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Prestress loss of anchor cables can cause a change in the internal force for the support structure of a foundation pit or slope, which may cause engineering accidents. The coupling effect between an anchor cable and the creep of rock and soil is the main factor that leads to the loss of prestress of the anchor cables. However, the traditional Hooke–Kelvin (H-K) viscoelastic model could not accurately predict the long-term loss of prestress. To solve this problem, based on the H-K viscoelastic model, a new H-3K viscoelastic model was proposed, consisting of two generalized Kelvin bodies connected in parallel, and its creep equation and relaxation equation were also derived. Focusing on slope engineering in Longnan City, Gansu Province, China, the prestress of anchor cables calculated by the proposed model were compared with the monitoring data. The result that the H-K creep coupling model is more accurate in predicting prestress loss of anchor cables in the initial stage, but from a long-term perspective, the H-3K creep coupling model provided a more accurate prediction. By connecting more generalized Kelvin bodies in parallel, stress shared by the elastic body can be reduced and stress loss due to anchor cable relaxation can be approximately compensated for to make the prediction results closer to the monitored values. However, when there are more than three Kelvin bodies in parallel, the model prediction results will change only slightly. Therefore, the H-3K creep coupling model is sufficient for practical engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Uterine fibroids (UFs) are the most common neoplasm affecting reproductive-age women. The purpose of the present study is to explore the association between dietary diversity and risk of UFs in a cross-sectional study of urban premenopausal women.Methods and Study Design: A total of 248 urban premenopausal women with age of 20-45 were recruited in 3 randomly chosen hospitals in Shijiazhuang, China. Dietary diversity was assessed from food frequency intake data using dietary diversity score (DDS), Prime Diet Quality Score (PDQS) and food variety score (FVS). UFs were diagnosed by the methods of ultrasound, pelvic exam, or surgery. Binary logistic regression was used to estimate the relationship between dietary diversity and risk of UFs.Results: 37 of the study subjects (14.9%) had UFs. Participants with a low education level and single marital status participants had a lower DDS and PDQS, respectively. After adjustment for confounding factors, a higher DDS 24 was associated with decreased UF risk (OR=0.22, 95% CI=0.05-1.01). Similar trends were observed for the plantbased FVS (ptrend=0.025). Carrot (OR=0.04, 95% CI=0.00-0.48) and kiwi fruit (OR=0.03, 95% CI=0.00-0.47) were also inversely associated with risk of UFs after adjustment for confounding factors.Conclusions: Multifarious food groups and the increase of variety of plant-based food, especially carrot and kiwi fruit, may be associated with the lower risk of UFs; they may play an important role in inhibiting the formation of UFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overuse of antibiotics in animal husbandry has led to an increase of antibiotic resistance microorganisms as well as antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs). Duck farming in China is practiced on a large and diverse scale and the overuse of antibiotics in this field is gaining attention recently. We evaluated the diversity of ARGs from five duck farms using a functional metagenomic approach and constructed five libraries. A total of seventy-six resistant determinants were identified, of which sixty-one were gene variants or novel genes. The novel genes contained five β-lactamase-encoding genes designated as bla DWA1 , bla DWA2 , bla DWA3 , bla DWA4 and bla DWB1 , respectively, and two genes conferring resistance to fosfomycin designated as fosA-like1 and fosA-like2. Three of the five β-lactamase-encoding genes were further identified as extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) that can hydrolyze both penicillins and cephalosporins. Besides, two of the five β-lactamase-encoding genes were associated with mobile genetic elements, indicating a high potential for transfer of the genes to other bacterial hosts. The two novel fosA-like genes were able to increase the MICs of the test Escherichia coli strain from 2 μg/mL to as high as 256 μg/mL(up to 128-fold increase). Our study provides a reference for ARGs prevalence in duck farm wastes and implies that they are an important resistome reservoir, especially for novel ARGs with high spread potential., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

High bone mass (HBM) is usually caused by gene mutations, and its mechanism remains unclear. In the present study, we identified a novel mutation in the long noncoding RNA Reg1cp that is associated with HBM. Subsequent analysis in 1,465 Chinese subjects revealed that heterozygous Reg1cp individuals had higher bone density compared with subjects with WT Reg1cp Mutant Reg1cp increased the formation of the CD31 hi Emcn hi endothelium in the bone marrow, which stimulated angiogenesis during osteogenesis. Mechanistically, mutant Reg1cp directly binds to Krüppel-like factor 3 (KLF3) to inhibit its activity. Mice depleted of Klf3 in endothelial cells showed a high abundance of CD31 hi Emcn hi vessels and increased bone mass. Notably, we identified a natural compound, Ophiopogonin D, which functions as a KLF3 inhibitor. Administration of Ophiopogonin D increased the abundance of CD31 hi Emcn hi vessels and bone formation. Our findings revealed a specific mutation in lncRNA Reg1cp that is involved in the pathogenesis of HBM and provides a new target to treat osteoporosis., (© 2019 Yang et al.)

Despite its monotonous structure, sea-island plays a crucial role in sustaining biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. The objectives of this study were to explore the altitudinal variation of soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) pools in forests across 14 islands spanning temperate zone (TZ), northern subtropical zone (NSZ), mid-subtropical zone (MSZ), and sou-thern subtropical zone (SSZ) in eastern China. The relationships of soil C and nutrient pools with climatic factors and plant species diversity were examined across islands. Our results showed that soil C, N and P pools differed significantly across climatic zones. Soil C and N pools were the lowest in TZ (49.35 and 1.08 t·hm -2 ) and the highest in NSZ (137.25 and 4.63 t·hm -2 ). Soil P pool was the lowest in SSZ (1.3 t·hm -2 ) and the highest in NSZ (5.19 t·hm -2 ). There were significant difference in soil C, N and P pools among vegetation types. Soil C, N and P pools in deciduous forests were significantly higher in subtropical than in temperate islands. Soil C and N pools in evergreen broadleaved forests did not differ among sub-climatic zones, and soil P pool was lower in SSZ than that in NSZ and MSZ. The interactions across mean annual temperature, mean annual precipitation, soil water content, and plant species diversity positively affected latitudinal variation in soil C, N, and P pools. Plant species diversity positively associated with soil N pool, but negatively linked with soil P pool. In conclusion, the latitudinal trend of soil C pool is different, but that of soil N and P pools are identical between sea-island and mainland. The main abiotic and biotic dri-vers of soil C, N and P pools are water availability, temperature and plant species diversity across sea-islands in eastern China.

Triclosan (TCS), a broad-spectrum antibacterial agent widely used in pharmaceuticals and personal case products (PPCPs), has been universally detected in aquatic ecosystem in recent years. Unfortunately, there is limited information about its potential impacts on responses of genes and enzymes related to fish detoxification. In the present work, we cloned CYP3A and alpha-GST of yellow catfish (Pelteobagrus fulvidraco) and tested the transcriptional expression of CYP1A, CYP3A and GST as well as the alterations of their corresponding enzymes, including ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD), aminopyrine N-demethylase (APND), erythromycin N-demethylase (ERND), glutathione S-transferase (GST) and catalase (CAT), and also the oxidative product malondialdehyde (MDA) content in the liver of P. fulvidraco exposed to TCS. Amino acids of CYP3A and GST were deduced and phylogenetic tree was constructed respectively. High identity percent was exhibited between P. fulvidraco and other species, such as other fish, birds and mammals. Results indicated that TCS significantly elevated CYP1A and GST but decreased CYP3A expression, EROD activity and MDA content at lower concentrations of TCS at 24h. Moreover, CYP3A and GST were significantly inhibited at 72 h but induced at 168 h at lower concentrations. However, CYP3A was always induced at the highest concentration during the exposure period. Furthermore, CYP3A, GST, GST enzyme and MDA content exhibited a dose-effect relationship to some extent, but no significant responses were observed in ERND, APND and CAT except for individual treatments. Taken together, EROD was the most sensitive to TCS exposure as compared to other enzymes. Meanwhile, mRNA responses were more sensitive in yellow catfish., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)