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Protecting coastal wetlands and preventing the erosion of tidal flats are major challenges in the most coastal regions of China because of strong anthropogenic influence and ongoing sediment reduction from upstream sources. The Jiuduansha Wetland holds both national and international value. However, there has been a decrease in the accretion rate, leading to the occurrence of marsh and bank erosion along the southern bank section of the wetland. In this study, we examined the effects of various nature-based solutions (Nbs) on the marsh-edge erosion belt, including fencing (F) with environmentally friendly bamboo piles; vegetation planting (V) using native species; fencing and vegetation planting (FV); fencing and sediment addition (FS) using dredged soil; and fencing, vegetation planting, and sediment addition (FSV). The results show that the flat elevation in the early erosion belt continuously declined without any treatment, and the mitigation functions of the different approaches were comparable. The F treatments with single wave barriers could not protect the bank and could even aggravate the degree of erosion over one year. Although exogenetic sediments filled the FS experimental plots, the flat elevation level did not notably increase. When the marsh vegetation was established in the experimental plots (V treatment), notable elevation accretion occurred (2.4 cm year−1), and the FV and FSV treatments further enhanced sedimentary accretion (4.5 cm and 6.4 cm year−1, respectively) and vegetation growth (based on density and biomass), showing positive feedback of hydro-sedimentary and biological processes. The synthesized approach to utilize environmentally friendly wave barriers, establish native vegetation and replenish dredged sediment is recommended to be used in the Nbs that aim at preserving the biogeomorphology of coastal salt marshes in the early erosion stage. • Nature-based solutions were conducted to mitigate erosion trend of coastal wetland. • Single wave barriers could not protect the bank and could even aggravate erosion. • Elevation accretion occurred when vegetation and sediment settled on the mudflat. • Synthesized mitigation approaches are recommended to preserve coastal wetlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roof water disaster is one of the most serious disasters in the process of coal mine safety mining in China. The thickness of modern comprehensive mechanized coal mining is large, which has a great impact on the roof aquifer, and the threat degree of water disaster is also increasing. Therefore, the evaluation of the water richness of the roof aquifer is an important work for coal mine water prevention and control. In order to systematically evaluate the water-rich property of an aquifer in a coal seam roof, this paper couples multisource geological information based on an analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The characteristics of the roof aquifer, hydrogeology, and structure are determined to be the main control factors of K2 limestone water richness evaluation. Under the main control factors, seven independent water richness evaluation indexes, including aquifer depth, aquifer thickness, borehole water level, borehole water consumption, faults, folds, and collapse columns, are divided, and a normalized water richness coupling evaluation model is constructed, which realizes the zoning and evaluation of a water-rich aquifer in a coal seam roof. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Six machine-learning approaches, including multivariate linear regression (MLR), gradient boosting decision tree, k-nearest neighbors, random forest, extreme gradient boosting (XGB), and deep neural network (DNN), were compared for near-surface air-temperature (Tair) estimation from the new generation of Chinese geostationary meteorological satellite Fengyun-4A (FY-4A) observations. The brightness temperatures in split-window channels from the Advanced Geostationary Radiation Imager (AGRI) of FY-4A and numerical weather prediction data from the global forecast system were used as the predictor variables for Tair estimation. The performance of each model and the temporal and spatial distribution of the estimated Tair errors were analyzed. The results showed that the XGB model had better overall performance, with R2 of 0.902, bias of −0.087°C, and root-mean-square error of 1.946°C. The spatial variation characteristics of the Tair error of the XGB method were less obvious than those of the other methods. The XGB model can provide more stable and high-precision Tair for a large-scale Tair estimation over China and can serve as a reference for Tair estimation based on machine-learning models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photo service providers are facing critical challenges of dealing with the huge amount of photo storage, typically in a magnitude of billions of photos, while ensuring national-wide or world-wide satisfactory user experiences. Distributed photo caching architecture is widely deployed to meet high performance expectations, where efficient still mysterious caching policies play essential roles. In this work, we present a comprehensive study on internet-scale photo caching algorithms in the case of QQPhoto from Tencent Inc., the largest social network service company in China. We unveil that even advanced cache algorithms can only perform at a similar level as simple baseline algorithms and there still exists a large performance gap between these cache algorithms and the theoretically optimal algorithm due to the complicated access behaviors in such a large multi-tenant environment. We then expound the reasons behind this phenomenon via extensively investigating the characteristics of QQPhoto workloads. Finally, in order to realistically further improve QQPhoto cache efficiency, we propose to incorporate a prefetcher in the cache stack based on the observed immediacy feature that is unique to the QQPhoto workload. The prefetcher proactively prefetches selected photos into cache before they are requested for the first time to eliminate compulsory misses and promote hit ratios. Our extensive evaluation results show that with appropriate prefetching we improve the cache hit ratio by up to 7.4 percent, while reducing the average access latency by 6.9 percent at a marginal cost of 4.14 percent backend network traffic compared to the original system that performs no prefetching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We measured impacts of land use and insecticides on ladybeetles in cotton. [•] First empirical evidence on landscape effects in a developing country context. [•] Insecticide sprays significantly affected ladybeetle density in cotton. [•] Ladybeetle density was higher in landscapes with more maize. [•] Land use diversity was negatively associated with ladybeetle density. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Chinese government has recently been attaching increasing importance to the application of effective legal tools to tackle land degradation (LD) issues. Based on the concept of sustainable development, China began developing and reaping the benefits of environmental and natural resources legislation including LD control regulations in the 1990s. In the past three years, some central-western provinces in China have been implementing a “ People's Republic of China/Global Environment Facility (PRC/GEF ) Partnership on LD Control of Dryland Ecosystems”, which is based on an integrated ecosystem management (IEM) approach. IEM is designed to achieve a balanced, scientific and participatory approach to natural resources management, which creates the potential to improve the quality of Chinese environmental law and policy procedures. The paper studies the existing Chinese national laws and regulations pertinent to LD control within 9 areas covering land, desertification, soil erosion, grassland, forest, water, agriculture, wild animals and plants, and environment protection in detail, against IEM principles and basic legal elements. The main objective is to identify problems and provide feasible solutions and recommendations for the improvement of the existing laws and regulations. The authors conclude that the development of an improved national legislative framework is essential if LD control is to be successfully achieved. The paper is partly based on Component 1 — Improving Policies, Laws and Regulations for Land Degradation Control under PRC/GEF Partnership on Land Degradation in Dryland Ecosystems (TA 4357). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Puerperal infection (PI) is a severe threat to maternal health. The incidence and risk of PI should be accurately quantified and conveyed for prior decision-making. This study aims to assess the quality of the published literature on the epidemiology of PI, and synthesize them to identify the temporal trends and risk factors of PI occurring in Mainland China. Methods: This review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42021267399). Putting a time frame on 2010 to March 2022, we searched Cochrane library, Embase, Google Scholar, MEDLINE, Web of Science, China biology medicine, China national knowledge infrastructure and Chinese medical current contents, and performed a meta-analysis and meta-regression to pool the incidence of PI and the effects of risk factors on PI. Results: A total of 49 eligible studies with 133,938 participants from 17 provinces were included. The pooled incidence of PI was 4.95% (95%CIs, 4.46–5.43), and there was a statistical association between the incidence of PI following caesarean section and the median year of data collection. Gestational hypertension (OR = 2.14), Gestational diabetes mellitus (OR = 1.82), primipara (OR = 0.81), genital tract inflammation (OR = 2.51), anemia during pregnancy (OR = 2.28), caesarean section (OR = 2.03), episiotomy (OR = 2.64), premature rupture of membrane (OR = 2.54), prolonged labor (OR = 1.32), placenta remnant (OR = 2.59) and postpartum hemorrhage (OR = 2.43) have significant association with PI. Conclusions: Maternal infection remains a crucial complication during puerperium in Mainland China, which showed a nationwide temporal rising following caesarean section in the past decade. The opportunity to prevent unnecessary PI exists in several simple but necessary measures and it's urgent for clinicians and policymakers to focus joint efforts on promoting the bundle of evidence-based practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Little is known about rectal Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) infection in outpatients attending sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics in China. In this study, we aimed to explore the clinical and epidemiologic features of rectal CT infection in this population. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients attending STD clinics in Tianjin and Guangxi provinces of China from June 2018 to August 2020. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were developed to explore the association of different risk factors for urogenital and rectal CT infection. Results The prevalence of urogenital and rectal CT was 11.2% (154/1374) and 4.9% (68/1377), respectively. The rectal CT prevalence among female and male patients was 7.8% (60/767) and 1.3% (8/610), respectively. The most common genotype in urogenital CT–positive samples was genotype E (29.9%), while the most common genotype among rectal CT–positive samples was genotype J (23.4%). More than 85% (52/60) of women infected with rectal CT were co-infected with urogenital CT. About 90.0% (36/40) of women shared similar genotypes between rectal and urogenital samples. Females and patients infected with urogenital CT were deemed to be at an increased risk for rectal CT infection. A high proportion of rectal CT infection had concurrent urogenital CT infection, especially in women, and most of the co-infections were shared among the same genotypes. Conclusions It would be prudent to encourage awareness and introduce detection tests and treatment strategies for rectal CT infection particularly in female patients visiting STD clinics in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 2.56–2.33 Ga magmatism were revealed in the Taihua Complex (THC). • The formation of 2.56–2.50 Ga TTGs in THC was related to amalgamation of micro-blocks. • The formation of ∼ 2.35 Ga granitic rocks in THC was related to a worldwide rifting event. • A tectonic transition from compression to extension occurred during the late Neoarchean. • Multistage crustal growth, reworking and stabilization were record in the southern NCC. The Archean-Paleoproterozoic Taihua Complex, extending from east to west along the southern margin of the North China Craton (NCC), is an ideal window to understand the tectonic evolution of the early Earth. Here we present new data on petrology, zircon geochronology, whole-rock geochemistry and isotopes of TTGs, granitic gneisses and felsic leucosomes of migmatites from the Taihua complex in the Xiaoqinling area. Zircon LA-ICP-MS analyses of rocks yield the formation ages of 2564–2503 Ma for TTGs, 2481–2476 Ma for felsic leucosomes and 2359–2334 Ma for granitic gneisses, respectively. The zircon Lu-Hf isotopes suggest that crustal growth occurred in the late Neoarchean and crustal reworking occurred in the end of Neoarchean and the early Paleoproterozoic. The TTG gneisses are characterized by high Na 2 O/K 2 O, La/Yb, Sr/Y and low Nb/Ta ratios, and they were likely generated by partial melting of subducted juvenile oceanic crust with garnet or amphibole in residuals, a mechanism similar to the slab melting model. Both the felsic leucosomes and granitic gneisses have high SiO 2 contents and various Hf isotopic compositions, and they probably were formed in an extensional setting, attributing to partial melting as well as mixing of the preexisting TTG suite. Statistically, we report a major transitional phase in the tectonic milieu of the southern NCC from compression to extension during the late Neoarchean (ca. 2.57–2.42 Ga). The compressional tectonics can be attributed to amalgamation of micro-continental blocks during the late Neoarchean (ca. 2.57–2.5 Ga) as the leading period of crustal growth and associated multistage TTG magmatism. In contrast, the extensional phase occurred during the end of Neoarchean (ca. 2.5–2.42 Ga) that may represent the end of cratonic stabilization period and formation of large amounts of K-rich granitic rocks, widespread high-grade metamorphism and migmatites. Additionally, the formation of a large amount of crust-derived granites and mafic dykes during the early Paleoproterozoic in southern NCC reflect another stage (ca. 2.36–2.24 Ga) of crustal extension, which represents an episode of initial worldwide rifting events probably linking to the great oxygen event (GOE). Therefore, the present study proposes a new profile on multi-stage crustal growth/reworking and craton stabilization during Neoarchean-Paleoproterozoic period along the southern NCC, and provides useful insights on complex and heterogeneous evolutionary processes of early Earth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Provider adherence to the national treatment guidelines for gonorrhea is critical to assuring effective treatment. It is also an important means of limiting antibiotic overuse, which can lead to development of resistant bacteria. The Chinese treatment guidelines recommend the monotherapy with ceftriaxone or spectinomycin in accordance with the World Health Organization guidelines for treatment of uncomplicated gonorrhea. We evaluated adherence to the guidelines among treatment providers in China.Methods: The study was a nationwide cross-sectional study. In each of the 6 geographic regions in China, at least 1 province was selected. In each selected province, cities with elevated incidence of reported gonorrhea were purposively selected. Using a questionnaire, 2121 physicians recruited from 512 different categories and levels of health sectors from July to September 2017 were investigated.Results: Of the participants, more than 99% diagnosed gonorrhea using one of the laboratory tests including Gram stain, culture, nucleic acid amplification test, or other tests. Culture was the predominant assay of the choice for the diagnosis. Of the 1890 physicians who provided information on prescription behaviors, 62.2% were not adherent to the regimens for treatment of uncomplicated gonorrhea recommended by the National Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Treatment Guidelines (National STD Guidelines). Physicians working in the areas located in Northern China (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 3.06; 95% confidence intervals [CIs], 1.77-5.31), in general hospitals or departments of urology (AOR, 1.54; 95% CIs, 1.08-2.19), diagnosing more cases in the past 6 months (AOR, 1.82; 95% CIs, 1.25-2.67), or unfamiliar with the treatment regimens in the National STD Guidelines (AOR, 3.48; 95% CIs, 2.76-4.37) were significantly more likely to be nonadherent to the National STD Guidelines.Conclusions: It can be concluded from our study that nonadherence to the national guidelines and empirical treatment with high doses of ceftriaxone occurred frequently in China. Further studies on the impacts of the empirical treatment on antimicrobial resistance of gonorrhea are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dysbiosis of human microbiome has been proven to be associated with the development of many human diseases. Metagenome sequencing emerges as a powerful tool to investigate the effects of microbiome on diseases. Identification of human gut microbiome markers associated with abnormal phenotypes may facilitate feature selection for multiclass classification. Compared with binary classifiers, multiclass classification models deploy more complex discriminative patterns. Here, we developed a pipeline to address the challenging characterization of multilabel samples. In this study, a total of 300 biomarkers were selected from the microbiome of 806 Chinese individuals (383 controls, 170 with type 2 diabetes, 130 with rheumatoid arthritis, and 123 with liver cirrhosis), and then logistic regression prediction algorithm was applied to those markers as the model intrinsic features. The estimated model produced an F1 score of 0.9142, which was better than other popular classification methods, and an average receiver operating characteristic (ROC) of 0.9475 showed a significant correlation between these selected biomarkers from microbiome and corresponding phenotypes. The results from this study indicate that machine learning is a vital tool in data mining from microbiome in order to identify disease-related biomarkers, which may contribute to the application of microbiome-based precision medicine in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Congenital coronary sinus (CS) stenosis is a rare malformation. We present five patients with congenital coronary sinus stenosis (CSS) and identified another nine cases reported in the literature between 1980 and 2016. Congenital CSS may be associated with an unroofed CS, a coronary artery-coronary sinus fistula, or other cardiac anomalies. Congenital CSS may be detected by echocardiography, multidetector row computed tomography, and intra-operative evaluation. Congenital CSS can occur at the ostium, lumen, and origin of the CS. Congenital CSS imaging features, treatment, and outcomes are summarized herein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two morphotypes (spherical and ellipsoidal) of multicellular magnetotactic prokaryotes ( MMPs) have been reported from the sediments of Lake Yuehu, China. Here, their temporal distributions and their relationships with biogeochemical parameters are studied. Samples were collected at approximately 2-week intervals from two sites ( A and B) during the period September 2012 to December 2013. The abundance of MMPs was high in summer and autumn, but low in winter and spring. Furthermore, the peaks in the numbers of the two types of MMPs were sequential, with the highest concentration of the spherical MMPs occurring prior to that of the ellipsoidal MMPs. This may be related to different optimal growth temperatures for the two types. Although the two types of MMP coexisted at both sites, their numbers were different; at most times, spherical MMPs dominated at site A, whereas ellipsoidal MMPs dominated at site B. Geochemical analysis revealed that the environmental conditions at site A varied more than at site B. Compared with the widely distributed spherical MMPs, ellipsoidal MMPs seemed to prefer more stable habitats. This is the first report of the temporal distribution of ellipsoidal MMPs in sediments, suggesting that their environmental adaptations differ from those of spherical MMPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two morphotypes of multicellular magnetotactic prokaryotes ( MMPs) have been identified: spherical (several species) and ellipsoidal (previously one species). Here, we report novel ellipsoidal MMPs that are ∼ 10 × 8 μm in size, and composed of about 86 cells arranged in six to eight interlaced circles. Each MMP was composed of cells that synthesized either bullet-shaped magnetite magnetosomes alone, or both bullet-shaped magnetite and rectangular greigite magnetosomes. They showed north-seeking magnetotaxis, ping-pong motility and negative phototaxis at a velocity up to 300 μm s−1. During reproduction, they divided along either their long- or short-body axes. For genetic analysis, we sorted the ellipsoidal MMPs with micromanipulation and amplified their genomes using multiple displacement amplification. We sequenced the 16 S r RNA gene and found 6.9% sequence divergence from that of ellipsoidal MMPs, Candidatus Magnetananas tsingtaoensis and > 8.3% divergence from those of spherical MMPs. Therefore, the novel MMPs belong to different species and genus compared with the currently known ellipsoidal and spherical MMPs respectively. The novel MMPs display a morphological cell differentiation, implying a potential division of labour. These findings provide new insights into the diversity of MMPs in general, and contribute to our understanding of the evolution of multicellularity among prokaryotes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recruiting native coastal vegetation and preventing the reinvasion of exotic Spartina alterniflora is a major challenge in China, due to harsh tidal environment for vegetation establishment and rapid Spartina colonization. This paper first reviewed the revegetation course of native Scirpus mariqueter in a coastal wetland in the Yangtze Estuary, where the adjacent Spartina was effectively eliminated. From 2014 to 2019, the area of planted Scirpus increased by 26.7 times, and the plant density and biomass growth amounted to the levels of mature sedge community. The establishment of Scirpus promoted the sedimentary accretion with an annual sedimentary rate of 9.2 cm yr−1, which was significantly higher than that in the mudflat. Six years of monitoring revealed that the revegetation approach with belowground propagules (corms) was effective for Scirpus establishment under strong hydrodynamic disturbances in the tidal mudflat because the morphology and germination rate of corms benefited the anchoring function of seedlings. Both recruited Scirpus and the original community expanded constantly due to positive feedback between plant progradation and sedimentary accretion. Then, we implemented a model simulation under the scenario of Spartina retention. The prediction showed that the high-speed invasion of Spartina would colonize and replace the whole Scirpus community in the study area during the period of 2014–2019. Hence, our results highlighted the importance of coupling Scirpus recruitment with Spartina eradication in guaranteeing recolonization of native coastal sedges. As a long-lasting management strategy, unremitting field monitoring and assistant decision-making tools (such as the forecasting models) on Spartina reinvasion risk are highly suggested for preserving the restoration of native marshes. • Rhizocorms of native Scirpus are ideal revegetation material in tidal environment. • Positive feedback between plant and sediment favors both Scirpus and Spartina. • Spartina reinvasion is a high risk for restoration of native Scirpus. • Management strategies are suggested for Scirpus recruitment and Spartina control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of the new generation of high-flux pulsed neutron facilities, it is necessary that the neutron beam monitors have the characteristics of wavelength resolution and long-term stability, as well as high counting rates and two-dimensional(2D) spatial resolution. In this paper, a novel neutron beam monitor was developed using a single ceramic GEM(Gas Electron Multiplier) at China Spallation Neutron Source(CSNS). Its validation of the wavelength spectra measurement was verified via comparisons with measurements made with an ORDELA 4562N monitor. In addition, it was demonstrated that this neutron beam monitor was able to measure the beam profile of total and sliced wavelengths. The maximum counting rate was about 1.5 MHz by using an X-ray source. The RSD (the relative standard deviation) of instability fluctuations was approximately 0.5% during continuous operations of 40 h. The results show that the ceramic GEM-based neutron beam monitor can satisfy the demands of the high-flux neutrons measurement, and it has been regarded as a standard solution to the neutron beam monitor at CSNS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]