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Ecological sustainability quantifies the capacity of an ecological system to sustain its health while fulfilling human survival needs and supporting future development. An accurate projection of ecological dynamics for sustainability is crucial for decision-makers to comprehend potential risks. However, the intricate interplay between climate change and human activity has hindered comprehensive assessments of future ecological sustainability, leaving it inadequately investigated thus far. This study aimed to assess future ecological sustainability shaped by the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) using remote sensing data from a typical arid farming–pastoral zone located at the northern foot of Yinshan Mountain (NFYM), Inner Mongolia, China. Five machine learning models were employed to evaluate the relationship between ecological sustainability and its driving factors. The results indicate that (1) overall ecological sustainability initially decreased and then increased during 2003–2022; (2) the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory Earth System Model version 4 (GFDL-ESM4) mode and random forest model demonstrated the best performance in climate and ecological sustainability simulations; and (3) the annual change rates of ecological sustainability from 2023 to 2099 are projected to be +0.45%, −0.05%, and −0.46% per year under the SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5 scenarios, respectively, suggesting that stringent environmental policies can effectively enhance ecological sustainability. The proposed framework can assist decision-makers in understanding ecological changes under different SSPs and calls for strategies to enhance ecosystem resilience in the NFYM and similar regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the temporal dynamics of brain activity and characterize the spatiotemporal specificity of transitions and large‐scale networks on short timescales in acute mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) patients and those with cognitive impairment in detail. Methods: Resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs‐fMRI) was acquired for 71 acute mTBI patients and 57 age‐, sex‐, and education‐matched healthy controls (HCs). A hidden Markov model (HMM) analysis of rs‐fMRI data was conducted to identify brain states that recurred over time and to assess the dynamic patterns of activation states that characterized acute mTBI patients and those with cognitive impairment. The dynamic parameters (fractional occupancy, lifetime, interval time, switching rate, and probability) between groups and their correlation with cognitive performance were analyzed. Results: Twelve HMM states were identified in this study. Compared with HCs, acute mTBI patients and those with cognitive impairment exhibited distinct changes in dynamics, including fractional occupancy, lifetime, and interval time. Furthermore, the switching rate and probability across HMM states were significantly different between acute mTBI patients and patients with cognitive impairment (all p < 0.05). The temporal reconfiguration of states in acute mTBI patients and those with cognitive impairment was associated with several brain networks (including the high‐order cognition network [DMN], subcortical network [SUB], and sensory and motor network [SMN]). Conclusions: Hidden Markov models provide additional information on the dynamic activity of brain networks in patients with acute mTBI and those with cognitive impairment. Our results suggest that brain network dynamics determined by the HMM could reinforce the understanding of the neuropathological mechanisms of acute mTBI patients and those with cognitive impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive biotoxicity indicators have been considered into environmental impact assessment system of wastewater treatment and discharge in China. However, the traditional methods of biotoxicity assessment face two risks of incorrect acceptance and incorrect rejection. According to Accreditation Criteria for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories (CNAS-CL01: 2018), laboratories should consider the risks when making conformity assessment. This study investigated the uncertainty evaluation of the luminescent bacteria test for the acute toxicity of wastewater, involving its conformance, uncertainty, and non-conformance zones (Geometrical Product Specifications (GPS )--Inspection by Measurement of Workpieces and Measuring Equipment--Part 1: Decision Rules for Verifying Conformity or Nonconformity with Specifications (ISO 14253-1: 2017)), using the pharmaceutical wastewater sample close to the discharge limits. The results show that the conformance, uncertainty, and non-conformance zones varied depending on the r-value of the standard curve and the precision of the measurement. The conformance zone decreased and uncertainty zone increased with the | r| -value or the precision decreased, which made it impossible to reduce the risk of incorrectly decision by setting a "guard band", and greatly affected the accuracy of the acute toxicity assessment. To solve this problem, a Welch's t-test was introduced to assess whether the acute toxicity of wastewater was conformance by comparing the relative luminosity of the wastewater with that of the 0.07 mg·L-1 HgCl2 solution. If the relative luminosity of the wastewater was higher than that of the 0.07 mg·L-1 HgCl2 solution, the acute toxicity of the wastewater was conformance, otherwise the acute toxicity of the wastewater was non-conformance. This study clarifies the limitations of the national standard method and the acute toxicity assessment by carrying out the uncertainty study, and proposes an improvement, which provide an important basis for the scientific assessment of the acute toxicity of wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iron (Fe) is essential for DNA synthesis, photosynthesis and respiration of plants. The demand for Fe substantially increases during legumes‐rhizobia symbiotic nitrogen fixation because of the synthesis of leghemoglobin in the host and Fe‐containing proteins in bacteroids. However, the mechanism by which plant controls iron transport to nodules remains largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that GmYSL7 serves as a key regulator controlling Fe uptake from root to nodule and distribution in soybean nodules. GmYSL7 is Fe responsive and GmYSL7 transports iron across the membrane and into the infected cells of nodules. Alterations of GmYSL7 substantially affect iron distribution between root and nodule, resulting in defective growth of nodules and reduced nitrogenase activity. GmYSL7 knockout increases the expression of GmbHLH300, a transcription factor required for Fe response of nodules. Overexpression of GmbHLH300 decreases nodule number, nitrogenase activity and Fe content in nodules. Remarkably, GmbHLH300 directly binds to the promoters of ENOD93 and GmLbs, which regulate nodule number and nitrogenase activity, and represses their transcription. Our data reveal a new role of GmYSL7 in controlling Fe transport from host root to nodule and Fe distribution in nodule cells, and uncover a molecular mechanism by which Fe affects nodule number and nitrogenase activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dysregulation of lipid metabolic pathways (cholesterol uptake and efflux) in macrophages results in the formation of lipid‐dense macrophages, named foam cells, that participate in plaque formation. NPY binding to NPY receptors in macrophages can modulate cell functions and affect the process of atherosclerotic plaques. The present study aimed to determine whether NPY affects the formation of macrophage‐derived foam cells and its underlying mechanisms in macrophages. THP‐1‐derived macrophages were incubated with oxidized low‐density lipoprotein (ox‐LDL) and treated with different concentrations of NPY. We analysed the relative levels of proteins related to cholesterol uptake and efflux. We found that NPY effectively increased cholesterol uptake and intracellular cholesterol content via the Y1 and Y5 receptors, and this effect was blocked by Y1 and Y5 antagonists. Mechanistically, NPY enhanced the expression of SRA and CD36 via the PKC/PPARγ pathways, promoting macrophage cholesterol uptake. Moreover, NPY significantly decreased cholesterol efflux to the extracellular cholesterol acceptors ApoA1 and HDL in macrophages. NPY mediated decreases in ABCA1, ABCG1 and SR‐BI expression through the inhibition of the JAK/STAT3 pathways. Our results suggest that NPY binding to the Y1 and Y5 receptors enhances foam cell formation by regulating cholesterol uptake and efflux in macrophages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no relevant literature report about the evaluation of uncertainty in degradation performance test of degradable plastic. A measurement uncertainty of the ultimate aerobic biodegradability of materials was evaluated under controlled composting conditions of Dt. After the normalization and visualization of uncertainty components according to the combination, the main uncertainty components of frepeatability of test group, frepeatability of blank group, MC round frepeatability of TC, and mTC were confirmed. The main uncertainty components of the three A-class uncertainties of frepeatability of test group, frepeatability of blank group and frepeatability of TC were concentrated after the optimization, and the other uncertainty components could be ignored. The standard uncertainty of Dt could be calculated quickly by three A-class uncertainties after simplification. This concluded more than 90% of the uc(Dt) by holistic computation and provided the example for the evaluation of the uncertainty in degradation performance test of degradable plastic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chr-L, 10 µM; Chr-H, 20 µM gl To determine the effects of Chr on tumour progression, melanoma (B16-F10) was established in C57BL/6 mice (Figure 2A). In this study, we reported the effect of Chr on tumour microenvironment, including immune infiltration and angiogenesis, and further explored the feasibility of combining chrysin and PD-1 inhibitor. Chrysin targets myeloid-derived suppressor cells and enhances tumour response to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy. [Extracted from the article]

Compared to individual dry or hot events, compound dry and hot events (CDHEs) usually pose more severe economic and societal impacts. A growing body of literature investigates the role of anthropogenic forcing on variations of individual dry and hot events at different spatial scales. However, the attribution of CDHEs in China using model simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) has received little attention. This study investigates the anthropogenic influence on CDHEs during summer in China and projects their future occurrences using CMIP6 simulations with data from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) as observations. The results show that large regions of China experienced a significantly increased frequency of CDHEs during 1971–2010 relative to 1931–1970, which is overall captured by the CMIP6 simulations. Anthropogenic forcing is shown to contribute to the high likelihood of CDHEs in recent decades over most parts of China, with remarkable contributions in southwestern regions. Under future socioeconomic development scenarios, these CDHEs are projected to become more frequent in 2021–2100, which will increase by approximately 51.56–55.00% on average compared to that in 1931–2010. This study could aid the development of mitigation strategies of CDHEs across China under global warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Product market competitiveness is positively influenced by the aesthetic value of product form, which is closely related to product complexity. By measuring the cognitive complexity of the product, this research establishes the relationship between the complexity and aesthetics of the product using an artificial neural network. Hence the prediction of product beauty is achieved, which guides design decisions. In this article, the complexity of product form is first measured through a combination of hesitant-fuzzy theory and information axiom. Afterward, the result is weighted by exponential entropy and dimensionally compressed. This method makes data more suitable for the prediction with small samples, obtaining an accuracy improvement of up to 40% compared with traditional approaches. Finally, the importance order of the design elements which affect morphological complexity is acquired. Results show that three of the six complexity features (element number, object intelligence, and object detail) are more significant, impacting the aesthetic feeling of product form. The method increases the attractiveness of products to customers, providing valuable design support for enterprises and designers in the early days when a new product is designed, and reducing research and development risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metabolic activity of the microbial community greatly affects the quality of cigar tobacco leaves (CTLs). To improve the quality of CTLs, two extrinsic microbes (Acinetobacter sp. 1H8 and Acinetobacter indicus 3B2) were inoculated into CTLs. The quality of CTLs were significantly improved after fermentation. The content of solanone, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, benzeneacetic acid, ethyl ester, cyclohexanone, octanal, acetophenone, and 3,5,5-trimethyl-2-cyclohexen-1-one were significantly increased after inoculated Acinetobacter sp. 1H8. The inoculation of Acinetobacter sp. 1H8 enhanced the normal evolutionary trend of bacterial community. The content of trimethyl-pyrazine, 2,6-dimethyl-pyrazine, and megastigmatrienone were significantly increased after inoculated Acinetobacter indicus 3B2. The inoculation of Acinetobacter indicus 3B2 completely changed the original bacterial community. Network analysis revealed that Acinetobacter was negatively correlated with Aquabacterium , positively correlated with Bacillus , and had significant correlations with many volatile flavor compounds. This work may be helpful for improving fermentation product quality by regulating microbial community, and gain insight into the microbial ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the booming international trade in cigar tobacco leaves (CTLs), the main characteristics of tobacco leaves from different producing areas are rarely reported. This study aimed to characterize the microbial community, volatile flavor compounds (VFCs), and flavor of CTLs from four famous cigar-producing areas, including Dominica, Brazil, Indonesia, and China. High-throughput sequencing results showed that the dominant genera in CTLs were Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas, Aspergillus, Sampaiozyma , and Alternaria. Sensory analysis revealed that Indonesian and Chinese CTLs were characterized by leathery, peppery, and baked aroma. Brazilian CTLs were dominated by caramel and herb aroma. Dominican CTLs had aromas of milk, fruity, sour, cream, flower, nutty, and honey. Supplemented with the determination of volatile flavor compounds (VFCs), the flavor of CTLs could be scientifically quantified. Most of these VFCs were aldehydes and ketones, and 20 VFCs showed significant differences in CTLs from different regions. The microbial community, VFCs, and flavor of CTLs vary widely due to geographic differences. Network analysis revealed the microbial community was closely related to most VFCs, but the relationships between the fungal community and VFCs were less than the bacterial community, and most of them were negative. Furthermore, it also found that the bacterial community had a greater contribution to the flavor of CTLs than the fungal community. This study obtained essential information on CTLs, which laid a foundation for deeply excavating the relationship between microbes and VFCs and flavor, and establishing a tobacco information database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]