Mechanics

Curly wing is one of the most frequently used genetic markers in Drosophila melanogaster, but its molecular mechanism is remained unclear. Previous results have showed that physicochemical stimulation would affect the formation of the cruly wing. Our recent study found that H2 O2 could not only affect the eclosion rate of D. melanogaster, but also induce the formation of curly wing. Here, we aimed to uncover the specific factors influencing the formation of curly wing in D. melanogaster via changing the concentration of H2 O2 and the temperature as well as the time of H2 O2 treatment...

An eight-year field experiment of straw returning was conducted on dark loessial soil in Weibei Highland to investigate the effects of tillage patterns on soil aggregate, soil organic carbon (SOC), corn yield and soil water use efficiency (WUE). There were six tillage patterns, including conventional tillage (CT/CT), no-tillage (NT/NT), subsoiling tillage (ST/ST), no-tillage/subsoiling tillage (NT/ST), conventional tillage/no-tillage (CT/NT) and conventional tillage/subsoiling tillage (CT/ST). The results showed that compared with CT/CT, the patterns of NT/NT, ST/ST and the rotational tillage patterns (NT/ST, CT/NT and CT/ST) decreased the mean mass diameter of soil mechanical stable aggregate...

To explore the role of exogenous spermidine (Spd) in enhancing the resistance of maize to drought stress, 15% polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000) was used to simulate drought stress and with 'Xianyu 335' (drought-insensitive) and 'Fenghe 1' (drought sensitive) as the experiment materials, the effects of Spd (0.1 mmol·L-1 ) on the growth, photosynthetic characteristics, chlorophyll content, osmotic adjustment substance, membrane lipid peroxidation and root activity of maize seedlings were investigated. The results showed that the application of Spd significantly promoted the growth of maize seedlings under drought stress, increased chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic rate (Pn ), stomatal conductance (gs ), transpiration rate (Tr ) and water use efficiency (WUE), and decreased the enhancement of intercellular carbon dioxide concentration (Ci ) in 'Fenghe 1'...

With the aim to optimize the structural characteristics of wheat canopy by improving topsoil structure, we examined the effects of three different tillage treatments, deep tillage (DT), shallow tillage (ST), no-tillage (NT) alone, and with application of organic fertilizer, DTF, STF and NTF, on the soil structure and wheat canopy characteristics for five years. Under the same tillage treatment, application of organic fertilizer decreased soil bulk density, the content of soil aggregates with diameter > 5 mm, the mean mass diameter (MWD), and geometric mean diameter (GMD) values of the soil aggregates with diameter >0...

Oxalis articulata, an alien clonal plant species, is widely cultivated in China as an ornamental species, and has escaped and became naturalized. Belowground storage in tubers of O. articulata may play a key role for the potential invasion. In this study, we investigated the responses of its clonal resource storage strategy to mowing, aiming to uncover the mechanism underlying their invasion from a perspective of clonal storage. We examined the changes of biomass in different organs, biomass allocation, and several functional traits of roots, tubers and leaves in O...

To understand the adaptation mechanism of Machilus pauhoi seedlings to environmental changes, leaf functional traits of M. pauhoi seedlings from nine provenances, as well as relationships between leaf traits and environmental factors were analyzed. The results showed that leaf functional traits of M. pauhoi seedlings from different provenances showed significant intraspecific variations, with the coefficient of variation ranging from 8.8% to 28.2%. Specific leaf area, leaf relative water content, leaf tissue density and leaf thickness differed significantly among seedlings from different provenances, implying high leaf morphological plasticity...

We examined the effects of temperature on SOC mineralization rate (Cmin ) and enzyme kinetic parameters in soils of two different latitudinal forests, i.e., broad-leaved Korean pine forest in Changbai Mountain at higher latitude and evergreen broad-leaved forest in Dinghu Mountain at lower latitude. The results showed that the soil Cmin increased with temperature, and the Cmin and Q10(Cmin ) of the Changbai Mountain forest soil were higher than those of the Dinghu Mountain forest soil. The maximal rates of velocity (Vmax ) and the half-saturation constant (Km ) of the Changbai Mountain forest soil were higher relative to the Dinghu Mountain soil for both soil β-glucosidase (βG) and N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG), but being opposite for catalytic efficiency (Vmax /Km )...

Soil micro-food web, as a part of the detritus food webs, directly or indirectly participates in nutrient cycling by feeding on substrate and microorganisms and consequently influences the functions of terrestrial ecosystems. Here, we reviewed the research progress of soil micro-food web in recent years by focusing on its composition, structure and ecological function in soil ecosystem. The important roles of soil micro-food web in driving carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) transformation, organic matter decomposition and plant growth were reviewed through the description of energy channel and trophic cascade effects of soil micro-food web...

Island vegetation plays an important role in biodiversity research across the world. The study of plant diversity in island is helpful for understanding the mechanism of plant diversity maintenance under land-sea interaction. Here, four typical plant communities (Quercus acutissima community, Robinia pseudoacacia community, Pinus thunbergii community and Vitex negundo community) in Miao Archipelago were selected to examine the species, functional and structural diversities and their responses to environmental factors at the community scale by using species diversity indices, functional diversity indices, as well as structural diversity indices...

Under the background of "missing carbon sink" mystery and carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology development, this paper summarized the lime material flow process carbon sink from the lime carbonation principles, impact factors, and lime utilization categories in chemical industry, metallurgy industry, construction industry, and lime kiln ash treatment. The results showed that the lime carbonation rate coefficients were mainly impacted by materials and ambient conditions; the lime carbon sink was mainly in chemical, metallurgy, and construction industries; and current researches focused on the mechanisms and impact factors for carbonation, but their carbon sequestration calculation methods had not been proposed...

In recent years, studies on carbon sequestration of biochar in soil has been in spotlight owing to the specific characteristics of biochar such as strong carbon stability and well developed pore structure. However, whether biochar will ultimately increase soil carbon storage or promote soil carbon emissions when applied into the soil? This question remains controversial in current academic circles. Further research is required on priming effect of biochar on mineralization of native soil organic carbon and its mechanisms...

Since guided bone regeneration(GBR) process is pronouncedly affected by the microenvironment in the defect, the surface stiffness of collagen membranes as a constituent part of the microenvironment was investigated in this study. The objective of this study was to manufacture biomimetically mineralized collagen membranes with controllable surface stiffness based on biomimetic strategy and to investigate the influences of surface stiffness on GBR process. The characterization and biocompatibility of membranes were examined in vitro...

Ganoderma lucidum is an edible medicinal mushroom known as "Lingzhi" in China and "Reishi or Manetake" in Japan. It is a highly prized vitality-enhancing herb for more than 2000 years. G. lucidum polysaccharide (GLPS) has been identified as one of the major bioactive components and developed into a drug named "Ji 731 Injection" in China since 1973. The large-scale production of the drug began in 1985 and approved by the Chinese FDA as "Polysaccharidum of G. lucidum Karst Injection" (Ling Bao Duo Tang Zhu She Ye) in 2000, which is applied intramuscularly...

AIMS: Evidence of altered structural and functional connectivity in the frontal-occipital network is associated with cognitive deficits in patients with schizophrenia. However, the altered patterns of functional connectivity strength (FCS) in individuals with ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis remain unknown. In this study, whole-brain FCS was assessed to examine the altered patterns of FCS in UHR subjects. METHODS: A total of 34 UHR subjects and 37 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were enrolled to undergo resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging...

While the insulin receptor (IR) was found in the CNS decades ago, the brain was long considered to be an insulin-insensitive organ. This view is currently revisited, given emerging evidence of critical roles of IR-mediated signaling in development, neuroprotection, metabolism, and plasticity in the brain. These diverse cellular and physiological IR activities are distinct from metabolic IR functions in peripheral tissues, thus highlighting region specificity of IR properties. This particularly concerns the fact that two IR isoforms, A and B, are predominantly expressed in either the brain or peripheral tissues, respectively, and neurons express exclusively IR-A...

For a relatively long period of time, mental functioning was mainly associated with personal profile while brain functioning went by the wayside. After the 90s of the 20th century, or the so called "Decade of the Brain", today, contemporary specialists work on the boundary between fundamental science and medicine. This brings neuroscience, neuropsychology, psychiatry, and psychotherapy closer to each other. Today, we definitely know that brain structures are being built and altered thanks to experience...

Conscientiousness is a personality trait associated with many important life outcomes, but little is known about the mechanisms that underlie it. We investigated its neural correlates using functional connectivity analysis in fMRI, which identifies brain regions that act in synchrony. We tested the hypothesis that a broad network resembling a combination of the salience and ventral attention networks, which we provisionally label the goal priority network (GPN), is a neural correlate of Conscientiousness. Self- and peer-ratings of Conscientiousness were collected in a community sample of adults who underwent a resting-state fMRI scan (N = 218)...

Disease association studies have characterized altered resting-state functional connectivities describing schizophrenia, but failed to model symptom expression well. We developed a model that could account for symptom severity and meanwhile relate this to disease-related functional pathology. We correlated BOLD signal across brain regions and tested separately for associations with disease (disease edges) and with symptom severity (symptom edges) in a prediction-based scheme. We then integrated them in an "edge bi-color" graph, and adopted mediation analysis to test for causality between the disease and symptom networks and symptom scores...

Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) deficiency is associated with a variable clinical presentation. A family with three DPD deficient patients presented with unusual clinical phenotypes including pregnancy-induced symptoms, transient visual impairment, severe developmental delay, cortical blindness and delayed myelination in the brain. DPYD Sanger sequencing showed heterozygosity for the c.1905+1G > A mutation and a novel missense variant c.1700G > A (p.G456E). The recombinantly-expressed p.G456E DPD variant showed increased temperature lability probably caused by structural rearrangements within the DPD protein...

Mothers provide their offspring with symbionts. Maternally transmitted, intracellular symbionts must disperse from mother to offspring with other cytoplasmic elements, like mitochondria. Here, we investigated how the intracellular symbiont Wolbachia interacts with mitochondria during maternal transmission. Mitochondria and Wolbachia may interact antagonistically and compete as each population tries to ensure its own evolutionary success. Alternatively, mitochondria and Wolbachia may cooperate as both benefit from ensuring the fitness of the mother...