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In recent years, the warming–wetting trend in the arid region of Northwest China has attracted widespread attention. To reveal whether this phenomenon exists in the whole Pan-Central-Asia arid region, this paper adopts the latest monthly gridded dataset of the Climate Research Unit Time Series version 4.05 (CRU TS v4.05) and the multi-model ensemble data of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CIMP6) for discussion from multiple perspectives. The results show that the Pan-Central-Asia arid region has been getting warmer and wetter in the last 80 years. Since the turn of the 21st century, there has been an apparent slowdown in the regional wetting trend despite the acceleration of precipitation increase, mainly caused by the growth in evapotranspiration potential. The interannual scale dominates the precipitation change, including significant quasi-three-year and quasi-six-year cycles. The interannual variability in precipitation is mainly affected by the change in the phases of Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO), while long-term variation dominates the temperature change, which is significantly related to the variations in the Arctic oscillation (AO). Thus, future research and predictions of regional precipitation should focus on the PDO variations, followed by the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), whereas for research on, and predictions of, temperature, the effect of AO variations should be emphasized. Except for a few regions in Central-Eastern Mongolia and Central Kazakhstan, precipitation levels in most parts of the Pan-Central-Asia region have been increasing. The regional temperature exhibits a distribution pattern which decreases from northwest to southeast. The increase in precipitation in the Pan-Central-Asia arid region alleviates the drought in most regions, including most of Northwest China. However, the arid and semi-arid climate patterns in this region have not changed. The warming–wetting trend will significantly accelerate in medium-emissions scenarios in the next 80 years. Although the increase in precipitation may be a positive aspect of this trend, the rise in potential evapotranspiration caused by sharp warming may cause greater challenges to the regional climate and ecological environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aspartic proteases (APs) are a class of aspartic peptidases belonging to nine proteolytic enzyme families whose members are widely distributed in biological organisms. APs play essential functions during plant development and environmental adaptation. However, there are few reports about APs in fast-growing moso bamboo. Result: In this study, we identified a total of 129 AP proteins (PhAPs) encoded by the moso bamboo genome. Phylogenetic and gene structure analyses showed that these 129 PhAPs could be divided into three categories (categories A, B and C). The PhAP gene family in moso bamboo may have undergone gene expansion, especially the members of categories A and B, although homologs of some members in category C have been lost. The chromosomal location of PhAPs suggested that segmental and tandem duplication events were critical for PhAP gene expansion. Promoter analysis revealed that PhAPs in moso bamboo may be involved in plant development and responses to environmental stress. Furthermore, PhAPs showed tissue-specific expression patterns and may play important roles in rapid growth, including programmed cell death, cell division and elongation, by integrating environmental signals such as light and gibberellin signals. Conclusion: Comprehensive analysis of the AP gene family in moso bamboo suggests that PhAPs have experienced gene expansion that is distinct from that in rice and may play an important role in moso bamboo organ development and rapid growth. Our results provide a direction and lay a foundation for further analysis of plant AP genes to clarify their function during rapid growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant temporal and spatial variability in soil moisture (SM) is observed during the warm season in China and its surrounding regions. Because of the existence of two different evapotranspiration regimes, i.e., soil moisture-limited and energy-limited, averaging the land–atmosphere (L–A) coupling strength for all soil wetness scenarios may result in the loss of coupling signals. This study examines the daytime-only L–A interactions under different soil moisture conditions, by using two-legged metrics in the warm season from May to September 1981–2020, partitioning the interactions between SM and latent heat flux (SM–LH, the land leg) from the interactions between latent heat flux and the lifting condensation level (LH–LCL, the atmospheric leg). The statistical results reveal large regional differences in warm-season daytime L–A feedback in China and its surrounding areas. As the soil becomes wetter, the positive SM–LH coupling strength increases in arid regions (e.g., northwest China, Hetao, and the Great Indian Desert) and the positive feedback shifts to the negative one in semi-arid/semi-humid regions (northeast and northern China). The negative LH–LCL coupling is most pronounced in wet soil months in arid regions, while the opposite is true for the Tibetan Plateau. In terms of intraseasonal variation, the large variability of SM in north China, the Tibetan Plateau, and India due to the influence of the summer monsoon leads to the sign change in the land segment coupling index, comparing pre- and post-monsoon periods. To further examine the impact of SM anomalies on L–A coupling and to explore evapotranspiration regimes in the North China Plain, four sets of sensitivity experiments with different soil moisture levels over a period of 10 years were conducted. Under relatively dry soil conditions, evapotranspiration is dominated by the soil moisture-limited regime with positive L–A coupling, regardless of external moisture inflow. The critical soil moisture value separating a soil moisture-limited and an energy-limited regime lies between 0.24 m3/m3 and 0.29 m3/m3. Stronger positive feedback under negative soil moisture anomalies may increase the risk of drought in the North China Plain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose Bowdon-Johnson-Kendall-Roberts model to measure the critical shear stress of circular point contact, and the critical shear stress map is constructed through the lateral force mode and force map mode of Atomic Force Microscope to research the interface property of nanomaterials. The mean critical shear stresses are measured as 0.24 MPa for monolayer MoS 2 and 0.69 MPa for graphene. MoS 2 nanosheet and graphene are of the lower critical shear stress and friction coefficient than those of the bulk materials, which are good agreement with the regularities in nanotribology. The critical shear stress can be used to not only quantitatively characterize the frictional properties, but also analyze the friction at different loading stages. The critical shear stress map would play an important role in sliding contact of nanomaterials for the drive part design and nanotribological reliability of nanoelectronic mechanical system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scheme 1. Schematic illustration of Persistent immune response: Twice tumor shed induced by sialic acid–modified vincristine sulfate liposomes. (A) Preparation of SA-CH-modified vincristine sulfate liposomes. (B) Schematic illustration of SA-CH-modified vincristine sulfate liposomes, which effectively target tumor-associated macrophages, improve the tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment, and induce anti-tumor immune responses. [Display omitted] Studies have shown that tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are crucial for the establishment and maintenance in immunosuppressive tumor immune microenvironment (TIME), which can help tumor cells to achieve immune escape and attenuate antitumor therapy. Siglecs, the receptors of sialic acid (SA), widely exist in TAMs, which could be targeted to disrupt TIME and inhibit tumor growth at the root. Therefore, a SA–modified VCR liposome was reported (VCR-SSAL). Cellular and pharmacodynamic experiments showed that VCR-SSAL exhibited strong TAMs targeting and tumor-killing ability. Interestingly, VCR-SSAL treatment induced a phenomenon in which the cancerous tissues were "fell off" from the growth site, after which the wound gradually healed. Three months after the wound healed, the mice whose tumors fell off were re-inoculated, and the tumor fell off again without treatment, with an exfoliation rate of 100%. We speculated that this special efficacy might be due to that VCR loaded in VCR-SSAL could activate adaptive immunity by inducing DNA damage, promoting cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) infiltration into tumor sites, and enhancing the antitumor immune response. Thus, this study might provide new insights into the application of traditional chemotherapeutic drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Located in the central part of the arid regions of Northwest China, the Heihe River Basin (HRB) plays an important role in wind prevention, sand fixation, and soil and water conservation as the second largest inland river basin. In the context of the warming and wetting climate observed in Northwest China, the situation of the ecological environment in the HRB is of significant concern. Using the data from meteorological observation stations, grid fusion and hydrological monitoring, this study analyzes the multi-scale climate changes in the HRB and their impacts on runoff. In addition, predictive models for runoff in the upper and middle reaches were developed using machine learning methods. The results indicate that the climate in the HRB has experienced an overall warming and wetting trend over the past 60 years. At the same time, there are clear regional variabilities in the climate changes. Precipitation shows decreasing trends in the northwestern part of the HRB, while it shows increases at rates higher than the regional average in the southeastern part. Moreover, the temperature increases are generally smaller in the upper reaches than those in the middle and lower reaches. Over the past 60 years, there has been a remarkable increase in runoff at the Yingluo Gorge (YL) hydrological station, which exhibits a distinct "single-peak" pattern in the variation of monthly runoff. The annual runoff volume at the YL (ZY) hydrological station is significantly correlated with the precipitation in the upper (middle) reaches, indicating the precipitation is the primary influencing factor determining the annual runoff. Temperature has a significant impact only on the runoff in the upper reaches, while its impact is not significant in the middle reaches. The models trained by the support vector machines and random forest models perform best in predicting the annual runoff and monthly runoff, respectively. This study can provide a scientific basis for environmental protection and sustainable development in the HRB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

mRNA vaccines are attractive prospects for the development of DC-targeted vaccines; however, no clinical success has been realized because, currently, it is difficult to simultaneously achieve DC targeting and efficient endosomal/lysosomal escape. Herein, we developed a sialic acid (SA)-modified mRNA vaccine that simultaneously achieved both. The SA modification promoted DCs uptake of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) by 2 times, >90% of SA-modified LNPs rapidly escaped from early endosomes (EEs), avoided entering lysosomes, achieved mRNA simultaneously translated in ribosomes distributed in the cytoplasm and endoplasmic reticulum (ER), significantly improved the transfection efficiency of mRNA LNPs in DCs. Additionally, we applied cleavable PEG-lipids in mRNA vaccines for the first time and found this conducive to cellular uptake and DC targeting. In summary, SA-modified mRNA vaccines targeted DCs efficiently, and showed significantly higher EEs/lysosomal escape efficiency (90% vs 50%), superior tumor treatment effect, and lower side effects than commercially formulated mRNA vaccines. The SA-modified mRNA vaccine prepared by microfluidic mixture synchronously realizes DCs targeted and efficient EEs and lysosome escape, activates the immune system to eliminate tumors. [Display omitted] • Simultaneously achieving DC targeting and efficient endosomal/lysosomal escape. • First to apply sialic acid- lipid derivative and cleavable PEG-lipid on mRNA LNPs. • Constructed a new computational model to evaluate the transfection efficiency of mRNA delivery vectors. • SA modification significantly improved the antitumor efficacy of mRNA vaccine, and has fewer side effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the expansion of system scale and the reduction in simulation step size, the design of a power system real-time simulation platform faces many difficulties. The interactive operation of real-time simulation presents the characteristics of phased and centralized. This paper proposes selecting the appropriate simulation method for each sub-network according to the system operation requirements, and the sub-network simulation method can be changed with the change in system operation requirements in the simulation process. In order to change the sub-network simulation method in the simulation process, a high flexibility hybrid architecture real-time simulation platform based on FPGA was designed. The main body of the architecture runs in the high control mode of instruction flow and uses instruction flexibility to realize the requirement of changing methods. The algorithm modularity architecture is used as an auxiliary architecture to reduce the instruction cost and increase the computing power. Finally, the hybrid architecture real-time simulation platform was implemented in the Xilinx VC709 board (Xilinx corporation, San Jose, CA, USA), and the verification results show that under the same system scale, the hybrid architecture simulation platform combined with simulation method changing realizes shorter simulation step and complex interactive operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) treatment is promising for the clinical therapy of numerous malignancies. However, most cancer patients rarely benefit from such single-agent immunotherapies because of the complexity of both the tumor and tumor microenvironment. A tumor-specific liposomal vehicle (DOX-SAL) modified with a sialic acid-cholesterol conjugate (SA-CH) and remotely loaded with doxorubicin (DOX) is herein reported for improving chemoimmunotherapy. The intravenous administration of DOX-SAL dramatically downregulates tumor-associated macrophage (TAM)-mediated immunosuppression, inhibits immunoregulatory functions, and promotes intratumoral infiltration of CD8+ T cells. Compared to conventional liposomes, DOX-SAL-mediated combination therapy with a PD-1-blocking monoclonal antibody (aPD-1 mAb) almost completely eliminates B16F10 tumors and efficiently inhibits 4T1 tumors. Moreover, cancer stem cells exhibit efficient tumor-initiating, tumor-propagating, and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment-shaping capabilities. To further improve the treatment efficacy of an immunologically "cold" tumor, metformin (MET), which selectively eradicates breast cancer tumor stem cells, is co-encapsulated with DOX into liposomes to develop DOX/MET-SAL. The combination therapy with DOX/MET-SAL and aPD-1 mAb in a 4T1 orthotopic mouse model indicates their synergetic benefit on primary tumor inhibition, metastasis suppression, and survival rate improvement. Thus, the multifunctional liposomal platform has potential value for ICB combination immunotherapy. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neutrophil-mediated drug-delivery systems have gained widespread attention owing to their superior efficacy in cancer therapy. Neutrophils, the most abundant white cells in peripheral blood, are known to migrate to inflamed tumors. Here, we elaborate on a novel strategy to enhance tumor infiltration of neutrophils by photodynamic/photothermal therapy (PDT/PTT) to deliver ibrutinib (IBR) nanocomplexes for cancer immunotherapy. DiR-loading liposomes (DiR-lipos) were administered to induce acute inflammation, and sialic acid (SA) derivative-coated IBR-loading nanocomplexes (SA-2@NCs) were fabricated for targeting activated peripheral blood neutrophils (PBNs). This in vitro and in vivo attempt, therefore, proved the hypothesis that inducing acute inflammation via PDT/PTT could facilitate the migration of PBNs, which could deliver SA-2@NCs into the tumor. The enhanced tumor delivery of SA-2@NCs was accompanied by enhanced antitumor T-cell immune responses in a mouse orthotopic breast cancer model. Our findings indicate that the combination of IBR-mediated immunotherapy with DiR-mediated PDT/PTT bring together two leading novel strategies, taking advantage of their synergistic mechanisms of action for a potent anti-tumor efficacy for breast cancer therapy. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract A facile one-step solid-phase synthesis strategy is developed for synthesizing a binder-free molybdenum disulfide/carbon fibers paper (MoS 2 /CFP) anode. The microstructure, composition, morphology and electrochemical performances were investigated. It is found that the thin MoS 2 layers are well anchored on the interlaced carbon fibers to form MoS 2 /CFP, which has mesoporous structure and large specific surface area of ∼18.8 m2g-1. As a result, the obtained MoS 2 /CFP anode exhibits a reversible capacity of 261 mAh·g−1 with 31.2% loading ratio of MoS 2. After subtracting the capacity of CFP, the MoS 2 in the composite anode delivers a reversible capacity of 539 mAh·g−1 and shows better cycle stability than commercial MoS 2 after 100 cycles at 100 mA g−1. The remarkable electrochemical performances could be attributed to the buffer space among carbon fibers for the volume changes of MoS 2 as well as the highly conductive carbon fibers network, suggesting that the MoS 2 /CFP is a promising binder-free anode for lithium-ion batteries. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • A one-step solid-phase synthesis strategy is developed to fabricate MoS 2 /CFP anode. • The MoS 2 and the carbon matrix of MoS 2 /CFP composite were synthesized synchronously. • The MoS 2 /CFP anode exhibits enhanced cycling performance and high-rate capability. • The mechanism of the enhanced electrochemical properties was discussed for MoS 2 /CFP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]