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Fargesia, the largest genus within the temperate bamboo tribe Arundinarieae, has more than 90 species mainly distributed in the mountains of Southwest China. The Fargesia bamboos are important components of the subalpine forest ecosystems that provide food and habitat for many endangered animals, including the giant panda. However, species-level identification of Fargesia is difficult. Moreover, the rapid radiation and slow molecular evolutionary rate of Fargesia pose a significant challenge to using DNA barcoding with standard plant barcodes (rbcL, matK, and ITS) in bamboos. With progress in the sequencing technologies, complete plastid genomes (plastomes) and nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) sequences have been proposed as organelle barcodes for species identification; however, these have not been tested in bamboos. We collected 196 individuals representing 62 species of Fargesia to comprehensively evaluate the discriminatory power of plastomes and nrDNA sequences compared to standard barcodes. Our analysis indicates that complete plastomes have substantially higher discriminatory power (28.6%) than standard barcodes (5.7%), whereas nrDNA sequences show a moderate improvement (65.4%) compared to ITS (47.2%). We also found that nuclear markers performed better than plastid markers, and ITS alone had higher discriminatory power than complete plastomes. The study also demonstrated that plastomes and nrDNA sequences can contribute to intrageneric phylogenetic resolution in Fargesia. However, neither of these sequences were able to discriminate all the sampled species, and therefore, more nuclear markers need to be identified.

Multiscale micromechanics predictions have been made for effective thermal conductivities and local thermal fields for a novel three-dimensional woven composite thermal protection system material. The multiscale recursive micromechanics approach, which enables micromechanics models to call other micromechanics models (or themselves recursively) to consider finer and finer length scales, has been employed. The multiscale model uses a recently developed version of the high-fidelity generalized method of cells micromechanics theory at each of three length scales. The results focus on the impact of the microstructural geometry representation at each length scale on the material’s effective thermal conductivity, along with the local thermal flux and temperature fields induced in the microstructures.

A novel Gram-stain-negative, aerobic and rod-shaped bacterial strain, designated as HK4-1T, was isolated from mangrove sediments in Hong Kong, PR China. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequence data, strain HK4-1T was found to belong to the genus Novosphingobium , family Erythrobacteraceae , and showed high similarity to Novosphingobium chloroacetimidivorans BUT-14T (96.88 %) and Novosphingobium indicum H25T (96.88 %). The G+C content of the whole genome of strain HK4-1T was 64.05 mol%. The major fatty acids were C16 : 0, C18 : 1 ω7c and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1 ω7c and/or C16 : 1 ω6c). The major polar lipids were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, sphingoglycolipid and two unknown lipids. The predominant respiratory quinone was Q-10. Based on genomic, phylogenetic, phenotypic, physiological and chemotaxonomic data, strain HK4-1T should be classified as representing a novel species of the genus Novosphingobium , for which the name Novosphingobium mangrovi sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of Novosphingobium mangrovi sp. nov. is HK4-1T (=MCCC 1K08252T=JCM 35764T).

The performances of construction supervisors are essential for the monitoring, control, and coordination of the construction process of a project in order to adhere to a predefined schedule, cost, quality and other factors. However, it is challenging to evaluate their performance due to limitations such as data deficiency, human error, etc. Thus, this paper proposes an approach to data-driven quantitative performance evaluation of construction supervisors by integrating an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and activity tracking. The proposed approach contains three parts, namely, index extraction, weighting, data-driven index calculation, and then validation by case study. Firstly, performance indexes were developed based on a literature review as well as surveys and function analysis of the information system for construction supervision (CSI system). Then, the weights of and relationships among of the indexes are determined by AHP. After that, with daily workflow and inspection activities tracked in the CSI system, a method and a software module for automatic calculation of indexes were developed. Lastly, the proposed approach was validated by a real-world case. The result showed that the proposed approach can quantify the performance of a construction supervisor systematically and automatically, which shed lights on how to evaluate the performance of a worker based on the tracking of daily activities. The data-driven process enhanced our strong interpretation of member actions and evaluation indexes, and can boost the performance of every member in an organization.

tvBOT is a user-friendly and efficient web application for visualizing, modifying, and annotating phylogenetic trees. It is highly efficient in data preparation without requiring redundant style and syntax data. Tree annotations are powered by a data-driven engine that only requires practical data organized in uniform formats and saved as one table file. A layer manager is developed to manage annotation dataset layers, allowing the addition of a specific layer by selecting the columns of a corresponding annotation data file. Furthermore, tvBOT renders style adjustments in real-time and diversified ways. All style adjustments can be made on a highly interactive user interface and are available for mobile devices. The display engine allows the changes to be updated and rendered in real-time. In addition, tvBOT supports the combination display of 26 annotation dataset types to achieve multiple formats for tree annotations with reusable phylogenetic data. Besides several publication-ready graphics formats, JSON format can be exported to save the final drawing state and all related data, which can be shared with other users, uploaded to restore the final drawing state for re-editing or used as a style template for quickly retouching a new tree file. tvBOT is freely available at: https://www.chiplot.online/tvbot.html.

The plateau is a special environment with low air pressure and low oxygen content. The average altitude of Qinghai-Tibet is 3,500 m, and the atmospheric oxygen partial pressure in most areas is lower than 60% of that at sea level. In order to adapt to the plateau low-oxygen environment, the human body has developed corresponding physiological structure and functions adjust. In the present review, the regulation mechanism of cerebral blood flow (CBF) under high-altitude environments was elaborated in eight aspects: the arterial blood gas, endogenous substances in the nerve and blood, the cerebral neovascularization, the hematocrit, cerebral auto-regulation mechanism, cerebrovascular reactivity, pulmonary vasoconstriction, and sympathetic automatic regulation, aiming to further explore the characteristics of changes in brain tissue and cerebral blood flow in a hypoxic environment.

The genus Tamlana from the Bacteroidota currently includes six validated species. Two strains designated PT2-4T and 62-3T were isolated from Sargassum abundant at the Pingtan island coast in the Fujian Province of China. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that the closest described relative of strains PT2-4T and 62-3T is Tamlana sedimentorum JCM 19808T with 98.40 and 97.98% sequence similarity, respectively. The 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity between strain PT2-4T and strain 62-3T was 98.68 %. Furthermore, the highest average nucleotide identity values were 87.34 and 88.97 % for strains PT2-4T and 62-3T, respectively. The highest DNA–DNA hybridization (DDH) value of strain PT2-4T was 35.2 % with strain 62-3T, while the DDH value of strain 62-3T was 37.7 % with T. sedimentorum JCM 19808T. Growth of strains PT2-4T and 62-3T occurs at 15–40 °C (optimum, 30 °C) with 0–4 % (w/v) NaCl (optimum 0–1 %). Strains PT2-4T and 62-3T can grow from pH 5.0 to 10.0 (optimum, pH 7.0). The major fatty acids of strains PT2-4T and 62-3T are iso-C15 : 0 and iso G-C15 : 1. MK-6 is the sole respiratory quinone. Genomic and physiological analyses of strains PT2-4T and 62-3T showed corresponding adaptive features. Significant adaptation to the growth environment of macroalgae includes the degradation of brown algae-derived diverse polysaccharides (alginate, laminarin and fucoidan). Notably, strain PT2-4T can utilize laminarin, fucoidan and alginate via specific carbohydrate-active enzymes encoded in polysaccharide utilization loci, rarely described for the genus Tamlana to date. Based on their distinct physiological characteristics and the traits of utilizing polysaccharides from Sargassum, strains PT2-4T and 62-3T are suggested to be classified into two novel species, Tamlana laminarinivorans sp. nov. and Tamlana sargassicola sp. nov. (type strain PT2-4T=MCCC 1K04427T=KCTC 92183T and type strain 62-3T=MCCC 1K04421T=KCTC 92182T).

Porphyry Cu deposits are formed by Cu- and volatile (e.g., Cl, S)-rich fluids exsolved from underlying magma reservoirs. Intuitively, higher magmatic Cl and S contents likely correspond to higher magma fertility. However, the Cl contents of syn-ore magmatic apatite, one of the major Cl-bearing mineral phases in magmas, are highly variable among deposits (from 2 wt %). These variations may be controlled by different timing of apatite crystallization relative to fluid saturation among deposits, but the causes of these different relative timings remain obscure. Here we compile existing chemical data of magmatic apatite and amphibole phenocrysts from 25 porphyry Cu deposits worldwide and use these data to calculate magmatic physical-chemical conditions, such as water contents and magma reservoir depths. We find that the porphyry Cu deposits associated with deeper magma reservoirs are characterized by systematically higher magmatic H2O contents and apatite Cl, but lower apatite F contents and F/Cl ratios compared to shallower deposits. These correlations are best explained by early fluid exsolution and Cl loss that predate apatite crystallization in shallower porphyry Cu systems, which leads to elevated apatite F/Cl ratios. This is supported by the common occurrence of primary fluid inclusions in apatite from shallower systems. Postsubduction porphyry Cu deposits are normally associated with lower apatite Cl contents and shallower magma reservoirs, which is attributed to their formation under relatively extensional tectonic regimes. Our results demonstrate that the magma reservoir depth exerts an important control on the timing of fluid exsolution and accompanying Cl loss. In contrast, relatively high and constant apatite S content among deposits is minimally affected by fluid exsolution, possibly due to buffering of early-saturated sulfate in oxidized and S-rich magmas, and therefore might be used as a better potential fertility indicator than Cl.

Background With the use of targeted drugs in lung cancer patients, targeted drug-induced interstitial lung disease (ILD) has attracted more and more attention. The incidence, time, and severity of different targeted drug-induced ILD vary. Almonertinib/HS-10296 is a third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI). Post-marketing safety and effectiveness of almonertinib have been confirmed. The reported adverse events of almonertinib were mainly an increase in creatine phosphokinase, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase, and onset of rash. Almonertinib-induced ILD is rare. Case report This paper reported the case of a patient with lung adenocarcinoma complicated with interstitial lung abnormality (ILA). Gene detection showed L858R mutation in exon 21 of the EGFR gene. After operation, almonertinib (110 mg per day) was prescribed. 3 months later, ILD was found by chest CT due to dyspnea. Management and outcome Subsequently, almonertinib was stopped. With the administration of intravenous glucocorticoid and oxygen inhalation, the patient's dyspnea was significantly regressed and lung lesions regressed on follow-up chest CT done after discharge. Discussion This case suggested that we should pay attention to the existence of ILD/ILA before using targeted drugs. The use of targeted drugs should be more strictly controlled and monitored in patients with previous ILA or ILD. This paper also reviewed the relevant literature on the drug characteristics and summarized the risk factors of ILD caused by EGFR-TKI.

Hybridization is recognized as a major force in species evolution and biodiversity formation, generally leading to the origin and differentiation of new species. Multiple hybridization events cannot easily be reconstructed, yet they offer the potential to study a number of evolutionary processes. Here, we used nuclear expressed sequence tag-simple sequence repeat and large-scale single nucleotide polymorphism variation data, combined with niche analysis, to investigate the putative independent hybridization events in Notopterygium, a group of perennial herb plants endemic to China. Population genomic analysis indicated that the four studied species are genetically well-delimited and that N. forrestii and N. oviforme have originated by hybridization. According to Approximate Bayesian Computation, the best-fit model involved the formation of N. forrestii from the crossing of N. franchetii and N. incisum, with N. forrestii further backcrossing to N. franchetii to form N. oviforme. The niche analyses indicated that niche divergence [likely triggered by the regional climate changes, particularly the intensification of East Asian winter monsoon, and tectonic movements (affecting both Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and Qinling Mountains)] may have promoted and maintained the reproductive isolation among hybrid species. N. forrestii shows ecological specialization with respect to their parental species, whereas N. oviforme has completely shifted its niche. These results suggested that the climate and environmental factors together triggered the two-step hybridization of the East Asia herb plants. Our study also emphasizes the power of genome-wide SNPs for investigating suspected cases of hybridization, particularly unravelling old hybridization events., This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31470400, 32260092), the Key Program of Research and Development of Shaanxi Province (2022ZDLSF06-02) and the Shaanxi Academy of Sciences (2022K-09)., Graphical abstract Keywords 1. Introduction 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Plant material 2.2. Microsatellite data analysis 2.3. Processing of SLAF SNP data 2.4. Complete chloroplast genome analysis 2.5. Testing hybrid origins with ABC program 2.6. Ecological niche comparisons 3. Results 3.1. Population genetic analyses of nuclear EST-SSRs 3.2. Processing of SLAF SNP data 3.3. Nuclear SNP cluster analysis 3.4. Chloroplast genome analysis 3.5. Approximate Bayesian Computation 3.6. Ecological niche modelling 4. Discussion 4.1. Hybrid origins of N. Forrestii and N. Oviforme 4.2. Demographical history of hybrid species 4.3. Ecological isolation among hybrid species Declaration of Competing Interest Acknowledgements Author contributions Appendix A. Supplementary data References

Bacteria colonizing in the phycosphere formed by phytoplankton exudates play important roles in marine ecosystems, yet their taxonomy is poorly defined. Here, we customized the analytical approaches for the microalga-attached microbiotas from 110 diatom and 86 dinoflagellate samples to reveal key bacterial players and their ecological significance in the phycosphere. The results demonstrated a co-occurrence of host-specificity and conservation of phytoplankton-associated bacterial communities, defined 8 diatom- and 23 dinoflagellate-affiliated characteristic genera, as well as identifying 14 core genera prevalent with phytoplankton populations. Further classification of these 14 core genera into three tiers showed their distinct ecological features regarding occupancy, connectivity and community-stabilizing, whilst also matching their inherent metabolic properties. Our study redefines the archetypal phytoplankton-associated bacteria taxa more specifically up to the genus level, highlighting the significance of rarely noticed bacteria in the phycosphere, which is invaluable when selecting target bacteria for studying phytoplankton-bacteria interactions.

Accurate real-time characterization of complex channel sand reservoir is very critical for horizontal well drilling and production improvement. CB block located in the southwest part of Bohai Bay which is the main offshore block for SINOPEC Sheng Li. This block is featured by braided river and fluvial deposition environment. The operator faced challenges during horizontal drilling, such as thin sand channels, inner-beds development, severe lateral change, unstable sand structure and low sand connectivity. A horizontal well drilling campaign was launched in 2021. Through considerable data assessment and feasibility study, the new generation of Ultra-High-Definition multilayer mapping-while-drilling service and rotary steerable system (RSS) as an integrated solution package was deployed to this project to overcome above challenges. Without any a-priori assumptions, the new generation service doubles depth of detection (DOD) range compared with previous bed-boundary detection services, delivers clearer boundary delineation, and is capable of remotely identifying the quantitative subsurface features, including layers’ numbers, resistivity and anisotropy distribution, thickness, and dip etc. Meanwhile, the truly hybrid RSS with near bit measurements ensures accurate and smooth trajectory control and reduces the drilling risk in the soft formation. The pilot project was successfully completed. With the help from real-time measurements combined with seismic data, and by utilizing the advanced inversion advantage, this technology could depict whole individual sand bodies and their mutual lateral contact relationship clearly, which not only can optimize the reservoir exposure rate but also provide a better way for detailed reservoir characterization. Four wells were geosteered for a total of1026m with 96.1% reservoir exposure rate. Primary production from these 4 horizontal wells exceeded the expected production by 40% with only 10% water cut. This innovative solution demonstrates its advantage on optimizing a complex channel sand drilling and development. The authors believe that the fit-for-purpose solution could be expanded to other similar projects by showcasing the distinctive case studies in this paper.

Aureobasidium melanogenum P16, the high pullulan producer, had only one GATA type transcriptional activator AreA and one GATA type transcriptional repressor AreB. It was found that 2.4 g/L of (NH4)2SO4 had obvious nitrogen repression on pullulan biosynthesis by A. melanogenum P16. Removal of the AreB gene could make the disruptant DA6 produce 34.8 g/L pullulan while the P16 strain only produced 28.8 g/L pullulan at the efficient nitrogen condition. Further both removal of the native AreA gene and overexpression of the mutated AreAS628-S678 gene with non-phosphorylatable residues could render the transformant DEA12 to produce 39.8 g/L pullulan. The transcriptional levels of most of the genes related to pullulan biosynthesis in the transformant DEA12 were greatly enhanced. The mutated AreAS628-S678 was localized in the nuclei of the transformant DEA12 while the native AreA was distributed in the cytoplasm in A. melanogenum P16. This meant that nitrogen repression on pullulan biosynthesis in the transformant DEA12 was indeed significantly relieved. This was the first time to report that the GATA type transcriptional factors of nitrogen catabolite repression system could regulate pullulan biosynthesis in Aureobasidium spp.

Microbial communities in cave ecosystems have specific survival strategies, which is far from being well explicated. Here, we reported the genetic and functional diversity of bacteria and archaea in typical limestone (Kashmir Cave) and silicate-containing (Tiser Cave) caves. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic (FTIR) analyses revealed the different geochemical and mineral compositions of the two caves. Amplicon barcode sequencing revealed the dominancy of Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria in Kashmir and Tiser Caves. Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were the dominant phyla in Tiser Cave, and the abundance is relatively small in Kashmir Cave. Archaea was also abundant prokaryotes in Kashmir Cave, but it only accounted for 0.723% of the total prokaryote sequences in Tiser Cave. Functional analysis based on metagenomic sequencing data revealed that a large number of functional potential genes involved in nutrient metabolism and biosynthesis of bioactive compounds in Tiser and Kashmir Cave samples could significantly influence the biogeochemical cycle and secondary metabolite production in cave habitats. In addition, the two caves were also found to be rich in biosynthetic genes, encoding bioactive compounds, such as monobactam and prodigiosin, indicating that these caves could be potential habitats for the isolation of antibiotics. This study provides a comprehensive insight into the diversity of bacteria and archaea in cave ecosystems and helps to better understand the special survival strategies of microorganisms in cave ecosystems.Key points• Geochemically distinct caves possess unique microbial community structure.• Cavernicoles could be important candidates for antibiotic production.• Cavernicoles are important for biogeochemical cycling.

Buildings consume a large proportion of global primary energy and building performance management requires massive data inputs. Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a tool used for comparing different buildings while avoiding problems caused by heterogeneous data sources. However, silos of building and energy consumption data are separate, and the linkages between a KPI formula and different data sets are often non-existent. This paper develops an ontology-based approach for automatically calculating the KPI to support building energy evaluation. The proposed approach integrates building information from BIM and energy and environmental information collected by sensor networks. A KPI ontology is developed to establish a KPI formula, thereby linking static and dynamic data generated in the building operation phase. Each KPI can be defined by inputs, a formula and outputs, and the formula consists of parameters and operators. The parameters can be linked to building data or transformed into a SPARQL query. A case study is investigated based on the proposed approach, and the KPIs for energy and environment are calculated for a real building project. The result shows that this approach relates the KPI formula to the data generated in the building operation phase and can automatically give the result after defining the space and time of interest, thus supporting building performance benchmarking with massive data sets at different levels of details. This research proposes a novel approach to integrating the KPI formula and linked building data from a semantic perspective, and other researchers can use this approach as a foundation for linking data from different sources and computational methods such as formula created for building performance evaluation.

The novel β-agarase gene aga575 from the agarolytic bacterium Aquimarina agarilytica ZC1 is composed of 2142 bp, and the encoded protein Aga575 has the highest amino acid sequence homology of only 65.2% with known agarases. Though carrying a domain of glycoside hydrolase family 42 in the C-terminal, Aga575 should belong to glycoside hydrolase family 50 according to the phylogenetic analysis. Gene aga575 was successfully cloned and overexpressed in Escherichia coli Rosetta (DE3) cells. The recombinant protein had the maximal agarase activity at pH 8.0 and 37 °C. The values Km and Vmax toward agarose were 8.4 mg/mL and 52.2 U/mg, respectively. Aga575 hydrolyzed agarose and neoagarooligosaccharides to yield neoagarobiose as the sole product. The agarose hydrolysis pattern of Aga575 indicated that it was an exo-type β-agarase. Random mutagenesis was carried out to obtain two beneficial mutants M1 (R534G) and M2 (S4R-R424G) with higher activities. The results showed that the agarase activity of mutant M1 and M2 reached 162% and 192% of the wild-type agarase Aga575, respectively. Moreover, the activity of the mixed mutant M1/M2 (S4R-R424G-R534G) increased to 227%. • Aga575 is a novel exo-type β-agarase degrading agarose to yield neoagarobiose as the sole product. • Though owning a domain of glycoside hydrolase family GH42, Aga575 should belong to family GH50. • The agarase activity of one mutant increased to 227% of the wild-type Aga575.

Background Hypoxemia or hyperoxia oxygenation might increase in-hospital mortality in patients with sepsis. However, the optimal oxygenation target remained unknown. We performed a study to explore and validate the optimal oxygen saturation targets in sepsis patients. Methods Medical records of sepsis patients from 2008 to 2019 were retrieved from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC)-IV database. A generalized additive model (GAM) was established to comprehensively analyze the U-shaped nonlinear relationship between in-hospital mortality and time-weighted average (TWA)-SpO2 during oxygenation. The lowest and flattest area was identified as the optimal oxygenation target. A logistic regression was utilized to verify the optimal oxygenation target. Finally, a mediation analysis was adopted to estimate the direct effect of the TWA-SpO2 level by excluding the indirect effect of the fraction of inspired O2(FiO2). Results 3800 sepsis patients with 630,704 SpO2 records were enrolled in our study, among whom 705 (18.5%) passed away at hospital discharge. The median age of the patients was 54.31 [52.22, 76.66] years, and 2326 (61.21%) were male patients. The GAM analysis demonstrated a U-shaped nonlinear relationship between TWA-SpO2 and in-hospital mortality during oxygenation. The SpO2 interval corresponding to the curve's lowest region of in-hospital mortality was 95%~98%. In accordance with the relationship between the TWA-SpO2 and the target interval range, the patients were segregated into hypoxemia, hyperoxia, and optimal oxygenation group, respectively. The multivariate logistic regression results also presented that the in-hospital mortality risk in the hypoxia oxygenation groups increased by 60.4% (OR=1.60, 95%CI 1.23~2.09, PConclusions The optimal pulse oximetry targets for oxygenation in sepsis patients were likely 95%~98%, corresponding with the lowest risk of in-hospital mortality. It was also observed after the indirect effect of FiO2 was removed. Trial registration: Our study was registered with the Chinese Clinical Trials Registry on January 11, 2021, where the registration number was ChiCTR2000040149. http://www.chictr.org.cn/edit.aspx?pid=64427&htm=4.

Surface longwave radiation (SLR) is an essential geophysical parameter of Earth’s energy balance, and its estimation based on thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing data has been extensively studied. However, it is difficult to estimate cloudy SLR from TIR measurements. Satellite passive microwave (PMW) radiometers measure microwave radiation under the clouds and therefore can estimate SLR in all weather conditions. We constructed SLR retrieval models using brightness temperature (BT) data from an Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) based on a neural network (NN) algorithm. SLR from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis v5 (ERA5) product was used as the reference. NN-based models were able to reproduce well the spatial variability of SLR from ERA5 at the global scale. Validations indicate a reasonably good performance was found for land sites, with a bias of 1.32 W/m2, root mean squared error (RMSE) of 35.37 W/m2, and coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.89 for AMSR2 surface upward longwave radiation (SULR) data, and a bias of −2.26 W/m2, RMSE of 32.94 W/m2, and R2 of 0.82 for AMSR2 surface downward longwave radiation (SDLR) data. AMSR2 SULR and SDLR retrieval accuracies were higher for oceanic sites, with biases of −2.98 and −4.04 W/m2, RMSEs of 6.50 and 13.42 W/m2, and R2 values of 0.83 and 0.66, respectively. This study provides a solid foundation for the development of a PMW SLR retrieval model applicable at the global scale to generate long-term continuous SLR products using multi-year satellite PMW data and for future research with a higher spatiotemporal resolution.

Ecological factors have received increasing attention as drivers of speciation but also in the maintenance of postspeciation divergence. However, the relative significance of the responses of species to climate oscillations for driving niche divergence or conservatism in the evolution of many species that pass through diverse environments and limited geographical boundaries remains poorly understood. Paeonia rockii (one of the ancient species of Paeonia) comprising two subspecies called Paeonia rockii subsp. rockii and Paeonia rockii subsp. taibaishanica is an endemic, rare, and endangered medicinal plant in China. In this study, we integrated whole chloroplast genomes, and ecological factors to obtain insights into ecological speciation and species divergence in this endemic rare peony. RAxML analysis indicated that the topological trees recovered from three different data sets were identical, where P. rockii subsp. rockii and P. rockii subsp. taibaishanica clustered together, and molecular dating analyses suggested that the two subspecies diverged 0.83 million years ago. In addition, ecological niche modeling showed that the predicted suitable distribution areas for P. rockii subsp. rockii and P. rockii subsp. taibaishanica differed considerably, although the predicted core distribution areas were similar, where the population contracted in the last interglacial and expanded in the last glacial maximum. Under the emissions scenarios for the 2050s and 2070s, the suitable distribution areas were predicted to contract significantly, where the migration routes of the two subspecies tended to migrate toward high latitudes and elevations, thereby suggesting strong responses of the distributions of the two subspecies to climate change. These findings combined with the phylogeographic relationships provide comprehensive insights into niche variation and differentiation in this endemic rare peony, and they highlight the importance of geological and climatic changes for species divergence and changes in the population geographic patterns of rare and endangered medicinal plants in East Asia.

Background: Family with sequence similarity three member (FAM3) plays a crucial role in the malignant development of various cancers of human. Our study aimed to investigate the role of FAM3 family genes in prognosis, immune subtype, tumor immune microenvironment, stemness score, and anticancer drug sensitivity of pan-cancer. Methods: The expression, survival, immune subtype, tumor microenvironment, stemness score, and anticancer drug sensitivity analysis data of FAM3 family genes associated with pan-cancer from UCSC Xena GDC and CellMiner databases. Furthermore, we investigated the tumor cellular functions and clinical prognostic value FAMC3 in pancreatic cancer (PAAD) using cellular experiments and tissue microarray. Results: The results revealed that FAM3 family genes are significantly differential expression in tumor and adjacent normal tissues in 7 cancers (CHOL, HNSC, KICH, LUAD, LUSC, READ, and STAD). The expression of FAM3 family genes were negatively related with the RNAss, and robust correlated with immune type, tumor immune microenvironment and drug sensitivity. Meanwhile, overexpression FAM3C promoted PAAD cell proliferation, migration, invasion and suppressed PAAD cell apoptosis. While knockdown of FAM3C triggered opposite results. High FAM3C expression was associated with duodenal invasion, differentiation and liver metastasis. Conclusion: This study provided a new perspective on the potential therapeutic role of FAM3 family genes in pan-cancer. In particular, FAM3C may be a new marker for PAAD, providing a new idea for the treatment of PAAD.

We propose a width-tunable topological pseudospin-dependent waveguide (TPDW) which can manipulate the optical beam width using a heterostructure of all-dielectric photonic crystals (PhCs). The heterostructure can be realized by introducing a PhC featuring double Dirac cones into the other two PhCs with different topological indices. The topological pseudospin-dependent waveguide states (TPDWSs) achieved from the TPDW exhibit unidirectional transport and immunity against defects. As a potential application of our work, using these characteristics of TPDWSs, we further design a topological pseudospin-dependent beam expander which can expand a narrow beam into a wider one at the communication wavelength of 1.55 µm and is robust against three kinds of defects. The proposed TPDW with widely adjustable width can better dock with other devices to achieve stable and efficient transmission of light. Meanwhile, all-dielectric PhCs have negligible losses at optical wavelengths, which provides the prospect of broad application in photonic integrated devices.

Many genes responsible for melanin biosynthesis in fungi were physically linked together. The PKS gene clusters in most of the melanin-producing fungi were regulated by the Cmr1. It was found that a close rearrangement of the PKS gene clusters had evolved in most of the melanin-producing fungi and various functions of melanin in them were beneficial to their adaptation to the changing environments. The melanin-producing fungi had undergone at least five large-scale differentiations, making their PKS gene clusters be quickly evolved and the fungi be adapted to different harsh environments. The recent gene losses and expansion were remarkably frequent in the PKS gene clusters, leading to their rapid evolution and adaptation of their hosts to different environments. The PKS gene and the CMR1 gene in them were subject to a strong co-evolution, but the horizontal gene transfer events might have occurred in the genome-duplicated species, Aspergillus and Penicillium.

Background: Nanoindentation is arguably the most versatile and effective method for measuring materials’ mechanical properties at nanoscale. However, due to the complexity of the deformation process during the nanoindentation tests, many experimental factors can significantly affect the nanoindentation results. Objective: This research aims to investigate the quantitative effects of material properties on nanoindentation responses and apply these relationships to the evaluation of broader material properties through nanoindentation. Methods: This study uses intensive computer modeling based on finite element analysis and modeling data analysis through curve fitting. Results: Nanoindentation responses (indentation load versus depth data) were numerically modeled by computer modeling, considering the effects of the mechanical properties of the materials (low-carbon steel AISI1018, steel alloy AISI4340, and aluminum alloy 6061-T6) and the indenter geometries (Berkovich, cylindrical, and spherical indenters). Through data analysis, the quantitative relationships between indentation load and indentation depth were established. The parameters in the formulae were optimized by the least-squares method, and high accuracy of the correlation coefficients between the modeling results and the formulae was achieved. Conclusion: It was found that the parameters of the formulae directly reflect the material properties of a testing specimen, and more material properties can be estimated through nanoindentation.

The forest tree family Aceraceae is widespread in the northern hemisphere and it has ecological and economic importance. However, the phylogenetic relationships and classifications within the family are still controversial due to transitional intraspecific morphological characteristics and introgression hybridization among species. In this study, we determined the evolutionary relationships and molecular evolution of Aceraceae based on plastid phylogenomics and two nuclear gene variations. Phylogenetic analysis based on the plastid genomes suggested that Aceraceae species can be divided into two larger sub-clades corresponding to the two genera Acer and Dipteronia. Conjoint analysis of the plastid and nuclear gene sequences supported the classification with two genera in the family. Molecular dating showed that the two genera diverged 60.2 million years ago, which is generally consistently with previously reported results. Divergence hotspots and positively selected genes identified in the plastid genomes could be useful genetic resources in Aceraceae.

Liamocins synthesized by Aureobasidium spp. are glycolipids composed of a single mannitol or arabitol headgroup linked to either three, four or even six 3,5-dihydroxydecanoic ester tail-groups. The...

Background:. Functional dyspepsia (FD) has rarely been investigated in areas with a high prevalence of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). This study aims to reveal the epidemiological and clinical features of FD and organic dyspepsia (OD) in such a population. Methods:. A middle-aged and elderly population-based study was conducted in a region with a high incidence of ESCC. All participants completed the Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease Questionnaire and Functional Gastrointestinal Disease Rome III Diagnostic Questionnaire, and they underwent gastroscopy. After exclusion of gastroesophageal reflux disease, uninvestigated dyspepsia (UID) was divided into OD and FD for further analyses. Results:. A total of 2916 participants were enrolled from July 2013 to March 2014 in China. We detected 166 UID cases with questionnaires, in which 17 patients with OD and 149 with FD were diagnosed via gastroscopy. OD cases presented as reflux esophagitis (RE), ESCC, and duodenal ulcer. Heartburn (52.94%) and reflux (29.41%) were common in OD, but no symptomatic differences were found between FD and OD. Male sex, low education level, and liquid food were the risk factors for OD, while frequent fresh vegetable consumption was a protective factor. FD included 56 (37.58%) cases of postprandial distress syndrome (PDS), 52 (34.89%) of epigastric pain syndrome (EPS), nine (6.04%) of PDS + EPS, and 32 (21.48%) of FD + functional esophageal disorders. The Helicobacter pylori infection rate in FD patients was not higher than that in the control group (34.23% vs. 42.26%, P = 0.240). Frequent spicy food consumption was associated with PDS (odds ratio [OR]: 2.088, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.028–4.243), while consumption of deep well water was protective for PDS (OR: 0.431, 95% CI: 0.251–0.741). Conclusions:. The prevalence of FD was 5.11% in the studied population. Gastroscopy should be prescribed for dyspepsia patients in case that ESCC and RE would be missed in UID cases diagnosed solely by the Rome III questionnaire. Trial Registration:. ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01688908; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/record/NCT01688908.

Background:. The association of lipids and cancer has varied greatly among different cancer types, lipid components and study populations. This study is aimed to investigate the association of serum lipids and the risk of malignant lesions in esophageal squamous epithelium. Methods:. In the “Endoscopic Screening for Esophageal Cancer in China” (ESECC) trial, serum samples were collected and tested for total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol at the time of subject enrollment. Cases were defined as malignant esophageal lesions identified by baseline endoscopic examination or by follow-up to May 31, 2018. Controls were randomly selected using incidence density sampling in the same cohort. Conditional logistic models were applied to identify the association of serum lipids and the risk of malignant esophageal lesions. Effect modification was evaluated by testing interaction terms of the factor under assessment and these serum lipid indicators. Results:. No consistent association between serum lipid levels and esophageal malignant lesions were found in a pooled analysis of 211 cases and 2101 controls. For individuals with a family history of esophageal cancer (EC), high TC, and LDL-C were associated with a significantly increased risk of having malignant lesions (odds ratio [OR]High vs. Low TC = 2.22, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.14–4.35; ORHigh vs. Low LDL-C = 1.93, 95% CI: 1.01–3.65). However, a negative association was observed in participants without an EC family history (ORHigh vs. Low TC = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.48–0.98, Pinteraction = 0.002; ORHigh vs. Low LDL-C = 0.50, 95% CI: 0.34–0.76, Pinteraction

In the past, knowledge in the fields of Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industries mainly come from experiences and are documented in hard copies or specific electronic databases. In order to make use of this knowledge, a lot of studies have focused on retrieving and storing this knowledge in a systematic and accessible way. The Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology proves to be a valuable media in extracting data because it provides physical and functional digital models for all the facilities within the life-cycle of the project. Therefore, the combination of the knowledge science with BIM shows great potential in constructing the knowledge map in the field of the AEC industry. Based on literature reviews, this article summarizes the latest achievements in the fields of knowledge science and BIM, in the aspects of (1) knowledge description, (2) knowledge discovery, (3) knowledge storage and management, (4) knowledge inference and (5) knowledge application, to show the state-of-arts and suggests the future directions in the application of knowledge science and BIM technology in the fields of AEC industries. The review indicates that BIM is capable of providing information for knowledge extraction and discovery, by adopting semantic network, knowledge graph and some other related methods. It also illustrates that the knowledge is helpful in the design, construction, operation and maintenance periods of the AEC industry, but now it is only at the beginning stage.

Globally, increasing temperatures due to climate change have severely affected natural ecosystems in several regions of the world; however, the impact on the alpine plant may be particularly profound, further raising the risk of extinction for rare and endangered alpine plants. To identify how alpine species have responded to past climate change and to predict the potential geographic distribution of species under future climate change, we investigated the distribution records of

Laminarinases from the glycoside hydrolase 16 (GH16) family are hydrolases that break β-1,3-glycosidic bonds in laminarin, which is the major storage polysaccharide present in brown algae or microalgae. We explored a laminarinase from the marine Flavobacteriaceae species Tamlana sp. PT2-4 at the structural and functional levels. Based on a homology model of Lam1092-substrate interactions, the large active groove crossing Lam1092 was deemed a reasonable pathway for the bent substrates for hydrolysis. Eight residues (Gly361, Asn364, Arg400, His466, Asp449, Glu452, Ser477 and Thr538) were selected for mutagenesis based on the interactions of Lam1092 in complex with Lam4/Lam6. Ultimately, we generated eight mutants of Lam1092, and the antioxidant activities of the hydrolysates of two mutants (G361A and H466A) showed significant improvement. These results show that the antioxidant activity of laminarin can be improved by laminarinase mutation, which will be beneficial for developing efficient approaches to engineer the substrate specificity of laminarinases and improve the application of bioactive laminarioligosaccharides.