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The Wells-Riley model invokes human physiological and engineering parameters to successfully treat airborne transmission of infectious diseases. Applications of this model would have high potentiality on evaluating policy actions and interventions intended to improve public safety efforts on preventing the spread of COVID-19 in an enclosed space. Here, we constructed the interaction relationships among basic reproduction number (R

To enhance the mechanical performances of traditional honeycombs, a novel combined honeycomb (HKH) was proposed based on the regular hexagonal honeycomb (RHH) and Kagome honeycomb (KH). A systematic investigation of the in-plane dynamic crushing behaviors of the honeycombs was conducted via the finite element method, and the crashworthiness characteristics of the three honeycombs were examined. Using one-dimensional shock wave theory and least squares fitting, a fitting formula of the plateau stress was obtained, and the deformation mechanism of the HKH was determined based on the elastic buckling of the cell wall. The results showed that the HKH exhibited a higher plateau stress than the RHH for any velocity impact, while the negative Poisson’s ratio effect was more significant than that of the KH for low-velocity impacts (the peak Poisson’s ratios of the HKH and KH were −0.312 and −0.286, respectively). Furthermore, the effects of the impact velocity and relative density on the energy absorption and auxetic performances were explored. In this study, a novel design was proposed by combining various cell elements to obtain better crashworthiness, providing a new concept to promote the development of lightweight materials.

Objective: This study compared the long-term outcomes between rotational atherectomy (RA) for specific indications and on-label use of RA for severely calcified coronary lesions. Methods: Data for patients who underwent RA between 2015 and 2020 in a single-center registry were analyzed. The specific indication group included patients with ostial lesions, unprotected left main coronary artery stenosis, chronic total occlusions, stent ablation, angulated lesions, and cardiac dysfunction, whereas patients with none of the above-mentioned characteristics were included in the on-label group. The primary endpoint was compared between groups. Results: A total of 176 patients in the on-label group and 125 patients in the specific indication group were included. Patient clinical characteristics were comparable between groups. The incidence of complications during the procedure was higher in the specific indication group than in the on-label group (20.0% vs. 10.8%, P=0.018). No significant difference was observed in in-hospital MACCE between groups (12.5% vs 9.7%, P=0.392). During 35 (10–57) months of follow-up, MACCE occurred in 46 patients (15.3%). The incidence of MACCE was much higher in the specific indication group than the on-label group (25.6% vs 13.6%, P=0.034). Conclusions: RA for specific indications, compared with on-label use, had a higher incidence of complications during the procedure and poorer long-term clinical outcomes.

Supplementary Table S1. Correlation between the SII and clinicopathological characteristics (training cohort, n=133 and validation cohort, n=123). Supplementary Table S2. Correlation Between SII, NLR and PLR and clinicopathological characteristics in training and validation cohorts.

Purpose: We developed a novel systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) based on lymphocyte, neutrophil, and platelet counts and explored its prognostic value in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Experimental Design: The SII was developed based on a retrospective study of 133 patients with HCC undergoing resection between 2005 and 2006, and validated in a prospective study of 123 patients enrolled from 2010 to 2011. The circulating tumor cell (CTC) level in the validation cohort was measured using the CellSearch system. Prediction accuracy was evaluated with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).Results: An optimal cutoff point for the SII of 330 × 109 stratified the patients with HCC into high (≥330) and low SII (P = 0.029). In patients with detectable CTCs, those with SII ≥ 330 had higher recurrence rates and shorter survival time than patients with SII < 330.Conclusion: The SII was a powerful prognostic indicator of poor outcome in patients with HCC and is a promising tool for HCC treatment strategy decisions. The dismal outcome in patients with high SII scores might be related to higher CTC levels. Clin Cancer Res; 20(23); 6212–22. ©2014 AACR.

Supplementary figure S2. Kaplan-Meier analysis of OS and RFS for (A) NLR and (B) PLR in the training cohort; Predictive ability of the SII was compared with other clinical parameters and the AUCs with 95% CI for TTR in the training (C) and validation cohorts (D) are shown. (*, P

Supplementary figure S1. The optimal cutoff value for the SII was selected by X-tile 3.6.1 software (Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA).

Supplementary figure S3. (A) Kaplan-Meier analysis of OS and RFS for NLR in the validation cohort; (B) Kaplan-Meier analysis of OS and RFS for PLR in the validation cohort.

Probiotics have been used to alleviate disease transmission in aquaculture. However, there are limited studies on probiotic use in modulating tilapia lake virus (TiLV). We assessed commercially available probiotic supplements used in TiLV-infected tilapia and performed mortality and cohabitation assays. We developed a mechanistic approach to predict dose-response interactions of probiotic effects on mortality and immune gene response. We used a susceptible-infected-mortality disease model to assess key epidemiological parameters such as transmission rate and basic reproduction number (R

We prove that Bourgain’s separation lemma [J. Bourgain, Green’s Function Estimates for Lattice Schrödinger Operators and Applications, Ann. of Math. Stud. 158, Princeton University, Princeton, 2005] holds at fixed frequencies and their neighborhoods, on sub-lattices, sub-modules of the dual lattice associated with a quasi-periodic Fourier series in two dimensions. And, by extension, it holds on the affine spaces. Previously Bourgain’s lemma was not deterministic, and it is valid only for a set of frequencies of positive measure. The new separation lemma generalizes classical lattice partition-type results to the hyperbolic Lorentzian setting, with signature ( 1 , - 1 , - 1 ) {(1,-1,-1)} , and could be of independent interest. Combined with the method in [W.-M. Wang, Quasi-periodic solutions to a nonlinear Klein–Gordon equation with a decaying nonlinear term, preprint 2021, https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.00309], this should lead to the existence of quasi-periodic solutions to the nonlinear Klein–Gordon equation with the usual polynomial nonlinear term u p + 1 {u^{p+1}} .

Xu, Wang, Cai, Yu-Jie, Zeng, Qing-Huai, Wang, Wei-Min, Yu, Xin-Fan, Song, Xiao-Bin (2022): Discoxenus Wasmann new to China with description of a new species (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae: Aleocharinae). Zootaxa 5175 (3): 389-393, DOI: https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5175.3.6

The abundance of domesticated sheep varieties and phenotypes is largely the result of long-term natural and artificial selection. However, there is limited information regarding the genetic mechanisms underlying phenotypic variation induced by the domestication and improvement of sheep. In this study, to explore genomic diversity and selective regions at the genome level, we sequenced the genomes of 100 sheep across 10 breeds and combined these results with publicly available genomic data from 225 individuals, including improved breeds, Chinese indigenous breeds, African indigenous breeds, and their Asian mouflon ancestor. Based on population structure, the domesticated sheep formed a monophyletic group, while the Chinese indigenous sheep showed a clear geographical distribution trend. Comparative genomic analysis of domestication identified several selective signatures, including家绵羊丰富的品种和表型主要是长期自然和人工选择的结果。然而，关于绵羊在驯化和改良中所导致表型变异的遗传机制的研究有限。在该研究中，为了探讨绵羊的基因组多样性和选择信号，对10个品种的100只羊进行全基因组重测序，并结合公共数据库中公布的亚洲摩弗伦野羊、非洲地方绵羊品种、中国地方绵羊品种以及培育绵羊品种的225个个体的基因组数据进行研究。群体结构分析表明，家绵羊聚为单独的一类，而中国地方绵羊呈现明显的地理分布趋势。在驯化过程中，发现了与免疫反应（

Dense positrons are shown to be effectively generated from laser-solid interactions in the strong-field quantum electrodynamics (QED) regime. Whether these positrons are polarized has not yet been reported, limiting their potential applications. Here, by QED particle-in-cell simulations including electron-positron spin and photon polarization effects, we investigate a typical laser-solid setup that an ultraintense linearly polarized laser irradiates a foil target with $μ$m-scale-length preplasma. We find that once the positron yield becomes appreciable with the laser intensity exceeding $10^{24}~\rm W/\rm cm^2$, the positrons are obviously polarized. The polarized positrons can acquire $>30\%$ polarization degree and $>30$ nC charge with a flux of $10^{12}\,{\rm sr}^{-1}$. The polarization relies on the deflected angles and can reach 60\% at some angles and energies. The angularly-dependent polarization is attributed to the asymmetrical laser fields positrons undergo in the skin layer of overdense plasma, where the radiative spin-flip and radiation reaction play significant roles. The positron polarization is robust and could generally appear in future 100-PW-class laser-solid experiments for various applications., 6 pages, 5 figures, with Supplemental Material

Background Kounis syndrome is an acute coronary syndrome that appears in the setting of anaphylactic reaction or hypersensitivity. Many drugs and environmental exposures have been identified as potential offenders, and diagnosis and treatment can be challenging. Case presentation A 62-year-old man with recurrent bladder cancer underwent an intra-iliac artery epirubicin injection. After the injection, he developed chest pain and a systemic allergic reaction, with electrocardiographic alterations and elevated troponin-I levels. Emergent coronary angiography showed right coronary artery spasm and no stenosis of the other coronary arteries. This reaction was considered compatible with an allergic coronary vasospasm. A diagnosis of Kounis syndrome was made. Conclusions Kounis syndrome is common, but a prompt diagnosis is often not possible. This case is the first to suggest that an intraarterial epirubicin injection could potentially be one of its triggers. All physicians should be aware of the pathophysiology of this condition to better recognize it and start appropriate treatment; this will prevent aggravation of the vasospastic cardiac attacks and yield a better outcome.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) are employed as an ultraviolet filter in sunscreen products because of their high ultraviolet absorptivity. However, sunscreen sprays may pose health risks due to the toxicity of inhaled TiO2 NPs. Therefore, we estimated the potential human health risk posed by inhaled TiO2 NPs emitted from sunscreen sprays. The physiology-based lung model was employed to predict the lung TiO2 NPs burden caused by long-term exposure. A Hill-based dose–response model described the relationship between lung inflammation and TiO2 NP accumulation. The Weibull threshold model was used to estimate the threshold amount of accumulation inducing 0.5% of the maximum increase in neutrophils. The potential health risk was assessed using a hazard quotient–based probabilistic risk model. All data obtained to date indicate that application of sunscreen sprays poses no significant health risk. However, using data simulations based on the threshold criterion, we discovered that in terms of practical strategies for preventing the risks posed by inhaled TiO2 NPs emitted from spray products, the suggested daily use amount and pressing number are 40 g (95% confidence interval: 11–146 g) and 66 (18–245), respectively. In this study, we successfully translated the potential health risk of long-term exposure to NP-containing sunscreen sprays and recommendations for daily application into mechanistic insights.

BACKGROUND Infective endocarditis (IE) is an uncommon but potentially life-threatening infection, which occasionally develops into acute severe valve insufficiency leading to the onset of heart failure, and necessitates timely intervention. However, the variable and atypical clinical manifestations always make the early detection of IE difficult and challenging. CASE SUMMARY A 45-year-old female who was previously healthy presented with exertional shortness of breath and paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea. She also suffered from a significant decrease in exercise capacity, whereas her body temperature was normal. She had severe hypoxemia and hypotension along with a marked aortic valve murmur. Diffuse pulmonary edema and bilateral pleural effusion were observed on both chest X-ray and computed tomography scan. Transthoracic echocardiography was performed immediately and revealed severe regurgitation of the bicuspid aortic valve. Transesophageal echocardiography was further performed and vegetations were detected. In addition to adequate medical therapy and ventilation support, the patient underwent urgent and successful aortic valve replacement. Her symptoms were significantly relieved and the postoperative chest X-ray showed that pulmonary edema was significantly reduced. Histopathology of the resected valve and positive microorganism culture of the surgical specimen provided evidence of definite IE. CONCLUSION IE should be considered in critical patients with refractory heart failure caused by severe bicuspid aortic valve regurgitation.

Designing Product-Service Systems (PSS) is associated with multiple problems and challenges, usually derived from its multidisciplinarity and partially intangible nature. One particular issue is the high likelihood of ignoring the creation of relevant information regarding one or more PSS elements during the early design phases. Proceeding to later stages (e.g., detailed design) without generating the required information regarding all PSS elements and their relationships may lead to rework and lack of integration. Dealing with this problem requires adequate planning and evaluation of the artifacts (such as documents and models) created in the initial design phases. As a fundamental theoretical basis to support the creation of solutions that may help project managers dealing with this challenge, this paper presents a concept map to structure the concepts that compose artifacts resulting from the initial stages of PSS design and how those concepts interrelate. This concept map aims to structure which classes of information should be defined in the early phases of the design process before proceeding to a detailed design. The concept map was created by extracting concepts and relationships proposed in classifications, taxonomies, ontologies, meta-models, and concept maps in the PSS and servitization fields. Those documents were identified through a comprehensive systematic literature review. The resulting concept map was verified for completeness against formal documentation of two retrospective PSS design projects. The final proposed concept map is composed of 143 concepts interconnected through 278 relationships. In its current format, the concept map may be used as a checklist to support project managers in planning and evaluating early phases of PSS design based on information completeness. Researchers may also employ it to deploy ontologies, approach further knowledge and information-related challenges in PSS design, or structure PSS-related model-based systems engineering approaches. In future research, this concept map shall be deployed in a meta-model based on artifacts commonly used in PSS design, structuring a computational tool to allow and support practical application on planning and evaluating PSS design projects.

In 2018, the Chronic Total Occlusion Club China (CTOCC) presented a new CTO percutaneous coronary intervention (CTO PCI) algorithm. At the end of 2020, an updated CTOCC algorithm was proposed by this group after the adoption of innovative concepts and novel techniques in CTO PCI. The updated CTOCC algorithm summarizes the contemporary CTO PCI practices in China, in which simultaneous contralateral injection and careful angiographic review, along with strategic changes, are emphasized. Additionally, we provide some new recommendations for techniques such as the “move the cap” and “active greeting” techniques and investment procedures.

High magnetic fields at the kilotesla scale have been experimentally generated and finding methods to fully embed such fields into high-density plasma is interesting for magnetically assisted a fast ignition scheme of inertial confinement fusion, laboratory astrophysics, and magnetically guided fast electron beam for broad applications. We investigate diffusion and embedment of an external magnetic field inwards a high-density plasma by analysis and simulation. By introducing the magnetic Péclet number, dimensional analysis indicates that the magnetizing process is sensitive to the jet velocity, temperature, and size of the plasma and gives a phenomenological scaling law of the magnetic field embedment time with an arbitrary jet velocity. The analytical results are verified by magnetic field simulation and applied in 100-g/cm^{3}, 100-μm-radius plasmas with a jet velocity of 0-400 km/s and a temperature of 50-500 eV, typically adopted in experiments. Attributed to an effective electric field from frame transformation, the magnetic field embedment time can be significantly reduced by one order of magnitude when a jetting plasma is adopted with a velocity of hundreds of kilometers per second, e.g., from 5.5 ns in a static plasma to a 0.5 ns timescale in a jetting plasma of 200 km/s. The promoted embedment process favors for various applications mentioned above.

Intermuscular bones (IBs) are mineralized spicules, present in the myosepta of many, but not all, teleost species. IBs are often small and sharp, and they consequently limit how the fish can be processed; the IBs may cause injury or trauma if lodged in consumers' throats or mouths, and therefore affect the appeal of the fish to many consumers. The development of IBs in teleosts is still not fully understood and the molecular basis of IB development remains to be established. Here, the characteristics of IB tissue are evaluated based on single-cell transcriptomics in wild-type zebrafish. The analysis defined 18 distinct cell types. Differentiation trajectories showed that IBs are derived from tendons and that a core tendon-osteoblast cell lineage is related to IB formation. In particular, the functions of 10 candidate genes were evaluated via CRISPR-Cas9 mutants. Among those

Laser-driven radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) is one of the most promising candidates to achieve quasi-monoenergetic ion beams. In particular, many petawatt systems are under construction or in the planning phase. Here, a stable radiation pressure acceleration (SRPA) scheme is investigated, in which a circularly-polarized (CP) laser pulse illuminates a CH2 thin foil followed by a large-scale near-critical-density (NCD) plasma. In the laser-foil interaction, a longitudinal charge-separated electric field is excited to accelerate ions together with the heating of electrons. The heating can be alleviated by the continuous replenishment of cold electrons of the NCD plasma as the laser pulse and the pre-accelerated ions enter into the NCD plasma. With the relativistically transparent propagation of the pulse in the NCD plasma, the accelerating field with large amplitude is persistent, and its propagating speed becomes relatively low, which further accelerates the pre-accelerated ions. Our particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation shows that the SRPA scheme works efficiently with the laser intensity ranging from 6.85×1021 W cm−2 to 4.38×1023 W cm−2, e.g., a well-collimated quasi-monoenergetic proton beam with peak energy ∼1.2 GeV can be generated by a 2.74 × 1022 W cm−2 pulse, and the energy conversion efficiency from the laser pulse to the proton beam is about 16%. The QED effects have slight influence on this SRPA scheme.

Purpose. To investigate the roles of ER stress in Kupffer cells (KCs) and KC-derived TNF-α in the apoptosis of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). Methods. A rat model of liver fibrosis was established. Liver and blood serum samples were collected. Liver function assays, Masson staining, Sirius Red staining, ELISAs, and TUNEL and immunohistochemical staining were performed. Liver function, liver fibrosis, KC phenotype, inflammatory factors, and number of active HSCs were investigated. KCs were isolated, treated with tunicamycin, and then, cocultured with primary hepatic stellate cells. ELISAs, immunofluorescence staining, flow cytometry, and Western blotting were performed. KC phenotype, inflammatory factors, HSC apoptosis, and TNF-R1/caspase 8 pathway activity were examined. Results. ER stress in KCs reduced the levels of liver function markers, reduced the degree of liver fibrosis, and increased the number of KCs with the M1 phenotype and the expression of TNF-α. The increase in KC-derived TNF-α reduced the number of active HSCs and increased the activity of TNF-R1/caspase 8. Furthermore, ER stress in KCs promoted the polarization of KCs towards the M1 phenotype and increased the expression of TNF-α. The increase in KC-derived TNF-α triggered the apoptosis of HSCs and the activation of TNF-R1/caspase 8 in vitro, which was consistent with the in vivo results. Conclusion. ER stress in KCs promotes the polarization of these cells towards the M1 phenotype and increases the expression of TNF-α. Then, the increase in KC-derived TNF-α triggers the apoptosis of HSCs through TNF-R1/caspase 8.

After the 2008 MW7.9 Wenchuan earthquake, the eastern Tibetan Plateau experienced a series of MW>6.0 earthquakes, including the 2013 MW6.6 Lushan, 2014 MW6.1 Kangding and 2017 MW6.5 Jiuzhaigou events. Based on available constraints, we build a three-dimensional viscoelastic finite element model to calculate Coulomb failure stress caused by these strong earthquakes. In this model, the geometry and slip vector of the initial rupture zone of each earthquake are used to better evaluate the earthquake-related stress projection. Considering reasonable ranges of viscosities for the crust and upper mantle in different tectonic units, numerical results show that after the Wenchuan earthquake, the coseismic Coulomb failure stress change at the hypocenters of the subsequent earthquakes increased to approximately +0.012–+0.040, +0.01–+0.03, and +0.008–+0.015 MPa, respectively. With viscoelastic relaxation of the lower crust and upper mantle, the Coulomb failure stress change at the hypocenters of these earthquakes accumulated to about +0.014–+0.042, +0.016–+0.036, and +0.003–+0.007 MPa just before their occurrence. This suggests that the Wenchuan earthquake indeed triggered or hastened the occurrence of the Lushan, Kangding and Jiuzhaigou events, supporting that strong earthquake clustering around the eastern Tibetan Plateau could be related to stress interaction between the seismogenic faults. Besides, ~94% and ~6% of the stress increase around (and before the occurrence of) the Kangding earthquake were contributed by the Wenchuan event and the Lushan event, respectively; the positive Coulomb failure stress change at the Jiuzhaigou earthquake hypocenter was related to coseismic slip partitioning of the Wenchuan earthquake. This means that stress interaction among the earthquakes could be controlled by the combined effect of stress of the previous events and by the complexity of earthquake ruptures. Thus, in researches on the earthquake-triggering mechanism, special attentions should be paid on both details of the rupture model and multiple factors of previous earthquakes.

In fish breeding practices, gamete maturity of females is vital to reproductive success. For some species, it is possible to estimate the female maturation status based on abdomen observation, but quite difficult for some species which mature at big size. To screen out the potential biomarker in fish blood relating to female maturation, we employed the approach integrating the UPLC-MS/MS and RNA-seq techniques to investigate the metabolites and genes reflecting the sexual maturation and spawning of female blunt snout bream Megalobrama amblycephala. The study included four groups, 1-year-old immature female individuals, 2-year-old immature female individuals, 2-year-old sexually mature female individuals, and 2-year-old sexually mature female individuals after 24 h of successful spawning. The upregulated metabolites in mature females were involved in "steroid hormone biosynthesis," "metabolic pathways," "glycerophospholipid metabolism," etc. compared with those of immature individuals. As the key intermediate of steroid hormone biosynthesis, 17α-hydroxypregnenolone exhibited the highest level in 2-year-old mature females than in the immature females. Meanwhile, the metabolites (i.e., dodecanoic acid and myristic acid) participating in fatty acid synthesis exhibited much lower levels in the females after spawning than those before spawning. In addition to the metabolites, the genes involved in ovarian steroidogenesis were significantly upregulated in the 2-year-old immature females compared to the 1-year-old immature females, indicating that the ovarian steroidogenesis plays important roles in ovarian development of M. amblycephala at the early stages. The significant upregulation of genes (i.e., itpr1, camk2, and mekk2) involved in the "GnRH signaling pathway" was observed in the mature females compared with the immature females, which indicated that the estrogen levels increased after female maturation in M. amblycephala. Moreover, many genes (e.g., gck, creb1, tf2-9, ryr2, asgr1, and creb1) regulating insulin secretion and thyroid hormone synthesis were significantly downregulated after female spawning. The dynamics of gene expression and metabolites observed in this study provide novel cues for guiding fish practical artificial reproduction.

Dense high-energy monoenergetic proton beams are vital for wide applications, thus modern laser-plasma-based ion-acceleration methods are aiming to obtain high-energy proton beams with energy spread as low as possible. In this work, we put forward a quantum radiative compression method to postcompress a highly accelerated proton beam and convert it to a dense quasimonoenergetic one. We find that when the relativistic plasma produced by radiation-pressure acceleration collides head on with an ultraintense laser beam, large-amplitude plasma oscillations are excited due to quantum radiation reaction and the ponderomotive force, which induce compression of the phase space of protons located in its acceleration phase with negative gradient. Our three-dimensional spin-resolved quantum electrodynamics (QED) particle-in-cell simulations show that hollow-structure proton beams with a peak energy approximately GeV, relative energy spread of few percents, and number Np ∼1010 (or Np ∼109 with a 1% energy spread) can be produced in near-future laser facilities, which may fulfill the requirements of alternative applications, such as, for radiography of ultrathick dense materials, or as injectors of hadron colliders.

Broodstock of yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco) is collected from lakes or local fish farms, either in the autumn or at least 3 months before the onset of the spring spawning season, and stocked in earthen ponds. Broodstock should have a robust body, be free of wounds and diseases, and be larger than 50 g for females and 100 g for males. The number of eggs spawned varies with the health and condition of the female. Stocking rates for broodstock are 2,250-3,000 kg ha-1. Specially made fish feed for broodstock is available from many feed producers. Broodstock requires a higher quality feed than food fish, with a minimum of 36% protein. Fish are fed at 2-3% body weight daily, two to three times a day. Artificial propagation is carried out from late April to the beginning of May. One-kg fish is injected with 10 µg of LRH-A at the pectoral fin base for both females and males at a ratio of 3:1. Two injections are needed with an interval of 15 hours. The second injection is normally given in the early morning so that the fish spawn at night. Immediately after administration of the hormone, the broodstock is released into cement breeding tanks with patches of palm fronds laid on the bottom. Yellow catfish spawn after a latency period of 18-24 hours. Incubation time is generally 3-4 days at a water temperature of 24-26°C. After hatching, the larvae are kept in concrete tanks without feeding for 3-4 days before yolk sac absorption. They are kept in the same tanks for 7-10 days, during which small zooplankton are supplied as feed. After the fry reach 1 cm, they are transferred to nursing ponds for growing to fingerlings. Fry are stocked in fry nursing ponds at a density of 450,000-750,000 fry ha-1 and fed with commercial powder feed. After 6 months, the fish can reach a weight of 20 g; they are then released into grow-out ponds. The stocking density for grow-out ponds is 150,000-180,000 fish ha-1. The growth of male and female yellow catfish differs greatly. The male usually grows to 100-200 g, whereas the female can only reach 50-100 g after 1 year of culture. The market size for yellow catfish is above 50 g per fish.

Intermuscular bones (IBs) are mineralized spicules, present in the myosepta of many, but not all, teleost species. IBs are often small and sharp, and they consequently limit how the fish can be processed; the IBs may cause injury or trauma if lodged in consumers’ throats or mouths, and therefore affect the appeal of the fish to many consumers. The development of IBs in teleosts is still not fully understood and the molecular basis of IB development remains to be established. Here, the characteristics of IB tissue are evaluated based on single-cell transcriptomics in wild-type zebrafish. The analysis defined 18 distinct cell types. Differentiation trajectories showed that IBs are derived from tendons and that a core tendon-osteoblast cell lineage is related to IB formation. In particular, the functions of 10 candidate genes were evaluated via CRISPR-Cas9 mutants. Among those, runx2b−/− mutants completely lost IBs, while swimming performance, growth and bone mineral density were not significantly different from runx2b+/+ zebrafish. Comparative single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis in runx2b−/− and runx2b+/+ zebrafish revealed the role of osteoblasts in IB formation. In addition, differentially expressed genes were enriched in the transforming growth factor β/bone morphogenetic protein (TGF-β/BMP) pathway after runx2b deletion. This study provides evidence for the crucial role of runx2b regulation in IB formation. Genetic breeding can target runx2b regulation and generate strains of commercial fish species without IBs, which can improve the safe consumption and economic value of many farmed fish species.

Despite increasing the public awareness of ubiquity of microplastics (MPs) in air, the issue on particular source of tire wear particles (TWPs) emission into atmosphere and their exposure-associated human health has not received the attention it deserves. Here we linked vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT) estimates covering demography, socio-environmental, and transportation features and emission factors to predict regional emission patterns of TWP-derived atmospheric MPs. A data-driven probabilistic approach was developed to consider variability across the datasets and uncertainty of model parameters in terms of country-level and vehicle-type emissions. We showed that country-specific VKT from billion to trillion vehicle-kilometer resulted in 10

Oxytetracycline (OTC), one of the most important antibiotics in aquaculture industry, has been linked to emergence of antibiotic resistant genes in the aquatic environment. Given rapid growth of the aquaculture industry and unregulated use of antibiotics, it is necessary to implement measures to mitigate the impact of antibiotic resistance risk on environmental and human health. However, there is a lack of quantitative models to properly assess risk of antibiotic resistance associated with environmentally relevant antibiotic residues. To address this issue, here we developed a computational framework to assess antibiotic resistance risk posed by low-concentration OTC in aquaculture ponds and rivers across Taiwan regions. To this end, estimated amount of aquaculture used OTC as a crucial input parameter was incorporated into a multimedia fugacity model to predict environmental concentrations of OTC in surface water/sediment. A pharmacodynamic-based dose–response model was used to characterize the OTC concentration–antibiotic resistance relationships. The risk of antibiotic resistance selection in an aquatic environment could be assessed based on a probabilistic risk model. We also established a control measure model to manage the risks of substantial OTC-induced antibiotic resistance impacts. We found that OTC residues were likely to pose a high risk of tetracycline resistance (tetR) genes selection in aquaculture ponds among all the study basins, whereas risk of tetR genes selection in rivers experienced a variably changing fashion. We also showed that it was extremely difficult to moderate the tetR genes selection rates to less than 10% increase in aquaculture ponds situated at northeastern river basins in that the minimum reductions on OTC emission rates during spring, summer, and autumn were greater than 90%. On the other hand, water concentrations of OTC during spring and summer in southwestern rivers should be prioritized to be severely limited by reducing 67 and 25% of OTC emission rate, respectively. Overall, incorporating a computational fugacity model into a risk assessment framework can identify relative higher risk regions to provide the risk-based control strategies for public health decision-making and development of robust quantitative methods to zero-in on environment with high risk of tetR genes selection in relation to aquaculture-used pharmaceutical residues.

Summary Urbanization is a pressing challenge for earth’s humans because it is changing not only natural environments but also agricultural lands. Yet, the consequences of cropland loss on pest insect populations that largely depend on these habitats remain largely unclear. We used a 17-year data set to investigate the dynamics of three moth pest species (i.e., striped stem borer, yellow stem borer, and pink stem borer) and their driving forces across the largest mega-urban region of China. Total abundance of three pest species is declined by about 80%, which was strongly associated with cropland loss during rapid urbanization. Our findings indicate that not only the increasing conversion of natural areas to human-dominated landscapes but also that of agricultural lands to urban landscapes can be critical to insect populations. It is therefore essential to monitor and understand the insect dynamics in rapidly urbanizing regions, which are currently found in many developing countries worldwide., Graphical abstract, Highlights • Urbanization has worldwide dramatic impacts on the earth's insects • Its relation to declining farmland pest insect populations remains greatly understudied • Consistent moth population decline coincided with a rapid process of urbanization • About 80% of such decline was due to loss of agricultural land, Ecology; Entomology; Agricultural science; Economic entomology

Water-based coherent detection of broadband terahertz (THz) wave has been recently proposed with superior performances, which can alleviate the limited detection bandwidth and high probe laser energy requirement in the solid- and air-based detection schemes, respectively. Here, we demonstrate that the water-based detection method can be extended to the aqueous salt solutions and the sensitivity can be significantly enhanced. The THz coherent detection signal intensity scales linearly with the third-order nonlinear susceptibility χ(3) or quadratically with the linear refractive index η0 of the aqueous salt solutions, while the incoherent detection signal intensity scales quadratically with χ(3) or quartically with η0, proving the underlying mechanism is the four-wave mixing. Both the coherent and incoherent detection signal intensities appear positive correlation with the solution concentration. These results imply that the liquid-based THz detection scheme could provide a new technique to measure χ(3) and further investigate the physicochemical properties in the THz band for various liquids.

The spin effect of electrons/positrons ($e^-$/$e^+$) and polarization effect of $\gamma$ photons are investigated in the interaction of two counter-propagating linearly polarized 10-PW-class laser pulses with a thin foil target. The processes of nonlinear Compton scattering and nonlinear Breit-Wheeler pair production based on spin- and polarization-resolved probabilities are implemented into the particle-in-cell (PIC) algorithm by Monte Carlo methods. It is found from PIC simulations that the average degree of linear polarization of emitted $\gamma$ photons can exceed $50\%$. This polarization effect leads to reduced positron yield by about $10\%$. At some medium positron energies, the reduction can reach $20\%$. Furthermore, we also observe that the local spin polarization of $e^-$/$e^+$ leads to a slight decrease of the positron yield about $2\%$ and some anomalous phenomena about the positron spectrum and photon polarization at the high-energy range, due to spin-dependent photon emissions. Our results indicate that spin and polarization effects should be considered in calculating the pair production and laser-plasma interaction with the laser power of 10-PW class., Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures

Objective A retrospective analysis of the clinical and pathological features of an anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) with cavernous sinus syndrome as its first symptom. Methods and Results A 35-year-old woman had head and facial pain for a month, diplopia for 7 d, right eyelid drooped for 4 d. Head MRI showed abnormal signals in right cavernous sinus, and pituitary adenoma or carvernous sinus syndrome were considered. Partial tumor resection was performed after hormone therapy was failed. Histological manifestations revealed that the tumor cells were diffuse and heterogeneous with abundant and pink stained cytoplasm, round, oval, irregular or kidney-shaped nuclei. Immunohistochemical staining showed that CD30 and CD56 were positive on the membrane, and epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) was positive on membrane and cytoplasm, and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) was negative. Ki-67 labeling index was 80%. Unfortunately, this patient died 3 weeks later after the operation, because of severe illness and intolerance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Conclusions The diagnosis of ALCL should be considered when cavernous sinus syndrome as the clinical symptom, and pathological examination should be performed if necessary. It should be differentiated from some tumors, such as undifferentiated non-keratinizing nasopharyngeal carcinoma, germinoma, plasmablastic lymphoma, malignant melanoma and Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). DOI:10.3969/j.issn.1672-6731.2019.09.014