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The progressive degradation in the trabecular meshwork (TM) is related to age-related ocular diseases like primary open-angle glaucoma. However, the molecular basis and biological significance of the aging process in TM have not been fully elucidated. Here, we established a dynamic single-cell transcriptomic landscape of aged macaque TM, wherein we classified the outflow tissue into 12 cell subtypes and identified mitochondrial dysfunction as a prominent feature of TM aging. Furthermore, we divided TM cells into 13 clusters and performed an in-depth analysis on cluster 0, which had the highest aging score and the most significant changes in cell proportions between the two groups. Ultimately, we found that the APOE gene was an important differentially expressed gene in cluster 0 during the aging process, highlighting the close relationship between cell migration and extracellular matrix regulation, and TM function. Our work further demonstrated that silencing the APOE gene could increase migration and reduce apoptosis by releasing the inhibition on the PI3K-AKT pathway and downregulating the expression of extracellular matrix components, thereby increasing the aqueous outflow rate and maintaining intraocular pressure within the normal range. Our work provides valuable insights for future clinical diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A major risk factor for glaucoma, the first leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, is the decellularisation of the trabecular meshwork (TM) in the conventional outflow pathway. Stem cell‐based therapy, particularly the utilisation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), presents an enticing potential for tissue regeneration and intraocular pressure (IOP) maintenance in glaucoma. We have previously observed that differentiated iPSCs can stimulate endogenous cell proliferation in the TM, a pivotal factor in TM regeneration and aqueous humour outflow restoration. In this study, we investigated the response of TM cells in vivo after interacting with iPSC‐derived cells and identified two subpopulations responsible for this relatively long‐term tissue regeneration: ATP Binding Cassette Subfamily G Member 2 (ABCG2)‐positive cells and Nestin (NES)‐positive cells. We further uncovered that alterations of these responsive cells are linked to ageing and different glaucoma etiologies, suggesting that ABCG2+ subpopulation decellularization could serve as a potential risk factor for TM decellularization in glaucoma. Taken together, our findings illustrated the proliferative subpopulations in the conventional outflow pathway when stimulated with iPSC‐derived cells and defined them as TM precursors, which may be applied to develop novel therapeutic approaches for glaucoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CO2 emissions have become increasingly prominent in China, and the primary emitters are economic belts that are spread throughout China. Two major economic belts, i.e., the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YTREB) and the Yellow River Economic Belt (YREB). Combined with stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence and technology model, the spatial Durbin model under the space-and-time fixed effect and the Geographical and Time-Weighted Regression are employed to explore the spatio-temporal distribution characteristics and heterogeneous drivers of CO2 emissions in the two economic belts. The results are as follows. First, CO2 emissions exhibit obvious spatial correlation features in the YREB, but no such obvious spatial correlation is found in the YRETB. Second, in the YREB, the magnitude of the total influencing factors on CO2 emissions follows an order where affluence (A) is the biggest driver, followed by energy intensity (EI), technology (TEC) and openness (OP), while the biggest driver in the YRETB is industrial structure supererogation (ISS), followed by population (P), energy intensity (EI), and affluence (A). Both direct and spatial spillover effects of the drivers are observed in the two economic belts. Third, the CO2 emissions show a notable temporal lag effect in the YREB, but not in the YRETB. Fourth, the effects of the CO2 emission drivers illustrate significant spatio-temporal heterogeneity in the two economic belts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting green development (GD) is key for the Yellow River Basin (YRB) to step into the phase of high-quality development. This study constructs a green development level (GDL) evaluation system based on the PSR (Pressure-State-Response) model, and estimates the GDL of urban agglomerations (UAs) in the YRB from 2008 to 2019 using the entropy weight-TOPSIS model. Then the Moran'I and the Theil index are adopted to explore the spatio-temporal patterns of the GDL, and the Geo-detector is used to investigate the driving factors of the GDL. The results suggest that: (1) The GDL of UAs in the YRB is characterized by "low growth" and "unbalanced," with a general pattern of "east-west prominence but central collapse". (2) The GDL in the YRB shows significant spatial correlation characteristic. (3) The main sources of regional variation of the GDL in the UAs is inter-group differences in 2008–2013 and intra-group differences in 2014–2019. (4) The main driver of the differences of the GDL is economic development, and the effect of the interaction of any two driving factors is greater than that of the single factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the shade tolerance of one annual and five perennial Medicago genotypes under different artificial shade levels and determine the shade tolerant candidates for an intercropping system. The results showed that shade significantly affected branch number and plant dry weight, but not plant height and leaf area. The mean branch number and dry weight plant−1 (g) across the tested genotypes were 42.5 and 2.2 under non-shade condition, decreased to 39.5 and 2.0 at 25% shade level, and were further reduced to 17.2 and 0.4 at 75% shade level, respectively. The mean chlorophyll content (mg g−1) and maximum quantum yield of Photosystem II (Fv/Fm) across the tested genotypes at 75% shade level (38.8; 0.6) were significantly lower than other shade levels (46.6–47.3; 0.69–0.70). Antioxidant enzyme activity and malondialdehyde production in Medicago leaves increased concomitantly with increased shade levels compared to non-shade control. The evaluation showed that annual M. polymorpha 'Jinhuacai' (range of mean: 0.97–5.97 g) significantly out-yielded those perennials (range of mean: 0.26–2.57 g) by a wide margin at all shade levels. This study would provide baseline information on shade tolerance of Medicago species for the selection of intercropped candidates in an intercropping system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses the app Health Code, a smartphone-based application for contact tracing and risk assessment that serves as a COVID-19 health passport, as an example to explore how "biometric citizenship," a new mode of preemptive social regulation, functions and malfunctions in contemporary China. First, through a review of China's transition from socialism to neoliberalism, the authors trace how the tenet of citizenship shifts from biological/biopolitical to biometric as the party-state's agenda changes along the process. Second, drawing on media coverage and comments from social media, we show how Health Code consolidates the biometric paradigm of citizenship and turns the relatively stabilized temporal basis of biological/biopolitical citizenship into fragmented temporalities to tighten social control. This preemptive control system improves the state's acumen for self-revamping and self-preservation and enhances its capacities to harness people's re/productivities. It also disrupts the habituated way of living and further marginalizes the groups with diminishing re/productive potentialities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the cytological pattern of genome size and ploidy level of the bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) is vital to explore the evolution pattern and breeding of the species. To study the diversification of the cytological pattern of bermudagrass along the longitudinal gradient, the genome size and ploidy level were measured and explored with the relationship to climate factors. The corresponding ploidy level was verified through the mitotic chromosome counts method. Bermudagrass accessions ploidy level included diploids, triploid, tetraploid, pentaploid and hexaploid with a basic chromosome number of x = 9. The major ploidy level was tetraploid (45%) and aneuploidy was commonly discovered in collected regions. Mean genome size of bermudagrasswas was estimated to be 1.31 pg/1Cx along longitudinal gradient. The 1Cx values of diploid were higher than that of triploid and tetraploid, while the tetraploid had minimum basic genome size. In the current study, we observed that genome downsizing exists in tetraploids of Cynodon dactylon. Tetraploids have a wider distribution than other ploidy levels, especially in arid areas, occupying a relatively high proportion. In addition, at the same ploidy level, genome size was remarkably variable in the current study. The coefficient of determination analysis showed that longitude and mean annual rainfall were significantly correlated to genome size rather than ploidy level. This cytological study will be helpful for further genetic mechanisms and molecular characteristics to landscape adaptation of bermudagrass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]