Abstract Background The authors examined the relationship between Weight-adjusted Waist Index (WWI) and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality among adults in the US. Methods This prospective cohort study included 26,882 individuals who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2005 through 2014. WWI was calculated as waist circumference divided by the square root of weight. The main outcomes of this study were all-cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality. Mortality status and cause of death were determined by NHANES-linked National Death Index records through December 31, 2015. Cox proportional hazard models and Kaplan-Meier analysis were used to estimate Hazard Ratios (HR) and 95% CIs for mortality for all causes and cardiovascular diseases. Results A total of 26,882 participants with a mean WWI of 10.89 ± 0.01, of whom 49.23% were male. The average follow-up time was 68.95 ± 1.07 months, and 1870 participants were determined as deceased (4.99%), including 349 cardiovascular death (0.88%). The Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated a significant difference in all-cause and cardiovascular mortality between patients with WWI <11.33 and ≥11.33 (both log-rank testp < 0.0001). The fully adjusted Cox proportional hazard model indicated that a higher WWI level (≥ 11.33) was associated with an increased 95% risk for cardiovascular mortality (HR = 1.95, 95% CI 1.30‒2.93) and 68% risk for all-cause death (HR = 1.68, 95% CI 1.41‒2.00) compared with the counterparts. Conclusions Elevated WWI levels were associated with a higher risk of cardiovascular mortality and all-cause mortality independently.

ABSTRACT Biochar amendment to soils can improve soil P availability, but details on the optimum application of biochar to black soils in Northeast China are limited. Three types of biochar were produced at six pyrolysis temperatures (between 200 and 700 °C) and then added to black soil samples. P adsorption-desorption isotherms were fitted by the Langmuir model to evaluate the changes in soil P adsorption-desorption after biochar amendment. Changes in P adsorption and desorption depended on biochar feedstock type and pyrolysis temperature. When pyrolysis temperature increased up to 400 °C, P sorption maximum (Qm) of soybean pod (SP) and soybean straw (SS) biochar-amended soils were enhanced from 855.65 and 428.84 mg kg-1 to 1666.67 and 1547.62 mg kg-1, respectively, while a further increase in the pyrolysis temperature lowered the adsorption capacity. However, P adsorption of corncob (CC) biochar amended soils declined from 1428.57 mg kg-1 to 556.70 mg kg-1 as pyrolysis temperature increased. Higher P desorption in SP and SS compared with CC indicated that SP and SS biochar produced at higher than 400 °C pyrolysis temperatures were considered to be the optimum biochar to enhance P availability in the black soils of Northeast China.

MiR172 is an important microRNA that regulates floral development in various plants and downregulates AP2 family members to relieve the stress on floral determinacy, leading to phase transition from vegetative to reproductive growth. In this work, PCR with primers designed based on the rice miR172 sequence was used to isolate two miR172-like transcripts from Phalaenopsis hybrida (PhmiR172-1 and PhmiR172-2) that were very similar to Oryza miR172d and Arabidopsis miR172b. RT-PCR indicated that the levels of these two transcripts were negatively correlated with the level of the Phalaenopsis AP2 (PhAP2) gene in stem, root, pedicel and sepal, and that both were co-expressed with PhAP2 in young buds. Overproduction of PhmiR172-2 in Arabidopsis led to early flowering. The homologous cloning method used to isolate the Phalaenopsis miR172-like transcripts can be used to isolate miRNAs from other species. These PhmiR172 transcripts may be used to accelerate the flowering of orchids.