Search

The exploration of active ingredients and new activities of industrial crops could expand their scope of applications. Liriodendron chinense (L. chinense), an important ornamental and economic forest tree in China, has been widely used in timber, medicine and landscape. Flavonoids are major constituents of L. chinense leaves, while their effects of preventing brain damage are still unclear. In this study, flavonoids from L. chinense leaves (LCLF) were obtained through AB-8 resin chromatography and UPLC-MS/MS assay indicated that 16 compounds were identified from LCLF. LCLF treatment showed significant scavenging activities against DPPH•, ABTS•+, •OH, FRAP and total reducing power. D-galactose-impaired exploratory behaviors, cognitive functions and histopathological alterations in hippocampus of mice were obviously recovered by LCLF administration. Network pharmacology results demonstrated that LCLF could produce the healing efficacy through multiple pathways, mostly related to oxidative stress and inflammation. Further i n vivo experiments revealed that LCLF treatment could regulated MDA content, SOD, CAT and GSH-Px activity, as well as the production of inflammatory factors (NO, IL-1β and IL-6). The underlying mechanisms of LCLF were probably related to Nrf2/HO-1, NF-κB and AMPK/SIRT1 pathways. Molecular docking results and surface plasmon resonance analysis validated that especially hesperidin in LCLF had strong binding activities with all 8 genes in the mentioned pathways. Our study revealed the beneficial effects of LCLF on oxidative activity and D-galactose-induced brain injury, offering experimental support for its potential application in pharmaceutical and other industries. [Display omitted] • LCLF was a flavonoid-rich fraction from L. chinense leaves. • LCLF showed significant scavenging capacities against different radicals. • LCLF prevented D-galactose-induced brain injuries via AMPK/SIRT1-mediated Nrf2/HO-1 and NF-κB pathways. • Hesperidin in LCLF had strong binding activities with 8 genes in the mentioned pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nurses play a core role and encompass the main workforce in health care systems. Their role model of health promoting lifestyle behaviors (HPLB) would directly or indirectly affect their clients' beliefs or attitudes of health promotion. There is limited evidence on HPLB in clinical registered nurses. The current study aimed to explore the HPLB and associated influencing factors among clinical registered nurses in China. Methods: A multi-center cross-sectional anonymous online survey was conducted in 2020. Participants were asked to complete social demographic information as well as the revised Chinese edition of Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP). Independent-Sample T-Test, One-Way ANOVA, and categorical regression (optimal scaling regression) were the main methods to analyze the relationship between demographic data and the score of HPLB. Results: 19,422 nurses were included in the study. The mean score of self-actualization, health responsibility/physical activity, nutrition, job safety, interpersonal support, and overall Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile were, 27.61(5.42) out of a score of 36, 22.71(7.77) out of a score of 44, 10.43(2.97) out of a score of 16, 22.05(3.97) out of a score of 28, 20.19(4.67) out of a score of 28, and 102.99 (19.93) out of a score of 144, respectively. There was a significant relationship among Hospital levels, working years, nightshift status, and monthly income per person, and mean score of all subscales and the overall HPLP (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Nurses who participated in the study presented a moderate level of health promoting lifestyle behaviors. Hospital levels, working years, nightshift status, and monthly income per person were predictors for all subscales and overall HPLP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unprecedented urbanization in China has directly resulted in residential vacancies, which has seriously stunted sustainable development, a part of China's new-type urbanization plan. Understanding the various types and mixes of residential vacancies is critical for the advancement of our knowledge of speculative urbanism and for devising vacancy-mitigation policies, but this issue remains insufficiently studied. Using municipal water consumption data, this study proposes a feasible and general-purpose framework for providing innovative insights into the variability in residential vacancies at the household level and the mixture of residential vacancies at the building level. This framework was applied to the city of Changshu, China, and four categories of vacant residences at the household level were identified: seasonally vacant residences, long-term vacant residences, newly built residences and occasionally vacant residences. The first category is closely related to tourism and seasonal industries, while the last three exhibit a Matthew effect. In addition to revealing significant and intensifying spatial clustering and three patterns of changes in vacancy mixtures (i.e., emergence, disappearance, and increases or decreases), the results identify particular types of vacant residences at the building level (e.g., extremely low-entropy long-term multihousehold buildings). The insights from this study can contribute to devising customized policies for alleviating residential vacancies. • The proposed framework reveals variability in and mixtures among residential vacancies using municipal water consumption. • The document representations of vacant residences are extracted based on the vacant residence corpus and Doc2Vec method. • Four categories of vacant residences at the household level are identified using the Doc2Vec and K-means++ methods. • Seasonally vacant residences are closely related to tourism and seasonal industries. • Long-term, newly built and occasionally vacant residences exhibit a Matthew effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing water use and relieving negative environmental consequences contribute to regional water and ecological sustainability. This work examined water resource efficiency (WRE) and the effects of effective crop water use from the perspective of the water footprint. WRE was defined as the ratio of consumptive field water use (CWU) to the total crop water footprint (CWF), including the blue water footprint applied (BWFA), green water footprint (GWF), and grey water footprint (GYWF). WRE for the cultivation of the main crops (rice, wheat, maize, beans, and tubers) produced in China during the period of 1996–2015 was determined from estimates of provincial CWFs and CWUs. The results show that national CWF was estimated as 678.5 Gm³, of which GWF comprised 55.1%; the national crop CWU was approximately 455.6 Gm³ in the period considered, and this included 82.1% green and 17.9% blue water. The spatial patterns of CWF and CWU densities differed greatly but were stable over time, with increasing trends exhibited from 1996 to 2015. The national WRE for crops was 0.672, and that for beans was 0.869, an efficiency larger than that of any other crop. The indices for rice and wheat were approximately 0.630. WRE cannot be replaced by the global efficiency (GEF) or generalized efficiency (GE) indices, either for scientific evaluations or for considerations of spatial distributions. This study aids in the evaluation of effective water resource consumption by considering the process of agricultural water use, and also the impact of crop production on water quality and quantity. Hence, WRE is an advanced indicator linking measurements of water footprint with assessments of crop management and the sustainability of regional water resources. [Display omitted] • Water resources effectiveness (WRE) was assessed from the water footprint perspective. • WRE was 0.672 and varied among crops in grain production of China. • It's needs to reduce crop water footprint and improve WRE in rice production of China. • WRE is an improvement of agricultural water use efficiency evaluation index system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delivery drones are yet to be adopted as a systematic delivery system for humanitarian operations but have the potential to substantially increase the efficiency and effectiveness of future delivery options. Thus, we analyse the impact of factors affecting the adoption of delivery drones by logistics service providers for humanitarian operations. A conceptual model of potential barriers to adoption and development is created using the Technology Acceptance Model theory involving security, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and attitude as factors that affect the intention to use. We validate the model using empirical data collected from 103 respondents by the 10 leading logistics firms located in China between May and August 2016. through a survey to examine factors currently affecting the intention/non-intention to adopt delivery drones. The results show that ease of use and addressing key security considerations about the drone, the delivery package and the recipient are crucial for adopting the technology as a specialized delivery option for logistics service providers. This is the first study of its kind and contributes to understanding the operational, supply chain and behavioural factors in the adoption of drones by logistics services providers for humanitarian operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new termite-pathogenic species, Ophiocordyceps globiperitheciata and O. longistipes, are described from Yunnan Province, China. Six-locus (ITS , nrSSU , nrLSU , tef-1α, rpb1 and rpb2) phylogenetic analyses in combination with morphological observations were employed to characterize these two species. Phylogenetically, O. globiperitheciata is most closely related to Hirsutella cryptosclerotium and O. communis, whereas O. longistipes shares a sister relationship with O. fusiformis. However, O. globiperitheciata differs from H. cryptosclerotium by parasitizing Blattodea and producing clavate, unbifurcated stromata. Ophiocordyceps globiperitheciata is distinguished from O. communis by multiple stromata, shorter asci and ascospores. Ophiocordyceps longistipes differs from O. fusiformis in producing larger stromata, perithecia, asci and ascospores, as well as smaller citriform or oval conidia. Morphological descriptions of the two new species and a dichotomous key to the 19 termite-pathogenic Ophiocordyceps species are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender controversies and stigmatization on the internet occur from time to time. This research analyzes the "Yang Li Event" by crawling 10,507 posts on Weibo and sampling 184 reviews on the Zhihu website. Sentiment analysis verifies male-female netizens' attitudes are polarized and reveals that negative emotion is dominant on the Internet. Male netizens' posts use various rhetoric to construct the images of radical and pseudo-feminists, which is in turn placed in the contemporary China socio-cultural context for interpretation. This article argues that the contemporary masculine crisis is a kind of self-cognition crisis caused by a misperception of gender inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change has resulted in an increase in drought severity in the species-rich tropical and subtropical forests of southern China. Exploring the spatiotemporal relationship between drought-tolerance trait and tree abundance provides a means to elucidate the impact of droughts on community assembly and dynamics. In this study, we measured the leaf turgor loss point (πtlp) for 399 tree species from three tropical forest plots and three subtropical forest plots. The plot area was 1 ha and tree abundance was calculated as total basal area per hectare according to the nearest community census data. The first aim of this study was to explore πtlp abundance relationships in the six plots across a range of precipitation seasonality. Additionally, three of the six plots (two tropical forests and one subtropical forest) had consecutive community censuses data (12–22 years) and the mortality ratios and abundance year slope of tree species were analyzed. The second aim was to examine whether πtlp is a predictor of tree mortality and abundance changes. Our results showed that tree species with lower (more negative) πtlp were more abundant in the tropical forests with relative high seasonality. However, πtlp was not related to tree abundance in the subtropical forests with low seasonality. Moreover, πtlp was not a good predictor of tree mortality and abundance changes in both humid and dry forests. This study reveals the restricted role of πtlp in predicting the response of forests to increasing droughts under climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Karst forests are habitats in which access to soil water can be challenging for plants. Therefore, safe and efficient xylem water transport and large internal water storage may benefit tree growth. In this study, we selected 22 tree species from a primary subtropical karst forest in southern China and measured their xylem anatomical traits, saturated water content (SWC), hydraulic conductivity (Ks) and embolism resistance (P 50). Additionally, we monitored growth of diameter at breast height (DBH) in 440 individual trees of various sizes over three consecutive years. Our objective was to analyze the relationships between xylem structure, hydraulic efficiency, safety, water storage and growth of karst tree species. The results showed significant differences in structure but not in hydraulic traits between deciduous and evergreen species. Larger vessel diameter, paratracheal parenchyma and higher SWC were correlated with higher Ks. Embolism resistance was not correlated with the studied anatomical traits, and no tradeoff with Ks was observed. In small trees (5–15 cm DBH), diameter growth rate (DGR) was independent of hydraulic traits. In large trees (>15 cm DBH), higher Ks and more negative P 50 accounted for higher DGR. From lower to greater embolism resistance, the size–growth relationship shifted from growth deceleration to acceleration with increasing tree size in eight of the 22 species. Our study highlights the vital contributions of xylem hydraulic efficiency and safety to growth rate and dynamics in karst tree species; therefore, we strongly recommend their integration into trait-based forest dynamic models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jar burial is a particular burial practice generally used in the Neolithic period of China. However, the rarity of finding prenatal individuals limits the ability to study their treatment in jar burial contexts. In this paper, to study the postmortem treatment of this specific age further, we focus on three jar burials of infant individuals excavated in 2021 at the Gangshang site in China, where the skeletal remains were relatively well preserved. The skeletal remains of three well‐preserved individuals are presented into inverted ceramic tripods near the residential area and with a crouched posture. In terms of this condition, we apply the osteometric method to estimate the range and mean of age at death for each individual investigated. Meanwhile, we use micro‐computed tomography (CT) scans to help judge the degree of microbial bioerosion. Besides, histological analysis on skeletal remains combined with the Oxford Histological Index (OHI) assessment allows us to estimate the developmental stage at the time of death by analyzing the results of micro‐CT scans. By using osteometric methods, the results show that the gestational age of the three individuals is 22–26, 24–28, and 22–26 weeks, respectively. The results of the micro‐CT scans indicate that all three fetuses died shortly after birth, or had died in their mother's uterus before birth, with the OHI score of 5. Moreover, we indeed observe infant skeleton remains with no bacterial bioerosion, indicating that it is effective using this method to judge the developmental stage at the time of death with a specific taphonomic environment in the Gangshang site of the Dawenkou culture period. Combined with the placement of the jars in which the three infants were buried, it is believed that this unique placement method was intentional and specific to the infant deaths. These results are instructive for exploring the postmortem treatment of dead infants by ancient residents of the Dawenkou culture period (4200 bc–2600 bc) in Shandong Province, China, and the significance and possible causes of the unique burial type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many young women were believed to die due to pregnancy and childbirth in the past, yet few cases of pregnant female burials have been reported in bioarcheological literature. Therefore, this paper reports the burial of an adult female (H49‐1) and her infant (H49‐2), who were buried together in an early Western Zhou pit at the Sanbulijia site, Jiaodong Peninsula, Shandong Province, China. It is the first reported case of obstetric death in thePre‐Qin Period in Shandong Province. The mother–child relationship was proved by ancient DNA evidence and archeological context. The infant's remains were placed between the adult's lower legs. Skeletal histological evidence suggests that the infant died during or shortly after childbirth. Sacroiliac fusion of individual H49‐1 may have resulted in dystocia. Furthermore, a special postmortem burial ritual—pit burial, was carried out for both the infant and the mother. H49 is the first Zhou Dynasty pit burial (multiple burial) with an exact radiocarbon date in the Shandong Peninsula. The case under review suggests that both the adult and the infant may have died due to special events, which may be related to obstetric death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Long-term daily NO 2 are derived for post-policy evaluation and exposure assessment. • A common modeling approach (Base-RF) gives biased estimation in back-extrapolation. • We propose a novel approach named RBE-RF for the bias correction. • Average NO 2 levels for China in 2011 can be underestimated by 22.4% by Base-RF. • National population exposed to NO 2 > 40 µg/m3 is 18.5% by Base-RF and 33.0% by RBE-RF. Long-term surface NO 2 data are essential for retrospective policy evaluation and chronic human exposure assessment. In the absence of NO 2 observations for Mainland China before 2013, training a model with 2013–2018 data to make predictions for 2005–2012 (back-extrapolation) could cause substantial estimation bias due to concept drift. This study aims to correct the estimation bias in order to reconstruct the spatiotemporal distribution of daily surface NO 2 levels across China during 2005–2018. On the basis of ground- and satellite-based data, we proposed the robust back-extrapolation with a random forest (RBE-RF) to simulate the surface NO 2 through intermediate modeling of the scaling factors. For comparison purposes, we also employed a random forest (Base-RF), as a representative of the commonly used approach, to directly model the surface NO 2 levels. The validation against Taiwan's NO 2 observations during 2005–2012 showed that RBE-RF adequately corrected the substantial underestimation by Base-RF. The RMSE decreased from 10.1 to 8.2 µg/m3, 7.1 to 4.3 µg/m3, and 6.1 to 2.9 µg/m3 in predicting daily, monthly, and annual levels, respectively. For North China with the most severe pollution, the population-weighted NO 2 ([NO 2 ] pw) during 2005–2012 was estimated as 40.2 and 50.9 µg/m3 by Base-RF and RBE-RF, respectively, i.e., 21.0% difference. While both models predicted that the national annual [NO 2 ] pw increased during 2005–2011 and then decreased, the interannual trends were underestimated by >50.2% by Base-RF relative to RBE-RF. During 2005–2018, the nationwide population that lived in the areas with NO 2 > 40 µg/m3 were estimated as 259 and 460 million by Base-RF and RBE-RF, respectively. With RBE-RF, we corrected the estimation bias in back-extrapolation and obtained a full-coverage dataset of daily surface NO 2 across China during 2005–2018, which is valuable for environmental management and epidemiological research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]