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Intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) is a common chronic orthopaedic disease in orthopaedics that imposes a heavy economic burden on people and society. Although it is well established that IVDD is associated with genetic susceptibility, ageing and obesity, its pathogenesis remains incompletely understood. Previously, IVDD was thought to occur because of excessive mechanical loading leading to destruction of nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs), but studies have shown that IVDD is a much more complex process associated with inflammation, metabolic factors and NPCs death and can involve all parts of the disc, characterized by causing NPCs death and extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation. The damage pattern of NPCs in IVDD is like that of some programmed cell death, suggesting that IVDD is associated with programmed cell death. Although apoptosis and pyroptosis of NPCs have been studied in IVDD, the pathogenesis of intervertebral disc degeneration can still not be fully elucidated by using only traditional cell death modalities. With increasing research, some new modes of cell death, PANoptosis, ferroptosis and senescence have been found to be closely related to intervertebral disc degeneration. Among these, PANoptosis combines essential elements of pyroptosis, apoptosis and necroptosis to form a highly coordinated and dynamically balanced programmed inflammatory cell death process. Furthermore, we believe that PANoptosis may also crosstalk with pyroptosis and senescence. Therefore, we review the progress of research on multiple deaths of NPCs in IVDD to provide guidance for clinical treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tea, with a long history of cultivation and widespread planting areas in China, is one of the world's top three non-alcoholic beverages. Guizhou has 466.7 thousand hectares of tea plantations, ranking first class among provinces and regions in China. How to effectively and safely control pests in tea plantations, and to improve tea yield and quality has been a research hotspot. The application of natural enemies to control pests in tea plantations has been widely studied and applied. Cavity-nesting Hymenoptera is an important group of predatory natural enemies in tea plantation ecosystems. In addition, some cavity-nesting Hymenoptera were also pollinators. Thus, this group Hymenoptera plays an unique role in the ecosystem. The artificial trap nest technique provides the nesting tubes for the cavity-nesting Hymenoptera. The harvested tubes were represented the character of the local ecosystem better than other methods since the nested tubes occupied by these Hymenoptera were all actual species living in the given habitats. However, this technique requires plenty of timing and labor input, which leads the limited data available so far. The present dataset was built based on data of cavity-nesting Hymenoptera living in eco-friendly tea plantations in three major tea-producing areas in Guizhou via the artificial trap nest technique. The dataset including information on cavity-nesting Hymenoptera species, quantities, prey ranges, nesting habits, and occurrence patterns, etc., was collected in 2021. It provides species list and dominant species and their basic needing characters, which allows further analyses on their population dynamics and biological control potentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytoseiulus persimilis is a specialist predator of spider mites, with promising control effects. Its population generally has a stable sex ratio. Under appropriate conditions, the proportion of female offspring can reach 80%. But the mechanisms of sex determination in P. persimilis is still unclear. Sex-lethal (sxl) is an important gene in studying sex regulation mechanisms in insects. In the model organism Drosophila melanogaster, it has been proved to be a switch controlling sex determination. Herein, we screened one sex-lethal gene ortholog in the genome of P. persimilis (Ppsxl). We separated male and female offspring successfully based on the order of the egg laid, and found Ppsxl is expressed in both sexes at different stages. The expression peak was found in females 10 h after mating, and it was also highly expressed in eggs that developed into males. RNA interference was used to study the function of Ppsxl. When Ppsxl was interfered, all female individuals remained fertile. However, their cumulative fecundity decreased by 18.0%, daily fecundity decreased by 13.4%, and the proportion of female offspring decreased by 22.7%. This study showed that Ppsxl gene has a certain influence on the reproduction of P. persimilis, but its influence on sex determination may not be as critical as that in D. melanogaster. The regulation of sxl on P. persimilis was different from that in D. melanogaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]