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The "schisandra–evodia" herb pair (S–E) is a herbal preparation to treat Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study aims to investigate the therapeutic efficacy and potential mechanism of S–E in AD rats, utilizing pharmacodynamic assessments and serum‐ and urine‐based metabolomic analyses. Pharmacodynamic assessments included Morris water maze test, hematoxylin–eosin staining and immunohistochemistry experiments. The results of the study showed that the AD model was successful; the S–E significantly enhanced long‐term memory and spatial learning in AD rats. Meanwhile, S–E notably ameliorated Aβ25–35‐induced cognitive impairment, improved hippocampal neuron morphology, decreased Aβ deposition in the hippocampus and mitigated inflammatory damage. We then analyzed serum and urine samples using UPLC–MS/MS to identify potential biomarkers and metabolic pathways. Metabolomic analysis revealed alterations in 40 serum metabolites and 38 urine metabolites following S–E treatment, predominantly affecting pathways related to taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, linoleic acid metabolism, α‐linolenic acid metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism and arachidonic acid metabolism. This study elucidates the biochemical mechanism underlying AD and the metabolic pathway influenced by S–E, laying the groundwork for future clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efficient thin film composite polyamide (PA) membranes require optimization of interfacial polymerization (IP) process. However, it is challengeable owing to its ultrafast reaction rate coupled with mass and heat transfer, yielding heterogeneous PA membranes with low performance. Herein, a non‐isothermal‐controlled IP (NIIP) method is proposed to fabricate a highly permeable and selective PA membrane by engineering IP at the cryogenic aqueous phase (CAP) to achieve synchronous control of heat and mass transfer in the interfacial region. The CAP also enables the phase transition of the aqueous solution from the liquid to solid state, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the fundamental mechanisms involved in different phase states in the IP process. Consequently, the PA membrane exhibits excellent separation performance with ultrahigh water permeance (42.9 L m−2 h−1 bar−1) and antibiotic desalination efficiency (antibiotic/NaCl selectivity of 159.3). This study provides new insights for the in‐depth understanding of the precise mechanism linking IP to the performance of the targeting membrane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose: Calmodulin (CaM) levels exhibit significant elevation in the brain tissue of rodent and cell line models infected with prion, as well as in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients diagnosed with sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD). However, the status of CSF CaM in patients with genetic prion diseases (gPrDs) remains unclear. This study aims to assess the characteristics of CSF CaM in Chinese patients presenting four subtypes of gPrDs. Methods: A total of 103 CSF samples from patients diagnosed with T188KgCJD, E200K-gCJD, D178N-FFI, P102L-GSS were included in this study, along with 40 CSF samples from patients with non-prion diseases (non-PrDs). The presence of CSF CaM and 14-3-3 proteins was assessed using Western blots analysis, while levels of CSF 14-3-3 and total tau were measured using enzymelinked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). Statistical methods including multivariate logistic regression were employed to evaluate the association between CSF CaM positivity and relevant clinical, laboratory, and genetic factors. Results: The positive rates of CSF CaM were significantly higher in cases of T188K-gCJD (77.1%), E200K-gCJD (86.0%), and P102-GSS (90.9%) compared to non-PrD cases (22.5%). In contrast, CSF CaM positivity was slightly elevated in D178N-FFI (34.3%). CSF CaM positivity was remarkably high in patients who tested positive for CSF 14-3-3 by Western blot and exhibited high levels of total tau (≥1400 pg/ml) as measures by ELISA. Multivariate logistic regression analysis confirmed a significant association between CSF CaM positivity and specific mutations in PRNP, as well as with CSF 14-3-3 positivity. Furthermore, the diagnostic performance of CaM surpassed that of 14-3-3 and tau when analyzing CSF samples from T188K-gCJD and E200K-gCJD patients. Conclusion: Western blot analysis reveals significant variations in the positivity of CSF CaM among the four genotypes of gPrD cases, demonstrating a positive correlation with 14-3-3 positivity and elevated tau levels in CSF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a modified Dai-Liao type four-term conjugate gradient method is proposed. Based on the estimation of the Rayleigh quotient of the iteration matrix of search direction, choices for the parameter mentioned above self-adjust the weight between the sufficient descent condition and reduction in the condition number of iteration matrix of the search direction, which can be regarded as inheritance and development of the originally optimal choices for a set of parameters $ \overline{t} _{\theta_k }^{\ast } $ (JIMO,13(2):649-658,2017). Meanwhile, sufficient descent condition of the modified search direction is satisfied at each iteration. Under mild conditions, global convergence of the resulting method are established even if the objective function is nonconvex. Some comparative numerical results illustrate the efficiency of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aim: Acute exogenous lipoid pneumonia (AELP) is a rare disorder caused by intake of lipid formulations and is often underdiagnosed. Meanwhile, the mechanism of AELP is still underlying. MCC950, was previously found to significantly suppress the release of inflammatory cytokines IL-18 and IL-1β. However, the effect of MCC950 on AELP induced by sewing machine oil has not been reported. Materials and Methods: The NLRP3, NF-ĸB p65, caspase-1 and IL-1β expression in lung tissues were compared between a rat model of AELP and control rats using western blotting and real-time quantitative assay. Moreover, haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining was performed to elucidate the mechanisms by which MCC950 ameliorates sewing machine oil-induced AELP in vivo. Results: MCC950 reduced the expression of NF-ĸB p65 in the lung samples of the treatment group and further down-regulated the NLRP3 and caspase-1 levels while inhibited the production of IL-1β. Besides, decreases in inflammatory cell infiltration in the lung were shown using H&E staining. Conclusion: MCC950 ameliorates sewing machine oil-induced acute exogenous lipoid pneumonia in rats through inhibition of the NF-ĸĸB/NLRP3 inflammasome pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building thermal insulation and energy conservation have become urgent problems in the field of civil engineering because they are important for achieving the goal of carbon neutralization. Thermal conductivity is an important index for evaluating the thermal insulation of materials. To study the influence of different porosity levels on the thermal conductivity of materials, this paper established a random distribution model using MATLAB and conducted a comparative analysis using COMSOL finite element software and classical theoretical numerical calculation formulas. The thermal conductivity of composite materials was determined based on a theoretical calculation formula and COMSOL software simulations, and the theoretical calculation results and simulation results were compared with the measured thermal conductivity of the composites. Furthermore, the influence of the width of the gaps between the materials on the heat transfer process was simulated in the fabricated roof structure. The results showed the following: (1) The thermal conductivity values calculated using the Zimmerman model were quite different from those calculated using the Campbell-Allen model and those calculated using the COMSOL software; (2) The thermal conductivity values calculated using the theoretical calculation formula were lower than the measured data, and the maximum relative error was more than 29%. The COMSOL simulation results were in good agreement with the measured data, and the relative error was less than 5%; (3) When the gap width was less than 60 mm, it increased linearly with the heat transfer coefficient. The heat transfer coefficient increased slowly when the gap width was greater than 60 mm. This was mainly due to the thermal bridge effect inside the insulation system. Based on these research results, a thermal insulation system was prepared in a factory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose an effective highest occupied d‐orbital modulation strategy engendered by breaking the coordination symmetry of sites in the atomically precise Cu nanocluster (NC) to switch the product of CO2 electroreduction from HCOOH/CO to higher‐valued hydrocarbons. An atomically well‐defined Cu6 NC with symmetry‐broken Cu−S2N1 active sites (named Cu6(MBD)6, MBD=2‐mercaptobenzimidazole) was designed and synthesized by a judicious choice of ligand containing both S and N coordination atoms. Different from the previously reported high HCOOH selectivity of Cu NCs with Cu−S3 sites, the Cu6(MBD)6 with Cu−S2N1 coordination structure shows a high Faradaic efficiency toward hydrocarbons of 65.5 % at −1.4 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (including 42.5 % CH4 and 23 % C2H4), with the hydrocarbons partial current density of −183.4 mA cm−2. Theoretical calculations reveal that the symmetry‐broken Cu−S2N1 sites can rearrange the Cu 3d orbitals with dx2-y2 ${d_{x^2 - y^2 } }$ as the highest occupied d‐orbital, thus favoring the generation of key intermediate *COOH instead of *OCHO to favor *CO formation, followed by hydrogenation and/or C−C coupling to produce hydrocarbons. This is the first attempt to regulate the coordination mode of Cu atom in Cu NCs for hydrocarbons generation, and provides new inspiration for designing atomically precise NCs for efficient CO2RR towards highly‐valued products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose an effective highest occupied d‐orbital modulation strategy engendered by breaking the coordination symmetry of sites in the atomically precise Cu nanocluster (NC) to switch the product of CO2 electroreduction from HCOOH/CO to higher‐valued hydrocarbons. An atomically well‐defined Cu6 NC with symmetry‐broken Cu−S2N1 active sites (named Cu6(MBD)6, MBD=2‐mercaptobenzimidazole) was designed and synthesized by a judicious choice of ligand containing both S and N coordination atoms. Different from the previously reported high HCOOH selectivity of Cu NCs with Cu−S3 sites, the Cu6(MBD)6 with Cu−S2N1 coordination structure shows a high Faradaic efficiency toward hydrocarbons of 65.5 % at −1.4 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode (including 42.5 % CH4 and 23 % C2H4), with the hydrocarbons partial current density of −183.4 mA cm−2. Theoretical calculations reveal that the symmetry‐broken Cu−S2N1 sites can rearrange the Cu 3d orbitals with dx2-y2 ${d_{x^2 - y^2 } }$ as the highest occupied d‐orbital, thus favoring the generation of key intermediate *COOH instead of *OCHO to favor *CO formation, followed by hydrogenation and/or C−C coupling to produce hydrocarbons. This is the first attempt to regulate the coordination mode of Cu atom in Cu NCs for hydrocarbons generation, and provides new inspiration for designing atomically precise NCs for efficient CO2RR towards highly‐valued products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) leads to death and disability. This study developed an effective prognostic nomogram for assessing the risk factors for TBI mortality. Method: Data were extracted from an online database called "Multiparameter Intelligent Monitoring in Intensive Care IV" (MIMIC IV). The ICD code obtained data from 2,551 TBI persons (first ICU stay, >18 years old) from this database. R divided samples into 7:3 training and testing cohorts. The univariate analysis determined whether the two cohorts differed statistically in baseline data. This research used forward stepwise logistic regression after independent prognostic factors for these TBI patients. The optimal variables were selected for the model by the optimal subset method. The optimal feature subsets in pattern recognition improved the model prediction, and the minimum BIC forest of the high-dimensional mixed graph model achieved a better prediction effect. A nomogram-labeled TBI-IHM model containing these risk factors was made by nomology in State software. Least Squares OLS was used to build linear models, and then the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted. The TBI-IHM nomogram model's validity was determined by receiver operating characteristic curves (AUCs), correction curve, Hosmer-Lemeshow test, integrated discrimination improvement (IDI), net reclassification improvement (NRI), and decision-curve analysis (DCA). Result: The eight features with a minimal BIC model were mannitol use, mechanical ventilation, vasopressor use, international normalized ratio, urea nitrogen, respiratory rate, and cerebrovascular disease. The proposed nomogram (TBI-IHM model) was the best mortality prediction model, with better discrimination and superior model fitting for severely ill TBI patients staying in ICU. The model's receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was the best compared to the seven other models. It might be clinically helpful for doctors to make clinical decisions. Conclusion: The proposed nomogram (TBI-IHM model) has significant potential as a clinical utility in predicting mortality in TBI patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decades, zinc oxide semiconductor and its derivatives have been extensively developed because of its optoelectronic properties. Since ZnO is an intrinsic n-type semiconductor, how to synthesize high-quality p-type ZnO semiconductors and investigate their optoelectronic properties and local chemical structures are important and necessary. In this article, two studies of synthesizing both undoped and phosphorus-doped ZnO nanostructures by hydrothermal method and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique are presented. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and laboratory X-ray diffraction (XRD) are used to track the surface morphology and the crystalline structure of both undoped and phosphorus doped ZnO nanostructures, respectively. X-ray absorption near edge structures (XANES), X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) and X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) are also used to determine the local chemical information of both undoped and phosphorus-doped ZnO nano/microstructures such as local symmetry and optical properties. It is found that the phosphorus is successfully doped into the surface of ZnO and substituted the Zn. The phosphorus-doped ZnO products have better crystallinity and less oxygen vacancies on the surface. These two are correlated as one leads to the other. The XEOL results suggest that the average bandgap for undoped and phosphorus doped ZnO is the same, 3.24 eV. The second derivative of the absorption-emission spectra yields the fundamental bandgap for undoped ZnO and phosphorus-doped ZnO is 3.25 eV. The implication of this observation is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new quinazolinone diketopiperazine alkaloids, including versicomide E (2) and cottoquinazoline H (4), together with ten known compounds (1, 3, and 5–12) were isolated and identified from Aspergillus versicolor AS-212, an endozoic fungus associated with the deep-sea coral Hemicorallium cf. imperiale, which was collected from the Magellan Seamounts. Their chemical structures were determined by an extensive interpretation of the spectroscopic and X-ray crystallographic data as well as specific rotation calculation, ECD calculation, and comparison of their ECD spectra. The absolute configurations of (−)-isoversicomide A (1) and cottoquinazoline A (3) were not assigned in the literature reports and were solved in the present work by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. In the antibacterial assays, compound 3 exhibited antibacterial activity against aquatic pathogenic bacteria Aeromonas hydrophilia with an MIC value of 18.6 μM, while compounds 4 and 8 exhibited inhibitory effects against Vibrio harveyi and V. parahaemolyticus with MIC values ranging from 9.0 to 18.1 μM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the highly porous crystalline metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising candidates as active electrocatalysts for CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR), their poor electronic conductivities severely limit their applications. Viologens (Vg) and their derivatives are able to act as electron-transfer mediators (ETMs) to facilitate rapid electron transfer to active sites but have not yet been integrated into MOFs for the CO2RR. Herein, viologen groups are integrated into cobalt porphyrin (Por(Co))-based MOFs for the first time to act as ETMs to enhance the electron-transfer capacity and thus improve the activity of the CO2RR. The obtained optimal Vg–Por(Co)–MOF(9 : 1) (Por(Co) : Vg = 9 : 1) showed excellent catalytic performance with a high faradaic efficiency of CO (FECO = 93.8%, 2.3 V) and large CO partial current density of (jCO) 111.1 mA cm−2 at 2.9 V in the CO2RR in a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) system. The FECO and jCO values for Vg–Por(Co)–MOF(9 : 1) are about 1.9 and 2 times larger than those of Por(Co)–MOF containing free Vg as the ETM (49.2% and 51.4 mA cm−2, respectively). Such excellent performance of Vg–Por(Co)–MOF(9 : 1) also surpasses that of the majority of other cobalt-based electrocatalysts, which make it stand out as being among the benchmark electrocatalysts for CO2 to CO generation. This work offers an efficient method for designing extremely effective porous frameworks for enhanced electrocatalysis through increasing electrical conductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To evaluate the ability of carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125), human epididymis protein 4 (HE4), risk of ovarian malignancy algorithm (ROMA), and Copenhagen Index (CPH‐I) to identify primary ovarian cancer (OC) from borderline and benign ovarian tumors (OTs) and explore ideal cutoff points. Methods: A total of 684 OTs containing 276 OC patients, 116 ovarian borderline OTs and 292 benign OTs patients who underwent surgery in our hospital were included. We retrospectively searched the results of CA125 and HE4 before patients' surgery from the hospital's electronic medical records system. ROMA and CPH‐I were calculated according to their menopausal status and age, respectively. Diagnostic performance of these four were assessed by drawing receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: CA125, HE4, ROMA, and CPH‐I were all significantly higher in OC women compared with borderline OTs (p < 0.001), followed by benign OTs (p < 0.001). Area under the curves (AUCs) for distinguishing OC were 0.850 (0.818–0.882), 0.891 (0.865–0.916), 0.910 (0.888–0.933) and 0.906 (0.882–0.930), respectively, and the corresponding ideal cutoff values for CA125, HE4, ROMA, and CPH‐I were 132.5, 68.6, 23.8, and 6.4, respectively. The difference between ROMA and CPH‐I was not significant (p = 0.97), but both were higher than CA125 and HE4 (p < 0.05). HE4 showed a significantly higher AUC than CA125 (p < 0.05). For postmenopausal women, CA125 performed equivalently to ROMA (p = 0.73) and CPH‐I (p = 0.91). Conclusions: In identifying patients with OC, ROMA and CPH‐I outperformed single tumor marker. The diagnostic performance of HE4 was significantly higher than that of CA125. CA125 was more suitable for postmenopausal women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rapid identification method for flue-cured tobacco quality was proposed based on Raman spectroscopy. Considering the critical quality factors of flue-cured tobacco-like oil content, softness, and glossiness, four statistical methods, random forest, K-nearest neighbor, logistic regression, and partial least squares, can effectively improve the accuracy of quality identification. We randomly collected 149 flue-cured tobacco samples from multiple producing areas in China. After Raman spectroscopy analysis, Savitzky–Golay convolution smoothing and multi-scatter correction were done. The functional groups were analyzed to select characteristic peaks as features for discriminant analysis. The results show that the Raman spectroscopic information can distinguish the quality of flue-cured tobacco with an accuracy greater than 95%, whereas the partial least-squares approach delivers an accuracy of 100%. We conclude that Raman spectroscopy can be considered a vital avenue for identifying the quality of flue-cured tobacco. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial soft actuators, featured with non-equilibrium internal circumstance and fast, programmable shape transformations, have attracted strong research interest recently due to their flexibility, highly controllable, and designability. However, wireless soft actuators, achieving the locomotion on different large slopes with multiple energy conversion, have been rarely reported. Herein, we create a asymmetric bilayer strategy to construct autonomous soft crawler via "breathing" moisture to motivate the mechanical deformation. The soft crawlers present conspicuous performances including periodic tumbler locomotion predicted via improved Timoshenko's equation, multiple reversible shape-morphing (circle, helix, despiralization, etc.) determined by their fiber orientation, controlled drive mode (front drive and rear drive) and rapid climb speed (4.76 cm/min) at wide slope angles. Through architecture design, they can be series-wound or shunt-wound to construct multi-joint complex actuators. Besides climbing, a intelligent soft ring-pull with admirable cycle performance for preventing overheating or something untouchable, has been proposed. The soft crawlers also realize multiple energy conversion to be actuated by light irradiation. We envision that this soft crawler system has an enormous potential in intelligent machine, microscopic diagnosis and treatment, biosensing, energy harvesting and conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the first example of charged imidazolium functionalized porphyrin‐based covalent organic framework (Co‐iBFBim‐COF‐X) for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction, where the free anions (e.g. F−, Cl−, Br−, and I−) of imidazolium ions nearby the active Co sites can stabilize the key intermediate *COOH and inhibit hydrogen evolution reaction. Thus, Co‐iBFBim‐COF‐X exhibits higher activity than the neutral Co‐BFBim‐COF, following the trend of F−

We present the first example of charged imidazolium functionalized porphyrin‐based covalent organic framework (Co‐iBFBim‐COF‐X) for electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction, where the free anions (e.g. F−, Cl−, Br−, and I−) of imidazolium ions nearby the active Co sites can stabilize the key intermediate *COOH and inhibit hydrogen evolution reaction. Thus, Co‐iBFBim‐COF‐X exhibits higher activity than the neutral Co‐BFBim‐COF, following the trend of F−

Advancements in the fields of ionic liquids (ILs) broaden its applications not only in traditional use but also in different pharmaceutical and biomedical fields. Ionic liquids "Solutions for Your Success" have received a lot of interest from scientists due to a myriad of applications in the pharmaceutical industry for drug delivery systems as well as targeting different diseases. Solubility is a critical physicochemical property that determines the drug's fate at the target site. Many promising drug candidates fail in various phases of drug research due to poor solubility. In this context, ionic liquids are regarded as effective drug delivery systems for poorly soluble medicines. ILs are also able to combine different anions/cations with other cations/anions to produce salts that satisfy the concept behind the ILs. The important characteristics of ionic liquids are the modularity of their physicochemical properties depending on the application. The review highlights the recent advancement and further applications of ionic liquids to deliver drugs in the pharmaceutical and biomedical fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Malaria importation can be caused by cross-border movement either of both people and anopheline mosquitoes. However, there still lacks robust evidence of imported malaria caused by Plasmodium spp. infected anopheles along international border areas (border-spill malaria). The objectives of this study were to confirm whether an outbreak of Plasmodium vivax malaria is border-spill malaria and assess the effects of China's public health response along China-Myanmar border. Methods: Epidemiological, parasitological and entomological investigations were conducted to investigate the outbreak of border-spill malaria. Meanwhile, comprehensive interventions were carried out to prevent further transmission and reintroduction of malaria. Results: Rapid diagnostic testing, microscopy and polymerase chain reaction were performed and the infections were confirmed as P. vivax. A total of 22 (9.21%) of 239 workers contracted P. vivax during the outbreak. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified that the distance of worker shelters in China within 300 meters to the internally displaced person (IDP) camps in Myanmar was a risk factors associated with malaria infection (adjusted odds ratio 7.5920; 95% confidence interval, 2.6079–22.1013; P = 0.0002). After comprehensive interventions, malaria transmission was successfully interpreted and prevented at the project site till the completion of project on 14 January 2020, and recurrence of P. vivax malaria was not detected by the end of 2020. Conclusion: This study provided robust evidence of border-spill malaria along China-Myanmar border. Malaria parasite reservoir and distance travelled by female anopheline mosquitoes are two determinants for border-spill malaria. The public health response to the outbreak indicates that the malaria surveillance and response system works well in preventing reintroduction of malaria. However, prevention of border-spill malaria is still a major challenge in the Yunnan border area, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kulagangri Dome is located at the eastern part of the Himalayan metallogenic belt. Based on the 1 :50 000 mineral geological mapping and sparse surface engineering, the Gabo pegmatite-type lithium deposit was firstly found at the eastern part of the Kulagangri Dome. Ore-bearing spodumene pegmatite dikes are generally hosted by the marble in the middle unit of the dome, with length ranging from 1 m to 1 200 m, and width ranging from 0. 8 m to 40 m. The main lithium containing minerals in the spodumene pegmatite are spodumene, elbaite and lepidolite. At present, two main Li mineralization zones are controlled by 5 surface engineering. The mineralization zone I is about 2 km long, and includes 2 main orebodies (K1 and K2). The mineralization zone II is about 700 m long, and include one main orebody (K3). The K1 orebody is about 1 200 m long and 5 ~ 40 m thick, with an average thickness of about 20 m. The K2 and K3 orebodies occur as the large lenticular shape, with strike extension >100~600 m and thickness 15~50 m. The total thickness of K2 orebody is 45. 3 m. The average grade of Li2O, Rb2O and BeO is 1.11%, 0.064% and 0.047%, respectively. The newly discovered Gabo lithium deposit is dominated by Li, Be and Rb, associated with Nb, Ta, Cs, W and Sn. Based on the geological survey results, the Gabo lithium deposit is large in scale, and showing considerable potential for further prospecting in the area. The discovery of Gabo lithium deposit is another breakthrough in the exploration of rare metals in the Himalayan metallogenic belt, which is of great significant role in further understanding of the tectono-magmatic evolution and rare metal mineralization in the Cenozoic Himalaya, and further enriching the theory of collisional orogenesis and mineralization in the southern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mucormycosis caused by Lichtheimia ramosa is an emerging and uncommon opportunistic infection in patients with hematological malignancies, with high mortality rates. Herein, we first report a case of pulmonary mucormycosis with Lichtheimia ramosa in a 3-year-old girl recently diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The diagnosis was made using computerized tomography of the lung, metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) of blood and sputum specimens, and microscopic examination to detect the development of Lichtheimia ramosa on the surgical specimen. She was effectively treated after receiving prompt treatment with amphotericin B and posaconazole, followed by aggressive surgical debridement. In our case, the fungal isolates were identified as Lichtheimia ramosa using mNGS, which assisted clinicians in quickly and accurately diagnosing and initiating early intensive treatment. This case also indicated the importance of strong clinical suspicion, as well as aggressive antifungal therapy combined with surgical debridement of affected tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central network architecture takes the information content as the processing object and can better meet the user access needs. However, the traditional network node load balancing and caching strategy has been difficult to adapt to the development of the central network architecture. Therefore, this article proposed a load balancing and cache management strategy based on the central network in order to provide a reference for the architecture and application of the central network. Based on the analysis of the existing network architecture, this article expounded the networking form and characteristics of the central network system. By analyzing the load scheduling requirements of network nodes, combined with the transmission characteristics of resource requests in the central network, a cache node load balancing method suitable for the requirements of the central network was proposed based on the existing load balancing algorithms. In addition, by analyzing the cache management strategy and its impact on the performance of the network system, a cache node information forwarding model with resource requests as the object in the central network environment was given. Finally, through experimental test and comparative analysis, the results showed that the method proposed in this article had certain feasibility and effectiveness. Compared with other typical strategies, the load balancing and caching strategy proposed in this article can better meet the user needs of the central network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On May 5, 2014, an earthquake with a magnitude of Mw 6.1 (the largest earthquake in Thailand so far) occurred in Chiang Rai of the Golden Triangle area in northern Thailand. We had an opportunity to conduct field survey immediately after the earthquake. Serious damage to buildings and casualties of lives were observed, and the estimated Maximum Mercalli Intensity (MMI) of the earthquake is VIII (evaluated according to the MMI scale of the Chinese Standard). No long continuous ground ruptures were produced during the earthquake, but in the epicenter (commonly within MMI VIII extent), massive small linear ruptures (usually several tens of meters long) developed and displayed intriguing structural features, offsetting many roads several centimeters left laterally on NE trending cracks or offsetting right laterally on NW trending ones. The focal mechanism solution of earthquake shows that this is a pure strike‐slip event, and two nodal planes in NW and NE directions had the same motion senses respectively as those of breakage associated with the earthquake. The long axis of the isoseismals and aftershock distributions are in NE direction, which is consistent with the strike of Luang Namtha fault. The 230‐km‐long Luang Namtha fault which starts from the border of China and Laos, runs through northern Laos, and terminates at Chiang Rai of Thailand is predominated by left‐lateral strike‐slip and active in late Quaternary, and two earthquakes over Ms 6.0 occurred along the fault in 1925 and 2007 respectively. This Mw 6.1 earthquake occurred at the southwestern end of the fault. All related features such as evident structural rupturing, elongated orientation of MMI and aftershock distribution, as well as the location of the epicenter, suggest that the Luang Namtha fault may be responsible for the 2014 Northern Thailand earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During tunnel construction, water and mud inrush disasters from completely weathered granite usually lead to the serious casualties and economic losses. Predicting these disasters are vital to the safety construction. Considering the critical erosion condition and flow pattern variation at the three stages (Darcy, rapid, and stable flow stages), a seepage erosion model is developed to perform the coupling analysis of water and mud inrush evolution. The model is shown to have favorable accuracy in real-time predicting the erosion region, ground settlement region, and the main hydraulic parameters (i.e., permeability, water inflow, and mud inflow) by comparison with the laboratory tests and field investigations. Then, effects of the model parameters (i.e., particle diameter, erosion coefficient, and ground permeability) on the water and mud inrush are investigated. Results show that (1) with the decreasing particle diameter, the permeability and the water and mud inflow increase gradually. (2) The erosion coefficient mainly affects the evolution rate and time of the water and mud inrush disaster. (3) The water and mud inrush can be controlled when the ground permeability decreased to the 0.2 time of the initial value. The research findings and the proposed model can provide the reference for the water inrush prevention in a similar project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum phononic systems have attracted great attention in quantum science and technology. However, it is quite difficult to realize strong phonon–phonon interactions at the few phonon level in phononic systems, since direct interactions between phonons are generally very weak. Here, the phonon transport properties and the phonon–phonon interactions in a 1D phononic waveguide with embedded silicon‐vacancy (SiV) centers are studied. The authors show that, mediated by the SiV centers, strong phonon–phonon interactions can be realized due to coherent interferences of the emitting phonon waves with the incident waves. In particular, the embedded color centers can induce an effective attractive or repulsive interaction in space for phonons, corresponding to phonon bunching or antibunching. Besides, it is found that a single SiV center can capture two resonant phonons simultaneously, forming a phononic bound state in the continuum. Comparing with photon–photon interactions in photonic systems, the phonon–phonon interactions are stronger for relatively slower phonon velocity and the strongly correlated phonon properties are promising for constructing various all‐phonon quantum devices in quantum information processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose an experimentally feasible scheme for generating genuinely tripartite entanglement in a hybrid quantum system which consists of topologically protected particle-like excitations (magnetic vortices), cavity microwave photons, and solid-state spins (NV centers in diamond). The magnetic vortices and solid-state spins are simultaneously coupled to the microwave cavity photons via magnetic dipole interaction. By introducing a microwave modulation to the collective spins and under appropriate parameter regimes, we find that the steady state of the system is a genuinely tripartite entangled state where vortices, cavity photons, and spins are entangled with each other. The effect of the introduced modulation on the produced entanglement is analyzed, and we also show that the entanglement is robust against dissipation. This work may offer a promising platform for studying macroscopic quantum effects and quantum information processing with the vortex–photon–spin system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immunoglobulin (Ig) G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a rare and chronic progressive clinical entity, characterized by elevated serum IgG4 along with tissue infiltration by IgG4 + plasma cells. It is an immune-mediated fibro-inflammatory condition that can affect virtually any organ and tissue. IgG4-related lung disease (IgG4-RLD) occupies 14% of all IgG4-RD, with nonspecific symptoms and various abnormal radiographic patterns. Published data on IgG4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis (IgG4-RHP), an increasingly recognized central nervous system manifestation of IgG4-RD, is also limited. Both lung and cranial dura involvement have not yet been reported until now. We further entail a review of the literature on the clinicopathologic features and differential diagnosis of this uncommon disease. We herein report an interesting case of a 70-year-old male patient admitted due to headache and fever. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain revealed extensive dural thickening with marked enhancement. Chest computed tomography (CT) scan showed nodular or mass-like consolidation and focal interstitial change. Thoracoscopic lung biopsy and lumbar puncture were conducted. After careful histopathological observation and consideration of alternative differential diagnoses, he was diagnosed with IgG4-related disease with lung and cranial dural involvement based upon significant elevation of serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) IgG4 concentration. The patient was started on oral prednisolone 60 mg/day (1.0 mg/kg/day) for 14 days, and a tapering dose of 5 mg every 2 weeks followed by maintenance therapy at low dose for 3 months. His clinical manifestations, and serologic and imaging findings improved with steroid treatment. Currently, the patient remains well without disease progression. IgG4-RD should be considered as a differential when diagnosing other similar multisystemic lesions. Clinical examination, careful histological observation, and immunostaining for appropriate markers are essential in establishing the diagnosis. Clinicians should become familiar with this alternative differential diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a common disease of concrete structure in engineering, cracks mainly lead to durability problems such as steel corrosion, rain erosion, and protection layer peeling, and then the building gets destroyed. In order to detect the cracks of concrete structure in time, the bending test of steel fiber reinforced concrete is carried out, and the pictures of concrete cracks are obtained. Furthermore, the crack database is expanded by the migration learning method and the crack database is shared on the Baidu online disk. Finally, a concrete crack identification model based on YOLOv4 and Mask R-CNN is established. In addition, the improved Mask R-CNN method is proposed in order to improve the prediction accuracy based on the Mask R-CNN. The results show that the average prediction accuracy of concrete crack identification is 82.60% based on the YOLO v4 method. The average prediction accuracy of concrete crack identification is 90.44% based on the Mask R-CNN method. The average prediction accuracy of concrete crack identification is 96.09% based on the improved Mask R-CNN method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiac coronary angiography is a major technique that assists physicians during interventional heart surgery. Under X-ray irradiation, the physician injects a contrast agent through a catheter and determines the coronary arteries' state in real time. However, to obtain a more accurate state of the coronary arteries, physicians need to increase the frequency and intensity of X-ray exposure, which will inevitably increase the potential for harm to both the patient and the surgeon. In the work reported here, we use advanced deep learning algorithms to find a method of frame interpolation for coronary angiography videos that reduces the frequency of X-ray exposure by reducing the frame rate of the coronary angiography video, thereby reducing X-ray-induced damage to physicians. We established a new coronary angiography image group dataset containing 95,039 groups of images extracted from 31 videos. Each group includes three consecutive images, which are used to train the video interpolation network model. We apply six popular frame interpolation methods to this dataset to confirm that the video frame interpolation technology can reduce the video frame rate and reduce exposure of physicians to X-rays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While screening for natural product scaffolds as potential anti‐Alzheimer's disease (AD), oxymatrine (OMT) was found to relieve symptoms of AD through diminishing death of neuronal cells caused by microglia‐induced inflammation. In this study, 13 derivatives of OMT were synthesized and their neuroprotective effects were evaluated on Aβ1‐42‐induced PC12 cells using MTT method. In addition, the best neuroprotective potencies were obtained with compounds 4, 6e, and 6f, which were selected for evaluation of decrease in IL‐1β and TNF‐α in Aβ1‐42‐treated PC12 cells. Collectively, these data reveal that derivatives 6e and 6f possess the best ability of diminish IL‐1β production and reverse cell damage in all compounds, which are possible to develop as therapeutic agents for AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cement is widely used in marine concrete, and its resistance to chloride ion corrosion has been widely considered. In this paper, based on a laboratory test, the influence of different hydrostatic pressures, coarse aggregate contents and w/c ratios on the chloride resistance performance is analyzed. Based on COMSOL finite element software, a two-dimensional cementitious materials model is established, and the simulation results are compared with the experimental results. The results show that the penetration depth of chloride ions in cement increases with the increase of the w/c ratio. Under the hydrostatic pressure of 0 MPa, when the w/c ratio is 0.35, the penetration depth of chloride ions is 7.4 mm, and the simulation result is 8.0 mm. When the w/c ratio is 0.45, the penetration depth of chloride ions is 9.3 mm, and the simulation result is 9.9 mm. When the w/c ratio is 0.55, the penetration depth of chloride ions is 12.9 mm, and the simulation result is 12.1 mm. Under different hydrostatic pressures, the penetration depth of chloride ions obviously changes, and with the increase in hydrostatic pressure, the penetration depth of chloride ions deepens. Under the w/c ratio of 0.35, when the hydrostatic pressure is 0.5 MPa, the penetration depth of chloride ions is 11.3 mm, and the simulation result is 12.1 mm. When the hydrostatic pressure is 1.0 MPa, the penetration depth of chloride ions is 16.2 mm, and the simulation result is 17.5 mm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medium‐entropy (Ti,Zr,Hf)C ceramics were prepared by hot pressing a dual‐phase medium‐entropy carbide powder with low oxygen content (0.45 wt%). The results demonstrate that the medium‐entropy (Ti,Zr,Hf)C ceramics sintered at 2100°C had a relative density of 99.2% and an average grain size of 1.9 ± 0.6 μm. The flexural strength of (Ti,Zr,Hf)C carbide ceramics at room temperature was 579 ± 62 MPa. With an increase in temperature to 1600°C, the flexural strength showed an increase up to 619 ± 57 MPa, and had no significant degradation even up to 1800°C. The high‐temperature flexural strengths of (Ti,Zr,Hf)C were obviously higher than those of the monocarbide ceramics (TiC, ZrC, and HfC). The primary strengthening mechanism in (Ti,Zr,Hf)C could be attributed to the high lattice parameter mismatch effects between TiC and ZrC, which not only inhibited the fast grain coarsening of (Ti,Zr,Hf)C ceramics, but also increased the grain‐boundary strength of the obtained ceramics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increase of the long-span bridge, the damage of the long-span bridge hanger has attracted more and more attention. Nowadays, the probability statistics method based on Bayes' theorem is widely used for evaluating the damage of bridge, that is, Bayesian inference. In this study, the damage evaluation model of bridge hanger is established based on Bayesian inference. For the damage evaluation model, the analytical expressions for calculating the weights by finite mixture (FM) method are derived. In order to solve the complex analytical expressions in damage evaluation model, the Metropolis-Hastings (MH) sampling of Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method was used. Three case studies are adopted to demonstrate the effect of the initial value and the applicability of the proposed model. The result suggests that the proposed model can evaluate the damage of the bridge hanger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Re–Os radiometric dating of crude oil can be used to constrain the timing of hydrocarbon generation, migration or charge. This approach has been successfully applied to marine petroleum systems; however, this study reports on its application to lacustrine-sourced natural crude oils. Oil samples from multiple wells producing from the Cretaceous Nantun Formation in the Wuerxun-Beier depression of the Hailar Basin in NE China were analysed. Subsets of the Re–Os data are compatible with a Cretaceous hydrocarbon generation event (131.1 ± 8.4 Ma) occurring within 10 Myr of deposition of the Nantun Formation source rocks. In addition, two younger age trends of 54 ± 12 Ma and 1.28 ± 0.69 Ma can be regressed from the Re–Os data, which may reflect the timing of subsequent hydrocarbon generation events. The Re–Os geochronometer, when combined with complementary age dating techniques, can provide direct temporal constraints on the evolution of petroleum system in a terrestrial basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As teams of people increasingly incorporate robot members, it is essential to consider how a robot's actions may influence the team's social dynamics and interactions. In this work, we investigated the effects of verbal support from a robot (e.g., " good idea Salim ," " yeah ") on human team members' interactions related to psychological safety and inclusion. We conducted a between-subjects experiment (N = 39 groups, 117 participants) where the robot team member either (A) gave verbal support or (B) did not give verbal support to the human team members of a human-robot team comprised of 2 human ingroup members, 1 human outgroup member, and 1 robot. We found that targeted support from the robot (e.g., " good idea George ") had a positive effect on outgroup members, who increased their verbal participation after receiving targeted support from the robot. When comparing groups that did and did not have verbal support from the robot, we found that outgroup members received fewer verbal backchannels from ingroup members if their group had robot verbal support. These results suggest that verbal support from a robot may have some direct benefits to outgroup members but may also reduce the obligation ingroup members feel to support the verbal contributions of outgroup members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Himalayan leucogranites are widely distributed in the North Himalayan gneiss dome (NHGD) and at the top of the Greater Himalayan Crystalline Complex (GHC) and are generally controlled by detachment faults. The ages of these prekinematic, synkinematic, and postkinematic leucogranites can be used to limit the activity of detachment structures (such as the South Tibetan Detachment System, STDS). Research on the STDS activity time in the eastern Himalayas is relatively sparse. In this study, the zircon and monazite U–Th–Pb geochronology of synkinematic and postkinematic leucogranites, which are affected by the STDS and NHGD, in four areas (Lhozhag, Kuju, Xiaozhan, and Cuonadong) in Shannan City, Tibet, China, was measured. The results show that the oldest synkinematic two‐mica granite from Lhozhag, which is affected by the STDS, is 24–25 Ma, so the time of STDS activity is at or slightly earlier than 25 Ma. The youngest synkinematic leucogranite is the garnet‐bearing muscovite granite in Cuonadong at 18.4 Ma. The oldest undeformed postkinematic leucogranite (not affected by the STDS) is the muscovite granite in Xiaozhan at 17.4 Ma. Therefore, the end of STDS activity can be limited to 18.4–17.4 Ma. The STDS includes three forms: detachment fault in the NHGD (northern extension of the STDS), the inner STDS between the GHC and Tethyan Himalayan Sequence, and the outer STDS at the bottoms of synformal klippes. In this paper, the active time limits of the above three kinds of detachment zones are comprehensively summarized. Based on this work, the northward extension (ductile deformation) time of the STDS in the region is considered to be 28–17 Ma. The exhumation of the GHC is mainly controlled by in‐sequence shearing: first, the South Tibet Thrust system (predecessor of the STDS) at the top of the GHC thrust southward at 45–28 Ma, then the High Himalayan Discontinuity fault in the middle of the GHC forms south‐vergent ductile thrusts at 28–17 Ma, and finally, the Main Central Thrust at the bottom of the GHC thrust southward at 17–9 Ma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to choose the appropriate time for the dynamic reinforcement, the time effect of stress field evolution of the surrounding rock was first analyzed in this study. Then the deep soft rock roadway in Xinhu Coal Mine, China was taken as a typical example with regard to how the rheology-affected stress field of the surrounding rock evolved. The calculation algorithm of stress field evolution was given together with the corresponding program developed. Calculation results showed that the peak point of the surrounding rock in the early phase moved faster, where the turn appeared on the 60th day when the peak point lied 6.96 m away from the center of the roadway. Then the peak point moved at a slower pace, and finally, on the 124.8th day, the stress peak point was basically stabilized 7.21 m away from the center. In this way, the appropriate dynamically-reinforced supporting time of the No. 2 North rail-crosscut in Xinhu Mine was determined as 60 days after the primary support. In addition, a dynamic reinforcement technical plan was developed. The primary supporting system was bolt + W-shaped strip + diamond mesh + shallow hole grouting bolt + cable + shotcrete, and the reinforcement support system was bolt + M4 strip + diamond mesh + grouting cable. In-situ observation showed that both the maximum deformation and its maximum velocity in the roof and both walls of the roadway were small. The results indicated that both the reinforced supporting time and the parameters are appropriate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection in a square cavity with rough horizontal walls is investigated at a fixed Prandtl number Pr = 0.7 over the Rayleigh number range of 106 ≤ Ra ≤ 109. We have proposed five models with rough elements of the same height but different spatial distributions to evaluate their influences on the heat transport and flow structures of the system. It is found that the flow reversal can be promoted at a Rayleigh number around 107. In all the rough models, the heat transfer is impeded at a low Ra and enhanced at a Rayleigh number beyond a critical value. Interestingly, the heat transfer and flow structure can be clustered by the sparsity of the rough element distribution. Different scaling exponents for heat transfer are identified for sparsely distributed rough models and compactly distributed models. On the other hand, the spatial distribution of rough elements has little effect on the scaling of the Reynolds number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Miocene postcollisional potassic and adakitic rocks are widely distributed in the southern Lhasa terrane and western central Lhasa terrane. However, coeval potassic and adakitic rocks in eastern central Lhasa terrane were rarely recognized, and their origins and formation mechanism remain controversial. In this paper, we provide new geochronological and geochemical data for the Miocene postcollisional potassic and adakitic intrusions exposed in the Qingdu area, eastern central Lhasa terrane, southern Tibet. The Qingdu Miocene intrusions consist of quartz monzonite porphyry and biotite granite with coeval zircon U–Pb ages of 14.1 Ma and 14.0 Ma, respectively. They have high SiO2 (67.98–75.32 wt.%), Al2O3 (14.13–14.78 wt.%), and K2O (4.06–6.18 wt.%) and low MgO (0.25–1.46 wt.%) contents. They are both enriched in light rare earth elements (LREEs) and depleted in heavy rare earth elements (HREEs), with high (La/Yb)N (25.37–42.32) ratios. The biotite granite samples have low Y (7.10–9.96 ppm) and Yb (0.61–0.85 ppm) contents, and high Sr (229–384 ppm) contents and high Sr/Y (30–41) ratios, which show adakitic geochemical characteristics, whereas the quartz monzonite porphyry samples show potassic geochemical characteristics. They display initial (87Sr/86Sr)i ratios of 0.7083–0.7103, εHf(t) values of −6.7 to −0.1, εNd(t) values of −8.96 to −7.44, (208Pb/204Pb)i ratios of 39.028–39.110, (207Pb/204Pb)i ratios of 15.662–15.684, and (206Pb/204Pb)i ratios of 18.541–18.577. These signatures indicate that both the potassic and adakitic intrusions are more likely to originate from partial melting of a thickened lower crust, which were mainly the products of the binary mixing between the juvenile and ancient crust components. Based on the spatial distributions and isotopic features of the postcollisional potassic and adakitic rocks in the Lhasa terrane, we suggest that the differences of the lower crustal composition played a crucial role in causing the geochemical variations of the Miocene postcollisional adakitic and potassic rocks in Lhasa terrane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The microbial community in oil reservoirs plays important roles in carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen cycling. We identified the microbial composition, abundance, and diversity in two heavy oil wells (W1 and W2) located at Liaohe oilfield, China, that were flooded with higher temperatures, forming a decreasing gradient-temperature field (DGTF) from the steam chamber to the original surrounding formation. The two wells were connected to each other at a depth of 650 m and with temperatures of 249 °C (W1) and 259 °C (W2) in the steam chamber. Water and oil samples were collected from both wells, and 16S rRNA genes were sequenced using Illumina MiSeq (Illumina, San Diego, CA). The number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) was 5499 and 5938 for W1 and W2, respectively, at 97% clustering. In both wells, the dominant bacterial phylum was Proteobacteria. Euryarchaeota and Crenarchaeota were the only two archaeal phyla detected. Terrimonas and Fluviicola were more abundant in the water sample W1–W, whereas Thermomonas, Nitrosomonas, and Sphingobacterium were more abundant in the oil sample W2-O. Aquificae was the only phylum detected in these wells that had not been detected in other oilfields. Excluding exogenous contamination, the results of this study showed abundant in-situ microbial diversity. The heavy oil reservoir has a large DGTF in higher temperature heavy oil reservoirs, potentially affecting the inner environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adsorption of Mg2+ onto soil colloids from a Ultisol and an Oxisol in the presence of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus subtilis was studied in a batch adsorption experiment as a function of the Mg2+ concentration and bacteria/soil colloid ratio. The results indicated that Mg2+ adsorption was enhanced due to P. fluorescens and B. subtilis loading on soil colloids. The larger the amount of bacteria that were adhered to colloids, the greater the increase in Mg2+ adsorption. More bacteria were adhered to the Oxisol due to its higher contents of iron and aluminum oxides, and thus, the enhancement in Mg2+ adsorption induced by bacteria was greater than that achieved with the Ultisol. Both soils had a greater adhesion capacity for B. subtilis than for P. fluorescens, and therefore, B. subtilis was responsible for a greater enhancement of Mg2+ adsorption than P. fluorescens. When the concentration of B. subtilis was 6 mg L−1, the adsorption of Mg2+ on the Ultisol and Oxisol was 2.51- and 2.18-times that of the bulk soil without bacteria. At the same concentration of P. fluorescens, the adsorption of Mg2+ on the Ultisol and Oxisol was 1.54- and 1.92-times that of the bulk soil without bacteria. The zeta potential of the Ultisol and Oxisol changed from positive to negative or became more negative after the two bacteria were adhered onto soil surfaces at pH values from 3 to 8. The increase in Mg2+ adsorption was significantly correlated with the changes in zeta potential of soil colloids induced by the adhesion of bacteria. It was concluded that bacterial adhesion increased the negative surface charge in variable-charge soils, and thus, enhanced the adsorption of Mg2+ by the soils due to the increase in electrostatic interaction between Mg2+ and soil colloids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]