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Purpose: To decipher the discrepancies between muscle-specific kinase antibody-positive myasthenia gravis (MuSK-MG) and double-seropositive myasthenia gravis (DSP-MG), and to determine prognostic factors for minimal manifestation status (MMS) achievement in MG patients with MuSK autoantibodies (MuSK-Ab). Patients and Methods: A total of 34 MG patients seropositive for MuSK-Ab were enrolled in this study. The demographic and clinical features were compared between MuSK-MG (n = 28) and DSP-MG (n = 6) patients, and factors affecting MMS induction in all patients with MuSK-Ab were identified using Cox regression analysis. Results: Compared to MuSK-MG patients, those with DSP-MG had similar clinical characteristics, except that they had a lower frequency of bulbar muscle involvement at nadir (50% vs 92.9%; P =  0.029) and higher proportions of comorbidities with diabetes mellitus (33.3% vs 0%; P = 0.027) and thymic abnormalities (33.3% vs 0%; P = 0.027). Higher MG Activities of Daily Living (MG-ADL) scores (HR = 0.16, 95% CI: 0.037– 0.7, P = 0.015) and axial muscle involvement at nadir (HR = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.16– 0.94, P = 0.035) were negative prognostic factors for MMS achievement in patients with MuSK-Ab regardless of acetylcholine receptor antibody (AChR-Ab) positivity. Multivariable Cox regression analysis further established higher MG-ADL scores at the nadir (HR = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.04– 0.94; P = 0.042) as an independent risk factor for MMS achievement. Conclusion: DSP-MG was comparable to MuSK-MG and could be considered a single entity in our cohort. In all MG patients with MuSK-Ab, a higher MG-ADL score at nadir may herald a lower chance of MMS achievement, with no observed potential effect of AChR-Ab presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate quantification of the contributions of climatic and anthropogenic factors to the variation in NPP is critical for elucidating the relevant driving mechanisms. In this study, the spatiotemporal variation in net primary productivity (NPP) in China during 2000–2020, the interactive effects of climatic and anthropogenic factors on NPP and the optimal characteristics of driving forces were explored. Our results indicate that NPP had obvious spatial differentiation, an overall increasing trend was identified and this trend will continue in the future for more than half of the pixels. Land use and Land cover and precipitation were the main factors regulating NPP variation at both the national scale and the sub-region scale, except in southwest China, which was dominated by altitude and temperature. Moreover, an interactive effect between each pair of factors was observed and the effect of any pair of driving factors was greater than that of any single factor, manifested as either bivariate enhancement or nonlinear enhancement. Furthermore, the responses and optimal characteristics of NPP concerning driving forces were diverse. The findings provide a critical understanding of the impacts of driving forces on NPP and could help to create optimal conditions for vegetation growth to mitigate and adapt to climate changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that Foreign aid of China follows the concepts of building a community with a shared future for mankind and serving the head-of-state diplomacy, and focuses on international anti-pandemic cooperation and small yet smart assistance programs. It mentions that the aid promotes the pandemic response and socioeconomic recovery of countries, but also strongly serves China in building a new development paradigm and safeguarding its sovereignty, security and development interests.

This study first presents the spatial distribution, temporal variation, and sources of heavy metal pollution in groundwater of a nonferrous metal mine area in China. Unconfined groundwater was polluted by Pb, Zn, As, and Cu, in order, while confined karst water in the mines showed pollution in the following sequence: Zn, Cd, Cu, Pb, and As. Pollution by Pb was widespread, while Zn, As, Cu, and Cd were found to be high in the north-central industrial region and to decrease gradually with distance from smelters and tailings. Vertically, more Pb, Zn, Cu, and Cd have accumulated in shallow Quaternary groundwater, while more As have migrated into the deeper fracture groundwater in the local discharge area. Zn, Cd, and Cu concentrations in groundwater along the riverside diminished owing to reduced wastewater drainage since 1977, while samples in the confluence area were found to have increasing contents of Pb, Zn, As, Cu, and Cd since industrialization began in the 1990s. Sources of heavy metals in groundwater were of anthropogenic origin except for Cr. Pb originated primarily from airborne volatile particulates, wastewater, and waste residues and deposited continuously, while Zn, Cd, and Cu were derived from the wastewater of smelters and leakage of tailings, which corresponded to the related soil and surface residue researches. Elevated As values around factories might be the result of chemical reactions. Flow patterns in different hydrogeological units and adsorption capability of from Quaternary sediments restricted their cross-border diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigated two incidents which occurred in Anpeng trona and glauber mines in China to understand the mechanism of groundwater bursting. There are two locations in the Anpeng mines, where groundwater bursting occurred since mid-November 2008 and February 2009, respectively. A systematic exploration of the geological conditions, operation of the mines, the hydrogeochemistry of groundwater bursting, and groundwater conducted passageways was implemented. The result reveals that the solution mining leakage was serious and the leaked water was the source for groundwater bursting. The fractures, cracks, faults, and mining wells formed connections with one another during solution mining. Such solution welled up and rose along the conducted passages and recharged shallow aquifers before finally reaching the ground surface as groundwater bursting. The impacts of groundwater bursting on the environment are serious. Thus, this study provides a basis for effective prevention of groundwater bursting and rational design of solution mining drainage plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land surface phenology (LSP) is a sensitive indicator of climate change. Understanding the variation in LSP under various impacts can improve our knowledge on ecosystem dynamics and biosphere-atmosphere interactions. Over recent decades, LSP derived from remote sensing data and climate change-related variation of LSP have been widely reported at the regional and global scales. However, the smoothing methods of the vegetation index (i.e., NDVI) are diverse, and discrepancies among methods may result in different results. Additionally, LSP is affected by climate change and non-climate change simultaneously. However, few studies have focused on the isolated impacts of climate change and the impacts of non-climate change on LSP variation. In this study, four methods were applied to reconstruct the MODIS enhanced vegetation index (EVI) dataset to choose the best smoothing result to estimate LSP. Subsequently, the variation in the start of season (SOS) and end of season (EOS) under isolated impacts of climate change were analyzed. Furthermore, the indirect effects of isolated impacts of non-climate change were conducted based on the differences between the combined impact (the impacts of both climate change and non-climate change) and isolated impacts of climate change. Our results indicated that the Savitzky-Golay method is the best method of the four for smoothing EVI in Northern China. Additionally, SOS displayed an advanced trend under the impacts of both climate change and non-climate change (hereafter called the combined impact), isolated impacts of climate change, and isolated impacts of non-climate change, with mean values of −0.26, −0.07, and −0.17 days per year, respectively. Moreover, the trend of SOS continued after 2000, but the magnitudes of changes in SOS after 2000 were lower than those that were estimated over the last two decades of the twentieth century (previous studies). EOS showed a delayed trend under the combined impact and isolated impacts of non-climate change, with mean values of 0.41 and 0.43 days per year, respectively. However, EOS advanced with a mean value of −0.16 days per year under the isolated impacts of climate change. Furthermore, the absolute mean values of SOS and EOS trends under the isolated impacts of non-climate change were larger than that of the isolated impacts of climate change, indicating that the effect of non-climate change on LSP variation was larger than that of climate change. With regard to the relative contribution of climatic factors to the variation in SOS and EOS, the proportion of solar radiation was the largest for both SOS and EOS, followed by precipitation and temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grasslands in the Tibetan Plateau are claimed to be sensitive and vulnerable to climate change and anthropogenic activities. Quantifying the impacts of climate change and anthropogenic activities on grassland growth is an essential step for developing sustainable grassland ecosystem management strategies under the background of climate change and increasing anthropogenic activities occurring in the plateau. Net primary productivity (NPP) is one of the key components in the carbon cycle of terrestrial ecosystems, and can serve an important role in the assessment of vegetation growth. In this study, a modified Carnegie–Ames–Stanford Approach (CASA) model, which considers remote sensing information for the estimation of the water stress coefficient and time-lag effects of climatic factors on NPP simulation, was applied to simulate NPP in the Tibetan Plateau from 2001 to 2015. Then, the spatiotemporal variations of NPP and its correlation with climatic factors and anthropogenic activities were analyzed. The results showed that the mean values of NPP were 0.18 kg∙C∙m−2∙a−1 and 0.16 kg∙C∙m−2∙a−1 for the original CASA model and modified CASA model, respectively. The modified CASA model performed well in estimating NPP compared with field-observed data, with root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.13 kg∙C∙m−2∙a−1 and 0.10 kg∙C∙m−2∙a−1, respectively. Relative RMSE and MAE decreased by 45.8% and 44.4%, respectively, compared to the original CASA model. The variation of NPP showed gradients decreasing from southeast to northwest spatially, and displayed an overall decreasing trend for the study area temporally, with a mean value of −0.02 × 10−2 kg∙C∙m−2∙a−1 due to climate change and increasing anthropogenic activities (i.e., land use and land cover change). Generally, 54% and 89% of the total pixels displayed a negative relationship between NPP and mean annual temperature, as well as annual cumulative precipitation, respectively, with average values of –0.0003 (kg∙C∙m−2 a−1)/°C and −0.254 (g∙C∙m−2∙a−1)/mm for mean annual temperature and annual cumulative precipitation, respectively. Additionally, about 68% of the total pixels displayed a positive relationship between annual cumulative solar radiation and NPP, with a mean value of 0.038 (g∙C∙m−2·a−1)/(MJ m−2). Anthropogenic activities had a negative effect on NPP variation, and it was larger than that of climate change, implying that human intervention plays a critical role in mitigating the degenerating ecosystem. In terms of human intervention, ecological destruction has a significantly negative effect on the NPP trend, and the absolute value was larger than that of ecological restoration, which has a significantly positive effect on NPP the trend. Our results indicate that ecological destruction should be paid more attention, and ecological restoration should be conducted to mitigate the overall decreasing trend of NPP in the plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emergy theory and method are used to evaluate the feasibility of an irrigation improvement project in China and its contribution to local agricultural development. An emergy method for evaluating the costs and benefits of the project and a composite index named the emergy cost–benefit ratio (EmCBR) were developed. The emergy evaluation shows that the major costs associated with the proposed project come from earthwork (77.4% of the total cost) and concrete work (15.4%), and that water saving (43.0% of the total benefit) and agricultural yield increase (56.9%) are the most important contributions. The calculated EmCBR is 0.97 (the lowest value for a feasible project is 1.0) which indicates that this project would not be feasible in emergy terms. The regional agricultural system could not benefit from the proposed project, according to several emergy indices: emergy yield ratio (EYR), emergy investment ratio (EIR), environmental load ratio (ELR) and environmental sustainability index (ESI). The results show that conventional cost–benefit analysis could fail to provide an adequate decision-making framework because it is unable to value resources and environmental impacts properly. More additional emergy evaluations should be completed on other alternatives to the proposed project to provide adequate guidelines for selecting the best alternative that contributes most to agricultural development with limited environmental impact. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Amphibian populations are under threat worldwide, one such threat is frogs getting trapped in concrete-lined irrigation channels. Earlier studies have found that concrete ditches are acting as barriers to animal movement, fragmenting habitat, and trapping amphibians. China has over 3,000,000 kms of irrigation channels and they are a major threat to frog populations. In this study, we assessed the capacity of a common Chinese frog, Rana nigromaculata , to escape from a typical concrete-lined irrigation channel via 'frog-ways' cut into the walls of the channel. The twelve different designs varied gradients, substrates and widths of the frog-ways. The results showed that these simple and inexpensive retrofits of irrigation channels are very effective at allowing the great majority of frogs to escape. Male frogs were more likely to be trapped in concrete ditches, probably due to their smaller body size. The best design was N11 (55 degree slopes, a crushed stone surface, and 100 cm width) that can help the frogs to successfully escape in just 1 min. Taking water conveyance efficiency of irrigation water delivery systems into consideration, we recommend a longitudinal design (the frog-way is parallel to the water-flow direction) of simple concrete with slopes less than 55° and crushed stone. The findings can serve as a reference for technicians involved in future ecological engineering designs of irrigation channels throughout the world. • A simple and cost-effective frog-way design for irrigation channels • Physical characteristics of frogs and differences in behavioral ability • Capacity of a common Chinese frog to escape from a typical irrigation channel • Effects of different designs with gradients, substrates and widths [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Quantifying water footprint for per unit paddy rice product (WFP) for water management. • The path analysis method for the factors analysis. • Management strategies based on the WFP. Water footprint (WF) can help understanding of how to grow more food with less water. The aim of this paper is to distinguish the factors influencing the paddy rice water footprint, by using path analysis of the WF, its composition and distribution over 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions (hereafter, provinces) in China during 1996–2015. The results show that the annual national WF was approximately 190.74 G m³, including 55.41 % green, 22.65 % blue and 21.94 % grey water respectively. WF basically remained stable over time. WF of the northeast increased from 16.70 G m³ to 39.19 G m³ during the observed period. WF for per unit paddy rice product (WFP) was 995.5 m³/t in the latest 20 years. Provinces with high WFP and blue water proportion were located in western China and the north China plain; all the low WFP values and blue water proportions were found south of the Yangtze River. The average temperature (ATE), irrigation water utilization coefficient (IWC) and fertilizer rate per sown area (FER) were the parameters closely and positively to WFP, both temporally and spatially. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current studies had already revealed the hydrocarbons could migrate from relatively high hydrocarbon potential stratum to shallow groundwater by corrosion emission and extraction emission in karst area and further impact on human health. Then, the comprehensive experiments were used to understand the mechanism and process of hydrocarbon emission as a continuation of a long-term study on original high hydrocarbon groundwater in shallow Triassic aquifer, taking northwest Guizhou, China, as a reference. The results determined water-rock interaction that lead to the hydrocarbon emission into groundwater with salinity acting as the main driving force. Relatively high salinity promotes the rock corrosion and hydrocarbon emission in the study area. The hydrocarbon emission process varied with different strata, as the results show that the hydrocarbon uniformly distributed in T 2 g 3 than that in T 1 yn 4 . Furthermore, the stratum with uniformly distributed hydrocarbon would likely contain high hydrocarbon groundwater, as determined by the process of sedimentation. In addition, "corrosion rate estimation method" and "mineral constituent estimation method" were firstly employed to estimate the hydrocarbon concentration in groundwater to date. Compared with the hydrocarbon concentration of local groundwater samples (0 to 0.14 mg L -1 ), the result of "mineral constituent estimation method" was analogous to measured value of groundwater samples in the area (0.05 to 0.50 mg L -1 ), indicating the concentration of hydrocarbon could be estimated by mineral constitutions of groundwater, which was related to the concentration of Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ . Based on the methods and theories in this study, the concentration of original hydrocarbon in shallow groundwater could be estimated and help to understand the mechanism of water-rock interaction in shallow aquifer and original high hydrocarbon groundwater strategic assessment.

Karst water is an important resource for drinking water supply. To determine the impacts of urbanization on karst water quality, we performed a case study in the rapidly urbanized Guiyang-Anshun region, Guizhou province, southwestern China. We interpret data from regional reconnaissance and long-term monitoring related to major ion chemistry, stable isotopes (Sr, C, S (for SO 4 2- ), and N and O (for NO 3 - )), remote sensing, and socio-economic development. We identify groundwater SO 4 2- and NO 3 - sources by combined use of δ 34 S and Ca 2+ /Na + molar ratio and δ 15 N and NO 3 - /Na + ratio, respectively. We find that carbonate, sulfide, silicate, and gypsum weathering, anthropogenic inputs, and hydrodynamic conditions account for karst water composition and its seasonal variations. Atmospheric N and S deposition, nitrification of soil N, and sulfide oxidation control the background levels of groundwater NO 3 - and SO 4 2- . The elevated concentrations of NO 3 - and SO 4 2- at residential sites in rural and urban areas mainly arise from domestic sewage. Nitrification and fertilizer application are major reasons for the high levels of NO 3 - in regional groundwater systems. Vegetated/forested land area decreases as constructed land area increases, which results in declining biogenic CO 2 production and inputs into the aquifer. Although the local government has attempted to control SO 2 emissions, substantial increases in fossil fuel utilization and fertilizer consumption as well as population growth may have increased atmospheric HNO 3 deposition and induced increasingly severe contamination of groundwater with NO 3 - and SO 4 2- . Our results improve the understanding of urbanization impacts on water quality and are important for water resource management in karst regions., (Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive cognitive decline. It can be divided into familial AD (FAD) and sporadic AD (SAD) based on the family history. Recently dysregulation of cholesterol homeostasis has been implicated in the development of late-onset AD. ATP-binding cassette transporter A7 (ABCA7) gene, regulating the transport of cholesterol, has been recently identified as a susceptible gene of AD by several large genome-wide association studies. To test the genetic effect of ABCA7 rs3764650 on blood lipid levels in Southern Chinese Han population and investigate the risk factors of SAD, a total of 118 SAD patients and 120 healthy matched controls were recruited and the genotyping in ABCA7 rs3764650 was conducted on the Sequenom MassARRAY iPLEX platform. Meanwhile, the levels of fasting lipid profile and mini-mental state examination (MMSE) scores were tested. There was significant difference in genotype distribution between SAD patients and controls (p=0.001). While the difference of ABCA7 rs3764650 allele distribution between SAD patients and controls was only significant in APOEε4-noncarriers (p=0.039). The association between blood lipid levels and ABCA7 rs3764650 genotypes was influenced by APOEε4 status. In APOEε4-noncarriers of SAD, the total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels in GG genotype group were significantly lower than those in GT and TT genotype groups (all p<0.05). Whereas no significant difference of blood lipid levels was found among three genotypes in APOEε4-carriers of SAD and controls. Additionally, logistic regression analysis showed that lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels (p=0.015, OR=5.669) and GG genotype (p=0.013, OR=8.318) were positively associated with SAD. Our results suggest that GG genotype of ABCA7 rs3764650 was a risk factor of SAD in Southern Chinese Han population as well as lipid homeostasis., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

In the northern and central part of Xinjiang (Western China) are distributed 14 species of coniferous plant bugs of these, 10 species are recorded for the first time for China. In the Mongolian Altai are 9 species: 6 widely distributed in the Palearctic, Deraeocoris annulipes (Herrich-Schaeffer, 1842), Dichrooscytus intermedius Reuter, 1885, Pinalitus rubricatus (Fallén, 1807), Atractotomus morio J. Sahlberg, 1883, Plagiognathus vitellinus (Scholtz, 1847), Phoenicocoris obscurellus (Fallén, 1829), and 3 Siberian Psallus (Pityopsallus) laricinus Vinokurov, 1998, P. (P.) laticeps Reuter, 1878, P. (P.) sachaensis Vinokurov, 1998. In Chinese Tian Shan and Jungar Alatau occur 5 mountain-Central Asian species: Dichrooscytus consorbinus Horváth, 1904, D. josifovi Kerzhner, 1997, D. kerzhneri Josifov, 1974 and D. pseudosabinae Reuter, 1896, and Compsidolon schrenkianum Konstantinov, Vinokurov, 2011. A key for 5 species of the subgenus Pithyopsallus Wagn. is given.

Two new species of Miridae, Myrmecophyes bykovi sp. nov. and Scirtetellus medvedevae sp. nov., are described from Xinjiang province of China. Illustrations of the male genitalia, tarsus, and pretarsus; photographs of the dorsal habitus; known hosts; and distributional records are provided for each species. Two new synonymies are established, viz. Chlainydatus laminatus Li & Liu, 2006 = Chlamydatus eurotiae Kerzhner, 1962; and Chlainydatus sichuanensis Li & Liu, 2006 = Chlamydatuspullus (Reuter, 1870). The following 13 species of Miridae are recorded for the first time from China: Camptotylus meyeri Frey-Gessner, 1863, Dicyphus testaceus Reuter, 1879, Liocoris tripustulatus (Fabricius, 1781), Monocris griseolus Putshkov, 1974, Myrmecophyes kiritshenkoi Horvith, 1927, Orthotylus melanotylus Kerzhner, 1962, Phytocoris incanus Fieber, 1864, Psallopsis haloxyli Putshkov, 1976, Psallopsis kallidiicola Konstantinov, 1997, Psallus anticus (Reuter, 1876), Scirtetellus seminitens Horvith, 1904, Tuponia (Chlorotuponia) loginovae Drapolyuk, 1982, and Tuponia (Chlorotuponia) cristifera Drapolyuk, 1982. Also, the following six species of plant bugs are new records for Xinjiang Province: Canptotylidea suturalis (Reuter, 1904), Chlamydatus eurotiae Kerzhner, 1962, Compsidolon punilun (Jakovlev, 1876), Excentricoris pictipes (Reuter, 1878), Glaucopteruin gobicum Kerzhner, 1984, Oncotylus vitticeps Reuter, 1879. Pherolepis aenescens (Reuter, 1901) is indicated for Xinjiang and Liaoning Provinces. Indication of Scirtetellus gudali Kiritshenko from Inner Mongolia (Bai et al. 2006) is considered erroneous.

Emergy theory and method were used to evaluate the economy of China and the contributions of water resources in Chinese rivers to the real wealth of the Chinese economy. The water cycle and energy conversion were reviewed, and an emergy method for evaluating the natural value of water resources in a river watershed was developed. The indices for China calculated from the emergy evaluation were close to those of developing countries. Despite a small surplus in its balance of payments, China had a net emergy loss from its trade in 2002. The efficiency of Chinese natural resource use was still not high and did not match its economic growth rate. Furthermore, the Chinese economy placed a stress on its ecological environment and natural resources. Several indices of Chinese rivers from the emergy evaluation were close to those of average global river water. The main average indices of Chinese rivers were transformity (4.17 x 10(4) sej/J), emergy per volume (2.05 x 10(11) sej/m(3)), and emdollar per volume (0.06 $/m(3)). The total value of all the rivers' water made up 13.0% of the GDP of China in 2002, and that of water consumption accounted for 2.1%. The value of the water resources in the Haiheluanhe River (11.39 x 10(4) sej/J) was the highest, followed by the Yellow River (10.27 x 10(4) sej/J), while the rivers in Southwest China had the lowest values (2.92 x 10(4) sej/J).