Search

The purpose of the study was to examine biochar amendment, phosphorus (P) fertilizer and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on the yield, nutrient and cadmium (Cd) absorption of Lolium multiflorum in acidic soil. It was shown that mycorrhizal inoculation had no positive influence on the plant shoot biomass and the contents of nitrogen (N), P, potassium (K), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) in plants at all biochar and P level treatments. Irrespective of mycorrhizal inoculation and P level, biochar amendments markedly elevated the soil available P and K uptake in plant tissues. In contrast, biochar significantly decreased the translocation factor of plants, soil exchangeable Cd, and acid and neutral phosphatase activities, regardless of the mycorrhizal inoculation and P fertilizer. Without P fertilization, biochar amendments significantly promoted shoot P content, while biochar amendments significantly reduced shoot P content when P fertilizer was applied. Without biochar application, P fertilizer application significantly promoted the biomass and N uptake of shoots in both AMF inoculation treatments, while P fertilizer increased these only in the presence of biochar and mycorrhizal inoculation. The increased N content induced by the biochar amendment elevated the shoot N:P ratio and alleviated the N deficiency with P fertilizer input. Thus, we concluded that the addition of biochar and P fertilizer showed more positive effects on the promotion of growth and nutrient uptake of L. multiflorum than AMF grown in acidic Cd-contaminated soils. Image 1 • AMF had no positive influence on shoot biomass and nutrient uptakes. • Biochar markedly elevated soil P level and plant K uptake. • Biochar decreased translocation factor. • Biochar increased shoot N:P ratio with P fertilization. • Biochar and P fertilizer had more positive effects on ryegrass than AMF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The synergistic effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) inoculation and biochar application on plant growth and heavy metal uptake remain unclear. A pot experiment was carried out to investigate the influence of AMF inoculation, biochar and cadmium (Cd) addition on the growth, nutrient and cadmium uptake of Medicago sativa , as well as soil biological and chemical characteristics. In comparison to the non-Cd pollution treatment, Cd addition significantly decreased mycorrhizal colonization, biomass, and N, P, Ca and Mg contents of shoots and roots in the absence of biochar. Biochar amendment did not increase mycorrhizal colonization at either Cd levels. Regardless of the biochar amendment, AMF inoculation significantly promoted contents of N and P in plant shoots grown in the Cd-contaminated soils. Nevertheless, in the presence of Cd pollution, biochar dramatically elevated the biomass and N, P, K and Ca contents of plant tissues in both AMF inoculation treatments. Biochar addition significantly reduced soil DTPA-extracted Cd. The treatments with AMF inoculation and biochar amendment showed the lowest shoot Cd concentrations and contents, highest plant tissue N and P contents in the Cd addition group. These results suggested that combined use of AMF inoculation and biochar amendment had significant synergistic effects not only on nutrient uptake but also on the reduction in cadmium uptake of alfalfa grown in Cd-polluted soil. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • AMF only promoted N and P uptake of plant shoots. • Biochar facilitated N, P, K and Ca contents of plants grown in Cd-contaminated soils. • Biochar was more effective at increasing plant nutrient uptake. • Both AMF and biochar could decrease plant Cd concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to explore whether nitrogen availability could influence mycorrhizal function and their associations with host plants in Cd-contaminated acidic soils or not. A greenhouse pot experiment was conducted to assess the effects of mycorrhizal inoculation (non-mycorrhizal inoculation (NM), Glomus aggregatum (Ga), G. tortuosum (Gt) and G. versiforme (Gv)) and inorganic N amendment on the growth, nutrient and Cd uptake of Medicago sativa grown in Cd-contaminated acidic soils (10 mg Cd kg −1 soil). AMF inoculations significantly increased the shoot and total biomass and decreased the shoot Cd concentration in comparison to plants uninoculated. N addition increased markedly concentration and content of N and decreased those of P in plants at all inoculation treatments. Shoot K, Na and Mg concentration in plants inoculated with Ga and Gv were decreased by N addition, whereas shoot K, Na, Ca and Mg concentration in plants inoculated with Gt were not negatively affected. It was observed that N addition only increased mycorrhizal colonization, shoot biomass, shoot K, Ca and Mg content of plants inoculated with Gt. Irrespective of N addition, plants with Gt inoculation got the maximum shoot and root P concentration and content, as well as P/Cd concentration molar ratio among all inoculation treatment. Neither AMF nor N fertilizer contributed to the decrease of soil exchangeable Cd and increase of soil pH. These results suggested that N fertilizer only elevated plant performance of alfalfa with Gt inoculation grown in acidic soil, by diluting Cd concentration and alleviating of nutrient deficiency, especially P. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, the surge in China's CO 2 emissions has caused serious environmental problem. According to the CO 2 reduction commitment in 12th Five-Year Plan, this paper classifies total CO 2 emissions in accordance with industry and analyses CO 2 emissions changing trend of residential consumption and the three major industries which include the primary, secondary and tertiary industry. Cointegration and Granger causality test are proposed to select different influencing factors of three major industries and residential consumption CO 2 emissions respectively as well as check the influencing factors with different leading lengths. Least squares support vector machine (LSSVM) is applied to predict different types of carbon dioxide emissions. Case studies reveal that classification and prediction of CO 2 emissions can highly improve forecast accuracy. The effectiveness of LSSVM has been proved by the final simulation which shows that the proposed method outperforms logistic model, back propagation artificial neural network (BPNN) and GM (1, 1) model in the CO 2 emissions forecasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing the dependence on fossil-fuel-based resources is becoming significant due to the detrimental effects on environment and global energy-dependent. Thus, increased attention has been paid to wind power, a type of clean and renewable energy. However, owing to the stochastic nature of wind speed, it is essential to build a wind speed forecasting model with high-precision for wind power utilization. Therefore, this paper proposes a hybrid model which combines fast ensemble empirical model decomposition (FEEMD) with regularized extreme learning machine (RELM). The original wind speed series are first decomposed into a limited number of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) and one residual series. Then RELM is built to forecast the sub-series. Partial auto correlation function (PACF) is applied to analyze the intrinsic relationships between the historical speeds so as to select the inputs of RELM. To verify the developed models, short-term wind speed data in July 2010 and monthly data from January 2000 to May 2010 in Hong songwa wind farm, Chengde city are used for model construction and testing. Two additional forecasting cases in Hebei province are also applied to prove the model’s validity. The simulation test results show that the built model is effective, efficient and practicable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Murine infection models are needed to develop therapeutics and vaccines to combat the Plasmodium parasites causing malaria. Herein, we describe an easy to perform flow cytometry-based methodology for detecting green fluorescent protein-expressing Plasmodium berghei in the peripheral red blood cells (RBC) of mice. This methodology uses one-step staining and simplified gating strategies to streamline the process of Plasmodium quantification and can detect parasitemia at an earlier time point after infection compared to traditional light microscopy-based techniques. • Flow cytometry-based methodology detects Plasmodium parasitemia in mice at earlier time points than microscopy. • Method is quickly performed and does not require antibody staining. • Methodology amenable to high-throughput screening of antimalarial vaccines and therapeutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We identified two novel pathogenic mutations in FSIP2 on a MMAF patient. • The patient carrying FSIP2 mutations had poor ICSI prognosis. • Genetic analysis can play a crucial role in FSIP2 diagnosis and prognosis. Multiple morphological abnormalities of the sperm flagella (MMAF) is defined as deformities that cause sperm motility disorders, further resulting in male infertility. However, the reported genes related to sperm flagellar defects can only explain approximately 60% of human MMAF cases. Here, we report two novel compound heterozygous mutations, c.16246_16247insCCCAAATATCACC (p. T5416fs*7) and c.17323C > T (p.Q5774*), in the fibrous sheath-interacting protein 2 gene (FSIP2 ; OMIM: 615796) in an infertile patient by whole-exome sequencing (WES). Western blotting and immunofluorescence staining confirmed that the compound heterozygous mutations abrogated FSIP2 protein expression. Notably, our staining revealed that FSIP2 is expressed in the cytoplasm of primary germ cell and flagella of spermatids during the spermiogenesis. Moreover, intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) was carried out using sperm from this patient; however, pregnancy failed after embryo transfer through one cycle. Our findings may be helpful in establishing a genetic diagnosis for MMAF, as well as provide additional beneficial knowledge for genetic counseling and infertility treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi, biochar (BC) addition and phosphorus (P) fertilizer applications on the mycorrhizal response, biomass and elemental uptake of Trifolium repens in cadmium (Cd)-polluted soils. The results showed that mycorrhizal colonization were significantly decreased by 100 mg P kg−1 fertilizer input. Moreover, AM fungi, BC addition and P fertilizer significantly increased shoot biomass accumulation at all treatments. In the absence of BC, the nitrogen (N), potassium (K), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) contents in the shoots were not affected by AM fungi after P fertilizer application, but the P content in the shoots significantly increased in response to AM fungi. In the absence of BC, both AM fungi and P fertilizer significantly reduced the Cd concentrations in the plant tissues as well as the soil diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA)-Cd concentration. These results indicated that the translocation factors (TFs) were influenced only by BC addition and that the roots could accumulate greater amounts of Cd than the shoots. On the basis of the hygienic standard for feed in China, the shoot Cd concentration in white clover was below the maximum permitted Cd concentration (1 μg g−1) across all treatments. Therefore, it is suggested that no negative mycorrhizal-white clover symbiotic relationships were observed and T. repens could be a suitable forage species for planting in soils with low concentrations of Cd contamination when BC and P fertilizer are applied. Image 1 • AMF, biochar and P input increased plant growth at all treatments. • Biochar and P have no negative effects on mycorrhizal response. • Shoot Cd concentration is below the maximum permitted Cd concentration. • White clover is a suitable forage species planted in the low Cd-contaminated soils. Main finding of the work : BC and AMF had synergistic effects on growth of T. repens in Cd-contaminated soils, regardless of P fertilizer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Testis-specific PRSS55 is a chymotrypsin-like serine protease that is highly conserved among mammalian species. The essential role of Prss55 in mouse male fertility has been established. What is the role of PRSS55 in human reproduction? Whole exome sequencing was used to identify the genetic cause in an infertile male with teratozoospermia. Papanicolaou staining, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to explore morphological defects in the patient's spermatozoa. Immunofluorescence staining and western blot analysis were conducted to assess the pathogenicity of the identified variant. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) was used to assist the patient with fertilization. Sanger sequencing of the pedigree demonstrated that the infertile man carried a novel homozygous mutation in PRSS55 (c.575C>T [p.A192V]). Morphological defects in the sperm head, neck, midpiece and tail were demonstrated by Papanicolaou staining, SEM and TEM. Immunofluorescence staining and western blotting of the patient's spermatozoa showed that the point mutation changed the conformation of PRSS55 and caused a sharp decrease in the PRSS55 protein concentration. The expression and subcellular localization of PRSS55 in the testis and spermatozoa of mice and humans showed that PRSS55 was expressed in the head and flagella of spermatids and epididymal spermatozoa. Moreover, ICSI treatment for this kind of infertile patient was shown to be effective. These findings revealed a novel mutation in PRSS55 in an infertile patient, suggesting for the first time the crucial role of PRSS55 in human fertility. This study provides new insight into genetic counselling diagnoses and subsequent treatment for male infertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies suggest that a reward-associated salient distractor can induce bottom-up attentional capture. Hitherto, the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying attentional allocation upon reward/loss associated nonsalient stimulus remain hardly investigated. The present study built the association between nonsalient stimuli and value, and tested it with a decision-making task. Consequently, we examined whether and how reward/loss-associated nonsalient stimuli (as distractors) influenced attentional allocation in a rapid serial visual presentation task. Behavioral analysis showed a significantly faster recognition of target in the loss condition compared to performance in the neutral/reward conditions. Electrophysiological results showed that reward-associated distractors induced a significant Pd component, while loss-associated distractors induced a significantly higher theta oscillation. These results demonstrated that subjects could proactively suppress reward-associated distractors. More importantly, we showed that attentional allocation upon reward/loss-associated nonsalient distractors is supported by distinct neural mechanisms. • Attentional allocation upon reward/loss-associated nonsalient distractors is supported by distinct neural mechanisms. • Reward-associated nonsalient distractor can be actively suppressed. • Theta oscillation was higher in Loss-associated condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• SiO 2 -PCMs has been successfully prepared and features excellent compatibility, thermal performance and anti-leakage ability. • PEG/SiO 2 shows excellent ability to adjust the pavement temperature. • The heat transfer model provide reference and theoretical support for temperature adjustment. In recent years, extreme temperatures have occurred frequently in summer, which is a challenge to asphalt pavement and its surrounding environment. Phase change materials (PCMs) have unique energy storage characteristics, which provide a new idea for alleviating the high-temperature damage of pavement and reducing the environment temperature. In this paper, the silica composite phase change materials (SiO 2 -PCMs) were prepared by the sol–gel method, and SiO 2 -PCMs with better performance was applied to the asphalt mixture. The finite element heat transfer model was established by measuring the boundary conditions, and the temperature adjustment effect was predicted and analyzed. SiO 2 -PCMs meet the mixing temperature requirements of asphalt mixtures and have excellent compatibility, thermal cycle stability and anti-leakage ability. Asphalt mixture with PEG/SiO 2 has an excellent temperature adjustment effect, and it can reduce the upper surface temperature of the asphalt mixture by about 9 °C. The high unity of theory and experiment is implemented by establishing the heat transfer model. PCMs reduce the temperature of asphalt pavement by storing and transforming energy, which provides reference and theoretical support for improving the near-surface thermal environment and prolonging the service life of asphalt pavement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CoCrFeNiAl 0.3 high entropy alloy samples were produced by different ball milling strategies including mechanical mixing and mechanical alloying in combination with spark plasma sintering and hot extrusion. The microstructure evolution and phase formation were investigated in correlation to tensile mechanical properties. It was found that a mixture of FCC and BCC structured matrix, as well as intermediate multiphases (e.g., Cr-rich σ phase, B2-NiAl, L1 2 -Ni 3 Al) were formed because of incomplete alloying during consolidation of the mechanically mixed powders. After homogenization treatment at 1423 K, a complete alloyed FCC matrix was formed due to the transformation from BCC to FCC as well as the dissolution of the intermediate phases. For the mechanically alloyed powders, a similar single phase FCC matrix with an averaged grain size of 784 nm was obtained when subjected to thermomechanical consolidation. The microstructure exhibited a good thermal stability (grain size: 789 nm) even after homogenization treatment, which was likely attributed to the pinning effects of the dispersed Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles deriving from the in-situ reaction of Al and O during powder consolidation. The Al 2 O 3 nanoparticles played a dominate role in tailoring the microstructure and then enhanced the mechanical properties by Orowan mechanism, leading to a good combination of yield strength and elongation to fracture of 950 MPa and 17.3%, respectively. • Ball milling strategies determine the phase formation and microstrcuture evolution during the fabrication of CoCrFeNiAl 0.3 HEA. • Mechanical alloying offers a fully alloyed and ultrafine grained microstructure of CoCrFeNiAl 0.3 HEA after thermoconsolidation. • In-situ nanoparticles play a dominate role to tailor the microstructure evolution and benefit the mechanical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Bacterial toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems serve a variety of physiological functions including regulation of cell growth and maintenance of foreign genetic elements. Sequence analyses suggest that TA families are linked by complex evolutionary relationships reflecting likely swapping of functional domains between different TA families. Our crystal structures of Phd-Doc from bacteriophage P1, the HigA antitoxin from Escherichia coli CFT073, and YeeU of the YeeUWV systems from E. coli K12 and Shigella flexneri confirm this inference and reveal additional, unanticipated structural relationships. The growth-regulating Doc toxin exhibits structural similarity to secreted virulence factors that are toxic for eukaryotic target cells. The Phd antitoxin possesses the same fold as both the YefM and NE2111 antitoxins that inhibit structurally unrelated toxins. YeeU, which has an antitoxin-like activity that represses toxin expression, is structurally similar to the ribosome-interacting toxins YoeB and RelE. These observations suggest extensive functional exchanges have occurred between TA systems during bacterial evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]