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One step polyacrylamide gel method was used to synthesize the ZnO/MgO adsorbents and the adsorption behavior with Congo red (CR) from wastewater was extensively investigated. Various advanced techniques were applied to confirm the ZnO/MgO adsorbents consist of Zn, C, Mg and O elements and do not contain any other impurity elements. With the increase of MgO content, the morphology of ZnO/MgO adsorbent changes from the agglomeration of large particles to evenly dispersed fine particles and then to icicle structure. Results demonstrated that the adsorption process of ZnO/MgO adsorbents was significantly affected by the change in initial dye solution pH, initial adsorbent dosage, contact time and reaction temperature. The optimum pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time and reaction temperature is 9.81, 2 g /L, 65 min and 293 K, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacity of ZnO/MgO (nZnO:nMgO = 8:2) adsorbents (295.138 mg/g) for the adsorption of CR dye was approximately double that of previous reports (125 mg/g). The adsorption equilibrium data are well fitted by the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models. Thermodynamic studies indicate that the adsorption process of ZnO/MgO adsorbents is an exothermic process. Based on the experimental and theoretical analysis, the adsorption mechanism for the ZnO/MgO adsorbents consisted of hydrogen bonding, n-π interaction and electrostatic interaction. The present work pioneers the potential application of ZnO/MgO adsorbents for the adsorption of CR dye and further provides experimental evidence for the synthesis of other adsorbents.

Two 2D coordination sheets with narrow bandgap based on tetranuclear cuprofullerene pentafluorobenzoate constructed with linear (μ2–η2:η2)2-C60 connecting CuI/CuII pentafluorobenzoate polymeric chains, were realized under solvothermal conditions.

Introduction: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DN) is the most common complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Objective: This study aimed to explore the role of fibrinogen (FIB) in T2DM neuropathy and its preliminary mechanism. Methods: Ten male Sprague–Dawley rats were divided into a normal control group (NC group) and a T2DM neuropathy model group (DN group). The DN group was given a high-energy diet and streptozotocin, while the NC group was given a normal diet and a citric acid buffer. The expression levels of related proteins were analysed. Results: Electrophysiology: Compared with the NC group, the conduction latency of the somatosensory-evoked potential and nerve conduction velocity was prolonged in the DN group, while the motor nerve action potential was decreased. As seen under a light microscope, the peripheral nerve fibres in the DN group were swollen, and the nerve fibres in the posterior funiculus of the spinal cord were loose or missing. Moreover, as seen under an electron microscope, the peripheral nerve demyelination of the DN group was severe, with microvascular blood coagulation, luminal stenosis, and collapse. Compared with the NC group, in the DN group, the expression of FIB was positively correlated with the expression of both ionised calcium-binding adaptor molecule-1 and glial fibrillary acidic protein. Compared with the NC group, in the DN group, the expression of platelet/endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 and B-cell lymphoma 2 was negatively correlated. Conclusion: The increased concentration of FIB may be the cause of neuropathy, and its mechanism may be related to its promotion of inflammatory response, blood coagulation, and vascular stenosis.

Peer reviewed: True, There is an urgent need to understand the nature of awareness in people with severe Alzheimer's disease (AD) to ensure effective person-centered care. Objective biomarkers of awareness validated in other clinical groups (e.g., anesthesia, minimally conscious states) offer an opportunity to investigate awareness in people with severe AD. In this article we demonstrate the feasibility of using Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) combined with EEG, event related potentials (ERPs) and fMRI to assess awareness in severe AD. TMS-EEG was performed in six healthy older controls and three people with severe AD. The perturbational complexity index (PCIST) was calculated as a measure of capacity for conscious awareness. People with severe AD demonstrated a PCIST around or below the threshold for consciousness, suggesting reduced capacity for consciousness. ERPs were recorded during a visual perception paradigm. In response to viewing faces, two patients with severe AD provisionally demonstrated similar visual awareness negativity to healthy controls. Using a validated fMRI movie-viewing task, independent component analysis in two healthy controls and one patient with severe AD revealed activation in auditory, visual and fronto-parietal networks. Activation patterns in fronto-parietal networks did not significantly correlate between the patient and controls, suggesting potential differences in conscious awareness and engagement with the movie. Although methodological issues remain, these results demonstrate the feasibility of using objective measures of awareness in severe AD. We raise a number of challenges and research questions that should be addressed using these biomarkers of awareness in future studies to improve understanding and care for people with severe AD.

Background Neuroinflammatory factors, especially chemokines, have been widely reported to be involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). It is unclear how chemokines are altered in AD, and whether dysregulation of chemokines is the cause, or the consequence, of the disease. Methods We initially screened the transcriptomic profiles of chemokines from publicly available datasets of brain tissues of AD patients and mouse models. Expression alteration of chemokines in the blood from AD patients was also measured to explore whether any chemokine might be used as a potential biomarker for AD. We further analyzed the association between the coding variants of chemokine genes and genetic susceptibility of AD by targeted sequencing of a Han Chinese case–control cohort. Mendelian randomization (MR) was performed to infer the causal association of chemokine dysregulation with AD development. Results Three chemokine genes (CCL5, CXCL1, and CXCL16) were consistently upregulated in brain tissues from AD patients and the mouse models and were positively correlated with Aβ and tau pathology in AD mice. Peripheral blood mRNA expression of CXCL16 was upregulated in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD patients, indicating the potential of CXCL16 as a biomarker for AD development. None of the coding variants within any chemokine gene conferred a genetic risk to AD. MR analysis confirmed a causal role of CCL5 dysregulation in AD mediated by trans-regulatory variants. Conclusions In summary, we have provided transcriptomic and genomic evidence supporting an active role of dysregulated CXCL16 and CCL5 during AD development.

Purpose Corneal collagen crosslinking (CXL) is an effective treatment for progressive keratoconus. Multiple CXL modalities are clinically available. The present study compared the 1 year outcomes of five types of CXL procedures for progressive keratoconus in a Chinese population using generalized estimating equations (GEE). Methods This retrospective study included 239 eyes in 171 patients with keratoconus who underwent CXL and were followed up for 1 year. Five CXL procedures were assessed, including Accelerated Transepithelial CXL, Iontophoresis CXL for 10 min, CXL plus phototherapeutic keratectomy (CXL-plus-PTK), High-Fluence Accelerated CXL, and Accelerated CXL. Patients treated with the Accelerated CXL procedure represented the reference group. Primary outcomes were visual acuity change, spherical equivalence, endothelial cell density, mean keratometry (Kmean), maximum keratometry (Kmax), minimum corneal thickness (MCT), and the ABCD Grading System, consisting of A (staging index for ARC; ARC = anterior radius of curvature), B (staging index for PRC, PRC = posterior radius of curvature), and C (staging index for MCT) values 1 year postoperatively compared to baseline. Secondary outcomes were corrected GEE comparisons from each procedure versus the Accelerated CXL group. Results The Accelerated Transepithelial CXL group had lower performance than the Accelerated CXL group according to Kmean and Kmax. The CXL-plus-PTK group performed significantly better than the reference group as reflected by Kmax (β = -0.935, P = 0.03). However, the CXL-plus-PTK group did not perform as well for B and C, and the Iontophoresis CXL group performed better for C. Conclusions The CXL-plus-PTK procedure was more effective than the Accelerated CXL procedure based on Kmax, and the Iontophoresis CXL procedure performed better on the C value based on the ABCD Grading System.

Autoantibodies have been detected in leprosy patients, indicating that infection with M. leprae may lead to autoimmune disorders. However, whether autoimmune response last until patients are cured is unknown. Knowing the autoimmune response in cured leprosy patients is essential to identify whether symptoms are caused by leprosy itself or by other immune-related diseases. This knowledge is essential for the ongoing health management in cured leprosy patients where autoimmune disorders still exist. In our study, we selected six autoantibodies, including anticardiolipin antibody of IgG (ACA), anti-nuclear antibody (ANA), extractable nuclear antigen antibody (ENA), anti-streptolysin O (ASO), anti-double stranded DNA antibody (dsDNA), and rheumatoid factor (RF), that had been reported in leprosy patients as typical autoantibodies. We tested the six typical autoantibodies combined with LACC1, which encodes a protein associated with autoimmune disease such as Crohn’s disease and is also the susceptible gene conferring leprosy risk, in cured leprosy patients through ELISA to assess the cured patient’s immune status. We observed high positive rates of autoantibodies in cured leprosy patients, and the average plasma levels of five (ACA, ANA, ENA, ASO, and RF) out of the six autoantibodies were significantly higher in cured leprosy patients than in controls. The positive detection of autoantibodies is independent of the recovery period. Moreover, the level of these autoantibodies showed a strong positive correlation with the level of LACC1 in both controls and cured patients. This study showed that there is long-term autoimmunological activation in leprosy patients, even after decades of recovery. Autoimmune responses may influence the development and prognosis of leprosy. Special care should be given to posttreatment or cured leprosy patients regarding long-term autoimmunological activation.

Additional file 1: Fig. S1. Up-regulation of mRNA expression of chemokine genes during aging in AD mouse models. Fig. S2. Correlation between the mRNA expression levels of chemokine genes with AD pathology in AD mouse models. Table S1. Sequence coverage of each gene in the targeted sequencing. Table S2. Results of SKAT-O analysis in Han Chinese with and without AD. Table S3. Results of gene-based burden test of chemokine genes from ADSP. Table S4. Association results of common variants in European population.

Additional file 1: Fig S1. Bulb shapes of 9 species. (A), A.bidentatum; (B), A. mongolicum; (C), A. anisopodium; (D), A. tenuissimum; (E), A. senescens; (F), A. eduardii; (G), A. przewalskianum; (H), A. polyrhizum; (I), A. caespitosum.

The purpose of this article is to present a novel biobjective biform game framework for optimizing strategy selection of nodes (agents) in bilateral link network formation under dual objectives of profit and link security. First, in the first part of the noncooperative game, we construct various possible strategy combinations (situations) of all players (nodes) in the network, which define the competitive environment in the second part of the cooperative game. Second, in the second part, we derive coalitions' payoffs under the two objectives of profit and link security and propose the biobjective Banzhaf values to allocate the corresponding cooperative games in all strategy situations. Then, a biobjective noncooperative game is formed on the basis of the obtained biobjective Banzhaf values. Third, we redefine Pareto-Nash equilibriums (in the sense of pure strategies) and obtain the Pareto-Nash equilibriums of the biobjective noncooperative game in the first part. Subsequently, the choice of the obtained Pareto-Nash equilibriums is regarded as a biobjective group decision-making problem, which is solved by employing the redefined Borda choice function method with objective weights. Hence, we can obtain the optimal strategy choices of all the nodes (players) for the entire bilateral link network formation. Finally, numerical examples and comparative analysis are given to verify the validity and applicability of the proposed models and methods.

A novel zero-dimensional dinuclear zinc complex, di-μ-acetato-1:2κ4 O:O′-(μ-2-acetyl-6-{[(Z)-2-bromo-3-oxoprop-1-en-1-yl]azanidyl}phenolato-1κ2 O 1,O 2:2κ3 O 1,N,O 6)(N,N-dimethylacetamide-1κO)dizinc(II), [Zn2(C11H8BrNO3)(CH3COO)2(C4H9NO)] or [Zn2(L)(CH3COO)2(DMA)], 1, was synthesized using (Z)-3-[(3-acetyl-2-hydroxyphenyl)amino]-2-bromoprop-2-enal (H2 L), which was synthesized from 1-(3-amino-2-hydroxyphenyl)ethanone and 2-bromomalonaldehyde. H2 L and 1 were characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, FT–IR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. Theoretical calculations of the bond orders and excited state of H2 L confirmed that there is extensive electron delocalization in the H2 L molecules. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction shows that the two Zn atoms are pentacoordinated in distorted trigonal bipyramidal configurations in the crystals of 1. The thermogravimetric analysis of 1 shows that the main frame of the complex remains stable to about 190 °C. Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) analysis shows that 1 possesses high purity and acid and alkali resistance. The intermolecular interactions of H2 L and 1 were analyzed using Hirshfeld surface analysis and the results indicate that the H...H and O...H interactions of H2 L and 1 play a considerable role in stabilizing the self-assembly process.

A new oleanane-type triterpenoid saponin, 21

To assess the actual clinical application of poly (adenosine diphosphate-ribose) polymerase inhibitor (PARPi) maintenance therapy in Chinese patients with recurrent ovarian cancer, and to explore prognostic factors associated with progression-free survival (PFS).We retrospectively assessed real-world clinical data from our hospital using the inclusion and exclusion criteria of representative randomized controlled trials, analyzed the prognosis, and performed univariate and multivariate analyses of prognostic factors.Between 2019 and 2022, the proportion of platinum-sensitive recurrence ovarian cancer patients who received PARPi maintenance therapy increased to 29.6%, 53.3%, 43.8% and 62.2%, respectively, each year. A total of 48 patients were included in the prognostic analysis, of which 32 and 16 received olaparib and niraparib, respectively. Using the criteria of the Study19 and SOLO2 studies, the olaparib group in our patients had coincidence rates of 56.3% and 18.8%, respectively. Using the criteria of the NOVA and NORA studies, the niraparib group had coincidence rates of 31.3% and 37.5%, respectively. Median PFS was 26.1 months (95% CI 20.2-32.1). Response to primary therapy was an independent prognostic factor for PFS (relative risk, 3.248; 95% CI 1.081-9.757, P = 0.036).PARPi maintenance therapy was also effective in real world applications. Complete response (CR) to primary therapy was an independent factor favorably affecting PFS. Therefore, primary treatment choices aimed at optimal cytoreduction during primary surgery and improving the CR rate should still be considered, which positively affects the long-term prognosis of patients in the new treatment mode.

Key to the Cortiella species 1 Rays few (3–6); thin pedicels longer than leaves.......................................................................................................... C. yatungense 1 Rays many (more than 6); stout pedicels shorter than leaves or subequal.........................................................................................2 2 Petioles and rachis glabrous or essentially glabrous..........................................................................................................................3 2 Petioles and rachis densely puberulous..............................................................................................................................................4 3 Ultimate leaf segments trind; rays about 10................................................................................................................. C. lamondiana 3 Ultimate leaf segments obovate, 3-lobed, apex rounded; rays 20–30............................................................................ C. caespitosa 4 Dorsal ribs wings broad, slightly narrower than lateral wings, often convoluted and crowded when mature; ultimate leaf segments less than 4 mm; styles (1.5–) 2–3.5 mm after flowering..................................................................................................... C. hookeri 4 Dorsal ribs wings narrow, often poorly developed, much narrower than lateral wings, not convoluted and crowded; ultimate leaf segments usually more than 4 mm; styles 1.75–3 mm after flowering........................................................................... C. cortioides, Published as part of Deng, Jiao-Jiao, Peng, Chang, Liu, Chang-Kun, Xie, Deng-Feng, Gui, Ling-Jian, Zhou, Song- Dong & He, Xing-Jin, 2022, Cortiella yatungense, a new species of Cortiella (Apiaceae) from Xizang, China, pp. 189-199 in Phytotaxa 566 (2) on page 195, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.566.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/7119151

We identified and described Cortiella yatungense, a new species of Cortiella (Apiaceae) from Xizang, China. This species can be distinguished from other members of this genus (C. hookeri, C. caespitosa, C. lamondiana, and C. cortioides) by fewer umbels (3–6), thinner and longer pedicels than the leaves, ovate to suborbicular fruits, and mericarp without vittae. Molecular phylogenetic analyses based on the internal transcribed space (ITS) region and two chloroplast DNA intron sequences (rpl16 and rps16) showed that C. yatungense was sister to C. hookeri with strong support. Thus, both morphological and phylogenetic evidence suggested that C. yatungense is a distinct species of Cortiella. A comprehensive description of C. yatungense along with morphological characteristics and habitat are provided.

Cortiella yatungense J.J. Deng, C. Peng & X.J. He, sp. nov. (Figs. 1, 2) Diagnosis: — Cortiella yatungense is related to C. hookeri and C. cortioides but it can be distinguished from both by fewer rays (3–6 vs.>6), thin pedicels longer than leaves (vs. stout pedicels shorter than leaves or subequal), petals infolded at apex (vs. slightly incurved and infolded), calyx teeth long-triangular (vs. triangular), ovate to suborbicular (vs. oblong-globose and suborbicular) fruits, and mericarps without vittae (vs. furrow vittae 1, commissure vittae 0–2). Type: — CHINA. Xizang: Yatung County, Kangbu; 27°47’13.76’’N, 89°3’13.93’’E; elevation 4789 m a.s.l., 20 Sep 2021, DJJ2021092005 (holotype: SZ) (Fig. 4). Description: —Perennial stemless herbs. Plants 4–8 cm. Roots long-conical, 5–12 cm long, with a few branched roots. Leaves petiolate, petioles 3–5 cm long, 1–2 mm thick, sheaths inflated at base. Leaf rachis and petioles fluted, densely fulvous puberulous; blade narrowly oblong, 2.5–5 × 1–2 cm, 1–2-pinnate; pinnae 4–7 pairs, sessile, ultimate segments linear, 1–3 × 0.1–0.6 mm, apex acute. Both compound umbels and simple umbels are present, both drawing from the base; Bracts 1, pinnate; rays 3–6, unequal, pubescent; bracteoles 10–12, linear or pinnate. Calyx teeth long acuminate or linear, about the same length as petals. Petals white, white with purple or purple, ovate, apex infolded; Stylopodium conic, dark purple. Fruit ovate to suborbicular, mainly suborbicular, compressed dorsally, dorsal ribs narrowly winged, lateral ribs broadly winged; vittae absent in each furrow and on commissure. Seed transversely compressed dorsally. Phenology: —Flowering from August to September, fruiting from September to October. Etymology: —The specific epithet is derived from the name of Yatung (Xizang), where the type material was collected. Distribution, habitat and ecology: — Cortiella yatungense is distributed in Xizang (Yatung County) in southwestern China (Fig. 5). It grows in alpine meadows at altitudes of 4000–4800 m. Conservation status: —This species is currently known only from Yadong, Nyingchi and Cona County of China. In Yadong, a total of more than 300 individuals has been found. However, there is no more information about its conservation status. Based on current information, we propose to assess Cortiella yatungense as “Data Deficient” (DD) according to IUCN (2019). Additional specimens examined: — China. Xizang: Nyingchi, West of Shergyla mountain, 2 Aug 2008, Luo Jian & Wang Shuli LiuJQ-08XZ-151 (KUN); Cona County, Mamagou, 28 Aug 2011, Luo Jian & Wang Shuli LiuJQ-11XZ-071 (KUN); Yadong County, Kangbu, 4789 m, 20 Sep 2021, Deng Jiaojiao & Peng Chang DJJ2021092005(SZ)., Published as part of Deng, Jiao-Jiao, Peng, Chang, Liu, Chang-Kun, Xie, Deng-Feng, Gui, Ling-Jian, Zhou, Song- Dong & He, Xing-Jin, 2022, Cortiella yatungense, a new species of Cortiella (Apiaceae) from Xizang, China, pp. 189-199 in Phytotaxa 566 (2) on pages 192-195, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.566.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/7119151

Cortiella yatungense J.J. Deng, C. Peng & X.J. He, sp. nov. (Figs. 1, 2) Diagnosis: — Cortiella yatungense is related to C. hookeri and C. cortioides but it can be distinguished from both by fewer rays (3–6 vs.>6), thin pedicels longer than leaves (vs. stout pedicels shorter than leaves or subequal), petals infolded at apex (vs. slightly incurved and infolded), calyx teeth long-triangular (vs. triangular), ovate to suborbicular (vs. oblong-globose and suborbicular) fruits, and mericarps without vittae (vs. furrow vittae 1, commissure vittae 0–2). Type: — CHINA. Xizang: Yatung County, Kangbu; 27°47’13.76’’N, 89°3’13.93’’E; elevation 4789 m a.s.l., 20 Sep 2021, DJJ2021092005 (holotype: SZ) (Fig. 4). Description: —Perennial stemless herbs. Plants 4–8 cm. Roots long-conical, 5–12 cm long, with a few branched roots. Leaves petiolate, petioles 3–5 cm long, 1–2 mm thick, sheaths inflated at base. Leaf rachis and petioles fluted, densely fulvous puberulous; blade narrowly oblong, 2.5–5 × 1–2 cm, 1–2-pinnate; pinnae 4–7 pairs, sessile, ultimate segments linear, 1–3 × 0.1–0.6 mm, apex acute. Both compound umbels and simple umbels are present, both drawing from the base; Bracts 1, pinnate; rays 3–6, unequal, pubescent; bracteoles 10–12, linear or pinnate. Calyx teeth long acuminate or linear, about the same length as petals. Petals white, white with purple or purple, ovate, apex infolded; Stylopodium conic, dark purple. Fruit ovate to suborbicular, mainly suborbicular, compressed dorsally, dorsal ribs narrowly winged, lateral ribs broadly winged; vittae absent in each furrow and on commissure. Seed transversely compressed dorsally. Phenology: —Flowering from August to September, fruiting from September to October. Etymology: —The specific epithet is derived from the name of Yatung (Xizang), where the type material was collected. Distribution, habitat and ecology: — Cortiella yatungense is distributed in Xizang (Yatung County) in southwestern China (Fig. 5). It grows in alpine meadows at altitudes of 4000–4800 m. Conservation status: —This species is currently known only from Yadong, Nyingchi and Cona County of China. In Yadong, a total of more than 300 individuals has been found. However, there is no more information about its conservation status. Based on current information, we propose to assess Cortiella yatungense as “Data Deficient” (DD) according to IUCN (2019). Additional specimens examined: — China. Xizang: Nyingchi, West of Shergyla mountain, 2 Aug 2008, Luo Jian & Wang Shuli LiuJQ-08XZ-151 (KUN); Cona County, Mamagou, 28 Aug 2011, Luo Jian & Wang Shuli LiuJQ-11XZ-071 (KUN); Yadong County, Kangbu, 4789 m, 20 Sep 2021, Deng Jiaojiao & Peng Chang DJJ2021092005(SZ).

Members of Apiales are monophyletic and radiated in the Late Cretaceous. Fruit morphologies are critical for Apiales evolution and negative selection and mutation pressure play important roles in environmental adaptation. Apiales include many foods, spices, medicinal, and ornamental plants, but the phylogenetic relationships, origin and divergence, and adaptive evolution remain poorly understood. Here, we reconstructed Apiales phylogeny based on 72 plastid genes from 280 species plastid genomes representing six of seven families of this order. Highly supported phylogenetic relationships were detected, which revealed that each family of Apiales is monophyletic and confirmed that Pennanticeae is a member of Apiales. Genera Centella and Dickinsia are members of Apiaceae, and the genus Hydrocotyle previously classified into Apiaceae is confirmed to belong to Araliaceae. Besides, coalescent phylogenetic analysis and gene trees cluster revealed ten genes that can be used for distinguishing species among families of Apiales. Molecular dating suggested that the Apiales originated during the mid-Cretaceous (109.51 Ma), with the families' radiation occurring in the Late Cretaceous. Apiaceae species exhibit higher differentiation compared to other families. Ancestral trait reconstruction suggested that fruit morphological evolution may be related to shifts in plant types (herbaceous or woody), which in turn is related to the distribution areas and species numbers. Codon bias and positive selection analyses suggest that negative selection and mutation pressure may play important roles in environmental adaptation of Apiales members. Our results improve the phylogenetic framework of Apiales and provide insights into the origin, divergence, and adaptive evolution of this order and its members.

The subgenus Rhizirideum in the genus Allium consists of 38 species worldwide and forms five sections (A. sect. Rhizomatosa, A. sect. Tenuissima, A. sect. Rhizirideum, A. sect. Eduardia, and A. sect. Caespitosoprason), A. sect. Caespitosoprason being merged into A. sect. Rhizomatosa recently. Previous studies on this subgenus mainly focused on separate sections. To investigate the inter-section and inter-subgenera phylogenetic relationships and adaptive evolution of A. subg. Rhizirideum, we selected thirteen representative species, which cover five sections of this subgenus and can represent four typical phenotypes of it. We conducted the comparative plastome analysis with our thirteen plastomes. And phylogenetic inferences with CDSs and complete sequences of plastomes of our thirteen species and another fifty-four related species were also performed. As a result, the A. subg. Rhizirideum plastomes were relatively conservative in structure, IR/SC borders, codon usage, and repeat sequence. In phylogenetic results, the inter-subgenera relationships among A. subg. Rhizirideum and other genus Allium subgenera were generally similar to the previous reports. In contrast, the inter-section relationships within our subgenus A. subg. Rhizirideum were newly resolved in this study. A. sect. Rhizomatosa and A. sect. Tenuissima were sister branches, which were then clustered with A. sect. Rhizirideum and A. sect. Eduardia successively. However, Allium Polyrhizum Turcz. ex Regel, type species of A. sect. Caespitosoprason, was resolved as the basal taxon of A. subg. Rhizirideum. Allium siphonanthum J. M. Xu was also found in clade A. subg. Cyathophora instead of clade A. subg. Rhizirideum. The selective pressure analysis was also conducted, and most protein-coding genes were under purifying selection. At the same time, just one gene, ycf2, was found under positive selection, and another three genes (rbcL, ycf1a, ycf1b) presented relaxed selection, which were all involved in the photosynthesis. The low temperature, dry climate, and high altitude of the extreme habitats where A. subg. Rhizirideum species grow might impose intense natural selection forces on their plastome genes for photosynthesis. In summary, our research provides new insights into the phylogeny and adaptive evolution of A. subg. Rhizirideum. Moreover, we suggest that the positions of the A. subg. Rhizirideum species A. polyrhizum and A. siphonanthum should be reconsidered.

In order to discover a broad-specificity and high stability chitinase, a marine fungus

Portfolio selection can be regarded as a type of multi-objective decision problem. However, traditional solution methods rarely discussed the decision maker’s nonsatisfaction and hesitation degrees with regard to multiple objectives and they require many extra binary variables, which lead to tedious computational burden. Based on the above, the aim of this paper is to develop a new and unified intuitionistic fuzzy multi-objective linear programming (IFMOLP) model for such portfolio selection problems. The nonmembership functions are constructed by the pessimistic, optimistic, and mixed approaches so as to perfect the traditional intuitionistic fizzy (IF) inequalities and IF theory. The decision maker’s hesitation degrees with regard to multiple objectives are represented by using IF inequalities, and the new IFMOLP model based on IF inequalities is proposed. The IFMOLP problems are solved by the S-shaped membership functions without extra binary variables required by the piecewise-linear method. Finally, the portfolio selection model under IF environments based on IFMOLP is established, and a real example is analyzed to demonstrate its validity and superiority. The developed unified IFMOLP model and method can not only effectively solve multi-objective decision problems with nonsatisfaction and hesitation degrees but also remarkably reduce the complexity of the nondeterministic polynomial-hard problems.

In this paper, we introduce several improved Shapley values for cooperative transferable utility (TU) games depending on the players’ least square contributions instead of their marginal contributions. This work is mainly enlightened by the Shapley value and the player’s productivity-based excess (usually called the excess of the player). Based on the player’s contribution-based excess, two quadratic programming models for obtaining the players’ (weighted) least square contributions are constructed. The efficient weighted Shapley-like value proposed in this paper as an extension of the Shapley value can be characterized by four independent axioms such as the symmetry, the efficiency, the additivity, and the quasi-null player, which are almost similar to the Shapley value’s four axioms except that the anonymity is replaced with the quasi-null player. The four axioms are proven to uniquely determine the efficient weighted Shapley-like value. Finally, the advantages of the proposed values are illustrated with a real case about the collaborative profit sharing of the rural e-commerce.