近50年武威市地气温差变化趋势及影响因子

利用1961—2010年甘肃省武威市4个气象站月平均0 cm地温、气温及年日照时数、蒸发、降水、相对湿度和平均风速等观测资料,运用趋势系数法系统分析了该区域近50 a地气温差的时空分布特征,采用相关系数法和多元线性回归中的标准化回归系数分析了影响地气温差的气象因子。结果表明武威市地气温差的空间分布与地表植被、地层岩性、土层含水量等局域性因素有关,中部绿洲平原最大,北部荒漠区最小。月变化中,夏半年较大,6月最高;冬半年较小,12月最低。季节变化趋势不太一致,春夏季均呈上升趋势;秋季中北部上升,浅山区下降;冬季(除北部荒漠区外)均呈下降趋势。年和年代际变化总体呈上升趋势,中北部较显著;年平均地气温差的时间序列存在着5—7 a的准周期变化,并在2004年发生了突变。年地温、气温均呈升高趋势,年地气温差与地温、气温呈正相关。影响地气温差的主要因子是最高地温、蒸发量和降水量。地气温差与平均最高地温、平均最低气温和日照时数均呈正相关,但与蒸发、降水、相对湿度和平均风速均呈负相关。     

Probiotic Lactobacillus johnsonii BS15 Prevents Memory Dysfunction Induced by Chronic High-Fluorine Intake through Modulating Intestinal Environment and Improving Gut Development

Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins - In recent years, the influence of chronic fluorosis on the brain has been widely reported. Our study aimed to demonstrate the potential mechanism underlying...     

In Vivo Tracking and Comparison of the Therapeutic Effects of MSCs and HSCs for Liver Injury

Background

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) have been studied for damaged liver repair; however, the conclusions drawn regarding their homing capacity to the injured liver are conflicting. Besides, the relative utility and synergistic effects of these two cell types on the injured liver remain unclear.

Methodology/Principal Findings

MSCs, HSCs and the combination of both cells were obtained from the bone marrow of male mice expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein(EGFP)and injected into the female mice with or without liver fibrosis. The distribution of the stem cells, survival rates, liver function, hepatocyte regeneration, growth factors and cytokines of the recipient mice were analyzed. We found that the liver content of the EGFP-donor cells was significantly higher in the MSCs group than in the HSCs or MSCs+HSCs group. The survival rate for the MSCs group was significantly higher than that of the HSCs or MSCs+HSCs group; all surpassed the control group. After MSC-transplantation, the injured livers were maximally restored, with less collagen than the controls. The fibrotic areas had decreased to a lesser extent in the mice transplanted with HSCs or MSCs+HSCs. Compared with mice in the HSCs group, the mice that received MSCs had better improved liver function. MSCs exhibited more remarkable paracrine effects and immunomodulatory properties on hepatic stellate cells and native hepatocytes in the treatment of the liver pathology. Synergistic actions of MSCs and HSCs were most likely not observed because the stem cells in liver were detected mostly as single cells, and single MSCs are insufficient to provide a beneficial niche for HSCs.

Conclusions/Significance

MSCs exhibited a greater homing capability for the injured liver and modulated fibrosis and inflammation more effectively than did HSCs. Synergistic effects of MSCs and HSCs were not observed in liver injury.     

Preventing non-alcoholic fatty liver disease through Lactobacillus johnsonii BS15 by attenuating inflammation and mitochondrial injury and improving gut environment in obese mice

The increasing prevalence of obesity worldwide is associated with a parallel increase in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). To investigate the effect of Lactobacillus johnsonii BS15 on NAFLD, 120 male ICR mice were randomly divided into four groups and administrated with BS15 (2?×?10⁷ cfu/0.2 mL or 2?×?10⁸ cfu/0.2 mL) or phosphate buffered saline (PBS) throughout a 17-week experimental period. The mice were fed with normal chow diet (NCD) 5 weeks before the experimental period. Afterward, with the exception of the PBS group, NCD was changed into high-fat diet (HFD) for the remaining experimental period. Results showed that BS15-treated HFD mice were protected from hepatic steatosis and hepatocyte apoptosis. BS15 exhibited a positive effect on liver lipid peroxidation through an anti-oxidative stress activity by enhancing the liver antioxidant defense system. In addition, BS15 inhibited the insulin resistance; decreased the mRNA levels of acetyl–CoA carboxylase 1, fatty acid synthase, and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ; and increased the expression of the fasting-induced adipose factor in livers. Meanwhile, BS15 attenuated mitochondria abnormalities when the content of uncoupling protein-2 decreased and cytochrome c increased in NAFLD mice. BS15 also reduced the level of serum lipopolysaccharide in NAFLD mice by lowering the intestinal permeability and adjusting gut flora, followed by the downregulation of the TNFα mRNA level in liver and the serum level of C-reactive protein. These findings suggest that BS15 may be effective in preventing NAFLD induced by HFD.     

Homocysteine-mediated expression of SAHH, DNMTs, MBD2, and DNA hypomethylation potential pathogenic mechanism in VSMCs

Homocysteine (Hcy) is a well-established risk factor for atherosclerosis and may cause dysregulation of gene expression, but the characteristics and the key links involved in its pathogenic mechanisms are still poorly understood. The aim of this study was to explore (i) the effects of Hcy on DNA methylation in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and (ii) the underlying mechanism of Hcy-induced changes in DNA methylation patterns in relation to atherosclerosis. We examined the levels of gDNA methylation, namely, the Alu and line-1 element sequences, which can serve as a surrogate marker for gDNA methylation, and also investigated the effects of Hcy on the intracellular S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) concentrations as well as the expressions of SAH hydrolase (SAHH), DNA methyltransferase3a (DNMT3a), DNMT3b, and methyl-CpG-binding domain 2 (MBD2). We found that clinically relevant levels of Hcy (0-500 microM) induced elevation of SAH, declination of SAM and SAM/SAH ratio, and reduction in expression of SAHH and MBD2, but increased the activity of DNMT3a and DNMT3b compared to the control group (p < 0.05). We found also that the genome-wide hypomethylation is a common feature of gDNA in the VSMCs cultured with Hcy. In conclusion, these results suggest that Hcy-induced DNA methylation may be an important potential pathogenic mechanism in the development of atherosclerosis, and may become a therapeutic target for preventing Hcy-induced atherosclerosis.     

中国盐沼湿地蓝碳碳汇研究进展

滨海蓝碳主要指被红树林、盐沼湿地、海草床等蓝碳生态系统所固定的碳,这部分碳对于减缓气候变暖意义重大。其中盐沼湿地作为我国面积最大、分布广泛的滨海湿地,受到人类活动的扰动较多,其碳汇估算的数据缺乏系统性与完整性。通过收集我国的盐沼湿地相关研究与数据,本文对我国盐沼湿地的分布现状及其碳储量、碳埋藏、碳来源、温室气体通量进行了总结,其中我国盐沼湿地的分布面积为(1.27~3.43)×10⁵hm²,总碳储量为(7.5±0.6) Tg,碳埋藏速率为7~955 g C/(m²·a),非CO₂温室气体通量分别为23.6~986 μg CH₄/(m²·h)和1.58~110 μg N₂O/(m²·h)。本文系统梳理了有关我国盐沼湿地碳汇功能的研究,指出我国盐沼湿地碳循环研究仍需加深对机制机理的解析和关键调控因子的探究,以期让盐沼湿地蓝碳为我国的碳达峰与碳中和战略做出更大贡献。     

Detecting hemodynamic changes in the foot vessels of diabetic patients by photoacoustic tomography

Limb perfusion monitoring is critical for diabetes mellitus (DM) patients as they are vulnerable to vascular complications due to prolonged hyperglycemia. However, current clinical approaches are ineffective in vascular imaging and in assessing vascular function in lower limbs. In this work, a concave ultrasound transducer array‐based photoacoustic tomography (PAT) system was used to image the foot dorsal section of a subject, and a total of seven DM patients and seven healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. Hemodynamic changes in foot vessels during vascular occlusion as well as oxygen saturation (SO₂) in rest were analyzed for both groups. The results obtained showed that DM patients have a unique peripheral hemodynamic response to occlusion and a lower level SO₂, compared to that for healthy subjects. This suggests that PAT has the potential to detect vascular dysfunction in DM patients and to measure the effect of treatment.     

Intensified rainfall in the wet season alters the microbial contribution to soil carbon storage

Plant and Soil - Precipitation patterns in the tropics of southern China are predicted to change with an increase of the rainfall in the wet season (WW) and a delay of the wet season into autumn...     

A hierarchical model for analyzing multisite individual-level disease surveillance data from multiple systems

Passive surveillance systems are widely used to monitor diseases occurrence over wide spatial areas due to their cost-effectiveness and integration into broadly distributed healthcare systems. However, such systems are generally associated with imperfect ascertainment of disease cases and with heterogeneous capture probabilities arising from factors such as differential access to care. Augmenting passive surveillance systems with other surveillance efforts provides a way to estimate the true number of incident cases. We develop a hierarchical modeling framework for analyzing data from multiple surveillance systems that allows for individual-level covariate-dependent heterogeneous capture probabilities, and borrows information across surveillance sites to improve estimation of the true number of incident cases. Inference is carried out via a two-stage Bayesian procedure. Simulation studies illustrated superior performance of the proposed approach with respect to bias, root mean square error, and coverage compared to a model that does not borrow information across sites. We applied the proposed model to data from three surveillance systems reporting pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) cases in a major center of ongoing transmission in China. The analysis yielded bias-corrected estimates of PTB cases from the passive system and led to the identification of risk factors associated with PTB rates, as well as factors influencing the operating characteristics of the implemented surveillance systems.