The biodistribution of polystyrene nanoparticles administered intravenously in the chicken embryo.

Nanoplastics can cause severe malformations in chicken embryos. To improve our understanding of the toxicity of nanoplastics to embryos, we have studied their biodistribution in living chicken embryos. We injected the embryos in the vitelline vein at stages 18-19.

A life-history allele of large effect shortens developmental time in a wild insect population.

Developmental time is a key life-history trait with large effects on Darwinian fitness. In many insects, developmental time is currently under strong selection to minimize ecological mismatches in seasonal timing induced by climate change. The genetic basis of responses to such selection, however, is poorly understood.

Change and convergence of innovation efficiency among listed health companies in China: Empirical study based on the DEA-Malmquist model.

This study investigates the present situation of and changing trend in the innovation efficiency of health industry enterprises in China. Based on panel data for 192 listed health companies in China from 2015 to 2020, we analyse innovation efficiency using the DEA-Malmquist index and test convergence using σ-convergence and β-convergence models. From 2016 to 2019, comprehensive average innovation efficiency increased from 0.

Nanoplastics causes extensive congenital malformations during embryonic development by passively targeting neural crest cells.

Nanomaterials are widespread in the human environment as pollutants, and are being actively developed for use in human medicine. We have investigated how the size and dose of polystyrene nanoparticles affects malformations in chicken embryos, and have characterized the mechanisms by which they interfere with normal development. We find that nanoplastics can cross the embryonic gut wall.

Influencing Mechanism and Difference of Poultry Farmers' Willingness and Behavior in Breeding Scale-Evidence from Jianghan Plain, China.

This paper uses the Heckprobit two-stage econometric model to explore the influence mechanism of poultry farmers' willingness and behavior regarding scale based on 269 household survey data in the hinterland of Jianghan Plain, China. The results show that (1) family endowments, social capital, economic capital, product market prediction, and major public emergencies are the main influencing factors for farmers to engage in poultry farming; (2) economic capital, policy guarantees, product market prediction, and major public emergencies are the main factors that influence the changes in farmers' poultry breeding scale; and (3) sampled poultry farmers are inconsistent between their breeding willingness and breeding behavior in poultry decision-making and the factors that affect the willingness and behavior are varied. Based on these findings, this paper suggests that the government should pay attention to inducing corresponding assistance and subsidy policies, formulating financial support countermeasures, organizing training and exchange meetings of the breeding industry, and promoting poultry market informatization to help the poultry industry prosper.

The effects of subway openings on air quality: evidence from China.

This paper examines a causal relationship between the opening of a city's subway system and its air quality by exploiting daily data on prefecture-level cities in China from 2000 to 2012. Using multi-period difference in differences (DID) method, we find that air quality can be significantly improved following a subway system opening. Robustness tests support the fundamental empirical results.

China's Carbon Emissions and Trading Pilot, Political Connection, and Innovation Input of Publicly Listed Private Firms.

Taking China's carbon emissions and trading pilot (CCETP) as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper examines the impact of CCETP on publicly listed private firms' innovation input and the moderating effect of the firms' political connection based on the difference-in-differences model. The results show that CCETP has a significantly positive effect on the innovation input of Chinese publicly listed private firms. Moreover, the political connection of executives exhibits a positive moderating effect on CCETP's impact on innovation input.

Measuring the Environmental Efficiency and Technology Gap of PM in China's Ten City Groups: An Empirical Analysis Using the EBM Meta-Frontier Model.

Since air pollution is an important factor hindering China's economic development, China has passed a series of bills to control air pollution. However, we still lack an understanding of the status of environmental efficiency in regard to air pollution, especially PM (diameter of fine particulate matter less than 2.5 μm) pollution.

Identification and expression analysis of a TLR11 family gene in the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius.

In this study, a homolog of the TLR11 family gene from the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius (denoted as SiTLR11) was cloned and characterized. The full-length cDNA of SiTLR11 was 2096-bp long, which included 43 bp of 5' untranslated region (UTR), 238 bp of 3' UTR, and a putative open reading frame of 1815 bp encoding a polypeptide of 604 amino acid residues. Representative domains such as leucine-rich repeat (LRR) (residues 108-249) and a cytoplasmic Toll-interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) (residues 429-571) domains were detected in the predicted amino acid sequence of SiTLR11.

Characterization and expression analysis of a thioredoxin-like protein gene in the sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus.

As the most important disulfide bond reducates of intracellular oxidordeuctase, thioredoxin (TRX) plays a crucial role in maintaining reducing state of intracellular proteins to normally perform their function. In this study, a cDNA of TRX-like protein gene from Apostichopus japonicus (denoted as AjTRX) was cloned and characterized. The full-length cDNA of AjTRXwas of 1870 bp, consisting of a 5'-UTR of 101 bp, a long 3'-UTR of 887 bp and a 882 bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a 293 amino acids.