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Noninvasive, practical, and convenient means of detection for the prediction of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis in China are greatly needed.To develop a precise noninvasive test to stage liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.With liver biopsy as the gold standard, we established a new index, [alkaline phosphatase (U/L) + gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (U/L)/platelet (10Correlation analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between AGPR and liver fibrosis stage (The AGPR index should become a new, simple, accurate, and noninvasive marker to predict liver fibrosis and cirrhosis in chronic hepatitis B patients.

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been used successfully in cardiovascular system research to analyze the physiological processes inside vessels. We evaluated the hydraulic information of urine through the lower urinary tract in a patient with posterior urethral valve (PUV) before and after valve ablation by CFD. A set of models of the lower urinary tract were developed based on geometrical data obtained by cystoscopy and voiding cystourethrography. Simulated assumptions and conditions were applied according to prior studies and urodynamic results. We used Fluent CFD 19.0 (Ansys Inc., USA) to compute the velocity and pressure of the fluid regions. The simplification of Bernoulli's formula was applied afterward to calculate the hydraulic energy of different positions. The urine flow rates of the NORMALst, the PUVst, and the POSTst at 5000 Pa were 18.08 ml/s, 11.14 ml/s, and 12.16 ml/s, respectively. Precipitous pressure change was observed around the valve in the PUVst, and the abnormal change was concentrated in the dilated urethra in the POSTst. Major energy dissipations were generated around the valve and the dilated urethra in the PUVst. The energy loss that occurred in the dilated urethra did not improve after the operation. Our findings are probably indicative of the hydrodynamics changes in the dilated urethra in PUV and need to be confirmed through more improved CFD models in the future. CFD may revolutionize pediatric urologists' perception in the management of urinary disease.

As a common autoimmune disease with the characteristic of early complication, primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) leads to an increasing number of mortalities among people with end-stage liver disease (ESLD) waiting for liver transplantation. Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) is the only approved first-line medicine for PBC, and a good response to treatment could acquire an ideal prognosis. Patients with poor UDCA response usually have more adverse outcomes and worse survival, therefore, the management of this group become a major consideration.Due to the complexity of race and environment for PBC, different criteria for UDCA response exhibit various predictive performances. Factors affecting UDCA response conditions include gender, age, ethnicity, serum indicators, auto-antibodies, and autoimmune comorbidities, while no agreement has been reached. In this review, we mainly focus on cellular senescence, immune-mediated damage, and vitamin D deficiency as possible mechanisms for UDCA non-responders.The pathogenesis of PBC has yet to be clarified. Immunology-related mechanisms and therapy targets ought to be the main effort made for further study. Irrespective of the response condition, UDCA is recommended for routine administration in all PBC patients without contraindication. Ongoing clinical trials of second-line and additional therapy exhibit promising prospects.

We aimed to explore the associations between the age at which children undergo surgery for hypospadias and a range of social and clinical factors in a single center. Our aim was to promote the early surgical treatment of children with hypospadias. For a 6-year period, social and clinical data were collected from all children undergoing surgery to repair hypospadias in Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University (Chongqing, China), located in southwest of China. We analyzed the correlations between age at surgery and a range of social and clinical factors. A total of 1611 eligible cases were recruited, with a mean age of 54.3 months and a median age of 42 months: 234 cases (14.5%) were classified into a "timely operation" group, 419 (26.0%) cases into a "subtimely operation" group, and 958 (59.5%) cases into a "delayed operation" group. According to multivariate regression analyses, the higher the regional economic level, the closer the urethral opening to the perineum, and the higher the educational level of the guardians was, the younger the children were when they underwent the initial surgery for hypospadias; this was also the case for families without other children. Our subgroup analysis showed that the primary educational level of the guardians was a risk factor for subtimely surgery in their children (odds ratio [OR] = 1.52, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08-2.15, P < 0.05). A lower regional economic level (OR = 1.87, 95% CI: 1.26-2.78, P < 0.01), a lower educational level of the guardians (OR = 3.84, 95% CI: 2.31-6.41, P < 0.01), and an anterior-segment urethral opening (OR1 [vs middle hypospadias] = 2.07, 95% CI: 1.42-3.03; OR2 [vs posterior hypospadias] = 2.63, 95% CI: 1.75-3.95; P < 0.01) were all risk factors for delayed surgery in children.

Aim: A growing number of studies suggest that adaptation of invasive species plays key roles in their successful establishment in novel environments. However, adaptation of invasive species to climatic conditions remains poorly characterized. This study aimed to understand the population genetic structure produced by the cotton mealybug Phenacoccus solenopsis invasion and to identify preliminary signals of selection during its range expansion. Location: China. Methods: We examined genetic structure of 11 populations across China using SNPs, microsatellites and a segment of mitochondrial cox1 gene. ADMIXTURE, STRUCTURE and DAPC were used to infer population genetic structure; the dispersal routes were reconstructed by the DIYABC; SNPs potentially related to climate adaptation were identified by using four populations differentiation methods and three environmental association methods. Results: Strong genetic differentiation was found among populations with FST values ranging from 0.097 to 0.640 based on SNPs. Populations located at the northern expansion edge exhibited the highest genetic differentiation and the lowest genetic diversity. Demographic analyses indicated that all populations were introduced from a single source population with small effective size and low recent gene flow. RDA analysis showed that climatic variables explained a higher proportion of genetic variance (43%) compared to population structure variables (15%). The top climatic variables associated with genetic differentiation were precipitation of the mean temperature of warmest quarter, mean temperature of driest quarter and isothermality. Genes related to climate candidate SNPs were mainly enriched to pathways of development, energy and xenobiotic metabolisms. Main conclusions: We found that extremely rapid and strong population genetic differentiation among populations appears to have developed after introduction in the cotton mealybug. Our study points to rapid neutral evolution and suggests possible climatic adaptation despite low genetic diversity in this invasive species.

In the era of antiviral therapy, the main goal of treatment has shifted from the persistent inhibition of hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication to the pursuit of serological clearance of HBs surface antigen (HBsAg). Based on the life cycle of HBV, HBsAg originates from covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) and integrated HBV DNA, thus reflecting their transcriptional activity. Complete HBsAg loss may mean elimination or persistent inactivity of the HBV genome including cccDNA and integrated HBV DNA. HBsAg loss improves the recovery of abnormal immune function, which in turn, may further promote the clearance of residual viruses. Combined with functional cure and the great improvement of clinical outcomes, the continuous seroclearance of high-sensitivity quantitative HBsAg may represent the complete cure of chronic hepatitis B (CHB). For many other risk factors besides HBV itself, patients with HBsAg loss still need regular monitoring. In this review, we summarized the evolution of CHB treatment, the origin of serum HBsAg, the pattern of HBsAg seroclearance, and the effect of HBsAg loss on immune function and disease outcomes. In addition, we discuss the significance of high-sensitivity HBsAg detection and its possibility as a surrogate of complete cure.

Because the power density and temperatures of multicore processors are increasing to the extent that their performance and reliability are degraded, it is crucial to estimate the powers and temperatures of multicore processors accurately and rapidly at the early design stage. In this paper, to improve the accuracy, a task-characteristic-considered steady-state thermal model (TCSTM) of multicore processors is presented. First, a metric, namely, task characteristic , is explicitly defined to characterize the behavior of a workload. The task characteristic is expressed by a column vector H cycle = [ h memory , h branch , h integer , h float ] ′ , in which each element respectively denotes the number of memory instructions, branch instructions, integer instructions and floating point instructions per cycle. Second, the dynamic power of a core is modeled as a linear function of the task characteristic , running frequency and the square of voltage. The leakage power is approximated as a linear model of the temperature and voltage. The voltage-given and temperature-interval-limited linear regression (VTLR) method is employed to reduce the complexity of the steady-state model. Third, the steady-state temperature of a core is derived as a function of the task characteristic , frequency, voltage and the number of active cores. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to introduce the task characteristic into the steady-state thermal model. Finally, not only the relationships between the frequency, the number of active cores and hot-spot temperatures but also the impact of the number of frequency-scaled cores on hot-spot temperatures are investigated experimentally. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed steady-state model achieves satisfactory accuracy in terms of the estimation of the dynamic and leakage power and the prediction of hot-spot functional units.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) may provide survival benefits for patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. However, tumor cells can display primary or secondary resistance to paclitaxel (PTX), a primary component of induction chemotherapy regimen. To identify genes capable of conveying PTX resistance, we performed a genome-wide CRISPR transcriptional activation library in human KYSE-180 cells. High throughput next generation sequencing was further applied to establish the phenotype-to-genotype relationship. Our highest-ranking hits are CDKN1A, TSPAN4, ELAVL2, JUNB and PAAF1. We generated evidence that esophageal tumors with high CDKN1A, ELAVL2 and TSPAN4 levels, quantified using qRT-PCR and Western blot assays, showed poorer chemotherapy response. Higher expression levels of TSPAN4 and ELAVL2 protein are independent risk factors for poor chemotherapy response in ESCC patients. We then found that overexpression of CDKN1A, ELAVL2 or TSPAN4 in ESCC cell lines significantly promoted the resistance to PTX by inhibiting cell apoptosis. Interestingly, ESCC cells overexpressed CDKN1A, ELAVL2 or TSPAN4 also acquired resistance to cisplatin (DDP). This phenomenon may be explained by cross-resistance of chemotherapy. We additionally found an association between ELAVL2 and CDKN1A, which may be regarded as the upstream and downstream factors that synergistically involved in the regulation of chemo-resistance in ESCC. Therefore, our study demonstrated that the genome-wide CRISPR activation library is a powerful strategy for the discovery of chemo-resistant genes critical for ESCC and we reported the first evidence that the ELAVL2-CDKN1A axis may be an important mechanism involved in chemo-resistance in ESCC.

Although lack of soil coverage, rock outcrops with developed fractures in karst region can maintain water consumption of plants with different life forms. Water sources for plants on these habi-tats are unclear. Isolated rocky outcrop with relatively simple sources of water was selected for this study. We focused on typical plant species that still thrived after excluding rainfall (removing the water supply to the shallow water) over one year, compared with the same plant species living without rain shelter (always receiving rainfall supplies). Water sources of three representative tree species (Radermachera sinica, Celtis biondii, and Pittosporum tonkinense) were analyzed by using stable isotope techniques and combining with the measurement of plant water potential. The results showed that all the three species depended on deep water sources with similar isotopic values to spring water under rain-sheltered condition, during the rainy season, which explained why plants could still grow normally after rainfall-exclusion over one year. The predawn water potential of R. sinica and P. tonkinense under rain-sheltered condition was not significantly different from those living in natural conditions, which indicated both species were not under water stress. The predawn water potential of C. biondii under rain-sheltered condition was significantly lower than individuals living in natural conditions, which indicated it was under water stress. Under natural condition, water isotope values of stems of all the three species were significantly lower than that under rain-sheltered condition and were within the range of fluctuation of recent rainwater isotope values, indicating that these plants relied on shallow water sources that dominated by recent rainfall. Under both rain-sheltered and natural conditions, there was no obvious difference between the predawn water potential and the midday water potential of P. tonkinense, showing a conservative water use strategy. The midday water potential of other two species was significantly lower than the predawn water potential, showing a profligate/opportunistic water use strategy. Our results indicated that the ability to utilize shallow and deep water sources is key for the plants growing on the habitat of Karst rock outcrops where they could adapt different water environments and maintain diversified water use strategies under the condition with no soil coverage.裂隙发育的喀斯特出露基岩生境,虽无土层覆盖却能维持不同生活型植物的水分消耗.然而目前对该类生境植物的水分来源缺乏清晰认识.本研究以植物潜在水分来源相对简单的孤立出露基岩为例,聚焦遮雨(即剔除雨水对浅层水源的补给)1年后仍然生长旺盛的代表性植物种,同时以无遮雨处理样地(即始终接受降雨补给)的同种植物为对照,运用稳定性氢氧同位素技术,结合对植物水势的测定,综合分析了3种典型植物(落叶乔木菜豆树、落叶乔木紫弹树、常绿灌木四子海桐)的水分来源.结果表明: 在降水充沛的雨季,遮雨条件下3种植物均依赖与泉水同位素比率相近的深层水源,这是植物在遮雨1年后仍能正常生长的根本原因;遮雨菜豆树和四子海桐凌晨水势与自然植株无显著差异,表明植物未受水分胁迫,而紫弹树凌晨水势显著低于自然植株,表明其受一定程度的水分胁迫;自然条件下,3种植物茎水同位素比率均显著低于遮雨植株,且处于近期雨水同位素比率波动范围内,表明植物均依赖受近期雨水主导的浅层水源.遮雨和自然条件下,四子海桐正午水势与凌晨水势始终无明显差异,表现出较为保守的水分利用策略;另外2种植物正午水势显著低于凌晨水势,属于偏挥霍型水分利用策略.具备利用浅层和深层水源的能力是喀斯特无土覆盖出露基岩生境植物适应不同水分环境和维持多样化水分利用策略的关键.

Karst regions, which account for about 15% of the terrestrial surface area, are characte-rized by specific hydrogeological structure different from most non-karst regions. Thus, many research methods that are used in non-karst regions cannot be directly used in karst regions. This issue is especially relevant to research on plant water sources. In this paper, origins and possible solutions to the common problems associated with research on water sources used by karst plant species were reviewed. Four questions were addressed: 1) why is it important to determine plant water source in karst regions? 2) Why are stable isotopes used? 3) What are the challenges associated with using stable isotopes in karst regions? 4) What are the probable solutions for these challenges? This review emphasized the advantages of using stable isotope techniques to identify sources of water used by karst plant species and the challenges associated with satisfying the prerequisites of this method. It is suggested that sources of water used by plant species in karst regions need not to be divided into specific depths and the method of identifying sources of water used by plant species based on their hydrologic properties was much applicable.占全球陆地面积约15%的喀斯特地区,有着不同于绝大多数非喀斯特地区的水文地质结构,使得许多在非喀斯特地区行之有效的研究方法难以直接用于喀斯特地区,而且这种限制在植物水分来源的研究上体现得尤为明显.本文从为什么要在喀斯特地区开展植物水分来源的研究、为什么一定要用稳定同位素的方法、使用该方法在喀斯特地区有何挑战,以及应对这些挑战的可能解决方案是什么等4个方面,综述了喀斯特地区植物水分来源研究普遍关注问题的由来和可能应对方案.文中重点阐述了与其他方法相比,稳定同位素技术在喀斯特地区植物水分来源研究中的优势以及难以完全满足其前提条件的挑战,结合现有相关研究的有益探索,提出在喀斯特地区的研究不必过分追求对各水源在具体深度上的细致划分,从水源特性的角度进行区分是更为适宜的途径.

The traditional hydrology method, stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope technology, and rainfall simulation method were combined to investigate the hydrological function of small experimental plots (2 m×1.2 m) of contrasting architecture in Northwest Guangxi dolomite area. There were four typical catenary soils along the dolomite peak-cluster slope, which were the whole-sand, up-loam and down-sand, the whole loam, up-clay and down-sand soil types, respectively. All the experimental plots generated little amounts of overland runoff and had a high surface infiltration rate, ranging from 41 to 48 mm·h综合运用传统水文学、氢氧稳定同位素和原位模拟降雨等方法,研究了桂西北白云岩坡地典型土体构型石灰土微区(2 m×1.2 m)土壤水文功能.白云岩峰丛坡地沿坡向下表现出通体砂、上壤下砂、通体壤、上黏下砂4种典型石灰土土链格局,所有构型土体微区地表稳定入渗速率高达41～48 mm·h

With the development of the binary structure of karst landforms, surface water is largely drained with rapid loss of nutrients. However, the pathway and mechanism of nutrient loss remain elusive. From a three-dimensional (vegetation-soil-epikarst system) perspective of a critical zone in karst area, this study conducted rainfall induced runoff and nitrogen loss monitoring during monsoon in karst shrub slopes. Isotope-based (D and喀斯特二元结构发育,地表水大量漏失,养分表现出快速流失的特点,然而养分流失的途径和机制尚不清楚.本研究从喀斯特关键带三维空间的视角,通过监测喀斯特灌丛坡地雨季典型降雨产流和氮素流失特征,基于氢氧稳定同位素技术对主要水文路径“新旧水”比例进行划分,并探讨氮素流失的主要途径和机制.结果表明:深层渗漏和壤中流是喀斯特灌丛坡地主要水文路径,两者分别占降雨量的71%和9%,地表径流仅占2%;深层渗漏、壤中流均以“旧水”为主,“旧水”比例分别为85%、61%;硝态氮浓度在深层渗漏中最高(1.97 mg·L

Based on three manually excavated trenches (projection length of 21 m, width of 1 m) along a typical Karst hillslope, the changing trends for soil-bedrock structure, average water content of soil profile and soil-bedrock interface water content along each individual trench were studied. The effect of irregular bedrock topography on soil moisture distribution was discussed. The results showed that the surface topography was inconsistent with the bedrock topography in the Karst hill-slopes. The bedrock topography was highly irregular with a maximum variation coefficient of 82%. The distribution pattern of soil profile of moisture was significantly affected by the underlying undulant bedrock. The soil water content was related to slope position when the fluctuation was gentle, and displayed a linear increase from upslope to downslope. When the bedrock fluctuation increased, the downslope linear increasing trend for soil water content became unapparent, and the spatial continuity of soil moisture was weakened. The soil moisture was converged in rock dents and cracks. The average water content of soil profile was significantly positively correlated with the soil-bedrock interface water content, while the latter responded more sensitively to the bedrock fluctuation.研究了喀斯特地区典型坡地3条人工开挖样沟(投影长21 m、宽1 m)的岩土结构特征、土壤剖面平均含水量和土岩界面含水量沿坡面向下的变化趋势,探讨了喀斯特坡地基岩起伏对土壤水分格局的影响.结果表明: 喀斯特坡地地表地形与基岩地形不一致,基岩深度变异系数最大为82%,基岩起伏较大.基岩起伏程度明显影响到土壤剖面水分分布格局: 基岩起伏较小时,土壤含水量呈上坡位至下坡位逐渐增加的趋势,且土壤剖面平均含水量和土岩界面含水量与基岩深度相关性均不显著;基岩起伏越大,土壤含水量沿坡向下线性增加的趋势越不明显,土壤水分空间连续性越差,基岩凹陷、裂隙处土壤含水量较高,土壤剖面平均含水量和土岩界面含水量与基岩深度呈极显著正相关,但后者对基岩起伏的响应更明显.

Vegetation types restrict soil structure and heterogeneous processes of elements, which result in difference in spatial distribution of soil nutrients. In this study, the differences in contents of soil nutrients, TN, TP, TK, and soil organic matter (SOM) among different vegetation types were analyzed, and the accuracy of ordinary kriging, regression model and regression model based on vegetation type in predicting soil nutrients was compared. The results showed that, TN, TK and SOM were significantly (P0.05) correlated to vegetation type, and TP had no significant correlation with vegetation type (P=0.390). TN and SOM had significant difference between shrubbery and arable land. TK had significant difference between arbor and scrub-grassland, shrubbery and arable land, and scrub-grassland and arable land, respectively. In a non-continuous typical small karst catchment, because of high spatial heterogeneity of terrain, the accuracy of multivariate linear regression model based on the real terrain factors of various points was considerably higher than that of ordinary kriging prediction method considering the locations of the known points and prediction points. Moreover, the regression model based on vegetation type improved the prediction accuracy of the TN.植被类型制约着土壤结构和元素的异质化过程,致使土壤养分空间分布存在差异性.本文研究了典型喀斯特小流域不同植被类型间土壤养分(全氮TN、全磷TP、全钾TK、有机质SOM)含量分布的差异性,分析比较了普通克里金、回归模型、基于植被类型的回归模型对土壤养分预测的精度.结果表明: TN、TK、SOM与植被类型显著相关(

Using stable isotope techniques, water sources and water use efficiencies of Eucalyptus urophylla ×E. grandis (exotic tree species) and Liquidambar formosana (native tree species, as a reference) were studied in a typical karst artificial forest, and the risk of drought stress of the plantation was discussed. The results showed that the isotope value of shallow soil water (0-50 cm) had obvious gradient features and was similar to the recent rain, while that of deep water was more stable and different from the shallow soil water. The soil water content in wet season (May and September) was higher than in dry season (October), and was higher in upslope than in downslope segment. The main water source of L. formosana was shallow soil water, which corresponded to high water use efficiency in different seasons. The main water sources for E. urophylla ×E. grandis on the upper slope and downslope segments were both shallow soil water in wet season, however, the sum of average water using the proportion of deep soil water increased for the downslope segment in the end of wet season. In dry season, E. urophylla ×E. grandis on the downslope segment mainly used shallow soil water, while it used deeper soil water on the upslope segment when soil water was relatively low. Meanwhile, the water use efficiency of E. urophylla ×E. grandis was lower compared with L. formosana, which revealed E. urophylla ×E. grandis did not get enough water supply under drought stress. The above results indicated that E. urophylla ×E. grandis would encounter high risk of water stress if extreme drought events happened in karst regions in the coming future.利用稳定性氢氧及碳同位素技术,与邻近乡土植物枫香比较,对喀斯特坡地尾巨桉水分来源与水分利用效率的季节性差异进行研究,分析喀斯特地区桉树人工林建设的干旱胁迫风险.结果表明: 浅层(0～50 cm)土壤水同位素值渐变特征明显且与近期雨水同位素值相近,而深层(50～100 cm)土壤水同位素值整体较稳定且明显区别于浅层.土壤含水量整体呈现雨季(5、9月)高于旱季(10月),且上坡高于下坡的基本特征.枫香不受旱、雨季土壤含水率差异的影响,始终以浅层土壤水为主要水源,水分利用效率持续较高.尾巨桉水分来源受不同季节、坡位土壤含水率差异的影响:雨季上坡以浅层土壤水为主,雨季下坡对深层土壤水利用比例明显增加;旱季上坡主要利用较深层水分,旱季下坡依赖浅层土壤水.桉树水分利用效率始终低于枫香,但旱季时显著升高.尾巨桉水分来源灵活多变,但干旱条件下水分利用效率显著升高,表明其并未能获得充足的水分供应,预示着生长速率及经济收益遭受负面影响,干旱致死的风险较高.

This study focused on bedrock outcrops, a very common habitat in karst region of southwest China. To reveal the responses of plant transpiration to natural rainfall and continuous drought, two tree species typical to this habitat, Radermachera sinica and Triadica rotundifolia, were selected as test materials. A rainout shelter was used to simulate continuous drought. The sap flow dynamics were monitored using the method of Granier's thermal dissipation probe (TDP). Our results showed that sap flow density increased to different degrees after rain in different stages of the growing season. Sap flow density of the deciduous species T. rotundifolia was always higher than that of the semi-deciduous species R. sinica. After two months without rainfall input, both species exhibited no obvious decrease in sap flow density, indicating that rainfall was not the dominant source for their water uptake, at least in the short-term. Based on the regression relationships between sap flow density and meteorological factors before and after rainfall, as well as at different stages of continuous drought, we found that the dynamics of meteorological factors contributed little to plant transpiration. The basic transpiration characteristics of both species were not changed in the circumstance of natural rainfall and short-term continuous drought, which would be closely related to the special water storage environments of bedrock outcrops and the reliance on deep water sources by tree species.以西南喀斯特地区常见的出露基岩生境为研究对象,针对该类生境典型乔木类植物菜豆树和圆叶乌桕,应用TDP热扩散探针技术,结合遮雨试验,分析了植物树干液流对自然降水和连续干旱的响应特征.结果表明: 在生长季不同时期,降水后2树种液流密度较降水前均有一定程度的升高,但始终呈现落叶乔木圆叶乌桕高于半落叶乔木菜豆树的特征;连续2个月遮雨条件下,2树种液流密度均无明显降低的趋势,表明2树种均不依赖受近期降水主导的水源;通过对降水前后及连续干旱条件下2树种液流密度与环境因子的拟合关系研究发现,气象因素差异对水分环境变化条件下植物蒸腾耗水的影响较小.自然降水和短时期的连续干旱并未显著改变2树种的蒸腾耗水特征,这可能与出露基岩生境特殊的水分蓄持环境和乔木类植物依赖相对稳定的深层水源有关.

A probabilistic method is presented to analyze the temperature and the maximum frequency for multicore processors based on consideration of workload variation, in this paper. Firstly, at the microarchitecture level, dynamic powers are modeled as the linear function of IPCs (instructions per cycle), and leakage powers are approximated as the linear function of temperature. Secondly, the microarchitecture-level hotspot temperatures of both active cores and inactive cores are derived as the linear functions of IPCs. The normal probabilistic distribution of hotspot temperatures is derived based on the assumption that IPCs of all cores follow the same normal distribution. Thirdly and lastly, the probabilistic distribution of the set of discrete frequencies is determined. It can be seen from the experimental results that hotspot temperatures of multicore processors are not deterministic and have significant variations, and the number of active cores and running frequency simultaneously determine the probabilistic distribution of hotspot temperatures. The number of active cores not only results in different probabilistic distribution of frequencies, but also leads to different probabilities for triggering DFS (dynamic frequency scaling).

Ophraella communa LeSage (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) is an important biological control agent of the common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia L., in China. Development and fecundity of O. communa, and hatch rate of progeny eggs were studied at five photoperiods (8:16, 10:14, 12:12, 14:10, and 16:8 [L:D] h). The highest survival rate of eggs was 92% at the photoperiod of 16:8 (L:D) h, and those of both larvae and pupae were observed at the photoperiod of 14:10 (L:D) h (85 and 96%). The shortest developmental durations of larvae and pupae were observed at photoperiods of 14:10 and 16:8 (L:D) h. Fecundity was 1,159-1,976 eggs per female from photoperiods of 8:16 to 16:8 (L:D) h. The hatch rates of progeny eggs were 67-92% from photoperiods of 8:16 to 16:8 (L:D) h, and photoperiods did not affect developmental duration of progeny eggs. The intrinsic rate for increase (r), the net reproductive rate (r0), and the finite rate of increase (λ) reached the maximum values at 16:8 (L:D) h (0.2219 d(-1), 721 hatched eggs and 1.2484 d(-1), respectively) and 14:10 (L:D) h (0.2133 d(-1), 605.6 hatched eggs and 1.2378 d(-1), respectively). Their minimum values were observed at the photoperiod of 8:16 (L:D) h, which were 0.1731 d(-1), 212.2 hatched eggs and 0.1890 d(-1), respectively. The shortest T value was 29.7 d at a photoperiod of 16:8 (L:D) h and the longest was 31.4 d at a photoperiod of 12:12 (L:D) h. Our study shows that O. communa could survive and reproduce successfully at different photoperiods, thus may expand its distribution to regions with different photoperiods.

In structured environment, according to the requirement of indoor robot navigation for accuracy and real-time performance, On the basis of a novel positioning method using infrared landmarks, another novel infrared landmark indoor positioning method which uses high power infrared tube as landmarks, infrared camera as receiving sensor ,and combines track deduction is proposed in this paper. An improved Interacting Multiple Models Unscented Kalman Filter (IMM-UKF) data fusion algorithm for the two positioning scheme is used to improve the precision. Experimental results show that the novel infrared landmark indoor positioning method can increase the location speed and precision effectively.

With the rapid development of mobile ad hoc network, energy and trust are important to the network. Energy consumption and trust routing scheme are the main issues in mobile ad hoc network. Trust routing is related to many factors such as hop numbernode residual energy and node behavior. To use the multi-source information, multi-agent information fusion method is used to design trust routing scheme. The definition of trust routing is proposed. Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol is used to validate trust routing scheme, Route Reply (RREP) Message is extended to record node residual energy and behavior information. NS-2 simulator is used to simulate different network scenarios. Simulation results show that low power trust routing scheme can improve the security and efficiency of network, the scheme is sensitive to node residual energy, so it extends the service lifetime of the network.

Security is critically important for hierarchical wireless sensor networks. Due to the limited resources of the sensor nodes, the traditional key management schemes are not suitable for wireless sensor network. In this paper, a new key management scheme for hierarchical wireless sensor network is proposed, which would be effectively against cluster node capture by supporting multiple keying mechanisms. The security of network is independent on a single key. Compared with the LEAP protocol, our scheme has lower consumption and higher scalability.

Social networks are currently gotten increasing focus with the growth of online social network services, such as Facebook, Sina Weibo. One major challenge for social network research is how to build information diffusion model to describe the complex information diffusion model. For this purpose, information diffusion models are researched. To show the importance of network topology, how to identify the most important spreaders in the network is a key scientific problem. Different kinds of network centrality measure methods are analyzed. The role of a potential edge in social network is analyzed. The relationship between network topology structure and information diffusion dynamics model is analyzed. Pagerank algorithm for SinaWeibo users are implemented in Hadoop cloud computing platform. Experiment result shows that Pagerank algorithm can be implemented in Hadoop cloud platform to recognize the important spreaders in social network. Big data in social network can be analyzed in the platform.

Objective The forkhead transcription factor FOXP3 is a key molecular which can mediate regulatory T cells immune-related inhibitory functions. Increased levels of FOXP3-positive Tregs in peripheral blood have been proved to be associated with a less favorable prognosis in various inflammatory diseases. It is of great interest to investigate the correlation between single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of FOXP3 gene and the susceptibility of chronic hepatitis B (CHB). Methods Two SNPs rs2280883 and rs3761549 of FOXP3 gene in 285 patients with CHB and 295 matched controls were analyzed by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF). Results At rs2280883, there were no significant differences in the distribution of C and T alleles between CHB donors and healthy donors, but at rs3761549, C allele was associated with CHB (P = 0.001). Compared with healthy controls, patients with CHB had high frequencies of TT genotype (73.7%) at rs2280883 or CC genotype (73.6%) at rs3761549 of FOXP3 gene. Patients who carried rs2280883 CC genotype [OR 1.744 (95% CI 1.068 - 2.848), P = 0.011] or rs3761549 CC genotype [OR 1.633 (95% CI 1.146 - 2.327), P = 0.0001] had higher risk of suffering from CHB. Stratified analysis showed that rs3761549 CC genotype was significantly associated with high incidence of HBeAg (P = 0.019). Conclusions These results suggested that FOXP3 gene polymorphism at rs2280883 and rs3761549 might be associated with the increased susceptibility to CHB.

Background HBV infection continues to be an important worldwide cause of morbidity and mortality. Patients with chronic hepatitis B can be successfully treated using nucleoside/nucleotide analogues. However, drug-resistant HBV mutants frequently arise, leading to treatment failure and progression to liver disease. Here, we report the effects of GLS4, a non-nucleosidic inhibitor that exhibits a novel and highly specific anti-HBV activity. Methods The median inhibitory concentrations (IC50s) of GLS4 on HBV were measured by Southern blotting. HBV capsid and core protein levels were detected by immunoblotting. To determine the antiviral activity of GLS4 against adefovir dipivoxil (ADV)-resistant HBV mutants, HepG2 cells transiently transfected with PUC-HBV1.2 plasmids that contained one of three major ADV-resistant mutations (rtA181T, rtA181V and rtN236T) were treated with GLS4. Intracellular HBV replicative intermediates were detected by Southern blotting. The effect on the in vitro assembly of HBV capsid protein was examined using dynamic light scattering and electron microscopy. Results The IC50 of GLS4 was 0.012 μM, which is significantly lower than that of lamivudine (0.325 μM). Immunoblot analysis of HepG2.2.15 cells and transiently transfected HepG2 cells indicated that GLS4 treatment interfered with the formation of core particles (assembly). The ADV-resistant HBV mutant strains were also sensitive to GLS4. Upon examining the in vitro assembly of HBV core protein 149 by electron microscopy, increased aberrant particles were observed after GLS4 treatment. Conclusions GLS4 is a new and unique potential anti-HBV agent that possesses a different mechanism of action than existing therapeutic drugs.

Ophraella communa (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) is a leaf beetle that is unintentionally introduced in China. It is a potential biological control agent against common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia (Asterales: Asteraceae). The effects of temperature on the development and fecundity of O. communa were studied at eight constant temperature regimens (15, 20, 22, 25, 28, 30, 32, 36 degrees C) in the laboratory. The results showed that the developmental periods for egg, larva, pupa, and entire immature stages decreased in response to the increasing temperature, with the exception of 30 degrees C. The survival rates at different developmental stages were higher at 25 and 28 degrees C than at other temperatures. Ovipositional period and longevity of female shortened with the increasing temperature. The highest fecundity of female was observed to be 2,712.3 eggs/female at 28 degrees C. Life table of O. communa was constructed based on the data at 20-32 degrees C. The innate capacity for increase (r(m)), the net reproductive rate (R(0)), and the finite rate of increase (lambda) reached the maximum at 28 degrees C, with values of 0.247, 1,773.0, and 1.280, respectively. The shortest period of a generation (T) was 24.6 d at 32 degrees C, whereas the longest T value was recorded as 79.3 d at 20 degrees C. These results offer valuable insight on the establishment potential of O. communa in new environments with diverse temperature regimens and on its mass-rearing techniques in laboratory.

Ophraella communa, an unintentionally introduced leaf beetle in China, has good control efficiency on ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiifolia. Aspects of the climatic requirements for development, survival, longevity and fecundity of O. communa were studied under the conditions of constant temperature (25 ± 1°C), photoperiod of 14 L:10 D and three relative humidities (60%, 75% and 90% RHs). The results showed that the developmental periods of O. communa at different stages shortened along with the increasing relative humidity, except that of the pupal stage. Although no differences were observed in the pupal survival rate, ovipositional period, fecundity, longevity and adult female age-specific survivorship of O. communa under the three humidity conditions, the survival rates during the egg, larva and entire immature stage were significantly higher at 75% RH and 90% RH than at 60% RH. The innate rate of increase (rm), net reproductive rate (R0), finite rate of increase (λ) reached the maximum at 75% RH, with values of 0.181, 1116.4 and 1.198, respectively. These results indicated that the optimum relative humidity for the development of O. communa ranged from 75% RH to 90% RH. Thus O. communa prefers moist microclimate habitats. Its population may expand rapidly during mid-May to late August in south, east and central China, when the humidity is relatively high.

Through in situ observation and indoor tests, the hydrochemical characteristics of a typical karst watershed at three different time scales (diurnal, single storm, and seasonal scales) from June 2013 to March 2014 were investigated, and their influencing factors were analyzed. The results showed that the diurnal variations of the hydrochemistry exhibited a regular changing pattern resulting from the shifting of the main vegetation physiological activity from photosynthesis in the day to respiration in the night. At single storm scale, however, the hydrochemical processes were mainly determined by the number of consecutive rainless days and rainfall intensity, while the diurnal scale effect was weakened. As to the seasonal scale, the overall hydrochemical processes showed quick responses to rainfall events although they responded more quickly in the rainy season than in the dry season. The temperature and the yearly rainfall distribution regime were the two main influencing factors at this scale.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) nonstructural (NS) genes are relatively conserved and play critical roles in cellular immune responses against HCV. The aim of the study was to evaluate the immunogenicity of the different HCV NS genes through transduction of DCs and presentation to T cells. Monocyte-derived DCs from healthy donors were infected with the recombinant adenovirus (Ad) harboring HCV NS3 (AdNS3), NS4 (NS4A and NS4B; AdNS4), NS5 (NS5A and NS5B; AdNS5), NS3/NS4 (AdNS3/NS4), and NS4/NS5 (AdNS4/NS5) genes, and then used to stimulate autologous lymphocytes in vitro. Antigen-specific cellular immune responses were detected by interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), interleukin 4 (IL-4), and Granzyme B (GrB) enzyme-linked immunospot assays (ELISPOT). DCs expressing different HCV NS genes all induced positive immune responses. Furthermore, DCs transfected with AdNS3/NS4 were superior to DCs infected with AdNS3 or AdNS4 in inducing HCV-specific immunity. The same results were obtained when we compared DCs infected with AdNS4/NS5 to AdNS4 or AdNS5. DCs transduced with NS3/NS4 or NS4/NS5 had similar ability to elicit specific immune responses to HCV.

Bispecific antibodies have immense potential for use in clinical applications. In the present study, a bispecific diabody against human red blood cells (RBCs) and hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) was used to detect HBsAg in blood specimens. The bispecific diabody was constructed by crossing over the variable region of the heavy chains and the light chains of anti-RBC and anti-HBsAg antibodies with a short linker, SRGGGS. In enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, this bispecific diabody showed specific binding to both RBCs and HBsAg. When this bispecific diabody was mixed with human blood specimens in the presence of HBsAg, the dual binding sites of the diabody caused agglutination of human RBCs. This diabody-mediated agglutination assay was then used to test 712 clinical blood specimens and showed 97.7% sensitivity and 100% specificity when the results were compared with those of the conventional immunoassay, which was used as a reference. This autologous RBC agglutination assay provides a simple approach for rapid screening for HBsAg in blood specimens.

Surface soil water-physical properties play a decisive role in the dynamics of deep soil water. Knowledge of their spatial variation is helpful in understanding the processes of rainfall infiltration and runoff generation, which will contribute to the reasonable utilization of soil water resources in mountainous areas. Based on a grid sampling scheme (10 m x 10 m) and geostatistical methods, this paper aimed to study the spatial variability of surface (0-10 cm) soil water content, soil bulk density and saturated hydraulic conductivity on a typical shrub slope (90 m x 120 m, projected length) in Karst area of northwest Guangxi, southwest China. The results showed that the surface soil water content, bulk density and saturated hydraulic conductivity had different spatial dependence and spatial structure. Sample variogram of the soil water content was fitted well by Gaussian models with the nugget effect, while soil bulk density and saturated hydraulic conductivity were fitted well by exponential models with the nugget effect. Variability of soil water content showed strong spatial dependence, while the soil bulk density and saturated hydraulic conductivity showed moderate spatial dependence. The spatial ranges of the soil water content and saturated hydraulic conductivity were small, while that of the soil bulk density was much bigger. In general, the soil water content increased with the increase of altitude while it was opposite for the soil bulk densi- ty. However, the soil saturated hydraulic conductivity had a random distribution of large amounts of small patches, showing high spatial heterogeneity. Soil water content negatively (P0.01) correlated with the bulk density and saturated hydraulic conductivity, while there was no significant correlation between the soil bulk density and saturated hydraulic conductivity.

A total of 163 soil samples (0-20 cm layer) were collected from the grid sampling plots (80 m x 80 m) in Huanjiang Observation and Research Station of Karst Ecosystem in a small catchment in Karst cluster-peak depression area, South China. By using classical statistics and geostatistics, the spatial heterogeneity of mineral components (SiO2, Fe2O3, CaO, MgO, Al2O3, MnO, and TiO2) in the soils were studied. The contents of the seven soil mineral components in the study area differed greatly, being in the order of SiO2Al2O3CaOMgOFe2O3TiO2MnO, and the variance coefficients also varied obviously, in the order of CaOMgOFe2O3TiO2SiO2Al2O3MnO. The seven mineral components accounted for 69.4% of the total soil mass. The spatial patterns and the fittest models of the seven soil mineral components differed from each other. All the seven soil mineral components had a strong spatial autocorrelation, with shorter variation ranges and stronger spatial dependence. The Kriging contour maps indicated that the distribution patterns of soil SiO2, Fe2O3, Al2O3, MnO, and TiO2 were similar, being higher in south and east, lower in north and west, higher in depression, and lower in slope, while the distribution patterns of soil CaO and MgO were in adverse. Natural conditions (vegetation, bare rock rate, slope degree, and slope aspect, etc. ) and human disturbance were the most important factors affecting the spatial patterns of the soil mineral components.

RNAs of GB virus C (GBV-C) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) were sought by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction with nested primers deduced from the 5' untranslated region: 79 patients on maintenance hemodialysis, 205 commercial blood donors, and 205 voluntary donors in Beijing were studied. GBV-C RNA was detected in 43 (54%) patients and 17 (8%) commercial donors, and HCV RNA in 43 (54%) patients and 13 (6%) commercial donors, respectively. By contrast, GBV-C RNA was detected only in 2 (1%) and HCV RNA in none among 205 volunteer blood donors serving as controls. Thus both patients and commercial blood donors were at higher risk for infection with GBV-C (P < 0.001) than controls. HCV RNA was detected more often in patients with GBV-C RNA than without (29/43 or 67%, vs. 14/36 or 39%, P < 0.05) as well as in commercial donors with GBV-C RNA than without (5/17 or 29% vs. 8/188 or 4%, P < 0.01). A phylogenetic tree constructed on a sequence of 100 base pairs in the helicase region indicated that GBV-C isolates from Beijing are more similar to Japanese isolates than to isolates from the United States and Africa. Sequences from certain hemodialysis patients and those from some commercial donors were similar, suggesting nosocomial infection and spread among restricted groups.