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A recent primary development in criminology is a growing recognition that there has been Western domination in knowledge production and dissemination. The imbalance of knowledge in criminology is a significant weakness of the discipline. Prominent scholars have called for the decolonisation of criminological knowledge to correct this bias. Asian criminology and Southern criminology are the latest developments and promising forces in decolonising criminology (Liu 2018; Moosavi 2018). One of Asian criminology’s exceptional contributions to the current decolonisation movement is its significant theoretical achievements. This paper reviews theoretical efforts in Asian criminology and the theoretical innovation of the theoretical works, particularly those developed by Liu (Liu 2014; 2016; 2017; 2021a; 2022; 2023). It shows how theory development in criminology can gain insights from observations based on Asian contexts. The paper provides an update on these developments and their contributions to the reconstruction of criminology.

Shrub encroaching on grasslands threatens grassland ecosystems and negatively affects human land use and livelihood. However, existing research on this subject is limited, having focused on small areas, thus hindering a comprehensive understanding of the diverse patterns of large-scale shrub invasions into grasslands. In recent decades, a significant encroachment of shrubs into Xilin Gol grassland has been observed in China, resulting in considerable damage to the grasslands. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the rapid expansion of shrub-encroached grassland (SEG) from 1990 to 2020 in the Xilin Gol League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China, using long-term Landsat images. The spatial distribution characteristics of the new SEG areas were analyzed. The main factors driving the shrub encroachment in the study area were identified using a geographic detector. Our results revealed a continuous expansion of SEG in the study area over the past three decades, marked by an increase of 48.76 × 103 km2 and an average annual gain rate of 9.41 %. The increased SEG was primarily owing to grassland transition. The sprawl of the SEG was the most prominent in the western and northern regions of the study area, extending to gentle slopes of approximately 5° and low-middle elevations between 600–1300 m above mean sea level. Shrub encroachment was primarily influenced by surface temperature, wind speed, and relative humidity, with elevation, slope, and precipitation exerting relatively weaker influences. Rather than being driven by a singular factor, the expansion was a result of the combined influence of various factors. This study provides a valuable case study for understanding shrub invasion dynamics in arid and semi-arid regions globally.

Abstract Background Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease is a special self-limited disease in pediatric orthopedics with a high disability rate and a long-term course, and there is still no clear and effective therapeutic drug in clinic. This study aimed to investigate the potential efficacy of biochanin A, a kind of oxygen-methylated isoflavone compound, in treating Perthes disease based on network pharmacology, molecular docking and in vitro experiments. Methods IL-6 was used to stimulate human umbilical vein endothelial cells to construct endothelial cell dysfunction model. We demonstrated whether biochanin A could alleviate endothelial dysfunction through CCK8 assay, immunofluorescence. Targets of biochanin A from pharmMappeer, SWISS, and TargetNet databases were screened. Targets of endothelial dysfunction were obtained from Genecards and OMIM databases. Protein–protein interaction, Gene Ontology, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomics analyses were used to analyze the potential target and the key pathway of the anti-endothelial dysfunction activity of biochanin A. To validate the potential target-drug interactions, molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations were performed and the result was proved by western blot. Results It was found that biochanin A can promote the expression of ZO-1, reduce the expression of ICAM-1, which means improving endothelial dysfunction. A total of 585 targets of biochanin A from pharmMappeer, SWISS, and TargetNet databases were screened. A total of 10,832 targets of endothelial dysfunction were obtained from Genecards and OMIM databases. A total of 527 overlapping targets of endothelial dysfunction and biochanin A were obtained. AKT1, TNF-α, VCAM1, ICAM1, and NOS3 might be the key targets of the anti-endothelial dysfunction activity of biochanin A, and the key pathways might be PI3K-Akt and TNF signaling pathways. Molecular docking results indicated that the AKT1 and TNF-α had the highest affinity binding with biochanin A. Conclusion This study indicates that biochanin A can target AKT1 and TNF-α to alleviate endothelial dysfunction induced by IL-6 in Perthes disease, which provides a theoretical basis for the treatment of Perthes disease by using biochanin A.

Abstract Organic-inorganic molecular assembly has led to numerous nano/mesostructured materials with fantastic properties, but it is dependent on and limited to the direct interaction between host organic structure-directing molecules and guest inorganic species. Here, we report a “solvent-pair surfactants” enabled assembly (SPEA) method to achieve a general synthesis of mesostructured materials requiring no direct host-guest interaction. Taking the synthesis of mesoporous metal oxides as an example, the dimethylformamide/water solvent pairs behave as surfactants and induce the formation of mesostructured polyoxometalates/copolymers nanocomposites, which can be converted into metal oxides. This SPEA method enables the synthesis of functional ordered mesoporous metal oxides with different pore sizes, structures, compositions and tailored pore-wall microenvironments that are difficult to access via conventional direct organic-inorganic assembly. Typically, nitrogen-doped mesoporous ε-WO3 with high specific surface area, uniform mesopores and stable framework is obtained and exhibits great application potentials such as gas sensing.

Abstract Background Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are involved in the malignant development of tumors. However, the mechanism of circ_0102231 in non‐small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has rarely been discussed and reported. Methods Quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR) was used to measure the expression of circ_0102231, miR‐635 and NOVA alternative splicing regulator 2 (NOVA2) in NSCLC tissues and cells. Western blot was applied to detect the protein expression. Cell proliferation was monitored by cell counting kit‐8 (CCK8) and 5‐ethynyl‐2′‐deoxyuridine (EdU) experiments. The angiogenesis ability of cells was tested by angiogenesis assay. Flow cytometry was used to analyze cell apoptosis. The relationship between circ_0102231 and NOVA2 or miR‐635 was analyzed by dual‐luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay. An in vivo transplanted tumor model was established to confirm the effect of circ_0102231 on tumor formation. Results Circ_0102231 was abnormally upregulated in NSCLC tissues and correlated with clinical stage. Silencing of circ_0102231 inhibited cell proliferation and angiogenesis but significantly promoted the apoptosis of NSCLC cells. There were target binding sites between circ_0102231 and miR‐635, miR‐635 and NOVA2. Importantly, circ_0102231 acted as a sponge for miR‐635, increased the expression of NOVA2, and activated the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Finally, silencing of circ_0102231 also had obvious antitumor effects in vivo. Conclusion Circ_0102231 increased the expression of NOVA2 by interacting with miR‐635 to promote the malignant progression of NSCLC.

Pulsating heat pipes (PHPs) are widely used in the heat dissipation of electronic components, waste heat recovery, solar energy utilization, etc., relying on the pulsating flow of the work material in the pipe and the heat transfer by phase change, and they have the advantages of high heat-transfer efficiency, simple structure, and low cost. In this paper, an experimental method is used to adjust the length of local pipes in the PHP structure, so that the PHP forms a high- and low-staggered asymmetric structure, and to study the effects of different liquid charging rates and heat-source temperatures on the vibration, startup, and operation of the PHP in the asymmetric structure. We found the following: it is difficult to start up and operate the workpiece at 10%, 68%, and 80% liquid charging rates; the effect of the oscillating impact is worse; the temperature difference between the evaporation section of the pulsating heat pipe and condensation section is larger; and the temperature difference between the evaporation section and condensation section is larger. The temperature difference between the evaporation section and condensation section of the pulsating heat pipe is large, the temperature difference is between 10~25 °C, and it is difficult to achieve a small temperature difference in heat transfer. When the liquid charging rate is 30% and 50%, the pulsating heat pipe oscillates better; the pulsation frequency is relatively high; and the temperature difference between the end of the cold and hot sections is small, the temperature difference is between 3 and 7 °C, and the performance of heat transfer is better. However, when the liquid charging rate is 30% and the heat source is 70 °C, the thermal resistance is increased to 0.016 K/W, and the equivalent thermal conductivity is reduced. When the performance of heat transfer is changed to 0.016 K/W and the equivalent thermal conductivity is reduced, the coefficient decreases, and the heat-transfer performance becomes weaker.

Ferroptosis, a defensive strategy commonly employed by the host cells to restrict pathogenic infections, has been implicated in the development and therapeutic responses of various types of cancer. However, the role of ferroptosis in oncogenic Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV)-induced cancers remains elusive. While a growing number of non-histone proteins have been identified as acetylation targets, the functions of these modifications have yet to be revealed. Here, we show KSHV reprogramming of host acetylation proteomics following cellular transformation of rat primary mesenchymal precursor. Among them, SERPINE1 mRNA binding protein 1 (SERBP1) deacetylation is increased and required for KSHV-induced cellular transformation. Mechanistically, KSHV-encoded viral interleukin-6 (vIL-6) promotes SIRT3 deacetylation of SERBP1, preventing its binding to and protection of lipoyltransferase 2 (Lipt2) mRNA from mRNA degradation resulting in ferroptosis. Consequently, a SIRT3-specific inhibitor, 3-TYP, suppresses KSHV-induced cellular transformation by inducing ferroptosis. Our findings unveil novel roles of vIL-6 and SERBP1 deacetylation in regulating ferroptosis and KSHV-induced cellular transformation, and establish the vIL-6-SIRT3-SERBP1-ferroptosis pathways as a potential new therapeutic target for KSHV-associated cancers.

IntroductionApplying transumbilical laparoendoscopic single-site surgery to endometrial cancers is worldwide, and the depiction of the learning curve is rarely described, which leads to the vagueness of young clinical practitioners. We accumulated the data to identify the completion of the learning curve by analyzing the operative and postoperative outcomes of the patients with endometrial cancer for transumbilical laparoendoscopic single-site surgery (TU-LESS).MethodsThis was a retrospective, consecutive single-center study of patients with endometrial cancer undergoing standard endometrial cancer comprehensive staging surgery (extrafascial hysterectomy, bilateral salpingectomy, and pelvic lymphadenectomy) through TU-LESS by an experienced surgeon from December, 2017 to June, 2021 in the Department of Gynecologic Oncology, West China Second Hospital, Sichuan University, China.ResultsAfter applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 42 patients were included in the study. The learning curve for this study was evaluated using both cumulative sum (CUSUM) and risk-adjusted CUSUM (RA-CUSUM) methods. Applying CUSUM and RA-CUSUM has grouped 42 cases into three phases. The prior five cases represented the learning period. The following six cases were needed to lay a technical foundation (cases 6–11). The third phase was regarded as achieving proficiency (cases 12–42). The operative time decreased drastically with the learning curve. There were no significant differences in terms of postoperative complications and lymph node retrieval among the three phases. More difficult patients were confronted in the third phase.DiscussionIn our study, the learning curve was composed of three phases. According to the results of our study, 11 cases were required for experienced surgeons to achieve a technical foundation.

Introduction Hysterectomy is the most common surgical procedure in the field of gynaecology. The traditional multiport laparoscopy, transumbilical laparoendoscopic single-site surgery (TU-LESS) and transvaginal natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (vNOTES) hysterectomy approaches have been implemented to varying degrees in clinical practice. At present, although their feasibility has been proven, there are no large randomised controlled studies on postoperative rehabilitation. This study aims to evaluate postoperative recovery and assess the safety and effectiveness of these three surgical approaches for total laparoscopic hysterectomy.Method and analysis This is a multicentre, randomised, single-blind, three-arm, parallel-group, interventional clinical trial. Recruitment will be carried out in five tertiary hospitals in China. Patients diagnosed with benign uterine disease or precancerous lesions will be assigned to the vNOTES group, TU-LESS group and conventional laparoscopy group at a 1:1:1 ratio. The achievement rate of comprehensive indices of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) within 24 hours postoperatively will be considered the primary outcome (the comprehensive indicators of ERAS include fluid intake, passing flatus, urination after catheter removal, ambulation and a Visual Analogue Scale score ≤3.) This study will use a non-inferiority test, with a power (1−ß) of 80% and a margin of −0.15, at a one-sided α of 0.0125. The sample size will be 480 patients (including an assumed 15% dropout rate), calculated according to the primary outcome.Ethics and dissemination This study was approved on 25 April 2022 by the Medical Ethics Committee of West China Second University Hospital (2022(057)), Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. All participants will be required to provide informed consent before their participation in the study. The results of the trial will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at international conferences.Protocol version V.3.0, 31 August 2023.Trial registration number ChiCTR2200057405.

Chemotherapy, a primary treatment for osteosarcoma (OS), has limited knowledge regarding its impact on tumor immune microenvironment (TIME). Here, tissues from 6 chemotherapy-naive OS patients underwent single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and were analyzed alongside public dataset (GSE152048) containing 7 post-chemotherapy OS tissues. CD45+ (PTPRC+) cells were used for cell clustering and annotation. Changes in immune cell composition pre- and post-chemotherapy were characterized. Totally, 28,636 high-quality CD45+ (PTPRC+) cells were extracted. Following chemotherapy, the proportions of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and activated CD8 T cells decreased, while CD8 effector T cells increased. GO analysis indicated that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in T cells were associated with cell activation, adaptive immune response, and immune response to tumor cells. Furthermore, the proportions of plasma cells increased, while naive B cells decreased. B cell surface receptors expression was upregulated, and GO analysis revealed DEGs of B cells were mainly enriched in B cell-mediated immunity and B cell activation. Moreover, M2 polarization of macrophages was suppressed post-chemotherapy. Overall, this study elucidates chemotherapy remodels the OS TIME landscape, triggering immune heterogeneity and enhancing anti-tumor properties.

Residential quarters are a critical component of urban areas, which significantly affects people's health and quality of life. In recent decades, the high-density and crowded residential quarters have become the mainstream organizational model of construction in China, because of the rapid and massive urbanization in many cities. This results in the contradiction between the eco-environment needs and the accommodation needs. Therefore, a systematic evaluation of the eco-environment in residential quarters is urgently needed to address the drawbacks of current residential quarters' planning and design. This paper aims to explore ways to improve the eco-environment with residential quarters from the perspective of China. We first used the Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) to evaluate the eco-environmental quality of 3, 756 residential quarters in the main urban areas of Xi 'an, China. Then, we quantitatively analyzed the landscape patterns of the impervious surfaces in these residential quarters. Finally, we characterized the impacts of residential quarters layout on the ecological environment by using the vegetation coverage (FVC), the normalized difference bare soil index (NDBSI), building density (BD), the residential density (RD), and the population density (PD) as main factors. The results are as follows: (1) Only 20.5 % of residential quarters with good eco-environments were distributed between the Second and Third Ring Road, indicating the need for improvement in creating livable eco-environments. (2) The shape of the impervious surface of excellent ecological quarters is complex and broken, the average patch area is smaller, and the degree of aggregation and combination of patches is lower compared to residential quarters with poor ecological quality. Therefore, it is recommended to reduce the connectivity of the impervious surface to improve the eco-environment of residential quarters. (3) Among the factors affecting RSEI of residential quarters, FVC, and NDBSI contribute more than other factors. For the construction of excellent eco-environments in residential quarters, we suggest that vegetation coverage should be no less than 0.4, the impervious surface coverage should be no more than 0.53, the building density should be between 0.28 ∼ 0.35, residential density should be no more than 0.22, and the population density of residential quarter should be under 0.29. Overall, for open and low-density residential quarters, the living environment can be improved by enriching vegetation and reducing impervious surfaces, while compact, high-density residential quarters can create a livable eco-environment by optimizing the impervious surface landscape patterns.

Abstract During the last four decades, Chinese criminology has grown steadily but modestly. One consensus is the lack of a clear understanding of the relationship between criminology and criminal law. This paper attempts to provide a critical review of the relationship between the two disciplines by first tracing the historical development of criminology in both China and Western countries. It then clarifies the distinctions and overlaps between criminology and criminal law and explains how this relationship has influenced the growth of criminology in China. It concludes by proposing implications for developing criminology in China, particularly discussing potential collaborations that could be forged between criminology and criminal law and how such partnerships can benefit both fields in China.

Abstract The Cu-filling process in through-silicon via (TSV-Cu) is a key technology for chip stacking and three-dimensional vertical packaging. During this process, defects resulting from chemical–mechanical planarization (CMP) and annealing severely affect the reliability of the chips. Traditional methods of defect characterization are destructive and cumbersome. In this study, a new defect inspection method was developed using Mueller matrix spectroscopic ellipsometry. TSV-Cu with a 3-μm-diameter and 8-μm-deep Cu filling showed three typical types of characteristics: overdishing (defect-OD), protrusion (defect-P), and defect-free. The process dimension for each defect was 13 nm. First, the three typical defects caused by CMP and annealing were investigated. With single-channel deep learning and a Mueller matrix element (MME), the TSV-Cu defect types could be distinguished with an accuracy rate of 99.94%. Next, seven effective MMEs were used as independent channels in the artificial neural network to quantify the height variation in the Cu filling in the z-direction. The accuracy rate was 98.92% after training, and the recognition accuracy reached 1 nm. The proposed approach rapidly and nondestructively evaluates the annealing bonding performance of CMP processes, which can improve the reliability of high-density integration.

Abstract The study was aimed to determine the relationship between PLR (platelet to lymphocyte ratio) and the lateral pillar classification of Perthes disease, and to provide an alternative index for clinical diagnosis. In addition, the association of the PLR with the necrosis stage of Perthes disease was also explored. This was a retrospective study. 74 children with Perthes disease and 60 children in the healthy control group without femoral head necrosis in our hospital from 2012 to 2021 were collected. The general data and clinical parameters were collected from the hospital information system. The modified herring lateral pillar classification was collected for the fragmentation stage case group and the PLR, NLR (neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio), LMR (lymphocyte to monocyte ratio) and PNR (platelet to neutrophil ratio) were calculated. The cases were divided into four groups, herring A and B were group I, herring B/C and C were group II, the healthy control group was group III, and the necrosis stage was group IV. The hematological indexes (NLR, PLR, LMR, PNR) of children at different stages were statistically analyzed. Group I consisted of 36 patients, with an average age of 7.4 ± 2.0 years (3–11 years). Group II consisted of 23 patients, with an average age of 7.4 ± 1.9 years (4–12 years). Group III consisted of 60 patients, with a mean age of 7.4 ± 2.7 years (4–13 years). Group IV consisted of 15 patients, with an average age of 6.4 ± 1.7 years (3–10 years). The average values of PLR in groups I, II, III and IV were 131.98 ± 47.44, 122.19 ± 37.88, 102.46 ± 30.68 and 128.90 ± 28.11, respectively. It's worth noting that there was statistically significant difference among groups I, II and III (P = 0.003). The optimal threshold of PLR was 130.25, the sensitivity was 45.8% and the specificity was 85%. PLR was also significantly different between groups III and group IV. PLR was higher in Herring A and B classifications than in Herring B/C and C classifications. PLR had certain diagnostic value in both the necrosis stage and fragmentation stage as a risk factor.

Drug resistance substantially compromises antibiotic therapy and poses a serious threat to public health. Fusidic acid (FA) is commonly used to treat staphylococcal infections, such as pneumonia, osteomyelitis and skin infections. However, Gram-negative bacteria have natural resistance to FA, which is almost restrained in cell membranes due to the strong interactions between FA and phospholipids. Herein, we aim to utilize the strong FA–phospholipid interaction to pre-form a complex of FA with the exogenous phospholipid. The FA, in the form of an FA–phospholipid complex (FA-PC), no longer interacts with the endogenous membrane phospholipids and thus can be delivered into bacteria cells successfully. We found that the water solubility of FA (5 µg/mL) was improved to 133 µg/mL by forming the FA-PC (molar ratio 1:1). Furthermore, upon incubation for 6 h, the FA-PC (20 µg/mL) caused a 99.9% viability loss of E. coli and 99.1% loss of P. aeruginosa, while free FA did not work. The morphology of the elongated bacteria cells after treatment with the FA-PC was demonstrated by SEM. The successful intracellular delivery was shown by confocal laser scanning microscopy in the form of coumarin 6-PC (C6-PC), where C6 served as a fluorescent probe. Interestingly, the antibacterial effect of the FA-PC was significantly compromised by adding extra phospholipid in the medium, indicating that there may be a phospholipid-based transmembrane transport mechanism underlying the intracellular delivery of the FA-PC. This is the first report regarding FA-PC formation and its successful reversing of Gram-negative bacteria resistance to FA, and it provides a platform to reverse transmembrane delivery-related drug resistance. The ready availability of phospholipid and the simple preparation allow it to have great potential for clinical use.

Over the past decades, cities worldwide have experienced a sharp decline in urban ecological quality (UEQ) due to rapid urbanization accompanied. However, the spatiotemporal dynamics of UEQ and its associated multi-scale impacts of natural and human factors on UEQ changes were still unknown. Thus, based on the Remote Sensing-based Ecological Index, Random Forest regression, and Geographical Detector, taking the downtown area of Xi’an City, China, as an example, we revealed the spatiotemporal dynamics of UEQ from 2000 to 2019 and quantified the impacts of 19 natural and human factors on UEQ changes at 30 scales. Results showed that 1) from 2000 to 2019, the UEQ in the downtown area of Xi'an experienced a sharp decrease at first, and then gradually recovered. But the recovered UEQ was much lower than the lost UEQ, indicating the big loss of UEQ. 2) The identified driving factors had significant impacts on local UEQ within 1300 m. 3) Elevation, temperature, precipitation, slope, and GDP were more important than other factors in impacting UEQ changes. 4) Natural conditions and climate change had the greatest impact on the regional UEQ, followed by social changes and urban built environment. Altogether, our results revealed the complex impacts of natural-anthropogenic factors on UEQ changes, including impact scale, impact strength, and impact interaction, thus can assist local government in optimizing urban planning and improving livable cities.

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a global development strategy aimed to address the interlinked challenges of food security and climate change. Expanding the implementation of conservation agriculture (CA), a vital component of CSA, is essential for enhancing agricultural and food security resilience while sustainably managing arable land. However, the extensive heterogeneity of biophysical and socioeconomic conditions presents significant complexities in promoting CA adoption. Addressing these challenges, this study carried out a comprehensive theoretical investigation of biophysical and socioeconomic factors influencing CA adoption and performance, integrating stakeholder feedback to create a systematic and robust evaluation index system for assessing CA suitability. By integrating multi-influencing factor techniques and fuzzy logic methods, we spatially identified suitable areas for CA implementation in China, providing valuable insights for land use policy. The reliability of the models was verified through a sensitivity analysis using the map removal sensitivity analysis method and the extended Fourier amplitude sensitivity test. The results indicated that 29.78% of the cultivated land was unsuitable or marginally suitable for CA, while 29.30 and 40.92% were determined to be moderately suitable and suitable zones, respectively. Suitable cultivated land was primarily distributed in the northern arid and semi-arid regions, the Loess Plateau, the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, and the Northeast China Plain. Conversely, unsuitable, and marginally suitable cultivated land was predominantly located in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau, Middle-lower Yangtze Plain, Sichuan Basin and surrounding areas, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, and Southern China. The topographical index, annual mean precipitation, humidity index, and population density were identified as the most significant factors influencing CA suitability. The CA suitability maps generated in this study will guide the development and extension agents targeting CA to suitable locations with a high potential impact, thereby maximizing the likelihood of adoption and minimizing the risk of failure.

Abstract Background Utilizing Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) measurement scales to assess youths’ adversities has expanded exponentially in health and justice studies. However, most of the ACEs assessment scales have yet to meet critical psychometric standards, especially for key demographic and minority groups. It is critical that any assessment or screening tool is not reinforcing bias, warranting the need for validating ACEs tools that are equitable, reliable and accurate. The current study aimed to examine the structural validity of an ACEs scale. Using data from the 2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), which collected of 97,314 responses collected from adults across sixteen states. This study assessed the psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the ACEs tool under the structural equation modeling framework. Results We found the 11-item ACEs screening tool as a second-order factor with three subscales, all of which passed the measurement invariance tests at metric and scalar levels across age, race, sex, socioeconomic status, gender identity, and sexual orientation. We also found that minority groups experienced more childhood adversity with small effect size, with the exception of the gender identity. Conclusion The ACEs measurement scale from the BRFSS is equitable and free from measurement bias regardless of one’s age, race, sex, socioeconomic status, gender identity, and sexual orientation, and thus is valid to be used to compare group mean differences within these groups. The scale is a potentially valid, viable, and predictive risk assessment in health and justice and research settings to identify high-risk groups or individuals for treatments.

Metal nanocluster properties undergo drastic activity alterations with slight size variations, although in-depth examinations of such changes are challenging to perform. Here, authors demonstrate Ru cluster size governs the d-band center position and electrocatalytic activity for H2 evolution.

BackgroundAn accurate assessment of current trends in cardiovascular risks could inform public health policy. This study aims to determine 20-year trends in the prevalence of elevated cardiovascular risk and its risk factors' control among US adults.MethodsIn this serial cross-sectional analysis of 23,594 adults, aged 40–79 years, without clinical atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2001 to 2020, we calculated the prevalence of elevated cardiovascular risk (10-year ASCVD risk ≥ 7.5%) for all participants and subgroups with their risk factors controlled for diabetes, hypertension, or dyslipidemia.ResultsThe age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of elevated cardiovascular risk slightly decreased from 41.5% (95% CI, 39.7–43.3%) in 2001–2004 to 38.6% (95% CI, 36.1–41.1%) in 2017–2020 (P for trend = 0.169) while the respective sex-adjusted prevalence significantly increased from 34.4% (95% CI, 32.8–36.0%) to 39.5% (95% CI, 37.0–42.0%; P for trend

Abstract Aberrantly expressed lncRNAs have been reported to be closely related to the oncogenesis and development of osteosarcoma. However, the role of a dysregulated lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA network in osteosarcoma in the same individual needs to be further investigated. Whole transcriptome sequencing was performed on the tumour tissues and matched paratumour tissues of three patients with confirmed osteosarcoma. Two divergent lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA regulatory networks were constructed in accordance with their biological significance. The GO and KEGG analysis results of the mRNAs in the two networks revealed that the aberrantly expressed lncRNAs were involved in regulating bone growth and development, epithelial cell proliferation, cell cycle arrest and the N-terminal acetylation of proteins. The survival analysis results of the two networks showed that patients with high expression of GALNT3, FAM91A1, STC2 and SLC7A1 end in poorer prognosis. Likewise, patients with low expression of IGF2, BLCAP, ZBTB47, THRB, PKIA and MITF also had poor prognosis. A subnetwork was then constructed to demonstrate the key genes regulated by aberrantly expressed lncRNAs at the posttranscriptional level via the ceRNA network. Aberrantly expressed lncRNAs in osteosarcoma tissues regulate genes involved in cellular proliferation, differentiation, angiogenesis and the cell cycle via the ceRNA network.

Silicon (Si) has received special attention from both scientific research and corporate development for overcoming the current energy density bottleneck. However, the severe volume change and violent interfacial reaction diminish the full benefits of Si material and hamper its direct commercial utilization. Particle pulverization and the companied ionic/electronic isolation are regarded as the intrinsic reason for performance attenuation. Hence, a strategy that can maintain both electronic and ionic conductance on Si anode during the electrochemical process is of great significant for performance improvement and future commercial promotion. Accordingly, an ionic/electronic dual‐conductor coating layer fabrication route is done by in situ building Li4SiO4 fast ion conductor coating layer and implanting electron conduction network, labeled as Si@Li4SiO4/amorphous carbon (C)/carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Notably, the Si@Li4SiO4/C/CNT electrode delivers excellent long‐term cycling stability and prominent rate capability. These results demonstrate that the in situ‐formed fast ionic conductor coating layer facilitates the rapid Li+ diffusion, and the 3D network structure constructed by CNTs and amorphous carbon (polyvinylpyrrolidone‐derived carbon) effectively reinforce the structural stability and keep the electrical connection for the electrode. This study provides an ionic/electronic dual‐conductor coating design concept for Si‐based anode materials.

BackgroundGuanine nucleotide binding (G) protein subunit γ 4 (GNG4) is closely related to the malignant progression and poor prognosis of various tumours. However, its role and mechanism in osteosarcoma remain unclear. This study aimed to elucidate the biological role and prognostic value of GNG4 in osteosarcoma.MethodsOsteosarcoma samples in the GSE12865, GSE14359, GSE162454 and TARGET datasets were selected as the test cohorts. The expression level of GNG4 between normal and osteosarcoma was identified in GSE12865 and GSE14359. Based on the osteosarcoma single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) dataset GSE162454, differential expression of GNG4 among cell subsets was identified at the single-cell level. As the external validation cohort, 58 osteosarcoma specimens from the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University were collected. Patients with osteosarcoma were divided into high- and low-GNG4 groups. The biological function of GNG4 was annotated using Gene Ontology, gene set enrichment analysis, gene expression correlation analysis and immune infiltration analysis. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was conducted and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were calculated to determine the reliability of GNG4 in predicting prognostic significance and diagnostic value. Functional in vitro experiments were performed to explore the function of GNG4 in osteosarcoma cells.ResultsGNG4 was generally highly expressed in osteosarcoma. As an independent risk factor, high GNG4 was negatively correlated with both overall survival and event-free survival. Furthermore, GNG4 was a good diagnostic marker for osteosarcoma, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of more than 0.9. Functional analysis suggested that GNG4 may promote the occurrence of osteosarcoma by regulating ossification, B-cell activation, the cell cycle and the proportion of memory B cells. In in vitro experiments, silencing of GNG4 inhibited the viability, proliferation and invasion of osteosarcoma cells.ConclusionThrough bioinformatics analysis and experimental verification, high expression of GNG4 in osteosarcoma was identified as an oncogene and reliable biomarker for poor prognosis. This study helps to elucidate the significant potential of GNG4 in carcinogenesis and molecular targeted therapy for osteosarcoma.

BackgroundReceiving a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment is both a physical and emotional journey. Previous studies using single-source data have revealed common and culture-specific emotional experiences of patients living with breast cancer. However, few studies have combined such data from multiple sources. Thus, using a variety of data sources, the current study sought to explore the emotional experiences of women in China newly diagnosed, post-operative, or undergoing chemotherapy. We posited that even though women living with breast cancer in China have multiple channels through which they can express these emotional experiences, little variance would be found in their emotional expressivity and the themes they want to express due to cultural inhibitions.MethodsText data from female patients newly diagnosed, post-operative, or undergoing chemotherapy were collected between June 2021 and January 2022 via a Python web crawler, semi-structured interviews, and an expressive writing intervention. Data were transcribed and subjected to thematic analysis. Reporting followed the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative studies (COREQ) guidelines.ResultsAnalyses were based on 5,675 Weibo posts and comments published by 448 posters and 1,842 commenters, transcription texts from 17 semi-structured interviews, and 150 expressive writing texts. From this total collection of 461,348 Chinese characters, three major themes emerged: (i) conflicting emotions after diagnosis; (ii) long-term suffering and treatment concerns; and (iii) benefit finding and cognitive reappraisal.ConclusionsDespite gathering information from various sources, we found that distress from body-image disturbances, gender role loss and conflict, and changes in sexuality and fertility, were consistent among this sample of female Chinese patients with breast cancer. However, when women engaged actively in benefit finding and cognitive reappraisal with strong social support, patients were able to find ways to adapt and reported post-traumatic growth. Strong social support was an important facilitator in this growth. These study findings emphasize that healthcare professionals ought to increase cultural sensitivity, provide multiple channels to encourage patients to express their emotions, and incorporate screening for patients' emotional distress at all diagnostic and treatment phases as part of routine nursing care.

Steel surface defect detection is crucial for ensuring steel quality. The traditional detection algorithm has low detection probability. This paper proposes an improved algorithm based on the YOLOv5 model to enhance detection probability. Firstly, deformable convolution is introduced in the backbone network, and a traditional convolution module is replaced by deformable convolution; secondly, the CBAM attention mechanism is added to the backbone network; then, Focal EIOU is used instead of the CIOU loss function in YOLOv5; lastly, the K-means algorithm is used to cluster the Anchor box, and the Anchor box parameters that are more suitable for this paper are obtained. The experimental results show that using deformable convolution instead of traditional convolution can get more feature information, which is more conducive to the learning of the network. This paper uses the CBAM attention mechanism, and the heat map of the attention mechanism shows that the CBAM attention mechanism is beneficial for feature extraction. Focal EIOU is optimized in high and wide loss compared with the CIOU loss function, which accelerates the convergence of the model. The Anchor box is more favorable for feature extraction. The improved algorithm achieved a detection probability of 78.8% in the NEU-DET dataset, which is 4.3% better than the original YOLOv5 network, and the inference time of each image is only increased by 1 ms; therefore, the optimized algorithm proposed in this paper is effective.

To address the problems of low productivity and sizeable dispensing positioning errors in manual and semi-automatic dispensing processes in small- and medium-sized electronic enterprises, this study proposes a fully automatic dispensing method based on visual positioning with RJDNEL-type PCBs as the research object. The fully automatic dispensing system is constructed through the construction of a mechanical structure, the selection of optical equipment, and the debugging of the control system. The method is based on optical imaging technology. Firstly, the dispensing area is extracted through image preprocessing; then, the edge is detected by the Sobel operator, and the Hilditch operator optimizes the dispensing sharpness; then, the minimum outer rectangle algorithm is used to calculate the positioning information of the dispensing area by using the relationship between geometric transformations, which provides the database support for the realization of automatic dispensing; finally, the simulated annealing algorithm is adopted to optimize the dispensing path. Through the image acquisition matching experiments and positioning accuracy experimental analysis, it is concluded that the matching success rate is more than 99%, and the image positioning information repeated extraction accuracy error is less than 0.02 mm. Analysis of the total path of dispensing, as well as computing time, was performed as follows: for the complete dispensing process, 20 PCB boards were used; the path optimization of the dispensing path was reduced by 723.4 mm, and the dispensing efficiency was improved by 20% to 30%; after dispensing, the dispensing area measurement was performed on the PCB boards. PCB boards meet the quality requirements of dispensing, and the proposed method for meeting the quality of dispensing at the same time effectively improves the dispensing accuracy and efficiency.

ObjectiveTo compare overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) in renal pelvic urothelial carcinoma (RPUC) patients treated with radical nephroureterectomy (NU) and inadvertent radical nephrectomy (RN).Patients and methodsIn this retrospective study, patients with RPUC who underwent NU or RN diagnosed between 2004 and 2017 were identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. To adjust the confounders, the propensity score-matched analysis was conducted. The Kaplan–Meier method and log-rank test were performed to explore the effect of different surgical methods on OS and CSS.ResultsA total of 2197 cases were finally included in this analysis, among which, 187 (8.5%) patients were treated with RN and 2010 (91.5%) patients were treated with NU. Before matching, the survival analysis revealed that the OS (HR: 1.444, 95%CI: 1.197, 1.741) and CSS (HR: 1.522, 95%CI: 1.211, 1.914) of patients who received RN were worse than that of patients who received NU (p = 0.0001 and p = 0.0003, respectively). After matching, the RN group had a worse OS (HR: 1.298, 95%CI: 1.002, 1.682) than the NU group (p = 0.048). No significant difference was observed in CSS between the RN and NU groups (p = 0.282). The hierarchical analysis showed that there was no significant difference observed in OS and CSS in patients with tumor size ≤4.2 cm (p = 0.884 and p = 0.496, respectively). In tumor size >4.2 cm, both OS (HR: 1.545, 95%CI: 1.225, 1.948) and CSS (HR: 1.607, 95%CI: 1.233, 2.095) of patients who received RN were worse than those of patients who received NU (p = 0.0002 and p = 0.0005).ConclusionRN could lead to worse oncological outcomes than NU in patients with renal pelvis urothelial carcinoma. Accurate diagnosis of renal pelvis urothelial carcinoma is extremely important.

IntroductionTo compare efficacy and safety of the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) with medical treatments for women with heavy menstrual bleeding.Materials and methodsWe searched PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang databases for relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in November 2021. All meta-analyses were performed using the random-effects model. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42021295379.ResultsA total of trials (with 14 references) reporting on 1,677 women were included in this systematic review. The majority of the included RCTs were rated with low-to-unclear risk of bias in selection, detection, attrition, reporting, and other bias. All RCTs were rated as high risk in performance bias because blinding was difficult to ensure in the compared groups. Results of meta-analyses revealed that the number of clinical responders was greater in the LNG-IUS group than that in the medical treatments group at both 6-month (steroidal: five RCTs; n = 490; risk ratio [RR]: 1.72 [1.13, 2.62]; I2 = 92%; nonsteroidal: one RCT; n = 42; RR: 2.34 [1.31, 4.19]) and 12-month (steroidal: three RCTs; n = 261; RR: 1.31 [1.01, 1.71]; I2 = 74%) endpoints, with no clear differences on number of dropouts, and the incidence of adverse events.ConclusionEvidence indicates that LNG-IUS is superior to the medical treatments in short-term and medium-term clinical responses, blood loss control, compliance, and satisfaction. Meanwhile, frequency of adverse events related to LNG-IUS is acceptable.Systematic review registrationPROSPERO, identifier CRD42021259335, https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42021295379.

Abstract Chronic HBV infection, the main cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, has become a global health concern. Machine learning algorithms are particularly adept at analyzing medical phenomenon by capturing complex and nonlinear relationships in clinical data. Our study proposed a predictive model on the basis of 55 routine laboratory and clinical parameters by machine learning algorithms as a novel non-invasive method for liver fibrosis diagnosis. The model was further evaluated on the accuracy and rationality and proved to be highly accurate and efficient for the prediction of HBV-related fibrosis. In conclusion, we suggested a potential combination of high-dimensional clinical data and machine learning predictive algorithms for the liver fibrosis diagnosis.

The application of plant dyes in the textile industry has been very limited due to their limited sources, incomplete color space, and narrow color gamut, etc. Therefore, studies of the color properties and color gamut of natural dyes and the corresponding dyeing processes are essential for completing the color space of natural dyes and their application. In this study, water extract from the bark of Phellodendron amurense (P. amurense) was used as a dye. Dyeing properties, color gamut, and color evaluation of dyed cotton fabrics were studied, and optimal dyeing conditions were obtained. The results showed that the optimal dyeing process was pre-mordanting with liquor ratio at 1:50, P. amurense dye concentration at 5.2 g/L, mordant concentration (aluminum potassium sulfate) at 5 g/L, dyeing temperature at 70 °C, dyeing time of 30 min, mordanting time of 15 min, and pH 5. Through the optimization of the dyeing process, a maximum color gamut range was obtained with lightness L* value from 74.33 to 91.23, a* value from −0.89 to 2.96, b* value from 4.62 to 34.08, chroma C* value from 5.49 to 34.09, and hue angle h° value from 57.35° to 91.57°. Colors from light yellow to dark yellow were obtained, among which 12 colors were identified according to the Pantone Matching Systems. The color fastness against soap-washing, rubbing, and sunlight on the dyed cotton fabrics all reached grade 3 level or above, further expanding the applicability of natural dyes.

Closed-loop U-shaped geothermal wells show great potential owing to their special well-depth structure, which can provide a good flow rate and heat extraction. However, no advanced process parameter optimization method is available for U-shaped geothermal wells. To effectively describe the heat transfer processes of U-shaped geothermal wells, an analytical solution that couples transient heat conduction in the surrounding soil (or rocks) with the quasisteady heat transfer process in boreholes was developed. This modelling approach depends on many common elements, such as the thermophysical properties of the working fluid and series of resistances for various elements in the wellbore. Subsequently, based on the exergy analysis method, the optimal operating flow rate was defined and a design method for the optimal flow rate was developed. Results indicate that to obtain the maximum exergy efficiency, different optimal flow rates for the U-shaped geothermal well are achieved at different stages of the heating period. This findings of this study expand the research ideas of the process parameter optimization of U-shaped geothermal wells and provide a theoretical basis for developing an optimal circulating-flow-rate design for U-shaped geothermal wells.

Coronaviruses are viruses whose particles look like crowns. SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh member of the human coronavirus family to cause COVID-19 which is regarded as a once-in-a-century pandemic worldwide. It holds has the characteristics of a pandemic, which has broy -55ught many serious negative impacts to human beings. It may take time for humans to fight the pandemic. In addition to humans, SARS-CoV-2 also infects animals such as cats. This review introduces the origins, structures, pathogenic mechanisms, characteristics of transmission, detection and diagnosis, evolution and variation of SARS-CoV-2. We summarized the clinical characteristics, the strategies for treatment and prevention of COVID-19, and analyzed the problems and challenges we face.

Here the authors deploy Ni single atom-decorated carbon membranes as integrated gas diffusion electrodes to construct an extremely stable three-phase interface for CO2 electroreduction, producing CO with a partial current density of 308.4 mA cm–2 and a Faradaic efficiency of 88% for up to 120 h.

Vegetation phenology reflects the temporal dynamics of vegetation growth and is an important indicator of climate change. However, differences consistently exist in land surface phenology derived at different spatial scales, which hinders the understanding of phenological events and integration of land surface phenology products from different scales. The Qinling Mountains are a climatic and geographical transitional region in China. To better understand the spatial scale effect issues of land surface phenology in mountainous ecosystems, this study up-scaled vegetation start of season (SOS) and end of season (EOS) in the Qinling Mountains derived from three different Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) products to four scales (i.e., 2 km × 2 km, 4 km × 4 km, 6 km × 6 km, and 8 km × 8 km) using the spatial averaging method. Then, similarities and differences between the up-scaled SOSs/EOSs were examined using the simple linear regression, cumulative distribution function, and absolute difference. Finally, the random forest model was used to reveal the major factors influencing the spatial scale effect of land surface phenology in Qinling Mountains. Results showed that the derived basic SOS/EOS datasets using the same filtering method from the 250 m and 500 m NDVI datasets were consistent in spatial distribution, while the results from the 1000 m NDVI dataset differed. For both the basic and the up-scaled datasets, the land surface phenology derived from the Savitzky-Golay-filtered NDVI showed an advance in SOS, but a delay in EOS, compared to those derived from the asymmetric Gaussian- and double logistic-filtered NDVI. The up-scaled SOS was greatly impacted by both NDVI resolution and the filtering methods. On the other hand, EOS was mostly impacted by the filtering methods. Moreover, up-scaled SOSs usually had larger differences compared to up-scaled EOSs. While different filtering methods sometimes amplified the absolute differences between different SOS/EOS across scales, the upscaling reduced the differences. Influence factor analysis showed that spatial variations observed in SOS in Qinling Mountains were mainly caused by forest cover, uneven distribution of spring precipitation, and annual precipitation, while spatial variations in aspect, winter temperature, and autumn precipitation all strongly influenced the observed EOS across scales in the study area. These findings enhance our understanding of the effects of observational scale on vegetation phenology in mountain ecosystems and provide a reference for phenology modeling in mountainous areas.

In order to reduce the elemental species produced in the recycling and melting of aluminum scrap and to improve the quality of pure aluminum and aluminum alloys, it is necessary to classify the different grades of aluminum scrap before melting. For the problem of classifying different grades of aluminum scrap, most existing studies are conducted using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for identification and classification, which requires a clean and flat metal surface and enormous equipment costs. In this study, we propose a new classification and identification method for different grades of aluminum scrap based on the ResNet18 network model, which improves the identification efficiency and reduces the equipment cost. The objects of this research are three grades of aluminum scrap: 1060, 5052, and 6061. The surface features of the three grades were compared using a machine vision algorithm; three different datasets, using RGB, HSV, and LBP, were built for comparison to find the best training dataset for subsequent datasets, and the hyperparameters of learning rate and batch size were tuned for the ResNet18 model. The results show that there was a differentiation threshold between different grades through the comparison of surface features; the ResNet18 network model trained the three datasets, and the results showed that RGB was the best dataset. With hyperparameter optimization of the ResNet18 model, the accuracy of final classification and recognition could reach 100% and effectively achieve the classification of different grades of aluminum scrap.

CRISPR/Cas9-based cytosine base editors (CBEs) and adenine base editors (ABEs) can efficiently mediate C-to-T/G-to-A and A-to-G/T-to-C substitutions, respectively; however, achieving base transversions (C-to-G/C-to-A and A-to-T/A-to-C) is challenging and has been rarely studied in plants. Here, we constructed new plant C-to-G base editors (CGBEs) and new A-to-Y (T/C) base editors and explored their base editing characteristics in rice. First, we fused the highly active cytidine deaminase evoFENRY and the PAM-relaxed Cas9-nickase variant Cas9n-NG with rice and human uracil DNA N-glycosylase (rUNG and hUNG), respectively, to construct CGBE-rUNG and CGBE-hUNG vector tools. The analysis of five NG-PAM target sites showed that these CGBEs achieved C-to-G conversions with monoallelic editing efficiencies of up to 27.3% in T0 rice, with major byproducts being insertion/deletion mutations. Moreover, for the A-to-Y (C or T) editing test, we fused the highly active adenosine deaminase TadA8e and the Cas9-nickase variant SpGn (with NG-PAM) with Escherichia coli endonuclease V (EndoV) and human alkyladenine DNA glycosylase (hAAG), respectively, to generate ABE8e-EndoV and ABE8e-hAAG vectors. An assessment of five NG-PAM target sites showed that these two vectors could efficiently produce A-to-G substitutions in a narrow editing window; however, no A-to-Y editing was detected. Interestingly, the ABE8e-EndoV also generated precise small fragment deletions in the editing window from the 5′-deaminated A base to the SpGn cleavage site, suggesting its potential value in producing predictable small-fragment deletion mutations. Overall, we objectively evaluated the editing performance of CGBEs in rice, explored the possibility of A-to-Y editing, and developed a new ABE8e-EndoV tool, thus providing a valuable reference for improving and enriching base editing tools in plants.

Patients with anti-interferon (IFN)-γ autoantibodies have weakened immune defenses against intracellular pathogens. Because of its low incidence and non-specific symptoms, diagnosis of anti-IFN-γ autoantibody syndrome is difficult to establish during the early stages of infection. Here, we report a patient with high titers of serum anti-IFN-γ autoantibodies suffering from opportunistic infections. The patient presented with intermittent fever for 2 weeks. During his first hospitalization, he was diagnosed with Talaromyces marneffei pulmonary infection and successfully treated with antifungal therapy. However, multiple cervical lymph nodes subsequently became progressively enlarged. Mycobacterium abscessus infection was confirmed by positive cervical lymph node tissue cultures. High-titer serum anti-IFN-γ antibodies were also detected. Following anti- M. abscessus therapy, both his symptoms and lymph node lymphadenitis gradually improved. Anti-IFN-γ autoantibody syndrome should be considered in adult patients with severe opportunistic coinfections in the absence of other known risk factors.

Introduction Unstable angina (UA), referred to as acute coronary syndrome (ACS), causes unexpected chest pain. Xueshuantong injection (lyophilised) (XST) is a traditional Chinese herbal injection having the potential to treat ACS. However, no clinical trial has been performed in this field. This clinical trial aims to examine the efficacy and safety of XST.Methods and analysis This is a randomised, parallel-arm, controlled, double-blind and multicentre clinical trial. A total of 1200 participants with UA will be enrolled in a 1:1 ratio, with 600 patients included in the XST treatment group and 600 with 1/20th dose in the control group. The efficacy assessment and major adverse cardiovascular events will be observed, and the frequency of angina attack, angina pectoris will be examined at the start and end of the run-in period. All adverse events will be recorded, regardless of the severity, to assess the safety of XST. The baseline characteristics of patients will be summarised and compared using the t test or non-parametric statistical test. Qualitative data will be analysed using the χ2 or Fisher exact tests, Cochran–Mantel–Hasenszel test and Wilcoxon test.Ethics and dissemination This trial has been approved by the Research Ethics Committee of The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, China (approval number: ZYYEC [2017] 0021). Written informed consent will be obtained from all participants. The results of this trial will be disseminated to the public through academic conferences and peer-reviewed journals.Trial registration This study was registered on the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (http://www.chictr.org.cn/) with the ID ChiCTR1800015911.

Objectives Heart failure (HF) is a common and potentially fatal condition. In 2015, HF affected approximately 40 million people globally. Evidence showing that the use of nitrates can improve clinical outcomes in patients with HF is limited. This study aimed to assess the effect of nitrates on functional capacity and exercise time in patients with HF. Methods PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase databases were reviewed for articles on the use of nitrates and other treatments for patients with HF. The primary endpoints were the 6-minute walk test distance, exercise time, and quality of life. Secondary endpoints were all-cause mortality, arrhythmia, hospitalization, and worsening HF. The weighted mean difference, risk ratio, and 95% confidence interval were calculated. Results A total of 14 related studies that comprised 26,321 patients were included. No significant differences were found in the 6-minute walk test distance, exercise time, and quality of life between the nitrate and control treatment groups. There were also no differences in all-cause mortality, the incidence of arrhythmia, hospitalization, and worsening HF between these two groups. Conclusion Patients with HF who receive nitrate treatment do not have better quality of life or exercise capacity compared with controls.

Alpine meadow degradation causes a notable decrease in palatable grasses and an increase in forbs and toxic plants in recent decades. Stellera chamaejasme is one of the most serious toxic weeds, which exerts an increasing threat on alpine meadow in Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. Combined DNA sequencing with geostatistics was applied to analyze a typical degraded meadow invaded by S. chamaejasme in Qinghai Province, China. The study aimed to determine the spatial variation of soil fungi and its interrelationship with the plant–soil environment. Alpha diversity and relative abundance of fungal phyla and classes showed moderate or strong spatial dependency and were structured in patches of 19–318 m, and taxonomic composition exhibited much higher spatial variability than alpha diversity. Compared to plant cover, the matching of patch size showed a closer spatial link between soil properties and fungal community. Community coverage, SOM, TN, TP, and TK positively correlated to fungal diversity and taxonomic composition; no direct correlation was found between S. chamaejasme coverage and fungal community. The result suggested significant but weak association between plant–soil properties and soil fungal community at local scale. Patchy pattern of S. chamaejasme may disturb spatial variations of soil properties and fungal community, since S. chamaejasme in higher coverage corresponded to lower TK content, which contributed to a decrease in fungal diversity indirectly.

Obtaining accurate forest coverage of tree species is an important basis for the rational use and protection of existing forest resources. However, most current studies have mainly focused on broad tree classification, such as coniferous vs. broadleaf tree species, and a refined tree classification with tree species information is urgently needed. Although airborne LiDAR data or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images can be used to acquire tree information even at the single tree level, this method will encounter great difficulties when applied to a large area. Therefore, this study takes the eastern regions of the Qilian Mountains as an example to explore the possibility of tree species classification with satellite-derived images. We used Sentinel-2 images to classify the study area’s major vegetation types, particularly four tree species, i.e., Sabina przewalskii (S.P.), Picea crassifolia (P.C.), Betula spp. (Betula), and Populus spp. (Populus). In addition to the spectral features, we also considered terrain and texture features in this classification. The results show that adding texture features can significantly increase the separation between tree species. The final classification result of all categories achieved an accuracy of 86.49% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.83. For trees, the classification accuracy was 90.31%, and their producer’s accuracy (PA) and user’s (UA) were all higher than 84.97%. We found that altitude, slope, and aspect all affected the spatial distribution of these four tree species in our study area. This study confirms the potential of Sentinel-2 images for the fine classification of tree species. Moreover, this can help monitor ecosystem biological diversity and provide references for inventory estimation.

The unsustainability of China’s agricultural production requires an urgent shift from traditional to more sustainable practices; however, the acceleration thereof remains challenging. New agricultural business entities (NABEs) lead agricultural modernization and strongly guide the application of innovative agricultural technologies and models. Thus, an understanding of the factors that influence NABEs’ adoption of sustainable intensification practices will promote their widespread adoption. We developed a model based on innovation diffusion theory and the technology–organization–environment framework, which can both distinguish the influencing factors at different adoption stages and identify the influencing factors of technology adoption from a multidimensional perspective. The results indicate that differences in regional agroecological endowments emerge as the most important influencing factor. Relative advantage, perceived barriers, and agricultural extension services have a significant effect on adoption intention and decision, but a smaller effect on intention. Management and risk response capacities have a significant positive effect on adoption decisions, but no effect on intention. Meanwhile, organizational size has no effect on adoption intention or decision. Adoption intention significantly positively influences, but only partially explains, adoption decisions. Our findings provide a basis for technology promoters to categorize potential adopters by technology adoption stage and provide targeted strategies to stimulate technology demand.

In their recent seminal paper ‘Southern Criminology’, Carrington, Hogg and Sozzo (2016) address the issue of the global divide between South/North relations in the hierarchal production of criminological knowledge. They point out that the divide privileges theories, assumptions and methods that are largely based on the empirical specificities of the global North. Carrington et al. contend that the dominance of global North criminology has led to a severe underdevelopment of criminology in the global South, except ‘in Asia, with the establishment of the Asian Criminological Society and its journal’ (Liu 2009, in Carrington et al. 2016: 3). Carrington et al. propose an important task of bridging the global divide through further developing criminology in the global South. My present paper reviews the development of Asian criminology under the framework of the Asian Criminological Paradigm (Liu 2009). I primarily review the conceptual and theoretical developments, to suggest strategies that can contribute to the task of bridging the gap between global North and South. What Asian criminology has done is expand the theoretical tool box originally developed in the global North through the strategies of transportation of theories, elaboration of theories, and proposing new concepts and theories based on the empirical grounds of Asian contexts.

Metal oxides and carbonaceous composites are both promising materials for electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices, such as secondary rechargeable batteries, fuel cells and electrochemical capacitors. In this study, Fe3O4 nanoparticles wrapped in nitrogen-doped (N-doped) graphene nanosheets (Fe3O4@G) were fabricated by a facile one-step carbothermal reduction method derived from Fe2O3 and liquid-polyacrylonitrile (LPAN). The unique two-dimensional structure of N-doped graphene nanosheets, can not only accommodate the volume changes during lithium intercalation/extraction processes and suppress the particles aggregation but also act as an electronically conductive matrix to improve the electrochemical performance of Fe3O4 anode, especially the rate capability. What's more, by etching Fe3O4@G to remove the iron-based oxide template, porous N-doped graphene composites (NGCs) were prepared and presented abundant pore structure with high specific surface area, delivering a specific capacitance of 172 F·g−1 at 0.5 A·g−1. In this way, Fe2O3 was both template and activator to adjust the pore size of graphene. And the effect of specific surface area and pore size tuned by the Fe2O3 activator were also revealed.

How to create a sustainable urban morphology for the development of cities has been an enduring question in urban research. Therefore, quantitatively measuring the current relationship between urban morphology and urban function distribution is the key step before urban planning practice. However, existing studies only examine the relationship at limited scales or with a single unit. To comprehensively understand the relationship between urban morphology and commercial distribution, this study utilized space syntax and point of interest (POI) data (shopping and food service) and took the city of Xi’an, China as a case study. The evaluation of relationships was performed with two measurement units (500 m × 500 m grids and street blocks) at 16 different scales (from R = 800 m to R = n) by engaging three statistical metrics (mean, maximum, and total). Great variations in the relationships between urban morphology and commercial distribution across scales were observed in the study area at both grid level and block level. However, the change trends of the correlation across scales differ substantially when measured by grids and blocks. Generally, the correlations measured by blocks were stronger than those measured by grids, indicating it is desirable to perform such research at the block level. The correlations were stronger at the small scales (R = 800 m to R = 3600 m) when measured with grids, and the stronger correlations were detected at large scales (R = 5 km to R = 35 km) when measured with blocks. The strongest correlations were found at the scale R = 3600 m with grid unit, and the strongest correlations were detected at the scale R = 10 km with blocks. Among the three space syntax variables, urban morphology measured by integration presents stronger correlation with commercial distribution than choice and complex variable for both shopping and food services. This reveals that the centrality of urban space has a greater impact on the locations of commercial establishments than accessibility and comprehensive potential. As for the three statistical metrics, the total is less useful in measuring the impacts of urban morphology on commercial distribution across scales. However, regardless of measurement by grids or by blocks, urban morphology has a stronger impact on the locations of shopping businesses than on food shops. Based on our findings, it is preferable to predict the potential commerce locations by measuring the centrality of the study area at a scale of 10–20 km. Our method can be easily transferred to other urban regions, and the derived results can serve as a valuable reference for government administrators or urban planners in allocating new commerce establishments.

Crop phenology is an important parameter for crop growth monitoring, yield prediction, and growth simulation. The dynamic threshold method is widely used to retrieve vegetation phenology from remotely sensed vegetation index time series. However, crop growth is not only driven by natural conditions, but also modified through field management activities. Complicated planting patterns, such as multiple cropping, makes the vegetation index dynamics less symmetrical. These impacts are not considered in current approaches for crop phenology retrieval based on the dynamic threshold method. Thus, this paper aimed to (1) investigate the optimal thresholds for retrieving the start of the season (SOS) and the end of the season (EOS) of different crops, and (2) compare the performances of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) in retrieving crop phenology with a modified version of the dynamic threshold method. The reference data included SOS and EOS ground observations of three major crop types in 2015 and 2016, which includes rice, wheat, and maize. Results show that (1) the modification of the original method ensures a 100% retrieval rate, which was not guaranteed using the original method. The modified dynamic threshold method is more suitable to retrieve crop SOS/EOS because it considers the asymmetry of crop vegetation index time series. (2) It is inappropriate to retrieve SOS and EOS with the same threshold for all crops, and the commonly used 20% or 50% thresholds are not the optimal thresholds for all crops. (3) For single and late rice, the accuracies of the SOS estimations based on EVI are generally higher compared to those based on NDVI. However, for spring maize and summer maize, results based on NDVI give higher accuracies. In terms of EOS, for early rice and summer maize, estimates based on EVI result in higher accuracies, but, for late rice and winter wheat, results based on NDVI are closer to the ground records.

Low-cost resorcinol formaldehyde (RF) organic aerogels were prepared by using resorcinol and formaldehyde as precursors, and sodium hydroxide as a catalyst through a single-mode microwave radiation-assisted sol-gel method and ambient temperature drying. Because of the ring focusing and power-max technology, the fabrication procedure of carbon aerogels (CAs) are much easier, faster, and cheaper than traditional methods. The RF aerogels were then pyrolysized at 900 °C, and the KOH activation process was used to further dredge micropores in the carbon aerogels. The CAs were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), nitrogen adsorption/desorption, and a series of electrochemical tests. The KOH activated carbon aerogels with 3D-nano-network structure exhibited a high specific surface area of 2230 m2 g−1 with appropriate pore volumes of micro-, meso-, and macropores. The specific capacitance of CAs activated by KOH measured in a two-electrode cell was 170 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 with excellent rate capability and cycle stability in 6 M KOH electrolyte.

Agricultural land use and cropping patterns are closely related to food production, soil degradation, water resource management, greenhouse gas emission, and regional climate alterations. Methods for reliable and cost-efficient mapping of cropping pattern, as well as their changes over space and time, are therefore urgently needed. To cope with this need, we developed a phenology-based method to map cropping patterns based on time-series of vegetation index data. The proposed method builds on the well-known ‘threshold model’ to retrieve phenological metrics. Values of four phenological parameters are used to identify crop seasons. Using a set of rules, the crop season information is translated into cropping pattern. To illustrate the method, cropping patterns were determined for three consecutive years (2008–2010) in the Henan province of China, where reliable validation data was available. Cropping patterns were derived using eight-day composite MODIS Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) data. Results show that the proposed method can achieve a satisfactory overall accuracy (~84%) in extracting cropping patterns. Interestingly, the accuracy obtained with our method based on MODIS EVI data was comparable with that from Landsat-5 TM image classification. We conclude that the proposed method for cropland and cropping pattern identification based on MODIS data offers a simple, yet reliable way to derive important land use information over large areas.

Inappropriate Hedgehog (Hh) signaling underlies development of a subset of medulloblastomas, and tumors with elevated HH signaling activity express the stem cell self-renewal gene BMI1. To test whether Bmi1 is required for Hh-driven medulloblastoma development, we varied Bmi1 gene dosage in transgenic mice expressing an oncogenic Hh effector, SmoA1, driven by a glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) promoter. Whereas 100% of SmoA1; Bmi1+/+ or SmoA1;Bmi1+/- mice examined between postnatal (P) days 14 and 26 had typical medulloblastomas (N = 29), tumors were not detected in any of the SmoA1;Bmi1-/- animals examined (N = 6). Instead, small ectopic collections of cells were present in the region of greatest tumor load in SmoA1 animals, suggesting that medulloblastomas were initiated but failed to undergo expansion into frank tumors. Cells within these Bmi1-/- lesions expressed SmoA1 but were largely nonproliferative, in contrast to cells in Bmi1+/+ tumors (6.2% vs 81.9% PCNA-positive, respectively). Ectopic cells were negative for the progenitor marker nestin, strongly GFAP-positive, and highly apoptotic, relative to Bmi1+/+ tumor cells (29.6% vs 6.3% TUNEL-positive). The alterations in proliferation and apoptosis in SmoA1;Bmi1-/- ectopic cells are associated with reduced levels of Cyclin D1 and elevated expression of cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p19Arf, two inversely regulated downstream targets of Bmi1. These data provide the first demonstration that Bmi1 is required for spontaneous de novo development of a solid tumor arising in the brain, suggest a crucial role for Bmi1-dependent, nestin-expressing progenitor cells in medulloblastoma expansion, and implicate Bmi1 as a key factor required for Hh pathway-driven tumorigenesis.