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Grazing exclusion using fencing has been considered an effective means of vegetation restoration in degraded grasslands. Increased plant growth during recovery requires more nitrogen (N), which is a major limiting factor in northern China. It remains unclear whether soil N supply in this region can support long-term vegetation restoration. In this study, a field inventory was conducted in seven temperate grasslands in northern China. At each site, grassland outside of the fencing experienced continuous grazing, whereas that within the fencing was protected. Results showed that grazing exclusion significantly increased aboveground biomass, species richness and the Shannon–Wiener diversity index by 126.2%, 42.6% and 18.8%, respectively. Grazing exclusion reduced the concentrations of nitrate and total inorganic N by 51.9% and 21.0%, respectively, suggesting that there may be a mismatch between N supply and plant demand during the growing season. The aboveground biomass, species richness and Shannon–Wiener diversity index in the restored grasslands were positively correlated with legume dominance within the community. These results indicate that the vegetation restoration in temperate grasslands could be constrained by soil N availability, which may be supplemented through biological N fixation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is often associated with the infection of Epstein-Barr virus in nasopharynx and is mainly happened in South China and Southeast Asia. Recently, noncoding RNAs have been reported to regulate NPC carcinogenesis. LncRNA OIP5-AS1 participates in tumorigenesis and progression; however, the inherent mechanism of OIP5-AS1-mediated progression of NPC is unclear. In the current study, we aimed to explore the role of OIP5-AS1 in NPC progression. We measured the cell viability, apoptosis, migration, and invasion in NPC cells after OIP5-AS1 modulation. Moreover, we determined whether OIP5-AS1 exerts its oncogenic functions via sponging miR-183-5p in NPC. Furthermore, we determined whether glutamate ammonia ligase (GLUL) was a downstream target of miR-183-5p. We found that OIP5-AS1 downregulation inhibited the viability, migration and invasion of NPC via targeting miR-183-5p. We also identified that GLUL might be a potential downstream target of miR-183-5p in NPC cells. Mechanistically, OIP5-AS1 promotes cell motility via regulating miR-183-5p and GLUL in NPC cells. We concluded that OIP5-AS1 performed its biological functions via targeting miR-183-5p and GLUL in NPC cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of precipitation variability on soil organic carbon (SOC) decomposition is vital in regulating the global carbon (C) cycle and climate change. However, the response of SOC decomposition to different magnitudes of precipitation variability and its dependence on moisture level are still controversial. In this study, we conducted a three-month incubation experiment that manipulated soil water levels and the intensity of water variability with a homogenized topsoil from a temperate grassland. Results showed that intensified water variability significantly reduced CO 2 emissions at the low-water level, but did not affect the SOC decomposition at the high-water level. Meanwhile, the microbial community was significantly altered by the intensified water variability, showing a decrease in microbial biomass and increases in the fungi: bacterial ratio and Gram-positive: Gram-negative bacteria ratio, which tended to suppress the SOC decomposition. However, the intensified water variability significantly stimulated the breakdown of macro-aggregates to micro-aggregates at the high-water level, which promoted the substrate availability in soil and compensated for the suppressed SOC decomposition by microbial community responses. The findings highlight that the response of SOC decomposition to intensified water variability is co-determined by the microbial community responses and aggregate instabilities. • Intensified water variability changes the microbial community and suppresses C release. • Suppressed C release is compensated by aggregates breakdown at the high-water level. • SOC response to water variability seems to be driven by microbial-physical interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grasslands are one of the most important terrestrial biomes, supporting a wide range of ecological functions and services. Grassland degradation due to overgrazing is a severe issue worldwide, especially in developing regions. However, observations from multiple sources have shown that temperate grasslands in China have significantly increased during the past two decades. It remains controversial what factors have driven the vegetation restoration in this region. In this study, we combined remote-sensing images and field survey datasets to quantify the contributions of different factors to vegetation restoration in six temperate grasslands in northern China. Across the six grasslands, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) increased by 0.003-0.0319 year -1 . The average contributions of grazing exclusion and climate change to the NDVI increase were 49.23 % and 50.77 %, respectively. Precipitation change was the primary climate factor driving vegetation restoration, contributing 50.76 % to the NDVI variance. By contrast, climate warming tended to slow vegetation restoration, and atmospheric CO 2 concentration change contributed little to the NDVI increase in the temperate grasslands. These results emphasize the significant contributions of both climate change and human management to grassland vegetation restoration., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Agriculture is one of humankind's most significant sources of biomass; it also places tremendous pressure on ecosystems through its increasing demand for agricultural products. However, few studies have assessed human pressures on ecosystems from agricultural production and consumption based on a whole-supply-chain perspective. Based on the concept of human appropriation of net primary productivity (HANPP), we evaluate trends of agricultural HANPP embodied in consumption from a global perspective and trace the pressure from agriculture production that is exerted on the environment using an environmentally extended multiregional input-output (MRIO) model. The results show that agricultural HANPP embodied in consumption accounted for over two-thirds of total HANPP but brought about less than 7% of global value added. India, Brazil, and China were found to have the highest level of agricultural HANPP embodied in consumption. Agricultural net exporters were found to usually be low- and lower-income countries, while net importers are found to be high-income countries. According to the driving factor analysis, high-income and low-income countries should cooperate by adjusting consumption patterns and sharing agricultural technology to alleviate the pressure from agricultural production. Our study highlights the importance of agrarian expertise sharing and the need to develop sustainable and green agricultural production.

Regional high-quality coordination plays a crucial role in promoting high-quality national development. Guangdong province is a trailblazer in China's reform and opening-up policies and high-quality development. This study analyzes the high-quality development of the economic, social, and ecological environments from 2010 to 2019 in Guangdong with the entropy weight TOPSIS model. Meanwhile, the coupling coordination degree model is used to investigate the spatial-temporal pattern of the coupling and coordinated development of the three-dimensional system in 21 prefecture-level cities. The results show that the high-quality development index of Guangdong increased from 0.32 to 0.39, a 21.9% increase during 2010-2019. The Pearl River Delta had the highest value of the high-quality development index, whereas Western Guangdong had the lowest level in 2019. Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Dongguan are the core cities in the high-quality development of Guangdong, with the index decreasing from the Pearl River Delta estuary cities to the province's edge. We also found that the coupling degree and coupling coordination of high-quality development of the three-dimensional system grew slowly during the study period. Half of the cities in Guangdong entered the stage of benign coupling. Except for Zhaoqing, all cities in the Pearl River Delta have a high coupling coordination degree of high-quality development of the three-dimensional system. This study provides valuable references for the high-quality, coordinated development of Guangdong province and some policy suggestions for other regions.

BACKGROUND Previous research suggests that formative assessment (FA) enhances learning outcomes, but few studies have evaluated its impact on clinical skills training in China. We conducted this study in a clinical skills integral curriculum to further explore the educational value of FA. MATERIAL AND METHODS Sixty undergraduates from the Second Clinical Medical School of the Southern Medical University in 2016 were selected as the experimental group (consecutive FA), and 50 undergraduates in 2015 were selected as the control term (only final summative assessment, SA). Undergraduates in the FA group completed the after-class questionnaire at each lesson. Teachers, teaching content, assessment objectives, and topics are the same in both groups. RESULTS The results of single-factor covariance (ANCOVA) analysis and Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel (CMH) analysis demonstrated that students of the FA group obtained better performance and higher success rates in summative examination than in the SA group. The students with relatively poor grades benefited more from FA, while the performance of students with higher grades was similar between the FA group and SA group. According to the results of questionnaire for students, the satisfaction of students with the course increased gradually, from 84.4% to 93.0%. CONCLUSIONS Proper use of FA is associated with better learning outcomes for students, especially for those with poorer grades. Our results, together with previous research, indicated that the use of FA may be of great benefit to students' academic performance and satisfaction with the clinical skills training curriculum.