Evolutionary dynamics of nitrate uptake, assimilation, and signalling in plants: adapting to a changing environment.

Nitrogen (N) is a crucial macronutrient for plant growth, with nitrate as a primary inorganic N source for most plants. Beyond its role as a nutrient, nitrate also functions as a signalling molecule, influencing plant morphogenetic development. While nitrate utilization and signalling mechanisms have been extensively studied in model plants, the origin, evolution, and diversification of core components in nitrate uptake, assimilation, and signalling remain largely unexplored.

Preparing the developing world for the next pandemic: Evidence from China's R&D blueprint for emerging infectious diseases.

Background: With double pressures of endemic and imported emerging infectious diseases (EIDs), China's ability to detect, prevent and control the unknown virus is of regional and global interest. This study aimed to establish an R&D Blueprint for EIDs in China by identifying the list of prioritized diseases and medical countermeasures (MCMs) that need proactive actions for the next pandemic.

Methods: The process mainly referred to the World Health Organization's prioritization methodology, supplemented by pipeline landscape, rapid risk assessment and multi-dimensional analysis.

Enhanced biomass production and harvesting efficiency of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under high-ammonium conditions by powdered oyster shell.

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii prefers ammonium (NH) as a nitrogen source, but its late-stage growth under high-NH concentrations (0.5 ∼ 1 g/L) is retarded due to medium acidification. In this study, oyster shell powders were shown to increase the tolerance of C.

Access to DTP-Based Combination Vaccines in Asia-Pacific Countries between 2019 and 2022.

The Asia-Pacific countries are highly diverse in health and economic conditions that may impact vaccine access and uptake. Our study aimed to characterize patterns of health access to DTP-based combination vaccines in 10 countries from 2019 to 2022 using the IQVIA-MIDAS database. The availability, affordability, and accessibility were compared across countries by national health and economic performance indicators using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient.

Functional characterization of two NAC transcription factors HfNAP1 and HfNAC090 associated with flower programmed cell death in daylily (Hemerocallis fulva).

Daylily (Hemerocallis fulva) is one of the most widely used perennial flowers, but its ornamental and economic value is greatly limited due to its ephemeral flowering period. In general, the flower senescence is regulated by the developmental signals and considered as an irreversible process of programmed cell death (PCD). However, the molecular mechanism of flower PCD in daylily still remains unclear.

Risk factors for hypokalemia and its association with postoperative recovery in patients scheduled for radical gastrectomy: a retrospective study.

Background: Hypokalemia is common in patients of various operations, especially gastrointestinal surgery, which seriously affects the safety and enhanced recovery after surgery. Our study aims to explore the risk factors of preoperative hypokalemia of radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer and analyze its impact on postoperative recovery.

Methods: A total of 122 patients scheduled for radical gastrectomy from September, 2022 to December, 2022 were retrospectively analyzed.

Food waste treating by biochar-assisted high-solid anaerobic digestion coupled with steam gasification: Enhanced bioenergy generation and porous biochar production.

A food waste treating system was proposed in this study by combining biochar-assisted high-solid anaerobic digestion and subsequent steam gasification of the digestate. The effect of solid level, biochar dosage in anaerobic digestion on the properties of biogas, syngas, and final biochar products were investigated. Results showed that at a high total solid level and biochar dosage of 25 g/L and 50 g/L, the accumulative methane yield reached 110.

Biochar enhanced high-solid mesophilic anaerobic digestion of food waste: Cell viability and methanogenic pathways.

The underlying mechanisms of biochar enhance high-solid anaerobic digestion (HSAD) of food waste were investigated with a focus on the cell viability, microbial community, and methanogenic pathways. This study assessed the effects of different dosages of biochar in HSAD. Optimal biochar dosage was found to be 25 g/L, which produced accumulative methane yields of up to 251 mL CH/g VS significantly promote volatile fatty acid degradations, especially in butyric acid concentrations.

Crack Propagation Calculations for Optical Fibers under Static Bending and Tensile Loads Using Continuum Damage Mechanics.

Static fatigue behavior is the main failure mode of optical fibers applied in sensors. In this paper, a computational framework based on continuum damage mechanics (CDM) is presented to calculate the crack propagation process and failure time of optical fibers subjected to static bending and tensile loads. For this purpose, the static fatigue crack propagation in the glass core of the optical fiber is studied.