Shrub Encroachment: A Catalyst for Enhanced Soil Nutrients Storage in the Altai Mountains.

Shrub encroachment in grasslands has a major impact on soil carbon storage (SOC) and soil total nitrogen (STN), which affects nutrient cycling and ecosystem processes. We explored the effects of shrub encroachment on SOC and STN in five grassland types in the Altai Mountains: mountain meadows, temperate meadow steppe, temperate steppe, temperate steppe desert, and temperate desert steppe. Shrub encroachment considerably improved SOC and STN, with the greatest increases occurring in locations with high encroachment.

The effects of phosphorus on the fate and transformation of sediment-associated cadmium from river sediments.

The coexistence of phosphorus (P) and cadmium (Cd) in river sediments poses a significant challenge for remediating these contaminants in aquatic environments, given the ongoing debates regarding their interactions. This study aimed to elucidate the impact of water-soluble phosphorus (PO) on the fate and transformation of sediment-associated Cd under varying conditions. The findings revealed that the impact of PO on the release of sediment-associated Cd depends on the presence or absence of cations such as Ca and Mg, with Ca exerting a more pronounced effect than Mg.

Xizang meadow degradation alters resource exchange ratio, network complexity, and biomass allocation tradeoff of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis.

The response of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis to environmental fluctuations involves resource exchange between host plants and fungal partners, associations between different AM fungal taxa, and biomass allocation between AM fungal spore and hyphal structures; yet a systematic understanding of these responses to meadow degradation remains relatively unknown, particularly in Xizang alpine meadow. Here, we approached this knowledge gap by labeling dual isotopes of air CO and soil NHCl, computing ecological networks of AM fungal communities, and quantifying AM fungal biomass allocation among spores, intra- and extraradical hyphae. We found that the exchange ratio of photosynthate and nitrogen between plants and AM fungi increased with the increasing severity of meadow degradation, indicating greater dependence of host plants on this symbiosis for resource acquisition.

Two Monoclonal Antibodies Targeting Distinct Subdomains of Human Norovirus P Protein.

The human norovirus (HuNov) major capsid VP1comprises an S (shell) and a P (protruding) domain; the latter is responsible for virus attachment and infection. The dimeric formation of P (containing P1 and P2 subdomains) is indispensable for forming a receptor-binding pocket, enabling HuNov to dock to attachment factor histo-blood group antigens (HBGAs) on the host cell. Thus, the P-specific antibody may hamper the engagement of P and HBGA, thereby inhibiting virus infection.

Genomic insights into redox-driven microbial processes for carbon decomposition in thawing Arctic soils and permafrost.

Unlabelled: Climate change is rapidly transforming Arctic landscapes where increasing soil temperatures speed up permafrost thaw. This exposes large carbon stocks to microbial decomposition, possibly worsening climate change by releasing more greenhouse gases. Understanding how microbes break down soil carbon, especially under the anaerobic conditions of thawing permafrost, is important to determine future changes.

Phloretin inhibits transmissible gastroenteritis virus proliferation via multiple mechanisms.

Transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), an enteropathogenic coronavirus, has caused huge economic losses to the pig industry, with 100% mortality in piglets aged 2 weeks and intestinal injury in pigs of other ages. However, there is still a shortage of safe and effective anti-TGEV drugs in clinics. In this study, phloretin, a naturally occurring dihydrochalcone glycoside, was identified as a potent antagonist of TGEV.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells that display norovirus P induce both systemic and mucosal neutralizing antibodies.

The human norovirus (HuNov) is the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) worldwide. Mucosal secretory IgA (sIgA) in the gastrointestinal tract interrupts the interaction between host cells and HuNov, thus inhibiting viral infection. In this study, we constructed a recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S.

Nutrient addition alters plant community productivity but not the species diversity of a mountain meadow in Tajikistan.

Introduction: Tajikistan is a typical mountainous country covered by different mountain grasslands that are important pasture resources. Recently, grassland degradation has become widespread due to climate change and human activities and fertilization has been used to improve grassland production. However, fertilizer inputs can substantially alter species diversity, but it is uncl\ear how productivity and species diversity respond to nutrient enrichment in the mountain meadows of Tajikistan.

Historical variability of cotton yield and response to climate and agronomic management in Xinjiang, China.

Cotton is the primary fibre crop in the world with high economic value, and its yield can be affected by climate and agronomic management. Xinjiang, the largest cotton-producing province in China, contributes to approximately 90 % of the national and over 20 % of global production. Earlier studies focused on cotton yield variability and/or drivers on the site scale, for only one to several counties or cities within Xinjiang, in several years before 2000, or provincial production for a short period.

Ecological security warning in Central Asia: Integrating ecosystem services protection under SSPs-RCPs scenarios.

Ecological security patterns (ESPs) are designed to enhance ecosystem structure and functionality while preserving vital ecosystem services (ESs). This study not only integrated the ES trade-offs related to ecological security warning, but also considered the effects of future climate changes and human activities on ESPs. By combining the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE), the revised wind erosion equation (RWEQ), the dry sedimentation (DS) model, the recreation opportunity map (ROM) and the integrated valuation of ESs and trade-offs (InVEST) model, this study projected provisioning services, regulation services and cultural services in Central Asia (CA) for historical periods (1995-2014) and future scenarios (2021-2099).

Toward real-time and accurate dense 3D mapping of crop fields for combine harvesters using a stereo camera.

Fast and accurate 3D scene perception is a crucial prerequisite for the autonomous navigation and harvesting of combine harvesters. However, crop field scenarios pose severe challenges for vision-based perception systems due to repetitive scenes, illumination changes and real-time constraints on embedded computing platforms. In this paper, we propose a feature-based, two-stage approach for real-time dense 3D mapping for combine harvesters.

MAb Targeting a Link Between ExoN and MTase of TGEV NSP14.

Porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) infection results in severe gastrointestinal disease manifesting vomiting, diarrhea in neonatal porcine, with extremely high mortality. Monoclonal antibody (MAb) specific to TGEV nonstructural protein (NSP)14 that contains two functional domains, exonuclease (ExoN) and methyltransferase (MTase) domains, may help elucidate the role of NSP14 in the viral life-cycle. In this study, we developed a murine MAb, designated 12F1, against TGEV NSP14 using traditional cell-fusion technique.

Vegetation structural shift tells environmental changes on the Tibetan Plateau over 40 years.

Structural information of grassland changes on the Tibetan Plateau is essential for understanding alterations in critical ecosystem functioning and their underlying drivers that may reflect environmental changes. However, such information at the regional scale is still lacking due to methodological limitations. Beyond remote sensing indicators only recognizing vegetation productivity, we utilized multivariate data fusion and deep learning to characterize formation-based plant community structure in alpine grasslands at the regional scale of the Tibetan Plateau for the first time and compared it with the earlier version of Vegetation Map of China for historical changes.

Development and validation of a prognostic model incorporating tumor thrombus grading for nonmetastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma with tumor thrombus: A multicohort study.

There is significant variability with respect to the prognosis of nonmetastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) patients with venous tumor thrombus (VTT). By applying multiregion whole-exome sequencing on normal-tumor-thrombus-metastasis quadruples from 33 ccRCC patients, we showed that metastases were mainly seeded by VTT (81.8%) rather than primary tumors (PTs).

The economic and environmental impacts of shared collection service systems for retired electric vehicle batteries.

One of the impending consequences of the rapid penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) is that a substantial amount of expired EV batteries will present an increasing waste collection and management problem, particularly in the urban context. Motivated by a lack of research on this issue, this paper comprehensively evaluates the relative benefits of shared versus non-shared collection systems, where the service outlets are not exclusive to specified automakers. Using a mixed-integer optimization model, the analysis features spatiotemporal and multiple stakeholder complexities.

Long non-coding RNA ENST00000503625 is a potential prognostic biomarker and metastasis suppressor gene in prostate cancer.

Background: Dysregulation of Long Non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) emerges to be a hallmark of cancers. Metastatic prostate cancer and localized disease that recurs after treatment are clinical challenges, it remains unclear how lncRNA plays a role in those processes.

Methods: From previous RNA-Seq data on 65 prostate cancer and adjacent normal tissues.

A Monoclonal Antibody Targeting C-Terminal Domain of Transmissible Gastroenteritis Virus Spike Protein.

The structure and function of the C-terminus domain (CTD) of porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) spike protein remain largely unknown, thereby a specific monoclonal antibody (MAb) allows us to fully understand this domain. In this study, we developed a murine MAb against CTD of TGEV spike protein, as evidenced by the results of indirect fluorescent assay, Western blotting, and fluorescence-activated cell sorter. Further study showed that the MAb is able to exclusively recognize a 12-residue peptide (FKNVSDGVIYSV) derived from CTD of TGEV spike protein.

Elevational changes in the bacterial community composition and potential functions in a Tibetan grassland.

In the Tibetan grasslands, the distribution patterns of the microbial community structure and function along elevation gradients have attracted considerable attention due to the wide distribution of mountain slopes, but the controlling factors of these patterns are still unclear. Here we investigated the taxonomy and potential functions of soil bacteria along an elevation gradient in a Tibetan mountainous grassland in 2 years, aiming to explore the elevation patterns of the bacterial structure and function and the underlying drivers. High-throughput sequencing and environment attribute measurements were conducted to survey the bacterial and environment characters.

Advances in vaccinia virus-based vaccine vectors, with applications in flavivirus vaccine development.

Historically, virulent variola virus infection caused hundreds of millions of deaths. The smallpox pandemic in human beings has spread for centuries until the advent of the attenuated vaccinia virus (VV) vaccine, which played a crucial role in eradicating the deadly contagious disease. Decades of exploration and utilization have validated the attenuated VV as a promising vaccine vehicle against various lethal viruses.

Stereovision-Based Ego-Motion Estimation for Combine Harvesters.

Ego-motion estimation is a foundational capability for autonomous combine harvesters, supporting high-level functions such as navigation and harvesting. This paper presents a novel approach for estimating the motion of a combine harvester from a sequence of stereo images. The proposed method starts with tracking a set of 3D landmarks which are triangulated from stereo-matched features.