ALBERT

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yanjie Hou, Tian Gong, Jiangtao Zhang, Xi Yang, Yurong Guo〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The thinned-young apple polysaccharides from three varieties were obtained by hot water extraction at 88 ̊C for 120 min. The compositional monosaccharides of the three polysaccharides were shown to be the same (xylose, mannose, galactose and glucose) and the molecular weights of the polysaccharides were in the range of 200–300 kDa. Compared with “Qinyang” and “Pinklady”, the polysaccharide from “Jinshiji” had the highest emulsifying capacity. Moreover, the variations in pH and cation ion concentrations had also a significant effect on the emulsifying properties of the extracted polysaccharides. At pH 2.0–4.0, the prepared emulsion had smaller droplet sizes than at higher pH values. Although the emulsion was stable at low concentrations of Na〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 and Ca〈sup〉2+〈/sup〉 ions, high concentrations of Na〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 and Ca〈sup〉2+〈/sup〉 led to significant destabilization of the emulsion. Conclusively, our results demonstrated the potential application of thinned-young apple polysaccharide as a natural polysaccharide emulsifying agent.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Shuangdong Chen, Yixiao Gu, Qinxue Dai, Yanshu He, Junlu Wang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Sirtuin1 (SIRT1), which is regulated by microRNA-34a (miR-34a), can modulate pathophysiology processes, including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and intestinal ischemia/reperfusion injury. We previously reported that SIRT1, an NAD〈sup〉+〈/sup〉-dependent deacetylase, plays a vital role in the development of neuropathic pain. However, the role of miR-34a/SIRT1 in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced inflammatory pain remains unclear. In the present study, we examined miR-34a and SIRT1 in CFA mice. MiR-34a levels increased, while SIRT1 decreased in the spinal cord. Inhibiting miR-34a by intrathecal injection of miR-34a antagomir attenuated CFA-induced pain behavior. Moreover, miR-34a antagomir inhibited the CFA-induced SIRT1 decrease in the spinal cord. Furthermore, the analgesic effect of miR-34a antagomir was abrogated by the SIRT1 inhibitor EX-527. Our data provide support that the underlying mechanisms of miR-34a in promoting inflammatory pain may involve negative regulation of SIRT1.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Lifang Cui, He Zhao, Yujun Yin, Chao Liang, Xiaolong Mao, Yingzheng Liu, Qilin Yu, Mingchun Li〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈em〉Candida albicans〈/em〉 is an important opportunistic pathogenic fungus in the human body. It is a common microbe inhabiting on the mucosa surfaces of healthy individuals, but may cause infections when the host immune system is weak. Autophagy is a “self-eating” process in eukaryotes, which can recover and utilize damaged organelles and misfolded proteins. Here we investigated the role of the autophagy-related protein Atg11 in 〈em〉C. albicans〈/em〉. Deletion of 〈em〉ATG11〈/em〉 led to the defect in growth under the nitrogen starvation condition. Western blotting and GFP localization further revealed that the transport and degradation of Atg8 was blocked in the 〈em〉atg11〈/em〉Δ/Δ mutant under both the nitrogen starvation and hypha-inducing conditions. Moreover, degradation of both Lap41 (the indicator of the cytoplasm-to-vacuole pathway) and Csp37 (the indicator of mitophagy) was also thoroughly suppressed in this mutant under nitrogen starvation. These results indicated that Atg11 plays an essential role in both non-selective and selective autophagy in 〈em〉C. albicans〈/em〉.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yi-meng Cao, Meng-yu Liu, Zhuo-wei Xue, Yu Qiu, Jie Li, Yang Wang, Qing-kai Wu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Promotion of wound healing is one of the most important fields in clinical medical research. This study aimed to evaluate the potential use of a new surface-structured bacterial cellulose(S-BC) biomaterial with human urine-derived stem cells (hUSCs) for wound healing. In vitro, EA.hy926 were inoculated on structured/non-structured bacterial cellulose, and the growth of EA.hy926 on bacterial cellulose in medium with/without conditioned medium of the hUSCs were observed to explore the effect of bacterial cellulose's surface structure and hUSCs-CM on vascular endothelial cell growth. In vivo, we covered wound surface with various BC materials and/or injected the hUSCs into the wound site on group BC, group S-BC, group hUSCs, group BC + hUSCs, group S-BC + hUSCs to evaluate the effect of S-BC and hUSCs on wound healing in rat full-thickness skin defect model. In vitro study, surface structure of S-BC could promote the growth and survival of EA.hy926, and the hUSCs-CM could further promote the proliferation of EA.hy926 on S-BC. In vivo study, wound healing rate of the group BC, group S-BC, group hUSCs was significantly accelerated, accompanied by faster re-epithelialization, collagen production and neovascularization than control group. It is note worthy that the effect of S-BC on wound healing was better than BC, the effect of S-BC + hUSCs on wound healing was better than BC + hUSCs. Moreover, the effect of S-BC combined with hUSCs on wound is better than treated with S-BC or hUSCs alone. All the findings suggest that the combination of S-BC and hUSCs could facilitate skin wound healing by promoting angiogenesis. This combination of the role of stem cells and biomaterial surface structures may provide a new way to address clinical wound healing problems.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Naohiro Katagiri, Satoru Nagatoishi, Kouhei Tsumoto, Hideya Endo〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Methionine aminopeptidase 2 (MetAP2) is one of the effector proteins of S100A4, a metastasis-associated calcium-binding protein. This interaction is involved in angiogenesis. The region of MetAP2 that interacts with S100A4 includes amino acids 170 to 208. A peptide corresponding to this region, named as NBD, has potent anti-angiogenic activity and suppresses tumor growth in a xenograft cancer model. However, the binding mode of NBD to S100A4 was totally unknown. Here we describe our analysis of the relationship between the inhibitory activity and the structure of NBD, which adopts a characteristic helix-turn-helix structure as shown by X-ray crystallographic analysis, and peptide fragments of NBD. We conducted physicochemical analyses of the interaction between S100A4 and the peptides, including surface plasmon resonance, microscale thermophoresis, and circular dichroism, and performed docking/molecular dynamics simulations. Active peptides had stable secondary structures, whereas inactive peptides had a little secondary structure. A computational analysis of the interaction mechanism led to the design of a peptide smaller than NBD, NBD-ΔN10, that possessed inhibitory activity. Our study provides a strategy for design for a specific peptide inhibitor against S100A4 that can be applied to the discovery of inhibitors of other protein-protein interactions.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xue Mei Li, Soo Jung Kim, Dong-Kyun Hong, Kyoung Eun Jung, Chong Won Choi, Young-Joon Seo, Jeung-Hoon Lee, Young Lee, Chang-Deok Kim〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF4) is a zinc-finger transcription factor that plays a role in terminal differentiation of epidermal keratinocytes. There are conflicting reports regarding the role of KLF4 in tumor development, with both the tumor suppressive and/or oncogenic properties depending on different conditions and cell types. In this study, we investigated the functional importance of KLF4 in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Immunohistochemistry showed that KLF4 expression was relatively low in SCC lesion compared to normal epidermis. To examine the effects of KFL4, we transduced SCC lines (SCC12 and SCC13 cells) with the KLF4-expressing recombinant adenovirus. Overexpression of KLF4 significantly decreased cell proliferation and colony forming activity. In addition, overexpression of KLF4 markedly reduced invasive potential, along with the downregulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related molecules. In a mechanistic study, KLF4 inhibited SOX2, of which expression is critical for tumor initiation and growth of SCC. Further investigations indicated that SOX2 expression is induced by TGF-β/SMAD signaling, and that overexpression of KLF4 inhibited SMAD signaling via upregulation of SMAD7, an important inhibitory SMAD molecule. Based on these data, KLF4 plays a tumor suppressive role in cutaneous SCC cells.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yan Shen, Shengnan Chen, Yan Zhao〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Hyperglycemia-induced podocyte injury plays a vital role in the development of diabetic nephropathy. Sulfiredoxin-1 (Srxn1) is emerging as a cytoprotective protein that protects from various insults in a wide range of cell types. However, whether Srxn1 is involved in regulating hyperglycemia-induced podocyte injury and participates in diabetic nephropathy remains unknown. In the present study, we aimed to explore the potential role of Srxn1 in regulating high glucose (HG)-induced apoptosis and oxidative stress of podocytes 〈em〉in vitro〈/em〉. Results demonstrated that Srxn1 was induced in HG-stimulated podocytes. The depletion of Srxn1 by Srxn1 siRNA-mediated gene silencing significantly exacerbated HG-induced apoptosis and the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), while Srxn1 overexpression attenuated HG-induced apoptosis and ROS production. In-depth molecular mechanism research revealed that Srxn1 overexpression promoted the nuclear expression of nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) and reinforced antioxidant response element (ARE)-mediated transcription activity. Moreover, results confirmed that Srxn1 increased the activation of Nrf2/ARE signaling associated with inactivating glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3β. Notably, the inhibition of GSK-3β significantly reversed Srxn1 silencing-induced adverse effects in HG-treated cells, while the knockdown of Nrf2 abrogated the Srxn1-mediated protective effect against HG-induced podocyte injury. Taken together, our results demonstrated that Srxn1 protects podocytes from HG-induced injury by promoting the activation of Nrf2/ARE signaling associated with inactivating GSK-3β, indicating a potential role of Srxn1 in diabetic nephropathy. Our study suggests that Srxn1 may serve as a potential target for kidney protection.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0006291X19313178-fx1.jpg" width="398" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yu-Lun Huang, Gota Kawai, Atsuhiko Hasegawa, Mari Kannagi, Takao Masuda〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Reverse transcription of retroviral RNA is accomplished through a minus-strand strong stop cDNA (-sscDNA) synthesis and subsequent strand-transfer reactions. We have previously reported a critical role of guanosine (G) number at 5′-terminal of HIV-1 RNA for successful strand-transfer of -sscDNA. In this study, role(s) of the cap consisting of 7-methyl guanosine (〈sup〉7m〈/sup〉G), a hallmark of transcripts generated by RNA polymerase II, at the 5′-end G nucleotide (5′-G) of HIV-1 RNA were examined. In parallel, contribution of highly conserved GGG tract located at the U3/R boundary in 3′ terminal region of viral RNA (3′-GGG tract) was also addressed. The in vitro reverse transcription analysis using synthetic HIV-1 RNAs possessing the 5′-G with cap or triphosphate form demonstrated that the 5′-cap significantly increased strand-transfer efficiency of -sscDNA. Meanwhile, effect of the 5′-cap on the strand-transfer was retained in the reaction using mutant HIV-1 RNAs in which two Gs were deleted from the 3′-GGG tract. Lack of apparent contribution of the 3′-GGG tract during strand-transfer events in vitro was reproduced in the context of HIV-1 replication within cells. Instead, we noticed that the 3′-GGG tract might be required for efficient gene expression from proviral DNA. These results indicated that 〈sup〉7m〈/sup〉G of the cap on HIV-1 RNA might not be reverse-transcribed and a possible role of the 3′-GGG tract to accept the non-template nucleotide addition during -sscDNA synthesis might be less likely. The 5′-G modifications of HIV-1 RNAs by the cap- or phosphate-removal enzyme revealed that the cap or monophosphate form of the 5′-G was preferred for the 1st strand-transfer compared to the triphosphate or non-phosphate form. Taken together, a status of the 5′-G determined strand-transfer efficiency of -sscDNA without affecting the non-template nucleotide addition, probably by affecting association of the 5′-G with 3′-end region of viral RNA.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0006291X19312926-fx1.jpg" width="307" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xiong Wang, Huishou Zhao, Wenjun Yan, Yi Liu, Tao Yin, Shan Wang, Miaomiao Fan, Congye Li, Ling Zhang, Ling Tao〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Atherosclerosis is characterized by the accumulation of excess cholesterol in plaques. Reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) plays a key role in the removal of cholesterol. In the present study, we examined the effect of thioredoxin-1 (Trx-1) on RCT and explored the underlying mechanism. We found that Trx-1 promoted RCT 〈em〉in vivo〈/em〉, as did T0901317, a known liver X receptor (LXR) ligand. T0901317 also inhibited the development of atherosclerotic plaques but promoted liver steatosis. Furthermore, Trx-1 promoted macrophage cholesterol efflux to apoAI 〈em〉in vitro〈/em〉. Mechanistically, Trx-1 promoted nuclear translocation of LXRα and induced the expression of ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1). Apolipoprotein E knockout (apoE−/−) mice fed an atherogenic diet were daily injected intraperitoneally with saline or Trx-1 (0.33 mg/kg). Trx-1 treatment significantly inhibited the development of atherosclerosis and induced the expression of ABCA1 in macrophages retrieved from apoE−/− mice. Moreover, the liver steatosis was attenuated by Trx-1. Overall, we demonstrated that Trx-1 promotes RCT by upregulating ABCA1 expression through induction of nuclear translocation of LXRα, and protects liver from steatosis.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 13 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 1〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): 〈/p〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Azuma Kosai, Nanao Horike, Yoshiaki Takei, Akihiro Yamashita, Kaori Fujita, Takashi Kamatani, Noriyuki Tsumaki〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The maturation of chondrocytes is strictly regulated for proper endochondral bone formation. Although recent studies have revealed that intracellular metabolic processes regulate the proliferation and differentiation of cells, little is known about how changes in metabolite levels regulate chondrocyte maturation. To identify the metabolites which regulate chondrocyte maturation, we performed a metabolome analysis on chondrocytes of Sik3 knockout mice, in which chondrocyte maturation is delayed. Among the metabolites, acetyl-CoA was decreased in this model. Immunohistochemical analysis of the Sik3 knockout chondrocytes indicated that the expression levels of phospho-pyruvate dehydrogenase (phospho-Pdh), an inactivated form of Pdh, which is an enzyme that converts pyruvate to acetyl-CoA, and of Pdh kinase 4 (Pdk4), which phosphorylates Pdh, were increased. Inhibition of Pdh by treatment with CPI613 delayed chondrocyte maturation in metatarsal primordial cartilage in organ culture. These results collectively suggest that decreasing the acetyl-CoA level is a cause and not result of the delayed chondrocyte maturation. Sik3 appears to increase the acetyl-CoA level by decreasing the expression level of Pdk4. Blocking ATP synthesis in the TCA cycle by treatment with rotenone also delayed chondrocyte maturation in metatarsal primordial cartilage in organ culture, suggesting the possibility that depriving acetyl-CoA as a substrate for the TCA cycle is responsible for the delayed maturation. Our finding of acetyl-CoA as a regulator of chondrocyte maturation could contribute to understanding the regulatory mechanisms controlling endochondral bone formation by metabolites.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Saujanya Acharya, Shubhankar Dutta, Sucheta Chopra, Kakoli Bose〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Human HtrA3 (High temperature requirement protease A3) is a trimeric PDZ bearing propapoptotic serine protease, which is involved in various diseases including cancer and pre-eclampsia. Proposed to be a tumor suppressor, its role as a potential therapeutic target is strongly advocated. Therefore, it becomes imperative to gain insights into its mechanism of action and regulation. Allostery is a well-known mechanism of catalytic activation for many HtrA3 homologs, which opens up avenues for manipulating enzyme functions for therapeutic intervention. In our study, through 〈em〉in silico〈/em〉 and biochemical approaches, we have reported for the first time that HtrA3 shows allosteric behaviour. We identified a novel selective binding pocket, which triggers conformational reorientations through signal propagation to the distantly situated active-site pocket via the functionally important loop regions. Using molecular docking, simulation studies and biochemical studies we have identified the regulatory movements at and around the active site pocket. Our study is the first one to report a non-classical binding site for HtrA3, which is instrumental for formation of a catalytically efficient orthosteric pocket upon substrate binding.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0006291X19313312-fx1.jpg" width="470" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Farnoush Asghari-Paskiabi, Mohammad Imani, Hashem Rafii-Tabar, Mehdi Razzaghi-Abyaneh〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Selenium sulfide is a well-known bioactive chemical whose biosynthesis as a nanoparticle (NP) is a controversial issue. In the present study, we employed 〈em〉Saccharomyces cerevisiae〈/em〉 to generate a novel synthetic process of selenium sulfide NPs. The addition of selenium/sulfur precursors to 〈em〉S. cerevisiae〈/em〉 culture produced NPs, which we isolated and characterized the physicochemical properties, toxicity, and antifungal activity. Transmission electron microscopy indicated the presence of the NPs inside the cells. Selenium sulfide NPs were successfully synthesized with average size of 6.0 and 153 nm with scanning electron micrographs and 360 and 289 nm in Zeta sizer using different precursors. The presence of sulfur/selenium in the particles was confirmed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and elemental mapping. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy supported the production of selenium sulfide NPs. X-ray diffractograms showed the presence of characteristic peaks of selenium sulfide NPs which were further confirmed by mass spectrometry. The obtained NPs strongly inhibited the growth of pathogenic fungi that belonged to the genera 〈em〉Aspergillus〈/em〉, 〈em〉Candida〈/em〉, 〈em〉Alternaria〈/em〉 and the dermatophytes, while no cytotoxicity was observed in MTT assay. In conclusion, efficient green synthesis of selenium sulfide NPs with appropriate physicochemical properties is possible in bio-systems like 〈em〉S. cerevisiae〈/em〉.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0006291X19313361-fx1.jpg" width="285" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Masashi Maekawa, Hiromi Hiyoshi, Jun Nakayama, Kohki Kido, Tatsuya Sawasaki, Kentaro Semba, Eiji Kubota, Takashi Joh, Shigeki Higashiyama〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3 subunit D (EIF3D) binds to the 5′-cap of specific mRNAs, initiating their translation into polypeptides. From a pathological standpoint, EIF3D has been observed to be essential for cell growth in various cancer types, and cancer patients with high EIF3D mRNA levels exhibit poor prognosis, indicating involvement of EIF3D in oncogenesis. In this study, we found, by mass spectrometry, that Cullin-3 (CUL3)/KCTD10 ubiquitin (Ub) ligase forms a complex with EIF3D. We also demonstrated that EIF3D is K27-polyubiquitinated at the lysine 153 and 275 residues in a KCTD10-dependent manner in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells. Similar to other cancers, high expression of EIF3D significantly correlated with poor prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma patients, and depletion of EIF3D drastically suppressed HepG2 cell proliferation. These results indicate that EIF3D is a novel substrate of CUL3/KCTD10 Ub ligase and suggest involvement of K27-polyubiquitinated EIF3D in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 576〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Valentin Haselbeck, Jannes Kordilla, Florian Krause, Martin Sauter〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Growing inorganic and expansive hydrochemical datasets and large differences in the measured concentrations require methods that are capable of compressing data without the loss of critical information and subsequently displaying it in a condensed and comprehensive way. Here we train an artificial neural network, Kohonen’s self-organizing map (SOM), to model inorganic hydrochemical clusters and associate the salinity source with the distribution of the ionic concentration spatial variation at a former potash mining site. Kohonen’s self-organizing maps are applied to project the data onto a two-dimensional grid and the geometric relationship of the projected vectors is subsequently used to perform a hierarchical cluster analysis. The SOM clustering approach succeeded in assigning the groundwater samples automatically according to their inorganic chemical composition. Five different clusters, three geogenic and two anthropogenic, were identified. The final outcome is displayed and compared with the classification from Piper plotting of the same dataset. In order to see the SOM clustering results in the large scale hydrogeological context, the distribution of the clusters is displayed spatially. This approach is a tool for the hydrogeologist to quickly analyze large datasets and present them in a clear and concise format.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xiaobo Chen, Chun Xu, Hong He〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Sustained antibiotic release is important to prevent the infections after surgical treatments such as guided tissue regeneration (GTR). Electrospinning provides a simple way to fabricate nanofibers for drug delivery. In this study, a simple method to achieve sustained antibiotic release by introducing mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs)with electrospinning is developed. The nanoparticles entrapped nanofibers (MSNs-PCL) were successfully fabricated, and a sustained release of gentamicin was demonstrated. The gentamicin loaded MSNs-PCL showed strong antimicrobial effects against 〈em〉E. coli〈/em〉, indicated the sustained release behavior and the retained bioactivity. The MSNs-PCL synthesized by electrospinning method shows great potential for biomedical applications such as fabricating GTR membranes.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Abhishek Anil Dubey, Vikas Jain〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈em〉Mycobacterium smegmatis〈/em〉 possesses (〈em〉N〈/em〉,〈em〉N〈/em〉-dimethyl-4-nitrosoaniline)-dependent (NDMA) methanol dehydrogenase (Mno) to establish methylotrophy by utilizing methanol as the source of both carbon and energy. In this study, we show that Mno forms decamer and has NADPH as the bound cofactor. Interestingly, Mno uses NDMA and not NADP〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 as an electron acceptor in 〈em〉in vitro〈/em〉 reactions. We further show that the operon 〈em〉mftAD〈/em〉 required for the biosynthesis of mycofactocin, a ribosomally-synthesized electron carrier, is indispensable for the growth of 〈em〉M. smegmatis〈/em〉 on methanol. Our data obtained from 2,6-Dichlorophenolindophenol reduction assays also suggest that Mno uses mycofactocin as an 〈em〉in vivo〈/em〉 electron acceptor for the oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde. We thus provide here biochemical evidence for mycofactocin as an electron carrier in mycobacterial physiology.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 3 July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Rastine Merat, Aurore Bugi-Marteyn, Ludovic J. Wrobel, Céline Py, Youssef Daali, Christoph Schwärzler, Nicolas Liaudet〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Strategies that aim to limit the adaptive response to pathway inhibition in BRAF-mutated melanoma face the inherent limit of signaling redundancy and multiplicity of possible bypass mechanisms. Drug-induced expression of selected RNA-binding proteins, like the ubiquitously expressed HuR, has the potential to differentially stabilize the expression of many genes involved in the compensatory mechanisms of adaptive response. Here, we detect in 〈em〉BRAF〈/em〉-mutated melanoma cell lines having a higher propensity for adaptive response and in non-responding melanoma tumors, a larger proportion of HuR〈sup〉Low〈/sup〉 cells in the expression distribution of HuR. Using knockdown experiments, we demonstrate, through expression profiling and phenotypic assays, that increasing the proportion of HuR〈sup〉Low〈/sup〉 cells favors the adaptive response to BRAF inhibition, provided that the HuR〈sup〉Low〈/sup〉 state stays reversible. The MAPK dependency of melanoma cells appears to be diminished as the proportion of HuR〈sup〉Low〈/sup〉 cells increases. In single-cell assays, we demonstrate that the HuR〈sup〉Low〈/sup〉 cells display plasticity in their growth expression profile. Importantly, the adaptive over-proliferating cells emerge in the subpopulation containing the HuR〈sup〉Low〈/sup〉 cells. Therapeutic concentrations of lithium salts, although they moderately increase the global expression of HuR, are sufficient to suppress the HuR〈sup〉Low〈/sup〉 cells, induce an overall less resistant expression profile and attenuate in a HuR-dependent manner the adaptive response of melanoma cells in 〈em〉ex vivo〈/em〉 assays. The therapeutic effectiveness of this approach is also demonstrated 〈em〉in vivo〈/em〉 in mice xenografts. This study has immediate clinical relevance for melanoma therapy and opens a new avenue of strategies to prevent the adaptive response to targeted cancer therapy.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Akira Nakashima, Hisateru Yamaguchi, Yu Kodani, Yoko S. Kaneko, Miho Kawata, Hiroshi Nagasaki, Toshiharu Nagatsu, Akira Ota〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), which catalyzes the conversion of 〈span〉l〈/span〉-tyrosine to 〈span〉l〈/span〉-DOPA, is the rate-limiting enzyme in the biosynthesis of catecholamines. It is well known that both α-synuclein and 14-3-3 protein family members bind to the TH molecule and regulate phosphorylation of its N-terminus by kinases to control the catalytic activity. In this present study we investigated whether other proteins aside from these 2 proteins might also bind to TH molecules. Nano-LC-MS/MS analysis revealed that 5′-nucleotidase domain-containing protein 2 (NT5DC2), belonging to a family of haloacid dehalogenase-type (HAD) phosphatases, was detected in the immunoprecipitate of PC12D cell lysates that had been reacted with Dynabeads protein G-anti-TH antibody conjugate. Surprisingly, NT5DC2 had already been revealed by Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) as a gene implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, which are diseases related to the abnormality of dopamine activity in the brain, although the role that NT5DC2 plays in these diseases remains unknown. Therefore, we investigated the effect of NT5DC2 on the TH molecule. The down-regulation of NT5DC2 by siRNA increased the synthesis of catecholamines (dopamine, noradrenaline, and adrenaline) in PC12D cells. These increases might be attributed to the catalytic activity of TH and not to the intracellular stability of TH, because the intracellular content of TH assessed by Western blotting was not changed by the down-regulation of NT5DC2. Collectively, our results indicate that NT5DC2 inhibited the synthesis of dopamine by decreasing the enzymatic activity of TH.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Meilin Shi, Lina Dong, Shaohui Zheng, Pingfu Hou, Lulu Cai, Mingming Zhao, Xiuli Zhang, Qi Wang, Jingjing Li, Kai Xu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉“Bottom-up” method is a popular approach for the preparation of molybdenum disulfide quantum dots (MoS〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 QDs) benefitting from less time consumption and no high-powered sonication required. But the relatively low fluorescent quantum yield of the obtained MoS〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 QDs and the rare study about their 〈em〉in vivo〈/em〉 behavior stimulate us to do more research in this area. In this paper, we proposed a “bottom-up” hydrothermal method to prepare MoS〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 QDs with a quantum yield (QY) of 34.55% by optimizing a series of reaction conditions. The successful fluorescence imaging of tumor cells 〈em〉in vitro〈/em〉 and 〈em〉in vivo〈/em〉 as well as the systematic 〈em〉in vivo〈/em〉 behavior study such as biocompatibility, biodistribution and metabolism route provided the good basis for their wider biomedical applications.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 3 September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 4〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Shan Li, Meilian Yao, Chengqun Niu, Dan Liu, Zhiming Tang, Chunming Gu, Hongyan Zhao, Jing Ke, Shengying Wu, Xiong Wang, Fuyun Wu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Intracellular Ca〈sup〉2+〈/sup〉 signals play many important cellular functions such as migration, proliferation and differentiation. Store-operated Ca〈sup〉2+〈/sup〉 entry (SOCE) is a major route of Ca〈sup〉2+〈/sup〉 entry in nonexcitable cells. The activation of SOCE requires engagement between stromal interaction molecule 1 (STIM1) molecules on the endoplasmic reticulum and Ca〈sup〉2+〈/sup〉 release-activated Ca〈sup〉2+〈/sup〉 (CRAC) channel Orais (Orai1-3) on the plasma membrane. Accumulating evidence indicates that SOCE plays critical roles in cancer cell proliferation, invasion and metastasis. Here, we used the synthetic intracellular peptides derived from the C-termini of Orai channels to treat the breast cancer cells. We have found that Orai3-CT peptide exhibits stronger binding to STIM1 than Orai1-CT, and Orai3-CT peptide acts in a dominant negative fashion, blocking the STIM1-Orai1 interaction and reducing the Ca〈sup〉2+〈/sup〉 entry and proliferation of breast cancer cells.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Schematic model for Orai peptide inhibiting the proliferation of breast cancer cells. SOAR domain of STIM1 binding to CT and NT of Orai1 leads to the channel opened and calcium entry. The synthetic intracellular peptides derived from Orai channels competitive interact with STIM1, blocking the STIM1-Orai1 interaction and calcium entry, thus reducing the activation of Ca〈sup〉2+〈/sup〉-dependent transcription factors and inhibiting the proliferation of breast cells.〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0006291X19313075-fx1.jpg" width="283" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 27 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 3〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Miho Sawada, Hiroyasu Yamamoto, Ayako Ogasahara, Yuya Tanaka, Shinji Kihara〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Backgroud〈/h6〉 〈p〉Among various myocyte-derived bioactive molecules (myokines), β-aminoisobutyric acid (BAIBA) is a unique myokine that attenuates skeletal muscle insulin resistance and inflammation, increases browning of white adipose tissue, and enhances hepatic fatty acid oxidation, resulting in upregulated energy expenditure of the whole body. In the present study, we investigated the effects of BAIBA on the vascular endothelial cell function.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Methods〈/h6〉 〈p〉The mRNA levels of proinflammatory molecules, antioxidants, and their related transcription regulators were examined by quantitative RT-PCR in BAIBA-treated human aortic or umbilical vein endothelial cells (HAEC or HUVEC, respectively), with or without tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α stimulation. The protein expression and phosphorylation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) were determined by Western blot analysis.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Results〈/h6〉 〈p〉BAIBA pretreatment significantly suppressed the mRNA levels of the adhesion molecules in the TNF-α-stimulated HAEC and HUVEC. BAIBA treatment significantly increased the mRNA levels of antioxidant molecules, catalase, superoxide dismutases, thioredoxin, and gamma-glutamylcysteine ligases, together with mitochondrial biogenesis-related molecules, nuclear respiratory factor 1, and mitochondrial transcription factor A. In addition, BAIBA treatment significantly increased the transcription factors that regulated these genes [〈em〉i.e.〈/em〉, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-δ, PPAR-γ, estrogen-related receptor α (ERRα), and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator (PGC)-1β]. Adenovirus-mediated PGC-1β overexpression significantly increased the mRNA levels of all antioxidant molecules. The phosphorylation levels of AMPK and eNOS were unaltered by BAIBA.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈div〉 〈h6〉Conclusions〈/h6〉 〈p〉In vascular endothelial cells, BAIBA had antiatherogenic effects through the PGC-1β−ERRα/PPAR-δ and PPAR-γ pathway. This can explain the beneficial effects of exercise on vascular endothelial function.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 27 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 3〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yanli Lu, Linlin Wang, Jian Zhang, Jun Li, Guohua Wan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Commensal microbiota modulates the anti-tumor immune response and alters the tumor infiltration of T cells in numerous human malignancies. Moreover, the existence of commensals and microbial metabolites has been directly observed inside numerous epithelial tumors. Their effects on the host immune system, independent of the pre-existing malignancy, are not completely understood. To resolve this issue, we compared immune modulatory roles of the fecal bacteria from healthy individuals and the fecal bacteria from colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells that were provided by healthy donors were used as study systems. Overall, fecal bacteria could potently activate the degranulation and cytotoxicity of CD8〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 T cells. Interestingly, fecal bacteria from CRC patients in general induced higher degranulation and higher cytotoxicity than fecal bacteria from healthy individuals. These effects were dependent on the presence of antigen-presenting cells, such as monocytes and B cells, as fecal bacteria added directly to isolated CD8〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 T cells failed to induce high cytotoxicity. Additionally, fecal bacteria from CRC patients induced stronger upregulation of CD80 and NOS2 expression in monocytes than fecal bacteria from healthy individuals. On the other hand, the viability of CD8〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 T cells was significantly reduced with increasing levels of bacterial stimulation. Overall, we demonstrated that fecal bacteria from CRC patients could upregulate degranulation and cytotoxicity of CD8〈sup〉+〈/sup〉 T cells in a manner that was dependent on antigen-presenting cells, and was more proinflammatory than fecal bacteria from healthy individuals.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 27 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 3〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xin Yan, Jian Wang, Yanting Zhu, Wei Feng, Cui Zhai, Lu Liu, Wenhua Shi, Qingting Wang, Qianqian Zhang, Limin Chai, Manxiang Li〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The upregulation of osteopontin(OPN) has been found to contribute to the proliferation of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells(PASMCs), and activation of PPARγ has been shown to suppress OPN expression in THP-1 cells. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the upregulation of OPN expression and PPARγ agonist modulation of OPN expression in PASMCs remain largely unclear. Here we found that S1P stimulated PASMCs proliferation and up-regulated OPN expression in rat PASMCs, which was accompanied with the activation of phospholipase C(PLC), calcineurin and translocation of NFATc3 to nucleus. Further study showed that inhibition of PLC by U73122, suppression of calcineurin activity by cyclosporine A(CsA) or knockdown of NFATc3 using small interfering RNA suppressed S1P-induced OPN up-regulation. Activation of PPARγ by pioglitazone suppressed S1P-induced activation of calcineurin/NFATc3 signaling pathway and followed OPN up-regulation. Taken together, our study indicates that S1P stimulates OPN expression by activation of PLC/calcineurin/NFATc3 signaling pathway, and activation of PPARγ suppresses calcineurin/NFATc3-mediated OPN expression in PASMCs.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 27 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 3〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ryan A. Bennick, Alexis A. Nagengast, Justin R. DiAngelo〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In Western societies where food is abundant, these excess nutrients are stored as fats mainly in adipose tissue. Fats are stored in structures known as lipid droplets, and a genome-wide screen performed in 〈em〉Drosophila〈/em〉 cells has identified several genes that are important for the formation of these droplets. One group of genes found during this screen included those that regulate mRNA splicing. Previous work from our lab has identified some splicing factors that play a role in regulating fat storage; however, the full complement of splicing proteins that regulate lipid metabolism is still unknown. In this study, the levels of a number of serine-arginine (SR) domain containing splicing factors (RSF1, RBP1, RBP1-like, SF2 and Srp-54) were decreased using RNAi in the adult fat body to assess their role in the control of 〈em〉Drosophila〈/em〉 metabolism. Decreasing SF2 and RBP1 showed increased triglycerides, while inducing RNAi towards RSF1, RBP1-Like and Srp-54 had no effect on triglycerides. Interestingly, the increased triglyceride phenotype in the SF2-RNAi flies was due to an increase in the amount of fat stored per cell while the RBP1-RNAi flies have more fat cells. In addition, the splicing of the β-oxidation enzyme, CPT1, was altered in the SF2-RNAi flies potentially promoting the increased triglycerides in these animals. Together, this study identifies novel splicing factors responsible for the regulation of lipid storage in the 〈em〉Drosophila〈/em〉 fat body and contributes to our understanding of the mechanisms, which influence the regulation of fat storage in adipose-like cells.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 27 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 3〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Malena Landoni, Tamara Piñero, Luciana L. Soprano, Facundo Garcia-Bournissen, Laura Fichera, Monica I. Esteva, Vilma G. Duschak, Alicia S. Couto〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This study shows the effects of tamoxifen, a known estrogen receptor antagonist used in the treatment of breast cancer, on the sphingolipid pathway of 〈em〉Trypanosoma cruzi,〈/em〉 searching for potential chemotherapeutic targets. A dose-dependent epimastigote growth inhibition at increasing concentration of tamoxifen was determined. In blood trypomastigotes, treatment with 10 μM showed 90% lysis, while 86% inhibition of intracellular amastigote development was obtained using 50 μM. Lipid extracts from treated and non-treated metabolically labelled epimastigotes evidenced by thin layer chromatography different levels of sphingolipids and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry analysis assured the identity of the labelled species. Comparison by HPLC-ESI mass spectrometry of lipids, notably exhibited a dramatic increase in the level of ceramide in tamoxifen-treated parasites and a restrained increase of ceramide-1P and sphingosine, indicating that the drug is acting on the enzymes involved in the final breakdown of ceramide. The ultrastructural analysis of treated parasites revealed characteristic morphology of cells undergoing an apoptotic-like death process. Flow cytometry confirmed cell death by an apoptotic-like machinery indicating that tamoxifen triggers this process by acting on the parasitic sphingolipid pathway.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0006291X19312872-fx1.jpg" width="254" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 27 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 3〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Kaiyue Zhang, Wenwen Yang, Hongbin Yu, Can Fu, Xiaxia Liu, Jian Liu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The TFIIB-related factor (BRF) family plays vital roles in RNA polymerase (Pol) III transcription initiation. However, little is known about the role of BRF in plants. Here, we report BRF1 and BRF2 are involved in Arabidopsis reproduction. In this study, we generated BRF1 and BRF2 double mutant plants. We found that no homozygous double mutants of 〈em〉brf1brf2〈/em〉 were obtained when 〈em〉brf1〈/em〉 and 〈em〉brf2〈/em〉 were crossed, although 〈em〉brf1〈/em〉 and 〈em〉brf2〈/em〉 mutants individually developed and reproduced normally. Further experiments revealed that heterozygous 〈em〉brf1/〈/em〉 + 〈em〉brf2/〈/em〉 + produced abnormal pollen and had no seeds in some placentas of siliques. Genetic data derived from reciprocal crosses showed that BRF2 plays a dominant role in Arabidopsis reproduction. Taken together, a double mutation of BRF1 and BRF2 results in a high degree of aborted macrogametes and microgametes and complete failure in zygote generation, ultimately leading to sterility.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 27 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 3〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Hai Yu, Suojun Zhang, Ahmed N. Ibrahim, Jia Wang, Zhong Deng, Maode Wang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Regulator of chromosome condensation 2 (RCC2) is a regulator of cell-cycle progression linked in multiple cancers to pro-tumorigenic phenomena including promotion of tumor growth, tumor metastases and poorer patient prognoses. However, the role of RCC2 in GBM remains under-investigated. Here, we sought to determine the relevance of RCC2 in GBM, as well as its roles in GBM development, progression and prognosis. Initial clinical evaluation determined significant RCC2 enrichment in GBM when compared to normal brain tissue, and elevated expression was closely associated with a poorer prognosis in glioma patients. Via shRNA inhibition, we determined that RCC2 is essential to tumor proliferation and tumorigenicity 〈em〉in vitro〈/em〉 and 〈em〉in vivo〈/em〉. Additionally, RCC2 was determined to promote radioresistance of GBM tumor cells. Investigation of the underlying mechanisms implicated DNA mismatch repair, JAK-STAT pathway and activated transcription of DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1). For validation, pharmacologic inhibition via administration of a DNMT1 inhibitor demonstrated attenuated GBM tumor growth both 〈em〉in vitro〈/em〉 and 〈em〉in vivo〈/em〉. Collectively, this study determined a novel therapeutic target for GBM in the form of RCC2, which plays a pivotal role in GBM proliferation and radio-resistance via regulation of DNMT1 expression in a p-STAT3 dependent manner.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 27 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 3〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ke Gong, Zi-Jun Gong, Pin-Xiang Lu, Xiao-ling Ni, Sheng Shen, Han Liu, Ji-Wen Wang, De-Xiang Zhang, Hou-Bao Liu, Tao Suo〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Gallbladder carcinoma (GBC) is always diagnosed at an advanced stage, and patients often miss the opportunity for surgery. Gemcitabine (GEM) and platinum-based drugs, including oxaliplatin (OXA), are mainstays of chemotherapy. However, drug resistance causes treatment failure. Hence, salvage mechanisms are critical to improve outcomes. This study revealed the positive correlation between placenta-specific protein 8 (PLAC8) overexpression and PD-L1 overexpression in GBC. Given the roles of PLAC8 and PD-L1 in chemotherapy resistance, GEM-resistant and OXA-resistant cell lines (SGC966GR and SGC966OR, respectively) were established to test whether and how PLAC8 and PD-L1 function in chemotherapy resistance. Drug-insensitive SGC966GR and SGC966OR cells upregulated MRP and MDR1 and had high expression of PLAC8. PLAC8 blockade using siRNA reversed chemotherapy resistance and downregulated MRP and MDR1 in SGC966GR and SGC966OR cells, suggesting that PLAC8 mediates chemotherapy resistance in GBC. Consistent with the increased mRNA levels of PD-L1 after the acquisition of resistance, PLAC8 knockdown reduced PD-L1 mRNA expression in SGC966GR and SGC966OR cells. In conclusion, PLAC8 overexpression in GBC patients positively correlated with PD-L1 expression. PLAC8 conferred resistance to GEM and OXA by upregulating PD-L1 expression, and PLAC8 or PD-L1 blockade may have potential for overcoming chemotherapy resistance, providing therapeutic options for chemotherapy-refractory GBC patients.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 27 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 3〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yuya Miki, Tomoaki Morioka, Atsushi Shioi, Kenta Fujimoto, Takeshi Sakura, Hideki Uedono, Yoshinori Kakutani, Akinobu Ochi, Katsuhito Mori, Tetsuo Shoji, Masanori Emoto, Masaaki Inaba〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Oncostatin M (OSM) is a cytokine of the interleukin-6 family and plays a role in various disorders such as cancer and inflammatory diseases, which are often accompanied by skeletal muscle atrophy, or sarcopenia. However, the role of OSM in the regulation of skeletal muscle mass remains to be identified. In this study, we investigated the effect of OSM on C2C12 myotube formation 〈em〉in vitro〈/em〉. C2C12 myoblasts were induced to differentiate into myotubes for 3 days and then treated with OSM for 24 or 48 h. The diameter of differentiated C2C12 myotubes were reduced by 18.7% and 23.3% compared to control cells after treatment with OSM for 24 and 48 h, respectively. The expression levels of MyoD and myogenin were decreased, while those of atrogin-1, CCAAT/enhancer binding protein δ, and OSM receptor were increased in C2C12 myotubes treated with OSM for 24 h compared to control cells. Furthermore, the inhibitory effect of OSM on myotube formation was significantly attenuated by pretreatment with an inhibitor of signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3 or by knockdown of 〈em〉Stat3〈/em〉. Finally, the OSM-induced changes in the expression levels of MyoD, myogenin, and atrogin-1 were reversed by pretreatment with an inhibitor of STAT3 or by 〈em〉Stat3〈/em〉 knockdown in C2C12 myotubes. In conclusion, OSM induces C2C12 myotube atrophy by inhibiting myogenic differentiation and activating muscle degradation in a STAT3-dependent manner.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 576〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Andrew C. Knight, Adrian D. Werner, Dylan J. Irvine〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Offshore fresh groundwater is increasingly suggested as a potential water resource for onshore human demands. In many cases, onshore pumping already draws significant fresh groundwater from offshore. However, offshore aquifers and the extent of offshore freshwater are usually poorly characterised due to data scarcity. This study combines geophysical data, hydraulic information and a first-order mathematical analysis to investigate offshore freshwater extent in the Gambier Embayment (Australia). A large seismic data set, combined with onshore and offshore bore-log geological profiles, are used to explore the regional offshore hydro-stratigraphy. Aquifer hydraulic parameters and onshore heads are obtained from onshore investigations. A novel application of Archie’s law, geophysical data and onshore hydrochemical data provide useful insights into the salinity profiles within four offshore wells. These are compared to steady-state, sharp-interface estimates of the freshwater extent obtained from a recently developed analytical solution, albeit using simplified conceptual models. Salinities derived from resistivity measurements indicate that in the south of the study area, pore water with total dissolved solids (TDS) of 2.2 g L〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉 is found up to 13.2 km offshore. Offshore pore-water salinities are more saline in the northern areas, most likely due to thinning of the offshore confining unit. The analytical solution produced freshwater-saltwater interface locations that were approximately consistent with the freshwater-saltwater stratification in two of the offshore wells, although analytical uncertainty is high. This investigation provides a leading example of offshore freshwater evaluation applying multiple techniques, demonstrating both the benefit and uncertainty of geophysical interpretation and analytical solutions of freshwater extent.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 576〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jagoda Crawford, Cecilia S. Azcurra, Catherine E. Hughes, John J. Gibson, Stephen D. Parkes〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉For a period of 16 months in Sydney, Australia, the variations of 〈sup〉2〈/sup〉H/〈sup〉1〈/sup〉H and 〈sup〉18〈/sup〉O/〈sup〉16〈/sup〉O in atmospheric vapour (〈em〉δ〈/em〉〈sup〉2〈/sup〉H〈sub〉A〈/sub〉 and 〈em〉δ〈/em〉〈sup〉18〈/sup〉O〈sub〉A〈/sub〉) were estimated using an evaporation pan method as well as using the isotopic precipitation-equilibrium approach. These calculations were then compared with δ〈sup〉2〈/sup〉H〈sub〉A〈/sub〉 values measured at 10 m above ground surface using a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR). As pan isotopic composition was available on a weekly time scale, the evaporation rates were measured daily, and the atmospheric variables were available hourly, the weekly time scale was used to calculate the arithmetic averages of the atmospheric variables that were used in the estimation of the pan-derived 〈em〉δ〈/em〉〈sup〉2〈/sup〉H〈sub〉A〈/sub〉.〈/p〉 〈p〉Good agreement (r = 0.7, P-value = 0.00) was found between the pan-derived and the FTIR measured 〈em〉δ〈/em〉〈sup〉2〈/sup〉H〈sub〉A〈/sub〉 for weekly intervals, although individual differences ranged from −25.0 to 20.4‰, with the absolute difference averaging 8.0‰. A sensitivity analysis showed that the determination of 〈em〉δ〈/em〉〈sup〉2〈/sup〉H〈sub〉A〈/sub〉 is most sensitive to air temperature, relative humidity and the isotopic composition of the pan water〈sub〉.〈/sub〉〈/p〉 〈p〉While the precipitation-equilibrium approach only appears to be representative of atmospheric conditions close to times of precipitation events, the pan-derived isotopic composition of atmospheric vapour was found to be closer to the FTIR averages over longer periods including intervals with no precipitation. Overall, this means that the pan method is far more effective for uninterrupted estimation of 〈em〉δ〈/em〉〈sup〉2〈/sup〉H〈sub〉A〈/sub〉 and 〈em〉δ〈/em〉〈sup〉18〈/sup〉O〈sub〉A〈/sub〉 of atmospheric water vapour, as required for water budget studies, than the precipitation-equilibrium method, and it is more cost effective and robust than continuous measurement.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 576〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ping Wang, L. Zeng〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Contaminant transport in the wetland flow is subject to various reactions. Most researches on this topic have limited to the single component contaminant, relatively little has concerned the effect of competitive reaction on the transport of coupled bicomponent contaminant. This work analytically studies the bicomponent contaminant transport in the free surface wetland flow under the combined conditions of reversible competitive transfer, irreversible degradation and bed absorption, by solving the constant-coefficient second-order linear system of parabolic type and the method of concentration moments. Up to the fourth order concentration moment in the previous work (Wang and Chen, 2017a) is applied to support the fourth order expansion of Hermite polynomials to rigorously derive the solutions with high accuracy. The results demonstrate that the masses of binary components decay at different rate, and the vertical concentration distributions of binary components are tremendously non-uniform in the asymptotic dispersion stage. Three types of reactions in addition to the hydraulic dispersion exert separate control on the concentration distributions. It suggests that the peak concentration rather than the mean should be based for strict environmental implements.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 576〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Chao Liu, Yuqi Shan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This paper proposes an analytical model for predicting the longitudinal profile of depth-averaged streamwise velocities in a channel with an emergent array of rigid cylinders. The governing equation of the analytical model was derived from the momentum equation and flow continuity equation. The longitudinal transect through a flume with a vegetation patch was divided into four regions based on two length scales of flow adjustment upstream of and inside the array, and analytical solutions were proposed for the four regions. Laboratory experiments demonstrated that the array length does not influence flow adjustments near the upstream edge of the array, so the model can predict the longitudinal profile of streamwise velocity for either short or long arrays. Twenty groups of velocity data from different sources were used to verify the proposed model. The predicted velocities agreed well with the measured velocities, indicating that the model is capable of predicting the longitudinal profiles of the velocity upstream of and inside a model patch. The predicted velocity profile can be further employed to estimate regions of enhanced or diminished deposition of fine sediment or organic matter inside model patches.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 576〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Guowangchen Liu, Lei Chen, Zhenyao Shen, Yuechen Xiao, Guoyuan Wei〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The simulation and optimization of low impact development (LID) practices has been a key research topic in stormwater management. In this study, a fast and robust framework was proposed for providing the optimal design of LID practices by coupling a physically based model, the Markov chain, with the multi-objective shuffled frog leaping algorithm (MOSFLA). The proposed framework was then tested for chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction in a typical urban catchment in China. The storm water management model (SWMM) was used to provide the flow/COD data during the baseline scenario, and the Markov chain method was then incorporated as a subset of the physically based model. Based on the results, the computational efficiency was improved by 500 times when the new framework was used, and the robustness of the optimal results increased over 50% compared to commonly used algorithms. The relative error between the SWMM and the Markov chain method was less than 5%, indicating that a satisfactory performance could be obtained using the proposed framework. This new method provides a useful tool for optimizing LID practices and green infrastructure, especially for complex urban catchments.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 576〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xianzhe Tang, Haoyuan Hong, Yuqin Shu, Huijun Tang, Jiufeng Li, Wei Liu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Urban waterlogging occurs frequently and often causes considerable damage that seriously affects human activities and the economy. Effectively assessing waterlogging susceptibility can reduce or even avoid the damage caused by such disasters. Here, a Support Vector Machine (SVM) was chosen for waterlogging susceptibility assessment due to its simplicity, objectivity, and understandability. The Particle Swarm Optimization method was used to compute parameters of the SVM. When selecting negative samples for machine learning methods, the methods of subjective selection and single random selection used in previous studies made it easy to select improper negative samples, and thus affected the classification accuracy and generalization capacity of the trained classifiers. To overcome these shortcomings, we proposed a repeatedly random sampling and verifying model to select negative samples for an SVM. As such, this study adopted the spatial framework of integrating GIS and an SVM to assess waterlogging susceptibility using the primary urban area of Guangzhou as an example. The results demonstrate that the waterlogging susceptibility map derived from the most accurate classifier (MAC) can reflect the real occurrence and spatial distribution of waterlogging. Moreover, we randomly generated 100,000 groups of samples to test the classification accuracy and generalization capacity of the MAC; the results show that in 82% of the samples, the area under the curve value of the MAC was higher than that of the randomly generated classifier. This demonstrated that the sampling and verifying model can allow the selection of an MAC with a relatively high and stable classification accuracy. The proposed sampling method can overcome the shortcomings of negative sample selection method employed in previous studies, which makes the machine learning results more accurate and reliable. Furthermore, the method requires less data, which can be helpful in developing countries where the availability of long-term intensive hydrologic monitoring data is limited.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 27 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 3〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Paola Francini Fávero, Victor Augusto Vieira de Lima, Priscila Helena dos Santos, Ana Paula Marques Andrade, Leonardo Oliveira Mendes, Francis Lopes Pacagnelli, Anthony César de Souza Castilho〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉To assist in evaluating and quantifying tissue changes, fractal dimension (FD) is a useful method for assessing the organization in an image from fractals that describes the amount of space and the self-similarity of the structure, once FD detects subtle morphological changes and performs functional quantitative measures. Here, we hypothesized that fractal analysis may be different in functional and regressing bovine corpus luteum (CL) and may be correlated with differential expression of genes involved in extracellular matrix remodeling. CL presents two developmental stages, the functional and regressing CL, according to progesterone levels and morphology. First, we found a lower FD in functional CL using HE staining and picrosirius red approach. Additionally, we found a great amount of total collagen in regressing CL. Regarding gene expression, we showed an up regulation of 〈em〉COL1A1, COL1A2, MMP2〈/em〉, and 〈em〉MMP14〈/em〉 and a down regulation of 〈em〉TIMP1〈/em〉 and 〈em〉TIMP2〈/em〉 in regressing CL compared to the functional one. Thus, we concluded that differential FD observed during luteal regression is an effective method to evaluate the tissue changes observed during luteal development in cattle and is related to differential quantity of genes involved in extracellular matrix remodeling.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 27 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 3〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Tangliang Zhao, Xiaolong Liang, Junming Chen, Yi Bao, Anbang Wang, Xinxin Gan, Xin Lu, Linhui Wang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Angiopoietin-like proteins (ANGPTLs) 〈u〉comprise〈/u〉 a group of proteins that are structurally similar to angiopoietins. In our previous studies, we found that ANGPTL3 can inhibit sorafenib resistance in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). According to bioinformatics analysis based on data in the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we found that expression of ANGPTL3 was significantly lower in RCC tissues than in adjacent tissues and that disease-free survival and overall survival were significantly shorter in patients with lower ANGPTL3 levels than in those with higher ANGPTL3 levels. Consistent with these results, we demonstrated that RCC tissues exhibited lower ANGPTL3 mRNA and protein expression levels than paired adjacent tissues. Moreover, we found that ANGPTL3 upregulation was associated with better clinical outcomes in RCC patients. ANGPTL3 overexpression inhibited the metastatic ability in RCC cells. Mechanistically, ANGPTL3 〈u〉binds〈/u〉 to vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) and inhibits its phosphorylation at amino acid 157 in RCC cells. Finally, ANGPTL3 expression and VASP-157 phosphorylation 〈u〉may〈/u〉 be combined to predict the prognosis of RCC patients. Overall, our findings describe the role of ANGPTL3 in inhibiting RCC metastasis and thus provide new molecular 〈u〉markers〈/u〉 for RCC treatment and prognosis.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 27 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 516, Issue 3〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yong Won Choi, Ga Eun Nam, Young Hwa Kim, Jung Eun Yoon, Ji Hee Park, Jang Hee Kim, Seok Yun Kang, Tae Jun Park〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉B-Raf〈sup〉V600E〈/sup〉 oncogene mutation occurs in various cancers and is associated with tumor initiation. However, genetic modification of B-Raf〈sup〉V600E〈/sup〉 in cells induces MAPK activation and results in oncogene-induced senescence. Overcoming the oncogene-induced senescence by B-Raf〈sup〉V600E〈/sup〉 requires activation of another oncogene pathway, such as AKT signaling. In the present study, we explored the factors involved in overcoming the senescence program in cells activated by B-Raf〈sup〉V600E〈/sup〉 and AKT signaling. B-Raf〈sup〉V600E〈/sup〉 activation caused a feedback inhibition of AKT phosphorylation and resulted in downregulation of FoxM1, one of the AKT downstream components. AKT activation by PTEN downregulation induced FoxM1 expression, and co-expression of B-Raf〈sup〉V600E〈/sup〉 and FoxM1 overcame the cellular senescence. These observations suggested that FoxM1 is critical downstream gene of AKT and functions to overcome B-Raf〈sup〉V600E〈/sup〉-induced senescence.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 29 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jaehak Lee, Ilju Kim, Eunsu Yoo, Seung Joon Baek〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug activated gene-1 (NAG-1), also known as growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), is a TGF-β (transforming growth factor beta) superfamily protein with a distinctive secretion pathway. NAG-1 is associated with multiple diseases including cancer, wherein it plays a role in both pro- and anti-cancer activities. We previously reported that NAG-1 is translocated to different subcellular compartments and its activity depends on its localization. In this paper, we report that the transfection of a novel peptide corresponding to the nuclear localization signal (NLS) of NAG-1 blocks its translocation to the nucleus. Further, accumulation of NAG-1 in the cytoplasm decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, thus implying apoptosis induction as a consequence. Overall, our results indicate that the novel peptide derived from NAG-1 NLS sequence is a promising tool for enhancing the anti-tumorigenic activity of NAG-1.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0006291X19316134-fx1.jpg" width="350" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 29 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yanjun Zeng, Qingwu Qin, Keyu Li, Haitao Li, Chao Song, Yi Li, Minhui Dai, Fengyu Lin, Zhi Mao, Qian Li, Yuan Long, Yifei Fan, Pinhua Pan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉To explore the effect of double-stranded RNA-dependent kinase (PKR) in acute lung injury (ALI) and resultant acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). A mouse model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI was used to evaluate the levels of phosphorylated (p)-PKR and NLRP3 in lung tissue, and the protective effects of a PKR inhibitor on lung injury. And in vitro, macrophages were incubated with LPS, with or without PKR inhibitor pre-treatment. It was observed that the levels of p-PKR protein and NLRP3 protein were significantly increased compared with those in control tissues after LPS administration. Meanwhile, treatment with PKR inhibitor decreased inflammation, injury score, wet/dry weight ratio, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) protein levels, neutrophil count in BALF, myeloperoxidase activity and expression of high-mobility group box1(HMGB1) and interleukin(IL)-1β in the lungs of LPS-challenged mice. In vitro, we demonstrated that the levels of p-PKR and NLRP3, and cell mortality rate were increased in macrophages which were incubated with LPS compared with those without LPS administration, and PKR inhibitor significantly suppressed the level of NLRP3, caspase-1, HMGB1 and IL-1β. These results indicate that PKR plays a key role in ALI through NLRP3-pyrotosis pathway and pharmacological inhibition of PKR may have potential therapeutic effects in the treatment of patients with ALI and ARDS.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 29 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Marcelo Gomes Granja, Luis Eduardo Gomes Braga, Raphael Monteiro de Oliveira, Eliezer de Mello Silva, Cassiano Felippe Gonçalves-de-Albuquerque, Adriana Ribeiro Silva, Hugo Caire de Castro-Faria-Neto, Aline Araujo dos Santos, Elizabeth Giestal-de-Araujo〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Trophic factors are involved in different cellular responses. Previously we demonstrated that IL-4 treatment induces an increase in retinal ganglion cell survival (RGCS) and regulates cholinergic differentiation of retinal cells 〈em〉in vitro〈/em〉. Data from literature show that IGF-1 also promotes RGCS, an effect mediated by PI-3K/AKT pathway. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of IGF-1 and IGF-1R on RGCS mediated by IL-4 treatment and the role of M1 acetylcholine receptors in this effect. Here we show that the effect of IL-4 on RGCS depends on IGF-1 and IGF-1R activation, the PI-3K/AKT and NFkB intracellular pathways and depends on M1 mAChRs activation. IGF-1 increases the levels of M1 mAChRs in 15min, 45min, 24 h and 48 h in mixed retinal cells culture, modulates the levels of IL-4, pIGF-1R, IGF-1R. IL-4 modulates IGF-1, pIGF-1R and IGF-1R levels in different time intervals. These results put in evidence a crosstalk between IL-4 and IGF-1 and a role of M1 mAChRs, IGF-1 and IGF-1R in RGCS mediated by IL-4.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Changkun Ma, Xiangdong Li, Yi Luo, Mingan Shao, Xiaoxu Jia〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Interception loss can remove a significant portion of rainwater from forested ecosystems. Therefore, the quantification and modelling of interception loss are of significant importance if human and ecosystem water demands are to be balanced under a future changing climate. This is particularly true for semi-arid/arid regions, where afforestation has become an important ecological restoration measure to tackle desertification, poverty and climate change. However, quantification and modelling of interception loss of plantations in these regions have rarely been reported. In the present study, rainfall interception loss was quantified and modelled over a one-year period (January-December 2016) for a deciduous broad-leafed 〈em〉R. pseudoacacia〈/em〉 plantation and an evergreen needle-leaf 〈em〉P. tabuliformis〈/em〉 plantation (common afforestation tree species) situated in the semi-arid Loess Plateau of China. The stand age, density, canopy cover and leaf area index of 〈em〉R. pseudoacacia〈/em〉 during the study period were 15 years, 2000 tree ha〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, 0.48 and 1.41 m〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 m〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉, respectively. The corresponding values for 〈em〉Pinus tabuliformis〈/em〉 were 17 years, 1200 tree ha〈sup〉−1〈/sup〉, 0.62 and 2.53 m〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 m〈sup〉−2〈/sup〉. The measured throughfall, stemflow and derived estimates of interception loss for 〈em〉R. pseudoacacia〈/em〉 were 81.1%, 1.3% and 17.6%, respectively. The corresponding values for 〈em〉P. tabuliformis〈/em〉 were 75.4%, 0.7% and 23.9%. Given that the weather conditions experienced by the two forest stands were similar, the observed higher interception loss for 〈em〉P. tabuliformis〈/em〉 can be explained by the higher canopy storage capacity and wet canopy evaporation rate of this species. The revised Gash analytical model of rainfall interception was well calibrated and validated against field measurements and was able to simulate the cumulative interception loss at two forest stands accurately, and it also effectively captured the seasonal variation (leafed growing and leafless dormant seasons), provided that the optimized wet-canopy evaporation rates were used. The revised model was highly sensitive to the canopy storage capacity and changes in the ratio of mean wet canopy evaporation to mean rainfall intensity and less sensitive to canopy cover, but it was found to be fairly insensitive to the trunk storage capacity.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yonghuai Yang, Biyang Wen, Caijun Wang, Yidong Hou〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Non-contact flow measurement method plays an increasingly important role in river discharge measurement. However, most channel cross-section velocity distribution models proposed by researchers have certain limitations in application, underwater velocities are always necessary when applied in narrow channels, which makes it challenging to calculate natural river discharge using water-surface velocities measured by remote sensing instruments. This letter takes water-surface velocities detected by UHF radar as boundary conditions and a new velocity distribution model is derived based on the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations. UHF radar measures surface velocities of the cross-section, and velocities on the river bed of the cross-section are considered to be 0. The RANS equations are simplified to be a two-dimensional Poisson equation and the cross-section velocity distribution is solved by using the closed boundary conditions. Some field experiments were conducted in the Hanjiang River at Xiantao, Hubei, China in September 2017 and April–July 2018, the processing results of which show that the proposed model is superior to the power law and the log law models, especially near the side wall (narrow channel region). River discharges calculated by this method are highly consistent with those provided by Hubei Xiantao hydrologic station, which verifies the reliability of the model and the feasibility of using UHF radar to measure natural river discharge continuously and automatically.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 578〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yunliang Li, Qi Zhang, Xinggen Liu, Zhiqiang Tan, Jing Yao〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Seasonal lakes that exist in floodplain settings have significant effects on hydrological and ecological processes and are highly susceptible to various changes; however, they are rarely investigated, mainly because of the large extent and remoteness of floodplains. This study uses physically based hydrodynamic modeling in combination with a bathymetry adjustment approach to investigate the coupling effects of 77 seasonal lakes (defined as the seasonal lake group) on hydrological behaviors within the Poyang Lake-floodplain system (China) from a systemic perspective. Elucidation of the role of seasonal lake groups could benefit from hydrodynamic modeling, which enables complex lake-floodplain simulations and comparison analyses of natural (original bathymetry) and hypothetical conditions (adjusted bathymetry). In the present study, the simulation results showed that the temporal influences of the seasonal lake group on water levels, lake outflows, and inundation dynamics were greater during dry seasons than wet seasons for both the dry (2006) and wet years (2010). The spatial effects of the seasonal lake group on the hydrology of the lake’s floodplains were stronger than those of the main lake for both hydrological years. The findings demonstrate that the seasonal lakes are likely to have very limited effects on the main lake and the associated flood levels. On average, the role of the seasonal lake group during the dry seasons was around several times stronger than that during flood seasons in terms of the magnitudes of hydrological responses. Additionally, it is expected that the seasonal lake group may exert an important role in influencing the surface hydrological connectivity and associated dry-wet hydrological shift across lake-floodplains, indicating a dominant role of the floodplain bathymetry changes. Overall, the results of this study will support management and planning of Poyang Lake and other similar floodplain regions with numerous small, shallow, and seasonal lakes by providing more reliable information regarding bathymetry changes, water management and lake-floodplain interactions to decision-makers for improved floodplain protection strategy.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0022169419307826-ga1.jpg" width="285" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 578〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Kim Vercruysse, David A. Dawson, Vassilis Glenis, Robert Bertsch, Nigel Wright, Chris Kilsby〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Integrated flood management is essential in urban planning to align flood protection and mitigation with the complex social and physical infrastructure in cities, and involves managing surface water by retaining and transferring it along its pathway across multiple infrastructure systems. However, despite many potential flood management solutions (natural and engineered), spatial prioritization to implement these solutions from a catchment perspective remains difficult. A transferable, source-to-impact flood analysis is developed to identify locations with high surface flooding (impact) and locations contributing to this flooding (source), to define spatial prioritization criteria for flood management intervention. The analysis was applied to Newcastle-upon-Tyne (UK) and combined a spatial rainfall cell dependency analysis with the hydrodynamic flood model CityCAT. Locations within the study area were then classified based on four priority criteria: contribution to (i) total flood extent; (ii) maximum flood depths; (iii) flooded green spaces and roads; and (iv) likelihood of flood exposure. The results illustrate the importance of considering the catchment holistically and identify hydrological linkages between flood source and impact areas, and the corresponding impact on (and interaction with) different infrastructure systems. Different criteria lead to different spatial prioritization information, which stresses the importance of combining criteria that address the specific needs and targets of the desired flood management strategy (e.g. Blue-Green infrastructure). The concept offers a basis for developing a systematic, high-level approach to inform catchment-scale prioritization for flood management intervention, which can be applied prior to developing flood alleviation schemes. In doing so, the approach will help identify opportunities to combine multiple water management solutions and allocate resources more efficiently.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ping-Cheng Hsieh, Ding-You Wang, Ming-Chang Wu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉Urban areas are often covered by materials with smooth ground surface and poor water permeability, which may cause problems such as increasing flow velocity and discharge.〈/p〉 〈p〉This study employed the diffusion wave equation to investigate the variation of overland flow, and analytical solutions were obtained by the generalized integral transformation technique. Examining previous research, we found when the coefficients in the diffusion wave equation were treated as constants, the simulated results would be mass non-conservative. This study corrected the coefficients which makes the flow meet the mass conservation law to improve the simulation results. An alternative solution to the overland flow considering time-varying rainfall and infiltration were proposed and the results were well compared with previous numerical solutions and experimental data.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Bahram Choubin, Moslem Borji, Amir Mosavi, Farzaneh Sajedi-Hosseini, Vijay P. Singh, Shahaboddin Shamshirband〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Snow avalanches are among the most destructive natural hazards threatening human life, ecosystems, built structures, and landscapes in mountainous regions. The complexity of snow avalanche modelling has been discussed in many studies, but its modelling is not well-documented. Snow avalanche modeling in this study was done using three main categories of data, including avalanche occurrence locations, meteorological factors, and terrain characteristics. Two machine learning models, namely support vector machine (SVM) and multivariate discriminant analysis (MDA), were employed. A ratio of 70 to 30 of data was considered for calibrating and validating the models. Results indicated that both models had an excellent performance in snow avalanche modeling (area under curve, AUC 〉 90), although hits and misses analysis demonstrated the superior performance of MDA. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the topographic position index, slope, precipitation, and topographic wetness index were the most effective variables for modeling. A snow avalanche map indicated that the high snow avalanche hazard zone was mostly near the streams and was matched with hillsides around the water pathways. Findings of study can be helpful for land use planning, to control snow avalanche paths, and to prevent the probable hazards induced by it, and it can be a good reference for future studies on modeling snow avalanche hazards.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xu Li, Zhang Wen, Hongbin Zhan, Qi Zhu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Single-well push-pull (SWPP) test is one of the most important ways to estimate flow and transport parameters, e.g. porosity, dispersivity, regional groundwater flow velocity. Usually the wellbore is surrounded by a finite-thickness skin, such as a gravel pack. The positive skin has a smaller hydraulic conductivity than the aquifer formation zone, and the negative skin has a greater one. In this study, a numerical model of a SWPP test considering skin effects was established using the finite-element COMSOL Multiphysics program to estimate aquifer parameters. Several important results were obtained. Firstly, regional groundwater velocity affects the types of breakthrough curves (BTCs) through changing the flow pattern. Secondly, a positive (or negative) skin leads to a slower (or faster) tracer transport process, and a smaller ratio between the hydraulic conductivity of the skin and that of the aquifer formation zone results in greater solute plume retardation in the skin zone. Thirdly, a larger thickness of the positive skin leads to a higher tracer concentration around the well, and the opposite is true if the skin is negative. Besides, the model of Leap and Kaplan (1988) underestimates the regional groundwater velocity for the second type of BTCs, and a larger longitudinal dispersivity can lead to a greater error, where the second type of BTCs has a rising limb at early stage followed by a falling limb at late stage. The general conclusion is that the estimations of groundwater velocity from SWPP tests are also affected by skin effects.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 6 July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Pengcheng Qin, Hongmei Xu, Min Liu, Liangmin Du, Chan Xiao, Lüliu Liu, Brian Tarroja〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Climate change is expected to alter regional hydrological regimes, affecting the operation and performance of reservoirs and hydropower facilities. This study examines the impacts of climate change on the performance of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) by means of a detailed daily reservoir regulation and hydropower model, linked to a physically-based hydrological model, and driven by an ensemble of five General Circulation Models (GCMs) under three Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). As precipitation in the basin is expected to increase, the projected mean annual inflow and hydropower generation of the TGR will increase by 3.3-5.6% and 0.9-2.3% in 2040-2065, 7.9%-15.2% and 5.2-8.1% in 2080-2099 respectively. These increases are only statistically significant for 2080-2099 and are seasonally concentrated in the spring before the flood season and the early autumn during the end of the flood season. However, the inter-annual variation of power generation will increase strongly in the dry season. The reservoir performance is highly sensitive to the changes in the seasonal distribution and extremes of streamflow. Increases in streamflow that occur in the flood season cause significant increases in the amount of spilled water and advance the time when the reservoir reaches the normal storage level. Additionally, increases in both the inter-annual variation of inflow and the intensity of inflow shortages during extreme drought years in the impounding stage drive decreases in the fully filled rate and average water storage level in the dry season. The utilization rate of water resources under projected extreme streamflow is expected to decrease, reshaping the response of power generation to climate change into a non-linear pattern where increases in streamflow do not proportionally translate to increases in power generation. These findings highlight the complexity of hydropower management and production under future climate change scenarios, motivating the need for introducing detailed regulating models for impact assessment studies and adaptive adjustment of the reservoir management to combat climate change.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 576〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Mohamed Sultan, Neil C. Sturchio, Saleh Alsefry, Mustafa K. Emil, Mohamed Ahmed, Karem Abdelmohsen, Mazen M. AbuAbdullah, Eugene Yan, Himanshu Save, Talal Alharbi, Abdullah Othman, Kyle Chouinard〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉An integrated approach was developed to assess the sustainability, origin, age, evolution, and groundwater potential of large fossil aquifers using the Mega Aquifer System (MAS) (area: 2 × 10〈sup〉6〈/sup〉 km〈sup〉2〈/sup〉) in the Arabian Peninsula as a test site. A two-step exercise was adopted, the sustainability of the MAS was first investigated through the analysis of GRACE data and land surface model (LSM) outputs. Then, integrated geochemical, remote sensing, and field studies were conducted to address the age, origin, hydrogeological setting, and evolution of the southern sections of the MAS (Rub Al Khali Aquifer System (RAKAS)), the area identified from the analysis of GRACE and LSMs as being the most suited for sustainable development. Analysis of GRACE and LSMs revealed: (1) the MAS central and northern sections are experiencing high groundwater extraction (6.6 km〈sup〉3〈/sup〉/yr) and depletion rates (−2.8 ± 0.8 km〈sup〉3〈/sup〉/yr) with minimum balancing potential through aquifer capture processes, yet sustainability could be achieved by reducing annual extraction by 2.8 km〈sup〉3〈/sup〉, and (2) the MAS southern sections (Rub Al Khali Aquifer System (RAKAS)) are experiencing low groundwater depletion rates (eastern RAKAS: −1.8 ± 1.4 mm/yr) to steady-state conditions (western RAKAS: −0.73 ± 1.4 mm/yr). Geochemical, remote sensing, and field investigations over the RAKAS revealed: (1) the presence of west to east trending drainage networks and large-scale groundwater flow systems consistent with a meteoric source (precipitation over Red Sea Hills); (2) increasing 〈sup〉36〈/sup〉Cl model ages along groundwater flow directions (up to 970,000 years), indicating aquifer recharge in wet Pleistocene periods; (3) progressive depletion in the O and H stable isotopic compositions of aquifers with increasing distance from the Red Sea Hills basement outcrops, indicating modest recharge during prevailing dry conditions; and (4) the presence of relatively fresh (TDS: 800–2800 mg/L) and non-radioactive (〈sup〉226〈/sup〉Ra + 〈sup〉228〈/sup〉Ra 〈 0.185 Bq/kg) water in western RAKAS. Findings suggest that sustainable agricultural development is achievable at current extraction rates in western RAKAS and provide a replicable and cost-effective model.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Hai Zhou, Wenzhi Zhao, Zhibin He, Jialiang Yan, Gefei Zhang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Mongolian pine (〈em〉Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica〈/em〉) has been widely used in vegetation restoration and for windbreaks in sandy regions of northern China where water is the principal factor limiting tree survival and growth. An understanding of water use in Mongolian pine plantations is critical for effective vegetation restoration. To determine water sources in a Mongolian pine plantation, we investigated the stable isotopic ratios of 〈em〉δ〈/em〉〈sup〉18〈/sup〉O and 〈em〉δ〈/em〉D in precipitation, groundwater, in soil water in different soil layers, and in tree xylem at different tree ages along a precipitation gradient and in different micro-landforms. The results indicated that the main water sources for Mongolian pine were precipitation-derived shallow soil water in semi-humid regions and that the contribution proportion decreased with an increase in tree age. With reduced precipitation in semi-arid and arid regions, contribution of deep soil water to Mongolian pine water use gradually increased, and differences in soil water contribution among trees due to tree age also significantly increased. Water use patterns in trees planted in different micro-landforms (e.g. sand dune crest or inter-dune lowland) became more distinct as precipitation gradually decreased across humid to semiarid and arid regions. Moreover, Mongolian pine, including 15-, 20-, 25-, and 45-year-old trees, similar height and DBH without groundwater in semi-arid climate (in Ejin Horo banner), while trees planted in extremely arid climate (Linze) relied on irrigation for survival despite abundant and available groundwater at that study site. These results indicated that groundwater may be beyond reach to be a main water source for Mongolian pine trees. Soil water conditions determined the survival and sustainable growth of planted trees, especially at depths less than 1 m where soil layers were recharged mainly by precipitation. Although Mongolian pine exhibits strong ecological adaptability, a trait that makes it ideally-suited for controlling desertification in sandy regions of northern China, water stress, crown dieback, or even tree mortality are likely to occur under conditions of extremely low precipitation.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jungho Kim, Heechan Han, Lynn E. Johnson, Sanghun Lim, Rob Cifelli〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This study introduces a novel hydrological assessment tool (HAT) based on hybrid machine learning (HML) framework. The HML framework combines an unsupervised clustering technique and a supervised classification technique, to determine reasonable performance ratings (unsatisfactory, satisfactory, good, and very good) and build a practical assessment tool. Hydrologically significant error indices are used to cluster the performance rating groups and train the HAT. The HAT was applied to the National Water Model (NWM), which is operated in real time for the continental United States (CONUS). For establishing, training, and validating the HAT, data from October 2013 to February 2017 were used, and a performance assessment was conducted on the NWM in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a result, the HAT determined the performance ratings that were reliable in terms of the statistics and hydrograph. It was confirmed that the HAT could perform an accurate hydrograph assessment as the concordance rate of the performance ratings was 98%. The NWM was evaluated against 57 USGS streamflow gauges using the HAT and was found to perform with 46% on average, good and very good ratings. The HML framework, an integral part of the HAT, is expected to be useful not only in hydrological analysis but also across all geophysical fields that deal with physical processes.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 576〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): J. Leandro, A. Gander, M.N.A. Beg, P. Bhola, I. Konnerth, W. Willems, R. Carvalho, M. Disse〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉River discharges flood forecasting is a complex task with multiple sources of uncertainty. Bayesian methods can incorporate multiple types of uncertainties by inferring the probability density function of ensemble forecasts based on past events. However, such methods lead to forecasts with large uncertainty bands. In order to reduce the uncertainty in the forecasts, we focus solely on the prediction of the upper and lower range of the uncertainty bands. Therefore, we develop three forecast methods in which we search for the indexes of the upper and lower forecast members of an ensemble (termed best-pairs), which provide the highest predictive skill. The results show for four distinct hindcasts of historical events in a case study in Bavaria (Germany) that the new methods have a higher predictive skill of the observations than probabilistic methods, at least for the first 4 out of 12 h’ forecasts. Moreover, the new methods are computational efficient because they considerably reduce the number of members of the ensembles required to produce a flood discharge forecast with high predictive skill.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉Conceptual representation of the probabilistic forecast (PF) (first two) and upper and lower forecast (ULF) (last three) methods: a) Ensemble, b) Relative error method, c) Discharge intervals, d) Rising and receding, and e) Slope intervals.〈/p〉 〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0022169419305992-ga1.jpg" width="239" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 2 July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Stephen Tuozzolo, Theodore Langhorst, Renato Prata de Moraes Frasson, Tamlin Pavelsky, Michael Durand〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The Surface Water and Ocean Topography Mission (SWOT) will generate global, spatially continuous maps of water surface elevation and extent for large inland water bodies when it launches in 2021. We present an analysis of water surface elevation, width, and bathymetry timeseries data from a medium-sized (average annual discharge 14 m〈sup〉3〈/sup〉/s) river to explore Manning’s equation, an empirical open channel flow equation, in the context of SWOT discharge algorithms. While this equation is in theory inapplicable to natural channels due to the non-uniform and spatially heterogeneous nature of river systems, we explored approaches to adapt it to this context using reach-averaged variables. At twenty sites along a 6.5 km stretch of the Olentangy River in Ohio, USA, we collected automated and manual measurements of water surface elevation and river width, undertook a full bathymetric survey of the study area, and built a hydraulic model. The stretch of river was divided into five reaches, and hydraulic variables were reach-averaged. Using these variables, we used a modified form of Manning’s equation to compute a reach-averaged roughness coefficient. Reach-averaged roughness coefficients varied nonlinearly with discharge and were 2-10 times larger at low flow than at high flow in the in-situ data, ranging from 0.06 to 0.61 in one of the study reaches. These results were compared with the output of an unsteady flow simulation using a calibrated 1-D hydraulic model which was run with constant roughness coefficients at each cross section. When reach-averaged data was used, model-derived roughness coefficient also varied by more than an order of magnitude, with a range of 0.02 to 0.82 for one reach. For both in-situ and model-derived datasets, using a two-parameter roughness coefficient which scaled with a power law on either discharge or stage reduced discharge estimation error, with error for one reach dropping from 81 % to 8 % relative root-mean square error (rRMSE) in the in-situ data and 58 % to 8 % nRMSE in the modeled data. These results imply that spatial averaging of hydraulic variables leads to large variations in reach averaged Manning’s 〈em〉n〈/em〉, which we term the reach’s “effective resistance”, and suggest that this variability can be accounted for with a simple parameterization in estimates of discharge that use spatially averaged data.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Lisa D. Olsen〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The author read with much interest the publication by Mize et al. (2018) on the decrease in suspended-sediment concentrations and loads in the lower Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers between 1980 and 2015. Researchers interested in sediment dynamics in the lower Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers also should be aware that sediment data previously reported for the lower Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) were affected by a systematic error in the fines fraction (particle sizes less than 0.063 millimeter) of the suspended-sediment concentration. This error affected results reported from October 1973 through February 2015 for two sites on the main stem of the Mississippi River, three sites on the Atchafalaya River, one site on the Old River Outflow Channel, and one site on the Red River. The USGS and USACE identified the error and have revised the results for samples collected from October 1989 through February 2015, as reported by Norton et al. (2019a) and Norton et al. (2019b). The significant conclusions of Mize et al. (2018) and sediment loads modeled using the Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS) method were unaffected by the systematic error because the models used data from unaffected sites; however, the background information provided in tables 1 and 2 of Mize et al. (2018) included references to several previous studies that contained results affected by the error. This comment paper identifies which references in Mize et al. (2018) were affected by the error and alerts readers to implications of the data revision.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Alejandro García-Gil, Enric Vázquez-Suñé, Carlos Ayora, Corrado Tore, Álvaro Henríquez, José Yáñez〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The skin effect is an important issue associated with a loss of hydraulic efficiency in pumping systems. In this paper, a comprehensive study is conducted to determine how the evolution of the skin effect over time affects the productivity and functionality of brine exploitation systems in a crystalline halite aquifer. Several double-packer system tests have been interpreted via groundwater modeling to hydrogeologically characterize the investigated aquifer. A numerical groundwater flow model that accounts for the heterogeneity of the multilayer halite aquifer and the transient well skin effect on the brine exploitation system is presented to explain the continuous drawdown during three months of constant-rate brine extractions. Numerical results obtained suggested that an exponential decay function of permeability over time was required in a wellbore skin zone to reproduce numerically experimental observations during brine exploitation. The empirical exponential function obtained specifically for this case study was generalized, and coefficients considered were discussed to infer their physical and geochemical dimensions related to the mixing process triggering heterogenous reactions responsible for the hydraulic loses. Our results will be useful for predicting the spatial and temporal losses of hydraulic efficiency and for evaluating the lifetimes of brine exploitation infrastructure.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yingxue Xuan, Changyuan Tang, Yingjie Cao, Rui Li, Tao Jiang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Knowledge about the origin and transformation of nutrients at different temporal scales in river ecosystems can provide a better understanding of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles in rivers and bear important implications for regional and global C and N cycling. In this study, stable isotopes of C and N (δ〈sup〉13〈/sup〉C and δ〈sup〉15〈/sup〉N) and a radioactive isotope of 〈sup〉210〈/sup〉Pb were used to investigate the factors affecting seasonal and long-term changes in N source apportionment and C and N biogeochemical processes in the Beijiang River located in the Pearl River basin, China. Source apportionment by a Bayesian model (stable isotopic analysis in R, SIAR) showed significant seasonal variations. During the flood season, the dominant origins were non-point sources, such as soil N for dissolved nitrogen (DN, accounting for 38%), soil organic matter for particulate organic matter (POM, 58%) and sedimentary organic matter (SOM, 31%), due to intense precipitation. During the non-flood season, fertilizer became the dominant nitrate source (48%), and effluent detritus prevailed in the POM (47%) and SOM (32%) pools. N transformation between the DN, POM and SOM was influenced by seasonally variable hydrology. Our data suggested that low discharge was more favorable for the vertical mixing of the water column and sedimentation, which was supported by similar δ〈sup〉15〈/sup〉N values in the DN, POM and SOM in the non-flood season. A sedimentary history record of 65 years (1951–2015) showed that the variation of N in the sediment was mainly affected by human activities. From 1999 to 2005, a decreasing trend in the δ〈sup〉15〈/sup〉N values was observed due to the promotion of aquatic plant cultivation after reservoir impoundment. From 2005 to 2011, the enrichment in the δ〈sup〉15〈/sup〉N values was caused by increases in manure and sewage due to the development of the tourism industry. From 2011 to 2015, the increase in pollution treatment funds from the government improved the water environment, resulting in δ〈sup〉15〈/sup〉N depletion in the sediment. At the 65-year temporal scale, increased temperature and CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 concentration had less impact on the C and N cycles in river ecosystems, however, high discharge could increase the C and N contents, and flood events might increase the δ〈sup〉15〈/sup〉N values in the sediment. This study provided more detailed information regarding the nutrient sources and improved our understanding of the C and N cycling processes at different temporal scales in river ecosystems.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0022169419306468-ga1.jpg" width="433" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Tuo Xie, Gang Zhang, Jinwang Hou, Jiancang Xie, Meng Lv, Fuchao Liu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Accurate and reliable short-term runoff prediction is of great significance to the management of water resources optimization and reservoir flood operation. In order to improve the accuracy of short-term runoff forecasting, a hybrid model-based “feature decomposition-learning reconstruction” named VMD-DBN-IPSO was proposed. In this paper, variational mode decomposition (VMD) is first used to decompose the original daily runoff series into a set of sub-sequence for improving the frequency resolution. Partial autocorrelation function (PACF) is then applied to determine the input variables of each sub-sequence. The improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO) algorithm is combined with the deep belief network (DBN) model to predict each sub-sequences and finally reconstruct the ensemble forecasting result. Three quantitative evaluation indicators, mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE) and Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE), were used to evaluate and compare the established models using the historical daily runoff data (1/1/1988-31/12/2017) at Yangxian and Ankang hydrological station in the Han River Basin of China. Meanwhile, a comparative analysis of the performance of VMD-DBN-IPSO model under different forecast periods (1-, 3-, 5- and 7-day lead time) was performed. In addition, the prediction ability of peak runoff of the VMD-DBN-IPSO model is further verified by analyzing the 10 peak flows during the testing data-series. The results indicate that the VMD-DBN-IPSO model can always achieve the best performance in the training and testing stage, and has good stability and representativeness, the NSE coefficient remains above 0.8, and the prediction error of peak flow is within 20%. It is a preferred data-driven tool for forecasting daily runoff.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Jianying Jiao, Ye Zhang, Liqiang Wang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A new solute transport inverse method is proposed for estimating plume trajectory and source release location under unknown solute transport boundary conditions in a steady-state, non-uniform groundwater flow field. Solute concentration is modeled by proposing a set of local approximation solutions (LAS) of transport that are discretized over the problem domain. At a given time step, the inverse method imposes continuities of concentration and total solute mass flux at a set of collocation points in the inversion grid, whereas the LAS are conditioned to measured breakthrough concentrations. By enforcing transport physics at selected points in space and time, the inverse problem becomes well-posed and a single system of inversion equations is assembled and solved with a parallel iterative solver. Unlike most of the inversion techniques that minimize a model-data mismatch objective function, the inverse method does not require the simulation of a forward transport model for optimization, thus both solute initial and boundary conditions can be recovered. Assuming dispersivity estimates are available, the method was demonstrated using synthetic breakthrough data from various sampling densities and designs, i.e., irregular versus uniformly spaced well networks. Different measurement errors and source release histories (e.g., uniform-in-time, single, and multiple pulses) were also investigated. Results suggest that for the source release histories tested, 1) inversion is stable under increasing measurement errors up to 5% of the maximum observed concentration; 2) accurate plume trajectory and source release location can be estimated from solute breakthrough concentrations; 3) inversion accuracy appears the most sensitive to sampling well density and its information content.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 21 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yunfen Huang, Yuying Li, Yingying Qu, Yue Zheng, Mengting Ouyang, Yunqing Zhang, Wei Lai, Qingfang Xu〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Autophagy has been associated with a variety of diseases especially aging. Human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) can internalize and then degrade elastin, collagen and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) in lysosomes, which plays prominent roles in extracellular matrix homeostasis and AGEs removal in the dermis. Although autophagy has been reported to be decreased in photoaged fibroblasts, the underlying mechanism and its relevance to photoaging remain elusive. Here, we showed that GFP-LC3 puncta per cell, LC3Ⅰ/Ⅱ conversion and p62 expression were significantly increased, whereas beclin1 expression was not altered in UVA-induced photoaged fibroblasts compared with non-photoaged control. Moreover, autophagic flux was not significantly affected by chloroquine treatment, but was remarkably induced by rapamycin treatment in photoaged fibroblasts, suggesting that UVA-induced photoaging might inhibit autophagy at the degradation stage. Further lysosomal function studies demonstrated that degradation of formed autophagosomes, LC3Ⅱprotein and DQ-Green BSA was all dramatically decreased in photoaged fibroblasts. LysoSensor yellow/blue DND 160 staining and flow cytometry assays demonstrated that photoaging obviously attenuated lysosomal acidification. Also, decreased expression of cathepsin B, L and D was found in photoaged fibroblasts. These data suggest that lowered lysosomal acidity and decreased cathepsins expression might contribute to the inhibition of autophagic degradation, which might be crucial in the development of photoaging through impairing intracellular degradation.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 21 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xuanzhong Wang, Shan Lu, Chuan He, Chongcheng Wang, Lei Wang, Meihua Piao, Guangfan Chi, Yinan Luo, Pengfei Ge〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉RSL3 is a type of small molecular compound which can inactivate glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and induce ferroptosis, but its role in glioma cell death remains unclear. In this study, we found RSL3 inhibited the viabilities of glioma cells and induced glioma cell death in a dose-dependent manner. In vitro studies revealed that RSL3-induced cell death was accompanied with the changes of autophagy-associated protein levels and was alleviated by pretreatment of 3-Methyladenine, bafilomycin A1 and knockdown of ATG5 with siRNA. The ATP and pyruvate content as well as the protein levels of HKII, PFKP, PKM2 were decreased in cells treated by RSL3, indicating that RSL3 induced glycolysis dysfunction in glioma cells. Moreover, supplement of exterior sodium pyruvate, which was a final product of glycolysis, not only inhibited the changes of autophagy-associated protein levels caused by RSL3, but also prevented RSL3-induced cell death. In vivo data suggested that the inhibitory effect of RSL3 on the growth of glioma cells was associated with glycolysis dysfunction and autophagy activation. Taken together, RSL3 induced autophagic cell death in glioma cells via causing glycolysis dysfunction.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 22 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ning Luo, Dan-dan Chen, Li Liu, Li Li, Zhong-ping Cheng〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The CXCL12/CXCR4 axis is strongly implicated as key determinant of tumor invasion and metastasis in ovarian cancer. However, little is known about the potential downstream signals of the CXCL12/CXCR4 axis that contribute to ovarian cancer cell invasion and metastasis. ARHGAP10, a member of Rho GTPase activating proteins is a potential tumor suppressor gene in ovarian cancer. In this study, a negative correlation between the protein levels of CXCL12, CXCR4, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR2) and ARHGAP10 was uncovered in ovarian cancer tissues and paired adjacent noncancerous tissues. CXCL12 stimulation reduced the expression of ARHGAP10. Furthermore, the pretreatment of CXCR4 inhibitor (AMD3100) or the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR2) inhibitor (SU1498) abrogated the CXCL12-deduced expression of ARHGAP10. Finally, an 〈em〉in vitro〈/em〉 functional assay revealed that CXCL12 did not stimulate ovarian cancer cell invasion when ARHGAP10 was overexpressed or when ovarian cancer cells were pre-treated with AMD3100 or SU1498. Knockdown of ARHGAP10 significantly suppressed the inhibitory effects of SU1498 on ovarian cancer cell invasion and lung metastasis. In summary, these findings suggest that CXCL12/CXCR4 promotes ovarian cancer cell invasion by suppressing ARHGAP10 expression, which is mediated by VEGF/VEGFR2 signaling.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 21 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yojiro Ishida, Keiko Inouye, Ouyang Ming, Masayori Inouye〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉MazF is a sequence-specific endoribonuclease or mRNA interferase, which cleaves RNA at a specific sequence. Since the expression of a specific gene or a group of specific genes can be regulated by MazF, expanding the repertoire of recognition sequences by MazF mRNA interferases is highly desirable for biotechnological and medical applications. Here, we identified a gene for a MazF homologue (MazFme) from 〈em〉Methanohalobium evestigatum〈/em〉, an extremely halophilic archaeon. In order to suppress the toxicity of MazFme to the 〈em〉E. coli〈/em〉 cells, the C-terminal half of the cognate antitoxin MazEme was fused to the N-terminal end of MazFme. Since the fusion of the C-terminal half of MazEme to MazFme was able to neutralize MazFme toxicity, the MazEme-MazFme fusion protein was expressed in a large amount without any toxic effects. After purification of the MazEme, the free MazFme RNA cleavage specificity was determined by primer extension and synthetic ribonucleotides, revealing that MazFme is a CUGGU/UUGGU-specific endoribonuclease.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 21 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Takujiro Homma, Sho Kobayashi, Junichi Fujii〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Singlet oxygen causes a cytotoxic process in tumor cells in photodynamic therapy (PDT) and skin photoaging. The mechanism responsible for this cytotoxicity is, however, not fully understood. 1-Methylnaphthalene-4-propionate endoperoxide (MNPE) is a cell-permeable endoperoxide that generates pure singlet oxygen. We previously reported that cell death induced by MNPE did not show the typical profile of apoptosis, and the cause of this cell death remains elusive. We report herein on an investigation of the mechanism for MNPE-induced cell death from the view point of ferroptosis. The findings indicate that the MNPE treatment decreased the viabilities of mouse hepatoma Hepa 1-6 cells in vitro, and that this decrease was accompanied by increases in the concentrations of both intracellular ferrous iron and the level of lipid peroxidation, but that the caspase-mediated apoptotic pathway was not activated. The intracellular levels of cysteine and glutathione were not affected by the MNPE treatment. Importantly, an assay of lactate dehydrogenase activity revealed that the cell death caused by MNPE was suppressed by ferrostatin-1, a ferroptosis-specific inhibitor. Collectively, these results strongly indicate that ferroptosis is the main cell death pathway induced by singlet oxygen.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 21 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Tian Wang, Xi-Ya Sun, Ai-Ling Li, Ming-Xing Zhou, Yang Han, Jiao-Zhen Zhang, Dong-Mei Ren, Hong-Xiang Lou, Xiao-Ning Wang, Tao Shen〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Oxidative stress is one of the main pathogenesis for many human diseases. Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/antioxidant response element (ARE) signaling pathway plays a key role in regulating intracellular antioxidant responses, and thus activation of Nrf2/ARE signaling pathway is a potential chemopreventive or therapeutic strategy to treat diseases caused by oxidative damage. In the present study, we have found that treatment of Beas-2B cells with botrysphins D (BD) attenuated sodium arsenite [As (III)]-induced cell death and apoptosis. Meanwhile, BD was able to upregulate protein levels of Nrf2 and its downstream genes NQO1 and γ-GCS through inducing Nrf2 nuclear translocation, enhancing protein stability, and inhibiting ubiquitination. It was also found that BD-induced activation of the Nrf2/ARE pathway was regulated by PI3K, MEK1/2, PKC, and PERK kinases. Collectively, BD is a novel activator of Nrf2/ARE pathway, and is verified to be a potential preventive agent against oxidative stress-induced damage in human lung tissues.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0006291X19315918-fx1.jpg" width="496" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 21 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): ChuanLing Tang, JiaPing Pan, Hui Li, Bin He, Ling Hong, XiaoMing Teng, DaJin Li〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Oxidative stress is associated with functional disorder of trophoblast cells. Our previous studies have demonstrated that cyclosporin A (CsA) promotes the activity of normal human trophoblast cells. We further investigated the role and mechanism of CsA on oxidative stress in trophoblast cells. JEG-3 cells were co-cultured with H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 and CsA. Cell viability and morphology were measured by MTT assay and inverted microscope. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) was analyzed by fluorescence microscopy. Cell mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) was determined by flow cytometric analysis. Malondialdehyde (MDA) production, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities were examined using colorimetric assays. The expression and phosphorylation of FAK and Src kinase proteins were examined by western blotting. CsA increased JEG-3 cell viability and reduced the morphologic injury induced by H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 treatment. CsA decreased ROS and MDA production, increased SOD and CAT activities, and restored the MMP of H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 treated JEG-3 cells. CsA administration suppressed H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉2〈/sub〉-induced reduction of FAK and Src phosphorylation. Blocking the activation of FAK or Src attenuated the protective effect of CsA on JEG-3 cells in H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉2〈/sub〉-induced oxidative injury. CsA protects JEG-3 cells from H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉O〈sub〉2〈/sub〉-induced oxidative injury, and the FAK/Src signaling pathway plays an important role in this process.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 21 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yu Zhao, Gautam Mahajan, Chandrasekhar R. Kothapalli, Xue-Long Sun〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Cell surface receptors are the key contributors of macrophage function. Most macrophage cell surface receptors are glycoproteins with sialic acids at the terminal of their glycans. It is well recognized that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induces cell surface sialylation changes that may in turn contribute to macrophage functions. In addition, cellular mechanics such as elasticity is also a major determinant of macrophage function, which in turn is modulated by LPS. In this report, we characterized the sialylation status of macrophages upon LPS stimulation and assessed the changes in its mechanical properties and function. Specifically, we confirmed that sialylation status is closely related to macrophage biomechanical characteristics (elastic modulus, tether force, tether radius, adhesion force, and membrane tension) and thus directly involved in macrophage function. Further, we modulated macrophage sialylation status by feeding the cell with exogenous free sialic acid (Neu5Ac, Neu5Gc) and sialidase inhibitors, and examined the resulting effects on cellular mechanics and function. A systematic recognition of sialylation status related to cellular mechanics of macrophages will contribute to defining their phenotypes and elucidate macrophage functional diversity.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0006291X19316122-fx1.jpg" width="258" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 578〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Chongli Di, Tiejun Wang, Erkan Istanbulluoglu, A.W. Jayawardena, Siliang Li, Xi Chen〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Soil moisture systems generally exhibit complex spatiotemporal patterns due to their nonlinear interactions with surrounding environments. In this paper, the possible existence of chaotic behaviors in soil moisture time series was investigated using the chaos theory, specifically based on the techniques of phase space reconstruction, correlation dimension (CD), largest Lyapunov exponent (LLE), and local approximation prediction (LAP) methods. Daily soil moisture data for six years along with different influencing factors were obtained for 35 Nebraska Mesonet (NM) stations with varying hydroclimatic conditions and soil properties. The results of CDs and LLEs revealed the presence of chaos in soil moisture systems, implying that soil moisture dynamics was controlled by deterministic systems with a limited number of governing variables. The results obtained by the LAP method offered further evidence on the chaotic behavior of soil moisture systems. Specifically, Median of CD values of 4.51, 4.06, 3.23, and 1.40 were obtained for soil moisture time series at the depths of 10, 25, 50, and 100 cm, respectively, indicating that the complexity of soil moisture systems decreased with increasing depth. Moreover, the correlations of CDs with different influencing factors showed that the dominant controls on soil moisture dynamics switched at different depths. At shallower depths (e.g., 10 and 25 cm), CDs were more correlated with meteorological forcings, while stronger correlations emerged between CDs and soil texture in deeper soil layers (e.g., 50 and 100 cm). As the first attempt to analyze the complexity of soil moisture systems from the perspective of the chaos theory, the results of this study offer additional avenues for understanding chaotic behaviors of soil moisture dynamics.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: 8 October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 518, Issue 1〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): You-Jian Zhang, Jian-Rong Song, Ming-Jun Zhao〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Stroke is reported as a leading cause of mortality and disability in the world. Neuroinflammation is significantly induced responding to ischemic stroke, and this process is accompanied with microglial activation. However, the pathogenesis contributing to ischemic stroke remains unclear. NR4A1 (Nur77) is a nuclear receptor that is expressed in macrophages, playing a significant role in regulating inflammatory response. In the present study, we attempted to explore the effects of NR4A1 on ischemic stroke using 〈em〉in vivo〈/em〉 and 〈em〉in vitro〈/em〉 studies. Results suggested that NR4A1 expression in microglia was markedly increased after cerebral ischemic damage. Then, we found that NR4A1 knockout attenuated ischemia-triggered infarction volume and neuron injury. Also, cognitive impairments were improved in ischemic mice with NR4A1 deficiency, resulting in functional improvements. Moreover, M1 polarization in microglia and neutrophil recruitment was significantly alleviated by NR4A1 deletion, as evidenced by the reduced expression of M1 markers, chemokines, as well as intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) levels. Importantly, we found that NR4A1 could interact with nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB)/p65 based on 〈em〉in vivo〈/em〉 and 〈em〉in vitro〈/em〉 results. Suppressing p65 activation by the use of its inhibitor clearly reduced the NR4A1 expression, M1 polarization and neutrophil recruitments, while rescued the expression of anti-inflammatory factors in microglia treated with oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD). Therefore, NR4A1 suppression in microglia restrained neuroinflammation through interacting with NF-κB/p65 to attenuate ischemic stroke.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 21 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Deepika Sharma, Monika Choudhary, Jitendraa Vashistt, Rahul Shrivastava, Gopal Singh Bisht〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈em〉Acinetobacter baumannii〈/em〉 is one of the clinically important nosocomial pathogen that has become resistant to most of the conventional antimicrobials. Biofilms formed by 〈em〉A. baumannii〈/em〉 are difficult to eradicate, thereby highlighting the need for new therapeutic options to treat biofilm associated infections. Antimicrobial peptides have recently emerged as new alternatives to conventional antibiotics, but peptides often suffer with drawbacks such as poor proteolytic stability and high cost of production. To tackle these limitations, mimetics based on antimicrobial peptides are usually designed and synthesized. In this study we have designed and synthesized a peptoid based on a minimum amphipathic template of a twelve residue cationic peptide. Antimicrobial evaluation of peptide and peptoid was carried out against biofilm producing 〈em〉A. baumannii〈/em〉 strains〈em〉.〈/em〉 Further, proteolytic stability study of these compounds was carried out in human serum and morphological alterations caused by them on 〈em〉A. baumannii〈/em〉 were visualized by SEM analysis. In addition, these compounds were found to be non toxic to human erythrocytes at their minimum inhibitory concentrations against 〈em〉A. baumannii〈/em〉 strains. Overall results obtained in this study suggest that these compounds might be potential antimicrobial agents against biofilm forming 〈em〉A. baumannii〈/em〉 and it may be postulated that their mode of action on 〈em〉A. baumannii〈/em〉 is disruption of bacterial cell membrane.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 20 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Shahper N. Khan, Shakir Khan, Lama Misba, Muzammil Sharief, Amiruddin Hashmi, Asad U. Khan〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈em〉Candida albicans〈/em〉 frequently causes variety of superficial and invasive disseminated infections in HIV infected patients. Further, the emergence of non albicans species causing candidiasis predominantly in patients with advanced immune-suppression and drug resistance brings great apprehension. Hence, in this study we evaluate the capability of eugenol (EUG), a natural compound in combination with less toxic concentrations of amphotericin B (AmpB) for enhanced antifungal effects and reduced toxicity. Antifungal activity and time-kill assay were employed according to Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI) guidelines with minor modifications on clinical isolates of 〈em〉Candida albicans〈/em〉. To confirm the synergistic interaction of EUG and AmpB, checkerboard experiments were employed. Interestingly, EUG-Amp B combination shows many fold higher anti-candida activity compared to single component treatment. Furthermore, our results depicts reactive oxygen species (ROS) driven killing and mitochondrial hyperpolarisation on treatment. Our data also suggests inhibition of calcium channel by EUG and predicts longer retainment of AmpB. Pronounced cellular damage was observed with combination treatment than to EUG and AmpB alone. Our finding is helpful for the removal of toxic concentrations of antifungal agents.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 578〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): W. Hu, Y.Q. Wang, H.J. Li, M.B. Huang, M.T. Hou, Z. Li, D.L. She, B.C. Si〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Knowledge of spatio-temporal groundwater recharge (〈em〉GR〈/em〉) is crucial for optimizing regional water management practices. Daily potential 〈em〉GR〈/em〉 at 58 sites over the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) during 1981–2099 was simulated using the HYDRUS-1D and robust model inputs. The objective was to explore the impacts of soil, vegetation, and climate on potential 〈em〉GR〈/em〉 at a regional scale. The median potential 〈em〉GR〈/em〉 over the CLP during 1981–2010 was 1.8 cm, accounting for 4.1% of the annual precipitation (〈em〉P〈/em〉). As dominated by 〈em〉P〈/em〉, the annual potential 〈em〉GR〈/em〉 decreased from 18.8 cm (28% of 〈em〉P〈/em〉) at the southeast to 0.0 cm at the northwest. Temporally, consistent low-intensity of 〈em〉GR〈/em〉 interspersed with extreme rainfall-induced high 〈em〉GR〈/em〉, being episodic or seasonal depending on sites and years. The lag (average of 5 months) between deep drainage at 3 m depth and rainfall was controlled by climate (i.e., 〈em〉P〈/em〉). From 1981 to 2010, annual potential 〈em〉GR〈/em〉 significantly decreased as a result of increased 〈em〉ET〈sub〉p〈/sub〉〈/em〉 and leaf area index (〈em〉LAI〈/em〉) over time. A warmer and wetter CLP at the end of this century as predicted by the HadCM3 model may decrease the potential 〈em〉GR〈/em〉 because of the increased 〈em〉ET〈sub〉p〈/sub〉〈/em〉. This study highlights the dominance of water input factor (〈em〉P〈/em〉) on the spatial 〈em〉GR〈/em〉 and water output factors (〈em〉ET〈sub〉p〈/sub〉〈/em〉 and 〈em〉LAI〈/em〉) on the temporal 〈em〉GR〈/em〉. Measures such as water-saving practices and land use optimization should be taken to mitigate climate change effect on groundwater recharge.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 578〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Lu Chen, Hongya Qiu, Junhong Zhang, Vijay P. Singh, Jianzhong Zhou, Kangdi Huang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Daily stochastic streamflow simulation is widely used for the design of reservoirs, evaluation of reservoir operation rules, and risk evaluation of operation of water resources systems. The major difficulties and challenges of daily streamflow are that there are 365 days that need to be simulated, which entails much more calculation than does monthly streamflow simulation. Since lag-2 auto-correlation is usually large, the lag-2 correlations should be considered. This paper therefore proposes a copula-based method for daily stochastic streamflow simulation. The contribution and novelty of this paper are that: (a) the proposed method can consider lag-2 correlations, compared with the currently used copula based method; (b) the conditional copulas are used to build high dimensional copulas, which make calculations easier; and (c) the method can be used for daily streamflow simulation because of the simplified model structure and effective parameter estimation method. Seven gauging stations on the upper Yangtze River and Pearl River in China were selected as case studies. Results demonstrated that the proposed method preserved the basic statistics (including mean daily flow, standard deviation, and coefficient of skewness) of observed data of each day well. Comparison with the currently used seasonal autoregressive model (SAR(2)) and bivariate copula-based method considering lag-1 autocorrelation indicated that the proposed method produced smaller relative errors and was better overall. Therefore, the proposed method can be regarded as an effective way for stochastic daily streamflow simulation, and can be used for the design of reservoirs and risk analysis of water resources systems.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 578〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Rosanna Margalef-Marti, Raúl Carrey, Daniel Merchán, Albert Soler, Jesús Causapé, Neus Otero〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A surface flow constructed wetland (CW) was set in the Lerma gully to decrease nitrate (NO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉) pollution from agricultural runoff water. The water flow rate and NO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 concentration were monitored at the inlet and the outlet, and sampling campaigns were performed which consisted of collecting six water samples along the CW flow line. After two years of operation, the NO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 attenuation was limited at a flow rate of ~2.5 L/s and became negligible at ~5.5 L/s. The present work aimed to assess the feasibility of using rural waste products (wheat hay, corn stubble, and animal compost) to induce denitrification in the CW, to assess the effect of temperature on this process, and to trace the efficiency of the treatment by using isotopic tools. In the first stage, microcosm experiments were performed. Afterwards, the selected waste material was applied in the CW, and the treatment efficiency was evaluated by means of a chemical and isotopic characterization and using the isotopic fractionation (〈em〉ε〈/em〉) values calculated from laboratory experiments to avoid field-scale interference. The microcosms results showed that the stubble was the most appropriate material for application in the CW, but the denitrification rate was found to decrease with temperature. In the CW, biostimulation in autumn-winter promoted NO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 attenuation between two weeks and one month (a reduction in NO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 between 1.2 and 1.5 mM was achieved). After the biostimulation in spring-summer, the attenuation was maintained for approximately three months (NO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 reduction between 0.1 and 1.5 mM). The 〈em〉ε〈/em〉〈sup〉15〈/sup〉N〈sub〉NO3/N2〈/sub〉 and 〈em〉ε〈/em〉〈sup〉18〈/sup〉O〈sub〉NO3/N2〈/sub〉 values obtained from the laboratory experiments allowed to estimate the induced denitrification percentage. At an approximate average flow rate of 16 L/s, at least 60% of NO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 attenuation was achieved in the CW. The field samples exhibited a slope of 1.0 for 〈em〉δ〈/em〉〈sup〉18〈/sup〉O-NO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 versus 〈em〉δ〈/em〉〈sup〉15〈/sup〉N-NO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉, similar to those of the laboratory experiments (0.9–1.2). Plant uptake seemed to play a minor role in NO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 attenuation in the CW. Hence, the application of stubble in the CW allowed the removal of large amounts of NO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉〈sup〉−〈/sup〉 from the Lerma gully, especially when applied during the warm months, but its efficacy was limited to a short time period (up to three months).〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Mayank Suman, Rajib Maity〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Interaction between meteorological and hydrologic processes is challenging to model owing to their high spatio-temporal variability. The understanding of their associations can help to ensure future fresh water security with changing climate. In this study, due to continuously evolving nature of these interactions, the hydrological and meteorological variables are studied on wavelet component level. Multi-Resolution Stationary Wavelet Transformation (MRSWT) is used to transform the independent (climatic variable) and dependent (hydrological variable) time series into their components. The components of the dependent time series are modeled using a kernel-based auto-regressive (AR) model for separating their memory part. The residuals are hypothesized to be the effect of interaction of predictor variables and thus, are modeled using the MRSWT components of meteorological variables in an auto-regressive model with exogenous inputs (ARX). Finally, the predicted residuals (effect of climatic variables) are added to the component estimated by kernel-based AR estimator (memory of dependent series components) to obtain the predicted components of the dependent hydrologic variable, which are then inverse-transformed to obtain the predicted dependent hydrologic variable. The developed hybrid Wavelet-ARX is found to capture the information about relationship between synthetically generated data better than a simple ARX model. The model is then applied to predict total monthly rainfall over Upper Mahanadi Basin and is found to effectively extract the information from the poorly associated hydro meteorological variables. While the potential of Wavelet-ARX is found to be impressive for hydro meteorological applications, additionally, discarding some climatic inputs on the basis of their relative importance may lead to better prediction by the developed model. The developed model is suitable for extracting climatic forcings and is desirable in a changing climate.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Hongxiang Zhou, Xiuling Yu, Cheng Chen, Shenggao Lu, Laosheng Wu, Lingzao Zeng〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Biochar has been increasingly used as an amendment to enhance soil structure and improve soil hydraulic properties. Nevertheless, there are very limited physically based studies to investigate solute transport in biochar-amended soils at pore scale. In this study, for the first time, synchrotron-based X-ray micro-computed tomography (SR-μCT) was used to obtain high-resolution pore geometries of two clayey soils and their biochar amended samples, then the three-dimensional lattice Boltzmann (LB) method was implemented to simulate solute transport using the pore structure information. By using the innovative method of combining SR-μCT and LB simulation, we found that biochar amendment reduced the spatial variability of pore water velocity and increased the dispersion coefficient by one order of magnitude. In addition, we observed that anomalous dispersion was more likely to occur in soils with biochar amendment. Furthermore, soils after biochar amendment had relatively higher thresholds of both the transition zone and advection-dominated zone for the dispersion coefficients. These results are crucial in understanding nutrient transport processes and contaminant migration occurring at pore scale.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Miriam Bertola, Alberto Viglione, Günter Blöschl〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Flood changes may be attributed to drivers of change that belong to three main classes: atmospheric, catchment and river system drivers. In this work, we propose a data-based attribution approach for selecting which driver best relates to variations in time of the flood frequency curve. The flood peaks are assumed to follow a Gumbel distribution, whose location parameter changes in time as a function of the decadal variations of one of the following alternative covariates: annual and extreme precipitation for different durations, an agricultural land-use intensification index, and reservoir construction in the catchment, quantified by an index. The parameters of this attribution model are estimated by Bayesian inference. Prior information on one of these parameters, the elasticity of flood peaks to the respective driver, is taken from the existing literature to increase the robustness of the method to spurious correlations between flood and covariate time series. Therefore, the attribution model is informed in two ways: by the use of covariates, representing the drivers of change, and by the priors, representing the hydrological understanding of how these covariates influence floods. The Watanabe-Akaike information criterion is used to compare models involving alternative covariates. We apply the approach to 96 catchments in Upper Austria, where positive flood peak trends have been observed in the past 50 years. Results show that, in Upper Austria, one or seven day extreme precipitation is usually a better covariate for variations of the flood frequency curve than precipitation at longer time scales. Agricultural land-use intensification rarely is the best covariate, and the reservoir index never is, suggesting that catchment and river drivers are less important than atmospheric ones. Not all the positive flood trends correspond to a significant correlation between floods and the covariates, suggesting that other drivers or other flood-driver relations should be considered to attribute flood trends in Upper Austria.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Rahim Barzegar, Mahsa Ghasri, Zhiming Qi, John Quilty, Jan Adamowski〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉River ice plays an important role in biophysical and socio-economic systems in northern regions and is related to climate variability at both regional and global scales. The objective of this study was to estimate river ice thickness using several new machine learning methods: extreme learning machine (ELM), least squares support vector machine (LSSVM), and their bootstrap versions (BELM and BLSSVM, respectively). To explore the usefulness of these methods, we chose two stations, Mackenzie River and Yellowknife River in the Mackenzie River Basin in the Northwest Territories, Canada. The variables used to develop the river ice thickness (cm) estimation models included: water flow (m〈sup〉3〈/sup〉/s), snow depth (cm) and mean air temperature (°C) (with a time period of 1981–2016). Two techniques, namely the Kendall-Theil Robust Line (KTRL) and the regularized expectation maximization (RegEm) methods, were utilized to fill in the missing values in the time series records. The performance of the developed models was measured using several statistical indicators (correlation coefficient (r), root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), their normalized equivalents expressed as a percentage (root mean square percentage error (RMSPE) and mean absolute percentage error (RMPE)), bias error (BIAS) and Willmott’s Index (WI)). Results indicated that the bootstrap ELM model outperformed the ELM, LSSVM and BLSSVM models in the testing phases based on a number of statistical measures. For the BELM using RegEM at the Mackenzie River station, the results were: 〈em〉r〈/em〉 = 0.826, RMSE = 19.756 cm, RMSPE = 33.011%, MAE = 15.364 cm, MAPE = 35.988%, BIAS = 1.199 cm and WI = 0.818. For the BELM using KTRL at the Yellowknife River station, the results were: 〈em〉r〈/em〉 = 0.856, RMSE = 15.444 cm, RMSPE = 19.468%, MAE = 12.006 cm, MAPE = 19.045%, BIAS = 0.966 cm and WI = 0.868. The findings of this study indicate that the BELM machine learning approach using meteorological variables is a promising new tool for river ice thickness estimation.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 576〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Majid Dehghani, Akram Seifi, Hossien Riahi-Madvar〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Accurate influent flow forecasting plays a significant role in management, operation, scheduling and utilization of the sewage treatment plants. In design and operate such plants, it is essential to measure and forecast the influent flow rate in wastewater plants. In this paper, the Very immediate-short-term to long-term influent flow rate are modeled and forecasted by a new developed hybrid model of ANFIS and Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO). The objective of this study is the integration of GWO with ANFIS in forecasting multi-ahead influent flow rate. The forecast horizon of the model is from 5 min up to 10 days bases on Gamma Test (GT) feature selection of input combinations. As the parameters of ANFIS have effect on the forecasting accuracy, these parameters are adjusted and optimized by using Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO). Then the choice of appropriate input parameters at different prediction horizons from Very immediate-short-term (5-min ahead) to long-term (10 days ahead) was discussed for influent forecasting. The statistical indices of RMSE, NSE, MAE, RAE, R〈sup〉2〈/sup〉, d, CI and graphical evaluations such as scatter-plots with confidence bounds, error distributions, Taylor diagrams, box-plots and empirical cumulative distribution function (ECDF) were implemented for assessing the performance of all models in prediction horizons. Furthermore as another novelty in the present paper, recursive forecasting models based on previous forecasted values is used to improve the accuracy and applicability of ANFIS-GWO in recursive predictions. Our Results showed that: (1) the hybrid of ANFIS-GWO significantly improved the prediction accuracy. (2) ANFIS-GWO performs more efficiently than the ANFIS in almost all of the prediction horizons (ANFIS-GWO1: 5 min ahead; ANFIS-GWO11: 1–2 days ahead; ANFIS-GWO8: one week ahead). (3) The performance of models in influent flow forecasting is significantly influenced by the prediction horizon. The computational results confirmed that the ANFIS-GWO performs well in all of prediction horizons. Equally the true values and the trends are precisely forecasted by the ANFIS-GWO. Results of this novel study demonstrate that reliable estimates of influent flow rate from 5-min up to 10 days in advance can be achieved using the developed direct and recursive hybrid GWO models.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0022169419306122-ga1.jpg" width="293" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): O. Sracek, J.-J. Rahobisoa, J. Trubač, F. Buzek, S.A. Andriamamonjy, R.A. Rambeloson〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Thermal waters in the Central Highlands of Madagascar around Antsirabe were investigated using a combination of hydrogeochemical and isotopic methods, geochemical speciation and inverse geochemical modeling. Thermal waters at Antsirabe have temperatures from 35.2 to 47.7 °C, are highly mineralized (EC up to 5.87 mS/cm) are of Na-HCO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉-Cl type and have elevated concentrations of arsenic (up to 0.597 mg/l), Sr (up to 8.05 mg/l) and Li (up to 2.83 mg/l). About 25 km west of Antsirabe, a thermal spring at Betafo has a temperature of 53.6 °C, but its mineralization is much lower (EC 0.72 mS/cm) and its water is of Na-HCO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉-SO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 type. Concentrations of As, Sr, and Li at Betafo are much lower, only 0.006 mg/l, 0.72 mg/l, and 0.063 mg/l, respectively. Calculated reservoir temperatures using quartz and chalcedony geothermometers are up to 153 °C at Antsirabe and 108 °C at Betafo. Values of δ〈sup〉2〈/sup〉H and δ〈sup〉18〈/sup〉O are above the WMWL, indicating exchange with silicates like micas. Values of δ〈sup〉13〈/sup〉C(DIC) are very enriched (up to −0.45‰) in Antsirabe samples, but depleted with a value of −21.52‰ in a Betafo sample. Values of δ〈sup〉34〈/sup〉S(SO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉) are close to −4.0‰ in all samples, suggesting an origin of sulfate from a Na-sulfate mineral. Values of 〈sup〉87〈/sup〉Sr/〈sup〉86〈/sup〉Sr ratios in Antsirabe samples suggest interactions with reservoir rocks. The principal difference between both sites seems to be in the significant input of magmatic-origin CO〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 at the Antsirabe site (up to 61.4 mmol/l as determined by inverse geochemical modeling) with resulting higher dissolution rates of As-containing silicate minerals such as micas. There is probably no such input at the Betafo site. In spite of relatively lower As concentrations compared to geothermal waters at global tectonic plate margins, concentrations of As at Antsirabe can represent a serious environmental problem.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0022169419306134-ga1.jpg" width="268" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Michael G. Hutchins, Olivia E. Hitt〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The severity of river eutrophication is influenced by multiple stressors which reflect a wide-ranging variety of drivers encompassing land management, population growth and climatic effects. Experimental studies have successfully identified response to single or paired stressors under controlled conditions in small streams but have limited capability to characterise larger systems influenced by a wider variety of stressors. Here, a physics-based water quality model of the River Thames (UK) is used to explore the impacts of water temperature, phosphate concentration, river flow, urbanisation and riparian shading on indicators of chlorophyll and dissolved oxygen concentration by way of a sensitivity analysis. To understand the impact of model structural uncertainty, results are presented from two alternative formulations of the biological response. All outputs from each unique combination of stressors are presented in one graphic comprising multiple sub-plots that display the results of thousands of model runs simultaneously. Consequently, graphical analysis allows us to pinpoint under what circumstances reductions in key variables representing management-related stressors (i.e. lowering phosphorus concentrations and establishing riparian shading) may act synergistically, antagonistically or simply in an additive manner. Furthermore, we identify how these relationships may vary under different river flow and water temperature regimes and changes in abstraction and effluent discharge rates, to indicate the likely influence of future climate and population growth. Response can vary markedly depending on the choice of biological model and also changes considerably downstream along the river system. Chlorophyll indicators consistently show antagonistic responses to reduction in stressors whereas dissolved oxygen indicators show varied and complex responses. As expected, increases in phosphorus loading are detrimental, but so too are large decreases. Whilst the analysis suggests that urbanisation impacts are in general not expected to be large, changes in water demand brought about by population growth have disproportionate effects at low flows. These may result in increased incidence of very low dissolved oxygen concentrations which damage the health of the ecosystem.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0022169419306377-ga1.jpg" width="500" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 578〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Hui Dong, Yifan Zhao, Xiuzi Jiang, Qian-Feng Gao, Zhichao Wang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The stability of a residual gravelly soil slope during heavy rainfall is closely related to the seepage field, which is directly affected by the seepage boundaries of the slope. To examine the boundary effect, a novel model flume that can implement permeable and impermeable boundary conditions was designed. With this flume, hydraulic model tests of a gravelly soil slope considering those two seepage boundaries were carried out. The results show that distinct spatial morphology of seepage fields is reflected by the hydraulic characteristics of the slope models with different seepage boundaries. The slope with permeable boundaries generally exhibits a larger average infiltration rate as well as a relatively smaller moving speed of wetting front in the lower part compared to the slope with impermeable boundaries. The residual moisture content in the deep-lower part of the slope with permeable boundaries is 6.6% cm〈sup〉3〈/sup〉/cm〈sup〉3〈/sup〉 smaller than that of the slope with impermeable boundaries. Nevertheless, the maximum pore water pressure in the middle part of the slope with permeable boundaries is 1.2 kPa higher than that in the corresponding part of the slope with impermeable boundaries. It is noted that regional pore water pressures in the shallow-lower and shallow-middle parts of the slope with impermeable boundaries exhibit large fluctuations with an amplitude over 0.5 kPa. The seepage field in the slope with permeable boundaries presents a multi-dimensional development, which may lead to a local failure of the slope. The results are of great significance in studying the similarity of seepage boundary condition in the field of similarity theory on landslide model tests and provide an experimental basis for establishing rainfall-induced landslide theory.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 576〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Zijun Li, Qingchun Yang, Yuesuo Yang, Honhyun Ma, Hui Wang, Jiannan Luo, Jianmin Bian, Jordi Delgado Martin〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Groundwater resources are increasingly exploited for industrial and agricultural purposes in many arid/semi-arid regions globally. In order to gain a harmonious development among groundwater resources and economic benefits, urgent investigation of the impacts of anthropogenic activities on the groundwater chemistry is required. Understanding hydrochemical mechanism of groundwater in Yinchuan Plain, arid and semi-arid area in Northwestern China, plays a significant role in water resources planning in this ecologically sensitive area. In this paper, a total of 460 phreatic water samples were collected, including 58 water samples containing isotopic data (D and 〈sup〉2〈/sup〉H). Results demonstrate that water chemistry type and isotopic data of phreatic water presents a zonation characteristic from west to east and from south to north. In the eastern part of the Helan Mountain (A〈sub〉1〈/sub〉 zone), the type of hydrochemistry is mainly HCO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉·SO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉-Ca·Mg, SO〈sub〉4〈/sub〉·HCO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉-Ca·Mg, which is mainly recharged by the bedrock fissure water of Helan Mountain. However, in the southern Qingtongxia (A〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 zone) are HCO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉-Na HCO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉-Ca·Mg, which receives irrigation and spring water recharge. Phreatic aquifer in Multi-layered structure zone (A〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 zone) reflect multiple recharge sources to the aquifer, the water chemistry demonstrates diverse variations. The anion was dominated by the HCO〈sub〉3〈/sub〉, while the cation is dominated by sodium. The predominant controlling factors of phreatic water hydrochemistry are divided into anthropogenic activities and natural conditions. Natural conditions mainly include the existence form and lithology of the aquifer, sources of groundwater recharge, soil salinity, and evaporation, mineral dissolution, ion exchange and adsorption and mixing effect. Meanwhile, among natural factors, minerals dissolution in groundwater is the main process dominating the hydrochemical evolution of the groundwater. The other is anthropogenic activities which can be classified as groundwater pollution, excessive exploitation or excretion of groundwater, and excessive groundwater recharge.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0022169419305840-ga1.jpg" width="381" alt="Graphical abstract for this article" title=""〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Ali Abdollahi-Nasab, Xiaolong Geng, Michel C. Boufadel〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉A combined field and numerical study of water flow and solute transport was conducted along a clean transect of a tidal gravel beach in Smith Island, Prince William Sound (PWS) that was heavily polluted after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Water table and pore water salinity were directly measured in the field. The numerical model MARUN, validated with the field observations, was used to simulate subsurface flow and dissolved salt transport processes. Our study identified a two-layer hydraulic structure in the beach, a high-permeability upper layer and a low-permeability layer at the bottom. Numerical simulations indicated that the density gradient between the saltwater and freshwater strongly affects solute transport in the intertidal zone of the beach. A sensitivity study indicated that depth to and slope of the bedrock had major effects on solute transport in the lower layer, but minor effects in the upper layer. A deep bedrock caused the water particles travelling in the lower layer to penetrate deeper in the beach. Our study revealed high terrestrial freshwater recharge to the transect which promotes the removal of oil in two-layer beaches by maintaining the water table at or above the interface of the two layers. The study presented in this paper has strong implications on the oil persistence and associated removal strategies along the Alaskan coastline polluted with oil. Findings from this work in relation to oiled beaches include: 1) oil tends to persist at locations of small freshwater recharge and 2) Prior to oil arriving to the shoreline, one could minimize oil penetration into the beach by releasing water onto the beach at the high tide line during low tides.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 20 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Yi Qian, Yaoshu Teng, Yuandong Li, Xiaojiang Lin, Ming Guan, Yong Li, Xiaolin Cao, Yueqiu Gao〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Dysregulated microRNAs (miRNAs) play crucial roles in the occurrence and development of multiple tumours, but their roles in the progression of nasal squamous cell carcinoma (NSCC) remain unknown. The aim of our study was to investigate the potential function and molecular mechanism of miR-143-3p in NSCC. Expression of miRNA and mRNA was detected by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR). Forced overexpression of miR-143-3p was established by transfecting mimics into NSCC cell line. Then, we investigated the role of miR-143-3p in human NSCC cell proliferation, apoptosis, cycle and migration by using MTT, flow cytometry and transwell assays. Bioinformatics analysis, qRT-PCR, Western blot and luciferase reporter analysis were performed to validate the relationship between miR-143-3p and its potential targets. We found that miR-143-3p was substantially downregulated in human NSCC tissues and cell line. Forced upregulation of miR-143-3p significantly attenuated cell proliferation and migration. Furthermore, this change could induce apoptosis and G1-phase arrest of NSCC cells. Mechanistically, miR-143-3p directly targeted and significantly suppressed Bcl-2 and IGF1R expression. In summary, miR-143-3p regulation of the proliferation, apoptosis, cell cycle and migration of NSCC probably partly depends on inhibition of Bcl-2 and IGF1R, indicating that miR-143-3p may be a novel molecular therapeutic target for NSCC.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉 〈h5〉Graphical abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈figure〉〈img src="https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0006291X1931592X-fx1.jpg" width="272" alt="Image 1" title="Image 1"〉〈/figure〉〈/p〉〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 20 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Emily M. Cross, David Aragão, Kate M. Smith, Karli I. Shaw, Jeffrey D. Nanson, Shane R. Raidal, Jade K. Forwood〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉〈em〉Acinetobacter baumannii〈/em〉 (〈em〉A. baumannii〈/em〉) is a clinically relevant, highly drug-resistant pathogen of global concern. An attractive approach to drug design is to specifically target the type II fatty acid synthesis (FASII) pathway which is critical in Gram negative bacteria and is significantly different to the type I fatty acid synthesis (FASI) pathway found in mammals. Enzymes involved in FASII include members of the short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) superfamily. SDRs are capable of performing a diverse range of biochemical reactions against a broad spectrum of substrates whilst maintaining conserved structural features and sequence motifs. Here, we use X-ray crystallography to describe the structure of an SDR from the multi-drug resistant bacteria 〈em〉A. baumannii,〈/em〉 previously annotated as a putative FASII FabG enzyme. The protein was recombinantly expressed, purified, and crystallized. The protein crystals diffracted to 2.0 Å and the structure revealed a FabG-like fold. Functional assays revealed, however, that the protein was not active against the FabG substrate, acetoacetyl-CoA. This study highlights that database annotations may show the necessary structural hallmarks of such proteins, however, they may not be able to cleave substrates that are typical of FabG enzymes. These results are important for the selection of target enzymes in future drug development.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: November 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 578〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Christiane Zoghbi, Habib Basha〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Most karst aquifers are characterized as a dual-flow system comprised of a highly conductive conduit network embedded in a low porosity matrix. The conduits are hydraulically connected to the matrix and behave either as a drain or a source depending on the recharge conditions. Simplified physically based models are herein employed to simulate the spring outflow for such aquifer systems. The processes consist of a free-surface flow in the conduit that is interacting laterally with a laminar groundwater flow in the surrounding matrix. The conduit is subject to a concentrated recharge at its upstream end while the groundwater aquifer is subject to a diffuse recharge over its contributing surface area. The flow system is described by a coupled system of partial differential equations: the conduit flow is approximated by the kinematic wave equation and the groundwater flow by the linearized Boussinesq equation. The governing equations are solved using the Laplace transform method after an appropriate linearization of the nonlinear coefficient. The derived spring discharge models are a function of three dimensionless parameters: the time lag parameter 〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si6.svg"〉〈mi〉ξ〈/mi〉〈/math〉, the lumped conduit parameter 〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si7.svg"〉〈mi〉λ〈/mi〉〈/math〉, and the aquifer parameter 〈math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" altimg="si8.svg"〉〈mi〉η〈/mi〉〈/math〉. The simulation results highlight the contrast between pressure-driven and gravity-driven flows and the importance of the conduit-matrix interaction on the response of the karst system. Application of the models on real karst aquifers demonstrates their effectiveness in simulating the observed spring hydrograph using lumped physical parameters of the karst system.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 23 February 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Anil Kumar Singh, J.N Tripathi, K.K. Singh, Virendra Singh, M. Sateesh〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In this study, effort is made to estimate weekly rainfall over India at 36 meteorological subdivisions during monsoon 2016 (June to September) by using several precipitation products from different satellites which include Indian National Satellite System (INSAT) INSAT-3D derived Hydro Estimate (HE), INSAT Multi-Spectral Rainfall Algorithm (IMSRA) rainfall products, Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) derived from JPL, NASA, and National Center for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF) Merged Satellite Gauge (NMSG) of IMD. Different satellite estimates, and rain gauge satellite merged products have been compared with gridded rainfall products prepared by India Meteorological Department (IMD). HE at 4 km pixel resolution and IMSRA at 0.10〈sup〉0〈/sup〉 × 0.10〈sup〉0〈/sup〉 resolution are derived rainfall products from Indian satellite INSAT-3D.GPM (IMERG) product is derived at 0.10〈sup〉0〈/sup〉 × 0.10〈sup〉0〈/sup〉 resolution from Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) satellite jointly operated by JAXA (Japan) and NASA (USA). NCMRWF Merged Satellite-Gauge (NMSG) rainfall data has been generated at a 0.25° × 0.25° grid resolution by IMD & NCMRWF. The data is analyzed preliminarily for the southwest monsoon season of 2016 at weekly temporal resolution. The overall comparison shows that GPM (IMERG) estimates better rainfall over the coastal and plain region, however, HE estimates better rainfall over the hilly region, in general, and for Kerala region, particularly. NMSG product needs improvement over the hilly region and considerable improvement is required in IMSRA product. For all 36 meteorological subdivisions, NMSG product has 0.56 average Nash-Sutcliffe efficiencies (NSE) for 17 weeks with IMD Gridded rainfall data. However, for satellite-derived rainfall by GPM (IMERG), HE and IMSRA have 0.29, 0.1 and −0.8 average NSE at 17 weeks, respectively. Based on this study, it is concluded that NMSG daily rainfall product is best, however, amongst satellite-derived rainfall, overall GPM gives a better result with a few exceptions and IMSRA need more modifications.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Gaofeng Zhu, Kun Zhang, Huiling Chen, Yunquan Wang, Yonghong Su, Yang Zhang, Jinzhu Ma〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Following the scheme of the groundwater-soil-plant-atmosphere continuum (GSPAC), a simple process-based model (SiTH; Simple Terrestrial Hydrosphere) was developed to estimate the dynamics of terrestrial evapotranspiration (ET) at the daily step. The input data include net radiation, air temperature, precipitation, leaf area index, vegetation type and soil data, most of which are readily available. Locally, the model performed well in simulating the dynamics of ET and soil moisture over selected FLUXNET sites. Globally, the daily 0.25° ET and groundwater table depth estimations in year 2005 were determined using available gridded datasets. The spatial pattern was reasonable and the range of values corresponded well with other global ET and groundwater table depth products. In future studies, we will produce a long-term daily 0.25° global ET and groundwater table depth products that spans from 1984 to present by using different input datasets.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 21 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Taotao Li, Shiyan Yang, Xinke Kang, Wei Lei, Kang Qiao, Dawei Zhang, Honghui Lin〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Plant growth, development and interaction with the environment involve the action of transcription factor. bHLH proteins play an essential and often conserved role in the plant kingdom. However, bHLH proteins that participate in the cell division process are less well known. Here, we report that the bHLH transcription factor gene 〈em〉AtUPB1〈/em〉 is involved in mediating cell cycle progression and root development. In yeast cells, 〈em〉AtUPB1〈/em〉 inhibits cells proliferation and the cells had increased numbers of nuclei. 〈em〉UPB1〈/em〉 overexpression decreased the expression of the cell division marker 〈em〉CYCB1-1〈/em〉, and 〈em〉CDKA1〈/em〉 expression could overcome the defect of 〈em〉UPB1〈/em〉 overexpression. Moreover, 〈em〉UPB1〈/em〉 could directly bind to the promoter region of the 〈em〉SIM〈/em〉 and 〈em〉SMR1〈/em〉 genes to regulate cell cycle. These results support a new role for 〈em〉AtUPB1〈/em〉 regulating root meristem development by mediating the expression of 〈em〉SIM/SMR1〈/em〉 genes.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Zhongwang Wei, Xuhui Lee〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This study explores the utility of observations of deuterium excess (dx) of water vapor for attribution of vapor to remote source regions and local influences. A Lagrangian back trajectory model was combined with various parameterizations of the dx of ocean evaporation and land evapotranspiration to simulate daily vapor dx at a continental site, a marine site and a coastal site. The model reproduced reasonably well the observed variabilities in the vapor dx at the coastal and the marine site when water vapor at these sites were primarily influenced by large-scale advection from ocean sources. The simple parameterization relating dx of the ocean evaporation to relative humidity is a robust representation of the ocean isotopic evaporation. On the other hand, the model did poorly for the continental site and during the land evapotranspiration dominated months at the coastal and the marine site, confirming the published findings that the water vapor dx near the Earth’s surface can be significantly altered by land evapotranspiration and therefore is not a conserved tracer of humidity from the marine moisture source region. Several parameterizations for the dx of land evapotranspiration suggested by previous studies were tested with the trajectory model, but none brought improvement to the simulation of the dx at the continental site. Our study emphasizes that a fundamental challenge in isotopy hydrology is the lack of understanding of the different fractionation processes of 〈sup〉18〈/sup〉O and D associated with land evapotranspiration.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 3 July 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Kai Germer, Jürgen Braun〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉 〈p〉The aim of the study was the comparison of the soil hydraulic properties determined based on two different experimental methods of four large and macroporous soil samples. An undisturbed cylindrical soil column (h = 60 cm and d = 30 cm) was obtained at a natural slope and quartered horizontally in the laboratory. The four sub-samples were saturated and subsequently drained using the extended multi-step outflow method (XMSO). Retention curves and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity curves were derived via inverse modeling based on the measured drainage and corresponding pore water pressure. After resaturation the evaporation method (EVA) was used on the same four samples. The samples were exposed to evaporation and the effective water contents and the average pore water pressures were recorded over time to determine soil hydraulic functions.〈/p〉 〈p〉While both methods yielded similar results in the medium moisture range, the advantage of the XMSO-method is its higher information content with respect to the hydraulic conductivity close to water saturation whereas the advantage of the EVA-method is its fast execution. Moreover, the EVA-method is easier to handle and has significantly lower computational requirements than the XMSO-method.〈/p〉 〈p〉Furthermore, since the four soil samples represent a soil profile in the field, a depth dependent characterizing of the soil profile was possible and showed that the soil properties near saturation are greatly dominated by the ratio of macropores in the sample and that a decrease in the macropore ratio with soil depth was clearly reflected in the hydraulic functions.〈/p〉 〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: Available online 21 August 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Takuto Fujii, Siriporn Phutthatiraphap, Takahiro Shimizu, Hiroshi Takeshima, Hideki Sakai〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉In the stomach, Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) is highly expressed in gastric parietal cells, and acts as a morphogen in early development of the organ. Here, we found that the cleaved N-terminal fragment of Shh (Shh-N) was abundantly expressed in hog gastric vesicles derived from the apical membrane of parietal cells. Interestingly, Shh-N recombinant significantly decreased K〈sup〉+〈/sup〉-dependent ATP-hydrolyzing activity, which is sensitive to an inhibitor of H〈sup〉+〈/sup〉,K〈sup〉+〈/sup〉-ATPase (SCH28080), in hog gastric tubulovesicles and membrane fractions of the H〈sup〉+〈/sup〉,K〈sup〉+〈/sup〉-ATPase-expressing cells. In the living cells, Shh-N recombinant inhibited the SCH28080-sensitive 〈sup〉86〈/sup〉Rb〈sup〉+〈/sup〉-uptake. Together, Shh-N may directly bind to extracellular side of H〈sup〉+〈/sup〉,K〈sup〉+〈/sup〉-ATPase, and negatively regulates the pump activity. This is the first report to explore non-morphogenic property of Shh on ion transporters.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 576〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Parsa Pouladi, Abbas Afshar, Mohammad Hadi Afshar, Amir Molajou, Hamid Farahmand〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This study proposes a novel socio-hydrological modeling framework for assessing the performance of complex water resources systems. It employs and integrates agent-based modeling (ABM) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) into the socio-hydrological modeling framework to account for agents’ behaviors. Due to farmers’ major role in anthropogenic droughts, this paper mainly focuses on farmers’ behavior. The TPB framework and the agents’ behavioral rules in ABM are structured based on the data obtained from field questionnaires and interviews by the farmers in the Zarrineh River Basin as the main river feeding the Urmia Lake. The proposed modeling framework, including the TPB and ABM structures and rules, are validated by comparing the results of the proposed socio-hydrological simulation model with the actual data on the simulation period. To assess the ability of the proposed framework, root mean square error (RMSE) and the determination coefficient (DC) were computed. The results show the acceptable performance of the proposed model by RMSE = 0.18 and DC = 0.92. Analysis of the results indicates that financial conditions, farmland size, farmers’ age, and farmers’ education are among the major factors in farmers’ decision-making process, respectively.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Dong Hun Kang, Tae Sup Yun〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉This study describes immiscible fluid displacement near a transitional boundary at which inertial effect occurs. We simulated two-phase fluid flow in a 2D micromodel using the lattice Boltzmann method with varying Reynolds numbers (〈em〉Re〈/em〉) (log 〈em〉Re〈/em〉 = −2 to 2) and viscosity ratios (〈em〉M〈/em〉) (log 〈em〉M〈/em〉 = −2 to 0). To highlight the role of inertial force rather than capillary and viscous forces, the capillary number (〈em〉Ca〈/em〉) was kept constant at log 〈em〉Ca〈/em〉 = −5. As 〈em〉Re〈/em〉 and 〈em〉M〈/em〉 increased, development in the preferential flow became more pronounced with tortuous paths. We found the transitional boundary exists near log 〈em〉Re〈/em〉 = −1 to 1 at which residual saturation of the displaced fluid starts to fluctuate and changes 5%–14% in the transitional regime. In particular, this boundary describes the effect of inertia on immiscible fluid displacement before an increase in the work done due to inertial force occurs.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Mojtaba Izadmehr, Mahdi Abbasi, Mohammad Hossein Ghazanfari, Mohammad Sharifi, Alireza Kazemi〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉An exact analytical solution for one-dimensional fluid flow through rock matrix block is presented. The nonlinearity induced from flow functions makes the governing equations describing this mechanism difficult to be analytically solved. In this paper, an analytical solution to the infiltration problems considering non-linear relative permeability functions is presented for finite depth, despite its profound and fundamental importance. Elimination of the nonlinear terms in the equation, as a complex and tedious task, is done by applying several successive mathematical manipulations including: Hopf-Cole transformation to obtain a diffusive type PDE; an exponential type transformation to get a convective-diffusive type PDE with suitable boundary conditions; Laplace transformation; Integral transformation to homogenize the boundary condition in the Laplace domain; and finally Laplace inversion method to find the time domain solution. The obtained solution is used for developing a new matrix-fracture transfer function. The developed analytical equations are used for prediction of drying front in the case of evaporation from deep water table. The model results are in close agreement with the experimental data and numerical simulation of the process. Results of sensitivity analysis of different parameters on recovery rate and ultimate production based on design of experiment method are also discussed.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Xi Chen, Melissa M. Motew, Eric G. Booth, Samuel C. Zipper, Steven P. Loheide, Christopher J. Kucharik〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Lake level regulation is commonly used to manage water resources and mitigate flood risk in watersheds with linked river–lake systems. In this study, we first assess exposure, in terms of both population and land area, to flooding impacts in the Yahara Watershed’s chain of four lakes in southern Wisconsin as affected by minimum lake level management. A flooding exposure assessment shows that the areas surrounding the upstream lakes, Mendota and Monona, have dense urban areas with high populations that are exposed to flooding; Waubesa has low elevations along its lakeshore, resulting in a large potential flooding area; and the most downstream lake, Kegonsa, has a large area of surrounding cropland that is exposed to flooding but impacts a limited population. We then use a linked modeling framework of a land surface model (Agro-IBIS) and a hydrologic-routing model (THMB) to simulate daily lake level over a study period of 1994–2013 in the Yahara Watershed with different minimum lake level management strategies. Modeling results show that the peak lake levels and corresponding exposed land area and population to flooding will decrease under a lower target minimum lake level. However, at the same time, the number of days that the lake level is below winter minimum will increase, which may adversely affect ecosystem health. In addition, our sensitivity analysis indicates that reducing target minimum lake levels will help mitigate flood risk in terms of both flood magnitude and frequency. Nevertheless, this must be balanced against the need to maintain adequately high lake levels for ecosystem services and recreational functions of the lakes.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: October 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 577〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Wei Zhou, Jiaoyong Fang, Chuan Tang, Genyun Yang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉The Wenchuan area has become highly susceptible to landslides and debris flows since the earthquake occurred on 2008. A detailed debris flow hazard assessment is necessary to provide information for future risk management. Debris flow runout on a depositional fan is an important factor for assessing debris flow hazard, and its estimate becomes essential for the planning of the mitigation works that must be built. We therefore developed two simple empirical relationships based both on univariate and multivariate approaches, which provide the runout distance using the data for 134 channelized debris flow events in 134 catchments in the Wenchuan earthquake zone. We generated a correlation matrix of the debris flow runout distances and the relevant variables. Because of the high correlations, the independent variable debris flow volume (〈em〉V〈/em〉〈sub〉D〈/sub〉) was selected for the univariate approach. Using a multicollinearity analysis and a stepwise regression technique, the catchment (basin) internal relief (〈em〉H〈/em〉), and 〈em〉V〈/em〉〈sub〉D〈/sub〉 were used to develop a multivariate runout relationship. The coefficients of the variables were obtained using 80% of the dataset (training dataset); the remaining 20% was used for test of estimated performance by comparing the computed runout distances with observed values. The validation demonstrated that the proposed relationships are suitable for estimating the runout distances of debris flows on depositional fans in the Wenchuan earthquake zone. The univariate runout relationship has the advantage of being simple, whereas the multivariate runout relationship provides higher accuracy. Additionally we rearranged and reformulated existing relationships using the same training dataset and compared the results with those from the relationships here proposed. The estimations provided by our relationships were the closest to the observed values. The presented approaches may be applied to estimate debris flow runout distances in other areas after they are retrained using local datasets.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉

Beschreibung: 〈p〉Publication date: September 2019〈/p〉 〈p〉〈b〉Source:〈/b〉 Journal of Hydrology, Volume 576〈/p〉 〈p〉Author(s): Wencong Yang, Hanbo Yang, Dawen Yang〈/p〉 〈div xml:lang="en"〉 〈h5〉Abstract〈/h5〉 〈div〉〈p〉Catchment classification aids in the identification of homogeneous regions in which catchments have similar flood timing and corresponding climatic drivers. As a new classification scheme from complex network theory, the community detection method is introduced to classify 242 catchments in the United States based on flood seasonality. The robustness of this method is tested by calculating the Adjusted Rank Index between the classification results from different random subsets of the 242 catchments and different flood sampling methods. In addition, three network metrics (network density, centrality, and 〈em〉k〈/em〉-core nucleus) are used to further unravel the hydrological connections within each community of catchments. Catchments with similar flood seasonality cluster into six large communities, while catchments in sparsely gauged areas or with unique physiographic properties are isolated from large communities. High values of the Adjusted Rank Index show the robustness of the community detection method for catchment classification. The results indicate that the complex network is valid for use in classifying catchments based on flood seasonality. Moreover, for each community, the network metrics are potential descriptors of: (a) the degree of homogeneity, (b) the representativeness of any catchment, and (c) the spatial scale of synchronized floods. Therefore, the complex network is able to characterize the interconnections between catchments within the community.〈/p〉〈/div〉 〈/div〉