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Abstract Objective To determine the effectiveness of exercise intervention on postural balance, gait parameters, and muscle strength in children with cerebral palsy by quantifying the information from randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods We conducted a systematical search for RCTs from the databases, including PubMed, ISI Web of Science, and Scopus using a between-group design involving children with cerebral palsy and assessing the effect of exercise intervention on postural balance, gait parameters, and muscle strength. The specified inclusion criteria were determined by the PICOS tool. The outcomes of included studies were evaluated by meta-analysis, and subgroup and sensitivity analyses were conducted to analyze the observed heterogeneities using Review Manager 5.4 and Stata version 18.0. The revised Cochrane risk of bias tool for randomized trials (RoB 2) was used to evaluate the risk of bias and quality of the included studies. Results Twenty-four studies were included in this meta-analysis, with 579 children with cerebral palsy. Exercise intervention showed a statistically significant favorable effect on gross motor function (SMD = 0.32; 95%CI [0.03 to 0.61]; I 2 = 16%), anteroposterior stability index (SMD = -0.93; 95%CI [-1.69 to -0.18]; I 2 = 80%), and mediolateral stability index (SMD = -0.60; 95%CI [-1.16 to -0.03]; I 2 = 73%) compared to control group among children with cerebral palsy. None of the above meta-analyses exhibited publication bias, as indicated by Egger’s test with p-values greater than 0.05 for all. Conclusions Exercise is effective in improving gross motor function and balance in children with cerebral palsy. Due to the lack of studies examining the efficacy of each exercise type, we are unable to provide definitive training recommendations.

The Chronic Care Model (CCM) is a framework that supports the proactive, planned, coordinated and patient-centered care of chronic diseases. The Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) scale is a valuable tool for evaluating patients’ perspectives on chronic care delivery based on the CCM. Few studies have examined its application in China. This study assesses hypertension care in Chinese patients and explores how PACIC scores relate to patient compliance. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Hangzhou, China, from June to August 2021, including 253 hypertensive patients from 5 county hospitals and 13 primary healthcare centers. The study used the PACIC scale to assess hypertension care delivery and the Compliance of Hypertensive Patients scale (CHPS) to measure patient compliance. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to explore the relationship between demographic characteristics and the total and domain scores of PACIC, as well as the association between CHPS and the domain scores of PACIC. The mean value of overall the PACIC score was 3.12 (out of 5). Problem solving/contextual domain had the highest average score for each item, while follow up/coordination domain had the lowest. Patient activation had negative effects on intention (β = −.18, P

Carbendazim and acetamidine are pesticides that widely used to control pests and diseases in oilseed rape. In this paper, a rapid, accurate and reliable method was proposed for the detection of carbendazim and acetamidine with SERS microfluidic chip technology. Ag-ps(Polystyrene microspheres) microsphere SERS substrate was prepared by spin coating and magnetron sputtering deposition of Ag. The enhancement factor of prepared SERS substrate was 2.4 × 1010. The SERS detection working curves were well fitted and the linear parameters R2 were 0.987 and 0.994, respectively. The limit of detection was 0.01 mg/mL. The use of SERS microfluidic chip to detect carbendazim and acetamidine is expected to provide a way for the detection of pesticide residues in crops, which has broad application prospects in the field of food safety.

【Objective】JUNCAO wine is a kind of Baijiu brewed with JUNCAO as raw materials. The study was carried out to understand the evolution law of fungal community and dominant fungal community at different fermentation periods of JUNCAO wine, and to provide theoretical and scientific basis for establishing an microbial information database of JUNCAO wine, exploring the fermentation mechanism of JUNCAO wine, and improving the quality of JUNCAO wine.【Method】Illumina MiSeq high-throughput sequencing technology was used to analyze the sequencing data of different fermentation periods of JUNCAO wine during the brewing process. It revealed the distribution and succession plaws of fungal communities during the fermentation of JUNCAO wine.【Result】During the fermentation of JUNCAO wine, the distribution of fungal communities adjusted and balanced continuously during different fermentation periods. A total of 8 phyla, 22 classes, 50 orders, 110 families and 243 genera were annotated. At the phylum level, the dominant fungal phyla included Ascomycota, Basidiomycota and Zygomycota, and the average relative abundances were 92.32%, 4.88% and 1.34%, respectively. And Ascomycota was the core dominant phylum throughout the fermentation. At the genus level, the dominant fungal genera included unidentified, Saccharomyces, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Auricularia, Mortierella and Fusarium, and the average relative abundances were 45.53%, 35.11%, 2.72%, 2.06%, 1.60%, 1.25% and 1.00%. The unidentified and Saccharomyces species played an important role in the fermentation process. The principal component analysis (PCA) results showed that there was significant genetic distance between the pre- and post-fermentation samples.【Conclusion】The composition and diversity of fungal communities in the fermented grains during different fermentation periods of JUNCAO wine vary significantly. The greatest differences in fungal community structure are observed between pre- and post-fermentation samples.

Pearl millet is a major cereal crop that feeds more than 90 million people worldwide in arid and semi-arid regions. The stalk phenotypes of Poaceous grasses are critical for their productivity and stress tolerance; however, the molecular mechanisms governing stalk development in pearl millet remain to be deciphered. In this study, we spatiotemporally measured 19 transcriptomes for stalk internodes of four different early developmental stages. Data analysis of the transcriptomes defined four developmental zones on the stalks and identified 12 specific gene sets with specific expression patterns across the zones. Using weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), we found that two co-expression modules together with candidate genes were involved in stalk elongation and the thickening of pearl millet. Among the elongation-related candidate genes, we established by SELEX that a MYB-family transcription factor PMF7G02448 can bind to the promoters of three cell wall synthases genes (CesAs). In summary, these findings provide insights into stalk development and offer potential targets for future genetic improvement in pearl millet.

K+ channels regulate morphogens to scale adult fins, but little is known about what regulates the channels and how they control morphogen expression. Using the zebrafish pectoral fin bud as a model for early vertebrate fin/limb development, we found that K+ channels also scale this anatomical structure, and we determined how one K+-leak channel, Kcnk5b, integrates into its developmental program. From FLIM measurements of a Förster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET)-based K+ sensor, we observed coordinated decreases in intracellular K+ levels during bud growth, and overexpression of K+-leak channels in vivo coordinately increased bud proportions. Retinoic acid, which can enhance fin/limb bud growth, decreased K+ in bud tissues and up-regulated regulator of calcineurin (rcan2). rcan2 overexpression increased bud growth and decreased K+, while CRISPR-Cas9 targeting of rcan2 decreased growth and increased K+. We observed similar results in the adult caudal fins. Moreover, CRISPR targeting of Kcnk5b revealed that Rcan2-mediated growth was dependent on the Kcnk5b. We also found that Kcnk5b enhanced depolarization in fin bud cells via Na+ channels and that this enhanced depolarization was required for Kcnk5b-enhanced growth. Lastly, Kcnk5b-induced shha transcription and bud growth required IP3R-mediated Ca2+ release and CaMKK activity. Thus, we provide a mechanism for how retinoic acid via rcan2 can regulate K+-channel activity to scale a vertebrate appendage via intercellular Ca2+ signaling.

This research introduces a novel approach using silver (Ag) nanostructures generated through electrochemical deposition and photo-reduction of Ag on fluorine-doped tin oxide glass substrates (denoted as X-Ag-AgyFTO, where ‘X’ and ‘y’ represent the type of light source and number of deposited cycles, respectively) for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). This study used malachite green (MG) as a Raman probe to evaluate the enhancement factors (EFs) in SERS-active substrates under varied fabrication conditions. For the substrates produced via electrochemical deposition, we determined a Raman EF of 6.15 × 104 for the Ag2FTO substrate. In photo-reduction, the impact of reductant concentration, light source, and light exposure duration were examined on X-Ag nanoparticle formation to achieve superior Raman EFs. Under optimal conditions (9.0 mM sodium citrate, 460 nm blue-LED at 10 W for 90 min), the combination of blue-LED-reduced Ag (B-Ag) and an Ag2FTO substrate (denoted as B-Ag-Ag2FTO) exhibited the best Raman EF of 2.79 × 105. This substrate enabled MG detection within a linear range of 0.1 to 1.0 µM (R2 = 0.98) and a detection limit of 0.02 µM. Additionally, the spiked recoveries in aquaculture water samples were between 90.0% and 110.0%, with relative standard deviations between 3.9% and 6.3%, indicating the substrate’s potential for fungicide detection in aquaculture.

Nowadays potential preclinical drugs for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) have failed to achieve expected therapeutic efficacy because the pathogenic mechanisms are underestimated. Inactive rhomboid protein 2 (IRHOM2), a promising target for treatment of inflammation-related diseases, contributes to deregulated hepatocyte metabolism-associated nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) progression. However, the molecular mechanism underlying Irhom2 regulation is still not completely understood. In this work, we identify the ubiquitin-specific protease 13 (USP13) as a critical and novel endogenous blocker of IRHOM2, and we also indicate that USP13 is an IRHOM2-interacting protein that catalyzes deubiquitination of Irhom2 in hepatocytes. Hepatocyte-specific loss of the Usp13 disrupts liver metabolic homeostasis, followed by glycometabolic disorder, lipid deposition, increased inflammation, and markedly promotes NASH development. Conversely, transgenic mice with Usp13 overexpression, lentivirus (LV)- or adeno-associated virus (AAV)-driven Usp13 gene therapeutics mitigates NASH in 3 models of rodent. Mechanistically, in response to metabolic stresses, USP13 directly interacts with IRHOM2 and removes its K63-linked ubiquitination induced by ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2N (UBC13), a ubiquitin E2 conjugating enzyme, and thus prevents its activation of downstream cascade pathway. USP13 is a potential treatment target for NASH therapy by targeting the Irhom2 signaling pathway.

Mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis are unclear. Here, the authors show that ROS-mediated DUSP22 degradation participates in the progression of fatty liver, contributing to the development of NASH and associated HCC via regulating FAK and its downstream ERK1/2 and NF-κB signaling cascade.

The accumulation of toxic and essential nutrient elements in wheat grain influences wheat yield, grain nutritional quality, and human health. Here, we assessed the potential for breeding wheat cultivars to combine high yield with low cadmium and high iron and/or zinc concentrations in grains, and we screened appropriate cultivars. A pot experiment was conducted to explore differences in grain cadmium, iron, and zinc concentrations among 68 wheat cultivars, as well as their relationships with other nutrient elements and agronomic characters. The results showed 2.04-, 1.71-, and 1.64-fold differences in grain cadmium, iron, and zinc concentrations, respectively, among the 68 cultivars. Grain cadmium concentration was positively correlated with grain zinc, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and manganese concentrations. Grain copper concentration was positively correlated with grain zinc and iron concentrations, but not with grain cadmium concentration. Therefore, copper has a potential role in regulating grain iron and zinc accumulation without influencing cadmium concentration in wheat grain. There were no significant relationships between grain cadmium concentration and four important wheat agronomic characters (i.e., grain yield, straw yield, thousand kernel weight, and plant height), indicating that the breeding of low-cadmium-accumulating cultivars with dwarfism and high yield characteristics is possible. On cluster analysis, four cultivars (Ningmai11, Xumai35, Baomai6, and Aikang58) exhibited low-cadmium and high-yield characteristics. Among them, Aikang58 contained moderate iron and zinc concentrations, while Ningmai11 had relatively high iron but low zinc concentrations in the grain. These results imply that it is feasible to breed high-yield dwarf wheat with low cadmium and moderate iron and zinc concentrations in the grain.

Summary: The idea that brain networks have a hierarchical modular organization is pervasive. Increasing evidence suggests that brain modules overlap. However, little is known about the hierarchical overlapping modular structure in the brain. In this study, we developed a framework to uncover brain hierarchical overlapping modular structures based on a nested-spectral partition algorithm and an edge-centric network model. Overlap degree between brain modules is symmetrical across hemispheres, with highest overlap observed in the control and salience/ventral attention networks. Furthermore, brain edges are clustered into two groups: intrasystem and intersystem edges, to form hierarchical overlapping modules. At different levels, modules are self-similar in the degree of overlap. Additionally, the brain’s hierarchical structure contains more individual identifiable information than a single-level structure, particularly in the control and salience/ventral attention networks. Our results offer pathways for future studies aimed at relating the organization of hierarchical overlapping modules to brain cognitive behavior and disorders.

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a chronic liver disease with complex disease mechanisms. Here the authors report that the E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase Trim31 mitigates development of NASH via inhibition of rhomboid 5 homolog 2 (Rhbdf2) in mice.

Abstract In the past years, piezo-conductive sensors have drawn great attention in both academic and industrial sectors. The piezo-conductive sensors made by inorganic semiconductors exhibited poor mechanical flexibility, restricting their further practical applications. In this study, we report the piezo-conductive sensors by a semiconducting polymer, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with tosylate ions (PEDOT:Tos) thin films. Systemically studies indicate that the piezo-conductive response of the PEDOT:Tos thin films is originated from the deformation of the PEDOT crystal cells and the stretched π–π distances induced by Tos. Moreover, the negative piezo-conductive effect, for the first time, is observed from PEDOT:Tos thin film under the pressure. A working mechanism is further proposed to interpret the transient from a positive to a negative piezo-conductive response within the PEDOT:Tos thin films. Our studies offer a facile route to approach effective piezo-conductive sensors based on conjugated polymers.

JUNCAO wine fermentation metabolites are closely related to the final quality of the product. Currently, there are no studies of dynamic metabolite changes during fermentation of JUNCAO wine. Here, we used gas chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-QTOF-MS) metabolomics and multivariate statistical analysis to explore the relationship between metabolites and fermentation time. A total of 189 metabolites were annotated throughout the fermentation process. The principal component analysis (PCA) revealed a clear separation between the samples in the early and late stages of fermentation. A total of 60 metabolites were annotated as differential during the fermentation (variable importance in the projection, VIP > 1, and p < 0.05), including 21 organic acids, 10 amino acids, 15 sugars and sugar alcohols, and 14 other metabolites. Pathway analysis showed that the most commonly influenced pathways (impact value > 0.1 and p < 0.05) were tricarboxylic acid cycle, alanine, aspartic acid and glutamic acid metabolism, pyrimidine metabolism, and other 10 metabolic pathways. Moreover, integrated metabolic pathways are generated to understand the conversion and accumulation of differential metabolites. Overall, these results provide a comprehensive overview of metabolite changes during fermentation of JUNCAO wine.

Desmogleins (DSGs), with the ability to link adjacent cells, have been shown to participate in the development of malignancy. DSG3 was up-regulated in various cancers, including lung, head and neck, and esophagus squamous cell carcinoma, which contributed to the tumor progression. The role of DSG3 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) still remains elusive. Here, the expression of DSG3 was found to be enhanced in pancreatic cancer cell lines in vitro. Functional assays showed that shRNA-mediated knockdown of DSG3 decreased cell viability of pancreatic cancer cells and retarded the cell proliferation, migration and invasion. However, pcDNA-mediated over-expression of DSG3 exhibited reversed effect on pancreatic cancer cell progression. In addition, the in vivo assay demonstrated that transfection of shDSG3 lentiviruses into pancreatic cancer cells repressed the tumorigenicity of PDAC after the cancer cells were transplanted into mice subcutaneously. Elevated DSG3 expression promoted the phosphorylation of Src (p-Src), focal adhesion kinase (p-FAK) and AKT (p-AKT) in vitro, while silence of DSG3 reduced the expression of p-Src, p-FAK and p-AKT both in vitro and in vivo. In conclusion, DSG3, as an oncogene, contributed to the tumorigenicity of PDAC through activating Src–FAK signaling.

Aiming at the time-consuming problem of the full-wave (FW) simulation of the scattering characteristics of the traditional graphene reconfigurable reflectarray antenna, a fast prediction method of electromagnetic (EM) response based on deep learning is proposed. The convolutional neural network (CNN) method in deep learning is effectively used in the research of this paper. This method first discretizes the input vector (patch geometry, chemical potential, frequency, incident angle, etc.) of the graphene reflectarray antenna, and then preprocesses the data into a two-dimensional image suitable for CNN training, and finally uses CNN to train the model instead of extensive FW simulation calculations, the EM response of the reflectarray antenna is calculated. The training results of three algorithms of support vector regression (SVR), radial basis function network (RBFN) and CNN are comprehensively compared. The experimental results show that CNN method has good performance and accuracy in the EM response prediction of the graphene reconfigurable reflectarray antenna, with an accuracy of over 99%, and can also save at least 99% of time.

The likelihood of pre-hypertensive young adults developing hypertension has been steadily increasing in recent years. Despite the fact that aerobic exercise training (AET) has demonstrated positive results in lowering high blood pressure, the efficacy of different types of AET among pre-hypertensive young adults has not been well-established. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and continuous moderate-intensity training (CMT) on the blood pressure (BP) of physically inactive pre-hypertensive young adults. In total, 32 adults (age 20.0 ± 1.1 years and BMI 21.5 ± 1.8) were randomly assigned to three groups: HIIT, CMT and control (CON). The HIIT and CMT groups participated in 5 weeks of AET, while the CON group followed a DASH diet plan only. The HIIT protocol consisted of a 1:4 min work to rest ratio of participants, at an 80–85% heart rate reserve (HR-reserve) and a 40–60% HR-reserve, respectively, for 20 min; the CMT group exercised at 40–60% of their HR-reserve continuously for 20 min. In both the HIIT and CMT groups, systolic blood pressure (SBP) (3.8 ± 2.8 mmHg, p = 0.002 vs. 1.6 ± 1.5 mmHg, p = 0.011) was significantly reduced, while significant reductions in the diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (2.9 ± 2.2 mmHg, p = 0.002) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) (3.1 ± 1.6 mmHg, p < 0.0005) were noted only in the HIIT group. No significant differences in SBP (−0.4 ± 3.7 mmHg, p = 0.718), DBP (0.4 ± 3.4 mmHg, p = 0.714), or MAP (0.1 ± 2.5 mmHg, p = 0.892) were observed in the CON group. Both HIIT and CMT decreased BP in physically inactive pre-hypertensive young adults; however, HIIT yielded more beneficial results in terms of reducing the SPB, DBP and MAP.

The increase in activity of the two-pore potassium-leak channel Kcnk5b maintains allometric juvenile growth of adult zebrafish appendages. However, it remains unknown how this channel maintains allometric growth and how its bioelectric activity is regulated to scale these anatomical structures. We show the activation of Kcnk5b is sufficient to activate several genes that are part of important development programs. We provide in vivo transplantation evidence that the activation of gene transcription is cell autonomous. We also show that Kcnk5b will induce the expression of different subsets of the tested developmental genes in different cultured mammalian cell lines, which may explain how one electrophysiological stimulus can coordinately regulate the allometric growth of diverse populations of cells in the fin that use different developmental signals. We also provide evidence that the post-translational modification of serine 345 in Kcnk5b by calcineurin regulates channel activity to scale the fin. Thus, we show how an endogenous bioelectric mechanism can be regulated to promote coordinated developmental signaling to generate and scale a vertebrate appendage.

Air pollution containing particulate matter (PM) less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) plays an essential role in regulating hepatic disease. However, its molecular mechanism is not yet clear, lacking effective therapeutic strategies. In this study, we attempted to investigate the effects and mechanisms of PM2.5 exposure on hepatic injury by the in vitro and in vivo experiments. At first, we found that PM2.5 incubation led to a significant reduction of nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), along with markedly reduced expression of different anti-oxidants. Notably, suppressor of IKKε (SIKE), known as a negative regulator of the interferon pathway, was decreased in PM2.5-incubated cells, accompanied with increased activation of TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB). The in vitro studies showed that Nrf2 positively regulated SIKE expression under the conditions with or without PM2.5. After PM2.5 treatment, Nrf2 knockdown further accelerated SIEK decrease and TBK1/NF-κB activation, and opposite results were observed in cells with Nrf2 over-expression. Subsequently, the gene loss- and gain-function analysis demonstrated that SIKE deficiency further aggravated inflammation and TBK1/NF-κB activation caused by PM2.5, which could be abrogated by SIKE over-expression. Importantly, SIKE-alleviated inflammation was mainly dependent on TBK1 activation. The in vivo studies confirmed that SIKE- and Nrf2-knockout mice showed significantly accelerated hepatic injury after long-term PM2.5 exposure through reducing inflammatory response and oxidative stress. Juglanin (Jug), mainly isolated from Polygonum aviculare, exhibits anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects. We found that Jug could increase Nrf2 activation, and then up-regulated SIKE in cells and liver tissues, mitigating PM2.5-induced liver injury. Together, all these data demonstrated that Nrf2 might positively meditate SIKE to inhibit inflammatory and oxidative damage, ameliorating PM2.5-induced liver injury. Jug could be considered as an effective therapeutic strategy against this disease by improving Nrf2/SIKE signaling pathway.

Astrocytes activation related NF-κB signaling and oxidative stress were treated as key target associated with PM2.5 threating nerve injury. Unfortunately, the underlying molecular mechanisms of interaction between NF-κB signaling, glial cells activation in neuroinflammation are still not absolutely explained. Fisetin, a natural flavonoid was found to be promote health, partly due to its ability in antioxidant and anti-inflammation. In this regard, we constructed fisetin nanoparticles (FN) to investigate the anti-inflammatory effect in PM2.5-induced mice. Accordingly, qPCR and western blot analysis indicated that astrocytes activation related NF-κB signaling and oxidative stress contributed to PM2.5-induced neuroinflammation, which were significantly suppressed by increasing concentration of FN treatment. Also, FN may directly enhance anti-oxidative stress and anti-inflammatory way to perform inhibitory effects on NF-κB related glial cells activation. Overall, here we identified a new mechanism of action of FN as potential anti-inflammatory product against PM2.5-induced neuroinflammation via regulation of astrocytes activation related NF-κB.

The Direction-of-Arrival (DoA) and bandwidth (BW) estimation strategy impinging on a linear array using multiple snapshots data is addressed within the multitask Bayesian Compressive Sensing (MT-BCS). The DoA estimation is used as the reconstruction of sparse signal constrained by the Laplace prior through multitask Bayesian Compressive Sensing. Receiving wideband signal data through linear array, the space is divided into I parts according to the equal interval. The data of interest are assumed to be represented as I-dimensional vector, and the wideband signal can be reconstructed accurately using only a small number M. The receiving antenna operates in the frequency range fmin,fmax. Starting from the voltages measured at the output of the array elements at a multiple time instants at fp=fmin+Δf,p=1,…,P, the retrieval of the DoAs is addressed by means of a customized strategy based on MT-BCS in order to correlate the solutions obtained over different frequency samples. The bandwidth of the signals is obtained as a byproduct by identifying at which frequencies the MT-BCS estimations include a signal along the ith (i = 1,…, I) sampling direction. From the outputs of different frequencies, we can know the DoA and BW of signals. A preliminary numerical result is reported to show the behavior of the proposed approach in multiple snapshots data.

In adjustment to fulfill the requirements of the investigation regarding the lower Cretaceous sandstone uranium deposit in the Naogaodai area within the northwest of Ordos Basin, twenty-seven sandstone samples obtained from the Lower Cretaceous Huanhe Formation were analyzed for major, trace and rare earth elements (REE). The source of clastic and tectonic background was additionally analyzed. The results show that Huanhe sandstone is feldspar rich sandstone, and also the mineral composition is principally quartz, albite and plagioclase; the ratio of light to heavy rare earth elements (LREE/HREE) is 9.25–10.83, with an average value of 10.00; (La/Yb)CN is 10.20–12.53, with an average value of 11.24, demonstrating that LREE is enriched and fractionated compared with HREE. REE distribution patterns are similar, which additionally reveals that Huanhe sandstone has a homogenous source; the Index of Compositional Variability (ICV) value is 1.17–1.73, with an average value of 1.35, both greater than 1, showing an immature property, which may be first-order cycle deposition. The average value of the Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) is 50.29, suggesting that the source rock has encountered weak chemical weathering; sandstones are near-source first-cycle provenance, which is not significantly influenced by sedimentary sorting and recycling. The geochemical qualities further indicate that Huanhe sandstone was deposited in a passive margin and experienced moderate weathering.

Address geolocation aims to associate address texts to the geographic locations. In China, due to the increasing demand for LBS applications such as take-out services and express delivery, automatically geolocating the unstructured address information is the key issue that needs to be solved first. Recently, a few approaches have been proposed to automate the address geolocation by directly predicting geographic coordinates. However, such point-based methods ignore the hierarchy information in addresses which may cause poor geolocation performance. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical region-based approach for geolocating Chinese addresses. We model the address geolocation as a Sequence-to-Sequence (Seq2Seq) learning task, that is, the input sequence is a textual address, and the output sequence is a GeoSOT grid code which exactly represents multi-level regions covered by the address. A novel coarse-to-fine model, which combines BERT and LSTM, is designed to learn the task. The experimental results demonstrate that our model correctly understands the Chinese addresses and achieves the highest geolocation accuracy among all the baselines.

Membrane fouling is the bottleneck limiting the wide application of membrane processes. Herein, we adopted an electroactive polyether sulfone (PES) membrane capable of mitigating fouling by various negatively charged foulants. To evaluate anti-fouling performance and the underlying mechanism of this electroactive PES membrane, three types of model foulants were selected rationally (e.g., bovine serum albumin (BSA) and sodium alginate (SA) as non-migratory foulants, yeast as a proliferative foulant and emulsified oil as a spreadable foulant). Water flux and total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiency in the filtering process of various foulants were tested under an electric field. Results suggest that under electrochemical assistance, the electroactive PES membrane has an enhanced anti-fouling efficacy. Furthermore, a low electrical field was also effective in mitigating the membrane fouling caused by a mixture of various foulants (containing BSA, SA, yeast and emulsified oil). This result can be attributed to the presence of electrostatic repulsion, which keeps foulants away from the membrane surface. Thereby it hinders the formation of a cake layer and mitigates membrane pore blocking. This work implies that an electrochemical control might provide a promising way to mitigate membrane fouling.

With the rapid development of global positioning technologies and the pervasiveness of intelligent mobile terminals, trajectory data have shown a sharp growth trend both in terms of data volume and coverage. In recent years, increasing numbers of LBS (location based service) applications have provided us with trajectory data services such as traffic flow statistics and user behavior pattern analyses. However, the storage and query efficiency of massive trajectory data are increasingly creating a bottleneck for these applications, especially for large-scale spatiotemporal query scenarios. To solve this problem, we propose a new spatiotemporal indexing method to improve the query efficiency of massive trajectory data. First, the method extends the GeoSOT spatial partitioning scheme to the time dimension and forms a global space−time subdivision scheme. Second, a novel multilevel spatiotemporal grid index, called the GeoSOT ST-index, was constructed to organize trajectory data hierarchically. Finally, a spatiotemporal range query processing method is proposed based on the index. We implement and evaluate the index in MongoDB. By comparing the range query efficiency and scalability of our index with those of the other two space−time composite indexes, we found that our approach improves query efficiency levels by approximately 40% and has better scalability under different data volumes.

This paper investigated the effect of additional sulfide and thiosulfate on Q235 carbon steel corrosion in alkaline solutions. Weight loss method, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with EDS, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and electrochemical measurements were used in this study to show the corrosion behavior and electrochemistry of Q235 carbon steel. Results indicate that the synergistic corrosion rate of Q235 carbon steel in alkaline solution containing sulfide and thiosulfate is larger than that of sulfide and thiosulfate alone, which could be due to redox reaction of sulfide and thiosulfate. The surface cracks and pitting characteristics of the specimens after corrosion were carefully examined and the corrosion products film is flake grains and defective. The main corrosion products of specimen induced by S2− and S2O32- are FeS, FeS2, Fe3O4, and FeOOH. The present study shows that the corrosion mechanism of S2− and S2O32- is different for the corrosion of Q235 carbon steel.

A major challenge in the treatment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is the failure of chemotherapy, which is likely due to the presence of the cancer stem cells (CSCs).To identify side population (SP) cells and characterize s-like properties in human pancreatic cancer cell lines (h-PCCLs) and to exploit the efficacy of concomitant targeting of multiple key transcription factors governing the stemness of pancreatic CSCs in suppressing CSC-like phenotypes.Flow cytometry and Hoechst 33342 DNA-binding dye efflux assay were used to sort SP and non-SP (NSP) cells from three h-PCCLs: PANC-1, SW1990, and BxPc-3. The self-renewal ability, invasiveness, migration and drug resistance of SP cells were evaluated. Expression of CSC marker genes was analyzed. Tumorigenicity was assessed using a xenograft model in nude mice. Effects of a complex decoy oligonucleotide (cdODN-SCO) designed to simultaneously targeting Sox2, Oct4 and c-Myc were assessed.CSCs were enriched in the side proportion (SP) cells contained in the h-PCCLs and they possessed aggressive growth, invasion, migration and drug-resistance properties, compared with NSP cells. SP cells overexpressed stem cell markers CD133 and ALDH1, pluripotency maintaining factors Nanog, Sox2 and Oct4, oncogenic transcription factor c-Myc, signaling molecule Notch1, and drug resistant gene ABCG2. Moreover, SP cells consistently demonstrated significantly greater tumorigenicity than NSP cells in xenograft model of nude mice. CdODN-SOC efficiently suppressed all CSC properties and phenotypes, and minimized the tumorigenic capability of the SP cells and the resistance to chemotherapy. By comparison, the negative control failed to do so.The findings indicate that targeting the key genes conferring the stemness of CSCs can efficiently eliminate CSC-like phenotypes, and thus may be considered a new approach for cancer therapy. Specifically, the present study establishes the combination of Sox2/Oct4/c-Myc targeting as a potential anti-pancreatic cancer agent worthy of further studies in preclinical settings.

Strains of the freshwater cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus were first isolated approximately 60 years ago, and PCC 7942 is well established as a model for photosynthesis, circadian biology, and biotechnology research. The recent isolation of UTEX 3055 and subsequent discoveries in biofilm and phototaxis phenotypes suggest that lab strains of S. elongatus are highly domesticated. We performed a comprehensive genome comparison among the available genomes of S. elongatus and sequenced two additional laboratory strains to trace the loss of native phenotypes from the standard lab strains and determine the genetic basis of useful phenotypes. The genome comparison analysis provides a pangenome description of S. elongatus, as well as correction of extensive errors in the published sequence for the type strain PCC 6301. The comparison of gene sets and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) among strains clarifies strain isolation histories and, together with large-scale genome differences, supports a hypothesis of laboratory domestication. Prophage genes in laboratory strains, but not UTEX 3055, affect pigmentation, while unique genes in UTEX 3055 are necessary for phototaxis. The genomic differences identified in this study include previously reported SNPs that are, in reality, sequencing errors, as well as SNPs and genome differences that have phenotypic consequences. One SNP in the circadian response regulator rpaA that has caused confusion is clarified here as belonging to an aberrant clone of PCC 7942, used for the published genome sequence, that has confounded the interpretation of circadian fitness research. IMPORTANCE Synechococcus elongatus is a versatile and robust model cyanobacterium for photosynthetic metabolism and circadian biology research, with utility as a biological production platform. We compared the genomes of closely related S. elongatus strains to create a pangenome annotation to aid gene discovery for novel phenotypes. The comparative genomic analysis revealed the need for a new sequence of the species type strain PCC 6301 and includes two new sequences for S. elongatus strains PCC 6311 and PCC 7943. The genomic comparison revealed a pattern of early laboratory domestication of strains, clarifies the relationship between the strains PCC 6301 and UTEX 2973, and showed that differences in large prophage regions, operons, and even single nucleotides have effects on phenotypes as wide-ranging as pigmentation, phototaxis, and circadian gene expression.