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The nine papers in this special section consists of expanded versions of papers presented at the International Symposium on Circuits and Systems, held in Beijing, China, in May 2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study conducted by researchers from the North China University of Technology in Beijing, China, explores the use of an enhanced Vision Transformer for blood cell image recognition. The current diagnosis of leukemia types relies on the subjective and time-consuming examination of blood cell images by pathologists, leading to potential misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis. The researchers propose a technique that incorporates convolutions with token embedding and a sparse attention module to improve the model's feature expression capability. Experimental results show that the model achieved an identification accuracy of 92.49% on the Munich single-cell morphological dataset. The study suggests that this method has the potential to assist physicians in clinical diagnosis. [Extracted from the article]

Reports on 'The Tiananmen Papers,' which were smuggled out of China and contain information regarding why Beijing's leaders decided to crack down on pro-reform demonstrators in 1989. How the papers could affect whoever emerges to lead China in 2002; Attempts of the government to block Web access to sites which have printed the papers; Plans to translate the papers into Chinese and smuggle them back into China.

This paper studies the problem of rescheduling trains with speed management in uncertain disruptions that lead to temporary speed restrictions (TSRs) in high-speed railway systems. The disruption uncertainties are that the coverage and speed limit value of TSRs change randomly over time, and the start and end times of TSRs are unknown in advance. First, a mixed-integer linear programming model is formulated to reduce the total train traveling times and improve the passenger comfortability. The solutions of the model provide simultaneously the optimal train rescheduling strategies and train speed control strategies. Second, a rolling horizon algorithm is applied in consideration of the disruption uncertainties. The rolling horizon algorithm updates and solves the model in every time horizon, according to the disruption information newly detected. Therefore, the train rescheduling orders and speed control orders can be adjusted according to the real-time situation to guarantee effectiveness. The rolling horizon approach is terminated automatically once the disruption ends. Finally, based on the practical data of the Beijing-Tianjin intercity high-speed railway line, numerical experiments are carried out to test the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author comments on the findings of a survey conducted by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics regarding the average monthly wage of city employees in 2008. It revealed that the average age of these employees reached 3,726 yuan or a 12% increase as compared to 2007. The author reveals the findings of an online survey stating that 74.2% noted that their incomes were below the local average. He thinks that the bureau's claim indicates the fact that ordinary people enjoy a rich life only in terms of statistics.

The article focuses on the piece of paper team, an environmental protection group organized by Yuan Rishe, a middle-school student, that advocated using both sides of a piece of paper. The members of the group also collected and sold used paper to raise money for tree planting. The student presented 2008 trees to the Beijing Olympic Committee on March 12, 2007, the 23rd Tree-planting Day in Beijing, China, as a gift and called them Young Pioneer Woods. It cites that her story calls for everybody's participation in saving energy.

• The paper proposes a novel dynamic graph recurrent convolutional neural network model, named Dynamic-GRCNN, to deeply capture the spatio-temporal traffic flow features for more accurately predicting urban passenger traffic flows. • The paper presents incidence dynamic graph structures based on historically passenger traffic flows to model traffic station relationships. Different from existing traffic transportation network topological structures based graph relationships between stations, the incidence dynamic graph structures firstly model the traffic relationships from historical passenger flows. • For real urban passenger traffic flows, the paper demonstrates that dynamic spatial-temporal incidence graphs are more suitable to model external changes and influences. • The paper compares Dynamic-GRCNN with state-of-the-art deep learning approaches on three benchmark datasets which contain different types of passenger traffic flows for evaluation. The results show that Dynamic-GRCNN significantly outperforms all the baselines in both effectiveness and efficiency in urban passenger traffic flows prediction. Accurate and real-time traffic passenger flows forecasting at transportation hubs, such as subway/bus stations, is a practical application and of great significance for urban traffic planning, control, guidance, etc. Recently deep learning based methods are promised to learn the spatial-temporal features from high non-linearity and complexity of traffic flows. However, it is still very challenging to handle so much complex factors including the urban transportation network topological structures and the laws of traffic flows with spatial and temporal dependencies. Considering both the static hybrid urban transportation network structures and dynamic spatial-temporal relationships among stations from historical traffic passenger flows, a more effective and fine-grained spatial-temporal features learning framework is necessary. In this paper, we propose a novel spatial-temporal incidence dynamic graph neural networks framework for urban traffic passenger flows prediction. We first model dynamic traffic station relationships over time as spatial-temporal incidence dynamic graph structures based on historically traffic passenger flows. Then we design a novel dynamic graph recurrent convolutional neural network, namely Dynamic-GRCNN, to learn the spatial-temporal features representation for urban transportation network topological structures and transportation hubs. To fully utilize the historical passenger flows, we sample the short-term, medium-term and long-term historical traffic data in training, which can capture the periodicity and trend of the traffic passenger flows at different stations. We conduct extensive experiments on different types of traffic passenger flows datasets including subway, taxi and bus flows in Beijing. The results show that the proposed Dynamic-GRCNN effectively captures comprehensive spatial-temporal correlations significantly and outperforms both traditional and deep learning based urban traffic passenger flows prediction methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel model-free adaptive control (MFAC) algorithm based on a dual successive projection (DuSP)-MFAC method is proposed, and it is analyzed using the introduced DuSP method and the symmetrically similar structures of the controller and its parameter estimator of MFAC. Then, the proposed DuSP-MFAC scheme is successfully implemented in an autonomous car “Ruilong” for the lateral tracking control problem via converting the trajectory tracking problem into a stabilization problem by using the proposed preview-deviation-yaw angle. This MFAC-based lateral tracking control method was tested and demonstrated satisfactory performance on real roads in Fengtai, Beijing, China, and through successful participation in the Chinese Smart Car Future Challenge Competition held in 2015 and 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recent report from Beijing Technology and Business University discusses the application of machine vision in food computing, focusing on image recognition technology in the food industry. The research explores various applications such as food safety detection, dietary nutrition analysis, process monitoring, and enterprise management model optimization. The aim is to provide a theoretical foundation and technical guidance for integrating artificial intelligence technology into the food industry. The study has been peer-reviewed and offers valuable insights for the future of food technology. [Extracted from the article]

Researchers from Beijing Jiaotong University have developed a new method for accurately segmenting cervical cells, which is crucial for cervical cancer treatment. The current manual annotation method used by pathologists is labor-intensive and subjective. The researchers propose a two-stage framework called Solo_GAN, which uses a target detection model and a dual-domain mapping segmentation network to generate complete boundaries for single cells in overlapping clusters. The method has been extensively evaluated and consistently outperforms existing methods. This research holds significant importance for clinical research on cervical cancer cells. [Extracted from the article]

Keywords: Beijing; People's Republic of China; Asia; Cancer; Health and Medicine; Melanoma; Oncology EN Beijing People's Republic of China Asia Cancer Health and Medicine Melanoma Oncology 184 184 1 06/12/23 20230613 NES 230613 2023 JUN 13 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Clinical Oncology Week -- Investigators publish new report on Oncology - Melanoma. According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "This paper reports a case of rectal malignant melanoma with signet ring cell carcinoma.". [Extracted from the article]

High-precision short-term inbound passenger flow prediction is of great significance to the daily crowd management and line rescheduling in urban rail systems. Although current models have been applied to prediction, most methods need optimization to meet refined passenger flow management demand. In order to better predict the passenger flow, a novel Wave-LSTM model, based on long short-term memory network (LSTM) and wavelet, is introduced in this paper. In an empirical study with practical passenger flow data of Dongzhimen Station in the Beijing Subway system, the hybrid model exhibited more effective performance in terms of prediction accuracy than the existing algorithms, e.g., autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), nonlinear regression (NAR), and traditional LSTM model. The study illustrates that our newly adopted model is a promising approach for predicting high-precision short-term inbound passenger flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers at China Agricultural University have published a report discussing the potential benefits and challenges of using nanotechnology in sustainable farming. The researchers highlight that nanotechnology could improve crop nitrogen use efficiency and mitigate nitrogen pollution, as well as reduce the need for synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. However, concerns about the safety of nanomaterials and their impact on microorganisms and symbiotic systems have also been raised. The report aims to provide a theoretical foundation for the future development of nano-based green agriculture. [Extracted from the article]

• GPS and IC card data are used to simulate the time-dependent travel time and passenger demand. • An improved passenger selection model is proposed by introducing a preference coefficient. • A working hours constraint is first formulated in bus timetabling problem. • The model is transformed into an integer linear program, followed by a model contraction approach. • A two-stage solution method is proposed for large-scale bus timetabling problems. Bus lines are suffering from serious decline in passenger volume due to the rapid development of urban rail transit and shared transport, and big data intelligence may help them change the status quo. However, the tremendous amount of travel data collected in recent years have not got effectively utilization. In order to improve passenger volume for bus lines, this paper devotes to develop a data-driven bus timetable to substitute the existing experience-based bus timetable, which is now widely used by bus lines. Driven by the bus GPS data and IC card data, a timetable optimization model with time-dependent passenger demand and travel time among stops is proposed. The objective of maximizing passenger volume is based on a new preference-based passenger selection model. The working hours constraint is initially formulated, and the headway constraint and departure time constraints are also taken into account. For handling the step functions in both objective and constraints, we introduce a set of 0–1 variables to transform the proposed model into an integer linear programming. A model contraction approach is provided for solving the medium-scale problems and a two-stage solution method is proposed for the large-scale problems. The proposed model and methodology are tested on a real-world bus line in Beijing. The results show that it is able to produce a satisfactory timetable that outperforms the previously used experience-based one in terms of raising the average passenger volume by 8.2%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researchers from Beijing Technology and Business University have conducted a study on the chemical components of Fu brick tea and its potential preventive effects on metabolic syndrome. Fu brick tea is a type of dark tea fermented by fungi and contains compounds that can relieve metabolic diseases, protect the liver, improve immunity, enhance antioxidant activity, and regulate intestinal flora. The study provides a theoretical basis for the development and utilization of Fu brick tea resources, with the aim of creating health care products and natural medicines that benefit human health. The research was supported by Beijing Technology and Business University and further information can be obtained from Fuhang Song at the same university. [Extracted from the article]

In modern scientific applications, more and more data sets contain natural matrix predictors and traditional regression methods are not directly applicable. Matrix regression has been adapted to such data structure and received increasing attention in recent years. In this paper, we consider estimation of the conditional quantile in high-dimensional regularized matrix regression with a nuclear norm penalty and establish the convergence rate of the estimator. In order to construct a quantile matrix regression estimator in the distributed setting or for massive data sets, we propose a regularized communication-efficient surrogate loss (CSL) function. The proposed CSL method only needs the worker machines to compute the gradient based on local data and the central machine solves a regularized estimation problem. We prove that the estimation error based on the proposed CSL method matches the estimation error bound of the centralized method that analyzes the entire data set. An alternating direction method of multipliers algorithm is developed to efficiently obtain the distributed CSL estimator. The finite-sample performance of the proposed estimator is studied through simulations and an application to Beijing Air Quality data set. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As extensions of vector data with ultrahigh dimensionality and complex structures, matrix data are fast emerging in a large variety of scientific applications. In this paper, we consider the matrix regression with streaming data and propose two-stage online regularized estimators with nuclear norm (NN) and adaptive nuclear norm (ANN) penalties, respectively. In the first stage, an equivalent form of offline matrix regression loss function using current raw data and summary statistics from historical data is established. In the second stage, gradient descent algorithm and soft thresholding methods are implemented iteratively to obtain the proposed online NN and ANN estimators. We establish the asymptotic properties of the resulting online regularized estimators and show the rank selection consistency for the online ANN estimator. The finite-sample performance of the proposed estimators is studied through simulations and an application to Beijing Air Quality data set. • We consider the matrix regression with streaming data. • We establish the asymptotic properties and rank selection consistency. • The finite-sample performance of the proposed estimators is studied through simulations. • A real example on Beijing Air Quality data set is provided to show the performance of the proposed estimators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section offers international business news briefs. Japan announced that it will open a central bank in Peking, China which will lay the groundwork for monetary reform in all of China under Japanese occupation. The provincial government of Quebec has purchased a gold mine to be used as a practical training school for young miners. English River Pulp Co. will start construction of a large pulp and paper plant in Northern Ontario.

The article focuses on lessons learned by executives from the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) during several days of meetings with Chinese and U.S. government officials and other industry association leaders in Beijing in January 2018. It highlights notice of adoption of new contamination standards filed by China's Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) with a standard of 0.5% contamination for various materials, including scrap plastics and paper.

As extensions of vector and matrix data with ultrahigh dimensionality and complex structures, tensor data are fast emerging in a large variety of scientific applications. In this paper, a two-stage estimation procedure for linear tensor quantile regression (QR) with longitudinal data is proposed. In the first stage, we account for within-subject correlations by using the generalized estimating equations and then impose a low-rank assumption on tensor coefficients to reduce the number of parameters by a canonical polyadic decomposition. To avoid the asymptotic analysis and computation problems caused by the non-smooth QR score function, kernel smoothing method is applied in the second stage to construct the smoothed tensor QR estimator. When the number of rank is given, a block-relaxation algorithm is proposed to estimate the regression coefficients. A modified BIC is applied to estimate the number of rank in practice and show the rank selection consistency. Further, a regularized estimator and its algorithm are investigated for better interpretation and efficiency. The asymptotic properties of the proposed estimators are established. Simulation studies and a real example on Beijing Air Quality data set are provided to show the performance of the proposed estimators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a new method for brain tumor segmentation using a model called Efu Net, which incorporates edge information into a 3D U-Net framework. Topics include the integration of edge features to improve segmentation accuracy, the use of an adaptive weighted mixed loss function for training, and the model's performance metrics on a public brain tumor dataset.

The article reports on a global survey led by Peking Union Medical College Hospital about the use of ICD-11 codes for metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD). Topics discussed include the consensus on updating NAFLD to MAFLD in ICD-11, the need for specific codes for MAFLD progression and comorbidities, and the global agreement on these updates.

The article focuses on advancements in understanding pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (pNEN) through basic research. Topics include the challenges in diagnosing and treating pNEN due to its heterogeneity, the impact of recent basic research on improving therapeutic strategies, and how insights from other tumor research can enhance pNEN clinical approaches.

The article focuses on a case study of malignant insulinoma with multiple liver metastases, highlighting its rarity and challenges in treatment. Topics include the clinical presentation and diagnostic imaging of the patient, the treatment approach involving hepatic artery embolization, radiofrequency ablation, and everolimus, and the subsequent clinical outcomes and insights for managing similar cases.

The article discusses the cleanup campaign of Chinese government in the city of Beijing that includes demolitions of illegal structures made by building walls and digging holes, aimed at driving out as many of the city's incomers as possible. It mentions that the campaign leaves a new level of legitimacy for shop owners to save their businesses, that is the right papers in the right zone, including personal residence permit listed in the right city. Other topics mentioned include Beijing's nominal population, the impact of breaking small businesses on the poor, and government's promises to control migration and to prevent peasants from using hospitals and schools of metropolises.

A research study conducted at Beijing Technology and Business University in China explores the design of a fresh food supply chain network (FSCN) in an omnichannel retailing environment. The study develops a customized bi-level programming model to reflect the relationship between the omnichannel retailing company and customers with varying consumption requirements. The research finds that implementing this model improves the operational efficiency of the FSCN and enhances customer satisfaction. Financial support for the study was provided by the Key program of The National Social Science Fund of China. The research has been peer-reviewed and published in the International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications. [Extracted from the article]

A recent study conducted by China Agricultural University in Beijing has developed a lightweight and efficient model called APHS-YOLO for the real-time detection and classification of Stropharia rugoso-annulata mushrooms. The model aims to improve the sorting efficiency of these mushrooms, which are currently sorted manually and subject to bias. The APHS-YOLO model uses a combination of modules and techniques to enhance feature extraction and maintain recognition accuracy. The research findings provide valuable insights for the development of automatic sorting equipment for forest farmers. [Extracted from the article]

A recent study conducted at Beijing Technology and Business University in China has explored the applications of Lactobacillus helveticus in the fermentation of plant-based beverages. Lactobacillus helveticus, a type of lactic acid bacteria, has been found to have high protein hydrolysis capacity and various probiotic functions. The study found that fermentation with Lactobacillus helveticus significantly improves the quality of plant-based beverages by increasing the contents of organic acids, carotenoids, phenolic compounds, and flavor compounds, while reducing levels of sugar, inorganic salts, allergens, and antinutritional factors. Additionally, Lactobacillus helveticus fermentation prolongs the shelf life and enhances the physiochemical and health-promoting properties of these beverages. The researchers concluded that Lactobacillus helveticus has great potential for use in plant-based fermented beverages in the future. [Extracted from the article]

A report from China Agricultural University discusses the role of actin, a protein found in cells, in food quality. The researchers review the structures and functions of actin, as well as its relationship to food texture, color, and flavor. They also explore the potential applications of actin in fields such as food safety, bioengineering, and nanomaterials. The study concludes that developing an industrial-level method for preparing actin could further its applications in food science, nutrition, and safety. [Extracted from the article]

A recent study conducted by researchers at Beihang University in Beijing, China, has proposed a new deep learning framework for brain tumor segmentation. The framework utilizes normal brain images as a reference to compare with tumor brain images, enhancing the accuracy of tumor segmentation. The researchers developed a feature alignment module to address the challenge of comparing multimodal tumor brain images with monomodal normal brain images. The framework was evaluated using both public and in-house tumor brain image datasets and was found to significantly improve segmentation accuracy compared to existing methods. This research has been peer-reviewed and published in IEEE Transactions on Image Processing. [Extracted from the article]

We'd mobilize to block the United States, too.'" That binary worldview may partly explain why Xi thinks Biden is surrounding China with groups such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which includes Australia, India, Japan, and the United States. Features JOE BIDEN HAS HAD MORE FACE TIME with Chinese leaders than any other U.S. president. For Biden's first year in office, Xi's aides saw little benefit in having their president talk with his U.S. counterpart in person - especially if there was a risk of Xi losing face in the eyes of his audience back home. [Extracted from the article]

With the rapid development of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS), GNSS-derived precipitable water vapour (PWV) is of great significance in weather forecasting. The present study reports the effect of monitoring haze (mainly PM2.5) using GNSS PWV data from the Beijing Fangshan station (BJFS, International GNSS Service). However, the correlation between the PWV time series based on data from the BJFS and corresponding PM2.5 mass concentration series data from the Temple of Heaven station in Beijing is low over long periods (for DOYs 1--60, 2016 and DOYs 275--366 in 2016). In addition, the correlation between the two was low in summer when considering the DOYs 183--244, 2016. We suspect the low correlation is due to the influence of meteorological factors, such as the relative humidity, wind speed, pressure, and heavy rainfall. To accurately analyze the relationship between the two, we select a short period with relatively stable weather conditions (e.g., no heavy rainfall and relatively continuous data) during haze periods., which improves the correlation coefficient between the GNSS PWV and PM2.5 time series to a value of 0.66. To further improve the correlation between PWV and the PM2.5 time series, two datasets were reconstructed by use of the fourth-layer low-frequency coefficient (a4) with the standard orthogonal wavelet Daubechies method (db5). By removing the influence of high-frequency noise with this method, the correlation is improved, with the value of the maximum correlation coefficient reaching 0.73. Although the real change in PM2.5 mass concentration is affected by other factors (e.g., NO2,SO2, relative humidity), the reconstructed NO2, relative humidity, average wind speed, PWV, O3, CO and SO2 time series serve as the independent variables, with reconstructed PM2.5 as the dependent variable, to establish a multiple-regression model for the prediction of the change in the PM2.5 mass concentration. This approach is successful in predicting a short-term change in PM2.5 mass concentration based on four statistical values of the regression model. Therefore, the GNSS PWV data combined with other parameters can be used to forecast haze weather with a linear-multiple regression method after wavelet decomposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study conducted in Beijing, China investigated the mechanism of thymopentin in alleviating cisplatin-induced premature ovarian failure. The study found that thymopentin reduced endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptosis in granulosa cells, increased the number of follicles, and prevented follicle atresia. These findings provide a basis for potential clinical drug treatments for premature ovarian failure. The study was supported by the Baoding Science and Technology Bureau and focused on activating the expression of YY2/Lin28A to improve ovarian function in patients with premature ovarian failure. [Extracted from the article]

A recent study conducted by researchers at Renmin University of China explored the relationship between anemia and academic performance in Chinese primary school students. The study found that anemia, which affects 6.52% of Grade 4 students in China, is associated with lower test scores in subjects such as Chinese, Mathematics, and English. The research also revealed that anemia affects academic performance both directly and indirectly by decreasing cognition scores. The study suggests that nutrition-related interventions should be implemented to prevent a decrease in academic performance among students with anemia. [Extracted from the article]

A report from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing, People's Republic of China, discusses the development of a cucumber quality grader based on machine vision and deep learning. The grader aims to address issues with traditional manual grading methods, which are time-consuming and labor-intensive. The researchers designed a novel fixed tray type grading mechanism to prevent damage to the cucumbers and introduced a new convolutional neural network called MassNet for predicting cucumber mass. Experimental results showed that the grader achieved a maximum capacity of 2.3 t/hr and demonstrated superior cucumber mass prediction compared to other models. The grading efficiency of the grader reached 93% in online mass grading experiments. [Extracted from the article]

A research study conducted at Beijing Hospital in China has found that exosomes derived from placental mesenchymal stem cells (PMSCs) can repair uterine damage and improve fertility in animals with intrauterine adhesions (IUA). The study identified three specific miRNAs, miR-125b-5p, miR-30c-5p, and miR-23a-3p, enriched in PMSC-exosomes, which inhibit the expression of smad2 and smad3, leading to the downregulation of the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta)/smad signaling pathway and the reversal of fibrosis. The research suggests that exosome-based cell-free therapy could be a precise treatment for IUA. The study has been peer-reviewed and published in ACS Nano. [Extracted from the article]

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a new method for treating breast cancer using microwave thermotherapy (MWT). MWT has shown promise in cancer treatment due to its deep tissue penetration and minimally invasive nature, but its effectiveness is limited by poor microwave absorption properties. The researchers have developed a nanomissile called MNRC that improves microwave absorption in the desired frequency band, enhancing the thermal effect of MWT and facilitating microwave dynamic therapy (MDT). This research provides a direction for expanding the clinical application of MWT in tumor treatment. [Extracted from the article]

A study conducted by researchers at Beijing Technology and Business University in China has developed a new method for detecting urea and controlling ethyl carbamate in the processing of Huangjiu, a type of Chinese wine. The researchers created azide-modified covalent organic framework conjugated bionic antibody microspheres for the adsorption of urea and the control of ethyl carbamate. The method showed enhanced fluorescence properties and achieved a satisfactory control rate for the removal of ethyl carbamate. This research has important implications for food safety control and has been published in Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical. [Extracted from the article]

A report from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences discusses the development of functional porous material-based sensors for food safety. The researchers highlight the need for reliable sensors to accurately detect food contaminants at all stages of the food supply chain. Functional porous materials, with their high surface area and adjustable pore size, are seen as promising candidates for sensing and adsorption in food safety applications. The report summarizes the application of these materials in optical and electrical sensors, as well as the challenges and opportunities in developing food safety sensors based on functional porous materials. [Extracted from the article]

A recent study conducted in Beijing, China explores the relationship between the human microbiome and cancer development. The researchers emphasize the role of specific bacterial strains in various cancers, such as stomach and colorectal cancer. The study advocates for the use of Mendelian Randomization (MR) as a powerful alternative to traditional causality assessment methods, like randomized controlled trials, to study causal relationships. The researchers highlight the strengths and challenges of MR and suggest integrating it with multi-omics data for future research. The study concludes that the human microbiome plays a critical role in oncogenesis and MR is an indispensable tool for advancing our understanding in this domain. [Extracted from the article]

Information about several papers discussed at a conference on the need for the development of agricultural and rural areas in China, which was conducted in Beijing on December 2005 is presented. The economy in the country can be developed in the right direction if problems relating to agriculture, rural areas and the farmers have been solved properly. The conference was attended by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice-Premier Huang Ju. INSET: OVERPOPULATION: A MAIN CAUSE OF RURAL POVERTY.

The following topics are under this section: New Mechanism in Pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease for Possible Therapeutic Targets Prediction of Tropical Cyclones Undergoing Rapid Intensification New Methodology for Determining Molecular Chemical Structure Chinese Academy of Sciences Showcase Thousand-ton Scale Solar Fuel Synthesis Insights to DNA Sequence of African Swine Fever Virus Developing Beijing's Modern Science City China Completes Construction of Hospital in Record Time to Combat Wuhan Virus Latest news on biotechnology and research from China [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that the gruesome feast of a black hole may explain an unusual blast of gamma rays in 2006 named GRB 060614. GRB 060617 lacked the usual optical fireworks although it marks the collapse of a massive star that has run out of fuel. A team led by Ye Lu of the National Astronomical Observatories in Beijing, China said that the black hole would have gulped debris, but in the process some would also squirt out in high speed jets which will then produce gamma rays.

The article opines related to the information of the death of a 24-year-old man of H5N1 bird flu in Beijing, China in November 2003. According to the article China owned up to its first human case in November 2005, and the death incident took place three months before China admitted to H5N1 in chickens. Samples were initially taken from the man to make sure he didn't have SARS. Scientists knew there was some H5N1 in China in 2003, as two Hong Kong residents fell ill with the virus after traveling to Fujian, China. But the Beijing death raises questions about how many more Chinese cases there were and whether China knw about them.

A recent report from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences discusses the challenges of oral insulin delivery and the development of polysaccharide-based carriers to improve its bioavailability. The researchers highlight the advantages of oral administration, such as simplicity and patient compliance, but note that physiological barriers in the gastrointestinal tract limit the effectiveness of direct oral insulin delivery. Polysaccharides are explored as potential carriers due to their biocompatibility and protein affinity. The study reviews the materials and structures of these carriers, providing insights for enhancing the bioavailability of oral insulin. [Extracted from the article]

A report from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in Beijing, China discusses the findings of a study on the emulsifying properties, in vitro digestion characteristics, and storage stability of high-pressure-homogenization-modified dual-protein-based emulsions. The study compared different oil phase concentrations and found that high-pressure-homogenization treatment improved the physical stability and elasticity of the emulsion. The in vitro digestion characteristics and storage stability of the emulsions were also studied, with positive results. The research provides a theoretical basis for the development of new nutritional and healthy dual-protein liquid products. [Extracted from the article]

Far from being civilised, one wonders if Peking Man was at heart a simple creature, shunning the cold and with only tenuous control over fire. Anyone trying to imagine what life was like for the almost human ancestor, Homo erectus, will sooner or later be drawn to Dragon Bone Hill. The site, which lies 40 kilometres south-west of Beijing, was home to Peking Man. Here the fossilised bones of some 50 individuals have been found with the remains of thousands of other animals from many species. The picture researchers have built up is one of cave dwelling hominids who skillfully bagged an assortment of game, butchered it at home with simple stone tools, then cooked the meat over fires before eating it. INSET: THEM AND US.