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Quercetin exerts antihypertensive effects, while its role on hypertensive renal injury remain unknown. Network pharmacology analysis identified multiple potential candidate targets (including TP53, Bcl-2 and BaX) and enriched signaling pathways (including apoptosis and p53 signaling pathway). Hematoxylin and eosin staining revealed that quercetin treatment reduced the pathological changes in renal tissues of Ang II infused mice. RNA sequencing identified quercetin treatment significantly reversed 464 DETs and enriched several signaling pathway (including apoptosis and p53 pathways). Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT) dUTP nick-end labeling staining and Annexin V staining revealed that quercetin treatment reduced cell apoptosis in renal tissues of Ang II-infused mice and in NRK-52E cells stimulated with Ang II. Furthermore, immunohistochemistry and western-blotting indicated that quercetin treatment alleviated the upregulation of p53, BaX, cleaved-caspase-9, and cleaved-caspase-3 protein expression and the downregulation of Bcl-2 protein expression in both renal tissue of Ang II infused mice and NRK-52E cells stimulated with Ang II stimulation. Moreover, the molecular docking results indicated potential binding activity between quercetin-TP53. Quercetin treatment significantly attenuated hypertensive renal injury and cell apoptosis in renal tissues of Ang II-induced mice and Ang II stimulated NERK-52E cell, and by targeting p53 may be one of the underlying mechanisms.

The rocky desertification control project in karst areas exacerbates the transfer of landscape types, changes the ecosystem structure and function, and has a significant impact on ecological assets. How to analyze the relationship between landscape type shifts and the spatial and temporal evolution of ecological assets is one of the key questions that need to be addressed to achieve the goal of overall improvement in ecosystem quality and sustainable regional economic development. This study takes Qixingguan District, Bijie City, Guizhou Province—a typical karst plateau mountainous area—as the research object, and analyzes the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of landscape type shifts and ecological assets triggered by rock desertification management from 1995–2018, based on the equivalence factor method, combined with the contribution rate, spatial autocorrelation, and sensitivity research methods. The results showed that arable land, grassland, and woodland were the main landscape types in the study area. The value of ecological assets showed a trend of increasing and then decreasing, with an overall increase of 87.70 × 106 yuan. The distribution pattern of ecological asset value from southwest to northeast is “high–low–high”. There is a significant positive correlation in the spatial distribution of the overall ecological assets, with similar aggregation between neighboring units. The expansion of forest land was the main factor for the rapid increase of assets from 1995 to 2010, with a contribution of 98.12%; the conversion of arable land and grassland to construction land was the main factor for the decrease of assets from 2010 to 2018, with a percentage of 81.06%, where the value of each type of service was mainly composed of five items, such as soil formation and conservation, biodiversity conservation and gas regulation, water conservation, and climate regulation. This study shows that spatial and temporal evolution assessment of ecological assets is an important manifestation of the effectiveness of rocky desertification control, which can provide decision support to resource managers and users for regional ecological environment construction.

An appropriate balance between explorative and defensive behavior is essential for the survival and reproduction of prey animals in risky environments. However, the neural circuit and mechanism that allow for such a balance remains poorly understood. Here, we use a semi-naturalistic predator threat test (PTT) to observe and quantify the defense-exploration balance, especially risk exploration behavior in mice. During the PTT, the activity of the putative dorsal CA3 glutamatergic neurons (dCA3

As a form of solar energy utilization, photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) modules generate heat and electricity at the same time. Relative to individual photovoltaic or photothermal, it has a higher efficiency. In this paper, a simulation process coupling optical, electrical and thermal models for a water based low-concentration photovoltaic/thermal module is established. The optical characteristics of the module are simulated by Monte Carlo method. The electrical and thermal characteristics are numerically simulated using the finite volume method. The simulated values of outlet water temperature, output current and output power are fit well with experimental values, which verifies the reliability of the simulation process. The effects of water inlet velocity, solar irradiation, water inlet temperature, ambient temperature and wind speed on the energy and exergy performances of the module are analyzed. Results show that the direct contact of the HTF with the backside of the solar panel and the use of bifacial solar cells give the module good electrical efficiency and an overall efficiency of over 65% in all simulations. By connecting modules in series, and the application scenario can be extended.

As a form of solar energy utilization, photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) modules generate heat and electricity at the same time. Relative to individual photovoltaic or photothermal, it has a higher efficiency. In this paper, a simulation process coupling optical, electrical and thermal models for a novel double-axis tracking low-concentrating photovoltaic/thermal module is established. The optical characteristics of the module are simulated by Monte Carlo method. The electrical and thermal characteristics are numerically simulated using the finite volume method. The simulated values of outlet water temperature, output current and output power are fit well with experimental values, which verifies the reliability of the simulation process. Besides, the effects of gravity vector direction, water inlet velocity, solar irradiation, water inlet temperature, ambient temperature and wind speed on the energy and exergy performances of the module are studied. Relevant results can provide an effective basis for the proposal of module’s operation strategies.

The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic has made a huge impact on health, economies, and societies all over the world. Although reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)-based nucleic acid detection has been primarily used in the diagnosis of COVID-19, it is time-consuming with limited application scenarios and must be operated by qualified personnel. Antibody test, particularly point-of-care antibody testing, is a suitable complement to nucleic acid test as it provides rapid, portable, and cost-effective detection of infections. In this study, a Rapid Antibody Test Kit was developed based on fluorescence immunochromatography for the sensitive, accurate, and automated detection of immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in human serum, plasma, and whole blood samples within 10 min. The sensitivity, specificity, precision, and stability of the test kit were of good performance. No cross-activity and no interference was observed. In the multiple-center parallel study, 223 samples from hospitalized patients were used to evaluate the clinical specificity of the test. Both SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG achieved a clinical specificity of 98.21%. The clinical sensitivities of SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG were 79.54% and 87.45%, respectively, among 733 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) confirmed SARS-CoV-2 samples. For the combined IgM and IgG assays, the sensitivity and specificity were 89.22% and 96.86%, respectively. Our results demonstrate that the combined use of IgM and IgG could serve as a more suitable alternative detection method for patients with COVID-19, and the developed kit is of great public health significance for the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions inventory of the petroleum refinery in Hebei was established. This refinery emits 1859.2 tons of VOCs per year, with wastewater collection and treatment system being the largest emissions source, accounting for 59.6% individually, followed by the recirculating cooling water system (13.4%), storage tanks (11.1%), and equipment leaks (9.4%). Organized and fugitive samples were collected simultaneously for different processes of each emissions source. A total of 100 VOC species were characterized and quantified using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry/flame ionization detection system. The VOC emissions concentrations and chemical composition of each process were quite different. Most of the processes used alkanes as the main chemome. We concluded from the composite source profile weighted by the amount of VOC emissions that the characteristic species of this petroleum refinery were ethane (15.4%), propylene (11.7%), propane (8.5%), iso-pentane (8.3%), and toluene (4.7%). The ozone (O3) formation potential (OFP) and secondary organic aerosol formation potential (SOAP) were evaluated, and the results indicated that alkenes (mainly propylene) and aromatics (mainly toluene) were the priority control compounds. This study clarifies the current status of VOC emissions in the refinery in terms of emissions intensity, emissions components, and O3 and SOA reactivity. The key emissions sources and species screened provide scientific support for reducing refined emissions from the petrochemical industry.

A reliable assessment of energy efficiency for photovoltaic system is of importance for the solar energy policy planning and industrial development. Despite extensive advances over past years, almost all economic analyses overlooked the effect of local environment on the photoelectric conversion efficiency of solar cells, therefore leading to a non-negligible error in the prediction of photovoltaic potential. In this work, we developed a unified model to evaluate the regional economics of photovoltaic system by incorporating the heat transfer in solar cell and associated environmental influences. This model significantly improves the prediction accuracy of photovoltaic potential by establishing a correlation between the regional meteorological data and solar energy generation. In particular, with a meteorological data reduction, we dramatically decrease the computational complexity for predicting the photovoltaic potential. Through a theoretical analysis with the unified model, we demonstrate that the existing price mechanism of PV electricity in China cannot fully eliminate the economic disparities in various areas owing to the neglect of environmental effect. This work not only offers new insight into the research of solar resource and related policy making, but also provides guidelines for the further development of solar power industry.

Wireless sensor network (WSN) technology is a hot topic in current information field. It has more and more important application value in power system. On the demand side of the smart grid system, the interaction between user behavior and electricity power grid, the contradiction between supply and demand of the user and the power grid, and the competitive relationship between the user, through the establishment of a mechanism to achieve the optimal allocation of resources to improve the stability of the power grid and the rationality of the demand side. Due to the complexity of requirements, we introduce wireless communication network technology, which is suitable for intelligent network communication of interactive communication system. We introduced the cross-layer optimization routing protocol MM - CTP and put forward a kind of MAC layer and the routing layer of wireless sensor network based on cross layer optimization method, the demand for smart grid side network and cross-layer optimization framework, the classification and concrete method of wireless sensor network were studied.

Autophagy is an important cellular recycling mechanism through self-digestion in responses to cellular stress such as starvation. Studies have shown that autophagy is involved in maintaining the homeostasis of the neural system during stroke. However, molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal autophagy in ischemic stroke remain poorly understood. Previously, we and others have shown that immune-related GTPase M (IRGM; termed IRGM1 in the mouse nomenclature) can regulate the survival of immune cells through autophagy in response to infections and autoimmune conditions. Here, using a permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (pMCAO) mouse model, we found that IRGM1 was upregulated in the ischemic side of the brain, which was accompanied by a significant autophagic response. In contrast, neuronal autophagy was almost complete lost in Irgm1 knockout (KO) mice after pMCAO induction. In addition, the infarct volume in the Irgm1-KO pMCAO mice was significantly increased as compared to wild-type mice. Histological studies suggested that, at the early stage (within 24 h) of ischemia, the IRGM1-dependent autophagic response is associated with a protection of neurons from necrosis in the ischemic core but a promotion of neuronal apoptosis in the penumbra area. These data demonstrate a novel role of IRGM1 in regulating neuronal autophagy and survival during ischemic stroke.

Macrophage derived foam cells are actively involved in the initial phase of atherosclerosis. Uptake of modified lipoprotein such as oxidized LDL (oxLDL) is a critical step for foam cell formation. CD36 is the major receptor mediating oxLDL uptake by macrophage. However, the molecular mechanism underlying CD36 mediated oxLDL uptake remains unclear. Here we reported that IRGM1 (IRGM in human), a member of immunity-related small GTPase family, is essential for the actin-dependent CD36 mediated oxLDL uptake by macrophage. IRGM/IRGM1 was highly expressed by macrophage around the atherosclerotic plaque and was up-regulated by oxLDL both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover loss of IRGM/IRMG1 significantly decreased oxLDL uptake in both mouse and human. Furthermore, the IRGM1 knock-out mice displayed impaired CD36 internalization in macrophage, which was associated with the deficiency of F-actin polymerization. These results revealed a novel function of IRGM1 in regulating oxLDL uptake by macrophage during atherosclerosis.

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS), is a T cell-mediated autoimmune condition characterized by prominent inflammation in the CNS. In this model, autoreactive T cells are primed in peripheral lymph nodes and migrate into uninflamed CNS across blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB) and blood-brain barrier (BBB) to initiate inflammation. However, the molecular mechanism controlling T cell migration remains to be determined. In an in vivo EAE mouse model, we have shown that Irgm1 (also known as LRG-47), a member of the immunity-related GTPase family, promotes the disruption of both BCSFB and BBB, and exacerbates the phenotypes of MOG-induced EAE. During EAE, Irgm1 was up-regulated in reactive astrocytes, ependymal cells and epithelial cells of the choroids plexus, which, in turn, promotes T cell infiltration into the CNS. Electron microscopy study showed that the MOG-induced disruption of both BBB and BCSFB was protected in the Irgm1(-/-) mice. Moreover, the expression of Claudin-5 (CLN-5), a major molecular determinant of BBB, in brain microvessel endothelial cells (BMVECs) was decreased in WT EAE mice while increased in Irgm1(-/-) mice. In addition, the expression of CC-chemokine ligand 20 (CCL-20), an important chemokine mediating lymphocyte trafficking across BCSFB, in the epithelial cells of choroids plexus was significantly suppressed in naive and EAE-induced Irgm1(-/-) mice. These data suggest that Irgm1 is an important molecular regulator for the properties of both BBB and BCSFB, and a proinflammatory factor for EAE.

TRPM7 senses hydraulic pressure and modulates cortical actomyosin to guide migrating cells towards the path of lower resistance., How cells sense hydraulic pressure and make directional choices in confinement remains elusive. Using trifurcating Ψ-like microchannels of different hydraulic resistances and cross-sectional areas, we discovered that the TRPM7 ion channel is the critical mechanosensor, which directs decision-making of blebbing cells toward channels of lower hydraulic resistance irrespective of their cross-sectional areas. Hydraulic pressure–mediated TRPM7 activation triggers calcium influx and supports a thicker cortical actin meshwork containing an elevated density of myosin-IIA. Cortical actomyosin shields cells against external forces and preferentially directs cell entrance in low resistance channels. Inhibition of TRPM7 function or actomyosin contractility renders cells unable to sense different resistances and alters the decision-making pattern to cross-sectional area–based partition. Cell distribution in microchannels is captured by a mathematical model based on the maximum entropy principle using cortical actin as a key variable. This study demonstrates the unique role of TRPM7 in controlling decision-making and navigating migration in complex microenvironments.