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This study examined the development of text complexity for the past 25 years of reading comprehension passages in the National Matriculation English Test (NMET) in China. Text complexity of 206 reading passages at lexical, syntactic, and discourse levels has been measured longitudinally and compared across the years. The natural language processing tools used in the study included TAALES, TAALED, TAASSC, and TAACO. To compare the differences across the years at various levels of text complexity, ANOVA and MANOVA tests were conducted. The results suggested that lexical level text complexity revealed the most evident changes throughout the years, lexical sophistication, density, and diversity levels of the most recent years of reading passages have increased remarkably compared to the early years. The syntactic level text complexity indicated a moderate elevation toward the recent years of reading passages. For the discourse level text complexity, regarding cohesion, insignificant fluctuation occurred throughout the years and the general trend was not necessarily increasing. Combined, the results indicated that text complexity of the reading comprehension passages in the NMET over the past 25 years had been steadily increasing by including more low frequency and academic vocabulary, diversifying vocabulary in the passages, and complicating sentence and grammatical structures. The results were further examined against the general curriculum standards and guidelines to analyze whether the changes were reflected in the policies. It showed that the exams required a much larger vocabulary size than the number indicated in the guidelines, suggestions for test designers and pedagogical practices were provided accordingly.

Objective To explore the effectiveness of a refined three-scene medication simulation teaching in nursing pharmacology course for nursing undergraduates. Methods Undergraduates of four-year curriculum in School of Nursing, Peking Union Medical College enrolled in 2020 and 2021 were selected as objects in control group and experimental group, respectively. Students in control group learned medication knowledge in a patient case simulation scene, while a refined three-scene medication process (before, during and after medication) simulation was applied in experimental group. The learning outcome was evaluated in forms of both test of key knowledge points and a questionnaire survey at the end of the semester. Results The scores of nursing pharmacology in experimental group were significantly higher than in control group (P＜0.001). The rates of right answer for knowledge associated with the refined class in experimental group were also significantly higher than in control group (P＜0.001). However, for knowledge that has not been adjusted for instructional design, there is no significant difference in answer accuracy between two groups. The survey by questionnaire showed that the students believed the three-scene medication simulation as good learning method and may support to strengthen professional quality of clinical performance. Conclusions Compared with the unrefined simulation class, the three-scene (before, during and after medication) class further simulated the real work flow, connected the knowledge points more reasonably, and enhanced the knowledge mastery and professional responsibility awareness.

Based on big data technology, this paper designs a digital management system for the whole process of financial reimbursement and gives the automatic transformation process of digitalization of financial reimbursement claims and accounting documents. In the K-Means algorithm, the AHC algorithm idea is introduced to construct the DH-K-Means clustering algorithm, which in turn enables the financial reimbursement behavioral portrait of enterprise employees to be constructed. To confirm the effectiveness of the system application in this paper, performance testing and portrait analysis were carried out. The results show that the maximum memory utilization of the database server is 50.42% when the number of concurrent users is 100, and the average response time of the system reaches a maximum of 825.63ms when the number of concurrent users is 200. Based on big data, the whole process of financial reporting digital management system has good stability, which can make enterprises more aware of their financial situation and then develop appropriate financial reimbursement strategies.

Cobalamin (vitamin B12; VB12) is an indispensable nutrient for all living entities in the Earth's biosphere and plays a vital role in both natural and host environments. Currently in the metagenomic era, gene families of interest are extracted and analyzed based on functional profiles by searching shotgun metagenomes against public databases. However, critical issues exist in applying public databases for specific processes such as VB12 biosynthesis pathways. We developed a curated functional gene database termed VB12Path for accurate metagenomic profiling of VB12 biosynthesis gene families of microbial communities in complex environments. VB12Path contains a total of 60 VB12 synthesis gene families, 287,731 sequences, and 21,154 homology groups, and it aims to provide accurate functional and taxonomic profiles of VB12 synthesis pathways for shotgun metagenomes and minimize false-positive assignments. VB12Path was applied to characterize cobalamin biosynthesis gene families in human intestines and marine environments. The results demonstrated that ocean and human intestine had dramatically different VB12 synthesis processes and that gene families belonging to salvage and remodeling pathway dominated human intestine but were lowest in the ocean ecosystem. VB12Path is expected to be a useful tool to study cobalamin biosynthesis processes via shotgun metagenome sequencing in both environmental and human microbiome research. IMPORTANCE Vitamin B12 (VB12) is an indispensable nutrient for all living entities in the world but can only be synthesized by a small subset of prokaryotes. Therefore, this small subset of prokaryotes controls ecosystem stability and host health to some extent. However, critical accuracy and comprehensiveness issues exist in applying public databases to profile VB12 synthetic gene families and taxonomic groups in complex metagenomes. In this study, we developed a curated functional gene database termed VB12Path for accurate metagenomic profiling of VB12 communities in complex environments. VB12Path is expected to serve as a valuable tool to uncover the hidden microbial communities producing this precious nutrient on Earth.

Background and purpose: The incidence of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) has increased annually with the popularity of mammography screening. However, current treatment strategies are mostly based on the results of prospective randomized clinical trials in western countries. This study aimed to explore the clinical characteristics, recurrence patterns and prognostic factors of Chinese DCIS patients, hoping to optimize clinical decision-making. Methods: Medical records of 1 185 DCIS patients treated in Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center from January 2008 to January 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. The local recurrence-free survival (LRFS) rate, disease-free survival (DFS) rate and overall survival (OS) rate were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using the COX proportional hazards regression model. Results: With a median follow-up of 61 months, 50 treatment failure events were observed, including 16 locoregional recurrences, 30 contralateral breast cancer events and 4 distant metastases. The 5-year OS rate, LRFS rate and DFS rate were 99.9%, 98.7% and 96.6%, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, the positive status of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) was related to higher risk of local recurrence and the LRFS rate was poor (P=0.029). Conclusion: The patient with DCIS was associated with favorable prognosis. HER2 positivity was the risk factor for poor LRFS.

Density dependence and habitat filtering have been proposed to aid in understanding community assembly and species coexistence. Phylogenetic relatedness between neighbors was used as a proxy for assessing the degree of ecological similarity among species. There are different conclusions regarding the neighborhood effect in previous studies with different phylogenetic indices or at different spatiotemporal scales. However, the effects of density dependence, neighbor phylogenetic relatedness, and habitat filtering on seedling survival with different phylogenetic indices or at different temporal and spatial scales are poorly understood. We monitored 916 seedlings representing 56 woody plant species within a 4‐ha forest dynamics plot for 4 years (from 2020 to 2023) in a subtropical mid‐mountain moist evergreen broad‐leaved forest in the Gaoligong Mountains, Southwestern China. Using generalized linear mixed models, we tested whether and how four phylogenetic indices: total phylogenetic distance (TOTPd), average phylogenetic distance (AVEPd), relative average phylogenetic distance (APd′), and relative nearest taxon phylogenetic distance (NTPd′), three temporals (1, 2, and 3 years), and spatial scales (1, 2, and 4 ha) affect the effect of density dependence, phylogenetic density dependence, and habitat filtering on seedling survival. We found evidence of the effect of phylogenetic density dependence in the 4‐ha forest dynamics plot. The effects of density dependence, phylogenetic density dependence, and habitat filtering on seedling survival were influenced by phylogenetic indices and temporal and spatial scales. The effects of phylogenetic density dependence and habitat filtering on seedling survival were more conspicuous only at 1‐year intervals, compared with those at 2‐ and 3‐year intervals. We did not detect any effects of neighborhood or habitat factors on seedling survival at small scales (1 and 2 ha), although these effects were more evident at the largest spatial scale (4 ha). These findings highlight that the effects of local neighborhoods and habitats on seedling survival are affected by phylogenetic indices as well as temporal and spatial scales. Our study suggested that phylogenetic index APd′, shortest time scale (1 year), and largest spatial scales (4 ha) were suitable for neighborhood studies in a mid‐mountain moist evergreen broad‐leaved forest in Gaoligong Mountains. Phylogenetic indices and spatiotemporal scales have important impacts on the results of the neighborhood studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The phenomenon of cellular vacuolization is closely related to apoptosis. During the culture of marine fish cell lines, an interesting phenomenon was found that the addition of excessive concentrations of serum to the culture medium could lead to the vacuolization of marine fish cells. However, this vacuolization phenomenon will disappear as the number of cell passages increases. Transcriptome sequencing was used to reveal the relationship between this transiently reversible phenomenon of cellular vacuolization and two influential factors, serum concentration and trypsin digestion. This study provides new insights into the mechanisms of cellular vacuolization and serves as a reference for the culture of marine fish cell lines. As an important research tool, cell lines play a vital role in life science research, medical research, and drug development. During the culture of the Scophthalmus maximus head kidney (TK) cell line, we found a phenomenon of cell vacuolization caused by excessive serum concentration. Moreover, the vacuolization of the cells gradually disappeared after passage by trypsin digestion. In clarifying the formation mechanism of this reversible cellular vacuolation, transcriptomics was utilized to explore the mechanism of cell vacuolization caused by excessive serum concentration. Transcriptome analysis indicated that excessive serum concentration could cause the up-regulated expression of PORCN and other genes to promote cell proliferation. Compared with cells whose vacuolization disappeared after trypsin digestion and passage, the expression of mitosis-related genes (BUB1, ttk, Mad2, Cdc20, CDK1, CCNB1), nuclear stability-related genes LMNB1 and tissue stress and repair-related genes HMMR in vacuolated cells caused by excessive serum concentration was significantly up-regulated. There is a regulatory system related to adaptation and stress repair in the cells, which can maintain cell stability to a certain extent. This study provides a theoretical basis for the stable culture of fish cell lines and the solution to the problem of cell vacuolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]