Study on the Change of Eco-Environmental Quality in Jiufeng Mountain Area Based on InVEST Model

Habitat is not only an important place for animals and plants to inhabit and reproduce, but also the basis of human survival and development. With the large-scale development of mineral resources, land use types have changed sharply, fragile habitats tend to collapse, and the future sustainable development has lost a stable carrier. Habitat quality is a comprehensive expression of the interaction of many factors such as land, biology and water resources for many years. Natural factors are the most direct factors affecting habitat quality, and human activities are the most intense factors. The habitat module of invest model was used to evaluate the changes and temporal and spatial characteristics of habitat quality in Jiufeng Mountain from 1990 to 2018. It is found that the habitat quality in Jiufeng Mountain area shows a downward trend, and the ecological environment is very fragile. The high value areas of eco-environmental quality are mainly distributed in mountainous and hilly areas with high vegetation coverage;The low value areas of eco-environmental quality are mainly distributed in industrial and mining land and gully areas. With the development of society and economy and the development of mining industry in Jiufengshan area, the area of construction land is also increasing.

20S proteasome and glyoxalase 1 activities decrease in erythrocytes derived from Alzheimer’s disease patients

As a result of accumulating methylglyoxal and advanced glycation end products in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease,it is considered a protein precipitation disease.The ubiquitin proteasome system is one of the most important mechanisms for cells to degrade proteins,and thus is very important for maintaining normal physiological function of the nervous system.This study recruited 48 individuals with Alzheimer’s disease(20 males and 28 females aged 75±6 years)and 50 healthy volunteers(21 males and 29 females aged 72±7 years)from the Affiliated Hospital of Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities(Baise,China)between 2014 and 2017.Plasma levels of malondialdehyde and H2O2 were measured by colorimetry,while glyoxalase 1 activity was detected by spectrophotometry.In addition,20S proteasome activity in erythrocytes was measured with a fluorescent substrate method.Ubiquitin and glyoxalase 1 protein expression in erythrocyte membranes was detected by western blot assay.The results demonstrated that compared with the control group,patients with Alzheimer’s disease exhibited increased plasma malondialdehyde and H2O2 levels,and decreased glyoxalase 1 activity;however,expression level of glyoxalase 1 protein remained unchanged.Moreover,activity of the 20S proteasome was decreased and expression of ubiquitin protein was increased in erythrocytes.These findings indicate that proteasomal and glyoxalase activities may be involved in the occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease,and erythrocytes may be a suitable tissue for Alzheimer’s disease studies.This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities(approval No.YJ12017013)on May 3,2017.

Comparison of evaluation indexes for Gastroenterology and Hepatology journals in different databases

BACKGROUND Accurate assessment of the quality of academic journals is of great significance.While Journal Impact Factor(JIF),calculated by Clarivate and based upon the Web of Science literature database,and CiteScore(CS),developed by Elseiver and based upon the Scopus database,have enjoyed high uptake worldwide,efforts continue towards creation of other scientometric indexes that will provide evergreater qualitative insights into journal impact.Such efforts have yielded the newly-launched Journal Article Influence Index(JAII),which is based on the Reference Citation Analysis(RCA)database,an open multidisciplinary citation analysis database based on artificial intelligence technology.AIM To evaluate and summarize the similarities and differences between JAII and JIF/CS as journal evaluation indicators,and provide an intuitive method for visual representation of the related data.METHODS We searched the Journal Citation Reports to obtain the 2021 JIF list,downloaded the CS list updated in July on the Scopus website,and collected the comprehensive list of 2022 JAIIs from the RCA database(www.referencecitationanalysis.com).RESULTS Our research results revealed that by breaking through the time limit of mainstream journalevaluation methods, the JAII is able to perform well in data reliability, establishing its benefit as acomplementary scientometric index to JIF and CS.CONCLUSIONJAII provides comprehensive assessment of the quality and performance of journals.

对孔隙型油藏底水锥进预测模型的修正及应用

在前人研究的基础上,以孔隙型油藏底水锥进模型为基础,讨论了孔隙型油藏底水锥进机理及隔夹层发育时底水锥进的改良模型,结合A油田实际生产动态,探讨和解决孔隙型油藏中受隔夹层影响的底水锥进模型的校正,建立新的底水锥进模型。

A glimpse of endocrine pancreas development from single-cell analyses

Diabetes is a global public health concern in the 21st century. According to the report in the International Diabetes Federation Diabetes Atlas in 2015, 415 million adults suffer from diabetes globally. Although considerable progress has made in the treatment of diabetes, such as insulin administration, researchers are still looking for alternative therapeutic approaches, e.g. islet transplantation from cadaveric donors, for its radical cure. However, this approach is limited due to the scarcity of donors and availability of islet cells.

Cdx1b protects intestinal cell fate by repressing signaling networks for liver specification

In mammals,the expression of the homeobox family member Cdx2/CDX2 is restricted within the intestine.Conditional ablation of the mouse Cdx2 in the endodermal cells causes a homeotic transformation of the intestine towards the esophagus or gastric fate.In this report,we show that null mutants of zebrafish cdx1b,encoding the counterpart of mammalian CDX2,could survive more than 10 days post fertilization,a stage when the zebrafish digestive system has been well developed.Through RNA sequencing(RNA-seq)and single-cell sequencing(sc RNA-seq)of the dissected intestine from the mutant embryos,we demonstrate that the loss-of-function of the zebrafish cdx1b yields hepatocyte-like intestinal cells,a phenotype never observed in the mouse model.Further RNA-seq data analysis,and genetic double mutants and signaling inhibitor studies reveal that Cdx1b functions to guard the intestinal fate by repressing,directly or indirectly,a range of transcriptional factors and signaling pathways for liver specification.Finally,we demonstrate that heat shock-induced overexpression of cdx1b in a transgenic fish abolishes the liver formation.Therefore,we demonstrate that Cdx1b is a key repressor of hepatic fate during the intestine specification in zebrafish.

Capn3 depletion causes Chk1 and Wee1 accumulation and disrupts synchronization of cell cycle reentry during liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy

Recovery of liver mass to a healthy liver donor by compensatory regeneration after partial hepatectomy(PH)is a prerequisite for liver transplantation.Synchronized cell cycle reentry of the existing hepatocytes after PH is seemingly a hallmark of liver compensatory regeneration.Although the molecular control of the PH-triggered cell cycle reentry has been extensively studied,little is known about how the synchronization is achieved after PH.The nucleolus-localized protein cleavage complex formed by the nucleolar protein Digestive-organ expansion factor(Def)and cysteine proteinase Calpain 3(Capn3)has been implicated to control wounding healing during liver regeneration through selectively cleaving the tumor suppressor p53 in the nucleolus.However,whether the Def-Capn3 complex participates in regulating the synchronization of cell cycle reentry after PH is unknown.In this report,we generated a zebrafish capn3b null mutant(capn3b^(Δ19Δ14)).The homozygous mutant was viable and fertile,but suffered from a delayed liver regeneration after PH.Delayed liver regeneration in capn3b^(Δ19Δ14)was due to disruption of synchronized cell proliferation after PH.Mass spectrometry(MS)analysis of nuclear proteins revealed that a number of negative regulators of cell cycle are accumulated in the capn3b^(Δ19Δ14)liver after PH.Moreover,we demonstrated that Check-point kinase 1(Chk1)and Wee1,two key negative regulators of G2 to M transition,are substrates of Capn3.We also demonstrated that Chk1 and Wee1 were abnormally accumulated in the nucleoli of amputated capn3bΔ19Δ14 liver.In conclusion,our findings suggest that the nucleolar-localized Def-Capn3 complex acts as a novel regulatory pathway for the synchronization of cell cycle reentry,at least partially,through inactivating Chk1 and Wee1 during liver regeneration after PH.

All routes lead to Rome:multifaceted origin of hepatocytes during liver regeneration

Liver is the largest internal organ that serves as the key site for various metabolic activities and maintenance ofhomeostasis. Liver diseases are great threats to human health. The capability of liver to regain its mass after partialhepatectomy has widely been applied in treating liver diseases either by removing the damaged part of a diseasedliver in a patient or transplanting a part of healthy liver into a patient. Vast efforts have been made to study thebiology of liver regeneration in different liver-damage models. Regarding the sources of hepatocytes during liverregeneration, convincing evidences have demonstrated that different liver-damage models mobilized differentsubtype hepatocytes in contributing to liver regeneration. Under extreme hepatocyte ablation, biliary epithelial cellscan undergo dedifferentiation to liver progenitor cells (LPCs) and then LPCs differentiate to produce hepatocytes.Here we will focus on summarizing the progresses made in identifying cell types contributing to producing newhepatocytes during liver regeneration in mice and zebrafish.

Nanosilver anchored alginate/poly(acrylic acid/acrylamide) double-network hydrogel composites for efficient catalytic degradation of organic dyes

A novel alginate/poly(acrylic acid/acrylamide)double-network hydrogel composite with silver nanoparticles was successfully fabricated using the sol–gel method.The presence of carboxyl and amide groups in the network structure provided abundant active sites for complexing silver ions,facilitating the in situ reduction and confinement of silver nanoparticles.In batch experiments,the optimal silver loading was 20%,and 5 mmol·L^(–1) of p-nitrophenol was completely degraded in 113 s with a rate constant value of 4.057×10^(−2) s^(–1).In the tap water system and simulated seawater system,the degradation time of p-nitrophenol at the same concentration was 261 and 276 s,respectively,with a conversion rate above 99%.In the fixed-bed experiment,the conversion rate remained above 74%after 3 h at a flowing rate of 7 mL·min^(–1).After 8 cycling tests,the conversion rate remained at 98.7%.Moreover,the catalyst exhibited outstanding performance in the degradation experiment of four typical organic dyes.

Zebrafish hhex-null mutant develops an intrahepatic intestinal tube due to de-repression of cdx1b and pdx1

The hepatopancreatic duct (HPD) system links the liver and pancreas to the intestinal tube and is composed of the extrahepatic biliary duct, gallbladder, and pancreatic duct. Haematopoietically expressed-homeobox (Hhex) protein plays an essential role in the establishment of HPD;however, the molecular mechanism remains elusive. Here, we show that zebrafish hhex-null mutants fail to develop the HPD system characterized by lacking the biliary marker Annexin A4 and the HPD marker sox9b. The hepatobiliary duct part of the mutant HPD system is replaced by an intrahepatic intestinal tube characterized by expressing the intestinal marker fatty acid-binding protein 2a (fabp2a). Cell lineage analysis showed that this intrahepatic intestinal tube is not originated from hepatocytes or cholangiocytes. Further analysis revealed that cdx1b and pdx1 are expressed ectopically in the intrahepatic intestinal tube and knockdown of cdx1b and pdx1 could restore the expression of sox9b in the mutant. Chromatin-immunoprecipitation analysis showed that Hhex binds to the promoters of pdx1 and cdx1b genes to repress their expression. We therefore propose that Hhex, Cdx1b, Pdx1, and Sox9b form a genetic network governing the patterning and morphogenesis of the HPD and digestive tract systems in zebrafish.

Hepatocytes in a normal adult liver are derived solely from the embryonic hepatocytes

In vertebrates,body weight increases many folds as a consequence of body growth from the childhood to adulthood（e.g.,～20 folds for a mouse）.Considering the fact that the liver-to-body weight ratio（LBR）stays relatively constant within species（Weglarz and Sandgren,2000;Kan et al.,2009）,the cell number in a liver must therefore keep increasing along with the growth of an individual organism. For example, during the growth of the zebrafish from 5 days post-fertilization （dpf） to 1.5 years old, the number of liver cells increased -900 folds （Figs. 1A and S1 ）.