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Abstract Objective To evaluate and compare the measurement properties and consistency between the Chinese versions of EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-Y-3L among Chinese adolescent populations aged 15–17 years. Methods Chinese adolescents aged 15–17 studying in high school were recruited through online survey. Social-demographic characteristics and self-reported EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-Y-3L responses were collected in the survey. The consistency of responses between the two measures was assessed using redistribution property, and the consistency of utility values was assessed by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Convergent validity and known-group validity were examined using Spearman’s rank correlation, F-test and effect sizes, respectively. Sensitivity was compared using relative efficiency (RE). Results 762 respondents (48.8% male; age 15–17 years;) were recruited. The EQ-5D-3L showed a more severe ceiling effect than EQ-5D-Y-3L (78.2% vs. 66.0%). Respondents reported higher proportions of having problems in four dimensions using the EQ-5D-Y-3L than using the EQ-5D-3L. The consistency of corresponding dimensions between the two measures was relatively good, while non-negligible proportions of inconsistency were observed in “pain/discomfort” (11.4%) and “anxiety/depression” (15.7%) dimensions. The ICC of the utility values between the EQ-5D-3L and EQ-5D-Y-3L was 0.852 (p

Steam convective heating emerges as a sustainable and effective method for extracting oil shale, where understanding the temperature-dependent evolution of its pyrolytic characteristics, microstructure, and permeability is vital for efficient resource extraction. Through a stress-sensitive micro-CT scanning and a high-temperature and pressure triaxial test apparatus, this research utilizes Balikun oil shale samples to investigate the changes in microstructure and gas production from 20 °C to 550 °C. The study integrates theoretical analysis and numerical simulations to uncover the fundamental connections between internal permeability and heat transfer mechanisms during steam injection. It reveals that oil shale undergoes two critical evolutionary phases: a stability phase below 350 °C, where volatile dispersion occurs, and a rapid increase phase above 350 °C, marked by significant microstructural changes from micro-fractures to extensive through-going fractures due to intense thermal decomposition. This decomposition leads to increased gas production and enhanced thermal fracturing. The threshold temperature is identified at 400 °C, above which the oil shale's mechanical strength and pore pressure increase, leading to decreased volumetric compression until stabilization. These findings demonstrate that higher temperatures enhance fracture connectivity and steam flow, optimizing the heating efficiency in oil shale extraction.

Abstract Currently the main method of mine solid waste disposal and utilization is to apply gangue to underground filling. For the grading characteristics of coal gangue in the hollow zone in underground filling, the state of pressure and the mechanical properties of coal gangue filling materials under different particle sizes. In this paper, through laboratory tests and numerical simulations, the bearing characteristics and deformation damage of gangue are deeply investigated and analyzed from both macroscopic and microscopic perspectives. The results of the study show that when the axial pressure reaches a certain threshold, the strain increases accordingly with the increase in grain size. Under the axial pressure condition of 15MPa, the bearing capacity of gangue with different grain sizes under the lateral pressure of steel cylinder showed obvious positive correlation. In the software PFC3D simulation, as the particle size of gangue particles increases, it has a significant effect on the natural stacking porosity of the specimen, and gangue particles are more prone to force chain instability and failure. Mixed particle size gangue can significantly reduce the natural accumulation porosity of the specimen, thus improving its overall stability. Significant displacement triangles existed in the top and lateral directions of the B1 (0–5 mm), B2 (5–10 mm), and B5 (0–20 mm) specimens under the same circumferential pressure conditions. The results of the study are of great significance for further selection of reasonable gangue gradation and determination of its mechanical properties.

In the context of China's high-quality green development, the elimination of backward production capacity presents ecological, social, and economic challenges in mining areas. This study focuses on the southern four towns of Qijiang, representing a former coal mining region in the southwestern mountainous area of China. Our objective is to identify reliable parameters for assessing the suitability of land reuse for agricultural, ecological and construction purposes, aiming to propose a viable approach for green transformation and development. To address this, we established an evaluation indicator system employing the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model. Additionally, the Projection Pursuit (PP) model, enhanced by the Sparrow Search Algorithm (SSA), was introduced to measure land reuse suitability. A framework based on a three-dimensional cube was utilized to identify the most suitable future land reuse, and the hotspot analysis method was employed to identify spatial clustering. The results indicated that agricultural and ecological land exhibit high suitability, contrasting with relatively lower suitability for construction land in the study area. Specifically, regions suitable for agricultural land spanned 321.73 km2, concentrated in Ganshui, Anwen, and Shihao Towns. Ecologically suitable areas covered 139.47 km2, centered in the central part of Anwen Town and the western part of Datong Town. Construction land suitability was mainly observed in Datong Town, covering 66.84 km2. Based on these findings, development strategies for future land reuse to facilitate green transformation were further discussed in this study. The research outcomes provided essential support for decision-making regarding future land reuse strategies in post-mining areas.

Abstract The strip structure filling mining technology is suggested in response to the environmental issues such as surface subsidence and landslides brought on by the mining of 11,071 working faces in a mine in Guizhou. The mining technology system is studied through indoor testing, numerical simulation, and engineering monitoring. According to theoretical study, the filling strip can be steadily loaded and its value doesn't exceed 10 m when the width of the filling strip and the width of the filling interval are set to be equal. According to laboratory testing, fly ash can replace some of the cement in the cement mixture as a binder to maintain strength while cutting costs. The degree of crystallization gradually distributed into the network in the filling paste of various ages corresponds to its strength when combined with the findings of scanning electron microscopy; The numerical simulation results show that the maximum subsidence of the immediate roof is reduced from 340 to 3 mm from the filling rate of 0 to 100%, the filling effect is remarkable, and the shape of the settlement curve is changed from 'U' to 'basin', then to 'W'; during the local filling mining, the settlement curve of the immediate roof presents a 'wave' shape, and the stress curve of the immediate roof in the middle of the stope is also changed. The peak tension of the coal wall falls synchronously with filling spacing on both sides of the stope. The overall vertical stress below the mountain is larger, and the vertical stress at the top of the filling body eventually shifts from a "saddle" shape to a "inverted U" shape without zero support stress. In conjunction with the plastic zone, it is discovered that the stable bearing of the "filling strip-direct roof" composite structure increases with decreasing tensile and shear damage range of the hollow roof area and both sides of the top of the "filling 3 m interval 3 m" scheme; engineering measurement also reveals that the higher the position of the survey line is, the smaller the displacement is. However, the overall displacement of the strata directly above is negligible, and the greatest displacement is only 10.9 mm, which is consistent with the numerical simulation. At the same time, the displacement beneath the mountain area is too great.

ABSTRACT Early identification of severe 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases is of great significance. We included 92 COVID-19 patients and 22 healthy controls and collected their laboratory test data and stool for metagenomic sequencing analysis. We found that the proportion of severe COVID-19 cases was significantly increased in patients with reduced lymphocytes and elevated neutrophils and had unique intestinal microbiota. Pseudothermotoga hypogea and Lachnospiraceae bacterium GAM79 were the species of bacteria that markedly decreased in COVID-19 patients compared to control individuals. For COVID-19 patients, Enterococcus sp. DA9, Caldicellulosiruptor obsidiansis, and Enterococcus faecium were the species of bacteria that significantly altered among patients with normal lymphocytes and neutrophils and patients with decreased lymphocytes and/or increased neutrophils, respectively. Fecal abundances of Enterococcus sp. DA9, Prevotella intermedia, and Bifidobacterium dentium were correlated with COVID-19 disease severity. Decreased lymphocytes and increased neutrophils, combined with decreased Bifidobacterium dentium and Prevotella intermedia, and increased Enterococcus sp. DA9 have the highest power to predict severe cases of COVID-19 patients (area under receiver operating characteristic curve: 0.79). In conclusion, changes in the abundance of intestinal bacteria can reflect the severity of COVID-19 disease, and the combination with lymphocytes and neutrophils might be prognostic factors of COVID-19. IMPORTANCE The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients had a unique profile of gut bacteria. In this study, we characterized the intestinal bacteria in our COVID-19 cohorts and found that there was an increased incidence of severe cases in COVID-19 patients with decreased lymphocytes and increased neutrophils. Levels of lymphocytes and neutrophils and abundances of intestinal bacteria correlated with the severity of COVID-19.

This study conducted a controlled experiment to examine the impact of posters’ IP disclosure on the perceptions of Weibo users with different habits and information preferences and explore whether such disclosure facilitates the fight against disinformation or deepens cognitive biases. Results showed that the IP location of the information poster does influence users’ judgments of the authenticity of the information and that the consistency between users’ long-term residence and poster IP is not important for users to make judgments about the credibility of information. The high level of usage of Weibo also has no effect on users’ judgment of the credibility of the information, and this may be related to the small difference in college students’ overall use of Weibo. The results also showed that users’ perceptions of information’s accuracy, logical coherence, absence of bias, alignment with their own views, consistency with the majority opinion, and trustworthiness of its source are all statistically positively correlated with the overall credibility of information.

The WRKY transcription factors are a class of transcriptional regulators that are ubiquitous in plants, wherein they play key roles in various physiological activities, including responses to stress. Specifically, WRKY transcription factors mediate plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses through the binding of their conserved domain to the W-box element of the target gene promoter and the subsequent activation or inhibition of transcription (self-regulation or cross-regulation). In this review, the progress in the research on the regulatory effects of WRKY transcription factors on plant responses to external stresses is summarized, with a particular focus on the structural characteristics, classifications, biological functions, effects on plant secondary metabolism, regulatory networks, and other aspects of WRKY transcription factors. Future research and prospects in this field are also proposed.

Marigold black spot caused by Alternaria tagetica is a major disease that can decrease marigold production by 40%, resulting in serious economic losses. In this study, we identified many genes responsive to A. tagetica in the resistant and susceptible marigold genotypes. Analyses of differentially expressed genes, expression trends, and a weighted gene co-expression network revealed a series of hub genes with key roles in different A. tagetica infection stages. Additionally, 1 216 unigenes encoding transcription factors from eight families were differentially expressed between Ts and Ma. Moreover, R genes from various families (e.g., N, NL, RLP, and TNL) were differentially expressed in the two marigold genotypes before and after the inoculation with A. tagetica. Pathway diagrams were used to visualize the leaf transcriptional changes in the two marigold genotypes infected by A. tagetica to clarify the effects of A. tagetica on the expression patterns of genes involved in phosphatidylinositol signaling, plant–pathogen interactions, and plant hormone signal transduction. We identified candidate genes related to disease resistance and generated valuable resources for analyzing the candidate gene functions related to black spot resistance in marigold. The study data may be useful for the molecular marker-assisted screening and breeding of marigold lines with increased disease resistance.

CYCLOIDEA (CYC)-like genes belong to the TCP transcription factor family and play important roles associated with flower development. The CYC-like genes in the CYC1, CYC2, and CYC3 clades resulted from gene duplication events. The CYC2 clade includes the largest number of members that are crucial regulators of floral symmetry. To date, studies on CYC-like genes have mainly focused on plants with actinomorphic and zygomorphic flowers, including Fabaceae, Asteraceae, Scrophulariaceae, and Gesneriaceae species and the effects of CYC-like gene duplication events and diverse spatiotemporal expression patterns on flower development. The CYC-like genes generally affect petal morphological characteristics and stamen development, as well as stem and leaf growth, flower differentiation and development, and branching in most angiosperms. As the relevant research scope has expanded, studies have increasingly focused on the molecular mechanisms regulating CYC-like genes with different functions related to flower development and the phylogenetic relationships among these genes. We summarize the status of research on the CYC-like genes in angiosperms, such as the limited research conducted on CYC1 and CYC3 clade members, the necessity to functionally characterize the CYC-like genes in more plant groups, the need for investigation of the regulatory elements upstream of CYC-like genes, and exploration of the phylogenetic relationships and expression of CYC-like genes with new techniques and methods. This review provides theoretical guidance and ideas for future research on CYC-like genes.

This article explores science communication about Omicron on Weibo by eight actors from November 2021 to June 2022. Regarding the themes of vaccines, symptoms, and medicines, we examined the actors’ communication with content analysis, presented the interactions of different actors using social network analysis, and assessed the impact of weibos on public sentiment using SnowNLP and descriptive statistics. The results showed that scientists are still the most important actors, focusing on science issues and using contrasting and contextual frames. Central-level media play an essential mediating role, relaying scientific knowledge. Science communication on Weibo had a positive impact on public sentiment.

Abstract Background Retinal fibrosis affects 40–70% of neovascular age-related macular degeneration patients. This study investigated the effect of ageing on subretinal fibrosis secondary to choroidal neovascularization and the mechanism of action. Methods Subretinal fibrosis was induced in young (2.5-month) and aged (15–16-month) C57BL/6J mice using the two-stage laser protocol. Five and 30 days later, eyes were collected and stained for CD45 and collagen-1 and observed by confocal microscopy. Fibrocytes (CD45+collagen-1+) were detected in the bone marrow (BM), blood and fibrotic lesions by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy, respectively. BM-derived macrophages (BMDMs) were cultured from young and aged mice with or without TGF-β1 (10 ng/mL) treatment. The expression of mesenchymal marker αSMA (Acta2), fibronectin (Fn1) and collagen-1 (Col1a1) was examined by qPCR and immunocytochemistry, whereas cytokine/chemokine production was measured using the Luminex multiplex cytokine assay. BM were transplanted from 22-month (Ly5.2) aged mice into 2.5-month (Ly5.1) young mice and vice versa. Six weeks later, subretinal fibrosis was induced in recipient mice and eyes were collected for evaluation of fibrotic lesion size. Results Under normal conditions, the number of circulating fibrocytes (CD45+collagen-1+) and the expression levels of Tgfb1, Col1a1, Acta2 and Fn1 in BMDMs were significantly higher in aged mice compared to young mice. Induction of subretinal fibrosis significantly increased the number of circulating fibrocytes, enhanced the expression of Col1a1, Acta2 and Fn1 and the production of soluble urokinase plasminogen activator surface receptor (suPAR) but decreased the production of CXCL10 in BMDMs. BMDMs from aged subretinal fibrosis mice produced significantly higher levels of VEGF, angiopoietin-2 and osteopontin than cells from young subretinal fibrosis mice. The subretinal fibrotic lesion in 15–16-month aged mice was 62% larger than that in 2.5-month young mice. The lesion in aged mice contained a significantly higher number of fibrocytes compared to that in young mice. The number of circulating fibrocytes positively correlated with the size of subretinal fibrotic lesion. Transplantation of BM from aged mice significantly increased subretinal fibrosis in young mice. Conclusions A retina–BM–blood–retina pathway of fibrocyte/macrophage recruitment exists during retinal injury. Ageing promotes subretinal fibrosis through higher numbers of circulating fibrocytes and profibrotic potential of BM-derived macrophages.

The comprehensive quality enhancement and grading of coal are crucial methods for unlocking the high value-added and low-carbon utilization of coal resources. In this work, the influence of oily bubbles on the flotation of Shendong Jurassic vitrinite-rich coal and inertinite-rich coal was studied via flotation tests, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), contact angle detection, and induction time measurements. FT-IR and XPS analyses demonstrated that the surface of inertinite-rich coal contains more hydrophilic oxygen-containing functional groups. Contact angle and induction time measurements showed that the vitrinite-rich coal is more hydrophobic than inertinite-rich coal, and that for both air and oily bubbles, the induction time on the surface of vitrinite-rich coal is shorter than that on the surface of inertinite-rich coal. In addition, rather remarkably, the induction times for both vitrinite-rich coal and inertinite-rich coal are significantly reduced by oily bubbles. Finally, a better flotation performance for oily bubble flotation of vitrinite-rich coal and inertinite-rich coal was found. It appears that oily bubble flotation is an efficient method for enhancing the recovery of vitrinite-rich coal and inertinite-rich coal.

High-entropy oxides (HEOs), as a new type of single-phase solid solution with a multi-component design, have shown great potential when they are used as anodes in lithium-ion batteries due to four kinds of effects (thermodynamic high-entropy effect, the structural lattice distortion effect, the kinetic slow diffusion effect, and the electrochemical “cocktail effect”), leading to excellent cycling stability. Although the number of articles on the study of HEO materials has increased significantly, the latest research progress in porous HEO materials in the lithium-ion battery field has not been systematically summarized. This review outlines the progress made in recent years in the design, synthesis, and characterization of porous HEOs and focuses on phase transitions during the cycling process, the role of individual elements, and the lithium storage mechanisms disclosed through some advanced characterization techniques. Finally, the future outlook of HEOs in the energy storage field is presented, providing some guidance for researchers to further improve the design of porous HEOs.

Chrysanthemums are one of the top ten most well-known traditional famous flowers in China and one of the top four cut flowers worldwide, holding a significant position in landscape gardening. The cold temperatures of winter restrict the cultivation, introduction, and application of chrysanthemum, resulting in high costs for year-round production. This severely impacts the ornamental and economic value of chrysanthemum. Therefore, research on cold tolerance is of vital importance for guiding chrysanthemum production and application. With the development of genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and other omics approaches, along with high-throughput molecular marker technologies, research on chrysanthemum cold tolerance has been continuously advancing. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the progress in cold tolerance research from various aspects, including chrysanthemum phenotype, physiological mechanisms, the forward genetics, molecular mechanisms, and breeding. The aim is to offer insights into the mechanisms of cold tolerance in chrysanthemum and provide reference for in-depth research and the development of new cold tolerance chrysanthemum varieties.

Members of the Rosa genus have a high ornamental value, but their cultivation area is limited by their sensitivity to cold temperatures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cold tolerance of a range of Rosa materials, and then determine which genes were related to cold tolerance. Nine Rosa materials were subjected to a cold treatment. To identify genes related to cold tolerance, R. hybrida was treated at −15°C for 10 min, and leaves collected before and after this treatment were collected for RNA-Seq analyses. The transcript profiles of four DEGs (POD17, NDUFA9, PMA1, and b-Amy1) in R. hybrida were determined by qRT-PCR at 0 h, 1 h, 2 h, and 3 h at −15°C. Nine Rosa materials were subjected to a cold treatment, and the most cold-tolerant materials were identified as those that showed the lowest levels of electrolyte leakage and the best recovery after 30 d of growth. The most cold-tolerant materials were Rosa hybrida, Rosa rugosa ‘Pingyin 12’, and Rosa rugosa. In total, 204 significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, of which 88 were significantly up-regulated and 116 were significantly down-regulated under cold conditions. Gene Ontology classification and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analyses showed that the DEGs were enriched in 57 pathways, especially starch and sucrose metabolism, phenylpropane biosynthesis, MAPK signaling, fructose and mannose metabolism, and oxidative phosphorylation. By transcriptional analysis, PMA1, which was related to H+ ATPase activity, was continuously up-regulated, but the transcript levels of POD17, NDUFA9, and β-Amy1 fluctuated during the freezing treatment. This research uncovered scarce cold-resistant materials and layed the foundation for further research on the cold tolerance mechanism of Rosa plants and the breeding of cold-tolerant varieties.

Abstract Background Macular subretinal fibrosis is the end-stage complication of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). We previously developed a mouse model of two-stage laser-induced subretinal fibrosis that mimics closely the dynamic course of macular fibrosis in nAMD patients. This study was aimed to understand the molecular mechanism of subretinal fibrosis. Methods Subretinal fibrosis was induced in C57BL/6J mice using the two-stage laser-induced protocol. Twenty days later, eyes were collected and processed for RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis. DESeq2 was used to determine the differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG were used to analyze the enriched pathways. The expression of the selected DEGs including Mmp12 was verified by qPCR. The expression of MMP12 in subretinal fibrosis of mouse and nAMD donor eyes was examined by immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy. The expression of collagen 1, αSMA and fibronectin and cytokines in bone marrow-derived macrophages from control and subretinal fibrosis mice were examined by qPCR, immunocytochemistry and Luminex multiplex cytokine assay. The MMP12 specific inhibitor MMP408 was used to evaluate the effect of MMP12 on TGFβ-induced macrophage-to-myofibroblast transition (MMT) in vitro and its role in subretinal fibrosis in vivo. Results RNA-seq analysis of RPE-choroid from subretinal fibrosis eyes uncovered 139 DEGs (fold change log2(fc) ≥ 0.5, FDR

Due to its extremely high theoretical mass specific capacity, silicon is considered to be the most promising anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, serious volume expansion and poor conductivity limit its commercial application. Herein, dealloying treatments of spray dryed Al-Si-Cu-Ni particles are performed to obtain a Cu/Ni co-doped Si-based anode material with a porous nanowire network structure. The porous structure enables the material to adapt to the volume changes in the cycle process. Moreover, the density functional theory (DFT) calculations show that the co-doping of Cu and Ni can improve the capture ability towards Li, which can accelerate the electron migration rate of the material. Based on the above advantages, the as-prepared material presents excellent electrochemical performance, delivering a reversible capacity of 1092.4 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles at 100 mA g−1. Even after 500 cycles, it still retains 818.7 mAh g−1 at 500 mA g−1. This study is expected to provide ideas for the preparation and optimization of Si-based anodes with good electrochemical performance.

Electrode induction melting gas atomization (EIGA) technology is a commonly used and effective method for producing spherical metal powders in additive manufacturing. In this paper, we aim to describe the atomization and fragmentation of liquid sheets from a typical swirl nozzle and highlight the primary breakup of titanium alloy powder production. We developed a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach to simulate the primary disintegration process of the molten metal using the volume of fluid (VOF) method coupled with the large eddy simulation turbulence model (LES). Our numerical results show that high-speed spraying creates supersonic airflow in the atomization chamber. Recirculation is the main area where primary atomization occurs. The formation of the recirculation zone is the direct driving force that allows atomization to proceed, which will increase turbulence intensity and achieve higher atomization efficiency. VOF-LES simulation can capture some qualitative results such as conical melt-sheet shape, wave formation, ligament formation, and perforation formation. The primary droplet size mainly ranges between 200 and 800 μm. Finally, with increasing gas pressure, the particle size of the atomized powder gradually decreases, and the particle size distribution becomes narrower.

Chrysanthemum is an important functional plant that is used for food, medicine and tea. Functional chrysanthemums become infected with viruses all around the world, seriously lowering their quality and yield. Viral infection has become an important limiting factor in chrysanthemum production. Functional chrysanthemum is often propagated asexually by cutting during production, and viral infection of seedlings is becoming increasingly serious. Chrysanthemums can be infected by a variety of viruses causing different symptoms. With the development of biotechnology, virus detection and virus-free technologies for chrysanthemum seedlings are becoming increasingly effective. In this study, the common virus species, virus detection methods and virus-free technology of chrysanthemum infection are reviewed to provide a theoretical basis for virus prevention, treatment and elimination in functional chrysanthemum.

Regenerative braking is one of the most important methods for improving energy utilization in electric vehicles. Electric vehicles with front-rear, individually driven configurations exhibit significant potential and flexibility for recovering braking energy. To improve the system’s high-power impact tolerance, a high-power density hydraulic energy storage system can be incorporated to facilitate a full-drive dual-motor electric–hydraulic hybrid (DMEHH) powertrain. The DMEHH system is composed of an independently driven electric–hydraulic hybrid front axle and a purely electric rear axle. In this study, a method for distributing braking torque to minimize energy loss was devised based on the proposed DMEHH powertrain. Power loss models for both the electric and hydraulic subsystems have been developed. Loss minimization control was adapted for the power loss model of the permanent magnet synchronous motors in the powertrain, and the front-rear and front electric–hydraulic torque braking distribution maps were calculated using the energy-loss minimization rule. The application of torque distribution maps resulted in energy losses less than those of the general ideal torque distribution for all braking conditions. The energy loss decreased by 27.2% when the loss minimization control method was used in the WLTC cycle, and decreased by 29.1%, 25.5%, and 21.6% in UDDS, NEDC, and US06 driving cycles, respectively.

The Bohai Sea is a habitat for economically important fish in China, but its ecological environment has changed significantly, and it is necessary to further clarify the dynamics and the internal resupply channels of nutrients in the Bohai Sea. Based on four field observations in the Bohai Sea from May to December 2019, the nutrient dynamics were addressed. The concentration of dissolved inorganic nutrients was depleted throughout the water column in spring and in the euphotic zone in summer and accumulated in the bottom water in summer and in the water column in autumn and winter. Relative phosphorus limitation was present in Laizhou Bay and its surrounding area in all seasons, while relative silicon limitation was evident in spring and relative nitrogen limitation was significant in summer in most other study aeras. The results of end-member mixing model illustrated significant seasonal differences in the nutrient uptake ratios, which may be related to various factors such as different phytoplankton composition and phosphorus turnover rates. Turbulent entrainment was an important nutrient pathway for primary production in the euphotic zone of Central Bohai Sea during the stratification season, with an estimated average nutrient flux of 6.04 ± 9.63, 0.22 ± 0.19 and 6.97 ± 6.61 mmol·m-2·d-1 for DIN, DIP and DSi, respectively.

Rosa rugosa (Rosaceae) is an important functional plant used in food products, tea, and aromatherapy. Characteristics of R. rugosa varieties based on the biological traits and floral fragrant components were studied by applying an analytic hierarchy process, headspace solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, and metabolomic analysis. The 77 Rosa accessions (comprising 27 R. rugosa varieties, 43 scented R. hybrida cultivars, and seven fragrant R. species) were grouped into nine classes based on 17 morphological characters and 16 targeted fragrant substances by cluster analysis. Three R. rugosa cultivars differing in fragrance type were selected for volatile metabolomics analysis at four stages of flower development. In total, 156 differential volatile organic compounds (VOC) were detected and the VOC content patterns were further investigated in two important metabolic pathways (the monoterpenoid biosynthetic pathway, and the phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis pathway). The results provide a foundation for efficient use of Rosa germplasm and insights into the utilization of R. rugosa as a functional flower.

Opisthopappus longilobus, which is a unique wild plant resource in China, produces leaves and flowers with distinct aromas. However, there have been relatively few molecular studies on its floral aroma, which has hindered the research on this plant species at the molecular level and the breeding of novel varieties. In this study, transcriptome and metabolome analyses were performed using O. longilobus leaves, buds, and inflorescences at the exposure, initial opening, and blooming stages. Using high-quality reads and assembly software, a total of 45,674 unigenes were annotated according to the Nr, Swiss-Prot, KOG, and KEGG databases. Additionally, a GC-MS system and a self-built database were used to detect 1,371 metabolites in the leaves, buds, and inflorescences. Terpene metabolites were the most common compounds (308 in total). We analyzed the gene network regulating terpenoid accumulation in O. longilobus and identified 56 candidate genes related to terpenoid synthesis. The expression of OlPMK2, OlMVK1, OlTPS1, and OlTPS3 may lead to the accumulation of 11 different terpenoids specifically in the inflorescences at the exposure, initial opening, and blooming stages. The generated data may be useful for future research on O. longilobus genetic resources and the molecular mechanism regulating aroma formation in this plant species. The findings of this study may be used to accelerate the breeding of new O. longilobus varieties with enhanced aromatic traits.

‘Taihang Mingzhu’ is the hybrid offspring of Opisthopappus taihangensis, and it has an excellent characteristic of whole-plant fragrance. At present, the genes and metabolites involved in the synthesis of its aromatic compounds are unknown because of the paucity of molecular biology studies on flowering in the Opisthopappus Shih genus. To elucidate the biosynthetic pathways of terpenoids, the main aromatic compounds in ‘Taihang Mingzhu’, we conducted transcriptome and metabolite analyses on its leaves and bud, inflorescences at the color-development, flowering, and full-bloom stages. A total of 82,685 unigenes were obtained, of which 43,901 were annotated on the basis of information at the protein databases Nr, SwissProt, KEGG, and COG/KOG (e-value

The control of complex networks has been studied extensively in the last decade, with different control models been introduced. In this paper, we propose a new network control framework, called local controllability. Local controllability extends the entire network control onto a local scale, and it concerns about the minimum number of inputs required to control a subset of nodes in a directed network. We develop a mathematical formulation for local controllability as an optimization problem and show that it can be solved by a cubic-time algorithm. Moreover, applications to both real networks and model networks are presented and results of these numerical studies are then discussed.

As high-capacity anode materials, spinel NiFe2O4 aroused extensive attention due to its natural abundance and safe working voltage. For widespread commercialization, some drawbacks, such as rapid capacity fading and poor reversibility due to large volume variation and inferior conductivity, urgently require amelioration. In this work, NiFe2O4/NiO composites with a dual-network structure were fabricated by a simple dealloying method. Benefiting from the dual-network structure and composed of nanosheet networks and ligament-pore networks, this material provides sufficient space for volume expansion and is able to boost the rapid transfer of electrons and Li ions. As a result, the material exhibits excellent electrochemical performance, retaining 756.9 mAh g−1 at 200 mA g−1 after cycling for 100 cycles and retaining 641.1 mAh g−1 after 1000 cycles at 500 mA g−1. This work provides a facile way to prepare a novel dual-network structured spinel oxide material, which can promote the development of oxide anodes and also dealloying techniques in broad fields.

Evaluating the potential utilization of hybrid energy systems and determining the multi-scale optimal operation strategy is critical to power system planning in the context of energy structure adjustment, especially for large-scale hybrid energy systems. Considering the long-term and short-term complementary characteristics, this paper puts forward a coordinated optimization framework for the integrated energy system in the world’s largest multi-energy complementary base on Yellow River’s upper reaches. The main procedures are as follows: 1) cross-correlation method is introduced for individually analyzing the long- and short-term complementary characteristics of wind power, photovoltaic, and hydropower in this multi-energy complementary base; 2) a double-layer model combining the long-term optimal operation model and short-term optimal operation model for determining the proportion of multiple energy and optimizing the maximum peak-shaving ability; 3) Large-Scale System Decomposition-Coordination Method is applied for solving the proposed double-layer operation model. The results show that wind power 23%, photovoltaic 35%, hydropower 42% can keep the most stable generation in the long-term complementary operation. This proportion results can improve the system peak regulation capacity with 50.8% (sunny day’s morning peak) and 24.2% (rainy day’s morning peak) in the optimal short-term operation.

The geometric phase effect associated with a conical intersection between the ground and first excited electronic state has been predicted in the H3 system below the conical intersection energy. The authors, by a crossed molecular beam technique and quantum dynamic calculations, provide experimental evidence and insight into its origin.

The cyclic freezing-thawing action in cold regions leads to the deterioration of rock damage, resulting in local damage and further threatening the safety of engineering. In order to study the degradation characteristics of green sandstone and yellow sandstone under freeze-thaw cycles from macroscopic and microscopic aspects, the sandstone of a mining area in Inner Mongolia was used as experimental material. The freeze-thaw cycles were divided into 20 times, 30 times, and 40 times. NMR images and mechanical test results of two different rock samples were analyzed by binarization, NMR, and mechanical test. The test results show that, except that the mass change is less than that of yellow sandstone, the physical index degradation degree of green sandstone is higher than that of yellow sandstone, and the frost resistance is less than that of yellow sandstone. The change of acoustic emission event rate of green sandstone is mainly in the elastic deformation stage and stable crack propagation stage, and the change of acoustic emission event rate of yellow sandstone is concentrated in the crack closure stage. In the loading process, the energy release trends of the two sandstones are similar; the 30 freeze-thaw cycles are the boundary of brittle-plastic transformation of green sandstone, and the increase of cumulative energy is the most obvious. The research results provide a theoretical basis for studying the rock failure mechanism and improving the stability of rock engineering in cold regions.

Large-scale crop mapping is an important task in agricultural resource monitoring, but it does usually require the ground-truth labels of all the land-cover types in the remotely sensed imagery. However, labeling each land-cover type is time-consuming and labor-intensive. One-class classification, which only needs samples of the class of interest, can solve the problem of redundant labeling. However, the traditional one-class classifiers require well-designed features to realize fine classification, and are thus difficult to apply to complex multi-modal remote sensing data, i.e., optical imagery and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery. In this paper, a deep one-class crop (DOCC) framework that includes a deep one-class crop extraction module and a one-class crop extraction loss module is proposed for large-scale one-class crop mapping. The DOCC framework takes only the samples of one target class as the input to extract the crop of interest by positive and unlabeled learning and can automatically extract the features for one-class crop mapping, without requiring a large amount of labeling for all the land-cover type or feature design based on prior expert knowledge. Experiments conducted on multi-modal remote sensing data, i.e., Zhuhai-1 hyperspectral satellite data, Sentinel-2 multispectral time-series satellite data and Sentinel-1 SAR satellite data, illustrate that DOCC can automatically extract the effective features for one-class classification from multi-modal satellite imagery and reaches the highest F1 accuracy compared with other methods on respective satellite imagery. The results also reveal the different performance of multi-modal satellite imagery when they are used to extract different crop types. Meanwhile, the feasibility of DOCC for multi-modal data can be beneficial for large-scale mapping under different conditions when the samples of multi-class are difficult to obtain.

Proteins controlling mitochondrial fission have been recognized as essential regulators of mitochondrial functions, mitochondrial quality control and cell apoptosis. In the present study, we identified the critical B cell survival regulator TRAF3 as a novel binding partner of the key mitochondrial fission factor, MFF, in B lymphocytes. Elicited by our unexpected finding that the majority of cytoplasmic TRAF3 proteins were localized at the mitochondria in resting splenic B cells after ex vivo culture for 2 days, we found that TRAF3 specifically interacted with MFF as demonstrated by co-immunoprecipitation and GST pull-down assays. We further found that in the absence of stimulation, increased protein levels of mitochondrial TRAF3 were associated with altered mitochondrial morphology, decreased mitochondrial respiration, increased mitochondrial ROS production and membrane permeabilization, which eventually culminated in mitochondria-dependent apoptosis in resting B cells. Loss of TRAF3 had the opposite effects on the morphology and function of mitochondria as well as mitochondria-dependent apoptosis in resting B cells. Interestingly, co-expression of TRAF3 and MFF resulted in decreased phosphorylation and ubiquitination of MFF as well as decreased ubiquitination of TRAF3. Moreover, lentivirus-mediated overexpression of MFF restored mitochondria-dependent apoptosis in TRAF3-deficient malignant B cells. Taken together, our findings provide novel insights into the apoptosis-inducing mechanisms of TRAF3 in B cells: as a result of survival factor deprivation or under other types of stress, TRAF3 is mobilized to the mitochondria through its interaction with MFF, where it triggers mitochondria-dependent apoptosis. This new role of TRAF3 in controlling mitochondrial homeostasis might have key implications in TRAF3-mediated regulation of B cell transformation in different cellular contexts. Our findings also suggest that mitochondrial fission is an actionable therapeutic target in human B cell malignancies, including those with TRAF3 deletion or relevant mutations.

Chrysanthemum dichrum is an important wild species in the family Asteraceae. However, because of a lack of genetic information, there has been relatively little research conducted on the molecular mechanisms in C. dichrum. There is no report describing the transcriptome and metabolome of C. dichrum flowers and leaves at different developmental stages. In this study, high-throughput sequencing and RNA-seq analyses were used to investigate the transcriptome of C. dichrum leaves, flower buds, and blooming flowers. Additionally, these three tissues also underwent a metabolomics analysis. A total of 447,313,764 clean reads were assembled into 77,683 unigenes, with an average length of 839 bp. Of the 44,204 annotated unigenes, 42,189, 28,531, 23,420, and 17,599 were annotated using the Nr, Swiss-Prot, KOG, and KEGG databases, respectively. Furthermore, 31,848 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected between the leaves and flower buds, whereas 23,197 DEGs were detected between the leaves and blooming flowers, and 11,240 DEGs were detected between the flower buds and blooming flowers. Finally, a quantitative real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) assay was conducted to validate the identified DEGs. The metabolome data revealed several abundant metabolites in C. dichrum leaves, flower buds, and blooming flowers, including raffinose, 1-kestose, asparagine, glutamine, and other medicinal compounds. The expression patterns of significant DEGs revealed by the transcriptome analysis as well as the data for the differentially abundant metabolites in three C. dichrum tissues provide important genetic and metabolic information relevant for future investigations of the molecular mechanisms in C. dichrum. Moreover, the results of this study may be useful for the molecular breeding, development, and application of C. dichrum resources.

Background: The outbreak of COVID-19 in China was a sudden bio-disaster, which may bring a negative impact on the job burnout of health care professionals (HCPs).Objective: We aim to find out the association factors, especially those closely related to this outbreak, of job burnout in Chinese HCPs.Method: The cross-sectional survey about HCPs' job burnout based on a network platform was conducted in high and low infection regions during the COVID-19 outbreak in China. The demographic characteristics, medical-work-related factors, risk of getting infected due to occupational exposure, and family factors were collected by the self-reported questionnaire. The Chinese version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (CMBI) and the Trait Coping Style Questionnaire (TCSQ) were employed in this study to evaluate the job burnout and coping style, respectively. Furthermore, statistical analysis was done to find out the associated factors of job burnout.Results: We collected 880 complete questionnaires from doctors and nurses from February 9, 2020 to February 11, 2020. In this study, the positive rates of three dimensions of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment) and overall burnout were 9.09, 50.57, 56.59, and 73.98%, respectively. After the statistical analysis, we found that several factors can independently affect the dimensions. Working in the high infection region and negative coping styles can affect all three dimensions at once. More night shift quantity and having symptoms could increase emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, while higher work intensity and senior title could increase emotional exhaustion and reduce personal accomplishment, respectively.Conclusion: The rate of moderate and severe burnout had increased due to the outbreak. More attention should be paid to burnout in HCPs, especially those with negative coping. There were some potential ways to reduce burnout, such as reducing their workload and providing better protection from the virus.

Commercial virtual power plants (CVPP) connect the form of renewable energy resource portfolio to the power market and reduce the risk of the unstable operation of a single renewable energy. Combining different kinds of large-scale renewable energy in CVPP to provide capacity services like base load, peak shaving, and valley-filling, etc., for the system loads is an urgent problem to be solved. Therefore, it is valuable to analyze the capacity allocation ratio of the CVPP to maximize the utilization of all kinds of energy, especially for the large-scale multi-energy base. This paper proposed a multi-energy coordinated operation framework by considering various load demands, including base load and peak shaving for the capacity allocation of CVPP based on the world’s largest renewable energy resource base on the upstream area of the Yellow River. The main procedures of this framework are as follows: (1) A paratactic model satisfying base load and peak shaving is proposed to determine the ability of the CVPP operation model’s capacity services to meet the different demands of the power system load. (2) A hybrid dimension reduction algorithm with a better convergence rate and optimization effect solves the proposed paratactic model based on the ReliefF and the Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization (APSO). The results show that the large-scale CVPP with different compositions can achieve both of the goals of a stable base load output and stable residual load under different weather conditions. Compared with the operation on sunny days, the base load fluctuation and residual load fluctuation of CVPP on rainy days are reduced by 14.5% and 21.9%, respectively, proving that CVPP can alleviate renewable energy’s dependence on weather and improve energy utilization.

To further test the accuracy and rationality of the Chinese classification system for chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium), 10 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to identify a collection of 88 chrysanthemum and its related genera accessions. In total, 42 effective alleles across 88 accessions were detected; 3 429 bands were obtained by PCR amplification, including 2 630 polymorphic bands. The similarity coefficient ranged from 0.53 to 0.88. Cluster analysis based on UPGMA illustrated that the wild species and large-flower cultivars were first divided into two clusters, then the large-flower cultivars formed five distinct groups according to petal type, indicated that petal type can be a classification criterion. In the wild species cluster, C. vestitum and C. zawadaskii grouped with A. trilobata, suggested that the Ajania genera was closely related to the Chrysanthemum genera. ‘Hangbaiju’, ‘Gongju’ and ‘Chuju’ were grouped together, and ‘Boju’, O. longilobus and C. mongolicum constituted another branch, showed a correlation with geographic region of origin. Population structure analysis was subsequently performed with K values ranging from 2 to 10, and the most likely estimate for the population structure is five subpopulations, which is nearly consistent with the clustering results. Principle component analysis was further performed to verify the classification results. The results showed that these SSR markers are very powerful for studying genetic relationships and will be useful tools in the identification and classification of chrysanthemum. Keywords: chrysanthemum, SSR, polymorphism, genetic relationship, classification

Background: Recent evidence has indicated that long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) is involved in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes, but nothing is known about lncRNA expression changes of lymphatic endothelial cells in response to type 2 diabetes. Methods: The GSE38396 dataset was downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database and the probe sets of Human Gnome U133 Plus2.0 microarray were annotated for lncRNA. Differentially expressed lncRNAs between diabetic and non-diabetic lymphatic endothelial cells were calculated. Results: Compared with lymphatic endothelial cells in non-diabetic patients, 31 lncRNAs were down-regulated and 79 lncRNAs were up-regualted in lymphatic endothelial cells of type 2 diabetic patients. Several known lncRNAs were found, such as H19, GAS5, UCA1, CRNDE, GAS5, and LINC00312. Co-expression network of differentially expressed lncRNAs and mRNAs were constructed. Based on genomic regions of these lncRNAs, we found that binding sites of MAF and TCF3 were enriched and these lncRNAs may be related to insulin reporter signaling pathway and response to insulin stimulus. Conclusions: In a word, we found a set of lncRNAs were differentially expressed in lymphatic endothelial cells in response to type 2 diabetes and these lncRNAs may be involved in the pathogenesis of diabetes-related complications.

Currently, the main remote sensing-based crop mapping methods are based on spectral-temporal features. However, there has been a lack research on the selection of the multi-temporal images, and most of the methods are based on the use of all the available images during the cycle of crop growth. In this study, in order to explore the optimal temporal window for crop mapping with limited remote sensing data, we tested all possible combinations of temporal windows in an exhaustive manner, and made a comprehensive consideration of the spatial accuracy and statistical accuracy as evaluation indices. We collected all the available cloud-free Sentinel-2 multi-spectral images for the winter wheat and rapeseed growth periods in the study area in southern China, and used the random forest (RF) method as the classifier to identify the optimal temporal window. The spatial and statistical accuracies of all the results were assessed by using ground survey data and local agricultural census data. The optimal temporal window for the mapping of winter wheat and rapeseed in the study area was obtained by identifying the best-performing set of results. In addition, the variable importance (VI) index was used to evaluate the importance of the different bands for crop mapping. The results of the spatial accuracy, statistical accuracy, and the VI showed that the combinations of images from the later stages of crop growth were more suitable for crop mapping.

There is inconsistency between the existing remote sensing cropland products, whose accuracy of estimated cropland area and spatial positioning needs to be improved. The existing generalized methods of generating synergy cropland products for improving the accuracy of existing products do not consider the overall consistency difference between the different products in each grid cell in the fusion process. To reduce the impact of the abnormal estimated cropland areas of the individual cropland products on the results, this paper proposes a method of generating a synergy cropland product by fusing the multiple existing cropland products, based on the overall consistency difference. In the proposed method, the process of fusing the multiple existing cropland products is based on the overall consistency difference of the estimated cropland area of all the cropland products in each grid cell. The synergy cropland product is then generated after determining the best combination level with the cropland statistics. In this study, we set 2010 as the base year, and used the proposed method to conduct experiments with four remote sensing cropland products: GlobCover 2009, MODIS Cropland, MCD12Q1, and FROM-GLC within China, and national cropland statistics. The results show that the synergy cropland product generated by the proposed method has a higher accuracy of cropland area estimation and spatial positioning than the results obtained by the generalized model, as well as the original products.

Retinoblastoma (RB) is the most common intraocular cancer of infancy and childhood. This cancer is initiated by mutation on RB1, the tumor suppressor gene that is responsible for the regulation of both cell cycle and gnome stability in retinal cells. Patients with a constitutional mutation on RB1 can be inherited. RB occurs approximately 1 in every 15 000-20 000 live births. The worldwide mortality for this cancer is about 5%-11%. However, this rate rises to about 40%-70% in developing countries due to a delay in diagnosis. A wide variety of options are available for the treatment, but often a combination of therapies is adopted to optimize individualized care.

Participates in actin remodeling through Rac and receptor endocytosisvia Rab5. Here, we used yeast two-hybrid systemwith Eps8 as bait to screen a human brain cDNA library.ITSN2 was identified as the novel binding factor of Eps8. Theinteraction between ITSN2 and Eps8 was demonstrated by thein vivo co-immunoprecipitation and colocalization assays andthe in vitro GST pull-down assays. Furthermore, we mappedthe interaction domains to the region between amino acids260-306 of Eps8 and the coiled-coil domain of ITSN2. In addition,protein stability assays and immunofluorescence analysisshowed ITSN2 overexpression induced the degradation ofEps8 proteins, which was markedly alleviated with the lysosomeinhibitor NH4Cl treatment. Taken together, our resultssuggested ITSN2 interacts with Eps8 and stimulates the degradationof Eps8 proteins. [BMB reports 2012; 45(3): 183-188]

A novel electric-hydraulic hybrid drivetrain incorporating a set of hydraulic systems is proposed for application in a pure electric vehicle. Models of the electric and hydraulic components are constructed. Two control strategies, which are based on two separate rules, are developed; the maximum energy recovery rate strategy adheres to the rule of the maximization of the braking energy recovery rate, while the minimum current impact strategy adheres to the rule of the minimization of the charge current to the battery. The simulation models were established to verify the effects of these two control strategies. An ABS (Anti-lock Braking System) fuzzy control strategy is also developed and simulated. The simulation results demonstrate that the developed control strategy can effectively absorb the braking energy, suppress the current impact, and assure braking safety.

Deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been widely used to obtain high-level representation in various computer vision tasks. However, in the field of remote sensing, there are not sufficient images to train a useful deep CNN. Instead, we tend to transfer successful pre-trained deep CNNs to remote sensing tasks. In the transferring process, generalization power of features in pre-trained deep CNNs plays the key role. In this paper, we propose two promising architectures to extract general features from pre-trained deep CNNs for remote scene classification. These two architectures suggest two directions for improvement. First, before the pre-trained deep CNNs, we design a linear PCA network (LPCANet) to synthesize spatial information of remote sensing images in each spectral channel. This design shortens the spatial “distance” of target and source datasets for pre-trained deep CNNs. Second, we introduce quaternion algebra to LPCANet, which further shortens the spectral “distance” between remote sensing images and images used to pre-train deep CNNs. With five well-known pre-trained deep CNNs, experimental results on three independent remote sensing datasets demonstrate that our proposed framework obtains state-of-the-art results without fine-tuning and feature fusing. This paper also provides baseline for transferring fresh pretrained deep CNNs to other remote sensing tasks.

Previous studies have shown that CCL2/CX3CR1 deficient mice on C57BL/6N background (with rd8 mutation) have an early onset (6 weeks) of spontaneous retinal degeneration. In this study, we generated CCL2(-/-)CX3CR1(GFP/GFP) mice on the C57BL/6J background. Retinal degeneration was not detected in CCL2(-/-)CX3CR1(GFP/GFP) mice younger than 6 months. Patches of whitish/yellowish fundus lesions were observed in 17∼60% of 12-month, and 30∼100% of 18-month CCL2(-/-)CX3CR1(GFP/GFP) mice. Fluorescein angiography revealed no choroidal neovascularisation in these mice. Patches of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptor damage were detected in 30% and 50% of 12- and 18-month CCL2(-/-)CX3CR1(GFP/GFP) mice respectively, but not in wild-type mice. All CCL2(-/-)CX3CR1(GFP/GFP) mice exposed to extra-light (∼800lux, 6 h/day, 6 months) developed patches of retinal atrophy, and only 20-25% of WT mice which underwent the same light treatment developed atrophic lesions. In addition, synaptophysin expression was detected in the outer nucler layer (ONL) of area related to photoreceptor loss in CCL2(-/-)CX3CR1(GFP/GFP) mice. Markedly increased rhodopsin but reduced cone arrestin expression was observed in retinal outer layers in aged CCL2(-/-)CX3CR1(GFP/GFP) mice. GABA expression was reduced in the inner retina of aged CCL2(-/-)CX3CR1(GFP/GFP) mice. Significantly increased Müller glial and microglial activation was observed in CCL2(-/-)CX3CR1(GFP/GFP) mice compared to age-matched WT mice. Macrophages from CCL2(-/-)CX3CR1(GFP/GFP) mice were less phagocytic, but expressed higher levels of iNOS, IL-1β, IL-12 and TNF-α under hypoxia conditions. Our results suggest that the deletions of CCL2 and CX3CR1 predispose mice to age- and light-mediated retinal damage. The CCL2/CX3CR1 deficient mouse may thus serve as a model for age-related atrophic degeneration of the RPE, including the dry type of macular degeneration, geographic atrophy.