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Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is characterized by molecular heterogeneity with various immune cell infiltration patterns, which have been associated with therapeutic sensitivity and resistance. In particular, dendritic cells (DCs) are recently discovered to be associated with prognosis and survival in cancer. However, how DCs differ among ESCC patients has not been fully comprehended. Recently, the advance of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) enables us to profile the cell types, states, and lineages in the heterogeneous ESCC tissues. Here, we dissect the ESCC tumor microenvironment at high resolution by integrating 192,078 single cells from 60 patients, including 4379 DCs. We then used Scissor, a method that identifies cell subpopulations from single-cell data that are associated bulk samples with genomic and clinical information, to stratify DCs into Scissorhi and Scissorlow subtypes. We applied the Scissorhi gene signature to stratify ESCC scRNAseq patient, and we found that PD-L1, TIGIT, PVR and IL6 ligand-receptor-mediated cell interactions existed mainly in Scissorhi patients. Finally, based on the Scissor results, we successfully developed a validated prognostic risk model for ESCC and further validated the reliability of the risk prediction model by recruiting 40 ESCC clinical patients. This information highlights the importance of these genes in assessing patient prognosis and may help in the development of targeted or personalized therapies for ESCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deterministic databases are able to reduce coordination costs in a replication. This property has fostered a significant interest in the design of efficient deterministic concurrency control protocols. However, the state-of-the-art deterministic concurrency control protocol Aria has three issues. First, it is impractical to configure a suitable batch size when the read-write set is unknown. Second, Aria running in low-concurrency scenarios, e.g., a single-thread scenario, suffers from the same conflicts as running in high-concurrency scenarios. Third, the single-version schema brings write-after-write conflicts. To address these issues, we propose Gria, an efficient deterministic concurrency control protocol. Gria has the following properties. First, the batch size of Gria is auto-scaling. Second, Gria's conflict probability in low-concurrency scenarios is lower than that in high-concurrency scenarios. Third, Gria has no write-after-write conflicts by adopting a multi-version structure. To further reduce conflicts, we propose two optimizations: a reordering mechanism as well as a rechecking strategy. The evaluation result on two popular benchmarks shows that Gria outperforms Aria by 13x. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homeodomains, a 60-amino acid sequence encoded by 180 nucleotides, are highly conserved DNA-binding motifs that are present in a variety of transcription factors in species ranging from yeast to humans. The NKX proteins belong to the homeodomain (HD)-containing transcription factor family. They play vital roles in the regulation of morphogenesis. NKX1-2 is one member of the NKX subfamily. At present, information about its nuclear localization signal (NLS) sequence is limited. We studied the NLS sequence of zebrafish Nkx1.2 by introducing sequence changes such as deletion, mutation, and truncation, and identified an NLS motif (QNRRTKWKKQ) that is localized at the C-terminus of the homeodomain. Moreover, the deletion of two amino acid residues (RR) in this NLS motif prevents Nkx1.2 from entering the nucleus, indicating that the two amino acids are essential for Nkx1.2 nuclear localization. However, the NLS motif alone is unable to target cytoplasmic protein glutathione S-transferase (GST) to the nucleus. An intact homeodomain is necessary for mediating the complete nuclear transport of cytoplasmic protein. Unlike most nuclear import proteins with short NLS sequences, a long NLS is present in zebrafish Nkx1.2. We also demonstrated that the sequences of homeodomain of NKX1.2 are well conserved among different species. This study is informative to verify the function of the NKX1.2 protein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological disorder associated with brain inflammation. The underlying mechanisms could be attributed to the activation of PI3K signaling in the inflamed brain of ASD. Multiple studies highlight the role of GRPR in regulating ASD like abnormal behavior and enhancing the PI3K signaling. However, the molecular mechanism by which GRPR regulates PI3K signaling in neurons of individuals with ASD is still unclear. In this study, we utilized a maternal immune activation model to investigate the effects of GRPR on PI3K signaling in the inflamed brain of ASD mice. We used HT22 cells with and without GRPR to examine the impact of GRP-GRPR on the PI3K-AKT pathway with IL-6 treatment. We analyzed a dataset of hippocampus samples from ASD mice to identify hub genes. Our results demonstrated increased expression of IL-6, GRPR, and PI3K-AKT signaling in the hippocampus of ASD mice. Additionally, we observed increased GRPR expression and PI3K-AKT/mTOR activation in HT22 cells after IL-6 treatment, but decreased expression in HT22 cells with GRPR knockdown. NetworkAnalyst identified GSK-3β as the most crucial gene in the PI3K-AKT/mTOR pathway in the hippocampus of ASD. Furthermore, we found that IL-6 upregulated the expression of GSK-3β in HT22 cells by upregulating GRP-GRPR. Our findings suggest that IL-6 can enhance the activation of PI3K-AKT/mTOR-GSK-3β in hippocampal neurons of ASD mice by upregulating GRPR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sorting nexin17 (SNX17) is a member of the sorting nexin family, which plays a crucial role in endosomal trafficking. Previous research has shown that SNX17 is involved in the recycling or degradation of various proteins associated with neurodevelopmental and neurological diseases in cell models. However, the significance of SNX17 in neurological function in the mouse brain has not been thoroughly investigated. In this study, we generated Snx17 knockout mice and observed that the homozygous deletion of Snx17 (Snx17−/−) resulted in lethality. On the other hand, heterozygous mutant mice (Snx17+/−) exhibited anxiety-like behavior with a reduced preference for social novelty. Furthermore, Snx17 haploinsufficiency led to impaired synaptic transmission and reduced maturation of dendritic spines. Through GST pulldown and interactome analysis, we identified the SRC kinase inhibitor, p140Cap, as a potential downstream target of SNX17. We also demonstrated that the interaction between p140Cap and SNX17 is crucial for dendritic spine maturation. Together, this study provides the first in vivo evidence highlighting the important role of SNX17 in maintaining neuronal function, as well as regulating social novelty and anxiety-like behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An aluminum sludge-based composite material was constructed against the problems of phosphorus pollution and the waste of aluminum sludge resources. Utilizing metal Ce doping and hydrogel microbeads with pore preparation, the adsorption performance of the original sludge was improved. Meanwhile, the macroscopic body was constructed, and on this basis, polyethyleneimine (PEI) was introduced to complete the amino functionalization further to enhance the adsorption of phosphorus by the adsorbent, and NH-CeAIS-10 microbeads were successfully prepared. In adsorption, microbeads with larger specific surface area and richer functional groups are better choice compared to original sludge. The results of SEM, BET, FT-IR, and XPS analyses indicate that the adsorption of phosphorus by the microbeads is mainly achieved through electrostatic interactions, ligand exchange, and the formation of inner-sphere complexes. According to the Langmuir model, the maximum phosphorus adsorption capacity of NH-CeAIS-10 was 29.56 mg g−1, which was four times higher compared to native aluminum sludge. This also confirms the significant enhancement of phosphorus adsorption through the modification of aluminum sludge. Besides, in dynamic adsorption column experiments, the material exhibited up to 99% removal in simulated wastewater for up to 30 days, demonstrating the great adsorption potential of NH-CeAIS-10 in engineering applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precipitation is a key driver of litter decomposition in arid/semiarid regions; where soils are poor in organic matter, and thus re-incorporation of litter is key for soil nutrient accumulation and soil structure. It remains unclear, though, whether litter decomposition responds symmetrically to precipitation variation (e.g., if precipitation surpluses produce a stimulatory effect of a similar magnitude, but opposite direction to inhibitory effects of precipitation deficits), and whether litter decomposition and litter nutrient dynamics in arid and semiarid ecosystems that differ in climate show similar responses to precipitation. We set up a 5-and-a-half-year experiment that manipulated rainfall along a gradient (7 treatments): increases by 20%, 40%, and 60%, background precipitation, and reductions by the same 3 percentages. We applied such experiment in two sites with different pattens of precipitation (Urat: arid; and Naiman: semiarid) in Inner Mongolia to elucidate our questions. Litter mass loss and all nutrients that we measured (carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, plus lignin) decomposed faster at the highest level of surplus precipitation, and more slowly in the two largest precipitation reductions. This indicates that these levels of precipitation constitute thresholds (value of precipitation beyond which ecosystem function is critically altered). Litter decomposition in the semiarid site was faster and more complete, but decomposition in the direr Urat was more efficient per unit cumulative rainfall. Thus, site specific effects played an important role in decomposition. Reductions in precipitation decreased the loss of C, N, P, K, and lignin from litter; and clear precipitation thresholds in the dynamic of these nutrients in litter were observed. Overall, this indicated the importance of precipitation limitation at controlling nutrient release. Our study highlights the importance of long-term studies on litter decomposition in environments with slow decomposition rates, and the importance of taking into account mechanistic effects of water availability on decomposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to poor indoor air conditions poses significant risks to human health, increasing morbidity and mortality rates. Soft measurement modeling is suitable for stable and accurate monitoring of air pollutants and improving air quality. Based on partial least squares (PLS), we propose an indoor air quality prediction model that utilizes variational auto-encoder regression (VAER) algorithm. To reduce the negative effects of noise, latent variables in the original data are extracted by PLS in the first step. Then, the extracted variables are used as inputs to VAER, which improve the accuracy and robustness of the model. Through comparative analysis with traditional methods, we demonstrate the superior performance of our PLS-VAER model, which exhibits improved prediction performance and stability. The root mean square error (RMSE) of PLS-VAER is reduced by 14.71%, 26.47%, and 12.50% compared to single VAER, PLS-SVR, and PLS-ANN, respectively. Additionally, the coefficient of determination (R2) of PLS-VAER improves by 13.70%, 30.09%, and 11.25% compared to single VAER, PLS-SVR, and PLS-ANN, respectively. This research offers an innovative and environmentally-friendly approach to monitor and improve indoor air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labor divergence between North and South has formed, and the high-speed rail (HSR) plays a key role in labor's agglomeration in China. Regarding China's HSR as a quasi-natural experiment, we construct a difference-in-difference (DID) model to explore the impact of HSR on the labor market of North and South China based on the panel data of 285 cities in China from 1998 to 2018. HSR significantly enhances labor quantity and relieves labor misallocation in South China, while has an insignificant effect on labor quality. It mainly improves the allocation efficiency of the labor market by the improved regional accessibility, which has obvious threshold effects on labor quantity at 2109.8 km from the northernmost part of China, respectively. Furthermore, Confucian culture (CC) weakens the impact of HSR on labor market especially for South China except strengthens that on northern labor quality. Therefore, the labor mobility between North and South China is the result of the combined effect of HSR's thrust and CC's pull, so policymakers should strengthen the construction of HSR network and increase the investment in southern education and northern public cultural construction to reduce barriers of labor mobility between North and South China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the CRITIC method, comprehensive index evaluation method, VAR model, coupling coordination model and other methods, this paper evaluates the comprehensive development of the population economy and eco-geological environment composite system in the twin-city economic circle of Chengdu–Chongqing region from 2000 to 2020, verifies the dynamic coupling relationship between subsystems and measures the coupling coordination degree of complex system. Meanwhile, the differences in the development process of each subsystem are discussed and the spatial–temporal evolution characteristics and laws of coupling coordination of the composite system during the research period are analyzed. The results reveal the following: (1) There is a long-term coordinated relationship between population, economy and eco-geological environment in Chengdu–Chongqing region, which have the conditions for emergence and generation. (2) The subsystems of population, economy and eco-geological environment in Chengdu–Chongqing region show an overall upward trend, among which the Sichuan part obviously outperforms the Chongqing part. Besides, the growth rate of the economy subsystem is significantly higher than that of the population, eco-geological environment subsystem. (3) The coupling coordinated development of the composite system has shown a benign upward development trend, gradually changing from "composite spiral structure" to "two cores outstanding, peripheral collapse, the west superior to the east", while the main coordination state has developed from "Basic synergy—Economic lag" in 2000 to "Basic synergy—Population lag" in 2022. In addition, Cheng-De-Mian and Yuzhong districts with the better level of economic development have shown "Advanced synergy—Ecological lag". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) in regulating adipose has recently become a field of interest. However, the underlying mechanism of this effect has not been elucidated. Here we show that the anti-fat effect of Bmp8a is mediated by promoting fatty acid oxidation and inhibiting adipocyte differentiation. Knocking out the bmp8a gene in zebrafish results in weight gain, fatty liver, and increased fat production. The bmp8a-/- zebrafish exhibits decreased phosphorylation levels of AMPK and ACC in the liver and adipose tissues, indicating reduced fatty acid oxidation. Also, Bmp8a inhibits the differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes into mature adipocytes by activating the Smad2/3 signaling pathway, in which Smad2/3 binds to the central adipogenic factor PPARγ promoter to inhibit its transcription. In addition, lentivirus-mediated overexpression of Bmp8a in 3T3-L1 cells significantly increases NOD-like receptor, TNF, and NF-κB signaling pathways. Furthermore, NF-κB interacts with PPARγ, blocking PPARγ's activation of its target gene Fabp4, thereby inhibiting adipocyte differentiation. These data bring a signal bridge between immune regulation and adipocyte differentiation. Collectively, our findings indicate that Bmp8a plays a critical role in regulating lipid metabolism and adipogenesis, potentially providing a therapeutic approach for obesity and its comorbidities. Bone morphogenetic protein 8a (Bmp8a) is required for fatty acid oxidation and regulates adipogenesis as evidenced by weight gain and fatty liver of zebrafish lacking Bmp8a. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel CaCO3-enhanced Mn–Fe mixed metal oxides (CMFC) were successfully prepared for the first time by a simple-green hydrothermal strategy without any surfactant or template combined with calcination process. These oxides were then employed as an adsorbent for adsorptive removal of excess fluoride ions. The adsorbent was characterized by SEM, XPS, XRD, FTIR, and BET analysis techniques. The adsorption property of CMFC toward fluoride ion was analyzed by batch experiments. In fact, CMFC exhibited adsorption capacity of 227.3 mg∙g−1 toward fluoride ion. Results showed that ion exchange, electrostatic attraction and chemical adsorption were the main mechanism for the adhesion of large amount of fluoride ion on the CMFC surface, and the high adsorption capacity responded to the low pH of the adsorption system. When the fluoride ion concentration was increased from 20 to 200 mg∙L−1, Langmuir model was more in line with experimental results. The change of fluoride ion adsorption with respect to time was accurately described by pseudo-second-order kinetics. After five cycles of use, the adsorbent still maintains a performance of 70.6% of efficiency, compared to the fresh adsorbent. Therefore, this material may act as a potential candidate for adsorbent with broad range of application prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-speed rail (HSR) access promotes the interregional population flow and integrated market across cities in China. Using panel data of 286 cities in China from 2000 to 2018, we investigated the spatial employment effect of HSR by multi-period Difference-in-Difference (DID) model and staggered DID. We found that: First, HSR significantly enhances the spatial employment agglomeration, rationalization of three industrial-employment structures and the advancement of industrial structure in areas with HSR. Cities that open HSRs later generally get higher marginal benefit from HSR. Second, based on the change of regional accessibility caused by HSR, income and housing price are two channels affect spatial employment distribution; capital and labor are two channels affect the industrial-employment structure. Third, HSR has a greater spatial employment effect in peripheral cities than central cities, and HSR has a greater spatial employment effect in southern cities than northern cities. HSR has significantly promoted employment agglomeration in eastern China; it has a significant impact on the employment structure in Northeast China. Fourth, the effective radiation distance of HSR station is about 30 km. Labor market needs to pay more attention on the influences of new massive public transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to quickly help lifesavers judge whether people are drowning in the swimming pool, this paper proposes one efficient behavior recognition approach by means of video sequences of underwater. First, by analyzing the spatial distribution of swimming pool when swimmers are normally swimming, the data labeling and swimmer detection methods are determined. Second, a behavior recognition framework of swimmers on the basis of YOLOv4 algorithm (BR-YOLOv4) is proposed in this paper. The spatial relationship between the location information of the target and swimming/drowning area of swimming pool is analyzed to further determine the swimmer's drowning or swimming behavior. This paper compares the detection accuracy of different detection algorithms and analyzes the detection effect of different pool angles and different swimmer densities. Test results show that the mean precision rate of drowning is 94.62%, the mean false rate is 1.43% , and the mean missing rate is 3.57%. The mean precision rate of swimming is 97.86%, the mean false rate is 7.93%, the mean missing rate is 5.93% , and the average frame rate is 33f/s. All the results show that the method proposed in this paper meets the real-time detection requirements and does well in swimmer behavior recognition and provides technical support for reducing drowning accidents in public swimming pools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is an efficient way to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Detecting SARS-CoV-2 antigen can be rapid and convenient, but it is still challenging to develop highly sensitive methods for effective diagnosis. Herein, a lateral flow assay (LFA) based on fluorescent nanoparticles emitting in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) window is developed for sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigen. Benefiting from the NIR-II fluorescence with high penetration and low autofluorescence, such NIR-II based LFA allows enhanced signal-to-background ratio, and the limit of detection is down to 0.01 ng·mL−1 of SARS-CoV-2 antigen. In the clinical swab sample tests, the NIR-II LFA outperforms the colloidal gold LFA with higher overall percent agreement with the polymerase chain reaction test. The clinical samples with low antigen concentrations (∼ 0.015−∼ 0.068 ng·mL−1) can be successfully detected by the NIR-II LFA, but fail for the colloidal gold LFA. The NIR-II LFA can provide a promising platform for highly sensitive, rapid, and cost-effective method for early diagnosis and mass screening of SARS-CoV-2 infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) is involved in the pathogenesis and progression of several cancers. However, the potential effect of MALAT1 in primary gastrointestinal diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (PGI-DLBCL) has not been elucidated. This study aimed to explore the prognostic value of MALAT1 in patients with PGI-DLBCL. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed to determine the expression of MALAT1 in 90 patients with PGI-DLBCL. MALAT1 was remarkably upregulated in PGI-DLBCL tissues compared to paired adjacent non-tumor tissues (P < 0.001), and the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was 0.838. MALAT1 expression was further increased in the non-germinal center B-cell-like (non-GCB), advanced stage (stages IIE-IV) and International Prognostic Index (IPI) score (3–5) groups (P = 0.01, P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). Furthermore, Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that elevated MALAT1 expression correlated with inferior overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival in PGI-DLBCL patients (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively), and our multivariate analysis results suggested that upregulation of MALAT1 and high IPI score (3–5) were two unfavorable prognostic factors for PGI-DLBCL. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that MALAT1 may serve as a novel prognostic biomarker and an ideal therapeutic target for patients with PGI-DLBCL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a correction notice for an article titled "A 5-and a-half-year-experiment shows precipitation thresholds in litter decomposition and nutrient dynamics in arid and semi-arid regions." The original article was published online on November 27, 2023, with Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. However, the authors later decided to cancel Open Access, and the copyright of the article changed on December 7, 2023, to © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023 with all rights reserved. The publisher, Springer Nature, remains neutral regarding jurisdictional claims and institutional affiliations. The authors of the article are Hao Qu, Eduardo Medina-Roldán, Shaokun Wang, Xujun Ma, Xinyuan Wang, Xia Tang, and Liangxu Liu. [Extracted from the article]

Liver cirrhosis can cause disturbances in blood circulation in the liver, resulting in impaired portal blood flow and ultimately increasing portal venous pressure. Portal hypertension induces portal-systemic collateral formation and fatal complications. Extrahepatic angiogenesis plays a crucial role in the development of portal hypertension. Curcumol is a sesquiterpenoid derived from the rhizome of Curcumae Rhizoma and has been confirmed to alleviate liver fibrosis by inhibiting angiogenesis. Therefore, our study was designed to explore the effects of curcumol on extrahepatic angiogenesis and portal hypertension. To induce cirrhosis, Sprague Dawley rats underwent bile duct ligation (BDL) surgery. Rats received oral administration with curcumol (30 mg/kg/d) or vehicle (distilled water) starting on day 15 following surgery, when BDL-induced liver fibrosis had developed. The effect of curcumol was assessed on day 28, which is the typical time of BDL-induced cirrhosis. The results showed that curcumol markedly reduced portal pressure in cirrhotic rats. Curcumol inhibited abnormal splanchnic inflow, mitigated liver injury, improved liver fibrosis, and attenuated portal-systemic collateral shunting in cirrhotic rats. These protective effects were partially attributed to the inhibition on mesenteric angiogenesis by curcumol. Mechanically, curcumol partially reversed the BDL-induced activation of the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway in cirrhotic rats. Collectively, curcumol attenuates portal hypertension in liver cirrhosis by suppressing extrahepatic angiogenesis through inhibiting the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST) under the auspices of UNESCO was proposed to UNESCO by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in May 2007. Since its inauguration in July 2011, HIST has played a vital role in assisting UNESCO and its Member States in the conservation of UNESCO-designated sites. World Heritage sites, Biosphere reserves and UNESCO Global Geoparks are three primary categories of UNESCO-designated sites. [Extracted from the article]

It is challenging to develop molecular fluorophores in the second near-infrared (NIR-II) window with long wavelength emission and high brightness, which can improve the performance of biological imaging. Herein, we report a molecular engineering approach to afford NIR-II fluorophores with these merits based on fused-ring acceptor (FRA) molecules. Dioctyl 3,4-propylenedioxy thiophene (PDOT-C8) is utilized as the bridging donor to replace 3-ethylhexyloxy thiophene (3-EHOT), leading to more than 20 times enhancement of brightness. The nanofluorophores (NFs) based on the optimized CPTIC-4F molecule exhibit an emission peak of 1,110 nm with a fluorescence quantum yield (QY) of 0.39% (QY of IR-26 is 0.050% in dichloroethane as reference) and peak absorption coefficient of 14.5 × 104 M−1cm−1 in aqueous solutions, which are significantly higher than those of 3-EHOT based COTIC-4F NFs. It is found that PDOT-C8 can weaken intermolecular aggregation, enhance protection of molecular backbone from water, and decrease backbone distortion, beneficial for the high brightness. Compared with indocyanine green with same injection dose, CPTIC-4F NFs show 10 times higher signal-to-background ratio for whole body vessels imaging at 1,300 nm long pass filters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, wind energy has been a fastgrowing alternative source of electrical power due to its sustainability. In this paper, the wind energy potential over the Gobi Desert in Northwest China is assessed at the patch scale using geographic information systems (GIS). Data on land cover, topography, and administrative boundaries and 11 years (2000‒2010) of wind speed measurements were collected and used to map and estimate the region’s wind energy potential. Based on the results, it was found that continuous regions of geographical potential (GeoP) are located in the middle of the research area (RA), with scattered areas of similar GeoP found in other regions. The results also show that the technical potential (TecP) levels are about 1.72‒2.67 times (2.20 times on average) higher than the actual levels. It was found that the GeoP patches can be divided into four classes: unsuitable regions, suitable regions, more suitable regions, and the most suitable regions. The GeoP estimation shows that 0.41 billion kW of wind energy are potentially available in the RA. The suitable regions account for 25.49%, the more suitable regions 24.45%, and the most suitable regions for more than half of the RA. It is also shown that Xinjiang and Gansu are more suitable for wind power development than Ningxia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growth arrest-specific gene 7 (Gas7) is preferentially expressed in terminally differentiated brain cells and plays a crucial role during neuronal development and neurite outgrowth. Apart from that, Gas7 was found to be abundantly expressed in immune cells like murin e macrophage without knowing the actual roles in immune reaction. By using the Illumina microarray analysis, we observed a clear induction of Gas7 but no other Gas family members in murine M1-polarized alveolar macrophage, which was further confirmed by RT-qPCR, Western blotting, and immunostaining analysis, suggesting a likelihood that Gas7 may participate in murine alveolar macrophage polarization. Moreover, we found that the upregulation of Gas7 in M1-polarized alveolar macrophage was almost fully blocked by IKK selective inhibitor BMS, which links Gas7 induction to nuclear factor kappa beta (NF-κB) signaling activation. Interestingly, we found that Gas7 knockdown by small interfering RNA transfection did not affect the pro-inflammatory cytokine gene Tnf and Ilb expression, whereas the expressions of canonic M1 marker gene Nos2 and other M1-dependent genes Il12b, Il6, Cxcl1, Cxcl2, and Cxcl9 were found to be reduced. Furthermore, Gas7-related M1 gene expression in alveolar macrophage was not dependent on NF-κB and STAT1 pathway. Our results demonstrate that Gas7 is potentially involved in regulation of murine M1 alveolar macrophage polarization. Highlights: [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landslides, as one of the most destructive natural phenomena, distribute extensively in Wolong Giant Panda Natural Reserve and cause damage to both humans and endangered species. Therefore, landslide susceptibility zonation (LSZ) mapping is necessary for government agencies and decision makers to select suitable locations for giant pandas. The main purpose of this study is to produce landside susceptibility maps using logistic regression (LR), analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and a combined fuzzy and support vector machine (F-SVM) hybrid method based on geographic information systems (GIS). A total of 1773 landslide scarps larger than one cell (25 × 25 m) were selected in the landslide inventory mapping, 70 % of which were selected at random to be used as test data, and the other 30 % were used as validation. Topographical, geological, and hydrographical data were collected, processed, and constructed into a spatial database. Nine conditioning factors were chosen as influencing factors related to landslide occurrence: slope degree, aspect, altitude, profile curvature, geology and lithology, distance from faults, distance from rivers, distance from roads, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Landslide susceptible areas were analyzed and mapped using the landslide occurrence factors by different methods. For conventional assessment, weights and rates of the affecting factors were assigned based on experience and knowledge of experts. In order to reduce the subjectivity, a combined fuzzy and SVM hybrid model was generated for LSZ in this paper. In this approach, the rates of each thematic layer were generated by the fuzzy similarity method, and weights were created by the SVM method. To confirm the practicality of the susceptibility map produced by this improved method, a comparison study with LR, AHP was assessed by means of their validation. The outcome indicated that the combined fuzzy and SVM method (accuracy is 85.73 %) is better than AHP (accuracy is 78.84 %), whereas it is relatively similar to LR (accuracy is 84.55 %). The susceptibility map based on combined the fuzzy and SVM approach also shows that 5.8 % of the study area is assigned as very highly susceptible areas, and 17.8 % of the study area is assigned as highly susceptible areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dysregulated neurodevelopment with altered structural and functional connectivity is believed to underlie many neuropsychiatric disorders, and 'a disease of synapses' is the major hypothesis for the biological basis of schizophrenia. Although this hypothesis has gained indirect support from human post-mortem brain analyses and genetic studies, little is known about the pathophysiology of synapses in patient neurons and how susceptibility genes for mental disorders could lead to synaptic deficits in humans. Genetics of most psychiatric disorders are extremely complex due to multiple susceptibility variants with low penetrance and variable phenotypes. Rare, multiply affected, large families in which a single genetic locus is probably responsible for conferring susceptibility have proven invaluable for the study of complex disorders. Here we generated induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from four members of a family in which a frameshift mutation of disrupted in schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) co-segregated with major psychiatric disorders and we further produced different isogenic iPS cell lines via gene editing. We showed that mutant DISC1 causes synaptic vesicle release deficits in iPS-cell-derived forebrain neurons. Mutant DISC1 depletes wild-type DISC1 protein and, furthermore, dysregulates expression of many genes related to synapses and psychiatric disorders in human forebrain neurons. Our study reveals that a psychiatric disorder relevant mutation causes synapse deficits and transcriptional dysregulation in human neurons and our findings provide new insight into the molecular and synaptic etiopathology of psychiatric disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Craters, one of the most significant features of the lunar surface, have been widely researched because they offer us the relative age of the surface unit as well as crucial geological information. Research on crater detection algorithms (CDAs) of the Moon and other planetary bodies has concentrated on detecting them from imagery data, but the computational cost of detecting large craters using images makes these CDAs impractical. This paper presents a new approach to crater detection that utilizes a digital elevation model instead of images; this enables fully automatic global detection of large craters. Craters were delineated by terrain attributes, and then thresholding maps of terrain attributes were used to transform topographic data into a binary image, finally craters were detected by using the Hough Transform from the binary image. By using the proposed algorithm, we produced a catalog of all craters ⩾10 km in diameter on the lunar surface and analyzed their distribution and population characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using crater impact morphological theory and mathematics modeling, the paper studies the cratering process and morphological features of the Xiuyan Crater in Northeast China based on remote sensing imagery, digital elevation model (DEM) and drilling and measuring data. The results show that: 1) Simulated calculation indicates the diameter of the transient crater was 1406±12 m and the depth was 497±4 m. The diameter of the final crater was 1758±15 m and the depth was 374.5±3.5 m; the thickness of the breccia lens was 188.5±0.5 m. The data is basically the same as previous drilling data. 2) Preliminary determination of the size of Xiuyan impactor: The diameter at about 55 m for an iron meteorite, and about 115 m for a stony meteorite. 3) The depth-to-diameter ratio is 0.143, similar to the typical simple crater. The circularity index of the Xiuyan Crater is 0.884, indicating erosion and degradation. 4) The distribution pattern of radial fractures has priority in NW-SE and WNW-ESE and these fractures control the development and evolution of drainage inside the crater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Palaeochannels are deposits of unconsolidated sediments or semi-consolidated sedimentary rocks deposited in ancient, currently inactive river and stream channel systems. It is distinct from the overbank deposits of currently active river channels, including ephemeral water courses which do not regularly flow. We have introduced a spectral characteristics-based palaeochannel information extraction model from SPOT-5 imagery with special time phase, which has been built by virtue of an analysis of remote sensing mechanism and spectral characteristics of the palaeochannel, combined with its distinction from the spatial distribution and spectral features of currently active river channels, also with the establishment of remote sensing judging features of the palaeochannel in remote sensing image. This model follows the process of supervised classification → farmland masking and primary component analysis → underground palaeochannel information extraction → information combination → palaeochannel system image. The Zhegao River Valley in the east of Chaohu Lake was selected as a study area, and SPOT-5 imagery was used as a source of data. The result was satisfactory when this method has been successfully applied to extract the palaeochannel information, which can provide good reference for regional remote sensing archeology and neotectonic research. However, the applicability of this method needs to be tested further in other areas as the spatial characteristics and spectral response of palaeochannel might be different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale that occurred in Yushu County, Qinghai Province, China, on April 14, 2010, caused a huge loss of life and major damage to people's properties. Using three modal synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) datasets, wide-swath SAR, interferometric SAR and polarimetric SAR, the following studies were conducted: (1) From Radarsat-2 wide swath SAR data, the regional geological structures and lithologic distribution characteristics of the Yushu earthquake were analyzed. (2) Using advanced land observing satellite/phased array L-band interferometric SAR data, the coseismic deformation field of the Yushu earthquake was obtained, and the size and spatial distribution of deformation were studied combining with the result of regional geological background analysis. (3) From Radarsat-2 polarimetric SAR data, the H-α-ρ method was used to extract the spatial distribution of building collapse caused by the earthquake in the Yushu urban area, and the reasons for the severe earthquake damage to buildings are also discussed and assessed. The study results demonstrate the effectiveness and important potential of using multimodal SAR data for synergic analysis and assessment of earthquake disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the temporal-spatial distribution features of ancient settlement sites from the middle and late Neolithic Age to the Han dynasty in the Chaohu Lake Basin of Anhui Province, East China, using the methods of GIS combined with the reconstructed paleoenvironment by the records of lake sediment since Holocene, the transmutation of ancient settlements with response to environmental changes in this area has been discussed. Studies show that the main feature of transmutation of ancient settlements from the middle and late Neolithic Age to the Han Dynasty was that the distribution of settlements in this area changed from high altitudes to low ones and kept approaching the Chaohu Lake with the passage of time. These could be the response to the climate change from warm-moist to a relatively warm-dry condition during the middle Holocene, leading to the lake level fluctuations. The large area of exposed land provided enough space for human activities. These indicate that the above changes in geomorphologic evolution and hydrology influenced by climate conditions affected the transmutation of ancient settlements greatly. The distribution pattern of settlement sites was that the number of sites in the west was more than in the east. This pattern may be related to the geomorphologic conditions such as frequent channel shifting of the Yangtze River as well as flood disasters during the Holocene optimum. Therefore, climate change was the inducement of the transmutation of ancient settlements in the Chaohu Lake Basin, which exerted great influence on the distribution, expansion and development of the ancient settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are about 19 Neolithic Age sites and 120 Shang-Zhou dynasties sites in the western lakeshore of Chaohu Lake, Anhui Province, China. Based on sites data, topographic data, drainage maps, administrative maps and SPOT5 remote sensing data, spatial analysis methods were introduced into the archaeology of Chaohu Lake Basin with Geographic Information System (GIS). The spatial analysis methods include: 1) Point Density Analysis with density model to acquire the shift of the sites; 2) Distance Analysis to reveal the spatial structure of the sites; 3) 3D Analysis based on Digital Elevation Model to get micro-geomorphologic features of the sites; and 4) Buffer Analysis to discover the relationship between the sites and rivers. The results indicate that the archaeological sites spread from the western lakeshore of Chaohu Lake gradually to the northwest, later to the south, and then symmetrically spread. Controlled by productive forces and other factors, ancient people preferred to reside in those places near water, or in plain and fertile land, which resulted in linear and decentralized distribution of the sites, and presented such disciplines as river valley directivity, terrace directivity and soil directivity. This paper indicates that the distribution of archaeological sites was influenced earlier by natural elements and later by human elements in the study period. The research is important for the integration of GIS and archaeology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A typical lake sediment core is obtained from the Chaohu Lake in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Anhui Province, China. The timing scale is constrained by AMS 14C dating method. Climate proxies such as pollen and grain size in the core are analyzed to reconstruct the environment changes at this site approximately between 9870 and 2170 cal. a BR The results indicate that at the research area, the climate in the early-middle Holocene had evolved through 3 stages. From 9870 to 6040 cal. a BP, proxy records show a warm and dry climate with low water levels after the late-glacial period. During this stage, cool and dry events occurred at about 8910 and 6060-6030 cal. a BP. Then, between 6040 and 4860 cal. a BP, the climate was humid and vegetation was more flourishing in the Chaohu Lake Valley. The Holocene Optimum occurred at 5840-5500 cal. a BP in the Chaohu Lake, showing the best condition of water and heat. Elm Decline occurred at the period of 5380-4930 cal. a BP. Since 4860 cal. a BP, the climate was warm and dry through 2170 cal. a BP as shown in both pollen spectrum and grain-size histories. Two obvious dry events occurred in 3760 and 2170 cal. a BP, respectively. At 2170 cal. a BP, the water level of the Chaohu Lake reached the lowest as the lakebed possibly exposed. Such lake sediment observations are consistent with the historical records in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flood is one kind of unexpected and the most common natural disasters, which is affected by many factors and has complex mechanism. At home and abroad, there is still no mature theory and method used for the long-term forecast of natural precipitation at present. In the present paper the disadvantages of grey GM (1, 1) and Markov chain are analyzed, and Grey-Markov forecast theory about flood is put forward and then the modifying model is developed by making prediction of Chaohu Lake basin. Hydrological law was conducted based on the theoretical forecasts by grey system GM (1, 1) forecast model with improved Markov chain. The above method contained Stat-analysis, embodying scientific approach, precise forecast and its reliable results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For geological and environmental research in an arid area, a unique advantage of radar remote sensing is that radar wave can penetrate a certain layer of dry sand (a few centimeters to meters thick) to reach the buried bedrock. The penetration capability is able to reveal the subsur-face geological structure and old drainage paths. Based on the analysis of SIR-A, SIR-B, SIR-C, Radarsat ScanSAR, Landsat MSS and Landsat TM images acquired on different dates and the investigations made in several field trips in Alxa Plateau of Inner Mongolia, a number of old river valley and lake basins buried by wind-blown sand were recognized. Two parallel old drainage systems in the north and middle of the study area are delineated. The study suggests that the moving sand belts mainly follow the old drainage courses. This study also establishes a preliminary drain-age evolution model for an area of about 300 000 km2 since the Tertiary, and finds that the Alxa Plateau was once an area with many rivers and lakes with a warm and humid climate. The relief reversion caused by neotectonic movement since “Qinghai-Tibet movement” is also analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-23263-0 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel discrete squirrel search optimization algorithm for the bi-objective traveling salesman problem (TSP). Firstly, the squirrel search algorithm, a single-objective optimization algorithm, needs to be improved to a multi-objective optimization algorithm. This paper designs a mapping fitness function according to the Pareto sorting level and grid density to evaluate all the feasible solutions and applies a selection probability based on the roulette wheel selection. Then, this paper implements this algorithm and other algorithms on classic multi-objective test functions to analyze solutions’ convergence and diversity. It is concluded that it has a good performance in solving multi-objective problems. Moreover, based on this multi-objective squirrel search algorithm, this paper then designs an encoding method to initialize solutions, applies a crossover operator to the squirrel migration process, and utilizes a mutation operator to the squirrel mutation stage. In this case, a discrete squirrel search optimization for the bi-objective traveling salesman problem (TSP) is finally designed. And this paper analyzes the results of this algorithm and other algorithms running on classic bi-objective TSPs. As a result, the presented algorithm’s solutions are also superior to other algorithms for convergence and spread. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]