Historical biogeography and evolutionary diversification of Lilium(Liliaceae): New insights from plastome phylogenomics

Here, we infer the historical biogeography and evolutionary diversification of the genus Lilium. For this purpose, we used the complete plastomes of 64 currently accepted species in the genus Lilium(14plastomes were newly sequenced) to recover the phylogenetic backbone of the genus and a timecalibrated phylogenetic framework to estimate biogeographical history scenarios and evolutionary diversification rates of Lilium. Our results suggest that ancient climatic changes and geological tectonic activities jointly shaped the distribution range and drove evolutionary radiation of Lilium, including the Middle Miocene Climate Optimum(MMCO), the late Miocene global cooling, as well as the successive uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau(QTP) and the strengthening of the monsoon climate in East Asia during the late Miocene and the Pliocene. This case study suggests that the unique geological and climatic events in the Neogene of East Asia, in particular the uplift of QTP and the enhancement of monsoonal climate, may have played an essential role in formation of uneven distribution of plant diversity in the Northern Hemisphere.

How Cities Influenced by High Speed Rail Development: A Case Study in China

This study aims at analyzing various extents of transportation equity change and the accessibility change of cities along High Speed Rail (HSR) line in China. To evaluate the accessibility change and transportation equity, certain cities along the transportation corridor which the successfully operating WuGuang HSR lies in are selected as samples of influenced ones first. Cities’ connection with HSR and their sizes are considered as choosing criteria. Weighted mean travel time and Generalized weighed travel time, which integrated with generalized cost, are both calculated in the two different scenarios to indicate accessibility changes of each city. The two scenarios are with or without the advent of WuGuang HSR. Accessibilities in different scenarios were carefully contrasted. It was found out that there is no significant change in the mean accessibility aspect of the region between the two scenarios. Then transportation equity issue of the transportation corridor is discussed based on the results of Gini coefficient using the data of Passenger Transportation Balance index. Passenger Transportation Balance index is proposed in this article to indicate the how much is one city’s transportation demand satisfied. The research found that cities had HSR stations built-in all attained a more accessibility improvement comparing with the others. And the gap between the accessibilities of the cities along the HSR line and those which are not is relatively wider. However, the equity evaluation using Transportation Balance Gini Coefficient reveals that massive investment in HSR has no potent evidence for equity improvement.

Effects of Rainfall Change on Agricultural Non-point Source Pollution in Liangping County

[Objective] The study aimed to discuss the impact of rainfall change on agricultural non-point source pollution in Uangping County. E Method ] Based on daily precipitation data of Liangping from 1955 to 2011, changes of precipitation and frequency of heavy rain in Uangping during a year were analyzed firstly, and then the risk of surface runoff caused by rainfall to agricultural non-point source pollution was studied, finally chan- ging trends of annual average precipitation and frequency during 1955 -2011 were discussed using Mann-Kendal method. [ Result] Total precipitati- on of heavy rain in Liangping mainly concentrated from late May to early September, especially in eady and middle July as well as early September. Meanwhile, fertilizer and pesticide were applied to main crops in Liangping in the periods above, so agricultural non-point source pollution became more serious. In recent 57 years, annual average precipitation and frequency of heavy rain in Liangping showed an increasing trend respectively, and surface runoff rose with the increase of the precipitation, thereby probably enlarging agricultural pollution area. [ Conclusion] The research could provide a theoretical basis and technical support for the control of agricultural non-point source pollution.

Neonatal syringocystadenoma papilliferum:A case report

BACKGROUND Syringocystadenoma papilliferum(SCAP)represents a rare,noncancerous adnexal tumor predominantly presenting at birth or in early childhood.CASE SUMMARY In this study,a 35-day-old girl was admitted to Kunming Children’s Hospital in October 2019 due to a lesion in the right frontotemporal region since birth.The surface of the lesion was bright red,granular,and papillary and easily bled upon touch,with about 1.5 cm×4 cm in size.A subcutaneous mass was felt at the base of the lesion,with a size of about 3 cm×5 cm.Dermatoscopy showed that the skin lesion was lobular and crumby.The lesion center was reddish or white,while the edges were white or yellowish band-like.There were polymorphic vascular structures and white radial streaks in the lesion,with some vascular clusters scattered.Pathological examination showed papilloma-like hyperplasia of the epidermis,with the epidermis partly sinking into the dermis to form several cystic depressions.Combining clinical and histopathological features,the child was diagnosed with SCAP.Follow-up is ongoing,and surgical resection will be performed.CONCLUSION This was a special clinical manifestation of SCAP,which complements the clinical manifestations of the disease and provides new insights for the diagnosis and differentiation of neonatal skin tumors.

Corrigendum to “Sox9 augments BMP2-induced chondrogenic differentiation by downregulating Smad7 in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)” [Genes & Diseases 4 (2017) 229–239]

The authors regret having image assembly errors in Figure 1A and Figure 3A.Specifically,in Figure 1A,the images for"C3H10T1/2",""BMP2"and"Sox9"were erroneously duplicated with the images from an irrelevant experiment that was conducted at the same time.In Figure 3A,the images for"Col2a1"and"β-actin"were erroneously duplicated with the images from an irrelevant experiment that was conducted at the same time.

Sox9 augments BMP2-induced chondrogenic differentiation by downregulating Smad7 in mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs)

Cartilage injuries caused by arthritis or trauma pose formidable challenges for effective clinical management due to the limited intrinsic proliferative capability of chondrocytes.Autologous stem cell-based therapies and transgene-enhanced cartilage tissue engineering may open new avenues for the treatment of cartilage injuries.Bone morphogenetic protein 2(BMP2)induces effective chondrogenesis of mesenchymal stem cells(MSCs)and can thus be explored as a potential therapeutic agent for cartilage defect repair.However,BMP2 also induces robust endochondral ossification.Although the precise mechanisms through which BMP2 governs the divergence of chondrogenesis and osteogenesis remain to be fully understood,blocking endochondral ossification during BMP2-induced cartilage formation may have practical significance for cartilage tissue engineering.Here,we investigate the role of Sox9-donwregulated Smad7 in BMP2-induced chondrogenic differentiation of MSCs.We find that overexpression of Sox9 leads to a decrease in BMP2-induced Smad7 expression in MSCs.Sox9 inhibits BMP2-induced expression of osteopontin while enhancing the expression of chondrogenic marker Col2a1 in MSCs.Forced expression of Sox9 in MSCs promotes BMP2-induced chondrogenesis and suppresses BMP2-induced endochondral ossification.Constitutive Smad7 expression inhibits BMP2-induced chondrogenesis in stem cell implantation assay.Mouse limb explant assay reveals that Sox9 expands BMP2-stimulated chondrocyte proliferating zone while Smad7 promotes BMP2-intitated hypertrophic zone of the growth plate.Cell cycle analysis indicates that Smad7 induces significant early apoptosis in BMP2-stimulated MSCs.Taken together,our results strongly suggest that Sox9 may facilitate BMP2-induced chondrogenesis by downregulating Smad7,which can be exploited for effective cartilage tissue engineering.

Localization and macroscopic instability in nanoporous metals

Ductile fracture generally relates to microscopic voiding and to strain localization in metallic materials.When the void size is reduced to the nanoscale,size effects often lead to a different macroscopic plastic behavior from that established for the same material with larger voids.For example,irradiation of metallic materials can generate a large number of voids at the nanoscale,leading to complex deformation behaviors.The present work advances the understanding of strain localization in nanoporous metallic materials,connecting both the microscopic(nano-)and macroscopic scales.To explore the physical mechanisms at the nanoscale,molecular dynamics(MD)simulations were here carried out,capturing multiple nanovoids explicitly.Then,a homogenized continuum theory based in Gurson's constitutive framework is proposed,which enables us to explore how localized behavior at the macroscopic scale evolves.The homogenized model incorporates the surface tension associated with nanosized void.The importance of this surface tension is illustrated by several parametric studies on the conditions of localization,when a specimen is subjected to uniaxial tension.Our parametric studies show that for smaller nanovoid sizes,and for a hardening matrix material,shear localization onset is delayed.Our proposed homogenization model was then used to predict localization behavior captured by our MD simulation.The yield stress and the localization strain predicted by our continuum model are in general agreement with the trends obtained by MD simulation.Moreover,based on our present study,experimental results of shear failure strain vs.dose of irradiation for several metals could be qualitatively explained rather successfully.Our model can therefore help shed light on prolonging the operation limits and the lifetime of irradiated metallic materials under complex loading conditions.