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SUMMARY: Culm development in grasses can be controlled by both miR156 and cytokinin. However, the crosstalk between the miR156‐SPL module and the cytokinin metabolic pathway remains largely unknown. Here, we found CYTOKININ OXIDASE/DEHYDROGENASE4 (PvCKX4) plays a negative regulatory role in culm development of the bioenergy grass Panicum virgatum (switchgrass). Overexpression of PvCKX4 in switchgrass reduced the internode diameter and length without affecting tiller number. Interestingly, we also found that PvCKX4 was always upregulated in miR156 overexpressing (miR156OE) transgenic switchgrass lines. Additionally, upregulation of either miR156 or PvCKX4 in switchgrass reduced the content of isopentenyl adenine (iP) without affecting trans‐zeatin (tZ) accumulation. It is consistent with the evidence that the recombinant PvCKX4 protein exhibited much higher catalytic activity against iP than tZ in vitro. Furthermore, our results showed that miR156‐targeted SPL2 bound directly to the promoter of PvCKX4 to repress its expression. Thus, alleviating the SPL2‐mediated transcriptional repression of PvCKX4 through miR156 overexpression resulted in a significant increase in cytokinin degradation and impaired culm development in switchgrass. On the contrary, suppressing PvCKX4 in miR156OE transgenic plants restored iP content, internode diameter, and length to wild‐type levels. Most strikingly, the double transgenic lines retained the same increased tiller numbers as the miR156OE transgenic line, which yielded more biomass than the wild type. These findings indicate that the miR156‐SPL module can control culm development through transcriptional repression of PvCKX4 in switchgrass, which provides a promising target for precise design of shoot architecture to yield more biomass from grasses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) has been widely used for structural comparisons and phylogenetic analyses of Hemiptera groups at different taxonomic levels. However, little is known about the mitogenomic characteristics of species from Antheminia and Carpocoris, two morphologically similar genera in the Pentatomidae family, and their phylogenetic relationships need to be further confirmed. In this study, the mitogenomes of Antheminia varicornis (Jakovlev, 1874) and Carpocoris purpureipennis (De Geer, 1773) were sequenced and analyzed. Coupled with previously published mitogenomes of Pentatomidae, we performed a phylogenetic analysis. The mitogenomes of A. varicornis and C. purpureipennis are conserved in terms of genomic structure, base composition, codon usage, and tRNA secondary structure. Each mitogenome contains the typical 37 genes and a control region and all genes are arranged in the same order as in the ancestral insect mitogenome. Nucleotide composition is highly biased with the third codon in PCGs displaying the highest A + T content. Phylogenetic analysis strongly supports the sister relationship between A. varicornis and C. purpureipennis. The phylogenetic trees show a strong support for the monophyly of Asopinae and Phyllocephalinae, while the monophyly of Pentatominae and Podopinae was rejected. Our study enriches the mitochondrial genome database of the genera Antheminia and Carpocoris and provides a valuable resource for further phylogenetic and evolutionary analyses of the Pentatomidae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is known that measuring the triglyceride glucose (TyG) index and TyG-related parameters [triglyceride glucose-body mass index (TyG-BMI), triglyceride glucose-waist circumference (TyG-WC), and triglyceride glucose-waist to height ratio (TyG-WHtR)] can predict diabetes; this study aimed to compare the predictive value of the baseline TyG index and TyG-related parameters for the onset of diabetes at different future periods. Methods: We conducted a longitudinal cohort study involving 15,464 Japanese people who had undergone health physical examinations. The subject's TyG index and TyG-related parameters were measured at the first physical examination, and diabetes was defined according to the American Diabetes Association criteria. Multivariate Cox regression models and time-dependent receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to examine and compare the risk assessment/predictive value of the TyG index and TyG-related parameters for the onset of diabetes in different future periods. Results: The mean follow-up period of the current study cohort was 6.13 years, with a maximum of 13 years, and the incidence density of diabetes was 39.88/10,000 person-years. In multivariate Cox regression models with standardized hazard ratios (HRs), we found that both the TyG index and TyG-related parameters were significantly and positively associated with diabetes risk and that the TyG-related parameters were stronger in assessing diabetes risk than the TyG index, with TyG-WC being the best parameter (HR per SD increase: 1.70, 95% CI 1.46, 1.97). In addition, TyG-WC also showed the highest predictive accuracy in time-dependent ROC analysis for diabetes occurring in the short-term (2–6 years), while TyG-WHtR had the highest predictive accuracy and the most stable predictive threshold for predicting the onset of diabetes in the medium- to long-term (6–12 years). Conclusions: These results suggest that the TyG index combined with BMI, WC, and WHtR can further improve its ability to assess/predict the risk of diabetes in different future periods, where TyG-WC was not only the best parameter for assessing diabetes risk but also the best risk marker for predicting future diabetes in the short-term, while TyG-WHtR may be more suitable for predicting future diabetes in the medium- to long-term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blind Source Separation (BSS) of complex signals composed of radar, communication and jamming signals is the first step in an integrated electronic system, which requires higher accuracy of separation. However, the traditional Single‐Channel Blind Source Separation (SCBSS) method has low separation accuracy and poor robustness. Aiming at this problem, this paper proposes a SCBSS method based on spatial‐temporal fusion deep learning model. This is a deep neural network model, which realizes spatial‐temporal of mixed signals by integrating Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Bidirectional Long Short‐Term Memory Network (BiLSTM). Convolutional Neural Network is used to extract spatial features from input sequences, and BiLSTM is used to mine timing rules of signals. A batch normalisation layer and a dropout layer are added to improve stability and prevent overfitting. The experiments show that the average similarity coefficient of the separated signals is above 0.99 and the Signal‐Distortion Ratio (SDR) is up to 27 dB without noise. When the Signal‐Noise Ratio is 0–20 dB and Jamming‐Signal Ratio is 15 dB, the SDR is 5–30 dB higher than the traditional methods and the single network structure deep learning methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Interleukin-1 is an important pro-inflammatory cytokine that has been documented in the regulation of bone inflammation and bone remodeling. A previous study has demonstrated that interleukin-1α can induce apoptosis while inhibiting osteoblast differentiation in MC3T3-E1 cells. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role and mechanism of interleukin-1α on osteoclast activation and bone loss in mice. METHODS: (1) Cell test: RAW264.7 cells were either treated with interleukin-1α alone or with receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL) for 1 and 4 days. Cell viability was tested by cell counting kit-8 assay. The number of multinuclear osteoclasts was detected by tartrate resistant acid phosphatase assay. The mRNA and protein levels of osteoclast-specific genes and genes related to nuclear factor-κB pathway and Wnt/β-catenin pathway were tested by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR, immunofluorescence staining or western blot. Bone marrow-derived macrophages were either treated with interleukin-1α alone or with RANKL and macrophage colony-stimulating factor for 7 days. The number of multinuclear osteoclasts was detected by tartrate resistant acid phosphatase assay. The protein levels of osteoclast-specific genes were tested by western blot. (2) Animal test: Twenty-four male C57BL/6J mice (6-8 weeks old) were assigned into two groups at random: control group and test group. Mice were subsequently treated with interleukin-1α solution or PBS by intraperitoneal injection twice a week for 5 weeks. Bone tissues from the femurs were performed with micro-computed tomography analysis and hematoxylin-eosin staining, tartrate resistant acid phosphatase, and immunofluorescence analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Cell test: Interleukin-1α alone significantly increased RAW264.7 cell proliferation, but stimulated cell differentiation into osteoclasts in combination with RANKL (P < 0.05). Interleukin-1α significantly increased the expression of osteoclast-related markers and the number of tartrate resistant acid phosphatasepositive multinuclear cells in RAW264.7 cells and bone marrow-derived macrophages in the existence of RANKL or RANKL+macrophage colony-stimulating factor (both P < 0.05). Interleukin-1α was found to significantly enhance the nuclear factor-κB and Wnt/beta-catenin signaling in RAW264.7 cells (P < 0.05). Blocking of nuclear factor-κB or Wnt3 signaling not only reversed the activation of nuclear factor-κB and Wnt3 signaling but also weakened the enhanced expression of osteoclast-specific genes induced by interleukin-1α in RAW264.7 cells (P < 0.05). Animal test: interleukin1α induced bone loss in mice while also upregulating the expression of osteoclast-specific markers, RANK, TRAF6 and p65, and Wnt3 in vivo (P < 0.05). The findings indicate that interleukin-1α can induce osteoclast activation and bone loss by promoting the nuclear factor-κB and Wnt signaling pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Strigolactones (SLs) play a critical role in regulating plant tiller number. LATERAL BRANCHING OXIDOREDUCTASE (LBO) encodes an important late‐acting enzyme for SL biosynthesis and regulates shoot branching in Arabidopsis. However, little is known about the function of LBO in monocots including switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), a dual‐purpose fodder and biofuel crop.We studied the function of PvLBO via the genetic manipulation of its expression levels in both the wild‐type and miR156 overexpressing (miR156OE) switchgrass. Co‐expression analysis, quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR), transient dual luciferase assay, and chromatin immunoprecipitation‐qPCR were all used to determine the activation of PvLBO by miR156‐targeted Squamosa Promoter Binding Protein‐like 2 (PvSPL2) in regulating tillering of switchgrass.PvLBOtranscripts dramatically declined in miR156OE transgenic switchgrass, and the overexpression of PvLBO in the miR156OE transgenic line produce fewer tillers than the control. Furthermore, we found that PvSPL2 can directly bind to the promoter of PvLBO and activate its transcription, suggesting that PvLBO is a novel downstream gene of PvSPL2.We propose that PvLBO functions as an SL biosynthetic gene to mediate tillering and acts as an important downstream factor in the crosstalk between the SL biosynthetic pathway and the miR156‐SPL module in switchgrass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Triglyceride glucose-body mass index (TyG-BMI) has been recommended as an alternative indicator of insulin resistance. However, the association between TyG-BMI and pre-diabetes remains to be elucidated. Methods: More than 100,000 subjects with normal glucose at baseline received follow-up. The main outcome event of concern was pre-diabetes defined according to the diagnostic criteria recommended by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in 2018 and the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1999. A Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to evaluate the role of TyG-BMI in identifying people at high risk of pre-diabetes. Results: At a mean observation period of 3.1 years, the incidence of pre-diabetes in the cohort was 3.70 and 12.31% according to the WHO and ADA diagnostic criteria for pre-diabetes, respectively. The multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that TyG-BMI was independently positively correlated with pre-diabetes, and there was a special population dependence phenomenon. Among them, non-obese people, women and people under 50 years old had a significantly higher risk of TyG-BMI-related pre-diabetes (P-interaction< 0.05). Conclusions: These findings suggest that a higher TyG-BMI significantly increases an individual's risk of pre-diabetes, and this risk is significantly higher in women, non-obese individuals, and individuals younger than 50 years of age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the joint radar and communication system, using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals, cyclic prefix (CP) and pilots lead to the problem of high peak at the sidelobe (PSL) level in autocorrelation function (ACF), which deteriorates the radar detection performance seriously. To solve this problem, first, a new RadCom signal based on time-domain synchronization OFDM (TDS-OFDM) was proposed. TDS-OFDM adopts training sequence (TS) for guard interval, as well as synchronization and channel estimation, so that CP and pilots can be avoided. And then, ambiguity function (AF) of TDS-OFDM RadCom signal was analyzed. Finally, TS are optimized to suppress PSL of TDS-OFDM signal and maintain the autocorrelation properties of TS simultaneously. The results show that the autocorrelation performance of designed TDS-OFDM RadCom signal is much better than that of CP-OFDM RadCom signal. Considering the importance of radar target detection, TDS-OFDM is more appropriate than CP-OFDM for the RadCom system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Insulin resistance (IR) plays a crucial role in the occurrence and progression of diabetes. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the predictive value of four IR surrogates, including the triglycerides glucose (TyG) index, TyG and body mass index (TyG-BMI), triglycerides/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio, and the metabolic score for IR (MetS-IR) for diabetes in two large cohorts. Methods: A total of 116,661 adult participants from the China Rich Healthcare Group and 15,464 adult participants from the Japanese NAGALA cohort were included in the study. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the standardized hazard ratio (HR) of the TyG index, TyG-BMI, TG/HDL-C ratio, and MetS-IR directly associated with diabetes. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and time-dependent ROC curve analysis were performed to evaluate and compare the predictive value of the four IR surrogates for diabetes. Results: In the two independent cohorts, the average follow-up time was 3.1 years in the China cohort, with 2681(2.30%) incident cases of diabetes recorded, and 6.13 years in the Japan cohort, with 373 incident cases (2.41%) of diabetes recorded. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, we found that among the four IR surrogates, TyG-BMI and MetS-IR showed stronger associations with diabetes. The stronger associations persisted even after further stratification by age, sex, hypertension, and obese subgroups. In terms of diabetes prediction, based on ROC analysis, TyG-BMI demonstrated the highest predictive accuracy for diabetes in the Chinese population, while both TyG-BMI and MetS-IR showed the highest predictive accuracy in the Japanese population. The results of further subgroup ROC analysis confirmed the robustness of these findings. Furthermore, the time-dependent ROC results indicated that among the four IR surrogates, MetS-IR exhibited the highest accuracy in predicting future diabetes at various time intervals in the Japanese population. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that evaluating TyG-BMI and MetS-IR as IR surrogates may be the most useful for predicting diabetes events and assessing the risk of developing diabetes in East Asian populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Atherosclerosis is closely linked with glucose metabolism. We aimed to investigate the role of the atherogenic index of plasma (AIP) in the reversal of prediabetes to normal blood glucose levels or its progression to diabetes. Methods: This multi-center retrospective cohort study included 15,421 prediabetic participants from 32 regions across 11 cities in China, under the aegis of the Rich Healthcare Group's affiliated medical examination institutions. Throughout the follow-up period, we monitored changes in the glycemic status of these participants, including reversal to normal fasting glucose (NFG), persistence in the prediabetic state, or progression to diabetes. Segmented regression, stratified analysis, and restricted cubic spline (RCS) were performed based on the multivariable Cox regression model to evaluate the association between AIP and the reversal of prediabetes to NFG or progression to diabetes. Results: During a median follow-up period of 2.9 years, we recorded 6,481 individuals (42.03%) reverting from prediabetes to NFG, and 2,424 individuals (15.72%) progressing to diabetes. After adjusting for confounders, AIP showed a positive correlation with the progression from prediabetes to diabetes [(Hazard ratio (HR) 1.42, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.24–1.64)] and a negative correlation with the reversion from prediabetes to NFG (HR 0.89, 95%CI:0.81–0.98); further RCS demonstrated a nonlinear relationship between AIP and the reversion from prediabetes to NFG/progression to diabetes, identifying a turning point of 0.04 for reversion to NFG and 0.17 for progression to diabetes. In addition, we observed significant differences in the association between AIP and reversion from prediabetes to NFG/progression to diabetes across age subgroups, specifically indicating that the risk associated with AIP for progression from prediabetes to diabetes was relatively higher in younger populations; likewise, a younger age within the adult group favored the reversion from prediabetes to NFG in relation to AIP. Conclusion: Our study, for the first time, reveals a negative correlation between AIP and the reversion from prediabetes to normoglycemia and validates the crucial role of AIP in the risk assessment of prediabetes progression. Based on threshold analysis, therapeutically, keeping the AIP below 0.04 was of paramount importance for individuals with prediabetes aiming for reversion to NFG; preventatively, maintaining AIP below 0.17 was vital to reduce the risk of diabetes onset for those with prediabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On the base of 30Li 2 O-20Fe 2 O 3 -50P 2 O 5 glass, 5, 8, 12, 15 mol of B 2 O 3 were included to replace P 2 O 5 . The glasses were prepared by conventional melt-quenching method in air. The influence of the B 2 O 3 substitution on the structure, properties and especially the thermal and crystallization behavior of the lithium-iron-phosphate glass was investigated. The samples were characterized with DTA, FTIR and Mӧssbauer spectroscopy. The density and chemical stability of the glasses were measured and compared. The crystallization of the heat-treated sample was analyzed by DTA and XRD. The results indicate that when P 2 O 5 was substituted by 5 and 8 mol% of B 2 O 3 , the glass network tends to be strengthened due to formation of [BO 4 ], and consequently, large increases in the density, chemical stability, transition temperatures are observed. Both the temperature and the activation energy of crystallization also increase. With further increasing the amount of B 2 O 3 from 8 to 10 and 15%, the density slightly increases, while the chemical stability and the activation energy of crystallization decrease. In addition, the DTA results suggest that the replacement of P 2 O 5 with more than 8% B 2 O 3 results in the formation of a second phase with lower transition and crystallization temperatures. The inclusion of B 2 O 3 does not change the surface crystallization mechanism of the phosphate glasses. However, the B 2 O 3 -free glass only shows the crystallization of LiFeP 2 O 7 . In contrast, the B 2 O 3 containing glasses have increasing crystallization of LiFe(II)PO 4 and Li 3 Fe 2 (PO 4 ) 3 at the expense of the LiFeP 2 O 7 phase. 57 Fe Mӧssbauer spectra measurements reveal that the fraction of Fe(II) increases with the addition of B 2 O 3 . In principle, it is revealed that the reduced P/Fe and P/Li ratios and the increased Fe(II) ions in the B 2 O 3 containing glasses favor the crystallization of the LiFe(II)PO 4 and Li 3 Fe 2 (PO 4 ) 3 phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to characterize the thermophilic fungi in pile-fermentation process of Pu-erh tea. Physicochemical analyses showed that the high temperature and low pH provided optimal conditions for propagation of fungi. A number of fungi, including Blastobotrys adeninivorans , Thermomyces lanuginosus , Rasamsonia emersonii , Aspergillus fumigatus , Rhizomucor pusillus , Rasamsonia byssochlamydoides , Rasamsonia cylindrospora , Aspergillus tubingensis , Aspergillus niger , Candida tropicalis and Fusarium graminearum were isolated as thermophilic fungi under combination of high temperature and acid culture conditions from Pu-erh tea pile-fermentation. The fungal communities were analyzed by PCR-DGGE. Results revealed that those fungi are closely related to Debaryomyces hansenii , Cladosporium cladosporioides , A. tubingensis , R. emersonii , R. pusillus , A. fumigatus and A. niger , and the last four presented as dominant species in the pile process. These four preponderant thermophilic fungi reached the order of magnitude of 10 7 , 10 7 , 10 7 and 10 6 copies/g dry tea, respectively, measured by real-time quantitative PCR (q-PCR). The results indicate that the thermophilic fungi play an important role in Pu-erh tea pile fermentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Lithium–iron–phosphate glasses with compositions of (20− x)Li2O·xZnO·30Fe2O3·50P2O5 (x =0–7.2) have been prepared. The influences of the amount of ZnO on the structure, physical and chemical properties, and crystallization behavior of the glasses were investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential thermal analysis and X-ray diffraction techniques. The density of glass was measured according to the Archimedes principle. The chemical stability was evaluated based on the weight loss after the glass particles were boiled in water. The results indicate that Zn2+ ions cross-linked the phosphate chains by forming P–O–Zn bridges when 2mol% of ZnO was added. When the amount of ZnO was further increased, [ZnO4] tetrahedra were formed and ZnO acted as a glass network former, integrating the phosphate glass network. The density, chemical stability and the activation energy of crystallization of the glasses increased with the amount of ZnO, whereas the glass transition temperature decreased. All thermally treated glasses showed surface crystallization with LiFeP2O7 as the crystalline phase. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Lithium-iron-phosphate (LIP) glasses with different amounts of zirconia were prepared by conventional melting and annealing process. The influence of the nucleation agent, zirconia, on the crystallization behavior of LIP glasses has been studied using differential thermal analysis (DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) techniques. The results show that addition of 2 wt% of zirconia results in increases in the glass transition and crystallization temperatures and a decrease in the activation energy of crystallization. However, both temperatures decrease with increased addition of zirconia while the activation energy increases. The zirconia-free LIP glass only shows surface crystallization with crystals of LiFePO. The glass containing 2 wt% of zirconia also has surface crystallization; however, mixed ZrPO and LiFePO are crystallized. The addition of 5 and 8 wt% of zirconia leads to bulk crystallization and increasing formation of ZrPO crystals besides the LiFePO phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The influences of different alkali and alkali-earth oxide substitutions on the properties of lithium–iron–phosphate (LIP) glasses have been studied. Na2O, K2O, MgO, CaO and BaO were used to substitute Li2O to prepare LIP glasses with molar compositions of (20− x)Li2O− xR2O(RO)−30Fe2O3 −50P2O5 (x =2.4, 4, 5.6 and 7.2). The glass transition temperature (T g ) was determined by the differential thermal analysis technique. The density and chemical durability of the prepared glasses were measured based on the Archimedes principle and the weight losses after the glasses were boiled in water. The results show that T g decreases with the initial substitutions, whereas the density and chemical durability increase. The diminution of the aggregation effect of Li+ ions on the glass structure due to the decrease in Li+ concentration, the larger molecule weights of the substitutes, the mixed-alkali and depressing effects as well the slower mobility of substitute ions mainly contribute to the initial changes in T g , density and chemical durability of the LIP glasses, respectively. Further increasing the amounts of substitutes brings about increasing diminution of the aggregation effect of Li+ ions and breakage of the glass network on the one hand and increasing amounts of substitutes with larger molecule weights and ion radii on the other hand. Both aspects influence the glass properties oppositely and consequently non-monotonic variations in the properties of LIP glasses with the substitutions are observed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To address the issues of poor anti-noise performance of second-order statistics and low estimation accuracy in previous joint underdetermined blind source separation (JUBSS) methods, we propose a novel JUBSS method based on the dependence between different data sets and the advantages of cross third-order cumulant in resisting distributed noise. The method involves several steps. Firstly, we calculate the cross third-order cumulant of multiple whitening data sets with different delays. Then, we stack several third-order cumulants into fourth-order tensors. Next, we decompose the fourth-order tensor using Canonical Polyadic through weight nonlinear least squares, which allows us to estimate the mixed matrix. Finally, depending on the independence of source signals, we propose a matrix diagonalization method to recover the source signal. Experiments demonstrate that the method effectively suppresses the influence of Gaussian noise and performs well in underdetermined, positive and overdetermined cases and produces a better performance than various common approaches. Specifically, for the 3 × 4 mixed model with signal-to-noise ratio of 20 dB, the average relative error is − 14.48 dB, the average similarity coefficient is 0.92 and the signal-to-interference ratio is 24.84 dB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims/Introduction: Overweight and obesity in adults are strongly associated with an increased risk of prediabetes, and this study set out to gain a better understanding of the optimal body mass index (BMI) range for assessing the risk of prediabetes in the Chinese population. Materials and Methods: The cohort study included 100,309 Chinese adults who underwent health screening. Participants were divided into six groups based on the cut‐off point for BMI recommended by the World Health Organization (underweight: <18.5 kg/m2, normal‐weight: 18.5–24.9 kg/m2, pre‐obese: 25.0–29.9 kg/m2, obese class I: 30.0–34.9 kg/m2, obese class II: 35.0–39.9 kg/m2, and obese class III ≥40 kg/m2). The association of BMI with prediabetes and the shape of the correlation were modeled using multivariate Cox regression and restricted cubic spline regression, respectively. Results: In the multivariate Cox regression model, with normal weight as the control group, underweight people had a lower risk of developing prediabetes, whereas obese and pre‐obese people had a higher risk of prediabetes. Additionally, in the restricted cubic spline model, we found that the association of BMI with prediabetes follows a positive dose–response relationship, but does not conform to the pattern of obesity paradox. Among the general population in China, a BMI of 23.03 kg/m2 might be a potential intervention threshold for prediabetes. Conclusions: The national cohort study found that the association of BMI with prediabetes follows a positive dose–response relationship, rather than a pattern of obesity paradox. For Chinese people with normal weight, more attention should be paid to glucose metabolism when BMI exceeds 23.03 kg/m2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Conventional and unconventional lipid parameters are associated with diabetes risk, the comparative studies on lipid parameters for predicting future diabetes risk, however, are still extremely limited, and the value of conventional and unconventional lipid parameters in predicting future diabetes has not been evaluated. This study was designed to determine the predictive value of conventional and unconventional lipid parameters for the future development of diabetes.Methods: The study was a longitudinal follow-up study of 15,464 participants with baseline normoglycemia. At baseline, conventional lipid parameters such as low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured/calculated, and unconventional lipid parameters such as non-HDL-C, remnant cholesterol (RC), LDL/HDL-C ratio, TG/HDL-C ratio, non-HDL/HDL-C ratio, TC/HDL-C ratio and RC/HDL-C ratio were calculated. Hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated by Cox proportional hazard regression adjusting for demographic and diabetes-related risk factors. The predictive value and threshold fluctuation intervals of baseline conventional and unconventional lipid parameters for future diabetes were evaluated by the time-dependent receiver operator characteristics (ROC) curve.Results: The incidence rate of diabetes was 3.93 per 1000 person-years during an average follow-up period of 6.13 years. In the baseline non-diabetic population, only TG and HDL-C among the conventional lipid parameters were associated with future diabetes risk, while all the unconventional lipid parameters except non-HDL-C were significantly associated with future diabetes risk. In contrast, unconventional lipid parameters reflected diabetes risk better than conventional lipid parameters, and RC/HDL-C ratio was the best lipid parameter to reflect the risk of diabetes (HR: 6.75, 95% CI 2.40-18.98). Sensitivity analysis further verified the robustness of this result. Also, time-dependent ROC curve analysis showed that RC, non-HDL/HDL-C ratio, and TC/HDL-C ratio were the best lipid parameters for predicting the risk of medium-and long-term diabetes.Conclusions: Unconventional lipid parameters generally outperform conventional lipid parameters in assessing and predicting future diabetes risk. It is suggested that unconventional lipid parameters should also be routinely evaluated in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The changes of teachers' mental health in China were examined by using a cross-temporal meta-analysis. • Work overload made teachers' mental health deteriorated along with the rapid economic growth. • Overemphasis on competitions may heighten hostility among teachers and impairs their mental health. • Excessively centralized control in teaching and low socioeconomic status may relate to psychosocial risks in teachers. • It is crucial to take proactive steps to improve teachers' mental health on a global scale. Education is one of the main pillars of sustainable development in a knowledge-based economy. Teachers' mental health is an essential factor affecting the quality of education. Using a cross-temporal meta-analysis, this paper reviewed 116 studies investigating the mental health status of Chinese teachers between 1998 and 2013. Results showed that there was a similar trend in mental health of different types of teachers and their mental health was generally deteriorating, especially in dimensions of hostility and psychoticism. This disconcerting finding may reflect a high-risk occupational stress on teachers. Teachers with poor mental health status may suffer from occupational stress, such as frequently changing regulatory framework, too many non-teaching tasks, overemphasis on competitions, excessively centralized control in teaching and low socioeconomic status. It is crucial to pay attention to teachers′ occupational stress and take effective measures to improve their mental health on a global scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: MiRNAs have been reported to be the key regulators involving a wide range of biological processes in diverse plant species, but their functions in switchgrass, an important biofuel and forage crop, are largely unknown. Here, we reported the novel function of miR528, which has expanded to four copies in switchgrass, in controlling biomass trait of tillering number and regrowth rate after mowing. Blocking miR528 activity by expressing short tandem target mimic (STTM) increased tiller number and regrowth rate after mowing. The quadruple pvmir528 mutant lines derived from genome editing also showed such improved traits. Degradome and RNA‐seq analysis, combined with in situ hybridization assay revealed that up‐regulation of two miR528 targets coding for Cu/Zn‐SOD enzymes, might be responsible for the improved traits of tillering and regrowth in pvmir528 mutant. Additionally, natural variations in the miR528‐SOD interaction exist in C3 and C4 monocot species, implying the distinct regulatory strength of the miR528‐SOD module during monocot evolution. Overall, our data illuminated a novel role of miR528 in controlling biomass traits and provided a new target for genetic manipulation‐mediated crop improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The three sloe bugs, Dolycoris baccarum, D. indicus and D. penicillatus, are distributed across the Chinese mainland and have similar morphology. In this study, the mitochondrial genomes of these three species were generated and compared. Species boundaries and interspecific relationships among the three species were explored for the first time. The mitochondrial genomes of the three Dolycoris species were conservative in terms of nucleotide composition, gene order, and codon usage. The species boundaries of the three species were clarified based on the mitochondrial data, and a clear barcode gap was found between the interspecific and intraspecific genetic distances. The interspecific relationships of the three species were inferred as (D. indicus + (D. baccarum + D. penicillatus)). Our study has enriched the mitogenomic library of Dolycoris, providing insights into the evolution of Dolycoris species. (1) Background: The three sloe bugs, Dolycoris baccarum, Dolycoris indicus, and Dolycoris penicillatus, are found in the Chinese mainland and are morphologically similar. The species boundaries and phylogenetic relationships of the three species remain uncertain; (2) Methods: In this study, we generated multiple mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) for each of the three species and conducted comparative mitogenomic analysis, species delimitation, and phylogenetic analysis based on these data; (3) Results: Mitogenomes of the three Dolycoris species are conserved in nucleotide composition, gene arrangement, and codon usage. All protein-coding genes (PCGs) were found to be under purifying selection, and the ND4 evolved at the fastest rate. Most species delimitation analyses based on the COI gene and the concatenated 13 PCGs retrieved three operational taxonomic units (OTUs), which corresponded well with the three Dolycoris species identified based on morphological characters. A clear-cut barcode gap was discovered between the interspecific and intraspecific genetic distances of the three Dolycoris species. Phylogenetic analyses strongly supported the monophyly of Dolycoris, with interspecific relationship inferred as (D. indicus + (D. baccarum + D. penicillatus)); (4) Conclusions: Our study provides the first insight into the species boundaries and phylogenetic relationships of the three Dolycoris species distributed across the Chinese mainland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Camellia sinensis var. assamica seed cake (a by‐product of tea‐seed oil) is an abundant resource with poor utilisation. C. sinensis var. assamica seed saponin (CSS) is one kind of non‐ionic surfactant. In this study, the CSS extraction conditions were optimised by response surface methodology (RSM) and then the CSS detergent was developed. Additionally, the safety and decontamination ability of the developed detergent were evaluated. RESULTS: The optimised extraction conditions were including the extracting temperature of 40.04 °C, extraction time of 4.97 h, ethanol concentration of 64.11% and liquid–solid ratio of 14.57:1 mL g−1. The formula of the CSS detergent was as follows: 20% crude CSS, 0.3% oxidised tea polyphenols (OTPs), 0.2% nisin, 0.3% sodium dehydroacetate, 0.7% sodium alginate and 0.5% sodium polyacrylate. The LD50 of the CSS detergent exceeds 14 g kg−1 in mice, indicating the detergent was non‐toxic. Both of the emulsifying and the pesticide residues removal abilities of the CSS detergent were significantly stronger than the commercial detergent. CONCLUSION: A natural tea seed saponin detergent with good safety and decontamination ability was successfully developed. This can make better use of the tea seed cake, thereby creating added value in the tea seed oil industry. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several empirical studies have linked negative parenting style (i.e., parental rejection and overprotection) with a higher degree of Smartphone addiction. However, few studies have analyzed the potential protective factors (e.g., virtues) that may prevent addiction and promote effective Smartphone addiction interventions. Therefore, we examined if virtues (i.e., relationship, vitality, and conscientiousness) mediated the association between parenting style and Smartphone addiction among college students. Moreover, we examined whether these relationships were moderated by gender. Chinese college students ( N = 742) ages 16–25 years completed the: 1) short-Egna Minnen av Barndoms Uppfostran-Chinese measure of parenting style, 2) 96-item Chinese Virtues Questionnaire, and the 3) Mobile Phone Addiction Index of Smartphone addiction. The results showed that negative parenting style significantly influenced college students' Smartphone addiction. Furthermore, virtues acted as a cognitive mechanism that mediated the association between negative parenting style and Smartphone addiction. Moreover, male virtues may be more sensitive to negative parenting style than female virtues. Relevant suggestions for college administrators, educators, parents, and future researchers are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fermentation process of Yunnan arabica coffee is a typical wet fermentation. Its excellent quality is closely related to microbes in the process of fermentation. The purpose of this study was to isolate and identify the microorganisms in the wet method of coffee processing in Yunnan Province, China. Microbial community structure and dominant bacterial species were evaluated by traditional cultivated separation method and PCR-DGGE technology, and were further analyzed in combination with the changes of organic acid content, activity of pectinase, and physical parameters (pH and temperature). A large number of microorganisms which can produce pectinase were found. Among them, Enterobacter cowanii, Pantoea agglomerans, Enterobacteriaceae bacterium, and Rahnella aquatilis were the predominant gram-negative bacteria, Bacillus cereus was the predominant gram-positive bacterium, Pichia kluyveri, Hanseniaspora uvarum, and Pichia fermentans were the predominant yeasts, and all those are pectinase-producing microorganisms. As for the contents of organic acids, oxalic was the highest, followed by acetic and lactic acids. Butyrate and propionate, which were unfavorable during the fermentation period, were barely discovered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dendrobium officinale Kimura et Migo is a traditional Chinese orchid herb that has both ornamental value and a broad range of therapeutic effects. Here, we report the first de novo assembled 1.35 Gb genome sequences for D. officinale by combining the second-generation Illumina Hiseq 2000 and third-generation PacBio sequencing technologies. We found that orchids have a complete inflorescence gene set and have some specific inflorescence genes. We observed gene expansion in gene families related to fungus symbiosis and drought resistance. We analyzed biosynthesis pathways of medicinal components of D. officinale and found extensive duplication of SPS and SuSy genes, which are related to polysaccharide generation, and that the pathway of D. officinale alkaloid synthesis could be extended to generate 16-epivellosimine. The D. officinale genome assembly demonstrates a new approach to deciphering large complex genomes and, as an important orchid species and a traditional Chinese medicine, the D. officinale genome will facilitate future research on the evolution of orchid plants, as well as the study of medicinal components and potential genetic breeding of the dendrobe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In the preparation of glass–ceramics, bulk crystallization of glasses can be improved by adding nucleating agents. However, surface crystallization of glasses conventionally can only be enhanced by using small particles, whose surfaces provide nucleating sites. Herein, oxide nucleating agents such as TiO2 and Cr2O3 which are normally used to improve bulk crystallization were introduced into a lithium–iron-phosphate (LIP) glass. Differential thermal analysis results suggest that tendency to bulk crystallization of the LIP glass increases to some extent after addition of the nucleating agents. However, no bulk crystallization really occurred in the thermally treated samples. Instead, surface crystallization of the glass is facilitated by the nucleating agents. The samples containing nucleating agents show thicker crystallized surface layers compared with the pure LIP glass. It is proved nucleation stage to be important to increase the surface crystallization, further confirming the enhancement effect of the nucleating agents on surface crystallization. The results enrich the understanding of surface crystallization of glass and provide useful information for the preparation of glass–ceramics via glass powder sintering process which is based on surface crystallization. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

As a result of the development of the social economy, China is currently urbanizing at an unprecedented rate: a particular social group with an extremely large number of members is in the process of being involuntarily peeled away from the traditional, agricultural mode of production. These people have to face an unfamiliar life in the city and constitute a subset within the social group of new urban migrants-landless rural residents. Because landless rural residents have a unique self-identity, this article was based upon two related presuppositions: first, landless rural residents possess the characteristics of peasants; their social memories of the past and the temporal and spatial transformation of their personal experiences in modern society could potentially influence and restrict the depth and development of their self-identification with their status. Second, as with urban residents, the status of landless rural residents is externally recognized by the household registration system; however, status and self-identity are more directly informed by the attitudinal and behavioral choices that the landless rural residents individually make with regard to urban society, which could potentially affect their adaptation to urban life. On these grounds and based upon field research on the landless rural residents of X village, Y province, this article analyzes the issue of their transformation, adaptation, and self-identity, from the three perspectives of their nonagricultural occupations, their urbanized living environment, and the status that the household registration system granted to these new urban residents. The study shows that the social memories of rural life can influence the life paths of the elderly among the landless rural residents: in getting or seeking employment, the elderly display numerous disadvantages; in their interaction with their neighbors, they are unable to recapture their familiar memories of social contact; they are not aware of the rights and benefits attached to their urban residential status; they are not willing to assimilate into the urban environment, so vastly different from rural life; and their aspirations for their self-identity are low. However, the new generation of landless rural residents displays fairly strong aspirations to become urban residents: they distance themselves from agricultural production early on; they show understanding of their new completely different urban life; and they are willing to become members of the urban residents' community. Thus, there are fairly distinct internal disparities within the group of landless rural residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]