The impact of crop residue return on the food-carbon-water-energy nexus in a rice-wheat rotation system under climate warming.

Rice-wheat rotation (RWR) is one of the major cropping systems in China and plays a crucial role in the country's food security. With the promotion of "burn ban" and "straw return" policies, the "straw return + rice-wheat crop rotation system" has been developed in China's RWR area. However, the effect of promotion of straw return on production and ecological benefits of RWR areas is unclear. In this study, the main planting zones of RWR were examined, and ecological footprints and scenario simulation were applied to explore the effect of straw return on the food-carbon-water-energy nexus under conditions of a warming world. The results indicate that with rising temperatures and the promotion of straw return policies, the study area was in a "carbon sink" state during 2000-2019. The study area's total yield climbed by 48 % and the carbon (CF), water (WF) and energy (EF) footprints decreased by 163 %, 20 % and 11 %, respectively. Compared to 2000-2009, the temperature increase for 2010-2019 was negatively correlated with the increase in CF and WF and positively correlated with the increase of yield and EF. A 16 % reduction in chemical fertilizers, increasing the straw return rate to 80 % and utilizing tillage techniques such as furrow-buried straw return would contribute to sustainable agriculture in the RWR area under a projection of 1.5 °C increase in air temperature. The promotion of straw return has contributed to improved production and the maintenance and reduction of CF, WF, and EF in the RWR, but further optimization measures are required to reduce the footprint of agriculture in a warmer world.

[Screening for cellular signal transduction pathway involved in C-reactive protein induced endothelial cell inflammation].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the cellular signal transduction pathway involved in participation of C-reactive protein (CRP) in inflammation process in endothelial cell. METHODS: Human umbilical vascular endothelial cells were cultured and characterized by anti-Factor VIII-related antigen. The cells were divided into CRP group and control group, and they were respectively treated with CRP (20 mg/L) or serum-free medium for 24 hours. RNAs of two groups were extracted and analyzed by human signal transduction pathway gene array. RESULTS: Expressions of 13 genes were increased, whereas expressions of 25 genes were decreased in CRP group compared with control group. Especially, WNT1 inducible signaling pathway protein 2 (WISP2) was increased by 37.63 folds, which was believed to involve in inflammation process as a growth factor, p53 was increased by 30.50 folds, which was a key factor to modulate apoptosis, whereas, Bcl-x and Bcl-2 were decreased by 9.61% and 49.95% which were characterized as an important factor to prevent apoptosis. Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) was increased by 2.75 folds after treated with CRP, while intercellular adhesion molecular (ICAM) between two groups didn't show statistically significant difference. CONCLUSION: CRP may be involved in inflammatory process of endothelial cell, and the mechanism may be to induce apoptosis and activate cellular signal transduction pathway of cell adhesion proteins.