Understanding the paleoenvironment and phytogeographical history of the Tibetan Plateau,China relies on discovering new plant fossils.The Qaidam Basin has long been regarded as an ideal‘field laboratory’to investiga...Understanding the paleoenvironment and phytogeographical history of the Tibetan Plateau,China relies on discovering new plant fossils.The Qaidam Basin has long been regarded as an ideal‘field laboratory’to investigate the paleoclimate and paleobiological evolution of the northern Tibetan Plateau.However,fossil angiosperms from the Qaidam Basin are rare,and our knowledge of its paleovegetation is poor.Here,we report fossil leaves and fruits of Betulaceae found from the Oligocene Shangganchaigou Formation of northwestern Qaidam Basin(Huatugou area).Comparative morphological analysis led us to assign the fruits to the Betula subgenus Betula and the leaves to Carpinus grandis.These findings,together with other reported fossil plants from the same locality,reveal a close floristic linkage between the Qaidam Basin and Europe during the Oligocene.The northern pathway of this floristic exchange may have crossed through the Qaidam Basin during the late Paleogene.This floristic linkage may have been facilitated by the continuous narrowing of the Turgai Strait and stronger westerlies,which transported moisture and provided favorable climatic conditions.Indeed,fossil plants collected from the Qaidam Basin suggest that during the Oligocene this region had warm and humid deciduous broad-leaf forest,which differs from the region’s modern vegetation and indicates that the Qaidam Basin may have been a suitable region for these plants to flourish and spread during the Oligocene.展开更多
The Upper Permian Xuanwei Formation widely occurs in western Guizhou,unconformably overlying the Emeishan basalts,and mainly consists of black shales.It is~170 m thick at Cuyudong Village,Weining County,West Guizhou,...The Upper Permian Xuanwei Formation widely occurs in western Guizhou,unconformably overlying the Emeishan basalts,and mainly consists of black shales.It is~170 m thick at Cuyudong Village,Weining County,West Guizhou,China,where the samples of black shale and sandy shale were collected and analyzed.The shales mainly contain SiO2,18.9%?44.1%,Al2O3,14.8%?52.8%,Fe2O3,1.0%?41.2%,LOI,3.2%?21.1%,TiO2,1.0%-6.7%,and MgO,0.2%?2.5%.The contents of all other major elements are lower than 1.0%.It is shown that the black shales have higher contents of Fe2O3 and LOI than normal shales.The siderites occurred in the black shales with higher contents of Fe2O3,which may be attributed to hydrothermal activities on seafloor.All analyzed shale samples have extremely high Ga,47.8×10-6-109.9×10-6(70.5×10-6 on average),higher than the industrial mining standard of Ga Resource Industry Standard.The total contents of rare-earth elements(REE) of 9 black shale samples vary from 213×10-6 to 1460×10-6,suggesting that these black shales are enriched in REE.The shale-normalized REE patterns display both positive and negative Ce anomalies(Ce/Ce* from 0.5 to 1.7),revealing that the Xuanwei shales were precipitated under oxic and anoxic conditions.The Rb-Sr chronological diagram of 6 shale samples in the Xuanwei Formation shows an age of 255±12 Ma.Strontium isotopic ratios(87Sr/86Sr)t0 range from 0.70635 to 0.70711,suggesting that these Xuanwei black shales might be derived from chemical weathering of the Emeishan basalts.展开更多
The carbon isotopic composition of organic matter (δ^13Corg) was determined in two sediment cores (IIL1 and IIL9) recovered from Inexpressible Island, Ross Sea, Antarctica, and analyzed to identify the sources of...The carbon isotopic composition of organic matter (δ^13Corg) was determined in two sediment cores (IIL1 and IIL9) recovered from Inexpressible Island, Ross Sea, Antarctica, and analyzed to identify the sources of that organic matter. The δ^13Corg values of sediments of IIL9 were found to vary between -14.6‰ and -11.6‰, with a mean of-13.4‰ (n=48). These values were significantly higher than those of IIL1 sediments which varied between -23.2‰ and -20.4‰, with a mean of-21.8%o (n=55). The variation in δ^13Corg values in these two sediment cores indicate different sources of organic matter, The relatively high 6~3Corg values in IIL9 are in accordance with a source from algae, while the low δ^13Corg values in IIL1 evince significant influence from penguin guano with algae as the secondary source. Compared with the reference data from other high-latitude lake sediments and plants, the δ^13Corg values in IIL9 were extremely high, a result likely related to intense competition for CO2 assimilation among algal species during the growing season in this relatively shallow pond. These results indicate that sedimentary δ^13Corg is a reliable proxy for paleo-primary productivity in ponds at Inexpressible Island.展开更多
Periodontal ligament stem cells(PDLSCs) are a key cell type for restoring/regenerating lost/damaged periodontal tissues, including alveolar bone, periodontal ligament and root cementum, the latter of which is importan...Periodontal ligament stem cells(PDLSCs) are a key cell type for restoring/regenerating lost/damaged periodontal tissues, including alveolar bone, periodontal ligament and root cementum, the latter of which is important for regaining tooth function. However,PDLSCs residing in an inflammatory environment generally exhibit compromised functions, as demonstrated by an impaired ability to differentiate into cementoblasts, which are responsible for regrowing the cementum. This study investigated the role of mitochondrial function and downstream long noncoding RNAs(lnc RNAs) in regulating inflammation-induced changes in the cementogenesis of PDLSCs. We found that the inflammatory cytokine-induced impairment of the cementogenesis of PDLSCs was closely correlated with their mitochondrial function, and lnc RNA microarray analysis and gain/loss-of-function studies identified GACAT2 as a regulator of the cellular events involved in inflammation-mediated mitochondrial function and cementogenesis.Subsequently, a comprehensive identification of RNA-binding proteins by mass spectrometry(Ch IRP-MS) and parallel reaction monitoring(PRM) assays revealed that GACAT2 could directly bind to pyruvate kinase M1/2(PKM1/2), a protein correlated with mitochondrial function. Further functional studies demonstrated that GACAT2 overexpression increased the cellular protein expression of PKM1/2, the PKM2 tetramer and phosphorylated PKM2, which led to enhanced pyruvate kinase(PK) activity and increased translocation of PKM2 into mitochondria. We then found that GACAT2 overexpression could reverse the damage to mitochondrial function and cementoblastic differentiation of PDLSCs induced by inflammation and that this effect could be abolished by PKM1/2 knockdown. Our data indicated that by binding to PKM1/2 proteins, the lnc RNA GACAT2 plays a critical role in regulating mitochondrial function and cementogenesis in an inflammatory environment.展开更多
Background: Assessment is the systematic collection, review, and use of information about educational programs undertaken to improve teaching and learning. It ensures quality in training programmes, motivates, and dir...Background: Assessment is the systematic collection, review, and use of information about educational programs undertaken to improve teaching and learning. It ensures quality in training programmes, motivates, and directs students’ learning. Assessment is also used for verification of achievement of objectives of training, feedback to students, licencing, certification, and screening of students for advanced training. It is guided by several principles, including the aims of the assessment (why assess), who to assess, timing (when to assess), what to assess, methods (how to assess), and the criteria for determining the usefulness of the assessment. Objective: To describe the assessment methods used during clinical years of the undergraduate programme at Moi University School of Medicine (MUSOM) and determine the student’s perspectives concerning the comprehensiveness, relevance, objectivity of various assessment methods and challenges faced. Methodology: The study was carried out at MUSOM and a cross-sectional study design was employed. Ten study participants were studied using convenience sampling. Data were collected using an interview guide and was analyzed using content analysis. An informed consent was obtained from the study participants. Results: The methods used during clinical years at MUSOM for assessing knowledge and its applications include multiple-choice questions (MCQ), short answer questions (SAQ), modified essay questions (MEQ), long essay questions (LEQ), and oral exam. Whereas the methods for assessing clinical competence include long case, short cases, objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE), and logbook. Students felt that MCQs were comprehensive, objective, and relevant to the curriculum content. They reported that feedback was not provided after assessments. Conclusion: The assessment methods used at MUSOM during clinical years include MCQ, SAQ, MEQ, LEQ, Short cases, long cases, and OSCE. Students reported varied perceptions of the different assessment methods but favored MCQ and OSCE over other formats for assessing knowledge and clinical skills respectively.展开更多
Cadmium(Cd)contamination in rice has been a serious threat to human health.To investigate the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF)on the Cd translocation in rice,a controlled pot experiment was conducted.The r...Cadmium(Cd)contamination in rice has been a serious threat to human health.To investigate the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF)on the Cd translocation in rice,a controlled pot experiment was conducted.The results indicated that AMF significantly increased rice biomass,with an increase of up to 40.0%,particularly in root biomass by up to 68.4%.Notably,the number of prominent rice individuals also increased,and their plasticity was enhanced following AMF inoculation.AMF led to an increase in the net photosynthetic rate and antioxidant enzyme activity of rice.In the AMF treatment group,the Cd concentration in the rice roots was significantly higher(19.1%‒68.0%)compared with that in the control group.Conversely,the Cd concentration in the rice seeds was lower in the AMF treatment group,indicating that AMF facilitated the sequestration of Cd in rice roots and reduced Cd accumulation in the seeds.Path coefficients varied across different treatments,suggesting that AMF inoculation reduced the direct impact of soil Cd concentration on the total Cd accumulation in seeds.The translocation of Cd was consistently associated with simultaneous growth dilution and compensatory accumulation as a result of mycorrhizal effects.Our study quantitatively analyzed this process through path analysis and clarified the causal relationship between rice growth and Cd transfer under the influence of AMF.展开更多
基金the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2022M723151)the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition Research Program (No. 2019QZKK0704)+1 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 42172005, 41272026, 41972008, 31870200)the Strategic Priority Research Program (B) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB26000000)
文摘Understanding the paleoenvironment and phytogeographical history of the Tibetan Plateau,China relies on discovering new plant fossils.The Qaidam Basin has long been regarded as an ideal‘field laboratory’to investigate the paleoclimate and paleobiological evolution of the northern Tibetan Plateau.However,fossil angiosperms from the Qaidam Basin are rare,and our knowledge of its paleovegetation is poor.Here,we report fossil leaves and fruits of Betulaceae found from the Oligocene Shangganchaigou Formation of northwestern Qaidam Basin(Huatugou area).Comparative morphological analysis led us to assign the fruits to the Betula subgenus Betula and the leaves to Carpinus grandis.These findings,together with other reported fossil plants from the same locality,reveal a close floristic linkage between the Qaidam Basin and Europe during the Oligocene.The northern pathway of this floristic exchange may have crossed through the Qaidam Basin during the late Paleogene.This floristic linkage may have been facilitated by the continuous narrowing of the Turgai Strait and stronger westerlies,which transported moisture and provided favorable climatic conditions.Indeed,fossil plants collected from the Qaidam Basin suggest that during the Oligocene this region had warm and humid deciduous broad-leaf forest,which differs from the region’s modern vegetation and indicates that the Qaidam Basin may have been a suitable region for these plants to flourish and spread during the Oligocene.
基金supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2007CB411401)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40930425)
文摘The Upper Permian Xuanwei Formation widely occurs in western Guizhou,unconformably overlying the Emeishan basalts,and mainly consists of black shales.It is~170 m thick at Cuyudong Village,Weining County,West Guizhou,China,where the samples of black shale and sandy shale were collected and analyzed.The shales mainly contain SiO2,18.9%?44.1%,Al2O3,14.8%?52.8%,Fe2O3,1.0%?41.2%,LOI,3.2%?21.1%,TiO2,1.0%-6.7%,and MgO,0.2%?2.5%.The contents of all other major elements are lower than 1.0%.It is shown that the black shales have higher contents of Fe2O3 and LOI than normal shales.The siderites occurred in the black shales with higher contents of Fe2O3,which may be attributed to hydrothermal activities on seafloor.All analyzed shale samples have extremely high Ga,47.8×10-6-109.9×10-6(70.5×10-6 on average),higher than the industrial mining standard of Ga Resource Industry Standard.The total contents of rare-earth elements(REE) of 9 black shale samples vary from 213×10-6 to 1460×10-6,suggesting that these black shales are enriched in REE.The shale-normalized REE patterns display both positive and negative Ce anomalies(Ce/Ce* from 0.5 to 1.7),revealing that the Xuanwei shales were precipitated under oxic and anoxic conditions.The Rb-Sr chronological diagram of 6 shale samples in the Xuanwei Formation shows an age of 255±12 Ma.Strontium isotopic ratios(87Sr/86Sr)t0 range from 0.70635 to 0.70711,suggesting that these Xuanwei black shales might be derived from chemical weathering of the Emeishan basalts.
基金the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration of the State Oceanic Administration for project supportthe United States Antarctic Program (USAP)+2 种基金Antarctic Support Contract and Italian Mario Zucchelli Station for logistical support. R. Murray and A. Mc Kenzie provided valuable assistance in the fieldsupported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 41576183 and 41376124)National Science Foundation (Grant no. ANT 0739575)
文摘The carbon isotopic composition of organic matter (δ^13Corg) was determined in two sediment cores (IIL1 and IIL9) recovered from Inexpressible Island, Ross Sea, Antarctica, and analyzed to identify the sources of that organic matter. The δ^13Corg values of sediments of IIL9 were found to vary between -14.6‰ and -11.6‰, with a mean of-13.4‰ (n=48). These values were significantly higher than those of IIL1 sediments which varied between -23.2‰ and -20.4‰, with a mean of-21.8%o (n=55). The variation in δ^13Corg values in these two sediment cores indicate different sources of organic matter, The relatively high 6~3Corg values in IIL9 are in accordance with a source from algae, while the low δ^13Corg values in IIL1 evince significant influence from penguin guano with algae as the secondary source. Compared with the reference data from other high-latitude lake sediments and plants, the δ^13Corg values in IIL9 were extremely high, a result likely related to intense competition for CO2 assimilation among algal species during the growing season in this relatively shallow pond. These results indicate that sedimentary δ^13Corg is a reliable proxy for paleo-primary productivity in ponds at Inexpressible Island.
基金the funding support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC,Grant Nos.81970947,82001102 and 81800971)the Natural Science Basic Research Program of Shaanxi(Program Nos.2020JQ-447 and 2020JQ-444)。
文摘Periodontal ligament stem cells(PDLSCs) are a key cell type for restoring/regenerating lost/damaged periodontal tissues, including alveolar bone, periodontal ligament and root cementum, the latter of which is important for regaining tooth function. However,PDLSCs residing in an inflammatory environment generally exhibit compromised functions, as demonstrated by an impaired ability to differentiate into cementoblasts, which are responsible for regrowing the cementum. This study investigated the role of mitochondrial function and downstream long noncoding RNAs(lnc RNAs) in regulating inflammation-induced changes in the cementogenesis of PDLSCs. We found that the inflammatory cytokine-induced impairment of the cementogenesis of PDLSCs was closely correlated with their mitochondrial function, and lnc RNA microarray analysis and gain/loss-of-function studies identified GACAT2 as a regulator of the cellular events involved in inflammation-mediated mitochondrial function and cementogenesis.Subsequently, a comprehensive identification of RNA-binding proteins by mass spectrometry(Ch IRP-MS) and parallel reaction monitoring(PRM) assays revealed that GACAT2 could directly bind to pyruvate kinase M1/2(PKM1/2), a protein correlated with mitochondrial function. Further functional studies demonstrated that GACAT2 overexpression increased the cellular protein expression of PKM1/2, the PKM2 tetramer and phosphorylated PKM2, which led to enhanced pyruvate kinase(PK) activity and increased translocation of PKM2 into mitochondria. We then found that GACAT2 overexpression could reverse the damage to mitochondrial function and cementoblastic differentiation of PDLSCs induced by inflammation and that this effect could be abolished by PKM1/2 knockdown. Our data indicated that by binding to PKM1/2 proteins, the lnc RNA GACAT2 plays a critical role in regulating mitochondrial function and cementogenesis in an inflammatory environment.
文摘Background: Assessment is the systematic collection, review, and use of information about educational programs undertaken to improve teaching and learning. It ensures quality in training programmes, motivates, and directs students’ learning. Assessment is also used for verification of achievement of objectives of training, feedback to students, licencing, certification, and screening of students for advanced training. It is guided by several principles, including the aims of the assessment (why assess), who to assess, timing (when to assess), what to assess, methods (how to assess), and the criteria for determining the usefulness of the assessment. Objective: To describe the assessment methods used during clinical years of the undergraduate programme at Moi University School of Medicine (MUSOM) and determine the student’s perspectives concerning the comprehensiveness, relevance, objectivity of various assessment methods and challenges faced. Methodology: The study was carried out at MUSOM and a cross-sectional study design was employed. Ten study participants were studied using convenience sampling. Data were collected using an interview guide and was analyzed using content analysis. An informed consent was obtained from the study participants. Results: The methods used during clinical years at MUSOM for assessing knowledge and its applications include multiple-choice questions (MCQ), short answer questions (SAQ), modified essay questions (MEQ), long essay questions (LEQ), and oral exam. Whereas the methods for assessing clinical competence include long case, short cases, objective structured clinical examinations (OSCE), and logbook. Students felt that MCQs were comprehensive, objective, and relevant to the curriculum content. They reported that feedback was not provided after assessments. Conclusion: The assessment methods used at MUSOM during clinical years include MCQ, SAQ, MEQ, LEQ, Short cases, long cases, and OSCE. Students reported varied perceptions of the different assessment methods but favored MCQ and OSCE over other formats for assessing knowledge and clinical skills respectively.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.52270154)the National Engineering Research Center for Bioenergy,Harbin Institute of Technology,China(Grant No.2021C001).
文摘Cadmium(Cd)contamination in rice has been a serious threat to human health.To investigate the effects of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi(AMF)on the Cd translocation in rice,a controlled pot experiment was conducted.The results indicated that AMF significantly increased rice biomass,with an increase of up to 40.0%,particularly in root biomass by up to 68.4%.Notably,the number of prominent rice individuals also increased,and their plasticity was enhanced following AMF inoculation.AMF led to an increase in the net photosynthetic rate and antioxidant enzyme activity of rice.In the AMF treatment group,the Cd concentration in the rice roots was significantly higher(19.1%‒68.0%)compared with that in the control group.Conversely,the Cd concentration in the rice seeds was lower in the AMF treatment group,indicating that AMF facilitated the sequestration of Cd in rice roots and reduced Cd accumulation in the seeds.Path coefficients varied across different treatments,suggesting that AMF inoculation reduced the direct impact of soil Cd concentration on the total Cd accumulation in seeds.The translocation of Cd was consistently associated with simultaneous growth dilution and compensatory accumulation as a result of mycorrhizal effects.Our study quantitatively analyzed this process through path analysis and clarified the causal relationship between rice growth and Cd transfer under the influence of AMF.