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Abstract Background Developing novel germplasm by using wheat wild related species is an effective way to rebuild the wheat resource bank. The Psathyrostachys huashanica Keng (P. huashanica, 2n = 2x = 14, NsNs) is regarded as a superior species to improve wheat breeding because of its multi-resistance, early maturation and numerous tiller traits. Introducing genetic components of P. huashanica into the common wheat background is the most important step in achieving the effective use. Therefore, the cytogenetic characterization and influence of the introgressed P. huashanica large segment chromosomes in the wheat background is necessary to be explored. Results In this study, we characterized a novel derived line, named D88-2a, a progeny of the former characterized wheat-P. huashanica partial amphiploid line H8911 (2n = 7x = 49, AABBDDNs). Cytological identification showed that the chromosomal composition of D88-2a was 2n = 44 = 22II, indicating the addition of exogenous chromosomes. Genomic in situ hybridization demonstrated that the supernumerary chromosomes were a pair of homologues from the P. huashanica and could be stably inherited in the common wheat background. Molecular markers and 15 K SNP array indicated that the additional chromosomes were derived from the sixth homoeologous group (i.e., 6Ns) of P. huashanica. Based on the distribution of the heterozygous single-nucleotide polymorphism sites and fluorescence in situ hybridization karyotype of each chromosome, this pair of additional chromosomes was confirmed as P. huashanica 6Ns large segment chromosomes, which contained the entire short arm and the proximal centromere portion of the long arm. In terms of the agronomic traits, the addition line D88-2a exhibited enhanced stripe rust resistance, improved spike characteristics and increased protein content than its wheat parent line 7182. Conclusions The new wheat germplasm D88-2a is a novel cytogenetically stable wheat-P. huashanica 6Ns large segment addition line, and the introgressed large segment alien chromosome has positive impact on plant spikelet number and stripe rust resistance. Thus, this germplasm can be used for genetic improvement of cultivated wheat and the study of functional alien chromosome segment.

Abstract Background Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an emerging infectious disease. SFTS virus (SFTSV) is transmitted by tick bites and contact with the blood or body fluids of SFTS patients. Animal-to-human transmission of SFTS has been reported in Japan, but not in China. In this study, the possible transmission route of two patients who fed and cared for farm-raised fur animals in a mink farm was explored. Method An epidemiological investigation and a genetic analysis of patients, animals and working environment were carried out. Results It was found that two patients had not been bitten by ticks and had no contact with patients infected with SFTS virus, but both of them had skinned the dying animals. 54.55% (12/22) of the farm workers were positive for SFTS virus antibody. By analyzing the large, medium and small segments sequences, the viral sequences from the two patients, animals and environments showed 99.9% homology. Conclusion It is suspected that the two patients may be directly infected by farm-raised animals, and that the virus may have been transmitted by aerosols when skinning dying animals. Transmission by direct blood contacts or animal bites cannot be ignored.

Maize stalk rot reduces grain yield and quality. Information about the genetics of resistance to maize stalk rot could help breeders design effective breeding strategies for the trait. Genomic prediction may be a more effective breeding strategy for stalk-rot resistance than marker-assisted selection. We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and genomic prediction of resistance in testcross hybrids of 677 inbred lines from the Tuxpeño and non-Tuxpeño heterotic pools grown in three environments and genotyped with 200,681 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Eighteen SNPs associated with stalk rot shared genomic regions with gene families previously associated with plant biotic and abiotic responses. More favorable SNP haplotypes traced to tropical than to temperate progenitors of the inbred lines. Incorporating genotype-by-environment (G × E) interaction increased genomic prediction accuracy.

Oxidative damage resulting from weaning stress significantly impacts the growth performance and health status of piglets. Taurine, a dietary antioxidant with diverse functions, was investigated in this study for its protective role against weaning stress-induced oxidative damage and its underlying mechanism. Forty 28-day-old male castrated weaned piglets were randomly assigned to four groups. The control group received the basal diet, while the experimental groups were fed the basal diet supplemented with 0.1, 0.2%, or 0.3% taurine over a 28-day period. In vitro, H2O2 was utilized to induce oxidative damage to the jejunal mucosa of piglets via IPEC-J2 cells. The results demonstrated that taurine supplementation reduced the incidence of diarrhea in piglets compared to that in the control group (p

Abstract BackgroundThe core Healthy Days measures were used to track the population-level health status in the China Chronic Disease and Risk Factor Surveillance; however, they were not easily combined to create a summary of the overall health-related quality of life (HRQOL), limiting this indicator’s use. ObjectiveThis study aims to develop a summary score based on the Chinese version of the core Healthy Days measures (HRQOL-5) and apply it to estimate HRQOL and its determinants in a Chinese population. MethodsFrom November 2018 to May 2019, a multistage stratified cluster survey was conducted to examine population health status and behavioral risk factors among the resident population older than 15 years in Weifang City, Shandong Province, China. Both exploratory factor analyses and confirmatory factor analyses were performed to reveal the underlying latent construct of HRQOL-5 and then to quantify the overall HRQOL by calculating its summary score. Tobit regression models were finally carried out to identify the influencing factors of the summary score. ResultsA total of 26,269 participants (male: n=13,571, 51.7%; mean age 55.9, SD 14.9 years) were included in this study. A total of 71% (n=18,663) of respondents reported that they had excellent or very good general health. One summary factor was extracted to capture overall HRQOL using exploratory factor analysis. The confirmatory factor analysis further confirmed this one-factor model (Tucker-Lewis index, comparative fit index, and goodness-of-fit index >0.90; root mean square error of approximation 0.02). Multivariate Tobit regression analysis showed that age (β=–0.06), educational attainments (primary school: β=0.72; junior middle school: β=1.46; senior middle school or more: β=2.58), average income (≥¥30,000 [US $4200]: β=0.69), physical activity (β=0.75), alcohol use (β=0.46), self-reported disease (β=−6.36), and self-reported injury (β=–5.00) were the major influencing factors on the summary score of the HRQOL-5. ConclusionsThis study constructs a summary score from the HRQOL-5, providing a comprehensive representation of population-level HRQOL. Differences in summary scores of different subpopulations may help set priorities for health planning in China to improve population HRQOL.

With the rapid advancements in deep learning technology, various deep learning-based object detection algorithms have found extensive applications in UAV-related tasks. However, motivated by the fact that current object detection algorithms for unimodal aerial remote sensing images fail to achieve around-the-clock object detection. To tackle this, we propose an around-the-clock object detection algorithm YOLOFIV that fuses infrared and visible features. First, we design a dual-stream backbone network based on the attention mechanism to adequately extract the features of both modalities. Moreover, the ECA attention mechanism is integrated into the feature enhancement network to amplify attention toward challenging detection scenarios. Finally, we improve the horizontal detection head to a rotating one to preserve object orientation. We evaluate the proposed method YOLOFIV on the widely used drone vehicle dataset, YOLOFIV achieves an accuracy of 64.71% (in terms of $\text{mean average precision}_{0.5}$), accuracy improvement of 8.32% over baseline bimodal model, similar performance to UACMD designed for ARSI object detection but with 92.35% reduction in parameter count, and 17.87 times speedup. The results show that our approach achieves round-the-clock object detection while maintaining a favorable accuracy-speed tradeoff.

Abstract The World Health Organization (WHO) prioritizes pneumococcal disease as a vaccine-preventable disease and recommends the inclusion of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) in national immunization programs worldwide. However, PCV is not included in the National Immunization Program in China and has low vaccination coverage due to its high cost. To address this, Weifang City implemented an innovative strategy for a 13-valent PCV (PCV13) on June 1, 2021. This strategy aimed to provide one dose of PCV13 free of charge for children aged 6 months to 2 years in registered households and to adopt a commercial insurance model with one dose of PCV13 free of charge in 2023 for children over 2 years old. The Health Commission of Weifang and other departments conducted a comprehensive investigation and considered various factors, such as vaccine effectiveness, safety, accessibility, vaccine price, and immunization schedules, for eligible children (under 5 years old). Stakeholder opinions were also solicited before implementing the policy. The Commission negotiated with various vaccine manufacturers to maximize its negotiating power and reduce vaccine prices. The implementation plan was introduced under the Healthy Weifang Strategy. Following the implementation of this strategy, the full course of vaccination coverage increased significantly from 0.67 to 6.59%. However, vaccination coverage is still lower than that in developed countries. Weifang's PCV13 vaccination innovative strategy is the first of its kind in Chinese mainland and is an active pilot of non-immunization program vaccination strategies. To further promote PCV13 vaccination, Weifang City should continue to implement this strategy and explore appropriate financing channels. Regions with higher levels of economic development can innovate the implementation of vaccine programs, broaden financing channels, improve accessibility to vaccination services, and advocate for more localities to incorporate PCV13 into locally expanded immunization programs or people-benefiting projects. A monitoring and evaluation system should also be established to evaluate implementation effects. Graphical Abstract

Introduction Studies on economic evaluations of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) have been increasing over the last decade. No systematic reviews have synthesized the evidence of economic evaluations of the PCV13. Areas covered We systematically searched the literature which published on peer-reviewed journals from January 2010 to June 2022. The literature search was conducted in the following electronic databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, the Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wanfang database, VIP database. We identified 1827 records from the database search. After excluding 511 duplicates, 1314 records were screened, of which 156 records were retained for the full-text reviews. A total of 44 studies were included in the review. Among the included studies, 33 studies were economic evaluations of PCV13 among children, and 11 studies were conducted among adults. The literature search initiated in April, 2022, and updated in June 2022. Expert opinion Vaccination with PCV13 was found to significantly reduce the mortality and morbidity of pneumococcal diseases and was cost-effective compared to no vaccine or several other pneumococcal vaccines (e.g. PCV10, PPV23). Future research is advised to expand economic evaluations of PCV13 combined with dynamic model to enhance methodologic rigor and prediction accuracy.

Abstract Crystalline porous materials such as covalent organic frameworks (COFs), metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and porous organic cages (POCs) have been widely applied in various fields with outstanding performances. However, the lack of general and effective methodology for large-scale production limits their further industrial applications. In this work, we developed a general approach comprising high pressure homogenization (HPH), which can realize large-scale synthesis of crystalline porous materials including COFs, MOFs, and POCs under benign conditions. This universal strategy, as illustrated in the proof of principle studies, has prepared 4 COFs, 4 MOFs, and 2 POCs. It can circumvent some drawbacks of existing approaches including low yield, high energy consumption, low efficiency, weak mass/thermal transfer, tedious procedures, poor reproducibility, and high cost. On the basis of this approach, an industrial homogenizer can produce 0.96 ~ 580.48 ton of high-performance COFs, MOFs, and POCs per day, which is unachievable via other methods.

Light, as a crucial environmental determinant, profoundly influences the synthesis of secondary metabolites in plant metabolism. This study investigated the impacts of the red light combined with ultraviolet-A (UV-A) and ultraviolet-B (UV-B) treatments on phenolic acid biosynthesis in black wheat seedlings. The results demonstrate that the red light combined with UV-A and UV-B treatments significantly enhanced the levels of phenolic acids in black wheat seedlings, at 220.4 μg/seedling and 241.5 μg/seedling, respectively. The content of bound phenolic acids in black wheat seedlings increased by 36.0% under the UV-B treatment. The application of the UV-A/UV-B treatments markedly enhanced the activities of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, 4-coumarate CoA ligase, and cinnamate 4-hydroxylase in black wheat seedlings while also promoting the expression levels of genes related to phenolic acid synthesis. The expression levels of fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase and NADP-malic enzyme related to photosynthesis were significantly upregulated. This resulted in an augmentation in the chlorophyll content, thereby enhancing photosynthesis in black wheat seedlings. Nevertheless, the UV-A and UV-B treatments also had a significant constraining effect on the growth and development of black wheat seedlings. In addition, the UV-A and UV-B treatments increased the activity and gene expression levels of antioxidant enzymes while significantly increasing the contents of total flavonoids and anthocyanins, activating the antioxidant system. The findings reveal that light-source radiation serves as an effective method for promoting the biosynthesis of phenolic acids in black wheat seedlings.

In this study, we present a complete analysis of the thermal behavior of an oil-filled distribution transformer using two different approaches: numerically, by applying computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations; and analytically, by using thermal–hydraulic modelling (THM). The THM method becomes challenging when the corrugated transformer tank wall structures are complex, and therefore CFD simulations are required to provide in-depth details of the winding oil thermal–hydraulic behavior and to generate parameters for improving the THM calculation. The numerical and analytical thermal performance results were then compared with heat-run measurements of a case study transformer and the accuracy of both approaches on different thermal performance parameters was validated. This study has certain reference value for improving the thermal performance and operation efficiency of distribution transformers, and eventually aims to provide engineers with an effective tool to design the most efficient and reliable distribution transformers with corrugated tank walls for various applications.

Traditional network embedding aims to learn representations by capturing a predefined vertex-to-vertex similarity measure. However, in practice, there are different types of similarity measures (e.g., connectivity and structural similarity), which are appropriate for different downstream applications. Meanwhile, it is hard to select the “best” similarity measure that can mostly benefit the application, considering the required domain knowledge of both application scenario and network science. It sometimes requires to cooperate these similarity measures with each other for achieving better performance. Therefore, automatically integrate multiple types of similarity measures into a uniform network embedding framework is critical to obtain effective vertex representations for a downstream application. In this paper, we address the above problem in social networks, and propose a semi-supervised representation learning algorithm. The general idea of our approach is to impose social influence, which occurs when one’s opinions, emotions, or behaviors are affected by others in a social network. Particularly, we build the connection between a user’s representation vector and the probability of her being influenced by another user to have a particular label (e.g., fraud, personal interest, etc.). We conduct efficient experiments based on six real-world datasets and find a clear improvement of our approach comparing with several state-of-the-art baselines.

The aim of this study was as follows: 1) to investigate the effects of graded levels of N-carbamylglutamate (NCG) on performance, blood biochemical indexes, carcass traits and related indicators in growing-finishing pigs, and 2) to determine the optimal supplemental level. The toxicity of high-dose (much higher than recommended levels) NCG was assessed by routine blood tests and blood biochemical and histopathologic examinations of the heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney and stomach. One hundred and forty-four growing-finishing pigs (Duroc × Large White × Landrace, 32.24 ± 1.03 kg) were used in a 74-d experiment and each treatment was replicated 6 times with 4 pigs (2 barrows and 2 gilts) per replicate. The dietary treatments were a corn-soybean meal basal diet supplemented with 0% (control), 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.15%, 0.2% or 1% NCG. The first 5 groups were used to explore the optimal supplemental level of NCG, while the control, 0.1% and 1% NCG groups were used to explore the safety of high-dose NCG. Compared with the normal control group, the final body weight and average daily gain tended to be higher in the 0.1% group (P = 0.08), the lean percentage tended to be higher in the 0.05% group (P = 0.07), the levels of free amino acids in the blood significantly increased in the 0.1% group (P

Genetic dissection of yield component traits including kernel characteristics is essential for the continuous improvement in wheat yield. In the present study, one recombinant inbred line (RIL) F6 population derived from a cross between Avocet and Chilero was used to evaluate the phenotypes of kernel traits of thousand-kernel weight (TKW), kernel length (KL), and kernel width (KW) in four environments at three experimental stations during the 2018–2020 wheat growing seasons. The high-density genetic linkage map was constructed with the diversity arrays technology (DArT) markers and the inclusive composite interval mapping (ICIM) method to identify the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for TKW, KL, and KW. A total of 48 QTLs for three traits were identified in the RIL population on the 21 chromosomes besides 2A, 4D, and 5B, accounting for 3.00%–33.85% of the phenotypic variances. Based on the physical positions of each QTL, nine stable QTL clusters were identified in the RILs, and among these QTL clusters, TaTKW-1A was tightly linked to the DArT marker interval 3950546–1213099, explaining 10.31%–33.85% of the phenotypic variances. A total of 347 high-confidence genes were identified in a 34.74-Mb physical interval. TraesCS1A02G045300 and TraesCS1A02G058400 were among the putative candidate genes associated with kernel traits, and they were expressed during grain development. Moreover, we also developed high-throughput kompetitive allele-specific PCR (KASP) markers of TaTKW-1A, validated in a natural population of 114 wheat varieties. The study provides a basis for cloning the functional genes underlying the QTL for kernel traits and a practical and accurate marker for molecular breeding.

Effective detection of small targets plays a pivotal role in infrared (IR) search and track applications for modern military defense or attack. However, IR small targets are very difficult to detect because of their weak brightness, small size, and lack of shape, structure, texture, and other information elements. In order to simultaneously satisfy the robustness and timeliness of target detection, inspired by density peak clustering and the human visual system, an idea combining an improved density peak global search and local contrast calculation is proposed. First, the positions of candidate targets are determined in the preprocessed image using the improved density peak global search method (IDPGSM). Second, the saliency map is obtained using the double-weights enhanced local contrast method (DWELCM) for the candidate target neighborhood. Finally, adaptive threshold segmentation is used to detect IR small targets. Through comprehensive analysis of five evaluation indicators, the experimental results on seven real sequences and three hundred IR images of different scenes that the proposed method has better detection performance compared with six baseline methods. It can quickly and accurately determine the small target position in the case of severe background clutter and noise interference.

Abstract Background Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global public health concern, but its disease burden and risk-attributable burden in CKD has been poorly studied in low - and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study aimed to estimate CKD burden and risk-attributable burden in LMICs from 1990 to 2019. Methods Data were collected from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2019, which measure CKD burden using the years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) and calculate percentage contributions of risk factors to age-standardized CKD DALY using population attributable fraction (PAF) from 1990 to 2019. Trends of disease burden between 1990 and 2019 were evaluated using average annual percent change (AAPC). The 95% uncertainty interval (UI) were calculated and reported for YLDs, YLLs, DALYs and PAF. Results In 2019, LICs had the highest age-standardized DALY rate at 692.25 per 100,000 people (95%UI: 605.14 to 785.67), followed by Lower MICs (684.72% (95%UI: 623.56 to 746.12)), Upper MICs (447.55% (95%UI: 405.38 to 493.01)). The age-standardized YLL rate was much higher than the YLD rate in various income regions. From 1990 to 2019, the age-standardized DALY rate showed a 13.70% reduction in LICs (AAPC = -0.5, 95%UI: − 0.6 to − 0.5, P

Tilletia laevis Kühn (syn. Tilletia foetida (Wallr.) Liro.) causes wheat common bunt, which is one of the most devastating plant diseases in the world. Common bunt can result in a reduction of 80% or even a total loss of wheat production. In this study, the characteristics of T. laevis infection in compatible wheat plants were defined based on the combination of scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and laser scanning confocal microscopy. We found T. laevis could lead to the abnormal growth of wheat tissues and cells, such as leakage of chloroplasts, deformities, disordered arrangements of mesophyll cells and also thickening of the cell wall of mesophyll cells in leaf tissue. What’s more, T. laevis teliospores were found in the roots, stems, flag leaves, and glumes of infected wheat plants instead of just in the ovaries, as previously reported. The abnormal characteristics caused by T. laevis may be used for early detection of this pathogen instead of molecular markers in addition to providing theoretical insights into T. laevis and wheat interactions for breeding of common bunt resistance.

BackgroundFamily physicians play a key role in responding to the growing demand for primary healthcare due to aging. The work attitude of family physician team members (FPTMs) impacts their work efficiency and quality. Knowing how satisfied they are with their jobs can help identify potential directions and entry points for incentives. The purpose of this study is to analyze the job satisfaction status and influencing factors of grassroots health service personnel after the implementation of the family physician contract system in China.MethodsThe study conducted a cross-sectional survey with 570 FPTMs in three prefecture-level cities in the Shandong Province. Satisfaction was measured using 30 items across seven dimensions. Responses were recorded on a 5-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to analyze the general information and satisfaction of FPTMs. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to analyze the factors influencing job satisfaction.ResultsThe overall job satisfaction among FPTMs was not high. Among the seven dimensions, interpersonal relationships had the highest satisfaction (4.10 ± 0.78), while workload had the lowest satisfaction (3.08 ± 0.56). The satisfaction levels of the three sample regions were different, and the results were opposite to their regional economic development levels. The results of the multifactor analysis showed that gender, income level, educational background, working years, daily working hours, number of training sessions per year and the proportion of performance pay had significant impact on overall job satisfaction.ConclusionsThe development of a family physician contract system has increased the workload of FPTMs. In addition to the implementation of the new policy, attention should be paid to the workload and working attitude of family physicians. The fundamental measures should focus on attracting more personnel to work at the grassroots level by accelerating education and training to solve the problem of insufficient health personnel at the grassroots level. Simultaneously, attention should be paid to the improvement of the medical staff's salary level and the need for self-promotion, such as training.

Fusarium head blight (FHB), is one of the destructive fugue diseases of wheat worldwide caused by the Fusarium verticillioides (F.v). In this study, a population consisting of 262 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from Zhongmai 578 and Jimai 22 was used to map Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) for FHB resistance, with the genotype data using the wheat 50 K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. The percentage of symptomatic spikelet (PSS) and the weighted average of PSS (PSSW) were collected for each RIL to represent their resistance to wheat head blight caused by F.v. In total, 22 QTL associated with FHB resistance were identified on chromosomes 1D, 2B, 3B, 4A, 5D, 7A, 7B, and 7D, respectively, from which 10 and 12 QTL were detected from PSS and PSSW respectively, explaining 3.82%–10.57% of the phenotypic variances using the inclusive composite interval mapping method. One novel QTL, Qfhb. haust-4A.1, was identified, explaining 10.56% of the phenotypic variation. One stable QTL, Qfhb. haust-1D.1 was detected on chromosome 1D across multiple environments explaining 4.39%–5.70% of the phenotypic variation. Forty-seven candidate genes related to disease resistance were found in the interval of Qfhb. haust-1D.1 and Qfhb. haust-4A.1. Genomic prediction accuracies were estimated from the five-fold cross-validation scheme ranging from 0.34 to 0.40 for PSS, and from 0.34 to 0.39 for PSSW in in-vivo inoculation treatment. This study provided new insight into the genetic analysis of resistance to wheat head blight caused by F.v, and genomic selection (GS) as a potential approach for improving the resistance of wheat head blight.

Seed vigor is an important parameter of seed quality, and identification of seed vigor related genes can provide an important basis for highly efficient molecular breeding in wheat. In the present study, a doubled haploid (DH) population with 174 lines derived from a cross between Yangmai16 and Zhongmai 895 was used to evaluate 10 seed vigor related traits in Luoyang during the 2018-2019 cropping season and in Mengjin and Luoning Counties during 2019-2020 cropping season for three environments. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping of 10 seed vigor related traits in the DH population resulted in the discovery/identification of 28 QTLs on chromosomes 2B, 3D, 4B, 4D, 5A, 5B, 6A, 6B, 6D, 7A and 7D, explaining 3.6-23.7% of the phenotypic variances. Among them, one QTL cluster for shoot length, root length and vigor index was mapped between AX-89421921 and Rht-D1_SNP on chromosome 4D in the physical intervals of 18.78-19.29 Mb (0.51 Mb), explaining 9.2-20.5% of the phenotypic variances. Another QTL for these traits was identified at the physical position 185.74 Mb on chromosome 5B, which was flanked by AX-111465230 and AX-109519938 and accounted for 8.0-13.3% of the phenotypic variances. Two QTLs for shoot length, shoot fresh weight and shoot dry weight were identified in the marker intervals of AX-109384026-AX-111120402 and AX-111651800-AX-94443918 on chromosomes 6A and 6B, explaining 8.2-11.7% and 3.6-10.3% of the phenotypic variance, respectively; both alleles for increasing phenotypic values were derived from Yangmai 16. We also developed the KASP markers for the QTL cluster QVI.haust-4D.1/QSL.haust-4D/QRL.haust-4D, and validated in an international panel of 135 wheat accessions. The germplasm, genes and KASP markers were developed for breeders to improve wheat varieties with seed vigor related traits.

Phylogeographic, population genetics and diversity analysis are crucial for local tea resource conservation and breeding programs. Lincang in Yunnan has been known as the possible place of domestication for tea worldwide, yet, its genetic makeup and unique Lincang origin are little understood. Here, we reported a large-scale whole-genome resequencing based population genomic analysis in eight main tea-producing areas of Lincang in Yunnan (1,350 accessions), and the first comprehensive map of tea genome variation in Lincang was constructed. Based on the population structure, tea sample in Lincang was divided into three subgroups, and inferred Xigui and Nahan Tea Mountain in Linxiang, Baiying Mountain Ancient Tea Garden in Yun, and Jinxiu Village of Xiaowan Town in Fengqing, which belong to the birthplace of the three subgroups, were all likely to be the origin center of Lincang tea. Meanwhile, the history population sizes analysis show that similar evolutionary patterns were observed for the three subgroups of Lincang. It also was observed that the hybrid among eight areas of Lincang was noticeable, resulting in insignificant genetic differentiation between geographical populations and low genetic diversity. The findings of this study clarified the genetic make-up and evolutionary traits of the local population of tea, which gave some insight into the development of Lincang tea.

PurposeThis study aimed to determine the prevalence of myopia among school-aged children and adolescents at the whole city level of Weifang, China.MethodsThis study was a large scale school-based cross-sectional study among children and adolescents aged 5–20 years old. Participants were selected by the school-based registration system in 2020. All the subjects underwent spherical equivalent (SE) error with non-cycloplegic autorefraction measurement. Myopia was defined as an SE refraction of ≤-0.75 diopters (D) and graded into low myopia (−0.75 to −3.00 D), moderate myopia (−3.01 to −5.99 D), and high myopia (≤-6.00 D).ResultsA total of 1,059,838 participants were eligible for this survey and 1,013,206 (95.6% participation rate) were selected through data quality control, which comprised 17 districts/counties and 1,254 schools, including 861 elementary schools, 313 middle schools, and 80 high schools. The mean age of participants was 11.57 ± 3.36 years (5–20 years), and the male-to-female ratio was 1.11. The whole city-level prevalence of total myopia was 75.35%. The prevalence of total myopia among the students in the Hanting District was 45.47%, but ≈82.37% of students living in Changyi have myopia. The overall prevalence of low myopia in elementary, middle, and high school students was 48.56, 47.30, and 31.62%, respectively, while high myopia (SE ≤ −6.00 D) prevalence was 1.12, 8.89, and 20.12%, respectively. The overall prevalence of myopia increased fastest in children aged 7–9 years old. The prevalence of high myopia was 7.59% for girls and 6.43% for boys, respectively (p < 0.001). The prevalence of myopia increased with increasing age and grade, but SE decreased with increasing age and grade.ConclusionsThe current investigation demonstrated a high proportion of myopia among school students in the city of Weifang, and gradually increased with age, and the prevalence of myopia was the highest in Changyi areas. The high myopia prevalence for girls was higher than that in boys.

Introduction: Xiyanping injection (XYP), a type of Traditional Chinese Medicine, is widely used and often applied in combination with other medications in treating bronchitis, tonsillitis, and bacillary dysentery in China. In recent years, an elevated risk of allergic reactions has been observed following XYP, but whether concomitant medication use contributes to this risk is still unknown.Objective: This study aims to investigate the association between the concomitant use of XYP and the 25 most frequently co-applied medications with suspected allergic reactions for China’s patients receiving XYP.Methods: A nested case–control study was conducted using the sampling data from 2015 China’s Urban Employees Basic Medical Insurance and Urban Residents Basic Medical Insurance database. Four anti-allergic marker drugs were used to evaluate suspected allergic reactions. Univariate analyses and multivariable conditional logistic regression were conducted, and results were reported as odds ratios (ORs) with a 95% confidence interval (CI). Sensitivity analyses were performed on the expanded sample by including those prescribed with anti-allergic marker drugs on the same day as XYP and then stopped XYP on the next day.Results: Out of 57,612 participants with XYP prescription, we obtained 949 matched case–control pairs. Multivariable conditional logistic regression revealed that seven concomitant medications including gentamicin [OR = 4.29; 95% CI (2.52, 7.30)], cefoperazone-sulbactam [OR = 4.26; 95% CI (1.40, 13.01)], lidocaine [OR = 2.76; 95% CI (1.79, 4.25)], aminophylline [OR = 1.73; 95% CI (1.05, 2.85)], ribavirin [OR = 1.54; 95% CI (1.13, 2.10)], potassium chloride [OR = 1.45; 95% CI (1.10, 1.91)], and vitamin C [OR = 1.32; 95% CI (1.03, 1.70)] were associated with increased risk, while cefathiamidine [OR = 0.29; 95% CI (0.16, 0.51)] was associated with reduced risk. Sensitivity analysis on 2,438 matched pairs revealed similar findings.Conclusion: Increased risks for suspected allergic reactions were found for the concomitant use of XYP with seven medications. Our data suggest that gentamicin, cefoperazone-sulbactam, lidocaine, and ribavirin should be applied with precautions for patients receiving XYP, and further studies on drug interactions and allergy mechanisms are warranted.

BackgroundLung cancer is imposing significant pressure on the national health insurance system worldwide, especially under the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the cost-effectiveness of all available first-line treatments for patients with advanced epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still uncertain. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of 12 first-line treatments for patients with advanced EGFR mutated NSCLC from the perspective of the United Kingdom (UK) National Health Service and Chinese health care system.MethodsWe used a Markov model to estimate the cost-effectiveness of 12 treatments, including 6 EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors, 4 combination treatments and 2 chemotherapies. The key clinical efficacy and safety data were from a network meta-analysis. The cost and health preference were mainly collected from the literature. The most cost-effective treatment was inferred through a sequential analysis. Uncertainty was tested with one-way sensitivity analyses, scenario analyses, and probabilistic sensitivity analyses. Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), direct medical costs, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) were estimated, at willingness-to-pay thresholds of £20000 to £50000 and £8000 to £24000 per QALY in the UK and China respectively.ResultsFor clinical effectiveness, osimertinib and gefitinib plus pemetrexed based chemotherapy (PbCT) yielded the highest QALYs, while two chemotherapy treatments gained the lowest QALYs. For costs, gefitinib treatment was the cheapest option in both countries (£24529 in the UK and £12961 in China). For cost-effectiveness, 4 treatments including gefitinib, gefitinib plus pemetrexed, gefitinib plus PbCT, and osimertinib formed the cost-effectiveness frontier in both countries. Gefitinib alone (70.7% and 80.0% under the threshold of £20000 and £8000 per QALY in the UK and China, respectively) and gefitinib plus PbCT (62.3% and 71.2% under the threshold of £50000 and £24000 per QALY in the UK and China, respectively) were most likely to be cost-effective compared with other first-line treatments.ConclusionsGefitinib and gefitinib plus PbCT were likely to be cost-effective for patients with advanced EGFR mutated NSCLC in both countries.

IntroductionAlthough child and adolescent health is the core of the global health agenda, the cause of death and its expected contribution to life expectancy (LE) among those aged 5–14 are under-researched across countries, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).MethodsDeath rates per 10 years age group including a 5–14-year-old group were calculated by the formula, which used the population and the number of deaths segmented by the cause of death and gender from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. LE and cause-eliminated LE in 10-year intervals were calculated by using life tables.ResultsIn 2019, the global mortality rate for children and adolescents aged 5–14 years was 0.522 (0.476–0.575) per 1,000, and its LF was 71.377 years. In different-income regions, considerable heterogeneity remains in the ranking of cause of death aged 5–14 years. The top three causes of death in low-income countries (LICs) are enteric infections [0.141 (0.098–0.201) per 1,000], other infectious diseases [0.103 (0.073–0.148) per 1,000], and neglected tropical diseases and malaria [0.102 (0.054–0.172) per 1,000]. Eliminating these mortality rates can increase the life expectancy of the 5–14 age group by 0.085, 0.062, and 0.061 years, respectively. The top three causes of death in upper-middle income countries (upper MICs) are unintentional injuries [0.066 (0.061–0.072) per 1,000], neoplasm [0.046 (0.041–0.050) per 1,000], and transport injuries [0.045 (0.041–0.049) per 1,000]. Eliminating these mortality rates can increase the life expectancy of the 5–14 age group by 0.045, 0.031, and 0.030 years, respectively.ConclusionThe mortality rate for children and adolescents aged 5–14 years among LMICs remains high. Considerable heterogeneity was observed in the main causes of death among regions. According to the main causes of death at 5–14 years old in different regions and countries at different economic levels, governments should put their priority in tailoring their own strategies to decrease preventable mortality.

Abstract Background Doctors play an important role in smoking control. This study aimed to assess doctors’ smoking control knowledge, attitudes and practices to help doctors raise awareness of smoking control assistance. Methods This cross-sectional study recruited 1046 doctors from Shandong Province, China, by using multistage sampling. Participants’ information was collected by questionnaire. Pearson’s χ2 test and Fisher’s exact probability method were used to compare the distributions of categorical variables between/among groups. Results Among the participants, 14.7% were current smokers. Approximately 50.3% of participants had heard of smoking cessation drugs and 59.2% of participants thought that low-tar and low-nicotine cigarettes were as harmful to health as common cigarettes. Approximately 98.2 and 60.9% of participants agreed that smoking was related to lung cancer and male sexual dysfunction, respectively. Although 72.0% of participants believed that doctors should actively provide smoking cessation assistance, only 58.1% of participants considered that doctors should be responsible for providing smoking cessation assistance. Similarly, 85.2% of participants often asked about the smoking history of patients or their family members, while only 4.9% of participants had prescribed smoking cessation drugs for patients. Pediatricians had a higher proportion of “Agree” responses to the assessment items than doctors in other departments. Conclusions The results showed that doctors in Shandong Province did not have sufficient knowledge of smoking control. Slightly more than half of doctors thought that providing smoking cessation assistance was their responsibility. Only a few participants had prescribed smoking cessation drugs.

Organic iron is expected to replace inorganic iron used in diets as an iron source. Organic iron possesses high absorption efficiency and low fecal iron excretion. This study aims to study the effect of organic iron produced by Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast iron) on digestion, utilization, antioxidation and caecum microflora in weaned piglets. In total, 20 piglets that had been weaned after 28 days were divided into 4 groups, each of which followed a different basal diet. The basal diet of each of these 4 groups contained, respectively, 104 mg/kg iron (ferrous sulfate, CON), 84 mg/kg iron (yeast iron, LSC), 104 mg/kg iron (yeast iron, MSC) or 124 mg/kg iron (yeast iron, HSC). This experiment lasted 35 d. The apparent digestibility of iron in LSC, MSC and HMS was higher than that in CON (p < 0.01) and the fecal iron content in LSC, MSC and HMS was lower than that in CON (p < 0.01). Serum iron contents in LSC, MSC and HMS were higher than that in CON (p < 0.01). The iron contents of the heart, lungs, liver, kidney and left gluteus muscle in the MSC and HMS groups were higher than that in CON and LSC (p < 0.05). Serum catalase, glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase activity, superoxide anion, glutathione, hydroxyl free radical scavenging rate, total antioxidant capacity, and liver superoxide anion clearance rate and peroxidase in MSC and HMS were higher than that in CON and LSC (p < 0.05). The contents of nitric oxide and peroxide of the weaned piglets in MSC and HMS were lower than that in CON and LSC (p < 0.05). The abundance of Firmicutes, Blautia and Peptococcus in LSC, HSC and MSC was higher than that in CON (p < 0.01). The abundance of Lactobacillus in CON and LSC was higher than that in MSC and HSC (p < 0.01). The abundance of Acinetobacter, Streptococcus and Prevotella in LSC, MSC and HSC was lower than that in CON (p < 0.01). The results suggested that a diet containing 84 mg/kg iron of yeast iron has the same effect as a diet containing 104 mg/kg iron of ferric sulfate, and that a diet containing 104 or 124 mg/kg iron of yeast iron is superior to a diet containing 104 mg/kg iron of ferric sulfate.

Abstract Background Wnt signaling is a critical determinant for the maintenance and differentiation of stem/progenitor cells, including trophoblast stem cells during placental development. Hyperactivation of Wnt signaling has been shown to be associated with human trophoblast diseases. However, little is known about the impact and underlying mechanisms of excessive Wnt signaling during placental trophoblast development. Results In the present work, we observed that two inhibitors of Wnt signaling, secreted frizzled-related proteins 1 and 5 (Sfrp1 and Sfrp5), are highly expressed in the extraembryonic trophoblast suggesting possible roles in early placental development. Sfrp1 and Sfrp5 double knockout mice exhibited disturbed trophoblast differentiation in the placental ectoplacental cone (EPC), which contains the precursors of trophoblast giant cells (TGCs) and spongiotrophoblast cells. In addition, we employed mouse models expressing a truncated β-catenin with exon 3 deletion globally and trophoblast-specifically, as well as trophoblast stem cell lines, and unraveled that hyperactivation of canonical Wnt pathway exhausted the trophoblast precursor cells in the EPC, resulting in the overabundance of giant cells at the expense of spongiotrophoblast cells. Further examination uncovered that hyperactivation of canonical Wnt pathway disturbed trophoblast differentiation in the EPC via repressing Ascl2 expression. Conclusions Our investigations provide new insights that the homeostasis of canonical Wnt-β-catenin signaling is essential for EPC trophoblast differentiation during placental development, which is of high clinical relevance, since aberrant Wnt signaling is often associated with trophoblast-related diseases.

PM2.5 is a harmful air pollutant currently threatening public health. It has been closely linked to increased morbidity of bronchial asthma and lung cancer worldwide. Salidroside (Sal), an active component extracted from Rhodiola rosea, has been reported to ameliorate the progression of asthma. However, there are few studies on the protective effect of salidroside on PM2.5-induced bronchial epithelial cell injury, and the related molecular mechanism is not clear. Here, we aimed to explore the protective effect and related mechanism of Sal on PM2.5 bronchial injury. We chose 50 μg/mL PM2.5 for 24 h as a PM2.5-induced cell damage model. After that BEAS-2B cells were pretreated with 40, 80, 160 µM Sal for 24 h and then exposed to 50 μg/mL PM2.5 for 24 h. We found that Sal pretreatment significantly inhibited the decrease of cell viability induced by PM2.5. Sal was effective in preventing PM2.5-induced apoptotic features, including Ca2+ overload, the cleavages of caspase 3, and the increases in levels of caspase 9 and Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax), ultimately, Sal significantly inhibited PM2.5-induced apoptosis. Sal improved mitochondrial membrane potential, inhibited the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria to cytoplasm. Sal alleviated ROS production, decreased the level of MDA, prevented the reduction of CAT, SOD and GSH-Px and increased the expression of NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), HO-1 and superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) in cells exposed to PM2.5. Furthermore, Sal improved the decrease of SIRT1 and PGC-1 α expression levels caused by PM2.5. In addition, inhibition of SIRT1 by EX527 (SIRT1 inhibitor) reversed the protective effects of Sal, including the decrease of ROS level, the increase of membrane potential level and the decrease of apoptosis level. Thus, Sal may be regarded as a potential drug to prevent PM2.5-induced apoptosis of bronchial epithelial cells and other diseases with similar pathological mechanisms.

In the fields of public health policy and public health care, advanced educational programs are an important strategy in dealing with public health crises. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the global need for skilled public health leaders and managers to address complex public health challenges, which requires the strengthening of public health education at the highest levels. This paper is a qualitative case study of a special educational program for doctors of public health in China. The program's educational objectives are in line with epidemic prevention and control. With the goal of developing the world's leading national public health management system, the Chinese government established an advanced academic program for public health crisis management. The program offers doctoral students a multidisciplinary degree based upon the theoretical knowledge of crisis management, supported by advanced training in the foundational concepts, theories, and practices of public health, and the study of basic medicine which provides the theoretical support for developing essential clinical skills. Program graduates develop the theoretical, practical, and leadership-related capabilities required for the management of national emergencies. The program introduced in this paper meets current epidemic prevention and control needs and should be considered by public health policy makers, leaders, and scholars in the discussion of advanced public health policy and health care education in China, including the development of an internationally recognized Doctor of Public Health program.

In order to solve the problem that people can accurately search for the network information they need, the research on network information retrieval methods becomes more important. This article is mainly about the research of network information retrieval methods based on metadata ontology calculations. This article constructs an LDA three-layer Bayesian model with a three-layer structure of document, topic, and single order. The three-layer structure obeys a random polynomial distribution and can be calculated the joint distribution probability of all variables in the LDA model greatly increases the calculation efficiency. Using a cross-modal information retrieval method, it can mine the common data features between different modal data and analyze the semantic correlation between different modal data, improve the accuracy of search, and solve the existence of different modal data. There is a gap in the expression semantics between heterogeneous and different modal data. The experimental results in this paper show that the text feature extraction of the network information retrieval method based on the metadata ontology calculation has a good performance in terms of accuracy, and the accuracy of the extraction and clustering results is as high as about 90%. The improved CCA algorithm used is better than the traditional CCA and the accuracy is improved by 23%, which is 12% higher than the LDA-CCA algorithm.

Abstract Background Lesion-mimic and premature aging (lmpa) mutant lmpa1 was identified from the ethyl methane sulfonate (EMS) mutant library in the bread wheat variety Keda 527 (KD527) background. To reveal the genetic basis of lmpa1 mutant, phenotypic observations and analyses of chlorophyll content and photosynthesis were carried out in lmpa1, KD527 and their F1 and F2 derivatives. Further, bulked segregation analysis (BSA) in combination with a 660 K SNP array were conducted on the F2 segregation population of lmpa1/Chinese spring (CS) to locate the lmpa1 gene. Results Most agronomic traits of lmpa1 were similar to those of KD527 before lesion-like spots appeared. Genetic analysis indicated that the F1 plants from the crossing of lmpa1 and KD527 exhibited the lmpa phenotype and the F2 progenies showed a segregation of normal (wild type, WT) and lmpa, with the ratios of lmpa: WT = 124:36(χ2 = 1.008

Ball milling (BM) is utilized to fabricate a composite photocatalyst composed of g-C3N4 material and ZnPc, which traditionally has been a sensitizer in TiO2 based solar cells yet usually having severe agglomeration problem. X-ray diffraction and FTIR results demonstrate that ZnPc has been immobilized onto g-C3N4 surfaces and that the inter-molecular bonds were also destroyed to a large extent, leading to improved dispersion of ZnPc. Further diffuse reflectance and photoluminescence characterization indicated distinct extended spectral response region at 600–700 nm as well as prohibited carrier recombination of the g-C3N4/ZnPc composite. When utilized as a photocatalyst, the properties of g-C3N4/ZnPc composites in the degradation of RhB were 3.1, 1.8 and 4.3 times higher than those of the pristine, ball-milled pure g-C3N4 and g-C3N4&ZnPc. By adding some scavengers, the main active species involved in the photocatalytic process were identified as •O2−. The improved photocatalytic performance could be ascribed to well-matched band gaps between ZnPc and g-C3N4, extended light-responsive range as well as the better ZnPc dispersion upon g-C3N4 surfaces.

Abstract Background Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is the leading cause of premature death which poses public health challenges worldwide. Previous studies focused on the overall population in China. However, variations in temporal and spatial patterns across subgroups remain unknown. This study was to analyze how the IHD burden among Chinese and subgroup populations changes in response to temporal and spatial trends from 1990 to 2016. Methods Based on data from the updated estimate in the 2016 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, we used years lived with disability (YLDs), years of life lost (YLLs), and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) to describe the IHD burden. The percentage and annual average percentage changes were applied to illustrate temporal and spatial variations of the IHD burden stratified by age, sex, and province, over the periods 1990–2016, 1990–2005, and 2005–2016. We estimate population-attributable fraction (PAF) for 24 modifiable risk factors at the provincial level in 2016. Results YLD rates, YLL rates, and DALY rates for IHD underwent a notable increase among all age groups and increased by 119.4, 83.3, and 84.5% nationally from 1990 to 2016. In YLD rates, a greater increase was seen in females (124.4%) compared to males (114.0%), while males experienced a more substantial increase than that in females in YLL rates (99.3% vs. 60.5%) and DALY rates (99.7% vs. 63.2%) from 1990 to 2016. Compared with 1990–2005, annual average changes in the overall population in YLL rates (3.5% vs. 1.8%) and DALY rates (3.5% vs. 1.9%) showed a tardier increase whereas an opposite increasing trend of YLD rates (3.5% vs. 4.0%) was observed between 2005 and 2016. Geographically, all provinces saw declines in the YLLs/YLDs ratio from 2005 to 2016, with seventeen of thirty-three provinces showing an upward trend between 1990 and 2005. Most provinces witnessed a remarkable upsurge in the age-standardised DALY rate from 1990 to 2016 whereas the economically advantaged region Macao (52.2%) saw the most marked reduction. High systolic blood pressure and high LDL cholesterol remained the two leading risk factors of IHD in all provinces in 2016. Diet high in sodium was the leading behavioral risks in twenty-eight provinces with smoking heading the list in five provinces. Conclusions China has made significant achievements in preventing premature death from IHD along with the increased risk of disability. Substantial disparities in temporal and spatial trends of the IHD burden emphasize concerns for elderly men and those in economically disadvantaged regions with resource constraints. Regional differences in the IHD burden can be partly explained by modifiable risk factors. By having identified these disparities, targeted IHD prevention and control strategies will help to bridge these gaps.

Background Ischemic heart disease (IHD) imposes the greatest disease burden globally, especially in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). We aim to examine the population‐attributable fraction and risk‐attributable death and disability‐adjusted life years (DALYs) for IHD in 137 low‐ and middle‐income countries. Methods and Results Using comparative risk assessment framework from the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study, the population‐attributable fraction and IHD burden (death and DALYs) attributable to risk factors in low‐income countries, lower‐middle‐income countries (LMCs), and upper‐middle‐income countries were assessed from 2000 to 2019. In 2019, the population‐attributable fraction (%) of IHD deaths in relation to all modifiable risk factors combined was highest in lower‐middle‐income countries (94.2; 95% uncertainty interval, 91.9–96.2), followed by upper‐middle‐income countries (93.5; 90.4–95.8) and low‐income countries (92.5; 90.0–94.7). There was a >13‐fold difference between Peru and Uzbekistan in age‐standardized rates (per 100 000) of attributable death (44.3 versus 660.4) and DALYs (786.7 versus 10506.1). Dietary risks accounted for the largest proportion of IHD’s behavioral burden in low‐ and middle‐income countries, primarily attributable to diets low in whole grains. High systolic blood pressure and high low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol remained the 2 leading causes of DALYs, with the former topping the list in 116 countries, while the latter led in 21 of the 137 countries. Compared with 2000 to 2010, the increases in risk‐attributable deaths and DALYs among upper‐middle income countries were slower from 2010 to 2019, while the trends in low‐income countries and lower‐middle income countries were opposite. Conclusions IHD’s attributable burden remains high in low‐ and middle‐income countries. Considerable heterogeneity was observed among different income‐classified regions and countries.

There is a special interaction between the environment, soil microorganisms, and tea plants, which constitute the ecosystem of tea plantations. Influenced by environmental factors and human management, the changes in soil microbial community affected the growth, quality, and yield of tea plants. However, little is known about the composition and structure of soil bacterial and fungal communities in 100-year-old tea plantations and the mechanisms by which they are affected. In this regard, we characterized the microbiome of tea plantation soils by considering the bacterial and fungal communities in 448 soil samples from 101 ancient tea plantations in eight counties of Lincang city, which is one of the tea domestication centers in the world. 16S and Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) rRNA high-throughput amplicon sequencing techniques were applied in this study. The results showed that the abundance, diversity, and composition of the bacterial and fungal communities have different sensitivity with varying pH, altitude, and latitude. pH and altitude affect soil microbial communities, and bacterial communities are more sensitive than fungi in terms of abundance and diversity to pH. The highest α-diversity of bacterial communities is shown in the pH 4.50–5.00 and 2,200-m group, and fungi peaked in the pH 5.00–5.50 and 900-m group. Because of environmental and geographical factors, all microbes are similarly changing, and further correlations showed that the composition and structure of bacterial communities are more sensitive than fungal communities, which were affected by latitude and altitude. In conclusion, the interference of anthropogenic activities plays a more important role in governing fungal community selection than environmental or geographical factors, whereas for the bacterial community, it is more selective to environment adaptation than to adaptation to human activities.

Tar spot complex (TSC) is one of the most important foliar diseases in tropical maize. TSC resistance could be furtherly improved by implementing marker-assisted selection (MAS) and genomic selection (GS) individually, or by implementing them stepwise. Implementation of GS requires a profound understanding of factors affecting genomic prediction accuracy. In the present study, an association-mapping panel and three doubled haploid populations, genotyped with genotyping-by-sequencing, were used to estimate the effectiveness of GS for improving TSC resistance. When the training and prediction sets were independent, moderate-to-high prediction accuracies were achieved across populations by using the training sets with broader genetic diversity, or in pairwise populations having closer genetic relationships. A collection of inbred lines with broader genetic diversity could be used as a permanent training set for TSC improvement, which can be updated by adding more phenotyped lines having closer genetic relationships with the prediction set. The prediction accuracies estimated with a few significantly associated SNPs were moderate-to-high, and continuously increased as more significantly associated SNPs were included. It confirmed that TSC resistance could be furtherly improved by implementing GS for selecting multiple stable genomic regions simultaneously, or by implementing MAS and GS stepwise. The factors of marker density, marker quality, and heterozygosity rate of samples had minor effects on the estimation of the genomic prediction accuracy. The training set size, the genetic relationship between training and prediction sets, phenotypic and genotypic diversity of the training sets, and incorporating known trait-marker associations played more important roles in improving prediction accuracy. The result of the present study provides insight into less complex trait improvement via GS in maize.

Environmental noise is a common hazard in military operations. Military service members during long operations are often exposed to around-the-clock noise and suffer massive emotional and cognitive dysfunction related to an Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-like neuropathology. It is essential to clarify the mechanisms underlying the effects of around-the-clock noise exposure on the central nervous system. Here, Wistar rats were continuously exposed to white noise (95 dB during the on-duty phase [8:00–16:00] and 75 dB during the off-duty phase (16:00–8:00 the next day)) for 40 days. The levels of phosphorylated tau, amyloid-β (Aβ), and neuroinflammation in the cortex and hippocampus were assessed and autophagosome (AP) aggregation was observed by transmission electron microscopy. Dyshomeostasis of autophagic flux resulting from around-the-clock noise exposure was assessed at different stages to investigate the potential pathological mechanisms. Around-the-clock noise significantly increased Aβ peptide, tau phosphorylation at Ser396 and Ser404, and neuroinflammation. Moreover, the AMPK-mTOR signaling pathway was depressed in the cortex and the hippocampus of rats exposed to around-the-clock noise. Consequently, autophagosome–lysosome fusion was deterred and resulted in AP accumulation. Our results indicate that around-the-clock noise exposure has detrimental influences on autophagic flux homeostasis and may be associated with AD-like neuropathology in the cortex and the hippocampus.

The sugar transporter protein (STP) plays a crucial role in regulating plant growth and stress tolerance. We performed genome-wide identification and expression analysis of the STP gene family to investigate the STPSs’ potential roles in the growth of wheat seedlings under stress. Here, a total of 81 TaSTP genes containing the Sugar_tr conserved motif were identified within the wheat genome. Bioinformatic studies including phylogenetic tree, chromosome position, and tandem repeat were performed to analyze the identified genes. The 81 TaSTP genes can be classified into five main groups according to their structural and phylogenetic features, with several subgroups, which were located separately on chromosomes A, B, and D. Moreover, six gene clusters were formed with more than three genes each. The results of three comparative syntenic maps of wheat associated with three representative species suggested that STP genes have strong relationships in monocots. qRT-PCR analysis confirmed that most TaSTP genes displayed different expression profiles after seedlings were subjected to six days of different stress (10% PEG6000, 150 mM NaCl, and their combination, respectively), suggesting that these genes may be involved in regulating plant growth and stress tolerance. In conclusion, 81 TaSTP genes were identified and their expressions changed under stress, indicating TaSTP’s potential roles in wheat growth monosaccharide distribution is regulated.

An optimal fault detection (FD) approach for a class of networked control systems (NCSs) is concerned in this work. To improve the accuracy of the FD, a new event-triggered scheme (ETS) is addressed, where the output measurement transmitted or not is determined by a set of conditions instead of a single condition. Moreover, output measurements in these conditions are not only the last transmitted data, but also the data in the past period of time. The structure of fault detection and isolation (FDI) consisting of the residual generation and residual evaluation can detect faults as accurately as possible, and show robustness to disturbances in the meantime. Optimal observer gains can be obtained by utilizing the discrete-time Riccati equation (DTRE), and the time-varying threshold can be specified by employing the linear matrix inequality (LMI). Finally, a numerical simulation and the application on closed-loop continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) are adopted to prove the superiority of the proposed approach.

A series of multistage creep tests under different confining pressures with acoustic emission monitoring have been performed to investigate the deformation characteristic and failure process of cracked granite during creep. The critical axial strain of cracked sample showed an increasing tendency with the increase of confining pressure. In contrast, critical lateral strain experienced a process of descending first at low confinement and then remaining nearly constant at high confinement. Compared with loading-cracked specimen, smaller critical axial strain, greater critical lateral strain, and higher lateral creep strain rate were found for unloading-cracked specimen. Based on the spatial and temporal distribution of acoustic emission events, the cracking process during creep was analysed. The AE events with high energy are mainly concentrated at the final fracture area of the specimen. The higher the confining pressure, the more the AE events with low energy. Compared with the loading-cracked specimen, the percentage of AE events with high energy is relatively small for the unloading-cracked specimen.

The molecular mechanisms underlying the variation in N-use efficiency (NUE) in pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) genotypes are poorly understood. In this work, two genotypes (750-1, low-N tolerant; ZCFB, low-N sensitive) with contrasting low-N tolerance were selected from 100 pepper cultivars on the basis of their relative leaf areas, shoot dry weights, root dry weights, and plant dry weights at the seedling stage. Subsequently, using RNA-Seq, the transcriptome of these two pepper genotypes under N starvation for 28 days was analyzed. We detected 2621/2470 and 3936/4218 different expressed genes (DEGs) in the leaves/roots of 750-1 and ZCFB, respectively. The changes in the expression of basic N metabolism genes were similar between 750-1 and ZCFB. However, different DEGs not directly involved in N metabolism were identified between the 750-1 and ZCFB cultivars. In 750-1, 110 unique DEGs were detected in the leaves, of which 103 were down-regulated, including genes associated with protein metabolism, photosynthesis, secondary metabolism, cell wall metabolism, stress response, and disease resistance. In ZCFB, 142 unique DEGs were detected in the roots, of which 117 were up-regulated, resulting in enhancement of processes such as protein degradation, secondary metabolites synthesis, lipid metabolism, endocytosis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA), transcriptional regulation, stress response, and disease resistance. Our results not only facilitate an understanding of the different regulatory process in low-N-tolerant and low-N-sensitive pepper cultivars, but also provide abundant candidate genes for improving the low-N tolerance of pepper cultivars.

A new species of brown frog Rana luanchuanensis Zhao & Yuan, sp. n. is described from Luanchuan County, western Henan, central China. The mitochondrial genealogy suggests that the new species is the sister taxon to the clade including R. amurensis and R. coreana, and is separated by uncorrected pairwise distances more than 12.5%. Morphologically, this new species differs from its congeners by a suite of characters. Analyses of partial sequences of cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) resolve the new species as a single matriline.

Understanding the damage evolution characteristics of rock material is essential to the long-term stability and safety analysis of the underground facility. In this study, a series of cyclic loading tests under tensile or compressive stresses are conducted to investigate the damage evolution, deformation, peak strength, and failure pattern of rock salt. A special attention is paid on the microcracking process by using a 3D acoustic emission (AE) test system. The laboratory tests show that the damage degree of rock salt under compression is the highest, followed by the damage in the direct tensile test. The lowest value of damage is determined by using the Brazilian test. The damage degrees where the damage rate starts to decrease are about 0.83 in the direct tensile test, about 0.75 in the Brazilian test, and about 0.91 in the compression test. The failure mode of rock salt changes from the tensile mode in the uniaxial compression test to the compression-shear mode in the confined compression test at low confinement. But from the confining pressure of 15 MPa, the rock salt displays great plastic dilatant distortion and without appreciable macroscopic fractures. Accordingly, with increasing confining pressure, the positions where the rapid increase in cumulative AE counts occurs and where the AE event with high energy appears are changed, from the beginning of the test at low confinement to the postpeak stage of the test at high confinement.