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The effect of controlled drainage on methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from a paddy field under controlled irrigation (CI) was investigated by controlling the sub-surface drainage percolation rate with a lysimeter. CI technology is one of the major water-saving irrigation methods for rice growing in China. Water percolation rates were adjusted to three values (2, 5, and 8 mm d−1) in the study. On the one hand, the CH4emission flux and total CH4emission from paddy fields under CI decreased with the increase of percolation rates. Total CH4emissions during the growth stage of rice were 1.83, 1.16, and 1.05 g m−2in the 2, 5, and 8 mm d−1plots, respectively. On the other hand, the N2O emission flux and total N2O emissions from paddy fields under CI increased with the increase of percolation rates. Total N2O emissions during the growth stage of rice were 0.304, 0.367, and 0.480 g m−2in the 2, 5, and 8 mm d−1plots, respectively. The seasonal carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent of CH4and N2O emissions from paddy fields under CI was lowest in the 2 mm d−1plot (1364 kg CO2ha−1). This value was 1.4% and 19.4% lower compared with that in the 5 and 8 mm d−1plots, respectively. The joint application of CI and controlled drainage may be an effective mitigation strategy for reducing the carbon dioxide equivalents of CH4and N2O emissions from paddy fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High rates of nitrogen (N) fertilizer were applied to a paddy field in the Taihu Lake region of China to maximize crop production. Excessive N input has resulted in serious agricultural nonpoint pollution. Water and N management are two important approaches to regulating N loss from paddy fields. This study aimed to determine N losses through ammonia volatilization, runoff, and leaching from a paddy field during the rice-growing season in Taihu Lake region. Field experiments with two water and two N managements were conducted. The N exported to the environment through ammonia volatilization, runoff, and leaching from the paddy field was 37.2 kg N ha−1to 102 kg N ha−1, with ammonia volatilization accounting for 69.6% to 83.5% of N loss. Ammonium and dissolved organic N significantly contributed to N loss through runoff and leaching. Controlled irrigation and site-specific N management (CS) significantly decreased N losses through ammonia volatilization, runoff, and leaching. Compared with the N and irrigation water inputs in traditional water and N management, those generated by controlled irrigation and site-specific N management were reduced by 34.6% to 43.0% and 59.2% to 63.3%, respectively. Moreover, the reduction in N and water input in the CS paddy field enabled the maintenance of high rice yield; it significantly increased N use efficiency by 15.1% to 34.9% and decreased the N exported to the environment by ammonia volatilization, runoff, and leaching by 53.1% to 56.1%. Therefore, the joint application of controlled irrigation and site-specific N management efficiently reduces agricultural nonpoint pollution through N loss from paddy fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To reveal the impact of soil disturbance and surface watering (SW) following soil disturbance on the pulse nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions, incubated experiments were conducted on disturbed soil with two watering regimes [surface watering only (SWO) and subsurface watering followed by surface watering (SUW+SW)]. Intensive soil disturbance led to pulses N2O emissions from SUW + SW soil (>8,693 μg N2O m−2h−1with a peak of 30,938 μg N2O m−2h−1), although the water-filled pore space (WFPS) was substantially lower than the previously reported optimal soil moisture range (45–75% WFPS) for peak N2O emissions. N2O emissions from the disturbed soil after SW were much lower than those from SUW + SW soil, increased as the soil dried, and peaked when the WFPS fell within the optimal soil moisture range. These peaks were considerably less than those resulting from the intensive disturbance in SUW + SW soil. Thus, SW after intensive soil disturbance may be effective for mitigating of pulse N2O emissions caused by soil disturbance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Idiotypic determinants are potential patient-specific tumor antigens in multiple myeloma (MM). In this study, we have determined the DNA sequence of the variable region of the tumor immunoglobulin (Ig) in 6 patients with MM. We then selected high affinity class I-restricted T-cell peptide epitopes in tumor Ig using two different internet-based epitope prediction programs. High affinity binding peptides were identified by at least one program in 4 out of 6 patients. Of these 35 peptides, only 3 scored high by both analyses. Given that all 6 patients had expanded T-cell clones with a cytotoxic (CD57[SUP+] CD8[SUP+] CD28[SUP-] perforin[SUP+]) phenotype, known to be associated with a longer survival and postulated to recognise tumor epitopes, this analysis indicates that such clones are unlikely to be exclusively directed towards tumor immuoglobulin, and suggests the need to expand the scope of the search for tumor epitopes with the ability to stimulate cytotoxic T cells in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proper methods for estimating reference evapotranspiration (ET0) using limited climatic data are critical, if complete weather data are unavailable. Based on the weather data of 19 stations in Guizhou Province, China, several simple methods for ET0estimation, including the Hargreaves, Priestley–Taylor, Irmak–Allen, McCloud, Turk, and Valiantzas methods, were involved in comparison with the standard FAO-56 Penman–Monteith (PM) method. The Turk equation performs well for estimating ET0in humid locations. Both the Turk method and the Valiantzas method initially performed acceptably with mean root-mean-square difference (RMSD) of 0.1472 and 0.1282 mm d−1, respectively, with only requiring parameters of temperature (T), relative humidity (RH), and sunshine duration (n). The corresponding calibration formulas to Turk and Valiantzas method were suggested as the most appropriate method for ET0estimation with the RMSD of 0.0098 and 0.0250 mm d−1, respectively. The local calibrated Hargreaves–Samani method performed well and can be applied as the substitute of FAO-56 PM method under the condition that only the daily mean, maximum, and minimum temperatures were available, and local calibrated McCloud method was acceptable if only the mean temperature was available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are a heterogeneous population of cells that have been implicated as inhibitors of lymphopoiesis in patients with malignancies. They have a consensus phenotype of CD33+/CD11b+/HLA-DRlo/− and can be further divided into CD15 + granulocytic (G-MDSC) and CD14 + monocytic (M-MDSC) subsets. We characterized MDSCs in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) and found a significant increase in G-MDSCs in the blood of patients with progressive MM. Flow-sorted MDSCs from patients with MM induced the generation of regulatory T cells (Treg). MDSCs from both patients with MM and aged-matched controls demonstrated a dose-dependent inhibition of lymphocyte proliferation in carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester (CFSE)-tracking experiments. Granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) administered to induce stem cell mobilization caused an increase in the number of MDSCs in the peripheral blood of patients with MM and a concentration of these immune-suppressive cells in peripheral blood stem cell collections. MDSCs are likely to cause immune dysfunction in patients with MM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discrepancies in the literature between regulatory T cell (Treg) and pro-inflammatory T helper 17 (Th17) numbers in multiple myeloma (MM) can be largely explained by technical differences in methodology and patient selection. In this study, Treg cells were defined as CD3+CD4+CD25++CD127lo cells. Patients with MM ( n = 20) had a significant imbalance in Treg/Th17 ratio when compared with either aged-matched controls ( n = 28) or other monoclonal gammopathies, and this was associated with a significantly worse survival. The percent Treg in bone marrow of patients with MM was higher than that in matched peripheral blood samples ( p = 0.02), although FOXP3 expression within bone marrow T cells was lower ( p = 0.02). We observed increased Treg function, both in vivo and in vitro, due at least partially to an increase in CTLA-4 expression by concurrent treatment with dexamethasone and immune modulatory compounds (iMiDs). We suggest that immunoregulatory balance is important during active chemotherapy and that conclusions related to the immunostimulatory effect of iMiDs based on in vitro testing must be considered with caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prediction of daily reference evapotranspiration (ET0) is the basis of real-time irrigation scheduling. A multiple regression method forET0prediction based on its seasonal variation pattern and public weather forecast data was presented for application in East China. The forecasted maximum temperature (Tmax), minimum temperature (Tmin) and weather condition index (WCI) were adopted to calculate the correction coefficient by multilinear regression under five time-division regimes (10 days, monthly, seasonal, semi-annual and annual). The multiple regression method was tested for its feasibility forET0prediction using forecasted weather data as the input, and the monthly regime was selected as the most suitable. Average absolute error (AAE) and root mean square error (RMSE) were 0.395 and 0.522 mm d−1, respectively.ET0prediction errors increased linearly with the increase in temperature prediction error. A temperature error within 3 K is likely to result in acceptableET0predictions, with AAE and average absolute relative error (AARE) <0.142 mm d−1and 5.8%, respectively. However, one rank error inWCIresults in a much larger error inET0prediction due to the high sensitivity of the correction coefficient toWCIand the large relative error inWCIcaused by one rank deviation. Improving the accuracy of weather forecasts, especially forWCIprediction, is helpful in obtaining better estimations ofET0based on public weather data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expanded T cell clones are associated with a prolonged survival in patients with multiple myeloma. We sought to confirm this prognostic significance in a multicenter patient cohort and investigate the effect of thalidomide on clones and T regulatory cells (Tregs). Blood was collected from 120 patients enrolled in a Phase III trial of maintenance therapy ± thalidomide after autologous stem cell transplantation. TCR Vβ repertoire analysis identified T cell expansions in 48% of patients pre-transplant and 68% after 8-month maintenance. T cell expansions, previously shown to be clonal, were predominantly CD8 + (93%) and all 24 TCR Vβ families tested were represented. Thalidomide therapy was associated with a significant increase in the incidence of patients with multiple expansions (49% vs. 23%; χ2=6.8; p=0.01). The presence of expansions regardless of therapy was associated with a significantly longer median progression free survival (PFS) (32.1 vs. 17.6 months; χ2=5.6; p=0.02) and overall survival (OS) (χ2=3.9; p<0.05). Median PFS in the thalidomide arm was 50.9 months for patients with expansions and 28.3 months for patients without expansions (χ2=19.4; p=0.0002). Thalidomide did not appear to modulate Treg numbers. Expanded T cell clones are prognostically significant and have an impact on progression after thalidomide therapy in a proportion of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the use of an evidence of up-regulated fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) to detect measurable residual disease (MRD) in both bone marrow (BM) and peripheral blood (PB) samples from patients with multiple myeloma (MM). The gene expression data showed that most patients with MM would have either unregulated FGFR3, cyclin D3 or c-maf expression. The study shows that dPCR possesses sufficient sensitivity for the detection of MRD in MM patients.

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article about the presence of side population (SP) cells in multuple myeloma.