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The introduction of electrolytic aluminum load in a large-scale power system with complex power station structure is essential for load frequency control (LFC). In this paper, we propose a control strategy for electrolytic aluminum load to participate in the frequency modulation of the power grid based on the IEEE standard two-region LFC model. Besides, a fractional-order PID (FOPID) controller is designed and compared with traditional PID, and the parameters of the FOPID controller are optimized by PSO algorithm. In addition, a two-region LFC model was built to verify the integrated control strategy for electrolytic aluminum load participation in frequency modulation, which show that the FOPID controller optimized by the PSO algorithm has stronger robustness in the LFC.

The multi-energy system (MES) provides a good environment for the local consumption of renewable energy such as wind and solar power because of its high operational flexibility. In the MES, the hybrid energy storage system (HESS) composed of the battery and thermal storage tank plays an important role in enhancing reliability, economics, and operational flexibility. Hence, determining the optimal size of HESS in the MES is a critical problem but has not received enough attention. In light of this problem, this paper focuses on the optimal HESS planning problem in the community MES (CMES) under diverse uncertainties. Firstly, a two-stage stochastic planning model is proposed for the CMES to coordinate the optimal long-term HESS allocation and the short-term system operation. The thermal inertia in the heating network, space heating demand, and domestic hot water demand is utilized to reduce both the planning and operational cost. Secondly, a deterministic equivalence is proposed for the two-stage planning model to convert it into a mixed-integer linear programming model, which is then solved by off-the-shelf solvers. Finally, simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The results reveal that the HESS can enhance the operational flexibility of the CMES but only needs a very few investment costs and prove that the thermal inertia in the CMES can reduce the investment cost of HESS, the fuel, and the operational maintenance cost.

Accurately estimating and mapping forest structural parameters are essential for monitoring forest resources and understanding ecological processes. The novel deep learning algorithm has the potential to be a promising approach to improve the estimation accuracy while combining with advanced remote sensing technology. Airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) has the preferable capability to characterize 3-D canopy structure and estimate forest structural parameters. In this study, we developed a deep learning-based algorithm (Deep-RBN) that combined the fully connected network (FCN) deep learning algorithm with the optimized radial basis neural network (RBN) algorithm for forest structural parameter estimation using airborne LiDAR data. The multiple iterations were used to constantly update the internal weights to achieve the optimized accuracy of model fitting, and the optimized RBN algorithm was developed for the limited training sets. We assessed the efficiency and capability of the Deep-RBN in the estimation of forest structural parameters in a subtropical planted forest of southern China, by comparing the traditional FCN algorithm and multiple linear regression. We found that Deep-RBN had the strongest capability in estimates of forest structural parameters (R2 = 0.67-0.86, rRMSE = 6.95%-20.34%). The sensitivity analysis of the key hyperparameters of Deep-RBN algorithm showed that the learning rate is one of the most important parameters that influence the performance of predictive models, and while its value equal is to 0.001, the predictive models had the highest accuracy (mean DBH: RMSE = 1.01, mean height: RMSE = 1.45, volume: RMSE = 26.49, stem density: RMSE = 121.06). With the increase of training samples added in Deep-RBN model, the predictive models performed better; however, no significant improvements of accuracy were observed while the number of training set is larger than 80. This study demonstrates the benefits of jointly using the Deep-RBN algorithm and airborne LiDAR data to improve the accuracy of forest structural parameter estimation and mapping, which provides a promising methodology for sustainable forest resources monitoring.

In order to realize the local consumption of surplus electric energy, this paper proposes a multi-agent cooperative game model of power grid-generator-electrolytic aluminum based on Nash negotiation theory. The operation characteristics of the power grid, generator, and electrolytic aluminum are considered in the modeling of each agent. Then, a cooperative game framework considering electricity trading is further constructed based on Nash negotiation theory. Finally, a series of linearization methods are used to transform the complex problem into the mixed integer linear programming (MILP), which can be effectively solved by commercial solver. In the case studies, based on the actual situation of Yunnan power grids, a comparative analysis of the impact of cooperative and non-cooperative frameworks on multi-agents proves the feasibility of the cooperative game framework. Finally, the cooperative game model is applied to different provinces to verify its universality.

Electrical energy substitution is an important way to achieve the optimization of the energy consumption structure as well as to alleviate environmental problems, and it is also an important source of benefits of the integrated energy system. However, there are few works that study the effects of electrical energy substitution on the construction of the integrated energy system (IES) and electrical energy substitution work without incentives carried out in the IES. To this end, this paper proposed a G1 method with constructing consistency matrix to determine the evaluation index weights for the IES with electrical energy substitution. Specifically, we firstly construct the evaluation index system for the IES including electrical energy substitution indicators, low-carbon indicators, technical indicators and economic indicators as well as their secondary indicators. Then, a tri-level evaluation index system of target-criteria-indicator benefits is established based on pertinent standards and norms, taking the practical operability into account. Finally, a G1-method-constructed consistency judgment matrix is proposed. Compared with the G1 method, it is simple and practical, and the weight calculation results are more in line with the reality, which effectively solves the consistency problem of the judgment matrix. The rationality and feasibility of the proposed weight calculation method are verified by the calculation and analysis of an example.

The flowering cherries (genus Prunus, subgenus Cerasus) are popular ornamental trees in China, Japan, Korea, and elsewhere. Prunus campanulata Maxim. is an important species of flowering cherry native to Southern China, which is also distributed in Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands of Japan, and Vietnam. It produces bell-shaped flowers with colors ranging from bright pink to crimson during the Chinese Spring Festival from January to March each year. We selected the P. campanulata cultivar “Lianmeiren”, with only 0.54% of heterozygosity, as the focus of this study, and generated a high-quality chromosome-scale genome assembly of P. campanulata by combining Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) single-molecule sequencing, 10× Genomics sequencing, and high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) technology. We first assembled a 300.48 Mb genome assembly with a contig N50 length of 2.02 Mb. In total, 28,319 protein-coding genes were predicted from the genome, 95.8% of which were functionally annotated. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that P. campanulata diverged from a common ancestor of cherry approximately 15.1 million years ago. Comparative genomic analyses showed that the expanded gene families were significantly involved in ribosome biogenesis, diterpenoid biosynthesis, flavonoid biosynthesis, and circadian rhythm. Furthermore, we identified 171 MYB genes from the P. campanulata genome. Based on the RNA-seq of five organs at three flowering stages, expression analyses revealed that the majority of the MYB genes exhibited tissue-specific expression patterns, and some genes were identified as being associated with anthocyanin accumulation. This reference sequence is an important resource for further studies of floral morphology and phenology, and comparative genomics of the subgenera Cerasus and Prunus.

The raphidophyte Heterosigma akashiwo is a harmful algal species. The bloom of this organism has been associated with the massive mortality of fish in many coastal waters. To investigate the molecular mechanism of H. akashiwo blooms, having a reliable reference transcriptome of this species is essential. Therefore, in this study, a full-length transcriptome of H. akashiwo was obtained by single-molecule real-time sequencing. In total, 45.44 Gb subread bases were generated, and 16,668 unigenes were obtained after the sequencing data processing. A total of 8666 (52.00%) unigenes were successfully annotated using seven public databases. Among them, mostly phosphorus and nitrogen metabolism genes were detected. Moreover, there were 300 putative transcription factors, 4392 putative long non-coding RNAs, and 7851 simple sequence repeats predicted. This study provides a valuable reference transcriptome for understanding how H. akashiwo blooms at a molecular level.

With the benefits of non–invasive and low radiation, terahertz radiation has shown great potential in biomedical imaging applications. However, the low spatial resolution of the imaging system significantly affects its application in these fields. Although immersion techniques and super–oscillation theory have achieved considerable success in improving the resolution of imaging systems, there are still problems with large focal spot sizes or large sidebands. Herein, a solid immersion lens based on super–oscillation is proposed to reduce the focal spot size when illuminated with circularly polarized light at a wavelength of 118.8 μm. The simulation results show that the lens can compress the full widths at half–maxima down to deep sub–wavelength scales, as small as 0.232 λ. At the same time, the maximum side–lobe ratio was 16.8%, which ensured that the device had a large field of view. The proposed method reveals new ideas in the field of super–resolution imaging.

The ichthyotoxic raphidophyte Heterosigma akashiwo is associated with harmful algal blooms (HABs). Although the influence of H. akashiwo on fish has been reported, little is known of its effects on other marine organisms, such as shellfish. In this study, the physiological and transcriptomic responses of the Asiatic hard clam Meretrix meretrix to H. akashiwo were investigated. The results showed that clam survival was not influenced by H. akashiwo (at a concentration of 2 × 104 cells/mL), and M. meretrix eliminated the alga effectively after 48 h in co-culture. H. akashiwo did not alter the antioxidant capacity of the clams. However, 544 unigenes were found to be differentially expressed between the control and H. akashiwo-treated clams. Interestingly, the significant up-regulation of lysosome-related genes and transport proteins suggested remodeling of the clam metabolism possibly for digestion of H. akashiwo. In summary, our results indicate that the clam M. meretrix can effectively feed on H. akashiwo, and intensification of shellfish farming may be helpful to control and mitigate H. akashiwo blooms.

The two video satellites of the second and third batch of Zhuhai-1 microsatellites (referred to as OVS-2A/3A) are operational with their hyperspectral satellites, which improves the data acquisi-tion capability of the Zhuhai-1 remote sensing satellite constellation. Contrary to the linear array push-broom hyperspectral satellites and plane array CCD video satellites, the OVS satellite is equipped with a planar array Bayer pattern sensor, which can obtain single-band grayscale images by push-broom imaging. Additionally, the Bayer color reconstruction algorithm can interpolate sensor data to provide RGB color band information. Therefore, for the Bayer pattern push-broom sensor, the relative calibration method of linear push-broom or array cameras cannot be directly applied. The radiometric calibration of the Bayer pattern push-broom imaging mode has become a matter of concern; therefore, this study developed a radiometric calibration method for the Bayer pattern push-broom sensor of the OVS satellite and verified its effectiveness and accuracy. OVS images were used to perform on-orbit relative radiometric calibration, and the calibration accu-racy, including streaking metrics and root-mean-square error, was better than 1%, meeting the specification requirements for the OVS satellite. Visually, after calibration correction, the streaking and striping noise of the Bayer images was removed, and the radiometric quality of the image was considerably improved, providing a good data basis for subsequent research in remote sensing applications.

Megabalanus coccopoma (Darwin, 1854) is a globally invasive species in Balanomorpha (Crustacea). This species is a model organism for studying marine pollution and ecology. However, its mitogenome remains unknown. The mitogenome sequencing of M. coccopoma is completed in the present study. It has a 15,098 bp in length, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs), along with a putative regulatory area. A substantial A+T bias was observed in the genome composition (68.2%), along with a negative AT (0.82) and GC (−0.136) skew. Compared to the gene sequence of the ground model of pan-crustacea, 13 gene clusters (or genes), such as 10 tRNAs and 3 PCGs, were observed in a different order. This was in line with the previously observed large-scale gene rearrangements of Balanomorpha. Among the 37 genes, the gene cluster (M-nad2-W-cox1-L2-cox2-D-atp8-atp6-cox3-G- nad3-R-N-A-E-S1) Balanomorpha was conserved. Furthermore, phylogeny analysis indicated that the existing Balanomorpha species family was divided into nine rearrangement patterns, supporting the polyphyly of Balanoidea.

Large-scale population screening can provide insights to levels of ongoing SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Here, the authors report a citywide screening of ~10,000,000 residents of Wuhan and show that SARS-CoV-2 infection prevalence was very low five to eight weeks after the end of lockdown.

Prunus takasagomontana Sasaki 1931 is a deciduous flowering cherry endemic to Taiwan island, China. Here, we first report the complete chloroplast genome of P. takasagomontana. The complete chloroplast genome of P. takasagomontana is 157,946 bp in length, which is comprised of a pair of inverted repeat (IR) regions of 26,437 bp, a small single-copy (SSC) region of 19,145 bp, and a large single-copy (LSC) region of 85,927 bp. A total of 129 genes are annotated, including 84 protein-coding genes, 37 tRNA genes, and eight rRNA ribosomal genes. The phylogenetic analysis showed that P. takasagomontana is sister to P. serrulata var. spontanea.

Acute stress is believed to lead to prosocial behaviors via a “tend-and-befriend” pattern of stress response. However, the results of the effect of acute stress on prosocial behavior are inconsistent. The current study explores the moderating effect of gender and social value orientation on the relationship between acute stress and individuals’ pure prosocial behaviors (i.e., pure prosociality and prosocial third-party punishment). Specifically, eighty-one participants were selected and underwent the Trier Social Stress Test (or were in the control group), followed by the third-party punishment task and the dictator game. The results showed that, in general, the main effect of condition or respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) reactivity on individual prosocial behaviors was significant and did not vary between genders. Furthermore, social value orientation (i.e., prosocial or self-orientation) might moderate the impact of RSA reactivity on the amount of punishment in the third-party punishment task. That is, individuals with self-orientation exhibited more prosocial third-party punishment as RSA reactivity decreased, while the effect did not occur for individuals with prosocial orientation. Taken together, the findings of the current study provide further evidence for the “tend-and-befriend” hypothesis and highlight the underlying physical mechanisms as well as the individual dependence of the effect of psychosocial stress on individuals’ pure prosocial behaviors.

BackgroundTuberculosis (TB) has remained a tough problem in China. This study aims to identify the risk of tuberculosis transmission and to assess its characteristics.MethodsWe performed a molecular epidemiological study for patients with culture-positive Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) in Shanghai, from 2009 to 2018. Demographic information was obtained from the Tuberculosis Information Management System. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was conducted with a threshold of 12 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to distinguish the genomic cluster. To analyze the characteristics of TB transmission, the contact investigation for clustered cases was performed.ResultsIn total, 94 (27.25%) of the 345 enrolled patients were grouped into 42 genomic clusters, indicating local transmission of M. tuberculosis strains. Compared to a health system delay

Insulin resistance (IR) plays a critical role in cardiovascular diseases and metabolic diseases. In this study, we identified the downregulation of DMRT2 in adipose tissues from insulin-resistant subjects through bioinformatics analysis and in an insulin-resistant mouse model through experimental analysis. DMRT2 overexpression significantly attenuated HDF-induced insulin resistance and inflammation in mice. Moreover, in control and insulin-resistant differentiated mouse 3T3-L1 adipocytes, DMRT2 overexpression attenuated but DMRT2 knockdown enhanced the insulin resistance of 3T3-L1 adipocytes. DMRT2 interacted with FXR and positively regulated FXR level and transcription activity. In both control and insulin-resistant differentiated mouse 3T3-L1 adipocytes, FXR knockdown enhanced the insulin resistance and attenuated the effects of DMRT2 overexpression upon 3T3-L1 adipocyte insulin resistance. In conclusion, we identify the downregulation of DMRT2 in the insulin-resistant mouse model and cell model. DMRT2 interacts with FXR and improves insulin resistance in adipocytes.

Numerous efficient semiconductors suffer from instability in aqueous electrolytes. Strategies utilizing protective coatings have thus been developed to protect these photoabsorbers against corrosion while synergistically improving charge separation and reaction kinetics. Recently, various photoelectrochemical (PEC) protective coatings have been reported with suitable electronic properties to ensure low charge transport loss and reveal the fundamental photoabsorber efficiency. However, protocols for studying the critical figures of merit for protective coatings have yet to be established. For this reason, we propose four criteria for evaluating the performance of a protective coating for PEC water-splitting: stability, conductivity, optical transparency, and energetic matching. We then propose a flow chart that summarizes the recommended testing protocols for quantifying these four performance metrics. In particular, we lay out the stepwise testing protocols to evaluate the energetics matching at a semiconductor/coating/(catalyst)/liquid interface. Finally, we provide an outlook for the future benchmarking needs for coatings.

The triangle barnacle Balanus trigonus Darwin, 1854, a cosmopolitan inhabitant of tropical and warm temperate seas, is a member of robust system for the study of evolutionary processes in the intertidal zone. The first mitochondrial genome of B. trigonus is presented. The complete mitochondrial genome of B. trigonus is a circular molecule of 15,560 bp, which encodes 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 rRNA genes, and 22 tRNA genes. In comparison within Sessilia, the arrangement of the mitochondrial genome of B. trigonus is more similar to Megabalanus spp. than the congener Balanus balanus, which share a same inversion of a large gene block (P-nd4L-nd4-H-nd5-F). Phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial PCGs reveals that B. trigonus clusters with Acasta Sulcata (BP = 100), then grouped with Megabalanus volcano and Megabalanus ajax with high support (BP = 90). In further, more data and research are needed to reveal the phylogeny within Cirripedia.

Abstract Atherosclerosis, characterized by the formation of fat-laden plaques, is a chronic inflammatory disease. ABCA1 promotes cholesterol efflux, reduces cellular cholesterol accumulation, and regulates anti-inflammatory activities in an apoA-I- or ANXA1-dependent manner. The latter activity occurs by mediating the efflux of ANXA1, which plays a critical role in anti-inflammatory effects, cholesterol transport, exosome and microparticle secretion, and apoptotic cell clearance. ApoA-I increases ANXA1 expression via the ERK, p38MAPK, AKT, and PKC pathways. ApoA-I regulates the signaling pathways by binding to ABCA1, suggesting that apoA-I increases ANXA1 expression by binding to ABCA1. Furthermore, ANXA1 may increase ABCA1 expression. ANXA1 increases PPARγ expression by modulating STAT6 phosphorylation. PPARγ also increases ANXA1 expression by binding to the promoter of ANXA1. Therefore, ABCA1, PPARγ, and ANXA1 may form a feedback loop and regulate each other. Interestingly, the ANXA1 needs to be externalized to the cell membrane or secreted into the extracellular fluids to exert its anti-inflammatory properties. ABCA1 transports ANXA1 from the cytoplasm to the cell membrane by regulating lipidization and serine phosphorylation, thereby mediating ANXA1 efflux, likely by promoting microparticle and exosome release. The direct role of ABCA1 expression and ANXA1 release in atherosclerosis has been unclear. In this review, we focus on the role of ANXA1 in atheroprogression and its novel interaction with ABCA1, which may be useful for providing basic knowledge for the development of novel therapeutic targets for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.

Objective: To evaluate the performance of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) for predicting Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) drug resistance. Methods: 276 rifampin-resistance tuberculosis (RR-TB) and 30 rifampicin-sensitive clinical isolates were randomly selected from patients with tuberculosis in Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital (SPH). Phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (DST) against six anti-TB drugs was performed, and WGS was used to predict the drug resistance using an online ‘TB-Profiler’ tool. Results: Using phenotypic susceptibility as the gold standard, the overall sensitivities and specificities for WGS were 94.53% and 92.00% for isoniazid, 97.10% and 100.00% for rifampicin, 97.46% and 64.36% for ethambutol, 97.14% and 95.83% or streptomycin, 93.02% and 98.87% for ofloxacin, and 75.00% and 100.00% for amikacin, respectively. The concordances of WGS-based DST and phenotypic DST were: isoniazid (94.12%), rifampicin (97.39%), ethambutol (77.12%), streptomycin (96.73%), ofloxacin (96.41%) and amikacin (97.06%). Conclusions: WGS could be a promising approach to predict resistance to isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, streptomycin, ofloxacin, and amikacin.

Abstract Background Vibrio alginolyticus is an important pathogen that has to be closely monitored and controlled in the mariculture industry because of its strong pathogenicity, quick onset after infection and high mortality rate in aquatic animals. Fast, simple and specific methods are needed for on-site detection to effectively control outbreaks and prevent economic losses. The detection specificity towards the pathogenic strains has to be emphasized to facilitate pointed treatment and prevention. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based molecular approaches have been developed, but their application is limited due to the requirement of complicated thermal cycling machines and trained personnel. Results A fast, simple and highly specific detection method for V. alginolyticus pathogenic strains was established based on isothermal recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) and lateral flow dipsticks (LFD). The method targeted the virulence gene toxR, which is reported to have good coverage for V. alginolyticus pathogenic strains. To ensure the specificity of the method, the primer-probe set of the RPA system was carefully designed to recognize regions in the toxR gene that diverge in different Vibrio species but are conserved in V. alginolyticus pathogenic strains. The primer-probe set was determined after a systematic screening of amplification performance, primer-dimer formation and false positive signals. The RPA-LFD method was confirmed to have high specificity for V. alginolyticus pathogenic strains without any cross reaction with other Vibrio species or other pathogenic bacteria and was able to detect as little as 1 colony forming unit (CFU) per reaction without DNA purification, or 170 fg of genomic DNA, or 6.25 × 103 CFU/25 g in spiked shrimp without any enrichment. The method finishes detection within 30 min at temperatures between 35 °C and 45 °C, and the visual signal on the dipstick can be directly read by the naked eye. In an application simulation, randomly spiked shrimp homogenate samples were 100% accurately detected. Conclusions The RPA-LFD method developed in this study is fast, simple, highly specific and does not require complicated equipment. This method is applicable for on-site detection of V. alginolyticus pathogenic strains for the mariculture industry.

Abstract Background Xpert MTB/RIF (Xpert) is an automated molecular test recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) for diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). This study evaluated the effect of Xpert implementation on the detection of pulmonary TB (PTB) and rifampicin-resistant TB (RR-TB) cases in Shanghai, China. Methods Xpert was routinely implemented in 2018 for all presumptive PTB patients. All PTB patients above 15 years-old identified within the Provincial TB Control Program during the first half of each of 2017 and 2018, were enrolled to compare the difference in proportions of bacteriological confirmation, patients with drug susceptibility test (DST) results for rifampicin (ie, DST coverage) and RR-TB detection before and after Xpert’s implementation. Results A total of 6047 PTB patients were included in the analysis with 1691 tested by Xpert in 2018. Percentages of bacteriological confirmation, DST coverage and RR-TB detection in 2017 and 2018 were 50% vs. 59%, 36% vs. 49% and 2% vs. 3%, respectively (all p-values

Geometric feature acts as an important role in point cloud shape classification tasks. Previous methods have proved that the geometric information of point clouds effectively improves the classification accuracy. Mo-Net firstly introduced geometric moments into point cloud shape classification, which, to fit the form of second order geometric moments, extends the number of input channels from three to nine. Unfortunately, similar to PointNet, Mo-Net cannot capture the local structures. To address this issue, we propose a graph geometric moments convolution neural network (GGM-Net), which learns local geometric features from geometric moments representation of a local point set. The core module of the GGM-Net is to learn features from geometric moments (termed as GGM convolution). Specifically, the GGM convolution learns point features and local features from the first and second order geometric moments of points and its local neighbors, respectively, and then combines these features by using an addition operation. In this way, a geometrical local representation about points is obtained, which leads to much surface geometry awareness and robustness. Equipped with the GGM convolution, GGM-Net, a simple end-to-end architecture, is developed to achieve a competitive accuracy on the benchmark dataset ModelNet40 and perform more efficiently in terms of memory and computational complexity.

As one promising solution, digital watermarking has been proposed to resolve image copyright protection and content authentication, and has been applied successfully in many fields. Owing to their excellent description capability and invariance property, statistical models have become a popular tool for the image watermarking resulting in favorable trade-offs among imperceptibility, robustness and data payload. By modeling the robust undecimated dual tree complex Wavelet transform (UDTCWT) coefficient magnitudes with the Weibull mixtures based vector hidden Markov trees (HMT) and employing maximum likelihood (ML) test criterion, we propose a new image watermarking approach in UDTCWT domain in this paper. Our image watermarking approach consists of two parts, namely, embedding and extracting. In the embedding process, we compute the robust UDTCWT coefficient magnitudes with UDTCWT domain real/imaginary parts, and insert the digital watermark into the significant UDTCWT coefficient magnitude subband. In the extracting phase, robust UDTCWT coefficient magnitudes are firstly modeled by employing the Weibull mixture-based vector HMT, where the statistical properties of UDTCWT magnitudes are captured accurately. Then the expectation/conditional maximization (ECM) approach is introduced to estimate the statistical model parameters. Finally, an image watermark decoder for multiplicative watermarking is developed using the Weibull mixtures based vector HMT and ML test. The experiments show that the proposed method not only improves the imperceptibility, but also increases the robustness performance and outperforms state-of-the-art methods on a set of standard test images.

Nanotubes were prepared by self-assembly of the copolymer using co-solvent evaporation method. The biocompatibility of the nanotubes was assessed in comparison with spherical micelles and filomicelles prepared from poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PEG-PLGA) and poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(L-lactide) (PEG-PLA), respectively. Several aspects of biocompatibility of the aggregates were considered, including agar diffusion and MTT assay, release of cytokines, hemolysis, protein adsorption, dynamic clotting in vitro, and Zebrafish embryonic compatibility in vivo. The nanotubes present good cell compatibility and blood compatibility in vitro, and almost no toxicity towards Zebrafish embryos development in vivo. Furthermore, dual-loading of hydrophilic cisplatin and hydrophobic paclitaxel was achieved in the nanotubes with high loading content and loading efficiency. The release of both drugs was slower from dual-loaded nanotubes than from single-loaded ones, but the total amount of released drugs in higher for dual-loaded nanotubes than from single-loaded ones. Cellular uptake and inhibition tests showed that the nanotubes were successfully taken up by tumor cells and effectively inhibited cell growth. It is thus concluded that PEG-PLA-PEG nanotubes with outstanding biocompatibility could be promising for co-delivery of hydrophilic and hydrophobic agents in combination cancer therapy. Keywords: Nanotubes, Block copolymer, Combination cancer therapy, Biocompatibility, Drug delivery

Comparison of defect formation in tungsten samples exposed only to a helium plasma and those exposed to both helium plasma and subsequent deuterium plasmas is performed via Doppler broadening spectroscopy in the positron annihilation technique (DBS-PA). The S parameters of tungsten samples after helium plasma exposure increased with the increase of the incident fluence, which indicates that low energy helium plasma could induce the formation of defects such as nano-sized helium bubbles and dislocations in tungsten. The S parameters of samples exposed to helium incident fluence of 7.9 × 1021 He/m2 enhanced after deuterium plasmas exposure, indicating that low energy deuterium plasmas could form defects in tungsten too. Unexpectedly, deuterium plasmas exposure did not significantly influence the S parameters of the tungsten sample with helium incident fluence of 3.9 × 1022 He/m2, and reduced the S parameters of the tungsten sample with helium incident fluence of 7.9 × 1022 He/m2. These variations of S parameters could be associated with the occupation of nano-sized helium bubbles by deuterium atoms. This indicates possible competition between the increased density of vacancy-type defects by deuterium plasmas exposure and the filling of nano-sized helium bubbles by deuterium atoms, reducing detectability of these defects.

Background: By investigating the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among residents during a period of low transmission, this study reflects the long-term impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and identify which categories of residents are more likely to develop PTSD due to an acute infectious disease crisis, facilitating the development of targeted strategies to protect mental health after outbreaks of similar acute infectious diseases in the future.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in China from 4 to 26 February 2021. A convenience sampling strategy was adopted to recruit participants. Participants were asked to complete the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). A multivariable linear stepwise regression analysis model was used to identify which factors were associated with PTSD in residents of China.Results: A total of 2,361 Chinese residents completed the questionnaire. The mean PCL-5 score for the respondents was 13.65 (SD = 8.66), with 219 (9.28%) patients having probable PTSD symptoms. Respondents who were female (β = 0.038), had a relative or friend who had contracted COVID-19 (β = 0.041), and had poor health (β = 0.184) had higher PCL-5 scores, while the population aged over 60 years (β = −0.063), who agreed that COVID-19 information was released in a timely manner (β = −0.347), who had experienced a relatively limited impact of COVID-19 on their life (β = −0.069), and who agreed that the local prevention initiatives were sophisticated (β = −0.165) had lower PTSD scores.Conclusions: Outbreaks of acute infectious diseases can have long-term psychological health effects in the general population. In addition, health policy makers need to be concerned about and implement measures to support the mental health of vulnerable groups.

Bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ) is a severe side effect of long-term administration of bisphosphonates such as zoledronic acid (ZA), but its pathogenesis remains unclear. Impairment of the clearance of apoptotic cells (termed “efferocytosis”) by ZA may be associated with the pathogenesis of BRONJ. The aim of this study was to investigate whether ZA might inhibit macrophage efferocytosis and promote osteocytic apoptosis, and the underlying mechanisms responsible for the disturbing balance between clean and generation of osteocytic apoptosis. We found that ZA significantly promoted the apoptosis of osteocyte and pre-osteoblast via BRONJ mouse models and in vitro MC3T3-E1 but also inhibited the efferocytosis of macrophage on apoptotic cells. Moreover, supplement with geranylgeraniol (GGOH), a substrate analog for geranylgeranylation of Rac1, could restore Rac1 homeostasis and rescue macrophage efferocytosis. GGOH partially inhibits MC3T3-E1 apoptosis induced by ZA via downregulation of Rac1/JNK pathway. We also examined the Rac1 distribution and activation conditions in bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) and MC3T3-E1 under ZA treatment, and we found that ZA impaired Rac1 migration to BMDM membrane, leading to round appearance with less pseudopodia and efferocytosis inhibition. Moreover, ZA simultaneously activated Rac1, causing overexpression of P-JNK and cleaved caspase 3 in MC3T3-E1. Finally, the systemic administration of GGOH decreased the osteocytic apoptosis and improved the bone healing of the extraction sockets in BRONJ mouse models. Taken together, our findings provided a new insight and experimental basis for the application of GGOH in the treatment of BRONJ.

Background: As more and more countries enter the low-transmission phase, maintaining prevention awareness among the population is critical to prevent a secondary outbreak. With large-scale interpersonal communication, whether Chinese residents can maintain a high awareness of prevention and control and adhere to the use of masks during the Chinese New Year of 2021 is worth studying.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in China from February 4 to 26, 2021. A convenient sampling strategy was adopted to recruit participators. Participants were asked to fill out the questions that assessed the questionnaire on face mask use. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the mask-wearing behaviors of the public. A binary logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the risk factors affecting mask-wearing behaviors.Results: A total of 2,361 residents filled out the questionnaire. In the mixed-effect logistic regression analysis, Chinese residents who were older (OR = 7.899, 95%CI = 4.183–14.916), employed (OR = 1.887, 95%CI = 1.373–2.594), had a chronic disease (OR = 1.777, 95%CI = 1.307–2.418), reused face masks (OR = 22.155, 95%CI = 15.331–32.016) and have read the face mask instructions (OR = 3.552, 95%CI = 1.989–6.341) were more likely to use face masks in interpersonal communication during the Spring Festival; while people who have breathing discomfort caused by face masks (OR = 0.556, 95%CI = 0.312–0.991) and considered that using masks repeatedly is wasteful (OR = 0.657, 95%CI = 0.482–0.895) were more unlikely to use face masks.Conclusions: Our results revealed that 83.86% of people wore face masks during the Chinese New Year; however, some aspects require further promotion. By investigating the use of masks by Chinese residents during the Spring Festival and its influencing factors, we can reflect the prevention awareness of the residents during the low transmission period of COVID-19, which can provide a reference for Chinese and global public health policymakers.

Background: Burnout is considered a global problem, particularly in the emergency health sector; however, no large-sample cross-sectional study has assessed the prevalence of burnout among emergency physicians and its associated factors.Methods: A nationally representative cross-sectional survey of 15,243 emergency physicians was conducted in 31 provinces across China between July and September 2019. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to identify correlates of burnout.Results: The participants' mean scores were 25.8 (SD = 15.9) on the emotional exhaustion (EE) subscale, 8.1 (SD = 7.9) on the depersonalization (DP) subscale, and 26.80 (SD = 12.5) on the personal accomplishment (PA) subscale, indicating a pattern of moderate EE, moderate DP, and high PA. The results of the large-sample survey found that 14.9% of emergency physicians had a high level of burnout in China, with 46.8% scoring high for EE, 24.1% scoring high for DP, and 60.5% having a high risk of low PA. Having poor self-perceived health status and sleep quality, working in developed regions and governmental hospitals, having an intermediate professional title, experiencing depression, performing shift work and experiencing workplace violence made emergency physicians more likely to experience occupational burnout.Conclusion: Positive measures should be taken to reduce the burnout of emergency physicians and improve their work enthusiasm to maintain the quality of emergency medical services.

The disrupted organisation of the ryanodine receptors (RyR) and junctophilin (JPH) is thought to underpin the transverse tubule (t-tubule) remodelling in a failing heart. Here, we assessed the nanoscale organisation of these two key proteins in the failing human heart. Recently, an advanced feature of the t-tubule remodelling identified large flattened t-tubules called t-sheets, that were several microns wide. Previously, we reported that in the failing heart, the dilated t-tubules up to ~1 μm wide had increased collagen, and we hypothesised that the t-sheets would also be associated with collagen deposits. Direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM), confocal microscopy, and western blotting were used to evaluate the cellular distribution of excitation-contraction structures in the cardiac myocytes from patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDCM) compared to myocytes from the non-failing (NF) human heart. The dSTORM imaging of RyR and JPH found no difference in the colocalisation between IDCM and NF myocytes, but there was a higher colocalisation at the t-tubule and sarcolemma compared to the corbular regions. Western blots revealed no change in the JPH expression but did identify a ~50% downregulation of RyR (p = 0.02). The dSTORM imaging revealed a trend for the smaller t-tubular RyR clusters (~24%) and reduced the t-tubular RyR cluster density (~35%) that resulted in a 50% reduction of t-tubular RyR tetramers in the IDCM myocytes (p < 0.01). Confocal microscopy identified the t-sheets in all the IDCM hearts examined and found that they are associated with the reticular collagen fibres within the lumen. However, the size and density of the RyR clusters were similar in the myocyte regions associated with t-sheets and t-tubules. T-tubule remodelling is associated with a reduced RyR expression that may contribute to the reduced excitation-contraction coupling in the failing human heart.

Due to their excellent physical properties, graphene oxide quantum dots (GOQDs) are widely used in various fields, especially biomedicine. However, due to the short study period, their biosafety and potential genotoxicity to human and animal cells are not well elucidated. In this study, the adsorption of GOQDs with different concentrations and oxidation degrees on DNA was investigated using a molecular dynamics simulation method. The toxicity to DNA depended on the interaction mechanism that GOQDs adsorbed on DNA fragments, especially in the minor groove of DNA. When the number of the adsorbed GOQDs in the minor groove of DNA is small, the GOQD inserts into the interior of the base pair. When there are more GOQDs in the minor groove of DNA, the base pairs at the adsorption sites of DNA unwind directly. This interaction way damaged the double helix structure of DNA seriously. We also compare the different functional groups of -1COOH. The results show that the interaction energy between 1COOH-GQD and DNA is stronger than that between 1OH-GQD and DNA. However, the damage to DNA is the opposite. These findings deepen our understanding of graphene nanotoxicity in general.

The Hydrus-1D model is widely used for soil water content (SWC) simulations, wherein the exact configuration of soil hydraulic parameters is key to accuracy. To assess the feasibility of using “low-cost” multi-source remote sensing data to optimize the parameters of the Hydrus-1D model, five types of soil hydrodynamic parameter acquisition methods were designed for comparative evaluation, including the use of default parameters for soil texture types (DSHP), predictions from three and five soil mechanical composition parameters (NNP3/NNP5), inverse solutions from measured historical data (ISHD), and innovative introduction of historical remote sensing data (ERA-5 land reanalysis information and MODIS LAI products) instead of ground measured data for the inverse solution (ISRS). Two spring maize crops were planted in Beijing, China, in 2021 and 2022. Meteorological, soil, and crop data were collected as real measurements of the true values during the growth period. The boundary flux characteristics of the model simulation results were analyzed. The accuracy differences in the five approaches were compared from three perspectives: overall root zone, growth stage, and soil depth. The results showed that (1) evapotranspiration was the main pathway for soil water depletion in the root zone of maize; the actual total evapotranspiration accounted for 68.26 and 69.43% of the total precipitation in 2012 and 2022, respectively. (2) The accuracy of the SWC simulations in the root zone was acceptable for different approaches in the following order: NNP5 (root mean squared error (RMSE) = 5.47%) > ISRS (RMSE = 5.48%) > NNP3 (RMSE = 5.66%) > ISHD (RMSE = 5.68%) > DSHP (RMSE = 6.57%). The ISRS approach based on remote sensing data almost achieved the best performance while effectively reducing the workload and cost. (3) The accuracy of the SWC simulation at different growth stages was ranked as follows: seedling stage (mean absolute error (MAE) = 3.29%) > tassel stage (MAE = 4.68%) > anthesis maturity stage (MAE = 5.52%). (4) All approaches’ simulation errors exhibited a decreasing trend with increasing soil depth. The ISHD approach, based on the measured data, achieved the best performance at a depth of 60 cm (MAE = 2.8%). The Hydrus-1D model optimized using multi-source remote sensing data can effectively simulate SWC in the maize root zone with low working cost, which is significant for applications in areas where it is difficult to obtain field soil hydrodynamic property parameters to simulate SWC at a global scale.

Band selection (BS) is an effective pre-processing way to reduce the redundancy of hyperspectral data. Specifically, the band prioritization (BP) criterion plays an essential role since it can judge the importance of bands from a particular perspective. However, most of the existing methods select bands according to a single criterion, leading to incomplete band evaluation and insufficient generalization against different data sets. To address this problem, this work proposes a multi-criteria-based band selection (MCBS) framework, which innovatively treats BS as a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. First, a decision matrix is constructed based on several typical BPs, so as to evaluate the bands from different focuses. Then, MCBS defines the global positive and negative idea solutions and selects bands according to their relative closeness to these solutions. Since each BP has a different capability to discriminate the bands, two weight estimation approaches are developed to adaptively balance the contributions of various criteria. Finally, this work also provides an extended version of MCBS, which incorporates the subspace partition strategy to reduce the correlation of the selected bands. In this paper, the classification task is used to evaluate the performance of the selected band subsets. Extensive experiments on three public data sets verify that the proposed method outperforms other state-of-the-art methods.

Ginkgo biloba L., as one of the oldest tree species, is a very important medicinal plant due to the metabolites in its leaves. To explore the variations and genetic regulation of leaf phenotypic traits, 321 samples from 12 ancient populations in the major distribution areas in China were collected for the leaf morphometric analysis, and 126 samples from 9 ancient populations were used for the genome-wide association study (GWAS) of leaf traits. The results showed that the leaf weight (fresh weight and dry weight) and size (areas) varied greatly, while the length:width ratio (LWR) was stable. There were significant differences in leaf traits among different ancient populations (p < 0.01), and population ZJ from eastern China—with a greater leaf weight and size—was ideal for leaf production. Leaf thickness (LT) showed correlations with altitude, longitude and frost-free period, while LWR had a correlation with altitude (p < 0.05). However, the correlations between environmental factors and leaf traits were weak, which may be related to the origin of populations and human activities. A GWAS revealed that 29 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) loci and 112 candidate genes related to leaf traits, and Gb_04106, which is related to auxin, may be involved in the genetic regulation of LT. It is speculated that environmental factors may induce leaf morphology of G. biloba by affecting the accumulation of secondary metabolites. The results of this study may provide a theoretical basis for studying the variation pattern and genetic regulation of leaf phenotypes.

As a zero-dimensional (0D) nanomaterial, graphene quantum dot (GQD) has a unique physical structure and electrochemical properties, which has been widely used in biomedical fields, such as bioimaging, biosensor, drug delivery, etc. Its biological safety and potential cytotoxicity to human and animal cells have become a growing concern in recent years. In particular, the potential DNA structure damage caused by GQD is of great importance but still obscure. In this study, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was used to investigate the adsorption behavior and the structural changes of single-stranded (ssDNA) and double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) on the surfaces of GQDs with different sizes and oxidation. Our results showed that ssDNA can strongly adsorb and lay flat on the surface of GQDs and graphene oxide quantum dots (GOQDs), whereas dsDNA was preferentially oriented vertically on both surfaces. With the increase of GQDs size, more structural change of adsorbed ssDNA and dsDNA could be found, while the size effect of GOQD on the structure of ssDNA and dsDNA is not significant. These findings may help to improve the understanding of GQD biocompatibility and potential applications of GQD in the biomedical field.

Background: Home quarantine is an important strategy to contain the mass spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. However, there are a dearth of studies on the prevalence and risk factors of home quarantine strategy implementation among residents. This study aims to assess the state of home quarantine strategy implementation among Chinese residents, which could provide a reference for quarantine policymakers around the world during the pandemic.Method: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 3,398 residents in China by adopting a convenience sampling strategy. We measured the prevalence and risk factors of home quarantine strategy implementation with the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC 10), and Perceived Social Support Scale (PSSS). A multivariable model was used to determine the factors associated with home quarantine strategy implementation.Results: A total of 2,936 (86.4%) respondents carried out home quarantine. There were some factors significantly associated with home quarantine strategy implementation among Chinese residents during the COVID-19 outbreak. Respondents who were male, lived in western and central China, were aware of the primary symptoms of COVID-19, were willing to accept recommendations on relevant protective measures, understood local quarantine measures, had better resilience, and had better social support were more likely to engage in home quarantine. Respondents who were married, were employed, were healthy, and had high depression scores were more likely to refuse to follow home quarantine guidance.Conclusions: Gender, region, marital status, employment status, health status, awareness of the primary symptoms of COVID-19, willingness to accept recommendations on relevant protective measures, understanding of local quarantine measures, depression, psychological resilience, and perceived social support were the main factors affecting the implementation of residents' home quarantine strategy. Health service policymakers should adopt relevant measures to improve the prevalence of home quarantine strategy implementation among residents during the pandemic.

Background: The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has contributed to depression and anxiety among the general population in China. The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of these psychological problems among Chinese adults during the period of low transmission, which could reflect the long-term depression and anxiety of the COVID-19 outbreak.Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in China from 4 to 26 February 2021. Convenient sampling strategy was adopted to recruit participators. Participants were asked to filled out the questions that assessed questionnaire on the residents’ depression and anxiety.Results: A total of 2,361 residents filled out the questionnaire. The mean age was 29.72 years (SD = 6.94) and majority of respondents were female (60.10%). Among the respondents, 421 (17.83%), 1470 (62.26%), and 470 (19.91%) were from eastern, central, and western China, respectively. 1704 (72.17%) consented COVID-19 information has been disclosed timely. 142 (6.01%) and 130 (5.51%) patients suffered from depression and anxiety symptoms. Furthermore, some influencing factors were found, including marital status, place of residence, employment status.Conclusion: This study revealed that anxiety and depression still are potential depression and anxiety for some residents, which suggested early recognition and initiation of interventions during the period of low transmission is still indispensable.

Periodontitis is closely related to oral cancer, but the molecular mechanism of periodontal pathogens involved in the occurrence and development of oral cancer is still inconclusive. Here, we demonstrate that, in vitro, the cell proliferation ability and S phase cells of the periodontitis group (colonized by Porphyromonas gingivalis and Fusobacterium nucleatum, P+) significantly increased, but the G1 cells were obviously reduced. The animal models with an in situ oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and periodontitis-associated bacteria treatment were constructed, and micro-CT showed that the alveolar bone resorption of mice in the P+ group (75.3 ± 4.0 μm) increased by about 53% compared with that in the control group (48.8 ± 1.3 μm). The tumor mass and tumor growth rate in the P+ group were all higher than those in the blank control group. Hematoxylin–eosin (H&E) staining of isolated tumor tissues showed that large-scale flaky necrosis was found in the tumor tissue of the P+ group, with lots of damaged vascular profile and cell debris. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) of isolated tumor tissues showed that the expression of Ki67 and the positive rate of cyclin D1 were significantly higher in tumor tissues of the P+ group. The qRT-PCR results of the expression of inflammatory cytokines in oral cancer showed that periodontitis-associated bacteria significantly upregulated interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-18, apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a CARD (ASC) (up to six times), and caspase-1 (up to four times), but it downregulated nuclear factor (NF)-κB, NOD-, LRR- and pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3), and IL-1β (less than 0.5 times). In addition, the volume of spleen tissue and the number of CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and CD206+ macrophages in the P+ group increased significantly. IHC and Western blotting in tumor tissues showed that expression levels of γ-H2AX, p-ATR, RPA32, CHK1, and RAD51 were upregulated, and the phosphorylation level of CHK1 (p-chk1) was downregulated. Together, we identify that the periodontitis-related bacteria could promote tumor growth and proliferation, initiate the overexpressed NLRP3, and activate upstream signal molecules of ATR-CHK1. It is expected to develop a new molecular mechanism between periodontitis-related bacteria and OSCC.

Background: Policymakers must promote the development of public health education and human resources. As a feature of the political environment, public opinion is essential for policy-making, but virtually the attitudes of Chinese citizens toward human resources development in public health is unknown.Methods: This study conducted a crosssectional survey from February 4, 2021 to February 26, 2021 in China. We adopted a convenient sampling strategy to recruit participators. Participants filled out the questions, which assess the attitudes of the expanding public health professionals. A logistic regression analysis was given to identify the predictors associated with the attitudes of the subjects.Results: There were 2,361 residents who have finished our questionnaire. Chinese residents who lived in urban (OR = 1.293, 95% CI = 1.051–1.591), “themselves or relatives and friends have participated in relevant epidemic prevention work” (OR = 1.553, 95% CI = 1.160–2.079), “themselves or family members engaged in medical-related work” (OR = 1.468, 95% CI = 1.048–2.056), and those who “were aware of public health before the outbreak of COVID-19” (OR = 1.428, 95% CI = 1.125–1.812) were more likely to support the promotion of public health education and training.Conclusions: The present study found that 74.50% of Chinese citizens supported the promotion of public health education and training in China, in which economic status, personal perception, and comprehension are the crucial factors that influence public opinion. COVID-19 has aroused the attention of Chinese residents to public health education, with only 22.11% of residents being aware of public health before the outbreak of COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic has profound implications for human society. Literally, this impact will feed back into future public health policies based on public opinion. This innovative perspective will also help us better understand the potential social impact of COVID-19 on human resources and development for health in the modern world.

Thrombocytopenia is closely linked with hemorrhagic diseases, for which induction of thrombopoiesis shows promise as an effective treatment. Polyphenols widely exist in plants and manifest antioxidation and antitumour activities. In this study, we investigated the thrombopoietic effect and mechanism of 3,3′,4′-trimethylellagic acid (TMEA, a polyphenol in Sanguisorba officinalis L.) using in silico prediction and experimental validation. A KEGG analysis indicated that PI3K/Akt signalling functioned as a crucial pathway. Furthermore, the virtual molecular docking results showed high-affinity binding (a docking score of 6.65) between TMEA and mTOR, suggesting that TMEA might target the mTOR protein to modulate signalling activity. After isolation of TMEA, in vitro and in vivo validation revealed that this compound could promote megakaryocyte differentiation/maturation and platelet formation. In addition, it enhanced the phosphorylation of PI3K, Akt, mTOR, and P70S6K and increased the expression of GATA-1 and NF-E2, which confirmed the mechanism prediction. In conclusion, our findings are the first to demonstrate that TMEA may provide a novel therapeutic strategy that relies on the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway to facilitate megakaryocyte differentiation and platelet production.

Summary: Although angiogenesis-osteogenesis coupling is important in ankylosing spondylitis (AS), therapeutic agents targeting the vasculature remain elusive. Here, we identified activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6) as an important regulator of angiogenesis in the pathogenesis of AS. First, we found that ATF6 and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) levels were higher in SKG mice and in cartilage of pateints with AS1. The proangiogenic activity of human chondrocytes was enhanced by the activation of the ATF6-FGF2 axis following 7 days of stimulation with inflammatory factors, e.g., tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interferon-γ (IFN-γ) or interleukin-17 (IL-17). Mechanistically, ATF6 interacted with the FGF2 promotor and promoted its transcription. Treatment with the ATF6 inhibitor Ceapin-A7 inhibited angiogenesis in vitro and angiogenesis-osteogenesis coupling in vivo. ATF6 may aggravate angiogenesis-osteogenesis coupling during AS by mediating FGF2 transcription in chondrocytes, implying that ATF6 represents a promising therapeutic target for AS.

Background: To evaluate the condition of antiviral therapy (ART) for individuals infected HIV-1 in Suqian district of Jiangsu Province, China. Methods: Altogether, 561 HIV-positive patients who received antiviral therapy in Suqian district in 2019 were recruited. EDTA anticoagulated blood was collected and separated to obtain the plasma samples. Viral load (VL) were tested for evaluating the outcome of ART. Then samples with VL beyond 1000IU/mL were used to conduct the molecular test in order to master the characters of HIV-1 and the prevalence of resistance strains. Results: VL results showed that the virus in 91.1% of the patients who received continuous antiviral treatment for more than 6 months were effectively inhibited (VL ≤ 1000 IU / ml). Among the 50 patients who failed in the treatment, 46 HIV-1 pol gene sequences were obtained, and the positive rate was 92.0%. The most prevalent strain was CRF_ 07bc (32.6%), and new epidemic strains, such as 67_01B、79_0107、87_cpx, were popular in this district. Drug resistance test results showed that 56.5% of the patients failed in antiviral treatment due to drug resistance, mainly resistant to the national first-line antiviral drug 3TC. Drug-resistant strains were not found in 43.5% of the patients. Conclusion: ART achieved a satisfied result in Suqian district, but the main cause resulting in ART-failure was resistant, so it is very necessary to enhance the education of adherence prior to the initiation of ART.

As one of the most important water conservancy projects, reservoirs use water resources to achieve essential functions, such as irrigation, flood control, and power generation, by intercepting rivers. As climate extremes and global warming increase, the world’s water reserves are being tested, and reservoir operators are being challenged. This paper investigates the optimal allocation of shared resources for hydropower to achieve rational decisions for reservoir operations. Firstly, a power resource model is constructed based on the real hydroelectric generator theory. Furthermore, based on the established power resource model combined with the influence of weather type and multi-region heterogeneous demand, this paper constructs a multi-objective hydropower shared resource allocation optimization model, with the lowest hydropower resource supply cost and the shortest time hydropower resource supply time as the optimization objectives. Secondly, for the problem that the traditional population intelligence algorithm easily falls into the local optimum when solving complex problems, the improvement of the MOPSO algorithm is completed by introducing the Levy flight strategy and differential evolution. Finally, simulation experiments were carried out, and cutting-edge algorithms, such as the GA algorithm and WOA algorithm, were selected for simulation comparison to verify the effectiveness of the constructed model and algorithm. The simulation results show that the research in this paper can contribute to effective decision-making for reservoir operators and promote intelligent reservoir operation.

Due to improved data collection and processing techniques, forestry surveys are now more efficient and accurate, generating large amounts of forestry data. Forestry Big Data (FBD) has become a critical component of the forestry inventory investigation system. In this study, publications on FBD were identified via the Web of Science database, and a comprehensive bibliometric analysis, network analysis, and analysis of major research streams were conducted to present an overview of the FBD field. The results show that FBD research only began nearly a decade ago but has undergone an upswing since 2016. The studies were mainly conducted by China and the US, and collaboration among authors is relatively fragmented. FBD research involved interdisciplinary integration. Among all the keywords, data acquisition (data mining and remote sensing) and data processing (machine learning and deep learning) received more attention, while FBD applications (forecasting, biodiversity, and climate change) have only recently received attention. Our research reveals that the FBD research is still in the infancy stage but has grown rapidly in recent years. Data acquisition and data processing are the main research fields, whereas FBD applications have gradually emerged and may become the next focus.

This study aimed to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of acipimox in rats under simulated high altitude hypoxia conditions. A sensitive and reliable LC–MS/MS method has been established for the quantitation of acipimox in rat plasma and tissue homogenate and validated according to the guidelines of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Western blotting and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were used to investigate the expression of lipid metabolism-related proteins and free fatty acid (FFA) levels, respectively. Cell viability was detected using a Cell Counting kit-8 assay (CCK-8). The method was then successfully applied in a pharmacokinetic comparison between normoxic and hypoxic rats. The results indicated that there were significant differences in the main pharmacokinetics parameters of acipimox between normoxic and hypoxic rats. HCAR2 expression in the hypoxia group was upregulated compared to that in the normoxia group and the levels of FFA decreased more in the hypoxia group. Under the hypoxia condition, the proliferation of HK2 cells was inhibited with increasing concentrations of acipimox. The results provide important and valuable information for the safety and efficacy of acipimox, which indicated that the dosage of acipimox might be adjusted appropriately during clinical medication in hypoxia.

Triadica sebifera (Linnaeus) Small is a tree species native to China. The seeds of T. sebifera are rich in oil and are widely used in industrial fields. To explore the genetic diversity and genetic differentiation of T. sebifera germplasm resources, 10 pairs of microsatellite markers were applied to 203 samples collected from eight populations. Forty-three alleles were detected. The average expected heterozygosity (He = 0.491) revealed a low level of genetic diversity. The genetic differentiation among T. sebifera populations was low (Fst = 0.026), which might be related to high gene flow (average Nm = 11.151). Genetic distance and structure results further confirmed that the genetic compositions of the eight populations were quite similar. One of the possible reasons for this phenomenon is that the early introduction and cultivation of T. sebifera were common, so gene exchange was frequent among populations. However, UPGMA clustering results indicated that the eight T. sebifera populations could still be divided into three categories. The classification was related to their geographical location: the southwestern group (ZY), central group (HG and XY) and eastern group (LS, HS, LX, XZ and LY). The reason for this differentiation might be severe deforestation following the decline in T. sebifera economic status. In addition, the central XY population had the largest number of rare alleles (4). In conclusion, although T. sebifera germplasm resources had a low level of genetic diversity, several rare alleles were detected in the central populations, which are valuable for breeding. These resources should be conserved to maintain genetic diversity in the T. sebifera populations. Moreover, geographical distances were important reasons for the limited genetic variations among the populations.

In our previous work, a new structure of a microchannel with triangular cavity and rib was proposed to enhance heat transfer. To obtain excellent thermal performance, a multi-objective optimization using Response Surface Methodology (RSM), Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II), and k-mean clustering was performed to obtain a Pareto front. Thirty sets of numerical data were used to optimize design variables (cavity height, rib height, and Reynold number) of objective functions (thermal resistance Rth and pumping power PP). Results showed that compared heat transfer amount in the process, convective heat transfer is the dominant part than heat conduction and heat loss. Four representative solutions obtained by k-means clustering divided the Pareto front into five regions, and the moderate Rth and PP resulted into the best heat transfer characteristics. Temperature difference between fluid and heating wall decreased from 26 K, obtained for the rectangular microchannel, to 17 K, obtained for the optimized one. The best thermal performance of Case 4 (e1 = 0.0572 mm, e2 = 0.0224 mm) was obtained for a thermal enhanced factor of 1.2305 due to good synergy between the velocity field and temperature gradient. Therefore, rational structural designs efficiently improve heat removal ability in limited heat exchange area.