Soil underneath a structure might affect the behavior and the overall response of the structure in seismic events. The role of loose soil conditions and the inclusion of soil-structure interaction (SSI) in the analysi...Soil underneath a structure might affect the behavior and the overall response of the structure in seismic events. The role of loose soil conditions and the inclusion of soil-structure interaction (SSI) in the analysis are important issues that need to be addressed. Since steel structures are light, two configurations designed as spatial and perimeter are considered to study the effect of soil on the steel structural frames for the same building. The paper provides a parametric analysis on the influence of SSI on the overall performance of MRFs (Moment Resisting Frames) according to the provisions of Saudi Building Code (SBC) [1]. A case study has been developed in which spatial and perimeter moment resisting frames of 12, 6 and 3 stories residential buildings are designed using Saudi Building Code (SBC) prescriptions. A modal response spectrum analysis has been carried out to see the influence of SSI on the fundamental period of vibration, top story displacement and inter-story drift limitations. Moreover, a static non-linear analysis has been performed to investigate the performance of frames, thus allowing to identify the influence of SSI on the structural design of steel MRFs.展开更多
In tropical montane areas, water limitation is a common occurrence, and both pioneer and forests species experience water stress during the dry season. Adjustments of leaf area during periods of drought allow for the ...In tropical montane areas, water limitation is a common occurrence, and both pioneer and forests species experience water stress during the dry season. Adjustments of leaf area during periods of drought allow for the maintenance of the water supply and physiological functions of the remaining leaves. Here, we compared leaf blade water relations between pioneer and forest tree species. Leaf pressure-volume (P-V) curves were determined from samples taken prior to the dry season, to assess how leaves of the different species were adapted to prepare for and endure water deficits. The following parameters were calculated: osmotic potential at full (Ψπ(100)) and zero (Ψπ(0)) turgor, relative water content at zero turgor (RWC0), volumetric elastic modulus (ε) as well as apoplasm (A) and symplasm (S) water content and their ratio (A/S). Although the pioneer and forest species occupied contrasting habitats, and both groups were clearly differentiated with respect to their water transport capability and water use efficiency, their leaf tissue water relations showed clear differences across species but not between the groups. Some species underwent leaf shedding and accumulated xylem embolisms during the dry season, and their leaves had high cell elasticity. Consequently, these species presented large cell volume changes with turgor loss. Conversely, species with rigid leaves were able to undergo lower leaf turgor with only small changes in cell volume during drought, which might aid to preserve leaf cell function, maintain water uptake, and consequently avoid accelerated leaf senescence and shedding during the dry season.展开更多
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most frequent primary liver cancer with a high mortality rate. While chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections represent the leading risk factors worl...Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most frequent primary liver cancer with a high mortality rate. While chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections represent the leading risk factors worldwide, the spreading of metabolic disorders, such as diabetes, obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) justifies the increasing attention on their oncogenic mechanisms. This review discusses about the main pathogenic mechanisms implicated in occurrence of HCC in presence of viral and metabolic diseases. Additionally, it points to the importance of clinical surveillance for those patients considered at risk of HCC and highlights the strategical role of serum markers, such as alfa-fetoprotein (αFP) and Protein Induced by Vitamin K Absence or Antagonist II (PIVKA-II), which, in association to a strictly instrumental follow-up, contribute to the early detection of hepatic nodules with a better prognosis for affected patients.展开更多
Drought is one of the major abiotic stresses which adversely affect crop plants limiting growth and yield potential.Structural and functional characterization of drought stress-induced genes has contributed to a bette...Drought is one of the major abiotic stresses which adversely affect crop plants limiting growth and yield potential.Structural and functional characterization of drought stress-induced genes has contributed to a better understanding of how plants respond and adapt to the drought stress.In the present study,differential display technique was employed to study the gene expression of rice plants at the reproductive stage that were subjected to drought stress by withholding water,Pseudomonas fluorescens strain(Pf1) treated plants subjected for drought stress by withholding water and control(well-watered).Differentially expressed c DNAs of six genes(COX1,PKDP,b ZIP1,AP2-EREBP,Hsp20 and COC1) were identified,cloned and sequenced.Real-time q PCR analysis showed that all the six genes were upregulated in drought-stressed plants treated with Pf1.This revealed that the remarkable influence of Pf1 colonization leads to drought tolerance at the reproductive stage.These results showed that high levels of gene expression in plants lacking adequate water can be remarkably influenced by Pf1 colonization,which might be a key element for induced systemic tolerance by microbes.展开更多
Drought is usually supposed to be a rainfall deficiency problem. Most studies and practices to mitigate drought disaster are focusing on water development and irrigation, while neglecting that the agriculture system i...Drought is usually supposed to be a rainfall deficiency problem. Most studies and practices to mitigate drought disaster are focusing on water development and irrigation, while neglecting that the agriculture system is a compounded human-natural system. Drought situation and tendency is also driven by human coping strategies. This paper takes Hebei Province in north China as an example, studing the spirally interact process of drought resisting and hydrological ecological feedback. The result shows that large scale water projects construction facilitated irrigation. With improved irrigation, farmers enhanced multiple crop index and land-use intensity greatly and increased the sowing area of water consuming crop, winter wheat. At the same time, both crop yield and gross output are raising steadily. Water demand and depletion in agricultural system increase year by year. This gradually leads to highly dependent on over exploitation of water resources, especially overdraw of groundwater. The process deteriorated the stability of hydrological-ecological system and made the ecological environment drying up. Drying up environment is breeding greater vulnerability and risk of drought in the long term. For sustainable development, integrated drought risk management should be based on the balance between sustainable water supply and water demand. The key is to improve agricultural system＇s adaptive and resilient capacity to drought.展开更多
Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production is a major economic activity in most regional and rural areas in the Southern Plains, a semi-arid region of the United States. This region is vulnerable to drought and is projec...Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production is a major economic activity in most regional and rural areas in the Southern Plains, a semi-arid region of the United States. This region is vulnerable to drought and is projected to experience a drier climate in the future. Since the interannual variability in climate in this region is linked to an ocean-atmospheric phenomenon, called El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), droughts in this region may be associated with ENSO. Droughts that occur during the critical growth phases of wheat can be extremely costly. However, the losses due to an impending drought can be minimized through mitigation measures if it is predicted in advance. Predicting the yield loss from an imminent drought is crucial for stakeholders. One of the reliable ways for such prediction is using a plant physiology-based agricultural drought index, such as Agricultural Reference Index for Drought (ARID). This study developed ENSO phase-specific, ARID-based models for predicting the drought-induced yield loss for winter wheat in this region by accounting for its phenological phase-specific sensitivity to drought. The reasonable values of the drought sensitivity coefficients of the yield model for each ENSO phase (El Niño, La Niña, or Neutral) indicated that the yield models reflected reasonably well the phenomena of water stress decreasing the winter wheat yields in this region during different ENSO phases. The values of various goodness-of-fit measures used, including the Nash-Sutcliffe Index (0.54 to 0.67), the Willmott Index (0.82 to 0.89), and the percentage error (20 to 26), indicated that the yield models performed fairly well at predicting the ENSO phase-specific loss of wheat yields from drought. This yield model may be useful for predicting yield loss from drought and scheduling irrigation allocation based on the phenological phase-specific sensitivity to drought as impacted by ENSO.展开更多
AIM: This study was undertaken to evaluate the hepatic effects of silybum marianum on non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). METHODS: In 72 patients affected by NAFLD, main metabolic, hepatic and anti-inflammatory...AIM: This study was undertaken to evaluate the hepatic effects of silybum marianum on non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). METHODS: In 72 patients affected by NAFLD, main metabolic, hepatic and anti-inflammatory parameters were assayed after 3 mo of a restricted diet and before silymarin treatment (twice a day orally). The brightness of liver echography texture (hepatorenal ratio brightness) was also defined at same time. These evaluations were repeated after 6 mo of treatment. RESULTS: Serum levels of some metabolic and anti-inflammatory data nonsignificantly lowered after 6 mo of silymarin. On the contrary, Steato test, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase were significantly (P < 0.001) reduced. Instead, the AST/ALT ratio unchanged. Finally, the hepatorenal brightness ratio, as an index of hepatic steatosis, significantly (P < 0.05) dropped. CONCLUSION: The obtained results indicate that silymarin appears to be effective to reduce the biochemical, inflammatory and ultrasonic indices of hepatic steatosis. Some parameters indicative of early stage of atherosclerosis were also lowered.展开更多
Intensity and variability of droughts are considered inIranduring the period 1951 to 2005. Four variables are considered: the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), the soil moisture, the temperature and the precipitat...Intensity and variability of droughts are considered inIranduring the period 1951 to 2005. Four variables are considered: the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), the soil moisture, the temperature and the precipitation (products used for the analysis are downloaded from the NCAR website). Link with the climatic indexLa Ninais also considered (NOAA downloadable products is used). The analysis is based on basic statistical approaches (correlation, linear regressions and Principal Component Analysis). The analysis shows that PDSI is highly correlated to the soil moisture and poorly correlated to the other variables—although the temperature in the warm season shows high correlation to the PDSI and that a severe drought was experienced during 1999-2002 inthe country.展开更多
文摘Soil underneath a structure might affect the behavior and the overall response of the structure in seismic events. The role of loose soil conditions and the inclusion of soil-structure interaction (SSI) in the analysis are important issues that need to be addressed. Since steel structures are light, two configurations designed as spatial and perimeter are considered to study the effect of soil on the steel structural frames for the same building. The paper provides a parametric analysis on the influence of SSI on the overall performance of MRFs (Moment Resisting Frames) according to the provisions of Saudi Building Code (SBC) [1]. A case study has been developed in which spatial and perimeter moment resisting frames of 12, 6 and 3 stories residential buildings are designed using Saudi Building Code (SBC) prescriptions. A modal response spectrum analysis has been carried out to see the influence of SSI on the fundamental period of vibration, top story displacement and inter-story drift limitations. Moreover, a static non-linear analysis has been performed to investigate the performance of frames, thus allowing to identify the influence of SSI on the structural design of steel MRFs.
文摘In tropical montane areas, water limitation is a common occurrence, and both pioneer and forests species experience water stress during the dry season. Adjustments of leaf area during periods of drought allow for the maintenance of the water supply and physiological functions of the remaining leaves. Here, we compared leaf blade water relations between pioneer and forest tree species. Leaf pressure-volume (P-V) curves were determined from samples taken prior to the dry season, to assess how leaves of the different species were adapted to prepare for and endure water deficits. The following parameters were calculated: osmotic potential at full (Ψπ(100)) and zero (Ψπ(0)) turgor, relative water content at zero turgor (RWC0), volumetric elastic modulus (ε) as well as apoplasm (A) and symplasm (S) water content and their ratio (A/S). Although the pioneer and forest species occupied contrasting habitats, and both groups were clearly differentiated with respect to their water transport capability and water use efficiency, their leaf tissue water relations showed clear differences across species but not between the groups. Some species underwent leaf shedding and accumulated xylem embolisms during the dry season, and their leaves had high cell elasticity. Consequently, these species presented large cell volume changes with turgor loss. Conversely, species with rigid leaves were able to undergo lower leaf turgor with only small changes in cell volume during drought, which might aid to preserve leaf cell function, maintain water uptake, and consequently avoid accelerated leaf senescence and shedding during the dry season.
文摘Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most frequent primary liver cancer with a high mortality rate. While chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections represent the leading risk factors worldwide, the spreading of metabolic disorders, such as diabetes, obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) justifies the increasing attention on their oncogenic mechanisms. This review discusses about the main pathogenic mechanisms implicated in occurrence of HCC in presence of viral and metabolic diseases. Additionally, it points to the importance of clinical surveillance for those patients considered at risk of HCC and highlights the strategical role of serum markers, such as alfa-fetoprotein (αFP) and Protein Induced by Vitamin K Absence or Antagonist II (PIVKA-II), which, in association to a strictly instrumental follow-up, contribute to the early detection of hepatic nodules with a better prognosis for affected patients.
基金the Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU) research fellowship sponsored by the Department of Biotechnology(DBT),Government of India
文摘Drought is one of the major abiotic stresses which adversely affect crop plants limiting growth and yield potential.Structural and functional characterization of drought stress-induced genes has contributed to a better understanding of how plants respond and adapt to the drought stress.In the present study,differential display technique was employed to study the gene expression of rice plants at the reproductive stage that were subjected to drought stress by withholding water,Pseudomonas fluorescens strain(Pf1) treated plants subjected for drought stress by withholding water and control(well-watered).Differentially expressed c DNAs of six genes(COX1,PKDP,b ZIP1,AP2-EREBP,Hsp20 and COC1) were identified,cloned and sequenced.Real-time q PCR analysis showed that all the six genes were upregulated in drought-stressed plants treated with Pf1.This revealed that the remarkable influence of Pf1 colonization leads to drought tolerance at the reproductive stage.These results showed that high levels of gene expression in plants lacking adequate water can be remarkably influenced by Pf1 colonization,which might be a key element for induced systemic tolerance by microbes.
基金Acknowledgments China National Natural Science Foundation （No. 41171402） and Doctoral Fund of Hebei Normal University （No. 103237）.
文摘Drought is usually supposed to be a rainfall deficiency problem. Most studies and practices to mitigate drought disaster are focusing on water development and irrigation, while neglecting that the agriculture system is a compounded human-natural system. Drought situation and tendency is also driven by human coping strategies. This paper takes Hebei Province in north China as an example, studing the spirally interact process of drought resisting and hydrological ecological feedback. The result shows that large scale water projects construction facilitated irrigation. With improved irrigation, farmers enhanced multiple crop index and land-use intensity greatly and increased the sowing area of water consuming crop, winter wheat. At the same time, both crop yield and gross output are raising steadily. Water demand and depletion in agricultural system increase year by year. This gradually leads to highly dependent on over exploitation of water resources, especially overdraw of groundwater. The process deteriorated the stability of hydrological-ecological system and made the ecological environment drying up. Drying up environment is breeding greater vulnerability and risk of drought in the long term. For sustainable development, integrated drought risk management should be based on the balance between sustainable water supply and water demand. The key is to improve agricultural system＇s adaptive and resilient capacity to drought.
文摘Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production is a major economic activity in most regional and rural areas in the Southern Plains, a semi-arid region of the United States. This region is vulnerable to drought and is projected to experience a drier climate in the future. Since the interannual variability in climate in this region is linked to an ocean-atmospheric phenomenon, called El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), droughts in this region may be associated with ENSO. Droughts that occur during the critical growth phases of wheat can be extremely costly. However, the losses due to an impending drought can be minimized through mitigation measures if it is predicted in advance. Predicting the yield loss from an imminent drought is crucial for stakeholders. One of the reliable ways for such prediction is using a plant physiology-based agricultural drought index, such as Agricultural Reference Index for Drought (ARID). This study developed ENSO phase-specific, ARID-based models for predicting the drought-induced yield loss for winter wheat in this region by accounting for its phenological phase-specific sensitivity to drought. The reasonable values of the drought sensitivity coefficients of the yield model for each ENSO phase (El Niño, La Niña, or Neutral) indicated that the yield models reflected reasonably well the phenomena of water stress decreasing the winter wheat yields in this region during different ENSO phases. The values of various goodness-of-fit measures used, including the Nash-Sutcliffe Index (0.54 to 0.67), the Willmott Index (0.82 to 0.89), and the percentage error (20 to 26), indicated that the yield models performed fairly well at predicting the ENSO phase-specific loss of wheat yields from drought. This yield model may be useful for predicting yield loss from drought and scheduling irrigation allocation based on the phenological phase-specific sensitivity to drought as impacted by ENSO.
文摘AIM: This study was undertaken to evaluate the hepatic effects of silybum marianum on non alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). METHODS: In 72 patients affected by NAFLD, main metabolic, hepatic and anti-inflammatory parameters were assayed after 3 mo of a restricted diet and before silymarin treatment (twice a day orally). The brightness of liver echography texture (hepatorenal ratio brightness) was also defined at same time. These evaluations were repeated after 6 mo of treatment. RESULTS: Serum levels of some metabolic and anti-inflammatory data nonsignificantly lowered after 6 mo of silymarin. On the contrary, Steato test, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase were significantly (P < 0.001) reduced. Instead, the AST/ALT ratio unchanged. Finally, the hepatorenal brightness ratio, as an index of hepatic steatosis, significantly (P < 0.05) dropped. CONCLUSION: The obtained results indicate that silymarin appears to be effective to reduce the biochemical, inflammatory and ultrasonic indices of hepatic steatosis. Some parameters indicative of early stage of atherosclerosis were also lowered.
文摘以经产荷斯坦奶牛外周血白细胞为材料,分离Poly(A)+ RNA,反转录合成单链及双链cDNA,经酶切成平均大小为400～600 bp的片段,将患乳房炎奶牛cDNA分成2组,分别与2种不同的接头连接,再与健康奶牛cDNA进行2次消减杂交和2次抑制性PCR扩增,将第2次PCR产物与pGEM-T载体连接,转化大肠杆菌TOP10感受态细胞进行文库扩增,构建了具有高消减效率的奶牛乳房炎抗性相关cDNA文库.文库扩增后得到610个白色阳性克隆,随机挑选克隆进行PCR鉴定,插入片段主要分布在250～750 bp 之间.文库的成功构建为进一步筛选、克隆与奶牛乳房炎抗性相关的基因奠定了基础,对研究奶牛乳房炎抗性的分子机制以及乳房炎的综合防制具有重要意义.
文摘Intensity and variability of droughts are considered inIranduring the period 1951 to 2005. Four variables are considered: the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), the soil moisture, the temperature and the precipitation (products used for the analysis are downloaded from the NCAR website). Link with the climatic indexLa Ninais also considered (NOAA downloadable products is used). The analysis is based on basic statistical approaches (correlation, linear regressions and Principal Component Analysis). The analysis shows that PDSI is highly correlated to the soil moisture and poorly correlated to the other variables—although the temperature in the warm season shows high correlation to the PDSI and that a severe drought was experienced during 1999-2002 inthe country.
