Cultivation effects on soil texture and fertility in an arid desert region of northwestern China

In arid desert regions of northwestern China, reclamation and subsequent irrigated cultivation have become effective ways to prevent desertification, expand arable croplands, and develop sustainable agricultural production. Improvement in soil texture and fertility is crucial to high soil quality and stable crop yield. However, knowledge on the long-term effects of the conversion of desert lands into arable croplands is very limited. To address this problem, we conducted this study in an arid desert region of northwestern China to understand the changes in soil physical-chemical properties after 0, 2, 5, 10, 17, and 24 years of cultivation. Our results showed that silt and clay contents at the 17-year-old sites increased 17.5 and 152.3 folds, respectively, compared with that at the 0-year-old sites. The soil aggregate size fraction and its stability exhibited an exponential growth trend with increasing cultivation ages, but no significant change was found for the proportion of soil macroaggregates (>5.00 mm) during the 17 years of cultivation. The soil organic carbon (SOC) content at the 24-year-old sites was 6.86 g/kg and increased 8.8 folds compared with that at the 0-year-old sites. The total (or available) nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium contents showed significant increasing trends and reached higher values after 17 (or 24) years of cultivation. Changes in soil physical-chemical properties successively experienced slow, rapid, and stable development stages, but some key properties (such as soil aggregate stability and SOC) were still too low to meet the sustainable agricultural production. The results of this long-term study indicated that reasonable agricultural management, such as expanding no-tillage land area, returning straw to the fields, applying organic fertilizer, reducing chemical fertilizer application, and carrying out soil testing for formula fertilization, is urgently needed in arid desert regions.     

Relationship of Icelandic cattle with Northern and Western European cattle breeds,admixture and population structure

ABSTRACT

Icelandic cattle is believed to have been brought from Norway during the settlement of Iceland around AD 870-930. Previous research on genetic relationships has indicated that Icelandic cattle is most related to northern Nordic indigenous breeds. Using single nucleotide polymorphism genotype data from Icelandic cattle and 29 Northern and Western European cattle breeds, we studied relationships and admixture among these breeds, and assessed population structure in Icelandic cattle. Population structure analysis through principal component analysis, estimation of ancestry, and analysis of patterns of population splitting and mixing revealed that Icelandic cattle are most related to three Finncattle breeds (Eastern, Northern and Western Finncattle), and Swedish Mountain cattle. Icelandic cattle has very low levels of admixture. We observed very limited population structure in Icelandic cattle. The observed structure was due to variable sire contributions. Over 1000 years of almost complete isolation has made Icelandic cattle highly genetically distinct from other cattle breeds.     

Sargassum horneri as a Functional Food Ameliorated IgE/BSA-Induced Mast Cell Activation and Passive Cutaneous Anaphylaxis in Mice

Sargassum horneri (S. horneri), an edible brown alga, has been proposed as a functional food with an improvement effect on abnormal skin immune responses. The present study investigates the anti-allergic effect of an ethanol extract from S. horneri (SHE) on immunoglobulin E (IgE)/bovine serum albumin (BSA)-mediated activation in bone marrow-derived cultured-mast cells (BMCMCs) and passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) reaction in mice. SHE markedly and dose-dependently suppressed the degranulation of BMCMCs by reducing the β-hexosaminidase and histamine release without cytotoxicity. In addition, SHE significantly decreased the FcεRI expression on the surface of BMCMCs and its IgE binding. Moreover, SHE reduced the mRNA expression and the production of allergic cytokines; interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-13; interferon (IFN)-γ and/or tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α; and a chemokine, thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC), by suppressing the activation of Src-family kinases and nuclear factor (NF)-κB signaling. In further study, the application of SHE reduced the PCA reaction in an IgE/BSA-induced type I allergic mice model. Taken together, we suggest that SHE has an anti-allergic effect in type I allergic responses.     

应用PCR-DGGE技术比较绵羊瘤胃、网胃、瓣胃和皱胃菌群的多样性

本研究采用聚合酶链式反应-变性梯度凝胶电泳(PCR-DGGE)技术结合DGGE图谱条带的克隆和测序比较了绵羊瘤胃、网胃、瓣胃和皱胃菌群的多样性,同时对菌群进行了聚类分析和主成分分析。结果表明:绵羊瘤胃、网胃、瓣胃和皱胃内容物DGGE图谱的平均条带数分别为18、13、16和15条;瘤胃和瓣胃内菌群的多样性指数、均匀度和丰富度均较高,分别为2.83、0.79、17.00和2.82、0.79、16.80,而网胃和皱胃内容物较低,分别为2.52、0.70、12.60和2.73、0.76、15.40;聚类分析结果显示不同胃的内容物菌群具有一定差异,但不同动物个体相同胃的内容物相似性系数均高于0.63;PCR-DGGE图谱中测序的条带大多数归为拟杆菌门(Bacteroidetes)和厚壁菌门(Firmicutes),优势菌群为厚壁菌门(Firmicutes)细菌、拟杆菌门(Bacteroidetes)细菌、未培养瘤胃细菌(uncultured rumen bacterium)、未培养细菌(uncultured bacterium)和韦荣球菌科(Veillonellaceae)细菌,特异性细菌为不动杆菌属(Acinetobacter sp.)细菌和瘤胃球菌属(Ruminococcaceae)细菌。结果提示,绵羊4个胃中均含有种类丰富和数量巨大的细菌,且随着消化道部位由前往后的顺序,菌群的多样性呈现先高后降低再升高的趋势。     

An in vivo analysis of the therapeutic and synergistic properties of Chinese medicinal formula Yin-Chen-Hao-Tang based on its active constituents

6,7-Dimethylesculetin (D), geniposide (G) and rhein (R) are the three major active ingredients of Yin-Chen-Hao-Tang (YCHT), a famous Chinese herbal formula, which has been shown to be clinically effective for treating hepatic injury (HI) syndrome. The present study was conducted to investigate the therapeutic and synergistic effects of COC (combination of D, G and R) on HI rats by combining pharmacokinetic with biochemical analysis strategy. Plasma was analyzed by using reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) models were built to evaluate the therapeutic and synergistic effects of COC at the biochemical level. Here, we report that the COC combination could increase the plasma level, slow elimination rate, exert a more robust therapeutic effect than any one or two of the three individual compounds by hitting multiple targets in a rat model of HI. Overall, this beneficially accounts for the popular view that traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formula usually takes multi-component to exert their therapeutic effects. We suggest that dissecting the mode of action of clinically effective formula to be capable of producing a sufficient effect at low doses.     

基于C8051F单片机的发动机转速测量

介绍了一种基于C8051F单片机的发动机转速实时测量方法,给出了测量系统的实现技术和硬件结构,并进行了软件设计及实验。该方法在实际测量中取得了良好的效果,为发动机动力性能研究提供了重要的参考依据。     

引入因素分析法的神经网络在洪水

因素分析法是一种多元统计法，可以通过线性变换，将原有数据转换成彼此不相关且维数较少的数据，本文将因素分析法引入洪水预报神经网络的输入单元精简过程，详细介绍了建模和神经网络训练过程中包括STA训练控制在内的一些关键技术问题，并通过实例评价了此应用方法的效果，通过分析，表明此方法可以在不损失或较小损失的前提下方便有效的对洪水预报神经网络结构进行精简，大大缩减了神经网络的规模，提高了效率，具有很高的实用价值。     

The research in processing fMRI data using temporal-spatial model based on CCA

In the analysis of cognition of human brain,the fMRI is often used.Corelation is a common method in fMRI data detecting,but its ability should be improved.Based on the Canonical Correlation Analysis(CCA),the temporal correlation and spatial correlation are used together to detect the activated area in the fMRI data.By the application of the method in simulation data and fMRI data,it shows that this method is effective in the detecting.