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Objectives. The annual prevalence of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is increasing, and the lack of effective treatments imposes a substantial burden on both patients and society. The formation of nasal polyps in patients with CRS is closely related to tissue remodeling, which is largely driven by the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). MicroRNA (miRNA) plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of numerous diseases through the miRNA-mRNA regulatory network; however, the specific mechanism of the miRNAs involved in the formation of nasal polyps remains unclear. Methods. The expression of EMT markers and Smad3 were detected using western blots, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and immunohistochemical and immunofluorescence staining. Differentially expressed genes in nasal polyps and normal tissues were screened through the Gene Expression Omnibus database. To predict the target genes of miR-145-5p, three different miRNA target prediction databases were used. The migratory ability of cells was evaluated using cell migration assay and wound healing assays. Results. miR-145-5p was associated with the EMT process and was significantly downregulated in nasal polyp tissues. In vitro experiments revealed that the downregulation of miR-145-5p promoted EMT. Conversely, increasing miR-145-5p levels reversed the EMT induced by transforming growth factor-β1. Bioinformatics analysis suggested that miR-145-5p targets Smad3. Subsequent experiments confirmed that miR-145-5p inhibits Smad3 expression. Conclusion. Overall, miR-145-5p is a promising target to inhibit nasal polyp formation, and the findings of this study provide a theoretical basis for nanoparticle-mediated miR-145-5p delivery for the treatment of nasal polyps.

Abstract Professional dance is characterized by high impulsiveness, elegance, and aesthetic beauty. In order to reach the desired professionalism, it requires years of long and exhausting practice, good physical condition, musicality, but also, a good understanding of choreography. Capturing dance motions and transferring them to digital avatars is commonly used in the film and entertainment industries. However, so far, access to high-quality dance data is very limited, mainly due to the many practical difficulties in capturing the movements of dancers, making it prohibitive for large-scale data acquisition. In this paper, we present a model that enhances the professionalism of amateur dance movements, allowing movement quality to be improved in both spatial and temporal domains. Our model consists of a dance-to-music alignment stage responsible for learning the optimal temporal alignment path between dance and music, and a dance-enhancement stage that injects features of professionalism in both spatial and temporal domains. To learn a homogeneous distribution and credible mapping between the heterogeneous professional and amateur datasets, we generate amateur data from professional dances taken from the AIST++ dataset. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our method by comparing it with two baseline motion transfer methods via thorough qualitative visual controls, quantitative metrics, and a perceptual study. We also provide temporal and spatial module analysis to examine the mechanisms and necessity of key components of our framework.

Establishing a suitable and useful soil quality index (SQI) is the key to accurately evaluating changes in soil quality (SQ) under different land use types. In the present study, a suitable and useful SQI using a minimum data set (MDS) with two scoring methods (linear scoring method and nonlinear scoring method) and two additive models (simple additive model with same weighting value and weighted additive model with significant different weighting value) was established to compare SQ under different land uses in Longtan valley. Soil samples were collected under one dryland (DRYL), one paddy (PADD), one orchard (GRA), and one natural forest (FORE), and 13 soil properties were measured. The four land use types had the same soil type and similar environmental conditions. Land use types had significant effects on the measured 12 soil properties. The top two principal components in Principal Component Analysis were chosen, and their cumulative variance was more than 90%. Soil indicators of soil labile carbon, C/N ratio, and microaggregates were chosen as members of MDS in this study. Significant (p < 0.001) positive correlations among the four establishing SQIs were found. The values of the sensitive index ranged from 47.17% to 82.12% for the four SQIs, and the SQI established using the nonlinear scoring method and weighted additive model (SQI-NLW) had the highest values. Among the four land use types, the four SQIs had similar change trends, and the average values of SQ under FORE (0.73) and PADD (0.68) were significantly higher than those under GRA (0.54) and DRYL (0.43). These results indicated that the SQI-NLW was an effective and precise tool to assess SQ under different land uses in similar regions, and the FORE and PADD were the suitable land use types for the sustainable use of soils in karst regions.

Lily is a popular flower worldwide due to its elegant appearance and pleasant fragrance. Floral volatiles of lily are predominated by monoterpenes and benzenoids. While a number of genes for monoterpene biosynthesis have been characterized, the molecular mechanism underlying floral benzenoid formation in lily remains unclear. Here, we report on the identification and characterization of a novel BAHD acyltransferase gene that contributes to the biosynthesis of two related floral scent benzoate esters, ethyl benzoate and methyl benzoate, in the scented Lilium oriental hybrid ‘Siberia’. The emission of both methyl benzoate and ethyl benzoate in L. ‘Siberia’ was found to be tepal-specific, floral development-regulated and rhythmic. Through transcriptome profiling and bioinformatic analysis, a BAHD acyltransferase gene designated LoAAT1 was identified as the top candidate gene for the production of ethyl benzoate. In vitro enzyme assays and substrate feeding assays provide substantial evidence that LoAAT1 is responsible for the biosynthesis of ethyl benzoate. It was interesting to note that in in vitro enzyme assay, LoAAT1 can also catalyze the formation of methyl benzoate, which is typically formed by the action of benzoic acid methyltransferase (BAMT). The lack of an expressed putative BAMT gene in the flower transcriptome of L. ‘Siberia’, together with biochemical and expression evidence, led us to conclude that LoAAT1 is also responsible for, or at least contributes to, the biosynthesis of the floral scent compound methyl benzoate. This is the first report that a member of the plant BAHD acyltransferase family contributes to the production of both ethyl benzoate and methyl benzoate, presenting a new mechanism for the biosynthesis of benzoate esters.

Characterization of aerosol transportation is important in order to understand regional and global climatic changes. To obtain accurate aerosol profiles and wind profiles, aerosol lidar and Doppler wind lidar are generally combined in atmospheric measurements. In this work, a method for calibration and quantitative aerosol properties using coherent Doppler wind lidar (CDWL) is adopted, and data retrieval is verified by contrasting the process with synchronous Rayleigh–Mie–Raman lidar (RMRL). The comparison was applied to field measurements in the Taklimakan desert, from 16 to 21 February 2023. Good agreements between the two lidars was found, with the determination coefficients of 0.90 and 0.89 and the root-mean-square error (RMSE) values of 0.012 and 0.013. The comparative results of continuous experiments demonstrate the ability of the CDWL to retrieve aerosol properties accurately.

Vegetation is a key component of terrestrial ecosystems, and its changes are very sensitive to climate change (CC) and human activities (HA), especially in ecologically fragile areas (EFA). However, the mechanism of relative contribution to vegetation degradation and restoration in EFA under the influence of CC and HA is still unclear. Based on the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA) model and the Miami model, we estimated three key parameters of vegetation in China’s EFA: actual net primary productivity (ANPP), potential net primary productivity (PNPP), and human activity net primary productivity (HNPP). Using these variables, we quantitatively analyzed the relative contribution of CC and HA to vegetation restoration and degradation from 1982 to 2018 by the residual trend method. The results showed that the area ratio of vegetation restoration in China’s EFA was close to 71.6%, and the total ANPP increased by 174 Tg C, mainly concentrated in the Southwest Karst area and the Loess Plateau, but the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau showing a trend of degradation during 1982 to 2018. The climate background of each region was a key factor that can never be ignored to determine the positive or negative impact of regional CC and HA on vegetation activities. The CC and HA played a positive role in vegetation restoration areas, with a relative contribution of 59.1% and 16.4%, regional warming and humidification caused by the increase of temperature and precipitation was the main factor driving vegetation restoration. In vegetation degradation areas, The HA was the main driving force, especially the relative contribution of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the arid and semi-arid areas and the Loess Plateau, which were as high as 96.8%, 83.3% and 80.2%, respectively. Finally, the annual average temperature (TEMP) and the annual solar radiation (SRAD) were relatively important and sensitive for the CASA model in the input environmental variables. This study provided a way to quantitatively understand the mechanism of climate change and human activities on the dynamic evolution of vegetation in EFA. In the future, the implementation of ecological protection and restoration projects need to fully consider the differences in climate background and strengthen the monitoring of the ecological environment.

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP), also known as the Earth’s “third pole,” is sensitive to climate change due to its extensive areas at high elevation, which are presently dominated by snow and ice. Based on daily observations from 1960 to 2016 at 94 meteorological stations, we quantified and compared changes in climate extremes on China’s QTP using 16 extreme temperature indices and 11 extreme precipitation indices, which calculated using colder (1961–1990) and warmer (1988–2016) base periods, respectively. The study showed that when a warmer base period is used, the trend magnitude of the cold temperature indices is amplified, while the trend magnitude of the warm temperature indices and the percentile-based precipitation indices are diminished. The regionally averaged temperature index trends were consistent with global warming, namely warmth indices such as the number of warm days, warm nights, summer days, and tropical nights all showed significant increases. However, the cold indices, such as the number of cool days, cool nights, ice days, and frost days, decreased significantly. The number of frost days and ice days decreased the fastest (3.9 and 2.9 days/decade, respectively), while the length of the growing season increased the fastest (2.9 days/decade). The warming trend strengthened with increasing latitude, and the occurrences of daytime extreme temperature events increased with increasing longitude. In addition, cold temperature events increased in frequency and intensity at high elevations, while warm temperature events decreased. We also found that average monthly maximum 1-day precipitation and maximum consecutive 5-day precipitation increased by 0.1 and 0.3 mm per decade, respectively. Extreme precipitation occurrences were more common in places with low latitudes and high longitudes. The strengthening Subtropical High Area (SHA) and Subtropical High Intensity (SHI), Westward movement of Subtropical High Western Ridge Point (SHW) have contributed to the changes in climate extremes on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The study’s findings will provide a more comprehensive reference for predicting the occurrence of extreme events and improving the region’s disaster prevention capability.

A micro-pulse lidar system incorporating differential absorption lidar (DIAL) and coherent Doppler wind lidar (CDWL) is proposed and demonstrated. Due to the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD), the DIAL channel achieves high sensitivity in CO2 measurement. Meanwhile, the CDWL channel is used to obtain the horizontal wind field. In the process of the optimization and calibration of the DIAL receiver, specifically, mode scrambling and temperature control of the connecting fiber between the telescope and the SNSPD enhance the stability and robustness of the system. Horizontal scanning of the CO2 concentration and the wind field is carried out in a 6 km range over a scanning span of 60° with a radial resolution of 150 m and 15 s. The results show that the hybrid lidar system captures the spatial distribution of CO2 concentration and the wind field simultaneously. The horizontal net CO2 flux in a radius of 6 km is estimated by integrating the CO2 concentration and the wind transport vector, indicating different characteristics of horizontal net CO2 fluxes in an industrial area, a university campus, and a park. During most of the experiment, CO2 flux remained positive in the industrial area, but balances fell to nearly zero on the campus and in the park. The horizontal net fluxes averaged over 24 h in the three areas are 3.5 × 105 ppm·m2·s−1, 0.7 × 105 ppm·m2·s−1, and 0.1 × 105 ppm·m2·s−1.

Abstract Mouth ulcers have been associated with numerous loci in genome wide association studies (GWAS). Nonetheless, it remains unclear what mechanisms are involved in the pathogenesis of mouth ulcers at these loci, as well as what the most effective ulcer drugs are. Thus, we aimed to screen hub genes responsible for mouth ulcer pathogenesis. We conducted an imputed/in-silico proteome-wide association study to discover candidate genes that impact the development of mouth ulcers and affect the expression and concentration of associated proteins in the bloodstream. The integrative analysis revealed that 35 genes play a significant role in the development of mouth ulcers, both in terms of their protein and transcriptional levels. Following this analysis, the researchers identified 6 key genes, namely BTN3A3, IL12B, BPI, FAM213A, PLXNB2, and IL22RA2, which were related to the onset of mouth ulcers. By combining with multidimensional data, six genes were found to correlate with mouth ulcer pathogenesis, which can be useful for further biological and therapeutic research.