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Groundwater plays a pivotal role in the water resources of Shicheng County; however, the issue of excessive fluoride content in groundwater and its associated health risks often goes unnoticed. Groundwater assumes a crucial role in the hydrological dynamics of Shicheng County; nevertheless, the matter concerning elevated levels of fluoride within groundwater and its accompanying health hazards frequently evades attention. The hydrogeochemical analysis, obscure comprehensive water quality assessment based on cloud model, and probabilistic human health risk assessment using Monte Carlo simulation were conducted on 34 collected water samples. The findings indicate that the predominant groundwater hydrochemical types are SO 4 ·Cl-Na and HCO 3 -Na. The processes of rock weathering and cation exchange play crucial roles in influencing water chemistry. Groundwater samples generally exhibit elevated concentrations of F - , surpassing the drinking water standard, primarily attributed to mineral dissolution. The concentrations of F - in more than 52.94% and 23.53% of the groundwater samples exceeded the acceptable non-carcinogenic risk limits for children and adults, respectively. Considering the inherent uncertainty in model parameters, it is anticipated that both children and adults will have a probability exceeding 49.36% and 30.50%, respectively, of being exposed to elevated levels of F ions in groundwater. The utilization of stochastic simulations, in contrast to deterministic methods, enables a more precise depiction of health risks. The outcomes derived from this investigation possess the potential to assist policymakers in formulating strategies aimed at ensuring the provision of secure domestic water supplies., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Cis-regulatory elements have an important role in human adaptation to the living environment. However, the lag in population genomic cohort studies and epigenomic studies, hinders the research in the adaptive analysis of cis-regulatory elements in human populations. In this study, we collected 4,013 unrelated individuals and performed a comprehensive analysis of adaptive selection of genome-wide cis-regulatory elements in the Han Chinese. In total, 12.34% of genomic regions are under the influence of adaptive selection, where 1.00% of enhancers and 2.06% of promoters are under positive selection, and 0.06% of enhancers and 0.02% of promoters are under balancing selection. Gene ontology enrichment analysis of these cis-regulatory elements under adaptive selection reveals that many positive selections in the Han Chinese occur in pathways involved in cell-cell adhesion processes, and many balancing selections are related to immune processes. Two classes of adaptive cis-regulatory elements related to cell adhesion were in-depth analyzed, one is the adaptive enhancers derived from neanderthal introgression, leads to lower hyaluronidase level in skin, and brings better performance on UV-radiation resistance to the Han Chinese. Another one is the cis-regulatory elements regulating wound healing, and the results suggest the positive selection inhibits coagulation and promotes angiogenesis and wound healing in the Han Chinese. Finally, we found that many pathogenic alleles, such as risky alleles of type 2 diabetes or schizophrenia, remain in the population due to the hitchhiking effect of positive selections. Our findings will help deepen our understanding of the adaptive evolution of genome regulation in the Han Chinese., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest statement. None declared., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.)