executive summaryPage 90 arious studies have shown that three factors-filter media, temperature, and the presence of chlorine in the backwash water-affect the performance of drinking water biofilters. However, the effects of these factors and the potentially significant interactions among them have not been compared quantitatively in previous studies. In particular, there is very limited information available on the performance of biofilters at low temperatures (5 o C).In this bench-scale study of biological filtration, the authors found that media (anthracite versus granular activated carbon [GAC]), temperature, and the presence/absence of chlorine in the backwash water were all important factors affecting the removal of biodegradable organic matter (BOM). However, a substantial impairment of performance was only seen when all factors were at their most unfavorable settings.The combination of chlorine and low temperature had only a minor effect on GAC filters. Chloramine in the backwash water did not substantially affect BOM removal at either high or low temperature. In general, a period of 20 to 40 days was required for the biofilters operated at the high temperature (20 o C) to reach constant removal of the most easily biodegradable compounds.The results of this study show that biofilters can perform well at low temperatures in removing easily biodegradable compounds, such as many ozonation by-products. At 5 o C, GAC filters were slightly affected by chlorine in the backwash water. However, chlorinated backwash water is detrimental to the results obtained when anthracite filters are operated at this low temperature.-KS

Cold stress restricts peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) growth, development, and yield. However, the specific mechanism of cold tolerance in peanut remains unknown. Here, the comparative physiological, transcriptomic, and lipidomic analyses of cold tolerant variety NH5 and cold sensitive variety FH18 at different time points of cold stress were conducted to fill this gap. Transcriptomic analysis revealed lipid metabolism including membrane lipid and fatty acid metabolism may be a significant contributor in peanut cold tolerance, and 59 cold-tolerant genes involved in lipid metabolism were identified. Lipidomic data corroborated the importance of membrane lipid remodeling and fatty acid unsaturation. It indicated that photosynthetic damage, resulted from the alteration in fluidity and integrity of photosynthetic membranes under cold stress, were mainly caused by markedly decreased monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) levels and could be relieved by increased digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGDG) and sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol (SQDG) levels. The upregulation of phosphatidate phosphatase (PAP1) and phosphatidate cytidylyltransferase (CDS1) inhibited the excessive accumulation of PA, thus may prevent the peroxidation of membrane lipids. In addition, fatty acid elongation and fatty acid boxidation were also worth further studied in peanut cold tolerance. Finally, we constructed a metabolic model for the regulatory mechanism of peanut cold tolerance, in which the advanced lipid metabolism system plays a central role. This study lays the foundation for deeply analyzing the molecular mechanism and realizing the genetic improvement of peanut cold tolerance.

Background Intercropping, a diversified planting pattern, increases land use efficiency and farmland ecological diversity. We explored the changes in soil physicochemical properties, nutrient uptake and utilization, and microbial community composition in wide-strip intercropping of maize and peanut. Results The results from three treatments, sole maize, sole peanut and intercropping of maize and peanut, showed that intercropped maize had a marginal advantage and that the nutrient content of roots, stems and grains in side-row maize was better than that in the middle row of intercropped maize and sole maize. The yield of intercropped maize was higher than that of sole cropping. The interaction between crops significantly increased soil peroxidase activity, and significantly decreased protease and dehydrogenase activities in intercropped maize and intercropped peanut. The diversity and richness of bacteria and fungi decreased in intercropped maize rhizosphere soil, whereas the richness of fungi increased intercropped peanut. RB41, Candidatus-udaeobacter, Stropharia, Fusarium and Penicillium were positively correlated with soil peroxidase activity, and negatively correlated with soil protease and dehydrogenase activities. In addition, intercropping enriched the functional diversity of the bacterial community and reduced pathogenic fungi. Conclusion Intercropping changed the composition and diversity of the bacterial and fungal communities in rhizosphere soil, enriched beneficial microbes, increased the nitrogen content of intercropped maize and provided a scientific basis for promoting intercropping in northeastern China.

Plants tolerate cold stress by regulating gene networks controlling cellular and physiological traits to modify growth and development. Transcription factor (TF)-directed regulation of transcription within these gene networks is key to eliciting appropriate responses. Identifying TFs related to cold tolerance contributes to cold-tolerant crop breeding. In this study, a comparative transcriptome analysis was carried out to investigate global gene expression of entire TFs in two peanut varieties with different cold-tolerant abilities. A total of 87 TF families including 2328 TF genes were identified. Among them, 445 TF genes were significantly differentially expressed in two peanut varieties under cold stress. The TF families represented by the largest numbers of differentially expressed members were bHLH (basic helix—loop—helix protein), C2H2 (Cys2/His2 zinc finger protein), ERF (ethylene-responsive factor), MYB (v-myb avian myeloblastosis viral oncogene homolog), NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, CUC2) and WRKY TFs. Phylogenetic evolutionary analysis, temporal expression profiling, protein–protein interaction (PPI) network, and functional enrichment of differentially expressed TFs revealed the importance of plant hormone signal transduction and plant-pathogen interaction pathways and their possible mechanism in peanut cold tolerance. This study contributes to a better understanding of the complex mechanism of TFs in response to cold stress in peanut and provides valuable resources for the investigation of evolutionary history and biological functions of peanut TFs genes involved in cold tolerance.

Purpose To systematically evaluate the correlation between PD-L1 expression and clinicopathological features and prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods Seven databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Web of Science, CBM, Wanfang, and CNKI) were searched through May 2020. Risk of bias and quality of evidence were assessed by using the Newcastle–Ottawa scale (NOS), and meta-analysis was carried out by using the Review Manager 5.3 software on the studies with the quality evaluation scores ≥ 6. Meta-regression analysis was used to determine the independent role of PD-L1 expression on CRC prognosis after adjusting clinicopathological features and treatment methods. Results A total of 8823 CRC patients in 32 eligible studies. PD-L1 expression was correlated with lymphatic metastasis (yes/no; OR = 1.24, 95% CI (1.11, 1.38)), diameter of tumor (≥ 5 cm/< 5 cm; OR = 1.34, 95% CI (1.06, 1.70)), differentiation (high–middle/low; OR = 0.68, 95% CI (0.53, 0.87)), and vascular invasion (yes/no; OR = 0.80, 95% CI (0.69, 0.92)). PD-L1 expression shortened the overall survival (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.93, 95% CI (1.66, 2.25)), disease-free survival (HR = 1.76, 95% CI (1.50, 2.07)), and progression-free survival (HR = 1.93, 95% CI (1.55, 2.41)). Meta-regression showed that PD-L1 expression played a significant role on poor CRC OS (HR = 1.95, 95% CI (1.92, 3.98)) and disease-free survival (HR = 2.14, 95% CI (0.73, 4.52)). Conclusion PD-L1 expression independently predicted a poor prognosis of CRC.

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Abstract. Hepatoid adenocarcinoma of the stomach (HAS) is a rare type of gastric cancer with an extremely poor prognosis. The current study reports a rare case of HAS, characterized by gastric cancer and infiltration of cancer cells into the left liver lobe, as well as lymphadenectasis. The expression of α-fetoprotein (AFP) was markedly increased in the tumor cells of the liver neoplasms. A gastric biopsy indicated highly, moderately and poorly differentiated papillary adenocarcinoma. The patient underwent two cycles of chemotherapy with oxaliplatin (130 mg; day 1) and capecitabine (2 mg, twice daily; days 1-14). At 7 weeks after the chemotherapy, an expanded gastrectomy and radical resection of left lung lobe were performed on the operable lesion. AFP expression was significantly decreased following the procedure. A literature review was also conducted by searching PubMed/Medline, indicating that surgery and chemotherapy may positively affect the outcomes of HAS patients.

Belowground interactions mediated by root exudates are critical for the productivity and efficiency of intercropping systems. Herein, we investigated the process of microbial community assembly in maize, peanuts, and shared rhizosphere soil as well as their regulatory mechanisms on root exudates under different planting patterns by combining metabolomic and metagenomic analyses. The results showed that the yield of intercropped maize increased significantly by 21.05% (2020) and 52.81% (2021), while the yield of intercropped peanut significantly decreased by 39.51% (2020) and 32.58% (2021). The nitrogen accumulation was significantly higher in the roots of the intercropped maize than in those of sole maize at 120 days after sowing, it increased by 129.16% (2020) and 151.93% (2021), respectively. The stems and leaves of intercropped peanut significantly decreased by 5.13 and 22.23% (2020) and 14.45 and 24.54% (2021), respectively. The root interaction had a significant effect on the content of ammonium nitrogen (NH4+-N) as well as the activities of urease (UE), nitrate reductase (NR), protease (Pro), and dehydrogenase (DHO) in the rhizosphere soil. A combined network analysis showed that the content of NH4+-N as well as the enzyme activities of UE, NR and Pro increased in the rhizosphere soil, resulting in cyanidin 3-sambubioside 5-glucoside and cyanidin 3-O-(6-Op-coumaroyl) glucoside-5-O-glucoside; shisonin were significantly up-regulated in the shared soil of intercropped maize and peanut, reshaped the bacterial community composition, and increased the relative abundance of Bradyrhizobium. These results indicate that interspecific root interactions improved the soil microenvironment, regulated the absorption and utilization of nitrogen nutrients, and provided a theoretical basis for high yield and sustainable development in the intercropping of maize and peanut.