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To evaluate the influence of ecological migration village construction on mosquito vector populations and mosquito-borne diseases in southern Yunnan Province. Two vicinal villages in Mengla County, the southern part of Yunnan Province, a native village, and a newly built village, were selected as study sites. Malaria and Japanese Encephalitis vector mosquito population divergence between the two villages were studied. Malaria and Japanese Encephalitis (JE) cases in the two villages were also compared. Anopheles minimus was the dominant population in houses in the newly built village, and An. jeyporiensis dominated the native village. Accordingly, there were nine malaria cases in the new village compared with zero cases in the native village. Culex tritaeniorhynchus, the chief JE vector in the study area, displayed no difference between the two villages; however, there was a higher density of the local secondary JE vector (Cx. pseudovishnui) in the native village than in the new one. The JE cases in the villages corresponded to zero. From the vector-borne disease perspective, our results suggest that local community should pay more attention to malaria and An. minimus during the construction of an ecological migration village in the new Chinese Western Developing Plan (CWDP) in southern Yunnan Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing evidence has found the health protective effects of greenness exposure on tuberculosis (TB) and the impact of ambient air pollutants on TB drug-resistance. However, it remains unclear whether residential greenness is also beneficial to reduce TB drug-resistance, and whether air pollution modify the greenness-TB resistance relationship. We enrolled 5006 newly-diagnosed TB patients from Shandong, China, during 2014 to 2021. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in 250 m and 500 m buffer around individuals' residential zone was used to assess greenness exposure. All patients were divided by quartiles of NDVI250-m and NDVI500-m (from low to high: Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) respectively. Six logistic regression models (NDVI, NDVI + PM2.5/PM10/SO2/NO2/O3) were used to estimate the association of NDVI and TB drug-resistance when adjusting different air pollutants or not. All models were adjusted for age, gender, body mass index, complications, smoking, drinking, population density, nighttime light index, road density. Compared with participants in NDVI250-m Q1 and NDVI500-m Q1, other groups had lower rates of MDR-TB, PDR-TB, RFP-resistance, SM-resistance, RFP + SM resistance, INH + RFP + EMB + SM resistance. NDVI500-m reduced the risk of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and the adjusted odds ratio (aOR, 95% confidence interval, CI) compared with NDVI500-m Q1 were 0.736 (0.547–0.991) in NDVI + PM10 model, 0.733 (0.544–0.986) in NDVI + PM2.5 model, 0.735(0.546–0.99) in NDVI + SO2 model, 0.736 (0.546–0.991) in NDVI + NO2 model, respectively, P < 0.05. NDVI500-m contributed to a decreased risk of streptomycin (SM)-resistance. The aOR of rifampicin (RFP) + SM resistance were 0.132 (NDVI250-m, Q4 vs Q1, 95% CI: 0.03–0.578), 0.199 (NDVI500-m, Q3 vs. Q1, 95% CI: 0.057–0.688) and 0.264 (NDVI500-m, Q4 vs. Q1, 95% CI: 0.087–0.799). The adjusted ORs (Q2 vs. Q1, 95% CI) of isoniazid (INH) + RFP + ethambutol (EMB) + SM resistance in 500 m buffer were 0.276 (0.119–0.639) in NDVI model, 0.279 (0.11–0.705) in NDVI + PM10 model, 0.281 (0.111–0.713) in NDVI + PM2.5 model, 0.279 (0.11–0.709) in NDVI + SO2 model, 0.296 (0.117–0.754) in NDVI + NO2 model, 0.294 (0.116–0.748) in NDVI + O3 model, respectively. The study showed, for the first time, that residential greenness exposure in 500 m buffer is beneficial for reducing newly-diagnosed DR-TB (including PDR-RB, MDR-TB, MR-TB), and ambient air pollutants may partially mediate this association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, published in Stem Cell Reviews & Reports, explores the role of the TET1 protein in the proliferation of mouse skin-derived stem cells (SDSCs) in vitro. The study found that TET1 is crucial for maintaining the self-renewal and proliferation abilities of SDSCs. Knockdown of TET1 resulted in decreased cell proliferation and altered cell cycle distribution. The study suggests that TET1 regulates SDSC proliferation through the DNA replication pathway. This research provides valuable insights into the mechanisms underlying the maintenance of stem cell characteristics and may have implications for regenerative medicine. [Extracted from the article]

According to estimations, approximately about 15% of couples worldwide suffer from infertility, in which individuals with azoospermia or oocyte abnormalities cannot be treated with assisted reproductive technology. The skin-derived stem cells (SDSCs) differentiation into primordial germ cell-like cells (PGCLCs) is one of the major breakthroughs in the field of stem cells intervention for infertility treatment in recent years. However, the cellular origin of SDSCs and their dynamic changes in transcription profile during differentiation into PGCLCs in vitro remain largely undissected. Here, the results of single-cell RNA sequencing indicated that porcine SDSCs are mainly derived from multipotent dermal fibroblast progenitors (MDFPs), which are regulated by growth factors (EGF/bFGF). Importantly, porcine SDSCs exhibit pluripotency for differentiating into three germ layers and can effectively differentiate into PGCLCs through complex transcriptional regulation involving histone modification. Moreover, this study also highlights that porcine SDSC-derived PGCLCs specification exhibit conservation with the human primordial germ cells lineage and that its proliferation is mediated by the MAPK signaling pathway. Our findings provide substantial novel insights into the field of regenerative medicine in which stem cells differentiate into germ cells in vitro, as well as potential therapeutic effects in individuals with azoospermia and/or defective oocytes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mosquito transmit numbers of parasites and pathogens resulting in fatal diseases. Species identification is a prerequisite for effective mosquito control. Existing morphological and molecular classification methods have evitable disadvantages. Here we introduced Deep learning techniques for mosquito species identification. A balanced, high-definition mosquito dataset with 9900 original images covering 17 species was constructed. After three rounds of screening and adjustment-testing (first round among 3 convolutional neural networks and 3 Transformer models, second round among 3 Swin Transformer variants, and third round between 2 images sizes), we proposed the first Swin Transformer-based mosquito species identification model (Swin MSI) with 99.04% accuracy and 99.16% F1-score. By visualizing the identification process, the morphological keys used in Swin MSI were similar but not the same as those used by humans. Swin MSI realized 100% subspecies-level identification in Culex pipiens Complex and 96.26% accuracy for novel species categorization. It presents a promising approach for mosquito identification and mosquito borne diseases control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the spatial distribution feature of mosquito vectors (vectors of Japanese B Encephalitis (JBE) and malaria) in the village house of Guangxi province, China. The Yuhuachang village, one key mosquito-borne disease surveillance site for mosquito-borne diseases of Guangxi province, was selected as the study site. Mosquito vectors abundance was firstly assessed by Chinese manufactured light-traps in twenty-five village houses in the study site. Then, 3S(GPS-RS-GIS) analysis was performed to do the environmental factors quantitative Analysis. Finally, spatial statistical analysis and generalized linear regression were applied to analyze the relationship of the spatial distribution of mosquito vectors with environmental factors, using SPSS and Geoda (095i). As the results showed, the distribution of both vectors was not spatially auto-correlated. Additionally, the number of pigsty and pig was positively correlated with the density of mosquito vector of JBE, and the area of mid-season rice was positively correlated with density of malaria vector. Thus, this study not only provides a field basis for the prevention of mosquito-borne disease as well as its vector in the study city but also provides useful guidance for the warning aide on JBE and malaria prevention in Guangxi province, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strata in red bed areas have typical characteristics of soft-hard interbedding and high sensitivity to water. Under the comprehensive action of internal stratigraphic structure and external hydrological factors, red bed landslides have highly complex spatiotemporal characteristics, presenting significant challenges to the prevention and control of landslide disasters in red bed areas, especially for slope and tunnel engineering projects. In this study, we applied an interdisciplinary approach combining small baseline subset interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SBAS-InSAR), deep displacement monitoring, and engineering geological surveying to identify the deformation mechanisms and spatiotemporal characteristics of the Abi landslide, an individual landslide that occurred in the red bed area of Western Yunnan, China. Surface deformation time series indicated that a basic deformation range developed by March 2020. Based on InSAR results and engineering geological analysis, the landslide surface could be divided into three zones: an upper sliding zone (US), a lower uplifted zone (LU), and a toe zone (Toe). LU was affected by the structure of the sliding bed with variable inclination. Using deep displacement curves combined with the geological profile, a set of sliding surfaces were identified between different lithology. The groundwater level standardization index (GLSI) and deformation normalization index (DNI) showed different quadratic relationships between US and LU. Verification using the Pearson correlation analysis shows that the correlation coefficients between model calculated results and measured data are 0.7933 and 0.7577, respectively, indicating that the DNI-GLSI models are applicable. A fast and short-lived deformation sub stage (ID-Fast) in the initial deformation stage was observed, and ID-Fast was driven by concentrated rainfall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Astragalus polysaccharide is an important bioactive component derived from the dry root of Astragalus membranaceus. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the research progress on the immunomodulatory effect of Astragalus polysaccharide and provide valuable reference information. We review the immunomodulatory effect of Astragalus polysaccharide on central and peripheral immune organs, including bone marrow, thymus, lymph nodes, spleen, and mucosal tissues. Furthermore, the immunomodulatory effect of Astragalus polysaccharide on a variety of immune cells is summarized. Studies have shown that Astragalus polysaccharide can promote the activities of macrophages, natural killer cells, dendritic cells, T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes and microglia and induce the expression of a variety of cytokines and chemokines. The immunomodulatory effect of Astragalus polysaccharide makes it promising for the treatment of many diseases, including cancer, infection, type 1 diabetes, asthma, and autoimmune disease. Among them, the anticancer effect is the most prominent. In short, Astragalus polysaccharide is a valuable immunomodulatory medicine, but further high-quality studies are warranted to corroborate its clinical efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytoestrogens were widely used as natural alternatives to estrogen for treating cardiovascular diseases. They have been reported to have cardioprotective and anti-inflammatory response, but the mechanisms remain unclear. In this study, we found cryptotanshinone and wogonin exhibited phytoestrogenic property in an estrogen-responsive reporter assay. In EA.hy926 cells, treatment of cryptotanshinone and wogonin led to significant increase in NO production levels, which were inhibited by co-incubation of estrogen receptor (ER)α antagonist methyl-piperidino-pyrazole (MPP). The expression of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) and ERα were up-regulated with the same treatment, indicating they stimulate NO and eNOS expression via ERα-dependent pathway in endothelial cells. While in lipopolysaccharide activated vascular smooth muscle cell line A7r5, cryptotanshinone and wogonin exerted anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting NO and inducible NO synthase expression via ERβ-dependent pathway. The reduction of NO synthesis was not affected by MPP, and was abrogated by ERβ antagonist R, R-tetrahydrochrysene. Our findings provide the potential molecular mechanism of cryptotanshinone and wogonin as phytoestrogens for their cardioprotective effects, which exerted regulatory effects on NO synthesis through differential regulation of estrogen receptors. It can be employed as a basis for evaluating the beneficial effects of phytoestrogens in the treatment of patients at risk of cardiovascular disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Betulin and oleanolic acids (pentacyclic triterpenoid secondary metabolites) have broad pharmacological activities and can be potentially used for the development of anti-cancer and anti-AIDS drugs. In this study, we detected the accumulation and the distribution characteristics of betulin and oleanolic acid in various organs of white birch at different ages. We also determined the expression of 4 OSC genes ( LUS, β- AS, CAS1 and CAS2) involved in the triterpenoid synthesis pathways by real time RT-PCR. The result showed that the 1-year old birch can synthesize betulin and oleanolic acid. In addition, betulin and oleanolic acids were mainly distributed in the bark, while the content in the root skin and leaf was very low. The content of betulin and oleanolic acid in birch varied in different seasons. The content of betulin and oleanolic acid and their corresponding LUS and β- AS gene expression were very low in 1-year old birch. With increasing age of birch, betulin content was increased, while oleanolic acid was decreased. Similar changes were also observed for their corresponding synthesis genes LUS and β- AS. In the leaf of 1-year old plant, the highest expression of CAS1 and CAS2 occurred at end of September, while expression of LUS and the β- AS was low from June to October. In the stem skin,high expression of β- AS and the LUS genes occurred from the end of July to September. In the root, high expression of the β- AS gene was observed at the end of October. These results indicated that triterpenoid gene expression was similar to the triterpene accumulation. Expression of LUS gene and β- AS gene in birch with different ages were corresponding to the betulinic and oleanolic acid accumulation. Expression of CAS1 and CAS2 genes were elevated with increasing age of birch. This study provides molecular mechanisms of triterpenes synthesis in birch plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a detailed analysis of the effects of noise (reverberation) on the focusing performance of decomposition of the time reversal operator (DORT) in a noise-limited case and in a reverberation-limited case, respectively. Quantitative results obtained from simulations and experiments are presented. The results show the DORT method can be efficiently applied to target detection with enough source level to yield significant backscatter. For a target placed on the bottom, the influence of the reverberation on the focusing performance is slight. However, distinguishing between a target and constant backscattering returning from strong local clutter on the bottom (false alarms) needs further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]