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Abstract This study addresses the challenge of quantitatively assessing ride comfort in tram travel in Growing Urban Environments, where multiple influencing factors complicate developing a unified evaluation index system. A comprehensive evaluation framework based on cloud theory is proposed to overcome this challenge. The approach involves defining five‐level comfort evaluation grades to capture passengers' experiences and perceptions accurately. The Criteria Importance through Inter‐Criteria Correlation (CRITIC) method is employed to ensure objectivity to establish objective weights for evaluation indices. Subsequently, a cloud model algorithm is utilized to generate evaluation benchmark and actual result clouds, providing intuitive representations of the evaluation outcomes. The efficacy and rationality of the methodology is illustrated through a case study focusing on Suzhou Tram Line 2. This research contributes valuable insights for enhancing public transportation experiences in new urban settings by offering a systematic and objective approach to assessing tram ride comfort.

Morphological control of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) at the micro/nanoscopic scale is critical for optimizing the electrochemical properties of them and their derivatives. In this study, manganese organic phosphate (Mn-MOP) with three distinct two-dimensional (2D) morphologies was synthesized by varying the molar ratio of Mn2+ to phenyl phosphonic acid, and one of the morphologies is a unique palm leaf shape. In addition, a series of 2D Mn-MOP derivatives were obtained by calcination in air at different temperatures. Electrochemical studies showed that 2D Mn-MOP derivative calcined at 550 °C and exhibited a superior specific capacitance of 230.9 F g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 in 3 M KOH electrolyte. The aqueous asymmetric supercapacitor and the constructed flexible solid-state device demonstrated excellent rate performance. This performance reveals the promising application of 2D Mn-MOP materials for energy storage.

Background & aimsExisting evidence on the possible effects of probiotics on obese or overweight adolescents has not been fully established. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the effects of probiotic supplementation on anthropometric indices, inflammatory markers and metabolic indices in obese or overweight adolescents.MethodsThe literature up to March 2023 related to probiotic intervention in obese or overweight adolescents was searched and screened from multiple databases, including the CNKI(China national knowledge infrastructure), CBM(Chinese biomedical literature database), PubMed, EmBase, and Cochrane library databases. All randomized controlled trials using probiotic supplements in obese or overweight adolescents were included in this systematic review and meta-analysis.ResultsA total of 8 studies that met the inclusion criteria were included in this study. There were 201 cases in the experimental group (probiotic treatment) and 190 cases in the control group. Compared to the control group, probiotic intervention in adolescents resulted in a decrease in body mass index, fasting blood glucose and C-reactive protein with WMD(Weighted mean difference) and 95% CI of -2.53 (-4.8 to -0.26) kg/m2, -0.80 (-1.13 to -0.47) mol/L and -0.24 (-0.43 to -0.05) mg/L, respectively. No significant changes were found in weight, waist circumference, waist-to-hip ratio, insulin, Homeostatic Model Assessment of insulin resistance, interleukin 6, tumor necrosis factor alpha and so on; however, an unfavorable elevated effect in total cholesterol, triglycerides, and low-density lipoproteins was detected with WMD and 95% CI of 0.06 (0.02 to 0.09) mmol/L, 0.18 (0.14 to 0.21) mmol/L, and 0.19 (0.18 to 0.20) mmol/L, respectively.ConclusionAccording to our results, probiotic supplementation was beneficial in managing metabolic indicators such as fasting blood glucose, body mass index and inflammation-related C-reactive protein in overweight or obese adolescents. Further large scale studies are warranted to confirm present findings and to identify the effects and mechanisms to provide more precise evidence for clinical intervention.Systematic review registrationdoi: 10.37766/inplasy2024.1.0081, identifier INPLASY202410081.

ObjectiveTo comprehensively evaluate the characteristics of the circulating microRNA expression profile in type 2 diabetic patients with acute ischemic cerebrovascular disease by systematic evaluation and meta-analysis.MethodsThe literatures up to March 2022 related to circulating microRNA and acute ischemic cerebrovascular disease in type 2 diabetes mellitus were searched and screened from multiple databases. The NOS quality assessment scale was used to evaluate methodological quality. Heterogeneity tests and statistical analyses of all data were performed by Stata 16.0. The differences in microRNA levels between groups were illustrated by the standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI).ResultsA total of 49 studies on 12 circulating miRNAs were included in this study, including 486 cases of type 2 diabetes complicated with acute ischemic cerebrovascular disease and 855 controls. Compared with the control group (T2DM group), miR-200a, miR-144, and miR-503 were upregulated and positively correlated with acute ischemic cerebrovascular disease in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. Their comprehensive SMD and 95% CI were 2.71 (1.64~3.77), 5.77 (4.28~7.26) and 0.73 (0.27~1.19), respectively. MiR-126 was downregulated and negatively correlated with acute ischemic cerebrovascular disease in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients, its comprehensive SMD and 95% CI were -3.64 (-5.56~-1.72).ConclusionIn type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with acute ischemic cerebrovascular disease, the expression of serum miR-200a, miR-503, plasma and platelet miR-144 was upregulated and the expression of serum miR-126 was downregulated. It may have diagnostic value in the early identification of type 2 diabetes mellitus with acute ischemic cerebrovascular disease.

BackgroundSystemic inflammation and immune response are involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy (DN). However, the specific immune-associated signature during DN development is unclear. Our study aimed to reveal the roles of immune-related genes during DN progression.MethodsThe GSE30529 and GSE30528 datasets were acquired from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Then, the intersection between differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and immune score-related genes (ISRGs) was screened. Subsequently, functional enrichment analyses were performed. The different immune phenotype-related subgroups were finally divided using unsupervised clustering. The core genes were identified by WGCNA and the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. xCell algorithm was applied to assess the proportion of immune cell infiltration.Results92 immune score-related DEGs (ISRDEGs) were identified, and these genes were enriched in inflammation- and immune-associated pathways. Furthermore, two distinct immune-associated subgroups (C1 and C2) were identified, and the C1 subgroup exhibited activated immune pathways and a higher percentage of immune cells compared to the C2 subgroup. Two core genes (LCK and HCK) were identified and all up-regulated in DN, and the expressions were verified using GSE30122, GSE142025, and GSE104954 datasets. GSEA indicated the core genes were mainly enriched in immune-related pathways. Correlation analysis indicated LCK and HCK expressions were positively correlated with aDC, CD4+ Tem, CD8+T cells, CD8+ Tem, and mast cells.ConclusionsWe identified two immune-related genes and two immune-associated subgroups, which might help to design more precise tailored immunotherapy for DN patients.

We investigated the effects of high- vs. standard-dose vitamin D supplementation on kidney function and bone metabolism in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Children were randomized to receive one of two formulations: 75 participants received 2,000 IU/D of oral supplementation of vitamin D, while 75 participants received 400 IU/d for a minimum of 4 months. We investigated the effects of vitamin D supplementation on kidney-related indicators and bone metabolism-related indicators at different doses. A total of 158 participants were screened, among whom 150 met the inclusion criteria. The indicators of chronic kidney disease such as eGFR and serum uric acid were negatively correlated with the 25(OH)D level and BMD. Serum 25(OH)D and osteocalcin levels were positively correlated with spine BMD. The standard dose of vitamin D can improve the serum uric acid level, but high doses of vitamin D supplementation had no significant effect on the serum uric acid level. High doses of vitamin D supplementation can also improve the alkaline phosphatase level. When comparing the results of different doses of vitamin D supplementation, it was found that high-dose vitamin D supplementation did not improve bone density in the spine and femur neck relative to the standard dose of vitamin D but improved hypocalcemia and N-terminal propeptide of the human procollagen type I (PINP) level. Among the children with clinical kidney disease, high-dose vitamin D treatment for 4 months resulted in statistically significant improvement in kidney function but no significant difference in bone metabolism compared with the standard-dose vitamin D treatment.

BackgroundIncreasing evidence has shown that elevated Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels are positively correlated with atherosclerosis (ATH) in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH). Some researchers found that the dysfunction of Endothelial Cells (ECs) in SCH plays an important role in the pathogenesis of ATH in SCH, but the association remains controversial.ObjectivesTo determine the expression profiles of serum microRNAs critical to the function of Endothelial cells (ECs) may help reanalyze the possible mechanism underlying ATH in SCH and the association between ATH and SCH.MethodsWe used qRT-PCR to perform microRNA profiling and analysis in normal control subjects (NC), patients with SCH alone (SCH), patients with SCH and ATH (SCH+ATH), and patients with ATH without SCH (ATH).ResultsBoth miR-221-3p and miR-222-3p showed a decreasing expression trend between the SCH and SCH+ATH groups. In addition, miR-126-3p and miR-150-5p showed a stepwise decrease from the NC to SCH groups and then to the SCH+ATH or ATH group. miR-21-5p was unregulated in the SCH, SCH+ATH, and ATH groups. Furthermore, elevated levels of miR-21-5p in SCH+ATH group were higher than SCH and ATH group. No differences were found in the levels of miR-150, miR-126, miR-221 and miR-222 between the ATH and the SCH+ATH subjects.ConclusionsmiR-21-5p may be involved in the atherosclerosis process in patients with SCH (SCH and SCH+ATH groups). miR-150-5p may be sensitive risk markers for predicting endothelial dysfunction in patients with ATH (ATH and SCH+ATH groups).

Achieving the goal of zero hunger within the goal of sustainable development requires improving the resilience of food systems to various types of risk shocks; food systems have shown significant vulnerability to COVID-19 outbreaks and transmission. By analyzing the impact of China’s lockdown policy and food security emergency policy in 2020 on food prices during the COVID-19 pandemic, we can clarify the role of policy intervention in enhancing the resilience of the food system, which can provide guidance, using China’s experience, for dealing with global food safety emergencies in the future. Firstly, we selected Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong as food-consuming areas, and Shandong, Henan, and Hubei as food-producing areas. We also collected food security emergency policy data from the Chinese government website during the COVID-19 pandemic. Secondly, a difference-in-difference method was used to observe that Chinese cabbage and pork prices in the main food-producing areas and food-consuming areas rose more obviously after the adoption of lockdown policy, and Chinese cabbage and pork prices in the food-consuming areas increased more obviously than those in food-producing areas. However, staple food prices have not risen significantly. Thirdly, the response of four kinds of food prices to the food security emergency policy is analyzed quantitatively and graphically using the food price volatility index and food price increase rate; we observed that the response of food prices to the food security emergency policy is related to the food types and regions. For food types, the fluctuation degree and increase in Chinese cabbage and pork prices decreased significantly after the adoption of the food security emergency policy. For regions, when the food security emergency policy was adopted, the food prices in the main food-consuming areas fluctuated more obviously than those in food-producing areas. Finally, we found that the implementation of the transport policy and the joint supply emergency policy in the main producing and consuming areas has played a very significant and positive role in stabilizing food prices.

The Chinese Dietary Guidelines propose a balanced diet for healthy living, but the affordability of this diet needs to be considered, especially for low-income households. To investigate the affordability of a healthy diet, this study analyzes the daily retail prices of 46 food items in 36 Chinese cities from 2016 to 2021. This study compares expenditure, diet composition, and nutritional status in two scenarios aligned with the guidelines. The results show that the mean minimum cost of a balanced diet exceeds the current per capita food expenditure for at least 182.85 million urban households. This suggests that low-income people would need to increase their expenditure by at least 20–121% to achieve the recommended diets. This study also identifies affordable and nutrient-dense foods such as standard flour, eggs, black beans, and cabbage, which policymakers should focus on when monitoring food prices. The findings recommend a combination of social and food system policies to reduce prices and make healthy diets accessible. This study identifies the gaps in the Chinese Dietary Guidelines for ensuring accessibility for vulnerable groups and provides a template for policymakers and researchers to track diet affordability using available food price data in China, contributing to China’s 2030 Health Plan and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Studies on the distribution of retail outlets are crucial for optimizing urban resource allocation, and their rationalized layout plays an important role in developing urban economies and meeting consumer demand. However, the literature on the subject has been limited by data collection. In the era of big data, there has been an emergence of geo-referenced data that are more accurate and convenient and thus more able to be applied in the retail analysis. This study addresses this lacuna by exploring the spatial distribution of various retail outlets with the application of points of interest. Our study demonstrates that (1) the retail outlets in Urumqi are concentrated in the inner city. The inner-city area has a higher density distribution of retail outlets, and the development of the retail function is more mature. (2) Various categories of retail outlets display dissimilar agglomeration characteristics and hot spots. Specialty stores, clothing and footwear stores, convenience stores, and home-building material markets have lower average nearest-neighbor distances. (3) The retail outlets in the subject area are directionally distributed in the northwest–southeast direction, which is the result of both the topographical condition and government intervention in Urumqi. (4) Various categories of retail outlets tend to agglomerate at different scales. These results are conducive to the exploration of the location rules and layout preferences of retail locations, and they provide a reference for guiding the adjustment and optimization of retail layouts.

Improving travel time prediction for public transit effectively enhances service reliability, optimizes travel structure, and alleviates traffic problems. Its greater time-variance and uncertainty make predictions for short travel times (≤35min) more subject to be influenced by random factors. It requires higher precision and is more complicated than long-term predictions. Effectively extracting and mining real-time, accurate, reliable, and low-cost multi-source data such as GPS, AFC, and IC can provide data support for travel time prediction. Kalman filter model has high accuracy in one-step prediction and can be used to calculate a large amount of data. This paper adopts the Kalman filter as a travel time prediction model for a single bus based on single-line detection: including the travel time prediction model of route (RTM) and the stop dwell time prediction model (DTM); the evaluation criteria and indexes of the models are given. The error analysis of the prediction results is carried out based on AVL data by case study. Results show that under the precondition of multi-source data, the public transportation prediction model can meet the accuracy requirement for travel time prediction and the prediction effect of the whole route is superior to that of the route segment between stops.

Dioscorea nipponica rhizoma (DNR) is commonly used for the cure of hyperthyroidism resulting from Graves’ disease (GD) or thyroid nodules. However, its therapeutic mechanism remains unclear. This study aimed to utilize network pharmacology integrated molecular docking and experimental verification to reveal the potential pharmacological mechanism of DNR against GD. First, the active componds of DNR were collected from the HERB database and a literature search was conducted. Then, according to multisource database, the predicted genes of DNR and GD were collected to generate networks. The analysis of protein–protein interaction and GO enrichment and KEGG pathway were employed to discover main mechanisms associated with therapeutic targets. Moreover, molecular docking simulation was applied in order to verify the interactions between the drug and target. Finally, our experiments validated the ameliorated effects of diosgenin, the main component of DNR, in terms of phosphorylation deactivation in IGF-1R, which in turn inhibited the phosphorylation and activation of PI3K-AKT and Rap1-MEK signaling pathways, promoting cell apoptosis and GD remission. Our present study provided a foundation for further investigation of the in-depth mechanisms of diosgenin in GD and will provide new scientific evidence for clinical application.

The assessment of ecosystem services value is the basis for the realization of integrated management of these services. In recent decades, the hotspots of China’s newly added cropland have shifted to the Xinjiang oasis areas, where the ecological environment is relatively fragile. However, the impact of changes in cropland use on the terrestrial ecosystem services value (TESV) in Xinjiang, China, has not been studied in depth, and it is related to the sustainability of the dynamic balance between China’s cropland and the sustainable management of natural resources in Xinjiang. This study focuses on Xinjiang and employs the benefit transfer method and five phases (2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020) of high-resolution and finely classified remote sensing monitoring data of land use to evaluate the impact of changes in cropland use on the TESV from 2000 to 2020. The findings suggest the following: (1) The cropland area in Xinjiang grew from 6.5682 million ha in 2000 to 8.9874 million ha in 2020, demonstrating significant expansion, and it has gone through four stages: rapid expansion, steady expansion, rapid expansion and relative stability. (2) A sharp mutual conversion trend is observed between cropland and other types of land use in Xinjiang. Grassland and unused land are the main sources of new cropland, while lost cropland has been mainly converted back into grassland and construction land. (3) During 2000–2020, although the extensive expansion of cropland and conversion of cropland mainly at the expense of ecological land in Xinjiang have significantly enhanced the provision services of the terrestrial ecosystem (539.49 million USD), ecosystem regulation services (−1508.47 million USD), support services (−1084.47 million USD) and cultural services (−565.05 million USD) experienced losses. Consequently, an overall loss in the TESV has ensued. This study provides new insights that help re-examine the sustainability issue of the spatial transfer of cropland in China, and it also offers guidance for the realization of the sustainable management of natural resources in Xinjiang.

Cultivated land (CL) performs irreplaceable manifold functions in social stability, economic development, and ecological security, which is also essential for the accomplishment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 Agenda. China is the world’s most populous country, and it has important reference significance for the realization of the multi-function synergistic management of CL in China by revealing the evolution characteristics of cultivated land functions (CLFs) and the interaction between CLFs. However, the research to date has tended to focus on the eastern coastal areas and the central traditional agricultural areas of China. This study focuses specifically on Xinjiang, the main area of the arid region of northwest China. The connotations of social, economic, and ecological functions of oasis cultivated land (OCL) in Xinjiang were first discussed from a system theory perspective. Then, an evaluation index system of CLFs was constructed. On this basis, the evolution characteristics of CLFs and the interaction between CLFs in Xinjiang from 1990 to 2018 were quantitatively evaluated. Findings suggest that: (1) the economic function of the OCL in Xinjiang is strengthening, while the ecological function is degrading and the social function remains stable. Overall, the evolution of CLFs in Xinjiang was first dominated by ecological and social functions and then became economic-function-oriented; (2) the synergistic relationship between CLFs is weakening and the trade-off relationship is increasing over time. The trade-off effect between the economic function and other functions of OCL is strengthened gradually due to the OCL-use activities dominated by the economic function. This study not only enriches the regional content of CL multi-function research but can also provide reference for decision-making for the sustainable utilization and multi-function synergistic management of OCL in Xinjiang, China.

With the rapid development of urbanization and the popularization of the vehicle, the frequent occurrence of traffic jams results in idling fuel waste, environmental pollution, and other issues. In order to alleviate these problems, engine start-stop technology has been widely used in different types of vehicles in recent years. However, current start-stop trigger technology has many deficiencies, such as mistaken triggering and frequent engine start-stop, which greatly reduces user driving experience, causing most of them to deactivate this system. The intelligent engine start-stop trigger (IEST) system based on the actual road running status was established by building the image recognition model and the digital traffic analysis model in order to solve this problem. A system test shows that IEST can avoid frequently engine starting and stopping. The results show that IEST could effectively improve the driving experience and reduce engine fuel consumption, and it promotes conventional engine start-stop technology.

BackgroundAim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the overall diagnostic value of circulating mini miRNAs for papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) and to find the possible molecular marker with higher diagnostic value for PTC.MethodsWe searched the Pubmed, Cochrane and Embase database until June 2020. We selected relevant literatures associated with the diagnosis of PTC with circulating miRNAs. The number of cases in experimental group and the control group, sensitivity and specificity could be extracted from the literatures.ResultsWe got 9 literatures including 2114 cases of PTC. Comprehensive sensitivity was 0.79, comprehensive specificity was 0.82, positive likelihood ratio was 4.3, negative likelihood ratio was 0.26, diagnostic advantage ratio was 16. The summary receiver operating characteristic curve was drawn and the Area Under the Curve was 0.87.ConclusionsCirculating microRNAs may be promising molecular markers for the diagnosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma. Combined detection of certain serum microRNAs can improve the diagnostic accuracy of papillary thyroid carcinoma. Especially MiR-222 and miR-146b may be prime candidates for the diagnosis of PTC in Asian population.

The travel trajectory data of mobile intelligent terminal users are characterized by clutter, incompleteness, noise, fuzzy randomness. The accuracy of original data is an essential prerequisite for better results of trajectory data mining. The Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) is one of the most effective trajectory data mining methods, but the selection of input parameters often limits it. The Sage-Husa adaptive filtering algorithm effectively controls the error range of mobile phone GPS data, which can meet the positioning accuracy requirements for DBSCAN spatial clustering having the advantages of low cost and convenient use. Then, a novel cluster validity index was proposed based on the internal and external duty cycle to balance the influence of the distance within-cluster, the distance between clusters, and the number of coordinate points in the process of clustering. The index can automatically choose input parameters of density clustering, and the effective clustering can be formed on different data sets. The optimized clustering method can be applied to the in-depth analysis and mining of traveler behavior trajectories. Experiments show that the Sage -Husa adaptive filtering algorithm proposed further improves the positioning accuracy of GPS, which is 17.34% and 15.24% higher eastward and northward, 14.25%, and 18.17% higher in 2D and 3D dimensions, respectively. The number of noise points is significantly reduced. At the same time, compared with the traditional validity index, the evaluation index based on the duty cycle proposed can optimize the input parameters and obtain better clustering results of traveler location information.

Aviation transport is one of the most important and critical infrastructures in today’s global economy. Failure in its proper operations can seriously impact regional economic development, which is why it is important to evaluate network robustness. Previous analyses of robustness have mainly been conducted with an unweighted approach. In the development of air transport, however, the demand for route configuration has gradually decreased, while the demand for flight adjustments has increased. Consequently, the aviation network has developed unevenly, so adhering to a uniform approach for evaluating network robustness may lead to inaccurate results. Therefore, we examined which centrality sequence is the most sensitive to network robustness in both unweighted and weighted approaches. The air transport network selected for the case study comprised the six subregions of the Eurasian landmass of the Belt and Road region. The study results showed the following: (a) in the network constructed as an unweighted one, betweenness, and degree centrality had higher priorities in preserving network functionalities than eigenvector and closeness centrality; (b) in the network constructed as a weighted one, recursive power had a higher priority in preserving network functionalities than recursive centrality; and (c) no particular centrality measurement had a significant advantage in representing the totality of robustness. The betweenness centrality sequence was sensitive to the average shortest path length and global efficiency; the recursive power sequence was sensitive to the clustering coefficient, while degree centrality was sensitive to graph diversity. The findings of this study support the decisions about managing air transportation in the Belt and Road region.

The scientific evaluation of passenger satisfaction for public transport is helpful to enhance the attraction of public transport. To improve the accuracy of passenger satisfaction evaluation for public transport and the scientificity and objectivity of the index weighting, combining the characteristics of analytic hierarchy process (AHP), entropy weight method (EWM) and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation(FCE) method, the passenger satisfaction evaluation system for Ningbo's urban public transportation was built. The paper analyzed 5046 questionnaires on conventional bus transit and 1682 questionnaires on rail transit in Ningbo city, Passenger satisfaction for Ningbo city's public transport was evaluated comprehensively, and the evaluation results showed that the overall passenger satisfaction of the public transport in Ningbo was 91.2 in 2019, The case study shows that the application of the AHP-EWM-FCE model on the multi-mode public transport system can objectively quantify passengers' feelings about urban public transport service, and thus provide a theoretical basis for the improvement of passenger satisfaction in Ningbo.

The center of gravity of China’s new cropland has shifted from Northeast China to the Xinjiang oasis areas where the ecological environment is relatively fragile. However, we currently face a lack of a comprehensive review of the cropland expansion in oasis areas of Xinjiang, which is importantly associated with the sustainable use of cropland, social stability and oasis ecological security. In this study, the land use remote sensing monitoring data in 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2018 were used to comprehensively analyze the process characteristics, different modes and driving mechanisms of the cropland expansion in Xinjiang, as well as its spatial heterogeneity at the oasis area level. The results revealed that cropland in Xinjiang continued to expand from 5803 thousand hectares in 1990 to 8939 thousand hectares in 2018 and experienced three stages of expansion: steady expansion, rapid expansion, and slow expansion. The center of gravity of cropland showed the characteristic of shifting to the South. Edge expansion and encroachment on grassland were the dominant spatial pattern mode and land use conversion mode of Xinjiang’s cropland expansion, respectively. The expansion of cropland in Xinjiang was affected by multiple factors. Irrigation conditions played a dominant role. Topography indirectly affected cropland expansion by affecting the suitability of agricultural production and development. Population growth and farmers’ income were important driving forces. There was significant spatial heterogeneity in the intensity, mode and driving force of cropland expansion among different oasis areas in Xinjiang. The spatial shift of China’s new cropland has occupied a large amount of water resources and ecological land in Xinjiang and exacerbated the vulnerability of the ecosystem in arid regions. The key to sustainable management of cropland in Xinjiang in the future lies in maintaining an appropriate scale of cropland and promoting the coordinated development of cropland, population, water resources and industry.

Road construction is an important source of occasional urban road network traffic congestion. In this article, a new cellular automaton model is proposed to simulate road construction traffic flow in urban two-way-six-lane network systems with roundabout intersections. In the proposed model, a three-lane traffic rule is adopted to represent vehicle movements on road sections, turning lane changing and overtaking lane changing are allowed, and vehicle movements in intersection areas are determined by priority which relies on vehicle position. Simulation results show that increasing the closed lane number may lead to decline of the network speed. We also found that there is a relatively fixed influence range of road construction in different cases, and a proper proportion of vehicle bypass can improve the operation efficiency of road network when semi-closed construction.

The security and quality of livelihoods for peasant households is the core issue for rural areas in China. A stable livelihood contributes to the harmonious development of related polices, poverty eradication and sustainable use of resources. In Qinghe County, located in the extremely arid zone of Northwest China, 238 validated surveys were conducted. The analysis focuses on the importance of livelihood capitals for the selection of on- or off-farm livelihood strategies among beneficiaries of different kinds of ecological compensation packages. The goal is to see if different groups of beneficiaries are better able to pursue off-farm livelihoods activity, which reduces pressure on the resource base, and whether specific capitals are especially effective in helping households pursue off-farm livelihoods, which benefits their well-being. The findings show that proportionally more herdsmen (who participated in a pastureland rehabilitation program) were able to pursue off-farm livelihoods than farmers (who participated in the cultivated land reforestation program), and especially agro-pastoralists (who participated in both programs). Further, models of livelihood strategy show that human and financial capitals facilitate off-farm livelihoods, while productive capital tends to lead to on-farm livelihoods. These findings indicate that there is no single determinant of livelihood strategy, and future policies must consciously differentiate among beneficiaries to reach the desired result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study is to elucidate the relationship between a 936C/T mutation at the 3'-untranslated region of the human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene and diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). Material and methods: All subjects recruited in this study were divided into DM (diabetes without neuropathy, retinopathy or nephropathy), DPN (diabetes with peripheral neuropathy only) and healthy control groups. The gene polymorphism was determined by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism, as well as other clinical methods including serum VEGF by ELISA. Results: The C allele frequency and CC genotype frequency in the DPN group were higher than those in the NC group and DM group. The T allele frequency and CT+TT genotype (carrying the T allele) frequency in the DPN group were lower than those in the NC group (χ2 = 19.051 and 18.533, both p < 0.001) and DM group (χ2 = 11.117 and 11.156, both p = 0.001). However, there was no statistically significant difference in the three genotype (CC/CT+TT) frequencies and allele (C/T) frequencies between the DM group and the NC group. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the levels of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and plasma VEGF positively correlated with DPN, while the 936C/T gene polymorphism of VEGF negatively correlated with DPN. Conclusions: Allele 936C of VEGF may serve as a genetic marker susceptible to DPN, while allele 936T may be a protective genetic marker of DPN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]