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Drawing on the social exchange theory, this study aimed to examine the relationship between perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) and employee knowledge-sharing behaviour, including the roles organisational trust and exchange quality play in that relationship. Survey data were collected from 364 full-time employees from three information technology services companies in China (female = 258; mean age = 30.5 years, SD = 5.6 years) in a two-wave longitudinal design. Following moderated mediation analysis, our study showed that employees who perceive their organisations to be socially responsible are more likely to trust their organisations and share knowledge with colleagues. Furthermore, when employees perceived a high level of organisation exchange relationship, the positive effect of perceived CSR on organisational trust was stronger. Our findings indicate that perceived CSR matters when it comes to employee knowledge sharing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how white Western male vloggers have sought to maintain their positive images among Chinese netizens on the Chinese video-sharing platform Bilibili during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the West and foreign migrants in China were lampooned and scorned due to rising Chinese nationalism. By analyzing these vloggers' self-representations and the Chinese audience's responses to them, the article discusses how white male identity is negotiated on China's state-regulated social media platforms in this critical time. It shows that while Western male vloggers carefully represent themselves as ideal foreign migrants in China, they are subject to criticisms from their Chinese audience. In this process, the meanings attached to white male identity have become increasingly debated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been implicated in the molecular etiology of pediatric pneumonia. Here, we investigated the precise action of circRNA tropomodulin 3 (circTMOD3, hsa_circ_0035292) in cell injury and inflammation induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Methods: Cell viability was gauged by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. Cell apoptosis and cycle distribution were assessed by flow cytometry. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-1β and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) production. The levels of circTMOD3, microRNA (miR)-146b-3p, and C–X–C motif chemokine receptor 1 (CXCR1) were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) or western blot. Ribonuclease (RNase) R, Actinomycin D and subcellular localization assays were done to characterize circTMOD3. The direct relationship between miR-146b-3p and circTMOD3 or CXCR1 was confirmed by dual-luciferase reporter assays. Results: Our data showed that LPS induced the expression of circTMOD3 in WI-38 cells. CircTMOD3 was resistant to RNase R and was mainly present in the cytoplasm. Silencing endogenous circTMOD3 alleviated WI-38 cell injury and inflammation triggered by LPS. Mechanistically, circTMOD3 directly targeted miR-146b-3p, and CXCR1 was a direct and functional target of miR-146b-3p. CircTMOD3 regulated LPS-induced cell inflammation and injury by targeting miR-146b-3p, and miR-146b-3p-mediated suppression of CXCR1 impacted LPS-evoked cytotoxicity and inflammation. Furthermore, circTMOD3 functioned as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) for miR-146b-3p to induce CXCR1 expression. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated the regulation of circTMOD3 in LPS-induced cell injury and inflammation at least partially via miR-146b-3p-independent modulation of CXCR1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TGR5 (G protein-coupled bile acid receptor 1, GPBAR-1) is a G protein-coupled receptor with seven transmembrane domains and is widely distributed in various organs and tissues. As an important bile acid receptor, TGR5 can be activated by primary and secondary bile acids. Increased expression of TGR5 is a risk factor for polycystic liver disease and hepatobiliary cancer. However, there is evidence that the anti-inflammatory effect of the TGR5 receptor and its regulatory effect on hydrophobic bile acid confer protective effects against most liver diseases. Recent studies have shown that TGR5 receptor activation can alleviate the development of diabetic liver fibrosis, regulate the differentiation of natural killer T cells into NKT10 cells, increase the secretion of anti-inflammatory factors, inhibit the invasion of hepatitis B virus, promote white adipose tissue browning, improve arterial vascular dynamics, maintain tight junctions between bile duct cells, and protect against apoptosis. In portal hypertension, TGR5 receptor activation can inhibit the contraction of hepatic stellate cells and improve intrahepatic microcirculation. In addition, the discovery of the regulatory relationship between the TGR5 receptor and miRNA-26a provides a new direction for further studies of the molecular mechanism underlying the effects of TGR5. In this review, we describe recent findings linking TGR5 to various liver diseases, with a focus on the mechanisms underlying its effects and potential therapeutic implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intricate distribution of fractures in rock mass leads to the anisotropy of permeability characteristics of the rock mass, which affects the overall stability of rock mass. Aiming at the water inrush from floor in the deep mining of the Dongjiahe coal mine, the distribution and development law of fractures in coal mine rock mass are determined by combining the acoustic emission information from the RFPA software and the in-site microseismic monitoring data. The representative element volume (REV) of permeability of fractured rock mass is determined by numerical simulation. The results show that: (1) As the increase of surrounding rock pressure, the permeability coefficient is decreasing, as well as the principal values of permeability. (2) Under the same surrounding rock pressure, the surrounding rock pressure has little influence on the principal directions of permeability; when the surrounding rock pressure is different, the principal directions of permeability changes greatly with the change of surrounding rock pressure. (3) With the increase of the trace length, the principal values of permeability dramatically increase and the size of REV gradually decreases. When the trace length reaches a certain size, the influence on the REV can be ignored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the laboratory large scale model test of the stepped reinforced soil retaining wall (RSRW), the discrete element numerical model of stepped RSRW is set up by particle flow code. The displacement of particles, stress distribution, force chain distribution, and potential failure surface of the stepped RSRW are analyzed by simulating the loading process. The results show that the geogrid can confine the horizontal displacement of soil and reinforce soil effectively. The geogrid endures the soil pressure of upside and transmits the pressure to surrounding soil, and improves the distribution of vertical soil pressure of the stepped RSRW. The number of strong force chains in the reinforced area is obviously higher than in the unreinforced area, which verifies that the geogrid can strengthen the soil. The soil particles have been in a plastic flow state and formed a continuous sliding surface at the front of retaining wall, but there was no obvious crack in the retaining wall. The potential failure surface of the stepped RSRW can be determined by observing the changes of force chain structure. The numerical simulation result of the potential failure surface is in good agreement with the theoretical calculation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently available synthetic grafts demonstrate moderate success at the macrovascular level, but there are still challenges at small vascular scale (inner diameter of less than 6 mm). In this paper, silk fibroin (SF)/polyurethane (PU)/SF three-layer drug carrier nanofibrous tubes were developed for blood vessel repair with several advantages over existing designs. Our design consisted of a bionic three-layer microtube that was synthesized from the drug carrier SF and oligomeric proanthocyanidin nanofibers as the inner layer, PU nanofibers as the middle layer, and SF nanofibers as the outer layer. The results suggested that these three-layer tubes are attractive biocompatible materials for use as vascular grafts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study is to investigate the effects of hypertension on the gap junctions between vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in the cerebral arteries (CAs) of spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). The functions of gap junctions in the CAs of VSMCs in SHRs and control normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats were studied using whole-cell patch clamp recordings and pressure myography, and the expression levels of connexins were analyzed using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analyses. Whole-cell patch clamp measurements revealed that the membrane capacitance and conductance of in situ VSMCs in the CAs were significantly greater in SHRs than in WKY rats, suggesting that gap junction coupling is enhanced between VSMCs in the CAs of SHRs. Application of the endothelium-independent vasoconstrictors KCl or phenylephrine (PE) stimulated a greater vasoconstriction in the CAs of SHRs than in those of WKY rats. The EC50 value of KCl was 24.9 mM (n = 14) and 36.9 mM (n=12) for SHRs and WKY rats, respectively. The EC50 value of PE was 0.9 µM (n = 7) and 2.2 µM (n = 7) for SHRs and WKY rats, respectively. Gap junction inhibitors 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid (18β-GA), niflumic acid (NFA), and 2-aminoethoxydiphenyl borate (2-APB) attenuated KCl-induced vasoconstriction in SHRs and WKY rats. The mRNA and protein expression levels of the gap junction protein connexin 45 (Cx45) were significantly higher in the CAs of SHRs than in those of WKY rats. Phosphorylated Cx43 protein expression was significantly higher in the CAs of SHRs than in those of WKY rats, despite the total Cx43 mRNA and protein expression levels in the cerebral artery (CA) exhibiting no significant difference between SHRs and WKY rats. Increases in the expression of Cx45 and phosphorylation of Cx43 may promote gap junction communication among VSMCs in the CAs of SHRs, which may enhance the contractile response of the CA to vasoconstrictors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aimed to identify key genes located on chromosome 21 as potential biomarkers for prenatal diagnosis of trisomy 21 (Ts21). The microarray data of GSE48051, including 10 cultivated amniocyte samples with Ts21 and 9 controls with normal euploid constitution, was obtained from Gene Expression Omnibus database. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in cultivated amniocyte samples with Ts21 compared to normal controls were screened using limma package. Then, we performed GO enrichment analysis using DAVID and chromosomal location of DEGs based on the information of the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) Genome Browser Database. Finally, protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis was performed using STRING. Total 155 DEGs in cultivated amniocyte samples with Ts21 were identified, including 89 up- and 66 down-regulated DEGs. The over-represented GO terms of DEGs were mainly related with apoptosis, programmed cell death and cell death. In total, 13 DEGs were located on chromosome 21, thereinto, only 6 DEGs were included into the PPI network, including superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), phosphoribosylglycinamide formyltransferase, phosphoribosylglycinamide synthetase, phosphoribosylaminoimidazole synthetase (GART), downstream neighbour of SON (DONSON), ATP synthase, H + transporting, mitochondrial F1 complex, O subunit (ATP5O), chromatin assembly factor 1, subunit B (p60) (CHAF1B) and proteasome (prosome, macropain) assembly chaperone 1 (PSMG1). Our results suggest that SOD1, GART, DONSON, ATP5O, CHAF1B and PSMG1 may play important roles in the pathogenesis of Down syndrome and may serve as potential biomarkers for prenatal diagnosis of Ts21. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The metastable phase of well-faceted, hexagonal, prism-like molybdenum oxide hydrate (MoO3·0.55H2O) was successfully synthesized by evaporating molybdic acid solution prepared through cation membrane electrolysis of Na2MoO4·2H2O aqueous solution. The obtained crystals were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric (TG), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and photoluminescence (PL) spectrophotometry. The as-prepared MoO3·0.55H2O rods were of 2–4 μm in width and 5–12 μm in length. The MoO3·0.55H2O microrods displayed photoluminescence properties at room temperature and were transformed into stable orthorhombic α-MoO3after air annealing at 380 °C. Moreover, the influence of temperature factor on the phase transformation process, morphology and photoluminescence properties of MoO3·0.55H2O was investigated in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modular multi-level converter has become an interesting candidate in high-voltage DC systems due to its higher voltage levels and modular construction. Low-voltage ride-through is an important grid requirement for modular multi-level converter–high-voltage DC since not only causes control challenges but may also result in overstressed components for the modular multi-level converter. However, the thermal loading of the modular multi-level converter under various grid faults has not yet been clarified. In this article, the power loss and thermal performance of the modular multi-level converter during grid voltage dips are studied. The impacts of two typical grid faults to the modular multi-level converter in terms of operating and loading conditions are analytically researched and simulated. It has been found that the operating and loading conditions of the modular multi-level converter under low-voltage ride-through strongly depend on the types and severity values of grid voltage dips. The thermal distribution among the three phases of the modular multi-level converter may be quite uneven, and some devices are much more stressed than the normal operating condition, which may be of importance for the design of the cooling system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modular Multilevel Converter based High Voltage Direct Current (MMC-HVDC) configuration is a promising solution for the efficient grid integration and bulky power transmission over long distance. However, the large number of series connected identical modules in MMC may increase the probability of failures and lower the reliability of the MMC-HVDC system. Therefore, research on the fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control of MMC-HVDC system is of great significance in order to enhance the reliability of the system. This paper provides a comprehensive review of fault diagnosis and fault handling strategies of MMC-HVDC systems for the most common faults happened in MMC-HVDC systems covering MMC faults, DC side faults as well as AC side faults. An important part of this paper is devoted to a discussion of the vulnerable spots as well as failure mechanism of the MMC-HVDC system covering switching device fault, DC line faults as well as AC grid faults. Special attention is given to the comparison of the corresponding fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control approaches. Further, focus is dedicated to control/protection strategies and topologies with fault ride-though capability for MMC-HVDC system. In addition, a case is studied to illustrate the performance of the MMC-HVDC system under various faults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hepatitis C was the most popular chronic infectious liver disease worldwide. It was identified that Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection could lead to mitochondrial dysfunction, though the mechanism was not fully understood. To investigate whether mtDNA copy number could be affected by HCV infection and be associated with clinical features of HCV patients, mtDNA copy numbers were analyzed in 242 patients with HCV infection and 226 matched control samples. The results suggested that mtDNA copy numbers significantly decreased in HCV patients (68.80 ± 3.33) than in control samples (81.54 ± 4.50) (p = 0.022). When males/females were separated from total patients to compare mtDNA copy numbers with gender matched controls, mtDNA copy numbers still significantly decreased in male HCV patients (p = 0.002). Further analysis indicated that level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was negatively correlated with mtDNA copy numbers in total HCV patients (r = −0.128,p = 0.047), and this correlation was more significant in male HCV patients (r = −0.266,p = 0.030). Intriguingly, aspartate amino-transferase (AST) showed positive correlation with mtDNA copy numbers (r = 0.260,p = 0.034) in male HCV patients. Our results indicated that mtDNA copy numbers depleted and correlated with clinical features in male HCV patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract—Wind represents a major and growing source of renewable energy for the electric power systems. This article provides an overview of state-of-the-art technologies and anticipated developments in the area of power electronic drives, controls, and electric generators for large multi-megawatt wind turbine systems. The principal components employed in a turbine for energy conversion from wind to electricity are described, and the main solutions that are commercially available are briefly reviewed. The specific issues of complex mission profiles, power codes, and reliability are discussed. Topics of power electronics, ranging from devices to circuit topologies, and similar matters for electric generators, together with results of optimal design studies are included. It is shown that the individual power rating of wind turbines has increased over the years, and technologies required to reach and exceed a power rating of 10 MW are discussed. The role of power electronics for improving the operation of wind turbines and ensuring compliance with power grid codes is analyzed with a view at producing fully controllable generation units suitable for tight integration into the power grid and large-scale deployment in future smart power systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates a novel mid-rise large-span cassette structure. The unique limit state divisions of the cassette structure are studied by following the probabilistic seismic capacity analysis (PSCA) method. A numerical model is established and verified through the use of shake table test results. Multidirectional pushover analyses is performed, and the directional effect of the 3D cassette structure is considered. The uncertainty present in fourteen major structural parameters is also considered in the modelling by using Latin hypercube sampling (LHS). The probability density function (PDF), cumulative distribution function (CDF), coefficient of variability (COV) and PSCA curves are obtained. The probabilistic distributions of the PSCA curves suggest that the threshold values of the maximum storey drift ratios of the large-span cassette are 1/550, 1/200, 1/60, and 1/25 for the slight damage (SD), moderate damage (MD), extensive damage (ED) and complete damage (CD) limit states, respectively. Furthermore, the average median values and logarithmic standard deviations are also given for the further probabilistic seismic fragility analysis and structural assessment performed. Finally, sensitivity analyses are conducted to examine the effects of critical structural parameters on structural damage measures. The results show that the structural performance is more sensitive to material parameters than load parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: In folk medicine in China, Desmodium caudatum (Thunb.) DC (Leguminosae) has been used to treat febrile diseases, rheumatic arthritis, and bacillary dysentery; nevertheless, there have been no reports on the analgesic, antipyretic, and anti-inflammatory effects of this plant in animals. Objective: To investigate the analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic activities of D. caudatum extract (DCE) in animals. Materials and methods: The analgesic effect of DCE was measured in mice using the acetic acid-induced writhing test and the hot-plate test. The anti-inflammatory activity was assessed using the carrageenan-induced rat paw edema model and the dimethylbenzene-induced mouse inflammation model. The antipyretic effect was estimated using the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced rat fever model. In addition, the acute oral toxicity of DCE was studied. Results: DCE significantly and dose-dependently inhibited the writhing responses in mice, increased reaction time in mice in the hot-plate test, reduced carrageenan-induced paw edema in rats and the dimethylbenzene-induced ear edema in mice, and attenuated LPS-induced fever in rats. Furthermore, no death was observed when mice were orally administered DCE up to 40 g/kg. Discussion and conclusion: DCE possesses evident analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic activities, and has a favorable safety, which supports the use of D. caudatum as an analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic drug in folk medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the Chinese rhesus macaquesMacaca mulatta lasiotahas been reported for the first time. The total length of the mitogenome was 16,561 bp. It contained the typical structure, including 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNA genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes and 1 control region. The overall composition of the mitogenome was A (31.7%), G (12.8%), C (30.4%) and T (25.1%). TheM. mulatta lasiotamitogenome had 21 tRNA genes folded into a typical clover-leaf secondary structure except fortRNASer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massively parallel sequencing technology offers the opportunity to analyse forensically challenging samples, such as degraded samples and mixtures. In the current study, we developed a perl-based pipeline to separate the DNA mixture into its components and to predict the most probable single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotypes of each contributor to the mixed profile. We examined the usefulness of this method by detecting both artificially constructed DNA mixtures and mixtures from crime cases using the Precision ID Identity Panel on the Ion PGM platform. The separated genotypes of mixtures were validated by genotypes of each of the donors detected independently. The results indicate that the method performed well in identifications of both the artificially constructed mixtures and case-type mixtures, even when the two contributors are immediate relatives (mother and son), which demonstrated the practical usefulness of this method in forensic casework. Our research presents an efficient and different strategy for identification and paternity testing of DNA mixtures in forensic genetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circadian clock is driven by a transcriptional-translational feedback loop, and cryptochrome 2 (CRY2) represses CLOCK/BMAL1-induced transcription activation. Despite the established role of clock in adipogenic regulation, whether the CRY2 repressor activity functions in adipocyte biology remains unclear. Here we identify a critical cysteine residue of CRY2 that mediates interaction with Period 2 (PER2). We further demonstrate that this mechanism is required for repressing circadian clock-controlled Wnt signaling to promote adipogenesis. CRY2 protein is enriched in white adipose depots and robustly induced by adipogenic differentiation. Via site-directed mutagenesis, we identified that a conserved CRY2 cysteine at 432 within the loop interfacing with PER2 mediates heterodimer complex formation that confers transcription repression. C432 mutation disrupted PER2 association without affecting BMAL1 binding, leading to loss of repression of clock transcription activation. In preadipocytes, whereas CRY2 enhanced adipocyte differentiation, the repression-defective C432 mutant suppressed this process. Furthermore, silencing of CRY2 attenuated, while stabilization of CRY2 by KL001 markedly augmented adipocyte maturation. Mechanistically, we show that transcriptional repression of Wnt pathway components underlies CRY2 modulation of adipogenesis. Collectively, our findings elucidate a CRY2-mediated repression mechanism that promotes adipocyte development, and implicate its potential as a clock intervention target for obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) has a poor prognosis mainly due to insensitivity or resistance to standard anthracycline- and taxane-based chemotherapy, urgently calling for new adjuvants to reverse drug resistance. Dual-target murine double minute 2 (MDM2) and murine double minute X (MDMX) inhibitor has been proved to play a critical part against cancer, particularly focusing on the tremendous potential to enhance the efficacy of doxorubicin (DOX), however little was reported in TNBC. In the present study, we investigated the synergistic antitumor effect of the MDM2/MDMX inhibitor with DOX using three TNBC cell lines, two in situ transplantation tumor models and 214 clinical samples. We observed that the MDM2/MDMX inhibitor combined with DOX could not only inhibit cell vitality and migration and invasion abilities, but also highly inhibit tumor growth in TNBC nude mice. Besides, co-treatment of MDM2/MDMX inhibitor and DOX suppressed epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) through increasing the TAK1-binding protein 1 (TAB1), transforming growth factor β-activated kinase 1 (TAK1) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) expression. Small interfering RNA-mediated TAB1 knockdown induced the EMT, desensitized cells to DOX and enhanced the migration and invasion abilities. High MDM2/MDMX expression was positively associated with weak TAB1 expression in 214 TNBC tumor tissues confirmed by immumohistochemical staining and MDM2/MDMX/TAB1 expression was significantly related to TNBC patient survival. These findings indicate that dual-target MDM2/MDMX inhibitor could increase the sensitization of doxorubicin and inhibit migration and invasion abilities in TNBC cells through p38 MAPK pathway activation caused EMT suppression and hence could be useful in TNBC treatments in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We sequenced and characterized the complete mitochondrial genome of Channa argus, Channa maculata and their hybrid [ C. maculata (♀) and C. argus (♂)]. All the three mitochondrial genomes contained the typical complement of 13 protein-coding genes, 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs), 2 ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) and 1 control region. The entire mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) molecule of C. maculata was 16,559 bp long while the complete mtDNA molecule of C. argus and hybrid snakehead fish was 16,558 bp long. This is the first report on the complete mitogenome sequence of C. maculata and hybrid snakehead fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii), which is widely distributed in Southeast Asia and the western Pacific, is an important commercial prawn species. However, the molecular mechanism of ovarian development is unclear, and available data on the ovarian transcriptome of M. rosenbergii are limited. In this study, we constructed transcriptomes of female (ZW) and super female (WW) of M. rosenbergii ovaries to discover genes and pathways related to ovarian development. A total of 71,555 unigenes were obtained, with an average length of 1,530 bp and N50 of 3001 bp, and 15,792 (29.3%) of them were annotated. A total of 13,610 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected. KEGG pathway analysis showed that multiple pathways related to ovarian development were significantly regulated, such as retinol metabolism, notch signalling pathway, cell cycle, wnt signalling pathway, FoxO signalling pathway, and mTOR signalling pathway. In addition, 12 putative ovarian development-related genes, including FZD9, DDR2, PSMC3IP, CREBBP, DMC1, WBP2NL, DHRS4, SPO11, BCDO2, SDR16C5, CPEB, RDH5, were identified. Our findings will provide a valuable archive for future functional analysis of genes related to ovarian development and future discoveries of the underlying molecular mechanisms of ovarian development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the soil microbiology and physico-chemistry may contribute to efficient land utilization. A 10-year field experiment was conducted in Songnen Plain, China. High-throughput sequencing and quantitative PCR of 16S rRNA and methyl coenzyme M reductase A (mcrA) genes were performed to investigate the dynamic changes in archaeal community following long-term rice planting. Ten-year rice planting significantly decreased soil salinity and alkalinity, including pH (7.6%), electrical conductivity (23.9%), sodium absorption ratio (33.1%), and exchangeable sodium percentage (33.5%) and significantly increased soil organic carbon (70.5%) and mineral nutrient concentrations. Rice planting increased α-diversity, and reshaped the archaea community structure of saline-alkali soil. The archaea community compositions during the 10-year period were divided into three stages: 1) shift in abundance from ammonia-oxidizing archaea to methanogenic archaea, 2) methanogenic archaea (e.g. genera Methanosarcina, Methanosaeta, Methanobacterium, Methanocella, Methanomassiliicoccus) established superiority, and 3) methanogenic archaea genes copy numbers increased and the community became stable. Redundancy analysis showed that the decrease in pH caused by long-term flooding was the main factor responsible for the changes in archaea community structure. The results highlighted that the rice planting could be a beneficial approach for maintaining ecological stability and reclaiming severe saline-alkali soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The circadian clock is an essential time-keeping mechanism that entrains internal physiology to environmental cues. Despite the well-established link between the molecular clock and metabolic homeostasis, an intimate interplay between the clock machinery and the metabolically active brown adipose tissue (BAT) is only emerging. Recently, we came to appreciate that the formation and metabolic functions of BAT, a key organ for body temperature maintenance, are under an orchestrated circadian clock regulation. Two complementary studies from our group uncover that the cell-intrinsic clock machinery exerts concerted control of brown adipogenesis with consequent impacts on adaptive thermogenesis, which adds a previously unappreciated temporal dimension to the regulatory mechanisms governing BAT development and function. The essential clock transcriptional activator, Bmal1, suppresses adipocyte lineage commitment and differentiation, whereas the clock repressor, Rev-erbα, promotes these processes. This newly discovered temporal mechanism in fine-tuning BAT thermogenic capacity may enable energy utilization and body temperature regulation in accordance with external timing signals during development and functional recruitment. Given the important role of BAT in whole-body metabolic homeostasis, pharmacological interventions targeting the BAT-modulatory activities of the clock circuit may offer new avenues for the prevention and treatment of metabolic disorders, particularly those associated with circadian dysregulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]