CO2, CH4 and N2O); however, role of various agro-edaphic factors in influencing these trade-offs remains unclear. To determine the effects of soil properties, climatic conditions, experimental conditions, and type of coated urea on greenhouse gas emissions, NH3 losses, crop productivity, and NUE, we conducted a meta-analysis using data from 76 peer-reviewed studies. Our results showed that the application of coated urea under field conditions contributed to a greater reduction in N2O emissions (-48.67%) and higher NUE (58.72%), but crop yields were not significant. Across different climate regions, subtropical monsoon climate showed a perceptible mitigation for CO2, CH4 and NH3 (-78.38%; -83.33%; -27.46%), while temperate climate reduced N2O emissions by -70.36%. For different crops, only rice demonstrated reduction in CO2, CH4, N2O and NH3 losses. On the other hand, our findings revealed a mitigating trade-off between CO2 and CH4 emissions on medium-textured soils and N2O emissions on fine-textured soils. A significant reduction in N2O and NH3 losses was evident when coated urea was applied to soils with a pH > 5.5. Interestingly, application of coated urea to soils with higher C/N ratios increased NH3 losses but showed a noticeable N2O reduction. We found that polymer-coated urea reduced CH4 and N2O emissions and NH3 losses at the expense of higher CO2 emissions. Moreover, application of a lower dose of coated urea (0-100 kg N ha-1) enhanced CO2 and CH4 mitigation, while N2O mitigation increased linearly with increasing dose of coated urea. Most importantly, our results showed that the application of coated urea leads to a large mismatch between NUE, crop yields and greenhouse gas mitigation. By and large, the application of coated urea did not correspond with higher crop yields despite significant reduction in the emissions and improved NUE. Overall, these results suggest that site-specific agro-edaphic conditions should be considered when applying coated urea to reduce these emissions and N volatilization losses for increasing NUE and crop yields.

Microbial mediated remediation of heavy metals toxicity: mechanisms and future prospects.

Heavy metal pollution has become a serious concern across the globe due to their persistent nature, higher toxicity, and recalcitrance. These toxic metals threaten the stability of the environment and the health of all living beings. Heavy metals also enter the human food chain by eating contaminated foods and cause toxic effects on human health. Thus, remediation of HMs polluted soils is mandatory and it needs to be addressed at higher priority. The use of microbes is considered as a promising approach to combat the adverse impacts of HMs. Microbes aided in the restoration of deteriorated environments to their natural condition, with long-term environmental effects. Microbial remediation prevents the leaching and mobilization of HMs and they also make the extraction of HMs simple. Therefore, in this context recent technological advancement allowed to use of bioremediation as an imperative approach to remediate polluted soils. Microbes use different mechanisms including bio-sorption, bioaccumulation, bioleaching, bio-transformation, bio-volatilization and bio-mineralization to mitigate toxic the effects of HMs. Thus, keeping in the view toxic HMs here in this review explores the role of bacteria, fungi and algae in bioremediation of polluted soils. This review also discusses the various approaches that can be used to improve the efficiency of microbes to remediate HMs polluted soils. It also highlights different research gaps that must be solved in future study programs to improve bioremediation efficency.

Linear brain measurement: a new screening method for cognitive impairment in elderly patients with cerebral small vessel disease.

Background: The old adults have high incidence of cognitive impairment, especially in patients with cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD). Cognitive impairment is not easy to be detected in such populations. We aimed to develop clinical prediction models for different degrees of cognitive impairments in elderly CSVD patients based on conventional imaging and clinical data to determine the better indicators for assessing cognitive function in the CSVD elderly. Methods: 210 CSVD patients were screened out by the evaluation of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Then, participants were divided into the following three groups according to the cognitive assessment results: control, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and dementia groups. Clinical data were collected from all patients, including demographic data, biochemical indicators, carotid ultrasound, transcranial Doppler (TCD) indicators, and linear measurement parameters based on MRI. Results: Our results showed that the brain atrophy and vascular lesions developed progressive worsening with increased degree of cognitive impairment. Crouse score and Interuncal distance/Bitemporal distance (IUD/BTD) were independent risk factors for MCI in CSVD patients, and independent risk factors for dementia in CSVD were Crouse Score, the pulsatility index of the middle cerebral artery (MCAPI), IUD/BTD, and Sylvian fissure ratio (SFR). Overall, the parameters with high performance were the IUD/BTD (OR 2.28; 95% CI 1.26-4.10) and SFR (OR 3.28; 95% CI 1.54-6.91), and the AUC (area under the curve) in distinguishing between CSVD older adults with MCI and with dementia was 0.675 and 0.724, respectively. Linear brain measurement parameters had larger observed effect than other indexes to identify cognitive impairments in CSVD patients. Conclusion: This study shows that IUD/BTD and SFR are good predictors of cognitive impairments in CSVD elderly. Linear brain measurement showed a good predictive power for identifying MCI and dementia in elderly subjects with CSVD. Linear brain measurement could be a more suitable and novel method for screening cognitive impairment in aged CSVD patients in primary healthcare facilities, and worth further promotion among the rural population.

Silicon a key player to mitigate chromium toxicity in plants: Mechanisms and future prospective.

Chromium is a serious heavy metal (HM) and its concentration in plant-soil interface is soaring due to anthropogenic activities, unregulated disposals, and lack of efficient treatments. High concentration of Cr is toxic to ecosystems and human health. Cr stress also diminishes the plant performance by changing the plant's vegetative and reproductive development that ultimately affects sustainable crop production. Silicon (Si) is the second-most prevalent element in the crust of the planet, and has demonstrated a remarkable potential to minimize the HM toxicity. Amending soils with Si mitigates adverse effects of Cr by improving plant physiological, biochemical, and molecular functioning and ensuring better Cr immobilization, compartmentation, and co-precipitation. However, there is no comprehensive review on the role of Si to mitigate Cr toxicity in plants. Thus, in this present review; the discussion has been carried on; 1) the source of Cr, 2) underlying mechanisms of Cr uptake by plants, 3) how Si affects the plant functioning to reduce Cr toxicity, 4) how Si can cause immobilization, compartmentation, and co-precipitation 5) strategies to improve Si accumulation in plants to counter Cr toxicity. We also discussed the knowledge gaps and future research needs. The present review reports up-to-date knowledge about the role of Si to mitigate Cr toxicity and it will help to get better crop productivity in Cr-contaminated soils. The findings of the current review will educate the readers on Si functions in reducing Cr toxicity and will offer new ideas to develop Cr tolerance in plants through the use of Si.

Dual roles of AtNBR1 in regulating selective autophagy via liquid-liquid phase separation and recognition of non-ubiquitinated substrates in Arabidopsis.

Selective macroautophagy/autophagy in metazoans involves the conserved receptors NBR1 and SQSTM1/p62. Both autophagy receptors manage ubiquitinated cargo recognition, while SQSTM1 has an additional, distinct role of facilitating liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) during autophagy. Given that plants lack SQSTM1, it is postulated that plant NBR1 May combine activities of both metazoan NBR1 and SQSTM1. However, the precise mechanism by which plant NBR1 recognizes non-ubiquitinated substrates and its ability to undergo LLPS during selective autophagy remain elusive. Here, we implicate both the ZZ-type zinc finger motif and the four-tryptophan domain of Arabidopsis NBR1 (AtNBR1) in the recognition of non-ubiquitinated cargo proteins. Additionally, we reveal that AtNBR1 indeed undergoes LLPS prior to ATG8-mediated autophagosome formation, crucial for heat stress resistance in Arabidopsis. Our findings unveil the dual roles of AtNBR1 in both cargo recognition and LLPS during plant autophagy and advance our understanding of NBR1-mediated autophagy in plants compared to metazoans.

Comparison of the effectiveness of reproductive health education intervention through different channels for female college students / 中国学校卫生

Objective@#To understand the knowledge of reproductive health among female college students and the effectiveness of intervention measures, so as to provide a reference for conducting reproductive health education and health guidance for female college students.@*Methods@#From March to November 2022, 1 019 female college students of grade 1 to 3 from a university were selected by convenient sampling method,who were included in the conventional group( n =315), WeChat group( n =462) and outpatient and peer group( n =242). The Outpatient and peer group was provided with reproductive health education and health knowledge manuals and relevant guidance by receiving medical staff, the conventional group received routine health education and guidance from the school, and the WeChat group received online reproductive health education and guidance on the WeChat platform. Survey questionnaires were filled out before and after reproductive health related education and health guidance, and the results were compared and analyzed.@*Results@#After intervention, the awareness rates of women’s menstrual cycle , ovulation period, AIDS detection window period and suitable contraceptive methods in outpatient and peer groups and WeChat group were higher than those in conventional group ( χ 2=26.78, 31.70, 61.50 and 13.96 respectively). The awareness rates of women s physiological time easy to be pregnant and unreliable contraceptive methods in outpatient and peer groups were higher than those in conventional group ( χ 2= 9.10 , 10.68), and the awareness rates of unreliable contraceptive methods and main precautions during menstruation were higher than those in WeChat group ( χ 2=9.10, 8.02). The awareness rate of emergency contraception methods in WeChat group was higher than that in conventional group ( χ 2=7.94). All the differences were statistically significant ( P <0.05). After intervention, the knowledge scores of reproductive physiology (2.55±1.09, 2.42±1.08), contraception (2.62±1.20, 2.53±1.06), sexually transmitted disease (2.89±1.35, 2.76±1.24) and the total score of reproductive health knowledge (12.82±3.94, 12.12±3.06) among female college students of the outpatient and peer group and WeChat group were higher than those in the conventional group (2.10± 0.91 , 2.33±1.09, 2.55±1.18, 11.39±3.07). The knowledge score of accidental pregnancy and induced abortion (1.78±0.91) and the total score of reproductive health knowledge (12.82±3.94) among female college students of the outpatient and peer group were higher than those in the conventional group and WeChat group (1.57±0.87, 1.62±0.87; 11.39±3.07, 12.12±3.06). All the differences were statistically significant ( F =14.94, 5.27, 5.28, 13.02; 4.15, 13.02, P <0.05).@*Conclusion@#Female college students lack comprehensive understanding of reproductive health related knowledge. The reproductive health education and health care guidance to female college students should be developed through multiple channels, which would improve the reproductive health knowledge cognition of female college students and promote the formation of good health care behavior.