Plastic fishing gears have been widely used in marine fishing and mariculture, which could cause serious microplastics pollution but receive little attention. To further figure out the effect of fishery activities on microplastics, the occurrence and sources of microplastics contamination in the nearshore surface seawater of Weihai (a coastal fishery city of China) were studied. All the collected microplastics were sorted and counted based on their size, shape, and color. The distribution of microplastics pollution in this study areas was mapped. The results showed that the mean concentration of all sampling sites was 5.9±3.5 particles/m3; the concentration in the mariculture areas was 11.49 particles/m3, much higher than that in other areas without mariculture 1.57 particles/m3. Fragment and fiber accounted for 45.4% and 28.2% of the total microplastics, respectively. Most fibers and fragments were identified as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), mainly originated from the fishing nets/ropes. Polystyrene (PS) was also generally detected in the samples due to the foam floating balls used in the mariculture area. Our research strongly suggested that marine fishery activities, especially for mariculture, could be an underestimated sea-based microplastics source and more attentions should be given.Certain modifications can aggravate the toxicity of nanoplastics. However, the influence of surface amino modification on transgenerational impairment induced by nanoplastics remains largely unclear. Pristine nanopolystyrene (NPS) and amino modified NPS (NPS-NH2) were used to determine their transgenerational toxicity in Caenorhabditis elegans. Exposure to 100 μg/L pristine NPS in parents (P0) cause a decrease in reproductive capacity in the F1-F3 generations and the damage on gonad development in the F1-F2 generations. In contrast, exposure to 10 μg/L NPS-NH2 caused toxicity on reproductive capacity and gonad development in the F1 generation. The toxic effects of NPS-NH2 on reproductive capacity and gonad development in the F1-F3 generations were more severe than those of pristine NPS. Moreover, amino modification could increase transgenerational toxicity of NPS in inducing apoptosis of germline and in affecting expressions of ced-1, ced-4, and ced-9. Our data demonstrate that surface modification of NPS with amino groups enhances transgenerational reproductive toxicity of NPS in C. elegans.The Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) underwent staged impoundment of water from 135 m to 175 m between 2003 and 2010. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/odm208.html Periodic water impoundment was divided into drainage (March to early June), low water level (June to August), impoundment (September to October), and high water level (November to February) period. However, the impact of the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) and staged impoundment on water quality, especially in the long term, remains unclear. Herein, hydrological, pollution load, nutrient, and biochemical indices were determined for the TGR during 1998-2018. The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index, a K-means clustering algorithm, and the Mann-Kendall (MK) test were applied to this data to explore the spatial and temporal distribution of water quality. The results show that water quality was good overall, but it before the full impoundment stage (2010) was worse than after that. The low water level period had the worst water quality among the four periods, and spatially, midstream was worst. Among water quality indices, the median total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) were in the range of 1.505-2.303 and 0.071-0.176 mg/L, respectively, and these were the key pollution indices. In addition, due to differences in hydrological and hydrodynamic conditions, and the regional distribution of pollution sources, water quality in the TGR displayed temporal and spatial heterogeneity. TN, TP, potassium permanganate index (CODMn), five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) were maximal during the low water level period, and TN, TP and E. coli were highest in midstream. MK test results revealed that nutrients pollution became worse midstream, and a gradual increase in TP caused severe algal blooms downstream. Therefore, nutritional water treatment and non-point source pollution control should be the focus of future work.Breeding for disease resistance against microbial pathogens is essential for food security in modern agriculture. Conventional breeding, although widely accepted, is time consuming. An alternative approach is generating crop plants with desirable traits through genetic engineering. The collective efforts of many labs in the past 30 years have led to a comprehensive understanding of how plant immunity is achieved, enabling the application of genetic engineering to enhance disease resistance in crop plants. Here, we briefly review the engineering of disease resistance against biotrophic pathogens using various components of the plant immune system. Recent breakthroughs in immune receptors signaling and systemic acquired resistance (SAR), along with innovations in precise gene editing methods, provide exciting new opportunities for the development of improved environmentally friendly crop varieties that are disease resistant and high-yield.Automated vehicles are expected to enhance driving safety and comfort. In order to fulfil these expectations, they have to be widely accepted and used. Implementing an acceptable driving style is therefore a must. Previous research on automated vehicle acceptance has largely concentrated on the effects of driving dynamics. This study takes a different approach and focuses on the effects of the driving decisions. To assess the effects of driving decisions on acceptance, an online experimental study was conducted in China, Germany, Japan and the US. Four overtaking scenarios, in which the automated vehicle took a decision, were presented as short texts. The situations differed with regard to the action (overtaking vs. stay in lane) and potential consequence (high or low hindrance of another driver). Participants then rated their acceptance. The results indicate that acceptance is dependent on the driving decisions and is further influenced by cultural background. Chinese drivers show high acceptance to the decisions and there were no significant differences between the presented scenarios.