Smallholder farms have and can store more carbon than previously estimated

Increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks is increasingly targeted as a key strategy in climate change mitigation and improved ecosystem resiliency. Agricultural land, a dominant global land use, provides substantial challenges and opportunities for global carbon sequestration. Despite this, global estimates of soil carbon sequestration potential often exclude agricultural land and estimates are coarse for regions in the Global South. To address these discrepancies and improve estimates, we develop a hybrid, data-augmented database approach to better estimate the magnitude of SOC sequestration potential of agricultural soils. With high-resolution (30 m) soil maps of Africa developed by the International Soils Database (iSDA) and Malawi as a case study, we create a national adjustment using site-specific soil data retrieved from 1160 agricultural fields. We use a benchmark approach to estimate the amount of SOC Malawian agricultural soils can sequester, accounting for edaphic and climatic conditions, and calculate the resulting carbon gap. Field measurements of SOC stocks and sequestration potentials were consistently larger than iSDA predictions, with an average carbon gap of 4.42 ± 0.23 Mg C ha⁻¹ to a depth of 20 cm, with some areas exceeding 10 Mg C ha⁻¹. Augmenting iSDA predictions with field data also improved sensitivity to identify areas with high SOC sequestration potential by 6%—areas that may benefit from improved management practices. Overall, we estimate that 6.8 million ha of surface soil suitable for agriculture in Malawi has the potential to store 274 ± 14 Tg SOC. Our approach illustrates how ground truthing efforts remain essential to reduce errors in continent-wide soil carbon predictions for local and regional use. This work begins efforts needed across regions to develop soil carbon benchmarks that inform policies and identify high-impact areas in the effort to increase SOC globally.     

Mechanical Allodynia Circuitry in the Dorsal Horn Is Defined by the Nature of the Injury

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Detection of the SARS-CoV-2 D614G mutation using engineered Cas12a guide RNA

Detection of pathogens with single-nucleotide variations is indispensable for the disease tracing, but remains technically challenging. The D614G mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is known to markedly enhance viral infectivity but is difficult to detect. Here, we report an effective approach called “synthetic mismatch integrated crRNA guided Cas12a detection” (symRNA-Cas12a) to detect the D614 and G614 variants effectively. Using this method, we systemically screened a pool of crRNAs that contain all the possible nucleotide substitutions covering the -2 to +2 positions around the mutation and identify one crRNA that can efficiently increase the detection specificity by 13-fold over the ancestral crRNA. With this selected crRNA, the symRNA-Cas12a assay can detect as low as 10 copies of synthetic mutant RNA and the results are confirmed to be accurate by Sanger sequencing. Overall, we have developed the symRNA-Cas12a method to specifically, sensitively and rapidly detect the SARS-CoV-2 D614G mutation.     

Effects of Two Potential Allelochemicals on the Photosystem II of <i>Nitzschia closterium</i> and<i> Monostroma nitidum</i>

In aquaculture, high-density seaweed farming brings higher economic benefits but also increases outbreaks of diatom felt. The effective control of diatom felt in high-density seaweed farming has always been a research hotspot. This study selected two potential allelochemicals 2-hydroxycinnamic acid and quinic acid to explore their effects on a diatom Nitzschia closterium and an economic seaweed Monostroma nitidum. The results showed that 2-hydroxycinnamic acid had better inhibitory effects than quinic acid on the growth, pigment content and photosynthetic efficiency of N. closterium. Their half-maximal inhibitory concentrations at 120 h (IC_{50–120 h}) were 0.9000 and 1.278 mM, respectively. Additionally, these allelochemicals had limited inhibitory effects on the growth, pigment content and photosynthetic efficiency of M. nitidum before 24 h. To further explore the allelopathic effect of these chemicals, this study focused on the photosystem II energy fluxes of N. closterium. It was found that 3 mM 2-hydroxycinnamic acid could destroy the whole photosynthetic system by devastating the PSII reaction centre (RC) before 24 h; however, the same concentration of quinic acid could only down-regulate the electron transport efficiency by changing the effective antenna size of an active RC and downregulating the PSII reaction centre density. These experimental results are expected to provide a new strategy to control diatom felt blooms on the high-density seaweed farming areas.     

Structurally Diverse Metabolites from the Marine-Derived Streptomyces sp. DS-27 Based on Two Different Culture Conditions

Nine new compounds, including streptothiomycin A−E ( 1 – 5 ), two cyclopentenones ( 6 , 7 ), one α-pyrone ( 8 ), wailupemycin Q ( 20 ), along with sixteen known compounds were identified from a rhizosphere strain Streptomyces sp. DS-27 derived from the marine cordgrass Spartina alterniflora under two different culture conditions. All of the structures were elucidated by extensive analysis of 1D/2D NMR and HR-ESI-MS data. The absolute configurations were determined by NOESY analysis, ECD, specific rotation and GIAO NMR calculations, and DP4+ probability analysis. Bioactivity investigation showed that compounds 5 and 7 exhibited significant inhibitory effects on LPS-induced NO production in a dose-dependent manner, which indicates their anti-inflammatory potential.     

Magneto-Electric Double Fano Resonances in Hybrid Split Ring/Disk Hetero-Cavity

In this work, we conceive and demonstrate the magneto-electric double Fano resonances of a hetero-cavity composed of Si disk and Au split ring, where Si disk can provide additional magnetic responses besides electric responses. The interference between electric and magnetic responses in proposed hetero-cavity gives rise to magneto-electric double Fano resonances with magnetic and electric near-field enhancements. Dipole radiative enhancement is used to analyze magnetic and electric responses of hetero-cavity and the spectral features of hetero-cavity can be used to quantitatively characterize by coupled oscillator model. And the spectral tunability of magneto-electric double Fano resonances is investigated, highlighting a potential for applications in low-loss sensing and nanophotonic devices.     

多项式系统无穷远奇点性态的系统判定法(I)

本文对多项式微分方程无穷远奇点的性态进行了研究，当无穷远奇点是初等奇点时，给出了用系数判定其稳定性态的方法，并用此方法对一类生态系统无穷远奇点的性态进行了讨论，从中可见，我们的方法优于现有方法。     

Antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects of genistein in Staphylococcus aureus induced osteomyelitis in rats

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a highly infectious Gram-positive pathogen known to cause severe diseases such as endocarditis, food poisoning, pneumonia, osteomyelitis, and septicemia. MRSA is a major public health issue. Among these, osteomyelitis is inflammation of the bone caused by the invasion of the bacterial pathogen in the bones. Its prominent symptoms include fever, pain, and redness of bones. In the case of children, it affects the long bones of arms and legs, whereas in the case of adults it affects the hip, feet, and spine. Bacterial osteomyelitis can trigger pathological remodeling of bones and hence causes substantial morbidity and mortality. The present study aims to evaluate the isoflavone genistein's (5,7-dihydroxy-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)−4H-1-benzopyran-4-one,4′,5,7 trihydroxyisoflavone) antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effects against osteomyelitis induced by MRSA in male Wistar rats. Classification of the animals was into the following: sham (Group I), osteomyelitis (Group II, control), genistein (25 mg/kg body weight, Group III), and genistein (50 mg/kg body weight, Group IV). The rats did not receive any treatment for 4 weeks after bacterial inoculation. Genistein was then administered twice daily for 2 weeks. Bacterial growth, mean body weight bone infection status, and side effects of genistein treatment were assessed. Furthermore, lipid peroxidation, superoxide dismutase, glutathione (GSH) peroxidase, catalase, reduced GSH, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin (IL)-6 were also determined. Two days after treatment, it was found that genistein significantly suppressed bacterial growth and reduced serum pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6. Therefore, the study suggests that genistein could be a promising lead against MRSA-induced osteomyelitis.     

粤港澳大湾区生态系统健康时空变化及其对城镇化的响应

区域生态系统健康评价是获取区域生态系统状况的重要手段，对生态保护和恢复具有现实的指导意义。研究从人类与生态系统耦合角度出发，基于生态系统完整性以及人类对生态系统服务的需求，在“活力-组织力-弹性”框架基础上引入生态系统服务供需指标构建评价框架。以粤港澳大湾区为例，分析2005—2018年生态系统健康时空变化特征及其对城镇化的响应。研究结果表明：(1)2005—2018年间，大湾区生态系统健康呈现中部低四周高的空间格局，以好，较好和一般水平为主；从时间变化上来看，大湾区四周山区生态系统健康状况有所改善，而中部地区健康状况则逐渐恶化。(2)大湾区生态系统活力在改善区域生态系统健康中发挥了重要的作用；此外，生态系统服务供需对传统生态系统健康评价结果进行适当修正，生态系统服务供需赤字加剧了中部地区生态系统健康状况的恶化。(3)大湾区生态系统健康与人口城镇化、土地城镇化间均存在显著的空间负相关性，其中，土地城镇化对生态系统健康的负面影响越来越显著，特别是大湾区中部地区。研究以期为生态系统健康评价提供新思路，同时为大湾区生态系统保护与管理提供参考。