The impacts of exposure to risk factors during youth on the increasing global trend of early-onset pancreatic cancer

OBJECTIVES

An increasing trend of pancreatic cancer in young adults has emerged in some countries. This study aimed to investigate global trends of pancreatic cancer in young adults and explore the impact of exposure to risk factors on pancreatic cancer incidence during youth.

METHODS

Global and national data on pancreatic cancer incidence, disability-adjusted life-years, attributive mortality, and summary exposure values of risk factors were retrieved from the Global Burden of Disease 2019. The average annual percent change (AAPC) of incidence and mortality was calculated. Additionally, generalized additive models were applied to explore the non-linear associations between the levels and changes in the Human Development Index and AAPC.

RESULTS

Global pancreatic cancer incidence increased during various periods from 1990 to 2019, particularly in adults aged <45 years from 2010 to 2019, at an average annual increase rate of 0.7% (95% confidence interval: 0.4-1.0%). The AAPC of early-onset pancreatic cancer incidence from 2010 to 2019 was negatively correlated with Human Development Index levels in both 2010 and 2019 but positively correlated with Human Development Index acceleration. Significant increases in early-onset pancreatic cancer incidence were observed over this period in 32 of 88 countries, primarily in South America, North America, Oceania, and Africa. Early-onset pancreatic cancer mortality attributed to high body mass index and fasting plasma glucose increased, while that attributed to tobacco use declined.

CONCLUSIONS

An increasing trend has emerged in the global incidence and burden of early-onset pancreatic cancer over the last few decades. This rise may partly be attributed to global epidemics of high body mass index and fasting plasma glucose.

Magnetic properties and critical behaviors of the nodal-line semimetal candidate ErIn3

The AuCu3-type intermetallic compoundsReIn3(Re= a rare earth ion) with type-IV magnetic space groups are predicted to show topologically nontrivial electronic states. Here, we grow ErIn3single crystals, and study their magnetic properties and critical behaviors by means of the magnetic susceptibility, and magnetization isotherm measurements. Combining a detailed analysis of the magnetic susceptibility and isothermal magnetization, we find that this compound harbors a complicated magnetic phase diagram, and its magnetic moment arrangement appears not to simply follow the fashion as observed in the isostructural counterpart GdIn3(it adopts a conventional type-Cmagnetic structure that belongs to type-IV magnetic space groups). A careful study of the magnetic properties around the antiferromagnetic (AFM)-paramagnetic transition yields the critical exponentsβ= 0.309 (0.297),γ= 1.117 (1.038), andδ= 4.617 (4.454), indicating that the tricritical mean field model or the three-dimensional Ising model works for ErIn3's magnetic behaviors and the presence of a long-range AFM interaction therein. Besides, the exchange interaction distanceJ(r) ∼r-4.665as well confirms a long-range magnetic coupling in ErIn3. Our results offer the clues that the magnetic structure varies from one member ofReIn3family to another, and to confirm their electronic features in the AFM phases further experimental and theoretical studies are still desired.

Global crop-specific nitrogen fertilization dataset in 1961-2020

Nitrogen (N) is an important nutrient for crop growth. However, the overuse of N fertilizers has led to a series of devastating global environmental issues. Recent studies show that multiple datasets have been created for agricultural N fertilizer application with varied temporal or spatial resolutions, nevertheless, how to synchronize and use these datasets becomes problematic due to the inconsistent temporal coverages, spatial resolutions, and crop-specific allocations. Here we reconstructed a comprehensive dataset for crop-specific N fertilization at 5-arc-min resolution (~10 km by 10 km) during 1961-2020, including N application rate, types, and placements. The N fertilization data was segmented by 21 crop groups, 13 fertilizer types, and 2 fertilization placements. Comparison analysis showed that our dataset is aligned with previous estimates. Our spatiotemporal N fertilization dataset could be used for the land surface models to quantify the effects of agricultural N fertilization practices on food security, climate change, and environmental sustainability.

Cropland displacement contributed 60% of the increase in carbon emissions of grain transport in China over 1990-2015

Rapid urbanization and population growth have increased the need for grain transportation in China, as more grain is being consumed and croplands have been moved away from cities. Increased grain transportation has, in turn, led to higher energy consumption and carbon emissions. Here we undertook a model-based approach to estimate the carbon emissions associated with grain transportation in the country between 1990 and 2015. We found that emissions more than tripled, from 5.68 million tons of CO₂ emission equivalent in 1990 to 17.69 million tons in 2015. Grain production displacement contributed more than 60% of the increase in carbon emissions associated with grain transport over the study period, whereas changes in grain consumption and population growth contributed 31.7% and 16.6%, respectively. Infrastructure development, such as newly built highways and railways in western China, helped offset 0.54 million tons of CO₂ emission equivalent from grain transport. These findings shed light on the life cycle environmental impact within food supply chains.

Research priorities for global food security under extreme events

Extreme events, such as those caused by climate change, economic or geopolitical shocks, and pest or disease epidemics, threaten global food security. The complexity of causation, as well as the myriad ways that an event, or a sequence of events, creates cascading and systemic impacts, poses significant challenges to food systems research and policy alike. To identify priority food security risks and research opportunities, we asked experts from a range of fields and geographies to describe key threats to global food security over the next two decades and to suggest key research questions and gaps on this topic. Here, we present a prioritization of threats to global food security from extreme events, as well as emerging research questions that highlight the conceptual and practical challenges that exist in designing, adopting, and governing resilient food systems. We hope that these findings help in directing research funding and resources toward food system transformations needed to help society tackle major food system risks and food insecurity under extreme events.

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We asked experts for top threats to global food security from extreme events

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We find unresolved governance challenges underpin many of the key threats

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We also asked experts for top outstanding research priorities on this topic

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Coordination to design, adopt, and govern resilient food systems is needed

Heat waves, floods, droughts, pest outbreaks and diseases, financial crises, and human conflicts are threatening the production and supply of food around the world. These extreme events are on the rise, and our ability to prepare for them seems limited. Multiple events occurring at the same time compound the problem. Research teams and policymakers are developing solutions to improve the resilience of food systems, but this is often done in isolation—tackling one problem at a time. In this article we bring together food system experts to identify the top threats over the next two decades and priority research questions to address them. We find that unresolved governance challenges in international relations underpin many of the key threats and that coordinated research is needed to help design and adopt systems of governance for food systems that are resilient to extreme events in the future.

Efficacy of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis, BB-12® on infant colic - a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study

To evaluate the administration of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis, BB-12^® (BB-12) on infant colic in breastfed infants, a double-blind, placebo-controlled randomised study was conducted in Chengdu, China from April 2016 to October 2017 with 192 full-term infants less than 3 months of age and meeting the ROME III criteria for infant colic. After a 1-week run-in the infants were randomly assigned to receive daily BB-12 (1×10⁹ cfu/day) or placebo for 3 weeks. Crying/fussing time were recorded using a 24 h structured diary. The primary endpoint was the proportion of infants achieving a reduction in crying and fussing time of ≥50% from baseline. Parent's/caregiver's health related quality of life was measured using a modified PedsQL^™ 2.0 Family Impact Module and immunological biomarkers were evaluated from faecal samples at baseline and after the 21-day intervention. The percentage of infants achieving a reduction in the daily crying/fussing time ≥50% after the 21-day intervention was significantly higher in the infants supplemented with BB-12 (P<0.001). The mean number of crying episodes was significantly reduced in the BB-12 group compared to the placebo group (10.0±3.0 to 5.0±1.87 vs 10.5±2.6 to 7.5±2.8, respectively) (P<0.001) and the mean daily sleep duration was markedly increased from baseline to end of intervention in the BB-12 group compared to the infants in the placebo group (60.7±104.0 vs 31.9±102.7 min/day, respectively) (P<0.001). The faecal levels of human beta defensin 2, cathelicidin, slgA, calprotectin and butyrate were statistically higher in the BB-12 group compared to the placebo group after the 21-day intervention. At the end of the intervention the parent's/caregiver's physical, emotional and social functioning scores were significantly higher for the BB-12 group compared to the placebo group (all P<0.05). Supplementation of BB-12 is effective in reducing crying and fussing in infants diagnosed with infant colic.

Comparing rice production systems in China: Economic output and carbon footprint

In recent years, many rotational and integrated rice production systems coupled with several greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions mitigation practices have been developed and adopted for demand of low carbon production. However, there have been only few studies about comparisons on the balance between high production and mitigation of GHG emissions in different rice production systems. We therefore aimed to evaluate economic output and carbon footprint of different rice production systems, based on several long-term experiments conducted by our lab. CH₄ and N₂O emission were measured by the same static chamber/gas chromatogram measurement procedure in different rice production systems, including rice-fallow, rice-rapeseed, rice-wheat, double rice, and integrated rice-crayfish production system. Then, we applied the DeNitrification DeComposition model to simulate CH₄ and N₂O emission over different years under the same condition for comparison. Carbon footprint was calculated following the process-based life cycle assessment (PLCA) methodology. The economic benefit of rice production systems was assessed by cost-benefit analysis. According to the analysis, the double-rice production system exhibited the highest intensity of carbon footprint (ICF = 4.14 kg CO₂-eq yuan^-1), rain-fed treatment in the rice-rapeseed system had the lowest (ICF = 0.68 kg CO₂-eq yuan^-1). The intensity of carbon footprint in different treatments in the integrated rice-crayfish production system was around 0.8 kg CO₂-eq yuan^-1. Overall, the results of this case study suggest: (1) the proposed practices in different rice production systems are no straw returning (rice-fallow), no-tillage without straw returning (rice-wheat), rain-fed farming (rice-rapeseed), no insect and no inoculation (double rice), and feeding with straw returning (rice-crayfish); (2) rotational and integrated systems can achieve high net output with low carbon emission; (3) reducing the amount of nitrogenous fertilizer application is the most important and effective GHG mitigation practice for rotational systems.

Worldwide cancer statistics of adolescents and young adults in 2019: a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background

The cancer burden in adolescents and young adults (AYAs) deserves more attention. However, global cancer statistics for AYAs are often presented as aggregates, concealing important heterogeneity. This study aimed to describe the worldwide profile of cancer incidence, mortality, and corresponding trends from 1990 to 2019 among 15-39-year olds by focusing on the patterns by age, sex, sociodemographic index (SDI), and regions.

Patients and methods

Global, regional, and country data on the number of cancer cases and cancer-related deaths for 29 cancer types were collected from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study. We also summarized the results using five levels of the SDI and 21 GBD regions.

Results

In 2019, an estimated 1 335 100 new cancer cases and 397 583 cancer-related deaths occurred among AYAs worldwide. While the incidence rate increased mildly, the death rate decreased significantly between 1990 and 2019, with an estimated annual percentage change of 0.38 (95% confidence interval 0.36-0.39) and −0.93 (95% confidence interval −0.95 to −0.92), respectively. The cancer burden was disproportionally greater among women than among men. The cancer profiles varied substantially across geographical regions, with the highest burden being in South Asia and East Asia. Besides, the cancer incidence in the high SDI regions was four times higher than that in the low SDI regions; however, the mortality burden in the high SDI region was lower than that in the low SDI region, which reflected the differences in cancer profiles across SDI regions and the inferior outcomes in the low SDI regions.

Conclusion

This study updates the previous epidemiological data of the cancer burden of AYAs. The cancer burden in AYAs varied substantially according to age, sex, SDI, and geographical regions. These findings highlight that the specific cancer profile of AYA patients requires targeted cancer control measures to reduce the cancer burden in this age group.

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The cancer burden in AYAs varied substantially according to age, sex, SDI, and geographical regions.

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Cancer burden in AYAs was disproportionally greater among women than among men.

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Cancer profiles of AYAs varied across different geographical regions and SDI regions.

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Cancer burden in AYAs was still considerable in the low SDI regions.

[Trend analysis on morbidity and mortality of pancreatic cancer in China, 2005-2015]

Objective: To analyze the trend of morbidity and mortality of pancreatic cancer in China from 2005 to 2015 and estimate the related age, period and cohort effect, respectively. Methods: Joinpoint regression analysis was used to analyze the trend of morbidity rate and mortality rate of pancreatic cancer during 2005-2015 and calculate the annual percentage change and average annual percentage change based on the data in the annual report of China Cancer Registry. Population aged 20-84 years was fitted by the Age-Period-Cohort model to estimate the effect parameters of age, period and cohort. Results: The trend variations of the crude morbidity rate and crude mortality rate of pancreatic cancer were consistent. The morbidity rate of pancreatic cancer firstly increased before 2008 and then decreased. The morbidity rate and mortality rate of pancreatic cancer were higher in men than women, and higher in urban areas than in rural areas. From 2005 to 2015, the overall age-standardized morbidity rate of pancreatic cancer increased by 2.78% annually and the overall age standardized mortality rate of pancreatic cancer increased by 2.24% annually. The age standardized morbidity of pancreatic cancer in rural men changed more rapidly, with an average annual increase of 3.74%, and the age standardized mortality rate of pancreatic cancer in urban men changed more rapidly, with an average annual increase of 3.57%. The age effect on the morbidity and mortality of pancreatic cancer increased with age, and the effect was most obvious in age group 70-80 years, the period effect increased over time and the cohort effect decreased with year, but rebound or fluctuation was observed after 1976. Conclusions: The morbidity rate and mortality rate of pancreatic cancer in China increased slightly in past decades. Strategies on effective prevention and control of pancreatic cancer should be developed in the future.

Vitamin D Supplementation Is Associated with a Reduction in Self-Reported Falls among Older Adults with Previous Fall History – Feasibility Study

Background: Vitamin D insufficiency contributes to muscle weakness and a higher risk of falls in older adults. Objectives: This study explored the impact of vitamin D supplementation on self-reported falls and physical function in older adults with low vitamin D levels and a recent fall history. Materials and Methods: Twenty-five older adults ≥ 70 years with two or more falls during the past year, low vitamin D blood levels (≥10 ng/ml and < 30 ng/mL), and slow gait speed (1.2 m/s) participated in a 6-month vitamin D supplementation (800 IU/day) study. A modified version of the Morse Fall Scale questionnaire was used to assess frequency of falls over one-year prior to study enrollment. Functional outcomes (short physical performance battery, handgrip strength, gait Timed Up and Go, and six-minute walk), and vitamin D levels were assessed at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Results: Based on diaries and pill counts, participants were generally adherent to the intervention (6 of 7 days per week). Supplementation with 800 IU/day of vitamin D for 6 months increased blood vitamin D levels from 23.25±4.8 ng/ml to 29.13±6.9 ng/ml (p<0.001). Self-reported number of falls decreased from an average of 3.76 ± 2.2 falls in one-year to 0.76 ± 1.4 falls (p <0.0001) over the 6-month intervention. No changes in functional outcome measures were observed. Conclusions: Vitamin D supplementation at the currently recommended dose of 800 IU/day increased blood vitamin D levels and reduced frequency of falls in older adults with low vitamin D levels and a recent fall history.

Evaluating satellite-based evapotranspiration estimates for hydrological applications in data-scarce regions: A case in Ethiopia

Water resource development opens up opportunities for improving smallholder farmer livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa; however, implementation of water resource interventions to ensure sustainability hinges on the availability of sufficient quantity and quality data for monitoring, analysis and planning. Such data is often acquired through instrumentation of water resources (e.g. stream flow monitoring) or the use of hydrological models. In sub-Saharan Africa, data scarcity has limited the ability to monitor and make appropriate decisions for water resource allocation and use. Data derived from remote sensing has been considered a viable option to fill this gap; however, there is limited research in the region that evaluate the quality of the remotely sensed based datasets. This study evaluated actual evapotranspiration (AET) estimates derived from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR AET) images and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MOD16 AET) images using estimates from a grid-based Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The SWAT model was set up for the entire country of Ethiopia, and calibrated and validated using observed streamflow at several meso-scale watersheds in which satisfactory model performance was obtained. AET estimates from the calibrated and validated SWAT model were then used to evaluate remotely sensed based AET for three landscapes. The AVHRR AET better agreed with the SWAT-simulated AET than the MOD16 AET, although the AVHRR AET overestimated the SWAT-simulated AET in all of the landscapes. Both remotely sensed AET products showed better agreement with the SWAT-simulated AET over agriculture dominated landscapes compared to grassland and forest dominated landscapes. The findings of the study suggest that remotely sensed based AET may help to fine-tune hydrological models in agricultural landscapes in data-scarce regions to improve studies on the impacts of water management interventions aiming to ensure environmental sustainability while enhancing agricultural production, and household income and nutrition.

Over-expression of RNA interference (RNAi) core machinery improves susceptibility to RNAi in silkworm larvae

RNA interference (RNAi), one of the strategies that organisms use to defend against invading viruses, is an important tool for functional genomic analysis. In insects, the efficacy of RNAi varies amongst taxa. Lepidopteran insects are, in large part, recalcitrant to RNAi. The overall goal of this study is to overcome such insensitivity in lepidopterans to RNAi. We hypothesize that over-expression of core RNAi machinery enzymes can improve RNAi efficacy in traditionally recalcitrant species. A transgenic Bombyx mori strain, Baculovirus Immediate-Early Gene, ie1, promoter driven expression of silkworm Dicer2 coding sequence (IE1-BmDicer2), which over-expresses BmDicer2, was generated by piggyBac transposon-mediated transgenesis. Two indexes, the ratio of animals that showed a silencing phenotype and the duration of silencing, were used to evaluate silencing efficiency. Significant knockdown of target gene expression was observed at 48 h postinjection at both the transcriptional and translational levels. Furthermore, we coexpressed B. mori Argonaute 2 BmAgo2）and BmDicer 2 and found that 22% of the animals (n = 18) showed an obvious silencing effect even at 72 h, suggesting that coexpression of these two RNAi core machinery enzymes further increased the susceptibility of B. mori to injected double-stranded RNAs. This study offers a new strategy for functional genomics research in RNAi-refractory insect taxa in general and for lepidopterans in particular.

South-to-North Water Diversion stabilizing Beijing's groundwater levels

Groundwater (GW) overexploitation is a critical issue in North China with large GW level declines resulting in urban water scarcity, unsustainable agricultural production, and adverse ecological impacts. One approach to addressing GW depletion was to transport water from the humid south. However, impacts of water diversion on GW remained largely unknown. Here, we show impacts of the central South-to-North Water Diversion on GW storage recovery in Beijing within the context of climate variability and other policies. Water diverted to Beijing reduces cumulative GW depletion by ~3.6 km³, accounting for 40% of total GW storage recovery during 2006-2018. Increased precipitation contributes similar volumes to GW storage recovery of ~2.7 km³ (30%) along with policies on reduced irrigation (~2.8 km³, 30%). This recovery is projected to continue in the coming decade. Engineering approaches, such as water diversions, will increasingly be required to move towards sustainable water management.

The role of climate in the trend and variability of Ethiopia's cereal crop yields

Food security has been and will continue to be a major challenge in Ethiopia. The country's smallholder, rainfed agriculture renders its food production system extremely vulnerable to climate variability and extremes. In this study, we investigate the impact of past climate variability and change on the yields of five major cereal crops in Ethiopia-barley, maize, millet, sorghum, and wheat-during the period 1979-2014 using the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) crop model. The model is calibrated at both the site and agroecological-zone scales. At the sites studied, the model results suggest that climate in the past four decades may have contributed to an increasing trend in maize yield, a decreasing trend in wheat yield, and no clear trend in the yields of barley and millet; cereal crop yield is positively correlated with growing season solar radiation and temperature, but negatively correlated with growing season precipitation. For modeled cereal crops across the nation during the study period, yield in western Ethiopia is positively correlated with solar radiation and day time temperature; in the eastern and southeastern Ethiopia where water is a limiting factor for growth, yield is positively correlated with precipitation but negatively correlated with solar radiation and both day time and night time temperature. The national average of simulated yields of most crops (except maize) showed an overall decreasing (although not statistically significant) trend induced by past climate variability and changes. Over a large portion of the highly productive areas where there is a negative correlation between yield and temperature, yield is simulated to have significantly decreased over the past four decades, an indication of adverse climate impact in the past and potential food security concern in the future.

Effect of algae or fish oil supplementation and porcine maternal stress on the adrenal transcriptome of male offspring fed a low-quality protein diet

Offspring adrenal function may be negatively affected in utero by maternal stressors such as microbial infection. Maternal supplementation with immunomodulatory compounds such as omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 PUFA) may help minimize the adverse effects of maternal stress on fetal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal development and improve offspring health. Presently, n-3 PUFA sources are primarily fish-based, but n-3 PUFA microalgae (AL) may be an alternative. Previously, it was determined that maternal AL or fish oil (FO) supplementation to sows, in addition to maternal stress induced by Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge appeared to have a greater influence on the stress response of male offspring compared to females. To further elaborate on these findings, this study assessed the effects of maternal AL or FO supplementation combined with a maternal LPS challenge on adrenal gene expression in male offspring fed a nursery diet containing low-quality protein sources. Forty-eight sows were fed gestation diets starting on gestation day (gd) 75 containing either 3.12% AL, 3.1% FO, or a control diet containing 1.89% corn oil. On gd 112, half the sows in each treatment were administered 10 ​μg/kg LPS i.m. Piglets were weaned at 21 days of age onto a common low-quality plant-based protein diet, and one week after weaning, four piglets per sow were administered 40 ​μg/kg LPS i.m. Two hours later, the piglets were euthanized to obtain adrenal tissue, and total RNA was extracted to carry out transcriptome analysis using the Affymetrix GeneChip WT Plus assay and subsequent validation by real-time PCR. Analysis revealed that adrenal steroidogenesis, fatty acid metabolism and immune function were significantly influenced by maternal diet and stress. Increased expression of immune-related genes including lymphocyte antigen 96, TLR-2 and NF-κB suggests that maternal AL supplementation may increase offspring sensitivity to inflammation after weaning. Decreased expression of lymphocyte antigen 96 in male offspring from sows receiving maternal LPS challenge also suggests a possible role of maternal stress in diminishing the offspring immune response to immune stress challenge. Increased expression of the genes encoding the 11BHSD2 enzyme in offspring from sows fed FO may also reduce the magnitude of the stress response. These data provide insight to the immune and metabolic mechanisms that may be influenced by maternal diet and stress.

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Expression of adrenal steroidogenesis genes were influenced by maternal treatment.

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Expression of lipid metabolism genes and immune function genes were enriched.

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Maternal algae supplementation may increase offspring sensitivity to inflammation.

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Maternal stress may reduce the offspring immune response to immune challenges.

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Maternal fish oil supplementation may reduce the offspring stress response.

Higher dose of resveratrol elevated cardiovascular disease risk biomarker levels in overweight older adults - A pilot study

Older adults are at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD). Pre-clinical studies indicate that resveratrol (RSV), a polyphenol commonly found in grapes and red wine, may help prevent development of CVD. Based on our previous reports where the 300 mg and 1000 mg doses appeared safe and improved psychomotor function in a dose-dependent manner, our hypothesis was that RSV would reduce biomarkers of CVD risk in overweight, but otherwise healthy older adults and that 1000 mg would lower CVD biomarkers >300 mg. This analysis was performed on samples from older participants (65 years and older) who were randomized to a 90 day RSV treatment with 300 mg (n = 10), 1000 mg (n = 9) or placebo (n = 10). We measured levels of CVD risk biomarkers i.e. oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL), soluble E-selectin-1 (sE-selectin), soluble Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 (sICAM-1), Soluble Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 (sVCAM-1), total plasminogen activator inhibitor (tPAI-1). Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Both sVCAM-1 and tPAI increased significantly more in the 1000 mg vs. 300 mg and placebo groups. Other biomarkers (300 mg vs. 1000 mg vs. placebo: oxLDL, sEselectin-1 and sICAM-1) followed the same trend toward higher levels in the 1000 mg group compared to the 300 mg and placebo groups, without reaching statistical significance. This pilot project suggests that a higher dose of RSV may increase the levels of CVD risk biomarkers in overweight older adults. Given no change in the CVD risk biomarkers in response to a lower dose, future studies should test the effects of different doses of RSV to evaluate potential detrimental effects of higher doses on CVD biomarkers and measures of cardiovascular function in older adults at risk for CVD.

Boson Sampling with 20 Input Photons and a 60-Mode Interferometer in a 10^{14}-Dimensional Hilbert Space

Quantum computing experiments are moving into a new realm of increasing size and complexity, with the short-term goal of demonstrating an advantage over classical computers. Boson sampling is a promising platform for such a goal; however, the number of detected single photons is up to five so far, limiting these small-scale implementations to a proof-of-principle stage. Here, we develop solid-state sources of highly efficient, pure, and indistinguishable single photons and 3D integration of ultralow-loss optical circuits. We perform experiments with 20 pure single photons fed into a 60-mode interferometer. In the output, we detect up to 14 photons and sample over Hilbert spaces with a size up to 3.7×10^{14}, over 10 orders of magnitude larger than all previous experiments, which for the first time enters into a genuine sampling regime where it becomes impossible to exhaust all possible output combinations. The results are validated against distinguishable samplers and uniform samplers with a confidence level of 99.9%.

Synchronous crop failures and climate-forced production variability

Large-scale modes of climate variability can force widespread crop yield anomalies and are therefore often presented as a risk to food security. We quantify how modes of climate variability contribute to crop production variance. We find that the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), tropical Atlantic variability (TAV), and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) together account for 18, 7, and 6% of globally aggregated maize, soybean, and wheat production variability, respectively. The lower fractions of global-scale soybean and wheat production variability result from substantial but offsetting climate-forced production anomalies. All climate modes are important in at least one region studied. In 1983, ENSO, the only mode capable of forcing globally synchronous crop failures, was responsible for the largest synchronous crop failure in the modern historical record. Our results provide the basis for monitoring, and potentially predicting, simultaneous crop failures.

Satellite sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence detects early response of winter wheat to heat stress in the Indian Indo-Gangetic Plains

Extremely high temperatures represent one of the most severe abiotic stresses limiting crop productivity. However, understanding crop responses to heat stress is still limited considering the increases in both the frequency and severity of heat wave events under climate change. This limited understanding is partly due to the lack of studies or tools for the timely and accurate monitoring of crop responses to extreme heat over broad spatial scales. In this work, we use novel spaceborne data of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), which is a new proxy for photosynthetic activity, along with traditional vegetation indices (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index NDVI and Enhanced Vegetation Index EVI) to investigate the impacts of heat stress on winter wheat in northwestern India, one of the world's major wheat production areas. In 2010, an abrupt rise in temperature that began in March adversely affected the productivity of wheat and caused yield losses of 6% compared to previous year. The yield predicted by satellite observations of SIF decreased by approximately 13.9%, compared to the 1.2% and 0.4% changes in NDVI and EVI, respectively. During early stage of this heat wave event in early March 2010, the SIF observations showed a significant reduction and earlier response, while NDVI and EVI showed no changes and could not capture the heat stress until late March. The spatial patterns of SIF anomalies closely tracked the temporal evolution of the heat stress over the study area. Furthermore, our results show that SIF can provide large-scale, physiology-related wheat stress response as indicated by the larger reduction in fluorescence yield (SIF_yield ) than fraction of photosynthetically active radiation during the grain-filling phase, which may have eventually led to the reduction in wheat yield in 2010. This study implies that satellite observations of SIF have great potential to detect heat stress conditions in wheat in a timely manner and assess their impacts on wheat yields at large scales.

Symmetry-Breaking Assisted Landau-Zener Transitions in Rydberg Atoms

We report the observation of a controlled Landau-Zener transition (LZT) in Rydberg atoms by breaking the symmetry of the underlying Hamiltonian. For a nonhydrogenic Rydberg atom inside a changing electric (F) field, a LZT occurs between the avoided crossing energy levels of neighboring Rydberg states only for a sufficiently high changing rate. If a transverse magnetic (B) field is applied as we implement, the atomic level symmetry is broken, which causes the Stark manifolds denoted by a different |m| (m is the magnetic quantum number) to interact with each other. The mixed state levels end up pushing the adiabatically repelled target states closer and additionally they serve as stepping stones for the sequential LZTs between the neighboring sublevels. Such a feature significantly decreases the changing rate required for an efficient LZT inside a pure electric field. We report experimental observations that support the above scenario. It opens a versatile approach for engineering a controlled LZT in more general systems.

Electronic properties and structure of single crystal perylene

The transport properties of electronic devices made from single crystalline molecular semiconductors typically outperform those composed of thin-films of the same material. To further understand the superiority of these extrinsic device properties, an understanding of the intrinsic electronic structure and properties of the organic semiconductor is necessary. An investigation of the electronic structure and properties of single crystal α-phase perylene (C₂₀H₁₂), a five-ringed aromatic molecule, is presented using angle-resolved ultraviolet photoemission, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and field-effect transistor measurements. Key aspects of the electronic structure of single crystal α-perylene critical to charge transport are determined, including the energetic location of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO), the HOMO bandwidth, and surface work function. In addition, using high resolution XPS, we can distinguish between inequivalent carbon atoms within the perylene crystal and, from the shake-up satellite structure in XPS, gain insight into the intramolecular properties in α-perylene. From the device measurements, the charge carrier mobility of α-perylene is found to depend on the device structure and the choice of dielectric, with values in the range of 10^-3 cm² V^-1 s^-1.

A Synergy Cropland of China by Fusing Multiple Existing Maps and Statistics

Accurate information on cropland extent is critical for scientific research and resource management. Several cropland products from remotely sensed datasets are available. Nevertheless, significant inconsistency exists among these products and the cropland areas estimated from these products differ considerably from statistics. In this study, we propose a hierarchical optimization synergy approach (HOSA) to develop a hybrid cropland map of China, circa 2010, by fusing five existing cropland products, i.e., GlobeLand30, Climate Change Initiative Land Cover (CCI-LC), GlobCover 2009, MODIS Collection 5 (MODIS C5), and MODIS Cropland, and sub-national statistics of cropland area. HOSA simplifies the widely used method of score assignment into two steps, including determination of optimal agreement level and identification of the best product combination. The accuracy assessment indicates that the synergy map has higher accuracy of spatial locations and better consistency with statistics than the five existing datasets individually. This suggests that the synergy approach can improve the accuracy of cropland mapping and enhance consistency with statistics.

Microfluidic co-culture platform for investigating osteocyte-osteoclast signalling during fluid shear stress mechanostimulation

Bone cells exist in a complex environment where they are constantly exposed to numerous dynamic biochemical and mechanical stimuli. These stimuli regulate bone cells that are involved in various bone disorders, such as osteoporosis. Knowledge of how these stimuli affect bone cells have been utilised to develop various treatments, such as pharmaceuticals, hormone therapy, and exercise. To investigate the role that bone loading has on these disorders in vitro, bone cell mechanotransduction studies are typically performed using parallel plate flow chambers (PPFC). However, these chambers do not allow for dynamic cellular interactions among different cell populations to be investigated. We present a microfluidic approach that exposes different cell populations, which are located at physiologically relevant distances within adjacent channels, to different levels of fluid shear stress, and promotes cell-cell communication between the different channels. We employed this microfluidic system to assess mechanically regulated osteocyte-osteoclast communication. Osteoclast precursors (RAW264.7 cells) responded to cytokine gradients (e.g., RANKL, OPG, PGE-2) developed by both mechanically stimulated (fOCY) and unstimulated (nOCY) osteocyte-like MLO-Y4 cells simultaneously. Specifically, we observed increased osteoclast precursor cell densities and osteoclast differentiation towards nOCY. We also used this system to show an increased mechanoresponse of osteocytes when in co-culture with osteoclasts. We envision broad applicability of the presented approach for microfluidic perfusion co-culture of multiple cell types in the presence of fluid flow stimulation, and as a tool to investigate osteocyte mechanotransduction, as well as bone metastasis extravasation. This system could also be applied to any multi-cell population cross-talk studies that are typically performed using PPFCs (e.g. endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, and fibroblasts).

Harmonic trap resonance enhanced synthetic atomic spin-orbit coupling

Spin-orbit coupling (SOC) plays an essential role in many exotic and interesting phenomena in condensed matter physics. In neutral-atom-based quantum simulations, synthetic SOC constitutes a key enabling element. The strength of SOC realized so far is limited by various reasons or constraints. This work reports tunable SOC synthesized with a gradient magnetic field (GMF) for atoms in a harmonic trap. Nearly ten-fold enhancement is observed when the GMF is modulated near the harmonic-trap resonance in comparison with the free-space situation. A theory is developed that well explains the experimental results. Our work offers a clear physical insight into and analytical understanding of how to tune the strength of atomic SOC synthesized with GMF using harmonic trap resonance.

Direct regeneration of cathode materials from spent lithium iron phosphate batteries using a solid phase sintering method

A direct regeneration of cathode materials from spent LiFePO₄ batteries using a solid phase sintering method has been proposed in this article.

CELL5M: A geospatial database of agricultural indicators for Africa South of the Sahara

Recent progress in large-scale georeferenced data collection is widening opportunities for combining multi-disciplinary datasets from biophysical to socioeconomic domains, advancing our analytical and modeling capacity. Granular spatial datasets provide critical information necessary for decision makers to identify target areas, assess baseline conditions, prioritize investment options, set goals and targets and monitor impacts. However, key challenges in reconciling data across themes, scales and borders restrict our capacity to produce global and regional maps and time series. This paper provides overview, structure and coverage of CELL5M—an open-access database of geospatial indicators at 5 arc-minute grid resolution—and introduces a range of analytical applications and case-uses. CELL5M covers a wide set of agriculture-relevant domains for all countries in Africa South of the Sahara and supports our understanding of multi-dimensional spatial variability inherent in farming landscapes throughout the region.

Cadmium sulphide quantum dots with tunable electronic properties by bacterial precipitation

We present a new method to fabricate semiconducting, transition metal nanoparticles (NPs) with tunable bandgap energies using engineered Escherichia coli. These bacteria overexpress the Treponema denticola cysteine desulfhydrase gene to facilitate precipitation of cadmium sulphide (CdS) NPs. Analysis with transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveal that the bacterially precipitated NPs are agglomerates of mostly quantum dots, with diameters that can range from 3 to 15 nm, embedded in a carbon-rich matrix. Additionally, conditions for bacterial CdS precipitation can be tuned to produce NPs with bandgap energies that range from quantum-confined to bulk CdS. Furthermore, inducing precipitation at different stages of bacterial growth allows for control over whether the precipitation occurs intra- or extracellularly. This control can be critically important in utilizing bacterial precipitation for the environmentally-friendly fabrication of functional, electronic and catalytic materials. Notably, the measured photoelectrochemical current generated by these NPs is comparable to values reported in the literature and higher than that of synthesized chemical bath deposited CdS NPs. This suggests that bacterially precipitated CdS NPs have potential for applications ranging from photovoltaics to photocatalysis in hydrogen evolution.

Patterns of Cereal Yield Growth across China from 1980 to 2010 and Their Implications for Food Production and Food Security

After a remarkable 86% increase in cereal production from 1980 to 2005, recent crop yield growth in China has been slow. County level crop production data between 1980 and 2010 from eastern and middle China were used to analyze spatial and temporal patterns of rice, wheat and maize yield in five major farming systems that include around 90% of China's cereal production. Site-specific yield trends were assessed in areas where those crops have experienced increasing yield or where yields have stagnated or declined. We find that rice yields have continued to increase on over 12.3 million hectares (m. ha) or 41.8% of the rice area in China between 1980 and 2010. However, yields stagnated on 50% of the rice area (around 14.7 m. ha) over this time period. Wheat yields increased on 13.8 m. ha (58.2% of the total harvest area), but stagnated on around 3.8 m. ha (15.8% of the harvest area). Yields increased on a smaller proportion of the maize area (17.7% of harvest area, 5.3 m. ha), while yields have stagnated on over 54% (16.3 m. ha). Many parts of the lowland rice and upland intensive sub-tropical farming systems were more prone to stagnation with rice, the upland intensive sub-tropical system with wheat, and maize in the temperate mixed system. Large areas where wheat yield continues to rise were found in the lowland rice and temperate mixed systems. Land and water constraints, climate variability, and other environmental limitations undermine increased crop yield and agricultural productivity in these systems and threaten future food security. Technology and policy innovations must be implemented to promote crop yields and the sustainable use of agricultural resources to maintain food security in China. In many production regions it is possible to better match the crop with input resources to raise crop yields and benefits. Investments may be especially useful to intensify production in areas where yields continue to improve. For example, increased support to maize production in southern China, where yields are still rising, seems justified.

Selecting optimal surgical procedures for intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN): An analysis based on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Result registry database

INTRODUCTION

Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (IPMN) is a field defect disease of pancreas that has malignant potential. Many studies have recommended surgery as the preferred treatment. We investigated whether a total pancreatectomy (TP) can improve patient prognosis compared to a pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) and the indications for each approach.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We obtained data of 548 malignant IPMN patients who underwent either a TP or a PD from SEER database. The survival rates were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and a Cox regression model. Cases were subdivided to investigate the advantages of each procedure.

RESULTS

The surgical procedures (PD and TP) did not significantly affect either cancer-specific survival (CSS) times or overall survival (OS) times in both Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression (Kaplan-Meier: PCSS = 0.919, POS = 0.996; Cox: PCSS = 0.735, POS = 0.820). In the subgroup analyses, patients in stage T4 and AJCC stage III in the TP group had a longer survival time than did those in the PD group (33 months vs 14 months), but not significant (T4: PCSS = 0.124, AJCC III: PCSS = 0.102). In addition, PD had the trend to be better for poorly differentiated patients (Pos = 0.055) and older patients.

CONCLUSION

TP did not offer any significant OS and CSS benefits as compared to PD. However, for patients in stage T4 and AJCC stage III, TP may extend survival time in some degree. In older or histologically poorly differentiated patients, PD may be preferable to TP. The results are rational, but still warrant further verification due to limited sample volumes of specific subgroups.

Generating Plausible Crop Distribution Maps for Sub-Saharan Africa Using a Spatial Allocation Model

Agricultural production statistics are fundamental parameters for agriculture policy research. Information on acreage and yields of important crops is critical for understanding trends within what is the most important economic sector of many developing countries. Sub-national data — i.e. data organized by administrative units such as regions or districts — enable the analysis of patterns within countries that may highlight important policy issues, such as the need to allocate resources to underproductive areas. However, collecting sub-national data is difficult for developing countries with limited resources. Even with great effort, and often only on broad regional scales, enormous data gaps exist and are unlikely to be filled. As a result, information is often only available at national or very broad sub-national levels (such as provinces). Such geographically coarse data are unable to reflect important variations within countries and are insufficient for the spatial analysis of production patterns and trends. To fill these spatial data gaps we developed a model to disaggregate production data from coarser to finer spatial units. Using a cross-entropy approach, our spatial allocation model attempts to make plausible allocations of crop production from large reporting units such as a country or state, into smaller spatial units organized as cells of a regularly-spaced grid. In addition to more detailed information, the organization of production information in geographic grids allows for greater analytical possibilities through geographic information systems. The allocation model works on the basis of available evidence of mapped indicators of agricultural production, which include farming systems, land cover, crop biophysical suitability surfaces, commodity prices and local market access. This article describes the generation of crop distribution maps for Sub-Saharan Africa for the year 2000 using the spatial allocation model and discusses the importance of such maps for development analysis and planning.

Tunable atomic spin-orbit coupling synthesized with a modulating gradient magnetic field

We report the observation of synthesized spin-orbit coupling (SOC) for ultracold spin-1 ⁸⁷Rb atoms. Different from earlier experiments where a one dimensional (1D) atomic SOC of pseudo-spin-1/2 is synthesized with Raman laser fields, the scheme we demonstrate employs a gradient magnetic field (GMF) and ground-state atoms, thus is immune to atomic spontaneous emission. The strength of SOC we realize can be tuned by changing the modulation amplitude of the GMF, and the effect of the SOC is confirmed through the studies of: 1) the collective dipole oscillation of an atomic condensate in a harmonic trap after the synthesized SOC is abruptly turned on; and 2) the minimum energy state at a finite adiabatically adjusted momentum when SOC strength is slowly ramped up. The condensate coherence is found to remain very good after driven by modulating GMFs. Our scheme presents an alternative means for studying interacting many-body systems with synthesized SOC.

Modeling for regional ecosystem sustainable development under uncertainty--A case study of Dongying, China

In this study, a superiority-inferiority two-stage stochastic programming (STSP) method is developed for planning regional ecosystem sustainable development. STSP can tackle uncertainties expressed as fuzzy sets and probability distributions; it can be used to analyze various policy scenarios that are associated with different levels of economic penalties when the promised targets are violated. STSP is applied to a real case of planning regional ecosystem sustainable development in the City of Dongying, where ecosystem services valuation approaches are incorporated within the optimization process. Regional ecosystem can provide direct and indirect services and intangible benefits to local economy. Land trading mechanism is introduced for planning the regional ecosystem's sustainable development, where wetlands are buyers who would protect regional ecosystem components and self-organization and maintain its integrity. Results of regional ecosystem activities, land use patterns, and land trading schemes have been obtained. Results reveal that, although large-scale reclamation projects can bring benefits to the local economy development, they can also bring with negative effects to the coastal ecosystem; among all industry activities oil field is the major contributor with a large number of pollutant discharges into local ecosystem. Results also show that uncertainty has an important role in successfully launching such a land trading program and trading scheme can provide more effective manner to sustain the regional ecosystem. The findings can help decision makers to realize the sustainable development of ecological resources in the process of rapid industrialization, as well as the integration of economic and ecological benefits.

Efficacy and Safety of Bromocriptine-QR in Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Bromocriptine-QR (quick release) is a novel treatment for type 2 diabetes. The objective of this study is to assess the efficacy and safety of bromocriptine-QR in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus based on randomized controlled trials published in peer-reviewed journals or as abstracts. We performed a comprehensive literature search of MEDLINE, Pubmed, Web of Science, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library up to May 2015. Randomized controlled trials of bromocriptine-QR therapy in type 2 diabetes mellitus were eligible. Two reviewers independently assessed the eligibility of trials based on predefined inclusion criteria. Information was collected concerning basic study data, patient characteristics, efficacy and safety outcomes, and methodological quality. Bromocriptine-QR add-on therapy lowered hemoglobin A1c compared with placebo (weighted mean difference, - 6.52 mmol/mol; 95% CI, - 8.07 to - 4.97 mmol/mol). Bromocriptine-QR exhibited an increase in achieving an HbA1c level ≤ 53 mmol/mol (≤ 7.0%) (32.0 vs. 9.5%; odds ratio, 4.57; 95% CI, 2.42-8.62). Fasting plasma glucose was reduced with bromocriptine-QR compared with placebo (weighted mean difference,-1.04 mmol/l; 95% CI,-1.49 to-0.59 mmol/l). Moreover, bromocriptine-QR had neutral effects on postprandial glycemia, Body Mass Index (BMI), and lipid profile. Bromocriptine-QR had more gastrointestinal side effects of nausea and vomiting. Bromocriptine-QR had no increased risk of hypoglycemia, hypotension, or cardiovascular effects. Bromocriptine-QR therapy offers an alternative option to currently available antidiabetic agents for type 2 diabetes mellitus adults. Neither hypoglycemia nor other metabolic changes occur with this drug. More data for long-term efficacy and safety are needed for further observation.

Alendronate sodium/vitamin D3 combination tablet versus calcitriol for osteoporosis in Chinese postmenopausal women: a 6-month, randomized, open-label, active-comparator-controlled study with a 6-month extension

This study compares efficacy of ALN/D5600 versus that of calcitriol in osteoporotic Chinese postmenopausal women. ALN/D5600 produced greater bone mineral density (BMD) increases, greater bone turnover marker decreases, and less vitamin D insufficiency. This study provided detailed clinical information regarding ALN/D5600 treatment versus calcitriol 0.25 μg/day. The study did not evaluate fracture risk.

INTRODUCTION

The aim of this study is to investigate efficacy of alendronate 70 mg/vitamin D3 5600 IU combination tablets (ALN/D5600) versus calcitriol in osteoporotic Chinese postmenopausal women.

METHODS

This study is a 6-month, randomized, open-label, active-comparator study with 6-month extension (clinicaltrials.gov number NCT01350934) in postmenopausal women aged >55 years with osteoporosis (low bone mineral density (BMD) with/without prior fragility fracture). Patients were randomized to ALN/D5600 once weekly or calcitriol 0.25 μg daily. The primary efficacy end point of the base study was percent change from baseline in lumbar spine BMD (month 6). Hypercalcemia and hypercalciuria were safety events of special interest.

RESULTS

A total of 219 patients (ALN/D5600 n = 111, calcitriol n = 108) were randomized. Baseline characteristics were similar, 30.3 % baseline 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) ≤15 ng/mL. At months 6 and 12, changes in lumbar spine BMD from baseline were 3.5 versus 1.6 % and 5.2 versus 2.3 % for ALN/D5600 versus calcitriol (between-group differences p < 0.001), respectively. Between-group differences for ALN/D5600 versus calcitriol were significant (p < 0.001) at months 6 and 12 for change from baseline in procollagen type 1 N-terminal propeptide (-59.1 versus -16.8 %, -68.1 versus -17.0 %) and serum C-telopeptides (-79.2 versus -27.2 %, -76.2 versus -24.2 %). Drug-related adverse events (AEs) and discontinuations due to drug-related AEs occurred in 15 (14.0 %) versus 8 (7.4 %) patients and 3 (2.8 %) versus 0 patients in the ALN/D5600 and calcitriol group, respectively. Hypercalciuria 12-month incidence (24-h urine Ca >300 mg) was 8.4 (ALN/D5600) versus 13.9 % (calcitriol) (p > 0.05). One patient (calcitriol) had hypercalcemia.

CONCLUSIONS

ALN/D5600 produced greater increases in lumbar spine BMD and greater decreases in bone turnover markers versus calcitriol in osteoporotic Chinese women. It is not known whether the greater increase in BMD results in fewer fractures. ALN/D5600 was generally well tolerated in Chinese patients.

Application of a High-Throughput Enantiomeric Excess Optical Assay Involving a Dynamic Covalent Assembly: Parallel Asymmetric Allylation and Ee Sensing of Homoallylic Alcohols

Parallel synthesis and high-throughput ee screening.

Asymmetric Ir-catalyzed C–C coupling of primary alcohols with allyl-acetates, as described by Krische, to form chiral secondary homo-allylic alcohols were performed in parallel as a means to optimize the ee values thereof. Specifically, approximately 400 examples of this reaction were performed by varying the catalyst, added acids and bases, and starting reactants, to form 4-phenyl-1-butene-4-ol (1). The ee values for the transformations were determined in a high-throughput fashion using a 4-component assembly that creates a circular dichroism signal indicative of the extent of asymmetric induction. Further, a parallel and rapid quantitative TLC method measures the yield of each reaction, revealing which reactions give reliable ee values in the CD-based assay. Overall, the nearly 200 reactions whose ee values were determined could be quantitated in under two hours. Using a combination of the TLC method to measure yield with the CD-assay to measure ee values, several trends in reaction conditions were revealed. For example, it was found that the cyclometalated iridium catalyst modified by BINAP and m-nitro-p-cyano-benzoic acid delivered adduct 1 with the highest levels of enantiomeric enrichment (94%), whereas the corresponding SEGPHOS-modified catalyst gave a comparable yield but lower ee (91%). Most importantly, this study shows that supramolecular assemblies can report hundreds of ee values in a rapid and reliable fashion to analyze parallel synthesis routines.

Mapping global cropland and field size

A new 1 km global IIASA-IFPRI cropland percentage map for the baseline year 2005 has been developed which integrates a number of individual cropland maps at global to regional to national scales. The individual map products include existing global land cover maps such as GlobCover 2005 and MODIS v.5, regional maps such as AFRICOVER and national maps from mapping agencies and other organizations. The different products are ranked at the national level using crowdsourced data from Geo-Wiki to create a map that reflects the likelihood of cropland. Calibration with national and subnational crop statistics was then undertaken to distribute the cropland within each country and subnational unit. The new IIASA-IFPRI cropland product has been validated using very high-resolution satellite imagery via Geo-Wiki and has an overall accuracy of 82.4%. It has also been compared with the EarthStat cropland product and shows a lower root mean square error on an independent data set collected from Geo-Wiki. The first ever global field size map was produced at the same resolution as the IIASA-IFPRI cropland map based on interpolation of field size data collected via a Geo-Wiki crowdsourcing campaign. A validation exercise of the global field size map revealed satisfactory agreement with control data, particularly given the relatively modest size of the field size data set used to create the map. Both are critical inputs to global agricultural monitoring in the frame of GEOGLAM and will serve the global land modelling and integrated assessment community, in particular for improving land use models that require baseline cropland information. These products are freely available for downloading from the http://cropland.geo-wiki.org website.

Chinese rice production area adaptations to climate changes, 1949-2010

Climate change has great impact on cropping system. Understanding how the rice production system has historically responded to external forces, both natural and anthropogenic, will provide critical insights into how the system is likely to respond in the future. The observed historic rice movement provides insights into the capability of the rice production system to adapt to climate changes. Using province-level rice production data and historic climate records, here we show that the centroid of Chinese rice production shifted northeastward over 370 km (2.98°N in latitude and 1.88°E in longitude) from 1949 to 2010. Using a linear regression model, we examined the driving factors, in particular climate, behind such rice production movement. While the major driving forces of the rice relocation are such social economic factors as urbanization, irrigation investment, and agricultural or land use policy changes, climate plays a significant role as well. We found that temperature has been a significant and coherent influence on moving the rice center in China and precipitation has had a significant but less spatially coherent influence.

MicroRNA-219-5p functions as a tumor suppressor partially by targeting platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha in colorectal cancer

Platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) signaling pathway was involved in the progress of colorectal cancer (CRC). By using the bioinformatic system online, we found that PDGFRα is a potential target of miR-219-5p. However, the expression pattern and underlying mechanisms of miR-219-5p had not been elucidated in CRC. Herein, we first evaluated the expression of miR-219-5p in tumor tissues by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Next, we confirmed that PDGFRα is the target of miR-219-5p by using luciferase report. And then, we investigated the biological functions of miR-219-5p in vitro in cell proliferation and apoptosis as well as cell cycle by gain and loss of function strategies. Data shown that miR-219-5p is down-regulated in CRC tissues compared with the corresponding matched normal tissues. PDGFRα was a direct target of miR-219-5p. Overexpression of miR-219-5p could inhibit cell proliferation, promote cell apoptosis and induce cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase. Furthermore, miR-219-5p suppressed the activation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt signaling pathway and downregulated G1 cell-cycle-related protein cyclin D1, cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4, and CDK6. Taken together, our results demonstrate that miR-219-5p functions as a tumor suppressor partially by targeting PDGFRα in colorectal cancer.

Functional characterization of the vitellogenin promoter in the silkworm, Bombyx mori

Genetic transformation and genome editing technologies have been successfully established in the lepidopteran insect model, the domesticated silkworm, Bombyx mori, providing great potential for functional genomics and practical applications. However, the current lack of cis-regulatory elements in B. mori gene manipulation research limits further exploitation in functional gene analysis. In the present study, we characterized a B. mori endogenous promoter, Bmvgp, which is a 798-bp DNA sequence adjacent to the 5'-end of the vitellogenin gene (Bmvg). PiggyBac-based transgenic analysis shows that Bmvgp precisely directs expression of a reporter gene, enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP), in a sex-, tissue- and stage-specific manner. In transgenic animals, EGFP expression can be detected in the female fat body from larval-pupal ecdysis to the following pupal and adult stage. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo experiments revealed that EGFP expression can be activated by 20-hydroxyecdysone, which is consistent with endogenous Bmvg expression. These data indicate that Bmvgp is an effective endogenous cis-regulatory element in B. mori.

Room-temperature antiferromagnetic memory resistor

The bistability of ordered spin states in ferromagnets provides the basis for magnetic memory functionality. The latest generation of magnetic random access memories rely on an efficient approach in which magnetic fields are replaced by electrical means for writing and reading the information in ferromagnets. This concept may eventually reduce the sensitivity of ferromagnets to magnetic field perturbations to being a weakness for data retention and the ferromagnetic stray fields to an obstacle for high-density memory integration. Here we report a room-temperature bistable antiferromagnetic (AFM) memory that produces negligible stray fields and is insensitive to strong magnetic fields. We use a resistor made of a FeRh AFM, which orders ferromagnetically roughly 100 K above room temperature, and therefore allows us to set different collective directions for the Fe moments by applied magnetic field. On cooling to room temperature, AFM order sets in with the direction of the AFM moments predetermined by the field and moment direction in the high-temperature ferromagnetic state. For electrical reading, we use an AFM analogue of the anisotropic magnetoresistance. Our microscopic theory modelling confirms that this archetypical spintronic effect, discovered more than 150 years ago in ferromagnets, is also present in AFMs. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of fabricating room-temperature spintronic memories with AFMs, which in turn expands the base of available magnetic materials for devices with properties that cannot be achieved with ferromagnets.

Association between ghrelin gene variations, body mass index, and waist-to-hip ratio in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the association between 2 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP501A/C and 604 G/A) in the promoter of the ghrelin gene and the hormonal and metabolic phenotypes of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in a Chinese population.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

285 patients with PCOS and 260 healthy controls were selected for a prospective, case-control study at Shandong Provincial Hospital, Jinan, China. All subjects underwent genotype analysis of the 2 single nucleotide polymorphisms of the ghrelin gene. Measurements were also taken of blood lipids, glucose, and hormone levels, and calculations of body mass index (BMI) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were performed to detect hormonal and metabolic phenotypes.

RESULTS

No significant diff erences in polymorphism genotypes were found between PCOS patients and healthy controls. However, the frequency of the -501 A/C A allele was significantly higher in the PCOS group than in the control group. PCOS -501 A/C A carriers had significantly higher BMI and WHR than PCOS women with the CC genotype. -604 G/A polymorphisms were not associated with clinical or biochemical characteristics of PCOS.

CONCLUSIONS

The -501 A/C polymorphism of the ghrelin gene is associated with metabolic features of PCOS in a Chinese population.

Oncolytic vaccinia virus in combination with radiation shows synergistic antitumor efficacy in pancreatic cancer

Combining oncolytic viruses with conventional therapy such as radiation is an innovative option for pancreatic cancer. We demonstrated that combination of GLV-1h151 and radiation yielded a synergistic cytotoxic effect, with the greatest effect achieved in the AsPC-1cell line. Combination treatment significantly increased apoptosis compared with either single treatment or the control group. In mice bearing human pancreatic tumor xenografts, combination treatment resulted in significantly enhanced inhibition of tumor growth. No evidence of toxicity was observed in mice. These results indicate that the combination of GLV-1h151 and radiation has great potential for translation into clinic practice.