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Small-scale and artisanal mining is widespread in many countries and often causes severe eco-environment problems. The dynamic nature of this extractive activity and its spread in rural and remote areas make its mapping and monitoring very challenging. Therefore, the use of multi-source remote sensing data provides possibilities to monitor landcover changes as well as the destruction and restoration of vegetation in these regions. The study area of this paper is located at the border of El Bagre and Zaragoza, in Bajo Cauca, Colombia, which is greatly affected by small-scale alluvial gold mining. This place has a typical tropical climate with frequent high cloud coverage. Therefore, the multi-source remote sensing images (Sentinel-2, Landsat-8 and Sentinel-1) are selected for this study to detect and map small-scale mining of gold placers. For both Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 data, clouds are removed according to the information of pixel QA bands through the google earth engine (GEE). Then multiple images within each two months are aggregated after cloud removal. For Sentinle-1 data, post-processing including noise removal, calibration and orthorectification using DEM data is applied with GEE. When cloud-free data is not available within two months, Sentinle-1 data is added to improve the accuracy of the classification. The support vector machine classifier (SVM) is selected as the supervised classification approach. And to avoid possible classification errors, the post-classification based on local geographic information is also applied. Results show the landcover changes of mining areas in recent years and detect the location of mining areas, including mined bare soil and mining ponds and other important land cover. Furthermore, the change of vegetation cover in this area is monitored.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how time urgency is incorporated into the dietary decision making process. By comparing two models, the optimal model that can describe and predict human eating decisions under time urgency is identified. In addition, to explore how the psychological parameters of individual decision making and behavioral outcomes change under time-critical conditions.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how time urgency is incorporated into the dietary decision making process. By comparing two models, the optimal model that can describe and predict human eating decisions under time urgency is identified. In addition, to explore how the psychological parameters of individual decision making and behavioral outcomes change under time-critical conditions.

Go/No-Go training can reduce people's subjective evaluations of stimuli matched with No-Go and even affect subsequent related behaviors, referred as evaluation devaluation effect. Most previous studies have only explored the evaluation devaluation effect on visual stimuli, but have not focused on whether the effect can be transferred across different senses. Based on color-flavor association, the present study investigated whether the effect of Go/No-Go training on color preference would transfer to flavor preference.

Consumers selectively focus their attention on the target and ignore irrelevant information according to their expectations when searching for products. For instance, consumers search for target flavor packages that are incongruent (vs. congruent) with their color expectations formed based on long-term experience more slowly and inaccurately, which is also known as the color-flavor incongruency effect. However, the effect of conflicting information on task performance varies with the frequency of conflict, and there are both expectation-driven and experience-driven mechanisms underlying the adjustment of attention in different task contexts. In addition, individual differences in working memory capacity (WMC) moderate the expectation-driven attentional control strategy. Here, we report three experiments designed to examine whether the presence or absence of precues of different proportion congruence (i.e., mostly congruent or mostly incongruent; MC or MI) can alter participants’ product search performance based on color expectations and whether individual WMC differences moderate this effect. Experiment 1 found that the magnitude of the color-flavor incongruency effect was interactively influenced by expectation- and experience-driven attentional control strategies. For MC blocks, this effect was larger in the cued (vs. uncued) condition. In contrast, for MI blocks, there was no difference in the size of the color-flavor incongruency effect in the two conditions. Experiment 2 extended the interactive effect of the two attentional control strategies on the product search based on expectation to a real shopping scenario simulated by using virtual reality technology. Experiment 3 further discovered that the size of the color-flavor incongruency effect decreased with increasing WMC in the MI-cued condition where the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was 1500 ms. These findings provide empirical evidence that changes in the frequency of violated-expectation stimuli can affect the adjustment of consumers’ attention when conducting product searches and shed light on how consumers can switch color expectations to quickly search for target products based on the precues of proportion congruence.

Juice sac granulation (a physiological disorder) leads to large postharvest losses of pomelo (Citrus maxima). Previous studies have shown that juice sac granulation is closely related to lignin accumulation, while the molecular mechanisms underlying this disorder remain elusive in pomelo. Our results showed that the lignin content in NC (near the core) and FC (far away from the core) juice sacs overall increased from 157 DPA (days post anthesis) to 212 DPA and reached a maximum at 212 DPA. Additionally, the lignin content of NC juice sacs was higher than that of FC juice sacs. In this study, we used transcriptome-based weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) to address how lignin formation in NC and FC juice sacs is generated during the development of pomelo. After data assembly and bioinformatic analysis, we found a most correlated module (black module) to the lignin content, then we used the 11 DEGs in this module as hub genes for lignin biosynthesis. Among these DEGs, PAL (phenylalanine ammonia lyase), HCT (hydroxycinnamoyl-CoA shikimate/quinate hydroxycinnamoyl transferase), 4CL2 (4-coumarate: CoA ligase), C4H (cinnamate 4-hydroxylase), C3′H (p-coumarate 3-hydroxylase), and CCoAOMT1 (caffeoyl CoA 3-Omethyltransferase) were the most distinct DEGs in granulated juice sacs. Co-expression analysis revealed that the expression patterns of several transcription factors such as MYB, NAC, OFP6, and bHLH130 are highly correlated with lignin formation. In addition, the expression patterns of the DEGs related to lignin biosynthesis and transcription factors were validated by qRT-PCR, and the results were highly concordant with the RNA-seq results. These results would be beneficial for further studies on the molecular mechanism of lignin accumulation in pomelo juice sacs and would help with citrus breeding.

Norovirus is one of the major causes of outbreaks and sporadic cases of acute gastroenteritis in school children. Obtaining local genotype diversity information regarding norovirus is important for developing and evaluating prevention strategies of the transmission of this virus in school children. Clinical specimens, obtained from the routine acute gastroenteritis surveillance network from 2018 to 2019, were primarily tested using commercial real-time PCR Kit. Samples with Ct value less than 25 were selected and used for complete genome sequencing and those with Ct value between 25 and 30 were selected and used for he partial VP1 and RdRp regions sequencing. Phylogenetic trees of the viral genome were constructed by using the neighbor-joining method with bootstrap analysis of 1000 replicates in MEGA 6.0. Epidemiological surveillance of acute intestinal infections (n = 384) showed high-level detection (73.18%) of human norovirus in school endemic acute gastroenteritis events in Changzhou, with obvious epidemic characteristics in autumn and winter. Through genotyping, it was found that 93.12% of norovirus were GII, including GII.2, GII.3, GII.4, GII.6, GII.7, and GII.17. By October 2019, two norovirus genotypes, GII.4[P31] and GII.17[P17], became the preponderant epidemic strains. Phylogenetic analysis of the new GII.17[P17] complete genomes showed close relationship with Miyagi strain identified in Japan in 2015, and GII.4[P31] showed close relationship with Jinan strain indentified in China in 2017. The study highlights the emerging role of GII.4[P31] and GII.17[P17] in causing endemic acute gastroenteritis outbreaks at school children, in Changzhou, China in 2019.

In this research paper we filter and verify miRNAs which may target silent information regulator homolog 2 (SIRT2) gene and then describe the mechanism whereby miRNA-212 might regulate lipogenic genes in mammary epithelial cell lines via targeting SIRT2. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that the bovine SIRT2 gene is regulated by three miRNAs: miR-212, miR-375 and miR-655. The three miRNAs were verified and screened by qRT-PCR, western blot, and luciferase multiplex verification techniques and only miR-212 was shown to have a targeting relationship with SIRT2. The results of co-transfecting miR-212 and silencing RNA (siRNA) showed that by targeting SIRT2, miR-212 can regulate the expression of fatty acid synthetase (FASN) and sterol regulatory element binding factor 1 (SREBP1) but not peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ). Measurement of triglyceride (TAG) content showed that miR-212 increased the fat content of mammary epithelial cell lines. The study indicates that miR-212 could target and inhibit the expression of the SIRT2 gene to promote lipogenesis in mammary epithelial cell lines.

Increasing chemical pollution of aquatic environments is a growing concern with global relevance. A large number of organic chemicals are termed as "micropollutants" due to their low concentrations, and long-term exposure to micropollutants may pose considerable risks to aquatic organisms and human health. In recent decades, numerous treatment methods and technologies have been proposed to remove micropollutants in water, and typically several micropollutants were chosen as target pollutants to evaluate removal efficiencies. However, it is often unclear whether their toxicity and occurrence levels and frequencies enable them to contribute significantly to the overall chemical pollution in global aquatic environments. This review intends to answer an important lingering question: Which micropollutants or class of micropollutants deserve more attention globally and should be removed with higher priority? Different risk-based prioritization approaches were used to address this question. The risk quotient (RQ) method was found to be a feasible approach to prioritize micropollutants in a large scale due to its relatively simple assessment procedure and extensive use. A total of 83 prioritization case studies using the RQ method in the past decade were compiled, and 473 compounds that were selected by screening 3466 compounds of three broad classes (pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), pesticides, and industrial chemicals) were found to have risks (RQ0.01). To determine the micropollutants of global importance, we propose an overall risk surrogate, that is, the weighted average risk quotient (WARQ). The WARQ integrates the risk intensity and frequency of micropollutants in global aquatic environments to achieve a more comprehensive priority determination. Through metadata analysis, we recommend a ranked list of 53 micropollutants, including 36 PPCPs (e.g., sulfamethoxazole and ibuprofen), seven pesticides (e.g., heptachlor and diazinon), and 10 industrial chemicals (e.g., perfluorooctanesulfonic acid and 4-nonylphenol) for risk management and remediation efforts. One caveat is that the ranked list of global importance does not consider transformation products of micropollutants (including disinfection byproducts) and new forms of pollutants (including antibiotic resistance genes and microplastics), and this list of global importance may not be directly applicable to a specific region or country. Also, it needs mentioning that there might be no best answer toward this question, and hopefully this review can act as a small step toward a better answer.

Grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acridoidea) are one of the most dangerous agricultural pests. Environmentally benign microbial pesticides are increasingly desirable for controlling grasshopper outbreaks in fragile ecosystems. However, little is known about natural pathogens infecting this pest. Here we profile the rich viral communities in forty-five grasshopper species and report 302 viruses, including 231 novel species. Most of the identified viruses are related to other insect viruses, and small RNA sequencing indicates that some are targeted by host antiviral RNA interference (RNAi) pathway. Our analysis of relationships between host phylogeny and virus diversity suggests that the composition of viromes is closely allied with host evolution. Overall, this study is a first extensive exploration of viruses in grasshoppers and provides a valuable comparative dataset of both academic and applied interest.

Locusts and grasshoppers are one of the most dangerous agricultural pests. Environmentally benign microbial pesticides are increasingly desirable for controlling locust outbreaks in fragile ecosystems. Here we use metagenomic sequencing to profile the rich viral communities in 34 grasshopper species and report 322 viruses, including 202 novel species. Most of the identified viruses are related to other insect viruses and some are targeted by antiviral RNAi pathway, indicating they infect grasshoppers. Some plant/fungi/vertebrate associated viruses are also abundant in our samples. Our analysis of relationships between host and virus phylogenies suggests that the composition of viromes is closely allied with host evolution, and there is significant phylogenetic relatedness between grasshoppers and viruses from Lispiviridae, Partitiviridae, Orthomyxoviridae, Virgaviridae and Flaviviridae. Overall, this study is a thorough exploration of viruses in grasshoppers and provide an essential evolutionary and ecological context for host-virus interaction in Acridoidea.Author SummaryLocusts are the most destructive migratory pest in the world and continue to cause massive damages that endanger food security and threaten millions of people in 21st century. While chemical pesticides are still heavily relied on, biological pesticides developed from natural pathogens offer a reliable, less harmful alternative for controlling locust outbreaks in fragile ecosystems. Unfortunately, little is known about natural pathogens infecting this pest. In this study, we profile the viral communities in 34 grasshopper species include some major swarming species. While we identified as many as 202 novel viral species associated with grasshoppers, some of them are of potential to be developed as biocontrol agents. Our analysis of relatedness of phylogenies of grasshoppers and associated viruses helps to shed light on the eco-evolutionary interactions between insects and viruses. This work provides a valuable dataset of both academic and applied interest.

To avoid the widespread resistance of commercial fungicides, new broad-spectrum botanical fungicides need to be developed. In previous bioactive screening assays, extracts of Artemisia ordosica Krasch. (A. ordosica) had highly antifungal activities, but the responsible phytochemicals were unidentified. In this study, active compounds of A. ordosica extracts were identified using a bioassay-guided method, and antifungal assays were performed in vitro and in vivo. The bioactive compounds were dissolved in petroleum ether, and the best antifungal fraction contained four compounds: trans-dehydromatricaria ester (TDDE), 7, 4-demetylnringenin, capillarin, and stearic acid. Among them, TDDE exhibited the highest antifungal activity against six pathogenic fungi and five bacteria. It exhibited significant fungicidal activity against Thanatephorus cucumeris and Botrytis cinerea with EC50 values of 0.464 μg/mL and 1.4 μg/mL, respectively. The living tissue bioassay results showed that the relative protection effects (RPE) of TDDE on tomato leaves, tomato fruit, and strawberry leaves infected with B. cinerea reached 76.78%, 86.2%, and 80.89%, respectively. In pot experiments, the RPE on tomato and strawberry plants infected with B. cinerea reached 84.11% and 96.37%, respectively. Morphological and physiological examination showed that TDDE had significant inhibitory effects on mycelial growth, including increased top offshoot, contorted hyphal tips, and extravasated cytochylema. Meanwhile, bactericidal activities of TDDE were significantly higher than kanamycin and streptomycin in five bacteria, and the plant tissue experiments further demonstrated that it had an 88.31% RPE on walnut leaves infected with Xanthomonas campestris pv. jugiandis, 72.18% RPE on potato infected with Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora, and 82.50% RPE on kiwifruit branches infected with Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae. The active compounds isolated from A. ordosica in this study show great potential value for developing broad-spectrum fungicides, and also provide an important way to identify and isolate new bioactive products from medicinal plants.

Chlorine-disinfected sewage effluents are typically dechlorinated by using NaHSO3, Na2SO3, or Na2S2O3, as chlorine residual could be harmful to aquatic organisms upon discharge of sewage effluents into receiving marine water. In this study, we systematically investigated the effects of dechlorination-related factors on the developmental toxicity of a chlorinated saline primary sewage effluent, via direct exposure of the embryos of a marine polychaete to the effluent. The results showed that dechlorination ratio (i.e., the ratio of the dosed amount to the requisite stoichiometric amount of a dechlorination agent) and mixing condition were critical factors affecting the toxicity of the effluent. The toxicity of the effluent under insufficient dechlorination conditions was mainly caused by residual chlorine, especially monochloramine. Although the three dechlorination agents generally performed similarly, dechlorination with Na2S2O3 required a more vigorous mixing condition than that with NaHSO3 or Na2SO3, as the relatively high density of Na2S2O3 might affect the mixing efficiency. Under insufficient mixing conditions, a prolonged dechlorination time was beneficial to achieving complete dechlorination and thus lowered the toxicity of the effluent. Moreover, because disinfection byproducts (DBPs) may have chronic effects on aquatic organisms, the developmental toxicity of the DBP mixtures in the chlorinated effluent in different dechlorination scenarios was also evaluated. The results indicated that increasing the dechlorination ratio reduced the developmental toxicity of the DBP mixture in the chlorinated saline sewage effluent, which might be ascribed to the decrease of the levels of overall brominated and iodinated DBPs; the dechlorination agent (NaHSO3 or Na2S2O3) might act as a nucleophile in the nucleophilic substitution and cause the substitution of bromine or iodine atoms in brominated and iodinated DBPs. The results from this study might aid in the design and operation of dechlorination facilities in sewage treatment plants.

Current global leaf area index (LAI) products are generally produced from single-temporal satellite observations acquired by a single sensor. These LAI products are usually spatiotemporally discontinuous and inaccurate for some vegetation types in many areas, which limit the applications of these LAI products to the understanding of land dynamics. In this paper, a new data assimilation method was proposed to estimate multiscale and temporally continuous LAI values from multi-sensor time-series satellite observations with different spatial resolutions. An ensemble multiscale tree (EnMsT) was used to establish the conversion relationships between different spatial resolution LAI values, and dynamic models of the LAI at different spatial scales were constructed to evolve LAI at the corresponding spatial scales over time. At each time step, a multiscale Kalman filter (MKF) was introduced to fuse the predicted LAI values from the dynamic models at different spatial scales and to construct a forecasted EnMsT. When satellite observations were available, an ensemble multiscale filter (EnMsF) technique was applied to update the LAI values at each node of the EnMsT. The method was applied to estimate temporally continuous multiscale LAI values from the time series of Thematic Mapper (TM) or Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) surface reflectance data and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) surface reflectance data at several sites with different vegetation types. The estimated multiscale LAI values were compared with the MODIS and GEOV2 LAI products, and the reference LAI values at the corresponding scales aggregated from the high-resolution LAI surface images. The estimated LAI values with the finest spatial resolution were also validated by ground measurements from the selected sites. The results show that the new method is able to simultaneously estimate temporally continuous multiscale LAI values by assimilating satellite observations with different spatial resolutions, and the estimated multiscale LAI values are well consistent with the reference LAI values at the corresponding scales over the selected sites. The root-mean-square error (RMSE) and coefficient of determination of the retrieved LAI values at the Manuscript finest spatial scale against the ground measurements over the selected sites are 0.539 and 0.788, respectively. Index Terms-Ensemble multiscale filter (EnMsF), leaf area index (LAI), Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), multiscale data assimilation, Thematic Mapper or Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (TM/ETM+).

Highlights: • Overview on oxidative treatment processes for different industrial applications • Compilation of disinfection by-product types/concentrations in marine water uses • Estimation of global DBP inputs into marine water from different industries • Comparison of anthropogenic bromoform production to emissions from natural sources Abstract: Oxidative treatment of seawater in coastal and shipboard installations is applied to control biofouling and/or minimize the input of noxious or invasive species into the marine environment. This treatment allows a safe and efficient operation of industrial installations and helps to protect human health from infectious diseases and to maintain the biodiversity in the marine environment. On the downside, the application of chemical oxidants generates undesired organic compounds, so-called disinfection by-products (DBPs), which are discharged into the marine environment. This article provides an overview on sources and quantities of DBP inputs, which could serve as basis for hazard analysis for the marine environment, human health and the atmosphere. During oxidation of marine water, mainly brominated DBPs are generated with bromoform (CHBr3) being the major DBP. CHBr3 has been used as an indicator to compare inputs from different sources. Total global annual volumes of treated seawater inputs resulting from cooling processes of coastal power stations, from desalination plants and from ballast water treatment in ships are estimated to be 470 – 800 × 109 m3, 46 × 109 m3 and 3.5 × 109 m3, respectively. Overall, the total estimated anthropogenic bromoform production and discharge adds up to 13.5 – 21.8 × 106 kg/a (kg per year) with contributions of 11.8 – 20.1 × 106 kg/a from cooling water treatment, 0.89 × 106 kg/a from desalination and 0.86 × 106 kg/a from ballast water treatment. This equals approximately 2 – 6 % of the natural bromoform emissions from marine water, which is estimated to be 385 – 870 × 106 kg/a.

Due to rising concerns about water pollution and affordability, there is a rapidly-growing public acceptance and global market for a variety of point-of-use (POU) devices for domestic uses. However, the efficiencies and mechanisms of POU technologies for removing regulated and emerging disinfection byproducts (DBPs) are still not systematically known. To facilitate the development of this field, we summarized performance trends of four common technologies (i.e., boiling, adsorption, membrane filtration, and advanced oxidation) on mitigating preformed DBPs and identified knowledge gaps. The following highest priority knowledge gaps include: 1) data on DBP levels at the tap or cup in domestic applications; 2) certainty regarding the controls of DBPs by heating processes as DBPs may form and transform simultaneously; 3) standards to evaluate the performance of carbon-based materials on varying types of DBPs; 4) long-term information on the membrane performance in removing DBPs; 5) knowledge of DBPs’ susceptibility toward advanced redox processes; 6) tools to monitor/predict the toxicity and diversity of DBPs formed in waters with varying precursors and when implementing different treatment technologies; and 7) social acceptance and regulatory frameworks of incorporating POU as a potential supplement to current centralized-treatment focused DBP control strategies. We conclude by identifying research needs necessary to assure POU systems protect the public against regulated and emerging DBPs.

Although700 disinfection byproducts (DBPs) have been identified,50% of the total organic halogen (TOX) in drinking water chlorination is unknown, and the DBPs responsible for the chlorination-associated health risks remain largely unclear. Recent studies have revealed numerous aromatic halo-DBPs, which generally present substantially higher developmental toxicity than aliphatic halo-DBPs. This raises a fascinating and important question: how much of the TOX and developmental toxicity of chlorinated drinking water can be attributed to aromatic halo-DBPs? In this study, an effective approach with ultraperformance liquid chromatography was developed to separate the DBP mixture (from chlorination of bromide-rich raw water) into aliphatic and aromatic fractions, which were then characterized for their TOX and developmental toxicity. For chlorine contact times of 0.25-72 h, aromatic fractions accounted for 49-67% of the TOX in the obtained aliphatic and aromatic fractions, which were equivalent to 26-36% of the TOX in the original chlorinated water samples. Aromatic halo-DBP fractions were more developmentally toxic than the corresponding aliphatic fractions, and the overall developmental toxicity of chlorinated water samples was dominated by aromatic halo-DBP fractions. This might be explained by the considerably higher potentials of aromatic halo-DBPs to bioconcentrate and then generate reactive oxygen species in the organism.

International audience; Many plant species have distinct optical properties between upper and lower leaf faces. These differences between faces are mainly attributed to the non-homogeneous distribution of absorbing and scattering materials within the leaf depth as well as particular surface features of both epidermises. We proposed the FASPECT model which is an evolution of the PROSPECT model to describe the differences in reflectance and transmittance between leaf faces. The upper and lower epidermis layers are characterized by distinct wavelength-independent reflectivities. Leaf mesophyll is made of a palisade and a spongy parenchyma layers using two parameters that describe the distribution of pigments and leaf structure between these two layers. As compared to the original PROSPECT model that treats the two leaf faces symmetrically, six additional parameters are required to describe the differences in leaf optical properties between the two faces. The specific absorption coefficients of chlorophyll and carotenoids have been recalibrated for the FASPECT model over a dedicated dataset. FASPECT was validated over eight datasets and compared with PROSPECT-5 and PROSPECT-D as well as with the DLM model that also accounts for the differences between the two faces. Results show that the FASPECT model simulates accurately the reflectance and transmittance of the two faces for species presenting distinct reflectance and transmittance properties between the faces. FASPECT outperforms PROSPECT-5 and PROSPECT-D, while providing generally more realistic simulations as compared to DLM. The capacity of the FASPECT model to retrieve leaf biochemical composition from reflectance and transmittance measurements was also evaluated. Marginal improvement is observed for the estimation of chlorophyll, carotenoids, and water content. Conversely, significant improvement is observed for dry matter content estimation. Conclusions are finally drawn on the interest and limits of the FASPECT model.

Earth Observation (EO) data can become an essential tool in the transformation of a raw materials sector that aims to reconfigure its model of operation. The high demand for the mineral resources necessary for the transition to a carbon neutral and circular economy conflicts with the increasing difficulties of finding new deposits. As the sector heads towards embracing circularity and reducing the environmental impacts, a clear focus has been set on developing appropriate tools to boost the efficiency of mineral resource management, both technologically and economically. In this scenario, the Sentinel satellites of the European Copernicus program come into play. Despite being satellites considered medium resolution, they provide great temporal and spatial coverage in a continuous record, which makes them tools with great potential for the raw materials sector. However, the lack of applications in the raw materials sector suggests that these technological advances have remained underrated by sectoral actors. The RawMatCop program was designed to bridge this gap. This program, co-funded by the European Commission and EIT RawMaterials, aims to develop applications and promote the use of Copernicus data in the raw materials sector to contribute to a safe and sustainable supply of mineral resources. The presented applications can be grouped into three categories covering the whole mining cycle from exploration to exploitation and post-mining. Two of the presented case studies cover the study of primary sources including exploration of Iron Oxide Copper Gold mineralisations to identify high-potential mining areas and mapping of informal gold mining and its environmental impacts. Another project focused on secondary sources tackled data applications for grade mapping and sample optimisation in mining residues. And the forth project focused on monitoring ground stability related to mining activity. The results demonstrate the high cost-effectiveness of Sentinel 1 and 2 in extending ground-based measurements to larger areas, especially when these are hard-to-reach areas. Finally, the presented projects examine the industrial and social impacts of technological innovations, as well as contribute to the achievement of prominent European Union policy objectives and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals., This paper includes four research projects related to the RawMatCop Programme (2018-2019), funded by the European Commission and EIT RawMaterials. Special thanks to Serge Monturet, the LifeLong learning manager for his support. The authors would like to thank Dr. Rima Dapous, Wesley Crock, Dr. Patrick Nadoll, Ms. Eliane Furuyama and Sven Kreigenfeld from EIT RawMaterials and supervisors: Professor Roberto Bruno and Professor Emanuele Mandanici from University of Bologna, Dr. Efthymios Balomenos from Mytilineous S.A, Professor Thorkild Maack Rasmussen from Lulea University of Technology, Professor Eric Pirard from University of Liege, Dr. Pierre Lacroix from the University of Geneva and UNEP/GRID-Geneva, Mr. David Jensen, Ms. Inga Peterson, Mr. Juan Bello, and Ms. Luisa Lema from UNEP, Mr. Rafael Sanchez the secretary of mines at El Bagre, Ms. Janneth Zoraida Duque Quintero and Ms. Ana Castana from Corantioquia, Professor Jose Fern ' andez and Mr. Joaquin Escayo from IGEO-CSIC, Professor Ramon Carbonell and Dr. Martin Schimmel, for their important feedback and suggestions; and the Atalaya Mining company for their support. Finally we would like to thank Dr.Francesco Tinti for the encouragement behind the paper creation.

Simple Summary The potential of primordial germ cells (PGCs) for multidirectional differentiation, together with their unique regeneration ability, makes them one of the most promising seed cells in clinical medicine and tissue engineering research. However, not enough PGCs can be obtained to meet the demand, which limits their application. We defined a novel long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) mediated by epigenetics, which could activate the miR-6577-5p/Btrc pathway to promote the formation of PGCs. The technical system we have established is a useful tool to obtain sufficient PGCs for scientific research. Our study offers great theoretical and practical value in the production of transgenic animals or genomic imprinting in poultry. We believe that our study will help researchers in the fields of agricultural production, developmental biology, and cell biology. Abstract Although lncRNAs have been identified as playing critical roles in the development of germ cells, their potential involvement in the development of PGCs in chickens remains poorly understood. Differentially expressed lncRNAs (DELs) from previous RNA-seq of embryonic stem cells (ESCs), PGCs, and spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) were analyzed by K-means clustering, from which a key candidate, lncRNA (lncRNA PGC regulator, LncPGCR) was obtained. We confirmed that LncPGCR plays a positive role in the development of PGCs by increasing the expression of the PGC marker gene (Cvh and C-kit), while downregulating the pluripotency-associated gene (Nanog) in vitro and in vivo. The activation and expression of LncPGCR are regulated by histone acetylation, and transcription factor TCF7L2. Mechanistically, a rescue assay was performed to further confirm that LncPGCR contributed to the development of PGCs by regulating the gga-miR-6577-5p/Btrc signaling pathway. Adsorption of gga-miR-6577-5p activated the WNT signaling cascade by relieving the gga-miR-6577-5p-dependent inhibition of Btrc expression. Taken together, our study discovered the growth-expedited role of LncPGCR in PGCs development, showing the potential LncPGCR/miR-6577-5p/Btrc pathway. The results and findings provide a novel insight into the development of PGCs.

Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) affects physical and mental health with limited therapeutic options. Novel materials and delivery methods have considerable potential to improve the current paradigm of treatment. In this study, we used a novel plant nanoparticle of safflower oil body (SOB) loaded with human fibroblast growth factor 10 (hFGF10) to target hair follicles and accelerate hair regeneration in AGA mice with few adverse effects. Our data revealed that the average particle size of SOB-hFGF10 was 226.73 ± 9.98 nm, with a spherical and uniform structure, and that SOB-hFGF10 was quicker to preferentially penetrate into hair follicles than hFGF2 alone. Using a mouse model of AGA, SOB-hFGF10 was found to significantly improve hair regeneration without any significant toxicity. Furthermore, SOB-hFGF10 inhibited dihydrotestosterone (DHT)-induced TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 overproduction in macrophages in relation to hair follicle microinflammation, thereby enhancing the proliferation of dermal papilla cells. Overall, this study provides an applicable therapeutic method through targeting hair follicles and reducing microinflammation to accelerate hair regeneration in AGA.

Antimicrobials are the most important therapy to bovine mastitis. Bacterial infection and antibiotic treatment of mastitis cycles frequently in dairy farms worldwide, giving rise to concerns about the emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. In this study, we examined the microbial diversity and antibiotic resistance profiles of bacteria isolated from raw milk from dairy farms in Jiangsu and Shandong provinces, China. Raw milk samples were collected from 857 dairy cattle including 800 apparently healthy individuals and 57 cows with clinical mastitis (CM) and subjected to microbiological culture, antimicrobial susceptibility assay and detection of antibiotic-resistant genes by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing. A total of 1,063 isolates belonging to 41 different bacterial genera and 86 species were isolated and identified, of which Pseudomonas spp. (256/1,063, 24.08%), Staphylococcus. spp. (136/1,063, 12.79%), Escherichia coli (116/1,063, 10.91%), Klebsiella spp. (104/1,063, 9.78%) and Bacillus spp. (84/1,063, 7.90%) were most frequently isolated. K. pneumoniae, one of the most prevalent bacteria, was more frequently isolated from the farms in Jiangsu (65/830, 7.83%) than Shandong (1/233, 0.43%) province, and showed a positive association with CM (p < .001). The antimicrobial susceptibility assay revealed that four of the K. pneumoniae isolates (4/66, 6.06%) were MDR bacteria (acquired resistance to ≥three classes of antimicrobials). Furthermore, among 66 isolates of K. pneumoniae, 21.21% (14/66), 13.64% (9/66) and 12.12% (8/66) were resistant to tetracycline, chloramphenicol and aminoglycosides, respectively. However, all K. pneumoniae isolates were sensitive to monobactams and carbapenems. The detection of antibiotic-resistant genes confirmed that the β-lactamase genes (blaSHV and blaCTX-M ), aminoglycoside modifying enzyme genes [aac(6')-Ib, aph(3')-I and ant(3″)-I], tetracycline efflux pump (tetA) and transposon genetic marker (intI1) were positive in MDR isolates. This study indicated that MDR K. pneumoniae isolates emerged in dairy farms in Jiangsu province and could be a potential threat to food safety and public health.

Seven new 4-acyl-2-aminoimidazoles, designated strepimidazoles A-G (

Chlorine dioxide (ClO2) is a prevalently used disinfectant alternative to chlorine, due to its effectiveness in pathogen inactivation and low yields of organic halogenated disinfection byproducts (DBPs). However, during ClO2 generation, chlorine is inevitably introduced into the obtained ClO2 solution as an "impurity", which could compromise the merits of ClO2 disinfection. In this study, drinking water disinfection with ClO2 containing 0‒25% chlorine impurity (i.e., at Cl2 to ClO2 mass ratios of 0‒25%) was simulated, and the effect of chlorine impurity on the DBP formation and developmental toxicity of the finished water was evaluated. With increasing the chlorine impurity in ClO2, the chlorite level kept decreasing and the chlorate level gradually increased; meanwhile, an unexpected trend from decline to rise was observed for the total organic halogenated DBPs, with the minimum level appearing at 5% chlorine impurity. To unravel the mechanisms for the variations of organic halogenated DBPs with chlorine impurity, a quantitative kinetic model was developed to simulate the formation of chlorinated, brominated, and iodinated DBPs in the ClO2-disinfected drinking water. The modeling results indicated that reactions involving iodide accounted for the decrease of organic halogenated DBPs at a relatively low chlorine impurity level. In accordance with DBP formation, ClO2 with 5% chlorine impurity generated less toxic drinking water than pure ClO2, while significantly higher developmental toxicity was induced until the chlorine impurity reached 25%. For E. coli inactivation, the presence of chlorine impurity enhanced the disinfection efficiency due to a synergistic effect of ClO2 and chlorine. Therefore, disinfection practices with ClO2 containing low chlorine impurity (e.g.

Background: Several of the thousands of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been functionally characterized, yet its specific function and molecular mechanism in the formation of chicken primordial germ cells (PGCs) remains poorly understood. In the present study, we aim to investigate the role of LncPGCR (LncRNA PGCs Regulator) in PGCs formation.Methods: LncPGCR, Cvh, Nanog, C-kit, gga-mir-6577-5p and Btrc expressions were detected by qRT-PCR. The percentage of PGCs cells was detected by flow cytometry, immunocytochemistry, and PAS staining. The interaction of histone acetylation, DNA methylation, transcription factor TCF7L2, and LncPGCR was confirmed by Luciferase reporter assay. The interaction of GAPDH and LncPGCR was measured by RNA pull-down, RIP, and Western blot.Results: We observed the increased expression of LncPGCR in PGCs. It is mainly expressed in the cytoplasm and encodes small peptides. Moreover, over-expression of LncPGCR could promote PGCs formation in vitro and in vivo. Besides, we first reported that histone acetylation, DNA methylation, and transcription factor TCF7L2 can regulate LncPGCR expression in PGCs. In addition, LncPGCR activates WNT signaling pathways to promote PGCs formation by adsorbing gga-mir-6577-5p, relieving its inhibitory effect on target gene Btrc. Meanwhile, LncPGCR contributed to PGCs formation by increasing the phosphorylation level of GAPDH to activate the TGF-β signal pathway.Conclusion: LncPGCR over-expression promoted ESCs differentiation into PGCs through the potential LncPGCR/miR-6577-5p/BTRC pathway or increasing the phosphorylation level of GAPDH to activate the TGF-β signal pathway.

The outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has become a public health emergency of international concern. The purpose of this study was to propose an improved dynamic SEIR (ID-SEIR) model to predict the epidemic trends of novel COVID-19. Firstly, we obtain the values of parameters in ID-SEIR model by using the epidemic data of Wuhan as the training sample. Secondly, we predict the epidemic trends of COVID-19 for the three most serious USA, New York and Italy with our proposed ID-SEIR model, and we can apply the proposed method to predict the epidemic trends of other countries and areas. Finally, we find that the proposed ID-SEIR model established in this paper has strong reliability, which can reasonably reflect the changes in national policies and public behavior during the epidemic. Also, this model can make predictions in line with the actual development of the epidemic and provide reference for infection prevention and control.

Although genome sequencing has become increasingly popular, the simulation of individual genomes is still important. This is because sequencing a large number of individual genomes is costly and genome data with extreme and boundary conditions, such as fatal genetic defects, are difficult to obtain. Privacy and legal barriers also prevent many applications of real data. Large sequencing projects in recent years have provided a deeper understanding of the human genome. However, there is a lack of tools to leverage known data to simulate personal genomes as real as possible. Here, we designed and developed PGsim, a comprehensive and highly customizable individual genome simulator, that fully uses existing knowledge, such as variant allele frequencies in global or world main populations, mutation probability differences between protein-coding regions and non-coding regions, transition/transversion (Ti/Tv) ratios, Indel incidence, Indel length distribution, structural variation sites, and pathogenic mutation sites. Users can flexibly control the proportion and quantity of known variants, common variants, novel variants in both coding and non-coding regions, and special variants through detailed parameter settings. To ensure that the simulated personal genome has sufficient randomness, PGsim makes the generated variants more real and reliable in terms of variant distribution, proportion, and population characteristics. PGsim is able to employ a huge volume database as background data to simulate personal genomes and does not require SQL database support. Users can easily change the variant databases used as needed. As a Perl script, there is no obstacle to running PGsim on any version of the MAC OS or Linux systems, and no libraries, packages, interpreters, compilers, or other dependencies need to be installed in advance. The PGsim tool is publicly available at https://github.com/lrjuan/PGsim.

Halogenated disinfection byproducts (DBPs) are generated via reactions with natural organic matter (NOM) in chlorine disinfection of drinking water. How large NOM molecules are converted to halogenated aliphatic DBPs during chlorination remains a fascinating yet largely unresolved issue. Recently, many relatively toxic halogenated aromatic DBPs have been identified in chlorinated drinking waters, and they behave as intermediate DBPs to decompose to halogenated aliphatic DBPs. There is still one gap between NOM and halogenated aromatic DBPs. In this study, nine nonhalogenated aromatic compounds were identified as new intermediate DBPs in chlorination, including 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, 3-formyl-4-hydroxybenzoic acid, salicylic acid, 5-formyl-2-hydroxybenzoic acid, 4-hydroxyphthalic acid, 4'-hydroxyacetophenone, 4-methylbenzoic acid, and 4-hydroxy-3-methylbenzaldehyde. These nonhalogenated aromatic DBPs formed quickly and reached the maximum levels at relatively low chlorine doses within a short contact time, and their formation pathways were proposed. The formation kinetics of three nonhalogenated aromatic DBPs and their corresponding monochloro-/dichloro-substitutes during chlorination were then modeled. The nonhalogenated aromatic DBPs contributed up to 84% of the formed monochloro-substitutes and 22% of the formed dichloro-substitutes, demonstrating that they somewhat acted as intermediates between NOM and halogenated aromatic DBPs. Furthermore, the formed nonhalogenated aromatic DBPs were found to be removed by >50% by granular activated carbon adsorption.

Granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption has been traditionally used to remove natural organic matter (NOM), the major precursor of halogenated disinfection byproducts (DBPs), in drinking water treatment plants. Recently, a new approach has been developed to effectively control the formation of trihalomethanes, haloacetic acids, and total organic halogen (TOX) in chlorinated drinking water by targeting intermediate aromatic halogenated DBPs instead of NOM using GAC adsorption. However, the applicability of this new approach to different source water matrices and disinfection conditions remained unclear. In this study, the effects of bromide and contact time on the performance of the new approach for DBP control were investigated. Same source waters were also treated with the traditional approach (i.e., using GAC to remove NOM prior to chlorination) and with chlorination only for comparison. With increasing the initial bromide level from 0 to 2 mg/L, the TOX removal with the new approach increased from 52% to 74%, while the removal with the traditional approach increased from 18% to 37%. Besides, as the chlorine contact time increased from 0.5 to 3.0 h, the TOX removal with the new approach increased from 61% to 75%, while the removal with the traditional approach increased from 21% to 36%. Increasing the bromide level and chlorine contact time enhanced the halogenated DBP removal with both new and traditional approaches, but the removal with the new approach was always two times higher or more than that with the traditional approach, which justified the superiority of the new approach. Moreover, various intermediate aromatic halogenated DBPs were detected in the chlorinated water samples and their levels were significantly decreased after the GAC adsorption, which further corroborated the effectiveness of the new approach for DBP control.

International audience; Several crops bear reproductive organs (RO) at the top of the canopy after the flowering stage, such as ears for wheat, tassels for maize, and heads for sunflowers. RO present specific architecture and optical properties as compared to leaves and stems, which may impact canopy reflectance. This study aims to understand and quantify the influence of RO on the bi-directional variation of canopy reflectance and NDVI.Multispectral camera observations from a UAV were completed over wheat, maize, and sunflower just after flowering when the RO are fully developed and the leaf layer with only marginal senescence. The flights were designed to sample the BRDF with view zenith angles spanning from nadir to 60°and many compass directions. Three flights corresponding to three sun positions were completed under clear sly conditions. The camera was always pointing to two adjacent plots of few tenths of square meters: the RO were manually removed on one plot, while the other plot was kept undisturbed.Results showed that the three visible bands (450 nm, 570 nm, 675 nm), and in a lesser way the red edge band (730 nm) were strongly correlated. We, therefore, focused on the 675 nm and 850 nm bands. The Bi-Directional Reflectance (BRF) of the canopy without RO shows that the BRF values were almost symmetrical across the principal plane, even for maize and sunflower canopies with a strong row structure. Examination of the BRF difference between the canopy with and without RO indicate that the RO impact canopy BRDF for the three crops. The magnitude of the impacts depends on crop, wavelength and observational geometry. These observations are generally consistent with realistic 3D reflectance simulations. However, some discrepancies were noticed, mainly explained by the small magnitude of the RO effect on canopy BRF, and the approximations made when simulating the RO layer and its coupling with the bottom canopy layer. We finally demonstrated that the RO layer impact the estimates of canopy traits such as GAI as derived from the multispectral observations.

grant entitled "Study on Agricultural Drought Risk Formation Mechanism of the Rain-fed Agricultural Typical Area in China" from the National Science and Technology Foundation 41001059; Climate change is affecting every aspect of human activities, especially the agriculture. In China, extreme drought events caused by climate change have posed a great threat to food safety. In this work we aimed to study the drought risk of maize in the farming-pastoral ecotone in Northern China based on physical vulnerability assessment. The physical vulnerability curve was constructed from the relationship between drought hazard intensity index and yield loss rate. The risk assessment of agricultural drought was conducted from the drought hazard intensity index and physical vulnerability curve. The probability distribution of drought hazard intensity index decreased from south-west to north-east and increased from south-east to north-west along the rainfall isoline. The physical vulnerability curve had a reduction effect in three parts of the farming-pastoral ecotone in Northern China, which helped to reduce drought hazard vulnerability on spring maize. The risk of yield loss ratio calculated based on physical vulnerability curve was lower compared with the drought hazard intensity index, which suggested that the capacity of spring maize to resist and adapt to drought is increasing. In conclusion, the farming-pastoral ecotone in Northern China is greatly sensitive to climate change and has a high probability of severe drought hazard. Risk assessment of physical vulnerability can help better understand the physical vulnerability to agricultural drought and can also promote measurements to adapt to climate change.

Chlorine disinfection is a vital treatment process to inactivate pathogens, but it also generates numerous halogenated disinfection byproducts (DBPs) via reactions with halides and natural organic matter (NOM). Epidemiological studies have shown that consumption of chlorinated drinking water with halogenated DBPs is related to increased spontaneous abortions, stillbirth, birth defects, and bladder and colorectal cancers. To control DBPs, efforts have been devoted to minimizing the formation of DBPs by removing the major DBP precursor, NOM, or by adopting alternative disinfectants. Notably, the precursor removal may not be very effective and the application of alternative disinfectants may generate their own sets of DBPs. It has remained a grand challenge to develop a new DBP control strategy which can effectively decrease the DBP formation and reduce the health risks of chlorinated drinking water. To solve this problem, Zhang’s group reported a new approach to effectively control halogenated DBPs by removing intermediate aromatic halogenated DBPs, which were formed from chlorine disinfection, via granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption.

International audience; Green Area Index (GAI) and Leaf Chlorophyll Content (LCC) are key variables that reflect the potential growth of the canopy. In the past decades, the retrieval of these variables from remote sensing data to generate operational products at high spatial resolution (lower than decametric) was mainly based on 1D radiative transfer model inversion. However, due to the recent advances in computational facility, it is now possible to invert 3D radiative transfer models to improve the operational product accuracy. The use of 3D models allows taking into account more realistic canopy architectures than when using the turbid medium assumption from the 1D radiative transfer models. In this study, we demonstrate the gain in accuracy when inverting crop specific using 3D radiative transfer models as compared to a generic algorithm based on 1D model. We investigate two crops characterized by contrasted architectures along the vegetation cycle, e.g. wheat and maize.

TCF12, which is known to be involved in the regulation of cell growth and differentiation, has been reported to function as an oncogene or a tumor suppressor gene in the progression of various malignant tumors. However, its function and molecular mechanism in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unclear. Methods: Stable ectopic TCF12 expression or knockdown in HCC cell lines was established by lentiviral infection. Then, MTT, colony formation, migration, invasion and HUVECs tube formation assays as well as an orthotopic xenograft model were used to investigate the biologic function of TCF12 in HCC cells in vitro and in vivo. Subsequently, RNA-Seq analysis was utilized to explore the target genes regulated by TCF12. RT-qPCR, western blotting, a dual-luciferase reporter assay, Ch-IP, CHIP-Seq and functional rescue experiments were used to confirm the target gene regulated by TCF12. Finally, RT-qPCR, western blot and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining were performed to detect the expression level of TCF12 and to analyze the correlation of TCF12 with downstream genes as well as the clinical significance of TCF12 in human primary HCC. Results: Our functional studies revealed that stable overexpression of TCF12 in human HCC cells enhanced cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro and in vivo, whereas knockdown of TCF12 showed opposing effects. Mechanistically, CXCR4 was a downstream target of TCF12, and TCF12 directly bound to the CXCR4 promoter to regulate its expression. Moreover, CXCR4, with its ligand CXCL12, played a critical role in tumor progression induced by TCF12 via activation of the MAPK/ERK and PI3K/AKT signaling pathways. Clinically, IHC analysis revealed that TCF12 was significantly associated with poor survival of HCC patients and that TCF12 expression was closely correlated with CXCR4 expression in primary HCC tissues. Conclusion: Our findings are the first to indicate that TCF12 could promote the tumorigenesis and progression of HCC mainly by upregulating CXCR4 expression and is a prognostic indicator for patients with HCC.

International audience; Local topography significantly affects remotely sensed reflectance data and subsequently impacts leaf area index (LAI) retrieval over mountainous areas. Therefore, mountain vegetation LAI mapping from satellite observations at multiple scale levels is often obstructed by topographic distortion. To analyze the effects of topography on multiresolution LAI retrievals, consistent LAI estimations were first generated across six spatial scales (i.e., 960 m, 480 m, 240 m, 120 m, 60 m and 30 m) from MODIS and Landsat OLI reflectance data using the ensemble multiscale filter (EnMsF) approach over rugged surfaces. Subsequently, the topographic influence on LAI was evaluated based on spatial patterns and retrieval accuracies at multiple scale levels by comparing the EnMsF-based multiscale LAI results obtained before and after terrain correction of a Landsat image. The results demonstrated that the multiresolution LAI values retrieved from topographically corrected surface reflectance data outperformed those without topographic correction, regardless of various slopes or aspects at the 30 m scale or the differences in spatial resolutions. The accuracies were determined for the retrieved LAI values before (coefficient of determination (R2) = 0.32 and root mean square error (RMSE) = 1.03) and after (R2 = 0.60 and RMSE = 0.82) topographic correction when compared to the field measurements over slopes facing toward the sun at the 30 m resolution. The R2 and RMSE values were 0.57 and 0.54, respectively, for the LAI estimations with terrain corrections in the shady aspects. Moreover, the topographic effect on the LAI estimations depended on our spatial scales. The finer the spatial resolution is, the more significant the topographic effects on the multiscale LAI retrieval are, and vice versa. Thus, the results of this study open an encouraging path to deepen the understanding of terrain effects on multiscale LAI estimations, and further improve the LAI retrieval algorithm across different spatial scales over mountainous areas.

Haloacetic acids (HAAs) are the major disinfection byproducts (DBPs) that are formed during chlorination of drinking water. In this paper, the conversion of HAAs to amino acids (e.g., glycine) via ammonolysis was studied. First, a new and sensitive method for detecting glycine was developed by setting selected ion recording m/z 76 in positive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry coupled with ultra performance liquid chromatography. Second, among the mono-HAAs under the same test conditions, iodoacetic acid (49.3%) showed a considerably higher conversion to glycine during ammonolysis than chloroacetic acid (4.2%) and bromoacetic acid (27.7%). The conversion of iodoacetic acid to glycine increased with increasing temperature, increasing reaction time, or decreasing the ratio of (NH4)2CO3 to NH3·H2O in the aminating agent. Hydrolysis of iodoacetic acid to glycolic acid was also observed during ammonolysis, and it accounted for at most 50% of the iodoacetic acid conversion. The conversion to amino acids and the hydrolysis were the two major pathways during ammonolysis of HAAs. Third, compared with the iodoacetic acid sample and the simulated tap water sample without ammonolysis, the developmental toxicity of the corresponding samples with ammonolysis decreased by up to 10.4% and 32.1%, respectively. The ammonolysis was thus demonstrated to be a detoxification process for both individual HAAs and DBP mixture in chlorinated tap water. In practice, the ammonolysis of haloacid DBPs in tap water may be realized by simply adding an appropriate amount of an aminating agent during cooking.

The nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 reduced industrial and human activities in China. In this study, we investigate atmospheric carbon monoxide (CO) concentration changes during the lockdown from observations at the surface and from two satellites (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) and Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI)). It is found that the average CO surface concentration in 2020 was close to that in 2019 before the lockdown, and became 18.7% lower as compared to 2019 during the lockdown. The spatial variation of the change in the CO surface concentration is high, with an 8–27% reduction observed for Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Zhengzhou, and Guangzhou, and almost no change in Wuhan. The TROPOMI and IASI satellite observations show that the CO columns decreased by 2–13% during the lockdown in most regions in China. However in South China, there was an 8.8% increase in the CO columns observed by TROPOMI and a 36.7% increase observed by IASI, which is contrary to the 23% decrease in the surface CO concentration. The enhancement of the CO column in South China is strongly affected by the fire emissions transported from Southeast Asia. This study provides an insight into the impact of COVID-19 on CO concentrations both at the surface and in the columns in China, and it can be extended to evaluate other areas using the same approach.

Small-scale placer mining in Colombia takes place in rural areas and involves excavations resulting in large footprints of bare soil and water ponds. Such excavated areas comprise a mosaic of challenging terrains for cloud and cloud-shadow detection of Sentinel-2 (S2A and S2B) data used to identify, map, and monitor these highly dynamic activities. This paper uses an efficient two-step machine-learning approach using freely available tools to detect clouds and shadows in the context of mapping small-scale mining areas, one which places an emphasis on the reduction of misclassification of mining sites as clouds or shadows. The first step is comprised of a supervised support-vector-machine classification identifying clouds, cloud shadows, and clear pixels. The second step is a geometry-based improvement of cloud-shadow detection where solar-cloud-shadow-sensor geometry is used to exclude commission errors in cloud shadows. The geometry-based approach makes use of sun angles and sensor view angles available in Sentinel-2 metadata to identify potential directions of cloud shadow for each cloud projection. The approach does not require supplementary data on cloud-top or bottom heights nor cloud-top ruggedness. It assumes that the location of dense clouds is mainly impacted by meteorological conditions and that cloud-top and cloud-base heights vary in a predefined manner. The methodology has been tested over an intensively excavated and well-studied pilot site and shows 50% more detection of clouds and shadows than Sen2Cor. Furthermore, it has reached a Specificity of 1 in the correct detection of mining sites and water ponds, proving itself to be a reliable approach for further related studies on the mapping of small-scale mining in the area. Although the methodology was tailored to the context of small-scale mining in the region of Antioquia, it is a scalable approach and can be adapted to other areas and conditions.

Introduction Calcium hydroxide has been extensively used as the gold standard for direct pulp capping in clinical dentistry. It induces proliferation, migration, and mineralization in dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs), but the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase pathway in calcium hydroxide–induced proliferation, migration, osteogenic differentiation, and mineralization in human DPSCs. Methods Human DPSCs between passages 3 and 6 were used. DPSCs were preincubated with inhibitors of MAP kinases and cultured with calcium hydroxide. The phosphorylated MAP kinases were detected by Western blot analysis. Cell viability was analyzed via the methylthiazol tetrazolium assay. Cell migration was estimated using the wound healing assay. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) expression was analyzed using the ALP staining assay. Mineralization was studied by alizarin red staining analysis. Results Calcium hydroxide significantly promoted the phosphorylation of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), p38, and extracellular signal–regulated kinase. The inhibition of JNK and p38 signaling abolished calcium hydroxide–induced proliferation of DPSCs. The inhibition of JNK, p38, and extracellular signal–regulated kinase signaling suppressed the migration, ALP expression, and mineralization of DPSCs. Conclusions Our study showed that the MAP kinase pathway was involved in calcium hydroxide–induced proliferation, migration, osteogenic differentiation, and mineralization in human DPSCs.

Chlorine disinfection inactivates pathogens in drinking water, but meanwhile it causes the formation of halogenated disinfection byproducts (DBPs), which may induce adverse health effects. Humans are unavoidably exposed to halogenated DBPs via tap water ingestion. Boiling of tap water has been found to significantly reduce the concentrations of halogenated DBPs. In this study, we found that compared with boiling only, adding ascorbate (vitamin C) or carbonate (baking soda) to tap water and then boiling the water further reduced the level of total organic halogen (a collective parameter for all halogenated DBPs) by up to 36% or 28%, respectively. Adding ascorbate removed the chlorine residual in tap water and thus prevented the formation of more halogenated DBPs in the boiling process. Adding carbonate elevated pH of tap water and consequently enhanced the hydrolysis (dehalogenation) of halogenated DBPs or led to the formation of more trihalomethanes that might volatilize to air during the boiling process. The comparative developmental toxicity of the DBP mixtures in the water samples was also evaluated. The results showed that adding a tiny amount of sodium ascorbate or carbonate (2.5–5.0 mg/L) to tap water followed by boiling for 5 min reduced the developmental toxicity of tap water to a substantially lower level than boiling only. The addition of sodium ascorbate or carbonate to tap water in household could be realized by preparing them in tiny pills. This study suggests simple and effective methods to reduce the adverse effects of halogenated DBPs on humans through tap water ingestion.

Halogenated disinfection byproducts (DBPs) are formed during chlorine disinfection of drinking water. The complicated natural organic matter in source water causes the formation of an even more complicated mixture of DBPs. To evaluate the toxicity of a DBP mixture in a disinfected water sample, the sample needs to be pretreated in order to attain an observable acute adverse effect in the toxicity test. During sample pretreatment, volatile DBPs including trihalomethanes, haloacetonitriles and haloketones may be lost, which could affect the toxicity evaluation of the DBP mixture. In this study, we intentionally prepared “concentrated” simulated drinking water samples, which contained sufficiently high levels of volatile and nonvolatile DBPs and thus enabled directly evaluating the toxicity of the DBP mixtures without sample pretreatment. Specifically, the natural organic matter and bromide concentrations and the chlorine dose in the concentrated water samples were 250 times higher than those in a typical drinking water sample. Each concentrated water sample was divided into two aliquots, and one of them was nitrogen sparged to eliminate volatile DBPs; then, both aliquots were used directly in a well-established developmental toxicity test. No significant difference (p > 0.10) was found between the developmental toxicity indexes of each concentrated water sample without and with nitrogen sparging, indicating that the contribution of volatile DBPs to the developmental toxicity of the DBP mixture might be marginal. A reasonable interpretation is that nonvolatile halogenated DBPs (especially the aromatic ones) in the DBP mixture could be the major developmental toxicity contributor that warrants more attention.