Journal of Arid Land最新文献

Drylands refer to regions with an aridity index lower than 0.65, and billions of people depend on services provided by the critically important ecosystems in these areas. How ecosystem carbon exchange in global drylands (CED) occurs and how climate change affects CED are critical to the global carbon cycle. Here, we performed a comprehensive bibliometric study on the fields of annual publications, marked journals, marked institutions, marked countries, popular keywords, and their temporal evolution to understand the temporal trends of CED research over the past 30 a (1991-2020). We found that the annual scientific publications on CED research increased significantly at an average growth rate of 7.93%. Agricultural Water Management ranked first among all journals and had the most citations. The ten most productive institutions were centered on drylands in America, China, and Australia that had the largest number and most citations of publications on CED research. "Climate change" and climate-related (such as "drought", "precipitation", "temperature", and "rainfall") research were found to be the most popular study areas. Keywords were classified into five clusters, indicating the five main research focuses on CED studies: hydrological cycle, effects of climate change, carbon and water balance, productivity, and carbon-nitrogen-phosphorous coupling cycles. The temporal evolution of keywords further showed that the areas of focus on CED studies were transformed from classical pedology and agricultural research to applied ecology and then to global change ecological research over the past 30 a. In future CED studies, basic themes (such as "water", "yield", and "salinity") and motor themes (such as "climate change", "sustainability", and "remote sensing") will be the focus of research on CED. In particular, multiple integrated methods to understand climate change and ecosystem sustainability are potential new research trends and hotspots.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the antioxidative activities of Crab meat analogue prepared with protein hydrolysates obtained from mechanically deboned chicken meat (MDCM) from spent laying hens. 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl hydrate (DPPH) radical-scavenging activity was increased by adding MDCM hydrolysates during storage, and activity correlated with the concentration of DPPH added up to 6 weeks of storage. Hydroxyl radical-scavenging activity was increased in all analogues containing MDCM hydrolysates. At 0 days of storage, angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory activity was increased by the addition of MDCM hydrolysates. Activity did not correlate after 6 weeks of storage, in which ACE-inhibitory activity was increased with low concentrations of MDCM hydrolysates, but no ACE-inhibitory activity was observed at higher concentrations. The liver-protecting activity of crab meat analogue was shown to be around 60% of the positive control; however, it was not significantly different among the samples during storage. These results support the use of MDCM as a source of health-promoting constituents in crab meat analogue.

In this protocol, we present a qualitative assay for monitoring the level of expression of β-galactosidase, an enzyme encoded by the LacZ gene, in yeast. This is useful both for determining autoactivity of LacZ expression in yeast DNA "bait" strains and for assessing LacZ reporter gene activation mediated by a transcription factor "prey" interaction with a DNA bait of interest in yeast one-hybrid (Y1H) assays. In this colorimetric assay, yeast are lysed in liquid nitrogen and then assayed for β-galactosidase expression using the colorless compound X-gal, which turns blue in the presence of this enzyme.

The diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is primarily based on clinical symptoms, so it is often difficult to diagnose RA in very early stages of the disease. A disease-specific autoantibody that could be used as a serological marker would therefore be very useful. Most autoimmune diseases are characterized by a polyclonal B-cell response targeting multiple autoantigens. These immune responses are often not specific for a single disease. In this review, the most important autoantibody/autoantigen systems associated with RA are described and their utility as a diagnostic and prognostic tool, including their specificity, sensitivity and practical application, is discussed. We conclude that, at present, the antibody response directed to citrullinated antigens has the most valuable diagnostic and prognostic potential for RA.