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[Objective] The trajectory of cognitive frailty in elderly patients with cerebral infarction was analyzed, and the influencing factors were discussed. [ Methods] A total of 100 elderly patients with cerebral infarction hospitalized in Suzhou Hospital of Anhui Medical University from January to September in 2023 were selected for the study.Clinical data were collected on the patients, and cognitive frailty was assessed using the Frailty Screening Scale and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Questionnaire (MoCA) at the time of admission and 1, 3, 6 months after treatment.Failty score ≥3 scores and MoCA 4 were all risk factors for the development of persistent low levels of cognitive frailty into a slow rise in cognitive decline in elderly patients with cerebral infarction (P4 were risk factors for the progression of persistent low levels of cognitive decline to persistent high levels of cognitive decline in elderly patients with cerebral infarction (P < 0.05), and higher self-care ability were protective factors for the progression of persistent low levels of cognitive decline to persistent high levels of cognitive decline in elderly patients with cerebral infarction (P < 0.05). [Conclusion] Elderly patients with cerebral infarction can be divided into three trajectory types of cognitive decline changes, and there is group heterogeneity.

Aiming at the uncertainty of medical waste recycling network, with the quantity and transportation cost of medical waste as the key variables, a multi-objective nonlinear integer programming model with multiple uncertain parameters was constructed, and robust optimization was introduced to deal with the uncertain factors. Multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) and genetic algorithm (GA) were combined to solve the model. The outer GA was responsible for location decision, and the inner MOPSO was responsible for distribution path optimization based on location selection results. A domestic city was selected as the empirical object for the simulation. The results show that compared with the traditional genetic algorithm, the proposed algorithm reduces the total cost by 10.37%, the total risk by 1.86% and the workload deviation by 50.18%; Sensitivity analysis proves that the uncertainty of medical waste volume has more significant influence on the objective function. The proposed mode can help the decision makers adjust the uncertain parameters according to the risk appetite to obtain the best medical waste recycling network optimization scheme, which provides some reference for further study of medical waste recycling.

Accurate models of zenith tropospheric delay (ZTD) is crucial in meteorology as well as in navigation and positioning. In this study, we employ Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Random Forest (RF) models to establish six direct or compensation models for estimating ZTD in Chinese mainland and surrounding areas. The modeling process utilizes ZTD data from 205 stations spanning the period 2013 to 2018. Model validity is assessed using ZTD data from 202 stations in 2019. Comparative analysis, considering the overall Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), is conducted between these newly proposed CNN/RF-based models and Saastamoinen, A&N, GPT3 and RF-based models constructed by the methods presented in the previous study (ZTD-RF1, ZTD-RF3). The results demonstrate the superiority of the six CNN/RF-based models over the previously proposed models. In general, compensation models exhibit an improvement over direct models, and models incorporating meteorological parameterisation outperform models without such parameterisation. When the meteorological data are available, our proposed model provided a good representation of the instability of water vapour pressure in the ZTD, especially in monsoon climates. The optimal model is identified as the RF-based compensation model (ZTD-RF4). The ZTD-RF4 model achieves an overall RMSE of 3.24 cm, representing a 29.47% reduction of the RMSE compared to the Saastamoinen model (4.60 cm), a 26.75% reduction compared to the A&N model (4.43 cm), and slightly superior to the ZTD-RF3 model (3.28 cm). When the meteorological data are unavailable, the optimal choice is the CNN-based compensation model (ZTD-CNN2), which exhibits an overall RMSE of 4.21 cm, indicating a 7.89% reduction compared to the GPT3 model (4.57 cm) and significantly superior to the ZTD-RF1 model (4.34 cm). In contrast to current machine learning (ML)-based ZTD calculation models, we introduce the idea of compensation based on traditional models and a new CNN structure is constructed, which all proved to be capable of better performance in ZTD modeling.

Rapid, selective, and quantitative profiling of SO32− is a prerequisite for investigating its effect on different physiopathological processes. To address this challenge, our team prepared a ratiometric fluorescent probe HBTC-S, based on 4-(benzothiazol-2-yl)-3-hydroxybenzaldehyde for specific detection of SO32− under a single-wavelength excitation. The solution of probe HBTC-S itself exhibited orange fluorescence (λem = 614 nm), and became green fluorescent (λem = 471 nm) after the addition of SO32−. The vitro experiments suggested that the probe displayed high sensitivity, excellent selectivity, and a low detection limit (0.15 μM). Moreover, probe HBTC-S was successfully applied for qualitative and quantitative monitoring of SO32− in realistic samples and living HeLa cells in a ratiometric manner.

Objective This study aims to reveal the distribution patterns and characteristics of co-seismic geological hazards in earthquake swarms, clarify the differences in induced geological hazards by different types of earthquakes, further understand the seismic risks around and within the Bayan Har Block, and provide efficient guidance for the prediction and prevention of secondary geological hazards induced by earthquakes. Methods We take the co-seismic geological hazards of the Maerkang MS 6.0 earthquake swarm in 2022 as the research focus. Through systematic data and results analysis on earthquake swarm sequence, regional tectonic environment, regional crustal deformation, and post-earthquake short-term geological hazard, the regional and deep structural environment of the Maerkang MS 6.0 earthquake swarm and the main controlling factors of co-seismic geological hazards are revealed. Results The results show that the Maerkang MS 6.0 earthquake swarm is a deep-seated sticky-slip earthquake that occurred on a secondary fault in the active strong earthquake zone within the Bayan Har block, a region with extremely strong peripheral boundary activity. The earthquakes with similar magnitudes may be the result of ruptures of secondary faults of the Songgang fault and the successive ruptures of the barriers between them. The earthquake has resulted in 83 newly discovered geological hazard risks, exacerbating deformation in 106 existing hazard spots and triggering multiple high-altitude landslides and a series of fractured mountain slopes. The areas of extreme, high, and medium geological hazard risk in Caodeng Town, the epicenter area after the earthquake, account for 1.62%, 4.80%, and 12.37%, respectively. The occurrence of secondary geological hazards following earthquakes exhibits a positive correlation with the earthquake magnitude, with the number increasing linearly as the magnitude rises. Conclusion The significant differences in the GPS horizontal velocity field and vertical velocity field on both sides of the Darlag–Songgang–Fubianhe fault zone are key factors contributing to the activity of this fault and triggering the recent earthquake.The main controlling factors of co-seismic geological hazards induced by earthquakes are, from primary to secondary, the ruptured fault and its associated faults, seismic magnitude and energy attenuation, terrain slope and altitude difference, and rock mass structure and density of structural surfaces. Significance This study predicts a high risk of future strong earthquakes in the intersection area of the Songgang fault, which triggered this earthquake, and the Longriba active fault. The surrounding area of the seismogenic fault and its associated faults are at a high risk of geological hazards during earthquakes. The findings provides a reference for predicting and controlling the risk of co-seismic geological hazards in this area.

Abstract The SHI RELATED SEQUENCE (SRS) family plays a vital role in the development of multiple plant organs such as floral meristem determinacy, organ morphogenesis, and signal transduction. Nevertheless, there is little understanding of the biological significance of tomato SRS family at this point. Our research identified eight SlSRS family members and classified them into three subfamilies based on phylogenetics, conserved motifs, and characteristic domain analysis. The intraspecies and interspecies collinearity analysis revealed clues of SRS family evolution. Many cis-elements related to hormones, stresses, and plant development can be found in the promoter region of SlSRS genes. All of eight SlSRS proteins were located in the nucleus and possessed transcriptional activity, half of which were transcriptional activators, and the other half were transcriptional repressors. Except for SlSRS1, which showed high transcript accumulation in vegetative organs, most SlSRS genes expressed ubiquitously in all flower organs. In addition, all SlSRS genes could significantly respond to at least four different plant hormones. Further, expression of SlSRS genes were regulated by various abiotic stress conditions. In summary, we systematically analyzed and characterized the SlSRS family, reviewed the expression patterns and preliminarily investigated the protein function, and provided essential information for further functional research of the tomato SRS genes in the determination of reproductive floral organs and the development of plants, and possibly other plants.

Flower and fruit abscission is a highly programmed physiological process, which is closely related to the yield of horticultural plants. The coordination of many regulatory factors associated with metabolic and signaling pathways plays a key role in the flower and fruit shedding. Hormones, peptides, carbohydrates, polyamines or cell wall modifying proteins regulate flower and fruit shedding. This article reviewed the recent studies of flower and fruit abscission, including the molecular regulation mechanism of abscission zone formation, typical structure and location of abscission zones, and other factors affecting flower and fruit abscission, such as stresses, hormones, peptides, carbohydrates, polyamines and cell wall modifying proteins. Overall, the review summarizes the developmental mechanism and the diversity of abscission zones, and the key factors affecting flower and fruit abscission of horticultural plants, aiming to provide guidance for studying the molecular regulatory mechanism of flower and fruit abscission.

Enterocytozoon bieneusi is considered to be a microsporidial species of humans and animals in the worldwide. Limited data have been reported on the prevalence and genotypes of E. bieneusi in livestock and wild animals around Qinghai Lake in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau area, which shares water sources, grasslands, and harsh climate with high altitudes. In this study, fecal samples from 110 Tibetan sheep, 128 yaks, 227 wild birds, 96 blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur) and 268 Przewalski's gazelle (Procapra przewalskii) around Qinghai Lake were collected, and then tested for E. bieneusi by PCR and sequencing analysis based on the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer. Among them, ten (9.09%) samples from Tibetan sheep, five (3.91%) from yaks, five (2.20%) from wild birds, one (1.04%) from wild blue sheep and two (0.75%) from Przewalski's gazelle were positive for E. bieneusi. Among sheep, there were nine E. bieneusi genotypes, including two known genotypes (BEB6 and J), and seven novel genotypes (named CHS18-CHS24). From yaks, four genotypes were identified, including two known ones (BEB4 and J) and two novel genotypes (named CHN15 and CHN16). While in wild animals, eight genotypes were found, including five different genotypes from wild bids, with three known genotypes (EbpC, J and NCF2), two novel genotypes (named CHWB1 and CHS24), and two genotypes from Przewalski's gazelle, with one known genotype J and one novel genotype CHWPG1, and one novel genotype CHWBS1 from blue sheep. According to the phylogenetic analysis, five isolates belonged to group 1, and the others were clustered into group 2. This study provides unique data on the epidemiological reports and potential risk factors for E. bieneusi in both domesticated livestock and wild animals around Qinghai Lake in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau area; it is important to better understand the molecular epidemiology and zoonotic potential of E. bieneusi in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau area.

Abstract This study presents a submodule capacitor voltage self‐balancing method for modular multilevel converters (MMCs) based on switching state matrix construction, which has an advantage over eliminating massive sensor demanding and alleviating computational burden for a large number of submodules. It is mathematically proved that MMC has only one static equilibrium operating point to which the submodule capacitor voltages will converge naturally by the evaluation of capacitor voltage deviation index. A novel switching state matrix of submodules is constructed off‐line according to the mathematical proof, and the switching state vectors are cyclically selected from the matrix and distributed to the switching gate signals among the submodules to realize capacitor voltage self‐balance, avoiding real‐time capacitor voltage sampling and sorting. The proposed method is compatible with the conventional double closed‐loop control of MMCs. Theoretical conclusions are verified by simulations and experiments.

The mowing robots work with a multivariable strong coupling underactuated system that is mostly troubled by difficulty controlling and unsatisfactory accuracy. Especially, the frequent external disturbances and parameter changes are likely to get missed and heavy cutting. In this paper, a new trajectory tracking control method based on extended state observer (ESO) is introduced with a particular focus on dual closed-loop sliding mode. Firstly, from the perspective of kinematics, a speed assistant controller was designed to generate the speed control quantity, and secondly, a sliding mode control algorithm based on the improved Fractional Power Rate Reaching Law (IFPRRL) was programmed to control the drive motor that tracked the speed control quantity. By means of comparison, our improved algorithm presented faster arrival time and better robustness along with similar jittering. At the same time, the robustness of the system was further enhanced with the help of an optimized ESO to tackle unmodeled disturbances and uncertain disturbances during the operation. Finally, the experimental analysis of the motor drive circuit and the trajectory tracking control system of the lawn mowing robot were both carried out respectively. The analysis shows that the performance of the proposed reaching law sliding mode control algorithm had some new pleasing changes, such as adjustment time and robustness. The circular trajectory and the detour mowing trajectory were respectively tracked in the double closed-loop sliding mode designed in this paper. The experimental goal was to ensure that the error vector $P_{e} =$ ( $x$ Axis position error $x_{e}$ , $y$ Axis position error $y_{e}$ , Angle error $\theta _{e}$ ) all remaining at (0.01m, 0.01m, 0.01rad) were 5.34s and 5.36s, respectively, and both could be finally converged to 0. The results show that the newly developed controller based on ESO presented smaller arrival time and stronger robustness. The dual-closed-loop control of sliding-mode trajectory tracking method was capable to meet the real-time and precision requirements of the lawnmower robot for quick trajectory tracking.

Abstract Endometritis is the failure of embryo implantation and an important cause of infertility in dairy cows. IFN-τ is a type I interferon unique to ruminants. In regulating the process of inflammatory response, IFN-τ can be expressed through MicroRNAs (miRNAs) to regulate the process of inflammation. However, IFN-τ regulates lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammatory injury of bEECs through the highly conserved miR-26a in mammals, and the mechanism remains unclear. Bovine endometrial epithelial cells (bEECs)were isolated and cultured to establish an inflammatory injury model. RT–qPCR and ELISA were used to detect the secretion of inflammatory factors. Dual-luciferase assays and target gene silencing assays determine the regulatory role of miRNAs. The target protein was detected by immunofluorescence and western blotting. This study showed that the expression of miR-26a was significantly down-regulated in mouse endometrium inflammatory injury tissue and LPS stimulated bEECs; and IFN-τ reversed the expression of miR-26a. The study also showed that the overexpression of miR-26a significantly inhibited the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α. In addition, studies have shown that miR-26a inhibits its translation by targeting PTEN 3′-UTR, which in turn activates the Phosphatidylinositide 3-kinases/protein kinase B (PI3K/AKT) pathway, so that nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) signaling is inhibited. In summary, the results of this study further confirm that IFN-τ as an anti-inflammatory agent can up-regulate the expression of miR-26a and target the PTEN gene to inhibit the inflammatory damage of bEECs.

Figuring out household water demand response is of importance to sustainable water pricing policy making and optimalization. The paper estimates price and income elasticities of residential water demand in China by using the unique dataset from Chinese Household Water Use Behavior Survey 2019 in 50 cities. Two instrumental variables of marginal water price and average water price are used to address the endogeneity in the context of increasing-block water pricing policy. Results show that price elasticity ranges from −0.170 to −0.543, meaning that the demand for water is inelastic. Income elasticity ranges from 0.062 to 0.133, indicating that water is a necessary commodity. It unveils that water scarcity cities have more sensitive price response. It verifies the effectiveness of the differential increasing-block water pricing schemes tailor-made to local water resources endowments. Besides, it shows that high water-consuming households have more sensitive price response. It suggests that implementing more stringent IBWP scheme for those households constitutes a promising policy improvement option in the future.

Aims: This study aimed to systematically review the efficacy and safety of antioxidants for patients with Oral lichen planus (OLP).Methods: Databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Google Scholar, were searched up to 30 April 2022, for randomized controlled trials on the antioxidant therapy of OLP. The following endpoints were analyzed: pain score, clinical score, pain resolution rate, clinical resolution rate, and adverse effects.Results: A total of 19 studies met the inclusion criteria, and 17 studies with 704 patients were included in the meta-analysis. The findings showed that antioxidant therapy could significantly reduce the pain score [standardized mean difference −0.72 (−1.36, −0.07), P = 0.03, I2 = 87%, PI2 < 0.00001] and clinical score [SMD −2.06 (−3.06, −1.06), P < 0.0001, I2 = 94%, PI2 < 0.00001] of patients with OLP and improve the pain resolution rate [risk ratio (RR) 1.15 (1.01, 1.31), P = 0.04, I2 = 45%, PI2 = 0.09] and clinical resolution rate [RR 1.40 (1.10, 1.78), P = 0.006, I2 = 72%, PI2 = 0.002].Conclusion: The study demonstrated that antioxidant therapy was beneficial for patients with OLP, and antioxidants might be used to treat OLP.Systematic Review Registration:https://clinicaltrials.gov/, identifier CRD4202233715.

Analysis of the spatiotemporal distribution of online public opinion topics can help understand the hotspots of public concern. The topic model is employed widely in public opinion topic clustering for social media data. In order to handle topic-clustering of low-quality geospatial social media data, such as microblog data, with short text and timeliness characteristics, this study proposed a Dirichlet multinomial mixture over time (DMMOT) model to cluster microblog topic for public opinion analysis. The DMMOT model assumes that a single document belongs to a single topic, in line with the characteristics of a short text, and it introduces the probability distribution of “topic-time” in the process of topic generation. The model parameter inference process was presented in detail by exploring the Gibbs sampling method. Results generated using the DMMOT model in case study show that the “topic-word” distribution is semantically aggregated within various topics, and “topic-time” distribution clustered within a time window under each topic. Furthermore, the characteristics of the trend of each topic over time are basically consistent with the corresponding trend of topic in reality in terms of content. These indicate that the DMMOT model improves topic clustering for short text to some extent. Furthermore, the DMMOT model performed well in both temporal and spatial analysis of public opinion topics based on microblog data.

The failure of insulators may seriously threaten the safe operation of the power system, where the state detection of high-voltage insulators is a must for the normal and safe operation of the power system. Based on the data of insulators in aerial images, this work explored an enhanced particle swarm algorithm to optimize the parameters of the support vector machine. A support vector machine model was therefore established for the identification of the normal and defective states of the insulators. This methodology works with the structure minimization principle of SVM and the characteristics of particle swarm fast optimization. First, the aerial insulator image was segmented as a target by way of the seed region growth based on double-layer cascade morphological improvements, and then, HOG features plus GLCM features were extracted as sample data. Finally, an ameliorated PSO-SVM classifier was designed to realize insulator state identification. Comparisons were made between PSO-SVM and conventional machine learning algorithms, SVM and Random Forest, and an optimization algorithm, Gray Wolf Optimization Support Vector Machine (GWO-SVM), and advanced neural network CNN. The experimental results showed that the performance of the algorithm proposed in this paper touched the top level, where the recognition accuracy rate was 92.11%, the precision rate 90%, the recall rate 94.74%, and the F1-score 92.31%.

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade consisting of three types of reversibly major signal transduction module (MAPKKK, MAPKK, and MAPK) is distributed in eukaryotes. MAPK cascades participate in various aspects of plant development, including hormone responses, cell division and plant dormancy. Pear is one of the most economically important species worldwide, and its yield is directly affected by dormancy. In this study, genome-wide identification of MAPKK and MAPKKK gene family members in Pyrus x bretschneideri and transcriptional expression analysis of MAPK cascades during pear dormancy were performed. We identified 8 MAPKKs (PbrMKKs) and 100 MAPKKKs (PbrMAPKKKs) in Pyrus using recent genomic information. PbrMAPKKs were classified into four subgroups based on phylogenetic analysis, whereas PbrMAPKKKs were grouped into 3 subfamilies (MEKK, Raf, and ZIK). Most PbrMAPKKKs and PbrMAPKKs in the same subfamily had similar gene structures and conserved motifs. The genes were found on all 17 chromosomes. The comprehensive transcriptome analysis and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT–PCR) results showed that numerous MAPK cascade genes participated in pear bud dormancy. The interaction network and co-expression analyses indicated the crucial roles of the MAPK member-mediated network in pear bud dormancy. Overall, this study advances our understanding of the intricate transcriptional control of MAPKKK-MAPKK-MAPK genes and provides useful information on the functions of dormancy in perennial fruit trees.

Atherosclerosis (AS) is one of the most common cardiovascular system diseases which seriously affects public health in modern society. Finding potential biomarkers in the complicated pathological progression of AS is of great significance for the prevention and treatment of AS. Studies have shown that long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) can be widely involved in the regulation of many physiological processes, and have important roles in different stages of AS formation. LncRNAs can be secreted into the circulatory system through exosomes, microvesicles, and apoptotic bodies. Recently, increasing studies have been focused on the relationships between circulating lncRNAs and AS development. The lncRNAs in circulating blood are expected to be new non-invasive diagnostic markers for monitoring the progression of AS. We briefly reviewed the previously reported lncRNA transcripts which related to AS development and detectable in circulating blood, including ANRIL, SENCR, CoroMarker, LIPCAR, HIF1α-AS1, LncRNA H19, APPAT, KCNQ1OT1, LncPPARδ, LincRNA-p21, MALAT1, MIAT, and UCA1. Further researches and a definition of atherosclerosis-associated circulating lncRNA (ASCLncRNA) were also discussed.

Background Camellia oleifera is an important oil-yielding woody plant native to China. Tea oil extracted from the seeds is rich in health-beneficial compounds. Huajin is a high-yielding elite variety of C. oleifera, with large fruits and remarkable resilience, widely cultivated in southern China; however, its seedling quality tends to be uneven. At present, techniques such as grafting, and cuttings are primarily adopted to propagate C. oleifera. These approaches are susceptible to environmental constraints owing to the long growth period, resulting in the lack of C. oleifera seedlings. Methods to make the cultivation more economical are warranted; this can be facilitated by tissue culture technology to provide good-quality seedlings in a short time. Methods In vitro cultured plantlets of C. oleifera Huajin were exposed to red light (RL), blue light (BL), red:blue light at a 4:1 ratio (R4:B1), and red:blue light at a 1:4 ratio (R1:B4); white light (WL) was used as the control treatment. To investigate the influence of light spectral quality on the proliferation coefficient, photosynthetic pigments, soluble proteins, plant height, leaf shape, Rubisco enzyme activity, and stomata and leaf anatomical features. Results The highest proliferation coefficient was observed under combined red and blue (4:1) light. In addition, this treatment resulted in the second highest chlorophyll content, the thickest palisade and spongy tissues, and consequently, the thickest leaves. The same treatment resulted in the second highest stomatal density, albeit concomitantly with the smallest average stomatal length and width. Discussion These results indicate that high-quality propagation of Huajin shoots can be achieved by culturing the plants in vitro under a combination of red and blue (4:1) lights. Previous studies have shown that red and blue lights improve rooting and transplanting rates of tissue culture seedlings. Hence, future research should focus on the effect of light quality on rooting and transplanting of tissue culture plantlets of Huajin and its specific molecular mechanisms.

A simple microwave-assisted method for extracting antioxidant phenolic compounds from emblic (Phyllanthus emblica L.) fruits was developed and optimized with response surface methodology (RSM). The influence of process conditions including microwave power, irradiation time, ethanol concentration, and solvent-to-solid ratio on the extraction of total phenolic content was analyzed by using a second-order regression equation. The optimum extraction parameters were as follows: microwave power, 480 W; irradiation time, 29 s; ethanol concentration, 66%; liquid-to-solid ratio, 25 mL/g. Under these conditions, the recovery of total phenolic content was 133.58 ± 15.61 mg gallic acid equivalent/g dry weight (DW). The extracts were also analyzed using HPLC-ESI-TOF-MS to identify eight compounds including hamamelitannin, mucic acid-1,4-lactone-3-O-gallate, ellagic acid, and isocorilagin. To our knowledge, this is the first report of hamamelitannin in emblic fruit. The extracts exhibited strong antioxidant capacities in DPPH and ABTS+ radical scavenging assays and showed an excellent inhibition of lipid peroxidation and reducing property. These findings illustrated that the optimized microwave-assisted extraction method was efficient in extracting phenolic compounds with high antioxidant activity from emblic fruits. It was suggested that emblic fruits may be a new potential source as natural antioxidant agents applied in food industry.

Online public opinion reflects social conditions and public attitudes regarding special social events. Therefore, analyzing the temporal and spatial distributions of online public opinion topics can contribute to understanding issues of public concern, grasping and guiding the developing trend of public opinion. However, how to evaluate the validity of classification of online public opinion remains a challenging task in the topic mining field. By combining a Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) pre-training model with the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model, we propose an evaluation method to determine the optimal classification number of topics from the perspective of semantic similarity. The effectiveness of the proposed method was verified based on the standard Chinese corpus THUCNews. Taking Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related geotagged posts on Weibo in Wuhan city as an example, we used the proposed method to generate five categories of public opinion topics. Combining spatial and temporal information with the classification results, we analyze the spatial and temporal distribution patterns of the five optimal public opinion topics, which are found to be consistent with the epidemic development, demonstrating the feasibility of our method when applied to practical cases.

Abstract Among the multiple components of propolis, flavonoids contribute greatly to the antioxidant activities of propolis. Flavonoids mainly exist in the form of sugar-conjugated derivatives. Quercetin glycosides represent the predominant flavonoid fraction in propolis. In this work, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were applied to analyze the antioxidative properties of quercetin and its glucosides in the gas and in the liquid phase (ethanol, water). Three main antioxidant mechanisms, hydrogen atom transfer (HAT), single electron transfer followed by proton transfer (SET-PT) and sequential proton loss electron transfer (SPLET) were used to analyze the antioxidative capacity of the investigated compounds. Solvent effects dominantly affect SET-PT and SPLET. Thus, the thermodynamically preferred mechanism can be altered. HAT and SPLET are the thermodynamically dominant mechanisms in gas and solvent phases, respectively. Therefore, in the gas phase, the sequence of the antioxidative capacity is similar with the bond dissociation enthalpy values: quercetin > quercetin-5-O-glucoside > quercetin-7-O-glucoside > quercetin-3-O-glucoside > quercetin-3′-O-glucoside > quercetin-4′-O-glucoside. While, in the solvent phases, the sequence is similar with the proton affinity values: quercetin-4′-O-glucoside > quercetin-5-O-glucoside > quercetin > quercetin-3-O-glucoside > quercetin-7-O-glucoside > quercetin-3′-O-glucoside. OH groups in B-ring and C-ring contribute mainly to the antioxidative activities of quercetin and glucosides compared with A-ring.

Wetlands play an important role in maintaining ecological balance and promoting the development of surrounding economy. Chemical pollutants in industrial wastewater cause serious damage to the wetland ecosystem. For this, taking the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), one typical chemical organic pollutant in industrial wastewater as examples, this paper studies the effects of PAH on plants and microorganisms in wetlands. Then, the experimental simulation was conducted to study the degradation and absorption effects of wetland soil sediments and wetland plant (Spartina alterniflora) on PAHs, and also analyse the effects of PAHs on total biomass and microbial active enzymes in wetlands. The results show that the wetland ecosystem has significant absorption and degradation effects on chemical pollutants. The average removal rate of PHE is 26%, and the average removal rate of PYR is 20%; the content of PHE and PYR in leaves of Spartina alterniflora (S. alterniflora) is much smaller than that of root system, indicating that the root system of S. alterniflora is the main part of absorbing PAHs. PAHs pollution will cause serious damage to the distribution and content of microorganisms in the wetland. PHE causes the microbial content in the leaves of S. alterniflora to decrease by more than 35%, while PYR causes it to decrease by more than 26%. The plant-microbial combined treatment system in the wetland system can resist the harmful effects of chemical pollutants to a certain extent, and the bacteria in the plant roots are more sensitive to the response of chemical pollutants. This can provide a new research idea for the microbe-plant joint degradation of chemical pollutants in wetland ecosystems.

Isoetes yunguiensis is a rare and endangered fern endemic to Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, China. The complete chloroplast genome sequence of I. yunguiensis was generated by de novo assembly using whole genome next-generation sequencing. The cp genome of I. yunguiensis was a circular structure and 145,355 bp in length, comprising a pair of inverted repeat (IR) regions of 26,130 bp, a large single copy (LSC) of 91,923 bp, and a small single copy (SSC) of 27,302 bp. The genome encoded 124 unique genes consisting of 82 protein-coding genes, 32 transfer RNA, four ribosomal RNA genes, and six pseudogenes. A maximum-likelihood phylogenetic analysis revealed that I. yunguiensis was closely related to I. butleri, I. engelmannii, I. flaccida, I. melanospora, and I. valida, with strong support values.

Many essential oils (EOs) regulate the quorum-sensing (QS) system of pathogens and inhibit the virulence expression. Interference with QS can potentially reduce bacterial multidrug resistance and aid the biological control of bacterial disease. In the present work, the antibacterial and anti-QS activities of Cinnamomum camphora leaf EO were investigated. A total of 23 chemical components with relative levels ≥0.11%, including a large number of terpene compounds, were identified in C. camphora leaf EO by gas chromatography−mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The principal component was linalool, followed by eucalyptol, with relative levels of 51.57% and 22.07%, respectively. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and antibacterial activity of C. camphora EO were examined, and P. aeruginosa and E. coli ATCC25922 showed the highest and lowest sensitivity to C. camphora EO, respectively. Tests of QS inhibitory activity revealed that C. camphora EO significantly decreased the production of violacein and biofilm biomass in C. violaceum, with the maximum inhibition rates of 63% and 77.64%, respectively, and inhibited the biofilm formation and swarming movement, independent of affecting the growth of C. violaceum. Addition of C. camphora EO also resulted in downregulation of the expression of the acyl-homoserine lactones (AHL) synthesis gene (cviI) and transcription regulator (cviR), and inhibited the expression of QS-regulated virulence genes, including vioA, vioB, vioC, vioD, vioE, lasA, lasB, pilE3, and hmsHNFR. Collectively, the prominent antibacterial activity and anti-QS activities clearly support that C. camphora EO acts as a potential antibacterial agent and QS inhibitor in the prevention of bacterial contamination.

Odorant-binding proteins participate in the olfactory system of the honeybee. Apis mellifera ligustica and Apis cerana cerana are species of honeybee that have different biologic functions. The two species have diversified olfactory systems, with A. cerana displaying sensitive olfactory involvement in collecting nectar and pollen from small plants; and A. mellifera collecting from large nectariferous plants. We hypothesized that, given this difference in biologic activity, the gene obp11 of A. mellifera and A. cerana may show different olfactory expression patterns. We cloned and sequenced the obp11 genes from A. mellifera (Amobp11) and A. cerana (Acobp11). Using quantitative real-time PCR, we demonstrated that nurse workers, which have the highest olfactory sensitivity in the A. mellifera hive, have the highest expression of Amobp11; whereas 1-day-emerged workers, which have lowest olfactory sensitivity, have correspondingly low expression. However, the highest expression of Acobp11 is observed for foragers, which display the highest olfactory sensitivity in the A. cerana population. The OBP11 protein from the two species is highly conserved, with an apparent molecular weight and predicted extracellular localization that is similar to other OBP proteins. The expression of the obp11 gene in A. mellifera and A. cerana correlates with the different roles of the olfactory system for the two different species. These findings support the critical role of odorant-binding proteins in the Apis olfactory system

Private R&D is a major source of innovation and productivity growth in agriculture worldwide. This paper examines trends and determinants of agricultural R&D in China. Results show that while the public sector monopolized agricultural research until recently, private agricultural R&D has grown rapidly since 2000, driven largely by agribusiness privatization. Public-sector R&D investments in basic research also encouraged private R&D research, but public investments in technology development crowded out private R&D investment. China's private R&D investment would grow more rapidly if the government shifted public resources from technology development to basic research.

Dioscorea zingiberensis is a perennial herb native to China. The rhizome of D. zingiberensis has long been used as a traditional Chinese medicine to treat rheumatic arthritis. Dioscin is the major bioactive ingredient conferring the medicinal property described in Chinese pharmacopoeia. Several previous studies have suggested cholesterol as the intermediate to the biosynthesis of dioscin, however, the biosynthetic steps to dioscin after cholesterol remain unknown. In this study, a comprehensive D. zingiberensis transcriptome derived from its leaf and rhizome was constructed. Based on the annotation using various public databases, all possible enzymes in the biosynthetic steps to cholesterol were identified. In the late steps beyond cholesterol, cholesterol undergoes site-specific oxidation by cytochrome P450s (CYPs) and glycosylation by UDP-glycosyltransferases (UGTs) to yield dioscin. From the D. zingiberensis transcriptome, a total of 485 unigenes were annotated as CYPs and 195 unigenes with a sequence length above 1000 bp were annotated as UGTs. Transcriptomic comparison revealed 165 CYP annotated unigenes correlating to dioscin biosynthesis in the plant. Further phylogenetic analysis suggested that among those CYP candidates four of them would be the most likely candidates involved in the biosynthetic steps from cholesterol to dioscin. Additionally, from the UGT annotated unigenes, six of them were annotated as 3-O-UGTs and two of them were annotated as rhamnosyltransferases, which consisted of potential UGT candidates involved in dioscin biosynthesis. To further explore the function of the UGT candidates, two 3-O-UGT candidates, named Dz3GT1 and Dz3GT2, were cloned and functionally characterized. Both Dz3GT1 and Dz3GT2 were able to catalyze a C3-glucosylation activity on diosgenin. In conclusion, this study will facilitate our understanding of dioscin biosynthesis pathway and provides a basis for further mining the genes involved in dioscin biosynthesis.

Studies of adult workers’ responses to infected brood were undertaken to isolate discrete volatile compounds that elicited honeybee hygienic behavior. Using a freeze-killed brood assay, we determined that in healthy colonies adult workers recognized and emptied infected cells with a 95% clearance rate. SPME-GC-MS results emptied >95% infected cells indicated differences in the composition and relative content of volatile compounds released by healthy and diseased brood. Additionally, we determined that the main volatile compound released from the pathogen Ascosphaera apis was phenethyl alcohol. The Y-tube olfactometer indicated that 10- to 20-day-old workers of healthy colonies, but only 15-day-old workers of diseased colonies, were significantly sensitive to differences in characteristic volatile compounds. This information could facilitate honey bee selection based on mechanisms that contribute to chalkbrood disease tolerance.

Objective. The association between thyroid nodule (TN) prevalence and metabolic syndrome (MetS) has only rarely been examined in iodine-adequate areas and needs further clarification. We investigated correlations between MetS and TN prevalence in the iodine-adequate area of Hangzhou, China. Material and Method. A cross-sectional study that screened and recruited individuals for cohort research 3 years later. The 13522 subjects (8926 men, 4596 women) were screened in 2009 for all MetS components, thyroid ultrasound (US), and thyroid function. Cohort research recruited 1610 subjects who were screened in both 2009 and 2012, of whom 1061 underwent follow-up research. Results. The prevalence of TN was higher in the MetS (+) group than in the MetS (−) group (χ2 = 69.63, P < 0.001) and higher in women than in men (χ2 = 11.65, P = 0.001). Waist circumference (WC) was positively related to the prevalence of TN (OR = 1.022, P < 0.001). Individuals with greater WC in 2009 were more likely to suffer from TN in 2012 (RR = 1.434, P = 0.024). Elevated triglyceride level was a risk factor for developing new TN (RR = 1.001, P = 0.035). Conclusion. Both greater WC and elevated triglycerides are risk factors for new TN in this iodine-adequate area in China.

Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients-Ionic liquids (API-ILs) can increase drug solubility and bioavailability of solid drugs without changing the structure of drug molecules. In the present work, nonivamide (pelargonic acid vanillylamide, PAVA) was used as the active drug and choline (Ch) and citric acid (CA) were selected as the ions to prepare PAVA–based ionic liquid ([Ch][PAVA] and [PAVA]3 [CA]), respectively. The characterization and physical properties of [Ch][PAVA] and [PAVA]3 [CA], such as FT–IR spectra, 1H NMR spectra, thermal stability and hydrophilicity, were investigated. And the irritant effects of the PAVA–based ionic liquids were measured by the animal irritation experiment. [Ch][PAVA] has higher decomposition temperatures, better hydrophilicity and comparable irritant effects. The results show that the PAVA–based ILs synthesized in this study may potentially serve as a promising novel riot control agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]