158 results on '"Huang, D."'
Search Results
2. Gilbert damping in CoFeB/GaAs(001) film with enhanced in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy
- Author
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Tu, H. Q., primary, Liu, B., additional, Huang, D. W., additional, Ruan, X. Z., additional, You, B., additional, Huang, Z. C., additional, Zhai, Y., additional, Gao, Y., additional, Wang, J., additional, Wei, L. J., additional, Yuan, Y., additional, Xu, Y. B., additional, and Du, J., additional
- Published
- 2017
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3. Detailed Vascular Anatomy of the Human Retina by Projection-Resolved Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography
- Author
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Campbell, J. P., primary, Zhang, M., additional, Hwang, T. S., additional, Bailey, S. T., additional, Wilson, D. J., additional, Jia, Y., additional, and Huang, D., additional
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- 2017
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4. Initiation and growth kinetics of solidification cracking during welding of steel
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Aucott, L., primary, Huang, D., additional, Dong, H. B., additional, Wen, S. W., additional, Marsden, J. A., additional, Rack, A., additional, and Cocks, A. C. F., additional
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- 2017
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5. Raman and fluorescence characteristics of resonant inelastic X-ray scattering from doped superconducting cuprates
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Huang, H. Y., primary, Jia, C. J., additional, Chen, Z. Y., additional, Wohlfeld, K., additional, Moritz, B., additional, Devereaux, T. P., additional, Wu, W. B., additional, Okamoto, J., additional, Lee, W. S., additional, Hashimoto, M., additional, He, Y., additional, Shen, Z. X., additional, Yoshida, Y., additional, Eisaki, H., additional, Mou, C. Y., additional, Chen, C. T., additional, and Huang, D. J., additional
- Published
- 2016
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6. Reduced expression of cathepsin F predicts poor prognosis in patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma.
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Zhou X, Chen H, Huang D, Guan G, Ma X, Cai W, Liao J, and Guan T
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- Humans, Prognosis, Female, Male, Cell Line, Tumor, Biomarkers, Tumor metabolism, Biomarkers, Tumor genetics, Cell Movement genetics, Middle Aged, Down-Regulation, Carcinoma, Renal Cell pathology, Carcinoma, Renal Cell genetics, Carcinoma, Renal Cell metabolism, Carcinoma, Renal Cell mortality, Kidney Neoplasms pathology, Kidney Neoplasms genetics, Kidney Neoplasms metabolism, Kidney Neoplasms mortality, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Cathepsin F metabolism, Cathepsin F genetics, Cell Proliferation
- Abstract
Abnormalities in the extracellular matrix (ECM) play important roles in the regulation and progression of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). The cysteine cathepsin is one of the major proteases involved in ECM remodeling and has been shown to be aberrantly expressed in multiple cancer types. However, the clinical significance and biological function of distinct cysteine cathepsins in ccRCC remain poorly understood. In this study, several bioinformatics databases, including UALCAN, TIMER, GEPIA and the Human Protein Atlas datasets, were used to analyze the expression and prognostic value of different cysteine cathepsin family members in ccRCC. We found that the expression level of CTSF was downregulated in tumor tissues and closely related to the poor survival of ccRCC patients. Further in vitro experiments suggested that CTSF overexpression suppressed the proliferation and migration of ccRCC cells. Moreover, the expression of CTSF was shown to be associated with several immune-infiltrating cells and immunomodulators in ccRCC. These results indicated that CTSF might be a promising diagnostic and prognostic marker in ccRCC., (© 2024. The Author(s).)
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- 2024
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7. Effects of plyometric training on health-related physical fitness in untrained participants: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
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Deng N, Soh KG, Abdullah BB, Huang D, Xu F, Bashir M, and Zhang D
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- Humans, Male, Female, Adult, Physical Fitness physiology, Muscle Strength physiology, Plyometric Exercise methods, Body Mass Index, Cardiorespiratory Fitness physiology
- Abstract
Plyometric training (PT) is an effective training method for improving physical fitness among trained individuals; however, its impact on health-related physical fitness in untrained participants remains ambiguous. Therefore, this meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the effects of PT on health-related physical fitness among untrained participants. Six electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL Plus, MEDLINE Complete, Web of Science Core Collection, SCOPUS, and SPORTDiscus) were systematically searched until March 2024. We included controlled trials that examined the effects of PT on health-related physical fitness indices in untrained participants. Twenty-one studies were eligible, including a total of 1263 participants. Our analyses revealed small to moderate effects of PT on body mass index, muscular strength, cardiorespiratory fitness, and flexibility (ES = 0.27-0.61; all p > 0.05). However, no significant effects were detected for body fat percentage and lean mass (ES = 0.21-0.41; all p > 0.05). In conclusion, the findings suggest that PT may be potentially effective in improving health-related physical fitness indices (i.e., body mass index, muscular strength, cardiorespiratory fitness, and flexibility) in untrained participants. However, the results should be interpreted cautiously due to data limitations in some fitness variables., (© 2024. The Author(s).)
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- 2024
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8. Author Correction: Genome-wide analysis to uncover how Pocillopora acuta survives the challenging intertidal environment.
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Poquita-Du RC, Huang D, and Todd PA
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- 2024
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9. Genome-wide analysis to uncover how Pocillopora acuta survives the challenging intertidal environment.
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Poquita-Du RC, Huang D, and Todd PA
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- Humans, Animals, Genotype, Genomics, Engineering, DNA Copy Number Variations, Anthozoa genetics
- Abstract
Characterisation of genomic variation among corals can help uncover variants underlying trait differences and contribute towards genotype prioritisation in coastal restoration projects. For example, there is growing interest in identifying resilient genotypes for transplantation, and to better understand the genetic processes that allow some individuals to survive in specific conditions better than others. The coral species Pocillopora acuta is known to survive in a wide range of habitats, from reefs artificial coastal defences, suggesting its potential use as a starter species for ecological engineering efforts involving coral transplantation onto intertidal seawalls. However, the intertidal section of coastal armour is a challenging environment for corals, with conditions during periods of emersion being particularly stressful. Here, we scanned the entire genome of P. acuta corals to identify the regions harbouring single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and copy number variations (CNVs) that separate intertidal colonies (n = 18) from those found in subtidal areas (n = 21). Findings revealed 74,391 high quality SNPs distributed across 386 regions of the P. acuta genome. While the majority of the detected SNPs were in non-coding regions, 12% were identified in exons (i.e. coding regions). Functional SNPs that were significantly associated with intertidal colonies were found in overrepresented genomic regions linked to cellular homeostasis, metabolism, and signalling processes, which may represent local environmental adaptation in the intertidal. Interestingly, regions that exhibited CNVs were also associated with metabolic and signalling processes, suggesting P. acuta corals living in the intertidal have a high capacity to perform biological functions critical for survival in extreme environments., (© 2024. The Author(s).)
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- 2024
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10. GPS/BDS triple-frequency cycle slip detection and repair based on moving window global search method.
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Wang J and Huang D
- Abstract
Cycle slip detection and repair are crucial steps in achieving high accuracy in Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data processing. The use of Global Positioning System (GPS) and BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) triple frequency observations allows for more accurate detection and repair of cycle slips compared to single or dual frequency. This study presents a moving window global search method by selecting three sets of combined coefficients to construct geometry-free (GF) models to minimize the influence of the ionosphere, using a moving window to update the standard deviation of cycle slip estimation, applying the "3 σ " criterion to constrain the range, and utilizing a global search method to detect and repair triple-frequency cycle slips. Through five sets of 1 Hz GNSS data experiments, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of this method in determining the position and size of triple-frequency cycle slips while avoiding multi-value problems. The detection success rate for GPS ranges from 98.0 to 100.0%, while BDS ranges from 92.0 to 100.0%. On average, GPS achieves a detection rate of 99.2%, and BDS reaches 96.7%, which is 0.8% and 1.8% higher than the direct rounding method, respectively. Compared to existing methods, it is also effective for the vast majority of small cycle slips within 2 cycles., (© 2024. The Author(s).)
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- 2024
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11. Comparative analysis of hemoglobin, potassium, sodium, and glucose in arterial blood gas and venous blood of patients with COPD.
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Tang S, Mei Z, Huang D, Liu L, Yang L, Yin D, and Hu L
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- Humans, Glucose, Blood Glucose, Potassium, Retrospective Studies, Blood Gas Analysis methods, Hemoglobins analysis, Sodium, Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive
- Abstract
The study aims to assess the accuracy of the arterial blood gas (ABG) analysis in measuring hemoglobin, potassium, sodium, and glucose concentrations in comparison to standard venous blood analysis among patients diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). From January to March 2023, results of ABG analysis and simultaneous venous blood sampling among patients with COPD were retrospectively compared, without any intervention being applied between the two methods. The differences in hemoglobin, potassium, sodium, and glucose concentrations were assessed using a statistical software program (R software). There were significant differences in the mean concentrations of hemoglobin (p < 0.001), potassium (p < 0.001), and sodium (p = 0.001) between the results from ABG and standard venous blood analysis. However, the magnitude of the difference was within the total error allowance (TEa) of the United States of Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (US-CLIA). As for the innovatively studied glucose concentrations, a statistically significant difference between the results obtained from ABG (7.8 ± 3.00) mmol·L
-1 and venous blood (6.72 ± 2.44) mmol·L-1 was noted (p < 0.001), with the difference exceeding the TEa of US-CLIA. A linear relationship between venous blood glucose and ABG was obtained: venous blood glucose (mmol·L-1 ) = - 0.487 + 0.923 × ABG glucose (mmol·L-1 ), with R2 of 0.882. The hemoglobin, potassium, and sodium concentrations in ABG were reliable for guiding treatment in managing COPD emergencies. However, the ABG analysis of glucose was significantly higher as compared to venous blood glucose, and there was a positive correlation between the two methods. Thus, a linear regression equation in this study combined with ABG analysis could be helpful in quickly estimating venous blood glucose during COPD emergency treatment before the standard venous blood glucose was available from the medical laboratory., (© 2024. The Author(s).)- Published
- 2024
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12. Potential impact on using aspirin as the primary prevention of adverse pregnancy outcomes in twins conceived using ART.
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Huang D, Xie Y, Duan P, Wang J, Xu J, Qi H, and Luo X
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- Pregnancy, Female, Humans, Retrospective Studies, Aspirin therapeutic use, Placenta, Reproductive Techniques, Assisted adverse effects, Primary Prevention, Pregnancy Outcome, Pregnancy Complications prevention & control, Pregnancy Complications etiology
- Abstract
With the development of assisted reproductive technology, the number of twin pregnancies is increasing year by year. Given the increased risk of pregnancy complications associated with twin pregnancies, and the fact that these babies are rare and difficult to obtain through assisted reproductive technology, clinicians urgently require finding effective and safe drugs to improve pregnancy outcomes. Low-dose aspirin can not only promote placental blood supply, but also effectively anti-inflammatory. Whether Low-dose aspirin can effectively reduce the risk of pregnancy complications in this special group needs to be clarified. We therefore retrospectively analyzed 665 twin pregnancies from assisted reproduction technology, grouped according to aspirin use, and followed pregnancy outcomes to assess bleeding risk. Low-dose aspirin was found to be effective in preventing preeclampsia without a significant risk of bleeding. However, aspirin does not prevent specific complication in twin pregnancies and seems to have a better preventive effect only when the mother is under 30, which should alarm clinicians should not blindly using aspirin in this particular group., (© 2024. The Author(s).)
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- 2024
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13. Analytical modeling and numerical analysis of thermoelastic damping in ultrathin elastic films due to surface effects.
- Author
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Huang D, Xiong H, and Yang G
- Abstract
Analytical techniques used for estimating thermoelastic damping by incorporating both mechanical and thermal interactions between surfaces and the rest of the bulk are intricate and challenging due to the limited understanding of the damping mechanisms in extra-thin films subjected to forced vibrations. This paper proposes a modified model to analytically calculate the thermoelastic damping of ultrathin elastic films due to surface effects and analyzes the thermoelastic damping variation with different factors through numerical experiments on two materials. The model considers surface stresses derived from the elastic surface theory using Kirchhoff's kinetic hypothesis and determines thermoelastic damping by considering thermal dissipation and elastic potential energy. The results show that surface effects significantly influence the thermoelastic damping of the film, and the specific behavior of a thin film's thermoelastic damping with respect to film thickness is impacted by various factors, including material property, the variation range of film thickness, and the forced vibration frequency. This study provides insights into the thermoelastic damping behavior of thin films and has important implications for the development of nanoscale oscillators in MEMS or NEMS systems., (© 2023. The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2023
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14. Mediating oxidative stress through the Palbociclib/miR-141-3p/STAT4 axis in osteoporosis: a bioinformatics and experimental validation study.
- Author
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Ji J, Wu S, Bao X, Liu S, Ye Y, Liu J, Guo J, Liu J, Wang X, Xia Z, Wei L, Zhang Y, Hao D, and Huang D
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- Humans, Interleukin-2, Computational Biology, RNA, Messenger, STAT4 Transcription Factor, Osteoporosis genetics, MicroRNAs genetics
- Abstract
Osteoporosis is a common bone disease characterized by loss of bone mass, reduced bone strength, and deterioration of bone microstructure. ROS-induced oxidative stress plays an important role in osteoporosis. However, the biomarkers and molecular mechanisms of oxidative stress are still unclear. We obtained the datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, and performed differential analysis, Venn analysis, and weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) analysis out the hub genes. Then, the correlation between inflammatory factors and hub genes was analyzed, and a Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was performed on cytokines and osteoporosis outcomes. In addition, "CIBERSORT" was used to analyze the infiltration of immune cells and single-cell RNA-seq data was used to analyze the expression distribution of hub genes and cell-cell communications. Finally, we collected human blood samples for RT-qPCR and Elisa experiments, the miRNA-mRNA network was constructed using the miRBase database, the 3D structure was predicted using the RNAfold, Vfold3D database, and the drug sensitivity analysis was performed using the RNAactDrug database. We obtained three differentially expressed genes associated with oxidative stress: DBH, TAF15, and STAT4 by differential, WGCNA clustering, and Venn screening analyses, and further analyzed the correlation of these 3 genes with inflammatory factors and immune cell infiltration and found that STAT4 was significantly and positively correlated with IL-2. Single-cell data analysis showed that the STAT4 gene was highly expressed mainly in dendritic cells and monocytes. In addition, the results of RT-qPCR and Elisa experiments verified that the expression of STAT4 was consistent with the previous analysis, and a significant causal relationship between IL-2 and STAT4 SNPs and osteoporosis was found by Mendelian randomization. Finally, through miRNA-mRNA network and drug sensitivity analysis, we analyzed to get Palbociclib/miR-141-3p/STAT4 axis, which can be used for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. In this study, we proposed the Palbociclib/miR-141-3p/STAT4 axis for the first time and provided new insights into the mechanism of oxidative stress in osteoporosis., (© 2023. The Author(s).)
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- 2023
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15. Biomod2 modeling for predicting the potential ecological distribution of three Fritillaria species under climate change.
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Huang D, An Q, Huang S, Tan G, Quan H, Chen Y, Zhou J, and Liao H
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- Ecosystem, China, Temperature, Climate Change, Fritillaria genetics
- Abstract
The Fritillaria species ranked as a well-known traditional medicine in China and has become rare due to excessive harvesting. To find reasonable strategy for conservation and cultivation, identification of new ecological distribution of Fritillaria species together with prediction of those responses to climate change are necessary. In terms of current occurrence records and bioclimatic variables, the suitable habitats for Fritillaria delavayi, Fritillaria taipaiensis, and Fritillaria wabuensis were predicted. In comparison with Maxent and GARP, Biomod2 obtained the best AUC, KAPPA and TSS values of larger than 0.926 and was chosen to construct model. Temperature seasonality was indicated to put the greatest influence on Fritillaria taipaiensis and Fritillaria wabuensis, while isothermality was of most importance for Fritillaria delavayi. The current suitable areas for three Fritillaria species were distributed in south-west China, accounting for approximately 17.72%, 23.06% and 20.60% of China's total area, respectively. During 2021-2100 period, the suitable habitats of F. delavayi and F. wabuensis reached the maximum under SSP585 scenario, while that of F. taipaiensis reached the maximum under SSP126 scenario. The high niche overlap among three Fritillaria species showed correlation with the chemical composition (P ≤ 0.05), while no correlation was observed between niche overlap and DNA barcodes, indicating that spatial distribution had a major influence on chemical composition in the Fritillaria species. Finally, the acquisition of species-specific habitats would contribute to decrease in habitat competition, and future conservation and cultivation of Fritillaria species., (© 2023. The Author(s).)
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- 2023
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16. Effect of sub-pixel multiplexing on the display quality of LED display.
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Chen J, Zheng X, Chen Y, Wang Y, Liu F, Huang D, Chen Y, Mao X, Cao H, and Xing F
- Abstract
In this paper, a theoretical model is presented for the display process of uniformly-arranged virtual-pixel LED displays with RGBG sub-pixel structure cells. Such displays' modulation transfer function (MTF) is derived theoretically from this model. Experiments were conducted to validate the theoretical model to measure the MTF of virtual-pixel displays and traditional real-pixel displays with a pixel pitch of 0.9 mm. A dual-line spread function measurement method is proposed, which is experimentally shown to be more effective than the conventional single-line LSF measurement method in measuring the MTF of LED displays. The rationality of the theoretical model was analyzed and compared through experiments. Furthermore, a combined subjective and objective evaluation method for the image quality of LED sub-pixel displays is proposed, which analyses the effect of LED sub-pixel multiplexing on the display clarity based on the square root integration method and achieves the subjective goal of quantifying the LED display quality. The research results reveal the theoretical and experimental aspects of virtual-pixel displays and may have practical significance for the design of high-quality LED displays., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)
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- 2023
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17. DRCNN: decomposing residual convolutional neural networks for time series forecasting.
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Zhu Y, Luo S, Huang D, Zheng W, Su F, and Hou B
- Abstract
Recent studies have shown great performance of Transformer-based models in long-term time series forecasting due to their ability in capturing long-term dependencies. However, Transformers have their limitations when training on small datasets because of their lack in necessary inductive bias for time series forecasting, and do not show significant benefits in short-time step forecasting as well as that in long-time step as the continuity of sequence is not focused on. In this paper, efficient designs in Transformers are reviewed and a design of decomposing residual convolution neural networks or DRCNN is proposed. The DRCNN method allows to utilize the continuity between data by decomposing data into residual and trend terms which are processed by a designed convolution block or DR-Block. DR-Block has its strength in extracting features by following the structural design of Transformers. In addition, by imitating the multi-head in Transformers, a Multi-head Sequence method is proposed such that the network is enabled to receive longer inputs and more accurate forecasts are obtained. The state-of-the-art performance of the presented model are demonstrated on several datasets., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)
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- 2023
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18. Physiological and transcriptomic analysis of a yellow leaf mutant in watermelon.
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Xu B, Zhang C, Gu Y, Cheng R, Huang D, Liu X, and Sun Y
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- Chlorophyll genetics, Chlorophyll A, Plant Leaves genetics, Plant Breeding, Transcriptome
- Abstract
Leaf color mutants are important materials for studying chloroplast and photomorphogenesis, and can function as basic germplasms for genetic breeding. In an ethylmethanesulfonate mutagenesis population of watermelon cultivar "703", a chlorophyll-deficient mutant with yellow leaf (Yl2) color was identified. The contents of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and carotenoids in Yl2 leaves were lower than those in wild-type (WT) leaves. The chloroplast ultrastructure in the leaves revealed that the chloroplasts in Yl2 were degraded. The numbers of chloroplasts and thylakoids in the Yl2 mutant were lower, resulting in lower photosynthetic parameters. Transcriptomic analysis identified 1292 differentially expressed genes, including1002 upregulated and 290 downregulated genes. The genes involved in chlorophyll biosynthesis (HEMA, HEMD, CHL1, CHLM, and CAO) were significantly downregulated in the Yl2 mutant, which may explain why chlorophyll pigment content was lower than that in the WT. Chlorophyll metabolism genes such as PDS, ZDS and VDE, were upregulated, which form the xanthophyll cycle and may protect the yellow‒leaves plants from photodamage. Taken together, our findings provide insight into the molecular mechanisms of leading to leaf color formation and chloroplast development in watermelon., (© 2023. The Author(s).)
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- 2023
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19. CRISPR-assisted test for Schistosoma haematobium.
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Cherkaoui D, Mesquita SG, Huang D, Lugli EB, Webster BL, and McKendry RA
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- Animals, Sensitivity and Specificity, Neglected Diseases, Eggs, Schistosoma haematobium genetics, Schistosomiasis haematobia diagnosis
- Abstract
Schistosomiasis is a major neglected tropical disease targeted for elimination as a public health issue by 2030, however there is an urgent need for more sensitive and specific diagnostic tests suitable to resource-limited settings. Here we developed CATSH, a CRISPR-assisted diagnostic test for Schistosoma haematobium, utilising recombinase polymerase amplification, Cas12a-targeted cleavage and portable real-time fluorescence detection. CATSH showed high analytical sensitivity, consistent detection of a single parasitic egg and specificity for urogenital Schistosoma species. Thanks to a novel CRISPR-compatible sample preparation developed using simulated urine samples containing parasitic eggs, CATSH had a sample-to-result within 2 h. The components of CATSH can be lyophilised, reducing cold chain dependence and widening access to lower and middle-income countries. This work presents a new application of CRISPR diagnostics for highly sensitive and specific detection of parasitic pathogens in remote areas and could have a significant impact on the elimination of neglected tropical diseases., (© 2023. The Author(s).)
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- 2023
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20. The role of scarcity promotion and cause-related events in impulse purchase in the agricultural product live stream.
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Li X, Guo M, and Huang D
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- Humans, Agriculture, Arousal, Commerce, Edible Grain, Refuse Disposal
- Abstract
Harvest agricultural products are perishable. If they cannot be sold, there will be serious grain loss and food waste. It is an important issue related to human sustainable development and urgent to address. As the most popular way of shopping, live shopping has achieved remarkable achievements, while the existing research is relatively silent on how to promote the sales of agricultural products in the context of live streams. Based on S-O-R theory and dual-system theory, three studies investigated the intrinsic mechanism of consumers' impulse purchase intention (IPI) in live streams. The results show that scarcity promotion (SP) and cause-related events (CRE) are positively correlated with consumers' IPI through arousal and moral elevation. Interestingly, when SP and CRE are presented at the same time, the impact of CRE on IPI is no longer significant. Overall, the proposed model could be used to predict consumers' willingness and provide the choice of marketing strategy to promote the sale of agricultural products, which has significant theoretical and practical value., (© 2023. The Author(s).)
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- 2023
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21. Low genetic diversity and predation threaten a rediscovered marine sponge.
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Quek ZBR, Ng JY, Jain SS, Long JXS, Lim SC, Tun K, and Huang D
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- Animals, Base Sequence, DNA, Ribosomal, Genetic Variation, Predatory Behavior, Porifera genetics
- Abstract
Discovered in 1819 in the tropical waters off Singapore, the magnificent Neptune's cup sponge Cliona patera (Hardwicke, 1820) was harvested for museums and collectors until it was presumed extinct worldwide for over a century since 1907. Recently in 2011, seven living individuals were rediscovered in Singapore with six relocated to a marine protected area in an effort to better monitor and protect the population, as well as to enhance external fertilisation success. To determine genetic diversity within the population, we sequenced the complete mitochondrial genomes and nuclear ribosomal DNA of these six individuals and found extremely limited variability in their genes. The low genetic diversity of this rediscovered population is confirmed by comparisons with close relatives of C. patera and could compromise the population's ability to recover from environmental and anthropogenic pressures associated with the highly urbanised coastlines of Singapore. This lack of resilience is compounded by severe predation which has been shrinking sponge sizes by up to 5.6% every month. Recovery of this highly endangered population may require ex situ approaches and crossbreeding with other populations, which are also rare., (© 2022. The Author(s).)
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- 2022
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22. Floquet engineering of tilted and gapped Dirac bandstructure in 1T[Formula: see text]-MoS[Formula: see text].
- Author
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Iurov A, Zhemchuzhna L, Gumbs G, Huang D, Tse WK, Blaise K, and Ejiogu C
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We have developed a rigorous theoretical formalism for Floquet engineering, investigating, and subsequently tailoring most crucial electronic properties of 1T[Formula: see text]-MoS[Formula: see text] by applying an external high-frequency dressing field within the off-resonance regime. It was recently demonstrated that monolayer semiconducting 1T[Formula: see text]-MoS[Formula: see text] exhibits tunable and gapped spin- and valley-polarized tilted Dirac bands. The electron-photon dressed states depend strongly on the polarization of the applied irradiation and reflect a full complexity of the low-energy Hamiltonian for non-irradiated material. We have calculated and analyzed the properties of the electron dressed states corresponding to linear and circular polarization of a dressing field by focusing on their symmetry, anisotropy, tilting, direct and indirect band gaps. Circularly polarized dressing field is known for transition into a new electronic state with broken time-reversal symmetry and a non-zero Chern number, and therefore, the combination of these topologically non-trivial phases and transitions between them could reveal some truly unique and previously unknown phenomena and applications. We have also computed and discussed the density of states for various types of 1T[Formula: see text]-MoS[Formula: see text] materials and its modification in the presence of a dressing field., (© 2022. The Author(s).)
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- 2022
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23. A cross-cultural comparison of ethnocentrism and the intercultural willingness to communicate between two collectivistic cultures.
- Author
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Yousaf M, Ahmad M, Ji D, Huang D, and Raza SH
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- Asian People, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Surveys and Questionnaires, Communication, Cross-Cultural Comparison
- Abstract
There is a prevalent notion regarding divergence in the extent of ethnocentrism and the intercultural willingness to communicate across cultures. Given this cultural divergence, research is replete with comparative studies of ethnocentrism and the intercultural willingness to communicate between individualistic and collectivistic cultures. However, to our knowledge, a comparison of these crucial cultural tendencies within and their consequences for collectivistic cultures has been overlooked. Thus, this study provides a cross-cultural comparison of ethnocentrism and the intercultural willingness to communicate among university students from two collectivist cultures, i.e., Pakistan and China. The researchers employed a cross-sectional design. A sample of 775 students was collected using a survey technique. The findings show that Pakistani students are more ethnocentric and have a lower intercultural willingness to communicate than Chinese students. Moreover, males were found to be more ethnocentric and less willing to communicate in intercultural settings than females in both countries. These findings validate the notion of ethnocentrism divergence across collectivistic countries and its influence on the intercultural willingness to communicate. Additionally, they demonstrate the role of demographic attributes in evolving ethnocentrism and the intercultural willingness to communicate. Accordingly, these findings also confirm the ecological assumption that contextual factors, such as demographic attributes (e.g., past interactions with foreigners), influence communication schemas. Therefore, concerning its management, these findings suggest that increased people-to-people interactions between the two focal countries can better foster their mutual understanding to reap an increased harvest of the fruits of the Belt and Road Initiative., (© 2022. The Author(s).)
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- 2022
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24. Node, place, ridership, and time model for rail-transit stations: a case study.
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Amini Pishro A, Yang Q, Zhang S, Amini Pishro M, Zhang Z, Zhao Y, Postel V, Huang D, and Li W
- Subjects
- Cities, Transportation methods
- Abstract
Nowadays, Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) plays a vital role for public transport planners in developing potential city facilities. Knowing the necessity of this concept indicates that TOD effective parameters such as network accessibility (node value) and station-area land use (place value) should be considered in city development projects. To manage the coordination between these two factors, we need to consider ridership and peak and off-peak hours as essential enablers in our investigations. To aim this, we conducted our research on Chengdu rail-transit stations as a case study to propose our Node-Place-Ridership-Time (NPRT) model. We applied the Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) to examine the impacts of node value and place value on ridership. Finally, K-Means and Cube Methods were used to classify the stations based on the NPRT model results. This research indicates that our NPRT model could provide accurate results compared with the previous models to evaluate rail-transit stations., (© 2022. The Author(s).)
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- 2022
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25. Mildly elevated diastolic blood pressure increases subsequent risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women in the Health Examinees-Gem study.
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De la Torre K, Shin WK, Huang D, Lee HW, Shin A, Lee JK, Lee HY, and Kang D
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- Blood Pressure, Female, Humans, Postmenopause, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Breast Neoplasms complications, Breast Neoplasms etiology, Hypertension complications, Hypertension drug therapy, Hypertension epidemiology
- Abstract
Epidemiological evidence suggests that hypertension is associated with breast cancer risk. However, previous studies disregard blood pressure components in the healthy population. We aimed to examine the relationship between systolic and diastolic blood pressure and breast cancer risk in a Korean population-based prospective cohort. A total of 73,031 women from the Health Examinees Gem Study were followed from baseline (2004 to 2013) through 2018. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure were measured by trainee physicians at baseline recruitment and then categorized based on the international guidelines for clinical hypertension. Associations between systolic and diastolic blood pressure with overall breast cancer and stratified by premenopausal and postmenopausal status were evaluated using adjusted multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression. A total of 858 breast cancer cases were recorded for a median follow-up period of 9 years. Compared with the normal DBP category (< 85 mmHg), the normal-high category was positively associated with breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women (85-89 mmHg, HR 1.73 95% CI 1.28-2.33), but not in premenopausal women (85-89 mmHg, HR 0.87 95% CI 0.56-1.35). Similar results were found when all cases of self-reported hypertension were excluded. Results for SBP did not show a significant association with breast cancer risk. The association between DBP and breast cancer suggests DBP could be an important factor in cancer prevention, especially for women after menopause. Our study provides a first detailed approach to understanding the importance of diastolic blood pressure for breast cancer prevention and warrants further investigation., (© 2022. The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2022
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26. Feasibility study of ultrasound-guided percutaneous laser discectomy for cervical radicular pain.
- Author
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Hu R, Zhu X, Zhou Y, Zhang J, Huang D, and Zhou H
- Subjects
- Cervical Vertebrae diagnostic imaging, Cervical Vertebrae surgery, Diskectomy adverse effects, Feasibility Studies, Humans, Lasers, Neck Pain complications, Retrospective Studies, Treatment Outcome, Ultrasonography, Interventional adverse effects, Intervertebral Disc Displacement surgery, Radiculopathy complications, Radiculopathy diagnostic imaging, Radiculopathy surgery
- Abstract
Percutaneous laser discectomy is one common and effective treatment for cervical radicular pain. Currently, the surgery is performed with blind cannulation technique, mainly relies on the experience of surgeon. However, it still remains unsafe and difficult to reach the target. As an alternative, ultrasound-guided cannulation provides visualization of important structures, thus increasing the precision and safety. The primary goal of this study is to report the detail of the ultrasound-guided technique in the percutaneous laser cervical discectomy. The secondary purpose is to evaluate the feasibility of the novel therapy. This is a single center, feasibility study conducted in one teaching hospital. Thirteen intervertebral discs in 9 patients presented with cervical radicular pain. Accuracy of the cannulation with ultrasonic guidance was confirmed by the anterior-posterior and lateral view of fluoroscopy. We compared the pain severity pre- and post-treatment with Visual Analogue Score (VAS), and functional improvement was assessed with the modified Macnab Criteria and Neck Disability Index (NDI) respectively. Ultrasonic short-axis was used to scan the cervical nerve root, and its transition was used to identify the distinct intervertebral space. Following the recognition of targeted cervical level, the ultrasound probe was moved medially for the visualization of the surface of the cervical vertebrae. In plane cannulation was then applied to avoid the injury of the vessels. The location of cannula was confirmed by the fluoroscopic imaging. Low-power laser was set for the cervical disc ablation in this cohort. The majority of the surgical sites maintained in the C5/6 level (38%), and 31% for the C6/7 level respectively. Despite the distinct cervical level, the tip of needle was properly placed near by the targeted intervertebral disc in all participants, which was confirmed by the imaging of fluoroscopy. We did not observe any obvious complications during the procedure. The mean VAS decreased from 7.6 ± 1.1 to 2.3 ± 2.7 one month after discharge, and 2.1 ± 2.6 at the last follow-up (median duration of nine months). All patients reported significant improvement of NDI up to last follow-up (p = 0.011). Meanwhile, the good to excellent rate was reported in 8 of 9 patients (89%) according to the modified Macnab Criteria. The finding of this feasibility assessment indicates the ultrasound-based cannulation technique is capable of guiding the cannulation for the percutaneous laser discectomy. It may facilitate identifying the corresponding site of cervical intervertebral disc and prevent the damage of vessel., (© 2022. The Author(s).)
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- 2022
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27. Combined improved A* and greedy algorithm for path planning of multi-objective mobile robot.
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Xiang D, Lin H, Ouyang J, and Huang D
- Abstract
With the development of artificial intelligence, path planning of Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) has been a research hotspot in recent years. This paper proposes the improved A* algorithm combined with the greedy algorithm for a multi-objective path planning strategy. Firstly, the evaluation function is improved to make the convergence of A* algorithm faster. Secondly, the unnecessary nodes of the A* algorithm are removed, meanwhile only the necessary inflection points are retained for path planning. Thirdly, the improved A* algorithm combined with the greedy algorithm is applied to multi-objective point planning. Finally, path planning is performed for five target nodes in a warehouse environment to compare path lengths, turn angles and other parameters. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is smoother and the path length is reduced by about 5%. The results show that the proposed method can reduce a certain path length., (© 2022. The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2022
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28. A synchrotron-based kilowatt-level radiation source for EUV lithography.
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Jiang B, Feng C, Li C, Bai Z, Wan W, Xiang D, Gu Q, Wang K, Zhang Q, Huang D, and Chen S
- Abstract
A compact damping ring with a limited circumference of about 160 m is proposed for producing kilowatt-level coherent EUV radiation. The electron bunch in the storage ring is modulated by a 257 nm wavelength seed laser with the help of the angular-dispersion-induced micro-bunching method (Feng and Zhao in Sci Rep 7:4724, 2017), coherent radiation at 13.5 nm with an average power of about 2.5 kW can be achieved with the state-of-the-art accelerator and laser technologies., (© 2022. The Author(s).)
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- 2022
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29. High speed, long range, deep penetration swept source OCT for structural and angiographic imaging of the anterior eye.
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Chen S, Potsaid B, Li Y, Lin J, Hwang Y, Moult EM, Zhang J, Huang D, and Fujimoto JG
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- Angiography methods, Anterior Eye Segment blood supply, Biometry methods, Humans, Tomography, Optical Coherence instrumentation, Anterior Eye Segment diagnostic imaging, Tomography, Optical Coherence methods
- Abstract
This study reports the development of prototype swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) technology for imaging the anterior eye. Advances in vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) light sources, signal processing, optics and mechanical designs, enable a unique combination of high speed, long range, and deep penetration that addresses the challenges of anterior eye imaging. We demonstrate SS-OCT with a 325 kHz A-scan rate, 12.2 µm axial resolution (in air), and 15.5 mm depth range (in air) at 1310 nm wavelength. The ultrahigh 325 kHz A-scan rate not only facilitates biometry measurements by minimizing acquisition time and thus reducing motion, but also enables volumetric OCT for comprehensive structural analysis and OCT angiography (OCTA) for visualizing vasculature. The 15.5 mm (~ 11.6 mm in tissue) depth range spans all optical surfaces from the anterior cornea to the posterior lens capsule. The 1310 nm wavelength range enables structural OCT and OCTA deep in the sclera and through the iris. Achieving high speed and long range requires linearizing the VCSEL wavenumber sweep to efficiently utilize analog-to-digital conversion bandwidth. Dual channel recording of the OCT and calibration interferometer fringe signals, as well as sweep to sweep wavenumber compensation, is used to achieve invariant 12.2 µm (~ 9.1 µm in tissue) axial resolution and optimum point spread function throughout the depth range. Dynamic focusing using a tunable liquid lens extends the effective depth of field while preserving the lateral resolution. Improved optical and mechanical design, including parallax "split view" iris cameras and stable, ergonomic patient interface, facilitates accurate instrument positioning, reduces patient motion, and leads to improved imaging data yield and measurement accuracy. We present structural and angiographic OCT images of the anterior eye, demonstrating the unique imaging capabilities using representative scanning protocols which may be relevant to future research and clinical applications., (© 2022. The Author(s).)
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- 2022
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30. Construction of integrative transcriptome to boost systematic exploration of Bougainvillea.
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Luo Q, Chen Z, Xu T, Huang D, Hou H, Hong C, Zhan F, Guo H, Lin Z, Guo X, Chen L, and Ji ZL
- Subjects
- Computational Biology methods, Flowers genetics, Gene Expression genetics, Gene Expression Regulation, Plant genetics, Genome genetics, Genomics methods, Sequence Analysis, RNA methods, Gene Expression Profiling methods, Nyctaginaceae genetics, Transcriptome genetics
- Abstract
Members of the genus Bougainvillea are rich sources of natural dyes, pigments, and traditional medicines. They are also commonly used as ornamentals in roadside landscape construction. However, the horticultural development of Bougainvillea flowers with extended growth periods and coloration is not always feasible. One reason is limited molecular knowledge and no genomic information for Bougainvillea. Here, we compiled an integrative transcriptome of all expressed transcripts for Bougainvillea × buttiana Miss Manila by integrating 20 Illumina-sequencing RNA transcriptomes. The integrative transcriptome consisted of 97,623 distinct transcripts. Of these, 47,006 were protein-coding, 31,109 were non-coding, and 19,508 were unannotated. In addition, we affirmed that the integrative transcriptome could serve as a surrogate reference to the genome in aiding accurate transcriptome assembly. For convenience, we curated the integrative transcriptome database for Bougainvillea, namely InTransBo, which can be freely accessed at http://www.bio-add.org/InTransBo/index.jsp . To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the most comprehensive genomic resource for Bougainvillea up-to-date. The integrative transcriptome helps fill the genomic gap and elucidate the transcriptional nature of Bougainvillea. It may also advance progress in the precise regulation of flowering in horticulture. The same strategy can be readily applied toward the systematic exploration of other plant species lacking complete genomic information., (© 2022. The Author(s).)
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- 2022
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31. Tailoring plasmon excitations in [Formula: see text] armchair nanoribbons.
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Iurov A, Zhemchuzhna L, Gumbs G, Huang D, Fekete P, Anwar F, Dahal D, and Weekes N
- Abstract
We have calculated and investigated the electronic states, dynamical polarization function and the plasmon excitations for [Formula: see text] nanoribbons with armchair-edge termination. The obtained plasmon dispersions are found to depend significantly on the number of atomic rows across the ribbon and the energy gap which is also determined by the nanoribbon geometry. The bandgap appears to have the strongest effect on both the plasmon dispersions and their Landau damping. We have determined the conditions when relative hopping parameter [Formula: see text] of an [Formula: see text] lattice has a strong effect on the plasmons which makes our material distinguished from graphene nanoribbons. Our results for the electronic and collective properties of [Formula: see text] nanoribbons are expected to find numerous applications in the development of the next-generation electronic, nano-optical and plasmonic devices., (© 2021. The Author(s).)
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- 2021
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32. Designing small organic non-fullerene acceptor molecules with diflorobenzene or quinoline core and dithiophene donor moiety through density functional theory.
- Author
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Bary G, Ghani L, Jamil MI, Arslan M, Ahmed W, Ahmad A, Sajid M, Ahmad R, and Huang D
- Abstract
The non-fullerene acceptors A1-A5 with diflourobenzene or quinoline core (bridge) unit, donor cyclopenta[1,2-b:3,4-b']dithiophene unit and 2-(2-methylene-3-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-1-ylidene)malononitrile as acceptor unit with additional phenyl, fulvene or thieno[3,2-d]pyrimidinyl 5-oxide groups have been designed through DFT calculations. The optimization of molecular geometries were performed with density functional theory (DFT) at B3LYP 6-31G (d,p) level of theory. The frontier molecular orbital (FMO) energies, band gap energies and dipole moments (ground and excited state) have been calculated to probe the photovoltaic properties. The band gap (1.42-2.01 eV) and dipole moment values (5.5-18. Debye) showed that these designed acceptors are good candidates for organic solar cells. Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory (TD-DFT) results showed λ
max (wave length at maximum absorption) value (611-837 nm), oscillator strength (f) and excitation energies (1.50-2.02 eV) in gas phase and in CHCl3 solvent (1.48-1.89 eV) using integral equation formalism variant (IEFPCM) model. The λmax in CHCl3 showed marginal red shift for all designed acceptors compared with gas phase absorption. The partial density of states (PDOS) has been plotted by using multiwfn which showed that all the designed molecules have more electronic distribution at the donor moiety and lowest at the central bridge. The reorganization energies of electron (λe ) (0.0007 eV to 0.017 eV), and the hole reorganization energy values (0.0003 eV to - 0.0403 eV) were smaller which suggested that higher charged motilities. The blends of acceptors A1-A5 with donor polymer D1 provided open circuit voltage (Voc ) and ∆HOMO off-set of the HOMO of donor and acceptors. These blends showed 1.04 to 1.5 eV values of Voc and 0 to 0.38 eV ∆HOMO off set values of the donor-acceptor bends which indicate improved performance of the cell. Finally, the blend of D1-A4 was used for the study of distribution of HOMO and LUMO. The HOMO were found distributed on the donor polymer (D1) while the A4 acceptor was found with LUMO distribution. Based on λmax values, and band gap energies (Eg ), excitation energies (Ex ), reorganization energies; the A3 and A4 will prove good acceptor molecules for the development of organic solar cells., (© 2021. The Author(s).)- Published
- 2021
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33. Projection of key meteorological hazard factors in Xiongan new area of Hebei Province, China.
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Huang D, Liao Y, and Han Z
- Abstract
It is of great importance to explore the future spatiotemporal dynamics of key meteorological hazard factors in Xiongan New Area, an area of great strategic significance under construction in China. Based on 6.25 km high-resolution downscaling projection data under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios, Mann-Kendall trend and linear trend were analyzed, and then stationary generalized extreme value (GEV) and time-varying GEV methods were determined to calculate the extremes of four key meteorological hazard factors with return periods of 10, 20, 30, 50 and 100 years during the projection period 1991-2050. Results show that extremes of annual maximum daily precipitation and annual maximum amount of consecutive precipitation under two climate scenarios will not increase too much. Extremes of annual maximum temperature will increase by above 1.5 °C under RCP4.5 scenario in most grids and above 1.9 °C under RCP8.5 scenario. Extremes of annual longest consecutive high-temperature days will increase by above 0.9d under RCP4.5 scenario and above 1.6d under RCP8.5 scenario. On the whole, the hazard of flood disaster will hardly show any change up to 2050, but there will be relatively higher flood hazard in Xiongxian county and its adjacent region. All regions in Xiongan New Area will face high hazard of high-temperature disaster., (© 2021. The Author(s).)
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- 2021
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34. Optical coherence tomographic angiography study of perfusion recovery after surgical lowering of intraocular pressure.
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Liu L, Takusagawa HL, Greenwald MF, Wang J, Alonzo B, Edmunds B, Morrison JC, Tan O, Jia Y, and Huang D
- Subjects
- Aged, Female, Glaucoma diagnosis, Glaucoma surgery, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Outcome Assessment, Health Care methods, Perfusion, Prospective Studies, Retinal Vessels physiopathology, Time Factors, Visual Fields physiology, Angiography methods, Glaucoma physiopathology, Intraocular Pressure physiology, Optic Disk blood supply, Tomography, Optical Coherence methods
- Abstract
We investigated the time and location of retinal perfusion recovery after surgical intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering in glaucoma by using optical coherent tomography angiography (OCTA). Seventeen patients were analyzed. The 4.5 × 4.5-mm OCTA scans centered on the disc were performed preoperatively and postoperatively at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months. The peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (NFL) thickness, NFL plexus capillary density (NFLP-CD) and visual field (VF) were measured overall and in 8 corresponding sectors. The low-perfusion area (LPA) was used to assess the cumulative area where local NFLP-CD was significantly below normal. At 6 months, the average IOP decreased 5.3 mmHg (P = 0.004), LPA decreased by 15% (P = 0.005), and NFLP-CD improved by 12% (P < 0.001). The NFL thickness and VF mean deviation didn't change significantly at any time point. Among the sectors with significant preoperative NFLP-CD loss, the recovery at 6 months was greatest in sectors with minimal preoperative NFL thinning (P < 0.001). In conclusion, surgical IOP lowering may improve NFLP capillary perfusion after 6 months. The perfusion recovery tended to occur in areas with minimal NFL thinning at baseline. OCTA parameters may have potential usefulness as pharmacodynamic biomarkers for glaucoma therapy., (© 2021. The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2021
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35. Evaluation of drought resistance and transcriptome analysis for the identification of drought-responsive genes in Iris germanica.
- Author
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Zhang J, Huang D, Zhao X, and Zhang M
- Subjects
- Droughts, Gene Expression Profiling methods, Gene Expression Regulation, Plant genetics, Gene Library, Gene Ontology, Genes, Plant genetics, High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing methods, Molecular Sequence Annotation methods, Plant Leaves genetics, Plant Proteins genetics, Transcription Factors genetics, Iris Plant genetics, Stress, Physiological genetics, Transcriptome genetics
- Abstract
Iris germanica, a species with very high ornamental value, exhibits the strongest drought resistance among the species in the genus Iris, but the molecular mechanism underlying its drought resistance has not been evaluated. To investigate the gene expression profile changes exhibited by high-drought-resistant I. germanica under drought stress, 10 cultivars with excellent characteristics were included in pot experiments under drought stress conditions, and the changes in the chlorophyll (Chl) content, plasma membrane relative permeability (RP), and superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), free proline (Pro), and soluble protein (SP) levels in leaves were compared among these cultivars. Based on their drought-resistance performance, the 10 cultivars were ordered as follows: 'Little Dream' > 'Music Box' > 'X'Brassie' > 'Blood Stone' > 'Cherry Garden' > 'Memory of Harvest' > 'Immortality' > 'White and Gold' > 'Tantara' > 'Clarence'. Using the high-drought-resistant cultivar 'Little Dream' as the experimental material, cDNA libraries from leaves and rhizomes treated for 0, 6, 12, 24, and 48 h with 20% polyethylene glycol (PEG)-6000 to simulate a drought environment were sequenced using the Illumina sequencing platform. We obtained 1, 976, 033 transcripts and 743, 982 unigenes (mean length of 716 bp) through a hierarchical clustering analysis of the resulting transcriptome data. The unigenes were compared against the Nr, Nt, Pfam, KOG/COG, Swiss-Prot, KEGG, and gene ontology (GO) databases for functional annotation, and the gene expression levels in leaves and rhizomes were compared between the 20% PEG-6000 stress treated (6, 12, 24, and 48 h) and control (0 h) groups using DESeq2. 7849 and 24,127 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained from leaves and rhizomes, respectively. GO and KEGG enrichment analyses of the DEGs revealed significantly enriched KEGG pathways, including ribosome, photosynthesis, hormone signal transduction, starch and sucrose metabolism, synthesis of secondary metabolites, and related genes, such as heat shock proteins (HSPs), transcription factors (TFs), and active oxygen scavengers. In conclusion, we conducted the first transcriptome sequencing analysis of the I. germanica cultivar 'Little Dream' under drought stress and generated a large amount of genetic information. This study lays the foundation for further exploration of the molecular mechanisms underlying the responses of I. germanica to drought stress and provides valuable genetic resources for the breeding of drought-resistant plants., (© 2021. The Author(s).)
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- 2021
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36. Application of artificial neural networks and multiple linear regression on local bond stress equation of UHPC and reinforcing steel bars.
- Author
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Amini Pishro A, Zhang S, Huang D, Xiong F, Li W, and Yang Q
- Abstract
We investigated the use of an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to predict the Local Bond Stress (LBS) between Ultra-High-Performance Concrete (UHPC) and steel bars, in order to evaluate the accuracy of our LBS equation, proposed by Multiple Linear Regression (MLR). The experimental and numerical LBS results of specimens, based on RILEM standards and using pullout tests, were assessed by the ANN algorithm using the TensorFlow platform. For each specimen, steel bar diameters ([Formula: see text] of 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20, concrete compressive strength ([Formula: see text]), bond lengths ([Formula: see text]), and concrete covers ([Formula: see text]) of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] were used as input parameters for our ANN. To obtain an accurate LBS equation, we first modified the existing formula, then used MLR to establish a new LBS equation. Finally, we applied ANN to verify our new proposed equation. The numerical pullout test values from ABAQUS and experimental results from our laboratory were compared with the proposed LBS equation and ANN algorithm results. The results confirmed that our LBS equation is logically accurate and that there is a strong agreement between the experimental, numerical, theoretical, and the predicted LBS values. Moreover, the ANN algorithm proved the precision of our proposed LBS equation., (© 2021. The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2021
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37. Soil ammonia-oxidizing archaea in a paddy field with different irrigation and fertilization managements.
- Author
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Wang L and Huang D
- Subjects
- China, Crenarchaeota metabolism, Hydrogen-Ion Concentration, Oryza growth & development, Oxidation-Reduction, Soil chemistry, Agricultural Irrigation methods, Ammonia metabolism, Archaea metabolism, Fertilizers, Soil Microbiology
- Abstract
Because ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) are ubiquitous and highly abundant in almost all terrestrial soils, they play an important role in soil nitrification. However, the changes in the structure and function of AOA communities and their edaphic drivers in paddy soils under different fertilization and irrigation regimes remain unclear. In this study, we investigated AOA abundance, diversity and activity in acid paddy soils by a field experiment. Results indicated that the highest potential ammonia oxidation (PAO) (0.011 μg NO
2 - d.w.day-1 d.w.day-1 ) was found in T2 (optimal irrigation and fertilization)-treated soils, whereas the lowest PAO (0.004 μg NO2 d.w.day- -N g-1 d.w.day-1 ) in T0 (traditional irrigation)- treated soils. Compared with the T0 -treated soil, the T2 treatment significantly (P < 0.05) increased AOA abundances. Furthermore, the abundance of AOA was significantly (P < 0.01) positively correlated with pH, soil organic carbon (SOC), and PAO. Meanwhile, pH and SOC content were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in the T2 -treated soil than those in the T1 (traditional irrigation and fertilization)- treated soil. In addition, these two edaphic factors further influenced the AOA community composition. The AOA phylum Crenarchaeota was mainly found in the T2 -treated soils. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that most of the identified OTUs of AOA were mainly affiliated with Crenarchaeota. Furthermore, the T2 treatment had higher rice yield than the T0 and T1 treatments. Together, our findings confirm that T2 might ameliorate soil chemical properties, regulate the AOA community structure, increase the AOA abundance, enhance PAO and consequently maintain rice yields in the present study., (© 2021. The Author(s).)- Published
- 2021
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38. Assessing the post-treatment therapeutic effect of pinaverium in irritable bowel syndrome: a randomized controlled trial.
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Zheng L, Lu W, Xiao Q, Lai Y, Fan H, Sun Y, Huang D, Wang Y, Li Z, Jiang Z, Liu X, Zhang L, Zuo D, Shou Z, Tang Q, Huang H, Yang Y, Tang Z, and Xiao J
- Subjects
- Adult, Confidence Intervals, Endpoint Determination, Female, Humans, Intention to Treat Analysis, Kaplan-Meier Estimate, Male, Morpholines pharmacology, Odds Ratio, Time Factors, Treatment Outcome, Irritable Bowel Syndrome drug therapy, Morpholines therapeutic use
- Abstract
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the most common gastrointestinal disorder significantly decreasing patients' lives of quality and placing huge economic burden on our society. Existing studies indicated that the therapeutic effects maintained for a period of time after the treatments were discontinued. It is clinically important to assess these post-treatment therapeutic effects (PTTE), which prevent IBS from relapsing. To assess the PTTE in pinaverium treatment and obtain high-quality evidence to justify the use of PTTE for long-term IBS management, we performed this controlled, double blind study on patients with IBS who were randomized to pinaverium 50 mg (n = 132) or placebo (n = 132), three times daily, for 4 weeks, and were followed up for 57 weeks after the treatments. The primary endpoints were abdominal pain and stool consistency. The secondary endpoints were pain frequency and stool frequency. The tertiary endpoints were global overall symptom and adverse events. Three days after pinaverium was discontinued, endpoints rebounded only 23.2-42.8% (P < 0.015 cf. placebo). The PTTE (P < 0.05 cf. placebo) lasted 9-17 weeks, which is similar to other antispasmodics with a 15-week treatment in striking contrast to ≥ 1 year PTTE in cognitive behavior therapy and < 1 week PTTE in serotonin antagonist treatment indicating that PTTE length markedly depends on the medication class used for the treatment and less depends on treatment length. After 17 weeks, the stage could be considered as an IBS natural history [no significant differences between pinaverium and placebo (all endpoints' P's > 0.05)], during which an average of 51.5-56.4% of patients (pool pinaverium and placebo data together) had IBS symptoms. These results provide clinical insights into efficient and cost-effective management of refractory IBS, and lend support to the IBS management that the selection of a therapy should consider both its effectiveness during treatment and its PTTE after the treatment.Trial registration number: NCT02330029 (16/08/2016).
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- 2021
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39. Underrated primary biogenic origin and lifetime of atmospheric formic and acetic acid.
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Lee X, Huang D, Liu Q, Liu X, Zhou H, Wang Q, and Ma Y
- Abstract
Formic and acetic acids are ubiquitous in the troposphere, playing an important role in the atmospheric chemistry. Recent model studies ended up with substantial low bias on their tropospheric budgets presumably due to a large missing biogenic source derived most likely from photochemical oxidation of long-lived volatile organic compound(s), i.e., a secondary biogenic emission. Here, by studying the stable carbon isotope composition of formic and acetic acid in couple in the troposphere and relevant sources, we find the gap relates to primary biogenic emission and atmospheric lifetime of the acids. We show the primary biogenic emission is only second to the secondary biogenic emission as a strong source. Marine emission is the least one yet present in all the tropospheric environments except some local air. Long-distance transport of this origin indicates the lifetime over 5 days for both acids. Our results indicate that recent simulations underrated both primary biogenic emission and the lifetime. These underestimations would inevitably bias low the modeled results, especially in the low and free troposphere where primary biogenic emission and lifetime has the most pronounced influence, respectively.
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- 2021
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40. Improving the performance of ghost imaging via measurement-driven framework.
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Kang H, Wang Y, Zhang L, and Huang D
- Abstract
High-quality reconstruction under a low sampling rate is very important for ghost imaging. How to obtain perfect imaging results from the low sampling rate has become a research hotspot in ghost imaging. In this paper, inspired by matrix optimization in compressed sensing, an optimization scheme of speckle patterns via measurement-driven framework is introduced to improve the reconstruction quality of ghost imaging. According to this framework, the sampling matrix and sparse basis are optimized alternately using the sparse coefficient matrix obtained from the low-dimension pseudo-measurement process and the corresponding solution is obtained analytically, respectively. The optimized sampling matrix is then dealt with non-negative constraint and binary quantization. Compared to the developed optimization schemes of speckle patterns, simulation results show that the proposed scheme can achieve better reconstruction quality with the low sampling rate in terms of peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and mean structural similarity index (MSSIM). In particular, the lowest sampling rate we use to achieve a good performance is about 6.5%. At this sampling rate, the MSSIM and PSNR of the proposed scheme can reach 0.787 and 17.078 dB, respectively.
- Published
- 2021
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41. Transcriptomic responses to aluminum stress in tea plant leaves.
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Huang D, Gong Z, Chen X, Wang H, Tan R, and Mao Y
- Subjects
- Antioxidants metabolism, Biological Transport genetics, Camellia sinensis drug effects, Cell Wall metabolism, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Ontology, Genome, Plant, Inactivation, Metabolic drug effects, Molecular Sequence Annotation, Pectins metabolism, Plant Leaves drug effects, Plant Leaves enzymology, Polysaccharides metabolism, Reactive Oxygen Species metabolism, Reproducibility of Results, Sequence Analysis, RNA, Signal Transduction genetics, Stress, Physiological drug effects, Transcription Factors metabolism, Transcriptome drug effects, Aluminum toxicity, Camellia sinensis genetics, Camellia sinensis physiology, Gene Expression Regulation, Plant drug effects, Plant Leaves genetics, Plant Leaves physiology, Stress, Physiological genetics, Transcriptome genetics
- Abstract
Tea plant (Camellia sinensis) is a well-known Al-accumulating plant, showing a high level of aluminum (Al) tolerance. However, the molecular mechanisms of Al tolerance and accumulation are poorly understood. We carried out transcriptome analysis of tea plant leaves in response to three different Al levels (0, 1, 4 mM, for 7 days). In total, 794, 829 and 585 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained in 4 mM Al vs. 1 mM Al, 0 Al vs. 1 mM Al, and 4 mM Al vs. 0 Al comparisons, respectively. Analysis of genes related to polysaccharide and cell wall metabolism, detoxification of reactive oxygen species (ROS), cellular transport, and signal transduction were involved in the Al stress response. Furthermore, the transcription factors such as zinc finger, myeloblastosis (MYB), and WRKY played a critical role in transcriptional regulation of genes associated with Al resistance in tea plant. In addition, the genes involved in phenolics biosynthesis and decomposition were overwhelmingly upregulated in the leaves treated with either 0 Al and 4 mM Al stress, indicating they may play an important role in Al tolerance. These results will further help us to understand mechanisms of Al stress and tolerance in tea plants regulated at the transcriptional level.
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- 2021
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42. Correlation between early features and prognosis of symptomatic COVID-19 discharged patients in Hunan, China.
- Author
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Cai Y, Liu J, Yang H, Chen T, Yu Q, Chen J, Huang D, Chen Z, Shang QL, Ma C, Chen X, and Xiao E
- Subjects
- Adult, Alanine Transaminase blood, Aspartate Aminotransferases blood, COVID-19 blood, China, Female, Humans, L-Lactate Dehydrogenase blood, Male, Middle Aged, Patient Discharge statistics & numerical data, Prognosis, Retrospective Studies, Tomography, X-Ray Computed, COVID-19 diagnostic imaging, COVID-19 pathology
- Abstract
To determine the correlation between the clinical, laboratory, and radiological findings and the hospitalization days in Coronavirus Infectious Disease-19 (COVID-19) discharged patients. We retrospectively identified 172 discharged patients with COVID-19 pneumonia from January 10, 2020, to February 28, 2020, in Hunan province. The patients were categorized into group 1 (≤ 19 days) and group 2 (> 19 days) based on the time from symptom onset to discharge. Cough during admission occurred more commonly in group 2 (68.4%) than in group 1 (53.1%, p = 0.042). White blood cell (p = 0.045), neutrophil counts (p = 0.023), Alanine aminotransferase (p = 0.029), Aspartate aminotransferase (p = 0.027) and Lactate dehydrogenase (p = 0.021) that were above normal were more common in group 2. Patients with single lesions were observed more in group 1(17.7%, p = 0.018) and multiple lesions observed more in group 2(86.8%, p = 0.012). The number of lobes involved (p = 0.008) in the CT score (p = 0.001) for each patient was all differences between the two groups with a statistically significant difference. Mixed ground-glass opacity (GGO) and consolidation appearances were observed in most patients. GGO components > consolidation appearance was more common in group 1 (25.0%) than in group 2 (8.0%) with a significant difference (0.015), GGO < consolidation was more common in group 2(71.1%, p = 0.012). From the logistic regression analysis, the CT score (OR, 1.223; 95% CI, 1.004 to 1.491, p = 0.046) and the appearance of GGO > consolidation (OR, 0.150; 95% CI, 0.034 to 0.660, p = 0.012) were independently associated with the hospitalization days. Thus, special attention should be paid to the role of radiological features in monitoring the disease prognosis.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
43. Association of maternal pre-pregnancy low or increased body mass index with adverse pregnancy outcomes.
- Author
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Tang J, Zhu X, Chen Y, Huang D, Tiemeier H, Chen R, Bao W, and Zhao Q
- Subjects
- Adult, China epidemiology, Female, Humans, Obesity complications, Overweight complications, Pregnancy, Pregnancy Complications epidemiology, Pregnancy Complications etiology, Public Health Surveillance, Retrospective Studies, Risk Assessment, Risk Factors, Young Adult, Body Mass Index, Obesity epidemiology, Overweight epidemiology, Pregnancy Outcome
- Abstract
This study investigated the association between pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) and adverse pregnancy outcomes among women participated in the National Free Preconception Health Examination Project in Guangdong Province, China, and explored these associations according to maternal age. Pre-pregnancy BMI was classified into underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m
2 ), healthy weight (18.5-23.9 kg/m2 ), overweight (24.0-27.9 kg/m2 ), and obesity (≥ 28.0 kg/m2 ) according to Chinese criteria. Outcomes were preterm birth (PTB, delivery before 37 weeks of gestation), large for gestational age (LGA, birthweight above the 90th percentile for gestational age by infants' sex), small for gestational age (SGA, birthweight below the 10th percentile for gestational age by infants' sex), primary caesarean delivery, shoulder dystocia or birth injury, and stillbirth. Adjusted incidence risk ratios (aIRR) were calculated for underweight, overweight and obesity, respectively. Compared with healthy weight, underweight was associated with increased risk of PTB (aIRR 1.06, 95%CI 1.04-1.09) and SGA (1.23, 1.22-1.26) but inversely associated with LGA (0.83, 0.82-0.85), primary caesarean delivery (0.88, 0.87-0.90) and stillbirth (0.73, 0.53-0.99). Overweight was associated with increased risk of LGA (1.17, 1.14-1.19), primary caesarean delivery (1.18, 1.16-1.20) and stillbirth (1.44, 1.03-2.06), but inversely associated with SGA (0.92, 0.90-0.95) and shoulder dystocia or birth injury (0.86, 0.79-0.93). Obesity was associated with increased risk of PTB (1.12, 1.05-1.20), LGA (1.32, 1.27-1.37), primary caesarean delivery (1.45, 1.40-1.50), but inversely associated with SGA (0.92, 0.87-0.97). The aIRRs for underweight, overweight and obesity in relation to these adverse pregnancy outcomes ranged from 0.65 to 1.52 according to maternal age. In Chinese population, maternal pre-pregnancy BMI was significantly associated with the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes and the risk differs according to maternal age. Further investigation is warranted to determine whether and how counselling and interventions for women with low or increased BMI before pregnancy can reduce the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes.- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
44. Phylogenomics reveals viral sources, transmission, and potential superinfection in early-stage COVID-19 patients in Ontario, Canada.
- Author
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Sjaarda CP, Rustom N, Evans GA, Huang D, Perez-Patrigeon S, Hudson ML, Wong H, Sun Z, Guan TH, Ayub M, Soares CN, Colautti RI, and Sheth PM
- Subjects
- Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, COVID-19 diagnosis, COVID-19 transmission, COVID-19 Nucleic Acid Testing methods, Female, Genomics methods, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Mutation, Missense, Ontario, SARS-CoV-2 classification, SARS-CoV-2 pathogenicity, Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus genetics, Basic Reproduction Number, COVID-19 virology, Phylogeny, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, SARS-CoV-2 genetics
- Abstract
The emergence and rapid global spread of SARS-CoV-2 demonstrates the importance of infectious disease surveillance, particularly during the early stages. Viral genomes can provide key insights into transmission chains and pathogenicity. Nasopharyngeal swabs were obtained from thirty-two of the first SARS-CoV-2 positive cases (March 18-30) in Kingston Ontario, Canada. Viral genomes were sequenced using Ion Torrent (n = 24) and MinION (n = 27) sequencing platforms. SARS-CoV-2 genomes carried forty-six polymorphic sites including two missense and three synonymous variants in the spike protein gene. The D614G point mutation was the predominate viral strain in our cohort (92.6%). A heterozygous variant (C9994A) was detected by both sequencing platforms but filtered by the ARTIC network bioinformatic pipeline suggesting that heterozygous variants may be underreported in the SARS-CoV-2 literature. Phylogenetic analysis with 87,738 genomes in the GISAID database identified global origins and transmission events including multiple, international introductions as well as community spread. Reported travel history validated viral introduction and transmission inferred by phylogenetic analysis. Molecular epidemiology and evolutionary phylogenetics may complement contact tracing and help reconstruct transmission chains of emerging diseases. Earlier detection and screening in this way could improve the effectiveness of regional public health interventions to limit future pandemics.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
45. Remote liver ischemic preconditioning attenuates myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.
- Author
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Liu X, Chen H, Yan Z, Du L, Huang D, Gao WD, and Hu Z
- Subjects
- Animals, Apoptosis genetics, Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental complications, Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental prevention & control, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 complications, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 pathology, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 prevention & control, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 therapy, Disease Models, Animal, Heart Ventricles pathology, Humans, Liver physiopathology, Myocardial Infarction physiopathology, Myocardial Infarction prevention & control, Myocardial Reperfusion Injury complications, Myocardial Reperfusion Injury physiopathology, Myocardium pathology, Rats, Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental therapy, Ischemic Preconditioning methods, Myocardial Infarction therapy, Myocardial Reperfusion Injury therapy
- Abstract
Diabetes mellitus (DM) exhibits a higher sensitivity to myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury and may compromise the effectiveness of cardioprotective interventions, including ischemic preconditioning. We previously found that liver ischemic preconditioning (RLIPC) could limit infarct size post I/R in non-diabetic rat hearts and further exerted anti-arrhythmic effects in diabetic or non-diabetic rats after myocardial I/R, however, little is known regarding the effect of RLIPC on infarct-sparing in diabetic hearts. In this study, we evaluated the protective effects of RLIPC on I/R injury in streptozotocin-induced type 1 diabetic rats. Type 1 diabetes mellitus was induced by one-time intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin in Sprague-Dawley rats. Rats were exposed to 45 min of left anterior descend in (LAD) coronary artery occlusion, followed by 3 h of reperfusion. For liver ischemic preconditioning, four cycles of 5 min of liver I/R stimuli were performed before LAD occlusion. The cardioprotective effect of RLIPC was determined in diabetic rats. Compared to non-RLIPC treated DM rats, RLIPC treatment significantly reduced infarct size and cardiac tissue damage, inhibited apoptosis in diabetic hearts post I/R. RLIPC also improved cardiac functions including LVESP, LVEDP, dp/dtmax, and - dp/dtmax. In addition, RLIPC preserved cardiac morphology by reducing the pathological score post I/R in diabetic hearts. Finally, Westernblotting showed that RLIPC stimulated phosphorylation of ventricular GSK-3β and STAT-5, which are key components of RISK and SAFE signaling pathways. Our study showed that liver ischemic preconditioning retains strong cardioprotective properties in diabetic hearts against myocardial I/R injury via GSK-3β/STAT5 signaling pathway.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
46. Hormonal and transcriptional analyses provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying root thickening and isoflavonoid biosynthesis in Callerya speciosa (Champ. ex Benth.) Schot.
- Author
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Yao S, Lan Z, Huang R, Tan Y, Huang D, Gu J, and Pan C
- Subjects
- Calcium Signaling, Fabaceae growth & development, Gene Expression Profiling, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Gene Expression Regulation, Plant, Genes, Plant, MAP Kinase Signaling System, Medicine, Chinese Traditional, Models, Biological, Plant Growth Regulators metabolism, Plant Proteins genetics, Plant Proteins metabolism, Plant Roots genetics, Plant Roots growth & development, Plant Roots metabolism, Plants, Medicinal genetics, Plants, Medicinal growth & development, Plants, Medicinal metabolism, Starch metabolism, Sucrose metabolism, Transcription Factors genetics, Transcription Factors metabolism, Fabaceae genetics, Fabaceae metabolism, Isoflavones biosynthesis
- Abstract
Callerya speciosa (Champ. ex Benth.) Schot is a traditional Chinese medicine characterized by tuberous roots as the main organ of isoflavonoid accumulation. Root thickening and isoflavonoid accumulation are two major factors for yield and quality of C. speciosa. However, the underlying mechanisms of root thickening and isoflavonoid biosynthesis have not yet been elucidated. Here, integrated morphological, hormonal and transcriptomic analyses of C. speciosa tuberous roots at four different ages (6, 12, 18, 30 months after germination) were performed. The growth cycle of C. speciosa could be divided into three stages: initiation, rapid-thickening and stable-thickening stage, which cued by the activity of vascular cambia. Endogenous changes in phytohormones were associated with developmental changes during root thickening. Jasmonic acid might be linked to the initial development of tuberous roots. Abscisic acid seemed to be essential for tuber maturation, whereas IAA, cis-zeatin and gibberellin 3 were considered essential for rapid thickening of tuberous roots. A total of 4337 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified during root thickening, including 15 DEGs participated in isoflavonoid biosynthesis, and 153 DEGs involved in starch/sucrose metabolism, hormonal signaling, transcriptional regulation and cell wall metabolism. A hypothetical model of genetic regulation associated with root thickening and isoflavonoid biosynthesis in C. speciosa is proposed, which will help in understanding the underlying mechanisms of tuberous root formation and isoflavonoid biosynthesis.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
47. Dietary carbohydrates influence muscle texture of olive flounder Paralichthys olivaceus through impacting mitochondria function and metabolism of glycogen and protein.
- Author
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Liu J, Deng K, Pan M, Liu G, Wu J, Yang M, Huang D, Zhang W, and Mai K
- Subjects
- Animals, Animal Feed, Dietary Carbohydrates pharmacology, Fish Proteins metabolism, Flounder metabolism, Glycogen metabolism, Mitochondria, Muscle metabolism, Muscle Proteins metabolism, Muscle, Skeletal metabolism
- Abstract
The present study was conducted to estimate the effects of dietary carbohydrates on muscle quality and the underlying mechanisms. Six isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets were formulated to contain graded levels of carbohydrates (0%, 8%, 12%, 16%, 20% and 24%, respectively). These diets were named as C0, C8, C12, C16, C20 and C24, respectively. After a 10-week feeding trial, results showed that the muscle pH, liquid holding capacity (LHC) and hardness were significantly decreased by the increasing dietary carbohydrate levels. Dietary carbohydrates significantly decreased the muscle fibre diameter, and the highest value was found in the C0 group. Accumulated glycogen and degenerated mitochondrial cristae were observed in the C24 group. Significantly higher contents of protein carbonyls were observed in the C20 group and C24 group (P < 0.05). There was a significant decrease of mtDNA copy number in the C24 group compared with that in the C0 and C8 groups. The AMP/ATP ratio in muscle decreased first and then increased with the increasing dietary carbohydrate levels. The dietary incorporation of carbohydrate significantly reduced the expression of opa1, pygm and genes involved in myogenesis (myf5 and myog). Meanwhile, proteolysis-related genes (murf-1, mafbx, capn2 and ctsl), pro-inflammatory cytokines (il-6 and tnf-α) and mstn were significantly up-regulated. In the C24 group, significant increase of phosphorylation of AMPK (Thr172), up-regulation of PGC-1α and GLUT4 were observed, while the phosphorylation level of S6 (Ser235/236) was significantly decreased. It was concluded that excessive dietary carbohydrate level (24%) had negative impacts on mitochondria function and promoted glycogen accumulation, and thereafter influenced the muscle quality of olive flounder. The activation of AMPK as well as the upregulation of PGC-1α and GLUT4 was the key mechanism.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
48. The earliest diverging extant scleractinian corals recovered by mitochondrial genomes.
- Author
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Seiblitz IGL, Capel KCC, Stolarski J, Quek ZBR, Huang D, and Kitahara MV
- Subjects
- Animals, Biological Evolution, Coral Reefs, Genes, Mitochondrial genetics, Phylogeny, Anthozoa genetics, Genome, Mitochondrial genetics
- Abstract
Evolutionary reconstructions of scleractinian corals have a discrepant proportion of zooxanthellate reef-building species in relation to their azooxanthellate deep-sea counterparts. In particular, the earliest diverging "Basal" lineage remains poorly studied compared to "Robust" and "Complex" corals. The lack of data from corals other than reef-building species impairs a broader understanding of scleractinian evolution. Here, based on complete mitogenomes, the early onset of azooxanthellate corals is explored focusing on one of the most morphologically distinct families, Micrabaciidae. Sequenced on both Illumina and Sanger platforms, mitogenomes of four micrabaciids range from 19,048 to 19,542 bp and have gene content and order similar to the majority of scleractinians. Phylogenies containing all mitochondrial genes confirm the monophyly of Micrabaciidae as a sister group to the rest of Scleractinia. This topology not only corroborates the hypothesis of a solitary and azooxanthellate ancestor for the order, but also agrees with the unique skeletal microstructure previously found in the family. Moreover, the early-diverging position of micrabaciids followed by gardineriids reinforces the previously observed macromorphological similarities between micrabaciids and Corallimorpharia as well as its microstructural differences with Gardineriidae. The fact that both families share features with family Kilbuchophylliidae ultimately points towards a Middle Ordovician origin for Scleractinia.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
49. Virtual zero-photon catalysis for improving continuous-variable quantum key distribution via Gaussian post-selection.
- Author
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Zhong H, Guo Y, Mao Y, Ye W, and Huang D
- Abstract
Quantum catalysis is a feasible approach to increase the performance of continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD), involving the special zero-photon catalysis (ZPC) operation. However, in the practical point of view, the improvement effect of this operation will be limited by the imperfection of the photon detector. In this paper, we show that the ZPC operation at the sender can be simulated by a post-selection method without implementing it in practical devices. While performing this virtual version of ZPC in CVQKD, we can not only reach the ideal case of its practical implementation with minimal hardware requirement, but also keep the benefit of Gaussian security proofs. Based on Gaussian modulated coherent state protocols with achievable parameters, we enhance the security of the proposed scheme from the asymptotical case to the finite-size scenario and composable framework. Simulation results show that similar to the asymptotical case, both the maximal transmission distance and the tolerable excess noise of virtual ZPC-involved CVQKD outperform the original scheme and the scheme using virtual photon subtraction while considering finite-size effect and composable security. In addition, the virtual ZPC-involved CVQKD can tolerate a higher imperfection of the detector, enabling its practical implementation of the CVQKD system with state-of-the-art technology.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
50. Birth and birth-related obstetrical characteristics in southwestern China associated with the current adjustment of family planning policy: a 7-year retrospective study.
- Author
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Liu X, Huang D, Wang Y, Gao Y, Chen M, Bai Y, Wu M, Luo X, and Qi H
- Subjects
- Asian People psychology, Birth Rate trends, Cesarean Section trends, China epidemiology, Family Characteristics ethnology, Family Planning Services legislation & jurisprudence, Female, Government, Humans, Maternal Age, Obstetrics, Parity, Parturition, Policy, Pregnant Women ethnology, Retrospective Studies, Asian People legislation & jurisprudence, Family Planning Policy trends, Family Planning Services trends
- Abstract
In China, the adjustment of the family planning policy was expected to increase the number of births and trigger a change in the demographic and obstetrical background of pregnant women. The policy itself, and corresponding background variations of the pregnant mothers, might have various influences on certain birth-related characteristics. Moreover, the adaption of the medical system to the policy needs to be demonstrated. To address these issues, over 50,000 individual records from January 2012 to December 2018 were collected from a large tertiary care centre of southwest China as a representative. The monthly numbers of deliveries and births showed stabilized patterns after remarkable upward trends. Policy-sensitive women, among whom older age and multiparity were typical features, contributed considerably to the remarkable additional births. Indeed, multivariable logistic regression analysis identified the child policy and these two background characteristics as factors influencing CS (caesarean section) rate and certain pregnancy complications or adverse outcomes. After the implementation of the two-child policy, a care provider was faced with fewer but more difficult cases. Briefly speaking, more individual-based studies on family planning policy and more efforts to improve obstetrical service are needed to better guide clinical practice in the new era.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
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