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Hydrological processes change from the impacts of climate variability and human activities. Runoff in the upper reaches of the Hun-Taizi River basin, which is mainly covered by forests in northeast China, decreased from 1960 to 2006. The data used in this study were based on runoff records from six hydrological stations in the upper reaches of the Hun-Taizi River basin. Nonparametric Mann-Kendall statistic was used to identify change trends and abrupt change points and consequently analyze the change characteristics in hydrological processes. The abrupt change in the annual runoff in most subcatchments appeared after 1975. Finally, the effects of climate change and land cover change on water resources were identified using regression analysis and a hydrology model. Results of the regression analysis suggest that the correlation coefficients between precipitation and runoff prior to the abrupt change were higher compared with those after the abrupt change. Moreover, using hydrology model analysis, the water yield was found to increase because of the decrease in forest land. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turbulent exchange of CO2 was measured continuously via the open-path eddy covariance technique over a broadleaf-Korean pine forest in Changbai Mountain, northeast China. The results show that with near-neutral atmospheric stratification, CO2 and vertical wind components measured over the forest canopy in the inertial sub-range followed the expected −2/3 power law. The dominant vertical eddy scale was about 100 m. The frequency ranges of eddy contributions to CO2 fluxes were mostly within 0.01–2.0 Hz. Large eddies with low frequency over the canopy contributed more to CO2 fluxes than small eddies. The open-path eddy covariance system could satisfy the estimation of turbulent fluxes over the canopy, but the CO2 fluxes between forest and atmosphere were generally underestimated at night because of the increment non-turbulent processes, suggesting that the CO2 fluxes estimated under weak turbulence need to be revised correspondingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of atmospheric nitrogen deposition on carbon exchange between forest and atmosphere is one of the research hotspots of global change ecology, past researchers have extensively studied the impacts on leaf level, while the impacts on crown CO2 exchange are still unclear. Therefore, we explored the impacts of different nitrogen addition levels on crown CO2 exchange of Fraxinus mandshurica saplings and their responses to the changes of major meteorological factors (photosynthetically active radiation, PAR; vapor pressure deficiency, VPD; and air temperature, Tair) with a novel automated chamber system. There are four levels of nitrogen addition treatments: control (no nitrogen addition, CK), 23 (low nitrogen addition, LN), 46 (medium nitrogen addition, MN), and 69 kgN·hm−2·a−1 (high nitrogen addition, HN). Our results showed that all nitrogen addition treatments increased daily average and accumulated gross primary production (GPP), crown respiration (R), and net crown CO2 exchange (Ne), especially at medium and high nitrogen levels. Similarly, maximum net photosynthetic rate (Nemax) and apparent quantum efficiency (α) were promoted. The change of Ne with PAR, Tair, and VPD showed that nitrogen addition postponed the appearance of photosynthesis midday depression. In addition, the monthly accumulation of R with all nitrogen addition treatments showed an increasing trend (June to July), and then decreased (July to September) during the growing season, while the Ne and GPP decreased gradually with seasonal vegetation senescence. Finally, the crown shifted from carbon sink to carbon source at the end of the growing season, however, the change under high nitrogen treatment occurred 3 days later. The crown CO2 exchange measurements provide a new perspective to better understand the response of forest ecosystem CO2 exchange to elevated nitrogen deposition and provide a basis for related carbon model parameter correction under the influence of nitrogen deposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on forest evapotranspiration (ET) is one of the most important factors influencing the terrestrial hydrological cycle and is prone to being influenced by increasing drought events. Topics include the need to understand the interaction between global forest ET and drought, and decreasing forest ET to both restricted water supply and restricted water consumption by forests.

Background: COVID-19 is a newly emerging disease caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), which spread globally in early 2020. Asymptomatic carriers of the virus contribute to the propagation of this disease, and the existence of asymptomatic infection has caused widespread fear and concern in the control of this pandemic.Methods: In this study, we investigated the origin and transmission route of SARS-CoV-2 in Anhui's two clusters, analyzed the role and infectiousness of asymptomatic patients in disease transmission, and characterized the complete spike gene sequences in the Anhui strains.Results: We conducted an epidemiological investigation of two clusters caused by asymptomatic infections sequenced the spike gene of viruses isolated from 12 patients. All cases of the two clusters we investigated had clear contact histories, both from Wuhan, Hubei province. The viruses isolated from two outbreaks in Anhui were found to show a genetically close link to the virus from Wuhan. In addition, new single nucleotide variations were discovered in the spike gene.Conclusions: Both clusters may have resulted from close contact and droplet-spreading and asymptomatic infections were identified as the initial cause. We also analyzed the infectiousness of asymptomatic cases and the challenges to the current epidemic to provided information for the development of control strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at evaluating the state of the photovoltaic (PV) array and improving the reliability of the PV system, a fault diagnosis method for PV arrays based on fault parameters identification is proposed in this paper. Compared with existing fault diagnosis methods, the proposed method has advantages of recognizing concurrent faults and describing each fault quantitatively by identifying fault parameters from the measured current-voltage (I–V) curve of the PV array. The methodology consists of three parts. Firstly, functional relationships between unknown parameters in the one-diode model of PV cells with environmental parameters are obtained by parameters extraction. Secondly, a code-based fast fault simulation model (CFFSM) is established to simulate I–V curves of the PV array under various faulted conditions. Thirdly, by determining the fault parameters to be identified and constructing an objective function that is the error between the simulated I–V curve with the measured I–V curve, an optimization problem is formulated, in which optimal fault parameters are identified by applying the differential evolution (DE) algorithm. The validation experiments in summer and early spring show that the proposed diagnosis method can identify the parameters of up to three concurrent faults, including partial shading, short circuit, and increased series-resistance losses, under good irradiance condition with high accuracy. • The proposed diagnosis method can identify concurrent faults in PV arrays. • The proposed diagnosis method can give quantitative description to each fault. • The proposed simulation model is code based and can simulate three kinds of faults. • The proposed simulation model for PV arrays has good computational efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The correlation between tree-ring δ13C and ecosystem GPP was assessed in a forest. • Early-wood and late-wood δ13C were analyzed separately. • Tree-ring δ13C positively correlated with forest GPP of the current-year. • Early- and late-wood δ13C traced GPP seasonally and annually. Tree-ring carbon (C) isotope composition (δ13C) varies depending on photosynthetic capacity and stomatal conductance, and it is therefore intrinsically associated with vegetation productivity. Still, very little is known about the relationship between tree-ring δ13C values and forest gross primary productivity (GPP). Here, we investigated relationships between tree-ring δ13C, tree-ring width index (RWI) and ecosystem-level GPP in a Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis)-dominated old-growth temperate forest in northeastern China. Specifically, we generated chronologies of RWI and δ13C from early-wood (δ13C EW) and late-wood (δ13C LW) of Korean pines, and we built a 17-year continuous ecosystem-level GPP series using eddy covariance measurements, in which a GPP model was used for gap filling. RWI showed vague relationships with tree-ring δ13C and whole-forest GPP, and it was insensitive to interannual variations in climate at the study site. By contrast, both δ13C EW and δ13C LW showed significant relationships with climate variables and GPP. This suggests that isotopic signals of photosynthetic C uptake were imprinted on the formation of tree rings and that tree-ring δ13C of Korean pine is a better proxy for forest GPP than RWI. In addition, tree-ring δ13C of Korean pines was positively correlated with GPP, with an especially close relationship between δ13C EW and GPP of the current year. This implies that photosynthetic activity, rather than stomatal conductance, was the main driver of tree-ring δ13C signals of Korean pine and it was mainly influenced by the climate conditions of the current year, probably because of a limited use of previously fixed C during early-wood formation. Our findings demonstrate the great potential of tree-ring δ13C for reconstructing GPP timeseries at the centennial scale for forest ecosystems, and they could help to constrain parameters in terrestrial C cycle models to improve predictions of C fluxes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The avian influenza A H7N9 virus has caused infections in human beings in China since 2013. A large epidemic in 2016-17 prompted concerns that the epidemiology of the virus might have changed, increasing the threat of a pandemic. We aimed to describe the epidemiological characteristics, clinical severity, and time-to-event distributions of patients infected with A H7N9 in the 2016-17 epidemic compared with previous epidemics.Methods: In this epidemiological study, we obtained information about all laboratory-confirmed human cases of A H7N9 virus infection reported in mainland China as of Feb 23, 2017, from an integrated electronic database managed by the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and provincial CDCs. Every identified human case of A H7N9 virus infection was required to be reported to China CDC within 24 h via a national surveillance system for notifiable infectious diseases. We described the epidemiological characteristics across epidemics, and estimated the risk of death, mechanical ventilation, and admission to the intensive care unit for patients admitted to hospital for routine clinical practice rather than for isolation purpose. We estimated the incubation periods, and time delays from illness onset to hospital admission, illness onset to initiation of antiviral treatment, and hospital admission to death or discharge using survival analysis techniques.Findings: Between Feb 19, 2013, and Feb 23, 2017, 1220 laboratory-confirmed human infections with A H7N9 virus were reported in mainland China, with 134 cases reported in the spring of 2013, 306 in 2013-14, 219 in 2014-15, 114 in 2015-16, and 447 in 2016-17. The 2016-17 A H7N9 epidemic began earlier, spread to more districts and counties in affected provinces, and had more confirmed cases than previous epidemics. The proportion of cases in middle-aged adults increased steadily from 41% (55 of 134) to 57% (254 of 447) from the first epidemic to the 2016-17 epidemic. Proportions of cases in semi-urban and rural residents in the 2015-16 and 2016-17 epidemics (63% [72 of 114] and 61% [274 of 447], respectively) were higher than those in the first three epidemics (39% [52 of 134], 55% [169 of 306], and 56% [122 of 219], respectively). The clinical severity of individuals admitted to hospital in the 2016-17 epidemic was similar to that in the previous epidemics.Interpretation: Age distribution and case sources have changed gradually across epidemics since 2013, while clinical severity has not changed substantially. Continued vigilance and sustained intensive control efforts are needed to minimise the risk of human infection with A H7N9 virus.Funding: The National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water retained on tree leaves after rainfall, dew, or fog impacts transpiration. To determine the impact of leaf retained water (LRW) on the transpiration of trees, the difference between transpiration rates of different species with and without water sprayed on the leaves was measured. Results show that transpiration was inhibited by LRW. Both the inhibition extent and duration of LRW were higher on broadleaf species than on coniferous species. Under conditions of saturated LRW of the tree crown, mean transpiration inhibition rates of the test species were 0.32 ( Quercus mongolica Fisch. ex Ledeb.), 0.25 ( Acer mono), 0.37 ( Tilia amurensis Rupr.), 0.31 ( Fraxinus mandshurica Rupr.), 0.22 ( Pinus koraiensis Siebold & Zucc.), 0.22 ( Abies nephrolepis (Trautv. ex Maxim.) Maxim.), and 0.23 ( Picea asperata Mast.). Mean inhibition rate and inhibition time for broadleaf species were 0.31 and 115 min, which were 40% higher and 27 min longer than those for coniferous species, respectively. The transpiration inhibition rate of LRW increased linearly with the LRW amount, and there was a higher transpiration inhibition rate in broadleaf species than in coniferous species for the same amount of LRW. Mean rising velocity of the inhibition with LRW amount for broadleaf species was 0.53%, whereas it was only 0.15% for the coniferous species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• N nutrient availability affects carbohydrates by changing foliar C and N content. • N addition mitigates drought stress by shifting carbon supply and reserves. • Divergent responses of interactive effects on drought and N addition among species. Climate change-driven increases in drought and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition frequency and severity across the world, and these changes have profound impacts on forest dynamics by affecting tree carbon balance. However, important knowledge gaps persist concerning the interactions between drought and N enrichment on carbon supply and reserve dynamics. We investigated gas exchange and carbohydrate reserve shifts and associated with leaf chemical composition across two temperate tree saplings coping with different levels of drought stress, N nutrition addition and their interactions. Our results showed that drought stress decreased net photosynthetic rate (A) and stomatal conductance (gs), while A and gs were increased by N addition, combined with increased gs under the interactive effects of drought and N addition, indicating that N nutrient availability had suppressing effect on drought stress and improved the drought-induced negative conditions by altering carbon exchange traits. In addition, we found that N addition reduced the concentrations of nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) and its components in relation to foliar carbon and nitrogen changes and the fast growth of saplings. Under the interaction of drought and N nutrition addition, no variation in carbohydrate concentrations demonstrate that carbon reserves play a critical role in regulating carbon exchange and growth. Our observations provide evidence of N nutrient availability mitigated drought stress by improving carbon exchange and reserves, which is expected to contribute to the predictions of future vegetation dynamics. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Reinforcement learning based adaptive parameters extraction is investigated. • Low computational cost for the proposed RL-based approach is obtained. • Measurement error of the pyranometer is simultaneously identified. • Annual seasonal trend of the learned model parameters is investigated. • Proposed approach is integrated with on-line fault diagnosis of PV arrays. At present, most methods for the fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) of the photovoltaic (PV) array strongly rely on comparing the on-line measured electrical parameters with the modeled reference ones, which are challenging the on-line accuracy and time cost of the parameter extraction for modeling the current-voltage (I-V) curves of the PV array. In this paper, a reinforcement learning (RL) based approach for on-line adaptive parameter extraction of PV array models is proposed. The model parameters, including the ideality factor, series and shunt resistance, and the compensated irradiance for the uncalibrated pyranometer, are extracted. Corresponding environmental states, actions, rewards, and the entire framework for the on-line adaptive parameter extraction are reasonably designed and investigated. The annual experimental results verify that the proposed RL-based approach can obtain higher on-line accuracy for modeling the I-V curve of PV array with fast extraction speed, compared with the conventional meta-heuristic-based approach and the analytical approach for parameter extraction. The annual experimental results reveal that the proposed approach can guarantee the 50% probability for obtaining the root mean square error (RMSE) less than 0.1, and 90% probability for obtaining the RMSE less than 0.25. The average computational time cost of the proposed approach is approximate 38.12 ms. In addition, the annual trend of extracted model parameters is analyzed. The annual results also show that the series and shunt resistance have the inverse seasonal trend. Besides, the measurement error of the pyranometer can be identified statistically. The proposed RL-based approach can also be integrated with the presented on-line FDD method, which realizes the on-line training of RL agents and the FDD of PV array simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We sought to assess reporting in China's Pneumonia of Unknown Etiology (PUE) passive surveillance system for emerging respiratory infections and to identify ways to improve the PUE surveillance system's detection of respiratory infections of public health significance.Methods: From February 29-May 29, 2016, we actively identified and enrolled patients in two hospitals with acute respiratory infections (ARI) that met all PUE case criteria. We reviewed medical records for documented exposure history associated with respiratory infectious diseases, collected throat samples that were tested for seasonal and avian influenza, and interviewed clinicians regarding reasons for reporting or not reporting PUE cases. We described and analyzed the proportion of PUE cases reported and clinician awareness of and practices related to the PUE system.Results: Of 2619 ARI admissions in two hospitals, 335(13%) met the PUE case definition; none were reported. Of 311 specimens tested, 18(6%) were seasonal influenza virus-positive; none were avian influenza-positive. < 10% PUE case medical records documented whether or not there were exposures to animals or others with respiratory illness. Most commonly cited reasons for not reporting cases were no awareness of the PUE system (76%) and not understanding the case definition (53%).Conclusions: Most clinicians have limited awareness of and are not reporting to the PUE system. Exposures related to respiratory infections are rarely documented in medical records. Increasing clinicians' awareness of the PUE system and including relevant exposure items in standard medical records may increase reporting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cabbage is a widely cultivated leafy vegetable, but head rot disease caused by the fungus Sclerotina sclerotiorum can seriously reduce its yield and quality. There are currently not any cabbage varieties that are completely immune to the disease, but its wild relative Brassica incana is very resistant. In this study, cabbage resistance was improved by backcrossing a highly resistant B. incana accession (C01) with a susceptible cabbage cultivar (F416). Although C01 lacks a leafy head formation, highly resistant plants appeared in the fourth backcrossing generation (BC 4 F 1 ) that had a similar leafy head to F416. The individuals with strong resistance were purified by self-pollination. Inbred lines that maintained a relatively stable resistance at BC 4 F 3 were developed and had significantly higher resistance to S. sclerotiorum than F416. In addition, hybrids created from a cross between of BC 4 F 3 and E2 had higher resistances to S. sclerotiorum and similar agronomic characteristics to Xiyuan 4. The results demonstrated that new F416 lines that are resistant to S. sclerotiorum can be developed, and that these lines could be used to create new cabbage varieties with superior head rot resistance., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11032-024-01513-5., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Previous research has demonstrated the influence of environmental factor on the occurrence of infectious diseases. However, there is insufficient and conflicting evidence regarding the association between Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) and environmental variables, particularly the interaction of environmental variables. This study aims to investigate the individual and interactive effects of particulate matter (PM) and meteorological factors on HFMD incidence in Fuyang. The generalized additive models were combined with distributed lag non-linear models to assess the individual effects between PM and meteorological factor on HFMD incidence in Fuyang. Subsequently, a product term was incorporated into the model to investigate the interaction between PM and meteorological factors. Temperature and PM 2.5 were identified as the two primary risk factors for HFMD, with relative risks (RR) of 1.586(1.493,1.685) and 1.349(1.325,1.373), respectively. Furthermore, PM exhibited a synergistic effect with meteorological factors. For instance, the RR values for PM 2.5 in relation to HFMD were 1.029 (95% CI: 1.024-1.035) and 1 0.117 (95% CI: 1 0.108 - 11 0.127) under different temperature group categories. Notably, HFMD predominantly affects children under the age of five years old and infants aged between zero to one year old demonstrate heightened susceptibility to environmental variables. The results showed that both PM and meteorological factors were risk factors for HFMD, with evidence of an interaction between these variables. These findings have important implications for local HFMD incidence prediction and the development of effective prevention strategies., (© 2024. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to International Society of Biometeorology.)

The successful utilization of stable carbon isotope approaches in investigating forest carbon dynamics has relied on the assumption that the carbon isotope compositions (δ13C) therein have detectable temporal variations. However, interpreting the δ13C signal transfer can be challenging, given the complexities involved in disentangling the effect of a single environmental factor, the isotopic dilution effect from background CO2 and the lack of high-resolution δ13C measurements. In this study, we conducted continuous in situ monitoring of atmospheric CO2 (δ13Ca) across a canopy profile in an old-growth temperate forest in northeast China during the normal year 2020 and the wet year 2021. Both years exhibited similar temperature conditions in terms of both seasonal variations and annual averages. We tracked the natural carbon isotope composition from δ13Ca to photosynthate (δ13Cp) and to ecosystem respiration (δ13CReco). We observed significant differences in δ13Ca between the two years. Contrary to in 2020, in 2021 there was a δ13Ca valley in the middle of the growing season, attributed to surges in soil CO2 efflux induced by precipitation, while in 2020 values peaked during that period. Despite substantial and similar seasonal variations in canopy photosynthetic discrimination (Δ13Ccanopy) in the two years, the variability of δ13Cp in 2021 was significantly lower than in 2020, due to corresponding differences in δ13Ca. Furthermore, unlike in 2020, we found almost no changes in δ13CReco in 2021, which we ascribed to the imprint of the δ13Cp signal on above-ground respiration and, more importantly, to the contribution of stable δ13C signals from soil heterotrophic respired CO2. Our findings suggest that extreme precipitation can impede the detectability of recent photosynthetic δ13C signals in ecosystem respiration in forests, thus complicating the interpretation of above- and below-ground carbon linkage using δ13CReco. This study provides new insights for unravelling precipitation-related variations in forest carbon dynamics using stable isotope techniques., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press.)

Water is a crucial component for plant growth and survival. Accurately estimating and simulating plant water content can help us promptly monitor the physiological status and stress response of vegetation. In this study, we constructed water loss curves for three types of conifers with morphologically different needles, then evaluated the applicability of 12 commonly used water indices, and finally explored leaf water content estimation from hyperspectral data for needles with various morphology. The results showed that the rate of water loss of Olgan larch is approximately 8 times higher than that of Chinese fir pine and 21 times that of Korean pine. The reflectance changes were most significant in the near infrared region (NIR, 780-1300 nm) and the short-wave infrared region (SWIR, 1300-2500 nm). The water sensitive bands for conifer needles were mainly concentrated in the SWIR region. The water indices were suitable for estimating the water content of a single type of conifer needles. The partial least squares regression (PLSR) model is effective for the water content estimation of all three morphologies of conifer needles, demonstrating that the hyperspectral PLSR model is a promising tool for estimating needles water content., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Zhang, Wang, Li and Wu.)

Chiral molecular assemblies have attracted considerable attention because of their interesting physical properties, such as spin-selective electron transport. Cation-anion salts of three azolium cations, imidazolium ( HIm + ), triazolium ( HTrz + ), and thiazolium ( HThz + ), in combination with a chiral camphorsulfonate (1 S - CS - ) and their racemic compounds ( rac - CS - ) were prepared and compared in terms of phase transitions, crystal structures, dynamics of constituent molecules, dielectric responses, and proton conductivities. The cation-anion crystals containing HIm + showed no significant difference in proton conductivity between the homochiral and racemic crystals, whereas the HTrz + -containing crystals showed higher proton conductivity and lower activation energy in the homochiral form than in the racemic form. A two-dimensional hydrogen-bonding network consisting of HTrz + and -SO 3 - groups and similar in-plane rotational motion was observed in both crystals; however, the HTrz + cation in the homochiral crystal exhibited the rotational motion modulated with translational motion, whereas the HTrz + cation in the racemic crystal exhibited almost steady in-plane rotational motion. The different motional degrees of freedom were confirmed by crystal structure analyses and temperature- and frequency-dependent dielectric constants. In contrast, steady in-plane rotational motion with the thermally activated fluctuating motion of CS - was observed both in homochiral and racemic crystals containing HIm + , which averaged the motional space of protons resulting in similar dielectric responses and proton conductivities. The control of motional degrees of freedom in homochiral crystals affects the proton conductivity and is useful for the design of molecular proton conductors.

Histone chaperones and histone variants play crucial roles in DNA replication, gene transcription, and DNA repair in eukaryotes. Histone chaperones reversibly promote nucleosome assembly and disassembly by incorporating or evicting histones and histone variants to modulate chromatin accessibility, thereby altering the chromatin states and modulating DNA-related biological processes. Cofactors assist histone chaperones to target specific chromatin regions to regulate the exchange of histones and histone variants. In this review, we summarize recent progress in the interplay between histone variants and chaperones in plants. We discuss the structural basis of chaperone-histone complexes and the mechanisms of their cooperation in regulating gene transcription and plant development., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

What Is Known About This Topic?: H10 avian influenza viruses circulate in wild birds and can reassort with other subtypes. H10N8 and H10N3 have previously caused sporadic human infections in China., What Is Added by This Report?: This report documents the first human case of co-infection with avian-origin H10N5 and seasonal H3N2 influenza viruses. Epidemiological investigations identified H10N5 in environmental samples linked to the patient, but no transmission to close contacts occurred., What Are the Implications for Public Health Practice?: Enhanced surveillance of avian influenza in live poultry markets and poultry populations is crucial for thoroughly characterizing the epidemiology, transmission, and pathogenesis of H10N5 viruses. Strengthening assessments of outbreak control measures is essential to guide effective management., Competing Interests: No conflicts of interest., (Copyright and License information: Editorial Office of CCDCW, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention 2024.)

Warm ambient conditions induce thermomorphogenesis and affect plant growth and development. However, the chromatin regulatory mechanisms involved in thermomorphogenesis remain largely obscure. In this study, we show that the histone methylation readers MORF-related gene 1 and 2 (MRG1/2) are required to promote hypocotyl elongation in response to warm ambient conditions. A transcriptome sequencing analysis indicates that MRG1/2 and phytochrome interacting factor 4 (PIF4) coactivate a number of thermoresponsive genes, including YUCCA8, which encodes a rate-limiting enzyme in the auxin biosynthesis pathway. Additionally, MRG2 physically interacts with PIF4 to bind to thermoresponsive genes and enhances the H4K5 acetylation of the chromatin of target genes in a PIF4-dependent manner. Furthermore, MRG2 competes with phyB for binding to PIF4 and stabilizes PIF4 in planta. Our study indicates that MRG1/2 activate thermoresponsive genes by inducing histone acetylation and stabilizing PIF4 in Arabidopsis., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a prevalent, severe, and persistent mental disorder with an unknown etiology. Growing evidence indicates that immunological dysfunction is vital in the development of SCZ. Our study aims to uncover potential immune-linked hub genes and immune infiltration characteristics of SCZ, as well as to develop a diagnostic model based on immune-linked central genes. GSE38484 and GSE54913 chip expression data for patients with SCZ and healthy controls were retrieved. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was performed to identify major module genes and critical immune-linked genes. Functional enrichment analysis was conducted to elucidate the involvement of key genes in the immunological response to SCZ, along with the examination of their protein interactions. Moreover, 202 peripheral blood samples were examined using the single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) method to detect distinct immune cell types. Hub immune-linked genes in SCZ were identified using the minimal absolute contraction and selection operator analysis. Receptor profiles of central immune-linked genes were analyzed to distinguish the two groups. Finally, the association between immune-linked hub genes and various types of immune cells was assessed. Our findings revealed ten immune cell types and nine key genes involved in SCZ, including effector memory CD4+ T cells, activated CD8+ T cells, mast cells, naive CD8+ T cells, PBMC, type 17 helper cells (Th17), central memory CD8+ T cells, CD56 bright NK cells, memory B cells, and regulatory T cells. Diagnostic models constructed using LASSO regression exhibited an average area under the curve (AUC) of 0.866. Our results indicate immunological dysfunction as a factor in the development of SCZ. ASGR2, ADRM1, AHANK, S100A8, FUCA1, AKNA, GATA3, AHCYL2, and PTRH2 are the key regulatory genes of immune cells, highlighting their potential as novel therapeutic targets for SCZ., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The histone variant H2A.Z plays key functions in transcription and genome stability in all eukaryotes ranging from yeast to human, but the molecular mechanisms by which H2A.Z is incorporated into chromatin remain largely obscure. Here, we characterized the two homologs of yeast Chaperone for H2A.Z-H2B (Chz1) in Arabidopsis thaliana, AtChz1A and AtChz1B. AtChz1A/AtChz1B were verified to bind to H2A.Z-H2B and facilitate nucleosome assembly in vitro. Simultaneous knockdown of AtChz1A and AtChz1B, which exhibit redundant functions, led to a genome-wide reduction in H2A.Z and phenotypes similar to those of the H2A.Z-deficient mutant hta9-1hta11-2, including early flowering and abnormal flower morphologies. Interestingly, AtChz1A was found to physically interact with ACTIN-RELATED PROTEIN 6 (ARP6), an evolutionarily conserved subunit of the SWR1 chromatin-remodeling complex. Genetic interaction analyses showed that atchz1a-1atchz1b-1 was hypostatic to arp6-1. Consistently, genome-wide profiling analyses revealed partially overlapping genes and fewer misregulated genes and H2A.Z-reduced chromatin regions in atchz1a-1atchz1b-1 compared with arp6-1. Together, our results demonstrate that AtChz1A and AtChz1B act as histone chaperones to assist the deposition of H2A.Z into chromatin via interacting with SWR1, thereby playing critical roles in the transcription of genes involved in flowering and many other processes., (© 2023 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2023 New Phytologist Foundation.)

Monitoring variations in the virus genome to understand the SARS-CoV-2 evolution and spread of the virus is extremely important. Seven early SARS-CoV-2 isolates in China were cultured in vitro and were analyzed for their viral infectivity through viral growth assay, tissue culture infectious dose (TCID 50 ) assay, spike protein quantification, and next generation sequencing analysis, and the resultant mutations in spike protein were used to generate the corresponding pseudoviruses for analysis of immune escape from vaccination and postinfection immunity. The results revealed that in vitro cultured SARS-CoV-2 virus had much higher mutation frequency (up to ~20 times) than that in infected patients, suggesting that SARS-CoV-2 diversify under favorable conditions. Monitoring viral mutations is not only helpful for better understanding of virus evolution and virulence change, but also the key to prevent virus transmission and disease progression. Compared with the D614G reference strain, a pseudovirus strain of SARS-CoV-2 was constructed with a high mutation rate site on the spike protein. We found some novel spike mutations during in vitro culture, such as E868Q, conferred further immune escape ability., (© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Upon the occurrence of DNA double strand breaks (DSB), the proximal histone variant H2A.X is phosphorylated as γ-H2A.X, a critical signal for consequent DSB signaling and repair pathways. Although γ-H2A.X-triggered DNA damage response (DDR) has been well-characterized in yeast and animals, the corresponding pathways in plant DDR are less well understood. Here, we show that an Arabidopsis protein γ-H2A.X-INTERACTING PROTEIN (XIP) can interact with γ-H2A.X. Its C-terminal dual-BRCT-like domain contributes to its specific interaction with γ-H2A.X. XIP-deficient seedlings display smaller meristems, inhibited growth, and higher sensitivity to DSB-inducing treatment. Loss-of-function in XIP causes transcriptome changes mimicking wild-type plants subject to replicative or genotoxic stresses. After genotoxic bleomycin treatment, more proteins with upregulated phosphorylation modifications, more DNA fragments and cell death were found in xip mutants. Moreover, XIP physically interacts with RAD51, the key recombinase in homologous recombination (HR), and somatic HR frequency is significantly reduced in xip mutants. Collectively, XIP participates in plant response to DSB and contributes to chromatin stability., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Understanding the factors affecting the growth of plantation forests can reduce the loss of economic and ecological values caused by plantation forest subhealth. Plantation forests are widely distributed in hilly areas with microtopographic features. Microtopography influences climatic factors associated with plant growth, during not only general time but also extreme events like droughts. However, little research has been conducted on the effects of microtopography on the plantation forest growth. In this paper, we selected Pinus tabulaeformis planted in a hilly site, and studied the effect of microtopography on the climate-growth relationship and drought response of a typical plantation in Northeast China using dendroecological methods. We found: 1) Between hill positions, temperature caused a climatic growth difference. Compared to the hilltop, the correlation of annual growth on the hillside with monthly temperature was more negative in July-August and less positive in January-April. 2) Between aspects, precipitation intensities caused a climatic growth difference. Compared to the sunny slope, the correlation of annual growth on the shady slope with monthly total precipitation below 10 mm/day was less positive (May-June) or more negative (March-April and July), while that with monthly total precipitation above 10 mm/day was more positive in most months.3) Drought response varied significantly based on hill position and aspect. There was no significant difference in resistance between hill positions, while recovery and resilience on the hilltop were greater than those on the hillside.Resistance, recovery, and resilience were all lower on the sunny slope than those on the shady slope. Overall, microtopography exists the effects on the growth of plantation forests, both in terms of climate-growth relationships in general climate and in response to drought when extreme events. Meanwhile, the climatic factors that caused the difference in growth of plantation forests between hill positions and aspects differed. The difference in growth between hill positions was caused by temperature, while that between aspects was caused by precipitation intensity. Drought response difference reflected the legacy effect of drought on plantation growth, which could lead to subsequent changes in climate-growth relationships. These findings demonstrate that strengthening the research of forest trees on microtopography is necessary for accurate carbon sink assessment and precise forest management., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Zhao, Wu, Wang, Guan and Liu.)

Background: Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is a novel infectious disease with no specific therapeutics and vaccines. We hypothesize that health education in vulnerable people would ameliorate their knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) regarding SFTS and reduce its prevalence., Methods: A four-stage cluster cross-section study in sixteen community units was performed. Sixteen groups were allocated to the intervention or control groups. A 6 months education program was administrated. The primary outcome was KAP scores 6 months after intervention. Predictors of KAP score changes were also analyzed., Results: Eight hundred and fifteen valid questionnaires pre-intervention and 767 ones post-intervention were retreated. No significant differences were found in demographic characteristics and KAP scores before intervention. A significant improvement in KAP score (16.8 ± 4.7 vs. 22.0 ± 4.2, p < 0.001) in the intervention group was observed compare with the controls. Educational level and intervention program were the common predictors of KAP score changes., Conclusions: Education improved KAP scores in SFTS vulnerable people which may contribute to the control of the disease., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Gong, Zhang, Wang, Xiong, Wang, Wu, Chen, Zhu, Cheng and Jiang.)

As sessile organisms, plants are constantly exposed to changing environments frequently under diverse stresses. Invasion by pathogens, including virus, bacterial and fungal infections, can severely impede plant growth and development, causing important yield loss and thus challenging food/feed security worldwide. During evolution, plants have adapted complex systems, including coordinated global gene expression networks, to defend against pathogen attacks. In recent years, growing evidences indicate that pathogen infections can trigger local and global epigenetic changes that reprogram the transcription of plant defense genes, which in turn helps plants to fight against pathogens. Here, we summarize up plant defense pathways and epigenetic mechanisms and we review in depth current knowledge's about histone modifications and chromatin-remodeling factors found in the epigenetic regulation of plant response to biotic stresses. It is anticipated that epigenetic mechanisms may be explorable in the design of tools to generate stress-resistant plant varieties., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Kang, Fan, Wu, Zhu and Shen.)

METTL4 belongs to a subclade of MT-A70 family members of methyltransferase (MTase) proteins shown to mediate N 6 -adenosine methylation for both RNA and DNA in diverse eukaryotes. Here, we report that Arabidopsis METTL4 functions as U2 snRNA MTase for N 6 -2'-O-dimethyladenosine (m 6 Am) in vivo that regulates flowering time, and specifically catalyzes N 6 -methylation of 2'-O-methyladenosine (Am) within a single-stranded RNA in vitro. The apo structures of full-length Arabidopsis METTL4 bound to S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) and the complex structure with an Am-containing RNA substrate, combined with mutagenesis and in vitro enzymatic assays, uncover a preformed L-shaped, positively-charged cavity surrounded by four loops for substrate binding and a catalytic center composed of conserved residues for specific Am nucleotide recognition and N 6 -methylation activity. Structural comparison of METTL4 with the mRNA m6A enzyme METTL3/METTL14 heterodimer and modeling analysis suggest a catalytic mechanism for N 6 -adenosine methylation by METTL4, which may be shared among MT-A70 family members., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: COVID-19 has spread worldwide and become a pandemic. We report the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of cluster infections., Methods: Data of clustered cases were retrieved from the public health emergency monitoring information system of China. We analyzed the incubation period, generation gap, secondary attack rate, and viral load in various grouped cases., Results: A total of 60 COVID-19 infection clusters including 226 patients and 19 asymptomatic cases involving four generations were analyzed. With the increase of transmission generations, secondary attack rate decreased (P＜0.001) and severity alleviated (P = 0.008). The median incubation period and intergenerational interval were 9 and 6 days, respectively. The secondary attack rate was 7.1% in the index cases, 5.0% in the first generation, 1.0% in the second generation, and 4.7% overall. Severe cases were seen more in the index (13, 65%) and first generation (7, 35%) ones, who had a significantly higher viral load than the mild and moderate ones., Conclusions: With the increase of transmission generation, secondary infection rate and severity decreased. Severe patients had a higher virus load. Patients in the incubation period and asymptomatic carriers were potential infection sources who might play an important role in transmission., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Carbon isotopic composition of soil respired CO 2 (soil δ 13 C R ) has been regarded as a good indicator of the linkages between aboveground processes and soil respiration. However, whether δ 13 C R of autotrophic or heterotrophic component of soil respiration dominates the temporal variability of total soil δ 13 C R was rarely examined by previous studies. In this study, carbon isotopic composition of atmospheric CO 2 (δ 13 C air ) and soil δ 13 C R in control (with roots) and trenched (without roots) plots were measured in a temperated mixed forest. A 13 C isotopic profile system and an automated soil respiration system were used for δ 13 C air and soil δ 13 C R measurements, respectively. We found that soil δ 13 C R in the control plots changed substantially in the growing season and it was more negative (by ~0.6‰) than that in the trenched plots, while soil δ 13 C R in the trenched plots showed a minor temporal variability. This suggests that δ 13 C R from the autotrophic respiration is the key decider of the seasonal variation pattern of the soil δ 13 C R . Moreover, the seasonal variation of soil δ 13 C R in the control plots showed a similar pattern with the seasonal variation of δ 13 C air . A significant time-lag was found between δ 13 C air and soil δ 13 C R , showing that soil δ 13 C R generally lagged behind δ 13 C air 15 days. This result supports the hypothesis that soil respiration is closely related to carbon assimilation at the leaf-level and also stressed the importance of δ 13 C air in shaping soil δ 13 C R . These findings are highly valuable to develop the process-based models of the carbon cycle of forest ecosystems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

We investigated a large outbreak of Haff disease that occurred along the Yangtze River in Anhui Province, China, in 2016. Of the 672 cases identified during the outbreak, 83.3% (560/672) occurred in Wuhu and Ma'anshan. Patients experienced myalgia (100%) and muscle weakness (54.7%). The mean value of myoglobin was 330 + 121.2 ng/mL and of serum creatine kinase 5,439.2 + 4,765.1 U/L. Eating crayfish was the only common exposure among all cases; 96.8% (240/248) of implicated crayfish were caught on the shores of the Yangtze River or its connected ditches. Mean incubation period was 6.2 + 3.8 hours. This case-control study demonstrated that eating the liver of crayfish and eating a large quantity of crayfish were associated with an increased risk for Haff disease. The seasonal increases in crayfish population along the Yangtze River might explain the seasonal outbreaks of Haff disease.

While the yeast Chz1 acts as a specific histone-chaperone for H2A.Z, functions of CHZ-domain proteins in multicellular eukaryotes remain obscure. Here, we report on the functional characterization of OsChz1, a sole CHZ-domain protein identified in rice. OsChz1 interacts with both the canonical H2A-H2B dimer and the variant H2A.Z-H2B dimer. Within crystal structure the C-terminal region of OsChz1 binds H2A-H2B via an acidic region, pointing to a previously unknown recognition mechanism. Knockout of OsChz1 leads to multiple plant developmental defects. At genome-wide level, loss of OsChz1 causes mis-regulations of thousands of genes and broad alterations of nucleosome occupancy as well as reductions of H2A.Z-enrichment. While OsChz1 associates with chromatin regions enriched of repressive histone marks (H3K27me3 and H3K4me2), its loss does not affect the genome landscape of DNA methylation. Taken together, it is emerging that OsChz1 functions as an important H2A/H2A.Z-H2B chaperone in dynamic regulation of chromatin for higher eukaryote development.

The response of plant CO 2 diffusion conductances (mesophyll and stomatal conductances, g m and g sc ) to soil drought has been widely studied, but few studies have investigated the effects of soil nitrogen addition levels on g m and g sc . In this study, we investigated the responses of g m and g sc of Manchurian ash and Mongolian oak to four soil nitrogen addition levels (control, low nitrogen, medium nitrogen and high nitrogen) and the changes in leaf anatomy and associated enzyme activities (aquaporin (AQP) and carbonic anhydrase (CA)). Both g m and g sc increased with the soil nitrogen addition levels for both species, but then decreased under the high nitrogen addition level, which primarily resulted from the enlargements in leaf and mesophyll cell thicknesses, mesophyll surface area exposed to intercellular space per unit leaf area and stomatal opening status with soil nitrogen addition. Additionally, the improvements in leaf N content and AQP and CA activities also significantly promoted g m and g sc increases. The addition of moderate levels of soil nitrogen had notably positive effects on CO 2 diffusion conductance in leaf anatomy and physiology in Manchurian ash and Mongolian oak, but these positive effects were weakened with the addition of high levels of soil nitrogen.

Objective: To establish a public health risk assessment indexes for flood disaster., Methods: Delphi method and expert consultation were used to establish the public health risk assessment index system and scoring criteria, and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method was used to obtain the weight of the indexes. Then, the established index system was applied to evaluate the public health risk of the flood disaster in Anhui province, 2016., Results: A public health risk assessment system consisting of 5 categories and 17 indexes was constructed. The assessment result of the flood disaster in Anhui province of 2016 showed that the public health risk score was 0.26, suggesting that "the health emergency measures were effective, and the public health risks were effectively controlled"., Conclusions: The established indexes can effectively assess the health risk of flood disaster and also can provide the reference for other disaster assessment.

To detect changes in human-to-human transmission of influenza A(H7N9) virus, we analyzed characteristics of 40 clusters of case-patients during 5 epidemics in China in 2013-2017. Similarities in number and size of clusters and proportion of clusters with probable human-to-human transmission across all epidemics suggest no change in human-to-human transmission risk.

Since the first outbreak of avian influenza A(H7N9) virus in humans was identified in 2013, there have been five seasonal epidemics observed in China. An earlier start and a steep increase in the number of humans infected with H7N9 virus was observed between September and December 2016, raising great public concern in domestic and international societies. The epidemiological characteristics of the recently reported confirmed H7N9 cases were analysed. The results suggested that although more cases were reported recently, most cases in the fifth epidemic were still highly sporadically distributed without any epidemiology links; the main characteristics remained unchanged and the genetic characteristics of virus strains that were isolated in this epidemic remained similar to earlier epidemics. Interventions included live poultry market closures in several cities that reported more H7N9 cases recently.

Objective: Dust sample mass gain is too smaller to satisfy the limit of detection (LOD) even in most cases during dust sampling at workplaces nowdays, especially for respirable fraction. Therefore, it is aimed to solve the problem by increasing sample load with high flow rate samplers., Methods: In A and B two shipyards respirable welding fume was sampled by high flow rate cyclone samplers of FSP-10 (10 L/min) for 2-2.5 hours and normal flow rate FSP-2 (2 L/min) for 3-4 hours with a stratigy of parallele sampling at the same workpalce, in order to compare their mass gain, coincidence rate with LOD, and airborn dust concentration., Results: Sample mass gain of 0.97±0.40 mg and 1.61±0.86 mg respectively in the two factories by FSP-10 was significantly higher than that of 0.29±0.12 mg and 0.51±0.27 mg by FSP-2 (t-test, P<0.05 in both cases) , increasing herewith the coincidence rate with LOD from 26.8% (when sampling with FSP-2, calculated together with samples of the two factories) to 89.7%. However there was no significant difference in dust concentrations by the two different samplers, 0.53±1.88 vs 0.73±1.61 mg/m(3) by FSP-2 and FSP-10 in the shipyard A and 1.14±1.78 vs 1.01±1.63 mg/m(3) in the factory B (t-test, P>0.05 in every case) . In addtion, sample loading by FSP-2 was found to be correlated to sampling time (R(2)=0.7906, y=0.002 6x) , therefore, it has to sample for ≥192.3 min to meet the LOD (0.5 mg) in case of normal flow rate., Conclusion: By using of high flow rate cyclone FSP-10 the problem of LOD could be solved, along with increased sample mass and similar respirable dust concentration by the two samplers. Some techincal improvements of FSP-10 and increasing of LOD coincidence rate by other methods was also disscussed.

Based on the measurements of leaf photosynthesis, the light response curves of Pinus koraiensis, Tilia amurensis, Quercus mongolica and Fraxinus mandshurica photosynthesis in broadleaved Korean pine forest of Changbai Mountains were fitted with rectangle and non-rectangle hyperbolae. The results showed that rectangle hyperbola was simpler for fitting, while non-rectangle hyperbola was more reasomable because of its fitted results better matched physiological meanings. The values of intrinsic quantum efficiency for CO2 uptake (alpha), light-saturated net photosynthetic rate (Pmax), and dark respiration rate (Rd) of the four tree species were higher when fitted with rectangle hyperbola than with non-rectangle hyperbola, while that of light compensation point (Lcp) varied with tree species. The values of alpha and Rd obtained from the two hyperholae had the same sequences, i.e., F. mandshurica > T. amurensis > Q. mongolica > P. koraiensis for alpha, and F. mandshurica > Q. mongolica > T. amurensis > P. koraiensis for Rd, but for Pmax and Lcp, the sequences were not the same.

The CO2 concentration in broad-leaved Korean pine forest of Changbai Mountains was measured continuously with a CO2 infra-red analyzer in 2003. The results showed that the CO2 concentration in the forest had striking characteristics of temporal-spatial variations, which were mainly influenced by the physiological processes of plants, soil respiration, and intensity of turbulence exchange. In growing season, the daily maximum and minimum CO2 concentration appeared mostly on the surface floor at about 5:00 in the early morning and at canopy location at about 15:00 in the afternoon, respectively. There was an obviously process of forest CO2 emission when the inversion broke at dawn. The average CO2 concentration in forest was 377 micromol x mol(-1) in 2003, the maximum of monthly average appeared in January as 388 micromol x mol(-1), and the minimum of monthly average appeared in August as 352 micromol x mol(-1). The forest acted as CO2 source in night time and turned to sink in daytime, during growing season. In non-growing season, the forest acted as CO2 source in both daytime and night time, but still had a clear evidence of CO2 assimilation at noon, with canopy location during non-growing season.

Detrending correction and sonic anemometer tilt correction were made to modify the raw time series measured from eddy covariance system in broad-leaved Korean pine forest of Changbai Mountains during the growing season of 2003, and the impact of different correction methods on CO2 flux was analyzed quantificationally. The results showed that the forest CO2 flux during growing season was overestimated when calculated from raw time series. The ratio of correction to origin flux (Fc(raw)) was 1.6% and 1.8% for linear and nonlinear detrend, respectively, which suggested that there was little difference between these two detrending methods. It was 3.7% and 4.7% for the planar fit coordinate transforming (PF) correction and the streamline coordinate system transforming (ST) correction, respectively, suggesting that there was a clear difference between these two sonic anemometer tilt correction methods. When detrended time series used, it was 5.5% and 4.6% for ST correction and PF correction, respectively. It was recommended that raw time series should be corrected synthetically with linear detrend method and PF method.

Based on the gradient measurement of microclimate factors, radiation and soil heat flux from late May to early October, 2001 and by the method of Bowen ratio-energy balance (BREB), this paper estimated the latent heat and sensible heat above the broadleaved Korean pine forest in Changbai Mountains. The energy storage of forest air and vegetative was calculated, and the seasonal variations of heat balance components of the forest were analyzed. The results showed that the net radiation of the forest and the solar radiation were linearly correlated. All the heat balance components had the similar characteristics of diurnal variation to the net radiation, showing curves positive at daytime and negative at night, and the terms ranged as net radiation > latent heat > sensible heat > storage. The time of keeping positive terms in a day became shorter from June to October as influenced by shinning time. The highest net radiation was in June and the lowest in October. The monthly averaged net radiation was 0-527 and 0-(-)121 W x m(-2), and the latent heat was 0-441 and 0-(-)81 W x m(-2) for day and night, respectively. Sensible heat was 0-80 and 0-(-)26 W x m(-2), and energy storage was 0-44 and 0-(-)26 W x m(-2) for day and night, respectively. The ratio of latent heat to net radiation at daytime decreased gradually from August to October, and the ratio of sensible heat and energy storage increased correspondingly. Especially 2-3 days after the first severe frost, a sudden drop of latent heat and a sudden bounce of sensible heat appeared. The instruments and measurement methods of heat flux were also concisely discussed in this paper.