Search

China is one of the countries where landslides caused the most fatalities in the last decades. The threat that landslide disasters pose to people might even be greater in the future, due to climate change and the increasing urbanization of mountainous areas. A reliable national-scale rainfall induced landslide susceptibility model is therefore of great relevance in order to identify regions more and less prone to landsliding as well as to develop suitable risk mitigating strategies. However, relying on imperfect landslide data is inevitable when modelling landslide susceptibility for such a large research area. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of incomplete landslide data on national scale statistical landslide susceptibility modeling for China. In this context, it is aimed to explore the benefit of mixed effects modelling to counterbalance associated bias propagations. Six influencing factors including lithology, slope, soil moisture index, mean annual precipitation, land use and geological environment regions were selected based on an initial exploratory data analysis. Three sets of influencing variables were designed to represent different solutions to deal with spatially incomplete landslide information: Set 1 (disregards the presence of incomplete landslide information), Set 2 (excludes factors related to the incompleteness of landslide data), Set 3 (accounts for factors related to the incompleteness via random effects). The variable sets were then introduced in a generalized additive model (GAM: Set 1 and Set 2) and a generalized additive mixed effect model (GAMM: Set 3) to establish three national-scale statistical landslide susceptibility models: models 1, 2 and 3. The models were evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUROC) given by spatially explicit and non-spatial cross-validation. The spatial prediction pattern produced by the models were also investigated. The results show that the landslide inventory incompleteness had a substantial impact on the outcomes of the statistical landslide susceptibility models. The cross-validation results provided evidence that the three established models performed well to predict model-independent landslide information with median AUROCs ranging from 0.8 to 0.9. However, although Model 1 reached the highest AUROCs within non-spatial cross-validation (median of 0.9), it was not associated with the most plausible representation of landslide susceptibility. The Model 1 modelling results were inconsistent with geomorphological process knowledge and reflected a large extent the underlying data bias. The Model 2 susceptibility maps provided a less biased picture of landslide susceptibility. However, a lower predicted likelihood of landslide occurrence still existed in areas known to be underrepresented in terms of landslide data (e.g., the Kuenlun Mountains in the northern Tibetan Plateau). The non-linear mixed-effects model (Model 3) reduced the impact of these biases best by introducing bias-describing variables as random effects. Among the three models, Model 3 was selected as the best national-scale susceptibility model for China as it produced the most plausible portray of rainfall induced landslide susceptibility and the highest spatially explicit predictive performance (median AUROC of spatial cross validation 0.84) compared to the other two models (median AUROCs of 0.81 and 0.79, respectively). We conclude that ignoring landslide inventory-based incompleteness can entail misleading modelling results and that the application of non-linear mixed-effect models can reduce the propagation of such biases into the final results for very large areas.

Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) has been applied in many countries and has proven to be a key carbon-reduction technology for the future. China currently emits the most carbon, and prior research findings indicate the high potential of CCUS technology to support the country’s emission-reduction process. China introduced CCUS technology at the end of the 20th century and has since implemented a series of related policies. This paper compares the development status of CCUS in China and other countries, studies the legal and policy framework and the development process of CCUS in China, and analyzes the defects in relevant laws and policies. The results show that China’s current legal and policy system is not conducive to the further development of CCUS; specifically, there is no special law, and the policy system is incomplete. Consequently, it is difficult to advance and give full play to the emission-reduction effect of CCUS. To promote CCUS development in China, this paper proposes corresponding countermeasures, including formulating a special law, perfecting the CCUS policy system, expanding government financial support, and improving CCUS public awareness and support.

Climate change can alter the frequency and intensity of extreme rainfall across the globe, leading to changes in hazards posed by rainfall-induced landslides. In recent decades, China suffered great human and economic losses due to rainfall-induced landslides. However, how the landslide hazard situation will evolve in the future is still unclear, also because of sparse comprehensive evaluations of potential changes in landslide susceptibility and landslide occurrence frequency under climate change. This study builds upon observed and modelled rainfall data from 24 bias-corrected Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) Global Climate Models (GCMs), a statistical landslide susceptibility model, and empirical rainfall thresholds for landslide initiation, to evaluate changes in landslide susceptibility and landslide occurrence frequency at national-scale. Based on four Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) scenarios, changes in the rainfall regime are projected and used to evaluate subsequent alterations in landslide susceptibility and in the frequency of rainfall events exceeding empirical rainfall thresholds. In general, the results indicate that the extend of landslide susceptible terrain and the frequency of landslide-triggering rainfall will increase under climate change. Nevertheless, a closer inspection provides a spatially heterogeneous picture on how these landslide occurrence indicators may evolve across China. Until the late 21st century (2080-2099) and depending on the SSP scenarios, the mean annual precipitation is projected to increase by 13.4 % to 28.6 %, inducing an 1.3 % to 2.7 % increase in the modelled areal extent of moderately to very highly susceptible terrain. Different SSP scenarios were associated with an increase in the frequency of landslide-triggering rainfall events by 10.3 % to 19.8 % with respect to historical baseline. Spatially, the southeastern Tibetan Plateau and the Tianshan Mountains in Northwestern Basins are projected to experience the largest increase in landslide susceptibility and frequency of landslide-triggering rainfall, especially under the high emission scenarios. Adaptation and mitigation methods should be prioritized for these future landslide hotspots. This work provides a better understanding of potential impacts of climate change on landslide hazard across China and represents a first step towards national-scale quantitative landslide exposure and risk assessment under climate change.

To explore the effectiveness of the mobile app-based multidisciplinary exercise management on patients who receive percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).From January to October 2020, 54 patients after PCI were randomly assigned to the intervention group (Totally 51 patients after PCI who completed this study (25 patients in the intervention group and 26 patients in the control group) were included in the analysis. After 2 months of intervention, the exercise compliance of patients in the intervention group was better than that in the control group. And 6-Minute Walking Distance (469.36 ± 57.48 vs. 432.81 ± 67.09), and the scores of knowledge of PCI treatment for coronary heart disease (52.64 ± 9.82 vs. 42.42 ± 8.54), Self-efficacy for Chronic Disease Scale (42.40 ± 8.04 vs. 36.88 ± 7.73) and Perceived Social Support Scale (74.04 ± 5.73 vs. 66.69 ± 6.86) in the intervention group were higher than those in the control group with statistical significance (The multidisciplinary exercise management based on the mobile app can effectively improve exercise tolerance, exercise compliance, disease-related cognition, self-efficacy, and perception of social support during exercise training for patients after PCI.

Fungal infection threatens human health worldwide due to the limited arsenal of antifungals and the rapid emergence of resistance. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is demonstrated to mediate epithelial cell endocytosis of the leading human fungal pathogen, Candida albicans. However, whether EGFR inhibitors act on fungal cells remains unknown. Here, we discovered that the specific EGFR inhibitor osimertinib mesylate (OSI) potentiates azole efficacy against diverse fungal pathogens and overcomes azole resistance. Mechanistic investigation revealed a conserved activity of OSI by promoting intracellular fluconazole accumulation via inhibiting Pdr5 and disrupting V-ATPase function via targeting Vma1 at serine 274, eventually leading to inactivation of the global regulator TOR. Evaluation of the in vivo efficacy and toxicity of OSI demonstrated its potential clinical application in impeding fluconazole resistance. Thus, the identification of OSI as a dual action antifungal with co-targeting activity proposes a potentially effective therapeutic strategy to treat life-threatening fungal infection and overcome antifungal resistance.

We propose a method to calculate the spectral functions of many-body systems by Chebyshev expansion in the framework of matrix product states coupled with canonical orthogonalization (coCheMPS). The canonical orthogonalization can improve the accuracy and efficiency significantly because the orthogonalized Chebyshev vectors can provide an ideal basis for constructing the effective Hamiltonian in which the exact recurrence relation can be retained. In addition, not only the spectral function but also the excited states and eigen energies can be directly calculated, which is usually impossible for other MPS-based methods such as time-dependent formalism or correction vector. The remarkable accuracy and efficiency of coCheMPS over other methods are demonstrated by calculating the spectral functions of spin chain and ab initio hydrogen chain. For the first time we demonstrate that Chebyshev MPS can be used to deal with ab initio electronic Hamiltonian effectively. We emphasize the strength of coCheMPS to calculate the low excited states of systems with sparse discrete spectrum. We also caution the application for electron-phonon systems with dense density of states.

We propose a method to calculate the spectral functions of strongly correlated systems by Chebyshev expansion in the framework of matrix product states coupled with canonical orthogonalization (coCheMPS). The canonical orthogonalization can improve the accuracy and efficiency significantly because the orthogonalized Chebyshev vectors can provide an ideal basis for constructing the effective Hamiltonian in which the exact recurrence relation can be retained. In addition, not only the spectral function but also the excited states and eigen energies can be directly calculated, which is usually impossible for other MPS-based methods such as time-dependent formalism or correction vector. The remarkable accuracy and efficiency of coCheMPS over other methods are demonstrated by calculating the spectral functions of spin chain and ab initio hydrogen chain. We demonstrate for the first time that Chebyshev MPS can be used in quantum chemistry. We also caution the application for electron-phonon system with densed density of states.

The present study determined the quantitative markers of total proanthocyanidins in the purification of the industrial waste Choerospondias axillaris pericarp based on the comparison results of high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC) and mass spectrometry(MS) and optimized the purification process with two stable procyanidins as markers. The adsorption and desorption of five different macroporous adsorption resins, the static adsorption kinetics curve of NKA-Ⅱ resin, the maximum sample load, and the gradient elution were investigated. The UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS was employed for qualitative analysis of the newly-prepared total proanthocyanidins of C. axillaris pericarp. As revealed by the results, NKA-Ⅱ resin displayed strong adsorption and desorption toward total proanthocyanidins. The sample solution(50 mg·mL~(-1)) was prepared from 70% ethanol crude extract of C. axillaris pericarp dissolved in water and 7-fold BV of the sample solution was loaded, followed by static adsorption for 12 h. After 8-fold BV of distilled water and 6-fold BV of 10% ethanol were employed to remove impurities, the solution was eluted with 8-fold BV of 50% ethanol, concentrated, and dried under reduced pressure, and purified total proanthocyanidin powder was therefore obtained. Measured by vanillin-hydrochloric acid method, the purity and transfer rate of total proanthocyanidins were 47.67% and 59.92%, respectively, indicating the feasibi-lity of the optimized process. UPLC-Q-TOF-MS/MS qualitative analysis identified 16 procyanidins in C. axillaris total proanthocyanidins. The optimized purification process is simple in operation and accurate in component identification, and it can be applied to the process investigation of a class of components that are difficult to be separated and purified. It can also provide technical support and research ideas for the comprehensive utilization of industrial waste.

The vehicle and the road are a coupled system, the road surface characteristics have a great influence on the vehicle's handling stability and driving safety. So in this study, A 9-DOF mathematical model of dual-axle steering mechanism considering the vehicle-road coupling is established. Taking one multi-axle vehicle with dual-axle steering mechanism for example, the numerical calculation method is used to reproduce the multiple limit-cycles shimmy, and the effects of the road adhesion coefficient on the multiple limit-cycles shimmy characteristics is analyzed. The results show that the maximum swing angles of first and second axle and the speed ranges of multiple limit-cycles shimmy occurring decrease with the road adhesion coefficient decreasing, and as the road adhesion coefficient decreases, the speed range of multiple limit-cycles occurring tend to shrink to the middle speed range(40-50km/h) which is multi-axle vehicles often travelling. In addition, we also found that the multiple limit-cycles shimmy characteristic of the dual-axle steering mechanism is more sensitive to the change of the road adhesion coefficient of second axle than the change of the road adhesion coefficient of first axle. This finding can provide theoretical guidance for suppressing multiple limit-cycles shimmy of multi-axle vehicle with dual-axle steering mechanism. Finally, we propose a control strategy for the multiple limit cycle shimmy phenomenon, which reduces the amplitude of the shimmy and the interval of multiple limit cycles.

Nano-LC-MS/MS was used to analyze trypsin digested deer-horn gelatin( DCG) and deer-hide gelatin( DHG) samples.The glycopeptides in DCG and DHG were quantified by Label-free quantitative( LFQ) peptidomics,on the basis of which the glycopeptides with significant difference in DCG and DHG were determined. As a result,5 736 peptides were identified from DCG samples,including 213 galactosyl-hydroxylysine containing peptides( Gal-Hyl-peptides) and 102 glucosyl-galactosyl-hydroxylysine containing peptides( Glc-Gal-Hyl-peptides),while 6 836 peptides were identified from DHG samples,among which there were 250 Gal-Hyl-peptides and 98 Glc-Gal-Hyl-peptides. With over 3-fold peak area difference and highly significant intergroup difference( Plt; 0. 01) as the screening criteria,444 differential peptides were determined in DCG and DHG,including 16 Gal-Hyl-peptides and 5 Glc-Gal-Hyl-peptides. Then XIC peak shapes,standard deviation of peak area,and fold change were applied for further screening and 5 glycopeptides with significant differences in DCG and DHG were confirmed,which could serve as potential biomarkers for distinguishing DCG and DHG. The present study provided ideas and strategies for the in-depth investigation on the discrimination of DCG and DHG and is of good theoretical significance and application value for the further research on chemical constituents and quality control of gelatin derived Chinese medicinals.

We propose a method for calculating the nonradiative decay rates for polyatomic molecules including anharmonic effects of the potential energy surface (PES) in the Franck-Condon region. The method combines the n-mode representation method to construct the ab initio PES and the nearly exact time-dependent density matrix renormalization group method (TD-DMRG) to simulate quantum dynamics. In addition, in the framework of TD-DMRG, we further develop an algorithm to calculate the final-state-resolved rate coefficient which is very useful to analyze the contribution from each vibrational mode to the transition process. We use this method to study the internal conversion (IC) process of azulene after taking into account the anharmonicity of the ground state PES. The results show that even for this semi-rigid molecule the intramode anharmonicity enhances the IC rate significantly, and after considering the two-mode coupling effect, the rate increases even further. The reason is that the anharmonicity enables the C-H vibrations to receive electronic energy while C-H vibrations do not contribute on the harmonic PES as the Huang-Rhys factor is close to 0.

UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) 1A1, one of the most important isoforms in UGTs superfamily, has attracted increasing concerns for its special role in the clearance and detoxification of endogenous and exogenous substances. To avoid the clinical drug-drug interactions, it is of great importance to have the knowledge of the metabolic profile of UGT1A1 substrates early. Herein, we purposed to establish machine learning models to predict the metabolic propeties of UGT1A1 substrates. On the basis of the literature-derived substrates database of UGT1A1, automatic metabolism prediction models for the aromatic hydroxyl (ArOH) and carboxyl (COOH) groups were developed with eight machine learning methods, among which, three methods, i.e. Random Forest, Random Subspace and J48, illustrated the best performance either for the aromatic hydroxyl and the carboxyl model. The models illustrated good robustness when they were evaluated with functions like "Precision", "Recall", "F-Measure", "AUC", "MCC", etc. Nice accuracy was observed for the aromatic hydroxyl and carboxyl model of these methods, whose AUCs ranged from 0.901 to 0.997. Additionally, the ArOH model was applied to predict the UGT1A1-mediated metabolism of an external set. Two new unknown substrates, cytochrome P450 (CYPs)-mediated metabolites of gefitinib, were predicted and identified, which were validated by in vitro assays. In summary, this study provides a reliable and robust strategy to predict UGT1A1 metabolites, which will be helpful either in rational-optimization of drug metabolism or in avoiding drug-drug interactions in clinic.

To consolidate the achievements in the elimination of absolute poverty in China and prevent rural populations from returning to poverty as a result of meteorological disasters, this study analyzed the spatiotemporal characteristics of rainstorms and droughts and their socioeconomic impacts on China’s contiguous poverty-stricken areas (CPSAs) from 1984 to 2019. The annual number of rainstorms and drought days in CPSAs of China reached approximately 1.9 days/year and 44.6 days/year, respectively. It gradually decreased from southeast to northwest. Rainstorms showed a significant increasing trend of 0.075 days/decade, while there is no significant trend in drought days. Due to rainstorms and droughts, the average annual number of people affected and direct economic losses in CPSAs reached 34 million people/year and 29 billion Chinese yuan/year, accounting for 22.9% and 12.6% of China’s total amounts, respectively. The average annual loss rate due to disasters in this region reached 1.6%, which is 0.6% higher than the national level. Furthermore, the distinct features and socioeconomic impacts of rainstorms and droughts were identified on the southeastern and northwestern sides of the population density line (PDL) along Tengchong-Aihui in China. Droughts have often impacted the regions located along the PDL, while rainstorms and droughts have occurred more frequently in the regions to the southeast of the PDL than in the regions to the northwest of the PDL. As a result, the affected population and direct economic losses due to rainstorms and droughts in the regions to the southeast of the PDL were 8.8 and 9.2 times and 3.3 and 7.4 times higher, respectively, than those in the regions on the other side of the PDL. Although the losses were greater, the disaster resistance capabilities were significantly improved in these regions. In contrast, the regions to the northwest side of the PDL exhibited a significant increasing trend in losses with a relatively low disaster resistance capabilities. This study revealed that it is necessary to improve the capability of meteorological disaster prevention and reduction in China’s CPSAs, especially in the regions to the west of the PDL, which could further contribute to the realization of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Intermediate/Extreme mass ratio inspiral (I/EMRI) system provides a good tool to test the nature of gravity in strong field. Based on the method of osculating orbits, we compute the orbital evolutions of I/EMRIs on quasi-elliptic orbits in both Einstein's general relativity and Brans-Dicke theory. The extra monopolar and dipolar channels in Brans-Dicke theory accelerate the orbital decay, so it is important to consider the effects of monopolar and dipolar emissions on the waveform. With the help of accurate orbital motion, we generate waveform templates which include both monopolar and dipolar contributions for I/EMRIs on eccentric orbits in Brans-Dicke theory. With a two-year observation of gravitational waves emitted from I/EMRIs by LISA, we get the most stringent constraint on the Brans-Dicke coupling parameter $\omega_0>10^6$., Comment: Major revision by adding discussions on more mass ratios, but conclusions are strengthened, matched to the published JCAP version

Zinc finger proteins can induce plant resistance and activate the expression of molecules involved in the resistance pathway in response to harsh environmental conditions. Previously, we found that a novel Fragaria vesca zinc finger protein interacts with the P6 protein encoded by a strawberry vein banding virus. However, the molecular mechanism of the zinc finger protein in plant stress resistance is still unknown. In this study, we reported the identification and functional characterization of the RING finger and CHY zinc finger domain-containing protein 1 (FvZFP1). The overexpression of FvZFP1 in Nicotiana benthamiana enhanced resistance to tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (Pst DC3000) infection by increasing ROS content. Additionally, FvZFP1 overexpression upregulated salicylic acid (SA) response-related gene expression as well as SA accumulation following TMV and Pst DC3000 infection. Furthermore, FvZFP1 overexpression resulted in increased salinity and drought stress tolerance by increasing SOD activity and decreasing MDA content. Overexpression of FvZFP1 also activated the ABA pathway under salinity or drought conditions. To our knowledge, this is the first study on the involvement of F. vesca zinc finger protein in crosstalk between biotic and abiotic stress signaling pathways, suggesting that FvZFP1 is a candidate gene for the improvement of resistance in response to multiple stresses.

Short-circuit current calculation is the basis of power system planning, development and protection. In power system simulation calculations, the load model is connected directly to the substation high-voltage bus. However, the actual load is generally connected to the grid via the distribution network, which is not taken into account in existing short-circuit current calculations. Based on the analysis of the influencing factors of short-circuit current, this paper puts forward a method to determine the proportion of induction motors connected to the short-circuit bus or other non-short-circuit buses when calculating the short-circuit current of 110 kV and above voltage level buses, and uses PSASP to simulate and analyze a network system with distribution network of different voltage levels that conforms to the load distribution characteristics of a province's power grid, in order to improve the accuracy of short-circuit current calculation results of power system.

It is difficult to segment small objects and the edge of the object because of larger-scale variation, larger intra-class variance of background and foreground-background imbalance in the remote sensing imagery. In convolutional neural networks, high frequency signals may degenerate into completely different ones after downsampling. We define this phenomenon as aliasing. Meanwhile, although dilated convolution can expand the receptive field of feature map, a much more complex background can cause serious alarms. To alleviate the above problems, we propose an attention-based mechanism adaptive filtered segmentation network. Experimental results on the Deepglobe Road Extraction dataset and Inria Aerial Image Labeling dataset showed that our method can effectively improve the segmentation accuracy. The F1 value on the two data sets reached 82.67% and 85.71% respectively.

Vacuoles are organelles in plant cells that play pivotal roles in growth and developmental regulation. The main functions of vacuoles include maintaining cell acidity and turgor pressure, regulating the storage and transport of substances, controlling the transport and localization of key proteins through the endocytic and lysosomal-vacuolar transport pathways, and responding to biotic and abiotic stresses. Further, proteins localized either in the tonoplast (vacuolar membrane) or inside the vacuole lumen are critical for fruit quality. In this review, we summarize and discuss some of the emerging functions and regulatory mechanisms associated with plant vacuoles, including vacuole biogenesis, vacuole functions in plant growth and development, fruit quality, and plant-microbe interaction, as well as some innovative research technology that has driven advances in the field. Together, the functions of plant vacuoles are important for plant growth and fruit quality. The investigation of vacuole functions in plants is of great scientific significance and has potential applications in agriculture.

Gene associated with retinoid-interferon (IFN)-induced mortality 19 (GRIM-19), a novel IFN-β/retinoic acid-inducible gene product, has been identified as a potential tumor suppressor, which is associated with the inhibition of tumor growth. GRIM-19 has been demonstrated to be downregulated in the ovarian tissue of patients with breast cancer, however, its role in breast cancer remains to be fully elucidated. In the present study, a recombinant eukaryotic expression plasmid carrying GRIM-19 was constructed and then transfected into the MCF7 human breast cancer cell line to examine its effects on breast cancer cell growth, migration and invasion using several in vitro approaches. The results demonstrated that upregulation GRIM-19 in the MCF7 cells significantly inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion, and induced cell apoptosis. Additionally, upregulation of GRIM-19 also suppressed the secretion of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-9 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). It was also demonstrated that the activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) was downregulated by the expression of GRIM-19. These results revealed that overexpression of the GRIM-19 gene may be an effective approach to control the growth and invasion of human breast cancer cells.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM Area calculation is the primary method for quantitatively analyzing accumulated plaque on the intaglio surfaces of implant-supported fixed complete dental prostheses (IFCDPs). However, the classic calculation method for stained dental plaque is based on two-dimensional (2D) photographs, which could mislead the three-dimensional (3D) representation of an object's actual morphology, especially when a surface is not flat. PURPOSE This pilot in vitro study, used for methodological purposes, evaluated the repeatability and precision of a 3D area calculation method to analyze simulated accumulated biofilm on the intaglio surfaces of an IFCDP. MATERIAL AND METHODS The titanium framework of an IFCDP with a smooth intaglio surface was prepared with 8 milled sites and scanned by microcomputed tomography. Out of these, 4 sites were cubic (set sides lengths=1, 2, 3, and 4 mm), and 4 sites were hemispherical (set diameters=1, 2, 3, and 4 mm). A green-colored aerosol was sprayed onto the carved-out intaglio sites. The framework intaglio surface was 3D-scanned (n=10) and 2D-photographed (n=10) at 10 different photo angles. Two raters twice measured the 3D and 2D data from the carved-out sites' green-colored area one week apart. Intraobserver repeatability and interobserver reliability were evaluated with an independent t test. The deviation between the measurements and the microtomography values was calculated. Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) evaluated the repeatability of multiple measurements. A standard level of significance was set at α

The invasion of noxious weed species has long been associated with the degradation of alpine grasslands ecosystems. However, traditional in situ-based methods for surveying noxious weed species are generally time consuming and inefficient over large-scale areas. This paper investigates the possibility of applying multisource data to map the occurrence and spatial distribution of noxious weed species in degraded alpine grasslands in the Three-River Headwaters Region, China. Sentinel-2 image-related vegetation indices (VIs), field sample data and environmental variables were integrated to build a noxious weed species detection model based on the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) species modeling framework. The modeling results suggest that based on both training and testing AUC (area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve) values higher than 0.82, the VI-only variable model, the environmental-only variable model and the combined environmental and VI variables model, all yielded good simulation results. The spatial distributions of noxious weed species mapped by the VI-only variable model and the combined environmental and VI variable model were more concentrated, while the VI-only variable model yielded more scattered results. This analysis also explains why noxious weed species are mainly distributed in the low-elevation flat riverine zone in the study area. The model combining Sentinel-2 imagery-related VIs, environmental variables and in situ sample data proposed in this study can successfully map the occurrence and spatial distributions of noxious weed species. The method and results of this research can be used to help monitor noxious weed species invasions and better manage grassland ecosystems.

Funding: This study was conducted within the project SuMaRiO (Sustainable Management of River Oases along the Tarim River; http://www.sumario.de/), funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF grants 01LL0918J, 01LL0918I and 01LL0918B). T. Bolch acknowledges funding by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, BO3199/2-1). Glacierised river catchments have been shown to be highly sensitive to climate change, while large populations may depend on their water resources. The irrigation agriculture and the communities around the Tarim River, NW China, are strongly dependent on the discharge from the highly glacierised catchments surrounding the Taklamakan Desert. While recent increasing headwater discharge has been beneficial for the expanding agricultural sector, future runoff under climate change is uncertain. We assess three climate change scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 2.6, 4.5, 8.5) by forcing two glacio-hydrological models with output of eight General Circulation Models. The models have different glaciological modelling approaches but were both calibrated to discharge and glacier mass balance observations. Projected changes of temperature, precipitation, glacier cover and river discharge are examined over the 21st century and generally point to a warmer and wetter climate in the ensemble median. The climate model ensemble projects median temperature and precipitation increases of +1.9–5.3°C and +9–24%, respectively, until the end of the century compared to 1971–2000. Glacier area is projected to shrink by 15–73% (model medians, range over scenarios), strongly depending on catchment and scenario. River discharge is projected to first increase by about 20% in the Aksu River catchments with subsequent decreases of up to 20% until 2100 compared to 1971–2000. In contrast, discharge in the drier Hotan and Yarkant catchments is projected to increase by 15–60% towards the end of the century. The large uncertainties mainly relate to climate model ensemble and the limited observations to constrain the glacio-hydrological models. Preprint Non

Blood is deposited in fish muscle during storage, and this deposition accelerates the deterioration of flesh quality. We have examined the effect of blood deposition on the degradation of collagen fibrils and fibers in the ordinary muscle of yellowtail (Seriola quinqueradiata). In this study we compared changes in collagen fibrils and fibers in the upper sides and undersides of yellowtails killed by two different methods (spinal cord destruction with blood removal and suffocation in air without blood removal [SA]). Tests of breaking strength showed that ordinary muscle from the underside of fish in the SA group (SA-under)had a slightly low value than the other groups. Histological observations showed thinner collagen fibers and looser structures in the SA-under groups than in the other groups during storage. In addition, blood-derived gelatinolytic activities were higher in muscle from the the underside of the SA group than in other groups. These results indicate that blood contains gelatinolytic enzymes and that when blood is deposited to the underside from the upper side of fish, these enzymes may participate in accelerating the degradation of collagen fibers during storage.

Summary Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV) is a pathogen of worldwide importance that causes dwarf mosaic disease on maize (Zea mays). Until now, few maize genes/proteins have been shown to be involved in resistance to SCMV. In this study, we characterized the role of maize phenylalanine ammonia‐lyases (ZmPALs) in accumulation of the defence signal salicylic acid (SA) and in resistance to virus infection. SCMV infection significantly increased SA accumulation and expression of SA‐responsive pathogenesis‐related protein genes (PRs). Interestingly, exogenous SA treatment decreased SCMV accumulation and enhanced resistance. Both reverse transcription‐coupled quantitative PCR and RNA‐Seq data confirmed that expression levels of at least four ZmPAL genes were significantly up‐regulated upon SCMV infection. Knockdown of ZmPAL expression led to enhanced SCMV infection symptom severity and virus multiplication, and simultaneously resulted in decreased SA accumulation and PR gene expression. Intriguingly, application of exogenous SA to SCMV‐infected ZmPAL‐silenced maize plants decreased SCMV accumulation, showing that ZmPALs are required for SA‐mediated resistance to SCMV infection. In addition, lignin measurements and metabolomic analysis showed that ZmPALs are also involved in SCMV‐induced lignin accumulation and synthesis of other secondary metabolites via the phenylpropanoid pathway. In summary, our results indicate that ZmPALs are required for SA accumulation in maize and are involved in resistance to virus infection by limiting virus accumulation and moderating symptom severity.

BACKGROUND Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) participate in all cancer biology processes of cells. Although functions and associated mechanisms of lncRNAs have been proven in colorectal cancer (CRC), the roles of lncRNA X-inactive specific transcript (XIST) have not been clearly investigated in CRC. MATERIAL AND METHODS Expression of XIST was detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) assay in CRC cell lines and 196 clinical samples. Correlations between XIST expression and CRC clinicopathological features were analyzed. Log-rank test and Kaplan-Meier test were performed to assess and compare the prognoses of patients with higher and lower expression of XIST. The multivariate Cox regression and univariate Cox regression were conducted to evaluate the risk factors for prognosis of CRC. RESULTS lncRNA XIST was upregulated in CRC cells lines and tissues (p

Despite massive flood protection efforts in China, undertaken since the ancient times, disastrous floods continue to plague the country. In this paper, we discuss changes in flood hazard and flood risk in China. First, we review published results (including our own works) on change detection in observed records of intense precipitation, high river flow and flood damage in China. We provide information on essential features of extreme floods in last decades – floods on large rivers, urban floods, and flash floods. Next, we review available projections for the future (including our own results), related to intense precipitation, high river flow and flood damage in China. We try to interpret the difference in flood hazard projections obtained in various publications. Since the spread of river flood hazard projections is large, projections have to be interpreted with caution, because of the impact on decisions related to climate change adaptation, flood risk reduction, and water resources management. We review flood risk reduction strategies in China, focusing on the present situation and division of responsibilities. China has embarked upon an ambitious and vigorous task to improve flood preparedness, by both structural (“hard”) defences, such as: dikes, dams and flood control reservoirs, and diversions, as well as non-structural (“soft”) measures: spatial planning and zoning; watershed management (source control), flood forecasting and warning systems; and awareness raising. The strategy of flood mitigation includes flood retention and urban water management to alleviate the burden of flash and urban flooding.

Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important process of water and energy exchanges between land and atmosphere. In this study, a processed-based GLEAM (global land-surface evaporation: the Amsterdam methodology) satellite assimilation product has been validated in the Yangtze River valley on the observations of flux and the water balance method. The changes of total ET and its components, well as the associated dynamics, have been analyzed for the period of 1980–2014. The total ET shows significant increasing trends especially in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River valley, which is mostly due to the increase of transpiration. The spatial and temporal dynamics of total ET are analyzed with respect to temperature, precipitation, and solar radiation. The spatial pattern of total ET in the Yangtze River valley is found to be jointly determined by temperature and precipitation. As for the temporal dynamics, precipitation plays the dominant role in total ET in the source regions of the valley. While in the most regions, solar radiation is suggested to be a main controller, in the positive manner, of total ET. This may provide an in-depth understanding of ET changes in the warming climate, and form a basis for water resource management in the Yangtze River valley.

Background Clear tumor imaging is essential to the resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study aimed to create a novel biological probe to improve the HCC imaging. Methods Au nano-flower particles and CuInS2–ZnS core-shell quantum dots were synthesized by hydrothermal method. Au was coated with porous SiO2 and combined with anti-AFP antibody. HCC cell line HepG2 was used to evaluate the targeting efficacy of the probe, while flow cytometry and MTT assay were used to detect the cytotoxicity and bio-compatibility of the probe. Probes were subcutaneously injected to nude mice to explore light intensity and tissue penetration. Results The fluorescence stability of the probe was maintained 100% for 24 h, and the brightness value was 4 times stronger than that of the corresponding CuInS2–ZnS quantum dot. In the targeting experiment, the labeled HepG2 emitted yellow fluorescence. In the cytotoxicity experiments, MTT and flow cytometry results showed that the bio-compatibility of the probe was fine, the inhibition rate of HepG2 cell with 60% Cu-QDs/Anti-AFP probe and Au-QDs/Anti-AFP probe solution for 48 h were significantly different (86.3%±7.0% vs. 4.9%±1.3%, t = 19.745, P Conclusions The Au@SiO2@CuInS2–ZnS/Anti-AFP probe can targetedly recognize and label HepG2 cells with good bio-compatibility and no toxicity, and the strong tissue penetrability of luminescence may be helpful to surgeons.

A novel ferrocene-based monolith with a network structure was fabricated via in situ free radical polymerization using vinyl ferrocene as the co-monomer within a stainless-steel column (50 × 4.6 mm i.d.) for the separation of proteins from complex bio-samples, taking merit of the specific absorption of ferrocene to protein, including human plasma, egg white, and standard proteins. The morphology and pore size distribution indicate that the optimized monolith has a relatively uniform structure with the network. The results showed that 26 fractions were separated from human plasma, and the column efficiency of the aromatic small molecule, naphthalene, was up to 30,560 plates m−1. The homemade monolith showed excellent selectivity for intact proteins, mainly depending on the hydrophobic chromatography mechanism of ferrocene. In addition, the electrostatic interaction and hydrogen-bond interaction were the additional interactions in the chromatographic separation owing to the sandwich structure of ferrocene present in the monolithic column.

Background and Purpose— Inhibition of brain NKCC1 (Na + -K + -Cl − cotransporter 1) with bumetanide (BMT) is of interest in ischemic stroke therapy. However, its poor brain penetration limits the application. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of 2 novel NKCC1 inhibitors, a lipophilic BMT prodrug STS5 (2-(Dimethylamino)ethyl 3-(butylamino)-4-phenoxy-5-sulfamoyl-benzoate;hydrochloride) and a novel NKCC1 inhibitor STS66 (3-(Butylamino)-2-phenoxy-5-[(2,2,2-trifluoroethylamino)methyl]benzenesulfonamide), on reducing ischemic brain injury. Methods— Large-vessel transient ischemic stroke in normotensive C57BL/6J mice was induced with 50-min occlusion of the middle cerebral artery and reperfusion. Focal, permanent ischemic stroke in angiotensin II (Ang II)–induced hypertensive C57BL/6J mice was induced by permanent occlusion of distal branches of middle cerebral artery. A total of 206 mice were randomly assigned to receive vehicle DMSO, BMT, STS5, or STS66. Results— Poststroke BMT, STS5, or STS66 treatment significantly decreased infarct volume and cerebral swelling by ≈40% to 50% in normotensive mice after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion, but STS66-treated mice displayed better survival and sensorimotor functional recovery. STS5 treatment increased the mortality. Ang II–induced hypertensive mice exhibited increased phosphorylatory activation of SPAK (Ste20-related proline alanine-rich kinase) and NKCC1, as well as worsened infarct and neurological deficit after permanent distal middle cerebral artery occlusion. Conclusions— The novel NKCC1 inhibitor STS66 is superior to BMT and STS5 in reducing ischemic infarction, swelling, and neurological deficits in large-vessel transient ischemic stroke, as well as in permanent focal ischemic stroke with hypertension comorbidity.

H2 production using nanoscale semiconductors via photocatalytic water splitting is a much sought-after technology to curb carbon dioxide emission. Among the many challenges found to date is the search for a stable semiconductor photocatalyst responding to visible and preferably visible and IR light. Ag2S is a narrow bandgap semiconductor with a bulk electronic gap smaller than that needed to split water. In this work, using a solvent thermal strategy, we have increased its bandgap energy by shifting up the conduction band edge to make it suitable for the electron transfer reaction to hydrogen ions. The Ag2S quantum dots (QDs) were tested as both electrocatalysts and photocatalysts. As electrocatalysts, Ag2S QDs with an absorption peak at 800 nm (QD800) showed the highest H2 evolution activity with a Tafel slope of 89 mV/dec with an overpotential of 0.32 V. As photocatalysts, H2 was produced at a rate of 858 μmol h–1 gcatal–1 under a white light flux of 100 mW cm–2. Moreover, QD800 was also found to be act...

Snow depth plays an essential role in the water and energy balance of the land surface. It is of special importance in arid and semi-arid regions of Central Asia. Owing to the limited availability of field observations, the spatial and temporal variations of snow depth are still poorly known. Using the Japanese 55-year (JRA-55) and the ERA-Interim reanalysis snow depth products, we considered four global climate models (GCMs) applied in the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP), examining how they represent snow depth in Central Asia during the period 1986–2005 in terms of spatial and temporal characteristics. We also investigated changes of winter (January–March) snow depth in Central Asia, at 1.5 °C and 2 °C global warming levels. Finally, the joint probabilistic behavior of winter temperature and precipitation at 1.5 °C and 2 °C global warming are investigated using the kernel density estimator (KDE). The result shows that the snow depth climatology of Central Asia is generally well simulated in both spatial pattern and temporal (inter-annual and inter-seasonal) pattern. All models approximately simulate the winter maximum and the summer minimum values of snow depth but tend to overestimate the amplitude during October–December. Only the trend in HadGEM2-ES matches fairly well to the JRA-55 reanalysis snow depth. When comparing the projections of spatial distribution of winter snow depth, distinctive spatial pattern is noted at both 1.5 °C and 2 °C global warming levels, when the snow depth is shown to increase in northeastern and to decrease in midwestern regions of Central Asia. According to the joint probability distributions of precipitation and temperature, Central Asia will tend to experience a warmer and wetter winter at both 1.5 °C and 2 °C global warming levels, which can be associated with an increase in snow depth in the northeastern regions.

Primary dysmenorrhea is a common disease among females in their reproductive age and adolescents. The main complaint is lower abdominal pain during menstruation. Females, who suffer from dysmenorrhea, widely use nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that reduce muscle spasm by inhibiting prostaglandin synthesis and vasopressin secretion. However, there are side effects when patients take them for a long time. It is therefore against this backdrop that herbal medicines are suggested as an alternative source of treatment for primary dysmenorrhea. In this paper, a review of studies demonstrating the relieving of uterine contraction and reduction in prostaglandin synthesis by alternative sources such as traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) is spelt out. TCM conceptualizes that, menstrual pain resulting from qi is due to stagnated and retained blood. Blood deficiency and coldness in the whole human body are two additional causes of dysmenorrhea. Therefore, based on these, the main focus of treatment is directed at relieving the above symptoms. Chinese herbal prescriptions exert their effects through these mechanisms: prostaglandin reduction, inhibition of cyclooxygenase, intracellular Ca2+, and nitric oxide, declining malondialdehyde, and reverse increasing superoxide dismutase. Hence, Chinese herbal prescriptions, present perhaps a more beneficial efficacious alternative in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea, more especially in the confines of complementary and alternative medicine.

The cathode materials of LiFePO4 batteries decreases due to the gradual loss of lithium content during use. In this paper, the spent cathode materials were recycled with a carbon layer coated. The samples were prepared by a high temperature impurity removal procession and a solid phase repairing method. The LiFePO4 material obtained by the regeneration process has a discharge specific capacity of 105.4 mAh/g at 0.1 C after 10 cycles, and keeps it a considerable retention of 73.1 mAh/g at 1 C. This work provides a new routine in reusing lithium ion batteries.