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Abstract Objectives this study aims to compare the clinical outcomes of traditional and digital crown extension guides in the aesthetic restoration of anterior teeth. Additionally, the study will analyze the differences in the results of various digital crown extension guides in anterior aesthetic restorations. Methods Sixty-two patients who required aesthetic restoration of their anterior teeth were selected for this study. The patients had a total of 230 anterior teeth and were randomly divided into three groups: a control group of 22 cases who received diagnostic wax-up with pressure film, an experimental group 1 of 20 cases who received 3D printed digital models with pressure film, and an experimental group 2 of 20 patients who received digital dual-positioning guides. The control group had a total of 84 anterior teeth, experimental group 1 had 72 anterior teeth, and experimental group 2 had 74 anterior teeth. The study compared three methods for fabricating crown extension guides: the control group used the diagnostic wax-up plus compression film method, while experimental group 1 used compression film on 3D printed models and experimental group 2 used 3D printed digital dual-positioning crown extension guides. After the crown lengthening surgery, the control group patients wore DMG resin temporary crown material for gingival contouring, while the experimental group patients wore 3D printed resin temporary crowns for the same purpose. The patients were followed up in the outpatient clinic after wearing temporary crowns for 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months, respectively. The clinical results were evaluated in terms of marginal fit, red aesthetic index, and white aesthetic index. Results Based on the statistical analysis, the experimental group required significantly fewer follow-up visits and less time for guide design and fabrication compared to the control group. Additionally, the surgical time for the experimental group was significantly shorter than that of the control group. During the postoperative period between the 1st and 3rd month, the PES index scores for the marginal gingival level, proximal, and distal mesiodistal gingival papillae of the experimental group showed a trend of superiority over those of the control group. By the 6th month, the marginal gingival level exhibited a significant difference between the experimental and control groups. The experimental group demonstrated superior results to the control group in terms of shape, contour, and volume of the teeth, color, surface texture, and transparency of the restorations, and features during the 1st and 3rd postoperative months. In the 6th month, the comparative results indicated that the experimental group continued to exhibit superior outcomes to the control group in terms of the shape, color, surface texture, and transparency of the restorations, as well as the characteristics of the teeth. Additionally, the experimental group demonstrated significantly fewer gingival alterations than the control group at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months post-procedure, with this difference being statistically significant. Furthermore, the combination of 3D printing technology and restorative techniques was utilized, resulting in consistent patient satisfaction. Conclusion Digitalisation plays an important role in anterior aesthetic restorations. The use of digital technology to manage the entire process of anterior cosmetic restorations can improve restorative results, reduce the number of follow-up appointments, shorten consultation time, and achieve better patient satisfaction.

Phytoplankton has been used as a paradigm for studies of coexistence of species since the publication of the “paradox of the plankton.” Although there are a wealth of studies about phytoplankton assemblages of lakes, reservoirs and rivers, our knowledge about phytoplankton biodiversity and its underlying mechanisms in mountain headwater stream ecosystems is limited, especially across regional scales with broad environmental gradients. In this study, we collected 144 phytoplankton samples from the Xijiang headwater streams of the Pearl River across low altitude (< 1,000 m) located in Guangxi province, intermediate altitude (1,000 m 2,000 m) in Yunnan province of China. Our study revealed high phytoplankton diversity in these streams. Freshwater phytoplankton, including cyanobacteria, Bacillariophyta, Chlorophyta, Rhodophyta, Chrysophyta, Euglenophyta, Glaucophyta, Phaeophyta and Cryptophyta, were all detected. However, phytoplankton alpha diversity exhibited a monotonic decreasing relationship with increasing altitude. High altitudes amplified the “isolated island” effect of headwater streams on phytoplankton assemblages, which were characterized by lower homogeneous selection and higher dispersal limitation. Variability and network vulnerability of phytoplankton assemblages increased with increasing altitudes. Our findings demonstrated diversity, variability and co-occurrence patterns of phytoplankton assemblages linked to environmental factors co-varying with altitude across regional scales.

Thermal pollution from the cooling system of the nuclear power plants greatly changes the environmental and the ecological conditions of the receiving marine water body, but we know little about their impact on the steady-state transition of marine bacterioplankton communities. In this study, we used high-throughput sequencing based on the 16S rRNA gene to investigate the impact of the thermal pollution on the bacterioplankton communities in a subtropical bay (the Daya Bay). We observed that thermal pollution from the cooling system of the nuclear power plant caused a pronounced thermal gradient ranging from 19.6°C to 24.12°C over the whole Daya Bay. A temperature difference of 4.5°C between the northern and southern parts of the bay led to a regime shift in the bacterioplankton community structure. In the three typical scenarios of regime shifts, the steady-state transition of bacterioplankton community structure in response to temperature increasing was more likely consistent with an abrupt regime shift rather than a smooth regime or a discontinuous regime model. Water temperature was a decisive factor on the regime shift of bacterioplankton community structure. High temperature significantly decreased bacterioplankton diversity and shifted its community compositions. Cyanobium and Synechococcus of Cyanobacteria, NS5 marine group of Bacteroidota, and Vibrio of Gammaproteobacteria were found that favored high temperature environments. Furthermore, the increased water temperature significantly altered the community assembly of bacterioplankton in Daya Bay, with a substantial decrease in the proportion of drift and others, and a marked increase in the proportion of homogeneous selection. In summary, we proposed that seawater temperature increasing induced by the thermal pollution resulted in an abrupt regime shift of bacterioplankton community in winter subtropical bay. Our research might broad our understanding of marine microbial ecology under future conditions of global warming.

Abstract Organ-specific metastasis is the primary cause of cancer patient death. The distant metastasis of tumor cells to specific organs depends on both the intrinsic characteristics of the tumor cells and extrinsic factors in their microenvironment. During an intermediate stage of metastasis, circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are released into the bloodstream from primary and metastatic tumors. CTCs harboring aggressive or metastatic features can extravasate to remote sites for continuous colonizing growth, leading to further lesions. In the past decade, numerous studies demonstrated that CTCs exhibited huge clinical value including predicting distant metastasis, assessing prognosis and monitoring treatment response et al. Furthermore, increasingly numerous experiments are dedicated to identifying the key molecules on or inside CTCs and exploring how they mediate CTC-related organ-specific metastasis. Based on the above molecules, more and more inhibitors are being developed to target CTCs and being utilized to completely clean CTCs, which should provide promising prospects to administer advanced tumor. Recently, the application of various nanomaterials and microfluidic technologies in CTCs enrichment technology has assisted to improve our deep insights into the phenotypic characteristics and biological functions of CTCs as a potential therapy target, which may pave the way for us to make practical clinical strategies. In the present review, we mainly focus on the role of CTCs being involved in targeted organ metastasis, especially the latest molecular mechanism research and clinical intervention strategies related to CTCs.

ObjectiveTo analyze characteristics and specific molecular sites of hemagglutinin (HA) gene of influenza A (H1N1) virus isolated among severe and deadly infection cases in Guizhou province in 2019 for providing evidence to influenza prevention and control in the province. MethodsInfluenza A (H1N1) virus strains were isolated from 28 nasopharyngeal swab specimens collected from severe and fatal infection incidents in the province during 2019. HA genes of the 13 isolated viral strains were amplified and sequenced. Bioinformatics analysis was performed on the HA genes using existing sequence of strains in mild cases and reference sequences from National Center of Biotechnology Information (NCBI) or the Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID). ResultsThe homology of the nucleotide and amino acid sequences are 98.0% – 100.0% and 97.9% – 100.0% among the isolated virus strains and the strains belong to different secondary branches. In comparison with those of the vaccine strain of 2019 and previous years, the homology of the nucleotide/amino acid sequences of the isolated strains are 98.2% – 99.3%/97.1% – 98.4% and 98.1% – 98.9%/97.5% – 98.7%, respectively. Contrasted to those of mild infection cases, a total of 12 gene locus mutations were identified in the isolated virus strains and V312I was a common locus of the mutations. Antigen determinant mutations in 3 gene regions were identified, with 2 simultaneous mutations among loci of strains QNZ2019YYX and BJ2019WXP. ConclusionThe homology of HA gene sequences is high between influenza A (H1N1) virus strains isolated among severe and fatal infection cases in Guizhou province and the vaccine strain in 2019. Mutations of the isolated virus strains involved two antigen determinants and the strains may be novel variants. The mutant V312I may be a specific locus for pathogenicity of the isolated virus strains.

Abstract Background T‐cell immunoglobulin and immunoreceptor tyrosine‐based inhibitory motif domain (TIGIT) is an immune checkpoint molecule that suppresses CD8+ T‐cell function in cancer. However, the expression profile and functional significance of TIGIT in the immune microenvironment of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) remain elusive. Interleukin (IL)‐15 has emerged as a promising candidate for enhancing CD8+ T‐cell mediated tumour eradication. Exploring therapeutic strategies that combine IL‐15 with TIGIT blockade in LUAD is warranted. Methods We investigated the regulatory network involving coinhibitory TIGIT and CD96, as well as costimulatory CD226 in LUAD using clinical samples. The potential role of TIGIT in regulating the pathogenesis of LUAD was addressed through a murine model with transplanted tumours constructed in Tigit−/− mice. The therapeutic strategy that combines TIGIT blockade with IL‐15 stimulation was verified using a transplanted tumour murine model and a patient‐derived organoid (PDO) model. Results The frequency of TIGIT+CD8+ T cells was significantly increased in LUAD. Increased TIGIT expression indicated poorer prognosis in LUAD patients. Furthermore, the effector function of TIGIT+CD8+ tumour‐infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) was impaired in LUAD patients and TIGIT inhibited antitumour immune response of CD8+ TILs in tumour‐bearing mice. Mechanistically, IL‐15 enhanced the effector function of CD8+ TILs but stimulated the expression of TIGIT on CD8+ TILs concomitantly. The application of IL‐15 combined with TIGIT blockade showed additive effects in enhancing the cytotoxicity of CD8+ TILs and thus further increased the antitumour immune response in LUAD. Conclusions Our findings identified TIGIT as a promising therapeutic target for LUAD. LUAD could benefit more from the combined therapy of IL‐15 stimulation and TIGIT blockade.

The use of artificial intelligence within the healthcare sector is consistently growing. However, the majority of deep learning-based AI systems are of a black box nature, causing these systems to suffer from a lack of transparency and credibility. Due to the widespread adoption of medical imaging for diagnostic purposes, the healthcare industry frequently relies on methods that provide visual explanations, enhancing interpretability. Existing research has summarized and explored the usage of visual explanation methods in the healthcare domain, providing introductions to the methods that have been employed. However, existing reviews are frequently used for interpretable analysis in the medical field ignoring comprehensive reviews on Class Activation Mapping (CAM) methods because researchers typically categorize CAM under the broader umbrella of visual explanations without delving into specific applications in the healthcare sector. Therefore, this study primarily aims to analyze the specific applications of CAM-based deep explainable methods in the healthcare industry, following the PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome) framework. Specifically, we selected 45 articles for systematic review and comparative analysis from three databases—PubMed, Science Direct, and Web of Science—and then compared eight advanced CAM-based methods using five datasets to assist in method selection. Finally, we summarized current hotspots and future challenges in the application of CAM in the healthcare field.

In response to the challenges in mobile robot path tracking using model predictive control, where the predictive model weakens the controller’s ability to respond to sudden changes in the reference path curvature and heading, this paper proposes a composite control strategy suitable for agricultural robots. The strategy combines the maximum torque per ampere control and an Extended State Observer (ESO). The paper initially establishes a mathematical model for a Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (PMSM) considering aggregated disturbances. It designs a position tracking controller based on a non-singular terminal sliding mode and convergence law. This controller, employing a non-cascaded structure, replaces traditional position and velocity loop controllers and is proven to be stable with finite-time convergence through Lyapunov’s theorem. To enhance the system’s disturbance rejection capabilities further, the paper introduces an ESO to estimate system disturbances and applies it for feedforward compensation. The paper concludes by providing stability proof for the overall PMSM servo system in agricultural robots. Finally, the paper conducts simulations and experimental verifications based on the designed controller, demonstrating that the controller exhibits excellent path tracking performance, fast convergence, and robustness against external disturbances.

Abstract To improve the uniformity of one‐pixel width and continuity of the thinned edges, this paper proposes an edge thinning algorithm acting on grey‐scale edge images based on 24 self‐defined single‐pixel connection patterns. First, for binary or blurred grey‐scale gradient edge images, a distance–greyscale coupling algorithm is proposed to achieve gradient enhancement in the edge width direction. Then the elimination rules of noise points and gradient calculation method are given. Secondly, the marking rules of the first three pixels of each edge are given. The next pixel to be marked must meet that the new last three pixels belong to the 24 connection modes. Whether the qualified pixels are retained depends on its grey value and the local edge gradient. The algorithm is tested on four types of images. The results show that the proposed method can guarantee uniform, smooth, and connected one‐pixel‐wide lines that lie at the centre of the initial edges. The algorithm and the existing algorithms are performed on portrait image and four scenarios of the indoor datasets. Five evaluation indicators are statistically analyzed to prove the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Purpose While the prognosis of multiple myeloma (MM) has significantly improved over the last decade because of new treatment options, it remains incurable. Aetiological explanations and biological targets based on genomics may provide additional help for rational disease intervention. Materials and Methods Three microarray datasets associated with MM were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. GSE125364 and GSE39754 were used as the training set, and GSE13591 was used as the verification set. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained from the training set, and Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses were performed to annotate their functions. The hub genes were derived from the combined results of a protein–protein interaction (PPI) network and weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of hub genes were plotted to evaluate their clinical diagnostic value. Biological processes and signaling pathways associated with hub genes were explained by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA). Results A total of 1759 DEGs were identified. GO and KEGG pathway analyses suggested that the DEGs were related to the process of protein metabolism. RPN1, SEC61A1, SPCS1, SRPR, SRPRB, SSR1 and TRAM1 were proven to have clinical diagnostic value for MM. The GSEA results suggested that the hub genes were widely involved in the N-glycan biosynthesis pathway. Conclusion The hub genes identified in this study can partially explain the potential molecular mechanisms of MM and serve as candidate biomarkers for disease diagnosis.

BackgroundAnoikis resistance is a prerequisite for the successful development of osteosarcoma (OS) metastases, whether the expression of anoikis-related genes (ARGs) correlates with OS prognosis remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of using ARGs as prognostic tools for the risk stratification of OS.MethodsThe Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases provided transcriptome information relevant to OS. The GeneCards database was used to identify ARGs. Differentially expressed ARGs (DEARGs) were identified by overlapping ARGs with common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between OS and normal samples from the GSE16088, GSE19276, and GSE99671 datasets. Anoikis-related clusters of patients were obtained by consistent clustering, and gene set variation analysis (GSVA) of the different clusters was completed. Next, a risk model was created using Cox regression analyses. Risk scores and clinical features were assessed for independent prognostic values, and a nomogram model was constructed. Subsequently, a functional enrichment analysis of the high- and low-risk groups was performed. In addition, the immunological characteristics of OS samples were compared between the high- and low-risk groups, and their sensitivity to therapeutic agents was explored.ResultsSeven DEARGs between OS and normal samples were obtained by intersecting 501 ARGs with 68 common DEGs. BNIP3 and CXCL12 were significantly differentially expressed between both clusters (P

ABSTRACT Understanding the biogeographical and biodiversity patterns of bacterial communities is essential in unraveling their responses to future environmental changes. However, the relationships between marine planktonic bacterial biodiversity and seawater chlorophyll a are largely understudied. Here, we used high-throughput sequencing to study the biodiversity patterns of marine planktonic bacteria across a broad chlorophyll a gradient spanning from the South China Sea across the Gulf of Bengal to the northern Arabian Sea. We found that the biogeographical patterns of marine planktonic bacteria complied with the scenario of homogeneous selection, with chlorophyll a concentration being the key environmental selecting variable of bacteria taxa. The relative abundance of Prochlorococcus, the SAR11 clade, the SAR116 clade, and the SAR86 clade significantly decreased in habitats with high chlorophyll a concentrations (>0.5 μg/L). Free-living bacteria (FLB) and particle-associated bacteria (PAB) displayed contrasting alpha diversity and chlorophyll a relationships with a positive linear correlation for FLB but a negative correlation for PAB. We further found that PAB had a narrower niche breadth of chlorophyll a than did FLB, with far fewer bacterial taxa being favored at higher chlorophyll a concentrations. Higher chlorophyll a concentrations were linked to the enhanced stochastic drift and reduced beta diversity of PAB but to the weakened homogeneous selection, enhanced dispersal limitation, and increased beta diversity of FLB. Taken together, our findings might broaden our knowledge about the biogeography of marine planktonic bacteria and advance the understanding of bacterial roles in predicting ecosystem functioning under future environmental changes that are derived from eutrophication. IMPORTANCE One of the long-standing interests of biogeography is to explore diversity patterns and uncover their underlying mechanisms. Despite intensive studies on the responses of eukaryotic communities to chlorophyll a concentrations, we know little about how changes in seawater chlorophyll a concentrations affect free-living bacteria (FLB) and particle-associated bacteria (PAB) diversity patterns in natural systems. Our biogeography study demonstrated that marine FLB and PAB displayed contrasting diversity and chlorophyll a relationships and exhibited completely different assembly mechanisms. Our findings broaden our knowledge about the biogeographical and biodiversity patterns of marine planktonic bacteria in nature systems and suggest that PAB and FLB should be considered independently in predicting marine ecosystem functioning under future frequent eutrophication.

ObjectivesSacral neuromodulation is an effective, minimally invasive treatment for refractory lower urinary tract dysfunction. However, regular postoperative programming is crucial for the maintenance of the curative effects of electronic sacral stimulator devices. The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) limited the ability of practitioners to perform traditional face-to-face programming of these stimulators. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the application of remote programming technology for sacral neuromodulation during the COVID-19 pandemic in China.Materials and methodsWe retrospectively collected data including baseline and programming information of all patients with lower urinary tract dysfunction who underwent sacral neuromodulation remote programming in China after the outbreak of COVID-19 (i.e., December 2019). The patients also completed a self-designed telephone questionnaire on the subject.ResultsA total of 51 patients from 16 centers were included. They underwent 180 total remote programming visits, and 118, 2, 25, and 54 voltage, current, pulse width, and frequency adjustments, respectively, were performed. Additionally, remote switching on and off was performed 8 times; impedance test, 54 times; and stimulation contact replacement, 25 times. The demand for remote programming was the highest during the first 6 months of sacral neuromodulation (average, 2.39 times per person). In total, 36 out of the 51 patients completed the questionnaire survey. Of these, all indicated that they chose remote programming to minimize unnecessary travel because they had been affected by COVID-19. The questionnaire also showed that remote programming could reduce the number of patient visits to the hospital, save time, reduce financial costs, and would be easy for patients to master. All surveyed patients indicated that they were satisfied with remote programming and were willing to recommend it to other patients.ConclusionRemote programming for sacral neuromodulation is feasible, effective, safe, and highly recommended by patients with refractory lower urinary tract dysfunction. Remote programming technology has great development and application potential in the post-pandemic era.

Increasing anthropogenic activities have caused serious environmental problems and undesirable ecological impacts on bay ecosystems. However, much remains to be learned regarding marine bacterial community assembly and its underlying mechanisms under intensive anthropogenic activities in subtropical bays. In this study, we used the community assembly theory to analyze bacterial community distributions in the subtropical Daya Bay, where the habitats are subject to serious thermal discharge and excessive nutrient load. We found the community assembly of bacterial in the Daya Bay was dominantly shaped by environmental factor of seawater phosphate, followed by temperature, and silicate. High phosphate concentration significantly increased the relative abundance of Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Planctomycetes, and Gammaprotecteria, but reduced the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and Alphaproteobacteria. Moreover, higher phosphate concentration was found significantly and positively correlated with higher bacterial alpha diversity. Compared with stochastic processes, we found higher phosphate concentration imposed stronger deterministic processes (primarily homogeneous selection) in structuring bacterial community assembly in the subtropical Daya bay, and bacterial communities tended to be higher phylogenetically clustered in higher phosphate-concentration habitats. In summary, we proposed that phosphate is a major environmental determinant in the subtropical Daya Bay and influenced the relative importance of deterministic and stochastic processes in bacterial community assembly.

Abstract Background Understanding the large-scale patterns of microbial functional diversity is essential for anticipating climate change impacts on ecosystems worldwide. However, studies of functional biogeography remain scarce for microorganisms, especially in freshwater ecosystems. Here we study 15,289 functional genes of stream biofilm microbes along three elevational gradients in Norway, Spain and China. Results We find that alpha diversity declines towards high elevations and assemblage composition shows increasing turnover with greater elevational distances. These elevational patterns are highly consistent across mountains, kingdoms and functional categories and exhibit the strongest trends in China due to its largest environmental gradients. Across mountains, functional gene assemblages differ in alpha diversity and composition between the mountains in Europe and Asia. Climate, such as mean temperature of the warmest quarter or mean precipitation of the coldest quarter, is the best predictor of alpha diversity and assemblage composition at both mountain and continental scales, with local non-climatic predictors gaining more importance at mountain scale. Under future climate, we project substantial variations in alpha diversity and assemblage composition across the Eurasian river network, primarily occurring in northern and central regions, respectively. Conclusions We conclude that climate controls microbial functional gene diversity in streams at large spatial scales; therefore, the underlying ecosystem processes are highly sensitive to climate variations, especially at high latitudes. This biogeographical framework for microbial functional diversity serves as a baseline to anticipate ecosystem responses and biogeochemical feedback to ongoing climate change. Video Abstract

Reef-building corals are invertebrate animals that associate with diverse microorganisms, including Symbiodiniaceae, bacteria, fungi, and archaea. This symbiotic consortium, called the holobiont, is a dynamic system and rapidly responds to environmental temperatures. At present, the effects of temperature on bacteria-bacteria interactions in the coral-associated bacterial community are not clear. Antagonism is considered one of the potential structuring forces in coral microbial communities. Here, we examined the antagonistic interactions among 32 coral-associated bacteria and the physiological and biochemical characteristics of these isolates at different temperatures. The results showed that the antagonism breadth (i.e. the total number of antagonistic interactions) increased but antagonism intensity (i.e. the size of the inhibition zone) decreased at 32°C. The antagonistic interaction network was nested and sender-determined both at 25°C and 32°C, suggesting that the competition networks of coral-associated bacteria were more influenced by the antagonist strains than sensitive strains. Furthermore, we found that the elevated temperature increased the complexity of the antagonistic network. By evaluating the correlations between antagonism and the phylogenetic and phenotypic distances, we demonstrated that the antagonism probability correlated with the phylogenetic distance rather than phenotypic distance. Moreover, the antagonist strains have a wider metabolic niche space, i.e., grew on more carbon sources, than the antagonized strains at 25°C, while there was no difference at 32°C, suggesting the trade-off between antagonism and resource exploitation shifted in the antagonistic interactions under the higher temperature. These findings will be helpful for understanding the bacterial interactions in coral holobionts and the assembly of bacterial community in altered environments, especially under heat stress.

Humic lakes (HLs) are special water bodies (high organic matter content, low pH, and low transparency) that are important sources of major greenhouse gases. The knowledge about microbial functional potentials and the interactions among different genes in HL water has been scarcely understood. In this study, we used 16S rRNA gene sequencing and the GeoChip 5.0 to investigate microbial community compositions and functional gene structures in an HL and a reference weakly alkaline lake (RAL). The HL microbial communities showed distinct compositions and functional gene structures than those in the RAL. The functional gene diversity was significantly higher in the HL than in the RAL. Specifically, higher gene relative intensities in carbon and nitrogen fixations, the degradation of various types of carbon, methane oxidation and methanogenesis, ammonification, denitrification, and assimilatory N reduction were observed in the HL samples. By contrast, the metabolic potentials of microorganisms involved in dissimilatory N reduction, phosphorus degradation, and sulfur oxidation were weaker in the HL than in the RAL. Despite higher functional gene diversity, the interaction efficiency among genes (reflected by network geodesic distance and clustering coefficient) might be reduced in the HL. Different functional microbes may develop less interdependent relationships in acquiring nutrients given the high resource availability in the HL. Overall, the enhanced microbial metabolic potentials and less efficient functional interactions might have great consequences on nutrient cycling and greenhouse gas emissions in the HL ecosystem.

Hypertension with high homocysteine (Hcy, ≥10 μmol/L) is also known as H-type hypertension (HHT) and proposed as an independent risk factor for stroke and cognitive impairment. Although previous studies have established the relationships among hypertension, Hcy levels, and cognitive impairment, how they affect brain neuroanatomy remains unclear. Thus, we aimed to investigate whether and to what extent hypertension and high Hcy may affect gray matter volume in 52 middle-aged HHT patients and 51 demographically matched normotensive subjects. Voxel-based morphological analysis suggested that HHT patients experienced significant gray matter loss in the default network. The default network atrophy was significantly correlated with Hcy level and global cognitive function. These findings provide, to our knowledge, novel insights into how HHT affects brain gray matter morphology through blood pressure and Hcy.

Elevation has a strong influence on microbial community composition, but its influence on microbial functional genes remains unclear in the aquatic ecosystem. In this study, the functional gene structure of microbes in two lakes at low elevation (ca. 530 m) and two lakes at high elevation (ca. 4,600 m) was examined using a comprehensive functional gene array GeoChip 5.0. Microbial functional composition, but not functional gene richness, was significantly different between the low- and high-elevation lakes. The greatest difference was that microbial communities from high-elevation lakes were enriched in functional genes of stress responses, including cold shock, oxygen limitation, osmotic stress, nitrogen limitation, phosphate limitation, glucose limitation, radiation stress, heat shock, protein stress, and sigma factor genes compared with microbial communities from the low-elevation lakes. Higher metabolic potentials were also observed in the degradation of aromatic compounds, chitin, cellulose, and hemicellulose at higher elevations. Only one phytate degradation gene and one nitrate reduction gene were enriched in the high-elevation lakes. Furthermore, the enhanced interactions and complexity among the co-occurring functional genes in microbial communities of lakes at high elevations were revealed in terms of network size, links, connectivity, and clustering coefficients, and there were more functional genes of stress responses mediating the module hub of this network. The findings of this study highlight the well-developed functional strategies utilized by aquatic microbial communities to withstand the harsh conditions at high elevations.

Understanding the coral microbiome is critical for predicting the fidelity of coral symbiosis with growing surface seawater temperature (SST). However, how the coral microbiome will respond to increasing SST is still understudied. Here, we compared the coral microbiome assemblages among 73 samples across six typical South China Sea coral species in two thermal regimes. The results revealed that the composition of microbiome varied across both coral species and thermal regimes, except for Porites lutea. The tropical coral microbiome displayed stronger heterogeneity and had a more un-compacted ecological network than subtropical coral microbiome. The coral microbiome was more strongly determined by environmental factors than host specificity. γ- (32%) and α-proteobacteria (19%), Bacteroidetes (14%), Firmicutes (14%), Actinobacteria (6%) and Cyanobacteria (2%) dominated the coral microbiome. Additionally, bacteria inferred to play potential roles in host nutrients metabolism, several keystone bacteria detected in human and plant rhizospheric microbiome were retrieved in explored corals. This study not only disentangles how different host taxa and microbiome interact and how such an interaction is affected by thermal regimes, but also identifies previously unrecognized keystone bacteria in corals, and also infers the community structure of coral microbiome will be changed from a compacted to an un-compacted network under elevated SST.