01 M, pH 6.01) at 70 °C for 10 min, followed by incubation in 0.075 g/ml trypsin (Difco Laboratories, Detroit, USA) in PBS at 37 °C for 5 min. Then, the sections were pre-incubated with 10% normal donkey serum (NDS) (Chemicon, Temecula, USA) in PBS-G. All antibodies and the Vectastain ABC Standard alkaline phosphatase mix (ABC-AP) (Vector Laboratories, Burlingame, CA, USA) were diluted in 2% NDS. To detect GFP, the sections were incubated overnight at 4 °C with a polyclonal rabbit-anti-GFP antibody (1:300) (Invitrogen/Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR, USA). Subsequently, biotinylated

selleck compound donkey-anti-rabbit (1:500) (Jackson Labs, West Grove, PA, USA) was added. Next, the sections were treated with ABC-AP, and washed with Tris–HCl (pH 8.2). Fast Blue substrate (Sigma Chemical CO, St Louis, MO, USA) was freshly prepared, and applied to the sections. The reaction was stopped in demineralized water (Milli-Q pore system, Millipore SA, Molsheim, France), and the sections were washed in PBS and pre-incubated again for double-staining with the following primary mouse monoclonal antibodies: (A) Anti αSMA (Sigma Chemical CO), 1:1600, 1 h at room temperature to detect myofibroblasts. Next goat-anti-mouse-AlexaFluor-594

Dabrafenib cost (1:200, 1 h at room temperature) (Invitrogen/Molecular) was added. Finally, the sections were washed, and the nuclei were stained with DAPI (Roche Diagnostics Nederland BV, Almere, The Netherlands). A 1,4-diazabicyclo[2.2.2]octane solution (DABCO, Sigma Chemical CO) solution in Tris–buffered glycerin was used as anti-fading agent. Slides were stored in the dark at 4 °C. Photographs were taken on a Carl Zeiss Imager Z.1 system (Carl Zeiss Microimaging Gmbh, Jena, Germany). GFP photos were acquired under bright field conditions. The other sections were photographed with fluorescent settings. The GFP images were inverted and merged with the fluorescent images to reveal co-localization using ImageJ (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, Progesterone USA). The fraction of GFP-positive mononuclear cells was determined in the blood of GFP-transgenic rats and recipient rats by flow cytometry. In three sections of each mucoperiosteal tissue sample, αSMA-positive cells

and nuclei were counted in the wound and control area within a frame with a width of 50 μm and a depth of 300 μm. GFP-positive and GFP/αSMA double-positive cells were counted in a larger area of 200 μm wide because they are less abundant. The epithelium was excluded. The fraction of the other bone marrow-derived cell types in the mucoperiosteum was estimated in three rats with a high fraction of GFP-positive cells in the wound tissues. Three tissue sections were used to determine the number of double-positive cells as described above. In the tissue sections from the skin similar countings were performed but the selected areas had a depth of 500 μm and a width of 300–600 μm. Epithelial cells, cells in blood vessels, muscle cells, and hair follicle cells were excluded.

S1.  Overexpression of metallothionein 2 in the non-adherent splenic cells 24 h after the transfection of Mus musculus Mt2 cDNA. SSC versus Myc-Mt2 dot plot showing the transfected cells expressing recombinant metallothionein 2. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) in NK cells were measured using 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCFH-DA) as proposed by Jyothi and Khar (1999), with modifications. Non-adherent splenic cells were isolated from selleck a group of 6 untreated mice and treated

in vitro as outlined above, but with different time intervals 15, 30, 60 and 120 min. These cells were adjusted to 1 × 106 cells/well and DCFH-DA (Sigma) was added to the cultures at a final concentration of 60 μM and the cells were then incubated at 37 °C for 30 min. The cells were then washed in PBS at 4 °C (5 min, 2000 rpm) and incubated with 0.5 μl Mouse

BD Fc Block for 5 min (to block the Fc-mediated adherence of antibodies) prior to staining with specific antibodies. The click here cells were then stained (simultaneously) for surface antigens (CD3 and NK1.1) for 30 min at 4 °C in the dark. Finally, the cells were washed free of unbound antibody and resuspended in PBS at 4 °C for flow cytometry using a FACSCalibur™ flow cytometer equipped with Cell Quest Pro® software (Becton Dickinson [BD] Immunocytometry System). A total of 100,000 target cells were collected by the flow cytometer, and the results were expressed as the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI). Data analyses were performed using FlowJo 7.6.4® software (Tree Star Inc., Ashland, KY). The probe-level data from the gene expression microarray experiments were preprocessed using log2 transformation to mitigate the significant

differences between them, preserving the small intensity variations and to soften the noise inherent in the data acquisition process. Next, box plots were used to verify the distribution of the data, and we observed that animals Co1 Casein kinase 1 and Pt4 presented with many outliers. We substituted data from these mice with the mean of other mice from the same treatment group. Gene expression analysis was performed as previously described by Cui and Churchill (2003); thus, Student’s t-tests were used to compared expression data between Pt-treated and Co mice, Se-treated and Co mice and PtSe-treated and Co mice. The p values for all comparisons were adjusted using a false discovery rate (FDR). A fold change of ±2.0 and an FDR corrected p value < 0.05 (FDR < 0.05) were used as the criteria for determining statistical significance using the Matlab’s Bioinformatics Toolbox (http://www.mathworks.com/products/bioinfo/description3.html). The gene expression data have been deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information Gene Expression Omnibus (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/query/acc.cgi?acc=GSE30629). The statistically significant transcripts from all comparisons were uploaded to the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery (DAVID) Bioinformatics Resource (http://david.abcc.

, 1998). It has been shown that expression of disulfide rich peptides in ORIGAMI (DE3) strain substantially improve the yield of active proteins purified ( Prinz et al., 1997). Only part of the recombinant PnTx3-4 was expressed as a soluble protein. The yield of Rapamycin price soluble PnTx3-4 after all the purification steps ranged from 0.5 to 0.8 mg/L, which is in the same range to what has been reported for

other animal toxins successfully expressed in E. coli ( Johnson et al., 2000; Meng et al., 2011; Che et al., 2009; Souza et al., 2008; Carneiro et al., 2003). More importantly, the soluble recombinant protein showed biological activity very similar to the native PnTx3-4, both in the glutamate release assay as well as in the measurement of intrasynaptosomal free calcium concentration.

These results indicate that, similar to the native peptide, soluble recombinant PnTx3-4 is able to block Ca2+ channels involved in glutamate release from cortical synaptosomes. Because most of Alectinib purchase the recombinant PnTx3-4 aggregated as inclusion bodies we also searched for conditions to provide efficient refolding of the insoluble recombinant PnTx3-4. Finding the exact conditions to renature proteins is usually time-consuming as refolding conditions for individual proteins vary considerably (Singh and Panda, 2005; Lilie et al., 1998). The basic protocol requires that purified inclusion bodies are first solubilised with a strong denaturant, such as guanidine hydrochloride (GdnHCl), to produce a completely unfolded protein. DTT is also added to allow reduction of disulfide bridges (Fahnert et al., 2004). The solubilised protein is then diluted or dialyzed into a refolding buffer to reduce the denaturant concentration, allowing the protein to refold based on the information contained in its primary sequence. As the denaturant is removed, protein aggregation tends to compete with renaturation therefore, it is crucial to identify the ideal milieu to recover maximal amounts of native protein. Several factors

influence renaturation/aggregation during BCKDHB refolding including protein concentration, concentration of strong and weak denaturants, pH, temperature, and the redox environment (Fahnert, 2004; Lilie et al., 1998). Out of 9 different buffer conditions (Table 3) that we tried, only buffer 5, which contained 0.5 M Gnd-HCl, 0.4 M l-arginine, 1 mM GSH and 1 mM GSSG, allowed proper refolding of PnTx3-4. Using buffer 5 we managed to obtain 1.5–2.0 mg/L of PnTx3-4 refolded after purification from inclusion bodies. Importantly, the refolded peptide also showed biological activity very similar to the native peptide. These results indicate that a balanced molar ratio of reduced to oxidized thiol reagents (glutathione) was essential to provide the appropriate redox potential to allow formation and reshuffling of disulfide bonds (Misawa and Kumagai, 1999; Wetlaufer et al., 1987).

Settlement plates can be deployed to assess whether the colonising community has the same species composition as the previous community and/or

set aside area. Genetic analysis comparing the fauna colonising artificial or newly-generated natural substrate to the original populations could enable the source of colonisers to be identified see more and the suitability of set aside areas to be assessed. The monitoring program needs to be implemented at suitable spatial and temporal scales (IMMS, 2011), although the appropriate length of long-term study required is at present unclear. Levels of natural variation need to be evaluated before any appreciable operations begin, in order to establish fluctuations that could, for example, be seasonal or related to changing chemical conditions. Also, following disturbance, succession of species composition and abundance is to be expected, and so any monitoring must span sufficient time. Recovery from natural disturbance at sites along the EPR (Lutz et al.,

1994 and Mullineaux et al., 2010) and Juan de Fuca Ridge (Tunnicliffe et al., 1997) and the rapid re-growth of deposits at Solwara 1 (Gwyther, 2008a) indicate that monitoring for a few years following the cessation of mining activities may be sufficient. However, experimental polymetallic nodule mining resulted in selleckchem disturbance to the benthic community assemblage for at least 26 years following mining activity (Miljutin et al., 2011), suggesting that in keeping with the precautionary principle, suitable long-term monitoring could be on the scale of decades rather than years. Monitoring programmes by themselves are all very well, but they need to be evaluated against pre-determined decision rules. The latter will be derived from management objectives, and involve a management response when a monitored parameter value exceeds a certain level. For example, mining may have to stop in an area if sediment plume deposition thicknesses exceed a certain CYTH4 depth. The design of baseline, impact and long-term monitoring studies also needs to consider the importance of replication to address the natural

environmental variability at SMS sites at both temporal and spatial scales. Ideally, this should utilise a design similar to BACI (before-after-control-impact, Green (1979)) or Beyond BACI (Underwood, 1991 and Underwood, 1992), with multiple unimpacted (control or set aside) and impacted (mined) sites (Collins et al., 2013a). However, BACI design at SMS sites will probably be asymmetrical with the potential for multiple unimpacted sites but only one impacted site (Underwood, 1991 and Underwood, 1992), as mining is likely to be concentrated at one site. There is also the question of cost. Coastal or shallow water impact studies may be able to investigate multiple sites but the logistics (time and cost) of investigating multiple sites in deep-sea SMS mining impact studies may be prohibitive.

Em conclusão, os critérios de diagnóstico de HAI, à semelhança do que acontece com outras patologias semelhantes, destinam-se a suprir a falta de um verdadeiro gold standard diagnóstico. No nosso trabalho, demonstrámos que, na prática clínica, perante uma suspeita de HAI, SB431542 os CDS podem ser uma opção inicial, mas deverão usar-se também os critérios clássicos, sobretudo se com os CDS se obtiver uma pontuação inferior a 6. No entanto, são necessários mais estudos, se possível multicêntricos, de modo a abranger um maior número de doentes, para avaliar definitivamente a possibilidade de substituição dos critérios clássicos pelos simplificados. Proteção de pessoas e animais. Os autores declaram que para esta investigação

não se realizaram experiências em seres humanos e/ou animais. Confidencialidade dos dados. Os autores declaram ter seguido os protocolos de seu

centro de trabalho acerca da publicação dos dados de pacientes e que todos os pacientes incluídos no estudo receberam informações suficientes e deram o seu consentimento informado por escrito para participar nesse estudo. Direito à privacidade e consentimento escrito. Os autores declaram que não aparecem dados de pacientes neste artigo. Os autores declaram não haver conflito de interesses. “
“O espectro da doença hepática alcoólica (DHA) é bastante variável, mesmo dentro do seu continuum evolutivo que engloba a esteatose, a esteato-hepatite e a cirrose hepática. A esteato-hepatite alcoólica é um paradigma desse facto, pois cursa, desde formas ligeiras e apenas diagnosticáveis histologicamente, Anti-diabetic Compound Library chemical structure até um quadro clínico grave, com prognóstico sombrio por falência hepática aguda, que se designa por hepatite alcoólica aguda (HAA)1. A sua patogenia envolve a agressão hepática efetuada pelo álcool, através da sua metabolização em acetaldeído, formação de radicais livres de oxigénio, peroxidação lipídica e formação de adutos com proteínas e ácido desoxiribonucleico, associada a alteração da permeabilidade intestinal com passagem de endotoxinas para a circulação portal. Estes processos condicionam uma ativação das células de Kupffer e libertação

Edoxaban de citocinas (TNF-α, IL-1, prostaglandinas, leucotrienos), aumento de expressão de moléculas de adesão e quimiocinas, levando ao recrutamento de leucócitos polimorfonucleares, com o desencadear de uma resposta imune local, cuja intensidade e autoperpetuação caracteriza a HAA1. A apresentação clínica desta entidade é muito variável. Talvez devido a esta variabilidade, a HAA tende a ser subvalorizada e subdiagnosticada pelos clínicos, apesar de estar associada a uma mortalidade significativa2. Apesar de vários relatos prévios de icterícia após episódios de consumo excessivo de álcool, o termo «HAA» só foi usado pela primeira vez por Beckett em 19613. Mais recentemente, o termo «aguda» passou a ser desencorajado, pois, na maior parte dos casos, representa uma exacerbação da doença crónica subjacente – a DHA4.

This subaverage for each data entry is calculated as the grand average (with one participant removed). Therefore when N = 18 participants, each data entry is the mean of 17 participants instead of one ( Bryce et al., 2011, Miller et al., 1998 and Ulrich and Miller, 2001). This method is found to reduce variation

and increase signal to noise ratio. In order to compensate for the artificial reduction of variance a correction is used to adjust the critical F value. Onset latencies of the smoothed LRP waveform were determined at 70% of the relevant peak’s amplitude. Muscle activity was recorded using EMG. Using an MP150 data acquisition unit (Biopac Inc.) EMG was measured by EMG110C amplifiers. EMG110S shielded touch-proof leads where connected to two disposable cloth-based hypoallergenic Ag-AgCl EL504 recording disc electrodes. The electrodes were placed along the left Regorafenib cost and right flexors of the thumb (flexor pollicis Obeticholic Acid cost brevis). An electrode on the left elbow was used as a ground. Before the electrodes were applied the skin was washed with soap and cleaned with alcohol wipes. The electrodes were attached by adhesive solid gel. EMG was sampled at 2000 Hz and band-pass filtered between 10 and 500 Hz. The data were then rectified and scaled relative to the maximum

amplitude in each individual as measured from continuous data. EMG was baseline corrected between −100 and 0 msec relative to stimulus presentation and is displayed as a percentage of the maximum value measured. Epochs extended from −100 to 1000 msec relative to stimulus presentation. Grand average EMG waves were calculated for each condition and smoothed with a 50 msec moving average window. Point-by-point group (3) × congruency (3) ANOVAs were performed on the mean amplitudes of correct hand activity and incorrect hand activity between 200 and 600 msec. In order for effects to be considered significant they had to be longer than 20 sampling points at an alpha

level of p < .01 ( Szucs and Soltész, 2010a and Szucs et al., 2009b). As stated previously, first the major ERP components (P3a, P3b, N450 and LRP) were identified in the original (raw) ERP waveforms to examine differences in the early stimulus and later response stages of processing. Second, group × congruency ANOVA's were examined to isolate congruency effects. If significant congruency effects were identified, stimulus and response Sitaxentan conflict effects in the difference waves were analyzed (RC − CON, SC − CON, RC − SC). Accuracy and RT values are presented in Table 2. A repeated measures ANOVA of group (adolescents, young adults, middle-aged adults) × condition was performed on RT and accuracy data. In terms of accuracy there was a significant congruency effect [F(2,102) = 8.63, ɛ = .536, p = .0040]. Post hoc Tukey contrasts revealed that there were more incorrect responses in the RC condition compared to SC condition (p = .0012, 88.9 vs 93.8%) and compared to the congruent condition (p = .

The BIOPEP database developed at University of Warmia and Mazury in Poland is unique in that it focuses primarily on peptides of food origin [17]. It offers the user the ability to generate profiles of potential biological activity of the protein of interest as

well as the frequency of occurrence of bioactive fragments in the protein. For example, in silico analysis was applied to assess the potential of different food commodities to serve as sources of peptides with inhibitory activity against the enzyme DPP-IV, which acts on incretin hormones that play a role in blood glucose regulation EPZ015666 [19]. One limitation is that the DPP-IV inhibitors reported in the literature at the time

of that study consisted primarily of di-and tri-peptides, in contrast to the much longer physiological substrates of the DPP-IV enzyme, GLP-1 and GIP. Higher frequency of occurrence of bioactive sequences in a protein molecule does not necessarily correlate with the potential of that protein to serve as a good source of bioactive peptides unless the potency of each bioactive fragment and any overlaps of bioactive INK 128 datasheet sequences are taken into account. To address these limitations, Nongonierma and FitzGerald [20] developed an in silico approach incorporating protein coverage and potency indices, and applied a peptide alignment strategy to investigate the relationship between sequence and activity. Potency is represented in the BIOPEP database by EC50 values, that is, the concentration of the bioactive fragment corresponding to its half-maximal activity. Unfortunately, EC50 values are not always reported in the literature and moreover, may vary for identical sequences if assayed under different conditions. For example

the concentration of a peptide required to inhibit an enzyme to its half-maximal activity (referred to as the IC50 value), can be influenced by assay conditions including enzyme and substrate concentrations. Thus unless the inhibitory activity is reported as the inhibitor affinity constant (Ki), potency of different peptides reported by different researchers may not always be comparable. Molecular docking simulations Montelukast Sodium have also been applied to elucidate which peptide sequences, either experimentally identified or predicted from bioinformatics investigation, may actually be able to interact with the proteins that are the target of the biological activity [21]. Acharya et al. [22] noted that the dynamic conformational changes induced in both the bioactive peptide and the receptor target protein upon binding impose limitations on computational docking studies, and advocated for a 4D structural database documenting these changes. Nongonierma et al.

The cross-sectional structure of the ASF is provided by 26 closely spaced (about 3 km) conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) profiles, taken across the Eastern Weddell Sea continental shelf break at 17°W (Nøst and Lothe, 1997), and referred to as the NARE section hereafter. The section of potential temperature from these data (Fig. 3(a)) shows a southward deepening thermocline that intersects the continental shelf at about 600 m depth, separating the ESW and WDW. The difference between the two water masses is also seen in the potential temperature-salinity (θθ–S) diagram in Fig. 3(b). In this figure, ESW with temperatures near the surface freezing point (about −1.9 °C) and WDW with temperatures

of +0.9 °C appear as two endpoints joined by a straight line. This mixing product of the ASF pycnocline is known selleck compound as Modified Warm Deep Water (MWDW). Being collected during the austral summer, the NARE section also illustrates the properties of the fresh,

near surface ASW, which is the most buoyant water mass with temperatures of up to −1 °C in Fig. 3(b). In addition, a set of more than 2000 CTD profiles collected by instruments affixed to southern elephant seals, presented by Nøst et al. (2011) and referred to as seal data hereafter, gives a unique sample of the seasonal evolution of the water masses AZD0530 supplier along the coast. The seal data and the NARE section are combined to construct a time-dependent version of the ASF cross-section. In this construction, water mass properties below the thermocline, here defined as the 0.3 °C isotherm,

are given by the NARE section and remain constant in time. The upper-ocean properties are provided by a time series of the horizontally averaged seal data. To assure a smooth transition between the two datasets, the hydrographic properties at the vertical interface have been interpolated over a constant thermocline thickness of 70 m, obtained by analyzing the seal data, and with corrections Inositol monophosphatase 1 applied to preserve realistic properties of the MWDW. The resulting depth/time section of upper ocean salinity in Fig. 3(c) reveals a pattern of summertime near-surface freshening, followed by a vertical homogenization due to the salinification from brine rejection during sea ice formation in winter. The NARE section prescribing deep ocean properties in our climatology is located several hundred kilometers west of our study region. However, a comparison with both the CTD profiles taken near the FIS, and with the seal data, shows that the assumption of constant deep ocean properties along the Eastern Weddell Sea coast is a reasonable first-order approximation for our process-oriented model setup. The main driver of the mean circulation along the Eastern Weddell Sea coast is the mechanical surface forcing due to prevailing easterly winds (Nunez-Riboni and Fahrbach, 2009).

6). Data are shown as mean ± SEM. ANOVA parametric test with Bonferroni correction was used for multiple comparisons. For non-parametric data, we performed Mann–Whitney test. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. The authors declare that they have no competing interests. This work was funded by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior

(CAPES), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa Selleckchem LGK974 do Estado de Minas Gerais (Fapemig), Brazil. “
“The febrile response is a key phenomenon of the acute phase reaction, which is also characterized by changes in several physiological parameters such as the levels of liver proteins, hormones and cells in blood, sleep phases, food intake, and others (Zeisberger, 1999). Due to the

increased body temperature, defense mechanisms are stimulated, making the febrile response relevant to protection find more of the body’s integrity against invading organisms (Blatteis and Sehic, 1998). The main brain area involved in the control of the body temperature is the anterior hypothalamic pre-optic area (POA), which transduces the information received to a neuronal signal that changes the temperature set point, resulting in fever (Blatteis and Sehic, 1998 and Zeisberger, 1999). The systemic administration of LPS to experimental animals represents one of the classical models of fever induction since it reproduces what naturally occurs during inflammatory and infectious processes. LPS stimulates macrophages, monocytes, and other cells to release cytokines, which can act as endogenous pyrogens to promote fever (Roth and De Souza, 2001). Interleukin (IL)-1β was the first-described endogenous

pyrogen (Dinarello, 1984) and despite the subsequent identification of others it probably remains the most studied Ponatinib mw (Helle et al., 1988, Watanabe, 1992 and Zampronio et al., 1994). A number of mechanisms have been suggested to explain how the peripherally produced endogenous pyrogens exert their effects on the central nervous system (CNS) to produce fever (Banks et al., 1991, Banks et al., 1994, Cao et al., 1996 and Konsman et al., 2004), but it is clear that the synthesis and release of central mediators is required to bring about the necessary changes in the hypothalamic set point. Several central mediators have been proposed including prostaglandins E2 (PGE2) and F2α (PGF2α) (Coelho et al., 1993 and Milton, 1989), corticotrophin releasing factor (CRF) (Rothwell, 1989 and Zampronio et al., 2000), endothelin-1 (ET-1) (Fabricio et al., 1998), endogenous opioids (Benamar et al., 2000 and Fraga et al., 2008), endocannabinoids (Fraga et al., 2009) and also substance P (SP) (Blatteis et al., 1994). Among these, prostaglandins derived from both peripheral and central sources appear to be important (Ivanov et al., 2003 and Steiner et al., 2006).

There were significant differences in CA effect sizes among cropping regions (Fig. 3). According to the overall effect of all practices, CA enhanced crop yield by 6.4% and 5.5% in the Northwest and South, respectively, compared to CT, whereas no significant effects were found in the North and Northeast (P < 0.05). For NT, crop yield was 3.4% higher in the South and 5.4% lower in

the North compared to CT, whereas no significant effects were found in the Northeast or the AC220 in vivo Northwest (P < 0.01). Straw retention showed a positive effect on crop yield in all study regions ( Fig. 3). The effect sizes of CTSR were 6.4% and 4.8% relative to CT in the South and the Northwest, respectively, with no significant positive effects in the Northeast or the North. Crop yield was 11.0% higher under NTSR than under CT in the Northwest, whereas no significant effects were observed in other regions (P < 0.05). Rice is planted in South and North China. However, in the North there were no field experiments with multiple-year experimental duration. For this reason, data for rice fields

were excluded in the comparison of effect sizes among climate patterns. There were significant Lapatinib differences in CA effect sizes on crop yield among annual precipitation levels (P < 0.05, Fig. 4). According to the overall effect of all CA practices, the effect sizes of CA practices decreased with increasing annual precipitation. Significant positive effects occurred in areas with annual precipitation below 600 mm, whereas no marked effects were found when precipitation was above 600 mm. Furthermore, the effect sizes of CA practices increased with aridity index (P < 0.05). When the aridity index is greater than 1.25, the overall CA effects on crop yield in China are most likely positive ( Fig. 4). Meanwhile, the higher the mean annual temperature, the higher were the positive effects on crop yield under CA, although the differences were not significant between the temperature ranges ( Fig. 4). The highest enhancing effects on crop yield occurred when mean annual temperature was higher than 10 °C, whereas the effect was not significant when mean

annual temperature was lower than 5 °C. Large differences in CA effect sizes were found among specific crops (P < 0.05, Fig. 5). According to the overall effect of all DNA Damage inhibitor practices, CA significantly increased rice, wheat and maize yields by 4.1%, 2.9%, and 7.5%, respectively, compared to CT. The highest increase was found for maize. According to the effect of each practice, however, there were no significant effects of NT on the three crop yields. For all three crops in the study, straw retention showed a positive effect on crop yield ( Fig. 5). Rice and maize yields were significantly increased by 5.0% and 8.4% under the CTSR as compared to the CT, respectively, and wheat yield was increased by only 3.0% not a significant effect. NTSR significantly increased wheat and maize yields by 4.9% and 9.