Phylogenetic study on Scenedesmacae with the description of a new genus Coccoidesmus gen.nov.(Chlorophyceae,Chlorophyta)and chloroplast genome analyses

Members of the family Scenedesmaceae are some of the most common algal taxa in inland ecosystems,and they are widely distributed in freshwaters,aerial,and sub-aerial habitats.With the continuous updating of methods,the classic morphological taxonomy of this family needs to be revised.In recent years,many genera of Scenedesmaceae have been established via the use of molecular methods.The phylogenetic relationships within Scenedesmaceae were analyzed using different molecular markers and morphological data,and the new freshwater genus Coccoidesmus Wang,Hou et Liu gen.nov.was described.Two new species in this genus were also described.Phylogenetic analysis based on tufA genes revealed that the new genus formed an independent clade closely related to Comasiella.However,these two genera are characterized by significant morphological differences in colony arrangement and cell shape.The chloroplast genome of the type species was assembled and annotated,and analyses of genome structure and sequences were conducted.More genome data could help clarify the phylogenetic relationships within this family.

A new diatom genus Spargeria gen.nov.(Bacillariophyceae)from Xizang,China,and the description of two new species

During our investigation of diatom biodiversity in Xizang,two species exhibited unique morphological features discriminative from all previously known genera.Herein we describe these two species and describe as new the genus,Spargeria gen.nov.The new genus features narrow to wide rectangular valves,narrow valve mantles,filiform raphe branches that occur on the valve face only,terminal raphe fissures straight or slightly deflected to same side,bow-tie shaped central areas,chambered striae present on the valve face only,being absent from the mantle,wider striae near the axial area and very narrow near the margin,multiseriate striae with small and round areolae that are occluded externally.Comparatively,Spargeria zhuii sp.nov.has larger and robust valves,radiate striae,with one divergent stria near the apices,while Spargeria chenia sp.nov.is smaller,with narrow valves,striae slightly radiate in the middle,becoming convergent or parallel near apices.This new genus belongs to the family Pinnulariaceae,and it was compared and contrasted with other genera of this family.Our work suggests the need for continued studies to document the biodiversity of diatoms in Xizang.

Makinoella parva,a new species of the genus Makinoella(Oocystaceae,Trebouxiophyceae,Chlorophyta)

Makinoella Okada is a genus of coccoid green algae belonging to the family Oocystaceae with typical morphological characteristics.Reports to date included only one type species.Since the genus is rarely reported,there is a lack of taxonomic research.In this study,17 strains of this genus were collected from several different places in China,and their taxonomic studies were conducted based on morphological and molecular phylogenetic analysis.The phylogenetic results based on the analysis of ITS,chloroplast genes rbc L and tuf A showed that the genus was divided into two branches.One of the branches comprised newly collected algae.Compensatory base changes(CBCs)and hemi-compensatory base changes(hemi-CBCs)within the secondary structure of the ITS-2 confirmed the branches as two species.Compared with the type species of Makinoella tosaensis,the cell size of this new branch was only about 50%,and included 2-4 colonial cells.Therefore,based on the smaller cell size,simpler colony composition,independent phylogenetic position and CBCs and hemi-CBCs,we suggest that the new clade should be designated as a new taxon of Makinoella,namely Makinoella parva.Among the four molecular markers using in this study,the rbc L and newly introduced ITS are recommended for species separation,which can help further studies to revise the species and generic concepts of the family.

Predicting of Land Surface Temperature Distribution in Freetown City, Sierra Leone by Using Polynomial Curve Fitting Model

Global warming has attracted much concern about the worldwide organization, civil society groups, researchers, and so forth because the worldwide surface temperature has been expanding. This investigation intends to assess and compare the ability of a combination of land cover indices to predict the future distribution of land surface temperatures in Freetown using the Polynomial model analysis. Landsat satellite images of 1988, 1998, 2000, 2010, and 2018 of the Freetown Metropolitan zone were utilized for analysis. The investigation had adopted two land covers indices, Modification of normalized difference water index and Urban Index (UI) (e.g., MNDWI and UI) and applied a multi regression equation for forecasting the future LST. The stimulation results propose that the development will be accompanied by surface temperature increases, especially in Freetown’s western urban area. The temperature prevailing in the west of the metropolitan area may increase in the city somewhere in the range from 1988 to 2018. Additionally, the results of the LST prediction show that the model is perfect. Our discoveries can be represented as a helpful device for policymakers and community awareness by giving a scientific basis for sustainable urban planning and management.

Medical expenditures for colorectal cancer diagnosis and treatment: A 10-year high-level-hospital-based multicenter retrospective survey in China, 2002-2011

Objective: Colorectal cancer(CRC) causes a substantial burden of disease in China and the evidence of economic burden triggered is fundamental for priority setting. The aim of this survey was to quantify medical expenditures and the time trends for CRC diagnosis and treatment in China.Methods: From 2012 to 2014, a hospital-based multicenter retrospective survey was conducted in 13 provinces across China. For each eligible CRC patient diagnosed from 2002 to 2011, clinical information and expenditure data were extracted using a uniform questionnaire. All expenditure data were reported in Chinese Yuan(CNY)using 2011 values.Results: Of the 14,536 CRC patients included, the average age at diagnosis was 58.2 years and 15.8% were stageI cases. The average medical expenditure per patient was estimated at 37,902 CNY [95 % confidence interval(95%CI): 37,282-38,522], and the annual average increase rate was 9.2% from 2002 to 2011(P for trend <0.001), with a cumulative increase of 2.4 times(from 23,275 CNY to 56,010 CNY). The expenditure per patient in stages Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ were 31,698 CNY, 37,067 CNY, 38,918 CNY and 42,614 CNY, respectively(P<0.001). Expenditure significantly differed within various subgroups. Expenses for drugs contributed the largest proportion(52.6%).Conclusions: These conservative estimates illustrated that medical expenditures for CRC diagnosis and treatment in tertiary hospitals in China were substantial and increased rapidly over the 10 years, with drugs continually being the main expense by 2011. Relatively, medical expenditures are lower for CRC in the earlier stages. These findings will facilitate the economic evaluation of CRC prevention and control in China.

Extraction and analysis of saline soil deformation in the Qarhan Salt Lake region (in Qinghai, China) by the sentinel SBAS-InSAR technique

The instability of saline soil foundation affects the safety of artificial construction,and may cause ground collapse,building destruction and road damage.It is fundamental to reduce the potential engineering geological disasters by exploring the dynamic evolution of saline soil.Most of the previous researches of saline soil were conducted by simulated experiments and traditional geodetic surveying methods.Restricted to the limited sampling points,the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of saline soil were difficult to find out in a large scale.This paper exploited SBAS-InSAR method to extract the deformation of the Qarhan Salt Lake(in Qinghai,China)section along Qinghai-Tibet railway,based on 119 image data acquired by Sentinel-1A from 2015 to 2020.The results showed that the deformation trends varied frequently in this saline mud flat.Between the adjacent areas with different deformation trends along Qinghai-Tibet railway,discontinuities caused by uplift and subsidence were very obvious.Besides,among the areas with brine exploitation or artificial construction,the maximum subsidence rate reached50 mm/yr,and the maximum cumulative subsidence exceeded 320 mm in the latest 5 years.In the saline mud flat closed to the rivers and lakes,the deformation trend was continuous uplift.Nevertheless,there were obvious seasonal deformation characteristics in those areas far away from the water body.Further analysis found out a sharply subsidence caused by the salt collapsibility appeared in rainy seasons.While an uplift trend induced by the salt swelling or frost heave was remarkable in dry seasons.Subsequently,the relationships were analyzed between the time series deformation and external environmental fac-tors.Furthermore,the deformation mechanism of saline soilin the Qarhan Salt Lake region was inter-preted then.In general,this study provides complete spatiotemporal evolution information of saline soil,and demonstrates the deformation characteristics of saline soil in the Qarhan Salt Lake region suc-cessfully.Related results would contribute to the safety monitoring for large-scale infrastructure con-struction in the saline soil areas.

Monitoring subsidence rates along road network by persistent scatterer SAR interferometry with high-resolution TerraSAR-X imagery

Ground subsidence is one of the key factors damaging transportation facilities, e.g., road networks consisting of highways and railways. In this paper, we propose to apply the persistent scatterer synthetic aperture radar interferometry （PS-InSAR） approach that uses high- resolution TerraSAR-X （TSX） imagery to extract the regional scale subsidence rates （i.e., average annual sub- sidence in mm/year） along road networks. The primary procedures involve interferometric pair selection, interfer- ogram generation, persistent scatterer （PS） detection, PS networking, phase parameterization, and subsidence rate estimation. The Xiqing District in southwest Tianjin （China） is selected as the study area. This district contains one railway line and several highway lines. A total of 15 TSX images covering this area between April 2009 and June 2010 are utilized to obtain the subsidence rates by using the PS-InSAR （PSI） approach. The subsidence rates derived from PSI range from -68.7 to -1.3 mm/year. These findings show a significantly uneven subsidence pattern along the road network. Comparison between the PSI-derived subsidence rates and the leveling data obtained along the highways shows that the mean and standard deviation （SD） of the discrepancies between the two types of subsidence rates are 0.1 and 4-3.2 mm/year, respectively. The results indicate that the high-resolution TSX PSI is capable of providing comprehensive and detailed subsidence information regarding road networks with millimeter-level accuracy. Further inspections under geo- logical conditions and land-use categories in the study area indicate that the observed subsidence is highly related to aquifer compression due to groundwater pumping. Therefore, measures should be taken to mitigate groundwater extraction for the study area.

Detecting land subsidence near metro lines in the Baoshan district of Shanghai with multi-temporal interferometric synthetic aperture radar

Land subsidence is a major factor that affects metro line （ML） stability. In this study, an improved multi- temporal interferometric synthetic aperture radar （InSAR） （MTI） method to detect land subsidence near MLs is presented. In particular, our multi-temporal InSAR method provides surface subsidence measurements with high observation density. The MTI method tracks both point-like targets and distributed targets with temporal radar back- scattering steadiness. First, subsidence rates at the point targets with low-amplitude dispersion index （ADI） values are extracted by applying a least-squared estimator on an optimized freely connected network. Second, to reduce error propagation, the pixels with high-ADI values are classified into several groups according to ADI intervals and processed using a Pearson correlation coefficient and hierarchical analysis strategy to obtain the distributed targets. Then, nonlinear subsidence components at all point-like and distributed targets are estimated using phase unwrapping and spatiotemporal filtering on the phase residuals. The proposed MTI method was applied to detect land subsidence near MLs of No. 1 and 3 in the Baoshan district of Shanghai using 18 TerraSAR-X images acquired between April 21, 2008 and October 30, 2010. The results show that the mean subsidence rates of the stations distributed along the two MLs are -12.9 and -14.0 ram/year. Furthermore, three subsidence funnels near the MLs are discovered through the hierarchical analysis. The testing results demonstrate the satisfactory capacity of the proposed MTI method in providing detailed subsidence information near MLs.

New Combination of Semilate Rice: Yuanliangyou 1000

Yuanliangyou 1000 is new combination of semilate rice bred by Yuan S and R900 by Institute of Grain and Oil Crops of Nanchang Academy of Agricultural Science,Yuanshi Seed Industry High Tech Co.,Ltd.and Jiangxi Pusheng Agricultural Development Co.,Ltd.It passed through new variety certification of Jiangxi Province in 2017,and approval number was Ganshendao 20170020,which was suitable for plantation of semilate rice in Jiangxi.In this paper,breeding process,combination characteristic,main cultivation technique and seed production technology of Yuanliangyou 1000 were introduced.

Cladophora as ecological engineer:A new test from the largest lake of Qinghai-Tibet plateau with filamentous algal blooms

Filamentous algae blooms(FABs)have been increasing globally in recent years,and their presence can have both harmful and beneficial effects on aquatic ecosystems.As one of the most common FABs,Cladophora blooms have been reported in the lakes of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau during the past few years.However,there have been few studies focused on how FABs impact other aquatic organisms,especially in alpine lakes since these are at the forefront of responding to global climate change.In this study,the phytoplankton communities in different regions of Qinghai Lake were profiled in different seasons using meta-barcode sequencing.The phytoplankton assemblages in areas with Cladophora blooms were compared to those without Cladophora.The phytoplankton community structure correlated with physicochemical properties including water temperature,electrical conductivity,nitrate,and the presence or absence of Cladophora blooms.The relative abundance of Bacillariophytes was found to be higher in zones with Cladophora blooms than in other regions.Significant seasonal changes in phytoplankton biomass andβdiversity were observed in zones with Cladophora blooms.Growth and microbial degradation of Cladophora can change the pH,dissolved oxygen,secchi depth,and nitrate.Together with seasonal temperature and electrical conductivity changes,Cladophora growth can significantly impact the phytoplankton biomass,community dissimilarity and assembly process.These results showed that Cladophora plays a key role in littoral aquatic ecosystem ecology.

From source to lake:Multi‒taxon alpha and beta diversity patterns along a river above 4500 m AMSL on the Qinghai‒Tibetan Plateau

Understanding the distribution of species is highly important for optimizing future conservation priorities and strategies at the regional scale.Relatively little attention has been given to multi-taxon aquatic biota in extreme alpine environments.We examined the spatial and temporal patterns of alpha and beta diversity,site-specific contributions to beta diversity and assembly mechanisms of four taxonomic groups(fishes,macroinvertebrates,zooplankton and phytoplankton)from the source to the estuary of the Za'gya Zangbo River above 4500 m AMSL(above mean sea level)on the northern Qinghai-Tibetan(Q–T)Plateau.A total of 4 fish species,45 macroinvertebrate taxa,17 zooplankton taxa and 56 phytoplankton taxa were found in the study area.No consistent patterns in taxonomic richness were observed across taxa from upstream to estuary.The fish communities had the lowest dissimilarity between communities,the phytoplankton community had the highest dissimilarity in the dry season,and the macroinvertebrate community had the highest dissimilarity in the wet season.The relative importance of the turnover and nestedness components varied considerably across taxa and along spatial gradients.The diversity patterns of macroinvertebrate,zooplankton and phytoplankton communities were significantly correlated with several environmental factors,whereas only the beta diversity of fish was correlated with altitude.Stochastic processes dominated in shaping the macroinvertebrate communities whereas deterministic processes dominated the assembly of the phytoplankton communities.Weak congruence of diversity patterns across taxonomic groups suggested that biological groups cannot serve as reliable surrogates for one another and that multiple biological groups should be included in the biomonitoring of high-altitude rivers on the Q‒T Plateau.The relatively unique species in the upstream area and estuary of the Za'gya Zangbo River harbor should receive more attention in future conservation and management schemes.

The wheat MYB-related transcription factor TaMYB72 promotes flowering in rice

Through large-scale transformation analyses, Ta MYB72 was identified as a flowering time regulator in wheat. Ta MYB72 is a MYB family transcription factor localized to the nucleus. Three Ta MYB72 homologs,Ta MYB72-A, Ta MYB72-B and Ta MYB72-D, cloned from hexaploid wheat were mapped to the short arm of the group 6 chromosomes. Under the long-day conditions,over-expression of the Ta MYB72 in rice shortened the flowering time by approximately 12 d. Expression analyses suggest that Ta MYB72 may function through upregulation of florigen genes Hd3 a and RFT1.

Coseismic surface deformation of the 2014 Napa earthquake mapped by Sentinel-1A SAR and accuracy assessment with COSMO-SkyMed and GPS data as cross validation

The new land observation satellite Sentinel-1A was launched on 25 April 2014 with a C-band synthetic aperture radar(SAR)sensor,which has the significant enhancements in terms of revisit period and high resolution.The Mw 6.1 Napa,California earthquake occurring on 24 August 2014,almost 4 months after the launch,is the first moderate earthquake imaged by the Sentinel-1A.This provides an opportunity to map the coseismic deformation of the event and evaluate the potential of Sentinel-1A SAR for earthquake study.Two techniques including the interferometric SAR(InSAR)and pixel offset-tracking(PO)are,respectively,employed to map the surface deformation along the radar line of sight(LOS),azimuth and slant-range directions.The cross comparison between Sentinel-1A InSAR LOS deformation and GPS observations indicates good agreement with an accuracy of∼2.6 mm.We further estimate the earthquake source model with the external COSMO-SkyMed InSAR and GPS data as constraints,and forward calculate the surface deformation as cross validation with the Sentinel-1A observations.The comparison between the observed and modeled deformation shows that the Sentinel-1A measurement accuracy can achieve 1.6 cm for InSAR technique along LOS direction,and 6.3 and 6.7 cm for PO along azimuth and range directions,respectively.

Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1 making molecular inroads into the differential vulnerability of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neuron subtypes in Parkinson’s disease

A preferential dysfunction/loss of dopaminergic(DA)neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta(SNpc)accounts for the main motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease(PD),the most common degenerative movement disorder.However,the neuronal loss is not stochastic,but rather displays regionally selectivity,indicating the existence of different DA subpopulations in the SNpc.To identify the underlying molecular determinants is thereby instrumental in understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms of PD-related neuron dysfunction/loss and offering new therapeutic targets.Recently,we have demonstrated that aldehyde dehydrogenase 1(ALDH1A1)is one such molecular determinant that defines and protects an SNpc DA neuron subpopulation preferentially affected in PD.In this review,we provide further analysis and discussion on the roles of ALDH1A1 in the function and survival of SNpc DA neurons in both rodent and human brains.We also explore the feasibility of ALDH1A1 as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for PD.

No apparent transmission of transgenic α–synuclein into nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons in multiple mouse models

Background:α–synuclein(α–syn)is the main component of intracytoplasmic inclusions deposited in the brains of patients with Parkinson’s disease(PD)and certain other neurodegenerative disorders.Recent studies have explored the ability ofα–syn to propagate between or across neighboring neurons and supposedly“infect”them with a prion–like mechanism.However,much of this research has used stereotaxic injections of heterologousα–syn fibrils to induce the spreading of inclusions in the rodent brains.Whetherα–syn is able to transmit from the host cells to their neighboring cells in vivo is unclear.Methods:Using immunestaining,we examined the potential propagation ofα–syn into nigrostriatal dopaminergic(DA)neurons in three lines of transgenic mice that overexpress human wild–typeα–syn(hα–syn)in different neuron populations.Results:After testing for three different routes by which hα–syn propagation might occur,we were unable to find any evidence that hα–syn behaved like a prion and could be transmitted overtime into the DA neurons initially lack of hα–syn expression.Conclusions:In transgenic mice hα–syn does not have the ability to propagate at pathologically significant levels between or across neurons.It must be noted that these observations do not disprove the studies that show its prion–like qualities,but rather that propagation is not detectable in transgenic models that do not use any injections of heterologous proteins or viral vectors to induce a spreading state.