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Abstract Buried pipeline systems are vulnerable to joint damage in earthquakes. Previous studies have shown that bellows joints are effective in increasing deformation capacity and reducing the axial force of the main pipeline. However, the effectiveness of bellows joints in enhancing the deformation capacity of the pipelines is affected by the location of the crossing fault and the soil at the site. This paper constructs and validates a finite element model of a buried steel pipeline connected by a bellows joint using ABAQUS to investigate this issue. The effects of fault location, soil properties, and internal pressure on the bellows joint connected pipelines were analyzed using a finite element model. The results indicate that the bellows joints exhibit the best energy dissipation and deformation enhancement when the fault passes directly through the joints. Bellows joints in soft soil are better at dissipating energy, reducing pipe deformation, and mitigating pipe damage compared to those in hard soils. The internal pressure is helpful to increase the mechanical properties of the pipelines. The findings can provide some guidance for pipeline design and mitigation strategies for ensuring the reliability and safety of buried pipeline systems in earthquake-prone areas.

Abstract Background Sterol side-chain reductase 2 (SSR2) is a key enzyme in the synthesis of plant cholesterol pathway. Despite the importance of watermelon as a horticultural cash crop, the SSR2 gene in watermelon has not been previously studied or reported. Results In this study, 28 SSR2 genes were identified in the watermelon genome. The physicochemical properties of 28 ClaSSR proteins were predicted by bioinformatics methods, and the gene structure, conserved motif, chromosome localization, phylogenetic analysis, cis-acting elements, expression patterns, promoter activity analysis and subcellular localization of ClaSSRs were studied. The 28 ClaSSRs were unevenly distributed on 11 chromosomes, and phylogenetic analysis showed that they could be grouped into 4 groups with other related Cucurbitaceae homologous genes. Analysis of gene structure and motifs revealed similarities in exons/introns and motifs between members of the same group, further supporting phylogenetic results. The RT–qPCR results showed variations in ClaSSRs expression during watermelon fruit development. The analysis of promoter activity for ClaSSR25 showed strong activity. Subcellular localization studies confirmed that ClaSSR25 is mainly located in the cytoplasm, which aligns with the predicted outcomes. We additionally estimated the network of protein–protein interactions for ClaSSR25 and analyzed proteins that could potentially interact with ClaSSR25 in melon and Arabidopsis thaliana. Conclusions We conducted bioinformatics analysis and expression analysis of members of the watermelon SSR2 gene family in this work, and the outcomes set the stage for further investigations into the watermelon SSR2 gene. Graphical Abstract

Abstract Anaplasma and Ehrlichia are tick-borne bacterial pathogens that cause anaplasmoses and ehrlichioses in humans and animals. In this study, we examined the prevalence of Anaplasma and Ehrlichia species in ticks and domesticated animals in Suizhou County, Hubei Province in the central China. We used PCR amplification and DNA sequencing of the 16S rRNA, groEL, and gltA genes to analyze. We collected 1900 ticks, including 1981 Haemaphysalis longicornis and 9 Rhipicephalus microplus, 159 blood samples of goats (n = 152), cattle (n = 4), and dogs (n = 3) from May to August of 2023. PCR products demonstrated that Anaplasma bovis, Anaplasma capra, and an Ehrlichia species were detected in the H. longicornis with the minimum infection rates (MIR) of 1.11%, 1.32%, and 0.05%, respectively; A. bovis, A. capra, and unnamed Anaplasma sp. were detected in goats with an infection rate of 26.31%, 1.31% and 1.97%, respectively. Anaplasma and Ehrlichia species were not detected from cattle, dogs and R. microplus ticks. The genetic differences in the groEL gene sequences of the Anaplasma in the current study were large, whereas the 16S rRNA and gltA gene sequences were less disparate. This study shows that ticks and goats in Suizhou County, Hubei Province carry multiple Anaplasma species and an Ehrlichia species, with relatively higher infection rate of A. bovis in goats. Our study indicates that multiple Anaplasma and Ehrlichia species exist in ticks and goats in the central China with potential to cause human infection.

Abstract Physical frailty and genetic factors are both risk factors for increased dementia; nevertheless, the joint effect remains unclear. This study aimed to investigated the long-term relationship between physical frailty, genetic risk, and dementia incidence. A total of 274,194 participants from the UK Biobank were included. We applied Cox proportional hazards regression models to estimate the association between physical frailty and genetic and dementia risks. Among the participants (146,574 females [53.45%]; mean age, 57.24 years), 3,353 (1.22%) new-onset dementia events were recorded. Compared to non-frailty, the hazard ratio (HR) for dementia incidence in prefrailty and frailty was 1.396 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.294–1.506, P

Abstract Herpesviruses are large double-stranded DNA viruses that cause infections in animals and humans with a characteristic of latent infectious within specific tissues. Bats are natural hosts of variety human-infecting viruses and recently have been described as hosts for herpesviruses in several countries around the world. In this study we collected 140 insectivorous bats in the neighboring urban areas of Wuhan City, Hubei Province in the central China between 2020 and 2021. Nested PCR targeting the dpol gene sequence indicated that a total of 22 individuals (15.7% of the sample) tested positive for herpesvirus with 4 strains belonging to the genus Betaherpesvirus and the remaining 18 strains classified as Gammahersvirus. Furthermore, the herpesvirus prevalence in Rhinolophus pusillus was higher at 26.3%, compared to 8.4% in Myotis davidii. The RP701 strain from R. pusillus was the predominant gammaherpesvirus strain detected in bats, accounting for 94.4% (17/18) of all strains. The variations in γ-herpesviruses genomic sequences was evident in phylogenetic tree, where RP701 strain was clustered together with ruminant γ-herpesviruses, while MD704 strain formed a distinct clade with a hedgehog γ-herpesvirus. Four betaherpesviruses exclusively identified from M. davidii, with nucleotide identities ranging from 79.7 to 82.6% compared to known betaherpesviruses. Our study provided evidence that M. davidii can sever as natural host for β-herpesviruses, which extended the host species range. In conclusion, we found that bats from central China harbored novel β-herpesviruses and γ-herpesviruses which were phylogenetically related to ruminant γ-herpesvirus and hedgehog γ-herpesvirus. Our study indicates that bats are natural hosts of β- and γ-herpesviruses and further studies are needed to determine whether there is cross-species transmission of herpesviruses between bats and other animals, or humans.

Quantification of the impact of winter wheat irrigation on the climate and the occurrence of extreme climatic events over North China is crucial for regional adaptation planning. Previous related studies mainly focused on the impact on surface processes; however, few focused on the effects of extreme events using high-resolution nonhydrostatic regional climate models. Here, the 9-km-resolution nonhydrostatic RegCM4.7 was coupled with a crop irrigation scheme and an updated winter wheat irrigation dataset to better simulate irrigation effects. Two experiments were conducted with and without winter wheat irrigation to isolate the effects of irrigation. Results showed that irrigation simulation reduces the model biases in temperature, precipitation, latent heat flux, soil moisture, sensitive heat flux, and top-layer soil moisture. Moreover, it also reduces the bias and increases the correlation with observations obtained in irrigated areas, especially in summer, indicating better representation of irrigation schemes. Winter wheat irrigation tends to cause substantial cooling of the local surface maximum, minimum, and mean air temperatures (by −1.68, −0.34, and −0.79 °C, respectively) over irrigated areas of North China, with the largest changes observed in relation to maximum temperature. Additionally, precipitation is found to increase during spring and summer, which is strongly related to water vapor transport in the lower levels of the atmosphere. Further analyses indicated that the number of annual mean hot days decrease (−13.9 d), whereas the number of both comfort days (+10.2 d) and rainy days (days with total precipitation greater than 1 mm: +6.6 d) increase over irrigated areas, demonstrating beneficial feedback to human perception and agriculture. Fortunately, although the heat wave risk increases (number of annual mean heat wave days: +5.8 d), the impact is limited to small areas within irrigated region. Additionally, no notable change was found in terms of heavy rainfall events and precipitation intensity, which might be an undereastimation caused by the less water use in model simulation. Although winter wheat irrigation does not have notable impact on the climate of the surrounding region, it is an important factor for the local-scale climate.

Mid-high latitude Northern Asia is one of the most vulnerable and sensitive areas to global warming, but relatively less studied previously. We used an ensemble of a regional climate model (RegCM4) projections to assess future changes in surface air temperature, precipitation and Köppen‒Trewartha (K‒T) climate types in Northern Asia under the 1.5–4 °C global warming targets. RegCM4 is driven by five CMIP5 global models over an East Asia domain at a grid spacing of 25 km. Validation of the present day (1986–2005) simulations shows that the ensembles of RegCM4 (ensR) and driving GCMs (ensG) reproduce the major characters of the observed temperature, precipitation and K‒T climate zones reasonably well. Greater and more realistic spatial detail is found in RegCM4 compared to the driving GCMs. A general warming and overall increases in precipitation are projected over the region, with these changes being more pronounced at higher warming levels. The projected warming by ensR shows different spatial patterns, and is in general lower, compared to ensG in most months of the year, while the percentage increases of precipitation are maximum during the cold months. The future changes in K‒T climate zones are characterized by a substantial expansion of Dc (temperature oceanic) and retreat of Ec (sub-arctic continental) over the region, reaching ∼20% under the 4 °C warming level. The most notable change in climate types in ensR is found over Japan (∼60%), followed by Southern Siberia, Mongolia, and the Korean Peninsula (∼40%). The largest change in the K‒T climate types is found when increasing from 2 to 3 °C. The results will help to better assess the impacts of climate change and in implementation of appropriate adaptation measures over the region.

Osteoblast-mediated bone formation and osteoclast-mediated bone resorption are critical processes in bone metabolism. Annexin A, a calcium–phospholipid binding protein, regulates the proliferation and differentiation of bone cells, including bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells, osteoblasts, and osteoclasts, and has gradually become a marker gene for the diagnosis of osteoporosis. As calcium channel proteins, the annexin A family members are closely associated with mechanical stress, which can target annexins A1, A5, and A6 to promote bone cell differentiation. Despite the significant clinical potential of annexin A family members in bone metabolism, few studies have reported on these mechanisms. Therefore, based on a review of relevant literature, this article elaborates on the specific functions and possible mechanisms of annexin A family members in bone metabolism to provide new ideas for their application in the prevention and treatment of bone diseases, such as osteoporosis.

Phenuiviruses are a class of segmented negative-sense single-stranded RNA viruses, typically consisting of three RNA segments that encode four distinct proteins. The emergence of pathogenic phenuivirus strains, such as Rift Valley fever phlebovirus (RVFV) in sub-Saharan Africa, Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus (SFTSV) in East and Southeast Asia, and Heartland Virus (HRTV) in the United States has presented considerable challenges to global public health in recent years. The innate immune system plays a crucial role as the initial defense mechanism of the host against invading pathogens. In addition to continued research aimed at elucidating the epidemiological characteristics of phenuivirus, significant advancements have been made in investigating its viral virulence factors (glycoprotein, non-structural protein, and nucleoprotein) and potential host–pathogen interactions. Specifically, efforts have focused on understanding mechanisms of viral immune evasion, viral assembly and egress, and host immune networks involving immune cells, programmed cell death, inflammation, nucleic acid receptors, etc. Furthermore, a plethora of technological advancements, including metagenomics, metabolomics, single-cell transcriptomics, proteomics, gene editing, monoclonal antibodies, and vaccines, have been utilized to further our understanding of phenuivirus pathogenesis and host immune responses. Hence, this review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the current understanding of the mechanisms of host recognition, viral immune evasion, and potential therapeutic approaches during human pathogenic phenuivirus infections focusing particularly on RVFV and SFTSV.

ABSTRACT Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) is an important DNA pattern recognition receptor that senses double-stranded DNA derived from invading pathogens or self DNA in cytoplasm, leading to an antiviral interferon response. A tick-borne Bunyavirus, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV), is an RNA virus that causes a severe emerging viral hemorrhagic fever in Asia with a high case fatality rate of up to 30%. However, it is unclear whether cGAS interacts with SFTSV infection. In this study, we found that SFTSV infection upregulated cGAS RNA transcription and protein expression, indicating that cGAS is an important innate immune response against SFTSV infection. The mechanism of cGAS recognizing SFTSV is by cGAS interacting with misplaced mitochondrial DNA in the cytoplasm. Depletion of mitochondrial DNA significantly inhibited cGAS activation under SFTSV infection. Strikingly, we found that SFTSV nucleoprotein (N) induced cGAS degradation in a dose-dependent manner. Mechanically, N interacted with the 161-382 domain of cGAS and linked the cGAS to LC3. The cGAS-N-LC3 trimer was targeted to N-induced autophagy, and the cGAS was degraded in autolysosome. Taken together, our study discovered a novel antagonistic mechanism of RNA viruses, SFTSV is able to suppress the cGAS-dependent antiviral innate immune responses through N-hijacking cGAS into N-induced autophagy. Our results indicated that SFTSV N is an important virulence factor of SFTSV in mediating host antiviral immune responses.IMPORTANCESevere fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is a tick-borne RNA virus that is widespread in East and Southeast Asian countries with a high fatality rate of up to 30%. Up to now, many cytoplasmic pattern recognition receptors, such as RIG-I, MDA5, and SAFA, have been reported to recognize SFTSV genomic RNA and trigger interferon-dependent antiviral responses. However, current knowledge is not clear whether SFTSV can be recognized by DNA sensor cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS). Our study demonstrated that cGAS could recognize SFTSV infection via ectopic mitochondrial DNA, and the activated cGAS-stimulator of interferon genes signaling pathway could significantly inhibit SFTSV replication. Importantly, we further uncovered a novel mechanism of SFTSV to inhibit innate immune responses by the degradation of cGAS. cGAS was degraded in N-induced autophagy. Collectively, this study illustrated a novel virulence factor of SFTSV to suppress innate immune responses through autophagy-dependent cGAS degradation.

Underground gas storage plays an important role in the strategic reserve, peak shaving and stable supply of natural gas. Due to the complex geological conditions in China, very limited sites are available for the construction of gas storage. Thus, it is a good choice to build gas storage in the abandoned coal mine with rich resources. For this purpose, it is particularly important to establish an evaluation method for abandoned coal mine type gas storage. Hence, the factors affecting the conversion of abandoned coal mines into gas storage were summarized and analyzed based on the research results of gas storage site selection at home and abroad from the five aspects of hydrogeology, caprock tightness, geologic structure, influencing factors of abandoned coal mine, and other safe and economic factors. Then, a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model based on hierarchical analysis was established and a comprehensive evaluation table of storage sites was prepared to evaluate the sites of abandoned coal mines. Besides, the evaluation model was applied to the site evaluation of a coal mine in Shaanxi. The evaluation results show that the coal mine is at an excellent grade and has the potential to be transformed into gas storage. Generally, the evaluation method has certain guiding implications for China to develop abandoned coal mine type gas storage.

Abstract Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer globally, endangering women’s physical and mental health. Phospholipase D3 (PLD3) belongs to the phosphodiesterase family (PLD). PLD3 is related to insulin-mediated phosphorylation of the AKT pathway, suggesting that it may play a role in the occurrence and development of malignant tumors. This study may further explore the molecular mechanism of PLD3 inhibiting breast cancer cell proliferation. In this study, we demonstrated that PLD3 and miR-6796 are co-expressed in breast cancer. PLD3 can bind with CDK1 and inhibit its expression, leading to mitotic arrest and inhibiting breast cancer proliferation. Wild-type p53 regulates PLD3 and miR-6796 expression by competitively binding to the PLD3 promoter with ZEB1. DNMT3B, as the target gene of miR-6796, is recruited into the PLD3 promoter by combining with ZEB1 to regulate the DNA methylation of the PLD3 promoter and ultimately affect PLD3 and miR-6796 expression. In conclusion, we revealed the role and molecular mechanism of PLD3 and its embedded miR-6796 in breast cancer proliferation, providing clues and a theoretical foundation for future research and development of therapeutic targets and prognostic markers for breast cancer.