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The aim of this study was to explore the effect of Acer truncatum seed oil (ATO) on physiological indicators and the intestinal flora in aging Drosophila melanogaster. Wild-type D. melanogaster was cultured on a basal medium supplemented with 10, 20 or 40 g/kg ATO, and its behavioral changes such as lifespan, crawling ability, and olfactory memory and heat tolerance capacity were evaluated. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) were measured. The midguts were collected to examine changes in gut microbiota composition by using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Compared with the control group, the average lifespan of D. melanogasters in each ATO intervention group was significantly increased (P < 0.000 1); the most pronounced antiaging effect was observed at 20 g/kg ATO, where the average lifespan was prolonged by 31%. In addition, the crawling ability, olfactory memory and heat tolerance capacity were improved, and the activities of SOD and GSH-Px were increased in the 20 g/kg ATO intervention group. Aging changed the composition and structure of the gut microbiota in D. melanogasters. The results of linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) analysis suggested that the relative abundance of Enterobacteriaceae, Gluconobacter and Morganella morganii were increased in aging D. melanogasters, which was inhibited by ATO supplementation. To summarize, ATO has an anti-aging effect, alleviates physiological decline in D. melanogaster and prolongs its lifespan. The underlying mechanism may be related to changing the richness, evenness and structure of the gut microbiota in aging D. melanogasters, thereby regulating the gut microbiota and improving the antioxidant capacity.

The high proportion of renewable energy and power electronic equipment is emerging as a significant trend and key characteristic of the power system development driven by the dual promotion of the energy transformation and scientific technological advancement. Major modifications have been made to the dynamic behavior of the new power system. The traditional small signal stability analysis approach is difficult to apply, and there are still urgent issues to be resolved for the quick change of operating conditions. In this paper, a Lyapunov direct analysis method of gradient dynamic deviation based on phasor measurement unit (PMU) data is proposed to analyze the small signal stability of the new power system. First, the PMU data matrix is used to reduce the dimension to obtain the low dimension matrix, which is substituted into the power system matrix model with a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG). The diagonal matrix is obtained by solving the Lyapunov equation, and the positive definiteness of the matrix is determined to judge the system stability. Then, the dynamic deviation of corresponding state variable is calculated by solving the obtained diagonal matrix. The gradient descent method is applied to the corresponding state variable curve to iterate the extreme point value of curve. The time-weighted dynamic deviation of the whole oscillation process is calculated by time weighting, which provides guidance for the subsequent configuration position of damping stability controller, i.e., power system stabilizer (PSS). The method can improve the small interference stability of the system. The effectiveness of the fast stability analysis of the new power system is verified by simulations of the new England 10-machine 39-bus system with DFIG.

BackgroundWe aimed to explore the inter-connection between depression and HRQOL dimensions in cancer patients using a network approach, which might provide new insights for precise interventions to improve cancer patients’ overall HRQOL.MethodsBetween June 1, 2016, and August 31, 2017, a total of 1735 eligible patients with heterogeneous types of cancer were recruited. The Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) were used to measure patients’ depression status and HRQOL, respectively. A regularized partial correlation network was established. Central and bridge symptoms/functions were identified using expected influence and bridge expected influence. A directed acyclic graph (DAG) was used to explore the possible causal relationship between depression and HRQOL dimensions.ResultsIn this study, depression and 15 dimensions of the EORTC-QLQ-C30 scale were highly inter-correlated and could be represented as a network. We found that nearly two-thirds of cancer patients experienced various degrees of depression, and depression was consistently the central symptom in the network, in addition to nausea/vomiting, pain, and physical function. DAG and bridge symptoms indicated that depression might influence overall HRQOL in cancer patients mainly through emotional function, pain, physical function, and sleeplessness, particularly in cancer patients with moderate-to-severe depression. The disparity in network structures between mild and moderate-to-severe depression suggested that the relationship between depression and HRQOL dimensions might be bidirectional.ConclusionThe prevalence of depression remained high in Chinese patients with cancer, and depression may influence various symptoms and functions within the HRQOL network. Screening and early treatment of depression were warranted to improve the overall HRQOL of cancer patients, in addition to adequate treatment of pain and nausea/vomiting and improvement in physical function.

Cadmium (Cd) pollution is a global environmental problem. It is of great significance to find a kind of pasture that can grow normally in a cadmium environment, especially in the Tibetan Plateau. We studied the fruit germination and fruit growth of Elymus sinsubmuticus S.L. Chen and Elymus tangutorum (Nevski), native plants of the Tibetan Plateau, in different cadmium environments. The results showed that with increased cadmium stress, the fruit germination rate, final germination rate, fruit-vigor, average germination time, and germination-speed index for the two grass species gradually decreased, and the 50% germination time for the seed gradually increased. Root length, biomass, and the number of leaves decreased in both species. We quantified the fruit germination and growth of plants in the cadmium environment and found that E. sinosubmuticus S.L. Chen had better fruit germination and fruit growth, and it had the development potential of cadmium pollution control.