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Red djulis (Chenopodium formosanum) is a native grain plant, and shows that it has anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. However, it was still unclear whether unhulled red djulis extracts promoted collagen production and anti-aging. This study aimed to explore whether the unhulled red djulis extracts had anti-aging properties. Using unhulled red djulis extracts to treat human fibroblasts for functional analysis, and used HPLC to analyze the effective components of red djulis. This study found that unhulled red djulis extracts can increase the repairing ability of the skin cells, and increased skin-barrier-related genes, antioxidant-related genes expression. In addition, it increased collagen-related genes, and inhibited AGEs and melanin formation. Finally, we isolated six active ingredients from the unshelled Red Julie extract, which can increase collagen. Thus, the unhulled red djulis extracts can affect gene expressions related to the skin barrier, antioxidation, and collagen.

With the simulation calibration for negative capacitor considering Landau model and multi-domain (MD) effect, MD MFIS negative capacitance field-effect transistor (NCFET) was thoroughly established for performing the simultaneous analysis of multi-variables (ferroelectric layer thickness ( ${T} _{\mathrm{ FE}}$ ), oxide layer thickness ( ${T} _{\mathrm{ OX}}$ ) and gate length ( ${L} _{\mathrm{ g}}$ )) effect on the device performance. In this study, subthreshold swing (SS) and hysteresis properties of MD-MFIS-NCFET were demonstrated by employing TCAD simulation tool. Compared with the previous reported study on single variable effect based on single-domain (SD) NCFET, the simultaneous analysis of multi-variables effect on MD-NCFET enabled to obtain better device performance and generate more comprehensive results. Convincing models were established based on the experimental data by calibration. Demonstration on the basic simulated results including the lowering SS mechanism and the multi-variables effect on MD-NCFET performance was completely presented based on the capacitance matching theory and short channel effect. With the optimal ${T} _{\mathrm{ FE}}$ and ${T} _{\mathrm{ OX}}$ , a trade-off mechanism between the SS and ${L} _{\mathrm{ g}}$ was shown with the consideration of ${L} _{\mathrm{ g}}$ scaling. Noticeable in-depth study in association with the simultaneous analysis of the multi-variables effect was carried out, indicating that the hysteresis-free SS obtained by simultaneous analysis of multi-variables was lower than that obtained by single-variable analysis. Final validation results demonstrate that the optimization proposed in this work by considering the multi-variable effect shows high compatibility with other NCFET devices, providing an instructive strategy for the high-performance NCFET optimization.

Abstract Background The relationship between malnutrition-inflammation-atherosclerosis syndrome (MIAS) and self-management ability has not been previously revealed even though both play an important role in the management of peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. Methods In total, 93 patients were enrolled in this study. A self-management questionnaire was used for the evaluation of self-management ability. The identification of MIAS was based on one or more of the following three conditions: C-reactive protein (CRP)≥10 mg/L, malnutrition–inflammation score (MIS)> 7, and the presence of atherosclerosis-related medical records. The possible association between different self-management abilities and MIAS was analyzed with a Spearman correlation analysis. Results There were 40 (43.0%) patients in the atherosclerosis group, and 38 (40.9%), 38 (40.9%), 10 (10.8%), and 7 (7.5%) patients in the MIAS0, MIAS1, MIAS2, and MIAS3 groups, respectively. The group with a score above the mean score of the Dialysis Effect Evaluation and Monitoring dimension had a fewer number of hospitalizations, higher albumin levels, lower MIS scores, a lower level of IL-6, and a lower number of MIAS factors. The Pearson and Spearman correlation analyses also revealed that this dimension was negatively correlated with the MIAS, MIS, IL-6, BNP, number of hospitalizations, and age and positively associated with albumin and prealbumin. Conclusion The Dialysis Effect Evaluation and Monitoring dimension of the self-management scale for PD patients is closely linked to the MIAS, and a better dialysis effect evaluation and monitoring capacity results in a decreased likelihood of exposure to malnutrition and inflammation. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR2000035525 ( http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=58110 ), registered August 13, 2020.

本研究檢視臺灣國小畢業生英語詞彙量與閱讀理解之間的相關性，依此推估臺灣國小畢業生欲展現該學習年段閱讀理解程度所需要達到的詞彙閾值（lexical threshold），並探究臺灣國小畢業生英語詞彙量的分布狀況，以提供具體證據來評估當前國小英語詞彙學習目標（應用300個字詞）是否合理。本研究運用英語能力診斷及認證系統（Diagnosis and Certification of English Competency, DCEC），對1,903名國小畢業生進行詞彙和閱讀兩子測驗施測。本研究有三重貢獻：第一為瞭解臺灣小學生畢業時的詞彙量分布概況；其二為闡明設定詞彙量、詞彙閾值對於設計理想英語文課綱與課程的重要性；其三為彌補英語文課綱詞彙量設定時未採用實徵證據之不足。倡議詞彙量之設定，應從語言技能運用的觀點，先提出各階段所欲達成的語言技能層次，再探討獲致該語言技能層次所需的詞彙閾值（最小詞彙量），最後以該詞彙閾值作為課綱詞彙量設定之參考。 In this study, we examined the relationship between the vocabulary size and reading comprehension of Taiwanese elementary-school graduates. We identified a lexical threshold that they need to cross to demonstrate adequate reading comprehension. We investigated the English vocabulary sizes of Taiwanese elementary-school graduates to provide solid evidence of whether the current English vocabulary-learning goal (300 words) is reasonable. We employed the Diagnosis and Certification of English Competency (DCEC) as the main assessment tool and administered the DCEC-Vocabulary Size (DCEC-VS) and DCEC-Reading Comprehension (DCEC-RC) subtests to 1903 elementary-school graduates. This study has three crucial contributions. The first contribution is evidence that explains the distribution of the vocabulary sizes of Taiwanese elementary-school graduates. The second contribution is proof of how crucial vocabulary size and lexical threshold are for an ideal curriculum. The third contribution compensates for a lack of empirical evidence regarding a lexical threshold at the elementary-school level. We propose that the application of language skills should be the main consideration when setting a lexical threshold. The degree to which specific language skills should be acquired at each level should first be proposed, followed by an exploration of the lexical threshold (minimum vocabulary size) required to match goals for specific language skills at each level. Finally, the lexical threshold proposed should be used as reference when determining the vocabulary size in the curriculum.

Abstract Stainless steels are widely used in hospitals and public transportation vehicles as one of the most common touch surfaces. Retrofitting stainless steel surfaces with an antimicrobial layer can bring potential public health benefits by reducing the ability of inanimate objects, or fomites, to transmit infections. Here, a facile surface conversion reaction between stainless steel and a solution of KMnO4 and CuSO4 is reported, which leads to a conformal and robust oxyhydroxide layer. Microscopy observations show that the layer is amorphous, continuous, and pinhole‐free with a thickness of only 10–15 nm. The coating adheres strongly to stainless steel and can resist rubbing in simulated friction tests, which is attributed to its intermixing with the substrate without forming a sharp interface. Cu ions incorporated into the surface layer can be released into water droplets deposited on the surface and induce antimicrobial activities against bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA14) after 30 min of contact.

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a severe inflammatory lung disease associated with macrophages. Somatic nuclear autoantigenic sperm protein (sNASP) is a negative regulator of Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling that targets tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6) in macrophages, which is required to maintain homeostasis of the innate immune response. In the present study, we generated a cell permeable PEP-sNASP peptide using the sNASP protein N-terminal domain, and examined its potential therapeutic effect in a mouse model of ALI induced by the intranasal administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and elucidated the underlying molecular mechanisms in RAW 264.7 cells. In vivo, PEP-sNASP peptide treatment markedly ameliorated pathological injury, reduced the wet/dry (W/D) weight ratio of the lungs and the production of proinflammatory cytokines (interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α). In vitro, we demonstrated that when the PEP-sNASP peptide was transduced into RAW 264.7 cells, it bound to TRAF6, which markedly decreased LPS-induced proinflammatory cytokines by inhibiting TRAF6 autoubiquitination, nuclear factor (NF)-κB activation, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cellular nitric oxide (NO) levels. Furthermore, the PEP-sNASP peptide also inhibited NLR family pyrin domain containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation. Our results therefore suggest that the PEP-sNASP may provide a potential protein therapy against oxidative stress and pulmonary inflammation via selective TRAF6 signaling.

PurposeOlder adults aged 60 years and above are classified as being of high-risk for infection during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to investigate the associations of psychological factors (motivational factors: risk perception, health knowledge, attitude, subjective norm, motivational self-efficacy, and intention; volitional factors: volitional self-efficacy, planning, and action control) of preventive behaviors with three preventive behaviors (hand washing, facemask wearing, and social distancing) among Chinese older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsA cross-sectional questionnaire survey was administered via SOJUMP, a widely used online survey platform in China. A total of 928 older adults (mean = 67.24 years, age range: 60–90 years, SD = 6.43, 55.9% females) were recruited using a snowball sampling approach from Hubei Province (n = 667) and outside Hubei Province (n = 261) in China during May 18, 2020 to June 7, 2020. Multiple hierarchical regressions were conducted with four models to examine the association between demographic, past behavior, psychological factors and each preventive behavior.Principal FindingsAll three preventive behaviors in older adults increased dramatically during the pandemic of COVID-19. Gender, living status, educational level, past behavior, health knowledge, intention and planning significantly predicted hand washing behavior, R2 = 0.395, F(10, 927) = 54.372, p

Curcumin is widely used in dietary supplements due to its beneficial effects on inflammatory and immune pathways. To better understand the action of curcumin during viral infection, its effect on stimulation of RAW264.7 macrophages with polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly(I:C)) was evaluated by deep sequencing transcriptome, followed by RT-qPCR, western blotting and ELISA validations. The transcriptomics results showed that 157 differentially expressed genes are in association with the activity of curcumin on the cellular response to poly(I:C) stimulation. Gene Ontology and KEGG enrichment analysis uncovered the involvement of TLRs, in particular TLR3, in curcumin’s effect on poly(I:C)-induced immune and inflammatory responses. RT-qPCR results showed that curcumin (2.5, 5, 10 μM) significantly down-regulated the mRNA expression of Tlr3, Irf-7, Ifnb1, Il-6, Tnfα, and Il1bf in a dose-dependent manner. Significant down-regulation of curcumin (5 M) on protein or phosphorylated protein expressions of TLR3 (p

In recent years, China's industrial economy has grown rapidly and steadily. Concurrently, carbon emissions have gradually increased, among which agricultural production is an important source of greenhouse gas emissions. It is necessary to reduce agricultural carbon emissions by improving their efficiency to achieve the global goal of peak carbon dioxide emissions in 2030. From a dynamic and static point of view, this study puts agricultural carbon emissions into the evaluation index system of agricultural carbon emission efficiency and analyzes the agricultural carbon emission efficiency and its influencing factors in Hubei Province. First, the unexpected output Slacks-based measure (SBM) model in data envelopment analysis was used to evaluate the agricultural carbon emission efficiency of Hubei Province in 2018 and compared it with other provinces horizontally. Second, the Malmquist-Luenberger index was used to analyze the comprehensive efficiency of agricultural carbon emissions in Hubei Province from 2004 to 2018. The role of technological progress and technical efficiency change in the development of low-carbon agriculture in Hubei Province was analyzed. The results showed that agricultural production efficiency in Hubei Province improved from 2004 to 2018, and the overall level was slightly higher than the average level in China. However, agriculture has not eliminated the extensive development modes of high input, low efficiency, high emission, and high pollution. The efficiency of technological progress in agricultural resource utilization in Hubei Province was close to the optimal level. The improvement space was small. Hence, the low efficiency of agricultural technology is a key factor restricting the improvement of agricultural production efficiency. The results provide a reference for low-carbon agricultural policy formulation and expand the policy choice path. This has practical significance.

Background: Older adult quality of life (QoL) is facing huge challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. New normal lifestyle behaviors, including getting adequate physical activity (PA), consuming sufficient fruits and vegetables (FV) and enacting individual preventive behaviors (frequent hand washing, facemask wearing, and social distancing), as a significant determinant for QoL, have not been adequately addressed in older adults during the pandemic. This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of QoL in Chinese older adults after the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei China. The objective of the study was to examine any associations of lifestyle behaviors with QoL, and to identify the moderating role of socioeconomic indicators in the associations identified.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Hubei, China, from June 15, 2020, to July 10, 2020. Five hundred sixteen older adults completed an online survey (mean age = 67.6 ± 6.6; 57.9% women). The questionnaire consisted of demographic information, covariates (chronic diseases and infected cases of acquaintances), lifestyle behaviors [PA stage, FV intake (FVI) stage and three preventive behaviors], and QoL. T-tests, ANOVA tests, multiple linear regression models with simple slope analyses were used to test the hypotheses.Results: QoL significantly differed in relation to economic situation, chronic diseases, marital status, education, living situation, age group, and professional status. Participants' economic situation (βaverage vs. below average = 0.17, p < 0.01; βabove average vs. below average = 0.15, p < 0.01), chronic diseases (βyes vs. no = 0.19, p < 0.001), FVI stage (β = 0.21, p < 0.001), and preventive behaviors (β = 0.10, p < 0.05) indicated a significant association with QoL. Education level and economic situation significantly interacted with preventive behaviors on QoL, respectively (βpreventive behaviors × educational level = −1.3, p < 0.01; βpreventive behaviors × economic situation = −0.97, p < 0.05).Conclusions: Findings emphasize the importance of enhancing FVI and preventive behaviors on QoL improvement in older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Older adults who are in a lower economic situation with lower education levels should be given priority when implementing interventions to improve preventive behaviors and QoL in older adults.

Adlay (Coix lacryma-jobi var. ma-yuen (Rom. Caill.) Stapf) seeds are edible crop classified as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Adlay bran (AB) is one of the wastes generated during adlay refining processes. In this work, supercritical fluid extract of AB (AB-SCF) was investigated to reveal its lipid regulating potential and decode its bifunctional ingredients. AB-SCF×0.5 (30.84 mg/kg/body weight), AB-SCF×1 (61.67 mg/kg/BW), AB-SCF×5 (308.35 mg/kg/BW) and AB-SCF×10 (616.70 mg/kg/BW) were administrated to high fat-diet (HFD) induced hyperglycemic hamsters for 8 weeks. The results indicates that AB-SCF displays a prevention of dramatic body weight gains, lower levels of serum TG, TC, LDL-C and higher in HDL-C, amelioration of cardiovascular risk, alleviation of hepatic TG, TC and lipid peroxidation, and enhancement on cholesterol metabolism with higher bile acid excretion. Investigations on energy metabolic mechanism demonstrates that the hyperlipidemia mitigating capacities of AB-SCF are up-regulated on lipoprotein lipase, AMPK, p-AMPK and down-regulated at fatty acid synthase. Major bio-functional lipid compositions are identified as linoleic acid (28.59%) and oleic acid (56.95%). Non-lipid chemical and active markers are confirmed as 3-O-(trans-4-feruloyl)-β-sitostanol (1463.42 ppm), 3-O-(cis-4-feruloyl)-β-sitostanol (162.60 ppm), and β-sitosterol (4117.72 ppm). These compositions might synergistically responsible for the mentioned activities and can be regarded as analytical targets in quality control. AB-SCF may be considered as a promising complementary supplement, and developed as a functional food or new botanical drug in the future.

Dietary therapy may be beneficial in alleviating symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), a disorder that is characterized by extreme fatigue and other symptoms, but the cause of which remains unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective effect of a botanical product containing cistanche (Cistanche tubulosa [Schenk] Wight) and ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.) extracts on adults with CFS in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. A total of 190 subjects (35–60 years old, non-obese) with CFS were randomized to receive one tablet of a low dose (120-mg ginkgo and 300-mg cistanche), a high dose (180-mg ginkgo and 450-mg cistanche) or a placebo once daily for 60 days. Blood samples and responses on the Chalder fatigue scale (CFQ 11), the World Health Organization's quality of life questionnaire (WHOQOL), and the sexual life quality questionnaire (SLQQ) were collected at baseline and post-intervention. CFS symptoms of impaired memory or concentration, physical fatigue, unrefreshing sleep, and post-exertional malaise were significantly improved (p < 0.001) in both of the treatment groups. The botanical intervention significantly decreased physical and mental fatigue scores of CFQ 11 and improved WHOQOL and SLQQ scores of the subjects (p < 0.01). Levels of blood ammonia and lactic acid in the treatment groups were significantly lower than those of the placebo group (low-dose: p < 0.05; high-dose: p < 0.01). In addition, the change in lactic acid concentration was negatively associated with the severity of CFS symptoms (p = 0.0108) and was correlated with the change in total physical fatigue score of the CFQ (p = 0.0302). Considering the trivial effect size, the results may lack clinical significance. In conclusion, this botanical product showed promising effects in ameliorating the symptoms of CFS. Clinical trials with improved assessment tools, an expanded sample size, and an extended follow-up period are warranted to further validate the findings.Clinical Trial Registration:https://clinicaltrials.gov/, identifier: NCT02807649.

Sodium alginate (SA) was used to functionalize the surfaces of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to form SA-AgNPs for sensing dimethoate with a rapid and sensitive visual readout. UV–Vis spectrophotometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and zeta potential measurements were used to characterize SA-AgNPs that were synthesized under the ideal conditions. SA-AgNPs were spherical with an average size of 14.6 nm. The stability of SA-AgNPs was investigated with changes in pH, salinity, and storage time. This colorimetric assay of dimethoate relied on the change in the absorption ratio (A475/A400) of SA-AgNPs, resulting in their aggregation caused by dimethoate, leading to a visual change for SA-AgNPs from yellow to pale yellow. As a result, the absorption ratio (A475/A400) of SA-AgNPs showed good linearity in the range of 0.05 to 2.0 ppm (R2 = 0.9986) with a limit of detection (LOD) of 30 ppb. Adding other pesticides did not significantly change the absorption ratio of SA-AgNPs, indicating its high selectivity as a colorimetric assay. The sensor was successfully used to detect dimethoate in actual water samples.

Summary: High energy consumption is impedimental for eliminating refractory organic pollutants in water by applying advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). Herein, we develop a novel process for destructing these organics in chemical conjuncted Fe0-FeyCz/Fex, graphited ZIF-8, and rGO air-saturated aqueous suspension without additional energy. In this process, a strong Fe-π interaction occurs on the composite surface, causing the surface potential energy ∼310.97 to 663.96 kJ/mol. The electrons for the adsorbed group of pollutants are found to delocalize to around the iron species and could be trapped by O2 in aqueous suspension, producing ⋅OH, H, and adsorbed organic cation radicals, which are hydrolyzed or hydrogenated to intermediate. The target pollutants undergo surface cleavage and convert H2O to ⋅OH, consuming chemical adsorption energy (∼2.852–9.793 kJ/mol), much lower than that of AOPs. Our findings provide a novel technology for water purification and bring new insights into pollutant oxidation chemistry.

Dosage compensation equalizes X-linked expression between XY males and XX females. In male fruit flies, expression levels of the X-chromosome are increased approximately two-fold to compensate for their single X chromosome. In testis, dosage compensation is thought to cease during meiosis; however, the timing and degree of the resulting transcriptional suppression is difficult to separate from global meiotic downregulation of each chromosome. To address this, we analyzed testis single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) data from two Drosophila melanogaster strains. We found evidence that the X chromosome is equally transcriptionally active as autosomes in somatic and pre-meiotic cells, and less transcriptionally active than autosomes in meiotic and post-meiotic cells. In cells experiencing dosage compensation, close proximity to MSL (male-specific lethal) chromatin entry sites (CES) correlates with increased X chromosome transcription. We found low or undetectable levels of germline expression of most msl genes, mle, roX1 and roX2 via scRNA-seq and RNA-FISH, and no evidence of germline nuclear roX1/2 localization. Our results suggest that, although dosage compensation occurs in somatic and pre-meiotic germ cells in Drosophila testis, there might be non-canonical factors involved in the dosage compensation mechanism. The single-cell expression patterns and enrichment statistics of detected genes can be explored interactively in our database: https://zhao.labapps.rockefeller.edu/gene-expr/.

In this work, we demonstrated a HfO2-based ferroelectric field-effect transistor (FeFET) in series with a HfAlO ferroelectric capacitor for memory application and further investigated the impact of the ferroelectric capacitor with different thicknesses and areas. It was revealed that the memory window of the FeFET has a significant correlation with the ferroelectric capacitor from the transfer curves of the transistor after the series connection. By decreasing the thickness and area of the ferroelectric capacitor, the memory window of the FeFET was improved, which could be verified through the TCAD simulation tool and capacitance matching model. With the series-connected ferroelectric capacitor, in addition to optimizing the characteristics of ferroelectric memory, we can effectively avoid the interface-caused undesirable effects in conventional ferroelectric memory during film stacking. These results provide a solution for future low-power embedded memory application.

Fabrication, physical modeling and dynamic response of p-type Al-doped SnOx active channel thin film transistors (TFTs) are presented for the potential application of ultra-high definition (UHD) displays. After deposition of Al-doped SnOx active layer using reactive co-sputtering, the channel was treated with plasma fluorination which improve the device performance of high ION/IOFF ratio of > 106, low subthreshold swing of ~100 mV/dec and high field-effect mobility (μFE) of 4.8 cm2V-1s-1. To understand the origin of such high performance, physical modeling and numerical simulations were performed using density of state (DOS) model of defects/traps of oxide semiconductor. This model describes the modifications of donor-like tail states and acceptor-like Gaussian defect states due to Al doping on SnOx and fluorine treatment. To evaluate the device performance for UHD large scale displays, the dynamic responses of p-type TFT pixel circuit for various requirements are simulated with physical models. These results suggest that the Al-doped SnOx TFTs are potential candidates for future high-definition displays and many applications in transparent electronics.

Transparent electronics has attracted much attention and been widely studied for next-generation high-performance flat-panel display application in the past few years, because of its excellent electrical properties. In display application, thin film transistors (TFTs) play an important role as the basic units by controlling the pixels. Among them, oxide-based TFTs have become promising candidates and gradually replaced the conventional amorphous and polycrystalline silicon TFTs, due to high mobility, good transparency, excellent uniformity and low processing temperature. Even though n-type oxide TFTs have shown high device performance and been used in commercial display application, p-type oxide TFTs with the equal performance have been rarely reported. Hence, in this paper, recent progress and challenges in p-type oxide-based TFTs are reviewed. After a short introduction, the TFT device structure and operation are presented. Then, recent developments in p-type oxide TFTs are discussed in detail, with the emphasis on the potential p-type oxide candidates as copper oxide, tin oxide and nickel oxide. Moreover, miscellaneous applications of p-type oxide TFTs are also presented. Despite this, the performance of p-type oxide TFTs still lags behind, as compared with that of n-type counterparts. Thus, the current issues and challenges of p-type oxide TFTs are briefly discussed.

Abstract:: Enterocytozoon bieneusi, a unicellular enteric microsporidian parasite, can infect humans and a wide range of animals throughout the world. Although E. bieneusi has been identified in many animals, there is no information regarding the genotypes of E. bieneusi in pet birds in China. Birds are important sources of emerging infectious diseases that affect humans, and immunosuppressed individuals can be exposed to potential zoonotic agents shed by birds. The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence and genotypic diversity of E. bieneusi in pet birds, as well as assessed its zoonotic potential. A total of 387 fecal samples were collected from Psittaciformes (n = 295), Passeriformes (n = 67), and Galliformes (n = 16) from four pet markets in Sichuan province, Southwestern China. The overall prevalence of E. bieneusi in pet birds was 25.1% based on nested polymerase chain reaction analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene (Psittaciformes, 21.7%; Passeriformes, 37.3%; Galliformes, 50.0%). Eight genotypes of E. bieneusi were identified, including five known genotypes (D, SC02, BEB6, CHB1, and MJ5) and three novel genotypes (SCB-I, SCB-II, and SCB-III). In phylogenetic analysis, genotypes D and SC02 and one novel genotype SCB-II were clustered within group 1, genotype BEB6 was classified within group 2, and the remaining genotypes (CHB1, MJ5, SCB-I, and SCB-III) clustered with group 10. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of E. bieneusi infection in pet birds in China. Genotypes D, SC02, and BEB6 that have been previously identified in humans, were found in pet birds in this study, suggesting that these pet birds can be a potential source of human microsporidiosis in China. Keywords: Enterocytozoon bieneusi, ITS, Pet bird, Zoonotic potential, China

Abstract Background Epoxide hydrolase can regioselectively catalyze the oxirane ring-opening hydrolysis of rac-epoxides producing the corresponding chiral diols. In our laboratory, a gene named pveh1 encoding an EH from Phaseolus vulgaris was cloned. Although the directed modification of PvEH1 was carried out, the mutant PvEH1Y3 showed a limited degree of enantioconvergence towards racemic (rac-) m-chlorostyrene oxide (mCSO). Results PvEH1 and PvEH1Y3 were combinatively subjected to laboratory evolution to further enhance the enantioconvergence of PvEH1Y3 towards rac-mCSO. Firstly, the substrate-binding pocket of PvEH1 was identified using a CAVER 3.0 software, and divided into three zones. After all residues in zones 1 and 3 were subjected to leucine scanning, two E. coli transformants, E. coli/pveh1 Y149L and /pveh1 P184L, were selected, by which rac-mCSO was transformed into (R)-m-chlorophenyl-1,2-ethanediol (mCPED) having 55.1% and 27.2% ee p. Secondly, two saturation mutagenesis libraries, E. coli/pveh1 Y149X and /pveh1 P184X (X: any one of 20 residues) were created at sites Y149 and P184 of PvEH1. Among all transformants, both E. coli/pveh1 Y149L (65.8% α S and 55.1% ee p) and /pveh1 P184W (66.6% α S and 59.8% ee p) possessed the highest enantioconvergences. Finally, the combinatorial mutagenesis was conducted by replacements of both Y149L and P184W in PvEH1Y3, constructing E. coli/pveh1 Y3Z2, whose α S reached 97.5%, higher than that (75.3%) of E. coli/pveh1 Y3. In addition, the enantioconvergent hydrolysis of 20 mM rac-mCSO was performed by E. coli/pveh1 Y3Z2, giving (R)-mCPED with 95.2% ee p and 97.2% yield. Conclusions In summary, the enantioconvergence of PvEH1Y3Z2 was successfully improved by laboratory evolution, which was based on the study of substrate-binding pocket by leucine scanning. Our present work introduced an effective strategy for the directed modification of enantioconvergence of PvEH1.

Purpose: To investigate the impact of a planned coal-fired power plant (CFPPT) in Shenao on air quality and health at subnational levels in Taiwan. Methods: We applied the Gaussian trajectory transfer-coefficient (GTx) model to estimate annual average PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm) increments in 19 Taiwanese cities and counties caused by CFPPT operation. A population health risk assessment was performed by incorporating evidence of the health effects of PM2.5 provided by prospective studies and estimating long-term PM2.5 exposure. Additionally, we considered ischemic heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and chronic obstruct pulmonary disease as the primary outcomes. The population-attributable fraction was used to estimate the county-level mortality burden attributable to CFPPT-generated PM2.5 in 2025. Results: The estimated annual PM2.5 increments ranged from 0.004 μg/m3 (Taitung County) to 0.28 μg/m3 (Hsinchu County) due to the Shenao CFPPT. The total and premature deaths attributable to PM2.5 from Shenao CFPPT operation in Taiwan during 2025–2040 would be 576 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 537–619) and 145 (95% CI: 136–155), respectively. Notably, we estimated 198 (95% CI: 169–234) deaths and 58 (95% CI: 51–66) premature deaths, respectively, in New Taipei City, which accounted for over a quarter of the total deaths. Overall, the mortality rate attributable to the Shenao CFPPT in Taiwan was 6 per 10,000. Conclusion: A scientific approach should be adopted for assessing the impacts of CFPPT operation on population health, which can serve as a valuable policymaking reference for the government. Keywords: Coal-fired power plant (CFPPT), PM2.5, Gaussian trajectory transfer-coefficient modeling system (GTx), Global burden of disease (GBD), Comparative risk assessment (CRA)