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Understanding the relationships between environmental variables and erosion rates in badlands is vital for forecasting sediment yields. While the controlling role of rainfall on badland erosion rates has long been recognized, here we assess the relative influences of temperature and precipitation on slope erosion rates in the Nanxiong Basin, Southeast China. The volume of weathered and transported fragments was measured within a bounded plot at ten-day intervals between May 1, 2016, and April 30, 2017, and temperature and precipitation were continuously recorded. Mann-Kendall τ correlation, Granger causality, impulse response, and variance decomposition analyses were performed. The results show that Granger causality relationships exist between the ten-day mean temperature (TMT) and ten-day mean erosion rates (TER) and between the ten-day total precipitation (TTP) amount and the TER. Moreover, our findings indicate that TMT and TTP explained 14.6 and 12.61% of the variability in slope erosion rates, respectively, which indicates that temperature had at least the same influence on slope erosion than precipitation. In addition, because 22.5% of the measured erosion occurred during periods when there were no erosive rain events, the importance of small dry slides for removing rock fragments from these humid slopes is emphasized.

The metabolites in the tender shoots of the tea plant are the material basis for the determination of tea quality. The composition and abundance of these metabolites are affected by many key factors, and the tea plant’s age is one of them. However, the effect of plant age on the tender shoot metabolites of tea cultivars of different genotypes is poorly understood. Therefore, we used a combination of untargeted metabolomics and transcriptomics to analyze the differential mechanism behind the differences in the metabolites of the spring tender shoots of 7- and 40-year-old tea plants of two tea cultivars of different genotypes. We found that plant age could significantly change the metabolites in the spring tender shoots of tea plants and that flavonoids, and amino acids and their derivatives, were predominant among the differential metabolites. The quantities of most flavonoids in the aged tea plants of different genotypes were upregulated, which was caused by the upregulated expression of differential genes in the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway. We further discovered that 11 key structural genes play key regulatory roles in the changes in the flavonoid contents of tea plants of different plant ages. However, the influence of plant age on amino acids and their derivatives might be cultivar-specific. By characterizing and evaluating the quality-related metabolites of tea cultivars of two different genotypes at different plant ages, we found that whether an old tea plant (40 years old) can produce high-quality tea is related to the genotype of the tea plant.

Immune escape of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) and waning immunity over time following the primary series suggest the importance and necessity of booster shot of COVID-19 vaccines. With the aim to preliminarily evaluate the potential of heterologous boosting, we conducted two pilot studies to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the V-01 or a bivalent V-01D-351 (targeting Delta and Beta strain) booster after 5–7 months of the primary series of inactivated COVID-9 vaccine (ICV). A total of 77 participants were enrolled, with 20 participants in the V-01D-351 booster study, and 27, 30 participants in the age stratified participants of V-01 booster study. The safety results showed that V-01 or V-01D-351 was safe and well-tolerated as a heterologous booster shot, with overall adverse reactions predominantly being absent or mild in severity. The immunogenicity results showed that the heterologous prime–boost immunization with V-01 or bivalent V-01D-351 booster induced stronger humoral immune response as compared with the homologous booster with ICV. In particular, V-01D-351 booster showed the highest pseudovirus neutralizing antibody titers against prototype SARS-CoV-2, Delta and Omicron BA.1 strains at day 14 post boosting, with GMTs 22.7, 18.3, 14.3 times higher than ICV booster, 6.2, 6.1, 3.8 times higher than V-01 booster (10 μg), and 5.2, 3.8, 3.5 times higher than V-01 booster (25 μg), respectively. The heterologous V-01 booster also achieved a favorable safety and immunogenicity profile in older participants. Our study has provided evidence for a flexible roll-out of heterologous boosters and referential approaches for variant-specific vaccine boosters, with rationally conserved but diversified epitopes relative to primary series, to build herd immunity against the ongoing pandemic.

Carmine radish is famous for containing a natural red pigment (red radish pigment). However, the expression of anthocyanin biosynthesis-related genes during the dynamic development stages of the fleshy roots in carmine radish has not been fully investigated. Here, based on HPLC quantification of anthocyanin levels from our previous study, young fleshy roots of the carmine radish “Hongxin 1” obtained at the dynamic development stages of fleshy roots (seedling stage (SS), initial expansion (IE), full expansion (FE), bolting stage (BS), initial flowering stage (IFS), full bloom stage (FBS) and podding stage (PS)) were used for RNA-Seq. Approximately 126 comodulated DEGs related to anthocyanin biosynthesis (common DEGs in the dynamic growth stages of fleshy roots in carmine radish) were identified, from which most DEGs appeared to be likely to participate in anthocyanin biosynthesis, including two transcription factors, RsMYB and RsRZFP. In addition, some related proteins, e.g., RsCHS, RsDFR, RsANS, RsF′3H, RsF3GGT1, Rs3AT1, RsGSTF12, RsUFGT78D2 and RsUDGT-75C1, were found as candidate contributors to the regulatory mechanism of anthocyanin synthesis in the fleshy roots of carmine radish. In addition, 11 putative DEGs related to anthocyanin synthesis were evaluated by qRT-PCR via the (2-ΔΔCT) method; the Pearson correlation analysis indicated excellent concordance between the RNA-Seq and qRT-PCR results. Furthermore, GO enrichment analysis showed that “anthocyanin-containing compound biosynthetic process” and “anthocyanin-containing compound metabolic process” were commonly overrepresented in the dynamic growth stages of fleshy roots after the initial expansion stage. Moreover, five significantly enriched pathways were identified among the DEGs in the dynamic growth stages of fleshy roots in carmine radish, namely, flavonoid biosynthesis, flavone and flavonol biosynthesis, diterpenoid biosynthesis, anthocyanin biosynthesis, and benzoxazinoid biosynthesis. In conclusion, these results will expand our understanding of the complex molecular mechanisms of anthocyanin biosynthesis in the fleshy roots of carmine radish and the putative candidate genes involved in this process.

Laplacea alpestris is a member of the genus Laplacea, which distributes in Central and South America. Genetic information of L. alpestris would provide guidance for the phylogenetic position of this species. Here, we reported and characterized its complete chloroplast (cp) genome using Illumina pair-end sequencing data. The total chloroplast genome size of this species was 157,211 bp, including inverted repeats (IRs) of 26,103 bp, separated by a large single copy (LSC) and a small single copy (SSC) of 86,749 and 18,256 bp, respectively. A total of 132 genes, including 37 tRNA, 8 rRNA, and 87 protein-coding genes were identified. Phylogenetic analysis showed that L. alpestris formed a monophyletic clade with Laplacea fruticosa, and then grouped with Apterosperma oblata. The systematic position of Southeast Asian Laplacea species needs further studies.

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) based cancer therapy is limited by severe toxicity and strong Treg amplification at the therapeutic dosage. Here, the authors develop a recombinant IL-2 immunocytokine which is comprised of a tumor-targeting antibody fused to a super mutant IL-2 and show in mouse models that this next-generation IL2 has reduced toxicity and enhanced antitumor activity.

Abstract Background Maize is one of the primary crops of genetic manipulation, which provides an excellent means of promoting stress resistance and increasing yield. However, the differences in induction and regeneration capacity of embryonic callus (EC) among various genotypes result in genotypic dependence in genetic transformation. Results In this study, embryonic calli of two maize inbred lines with strong redifferentiation capacity and two lines with weak redifferentiation capability were separately subjected to transcriptome sequencing analysis during the early redifferentiation stages (stage I, 1–3 d; stage II, 4–6 d; stage III, 7–9 d) along with their corresponding controls. A total of ~ 654.72 million cDNA clean reads were yielded, and 62.64%~ 69.21% clean reads were mapped to the reference genome for each library. In comparison with the control, the numbers of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) for the four inbred lines identified in the three stages ranged from 1694 to 7193. By analyzing the common and specific DEGs of the four materials, we found that there were 321 upregulated genes and 386 downregulated genes identified in the high-regeneration lines (141 and DH40), whereas 611 upregulated genes and 500 downregulated genes were specifically expressed in the low-regeneration lines (ZYDH381–1 and DH3732). Analysis of the DEG expression patterns indicated a sharp change at stage I in both the high- and low-regeneration lines, which suggested that stage I constitutes a crucial period for EC regeneration. Notably, the specific common DEGs of 141 and DH40 were mainly associated with photosynthesis, porphyrin and chlorophyll metabolism, ribosomes, and plant hormone signal transduction. In contrast, the DEGs in ZYDH381–1 and DH3732 were mainly related to taurine and hypotaurine metabolism, nitrogen metabolism, fatty acid elongation, starch and sucrose metabolism, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, and plant circadian rhythm. More importantly, WOX genes, which have an ancestral role in embryo development in seed plants and promote the regeneration of transformed calli, were specifically upregulated in the two high-regeneration lines. Conclusions Our research contributes to the elucidation of molecular regulation during early redifferentiation in the maize embryonic callus.

Specific emitter identification (SEI) enables the discrimination of individual radio emitters with the external features carried by the received waveforms. This identification technique has been widely adopted in military and civil applications. However, many previous methods based on hand-crafted features are subject to the present expertise. To remedy these shortcomings, this paper presents a novel SEI algorithm using deep learning architecture. First, we perform Hilbert-Huang transform on the received signal and convert the resulting Hilbert spectrum into a grayscale image. As a signal representation, the Hilbert spectrum image has high information integrity and can provide abundant information about the nonlinear and non-stationary characteristics of signals for identifying emitters. Thereafter, we construct a deep residual network for learning the visual differences reflected in the Hilbert spectrum images. By using the residual architectures, we effectively address the degradation problem, which improves efficiency and generalization. From our analysis, the proposed approach combines high information integrity with low complexity, which outperforms previous studies in the literature. The simulation results validate that the Hilbert spectrum image is a successful signal representation, and also demonstrate that the fingerprints extracted from raw images using deep learning are more effective and robust than the expert ones. Furthermore, our method has the capability of adapting to signals collected under various conditions.

Data compression and decompression have been widely used in modern communication and data transmission. But how to decompress the corrupted lossless compressed files remains a challenge. Aiming at the Lempel-Ziv-Storer-Szymanski (LZSS), a lossless data compression algorithm widely used in the field of general coding, this paper proposes an effective method to repair the errors and decompress and restore the corrupted LZSS files, and provides the theoretical basis for the method. By using the residual redundancy left by the LZSS encoder to carry the check information, the method can repair the errors in LZSS compressed data without any loss of compression performance. The proposed method neither requires additional bits nor changes coding rules or data formats. It is fully compatible with standard algorithms. That is, the data compressed by LZSS with error repair capability can still be decompressed by the standard LZSS decoder. The experimental results verify the validity and practicability of the proposed method.

Direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) signals are widely used in various military and civilian communication systems. It adopts the pseudorandom (PN) sequence to modulate baseband signal before transmission, leading to some unique and useful properties such as lower working signal to noise ratio (SNR), strong anti-jamming capability, and robustness to the effect of multi-path fading. In past few years, blind despreading for DSSS signals has been a hot topic in cognitive radio field. Previous works are mostly concentrated on BPSK-DSSS signals, and have developed theories and methods to estimate the PN sequence effectively. But unfortunately, most of them are powerless to process QPSK-DSSS signals. This work proposes a method based on matrix subspace analysis to recover the PN sequences and transmitted symbols for QPSK-DSSS signals with unknown carrier offset under non-cooperative reception occasion. To recover spreading sequences from subspace of self-covariance matrix, we derive the theoretical expressions of eigenvector by studying the complex hermit matrix decomposition and then investigate the influence of carrier residual. Finally, a structure is designed to complete blind despreading and demodulation from the received waveform to bit stream. Simulation verifies pretty good bit-error-rate (BER) performance of proposed algorithm.

The excavation depth of a deep and large foundation pit of a composite support system is 25.5 m, the minimum clear distance from the main structure of the station is 10.6 m and the closest distance to the entrance and exit structure is only 3.6 m. Relying on this project, numerical simulation, field monitoring and other methods are used to study the deformation law of the self-supporting system, the ground settlement and the subway station under construction. Then, the influence of different support parameters on the deformation of the subway station and track is analyzed, and the internal relationship between the deformation value of the station and track and the support parameters is further discussed. The main work and achievements are as follows: (1) Through field measurement and analysis, the deformation history of the station and track in the excavation is studied. The obtained results show that the interbracing + pile–anchor composite support structure has better control over the deformation of adjacent stations and tracks. Comparing the simulated value of station and track deformation with the measured data, it is concluded that the simulated and measured deformation trends remain consistent, and the maximum deformation value corresponds to the middle position of the foundation pit. This confirms the rationality and reliability of the composite support system model. (2) The analysis of the influence of different support parameters on the maximum deformation value of the subway station and track shows that the deformation of the station and track is less affected by the pile diameter of the retaining pile and the size of the interbracing section. It is greatly affected by the embedding depth of the retaining pile and the number of support channels. It is suggested that the optimal parameters should be a pile diameter of 1.0 m, embedding depth of 8 m, four interbracings and an interbracing section of 1.0 m × 1.0 m.

Despite the presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, many patients do not respond to PD-L1/PD-1 blockade therapy. Here they show that PD-L1 antibody armed with interferon-α (IFNα) improves tumor targeting and antigen presentation while countering innate or T-cell-drive PD-L1 upregulation, and overcomes resistance to checkpoint blockade therapy.

Asphalt overlay or concrete overlay on existing pavements is a common strategy for pavement maintenance. Interlayer bonding performance between asphalt and concrete layers is a critical concern in achieving optimal long-term structural performance due to the possible cracking along the interface. In this study, bonding behaviors of asphalt concrete interface were characterized by employing mode I fracture tests conducted at −10 and 25°C, respectively. Two typical interface conditions were manually prepared. A tack coat material was applied on the interface with four distinct rates: 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 L/m2. Parameters including fracture strength, stress intensity factor (KIC), facture energy (GF), and energy release rate (J integral) were selected to evaluate the fracture performance. Results showed that optimum tack coat rates were 0.1 and 0.3 L/m2 for specimens with unmilled and milled surfaces. At the optimum tack coat rates, KIC and GF increased with the increase of interface roughness at −10°C, while, at 25°C, J integral of specimens with unmilled interface was larger than that of specimens with milled interface at the optimum tack coat rates. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to evaluate the significance of the factors on the fracture loads and found that surface roughness is significant at −10°C and becomes nonsignificant at 25°C. Temperature and tack coat rate were significant factors considering a given interface.

Conventional heavy oil has abundant reserves and low recovery efficiency in offshore oilfields. Autogenous heat technology uses 2-3 kinds of inorganic salt solution to produce inert gas and release a lot of heat under the action of a catalyst. It is applied to improve heavy oil recovery of the offshore oilfield. This paper applies experimental schemes such as viscosity reduction rate evaluation, heat conditions, gas production conditions, reaction rate control, and effect of environmental factors. This paper evaluates the performance of the autogenous heat system, optimizes the process parameters, and designs the process scheme and construction scheme according to the oil well production. This paper researches an autogenous heat system with nontoxic and high heat production and optimizes the catalyst type, concentration, and time to reach exothermic peak. When the concentration of the thermogenic agent is 1.5 mol/L in the autogenous heat system, the range of temperature rise is 67°C, which achieves the target requirement of more than 50°C. Field application shows that the autogenous heat system can effectively reduce the viscosity of heavy oil, dissolve solid paraffin, clean organic scale, improve reservoir permeability, and increase heavy oil production. This paper applies autogenous heat technology to improving the efficiency of heavy oil recovery of the offshore oilfield. Research conclusions show that the autogenous heat system can effectively reduce the viscosity of heavy oil, improve reservoir permeability, and increase heavy oil production.

Background: The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is ongoing globally. Limited data are available for children with SARS-CoV-2 infection.Methods: A retrospective case study was conducted in one designated hospital for children with SARS-CoV-2 infection in Wuhan.Results: Out of the 74 children with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, the median age was 5.8 years, with no notable variation based on gender. All of the children had had direct exposure to at least one family member with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. The most common symptoms were cough in 41 (55.4%) and fever in 38 (51.4%). Typical CT patterns of viral pneumonia were exhibited in 40 (54.1%) children, including ground-glass opacity and interstitial abnormalities. However, 17 (23.0%) children were classified as asymptomatic carriers, with neither symptoms nor radiological findings. Also, 68 (91.9%) children recovered fully and showed negative results on RT-PCR assay by nasopharyngeal swabs during our observation period. In contrast to the negative result for nasopharyngeal swab, 34% of the anal swabs showed a continued positive result. The mean hospitalization days of the children discharged after full recovery was 10.0 days.Conclusion: Within family clusters that had SARS-CoV-2 infection, children had mild or even asymptomatic illness. Although CT is highly sensitive, it should be avoided in follow-up of the disease in consideration of the radiological hazards and limited clinical benefits for mild illness in children. Furthermore, it is advocated that both nasopharyngeal and anal swabs should be confirmed negative for viral load prior to declaring full recovery so as to avoid oral-fecal transmission. Asymptomatic children with family clusters are potentially a little-known source of COVID-19. This therefore warrants an urgent reassessment of the transmission dynamics of the current outbreak.

Objective There is a close association between erectile dysfunction (ED) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). This study aimed to investigate Chinese physicians’ understanding of this association. Methods A total of 651 physicians, including 245 cardiologists and 406 urologists, participated in our investigation through WeChat. Results Participants with more professional experience, a doctoral/postdoctoral degree, and an intermediate/senior title were significantly more likely to be aware of a close association between ED and CVD. Urologists had a significantly better understanding of the association of severity between both diseases, showed more positive attitudes towards phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor application in patients with CVD and systematic treatment, and gave greater consideration to both diseases during follow-up visits than did cardiologists. Men had a significantly better understanding of the associated severity of the two disorders and managed the two diseases together more actively than did women. Department, sex, professional experience, education, and affiliated hospital level significantly affected systematic management of ED and CVD. Conclusion Most physicians from cardiology and urology are aware of the association between ED and CVD, but this awareness may be insufficient. Department, sex, professional experience, education background, and professional title are significant factors associated with perception of this association.

A novel viral respiratory disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is responsible for an epidemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in cases in China and worldwide. Four full-term, singleton infants were born to pregnant women who tested positive for COVID-19 in the city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, China, where the disease was first identified. Of the three infants, for who consent to be diagnostically tested was provided, none tested positive for the virus. None of the infants developed serious clinical symptoms such as fever, cough, diarrhea, or abnormal radiologic or hematologic evidence, and all four infants were alive at the time of hospital discharge. Two infants had rashes of unknown etiology at birth, and one had facial ulcerations. One infant had tachypnea and was supported by non-invasive mechanical ventilation for 3 days. One had rashes at birth but was discharged without parental consent for a diagnostic test. This case report describes the clinical course of four live born infants, born to pregnant women with the COVID-19 infection.

Objectives: Blood lipid profiles have been ambiguously reported as biomarkers of AD in recent years. This study was conducted to evaluate the correlation between blood lipid levels and AD in later-life and to explore the effectiveness and reliability of blood lipid profiles as biomarkers of AD.Methods: Database searching was conducted using PubMed, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and Medline. This study was designed following the Meta-analysis of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) criteria. Review Manager 5.3 (RevMan 5.3) software was adopted to perform meta-analysis evaluating the standard mean difference (SMD) with its 95% confidence intervals (CI).Results: A total of 5,286 participants were enrolled from 27 case–control studies in this meta-analysis. The pooled results demonstrated that total cholesterol (TC) level was significantly associated with AD in late-life (SMD = 0.17, 95% CI: [0.01, 0.32], P = 0.03), especially in the subgroup under 70 years old (SMD: 0.45, 95% CI: [0.11, 0.79], P = 0.01) and the subgroup of Western population (SMD: 0.29, 95% CI: [0.04, 0.53], P = 0.02). In the subgroup under 70 years old, the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level (SMD = −0.50, 95% CI: [−0.76, −0.25], P = 0.0001) and the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) level (SMD = 0.59, 95% CI: [0.02, 1.16], P = 0.04) in the AD group were significantly lower and higher than in the control group, respectively. In the subgroup with a sample size larger than 100 subjects, the LDL-C level was significantly higher in AD patients than in the control elderly group (SMD = 0.31, 95% CI: [0.05, 0.56], P = 0.02). There was no significant association between triglyceride (TG) levels and AD in later-life (SMD = −0.00, 95% CI: [−0.12, 0.12], P = 1.00).Conclusion: TC can be a new predictive biomarker of AD or cognitive decline in later-life. Increased TC levels are found to be associated with an elevated risk of AD. Decreased HDL-C levels and increased LDL-C levels may relate to an elevated risk of AD in subjects aged 60–70. Further comprehensive researches will be necessary in the future.

Scutellaria, or skullcaps, are medicinally important herbs in China, India, Japan, and elsewhere. Though Scutellaria is the second largest and one of the more taxonomically challenging genera within Lamiaceae, few molecular systematic studies have been undertaken within the genus; in part due to a paucity of available informative markers. The lack of informative molecular markers for Scutellaria hinders our ability to accurately and robustly reconstruct phylogenetic relationships, which hampers our understanding of the diversity, phylogeny, and evolutionary history of this cosmopolitan genus. Comparative analyses of 15 plastomes, representing 14 species of subfamily Scutellarioideae, indicate that plastomes within Scutellarioideae contain about 151,000 nucleotides, and possess a typical quadripartite structure. In total, 590 simple sequence repeats, 489 longer repeats, and 16 hyper-variable regions were identified from the 15 plastomes. Phylogenetic relationships among the 14 species representing four of the five genera of Scutellarioideae were resolved with high support values, but the current infrageneric classification of Scutellaria was not supported in all analyses. Complete plastome sequences provide better resolution at an interspecific level than using few to several plastid markers in phylogenetic reconstruction. The data presented here will serve as a foundation to facilitate DNA barcoding, species identification, and systematic research within Scutellaria, which is an important medicinal plant resource worldwide.

Objectives. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is now becoming a serious public health threat. Some behaviors risk factors were considered to be associated with MetS and interacted to adversely affect MetS. However, the clustering effects of behavior risk factors of MetS among Chinese population remain unclear. The aim of this study is to observe the behavior risk factors and their clustering effects of MetS in China. Methods. A cross-sectional study design was used. Subjects were recruited in the departments of Cardiology Clinic, Endocrine Clinic, and Health Management from March to December 2019. A demographic sheet was designed to collect the demographic and clinical characteristics of the subjects. International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short was applied to evaluate the level of PA in this study. Other behavior risk factors were observed by the questionnaire. The stepwise logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the determinants of MetS. The multiple logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the clustering effects of behavior risk factors in MetS. Results. There are a total of 532 eligible subjects (56.6% females; mean age was 48.4±15.3 years), and approximately 33.3% were diagnosed as MetS. The subjects with a smoking habit (heavy and long-time history) had a 1.833-fold higher risk for MetS than their counterparts (none and light smoking), and the subjects that preferred salty taste had a 1.626-fold higher risk for MetS than the comparison cohort. Smoking and alcohol drinking had the highest clustering effect on MetS among the behavior risk factors. Conclusions. The main finding of this study was that smoking and salty taste preference were the independent determinants of MetS. Smoking and alcohol consumption had the highest clustering effect on southern Chinese MetS.

The development of new taxonomical theories and approaches, particularly molecular phylogenetics, has led to the expansion of traditional morphology-based taxonomy into the concept of “integrative taxonomy.” Taxonomic knowledge has assumed greater significance in recent years, particularly because of growing concerns over the looming biodiversity crisis. Since its establishment in 1938, the Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB), which is located in Yunnan province in Southwest China, has focused attention on the taxonomy and conservation of the flora of China. For the forthcoming 80th anniversary of KIB, we review the achievements of researchers at KIB and their associates with respect to the taxonomy of land plants, fungi, and lichen. Major taxonomic advances are summarized for families of Calymperaceae, Cryphaeaceae, Lembophyllaceae, Neckeraceae, Polytrichaceae and Pottiaceae of mosses, Pteridaceae and Polypodiaceae of ferns, Taxaceae and Cycadaceae of gymnosperms, Asteraceae, Begoniaceae, Ericaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Gesneriaceae, Lamiaceae, Orchidaceae, Orobanchaceae, Poaceae, Theaceae and Urticaceae of angiosperms, Agaricaceae, Amanitaceae, Boletaceae, Cantharellaceae, Physalacriaceae Russulaceae, Suillaceae and Tuberaceae of fungi, and Ophioparmaceae and Parmeliaceae of lichens. Regarding the future development of taxonomy at KIB, we recommend that taxonomists continue to explore the biodiversity of China, integrate new theories and technologies with traditional taxonomic approaches, and engage in creative monographic work, with support from institutions, funding agencies, and the public. Keywords: Taxonomy, Molecular phylogeny, Land plants, Fungi, Lichen

Carmine radish produced in Chongqing is famous for containing a natural red pigment (red radish pigment). However, the anthocyanin biosynthesis transcriptome and the expression of anthocyanin biosynthesis-related genes in carmine radish have not been fully investigated. Uncovering the mechanism of anthocyanin biosynthesis in the ‘Hongxin 1’ carmine radish cultivar has become a dominant research topic in this field. In this study, a local carmine radish cultivar named ‘Hongxin 1’ containing a highly natural red pigment was used to analyze transcription factors (TFs) related to anthocyanin biosynthesis during the dynamic development of fleshy roots. Based on RNA sequencing data, a total of 1,747 TFs in 64 TF families were identified according to their DNA-binding domains. Of those, approximately 71 differentially expressed transcription factors (DETFs) were commonly detected in any one stage compared with roots in the seedling stage (SS_root). Moreover, 26 transcripts of DETFs targeted by 74 miRNAs belonging to 25 miRNA families were identified, including MYB, WRKY, bHLH, ERF, GRAS, NF-YA, C2H2-Dof, and HD-ZIP. Finally, eight DETF transcripts belonging to the C2C2-Dof, bHLH and ERF families and their eight corresponding miRNAs were selected for qRT-PCR to verify their functions related to anthocyanin biosynthesis during the development of carmine radish fleshy roots. Finally, we propose a putative miRNA-target regulatory model associated with anthocyanin biosynthesis in carmine radish. Our findings suggest that sucrose synthase might act as an important regulator to modulate anthocyanin biosynthesis in carmine radish by inducing several miRNAs (miR165a-5p, miR172b, miR827a, miR166g and miR1432-5p) targeting different ERFs than candidate miRNAs in the traditional WMBW complex in biological processes.

Background: Effective treatments for pediatric dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) are limited. Currently, pediatric DCM therapy mainly includes supportive heart failure (HF) treatment. While the treatment for child DCM patients is generally the same as that for adult DCM patients, few randomized prospective studies on the clinical efficacy of treatments for pediatric DCM have been published. We explored the appropriate treatments for child patients.Methods: The ultrastructure of pediatric DCM and control hearts was analyzed by electron microscopy and HE staining. Left ventricular tissues from children in the DCM and control groups were subjected to quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) to study the mRNA expression of receptors related to various treatments, including drugs targeting the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) system, digoxin, milrinone, and β-receptor blockers, in child patients in the clinic. Furthermore, the differences in drug receptors in heart tissues between children and adults with DCM were analyzed.Results: Compared with the control children, the children in the DCM group showed marked abnormalities in structure and organelles. The mRNA levels of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), REN, prorenin receptor (PRR), NEP, ATP1A1, and phosphodiesterase3 (PDE3A) were higher in the pediatric DCM group than the control group. Interestingly, the mRNA expression of these treatment-related receptors was much higher in children than in adults.Conclusion: ACE inhibitors, PRR or REN receptor inhibitors, PDE3 inhibitors and LCZ696 may be effective in children with DCM. However, β-receptor blockers are not valid treatments for pediatric DCM. Moreover, high receptor expression was observed in children. These data will improve the selection of drugs for DCM patients, enhance treatment, and increase the survival rate.

Background: Disease-modifying therapy is the standard treatment for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in remission. The primary objective of the current analysis was to assess the efficacy and safety of two teriflunomide doses (7 mg and 14 mg) in the subgroup of Chinese patients with relapsing MS included in the TOWER study. Methods: TOWER was a multicenter, multinational, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group (three groups), placebo-controlled study. This subgroup analysis includes 148 Chinese patients randomized to receive either teriflunomide 7 mg (n = 51), teriflunomide 14 mg (n = 43), or placebo (n = 54). Results: Of the 148 patients in the intent-to-treat population, adjusted annualized relapse rates were 0.63 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.44, 0.92) in the placebo group, 0.48 (95% CI: 0.33, 0.70) in the teriflunomide 7 mg group, and 0.18 (95% CI: 0.09, 0.36) in the teriflunomide 14 mg group; this corresponded to a significant relative risk reduction in the teriflunomide 14 mg group versus placebo (−71.2%, P = 0.0012). Teriflunomide 14 mg also tended to reduce 12-week confirmed disability worsening by 68.1% compared with placebo (hazard ratio: 0.319, P = 0.1194). There were no differences across all treatment groups in the proportion of patients with treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs; 72.2% in the placebo group, 74.5% in the teriflunomide 7 mg group, and 69.8% in the teriflunomide 14 mg group); corresponding proportions for serious adverse events were 11.1%, 3.9%, and 11.6%, respectively. The most frequently reported TEAEs with teriflunomide versus placebo were neutropenia, increased alanine aminotransferase, and hair thinning. Conclusions: Teriflunomide was as effective and safe in the Chinese subpopulation as it was in the overall population of patients in the TOWER trial. Teriflunomide has the potential to meet unmet medical needs for MS patients in China. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT00751881;

Camellia mingii is a recently described and critically endangered new species from Southeast Yunnan Province, China. Genetic information of C. mingii would provide guidance for the conservation of this wild yellow camellia. Here, we reported and characterized its complete chloroplast (cp) genome using Illumina pair-end sequencing data. The total chloroplast genome size was 156,806 bp, including inverted repeats (IRs) of 26,020 bp, separated by a large single copy (LSC) and a small single copy (SSC) of 86,536 and 18,230 bp, respectively. A total of 132 genes, including 37 tRNA, eight rRNA, and 87 protein-coding genes were identified. Phylogenetic analysis showed that C. mingii was closely related to the clade containing C. huana and C. impressinervis.

The noise caused by rail corrugation seriously affects the operation quality of metro vehicles. In this work, the rail corrugation, interior noise and wheel–rail noise of a metro line were tested, and the test results were compared with those after two kinds of treatments. The results show that rail corrugation is the main cause of the abnormal interior noise. The interior noise in many sections exceeds the limit, where clear rail corrugations from 31.5~63 mm are found. When the train passes through the rail corrugation section, the interior noise shows a clear increase, and the maximum increase is higher than 25 dB(A). After increasing the lateral stiffness of the track and rail grinding, the interior noise is reduced by 11.4 dB(A). After a long renovation time, the interior noise is effectively equal to that when the renovation was completed. The research results of this work can provide a reference for rail corrugation treatment and noise control.

One sample per person (OSPP) face recognition is a challenging problem in face recognition community. Lack of samples is the main reason for the failure of most algorithms in OSPP. In this study, the authors propose a new algorithm to generalise intra‐class variations of multi‐sample subjects to single‐sample subjects by deep autoencoder and reconstruct new samples. In the proposed algorithm, a generalised deep autoencoder is first trained with all images in the gallery, then a class‐specific deep autoencoder (CDA) is fine‐tuned for each single‐sample subject with its single sample. Samples of the multi‐sample subject, which is most like the single‐sample subject, are input to the corresponding CDA to reconstruct new samples. For classification, minimum L2 distance, principle component analysis, sparse represented‐based classifier and softmax regression are used. Experiments on the Extended Yale Face Database B, AR database and CMU PIE database are provided to show the validity of the proposed algorithm.

Superelastic alloys used for stents, biomedical implants, and solid-state cooling devices rely on their reversible stress-induced martensitic transformations. These applications require the alloy to sustain high deformability over millions of cycles without failure. Here, we report an alloy capable of enduring 10×10^{7} tensile stress-induced phase transformations while still exhibiting over 2% recoverable elastic strains. After millions of cycles, the alloy is highly reversible with zero stress hysteresis. We show that the major martensite variant is reversible even after multimillions of cycles under tensile loadings with a highly coherent (11[over ¯]0)_{A} interface. This discovery provides new insights into martensitic transformation, and may guide the development of superelastic alloys for multimillion cycling applications.

The first complete chloroplast genome (cpDNA) sequence of Lophatherum gracile Brongn. was determined from Illumina HiSeq pair-end sequencing data in this study. The cpDNA is 140,595 bp in length, contains a large single-copy region (LSC) of 82,447 bp, and a small single-copy region (SSC) of 12,626 bp, which were separated by a pair of inverted repeats (IR) regions of 22,761 bp. The genome contains 130 genes, including 83 protein-coding genes, eight ribosomal RNA genes, and 39 transfer RNA genes. The further phylogenomic analysis showed that L. gracile and Zeugites pittieri clustered in a clade in Poaceae family.

AIM: To investigate the probably mechanism of amniotic extraction inhibiting haze formation after epipolis laser in situ keratomileusis(Epi-LASIK)in rabbit cornea. METHODS: Thirty rabbit corneas were performed with Epi-LASIK. All eyes were randomly divided into three groups: eyes treated with amniotic extraction(AE group), eyes treated with 1g/L dexamethasone(hormone group)and eyes treated with solvent(solvent control group). Haze grade evaluation was performed under the slit lamp after Epi-LASIK for 1, 4 and 8wk. The repair of corneal epithelium was observed by using HE staining, and the expression of NF-kB protein P65 was detected by immunohistochemistry. The expression levels of inflammatory cytokines(TNF-α, TGF-β1 and IL-1)and anti-inflammatory cytokines(IL-4, IL-10 and IL-13)were determined by ELISA. RESULTS: HE staining showed that the basal cells of corneal epithelium were more uniform and arranged regularly in AE groups after Epi-LASIK for 1wk as compared with the hormone group and the solvent control group. After 4wk, there were a few of new collagen fibers in the superficial stroma of AE group, forming a small amount of scar. After 8wk, the corneal stroma of AE group showed a small amount of new collagen fibers, arranged regularly, and rarely formed scar. At the early stage(1 and 4wk), AE treatment has an obviously effect on inhibiting the secretion of inflammatory factors(TNF-α, TGF-β1 and IL-1)and anti-inflammatory factors(IL-4, IL-10 and IL-13), and the difference was statistically significant(PCONCLUSION: Amniotic extraction may reduce the inflammatory response in corneal epithelial cells by inhibiting the NF-kB signaling pathway, thereby inhibiting the formation of collagen and scar and the occurrence of haze.

Carmine radish, which contained a high natural red pigment (red radish pigment), was peculiar produced in Fuling, Chongqing City. Here, the complete nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial (mt) genome of carmine radish (Raphanus sativus L.) have been determined with a circular sequence with the lengths of 258,965 bp, comprised of 40 protein-coding genes, 23 tRNA genes, and three ribosomal RNA genes. To demonstrate the evolution of organelles genomes in plants, other plant mitochondrial genomes’ evolution were also selected for analyze. The results showed that carmine radish (Raphanus sativus L.) is related to MS_Gensuke (Raphanus sativus L.) and Black radish (Raphanus sativus L.), as well as related to Brassica nigra and Brassica carinata, comparing with other Brassicaceae species. This study will provide important genetic tools for other Brassicaceae species research and improve yields of economically important plants.

The species Caryopteris incana is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine and ornamental plant. The first complete plastid genome sequences of C. incana reported here was 151,687 bp long, with the large single copy (LSC) region of 83,178 bp, the small single copy (SSC) region of 17,225 bp and two inverted repeats (IRa and IRb) of 25,642 bp. The plastome contained 114 genes, including four ribosomal RNA genes, 30 transfer RNA genes, and 80 protein coding genes. The overall GC content was 38.2%. Result from phylogenetic analysis suggests that C. incana is a member of subfamily Ajugoideae, which is in turn sister to Scutellarioideae and Lamioideae.

With the accumulation and accessibility of information about plant species, it is time to re-evaluate and further divide a global biodiversity hotspot region, Yunnan, located in southwestern China. In this study, we combined data on the distribution of 1010 stenochoric endemic seed plants, vegetation constitution, geological history and climate change, and used these to propose a new system of floristic regions. We identified 11 distinct floristic subregions and 84 floristic provinces within Yunnan. Our work confirmed some views emphasized by Wu Zhengyi that the stenochoric endemic species play a key role in defining floristic provinces; that stenochoric endemic plants with long collection and publication histories are more valuable; that greater attention should be paid to woody plants; and that for Yunnan, a border region, some trans-border distributed elements should be treated cautiously.

A new genus, Wuacanthus Y.F. Deng, N.H. Xia & H. Peng (Acanthaceae), is described from the Hengduan Mountains, China. Wuacanthus is based on Wuacanthus microdontus (W.W.Sm.) Y.F. Deng, N.H. Xia & H. Peng, originally published in Justicia and then moved to Mananthes. The new genus is characterized by its shrub habit, strongly 2-lipped corolla, the 2-lobed upper lip, 3-lobed lower lip, 2 stamens, bithecous anthers, parallel thecae with two spurs at the base, 2 ovules in each locule, and the 4-seeded capsule. Phylogenetic analyses show that the new genus belongs to the Pseuderanthemum lineage in tribe Justicieae. Wuacanthus is closely related to Pseuderanthemum but differs from the latter by its shorter corolla tube and two minute spurs at the base of each anther-theca. W. microdontus is assessed with the status EN B2ab (iii) based on the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria.

SQUAMOSA promoter-binding protein-like (SPL), as plant specific transcription factors, is involved in many plant growth and development processes. However, there is less systematical study for SPL transcription factor in B. juncea (Cruciferae). Here, a total of 59 SPL genes classified into eight phylogenetic groups were identified in B. juncea, highly conserved within each ortholog were also found based on gene structure, conserved motif, as well as clustering level. In addition, clustering of SPL domain showed that two zinc finger-like structures and NLS segments were identified in almost of BjuSPLs. Analyzed of putative cis-elements for BjuSPLs demonstrated that SPL transcription factors were involved in adverse environmental changes, such as light, plant stresses and phytohormones response. Expression analysis showed that differentially expressed SPL genes were identified in flower and stem development of Cruciferae; such as BjuSPL3a-B, BjuSPL2b_B and BjuSPL2c_A were significantly expressed in flower; BjuSPL 3b_B and BjuSPL10a_A were significantly expressed in stem node (VP: vegetative period). Moreover, 28 of the 59 BjuSPLs were found involved in their posttranscriptional regulation targeted by miR156. We demonstrated that miR156 negatively regulated BjuSPL10a_A and BjuSPL3b_B to act for stem development in B. juncea.

With the rapid development of the internet, social media has become an essential tool for getting information, and attracted a large number of people join the social media platforms because of its low cost, accessibility and amazing content. It greatly enriches our life. However, its rapid development and widespread also have provided an excellent convenience for the range of fake news, people are constantly exposed to fake news and suffer from it all the time. Fake news usually uses hyperbole to catch people's eyes with dishonest intention. More importantly, it often misleads the reader and causes people to have wrong perceptions of society. It has the potential for negative impacts on society and individuals. Therefore, it is significative research on detecting fake news. In the paper, we built a model named SMHA-CNN (Self Multi-Head Attention-based Convolutional Neural Networks) that can judge the authenticity of news with high accuracy based only on content by using convolutional neural networks and self multi-head attention mechanism. In order to prove its validity, we conducted experiments on a public dataset and achieved a precision rate of 95.5% with a recall rate of 95.6% under the 5-fold cross-validation. Our experimental result indicates that the model is more effective at detecting fake news.

Objective. To investigate the effects of Dendrobium officinale polysaccharides (DOPS) on the expression of inflammatory factors IL-1β and TNF-α and the MKP-1/MAPK signal pathway. Methods. PTZ-induced epileptic rat models were established. The rats were randomly divided into four groups: the control group, the DOPS group, the model group, and the DOPS intervention group. RT-PCR was used to measure the mRNA expression of IL-1β and TNF-α in the hippocampi of all groups; western blot was used to measure the protein expression of IL-1β and TNF-α and phosphorylation of ERK1/2, JNK, p38, and MKP-1 in the hippocampi of all groups at weeks 1, 2, 3, and 4 after modeling. Results. At weeks 1, 2, 3, and 4 after modeling, there were no significant differences between the control group and the DOPS group in the mRNA and protein expression of IL-1β and TNF-α and phosphorylation of ERK1/2, JNK, p38, and MKP-1 (all P>0.05); the mRNA and protein expression of IL-1β and TNF-α and phosphorylation of ERK1/2, JNK, and p38 were significantly increased, while the phosphorylation of MKP-1 was decreased in the model group compared with the control group. The mRNA and protein expression of IL-1β and TNF-α and phosphorylation of ERK1/2, JNK, and p38 were significantly decreased, while the phosphorylation of MKP-1 was increased in the DOPS intervention group compared with the model group. Conclusion. DOPS can reduce PTZ-induced brain inflammation and seizures of epileptic rats by inhibiting IL-1β, TNF-α, and MAPK signal pathways.

Soil pH is the main factor affecting soil nutrient availability and chemical substances in soil. It is of great significance to study the spatial variability of soil pH for the management of soil nutrients and the prediction of soil pollution. In order to explore the causes of spatial variability in soil pH in red-bed areas, the Nanxiong Basin in south China was selected as an example, and soil pH was measured in the topsoil by nested sampling (0–20 cm depth). The spatial variability characteristics of soil pH were analyzed by geostatistics and classical statistical methods, and the main factors influencing spatial variability in soil pH are discussed. The coefficient of variation in the red-bed areas of Nanxiong Basin was 17.18%, indicating moderate variability. Geostatistical analysis showed that the spherical model is the optimal theoretical model for explaining variability in soil pH, which is influenced by both structural and random factors. Analysis of the spatial distribution and pattern showed that soil pH is relatively high in the northeast and southwest, and is lower in the northwest. These results indicate that land use patterns and topographic factors are the main and secondary influencing factors, respectively.

As an erosional landform, the formation processes of Danxia landform are controlled by internal and external forces as well as lithologic properties. Using field data, we studied the role of lithologic properties on the formation of Danxia landform in Kongtongshan National Geopark, northwest China, through a series of experiments, including uniaxial compressive strength, identification analysis under polarizing microscope, X-ray diffraction analysis, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. The results show that the diagenesis degree, mineral composition, cement composition, degree of cementation, geochemical composition and element contents, and micro-structure influenced the structure and anti-weathering and anti-erosion abilities of the Danxia rock mass. Differential weathering of rock in different environments was an important force shaping the different types of Danxia landform. Weathering failure of the Danxia rock mass was the result of multiple combined factors; as well as lithology, other factors, such as those induced during tectonic uplift (i.e., faulting, jointing, and fracturing) and climate, cannot be neglected. Therefore, lithology played an important role in the structural development of Danxia landform, and different lithologies influenced its weathering rate and formation processes. Our findings can provide a reference for revealing the microscopic development of Danxia landform in arid and semi-arid areas.

Imitation of human behaviors is one of the effective ways to develop artificial intelligence. Human dancers, standing in front of a mirror, always achieve autonomous aesthetics evaluation on their own dance motions, which are observed from the mirror. Meanwhile, in the visual aesthetics cognition of human brains, space and shape are two important visual elements perceived from motions. Inspired by the above facts, this paper proposes a novel mechanism of automatic aesthetics evaluation of robotic dance motions based on multiple visual feature integration. In the mechanism, a video of robotic dance motion is firstly converted into several kinds of motion history images, and then a spatial feature (ripple space coding) and shape features (Zernike moment and curvature-based Fourier descriptors) are extracted from the optimized motion history images. Based on feature integration, a homogeneous ensemble classifier, which uses three different random forests, is deployed to build a machine aesthetics model, aiming to make the machine possess human aesthetic ability. The feasibility of the proposed mechanism has been verified by simulation experiments, and the experimental results show that our ensemble classifier can achieve a high correct ratio of aesthetics evaluation of 75%. The performance of our mechanism is superior to those of the existing approaches.

Yunnan's biodiversity is under considerable pressure and subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests in this area have become increasingly fragmented through agriculture, logging, planting of economic plants, mining activities and changing environment. The aims of the study are to investigate climate change-induced changes of subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests in Yunnan and identify areas of current species richness centers for conservation preparation. Stacked species distribution models were created to generate ensemble forecasting of species distributions, alpha diversity and beta diversity for Yunnan's subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests in both current and future climate scenarios. Under stacked species distribution models in rapid climate changes scenarios, changes of water-energy dynamics may possibly reduce beta diversity and increase alpha diversity. This point provides insight for future conservation of evergreen broad-leaved forest in Yunnan, highlighting the need to fully consider the problem of vegetation homogenization caused by transformation of water-energy dynamics.

Background: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the thymus was mainly produced by the thymic epithelial cells (TECs), the predominant component of the thymic microenvironment. The progression of TECs and the roles of VEGF in the neonatal thymus during sepsis have not been reported. This study aimed to explore the alterations of TECs and VEGF level in the neonatal thymus involution and to explore the possible mechanisms at the cellular level. Methods: By establishing a model of clinical sepsis, the changes of TECs were measured by hematoxylin-eosin staining, confocal microscopy, and flow cytometry. Moreover, the levels of VEGF in serum and thymus were assessed based on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blotting. Results: The number of thymocytes and TECs was significantly decreased 24 h after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge, (2.40 ± 0.46)×10 7 vs. (3.93 ± 0.66)×10 7 and (1.16 ± 0.14)×10 5 vs. (2.20 ± 0.19)×10 5 , P < 0.05, respectively. Cortical TECs and medullary TECs in the LPS-treated mice were decreased 1.5-fold and 3.9-fold, P < 0.05, respectively, lower than those in the controls. The number of thymic epithelial progenitors was also decreased. VEGF expression in TECs was down-regulated in a time-dependent manner. Conclusion: VEGF in thymic cells subsets might contribute to the development of TECs in neonatal sepsis.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Deep learning (DL) is a powerful technique which has achieved great success in many applications. However, its usage in communication systems has not been well explored. This paper investigates algorithms for multi-signals detection and modulation classification, which are significant in many communication systems. In this work, a DL framework for multi-signals detection and modulation recognition is proposed. Compared to some existing methods, the signal modulation format, center frequency, and start-stop time can be obtained from the proposed scheme. Furthermore, two types of networks are built: (1) Single shot multibox detector (SSD) networks for signal detection and (2) multi-inputs convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for modulation recognition. Additionally, the importance of signal representation to different tasks is investigated. Experimental results demonstrate that the DL framework is capable of detecting and recognizing signals. And compared to the traditional methods and other deep network techniques, the current built DL framework can achieve better performance.

To obtain the online solution of complex-valued systems of linear equation in complex domain with higher precision and higher convergence rate, a new neural network based on Zhang neural network (ZNN) is investigated in this paper. First, this new neural network for complex-valued systems of linear equation in complex domain is proposed and theoretically proved to be convergent within finite time. Then, the illustrative results show that the new neural network model has the higher precision and the higher convergence rate, as compared with the gradient neural network (GNN) model and the ZNN model. Finally, the application for controlling the robot using the proposed method for the complex-valued systems of linear equation is realized, and the simulation results verify the effectiveness and superiorness of the new neural network for the complex-valued systems of linear equation.