Similarities and differences in physiological adaptation to cadmium interactions with nitrogen levels between two aquatic iris life forms in urban wetlands.

Plants play a key role in the ecological restoration of urban wetlands. Previous studies have shown that heavy-metal accumulation capacities and adaptation strategies of wetland plants may be related to their life forms. In this study, pot experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of nitrogen (N) on the adaptation strategies of two evergreen and deciduous aquatic iris life forms under cadmium (Cd) stress.

Genomics and metabolic characteristics of simultaneous heterotrophic nitrification aerobic denitrification and aerobic phosphorus removal by Acinetobacter indicus CZH-5.

This study provides for the first time a systematic understanding of Acinetobacter indicus CZH-5 performance, metabolic pathway and genomic characteristics for aerobic nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) removal. Acinetobacter indicus CZH-5 showed promising performance in heterotrophic nitrification aerobic denitrification and aerobic phosphorus removal. Under optimal conditions, the maximum ammonia-N, total nitrogen and orthophosphate-P removal efficiencies were 90.

Intraspecific variations of leaf hydraulic, economic, and anatomical traits in Cinnamomum camphora along an urban-rural gradient.

Urbanization brings numerous benefits to residents, but it also introduces complex, variable, and heterogeneous habitat conditions to urban plants, resulting in an arid and hot urban environment that decreases tree growth and the ecological service capacity of trees. In this study, we evaluated leaf hydraulic, economic, and anatomical traits and their covariations of Cinnamomum camphora along an urban-rural gradient in Hefei, Eastern China. We found that Cinnamomum camphora in urban adopted a conservative hydraulic strategy with low leaf turgor loss point (Tlp), leaf hydraulic conductance (K), and leaf water potential resulting in 50 % loss of hydraulic conductance (P), as well as a quick investment-return economic strategy with low unit leaf dry matter content (LMA) and high leaf nitrogen content (Leaf N).

Inheritance and Innovation of Pottery Sculpture Technique in Shiwan, China: A Grounded Study from Cultural Ecology.

Ceramics play an important role in human daily life and production practice. Pottery sculpture technique is the core of ceramic making. However, the production process of traditional ceramics is accompanied by high pollution, which has a great impact on human health and the ecological environment.

Integrated Sustainable Development of Culture into Tourist Map Design: A Case from Foshan, China.

As the fourth pillar of sustainable development, culture is widely recognized as contributing to human wellbeing. The distinctive culture of cities is an important driving force for attracting visitors to destinations for tourism consumption. Since historical cities have important cultural and historical values, the design of their tourist maps needs not only geographic positioning and artistic aesthetics, but also a systematic design method to present the connotation of regional cultures, so as to enhance the local cultural identity of hosts and the cultural cognition of visitors, and to drive the local tourism economy, improve the regional environment, promote cultural transmission and inheritance with the help of tourist map design in terms of cultural sustainability, which ultimately achieves sustainable development of human wellbeing.

Coordination of leaf hydraulic and economic traits in Cinnamomum camphora under impervious pavement.

Background: Paved urban environments can pose great threats to the physiological functioning and ecological services of street trees. In this context, assessment of leaf phenotypic plasticity is crucial for understanding the ecological strategy of tree species under impervious pavements.

Results: In this study, we measured a set of leaf economic traits, hydraulic traits of Cinnamomum camphora, and surrounding environmental factors in a street site (the soil was covered by the impervious pavement) and a park site (the soil was covered by grass) in Hefei, eastern China.

Responses in Growth and Anatomical Traits of Two Subtropical Tree Species to Nitrogen Addition, Drought, and Their Interactions.

Nitrogen (N) deposition and drought are two major stressors that influence tree growth and propagation. However, few studies have investigated their interactions. In this study, saplings of the two co-occurring species (leguminous) and (non-leguminous) were cultivated under two N addition rates (0 and 80 kg N ha year) with well-watered (WW, 80% of field capacity), moderate drought (MD, 60% of field capacity), and severe drought conditions (SD, 40% of field capacity).

Distribution and characteristics of microplastics in the basin of Chishui River in Renhuai, China.

As an emerging pollutant, microplastics widely exist in rivers all over the world. Due to the differences of economic development, economic structure and population in different regions, the abundance of microplastics in rivers is different. In those areas where agriculture is developed, the content of film microplastics is more, while in densely populated areas, the content of fibrous microplastics is more.

The occurrence and abundance of microplastics in surface water and sediment of the West River downstream, in the south of China.

Microplastic pollution has aroused great concern in inland waters. Freshwater is the transport routes and potential sources for plastic fragments to the oceans. However, information especially about the occurrence of microplastics in freshwater systems is unclear in certain key areas.

Effects of the Supplementation of Lysophospholipids through Pelleted Total Mixed Rations on Blood Biochemical Parameters and Milk Production and Composition of Mid-Lactation Dairy Cows.

Lysophospholipids (LPL), a new feed additive, were supplemented to a pelleted total mixed ration (TMR) of dairy cows to examine its effects on feed intake, production, and composition of milk and plasma biochemical parameters. Two dietary treatments included diets supplemented without (control diet; CON) or with LPL at a dose of 0.5 g/kg of pelleted TMR.

Dietary Supplementation of Lysophospholipids Affects Feed Digestion in Lambs.

Five experiments were conducted to examine effects of lysophospholipids (LPL) on live weight gain, nutrient digestibility, ruminal fermentation parameters, serum biochemical parameters and rumen bacterial community profile in fattening lambs. Two dietary treatments (pelleted complete feed supplemented without (control diet; CON) or with 0.05% LPL on dry matter basis) were tested in these experiments.

Dissolving organic matter from low-organic sewage sludge for shortening the anaerobic digestion time.

Pretreatments have been successfully used to shorten the HRT of anaerobic digestion (AD) of sewage sludge, but they become ineffective for low-organic sewage sludge, with HRT > 10 days. Herein, a new process using alkaline hydrolysis-anaerobic digestion has been developed to solve this problem. Firstly, maximum organic matter in the sludge was dissolved by strong alkaline hydrolysis (pH > 11) in a two-stage alkaline hydrolysis system (TSAHS).

Different Growth and Physiological Responses of Six Subtropical Tree Species to Warming.

Quantifying changes in interspecific plant growth and physiology under climate warming will facilitate explanation of the shifts in community structure in subtropical forest. We evaluated the effects of 3 years climate warming (ca. 1°C, 2012-2015) on plant growth and physiological parameters of six subtropical tree species by translocating seedlings and soil from a higher to a lower elevation site.

Investigation of the accumulation of ash, heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to assess the stability of lysis-cryptic growth sludge reduction in sequencing batch reactor.

The accumulation of ash, heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (collectively called potential accumulating substances, PAS) was evaluated to ascertain the stability of lysis-cryptic growth sludge reduction process (LSRP) for municipal sludge treatment. One sequencing batch reactor (SBR) incorporated with homogenization was run to test the LSRP and another SBR as a control. The continuous monitoring results for 2 months showed that the ash and heavy metals slightly increased, and the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons decreased by 18.

Phosphorus uptake in four tree species under nitrogen addition in subtropical China.

Atmospheric N deposition is a serious problem in subtropical China where N is present in large amounts but P is deficient. Several studies hypothesized that N fixers can overcome phosphorus limitation by trading fixed N for soil phosphorus. In order to know whether N fixers could invest fixed N in extracellular phosphatase production and could stimulate arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) to acquire soil P in N-rich subtropical China, an open-air greenhouse experiment was carried out.

Warming effects on photosynthesis of subtropical tree species: a translocation experiment along an altitudinal gradient.

Ongoing climate warming induced by human activities may have great impacts on trees, yet it remains unresolved how subtropical tree species respond to rising temperature in the field. Here, we used downward translocation to investigate the effects of climate warming on leaf photosynthesis of six common tree species in subtropical China. During the experimental period between 2012 and 2014, the mean average photosynthetic rates (Asat) under saturating light for Schima superba, Machilus breviflora, Pinus massoniana and Ardisia lindleyana in the warm site were7%, 19%, 20% and 29% higher than those in the control site.

CO2 enrichment and N addition increase nutrient loss from decomposing leaf litter in subtropical model forest ecosystems.

As atmospheric CO2 concentration increases, many experiments have been carried out to study effects of CO2 enrichment on litter decomposition and nutrient release. However, the result is still uncertain. Meanwhile, the impact of CO2 enrichment on nutrients other than N and P are far less studied.

Diagnosis of thyroid nodules using virtual touch tissue quantification value and anteroposterior/transverse diameter ratio.

This paper proposes an effective approach to differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules using a hierarchical classification model based on the Virtual Touch tissue quantification (VTQ) value and anteroposterior/transverse diameter (A/T) ratio. One hundred twenty nodules (92 benign, 28 malignant) were analyzed using this approach by combining the quantitative elastic characteristic with the conventional sonographic feature. First, nodules were classified as benign (VTQ values <2.

Recovery of phosphorus and nitrogen from alkaline hydrolysis supernatant of excess sludge by magnesium ammonium phosphate.

Magnesium ammonium phosphate (MAP) method was used to recover orthophosphate (PO₄(3-)-P) and ammonium nitrogen (NH4(+)-N) from the alkaline hydrolysis supernatant of excess sludge. To reduce alkali consumption and decrease the pH of the supernatant, two-stage alkaline hydrolysis process (TSAHP) was designed. The results showed that the release efficiencies of PO₄(3-)-P and NH₄(+)-N were 41.

Nitrogen to phosphorus ratios of tree species in response to elevated carbon dioxide and nitrogen addition in subtropical forests.

Increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 ) concentrations and nitrogen (N) deposition induced by human activities have greatly influenced the stoichiometry of N and phosphorus (P). We used model forest ecosystems in open-top chambers to study the effects of elevated CO2 (ca. 700 μmol mol(-1) ) alone and together with N addition (100 kg N ha(-1)  yr(-1) ) on N to P (N : P) ratios in leaves, stems and roots of five tree species, including four non-N2 fixers and one N2 fixer, in subtropical China from 2006 to 2009.

Reduction of excess sludge production in sequencing batch reactor (SBR) by lysis-cryptic growth using homogenization disruption.

A lysis-cryptic growth system, which combined high-pressure-homogenization (HPH) for sludge disruption, was proposed to reduce excess sludge production in SBR. Experimental data was analyzed with the aid of response surface models to determine the optimal HPH disruption pressure, which was 70 MPa. By combining a 5.

[Study the restoration technology of concentrated application-natural diffusion about amendments of acidified soil of hilly woodland].

Through concentrated application of lime, sewage sludge and lime + sewage sludge on the sloping top of the hilly woodlands, the restoration effects of the three soil amendments on the acidified soil of hilly woodland were studied. The results showed that: (1) Joint application of sewage sludge + lime can significantly (P < 0.05) decrease soil acidity, promote the rapid increase in soil organic matter and nitrogen content, increase soil cation exchange capacity, and effectively improve acidified soil.

Determination of protein-bound methionine oxidation in the hippocampus of adult and old rats by LC-ESI-ITMS method after microwave-assisted proteolysis.

Protein-bound methionine (Met) oxidation has been associated with normal aging and a variety of age-related diseases, including Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Monitoring the changes of protein-bound methionine content in the brain in response to normal aging and oxidative stress is of great interest and could be used as an indicator of oxidative stress of rats in pathological conditions. We have developed a rapid analytical method for the determination of oxidized products of protein-bound methionine in rat brain.

HPLC and LC-MS analysis of sinomenine and its application in pharmacokinetic studies in rats.

Aim: To improve and validate analytical methods based on HPLC and liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) for the quantitative measurement of sinomenine in rat plasma and brain tissue.

Methods: The separation of analytes and the internal standard (IS), chloramphenicol, was performed on an Agilent TC-C18 column (250×4.6 mm, 5 μm).

Control of virus assembly: HK97 "Whiffleball" mutant capsids without pentons.

The capsid of Escherichia coli bacteriophage HK97 assembles as a 420 subunit icosahedral shell called Prohead I which undergoes a series of maturation steps, including proteolytic cleavage, conformational rearrangements, and covalent cross-linking among all the subunits to yield the highly stable mature Head II shell. Prohead I have been shown to assemble from pre-formed hexamers and pentamers of the capsid protein subunit. We report here the properties of a mutant of the capsid protein, E219K, which illuminate the assembly of Prohead I.