Search

Branched-chain fatty acids (BCFAs) are new bioactive fatty acids with anti-inflammatory properties. However, the role of BCFAs in alleviating ulcerative colitis has not been clarified. Herein, we evaluated the protective effect of BCFAs from goat milk in mice with colitis induced using dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) and explored the corresponding mechanism. These results show that BCFAs extracted from goat milk can significantly alleviate weight loss in mice, and reduce the disease activity index and the activity of myeloperoxidase while increasing the content of antioxidant enzymes in colon tissue and reducing the oxidation stress response. These data also show that BCFAs can down-regulate the gene and protein expression of the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/ nuclear factor κB p65 (NF-κB p65)/NOD-like receptor thermal protein domain associated protein 3 (NLRP3) signaling pathway, and at the same time significantly reduce the expression of pro-inflammatory factors tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin 1β (IL-1β), and IL-18 in colon tissue, and significantly increase the expression of the anti-inflammatory factor IL-10. In conclusion, these results demonstrated that BCFAs in goat milk exerted effects on colitis-related inflammatory cytokines and inhibited inflammation by inducing the TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 pathway to alleviate DSS-induced ulcerative colitis. This study provides evidence for the potential of BCFAs as bioactive fatty acids in food products and to ameliorate ulcerative colitis development in mice. more...

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most lethal malignancies due to high metastatic rate, making the identification of new therapeutic targets critical for developing effective anti-GC treatments. Glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPx4), a key regulator of ferroptosis and redox homeostasis, contributes to progression and influences patient survival. However, the molecular mechanism by which GPx4 drives GC progression has not been fully illuminated. In this study, we found that GPx4 was overexpressed and negatively associated with poor prognosis and distant metastasis, as confirmed by single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) and validation with retrospective clinical samples. GPx4 knockdown suppressed GC invasion, migration and peritoneal metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Proteomic analysis revealed that GPx4 expression regulated the Homeostasis of RCC2, an oncogene link to epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Furthermore, we demonstrated that the reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation induced by GPx4 inhibition or knockdown activated aurora A phosphorylation, leading to RCC2 ubiquitination and degradation, thereby suppressing peritoneal metastasis in GC. We also identified that the Thr418 phosphorylation site is crucial for RCC2 ubiquitination at the K377, initiating its degradation in response to ROS. In conclusion, our results indicate that GPx4 acts as an oncogene in GC, and that suppressing GPx4 prevents GC progression and metastasis by promoting ROS-induced RCC2 ubiquitination and degradation. more...

Goat's milk-based infant formula (YIF) has the advantages of high nutritional value and hypoallergenicity, and fewer studies have been conducted on YIF. Therefore, this study examined the changes in physicochemical and functional properties of cow's milk-based infant formula (ZIF) and YIF during 6 months of storage at 25 °C, 37 °C, and 50 °C, respectively. The results showed that YIF had higher pH (7.26), wettability, protein oxidation, good wettability, and lower lactose crystallinity and lipid oxidation compared to ZIF. Further analysis revealed that the higher pH significantly accelerated the rate of the Maillard Reaction (MR), resulting in significantly higher browning of YIF than ZIF, and this difference was statistically significant (p more...

Gastric cancer (GC) ranks fifth in cancer incidence and fourth in cancer-related mortality worldwide. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are highly oxidative oxygen-derived products that have crucial roles in cell signaling regulation and maintaining internal balance. ROS are closely associated with the occurrence, development, and treatment of GC. This review summarizes recent findings on the sources of ROS and the bidirectional regulatory effects on GC and discusses various treatment modalities for GC that are related to ROS induction. In addition, the regulation of ROS by natural small molecule compounds with the highest potential for development and applications in anti-GC research is summarized. The aim of the review is to accelerate the clinical application of modulating ROS levels as a therapeutic strategy for GC. more...

This study investigated the variations and alterations in the concentrations of plasmin system components in raw and UHT (ultra-high-temperature) milk under cold stress (WCT ≤ −25 °C), heat stress (THI ≥ 80), and normal (THI < 70 and WCT ≥ −10 °C) circumstances. The findings indicated elevated amounts of plasmin system components in cold-stressed raw milk. While storing UHT milk at 25 °C, the concentrations and activity of plasmin in the milk exhibited an initial increase followed by a decrease, peaking around the 30th day. The maximum plasmin level and activity in cold-stressed milk were 607.86 μg/L and 15.99 U/L, respectively, with the beginning of gelation occurring around day 60. The higher activity of plasmin in cold-stressed milk led to the poorer stability and sensory assessment of the milk. However, heat-stressed milk is not such a problem for UHT milk as cold-stressed milk. The findings indicate shortcomings in the quality of cold-stressed milk and its adverse effects on the stability of UHT milk, underscoring the necessity of preventing cold stress in the herd and refraining from utilizing cold-stressed milk as a raw material for UHT production. more...

Abstract Postbiotics have received increasing interest for their storage stability and safety compared to probiotics, as well as their potential functionality. In this study, edible Lactobacillus plantarum J26 postbiotics (J26P) were prepared by spray drying using skimmed milk as the medium, and 1113 compounds were identified. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cholesterol lowering effect of J26P on hypercholesterolemic mice induced by a high‐fat and high‐cholesterol diet (HCD). The results suggest that J26P significantly alleviated weight gain and appetite reduction in HCD mice. J26P also improved serum and liver biochemical parameters at various levels, including lower total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C) in the serum, and TC, TG, LDL‐C, glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, and glutamic‐pyruvic transaminase in the liver, and increase high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol in the serum and liver. Moreover, liver histopathologic examinations revealed that J26P significantly inhibited fat accumulation and degeneration in hypercholesterolemic mice and increased the expression of liver uncoupling protein 1. Furthermore, the J26P intervention effectively promoted the reduction of cholesterol levels in hypercholesterolemic mice via the LXRα‐CYP7A1‐bile acid‐excretion pathway, which was corroborated by the increased fecal total cholesterol and fecal total bile acid levels. This work provided a theoretical basis for the industrial development of postbiotics and the alleviation of hypercholesterolemia and its complications. more...

With the exacerbation of environmental issues and the ongoing energy crisis, the large-scale integration of renewable energy resources has significantly increased the demand for flexibility in distribution systems. Establishing a comprehensive flexibility evaluation index system is crucial for the development, promotion, and optimization of AC/DC distribution systems. This paper focuses on the flexibility evaluation of AC/DC distribution systems, proposing a detailed flexibility evaluation index system and a comprehensive evaluation method based on the ANP-Entropy weighting model. The proposed flexibility evaluation index system comprises 18 key indexes categorized into four essential dimensions: overall flexibility performance, flexible resources participation, operational performance, and economic performance. The ANP-Entropy weighting model is employed to perform a thorough evaluation of the flexibility of AC/DC distribution systems. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed evaluation method, a case study is conducted. Additionally, the study explores the impacts of controllable distributed generator (CDG) capacity, energy storage system (ESS) capacity, and voltage source converter (VSC) capacity on the flexibility of AC/DC distribution systems. The results provide valuable insights into optimizing the flexibility and performance of AC/DC distribution systems. more...

The formula of food for special medical purpose has a direct impact on physicochemical stability, especially in hot climes and high temperature transport storage environments. An accelerated test (50 °C for 7 weeks) was used to analyze the mechanism of the physicochemical instability of formula A with lactose and maltodextrin, and formula B with maltodextrin. Deep dents and wrinkles were observed on the surface of the formula B, and more fat globules covered the surface of formula A particles after storage for a long time. Significantly higher amounts of furosine and Nε-carboxymethl-l-lysine (CML) were formed and the loss of available lysine was greater in formula A than in formula B. No significant difference was observed in lipid oxidation indicators between the two formulas. The results of this research demonstrated lactose was more active than maltodextrin and led to physicochemical instability. more...

With the continuous advancement of industrialization, global environmental problems are becoming increasingly severe. Maintaining economic growth while improving the environment has been an important issue for many countries, especially developing countries. As industry is a major source of environmental pollution, industrial green transformation and upgrading have become particularly important. In the era of the digital economy (DE), there is a new path for industrial green transformation and upgrading. Based on provincial data on industry from 2008 to 2021, a difference-in-differences (DID) model was constructed to analyze the environmental and economic benefits. New pathways for trade-offs between environmental improvement and economic growth in China are presented. In addition, new ideas are concerning global environmental issues and economic issues in the DE are presented. The present study indicates that the DE has reduced the intensity of pollution emissions and elevated total factor productivity (TFP), which has helped to promote industrial green transformation and upgrading. Further mechanism testing showed that the DE has promoted industrial green transformation and upgrading by improving the utilization of energy and resources and promoting technological innovation. Considering the utilization of energy and resources, the DE has decreased China’s total industrial consumption of energy and coal, reduced industrial water consumption, and reduced the share of coal consumption and increased the share of clean energy consumption in China’s total industrial energy consumption; these effects have optimized the efficiency and structure of China’s energy utilization to contribute to the green transformation and upgrading of industry. Regarding technological innovation, the development of the DE has increased industrial innovation output and R&D input. Furthermore, it has promoted innovation with respect to green processes, accelerating technological innovation, and realized industrial green transformation and upgrading. more...

In the rapidly evolving field of medical diagnostics, the challenge of imbalanced datasets, particularly in diabetes classification, calls for innovative solutions. The study introduces DiGAN, a groundbreaking approach that leverages the power of Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) to revolutionize diabetes data analysis. Marking a significant departure from traditional methods, DiGAN applies GANs, typically seen in image processing, to the realm of diabetes data. This novel application is complemented by integrating the unsupervised Laplacian Score for sophisticated feature selection. The pioneering approach not only surpasses the limitations of existing techniques but also sets a new benchmark in classification accuracy with a 90% weighted F1-score, achieving a remarkable improvement of over 20% compared to conventional methods. Additionally, DiGAN demonstrates superior performance over popular SMOTE-based methods in handling extremely imbalanced datasets. This research, focusing on the integrated use of Laplacian Score, GAN, and Random Forest, stands at the forefront of diabetic classification, offering a uniquely effective and innovative solution to the long-standing data imbalance issue in medical diagnostics. more...

Immunotherapy combined with effective therapeutics such as chemotherapy and photodynamic therapy have been shown to be a successful strategy to activate anti-tumor immune responses for improved anticancer treatment. However, developing multifunctional biodegradable, biocompatible, low-toxic but highly efficient, and clinically available transformed nano-immunostimulants remains a challenge and is in great demand. Herein, we report and design of a novel carrier-free photo-chemotherapeutic nano-prodrug COS-BA/Ce6 NPs by combining three multifunctional components—a self-assembled natural small molecule betulinic acid (BA), a water-soluble chitosan oligosaccharide (COS), and a low toxic photosensitizer chlorin e6 (Ce6)—to augment the antitumor efficacy of the immune adjuvant anti-PD-L1-mediated cancer immunotherapy. We show that the designed nanodrugs harbored a smart and distinctive “dormancy” characteristic in chemotherapeutic effect with desired lower cytotoxicity, and multiple favorable therapeutic features including improved 1O2 generation induced by the reduced energy gap of Ce6, pH-responsiveness, good biodegradability, and biocompatibility, ensuring a highly efficient, synergistic photochemotherapy. Moreover, when combined with anti-PD-L1 therapy, both nano-coassembly based chemotherapy and chemotherapy/photodynamic therapy (PDT) could effectively activate antitumor immunity when treating primary or distant tumors, opening up potentially attractive possibilities for clinical immunotherapy. more...

Abstract Background Nutritional status influences the growth and development of the eyes. However, there are few studies on the association between diet, especially whole grains (WG) consumption, and myopia. The study aimed to evaluate the association between WG intake and myopia prevalence among primary school-age children in China. Methods This cross-sectional epidemiological study conducted between November 2019 and December 2019 included 586 children, aged 6–12 years, attending primary school in Binhai district, Tianjin, China. Ophthalmologic examinations and optometric cycloplegic refraction measurements were conducted. Information was collected on known risks and protective factors for myopia and the consumption of WGs, vegetables, and fruits. This association between the probability of myopia and the proportion of WG consumption (WG proportion was calculated as the mean intake from WG sources divided by total grain intake), adjusted for protective and risk factors, was analysed using crude and multivariable logistic regression. Results Among the study participants, 226/586 (38.57%) children had myopia in at least one eye. WG intake was inversely correlated with the prevalence of myopia. Furthermore, in the multivariate analysis, WG intake of > 50% was identified as a protective factor against myopia after subsequent adjustment for children’s age, sex, parental myopia, near-work activity, screen time, reading and writing habits, visual fatigue, outdoor time, and classroom light environment (all P 50%) was an independent protective factor against myopia. Modifying the form of grains consumed (whole versus refined) could be one of the targets of future public health measures. more...

With the large-scale distributed generations (DGs) being connected to distribution network (DN), the traditional day-ahead reconfiguration methods based on physical models are challenged to maintain the robustness and avoid voltage off-limits. To address these problems, this paper develops a deep re-inforcement learning method for the sequential reconfiguration with soft open points (SOPs) based on real-time data. A state-based decision model is first proposed by constructing a Marko decision process-based reconfiguration and SOP joint optimization model so that the decisions can be achieved in milliseconds. Then, a deep reinforcement learning joint framework including branching double deep $Q$ network (BDDQN) and multi-policy soft actor-critic (MPSAC) is proposed, which has significantly improved the learning efficiency of the decision model in multi-dimensional mixed-integer action space. And the influence of DG and load uncertainty on control results has been minimized by using the real-time status of the DN to make control decisions. The numerical simulations on the IEEE 34-bus and 123-bus systems demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively reduce the operation cost and solve the overvoltage problem caused by high ratio of photovoltaic (PV) integration. more...

With the increasing use of renewable resources and electric vehicles (EVs), the variability and uncertainty in their nature put forward a high requirement for flexibility in AC distribution system incorporating voltage source converter (VSC) based multi-terminal direct current (MTDC) grids. In order to improve the capability of distribution systems to cope with uncertainty, the flexibility enhancement of AC-MTDC distribution systems considering aggregated EVs is studied. Firstly, the charging and discharging model of one EV is proposed considering the users' demand difference and traveling needs. Based on this, a vehicle-to-grid (V2G) control strategy for aggregated EVs to participate in the flexibility promotion of distribution systems is provided. After that, an optimal flexible dispatching method is proposed to improve the flexibility of power systems through cooperation of VSCs, controllable distributed generations (CDGs), aggregated EVs, and energy storage systems (ESSs). Finally, a case study of an AC-MTDC distribution system is carried out. Simulation results show that the proposed dispatching method is capable of effectively enhancing the system flexibility, reducing renewable power curtailment, decreasing load abandonment, and cutting down system cost. more...

Background: DELLA protein is a crucial factor which played pivotal roles in regulating numerous intriguing biological processes in plant development and abiotic stress responses. However, little is known about the function and information of DELLA protein in Chinese cabbage. Methods: Using 5 DELLA gene sequences in Arabidopsis Thaliana as probes, 5 DELLA genes in Chinese cabbage were identified by Blast search in Chinese cabbage database (Brassica database (BRAD)). The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), ExPaSy, SWISS-MODEL, DNAMAN, MEGA 11, PlantCARE were used to identify and analyze the DELLA gene family of Chinese cabbage. Gene expression was analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The function of BraA10gRGL3 was verified by overexpression and phenotypic analysis of BraA10gRGL3 and yeast hybrid. Results: In this study, 5 BraDELLAs homologous to Arabidopsis thaliana were identified and cloned based on the Brassica database, namely, BraA02gRGL1, BraA05gRGL2, BraA10gRGL3, BraA06gRGA and BraA09gRGA. All BraDELLAs contain the DELLA, TVHYNP, and GRAS conserved domains. Cis-element analysis revealed that the promoter regions of these 5 DELLA genes all contain light-responsive elements, TCT motif, I-box, G-box, and box 4, which are associated with GA signaling. Transcriptome analysis results proved that the expression of BraA02gRGL1, BraA05gRGL2, and BraA10gRGL3 in Y2 at different growth stages were lower than them in Y7, which is consistent with the phenotype that Y7 exhibited stronger stress tolerance than Y2. It is worth emphasizing that even through the overexpression of BraA10gRGL3-Y7 in Arabidopsis resulted in smaller leaf size and lower fresh weight compared to the wild type (WT) Arabidopsis: Columbia, a stronger response to abiotic stresses was observed in BraA10gRGL3-Y7. It indicated that BraA10gRGL3-Y7 can improve the stress resistance of plants by inhibiting their growth. Moreover, the yeast two-hybrid experiment confirmed that BraA10gRGL3-Y7 can interacted with BraA05gGID1a-Y7, BraA04gGID1b1, BraA09gGID1b3-Y2, and BraA06gGID1c, whereas BraA10gRGL3-Y2 cannot interact with any BraGID1. Conclusions: Collectively, BraDELLAs play important role in plant development and response to abiotic stress. The differences in amino acid sequences between BraA10gRGL3-Y2 and BraA10gRGL3-Y7 may result in variations in their protein binding sites, thus affecting their interaction with the BraGID1 family proteins. This systematic analysis lays the foundation for further study of the functional characteristics of DELLA genes of Chinese cabbage. more...

With the rapid development of the 5th generation mobile communication technology (5G communication), the number of 5G base stations is increasing, and the problem of large power consumption and high electricity cost of 5G communication is becoming more and more prominent. Therefore, an optimal configuration method is proposed for the photovoltaic and energy storage system of 5G base station with consideration of the integration of photovoltaic power generation and energy storage to improve the economics of 5G base station operation. Firstly, considering the load of 5G base station and the time-of-use electricity price of distribution network, an economic dispatching model is built for the photovoltaic and energy storage system of 5G base station. Then, the quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to calculate the minimum comprehensive cost of the photovoltaic and energy storage system of 5G base station in a typical day to determine the optimal capacity of photovoltaic power generation and energy storage. Finally, the calculation results show that reasonable capacity configuration of photovoltaic power generation and energy storage can improve the economy of 5G base station system. The configuration capacity of photovoltaic and energy storage is greatly affected by the energy storage cost and the peak-valley price difference. The economic benefits brought by the photovoltaic and energy storage system increase with the increase of peak-valley price difference and the decrease of energy storage cost. more...

Reduced immunity can harm the health of the organism, and nowadays, improving immunity is getting more and more attention, so the nutrients with immune boosting function (acerola cherry, taurine, zinc gluconate, and lactoferrin) are compounded in the best ratio to develop a nutritional formula food, and evaluated by cellular immunity, humoral immunity, non-specific immunity. In this study, an immunocompromised mice model was established using cyclophosphamide (CTX), the ability and difference of different components to enhance the immunity of mice were determined by the gavage of different components. The results showed that the nutritional formula food could recover the body weight of immunocompromised mice, promote the development of immune organs in immunocompromised mice, enhance the delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response, the ability to produce serum hemolysin and the phagocytosis of monocytes in immunocompromised mice, and increase the levels of immunoglobulin A (IgA), IgG and IgM in the serum of immunocompromised mice. It has proved that this nutritional formula food (containing acerola cherry, taurine, zinc gluconate, and lactoferrin) has synergistic effect and can work together on humoral immunity, cellular immunity and non-specific immunity to improve the immune resistance of mice, and has promising application. more...

Taking into account the challenges of obtaining accurate physical parameters and uncertainties arising from the integration of a large number of sources and loads, this paper proposes a real-time voltage control method for AC/DC distribution networks. The method utilizes model-free generation and coordinated control of multiple converters, and employs a combination of agent modeling and multi-agent soft actor critic (MASAC) techniques for modeling and solving the problem. Firstly, a complex nonlinear mapping relationship between bus power and voltage is established by training an power-voltage model, to address the issue of obtaining physical parameters in AC/DC distribution networks. Next, a Markov decision process is established for the voltage control problem, with multiple intelligent agents distributed to control the active and reactive power at each converter, in response to the uncertainties of photovoltaic (PV) and load variations. Using the MASAC method, a centralized training strategy and decentralized execution policy are implemented to achieve distributed control of the converters, with each converter making optimal decisions based on its local observation state. Finally, the proposed method is verified by numerical simulations, demonstrating its sound effectiveness and generalization ability. more...

Abstract TiO2 is a semiconductor material used in photoelectric conversion. In order to improve its light utilization rate, nickel sulfide and silver nanoparticles were synthesized on the surface of titanium dioxide nanowires by simple impregnation-deposition and photoreduction methods. A series of studies were conducted on the cathodic protection effect of Ag/NiS/TiO2 nanocomposites on 304 stainless steel, with additional analyses on the material’s morphology, composition, and light absorption characteristics. The results indicate that when the number of nickel sulfide impregnation-deposition cycles is 6, and the silver nitrate photoreduction concentration is 0.1 M, the prepared Ag/NiS/TiO2 nanocomposites can provide the best cathodic protection for 304 stainless steel. more...

With the increasing penetration of photovoltaics in distribution networks, the adaptability of distribution network under uncertainties needs to be considered in the planning of distribution systems. In this paper, the interval arithmetic and affine arithmetic are applied to deal with uncertainties, and an affine arithmetic based bi-level multi-objective joint planning model is built, which can obtain the planning schemes with low constraint-violation risk, high reliability and strong adaptability. On this basis, a bi-level multi-objective solution methodology using affine arithmetic based non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II is proposed, and the planning schemes that simulta-neously meet economy and adaptability goals under uncertainties can be obtained. To further eliminate bad solutions and improve the solution qualities, an affine arithmetic based dominance relation weakening criterion and a deviation distance based modification method are proposed. A 24-bus test system and a 10 kV distribution system of China are used for case studies. Different uncertainty levels are compared, and a sensitivity analysis of key parameters is conducted to explore their impacts on the final planning schemes. The simulation results verify the advantages of the proposed affine arithmetic based planning method. more...

Developing eco-friendly durable flame-retardant cotton fabric not only expands its application area, but also caters to the healthy and environmentally friendly concept of consumers. Herein, a reactive P/S/N-containing synergistic flame retardant (PSN) was synthesized to prepare eco-friendly durable flame-retardant cotton fabric through chemical modifying method. Flame-retardant finishing deteriorated the softness, whiteness, tensile strength and air permeability of cotton fabric. PSN conferred outstanding flame retardancy, fire safety and durability to cotton fabric. For treated fabric with the add-on of 14.2%, it achieved an LOI value of 36.5% and extinguished spontaneously even after 50 laundering cycles. Its peak heat release rate, total heat release and fire growth rate index values decreased sharply than those of the control fabric. PSN exhibited high-efficiency flame-retardant behavior, and the synergy between P, S and N elements facilitated the formation of intumescent barrier on the fiber surface during combustion. The hydrolysis of covalent bond and formation of phosphate/sulphonate during laundering both accounted for the decrease in flame retardancy of treated fabric. more...

Land, as an essential resource for social, economic and ecological activities, is regarded as a key factor in material production. Against the background of rapid social and economic transition, land-use carbon emissions have gradually drawn due attention. However, few studies have been conducted to explore the spatial relationship of land-use carbon emissions at the sub-regional level, especially within Sichuan Province, China. This study is aimed at unpacking the spatial network of land-use carbon emissions in Sichuan Province by employing the panel data from 2006 to 2021 and using the method of Social Network Analysis. The results indicate that the net land-use carbon emissions of various prefecture-level divisions in Sichuan generally showed an inverse and asymmetrical “V-shaped” trend. The network correlation was improved and the stability was enhanced, gradually developing into a multi-centric structure. In addition, the spatial relationship among different clusters in the network undergoes a transition from intra-regional to inter-regional spillover. Based on these findings, the carbon balance zoning policy was discussed to provide references for how to coordinate roles and positions in the network when optimizing land-use carbon emission management policies in sub-regional areas with rapid social and economic development. more...

Abstract Nonmotor symptoms in patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA) have received an increasing amount of attention in recent years, but no research on MSA patients' cognitive characteristics has been conducted in China. To evaluate the cognitive function of MSA patients in China. Using a case–control study design, 256 MSA patients and 64 controls were evaluated by the Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) scale to characterize their cognitive function. Like the controls, 60.5% of the patients with MSA had cognitive impairment, but the characteristics of cognitive impairment between the two groups were different. The cognitive impairment in MSA patients was prominent in the cognitive domains of visuospatial/executive functions, naming, attention, and orientation; particularly, the visuospatial/executive functions were the most significantly impaired, while impairment in language function was mainly seen in the controls. Besides, impairments in visuospatial/executive functions, attention, language, and orientation were more prominent in MSA-P (MSA with predominant Parkinsonism) patients than in MSA-C (MSA with predominant cerebellar ataxia). The cognitive impairments were more severe in patients with probable MSA than in patients with possible MSA. In addition, the results showed that the level of cognitive function was negatively correlated with the severity of MSA. This study, which characterized the cognitive function of MSA patients with the largest sample size known so far in China, found that patients with MSA do have cognitive impairment and display specific characteristics. Therefore, the cognitive impairment of MSA should be paid more attention. The study has been registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR) (Registration No: ChiCTR1900022462). more...

Abstract An interval power flow calculation (PFC) algorithm for multi‐terminal DC distribution networks is proposed to handle the uncertainties of distributed generation output powers and loads. Firstly, an equivalent resistance is introduced to represent the effect of droop control in DC distribution networks. The power losses of the equivalent resistance are offset by adding the injection powers to droop nodes, which guarantees the precision of the equivalent resistance model. The Newton–Raphson method is used for deterministic PFC based on the equivalent resistance, and it is applicable to DC distribution networks with different kinds of network topologies and voltage source converter control modes. Secondly, based on the deterministic PFC algorithm and affine arithmetic, an interval PFC algorithm is presented to handle the uncertainties of distributed generation output powers and loads. The affine arithmetic based interval PFC algorithm not only can determine power flow intervals quickly and accurately, but also can analyse the influences of distributed generation outputs to nodal voltages. Finally, a series of test systems are used to validate the proposed algorithms. Simulation results illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of the deterministic PFC algorithm and the interval PFC algorithm for multi‐terminal DC distribution networks. more...

Soil salinization is one of the causes of the decline of the available cultivated land. By improving the salt tolerance of vegetables, the abandoned salinized land can be effectively utilized, saving the arable land for major crops. We investigated the salt tolerance of hundreds of Chinese cabbage cultivars, by which the two most tolerant and sensitive cultivars were selected and studied by metabolome and transcriptome analyses. The results showed that, under salt stress, metabolites’ response was not closely correlated with gene expressions in the tested Chinese cabbages. However, some KEGG pathways were significantly regulated at both metabolic and transcriptional levels. Furthermore, we identified several critical metabolites in the co-regulated pathways, including acetyl-CoA, pyruvic acid, ATP, nicotinic acid and Coenzyme Q10, which could alleviate the salt stress level in the tested Chinese cabbage. Thus, our findings provide candidate agents which can be used to improve salt tolerance in Chinese cabbage. more...

Arsenic (As) is extremely toxic to living organisms at high concentrations. Arsenobetaine (AsB), confirmed to be a non-toxic form, is the main contributor to As in the muscle tissue of marine fish. However, few studies have investigated the biotransformation and biodegradation of AsB in mammals. In the current study, C57BL/6J mice were fed four different diets, namely, Yangjiang and Zhanjiang fish diets spiked with marine fish muscle containing AsB, and arsenite (As(III)) and arsenate (As(V)) diets spiked with As(III) and As(V), respectively, to investigate the biotransformation and bioaccumulation of AsB in mouse tissues for 42 d. Different diets exhibited different As species distributions, which contributed to varying levels of As bioaccumulation in different tissues. The intestines accumulated the highest level of As, regardless of form, which played a major part in As absorption and distribution in mice. We observed a significant biotransformation of AsB to As(V) following its diet exposure, and the liver, lungs, and spleen of AsB-treated mice showed higher As accumulation levels than those of As(III)- or As(V)-treated mice. Inorganic As showed relatively high accumulation levels in the lungs and spleen after long-term exposure to AsB. Overall, these findings provided strong evidence that AsB undergoes biotransformation to As(V) in mammals, indicating the potential health risk associated with long-term AsB intake in mammals. more...

Gibberellins (GAs) play a major role in a variety of key plant development processes, especially in promoting seed germination, stem and root growth, and fruit development. DELLA proteins are the core elements in GA signal transduction pathway, which exist in the plant nucleus and belong to the GRAS protein family. DELLA proteins negatively regulate the GA signaling pathway and biosynthesis, inhibiting plant growth. DELLA proteins can also interact with F-box, PIFS, ROS, SCLl3 and other proteins to enhance plant response to various adverse environmental influences such as drought, low and high temperature, heavy metal stresses. In addition, DELLA proteins can also partially regulate plant growth and development through interacting plant hormones such as ABA (abscisic acid), CK (cytokinin), ET (ethylene), BR (brassinosteroid) and JA (jasmine). This review summarized the basic characteristics of DELLA proteins, the transduction of hormone and environmental signals, as well as the regulation of plant growth and developments. DELLA proteins have broad application prospects in modern agricultural production in the future, but the molecular mechanism of DELLA proteins regulating plant growth and development are still unclear, and needs further study. more...

The fluctuation of output power of renewable energies and loads brings challenges to the scheduling and operation of the distribution network. In this paper, a robust voltage control model is proposed to cope with the uncertainties of renewable energies and loads based on an improved generative adversarial network (IGAN). Firstly, both real and predicted data are used to train the IGAN consisting of a discriminator and a generator. The noises sampled from the Gaussian distribution are fed to the generator to generate a large number of scenarios that are utilized for robust voltage control after scenario reduction. Then, a new improved wolf pack algorithm (IWPA) is presented to solve the formulated robust voltage control model, since the accuracy of the solutions obtained by traditional methods is limited. The simulation results show that the IGAN can accurately capture the probability distribution characteristics and dynamic nonlinear characteristics of renewable energies and loads, which makes the scenarios generated by IGAN more suitable for robust voltage control than those generated by traditional methods. Furthermore, IWPA has a better performance than traditional methods in terms of convergence speed, accuracy, and stability for robust voltage control. more...

Multienergy load forecasting (MELF) is the premise of regional integrated energy systems (RIES) production planning and energy dispatch. The key of MELF is the consideration of multienergy coupling and the improvement of prediction accuracy. Therefore, a MELF method considering the multienergy coupling of variation characteristic curves (MELF_MECVCC) for RIES is proposed. The novelty of MELF_MECVCC lies in the following three aspects. 1) For the trend stripping and volatility extraction of multienergy load time series, the extreme-point symmetric mode decomposition-sample entropy (ESMD-SE) method is introduced to decompose and reconstruct the variation characteristic curves of multienergy, including trend curve and fluctuation curve. 2) The multienergy coupling of the variation characteristic curves is considered to reflect the variation characteristics of the multienergy loads. 3) Different methods are applied according to different variation characteristics; i.e., the combined method based on multitask learning and long short-term memory network (MTL-LSTM) is applied to predict the trend curve with strong correlation and the least square support vector regression (LSSVR) method is applied to predict the fluctuation curve with strong volatility and high complexity. Based on the actual data set of the University of Texas in Austin, the MELF_MECVCC model is simulated and verified, which shows that the model reduces the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and the root mean square error (RMSE) and fits better with the original load and has higher prediction accuracy, compared with current advanced algorithms. more...

The scenarios of a half wavelength transmission line (HWTL) connected to the original DC asynchronous interconnection system are established based on the quasi-steady state model of HWTL, which include single or double loops of single channel and multi-channel scenarios with different starting and landing points. Firstly, the steady state power flow characters of multi-scenario transmission schemes are studied. The voltage distribution characters of HWTL are analyzed when its transmission power and power factor vary, and the influence of the DC power variation on voltage of HWTL is discussed. Then the transient characters of HWDHTS are explored. The DC commutation failure caused by the fault of HWTL is simulated and the power transfer capacity of HWTL while DC blocking is calculated in this paper. Keywords: UHV half-wavelength AC power transmission line, UHV DC system, Steady state characters, Transient stability more...

The marine bacterium, Vibrio natriegens, grows quickly in a marine environment and can significantly accelerate the corrosion of steel materials. Here, we present an approach to inhibit V. natriegens-induced corrosion by biomineralization. The corrosion of steel is mitigated in seawater via the formation of a biomineralized film induced by Bacillus subtilis. The film is composed of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and calcite, exhibiting stable anti-corrosion activity. The microbial diversity and medium chemistry tests demonstrated that the inhibition of V. natriegens growth by B. subtilis was essential for the formation of the biomineralized film. more...

The dry roots of Polygonum multiflorum (PM), involving both the raw and processed materials, are widely used as the traditional Chinese medicine for treating various diseases in China. Hepatotoxicity has been occasionally reported in patients who consume PM. Unfortunately, no definite criteria are currently available regarding the processing technology of PM for reduction the toxicity. In this work, we aimed to investigate the variations of PM metabolite profiles induced by different processing technologies by UHPLC/Q-Orbitrap-MS and multivariate statistical analysis, and to discover the potential toxic compounds by correlating the cytotoxicity of L02 cell with the contents of metabolites in raw and processed PM samples. We could identify two potential toxic compounds, emodin-8-O-glucoside and torachrysone-O-hexose, which could be selected as the toxic markers to evaluate different processing methods. The results indicated all processed PM samples could decrease the cytotoxicity on L02 cell. The best processing technology for PM process was to steam PM in black soybean decoction (BD-PM) for 24 h. more...

The rapid growth of China’s economy since the reform in 1978 should be largely attributed to urbanization. Nonetheless, in terms of farmland productivity, urbanization may lead to perverse incentives and thus threaten food security. On the one hand, the requisition–compensation balance of farmland (RCBF) policy could reduce farmland productivity because of a “superior occupation and inferior compensation”; on the other hand, urbanization promotes the transfer of the younger labor force and thus reduces the productivity of the agricultural labor force. To investigate the undesirable effects, based on some stylized facts, this study selects 29,415 county-level samples in a Chinese county from 2000–2014 to construct an empirical model. With a new stochastic frontier analysis method that eliminates the classical econometric issues of endogeneity and heterogeneity, the empirical results show that there is a U-shaped relationship between the farmland use efficiency (productivity) and urbanization rate, indicating that only when the urbanization rate is relatively low would urbanization decrease the farmland use efficiency; in contrast, when the urbanization rate is relatively high, technical progress would obviously be accompanied by urbanization, and thus, the undesirable effects are fully offset. Furthermore, the U-shaped relationship is robust after considering the endogeneity of the urbanization rate and total-factor farmland use efficiency. With these findings, recommendations to implement sustainable management and conservation policies regarding farmland resources are made. more...