Dual-virus co-infection reduces photosynthetic rate, yield, and sensitivity of photosynthetic rate to leaf-air VPD in Pseudostellaria heterophylla

Viral infections exert a complex influence on plant growth, modifying tolerance to abiotic stresses, with effects varying depending on the specific virus. Pseudostellaria heterophylla, a medicinal herb, is often infected by Turnip mosaic virus and Broad bean wilt virus 2, leading to mosaic disease. This study comprehensively investigated the effects of diverse viral infections on plant growth and response to environmental factors, evaluating specific leaf weight, chlorophyll content, stomatal conductance, net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, yield, aqueous extract, and polysaccharide content. Results indicate that Turnip mosaic virus and Broad bean wilt virus 2 co-infection result in decreased chlorophyll content, stomatal conductance, net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate, yield, and polysaccharide content in Pseudostellaria heterophylla, compared with Broad bean wilt virus 2 infection alone. Broad bean wilt virus 2 alone only reduces chlorophyll and polysaccharide content. Plants infected with both viruses show a reduced response to leaf-air vapor pressure deficit in stomatal conductance, net photosynthetic rate, and transpiration rate compared to singly infected plants. Thus, the eradication of Turnip mosaic virus should be prioritized for Pseudostellaria heterophylla cultivation

Associations of triglyceride levels with longevity and frailty: A Mendelian randomization analysis.

Observational studies suggest associations of triglyceride levels with longevity and frailty. This study aimed to test whether the associations are causal. We used data from the Rugao Longevity and Ageing Study, a population-based cohort study performed in Rugao, China. A variant in the APOA5 gene region (rs662799) was used as the genetic instrument. Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses were performed to examine the associations of genetically predicted triglycerides with two ageing phenotypes - longevity ( ≥95 years) and frailty (modified Fried frailty phenotype and Rockwood frailty index). C allele of rs662799 was robustly associated with higher triglyceride levels in the comparison group (β = 0.301 mmol/L per allele, p < 0.001), with an F statistic of 95.3 and R2 = 0.040. However MR analysis did not provide strong evidence for an association between genetically predicted triglyceride levels and probability of longevity (OR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.35, 1.07 per 1 mmol/L increase in triglycerides). In the ageing arm (70-84 years), genetically predicted triglyceride levels were not associated with the frailty index (β = 0.008; 95% CI: -0.013, 0.029) or the frailty phenotype (OR: 1.91; 95% CI: 0.84, 4.37). In conclusion, there is currently a lack of sufficient evidence to support causal associations of triglyceride levels with longevity and frailty in elderly populations

Temporal trends in dementias in older adults attributable to high fasting plasma glucose from 1990 to 2021 and forecasted disease burden in 2040 in China and globally

IntroductionThe Global Burden of Diseases Study systematically updates the dementia burden attributable to high fasting plasma glucose (HFPG) to investigate the temporal trends of dementia burden and promote comparisons between countries, sexes, and age groups. In this study, we aimed to estimate the disease burden of dementia attributable to HFPG using an age-period-cohort model in adults aged &gt;60 years from 1990 to 2021 and forecast the mortality and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) rates in China and globally in 2040.MethodData on the mortality and DALYs rates of dementia attributable to HFPG in China and globally were extracted from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021. An age-period-cohort model was used to estimate the net drift, local drift, fitted longitudinal age-specific rates, and period/cohort relative risks from 1990 to 2021. The Bayesian age-period-cohort model was used to predict future mortality and DALYs rates from 2022 to 2040.ResultsThe net drifts showed an overall upward trend in the dementia burden attributable to HFPG in China and globally from 1990 to 2021, with a much slower trend in China. A constantly rising risk for age and birth cohort effects was observed, while period effects presented a globally constantly increasing risk and two inflection points in China, probably due to healthcare reform. The forecasted disease burden by 2040 demonstrated an increasing trend globally and a declining trend in China.ConclusionThe burden of dementia attributable to HFPG has consistently increased globally over the past 30 years but has gradually declined in China in recent years. China’s strategies for preventing and managing diabetes and dementia may provide valuable insights for other regions. Further targeted policies are required to reduce the burden on females and older adults, particularly to improve their quality of life

Histopathological Observation of Immunized Rhesus Macaques with Plague Vaccines after Subcutaneous Infection of Yersinia pestis

In our previous study, complete protection was observed in Chinese-origin rhesus macaques immunized with SV1 (20 µg F1 and 10 µg rV270) and SV2 (200 µg F1 and 100 µg rV270) subunit vaccines and with EV76 live attenuated vaccine against subcutaneous challenge with 6×106 CFU of Y. pestis. In the present study, we investigated whether the vaccines can effectively protect immunized animals from any pathologic changes using histological and immunohistochemical techniques. In addition, the glomerular basement membranes (GBMs) of the immunized animals and control animals were checked by electron microscopy. The results show no signs of histopathological lesions in the lungs, livers, kidneys, lymph nodes, spleens and hearts of the immunized animals at Day 14 after the challenge, whereas pathological alterations were seen in the corresponding tissues of the control animals. Giemsa staining, ultrastructural examination, and immunohistochemical staining revealed bacteria in some of the organs of the control animals, whereas no bacterium was observed among the immunized animals. Ultrastructural observation revealed that no glomerular immune deposits on the GBM. These observations suggest that the vaccines can effectively protect animals from any pathologic changes and eliminate Y. pestis from the immunized animals. The control animals died from multi-organ lesions specifically caused by the Y. pestis infection. We also found that subcutaneous infection of animals with Y. pestis results in bubonic plague, followed by pneumonic and septicemic plagues. The histopathologic features of plague in rhesus macaques closely resemble those of rodent and human plagues. Thus, Chinese-origin rhesus macaques serve as useful models in studying Y. pestis pathogenesis, host response and the efficacy of new medical countermeasures against plague

Healthy Lifestyle and the Risk of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Fatty Liver Disease: A Large Prospective Cohort Study

Background The incidence density of metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) and the effect of a healthy lifestyle on the risk of MAFLD remain unknown. We evaluated the prevalence and incidence density of MAFLD and investigated the association between healthy lifestyle and the risk of MAFLD. Methods A cross-sectional analysis was conducted on 37,422 participants to explore the prevalence of MAFLD. A cohort analysis of 18,964 individuals was conducted to identify the incidence of MAFLD, as well as the association between healthy lifestyle and MAFLD. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to calculate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) with adjustments for confounding factors. Results The prevalence of MAFLD, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and their comorbidities were 30.38%, 28.09%, and 26.13%, respectively. After approximately 70 thousand person-years of follow-up, the incidence densities of the three conditions were 61.03, 55.49, and 51.64 per 1,000 person-years, respectively. Adherence to an overall healthy lifestyle was associated with a 19% decreased risk of MAFLD (HR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.72 to 0.92), and the effects were modified by baseline age, sex, and body mass index (BMI). Subgroup analyses revealed that younger participants, men, and those with a lower BMI experienced more significant beneficial effects from healthy lifestyle. Conclusion Our results highlight the beneficial effect of adherence to a healthy lifestyle on the prevention of MAFLD. Health management for improving dietary intake, physical activity, and smoking and drinking habits are critical to improving MAFLD

Progress and implications of international rural space research

Space is a product of society. Driven by industrialization, urbanization, informatization and government policies, China’s rural space is undergoing drastic reconstruction. As one of the core contents of international rural geography research, rural space research are multi-disciplinary, multi perspective, multi-dimensional and multi-method, forming a rich research field. In order to comprehensively grasp the progress of rural space research abroad, this study reviewed international rural space research literature in recent 40 years. The study found that foreign scholars described the connotation of rural space from the aspects of material, imagination and practice, emphasize the importance of daily life practice. It introduced living space to construct a more systematic research framework of rural space by establishing a “three-fold model of rural space”. With regard to the theoretical perspective, international research on rural space has experienced three stages: functionalism, political economics and social constructivism. In the evolution of time, it has realized the transformation from productivism to post-productivism; in the spatial dimension, it realizes the multiple superposition of settlement space, economic space, social space and cultural space. As a whole, international research on rural space has realized the transformation from material level to social representation, from objective space to subjective space, and from static one-dimensional space to dynamic multi-dimensional space, which enlightens us on the importance of interdisciplinary research and “social cultural” research on rural space. The construction of rural space in China needs to pay attention to the subject status of farmers and multifunction of rural space, respect the role of locality and difference of various places, and recover the function of production of meaning of rural space.</jats:p

Image Defogging Algorithm Based on Sky Region Segmentation and Dark Channel Prior

AbstractBased on image segmentation and the dark channel prior, this paper proposes a fog removal algorithm in the HSI color space. Usually, the dark channel prior based defogging methods easily produce color distortion and halo effect when applied on images with a large sky area, because the sky region does not meet the prior assumption. For this reason, our method presents a new threshold sky region segmentation algorithm using the initial transmission map of the intensity component I. Based on the segmentation result, the initial transmission map is modified in turn, and finally refined by the guided filter. The saturation components S is reconstructed using the low frequencies of the V-transform to reduce noise, and stretched by multiplying a constant related to the initial transmission map. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has low time complexity and compelling fog removal result in both visual effect and quantitative measurement.</jats:p

"Post-Productionism": Theory, Practice, and Its Implications for China

As a widely discussed topic in Western academic circles, post-productionism has become an important background for studying China's three agricultural problems. By carefully analyzing the origin, development, and practice of post-productionism, this study reveals the conceptual connotations and research status of post-productionism, which has theoretical value and practical significance for the study of China's three agricultural problems. The research through the research method of philology and the analysis of CiteSpace, the representative foreign core journals in Wed of Science with the theme of "post-productionism" were selected and summarized on the basis of data analysis.The research draws the following results: 1) This paper introduces the origin of post-productionism and summarizes the existing problems of agricultural production, rural ecology, and farmers' survival during the crisis, as well as the social expectation of the linear transformation of productionism to post-productionism. 2) On the basis of comprehensive research on the concept of "post-productionism," the conceptual domain of post-productionism is constructed from the four aspects of farmer's role, agricultural policy, farming technology and environmental impact, and three stages of conceptual research are proposed: the opposite stage, the coexistence stage and the subjective perspective stage, and compares it with the concept of "multifunctional agriculture," and points out the value of "paradigm shift" represented by post-productionism. 3) Comparing the post-productive rural practices of developed and developing countries, analyzing the common factors and regional differences between the post-productive rural practices of developed countries, sorting out the "post-productive phenomenon" of developing countries, and explaining the research objectives and necessity. On this basis, The paper further responds to the key question whether there is consistency between the "de-agriculturalization" in developing countries and the "post-productionism" in developed countries, and points out that there are some differences between the two in development stage, concept difference, connotation extension, expression form and fundamental value orientation. The conclusions are as following: 1) The development concept of Post-productionism is a positive response to productionism crises. Under the integration of common concepts, its global development path reflects the characteristics of "time-space difference" and "nonlinear transformation." Productionism and post-productionism are not "opposites," but will coexist and influence each other as two types of agricultural and rural management systems for a long time. Attention should also be paid to the fundamental role of change at the microactor level. 2) In relation to specific national conditions, the enlightenment of post-productionism in China's three rural problems is that we should pay attention to the research and judgment and grasp the opportunity of rural development, combine the overall promotion with key breakthroughs, continue to adhere to industrial revitalization as the goal, build a solid foundation for agricultural development, focus on promoting the development of secondary and tertiary industries, and focus on industrial integration. It is also necessary to deeply explore the multidimensional value of rural space, enrich the spatial attributes of rural areas, and promote rural development and urban-rural integration