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Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS), also known as drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome (DiHS), is a severe type of cutaneous adverse reaction. The gold standard therapy for DRESS involves the discontinuation of the culprit drug, supportive therapies, and administration of corticosteroids. However, in cases of primary treatment failure or suboptimal response, there arises an urgent need for alternative interventions. This review focuses on exploring alternative systemic therapies for patients with steroid-resistant DRESS, steroid-dependent DRESS, or refractory DRESS, encompassing immunosuppressive agents, intravenous immunoglobulin, plasmapheresis, biologics, and small molecule drugs, with an emphasis on their clinical efficacy and the underlying mechanisms in the treatment of DRESS. Furthermore, this review provides a summary of potential management strategies and laboratory workup during the treatment of DRESS.

ObjectivesADL and Sensory and Communication Abilities are important indicators of the quality of life of the elderly which are significant determinants of health, particularly in developing countries. The present cross-sectional study investigated effect of ADL and Sensory and Communication Abilities on depressive symptoms, as well as the the role of gender in these effects.DesignThis is a cross-sectional study.SettingA nationally representative cross-sectional survey among the Chinese population aged 60 years and over.ParticipantsA total of 163296 females and 148724 males aged 65 and over in 2019 in urban China.Outcome measuresPrevalence, risk factors and gender differences in geriatric depressive symptoms among urban elderly.ResultsApproximately 95.69% of the participants had depressive symptoms according to the CESD-10, with no statistically significant gender difference of 52.15% in females and 47.85% in males. Logistic regression findings suggest that geriatric depressive symptoms are significantly associated with the lack of eldercare (OR=2.427, female; OR=1.426, male), living alone(OR= 1.430, female; OR= 1.179, male), ADL dysfunction (OR=1.528, female; OR=1.246, male), and impaired sensory and communication ability (OR=1.338, female; OR=1.185, male) among both female and male participants. Remarkably, geriatric depressive symptoms are only significantly associated with age (≥75, OR = 1.327), marital status (unmarried, OR=1.598), the number of children (no children, OR=2.271), and the living arrangement (living alone, OR= 1.430) among female participants.ConclusionSignificant gender differences in these associations were found for living alone, ADL dysfunction and impaired sensory and communication ability. Moreover, the study emphasized that the gender difference exists in terms of geriatric depression in urban China. Females are more likely to experience depressive than males with the same circumstances.

This paper is devoted to studying a type of elliptic equation that contains a varying nonlocal term. We provide a detailed analysis of the existence, non-existence, and blow-up behavior of L2-norm solutions for the related equation when the potential function V(x) fulfills an appropriate choice.

Seeds from Cassia obtusifolia L., i.e. Semen cassiae (SC) were evaluated as environmentally friendly filler particles for artificial turf. The goal was to avoid unwanted germination problems of SC under wet conditions. This work evaluated the influence of different pretreatments on the germination rate and performance of SC. After the combination of polishing and dry heat (90 °C, 72 h) treatment, the germination rate of SC decreased to 0% and the activation energy increased to 216 kJ/mol. Compared with the untreated SC, the thermal stability of SC improved, with an initial degradation temperature of 214 °C and a pyrolysis residue of 31.9%. Additionally, the resilience and the water absorption of SC as a filler material increased to 4.13% and 169%, respectively. This study provides an effective pretreatment method for the solution of germination problem and the performance improvement of SC. This makes the pretreated SC a prospective candidate as an environmentally protective granular filling material.

Wood plastic composites (WPCs) were prepared by extrusion molding with eucalyptus powder, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and silica as additives. The mechanical properties, creep behavior, thermal properties, and cross-section microstructure of the composites were analyzed by universal testing machine, thermogravimetric analyzer, and scanning electron microscope. The results show that with the increase of silica content, the tensile strength, bending strength, and impact strength of the WPCs first increased and then decreased. When the silica content was 3.0%, the tensile strength, bending strength, and impact strength of WPC reached the maximum values of 27.5 MPa, 48.8 MPa, and 4.18 KJ·m-2, respectively, which represented increases of 12.6%, 9.4%, and 20.1%, respectively, compared with those without silica. When the stress was 13.4 MPa, the strain value of 3.0% SiO2-eucalyptus/PVC wood plastic composite was 3.3 times that of 4.46 MPa and 1.7 times that of 8.92 MPa. The pyrolysis process of eucalyptus/PVC WPCs showed a similar trend with different silica content.

In order to compare the degradation of PLA composites by different microorganisms, and reveal the degradation mechanism. Actinomyces israelii, Aspergillus niger, Trichoderma harzianum and Phanerochaete chrysosporium were selected to degrade PLA composites. The weight loss, functional groups, thermal properties and crystallinity of the PLA composites before and after degradation were analyzed. The results indicated that A. israelii and A. niger had the strongest ability to degrade the composites, and the weight loss of the PLA composites reached 7.14% and 6.99% respectively after degradation for 28 days, which were significantly higher than that of the control treatment. According to the characterizations, it was found that the degradation was mainly hydrolysis by the microorganisms and their protease and lipase. Microbial degradation would lead to cracks and dents on the surface of the samples, and increase their contact area with microorganisms, thus accelerating the degradation rate. A. israelii and T. harzianum were more inclined to degrade the PLA in the composites during microbial degradation. Microbial degradation destroyed the crystalline region of the composites, which made they easier to degrade. The results would be helpful to explore the microbial degradation mechanism of PLA composites, and promotes its application in different fields.

To investigate the feasibility of preparing biodegradable composites as food packing materials from reed leaf fibers to substitute disposable plastic, the fibers were treated by hot water (HWT), Na2CO3 solution (NCT) and ultrasound (UST), respectively and then combined with agar to prepare biodegradable composites through compression molding technique. The effects on the morphology, thermal properties of reed leaf fibers and the tensile cross-section morphology, the mechanical properties, the thermal conductivity and the moisture absorption profiles of the composites were studied. The amorphous components such as lignin and hemicellulose in reed leaf fibers were removed after HWT, NCT and UST. The fibers had a rough surface after hot water treatment which can lead to a better combination with agar induce an obvious improvement on the mechanical properties of the composites. The tensile strength, flexural strength and the impact strength of the HWT composite were 3.37 MPa, 19.7 MPa and 14.01 MPa, higher than that of the untreated (UT) composite and 22.99%, 16.36% and 69%, respectively. The HWT composite had a better hydrophobicity which equilibrium moisture absorption rate was 32.12%. The thermal conductivity of all the composites were less than 0.23 W·m−1·k−1, which were thermal insulating.

In order to investigate the feasibility of developing a new material to substitute disposable plastics to reduce environmental pollution, four kinds of plant leaf fibers (lotus leaf, reed leaf, bamboo leaf and ginkgo leaf) were selected to combined with agar to prepare fully degradable composites (referred as LAC, RAC, BAC and GAC, respectively). The chemical composition, functional groups and thermal properties of plant leaf fibers were analyzed. The morphology of the tensile cross section of the composites was observed, and the mechanical properties, moisture absorption profile and thermal conductivity of the composites were studied. The cellulose content in the plant leaf fibers was relatively high, among which the reed leaf fiber had the highest one, which was 27.75%. The thermal stability of lotus, reed and ginkgo leaf fiber was close, while that of bamboo leaf fiber was poor. Among the four kinds of plant leaf fiber composites, reed leaf fiber/agar composite has the best mechanical properties, and its tensile, flexural and impact strength were 1.81 MPa, 6.59 MPa and 5.09 kJ/m2, respectively. The BAC had a poor internal combination with many internal defects leading to its poor mechanical properties.

Medicinal plants accommodated by understory habitats can easily suffer over-exploitation in the heavy harvest of natural products. It is necessary to develop a sustainable cultural protocol to provide high-quality stocks for efficient regeneration. Drought places stress on medicinal plants during their culture by limiting new sprout growth and reducing the quality of medicinal extracts. Artificial mediating approaches should be considered in a sustainable regime of medicinal plant culture to test the potential tradeoff between resistance to drought and production ability. In this study, Rabdosia rubescens seedlings were raised in three light-emitting diode (LED) spectra from red (71.7% red, 14.6% green, 13.7% blue), green (26.2% red, 17.4% green, 56.4% blue), and blue (17.8% red, 33.7% green, 48.5% blue) lights. Mown seedlings were subjected to a simulated drought event. Drought stressed the seedlings by reducing the growth, dry mass, nitrogen (N) uptake, and oridonin content. Mowing increased the oridonin content but decreased total C and N accumulation and the δ13C level. The red light benefitted starch accumulation only under the well-watered condition, and the green light induced an upregulation of δ13C but decreased antioxidant activity. Oridonin content was negatively associated with combined δ13C and catalase activity. Overall, either mowing or blue light can be recommended for the culture of R. rubescens to increase oridonin content, alleviating some of the negative consequences of drought.

Many studies have been conducted on organic carbon changes under different land use patterns, but studies and data concerning changes in the molecular composition of soil organic matter (SOM) during land use conversion are scarce. In this work, we studied the chemical composition of SOM on two Robinia pseudoacacia L. plantations and their adjacent croplands in the Loess Plateau using biomarker and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. Experimental data on the molecular composition of SOM showed that the soil microbial biomass carbon content initially decreased and then returned to the original level gradually after afforestation, while the SOM content and stocks increased over time. At the initial stage of afforestation, the content of total solvent extracts did not change significantly but changed slowly over time in the plantations without artificial disturbance. With an increase in restoration time, the concentrations of both the microbial- and plant-derived solvent extracts increased. Moreover, the concentrations of plant-derived solvent extracts were consistently lower than those of microbial-derived solvent extracts. Afforestation also significantly increased the lignin-derived phenol content in the surface soil layer (0–10 cm). However, no obvious change was observed in the lignin-derived phenols of the two adjacent croplands. These results indicate that the accumulation of aboveground litter and underground roots has the strongest effects on the lignin-derived phenol content. In contrast to cropland, the two plantations exhibited a high degree of degradation of lignin-derived phenols in the surface soil, but this remained almost unchanged over time. Moreover, in contrast to 20 years after the establishment of the R. pseudoacacia plantation, the low alkyl/O-alkyl carbon ratio of the 8-year R. pseudoacacia plantation indicated that more easily degradable components accumulated during the initial stage of afforestation. Therefore, the proportion of the unstable carbon pool was relatively high and the SOM content may decline in the early stage of afforestation. These results provide evidence illustrating the detailed changes in the chemical composition of SOM during the ecological restoration process.

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) can dwell in water-deficient habitats, where it is difficult to predict dry mass (DM) production and forage quality due to understory transmittance. Mowing is a recommended practice for alfalfa populations under drought, but its effect on forested land receives less attention. In a controlled indoor experiment, we found that drought better reduces shoot DM weight and crude fiber content (CFi) in blue light (33.7% red, 48.5% green, and 17.8% blue lights) than red light (71.7% red, 13.7% green, and 14.6% blue lights). Mowing decreases carbon (C) isotope signature (δ13C), CFi, and total C content in shoots but increases their accumulations in DM, nonstructural carbohydrates, and crude fat content (CFa). The results also demonstrated that mown alfalfa has higher starch content when exposed to green light (26.2% red, 56.4% green, and 17.4% blue lights) compared to the other two spectra. Multiple factorial regression indicated that higher soluble sugar content accounted for the increase of CFa and DM weight for CFi. Overall, mowing in blue-light–enriched understory stands is recommended and produces high-forage–quality alfalfa, which can be used as a lowered crude fiber component.

Nearly all physiological processes are controlled at some level by G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling activity. The thromboxane A2 (TXA2) receptor (TP) is a member of the GPCR family. The ultimate effect of TP receptor activation depends on the availability of specific G proteins, which in turn depend on the cell type, tissue, and disease state. However, the roles of the TXA2-TP signaling pathway executed under disease states are poorly defined. In this study, 16-week-spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), the 18-month-SHR (OldSHR), and the age-matched Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats were used to study the vasoconstriction of mesenteric resistance artery induced by TP-specific agonist, U-46619. Vasoconstriction induced by U-46619 was significantly attenuated in OldWKY and OldSHR rats, and mesenteric arteries with impaired response to U-46619 responded strongly to the adrenergic receptor agonist, phenylephrine. Similar vascular responses to U-46619 were obtained in endothelium-denuded mesenteric arteries. Accordingly, the expression of TP membrane proteins in mesenteric vessels was decreased, and the endogenous TP competitor, 8, 9-EET, in serum was increased, which was partly responsible for the decreased vascular reactivity of U-46619. Decreased TP membrane expression was associated with TP endocytosis, which involved actin cytoskeletal remodeling, including increased ratio of F-actin/G-actin in OldWKY and OldSHR rats. Hence, we studied the effects of TXA2 and its receptors on blood vessels and found that the TXA2-TP prostaglandin signaling pathway was impaired in older adults, which would facilitate the creation of “precision therapeutics” that possess selective efficacy in diseases.

Drought-induced forest canopy die-back and tree mortality have been commonly recorded in the lithoid mountainous regions of northern China. However, the capacity of trees to regulate their carbon and water balance in response to drought remains inadequately understood. We measured tree growth, intrinsic water use efficiency (iWUE), vulnerability, and canopy health during drought events using dendrochronology, C isotope measurements, and a tree canopy health survey in a mixed plantation of Quercus variabilis and Robinia pseudoacacia. Resistance (Rt), recovery (Rc), resilience (Rs), and increased amplitude in iWUE compared to the indices 3 years before drought (iWUEr) were calculated for each species across the dominant tree (D), co-dominant tree (CD), and suppressed tree (S). Our results revealed that D and CD showed lower Rt, higher Rc, and higher iWUEr than S. After exposure to multiple sequential drought events, Q. variabilis showed an increasing trend in Rt, and R. pseudoacacia showed a decreasing trend in Rc. R. pseudoacacia exhibited a more conservative strategy towards drought, resulting in a negative SRt-iWUEr (slope of the linear model fitted to capture the trend between Rt and iWUEr) during drought events than Q. variabilis. For individual trees, lower Rc or positive SRt-iWUErQ. variabilis and negative SRt-iWUErR. pseudoacacia were more susceptible to canopy die-back. In conclusion, our study offers a new perspective for improved management practices in the design of silvicultural actions for forestry plantations in lithoid mountainous areas with increasing drought risk.

BackgroundLow back pain is a common medical condition among the general population that is associated with many adverse health effects when comorbid with depressive symptoms. However, little is known about depressive symptoms in the population with low back pain in China. Our study evaluated the prevalence of depressive symptoms and analyzed the factors associated with this condition in the Chinese population with low back pain.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional analysis of data from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. We collected low back pain information for each participant and identified depressive symptoms using the brief version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. A wide range of sociodemographic and health-related characteristics of the subjects were extracted. We measured the prevalence of depressive symptoms comorbid with low back pain and analyzed the associated factors by multiple logistic regression.ResultsA total of 5,779 respondents aged 45 and over with low back pain formed the sample, 41.8% of whom reported depressive symptoms. Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated greater vulnerability to depressive symptoms among females (OR = 1.41, 95% CI, 1.16–1.73), relatively younger persons (60–74 years: OR = 0.72, 95% CI, 0.63–0.83; ≥ 75 years: OR = 0.62, 95% CI, 0.49–0.79, reference: 45–59 years), those from the central and western regions (central: OR = 1.39, 95% CI, 1.18–1.64; western: OR = 1.56, 95% CI, 1.33–1.83), participants with extremely short sleep duration (OR = 2.74, 95% CI, 2.33–3.23), those with poor self-perceived health status (OR = 2.91, 95% CI, 2.34–3.63,), multisite pain (OR = 1.54, 95% CI, 1.20–1.98) and disability in activities of daily living (Basic: OR = 1.70, 95% CI, 1.47–1.98; Instrumental: OR = 1.95, 95% CI, 1.70–2.24).ConclusionDepressive symptoms were highly prevalent in the Chinese population ≥ 45 years with low back pain. More attention should be paid to the individuals at high-risk confirmed by this study to facilitate early identification and intervention against depressive symptoms.

Background and objective Perioperative treatment has become an increasingly important aspect of the management of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Small-scale clinical studies performed in recent years have shown improvements in the major pathological remission rate after neoadjuvant therapy, suggesting that it will soon become an important part of NSCLC treatment. Nevertheless, neoadjuvant immunotherapy may be accompanied by serious adverse reactions that lead to delay or cancelation of surgery, additional illness, and even death, and have therefore attracted much attention. The purpose of the clinical recommendations is to form a diagnosis and treatment plan suitable for the current domestic medical situation for the immune-related adverse event (irAE). Methods This recommendation is composed of experts in thoracic surgery, oncologists, thoracic medicine and irAE related departments (gastroenterology, respirology, cardiology, infectious medicine, hematology, endocrinology, rheumatology, neurology, dermatology, emergency section) to jointly complete the formulation. Experts make full reference to the irAE guidelines, large-scale clinical research data published by thoracic surgery, and the clinical experience of domestic doctors and publicly published cases, and repeated discussions in multiple disciplines to form this recommendation for perioperative irAE. Results This clinical recommendation covers the whole process of prevention, evaluation, examination, treatment and monitoring related to irAE, so as to guide the clinical work comprehensively and effectively. Conclusion Perioperative irAE management is an important part of immune perioperative treatment of lung cancer. With the continuous development of immune perioperative treatment, more research is needed in the future to optimize the diagnosis and treatment of perioperative irAE.

Abstract Immune checkpoint inhibitors represent a major breakthrough in cancer therapy. Immune‐related adverse events (irAEs) may occur during treatment due to their unique mechanism of action. Management of irAEs is based on clinical experience because it is not easy to conduct prospective trials to evaluate the best treatment strategy. Using a combination of search terms in the PubMed and Embase databases, we reviewed all cases in the English language citing toxicities associated with either pembrolizumab, nivolumab, ipilimumab, atezolizumab, tremelimumab, durvalumab, avelumab or any combination of these agents published before 20 May 2019. A total of 128 reports with 239 cases were included in the study. Here, we summarize the spectrum of toxicities, safety in special patients, rechallenging after irAEs and agents used for treatment of irAEs in those reports.

Abstract Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have revolutionized cancer treatment. The unique spectrum of immune‐related adverse events (IrAEs) may occur during treatment. Dermatologic toxicities appear to be one of the most prevalent immunotherapy‐related adverse events. The most common symptoms are maculopapular rash and pruritus. Serious dermatologic toxicities including Stevens‐Johnson syndrome (SJS), toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), and drug reactions with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms are rare. In this review, we summarize guidelines of management of immunotherapy‐related toxicities, case reports, and proposed treatment recommendation.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) represent a major breakthrough in cancer therapy. Immune-related adverse events (irAEs) may occur during treatment due to their unique mechanism of action. Dermatologic toxicities appear to be one of the most prevalent irAEs. The most common symptoms are maculopapular rash and pruritus. Serious dermatologic AEs, including Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis, are rare. In this review, we summarized guidelines of management of immunotherapy-related toxicities and case reports, and proposed treatment recommendation.

Light spectra of sunlight transmittance can generate an interactive effect with deposited nitrogen (N) on regenerated plants across varied shading conditions. Total N content in understory plants can be accounted for by both exogeneous and endogenous sources of derived N, but knowledge about the response of inner N cycling to interactive light and N input effects is unclear. We conducted a bioassay on Chinese cork oak (Quercus variabilis Blume) seedlings subjected to five-month N pulsing with 15NH4Cl (10.39 atom %) at 120 mg 15N plant-1 under the blue (48.5% blue, 33.7% green, and 17.8% red), red (14.6% blue, 71.7% red, 13.7% green), and green (17.4% blue, 26.2% red, 56.4% green) lighting-spectra. Half of the seedlings were fed twice a week using a 250 ppm N solution with micro-nutrients, while the other half just received distilled water. Two factors showed no interaction and neither affected growth and morphology. Compared to the red-light spectrum, that in blue light increased chlorophyll and soluble protein contents and glutamine synthetase (GS) activity, root N concentration, and N derived from the pulses. The green-light spectrum induced more biomass allocation to roots and a higher percentage of N derived from internal reserves compared to the red-light spectrum. The 15N pulses reduced the reliance on N remobilization from acorns but strengthened shoot biomass, chlorophyll content, GS activity, and N concentration. In conclusion, light spectrum imposed an independent force from external N pulse to modify the proportion of N derived from internal sources in total N content in juvenile Q. variabilis.

Root foraging behavior in heterogeneous patterns of soil nutrients is not well understood for undergrowth in alpine forests, where light spectra may generate an interactive effect on root foraging precision. A dwarf alpine species, Pinus pumila (Pall.) Regel., was cultured in pots where nitrogen (N)–phosphorus (P)–potassium (K) nutritional granules (N–P2O5–K2O, 14–13–13) were added to both halves of an inner space at a rate of 67.5 mg N (homogeneous) or 135 mg N to a random half (heterogeneous). Potted seedlings were subjected to either a green-and-blue light spectrum with a red-to-green light ratio of 4.24 (15.3% red, 64.9% green, and 19.8% blue) or a red-light enriched spectrum (69.4% red, 30.2% green, and 0.4% blue) both at irradiations of 200.43 µmol m−2 s−1. The root foraging precision was assessed by the difference in the fine root morphology or weight between the two halves. The foraging precision was assessed by both fine root length and surface area and was promoted in seedlings subjected to the heterogeneous pattern in the red-light enriched spectrum. Seedlings subjected to the green-and-blue light spectrum showed lower shoot growth, biomass, and root morphology but had higher shoot and root N and P concentrations. The heterogenous pattern resulted in greater seedling growth and fine root morphology as well as N and P concentrations compared to the homogeneous pattern. We conclude that P. pumila has a strong ability to forage nutrients in heterogenous soil nutrients, which can be further promoted by a spectrum with higher red-light proportions.

Carbon adsorbent materials that were prepared from sunflower straw by a combination of pre-treatment and low-temperature pyrolysis showed better adsorption compared with untreated carbon. Four different pre-treatment agents (steam, alkali (KOH), phosphoric (H3PO4), and salt (ZnCl2)) were analyzed with respect to their effects on the maximum surface area and the micropore area. Samples were measured by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), surface area analysis, and pore size analysis. The surface area, pore volume, and N2-adsorption capacity of the samples were closely correlated with the pre-treating agent. A biochar with a maximum surface area of 877.6 m2/g and a micropore area of 792.8 m2/g was prepared with phosphoric acid (H3PO4) as the pre-treatment agent at a temperature of 400 °C. The main result of the one-stage pre-treatment procedure was the number of micropores. The two-stage, low-temperature pyrolysis procedure focused on the volume of the pores. Carbonized sunflower straw, with pretreated and low-temperature pyrolysis procedures, was judged to be a highly effective and economic method to prepare carbon adsorbents.

To study the effect of accelerated simulated soil aging on the physical, mechanical, and thermal behavior of rice husk fiber-reinforced polyvinyl chloride composites. The worst soil aging condition was determined using the orthogonal design method, and the physical, mechanical, and thermal properties of the composites were analyzed over 21 d. The results indicate that the worst soil-accelerated aging condition was as follows: soil temperature of 65°C, soil pH of 2.5, soil moisture content of 45%, and soil porosity (ratio of thick to thin) of 3 : 7. An extended aging time tends to cause poor interfacial bonding quality, and the presence of many microcracks reduced thermal stability and flexural and impact strength. Many fibers were exposed, which resulted in increasing 24 h water absorption and thermal expansion coefficient. The hardness, tensile strength, flexural strength, impact strength, and pyrolysis temperature of the composites (after 21 d of aging) decreased from 50 HRR, 17.42 MPa, 35.2 MPa, 3.19 kJ/m2, and 258.5°C to 26 HRR, 11.5 MPa, 16.8 MPa, 1.16 kJ/m2, and 251.3°C, respectively. The mass loss rate, 24 h water absorption, discoloration, and line thermal expansion coefficient of the composites increased from 0%, 4.19%, 0, and 28.43 to 2.9%, 7.92%, 29.03, and 29.98, respectively.

The physical properties of wheat straw treated with hydrothermal and chemical treatments were investigated using an electronic universal testing machine, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The thermal stability of the wheat straw was also investigated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The experimental results showed that the chemical treatment was a main factor governing the enzymatic saccharification of wheat straw. Different treatments of wheat straw had the same mass loss trend. The maximum mass loss occurred in the range between 250 and 400 °C for all straw samples. In this range, the wheat straw treated with NaOH showed an exothermic peak, while samples treated with the other treatments showed an endothermic peak. Chemical treatments disrupted the silicified waxy surface and destroyed the C-O bond. The internal structure of wheat straw treated with NaOH became porous and loose and exposed more accessible surface area of the cellulose to cellulase.

Climate warming induces the necessity to increase the drought resistance of shade-obligate juvenile trees in sub-tropical forests. Chitosan oligosaccharide (COS) is a biopolymer derived from the marine resource that has attracted accumulative attention to induce and promote a plant’s resistance to abiotic stress. Buddhist pine (Podocarpus mascrophyllus (Thunb)Sweet) seedlings were cultured as the model material whose natural distribution in sub-tropical areas of China has suffered severe summer drought events in the last 113 years. A split-block design was conducted with a simulated drought event (drought vs. irrigated control), the COS addition, and two samplings at the ends of drought and re-watered treatments. The COS addition increased the resistance to drought by inducing a starch allocation towards roots where δ13C abundance and antioxidant enzyme activities were upregulated. The COS addition can promote biomass allocation to roots and increase the number of new roots. The COS addition to drought-treated Buddhist pine seedlings resulted in robust diameter growth. Therefore, COS is an available polymer to promote the resistance of Buddhist pine to drought. More work is suggested to clarify the dose of COS addition that can induce a prominent response of biomass accumulation and carbohydrate metabolism.

The Three-North Shelter Forest (TNSF) is a critical ecological barrier against sandstorms in northern China, but has shown extensive decline and death in Populus simonii Carr. in the last decade. We investigated the characteristics—tree-ring width, basal area increment (BAI), carbon isotope signature (13Ccor), and intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE)—of now-dead, dieback, and non-dieback trees in TNSF shelterbelts of Zhangbei County. Results from the three groups were compared to understand the long-term process of preceding drought-induced death and to identify potential early-warning proxies of drought-triggered damage. The diameter at breast height (DBH) was found to decrease with the severity of dieback, showing an inverse relationship. In all three groups, both tree-ring width and BAI showed quadratic relationships with age, and peaks earlier in the now-dead and dieback groups than in the non-dieback group. The tree-ring width and BAI became significantly lower in the now-dead and dieback groups than in the non-dieback group from 17 to 26 years before death, thus, these parameters can serve as early-warning signals for future drought-induced death. The now-dead and dieback groups had significantly higher δ13Ccor and iWUEs than the non-dieback group at 7–16 years prior to the mortality, indicating a more conservative water-use strategy under drought stress compared with non-dieback trees, possibly at the cost of canopy defoliation and long-term shoot dieback. The iWUE became significantly higher in the now-dead group than in the dieback group at 0–7 years before death, about 10 years later than the divergence of BAI. After the iWUE became significantly different among the groups, the now-dead trees showed lower growth and died over the next few years. This indicates that, for the TNSF shelterbelts studied, an abrupt iWUE increase can be used as a warning signal for acceleration of impending drought-induced tree death. In general, we found that long-term drought decreased growth and increased iWUE of poplar tree. Successive droughts could drive dieback and now-dead trees to their physiological limits of drought tolerance, potentially leading to decline and mortality episodes.

Reinforcing effect of hybrid filler including wheat straw (WS) and inorganic filler (heavy calcium carbonate, silicon dioxide, and fly ash) in recycled polypropylene (R-PP) has been investigated. The effects of individual filler (WS) and combined fillers (WS and inorganic filler) on morphological, mechanical, and thermal expansion and water absorption properties of hybrid composites were investigated. The flexural modulus and flexural strength were both reduced when reinforced with three kinds of inorganic fillers, respectively, which was possibly due to the poor interphase adhesion as observed in SEM. The high surface energy of heavy calcium carbonate due to its high acidic character provides an opportunity of better PP-heavy calcium carbonate interfacial interactions compared to PP-straw, PP-fly ash, and PP-SiO2 interface. The water absorption at saturation increased markedly by introduction of WS in it. The hybrid composites from WS and inorganic fillers showed better water absorption compared to those WS/PP composites. The thermal expansion of composites decreased with the increase of WS loading. Heavy calcium and SiO2 can obviously reduce the LCTE value of composite. At the 25% inorganic filler content, composites had the smallest LCTE values.

Wheat straw/polypropylene composites are green recycled and biomass-based material. After accelerated aging test of the composite was done, practical and effective methods for characterization and extraction of texture feature of microscopic Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images of composites were investigated in this paper, and involved data compression and classification recognition were studied as well. Through Angle Measure Technique (AMT) method, the complexity spectra, MA spectra, of the preprocessed SEM images of the composites were derived and then the first four principal components of MA spectra using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were extracted accordingly. Two kinds of classifiers based on Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) were introduced to classify the SEM images into five different aging periods in this paper. The research results indicate that AMT method is a very novel and effective approach in texture feature characterization and analysis of SEM images of composites and high classification accuracy of SEM images in different aging periods by using intelligent recognition can be reached.

Sleep is important for maintenance of normal physiology in animals. In mammals, neuropeptide Y (NPY), a homolog of Drosophila neuropeptide F (NPF), is involved in sleep regulation, with different effects in human and rat. However, the function of NPF on sleep in Drosophila melanogaster has not yet been described. In this study, we investigated the effects of NPF and its receptor-neuropeptide F receptor (NPFR1) on Drosophila sleep. Male flies over-expressing NPF or NPFR1 exhibited increased sleep during the nighttime. Further analysis demonstrated that sleep episode duration during nighttime was greatly increased and sleep latency was significantly reduced, indicating that NPF and NPFR1 promote sleep quality, and their action on sleep is not because of an impact of the NPF signal system on development. Moreover, the homeostatic regulation of flies after sleep deprivation was disrupted by altered NPF signaling, since sleep deprivation decreased transcription of NPF in control flies, and there were less sleep loss during sleep deprivation and less sleep gain after sleep deprivation in flies overexpressing NPF and NPFR1 than in control flies, suggesting that NPF system auto-regulation plays an important role in sleep homeostasis. However, these effects did not occur in females, suggesting a sex-dependent regulatory function in sleep for NPF and NPFR1. NPF in D1 brain neurons showed male-specific expression, providing the cellular locus for male-specific regulation of sleep by NPF and NPFR1. This study brings a new understanding into sleep studies of a sexually dimorphic regulatory mode in female and male flies.

Atherosclerosis is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, which is related to dyslipidemia, endothelial injury, inflammation, thrombosis, dysfunction of vascular smooth muscle cells and macrophages, etc. Puerarin, a natural monomer from Chinese herb Pueraria lobata, presents multiple cardiovascular protective activities. The paper firstly reviewed the risk factors and drug of atherosclerosis. And then, extraction and synthesis of puerarin were summarized. Especially, it focused on the latest advances in anti-atherosclerosis activities of puerarin from six aspects including lipid-regulating, hyperglycemic, antiinflammatory, inhibiting thrombosis, promoting microcirculation, improving functions of vascular smooth muscle cells and macrophages. Some novel puerarin derivatives also exhibited favorable anti-atherosclerosis activity. The review would provide new molecular skeletons and lead compounds for anti-atherosclerosis new drug development based on puerarin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coumarin is a kind of lactone compound with skeleton of benzo-alpha-pyranones, which have favorable druggability due to its advantages of outstanding pharmacological activities, little drug-resistance, low toxicity, simple skeleton, easy synthesis and structural modification, and extensive sources. The review summarizes the classification, synthesis methods, pharmacological effects of coumarin and its derivatives. It focuses on their latest progresses in anti-bacteria, anti-virus, anti-inflammation and anti-rheumatism, anti-autoimmune diseases, anti-oxidation, anti-coagulation, anti-cancer and antiangiogenic effects in detail. Especially, coumarins exhibited outstanding effects on clinical difficult miscellaneous diseases with rare drugs, difficult cure and bad prognosis, such as coronavirus disease-19, rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune neuroinflammation, systemic lupus erythematosus, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, etc. The review would provide new skeletons and promising lead compounds with little drug-resistance, high-efficiency and low toxicity for new drug development for related diseases based on coumarins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]