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Information on global cropland distribution and agricultural production is critical for the world's agricultural monitoring and food security. We present datasets of cropland extent and agricultural production in the two-paper series of a cultivated planet in 2010. In the first part, we propose a new self-adapting statistics allocation model (SASAM) to develop the global map of cropland distribution. SASAM is based on the fusion of multiple existing cropland maps and multilevel statistics of the cropland area, which is independent of training samples. First, cropland area statistics are used to rank the input cropland maps, and then a scoring table is built to indicate the agreement among the input datasets. Secondly, statistics are allocated adaptively to the pixels with higher agreement scores, until the cumulative cropland area is close to the statistics. The multi-level allocation results are then integrated to obtain the extent of cropland. We applied SASAM to produce a global cropland synergy map with a 500 m spatial resolution circa 2010. The accuracy assessments show that the synergy map has higher accuracy than the input datasets, and better consistency with the cropland statistics. The synergy cropland map is available via an open-data repository (DOI: https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/ZWSFAA. Lu et al., 2020). This cropland map has been used as an essential input to the Spatial Production Allocation Model (SPAM) for producing the global dataset of agricultural production circa 2010, which is described in the second part of the two-paper series. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let G be a graph and H be a certain connected subgraph of G. The H -structure connectivity κ (G ; H) (resp. H -substructure connectivity κ s (G ; H)) of G is the minimum number of a set of subgraphs F = { H 1 , H 2 , ⋯ , H m } (resp. F = { H 1 ′ , H 2 ′ , ⋯ , H m ′ }) such that H i is isomorphic to H (resp. H i ′ is a connected subgraph of H) for every 1 ≤ i ≤ m , and F 's removal will disconnect G. For the k -ary n -cube Q n k , the κ (Q n k ; H) and κ s (Q n k ; H) were determined for H ∈ { K 1 , K 1 , 1 , K 1 , 2 , K 1 , 3 }. In this paper, we show κ (Q n k ; H) and κ s (Q n k ; H) for H ∈ { P l , C l } where 3 ≤ l ≤ 2 n. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential energy consumption has increased sharply in China and is further expected to grow owing to rapid economic growth and improved living standards. The residential sector will be one of the leading drivers of greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, this study divides China into three areas considering regional differences and re-investigates the influence of human activities on residential CO 2 emissions in China's 28 provinces during 2000–2016. Using an extended stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence, and technology model, the key factors behind residential CO 2 emissions are investigated. The main findings are as follows: Residential CO 2 emissions in China have regional characteristics and the effects of urbanization, energy intensity, and price elasticities vary among the three regions. GDP per capita is the key factor and positively influences total residential CO 2 emissions. By adding the squared and cubed terms of GDP per capita, the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis is tested for all regions and for China overall. The results confirm the environmental Kuznets curve in the eastern region and show an "N" shaped curve at the national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: miR-106b has been reported to play a vital role in pathogenesis of some types of cancer, whilst the role of miR-106b in renal carcinoma cancer (RCC) remains unknown. Purpose: The objective of this study was to identify the mechanism of miR-106b regulating the progression of renal carcinoma. Method: The expression of miR-106b was analyzed in RCC cell lines, RCC and adjacent normal renal tissues through qRT-PCR assays. Target mRNA of miR-106b was predicted with databases and verified by luciferase reporter assays. And the effects of miR-106b or targeted mRNA on cell proliferation, invasion, the process of epithelial-mesenchymal transitions (EMTs) were assessed in vitrothrough CCK-8, transwell cell invasion assays, qRT-PCR and Western blotting assays respectively. In addition, the effects of miR-106b on the growth of xenografts mice were analyzedin vivo. Results: The results demonstrated that miR-106b was significantly increased both in RCC tissues and cell lines. Luciferase reporter assays revealed that miR-106b inhibited Capicua expression by targeting its 3ʹ-UTR sequence. And miR-106b promoted cell proliferation, invasion, EMT progression in RCC cellin vitro, as well as promoted the tumor growth of 786-O cells derived xenografts mice. Additionally, loss of Capicua promoted the activation of MAPK signaling pathway. Conclusion: The study suggested that miR-106b regulated RCC progression through MAPK signaling pathway partly by targeting Capicua, which might provide valuable evidence for therapeutic target development of RCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The n-dimensional hypercube Qn is bipancyclic and contains a 3-regular, 3-connected subgraph on l vertices for every even l from 8 to 2n except 10. In this paper, we strengthen the previous works to Cartesian product of paths. The bipancyclicity and the existence of 3-regular subgraphs of Cartesian product of paths are studied in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is urgent to understand the infection mechanism of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. The infection of SARS-CoV-2 starts when the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of viral spike protein binds to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) of the host cell, but the endocytosis details after this binding are not clear. Here, RBD and ACE2 were genetically coded and labeled with organic dyes to track RBD endocytosis in living cells. The photostable dyes enable long-term structured illumination microscopy (SIM) imaging and to quantify RBD-ACE2 binding (RAB) by the intensity ratio of RBD/ACE2 fluorescence. We resolved RAB endocytosis in living cells, including RBD-ACE2 recognition, cofactor-regulated membrane internalization, RAB-bearing vesicle formation and transport, RAB degradation, and downregulation of ACE2. The RAB was found to activate the RBD internalization. After vesicles were transported and matured within cells, RAB was finally degraded after being taken up by lysosomes. This strategy is a promising tool to understand the infection mechanism of SARS-CoV-2. [Display omitted] • RBD endocytosis is resolved by imaging the location and ratio of ACE2/RBD fluorescence • Exploring the initiation and influencing factors of RBD internalization • The movement and maturation of ACE2/RBD co-localized vesicles are tracked by SIM imaging • The RBD-ACE2 complex is taken up and degraded by lysosomes Miao et al. genetically encoded RBD and ACE2 with Halo/SNAP tags and then labeled them with rhodamine/cyanine dyes. SIM imaging resolved endocytosis of RBD-ACE2 binding in living cells, including RBD-ACE2 recognition on the plasma membrane, cofactor-regulated membrane internalization, RAB-bearing vesicle formation and transport, RAB degradation, and downregulation of ACE2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate information on cropland extent is critical for scientific research and resource management. Several cropland products from remotely sensed datasets are available. Nevertheless, significant inconsistency exists among these products and the cropland areas estimated from these products differ considerably from statistics. In this study, we propose a hierarchical optimization synergy approach (HOSA) to develop a hybrid cropland map of China, circa 2010, by fusing five existing cropland products, i.e., GlobeLand30, Climate Change Initiative Land Cover (CCI-LC), GlobCover 2009, MODIS Collection 5 (MODIS C5), and MODIS Cropland, and sub-national statistics of cropland area. HOSA simplifies the widely used method of score assignment into two steps, including determination of optimal agreement level and identification of the best product combination. The accuracy assessment indicates that the synergy map has higher accuracy of spatial locations and better consistency with statistics than the five existing datasets individually. This suggests that the synergy approach can improve the accuracy of cropland mapping and enhance consistency with statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization has exerted substantial pressure on China’s energy system and contributed to climate change. To find the key drivers of urban residential energy consumption and CO 2 emissions, this paper uses an extended Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) model that employs city-level data to examine the influences of population scale, income level, population compactness and price on house-based residential energy consumption, energy-related CO 2 emissions and private vehicle ownership. The empirical results indicate that factors such as population scale, affluence, and population compactness can lead to increases in residential energy consumption and CO 2 emissions. In terms of transportation, income and population scale positively drive the growth of private vehicle ownership, while the fuel price negatively influences private vehicle ownership. Moreover, population scale is the most important factor in residential energy consumption and CO 2 emissions. Finally, policy recommendations are suggested for China’s urban development strategy and urban design and to encourage technology innovations that reduce residential energy consumption and CO 2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing penetration of wind power in power systems, it is desirable for wind turbines to have similar characteristics as conventional synchronous generators. Conventional generators provide frequency support to the grid through the methods of inertial response and primary and secondary frequency regulation, whereas variable-speed wind turbine generators (WTGs) do not have those desired abilities because they are integrated into the power grid via power electronic converters. Although many different control strategies have already been published to enable WTGs to temporarily support the transient frequency, the published strategies may bring various negative effects to the system. This paper proposes a new control strategy to compensate for inertia of the wind farm. It can improve WTGs' temporary frequency support based on the coordinated control of the WTGs and the energy storage (ES) system. The simulation results show that this strategy could provide better performance of temporary frequency support and overcome problems such as system frequency oscillation and a secondary frequency drop. The proposed control strategy can be realized in all wind speed conditions with a small-scale ES system. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A heating (or cooling) equipment's operation is consisted of cycles. In each cycle, the equipment operates to generate heat to raise the room temperature and shuts down when the desired temperature is reached. This research studies the cyclic characteristics of typical gas burning furnaces. Each cycle is divided into runtime and idle states. The runtime process is further decomposed into three phases: startup, stable operation and shutdown. The measured data shows that the length of runtime in each cycle remains constant but idle time varies from cycle to cycle responding to outdoor environmental conditions. Four Data Mining Algorithms (DMAs) including k-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Naive Bayes (NB), Support Vector Machines (SVM) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) are used to analyze the relationship between cycle idle time and weather conditions based on actual minute-by-minute electricity usage data of two furnaces in a residential house and weather data from the near-by weather station for a period of four months (January to April 2011). The obtained results show that SVM and ANN provide more accurate predictions of idle time. Parametric correlation analysis indicates that indoor–outdoor temperature difference and wind speed are two key parameters affecting cycle idle time. The obtained results on the cyclic characteristics of a heating equipment provide essential information for estimate heating energy demand according to weather conditions, determining the equipment's energy efficiency, and diagnosing potential faults in its operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection is still a major global public health problem. Presently the only tuberculosis (TB) vaccine available is Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG), although it fails to adequately protect against pulmonary TB in adults. To solve this problem, the development of a new effective vaccine is urgently desired. BCG-prime DNA-booster vaccinations strategy has been shown to induce greater protection against tuberculosis (TB) than BCG alone. Some studies have demonstrated that the two genes (Rv1769 and Rv1772) are excellent T-cell antigens and could induce T-cell immune responses. In this research, we built BCG-C or BCG-P prime-recombination plasmid PcDNA3.1-Rv1769 or PcDNA3.1-Rv1772 boost vaccinations strategy to immunize BALB/c mice and evaluated its immunogenicity. The data suggests that the BCG-C+3.1-72 strategy could elicit the most long-lasting and strongest Thl-type cellular immune responses and the BCG-C+3.1-69 strategy could induce the high level CD8+ T-cell response at certain time points. These findings support the ideas that the prime-boost strategy as a combination of vaccines may be better than a single vaccine for protection against tuberculosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intestinal obstruction caused by endometriosis maybe easily misdiagnosed as a tumor or other occupying disease in emergency condition. How to deal with it depending on the clarity of the preoperative diagnosis and the experience of the surgeon.Case Presentation: A 47-year-old woman, admitted to our emergency service with abdominal pain and distension for 5 days, anal stop exhausting and defecating for 3 days. Based on imaging and laboratory examination, we made a preoperative diagnosis of rectal endometriosis probably. After 7 days of colon decompression with a intestinal obstruction catheter, an operation of laparoscopic partial rectal and sigmoid resection without protective stoma and total hysterectomy was performed successfully. The patient obtained a smooth postoperative course and doing well after 12-weeks follow up.Conclusions: Obstruction caused by rectal endometriosis is very rare and easily overlooked by surgeon and gynecologist. Appropriate preoperative diagnosis and preoperative management can reduce the trauma and incidence of complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fuzi is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine developed from the lateral roots of Aconitum carmichaelii Debx. It is rich in alkaloids that display a wide variety of bioactivities, and it has a strong cardiotoxicity and neurotoxicity. In order to discriminate the geographical origin and evaluate the quality of this medicine, a method based on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed for multicomponent quantification and chemical fingerprint analysis. The measured results of 32 batches of Fuzi from three different regions were evaluated by chemometric analysis, including similarity analysis (SA), hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), principal component analysis (PCA), and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The content of six representative alkaloids of Fuzi (benzoylmesaconine, benzoylhypaconine, benzoylaconine, mesaconitine, hypaconitine, and aconitine) were varied by geographical origin, and the content ratios of the benzoylmesaconine/mesaconitine and diester-type/monoester-type diterpenoid alkaloids may be potential traits for classifying the geographical origin of the medicine. In the HPLC fingerprint similarity analysis, the Fuzi from Jiangyou, Sichuan, was distinguished from the Fuzi from Butuo, Sichuan, and the Fuzi from Yunnan. Based on the HCA and PCA analyses of the content of the six representative alkaloids, all of the batches were classified into two categories, which were closely related to the plants' geographical origins. The Fuzi samples from Jiangyou were placed into one category, while the Fuzi samples from Butuo and Yunnan were put into another category. The LDA analysis provided an efficient and satisfactory prediction model for differentiating the Fuzi samples from the above-mentioned three geographical origins. Thus, the content of the six representative alkaloids and the fingerprint similarity values were useful markers for differentiating the geographical origin of the Fuzi samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Summary on chemical compositions and their pharmacological effects of Leonurus japonicus. • Abundant terpenoids and alkaloids are closely related to traditional efficacy of L. japonicus. • Alkaloids show remarkable effects on gynecological and cerebral-cardio vascular diseases. • Many Chinese patent medicines made by L. japonicus have been used in clinic in China. Leonurus japonicus Houtt. is a traditional medicinal herb with significant effects; dating back more than 1800 years, it is widely used in Asia. In traditional Chinese medicine, it is essential in the treatment of menstrual and delivery disorders caused by blood stasis, such as dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, and postpartum hemorrhage. In the last three decades, many phytochemists, pharmacologists, and doctors have focused on the chemical components, pharmacological activities, and clinical applications of L. japonicus. More than 280 chemical compounds have been isolated from this plant. The effects of most of the terpenoids and alkaloids isolated from the plant have been found to be closely related to the traditional functions of L. japonicus. Owing to its excellent therapeutic effects for obstetrical and gynecological diseases, L. japonicus has been widely used in both ancient and modern times. Nowadays, it has also been developed into a series of Chinese patent medicines in clinics in China. This review summarizes the phytochemistry, pharmacology, and clinical applications of L. japonicus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We identified the key sectors of water resource use in China from the perspective of the water footprint to improve the use of water resources. The empirical results showed that there were six key sectors (including Crop Cultivation; Forestry; Livestock and Livestock Products; Fishery, Technical Services for Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock and Fishing; Other Food Products, and Scrap and Waste) for water consumption in China in 2015.We analyzed the use of green water, blue water, and grey water. These six sectors accounted for 66.15% of the total impact and 90.76% of the direct impact. Seven key sectors (the six sectors above plus Steel Processing)for the consumption of blue water in China can explain 59.70% of the total impact and 86.94% of the direct effect in 2015. Eight key sectors (Crop cultivation, Other food products, Scrap and Waste, Railway Freight Transport, Highway Freight and Passengers Transport, Water Freight and Passengers Transport, Pipeline Transport, and Health Services) responsible for the consumption of grey water in China in 2015 can explain 81.28% of the total impact and 95.73% of the direct impact. Therefore, the Chinese government should focus on the departments that manage water resources in these sectors when designing water-saving policies and improving water-use efficiency, such as promoting water-saving irrigation technology (including sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation) in the agricultural sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: A liquid biopsy has the characteristics of low trauma and easy acquisition in the diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma. Many researchers try to find diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers of CCA through blood, urine, bile and other body fluids. Due to the close proximity of bile to the lesion and the stable nature, bile gradually comes into people's view. The evaluation of human bile diagnostic biomarkers is not only to the benefit of screening more suitable clinical markers but also of exploring the pathological changes of the disease. Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a multifactorial malignant tumor of the biliary tract, and the incidence of CCA is increasing in recent years. At present, the diagnosis of CCA mainly depends on imaging and invasive examination, with limited specificity and sensitivity and late detection. The early diagnosis of CCA always faces the dilemma of lacking specific diagnostic biomarkers. Non-invasive methods to assess the degree of CAA have been developed throughout the last decades. Among the many specimens looking for CCA biomarkers, bile has gotten a lot of attention lately. This paper mainly summarizes the recent developments in the current research on the diagnostic biomarkers for CCA in human bile at the levels of the gene, protein, metabolite, extracellular vesicles and volatile organic compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new strategy is developed to efficiently remove crucial uremic toxins through WDR-MoS 2. • The unique structure endows WDR-MoS 2 with abundant adsorption active sites and good biocompatibility. • The efficient adsorption process is attributed to the chemisorption and multilayer adsorption through the S-N bond. The high incidence of kidney disease caused by various factors (such as COVID-19) has triggered an extreme desire for wearable artificial kidney (WAK). Nevertheless, the dialysate regeneration system in WAK presents a very low adsorption capacity of urea, and must rely on the help of urease and zirconium compounds, which make the device too complex and costly, thus limiting their application. In this study, we employ the adsorption activity of defect-rich MoS 2 nanosheets with widened interlayer spacing (WDR-MoS 2) for the elimination of three crucial uremic toxins (urea, creatinine, and uric acid). The high adsorption performances of WDR-MoS 2 are owing to the presence of abundant S atoms between the two MoS 2 sheets that can efficiently adsorb uremic toxins through the unique S–N bond. Furthermore, widening the layer spacing of MoS 2 is similar to adjusting the aperture of a filter, which can not only speed up the transport of uremic toxins but also prevent the passage of large molecules (such as proteins). Thus, the WDR-MoS 2 can neither affect cell viability nor produce hemolysis and coagulation in the blood. Finally, a home-made WDR-MoS 2 fixed-bed system without urease and zirconium compounds is used to efficiently remove uremic toxins in the dialysate. WDR-MoS 2 is expected to fundamentally solve the materials science challenges in WAK and provide a new design idea for the development of high-performance 2D material-based adsorbents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many coastal cities reclaim land from the sea to meet the rapidly growing demand for land caused by population growth and economic development. Settlement in reclaimed land may delay construction and even damage infrastructures, so accurately predicting the settlement over reclaimed areas is important. However, the limited settlement observation and ambiguous final settlement estimation affect accurate settlement prediction in traditional methods. This study proposes a new strategy to solve these problems by using the Multitemporal Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (MT-InSAR) method and takes the Xiamen Xiang'an International Airport, built on reclaimed land, as an example. The MT-InSAR is adopted to process the Sentinel-1 images to obtain the settlement history of the study area. The results show that settlement mainly occurs in the reclaimed areas, with the maximum average settlement rate exceeding 40 mm/y. We use the statistical properties of curve fitting to choose the best curve model from several candidate curve models to predict the settlement time series. The Asaoka method is used to identify the critical state between settlement and stability. We predict the consolidation time of the whole study area and reveal that the deformation rate is positively correlated with the consolidation time. The maximum remaining settlement time is over ten years since 24 December 2019. Therefore, manual compaction operations can be carried out to speed up settlement in the areas that need a long time to consolidate. The proposed method can be used to predict the settlement of similar reclaimed areas, and the predicted results can provide a reference for engineering construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: For constructing a bifunctional antioxidative enzyme with both superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities, a supramolecular artificial enzyme was successfully constructed by the self-assembly of the Mn(III)meso-tetra[1-(1-adamantyl methyl ketone)-4-pyridyl] porphyrin (MnTPyP-M-Ad) and cyclodextrin-based telluronic acid (2-CD-TeO3H) through host–guest interaction in aqueous solution. The self-assembly of the adamantyl moieties of Mn(III) porphyrin and the β-CD cavities of 2-CD-TeO3H was demonstrated by the NMR spectra. In this supramolecular enzyme model, the Mn(III) porphyrin center acted as an efficient active site of SOD and tellurol moiety endowed GPx activity. The SOD-like activity (IC50) of the new catalyst was found to be 0.116μM and equals to 2.56% of the activity of the native SOD. Besides this, supramolecular enzyme model also showed a high GPx activity, and a remarkable rate enhancement of 27-fold compared to the well-known GPx mimic ebselen was observed. More importantly, the supramolecular artificial enzyme showed good thermal stability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Ecological degradation has become one of the constraints on the development of human society. To deal with pollutant emissions, governments around the world have implemented emission trading schemes (ETS). However, although the effectiveness of ETS policies has been widely acknowledged, it is unclear whether the policy effects depend on regional characteristics. To address this research gap, this study integrated the propensity score matching method and multi-period difference-in-difference model (PSM-DID) to examine the impacts of ETS on industrial output and pollution emissions, and the influence of city heterogeneity on policy effects. The results showed that the ETS positively affected industrial output and negatively affected pollutant emissions in the pilot cities. Furthermore, implementation of the ETS was more conducive to increasing industrial output while reducing emissions in cities with larger populations, higher financial development levels, and worse air quality. Nevertheless, in lower industrialized cities, the ETS implementation was more prominent in promoting industrial output. In this case, the environmental effect was lower than that in cities with higher industrialized. The findings provide a better understanding of city heterogeneity of ETS policy effects. • Population, financial and pollution level influences positively emission trading scheme effects. • Chinese emission trading scheme produce better economic benefits in less industrialized cities. • The Propensity Score Matching method and multi-periods Difference-in-Difference model were used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although aggressive behaviors are universal and essential for survival, "uncontrollable" and abnormal aggressive behaviors in animals or humans may have severe adverse consequences or social costs. Neural circuits regulating specific forms of aggression under defined conditions have been described, but how brain circuits govern a general aggressive response remains unknown. Here, we found that posterior substantia innominata (pSI) neurons responded to several aggression-provoking cues with the graded activity of differential dynamics, predicting the aggressive state and the topography of aggression in mice. Activation of pSI neurons projecting to the periaqueductal gray (PAG) increased aggressive arousal and robustly initiated/promoted all the types of aggressive behavior examined in an activity-level-dependent manner. Inactivation of the pSI circuit largely blocked diverse aggressive behaviors but not mating. By encoding a general aggressive response, the pSI-PAG circuit universally drives multiple aggressive behaviors and may provide a potential target for alleviating human pathological aggression. [Display omitted] • pSI neuronal dynamics reflect aggressive state and the topography of aggression • The pSI-PAG circuit promotes arousal and elicits 13 aggressive behaviors • The pSI controls various aggressive behaviors in an activity-level-dependent manner • Inactivation of the pSI circuit blocks diverse aggressive behaviors but not mating Zhu et al. find that a subset of neurons in a brain area called the posterior substantia innominata promote arousal and universally drive aggressive behaviors in an activity-level-dependent manner in mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

D-Amino acid oxidase (DAAO) specifically catalyzes the oxidative deamination of neutral and polar D-amino acids and finally yields byproducts of hydrogen peroxide. Our previous work demonstrated that the spinal astroglial DAAO/hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) pathway was involved in the process of pain and morphine antinociceptive tolerance. This study aimed to report mouse strain specificity of DAAO inhibitors on antinociception and explore its possible mechanism. DAAO inhibitors benzoic acid, CBIO, and SUN significantly inhibited formalin-induced tonic pain in Balb/c and Swiss mice, but had no antinociceptive effect in C57 mice. In contrast, morphine and gabapentin inhibited formalin-induced tonic pain by the same degrees among Swiss, Balb/c and C57 mice. Therefore, mouse strain difference in antinociceptive effects was DAAO inhibitors specific. In addition, intrathecal injection of D-serine greatly increased spinal H2O2 levels by 80.0% and 56.9% in Swiss and Balb/c mice respectively, but reduced spinal H2O2 levels by 29.0% in C57 mice. However, there was no remarkable difference in spinal DAAO activities among Swiss, Balb/c and C57 mice. The spinal expression of glutathione (GSH) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity in C57 mice were significantly higher than Swiss and Balb/c mice. Furthermore, the specific GPx inhibitor D-penicillamine distinctly restored SUN antinociception in C57 mice. Our results reported that DAAO inhibitors produced antinociception in a strain-dependent manner in mice and the strain specificity might be associated with the difference in spinal GSH and GPx activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Used products recycling is a cleaner and greener mode of production. The multiple uncertainties in the process of recycling and reproduction require appropriate government regulation. On the basis of classical game theory, the positive influence of cooperative social reputation is also considered, and a dynamic Stackelberg game model dominated by manufacturers is constructed. The comparison of the total market demand for products, the number of used products recycled and the recycle rate of used products can be obtained under four different scenarios. In addition to the business as usual (BAU) scenario, any kind of scenarios represent the corresponding regulatory policy. The results show that, with respect to the BAU scenario, the penalty scenario and the reward-penalty scenario have a positive correlation with the recycling rate of used products, while the reward scenario has a negative correlation with the recycling rate. The impact of the reward-penalty scenario on the total market demand for products, cooperative social reputation and the number of used products recycled is related to the specified recycling rate, set by the government. In the end, the validity of the model is verified through numerical simulation and the sensitivity of the relevant parameters under the reward-penalty scenario are analysed. The conclusion of this paper is of great significance for designing precise policies to promote recycling of used products. • A full dynamic Stackelberg game model with embedded corporate social reputation is constructed. • Comparison of the quantity and recycling rate of used products recycled under four scenarios. • Parameters affecting the recycling rate under the CRP scenario are discussed by computational experiments. • The reward mechanism has a negative effect on recycling rate of used products. • Effectiveness of the reward-penalty mechanism is related to the specified recycling rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Coronary artery disease (CAD) causes more than 1 million deaths in China annually. The incidence of coronary artery disease tends to increase in the middle age and elderly people. Pulse pressure is associated with increased risk of CAD in middle-aged and older subjects, whereas soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products (sRAGE) and S100A12 are involved in pathology of atherosclerosis. In this study, we examine the associations of the expression level of sRAGE, S100A12 and PP value in both CAD and non-CAD groups; thus, providing more comprehensive strategies on preventing CAD. Method: Selected were divided into two main groups based on their angiograph results: CAD group (patients with at least one coronary artery of more than 50% occlusion) and Non-CAD Group (patients with less than 50% occlusion or without coronary artery occlusion). Soluble RAGE (sRAGE) and S100A12 concentration in blood samples were collected before CAG procedure were measured using ELISA. Pulse Pressure was measure from the difference between SBP and DBP Results: Significant decrease in concentration of serum sRAGE (p<0.05) and S100A12 (p<0.01) was observed, while PP value (p<0.01) had significantly higher level in patients with CAD. The value of PP (r = 0.35, p < 0.01), expression level of both sRAGE (r = -0.21, p < 0.01) and S100A12 (r = -0.24, p < 0.01) had association with prevalence of CAD. Conclusion: Low level of sRAGE expression and higher pulse pressure in CAD group are associated to coronary artery disease within middle age and elderly people of the Chinese population. Therefore providing alternative novel therapeutic strategies may prevent CAD before entering the middle age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on Qinyang, an early-ripening apple cultivar. Qinyang originated from an open-pollinated F1 seedling of Royal Gala, and is being released as a replacement for the local Chinese cultivar of Huaxia and Royal Gala. The fruits of Qinyang are characterized as very sweet, crisp and juicy. They are large, globose shaped and with skin that varies in color. The leaves and fruits of Qinyang are resistant to apple ring moth, apple leaf spot and apple powdery mildew.

Background: Dengue virus (DENV), the most widely prevalent arbovirus, continues to be a threat to human health in the tropics and subtropics. Early and rapid detection of DENV infection during the acute phase of illness is crucial for proper clinical patient management and preventing the spread of infection. The aim of the current study was to develop a specific, sensitive, and robust reverse transcriptase loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) assay for detection and differentiation of DENV1-4 serotypes. Results: The method detection primers, which were designed to target the different DENV serotypes, were identified by inspection of multiple sequence alignments of the non-structural protein (NS) 2A of DENV1, NS4B of DENV2, NS4A of DENV3 and the 3' untranslated region of the NS protein of DENV4. No cross-reactions of the four serotypes were observed during the tests. The detection limits of the DENV1-4-specific RT-LAMP assays were approximately 10-copy templates per reaction. The RT-LAMP assays were ten-fold more sensitive than RT-PCR or real-time PCR. The diagnostic rate was 100 % for clinical strains of DENV, and 98.9 % of the DENV-infected patients whose samples were tested were detected by RT-LAMP. Importantly, no false-positives were detected with the new equipment and methodology that was used to avoid aerosol contamination of the samples. Conclusion: The RT-LAMP method used in our study is specific, sensitive, and suitable for further investigation as a useful alternative to the current methods used for clinical diagnosis of DENV1-4, especially in hospitals and laboratories that lack sophisticated diagnostic systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Male breast cancer (MBC) is known to be rare compared with female breast cancer (FBC) and to account for only 1% of all breast cancers. To date, male patients diagnosed with breast cancer are normally treated based on the guidelines for FBC. Specifically, studies have found that diagnosing and treating MBC patients under the guidelines for the treatment of post-menopausal FBC are more favorable than are those of pre/peri-menopausal FBC from a physiological perspective because MBC and post-menopausal FBC patients show high estrogen receptor (ER) expression in the tumor and low estrogen expression in the body. In this medical study, we aimed to examine whether MBC actually has the same prognosis as post-menopausal FBC. Method: We identified MBC patients who were diagnosed as operable and who completed clinical treatment and we used follow-up data that were collected from January 2001 to January 2011. Each MBC patient was paired with four FBC patients who were diagnosed within the same period (two were pre/peri-menopausal, and two were post-menopausal). We compared disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) among three groups, i.e., pre/peri-menopausal FBC (group A), post-menopausal FBC (group B) and MBC (group M), using the Kaplan-Meier method and a Cox proportional hazards regression model. We also evaluated the clinical characteristics of breast cancer patients using t-tests and chi-square tests. We used ten consecutive years of data that were collected at Zhejiang Provincial Cancer Hospital. Results: We identified 91 MBC cases for group M, 182 FBC cases for group A and 182 FBC cases for group B. The median follow-up period was 112 months. MBC cases were much more frequently ER positive than those of group A and group B (p<0.01); a similar trend was also found for progesterone (PR)-positive cases (p<0.01). The MBC group showed much lower human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) expression than did the other groups (p<0.01). The 10-year OS rates were 79.1% for group M (72/91), 79.1% (144/182) for group A, and 87.9% (160/182) for group B, log-rank test indicated that group M had similar mean OS time as group A and group B (GourpM vs group A: p = 0.709; group M vs group B: p = 0.042). The Cox proportional hazards regression model indicated that pre/peri-menopausal FBC had similar DFS (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.706, p = 0.262) and OS (HR = 1.029, p = 0.941) values compared with MBC, whereas post-menopausal FBC had higher DFS (HR = 0.454, p = 0.004) and OS (HR = 0.353, p = 0.003) values than did MBC. Conclusion: Based on this study, we can conclude that MBC displayed higher ER- and PR-positive expression and lower HER2-positive expression than both post-menopausal and pre/peri-menopausal FBC. However, the DFS and OS values of MBC were similar to those of pre/peri-menopausal FBC and were worse than were those of post-menopausal FBC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Super-resolution fluorescence microscopy has emerged as a powerful tool for studying mitochondrial dynamics in living cells. However, the lack of photostable and chemstable probe makes long-term super-resolution imaging of mitochondria still a challenging work. Herein, we reported a 4-azetidinyl-naphthliamide derived SNAP-tag probe AN-BG exhibiting excellent fluorogenicity and photostability for long-term super-resolution imaging of mitochondrial dynamics. The azetidinyl group and naphthalimide fluorophore are in a flat conformation which can effectively suppress twisted intramolecular charge transfer and then effectively improve the brightness and photostability. This planarized molecular structure is conducive to the formation of fluorescence-quenched J -aggregates, and the protein labeling process will depolymerize the probes and restore fluorescence. Fluorescent labeling mitochondrial inner membrane proteins via SNAP tags overcomes the shortcomings that variations in mitochondrial inner membrane potential will release probes attached to mitochondria by electrostatic interactions. Therefore, AN-BG realized the stable labeling of mitochondria and the long-term imaging of mitochondrial dynamics under super-resolution microscopy. Image 1 • A naphthliamide-derived fluorogenic probe for SNAP-tag was developed. • Fluorescent labeling of mitochondria was achieved via SNAP-tag fused proteins. • Long-term super-resolution imaging of mitochondrial dynamics was achieved. • The dynamic mitochondrial fusion and fission were imaged with fluorescent nanoscopy. • Two-color SIM imaging revealed multiple modes of action between mitochondria and lysosomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Baige landslide in southwest China has been active for at least 50 years, and experienced two failure events on Oct. 10 and Nov. 3, 2018. The rock mass and debris of the slope failure formed a landslide dam. The discharge of the dammed lake plus the failure events caused significant socio-economic losses. Many slow-moving areas appeared after the two failure events and potential landslide risk still exists. Retrieving the long-term spatial-temporal pattern of landslide activity can help us to understand and mitigate landslide disasters. However, it is difficult to monitor all movement episodes of some landslides using single satellite dataset and method, due to the different deformation characteristics. Employing multiple radar and optical images may solve this problem. In this study, the Landsat 8, the ALOS PALSAR and ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 images are used to obtain the surface displacements before the first failure event by using the cross-correlation technique (for Landsat 8 images) and the pixel offset tracking technique. The displacement velocity map after the second failure is derived by the Multi-temporal Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (MT-InSAR) method from the ALOS-2 PALSAR-2 and the Sentinel-1 images. The maximum radar line of sight (LOS) average velocity is 3 m/yr between Jan. 2007 and Feb. 2011, and 12 m/yr between Jul. 2015 and Jul. 2018. From Oct. 2013 to Feb. 2018, the maximum horizontal average velocity is 5.8 m/yr. The movement accelerated from Jul. 2017. A large deformation area appeared on the south of the failed slope after the second failure. The unstable area observed by the MT-InSAR is much larger than that obtained through the field measurements. In the first month after the second failure, the maximum LOS displacements are more than 20 cm. The depletion area and the neighboring zones of the landslide are unstable even one year after the second failure. This study shows how to use multiple satellite images and hybrid remote sensing techniques to investigate the landslide deformation history, and illustrates the benefits of landslide monitoring based on images from multiple satellite sensors. • The pre-failure acceleration movement signal of the Baige landslide was extracted from the SAR images. • The horizontal displacement velocity map shows the complexity of the motion pattern of the Baige landslide. • The size of the unstable area identified in this study is much larger than that found by field investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]