Purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus L.) is one of the world’s resilient upland weeds, primarily spreading through its tubers. Its emergence in rice (Oryza sativa L.) fields has been increasing, likely due to changing paddy-farming practices. This study aimed to investigate how C. rotundus, an upland weed, can withstand soil flooding and become a problematic weed in rice fields. The first comparative analysis focused on the survival and recovery characteristics of growing and mature tubers of C. rotundus exposed to soil-flooding conditions. Notably, mature tubers exhibited significant survival and recovery abilities in these environments. Based on this observation, further investigation was carried out to explore the morphological structure, nonstructural carbohydrates, and respiratory mechanisms of mature tubers in response to prolonged soil flooding. Over time, the mature tubers did not form aerenchyma but instead gradually accumulated lignified sclerenchymal fibers, with lignin content also increasing. After 90 d, the lignified sclerenchymal fibers and lignin contents were 4.0 and 1.1 times higher than those in the no soil-flooding treatment. Concurrently, soluble sugar content decreased while starch content increased, providing energy storage, and alcohol dehydrogenase activity rose to support anaerobic respiration via alcohol fermentation. These results indicated that mature tubers survived in soil-flooding conditions by adopting a low-oxygen quiescence strategy, which involves morphological adaptations through the development of lignified sclerenchymal fibers, increased starch reserves for energy storage, and enhanced anaerobic respiration. This mechanism likely underpins the flooding tolerance of mature C. rotundus tubers, allowing them to endure unfavorable conditions and subsequently germinate and grow once flooding subsides. This study provides a preliminary explanation of the mechanism by which mature tubers of C. rotundus from the upland areas confer flooding tolerance, shedding light on the reasons behind this weed’s increasing presence in rice fields.

Purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus L.) is a globally distributed noxious weed that poses a significant challenge for control due to its fast and efficient propagation through the tuber, which is the primary reproductive organ. Gibberellic acid (GA3) has proven to be crucial for tuberization in tuberous plants. Therefore, understanding the relationship between GA3 and tuber development and propagation of C. rotundus will provide valuable information for controlling this weed. This study shows that the GA3 content decreases with tuber development, which corresponds to lower expression of bioactive GA3 synthesis genes (CrGA20ox, two CrGA3ox genes) and two upregulated GA3 catabolism genes (CrGA2ox genes), indicating that GA3 is involved in tuber development. Simultaneously, the expression of two CrDELLA genes and CrGID1 declines with tuber growth and decreased GA3, and yeast two-hybrid assays confirm that the GA3 signaling is DELLA-dependent. Furthermore, exogenous application of GA3 markedly reduces the number and the width of tubers and represses the growth of the tuber chain, further confirming the negative impact that GA3 has on tuber development and propagation. Taken together, these results demonstrate that GA3 is involved in tuber development and regulated by the DELLA-dependent pathway in C. rotundus and plays a negative role in tuber development and propagation.

Angiostrongylus cantonensis causes a form of parasitic meningitis in humans. Albendazole (ABZ) kills nematode larvae in the brain. However, dead larvae can trigger a severe inflammatory response, resulting in brain damage. Accumulating evidence suggests that calycosin represents a potential anti-inflammatory therapeutic candidate. In this study, we investigated the combined effects of ABZ and calycosin in angiostrongyliasis caused by A. cantonensis in BALB/c mice. Inflammatory mediators (such as phospho-nuclear factor-κB, cyclooxygenase-2, matrix metalloproteinase-9, tumour necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β) are associated with the development of meningitis and immune inflammatory reactions. We found that A. cantonensis significantly induces inflammatory mediator production and increases the blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeability. However, co-administration of both ABZ and calycosin markedly suppressed meningitis and inflammatory mediator production and decreased the BBB permeability compared to treatment with a single drug. Furthermore, calycosin and ABZ plus calycosin treatment facilitated production of the antioxidant haem oxygenase-1 (HO-1). Moreover, co-therapy with ABZ and calycosin failed to mitigate angiostrongyliasis in the presence of tin-protoporphyrin IX, an HO-1-specific inhibitor. This finding suggests that the beneficial effects of ABZ plus calycosin treatment on the regulation of inflammation are mediated by the modulation of HO-1 activation. The present results provide new insights into the treatment of human angiostrongyliasis using co-therapy with ABZ and calycosin.

This paper investigates the monolithic edge-cladding process for the elliptical disk of N31-type Nd-doped phosphate laser glass, which will be utilized under liquid cooling conditions for high-power laser systems. The thermal stress, interface bubbles and residual reflectivity, which are due to high-temperature casting and bonding during the monolithic edge-cladding process, are simulated and determined. The applied mould is optimized to a rectangular cavity mould, and the casting temperature is optimized to 1000°C. The resulting lower bubble density makes the mean residual reflectivity as low as 6.75 × 10−5, which is enough to suppress the amplified spontaneous emission generated in the Nd-glass disk, and the resulting maximum optical retardation is converged to 10.2–13.3 nm/cm, which is a favourable base for fine annealing to achieve the stress specification of less than or equal to 5 nm/cm. After fine annealing at the optimized 520°C, the maximum optical retardation is as low as 4.8 nm/cm, and the minimum transmitted wavefront peak-to-valley value is 0.222 wavelength (632.8 nm). An N31 elliptical disk with the size of 194 mm × 102 mm × 40 mm can be successfully cladded by the optimized monolithic edge-cladding process, whose edge-cladded disk with the size of 200 mm × 108 mm × 40 mm can achieve laser gain one-third higher than that of an N21-type disk of the same size.

The linear theory stability of different collisionless plasma sheath structures, including the classic sheath, inverse sheath and space-charge limited (SCL) sheath, is investigated as a typical eigenvalue problem. The three background plasma sheaths formed between a Maxwellian plasma source and a dielectric wall with a fully self-consistent secondary electron emission condition are solved by recent developed 1D3V (one-dimensional space and three-dimensional velocities), steady-state, collisionless kinetic sheath model, within a wide range of Maxwellian plasma electron temperature $T_{e}$. Then, the eigenvalue equations of sheath plasma fluctuations through the three sheaths are numerically solved, and the corresponding damping and growth rates $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}$ are found: (i) under the classic sheath structure (i.e. $T_{e}<T_{ec}$ (the first threshold)), there are three damping solutions (i.e. $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}_{1}$, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}_{2}$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}_{3}$, $0>\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}_{1}>\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}_{2}>\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}_{3}$) for most cases, but there is only one growth-rate solution $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}$ when $T_{e}\rightarrow T_{ec}$ due to the inhomogeneity of sheath being very weak; (ii) under the inverse sheath structure, which arises when $T_{e}>T_{ec}$, there are no background ions in the sheath so that the fluctuations are stable; (iii) under the SCL sheath conditions (i.e. $T_{e}\geqslant T_{e\text{SCL}}$, the second threshold), the obvious ion streaming through the sheath region again emerges and the three damping solutions are again found.

Babesiosis is an emerging tick-transmitted zoonosis prevalent in large parts of the world. This study was designed to determine the rates of Babesia microti infection among small rodents in Yunnan province, where human cases of babesiosis have been reported. Currently, distribution of Babesia in its endemic regions is largely unknown. In this study, we cataloged 1672 small wild rodents, comprising 4 orders, from nine areas in western Yunnan province between 2009 and 2011. Babesia microti DNA was detected by polymerase chain reaction in 4·3% (72/1672) of the rodents analyzed. The most frequently infected rodent species included Apodemus chevrieri and Niviventer fulvescens. Rodents from forests and shrublands had significantly higher Babesia infection rates. Genetic comparisons revealed that Babesia was most similar to the Kobe- and Otsu-type strains identified in Japan. A variety of rodent species might be involved in the enzootic maintenance and transmission of B. microti, supporting the need for further serological investigations in humans.

This study aimed to investigate the impacts of dietary threonine on intestinal immunity and inflammation in juvenile grass carp. Six iso-nitrogenous semi-purified diets containing graded levels of threonine (3·99–21·66 g threonine/kg) were formulated and fed to fishes for 8 weeks, and then challenged with Aeromonas hydrophila for 14 d. Results showed that, compared with optimum threonine supplementation, threonine deficiency (1) decreased the ability of fish against enteritis, intestinal lysozyme activities (except in the distal intestine), acid phosphatase activities, complement 3 (C3) and C4 contents and IgM contents (except in the proximal intestine (PI)), and it down-regulated the transcript abundances of liver-expressed antimicrobial peptide (LEAP)-2A, LEAP-2B, hepcidin, IgZ, IgM and β-defensin1 (except in the PI) (P<0·05); (2) could up-regulate intestinal pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-17D mRNA levels partly related to NF-κB signalling; (3) could down-regulate intestinal anti-inflammatory cytokine transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, TGF-β2, IL-4/13A (not IL-4/13B) and IL-10 mRNA levels partly by target of rapamycin signalling. Finally, on the basis of the specific growth rate, against the enteritis morbidity and IgM contents, the optimum threonine requirements were estimated to be 14·53 g threonine/kg diet (4·48 g threonine/100 g protein), 15.05 g threonine/kg diet (4·64 g threonine/100 g protein) and 15·17 g threonine/kg diet (4·68 g threonine/100 g protein), respectively.

In this paper, the hole carrier mobility of organic semiconductor N,N′-diphenyl-N,N′bis(1,1′-biphenyl)-4,4′-diamine (NPD) was researched by negative differential susceptance spectra (−ΔB = −w(C − Cgeo) ~ f). Under the condition of space charge limited current (SCLC), through solving the drift current equation and Poisson equation and simulating the spectra −ΔB = −w(C − Cgeo) ~ f, the relationship between the peak of −ΔB = −w(C − Cgeo) ~ f spectra (1/ƒp = τp) and the transfer time of carrier (τdc) could be achieved to be τdc = k × τp. So the hole-only device of ITO/NPD/Ag was fabricated to determine the capacitance spectra, and through which its −ΔB = −w(C − Cgeo) ~ f could be plotted. According to the relationship of τdc = k × τp, where k was determined to be 0.56, the transfer time and further the carrier mobility could be obtained. The carrier mobility depended on the electric field according to Poole-Frenkel model was further investigated in this report.

Large aperture Nd:phosphate laser glass is a key optical element for an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) facility. N31, one type of neodymium doped phosphate glasses, was developed for high peak power laser facility applications in China. The composition and main properties of N31 glass are given, together with those of LHG-8, LG-770, and KGSS-0180 Nd:phosphate laser glasses, from Hoya and Schott, and from Russia. The technologies of pot melting, continuous melting, and edge cladding of large size N31 phosphate laser glass are briefly described. The small signal gain profiles of N31 glass slabs from both pot melting and continuous melting at various values of the pumping energy of the xenon lamp are presented. N31 glass is characterized by a stimulated emission cross section of $3.8 \times 10^{{-20}}\ \text {cm}^{{2}}$ at 1053 nm, an absorption coefficient of 0.10–0.15% $\text {cm}^{{-1}}$ at laser wavelength, small residual stress around the interface between the cladding glass and the laser glass, optical homogeneity of $\sim $2 $\times $ $10^{{-6}}$ in a 400 mm aperture, and laser damage threshold larger than $42\ \text {J/cm}^{{2}}$ for a 3 ns pulse width at 1064 nm wavelength.

Using microsatellite markers, the genetic structure of nine domestic duck (Anas platyrhynchos) populations in eastern China was analysed. The results showed that the heterozygosity was high in these populations, ranging from 0.5137 to 0.6055, with an average heterozygosity of 0.5523, reflecting the rich diversity. Considerable breed differentiation was observed and 25.65% of the total genetic variation came from breed differences; this low differentiation result affirmed that each breed has its own genetic diversity. The DA genetic distances suggested that greater differentiation existed between populations. The duck populations were clustered into four groups based on neighbour joining (NJ) clustering, and the clustering results showed relationships with duck breed distributions and economic utilization.

Using the INRA – University of Minnesota porcine 7000 Rad Radiation Hybrid panel (IMpRH) containing 118 clones, porcine cellular retinol binding protein gene 1 (RBP1) and plasma retinol binding protein gene 4 (RBP4) were assigned to porcine chromosomes 13 and 14, respectively. The mRNA distributions of the two genes in adult Wuzhishan pig tissues (lung, skeletal muscle, spleen, heart, stomach, large intestine, lymph node, small intestine, liver, brain, kidney and fat) were examined. One single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was identified in Laiwu, Wuzhishan, Guizhou, Bama pig breeds and a Tongcheng experimental population and analysed using a polymerase chain reaction–restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR–RFLP) method. Significant associations were found between different genotypes of A/G156 and maximum carcass length (LM), minimum carcass length (LN), haemoglobin (HGB), mean corpuscular volume haemoglobin (MCH), and day to slaughter weight (age) traits in the Tongcheng experimental population. This SNP locus might be used as a genetic marker in pig breeding and production.

As the industry develops processes for the 65 and 45 nm technology nodes, post etch/ash cleaning faces new challenges with far more stringent requirements on surface cleanliness and materials loss. The introduction and integration of new materials, such as metal hard mask, creates additional requirements for wafer cleaning due to the occurrence of new defect modes related to metal hard mask. These include organometallic residue and metal fluorite compounds precipitating with time. We have developed a novel aqueous solution (AQ) based single wafer cleaning process to address these new defect modes. Physical characterization results and process integration electrical data and reliability data (TEM cross section review of the vias) are presented in this paper.

The main conclusions can be summarized as follows: (1) In the dual damascene Cu/low-k process flow with hard mask, there are three typical residues after etch/ash: generic polymer residue, organometallic residue strongly bonded to metal maks, and time-dependent metal fluoride residue. (2) Generic polymer residue is very well characterized [1,2] and is usually easy to remove with solvent or aqueous solution [2,3]. (3)We developed an oxidizing chemistry based process to undercut the hard mask for the organometallic residue removal, which proved highly effective. (4)The time-dependent metal fluoride reside makes queue time control after etch/ash very critical (<1 hour). We developed a process with a fluorine based aqueous chemistry to address the metal fluoride residue, which proved highly effective. With this new process, queue time control is not required. (5) The post etch/ash cleaning for the Cu/low-k structure with metal hard mask typically employs the solvent/dry plasma ash multi-step procedure [4]. The new process developed in this research reduced the multi-step process to one wet clean step with two different aqueous chemistries in sequence. (6) The integration electrical data shows that the new single step aqueous cleaning process performance is comparable to, or even better than that from the solvent/dry plasma ash multi cleaning process. (7) Blanket Cu loss with the new process is about 23A/min, however TEM analysis of the vias after full integration shows Cu loss, we are working to improve the integration related Cu loss.

To control the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy and scrapie, a method was developed for the simultaneous detection of bovine- and sheep-derived materials in feedstuffs. Chelex-100 was adopted for the fast extraction of animal genomic DNA. A pair of universal primers, designed on the basis of homology in sequences of bovine and sheep mtDNA, was used for PCR. This method is of great value to quarantine departments for its simplicity and rapid detection.