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Meijun Chen,1 Qingping Yun,1 Haoxiang Lin,1 Shenglan Liu,2 Yihua Liu,1 Yuhui Shi,1 Ying Ji,1 Chun Chang1 1School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Social Development, Development Research Center of the State Council, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Chun Chang School of Public Health, Peking University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China Tel +8613601235974 Email changchunpku@126.comPurpose: Self-management behavior (SMB) plays a significant role in glycemic control. This study aimed to explore the factors related to SMB among patients with type 2 diabetes and how these factors interacted with each other.Patients and Methods: Patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes were recruited from 18 community healthcare stations (CHSs) from six community healthcare centers (CHCs) in Beijing, China from April to May in 2017. Motivation, competence, autonomy support, social support, self-management skills, adherence to self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) and haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) measurement were tested by questionnaire. Correlation analysis and path analysis were performed so as to identify the factors associated with patients’ SMB.Results: A total of 532 participants completed this study. Participants who have good compliance to SMBG got higher scores in social support (F = 7.68, p = 0.01), competence (F = 10.47, p = 0.01), and skills (F = 12.34, p < 0.01). Higher competence (β = 0.03, P < 0.001), higher social support (β = 0.01, P < 0.001), better skills(β = 0.01, P < 0.001) directly led to better adherence to SMBG. Social support had a positive effect on autonomy support (β = 0.69, P < 0.001), motivation (β = 0.45, P < 0.001), competence (β = 0.28, P < 0.001), skills (β = 0.14, P < 0.001), which was also indirectly linked to better adherence to SMBG. Better self-management skills directly led to better adherence to HbA1c measurement (β = 0.03, P < 0.001). Social support had a positive effect on autonomy support (β = 0.69, P < 0.001), motivation (β = 0.45, P < 0.001), competence (β = 0.28, P < 0.001), skills (β = 0.14, P < 0.001), which was also indirectly linked to better adherence to HbA1c measurement.Conclusion: Self-determination theory and social support theory were practical in explaining SMB in Chinese population. Competence, motivation and social support played an important role in diabetic self-management. Paying attention to the promotion of individual’s intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy may be able to help patients maintain self-management behavior in the long-term routine.Keywords: self-determination theory, social support theory, self-monitoring of blood glucose, motivation, diabetes

Abstract Quick Response (QR) codes are designed for information storage and high-speed reading applications. To store additional information, Two-Level QR (2LQR) codes replace black modules in standard QR codes with specific texture patterns. When the 2LQR code is printed, texture patterns are blurred and their sizes are smaller than $$0.5{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$$ 0.5 cm 2 . Recognizing small-sized blurred texture patterns is challenging. In original 2LQR literature, recognition of texture patterns is based on maximizing the correlation between print-and-scanned texture patterns and the original digital ones. When employing desktop printers with large pixel extensions and low-resolution capture devices, the recognition accuracy of texture patterns greatly reduces. To improve the recognition accuracy under this situation, our work presents a dictionary learning based scheme to recognize printed texture patterns. To our best knowledge, it is the first attempt to use dictionary learning to promote the recognition accuracy of printed texture patterns. In our scheme, dictionaries for all kinds of texture patterns are learned from print-and-scanned texture modules in the training stage. And these learned dictionaries are employed to represent each texture module in the testing stage (extracting process) to recognize their texture pattern. Experimental results show that our proposed algorithm significantly reduces the recognition error of small-sized printed texture patterns.

Peng Xue,1 Yuqi Yang,2 Qi Yun,1 Yue Cui,1 Bin Yu,2 Wei Long2 1Department of Pediatrics, Changzhou Children’s Hospital, Changzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Medical Genetics, Affiliated Changzhou Women and Children’s Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Changzhou, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Wei LongDepartment of Medical Genetics, Affiliated Changzhou Women and Children’s Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, No. 16, Dingxiang Road, Changzhou, 213000, People’s Republic of ChinaFax +86 519 8858 1350Email longwei2010@126.comPurpose: To screen variants of the thyroid stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) gene among congenital hypothyroidism (CH) patients.Patients and Methods: We conducted a genetic screening of the TSHR gene in a cohort of 125 Chinese CH patients. Variants were detected by customized targeted next-generation sequencing.Results: A total of 11 TSHR missense heterozygous variants were identified in 14 CH patients. Six variants were in the transmembrane domains, four variants were in the leucine-rich repeats and one variant was located in the hinge region of the TSHR protein. p.F525S was the most prevalent variant with an allele frequency of 0.016, followed by p.R450H with an allele frequency of 0.012. The allele frequency of most variants was higher in our cohort than those of other populations.Conclusion: The prevalence of TSHR variants was 11.2%. Variant p.F525S was the most prevalent variant with an allele frequency of 0.016. The prevalence of TSHR variants was different from other populations.Keywords: congenital hypothyroidism, thyroid stimulating hormone receptor, variant, prevalence

Abstract Improvements in high-resolution satellite remote sensing and computational advancements have sped up the development of global datasets that delineate urban land, crucial for understanding climate risks in our increasingly urbanizing world. Here, we analyze urban land cover patterns across spatiotemporal scales from several such current-generation products. While all the datasets show a rapidly urbanizing world, with global urban land nearly tripling between 1985 and 2015, there are substantial discrepancies in urban land area estimates among the products influenced by scale, differing urban definitions, and methodologies. We discuss the implications of these discrepancies for several use cases, including for monitoring urban climate hazards and for modeling urbanization-induced impacts on weather and climate from regional to global scales. Our results demonstrate the importance of choosing fit-for-purpose datasets for examining specific aspects of historical, present, and future urbanization with implications for sustainable development, resource allocation, and quantification of climate impacts.

Abstract Daily meteorological observation data of the early period (pre-1950) were critically important for investigating the long-term trends and multi-decadal scale variability of extreme climate events. The high-resolution surface air temperature (SAT) data for time period before 1950 are lacking in China. We extended the SAT observations of China back to 1840 through developing a pre-1950 daily SAT dataset. The early-period daily SAT were manually corrected for the input and clerical errors, and then according to the length or coverage of time, the main series for each of the cities was determined. The observation time system of unknown sites was determined by the minimum difference method. After these operations, the data of all sites were unified into the same format. By using the ridge regressions established based on data from modern reference stations, the missing maximum temperature (Tmax) and minimum temperature (Tmin) were interpolated. The early-period data were combined with modern data to form the long-term daily SAT dataset of 1840–2020 in China. RHtest software was used to detect and adjust the inhomogeneities in the station data series. Finally, the century-long homogenized daily SAT dataset including 45 key city stations in China was obtained. Among the stations, there are 20 stations with observation record more than one hundred years. The length of temperature observation series of 17 stations is between 80 and 100 years. The series length of the remaining 7 stations is between 68 and 80 years. Finally, the angular distance weighting (ADW) method was used to interpolate the data into grid products, and the grid size is 2.5 ° × 2.5 °. The dataset was named CUG-CMA CHDT, which is applicable in monitoring, studies and assessments of regional extreme temperature change and variability in China.

Abstract Background Retinal ischemia/reperfusion (IR) injury is a common pathological process in many ophthalmic diseases. Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) is an important inflammatory factor involved in the pathology of retinal IR injury, but the mechanism by which IL-1β is regulated in such injury remains unclear. Caspase-11 non-canonical inflammasomes can regulate the synthesis and secretion of IL-1β, but its role in retinal IR injury has not been elucidated. This study aimed to evaluate the role of caspase-11 non-canonical inflammasomes in retinal IR injury. Methods Retinal IR injury was induced in C57BL/6J mice by increasing the intraocular pressure to 110 mmHg for 60 min. The post-injury changes in retinal morphology and function and in IL-1β expression were compared between caspase-11 gene knockout (caspase-11−/−) mice and wild-type (WT) mice. Morphological and functional changes were evaluated using hematoxylin–eosin staining and retinal whole mount staining and using electroretinography (ERG), respectively. IL-1β expression in the retina was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The levels of caspase-11-related protein were measured using western blot analysis. The location of caspase-11 in the retina was determined via immunofluorescence staining. Mouse type I astrocytes C8-D1A cells were used to validate the effects of caspase-11 simulation via hypoxia in vitro. Small-interfering RNA targeting caspase-11 was constructed. Cell viability was evaluated using the MTT assay. IL-1β expression in supernatant and cell lysate was measured using ELISA. The levels of caspase-11-related protein were measured using western blot analysis. Results Retinal ganglion cell death and retinal edema were more ameliorated, and the ERG b-wave amplitude was better after retinal IR injury in caspase-11−/− mice than in WT mice. Further, caspase-11−/− mice showed lower protein expressions of IL-1β, cleaved caspase-1, and gasdermin D (GSDMD) in the retina after retinal IR injury. Caspase-11 protein was expressed in retinal glial cells, and caspase-11 knockdown played a protective role against hypoxia in C8-D1A cells. The expression levels of IL-1β, cleaved caspase-1, and GSDMD were inhibited after hypoxia in the si-caspase-11 constructed cells. Conclusions Retinal IR injury activates caspase-11 non-canonical inflammasomes in glial cells of the retina. This results in increased protein levels of GSDMD and IL-1β and leads to damage in the inner layer of the retina.

Abstract This study evaluated the responses of sweet potatoes to Cadmium (Cd) stress through pot experiments to theoretically substantiate their comprehensive applications in Cd-polluted agricultural land. The experiments included a CK treatment and three Cd stress treatments with 3, 30, and 150 mg/kg concentrations, respectively. We analyzed specified indicators of sweet potato at different growth periods, such as the individual plant growth, photosynthesis, antioxidant capacity, and carbohydrate Cd accumulation distribution. On this basis, the characteristics of the plant carbon metabolism in response to Cd stress throughout the growth cycle were explored. The results showed that T2 and T3 treatments inhibited the vine growth, leaf area expansion, stem diameter elongation, and tuberous root growth of sweet potato; notably, T3 treatment significantly increased the number of sweet potato branches. Under Cd stress, the synthesis of chlorophyll in sweet potato was significantly suppressed, and the Rubisco activity experienced significant reductions. With the increasing Cd concentration, the function of PS II was also affected. The soluble sugar content underwent no significant change in low Cd concentration treatments. In contrast, it decreased significantly under high Cd concentrations. Additionally, the tuberous root starch content decreased significantly with the increase in Cd concentration. Throughout the plant growth, the activity levels of catalase, peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase increased significantly in T2 and T3 treatments. By comparison, the superoxide dismutase activity in T1 treatment was significantly lower than that of CK. With the increasing application of Cd, its accumulation accordingly increased in various sweet potato organs. The the highest bioconcentration factor was detected in absorbing roots, while the tuberous roots had a lower bioconcentration factor and Cd accumulation. Moreover, the transfer factor from stem to petiole was the highest of the potato organs. These results demonstrated that sweet potatoes had a high Cd tolerance and a restoration potential for Cd-contaminated farmland.