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Obesity is characterized by chronic inflammation, insulin resistance, and gut microbiota dysbiosis. Dioscorea opposita Thunb. is a traditional food and medicine homolog from China. In the present study, polysaccharides isolated from a water extract of Dioscorea opposita Thunb. (DOTPs) were prepared. We showed that DOTPs reduced body weight, accumulation of fat tissues, insulin resistance, and inflammation in high‐fat diet (HFD)‐fed mice. Further experiments showed that DOTPs could regulate the composition of the gut microbiota in HFD mice. DOTPs supplementation in HFD‐fed mice resulted in the reduction of the Firmicutes‐to‐Bacteroidetes ratio. We further demonstrated that DOTPs supplementation enhanced bacterial levels of Akkermansia and reduced levels of Ruminiclostridium_9. A significant reduction of glycolysis metabolism related to obesity and gut microbiota dysbiosis was also observed upon administration of DOTPs. Our results suggest that DOTPs can produce significant anti‐obesity effects, by inhibiting systematic inflammation and ameliorating gut microbiota dysbiosis in diet‐induced obese mice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A comprehensive study using ecological engineering analysis was conducted on the influence of the hydrology process in the Yellow River Delta. It was found that water and sediment played an important role in the formation and maintenance of the estuarine wetland. Based on hydrological data (1950–2005), meteorological data (1954–2005) and landscape data produced from integrated Landsat TM images of the Yellow River Delta, the relationship among all the above factors has been analyzed. The results indicated that runoff, sediment discharge and the area of the reed marsh wetland, meadow wetland and tidal wetland had evidently decreased from 1986 to 2001. The runoff and sediment discharge into the Yellow River Delta at a rate of 200–300×108 m3 and at 5–8×108 t, respectively, were probably the most optimal range for maintaining the stable wetland landscape pattern. Regression analysis and principal component analysis showed that there was a strong positive correlation between the area of wetland landscape and runoff, sediment discharge, whereas there was a negative correlation between the area and the temperature, and there was no significant trend with precipitation levels. The water and sediment discharge are the dominant variable factors of the wetland. Human activities also have an important influence on transformation of wetland types as well as wetland degradation. Therefore, with economic development, climate change and sustainable utilization of resources, great attention should be paid to the changes of natural landscape and their causes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• The gas explosion pressure and flame propagation law were obtained by OpenFOAM. • The impact of special arrangement on gas explosions is analyzed. • The mechanism of the gas explosion under the conditions of special arrangement was discussed. • The characteristics of the gas explosion in goaf is revealed. Gas explosions causing heavy casualties in the goaf of coal mine occasionally occurred in China. The goaf in the coal mine is a multi-scale complex medium with pores in remaining coal, the gaps among rock blocks that don't meet the characteristics of the porous medium. The propagation of flames and shock waves induced by the gas explosion in the goaf is very complicated. Based on the spatial structure characteristics of the goaf, the numerical model of a gas explosion is established by using the OpenFOAM open-source CFD source code. The flame and shock wave propagation characteristics induced by the gas explosion are analyzed under the conditions of different arrangements for gradient diameter rocks. The results reveal that the initial flame propagation speed, shock wave and the pressure rise speed all increases firstly, while the values show a decreasing trend when the diameter of the rocks increases in the gradient rocks diameter model. The research results will be of great guiding significance for the prevention and control of gas explosions in the goaf, and the investigation of gas explosion accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Collective attention of investors maps the interests and intention of investors directly in the stock market. However, the evolution mechanism of the collective attention from the viewpoint of complex system is missing. In this paper, we empirically investigate the investor collective attention mechanism based on a best-known stock trading platform between 2014 and 2016. Taking the global and recent popularity effects into account, we introduce a generative model for the collective attention of millions of investors who are deciding their trading behavior among thousands of stocks in Chinese stock market. The experimental results show that the investor attention is more closely affected by recent attention, with the optimal case, when the memory effect parameter T = 10 and the recent popularity parameter γ = 0. 1 , the model could regenerate the collective attention more accurately, say Kendall’s τ = 0. 92 for the Shanghai Stock Exchange(SSE) and Shenzhen Stock Exchange(SZSE) simultaneously. This work may shed some lights for deeply understanding the mechanism of the investor collective attention for the financial market. Highlights • Taking into account the cumulative and recent popularity, we introduce a generative model for the collective attention of investors. • The investor attention is more closely affected by recent attention. With the optimal case, the Kendall’s τ = 0. 92 for two different stock exchanges. • This work enrich the research of investor collective attention from the view of complex system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Picophytoplankton (<3 μm), comprising picocyanobacteria (PCY) and photosynthetic picoeukaryotes (PPEs), are considerably important in the material circulation and energy flow of aquatic ecosystems. To explore the temporal and spatial variation patterns of picophytoplankton and their correlations with environmental factors in lotic Yangtze-connected lakes, field in-situ investigations were performed on a monthly basis during the wet season (May to August) in 2019 in East Lake Dongting, a Yangtze-connected lake. The results indicated that both the Chla biomass and abundances of picophytoplankton exhibited significant spatial and temporal variability ( P <0.05). The picophytoplankton Chla biomass showed an average concentration of 8.52 μg·L -1 and accounted for 41.6% to total phytoplankton on an average. From May to August, Chla biomass of picophytoplankton kept increasing with increasing temperature, especially in the north and south of the lake, and it was the lowest in the east of the lake. PCY dominated picophytoplankton abundance in East Lake Dongting and was 3.4 times the abundance of PPEs on an average. Similar spatial and temporal variation patterns were observed between PCY and PPEs. The abundances of PCY and PPEs both increased first and then decreased during the wet season. Spatially, picophytoplankton showed a trend to migrate from the northern lake to the southern lake from May to July, and the abundance significantly declined in August and peaked mainly in the north of the lake. The analysis results showed that picophytoplankton in East Lake Dongting exhibited significant spatial and temporal variability during the wet season; the water level and N：P ratio were determined to be the most important factors explaining the variation of the abundance proportion of PCY and PPEs.

Han Chinese is the largest ethnic group in the world. During its development, it gradually integrated with many neighboring populations. To uncover the origin of the Han Chinese, ancient DNA analysis was performed on the remains of 46 humans (1700 to 1900 years ago) excavated from the Taojiazhai site in Qinghai province, northwest of China, where the Di-Qiang populations had previously lived. In this study, eight mtDNA haplogroups (A, B, D, F, M*, M10, N9a, and Z) and one Y-chromosome haplogroup (O3) were identified. All analyses show that the Taojiazhai population presents close genetic affinity to Tibeto-Burman populations (descendants of Di-Qiang populations) and Han Chinese, suggesting that the Di-Qiang populations may have contributed to the Han Chinese genetic pool., (2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)