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Background Polysaccharides and ethanol extract from Polygonatum sibiricum rhizome were reported to improve high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mouse obesity. However, the effect and potential mechanism of Polygonatum sibiricum rhizome water extract (PSRwe) on HFD-induced obesity mice remains unclear. The present study was sought to comprehensively elucidate that. An obese mouse model was established by feeding HFD and PSRwe were intragastrically administered once a day for 40 days. Changes in body weight, gut microbiota and their metabolites, plasma and liver metabolomics, colonic and liver transcriptomics were explored. The compounds in PSRwe were also examined.Results Body weight was significantly reduced after two weeks of PSRwe administration. Meanwhile, PSRwe treatment has significantly recovered the richness and diversity of gut microbiota in HFD-caused obesity mice. Specifically, beneficial species including Akkermansia muciniphila and functional pathways including fatty acids biosythesis and elongation, pentose phosphate pathway, glycolysis and reductive TCA cycle were significantly enriched in PSRwe group compared with oebsity. RNA-seq revealed that the function of the up-regulated DEGs in liver of PSRwe mice were mainly concentrated on lipid and fatty acid oxidation and metabolism, while the down-regulated DEGs were mainly focused on sterols and sterol biosynthesis and metabolism. In colon, however, the function of up-regulated DEGs were primarily JAK-STAT/PI3K-Akt signaling pathway, regulation of GTPase activity, and response to cation while the down-regulated DEGs were centered on glycolysis, fructose/mannose/pyruvate metabolism, fat digestion and absorption, and PPAR signaling pathway. Metabolomics analysis indicated that betaine, an effective component from PSR water extracts, has showed higher levels in both liver and plasma of PSRwe-treated mice, indicating that it was significantly associated with obesity. In addition, correlation analysis showed that the significantly different species enriched in PSRwe group were negatively correlated with colonic DEGs related on PPAR signaling pathway, glycolysis etc. but positively correlated with JAK-STAT signaling pathway etc. Intriguingly, common metabolites in plasma and liver were negatively correlated with liver DEGs related on steroids and sterols biosynthesis and metabolism but positively correlated with fatty acid metabolism.Conclusions Collectively, our study demonstrated that PSRwe could significantly alleviate HFD-induced mouse obesity via either directly affect lipid metabolism through effective betaine or by changing gut microbiota and their metabolites to alter gene expression associated with fatty acid metabolism in liver and colon, suggesting PSRwe might be a promising therapeutic candidate for obesity in clinical.

Based on the one-dimensional diffusion theory, the diffusion parameters were obtained from numerical fitting by the Cyclic Initial Value (CIV) program written by MATLAB. Taking the through-diffusion experimental of cesium (stable isotope 133Cs) as an example, on the premise of ensuring accuracy, fitting calculation was used to obtain the diffusion equilibrium time of Cs in different lengths bentonite column. The fitting results of diffusion test for tritium water (HTO) and Cs are both very well. The calculation results of the equilibrium time for Cs diffusion show that the equilibrium time obtained by CIV is less than the experimental period in both groundwater (GW) and seawater (SW). In GW environment, when the sensitivity is at the maximum setting value, the diffusion coefficient of Cs in 1.5 cm bentonite column could be calculated in a shorter period of time. Compared with the experimental period, the time was shortened by 110 days. The main purpose is to verify the feasibility of CIV through the experimental data of Cs in different column lengths. The CIV program can also be used to fit and calculate the experimental data of other ongoing diffusion experiments and get the equilibrium time required for diffusion experiments. It shows that the proposed models offer the advantages of saving experimental time and reducing experimental waste.

Conservation genomics often relies on non-invasive methods to obtain DNA fragments which limit the power of multi-omic analyses for threatened species. Collecting samples from frozen dead animals in the wild provides an alternative approach to obtaining high-quality nucleic acids. Here, we report multi-omic analyses based on a well-preserved great bustard individual (Otis tarda, Otidiformes) of a recent death found in the mountainous region in Gansu, China. We generated a near-complete genome assembly (OTswu) having only 18 gaps scattering in 8 out of the 40 assembled chromosomes. Unlikely most other bird genome assemblies, OTswu contains complete chromosome models (2n = 80). We demonstrated that the great bustard genome likely retained the ancestral avian karyotype. We also characterized the DNA methylation landscapes of OTswu which are strongly correlated with GC content and gene expression. Our phylogenomic analysis suggested Otidiformes and Musophagiformes were sister groups that diverged from each other 46.3 million years ago. The genetic diversity of great bustard was found the lowest among the four available Otidiformes genomes, possibly due to population declines during past glacial periods. As one of the heaviest migratory birds, great bustard possesses several expanded gene families related to cardiac contraction, actin contraction, calcium ion signaling transduction, as well as positively selected genes enriching for metabolism. Finally, we identified an extremely young evolutionary stratum on the sex chromosome, a rare case among Neoaves. Together, our study combining long-read sequencing and RNA-seq technology provides a working strategy for conducting multi-omic analyses for threatened species by retrieving high-quality nucleic acids from dead animals frozen in the wild.

A microgrid generates a large amount of power data during daily operation, which needs to be safely transferred, stored, and deleted. In this paper, we propose a secure storage and deletion verification scheme that combines blockchain and edge computing for the problems of limited storage capacity of blockchain and unverifiable data deletion. Firstly, edge computing is used to preprocess power data to reduce the amount of data and to improve the quality of data. Secondly, a hybrid encryption method that combines the improved ElGamal algorithm and the AES-256 algorithm is used to encrypt outsourcing data, and a secure storage chain is built based on the K-Raft consensus protocol to ensure the security of data in the transmission process. Finally, after initiating a data deletion request and successfully deleting the data, a deletion proof is generated and stored in the chain built, based on the Streamlet consensus protocol. The experimental results illustrate that the basic computing cost, block generation time, and communication delay of this scheme are the most efficient; the efficiency of the improved ElGamal algorithm is three times that of the traditional algorithm; the transaction throughput of the the double-layer blockchain can reach 13,000 tps at most. This scheme can realize the safe storage of microgrid data, and can also realize the efficient deletion and verification of outsourcing data.

Vegetation (e.g., lichens and mosses) living on the basalt substrate have potential to accumulate trace elements in their tissues. Here, we analyze the trace elements in basalt (collected from major volcanic center to jet plate places, representing four different eruption phases) and adjacent lichens and mosses to assess their elemental source–receptor relation. The results indicate that As, Sr, Mo, Cd, and Ba are enriched in basalt, and depleted in lichens and mosses. However, Zn, Hg, and Pb are enriched in lichens and mosses and depleted in basalt. Moreover, with the increase of basalt age, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, and Cu are gradually enriched in lichen and moss, but gradually depleted in basalt. Compared with transition metals, large ion lithophiles, the platinum group, and rare earth elements, Cr, Co, Cu, Zn, and Os are more easily absorbed by No. 1 lichen. Specifically, S is highly assimilated in vegetation, with a highest value of 166, followed by I, C, Pb, Zn, and Hg. In addition, the hydrogen and oxygen isotopic compositions of water samples suggest that the surface water in the Wenbo area came from meteoric waters in summer with a high humidity, while the underground water in the Beiyaoquan area came from meteoric waters in winter with a low humidity.

Dihydroxylammonium 5,5′-bistetrazole-1,1′-diolate (TKX-50) emerged as a novel energetic material with low sensitivity and excellent calculated detonation performance. The compatibility of TKX-50 with nitrocellulose (NC), an NC/NG (nitroglycerine) mixture (mass rate: 1.25:1), 2,4-dinitroanisole (DNAN), 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX), ammonium perchlorate (AP), hexanitroethane (HNE), cyclotetramethylenetetranitramine (HMX), hexanitrohexazaisowurtzitane (CL-20), glycidyl azide polymer (GAP), hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB), aluminum powder (Al), boron powder, and centralite was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results show that TKX-50/HNE possesses good compatibility, TKX-50 and HMX have moderate compatibility, and the compatibility of TKX-50 with TNT, CL-20, centralite, NC, AP, Al, and GAP is poor; in addition, TKX-50/RDX, TKX-50/NC + NG, TKX-50/B, and TKX-50/HTPB have poor compatibility.

Structural deformation of special-shaped thin-walled concrete acoustic wind tunnel under self-weight effect can not cater for requirements of high flatness and smoothness of moulding surface. Therefore pre-deformation analysis is carried out on construction of wind tunnel structure. Threshold is utilized to choose equivalent cross-section for the plane needing pre-deformation construction to do analysis. Analysis results show that design specifications of reinforced concrete is feasible for pre-deformation analysis on equivalent plane model under self-weight effect. Present construction on pre-camber wind tunnel according to deflection under self-weight effect also achieves the desired design requirements. Construction technology of arc-shaped erection template which controls mid-span pre-camber value keeps features of simple construction and high accuracy