Explore the vast range of titles available.

Degradation in farmland quality owing to overuse emphasizes the current need for the adoption of protective technologies to ensure food security and sustainable resource utilization. This study employs plot survey data from Heilongjiang, Henan, Zhejiang, and Sichuan provinces in China to investigate how the spatial attributes of transferred plots influence the current adoption of farmland protection methods, such as deep tillage and straw-returning. Findings reveal that larger or interconnected transferred plots significantly increase the likelihood of farmers adopting conservation tillage technologies. However, the influence of the plot’s location on technology adoption varies among different plots. As the farmland transfer market expands, the spatial features of these plots emerge as critical determinants in the use of protective technologies. This underscores the pressing need for an integrated farmland transfer trading system and strengthened policy measures promoting land consolidation to foster widespread adoption of these conservation strategies.

Purpose Lower back pain (LBP), mainly caused by intervertebral disk (IVD) degeneration (IDD), is widely prevalent worldwide and is a serious socioeconomic burden. Numerous factors may trigger this degenerative process, and microbial dysbiosis has recently been implicated as one of the likely causes. However, the exact relationship between IDD and the microbiome remains obscure. In this study, we investigated the gut microbiota composition and fecal metabolic phenotype and discussed the possible influences of microbiome dysbiosis on IDD. Methods Fecal DNA was extracted from 16 fecal samples (eight rabbit models with IDD and eight sex- and age-matched healthy controls) and analyzed by high-throughput 16S rDNA sequencing. The fecal samples were also analyzed by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry-based metabolomics. Multivariate analyses were conducted for the relationship between the omics data and IDD, linear discriminant analysis effect size was employed for biomarker discovery. Moreover, the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database was used to annotate the differential metabolites. The potential correlation between differential gut microbiota and metabolites was then assessed. Results The 16S rDNA sequencing results showed that the β-diversity of the gut microbiota was significantly different between the IDD and control groups, with distinct abundance levels of dominant genera. Moreover, 59 metabolites were significantly upregulated and 91 were downregulated in IDD rabbits versus the controls. The KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that the top pathways remarkably impacted by IDD were tyrosine metabolism, amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism, benzoate degradation, ABC transporters, ascorbate and aldarate metabolism, pantothenate and CoA biosynthesis, and pyrimidine metabolism. The correlation analysis revealed that DL-tyrosine and N -acetylmuramic acid were associated with multiple differential bacterial genera, including Helicobacter and Vibrio , which may play important roles in the process of IVD degeneration. Conclusion Our findings revealed that IDD altered gut microbiota and fecal metabolites in a rabbit model. The correlation analysis of microbiota and metabolome provides a deeper understanding of IDD and its possible etiopathogenesis. These results also provide a direction and theoretical basis for the clinical application of fecal transplantation, probiotics, and other methods to regulate gut microbiota in the treatment of LBP caused by IDD.

The development of a farmland transfer market and the spatial characteristics of transfer plots are crucial factors influencing chemical input reduction in agricultural production with relation to the endowment of fragmented agricultural land resources. Through a theoretical discussion, this study analyzed the heterogeneity of transfer plots’ spatial characteristics and their effect on the intensity of chemical input in agricultural production in the process of farmland transfer. Plot-level survey data from the Heilongjiang, Henan, Zhejiang, and Sichuan provinces were used for empirical analysis. The results indicated that the values of pesticide and fertilizer input in the large plot group were CNY 10.154 and CNY 8.679 lower than those in the small plot group, respectively. Additionally, compared with non-adjacent plots, the per-unit area input was CNY 2.396 and CNY 6.691 lower in adjacent plots. This indicated that plot area expansion and location adjacence significantly reduced the intensity of pesticide application and fertilizer input in the plots. Simultaneously, location linkage reduced chemical input in agricultural production in small plots; however, the difference was unnoticeable in large plots. This study provides a theoretical basis for promoting farmland integration in China as well as introduces a specialized method for reducing agricultural chemical usage.

This study discusses the mechanism of social trust and legal institutions and their impact on farmers’ contract selection in the farmland transfer market from the perspective of contract governance. Using data from a survey of 128 villages in Heilongjiang, Henan, Zhejiang, and Sichuan provinces, this study empirically tests the impact of social trust and legal institutions on the binding force of contracts, and the proportions of paper and long-term contracts in the farmland transfer market. The results showcase, first, that improvement in social trust and legal institutions can strengthen the binding force of farmland contracts. The strength of legal institutions, as embodied in regulation files and execution, and of social trust, as embodied in village neighborhood relations and loan relations, have significant positive impacts on the binding force of contracts in the farmland transfer market. Second, the binding force of contracts positively impacts both paper and long-term contracts in the farmland transfer market. Whether contract execution or dispute resolution rates are selected as the proxy variables for the binding force of contracts, the stronger the contract binding force, the higher the proportion of both paper and long-term contracts in the farmland transfer market. Therefore, improving formal and informal social systems to enhance contractual binding force is of great importance in standardizing contracts and improving the efficiency of market resource allocation.

(1) Background: The tense relationship between man and land makes transferring farmland rights in the market critical for improving agricultural production efficiency and promoting large-scale agricultural management. (2) Methods: This study considers the impact of the spatial characteristics of farmland plots on the economies of scale of farmers in terms of farmland use and heterogeneity. The effect of plots’ area and location on the directional flow of plots in the farmland transfer market from the perspective of matching supply and demand is also investigated. An empirical test is conducted on farmer actions and plot characteristics data based on surveys from 2015 and 2018 in the Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang, Henan, Zhejiang, and Sichuan. (3) Results: The plots’ area and location affect economies of scale for different potential transfer plots. This leads to large plots and adjacent plots in the market transferring to large-scale households, while scattered small plots mainly transfer to ordinary households. (4) Conclusions: The fixed spatial characteristics of the plots determine the scattered circulation of farmland in the transfer market, hindering the centralized utilization of farmland and restricting efficiency in farmland transfer market allocation. The findings from the context of China are similar to what has been found elsewhere. This suggests the need for a unified trading platform for farmland transfer and strengthening the mutual transformation of land and agricultural machinery.

Pigment epithelium-derived factor (PEDF) has complex functions in tumor metastasis, but little is known about the roles of PEDF and its receptors in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Here we found that high expression of PEDF is associated with shorter overall survival in HCC patients. Forced expression of PEDF enhanced HCC cell aggressive behavior in vitro and in vivo , whereas silencing PEDF expression reduced migration and invasion. Furthermore, PEDF expression led to changes in cell morphology and the expression of epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related markers via ERK1/2 signaling pathway, including the upregulation of N-cadherin and slug, and the downregulation of E-cadherin in HCC cells. Our results further showed that PEDF could interact with laminin receptor (LR) and LR knockdown attenuated PEDF-induced migration, invasion and the change of EMT-related markers. More importantly, in clinical HCC specimens, we found that PEDF expression was correlated with subcellular localization of LR, and that high expression of PEDF and positive expression of LR predicted a poor prognosis. In conclusion, our results demonstrate a novel functional role of PEDF/LR axis in driving metastasis through ERK1/2-mediated EMT in HCC and provided a promising prognostic marker in HCC.

Thermoset shape memory polymers (TSMPs) show improved shape recovery and mechanical robust compared with the thermoplastic SMPs, but also exhibit restricted shape transformation and inferior reprocess-ability. Recently, introducing the dynamic bonds into TSMPs will endow the stable crosslinking topology with dynamic arrangement ability, which will address above issues. However, as widely used dynamic bonds in dynamic TSMPs such as urethane or ester have to be activated in the presence of external catalysts or initiators to accomplish exchange reaction. Therefore, it is highly desirable to develop TSMPs which possess excellent solid-state plasticity without catalysts or initiators, and it is urgent and essential to employ different dynamic bonds to broaden preparation methods and diversity of dynamic TSMPs. In this work, we fabricated dynamic TSMPs based on dynamic disulfide bonds to achieve solid-state plasticity and complex deformation. The as-obtained TSMPs exhibit good thermal properties, mechanic robust as traditional TSMPs. Besides, the acquired TSMPs show outstanding shape memory property in shape fixed 99% and shape recovery rate 98%. The obtained TSMPs could be suitable to a variety of future engineering application.

The popularization and use of green production technology is the key to promoting the sustainable development of agriculture. Exploring the path of promoting farmers’ adoption of green production technology has important theoretical and practical significance for promoting the green transformation of agriculture and realizing the high-quality development of agriculture. This study examined the impact of contract performance on the adoption of green production technology in the farmland transfer market based on the characteristics of green production technology. An empirical test was conducted using survey data from Heilongjiang, Henan, Zhejiang, and Sichuan Provinces, which differ in agricultural resource endowment and economic development. The results demonstrated that farmland area was positively associated with the number of green production technologies adopted by farmers and use of straw returning, subsoiling, and soil testing for formula fertilization technology. Moreover, improving the performance rates of farmland transfer contracts strengthened the promotional effect of operation scale on green production technology adoption. Using either contract execution or dispute resolution rates to measure contract performance promoted the adoption of green production technology, particularly for large-scale farmers. Therefore, in the publicity and promotion of agricultural green production technology, the government should not only formulate differentiated promotion strategies and support policies based on resource endowment, but also focus on the construction of rural legal systems, which are helpful for building and maintaining a good farmland market order and performance environment, and create conditions for the durability and stability of technology adoption.

Forkhead box P1 (FOXP1) belongs to a family of winged-helix transcription factors that are involved in the processes of cellular proliferation, differentiation, metabolism, and longevity. FOXP1 can affect cell proliferation and migratory ability in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in vitro. However, little is known about the mechanism of FOXP1 in the proliferation of HCC cells. This study aimed to further explore the function of FOXP1 on the proliferation of HCC cells as well as the relevant mechanism involved. Western blot analysis, tumor xenograft models, and flow cytometry analysis were performed to elucidate the function of FOXP1 in the regulation of cell proliferation in human HCC. We observed that silencing FOXP1 significantly suppressed the growth ability of HCC cells both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, knockdown of FOXP1 induced G1/S phase arrest, and the expression of total and phosphorylated Rb (active type) as well as the levels of E2F1 were markedly decreased at 24 h; however, other proteins, including cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) 4 and 6 and cyclin D1 did not show noticeable changes. In conclusion, downregulation of FOXP1 inhibits cell proliferation in hepatocellular carcinoma by inducing G1/S phase cell cycle arrest, and the decrease in phosphorylated Rb is the main contributor to this G1/S phase arrest.