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Abstract Background In-depth understanding of dynamic expression profiles of human granulosa cells (GCs) during follicular development will contribute to the diagnostic and targeted interventions for female infertility. However, genome-scale analysis of long non-coding ribonucleic acid (lncRNA) in GCs across diverse developmental stages is challenging. Meanwhile, further research is needed to determine how aberrant lncRNA expression participates in ovarian diseases. Methods Granulosa cell-related lncRNAs data spanning five follicular development stages were retrieved and filtered from the NCBI dataset (GSE107746). Stage-specific lncRNA expression patterns and mRNA-lncRNA co-expression networks were identified with bioinformatic approaches. Subsequently, the expression pattern of SNHG18 was detected in GCs during ovarian aging. And SNHG18 siRNA or overexpression plasmids were transfected to SVOG cells in examining the regulatory roles of SNHG18 in GC proliferation and apoptosis. Moreover, whether PKCɛ/SNHG18 signaling take part in GC glycolysis via ENO1 were verified in SVOG cells. Results We demonstrated that GC-related lncRNAs were specifically expressed across different developmental stages, and coordinated crucial biological functions like mitotic cell cycle and metabolic processes in the folliculogenesis. Thereafter, we noticed a strong correlation of PRKCE and SNHG18 expression in our analysis. With downregulated SNHG18 of GCs identified in the context of ovarian aging, SNHG18 knockdown could further induce cell apoptosis, retard cell proliferation and exacerbate DNA damage in SVOG cell. Moreover, downregulated PKCɛ/SNHG18 pathway interrupted the SVOG cell glycolysis by lowering the ENO1 expression. Conclusions Altogether, our results revealed that folliculogenesis-related lncRNA SNHG18 participated in the pathogenesis of ovarian aging, which may provide novel biomarkers for ovarian function and new insights for the infertility treatment.

This study aimed to elucidate the effects and potential mechanisms of dioscin on chronic prostatitis (CP) in vivo and in vitro. CP models were constructed in vivo and in vitro and treated with different concentrations of dioscin. Hematoxylin and eosin staining was used to investigate the morphology of the prostate tissues. The concentration of inflammatory factors in prostate tissues was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The release of reactive oxygen species, malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, and catalase was measured using detection kits. P69 cell proliferation was assessed by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide. Furthermore, the activity of the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway was determined by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction or Western blot assay. Histopathological data suggested that dioscin exerted protective effects against prostate morphological changes. Dioscin inhibits inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress (OS) in prostate tissues in a concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, dioscin notably inhibited the activation of the TLR4/NF-κB signaling pathway in CP rats. In vitro, dioscin remarkably reduced lipopolysaccharide-induced P69 proliferation, inflammation, OS, and TLR4/NF-κB pathway activation in a dose-dependent manner. In conclusion, dioscin exerts a protective effect in CP by decreasing the inflammatory response and OS through the TLR4/NF-κB pathways. Our findings provide a novel latent therapy for dioscin for the treatment and prevention of CP.

Recently, the retained austenite (RA) with chemically heterogeneous has attracted great attention in medium Mn steel. In this work, we designed a two-step intercritical annealing (TIA) heat treatment process to prepare high-strength medium Mn steel with the chemical composition of Fe–0.20C–8.0Mn–1.6Si–1.3Al (wt.%). Compared with the normal intercritical annealing (IA) heat treatment process, the TIA process can not only increase the volume fraction of RA but also obtain the RA with inhomogeneous Mn distribution. Meanwhile, it was found that the Mn content on the outer side of this structured RA was higher than that on the inner side, forming a nanoscale Mn-enriched layer on the outer side of RA, which played a significant role in improving the stability of RA. Finally, we used the TIA process to obtain medium Mn steel with an ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 1611.83 MPa, a total elongation (TE) of 45.02%, and a product of strength and elongation (PSE) of 72.56 GPa·%, which achieves a superior combination of high strength and high ductility in medium Mn steel.

Coal chemical industry is one of the economic pillars of China. Coal gasification slag and gasification wastewater are the wastes produced in the process of coal gasification, and the current treatment is too simple and causes great pollution to the environment. In this paper, microemulsion was used as the capture agent for flotation of coal gasification fine slag, and the physicochemical properties of residual charcoal were analysed by means of industrial analyser, FTIR, BET, SEM, XRD, Raman, XPS and other means of characterization, and the electrochemical properties of the residual charcoal were analysed by means of CV, EIS test, and the electrochemical properties and stability of the residual charcoal as a particle electrode in the three-dimensional electrochemical system were examined, and the feasibility of using it as a The feasibility of the residual carbon as a particle electrode was investigated, and the mechanism of ammonia nitrogen removal by the residual carbon particle electrode was proposed to be analysed. The results show that the flotation residual carbon has a high specific surface area, and the pore structure is dominated by mesopores. In addition, some of the carbon in the residual carbon exhibits a certain degree of electrical conductivity due to graphitization, which provides a basis for its electrochemical applications. In addition, the residual carbon particles electrocatalytic system had lower electrical resistance, which was conducive to accelerating the charge transfer rate. The three-dimensional electrocatalytic system of residual carbon particles had 19.82% higher ammonia nitrogen removal rate than the two-dimensional electrocatalytic system under the same conditions of ammonia nitrogen wastewater degradation, and it has certain catalytic ability.In the residual charcoal particle electrode cycling test, the residual charcoal particles were reused for five times, and the removal rate of ammonia nitrogen only decreased by 5.3%, and this result shows that the residual charcoal particle electrode has good stability. In this paper, a novel particle electrode material in a three-dimensional electrocatalytic system is developed, and through systematic characterisation and performance evaluation, it is demonstrated that the residual charcoal particle electrode of gasification slag has great potential in improving the efficiency of wastewater treatment. The development of residual charcoal particle electrode provides a new idea for the resourceful utilisation of gasification slag, and also provides a new method for wastewater degradation treatment technology.

Abstract Background Soybean mosaic disease caused by soybean mosaic virus (SMV) is one of the most devastating and widespread diseases in soybean producing areas worldwide. The WRKY transcription factors (TFs) are widely involved in plant development and stress responses. However, the roles of the GmWRKY TFs in resistance to SMV are largely unclear. Results Here, 185 GmWRKYs were characterized in soybean (Glycine max), among which 60 GmWRKY genes were differentially expressed during SMV infection according to the transcriptome data. The transcriptome data and RT-qPCR results showed that the expression of GmWRKY164 decreased after imidazole treatment and had higher expression levels in the incompatible combination between soybean cultivar variety Jidou 7 and SMV strain N3. Remarkably, the silencing of GmWRKY164 reduced callose deposition and enhanced virus spread during SMV infection. In addition, the transcript levels of the GmGSL7c were dramatically lower upon the silencing of GmWRKY164. Furthermore, EMSA and ChIP-qPCR revealed that GmWRKY164 can directly bind to the promoter of GmGSL7c, which contains the W-box element. Conclusion Our findings suggest that GmWRKY164 plays a positive role in resistance to SMV infection by regulating the expression of GmGSL7c, resulting in the deposition of callose and the inhibition of viral movement, which provides guidance for future studies in understanding virus-resistance mechanisms in soybean.

In order to enhance the quality and hydrodynamic conditions of the lagoon water, and to improve the ecological environmental impacts on the coastal lagoon due to weak tidal hydrodynamics, natural conditions restriction and frequent human activities, the second largest lagoon in Asia, Pinqing Lake was studied using a hydrodynamic water quality model based on unstructured grids of the surrounding waters. To develop cost effective approaches for the ecological restoration and development of Pinqing Lake, the hydrodynamic and water quality impacts between the current situation of Pinqing Lake and the 17 modification conditions were analyzed. The results show that the removement of 50% of the breakwater near or offshore (Case 2 and Case 3) or 25% of the sand tongue and part of the crumbling angle (Case 9) can effectively improve the hydrodynamics and water quality of Pinqing Lake at relatively low cost, increase the overall flow rate and tidal volume by 10.42%~32.25% and 1.68%~2.48%, reduce the renewal time of the water body by 21.44%~23.13%, reduce TN and TP concentrations by 9.0%~10.7% and 11.2%~13%. Case 2, Case 3 and Case 9 have their own advantages, but they are not suitable for joint implementation. Therefore, the water dynamics and water quality of Pinqing Lake could be improved by the removement of 50% of the breakwater or by synchronizing the removement of 25% of the sand tongue and a portion of the avalanche angle, or a similar effect could be achieved by a permeable retrofit.

Abstract Dynamic control of multi-photon upconversion with rich and tunable emission colors is stimulating extensive interest in both fundamental research and frontier applications of lanthanide based materials. However, manipulating photochromic upconversion towards color-switchable emissions of a single lanthanide emitter is still challenging. Here, we report a conceptual model to realize the spatiotemporal control of upconversion dynamics and photochromic evolution of Er3+ through interfacial energy transfer (IET) in a core-shell nanostructure. The design of Yb sublattice sensitization interlayer, instead of regular Yb3+ doping, is able to raise the absorption capability of excitation energy and enhance the upconversion. We find that a nanoscale spatial manipulation of interfacial interactions between Er and Yb sublattices can further contribute to upconversion. Moreover, the red/green color-switchable upconversion of Er3+ is achieved through using the temporal modulation ways of non-steady-state excitation and time-gating technique. Our results allow for versatile designs and dynamic management of emission colors from luminescent materials and provide more chances for their frontier photonic applications such as optical anti-counterfeiting and speed monitoring.

Abstract Objectives Soybean is an important feed and oil crop in the world due to its high protein and oil content. China has a collection of more than 43,000 soybean germplasm resources, which provides a rich genetic diversity for soybean breeding. However, the rich genetic diversity poses great challenges to the genetic improvement of soybean. This study reports on the de novo genome assembly of HJ117, a soybean variety with high protein content of 52.99%. These data will prove to be valuable resources for further soybean quality improvement research, and will aid in the elucidation of regulatory mechanisms underlying soybean protein content. Data description We generated a contiguous reference genome of 1041.94 Mb for HJ117 using a combination of Illumina short reads (23.38 Gb) and PacBio long reads (25.58 Gb), with high-quality sequence coverage of approximately 22.44× and 24.55×, respectively. HJ117 was developed through backcross breeding, using Jidou 12 as the recurrent parent and Chamoshidou as the donor parent. The assembly was further assisted by 114.5 Gb Hi-C data (109.9×), resulting in a contig N50 of 19.32 Mb and scaffold N50 of 51.43 Mb. Notably, Core Eukaryotic Genes Mapping Approach (CEGMA) assessment and Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs (BUSCO) assessment results indicated that most core eukaryotic genes (97.18%) and genes in the BUSCO dataset (99.4%) were identified, and 96.44% of the genomic sequences were anchored onto twenty pseudochromosomes.

BackgroundTranscutaneous Vagal Nerve Stimulation (tVNS) has been used as a promising noninvasive neuromodulation technique for the treatment of various systems.The aim of this study was to analyze the research hotspots and future directions of tVNS in the 21st century by using bibliometric methods.MethodsThe study object was the literature related to tVNS from the Web of Science database from 2000 to May 2024. In order to measure and analyze the number of literature issuance, institutions, authors, countries, keywords, co-citations, and journals of publication, we used VOSviewer, Citespace, Bibliometrix R-package, and Scimago Graphica software. A narrative review of the current research content of tVNS was conducted to gain a better understanding of the current state of the field.ResultsA total of 569 papers were included in the study. The results show that from 2000 to 2024, the number of publications shows an increasing trend year by year, involving a total of 326 research institutions. The United States, China, and Germany are the major research centers. The study identified 399 keywords, which roughly formed 11 natural clusters, revealing that the current hotspots of related research are mainly reflected in 3 areas: intervention efficacy on nervous system diseases, mechanism of action of tVNS, and stimulation mode of tVNS. The top 10 most cited references focus on research into the mechanism of action of tVNS.ConclusionThe efficacy and safety of tVNS have been confirmed in previous studies, but a standardized tVNS treatment protocol has not yet been developed, and most clinical studies have small sample sizes and lack multicenter and multidisciplinary collaboration. Currently, tVNS is used in the treatment of neurological diseases, psychiatric diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and some autoimmune diseases. It is expected that future research in this field will continue to focus on the application of tVNS in central nervous system diseases and the exploration of related mechanisms, and at the same time, with the rise of non-invasive neuromodulation technology, the application of tVNS in other diseases also has great potential for development.

Metal fires are difficult to extinguish with traditional extinguishing agents, while special fire-extinguishing agents are difficult to obtain. Thus, the possibility of using fly ash to extinguish metal fires was explored, and the effects of different driving gas pressures on the accumulation and extinguishing efficacy of fly ash were studied carefully by means of a self-made pneumatic conveying device. The results show that fly ash can effectively extinguish metal magnesium fires, and the accumulation and extinguishing efficacy of fly ash improves with increasing gas driving pressure. Especially, the fire extinction time of fly ash on metal magnesium fires is as low as 20 s without reignition at a gas driving pressure of 0.8 MPa. Fly ash can remain high thermal stability at above 900 °C, forming a thermal insulation layer that exerts strong smothering and isolation effects against metal magnesium fires, which is a high-efficient and economical fire-extinguishing agents to suppress metal magnesium fires.

BackgroundRepetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), as an emerging non-invasive neuromodulation technique, is now widely employed in rehabilitation therapy. The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively summarize existing evidence regarding rTMS intervention for lower limb motor function in patients at different stages of stroke.MethodsA systematic search was conducted to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing the efficacy of rTMS for treating lower limb motor dysfunction after stroke. Multiple databases, including China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, VIP Database, PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library, were searched. The search period extended from the inception of the libraries to June 2024. Literature information was extracted, and methodological quality was evaluated using the risk of bias assessment tool in the Cochrane Handbook. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 17.0 software.ResultsOverall, 49 appropriate studies (including 3,558 stroke subjects) were found. Meta-analysis results demonstrated that rTMS effectively improved lower limb motor function across all stages of stroke. The intervention was particularly more effective in patients in the subacute stage than in the acute or chronic stages. Subgroup analysis revealed that, for acute-stage patients, low-frequency stimulation targeting the M1 or DLPFC brain regions on the unaffected side with 20–40 sessions significantly improved FMA-LE scores. In subacute-phase patients, low-frequency stimulation targeting the M1 brain regions on the unaffected side with 18 sessions significantly improved FMA-LE scores. The results demonstrated that HF-rTMS was more effective than LF-rTMS in improving walking speed, with the greatest efficacy observed at 20 sessions. While for enhancing gait balance in stroke patients, LF-rTMS with the best therapeutic effect was observed at a frequency of 20–40 treatments.ConclusionThis study demonstrates the efficacy of rTMS in improving lower limb motor function, balance, and walking speed in stroke patients at various stages. The findings provide a valuable reference for the development of optimized rTMS treatment plans in clinical practice.Systematic review registration: PROSPERO: CRD42023466094.

TiVNbTa refractory high-entropy alloy was prepared by vacuum electromagnetic levitation melting technology.The hydrogen absorption and desorption properties of the alloy were tested by multi-channel hydrogen storage tester, the hydrogen absorption-desorption behavior and corresponding kinetic mechanisms were investigated.The results show that BCC single-phase structure in the alloy is transformed into three new phases including TiH1.971, Nb0.696V0.304H and Nb0.498V0.502H2 after the hydrogen absorption process. The hydrides in the hydrogenated high-entropy alloy decompose at 519, 593 K and 640 K, respectively and change to BCC phase again after hydrogen desorption process.Therefore, the hydrogenation reaction is reversible.The alloy exhibits high hydrogenation (dehydrogenation) rates at 423-723 K. The kinetics of hydrogen absorption and desorption can be described by Johnson-Mehl-Avrami (JMA) model and second-order rate model, respectively. The apparent activation energies Ea of hydrogen absorption and desorption are -21.87 J/mol and 8.67 J/mol, respectively.

Objectives: During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a decline in vaccine coverage, and the implementation of combined vaccines and co-administration strategies emerged as potential solutions to alleviate this predicament. Our objective is to delve into the concurrent administration of the sabin-strain-based inactivated poliovirus vaccine (sIPV), the diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP), and measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR), with the intention of bridging the evidentiary gap pertaining to vaccine co-administration in Chinese infants, and to ensure a safe and effective vaccination strategy, ultimately leading to an augmentation in immunization coverage. Methods: This study was a follow-up trial of the “Immunogenicity and safety of concomitant administration of the sIPV with the DTaP vaccine in children: a multicenter, randomized, non-inferiority, controlled trial.” Blood samples were collected on day 0 and day 30, and serum antibody levels were detected to measure antibody responses to each of the antigens. Local and systemic adverse events were monitored and compared among groups. This study is the first to fill the knowledge gap in China regarding the safe and effective combined vaccination of sIPV, DTaP, and MMR vaccines. Results: The geometric mean titer of the poliovirus types I, II, and III neutralizing antibodies were 1060.22 (95% CI: 865.73-1298.39), 1537.06 (95% CI: 1324.27-1784.05), and 1539.10 (95% CI: 1296.37-1827.29) in group I on day 30; geometric mean titer of antibodies against DTaP and MMR in the simultaneous vaccination group was non-inferior to those in the DTaP alone and MMR alone group. Reporting rates of local and systemic adverse reactions were similar between groups and no serious adverse events were reported throughout the clinical study period. Conclusion: Co-administration of the sIPV, DTaP, and MMR was safe and did not impact immunogenicity, which would help to mitigate administrative costs and enhance vaccine coverage rates.

Valley shrink deformation is a common physical and mechanical phenomenon during the reservoir operation of high arch dams. This phenomenon is particularly significant in the initial stages of impoundment and can severely impact the operational safety of the arch dam. This study focuses on the arch dam under construction in the upstream of the Lancang River. By considering the secondary structural planes F115 and F111 at the dam site, a numerical model of valley shrink deformation was established. The study investigates the characteristics of valley shrink deformation during the initial impoundment phase of the arch dam. The results show that during the impoundment process, the valley slopes on both sides of the reservoir shrink towards the center of the valley. The deformation on the right bank is greater than that on the left bank due to the influence of the F115 fault. When the elevation is lower than the exposure position of F115, the deformation on the right bank increases with elevation; when it is higher than this position, the deformation decreases. On the left bank, due to the influence of F111 and the seepage field, the deformation value increases first and then decreases with the increase in elevation. After the water level stabilizes, the deformation rate decreases and approaches zero. This research results provide a reference for addressing valley shrink deformation issues during the initial impoundment of the arch dam.

Alzheimer’s disease, one of the most severe and common neurodegenerative diseases, has no effective cure. Therefore it is crucial to explore novel and effective therapeutic targets. The gut microbiota - brain axis has been found to play a role in Alzheimer’s disease by regulating the neuro-immune and endocrine systems. At the same time, acupuncture can modulate the gut microbiota and may impact the course of Alzheimer’s disease. In this Review, we discuss recent studies on the role of acupuncture on the gut microbiota as well current challenges and future opportunities of acupuncture as potential treatment for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.

The decorative and fireproof performance degradation of the grouting fireproof glass exposed to UV irradiation limits its application in the fire protection of buildings. To solve this issue, a transparent polyacrylamide/polyvinyl alcohol (PAM/PVA) interpenetrating network hydrogel was designed to prepare grouting fireproof glass with enhanced theheat insulation and anti-aging properties. The results show that the light transmittance of PAM/PVA interpenetrating network hydrogel decreases with the increased content of PVA, and a proper content of PVA in the PAM/PVA interpenetrating network is beneficial to maintain high optical transparency in the resulting hydrogel. Heat insulation test shows that the PAM/PVA interpenetrating network improves the water-locking ability of the resulting hydrogels, and the fireproof glass containing 3 wt% PVA shows the lowest backside temperature of 92.6 °C at 3600 s, which is 51.9% lower than that of fireproof glass with PAM only. Thermogravimetric (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis show that the PAM/PVA interpenetrating network hydrogel improves the thermal stability and charring ability of hydrogel, and the hydrogel containing 3 wt% PVA exhibits the best charring effect among the samples, showing the highest residual yield of 39.2 % at 800 °C. The analyses of decomposition products and char residues show that the PAM/PVA interpenetrating network hydrogel can extend the heat absorption process of water evaporation and improve the gas flame retardant efficiency. Accelerated aging test shows that the presence of PVA greatly slows down the blistering and yellowing phenomenon of fireproof glass, thus endowing the fireproof glass with the super durability of fire resistance. Especially, the backside temperature at 3600 s and light transmittance of the sample containing 2 wt% PVA after 168 h aging test only changed 19.2 °C and 1.9 %, respectively, compared to the those of unaged sample.

As the institutional reform of China’s seismic system and the “14th Five-Year” plan continue to advance, the layout of seismic scientific instruments in the Earthquake Agency of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has become more dense, digitalized and modernized. As a grassroots central station, the number of instruments that need to be maintained is increasing, and the technical requirements for instrument management and maintenance and the pressure of operation and maintenance are increasing. The geophysical station network, as a frontline position for observing and studying crustal motion and deformation processes, identifying strong earthquake breeding stages and exploring strong earthquake prediction, has a direct impact on the quality of data output and thus on data analysis results and earthquake breeding identification. Therefore, in this paper, we propose some suggestions to improve the efficiency of instrument operation and maintenance for the current situation and problems of the geophysical station network management and maintenance between the operation and maintenance office of Xinjiang geophysical observation center and the central station through literature analysis and interview method.

Calcareous mudstone, a type of red-bed soft rock, is prevalent in the surrounding rock of the Central Yunnan Water Diversion Project (CYWDP) in Yunnan Province, China, significantly impacting both construction and operation. The mechanical properties of calcareous mudstone vary with depth. This study investigates its mechanical properties, permeability characteristics, energy evolution, and macro- and micro-failure characteristics during deformation using triaxial compression tests under different confining pressures. Results reveal distinct stage characteristics in the stress–strain behavior, permeability, and energy evolution of calcareous mudstone. Crack propagation, permeability evolution, and energy dissipation are closely linked, elucidating the deformation and failure process, with fluid pressure playing a crucial role. The confining pressure σ3 increased from 2 MPa to 4 MPa and 6 MPa, while the peak stress σc (Pw = 1 MPa) of the calcareous mudstone increased by 84.49% and 24.89%, respectively. Conversely, the permeability at σc decreased from 11.25 × 10−17 m2 to 8.99 × 10−17 m2 and 5.72 × 10−17 m2, while the dissipative energy at σc increased from 12.39 kJ/m3 to 21.14 kJ/m3 and 42.51 kJ/m3. In comparison to those without fluid pressure (Pw = 0), the value of σc at Pw = 1 MPa was reduced by 36.61%, 23.23%, and 20.67% when σ3 was 2, 4, and 6 MPa, respectively. Increasing confining pressure augments characteristic stresses, deformation and failure energy, and ductility, while reducing permeability, crack propagation, and width. These findings enhance our understanding of calcareous mudstone properties at varying depths in tunnel construction scenarios.

China is vigorously developing hydrogen energy and actively realizing the “3060” carbon emission target. It is estimated that China will become one of the largest producers and consumers of hydrogen energy. The resource endowment and economic development of Chinese provinces are different, so the inter-provincial energy cooperation is particularly important. In order to study the feasibility of inter-provincial supply of green hydrogen energy, including the technical feasibility of hydrogen energy transportation, the total cost of ownership (TCO) model of inter-provincial transportation of hydrogen energy was established by using the TCO theory. On this basis, the case study of hydrogen production in Jiangxi province for Guangdong province was analyzed. After model calculation, the cost of hydrogen energy from Jiangxi to Guangdong was found to be 31.9 yuan/kg, which is equal to the local price of hydrogen energy. Meanwhile, the main factors affecting the price of hydrogen energy from other provinces were summarized. It is found that the electricity cost of hydrogen production accounts for 42.38% of the cost of hydrogen production. This research results provide a solution for the supply of green hydrogen energy in China, and also provide a new idea for constructing a new energy transportation channel.

Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) is an emerging non-invasive technique designed to stimulate branches of the vagus nerve distributed over the body surface. Studies suggest a correlation between the brain-gut-microbiota (BGM) axis and the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The BGM axis represents a complex bidirectional communication system, with the vagus nerve being a crucial component. Therefore, non-invasive electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve might have the potential to modify—most of the time probably in a non-physiological way—the signal transmission within the BGM axis, potentially influencing the progression or symptoms of AD. This review explores the interaction between percutaneous vagus nerve stimulation and the BGM axis, emphasizing its potential effects on AD. It examines various aspects, such as specific brain regions, gut microbiota composition, maintenance of intestinal environmental homeostasis, inflammatory responses, brain plasticity, and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis regulation. The review suggests that tVNS could serve as an effective strategy to modulate the BGM axis and potentially intervene in the progression or treatment of Alzheimer’s disease in the future.

Emergency ecological water replenishment(EEWR) has become a major strategy for recovering degraded wetland ecosystems worldwide. However, the actual replenishment process mainly depended on the tradeoff and experience between the managers of Taoer River and Xianghai Wetland, which is very random and lacks theoretical guidance. Thus, there is urge to assessing water replenishment effect on wetland and help to optimize the process. With contrasting results as different ecosystem elements respond differently, the optimization of water replenishment process should be based on the improvement of the ecosystem as whole rather than its separate elements. However, the dynamic monitoring of biotic and abiotic factors to reveal the complex relationships underlying their response can be challenging. Based on 6 years’ series data of migratory birds and environmental factors of Xianghai Wetland, which started emergency ecological water replenishment since 2004 and occurred frequently since 2011, the broader ecosystem response to water replenishment was analyzed using a multiple paths regression model and proposed an optimized scheme. The results showed that bird diversity was positively influenced by the increase in water area and vegetation was induced by ecological water replenishment. While the response of bird abundance to water replenishment varied with time, adequate open water in March was found to have a positive relationship with abundance by promoting vegetation germination and the reproduction of benthic organisms. High flow levels in the wet season (June–August) can negatively affect waterbird abundance by rapidly increasing water levels and inhibiting plant respiration, which leads to the reduction in feeding efficiency of waterbirds and biomass accumulation. Therefore, the existing ecological water replenishment time (May–September) is not suitable for bird abundance and should be advanced to spring (March–April). Given the antagonistic effect of flow on diversity and abundance, the total replenished water should be approximately 100 million m3. To avoid the negative influence of high water in the wet season, the allocation of water could be 0.3, 0.3, 0.2, and 0.2 million m3 in April, May, September, and October, respectively. These results scientifically support wetland protection and management.

Abstract The placenta is one of the most important yet least understood organs. Due to the limitations of conventional research approaches, we are still far from a comprehensive understanding of mouse placentation, especially regarding the differentiation of trophoblast lineages at the early developmental stage. To decipher cell compositions and developmental processes, we systematically profile the single-cell transcriptomes of trophoblast cells from extraembryonic tissues (embryonic day 7.5 (E7.5) and E8.5) and placentae (E9.5–E14.5) at one-day intervals. We identify distinct trophoblast cell types during mouse placentation, including unreported progenitor cells and intermediate precursor cells. An updated differentiation roadmap of mouse trophoblast lineages is presented following systematic transcriptome analyses. Based on transcriptomic regulatory network inference, we specify transcription factors responsible for the regulation of dynamic developmental processes during lineage diversification. We map lineage differentiation trajectories and find that sinusoid trophoblast giant cells arise from the subpopulation of ectoplacental cone cells. We provide a comprehensive single-cell data resource to shed light on future mechanistic studies of the gene regulatory networks governing hemochorial placentation.

Genomic selection (GS) is a marker-based selection method used to improve the genetic gain of quantitative traits in plant breeding. A large number of breeding datasets are available in the soybean database, and the application of these public datasets in GS will improve breeding efficiency and reduce time and cost. However, the most important problem to be solved is how to improve the ability of across-population prediction. The objectives of this study were to perform genomic prediction (GP) and estimate the prediction ability (PA) for seed oil and protein contents in soybean using available public datasets to predict breeding populations in current, ongoing breeding programs. In this study, six public datasets of USDA GRIN soybean germplasm accessions with available phenotypic data of seed oil and protein contents from different experimental populations and their genotypic data of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were used to perform GP and to predict a bi-parent-derived breeding population in our experiment. The average PA was 0.55 and 0.50 for seed oil and protein contents within the bi-parents population according to the within-population prediction; and 0.45 for oil and 0.39 for protein content when the six USDA populations were combined and employed as training sets to predict the bi-parent-derived population. The results showed that four USDA-cultivated populations can be used as a training set individually or combined to predict oil and protein contents in GS when using 800 or more USDA germplasm accessions as a training set. The smaller the genetic distance between training population and testing population, the higher the PA. The PA increased as the population size increased. In across-population prediction, no significant difference was observed in PA for oil and protein content among different models. The PA increased as the SNP number increased until a marker set consisted of 10,000 SNPs. This study provides reasonable suggestions and methods for breeders to utilize public datasets for GS. It will aid breeders in developing GS-assisted breeding strategies to develop elite soybean cultivars with high oil and protein contents.

Mid‐infrared luminescence at around 1.8 μm has shown great potential in many frontier photonic fields. However, how to realize the 1.8 μm emission of Tm3+ with multiple pump wavelengths and in particular in nanosized hosts has remained a challenge so far. Herein, an erbium sublattice–based core–shell nanostructure is proposed to achieve the multiwavelength excitable mid‐infrared emission of Tm3+ at around 1.8 μm from its 3F4 → 3H6 transition. The core–shell engineering and cross‐relaxation help to improve the population of Er3+ at its 4I13/2 energy level and subsequent energy transfer to Tm3+ (3F4) for its efficient 1.8 μm emission upon 808, 980, and 1530 nm excitations. The modulation of energy‐transfer channels by codoping other rare‐earth ions shows that introducing a small amount of Ce3+ into the erbium sublattice can enhance the 1.8 μm emission of Tm3+ through favorable cross‐relaxation processes. Moreover, the 1.8 μm emission is further significantly enhanced by designing a core–shell–shell nanostructure with a NaYF4:Yb‐sensitizing interlayer, which is able to maximize the absorption of 980 nm excitation energy. These results provide a new conceptual nanosized model for mid‐infrared luminescent materials toward infrared biophotonics and microlasers.

Soybean yield has traditionally been increased through high planting density, but investigating plant height and petiole traits to select for compact architecture, lodging resistance, and high yield varieties is an underexplored option for further improving yield. We compared the relationships between yield-related traits, lodging resistance, and petiole-associated phenotypes in the short petiole germplasm M657 with three control accessions during 2017–2018 in four locations in the Huang–Huai region, China. The results showed that M657 exhibited stable and high tolerance to high planting density and resistance to lodging, especially at the highest density (8×105 plants ha−1). The regression analysis indicated that a shorter petiole length was significantly associated with increased lodging resistance. The yield analysis showed that M657 achieved higher yields under higher densities, especially in the northern part of the Huang–Huai region. Among the varieties, there were markedly different responses to intra- and inter-row spacing designs with respect to both lodging and yield that were related to location and density. Lodging was positively correlated with planting density, plant height, petiole length, and number of effective branches, but negatively correlated with stem diameter, seed number per plant, and seed weight per plant. The yield of soybean was increased by appropriately increasing the planting density on the basis of the current soybean varieties in the Huang–Huai region. This study provides a valuable new germplasm resource for the introgression of compact architecture traits that are amenable to providing a high yield in high density planting systems, and it establishes a high-yield model of soybean in the Huang–Huai region.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, fires occurred frequently in hospitals managing COVID-19, and caused over 279 deaths. Fire safety in hospitals should be identified clearly and taken seriously. Fire probability and fire service coverage for hospitals from a national perspective in China were analyzed in this study. Calculated with the generalized Barrois model, the annual fire frequency of hospital building exceeds 0.5, when its floor area reaches approximately 180,000 m2. Based on the number of hospital fires in Changsha and that of hospitals in China from 2014 to 2017, the average annual fire probability of a hospital in China was calculated to be 0.017. The total effective coverage rate (TECR) of fire service for hospitals in Changsha, China was estimated to be between 11.82 % and 25.74 %, based on real-time travel times extracted from the Baidu Map. The TECR of national fire service for hospitals was estimated to be between 14.18 % and 30.89 %, according to the ratio of the number of hospitals and the number of fire stations in China to that in Changsha. Currently, recruiting medical staff as fire volunteers can quickly improve fire safety in hospitals for a low cost.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play a key role in cancer progression, including non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). LncRNA long intergenic non-protein-coding RNA 00607 (LINC00607) was previously discovered to be downregulated in lung adenocarcinoma tissues. Nevertheless, the potential role of LINC00607 in NSCLC is still unclear. The expression of LINC00607, miR-1289, and ephrin A5 (EFNA5) in NSCLC tissues and cells was tested by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Cell viability, proliferation, migration, and invasion were measured by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazole-2-y1)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide, colony formation, wound healing, and Transwell assays. The relationship among LINC00607, miR-1289, and EFNA5 in NSCLC cells was verified by the luciferase reporter assay, RNA pull-down assay, and RNA immunoprecipitation assay. In this study, LINC00607 was downregulated in NSCLC, and its low level is associated with poor prognosis of NSCLC patients. Furthermore, LINC00607 overexpression repressed NSCLC cell viability, proliferation, migration, and invasion. LINC00607 bound with miR-1289 in NSCLC. EFNA5 was a downstream target of miR-1289. EFNA5 overexpression also inhibited NSCLC cell viability, proliferation, migration, and invasion. EFNA5 knockdown antagonized the influence of LINC00607 overexpression on NSCLC cell phenotypes. Overall, LINC00607 serves as a tumor suppressor gene in NSCLC through binding with miR-1289 and modulating the level of EFNA5.

Anastomotic leakage is a serious complication following gastrointestinal surgery and one of the leading causes of patient mortality. Despite the significant clinical and economic burden, there are currently no reliable treatment options to improve the healing of intestinal anastomosis and subsequently prevent anastomotic leakage. Recently, the development of regenerative medicine has shown promise for improving anastomotic healing. Recent studies have illustrated that stem cell-derived secretome can enhance tissue regeneration without the safety and ethical limitations of stem cell transplantation. Herein, we developed a fibrin glue topical delivery system loaded with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)-derived secretome for controlled delivery of bioactive factors, and evaluated its application potential in improving the healing of intestinal anastomosis. Under in vitro conditions, the MSCs secretome significantly promoted cell proliferation viability in a dose-dependent manner and resulted in the controlled release of growth factors via fibrin glue delivery. We established a rat surgical anastomotic model and experimentally found that MSCs secretome-loaded fibrin glue enhanced anastomotic bursting pressure, increased granulation tissue formation and collagen deposition, and significantly promoted anastomotic healing. Mechanistically, fibrin glue accelerated cell proliferation, angiogenesis, and macrophage M2 polarization at the surgical anastomotic site by releasing bioactive factors in the secretome, and it also alleviated the inflammatory response and cell apoptosis at the anastomotic site. Our results demonstrated for the first time that MSCs-derived secretome could promote the healing of intestinal anastomosis. Considering the accessibility and safety of the cell-free secretome, we believed that secretome-loaded fibrin glue would be a cell-free therapy to accelerate the healing of intestinal anastomosis with great potential for clinical translation.

With the development of nano molding technology (NMT), the polymer/metal hybrid (PMH) composites have made great progress in industries like automobile, aircraft, and boat. The bonding structure and bonding strength are the key factors ruling the application of PMH. In this work, the PMH containing polyphenylene sulfide (PPS) and Al alloy was prepared by NMT, and the surface treating of Al alloy and the bonding mechanism of PMH has been studied. The results reveal that the bonding strength between metal and polymer shows dependence on the pore structure of the metal surface, which could be controlled by changing the anodizing voltage and time. The PMH in which the Al plate was anodized at 15 V for 6 h achieves the best bonding strength of 1,543 N. The morphological analysis reveals that there forms an anchor and bolt structure in the interface of PPS and Al plate, which bonds the polymer and metal tightly. In addition, the chemical interaction between PPS and Al was confirmed by attenuated total reflection (ATR) infrared spectroscopy, which indicates that both physical and chemical effects contribute to the bonding strength of the PMH. This PMH has great potential of being used as alternative to traditional pure metal components, especially the packing materials of automobiles, electronic products, and furniture.

The communication tower is a lifeline engineering that ensures the normal operation of wireless communication systems. Extreme wind disasters are inevitable while it is in service. Two dimension-reduction (DR) probabilistic representations based on proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) and wavenumber spectral representation (WSR), say DR-POD and DR-WSR, were thus proposed in this study. In order to determine the least representative sample size that satisfies the engineering accuracy requirements, the simulation error and simulation duration of 10 simulation points distributed along the height direction of the communication tower under different representative sample numbers were compared. Furthermore, for the fluctuating wind field with different numbers of simulation points distributed along the height of the communication tower, the simulation accuracy as well as efficiency of the DR-POD and the DR-WSR were compared. Finally, a high-rise communication tower structure’s wind-induced dynamic response study and wind-resistance reliability analysis were performed utilizing an alliance of the probability density evolution method (PDEM) and two DR probabilistic models, taking 10 load points into account. The structural dynamic analysis illustrates that the reliability of the communication tower structure and the wind-induced dynamic response allying the two DR probabilistic models with the PDEM have outstanding consistency.

Chemical agents pose a significant threat to social security, highlighting the crucial role of representative chemical agents adsorption in ensuring the safety our environment. This study explored the application of Magnetic Graphene Oxide Nanoplatelet Composites (MGONCs) in adsorbing the representative chemical agents such as Lewisite (L), O-ethyl S-2-diisopropylaminoethyl methylphosphonothiolate (VX), Sarin (GB), and Soman (GD). MGONCs were synthesized through a physical blending method, with the combination of graphene oxide (GO) and Fe3O4 nanoparticles at a mass ratio of 1:1. Optimization of the adsorption process involved investigating the effects of contact time, temperature, and adsorbent dosage. Remarkably, the adsorption rate of L and VX exceeded 99% when the dosage of MGONCs was 2.5 mg, with a contact time of 30 s at room temperature. Furthermore, GB and GD achieved maximum adsorption rates after a contact time of 20 min, with the dosages of MGONCs at 10 mg and 20 mg, respectively. Characterization of the magnetic composite was accomplished through XRD, TEM, VSM, FTIR, TGA, and BET analyses. Kinetical analysis revealed that the adsorption mechanism of GB and GD on MGONCs followed pseudo-second-order (PSO) kinetics, exhibiting a high regression coefficient. The calculated qe values were 0.103125 mg/g and 0.081349 mg/g, respectively. This research demonstrated the feasibility of utilizing MGONCs as highly efficient adsorbents for representative chemical agents, particularly in on-site sampling scenarios.

The problem of cooperative arraying to jam is an important part of EW mission planning. Aiming at the problem that multi-objective optimization algorithm is easy to fall into local optimum and converge in three-objective optimization, a multi-aircraft jamming and cooperative arraying method based on improved multi-objective Moth-flame optimization algorithm is proposed. Firstly, the simulation environment is established by using digital elevation map and radar detection model. Then, based on the multi-objective Moth-flame optimization algorithm, the population initialization is completed by using Logistic-Tent chaotic map, which increases the diversity and uniformity of the solution and improves the search ability of the algorithm; Then, the decision factor and Gaussian difference mutation are introduced, which makes the algorithm not only accept the current solution with a certain probability, but also jump out of the current solution and search again according to the disturbance, thus enhancing the search ability of the algorithm; Finally, by comparing with NSGA-II, MOEA/D, MOPSO and NSMFO algorithms on test functions of ZDT and DTLZ series, the performance of the algorithm is verified, and it is proved that multi-objective Moth-flame optimization algorithm is better than other algorithms in both convergence and diversity. In addition, compared with the NSMFO and MOEA/D algorithms in the arraying simulation experiment. The values of the interference power, the width of the route safety zone and the detection area of the radar obtained by the algorithm in this paper, are 117.9 kw, 46 km, and 1727 km2. Compared with the results of the other two algorithms, the effectiveness of interference is improved by 39.8%, 22.8% and 41.9% respectively.

Phenotypic screening of soybean germplasm suitable for high planting density is currently the most viable strategy to increase yield. Previous studies have shown that soybean varieties with dwarf features and a short petiole often exhibit a compact plant architecture which could improve yield through increased planting density, although previously reported short petiole accessions were ultimately not usable for breeding in practice. Here, we established a method to assess petiole length and identified an elite mutant line, M657, that exhibits high photosynthetic efficiency. The agronomic traits of M657 were evaluated under field conditions, and appeared to be stable for short petiole across seven locations in northern, Huang–Huai, and southern China from 2017 to 2018. Compared with the Jihuang 13 wild type, the mutant M657 was shorter in both petiole length and plant height, exhibited lower total area of leaf, seed weight per plant and 100-seed weight, but had an increased number of effective branches and the growth period was prolonged by 2–7 days. Using M657 as a parental line for crosses with four other elite lines, we obtained four lines with desirable plant architecture and yield traits, thus demonstrating the feasibility of adopting M657 in breeding programs for soybean cultivars of high density and high yield.

Abstract A novel intelligent diagnostic system is proposed to diagnose heart sounds (HSs). The innovations of this system are primarily reflected in the automatic segmentation and extraction of the first complex sound $$({ CS }_{1})$$ ( CS 1 ) and second complex sound $$({ CS }_{2})$$ ( CS 2 ) ; the automatic extraction of the secondary envelope-based diagnostic features $$\gamma _{_1}$$ γ 1 , $$\gamma _{_2}$$ γ 2 , and $$\gamma _{_3}$$ γ 3 from $${ CS }_{1}$$ CS 1 and $${ CS }_{2}$$ CS 2 ; and the adjustable classifier models that correspond to the confidence bounds of the Chi-square ( $$\chi ^{2}$$ χ 2 ) distribution and are adjusted by the given confidence levels (denoted as $$\beta$$ β ). The three stages of the proposed system are summarized as follows. In stage 1, the short time modified Hilbert transform (STMHT)-based curve is used to segment and extract $${ CS }_{1}$$ CS 1 and $${ CS }_{2}$$ CS 2 . In stage 2, the envelopes $${ CS _{1}}_{\mathrm{F_{E}}}$$ C S 1 F E and $${ CS _{2}}_{\mathrm{F_{E}}}$$ C S 2 F E for periods $${ CS }_{1}$$ CS 1 and $${ CS }_{2}$$ CS 2 are obtained via a novel method, and the frequency features are automatically extracted from $${ CS _{1}}_{\mathrm{F_{E}}}$$ C S 1 F E and $${ CS _{2}}_{\mathrm{F_{E}}}$$ C S 2 F E by setting different threshold value ( $$Thv$$ Thv ) lines. Finally, the first three principal components determined based on principal component analysis (PCA) are used as the diagnostic features. In stage 3, a Gaussian mixture model (GMM)-based component objective function $$f_{ et }(\mathbf{x })$$ f et ( x ) is generated. Then, the $$\chi ^{2}$$ χ 2 distribution for component k is determined by calculating the Mahalanobis distance from $${\mathbf{x }}$$ x to the class mean $$\mu _{_k}$$ μ k for component k, and the confidence region of component k is determined by adjusting the optimal confidence level $$\beta _{k}$$ β k and used as the criterion to diagnose HSs. The performance evaluation was validated by sounds from online HS databases and clinical heart databases. The accuracy of the proposed method was compared to the accuracies of other state-of-the-art methods, and the highest classification accuracies of $$99.43\%$$ 99.43 % , $$98.93\%$$ 98.93 % , $$99.13\%$$ 99.13 % , $$99.85\%$$ 99.85 % , $$98.62\%$$ 98.62 % , 99.67 $$\%$$ % and 99.91 $$\%$$ % in the detection of MR, MS, ASD, NM, AS, AR and VSD sounds were achieved by setting $$\beta _{k}(k=1, 2, \ldots , 7)$$ β k ( k = 1 , 2 , … , 7 ) to 0.87,0.65,0.67,0.65,0.67,0.79 and 0.87, respectively.

The rise of Central China is a major strategy for China’s regional development. In recent years, Central China has gained a notable late-mover advantage. As China enters the stage of high-quality development, Central China needs to keep up with this trend to improve its comprehensive strength and competitiveness. As energy is the foundation for economic and social development, high-quality development requires a high-quality energy system and should be supported by energy revolution. The five provinces (i.e., Hunan, Hubei, Henan, Anhui, and Jiangxi) from Central China have excellent resource endowment; however, the new energy potentials and total energy production of these provinces are inadequate, and the energy supply and demand are imbalanced. In this article, we analyze the internal mechanism of promoting the rise of Central China through energy revolution, and conclude that the quality of energy consumption should be optimized in Central China to promote the rise of this region in terms of economy, society, and ecology. Moreover, the overall goal for the medium- and long-term energy development in Central China is discussed. To this end, Central China should promote energy conservation and emission reduction to improve energy efficiency and green development, develop multi-energy complementary technologies to promote clean energy consumption, and strengthen inter-provincial cooperation in energy to ensure the security of external energy supply. Specifically, several implementing paths are proposed including green and low-carbon development, supply-side reform, innovation-driven strategy, energy allocation optimization, and multi-energy integration.

Darcy's law has been widely used to study the groundwater drainage process within an aquitard. However, non-Darcy flow is frequently encountered in laboratory and in situ investigations. With consideration of a sudden drop in boundary hydraulic heads, aquitard compaction characteristics and their sensitivities to the non-Darcy flow control variables were analyzed. The non-Darcy flow was found to retard groundwater drainage, and the retardation effects were much more significant at early-to-intermediate time points. Under this specific boundary condition, the time–compaction curve in a log–log graph at early time points was found to be close to a straight line, whose slope can be used to indirectly evaluate the extent of the non-Darcy effect. A non-Darcy flow-based type curve method was developed for estimating aquitard hydraulic conductivity (K) and skeletal specific storage (Ss), and this method was used to interpret the time–compaction data recorded in a laboratory experiment. The tested aquitard was determined to be associated with non-Darcy flow due to the fact that the time–compaction curve deviated from the Darcy's law-based theoretical curve. Darcy's law resulted in an underestimated K. In contrast, the estimated Ss was almost unaffected by the flow state, if the observation lasted long enough to reach final steady compaction.

Background: Predictors of recurrent stroke after endovascular treatment for symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis (ICAS) remain uncertain. Objectives: Among baseline characteristics, lesion features, and cerebral perfusion changes, we try to explore which factors are associated with the risk of recurrent stroke in symptomatic ICAS after endovascular treatment. Design: Consecutive patients with symptomatic ICAS of 70–99% receiving endovascular treatment were enrolled. All patients underwent whole-brain computer tomography perfusion (CTP) within 3 days before and 3 days after the endovascular treatment. Baseline characteristics, lesion features, and cerebral perfusion changes were collected. Methods: Cerebral perfusion changes were evaluated with RAPID software and calculated as preprocedural cerebral blood flow (CBF) 6 s, and Tmax > 4 s volumes minus postprocedural. Cerebral perfusion changes were divided into periprocedural perfusion improvement (>0 ml) and non-improvement (⩽ 0 ml). Recurrent stroke within 180 days was collected. The Cox proportional hazards analysis analyses were performed to evaluate factors associated with recurrent stroke. Results: From March 2021 to December 2021, 107 patients with symptomatic ICAS were enrolled. Of the 107 enrolled patients, 30 (28.0%) patients underwent balloon angioplasty alone and 77 patients (72.0%) underwent stenting. The perioperative complications occurred in three patients. Among CBF 6 s, and Tmax > 4 s volumes, Tmax > 4 s volume was available to evaluate cerebral perfusion changes. Periprocedural perfusion improvement was found in 77 patients (72.0%) and non-improvement in 30 patients (28.0%). Nine patients (8.4%) suffered from recurrent stroke in 180-day follow-up. In Cox proportional hazards analysis adjusted for age and sex, perfusion non-improvement was associated with recurrent stroke [hazards ratio (HR): 4.472; 95% CI: 1.069–18.718; p = 0.040]. Conclusion: In patients with symptomatic ICAS treated with endovascular treatment, recurrent stroke may be related to periprocedural cerebral perfusion non-improvement. Registration: http://www.chictr.org.cn . Unique identifier: ChiCTR2100052925.

IntroductionGenomic selection (GS) is a potential breeding approach for soybean improvement.MethodsIn this study, GS was performed on soybean protein and oil content using the Ridge Regression Best Linear Unbiased Predictor (RR-BLUP) based on 1,007 soybean accessions. The SoySNP50K SNP dataset of the accessions was obtained from the USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD lab, and the protein and oil content of the accessions were obtained from GRIN.ResultsOur results showed that the prediction accuracy of oil content was higher than that of protein content. When the training population size was 100, the prediction accuracies for protein content and oil content were 0.60 and 0.79, respectively. The prediction accuracy increased with the size of the training population. Training populations with similar phenotype or with close genetic relationships to the prediction population exhibited better prediction accuracy. A greatest prediction accuracy for both protein and oil content was observed when approximately 3,000 markers with -log10(P) greater than 1 were included.DiscussionThis information will help improve GS efficiency and facilitate the application of GS.

In this study, a novel three-dimensional photoelectric system was designed and constructed for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) via photocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and photoelectric catalysis. To this end, a Ti/RuO2-IrO2-SnO2-CeO2 electrode was prepared via a thermal oxidation coating method and used as a dimensionally-stable anode (DSA). The cathode was made of a titanium sheet with Fe3+-doped TiO2 loaded on coal gasification slag (CGS) (Fe3+-TiO2@CGS) as a photocatalyst. The factors affecting the degradation efficiency, such as the supporting electrolyte, current density, and initial pH were systematically investigated. The results revealed Fe3+-TiO2@CGS three-dimensional photoelectric system exhibiting efficient synergistic performance of photocatalysis and electrocatalysis with a synergistic factor of 1.11. Photo-generated holes (h+) were generated by light irradiation and direct anodic oxidation. Furthermore, hydroxyl radicals (HO·) radicals were induced via other pathways. Such active species showed highly-oxidizing abilities, beneficial to the degradation of methylene blue (MB). The representative Fe3+-TiO2@CGS three-dimensional photoelectric system showed super high degradation efficiency at pH 11 and current density of 18.76 mA cm−2. Using NaCl as a supporting electrolyte, the degradation yield reached 99.98% after 60 min of photoelectrical treatment. Overall, the novel Fe3+-TiO2@CGS three-dimensional photoelectrical system looks very promising for the highly efficient catalytic degradation of organic contaminants.

Contamination of phenolic compounds has devastating effects on the environment. Therefore, its harmless treatment and recycling have received extensive attention. Herein, a novel method for preparing N-S doped phenolic resin (NSPR) from phenols, N and S groups in semi-coking wastewater, and formaldehyde are developed. The KOH is consequently incorporated into the NSPR through simultaneous carbonization and activation in a single step to produce porous carbon material (NSPC). The as-obtained NSPC exhibits a high specific capacitance of 182 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1, a high energy density of 9.1 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 0.15 kW kg−1, and remarkable cycling stability in aqueous KOH electrolyte. This outstanding electrochemical performance is attributed to its ultrahigh specific surface area (SSA, 2,523 m2 g−1), enormous total pore volume (Vt, 1.30 cm3 g−1), rational pore structure, and N-S heteroatom self-doping (0.76 at% N and 0.914 at% S), which ensures adequate charge storage, rapid electrolyte ion diffusion, and contributed pseudo-capacitance. This work not only provides a facile method for transforming phenolic wastewater into high-value products but also offers a cost-effective and high-performance porous carbon material for supercapacitors.

A pneumatic conveying powder device was carried out to investigate the fire-extinguishing performance of cement powder against metal magnesium fire. The fire suppression test shows that pneumatic conveying can effectively transport cement powder to the combustion area for suppressing metal magnesium fire, and the fire-extinguishing time increases with the fire load of metal magnesium. The fire suppression effect of cement powder in metal magnesium fire is ascribed to the formation of a thermally insulation layer as physical barrier concomitant with heat absorption during pyrolysis process that effectively weaken the heat transfer and reduces the combustion intensity, as supported by the morphology and DSC analysis. The results of explosion suppression test reveal that cement powder has a significant inhibitory effect on reducing the explosion max-pressure and max-pressure rise rate of methane explosion, exhibiting a high-level security in the fire-extinguishing process. This work provides an effective and safe strategy for extinguishing metal magnesium fires.

Semipolar AlGaN multiple quantum wells (MQWs) have unique advantages in deep ultraviolet light emitters due to the weak Quantum-Confined Stark Effect. However, their applications are hampered by the poor crystalline quality of semipolar AlGaN thin films. Different treatments were developed to improve the crystal quality of semipolar AlGaN, including a multistep in situ thermal annealing technique proposed by our group. In this work, temperature-dependent and time-resolved photoluminescence characterizations were performed to reveal the carrier localization in the MQW region. The degree of carrier localization in semipolar AlGaN MQWs grown on top of the in situ-annealed AlN is similar to that of conventional ex situ face-to-face annealing, both of which are significantly stronger than that of the c-plane counterpart. Moreover, MQWs on in situ-annealed AlN show drastically reduced dislocation densities, demonstrating its great potential for the future development of high-efficiency optoelectronic devices.

A compressed-gas fire extinguishing experiment was carried out to analyze the impact of gas-liquid flow ratio, liquid flow rate and driving pressure on the fire suppression efficiency of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) in a diesel pool fire, and a possible fire-extinguishing mechanism was proposed. A fire suppression test showed that AFFF at a gas-liquid flow ratio of 16 between the range of 5 to 24 had the fastest fire-extinguishing temperature drop rate (16.67 °C/s), the shortest fire-extinguishing time, of 42 s, and the lowest foam solution consumption of 230 g, exhibiting the best fire suppression performance. Meanwhile, the fire suppression efficiency of AFFF improved with the augmentation of either liquid flow rate or system driving pressure. Based on fluid mechanics and combustion science, a foam fire-extinguishing mechanism was proposed to explain the influence of system parameters such as gas-liquid ratio, liquid flow rate and driving pressure on key combustion parameters such as temperature drop rate, evaporation rate and combustion rate, which can better illustrate the change in fire extinguishing performance.

To improve the computer processor’s memory access efficiency, increase hit rates, reduce data fetching latency, the data and instructors that had close relation with each other could build the just-in-time locality environment on processor’s cache.To build such an environment, the relations between the data and instructors should be studied while them being immigrated into on-chip cache.The research results show that these relations could be well kept when the data and instructors are moved.The simulation also shows that the percolation cache can help the processor core to increase its hit rates.These research results give a new way to build the just-in-time locality environment on the percolation cache.

High-density planting is a major way to improve crop yields. However, shade-avoidance syndrome (SAS) is a major factor limiting increased planting density. First Green Revolution addressed grass lodging problem by using dwarf/semi-dwarf genes. However, it is not suitable for soybean, which bear seeds on stalk and whose seed yield depends on plant height. Hence, mining shade-tolerant germplasms and elucidating the underlying mechanism could provide meaningful resources and information for high-yield breeding. Here, we report a high-plant density-tolerant soybean cultivar, JiDou 17, which exhibited an inactive SAS (iSAS) phenotype under high-plant density or low-light conditions at the seedling stage. A quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping analysis using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population showed that this iSAS phenotype is related to a major QTL, named shade-avoidance response 1 (qSAR1), which was detected. The mapping region was narrowed by a haplotype analysis into a 554 kb interval harboring 44 genes, including 4 known to be key regulators of the SAS network and 4 with a variance response to low-light conditions between near isogenic line (NIL) stems. Via RNA-seq, we identified iSAS-specific genes based on one pair of near isogenic lines (NILs) and their parents. The iSAS-specific genes expressed in the stems were significantly enriched in the “proteasomal protein catabolic” process and the proteasome pathway, which were recently suggested to promote the shade-avoidance response by enhancing PIF7 stability. Most iSAS-specific proteasome-related genes were downregulated under low-light conditions. The expression of genes related to ABA, CK, and GA significantly varied between the low- and normal-light conditions. This finding is meaningful for the cloning of genes that harbor beneficial variation(s) conferring the iSAS phenotype fixed in domestication and breeding practice.

Daidzein (D1) has been proved to be of great benefit to human health. More and more attention was paid to the metabolic process of D1. Most studies focused on the metabolites of D1 and analogs were determined through the excretion of animals and humans by traditional HPLC-MS, while their in situ distribution and metabolism in organs in vivo has not been reported. In our group, novel daidzein sulfonate derivatives were synthesized and confirmed to have excellent pharmaceutical properties. They exhibited good anti-inflammatory, inhibitory activities on human vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and other bioactivities. Compared with traditional analytical methods, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-TOF MSI) can directly analyze the distribution of compounds in tissues and organs. In this study, we investigate the in situ distribution and metabolism of D1 and its derivatives (DD2, DD3) in the organs of mice based on MALDI-TOF MSI for the first time. Trace prototype compounds were detected in the plasma 4 h after the intravenous injection of D1, DD2, and DD3. Seven phase I metabolites and seven phase II metabolites were detected. D1 sulfates were found in the plasma and in organs except the heart. The presence of D1 and DD3 monosulfates in the brain indicated that they could penetrate the blood–brain barrier. DD2 and DD3 could be hydrolyzed into D1 and their metabolic pathways were similar to those of D1. In addition, a ligand-receptor docking of D1 and DD2 with mitogen-activated protein kinase 8 (JNK1) was performed because of their significant anti-inflammatory activities through the JNK signaling pathway. It showed that the binding energy of DD2 with JNK1 was obviously lower than that of D1 which was consistent with their anti-inflammatory activities. It provided a theoretical basis for further validation of their anti-inflammatory mechanism at the protein level. In summary, the research will provide beneficial guidance for further pharmacological, toxicological studies and the clinical-use research of these compounds.

Heterophylly, the existence of different leaf shapes and sizes on the same plant, has been observed in many flowering plant species. Yet, the genetic characteristics and genetic basis of heterophylly in soybean remain unknown. Here, two populations of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) with distinctly different leaf shapes were used to identify loci controlling heterophylly in two environments. The ratio of apical leaf shape (LSUP) to basal leaf shape (LSDOWN) at the reproductive growth stage (RLS) was used as a parameter for classifying heterophylly. A total of eight QTL were detected for RLS between the two populations and four of them were stably identified in both environments. Among them, qRLS20 had the largest effect in the JS population, with a maximum LOD value of 46.9 explaining up to 47.2% of phenotypic variance. This locus was located in the same genomic region as the basal leaf shape QTL qLSDOWN20 on chromosome 20. The locus qRLS19 had the largest effect in the JJ population, with a maximum LOD value of 15.2 explaining up to 27.0% of phenotypic variance. This locus was located in the same genomic region as the apical leaf shape QTL qLSUP19 on chromosome 19. Four candidate genes for heterophylly were identified based on sequence differences among the three parents of the two mapping populations, RT-qPCR analysis, and gene functional annotation analysis. The QTL and candidate genes detected in this study lay a foundation for further understanding the genetic mechanism of heterophylly and are invaluable in marker-assisted breeding.

Grassland degradation in the semiarid area of China is often attributed to overgrazing and expansion of irrigated agriculture without the consideration of groundwater. However, falling groundwater levels in the region have caused many problems for grassland ecology. In this paper,the typical sandy grassland- the Tongliao part of Horqin grassland was selected as the study area to study the spatial distribution of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the relationship between the NDVI and groundwater depth (GD) of each grassland pixel was studied. The temporal variation of the NDVI and its correlations with precipitation were investigated. The relationship between GD and vegetation species diversity in grassland was analyzed based on the vegetation survey. The results of the relation between GD and NDVI and vegetation species showed that GD can buffer the impact of increase in drought events on the vegetation because GD affected the composition and diversity of vegetation species. As the GD increases, the mean NDVI showed a trend of increasing first and then decreasing, and basically remained unchanged when the GD was greater than 3.5 m. The species diversity of grassland decreased with increasing GD and was not related to GD when GD was greater than 3.5 ∼ 4 m. Falling groundwater levels will cause great changes in the structure of grassland; specifically, azonal vegetation will gradually die and 3.5 m may be the critical GD needed to maintain the incomplete extinction of grassland azonal vegetation in the aeolian sandy soil. Correlation analysis proved that the correlation between NDVI and precipitation was significantly enhanced when GD increased sharply from 3 m to 6 m after 1999. This research indicates that the control of grassland degradation should pay attention to controlling the groundwater exploitation to recover a reasonable groundwater level, which was found to be necessary in the support of diverse and climate resilient of vegetation.