Effectiveness of butylphthalide on cerebral autoregulation in ischemic stroke patients with large artery atherosclerosis (EBCAS study): A randomized, controlled, multicenter trial.

Finding appropriate drugs to improve cerebral autoregulation (CA) in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) is necessary to improve prognosis. We aimed to investigate the effect of butylphthalide on CA in patients with AIS. In this randomized controlled trial, 99 patients were 2:1 randomized to butylphthalide or placebo group. The butylphthalide group received intravenous infusion with a preconfigured butylphthalide-sodium chloride solution for 14 days and an oral butylphthalide capsule for additional 76 days. The placebo group synchronously received an intravenous infusion of 100 mL 0.9% saline and an oral butylphthalide simulation capsule. The transfer function parameter, phase difference (PD), and gain were used to quantify CA. The primary outcomes were CA levels on the affected side on day 14 and day 90. Eighty patients completed the follow-up (52 in the butylphthalide group and 28 in the placebo group). The PD of the affected side on 14 days or discharge and on 90 days was higher in the butylphthalide group than in the placebo group. The differences in safety outcomes were not significant. Therefore, butylphthalide treatment for 90 days can significantly improve CA in patients with AIS.Trial registration: ClinicalTrial.gov: NCT03413202.

Elevation alters carbon and nutrient concentrations and stoichiometry in Quercus aquifolioides in southwestern China.

Elevation is a complex environmental factor altering temperature, light, moisture and soil nutrient availability, and thus may affect plant growth and physiology. Such effects of elevation may also depend on seasons. Along an elevational gradient of the Balang Mountain, southwestern China, we sampled soil and 2-year old leaves, 2-year old shoots, stem sapwood and fine roots (diameter<5mm) of Quercus aquifolioides at 2843, 2978, 3159, 3327, 3441 and 3589m a.s.l. in both summer and winter. In summer, the concentrations of tissue non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) did not decrease with increasing elevation, suggesting that the carbon supply is sufficient for plant growth at high altitude in the growing season. The concentration of NSC in fine roots decreased with elevation in winter, and the mean concentration of NSC across tissues in a whole plant showed no significant difference between the two sampling seasons, suggesting that the direction of NSC reallocation among plant tissues changed with season. During the growing season, NSC transferred from leaves to other tissues, and in winter NSC stored in roots transferred from roots to aboveground tissues. Available soil N increased with elevation, but total N concentrations in plant tissues did not show any clear elevational pattern. Both available soil P and total P concentrations in all plant tissues decreased with increasing elevation. Thus, tissue N:P ratio increased with elevation, suggesting that P may become a limiting element for plant growth at high elevation. The present study suggests that the upper limit of Q. aquifolioides on Balang Mountain may be co-determined by winter root NSC storage and P availability. Our results contribute to better understanding of the mechanisms for plants' upper limit formation.

[Effects of simulated warming and functional group removal on survival and growth of Abies faxoniana seedlings]. / 模拟增温和功能群去除对岷江冷杉幼苗存活和生长的影响.

Warming and herbaceous functional group removal experiment was conducted in subalpine meadow to examine the effects of herbaceous species on Abies faxoniana seedlings by analyzing its physiological responses. The survival rate and non-structural carbohydrate content were significantly increased, but the growth and root/shoot of A. faxoniana were decreased. Seedling survival was significantly positively correlated with non-structural carbohydrate content, especially with soluble sugar. Under the treatment without warming, herbaceous species inhibited the survival of A. faxoniana, increased height growth and aboveground biomass. Grasses and forbs decreased the root length and belowground biomass of A. faxoniana. In the warming treatment, forbs increased the survival of A. faxoniana, sedges decreased root length and belowground biomass of A. faxoniana, and grasses and forbs decreased height growth and aboveground biomass of A. faxoniana. Simulated warming increased the survival of A. faxoniana seedlings, but also made it face stronger competition from herbaceous and thus inhibited its growth.

The complete mitochondrial genome of the cowpea weevil, Callosobruchus maculates (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae) and a related phylogenetic analysis of Chrysomelidae.

In this study, the complete 17,809 bp mitochondrial genome of Callosobruchus maculates (F.) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae) was sequenced using Illumina's HiSeq2000 platform. The mitogenome is a double-stranded circular molecule of 17,809 bp in length with 21 transfer RNA genes, 13 protein-coding genes, and two ribosomal RNA genes as in other insects. Specially, there is a 2008 bp-inserted segment between ND2 and tRNA-Trp from 1180 to 3187, which cannot be aligned to any known gene of mitogenomes. To estimate the taxonomic status of Bruchinae, total 17 species from eight subfamilies of Chrysomelidae were selected as ingroups and three species of Lamiinae as outgroups for phylogenetic analysis based on mitogenome. The results showed that three major lineages were formed, including a basal 'Eumolpine' clade (Cassidinae, Eumolpinae, Cryptocephalinae, Clytrinae), ''Criocerine' clade (Criocerinae, Bruchinae) and 'Chrysomeline' clade (Chrysomelinae, Galerucinae s. l.). Bruchinae showed more closed relationship with Criocerinae than other subfamilies. More thorough taxon sampling will be needed to well understand the relationship in Chrysomelidae.

[Phenotypic variations in cones and seeds of natural Cupressus chengiana populations in China]. / 岷江柏天然种群种实表型变异特征.

A total of 13 phenotypic traits from 11 natural populations of Cupressus chengiana were investigated by using nested analysis, variation coefficient, phenotypic traits differentiation coefficient, and un-weighted pair-group method by arithmetic averages (UPGMA) cluster analysis. Phenotypic variations among and within populations of C. chengiana were discussed, the relationship among phenotypic traits and that between phenotypic traits and environmental factors were analyzed, and the 11 populations were divided. The results showed that there was significant difference in phenotypic variation both between and within populations. Variation within populations (49.7%) was greater than that between populations (28.6%). The mean coefficient of phenotypic differentiation between populations was 43.4% suggesting the differentiation between populations was relatively larger. The average variation coefficient of cone mass was the highest (37.2%), followed by seed mass in single cone, and that of cone length was the smallest (8.0%) indicating the cone length was the most stable phenotypic trait. The phenotypic diversity was greatest in Kangding County and smallest in Wudu County. The mean annual temperature of the hottest month and mean annual precipitation of growing season were the main environmental factors on phenotypic diversity in cones and seeds of C. chengiana in the study region. According to the 13 phenotypic traits, the 11 populations could be divided into two groups and three subgroups, which showed how C. chengiana distributed in three watersheds. Phenotypic traits in cones and seeds of C. chengiana populations were the best in Daduhe River watershed, and those were the worst in Minjiang River watershed.

The status of Bactrocera invadens Drew, Tsuruta & White (Diptera: tephritidae) inferred from complete mitochondrial genome analysis.

In this study, the complete 15,911 bp mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of Bactrocera invadens was sequenced. To estimate the status of B. invadens, all available mitogenomes of Bactrocera were downloaded from GenBank for phylogenetic analysis. Phylogenetic analyses showed that B. invadens, B. philippinensis, B. papayae, and three B. dorsalis sequences formed a well-supported clade with very short terminal branch lengths, indicting the relatively close evolutionary relationships of these taxa. The results further supported that B. invadens, the same as B. philippinensis and B. papayae, belongs to the same species as B. dorsalis.

Multiplex reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification for the simultaneous detection of CVB and CSVd in chrysanthemum.

A multiplex reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (mRT-LAMP) assay was developed for the simultaneous detection of Chrysanthemum Virus B (CVB) and Chrysanthemum stunt viroid (CSVd), which are the major viral pathogens of chrysanthemum worldwide. Two sets of mRT-LAMP primers were designed for the coat protein gene of CVB and the complete nucleotide sequence of CSVd, and a restriction enzyme cleavage site was inserted into two pairs of species-specific primers. The mRT-LAMP assay was designed by combining these two sets for a total of eight primers. The mRT-LAMP method distinguished between CVB and CSVd due to the subsequent restriction enzyme analysis. The sensitivity of the mRT-LAMP method was 10(3) times higher than classical PCR regarding the detection limits for CVB and CSVd. No positive results were observed when RNA from other chrysanthemum pathogens were used as mRT-LAMP templates. The method was verified by testing chrysanthemum samples collected from Beijing and Henan Province and showed high reliability and sensitivity. The developed mRT-LAMP assay also offers an efficient, convenient, and rapid tool for screening chrysanthemum virus and viroid, especially CVB and CSVd, and can be diagnosed in a single reaction. These results suggest that the new mRT-LAMP method may be used routinely for virus and viroid surveys.

[Altitudinal patterns of flower plant biomass on alpine and subalpine meadow in Balang Mountains].

A field survey was conducted to study the altitudinal patterns of flower plant biomass on alpine and subalpine meadow in Wolong Nature Reserve in Balang Mountains, and the soil factors were analyzed. With the increase of altitude, the aboveground biomass, including the biomass of flower-fruit, stem, and leaf, varied in unimodal and peaked at 3500 m a. s. l., the belowground biomass varied in U-shape, the soil acidity and the contents of soil hydrolyzable N and total K increased significantly, whereas the contents of soil organic matter, total N, and available P had a significant decrease. The aboveground biomass of the flower plants increased significantly with increasing soil pH and soil total N and available K contents, and the belowground biomass of the plants increased significantly with increasing soil organic matter and available P contents but decreased significantly with increasing soil total K and hydrolyzable N contents.

[Effects of altitudinal gradient on Salix atopantha foliar delta13C].

In 2010, measurements were conducted on the foliar delta13C, photosynthesis, CO2 diffusive conductivity, nitrogen content, photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency (PNUE), and special leaf area (SLA) of Salix atopantha at different altitudes (2350 m, 2700 m, 3150 m, and 3530 m) in Wolong Natural Reserve. With the increase of altitude, the foliar nitrogen content (especially the nitrogen content per unit leaf area, N(area)) and the PNUE increased, and the foliar delta13C had a significant increase, with an increment of 1.4 per thousand per 1000 m altitude. The stomatal and mesophyll CO2 diffusion conductance also increased with increasing altitude, which had definite negative effect on the increase of foliar delta13C, but the effect was not strong enough. Comparing with CO2 diffusion conductance, carboxylation capacity was a more important factor limiting the P(c)/P(a), and even, the foliar delta13C. At altitude 2350-2700 m, air temperature was the main factor affecting the allocation of nitrogen in S. atopantha photosynthetic system, whereas at altitude 2700-3530 m, light could be the main affecting factor. No significant difference was observed in the SLA at different altitudes.

[Effects of salt-alkali stress on osmoregulation substance and active oxygen metabolism of Qingshan poplar (Populus pseudo-cathayana x P. deltoides)].

Aimed to examine the adaptability of Qingshan poplar (Populus pseudo-cathayana x P. deltoides) to salt-alkali stress, two-year-old cutting seedlings of the poplar were treated with 28 combinations of salt-alkali stress. With increasing salt concentration, the leaf electrolyte leakage and MDA and proline contents of test seedlings all showed an increasing trend, while the leaf soluble sugar content and SOD and POD activities increased first but decreased afterwards. The increase of substrate pH made the electrolyte leakage, MDA content, and POD activity increased and the proline and soluble sugar contents decreased after an initial increase, but had lesser effects on the SOD activity. When the salinity was <100 mmol x L(-1) and the pH was increasing, all test physiological indices had a slight change while SOD activity kept at a higher level; when the salinity was >200 mmol x L(-1) and the pH was higher than 8.99, the electrolyte leakagewas higher than 50%, POD activity and MDA content increased obviously, proline and soluble sugar contents declined, and SOD activity was lower. It was concluded that a salt-alkali condition with salinity >200 mmol x L(-1) and pH > 8.99 was not appropriate to the growth of Qingshan poplar.

[Spatial patterns of dominant tree species in sub-alpine Betula-Abies forest in West Sichuan of China].

Based on the investigation in a 4 hm2 Betula-Abies forest plot in sub-alpine area in West Sichuan of China, and by using point pattern analysis method in terms of O-ring statistics, the spatial patterns of dominant species Betula albo-sinensis and Abies faxoniana in different age classes in study area were analyzed, and the intra- and inter-species associations between these age classes were studied. B. albo-sinensis had a unimodal distribution of its DBH frequency, indicating a declining population, while A. faxoniana had a reverse J-shaped pattern, showing an increasing population. All the big trees of B. albo-sinensis and A. faxoniana were spatially in random at all scales, while the medium age and small trees were spatially clumped at small scales and tended to be randomly or evenly distributed with increasing spatial scale. The maximum aggregation degree decreased with increasing age class. Spatial association mainly occurred at small scales. A. faxoniana generally showed positive intra-specific association, while B. albo-sinensis generally showed negative intra-specific association. For the two populations, big and small trees had no significant spatial association, but middle age trees had negative spatial association. Negative inter-specific associations of the two populations were commonly found in different age classes. The larger the difference of age class, the stronger the negative inter-specific association.

[Rainfall redistribution in subalpine Quercus aquifolioides forest in upper reaches of Minjiang River].

Based on the meteorological data from June to September 2007, the rainfall redistribution in subalpine Quercus aquifolioides forest in the upper reaches of Minjiang River was investigated by permanent plot method. The results showed that the total rainfall outside the forest was 486.7 mm, and the throughfall, stemflow, and canopy interception accounted for 82.6%, 0.9%, and 16.5% of the total rainfall, respectively. The throughfall and stemflow had significant linear relationships with rainfall (P < 0.01, n = 49), and the relationships of throughfall ratio and stemflow ratio with rainfall could be described with nonlinear curves. When the rainfall outside the forest was more than 3.2 mm, stemflow would happen, and there existed a significant exponential (R2 = 0.623) relationship between the stemflow volume and the tree basal area. The canopy interception rate decreased hyperbolically with the increase of rainfall, being significantly negatively correlated with the rainfall amount, duration, and intensity as well as the air relative humidity during rainfall (P < 0.01, n = 49), but positively correlated with wind velocity (P < 0.01, n = 49).

Nitrogen and carbon source-sink relationships in trees at the Himalayan treelines compared with lower elevations.

No single hypothesis or theory has been widely accepted for explaining the functional mechanism of global alpine/arctic treeline formation. The present study tested whether the alpine treeline is determined by (1) the needle nitrogen content associated with photosynthesis (carbon gain); (2) a sufficient source-sink ratio of carbon; or (3) a sufficient C-N ratio. Nitrogen does not limit the growth and development of trees studied at the Himalayan treelines. Levels of non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) in trees were species-specific and site-dependent; therefore, the treeline cases studied did not show consistent evidence of source/carbon limitation or sink/growth limitation in treeline trees. However, results of the combined three treelines showed that the treeline trees may suffer from a winter carbon shortage. The source capacity and the sink capacity of a tree influence its tissue NSC concentrations and the carbon balance; therefore, we suggest that the persistence and development of treeline trees in a harsh alpine environment may require a minimum level of the total NSC concentration, a sufficiently high sugar:starch ratio, and a balanced carbon source-sink relationship.

Mobile carbohydrates in Himalayan treeline trees I. Evidence for carbon gain limitation but not for growth limitation.

To test whether the altitudinal distribution of trees is determined by a carbon shortage or an insufficient sugar fraction (sugar:starch ratio) in treeline trees, we studied the status of nonstructural carbohydrates (NSC) and their components (total soluble sugars and starch) in Abies fabri (Mast.) Craib and Picea balfouriana var. hirtella Rehd. et Wils. trees along three elevational gradients, ranging from lower elevations to the alpine treeline, on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. For comparison, we investigated a low-altitude species (Tsuga yunnanensis (Franch.) Pritz.) which served as a warm-climate reference because it is distributed in closed montane forests below 3100 m a.s.l. in the study area. The carbon status of T. yunnanensis responded to altitude differently from that of the treeline species. At the species level, total NSC was not consistently more abundant in treeline trees than in trees of the same species growing at lower elevations. Thus there was no consistent evidence for carbon limitation of growth in treeline trees. For the three treeline species studied (P. balfouriana and A. fabri in the Kang-Ding Valley and A. fabri in the Mo-Xi Valley), winter NSC concentrations in treeline trees were significantly lower than in lower-elevation trees of the same species, suggesting that, in winter, carbon is limited in treeline trees. However, in no case was there total overwinter depletion of NSC or its components in treeline trees. Treeline and low-altitude species had similar sugar:starch ratios of about three at their upper-elevational limits in April. We conclude that survival and growth of trees at the elevational or latitudinal climate limit depend not only on NSC concentration in perennial tissues, but also on the maintenance of an overwintering sugar:starch ratio greater than three.

[Canopy interception of sub-alpine dark coniferous communities in western Sichuan, China].

Based on field measurements of throughfall and stemflow in combination with climatic data collected from the meteorological station adjacent to the studied sub-alpine dark coniferous forest in Wolong, Sichuan Province, canopy interception of sub-alpine dark coniferous forests was analyzed and modeled at both stand scale and catchment scale. The results showed that monthly interception rate of Fargesia nitida, Bashania fangiana--Abies faxoniana old-growth ranged from 33% Grass to 72%, with the average of 48%. In growing season, there was a linear or powerful or exponential relationship between rainfall and interception an. a negative exponential relationship between rainfall and interception rate. The mean maximum canopy interception by the vegetation in the catchment of in.44 km was 1.74 ment and the significant differences among the five communities occurred in the following sequence: Moss-Fargesia nitida, Bashan afanglana-A. faxoniana stand > Grass-F. nitida, B. fangiana-A. faxoniana stand > Moss-Rhododendron spp.-A. faxoniana stand > Grass-Rh. spp.-A. faxoniana stand > Rh. spp. shrub. In addition, a close linear relationship existed between leaf area index (LAI) and maximum canopy interception. The simulated value of canopy interception rate, maximum canopy interception rate and addition interception rate of the vegetation in the catchment were 39%, 25% and 14%, respectively. Simulation of the canopy interception model was better at the overall growing season scale, that the mean relative error was 9%-14%.

Activation tagging in tomato identifies a transcriptional regulator of anthocyanin biosynthesis, modification, and transport.

We have developed a high-throughput T-DNA insertional mutagenesis program in tomato using activation tagging to identify genes that regulate metabolic pathways. One of the activation-tagged insertion lines (ant1) showed intense purple pigmentation from the very early stage of shoot formation in culture, reflecting activation of the biosynthetic pathway leading to anthocyanin accumulation. The purple coloration resulted from the overexpression of a gene that encodes a MYB transcription factor. Vegetative tissues of ant1 plants displayed intense purple color, and the fruit showed purple spotting on the epidermis and pericarp. The gene-to-trait relationship of ant1 was confirmed by the overexpression of ANT1 in transgenic tomato and in tobacco under the control of a constitutive promoter. Suppression subtractive hybridization and RNA hybridization analysis of the purple tomato plants indicated that the overexpression of ANT1 caused the upregulation of genes that encode proteins in both the early and later steps of anthocyanidin biosynthesis as well as genes involved in the glycosylation and transport of anthocyanins into the vacuole.