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Abstract China prioritizes a coordinated and sustainable shift from rural to urban areas, termed rural-urban transformation. This involves land, population, and industry urbanization. Here we explore the spatiotemporal dynamics of rural-urban transformation patterns in China, focusing on the degree of integrated transformation and the coupling between the three tracks. To conduct our investigation, we utilized the urbanization cube theory, satellite-derived gridded datasets, and the self-organizing map. Our findings show that eastern China has higher levels of integrated transformation and coupling compared to western China. There has been an overall increase in the coupling of China’s three rural-urban transformation tracks. We identified six typical rural-urban transformation patterns across China. Over time, 53.58% of prefectures improved in rural-urban transformation patterns, 3.44% degraded, and 42.98% (mainly in western China) remained unchanged. More importantly, we highlight that the increasing and coupling rural-urban transformation in China has reduced inequities in urban and rural well-being.

Banana, a monocotyledonous plant in the genus Musa of the family Musaceae, is one of the most important tropical fruit crops. Globally, banana is also the fourth most important staple food, followed by rice, wheat, and maize. Cultivated bananas, comprising dessert and cooking types, are mostly triploids with complicated genetic background. Researches on origins and domestication of cultivated bananas are essential for accelerating the process of banana breeding. In recent years, great progress has been made in molecular phylogenetics of banana germplasm resources, providing valuable genetic information to facilitate further uses in the design of breeding strategies. This review updated the sectional taxonomy of the wild species in the genus Musa closely related to cultivated bananas, and summarized the common cultivated groups in the world and their characteristics, encompassing 18 cultivated types in 7 genomic groups. Moreover, we concluded the recent updates on the origins and domestication of the most important cultivated groups including AAA, AAB, ABB and AB, the evolutionary biology of wild M. acuminata subspecies and the existence of undefined ancestral genepools which both contributed to the diversity of the cultivated bananas. Besides, we proposed the prospect for future researches on the cultivated bananas. This review, to the best knowledge of the authors, is systematically summarize the recent advances in the origins and domestication of the cultivated bananas, with a view to seeking elite germplasm and novel gene resources for providing references for the researches on banana breeding.

Summary: High TRABD expression is associated with tau pathology in patients with Alzheimer’s disease; however, the function of TRABD is unknown. Human TRABD encodes a mitochondrial outer-membrane protein. The loss of TRABD resulted in mitochondrial fragmentation, and TRABD overexpression led to mitochondrial clustering and fusion. The C-terminal tail of the TRABD anchored to the mitochondrial outer membrane and the TraB domain could form homocomplexes. Additionally, TRABD forms complexes with MFN2, MIGA2, and PLD6 to facilitate mitochondrial fusion. Flies lacking dTRABD are viable and have normal lifespans. However, aging flies exhibit reduced climbing ability and abnormal mitochondrial morphology in their muscles. The expression of dTRABD is increased in aged flies. dTRABD overexpression leads to neurodegeneration and enhances tau toxicity in fly eyes. The overexpression of dTRABD also increased reactive oxygen species (ROS), ATP production, and protein turnover in the mitochondria. This study suggested that TRABD-induced mitochondrial malfunctions contribute to age-related neurodegeneration.

Abstract Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) is an graphene oxide (GO) derivative of graphene, which has a large specific surface area and exhibited satisfactory physicochemical characteristics. In this experiment, GO was reduced by PDA to generate PDA-GO complex, and then PDA-GO was combined with Chitosan (CS) to synthesize PDA-GO/CS composite scaffold. PDA-GO was added to CS to improve the degradation rate of CS, and it was hoped that PDA-GO/CS composite scaffolds could be used in bone tissue engineering. Physicochemical and antimicrobial properties of the different composite scaffolds were examined to find the optimal mass fraction. Besides, we examined the scaffold’s biocompatibility by Phalloidin staining and Live and Dead fluorescent staining. Finally, we applied ALP staining, RT-qPCR, and Alizarin red S staining to detect the effect of PDA-GO/CS on the osteogenic differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs). The results showed that PDA-GO composite was successfully prepared and PDA-GO/CS composite scaffold was synthesized by combining PDA-GO with CS. Among them, 0.3%PDA-GO/CS scaffolds improves the antibacterial activity and hydrophilicity of CS, while reducing the degradation rate. In vitro, PDA-GO/CS has superior biocompatibility and enhances the early proliferation, migration and osteogenic differentiation of hDPSCs. In conclusion, PDA-GO/CS is a new scaffold materialsuitable for cell culture and has promising application prospect as scaffold for bone tissue engineering.

Staphylea bumalda is a rare medicine and edible shrub native to the temperate regions of Asia, possessing significant medicinal potential. In this study, the components of S. bumalda tender leaves and buds extract (SBE) were analyzed and identified by HPLC and LC/MS method, and the safety of SBE was evaluated through mouse acute toxicity models. The protective effects of SBE on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced ulcerative colitis (UC) in mice were investigated in terms of inflammatory factor levels, oxidative stress, and gut microorganisms. Results showed that hyperoside, kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside, isorhoifolin, and rutin were the main components of the extract, and SBE demonstrated good safety in experimental mice. SBE could alleviate weight losing, disease activity index (DAI) raising, and colon shortening in mice. Pathological section results showed that the inflammatory cell infiltration decreased significantly, and the number of goblet cells increased significantly in the SBE group. After SBE treatment, interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels in serum were significantly decreased, and the levels of myeloperoxidase (MPO) and nitric oxide (NO) in colon tissues were significantly decreased. SBE inhibited gut inflammation by increasing Lactobacillus. In summary, SBE played a therapeutic role in UC mice by relieving colon injury, reducing inflammatory factor levels, and maintaining gut flora homeostasis. SBE is expected to become an auxiliary means to participate in the prevention and treatment of UC.

Recently, planar and broadband hot-electron photodetectors (HE PDs) were established but exhibited degraded performances due to the adoptions of the single-junction configurations and the utilizations of absorbable films with thicknesses larger than the electronic mean free path. In this work, we present a five-layer design for planar HE PDs assisted by triple junctions in which an ultrathin Pt layer dominates the broadband and displays strong optical absorption (>0.9 from 900 nm to 1700 nm). Optical studies reveal that the optical admittance matching between optical admittances of designed device and air at all interested wavelengths is responsible for broadband light-trapping that induces prominent energy depositions in Pt layers. Electrical investigations show that, benefitting from suppressed hot-electron transport losses and increased hot-electron harvesting junctions, the predicted responsivity of the designed HE PD is up to 8.51 mA/W at 900 nm. Moreover, the high average absorption (responsivity) of 0.96 (3.66 mA/W) is substantially sustained over a broad incidence angle regardless of the polarizations of incident light. The comparison studies between five-layer and three-layer devices emphasize the superiority of five-layer design in strong optical absorption in Pt layers and efficient hot-electron extraction.

In order to clarify the influence of the air outlet width and the ratio of radial and axial air outlet of the wall attached air duct on the dust control effect of the fully mechanized face, taking a fully mechanized face in Fengjiata Coal Mine as the prototype, the numerical simulation of the long pressure and short extraction ventilation roadway model is carried out by using FLUENT software, and the simulation results are verified on the spot. The results show that when the pressure extraction ratio is kept at 1.3 and the length of the radial air outlet is 0.8 m, with the increase of the width of the air outlet, the dust concentration in the roadway space first decreases and then increases, and the width of the air outlet is changed. When the width of the air outlet is 0.05 m, the dust concentration at the driver is reduced to 100 mg/m3, 20 m away from the heading face, there is basically no dust in the roadway, and the dust control effect is the best. Keeping the optimal outlet width of 0.05 m. As the radial and axial air outlet ratio decreases, the dust concentration in the roadway first decreases and then increases, when the radial and axial air outlet ratio is 1∶2, the dust is centrally controlled in the negative pressure suction area, and the dust concentration at the driver’s position of the anchor digger decreases to 1.2 mg/m3. At this time, the radial outlet wall attached air duct has the best dust control effect.

Botryosphaeria dothidea, a notorious plant pathogen, is responsible for causing chestnut rot during postharvest storage. This research aimed to assess the antifungal properties of perilla essential oil (PEO) and perillaldehyde (PAE) against B. dothidea. PEO’s and PAE’s inhibitory effects on B. dothidea were investigated using an agar dilution method, a fumigation method, and an in vivo assay in chestnuts and shell buckets. Based on the results of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, it was confirmed that the main component of PEO was elemicin. The antifungal mechanism of PEO and PAE against B. dothidea was investigated by conducting staining experiments of the fungal cell wall and cell membrane. PEO and PAE strongly inhibit the mycelial growth of B. dothidea in a dose-dependent manner. The inhibitory mechanism is mainly related to the destruction of the integrity of the fungal cell wall and plasma membrane. Notably, PEO retains its antifungal efficacy against B. dothidea in chestnuts, effectively prolonging their storage life. These findings indicate that PEO and PAE are nontoxic, eco-friendly botanical fungicides, holding promise for controlling postharvest chestnut rot.

Recently, phosphorylation has been applied to peptides to enhance their physiological activity, taking advantage of its modification benefits and the extensive study of functional peptides. In this study, water-soluble peptides (WSPs) of sea cucumber ovum were phosphorylated in order to improve the latter’s calcium binding capacity and calcium absorption. Enzymatic hydrolysis methods were screened via ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV–Vis), the fluorescence spectrum, and calcium chelating ability. Phosphorylated water-soluble peptides (P-WSPs) were characterized via high-performance liquid chromatography, the circular dichroism spectrum, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV–Vis spectroscopy, surface hydrophobicity, and fluorescence spectroscopy. The phosphorus content, calcium chelation rate and absorption rate were investigated. The results demonstrated that phosphorylation enhanced the calcium chelating capacity of WSPs, with the highest capacity reaching 0.96 mmol/L. Phosphate ions caused esterification events, and the carboxyl, amino, and phosphate groups of WSPs and P-WSPs interacted with calcium ions to form these bonds. Calcium-chelated phosphorylated water-soluble peptides (P-WSPs-Ca) demonstrated outstanding stability (calcium retention rates > 80%) in gastrointestinal processes. Our study indicates that these chelates have significant potential to develop into calcium supplements with superior efficacy, bioactivity, and stability.

Synergies and trade-offs among land use and land covers (LULCs) pose considerable uncertainties in achieving the dual carbon goals for China's Loess Plateau (CLP). In this context, we unraveled the carbon stock dynamics induced by land use and land cover change (LUCC) in the CLP over the past 40 years using the satellite-derived annual LULC maps and the InVEST model. Then, mixed measures were employed to quantify the global and local responses of the carbon stock dynamics to both natural and anthropogenic factors. We found that approximately a total of 5.58 × 109 Mg of carbon was stored in the CLP's ecosystems in 2019. Chronologically, the total carbon stock showed a slight decrease in the CLP from 1980 to 2019 due to the extensive LUCCs linked to socioeconomic activities. Specifically, the total carbon density loss rate accelerated in urban–rural-wild continuum (RUWC) types with higher human activity intensity, such as villages and urban, while it decelerated in woodlands, and croplands, where the human activity intensity is lower. Moreover, the total carbon density gain rate in wildlands was accelerating. Finally, we revealed that the carbon stock dynamics in the CLP over the past 40 years were primarily influenced by socioeconomic variables and have responded diversely to the drivers in space.

ObjectiveNon-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) is beneficial to adult patients with depression, but its safety and efficacy in combination with antidepressants in children and adolescents with depression are not clear. We conducted a preliminary meta-analysis to objectively evaluate its clinical effect and provide information for future research and clinical practice.MethodsPubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science were searched systematically to find clinical trials published in English before April 11, 2023. Stata software was used for meta-analysis, and random or fixed effect models were used to combine effect sizes.ResultsNine studies were eligible and included (n = 393). No articles about children were included in the analysis. The results showed that the remission rate was 40% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 13% to 71%). The scores of Children’s Depression Rating Scale (CRDS) and Hamilton’s depression scale (HAMD) significantly decreased compared to baseline value (MD = -27.04, 95% CI: -30.95, -23.12 and MD = -12.78, 95% CI: -19.55 to -6.01). In addition, the incidence of all adverse events was 13% (95% CI: 5%, 23%), and all were minor pain-related events.ConclusionThe combination of NIBS and antidepressants has been shown to notably alleviate depressive symptoms in adolescents, offering a considerable level of safety. This therapeutic synergy is particularly effective in patients with major depressive disorder, where repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation augmented with antidepressants can enhance the amelioration of depressive symptoms.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42023442215, PROSPERO CRD42023442215.

Summary: Influenza A virus (IAV) remains a pressing global health concern, yet our understanding of the specific nature and functional roles of certain circulating cell subsets in relation to this viral infection remains unclear. We performed single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) on single-cell whole-blood (scWB) isolated from various populations using the Singleron Matrix platform. Our investigation showed a significant upregulation of the IFN-stimulated gene, IFN-α-inducible protein 27 (IFI27), in patients affected by IAV infection and further found that the heightened expression of IFI27 was primarily concentrated in specific immune cell populations, including monocytes and conventional dendritic cells (cDCs). Notably, we identified a specific subset of neutrophils, neutrophil_ISG15, which implicates interferon (IFN) signaling in IAV infection. Our findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the cellular subtypes and molecular characteristics of scWB across different populations with IAV infection.

Background: Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging infectious disease with high mortality. Early identification of patients who may advance to critical stages is crucial. This investigation aimed to establish models to predict SFTS before it reaches the critical illness stage. Methods: Between January 2016 and September 2022, 278 cases have been included in this study. There were 87 demographic and systemic chosen variables. For selecting the predictive variables from the cohort, the LASSO was utilized, and for identifying independent predictors, multivariate logistic regression was performed. Based on these factors, a nomogram was established for critical illness. Concordance index values, decision curve analysis and the area under the curve (AUC) were also examined. Results: Multivariate logistic regression demonstrated the most important differentiating factors as;> 65 years old (P

PurposeIn order to reduce the incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer, improving the quality of colonoscopy is the top priority. At present, the adenoma detection rate is the most used index to evaluate the quality of colonoscopy. So, we further verified the relevant factors influencing the quality of colonoscopy and found out the novel quality indicators by studying the relationship between the influencing factors and the adenoma detection rate.Materials/methodsThe study included 3824 cases of colonoscopy from January to December 2020. We retrospectively recorded the age and sex of the subjects; the number, size, and histological features of lesions; withdrawal time and the number of images acquired during colonoscopy. We analyzed the associated factors affecting adenoma and polyp detection, and verified their effectiveness with both univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses.ResultsLogistic regression analyses showed that gender, age, withdrawal time and the number of images acquired during colonoscopy could serve as independent predictors of adenoma/polyp detection rate. In addition, adenoma detection rate (25.36% vs. 14.29%) and polyp detection rate (53.99% vs. 34.42%) showed a marked increase when the number of images taken during colonoscopy was ≥29 (P

Summary: The claustrum (CLA) is a conspicuous subcortical structure interconnected with cortical and subcortical regions. Its regional anatomy and cell-type-specific connections in the mouse remain not fully determined. Using multimodal reference datasets, we confirmed the delineation of the mouse CLA as a single group of neurons embedded in the agranular insular cortex. We quantitatively investigated brain-wide inputs and outputs of CLA using bulk anterograde and retrograde viral tracing data and single neuron tracing data. We found that the prefrontal module has more cell types projecting to the CLA than other cortical modules, with layer 5 IT neurons predominating. We found nine morphological types of CLA principal neurons that topographically innervate functionally linked cortical targets, preferentially the midline cortical areas, secondary motor area, and entorhinal area. Together, this study provides a detailed wiring diagram of the cell-type-specific connections of the mouse CLA, laying a foundation for studying its functions at the cellular level.

Adenosine A2A receptors (A2ARs) appear early in the retina during postnatal development, but the roles of the A2ARs in the morphogenesis of distinct types of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) during postnatal development and neonatal inflammatory response remain undetermined. As the RGCs are rather heterogeneous in morphology and functions in the retina, here we resorted to the Thy1-YFPH transgenic mice and three-dimensional (3D) neuron reconstruction to investigate how A2ARs regulate the morphogenesis of three morphologically distinct types of RGCs (namely Type I, II, III) during postnatal development and neonatal inflammation. We found that the A2AR antagonist KW6002 did not change the proportion of the three RGC types during retinal development, but exerted a bidirectional effect on dendritic complexity of Type I and III RGCs and cell type-specifically altered their morphologies with decreased dendrite density of Type I, decreased the dendritic field area of Type II and III, increased dendrite density of Type III RGCs. Moreover, under neonatal inflammation condition, KW6002 specifically increased the proportion of Type I RGCs with enhanced the dendrite surface area and volume and the proportion of Type II RGCs with enlarged the soma area and perimeter. Thus, A2ARs exert distinct control of RGC morphologies to cell type-specifically fine-tune the RGC dendrites during normal development but to mainly suppress RGC soma and dendrite volume under neonatal inflammation.

Niviventer sacer (Rodentia: Muridae) had been regarded as a subspecies of N. confucianus, i.e. N. c. sacer, and was raised as a distinct species recently by our laboratory. We sequenced the complete mitochondrial genome of N. sacer first and annotated the genome structure. The total length of the genome was 16,308 base pairs (bp) containing 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two ribosomal RNA genes (rRNAs), 22 transfer RNA genes (tRNAs), and a control region. We also constructed the phylogenetic tree by maximum-likelihood method and it demonstrated that N. sacer was the sister clade of N. confucianus.

Abstract Fungal pathogens are common causes of superficial clinical infection. Their increasing drug resistance gradually makes existing antifungal drugs ineffective. Heat stable antifungal factor (HSAF) is a novel antifungal natural product with a unique structure. However, the application of HSAF has been hampered by very low yield in the current microbial producers and from extremely poor solubility in water and common solvents. In this study, we developed an effective mode of treatment applying HSAF to superficial fungal infections. The marine‐derived Lysobacter enzymogenes YC36 contains the HSAF biosynthetic gene cluster, which we activated by the interspecific signaling molecule indole. An efficient extraction strategy was used to significantly improve the purity to 95.3%. Scanning electron microscopy images revealed that the Type I collagen‐based HSAF (Col‐HSAF) has a transparent appearance and good physical properties, and the in vitro sustained‐release effect of HSAF was maintained for more than 2 weeks. The effective therapeutic concentration of Col‐HSAF against superficial fungal infection was explored, and Col‐HSAF showed good biocompatibility, lower clinical scores, mild histological changes, and antifungal capabilities in animals with Aspergillus fumigatus keratitis and cutaneous candidiasis. In conclusion, Col‐HSAF is an antifungal reagent with significant clinical value in the treatment of superficial fungal infections.

The synthesis of octenyl-succinylated chitosan with different degrees of substitution resulting from chemical modification of chitosan and controlled addition of octenyl succinic acid was investigated. The modified products were characterized using 1H NMR, FTIR, and XRD, and the degree of substitution was also determined. The properties of the modified chitosan oligosaccharide in solution were evaluated by surface tension and dye solubilization, finding that the molecules self-assembled when they are above the critical aggregation concentration. The two methods yielded consistent results, showing that the self-assembly was reduced with higher levels of substitution. The antimicrobial activity of the octanyl-succinylated chitosan oligosaccharide (OSA-COS) derivatives against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Fusarium oxysporum f.sp cucumerinum was investigated by the Oxford cup method. While the acetylated COS derivatives were not significantly effective against either E coli or S. aureus, they showed significant antifungal activity toward F. oxysporum that was superior to that of COS. The modified product was found to form a stable emulsion when mixed with whey protein isolate. The emulsion formed by the highly substituted derivatives have a certain stability and loading efficiency, which can be used for the encapsulation and delivery of astaxanthin.

Abstract Aiming at the research of assisted blind technology, a generative adversarial network model was proposed to complete the transformation of the mode from vision to touch. Firstly, two key representations of visual to tactile sense are identified: the texture image of the object and the audio frequency that generates vibrotactile. It is essentially a matter of generating audio from images. The authors propose a cross‐modal network framework that generates corresponding vibrotactile signals based on texture images. More importantly, the network structure is an end‐to‐end, which eliminates the traditional intermediate form of converting texture image to spectrum image, and can directly carry out the transformation from visual to tactile. A quantitative evaluation system is proposed in this study, which can evaluate the performance of the network model. The experimental results show that the network can complete the conversion of visual information to tactile signals. The proposed method is proved to be superior to the existing method of indirectly generating vibrotactile signals, and the applicability of the model is verified.

Abstract Background Casein kinase I (CKI) is a kind of serine/threonine protein kinase highly conserved in plants and animals. Although molecular function of individual member of CKI family has been investigated in Arabidopsis, little is known about their evolution and functions in Gossypium. Results In this study, five cotton species were applied to study CKI gene family in cotton, twenty-two species were applied to trace the origin and divergence of CKI genes. Four important insights were gained: (i) the cotton CKI genes were classified into two types based on their structural characteristics; (ii) two types of CKI genes expanded with tetraploid event in cotton; (iii) two types of CKI genes likely diverged about 1.5 billion years ago when red and green algae diverged; (iv) two types of cotton CKI genes which highly expressed in leaves showed stronger response to photoperiod (circadian clock) and light signal, and most two types of CKI genes highly expressed in anther showed identical heat inducible expression during anther development in tetraploid cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). Conclusion This study provides genome-wide insights into the evolutionary history of cotton CKI genes and lays a foundation for further investigation of the functional differentiation of two types of CKI genes in specific developmental processes and environmental stress conditions.

In this paper, the design of a self-developed EMP simulator with a 5 m height and an inverted conducting mono-cone antenna with a cone half-angle of 32° is introduced. The experimental region of the simulator is a circular area of 25 m in diameter around the cone vertex. Two feeding modes, feed-in over the ground and feed-in under the ground, are realized by two different high-voltage pulse sources. It can be concluded through radiation field testing that the radiation field waveform generated by the simulator has a rise time of 2–3 ns and a half-width of about 25 ns, meeting the specifications of the EMP experimental waveform in the IEC61000-2-9 standard. Meanwhile, the differences between the engineering implementation of the simulator and its ideal structure during the design process can lead to some distortion issues in the antenna radiation characteristics and the electromagnetic radiation field it generates. The radiation field waveform and the distribution of the EMP field generated by the simulator under different feeding methods, antenna wire quantities, antenna end processing methods, and different antenna resistive loading were studied, and the changes in the radiation field waveform and field distribution with different angles and distances of the monitoring point were analyzed. Based on the measurement results, the radiation characteristics of the antenna and the factors that affect the waveform of the field were studied and analyzed. Through the aforementioned work, a comprehensive understanding of the performance, radiation characteristics, and engineering factors affecting the electromagnetic environment generated by the simulator has been obtained. On this basis, the parameters of the antenna wire quantity, antenna end processing method, and test point position of the designed simulator were reconfirmed and optimized. In summary, this work has important reference significance for mastering the development technology of such simulators, understanding their antenna radiation characteristics, and conducting EMP-related assessments and effect experiments in the future.

Carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) has indispensable applications in the aerospace field because of its light weight, corrosion resistance, high specific modulus and high specific strength, but its anisotropy brings great difficulties to precision machining. Delamination and fuzzing, especially the heat-affected zone (HAZ), are the difficulties that traditional processing methods cannot overcome. In this paper, single-pulse and multi-pulse cumulative ablation experiments and drilling of CFRP have been carried out using the characteristics of a femtosecond laser pulse, which can realize precision cold machining. The results show that the ablation threshold is 0.84 J/cm2 and the pulse accumulation factor is 0.8855. On this basis, the effects of laser power, scanning speed and scanning mode on the heat-affected zone and drilling taper are further studied, and the underlying mechanism of drilling is analyzed. By optimizing the experimental parameters, we obtained the HAZ < 10 μm, a cylindrical hole with roundness > 0.95 and taper < 5°. The research results confirm that ultrafast laser processing is a feasible and promising method for CFRP precision machining.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced biofilm infection is difficult to treat and poses a significant threat to public health. Our previous study found a new coumarin derivative LP4C which exerted potent in vitro and in vivo anti-biofilm activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa; however, the underlying molecular mechanism and drug-likeness of LP4C is unclear. In this study, we confirmed that LP4C could inhibit the biofilm in dose-dependent manner without bactericidal activity. The transcriptomic profiling and RT-PCR result revealed that bacterial pyrimidine mediated the inhibitory activity of LP4C. The cell viability was not affected in LP4C treatment groups with the concentration under 200 μg/mL, and no death or toxicity sign was observed in mice treated by 20, 40 and 80 mg/kg LP4C during the three-week test period. Ames test presented that LP4C had no effect on the bacterial reverse mutation. In additional, pharmacokinetic results showed that LP4C was likely to have the orally bioavailable properties. Our data indicate that LP4C is a possible lead compound for the development of new anti-biofilm infection agents against Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Niviventer confucianus sacer Thomas, 1908, which has been regarded as a subspecies of N. confucianus, was found to be a distinct species from N. confucianus based on molecular, karyotyping, and morphological characteristics in this study. Niviventer c. sacer was found to belong to a distinct phylogenetic clade in phylogenetic tree constructed using the mitochondrial gene Cytb, it clustered with N. bukit (Bonhote, 1903) from Vietnam and N. confucianus (Milne-Edwards, 1871) from Yunnan, but showed a distant relationship with N. confucianus from adjacent areas. The genetic distance between N. c. sacer and N. confucianus was more than 5.8%, reaching the level of interspecific differentiation. The species delimitation indicates that N. c. sacer is a monophyletic group. The karyotype of N. c. sacer (FN = 55, 8m+4st+32t+X(sm)Y(t)) differed from that of N. confucianus (FN = 59, 6m+4sm+2st+32t+X(sm)Y(t)). In terms of morphological features, the length of incisive foramen (LIF) and length of auditory bulla (LAB) of N. c. sacer is significantly larger than that of N. confucianus and N. bukit (P < 0.05) and the proportion of white tail tip to total tail length is significantly longer at N. c. sacer (≥ 1/3) than that at N. confucianus (≤ 1/3). Therefore, integrated analysis confirmed that N. c. sacer is a distinct species of genus Niviventer rather than a subspecies of N. confucianus or N. bukit, namely N. sacer, which is only distributed in Shandong.

Abstract The utilization of mixed cations is beneficial for taking the advantages of cations and achieving highly efficient perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Herein, the precisely small incorporation of CH(NH2)2 (FA) cations in methyl ammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) enables the formation of compact, smooth perovskite film with high crystallinity. Consequently, the short-circuit current and the fill factor of the PSCs based on FA x MA1-x PbI3 perovskite are greatly improved, leading to the enhanced device efficiency. The champion PSC based on FA0.1MA0.9PbI3 exhibits a remarkably high efficiency of 22.02%. Furthermore, the PSCs based on FA0.1MA0.9PbI3 perovskite also show improved device stability. This work provides a simple approach to fabricate high-quality perovskite films and high-performance PSCs with better stability.

Comprehensive identification and cataloging of copy number variation (CNVs) are essential to providing a complete view of human genetic variation and to finding diseased genes. Due to the large-scale sequencing and cost control whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data, low-coverage data is favorably disposed towards CNV identification. However, such low-coverage data is sensitive to noise and sequencing biases, which results in low resolution of CNV detection in past experimental designs for WGS datasets. In this paper, we present a control-free Dirichlet process Gaussian mixture model (dpGMM) based approach, to analyze the read depth (RD) of low-coverage WGS datasets for CNV discovery. First, noise and biases of the RD signals are corrected through the preprocessing step of dpGMM. Then we assume that RD signals across genomic regions follow a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) in which each Gaussian distribution is followed by a copy number state. Without requiring the number of Gaussian distributions, dpGMM builds a Dirichlet process (DP) GMM for RD signals and further uses a DP prior to infer the number of Gaussian models. After that, we apply dpGMM to simulation datasets with different coverages and individual datasets, and compare ours to three widely used RD-based pipelines, CNVnator, GROM-RD, and BIC-seq2. Simulation results demonstrate that our approach, dpGMM, has a high F1 score in both low- and high- coverage sequences. Also, the number of overlaps between CNVs detected in real data by ours and the standard benchmark is twice as much as that detected by other tools such as CNVnator and GROM-RD.

For the practical nonlinear circuits, a number of new frequencies are generated in the output spectrum, which makes electromagnetic interference location quite challenging. To mitigate this problem, an approach is proposed to identify the electromagnetic emission source frequencies and nonlinear factors from the output spectrum of nonlinear circuits. The amplitude of the output spectrum with the input of two sine signals is first calculated based on the power series. Then, the Order Image (OI) is defined to reveal the output spectrum features, and its symmetry characteristic has been comprehensively analyzed. Results show that the maximum symmetry index is observed when the reference frequencies are equal to the excitation frequencies. Based on this observation, the electromagnetic emission source frequencies can be obtained. In addition, a Backward Algorithm (BA) has been introduced to extract nonlinear factors. The proposed approach only requires the output spectrum and the amplitude of one excitation. Compared with other techniques, like the Support Vector Machines and the Recurrent Neural Network, it needs much less prior information. Finally, several examples are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Results show that the emission source frequencies and nonlinear factors can be accurately extracted. Therefore, the proposed approach shows great potential in electromagnetic interference location and characteristic analysis for nonlinear circuits.

The conservation of morphology has resulted in considerable issues in the taxonomy of small mammals, especially for the identification of sibling species. Moreover, it is often difficult to completely solve such taxonomic problems by relying only on a single research method. The genus Crocidura is one of the genera with a conservative morphology and high species diversity. Among them, Crocidura attenuata has been considered in the field as the most widely distributed and common species. In fact, it is a species complex containing multiple species, and the classification and distribution of this species is controversial. In this study, the species and distribution of the Crocidura attenuata species complex experienced an integrated revision using three different levels of research methods: molecular, karyotype and morphology. The results show that (1) the C. attenuata species complex contains four known species (C. attenuata, C. tanakae, C. anhuiensis and C. dongyangjiangensis) and a cryptic species distributed in Guangxi, which may be the same undescribed species as the “C. attenuata” distributed in Vietnam. (2) C. attenuata is only distributed around the Sichuan Basin, C. tanakae is the most widely distributed throughout Southern China, and C. anhuiensis and C. dongyangjiangensis are almost sympatric in Southeast China. Furthermore, (3) although the molecular method lacks a unified threshold for species classification, it can rapidly and effectively identify the species of the C. attenuata species complex. Although karyotype and morphology methods cannot completely solve the species classification issues in respect of the C. attenuata species complex, they can provide supplemental information for taxonomic purposes. Therefore, the integrated taxonomic method can present the advantages of different methodological levels, and will provide further evidence for the taxonomy of sibling species with a conservative morphology.

The complete mitochondrial genome of the Dongyangjiang White-toothed Shrew (Crocidura dongyangjiangensis), a newly discovered Crocidura species, is sequenced and characterized. The total length of the genome is 16,883 bp, and has similar base composition and gene arrangement to other vertebrates. It contains 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two ribosomal RNA (rRNA), 22 transfer RNA (tRNA), a replication origin (OL) and a control region. The phylogenetic tree shows that C. dongyangjiangensis was fully resolved in a clade with three other species of Crocidura and it has a sibling relationship with Crocidura tanakae. This analysis reveals the evolutionary relationship of 16 Crocidura species.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)-caused infection is difficult to treat because of its resistance to commonly used antibiotic, and poses a significant threat to public health. To develop new anti-bacterial agents to combat MRSA-induced infections, we synthesized novel squaric amide derivatives and evaluated their anti-bacterial activity by determining the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Additionally, inhibitory activity of squaric amide 2 (SA2) was measured using the growth curve assay, time-kill assay, and an MRSA-induced skin infection animal model. A scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope were utilized to observe the effect of SA2 on the morphologies of MRSA. Transcriptome analysis and real-time PCR were used to test the possible anti-bacterial mechanism of SA2. The results showed that SA2 exerted bactericidal activity against a number of MRSA strains with an MIC at 4–8 µg/mL. It also inhibited the bacterial growth curve of MRSA strains in a dose-dependent manner, and reduced the colony formation unit in 4× MIC within 4–8 h. The infective lesion size and the bacterial number in the MRSA-induced infection tissue of mice were reduced significantly within 7 days after SA2 treatment. Moreover, SA2 disrupted the bacterial membrane and alanine dehydrogenase-dependent NAD+/NADH homeostasis. Our data indicates that SA2 is a possible lead compound for the development of new anti-bacterial agents against MRSA infection.

As the farmland transfer market in China develops, moderate-scale operations increasingly grow but without much improvement in fertilizer use efficiency. This study theoretically analyzes the mechanism and effect of rising farmland costs on fertilizer use efficiency using multiple quadratic regression and mediating effects models. It empirically tests a micro-sample of 806 farmers in Gansu and Jiangsu provinces in China from two dimensions: the full samples and farmer heterogeneity. The results showed 0.544 as the average fertilizer use efficiency (hereinafter, fe) of farmers in Gansu and Jiangsu, highlighting the severe loss of fe caused by excessive fertilizer inputs. The multiple quadratic regression model further revealed an inverted U-shaped relationship between farmland costs and fe, with the U-shaped curve showing a remarkable inflection point at the USD 708/mu mark. When farmland costs are excessive (cost > CNY 708/mu), the increase in farmland costs inhibits the fe. An investigation of the corresponding impact mechanism for this scenario (i.e., cost > USD 708/mu) revealed that farmland costs directly suppress fe (−0.485) by distorting the fertilizer factor substitution effect and indirectly suppress fe (−0.037) by impeding the technology spillover effect of production specialization and production scale-up. We also found heterogeneity between two groups: ordinary farmers and new agricultural operators (e.g., large grain and family farmers), with the peak kernel density function of fe of new agricultural operators (0.85) being much higher than that of ordinary farmers (0.30). Moreover, the multiple quadratic regression between the groups revealed a lower inflection point for ordinary farmers (CNY 638/mu) than new agricultural operators (CNY 823/mu), highlighting that the fe of ordinary farmers was more likely to be inhibited by the excessive rise in farmland costs. To promote the sustainable development of China’s agricultural production, we propose reducing the cost of farmland, promoting service-scale operations, and fostering new agricultural operators.

Reconstructing the full shape of neurons is a major informatics challenge as it requires handling huge whole-brain imaging datasets. Here the authors present an open-source virtual reality annotation system for precise and efficient data production of neuronal shapes reconstructed from whole brains.

The Taiwanese gray shrew (Crocidura tanakae) and Asian gray shrew (C. attenuata) are so similar in size and morphology that the taxonomic status of the former has changed several times since its description; C. tanakae has also been regarded as an endemic species of Taiwan Island. In recent years, molecular identification has led to several reports of C. tanakae being distributed in the mainland of China. In this study, we determine the geographical distribution of C. attenuata and C. tanakae based on more than one hundred specimens collected during 2000 to 2018 over a wide area covering the traditional ranges of the two species in the mainland of China, and show a substantial revision of their distributions. Among 110 individuals, 33 C. attenuata and 77 C. tanakae were identified by Cytb gene and morphologies. Our results show, (1) C. attenuata and C. tanakae are distributed sympatrically in the mainland of China; (2) contrary to the previous reports, the distribution range of C. attenuata is restricted and much smaller than that of C. tanakae in the mainland of China; (3) Hainan Island, like Taiwan Island, is inhabited by C. tanakae only according to the present data.

The majority of neurons in the neocortex are excitatory pyramidal cells (PCs). Many systematic classification schemes have been proposed based the neuronal morphology, the chemical composition, and the synaptic connectivity, etc. Recently, a cortical column of primary somatosensory cortex (SSC) has been reconstruction and functionally simulated (Markram et al., 2015). Putting forward from this study, here we proposed a simplified classification scheme for PCs in all layers of the SSC by mainly identifying apical dendritic morphology based on a large data set of 3D neuron reconstructions. We used this scheme to classify three types in layer 2, two in layer 3, three in layer 4, four in layer 5, and six types in layer 6. These PC types were visually distinguished and confirmed by quantitative differences in their morphometric properties. The classes yielded using this scheme largely corresponded with PC classes that were defined previously based on other neuronal and synaptic properties such as long-range projects and synaptic innervations, further validating its applicability. Therefore, the morphology information of apical dendrites is sufficient for a simple scheme to classify a spectrum of anatomical types of PCs in the SSC. Keywords: Somatosensory cortex, Cortical layers, Cell types, Pyramidal cells, Dendrites, Apical dendrites

Fungus-growing termites are engaged in a tripartite mutualism with intestinal microbes and a monocultivar (Termitomyces sp.) in the fungus garden. The termites are often plagued by entomopathogen (Metarhizium anisopliae) and fungus garden is always threatened by competitors (Xylaria spp.). Here, we aim to understand the defensive role of intestinal microbes, the actinomycetes which were isolated from the gut of Macrotermes barneyi. We obtained 44 antifungal isolates, which showed moderate to strong inhibition to Xylaria sp. HPLC analysis indicated that different types of polyenes (tetraene, pentene, and heptaene) existed in the metabolites of 10 strong antifungal Streptomyces strains. Two pentene macrolides (pentamycin and 1′14-dihydroxyisochainin) were firstly purified from Streptomyces strain HF10, both exhibiting higher activity against Xylaria sp. and M. anisopliae than cultivar Termitomyces. Subsequently, tetraene and heptaene related gene disruption assay showed that the mutant strains lost the ability to produce corresponding polyenes, and they also had significantly decreased activities against Xylaria sp. and M. anisopliae compared to that of wild type strains. These results indicate that polyene-producing Streptomyces from the guts of M. barneyi have strong inhibition to competitor fungus and polyenes contribute to inhibitory effects on Xylaria sp.

For wireless communication systems, receivers usually work under complex electromagnetic environments and are often susceptible to electromagnetic interference (EMI). With the wide application of pulse signals in various fields, the impact of pulse signals on the receivers of communication system has not been extensively studied. On the one hand, the existing receiver electromagnetic sensitivity (EMS) interference coupling effect is mainly analyzed from the perspective of energy only, without considering of different electromagnetic parameter characteristics of pulse signal, such as pulse width, repetition period, duty cycle and so on. On the other hand, there is a lack of quantitative characterization of typical performance indexes of receiver subject to pulsed interference environment, resulting in insufficient reliability and accuracy of receiver interference degree prediction and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) evaluation. This paper focuses on the EMS interference coupling effect analysis and EMC evaluation method of receiver under pulsed interference environment. First, based on the analysis of the interference mechanism of the pulse signal on receivers, the formula for the bit error ratio (BER) is derived. Then a system model is proposed to verify the theoretical analysis results through numerical simulation. With the established relationship between the parameters of the pulsed interference and the BER performance of the receiver, a novel EMC evaluation method has been proposed. As a practical application example, the evaluation method is verified via a well-designed experiment on BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS). The experiment shows that the observed phenomena are in good agreement with the conclusions of the proposed evaluation method, proving that the method is applicable to the EMC evaluation of receiver under pulsed signal interference environment.

Abstract We theoretically investigate highly tensile-strained Ge nanowires laterally on GaSb. Finite element method has been used to simulate the residual elastic strain in the Ge nanowire. The total energy increment including strain energy, surface energy, and edge energy before and after Ge deposition is calculated in different situations. The result indicates that the Ge nanowire on GaSb is apt to grow along 〈100〉 rather than 〈110〉 in the two situations and prefers to be exposed by {105} facets when deposited a small amount of Ge but to be exposed by {110} when the amount of Ge exceeds a critical value. Furthermore, the conduction band minima in Γ-valley at any position in both situations exhibits lower values than those in L-valley, leading to direct bandgap transition in Ge nanowire. For the valence band, the light hole band maxima at Γ-point is higher than the heavy hole band maxima at any position and even higher than the conduction band minima for the hydrostatic strain more than ∼5.0%, leading to a negative bandgap. In addition, both electron and hole mobility can be enhanced by owing to the decrease of the effective mass under highly tensile strain. The results suggest that biaxially tensile-strained Ge nanowires hold promising properties in device applications.

Cyclic dinucleotides (CDNs) are widely used secondary signaling molecules in bacterial and mammalian cells. The family of CDNs includes c-di-GMP, c-di-AMP and two distinct versions of hybrid cGAMPs. Studies related to these CDNs require large doses that are relatively expensive to generate by current methods. Here we report what to our knowledge is the first feasible microbial-based method to prepare these CDNs including c-di-GMP, 3′3′-cGAMP and 2′3′-cGAMP. The method mainly includes two parts: producing high yield of CDNs by engineering the overexpression of the proper dinucleotide cyclases (DNCs) and other related proteins in Escherichia coli, and purifying the bacteria-produced CDNs by a unified and simple process involving a STING affinity column, macroporous adsorption resin and C18 reverse-phase liquid chromatography. After purification, we obtained the diammonium salts of c-di-GMP, 3′3′-cGAMP and 2′3′-cGAMP with weight purity of >99, >96, >99% and in yields of >68, >26, and >82 milligrams per liter of culture, respectively. This technological platform enables the production of CDNs from cheaper material, provides a sustainable source of CDNs for scientific investigation, and can easily be further developed to prepare CDNs on a large scale for industry.

The Luby transform code is a forward error correction code and was originally designed for the erasure channel. In this paper, the Luby transform codes over the Mars communication channel are investigated. To guarantee the reliable data transmission over the Mars communication channel which are usually affected by fading and noises, the progressive edge-growth algorithm is improved and used in for encoding the Luby transform codes. And then a partly systematic Luby transform code with an improved progressive edge-growth algorithm is designed to improve the error propagation phenomenon in Mars communications. Performance evaluations of the designed partly systematic Luby transform code based on the random graph, PEG and improved progressive edge-growth algorithms, respectively, are conducted through a series of simulations. Simulation results show that the performance of the partly systematic Luby transform code based on the improved progressive edge-growth algorithm outperforms those of the partly systematic Luby transform code based on two other algorithms and has the lower bit error rate and overhead.

We obtained the complete mitochondrial genome of the Indochinese Forest Rat (Rattus andamanensis). The genome is 16,304 bp in length and contains 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes, and 1 control region. The composition and arrangement of genes are analogous to other vertebrates. We used all PCGs to construct phylogenetic tree for R. andamanensis and other 15 Rattus species available on GenBank. The topology indicated that the genus Rattus has two groups and R. andamanensis has a close relationship with R. baluensis, R. tiomanicus, R. rattus, and R. tanezumi.

The complete mitochondrial genome of the Southeast Asian shrew (Crocidura fuliginosa) was first sequenced and characterized. The genome was 16,967 base pairs (bp) in length containing 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 rRNA genes, 22 tRNA genes, and a control region. The composition and arrangement of genes were analogous to other vertebrates. All PCGs were used to construct phylogenetic tree for C. fuliginosa and other 12 Crocidura species available on GenBank. Phylogenetic result indicated that C. fuliginosa has a close relationship with C. lasiura and C. attenuate. Our results will provide information for further molecular studies about this genus.

We present electrically injected GaAs/GaAsBi single quantum well laser diodes (LDs) emitting at a record long wavelength of 1141 nm at room temperature grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The LDs have excellent device performances with internal quantum efficiency of 86%, internal loss of 10 cm-1 and transparency current density of 196 A/cm2. The LDs can operate under continuous-wave mode up to 273 K. The characteristic temperature are extracted to be 125 K in the temperature range of 77∼150 K, and reduced to 90 K in the range of 150∼273 K. The temperature coefficient of 0.3 nm/K is extracted in the temperature range of 77∼273 K.

This study describes the fabrication of bioinspired mechano‐regulated interfaces (MRI) for the separation and collection of oil spills from water. The MRI consists of 3D‐interconnected, microporous structures of sponges made of ultrasoft elastomers (Ecoflex). To validate the MRI strategy, ecoflex sponges are first fabricated with a low‐cost sugar‐leaching method. This study then systematically investigates the absorption capacity (up to 1280% for chloroform) of the sponges to different oils and organic solvents. More importantly, the oil flux through the as‐made sponges is controlled by mechanical deformation, which increases up to ≈33‐fold by tensile strain applied to the sponge from 0 to 400%. On the basis of MRI, this study further demonstrates the application of ecoflex sponges in oil skimmers for selective collecting oil from water with high efficiency and durable recyclability. The as‐developed MRI strategy has opened a new path to allow rational design and dynamical control toward developing high performance devices for oil permeation and selective collection of oil spills from water.

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is widely utilized in material science, chemical engineering, and environmental science due to its excellent properties. By utilizing fillers, so-called composite materials can be obtained with enhanced mechanical, wettability, or thermal conductivity performance. Here, we present a simple, cost-effective approach to vary either the mechanical properties (Young’s modulus) or surface wettability of bulk PDMS and PDMS sponges simply by adding nanodiamond filler with different surface terminations, either oxidized (oND) or hydrogenated (reduced, rND) nanodiamond. Minuscule amounts of oxidized nanodiamond particles as filler showed to benefit the compressive Young’s modulus of composite sponges with up to a 52% increase in its value, while the wettability of composite sponges was unaffected. In contrast, adding reduced nanodiamond particles to PDMS yielded inclined water contact angles on the PDMS/nanodiamond composite sponges. Finally, we show that the PDMS/rND composites are readily utilized as an absorbent for oil/water separation problems. This signifies that the surface termination of the ND particle has a crucial effect on the performance of the composite.

Substrate pre-patterning is an effective way to overcome large lattice mismatch and suppress threading defects in the growth of heterostructures. In this work, a new concept was proposed to form natural patterns on commercial substrates monolithically by the formation of surface cracks. Tensile strain was intentionally brought in with a GaAs or GaNAs layer above an InGaAs layer on GaAs substrates. Surface crack patterns successfully formed during the strain relaxation. The strain in a 1 μm buffer layer atop the pattern was found effectively relaxed. Detailed residual strain distribution was simulated by the finite element method.

Dilute bismide in which a small amount of bismuth is incorporated to host III-Vs is the least studied III-V compound semiconductor and has received steadily increasing attention since 2000. In this paper, we review theoretical predictions of physical properties of bismide alloys, epitaxial growth of bismide thin films and nanostructures, surface, structural, electric, transport and optic properties of various binaries and bismide alloys, and device applications.

Lysobacter are ubiquitous environmental bacteria emerging as novel biocontrol agents and new sources of anti-infectives. So far, very little effort has been invested in the study of the biology of these Gram-negative gliding bacteria. Many Lysobacter species are characterized by their yellow-orange appearance. Using transposon mutagenesis, we identified a stand-alone polyketide synthase (PKS) gene cluster required for the pigment production in L. enzymogenes OH11. The yellow pigments were abolished in the "white" mutants generated by target-specific deletions of ketosynthase (KS), acyl carrier protein, or ketoreductase. Spectroscopic data suggested that the pigments belong to xanthomonadin-like aryl polyenes. Polyene-type polyketides are known to be biosynthesized by modular PKS (Type I), not by stand-alone PKS (Type II) which always contain the heterodimer KS-CLF (chain-length factor) as the key catalytic component. Remarkably, this aryl polyene PKS complex only contains the KS (ORF17), but not the CLF. Instead, a hypothetical protein (ORF16) is located immediately next to ORF17. ORF16-17 homologs are widespread in numerous uncharacterized microbial genomes, in which an ORF17 homolog is always accompanied by an ORF16 homolog. The deletion of ORF16 eliminated pigment production, and homology modeling suggested that ORF16 shares a structural similarity to the N-terminal half of CLF. A point-mutation of glutamine (Q166A) that is the conserved active site of known CLF abolished pigment production. The "white" mutants are significantly more sensitive to UV/visible light radiation or H2O2 treatment than the wild type. These results unveil the first example of Type II PKS-synthesized polyene pigments and show that the metabolites serve as Lysobacter "sunscreens" that are important for the survival of these ubiquitous environmental organisms.