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Abstract Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has emerged as one of the major causes of liver-related morbidity and mortality globally. It ranges from simple steatosis to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) characterized by ballooning and hepatic inflammation. In the past few years, pyroptosis has been shown as a type of programmed cell death that triggers inflammation and plays a role in the development of NASH. However, the roles of pyroptosis-related genes (PRGs) in NASH remained unclear. In this study, we studied the expression level of pyroptosis-related genes (PRGs) in NASH and healthy controls, developed a diagnostic model of NASH based on PRGs and explored the pathological mechanisms associated with pyroptosis. We further compared immune status between NASH and healthy controls, analyzed immune status in different subtypes of NASH. We identified altogether twenty PRGs that were differentially expressed between NASH and normal liver tissues. Then, a novel diagnostic model consisting of seven PRGs including CASP3, ELANE, GZMA, CASP4, CASP9, IL6 and TP63 for NASH was constructed with an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.978 (CI 0.965–0.99). Obvious variations in immune status between healthy controls and NASH cases were detected. Subsequently, the consensus clustering method based on differentially expressed PRGs was constructed to divide all NASH cases into two distinct pyroptosis subtypes with different immune and biological characteristics. Pyroptosis-related genes may play an important role in NASH and can provide new insights into the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of NASH.

Abstract Theoretically, pancreas transplant alone in uremic (PTAU) patients could also be one of the options for those waiting for both pancreas and kidney grafts, but it has never been reported. There were 160 cases of pancreas transplant in this study, including 16% PTAU. The 5-year patient survival was 66.2% after PTAU, 94.5% after SPK, 95.8% after PAK, and 95.4% after PTA. Rejection of pancreas graft was significantly lower in PTAU group (3.8%), followed by 16.7% in pancreas after kidney transplant (PAK), 29.8% in simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplant (SPK) and 37.0% in pancreas transplant alone (PTA). Fasting blood sugar and serum HbA1c levels after PTAU were not significantly different from those by other subgroups. The 5-year death-censored pancreas graft survival was 100% after PTAU and PAK, and 97.0% after SPK and 77.9% after PTA. However, the 5-year death-uncensored pancreas graft survival was 67.0% after PTAU, 100% after PAK, 91.3% after SPK, and 74.0% after PTA. The superior graft survival in the PTAU group was achieved only if deaths with a functioning graft were censored. In conclusion, given the inferior patient survival outcome, PTAU is still not recommended unless SPK and PAK is not available. Although PTAU could be a treatment option for patients with diabetes complicated by end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in terms of surgical risks, endocrine function, and immunological and graft survival outcomes, modification of the organ allocation policies to prioritize SPK transplant in eligible patients should be the prime goal.

Abstract High brightness, high charge electron beams are critical for a number of advanced accelerator applications. The initial emittance of the electron beam, which is determined by the mean transverse energy (MTE) and laser spot size, is one of the most important parameters determining the beam quality. The bialkali photocathodes illuminated by a visible laser have the advantages of high quantum efficiency (QE) and low MTE. Furthermore, Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) guns can operate in the continuous wave (CW) mode at high accelerating gradients, e.g. with significant reduction of the laser spot size at the photocathode. Combining the bialkali photocathode with the SRF gun enables generation of high charge, high brightness, and possibly high average current electron beams. However, integrating the high QE semiconductor photocathode into the SRF guns has been challenging. In this article, we report on the development of bialkali photocathodes for successful operation in the SRF gun with months-long lifetime while delivering CW beams with nano-coulomb charge per bunch. This achievement opens a new era for high charge, high brightness CW electron beams.

Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) with substances like psilocybin and MDMA has shown promise for conditions including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Psilocybin and MDMA may become approved medicines in the coming decade. This study assessed knowledge and attitudes regarding PAT among 879 U.S. healthcare professionals via anonymous online survey. Multivariable linear regression was used to identify predictors of openness to clinical use. Most participants (71.2%) were female and White (85.8%), with a mean (SD) age of 45.5 (12.7) years. Registered nurses (25.4%) and physicians (17.7%) comprised the largest professional groups. Respondents endorsed strong belief in therapeutic promise, and moderate openness to clinical use and support for legal access to both substances, with higher overall ratings for psilocybin compared to MDMA. Objective knowledge items revealed low knowledge of therapeutic uses, risks, and pharmacology. Primary concerns were lack of trained providers, financial cost, and potential contraindications. Prior psychedelic use, self-rated knowledge, younger age, and professional role predicted openness to clinical use of psilocybin and MDMA, with physicians reporting lower openness. As psychedelics continue to garner popular and scientific interest, results indicate a pressing need for additional formal training to provide balanced, evidence-based information from trusted sources., Competing Interests: Declarations Competing interests AGR is a paid scientific advisor to Innerwell and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc. All the remaining authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Diet and inflammation are crucial in the incidence and progression of coronary heart disease (CHD). This study aimed to investigate the correlation between the Dietary inflammatory index (DII) and all-cause mortality in CHD patients. A total of 1,303 CHD patients from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 2003 and 2018 were included. Multivariate Cox regression was used to explore the correlation between the DII and the risk of all-cause mortality in these patients. Restricted cubic spline (RCS) analysis was also utilized to examine the relationship between the DII and all-cause mortality risk in CHD patients. Additionally, subgroup analyses were conducted to determine how the correlation between the DII and all-cause mortality varied across different demographics. During a median follow-up period of 77 months among 1,303 CHD patients, 536 died from all causes. The DII scores were significantly higher in deceased patients compared to survivors. After adjusting for confounding factors, the multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated a strong positive correlation between the DII and all-cause mortality in CHD patients. RCS analysis suggested a non-linear relationship between the DII and all-cause mortality among CHD patients. Additionally, an increase in DII was more pronounced in its impact on female patients. The DII is strongly correlated with the risk of all-cause mortality among CHD patients, particularly among females. Thus, managing dietary inflammation is vital for the prevention and treatment of CHD, especially in female patients., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Belief in powerful supernatural agents that enforce moral norms has been theoretically linked with cooperative altruism and prosociality. Correspondingly, prior research reveals an implicit association between atheism and extreme antisociality (e.g., serial murder). However, findings centered on associations between lack of faith and moral transgression do not directly address the hypothesized conceptual association between religious belief and prosociality. Accordingly, we conducted two pre-registered experiments depicting a "serial helper" to assess biases related to extraordinary helpfulness, mirroring designs depicting a serial killer used in prior cross-cultural work. In both a predominantly religious society (the U.S., Study 1) and a predominantly secular society (New Zealand, Study 2), we successfully replicated previous research linking atheism with transgression, and obtained evidence for a substantially stronger conceptual association between religiosity and virtue. The results suggest that stereotypes linking religiosity with prosociality are both real and global in scale., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

In order to investigate the mechanism of plant growth promoting (PGP) effects of strain Bacillus velezensis WSW007, its PGP traits and production of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were tested. The effects of VOCs produced by strain WSW007 on plant growth were observed by co-culturing this strain with tobacco seedlings in I-plates. Meanwhile, the effects of VOCs on tobacco gene expression were analysed by a transcriptome analysis and VOCs were identified by solid phase micro extraction coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME-GC-MS) analysis. As results, strains WSW007 produced acetic acid and siderophore, and could solubilize phosphate; while it also significantly increased the fresh weight of tobacco seedlings via production of VOCs. In transcriptome analysis, plants co-cultured with strain WSW007 presented the highest up-regulated expression for the genes involved in plant growth and development processes, implying that the bacterial VOCs played a role as regulator of plant gene expression. Conclusively, the up-regulation in expression of growth- and development-related genes via VOCs production is an important PGP mechanism in strain B. velezensis WSW007., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This study explores the impact of densely-ionizing radiation on non-cancer and cancer diseases, focusing on dose, fractionation, age, and sex effects. Using historical mortality data from approximately 21,000 mice exposed to fission neutrons, we employed random survival forest (RSF), a powerful machine learning algorithm accommodating nonlinear dependencies and interactions, treating cancer and non-cancer outcomes as competing risks. Unlike traditional parametric models, RSF avoids strict assumptions and captures complex data relationships through decision tree ensembles. SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) values and variable importance scores were employed for interpretation. The findings revealed clear dose-response trends, with cancer being the predominant cause of mortality. SHAP value dose-response shapes differed, showing saturation for cancer hazard at high doses (> 2 Gy) and a more linear pattern at lower doses. Non-cancer responses remained more linear throughout the entire dose range. There was a potential inverse dose rate effect for cancer, while the evidence for non-cancer was less conclusive. Sex and age effects were less pronounced. This investigation, utilizing machine learning, enhances our understanding of the patterns of non-cancer and cancer mortality induced by densely-ionizing radiations, emphasizing the importance of such approaches in radiation research, including space travel and radioprotection., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The Lower Jurassic Ziliujing Formation in China's Sichuan Basin is a significant shale target for exploration; however, the strong heterogeneity of the properties of organic matter (OM) in shale makes it challenging to identify the target area for exploration, and the mechanism of OM enrichment is still unclear. Furthermore, the mechanisms of the response of the Da'anzhai member to the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event (T-OAE) are controversial. Previous studies have focused on sedimentary facies analysis based on mineralogy and elemental abundances and have provided minimal information about organic geochemistry, which adds to the challenge of deeply understanding the influence of the T-OAE on the molecular geochemical characteristics of the Da'anzhai member. In this study, the Da'anzhai member of the Lower Jurassic Ziliujing Formation in the Langzhong area, Sichuan Basin, is studied via X-ray diffraction, total organic carbon, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, organic carbon isotope, organic petrographical and pyrolysis analyses. To accurately identify the trend of the paleosedimentary environmental proxies, the Mann‒Kendall test is utilized to identify the trend of the data. Our results show that the Da'anzhai shale was deposited in a dysoxic transitional environment to an intermittent reducing environment with freshwater to brackish conditions. The response to the T-OAE can be identified in the middle and upper parts of the middle submember and the bottom of the upper submember of the Da'anzhai member. The T-OAE influenced the redox conditions, salinity, and OM origins during deposition in the middle of the Da'anzhai member, which resulted in the enrichment of OM. The abnormally high C 30 diahopane/C 30 hopane (C 30 D/C 30 H) ratio can be considered a potential proxy for locating the section of strata that responded to the T-OAE in the Da'anzhai member. In the study area, the mechanism of the response of the Da'anzhai shale to the T-OAE manifested as an improvement in hydrological cycling rather than a marine incursion. Our study provides new information that deepens the understanding of the mechanisms of the response of lacustrine shales to oceanic anoxic events from the perspective of molecular organic geochemistry., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This study aimed to retrospectively examine the computed tomography (CT) features of lung adenocarcinoma across different demographic groups. Preoperative chest CT findings from 1266 surgically resected lung adenocarcinoma cases were retrospectively analyzed. Lung adenocarcinomas were categorized based on CT characteristics into pure ground glass (pGGO), nodule-containing ground glass opacity (mGGO), and pure solid without containing ground glass opacity (pSD). These categories were correlated with sex, age, EGFR status, and five histopathological subtypes. The diameters of pGGO, mGGO, and pSD significantly increased across all patient groups (P < 0.05). Males exhibited a significantly higher proportion of pSD than females (P = 0.002). The mean diameters of pGGO and pSD were significantly larger in males than in females (P = 0.0017 and P = 0.043, respectively). The frequency of pGGO was higher in the younger age group (≤ 60 years) compared to the older group (> 60 years) for both males (P = 0.002) and females (P = 0.027). The frequency of pSD was higher in the older age group for both sexes. A linear correlation between age and diameter was observed in the entire cohort as well as in the male and female groups (P < 0.0001 for all groups). EGFR mutations were less frequent in pSD compared to pGGO (P = 0.0002) and mGGO (P < 0.0001). The frequency of lesions containing micropapillary components increased from pGGO to mGGO and pSD (P < 0.0001 for all). The frequency of lesions containing solid components also increased from pGGO to mGGO and pSD (P = 0.045, P < 0.0001, and P < 0.0001, respectively). The CT features of lung adenocarcinoma exhibit differences across genders and age groups. Male gender and older age are risk factors for lung adenocarcinoma growth., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

In order to control the deformation of surrounding rock in deep high-stress and intense-mining roadways, taking a deep coal roadway with continuous deformation as an example, the characteristics of crustal stress, coal strength, and mining influence of roadway are obtained by underground tests. The combined failure mechanism of coal roadway surrounding-rock is revealed by differential stress of deep and shallow anchor cables. We propose that the improvement of surrounding rock control for coal roadway is adopting the coupling control technology of anchoring and unloading. The stress distribution and evolution laws of lateral surrounding rock of unloading holes are obtained by numerical simulation and theoretical calculation, and reasonable unloading-hole spacing of 4.0 m is comprehensively determined. A mechanical model of roadway roof beam under fixed support at both ends is constructed and the important role of anchor cable beam-truss in controlling the stability of coal roadway is obtained. The rationality of coupling control technology of anchoring and unloading and parameters has been verified by engineering test and mine pressure observation, providing technical references for surrounding rock control in deep intense-mining and large-deformation roadways., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Due to the complexity of the strata, it is difficult to monitor and identify the disasters induced by rock fractures in the process of mining deep coal resources. This will seriously affect the safety and sustainable mining of coal. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the failure mechanisms and acoustic emission (AE) characteristics of different rocks. In this paper, uniaxial compression tests as well as simultaneous AE monitoring were carried out on four different rocks. The four rocks include yellow sandstone, white sandstone, marble and limestone. The mechanical properties, energy evolution and AE characteristics of different rocks were analysed. It is found that the AE response of rocks is closely related to the damage and fracture process. The more brittle the rock is, the less energy is dissipated before failure, and the less obvious the AE precursor is, and the RA-AF values can effectively characterise the failure modes of different rocks. Finally, the damage models were developed from the perspectives of AE energy and dissipated energy, respectively. The damage model based on dissipated energy can better reflect the stress and damage state of the rock, and the theoretical curves of stress-strain are in good agreement with the measured curves., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

A new fluid alternative to slick water for fracturing shale gas can reduce the waste of water resources and improve the extraction efficiency, enabling volumetric fracturing. For the new fracturing technique, the experiments of different release pressures under pre-injection and for pre-injection were conducted using a self-designed true triaxial experimental system, and the pressure pulse curves were plotted to analyze the fracturing principle. The experimental results showed that: (1) the pressure rise curve in the reactor can be divided into five stages: initial reaction, linear pressure rise, rate slowdown, instantaneous pressure release, and residual pressure stages; (2) Pre-filling fracturing requires a smaller expansion ratio, weaker pressure degradation, resulting in better fracturing effect; (3) The increase in the initial fracture length leads to an increase in the pressure required to extend the fracture, and high-pressure subcritical water impact fracturing achieved fracture extension at a lower fluid pressure; (4) The fractal dimension has a strong linear relationship with fracture complexity, which is a new option when evaluating the fracturing effect. Volumetric fracturing allows for the creation of more tiny trenches that increase reservoir permeability, leading to better recovery of the reservoir's energy resources., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The biological effects of densely-ionizing radiations such as neutrons and heavy ions encountered in space travel, nuclear incidents, and cancer radiotherapy, significantly differ from those of sparsely-ionizing photons and necessitate a comprehensive understanding for improved protection measures. Data on lifespan studies of laboratory rodents exposed to fission neutrons, accumulated in the Janus archive, afford unique insights into the impact of densely ionizing radiation on mortality from cancers and various organ dysfunction. We extracted and analyzed data for 21,308 individual B6CF1 mice to investigate the effects of neutron dose, fractionation, protraction, age, and sex on mortality. As Cox regression encountered limitations owing to assumption violations, we turned to Random Survival Forests (RSF), a machine learning algorithm adept at modeling nonlinear relationships. RSF interpretation using Shapley Additive Explanations revealed a dose response for mortality risk that curved upwards at low doses < 20 cGy, became nearly-linear over 20-150 cGy, and saturated at high doses. The response was enhanced by fractionation/protraction of irradiation (exhibiting an inverse dose rate effect), and diminished by older age at exposure. Somewhat reduced mortality was predicted for males vs females. This research expands our knowledge on the long-term effects of densely ionizing radiations on mammal mortality., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

In response to the control problems of large-deformation roadways in close-distance coal seams, taking a typical roadway under irregular goafs and residual coal pillar in deep close-distance coal seams as the background, the characteristics of mine pressure and key difficulties in surrounding rock control of roadway are explored and an improvement strategy for controlling surrounding rock is proposed. The stress expression in roadway floor under the influence of residual coal pillar is derived by theoretical calculation. The peak lines of deviatoric stress and vertical stress in roadway after the mining of the upper coal seam are obtained by numerical simulation. The roadway is divided into two key zones: ordinary zone and disturbance zone by residual coal pillar, and the disturbance range of roadway below residual coal pillar is determined to be 44.60 m. It reveals the differential, asymmetric, and non-uniform distortion and failure laws of roadway at different positions under irregular goafs and residual coal pillar. The differential control technology named asymmetric support in ordinary zone of roadway and combined support and drilling pressure relief in disturbance zone below residual coal pillar is proposed. The feasibility of differential pressure relief and control technology has been verified through on-site engineering test, which ensures the safety and stability of roadway and provides technical references for surrounding rock control in similar deep and complex roadways., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Pupillometry is a measurement of pupil dilation commonly performed as part of neurological assessments. Prior work have demonstrated the potential for pupillometry in screening or diagnosing a number of neurological disorders including Alzheimer's Disease, Schizophrenia, and Traumatic Brain Injury. Unfortunately, the expense and inaccessibility of specialized pupilometers that image in the near infrared spectrum limit the measurement to high resource clinics or institutions. Ideally, this measurement could be available via ubiquitous devices like smartphones or tablets with integrated visible spectrum imaging systems. In the visible spectrum of RGB cameras, the melanin in the iris absorbs light such that it is difficult to distinguish the pupil aperature that appears black. In this paper, we propose a novel pupillometry technique to enable smartphone RGB cameras to effectively differentiate the pupil from the iris. The proposed system utilizes a 630 nm long-pass filter to image in the far red (630-700 nm) spectrum, where the melanin in the iris reflects light to appear brighter in constrast to the dark pupil. Using a convolutional neural network, the proposed system measures pupil diameter as it dynamically changes in a frame by frame video. Comparing across 4 different smartphone models, the pupil-iris contrast of N = 12 participants increases by an average of 451% with the proposed system. In a validation study of N = 11 participants comparing the relative pupil change in the proposed system to a Neuroptics PLR-3000 Pupillometer during a pupillary light response test, the prototype system acheived a mean absolute error of 2.4%., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

Examination of healthy and diseased human brain is essential to translational neuroscience. Protein-protein interactions play a pivotal role in physiological and pathological processes, but their detection is difficult, especially in aged and fixed human brain tissue. We used the in-situ proximity ligation assay (PLA) to broaden the range of molecular interactions assessable in-situ in the human neuropathology. We adapted fluorescent in-situ PLA to detect ubiquitin-modified proteins in human brains with Alzheimer's disease (AD), including approaches for the management of autofluorescence and quantification using a high-content image analysis system. We confirmed that phosphorylated microtubule-associated protein tau (Serine202, Threonine205) aggregates were modified by ubiquitin and that phospho-tau-ubiquitin complexes were increased in hippocampal and frontal cortex regions in AD compared to non-AD brains. Overall, we refined PLA for use in human neuropathology, which has revealed a profound change in the distribution of ubiquitin in AD brain and its association with characteristic tau pathologies., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Impairment in social functioning is a common source of morbidity across many mental health disorders, yet there is a dearth of effective and easily implemented interventions to support social functioning. MDMA/ecstasy and classic psychedelics (psilocybin, LSD, peyote, mescaline) represent two potential treatments for impairments in social functioning, as evidence suggests these compounds may be supportive for alleviating social difficulties. Using a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2015-2019) (N = 214,505), we used survey-weighted multivariable ordinal and logistic regression to examine the associations between lifetime use of the aforementioned compounds and impairments in social functioning in the past year. Lifetime MDMA/ecstasy use was associated with lowered odds of three of our four social impairment outcomes: difficulty dealing with strangers (aOR 0.92), difficulty participating in social activities (aOR 0.90), and being prevented from participating in social activities (aOR 0.84). Lifetime mescaline use was also associated with lowered odds of difficulty dealing with strangers (aOR 0.85). All other substances either shared no relationship with impairments in social functioning or conferred increased odds of our outcomes. Future experimental studies can assess whether these relationships are causal., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

To investigate the effect of water on the mechanical properties and acoustic emission (AE) characteristics of coal in the failure and deformation processes. Coal samples of different content were subjected to uniaxial compression tests and AE signals were monitored. The characteristics of the AE signals were further analyzed using fractal analysis. The results show that saturated coal samples have substantially reduced mechanical properties such as uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), dissipation energy, peak stress, and elastic modulus. Under loading, stress-strain curves are characterized by five distinct stages: (1) compaction; (2) linear elastic; (3) crack stable propagation; (4) crack accelerating propagation; and (5) post-peak and residual stages. Using phase-space theory, a novel Grassberger Procaccia (GP) algorithm was utilized to find the AE fractal characteristics of coal samples in different stages. It is significant to note that AE energy does not exhibit fractal characteristics in either the first or second stages. Contrary to the first two stages, the third stage showed obvious fractal characteristics. Fractal analysis of AE time sequences indicates that fractal dimension values change as stress increases, indicating the initiation of complex microcracks in coal. In the fourth stage, the fractal dimension rapidly declines as the strength reaches its limit, indicating the occurrence of macrocracks. However, fractal dimensions continued to decrease further or increased slightly in the fifth stage. Consequently, the coal begins to collapse, potentially resulting in a disaster and failure. It is, therefore, possible to accurately predict coal and rock dynamic failures and microcrack mechanisms by observing the subsequent sudden drop in the correlation dimension of the AE signals in response to different stages of loading., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Although oral probiotics can improve breast microecology and alleviate the inflammatory response, there are no data regarding cases with existing abscesses. We aimed to investigate the effect of Lactobacillus fermentum CECT5716 during needle aspiration in patients with lactational breast abscesses. Patients (aged 20-41 years) with lactational single-cavity breast abscesses (diameter 3-6 cm) from 12 hospitals were randomly assigned to the experimental (n = 51) and control groups (n = 50). Outcome measures included the abscess cure rate on treatment day-5, delactation rate, relieving pain rate, and number of needle aspirations until day-28. The experimental group's 5-day cure rate (43.1%) was significantly higher (p < 0.05). Breastfeeding continuation on day-5 did not differ significantly (experimental group: 88.2%, control group: 96.0%, p = 0.269). In the experimental and control groups, 19.6% and 14.0% of patients experienced moderate to severe pain on day-5, respectively, with no statistically significant differences (p = 0.451). Four patients in each group developed diarrhea, with adverse reaction rates of 7.84% and 8.0%, respectively. No adverse reactions were reported in the infants. L. fermentum can shorten the healing time in patients with lactational breast abscesses.Trial registration This study was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ( http://www.chictr.org.cn ), registration number: ChiCTR2000032682, registration date: 6/May/ 2020; first entry date: 11/May/2020., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

During the deformation and fracture process, the acoustic emission (AE) signals can be produced for the of coal, rock and other solid materials, which revealing the damage localization evolution process. The effect of gas adsorption and pressure can change mechanical properties of coal mass and affect its damage development. Based on this, the experimental system for gas-bearing coal loading and AE monitoring was constructed, to analyze AE response characteristics under the joint action of loading stress and gas pressure on coal specimen. Afterwards, the damage localization evolution process of coal mass was studied with the moment tensor inversion method. Results showed that temporal response of AE signals was closely related to the damage degree and loading level of coal specimen, which could reveal its local severe damage and final failure characteristics. The spatial distribution and spread trend of AE fracture events inside coal specimen could be calculated through the moment tensor inversion method. It was basically consistent with the results of crack expansion on the specimen surface. The zones, where fracture events occurred intensively, gathered and spread in a continuous trend, were conductive to forming the macrocrack belt macroscopically. It could be regarded as the hazard zone with dynamic failure occurrence. Moreover, when the coal specimen faced the critical failure, the precursor characteristics of AE response appeared with the shear fracture events dominated markedly. The study results provide a new research idea for revealing the damaging localization evolution process under the coupling effect of stress and gas and lay the application foundation., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

SARS-CoV-2 infection triggers profound and variable immune responses in human hosts. Chromatin remodeling has been observed in individuals severely ill or convalescing with COVID-19, but chromatin remodeling early in disease prior to anti-spike protein IgG seroconversion has not been defined. We performed the Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin using sequencing (ATAC-seq) and RNA-seq on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from outpatients with mild or moderate symptom severity at different stages of clinical illness. Early in the disease course prior to IgG seroconversion, modifications in chromatin accessibility associated with mild or moderate symptoms were already robust and included severity-associated changes in accessibility of genes in interleukin signaling, regulation of cell differentiation and cell morphology. Furthermore, single-cell analyses revealed evolution of the chromatin accessibility landscape and transcription factor motif accessibility for individual PBMC cell types over time. The most extensive remodeling occurred in CD14+ monocytes, where sub-populations with distinct chromatin accessibility profiles were observed prior to seroconversion. Mild symptom severity was marked by upregulation of classical antiviral pathways, including those regulating IRF1 and IRF7, whereas in moderate disease, these classical antiviral signals diminished, suggesting dysregulated and less effective responses. Together, these observations offer novel insight into the epigenome of early mild SARS-CoV-2 infection and suggest that detection of chromatin remodeling in early disease may offer promise for a new class of diagnostic tools for COVID-19., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Shank proteins are major scaffolds of the postsynaptic density of excitatory synapses. Mutations in SHANK genes are associated with autism and intellectual disability. The effects of missense mutations on Shank3 function, and therefore the pathomechanisms are unclear. Several missense mutations in SHANK3 affect the N-terminal region, consisting of the Shank/ProSAP N-terminal (SPN) domain and a set of Ankyrin (Ank) repeats. Here we identify a novel SHANK3 missense mutation (p.L270M) in the Ankyrin repeats in patients with an ADHD-like phenotype. We functionally analysed this and a series of other mutations, using biochemical and biophysical techniques. We observe two major effects: (1) a loss of binding to δ-catenin (e.g. in the p.L270M variant), and (2) interference with the intramolecular interaction between N-terminal SPN domain and the Ank repeats. This also interferes with binding to the α-subunit of the calcium-/calmodulin dependent kinase II (αCaMKII), and appears to be associated with a more severe neurodevelopmental pathology., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Concrete cracking caused by corrosion of reinforcement could significantly shorten the durability of reinforced concrete structure. It remains critical to investigate the process and mechanism of the corrosion occurring to concrete reinforcement and establish the theoretical prediction model of concrete expansion force for the whole process of corrosion cracking of reinforcement. Under the premise of uniform corrosion of reinforcing steel bars, the elastic mechanics analysis method is adopted to analyze the entire process starting from the corrosion of steel bars to the cracking of concrete due to corrosion. A relationship model between the expansion force of corrosion of steel bars and the surface strain of concrete is established. On the cuboid reinforced concrete specimens with square cross-sections, accelerated corrosion tests are carried out to calibrate and verify the established model. The model can be able to estimate the real-time expansion force of reinforced concrete at any time of the whole process from the initiation of steel corrosion to the end of concrete cracking by measuring the surface strain of concrete. It could be useful for quantitative real-time monitoring of steel corrosion in concrete structures.

Aiming at revealing the possible mechanism of its growth promoting effect on tomato, the correlations among Streptomyces sp. TOR3209 inoculation, rhizobacteriome, and tomato growth/production traits were investigated in this study. By analyses of Illumina sequencing and plate coating, differences in rhizosphere microbial communities were found in different growth stages and distinct inoculation treatments. The plant biomass/fruit yields and relative abundances of families Flavobacteriaceae, Sphingobacteriaceae, Polyangiaceae and Enterobacteriaceae in treatments T (tomato inoculated with TOR3209) and TF (tomato inoculated with TOR3209 + organic fertilizer) were higher than that in the controls (CK and CK+ organic fertilizer), respectively. The analysis of Metastats and LEfSe revealed that the genera Flavobacterium and Sorangium in seedling stage, Klebsiella in flowering stage, Collimonas in early fruit setting stage, and genera Micrococcaceae, Pontibacte and Adhaeribacter in late fruit setting stage were the most representative rhizobacteria that positively responded to TOR3209 inoculation. By cultivation method, five bacterial strains positively correlated to TOR3209 inoculation were isolated from rhizosphere and root endosphere, which were identified as tomato growth promoters affiliated to Enterobacter sp., Arthrobacter sp., Bacillus subtilis, Rhizobium sp. and Bacillus velezensis. In pot experiment, TOR3209 and B. velezensis WSW007 showed joint promotion to tomato production, while the abundance of inoculated TOR3209 was dramatically decreased in rhizosphere along the growth of tomato. Conclusively, TOR3209 might promote the tomato production via changing of microbial community in rhizosphere. These findings provide a better understanding of the interactions among PGPR in plant promotion.

To promote the engineering applications of high water backfill materials (HWBM) in mining, a series of experiments are performed to investigate the effects of the direct current (DC) electric field on the mechanic properties and electrical resistivity of HWBMs. Based on X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) investigations, the influence of electrochemical treatment on the hydration products and the microstructure of the HWBM was studied. The results show that the peak strength, elastic modulus, deformation modulus and electrical resistivity of the HWBM samples all first increased and then decreased with the increasing of the potential gradient, and the peak points appeared when the potential gradient was 0.2 V/cm. The anisotropy of content of ettringite and calcium silicate hydrates (C-S-H) increased betweent the anodic and cathodic regions of samples. Meanwhile, microstructure in the anodic region of the samples was more stable after electrochemical treatment, which indicates that the different variation of mineralogical compositions and microstructures in different regions of the samples are the primary factors affecting the mechanic properties and electrical resistivity of the HWBM. Therefore, the electrochemical method is a potential technology to modify the engineering properties of the HWBM.

The Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe, including the nominate and the two subspecies O. o. leucorhoa and O. o. libanotica) and the Seebohm's Wheatear (Oenanthe seebohmi) are today regarded as two distinct species. Before, all four taxa were regarded as four subspecies of the Northern Wheatear. Their classification has exclusively been based on ecological and morphological traits, while their molecular characterization is still missing. With this study, we used next-generation sequencing to assemble 117 complete mitochondrial genomes covering O. o. oenanthe, O. o. leucorhoa and O. seebohmi. We compared the resolution power of each individual mitochondrial marker and concatenated marker sets to reconstruct the phylogeny and estimate speciation times of three taxa. Moreover, we tried to identify the origin of migratory wheatears caught on Helgoland (Germany) and on Crete (Greece). Mitogenome analysis revealed two different ancient lineages that separated around 400,000 years ago. Both lineages consisted of a mix of subspecies and species. The phylogenetic trees, as well as haplotype networks are incongruent with the present morphology-based classification. Mitogenome could not distinguish these presumed species. The genetic panmixia among present populations and taxa might be the consequence of mitochondrial introgression between ancient wheatear populations.

Recently there have been significant interests in the spin hydrodynamic generation phenomenon from multiple disciplines of physics. Such phenomenon arises from global polarization effect of microscopic spin by macroscopic fluid rotation and is expected to occur in the hot quark-gluon fluid (the "subatomic swirl") created in relativistic nuclear collisions. This was indeed discovered in experiments which however revealed an intriguing puzzle: a polarization difference between particles and anti-particles. We suggest a novel application of a general connection between rotation and magnetic field: a magnetic field naturally arises along the fluid vorticity in the charged subatomic swirl. We establish this mechanism as a new way for generating long-lived in-medium magnetic field in heavy ion collisions. Due to its novel feature, this new magnetic field provides a nontrivial explanation to the puzzling observation of a difference in spin hydrodynamic generation for particles and anti-particles in heavy ion collisions.

Relative gene expression analyses by RT-qPCR (reverse transcription-quantitative PCR) are highly dependent on the reference genes in normalizing the expression data of target genes. Therefore, inappropriate endogenous control genes will lead to inaccurate target gene expression profiles, and the selection and validation of suitable internal reference genes becomes essential. In this study, we retrieved the commonly used reference genes in transcriptome datasets of Codonopsis pilosula by RNA-Seq (unpublished data), and selected 15 candidate reference genes according to the coefficient of variation (CV) and fold change (FC) value of gene expression. The expression levels of candidate reference genes, which is at different growth stages, undergoing cold stress and drought stress, was determined by RT-qPCR. The expression stability of these genes was evaluated using software packages and algorithms including ΔCt, geNorm, NormFinder and Bestkeeper. Then appropriate reference genes were screened and validated by target gene-UDGPase (UDP glucose pyrophosphorylase). The optimal RGs combinations of C. pilosula, including PP2A59γ, CPY20-1, UBCE32, RPL5B and UBC18 for developmental stage, RPL5B, RPL13 and PP2A59γ for cold treatment, RPL13 and PP2A59γ for drought treatment, were found and proposed as reference genes for future work. This paper laid foundations for both the selection of reference genes and exploration in metabolic mechanism of C. pilosula.

Overweight children and adolescents are at high risk for adult and late life obesity. This report investigates some underlying mechanisms contributing to obesity during early life in an animal model. We generated a strain of transgenic mice, cU2, overexpressing human microRNA 34c, a microRNA functionally implicated in adipogenesis. Male and female cU2 mice exhibit significant weight gain, accompanied by marked increase in abdominal fat mass and metabolic abnormalities, including reduction of both glucose clearance rate and insulin sensitivity, as early as two months of age. Adipogenesis derailment at this early age is suggested by decreased expression of adiponectin, the fat mass and obesity-associated gene, and the adiponectin receptor R1, coupled with a reduction of the brown fat biomarker PAT2 and the adipogenesis inhibitor SIRT1. Notably, adiponectin is an important adipokine and an essential regulator of glucose and fatty acid homeostasis. cU2 mice may provide a crucial animal model for investigating the role of miR-34c in early onset insulin resistance and visceral fat mass increase, contributing to accelerated body weight gain and metabolic disorders. Intervention in this dysregulation may open a new preventive strategy to control early-life weight gain and abnormal insulin resistance, and thus prevalent adult and late life obesity.

Normal weight central obesity (NWCO), a distinct phenotype of obesity that is associated with a higher risk of cardiometabolic dysregulation, has received growing attention in the scientific literature. In this study, we aimed to report the prevalence of NWCO in the general Chinese adults and its secular trend from 1993 to 2011. The comorbid cardiometabolic risk of NWCO was also explored. Data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) 1993-2011 were obtained. NWCO was defined as the combination of a BMI of 18.5-23.9 kg/m 2 and 1) a waist circumference (WC) of >85 cm in males or >80 cm in females (NWCO by WC); 2) a waist to height ratio (WHtR) of ≥0.5 (NWCO by WHtR); 3) a waist to hip ratio (WHR) of ≥0.9 in males or ≥0.85 in females (NWCO by WHR). We assessed the trend of NWCO prevalence with the generalized estimating equation method. The demographic, socioeconomic, geographic, behavioural and cardiometabolic predictors of NWCO were explored with multivariable logistic regression. From 1993 to 2011, the age-standardized prevalence of NWCO by WC increased from 6.65% (95% CI: 6.09-7.26) to 13.24% (95% CI: 12.58-13.93), and that of NWCO by WHtR and NWCO by WHR rose from 13.18% (95% CI: 12.41-13.98) to 17.06% (95% CI: 16.35-17.79) and from 16.14% (95% CI: 15.3-17.01) to 19.04% (95% CI: 18.25-19.85) respectively. The associated cardiometabolic factors of NWCO (by WC, WHtR and WHR) were hypertension, diabetes, insulin resistance, decreased insulin sensitivity, low high-density lipoprotein and elevated triglyceride. Moreover, NWCO by WC and NWCO by WHtR were associated with a decreased risk of impaired insulin secretion, and NWCO by WC was additionally linked to elevated total cholesterol. The prevalence of NWCO in the general Chinese adults increased significantly from 1993 to 2011. Effective strategies are needed to combat this epidemic and reduce its deleterious health outcomes.

Surface patterning of polyoxometalates (POMs) is an important step to gain functional materials and devices. However, some special requirements such as complex operation steps or strict synthesis environment greatly limit their further applications. Herein, we have employed a simple and universal strategy for patterning POM-based microcrystal arrays on air-grid superwettable surfaces. The size and distribution of POM crystals were precisely adjusted by varying the pillar parameter of superwettable surface and concentration of POM mother liquid. We envision that this POM patterning method may bring valuable insights for designing POM-based functional materials and devices.

Increasing evidence supports the involvement of periostin in the pathophysiological processes of stroke and atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to assess circulating periostin levels at different times after large-artery atherosclerotic (LAA) stroke and their association with stroke. Serum periostin levels were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay on day 1 in 162 patients with LAA stroke and in 108 age- and sex-matched controls, on day 6 after stroke in 134 patients, and during the 4th week after stroke in 46 of the 162 patients. Stroke severity was determined using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), and the stroke volume was measured. Outcome at 3 months was measured using the modified Rankin Scale (mRS). Our results indicated that periostin levels increased significantly on day 6 after stroke, and this increasing trend persisted for at least 4 weeks after the event. In addition, the increase in periostin levels was positively correlated with the NIHSS scores and stroke volume, but not with the mRS scores after adjusting for the NIHSS scores. In conclusion, these findings suggest that the increase in serum periostin levels observed after stroke may be associated with the stroke severity in patients with LAA stroke.

Revealing the underlying similarity of various complex networks has become both a popular and interdisciplinary topic, with a plethora of relevant application domains. The essence of the similarity here is that network features of the same network type are highly similar, while the features of different kinds of networks present low similarity. In this paper, we introduce and explore a new method for comparing various complex networks based on the cut distance. We show correspondence between the cut distance and the similarity of two networks. This correspondence allows us to consider a broad range of complex networks and explicitly compare various networks with high accuracy. Various machine learning technologies such as genetic algorithms, nearest neighbor classification, and model selection are employed during the comparison process. Our cut method is shown to be suited for comparisons of undirected networks and directed networks, as well as weighted networks. In the model selection process, the results demonstrate that our approach outperforms other state-of-the-art methods with respect to accuracy.

Neuropilin-1 (NRP1), a non-tyrosine kinase receptor, is overexpressed in many cancers including pancreatic and lung cancers. Inhibition of NRP1 expression, however, has differing pro-tumor vs. anti-tumor effects, depending on the cancer types. To understand the differential role of NRP1 in tumorigenesis process, we utilized cells from two different cancer types, pancreatic and lung, each containing either wild type KRAS (KRAS wt ) or mutant KRAS (KRAS mt ). Inhibition of NRP1 expression by shRNA in both pancreatic and lung cancer cells containing dominant active KRAS mt caused increased cell viability and tumor growth. On the contrary, inhibition of NRP1, in the tumor cells containing KRAS wt showed decreased tumor growth. Importantly, concurrent inhibition of KRAS mt and NRP1 in the tumor cells reverses the increased viability and leads to tumor inhibition. We found that NRP1 shRNA expressing KRAS mt tumor cells caused increased cell viability by decreasing SMAD2 phosphorylation. Our findings demonstrate that the effects of NRP1 knockdown in cancer cells are dependent on the genetic status of KRAS.

Transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling pathways play important roles in the proliferation and differentiation of lens epithelial cells (LECs) during development. Low dosage bFGF promotes cell proliferation while high dosage induces differentiation. TGFβ signaling regulates LEC proliferation and differentiation as well, but also promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transitions that lead to cataracts. Thus far, it has been difficult to recapitulate the features of germinative LECs in vitro. Here, we have established a LEC culture protocol that uses SB431542 (SB) compound to inhibit TGFβ/Smad activation, and found that SB treatment promoted mouse LEC proliferation, maintained LECs' morphology and distinct markers including N-cadherin, c-Maf, Prox1, and αA-, αB-, and β-crystallins. In contrast, low-dosage bFGF was unable to sustain those markers and, combined with SB, altered LECs' morphology and β-crystallin expression. We further found that Matrigel substrate coatings greatly increased cell proliferation and uniquely affected β-crystallin expression. Cultured LECs retained the ability to differentiate into γ-crystallin-positive lentoids by high-dosage bFGF treatment. Thus, a suppression of TGFβ/Smad signaling in vitro is critical to maintaining characteristic features of mouse LECs, especially expression of the key transcription factors c-Maf and Prox1.

Enteromorpha prolifera (E. prolifera), one of the main algae genera for green tide, significantly influences both the coastal ecological environment and seawater quality. How to effectively utilize this waste as reproducible raw resource with credible application mechanism are urgent environmental issues to be solved. Herein, E. prolifera was converted to attractive fluorescent carbon nanodots (CNDs) by one-pot green hydrothermal process. The purity and quantum yields for the as-prepared CNDs can be enhanced upon the post-treatment of ethanol sedimentation. The CNDs can be well dispersed in aqueous medium with uniform spherical morphology, narrow size distribution and average size of 2.75 ± 0.12 nm. The ease synthesis and relatively high quantum yields of the CNDs make E. prolifera inexpensive benefit to the human and nature, such as applications in efficient cell imaging and fiber staining. Furthermore, it was discovered that the fluorescence intensity of the CNDs can be selectively quenched upon Fe 3+ addition, which can be used for specific sensitive assay and removal of Fe 3+ in aqueous medium. More importantly, it was reasonably proposed that the quenching was resulted from the synergistic effects of CNDs aggregation and Fe 3+ -CNDs charge-transfer transitions due to the coordination interactions between Fe 3+ and the oxygenous groups on the CNDs.

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are reported to have a significantly higher risk of showing reading difficulties or disorders. Here, we aimed to identify the relationship between electroencephalographic (EEG) marker of spatial attention and reading ability in Chinese children with ADHD. First, we demonstrated that rapid automatized naming (RAN) is a strong predictor of reading ability in Chinese-speaking children. Then, EEG data of 9-to 15-year-old children with ADHD (n = 38) and typically developing (TD) controls (n = 36) were collected while the children performed a classical visual search task. Children with ADHD showed slower RAN speed than TD children. For event-related potentials (ERPs), children with ADHD showed a reduced target-evoked N2pc component, which predicted their poorer RAN performance. However, in TD children the early occipital P1 amplitude was negatively correlated with their RAN performance. The correlation between decreased N2pc and poor RAN performance in children with ADHD suggests that their reading problems may in part be due to impaired attentional selection. In contrast, in TD children, development in early visual processing co-occurs with improvements in reading ability.

Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (CEST) MRI is sensitive to dilute metabolites with exchangeable protons, allowing tissue characterization in diseases such as acute stroke and tumor. CEST quantification using multi-pool Lorentzian fitting is challenging due to its strong dependence on image signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), initial values and boundaries. Herein we proposed an Image Downsampling Expedited Adaptive Least-squares (IDEAL) fitting algorithm that quantifies CEST images based on initial values from multi-pool Lorentzian fitting of iteratively less downsampled images until the original resolution. The IDEAL fitting in phantom data with superimposed noise provided smaller coefficient of variation and higher contrast-to-noise ratio at a faster fitting speed compared to conventional fitting. We further applied the IDEAL fitting to quantify CEST MRI in rat gliomas and confirmed its advantage for in vivo CEST quantification. In addition to significant changes in amide proton transfer and semisolid macromolecular magnetization transfer effects, the IDEAL fitting revealed pronounced negative contrasts of tumors in the fitted CEST maps at 2 ppm and -1.6 ppm, likely arising from changes in creatine level and nuclear overhauser effects, which were not found using conventional method. It is anticipated that the proposed method can be generalized to quantify MRI data where SNR is suboptimal.

Electron momentum spectroscopy is a unique tool for imaging orbital-specific electron density of molecule in momentum space. However, the molecular geometry information is usually veiled due to the single-centered character of momentum space wavefunction of molecular orbital (MO). Here we demonstrate the retrieval of interatomic distances from the multicenter interference effect revealed in the ratios of electron momentum profiles between two MOs with symmetric and anti-symmetric characters. A very sensitive dependence of the oscillation period on interatomic distance is observed, which is used to determine F-F distance in CF 4 and O-O distance in CO 2 with sub-Ångström precision. Thus, using one spectrometer, and in one measurement, the electron density distributions of MOs and the molecular geometry information can be obtained simultaneously. Our approach provides a new robust tool for imaging molecules with high precision and has potential to apply to ultrafast imaging of molecular dynamics if combined with ultrashort electron pulses in the future.

Zika virus (ZIKV) has gained global attention as an etiologic agent of fetal microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Existing immuno-based rapid tests often fail to distinguish between Zika and related flaviviruses that are common in affected regions of Central and South Americas and the Caribbean. The US CDC and qualified state health department laboratories can perform the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) ZIKV test using highly sophisticated instruments with long turnaround times. The preliminary results of a portable and low-cost molecular diagnostics system for ZIKV infection are reported here. In less than 15 minutes, this low-cost platform can automatically perform high quality RNA extraction from up to 12 ZIKV-spiked urine samples simultaneously. It can also perform reverse transcription recombinase polymerase amplification reaction (RT-RPA) in ≤15 minutes. The fluorescent signal produced from probe-based RT-RPA or RT-PCR assays can be monitored using LEDs and a smartphone camera. In addition, the RT-RPA and RT-PCR assays do not cross-react with dengue and chikungunya viral RNA. This low-cost system lacks complicated, sensitive and high cost components, making it suitable for resource-limited settings. It has the potential to offer simple sample-to-answer molecular diagnostics and can inform healthcare workers of patients' diagnosis promptly., Competing Interests: K.C., P.W., S.L., and S.P.V. are current or former employees of AI Biosciences, Inc. S.W. is the co-founder of AI Biosciences, Inc. S.W. has filed a provisional patent application on the technology presented. All other authors declare no competing financial interest.

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of light-emitting diode (LED) photobiomodulation therapy on the proliferation and differentiation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUMSCs) cultured in osteogenic differentiation medium. HUMSCs were irradiated with an LED light at 620 nm and 2 J/cm 2 and monitored for cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation activity. The experiment involved four groups of cells: the control group; the osteogenic group (osteo group); the LED group; the osteogenic + LED group (LED + osteo group). HUMSC proliferation was detected by performing a3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2yl)-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide(MTT) assay. Osteogenic activity was evaluated by performing alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and Von Kossa staining, and osteopontin (OPN) gene mRNA expression was evaluated byreverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The hUMSCs in the LED + osteo group exhibited a significantly higher proliferation rate than the other subgroups. Additionally, there were greater numbers of ALP-positive cells and Von Kossa nodules in the LED + osteo group. OPN mRNA expression in the LED + osteo group was higher than other subgroups. In conclusion, low levels of LED light at a wavelength of 620 nm enhance the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of hUMSCs during a long culture period.

Global warming influences a series of ecological processes and ecosystems' stability. Although comprehensive studies have been done to investigate responses of various ecosystem processes to rising air temperatures, less is known about changes in soil temperatures and their impact on below-ground processes, particularly in deep layers. Herein, we used 50 y of temperature data (1962-2011) from 360 sites in China to assess spatio-temporal changes in soil temperatures from the surface to a depth of 3.20 m. We determined, apparently for the first time, that soil surface temperature increased 31% more than air temperature, potentially leading to more carbon release to the atmosphere than predicted. Annual mean surface temperature increased by 2.07-4.04 and 0.66-2.21 °C in northern and southern China, respectively, with the greatest in winter. Warming occurred as deep as 3.20 m. The soil temperature rise was predicted to have increased soil respiration by up to 28%, reinforcing climate warming and extending the potential growing season by up to 20 d across China. However, use of only air temperature to estimate soil temperature changes would underestimate those impacts. In conclusion, these results highlighted the importance of soil warming and of using soil temperature to assess and predict soil processes.

Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) have different immunological mechanisms, while both of them are potential targets of vitamin D treatment. In this study, we have tried to address the role of vitamin D in CD and UC using two mouse models. Mice of C57B6L were given vitamin D before the induction of colitis. Our results showed that vitamin D attenuated 2,4,6-trinitrobenzene sulphonic acid (TNBS)-induced colitis but not oxazolone-induced colitis. Vitamin D could preserve the local histology, alleviate inflammation, suppress apoptosis, maintain tight junction function and decrease permeability. Interestingly, it has more of an effect on local structure preservation and inflammation inhibition in CD than in UC mice. Vitamin D blocked the increase of helper T-cell type 1 (Th1)- and helper T-cell type 17 (Th17)-related cytokines in TNBS-induced colitis. But the increase of helper T-cell type 2 (Th2)- and regulatory T cells (Treg)-related cytokines was augmented at the same time in oxazolone-induced colitis which counteracted each other. Our study helps elucidate the differential protective effects of vitamin D on CD and UC patients, as reported in literature.