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The long-term fertilization results in accumulation of phosphorus especially in the top layer of the soils. Inundation of agricultural lands leads to a switch to anaerobic soil condition, causing reduction of iron and leaching of phosphate simultaneously. From the ecological and environmental perspective, high nutrients flux especially phosphorus will increase the possibility of eutrophication in aquatic system. The fern Azolla had a good potential to adsorb phosphorus, it also has distinctive nitrogen-fixing capacity. We conducted a 10-week aquarium experiment to investigate the phosphorus release capacity from two agricultural soils in the Netherlands with different Fe and P concentrations but comparable Fe/P ratios. Besides, the research questions rose to whether Azolla could use the mobilized phosphate released from the soils for growth. We also tried to find an effective indicator to estimate the actually phosphate mobilization from sediment to water layer. Results showed that the soils with high Fe and P concentrations had higher phosphate release rate compared with the soil with low Fe and P concentrations. Pore water Fe: PO43− ratios were valid to identify P release to surface water, when the Fe: PO43− ratios less than 8 mol mol−1 substantial phosphorus mobilization occurred. The conclusions showed that the actual mobilization of phosphate is more important than the phosphorus retained in the sediments for the internal PO43− fluxes. From 10-week experimental results, we found that Azolla can reuse the phosphate retained in soils thus removed the mobilized phosphate in a moderately low surface water nutrient loading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to further investigate the molecular mechanisms of bladder cancer. The microarray data GSE52519 were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus, comprising 9 bladder cancer and 3 normal bladder tissue samples. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using Limma package analysis. Subsequently, Gene Ontology, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes and Reactome pathway enrichment analyses were performed for down- and upregulated DEGs. Transcription factors and genes associated with cancer from DEGs were identified. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks were constructed using STRING, and pathway enrichment analysis was also conducted for genes in the core sub-network that was identified using BioNet. In total, 420 downregulated and 335 upregulated DEGs were identified. Functional and pathway enrichment analyses identified that a number of DEGs, including AURKA, CCNA2, CCNE1, CDC20 and CCNB2, were enriched in the cell cycle. Furthermore, a total of 12 upregulated proto-oncogenes were identified, including AURKA and CCNA2. In the PPI sub-network, a number of DEGs (e.g., CCNB2, CDC20, CCNA2 and MCM6) with higher degrees were enriched in the KEGG pathway of the cell cycle. In conclusion, the DEGs associated with the cell cycle (e.g., CDC20, CCNA2, CCNB2 and AURKA) may serve pivotal roles in the pathogenesis of bladder cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aridity index, as the ration of potential evapotranspiration and precipitation, is an important indicator of regional climate. GIS technology, Morlet wavelet, Mann-Kendall test, and principal component analysis are utilized to investigate the spatial-temporal variation of aridity index and its impacting factors in China on basis of climate data from 599 stations during 1960–2013. Results show the following. (1) Boundaries between humid and semihumid region, and semihumid and semiarid region coincide with 400 mm and 800 mm precipitation contour lines. (2) Average annual aridity index is between 3.4 and 7.5 and shows decrease trend with a tendency of –0.236 per decade at 99% confidence level. (3) The driest and wettest month appear in December and July, respectively, in one year. (4) Periods of longitudinal and latitudinal shift of aridity index 1, 1.5, and 4 contours coordinate are 10 and 25 years, 6 and 26 years, and 5 and 25 years, respectively. (5) Four principal components which affect aridity index are thermodynamic factors, water and radiation factors, geographical and air dynamic factors, and evaluation factor, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study first analysed the crucial function of agricultural activities on groundwater system in Shijiazhuang Plain. Then the influence indexes of agricultural activities on regional groundwater are discussed. The Projection pursuit evaluation model and MapGIS technique have been used to evaluate the degree of such effect and its spatial difference. Finally, according to effect degree of agricultural activities on groundwater, Shijiazhuang Plain is divided into four types of regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the great buring depth and hard Silurian formation with the strong abrasiveness and poor drillability in Yar Canyon Oilfield in Yumen, the PDC or roller bits are vulnerable to wear, resulting in short service time and low perforation rate. By utilizing the Torkbuster together with personalized PDC bit, the stability of both the drill string and torque can be remained, so the bit slippery is overcome effectively and the recoil torsion is lessened, resulting in intensifying WOB and improving ROP. The technoique is applied in drilling Silurian formation of well YS No.1 for 355.05 m, with the average ROP up to 1.70 m/h, 110% higher than that of adjacent wells. It is a new way of speed-up drilling in deep well in Yumen area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comparison between gross irrigation water use (GIWU) in fields and allocated irrigation water rights amount (AIWA) is critical for evaluating any system of water rights allocation. GIWU in fields under different precipitation probabilities has been rarely calculated and compared with AIWA using households' survey data. This study developed a method for calculating the GIWU of crops under different precipitation probabilities using field survey data from 391 households and the monitoring data of wells in Chengan County, China. AIWA was compared with the calculated GIWU and irrigation quota. Results showed that AIWA is too small to satisfy the GIWU of the principle crops. The GIWU of main cropping patterns under a precipitation probability of 75% was curtailed between 43 and 77% to fulfill AIWA. AIWA cannot support any cropping patterns when precipitation is lower than the precipitation percentile of 75%. In this condition, farmers are restricted to planting apples, cotton, and sweet potatoes. The uncertainty in precipitation was not fully considered, and the participation of farmers in water rights allocation in Chengan County was limited, which may adversely influence the income and food security of farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Constructing a new power system with renewable energy as the main component is an important measure for coping with extreme weather and maintaining the stability and efficiency of the power system; in particular, pumped storage is an effective means of smoothing fluctuations in the wind and photovoltaic power output. Therefore, considering the reutilization of abandoned mines, this paper constructs an integrated abandoned mine pumped storage/wind power/photovoltaic system. By establishing the mathematical model and capacity configuration model of the system, an analysis of wind/photovoltaic output characteristics is carried out. A nondominated sorting genetic algorithm is used to solve the optimisation problem, with the goals of maximizing the power supply guarantee rate and new energy absorption rate and minimizing the levelized cost of energy. On this basis, a grid power transmission channel optimization strategy is established to ensure that power transmission to the grid is maximized. The monthly power supply guarantee rate and monthly new energy absorption rate in the configuration results are compared and analysed, and the sensitivity of wind power, optical power, initial investment cost, and effective on-grid power to the levelized cost of electricity is considered. Then, by combining the abandoned mine data, eight different sets of parameters of pumped storage are selected for the optimal configuration study, and the factors influencing the pumped storage regulation capacity are studied. Finally, based on the original three objective functions, the storage equivalent utilization rate, system complementarity, power generation revenue, new energy access rate and new energy utilization rate are added to the analysis, and the hierarchical analysis method combined with fuzzy comprehensive evaluation is used to evaluate the comprehensive benefits of pumped storage with nine different parameters. The optimized capacity configuration of the standard pumped storage of 1200 MW results in a levelized cost of energy of 0.2344 CYN/kWh under the condition that the guaranteed power supply rate and the new energy absorption rate are both >90%, and the study on the factors influencing the regulating capacity of pumped storage concludes that the rated head, the adjustable reservoir capacity and the installed capacity of the pumped storage are positively correlated with its regulating capacity. Through comprehensive benefit evaluation, it is concludes that pumped storage type 5 provides the greatest comprehensive benefit. This study provides valuable reference information for reducing the impact of renewable energy on the power grid and realizing the reuse of abandoned mines. • An abandoned mine pumped storage/wind/photovoltaic integrated system is proposed. • Study the effect of capacity and head on mine pumped storage regulating capacity. • Study the comprehensive benefit of different scale abandoned mine integrated system. • Optimal configuration of the integrated system achieves the stability and economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Materials with excellent nonlinear optical (NLO) properties are usually applied in optoelectronics and optical limiting devices. Photoinduced intramolecular electron transfer (PET) and energy transfer (ET) play an important role in enhanced NLO properties. Through axially connected anthraquinone to phthalocyanine, two types of novel lanthanum phthalocyanine (LaPc-Aqn and HLaPc-Aqn) were designed to effectively improve PET/ET process, and thus leading to excellent NLO properties. Hyperbranched phthalocyanines possess enhanced NLO properties owing to their special three-dimensional structures that have more donor–acceptor (D–A) systems in their cell structure than lanthanum phthalocyanines. The uniform polyphenylsulfone composite film(HLaPc-Aqn-PPSU) was prepared by a simple solution casting method according to the "like dissolves like" theory. The values of large third-order nonlinear susceptibility (Im[χ(3)) and low limit threshold (I lim) were 1.51 × 10−9 esu and 0.015 J/cm2, respectively, demonstrating that the film had great optical limiting performance. Such research can contribute to the development of novel phthalocyanine materials for nonlinear optics and optical limiting devices. Image 1 • Two anthraquinone axially substituted lanthanum phthalocyanines were successfully synthesized. • The improved nonlinearity is ascribed to the efficient photoinduced electron transfer and energy transfer effects. • Improved optical limiting behavior is observed in polyphenylsulfone films compared to solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Analysis of long-term evolution of groundwater hydrochemistry by SOM algorithm. • Finding out the main period of the Yellow River's influence on hydrochemistry. • The change of hydrodynamic fields results in the change of hydrochemistry field. The primary water source for agricultural irrigation in the People's Victory Canal irrigation area was the Yellow River water in the early stage, and the Yellow River water diversion volume decreased in the later stage. Hence, the groundwater became the primary water source for the irrigation area. It is significant for the rational utilization of groundwater resources to explore groundwater hydrochemistry's evolution characteristics and formation mechanism. Based on the hydrochemical data of groundwater and Yellow River in the irrigation area from 1987 to 2022. The spatiotemporal evolution of chemical components of groundwater and the main influencing factors were revealed using traditional hydrochemistry research methods, self-organizing map, and stable isotopes. The results show that the classification results of groundwater and Yellow River water samples by the self-organizing map show regional and phased characteristics. Regionally, the self-organizing map classifies groundwater into five clusters, and Cluster Ⅰ–III of groundwater are mainly distributed in the head, middle and northeast areas. Cluster Ⅳ and V of groundwater are mainly distributed in the northwest region. In terms of time, from 1987 to 2001, the Yellow River water diversion volume was higher, and the ion concentration of groundwater showed a decreasing trend. The ion concentration was close to the Yellow River water ion concentration except in the northwest area. Accordingly, the classification results of the self-organizing map change from Cluster Ⅰ of groundwater to Cluster Ⅱ of groundwater. After 2001, the amount of water diverted from the Yellow River decreased, and the concentration of each ion in the groundwater at the head of the canal and the central area showed an overall increasing trend from 2001 to 2022. The classification results of the self-organizing map change to Cluster Ⅰ of groundwater. Due to the change in runoff conditions and the influence of domestic sewage, the classification results of the self-organizing map in the funnel area in the middle of the irrigation district changed to Cluster III of groundwater after 2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization process has a negative or positive impact on vegetation growth. Net primary productivity (NPP) is an effective indicator to characterize vegetation growth status. Taking the core development area of the Central Plains urban agglomeration as the study area, we estimated the NPP and its change trend in the past four decades using the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford Approach (CASA) model and statistical analysis based on meteorological and multi-source remote sensing data. Meanwhile, combined with the urbanization impact framework, we further analyzed urbanization's direct and indirect impact on NPP. The results showed that the urban area increased by 2688 km2 during a high-speed urbanization process from 1983 to 2019. As a result of the intense urbanization process, a continuous NPP decrease (direct impact) can be seen, which aggravated along with the acceleration of the urban expansion, and the mean value of direct impact was 130.84 g C·m−2·a−1. Meanwhile, urbanization also had a positive impact on NPP (indirect impact). The indirect impact showed an increasing trend during urbanization with a mean value of 10.91 g C·m−2·a−1. The indirect impact was mainly related to temperature in climatic factors. The indirect impact has a seasonal heterogeneity, and high-temperature environments of urban areas are more effective in promoting vegetation growth in autumn and winter than in summer. Among different cities, high-speed development cities have higher indirect impact values than medium's and low's because of better ecological construction. This study is of great significance for understanding the impact of urbanization on vegetation growth in the Central Plains urban agglomeration area, supporting urban greening plans, and building sustainable and resilient urban agglomerations. • The direct impact of urbanization has led to a decline in NPP. • The indirect impact of urbanization has improved the vegetation growth environment. • The indirect impact is mainly related to temperature and is greater in urban areas. • The indirect impact has increased regional carbon sinks. • The direct and indirect impacts are both greater in high-speed development cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Adding ' management (M) ' factor to DPSIR model to construct DPSIRM model. • TOPSIS model was constructed to evaluate water cycle health. • The obstacle factors of nine provinces were analyzed. • Put forward relevant suggestions according to the evaluation results. The regional water cycle reflects both natural and social processes. The health of the regional water cycle is of great significance to the sustainable development of human beings. Focusing on the nine provinces and regions in the Yellow River Basin, this study utilized the DPSIRM model, including 21 basic indicators. In this paper, according to the principle of minimum information entropy, the three-scale AHP and EFAST algorithms were combined and weighted, and water cycle health status in the nine provinces and regions was evaluated based on the hook trapezoidal fuzzy TOPSIS model. Moreover, the traditional TOPSIS model was compared with the FCE method so as to evaluate the objectivity of the results. The obstacle degree model was introduced to obtain the main obstacle factors affecting the improvement of water circulation health in the nine provinces and regions. The results show that the water circulation health status in the nine provinces and regions is tending towards health, coordination, and balance. Water consumption in the ecological environment, water consumption per CNY 10,000 of GDP and forest coverage rate are the key factors that influence the improvement of water circulation health in the nine provinces and regions. The research results herein provide a scientific reference for the nine provinces and regions to achieve a healthy urban water cycle and regional sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid rise in propofol dependency and abuse has highlighted limited resources for addressing substance abuse-related cognitive impairment, prompting the development of novel therapies. Dysregulated autophagy flow accelerates neuronal cell death, and interventions countering this dysregulation offer an appealing strategy for neuronal protection. Curcumin, a potent natural polyphenol derived from turmeric rhizomes, is renowned for its robust antineurotoxic properties and enhanced cognitive function. Utilizing CCK-8 and Ki67 fluorescent staining, our study revealed that curcumin treatment increased cell viability and proliferative potential in MN9D cells exposed to propofol-induced neurotoxicity. Furthermore, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and western blot analysis demonstrated the partial restoration of dopamine synthesis, secretion levels, and TH expression in damaged MN9D cells treated with curcumin. Scanning electrode microscope images displayed reduced autolysosomes and phagosomes in curcumin-treated cells compared to the propofol group. Immunoblotting revealed that curcumin mitigated the degradation of LC3I to LC3II and p62 induced by propofol stimulation, with green fluorescence expression of LC3 postcurcumin treatment resembling that following autophagy inhibitor HCQ treatment, indicating that modulating autophagy flow can alleviate propofol's toxic effects. Moreover, curcumin treatment upregulated the Akt/mTOR/p70S6K signaling pathway, suggesting that curcumin potentially curtails autophagy dysregulation in nerve cells by activating Akt/mTOR/p70S6K. In conclusion, our findings suggest that curcumin can ameliorate propofol abuse-induced neurotoxicity, partially through autophagy regulation and Akt/mTOR/p70S6K signaling activation., (© 2024 International Federation of Cell Biology.)

Northwest China (WTL) is an essential ecological barrier zone of China, an important node of the "Silk Road Economic Belt," and a crucial bearing area for China's execution of the "One Road and One Belt" and "Going Global" strategies. However, its ecology is exceedingly fragile and particularly vulnerable to climate change and human interference. This study explored the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of vegetation in WTL using NDVI data and investigated its drive mechanisms by geodetector, partial correlation analysis, and residual trend analysis methods. As well as forecasting the trend for vegetation changes. The findings demonstrated that (1) the change in NDVI manifested an overall improvement trend and the distribution in space of NDVI rose from the center to the periphery. 57.07% of the area had a sparse cover of vegetation (NDVI between 0 and 0.2). In addition, about 49% of regions had deterioration tendencies, which were mainly aggregated in HX, QCXDB, QCXDN, and the eastern of QCXQN and QCXXB. (2) The NDVI's shifting trend was unsustainability, and the region of uncertain future accounted for 57.45% of the total, with apparent unsustainability features. (3) The key parameters influencing NDVI spatial distribution were Pre (precipitation), vegetation type, land use type, and soil type. The interaction between two factors enhanced the influence of any single element, which appeared as bivariate and nonlinear enhancements. (4) Both climate variations and human activities have been recognized as key variables affecting NDVI growth. NDVI variance in 73.02% of areas was influenced by the combined effects of climate variations and human activities. However, human activities were the most influential element in NDVI growth, with the relative contributions of 80.28% (19.72% of which was caused by climate variations). These results can be conducive to deepening insights into the local vegetation status, identifying the mechanisms driving vegetation change, and providing scientific recommendations for WTL's ecosystem restoration measures based on actual situations., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Clarifying the spatiotemporal variation of crop irrigation water requirement (IWR) under the background of climate change is an essential basis for water resource management, determining the irrigation quota and adjusting the planting structure. Using 61 years of climate data from 205 stations in Northwest China, this study investigated the spatiotemporal variations of climatic factors and IWR during the growth period of five main grain crops (spring wheat, winter wheat, spring maize, summer maize, and rice) and explored the dominant climatic driving factors of IWR variation. Results showed that (1) the IWR of grain crops showed distinct differences. Rice was the highest water consumption crop (mean of 753.78 mm), and summer maize was the lowest (mean of 452.90 mm). (2) The variation trends and average values of IWR of different grain crops have spatial heterogeneity across Northwest China. For most crops, high values and increasing trends of IWR were mainly located in eastern Xinjiang, western Gansu, and western Inner Mongolia. (3) T max (maximum temperature), T min (minimum temperature), and P eff (effective precipitation) showed an increasing trend during the growth period of each grain crop, while U 10 (wind speed at 10 m height), SD (solar radiation), and RH (relative humidity) presented decreasing trends. (4) SD, T max , and U 10 promoted the increase of grain crops' IWR, while P eff and RH inhibited it. The impacts of climatic factors on the grain crop IWR differed among different regions. P eff was the most influential factor to the IWR of all grain crops in most areas. Therefore, under the premise of a significant increase in T and uncertain precipitation mode in the future, it is urgent to take effective water-saving measures according to the irrigation needs of the region. To cope with the adverse impact of climate change on the sustainable development of agriculture in the northwest dry area, to ensure regional and national food security., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

With the development of social economics and the increase of working pressure, more and more women are suffering from long-term serious stress and showing symptoms of perimenopausal depression (PMD). The incidence rate of PMD is increasing, and the physical and mental health are seriously affected. However, due to the lack of accurate knowledge of pathophysiology, its diagnosis and treatment cannot be accurately executed. By consulting the relevant literature in recent years, this paper elaborates the neuroendocrine mechanism of perimenopausal depression from the aspects of epigenetic changes, monoamine neurotransmitter and receptor hypothesis, glial cell-induced neuroinflammation, estrogen receptor, interaction between HPA axis and HPG axis, and micro-organism-brain gut axis. The purpose is to probe into new ways of treatment of PMD by providing new knowledge about the neuroendocrine mechanism and treatment of PMD., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Han, Gu, Li, Qian, Wang and Huang.)

River eutrophication has become a challenging environmental problem worldwide because of the strong interference of anthropogenic activities and hydraulic structures. The driving mechanism of algae growth in sluice-controlled river reaches (SCRRs) is more complicated than that of natural rivers, because the operation mode of the sluices is an important influencing factor which changes the light and nutrient conditions of the water body. The main purpose of this study was to assess algal growth in SCRRs under external conditions and sluice regulation. In this study, a eutrophication model for SCRRs was developed based on the mechanism of river hydrodynamics and algae growth kinetics, considering the variation in underwater light intensity and nutrient condition. By choosing the light intensity, phosphorus concentration and sluice gate opening size as the influencing factors, 16 different combination conditions were proposed by orthogonal experimental design, and eutrophication of water bodies in the SCRRs was simulated using a eutrophication model. In the scenario design, four gate opening sizes were set, and the light intensity and nutrients were enlarged or reduced based on the original monitoring data. The results showed that both light intensity and nutrient concentration can promote the algal growth within a suitable range, and increasing the gate opening size can inhibit algal growth., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Mink embryonic diapause occurs when embryos, at the blastocyst stage, enter a state of a reversible arrest in development and metabolism. Some ovarian factors are required because ovariectomy leads to prevention of implantation in mink. Mechanisms regulating this process, however, remain largely unknown. To explore ovarian modifications associated with emergence of embryonic diapause in mink, there was comparison of transcriptomes after embryonic activation to when there was embryonic diapause using RNA-sequencing. A library of 655 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of all assembled 33,656 genes was generated. Among these, 558 genes were annotated with 106 genes being expressed to a greater extent in ovaries during embryonic diapause, whereas 452 genes were more abundantly expressed in ovaries after embryonic activation. The major categories of genes with differential transcript abundances include metabolic pathways, metabolism of tryptophan, tyrosine and vitamin B6, oxidoreductase activity, calcium signaling pathway, steroid biosynthesis and lysosome. The APOE and APOA1 hub genes identified through the protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis have important functions in cholesterol transport and steroidogenesis. Transcript abundances associated with 39 genes were investigated using RT-qPCR procedures to confirm RNA-sequencing data. Of 29 mRNA transcripts, 26 were validated using RNA-sequencing, whereas three of ten indistinguishable genes determined using RNA-sequencing were confirmed. Most of these verified DEGs are involved in the prolactin signaling pathway, formation of functional corpora lutea, and steroid synthesis, suggesting these biological processes are implicated in embryonic reactivation. Overall, results provide new insights into ovarian signaling at the time of emergence of the blastocyst from diapause in mink., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: For patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) that are suffering from subsequent coronary microvascular functional and structural obstruction (CMVO), no specific and definitive therapeutic approaches of attenuation have been proven valid in up-to-date large-scale tests, which highlights the urge to address its early recognition., Objectives: This study aimed to compare the performance of two clinical risk scores with an objective measurement of CMVO during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with STEMI., Methods: The Index of Microcirculatory Resistance (IMR) measurement was conducted and the baseline clinical and angiographic parameters were also recorded. The patients were divided into MO (Microvascular obstruction) or NMO (Non-microvascular obstruction) groups according to the post-procedure IMR value. The CMVO risk was evaluated for all participants by SAK and ATI predictive scores, respectively. Each system was calculated by summing the scores of all variables. The receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves and the area under the curve (AUC) of two risk models were used to evaluate the discriminatory performance. An echocardiography was performed seven days after the procedure to evaluate left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). A two-sided P-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant., Results: Among the 65 eligible STEMI patients, 48 patients were allocated in the NMO group and 17 in the MO group, with a CMVO incidence of 26.15%. There was no significant difference in the AUC between both scores. The LVEF evaluated for the NMO group was higher than that of MO group., Conclusion: Both SAK and ATI scores performed well in estimating CMVO risk after primary PCI for STEMI patients.