Engineered nanomaterials reduce metal(loid) accumulation and enhance staple food production for sustainable agriculture.

Metal(loid) contaminants in food pose a global health concern. This study offers a global analysis of the impact of nanomaterials (NMs) on crop responses to metal(loid) stresses. Our findings reveal that NMs have a positive effect on the biomass production of staple crops (22.

Bacteria-derived extracellular vesicles: endogenous roles, therapeutic potentials and their biomimetics for the treatment and prevention of sepsis.

Sepsis is one of the medical conditions with a high mortality rate and lacks specific treatment despite several years of extensive research. Bacterial extracellular vesicles (bEVs) are emerging as a focal target in the pathophysiology and treatment of sepsis. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from pathogenic microorganisms carry pathogenic factors such as carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and virulence factors and are regarded as "long-range weapons" to trigger an inflammatory response.

High-Efficient Microdroplet Harvesting and Detaching Inspired from Lid Trichome.

Fog harvesting plays a pivotal role in harnessing atmospheric water resources and holds significant promise for alleviating global water scarcity. Nonetheless, enhancing harvesting efficiency remains a persistent challenge, especially concerning the rapid detachment of droplets from surfaces. In this study, we discovered that the trichomes of not only efficiently harvest and transport liquid but also quickly drain harvested liquid.

Leaf nitrogen and phosphorus stoichiometry of the halophytes across China.

Halophytes play a crucial role in the ecological restoration of saline and alkaline land and hold promising benefits to food security in China. Although a variety of aspects of halophytes have been extensively addressed, there is still a lack of overall understanding of the leaf nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) stoichiometric characteristics, especially at a national scale. We compiled a national dataset of 311 observations from 113 sampling sites across China to explore the changing trends and influencing factors on leaf N and P concentrations, and N:P ratio of halophytes.

Classification of subtypes and identification of dysregulated genes in sepsis.

Background: Sepsis is a clinical syndrome with high mortality. Subtype identification in sepsis is meaningful for improving the diagnosis and treatment of patients. The purpose of this research was to identify subtypes of sepsis using RNA-seq datasets and further explore key genes that were deregulated during the development of sepsis.

[Positive effects of Xuebijing injection on intestinal microbiota and metabolite spectrum in septic rats].

Objective: To explore the effect of Xuebijing injection on inflammation in sepsis by regulating intestinal microbiota and its metabolites.

Methods: A total of 45 male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into Sham operation group (Sham group), cecal ligation and perforation (CLP) induced sepsis group (CLP group), and Xuebijing intervention group (XBJ group, 4 mL/kg Xuebijing injection was injected intraperitoneally at 1 hour after CLP), with 15 rats in each group. The survival of rats was observed at 24 hours after operation and sacrificed.

InferLoop: leveraging single-cell chromatin accessibility for the signal of chromatin loop.

Deciphering cell-type-specific 3D structures of chromatin is challenging. Here, we present InferLoop, a novel method for inferring the strength of chromatin interaction using single-cell chromatin accessibility data. The workflow of InferLoop is, first, to conduct signal enhancement by grouping nearby cells into bins, and then, for each bin, leverage accessibility signals for loop signals using a newly constructed metric that is similar to the perturbation of the Pearson correlation coefficient.

High-Efficient Fog Harvest from a Synergistic Effect of Coupling Hierarchical Structures.

Fog harvesting is an important method to solve the water shortage in arid and semi-arid areas by collecting water from air. Improving fog harvesting efficiency is still a big challenge to be overcome. Herein, under the inspiration of natural creatures, a novel harvesting structure that couples a hierarchical microchannel (HMC) needle with the Janus membrane by taking a conical pore as their junction is proposed.

Transcription factor HESX1 enhances mesendodermal commitment of human embryonic stem cells by modulating ERK1/2 signaling.

Transcription factors are key determinants of lineage commitment during mammalian development. However, the function and molecular mechanism for the transcription factors in the formation of three primary germ layers during human embryonic development are not fully elucidated. Here, we report that homeobox-containing transcription factor HESX1 plays a critical role in mesendodermal (ME) commitment of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs).

Effects of Long-Term Fertilization and Stand Age on Root Nutrient Acquisition and Leaf Nutrient Resorption of .

The plant nutrient acquisition strategies are diverse, such as root nutrient acquisition and leaf nutrient resorption, playing important roles in driving soil processes, vegetation performance as well as ecosystem nutrient cycling. However, it is still in a debate whether there is a synergy or tradeoff between above- and below-ground nutrient acquisition strategy under nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) addition, or with stand age. Herein, this study investigated the responses of root-soil accumulation factor () and leaf nutrient resorption efficiency () to long-term N and P fertilization, and further explored the trade-off between them in plantations with different stand age.

Root nutrient capture and leaf resorption efficiency modulated by different influential factors jointly alleviated P limitation in across the North-South Transect of Eastern China.

Soil and climatic conditions are known to have close associations with plant morphological and stoichiometric traits at a regional scale along latitudinal gradients; however, how latitude drives biotic and abiotic factors affecting plant nutrient acquisition to accommodate environmental nutrient deficiency remains unclear. We quantified soil, root, leaf, and leaf litter nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations to determine the potentially limiting nutrient and the simultaneous responses of root capture and leaf resorption to nutrient deficiency in seven forests across the North-South Transect of Eastern China. The results showed that the mean leaf and root N:P ratios in were 21.

Identification of metabolomics-based prognostic prediction models for ICU septic patients.

Sepsis-related global mortality remains unacceptably high in intensive care units. Identifying the various molecular processes between survival and death in septic patients may assist in better treatment. Accurate prognostic evaluation of sepsis is an essentially unmet need.

Understanding Responses of Soil Microbiome to the Nitrogen and Phosphorus Addition in Metasequoia glyptostroboides Plantations of Different Ages.

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) have significant effects on soil microbial community diversity, composition, and function. Also, trees of different life stages have different fertilization requirements. In this study, we designed three N additions and three P levels (5 years of experimental treatment) at two Metasequoia glyptostroboides plantations of different ages (young, 6 years old; middle mature, 24 years old) to understand how different addition levels of N and P affect the soil microbiome.

Flavonoid 3'-hydroxylase of Camellia nitidissima Chi. promotes the synthesis of polyphenols better than flavonoids.

Camellia nitidissima Chi. is an ornamental plant of the genus Camellia L. Its flowers contain a lot of flavonoids and polyphenols.

Functional Diversification of the Dihydroflavonol 4-Reductase from Chi. in the Control of Polyphenol Biosynthesis.

Plant secondary metabolism is complex in its diverse chemical composition and dynamic regulation of biosynthesis. How the functional diversification of enzymes contributes to the diversity is largely unknown. In the flavonoids pathway, dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR) is a key enzyme mediating dihydroflavanol into anthocyanins biosynthesis.

Arginine infusion rescues ovarian follicular development in feed-restricted Hu sheep during the luteal phase.

The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular mechanisms of arginine (Arg) on follicular development of acute feed-restricted ewes during the luteal phase. From day 6 of the estrous cycle, 24 multiparous Hu sheep were randomly assigned into three groups: control group (a maintenance diet; n = 6), feed restriction group (0.5 maintenance diet, saline infusion; n = 9) and Arg treatment group (0.

Metabolic profiles of moso bamboo in response to drought stress in a field investigation.

An increasing number of moso bamboo habitats are suffering severe drought events. The improvement in our understanding of the mechanisms of drought-resistance in moso bamboo benefits their genetic improvement and maintenance of forest sustainability. Here, we investigated the metabolic changes across the annual growth cycle of moso bamboo in the field under drought stress using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-MS) based on untargeted metabolomic profiling.

Effects of nitric oxide on steroidogenesis and apoptosis in goat luteinized granulosa cells.

The aim of this study was to investigate effects of nitric oxide (NO) on steroidogenesis and apoptosis in goat luteinized granulosa cells (LGCs). We cultured goat LGCs from healthy follicles in culture medium supplemented with the NO donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP) or the NO synthase inhibitor N-Nitro-l-arginine methyl ester hydrochloride (l-NAME), then examined steroid synthesis, oxidative stress and apoptosis in vitro. The results showed that SNP treatment significantly increased the cGMP concentration in the LGCs (P < 0.

Ultrafast water harvesting and transport in hierarchical microchannels.

Various natural materials have hierarchical microscale and nanoscale structures that allow for directional water transport. Here we report an ultrafast water transport process in the surface of a Sarracenia trichome, whose transport velocity is about three orders of magnitude faster than those measured in cactus spine and spider silk. The high velocity of water transport is attributed to the unique hierarchical microchannel organization of the trichome.

[Effect of litterfall input on soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity in moso bamboo forest under simulated drought.].

Increases in drought frequency and intensity under climate change will have great impacts on the carbon cycle of forest ecosystems. Understanding the responses of soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity to drought is necessary, when we assess whether soil is a carbon sink or source. The effects of litterfall input on soil respiration, temperature sensitivity and its lagging effect were studied in moso bamboo forests under simulated drought by ceiling method in the field with three litterfall treatments, i.

Orbital ordering to orbital glass transition in spinel FeCr(2-x)Al(x)S4 (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 0.2).

The polycrystalline (PC) sample of FeCr2S4 displays orbital ordering around TOO ∼ 9 K, while single crystal sample shows orbital glass. In this paper, with the substitution of Al for Cr, a step by step transition from the orbital ordering to the orbital glass is reported in FeCr(2-x)Al(x)S4 (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 0.2).