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To evaluate the efficacy of Chinese medicine acupoint application (CMAA) combined with Western medicine for perennial allergic rhinitis (PAR) in children. In this prospective, parallel, randomized, placebo-controlled and single-blind trial from August to September, 2017, 180 children with PAR were randomly assigned to an integrative group (CMAA and Montelukast), CMAA group (CMAA and placebo tablet), or Montelukast group (placebo CMAA and Montelukast). Participants were applied with CMAA for 6 sessions over 2 weeks, and/or Montelukast Chewable Tablet orally once daily for 12 weeks. The changes in severity of symptoms were measured by Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and rhinitis control assessment test (RCAT) at 0, 2, 4 and 12 weeks of treatment. Blood samples were collected for serum interleukin-4, interferon gamma γ and T helper type 1 (Th1)/Th2 flow cytometric analysis at the time points of 0, 4 and 12 weeks. Eight cases dropped out from the trial, 3 in the integrative group, 2 in the CMAA group and 3 in the Montelukast group. The VAS scores decreased significantly while the RCAT scores increased significantly in all three groups at 4 and 12 weeks compared with baseline (P

Introduction Due to diverse symptoms of spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) and the high prevalence of SCA3 in China, a more in-depth study of Chinese SCA3 patients in a large cohort is well merited. Methods During the last 10 years, 730 patients and 133 premanifest individuals from 667 SCA3 families genetically confirmed to have SCA3 were enrolled from three leading academic hospitals in China. The clinical profile and genotype-phenotype correlation were analyzed. Results A quadratic equation best explained the relationship between the logarithmically transformed age at onset (AAO) and expanded CAG repeats (expCAGs) (r2 = 0.634, p 10 years. Intriguingly, onset after parturition happened in 10 female patients with the AAO of 26.7 ± 4.3 years and the expCAG of 77.4 ± 1.4 repeats. Five out of 12 patients with subtype V and larger expCAGs (78.8 ± 4.8 repeats) suffered from spastic gait initially, and 10 out of 12 showed no limb ataxia. Nystagmus happened most frequently (10.5%) in premanifest individuals. Conclusion We demonstrated the genotype-phenotype correlation in the largest cohort of SCA3 individuals to date, and interestingly found some new phenomena in Chinese SCA3 individuals.

Links between decent work and academic outcomes among a sample ( N = 1,231) of first-generation college students were examined based on Psychology of Working Theory (PWT). A theory-driven mediation model was proposed by placing decent work as a mediator between predictors of PWT and academic outcomes. The predictor component of PWT was supported. Future decent work perceptions positively predicted academic engagement but not academic satisfaction. Support for the mediation results was mixed. Overall, findings suggested that positive future decent work perceptions may boost academic engagement for university students. Thus, interventions that aim to improve student academic satisfaction should be implemented. Two malleable psychological factors, namely, work volition and career adaptability appear to be two malleable psychological factors that could be used as targets when working with this group. Theoretical contributions and future research directions are discussed.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) is caused by unstable expanded CAG repeats (expCAGs) in ATXN3. Factors associated with intergenerational instability (delta-expCAG) and genetic anticipation in SCA3 have never been reported in Chinese mainland. Here, we demonstrated that unstable transmissions occurred more often in sons than in daughters (91% vs 72%, Fisher’s exact test, p = 0.012). The extended delta-expCAG of father-son transmissions was greater than that of mother-son transmissions (3.8 ± 2.3 repeats vs 1.6 ± 1.0 repeats, Mann-Whitney U, p = 0.001). Genetic anticipation was frequently observed between generations but not affected by the delta-expCAG.

Background Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a significant public health concern in the Asia-Pacific region, with a case-fatality rate of around 20% for those who develop encephalitis. Mouse-brain derived vaccines against JE have been used in the publicly funded national immunization program (NIP) in Taiwan since 1968. They were replaced with a live-attenuated recombinant vaccine (JE-CV, IMOJEV®) in May 2017. We assessed reports of adverse events (AE) following the introduction of JE-CV into the Taiwan NIP to characterize its post-licensure safety profile. Methods AEs reported between 1 May 2017 and 31 December 2018 post vaccination with JE-CV were extracted from the National Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR) Reporting System, a passive surveillance system run by the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration. The report rates were calculated based on the number of doses distributed by the manufacturer during the assessment period. Results There were 51 AEs reported among 30 subjects (12 girls and 18 boys; mean age 25 months), with a reporting rate of 4.7 AEs per 100,000 doses distributed. The AEs occurred after a median of. 1-day post vaccination. Eight subjects had received concomitant vaccination with another vaccines. There were four serious AEs reported: febrile seizure, acute renal failure, viral respiratory tract infection, and injection site cellulitis. None of these serious AEs were classified as being causally related to JE-CV vaccination. Conclusion These post-licensure AE surveillance data confirm the favorable safety profile of JE-CV.

Heterogeneous catalysis of formic acid dehydrogenation at room temperature is a promising tactic for safely storing and producing H2 as an efficient energy carrier. Up to now, the catalysts for thi...

Electro-reforming of renewable biomass resources is an alternative technology for sustainable pure H

Zhao-Yin Ma,1,* Yong-Ya Wu,2,* Hong-Yin-Long Cui,3 Guang-Yan Yao,3 Hong Bian3,4 1Department of Diagnostic, Medical Integration and Practice Center, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Emergency Critical Care Medicine, The Affiliated Hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Neurology, Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Neurology, Jinan Central Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Hong Bian, Department of Neurology, Central Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-15318816109, Fax +86-053188382085, Email jnbianh@163.comObjective: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and ischemic stroke, which are common diseases among older people, are closely related to cognitive impairment. This study aims to investigate the influencing factors of post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) in patients with T2DM.Methods: We enrolled 161 patients with T2DM who experienced acute ischemic stroke and were hospitalized in the Department of Neurology, Jinan Central Hospital, Shandong, China. Cognitive function was evaluated with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment scale. According to the results, patients were divided into three groups—the cognitively normal group, mild cognitive impairment group, and severe cognitive impairment group. We analyzed general demographic data, laboratory information, imaging data, the results of neuropsychological evaluation, and clinical features as well as influencing factors of PSCI in these patients and established a prediction model.Results: The three groups of patients were significantly different in terms of age, education level, course of diabetes mellitus (DM), recurrent cerebral infarction (RCI), and other factors. RCI, course of DM, and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were independent risk factors of PSCI in patients with T2DM, with odds ratio (95% confidence interval): 7.17 (2.09, 30.37), 5.39 (2.40, 14.59), and 3.89 (1.66, 10.04), respectively, whereas female, senior high school, serum albumin were protective factors: 0.28 (0.07, 0.95), 0.05 (0.01, 0.21), 0.20 (0.08, 0.42), respectively. Furthermore, we constructed a prediction model using sex, age, education level, RCI, DM course, HbA1c and serum albumin and obtained a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The area under the ROC curve is 0.966, suggesting the significant association of these influencing factors with PSCI in patients with T2DM.Conclusion: In this study, the occurrence of PSCI in patients with T2DM was related to RCI, course of DM, and HbA1c, among other factors. Attention to influencing factors is needed in these patients for early diagnosis and timely intervention of cognitive impairment.Keywords: blood glucose, cognitive impairment, ischemic stroke, risk factor

Background Although many causative genes have been uncovered in recent years, genetic diagnosis is still missing for approximately 50% of autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia (ARCA) patients. Few studies have been performed to determine the genetic spectrum and clinical profile of ARCA patients in the Chinese population. Methods Fifty-four Chinese index patients with unexplained autosomal recessive or sporadic ataxia were investigated by whole-exome sequencing (WES) and copy number variation (CNV) calling with ExomeDepth. Likely causal CNV predictions were validated by CNVseq. Results Thirty-eight mutations including 29 novel ones were identified in 25 out of the 54 patients, providing a 46.3% positive molecular diagnostic rate. Ten different genes were involved, of which four most common genes were SACS, SYNE1, ADCK3 and SETX, which accounted for 76.0% (19/25) of the positive cases. The de novo microdeletion in SACS was reported for the first time in China and the uniparental disomy of ADCK3 was reported for the first time worldwide. Clinical features of the patients carrying SACS, SYNE1 and ADCK3 mutations were summarized. Conclusions Our results expand the genetic spectrum and clinical profiles of ARCA patients, demonstrate the high efficiency and reliability of WES combined with CNV analysis in the diagnosis of suspected ARCA, and emphasize the importance of complete bioinformatics analysis of WES data for accurate diagnosis.

Anagrus nilaparvatae is an important egg parasitoid wasps of rice pests rice planthopper. Based on the powerful olfactory system of sensing chemical information in nature, A. nilaparvatae shows complicated life activities and behaviors, such as feeding, mating and hosting. In this study, we constructed a full-length transcriptome library and further to identify the characteristics of olfactory binding proteins, the first participant in the olfactory system. Through full-length transcriptome sequencing, splicing, assembly, and data correction by Illumina, we obtained 163.59Mb of transcriptome data and 501,179 items of annotation information, and performed GO functional classification of unigenes of the transcriptome. We analyzed the sequence characteristics of olfactory binding protein genes, and 8 genes (AnilOBP2, AnilOBP9 AnilOBP23, AnilOBP56, AnilOBP83, AnilCSP5, AnilCSP6 and AnilNPC2) were identified. After sequence alignment and conserved domain prediction, the 8 proteins were consistent with the typical characteristics of OBPs, CSPs and NPC2s in insects. The phylogenetic tree analysis showed that the 8 genes share low homology relationship with other species in Hymenopteran. Finally, RT-qPCR was used to analyze the expression responses of the 8 genes in different genders and stimulated by volatiles. The relative expression levels of AnilOBP9, AnilOBP26, AnilOBP83, AnilCSP5 and AnilNPC2 in males were significantly higher than those in female, while the relative expression levels of AnilCSP6 were opposite. The expression levels of AnilOBP9 and AnilCSP6 were significantly altered by the stimulation of β-caryophylene, suggesting the two genes may be related to host searching. In this study, the transcriptome data of parasitoid wasps A. nilaparvatae could provide a reference for the molecular biology research of the parasitoids, and the identification and analysis of olfactory binding proteins not only help us further clarify the physiological characteristics and parasitic mechanism of the parasitoids, but also promote the utilization of natural enemy resources.

Inorganic nitride nanomaterials have attracted widespread attention for applications in renewable energy due to novel electrochemical activities and high chemical stabilities. For different renewable energy applications, there are many possibilities and uncertainties about the optimal nitride phases and nanostructures, which further promotes the exploration of controllable preparation of nitride nanomaterials. Moreover, unlike conventional nitrides with bulk or ceramic structures, the synthesis of nitride nanomaterials needs more accurate control to guarantee the target nanostructure along with the phase purity, which make the whole synthesis still a challenge to achieve. In this mini review, we mainly summarize the synthesis methods for inorganic nitride nanomaterials, including chemistry vapor deposition, self-propagation high-temperature synthesis, solid state metathesis reactions, solvothermal synthesis, etc. From the perspective of nanostructure, several novel nitrides, with nanostructures like nanoporous, two-dimensional, defects, ternary structures, and quantum dots, are showing unique properties and getting extensive attentions, recently. Prospects of future research in design and synthesis of functional inorganic nitrides are also discussed.

The reasonable layout of green infrastructure is conducive to the low-carbon, livable and high-quality sustainable development of cities. The framework of spatio-temporal evolution characteristics and prediction analysis of Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) was constructed by integrating morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) and CA-Markov in the study. We analyzed the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics of UGI in Beijing from 1990 to 2019, predicted its future change trend in 2030, and put forward the optimization scheme for the ecological network of UGI. The area change of UGI presented a "V" shape from 1990 to 2019 in Beijing, and the turning point was around 2009. Its spatial distribution revealed a significant heterogeneity. The comprehensive change rate index showed a "rising and then falling" trend from 1990 to 2019. Core with an area of over 1000 km2 had inclined "C" shape, connecting the north, west and south of the study area. Among the three prediction scenarios for 2030, the area of UGI under the ecological conservation priority scenario is the largest, accounting for 86.35% of the total area. The area of UGI under the economic development priority scenario is the smallest, accounting for 76.85%. The optimization of zoning and road network are effective measures to improve the connectivity of UGI in Beijing. This study is beneficial to extend the research ideas of UGI and promote sustainable urban development.

Reciprocal epithelial-mesenchymal interactions are pivotal in lung development, homeostasis, injury, and repair. Organoids have been used to investigate such interactions, but with a major focus on epithelial responses to mesenchyme and less attention to epithelial effects on mesenchyme. In the present study, we used nascent organoids composed of human and mouse lung epithelial and mesenchymal cells to demonstrate that healthy lung epithelium dramatically represses transcriptional, contractile, and matrix synthetic functions of lung fibroblasts. Repression of fibroblast activation requires signaling via the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) pathway. BMP signaling is diminished after epithelial injury in vitro and in vivo, and exogenous BMP4 restores fibroblast repression in injured organoids. In contrast, inhibition of BMP signaling in healthy organoids is sufficient to derepress fibroblast matrix synthetic function. Our results reveal potent repression of fibroblast activation by healthy lung epithelium and a novel mechanism by which epithelial loss or injury is intrinsically coupled to mesenchymal activation via loss of repressive BMP signaling.

跨領域 STEAM 課程的專題研究能培養國小學生的 STEAM 素養，是全球的教育趨勢，也是我國十二年國民基本教育的教學重點。本研究採個案研究法，以國小五年級一個班級共 28位學生為研究對象，由三位不同領域的協同教師設計「動物模仿獸」的 STEAM 專題研究，教導學生動物的特殊習性、撰寫 Arduino 設計程式、選擇材料組裝動物模仿獸；各組學生以兩個月的時間撰寫 Arduino 程式操控感應器以模仿動物的特殊習性、畫設計圖、組裝動物模仿獸。研究者蒐集 Arduino 學習單、動物模仿獸討論單、學習日誌、動物模仿獸作品、半結構式晤談、教師省思札記等質性資料，進行編碼、分類與詮釋。研究結果顯示：一、各組學生能撰寫 Arduino 程式去操控各種感應器，達到動物模仿獸身體顏色、叫聲頻率、改變發光頻率的效果；二、各組學生從畫設計圖到組裝的過程，學會正確測量容積、選擇正確材料以組裝動物模仿獸，呈現模仿獸的完整功能，以及具有特色的造型與質感；三、各組學生從 STEAM 專題 研究中培養 STEAM 素養，擁有跨領域的整合能力。 Research on cross-disciplinary science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEAM) curriculums could help primary students to develop their STEAM literacy. STEAM represents a global education trend and the target of Taiwanese students’ 12-year compulsory education. In this case study, 28 students from a fifth-grade elementary school class were included as research participants. The STEAM curriculum theme of “animal mimicry beast” was chosen by three teachers from various fields to teach students about the specific behaviors of animals, to write Arduino design programs, and to select materials for assembling animal mimicry beasts. After the teaching, the students wrote Arduino program control sensors to mimic animals’ individual behaviors, drew design diagrams, and assembled animal mimicry beasts during 2 months. The data collected included Arduino learning sheets, animal mimicry discussion lists, learning logs, animal mimicry beast works, semi structured interviews, and teacher feedback for data coding, classification, and interpretation. The results indicated that (1) each group of students was able to write Arduino programs to control various sensors and enable animal mimicry beasts to change color, tweet frequency, or light frequency. (2) Each group of students who created design diagrams and assembled animal mimicry beasts learned to correctly measure volume; to select appropriate materials for assembling animal mimicry beasts; and to present their animals’ full functionality, distinctive shapes, and textures. (3) Each group of students developed STEAM literacy from their STEAM projects studies and exhibited cross-disciplinary integration capabilities.

Internal organs fibrosis (IOF) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in most chronic inflammatory diseases, which is responsible for 45% of deaths due to disease. However, there is a paucity of drugs used to treat IOF, making it urgent to find medicine with good efficacy, low toxic side effects and good prognosis. Essential oils (EOs) extracted from natural herbs with a wide range of pharmacological components, multiple therapeutic targets, low toxicity, and broad sources have unique advantages and great potential in the treatment of IOF. In this review, we summarized EOs and their monomeric components with anti-IOF, and found that they work mainly through inhibiting TGF-β-related signaling pathways, modulating inflammatory cytokines, suppressing NF-κB, and anti-oxidative stress. The prognostic improvement of natural EOs on IOF was further discussed, as well as the quality and safety issues in the current development of natural EOs. This review hopes to provide scientific basis and new ideas for the development and application of natural medicine EOs in anti-IOF.

Existing literature on the associations between use of mobile applications (i.e., mobile apps) and loneliness among older adults (OAs) has been mainly conducted before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since mobile apps have been increasingly used by OAs during the pandemic, subsequent effects on social and emotional loneliness need updated investigation. This paper examines the relationship between mobile app use and loneliness among Hong Kong’s OAs during the pandemic. In our research, 364 OAs with current use experience of mobile apps were interviewed through a questionnaire survey conducted during July and August 2021, which assessed the use frequency and duration of 14 mobile app types and levels of emotional and social loneliness. The survey illustrated communication (e.g., WhatsApp) and information apps were the most commonly used. Emotional loneliness was associated with the use of video entertainment (frequency and duration), instant communication (duration), and information apps (duration). Association between video entertainment apps’ use and emotional loneliness was stronger among older and less educated OAs. Our findings highlight the distinctive relationships between different types of apps and loneliness among Hong Kong’s OAs during the pandemic, which warrant further exploration via research into post-pandemic patterns and comparative studies in other regions.

Endothelial cells (ECs) are a critical component of the hematopoietic niche, and the cross-talk between ECs and leukemia was reported recently. This study aimed to determine the genes involved in the proliferation inhibition of endothelial cells in leukemia.Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) were cultured alone or co-cultured with K562 cell lines. GeneChip assays were performed to identify the differentially expressed genes. The Celigo, MTT assay, and flow cytometric analysis were used to determine the effect of RNAi DIDO on cell growth and apoptosis. The differently expressed genes were verified by qRT-PCR (quantitative real-time PCR) and western-blot.In K562-HUVEC co-cultured cell lines, 323 down-regulated probes were identified and the extracellular signal-regulated kinase 5 (ERK5) signaling pathway was significantly inhibited. Among the down-regulated genes, theThe knock-down of

In order to be able to handle a wide range of AI applications, such as for speech, image, language and autonomous driving, it is necessary that an AI accelerator be flexible enough to handle diversified workloads. Baidu Kunlun, an AI chip designed in-house by Baidu, achieves this capability with high programmability, flexibility and performance. Baidu Kunlun was inspired by the XPU architecture [1]. The chip is implemented in Samsung 14nm process technology. Its peak performance is 230TOPS@INT8 at 900MHz and up to 281TOPS@INT8 at 1.1GHz boost frequency. The memory bandwidth is 512GB/s and the peak power is 160W. Baidu Kunlun achieves good performance across various types of workloads. With 900MHz base frequency, the latencies of BERT, ResNet50, YOLOv3 are $1.7 \times, 1.2 \times$ and $2 \times$ less than an Nvidia T4 GPU, respectively, with optimizations from TensorRT. Recently, Baidu Kunlun has been deployed in data centers in Baidu to serve many applications. It achieves 1.5-to$- 3 \times$ better performance for several models within the search engine vs. the Nvidia T4.

Background and ObjectivesFew biochemical markers have been identified in spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2). This study aimed to determine the levels of neurofilament light (NfL) in patients with SCA2 and to identify whether they are associated with disease severity.MethodsParticipants were recruited from 1 medical center in China, and individuals with SCA2 were genetically diagnosed. NfL levels were assessed with the single molecule array method. Disease severity was evaluated with the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA), the International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS), and the Inventory of Non-Ataxia Symptoms (INAS). Cerebellum and brainstem volumes were calculated from neuroimaging measurements. We used the Pearson correlation and partial correlation for correlation analyses.ResultsForty-nine patients with manifest SCA2, 10 preclinical individuals with SCA2, and 92 controls were enrolled. A high consistency was identified between serum and CSF NfL (r = 0.868, p < 0.0001). In individuals with SCA2, levels of serum NfL were associated with disease severity (SARA: r = 0.425, p = 0.003; ICARS: r = 0.383, p = 0.009; INAS:, r = 0.390, p = 0.007; cerebellum volume: r = −0.393, p = 0.024) after adjustment for age. NfL levels were higher close to the expected age at onset in preclinical individuals with SCA2 (R2 = 0.43, p = 0.04).DiscussionLevels of serum NfL were correlated with disease intensity in individuals with SCA2 and were higher close to the estimated age at onset in preclinical SCA2. Therefore, NfL is a potential serum biomarker of disease severity in SCA2.Classification of EvidenceThis study provides Class II evidence that elevated NfL levels are associated with disease severity in individuals with SCA2.

Social media has been playing an important role in marketing strategy. As a part of social media, social networking sites (SNS) can be utilized by enterprises to create direct communication and good relationships with their customers. Therefore, enterprises using SNS have to select the right marketing content to enhance strong customer relationships, which lead to their behavior generating sustainable performance for enterprises. This research considered social media marketing activity (SMMA) and Customer Experience (CX) to measure the customer&rsquo, s relationship quality, which can impact customer behavioral outcomes, which are purchase intention, loyalty intention, and participation intention. The 413 online questionnaire surveys were measured and analyzed using SmartPLS 3. The results show that SMMA and CX have a significant influence on the customer relationship quality, which also leads to a positive impact on customer behavioral outcomes. This research guides enterprises that SNS&rsquo, s marketing content has to follow SMMA and CX dimensions to achieve the marketing objective and generate sustainable performance for enterprises.

Electric field assisted combustion is an important means to improve fuel combustion efficiency. This paper conducts extensive research on flame characteristics under different forms and different application methods of electric fields, emission of soot particles and simulation status. Different flame parameter measurement methods will lead to different degrees of error, and perfect numerical simulation can make simple predictions on experimental data. Most of the current numerical simulations are in two dimensions, and it is necessary to develop a complete and accurate three-dimensional model to simulate and predict the characteristics of the flame under an electric field. The emission of soot particles is also affected by the electric field, and reasonable electric field parameters can greatly reduce the emission of soot particles. It is recommended to conduct centralized measurement of different fuels under the electric field under high pressure and temperature conditions, so as to be able to develop a wider and more accurate flame dynamics and chemical model under the electric field.

High-sensitivity and wide-frequency attenuated total reflection surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (ATR-SEIRAS) is highly demanded in unraveling electrocatalytic processes at the molecular level. In this work, an in situ ATR-SEIRAS technique incorporating a micromachined Si wafer window, p-polarized infrared radiation, and isotope labeling is extended to revisit the acetaldehyde oxidation reaction (AOR) on a Pt electrode in an acidic medium. New spectral features in the fingerprint region are detected, including ω(C-H) at 1078 cm-1 and νas(C-C-O) at 919 cm-1 for adsorbed acetaldehyde and I´(O-C-O) at 689 cm-1 for adsorbed acetate, besides the other enhanced and clearly discriminated spectral signals at higher frequencies. Time-evolved and potential-dependent ATR-SEIRAS measurements together with advanced density functional theory calculations considering the coadsorption of CO and C2 species enable clarification of the structures and roles of surface C2 intermediates (I·1(C)-acetyl and I·1(H)-acetaldehyde), as reflected by the two bands at 1630 and 1663 cm-1, respectively, leading to updated pathways for the AOR on a Pt electrode.

Impervious surfaces (ISs) are significant indicators of the overall environmental health of watersheds. Monitoring the IS spatial patterns of watersheds is helpful for improving water management and regional pollution assessment. A random forest regression (RFR) approach was developed to estimate the subpixel IS percentage (ISP) from Chinese GF-5 hyperspectral imagery in 30 m pixels in the Nansi Lake Basin. Initially, object-based image analysis and overlay analysis were adopted to generate a very high-resolution ISP reference dataset using GF-1 multispectral imagery. Subsequently, an RFR-based ISP prediction model was established and evaluated using training and validation samples, respectively. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method shows a good performance with a root mean square error of 0.17, a mean absolute error of 0.15, and an R2 value of 0.89. Meanwhile, both band 10 and band 53 of GF-5 made the highest contributions to ISP modeling. Further comparison with other machine learning algorithms revealed that the RFR-based ISP model outperforms support vector machine regression and partial least squares regression, demonstrating the potential usability of the proposed method in ISP estimation from hyperspectral imagery.

Sensory neuronopathies are a rare and distinct subgroup of peripheral neuropathies, characterized by degeneration of the dorsal root ganglia neurons. About 50% of sensory neuronopathies are idiopathic and genetic causes remain to be clarified. Through a combination of homozygosity mapping and whole exome sequencing, we linked an autosomal recessive sensory neuronopathy to pathogenic variants in the COX20 gene. We identified eight unrelated families from the eastern Chinese population carrying a founder variant c.41A>G (p.Lys14Arg) within COX20 in either a homozygous or compound heterozygous state. All patients displayed sensory ataxia with a decrease in non-length-dependent sensory potentials. COX20 encodes a key transmembrane protein implicated in the assembly of mitochondrial complex IV. We showed that COX20 variants lead to reduction of COX20 protein in patient’s fibroblasts and transfected cell lines, consistent with a loss-of-function mechanism. Knockdown of COX20 expression in ND7/23 sensory neuron cells resulted in complex IV deficiency and perturbed assembly of complex IV, which subsequently compromised cell spare respiratory capacity and reduced cell proliferation under metabolic stress. Consistent with mitochondrial dysfunction in knockdown cells, reduced complex IV assembly, enzyme activity and oxygen consumption rate were also found in patients’ fibroblasts. We speculated that the mechanism of COX20 was similar to other causative genes (e.g. SURF1, COX6A1, COA3 and SCO2) for peripheral neuropathies, all of which are functionally important in the structure and assembly of complex IV. Our study identifies a novel causative gene for the autosomal recessive sensory neuronopathy, whose vital function in complex IV and high expression in the proprioceptive sensory neuron further underlines loss of COX20 contributing to mitochondrial bioenergetic dysfunction as a mechanism in peripheral sensory neuron disease.

To examine the relationships between proactive personality, clinical learning environment, career adaptability and self-perceived employability in nursing college students based on the career construction model.The study employed a cross-sectional research design.A purposive and convenience sampling of 405 final year nursing college students were invited to finish online survey. Structural equation modeling has been utilized to perform the measurement and structural model assessment and bootstrapping approach is employed to perform the mediation test.Students' proactive personality was positively related to their career adaptability (Beta=0.45, p 0.001), and self-perceived employability (Beta=0.26, p 0.001), clinical learning environment was positively related to career adaptability (Beta=0.14, p 0.1) and self-perceived employability (Beta=0.43, p 0.001), career adaptability was positively related to self-perceived employability (Beta=0.33, p 0.001). Moreover, career adaptability significantly mediated the relationship between proactive personality and perceived employability, but it failed to mediate the relationship between clinical learning environment and perceived employability.For nursing college students, both clinical learning environment and proactive personality had a positive impact on their self-perceived employability, and career adaptability also mediated the relationship between proactive personality and perceived employability. Appropriate interventions may be implemented to enhance nursing college students' perceived employability.

The research aims to examine the extent to which the perceived organizational support (POS) predicted career related self and environmental exploration via the mediation effect of career adaptability. Multi-group comparisons based on the gender, majors and places of origin were also performed to evaluate the differences among these variables. An internet survey was conducted to collect empirical data from 611 Chinese undergraduates. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted to demonstrate the proposed relations in the model and multiple group analysis. Clearly supported was the direct relations between POS and career related self and environmental exploration and the mediation effect of career adaptability. The results also showed that gender and major are the moderating variables for the proposed model, and no significance difference among the rural and urban subgroups was found. POS could be effectively delivered to students in general, marginalized social groups, such as females and those majored in the humanities and social sciences in particular. Four dimensions of career adaptability (concern, control, curiosity and confidence) could also be targeted at in order to promote students’ sustainable employment. The findings provide a better understanding of the career construction model by incorporating the contextual factor in a collective cultural environment.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) is caused by unstable expanded CAG repeats (expCAGs) in ATXN3. Factors associated with intergenerational instability (delta-expCAG) and genetic anticipation in SCA3 have never been reported in Chinese mainland. Here, we demonstrated that unstable transmissions occurred more often in sons than in daughters (91% vs 72%, Fisher's exact test, p = 0.012). The extended delta-expCAG of father-son transmissions was greater than that of mother-son transmissions (3.8 ± 2.3 repeats vs 1.6 ± 1.0 repeats, Mann-Whitney U, p = 0.001). Genetic anticipation was frequently observed between generations but not affected by the delta-expCAG.

Background Homozygous spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) patients, which have an expanded cytosine‐adenine‐guanine (CAG) repeat mutation in both alleles of ATXN3, are extremely rare. Clinical features and genetic characteristics of them were seldom studied. Methods We analyzed seven newly homozygous SCA3 patients from five families and 14 homozygotes reported previously. An additional cohort of 30 heterozygous SCA3 patients were analyzed to compare age at onset (AAO). Results Two out of seven SCA3 homozygotes had the minimum CAG repeats reported so far (55/56 and 56/58). Five patients appeared peripheral neuropathy and two had mild cognitive impairment. The AAO was significantly inversely correlated with both the large and small expanded CAG repeats (r = −.7682, p, We analyzed seven newly homozygous spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 patients from five families and 14 homozygotes reported previously. The AAO was significantly inversely correlated with both the large and small expanded CAG repeats (r = −.7682, p

Due to the depletion of the fossil fuel and the caused deterioration of the environment and resources, renewable energy is becoming increasingly important to achieve the sustainable development of mankind. Wind power, as one of the vital renewable energy resources, has been explored and utilized in power systems to promote the green energy production in the past decades around the world. However, the wind power curtailment is still a serious problem in real industry which undermines its potential. To address the wind power utilization problem in transmission systems, this paper proposes an integrated optimization model to maximize the wind power utilization from the viewpoint of transactive energy control (TEC). The problem is formulated into a mixed integer quadratic programming (MIQP) model where the transactive conditions proposed by each participant, e.g. wind power plants, conventional power plants, neighboring provinces, energy-intensive load and gird operator in the network is transformed into linear constraints. Case study based on the real wind power data is conducted in the paper and through the TEC, the wind power utilization can be maximized and the benefit of each participants in the system can be guaranteed as well.

As a coastal halophyte, Spartina alterniflora has high salt tolerance. However, the mechanism at the molecular level has not been widely studied due to the absence of a reference genome. The proteins of NAC families are plant-specific transcription factors that regulate the growth, development and stress response in plants. To identify the NAC family and explore the relationship between NAC proteins and the growth, development and stress response of Spatina alterniflora, full-length transcriptome data of Spartina alterniflora by the third generation sequencing technology was used as reference sequences in this study to blast with the NAC protein sequences from Oryza sativa, Arabidopsis thaliana and Zea mays. Finally, 62 SaNAC proteins were found in Spartina alterniflora by deep analysis on conserved domains. Then we analyzed sequence alignment, evolution, motif prediction, homology comparison, subcellular localization, tissue and abiotic stress-induced gene differential expression profile on the NAC family members in Spartina alterniflora. As a result, all SaNAC proteins were found containing a conserved NAM domain and having certain evolutionary similarity with rice; two family proteins, SaNAC9 and SaNAC49, were expressed in the nucleus; moreover, SaNAC genes were identified to have distinct expressional profiles in different tissues and stress response of Spartina alterniflora. These results indicated the SaNAC transcription factor family not only had conserved functional domains but also played important role in the regulation of growth, development and abiotic stress response.互花米草(Spartina alterniflora)作为一种海岸带盐生植物,高度耐盐胁迫,但因为缺少参考基因组,其耐盐的分子机制却尚未见报道。NAC家族蛋白是植物特有的转录因子,调控植物的生长发育和胁迫应答。为了鉴定互花米草NAC蛋白(SaNAC)并探究它们与互花米草生长发育及胁迫响应之间的关系,本研究以互花米草三代全长转录组数据为参考,通过与水稻(Oryza sativa)、拟南芥(Arabidopsis thaliana)和玉米(Zea mays)NAC蛋白序列进行比对,并结合保守功能域进一步筛选,最终找到62个SaNAC蛋白。从蛋白序列比对、进化、motif预测、同源性比较、亚细胞定位、组织表达以及非生物胁迫下的基因差异表达等方面分别对互花米草NAC家族成员进行分析,结果发现SaNAC蛋白均含有保守的NAM结构域,且在进化上与水稻NAC家族具有一定的相似性;SaNAC家族中的两个蛋白SaNAC9和SaNAC49在细胞核表达;另外,本研究还发现互花米草SaNAC基因表达具有高度组织和胁迫应答差异性。这些结果表明互花米草NAC转录因子家族不仅具有保守的功能域,而且在调控互花米草的生长发育和非生物胁迫响应过程中具有重要的作用。.

Drawing on the psychology of working theory (PWT), the present study was performed to evaluate the predictor session of the PWT and career exploration behavior with a sample of Chinese nursing college students from diverse backgrounds. The research employed a cross-sectional research design and 854 nursing students were recruited from one health vocational college situated in Northwest China. Structural equation modeling was utilized to conduct the analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural model testing were performed accordingly. Moreover, mediation analysis that used bias-corrected percentile bootstrapping method and moderation analysis were carried out in accordance. Overall, most of the proposed direct paths were significant, but the mediation results were mixed. Proactive personality simply moderated the impact of economic constraints on career adaptability. The results suggest that PWT is applicable to nursing college students and the model is generally supported in the Chinese context. It is the first empirical work that used this model among nursing college students and future decent work perceptions contributed another important antecedent of career exploration behavior. The practical implications based on these findings are provided as well.

To satisfy the needs of precise pin-point landing missions in deep space exploration, this paper proposes a method based on feature line extraction and matching to estimate the attitude and position of a lander during the descent phase. Linear equations for a lander's motion parameters are given by using at least three feature lines on the planetary surface and their two-dimensional projections. Then, by taking advantage of Singular Value Decomposition (SVD), candidate solutions are obtained. Lastly, the unique lander's attitude and position relative to the landing site are selected from the candidate solutions. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is able to estimate a lander's attitude and position robustly and quickly. Without an extended Kalman filter, the average errors of attitude are less than 1°and the average errors of position are less than 10 m at an altitude of 2,000 m. With an extended Kalman filter, attitude errors are within 0·5°and position errors are within 1 m at an altitude of 247·9 m.

We investigated 401 geriatric patients and 453 middle-aged patients with health care-associated bloodstream infection (HABSI) at a medical center during January-December 2014. Compared with middle-aged patients, the geriatric group had higher 30-day mortality (31.2% vs 23.4%, P = .01). Body mass index, serum albumin concentration, Charlson comorbidity index score, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus bacteremia, and high C-reactive protein levels predict poor outcomes for HABSI among adult patients.