Search

Background: The brominated flame retardant 2, 2′, 4, 4′-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (PBDE-47) is well known as a developmental neurotoxicant, yet the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Increasing evidence has demonstrated that brain glucose metabolism perturbation plays a role in neural impairments. Nevertheless, whether this disturbance is involved in PBDE-47-induced neurotoxicity remains unknown. Objectives: To explore the impacts of perinatal PBDE-47 exposure on brain glucose metabolism, and its link to thyroid hormones (THs) levels as well as neurobehavioral changes. Methods: Female Sprague-Dawley rats were orally exposed to PBDE-47 at environmentally relevant levels (0.1, 1.0, and 10.0 mg/kg bw) from pre-pregnancy through weaning of offspring. The male offspring were continued to raise to 88 days after birth for follow-up experiments. Morris water maze and Open field tests were performed to assess the neurobehavioral alterations. The brain glucose metabolism was evaluated using 18F-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography. Serum THs levels were measured via enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: Perinatal exposure to PBDE-47 induced neurobehavioral impairments in adult male rats as evidenced by learning and memory impairments, hyperactivity and anxiety-like behavior. Moreover, positron emission tomography showed that the glucose metabolism in the whole and the specific brain regions were markedly declined. Interestingly, variations in brain glucose metabolism were associated with the increased serum triiodothyronine (T3) levels, and both were linked to neurobehavioral disorders. Conclusion: Exposure to environmentally related levels of PBDE-47 at critical developmental stages lowers glucose metabolism in the whole brain and in various brain regions, which is associated with behavioral and cognitive deficits in adult male rats. Moreover, the association may be influenced by the disturbance of T3 homeostasis.

Abstract Color is one of the most important indicators to characteristic the quality of tobacco, which is strongly related to the variations of chemical components. In order to clarify the relationship between the changes of tobacco color and chemical components, here we established several prediction models of chemical components with the color values of tobacco based on machine learning algorithms. The results of correlation analysis showed that tobacco moisture content was highly significantly correlated with the parameters such as a*, H* and H°, the reducing sugar and total sugar content of tobacco was significantly correlated with the color values, and the starch content was highly significantly correlated with the color values except for b* and C*. The random forest models performed best in predicting tobacco moisture, reducing sugar, total sugar and starch constructed with the R 2 of the model validation set was higher than 0.90, and the RPD value was greater than 2.0. The consistent between the predictions and measurements verified the availability and feasibility using color values to predict some chemical components of the tobacco leaves with high accuracy, and which has distinct advantages and potential application to realize the real-time monitoring of some chemical components in the tobacco curing process.

Solar-driven lignocellulosic biomass photoreforming holds significant promise for the production of value-added chemicals and fuels. The cleavage of the β-1,4-glycosidic bond is crucial for the effective conversion of lignocellulosic biomass. Polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) with acid-base pairs (M-C sites) is developed through heteroatomic carbon incorporation and cation insertion. It can be used for the gentle oxidation of cellobiose to monosaccharides, bypassing the formation of organic acids such as gluconic acid and glucaric acid. A series of different alkaline/alkaline-earth cation for regulation of acid-base pairs exhibited a negative correlation between β-1,4-glycosidic bond cleavage and cation radii. In particular, the introduction of short-radius cations (such as Li) into PCN enabled the formation of acid-base (M-C) pairs characterized by strong acidity. It also enhanced electron delocalization around M-C sites, potentially promoting the generation of reactive radicals in the reaction. Electron paramagnetic resonance analysis confirmed the presence of •OH radicals. The mild oxidative species, are the primary reactive radicals responsible for β-1,4-glycosidic bond cleavage in cellobiose. This study provides insightful evidence for the rational regulation of acid-base sites in facilitating β-1,4-glycosidic bond cleavage. It sheds light on the oxidative cleavage mechanisms integral to lignocellulosic biomass photoreforming, offering insights for advancing sustainable biomass conversion technologies.

Reports on the utilization of nitrogen compounds to trace oil and gas migration in oil-scarce regions are limited. This scarcity can be attributed to the lack of clarity regarding the effectiveness of nitrogen compound indices in oil-bearing sandstone extracts. To address this knowledge gap, two sets of experiments were designed, encompassing five extraction methods, to evaluate the validity of nitrogen compound indices. The results showed that as the extraction intensity increased, the ratios of 1-/4-methylcarbazole and 1, 8-/2, 7-dimethylcarbazole in the extracts gradually decreased but remained consistently elevated compared to the control oils. The benzocarbazole [a]/[c] ratio remained relatively stable and closely aligned with the control oils. Upon analysis, it was concluded that the observed variations could be attributed to the differing adsorption capacities of carbazole isomers. These differences lead to the fractionation of carbazole isomers between free and adsorbed hydrocarbons under surface conditions, as well as between the extracts and rocks during the extraction process. In comparison to 1-/4-methylcarbazole and 1, 8-/2, 7-dimethylcarbazole, the benzocarbazole [a]/[c] ratio is less susceptible to these two fractionations, with its variations primarily governed by migration fractionation. Additionally, the indicated direction of oil and gas migration aligns with geological realities. Therefore, the benzocarbazole [a]/[c] ratio can be considered an effective nitrogen compound index in oil-bearing sandstone extracts, suitable for oil migration tracing studies in oil-scarce regions.

Sulfate attack is one of the most important factors affecting the durability of concrete, and the corrosion sources of internal sulfate attack (ISA) mostly come from the raw materials of concrete. Adding corrosion resistance admixtures to concrete is one of the most effective ways to prevent internal sulfate attack. By wrapping barium salt with SA gel, the modified barium chloride admixture (MB) is obtained which can exist stably in concrete and release barium ions to form barium sulfate in a sulfate environment. The modified barium salt has little effect on the cement workability and hydration process and even can improve the mechanical properties slightly. When the MB content reaches 6% (MB-6), the strength improvement effect is most obvious. Compared with the P-0, the 7d compressive strength of MB-6 is increased by 9.14%, and the 28d compressive strength is increased by 5.77%. It can be seen by SEM that the amount and crystal size of ettringite in the cement mixed with admixtures are reduced. The corrosion resistance of the matrix can be further improved by using a modified barium chloride-silica fume composite admixture (MB-F). After 90 days of internal sulfate attack, the strength of the MB-F even improves slightly. When the modified barium chloride to silica fume ratio is 4:6, the cement-based material achieved the best resistance to internal sulfate attack. In addition to MB, which can make sulfate ions fixation and inhibit the formation of ettringite, silica fume can also consume calcium hydroxide and generate more C-S-H gel, which compacts the weak part of the matrix and greatly improves the resistance to internal sulfate attack of cement-based materials. It provides the possibility for the application of modified barium salt in external sulfate attack.

Abstract Color is one of the most important indicators for the flue-cured tobacco quality. The color change of tobacco has a great relationship with the natural pigments in the tobacco. The relationship between color characteristics and the content of natural pigments in tobacco leaves during curing was investigated. The middle part of variety K326 tobacco was taken at each key time point during the curing process to determine the changes of color characteristics, moisture, pigment and polyphenol content. The results showed that moisture content of wet basis of tobacco gradually decreased from 72 to 18% during the curing process, the b* value increased and then decreased, and the a* value increased significantly. The lutein and β-carotene content decreased to 63.83 μg/g and 28.3 μg/g, respectively. The total polyphenols content increased to 50.19 mg/g. Meanwhile, the a* value was significantly and positively correlated with polyphenols content and negatively correlated with pigments content. Cluster analysis showed that the samples were divided into three categories: samples with the curing time of 0 h, 24–72 h, and 84–132 h. These results demonstrated that the color change of tobacco during curing process can be divided into three stages from the perspective of chemical composition, which are strongly related to the degradation of pigments and the transformation of polyphenols.

Daqingshan piedmont fault is located in the northern margin of Hetao basin and has been active strongly since the Late Quaternary. Previous researchers had conducted extensive research on the characteristics of paleoseismic in this area, but limited by the dating techniques and the fact that there were fewer data available on the same fault profile that can effectively constrain paleoseismic events, and fewer profiles that can reveal more paleoseismic events. This paper explores the excavation of an paleoseismic trench on the east side of Lianhuashan in the western section of Tuyouqi of the Daqingshan piedmont fault, using Optically Stimulated Luminescence data, and combineing with the age data of previous exploration trenches. By using the fault successive limit method, it is found that the western section of the Tuyouqi fault has experienced five paleoseismic events approximately 11500 years ago, with an average recurrence interval of 2260 years. The five paleoseismic events in this section of the fault, from new to old, are 1.28 to 1.42 ka, 3.41 to 3.60 ka, 4.08 to 5.01 ka, 8.26 to 9.32 ka, and 10.70 to 11.30 ka, respectively. The latest event of activity should be the earthquake of 849 AD. Meanwhile, the trench exploration revealed that the fault in this section exhibits a normal fault nature, with an inclination angle between 58 and 77 degrees. According to empirical formula, the potential seismic capacity of the Baotou section, the western section of Tuyouqi, and the western section of Tuzuoqi are around MW6.8～7.1, MW6.8～7.1 and MW7.1～7.2, respectively. The magnitude obtained by the empirical formula in this paper is relatively small, and there may be cascade rupture. In the later stage, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the risk of the western section of Daqingshan piedmont fault combined with other means.

The epicenter of the 2017 Qinghai Zeku MS4.9 earthquake was located near the SN-striking Riyueshan fault, while the focal mechanism solutions and the dominant arrangement of seismic sequence are inconsistent with the Riyueshan fault. In this paper, we have discovered EW- and NW-trending faults near the epicenter, by methods of remote sensing interpretation and field investigation. These faults are western terminal structures of Xiahe fault, in which the EW-trending faults are north-dipping and associated with kinematics including both left-lateral and vertical slip. Meanwhile, we use double differential positioning to relocate seismic sequences of Zeku MS4.9 earthquake. Results show that seismic arrangements consist of two segments striking NW and EW. The seismic profile crossing EW-striking segment indicates a north-dipping fault plane. Well consistence is found between Xiahe fault and seismic arrangements of Zeku MS4.9 earthquake, which leads us to the speculation that the seismogenic fault of Zeku earthquake is Xiahe fault. From a regional perspective, the Xiahe fault might be one strand of dissipating faults in the western end of the West Qinling fault, and the Zeku MS4.9 earthquake represents tectonic activity of the western end of the West Qinling fault. Besides，the northwestward turn of fault striking and reverse slipping of Xiahe fault might also be attributed to the right-lateral shearing effects of Riyueshan fault. Results of this paper highlight the significance of improving active fault traces, especially for the secondary or pre-existing faults in a tectonic active area.

The 143 A.D. west Gangu earthquake is documented to have occurred in the West Qinling area, which is located on the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. Initial limited historical records suggest the earthquake took place along the West Qinling fault (WQLF) in the western region of Gangu County. However, the absence of corresponding geological and geomorphological evidence has posed a considerable challenge in accurately quantifying parameters such as the precise location, magnitude, and seismogenic fault segment in earlier investigations. In this study, a comprehensive examination of multiple residual surface rupture zones within the macroseismic zone of this earthquake enabled the determination of the seismogenic structure, magnitude, and rupture zone scale through diverse methodologies, which include field geological investigations, chronology testing, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) aerial surveying, and interpretation of landslides along the fault zone. The results reveal that the seismogenic structure of this seismic event is associated with the Zhangxian fault segment of the WQLF, also marked by a dense distribution of large landslides from Zhangxian to Yuanyangzhen. The epicenter was identified at the eastern end of the Zhangxian fault segment of the WQLF. Furthermore, the magnitude of the 143 A.D. west Gangu earthquake is estimated to be approximately Ms 7–7.3, with the residual surface rupture zone intermittently extending over about 22 km and a maximum horizontal dislocation along the rupture zone of 2.8 ± 0.5 m. This detailed investigation contributes foundational insights for further evaluating the seismic risk across various segments of the WQLF.

Risk estimation holds significant importance in the selection of risk reduction measures and ensuring machinery safety. However, subjective influences of assessors lead to an inconsistent understanding of risk among relevant stakeholders, hindering the achievement of safety. As similarities exists in product updates or applications in engineering practice, the historical risk information of similar products or applications has essential application value. A novel deep learning approach was established to estimate risks based on historical risk information. To address the issue of overfitting caused by a limited dataset, a data augmentation technique was employed. Our experiment was conducted on the raw, 2×, and 6× hazard event dataset of an industrial robot, demonstrating a substantial improvement in both accuracy and stability. On the validation dataset, there was an increase in median accuracy from 55.56% to 96.92%, with a decrease in standard deviation from 0.118 to 0.015. On the new dataset, the trained network also showed near-perfect performance on similar hazard events and trustworthiness on completely different ones. In cases of risk deviations, approximately 80% of them were small deviations (|RIdeviation| ≤ 2) without a noticeable bias (RIdis is close to 1). The LSTM-based deep learning network makes risk estimation “black-boxed” and “digitized”. Assessors just need to focus on hazard identification with risk being determined by the trained network, mitigating the impact of individual factors. Moreover, the historical risk estimation information can be transformed into a trained network, facilitating the development of a standardized benchmark within project teams, enterprises, and relevant stakeholders to promote coordinated safety measures.

Abstract Geopolymer concrete has similar mechanical properties to ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete, and even better properties in high temperature, high corrosion environment. However, geopolymer still has the disadvantages of large shrinkage and high brittleness, which greatly limit its application. Fiber reinforcement is widely used in various geopolymer systems to overcome the brittleness issue, but still retains the high strength. Over the past 10 years, great progress has been made in the research of fiber reinforced geopolymers in the aspect of toughening efficiency and durability improvement. Many studies have been conducted on fiber reinforced geopolymers, but there are still few systematic summaries on the addition of inorganic fibers and organic fibers to geopolymers. What is more there are many novel studies such as the application of geopolymers to 3D printing and the new concept of fiber factor have not been reviewed. In this paper, inorganic fibers, natural fibers and synthetic fibers in geopolymers are briefly reviewed, and their specific effects on geopolymers' compressive, flexural, tensile strength, fracture toughness, shear strength and durability such as shrinkage, chemical resistance, freeze–thaw resistance are reviewed. The current understanding of bonding mechanism and fiber‐geopolymer interface are also discussed, and related knowledge gaps and future work challenges are correspondingly pointed out.

Autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC), a lightweight porous material, has been widely used in the building field because of its energy savings. A solid waste called carbide slag with a high Ca(OH)2 content is a potential substitution for CaO to prepare AAC. In this study, carbide slag was used to replace quicklime to prepare carbide slag-based autoclaved aerated concrete (CS-AAC). The temperature, foaming rate, and rheological properties of the slurry during the foaming stage, the strength of the rough body, and the physical and mechanical properties of the autoclaved products were investigated. Hydration products, microstructure, and pore structure were further analyzed to investigate the mechanisms of carbide slag on the properties of AAC, and the use of sodium carbonate (SC) to improve the performance of CS-AAC was explored. The results show that the addition of carbide slag causes a degradation of the properties, including foaming rate and physic-mechanical properties. The “water locking” effect due to the irregular surface of the carbide slag results in an increase in slurry consistency. The increase in slurry consistency, as well as the decrease in slurry temperature is the main reason for the decrease in slurry foaming rate and roundness of bubbles, which are unfavorable for the strength development of AAC. Due to the alkali excitation characteristics of sodium carbonate. The addition of SC can react with Ca(OH)2 in the slurry to produce OH-, to promote cement hydration, which can accelerate the development of rough body strength, and save pre-curing time. The carbide slag-based AAC with 0.25% SC has a significant improvement in foaming properties and facilitates the generation of more C-S-H gels to form tobermorite under hydrothermal conditions, which improves the AAC properties. However, too much SC can consume a large amount of Ca(OH)2 and affects the production of tobermorite, which is not beneficial to the mechanical properties.

Objective: Epilepsy prediction algorithms offer patients with drug-resistant epilepsy a way to reduce unintended harm from sudden seizures. The purpose of this study is to investigate the applicability of transfer learning (TL) technique and model inputs for different deep learning (DL) model structures, which may provide a reference for researchers to design algorithms. Moreover, we also attempt to provide a novel and precise Transformer-based algorithm. Methods: Two classical feature engineering methods and the proposed method which consists of various EEG rhythms are explored, then a hybrid Transformer model is designed to evaluate the advantages over pure convolutional neural networks (CNN)-based models. Finally, the performances of two model structures are analyzed utilizing patient-independent approach and two TL strategies. Results: We tested our method on the CHB-MIT scalp EEG database, the results showed that our feature engineering method gains a significant improvement in model performance and is more suitable for Transformer-based model. In addition, the performance improvement of Transformer-based model utilizing fine-tuning strategies is more robust than that of pure CNN-based model, and our model achieved an optimal sensitivity of 91.7% with false positive rate (FPR) of 0.00/h. Conclusion: Our epilepsy prediction method achieves excellent performance and demonstrates its advantage over pure CNN-based structure in TL. Moreover, we find that the information contained in the gamma ( $\gamma$ ) rhythm is helpful for epilepsy prediction. Significance: We propose a precise hybrid Transformer model for epilepsy prediction. The applicability of TL and model inputs is also explored for customizing personalized models in clinical application scenarios.

Detection of atrial fibrillation (AF) events is significant for early clinical diagnosis and appropriate intervention. However, in existing detection algorithms for paroxysmal AF (AFp), the location of AF starting and ending points in AFp is not concerned. To achieve an accurate identification of AFp events in the long-term dynamic electrocardiograms (ECGs), this paper proposes a two-step method based on machine learning. In the first step, based on features extracted from the calculated R-to-R intervals (RR intervals, the cycle of heart beat), the rhythm type of the ECG signal is first classified into three classes (AFp rhythm, persistent AF (AFf) rhythm, and non-atrial fibrillation (non-AF, N) rhythm) using support vector machine (SVM). In the second step, the starting and ending points for AF episodes of AFp rhythms predicted in the first step are further located based on heartbeat classification. By training a deep convolutional neural network with phased training, the segmented beats of AFp rhythms are divided into AF beats and non-AF beats to determine the beginning and end of any AF episode. The proposed two-step method is trained and tested on the 4th China Physiological Signal Challenge 2021 databases. A final score U of 1.9310 is obtained on the unpublished test set maintained by the challenge organizers, which demonstrates the advantage of the two-step method in AFp event detection. The work is useful for assessing AF burden index for AFp patients.

The bone lacunar-canalicular system (LCS) is an important microscopic infrastructure for signaling and solute transport in bone tissue, which guarantees normal physiological processes of the tissue, but the mass transfer laws in the LCS under different gravity fields have not yet been clarified. SD rats were injected intraperitoneally with different concentrations of sodium fluorescein tracer and subjected to mass transfer experiments in the LCS under normal gravity and hypergravity. The fluorescence distribution in the osteon was observed using laser scanning confocal microscopy. The hypergravity environment was provided by a self-designed high-G loading centrifuge. The fluorescence intensity of the Haversian canal in the osteon was the highest. The fluorescence intensity of lacunae farther away from the Haversian canal was lower, and the fitted curve was parabolic. With the increasing distance from the Haversian canal, the curve first rapidly decreased, and then the decreasing trend gradually became slower. Hypergravity promoted mass transfer in the LCS, and the 10 ​G hypergravity showed varying degrees of fluorescence intensity in each layer of the osteon relative to normal gravity, with intensity enhancements in the range of 132.7–249.0%. The fluorescence intensity was also significantly increased when the tracer concentration was halved and the gravity field magnitude was increased to 10G. In conclusion, hypergravity promoted the transport of solute molecules, nutrients, and signaling molecules within the LCS. The effect of hypergravity on mass transfer in the LCS was greater than that of tracer concentration. This may help to understand bone diseases from a mass transfer perspective.

Reconstruction of paleo-depositional environments in a sedimentary basin is often obstructed by the absence of typical environmental indicators in sedimentary rocks. Here, we propose a biomarker method using C20-C21-C23 tricyclic terpanes (TTs) as a tracer, which is simple in analysis but robust to provide reliable and detailed environmental information. Based on the analysis of 271 C20-C21-C23TT data from 32 basins in 18 countries, we observed a relationship between C20-C21-C23TT abundance patterns and depositional environments. This relationship was attributed to the control of depositional environments on the input proportions of plankton and terrigenous plants, which act as two end-member precursors for the TTs in a depositional system. The various mixing proportions between these two end-members result in different C20-C21-C23TT abundance patterns associated with different depositional environments, e.g., C20>C21>C23TT in river-lake transitional, C20C23TT in freshwater lacustrine and C20>C21

Rapid identification of reservoir destruction is critical to avoid exploration failure. More indicators of reservoir destruction are urgently needed to be developed besides the evaluation methods of trap effectiveness based on structural analysis. Here, we provide a case study in the Ordos Basin to show that the combined use of in-reservoir geological records is a robust tool to rapidly identify oil-reservoir destruction. The sandstones within the Yanchang Formation in the oil-depleted Jingbian area were investigated by petrological and geochemical analysis. The results show that 1) the oils with increased density and viscosity occur in the low permeability sandstones, whereas the high permeability sandstones were occupied by water, 2) abundant solid bitumen occur in the intergranular pores, 3) the n-alkanes with carbon numbers less than 19 are significantly lost from the original oils, and 4) the majority of paleo oil layers have evolved into present water layers. All these in-reservoir physicochemical signatures unravel the same geological event (i.e., oil-reservoir destruction) in the Jingbian area. This oil-reservoir destruction was likely caused by the uplift-induced erosion and the fault activities after oil accumulation during the Late Early Cretaceous.

Copper (Cu) and cadmium (Cd) are common heavy metal pollutants. When Cd and excessive Cu accumulate in plants, plant growth is reduced. Our previous study showed that Germin-like proteins (GLPs), which exist in tandem on chromosomes, are a class of soluble glycoproteins that respond to Cu stress. In this study, hydroponic cultures were carried out to investigate the effect of GLP on Cd and Cu tolerance and accumulation in rice. The results showed that knockout of a single OsGLP8-2 gene or ten OsGLP genes (OsGLP8-2 to OsGLP8-11) resulted in a similar sensitivity to Cd and Cu toxicity. When subjected to Cu and Cd stress, the glp8-2 and glp8-(2-11) mutants displayed a more sensitive phenotype based on the plant height, root length, and dry biomass of the rice seedlings. Correspondingly, Cu and Cd concentrations in the glp8-2 and glp8-(2-11) mutants were significantly higher than those in the wild-type (WT) and OsGLP8-2-overexpressing line. However, Cu and Cd accumulation in the cell wall was the opposite. Furthermore, we determined lignin accumulation. The overexpressing-OsGLP8-2 line had a higher lignin accumulation in the shoot and root cell walls than those of the WT, glp8-2, and glp8-(2-11). The expression of lignin synthesis genes in the OsGLP8-2-overexpressing line was significantly higher than that in the WT, glp8-2, and glp8-(2-11). The SOD activity of OsGLP8-2, Diaminobe-nzidine (DAB), propidium iodide (PI) staining, and Malondialdehyde (MDA) content determination suggested that OsGLP8-2 is involved in heavy metal-induced antioxidant defense in rice. Our findings clearly suggest that OsGLPs participate in responses to heavy metal stress by lignin deposition and antioxidant defense capacity in rice, and OsGLP8-2 may play a major role in the tandem repeat gene clusters of chromosome 8 under heavy metal stress conditions.

Aiming at the structural learning problem of the additive noise model in causal discovery and the challenge of massive data processing in the era of artificial intelligence, this paper combines partial rank correlation coefficients and proposes two new Bayesian network causal structure learning algorithms: PRCB algorithm based on threshold selection and PRCS algorithm based on hypothesis testing. We mainly made three contributions. First, we proved that the partial rank correlation coefficient can be used as the standard of independence test, and explored the distribution of corresponding statistics. Second, the partial rank correlation coefficient is associated with the correlation, and a causal discovery algorithm PRCB based on partial rank correlation and an improved PRCS algorithm based on hypothesis testing are proposed. Finally, comparing with the existing technology on seven classic Bayesian networks, it proves the superiority of the algorithm in low-dimensional networks; the processing of millions of data on three high-dimensional Bayesian networks verifies the high-efficiency performance of the algorithm in high-dimensional large sample data; the application performance of the algorithm is tested by performing fault prediction on the real power plant equipment measurement point data set. Theoretical analysis and experimental results have proved the superiority of the algorithm.

Seed germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed. It requires suitable conditions and environmental factors. Maize is one of the most important crops worldwide. Germination influences both final maize yield and quality. Seed germination is regulated by a complex gene network. It is also influenced by endogenous (phytohormones and nutrients) and exogenous (temperature and water) inputs, involving molecular networks only partly identified to date. This review describes current understanding of the influence of temperature, water, phytohormones, and nutrients in regulating maize seed germination, and indicates knowledge gaps that should be addressed.

Abstract Seed germination is the process through which a quiescent organ reactivates its metabolism culminating with the resumption cell divisions. It is usually the growth of a plant contained within a seed and results in the formation of a seedling. Post-transcriptional regulation plays an important role in gene expression. In cells, post-transcriptional regulation is mediated by many factors, such as RNA-binding proteins, microRNAs, and the spliceosome. This review provides an overview of the relationship between seed germination and post-transcriptional regulation. It addresses the relationship between seed germination and RNA-binding proteins, microRNAs and alternative splicing. This presentation of the current state of the knowledge will promote new investigations into the relevance of the interactions between seed germination and post-transcriptional regulation in plants.

The existence of missing values in microarray data inevitably hinders downstream biological analyses that expect complete data as input, therefore how to effectively explore the underlying structure of data to accurately estimate missing entries remains crucial and meaningful. In this study, we formalize the problem under a regularized sparse framework and accordingly propose local learning-based imputation models to capture the relationships that are hidden in gene expression profiles towards better imputation. Specifically, in view of the simultaneous variable selection and grouping effect of the elastic net penalty, we present an elastic net regularized local least squares-based imputation method to estimate the missing entries of a target gene with its neighbors. Besides, we investigate different similarity filtering metrics to select neighbor genes and develop another four imputation methods under the framework. Furthermore, the proposed methods process the target genes in ascending order of their associated missing rates. Finally, extensive comparative experiments against other eight commonly-used methods are conducted on multiple microarray datasets having varying missing rates. Results indicate the power of sparse regularization techniques and the superiority of elastic net over its competitors in terms of statistical analysis metrics.

Abstract Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common liver cancer and is highly malignant. Male prevalence and frequent activation of the Ras signaling pathway are distinct characteristics of HCC. However, the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated. By exploring Hras12V transgenic mice showing male-biased hepatocarcinogenesis, we performed a high-throughput comparative proteomic analysis based on tandem-mass-tag (TMT) labeling combined with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) on the tissue samples obtained from HCC (T) and their paired adjacent precancerous (P) of Hras12V transgenic male and female mice (Ras-Tg) and normal liver (W) of wild-type male and female mice (Non-Tg). The further validation and investigation were performed using quantitative real-time PCR and western blot. Totally, 5193 proteins were quantified, originating from 5733 identified proteins. Finally, 1344 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) (quantified in all examined samples; |ratios| ≥ 1.5, p < 0.05) were selected for further analysis. Comparison within W, P, and T of males and females indicated that the number of DEPs in males was much higher than that in females. Bioinformatics analyses showed the common and unique cluster-enriched items between sexes, indicating the common and gender-disparate pathways towards HCC. Expression change pattern analysis revealed HCC positive/negative-correlated and ras oncogene positive/negative-correlated DEPs and pathways. In addition, it showed that the ras oncogene gradually and significantly reduced the responses to sex hormones from hepatocytes to hepatoma cells and therefore shrunk the gender disparity between males and females, which may contribute to the cause of the loss of HCC clinical responses to the therapeutic approaches targeting sex hormone pathways. Additionally, gender disparity in the expression levels of key enzymes involved in retinol metabolism and terpenoid backbone/steroid biosynthesis pathways may contribute to male prevalence in hepatocarcinogenesis. Further, the biomarkers, SAA2, Orm2, and Serpina1e, may be sex differences. In conclusion, common and unique DEPs and pathways toward HCC initiated by ras oncogene from sexually dimorphic hepatocytes provide valuable and novel insights into clinical investigation and practice.

China is the largest producer and user of ordinary Portland cement (OPC), and the rapid growth of infrastructure development demands more sustainable building materials for concrete structures. Alkali-activated materials (AAMs) are a new type of energy-saving and environmentally friendly building material with a wide range of potential applications. This paper compares the durability of AAMs and OPC-based materials under sulfate attack, acid corrosion, carbonation, and chloride penetration. Different AAMs have shown distinct durability properties due to different compositions being formed when different raw materials are used. According to the calcium (Ca) concentration of the raw materials, this paper interprets the deterioration mechanisms of three categories of AAMs: calcium-free, low-calcium, and calcium-rich. Conflicts found in the most recent research are highlighted, as they raise concerns regarding the consistence and long-term properties of AAMs. Nevertheless, AAMs show better durability performances than OPC-based materials in general.

Objective: To investigate the clinical utility of ultrasound-guided balloon occlusion in cesarean section in patients with sinister placenta previa. Methods: The Interventional and Ultrasound Departments of the authors’ center assisted obstetrics to complete cesarean section in cases of sinister placenta previa. A total of 130 patients with implanted sinister placenta previa were diagnosed using obstetrical ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Before cesarean section, the balloon was positioned in the bilateral radial or abdominal aorta. Immediately after delivery of the fetus, the balloon was temporarily filled to transiently seal the target vessel. According to the obstetrician’s assessment of hemostasis, the balloon was withdrawn at the appropriate time. Among the 130 patients, there was one case of abdominal aortic occlusion, with 129 cases blocked by the bilateral common iliac artery. Results: All 130 cases were successfully blocked, with an average blocking time of

Double liquid grouting materials (DLGMs) are composed of slurry A and slurry B. In response to the need for sustainable development, there is currently a focus on improving the utilization rate of resources. In this paper, industrial solid waste fly ash, slag, and ordinary Portland cement were used to prepare slurry A, while sodium silicate was used as slurry B. Slurry C was made by adding slurry B to slurry A. The mix design parameters of the DLGMs, with large amounts of fly ash, were optimized based on the response surface method. The results showed that the relative content of cement and the reactivity and morphological effect of supplementary cementitious materials (fly ash and slag) were the main factors affecting the operable time, viscosity, and stability of slurry A. The relative content of cement and the sodium silicate modulus were the main factors affecting the operable time of the DLGMs. Compared to the C30F70S0-Z3.3 group (where C, F, S, and Z represented cement, fly ash, slag, and sodium silicate modulus, respectively), the operable time of the C0F70S30-Z3.3 group increased by approximately 36 min. As the sodium silicate modulus was lowered to 2.3, the operable time of the C0F70S30-Z2.3 group increased by about 32 min compared to that of the C30F70S0-Z2.3 group. The established model and response surface can well reflect the influence of multiple factors on the properties of the DLGMs. When the mass ratio of cement/fly ash/slag in slurry A was 7.5%: 70%: 22.5%, and the sodium silicate modulus and content of slurry B were 2.8 and 10%, respectively, the 28-day compressive strength of the DLGMs can reach up to 11.3 MPa. The content of fly ash was the most significant factor affecting the 28-day compressive strength of the DLGMs, followed by the sodium silicate content. The least influential factor was the sodium silicate modulus. The XRD and SEM results showed that a large amount of Ca2+ produced by cement hydration can quickly react with [SiO4]4- in sodium silicate to form C-S-H gel. Moreover, it also promoted the hydration of C3S and C2S in grouting to produce more C-S-H gel, which was conducive to the alkali activation of slag and fly ash, resulting in a denser microstructure and hence, yielded obvious increases in the compressive strengths of the DLGMs.

Disruption of cholinergic neurotransmission can affect cognition, but little is known about whether low-to-moderate fluoride exposure affects cholinergic system and its effect on the prevalence of dental fluorosis (DF) and intelligence quotient (IQ). A cross-sectional study was conducted to explore the associations of moderate fluoride exposure and cholinergic system in relation to children's DF and IQ. We recruited 709 resident children in Tianjin, China. Ion selective electrode method was used to detect fluoride concentrations in water and urine. Cholinergic system was assessed by the detection of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT), acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and acetylcholine (ACh) levels in serum. Compared with children in the first quartile, those in fourth quartile the risk of either developing DF or IQ

Background: Excessive fluoride exposure has been associated with intelligence loss, but little is known about gene-fluoride interactions on intelligence at SNP-set, gene and pathway level. Objectives: Here we conducted a population-based study in Chinese school-aged children to estimate the associations of fluoride from internal and external exposures with intelligence as well as to explore the gene-fluoride interactions on intelligence at SNP-set, gene and neurodevelopmental pathway level. Methods: A total of 952 resident children aged 7 to 13 were included in the current study. The fluoride contents in drinking water, urine, hair and nail were measured using the ion-selective electrode method. LASSO Binomial regression was conducted to screen the intelligence-related SNP-set. The gene-fluoride interactions at gene and pathway levels were detected by the Adaptive Rank Truncated Product method. Results: The probability of high intelligence was inversely correlated with fluoride contents in water, urine, hair and nail (all P

Maternal gut microbiota play an important role in the modulation of offspring disease susceptibility and gut microbiota dysbiosis has been proposed as a mechanism through which toxic environmental chemicals exert their adverse impacts on health. The brominated flame retardants polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are developmental toxicants and induce dysbiotic gut microbiota in offspring. Yet, whether and how PBDEs impact the maternal gut microbiota remain unclear. Here, we sought to investigate the effect of 2,2′,4,4′-tetrabromodiphenyl ether (PBDE-47) exposure from preconception through lactation cessation on maternal gut microbiota and its link to host serum metabolic consequences. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were daily exposed to 10 mg/kg PBDE-47 via oral gavage from ten days before conception until offspring were weaned on postnatal day 21, then maternal fecal and blood samples were collected for microbiome and metabolome analyses by using 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, respectively. Maternal exposure to PBDE-47 showed a distinct profile in gut microbiota compared to control dams, as evidenced by increased Actinobacteria phylum and genera Blautia, Gemella and Phascolarctobacterium, and decreased genera AF12 and Oscillospira. Additionally, global metabolomics analysis identified 26 differential serum metabolites to distinguish PBDE-47 from controls, which were mainly involved in amino acid, lipid, carbohydrate and energy metabolism, further confirmed by pathway analysis. Importantly, the differential serum metabolites are closely correlated with the disturbed gut microbiota in response to PBDE-47. Collectively, our results suggest that maternal gut microbial dysbiosis may serve as a potential mechanism underlying PBDE-47-elicited health hazards to mothers or even offspring.

Background: The alteration of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content contributes to many diseases, however, little is known about its effect on the prevalence of dental fluorosis (DF). Objectives: We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate the association of low-to-moderate fluoride exposure with relative mtDNA levels in relation to DF in children. Methods: We recruited 616 resident children, aged 7–13 years, randomly from low-to-moderate fluoride areas in Tianjin, China. We measured the fluoride concentrations in drinking water and urine using the national standardized ion selective electrode method, and determined the relative levels of mtDNA using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay. The association among fluoride exposure, relative mtDNA levels, and the prevalence of DF were examined using multivariable linear and logistic regression models. We also performed stratified and mediation analyses. Results: The relative mtDNA levels of participants in the DF group were significantly lower than in the non-DF group (0.95 ± 0.44 vs. 1.12 ± 0.45, P

Under the general trend of stepping-up oil and gas exploration and development in China, the unconventional oil and gas resources such as shale oil and gas have become an important alternative. Abundant continental shale oil resources are developed in Member 2 of Kongdian Formation (Ek2) of the Cangdong sag in the Huanghua depression of the Bohai Bay Basin which has complex structure, strong heterogeneity, and large buried depth, thus, the geological characteristic of shale oil accumulation and key exploration technologies are investigated on base of the system coring of 635.8 m, centimeter-level fine description and analysis of over ten thousand samples, therefore, the “four accurate” technologies have been developed, including the accurate selection of sweet spot areas, accurate drilling of sweet spot layers, accurate fracturing of sweet spot layers and accurate measure of fracture-rich sections. The results show that the continental shale strata in Member 2 of Kongdian Formation can be divided into three types: felsic shale, limy dolomitic shale and mixed shale. The Member 2 of Kongdian Formation is characterized by diverse mineral components, abundant laminae, good source rocks and medium thermal evolution degree, tight reservoir with rich micropore and microfractures, high oil saturation and brittle mineral content, indicating good prospect of shale oil exploration. Through sedimentological study, TOC and Ro evaluation, brittle mineral calculation, and seismic fusion inversion, a total of 126 km2 of Class I sweet spots in Member 2 of Kongdian Formation was delineated comprehensively, which guides horizontal well deployment (Well GD1701H and Well GD1702H). The drilling rate of sweet spot of these two horizontal wells is up to 96% by tracing thin layer through fine calibration, locating compartment through fine inversion, ensuring window entry through precise positioning, and tracking sweet spot through adjustment. The ''one-excellent and five-highs” criterion is used to select perforation points to realize differential designs of fracturing intervals and clusters. Micro-seismic and potentiometry monitoring show that the artificial fractures formed by volumetric fracturing are 300–400 m long and 120 m high, and control a volume of about 0.07 km3. The maximum daily oil production of two horizontal wells is 48 t and 66 t respectively to realize the economic exploitation of shale oil reserves controlled by fractures. The shale oil exploration in Member 2 of Kongdian Formation shows that the continental shale oil has great potential of exploration and development, and the above technologies are critical and effective for shale oil efficient recovery. Keywords: Shale oil, Sweet spot evaluation, Fracturing intervals and perforation clusters, Member 2 of Kongdian formation, Cangdong sag, Bohai Bay Basin

Abstract The distribution of Asian ancestry in the genome of Danish Duroc pigs was investigated using whole‐genome sequencing data from European wild boars, Danish Duroc, Chinese Meishan and Bamaxiang pigs. Asian haplotypes deriving from Meishan and Bamaxiang occur widely across the genome. Signatures of selection on Asian haplotypes are common in the genome, but few of these haplotypes have been fixed. By defining 50‐kb windows with more than 50% Chinese ancestry, which did not exhibit extreme genetic differentiation between Meishan and Bamaxiang as candidate regions, the enrichment of quantitative trait loci in candidate regions supports that Asian haplotypes under selection play an important role in contributing genetic variation underlying production, reproduction, meat and carcass, and exterior traits. Gene annotation of regions with the highest proportion of Chinese ancestry revealed genes of biological interest, such as NR6A1. Further haplotype clustering analysis suggested that a haplotype of Chinese origin around the NR6A1 gene was introduced to Europe and then underwent a selective sweep in European pigs. Besides, functional genes in candidate regions, such as AHR and PGRMC2, associated with fertility, and SAL1, associated with meat quality, were identified. Our results demonstrate the contribution of Asian haplotypes to the genomes of European pigs. Findings herein facilitate further genomic studies such as genomewide association study and genomic prediction by providing ancestry information of variants.

To improve the accuracy and real-time performance of vehicle recognition in an advanced driving-assistance system (ADAS), a vehicle recognition method based on radar and camera information fusion is proposed. Firstly, the millimeter-wave radar and camera are calibrated jointly, the radar recognition information is mapped on the camera image, and the region of interest is established. Then, based on operator edge detection, global threshold binarization is performed on the image of the region of interest (ROI) to obtain the contour information of the vehicle in front, and Hough transform is used to fit the vehicle contour edge straight line. Finally, a sliding window is established according to the symmetry characteristics of the fitting line, which can find the vehicle region with the highest symmetry and complete the identification of the vehicle. The experimental results show that compared to the original recognition region of the radar, the mean square error of this algorithm is reduced by 13.4 and the single frame detection time is reduced to 28 ms. It is proven that the algorithm has better accuracy and a faster detection rate, and it can solve the problem of an inaccurate recognition region caused by radar error.

A magnitude (Mw) 7.4 Maduo earthquake occurred on 22 May 2021 in the northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with predominantly left-lateral strike-slip faulting and a component of normal faulting within the Bayan Har Block. The co-seismic surface rupture extended in a NWW direction for ~160 km with a complicated geometry along a poorly known young fault: the Jiangcuo Fault. The main surface rupture propagated bilaterally from the epicenter and terminated eastward in horsetail splays. The main rupture can be divided into five segments with two rupture gaps. Field surveys and detailed mapping revealed that the co-seismic surface ruptures were characterized by a series of left-lateral offsets, en echelon tensional cracks and fissures, compressional mole tracks, and widespread sand liquefication. The observed co-seismic left-lateral displacements ranged from 0.2 m to ~2.6 m, while the vertical displacements ranged from 0.1 m to ~1.5 m, much lower than the InSAR inverse slip maximum of 2–6 m. Based on the comprehensive analysis of the causative fault geometry and the tectonic structure of the northern Bayan Har Block, this study suggests that the multiple NWW trending sub-faults, including the Jiangcuo Fault, developed from the East Kunlun fault northeast of the Bayan Har Block could be regarded as the sub-faults of the East Kunlun Fault system, constituting a broad and dispersive northern boundary of the Block, controlling the inner strain distribution and deformation.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers are known to be toxic and impair thyroid function. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well understood. We constructed a female Sprague-Dawley rat model to evaluate the role of endoplasmic reticulum stress, apoptosis and autophagy in 2,2′,4,4′-tetrabromodiphenylether (PBDE-47) induced thyroid toxicity. In the brain development spurt period (postnatal day 10), rats were treated with PBDE-47 (0, 1, 5, 10 mg/kg bw, i.g). Two addition groups were administered with 4-Phenylbutyric acid, an endoplasmic reticulum stress modulator, to reverse PBDE-47-induced thyroid toxicity. Our results demonstrated that PBDE-47 significantly decreased serum thyroid stimulating hormone levels, induced histologic changes in thyroid tissues, increased the percentage of cell apoptosis and expression levels of C/EBP-homologous protein, caspase 3, glucose-regulated protein 78, inositol-requiring enzyme 1, and autophagy-related proteins Beclin1 and 1A/1B-light chain 3. Besides of decreased serum thyroid stimulating hormone levels, all these changes were reversed by 4-Phenylbutyric acid. Taken together, these data indicate that, PBDE-47 damages the thyroid tissues by triggering endoplasmic reticulum stress, apoptosis and autophagy.

The phenomenon of gender disparity is very profound in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Although previous research has revealed important roles of microRNA (miRNA) in HCC, there are no studies investigating the role of miRNAs in gender disparity observed hepatocarcinogenesis. In the present study, we investigated the global miRNAomics changes related to Ras-induced male-prevalent hepatocarcinogenesis in a Hras12V-transgenic mouse model (Ras-Tg) by next-generation sequencing (NGS). We identified shared by also unique changes in miRNA expression profiles in gender-dependent hepatocarcinogenesis. Two hundred sixty-four differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMIRs) with q value ≤0.05 and fold change ≥2 were identified. A vertical comparison revealed that the lower numbers of DEMIRs in the hepatic tumor (T) compared with the peri-tumor precancerous tissue (P) of Ras-Tg and normal liver tissue of wild-type C57BL/6J mice (W) in males indicated that males are more susceptible to develop HCC. The expression pattern analysis revealed 43 common HCC-related miRNAs and 4 Ras-positive-related miRNAs between males and females. By integrating the mRNA transcriptomic data and using 3-node FFL analysis, a group of significant components commonly contributing to HCC between sexes were filtered out. A horizontal comparison showed that the majority of DEMIRs are located in the Dlk1-Dio3 genomic imprinting region (GIR) and that they are closely related to not only hepatic tumorigenesis but also to gender disparity in hepatocarcinogenesis. This is achieved by regulating multiple metabolic pathways, including retinol, bile acid, and steroid hormones. In conclusion, the identification of shared and gender-dependent DEMIRs in hepatocarcinogenesis provides valuable insights into the mechanisms that contribute to male-biased Ras-induced hepatic carcinogenesis.

In view of the poor robustness and low accuracy in lane line identification based on digital image processing, this paper proposes a Markov random field intelligent algorithm based on machine learning to identify lane lines. The complete lane line identification steps are as follows: First, high-quality traffic scenario images are created by means of image preprocessing, which includes image graying, grayscale transformation, and the extraction of regions of interest (ROIs). Then, the images are modeled according to Markov random field theory, and model reasoning is performed based on the binary graph cut method. In the reasoning process, to achieve accurate lane line segmentation, i.e., the optimal solution of the model, the energy potential function is introduced to optimize the binary graph cut method. Finally, the lane line pixel label is marked according to the segmentation result. The experiments showed that the algorithm could accurately segment the lane line pixels after only 10 iterations, indicating that the identification method has good performance in both reasoning speed and identification accuracy, which takes account of both accuracy and real-time processing, and can meet the requirements of lane recognition for lightweight automatic driving systems.

Whether the northwestern Junggar Basin (NW China) has natural gas potential is an urgent but unresolved question. In this study, we discuss the origin of deep heavy oils (>2900 m) and its implication for gas migration and accumulation, based on a comprehensive investigation into physicochemical and geological properties of hydrocarbons in the northern Zhongguai High. Our results indicate that multiple-episode migration of hydrocarbons created four genetic types of oils and three genetic types of hydrocarbon gases and induced widespread gas washing. Relatively low maturity and gas washing are both responsible for the formation of the deep heavy oils. In detail, the migrating late-stage humic-type gases washed the encountered early stage low-maturity oils. The oil reservoirs lost their light fraction and evolved into heavy oils, which are preserved in the deep layer to the present, while the light-end components continued to migrate upward and accumulated as mixed gas pools or vented out of the system. The spatial distributions pattern of source rocks, heavy oils, and mixed gas clearly indicates the migration pathways of humic-type gases, which otherwise are difficult to define in the study area. Because the gases finally migrate into fault belts, their poor preservation condition likely results in the rare discoveries of gas fields. The favorable exploration targets for gas in the area are expected to be fault traps in fault belts, stratigraphic traps along the pinch-out boundary of the Upper Wuerhe Formation, and, particularly, the deep traps in the Mahu Sag.

Self-assembled nanocomposites are attracting considerable attention owing to their controllable architectures and self-assembly processes, as well as the increase in worldwide environmental effects and energy needs. Further understanding of the self-assembly procedure for improving environmental and energy applications would advance the design and manufacture of nanomaterials for various applications. These materials can be grouped into major categories for various application fields, including powder photocatalysts, membrane photocatalysts, and thin-film thermoelectric nanomaterials. These self-assembled nanomaterials can be used for environmental and energy applications, such as wastewater purification, hydrogen production by water splitting, energy storage, and energy harvesting. In this review, a brief introduction to the definitions and classifications of self-assembled nanocomposites is provided. We aim to provide a summary of the recent research related to self-assembled nanocomposites and nanostructures used for environmental and energy applications. Moreover, typical examples and discussions are aimed at demonstrating the advantages of self-assembled nanostructures. At the end of each section, the structural properties and the application of the nanocomposite or nanostructure are summarized. Finally, we provide perspectives for future research on the design and fabrication of self-assembled nanocomposites and nanostructures.

Human activity recognition plays a prominent role in numerous applications like smart homes, elderly healthcare and ambient intelligence. The complexity of human behavior leads to the difficulty of developing an accurate activity recognizer, especially in situations where different activities have similar sensor readings. Accordingly, how to measure the relationships among activities and construct an activity recognizer for better distinguishing the confusing activities remains critical. To this end, we in this study propose a clustering guided hierarchical framework to discriminate on-going human activities. Specifically, we first introduce a clustering-based activity confusion index and exploit it to automatically and quantitatively measure the confusion between activities in a data-driven way instead of relying on the prior domain knowledge. Afterwards, we design a hierarchical activity recognition framework under the guidance of the confusion relationships to reduce the recognition errors between similar activities. Finally, the simulations on the benchmark datasets are evaluated and results show the superiority of the proposed model over its competitors. In addition, we experimentally evaluate the key components of the framework comprehensively, which indicates its flexibility and stability.

Abstract Complex traits with multiple phenotypic values changing over time are called longitudinal traits. In traditional genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for longitudinal traits, a combined/averaged estimated breeding value (EBV) or deregressed proof (DRP) instead of multiple phenotypic measurements per se for each individual was frequently treated as response variable in statistical model. This can result in power losses or even inflate false positive rates (FPRs) in the detection due to failure of exploring time-dependent relationship among measurements. Aiming at overcoming such limitation, we developed two random regression-based models for functional GWAS on longitudinal traits, which could directly use original time-dependent records as response variable and fit the time-varied Quantitative Trait Nucleotide (QTN) effect. Simulation studies showed that our methods could control the FPRs and increase statistical powers in detecting QTN in comparison with traditional methods where EBVs, DRPs or estimated residuals were considered as response variables. Besides, our proposed models also achieved reliable powers in gene detection when implementing into two real datasets, a Chinese Holstein Cattle data and the Genetic Analysis Workshop 18 data. Our study herein offers an optimal way to enhance the power of gene detection and further understand genetic control of developmental processes for complex longitudinal traits.

Abstract Background Segmental duplications (SDs) commonly exist in plant and animal genomes, playing crucial roles in genomic rearrangement, gene innovation and the formation of copy number variants. However, they have received little attention in most livestock species. Results Aiming at characterizing SDs across the genomes of diverse livestock species, we mapped genome-wide SDs of horse, rabbit, goat, sheep and chicken, and also enhanced the existing SD maps of cattle and pig genomes based on the most updated genome assemblies. We adopted two different detection strategies, whole genome analysis comparison and whole genome shotgun sequence detection, to pursue more convincing findings. Accordingly we identified SDs for each species with the length of from 21.7 Mb to 164.1 Mb, and 807 to 4,560 genes were harboured within the SD regions across different species. More interestingly, many of these SD-related genes were involved in the process of immunity and response to external stimuli. We also found the existence of 59 common genes within SD regions in all studied species except goat. These common genes mainly consisted of both UDP glucuronosyltransferase and Interferon alpha families, implying the connection between SDs and the evolution of these gene families. Conclusions Our findings provide insights into livestock genome evolution and offer rich genomic sources for livestock genomic research.

Objective An experiment was conducted to investigate the environment of the deep litter system and provided theoretical basis for production. Methods The bedding samples were obtained from a pig breeding farm and series measurements associated with gases concentrations and the bacterial diversity as well as the quantity of Escherichia coli, Lactobacilli, Methanogens were performed in this paper. Results The concentrations of CO2, CH4, and NH3 in the deep litter system increased with the increasing of depth while the N2O concentrations increased fiercely from the 0 cm to the −10 cm depth but then decreased beneath the −10 cm depth. Meanwhile, the Shannon index, the dominance index as well as the evenness index at the −20 cm layer was significantly different from the other layers (p

Background: Thyroid hormones (THs) are critical for brain development. Whether low-moderate fluoride exposure affects thyroid function and what the impact is on children's intelligence remain elusive. Objectives: We conducted a cross-sectional study to examine the associations between low-moderate fluoride exposure and thyroid function in relation to children's intelligence. Methods: We recruited 571 resident children, aged 7–13 years, randomly from endemic and non-endemic fluorosis areas in Tianjin, China. We measured fluoride concentrations in drinking water and urine using the national standardized ion selective electrode method. Thyroid function was evaluated through the measurements of basal THs [(total triiodothyronine (TT3), total thyronine (TT4), free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyronine (FT4)] and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels in serum. Multivariable linear and logistical regression models were used to assess associations among fluoride exposure, thyroid function and IQ scores. Results: In adjusted models, every 1 mg/L increment of water fluoride was associated with 0.13 uIU/mL increase in TSH. Every 1 mg/L increment of urinary fluoride was associated with 0.09 ug/dL decrease in TT4, 0.009 ng/dL decrease in FT4 and 0.11 uIU/mL increase in TSH. Fluoride exposure was inversely related to IQ scores (B = −1.587; 95% CI: −2.607, −0.568 for water fluoride and B = −1.214; 95% CI: −1.987, −0.442 for urinary fluoride). Higher TT3, FT3 were related to the increased odds of children having high normal intelligence (OR = 3.407, 95% CI: 1.044, 11.120 for TT3; OR = 3.277, 95% CI: 1.621, 6.623 for FT3). We detected a significant modification effect by TSH on the association between urinary fluoride and IQ scores, without mediation by THs. Conclusions: Our study suggests low-moderate fluoride exposure is associated with alterations in childhood thyroid function that may modify the association between fluoride and intelligence. Keywords: Low-moderate fluoride exposure, Thyroid function, IQ scores, School-age children

Ecosystem services are the material basis of economic and social development, and play essential roles in the sustainable development of ecosystems. Urbanization can remarkably alter the provision of ecosystem services. Most studies in this area have focused on densely populated metropolises with poor ecological environments, while comparatively few studies have focused on cities with low ecological pressures. Therefore, to avoid continuing to engage in the repetitive pattern of destroying first and rehabilitating later, quantitative analyses of urbanization and ecosystem services should be carried out in representative cities. In this study, based on partial least squares-discriminant analysis, kernel density estimation, and correlation analysis, we quantitatively evaluated the impact of urbanization on ecosystem services in Weifang city. The Data Center for Resources and Environmental Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research provided remote sensing data on land use, the gross domestic production (GDP), population data, and ecosystem services. The results were as follows: (1) The variation in population, GDP, and built-up areas consistently increased throughout the study period, whereas the ecosystem service values (ESVs) decreased; (2) food production, raw material production, nutrient cycle maintenance, and soil conservation were decisive ecosystem services that led to vast reductions in ESVs during the process of urbanization; and (3) the negative correlation coefficient between built-up areas and ecosystem services was greater than that between the population or GDP and ecosystem services, which indicated that the impacts of population and economic urbanization on ecosystem services lagged behind the impact of land urbanization. This study provides references for fully recognizing the ecological effects of urbanization, and make suggestions regarding the application of ecosystem services in sustainable development.

Based on the geologic background and reservoir characteristics, the characteristics and controlling factors of gas and water distribution of the carbonate reservoir in the 5th member of Ordovician Majiagou Formation in Northwest Ordos Basin have been examined from macro and micro aspects using data of structure, deposition, diagenesis, paleotopography, physical property, mercury injection, well logs and core observation. The 5th member of Majiagou Formation in the study area shows very complex gas and water distribution pattern: the gas layer is distributed uniformly across the whole area in 2D horizontal map, while the water layer is scattered and concentrates in small area, appearing in discontinuous distribution; there is no gas and water interbeds in vertical direction, making it difficult to develop the gas reservoir efficiently. The gas and water distribution is controlled by paleogeomorphology and diagenesis macroscopically, and is controlled by pore-throat structure, connectivity and the transportation relation between source rock and reservoir microscopically. The gas largely concentrates in and around the ancient grooves and low hill regions in the paleokast slope where the reservoirs have good physical properties and good pore – throat connectivity, and there is no bauxite between source rock and reservoir, making it easy for gas to charge and accumulate. Key words: carbonate gas reservoir, gas and water distribution, paleogeomorphology, diagenesis, pore structure, transportation relation, Ordos Basin, Ordovician Majiagou Formation

The activation of the Ras signaling pathway is a crucial process in hepatocarcinogenesis. Till now, no reports have scrutinized the role of dynamic metabolic changes in Ras oncogene-induced transition of the normal and precancerous liver cells to hepatocellular carcinoma in vivo. In the current study, we attempted a comprehensive investigation of Hras12V transgenic mice (Ras-Tg) by concatenating nontargeted metabolomics, transcriptomics analysis, and targeted-metabolomics incorporating [U-13C] glucose. A total of 631 peaks were detected, out of which 555 metabolites were screened. Besides, a total of 122 differently expressed metabolites (DEMs) were identified, and they were categorized and subtyped with the help of variation tendency analysis of the normal (W), precancerous (P), and hepatocellular carcinoma (T) liver tissues. Thus, the positive or negative association between metabolites and the hepatocellular carcinoma and Ras oncogene were identified. The bioinformatics analysis elucidated the hepatocarcinogenesis-associated significant metabolic pathways: glycolysis, mitochondrial citrate-malate shuttle, lipid biosynthesis, pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), cholesterol and bile acid biosynthesis, and glutathione metabolism. The key metabolites and enzymes identified in this analysis were further validated. Moreover, we confirmed the PPP, glycolysis, and conversion of pyruvate to cytosol acetyl-CoA by mitochondrial citrate-malate shuttle, in vivo, by incorporating [U-13C] glucose. In summary, the current study presented the comprehensive bioinformatics analysis, depicting the Ras oncogene-induced dynamic metabolite variations in hepatocarcinogenesis. A significant finding of our study was that the mitochondrial citrate-malate shuttle plays a crucial role in detoxification of lactic acid, maintenance of mitochondrial integrity, and enhancement of lipid biosynthesis, which, in turn, promotes hepatocarcinogenesis.

The effect of atmospheric pressure on performance of air entraining agent (AEA) and air entraining concrete was studied in Tibet and Hubei, China. The result shows that the reduced atmospheric pressure increased surface tension and lowered foaming property of solution. The AEA with excellent foaming ability and stability is preferred in low atmospheric pressure. The freeze-thaw deterioration process of hardened pastes is relatively faster under low atmospheric pressure. The effect of air pressure on concrete frost resistance performance is more sensitive than the mechanical property. The bigger pores and poor uniformity of internal pore size distribution led to the deterioration of concrete macroscopic properties. Therefore, the AEA varieties should be preferred, the dosage of AEA should be increased, and pore structure of pastes should be optimized to ensure the durability of concrete frost resistance for construction in low-pressure areas.

The original PDF and HTML versions of this Article contained errors in the Acknowledgements section. MEG Energy Corp. was incorrectly acknowledged for financial support. This has been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article.

This study reports an investigation of the chemical constituents of Balanophora polyandra Griff. Fifteen compounds were isolated by column chromatography on silica gel, Toyo-pearl HW-40C, Sephadex LH-20 and by HPLC. Their structures were elucidated as 1,4-di-O-galloyl-2-O-[(E)-p-coumaroyl]-β-D-glucopyranose (1), 1-O-galloyl-β-D-pyranglucose (2), 1-p-coumaryl-β-D-pyranglucose (3), 1-O-(E)-caffeoyl-β-D-pyranglucose (4), 1,3-di-O-galloyl-β-D-pyranglucose (5), 1,6-di-O-galloyl-β-D-pyranglucose (6), 1-O-(E)-caffeoyl-4-O-galloyl-β-D-pyranglucose (7), 1-O-(E)-caffeoyl-6-O-galloyl-β-D-pyranglucose (8), 1-O-(E)-caffeoyl-4,6-di-O-galloyl-β-D-pyranglucose (9), 1-O-(E)-caffeoyl-4,6-(S)-HHDP-β-D-pyranglucose (10), 1,2,3,6-tetra-O-galloyl-β-D-pyranglucose (11), 4,6-(S)-hexahydroxydiphenoyl-(α/β)-D-glucose (12), 1-O-(E)-caffeoyl-4,6-[1′,1″-(3′,3″,4′,4″-tetrahydroxydibenzofurandicarboxyl)]-β-D-glucopyranose (13), flavogallonic acid (14), and phloretin-4′-O-β-D-glucoside (15) on the basis of spectral analysis. Compound 1 was a new hydrolyzable tannin, 9 was obtained from this genus for the first time, and compounds 5, 6 and 11–14 were isolated from this plant for the first time.