Distinguishing drought resistance strategies and identifying indicator traits of and .

Tree species adopt diverse drought resistance strategies, which are crucial for the ability of karst vegetation to adapt to drought stress. However, our understanding of how to differentiate these strategies remains limited, particularly with respect to identifying indicator traits that can accurately distinguish the drought resistance strategies used by different species. In this study, we use principal component analysis based on functional traits to distinguish the drought resistance strategies of and ; we identify key indicator traits reflecting differences in drought resistance strategies by analyzing the correlations of the same traits across different plant species.

Effect of different vegetation restoration patterns on community structure and co-occurrence networks of soil fungi in the karst region.

Introduction: The Grain for Green Project (GGP) by the Chinese government was an important vegetation restoration project in ecologically fragile and severely degraded karst regions. Soil fungi play a facilitating role in the cycling of nutrients both above and below the ground, which is crucial for maintaining ecosystem function and stability. In karst regions, their role is particularly critical due to the unique geological and soil characteristics, as they mitigate soil erosion, enhance soil fertility, and promote vegetation growth.

Drug-loaded balloon with built-in NIR controlled tip-separable microneedles for long-effective arteriosclerosis treatment.

Drug-eluting balloon (DEB) angioplasty has emerged as an effective treatment for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. However, distal embolism and late lumen restenosis could be caused by drug loss during DEB handling and rapid drug metabolization. Here, a drug-loaded balloon equipped with tip-separable microneedles on the balloon surface (MNDLB) was developed.

Vaccinia-related kinase 2 drives pancreatic cancer progression by protecting Plk1 from Chfr-mediated degradation.

As a key cell cycle regulator, polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1) has been recognized as a crucial factor involved in the progression of pancreatic cancer (PC). However, its regulatory mechanism is poorly understood. Here, we present evidence that Plk1 is a novel substrate of vaccinia-related kinase 2 (VRK2), a serine-threonine kinase that is highly expressed and predicts poor prognosis in PC.

Vaccinia-related kinase 2 blunts sorafenib's efficacy against hepatocellular carcinoma by disturbing the apoptosis-autophagy balance.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a lethal malignancy with limited treatment options. Sorafenib is the only Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved first-line targeted drug for the treatment of advanced HCC. However, its effect on patient survival is limited.

Climate, Life Form and Family Jointly Control Variation of Leaf Traits.

Variation in leaf traits may represent differences in physiological processes and environmental adaptative strategies. Using multivariate analyses, we investigated 13 leaf traits to quantify the trade-off in these traits and the trait-climate/biome relationships based on the China Plant Trait Database, which contains morphometric and physiological character information on 1215 species for 122 sites, ranging from the north to the tropics, and from deserts and grasslands to woodlands and forests. Leaf traits across the dataset of Chinese plants showed different spatial patterns along longitudinal and latitudinal gradients and high variation.

Validation of spectrophotometric determination of chlorogenic acid in fermentation broth and fruits.

A fast and accurate ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectrophotometric method was established to determine the presence of chlorogenic acid (CGA) according to potassium ferricyanide-Fe (III) detection system. The reaction temperature and pH level greatly influenced the CGA absorption spectrum. Maximum UV-vis absorption wavelength occurred at 790 nm under the optimum conditions (at 25 °C and pH 7.

[Major Factors Influencing the Cd Content and Seasonal Dynamics in Different Land Cover Soils in a Typical Acid Rain Region].

Understanding the seasonal variations in active heavy metal components and sensitive impact factors is of importance for the ecological risk reduction during the agricultural production processes. Paddy fields, vegetable lands, and hilly forests were selected as three main land cover types to assess the seasonal characteristics of Cd bioavailability and reveal how or to what extent it was affected by the physiochemical parameters of soils, under different land-use types in a typical Cd-contaminated watershed in the middle and lower reaches of Xiangjiang River. One-year monitoring results showed that natural rainfall pH in winter and spring was lower than in summer and autumn in the study region.

Spatial distribution of tree species in evergreen-deciduous broadleaf karst forests in southwest China.

Understanding the spatial distribution of tree species in subtropical evergreen-deciduous broadleaf karst forest is fundamental to studying species coexistence and karst species diversity. Here, complete spatial randomness and heterogeneous Poisson process models were used to analyze the spatial distribution patterns of 146 species with at least one individual per ha in a 25-ha plot in southwest China. We used canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and the torus-translation test (TTT) to explain the distributions of observed species.

[Cd Runoff Load and Soil Profile Movement After Implementation of Some Typical Contaminated Agricultural Soil Remediation Strategies].

Owing to the strong ability to immobilize and hyperaccumulate some toxic heavy metals in contaminated soils, the biochar, lime and such as hyperaccumulator ramie received increasing interests from crops and environment safety in recent years. Outdoor pot experiment was conducted to compare the impacts of lime and biochar addition in paddy rice treatment, hyperaccumulator ramie and ramie combined with EDTA of plant Phytoremediation methods on soil available Cd dynamics in rainfall runoff and the mobility along soil profile, under both natural acid precipitation and acid soil conditions. The results showed that, biochar addition at a 2% mass ratio application amount significantly increased soil pH, while ramie with EDTA application obviously decreased soil pH compared to ramie monoculture.

Study on nitrogen load reduction efficiency of agricultural conservation management in a small agricultural watershed.

Different crops can generate different non-point source (NPS) loads because of their spatial topography heterogeneity and variable fertilization application rates. The objective of this study was to assess nitrogen NPS load reduction efficiency by spatially adjusting crop plantings as an agricultural conservation management (ACM) measure in a typical small agricultural watershed in the black soil region in northeast China. The assessment was undertaken using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT).

[Non-point loads of soluble cadmium by in situ field experiment with different landuses, in central Hunan province mining area].

Non-point source loads of heavy metals from contaminated soil has increasingly become the major cause of heavy metal concentrations of rivers and lakes surpassed the limitation value, while only few studies had focused on quantitative monitoring of soil heavy metal transportation to water, in situ field conditions. As reported, agricultural farmland heavy metal contamination was the major contamination problem, especially for cadmium (Cd) pollution in middle and downstream of Xiangjiang River. This study selected the typical Cd polluted agricultural watershed for a case study, three typical landuse types of rice, dry farmland and unused grassland with three replicate quadrates were carried out for natural rainfall runoff hydrology processes monitoring, from 2011-2012.

[Strategy of grain yield stability cooperated with harmonious water environment quality of small agricultural watershed].

This paper investigated the spatial variability of the correlations between grain yields and fertilization quantity within the selected agricultural watershed, in the typical black soil region, and then optimized the fertilization quantity at different landscape farmlands within the watershed based on the regression equations. Study simulated the surface runoff water quality before and after fertilization spatial adjustment with the achieved parameters by Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. The results showed that watershed scale fertilization adjustment is possible and necessary according to the spatial heterogeneity about fertilization and grain yields.