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A high stocking rate can intensify wind erosion in grasslands, and strong wind can carry away soil surface particles, soil carbon (C), and nitrogen (N), which leads to soil barrenness. In this research, the dust flux, total carbon (TC) and total nitrogen (TN) contents, and fluxes of aeolian sediment were determined in the nongrowing season (mid‐October to mid‐April of the following year) and growing season (mid‐April to mid‐October) from 2017 to 2020 at a continuous grazing gradient experiment platform established in 2004 in a desert steppe in Inner Mongolia, China. The results were as follows: (1) As the stocking rate increased, fluxes of aeolian sediment at 10 cm (H10), 30 cm (H30), and 100 cm (H100) were greatly increased (p < 0.05). Aeolian sediment fluxes followed the order control (CK) < light stocking rate (LG) < moderate stocking rate (MG) < heavy stocking rate (HG). (2) The TC and TN contents of aeolian sediment decreased with an increase in stocking rate, and higher grazing intensity resulted in a difference in TC content, which decreased between the two seasons. The TC flux/aeolian sediment flux increased with an increase in stocking rate, and the ratio of TC flux increased between two seasons due to the influence of heavy grazing. Grazing disturbance had little effect on TN flux. As grazing intensity increased, wind erosion resulted in an increase in soil available carbon loss, and this loss was more severe in the nongrowing season. (3) The C/N ratio increased with increase in aeolian sediment flux. The aeolian sediment flux and C/N showed an inverse relationship with the increase in grazing intensity. Regression lines for the two seasons showed an intersecting trend, and the intersection points moved backward as height increased, indicating that higher stocking rates could reduce the influence of grassland vegetation on C/N. As height increased, the regression intercept increased, indicating that the loss of wind‐eroded soil changed from a low C/N loss to a high C/N loss. In general, high stocking rates aggravated soil wind erosion, resulting in more C pool loss than N loss in terms of soil elements and more available C loss in the nongrowing season. In the nongrowing season, vegetation characteristics are poor, coupled with grazing interference, and wind erosion in the nongrowing season is serious in general; however, the change law of C and N in wind‐eroded soil is directly related to its particle size. C and N content in fine particles is higher, and C content in soil is much higher than N, so the TC loss is relatively large; therefore, reducing the intensity of grazing can reduce the occurrence of soil wind erosion, and implementing measures to protect grassland in spring and other periods vulnerable to wind erosion would be conducive to the sustainable usage of grassland resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various stages of highway project construction process involve text, image, audio, video and other related data sources involving many participants, forming a huge amount of data. Accurately tracing the source of responsibility, refining and applying the unbalanced data in the highway project archives is of great significance for realizing the intelligent transformation of highway construction project management. This paper firstly sorts out the construction process of highway projects and the main data sources, constructs a data association network between construction entities and construction process, as well as a knowledge map of highway construction data. Then, according to the highway construction stage, an index system based on 12 key data is constructed by using the entropy weight cloud model method, and the importance of the data is evaluated. Thirdly, based on the unbalanced characteristics of highway project data, a method of mining big data in highway project archives using classification evaluation indexes is proposed, and the accuracy of this method is verified by case calculation. Finally, taking the Shizong Qiubei Expressway in China as an example, the intelligent management and control suggestions for key data of transportation projects are proposed. It is found that the key data with special importance rate in highway construction include construction data, supervision data and completion data. Boosting algorithm is more accurate than the traditional SMOTE algorithm for unbalanced data mining, which helps to save the project construction cost and improve the quality of data extraction in the project archives. This study provides a theoretical reference for key data traceability of highway project intelligent management and control platform and the improvement of intelligent management efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tong sheep is a kind of famous fat-tailed sheep in China, which no longer meets market demands because of the large amount of fat deposition in tail. Fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene regulates fatty acid transport and fat metabolism to affect obesity and is also reported to regulate phenotypic traits in healthy animals. To identify the insertion/deletion (InDel) variations of the FTO gene and evaluate their effects on fat-tail measurements and growth traits, 166 healthy individuals from Tong sheep were identified and analyzed. Herein, 10 novel InDel polymorphisms were founded in the Tong sheep FTO gene, which displayed intermediate polymorphism (0.25 < PIC < 0.5) and were in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (p >.05). Correlation analysis of 78 Tong sheep phenotypic traits data and InDel polymorphisms showed that eight InDel loci were significantly associated with partial growth traits (p <.05), four InDel loci were significantly correlated with fat-tail measurements (p <.05). In particular, individuals with genotype DD showed better phenotypic traits than individuals with other genotypes at male sheep InDel 5 and InDel 8 loci, which had small tail-fat dimensions while having good growth traits. These results confirmed potential usefulness of FTO gene in marker-assisted selection programs of Tong sheep breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lycium chinense Mill. is an important medicinal and edible perennial plant that has been developed as a popular vegetable and healthcare tea in southern China in recent years. In this study, we evaluated the nutritional quality of 13 different geographical L. chinense populations through a common-garden experiment. There were significant differences (P < 0.05) in active components and nutrient elements among the populations. Principal component and clustering analyses showed that populations in the central China showed better integrated quality than the other populations; populations in southern China also showed good prospects for further development, having special characteristics such as high contents of amino acids, total flavonoids, and chlorogenic acid. Moreover, all the populations had much higher contents than most vegetables of flavonoids and of the mineral elements Fe, Se, Mn, and K. These results provide important information required for the development of L. chinense germplasm resources and to ensure the sustainable utilization of L. chinense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigated the relationship between sharps injuries and job burnout in nurses. Sharps injury questionnaires and the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) questionnaires were used to investigate and analyze job burnout among 468 nurses, of which 458 effective questionnaires were collected, for a response rate of 97.86%. A total of 292 nurses had at least one sharps injury (63.76% of the 458 nurses). The dimension scores were higher for injured nurses compared with non-injured nurses. The difference between the dimensions of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization for nurses with sharps injuries was statistically significant ( P < 0.05). A rank correlation analysis showed that these two dimensions had a positive correlation with sharps injuries (r = 0.69-0.78). The prevalence of sharps injuries in nursing is associated with depersonalization, as measured by the MBI. Nursing administrators should pay more attention to clinically burned-out nurses, and provide more opportunity to nurses for training and education to reduce the prevalence of sharps injuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sichuan Provincial Women's Federation surveyed 513 married and 517 unmarried young women concerning their educational level in order to explore the life of rural women. An additional survey of both young males and females suggests that the decline of young women's educational level is greater than that of young males. (KO)

• Functional components contents of Lycium chinense have significant difference. • Correlation between functional constituents and geographic distribution were revealed. • Several quality functional resources with good prospects were screened. • Quality information will give important advice on the resource sustainable use. Lycium chinense , belonging to the Solanaceae family and Lycium genus, is an important healthy resource with abundant nutritional and functional components, which leaves has been developed as popular medicinal vegetable and healthy herbal tea. However, little systemic evaluation has been taken on the germplasm quality of L. chinense leaves in China. In this study, the contents variation of the main active compounds (polysaccharides, flavonoids, rutin and chlorogenic acid) and nutrients (crude protein, amino acids, mineral elements and reducing sugar) of different L. chinense populations among different regions and different years and seasons were investigated by common-garden experiment. The results indicated a significant difference in the contents of functional components among the different populations. The SS (Shishou) population has the highest average contents and stability of total flavonoid (64.25 mg RE/g dw), rutin (16.95 mg/g dw), and chlorogenic acid (7.19 mg/g dw), followed by the LT (Luotian) population. The steadily highest contents of crude protein (6.25 g/100 g fw) and total amino acids (44.92 g/100 g fw) contents were detected in the XS (Xinshan) population. Little changes in the components contents of L. chinense leaves were showed in different growth stages, which indicated that L. chinense leaves could have the longer harvesting period. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between the functional components and the geographic location. For example, we found flavonoids and polysaccharides of L. chinense showed the highest content in Central and South China, respectively. In addition, the mean annual temperature (MAT) was the environmental factor with the highest degree of correlation with most of the functional components. This study provides important information on the exploration of quality resources and further breeding of L. chinense germplasm resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has become a growing public health concern. Normal weight central obesity (NWCO) has emerged as a potential risk factor for cardiometabolic dysregulation. To date, the association between NWCO and new-onset CVDs remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate the associations of NWCO and its longitudinal transitions with cardiovascular risks in middle-aged and older Chinese., Methods and Results: Data were from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2011-2018. NWCO was defined as the combination of a body mass index (BMI) of <24.0 kg/m 2 and a waist circumference (WC) of >85 cm in males or >80 cm in females. CVDs included heart diseases and stroke. Cause-specific hazard models and subdistribution hazard models with all-cause death as the competing event were applied. In 2011, 9856 participants without prior CVDs were included, of whom 1814 developed CVDs during a 7-year follow-up. Compared to normal weight and non-central obesity (NWNCO), NWCO was significantly associated with new-onset CVDs, with cause-specific hazard ratios (cHRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of 1.21 (1.04-1.41) for heart diseases and 1.40 (1.11-1.76) for stroke. From 2011 to 2013, 571 NWNCO participants developed NWCO who subsequently demonstrated a 45% higher risk of CVDs than those with maintained NWNCO., Conclusion: NWCO and transition from NWNCO to NWCO are associated with higher risks of CVDs. Identification and prevention of NWCO may be useful in the management of CVDs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declared no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Protein arginine methylation has emerged a pivotal role in cancer progression. However, the role of protein arginine methyltransferase 3 (PRMT3) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains unknown., Methods: The expression pattern of PRMT3 in HCC was analysed using quantitative real-time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), Western blotting and immunohistochemistry assays. Loss- and gain-of-function experiments were carried out to determine the oncogenic role of PRMT3 in HCC. Glucose consumption and lactate production assays, seahorse bioscience, mass spectrometry, co-immunoprecipitation, metabonomic analysis and site-specific mutation experiments were used to explore the underlying molecular mechanisms. Furthermore, a xenograft mouse model was established to investigate the effects of PRMT3 and its inhibitor, SGC707, treatment on tumour growth in vivo., Results: The expression of PRMT3 was significantly upregulated in HCC, with high expression of which correlated with poor prognosis. PRMT3 knockdown led to the decrease in proliferation, glycolysis of HCC cells and tumour growth, whilst its overexpression showed opposite results. The catalytic activity of PRMT3 was important in mediating these biological processes. Mechanistically, our data showed that PRMT3 interacted with and mediated asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) modification of lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) at arginine 112 (R112). Compared with LDHA-wild-type (LDHA-WT) cells, LDHA-R112K-mutant-expressing HCC cells exhibited a decrease in lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, HCC cell glycolysis and proliferation. Furthermore, the administration of SGC707, a selective inhibitor of PRMT3, disrupted the PRMT3-mediated LDHA methylation and abolished PRMT3-induced HCC glycolysis and tumour growth., Conclusions: Our results suggested a novel oncogenic role of PRMT3 in HCC, and it could be a promising therapeutic target for HCC by linking post-translational modification and cancer metabolism., (© 2022 The Authors. Clinical and Translational Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Shanghai Institute of Clinical Bioinformatics.)

A cost-effective approach was applied to prepare porous carbon samples by the simple carbonization of wormwood rod followed by salt activator (NaCl) activation. The effect of preparation parameters on the characteristics of the wormwood rod-based porous carbons (WWRs) were studied. The properties of these samples were investigated by SEM, BET surface area, X-ray diffraction, FT-IR spectra and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer. The prepared WWRs were applied as new adsorbent materials to remove methyl orange (MO). The experimental results indicated that WWR-800 activated at 800 °C possesses the best adsorption performance. Several factors that affected the adsorption property of the system such as the solution pH, dosing of adsorbent, initial dye concentration and ionic strength were examined. In addition, the thermodynamic parameters and kinetic parameters of MO with WWR-800 were studied. The results indicated that the adsorption of MO on WWR-800 was an endothermic process and non-spontaneous under standard conditions. The maximum equilibrium adsorption capacity of MO on WWR-800 was 454.55 mg/g. After five adsorption/desorption cycles, the adsorption capacity of MO on WWR-800 remained at 94%, which indicated that wormwood rod-based porous carbon possessed good reusability.

Background: Chinese indigenous rabbits have distinct characteristics, such as roughage resistance, stress resistance and environmental adaptability, which are of great significance to the sustainable development of the rabbit industry in China. Therefore, it is necessary to study the genetic diversity and population structure of this species and develop genomic resources., Results: In this study, we used restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) to obtain 1,006,496 SNP markers from six Chinese indigenous rabbit breeds and two imported rabbit breeds. Jiuyishan and Fujian Yellow rabbits showed the highest nucleotide diversity (π) and decay of linkage disequilibrium (LD), as well as higher observed heterozygosity (Ho) and expected heterozygosity (He), indicating higher genetic diversity than other rabbits. The inbreeding coefficient (F IS ) of New Zealand rabbits and Belgian rabbits was higher than that of other rabbits. The neighbour-joining (NJ) tree, principal component analysis (PCA), and population structure analysis of autosomes and Y chromosomes showed that Belgian, New Zealand, Wanzai, Sichuan White, and Minxinan Black rabbits clustered separately, and Fujian Yellow, Yunnan Colourful, and Jiuyishan rabbits clustered together. Wanzai rabbits were clearly separated from other populations (K = 3), which was consistent with the population differentiation index (F ST ) analysis. The selection signature analysis was performed in two populations with contrasting coat colours. With Sichuan White and New Zealand rabbits as the reference populations and Minxinan Black and Wanzai rabbits as the target populations, 408, 454, 418, and 518 genes with a selection signature, respectively, were obtained. Gene Ontology (GO) classification and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis were performed on the genes with a selection signature. The results showed that the genes with a selection signature were enriched in the melanogenesis pathway in all four sets of selection signature analyses., Conclusions: Our study provides the first insights into the genetics and genomics of Chinese indigenous rabbit breeds and serves as a valuable resource for the further effective utilization of the species., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Aims: The minichromosome maintenance (MCM) complex is highly conserved, which has drawn increasing attention on physiology and pathology process. However, the role of MCM in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains largely unclear. We aimed to conduct systematic analysis of expression patterns, prognostic values and potential functions of nine MCM genes in HCC, thus identifying their role in HCC., Main Methods: In our study, we systemically analyzed the role of MCM in prognosis and HCC progression by several bioinformatics analysis tools. Immunohistochemical (IHC) assays were utilized to valid the protein expression of MCM in HCC and in vitro experiments were used to confirm the functions of MCMs in HCC proliferation., Key Findings: Overexpression of MCM2-8 and MCM10 were found to be significantly associated with clinical parameters and poor prognosis of HCC patients. The function of MCM was mainly enriched in DNA replication. Moreover, MCM were also associated with several cancer pathway and drug sensitivity in HCC. Close correlations were observed between immune cell infiltration and MCM in HCC. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and clone formation assays suggested the role of MCM2-8 and MCM10 in HCC proliferation., Significance: These results have implied that deregulated MCM played an important role in HCC progression and might be considered as potential therapeutic and prognostic targets for HCC., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Laryngeal papillomas (LP) is a difficult disease to manage due to its frequent recurrence, airway compromise, and risk of cancer. Recently, growing evidence indicates the aberrant expression of OGFPD1, a stress granule protein, links closely to the development of tumorigenesis; however, little is known about its role in LP progression. Here, we investigated the tumor promoting action of OGFOD1 in LP. The transcriptional and translational levels of OGFOD1 were significantly up-regulated in LP tissues and cells. Moreover, OGFOD1 promoted viability and proliferation, and inhibited LP cells apoptosis. We further revealed that OGFOD1 was directly targeted by miR-1224-5p, which was significantly down-regulated in LP. Overexpression of the miR-1224-5p suppressed OGFOD1-induced cell proliferation and viability, and promoted apoptosis of LP. In accordance, knockdown of miR-1224-5p inversed the inhibitory effects. In confederation of the central involvement of OGFOD1 in LP progression, targeting the miR-1224-5p/OGFOD1 pathway might provide a novel strategy for LP treatment.

Background: Little is known about the direct economic burden associated with health care-associated infection (HAI) in patients undergoing colorectal cancer surgery in China. This study aims to fill this knowledge gap., Methods: This study was a prospective monitoring case-control study. The direct economic burden was presented as the median of the 1:1 pair differences of various hospitalization fees and hospital length of stay. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to explore the differences in the direct economic burden., Results: Out of 448 patients, 38 had acquired HAIs, with the infection incidence being 8.93%. The total direct economic burden of HAIs was $1,589.30 (P <.05). Among various infection sites, deep surgical site infection had the highest direct economic burden of $8,654.44, followed by multisite infections ($5,946.52). When it comes to various hospitalization costs, the cost for Western medicine ($846.13) constituted the highest proportion of economic burden followed by treatment cost ($145.73) and bed charge ($126.75). On average, the length of hospital stay in the infection group was 6 days longer than that in the control group (P <.05)., Conclusions: HAI was associated with considerable economic burden for patients who underwent colorectal cancer surgery in China. The study highlights the necessity of taking effective measures to decrease incidence of HAIs to reduce economic burden., (Copyright © 2018 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Results of a survey of levels of ethyl carbamate (EC) (urethane) in alcoholic beverages carried out in four successive years from 2009 to 2012 by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) are presented. The beverages were purchased for sampling from Hebei Province of China, including eight main areas of production. The samples comprised wines (n = 212), grain spirits (n = 143) and wine sauces (n = 164). The data show that the average EC content in these kinds of alcoholic beverages remains nearly constant over the years. The results provide valuable data for food authorities to establish maximum limits for EC in China.

Genetic analyses indicate that HLA complex genes can be involved in susceptibility to autoimmune myasthenia gravis (MG). Various HLA alleles serve as genetic elements that either predispose to or protect against MG. This study investigates the probable relationship between HLA-DQ allele polymorphisms and MG cases in northern China. The HLA-DQA1 and DQB1 alleles were determined by polymerase chain reaction/sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) in 84 MG patients, and the results were compared to 293 healthy controls. Our findings indicate that DQ A1*0401(P=0.008, OR: 2.5, 95%CI: 1.24-3.07) and B1*0301(P=0.000, OR: 2.29, 95%CI: 1.48-3.54) were the most frequent allele; the frequencies of DQA1*0103(P=0.000, OR:0.24, 95%CI 0.13-0.49) and DQB1*0601(P=0.001, OR:0.40, 95%CI 0.22-0.50) were significantly decreased in MG patients compared with healthy controls. Patients with thymomatous MG were positively associated with DQA1 *0401(P=0.011, OR:4.57, 95% CI 1.40-14.90) and DQB1 *0604 (P=0.001, OR:4.01, 95% CI 1.65-9.73) as compared to MG patients without thymoma. Different genetic mechanisms may exist between MG patients with thymoma and those without thymoma. The HLA-DQ associations in MG subgroups suggest that disease heterogeneity may be influenced by different genes or alleles., (Crown Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To analyze deafness gene mutations by genechip., Method: The peripheral blood samples were obtained and DNA templates were extracted by extraction kits. The deafness gene mutations were distinguished by genechip., Result: Among 42 patients with non-syndromic hearing loss, GJB2 235delC was found in 11 cases (7 cases were homozygosis, 4 cases were heterozygosis); 4 cases were shown to carry the PDS IVS7-2A>G mutation., Conclusion: The incidence of GJB2 gene and PDS IVS7-2A>G mutations among the deaf- mute children in Guiyang city is 38.10%. Molecular genetic screening for these mutations and genetic counseling are effective methods to prevent the occurrence of hereditary hearing loss.

Objective: To identify the genetic characteristics in patients with nonsydromic hearing loss (NSHL) in Hunan province, to determine the prevalence and spectrum of mutations in GJB2 gene, and to explore the pathogenic mechanism., Methods: A total of 140 sporadic patients with NSHL were enrolled after clinical examination. Molecular studies were performed by amplifing the coding region of GJB2 gene, purifying the PCR products, and sequencing directly. Sequences were analysed by DNAStar software to determine GJB2 mutations in the patients. Special method was designed to confirm the unreported mutation., Results: We detected GJB2 mutation in 56 out of the 140 patients (40%, 56/140). Both of the 2 alleles were mutated in 29 patients and 1 allele in the other 27 patients, and the rate of allele mutation was 30.4%(85/280). Ten variations were detected, including 7 mutations and 3 polymorphisms. The deaf-causing mutations were nonsense mutation c.139G>T; frameshift mutation c.235delC and c.176-191del16; and missense mutation c.109G>A, c.344T>G, c.550C>T and c.571T>C. The unreported missense mutation was c.344T>G. The c.235delC mutation was the most prevalent mutation found in the 27 patients (19.3%, 27/140). The frequency of c.109G>A mutation was next to c.235delC found in 25 patients (17.9%, 25/140)., Conclusion: GJB2 mutation is a major cause for NSHL. The most common-spot in Chinese patients with NSHL is c.235delC. The unreported missense mutation is c.344T>G.