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In this paper, the problem of the delay-dependent robust H ∞ control for a class of uncertain neutral systems with mixed time-varying delays is studied. Firstly, a robust delay-dependent asymptotic stability criterion is shown by linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) after introducing a new Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional (LKF). The LKF including vital terms is expected to obtain results of less conservatism by employing the technique of various efficient convex optimization algorithms and free matrices. Then, based on the obtained criterion, analyses for uncertain systems and H ∞ controller design are presented. Moreover, on the analysis of the state-feedback controller, different from the traditional method which multiplies the matrix inequality left and right by some matrix and its transpose, respectively, we can obtain the state-feedback gain directly by calculating the LMIs through the toolbox of MATLAB in this paper. Finally, the feasibility and validity of the method are illustrated by examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim is to investigate the genomic characterization of uterine sarcoma for rAd-p53 (Gendicine®) combined with chemotherapy treatment. We recently published an article on 12 cases of uterine sarcomas, which were treated with rAd-p53 combined with chemotherapy. We found that rAd-p53 combined with chemotherapy is effective for various uterine sarcomas. Pretreatment pathological specimens of four uterine sarcoma patients were collected from the above recent clinical research and numbered 1–4A/B. Tumor samples were subjected to targeted sequencing by using a 416 genes panel. We profiled the mutation spectrum and tumor mutation burden in the tumors, identified mutated genes, and explored their gene function. We also verified the p53 protein expression using immunohistochemistry. We identified a total of 30 mutated genes that were found from the next-generation sequencing test results. The average number of mutated genes was up to seven in the five samples. TP53 gene was mutated in two of the four patients, No. 1 and No. 4B. They are c.C833G (p.P278R) missense mutation and a point mutation (C141*) that result in a premature stop codon. We did not find a mutated TP53 gene in the other two cases, but we identified mutated genes, including CREBBP, LYN, CDKN2A, and JAK2, which were located upstream of the TP53 gene; they may have an impact on TP53. We also identified 11 additional genes which are involved in p53-related signaling pathways or have interaction with p53. Compared to solid tumor mutational burden (TMB) distribution, none of their TMB was ranking in the top 25%. Mutant p53 protein expression was positive in two specimens. Our results demonstrated that the TP53 signaling pathway plays an important role in uterine sarcoma tumorigenesis. TP53 and the upstream genes such as CREBBP, LYN, CDKN2A, and JAK2 may be involved in the genomic characterization for rAd-p53 (Gendicine) combined with chemotherapy in uterine sarcoma. Besides, the average amount of mutated genes from every patient is large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maize grain filling (GF) and grain weight (GW) are closely associated with grain yield. In our study, the ZmARM4 locus affecting GF and GW was identified using a reverse genetics screen of UniformMutator (Mu). First, MutatorDR‐flanking sequence (MuDRFs) was isolated from the mutant by the MuDR‐amplified fragment length polymorphism method, and it was verified by cosegregation (between MuDRFs and phenotype) and linkage analyses. Second, the target gene of the MuDRFs was found to encode the Armadillo domain of the repeat protein gene families and has high expression in the GF stage. Third, association mapping between SNPs in the ZmARM4 region and the GW of 489 maize lines indicated that ZmARM4 is a functional gene that is closely related to GW. Moreover, bioinformatics analysis suggested that ZmARM4 may be relevant for the activity of sucrose transport or the number of cell divisions in endosperm cells. Therefore, ZmARM4 may be used as an important locus for maize GW in molecular breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electro-Fenton reaction mechanism by the robust monolithic N-doped electrode of 3D NC-650. [Display omitted] • The robust monolithic 3D N-doped electrode was fabricated by simple strategy. • Electrode showed excellent EF activity for synthetic and petrochemical wastewater. • Decomposition process of organics in synthetic and real wastewater was revealed. • Contribution of different N-doped positions for enhanced EF activity was revealed. • Reaction mechanism and organics degradation pathways are proposed in detail. Developing metal-free N-doped electrode for efficient electro-Fenton (EF) application is significant for petrochemical wastewater treatment considering the serious water pollution problem that caused by petrochemical industry. Herein, a robust monolithic N-doped electrode was fabricated by simple physical mixing and heating methods using accessible raw materials, and applied in EF system for wastewater treatment. The prepared 3D NC-650 electrode was used as cathode, showing excellent catalytic activity and stability for degradation of typical p-nitrophenol (PNP) pollutant and remediation of petrochemical wastewater. During the EF process, the PNP was completely decomposed via the substitution, oxidation, and ring-opening reactions under the attack of ·OH. The degradation pathways of organics in real wastewater matrix were also revealed based on liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and three-dimensional fluorescence analysis. According to the degradation experiments, microstructure analysis, and theoretical calculation (molecular electrostatic potential, bond length, and adsorption energy), the possible mechanism of different N-doped positions on the monolithic 3D NC-650 electrode was revealed, in which the graphitic N, edge pyridinic N, and edge pyrrolic N all contribute to enhance the EF activity by accelerating the O 2 adsorption, facilitating the H 2 O 2 formation by promotion of *–OOH bond breaking, and promoting the adsorption of organics on electrode surface, respectively. This work illustrates insights into the EF reaction mechanism with the monolithic N-doped electrode, and thus accelerates its application for actual wastewater remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Clinical decision-making involves ethical issues that become more and more complex. Nurse interns must be more skilled in making rational and timely decisions when facing ethical dilemmas. The contributing factors and their relationships that challenge ethical decision-making among nurse interns must be fully understood, as this level of knowledge can support the development of strategies and interventions that improve the ethical decision-making ability of nurse interns. Objective: This study examined the relationships between moral courage, moral sensitivity, and ethical decision-making by nurse interns. In addition, we investigated whether moral sensitivity mediates the relationship between moral courage and ethical decision-making. Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study using an online questionnaire. Setting: The study sampled nurse interns from Class iii Grade A general hospitals in Sichuan Province, China. Participants: A convenience sampling method was used to select 1334 nurse interns from March 2022 to May 2022. Methods: A general information questionnaire, the Nurses' Moral Courage Scale (NMCS), the Chinese Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire (MSQ), and the Judgement About Nursing Decision (JAND) were used for data collection. Data was processed and analysed using SPSS 26.0 and Amos 28.0. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation analysis, and structural equation modelling. Results: Moral courage was found to be positively correlated with ethical decision-making (P < 0.01). Moral sensitivity was also positively correlated with ethical decision-making (P < 0.01) and had a mediating effect on the relationship between moral courage and ethical decision-making (P < 0.01). Conclusions: The moral courage and moral sensitivity of nurse interns are positively correlated with ethical decision-making ability. Moral sensitivity significantly mediates the relationship between moral courage and ethical decision-making ability. The knowledge gained from this study can inform educational strategies and interventions in supporting the development of nurse interns' ethical decision-making ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The seasonal rainfall regime is a key factor control on local ecological and social processes and is commonly thought to be stable under long‐term climate changes. Here we present a unique high‐resolution rainfall record from the Thai‐Malay Peninsula, combined with a state‐of‐the‐art transient climate simulation, demonstrating a fundamental rainfall regime shift from summer to winter during the Holocene. Transient model simulation and new sensitivity experiments further reveal that westward migration of the boundary between summer and winter rainfall regimes results in a summer to winter rainfall regime shift forced by distinct changes in summer and winter monsoons. Our findings suggest that the seasonal rainfall regime could be unstable under climate change around the boundaries of rainfall regimes in the tropics and possibly worldwide, which might be more critical for shaping both past and future ecological environments. Plain Language Summary: The observed seasonal rainfall regime, which varies over time, challenges the assumption of stable seasonal patterns in reconstructions of paleorainfall, suggesting that a reappraisal of the understanding of past ecological‐social changes with respect to rainfall may be needed. In this study, we have used a high‐resolution rainfall record from the Thai–Malay Peninsula and a state‐of‐the‐art transient paleoclimate simulation to describe a novel summer to winter rainfall regime shift during the Holocene era in the tropics, which may apply to regime‐boundary regions worldwide and thus provide a new perspective on dramatic ecological and social changes recorded around regime boundary regions for both past and future studies. Key Points: A unique rainfall record in the Thai‐Malay and a transient simulation suggest a summer to winter rainfall regime shift during the HoloceneTransient paleoclimate simulation simulation reveals that this shift was caused by westward migration of the boundary between summer and winter rainfall regimesThis regime shift could occur in regions around the boundaries of rainfall regimes in the tropics and possibly worldwide [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Late Cenozoic East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) enhancement has been attributed to several factors, such as uplift of the Tibetan Plateau, retreat of the Paratethys Sea, and global cooling related to polar ice volume increment. However, the fundamental forcing factors remain enigmatic due to the absence of long and continuous climate records and sensitive indicators. Here we reanalyzed the published grain-size record of Sikouzi fine sediments in the western Chinese Loess Plateau through end-member (EM) modeling. The results indicate that EM 2 with grain-size peaks between 10–100 μm decreased in content from 20.1 to 17 Ma and stepwise increased from 17 to 0.07 Ma during the following six stages (17–15 Ma, 15–12 Ma, 12–8 Ma, 8–6 Ma, 6–4 Ma and 4–0 Ma). Such varying trends can be successively correlated in seven stages with the integrated benthic δ18O record, implying that global warming weakened the EAWM from 20.1 to 17 Ma and global cooling has stepwise strengthened the EAWM since 17 Ma. Therefore, we conclude that global temperature change played a major role on the evolution of EAWM during the Neogene period. By contrast, Late Cenozoic palaeogeographic reorganization caused by uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and retreat of the Paratethys Sea contributed less to the evolutionary evolution of EAWM. Spectral analysis of the EM 2 data first provided direct evidence of orbitally influenced deposition in the study area and thus the EAWM variations during the Neogene period. The 100-kyr period became weak since ~10 Ma, possibly due to the decrease in sensitivity of a more stable, continental-scale ice sheet in Antarctica to local insolation forcing, deserving further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the prediction accuracy of the dynamic gas emission concentration in coal mining and heading working face, an approach based on wavelet decomposition and GM-ARIMA model prediction method was proposed. Firstly, this paper utilized the Grey Model GM (1, 1); the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average Model ARIMA and the combination prediction model, GM-ARIMA, built by the method of variance reciprocal weighting to forecast the gas emission concentration respectively based on the gas concentration time series, and then employed wavelet theory to decompose the gas concentration time series into approximation sequence and detail sequence, after analyzing the characteristics of decomposition sequences respectively, matching methods-GM (1, 1) and ARIMA model, were employed to forecast the decomposed sub sequences. Then the final prediction values of the gas concentration were obtained through the reconstruction of sub sequences. Finally, it was verified by the engineering application and show that the average error rate of wavelet decomposition and GM-ARIMA prediction method was 3.64%, which provided a better fitting effect and a higher prediction accuracy compared with single model GM (1, 1); ARIMA and GM-ARIMA combination prediction model. It follows that this method is feasible and effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bimetallic cobalt–nickel phosphate octahydrate (NCP) with hierarchical structure was prepared in situ on nickel foam by a simple one-step hydrothermal method. The areal energy density and peak power density of NCP//Zn batteries are much higher than most of the aqueous Zn-based batteries reported so far. By coating the electrodes with carbon materials and adding potassium phosphate buffer salt to the electrolyte, the cycling stability of NCP//Zn batteries is greatly improved. Quasi-solid NCP-C//Zn batteries can still charge a mobile phone even under hammer strokes, demonstrating excellent safety and promising energy storage applications. [Display omitted] • (Co 0.5 Ni 0.5) 3 (PO 4) 2 ·8H 2 O with hierarchical structure was prepared in situ on nickel foam. • The NCP sample exhibited an ultrahigh areal capacity of 3.2 mAh/cm2 at a current density of 5 mA/cm2. • The NCP//Zn battery showed superior areal energy densities (5.42 mWh/cm2) and peak power densities (129.68 mW/cm2). • The cycling durability of NCP//Zn battery reached to 98.31% after 2000 cycles. Aqueous rechargeable Zn-based alkaline batteries combine the advantages of battery-level energy density and capacitance-level power density, showing bright prospects. However, their energy density and cycling life were restricted by the low areal capacity and poor cycling tolerance of cathodes. Herein, bimetallic cobalt–nickel phosphate octahydrate (NCP) with hierarchical structure was prepared in situ on nickel foam by a simple one-step hydrothermal method. The NCP cathode achieved an ultrahigh areal capacity (3.2 mAh/cm2), which was far more than twice that of the single metallic cobalt/nickel phosphate octahydrate due to its larger surface area, smaller electrode/electrolyte interface resistance, higher electrochemical reaction activity and kinetics process. The NCP//Zn battery showed much higher areal energy density of 5.42 mWh/cm2 and peak power density of 129.68 mW/cm2 than most aqueous Zn-based batteries currently reported. The cycling durability of NCP//Zn battery increased from 58.59% to 98.31% after 2000 cycles by coating carbon material on electrode and adding potassium phosphate buffer salt into electrolyte. Quasi-solid NCP-C//Zn batteries can still charge a mobile phone even under hammer strokes, demonstrating excellent safety and promising energy storage applications. This work might shed light on the construction of phosphate based energy storage devices with high energy density, power density and long life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comprehensive Summary: Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is the major pathogen that causes invasive infectious diseases in neonates and infants. The development of preventive and therapeutic strategies against GBS infection has been becoming the most pressing subject worldwide. Group B carbohydrate (GBC), the group B‐specific polysaccharide that distinguishes GBS with other streptococci species, has been identified as an attractive antigen for diagnosis and vaccine development because of its highly conservative tetra‐antennary structure. In this paper, a highly convergent [3 + 5] glycosylation strategy for efficient synthesis of an octasaccharide derivative related to GBC oligosaccharide unit II has been developed. In this synthesis, each glycosylation reaction was efficiently constructed with glycosyl imidates, especially trifluoroacetimidate, as donors, and each glycosidic bond was stereoselectively controlled via the neighboring group participation effect of acyl group on the 2‐O‐position of imidate donors or the solvent effect of Et2O. Furthermore, the aminoethylphosphate group was smoothly installed on the 6‐O‐position of d‐glucitol residue using the phosphoramidite method. After global deprotection, the target octasaccharide was successfully obtained from d‐glucitol in 29 steps with an overall yield of 1.37%. The free amino group installed on the aminoethylphosphate spacer of the target molecule enables its modification with functionalized biomolecules for further biological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oracle bone inscriptions (OBIs) are ancient Chinese scripts originated in the Shang Dynasty of China, and now less than half of the existing OBIs are well deciphered. To date, interpreting OBIs mainly relies on professional historians using the rules of OBIs evolution, and the remaining part of the oracle's deciphering work is stuck in a bottleneck period. Here, we systematically analyze the evolution process of oracle characters by using the Siamese network in Few-shot learning (FSL). We first establish a dataset containing Chinese characters which have finished a relatively complete evolution, including images in five periods: oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, seal inscriptions, official script, and regular script. Then, we compare the performance of three typical algorithms, VGG16, ResNet, and AlexNet respectively, as the backbone feature extraction network of the Siamese network. The results show that the highest F1 value of 83.3% and the highest recognition accuracy of 82.67% are obtained by the combination of VGG16 and Siamese network. Based on the analysis, the typical structural performance of each period is evaluated and we identified that the optimized Siamese network is feasible to study the evolution of the OBIs. Our findings provide a new approach for oracle's deciphering further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three-dimensional-printed Ti6Al4V implant (3DTi) has been widely accepted for the reconstruction of massive bone defects in orthopedics owing to several advantages, such as its tailored shape design, avoiding bone graft and superior bone-implant interlock. However, the osteoinduction activity of 3DTi is inadequate when applied clinically even though it exhibits osteoconduction. This study developes a comprehensive coatless strategy for the surface improvement of 3DTi through copper (Cu) ion implantation and ultraviolet (UV) photofunctionalization to enhance osteoinductivity. The newly constructed functional 3DTi (UV/Ti-Cu) achieved stable and controllable Cu doping, sustained Cu2+ releasing, and increased surface hydrophilicity. By performing cellular experiments, we determined that the safe dose range of Cu ion implantation was less than 5×1016 ions/cm2. The implanted Cu2+ enhanced the ALP activity and the apatite formation ability of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) while slightly decreasing proliferation ability. When combined with UV photofunctionalization, cell adhesion and proliferation were significantly promoted and bone mineralization was further increased. Meanwhile, UV/Ti-Cu was conducive to the migration and angiogenesis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) in vitro , theoretically facilitating vascular coupling osteogenesis. In conclusion, UV/Ti-Cu is a novel attempt to apply two coatless techniques for the surface modification of 3DTi. In addition, it is considered a potential bone substrate for repairing bone defects. [Display omitted] • The modified 3DTi (UV/Ti-Cu) was successfully constructed. • UV/Ti-Cu displays no microstructure change and coating formation. • UV/Ti-Cu improves cell adhesion while enhancing osteogenic differentiation. • UV/Ti-Cu promotes both osteogenesis and angiogenesis. • UV/Ti-Cu is a promising bone substitute for bone defect repair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The xanthone dimer 12- O -deacetyl-phomoxanthone A (12-ODPXA) was extracted from the secondary metabolites of the endophytic fungus Diaporthe goulteri. The 12-ODPXA compound exhibited anticancer properties in murine lymphoma; however, the anti-ovarian cancer (OC) mechanism has not yet been explored. Therefore, the present study evaluated whether 12-ODPXA reduces OC cell proliferation, metastasis, and invasion by downregulating pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK)4 expression. Cell counting kit-8, colony formation, flow cytometry, wound healing, and transwell assays were performed to examine the effects of 12-ODPXA on OC cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion. Transcriptome analysis was used to predict the changes in gene expression. Protein expression was determined using western blotting. Glucose, lactate, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) test kits were used to measure glucose consumption and lactate and ATP production, respectively. Zebrafish xenograft models were constructed to elucidate the anti-OC effects of 12-ODPXA. The 12-ODPXA compound inhibited OC cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and glycolysis while inducing cell apoptosis via downregulation of PDK4. In vivo experiments showed that 12-ODPXA suppressed tumor growth and migration in zebrafish. Our data demonstrate that 12-ODPXA inhibits ovarian tumor growth and metastasis by downregulating PDK4, revealing the underlying mechanisms of action of 12-ODPXA in OC. [Display omitted] • 12- O -deacetyl-phomoxanthone A (12-ODPXA) is a natural xanthone dimer. • 12-ODPXA showed excellent anti-cancer activity against ovarian cancer (OC) cells. • 12-ODPXA downregulates PDK4 expression and reduces glycolysis in OC cells. • Downregulation of PDK4 inhibits OC progression. • First investigation of the anti-OC mechanism of 12-ODPXA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atherosclerosis (AS) is the underlying cause of many severe vascular diseases and is primarily characterized by abnormal lipid metabolism. Paeonol (Pae), a bioactive compound derived from Paeonia Suffruticosa Andr., is recognized for its significant role in reducing lipid accumulation. Our research objective is to explore the link between lipid buildup in foam cells originating from macrophages and the process of ferroptosis, and explore the effect and mechanism of Pae on inhibiting AS by regulating ferroptosis. In our animal model, ApoE-deficient mice, which were provided with a high-fat regimen to provoke atherosclerosis, were administered Pae. The treatment was benchmarked against simvastatin and ferrostatin-1. The results showed that Pae significantly reduced aortic ferroptosis and lipid accumulation in the mice. In vitro experiments further demonstrated that Pae could decrease lipid accumulation in foam cells induced by oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and challenged with the ferroptosis inducer erastin. Crucially, the protective effect of Pae against lipid accumulation was dependent on the SIRT1/NRF2/GPX4 pathway, as SIRT1 knockdown abolished this effect. Our findings suggest that Pae may offer a novel therapeutic approach for AS by inhibiting lipid accumulation through the suppression of ferroptosis, mediated by the SIRT1/NRF2/GPX4 pathway. Such knowledge has the potential to inform the creation of novel therapeutic strategies aimed at regulating ferroptosis within the context of atherosclerosis. Pae exerts anti atherosclerosis mechanism by inhibiting lipid accumulation induced by macrophage-derived foam cells caused by ferroptosis. [Display omitted] • Ferroptosis has the capacity to trigger lipid accumulation in macrophage-derived foam cells. • Pae exhibits anti-atherosclerotic properties through the inhibition of ferroptosis. • Pae inhibits macrophage-derived foam cells ferroptosis via the SIRT1/NRF2/GPX4 signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple upwelling systems develop in the Indian Ocean during the summer monsoon. The Sri Lanka dome (SLD), which occurs in the open ocean off the east coast of Sri Lanka from June to September, is distinct from those near the coast. The SLD is characterized by uplifted thermocline and increased chlorophyll concentration. Mechanisms of the upwelling and its biogeochemical response are not well understood. Here, we explored the dynamics of the chlorophyll and sea-to-air CO2 flux in the SLD using ocean color and altimetry remote sensing data, together with other reanalysis products. We found that the occurrence of high chlorophyll concentration and sea-to-air CO2 flux happens along the pathway of the southwest monsoon current (SMC). The annual cycle of chlorophyll in the SLD has a one-month lag relative to that in the southern coast of Sri Lanka. The positive wind stress curl that forms in the SLD during the summer does not fully explain the seasonal chlorophyll maximum. Transport of the SMC, eddy activity, and associated frontal processes also play an important role in regulating the variability in chlorophyll. In the SLD, upwelled subsurface water has excess dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) relative to the conventional Redfield ratio between DIC and nutrients; thus, upwelling and sub-mesoscale processes determine this region to be a net carbon source to the atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Analytic solutions of stress field for quasi-static expansion of spherical cavity in incompressible soft medium are derived, in which large elastic deformation is modeled by the Mooney–Rivlin constitutive equation and the failure behavior by elastic-fracture. As a consequence, the work needed to open unit volume of cavity in infinite medium, P s, is obtained, which reflects the material's strength and is widely used in studying penetration problems. Energy partition between the elastic and fracture regions is analyzed. Uniaxial compression and simple shear experiments were carried out to determine the moduli in Mooney–Rivlin model at low strain rates for 10 wt% ballistic gelatin at 4 °C, and the failure mode is determined to be elastic-fracture as the stretch ratio exceeds a critical value in the range of 1.5–2.0. For high loading rates, available results from the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) experiments are carefully examined and assessed, and linear increasing of P s with the strain rate is suggested. The application of P s model to ballistic penetration problems is presented and discussed, and with a properly defined characteristic strain rate, the model of P s reasonably agree with the experiments in terms of the maximum cavity volumes in 10 wt% ballistic gelatin penetrated by fragments of various shapes and a bullet. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) is known to induce both autophagy and apoptosis, but whether a relationship exists between these processes upon infection, and whether and how they influence the viral life cycle are currently unknown. We observed here that while autophagosome formation increased in CVB3-infected HeLa cells at the early stage of infection, it decreased at the late stage of infection along with increased apoptosis. Examining whether a functional relationship existed between autophagy and apoptosis during CVB3 infection, we found that increasing levels of autophagy inhibited apoptosis and that some apoptotic proteins in the endogenous and exogenous apoptosis pathways played a role in the transition from autophagy to apoptosis by cleaving the autophagy-related proteins Beclin-1 and Atg5. However, the transcription and translation of full-length Atg5 and Beclin-1 also increased, which likely counteracted the cleavage effect in order to prevent cells from dying too early and to ensure that CVB3 replication was complete in the autophagosomes. Using pharmacological inducers and inhibitors of autophagy as well as inhibitors of apoptosis, we found that while CVB3 replication relied on the autophagosomes, its release from the cell depended on apoptosis. Therefore, autophagy and apoptosis are two important processes that interact with each other during CVB3 infection, promoting the CVB3 life cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have shown that ordinary color cameras can detect the subtle color changes of the skin caused by the heartbeat cycle. Therefore, cameras can be used to remotely monitor the pulse in a non-contact manner. The technology for non-contact physiological measurement in this way is called remote photoplethysmography (rPPG). Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis, as a very important physiological feature, requires us to be able to accurately recover the peak time locations of the rPPG signal. This paper proposes an efficient spatiotemporal attention network (ESA-rPPGNet) to recover high-quality rPPG signal for heart rate variability analysis. First, 3D depth-wise separable convolution and a structure based on mobilenet v3 are used to greatly reduce the time complexity of the network. Next, a lightweight attention block called 3D shuffle attention (3D-SA), which integrates spatial attention and channel attention, is designed to enable the network to effectively capture inter-channel dependencies and pixel-level dependencies. Moreover, ConvGRU is introduced to further improve the network's ability to learn long-term spatiotemporal feature information. Compared with existing methods, the experimental results show that the method proposed in this paper has better performance and robustness on the remote HRV analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Training animals to pull agricultural equipment and wheeled transport significantly shaped and advanced human economic systems. In this context the use of large domestic animals such as cattle was a milestone event in human history, part of what Sherratt memorably termed the Secondary Products Revolution: the use of the products of live animals such as milk, wool and traction power. It is commonly assumed that male cattle were generally preferred for traction because of their greater strength compared with females, and the importance of the latter for breeding and, in some societies, for milk and for dairy products, but surprisingly little is known of this aspect of the Secondary Products Revolution in prehistoric China. Here we apply established morphometric models to 10 assemblages of cattle bones from Chinese Bronze Age (ca. 2000–221 BCE) contexts. Our results indicate a process of intensified cattle labour exploitation at this time and, intriguingly, we also observe the earliest labour employment of female cattle during the Late Shang dynasty (ca. 1300–1046 BCE). It is proposed that female cattle may have been required for traction because of the large numbers of male cattle, especially bulls, that were sent for ritual sacrifice. Such a strategy reveals a sophisticated social management, upon which the Late Shang civilisation eventually developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The lake state and chemistry are sensitive to climate change at short timescales, but it is unclear how lake hydrochemistry responds to monsoonal climate, especially over glacial-interglacial cycles, owing to lack of well-dated and continuous sedimentary records. The types and geochemical compositions of authigenic carbonates from lacustrine sediments can be used to reconstruct past hydrochemistry. Yet, little is known about the significance and influencing factors of the Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios of authigenic carbonates over glacial-interglacial cycles. Here, trace-element data of a 666 m long sediment sequence from the Heqing basin, a paleo-lake situated at the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, provide detailed glacial-interglacial hydrochemical conditions and their association with Indian summer monsoon (ISM) evolution during the entire Pleistocene. In interglacials, variation in both Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios can serve as proxies for salinity as a result of precipitation of low-Mg calcite, constrained by enhanced ISM intensity and catchment weathering product. Instead, in glacials, high Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios reflect high-Mg calcite and aragonite precipitation under low lake level conditions. There is a nonlinear response of the Sr/Ca ratio of lacustrine sediment to salinity variation when high-Mg calcite and aragonite precipitate in a hydrologically closed and evaporative lake. Based upon the sedimentary Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios in the Heqing paleo-lake, the lake hydrochemistry during the Pleistocene experienced obvious glacial-interglacial ISM cycles at the life span of the lake itself: (1) in the old interval (2640–1840 ka), the salinity was low with cycles at the early stage of lake development owing to strong ISM; (2) in the middle interval (1840–920 ka), the lake was at a balance state and its salinity was more constrained by weathering solute, rather than ISM; and (3) in the young interval (920–130 ka), the salinity fluctuated with large amplitude over glacial-interglacial cycles and subsequent increase paced the weakened ISM. This study highlights the sensitivity of the types of lacustrine authigenic carbonates and lake chemistry to ISM changes over glacial-interglacial cycles. • In the monsoon-impacted areas, sedimentary Mg/Ca and Sr/Ca ratios controlled by ISM intensity and catchment weathering. • Mg/Ca ratios of lacustrine sediment reflect the types of authigenic carbonates over glacial-interglacial cycles. • Sr/Ca ratios of lacustrine sediment record salinity linearly in the interglacials, but nonlinearly in the glacials • Through time, lake hydrochemistry response to catchment weathering gradually decreased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel cancer cell and lysosome dual-targeted photosensitizer (PS) termed by BMP was developed for fluorescence imaging and photodynamic therapy (PDT). BMP consists of a porphyrin(Zn) core with appropriate singlet-triplet state distribution enables it to function as an imaging agent as well as a PS, a biotin moiety that can target cancer cells, and a morpholine group specific to lysosomes. Intracellular experiments demonstrated that the dual-targeted photosensitizer BMP could preferably accumulate in cancer cells and subsequently locate within lysosome organelles. Upon irradiation, BMP could generate red fluorescence emission (Φ em = 6.3%) and singlet oxygen (1O 2 , Φ Δ = 55%) for the dual functionality of cell imaging and PDT, respectively. Notably, BMP exhibited much higher photocytotoxicity toward cancer cells (A549 cells) compared to normal cells (BEAS-2B cells). Importantly, 1O 2 produced by BMP induced oxidative damage of lysosomes, and subsequently triggered cell death of A549 cells, as evidenced by the loss of morphological integrity and cell rupture. A cancer cell and lysosome dual-targeted photosensitizer BMP was designed to generate red emission and singlet oxygen (1O 2) simultaneously, which were utilized successfully for dual-targeted fluorescence imaging and photodynamic therapy. [Display omitted] • A dual-targeted photosensitizer was designed and synthesized by modularization. • Biotin acted as a targeting ligand for cancer cells, and morpholine was selected as the lysosome-specific group. • Red fluorescence and singlet oxygen generation were achieved for fluorescence imaging and PDT of cancer cells simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lycium ruthenicum is a characteristic plant resource in Northwest China. The fruit with high anthocyanin content is the main reason for its high nutritional value and economic value, while the regulation of key genes regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis in black fruit is not clear. In this study, high-throughput sequencing technology was used to compare the expression differences of all genes in black and purple fruits. The purple samples obtained 45.13 and 51.49 M Raw reads, while the black fruit samples measured 53.85 and 47.38 M Raw Reads. After splicing and assembly, 162,842 transcripts were obtained after removing redundant and duplicated results. Homology comparison of all predicted proteins found that 36,978 (22.43%) genes in Lycium ruthenicum were homologous to Solanum tuberosum, followed by 24,459 (14.84%) genes were homologous to Capsicum annuum. Overall, 3685 genes were up-regulated in purple fruit, 2837 genes were down-regulated in purple fruit, and the remaining 156320 genes were not differentially expressed in black and purple fruit. Through homology comparison of anthocyanin biosynthesis and metabolism structure genes in Lycium ruthenicum, 63 homologous genes, 4 MYB transcription factors and 5 bHLH transcription factors were screened. LrAN2p (909 bp) in purple fruit was 136 bp more upstream of 'ATG' than LrAN2 (774 bp) in black fruit. Three highly expressed copies of bHLH transcription factors AN1b with different lengths were screened in black fruit, but they were almost not expressed in purple fruit. This study possibly identified the major LrAN1b genes regulating the black fruit trait. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aberrant alternative splicing plays critical role in aging and age-related diseases. Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs) reportedly regulate RNA splicing process. Whether and how hnRNPs contribute to age-related neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer's disease (AD), remain elusive. Methods: Immunoblotting and immunostaining were performed to determine expression patterns and cellular/subcellular localization of the long isoform of hnRNP D-like (L-DL), which is a hnRNP family member, in mouse hippocampus. Downregulation of L-DL in WT mice was achieved by AAV-mediated shRNA delivery, followed by memory-related behavioural tests. L-DL interactome was analysed by affinity-precipitation and mass spectrometry. Alternative RNA splicing was measured by RNA-seq and analyzed by bioinformatics-based approaches. Downregulation and upregulation of L-DL in APP/PS1 mice were performed using AAV-mediated transduction. Results: We show that L-DL is specifically localized to nuclear speckles. L-DL levels are decreased in the hippocampus of aged mouse brains and downregulation of L-DL impairs cognition in mice. L-DL serves as a structural component to recruit other speckle proteins, and regulates cytoskeleton- and synapse-related gene expression by altering RNA splicing. Mechanistically, these splicing changes are modulated via L-DL-mediated interaction of SF3B3, a core component of U2 snRNP, and U2AF65, a U2 spliceosome protein that guides U2 snRNP's binding to RNA. In addition, L-DL levels are decreased in APP/PS1 mouse brains. While downregulation of L-DL deteriorates memory deficits and overexpression of L-DL improves cognitive function in AD mice, by regulating the alternative splicing and expression of synaptic gene CAMKV. Conclusions: Our findings define a molecular mechanism by which hnRNP L-DL regulates alternative RNA splicing, and establish a direct role for L-DL in AD-related synaptic dysfunction and memory decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tumor microenvironment and chemokines play a significant role in cancer chemoresistance. This study was designed to reveal the important role of CXCL2 in platinum resistance in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Differently expressed (DE) genes were screen out based on analysis of GSE114206 dataset in GEO database. The expression of DE chemokines was further validated in platinum- resistant and sensitive EOC. Cell viability assay and cell apoptosis assay were performed to explore the roles of CXCL2 in EOC. Cell stemness characteristics and the signaling pathway regulated by CXCL2 were also investigated in this study. As the results showed, CXCL2 was identified up-regulated in platinum-resistant EOC. The functional assays showed overexpressing CXCL2 or co-culturing with recombinant human CXCL2 promoted cell resistance to cisplatin. Conversely, knocking down CXCL2 or co-culturing with neutralizing antibody to CXCL2 increased cell response to cisplatin. CXCL2 overexpressing maintained cell stemness and activated ATR/CHK1 signaling pathway in EOC. Moreover, we further demonstrated that CXCL2-mediated resistance to cisplatin could be saved by SB225002, the inhibitor of CXCL2 receptor, as well as be rescued by SAR-020106, the inhibitor of ATR/CHK1 signaling pathway. This study identified a CXCL2-mediated mechanism in EOC platinum resistance. Our findings provided a novel target for chemoresistance prevention in EOC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Neurology system specialist is a clinical specialist who specializes in diagnosing, treating and monitoring problems of the mind and sensory Department. Pediatric Neurology Department specialists specialize in pediatric neurological problems with specialized preparation. The neurology Department specialists' teaching foundation and clinical preparation include a college degree, four years of clinical school, one year of temporary employment, and three years of specific preparation. Many neurology Department specialists have additional preparation in one neurology department science zone, for example, stroke, epilepsy, or developmental problems. Neurology Department specialists are the main observation suppliers or consultants. In contrast to different physicians, the patient has a neurological problem that requires constant observation, with the neurology Department specialist, often the main observation provider. For example, patients with complications, such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, or multiple sclerosis, may use their neurologist as their primary care physician. Neurology Department specialists may recommend careful treatment; however, they do not perform medical procedures. While treatment has a medical approach, neurologists specialize in carefully examining treated patients and maintaining their treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Millennial climate change since the last deglaciation have drawn much attention. Even though the role of northern hemisphere is much focused on, how the tropic performed remains disputed. Here based on Mg/Ca and δ18O sw local from planktonic foraminifera Globigerinoides ruber , sub-millennial scale hydroclimate record throughout the early last deglaciation is presented from the northern South China Sea, near the northern boundary of Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). Coupled with previous research, we speculate that rainbelt/ITCZ was located northerly from 19 to 18 ka, and migrated southward within two-steps during Heinrich 1 event. Northerly ITCZ during 19–18 ka was rendered by tropical warming since 19 ka through the Gill-Matsuno response, which strengthened Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, contributing to intense monsoon precipitation over east Asia, and dry conditions around the western Pacific. The subsequent two-steps ITCZ southward shift during Heinrich 1 was driven by weakened Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, which was produced by the lowering northern hemisphere ice-sheet at ∼16.2 ka. Step-wise shifted rainbelt/ITCZ documented from our record indicates multiple factors dominated sub-millennial scale climate change during the whole last deglaciation. We highlight the important roles of tropical warming and ocean circulation in initiating the last deglaciation and the subsequent climate change, respectively. • ITCZ located north from 18 to 19 ka BP. • Tropical rainbelt/ITCZ migrated southward twice over the early last deglaciation. • Tropical warming since 19 ka BP initiates the deglaciation by Gill-Matsuno response. • Variable Ocean circulation and ice-sheet altitude induced pervasive two-steps H1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The structure of the triple encoding decoder is designed for feature extraction. Infrared and visible separate paths provide more detailed contrast and contour texture details. • A contrast enhancement module is designed after the infrared path structure of the encoder in the generator to enhance the contrast information of the target region. • Double discriminators are used to discriminate the generated images. In order to further improve the feature learning ability of the generator, an incentive module is designed at the end of the discriminator. • Specific loss functions are designed. Specifically, gradient loss and contrast loss are designed in the generator loss function, and the learning and training process is more accurate by changing the concrete function. • A large number of experiments have proved that the proposed algorithm can achieve significant fusion results with visual effects, and because the trained model is directly utilized in the test stage, the real-time performance of the algorithm is also very high. Image fusion can overcome the shortcomings of unclear, inaccurate and incomplete target description of single sensor image, achieve more accurate expression of target, and lay a foundation for subsequent image analysis and processing. Aiming at the existing algorithms based on generative adversarial networks only relying on the adversarial training of discriminators to achieve image fusion, and the balance of the respective features of infrared and visible images is not comprehensive or even fine enough, an infrared and visible image fusion algorithm based on multi-channel encoding and decoding generative adversarial network was proposed in this paper. Compared with the existing image decomposition methods, a triple codec structure is designed for feature extraction, which can use the generator itself to get a fusion image with extraordinary effect, and then use the discriminator to improve the quality of the fusion result. Secondly, a contrast enhancement module is designed after the infrared path structure of the encoder in the generator to enhance the contrast information of the target area. In addition, a dual discriminator model is designed, and in order to improve the feature learning ability of the generator, an incentive module is designed at the end of the discriminator. Finally, gradient loss and contrast loss are designed, and the training speed is improved by combining specific functions. Experimental results show that compared with the eleven classical algorithms, almost all of the proposed algorithms have better visual effects, and their quantitative indicators are also better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of boron isotope compositions of seawater (δ 11 B sw) over the Cenozoic has important implications for reconstructions of atmospheric CO 2 and is tightly linked to boron input from the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau. However, controls on evolution in δ 11 B sw remain elusive. We report geochemical measurements of the Yarlung Tsangpo River draining the Tibetan Plateau and observe exceptionally high riverine boron concentrations and extremely low δ 11 B values. Calculation indicates that >50% of riverine boron is sourced from geothermal waters. Combined with global datasets, we show that global riverine boron input to the ocean is largely influenced by geothermal input. Mass-balance calculations indicate that an averaged 1.5-fold decrease in global geothermal inputs is sufficient to introduce 3‰ increase in Cenozoic δ 11 B sw. Therefore, geothermal waters significantly affect global riverine and thus oceanic boron budgets. The increased δ 11 B sw since the Cenozoic may be resulted partly from declining global geothermal activity. • Exceptionally high boron and low δ 11 B values are found in Yarlung Tsangpo River. • More than 50% of riverine boron is sourced from geothermal waters. • Geothermal water significantly influences global riverine and oceanic boron budgets. • Increased δ 11 B sw since Cenozoic is resulted partly from declining geothermal activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ~400-kyr period of marine carbon isotope records, in concert with the long eccentricity cycle, is a meaningful signature of the global carbon cycle, and this period was prolonged to ~500 kyr in the last ~1.6 Ma. The cause of the elongation of the long-eccentricity carbon cycle at ~1.6 Ma has not been fully understood, partly due to the conundrum of its relationship to changes in the circulation of deep-water masses. In this study, we present the benthic foraminifera δ13C and δ18O and the relative abundances of selected benthic foraminifera, from the upper ~80 m of Site U1489 of IODP Expedition 363. First, we established an age model for our samples, covering the last 4 Ma, based on the correlation of benthic foraminifera δ18O to the LR04 global stack as well as ship-board magneto-stratigraphy. Then we compared the δ18O and δ13C between Cibicidoides and Uvigerina to reconfirm the inter-genus isotopic adjustments. The coarse fraction, benthic foraminifera δ13C and the abundances of selected benthic species/genera show detectable 400–500 kyr cycles, with minimal coarse fraction and maximal δ13C around eccentricity minima. The variations in the relative abundances of selected benthic foraminifera, especially Favocassidulina favus , and the comparisons among deep-Pacific δ13C records, reveal a shift to a more sluggish mode of Pacific deep-water circulation occurring coincidently at ~1.6 Ma. Therefore, it may be implied that the lengthening of the long-term δ13C cycle at ~1.6 Ma is linked to a deep Pacific circulation change that prolonged the cycling of carbon in the ocean. • A first depth-age model of IODP U1489 is established by benthic foraminifera δ18O. • The benthic foraminifera δ13C and species abundances, and coarse fraction content show significant long eccentricity cycling. • The deep-Pacific circulation is inferred to shift to a more sluggish mode at ~1.6 Ma, which may be linked to the elongation of the long-term δ13C cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mild encephalitis/encephalopathy with a reversible isolated splenial lesion (MERS) is a rare and complex clinico-radiological condition that aggregates various diseases. From a geographical point of view, most cases have been reported in Asia, especially in Japan. However, a very limited number of studies have properly evaluated Chinese patients diagnosed with MERS. Methods: Putative encephalitis/encephalopathy patients affected by a reversible isolated SCC lesion, as detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), were retrospectively evaluated. Specifically, we reviewed extensive patient data, including prodromal and neurologic symptoms, neurologic examinations, MRI and electroencephalography (EEG) findings, laboratory results, treatments, and prognosis. Results: Six clinically mild encephalitis/encephalopathy patients, affected by a reversible isolated SCC lesion, were identified in a cohort of 22 patients. Six patients presented fever symptoms before the onset of neurological manifestations. Initial MRI data exhibited isolated SCC lesions with isointense or slightly hypointense on T1WI, hyperintense on T2WI, Flair, and DWI, as well as decreased ADC values, without contrast enhancement. EEG data indicated abnormalities (3/4), as well as elevated serum inflammatory markers (5/6) and hyponatremia (4/6). Cell content and protein yields were normal or slightly increased in the CSF of 6 patients, excluding one episode of significant increase in cell number. Patients were treated with corticosteroids, antivirals, and antibiotics, resulting in their full clinical recovery. SCC lesions mostly disappeared in all patients. Conclusion: In our study, the clinical features identified in all affected patients were mostly identical, which consisted of relatively mild CNS manifestations with a promising prognostic status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is a re-emerging pathogen causing sporadic outbreaks in China, Japan, and Korea with mortality rates of up to 30 %. There are currently no licensed vaccines or therapeutics, and early diagnosis of infected cases is critical for outbreak control and prevention. Assays based on isothermal nucleic acid amplification and CRISPR/Cas have recently been developed against several pathogens without the need for specialized laboratory equipment. However, these assays are qualitative in nature and cannot provide quantitative results. Here, we developed three candidate diagnostic assays for field or clinical detection of SFTSV infections. The two-step CRISPR/Cas13a based assay was found to be comparable in sensitivity to previously published work (100 cp/μL), whereas optimization of reaction conditions for the one-pot CRISPR/Cas13a based assay improved the sensitivity by 40-fold. The optimized one-pot assay has high sensitivity (5 cp/μL), and the assays were found to be non-cross reactive against other (re)-emerging pathogens. To provide quantitative results for SFTSV detection, the digital CRISPR/Cas13a-based assay was developed, and found to be consistent with qRT-PCR results (100 %) using SFTSV clinical samples. This work will be important for the future development of diagnostics for SFTSV, with the potential for point-of-care testing. • Three CRISPR/Cas13a based assays were developed and optimized for SFTSV diagnosis. • These are the two-step assay; optimized one-pot bulk assay, and the digital assay. • The digital assay is quantitative with a limit of detection similar to qRTPCR assays. • The assays were shown to be non-cross reactive against CCHFV, DENV and ZIKV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The zooplanktonic cladocerans Daphnia, present in a wide range of water bodies, are an important component of freshwater ecosystems. In contrast to their high dispersal capacity through diapausing eggs carried by waterfowl, Daphnia often exhibit strong population genetic differentiation. Here, to test for common patterns in the population genetic structure of a widespread Holarctic species, D. galeata, we genotyped two sets of populations collected from geographically distant areas: across 13 lakes in Eastern China and 14 lakes in Central Europe. The majority of these populations were genotyped at two types of markers: a mitochondrial gene (for 12S rRNA) and 15 nuclear microsatellite loci. Results: Mitochondrial DNA demonstrated relatively shallow divergence within D. galeata, with distinct haplotype compositions in the two study regions but one widely distributed haplotype shared between several of the Chinese as well as European populations. At microsatellite markers, clear separation was observed at both large (between China and Europe) and small (within Europe) geographical scales, as demonstrated by Factorial Correspondence Analyses, Bayesian assignment and a clustering method based on genetic distances. Genetic diversity was comparable between the sets of Chinese and European D. galeata populations for both types of markers. Interestingly, we observed a significant association between genetic distance and geographical distance for D. galeata populations in China but not in Europe. Conclusions: Our results indicate relatively recent spread of D. galeata across wide expanses of the Palaearctic, with one mtDNA lineage of D. galeata successfully establishing over large distances. Despite a clear differentiation of Chinese and European D. galeata at a nuclear level, the pattern of genetic variation is nevertheless similar between both regions. Overall, our findings provide insights into the genetic population structure of a cladoceran species with extremely wide geographical range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract C-2α hydroxylated triterpenoids are a large class of plant secondary metabolites. These compounds, such as maslinic, corosolic and alphitolic acid, have important biological activities against HIV, cancer and diabetes. However, the biosynthesis pathways of these compounds have not been completely elucidated. Specifically, the cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme responsible for C-2α hydroxylation was unknown. In this study, a novel CYP enzyme that catalyzes C-2α hydroxylation was identified in Crataegus pinnatifida (Hawthorn) using a metabolic engineering platform. It is a multifunctional enzyme with C-2α oxidase activity on oleanane-, ursane- and lupane-type pentacyclic triterpenoids. In addition, the complete biosynthesis pathways of these three triterpenoids were reconstituted in yeast, resulting in the production of 384, 141 and 23 mg/L of maslinic, corosolic and alphitolic acid, respectively. This metabolic engineering platform for functional gene identification and strain engineering can serve as the basis for creating alternative pathways for the microbial production of important natural products. Highlights • A metabolic engineering platform was established for identification of unknown plant CYP genes. • CYP716C49 was identified from hawthorn for C-2α hydroxylation of triterpenoids. • CYP716C49 is a multifunctional enzyme. • Yeast cell factories were constructed for production of 3 pentacyclic triterpenoids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Exposure to ambient ozone (O 3) is a risk factor for public health and causes damage to vegetation, including agricultural crops. In this study, we performed a comprehensive estimate of the spatial distribution of premature deaths and main crop yield losses attributed to ambient O 3 , across China in 2014, by applying the Global Burden of Diseases approach and AOT40 metric (i.e., above a threshold of O 3 concentration of 40 ppb). Our results show that China's total premature deaths in 2014 due to COPD attributed to O 3 exposure were 89,391 (CI95: 32,225–141,649) with spatial variation across provinces. O 3 induced production losses from all crops were 78.4 million metric tons, and the relative yield losses ranged from 8.5 to 14.0% for winter wheat, 3.9–15.0% for rice, and 2.2–5.5% for maize. The top four Chinese provinces (Sichuan, Shandong, Henan and Hunan) for premature deaths attributed to O 3 pollution also suffered severe losses in yields of winter wheat and rice. Our results provide quantitative evidence of O 3 induced impacts on both the public health and crop yields across Chinese provinces, which have important policy implications for the government to alleviate O 3 pollution in addition to PM 2.5 pollution that is currently being addressed. Highlights • Impacts of O 3 on both public health and crop yield were analyzed for China. • Premature deaths attributed to ambient O 3 were 89,391 in 2014. • O 3 induced reductions of winter wheat, rice and maize reached 78.4 Mt in 2014. • Top provinces of O 3 induced health burden also suffered serious crop yield losses. • More attention should be paid to exacerbated O 3 impacts in some inner provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Ancient DNA analysis of 24 archaeological bovid remains recovered from large Neolithic (6300 BP to 5000 calBP) pit and ditch features at Houtaomuga, Northeast China, identified 23 of these samples as aurochs (Bos primigenius). These DNA-based identifications contrast with the morphological analysis of the remains, which identified them as Bison exiguous. The abundance of auroch remains at this site contradicts the general assumption that this species was not present in large numbers in Neolithic China. It also suggests archaeologists need to revise the notion that wild aurochs played an insignificant role in the lifeways of Neolithic peoples in China. Furthermore, phylogenetic analyses of a 294 bp fragment of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) D-loop indicate the identified aurochs belong to a unique haplogroup (Haplogroup C) that is indigenous to East Asia and made no direct contribution to modern domesticated cattle Bos taurus. Moreover, temporal changes in haplotype frequencies were observed among the identified aurochs, suggesting population fluctuations potentially caused by human hunting activities occurred among Chinese aurochs during the Neolithic. This study also identified one sample (HT31) radiocarbon dated to ca. 5500–5300 calBP as Bos taurus , making it one of the earliest known taurine cattle specimens in China. HT31's location in Northeast China and early date points to the existence of another entrance for domesticated cattle into China, the Northeast China Route via the Mongolian Steppe. Highlights • DNA confirms that aurochs were much more abundantly available in Neolithic China. • Many aurochs remains may have been mistakenly identified as Bison exiguous. • All aurochs belong to Haplogroup C and no direct contribution to modern cattle. • DNA identified one of the earliest Bos taurus remains in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrological changes in East Asia during the last millennium have been addressed by numerous earlier studies, but spatial characteristics and dynamics in precipitation variations during the Little Ice Age (LIA) remain unclear, perhaps especially due to the sparse coverage of high-resolution hydrological records from tropical and sub-tropical regions in East Asia. In this study, a sediment core was obtained from Shuangchi Lake in northern Hainan Island, tropical China, of which geochemical proxies including the ratios of Rb/Sr, Rb/K, Zr/Rb and Si/Ti were analyzed using an X-ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanner. Meanwhile, the grain size distribution of sediments was also determined. The results show that the Rb/Sr and Rb/K ratios decreased significantly during the LIA, whilst the Zr/Rb and Si/Ti ratios increased along with higher median grain size. The changes of these proxies likely suggest that precipitation was enhanced during the LIA in this region, and this was consistent with other hydrological records from tropical southern China. The synthesis of hydrological records from East Asia and the tropical Pacific suggest that the co-existence of a contracted Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and strengthened Pacific Walker circulation (PWC) could contribute synchronously to the increased precipitation in the tropical region of southern China during the LIA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the function and mechanism of lnc NEAT1 in regulating the growth, migration and invasion of endometrial carcinoma (EC) cells.Materials and Methods: NEAT1 and miR-214-3p levels were measured by qRT-PCR. The protein levels of HMGA1, β-catenin, c-myc and MMP9 were evaluated by Western blot. The effects of NEAT1, HMGA1, miR-214-3p on the viability, migration and invasion of HEC-1A cells were accessed by WST-1 assay and transwell migration/invasion assay. The effect of miR-214-3p on Wnt signaling activity was tested by luciferase reporter assay.Results: NEAT1, HMGA1 and β-catenin were significantly upregulated in EC tissues, and miR-214-3p was significantly downregulated. NEAT1 promoted the growth, migration and invasion of HEC-1A cells, and mRNA level of Wnt/β-catenin downstream genes c-myc and MMP9. In addition, HMGA1 upregualted the protein and mRNA levels of Wnt/β-catenin downstream genes c-myc and MMP9, and could improve cell viability, and increase numbers of migration and invasion of HEC-1A cells. miR-214-3p overexpression inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of HEC-1A cells, while NEAT1 overexpression reversed these effects. miR-214-3p overexpression inhibited the activity of Wnt/β-catenin pathway, while NEAT1 overexpression reversed this effect. Then, si-HMGA1 reduced the activity of Wnt/β-catenin pathway. Moreover, we found NEAT1 and HMGA1 bound to miR-214-3p by luciferase reporter assay, and NEAT1 and HMGA1 expression were negatively correlated with miR-214-3p.Conclusion: NEAT1 regulates HMGA1 via miR-214-3p to regulate Wnt/β-catenin pathway, thus promotes the growth, migration and invasion of HEC-1A cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comparative study aims to examine dental lesions of three skeletal populations from Late Bronze Age North China to examine relationships between subsistence patterns and oral health in the past. The skeletal remains represent a unique series of ancient human populations who adopted different subsistence practices: Chenjiagou (ca. 3000–2200 BP) from Henan, Central China, representing an intensified agricultural practice; Houtaomuga (ca. 2250–2050 BP) from Jilin, Northeast China, representing hunting-gathering-fishing with limited mixed agriculture, Jinggouzi (ca. 2530–2440 BP) from Inner Mongolia of China, representing pastoral economy. The prevalences of dental caries, antemortem tooth loss, abscesses, and pulp chamber exposure were investigated in this study to examine potential connections between oral health and subsistance strategies. This study reveals that 1) overall, the worst oral health status was observed in the agriculturalists (Chenjiagou) when comparing with those of the mixed hunter-fisher-gatherers (Houtaomuga) and pastoralists (Jinggouzi); 2) dental pathological lesions (uncommon in subadults) were found to increase significantly with age in all three studied populations; 3) females were found to develop more severe dental lesions than males in all three sites, especially for the molars. This study demonstrates that high carbohydra dietary intake can significantly worsen oral health, which is consistent with observations from many other parts of the world. More studies are needed to investigate the causes of sex differences in severity of dental lesions between agriculturalists and non-agriculturalists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Condensation heat transfer of R245fa in a tube with the diameter of 14.81 mm and length of 1200 mm was investigated. The R245fa mass fluxes, inlet vapor mass qualities and inclination angles covered the ranges of 191.3–705.4 kg/m 2 s, 0.191–0.947 and −90° to 90°, respectively. The non-dimensional analysis yielded the importance of inertia force and gravity force to influence condensation heat transfer. Surface tension force played unimportant role. Condensation heat transfer coefficients ( h ) showed the general increase trend versus inclination angles ( θ ) and the non-monotonic behavior in the full inclination angle range. The maximum h occurred at θ = 30° and −15°. The h values were sensitive to θ near the horizontal positions. The main flow patterns in the condenser tube were stratified-smooth flow, stratified-wavy flow and intermittent flow. For inclined upflow, the liquid layer thickness and interface wave competed with each other to influence heat transfer. An optimal inclination angle existed at which heat transfer coefficients reached maximum. For inclined downflow, condensation heat transfer was balanced by the liquid layer thickness and buoyancy force. The flow was more stable. Heat transfer coefficients were well correlated with the general increase term multiplied by the non-monotonic variation term. The parameters in the correlation depended on the Froude number and vapor mass qualities. The correlation successfully explained the effects of mass fluxes, vapor mass qualities and inclination angles on condensation heat transfer coefficients. Based on the present finding, the condenser is recommended to operate at the inclination angle of −15° or 30°, at which heat transfer coefficients are maximum and pressure drops are minimum. The exactly horizontal flow weakens the condenser performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents the first examination of the genetic structure of Daphnia longispina complex populations in Eastern China. Only one species, D. galeata, was present across the eight investigated lakes; as identified by taxon assignment using allelic variation at 15 microsatellite loci. Three genetically differentiated D. galeata subgroups emerged independent of the type of statistical analysis applied. Thus, Bayesian clustering, discriminant analysis based on results from factorial correspondence analysis, and UPGMA clustering consistently showed that populations from two neighbouring lakes were genetically separated from a mixture of genotypes found in other lakes, which formed another two subgroups. Clonal diversity was high in all D. galeata populations, and most samples showed no deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, indicating that clonal selection had little effect on the genetic diversity. Overall, populations did not cluster by geographical origin. Further studies will show if the observed pattern can be explained by natural colonization processes or by recent anthropogenic impact on predominantly artificial lakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Well-preserved lacustrine sediments are found in some areas in East Tibet. This region is characterized by a windy and semi-arid climate, alpine valleys, and frequent earthquakes. Measurements of rare earth elements, observations from a scanning electron microscope and a high-resolution record of grain-size measurements allowed us to compare fine sediments from the Xinmocun section in the Diexi Lake, with loess from the Chinese Loess Plateau and South China. Results indicate that fine grains of the Xinmocun lacustrine sediments were transported by wind and trapped in the lake, whereas the >16μm fraction was likely from local sources. The grain-size changes within the section repeatedly show abrupt coarsening and upward fining, probably due to palaeoearthquake events. Large earthquakes in the study area often caused rockfalls and landslides, exposing fine sediments that had accumulated on mountains' slopes. The fine grains were then retransported by wind to the Diexi Lake. Optically stimulated luminescence dating of the Xinmocun section indicates continuous deposition from 18.65 to 10.63ka. These results indicate that palaeoearthquakes in the study area had a mean recurrence interval of ~0.32ka. Therefore, we propose that lacustrine sediments in a tectonically active region have the potential to record a continuous history of palaeoearthquakes. Palaeoearthquakes probably produced numerous rockfalls and landslides in alpine valleys and provided significant sources of regional eolian dust. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Remote photoplethysmography (rPPG) is a video-based non-contact heart rate measurement technology. It is a fact that most existing rPPG methods fail to deal with the spatiotemporal features of the video, which is significant for the extraction of the rPPG signal. In this paper, we propose a 3D central difference convolutional network (CDCA-rPPGNet) to measure heart rate, with an attention mechanism to combine spatial and temporal features. First, we crop and stitch the region of interest together through facial landmarks. Next, the high-quality regions of interest are fed to CDCA-rPPGNet based on a central difference convolution, which can enhance the spatiotemporal representation and capture rich relevant time contexts by collecting time difference information. In addition, we integrate the attention module into the neural network, aiming to strengthen the ability of the neural network to extract video channels and spatial features, so as to obtain more accurate rPPG signals. In summary, the three main contributions of this paper are as follows: (1) the proposed network base on central difference convolution could better capture the subtle color changes to recover the rPPG signals; (2) the proposed ROI extraction method provides high-quality input to the network; (3) the attention module is used to strengthen the ability of the network to extract features. Extensive experiments are conducted on two public datasets—the PURE dataset and the UBFC-rPPG dataset. In terms of the experiment results, our proposed method achieves 0.46 MAE (bpm), 0.90 RMSE (bpm) and 0.99 R value of Pearson's correlation coefficient on the PURE dataset, and 0.60 MAE (bpm), 1.38 RMSE (bpm) and 0.99 R value of Pearson's correlation coefficient on the UBFC dataset, which proves the effectiveness of our proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tridacna spp. usually have annual and even daily growth bands, and thus provide great potential to be the high-resolution recorders of past climate and environmental changes of the ocean. However, current studies mainly focus on the geochemical records of Tridacna shells, the environmental and climatic implications of long time sequenced daily growth increments are relatively unexplored. In this study, based on the confocal microscopic line-scanning imaging, a 23.7-year long (from 5 June 1989 to 21 February 2013) daily growth rate (DGR) record of Tridacna gigas shell MD3 from southern South China Sea was established and its climatic implication was investigated. On seasonal scale, significant positive correlation was found between the DGR and sea surface temperature (SST). The main growing season of T. gigas MD3 was from March to August, when sufficient sunlight and warmer SST prevailed. While high rainfall (low sunlight) from September to December and low SST from December to March hindered the growth of the shell in autumn and winter. On an inter-annual scale, the DGR of the shell varied periodically on timescales of 2–3 years and 4–5 years, which possibly represented the impacts of the Tropospheric Biennial Oscillation and El Niño-Southern Oscillation activities respectively. Our result suggested that the daily growth lines of T. gigas can establish an extraordinarily high-resolution chronology and have high potential to explore daily to inter-annual paleoenvironmental changes in tropical ocean. Compared with the paleoclimate reconstructions of geochemical approaches, this method has the advantages of low cost and short experimental time. • A modern Tridacna shell from southern SCS has clear daily growth bands. • 23.7-year long daily growth rate (DGR) profile was obtained. • Seasonal variation of the DGR was positively correlated with local SST. • DGR has potential to reconstruct daily to inter-annual paleoclimate changes. • DGR analysis is simpler, faster and less cost compared to geochemical approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Micro-botanical and fungal remains on Xipo vessels suggested alcoholic beverages. • The beverages were cereal-based (rice, millet), and mainly saccharified by Monascus. • Providing large amounts of alcoholic drinks with large vats might be a costly signal. • Competitive feasting emerged in the late middle Yangshao period. • The phenomena accompanied the intensified inter-regional interactions at the time. In this paper, we focus on a Neolithic Yangshao culture community with emergent social hierarchy associated with feasting activities. We analyzed the microfossil remains (micro-botanical and fungi) on 15 vessels excavated from the cemetery section of the Xipo site in northern China, highlighting four dakougang large vats with non-local characteristics from the two largest elite tombs (ca. 3300–2900 cal BC). The results revealed hongqujiu red beer, and the brewing method was likely using red mold Monascus as the main saccharification agent in a semi-solid-state fermentation condition, which is unprecedented in Yangshao cultural assemblages based on current data. This brewing method likely originated in the eastern coastal regions and may have been introduced to Xipo as an exotic and prestigious item. Large quantities of red beer and elite ceramics may have been used to advertise elite's social status in competitive feasts. Such feasts may have been not only conducted by the living elites as a power competition, but also expected to be carried out by their deceased ancestors in the afterlife. The red beer appears to have played a pivotal role in this ritualized continuum between the present world and the supposed future life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Over the past decade, palynoflora investigation of Palaeogene and Neogene red beds and Pleistocene loess has been the focus of an increasing number of studies. Pollen extraction from sediments is a prerequisite for palynoflora investigation. This study explored a new pollen processing method and successfully extracted a large number of pollen grains from the Palaeogene red beds in the Liguanqiao Basin, Hubei Province and the Pleistocene loess from the southern Chinese Loess Plateau. There are several key steps in this new method. (1) Samples from arid to semi-arid regions are usually well cemented and should be gently crushed and sieved with 30-mesh screen for pollen analysis to maximize the number of pollen grains recovered from sediments. (2) In order to remove organic matter most effectively, samples should be heated until just boiling in ∼3% NaOH solution for not more than 5 min (3) The residue after acid–alkali treatment should be dried at 85 °C for 7–9 h to ensure that density of the heavy liquid is not diluted during the next step. (4) KI heavy liquid, with a density of 1.74–1.76, should be used to concentrate the pollen. (5) Sieving with a 7-μm stainless steel mesh resulted in the loss of few pollen grains. In contrast, sieving with a 10-μm nylon mesh resulted in loss of many small pollen grains. Importantly, this study extended the first appearance of Artemisia in China back to the Late Palaeocene, and is significant for vegetation reconstruction in the arid to semi-arid regions during the Cenozoic Era. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A newly discovered Paleolithic site in loess deposits in the Lushi Basin, South Luo River, central China, is dated using pedostratigraphic analysis, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and magnetostratigraphic analysis. This region is regarded as an important place for hominin occupation and settlement during the early to middle Pleistocene. Results indicate that the archaeological site dates from 600ka to 620ka, reinforcing the view that Homo erectus had occupied a large area of eastern Asia by 620ka. The lithic assemblages of Lushi Basin is a flake and core technology, typical for this time period in north-central China. It may be compared with that at the Zhoukoudian locality 1 in north China and some sites in the Luonan Basin, and provides important data for understanding the behavior and stone tool technology of early Chinese hominins. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]