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Industrialization has increased global carbon emissions, necessitating effective climate change mitigation measures. China, the most populous developing nation, faces the challenge of strategizing emissions to meet national carbon neutrality objectives. However, research on specific regions' carbon emissions drivers and causal factors is limited, particularly across prefectural-level cities. This study estimates the spatial and temporal patterns of carbon emissions across China's prefectural cities and utilizes both OLS regression and stepwise regression models to analyze the impact of various factors influencing carbon emissions in these cities. Results reveal the following: (1) The country's overall 20-year carbon emissions continue to grow from 3020.29 Mt in 2001 to 9169.74 Mt in 2020, with an average annual growth rate of 5.71%; the eastern region has seen a gradual deceleration in emissions, whereas the western region continues to experience an increase. Carbon emissions in cities within each subregion consistently rise. (2) Carbon emissions in Chinese prefectural-level cities exhibit strong spatial autocorrelation and clustering (Z > 1.96, p < 0.05), with hot spots primarily in the eastern coastal areas and cold spots in the northwest to southwest regions. (3) Economic and demographic factors significantly increase carbon emissions, while climate and urbanization effects are more complex and variable. Economic growth and population increase are the most significant influencing factors, but regional variances exist in carbon emissions determinants in subregional prefectural cities. These insights provide valuable insights into national emission dynamics at the prefectural level, providing a theoretical basis for enhancing carbon emission strategies across various jurisdictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A systematic analysis of typhus group rickettsiosis (TGR) and scrub typhus (ST) cases in China. • Epidemiological patterns of TGR and ST have changed from 1950 to 2022. • Distributions of the reporting institutions varied among the provinces. • Delayed diagnosis was associated with fatal outcomes of TGR and ST. • Enhanced control and prevention strategies for rickettsial diseases are necessary. We conducted a systematic analysis of the notifiable rickettsial diseases in humans in China during 1950-2022. We utilized descriptive statistics to analyze the epidemiological characteristics, clinical manifestations, and diagnostic characteristics of typhus group rickettsiosis (TGR) and scrub typhus (ST) cases. Since the 1950s, there have been variations in the incidence rate of TGR and ST in China, with a downtrend for TGR and an uptrend for ST. The South became a high-incidence area of TGR, whereas the North was previously the high-incidence area. ST cases were concentrated in the South and the geographic area of ST spread northward and westward. The seasonality of TGR and ST were similar in the South but distinct in the North. Most TGR and ST cases were reported by county-level medical institutions, whereas primary institutions reported the least. Delayed diagnosis was associated with fatal outcomes of TGR and ST. Cases in low-incidence provinces, confirmed by laboratory tests and reported from county/municipal-level institutions had higher odds of delayed diagnoses. Our study revealed significant changes in the epidemiological characteristics of TGR and ST in China, which can provide useful information to enhance the control and prevention strategies of rickettsial diseases in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the 30-year global hourly sea surface temperature (SST) dataset (MLSST) produced by the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center, Ministry of Natural Resources of China, we analyzed the variability of diurnal sea surface temperature amplitude (DSST) of the tropical Indian Ocean at multiple time scales, as well as its influencing factors. The results show that the DSST in the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, and equatorial Indian Ocean exhibits a bimodal seasonal variation with a semi-annual cycle, while the DSST in the southern Indian Ocean shows an annual cycle. The seasonal variation of DSST is mainly influenced by factors such as sea surface wind speed, shortwave solar radiation, and precipitation. The DSST in the equatorial Indian Ocean is generally higher during El Niño years compared to La Niña years. At the intraseasonal scale, the large standard deviation of DSST in boreal winter is mainly distributed in the southern hemisphere, while the large standard deviation of DSST in boreal summer shifts northward. The intraseasonal variation amplitude of DSST in boreal winter of the tropical Indian Ocean is greater than that in boreal summer. The DSST in the tropical Indian Ocean exhibits significant variation characteristics at multi-time scales. This study provides reference for numerical simulation of air-sea interaction patterns in the tropical Indian Ocean, as well as improvement of short-term climate prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porcine sapelovirus (PSV) is an emerging swine enteric virus that can cause various disorders including acute diarrhea, respiratory distress, reproductive failure, and polioencephalomyelitis in pigs. In this study, we isolated a PSV strain HNHB-01 from a clinical porcine deltacoronavirus- (PDCoV-) positive intestinal content of a diarrheic piglet. PSV was first identified using the small RNA deep sequencing and assembly, and further identified by the electron microscopic observation and the immunofluorescence assay. Subsequently, this virus was serially passaged in swine testis (ST) cells, and the complete genomics of PSV HNHB-01 passage 5 (P5), P30, P60, and P100 were sequenced and analyzed. 9 nucleotide mutations and 7 amino acid changes occurred in the PSV HNHB-01 P100 strain when compared with the PSV HNHB-01 P5. Pathogenicity investigation showed that orally inoculation of PSV HNHB-01 P30 could cause obvious clinical symptoms and had broad tissue tropism in 5-day-old piglets. Epidemiological investigation revealed that PSV infections and the coinfections of diarrhea coronaviruses were highly prevalent in swine herds. The complete genomes of 8 representative PSV epidemic strains were sequenced and analyzed. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the PSV epidemic strains were closely related to other PSV reference strains that located in the Chinese clade. Furthermore, recombination analysis revealed that the recombination events were occurred in downstream of the 2C region in our sequenced PSV HNNY-02/CHN/2018 strain. Our results provided theoretical basis for future research studies of the pathogenic mechanism, evolutionary characteristics, and the development of vaccines against PSV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of economy, the scale of construction industry is gradually expanding, and the construction performance and comprehensive performance of each construction project are developing faster and faster. Compared with the traditional superplasticizer, nano-sized polycarboxylic acid superplasticizer has the advantages of high water reducing rate, small collapse loss and good cement adaptability. China's polycarboxylic acid high performance water reducer is mainly used in high-speed railway, highway, bridge and other key projects, the market share of commercial concrete is relatively low. In this paper, the research of nano-sized large monomer polycarboxylic acid high performance water reducer in high performance concrete under microscope is studied. The effect of nano-sized large monomer polycarboxylic acid high performance water reducer on durability and compressive strength of high performance concrete is studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South China Sea Operational Oceanography Forecasting System (SCSOFS), constructed and operated by the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center of China, has been providing daily updated hydrodynamic forecasting in the South China Sea (SCS) for the next 5 d since 2013. This paper presents recent comprehensive updates to the configurations of the physical model and data assimilation scheme in order to improve the forecasting skill of the SCSOFS. This paper highlights three of the most sensitive updates: the sea surface atmospheric forcing method, the discrete tracer advection scheme, and a modification of the data assimilation scheme. Intercomparison and accuracy assessment among the five sub-versions were performed during the entire upgrading process using the OceanPredict Intercomparison and Validation Task Team Class 4 metrics. The results indicate that remarkable improvements have been made to the SCSOFSv2 with respect to the original version (known as SCSOFSv1). The domain-averaged monthly mean root-mean-square errors of the sea surface temperature and sea level anomaly have decreased from 1.21 to 0.52 ∘ C and from 21.6 to 8.5 cm, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the latest operational version of the ENSO forecast system from the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center (NMEFC) of China, ensemble forecasting experiments are performed for El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events that occurred from 1997 to 2017 by generating initial perturbations of the conditional nonlinear optimal perturbation (CNOP) and climatically relevant singular vector (CSV) structures. It is shown that when the initial perturbation of the leading CSV structure in the ensemble forecast of the CSVs scheme is replaced by those of the CNOP structure, the resulted ensemble ENSO forecasts of the CNOP+CSVs scheme tend to possess a larger spread than the forecasts obtained with the CSVs scheme alone, leading to a better match between the root-mean-square error and the ensemble spread, a more reasonable Talagrand diagram, and an improved Brier skill score (BSS). All these results indicate that the ensemble forecasts generated by the CNOP+CSVs scheme can improve both the accuracy of ENSO forecasting and the reliability of the ensemble forecasting system. Therefore, ENSO ensemble forecasting should consider the effect of nonlinearity on the ensemble initial perturbations to achieve a much higher skill. It is expected that fully nonlinear ensemble initial perturbations can be sufficiently yielded to produce ensemble forecasts for ENSO, finally improving the ENSO forecast skill to the greatest possible extent. The CNOP will be a useful method to yield fully nonlinear optimal initial perturbations for ensemble forecasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of thinness, overweight and obesity among Tibetan adolescents aged 12-17 years.Design: Cross-sectional survey.Setting: Shigatse City of Tibet municipality, with an average altitude of more than 4000 m.Participants: Study participants included 2642 adolescents aged 12-17 years selected from six schools using a convenient cluster sampling method.Results: The prevalence of thinness/overweight/obesity among Tibetan adolescents was 9·4 %/5·4 %/1·4 % (China definition), 14·7 %/4·4 %/0·7 % (International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) definition), and 2·8 %/5·7 %/0·9 % (WHO definition). The prevalence of thinness and overweight was significantly different between both sexes based on each of three BMI classification criteria (P < 0·001). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of obesity between both sexes according to each of three BMI criteria. There was no clear trend in the prevalence of thinness across ages according to the China or IOTF definition (both P > 0·05), whereas an upward trend was observed for thinness in boys according to the IOTF definition (Pfor trend <0·05). In contrast, the prevalence of thinness tended to decrease with increasing age in girls according to the IOTF definition and in total sample according to the WHO definition (Pfor trend <0·05).Conclusions: Among Tibetan adolescents, the prevalence of overweight and obesity is relatively low, while the prevalence of thinness is high, especially in boys. These data suggest urgent attention is needed to control adolescent thinness in Tibet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caroxylon passerinum is an important constructive species, which is widely distributed in both desert and desert steppe in north-western China. C. passerinum is one of hosts of holoparasitic Cistanche species. In this study, we report the complete chloroplast genome sequence of C. passerinum, which is 150,925 bp in length and comprises a large single-copy region (83,057 bp), a small single-copy region (18,180 bp), and a pair of inverted repeats (24,844 bp). It encodes 132 unique genes, including 89 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 35 tRNAs, and eight rRNAs. The overall GC content of this chloroplast genome is 36.8%. Maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree strongly supports that C. passerinum is closely related to the hosts of Cistanche deserticola, Haloxylon persicum and Haloxylon ammodendron. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban woodland is a dominant landscape element in supporting sustainability of urban systems. The aesthetic, ecological and psychological benefits provided by urban woodland are closely related to characteristics of the overstory and understory. The distribution and dynamics of tree canopy cover has been well elucidated, however, few studies focused on functioning and structure of urban understory and the interaction between different vegetation layers. In this study, ecological size-density allometry obtained through linear, quadratic and piecewise linear models was employed to quantify the resource competition of understory vegetation and effects of overstory canopy cover on understory in Shanghai metropolitan area of China. We found that canopy cover shapes the size-density pattern rather than affecting biomass and density directly. Size-density allometric relationships from piecewise linear models provided the optimal planting density under different canopy cover levels. Considering the linkage between vegetation layers and resource competition, we proposed that middle canopy cover of overstory (60%–80%) and relative low density of understory herb (175 m−2) is an optimal management strategy for maintaining high ecosystem services and functioning of urban woodlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerosol vertical profiling is crucial to understand the formation mechanism and evolution processes of haze, which have not yet been comprehensively clarified. In this study, we investigated a severe, persistent haze event in Wuhan (30.5° N, 114.4° E), China during 5–18 January 2013 by the use of a polarization lidar, a Cimel sun photometer, meteorological datasets, and the hybrid single-particle Lagrangian integrated trajectory (HYSPLIT) model, focusing on the time–height evolution of aerosols in both the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) and elevated layers. During the haze period, the integrated particle depolarization ratio was 0.05 ± 0.02, and the fine mode fraction reached 0.91 ± 0.03, indicating haze particles were rather spherical and predominately submicron, that is, of anthropogenic nature. Compared with the clear period, columnar aerosol optical depth at 500 nm tripled to 1.32 ± 0.31, and the strongest enhancement in aerosol concentration occurred from near the ground to an altitude of 1.2 km during the haze period. The daytime evolution of aerosol vertical distribution in the ABL exhibited a distinct pattern under haze weather. Abundant particles accumulated below 0.5 km in the morning hours due to stable meteorological conditions, including a strong surface-based inversion (4.4–8.1 °C), late development (from 1000–1100 LT) of the convective boundary layer, and weak wind (<4 m∙s−1) in the lowermost troposphere. In the afternoon, improved ventilation delivered an overall reduction in boundary layer aerosols but was insufficient to eliminate haze. Particularly, the morning residual layer had an optical depth of 0.29–0.56. It influenced air quality indirectly by weakening convective activities in the morning and directly through the fumigation process around noon, suggesting it may be an important element in aerosol–ABL interactions during consecutive days with haze. Our lidar also captured the presence of the elevated aerosol layers (EALs) embodying regional/long-range transport. Most of the EALs were observed to subside to <1.2 km and exacerbate the pollution level. Backward trajectory analysis and lidar data revealed the EALs originated from the transport of anthropogenic pollutants from the Sichuan Basin, China, and of dust from the deserts in the northwest. They were estimated to contribute ~19% of columnar aerosol-loading, pointing to a non-negligible role of transport during the intense pollution episode. The results could benefit the complete understanding of aerosol–ABL interactions under haze weather and air quality forecasting and control in Wuhan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The land surface temperature (LST) is a key parameter used to characterize the interaction between land and the atmosphere. Therefore, obtaining highly accurate, spatially consistent and temporally continuous LSTs in large areas is the basis of many studies. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LST product is commonly used to achieve this. However, it has many missing values caused by clouds and other factors. The current gap-filling methods need to be improved when applied to large areas. In this study, we used the Bayesian maximum entropy (BME) method, which considers spatial and temporal correlation, and takes multiple regression results of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Digital Elevation Model (DEM), longitude and latitude as soft data to reconstruct space-complete daily clear-sky LSTs with a 1 km resolution for China's landmass in 2015. The average Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of this method was 1.6 K for the daytime and 1.2 K for the nighttime when we simultaneously covered more than 10,000 verification points, including blocks that were continuous in space, and the average RMSE of a single discrete verification point for 365 days was 0.4 K for the daytime and 0.3 K for the nighttime when we covered four discrete points. Urban and snow land cover types have a higher accuracy than forests and grasslands, and the accuracy is higher in winter than in summer. The high accuracy and great ability of this method to capture extreme values in urban areas can help improve urban heat island research. This method can also be extended to other study areas, other time periods, and the estimation of other geographical attribute values. How to effectively convert clear-sky LST into real LST requires further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Passive daytime radiative cooling reduces building cooling load by simultaneously radiating infrared to the outer space (∼3 K) and reflecting solar irradiation without energy input. Developing a paint-format radiative cooling material and improving evaluation methods are critical for commercialization. Taking the advantage of high bandgap (7.6 eV) for low solar absorption, a facile, scalable, and high-performance MgO paint was developed in this work. Model Building cooling experiment and the corresponding thermodynamic modeling were carried out to investigate the cooling potential of the proposed paint in building applications. In addition, for the first time, a life-cycle assessment has been conducted for the developed MgO radiative cooling paint. Results show that the MgO paint exhibits a broadband infrared emissivity of ∼0.93 over the mid-IR region (2.5–25 μm) via phonon polariton resonances, simultaneously delivering a high solar reflectivity of ∼0.95 by particle scattering. A sub-ambient temperature reduction of ∼3.5 °C and a net cooling power of ∼61.2 W/m2 were experimentally demonstrated even on a humid and cloudy day with a peak solar irradiation of 868 W/m2. Furthermore, the MgO paint-coated building can achieve an indoor temperature reduction of ∼9.2 °C and a maximum cooling energy saving of ∼10 kWh/(m2⋅yr). The total environmental impact can be reduced by 7.92–24.75% with the developed MgO paint compared to the commercial one in the non-severe cold areas of China. This work provided a potentially scalable radiative cooling material and opened a new pathway for comprehensively evaluating radiative cooling materials. [Display omitted] • The MgO paint exhibits a solar reflectivity of ∼0.95 and an IR emissivity over 0.93. • A net power of ∼61.2 W/m2 and building cooling performance of ∼9.2 K were achieved. • A lifecycle assessment model for radiative coolers was developed for the first time. • The environmental impact of building paints reduced by 7.92–24.75% in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting energy transformation in rural areas, building a Rural Integrated Energy System, and developing multi-energy complementary and comprehensive utilization of rural energy in accordance with local conditions are important paths to support global low-carbon transformation and rural revitalization. However, how to consider the coupling synergy of multiple devices and plan the capacity of multiple devices in rural energy systems in an economical, low-carbon, and reliable manner is an urgent issue facing the development of Rural Integrated Energy System. This paper proposes a bi-level programming optimization method of Rural Integrated Energy System based on coupling coordination degree of energy equipment. Firstly, a multi-dimensional rural user energy utilization framework is designed that comprehensively considers agriculture, animal husbandry, industry, and lifestyle. Secondly, the bi-level optimization model of the Rural Integrated Energy System based on the coupling coordination degree of energy equipment is constructed. The upper-level planning model puts forward the equipment coupling coordination degree, and determines the equipment selection scheme for different types of Rural Integrated Energy System planning. The lower-level planning model considers economy, low carbon, and reliability, and uses the improved multi-objective Harris Hawk optimization algorithm to solve the capacity of different energy equipment in the Rural Integrated Energy System. Finally, the effectiveness and scientific nature of the model and method proposed in this paper are verified by the Integrated Energy Systems of a rural area in the north of China. In addition, by comparing the equipment selection scheme with the traditional method, it can be found that the optimization scheme in this paper that considers the coupling coordination of energy equipment reduces the annualized total cost by 29.34 %, reduces the annual carbon emissions by 60.43 %, and increases the reliability by 15.85 %. The collaborative planning of energy economy, low carbon energy and reliable energy has been realized. • A framework for the utilization of energy by multiple users in rural areas was designed. • A bi-level programming optimization method of RIES based on coupling coordination degree of energy equipment was proposed. • An improved multi-objective Harris Hawk optimization was constructed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The volcanic activity during the Cenozoic is thought to be forced by Earth's orbit, as it exhibits the Milankovitch cycle. However, the pattern of volcanic activity before the Cenozoic is still unclear. In this study, we studied the volcanic ash-bearing layers preserved in Upper Permian in Southwestern China and analyzed the cycle of volcanic activity from Emeishan Large Igneous Province (ELIP) during the waning stage of Emeishan mantle plume activity. Mineralogy, geochemistry, and gamma-ray (GR) data were used for high-resolution identification of volcanic ash-bearing layers. Al 2 O 3 /TiO 2 , aluminum normalized Th and Sn, and positive anomalies GR data can reflect volcanic ash input. The 206Pb/238U weighted age of zircon ranges from 256.00 ± 2.00 Ma to 251.47 ± 1.29 Ma, indicating synsedimentary volcanic ash. We apply cyclostratigraphic analysis to convert data from the depth domain to the time domain, and then utilize the multitaper method to analyze the cycle of volcanic activity of ELIP. Spectral analysis results reveal that the volcanic activity has long eccentricity (405-kyr), obliquity (∼33-kyr), and precession (∼20-kyr) periods. We propose the astronomical orbital forcing in volcanic activity during the Late Permian, and we have discovered volcanic activity cycles on a larger timescale of astronomical orbital periods (405-kyr long eccentricity). Volcanic activity was significantly correlated with sea level and climate change. During periods of low sea levels, the hot climate causes rapid sea level change, leading to rapid changes in crustal stress and strong volcanic activity. The absolute sea level controls volcanic activity, and the high sea levels suppress volcanic activity. • Multiple methods are used for high-resolution identification of volcanic ash layers. • The astronomical orbital forcing in volcanic activity. • Volcanism mainly occur during the rapid sea level rise stage of low sea level periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of volcanic ash-bearing layers deposited in the Upper Permian coal-bearing strata on the southwestern margin of the Yangtze Craton are well preserved, and some layers show the enrichment of critical elements such as an assemblage of Zr(Hf)–Nb(Ta)–Ga–REE (REE, rare earth elements). Based on previous work, we studied the source of the Upper Permian volcanic ash-bearing layers widely distributed in western to northwestern Guizhou and the geological factors for the enrichment of critical elements. This article provides a detailed analysis of the mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of the Upper Permian volcanic ash-bearing layers. The mineralogy of the samples is dominated by clay minerals, quartz, anatase, plagioclase, and pyrite, with a few containing K-feldspar, calcite, dolomite, and siderite. The clay minerals are mainly composed of mixed-layer illite/smectite (I/S) and kaolinite. The whole rock geochemistry (Al 2 O 3 /TiO 2 , Nb/Ta vs. Zr/Hf, Nb/Al 2 O 3 vs. Zr/Al 2 O 3 , and Th/Al 2 O 3 vs. Zr/Al 2 O 3) and zircon trace elements (Th/Nb vs. Hf/Th, Nb/Yb vs. U/Yb, Ta vs. Nb, and Yb/Sm vs. Y) were used to help determine the source. The results indicate that the sources of the samples include Emeishan high-Ti basalt, intraplate volcanic ash from the Emeishan large igneous province (ELIP), and arc volcanic ash. The critical elements (Zr[Hf]–Nb[Ta]–REE) are mainly derived from the syndepositional intraplate volcanic ash erupted from the ELIP. The results of zircon trace elements and Hf isotope ratios suggest that the magma from the ELIP has gradually evolved from the mantle to the crust, and became more enriched in critical elements such as Nb and Ta. The intraplate volcanic ash from ELIP is the main supplier of critical elements and plays a crucial role in their enrichment through the Late Permian in southwestern China. The paleoenvironment controlled the deposition of volcanic ashes, and most of the critical element enrichment layers developed in weak hydrodynamic environments. The paleogeography and acid rain influenced the migration of critical elements such as Nb, Ta, REE, and Y in some layers. The enrichment of critical elements is also controlled by the regularity and intensity of intraplate volcanic activity. [Display omitted] • The sources include high-Ti basalt, intraplate volcanic ash, and arc volcanic ash. • Intraplate volcanic ash played a predominant role in supplying critical metals. • Magmatic evolution controlled the enrichment of critical elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Combined the muscovite 40Ar-39Ar dating and cassiterite LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating in the Aotou tin deposit. • Analyzed the potential of Aotou tin deposit to be large-scale tin deposits. • Summarized the petrology, mineralogy and geochemistry index for ore prospecting by compiling data of late Indosinian granites. The determination of deposit age is fundamental in economic geology, while the result is often disappointing because of the difficulties in selection of suitable minerals. In this study, on the base of detailed field investigation, we successfully combined the muscovite 40Ar-39Ar dating and cassiterite LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating in the Aotou tin deposit, Jiangxi province, South China. The result of the muscovite 40Ar–39Ar plateau ages (228.7 ± 1.5 Ma) and the cassiterite U-Pb lower intercept ages (227.4 ± 6.9 Ma) are consistent, accurately defined that the Aotou tin deposit was formed during late Indosinian. With the gradual discovery of another Indosinian W-Sn deposit, we have taken this opportunity to discuss the prospecting index of the Indosinian granite by compiling data of relevant plutons. The result reflects that the Indosinian metallogenic plutons are mainly acidic rocks and produced in the form of small rock mass, with index minerals of muscovite and volatile-rich minerals such as tourmaline and fluorite. Geochemically, they show that the higher SiO 2 content (71.51–78.14%), A/CNK (1.13–1.66), Rb/Sr (21.94 in average), but lower Nb/Ta (4.03 in average) and ΣREE (85 ppm in average), which could be useful indexes for identifying the metallogenic pluton. Furthermore, the negative correlation between SiO 2 and ΣREE, K 2 O and Na 2 O can be used as important ore-prospecting indexes, as a result of they indicate the differentiation of ore-bearing hydrothermal fluids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the variation and patterns of vegetation coverage in the Yellow River Basin, as well as to promote regional ecological protection and maintain ecological construction achievements, MOD13Q1 data at a resolution of 250 m were used to calculate the annual average normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) in a time series from 2000 to 2010. Using a variation coefficient, a Theil–Sen Median trend analysis, the Mann–Kendall test, and the Hurst index method, this study investigated the temporal and spatial variations of vegetation coverage characteristics of the Yellow River Basin. The results showed that (1) the vegetation coverage of the Yellow River appeared to have an overall trend of high in the southeast and west and low in the northwest; (2) the averaged NDVI of the whole basin fluctuated in a range of 0.3 to 0.4 from 2000 to 2010 (from 2000 to 2004 there were larger variations and these have been growing rapidly since 2005); (3) the NDVI was stable, 73.4% of the vegetation-coverage area fluctuated with a low-to-medium amplitude, while 27.6% of the area varied by a large amplitude; (4) the regions with improved vegetation coverage (62.9%) were far greater than the degraded regions (27.7%), while the sustained invariant area accounted for 9.4% of the total vegetation coverage regions; and (5) 86% of the vegetation-covered area was positively sustainable. The areas with sustainable improvement accounted for 53.7% of the total vegetation coverage area; the invariant area accounted for 7.8%. The area with sustainable degradation was 24.5%; the future variation in trends of the residual (14%) could not be determined. Therefore, continuous attention must be given to the variation in trends of vegetation in the sustainably degraded and underdetermined regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new method for meteorological interpolation was propose by a decomposing way. • RF and IDW was coupled in predicting meteorological surfaces with covariates. • RF-IDW well depicts the relationship between meteorological value and covariates. • RF-IDW have good performance in the complex region. Spatially interpolated temperature and precipitation are hydrological variables that are widely applied in models of ecology, hydrology, agronomy, and other environmental sciences. The accuracy of meteorological data directly determine model performance. However, the interpolation of temperature and precipitation over complex areas is affected by the value observed with surrounding meteorological stations and also by aspects of the physical environment, such as terrain and land cover effects. These effects significantly limit the precise interpolation of temperature and precipitation. To normalize these effects, a new method coupling random forest (RF) and inverse distance weighting (IDW) was proposed, RF-IDW. The proposed method was applied to generate the climate surfaces of both precipitation and temperature in China in 2015. During the interpolation with RF-IDW, the temperature and precipitation were decomposed into a basic part (indicating the atmospheric properties) and local parts (representing the effects of the physical environment). The complex correlations were determined between precipitation/temperature and multiple-covariates of landcover, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), elevation, slope, longitude, soil moisture, latitude and Land Surface Temperature (LST) derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. Next, 10-fold and leave-one-region-out cross-validation were applied to verify the accuracy of RF-IDW for the interpolation of meteorological values. We also compared the RF-IDW performance to that of RF, IDW, Anusplin, and MLR to further investigate its feasibility. Based on 10-fold cross-validation, the coefficient of determinations (R2) between interpolated value and observed values were 0.962 for precipitation and 0.990 for temperature, indicating that the RF-IDW can accurately interpolate climate surfaces. The performance comparison showed that the RF-IDW reduced the mean absolute error by 55 mm to 120 mm for precipitation interpolation and 0.06 ℃ to 0.8 ℃ for temperature interpolation, especially in the complex region. The result of monthly interpolations implied the good robustness of the RF-IDW. Overall, the proposed RF-IDW approach allows improved spatial interpolation of complex region and suggest alternate methods for the spatial interpolation of hydrological variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Post-traumatic related limb osteomyelitis (PTRLO) is a complex bone infection. Currently, there are no available microbial data on a national scale that can guide appropriate antibiotic selection, and explore the dynamic changes in dominant pathogens over time. This study aimed to conduct a comprehensive epidemiological analysis of PTRLO in China., Methods: The study was approved by the Institutional Research Board (IRB), and 3526 PTRLO patients were identified from 212 394 traumatic limb fracture patients at 21 hospitals between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2017. A retrospective analysis was conducted to investigate the epidemiology of PTRLO, including changes in infection rate (IR), pathogens, infection risk factors and antibiotic resistance and sensitivity., Results: The IR of PTRLO increased gradually from 0.93 to 2.16% (Z=14.392, P <0.001). Monomicrobial infection (82.6%) was significantly higher than polymicrobial infection (17.4%) ( P <0.001). The IR of Gram-positive (GP) and Gram-negative (GN) pathogens showed a significant increase from the lowest 0.41% to the highest 1.15% (GP) or 1.62% (GN), respectively. However, the longitudinal trend of GP vs. GN's composition did not show any significance (Z=±1.1918, P >0.05). The most prevalent GP strains were Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) (17.03%), Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (10.46%), E. faecalis (5.19%) and S. epidermidis (4.87%). In contrast, the dominant strains GN strains were Pseudomonas Aeruginosa (10.92%), E. cloacae (10.34%), E. coli (9.47%), Acinetobacter Baumannii (7.92%) and Klebsiella Pneumoniae (3.33%). In general, the high-risk factors for polymicrobial infection include opened-fracture (odds ratio, 2.223), hypoproteinemia (odds ratio, 2.328), and multiple fractures (odds ratio, 1.465). It is important to note that the antibiotics resistance and sensitivity analysis of the pathogens may be influenced by complications or comorbidities., Conclusions: This study provides the latest data of PTRLO in China and offers trustworthy guidelines for clinical practice. (China Clinical Trials.gov number, ChiCTR1800017597)., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Osteoporotic fractures, also known as fragility fractures, are prevalent in the elderly and bring tremendous social burdens. Poor bone quality, weak repair capacity, instability, and high failure rate of internal fixation are main characteristics of osteoporotic fractures. Osteoporotic bone defects are common and need to be repaired by appropriate materials. Proximal humerus, distal radius, tibia plateau, calcaneus, and spine are common osteoporotic fractures with bone defect. Here, the consensus from the Osteoporosis Group of Chinese Orthopaedic Association concentrates on the epidemiology, characters, and management strategies of common osteoporotic fractures with bone defect to standardize clinical practice in bone repair of osteoporotic fractures., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The reviewer MY declared a shared parent affiliation with the authors ZS and DW at the time of review., (Copyright © 2022 Zhang, Hu, Chen, Wang, Cao, Dong, Shi, Chen, Xiong, Zhang, Zhang, Yu, Chen, Wang, Tong, Liu, Zhang, Zhou, Niu, Yang, Zhang, Wang, Chen, Jia, Yang, Zhang, Zhang, Miao, Sun, Shen, Yu, Yang, Zhang, Wang, Liu, Zhang and Su.)

Background and Aims: Many studies have examined the association between overweight or obesity assessed by body mass index and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in children or adolescents, but only few studies have assessed the relation with abdominal obesity in children. This study aimed to assess the association of abdominal obesity assessed by waist circumference (WC), high blood pressure (BP) and their joint effect on LVH and left ventricular (LV) geometric remodeling in Chinese children., Methods and Results: Data were from a cross-sectional survey of 1319 Chinese children aged 6-11 years who had undergone cardiac ultrasound. Compared with normal WC, the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for abdominal obesity were 6.78 (95% confidence interval [CI] 3.77-12.16) for LVH, 2.80 (1.55-5.05) for CR, 5.43 (2.84-10.39) for EH, and 20.05 (4.46-90.08) for CH, respectively. Compared with children with both normal WC and normal BP, the adjusted ORs for those with abdominal obesity and normal BP were 6.98 (3.71-13.10) for LVH, 2.87 (1.47-5.60) for CR, 5.52 (2.70-11.26) for EH, and 15.20 (4.51-78.13) for CH. The adjusted ORs for those with abdominal obesity and high BP were 7.12 (3.27-15.50) for LVH, 4.71 (2.04-10.85) for CR, 7.49 (3.23-17.40) for EH, and 8.65 (1.32-56.89) for CH. The ORs for those with high BP and normal WC were not significant for these cardiac outcomes (P > 0.05)., Conclusions: LVH and LV geometric remodeling were associated more strongly with abdominal obesity than with high BP in Chinese children, stressing the need to prevent childhood abdominal obesity for reducing cardiac risk., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest No conflict of interest was declared., (Copyright © 2020 The Italian Diabetes Society, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV), which integrates as a provirus into the genome of pig cells, is an important biosafety issue in xenotransplantation. Screening and analyzing the presence and expression of PERV will provide essential parameters for assessing the biosafety of donor sources. In the present study, we investigated the prevalence of PERV in Diannan small-eared pigs, a unique closed colony that is distributed in southern Yunnan Province in southwestern China. PCR was performed to amplify env-A, env-B, env-C, pol, gag, and mtDNA in peripheral blood samples. The results revealed that PERV env-A, env-B, pol, and gag were detected in all individuals, but env-C was deficient in most pigs, suggesting that the main subtypes of PERVs in Diannan small-eared pigs are PERV-A and PERV-B. Furthermore, PERV pol and the porcine housekeeping gene GAPDH were detected by RT-PCR in all peripheral blood samples, indicating that PERV had transcriptional activity. Finally, the consensus sequences of PERV-A and PERV-B were amplified and digested with KpnI and MboI. Interestingly, a total of seven digestion patterns were obtained, which is less than that observed in other pig breeds. The PCR products were cloned into the pUCm-T vector and sequenced. The results showed that all of the inserts were highly homologous to either PERV-A or PERV-B, and the ratios of PERV-A and PERV-B were 21.1% and 78.9%, respectively. These data suggest that Diannan small-eared pigs may be a candidate donor source for xenotransplantation.

Background: Hepatic resection is associated with significant risk of morbidity and mortality. Optimising the surgical techniques and perioperative management may improve in operative morbidity and mortality. However, perioperative variables involved in the improvement for postoperative outcomes in pediatric hepatectomy have not been defined., Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 156 consecutive pediatric patients who underwent hepatectomy at our center (an academic tertiary care hospital) between 2006 and 2016. Baseline demographic variables, intraoperative variables, complications, and hospital stay were explored. The patients were further investigated using univariate and multivariate analysis for the factors involved in the postoperative outcomes., Results: Of the conditions requiring resections, malignant and benign liver diseases accounted for 47.4% (74/156) and 52.6% (82/156), respectively. The overall hospital mortality was 1.9% (3/156) and the overall postoperative complication rate was 44.2% (69/156). Anatomical resections were performed in 128 patients (82.1%), including 14(9.0%) extended hepatectomies. Eighty percent of patients had three or more segments resected. The median operative time was 167.7 (65-600) minutes and median estimated blood loss was 320.1(10-1600) mL. On multivariate analysis, the estimated blood loss (EBL) (mL) (OR, 2.19; 95CI, 1.18-3.13; p = 0.016), extent of hepatectomy (OR, 1.81; 95CI, 1.06-2.69; p = 0.001) and pringle maneuver (OR, 1.38; 95CI, 1.02-1.88; p = 0.038) were the independent predictors of postoperative complications., Conclusions: Extent of hepatectomy and estimated blood loss are largely responsible for the perioperative complications. With the surgical devices and management amelioration, like pringle maneuver, the treatment planning may be optimize in pediatric liver resection.