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Few studies have examined individual socioeconomic status (SES) as a potential modifier of ambient temperature–health associations, especially for temperature-related hospitalizations. We fit penalized distributed lag non-linear models within generalized additive models to study the short-term associations (0–3 days) between temperature and hospital admissions stratified by common causes, age, and individual SES, as determined by whether patients received public assistance (PA) to cover their medical fee at the time of hospitalizations, during the hot season (May 15 to October 15) in Hong Kong for the years 2010–2019. We calculated the ratio of relative risk (RRR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) to statistically test the difference of the associations between PA groups. For 75 + patients, the PA group had significantly increased risks of hospitalizations at higher temperature for most causes, with relative risks (RR, 99th %ile vs. 25%ile) and 95% CIs of 1.138 (1.099, 1.179), 1.057 (1.008, 1.109), and 1.163 (1.094, 1.236) estimated for all non-cancer non-external, circulatory, and respiratory admissions, respectively. There were slight decreases of RRs with higher temperature for 75 + patients without PA. The strengths of temperature–hospitalization associations were strongly and significantly different between PA groups for all examined causes for 75 + patients, with the most considerable discrepancy found for ischemic heart disease (RRR = 1.266; 95% CI, 1.137, 1.410). Hospitalizations for patients aged 15–74 were less affected by heat, and the difference of the associations between groups was small. Individual SES is a significant modifier of high temperature–hospitalization associations in Hong Kong among the elderly. Public health interventions are needed to better protect this subpopulation from adverse health impacts of high temperature.

Background Major depressive disorder (MDD) imposes a heavy global disease burden. However, current etiology, diagnosis and treatment remain unsatisfactory and no previous study has resolved this problem. Building on the strengths and limitations of previous cohort studies of MDD, the prospective cohort study of depression (PROUD) is a 3-year large-scale cohort study designed to collect multidimensional data with a flexible follow-up schedule and strategy. The goal is to establish a nationally representative, high-quality, standardized depression cohort to support precise diagnosis and treatment of MDD and address the gap in current research. Methods PROUD is a patient-based, nationally representative multicenter prospective cohort study with baseline and 3-year follow-up assessments. It will be carried out from January 2022 to December 2026 in 52 qualified tertiary hospitals in China. A total of 14,000 patients diagnosed with MDD, according to the DSM-5 criteria, and aged ≥ 16 years, will be recruited to PROUD. Participants aged 18-65 years who have not received any treatment during a depressive episode will be included in the precision medicine cohort (PMC) of PROUD (n=4,000). Patients who meet the general eligibility criteria but not the PMC criteria will be included in the naturalistic observation cohort (NOC) of PROUD (n=10,000). A multiple follow-up strategy, including scheduled, remote, telephone, external visits and patient self-reports, will be implemented to collect comprehensive sociodemographic, clinical information, biospecimens, neuroimaging, cognitive function and electrophysiology data and digital phenotypes according to strict standard operating procedures implemented across centers. Trial registration: ChiCTR2200059053, registered on 23 April 2022, http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=165790. Conclusions PROUD is a prospective cohort study of MDD patients in China. It will provide a comprehensive database facilitating further analyses and aiding the development of homeostatic and precision medicine in China.

Background Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody-associated disease (MOGAD) is an autoimmune demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system. Methods Extracted proteins from 34 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples [patients with MOGAD (MOG group, n = 12); healthy controls (HC group, n = 12); patients with MOG seronegative and metagenomics next-generation sequencing-negative inflammatory neurological diseases (IND group, n = 10)] were processed and subjected to label-free quantitative proteomics. Supervised partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and orthogonal PLS-DA (O-PLS-DA) models were also performed based on proteomics data. Functional analysis of differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) was performed using Gene Ontology, InterPro, and Kyoto Encyclopedia Genes and Genomes. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine the complement levels in serum from patients with MOGAD. Results Four hundred and twenty-nine DEPs (149 upregulated and 280 downregulated proteins) were identified in the MOG group compared to the HC group according to the P value and fold change (FC). Using the O-PLS-DA model, 872 differentially abundant proteins were identified with variable importance projection (VIP) scores > 1. Five proteins (gamma-glutamyl hydrolase, cathepsin F, interalpha-trypsin inhibitor heavy chain 5, latent transforming growth factor beta-binding protein 4 and leukocyte-associated immunoglobulin-like receptor 1) overlapping between the top 30 DEPs with top-ranked P value and FC and top 30 proteins in PLS-DA VIP lists were acquired. Functional analysis revealed that the dysregulated proteins in the MOG group were primarily involved in complement and coagulation cascades, cell adhesion, axon guidance, and glycosphingolipid biosynthesis compared to the HC group. Conclusion The proteomic alterations in CSF samples from children with MOGAD identified in the current study might provide opportunities for developing novel biomarker candidates.

Homeobox A5 (HOXA5) is a transcription factor in mammalian and can regulate cell differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis as well as tumorigenesis. However, little is known on whether and how HOXA5 can regulate the malignant behaviors of cholangiocarcinoma. The methylation levels of HOXA5 were evaluated by methylation microarray and bisulfite sequencing PCR. HOXA5 expression in tissue samples was examined by immunohistochemistry and Western blot. The proliferation of tumor cells was assessed by CCK-8, EdU, and nude mouse tumorigenicity assays. The invasion, apoptosis and cell cycling of tumor cells were evaluated by Wound healing assay and flow cytometry. The interaction between HOXA5 and the MXD1 promoter was examined by CUT & Tag assay, luciferase reporter assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation. Hypermethylation in the HOXA5 promoter down-regulated HOXA5 expression in extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ECCA) tissues, which was correlated with worse overall survival. HOXA5 overexpression significantly inhibited the proliferation and tumor growth. HOXA5 overexpression enhanced MXD1 expression by directly binding to the MXD1 promoter in ECCA cells. MXD1 overexpression inhibited the proliferation and tumor growth while MXD1 silencing abrogated the HOXA5-mediated proliferation inhibition. HOXA5 overexpression increased p53 protein expression in an MXD1-dependent manner. HOXA5 and MXD1 acted as tumor suppressors to inhibit the mitosis of ECCA cells by enhancing the p53 signaling. Our findings may uncover molecular mechanisms by which the HOXA5/MXD1 axis regulates the progression of ECCA, suggesting that the HOXA5/MXD1 may be therapeutic targets for ECCA.

Background Nitrogen is considered the most limiting nutrient element for herbivorous insects. To alleviate nitrogen limitation, insects have evolved various symbiotically mediated strategies that enable them to colonize nitrogen-poor habitats or exploit nitrogen-poor diets. In frugivorous tephritid larvae developing in fruit pulp under nitrogen stress, it remains largely unknown how nitrogen is obtained and larval development is completed. Results In this study, we used metagenomics and metatranscriptomics sequencing technologies as well as in vitro verification tests to uncover the mechanism underlying the nitrogen exploitation in the larvae of Bactrocera dorsalis. Our results showed that nitrogenous waste recycling (NWR) could be successfully driven by symbiotic bacteria, including Enterobacterales, Lactobacillales, Orbales, Pseudomonadales, Flavobacteriales, and Bacteroidales. In this process, urea hydrolysis in the larval gut was mainly mediated by Morganella morganii and Klebsiella oxytoca. In addition, core bacteria mediated essential amino acid (arginine excluded) biosynthesis by ammonium assimilation and transamination. Conclusions Symbiotic bacteria contribute to nitrogen transformation in the larvae of B. dorsalis in fruit pulp. Our findings suggest that the pattern of NWR is more likely to be applied by B. dorsalis, and M. morganii, K. oxytoca, and other urease-positive strains play vital roles in hydrolysing nitrogenous waste and providing metabolizable nitrogen for B. dorsalis.

To investigate whether blood-brain barrier (BBB) served a key role in the edema-relief effect of bloodletting puncture at hand twelve Jing-well points (HTWP) in traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the potential molecular signaling pathways. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to the sham-operated (sham), TBI, and bloodletting puncture (bloodletting) groups (n=24 per group) using a randomized number table. The TBI model rats were induced by cortical contusion and then bloodletting puncture were performed at HTWP twice a day for 2 days. The neurological function and cerebral edema were evaluated by modified neurological severity score (mNSS), cerebral water content, magnetic resonance imaging and hematoxylin and eosin staining. Cerebral blood flow was measured by laser speckles. The protein levels of aquaporin 4 (AQP4), matrix metalloproteinases 9 (MMP9) and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway (MAPK) signaling were detected by immunofluorescence staining and Western blot. Compared with TBI group, bloodletting puncture improved neurological function at 24 and 48 h, alleviated cerebral edema at 48 h, and reduced the permeability of BBB induced by TBI (all P

We present a controllable terahertz (THz) metamaterial switch by manipulating toroidal dipolar mode in simulation. The metamaterial switch consists of periodically patterned metallic split rings with photosensitive silicon stripes. The excitation of toroidal dipolar resonance is closely dependent on the transition between the dielectric and conductive phases of photosensitive silicon. The toroidal dipolar mode is exploited to modulate the ON/OFF-switching transmission of THz wave under wide incident angles. The operation mechanism and frequency tunability are discussed.

The safety and feasibility of early laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) for acute cholecystitis with mild pancreatitis were explored. A total of 973 patients with acute pancreatitis, including 651 mild cases and 322 moderate or severe cases were retrospectively studied from July 2014 to December 2018 in our department. And 426 mild pancreatitis cases with acute cholecystitis were enrolled in this study, of which 328 patients underwent LC during the same-admission (early LC group), and 98 patients underwent LC a period of time after conservative treatment (delayed LC group). Clinical characteristics, operative findings and complications were recorded and followed up. The two groups were comparable in age, gender, the grade of American Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA), biochemical findings and Balthazar computer tomography (CT) rating (P>0.05). The operation interval and hospital stay in early LC group were significantly shorter than in delayed LC group (5.83±1.62 vs. 41.36±8.44 days; 11.38±2.43 vs. 16.49±3.48 days, P

Ultra-precision manufacturing is essential to the production of workpieces of the highest quality in terms of form accuracy, surface accuracy, and integrity. Compared with physical and chemical material removal methods, it has the advantages of high efficiency, high flexibility, and low cost. Because of the direct interaction between the workpiece and the tool during the process of ultra-precision manufacturing, the geometrical parameters of the tool directly affect the surface quality of the workpiece and need to be measured accurately and comprehensively. However, due to the large surface slopes of some tools, some three-dimensional measurement methods cannot measure their geometrical parameters because of limited maximum measurement angle. In this work, we build a focus variation system to make three-dimensional measurements of tools and extract their geometrical parameters. The data processing procedures and the selection of experimental parameters are analyzed in detail using simulations and experiments. Furthermore, we use a step height standard to verify the high accuracy of the measurement system and a roughened flat surface to evaluate the measurement noise and vertical resolution. Measurements of the parameters of a round nose cutting tool and the surface texture parameters of a grinding tool are conducted and indicate that the focus variation system is suitable for measuring the geometrical parameters of tools for ultra-precision manufacturing.

In order to evaluate the effect of blood glucose concentration on the reliability of AZ31 magnesium alloy medical implant, the corrosion of AZ31 alloy was studied in a simulated physiological saline solution. It is found that when the glucose concentration is in the normal range of ca. 1 g/L, the corrosion of AZ31 alloy can be inhibited. However, when the glucose concentration becomes higher like that of diabetic patients, the degradation of AZ31 alloy is significantly accelerated. Therefore, for diabetic patients, the change in glucose concentration must be taken into consideration in order to ensure the reliability of AZ31 medical implants.

Uncertainties in real-time hybrid simulation include structural parameters and ground motion. Uncertain parameters often do not follow common distribution types. Data-driven arbitrary polynomial chaos constructs optimal orthogonal polynomial basis based on the sample data without distribution assumption. In this study, the data-driven polynomial chaos is compared with other generalized polynomial chaos from the aspects of the rate of error convergence when applied for uncertainty quantification of real-time hybrid simulation. Moreover, uncertainties of ground motion are considered in the RTHS problem to represent the scenarios with more complex input variables. Different statistical indicators are utilized to evaluate the accuracy of the alternative model in comparison with the Monte Carlo simulation results. Compared with generalized polynomial chaos, the data-driven arbitrary polynomial chaos presents potential for uncertainty quantification of real-time hybrid simulation with approximate or better accuracy. Actuator delay in RTHS could change the sensitivity of model output to the random variables.

We prospected a novel arylesterase LggEst from the probiotics Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG by genome mining strategy, and characterized the enzymatic properties in detail. Biochemical characterization revealed that arylesterase LggEst presented high activity at a wide range of temperatures from 25 to 65 °C with maximum activity at 50 °C. LggEst maintained high activity in the pH range from 5.5 to 7.5 with optimum pH of 6.5. LggEst might efficiently hydrolyze a series of aryl substrates p-nitrophenyl esters with different acyl chain lengths. LggEst displayed the Vmax from 2.8 to 77.3 μmol min−1 mg−1 protein and the kcat from 1.8 to 48.8 s−1 with the highest catalytic activity on pNPC6. The KM of LggEst on different substrates varied significantly from 4.9 μM to 5.6 mM with the highest affinity on pNPC10. LggEst exhibited the preference for medium- and long-chain p-nitrophenyl esters. LggEst showed remarkable thermostability at 45 °C. LggEst could be tolerant of several organic solvents at the concentration of 10% and DMSO and methanol at the concentration of 20%. Catalytic activity of LggEst was improved by 12% in the presence of 20% ethylene glycol. LggEst was resistant to high concentrations of sodium citrate and sodium chloride. Notably, enzymatic activity of LggEst was significantly enhanced in the presence of 0.1% sodium deoxycholate at high temperatures.

Optical free-form surfaces have been widely studied and applied because of their good performance, and ultra-precision manufacturing with round nose cutting tool is an effective method for machining such surfaces. Because of the direct interaction between the workpiece surface and the cutting edge, the geometrical parameters of the round nose cutting tool directly affect the shape accuracy and the surface topography of the workpiece and need to be measured accurately and comprehensively. At present, the main method to measure the geometrical parameters of round nose cutting tool involves the method using machine vision, but this imposes some limitations, such as the strong dependence on the measurement angle and the inability of measuring multiple parameters at the same time. In this work, we built a focus variation system to make three-dimensional measurement of round nose cutting tool and used this system to obtain multiple geometrical parameters in a single measurement. The types of geometrical parameters and the extraction process are discussed in detail. And a standard step height is measured to verify the high accuracy of the measurement system. The repeated measurement results show that the standard deviation of the nose radius measurement can reach hundred-nanometer scale and the relative standard deviation can reach 0.028%.

Cold-rolling with subsequent annealing was carried out to produce recrystallized structures with different grain sizes in an Al0.5CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloy to systematically investigate the grain growth behavior and varying properties. The results show that recrystallized microstructures can be achieved through an annealing process at 1200 °C for 75 min to 16 h, and the average grain size in this study ranges from 5.33 to 30.03 µm. The hardness shown to be affected through grain coarsening was then measured as a function of the grain size, and it is found to follow the classical Hall–Petch strengthening.

In aquatic fields, ammonium (NH4+) is the most preferred nitrogen (N) source used by plants. The uptake of NH4+ is facilitated by the family of ammonium transporters (AMTs). However, the molecular functions of AMTs in aquatic plants are largely unknown. In this work, a new NH4+ transporter encoding gene, ApAMT1;1, was isolated from the typical aquatic plant alligatorweed, using degenerated primers and rapid amplification of cDNA end (RACE) techniques. Quantitative real time PCR showed that ApAMT1;1 was predominantly expressed in roots, and significantly induced by NH4+ starvation in all tested tissues, including leaves, stems and roots. Functional determination and 15N-labeled ammonium uptake assays in yeast cells indicated that ApAMT1;1 was a typical high-affinity transporter, with a 38.6 μM Km value, and the phosphorylation site T469 was required to retain its NH4+ uptake capacity. Further analyses with Met sulfoximine (MSX), a NH4+ assimilation inhibitor, demonstrated that ApAMT1;1-mediated NH4+ uptake might be feedback regulated by the internal NH4+ accumulation. Our results reveal a functional role of ApAMT1;1 in the uptake and transport of NH4+ in aquatic plants.

The correlation among the strength, ductility and precipitates in a dual-phase Al0.5CoCrFeNi high-entropy alloy has been investigated. The property of plastic was improved in the recrystallized Al0.5CoCrFeNi HEA prepared as the master alloy. Formation of the stable nanosized L12 phases after aging at 650 °C was revealed, along with the lath-like BCC phases precipitated in the grain, as the primary contribution of the strength enhancement. Excellent balanced tensile properties at room temperature were achieved through aging treatment, as the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength show 2.68, 1.63 times higher in 650 °C/140 h aged condition than that in initial states, respectively, superior to many high-entropy alloys and conventional alloys.

In higher plants, NHL (NDR1/HIN1-like) genes play important roles in response to both biotic and abiotic stresses. However, their biological functions in plant growth and development are largely unknown. Previously, we identified an NHL6 gene from Arabidopsis. Overexpression of NHL6 inhibited seed germination under abiotic stress conditions. In this work, we demonstrate that NHL6 also has a function in seed development. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing NHL6 produced shorter siliques and fewer seeds per silique, but increased seed size, leading to decreased seed yield per plant. Pollen viability and meiosis studies did not show any difference between wild type and transgenic plants. In a yeast-two-hybrid screening, a tubby-like F-box protein AtTLP11 was identified as a potential interacting protein of NHL6, which was negatively correlated with NHL6 expression. Our results reveal a critical role of NHL gene in the seed development and a possible connection between NHL and AtTLP families in plants.

Background This study aimed to identify the clinical characteristic of prodromal symptoms in Chinese patients with bipolar disorder (BD), prior to the first affective episode. It further aimed to characterize the prodromal traits between bipolar disorder type I (BD-I) and type II (BD-II). Methods 120 individuals with BD-I (n = 92) and BD- II (n = 28) were recruited to the study. Semi-structured interviews were then administered to evaluate prodromal symptoms in patients, within 3 years of BD onset, by using the Bipolar Prodrome Symptom Scale-Retrospective (BPSS-R). Results In the prodromal phase of the first depressive episode, patients with BD-II experienced more prodromal symptoms (p = 0.0028) compared to BD-I. Additionally, more frequent predictors were reported in patients with BD-II than BD-I including educational and occupational dysfunction (p = 0.0023), social isolation (p p = 0.0012), oppositionality (p = 0.012), and suspiciousness/persecutory ideas (p = 0.017). There were also differences in the duration of the precursors. The duration of “weight loss or decrease in appetite” (p = 0.016) lasted longer in patients with BD-I, while “obsessions and compulsions” (p = 0.023) started earlier in patients with BD-II and occurred during the pre-depressive period. The prevalence and duration of each reported prodrome, preceding a first (hypo) manic episode, showed no difference between patients with BD-I and BD-II. Conclusions Specific affective, general, or psychotic symptoms occurred prior to both affective episodes. The characteristic of prodromal symptoms were key predictors for later episodes of BD including attenuated mania-like symptoms, subthreshold depressed mood, mood swings/lability, and anxiety. In the pre-depressive state, when compared to BD-II, BD-I presented with more prodromal symptoms in nonspecific dimensions, which indicated the substantial burden of BD-II. In conclusion, this study extends the understanding of the characteristics of prodromes of BD-I and BD-II.

There is usually a tough trade-off between the mechanical property and the shielding performance in electromagnetic interference shielding (EMI) materials, especially for those ultrathin and porous film-based devices. Herein, we report an ultrathin and flexible RGO/CNF@Ag–Fe3O4 (RGCF) porous film for EMI shielding application by a vacuum-assisted filtration method and a hydrazine-induced foaming process. The RGCF-3 porous film exhibits outstanding mechanical properties with a tensile strength of 175.5 MPa. As expected, the EMI shielding effectiveness of the lightweight RGCF-3 porous film (21.0 dB) is much higher than that of the compact film (10.4 dB), due to the improved efficient wave attenuation within the cellular space. Therefore, the flexible and lightweight RGCF porous film with applicable EMI shielding and superior mechanical strength is highly promising for applications in wearable electronics.

Steam reforming of toluene, a model tar compound, was carried out at low temperature of 600 °C using Cu–Ni and Fe–Ni bimetallic catalysts with different molar ratios supported on activated carbon (AC). For the Cu–Ni/AC catalysts, the carbon conversion of toluene rose and then decreased with the content of Cu increasing, and the best performance was achieved at the molar ratio of 0.2. However, the Fe–Ni/AC catalyst with the optimum composition of Fe/Ni = 0.1 had a better catalytic performance for toluene steam reforming than the Cu–Ni/AC catalyst (Cu/Ni = 0.2). During the duration test of 20 h, the Fe–Ni/AC (Fe/Ni = 0.1) catalyst showed higher activity for the average carbon conversion of toluene (93.8% vs. 92.9%) and better resistance. to carbon deposition than those of Ni/AC catalyst. Moreover, the metal average sizes of the spent Ni/AC and 0.1-Fe–Ni/AC were estimated to be 30.0 nm and 19.0 nm, respectively. Based on a variety of physiochemical characterization results, it is demonstrated that the addition of iron into Ni/AC catalyst led to good dispersion of Ni, and few coke formation and limited aggregation of nickel particles during reaction.

Corn steep liquor (CSL), which has a great potential use in agricultural production, is an organic liquid waste discharged from corn wet-milling. In this work, the possible application of CSL as a growth stimulant and fertilizer was assessed in soybean plants. We found that treatment with low concentration of CSL significantly improved the germination rate of soybean seeds. After 36 h, the germination rate (69%) of soybean seeds treated with 1% CSL was almost two times of that (35%) of the control seeds. After 84 h, the germination rate (95%) of soybean seeds treated with 1% CSL was still 12% higher than that (83%) of the control seeds. Treatment with 1% CSL also increased soil pH and optimized the availability of nutrients in the rhizosphere, leading to promoted vegetative growth and earlier flowering of soybean plants. Further studies revealed that the expression level of some nutrient absorption and transport related genes in the roots of soybean plants treated with 1% CSL was remarkable higher than that in the roots of control plants. All these results demonstrate that CSL can be used as a potential stimulant and fertilizer to increase the growth rate of soybean plants.

In real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS), it is difficult if not impossible to completely erase the error in restoring force due to actuator response delay using existing displacement-based compensation methods. This paper proposes a new force correction method based on online discrete tangent stiffness estimation (online DTSE) to provide accurate online estimation of the instantaneous stiffness of the physical substructure. Following the discrete curve parameter recognition theory, the online DTSE method estimates the instantaneous stiffness mainly through adaptively building a fuzzy segment with the latest measurements, constructing several strict bounding lines of the segment and calculating the slope of the strict bounding lines, which significantly improves the calculation efficiency and accuracy for the instantaneous stiffness estimation. The results of both computational simulation and real-time hybrid simulation show that: (1) the online DTSE method has high calculation efficiency, of which the relatively short computation time will not interrupt RTHS; and (2) the online DTSE method provides better estimation for the instantaneous stiffness, compared with other existing estimation methods. Due to the quick and accurate estimation of instantaneous stiffness, the online DTSE method therefore provides a promising technique to correct restoring forces in RTHS.

Cold tolerance is the primary limiting factor affecting the quality and productivity of chrysanthemum (Dendranthema morifolium). However, few studies have investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying the low temperature response in chrysanthemum. In the present study, we used RNA-Seq technology to compare the transcript profiles of chrysanthemum leaves exposed to two different temperatures (20 and −8 °C). A total of 13.54 Gb of clean reads were assembled into 71,971 unigenes with an average length of 694 bp, and 33,282 unigenes were annotated identified from five well-known protein databases. Of these, 9579, 24,252, 7123, 22,554, and 32,891 unigenes were separately identified in the COG, GO, KEGG, Swiss-Prot, and NCBI databases, respectively. Differentially expressed genes (1592 upregulated and 718 downregulated) were identified between the control (CK) and low temperature treatment (T) groups. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis identified 20 significantly different pathways. Many genes encoding important transcription factors (e.g. CBF/DREB, bHLH, MYC, and ZAT) as well as proteins (e.g. CCX, CBP, CML, and MAPK) involved in cold signal transduction were up- or down-regulated in the low temperature treatment group. Genes involved in ABA signal transduction and biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids were also identified. The expression profiles of these genes were analyzed during the cold treatment stage. These results provide important information for further studies on gene discovery in chrysanthemum and suggest a potential molecular mechanism for the response to low temperature in this plant species.

Cell wall invertases play an important role in plant growth and development, especially in the grain filling of crop plants. However, their potential in high yield crop breeding has not been investigated. In this study, the main hybrid maize cultivar Zheng Dan 958 (ZD958) was used as a basic variety to assess whether ZmGIF1, a cell wall invertase from maize, can be used to breed new cultivars with higher grain yields. ZmGIF1 expression, cell wall invertase activity, and sugar content in different parental inbred cultivars were compared with those in Zheng 58 and Chang 7-2, the parental inbred cultivars of ZD958. Parental cultivars which showed higher ZmGIF1 expression and invertase activity were selected and intercrossed to improve the expression of ZmGIF1. Compared with the basic cultivar ZD958, higher ZmGIF1 expression and cell wall invertase activity were observed in most hybrid F1 lines, leading to increased grain yield in them. All these results suggest that the expression of ZmGIF1 can be manipulated using different parental cultivars to increase the grain yield of their hybrid F1 progenies.

Uncertainties in structure properties can result in different responses in hybrid simulations. Quantification of the effect of these uncertainties would enable researchers to estimate the variances of structural responses observed from experiments. This poses challenges for real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS) due to the existence of actuator delay. Polynomial chaos expansion (PCE) projects the model outputs on a basis of orthogonal stochastic polynomials to account for influences of model uncertainties. In this paper, PCE is utilized to evaluate effect of actuator delay on the maximum displacement from real-time hybrid simulation of a single degree of freedom (SDOF) structure when accounting for uncertainties in structural properties. The PCE is first applied for RTHS without delay to determine the order of PCE, the number of sample points as well as the method for coefficients calculation. The PCE is then applied to RTHS with actuator delay. The mean, variance and Sobol indices are compared and discussed to evaluate the effects of actuator delay on uncertainty quantification for RTHS. Results show that the mean and the variance of the maximum displacement increase linearly and exponentially with respect to actuator delay, respectively. Sensitivity analysis through Sobol indices also indicates the influence of the single random variable decreases while the coupling effect increases with the increase of actuator delay.

Coral concrete materials, which refer to cement-based composites mixed with coral and seawater, have aroused interest worldwide since they were first used in reef engineering. This paper reviews the raw materials, mechanical properties, durability and microstructure of coral concrete, and describes the performances of fiber reinforced coral concrete. The microhardness of coral concrete in the interfacial transition zone is significantly higher than that of normal concrete, the compressive strength of normal concrete is greater than that of coral concrete, while the normal concrete is more durable than coral concrete. The flexural and splitting tensile strengths of coral concretes are improved remarkably by adding fibers to the mixture. The coral concrete performance is hindered by the poor cementation of the materials, as a result of the porous and brittle coral aggregates. Therefore, by modifying the coral aggregates and innovating the mixing methods in the preparation of high-performance coral concrete, further developments in marine structures and underwater engineering applications can be made using the material.

Traveling is one of the most important entertainments in the modern society. In general, before traveling to an unfamiliar city, one of the possible ways of travel planning is to search travel information from travel-related websites. With the advances of mobile social networks, increasingly more people are willing to record and share their travel experience via social media, which provides abundant information for people who are going to make travel plans. Textual reviews and travelogues with large scale of photos are two kinds of popular social travel sharing. They are complementary to each other in terms of structure and content, forming a large amount of fragmented travel knowledge. Moreover, the ever-increasing reviews and travelogues may impose a huge burden on gaining and reorganizing travel knowledge. To address these issues, this paper proposes CrowdTravel, a multi-source social media data fusion approach for multi-aspect tourism information perception, which can provide travelling assistance for tourists by crowd intelligence mining. We first study the problem of discovering popular scenic spots over crowd contributed data. Second, we propose a cross-media multi-aspect correlation method to connect fragmented travel information. Then we mine popular travel routes from travelogues based on Sequential Pattern Mining Algorithm. Finally, we achieve cross-media information relevance based on the similarity between the reviews and image contexts. We conduct experiments over a dataset of several popular scenic spots in Beijing and Xi’an, which is collected from two major online travel websites, namely Dazhongdianping and Mafengwo. The results indicate that our approach attains fine-grained characterization for the scenic spots and delivers excellent performance.

Tau is well established as a microtubule-associated protein in neurons. However, under pathological conditions, aberrant assembly of tau into insoluble aggregates is accompanied by synaptic dysfunction and neural cell death in a range of neurodegenerative disorders, collectively referred to as tauopathies. Recent advances in our understanding of the multiple functions and different locations of tau inside and outside neurons have revealed novel insights into its importance in a diverse range of molecular pathways including cell signalling, synaptic plasticity, and regulation of genomic stability. The present review describes the physiological and pathophysiological properties of tau and how these relate to its distribution and functions in neurons. We highlight the post-translational modifications of tau, which are pivotal in defining and modulating tau localisation and its roles in health and disease. We include discussion of other pathologically relevant changes in tau, including mutation and aggregation, and how these aspects impinge on the propensity of tau to propagate, and potentially drive neuronal loss, in diseased brain. Finally, we describe the cascade of pathological events that may be driven by tau dysfunction, including impaired axonal transport, alterations in synapse and mitochondrial function, activation of the unfolded protein response and defective protein degradation. It is important to fully understand the range of neuronal functions attributed to tau, since this will provide vital information on its involvement in the development and pathogenesis of disease. Such knowledge will enable determination of which critical molecular pathways should be targeted by potential therapeutic agents developed for the treatment of tauopathies.

Real-time hybrid simulation (RTHS) allows researchers to physically evaluate critical parts of a prototype structure at full scale in the laboratory while the rest is numerically modeled. The reliability of the RTHS experimental results however still remains unsolved in the presence of experimental errors even though a number of methods have been proposed based on the actuator tracking in the time domain. Frequency-domain evaluation indices (FEI) provide a novel and effective technique to evaluate the amplitude and phase errors of the actuator tracking. In this paper, the correlation between the reliability of RTHS results and the FEI indices is explored for the worst-case scenarios of single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) linear elastic structures. The influence of natural frequency and damping ratio are considered through a suite of ground motions. The relationship between the FEI parameters and the error of RTHS replicating actual structural response is explored and a criterion based on worst-case scenarios is proposed for reliability assessment. Numerical simulations are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed reliability criterion.

This paper focuses on the quality improvements on clinching joints using a servo press with a Radial basis function neural network and a sliding mode (RBFS) control strategy. Bottom thickness, which is affected by the press punch position, is usually used to monitor clinching joint quality. Traditional clinching presses are driven by pneumatic pistons or motors that provide feedback on punch force or motor position. However, this feedback is indirectly related to the joint bottom thickness. Clinching workers who set the control parameters on these presses depend on tests and statistics. Thus, this paper presents a servo press system that utilizes punch position feedback to directly control the joint bottom thickness. Transmission errors are considered for the movement accuracy of the servo press. A mathematical model of the servo press is established for analyzing. An algorithm, which combines RBF neural network and sliding mode, is proposed and applied for press position tracking. This algorithm adopts an RBF neural network to approximate the nominal model of the press system. The update law of the algorithm is based on the Lyapunov function used to prove the stability of a closed-loop system. The sliding mode controller compensates for the neural network error and disturbance. Finally, experiments are executed on the servo press with an RBFS controller. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, a fuzzy PID controller is also applied to the press for comparison. The results indicate that the servo clinching press system with RBFS efficiently and accurately control the clinching jointing process.

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous disorder characterized by night blindness, visual field constriction, and severely reduced visual acuity. Despite a number of genes being implicated in RP pathogenesis, the genetic etiology of the disease remains unknown in many patients. In this study, our aim was to identify the disease-causing mutation of a large Chinese family with autosomal dominant RP (adRP). Targeted exon capture sequencing was initially performed to screen mutations in known disease-causing genes, followed by exome sequencing. In doing so, a heterozygous mutation in ADIPOR1 (c.929A > G) that results in an amino acid substitution (p.Y310C) was identified to co-segregate with the disease phenotype in this family. Adipor1 is wildly expressed throughout the body, but appears to be enriched in the photoreceptor inner and outer segments. The p.Y310C mutation, predicted to affect the structure and function of the protein, was confirmed to affect protein folding and its subcellular localization in vitro. In addition, knockdown of adipor1 expression in a zebrafish model with morpholino (MO) preferentially reduced the number of rod photoreceptors, with no effect on the number of cones, a phenotype that is characteristic of RP. Furthermore, the knockdown phenotype was partially rescued by injecting wild-type, but not mutant, human ADIPOR1 mRNA. We conclude that ADIPOR1 is a novel adRP-causing gene and plays an important role in rod development and maintenance.

A Sliding valve distribution radial piston pump (SVDRPP) is presented. In this pump, a new distribution method that uses sliding valves to distribute oil for the piston chambers is developed. With this design, the disadvantages brought by the distribution shaft and the check valves (traditional distribution mechanisms), such as the poor stress state of the shaft and the energy waste for opening the check valves, are expected to be eliminated. In addition, a method of using pressure oil to accomplish the returning stroke of the piston is also proposed, which could be used to replace the usage of springs along with their shortcomings. A pump with five pistons is designed as an example to elaborate the structure and the working principle of SVDRPP. Furthermore, the flow characteristics of SVDRPP are studied, and the formulas of the displacement, the average flow rate and the instantaneous flow rate are deduced.

This study proposes a novel mild steel damper with non-uniform vertical slits. The influence of different shapes of vertical slits of the core energy plate on the energy dissipation and buckling resistance capacities is analyzed. Based on the theoretical analysis, formulas of key parameters of the dampers, including the elastic lateral stiffness, shear bearing capacity and yield displacement, are derived. The effectiveness of the proposed damper is demonstrated through pseudo static tests on four 0.25-scale specimens. Performance of these dampers, i.e. cyclic deformation, stress distribution, energy dissipation capacity, etc., are presented and discussed. Using the numerical models of dampers calibrated through test data, earthquake time-history analyses were conducted, and it is observed that the dampers significantly reduce the seismic responses of the prototype frame and have a desirable energy dissipation capacity.

Fusarium wilt (Panama disease) caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense tropical race 4 (Foc TR4) is a soilborne disease that severely devastates the banana industry worldwide. We aimed to isolate beneficial endophytic bacterial strains against Panama disease. From different plant species, including reeds (Phragmites australis), vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides), and banana plants (Cavendish cv. Pei-Chiao, Cavendish cv. Formosana, and Musa sapientum cv. Rose), endophytes were screened and characterized. The diversity and community of endophytes within banana plants were analyzed by PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). The banana tissue culture plantlets were inoculated with the candidate endophyte, Burkholderia cenocepacia 869T2, and effects of in planta biocontrol were observed. Endophytic B. cenocepacia 869T2 decreased the disease incidence of Fusarium wilt on treated banana plants to 3.4 %, comparing to 24.5 % of non-inoculated plants infected in the field test within a 7-month period. Furthermore, significant growth promoting of 869T2 inoculated banana plants was observed in field experiments. In addition to 869T2 genomic sequence data, our results suggest that the pyrrolnitrin and pyrroloquinoline quinone potential producer, B. cenocepacia 869T2, is a good biological control agent (BCA) for use in the biocontrol of Fusarium wilt and plant promotion.

The “Structural Health Monitoring” is a project supported by National Natural Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars of China (Grant No. 50725828). To meet the urgent requirements of analysis and assessment of mass monitoring data of bridge environmental actions and structural responses, the monitoring of environmental actions and action effect modeling methods, dynamic performance monitoring and early warning methods, condition assessment and operation maintenance methods of key members are systematically studied in close combination with structural characteristics of long-span cablestayed bridges and suspension bridges. The paper reports the progress of the project as follows. (1) The environmental action modeling methods of long-span bridges are established based on monitoring data of temperature, sustained wind and typhoon. The action effect modeling methods are further developed in combination with the multi-scale baseline finite element modeling method for long-span bridges. (2) The identification methods of global dynamic characteristics and internal forces of cables and hangers for long-span cable-stayed bridges and suspension bridges are proposed using the vibration monitoring data, on the basis of which the condition monitoring and early warning methods of bridges are developed using the environmental-condition-normalization technique. (3) The analysis methods for fatigue loading effect of welded details of steel box girder, temperature and traffic loading effect of expansion joint are presented based on long-term monitoring data of strain and beam-end displacement, on the basis of which the service performance assessment and remaining life prediction methods are developed.