Effects of combined microplastics and heavy metals pollution on terrestrial plants and rhizosphere environment: A review.

Microplastics (MPs) can enter the soil environment through industry, agricultural production and daily life sources. Their interaction with heavy metals (HMs) poses a significant threat to a variety of terrestrial ecosystems, including agricultural ones, thereby affecting crop quality and threatening human health. This review initially addresses the impact of single and combined contamination with MPs and HMs on soil environment, including changes in soil physicochemical properties, microbial community structure and diversity, fertility, enzyme activity and resistance genes, as well as alterations in heavy metal speciation. The article further explores the effects of this pollution on the growth characteristics of terrestrial plants, such as plant biomass, antioxidant systems, metabolites and photosynthesis. In general, the combined contaminants tend to significantly affect soil environment and terrestrial plant growth, i.e., the impact of combined contaminants on plants weight ranged from -87.5% to 4.55%. Similarities and differences in contamination impact levels stem from the variations in contaminant types, sizes and doses of contaminants and the specific plant growth environments. In addition, MPs can not only infiltrate plants directly, but also significantly affect the accumulation of HMs in terrestrial plants. The heavy metals concentration in plants under the treatment of MPs were 70.26%-36.80%. The co-occurrence of these two pollution types can pose a serious threat to crop productivity and safety. Finally, this study proposes suggestions for future research aiming to address current gaps in knowledge, raises awareness about the impact of combined MPs + HMs pollution on plant growth and eco-environmental security.

The relationships between teachers' emotional labor and display rules, trait emotions, exhaustion, and classroom emotional climate.

Introduction: Emotions are an integral part of education, and the way teachers manage their emotions is crucial to educational success. This study focuses on teachers' emotional labor in secondary school classrooms and examined the relationships between emotional labor strategies and display rules, trait emotions, emotional exhaustion, and classroom emotional climate. Methods: In the study, 496 secondary school teachers (386 female) aged 21-59 years (mean age = 37.61 ±â€†8.87 years) completed five self-reported questionnaires. Data were analyzed using structural equation model in AMOS. Results: The results showed that (1) display rules provide positive situations to deep acting and the expression of naturally felt emotions and mediate teachers' positive emotions and strategies; (2) positive trait emotions increase the expression of naturally felt emotions and negative trait emotions increase surface acting; (3) surface acting results in emotional exhaustion and has an adverse impact on classroom emotional climate; and (4) deep acting and the expression of naturally felt emotions positively affect classroom emotional climate. Discussion: These findings revealed that deep acting and the expression of naturally felt emotions are positively related to positive emotions and the classroom setting, whereas surface acting plays a negative role in the emotional states of individuals and the classroom. The study gives the centrality of teacher emotions in the teaching and learning process, clarifies some antecedents and consequences related to emotional labor strategies in a classroom setting, and provides some ideas to optimize educational outcomes. The five variables presented in the study are good examples that can contribute to protecting teachers' wellbeing and improving the psychosociological environment.

Developing and validating a scale to measure teachers' emotional labor strategy in classrooms.

Teachers' emotional labor is essential to teachers' instructional quality, psychological health, and students' learning effectiveness in classrooms. To assess how teachers manage their emotions to match the display rules of classrooms, this study developed and validated a self-report scale-the Teachers' Emotional Labor Strategy in Classrooms (TELSC)-through three rounds of investigation with secondary school teachers. First, strategies and item statements were collected through existing scales, an open-ended questionnaire, and interviews. Second, the pilot study was conducted, and the results of content validity and exploratory factor analysis confirmed the 17-item formal scale with four dimensions: surface acting, deep acting, expression of naturally felt emotions, and emotion termination. The third round investigated 491 teachers and validated the scale: confirmatory factor analyses verified the four-factor structure; correlations among the four subscales and average variance extracted indicated good discriminant validity; correlations between subscales and emotional exhaustion, teacher efficacy, and years of teaching showed good criterion validity; and Cronbach's α showed good reliability. Overall, the TELSC scale is an efficient instrument to measure the strategies that teachers use to manage their emotions in classrooms, and it can be applied to understand and improve teachers' professional competence in teaching and emotional interaction.

Comparative transcriptome analysis digs out genes related to antifreeze between fresh and frozen-thawed rooster sperm.

The objective of this study was to investigate differences in mRNA expression between fresh and frozen-thawed sperm in roosters. In trial 1, gene expression profiles were measured using microarray with Affymetrix GeneChip Chicken Genome Arrays. The results showed that 2,115 genes were differentially expressed between the 2 groups. Among these genes, 2,086 were significantly downregulated and 29 were significantly upregulated in the frozen-thawed sperm group. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis showed that more than 1,000 differentially expressed genes (DEG) of all significantly regulated genes were involved in GO terms including biological processes, molecular function, and cellular component. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis showed that DEG were significantly (P < 0.05) enriched on ribosome, oxidative phosphorylation, proteasome, cell cycle, oocyte meiosis, and spliceosome pathways. In trial 2, ejaculated semen was collected from 18 roosters and divided into 5 recombinant HSP90 protein-supplemented groups (0.01, 0.1, 0.5, 1, or 2 µg/mL) and one control group with no recombinant HSP90 protein supplementation to evaluate the effect of recombinant HSP90 protein in the extender on post-thaw quality of rooster semen. The results showed that post-thaw sperm viability and motility was significantly improved (P < 0.05) in the extender containing 0.5 and 1 µg/mL of recombinant HSP90 protein compared with the control. Our preliminary results will provide a valuable basis for understanding the potential molecular mechanisms of cryodamage in frozen-thawed sperm and theoretical guidance to improve the fertility of frozen-thawed chicken sperm.