Effects of tissue-cultured mountain ginseng （Panax ginseng CA Meyer） extract on male patients with erectile dysfunction

Korean ginseng and mountain ginseng （Panax ginseng CA Meyer） are important traditional herbal plants whose ginsenosides are generally accepted as serving to improve sexual functions, such as penile erection. We investigated the effects of tissue-cultured mountain ginseng extract （TMGE） on male patients with erectile dysfunction （ED）. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted with 143 patients experiencing ED. Over the course of 8 weeks, one group took 1 000 mg of TMGE twice a day, and the other group took 1 000 mg of placebo twice a day. The effects of the TMGE and the placebo were analyzed using the Korean version of the International Index of Erectile Function （IIEF） questionnaire. A total of 86 patients completed 8 weeks of treatment. The scores on the five domains of the IIEF after medication were significantly higher than the baseline scores in the group treated with TMGE （P 〈 0.05）, whereas no significant improvement was observed in the placebo group （P 〉 0.05）. Erectile function and overall satisfaction scores after medication were significantly higher in the TMGE group than in the placebo group （P 〈 0.05）. Erectile function of patients in the TMGE-treated group significantly improved, suggesting that TMGE could be utilized for improving erectile function in male patients.

Lactobacillus from fermented bamboo shoots prevents inflammation in DSS-induced colitis mice via modulating gut microbiome and serum metabolites

Fermented bamboo shoots(FBS)is a region-specific food widely consumed in Southwestern China,with Lactobacillus as the predominant fermenting bacteria.However,the probiotic potential of Lactobacillus derived from FBS reminds largely unexplored,especially for diseases with a low prevalence in areas consuming FBS,namely,inflammatory bowel disease.In this study,Lactiplantibacillus pentosus YQ001 and Lentilactobacillus senioris YQ005 were screening by in vitro probiotic tests to further investigate the probioticlike bioactivity in dextran sulfate sodium(DSS)-induced ulcerative colitis(UC)mouse.They exhibited more positive probiotic effects than Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG in preventing intestinal inflammatory response.The results revealed that both strains improved the abundance of deficient intestinal microbiota in UC mice,including Muribaculaceae and Akkermansia.In the serum metabolome,they modulated the DSS-disturbed levels of metabolites,with significant increment of cinnamic acid.Meanwhile,they reduced the expression levels of interleukin-1β(IL-1β),interleukin-6(IL-6)inflammatory factors and increased zonula occludens-1(ZO-1),Occludin,and cathelicidin-related antimicrobial peptide(CRAMP)in the colon.Consequently,these results demonstrated that Lactobacillus spp.isolates derived from FBS showed promising probiotic activity based on the gut microbiome homeostasis modulation,anti-inflammation and intestinal barrier protection in UC mice.

Summer Warming Limited Bud Output Drives a Decline in Daughter Shoot Biomass through Reduced Photosynthetis of Parent Shoots in Leymus chinensis Seedlings

Understanding how summer warming influences the parent and daughter shoot production in a perennial clonal grass is vital for comprehending the response of grassland productivity to global warming.Here,we conducted a simulated experiment using potted Leymus chinensis,to study the relationship between the photosynthetic activ-ity of parent shoots and the production of daughter shoots under a whole(90 days)summer warming scenario(+3°C).The results showed that the biomass of parents and buds decreased by 25.52%and 33.45%,respectively,under warming conditions.The reduction in parent shoot biomass due to warming directly resulted from decreased leaf area(18.03%),chlorophyll a(18.27%),chlorophyll b(29.21%)content,as well as a reduction in net photosynthetic rate(7.32%)and the maximum quantum efficiency of photosystem II(PSII)photochemistry(4.29%).The decline in daughter shoot biomass was linked to a decrease in daughter shoot number(33.33%)by warming.However,the number of belowground buds increased by 46.43%.The results indicated that long-term summer warming reduces biomass accumulation in parent shoot by increasing both limitation of stoma and non-stoma.Consequently,the parent shoot allocates relatively more biomass to the belowground organs to maintain the survival and growth of buds.Overall,buds,as a potential aboveground population,could remedy for the cur-rent loss of parent shoot density by increasing the number of future daughter shoots if summer warming subsides.

Multi-Scale Mixed Attention Tea Shoot Instance Segmentation Model

Tea leaf picking is a crucial stage in tea production that directly influences the quality and value of the tea.Traditional tea-picking machines may compromise the quality of the tea leaves.High-quality teas are often handpicked and need more delicate operations in intelligent picking machines.Compared with traditional image processing techniques,deep learning models have stronger feature extraction capabilities,and better generalization and are more suitable for practical tea shoot harvesting.However,current research mostly focuses on shoot detection and cannot directly accomplish end-to-end shoot segmentation tasks.We propose a tea shoot instance segmentation model based on multi-scale mixed attention(Mask2FusionNet)using a dataset from the tea garden in Hangzhou.We further analyzed the characteristics of the tea shoot dataset,where the proportion of small to medium-sized targets is 89.9%.Our algorithm is compared with several mainstream object segmentation algorithms,and the results demonstrate that our model achieves an accuracy of 82%in recognizing the tea shoots,showing a better performance compared to other models.Through ablation experiments,we found that ResNet50,PointRend strategy,and the Feature Pyramid Network(FPN)architecture can improve performance by 1.6%,1.4%,and 2.4%,respectively.These experiments demonstrated that our proposed multi-scale and point selection strategy optimizes the feature extraction capability for overlapping small targets.The results indicate that the proposed Mask2FusionNet model can perform the shoot segmentation in unstructured environments,realizing the individual distinction of tea shoots,and complete extraction of the shoot edge contours with a segmentation accuracy of 82.0%.The research results can provide algorithmic support for the segmentation and intelligent harvesting of premium tea shoots at different scales.

Study of Potential Edaphic Chemical Factors in the Prevalence of Swollen Shoot Disease of Cocoa in the Marahoué Region (Côte d’Ivoire)

This study looks at the prevalence of swollen shoot disease in cocoa plantations in the Marahoué region of Côte d’Ivoire, a key cocoa-producing area. Cocoa accounts for around a third of the country’s export earnings, but production is under threat from the swollen shoot virus, which is causing major yield reductions. The aim of the study is to establish a link between the chemical properties of the soil and the presence of the disease, in particular the levels of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium and acidity (pH) in the soil. Specifically, soils from healthy plots were compared with soils from infested plots in six plantations in the Bouaflé and Kononfla sub-prefectures. The results show that soils from infested plots have lower phosphorus levels and near-neutral acidity in the 20 - 40 cm soil layer, while soils from healthy plots are slightly acidic and contain more calcium and phosphorus. These chemical differences seem to influence the prevalence of the virus. Low phosphorus levels appear to be a key factor in the vulnerability of cocoa trees to the disease. The study therefore suggests that any strategy to combat swollen shoot should include better soil management, incorporating factors such as soil depth and the availability of essential nutrients. In addition, an assessment of the micro-organisms present in the soil could provide further information on the interactions between the soil and the disease.

Visual navigation in orchard based on multiple images at different shooting angles

The orchards usually have rough terrain,dense tree canopy and weeds.It is hard to use GNSS for autonomous navigation in orchard due to signal occlusion,multipath effect,and radio frequency interference.To achieve autonomous navigation in orchard,a visual navigation method based on multiple images at different shooting angles is proposed in this paper.A dynamic image capturing device is designed for camera installation and multiple images can be shot at different angles.Firstly,the obtained orchard images are classified into sky and soil detection stage.Each image is transformed to HSV space and initially segmented into sky,canopy and soil regions by median filtering and morphological processing.Secondly,the sky and soil regions are extracted by the maximum connected region algorithm,and the region edges are detected and filtered by the Canny operator.Thirdly,the navigation line in the current frame is extracted by fitting the region coordinate points.Then the dynamic weighted filtering algorithm is used to extract the navigation line for the soil and sky detection stage,respectively,and the navigation line for the sky detection stage is mirrored to the soil region.Finally,the Kalman filter algorithm is used to fuse and extract the final navigation path.The test results on 200 images show that the accuracy of visual navigation path fitting is 95.5%,and single frame image processing costs 60 ms,which meets the real-time and robustness requirements of navigation.The visual navigation experiments in Camellia oleifera orchard show that when the driving speed is 0.6 m/s,the maximum tracking offset of visual navigation in weed-free and weedy environments is 0.14 m and 0.24 m,respectively,and the RMSE is 30 mm and 55 mm,respectively.

Effect of Apple-tea Intercrop on the Growth and Yield of Tea Shoot

[Objective] The aim was to study the effect of apple-tea intercrop on the growth and yield of tea shoot.[Method] Comparing tea leaves in apple-tea intercrop garden with neighboring tea leaves,the change of tea growth and fresh leaves yield in annual growth cycle was observed.[Result] There was obvious difference of tea shoot growth in intercropping and control group in various seasons.In spring,summer and autumn,intercropping tea had lower canopy temperature and higher canopy humidity compared with control tea,while there was no obvious difference of canopy temperature and humidity in intercropping and control tea in winter;the respiratory intensity of intercropping tea was very significantly lower than that of control tea,and its net photosynthetic intensity was very significantly higher than that of control tea,while there was no obvious change law in photosynthetic rate;the effect of intercrop on budding density of tea shoot wasn＇t obvious,but it promoted early germination of tea bud,increased leaf weight and improved fresh leaf yield.[Conclusion] Our study could provide theoretical foundation for the rational allocation of intercrop in compound ecological tea garden and the production of non-polluted tea.

Shoot tissue culture of Robinia pseudoacacia f. decaisneana

Robinia pseudoacacia f. decaisneana is a transfiguration of Robinia pseudoacacia. For enhancing propagation coefficient of the species, the experiment of shoot tissue culture of Robinia pseudoacacia f. decaisneana was conducted in Forestry College of Shenyang Agricultural University from July 1999 to July 2001. The experiment included medium selection of explant induction survival, initial culture, subculture as well as rooting culture, and forming seedling with callus. The results showed that shoot segment in vitro survive rate is larger in spring than in autumn, and green dense callus could form plantlet. The best medium for initial culture was SH+0.5mg/L BA+0.05 mg/L NAA, with a propagation coefficient of 4.1 (per micro-cutting in a month), and for subculture it was B5+0.5 mg/L BA+0.05 mg/L NAA+ 10 mg/L Glu., with a propagation coefficient of 4.7. The best rooting medium was 1/2MS+0.5 mg/L NAA+10 mg/L Glu., with a rooting rate of 84.4%. These results provide reference data for reproduction of superior individuals of Robinia pseudoacacia f. decaisneana.

EXPRESSION OF TOMATO ANTISENSE ACC SYNTHASE GENE IN TRANSGENIC TOBACCO AND ITS ROLE IN SHOOT FORMATION

An ACC synthase cDNA isolated from tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.) fruit was constructed in antisense orientation under the transcriptional control of CaMV 35S promoter and then introduced into tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) . PCR amplification demonstrated the integration of this antisense gene in tobacco genomes. Northern hybridization and reverse transcription-PCR analyses indicated the expression of this heterologous antisense gene in the transgenic tobacco tissues, which caused a decrease in the ethylene production, particularly when shoot regeneration exhibited. The ability of shoot regeneration of the transgenic plant during the culture process was enhanced remarkably as compared with that of the control. These results indicate at the molecular level that ethylene may play a regulatory role in shoot formation.

Comprehensive Pattern of Primordium Initiation in Shoot Apex of Wheat

The time course of the initiation of different types of apical primordia on the stem of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was investigated to establish a comprehensive pattern of apical primordium development and quantitative dynamic relationships among different primordium initiation. The results showed that the initiation of leaf and bracteal primordia took the S shape, and that of spikelet and floret took the rise stage of parabolic shape in relation to GDD (growing degree days after sowing) in wheat. The bracteal was much like vegetative rather than reproductive organ in terms of the dynamic pattern of primordium initiation. The progress of spikelet and floret primordium initiation could well reflect the characteristics of different genotypes and the impact of different ecological environments on wheat apical development. The integrated model of different primordium initiation in shoot of wheat was an S_shaped curvilinear, and could be divided into three sub_models. The number of leaf primordia was affected by both genotype and environment, while the numbers of bracteal, spikelet and floret primordia were affected mainly by environmental factors. Measured with mean thermochron, the rates of initiation of leaf, bracteal and spikelet primordia in normal planting were the highest among all the sowing date treatments. In contrast to the relationships among leaf, bracteal, spikelet and their initiation duration, the correlation between the number of floret and its initiation duration was highly significant.

Study on Shoot Tip Culture of Illciaceae Ornamental Plants

[Objective] This study aimed to establish a technology system for tissue culture and rapid propagation of Illciaceae ornamental plants. [Method] Effects of medium components and anti-browning agents on the survival and growth of shoot tips were investigated by using apical buds of IItciaceae plant Haierlian as experiment material and MS as basic medium. [Result] The results showed that apical buds at the early germination period in spring were the most suitable explants for tissue culture of IIIciaceae plant Haierlian. Sterilization with 0.1% HgCI2 for 6 min achieved the best effect, while conventional surface-sterilization with ethanol would affect the survival of explants. The optimal medium for primary culture was MS-D （with modifications in major elements and organic components） ＋ anti-browning agents （equa~ volume） ＋ 2.0 mg/L of 6-BA ＋ 0.5 mg/L of NAA. The optimal subculture medi- um was MS-F （with modifications in inorganic and organic components） ＋ anti-brown- ing agents （equal volume） ＋ 2.0 mg/L of 6-BA ＋ 0.1 mg/L of NAA. [Conclusion] This study laid the foundation for establishment of tissue culture and rapid propagation technology system for Haierlian.

Comparison of Morphological Microstructure of Vitrified and Normal Shoots of Aronia melanocarpa Elloit

The Aronia melanocarpa El oit was used as test material. The microstruc-ture of normal and vitrified shoots and the characteristics of their stomas on leaf surface were compared by paraffin section and leaf epidermis-tearing method. The results showed the palisade tissue of Aronia melanocarpa El oit consists of 2-3 lay-ers of cells. The stomas on lower epidermis cave in, and are smal and dense. There are abundant vessels and sieve tubes in stems. ln contrast, the main veins of vitrified shoots are unobvious, messy and irregular. The boundary between pal-isade tissue and spongy tissue is not obvious. The stomas open circularly and bigly. The stems are swel ing and thick, but the pith parenchyma cells are broken.

机械工程trouble-shooting案例分析教学与动手能力培养

通过trouble shooting案例的分析、讨论、实例讲解,力图引导、启发和培养学生在实际工作中如何去发现问题、如何对已有知识、经验、技能的灵活处理和技术知识的转移、搬迁、嫁接、变异、变通和改进等方面的技巧和动手能力,目的是使学生学习达到“鱼”、“渔”共获。

Does the root to shoot ratio show a hormetic response to stress? An ecological and environmental perspective

Root/shoot(R/S)ratio is an important index for assessing plant health,and has received increased attention in the last decades as a sensitive indicator of plant stress induced by chemical or physical agents.The R/S ratio has been discussed in the context of ecological theory and its potential importance in ecological succession,where species follow different strategies for above-ground growth for light or below-ground competition for water and nutrients.We present evidence showing the R/S ratio follows a biphasic dose–response relationship under stress,typical of hormesis.The R/S ratio in response to stress has been widely compared among species and ecological succession classes.It is constrained by a variety of factors such as ontogeny.Furthermore,the current literature lacks dose-response studies incorporating the full dose–response continuum,hence limiting scientific understanding and possible valuable application.The data presented provide an important perspective for new-generation studies that can advance current ecological understanding and improve carbon storage estimates by R/S ratio considerations.Hormetic response of the R/S ratio can have an important role in forestry for producing seedlings with desired characteristics to achieve maximum health/productivity and resilience under plantation conditions.

Establishing Submersed Macrophytes via Sinking and Colonization of Shoot Fragments Clipped off Manually

In this paper, sinking and growth of apexes and mid-stems of Myriophyllum spicatum L., Hydrilla verticillata （L.f.） Royle and Ceratophyllum demersum L. in concrete ponds containing eutrophic water and sediment were investigated. Sinking rates of apexes and mid-stems reached 34.8% and 4.4% at the 6 th day and 91.1% and 66.7% at the 22 nd day for M. spicatum, 57.8% and 55.6% at the 6 th day and 100% and 97.8% at the 22 nd day for H. vertieillata, 18.9% and 86.7% at the 6 th day and 95.6% and 100% at the 22 nd day for C. demersum, respectively. Most sunken fragments established themselves successfully with significant growth. Total shoot length ofplantlets developed from apexes and mid-stems increased by 399% and 61% for M. spicatum, 593% and 256% for H. vertieillata and 114% and 104% for C. demersum, respectively. The results showed that it was feasible to establish submersed macrophytes via sinking and colonization of shoot fragments clipped off manually.

Standardization of harvesting age of bamboo shoots with respect to nutritional and anti-nutritional components

Bamboo shoots can be harvested at different ages but the data on the changes in nutritional composition with age are scanty. We standardized harvesting age of bamboo shoots in central India to obtain best quality produce with respect to nutritional composition. The shoots harvested on different days （2–20 days after emergence from ground） were analyzed for their nutritional （dietary fibres, carbohydrates, proteins, total phenols, ascorbic acid, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium and phenolic acids） and anti nutritional （cyanogen） constituents. A significant variation （at p ≤ 0.5） was observed in the nutritional composition of shoots of Dendrocalamus asper, D. strictus and Bambusa tulda harvested at different days. An overall decrease was observed in proteins and total phenols while dietary fibres and carbohydrates increased with ages. Significant variation （at p ≤ 0.5） was also observed in phenolic acids while minerals did not vary significantly. Results revealed that the optimum harvesting age for D. asper, D. strictus and B. tulda was on 10–14 days, 6–10 days and 10–16 days （after emergence from the ground） respectively. These results can be used to obtain quality bamboo shoots.

Cell Ultrastructure of Kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) Shoot Tips During Cryopreservation

The changes in the cell ultrastructure of in vitro cultured shoot tips from dwarf genotype of kiwifruit （Actinidia chinensis Ganmi 5） during cryopreservation were investigated. Shoot tips were preserved in liquid nitrogen using vitrification, and the cell ultrastructure was examined using transmission electron microscopy （TEM）. The regular ultrastructure of the cell wall, cell membrane and nucleus of shoot tips could be damaged during the freezing and thawing associated with preservation using liquid nitrogen. The cell plasmolysis was increased and freezing tolerance was improved after precultufing and dehydrating in a preservation and vitrification solution （PVS2） （30% glycerol （Gly）＋ 15% ethylene glycol （EG）＋ 15% dimethylsulfoxide （DMSO） ＋ 0.4 mol L^-1 sucrose）. The structure of some cells with low degree of injury and reversible damage was similar to that of the control and they could undergo normal cell division and differentiation. Besides, they could recover automatically and regenerate after their reculture.

One Rapid and Efficient Method for Isolation of Total RNA from Shoots Regenerated in vitro of Populus suaveolens

Total RNA was isolated from shoots regenerated in vitro of Populus suaveolens by the modified method of CTAB, and two clear bands of rRNA (28S and 18S) were observed in agarose electrophoresis. In addition, the values of OD260/OD280 and OD260/OD230 of extracted RNA were 2.12 and 2.23 respectively. The results show that RNA is little decomposed and the purity of RNA is high. Moreover, RNA isolated by the modified method of CTAB reagent had been successfully used for reverse transcription of P. suaveolens cDNAs and ideal special band was observed.