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Green macroalgae bloom (GMB), with the dominant species of Ulva prolifera, has regularly occurred since 2007 along the China coast. Although disaster prevention and control achieved favorable results in 2020, the satellite-observed GMB annual maximum coverage (AMC) rebounded sharply in 2021 to an unprecedented level. The reasons for this rebound and the significant interannual variability over past 15 years are still open questions. Here, by using long-term time-series (2007–2022) optical and Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite observations (1000+ scenes), meteorological data and water quality statistics, the mechanism analysis was performed by exploring effects from natural factors and human activities. Two key determinants for AMC are successfully identified from numerous potential factors which are the macroalgae distribution in a key area (the Subei Shoal) during a critical period (from April to May 20) and the nutrient availability. Furthermore, by using these two parameters, a novel model for AMC prediction (R2 = 0.87, p

Background: Dexmedetomidine is known for its selective action on α2-adrenoceptor sites and is recognized for its neuroprotective capabilities. It can improve postoperative cognitive function. Commonly used anesthetics, such as sevoflurane and propofol, have been reported to affect postoperative cognitive function. Therefore, it could be valuable to explore dexmedetomidine-led anesthesia strategy. This study was designed to assess the performance, safety, and effective infusion rate in anesthesia maintenance, to explore a feasible dexmedetomidine-led anesthesia maintenance protocol, and to provide a foundation for potential combined anesthesia. Methods: Thirty patients aged 18–60 years, classified as ASA I or II, undergoing abdominal surgery were involved. The anesthesia maintenance was achieved with dexmedetomidine, remifentanil and rocuronium. Dixon up-and-down sequential methodology was utilized to ascertain the ED50 of dexmedetomidine for maintaining Patient State Index (PSI) 25–40 (depth of stage III anesthesia). Intraoperative HR, BP and depth of anesthesia were monitored and controlled. The wake-up time from anesthesia, the incidence of intraoperative awareness and postoperative delirium, and the patients’ satisfaction were assessed. Results: The results indicated that dexmedetomidine-led anesthesia could maintain the depth of stage III anesthesia during abdominal surgery. The ED50 and ED95 of dexmedetomidine infusion rates during anesthesia maintenance were 2.298 μg/kg·h (95%CI: 2.190–2.404 μg/kg·h) and 3.765 μg/kg·h (95%CI: 3.550–4.050 μg/kg·h). Continuous infusion of dexmedetomidine and 0.1–0.3 μg/kg·min remifentanil could maintain PSI 25–40, and provide appropriate anesthesia depth for abdominal surgery. Perioperative bradycardia and hypertension could be rapidly corrected with atropine and nitroglycerin. The median wake-up time after anesthesia was 4.8 min, the perioperative maximum HR had significant correlation with wake-up time and intraoperative dexmedetomidine dose. No intraoperative awareness and postoperative delirium occurred; the patients were satisfied with dexmedetomidine-led anesthesia. Conclusions: dexmedetomidine-led strategy could maintain stable depth of anesthesia throughout surgery, and the ED50 of dexmedetomidine infusion rates was 2.298 μg/kg·h. Intraoperative HR, BP and depth of anesthesia require monitoring, the bradycardia and hypertension could be rapidly corrected.

Abstract Metastasis accounts for most cancer-associated deaths; yet, this complex process remains poorly understood, particularly the relationship between distant metastasis and primary site-derived cells. Here, we modified the classical MMTV–PyMT breast carcinoma model to trace the fate of mammary-derived carcinoma cells. We show that within the lung, when the metastatic breast carcinoma cells are conditionally depleted, transformed lung epithelial cells generate new metastases. Metastatic breast carcinoma cells transmit H19 long noncoding (lnc) RNA to lung epithelial cells through exosomes. SF3B1 bearing mutations at arginine-625 alternatively splices H19 lncRNA in lung epithelial cells, which selectively acts like a molecular sponge to sequester let-7a and induces Myc upregulation. Under the conditional elimination of primary site-derived breast carcinoma cells, lung malignant cells expressing the mutated SF3B1 splice variant dominate the newly created tumors. Our study suggests that these new carcinoma cells originating from within the colonized organ can replace the primary site-derived malignant cells whenever their expansion is abrogated using an inducible diphtheria toxin receptor in our designed system. These findings should call for a better understanding of metastatic tumors with the specific origin during cancer metastasis.

In applied linguistics, there has been a growing body of L2 pragmatics studies that investigate the intricate relationship between language learners’ subjective pragmatic choices and various contextual factors. The current study contributes to the understanding of language learner agency by illustrating the complex processes through which language learners enact their agency in response to varying contextual factors when making their sociopragmatic interpretations and strategies. To capture the ecological nature of agency, this study conceptualizes agency as contextually, interpersonally, intrapersonally, spatially, and temporally embedded. Through the in-depth examination of the accounts of three L2 learners of Japanese regarding their interactions with religious group members during their study abroad in Japan, this study demonstrates language learners’ divergent ways of enacting their agency, stemming from their orientations to the unique configurations of various contextual attributes in the L2 interactions. Such differences were rooted in and guided by their past experiences, present environments, and future aspirations that impacted their sociopragmatic perceptions, expectations, and choices. This study provides a complicated picture of language learner agency as a dialogic and reflexive process in which learners interact with contextual factors and adapt their sociopragmatic choices. Thus, it calls for an ecological, processual, and holistic approach to language learner agency through the close examination of the ways in which various contextual factors come together in L2 interactions, the process of how language learners orient to dynamic configurations of contextual factors, and what guides such orientations.

Automatically detecting macroalgae from optical remote sensing images has been a long-standing problem in ocean monitoring. Existing operational spectral-based techniques tend to assign a threshold to an indicator such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to determine whether or not macroalgae exists in a pixel. This thresholding scheme relies on individual pixel features and cannot address the environment variability among different images or even across one single image. To address these limitations, we develop the unsupervised classification method taking the ecological indicator of NDVI as input by exploiting a region-based level set driven by context-sensitive energy function for macroalgae detection from optical remote sensing images. Quantitative and qualitative evaluations based on satellite optical images with various imaging time and spatial resolutions (16–250 m) from GF-1, GF-4, Landsat-8, and Aqua demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness for Ulva prolifera detection. The model is proved to be superior to the traditional NDVI thresholding method and state-of-the-art level set methods in terms of higher accuracy (Kappa coefficients 0.87–0.92) and automation (without artificial threshold/parameter adjustment). Moreover, the model has the advantage of accommodating complex environmental conditions (such as different water turbidity, thin clouds and sun glint), and can be utilized for detection of Sargassum bloom. The model could facilitate the accurate extraction of macroalgae information and thus serve disaster prevention and control. It may also be used to assist high-accuracy training data preparation for supervised classification and detect the objects with obvious texture and spectral characteristics (such as oil spills) based on customized bands combination.

Introduction Postoperative delirium (POD) is a common cognitive disturbance in elderly individuals that is characterised by acute and fluctuating impairments in attention and awareness. Remimazolam tosylate is a novel, ultrashort-acting benzodiazepine, and there is limited evidence of its correlation with the incidence of early POD. The aim of this study is to evaluate the incidence of POD after anaesthesia induction and maintenance with remimazolam tosylate or propofol in elderly patients undergoing major non-cardiac surgery.Methods and analysis This is a single-centre, randomised controlled trial. 636 elderly patients undergoing major non-cardiac surgery will be enrolled and randomised at a 1:1 ratio to receive total intravenous anaesthesia with either remimazolam tosylate or propofol. The primary outcome is the incidence of POD within 5 days after surgery. Delirium will be assessed twice daily by the 3 min Diagnostic Interview for the Confusion Assessment Method or the Confusion Assessment Method for the intensive care unit (ICU) for ICU patients. Secondary outcomes are the onset and duration of delirium, cognitive function at discharge and within 1-year postoperatively, postoperative analgesia within 5 days, chronic pain at 3 months, quality of recovery and postoperative inflammatory biomarker levels.Ethics and dissemination The study was approved by the institutional ethics committee of the National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (approval No. 22/520–3722). Written informed consent will be obtained from each patient before enrolment. The results of this trial will be presented at scientific conferences and in peer-reviewed scientific journals.Trial registration number ChiCTR2300067368.

BackgroundDexmedetomidine (DEX) is a sedative with greater preservation of cognitive function, reduced respiratory depression, and improved patient arousability. This study was designed to investigate the performance of DEX during anesthesia induction and to establish an effective DEX induction strategy, which could be valuable for multiple clinical conditions.MethodsPatients undergoing abdominal surgery were involved in this dose-finding trial. Dixon's up-and-down sequential method was employed to determine the effective dose of DEX to achieve the state of “loss of consciousness”, and an effective induction strategy was established with continuous infusion of DEX and remifentanil. The effects of DEX on hemodynamics, respiratory state, EEG, and anesthetic depth were monitored and analyzed.ResultsThrough the strategy mentioned, the depth of surgical anesthesia was successfully achieved by DEX-led anesthesia induction. The ED50 and ED95 of the initial infusion rate of DEX were 0.115 and 0.200 μg/kg/min, respectively, and the mean induction time was 18.3 min. The ED50 and ED95 of DEX to achieve the state of “loss of consciousness” were 2.899 (95% CI: 2.703–3.115) and 5.001 (95% CI: 4.544–5.700) μg/kg, respectively. The mean PSI on the loss of consciousness was 42.8 among the patients. During anesthesia induction, the hemodynamics including BP and HR were stable, and the EEG monitor showed decreased α and β powers and increased θ and δ in the frontal and pre-frontal cortices of the brain.ConclusionThis study indicated that continuous infusion of combined DEX and remifentanil could be an effective strategy for anesthesia induction. The EEG during the induction was similar to the physiological sleep process.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has crucially influenced anthropogenic activities, which in turn impacts upon the environment. In this study, we investigated the variations on aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 550 nm over the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea during the COVID-19 lockdown (from February to March in 2020) of China mainland based on Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) observation by comparing with historical AOD records (2011–2019). Our results show that with the lockdown implementation, the decade-low AOD levels are achieved in February and March 2020 (0.39 ± 0.18 and 0.37 ± 0.19, respectively), which are 22% and 28% (p

Abstract Background To evaluate the feasibility and safety of a new surgical method, complete laparoscopic extended right hemicolectomy with preservation of the ileocecal junction in right-transverse colon cancer. Methods We retrospectively analyzed and compared the data of consecutive patients with right-transverse colon cancer who underwent complete laparoscopic extended right hemicolectomy with preservation of the ileocecal junction (n = 23) and conventional complete laparoscopic extended right hemicolectomy (n = 34) in our hospital between October 2017 to May 2019, respectively. Results The overall operation time of the ileocecal junction-preserved group was significantly shorter than that of the control group (p = 0.048). There was no difference in the number of harvested lymph nodes, metastatic lymph nodes, and rate of metastatic lymph nodes (p > 0.05). The ileocecal junction-preserved group showed shorter time of first flatus, lower frequency of postoperative diarrhea, and shorter duration of postoperative hospitalization. Furthermore, it also showed that the defecation frequency was lower in the ileocecal junction-preserved group than the control group on the 1st, 3rd, and 6th month (p < 0.05), and the number of patients who defecated at night or defecated four times or more a day was less in the ileocecal junction-preserved group than control group on the 1st month (p < 0.05). Conclusion The complete laparoscopic extended right hemicolectomy with preservation of the ileocecal junction promises as a safe and feasible surgical procedure for right-transverse colon cancer, associated with earlier recovery of bowel function, shorter operation time, and similar pathological outcomes when compared to the conventional laparoscopic procedure.

Previous studies have shown multiple mechanisms and pathophysiological changes after anesthesia, and genome-wide studies have been implemented in the studies of brain aging and neurodegenerative diseases. However, the genome-wide gene expression patterns and modulation networks after general anesthesia remains to be elucidated. Therefore, whole transcriptome microarray analysis was used to explore the coding gene expression patterns in the hippocampus of aged rats after sevoflurane anesthesia. Six hundred and thirty one upregulated and 183 downregulated genes were screened out, then 44 enriched terms of biological process, 16 of molecular function and 18 of the cellular components were identified by Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG analysis. Among them, oxidative stress, metabolism, aging, and neurodegeneration were the most enriched biological processes and changed functions. Thus, involved genes of these processes were selected for qPCR verification and a good consistency was confirmed. The potential signaling pathways were further constructed including mitochondrion and oxidative stress-related Hifs-Prkcd-Akt-Nfe2l2-Sod1 signaling, multiple metabolism signaling (Scd2, Scap-Hmgcs2, Aldh18a1-Glul and Igf1r), as well as aging and neurodegeneration related signaling (Spidr-Ercc4-Cdkn1a-Pmaip1 and Map1lc3b). These results provide potential therapeutic gene targets for brain function modulation and memory formation process after inhaled anesthesia in the elderly, which could be valuable for preventing postoperative brain disorders and diseases, such as perioperative neurocognitive disorders (PND), from the genetic level in the future.

This paper examines the literature of second language learning in study abroad (SA) contexts that connect classroom learning and local community contact, and reviews the development process of having students learn in the local community by a Chinese language program in a large U.S. research university, and introduces a collection of 94 Field Performance Tasks (FPTs). The paper shows that consistently doing FPTs can increase learners’ participation in the Chinese cultural environment and boost their confidence in talking to native speakers, and thus is a meaningful contribution towards linking classroom learning with language contact in the community in a second language learning environment. Data from the 94 field-tested FPTs is presented and analyzed, and continuing development for future use is also addressed.

Soil quality is one of the main factors that affect the growth and quality of tea (Camellia sinensis L.) plantations. The formation of the organo-mineral complex is one of the critical factors that influence the evolution of soil fertility. This study used chemical analyses and spectroscopy to study the effects of inorganic and organic fertilizer on the soil nutrients and organo-mineral complex in tea garden soil. SR-FTIR analysis revealed that clay minerals were connected as nuclei with the capacity to bind carbon, and that this interaction was aided by organic fertilization. Specifically, the O-H has the quickest reaction to aliphatic-C, next by Si-O, Fe-O, and Al-O in OM70. The soil pH of organic and inorganic fertilization treatments are obviously lower than the no fertilization (CK) treatment. Furthermore, OM70 and OM100 had notably higher pH values in fertilized soil. Organic fertilization (OM70) treatment significantly increased Soil organic matter (SOM), total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorous, potassium (AP, AK), as well as the concentration of total and exchangeable Ca2+ and Mg2+ in soils when compared to no fertilization (CK) and inorganic fertilization (NPK). Together, these results can provide the scientific theoretical basis for the study on the understanding of the sequestration of SOM and confirmed the feasibility of organic fertilization in improving soil fertility and supporting organo-mineral interactions, thereby making a contribution to carbon storage in tea plantation ecosystems.

The out-of-band (OOB) response is one of the key specifications for satellite optical sensors, which has important influences on quantitative remote sensing retrieval. In this paper, the effect of OOB response on the radiometric measurements made just above the sea surface is evaluated for the three broad visible bands (i.e., blue, green, and red) of the Coastal Zone Imager (CZI) onboard China’s ocean satellite HY-1C to be launched in September 2018. For the turbid coastal (Case 2) waters whose optical properties are mainly dominated by suspended sediment and colored dissolved organic material, the OOB effect can be neglected (2%) OOB effect was found in the green band over oligotrophic waters (chlorophyll a concentration ≤~0.1 mg/m3), and accordingly a model based on the CZI blue-green band ratio is proposed to correct this effect. The OOB influence on the CZI ocean color retrieval is discussed. This research highlights the importance of the comprehensive pre-launch radiometric characterization and the OOB effect correction for the broad band space-borne sensor, in order to achieve a high-quality quantitative ocean product.

All ad-nilpotent elements of the infinite-dimensional Lie superalgebra Ω over a field of positive characteristic are determined. The natural filtration of the Lie superalgebra Ω is proved to be invariant under automorphisms by characterizing ad-nilpotent elements. Then an intrinsic property is obtained by the invariance of the filtration; that is, the integers in the definition of Ω are intrinsic. Therefore, we classify the infinite-dimensional modular Lie superalgebra Ω in the sense of isomorphism.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) metastasis portends a poor prognosis and cannot be reliably predicted. Early determination of the metastatic potential of RCC may help guide proper treatment. We analyzed microRNA (miRNA) expression in clear cell RCC (ccRCC) for the purpose of developing a miRNA expression signature to determine the risk of metastasis and prognosis. We used the microarray technology to profile miRNA expression of 78 benign kidney and ccRCC samples. Using 28 localized and metastatic ccRCC specimens as the training cohort and the univariate logistic regression and risk score methods, we developed a miRNA signature model in which the expression levels of miR-10b, miR-139-5p, miR-130b and miR-199b-5p were used to determine the status of ccRCC metastasis. We validated the signature in an independent 40-sample testing cohort of different stages of primary ccRCCs using the microarray data. Within the testing cohort patients who had at least 5 years follow-up if no metastasis developed, the signature showed a high sensitivity and specificity. The risk status was proven to be associated with the cancer-specific survival. Using the most stably expressed miRNA among benign and tumorous kidney tissue as the internal reference for normalization, we successfully converted his signature to be a quantitative PCR (qPCR)-based assay, which showed the same high sensitivity and specificity. The 4-miRNA is associated with ccRCC metastasis and prognosis. The signature is ready for and will benefit from further large clinical cohort validation and has the potential for clinical application.