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Gesture recognition has raised wide attention in computer vision owing to its many applications. However, the task of video-based large-scale gesture recognition yet faces many challenges, since many gesture-irrelevant factors like the background may disturb the recognition accuracy. To better recognize gestures with large-scale videos, we propose a method based on RGB-D data in this paper, where the “RGB-D” means RGB and depth data captured simultaneously by specific devices like Kinect. To learn gesture details better, we first use an adaptive frame unification strategy to unify the frame number of inputs, and then the RGB and depth data are sent to the C3D model to extract spatiotemporal features, respectively. In order to alleviate the interference of gesture-irrelevant factors, the saliency theory is also employed to generate auxiliary data. Next the features of these data are combined to boost the performance, which can also avoid unreasonable synthetic data, since the dimension of C3D features is uniform. Finally the performances of several classifiers are tested and the best one of SVM classifier is selected to output the ultimate accuracy. Our approach achieves 52.04% and 59.43% accuracy on the validation and testing subset of the Chalearn LAP IsoGD, respectively, both of which outperform our results in the chalearn LAP Large-scale Gesture Recognition Challenge as reported in ICPR 2016.

Background Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is characterized by a series of emotional, physical and behavioral symptoms. Although PMS is related to dysfunctions of the central nervous system, the neuropathological mechanism of PMS still has not been clearly established. The aim of this study is to evaluate potential differences in both cortical thickness and subcortical volumes in PMS patients compared to healthy controls (HCs). Methods Twenty PMS patients and twenty HCs underwent a structural magnetic resonance imaging scan and clinical assessment. Cortical thickness and subcortical volumes were computed using the FreeSurfer image analysis suite. Relationships between cortical thickness/subcortical volumes and the daily rating of severity of problems (DRSP) score were then measured in patients. Results Compared to HCs, PMS patients exhibited reduced cortical thickness in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and insula, and increased subcortical volumes of the amygdala, thalamus and pallidum. Furthermore, negative correlations were detected between the DRSP and cortical thickness in the anterior cingulate cortex and precuneus. Limitations The study is limited by a small sample size and narrow age range of participants. Conclusions Our findings indicate that the abnormal morphological changes are mainly implicated in emotional regulation and visceral perception in PMS patients. We hope that our study may contribute to a better understanding of PMS.

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are regarded as emerging contaminants related with human activities. Aquatic environments of an urban city are apt for the persistence and prevalence of ARGs. In this study, we investigated the occurrence and distribution of ARGs and integrase genes in the sediment samples collected from drinking water sources, urban rivers, and coastal areas of Zhuhai, China, in the dry and wet seasons of 2016. The results show that sulfonamide resistance gene of sulII was present at the highest detection frequency (85.71%); and its average concentrations were also the highest in both dry and wet seasons (3.78 × 107 and 9.04 × 107 copies/g sediment, respectively), followed by tetC, tetO, tetA, ermB, dfrA1, and blaPSE-1. Temporally, the concentrations of total ARGs in the wet season were likely higher than those in the dry season; and spatially, the concentrations of total ARGs in the drinking water sources were substantially lower than those in the urban rivers and nearby coastal areas, indicating the different degrees of anthropogenic impact and consequent health risks. Positive correlations were found between intI1 and each quantitative ARG in all wet season samples rather than dry season samples, which suggested higher temperature and more rain in summer might have positive influences on ARG dissemination, especially that mediated by intI1 gene and class I integrons.

MicroRNA (miRNA) plays an important role in tumourigenesis and cancer development by regulating oncogenes or tumour suppressor that are implicated in cell cycle, cell mobility and even cell senesce...

Background All known mechanisms of apoptosis induced by resveratrol act through cell cycle arrest and changes in mitochondrial membrane potential. It is currently unknown whether resveratrol-induced apoptosis is associated with other physiological processes, such as autophagy. Methods Apoptosis-related markers involved in the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways, and autophagic markers were detected by using western blotting and immunofluorescence. Mitochondrial membrane potential was assayed by flow cytometry. Pharmaceutical or genetic inhibition of autophagy involved were carried by 3- methyladenine or knockdown of autophagy-related (Atg) genes by siRNA. Differences between two values were tested by Student’s unpaired t test. Results We show that resveratrol-induced apoptosis occurs through both the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways. Mitochondrial membrane potential and apoptosis-related markers, such as an increased Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, and cleaved forms of caspase-8 and caspase-3, arise following resveratrol addition. Moreover, we find that resveratrol increases both the levels of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3-II and the number of autophagosomes, and further demonstrate that resveratrol-induced autophagy depends on the LKB1-AMPK-mTOR pathway. We next reveal that some apoptosis-related markers induced by resveratrol are further attenuated by the inhibition of autophagy with 3-methyladenine or knockdown of autophagy-related (Atg) genes by siRNA. Conclusions These results suggest that resveratrol induced apoptotic cell death of HL-60 cells depends on the autophagy activated through both the LKB1-AMPK and PI3K/AKT-regulated mTOR signaling pathways. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12885-018-4504-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Summary Many contemporary large-scale applications involve building interpretable models linking a large set of potential covariates to a response in a non-linear fashion, such as when the response is binary. Although this modelling problem has been extensively studied, it remains unclear how to control the fraction of false discoveries effectively even in high dimensional logistic regression, not to mention general high dimensional non-linear models. To address such a practical problem, we propose a new framework of ‘model-X’ knockoffs, which reads from a different perspective the knockoff procedure that was originally designed for controlling the false discovery rate in linear models. Whereas the knockoffs procedure is constrained to homoscedastic linear models with n⩾p, the key innovation here is that model-X knockoffs provide valid inference from finite samples in settings in which the conditional distribution of the response is arbitrary and completely unknown. Furthermore, this holds no matter the number of covariates. Correct inference in such a broad setting is achieved by constructing knockoff variables probabilistically instead of geometrically. To do this, our approach requires that the covariates are random (independent and identically distributed rows) with a distribution that is known, although we provide preliminary experimental evidence that our procedure is robust to unknown or estimated distributions. To our knowledge, no other procedure solves the controlled variable selection problem in such generality but, in the restricted settings where competitors exist, we demonstrate the superior power of knockoffs through simulations. Finally, we apply our procedure to data from a case–control study of Crohn's disease in the UK, making twice as many discoveries as the original analysis of the same data.

Broad spectrum absorption of semiconductor photocatalysts is an essential requirement to achieve the best values of solar energy utilization. Here, through precise surface state adjustment, coaxial tri-cubic Ag0/AgCl materials with distinct apparent colours (blue and fuchsia) were successfully fabricated. The reasons for the different colour generation of the Ag0/AgCl materials were investigated by performing corresponding spectrum analysis. It was revealed that Ag0/AgCl-blue and Ag0/AgCl-fuchsia crystals could efficiently boost the photon energy harvesting, spanning from the UV to near-infrared spectral region (250–800 nm), and achieved 2.6 and 5.4 times the wastewater degradation efficiency of AgCl-white. Simultaneously, these two fresh coloured candidates were demonstrated to have preferable photocatalytic CO2 photoreduction capability, with yields of ∼3.6 (Ag0/AgCl-fuchsia) and 2.6 (Ag0/AgCl-blue) times that of AgCl-white. It is expected that this work will provide a beneficial perspective for understanding the solar absorption feature at both the major structure modulation and particular surface state regulation level.

Photocatalytic oxidation of methane into formaldehyde in high yield and selectivity remains a grand challenge due to the ineluctable intermediates. Here, we report that a {001}, {010} and {100} facets modified tungsten trioxide photocatalyst enables an intermediate-free oxidation of methane into formaldehyde with 99.4% selectivity. A durable formaldehyde yield of 4.61 mmol g−1 can be achieved after irradiation for 30 h. Mechanism studies disclose that surface defect and reactive lattice oxygen atom are crucial for the selectivity and productivity promotion. This work provides a valid paradigm for efficient conversion of methane to formaldehyde.

In this work, we successfully constructed a highly efficient Z-scheme ZnIn2S4-NiO/BiVO4 photocatalytic system and reported a breakthrough study that has uncovered the photocatalytic reaction mechanism and pathway of hydrogen (H2) evolution and simultaneous formaldehyde (HCHO) degradation over the as-prepared Z-scheme photocatalytic system. By exploring the effects of oxygen (O2) and pH on the photocatalytic activity of the Z-scheme photocatalytic system, it was found that O2 and alkalinity are necessary for photocatalytic HCHO degradation and H2 production. O2 can boost the oxidation conversion of HCHO into formic acid (HCOOH) and restrain the HCHO polymerization reaction, therefore accelerate the formation of H2 in the reaction system. With the increase of pH value from 4 to 13, the reducibility of HCHO and the electronegativity of catalyst increase, which makes the activity of catalyst system increase. The results provide a new route for the optimization of reaction conditions for simultaneous photocatalytic H2 production and HCHO degradation. Under the optimal conditions (80% of O2, 13 of pH and 1.5 mol·L−1 of HCHO initial concentration), the best H2 production activity and HCHO degradation activity are 2724.89 μmol·h−1 and 17.00 mmol·h−1, respectively. On this basis, the possible pathway and mechanism of photocatalytic H2 production and simultaneous HCHO degradation were proposed, which shed lights on elucidating the reaction path and underlying mechanism for photocatalytic H2 production and pollutant degradation.

Small cell carcinoma (SCC) in the nasal cavity and sinuses is extremely rare. The clinical data of 15 patients with primary SCC in nasal cavity and sinuses were analyzed retrospectively. All patients were treated with surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Of the 15 patients, 2 patients are alive for more than 6 years, and 5 patients died after the median follow-up period (11 months). Most of our patients represent the later stage (73% presented at stage III or IV) and had surgery combined with radiotherapy and chemotherapy; however, nearly half of patients have tumor recurrence and/or distant metastasis. SCC of nasal cavity and sinuses often invades surrounding tissues, and the long-term curative rate is generally low. Early diagnosis and comprehensive treatment are key to improve survival. Although the overall survival time of SCC is not optimistic, it is still recommended that patients take comprehensive treatment.

Small- and medium-sized technology-based enterprises (technology-based SMEs) are an important part of China’s scientific and technological development. To a certain extent, the green technological innovation level of technology-based SMEs plays a significant role in supporting the overall development of social green innovation. Carrying out research on green technology innovation efficiency evaluations of technology-based SMEs is helpful to find existing problems to provide references for managers. Therefore, this paper proposes an evaluation system based on the undesirable slack based model (SBM) and the Malmquist index model. Firstly, the evaluation index system of the green technological innovation efficiency of technology-based SMEs in Hebei Province was constructed from the perspectives of input and output, in which environmental pollution is included in the evaluation factors of green innovation activities. Then, the undesirable SBM and the Malmquist index model of green technology innovation efficiency evaluation were constructed. Finally, the technological innovation efficiency of technology-based SMEs in Hebei Province in different regions and time nodes was comprehensively calculated and combined with the Malmquist index model to analyze the efficiency changes of technology-based SMEs in Hebei Province over different years. The results show that the overall level of green technological innovation efficiency of technology-based SMEs in Hebei Province is low, and the regional differences in various cities are obvious, but the main trend is rising. The research in this paper can further improve the research results in the field of evaluation of technology-based SMEs and technological innovation efficiency, as well as play an important role in improving the ecological competitiveness and sustainable development capabilities of the products of Hebei’s technology-based SMEs.

In order to reduce the energy consumption and improve the economy of air conditioning system, theoretical analysis and energy consumption simulation are used in this paper to explore the adaptability of temperature and humidity independent control (THIC) air-conditioning system in green office buildings. On the basis of the air moisture content and working hours of staff in green office buildings, China was divided into four humidity-hour zones, and several typical cities were selected in each zone for the same building to carry out the analyses of energy consumption simulation and dynamic recovery period of different THIC air conditioning systems in office buildings. The results indicated that in Urumqi, as the representative city of humidity-hour zone I, green office buildings do not suit THIC system; THIC air conditioning system shows obvious advantages over traditional air conditioning in terms of energy saving and economy, and the energy saving rate of the most suitable THIC air conditioning system in Harbin, Beijing and Haikou, as the representative city of humidity-hour zone Ⅱ, zone Ⅲ and zone Ⅳ, reached 28.04%, 24.64%, and 24.42% respectively. Based on the number of humidity-hour, the most suitable THIC air conditioning systems for typical cities in different zone were raised, and a reference for the use of THIC air conditioning system in green office buildings was provided in this paper.

The silver halides and their corresponding composites would constitute remarkable photocatalytic systems not only in energy production but also in environmental remediation. The major advantage in these silver halides system is that plasma metal Ag0 species would be spontaneously generated by silver halides under light irradiation, which play dual roles of expanding light absorption range and charge carriers separation. In this tutorial review, the origin and development of silver halides, synthesis methods, construction of composite structures with other materials, photocatalytic applications, and various and controversial mechanisms are all exhaustively described.

Intestinal protozoan pathogens cause significant diarrhoeal diseases in children. However, to date, there has been limited genetic study of the intestinal pathogens Cryptosporidium, Giardia and Enterocytozoon in humans in China, with the exception of research in a small number of cities/provinces. In the present study, PCR-based tools were used to detect and characterise these protistan parasites from 500 children with a history of diarrhoea in Wuhan and environs, Hubei province, China. Genomic DNAs from faecal samples were screened for the particular protists by PCR utilising regions in the small subunit (SSU) of the nuclear ribosomal RNA, the 60kDa glycoprotein (gp60), the internal transcribed spacer of nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS) and/or the triose phosphate isomerase (tpi) genes as markers. Cryptosporidium meleagridis subtype IIIb (10/500, 2.0%), Giardia duodenalis assemblage A (7/500, 1.4%) and Enterocytozoon bieneusi genotype D (1/500, 0.2%) were identified in small percentages of the 500 samples. No significant gender- or age-associated differences in the prevalence of Cryptosporidium and Giardia infections were found. Future studies might focus on the occurrence of these protists in children as well as animals, with an emphasis on Cryptosporidium meleagridis in pets and agriculturally important birds, in different parts of Hubei province.

Gastric cancer (GC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Oxysterol-binding protein-related protein 8 (ORP8) functions as a sterol sensor that regulates a number of cellular functions. We showed that ORP8 expression was significantly lower in GC tissues and cells. Overexpression of ORP8 significantly inhibited GC cell proliferation in several GC cells. The formation of colonies in AGS cells was inhibited by the overexpression of ORP8. Moreover, overexpression of ORP8 significantly decreased implanted tumor growth in nude mice. Overexpression of ORP8 resulted in a significant increase in CHOP and GRP78 expression and the phosphorylation of PERK, indicating the occurrence of ER stress. Inhibition of ER stress by 4-PBA notably suppressed overexpression of ORP8-induced decrease of GC cell proliferation, formation of colonies, and implanted tumor growth. Overexpression of ORP8 resulted in a significant decrease in Wnt3a and β-catenin expression, and activation of Wnt signaling by HLY78 markedly blocked overexpression of ORP8-induced decrease in GC cell proliferation, formation of colonies, and implanted tumor growth. 4-PBA inhibited overexpression of ORP8-induced decrease in Wnt signaling. Furthermore, overexpression of ORP8 resulted in significant activation of mitochondrial apoptotic events and increase in apoptosis, which was inhibited by 4-PBA and HLY78. Induction of ER stress, inhibition of Wnt signaling, and apoptotic cell death were involved in ORP8-induced inhibition of GC cell proliferation. These findings indicate that downregulation of ORP8 plays a pivotal role in the progression of GC, and it may be a novel therapeutic target in the treatment of GC.

Primary dysmenorrhea (PDM), a common gynecological disorder, is associated with structural and functional alterations in several subregions of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). However, systematic functional connectivity of the ACC subregions in PDM has not been clarified. In this study, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from forty-eight PDM patients and thirty-eight matched female healthy controls to investigate the functional connectivity of ACC subregions in PDM. Compared to healthy controls, PDM patients exhibited increased connectivity between the caudal ACC (cACC) and primary somatosensory cortex (SI), between the perigenual ACC (pACC) and caudate, and between the subgenual ACC (sACC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). PDM patients also showed decreased connectivity between the pACC and precuneus. In PDM group, the connectivity of the right pACC-right caudate positively correlated with disease duration, and the connectivity of the left pACC-left precuneus negatively correlated with disease severity. These present findings reveal that abnormal ACC connectivity may be implicated in the PDM-related disturbances in pain sensory, modulation, and affection. We hope that our study could enhance the understanding of the pathophysiology underlying PDM.

Cisplatin resistance has long been a major problem that restricts its use. A novel paradigm in tumor biology suggests that gastric tumor chemo-resistance is driven by gastric cancer stem cell-like (GCSCs). Growing evidence has indicated that microRNAs (miRNAs) contributes to chemo-resistance in gastric cancer (GC). Here, Lgr5+ cells derived from gastric cancer cell lines displayed stem cell-like features. Flow cytometry demonstrated the presence of a variable fraction of Lgr5 in 19 out of 20 GC specimens. By comparing the miRNA expression profiles of Lgr5+ GCSCs and Lrg5- cells, we established the upregulation of miR-132 in Lgr5+ GCSCs. The enhanced miR-132 expression correlated chemo-resistance in GC patients. Kaplan-Meier survival curve showed that patients with low miR-132 expression survived obviously longer. Functional assays results indicated that miR-132 promoted cisplatin resistance in Lgr5+ GCSCs in vitro and in vivo. Further dual-luciferase reporter gene assays revealed that SIRT1 was the direct target of miR-132. The expression of miR-132 was inversely correlated with SIRT1 in gastric cancer specimens. Furthermore, through PCR array we discovered ABCG2 was one of the downstream targets of SIRT1. Overexpression of SIRT1 down-regulated ABCG2 expression by promoting the de-acetylation of the transcription factor CREB. CREB was further activated ABCG2 via binding to the promoter of ABCG2 to induce transcription. Thus, we concluded that miR-132 regulated SIRT1/CREB/ABCG2 signaling pathway contributing to the cisplatin resistance and might serve as a novel therapeutic target against gastric cancer.

A (k, d)-list assignment L of a graph is a function that assigns to each vertex v a list L(v) of at least k colors satisfying \(|L(x)\cap L(y)|\le d\) for each edge xy. An L-coloring is a vertex coloring \(\pi \) such that \(\pi (v) \in L(v)\) for each vertex v and \(\pi (x) \ne \pi (y)\) for each edge xy. A graph G is (k, d)-choosable if there exists an L-coloring of G for every (k, d)-list assignment L. This concept is known as choosability with separation. In this paper, we will use Thomassen list coloring extension method to prove that planar graphs with neither 6-cycles nor adjacent 4- and 5-cycles are (3, 1)-choosable. This is a strengthening of a result obtained by using Discharging method which says that planar graphs without 5- and 6-cycles are (3, 1)-choosable.

Integration of the contradictory attributes of a well-aligned pore structure and excellent electrical/mechanical properties into graphene-based macroscopic materials perfectly for wearable and portable electronics and energy devices is still a big challenge hitherto. In this study, a simple yet highly efficient reduction and evaporation co-induced self-assembly (RES) method was successfully developed to prepare self-crosslinking Janus graphene films with well-aligned pore and dense shell structures, which endowed the material with excellent electrical conductivity and good mechanical property. Electrochemical studies demonstrate that the graphene films with a thickness of 12.4 μm exhibit an extraordinary volumetric capacitance of 127.7 F cm−3 at a current density of 0.5 mA cm−2, which is superior to that reported in most of the previous studies. The flexible all-solid state supercapacitor based on the Janus graphene films exhibits an ultrahigh energy density of 2.78 mW h cm−3 at 40.3 mW cm−3 as well as a remarkable cycling performance (95.5% of initial capacitance is retained after 10 000 cycles at 2 mA cm−2). The fatigue tests further confirm the preferable flexibility and bending and folding capability of the proposed supercapacitor; these are crucial factors to be considered for further wearable applications. These tough and durable supercapacitor devices connected in series have been successfully well-designed into wearable energy storage systems to power small gadgets such as electronic watches and light-emitting diodes. In addition, the microgels formed during the film preparation process are helpful as microgel films can be engraved into micro-supercapacitor patterns that can work as an integrated photodetection system. This strategy can be potentially applied for the design and fabrication of new flexible and portable graphene-based wearable electronic devices.

In an electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) system, a cathodic H+ resource, an anodic sacrificial agent and a robust catalyst are three essential factors. Industry wastewater emissions, containing high levels of acidity and organic dyes, actually can satisfy the material requirements for the HER. Herein, a new HER method is proposed, taking acidic ions from wastewater as a cathodic resource to produce H2, while organic dye waste acts as an anodic sacrifice to balance the reaction. In such a way, a sustainable H2 energy source can be generated and clean water is obtained as well. For the HER catalyst, low cost and highly efficient graphene supported Fe1−xCoxS2 was synthesized with an onset overpotential of ∼50 mV and it demonstrated impressive HER performance in both practical industry wastewater and analogous wastewater simulations. Besides the cathodic H2 evolution, anodic organic dyes (MO, MB, RhB and industry waste organic dyes) were all entirely decomposed within 8 min, 18 min, 9 min and 4 h under oxidation potentials of ∼1.46, 1.50, 1.47 and 1.40 V. As verified both in practical industry wastewater and wastewater simulations in the laboratory, our approach for integrating the HER and wastewater treatment puts forward an attractive opportunity in energy and environmental research fields.

Objective An amelogenin-derived peptide has been shown to promote remineralization of demineralized enamel in an in vitro model of initial caries induced by pH cycling. The present study examines whether the peptide exerts similar effects within the complex oral environment in vivo. Design Specific pathogen-free Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 36) were infected with Streptococcus mutans, given ad libitum access to Diet 2000 and drinking water supplemented with sucrose (10%, w/v), and then randomly divided into three groups treated with 25 μM peptide solution, 1 g/L NaF or deionized water. Molar teeth were swabbed twice daily with the respective solutions for 24 days. Then animals were killed, their jaws were removed and caries lesions were analyzed using the quantitative light-induced fluorescence-digital (QLF-D) technique to measure changes in mineral content. To verify QLF-D results, caries were scored for lesion depth and size using the Keyes method, and analyzed using polarized light microscopy (PLM). Results Mineral gain was significantly higher in teeth treated with peptide or NaF than in teeth treated with water (p

Crohn’s disease (CD), a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, involved in brain structural and functional changes, including the amygdala. Amygdala is a key structure in the limbic system and its related circuits are implicated in processing of emotion, pain and sensory. However, limited study of the amygdala is elucidated in CD. This study mainly investigated altered functional connectivity (FC) of the amygdala in CD patients during resting-state. Magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired from 42 CD patients and 35 healthy controls (HCs). Whole amygdala bilaterally were selected as regions of interest (ROIs). Voxel-based morphometry and FC methods were applied to investigate the differences of structure or intrinsic connectivity of the amygdala between the two groups, separately. Pearson correlations were performed to explore relationships between the clinical characteristics and neuroimaging findings in CD patients. Based on the whole amygdala bilaterally as ROIs, compared with HCs, CD patients showed no statistical differences of grey matter destiny but exhibited decreased FC between the amygdala and insula, parahippocampus, as well as anterior middle cingulate cortex/dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. CD patients had negative correlation between the disease duration and amygdala-insula connectivity. In the patient group, patients with higher anxiety or depression scores revealed increased FC of the amygdala with thalamus and orbitofrontal cortex. Our results reveal that aberrant FC of the amygdala may be involved in processing of visceral pain and sensation, and emotion in CD. These findings may further enhance the understanding of neural mechanisms of CD.

In this work, a series of δ-MnO

Whole genomic sequencing (WGS) and comparative genomics are increasingly used in the characterization of Cryptosporidium spp. They are facilitated by the establishment of procedures for WGS analysis of clinical specimens without laboratory propagation of pathogens. Results of recent comparative genomics analysis suggest that gene duplication might be associated with broad host ranges of some zoonotic Cryptosporidium species and subtypes, while genetic recombination could be involved in the emergence of virulent subtypes. The availability of WGS data has further facilitated the development of advanced molecular typing tools. The use of these tools together with comparative genomics analyses has begun to improve the investigations of outbreaks in industrialized nations. More WGS data, however, are needed from both industrialized nations and developing countries before we can have in-depth understanding of the population genetics and evolution of Cryptosporidium spp. and genetic determinants of various phenotypic traits in human-pathogenic subtypes.

Root system plays an essential role in water and nutrient acquisition in plants. Understanding the genetic basis of root development will be beneficial for breeding new cultivars with efficient root system to enhance resource use efficiency in maize. Here, the natural variation of 13 root and 3 shoot traits was evaluated in 297 maize inbred lines and genome-wide association mapping was conducted to identify SNPs associated with target traits. All measured traits exhibited 2.02- to 21.36-fold variations. A total of 34 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were detected for 13 traits, and each individual QTL explained 5.7% to 15.9% of the phenotypic variance. Three pleiotropic QTLs involving five root traits were identified, SNP_2_104416607 was associated with lateral root length (LRL), root surface area (RA), root length between 0 and 0.5mm in diameter (RL005), and total root length (TRL), SNP_2_184016997 was associated with RV and RA, and SNP_4_168917747 was associated with LRL, RA and TRL. The expression levels of candidate genes in root QTLs were evaluated by RNA-seq among three long-root lines and three short-root lines. A total of five genes that showed differential expression between the long- and short-root lines were identified as promising candidate genes for the target traits. These QTLs and the potential candidate genes are important source data to understand root development and genetic improvement of root traits in maize.

Propyl gallate (PG) as one of the important synthetic antioxidants is widely used in the prevention of oxidative deterioration of oils during processing and storage. Determination of PG has received extensive concern because of its possible toxic effects on human health. Herein, we report a photoelectrochemical (PEC) sensor based on ZnO nanorods and MoS

Aims We aimed to explore the role of SIRT6 in Insulin resistance (IR). We are the first to investigate on this crucial relationship in an obese mouse model fed on a high-fat diet (HFD) and an IR model based on the mature 3T3-L1-derived adipocytes. Main methods Western blotting (WB) and qPCR analysis were performed to evaluate the SIRT6 protein and mRNA expressions in HFD mice as well as IR cells. Injection of adenovirus encoding SIRT6 gene in HFD mice and transfection of pcDNA3-SIRT6 in IR cells increased the glucose uptake levels and insulin sensitivity. Key findings The positive regulatory effects of SIRT6 on transient receptor potential vallinoid 1 (TRPV1) in IR cells were confirmed by a mechanistic investigation at both protein and mRNA levels. Further, the overexpression of SIRT6 was found to activate the TRPV1/Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) signaling and upregulate the glucose transporter (GLUT) expression at protein and mRNA levels. Additionally, administration of the TRPV1 antagonist, SB-705498 repressed the insulin sensitivity upregulated by SIRT6 overexpression accompanied with the inhibition of CGRP and decrease in GLUT proportions. The results also showed that TRPV1 agonist, Capsaicin boosted the SIRT6-induced glucose uptake, CGRP production, and GLUT4 levels. Significance Overall, SIRT6 was concluded to be involved in the TRPV1-CGRP-GLUT4 signaling axis thus leading to increased glucose uptake and decreased IR in HFD mice and 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Therefore, in terms of obesity and diabetes, SIRT6 is a novel candidate for treating IR.

Many modern big data applications feature large scale in both numbers of responses and predictors. Better statistical efficiency and scientific insights can be enabled by understanding the large-scale response-predictor association network structures via layers of sparse latent factors ranked by importance. Yet sparsity and orthogonality have been two largely incompatible goals. To accommodate both features, in this paper, we suggest the method of sparse orthogonal factor regression (SOFAR) via the sparse singular value decomposition with orthogonality constrained optimization to learn the underlying association networks, with broad applications to both unsupervised and supervised learning tasks, such as biclustering with sparse singular value decomposition, sparse principal component analysis, sparse factor analysis, and spare vector autoregression analysis. Exploiting the framework of convexity-assisted nonconvex optimization, we derive nonasymptotic error bounds for the suggested procedure characterizing the theoretical advantages. The statistical guarantees are powered by an efficient SOFAR algorithm with convergence property. Both computational and theoretical advantages of our procedure are demonstrated with several simulations and real data examples.

Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers among women around the world. However, the underlying mechanism involved in cervical cancer progression is incompletely known. In the present study, we determined the role of glycoprotein nonmetastatic melanoma protein B (GPNMB) in tumorigenesis of cervical cancer. According to the GEO database, we found that GPNMB expression was significantly higher in cervical cancer than in normal cervix epithelium. A similar pattern was observed in GPNMB expression in cultured cervical cancer cells and normal cervical epithelial cells. Compared with the control, GPNMB knockdown significantly decreased the proliferation and migration capacity, but enhanced the apoptosis capacity of SiHa and HeLa cells. Additionally, the activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were aberrantly increased in SiHa and HeLa cells compared with normal cervical epithelial cells, whereas their activities were strongly inhibited by GPNMB siRNA. Furthermore, Wnt/β-catenin signaling was activated by GPNMB in SiHa and HeLa cells. Increased MMP-2/MMP-9 expression was suppressed by Dkk-1, inhibitor of Wnt/β-catenin signaling, while it was enhanced by stimulator BIO. The proliferation, migration, and apoptosis capacity of HeLa cells were found to be affected by Dkk-1 and BIO to different extents. In conclusion, we demonstrated that GPNMB contributed to the tumorigenesis of cervical cancer, at least in part, by regulating MMP-2/MMP-9 activity in tumor cells via activation of canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling. This might be a potential therapeutic target for treating human cervical cancer.

Heterogeneity is often natural in many contemporary applications involving massive data. While posing new challenges to effective learning, it can play a crucial role in powering meaningful scientific discoveries through the integration of information among subpopulations of interest. In this article, we exploit multiple networks with Gaussian graphs to encode the connectivity patterns of a large number of features on the subpopulations. To uncover the underlying sparsity structures across subpopulations, we suggest a framework of large-scale tuning-free heterogeneous inference, where the number of networks is allowed to diverge. In particular, two new tests, the chi-based and the linear functional-based tests, are introduced and their asymptotic null distributions are established. Under mild regularity conditions, we establish that both tests are optimal in achieving the testable region boundary and the sample size requirement for the latter test is minimal. Both theoretical guarantees and the tuning-free property stem from efficient multiple-network estimation by our newly suggested heterogeneous group square-root Lasso for high-dimensional multi-response regression with heterogeneous noises. To solve this convex program, we further introduce a scalable algorithm that enjoys provable convergence to the global optimum. Both computational and theoretical advantages are elucidated through simulation and real data examples. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.

Distance correlation has become an increasingly popular tool for detecting the nonlinear dependence between a pair of potentially high-dimensional random vectors. Most existing works have explored its asymptotic distributions under the null hypothesis of independence between the two random vectors when only the sample size or the dimensionality diverges. Yet its asymptotic null distribution for the more realistic setting when both sample size and dimensionality diverge in the full range remains largely underdeveloped. In this paper, we fill such a gap and develop central limit theorems and associated rates of convergence for a rescaled test statistic based on the bias-corrected distance correlation in high dimensions under some mild regularity conditions and the null hypothesis. Our new theoretical results reveal an interesting phenomenon of blessing of dimensionality for high-dimensional distance correlation inference in the sense that the accuracy of normal approximation can increase with dimensionality. Moreover, we provide a general theory on the power analysis under the alternative hypothesis of dependence, and further justify the capability of the rescaled distance correlation in capturing the pure nonlinear dependency under moderately high dimensionality for a certain type of alternative hypothesis. The theoretical results and finite-sample performance of the rescaled statistic are illustrated with several simulation examples and a blockchain application., Comment: 67 pages

General indirect transformation of methane into formaldehyde is based on methanol as intermediate yet leading to low selectivity. Herein, we report a direct photocatalytic conversion of methane to formaldehyde over gold modified cuboid-shaped tungsten trioxide with exposed (002), (020) and (200) facets containing crystal-O at room temperature (25 °C). Under light irradiation, high spin state crystal-O− ion as a hole can active C H bond in methane and subsequently be consumed to form formaldehyde, then renovated by the addition of oxygen. Isotopic 13CH4 and 18O2 tests reveal that formaldehyde indeed stems from the combination of methane and crystal-O on the exposed (002), (020) and (200) facets. Besides, metallic gold deposited on the surface of cuboid-shaped tungsten trioxide can extract the photoexcited electrons and further enhance the formation of crystal-O− ions. The productivity of formaldehyde over optimized catalyst can reach 7202 μmol g-1 with approximate 100 % selectivity within 24 h reaction time.

Manganese dioxide (MnO2 ) is a promising photo-thermo-electric-responsive semiconductor material for environmental applications, owing to its various favorable properties. However, the unsatisfactory environmental purification efficiency of this material has limited its further applications. Fortunately, in the last few years, significant efforts have been undertaken for improving the environmental purification efficiency of this material and understanding its underlying mechanism. Here, the aim is to summarize the recent experimental and computational research progress in the modification of MnO2 single species by morphology control, structure construction, facet engineering, and element doping. Moreover, the design and fabrication of MnO2 -based composites via the construction of homojunctions and MnO2 /semiconductor/conductor binary/ternary heterojunctions is discussed. Their applications in environmental purification systems, either as an adsorbent material for removing heavy metals, dyes, and microwave (MW) pollution, or as a thermal catalyst, photocatalyst, and electrocatalyst for the degradation of pollutants (water and gas, organic and inorganic) are also highlighted. Finally, the research gaps are summarized and a perspective on the challenges and the direction of future research in nanostructured MnO2 -based materials in the field of environmental applications is presented. Therefore, basic guidance for rational design and fabrication of high-efficiency MnO2 -based materials for comprehensive environmental applications is provided.

Acetonitrile stacking is an online concentration method that is distinctive due to its inclusion of a high proportion of organic solvent in sample matrices. We previously designed a universal methodology for the combination of liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) using acetonitrile stacking and micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) mode, thereby achieving large-volume injection of the diluted LPME extractant and the online concentration. In this report, the methodology was extended to the analysis of highly substituted hydrophobic chlorophenols in wines using diethyl carbonate as the extractant. Additionally, the mechanism of acetonitrile stacking was studied. The results indicated that the combination of LPME and MEKC exhibited good analytical performance: with ∼40-fold concentration by LPME, a 20-cm (33% of the total length) sample plug injection of an eight-fold dilution of diethyl carbonate with the organic solvent-saline solution produced enrichments higher by a factor of 260-791. Limits of qualification ranged from 5.5 to 16.0ng/mL. Acceptable reproducibilities of lower than 1.8% for migration time and 8.6% for peak areas were obtained. A dual stacking mechanism of acetonitrile stacking was revealed, involving transient isotachophoresis plus pH-junction stacking. The latter was associated with a pH shift induced by the presence of acetonitrile. The pseudo-stationary phase (Brij-35) played an important role in reducing the CE running time by weakening the isotachophoretic migration of the analyte ions following Cl(-) ions. The combination of acetonitrile stacking and nonionic micelle-based MEKC appears to be a perfect match for introducing water-immiscible LPME extractants into an aqueous CE system and can thus significantly expand the application of LPME-CE in green analytical chemistry.

A novel high capacity cathode material with a full concentration-gradient (FCG) structure has been successfully synthesized by a modified hydroxide co-precipitation method. A continuous concentration change of Ni, Co, and Mn from the core LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 to the shell LiNi0.4Co0.2Mn0.4O2 in each particle with an average composition of LiNi0.6Co0.15Mn0.25O2 is confirmed by EDX and ICP, respectively. Charge–discharge tests demonstrate that the FCG cathode delivers a high specific capacity of 190 mA h g−1 at a current density of 0.05 mA cm−2, exceptional rate capacity (a high capacity of 125 mA h g−1 at an ultrafast rate of 10C-rate), and an ultralong cycle life up to 1000 cycles (capacity retention of 80% at 5C-rate), which is obviously superior to the conventional cathode LiNi0.6Co0.15Mn0.25O2. Meanwhile, the Mn-rich in the outer layer of the FCG cathode contributes to more excellent thermal stability than the conventional cathode LiNi0.6Co0.15Mn0.25O2.

Background: Caring for patients living with long term conditions is a long-term task. The augmenting use of social media (SM) supports for health information and communication has created new opportunities for new models of health-care. Objectives: This study aimed to explore the effectiveness of SM support for caregivers. Methods: This systematic review mainly includes research over the past decade on caregivers for chronic diseases, with the results focusing on SM support for caregivers. Results: This literature review found that SM-based interventions can meet caregivers’ needs and have a positive impact on caregiver burden (CB) of chronic diseases such as cancer, dementia and stroke. Experimental studies of health interventions for stroke caregivers (SCs) through WeChat interventions have been limited. Conclusion: More quantitative studies are needed in the future to explore the effectiveness of WeChat as an intervention in the burden of SCs.

High morbidity and mortality are still associated with lung cancer, especially non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Although several studies showed abnormality in lung cancer lipidome, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Therefore, a marker for early diagnosis of NSCLC is highly needed. In this study, a nontargeted lipidomics approach based on liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to analyze the lung tumor tissue (LCT) lipidome to investigate the characteristics of lipid metabolism alterations in lung cancer tissues and find suitable lipid markers for lung cancer and its subtypes. Our results revealed that the most prominent alterations in LCT were the decrease of free fatty acid (FFA) and increase of triglyceride compared with distal noncancerous tissue (DNT). We also identified and verified the combinational lipid markers which can discriminate malignant from benign tissue as well as different NSCLC subtypes. These results not only provide hints in the lipid metabolism dysregulations between malignant and benign tissues but also define the combinational lipid markers to aid clinical diagnosis of lung cancer and its subtypes.

The unique C@Ti4O7/g-C3N4 photocatalyst was synthesize via wet chemical and annealing & calcining method, which was gifted both the intrinsic oxygen vacancies as well as Z-scheme heterojunction nature in structure. Such a unique three-dimensional structure exhibited exceptional photodegradation performance for the dye simulations system (Rhodamine B (RhB), methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO)) under visible light irradiation, which is better than a single component and Anatase-TiO2. Subsequently, a possible photocatalytic Z-scheme mechanism was proposed to further illustrate the effective separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs in C@Ti4O7/g-C3N4 based on structure and electrochemical characterizations results, which will help to better understand the nature of Z-scheme heterojunctions.

Jujube is widely grown in Xinjiang province, China, including two high-value PGI products, Charkhlik Hui jujube and Khotan Jun jujube. Origin mislabeling and substitution of PGI jujube by inferior products seriously harms their reputation and has potential food safety risks. In this study, stable isotope (δ13C, δ15N, δ2H, δ18O) and elemental (Na, Mg, Al, P, K, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Sr, Mo, Cd, Sb, Ba, Pb) compositions of jujube from five different regions across Xinjiang province were analyzed by orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) to verify the geographical origin of jujube and authenticate PGI products. A total of 167 Hui jujube and 156 Jun jujube samples, together with their associated soils were collected annually from 2013 to 2018. The regional, varietal and inter-annual differences of stable isotope and elemental compositions of jujube and their correlation with soil values were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and multivariate statistics. The discriminant accuracies of OPLS-DA modeling for both Hui and Jun jujube samples collected in 2016 were higher than 90 %. Over a longer five-year (from 2013 to 2018), the discriminant accuracies decreased slightly, but were still acceptable at 85 % and 75 % for the two varieties. The most important variables for discrimination models were Na, Al, Ba, and δ13C for Hui jujube, δ18O and δ15N for Jun jujube, respectively. The study show that this strategy holds good promise as a tool to combat mislabeling and fraudulent conduct and has the ability to protect PGI jujube produced in Xinjiang province.

In this work, a series of δ-MnO2/USY with different contents of δ-MnO2 (0.3 wt%, 1.5 wt%, 3.0 wt%, 10.0 wt%, and 15.0 wt%) were prepared. In addition, their performances of the adsorption of toluene, degradation and mineralization of toluene, and removal of ozone (O3) were investigated. The results showed that, among all the samples, 3.0 wt% δ-MnO2/USY displayed the best performance of toluene adsorption, degradation and mineralization. Furthermore, according to the in situ DRIFTS and GC-MS analysis, the intermediate by-products during the toluene degradation progress were ascertained and the possible pathway of catalytic oxidation toluene by δ-MnO2/USY in the presence of O3 was proposed.

Metallic selenides have been widely investigated as promising electrode materials for metal-ion batteries based on their relatively high theoretical capacity. However, rapid capacity decay and structural collapse resulting from the larger-sized Na+ /K+ greatly hamper their application. Herein, a bimetallic selenide (MoSe2 /CoSe2 ) encapsulated in nitrogen, sulfur-codoped hollow carbon nanospheres interconnected reduced graphene oxide nanosheets (rGO@MCSe) are successfully designed as advanced anode materials for Na/K-ion batteries. As expected, the significant pseudocapacitive charge storage behavior substantially contributes to superior rate capability. Specifically, it achieves a high reversible specific capacity of 311 mAh g-1 at 10 A g-1 in NIBs and 310 mAh g-1 at 5 A g-1 in KIBs. A combination of ex situ X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy tests reveals the phase transition of rGO@MCSe in NIBs/KIBs. Unexpectedly, they show quite different Na+ /K+ insertion/extraction reaction mechanisms for both cells, maybe due to more sluggish K+ diffusion kinetics than that of Na+ . More significantly, it shows excellent energy storage properties in Na/K-ion full cells when coupled with Na3 V2 (PO4 )2 O2 F and PTCDA@450 °C cathodes. This work offers an advanced electrode construction guidance for the development of high-performance energy storage devices.

A novel BT-DCCOC method for in situ one-step preparation of carbon-modified BiVO4 with leaf-liked structures (artificial leaf) was developed. This strategy provides a new way for the preparation of C-modified photocatalyst (using biological template and controlling oxygen content in calcination atmosphere), and realizes the synchronous control of bionic structure and carbon modification. The leaf-liked structures and morphologies of the prepared samples were observed by the FE-SEM and TEM observations. The content of residual carbon, which was formed in-site by adjusting the oxygen content in the calcination atmosphere, was measured by TG-DSC. The photocatalytic activities of the samples were evaluated by the degradation of RhB. The results showed that the artificial leaf synthesized at 3 % oxygen content with a carbon content of 6.32 wt% demonstrated the best photocatalytic degradation activity. The improved photocatalytic performance can be attributed to the combination of unique morphology and carbon modification control.