To improve our understanding of the origin and evolution of mycoheterotrophic plants, we here present the chromosome-scale genome assemblies of two sibling orchid species: partially mycoheterotrophic Platanthera zijinensis and holomycoheterotrophic Platanthera guangdongensis. Comparative analysis shows that mycoheterotrophy is associated with increased substitution rates and gene loss, and the deletion of most photoreceptor genes and auxin transporter genes might be linked to the unique phenotypes of fully mycoheterotrophic orchids. Conversely, trehalase genes that catalyse the conversion of trehalose into glucose have expanded in most sequenced orchids, in line with the fact that the germination of orchid non-endosperm seeds needs carbohydrates from fungi during the protocorm stage. We further show that the mature plant of P. guangdongensis, different from photosynthetic orchids, keeps expressing trehalase genes to hijack trehalose from fungi. Therefore, we propose that mycoheterotrophy in mature orchids is a continuation of the protocorm stage by sustaining the expression of trehalase genes. Our results shed light on the molecular mechanism underlying initial, partial and full mycoheterotrophy.

Acupoint stimulations are effective in ameliorating symptoms of menopause which is an unavoidable ageing consequence for women. To understand the mechanistic aspects of such treatments, we systematically analyzed the effects of acupoint laser-irradiation and catgut-embedding on the ovariectomy-induced rat metabolic changes using NMR and GC-FID/MS methods. Results showed that ovariectomization (OVX) caused comprehensive metabolic changes in lipid peroxidation, glycolysis, TCA cycle, choline and amino acid metabolisms. Both acupoint laser-irradiation and catgut-embedding ameliorated the OVX-caused metabonomic changes more effectively than hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with nilestriol. Such effects of acupoint stimulations were highlighted in alleviating lipid peroxidation, restoring glucose homeostasis and partial reversion of the OVX-altered amino acid metabolism. These findings provided new insights into the menopause effects on mammalian biochemistry and beneficial effects of acupoint stimulations in comparison with HRT, demonstrating metabonomics as a powerful approach for potential applications in disease prognosis and developments of effective therapies.

Acupoint catgut-embedding showed an obvious effect on climacteric syndrome, and enhanced the QOL in postmenopausal women. The therapy could regulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis to raise the serum E(2) level which may be significant in preventing and curing the osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

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a b s t r a c tIn this study, the shear strain at various depths of a low carbon steel processed by Surface Mechanical Attrition Treatment (SMAT) was measured using deformed carbide bands as internal strain markers. The shear strain gradient is found to strongly correlate with the gradients of texture, microstructure and hardness. The microhardness increases approximately linearly with shear strain, but deviates at the top surface. In the top surface, the average ferrite grain size is reduced to 60 nm with a strong {1 1 0}//SMAT surface texture.Ó 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd. on behalf of Acta Materialia Inc.Gradient structures are known to produce a wide variety of interesting properties including improved wear resistance and fatigue life, and extraordinary mechanical properties [1][2][3][4][5][6]. In recent years, Surface Mechanical Attrition Treatment (SMAT) has gained attention for its ability to generate gradient structured materials through grain refinement of the surface layer to the nanometer scale [1,[7][8][9][10]. This technique is ideal for systematic investigations of gradient structures due to the gradients in strain, strain rate, hardness, grain size, and hardening mechanisms throughout the deformed layer. In order to refine grain sizes to the nanometer scale, large strains and strain rates need to be applied [11][12][13]. It is well known that the shear component of the applied strain is directly correlated with dislocation slip and microstructure evolution. However, quantitatively mapping a single component of the strain tensor is challenging [14][15][16]. Markers and photographic evidence have been reported to extract the effect of shear strain on microstructure evolution, but they are not suitable for measuring shear strain in SMAT, due to the complexity of the process [17][18][19].In this work, cementite bands are used as internal markers to quantify the shear strain at various depths of the surface, which is the first time shear strain has been quantitatively mapped in SMAT-processed samples. Additionally, the texture evolution is systematically characterized, which has rarely been studied in SMAT-processed structures but profoundly affects mechanical behavior [20][21][22][23]. The observations from this work elucidate the effect of shear strain on the development of texture gradient, microstructure gradient, and microhardness gradient in the SMAT-processed samples.Normalized steel plates with a composition of 0.14% C, 0.33% Si, 1.44% Mn, 0.08% Cr, 0.03% Ni, and balance Fe was used for this study. Samples were cut along the rolling direction so that the SMAT treatment would take place normal to the rolling direction. The pearlite was agglomerated into bands normal to the SMAT surface as shown in Fig. 1. The SMAT process was carried out using a SPEX 8000M Mixer/Mill by replacing the lid of the vial with 1/4 00 thick plates of the sample to be treated. Samples were polished to 1200 grit, sealed in ambient atmosphere, and processed with three ½ 00 440C steel balls for 120 min. Profilometry reve...

Spaceborne LiDAR has been widely used to obtain forest canopy heights over large areas, but it is still a challenge to obtain spatio-continuous forest canopy heights with this technology. In order to make up for this deficiency and take advantage of the complementary for multi-source remote sensing data in forest canopy height mapping, a new method to estimate forest canopy height was proposed by synergizing the spaceborne LiDAR (ICESat-2) data, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, multi-spectral images, and topographic data considering forest types. In this study, National Geographical Condition Monitoring (NGCM) data was used to extract the distributions of coniferous forest (CF), broadleaf forest (BF), and mixed forest (MF) in Hua’ nan forest area in Heilongjiang Province, China. Accordingly, the forest canopy height estimation models for whole forest (all forests together without distinguishing types, WF), CF, BF, and MF were established, respectively, by Radom Forest (RF) and Gradient Boosting Decision Tree (GBDT). The accuracy for established models and the forest canopy height obtained based on estimation models were validated consequently. The results showed that the forest canopy height estimation models considering forest types had better performance than the model grouping all types of forest together. Compared with GBDT, RF with optimal variables had better performance in forest canopy height estimation with Pearson’s correlation coefficient (R) and the root-mean-squared error (RMSE) values for CF, BF, and MF of 0.72, 0.59, 0.62, and 3.15, 3.37, 3.26 m, respectively. It has been validated that a synergy of ICESat-2 with other remote sensing data can make a crucial contribution to spatio-continuous forest canopy height mapping, especially for areas covered by different types of forest.

Purpose. To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupoint catgut embedding therapy (ACET) in postmenopausal osteoporosis (PMOP). Methods. Review of some databases from their inception to June 2018 and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in which ACET with PMOP were included. Two researchers extracted and evaluated the information independently. Cochrane Collaboration’s tool and Jadad scale were used to evaluate the quality of the studies. RevMan V.5.3.3 software was used to carry out the meta-analysis while trial sequential analysis (TSA) performed with TSA 0.9 software. Results. 12 RCTs with 876 participants were included in this review. Meta-analysis showed that ACET alone was not superior to medication in effectiveness rate (RR= 1.11; 95% CI (0.89, 1.40); P=0.35) and E2 (SMD= 0.20; 95% CI (-0.17, 0.57); P=0.28; I2=20%) while ACET combining medication was more effective on the effectiveness rate (RR= 1.32; 95% CI (1.20, 1.46); P<0.000 01) and E2 (SMD= 1.24; 95% CI (0.63, 1.84); P<0.0001). Additionally, ACET combining calcium could increase the bone mineral density (BMD) of the L2~4 vertebrae and femur-neck [WMDL2~4 = 0.03; 95% CI (0.01, 0.05); P=0.003; and WMDFemur-neck = 0.07; 95% CI (0.03, 0.10); P = 0.0006], reduce TCM syndrome score [WMD = -1.85; 95% CI (-2.13, -1.57); P<0.000 01], improve patient’s quality of life [WMDthree  months = 6.90; 95% CI (3.90, 9.89); P<0.000 01; and WMDsix  months = 12.34; 95% CI (5.09, 19.60); P=0.0009], and relieve pain [WMDVAS = -1.26; 95% CI (-1.66, -0.85); P<0.000 01; and WMDPain  score = -2.59; 95% CI (-4.76, -0.43); P= 0.02]. The TSA showed that the effectiveness of ACET for PMOP was demonstrated accurately. Conclusions. ACET combining medication but not ACET alone is more effective than medication as comparison in the treatment of PMOP. As a novel treatment, ACET shows the potential of effectiveness and deserves further high quality of well-designed study.

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