Search

Micro-organisms harbouring the nosZ gene convert N2O to N2 and play a critical role in reducing global N2O emissions. As higher denitrifier diversity can result in higher denitrification rates, here we aimed to understand the diversity, composition and spatial structure of N2O-reducing microbial assemblages in forest soils across a large latitudinal and temperature gradient. We sequenced nosZ gene amplicons of 126 soil samples from six forests with mean annual soil temperatures (MAST) ranging from 3.7 to 25.3°C and tested predictions of the metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) and metabolic-niche theory (MNT). As predicted, α-diversity of nosZ communities increased with increasing MAST, within-site β-diversity decreased and two (pH and soil moisture) of the three niche widths examined were larger with increasing MAST. We calculated β-nearest taxon distance and Raup–Crick metric to quantify the relative influence of the assembly processes determining nosZ assemblage structure. Environmental selection was the primary process driving assemblage structure in all six forests. Homogenizing dispersal was also important at one site, which could be explained by the site's much lower variability in soil chemistry. We used canonical correspondence analysis and multiple regression on matrices to examine relationships between nosZ communities and environmental factors, and found that temperature and spatial distance were significant predictors of nosZ assemblage structure. Overall our results support both theories (MTE and MNT) tested, showing that higher temperatures are correlated with higher local diversity, wider niche breadths and lower within-site turnover rates. A plain language summary is available for this article.

Although subjects with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at markedly increased risk for cardiovascular mortality, the relation between CKD and aortic valve calcification has not been fully elucidated. Also, few data are available on the relation of aortic valve calcification and earlier stages of CKD. We sought to assess the relation of aortic valve calcium (AVC) with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), traditional and novel cardiovascular risk factors, and markers of bone metabolism in the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) Study. All patients who underwent aortic valve scanning in the CRIC study were included. The relation between AVC and eGFR, traditional and novel cardiovascular risk factors, and markers of calcium metabolism were analyzed using both unadjusted and adjusted regression models. A total of 1,964 CRIC participants underwent computed tomography for AVC quantification. Decreased renal function was independently associated with increased levels of AVC (eGFR 47.11, 44.17, and 39 ml/min/1.73 m2, respectively, p

Sreenivas (Sreeni) Bhattiprolu is the Head of digital solutions at Zeiss, and author of the ebook "AI for Advanced Image Analysis". In this discussion, Sreeni, Viji and Binghao are exploring trends, challenges and opportunities in Al guided microscopy data analysis from the viewpoint of industry, research and clinical needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PurposeThe purpose of this retrospective study was to compare the therapeutic efficacy and safety of drug-eluting bead transarterial chemoembolization (DEB-TACE) combined with systemic therapy to systemic therapy alone as first-line treatment for unresectable patients with colorectal liver metastases (CRLM).MethodsFrom December 2017 to December 2022, patients with unresectable CRLM who received systemic therapy with or without DEB-TACE as first-line treatment were included in the study. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS). Secondary endpoints were tumor response, conversion rate and adverse events.ResultsNinety-eight patients were enrolled in this study, including 46 patients who received systemic therapy combined with DEB-TACE (DEB-TACE group) and 52 patients who received systemic therapy alone (control group). The median PFS was elevated in the DEB-TACE group compared with the control group (12.1 months vs 8.4 months, p = 0.008). The disease control rate was increased in the DEB-TACE group compared with the control group (87.0% vs 67.3%, p = 0.022). Overall response rates (39.1% vs 25.0%; p = 0.133) and conversion rate to liver resection (33.8% vs 25.0%; p = 0.290) were no different between the two groups. The multivariate analysis showed that treatment options, size of liver metastasis, number of liver metastasis, synchronous metastases, and extrahepatic metastases were independent prognostic factor of PFS. Further subgroup analyses illustrated that PFS was beneficial with the DEB-TACE group in patients with age ≥ 60, male, left colon, synchronous metastases, bilobar, number of liver metastasis > 5, extrahepatic metastases, non-extrahepatic metastases, CEA level < 5 (ng/ml), and KRAS wild-type. No grade 4 or 5 toxicities related to DEB-TACE procedures were observed.ConclusionIn patients with unresectable CRLM, systemic chemotherapy with DEB-TACE as first-line treatment may improve progression-free survival and disease control rate outcomes over systemic chemotherapy alone with manageable safety profile.

In the summer of 2022, like in many other regions of the world, an unprecedented period of continuous high-temperature weather occurred in eastern China. The degree and duration of this event far exceeded normal standards. Between 2020 and 2022, the tropical Pacific experienced the most significant three-year consecutive La Nina event recorded in recent decades. We investigate linkages between these events: the high-temperature response in eastern China and Asia under the background of such La Nina events. Development of summer La Nina events contributed to a high-temperature heat wave during the summer of 2022. Rapid development of these events in the third year exacerbated negative Indian Ocean Dipole phases because of energy accumulation from abnormal easterly winds. The combined effects of the negative Indian Ocean Dipole phase and La Nina provided background field support that strengthened the West Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH) and the Iranian High, leading to high terrestrial temperature anomalies. An empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis of the vertical velocity in the middle and low latitudes of the tropical Indian Ocean and the Asian continent reveals the first two empirical orthogonal function modes to be conducive to the strengthening of Walker circulation in 2022. These two main modes jointly reflect the rising movement of the equatorial East Indian Ocean and South China Sea in 2022, and the sinking movement to the west of the Tibet Plateau and eastern China, which was conducive to generating high temperatures in eastern China. Finally, the South Asian High was affected by the La Nina event that lasted for three years, showing a strong trend towards the north, thus making an important contribution to this high temperature.

The hydraulic fracturing in-situ stress testing technology was used to test two boreholes (500-meter and 520-meter deep) at the Taiyuan pumped storage power station in Shanxi Province. The in-situ stress state of critical areas was obtained, and the ground stress level, underground building layout, and lining form in the project area were analyzed. The results show that the maximum horizontal principal stress ranges from 10.98 to 18.09 MPa, the minimum horizontal principal stress from 6.79 to 11.32 MPa, and the vertical principal stress from 9.61 to 13.57 MPa. Compared with the high and low in-situ stress values at the north and south ends of Shanxi Province, respectively, the measured values are between; Compared with the simulated in-situ stress field in the Qinshui Basin, the test results are basically consistent. The vertical stress values are between the maximum horizontal principal stress values and the minimum horizontal principal stress values (SH>Sv>Sh), which means the maximum horizontal stress at the measuring point is the maximum principal stress and is in the strike-slip stress state. Its lateral pressure coefficient Kav is between 0.92 and 1.09, reflecting that the tectonic action in the engineering area is not intense. In the range of 330–506 meters, the saturated uniaxial compressive strength of the two boreholes is betwwen 35 and 107 MPa, with an average of 63.79 MPa, and the ratio of the saturated strength to the maximum principal stress (\begin{document}$ {{R}_{\mathrm{b}}} $\end{document}/σm) is between 3.54 and 5.81, belonging to the medium–high stress level. The direction of the maximum horizontal principal stress in the project area is NE 43° to NE 70.5°, and the average is NE 59.5°, consistent with the regional focal mechanism solution and GPS displacement data. From the perspective of in-situ stress orientation, the average direction of the maximum principal stress in the engineering area is NE 59.5°, and the direction of the long axis of the underground powerhouse is between NE 29.5° and NE 89.5°, which is conducive to the stability of the surrounding rock of the powerhouse. The maximum water head PH of the underground hub project is about 4.62 MPa (i.e., PH

In recent years, inertial sensors based on Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) have become increasingly popular. They have been widely used in various fields due to their low cost, small size, and low power consumption. It seems that MEMS inertial sensors may eventually fully occupy the middle to lower end inertial navigation application market that traditional inertial sensors previously occupied. To realize the full potential of MEMS inertial sensors, one of the critical issues is their temperature drift. This paper first proposed a recursive model for real-time compensation. Then three algorithms were proposed, including a two-layer deep gated recurrent unit recurrent neural network (GRU-RNN, short GRU), deep GRU based on monarch butterfly algorithm (MBA), and deep GRU based on optimized monarch butterfly algorithm (OMBA). Each of these three algorithms is combined with the real-time compensation model to compensate for the temperature drift of a MEMS accelerometer. The experimental results proved the correctness of these three methods, and the MEMS accelerometer’s temperature drift is compensated effectively. The results indicate that the deep GRU + OMBA shows the best performance for the temperature drift compensation combined with the real-time compensation model. After deep GRU + OMBA method compensation, the angle random walk, the bias instability, the rate random walk, and rate ramp of the MEMS accelerometer were improved from $4.97e^{-4} \, mg\,\,\cdot s^{\frac {1}{2}}$ , $4.90e^{-4} \, mg$ , $5.57e^{-5} \, mg/ s^{\frac {1}{2}}$ , $1.82e^{-6} \, mg\,\,/ s$ to $3.90e^{-5} \, mg\,\,\cdot s^{\frac {1}{2}}$ , $1.07e^{-5} \, mg$ , $1.12e^{-6} \, mg/ s^{\frac {1}{2}}$ , $3.59e^{-8} \, mg\,\,/ s$ , respectively. Their percentage of improvement reaches 96.50% on average.

This study examines the impact of firms' targeted poverty alleviation activities on corporate value and how corporate internal governance regulates this relationship. This study uses Fixed Effects and System GMM estimations to test hypotheses by analyzing data from Chinese non-financial listed firms from 2016 to 2021. The results demonstrate that corporate targeted poverty alleviation and internal corporate governance control affect company value and governance. Corporate value increases as a result of effective internal governance. Internal governance control enhances the positive relationship between the firm's targeted poverty reduction and value creation. This study's findings are robust to alternative measures of poverty alleviation initiatives. Furthermore, heterogeneity analysis reveals that non-SOE firms, small and low-leverage firms engaging in anti-poverty activities are in a better position to achieve value creation. This study adds to the literature on poverty reduction, sustainable corporate value creation, and corporate internal governance control. Study results may help policymakers and managers in evaluating their business strategies by focusing more on fulfilling social responsibilities to eradicate poverty from the region by improving governance policies to generate sustainable value for the firm.

Abstract The Northern Wei Dynasty (386–534 CE) murals of Cave 254 in the Mogao Grottoes, China, have been extensively affected by pigment color changes and fading. These issues severely hinder efforts to correctly understand the value and painting process of murals from this historic period. The virtual reconstruction of the faded murals reflects the analysis results of the pigments applied during the painting process and provides a new direction for conservation and art research. However, simple virtual reconstructions may not be accurate owing to deficiencies in our understanding of the color-changed pigments and fading of image lines. In this study, multi-band imaging (MSI) was performed to obtain infrared-reflected false color, ultraviolet-reflected false color, and ultraviolet luminescence images of the mural. A portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, portable digital microscope, scanning electron microscope, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer, liquid chromatography–mass spectrometer, and confocal Raman microscope were used. Non-invasive and minimally invasive analyses of local portions of different color areas were performed to identify their pigments and map the strata, and a hue–saturation–brightness palette was constructed for these pigments. Finally, the pigment analysis results were combined with the multi-band image features to determine the pigment distribution of the mural, which was then used to virtually reconstruct the original color and appearance of the faded mural under ideal conditions. This study is the first to use a virtual reconstruction based on objective analyses to simulate the original color, painting processes, and pigment stratigraphy of a mural from the Northern Wei Dynasty. A preliminary discussion of the relationship between the painting processes of the mural and color changes in its pigments was also performed. The findings of this study will provide new perspectives on the study of Northern Wei Dynasty murals.