Corticotropin-releasing factor mediates bone cancer induced pain through neuronal activation in rat spinal cord.

Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) serves as a neuromodulator in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, playing an essential role in depression, anxiety, and pain regulation. However, its biological role in bone cancer induced pain has not been investigated. In the present study, we aimed to elucidate the expression and distribution of CRF in spinal cord using a rodent model of bone cancer pain.

[Ecophysiological mechanism underlying the impacts of nitrogen saturation in terrestrial ecosystems on plants].

Human activities such as combustion of fossil fuels, production and application of nitrogen fertilizer, and intensive agriculture and stockbreeding, have significantly elevated the reactive nitrogen concentration in the atmosphere, leading to nitrogen accumulation, and even nitrogen saturation in some terrestrial ecosystems. The status of global nitrogen deposition and the concept of nitrogen saturation are reviewed, and the research progress concerning ecophysiological response of the plants to nitrogen saturation, including photosynthesis, nutrient absorption and stress resistance, are described and discussed in details.