Biological Capacity Research Articles

Childhood growth, current age, and waist circumference predict biological reserve capacity, physical performance, and rapid aging in Bangladeshi women

Background: The UK Bangladeshi community is socially disadvantaged, and many adults suffer from obesity, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses. Rapid aging has been noted.
 Objectives: Analyse biosocial trade-offs in growth, adult body composition, and reproduction, which are risk factors for age-related decline in physical performance, more rapid aging, frailty, and death.
 Methods: Sample: 40 Bangladeshi mothers (40-70 years old), one of their adult daughters (N=37, 18-36 years old) in the United Kingdom (UK), and 22 mother-daughter pairs of the same age range in Bangladesh (BD). Measurements: anthropometry, including knee height, migration, demographic history, education level, current menstruation (yes/no), and a 7-component lower body physical function score (PFS). Analysis: ridge regression and St Nikolas House Analysis (SNHA).
 Results: All the women are of short stature (x̄=150cm), with especially low knee height. Daughters who migrated to the UK have shorter knee height than daughters born in the UK. Marriage age was 16-18 years and total pregnancies of ~6 per mother, ~3 per daughter. UK mothers have higher fatness and lower PFS than BD women. Greater knee height predicts greater PFS, and that greater waist circumference and older age predict a lower PFS. SNHA finds that knee height is the most direct predictor of PFS.
 Conclusion: Adult knee height may serve as a sensitive indicator of early life physical and emotional well-being and predict physical performance, a risk factor for frailty and death. International migration of daughters is associated with poorer health status and physical performance at later ages.

Rotator Cuff Repair With Bone Grafting of Greater Tuberosity Cyst: A Technique Video

Background: Nearly 500,000 rotator cuff repairs are performed annually in the United States. Cysts within the humeral head have been reported to occur in more than half of patients diagnosed with a rotator cuff tear. They are related to age-related degeneration and rotator cuff dysfunction, and may arise from congenital abnormalities. Indications: Humeral head cysts may pose technical challenges during rotator cuff repair. Cysts located at the footprint of a planned rotator cuff repair can decrease biological healing capacity and reduce the fixation strength of suture anchors. One treatment strategy to address bone loss secondary to humeral head cysts is to incorporate cancellous allograft bone chips, which provide an osteoconductive scaffold for bone formation. Technique Description: Standard arthroscopic portals were established and during arthroscopy, the rotator cuff tear was identified, and tissue was mobilized. The cyst was debrided to healthy, bleeding bone using curettes and an arthroscopic shaver. A 2.5 mL sterile syringe was packed with crushed, cancellous allograft bone chips. The tip of the syringe was removed to allow for a wider aperture to facilitate injection of bone chips. Through an accessory, percutaneous portal just lateral to the acromion, the syringe was inserted into the cyst site, and bone graft contents were injected into the cyst. Pressure was applied to the syringe to impact the bone graft material. The bone chips were impacted with the syringe plunger. Following rotator cuff repair, the patient underwent subacromial decompression, distal clavicle excision, and open sub-pectoral biceps tenodesis with suture anchor fixation. Discussion/Conclusion: Greater tuberosity cysts can impose a technical challenge during arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Incorporation of impacted cancellous allograft bone chips is an efficient, reproducible method to enhance healing of the RTC tendon enthesis. Patient Consent Disclosure Statement: The author(s) attests that consent has been obtained from any patient(s) appearing in this publication. If the individual may be identifiable, the author(s) has included a statement of release or other written form of approval from the patient(s) with this submission for publication.

Co-Inoculation of Endophytes Bacillus siamensis TUR07-02b and Priestia megaterium SMBH14-02 Promotes Growth in Rice with Low Doses of Nitrogen Fertilizer.

Multiple biotic and abiotic factors influence rice cultivation. These factors limit productivity and yield, as well as an irrational use of agrochemicals in rice cultivation. A sustainable alternative is using selected growth-promoting microorganisms to increase nutritional efficiency. In the present study, the direct mechanisms of growth promotion in two strains of Bacillus, three strains of Priestia, and two strains of Burkholderia endophytes of rice were characterized. Bacillus siamensis TUR07-02b and Priestia megaterium SMBH14-02 were selected to promote Oryza sativa var's growth. "Bellavista" was used at different doses (50, 75, and 100%) of mineral nitrogen (N) using a randomized block design by quintuplicate. Both strains, SMBH14-02 and TUR07-02b, presented outstanding promoter characteristics, including auxin production (123.17 and 335.65 μg mL-1, respectively) and biological nitrogen fixation capacity. Similarly, B. siamensis TUR07-02b could solubilize phosphate-Ca (20.94 μg mL-1), cellulases, and pectinases. Under greenhouse conditions, co-inoculated plants receiving 75% of the total dose of mineral nitrogen showed increased agronomic parameters in relation to panicle length, grains per panicle, grain yield, and harvest index by 25.0, 30.7, 39.5, and 12.5%, respectively, compared to the 75% fertilized treatment without inoculation. The strains of B. siamensis TUR07-02b and P. megaterium SMBH14-02 are potential microbial resources in the formulation of new inoculants to reduce the use of nitrogenous fertilizers. Thus, agronomic validation of the inoculant consortium at the field level will be an essential step in providing an alternative for the sustainable management of rice cultivation and increased productivity of rice farmers in the San Martín region.

Nitrogen and boron co-doped lignin biochar for enhancing calcium peroxide activation toward organic micropollutants decontamination in waste activated sludge and related microbial structure dynamics

This study synthesized dual heteroatom nitrogen and boron-co-doped lignin-based biochar (NB-LGBC) for calcium peroxide (CP) activation to enhance the removal of organic micropollutants (OMPs), namely, 4-nonylphenol (4-NP) from waste activated sludge (WAS). NB-LGBC/CP enhanced 4-NP degradation by arriving at 83 % removal in 12 h. The NB-LGBC/CP system degraded 4-NP via a synergistic interaction (HO•, O2•− radicals, and singlet oxygen) and electron transfer due to the N–B–C bonding configurations. Results of fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (FEEM) analysis revealed significantly increase in biodegradable organics from treated WAS mixture. NB-LGBC/CP treatment enriched alkaliphilic bacterium associated with the predominance of the genus Desulfonatronum within the phylum Proteobacteria in the WAS, which improved the biological treatment capacity of 4-NP. Thus, NB-LGBC in HR-CAOP will be a novel approach for WAS decontamination.

Aristotle’s Animalization of Mothers and Motherly Love

This paper argues that Aristotle’s representation of mothers and motherly love in two separate arguments about friendship in his ethical treatises are not to be read as positive valuations of mothering and its associated traits but rather as perpetuating the common Greek animalization of women. For the deep love and the complex care and practical intelligence human mothers exhibit for their children are according to Aristotle rooted in the biological capacities that they share with non-human animals. Importantly, these capacities are instinctual rather than chosen and grounded primarily in women’s perceptive soul rather than in their rational soul. By emphasizing the naturalness and the affective character of motherly love in his ethics, Aristotle assimilates human mothers to animal ones and depicts their excellence in mothering as a biological virtue rather than a moral one.

Organoid intelligence (OI) – The ultimate functionality of a brain microphysiological system

Understanding brain function remains challenging as work with human and animal models is complicated by compensatory mechanisms, while in vitro models have been too simple until now. With the advent of human stem cells and the bioengineering of brain microphysiological systems (MPS), understanding how both cognition and long-term memory arise is now coming into reach. We suggest combining cutting-edge AI with MPS research to spearhead organoid intelligence (OI) as synthetic biological intelligence. The vision is to realize cognitive functions in brain MPS and scale them to achieve relevant short- and long-term memory capabilities and basic information processing as the ultimate functional experimental models for neurodevelopment and neurological function and as cell-based assays for drug and chemical testing. By advancing the frontiers of biological computing, we aim to (a) create models of intelligence-in-a-dish to study the basis of human cognitive functions, (b) provide models to advance the search for toxicants contributing to neurological diseases and identify remedies for neurological maladies, and (c) achieve relevant biological computational capacities to complement traditional computing. Increased understanding of brain functionality, in some respects still superior to today's supercomputers, may allow to imitate this in neuromorphic computer architectures or might even open up biological computing to complement silicon computers. At the same time, this raises ethical questions such as where sentience and consciousness start and what the relationship between a stem cell donor and the respective OI system is. Such ethical discussions will be critical for the socially acceptable advance of brain organoid models of cognition.

DYNAMICS OF LAND PRODUCTIVITY IN TERMS OF NET PRIMARY PRODUCTION AS SUB-INDICATOR FOR LAND RESTORATION IN ETHIOPIA: IMPLICATION FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL-15

Land productivity is described as biological productive capacity of a land used as source of food, fiber and fuel to sustain human needs. Land degradation is one of global challenges of our time resulting to food insecurity and migration of people due to lack of inappropriate land use plan and management practices. Sustainable forest land scape restoration interventions can improve land productivity in meeting for Sustainable Development Goal-15. Study was conducted to analyze dynamics of land productivity in terms of net primary production on six land use and cover class from 2001-2015 using secondary information from Global Earth Trend Observation under Praise-3 portal of UNCCD. Ethiopia has total land mass of 1,119,715.5 km2. The dynamics of land productivity net primary production on six different land use and land cover class were analyzed from baseline year 2000 to target year 2015. The analyses of land productivity change from 2000-2015 showed that a land mass 204,462.9 km2 accounting 18.26% was improved, while, 328,213 km2 accounting 29.31% was degraded and land mass of 555,726.8 km2 accounting 49.63% was remained stable. Result indicated that specifically tree-covered area exhibited the highest productive land by 85,126.99km2, while the least land improvement was exhibited on artificial land by 95.40 km2. Similarly, grass land exhibited the highest stable land by 97,547.88 km2, while the least was exhibited on water bodies by 184.90km2. On the other hand, grass land exhibited the highest stressed land by 97,547.88 km2, while the least was exhibited by water body 184.90km2. Grass land exhibited the highest declined land by 37,936.88 km2, while the least was exhibited on artificial land by 98.88km2. Even though; Ethiopia has made progressive land restoration intervention through sustainable forest/land management, the proportion of improved land is 18.26% which is much lower than the area proportionally degraded by 29.31%. There was fast trend of urbanization in rural area with drastic population growth where large area is being under pressure due to degradation which implies more efforts is needed in reversing land degradation and increase the productivity for increasing the biological and economic return from land. Therefore; additional sustainable forest management strategies and programs are needed to be put in place to bring more land under improved in productivity in line with meeting the national land degradation neutrality targets of Ethiopia by 2030; that ultimately reverse land degradation and combat desertification.

Novel benzimidazolium salts and their silver(I)-N-heterocyclic carbene complexes: synthesis, characterization and their biological properties

This study was conducted to synthesize and characterize 1,3-dialkyl-5,6-dimethyl-benzimidazolium salts and their silver complexes. Four novel silver(I)-N-heterocyclic carbene complexes were synthesized and characterized by mass analyses, FT-IR and NMR spectroscopy. The biological capacity of the synthesized compounds was evaluated in vitro for their antimicrobial and antitumor activities. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the 1,3-dialkyl-5,6-dimethyl-benzimidazolium salts and their complexes was determined for E. coli, P. aeruginosa, S. aureus, C. glabrata and C. albicans in vitro through BMD (Broth Microdilution). The results indicated that silver(I)-NHC complexes exhibit antimicrobial activity. In particular, complex 3c presented a significant broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. The anticancer properties of the synthesized compounds were evaluated against MCF-7, HCT116, SH-SY5Y and BEAS-2B cell lines. Anticancer activity measurements were carried out according to the Alamar Blue assay. Efficacy was established by comparison of the salts and silver compounds with cisplatin.

Remote acoustic sizing of tethered fish using broadband acoustics

Remote fish sizing is desirable in fisheries (e.g., pre-catch) and research (e.g., platforms without biological sampling capacity) applications. In those contexts, the high spatial resolution of pulse compressed broadband echoes combined with narrow beamwidth transducers makes it feasible to resolve the scattering from different parts of the fish body and hence can be used to measure the body size. A motorized apparatus was used to suspend individual fish in the acoustic beam of two laterally oriented transducers (45–90 kHz, 160–260 kHz, 12.2 m range) with precise control of rotation angle. Broadband scattering was measured from tethered Atlantic mackerel (Scomber scombrus), saithe (Pollachius virens), and pollack (Pollachius pollachius) ranging in standard length from 239 to 491 mm as a function of orientation angle to validate sizing based on the acoustic resolution of fish body parts. Under these controlled conditions, fish size was underestimated by 11–19 mm, varying with broadband pulse characteristics, orientation angle, species, and fish size. The best remote acoustic sizing results were obtained using 160–260 kHz pulses with a slow rise and fall of pulse amplitude (aka, taper).

Green synthesis of nanosized N,N'-bis(1-naphthylidene)-4,4'-diaminodiphenylmethane and its metal (II) complexes and evaluation of their biological activity

Condensation of ecofriendly synthesized 4,4’-methanedianiline with 2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde produced a (1:1) octopus-like Schiff base mixed ligand. Reaction with Co(OAc)2⋅H2O, NiCl2⋅6H2O, Cu(OAc)2⋅H2O and Zn(OAc)2⋅2H2O metals furnished their complexes in high yield and purity. All new structures were fully characterized by various spectroscopic and spectrometric measurements. The complexes exhibited high thermal stability up to 700 °C, leaving nearly 40% of their mass as residues. Antimicrobial screening results exhibited moderate activities towards all studied microbes. Antioxidant screening was concentration dependent, and their activities were in the order Ni(II) > Zn(II) > Cu(II) > Co(II) complexes. The NO inhibitory effect revealed that the nickel complex exhibited the highest activity, whereas the cobalt complex showed the lowest inhibition. All compounds showed a significant lipid peroxidation inhibitory effect against oxidative stress. The complexes significantly diminished the TBARS level, and the nickel complex exhibited the highest inhibition at p < 0.01. Antioxidants stress the oxidative damage induced by iron, indicating that the nickel complex has the highest reducing activity. The inhibitory effect against acetylcholine esterase showed that the copper complex has the highest activity. Membrane stabilization activities clearly indicated that most compounds can improve the integrity of the cells and stability of their membrane, and this result may be related to their antioxidant capacity to protect against cytotoxicity. The nickel complex exhibited a stronger total antioxidant capacity than the other complexes. The biological and antioxidant capacities of these complexes may make them promising candidates in pharmaceutical applications.

"Gingival Soft Tissue Integrative" Lithium Disilicate Glass-Ceramics with High Mechanical Properties and Sustained-Release Lithium Ions.

Due to their good mechanical performances and high biocompatibility, all-ceramic materials are widely applied in clinics, especially in orthopedic and dental areas. However, the "hard" property negatively affects its integration with "soft" tissue, which greatly limits its application in soft tissue-related areas. For example, dental implant all-ceramic abutments should be well integrated with the surrounding gingival soft tissue to prevent the invasion of bacteria. Mimicking the gingival soft tissue and dentine integration progress, we applied the modified ion-exchange technology to "activate" the biological capacity of lithium disilicate glass-ceramics, via introducing OH- to weaken the stability of Si-O bonds and release lithium ions to promote multi-reparative functions of gingival fibroblasts. The underlying mechanism was found to be closely related to the activation of mitochondrial activity and oxidative phosphorylation. In addition, during the ion-exchange process, the larger radius sodium ions (Na+) replaced the smaller radius lithium ions (Li+), so that the residual compressive stress was applied to the glass-ceramics surface to counteract the tensile stress, thus improving the mechanical properties. This successful case in simultaneous improvement of mechanical properties and biological activities proves the feasibility of developing "soft tissue integrative" all-ceramic materials with high mechanical properties. It proposes a new strategy to develop advanced bioactive and high strength all-ceramic materials by modified ion-exchange, which can pave the way for the extended applications of such all-ceramic materials in soft tissue-related areas.

Early additional language learning in classroom ecosystems

In many communities around the world children are being enrolled in pre-school programmes where they learn additional languages apart from their mother tongues. This entails a fresh look at key aspects of additional language teaching pedagogies. At an early age, language learning is socially mediated, and the target language is acquired orally. This points to the importance of considering how children’s biological capacities and learning contexts contribute to the development of the learning process. Thus, building on child language acquisition approaches and on the conceptual framework of educational ecosystem, this paper describes how the learning environment of preschool classrooms shapes the additional language learning process. In addition, the article sets out the building blocks that ensure a solid construction of learning ecosystems which teachers can draw on to strengthen the quality of their teaching.

Combined role of economic openness, financial deepening, biological capacity, and human capital in achieving ecological sustainability

The growing human demand for natural capital driven by anthropogenic activities may result in ecological overshoot, therefore, it has become inevitable to rethink sustainable pathways to conduct socioeconomic activities. In this regard, the criticality of international economic activities and the formation of heterogeneous financial, natural, and human assets for ecological systems has not been well understood. Against this backdrop, this study is the initial attempt to investigate the combined impact of economic openness and multifaceted capital (i.e., financial deepening, biological capacity, and human capital) on ecological sustainability in the stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence, and technology model setting. We employed the state-of-the-art panel quantile regression estimator on a sample of selected 25 Belt and Road Initiative member economies from 1990 through 2018 and found that economic openness and financial deepening undermine ecological sustainability, particularly in BRI member countries with higher ecological footprints. Human capital formation strengthens countries' ecological sustainability across all quantile levels. However, biological capacity expansion supports ecological sustainability for countries with lower and medium ecological footprint levels, whereas it plays a neutral role for higher quantiles. The strengths of the relationships mentioned above increase from lower to higher quantiles. We found no evidence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve theory. Based on our results, we recommend enhancing green openness trade policies in BRI countries to prevent the ecological degradation influence of economic openness. Additionally, to turn the ecologically detrimental effects of financial deepening into useful ones, financial institutions should be incentivized to allocate credits and loans to ecologically friendly ventures. Ecological protection policies, including increasing forest rent, may prevent deforestation and conserve natural capital, contributing to the achievement of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.

Temperature-Dependent Development Models Describing the Effects of Temperature on the Development of the Fall Armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae).

The fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith) is an economically important pest that recently invaded Africa and Asia; however, information regarding its biological capacity to establish itself in newly invaded environments is largely unknown. We investigated the effects of temperature on the development and survival of the invaded populations of S. frugiperda and selected mathematical models to evaluate its development in a new environment. S. frugiperda exhibited optimum survival and growth at temperatures between 28 °C and 30 °C. The lower and upper thermal thresholds for the egg-to-adult life cycle were 13.51 °C and 34.13 °C, respectively. We compared seven mathematical models and found that the Shi model was the most suitable for describing the temperature-dependent development rate of S. frugiperda. Therefore, the Shi mathematical model may be used to predict both the occurrence of particular developmental stages and the geographic distribution to implement measures for the management of S. frugiperda in agricultural fields.

Bacterial Community Structure and Antibiotic Resistance Gene Changes in IFAS+Magnetic Coagulation Process Wastewater Treatment Plant in Cold Regions

The main objective of this study was to explore the changes in bacterial communities and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in an integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS)+magnetic coagulation process wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Xinjiang. The bacterial communities and ARGs in the influent, suspended activated sludge, attached biofilm, and effluent were studied using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metagenomic sequencing. The results showed that the average relative abundances of Chloroflexi and Nitrospirae in activated sludge were 3.50% and 0.03%, respectively, and their relative abundances in biofilm reached 10.02% and 2.12%, respectively. The average removal rates of NH4+-N and TN increased from 91.89% and 66.76% to 97.71% and 91.90% after the reformation of this wastewater treatment plant, respectively, indicating that IFAS enhanced the biological nitrogen removal capacity of wastewater treatment plants in cold regions. The average relative abundances of Ferruginibacter and Rhodoferax related to iron redox in the biological treatment section were 5.24% and 3.72%, respectively, and the relative abundance of Rhodoferax in effluent reached 9.48%, indicating that the magnetic powder had an impact on the bacterial community. The IFAS wastewater treatment plant had an obvious removal effect on ARGs, and the relative abundance of ARGs decreased from 191.08×10-3‰ in the influent to 32.58×10-3‰ in the effluent. The relative abundance of ARGs in activated sludge was 63.25×10-3‰-72.38×10-3‰, which was significantly higher than 41.31×10-3‰ in biofilm. However, the relative abundances of dominant subtypes of ARGs such as sul2, floR, and rpoB2 in biofilm were 5.77×10-3‰, 2.52×10-3‰, and 2.03×10-3‰, respectively, which were higher than the 3.15×10-3‰-3.57×10-3‰, 1.73×10-3‰-2.24×10-3‰, and 1.28×10-3‰-1.76×10-3‰ in activated sludge. The network analysis indicated that Caldilineaceae_norank and Trichococcus were respectively positively correlated with sul2 and floR. These results can provide theoretical reference for the optimal operation and ARGs control of WWTPs in cold regions.

Plant-endophytic bacteria interactions associated with root and leaf microbiomes of Cattleya walkeriana and their effect on plant growth

Using root and leaf microbiomes that prevail in different Cattleya walkeriana orchid agroecosystems, i.e., associated with the natural habitat, greenhouse, and in vitro cultivation, we performed the isolation of endophytic bacteria for bioprospecting of the mechanisms promoting plant and enzymatic growth. However, practically nothing is known about or use of its bacterial community. A total of 67 endophytic bacteria were isolated, and all showed biological nitrogen fixation capacity; 55.2% produced indole-3-acetic acid, 86.6% solubilized phosphate, and 74.6% solubilized zinc; 13.4% produced siderophores; and 71.6% had some enzymatic activity (protease, cellulase, and pectinase). The endophytes Paenibacillus taichungensis, Enterobacter sp., Rhizobium sp., Paenibacillus sp., Pseudomonas sp., and Paenibacillus pabuli were inoculated in acclimatizing seedlings obtained by micropropagation of C. walkeriana and have a potential use/role as plant growth promoters, as well as in morphological changes, nutrient uptake also resulting in increased antioxidant enzyme activity and non-enzymatic antioxidants. These results increase our understanding of the inner biome of C. walkeriana and suggest that this orchid is highly dependent on bacterial symbionts during its cycle. The isolated bacterial strains also have high potential as bioinoculant to improve nutrient acquisition and overall growth, contributing to a more sustainable.

Influence of Altitudes and Development Stages on the Chemical Composition, Antioxidant, and Antimicrobial Capacity of the Wild Andean Blueberry (Vaccinium floribundum Kunth).

The chemical composition and biological capacities of berries depend on environmental parameters, maturity, and location. The Andean blueberry (Vaccinium floribundum Kunth), also known as mortiño, presents a unique combination of several phytochemicals, which play a synergistic role in its characterization as a functional food. We aimed to expose the possible variations that exist in the profile of the phenolic compounds as well as the antioxidant and antimicrobial capacity of the wild Andean blueberry with respect to three ripeness stages and two different altitudes. We found that polyphenols are the predominant compounds in the berry during the early ripeness stage and are the main bioactive compounds that give rise to the antioxidant capacity and inhibition effect on the growth of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. Moreover, the accumulation of ascorbic acid, free amino acids, and anthocyanins increases as the ripening process progresses, and they were the main bioactive compounds in the ripe berry. The latter compounds influence the production of the typical bluish or reddish coloration of ripe blueberries. In addition, it was determined that environmental conditions at high altitudes could have a positive influence in all cases. Overall, our data provide evidence regarding the high functional value of the wild Andean blueberry.

Combined transcriptome and metabolome analysis and evaluation of antioxidant and antibacterial activities in white, pink, and violet flowers of Angelica gigas

Angelica gigas is cultivated as an important medicinal and industrial crop because of its economic importance and use as traditional herbal medicine in East Asia. This study provides functional information on A. gigas flowers, revealing secondary metabolism and metabolite differences and relationships in the white, pink, and violet flowers, via transcriptome and metabolome analysis. Furthermore, the synergistic biological effects of A. gigas flower extracts via antioxidant and antimicrobial assays are revealed. Particularly, the RNA-seq analysis revealed 3073 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the white and violet flowers and 2161 DEGs between the pink and violet flowers with the false discovery rate (FDR) in both cases being < 0.05. The highest total phenolic content (5.69 ± 0.05 mg/g dry weight), total flavonoid content (0.57 ± 0.04 mg/g dry weight), and total coumarin content (19.66 ± 1.72 mg/g dry weight) were obtained in the pink, white, and white flower, respectively. Interestingly, the total anthocyanins content was not detected in the white flower, whereas the violet flower showed the highest accumulation (0.63 ± 0.04 mg/g dry weight). In addition, metabolite profiles showed that sucrose had a strong positive correlation with the anthocyanin content. The extract of white flowers revealed higher antioxidant and antimicrobial effects, supported by the positive correlation between the biological capacities and phenolic contents.

Ecological security assessment based on ecosystem service value and ecological footprint in the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration, China

The ecological environment in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) urban agglomeration has been affected by the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, such as the urbanization lags behind industrialization and the level of town construction is backward, resulting in ecological and environmental problems. Thus, this paper detected the ecological security (ES) in the PRD urban agglomeration through the ecological footprint (EF) method, providing a reference for regional ES evaluation. Equivalence factor and yield factor were first calculated based on the ecosystem services value (ESV) for EF calculation. Then, we established the ES evaluation index system through EF, including per capita ecological deficit (ED), ecological footprint diversity index (EFDI) and ecological pressure index (EPI). The results showed that the difference between equivalence factor and yield factor for various land type was observed in the study region. Water regions had the largest equivalence factor, with the value of 2.48, indicating that human activities were most affected by water. Grassland has the highest biological production capacity as the yield factor of which is the highest, with the value of 4.36 in 2020. Temporally, the per capita EF in the PRD urban agglomeration has been increased from 2000 to 2020, while the per capita ecological carrying capacity (ECC) has been decreased over time, indicating that the ecological pressure is rising because of human activities. Spatially, the per capita EF and the per capita ECC show a spatial pattern of “low in the middle and high around”. In addition, the per capita ED shows an increasing trend, reaching 0.11 hm2/capita by 2020. The EFDI has decreased by 0.26, indicating that the richness and fairness of the ecosystem are declining. The ES is in “not safe” and “extremely unsafe” level in 2020, which has threatened the ecological environment in the region. Therefore, the ecological environment in this region is deteriorating, restricting sustainable development. There is no doubt that the region needs to strengthen environmental protection and balance the relationship between economy and ecology. If ecology is not taken seriously, the ED will grow and the insecurity of the ecological environment will continue to increase. The current state of the ecological environment in the PRD urban agglomeration is only a microcosm of the ecology in many small and medium scale regions. The results of this paper are useful for providing ideas for EF and ES analysis of other regions.

Constructing functional models from biophysically-detailed neurons.

Improving biological plausibility and functional capacity are two important goals for brain models that connect low-level neural details to high-level behavioral phenomena. We develop a method called "oracle-supervised Neural Engineering Framework" (osNEF) to train biologically-detailed spiking neural networks that realize a variety of cognitively-relevant dynamical systems. Specifically, we train networks to perform computations that are commonly found in cognitive systems (communication, multiplication, harmonic oscillation, and gated working memory) using four distinct neuron models (leaky-integrate-and-fire neurons, Izhikevich neurons, 4-dimensional nonlinear point neurons, and 4-compartment, 6-ion-channel layer-V pyramidal cell reconstructions) connected with various synaptic models (current-based synapses, conductance-based synapses, and voltage-gated synapses). We show that osNEF networks exhibit the target dynamics by accounting for nonlinearities present within the neuron models: performance is comparable across all four systems and all four neuron models, with variance proportional to task and neuron model complexity. We also apply osNEF to build a model of working memory that performs a delayed response task using a combination of pyramidal cells and inhibitory interneurons connected with NMDA and GABA synapses. The baseline performance and forgetting rate of the model are consistent with animal data from delayed match-to-sample tasks (DMTST): we observe a baseline performance of 95% and exponential forgetting with time constant τ = 8.5s, while a recent meta-analysis of DMTST performance across species observed baseline performances of 58 - 99% and exponential forgetting with time constants of τ = 2.4 - 71s. These results demonstrate that osNEF can train functional brain models using biologically-detailed components and open new avenues for investigating the relationship between biophysical mechanisms and functional capabilities.