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● County-level sustainability assessment of maize production is presented. ● County-level improvement potential exhibits a large spatial heterogeneity. ● Promoting technical innovations can facilitate China’s agricultural transition. Agricultural production by smallholders is crucial for ensuring food provision in China. However, smallholders face a series of challenges on their farms including high-to-excess resource inputs, low use efficiency, as well as negative environmental impacts, which may be unfavorable for sustainable agriculture production. This study developed a county-level sustainability assessment of maize production in Hebei, China, by applying multiple data sources in combination with emergy, carbon footprint, nitrogen footprint and cost-benefit analyses. Scenario analysis was applied to explore the localized implementation strategies to achieve the sustainable farming system. The results show that the average emergy sustainability index (ESI) of maize at 2.31 is relatively low. The average greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reactive nitrogen (Nr) losses are 0.15 g·kcal−1 CO2-eq and 3.75 mg·kcal−1 N, respectively. The average cost and net income are 12,700 and 4340 CNY·ha−1, respectively. These results indicate a great potential to improve the environmental-economic sustainability of the maize production system of smallholders. In addition, the environmental and economic indicators calculated from the maize production show a substantial spatial heterogeneity among counties, indicating a requirement for different optimization strategies to improve the environment-economy sustainability at a finer scale. Based on the multiple scenario analysis, optimal strategies targeting each county are proposed. By adopting the optimal strategies, the average ESI and net income could increase by 32% and 83%, respectively, and the average GHG emissions and Nr losses reduce by 33% and 35%, respectively. These findings provide an important reference for adopting different strategies to achieve environment-economy sustainability for smallholders production systems with diverse landscapes in North China and propose a transition pathway toward achieving agriculture sustainability for smallholders worldwide.

Investigating the intricate pathways through which FH06 fermentation broth exerts lipid-lowering and weight-loss effects is pivotal for advancing our comprehension of metabolic regulation and therapeutic interventions. Ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole electrostatic field orbit trap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-QE-MS) detection and the ChEMBL database were used to determine the effective compounds in the FH06 fermentation broth and predict their targets. The TTD database and DisGeNET database were used to query obesity-related targets. The STRING database was used to construct protein interaction information. The Gene Ontology (GO) database and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database were used to perform biological function annotation (GO) and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses of the targets. Results: A total of 85 effective compounds were screened from the fermentation broth of FH06; these compounds may act on TP53, PPARG, TNF, and other targets through 10 signaling pathways, such as the chemical carcinogenesis-receptor activation and lipid and atherosclerosis pathways, and exert pharmacological effects, such as hypoglycemic effects and weight loss. They also have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antitumor, and immunoregulatory effects. These findings reveal the active ingredients of FH06 fermentation broth and its multi-target and multi-channel characteristics in lipid lowering and weight loss. This study has positive implications for the clinical treatment of obesity using FH06, providing a theoretical and scientific basis for further developing of FH06-assisted lipid-lowering products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the involvement of the immune system in neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease (NIID), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder. The study found inflammatory cell infiltrates and eosinophilic intranuclear inclusions in various tissues of NIID patients, suggesting the systemic nature of the disease. Additionally, the presence of ubiquitin-positive intranuclear inclusions and uN2CpolyG protein aggregates in peripheral blood monocyte cells (PBMCs) of NIID patients may serve as potential biomarkers for diagnosis. The study highlights the need for further research to understand the immune system's role in NIID and improve clinical management strategies. [Extracted from the article]

Introduction: Power industry is one of the largest sources of CO2 emissions in China. The Yellow River Basin plays a supportive role in guaranteeing the effective supply of electricity nationwide, with numerous power generation bases. Understanding the drivers and peak of CO2 emissions of power industry in the Yellow River Basin is vital for China to fulfill its commitment to reach carbon emissions peak by 2030. Methods: The Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) model was employed to explore the drivers to the change of CO2 emissions in power industries of three study areas, including Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regions, Shanxi Province, and Shandong Province in the Yellow River Basin. And Back Propagation (BP) neural network was combined with scenario analysis to empirically predict the trend of the amount of CO2 emitted by power industry (CEPI) from provincial perspective. Results: CEPI in Inner Mongolia under the scenarios of a low degree of CO2 emissions promotion with a medium degree of CO2 emissions inhibition (LM) and a low degree of CO2 emissions promotion with a high degree of CO2 emissions inhibition (LH) scenario can reach a peak as early as 2030, with the peak value of 628.32 and 638.12 million tonnes, respectively. Moreover, in Shanxi, only CEPI under a low degree of CO2 emissions promotion scenarios (LL, LM, LH) can achieve the peak in 2025 ahead of schedule, with amounts of 319.32, 308.07, and 292.45 million tonnes. Regarding Shandong, CEPI under scenarios of a low degree of CO2 emissions promotion with a high degree of CO2 emissions inhibition (LH) and a medium degree of CO2 emissions promotion with a high degree of CO2 emissions inhibition (MH) could achieve the earliest peak time in 2025, with a peak of 434.6 and 439.36 million tonnes, respectively. Discussion: The earliest peak time of CEPI in Shandong Province and Shanxi Province is 2025, but the peak of CEPI in Shanxi is smaller than that of Shandong. The peak time of CEPI in Inner Mongolia is relatively late, in 2030, and the peak is larger than that of the other two provinces. The per capita GDP is the most positive driving factor that contributes to the CEPI. Shandong has a strong economy, and its per capita GDP is much higher than Shanxi's. Therefore, even under the same peak time, the CEPI in Shandong is much higher than that of Shanxi. Inner Mongolia is extensive and sparsely populated, which makes its per capita GDP rank among the top in China. In addition, Inner Mongolia's coal-based power generation structure and high power generation also contribute to its late CO2 peak time and large CO2 peak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until the advent of phylogenomics, the atypical morphology of extant representatives of the insect orders Grylloblattodea (ice‐crawlers) and Mantophasmatodea (gladiators) had confounding effects on efforts to resolve their placement within Polyneoptera. This recent research has unequivocally shown that these species‐poor groups are closely related and form the clade Xenonomia. Nonetheless, divergence dates of these groups remain poorly constrained, and their evolutionary history debated, as the few well‐identified fossils, characterized by a suite of morphological features similar to that of extant forms, are comparatively young. Notably, the extant forms of both groups are wingless, whereas most of the pre‐Cretaceous insect fossil record is composed of winged insects, which represents a major shortcoming of the taxonomy. Here, we present new specimens embedded in mid‐Cretaceous amber from Myanmar and belonging to the recently described species Aristovia daniili. The abundant material and pristine preservation allowed a detailed documentation of the morphology of the species, including critical head features. Combined with a morphological data set encompassing all Polyneoptera, these new data unequivocally demonstrate that A. daniili is a winged stem Grylloblattodea. This discovery demonstrates that winglessness was acquired independently in Grylloblattodea and Mantophasmatodea. Concurrently, wing apomorphic traits shared by the new fossil and earlier fossils demonstrate that a large subset of the former “Protorthoptera” assemblage, representing a third of all known insect species in some Permian localities, are genuine representatives of Xenonomia. Data from the fossil record depict a distinctive evolutionary trajectory, with the group being both highly diverse and abundant during the Permian but experiencing a severe decline from the Triassic onwards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]