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The distribution of industrial heat sources (IHSs) is a crucial indicator for evaluating energy consumption and air pollution levels. However, there is a notable lack of IHS datasets in China that are frequently updated, span long periods, contain detailed characteristic information, have been individually validated and are publicly available. In this study, IHS datasets from China between 2012 and 2021 were constructed using the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) I Band 375 m NRT Active Fire/Hotspots (ACF) Product (VNP14IMGTDL_NRT) to monitor and analyse large‐scale IHSs. First, a density segmentation method based on an improved K‐means algorithm using ACF data and spatial topological correlation analysis was conducted to construct the IHS. Then, 4410 records covering China between 2012 and 2021, with 21 attributes, were obtained and verified, with an individual identification precision of 95.08% via manual verification based on high‐resolution remote‐sensing images and point of interest (POI) data. Finally, the trend of the spatiotemporal variation in IHSs was analysed using a long time series. The results showed that the spatial distribution of IHSs in China from 2012 to 2021 exhibited local aggregation and a gradual shift from east to west. In addition, the number of IHSs in China showed an initial increasing trend from 2012 to 2014, followed by a decrease since 2014, consistent with national energy reform‐related policies. The results of this study indicate the temporal variation in IHSs, enhance the precision of identifying fire location categories and demonstrate the potential for improving energy efficiency, reducing emissions and ensuring sustainable development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arid oasis ecosystems are susceptible and fragile ecosystems on Earth. Studying the interaction between deserts, oases, and impervious surfaces is an essential breakthrough for the harmonious and sustainable development of people and land in drylands. Based on gridded data such as land use and NDVI, this article analyzes the interaction characteristics between oases, deserts, and impervious surfaces in northern Egypt and examines their dynamics using modeling and geographic information mapping methods. The results show the following: In terms of the interaction between deserts and oases, the primary manifestation was the expansion of oases and the reduction of deserts. During the study period, the oases in the Nile Delta and Fayoum District increased significantly, with the area of oases in 2020 being 1.19 times the area in 2000, which shows a clear trend of advance of people and retreat of sand. The interaction between oases and impervious surfaces was mainly observed in the form of the spread of impervious surfaces on arable land into oases. During the study period, the area of impervious surfaces increased 2.32 times. The impervious surface expanded over 1903.70 km2 of arable land, accounting for 66.67% of the expanded area. The central phenomenon between the impervious surface and the desert was the encroachment of the covered area of the impervious surface into the desert, especially around the city of Cairo. Population growth and urbanization are the two central drivers between northern Egypt's oases, deserts, and impervious surfaces. The need for increased food production due to population growth has forced oases to move deeper into the desert, and occupation of arable land due to urbanization has led to increasing pressure on arable land, creating a pressure-conducting dynamic mechanism. Finally, countermeasures for sustainable regional development are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use change has a significant impact on the sustainability of ecosystems, and ecological security patterns (ESPs) can improve environmental quality through spatial planning. This study explored a multi-scenario ESP framework by integrating future land use simulation (FLUS) and minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) for urban agglomeration along the Yellow River Basin (YRB) in Ningxia. The research involved simulating land use change in 2035 under four development scenarios, identifying ecological security networks, and evaluating network stability for each scenario. The study revealed that the ecological sources under different development scenarios, including a natural development scenario (NDS), an economic development scenario (EDS), a food security scenario (FSS), and an ecological protection scenario (EPS), were 834.82 km2, 715.46 km2, 785.56 km2, and 1091.43 km2, respectively. The overall connectivity values (OG) for these scenarios were 0.351, 0.466, 0.334, and 0.520, respectively. It was found that under an EPS, the ESPs had the largest area of ecological sources and the most stable ecological network structure, which can effectively protect natural habitats. This study provides a valuable method for identifying ESPs that can respond to diversity and the uncertainty of future development. It can assist decision-makers in enhancing the ecological quality of the study area while considering various development scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatiotemporal distribution of industrial heat sources (IHS) is an important indicator for assessing levels of energy consumption and air pollution. Continuous, comprehensive, dynamic monitoring and publicly available datasets of global IHS (GIHS) are lacking and urgently needed. In this study, we built the first long-term (2012–2021) GIHS dataset based on the density-based spatiotemporal clustering method using multi-sources remote sensing data. A total of 25,544 IHS objects with 19 characteristics are identified and validated individually using high-resolution remote sensing images and point of interest (POI) data. The results show that the user's accuracy of the GIHS dataset ranges from 90.95% to 93.46%, surpassing other global IHS products in terms of accuracy, omission rates, and granularity. This long-term GIHS dataset serves as a valuable resource for understanding global environmental changes and making informed policy decisions. Its availability contributes to filling the gap in GIHS data and enhances our knowledge of global-scale industrial heat sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This retrospective study aimed to assess the impact of hysteroscopic septum incision on in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes among infertile women diagnosed with a complete septate uterus and no history of recurrent pregnancy loss. Methods: The study was conducted at a tertiary reproductive center affiliated with a university hospital and involved 78 women with a complete septate uterus. Among them, 34 women underwent hysteroscopic septum incision, while 44 women opted for expectant management. The primary outcome measure was the live birth rate, while secondary outcomes included clinical pregnancy rate, preterm birth rate, miscarriage rate, and ongoing pregnancy rate. Results: Women who underwent hysteroscopic septum incision demonstrated a comparable likelihood of achieving a live birth compared to those managed expectantly (25% vs. 25%, Relative Risk (RR): 1.000, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 0.822 to 1.216). No preterm births occurred in either group. The clinical pregnancy rate, ongoing pregnancy rate, and miscarriage rate showed no significant differences between the surgical group and the expectant management group. Subgroup analyses based on the type of embryo transferred also revealed no significant differences in outcomes. Conclusions: Hysteroscopic septum incision does not appear to yield improved IVF outcomes compared to expectant management in infertile women with a complete septate uterus and no history of recurrent pregnancy loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial heat sources (IHSs) are key contributors to anthropogenic heat, air pollution, and carbon emissions. Accurately and automatically detecting their production areas (IHSPAs) on a large scale is vital for environmental monitoring and decision making, yet this is challenged by the lack of high-resolution thermal data. Sustainable Development Science Satellite 1 (SDGSAT-1) thermal infrared spectrometer (TIS) data with the highest resolution (30 m) in the civilian field and a three-band advantage were first introduced to detect IHSPAs. In this study, an IHSPA identification model using multi-features extracted from SDGSAT-1 TIS and Landsat OLI data and support vector machine (SVM) was proposed. First, three brightness temperatures and four thermal radiation indices using SDGSAT-1 TIS and Landsat OLI data were designed to enlarge the temperature difference between IHSPAs and the background. Then, 10 features combined with three indices from Landsat OLI images with the same spatial resolution (30 m) and stable data were extracted. Second, an IHSPA identification model based on SVM and multi-feature extraction was constructed to identify IHSPAs. Finally, the IHS objects were manually delineated and verified using the identified IHSPAs and Google Earth images. Some conclusions were obtained from different comparisons in Wuhai, China: (1) IHSPA identification based on SVM using thermal and optical features can detect IHSPAs and obtain the best results compared with different features and identification models. (2) The importance of using thermal features from the SDGSAT-1 TIS to detect IHSPAs was demonstrated by different importance analysis methods. (3) Our proposed method can detect more IHSs, with greater spatial coverage and smaller areas, compared with the methods of Ma and Liu. This new way to detect IHSPAs can obtain higher-spatial-resolution emissions of IHSs on a large scale and help decision makers target environmental monitoring, management, and decision making in industrial plant processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Designing and optimizing ecological security pattern (ESP) is an effective solution to formulate landscape planning. The commonly used network analysis for ESP optimization abstracts ecological sources and ecological corridors as homogeneous nodes and edges, ignoring the differentiated landscape pattern and patch stability. Objectives: It is aimed to construct ESP considering pattern and function, to explore the relationship of patch stability and network connectivity conservation objectives, and to optimize ESP with the integration of the two objectives. Methods: We proposed a framework for constructing ESP based on ecosystem health and human footprint, and optimizing ESP with network robustness analysis. Land use conflict analysis and node/ edge removal method were further used to assess patch stability and network connectivity, respectively. Results: ESP of Ningxia was composed of 71 ecological sources covering an area of 10970.25 km2, and 150 ecological corridors covering an area of 3950.88 km2. The ecological sources and ecological corridors along the Yellow River had high patch stability but low network connectivity, while the largest ecological source had both high values of the two indicators. With the removal of nodes and edges, connectivity robustness, global efficiency, and equivalent connectivity of the ESP decreased from 1, 0.29, and 342.80 to 0, respectively. The variation trends of the three indicators under different removal scenarios were inconsistent. There was a distinct trade-off between the conservation objectives of patch stability and network connectivity. Conclusions: This study highlighted how to balance different conservation objectives in landscape planning. Our framework can provide guidance for conservation planners to construct and optimize ESP without losing information due to the element abstraction in network analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is crucial to detect and classify industrial heat sources for sustainable industrial development. Sustainable Development Science Satellite 1 (SDGSAT-1) thermal infrared spectrometer (TIS) data were first introduced for detecting industrial heat source production areas to address the difficulty in identifying factories with low combustion temperatures and small scales. In this study, a new industrial heat source identification and classification model using SDGSAT-1 TIS and Landsat 8/9 Operational Land Imager (OLI) data was proposed to improve the accuracy and granularity of industrial heat source recognition. First, multiple features (thermal and optical features) were extracted using SDGSAT-1 TIS and Landsat 8/9 OLI data. Second, an industrial heat source identification model based on a support vector machine (SVM) and multiple features was constructed. Then, industrial heat sources were generated and verified based on the topological correlation between the identification results of the production areas and Google Earth images. Finally, the industrial heat sources were classified into six categories based on point-of-interest (POI) data. The new model was applied to the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region of China. The results showed the following: (1) Multiple features enhance the differentiation and identification accuracy between industrial heat source production areas and the background. (2) Compared to active-fire-point (ACF) data (375 m) and Landsat 8/9 thermal infrared sensor (TIRS) data (100 m), nighttime SDGSAT-1 TIS data (30 m) facilitate the more accurate detection of industrial heat source production areas. (3) Greater than 2~6 times more industrial heat sources were detected in the BTH region using our model than were reported by Ma and Liu. Some industrial heat sources with low heat emissions and small areas (53 thermal power plants) were detected for the first time using TIS data. (4) The production areas of cement plants exhibited the highest brightness temperatures, reaching 301.78 K, while thermal power plants exhibited the lowest brightness temperatures, averaging 277.31 K. The production areas and operational statuses of factories could be more accurately identified and monitored with the proposed approach than with previous methods. A new way to estimate the thermal and air pollution emissions of industrial enterprises is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cement industry, as one of the primary contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, accounts for 7% of the world's carbon dioxide emissions. There is an urgent need to establish a rapid method for detecting cement plants to facilitate effective monitoring. In this study, a comprehensive method based on YOLOv5-IEG and the Thermal Signature Detection module using Google Earth optical imagery and SDGSAT-1 thermal infrared imagery was proposed to detect large-scale cement plant information, including geographic location and operational status. The improved algorithm demonstrated an increase of 4.8% in accuracy and a 7.7% improvement in MAP@.5:95. In a specific empirical investigation in China, we successfully detected 781 large-scale cement plants with an accuracy of 90.8%. Specifically, of the 55 cement plants in Shandong Province, we identified 46 as operational and nine as non-operational. The successful application of advanced models and remote sensing technology in efficiently and accurately tracking the operational status of cement plants provides crucial support for environmental protection and sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prevalent high-energy, high-pollution and high-emission economic model has led to significant air pollution challenges in recent years. The industrial sector in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region is a notable source of atmospheric pollutants, with industrial heat sources (IHSs) being primary contributors to this pollution. Effectively managing emissions from these sources is pivotal for achieving air pollution control goals in the region. A new three-stage model using multi-source long-term data was proposed to estimate atmospheric, delicate particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations caused by IHS. In the first stage, a region-growing algorithm was used to identify the IHS radiation areas. In the second and third stages, based on a seasonal trend decomposition procedure based on Loess (STL), multiple linear regression, and U-convLSTM models, IHS-related PM2.5 concentrations caused by meteorological and anthropogenic conditions were removed using long-term data from 2012 to 2021. Finally, this study analyzed the spatial and temporal variations in IHS-related PM2.5 concentrations in the BTH region. The findings reveal that PM2.5 concentrations in IHS radiation areas were higher than in background areas, with approximately 33.16% attributable to IHS activities. A decreasing trend in IHS-related PM2.5 concentrations was observed. Seasonal and spatial analyses indicated higher concentrations in the industrially dense southern region, particularly during autumn and winter. Moreover, a case study in Handan's She County demonstrated dynamic fluctuations in IHS-related PM2.5 concentrations, with notable reductions during periods of industrial inactivity. Our results aligned closely with previous studies and actual IHS operations, showing strong positive correlations with related industrial indices. This study's outcomes are theoretically and practically significant for understanding and addressing the regional air quality caused by IHSs, contributing positively to regional environmental quality improvement and sustainable industrial development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device (LNG-IUD) during controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) in patients with early-stage endometrioid endometrial cancer (EEC). Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on patients with stage IA1 EEC who achieved complete response after fertility-sparing treatment from December 2018 to December 2021, with all the women who underwent COS having LNG-IUDs inserted in their uterine cavity. Results: 16 patients were enrolled who underwent 26 COS cycles and average age was 33.19 ± 4.04 years. 12 patients had 19 subsequent frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycles. Among the other four patients, no embryos were obtained in 1 patient, 1 patient got pregnancy spontaneously with term delivery after COS, 1 patient relapsed before FET, and 1 patient did not receive embryo transfer for personal reason. Among 19 FET cycles, the clinical pregnancy and live birth rates in each ET cycle were 36.84% (7/19) and 26.32% (5/19), respectively. 7 clinical pregnancies resulted in 2 miscarriages (28.6%), and 5 live births (71.4%). Totally 6 patients achieved 7 live births, and the cumulative live birth rate was 37.5% (6/16). Three (18.75%) out of 16 patients relapsed after COS during the follow-up period (31.31 ± 15.89 months) and two of them were initially diagnosed with moderately differentiated EEC. Time interval from COS to relapse was 6.63,11.67 and 16.23 months, respectively. Conclusion: The combination of LNG-IUD treatment and segmented IVF may be a viable treatment strategy to improve oncological and reproductive outcomes for patients with early-stage EEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The desert–oasis interaction zone plays a crucial role in safeguarding oasis ecological security and maintaining stability within oases. This paper proposed a framework of EN-DSS, based on long-term remote sensing data and fundamental data, adopted morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) and Linkage Mapper among other methods, and it took Lingwu City in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, which is located in the desert–oasis interaction zone in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, as a case study. The results indicate the following: since 1995, this desert–oasis system has exhibited the characteristics whereby the oasis is expanding eastward and the desert is significantly receding. The vegetation coverage has improved overall, forming an ecological security pattern characterized predominantly by shrub forests, which is referred to as the "one core, two corridors, three zones, and multiple clusters" pattern. This pattern has significantly reduced the risk of wind and sand erosion in the agricultural irrigation areas along the Yellow River. However, the construction of this ecological security pattern still faces challenges, including high construction and maintenance costs and the need to enhance the network's quality. In the future, it will be necessary to strengthen the integrated ecological network construction of ecological areas, agricultural areas, and urban areas to enhance the stability of this regional ecological network system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To explore the association between uterine volume and in vitro fertilization (IVF) reproductive outcomes of infertile patients with adenomyosis, we performed a retrospective cohort study of infertile patients with adenomyosis who underwent IVF from January 2009 to December 2019 in our clinical center. Patients were divided into five groups according to the uterine volume before the IVF cycle. A line graph was drawn to demonstrate the linear trend of IVF reproductive outcomes with uterine volume. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to explore the association between uterine volume of adenomyosis patients and IVF reproductive outcomes in first fresh embryo transfer (ET) cycle, first frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycle, and per ET cycle. Kaplan–Meier curves and Cox regression were conducted to evaluate the association between uterine volume and cumulative live birth. A total of 1155 infertile patients with adenomyosis were included. Clinical pregnancy rate showed no significant correlation with uterine volume in first fresh ET cycle, first FET cycle, and per ET cycle; miscarriage rate showed an upward trend with uterine volume increasement, in which the uterine volume turning point was 8 weeks of gestation; live birth rate showed a downward trend with turning point of 10 weeks of gestation. Subsequently, patients were divided into two groups (uterine volume ≤ 8 weeks of gestation vs. uterine volume > 8 weeks of gestation). Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that patients with a uterus larger than 8 weeks of gestation had a higher miscarriage rate and a lower live birth rate in all ET cycles. Kaplan–Meier curves and Cox regression demonstrated lower cumulative live birth rate in patients with a uterine volume larger than 8 weeks of gestation. IVF reproductive outcome gets worse as uterine volume increases in infertile patients with adenomyosis. Adenomyosis patients with a uterus larger than 8 weeks of gestation had a higher miscarriage rate and a lower live birth rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significant heterogeneity in the spatial distribution of point of interest (POI) data, the absence of human socio-economic activity information in remote sensing images (RSI), and the high cost of land use (LU) data acquisition restrict their application in PLES spatial identification. Utilizing easily accessible data for detailed spatial identification of PLES remains an urgent challenge, especially when selecting a study area that encompasses both urban built-up areas (UBUA) and non-urban built-up areas (NUBUA). To address this issue, we proposed a PLES spatial identification method that combines POI data and land cover (LC) data in this paper. The proposed method first classified spatial analysis units (SAUs) into agricultural production space (APS), ecological space (ES), and ambiguous space (AS) based on the rich surface physical information from LC data. Subsequently, the AS was further classified into living space (LS) and non-agricultural production space (NAPS) based on the rich human socioeconomic information from POI data. For the AS that contains no POI, a simple rule was established to differentiate it into LS or NAPS. The effectiveness of the method was verified by accuracy evaluation and visual comparison. Applying the method to the Jiaodong Peninsula, we identified the PLES of the Jiaodong Peninsula for 2018 and 2022, further explored their spatial distribution characteristics, and analyzed their changes. Finally, we conducted a discussion on the real-world situations and driving mechanisms of the PLES changes and proposed several policy insights. The results indicated that both the spatial distribution characteristics of PLES and PLES change in the Jiaodong Peninsula were obvious and showed significant differentiation between UBUA and NUBUA. Climatic and natural resource conditions, geographic location, macro-policies, and governmental behaviors drove the PLES changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Important for promoting the integrated protection and systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands, and sandy areas, ecological networks form the backbone of the regional ecological security pattern. An improved morphological spatial pattern analysis coupled with a minimum cumulative resistance model (MSPA–MCR) based on multi-source data was used to study, on a provincial scale, the ecological security pattern of Ningxia, an ecologically fragile region in the upper reaches of the Yellow River in China. The results show the following: (1) A reasonable classification of ecological sources and ecological corridors is key to constructing hierarchical ecological networks. Classifying ecological sources by replacing patch areas with energy factors and identifying the importance of ecological corridors by modifying the gravity model with the energy factors proposed in this paper could improve the rationality of the hierarchical structure division of ecological networks. (2) Grassland as the substrate vegetation type is an important ecological source type in arid and semi-arid ecologically fragile areas, and forests and lake wetlands are the main ecological source types in mountainous areas and oasis areas, respectively. The study area was located in the arid–semi-arid transitional area, with a variety of ecological types, such as mountain, oasis, and desert. Therefore, the complex ecological source types of forest–grassland–wetland appear in some areas. (3) There are 45 ecological patch groups that can be classified as ecological sources in Ningxia, including 10 primary source groups. The number of primary source groups is small, and their spatial distribution is unbalanced. There are two categories of ecological corridors, the river corridor and the mountain corridor, and the network connectivity is poor. (4) The ecological network structure of Ningxia is presented as an ecological security structure consisting of one belt, three screens, three corridors, and five clusters, forming a hierarchical nested ecological network security structure system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is of great significance for the sustainable development of steel cities to explore the relationship between the spatial pattern change in steel plants and land cover change during the transformation of steel cities. To address the issue of unsatisfactory results for segmenting steel plants based on high-resolution remote sensing images, due to insufficient sample datasets and task complexity, we proposed a steel plant segmentation strategy that combines high-resolution remote sensing images, POI data, and OSM data. Additionally, we discussed the effect of POI data and OSM data on steel plant segmentation, analyzing the spatial pattern change in steel plants in Tangshan City during 2017–2022 and its relationship with land cover change. The results demonstrate that: (1) The proposed strategy can significantly improve the accuracy of steel plant segmentation. The introduction of POI data can significantly improve the precision of steel plant segmentation, however, it will to some extent reduce the recall of steel plant segmentation, and this phenomenon weakens as the distance threshold increases. The introduction of OSM data can effectively improve the effectiveness of steel plant segmentation, however, it has significant limitations. (2) During 2017–2022, the spatial distribution center of steel plants in Tangshan City moved obviously to the southeast, and the positive change in steel plants was mainly concentrated in the coastal regions of southern Tangshan City, while the negative change in steel plants was mainly concentrated in central Tangshan City. (3) There is a relatively strong spatial correlation between the positive change in steel plants and the transition from vegetation to built area, as well as the transition from cropland to built area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A system for itaconic acid synthesis from cellulose by Neurospora crassa was established, resulting in the highest yield of itaconic acid was 354.08 + 35.99 mg/L. Meanwhile, cellulase activity increased significantly, without any strain modifications for improved cellulase production. Multi-omics analyses showed that itaconic acid synthesis reduced energy production, leading to decreases in trehalose, cell wall, fatty acids synthesis and downregulations in MAPK signaling pathway, cell cycle and meiosis. More importantly, the low-energy environment enhanced the energy-efficient cellobionic acid/gluconic acid pathway, and the cellulase composition also changed significantly, manifested as the up-regulation of LPMOs and the down-regulation of β-glucosidases. Enhancing LPMOs-cellobionic acid/gluconic acid system has the potential to reduce energy consumption of the consolidated bioprocessing. These findings offer an overview of resource allocations by N. crassa in response to itaconic acid synthesis and highlight a series of intriguing connections between itaconic acid synthesis and cellulase synthesis in consolidated bioprocessing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, with the continuous development of information technology, the amount of data generated and hosted by cloud service platforms in urban environments is unprecedented. Mobile edge computing (MEC) is combined with UAV networks to better realize the ability to provide nearby services to a large number of terminal devices in cities. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are highly maneuverable and inexpensive and are good carriers for carrying MEC platforms. In UAV edge networks, we usually face the problem of fine-grained task offloading based on relevant features of urban environments. We need to address high energy consumption and task processing delays to help achieve urban sustainability goals. Therefore, we combine the software definition network (SDN) technology and, on this basis, we propose two task offloading strategies based on an improved EFO intelligent algorithm for different user scales. At the same time, we run the proposed offloading system in the UAV sensor. The experiment shows that, compared with the traditional strategy, the unloading efficiency of the proposed method can be improved by about 10%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from bottom-up inventories have high uncertainties due to the usage of proxy data in creating these inventories. To evaluate bottom-up inventories, satellite observations of atmospheric CO2 with continuously improved accuracies have shown great potential. In this study, we evaluate the consistency and uncertainty of four gridded CO2 emission inventories, including CHRED, PKU, ODIAC, and EDGAR that have been commonly used to study emissions in China, using GOSAT and OCO-2 satellite observations of atmospheric column-averaged dry-air mole fraction of CO2 (XCO2). The evaluation is carried out using two data-driven approaches: (1) quantifying the correlations of the four inventories with XCO2 anomalies derived from the satellite observations; (2) comparing emission inventories with emissions predicted by a machine learning-based model that considers the nonlinearity between emissions and XCO2. The model is trained using long-term datasets of XCO2 and emission inventories from 2010 to 2019. The result shows that the inconsistencies among these four emission inventories are significant, especially in areas of high emissions associated with large XCO2 values. In particular, EDGAR shows a larger difference to CHRED over super-emitting sources in China. The differences for ODIAC and EDGAR, when compared with the machine learning-based model, are higher in Asia than those in the USA and Europe. The predicted emissions in China are generally lower than the inventories, especially in megacities. The biases depend on the magnitude of inventory emissions with strong positive correlations with emissions (R2 is larger than 0.8). On the contrary, the predicted emissions in the USA are slightly higher than the inventories and the biases tend to be random (R2 is from 0.01 to 0.5). These results indicate that the uncertainties of gridded emission inventories of ODIAC and EDGAR are higher in Asian countries than those in European and the USA. This study demonstrates that the top-down approach using satellite observations could be applied to quantify the uncertainty of emission inventories and therefore improve the accuracy in spatially and temporally attributing national/regional totals inventories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of industrial infrastructure in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei(BTH) region has been accompanied by a disorderly expansion of industrial zones and other inappropriate development. Accurate industrial heat source classification data become important to evaluate the policies of industrial restructuring and air quality improvement. In this study, a new classification of industrial heat source objects model based on active fire point density segmentation and spatial topological correlation analysis in the BTH Region was proposed. First, industrial heat source objects were detected with an active fire point density segmentation method using NPP-VIIRS active fire/hotspot data. Then, industrial heat source objects were classified into five categories based on a spatial topological correlation analysis method using POI data. Then, identification and classification results were manually validated based on Google Earth imagery. Finally, we evaluated the factors influencing the number of industrial heat sources based on an OLS regression model. A total of 493 industrial heat source objects were identified in this study with an identification accuracy of 96.14%(474/493). Compared with results for nighttime fires, the number of industrial heat source objects that were identified was higher, and the spatial coverage was greater; the minimum size of the detected objects was also smaller. Based on the function of the identified industrial heat source objects, the objects in the BTH region were then divided into five categories: cement plants (21.73%), steel plants (53.80%), coal and chemical industry (12.66%), oil and gas developments (7.81%), and other (4.01%). An analysis of their operations showed that the number of industrial heat source objects in operation in the BTH region tended to first rise and then decline during the 2012–2021 period, with the peak being reached in 2013. The results of this study will aid the rationalization of industrial infrastructure in the BTH region and, by extension, in China as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the clinical outcomes of unstimulated in vitro maturation (IVM) after oocyte retrieval with gynecological surgery (IVM-surgery) for refractory polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and analyze the influencing factors. Methods: Patients with refractory PCOS who underwent unstimulated IVM-surgery from June 2014 to September 2018 were included in this retrospective cohort study. Matured IVM oocytes were freshly fertilized and subsequently frozen at the blastocyst stage. Frozen-thawed embryo transfer was then conducted according to the desire of patients. Oocytes and embryological outcomes, reproductive outcomes were evaluated. Influencing factors of oocytes and embryological outcomes were analyzed by univariate analysis and multivariate analysis. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to evaluate the predict value of serum hormone levels for oocytes and embryological outcomes. Results: A total of 93 patients with refractory PCOS who underwent unstimulated IVM-surgery were included in this study.13 patients (13/85, 15.3%) had spontaneous pregnancy and live birth after surgery. 34 patients (34/93, 36.6%) obtained blastocysts and received embryo transfer, of which 13 patients (13/34, 38.2%) eventually achieved live birth by IVM. Higher anti-Mullerian hormone, antral follicle count and basal serum luteinizing hormone (LH) levels were strongly correlated with higher number of oocytes retrieved (P = 0.004, 0.004, 0.040, respectively). Higher basal serum follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and LH were significantly associated with higher oocyte maturation rate (P = 0.001 and P = 0.004, respectively) and blastocyst formation (P = 0.036 and P = 0.003, respectively). There was a significant linear correlation between basal serum FSH and LH (r = 0.500, P < 0.001). What is more, basal serum FSH and LH had predictive value for oocytes and embryological outcomes. Conclusion: Unstimulated IVM-surgery provided the opportunity for both spontaneous pregnancy and assisted reproductive technology. Basal FSH and LH were significantly associated with oocyte maturation rate and blastocyst formation of unstimulated IVM-surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The berries of Lycium barbarum L. (Goji) are widely used as a Chinese traditional herbal medicine and functional food because of their reported beneficial pharmacological effects. However, there are reports of Goji berries being contaminated by chemical residues that could pose a hazard to humans. In this study, samples of L. barbarum L. berries were collected from plantations in a genuine production area and supermarkets in Ningxia, China. The major hazardous chemicals, including pesticides (dichlorvos, omethoate, cypermethrin, fenvalerate, malathion, and deltamethrin) and metals (lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), zinc (Zn), and arsenic (As)), were quantified by gas chromatography and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry. In addition, associated daily exposures and health risks were determined using deterministic and probabilistic assessments. The levels of five pesticides from the plantation samples were considerably lower than the maximum residue limits; only dichlorvos was detected in the supermarket samples, and deltamethrin was not detected in any samples. Cu, Zn, As, Pb, Ni and Cd were detected in samples from both sources. The hazard quotient values of individual hazardous chemicals and the hazard index of combined hazardous chemicals were considerably less than 1, indicating the absence of a non-carcinogenic effect of hazardous chemical exposures through Goji berry consumption. The R value of As was much less than 10–6, which shows that consumption of the Goji berries had no obvious carcinogenic risks. The potentially harmful effects of the L. barbarum L. are more likely from berries obtained from plantations than those from supermarkets, and metal exposure is more dangerous than pesticide exposure. However, on the basis of our analysis, no population would be exposed hazardous chemicals exceeding existing standards, and the factors most affecting the health risk were exposure frequency and As content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine the effects of adding growth hormone (GH) into the in vitro maturation (IVM) culture medium of mouse oocytes on pregnancy outcomes. Cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were cultured in a medium with (GH group, 100 ng/mL) or without (Con group) GH. Thereafter, chromosome morphology, spindle morphology, and mitochondrial function were examined. Embryo development and blastocyst quality after in vitro fertilization were evaluated. After the embryo transfer, the implantation sites and pregnancy outcomes were evaluated. The oocyte maturation rate of the GH group (81.8 ± 9.6%) was compared to that of the Con group (81.3 ± 6.9%, P = 0.928). The proportion of morphologically abnormal spindles in GH-treated oocytes (7.1 ± 0.9%) was significantly lower than control oocytes (13.7 ± 1.3%, P = 0.032), whereas the proportion of morphologically abnormal chromosomes and mitochondrial distribution was similar between the groups. The mitochondrial membrane potential (P < 0.001) and ATP concentration (P < 0.001) in GH-exposed oocytes were higher than those in control oocytes. After fertilization, the blastocyst rate in the GH group (33.8 ± 13.2%) was significantly higher than the Con group (16.2 ± 2.0%, P = 0.003). In addition, inner cell mass (ICM) number (13.91 ± 3.48 vs. 7.00 ± 1.91, P < 0.001), total cell number (47.45 ± 8.39 vs. 37.71 ± 4.15, P = 0.007), and the ratio of ICM/total cell number (29.9 ± 8.2% vs. 18.6 ± 5.0%, P = 0.002) of blastocyst were all higher in GH group. The implantation rate (71.2 ± 1.9% vs. 39.4 ± 16.4%, P < 0.001) and litter size (8.50 ± 3.99 vs. 3.00 ± 1.22, P = 0.018) were significantly higher in the GH group. Although addition of GH into IVM culture medium does not improve oocyte maturation rate, it improves oocyte and embryo quality, which leads to better embryo development and pregnancy outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the MODIS13Q1, MODIS11Q2 data and national meteorological station monitoring data and using the methods of maximum value synthesis, the average two pixel model and partial correlation analysis, the authors analyzed the temporal and spatial variation trend of vegetation coverage in the growing season and the interaction of land surface temperature and soil moisture on vegetation growth. The results are as follows: 1 From 2001 to 2018, the vegetation coverage of Liupanshan poverty - stricken area increased from 0. 28 to 0. 45, and showed a decreasing pattern from southeast to northwest. 2 During the research period, there existed a trend of overall improvement and local degradation: the improved area accounted for 51. 91%, the area without significant change accounted for 44. 22%, and the degraded area accounted for 3. 87%. 3 The growth of vegetation is closely related to the annual change of land surface temperature and soil moisture. There are three types of spatial correlation: positive correlation, negative correlation and reverse correlation, but the positive correlation is dominant. 4 The interaction analysis shows that the influence of soil moisture on vegetation growth is greater than that of land surface temperature. Soil moisture condition is the dominant factor affecting the vegetation growth in this area. The improvement of soil moisture condition is very important for the construction and restoration of ecological environment in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the host material has been proved to be a crucial factor affecting the occurrence of the high-level reverse intersystem crossing (HL-RISC, T2,rub → S1,rub) process in rubrene-doped organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), the roles of the charge-transporting layers on this amazing process are still unclear. Very interestingly, herein, we found that the efficient conversion from intersystem crossing (ISC) to HL-RISC is observed by tuning the triplet energies of hole- and electron-transporting layers (HTL and ETL) in rubrene-doped devices. Specifically, when the triplet energies of ETL, rubrene guest, and HTL satisfy the criterion of E(T1,ETL) < E(T2,rub) < E(T1,HTL), the conversion process can be observed under various current and temperature conditions, which can be reasonably explained by the weak energy-loss channel from T2,rub to T1,ETL states and the competition effects of excited states in the ETL and guest. Otherwise, ISC (HL-RISC) will dominate in devices due to the existence (non-existence) of energy-loss channels from T2,rub to T1,HTL states. Furthermore, very importantly, by inserting appropriate HTL or ETL materials with high triplet energies into the control devices with energy-loss channels, we found that the full confinement of E(T2,rub) indeed facilitates the HL-RISC process. Our work deepens the cognition of the HL-RISC process and provides an effective method to achieve the HL-RISC process in organic optoelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high‐level reverse intersystem crossing (HL‐RISC, T2 → S1 → S0 + hν) process has recently been discovered as a promising route for achieving highly efficient organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs), but the prerequisites for the occurrence of HL‐RISC in rubrene is still vague and the reported external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of rubrene‐doped OLEDs are typically limited to several percent. Herein, using the fingerprint magneto‐electroluminescence tools, it is found that the energy confinement of high‐lying triplet states (T2, rub) is of great importance for the achievement of the HL‐RISC process. Namely, when the triplet energies of hosts satisfy the criterion of E(T1, host) ≥ E(T2, rub), the high‐level Dexter energy transfer channel (T1, host → T2, rub) can facilitate the occurrence of HL‐RISC (T2, rub → S1, rub) in rubrene. Most importantly, through selecting an exciplex with a high triplet energy as the co‐host for rubrene dopant so as to simultaneously utilize the HL‐RISC of the dopant and the RISC of the host, a record high EQE up to 16.1% is achieved and no obvious efficiency roll‐off is observed at high luminance due to the absence of triplet‐charge annihilation. Accordingly, this work not only deepens the physical understanding of this amazing HL‐RISC channel, but also provides a new direction for designing a series of highly efficient OLEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Gynecological Endocrinology is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Influence of pre-retrieval human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) priming on outcomes of in vitro maturation (IVM) remains controversial. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of HCG priming before oocyte retrieval on clinical outcomes of IVM cycles in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study analyzing data from the first IVM cycles of unstimulated PCOS patients in a reproductive center of university affiliated hospital from January 2006 to December 2017. Patients received HCG injection before oocyte retrieval were assigned to HCG priming group and those without HCG administration were categorized as none HCG priming (Non-HCG) group. Main outcomes included oocyte maturation rate, number of embryos available, clinical pregnancy rate, and live birth rate. Candidate factors of clinical pregnancy rate was explored by univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: There were 324 patients meeting the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Among them, 129 women received HCG priming and 195 other did not. Women in HCG group had significantly lower basal FSH level (5.17 ± 1.63 vs. 5.80 ± 2.38) than Non-HCG group. Both FSH levels were <10 IU/L and the absolute difference was 0.63 IU/L. Other basic characteristics were similar between groups with or without HCG priming. Oocyte maturation rate was trend to be higher in HCG group (52.68 vs. 48.56%) but no statistical significance was found (P = 0.097). No significant difference in clinical pregnancy rate was found between HCG and Non-HCG groups (31.37 vs. 35.67%). Miscarriage rates (31.25 vs. 34.43%) and live birth rates were also similar between groups. HCG priming was not correlated with clinical pregnancy rate in both univariate analysis (P = 0.468) and multivariate logistic regression analysis (P = 0.538; OR = 1.212; 95%CI: 0.657–2.237). Conclusion: HCG priming before oocyte retrieval may not improve clinical outcomes of IVM in patients with PCOS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Gynecological Endocrinology is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: Differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) and their target mRNAs may lead to alterations in normal physiological status of the tissues and initiate pathological processes. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of the most relevant miRNAs in the eutopic endometrial tissue during the window of implantation in women with endometriosis-related infertility. Methods: In the study, 76 infertile women with a regular menstrual cycle were recruited from the Center for Reproductive Medicine, Peking University Third Hospital between January 2014 and June 2016. We performed a combined messenger RNA and miRNA microarray and bioinformatics analysis of eutopic endometrium in 6 women with and without endometriosis-related infertility at the time of implantation window. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction arrays were utilized to examine the expression levels of selected miRNAs (from 35 patients with endometriosis and 35 disease-free individuals at different menstrual stages). Results: Five differentially expressed miRNAs (miR-142-5p, miR-146a-5p, miR-1281, miR-940, and miR-4634) were significantly upregulated, whereas miR-543 was significantly downregulated in the eutopic endometrium during the window of implantation in patients with endometriosis. Further analysis showed that miR-543 was significantly upregulated at the peri-implantation phase compared with that at proliferative phase in the endometrium of disease-free patients (P <.05). However, the expression level of miR-543 was significantly decreased in patients with endometriosis (P <.05), especially downregulated at the window of implantation phase (P <.05). Conclusions: miR-543 plays an important role during embryo implantation process and is associated with endometrial receptivity. Downregulation of miR-543 may affect embryo implantation, resulting in the pathogenesis of endometriosis-related infertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Decreased oocyte maturation rate (OMR) is associated with worse clinical outcomes in IVF/ICSI cycles. The clinical features inducing decreased OMR remain unknown. The study is designed to explore the factors influencing the incidence of decreased OMR and its effects on clinical outcomes.Methods: This is a retrospective case-control study analyzing data from 20,939 ICSI cycles in a reproductive center of university affiliated hospital from January 2015 to December 2017. Patients with a decreased OMR (< 30%) were characterized as Group A and those with an OMR ≥ 30% constituted Group B. Candidate factors of decreased OMR and clinical outcomes were compared between the two groups.Results: There were 1.3% cycles with an OMR < 30% and 22.16% of all oocytes retrieved (12.87 per cycle in average) were immature. Primary infertility, longer duration of infertility, larger BMI, more previous assisted reproductive times, less oocytes retrieved were risk factors for decreased OMR. Compared with long agonist protocol, patients received antagonist protocol for COH had a higher incidence of decreased OMR. The fertilization rate and subsequent embryo development of oocytes in Group A were worse than Group B. Implantation rate and clinical pregnancy rate were both lower in Group A than Group B.Conclusion: Primary infertility, duration of infertility, BMI, previous assisted reproductive times, number of oocytes retrieved and COH protocol were found to be factors inducing decreased OMR. Patients with decreased OMR had worse clinical outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate the risk of ectopic pregnancy of embryo transfer. Design: A retrospective cohort study on the incidence of ectopic pregnancy in fresh and frozen–thawed embryo transfer cycles from January 1st, 2010, to January 1st, 2015. Patients: Infertile women undergoing frozen–thawed transfer cycles or fresh transfer cycles. Intervention: In-vitro fertilization, fresh embryo transfer, frozen–thawed embryo transfer, ectopic pregnancy. Main Outcome Measures: Ectopic pregnancy rate and clinical pregnancy rate. Result: A total of 69 756 in vitro fertilization–embryo transfer cycles from 2010 to 2015 were analyzed, including 45 960 (65.9%) fresh and 23 796 (34.1%) frozen–thawed embryo transfer cycles. The clinical pregnancy rate per embryo transfer was slightly lower in fresh embryo transfer cycles compared with frozen–thawed embryo transfer cycles (40.8% vs 43.1%, P < .001). Frozen–thawed embryo transfer is associated with a lower incidence of ectopic pregnancy per clinical pregnancy, compared with fresh embryo transfers (odds ratio = 0.31; 95% confidence interval = 0.24-0.39). Female age and body mass index have no influence on ectopic pregnancy. In the frozen–thawed embryo transfer cycles, blastocyst transfer shows a significantly lower incidence of ectopic pregnancy (0.8% vs 1.8%, P = .002) in comparison with day 3 cleavage embryo transfer. Conclusion: The risk of ectopic pregnancy is lower in frozen–thawed embryo transfer cycles than fresh embryo transfer cycles, and blastocyst transfer could further decrease the ectopic pregnancy rate in frozen–thawed embryo transfer cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the classification of high spatial resolution remote sensing imagery, this paper presents a novel classification method for such imagery using deep neural networks. Deep learning methods, such as a fully convolutional network (FCN) model, achieve state-of-the-art performance in natural image semantic segmentation when provided with large-scale datasets and respective labels. To use data efficiently in the training stage, we first pre-segment training images and their labels into small patches as supplements of training data using graph-based segmentation and the selective search method. Subsequently, FCN with atrous convolution is used to perform pixel-wise classification. In the testing stage, post-processing with fully connected conditional random fields (CRFs) is used to refine results. Extensive experiments based on the Vaihingen dataset demonstrate that our method performs better than the reference state-of-the-art networks when applied to high-resolution remote sensing imagery classification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

3-Ketosteroid-∆-dehydrogenase (KstD), a key enzyme in microbial steroid catabolism, catalyzes the trans-axial elimination of the C1 and C2 hydrogen atoms of the A-ring from the polycyclic ring structure of 3-ketosteroids, and it was usually used to transform androst-4-ene-3,17-dione (AD) to produce androsta-1,4-diene-3,17-dione. Here, the KstD from Gordonia neofelifaecis was expressed efficiently in Escherichia coli. E. coli cells expressing KstD were subjected to the investigation of dehydrogenation activity for different steroids. The results showed that KstD has a clear preference for steroid substrates with 3-keto-4-ene configuration, and it exhibits higher activity towards steroid substrates carrying a small or no aliphatic side chain than towards substrates having a bulky side chain at the C-17 atom. The recombinant strain could efficiently convert androst-4,9(11)-dien-3,17-dione into androst-1,4,9(11)-trien-3,17-dione (with conversion rate of 96%). 1(2)-Dehydrogenation of androst-4,9(11)-dien-3,17-dione is one of the key steps in glucocorticoid production. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study reporting on the conversion of androst-4,9(11)-dien-3,17-dione catalyzed by recombinant KstD; the expression system of KstD reported here would have an impact in the industrial production of glucocorticoid in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compressive sensing has emerged as a promising technique for signal processing. Most of the existing reconstruction methods cannot describe the sparsity of an image in different transform domains simultaneously, which results in an instability performance for images. In this paper, a new model based on compressive sensing is developed to describe the sparsity of an image in different transform domains simultaneously. The parameters of the a priori regularization terms, including the structural redundant information of wavelet coefficient, gradient coefficient and nonlocal mean, are adjusted adaptively to balance the influence of each corresponding constraint in the model. Some approximate substitutions are introduced to reduce the computational complexity. In addition, a two-step solution is proposed, in which an approximate image is reconstructed rapidly by picking parts of the constraints of the model. Then, an enhanced reconstruction performance can be achieved by adding the constraint of nonlocal mean. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method provides better performance in both peak signal-to-noise ratio and visual quality with a relatively fast convergence rate, especially at the low sample ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To analyze the treatment outcomes of patients who accepted IVF/ICSI-ET, diagnosed POR according to Bologna criteria. Study Design. Retrospective cohort study of one reproductive medical center, from 1st Jan., 2009, to 31st Dec., 2014. All patients fulfilled the Bologna criteria and accept IVF/ICSI-ET treatment with stimulation cycle. The main outcome measures were clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) and live birth rate (LBR). Results. There were 5770 eligible cycles included in this study. The incidence of POR was 10.3% (6286/62194). The overall CPR was 18.7%, IR was 11.6%, LBR/ET was 11.5%, and LBR/OPU was 8.3%. The cycle cancellation for no available oocyte or embryo was 4.9% and 18.6%, respectively. The subgroup of younger POR patients got highest CPR and LBR/ET, which decreased while increasing maternal age. Within three attempts, the patients got similar CPR and LBR. Conclusion. In conclusion, our study supports the Bologna criteria that defined women with poor IVF outcomes. But those younger than 42 years old with the first 3 attempts of IVF could got acceptable CPR and LBR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To identify whether biochemical pregnancy (BP) and spontaneous abortion (SA) cases have the same clinical characteristics in assisted reproductive therapy (ART), and to assess its predictive value for the subsequent cycles. Methods: Retrospectively reviewed 12,174 cycles in the first in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) cycle from January 2009 to December 2012 of Peking University Third Hospital Reproductive Medical Center. Besides those patients who reached ongoing pregnancy stage, 7,598 cases were divided into three groups: group 1, lack of pregnancy ( n = 6,651); group 2, BP ( n = 520); and group 3, SA ( n = 427). We compared the basic status of patients of the three groups, including ages, body mass index, basic hormone levels, controlled ovarian hyperstimulation protocols, amount of gonadotropin use, and endometrium thickness. The reproductive outcome of the next embryo transfer cycles of the three groups was analyzed. Results: 520 patients ended as BP, and 427 patients ended as SA. The age, primary infertility proportion, body mass index, basic FSH level and basic E2 level were similar among groups. Endometrial thickness, controlled ovarian hyperstimulation protocol, Gn dosage, average oocyte retrieval and ET numbers were also similar. Multivariate analysis showed that only the age ( P = 0.037, OR 1.060, 95 % CI 1.001-1.120) and endometrium thickness on hCG administration day ( P = 0.029, OR 1.136, 95 % CI 1.013-1.275) may result in the differences between BP and SA groups. In the subsequent ET cycles, the total BP rate was 4.37 %, clinical pregnancy rate was 37.28 %, and miscarriage rate was 8.18 %. The clinical pregnancy rates were similar among groups. However, BP group still had the highest BP rate ( P < 0.05, 7.97 vs. 4.01 % and 5.28 %), BP and SA group had higher miscarriage rate ( P < 0.05, 11.76 % and 14.75 vs. 7.41 %). Conclusion: BP and SA in first IVF cycles had negative predictive value for subsequent ART outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzed the clinical outcomes of patients with elevated progesterone level on the HCG day in IVF/ICSI cycles, with different timing of embryo transfer. A total of 123 patients were involved in this prospective randomized clinical study. Group 1: blastocyst transfer group, 38 cases; Group 2: frozen-thawed embryo transfer group (first FET cycle), 42 cases; Group 3: fresh embryo transfer group, 43 cases. The basal FSH level was comparable among three groups (6.7 ± 3 versus 7.0 ± 2 versus 6.9 ± 2.4, p = 0.897). The clinical pregnancy rate was highest in group 2, lowest in group 3, with significantly difference (31.6% versus 38.1% versus 13.9%, p = 0.037). The implantation rate and live birth rate were still lowest in group 3 (21.9% versus 19.8% versus 6.7%, p = 0.016 and 18.4% versus 31% versus 11.6%, p = 0.081). In conclusion, the elevated progesterone level will affect clinical pregnancy rate in fresh embryo transfer cycles. We suggest frozen-thawed embryo transfer for these patients. However, for those patients who expressed the wish to have fresh embryo transfer, they should be suggested fresh blastocyst transfer, if they have more than five good quality embryos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of satellite remote sensing technology and an ever-increasing number of Earth observation satellites being launched, the global volume of remotely sensed imagery has been growing exponentially. Processing the variety of remotely sensed data has increasingly been complex and difficult. It is also hard to efficiently and intelligently retrieve what users need from a massive database of images. This paper introduces an improved support vector machine (SVM) model, which optimizes the model parameters and selects the feature subset based on the particle swarm optimization (PSO) method and genetic algorithm (GA) for remote sensing image retrieval. The results from an image retrieval experiment show that our method outperforms traditional methods such as GRID, PSO, and GA in terms of consistency and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As one of the most important metropolitan areas in China, Xi'an City plays a leading role in the development of the western regions. To impede the decision and policy preferences for environmental and ecological factors, this paper took account of the natural capital depletion of Xi'an City during 1995-2011, considered in terms of constant 1990 price levels. The results are as follows. (1) Natural capital depletion in Xi'an City consistently increased from1995 to 2011, increasing from 14.31×10 yuan to 42.28×10 yuan, with an average annual growth rate of 12.22%. The primary component of natural capital depletion in Xi'an City was the cost associated with fossil fuel resource depletion, while the cost associated with ecological services contributed the least to the total cost. (2) During 1995-2011, the proportion of natural capital depletion to Xi'an City in Yanta and Lianhu districts dropped, whereas in counties such as Gaoling County, Chang'an District and Lintong District, it increased. In 2011, the proportion of natural capital depletion varied between the different counties: Yanta District (15.75%), Weiyang District and Lianhu District (10%-15%), Huxian County, Xincheng District, Beiling District, Chang'an District, Baqiao District, and Gaoling County (5%-10%), and in Lintong District, Lantian County, Zhouzhi County and Yanliang District, it was <5%. (3) The spatial pattern of natural capital depletion varied with different perspectives, for example, from a total value perspective, a nuclear pattern around the administrative center of Xi'an City was evident, whereas from a density per capita of natural capital depletion perspective, a bi-nuclear spatial distribution visible in 1995 had become a poly-nuclear distribution by 2011. Conversely, from a density per hectare perspective, a 'core-edge' pattern characterized by three circles was observed. (4) The natural capital depletion relative to GDP curve was in accordance with the environmental Kuznets curve, while the proportion of natural capital depletion to GDP was the highest in circle III and the lowest in circle I. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]