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Recent advances in Arctic observational capabilities have revealed that the Arctic Ocean is highly turbulent in all seasons and have improved temporal and spatial sampling of sea level retrievals from remote sensing, even above 80°N. Such data are expected to be increasingly valuable in the future when the extent of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is reduced. Assimilating this new data into ocean models, together with in situ observations, provides an enriched representation of the mesoscale population that induces new eddy-driven contributions to local dynamics and thermodynamics. To quantify the content of the new information, we compare three-year-long assimilative experiments at ¼° resolution incorporating in situ-only data, in situ and standard altimetry, and in situ and high-latitude-enhanced altimetry, respectively. The enhanced altimetry data lead to an increase in three-dimensional eddy kinetic energy, generated by coherent vortexes, of up to 20% in several areas. Robust ocean warming is generated in the Arctic sector down to 800 m. Via heat budget analysis, this warming can be ascribed to a local enhancement of vertical mixing, as well as an increase in meridional heat transport. The assimilation of enhanced altimetry amplifies the transport, compared to standard altimetry, especially north of 70°N.

Research purpose: This study aims to outline the fundamental status of the German academic community's research in the field of renewable energy and to foster collaboration between China and Germany in this area. Research methods: This study examines documents published by German scholars from 2008 to 2023, which are part of the “Web of Science (WOS) Core Collection” database and related to renewable energy issues, using the bibliometric visualization tool CiteSpace 6.2.R6. Research conclusions: The study examines the co-occurrence and burst of keywords, changes in publication volume, international collaboration networks, research institution collaboration networks, and researcher collaboration networks. It concluded that: (1) German academic research in the field of renewable energy can be divided into three phases: nascent (2008–2014), surge (2015–2021), and decline (2022–2023). (2) The Helmholtz Association and Reinhard Madlener, among other prominent institutions and academicians, are responsible for the close cooperation among personnel and institutions, the significant leading effect, and the emphasis on cutting-edge topics. Research in this field notably focuses on cutting-edge issues like life cycle assessment and developing countries. The study observes a transition in research concentration from macro to micro perspectives. In the context of a global collective response to climate change, the analysis of the German academic community’s overall situation will enhance the collaboration between the two countries in the field of renewable energy research.

Abstract Long-term changes in ocean heat content (OHC) represent a fundamental global warming indicator and are mostly caused by anthropogenic climate-altering gas emissions. OHC increases heavily threaten the marine environment, therefore, reconstructing OHC before the well-instrumented period (i.e., before the Argo floats deployment in the mid-2000s) is crucial to understanding the multi-decadal climate change in the ocean. Here, we shed light on ocean warming and its uncertainty for the 1961-2022 period through a large ensemble reanalysis system that spans the major sources of uncertainties. Results indicate a 62-year warming of 0.43 ± 0.08 W m−2, and a statistically significant acceleration rate equal to 0.15 ± 0.04 W m−2 dec−1, locally peaking at high latitudes. The 11.6% of the global ocean area reaches the maximum yearly OHC in 2022, almost doubling any previous year. At the regional scale, major OHC uncertainty is found in the Tropics; at the global scale, the uncertainty represents about 40% and 15% of the OHC variability, respectively before and after the mid-2000s. The uncertainty of regional trends is mostly affected by observation calibration (especially at high latitudes), and sea surface temperature data uncertainty (especially at low latitudes).

Abstract The present work aims to address the physical properties of different drought types under near-future climates in the Mediterranean. To do so, we use a multi-model mean of the bias-adjusted and downscaled product of five Earth System Models participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project—phase6 (CMIP6), provided by Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP), under four shared socioeconomic pathways (SSP1–2.6, SSP2–4.5, SSP3–7.0, and SSP5–8.5) for the period 2021–2060, to estimate the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) at 1-, 6-, and 12-month time scales, and address the meteorological, agricultural, and hydrological drought, respectively. Additionally, SPEI is calculated from the bias-adjusted CMIP6 historical simulations and the reanalysis ‘WFDE5’ for 1980–2014 as a historical and reference period. The comparison of the CMIP6 with WFDE5 reveals a consistently increasing tendency for drought occurrences in the Mediterranean, particularly for agricultural and hydrological drought time scales. Nonetheless, an overestimation in historical trend magnitude is shown by the CMIP6 with respect to WFDE5. The projection results depict drought frequencies ranging between 12 and 25% of the studied period 2021–2060, varying with regions and climate scenarios. The tendency to increase the drought frequency is more pronounced in the southern than northern Mediterranean countries. Drought severity is remarkable in the aggregated time scales; consequently, more pressure is foreseen in the food and water sectors. Drought seasonality reveals a higher tendency for drought occurrences in summer (autumn) months for the meteorological (agricultural) droughts. The driving factor(s) for drought occurrence strongly depends on regional climate characteristics.

We used the Vienna ab initio Simulation Package (VASP), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and diffuse reflectance (DRS) to optimize anode material for a photoelectric catalytic system. After screening how the doping of TiO2 by N and S affects its photoelectric properties, N-doped TiO2 was selected to fabricate the photoelectron catalytic (PEC) system. TiO2 nanotubes modified by N-doped TiO2 nanocrystals and activated carbon were used as an anode and as a photocathode, respectively, to decompose carbamazepine in water samples from the constructed wetlands. The calculations showed that the N-TiO2 NCs/TNTAs-AC/PTFE system had the highest content of •OH. The highest carbamazepine removal rate under the N-TiO2 NCs/TNTAs-AC/PTFE composite presence was at pH = 8, and 69% of carbamazepine was removed within 180 min of the constructed wetland water treatment at pH = 7.8. The PEC system containing modified (with nano N-TiO2) TiO2 nanotubes as an anode and activated carbon as a photocathode can effectively decompose carbamazepine in the constructed wetlands.

Background & Aims: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a highly aggressive malignancy with dreadful clinical outcome. Tyrosine kinase inhibitors and immune checkpoint inhibitors are the only United States Food and Drug Administration-approved therapeutic options for patients with advanced HCC with limited therapeutic success. Ferroptosis is a form of immunogenic and regulated cell death caused by chain reaction of iron-dependent lipid peroxidation. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10)/ferroptosis suppressor protein 1 (FSP1) axis was recently identified as a novel protective mechanism against ferroptosis. We would like to explore whether FSP1 could be a potential therapeutic target for HCC. Methods: FSP1 expression in human HCC and paired non-tumorous tissue samples were determined by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction, followed by clinicopathologic correlation and survival studies. Regulatory mechanism for FSP1 was determined using chromatin immunoprecipitation. The hydrodynamic tail vein injection model was used for HCC induction to evaluate the efficacy of FSP1 inhibitor (iFSP1) in vivo. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed the immunomodulatory effects of iFSP1 treatment. Results: We showed that HCC cells greatly rely on the CoQ10/FSP1 system to overcome ferroptosis. We found that FSP1 was significantly overexpressed in human HCC and is regulated by kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1/nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 pathway. FSP1 inhibitor iFSP1 effectively reduced HCC burden and profoundly increased immune infiltrates including dendritic cells, macrophages, and T cells. We also demonstrated that iFSP1 worked synergistically with immunotherapies to suppress HCC progression. Conclusions: We identified FSP1 as a novel, vulnerable therapeutic target in HCC. The inhibition of FSP1 potently induced ferroptosis, which promoted innate and adaptive anti-tumor immune responses and effectively suppressed HCC tumor growth. FSP1 inhibition therefore represents a new therapeutic strategy for HCC.

Abstract Background Estimating liver function reserve is essential for preoperative surgical planning and predicting post-hepatectomy complications in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We investigated hepatic viscoelasticity quantified by tomoelastography, a multifrequency magnetic resonance elastography technique, to predict liver function reserve. Methods One hundred fifty-six patients with suspected HCC (mean age, 60 ± 1 years; 131 men) underwent preoperative tomoelastography examination between July 2020 and August 2021. Sixty-nine were included in the final analysis, and their 15-min indocyanine green retention rates (ICG-R15s) were obtained to determine liver function reserve. Tomoelastography quantified the shear wave speed (c, m/s), which represents stiffness, and loss angle (φ, rad), which represents fluidity. Both were correlated with the ICG-R15. A prediction model based on logistic regression for major hepatectomy tolerance (ICG-R15 ≥ 14%) was established. Results Patients were assigned to either the ICG-R15

BackgroundFusobacterium necrophorum is the main pathogen inducing bovine foot rot. The infected site is often accompanied by a strong inflammatory response, but the specific inflammatory regulatory mechanism remains unclear.AimA cow skin explants model was established to elucidate the mechanism of F. necrophorum bacillus causing foot rot in cows, and to provide reference for future clinical practice.MethodsCow intertoe skin explants were cultured in vitro, and F. necrophorum bacteria solution and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) inhibitor BAY 1-7082 were added to establish an in vitro infection model. Hematoxylin and eosin staining, terminal - deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated nick end labeling, and immunohistochemistry were used to detect the pathological changes of the skin explants infected with F. necrophorum, the degree of tissue cell apoptosis, and the expression of the apoptosis-related protein Caspase-3, respectively. RT-qPCR, Western blot, and ELISA were used to detect the activation of the NF-κB pathway and inflammatory cytokines by F. necrophorum.ResultsThe intertoe skin structure of cows infected with F. necrophorum changed with different degrees of inflammation, and the degree of tissue cell apoptosis was significantly increased (P < 0.01). In addition, infection with F. necrophorum significantly increased the phosphorylation level of IκBα protein and up-regulated the expression level of NF-κB p65. The high expression and transcriptional activity of NF-κB p65 significantly increased the expression and concentration of the inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-8, thus inducing the occurrence of an inflammatory response. However, inhibition of NF-κB p65 activity significantly decreased the expression of inflammatory factors in the intertoe skin of cows infected with F. necrophorum.ConclusionF. necrophorum activates NF‐κB signaling pathway by increasing the expression of TNF‐α, IL‐1β, IL‐8 and other inflammatory factors, leading to foot rot in dairy cows.

Advancing the representation of uncertainties in ocean general circulation numerical models is required for several applications, ranging from data assimilation to climate monitoring and extended-range prediction systems. The atmospheric forcing represents one of the main uncertainty sources in numerical ocean models. Here, we formulate and revise different approaches to perturb the air-sea fluxes used within the atmospheric boundary conditions. In particular, perturbation of the fluxes is performed either through i) stochastic modulation of the air-sea transfer coefficients; ii) stochastic modulation of the air-sea flux tendencies; iii) coarse-graining of stochastic sub-grid computation of the fluxes; or iv) multiple bulk formulas. The schemes are implemented and tested in the NEMO4 ocean model, implemented at an eddy-permitting resolution on a domain covering the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans and the Mediterranean Sea. A series of 22-year 4-member ensemble experiments with different stochastic schemes are performed and analyzed for the period 2000-2021, and results are compared in terms of the ensemble mean and, when applicable, ensemble spread of the principal oceanic diagnostics. Results indicate that the schemes, in general, can significantly improve some verification skill scores (e.g. against drifter current speed, SST analyses, and hydrographic profiles) and, in some cases, enhance the mesoscale activity and weaken the large-scale circulation. The response, however, is different depending on the specific scheme, whose choice thus depends on the target application, as detailed in the paper. These findings foster the adoption of these schemes in both extended-range operational ocean forecasts and coupled long-range climate prediction systems, where the boundary conditions perturbations may contribute to performance increases.

Abstract Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the second most lethal cancer worldwide. Glutamine is an essential, extracellular nutrient which supports HCC growth. Dietary glutamine deficiency may be a potential therapeutic approach for HCC. HCC cells overcome metabolic challenges by rewiring their metabolic pathways for rapid adaptations. The efficiency of dietary glutamine deficiency as HCC treatment is examined and the adaptation machinery under glutamine depletion in HCC cells is unraveled. Using genome‐wide CRISPR/Cas9 knockout library screening, this study identifies that pyruvate dehydrogenase α (PDHA), pyruvate dehydrogenase β (PDHB), and pyruvate carboxylase (PC) in pyruvate metabolism are crucial to the adaptation of glutamine depletion in HCC cells. Knockout of either PDHA, PDHB or PC induced metabolic reprogramming of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, disrupts mitochondrial function, leading to the suppression of HCC cell proliferation under glutamine depletion. Surprisingly, dietary glutamine restriction improves therapeutic responses of HCC to PDH or PC inhibitor in mouse HCC models. Stable isotope carbon tracing confirms that PDH or PC inhibitors further disrupt the metabolic rewiring of the TCA cycle induced by dietary glutamine depletion in HCC. In summary, the results demonstrate that pyruvate metabolism acts as novel targetable metabolic vulnerabilities for HCC treatment in combination with a glutamine‐deficient diet.

Atmospheric temperature is a key variable to detect and attribute climate change. Due to the relative sparseness of ground-based observations and heterogeneity of satellite data, global atmospheric reanalysis products are considered valuable datasets for studying and monitoring the climate, since these usually ensure spatially complete and continuous temporal coverage. Consequently, evaluating differences among the existing reanalyses is key to identifying inconsistencies. To this aim, the current study intercompares the climatological mean, variability, and linear trends for upper air temperature provided from four recent atmospheric reanalysis products (ERA5, ERA-Interim, MERRA-2, and JRA-55) The Reanalysis Multi-Model Ensemble-mean (RMME) is used as a comparator. Radiosonde observations are included for comparison on the regional scale (tropics). The results reveal that all evaluated reanalyses provide a consistent reproduction of the upper-air temperature profile. Temperature differences from RMME within ±0.25 K are found in both the troposphere and lower stratosphere, except for a few specific regions. Larger differences (>± 1.5 K) and discrepancies among the datasets are found in the upper stratosphere. Agreement between reanalyses increased after 1998. Differences in the temperature time series and seasonal cycle at the regional scales are smaller in the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes than in the tropics and Southern Hemisphere. A robust cooling trend in the lower stratosphere during the period of largest ozone depletion (1980-1997) and a warming trend in the troposphere for the period 1998-2018 are clearly found, at the global level, in all the datasets. Temperature trends and variability in the tropics are consistent in all reanalysis datasets with the homogenized radiosonde records from the lower to middle troposphere and in the lower stratosphere. However, large differences are found in the upper troposphere, tropical tropopause layer (TTL), and middle stratosphere. The well-known temperature variability in the lower stratosphere associated with Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) is captured in both reanalyses and observational datasets. Among the reanalyses, ERA5 shows the smallest temperature difference with respect to homogenized upper-air radiosoundings records.

The role of eddies in the North Atlantic decadal variability is investigated in this study by using two ocean reanalyses, including an eddy permitting (or eddy poor) reanalysis with horizontal resolution of 0.25 degree and 75 vertical levels and an eddy resolving (or eddy rich) reanalysis with horizontal resolution of 1/12 degree and 50 vertical levels. The prominent mid-1990s warming and post-2005 cooling trend as part of the North Atlantic decadal variability is well displayed in both reanalyses with no significant difference between them. The main driver of the mid-1990s warming and post-2005 cooling trend is the increase and reduction of the meridional ocean heat transport showing similar patterns in both reanalyses. The relative contribution of the heat transport anomalies from eddies to the total heat transport anomalies is slightly larger in eddy resolving than in eddy permitting ocean reanalysis. However, the total mean ocean meridional heat transport increases by 10% in eddy resolving reanalysis with respect to eddy permitting reanalysis and is mainly due to the associated increase of the mean states (temperature and velocity). Therefore, the increase of eddy population due to the increase of horizontal resolution, found by comparing the two datasets, does not affect the MHT anomalies significantly and, consequently, the North Atlantic decadal variability. It is found that the importance of the model horizontal resolution for the North Atlantic decadal variability depends on the interaction between the eddies (small scale) and the mean state (large scale) at decadal time scales. Although the fast increase of computational power will allow soon for eddy-resolving predictions, the need to use high resolution modeling tools for decadal predictions depends on the importance of initialization methods and the interaction between small scale and large-scale variabilities. This study has pivotal implications for the development of North Atlantic decadal prediction systems.

The Harmony satellite mission was recently approved as the next European Space Agency (ESA) Earth Explorer 10. The mission science objectives cover several applications related to solid earth, the cryosphere, upper-ocean dynamics and air–sea interactions. The mission consists of a constellation of two satellites, flying with the Copernicus Sentinel 1 (C or D) spacecraft, each hosting a C-band receive-only radar and a thermal infrared (TIR) payload. From an ocean dynamics/air–sea interaction perspective, the mission will provide the unique opportunity to observe simultaneously the signature of submesoscale upper-ocean processes via synthetic aperture radar and TIR imagery. The TIR imager is based on microbolometer technology and its acquisitions will rely on four channels: three narrow-band channels yielding observations at a ≃1 km spatial sampling distance (SSD) and a panchromatic (PAN, 8–12 μm) channel characterized by a ≃300 m SSD. Our study investigates the potential of Harmony in retrieving spatial features related to sea surface temperature (SST) gradients from the high-resolution PAN channel, relying on top-of-atmosphere (TOA) observations. Compared to a standard SST gradient retrieval, our approach does not require atmospheric correction, thus avoiding uncertainties due to inter-channel co-registration and radiometric consistency, with the possibility of exploiting the higher resolution of the PAN channel. The investigations were carried out simulating the future Harmony TOA radiances (TARs), as well as relying on existing state-of-the-art level 1 satellite products. Our approach enables the correct description of SST features at the sea surface avoiding the generation of spurious features due to atmospheric correction and/or instrumental issues. In addition, analyses based on existing satellite products suggest that the clear-sky TOA observations, in a typical mid-latitude scene, allow the reconstruction of up to 85% of the gradient magnitudes found at the sea-surface level. The methodology is less efficient in tropical areas, suffering from smoothing effects due to the high concentrations of water vapor.

Since May 2022, the Mediterranean Sea has been experiencing an exceptionally long marine heatwave event. Warm anomalies, mainly occurring in the Western basin, have persisted until boreal spring 2023, making this event the longest Mediterranean marine heat wave of the last four decades. In this work, the 2022/2023 anomaly is characterized, using in-situ and satellite measurements, together with state of the art reanalysis products. The role of atmospheric forcing is also investigated; the onset and growth of sea surface temperature anomalies is found to be related to the prevalence of anticyclonic conditions in the atmosphere, which have also caused severe droughts in the Mediterranean region over the same period. Analysis of in-situ observations from the Lampedusa station and of ocean reanalyzes reveals that wind-driven vertical mixing led to the penetration of the warm anomalies below the sea surface, where they have persisted for several months, particularly in the central part of the basin. The evolution of the 2022/23 event is compared with the severe 2003 event, to put recent conditions in the context of climate change.

Objectives: Fulminant myocarditis (FM) is a rapidly progressive and frequently fatal form of myocarditis that has been difficult to classify. This study aims to compare the clinical characteristics, treatments and outcomes in patients with fulminant giant cell myocarditis (FGCM) and fulminant lymphocytic myocarditis (FLM).Methods and Results: In our retrospective study, nine patients with FGCM (mean age 47.9 ± 7.5 years, six female) and 7 FLM (mean age 42.1 ± 12.3 years, four female) patients confirmed by histology in the last 11 years were included. Most patients with FGCM and FLM were NYHA functional class IV (56 vs. 100%, p = 0.132). Patients with FGCM had significantly lower levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein [hs-CRP, 4.4 (2.0–10.2) mg/L vs. 13.6 (12.6–14.6) mg/L, P = 0.004, data shown as the median with IQR], creatine kinase-myoglobin [CK-MB, 1.4 (1.0–3.2) ng/ml vs. 14.6 (3.0–64.9) ng/ml, P = 0.025, median with IQR], and alanine aminotransferase [ALT, 38.0 (25.0–61.5) IU/L vs. 997.0 (50.0–3,080.0) IU/L, P = 0.030, median with IQR] and greater right ventricular end-diastolic diameter (RVEDD) [2.9 ± 0.3 cm vs. 2.4 ± 0.6 cm, P = 0.034, mean ± SD] than those with FLM. No differences were observed in the use of intra-aortic balloon pump (44 vs. 43%, p = 1.000) and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (11 vs. 43%, p = 0.262) between the two groups. The long-term survival rate was significantly lower in FGCM group compared with FLM group (0 vs. 71.4%, p = 0.022). A multivariate cox regression analysis showed the level of hs-CRP (hazard ratio = 0.871, 95% confidence interval: 0.761–0.996, P = 0.043) was an independent prognostic factor for FM patients. Furthermore, the level of hs-CRP had a good ability to discriminate between patients with FGCM and FLM (AUC = 0.94, 95% confidence interval: 0.4213–0.9964).Conclusions: The inflammatory response and myocardial damage in the patients with FGCM were milder than those with FLM. Patients with FGCM had distinctly poorer prognoses compared with those with FLM. Our results suggest that hs-CRP could be a promising prognostic biomarker and a hs-CRP level of 11.71 mg/L is an appropriate cutoff point for the differentiating diagnosis between patients with FGCM and FLM.

ObjectivesThe aim was to determine whether the dual-energy CT radiomics model derived from an iodine map (IM) has incremental diagnostic value for the model based on 120-kV equivalent mixed images (120 kVp) in preoperative restaging of serosal invasion with locally advanced gastric cancer (LAGC) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC).MethodsA total of 155 patients (110 in the training cohort and 45 in the testing cohort) with LAGC who had standard NAC before surgery were retrospectively enrolled. All CT images were analyzed by two radiologists for manual classification. Volumes of interests (VOIs) were delineated semi-automatically, and 1,226 radiomics features were extracted from every segmented lesion in both IM and 120 kVp images, respectively. Spearman’s correlation analysis and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) penalized logistic regression were implemented for filtering unstable and redundant features and screening out vital features. Two predictive models (120 kVp and IM-120 kVp) based on 120 kVp selected features only and 120 kVp combined with IM selected features were established by multivariate logistic regression analysis. We then build a combination model (ComModel) developed with IM-120 kVp signature and ycT. The performance of these three models and manual classification were evaluated and compared.ResultThree radiomics models showed great predictive accuracy and performance in both the training and testing cohorts (ComModel: AUC: training, 0.953, testing, 0.914; IM-120 kVp: AUC: training, 0.953, testing, 0.879; 120 kVp: AUC: training, 0.940, testing, 0.831). All these models showed higher diagnostic accuracy (ComModel: 88.9%, IM-120 kVp: 84.4%, 120 kVp: 80.0%) than manual classification (68.9%) in the testing group. ComModel and IM-120 kVp model had better performances than manual classification both in the training (both p

Oxidative stress, a cytopathic outcome of excessive generation of ROS and the repression of antioxidant defense system for ROS elimination, is involved in the pathogenesis of multiple diseases, including diabetes and its complications. Retinopathy, a microvascular complication of diabetes, is the primary cause of acquired blindness in diabetic patients. Oxidative stress has been verified as one critical contributor to the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy. Oxidative stress can both contribute to and result from the metabolic abnormalities induced by hyperglycemia, mainly including the increased flux of the polyol pathway and hexosamine pathway, the hyper-activation of protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms, and the accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Moreover, the repression of the antioxidant defense system by hyperglycemia-mediated epigenetic modification also leads to the imbalance between the scavenging and production of ROS. Excessive accumulation of ROS induces mitochondrial damage, cellular apoptosis, inflammation, lipid peroxidation, and structural and functional alterations in retina. Therefore, it is important to understand and elucidate the oxidative stress-related mechanisms underlying the progress of diabetic retinopathy. In addition, the abnormalities correlated with oxidative stress provide multiple potential therapeutic targets to develop safe and effective treatments for diabetic retinopathy. Here, we also summarized the main antioxidant therapeutic strategies to control this disease.

Increasing prevalence of childhood obesity poses threats to the global health burden. Because this rising prevalence cannot be fully explained by traditional risk factors such as unhealthy diet and physical inactivity, early-life exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) is recognized as emerging novel risk factors for childhood obesity. EDCs can disrupt the hormone-mediated metabolic pathways, affect children’s growth and mediate the development of childhood obesity. Many organic pollutants are recently classified to be EDCs. In this review, we summarized the epidemiological and laboratory evidence related to EDCs and childhood obesity, and discussed the possible mechanisms underpinning childhood obesity and early-life exposure to non-persistent organic pollutants (phthalates, bisphenol A, triclosan) and persistent organic pollutants (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, polychlorinated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). Understanding the relationship between EDCs and childhood obesity helps to raise public awareness and formulate public health policy to protect the youth from exposure to the harmful effects of EDCs.

Ocean reanalyses combine ocean models, atmospheric forcing fluxes, and observations using data assimilation to give a four-dimensional description of the ocean. Metrics assessing their reliability have improved over time, allowing reanalyses to become an important tool in climate services that provide a more complete picture of the changing ocean to end users. Besides climate monitoring and research, ocean reanalyses are used to initialize sub-seasonal to multi-annual predictions, to support observational network monitoring, and to evaluate climate model simulations. These applications demand robust uncertainty estimates and fit-for-purpose assessments, achievable through sustained advances in data assimilation and coordinated inter-comparison activities. Ocean reanalyses face specific challenges: (i) dealing with intermittent or discontinued observing networks, (ii) reproducing inter-annual variability and trends of integrated diagnostics for climate monitoring, (iii) accounting for drift and bias due, e.g., to air-sea flux or ocean mixing errors, and (iv) optimizing initialization and improving performances during periods and in regions with sparse data. Other challenges such as multi-scale data assimilation to reconcile mesoscale and large-scale variability and flow-dependent error characterization for rapidly evolving processes, are amplified in long-term reanalyses. The demand to extend reanalyses backward in time requires tackling all these challenges, especially in the emerging context of earth system reanalyses and coupled data assimilation. This mini-review aims at documenting recent advances from the ocean reanalysis community, discussing unsolved challenges that require sustained activities for maximizing the utility of ocean observations, supporting data rescue and advancing specific research and development requirements for reanalyses.

Developments in observing system technologies and ocean data assimilation (DA) are symbiotic. New observation types lead to new DA methods and new DA methods, such as coupled DA, can change the value of existing observations or indicate where new observations can have greater utility for monitoring and prediction. Practitioners of DA are encouraged to make better use of observations that are already available, for example, taking advantage of strongly coupled DA so that ocean observations can be used to improve atmospheric analyses and vice versa. Ocean reanalyses are useful for the analysis of climate as well as the initialization of operational long-range prediction models. There are many remaining challenges for ocean reanalyses due to biases and abrupt changes in the ocean-observing system throughout its history, the presence of biases and drifts in models, and the simplifying assumptions made in DA solution methods. From a governance point of view, more support is needed to bring the ocean-observing and DA communities together. For prediction applications, there is wide agreement that protocols are needed for rapid communication of ocean-observing data on numerical weather prediction (NWP) timescales. There is potential for new observation types to enhance the observing system by supporting prediction on multiple timescales, ranging from the typical timescale of NWP, covering hours to weeks, out to multiple decades. Better communication between DA and observation communities is encouraged in order to allow operational prediction centers the ability to provide guidance for the design of a sustained and adaptive observing network.

Timely harvest is critical to achieve maximum seed viability and vigour in agricultural production. However, little information exists concerning how to reap the best quality seeds of Leymus chinensis, which is the dominant and most promising grass species in the Songnen Grassland of Northern China. The objective of this study was to investigate and evaluate possible quality indices of the seeds at different days after peak anthesis. Seed quality at different development stages was assessed by the colours of the seed and lemmas, seed weight, moisture content, electrical conductivity of seed leachate and germination indices. Two consecutive years of experimental results showed that the maximum seed quality was recorded at 39 days after peak anthesis. At this date, the colours of the seed and lemmas reached heavy brown and yellow, respectively. The seed weight was highest and the moisture content and the electrical conductivity of seed leachate were lowest. In addition, the seed also reached its maximum germination percentage and energy at this stage, determined using a standard germination test (SGT) and accelerated ageing test (AAT). Thus, Leymus chinensis can be harvested at 39 days after peak anthesis based on the changes in parameters. Colour identification can be used as an additional indicator to provide a more rapid and reliable measure of optimum seed maturity; approximately 10 days after the colour of the lemmas reached yellow and the colour of the seed reached heavy brown, the seed of this species was suitable for harvest.

In the context of the Copernicus Program, EUMETSAT prioritizes the creation of an ocean color infrastructure for system vicarious calibration (OC-SVC). This work aims to reply to this need by proposing the European Radiometry Buoy and Infrastructure (EURYBIA). EURYBIA is designed as an autonomous European infrastructure operating within the Marine Optical Network (MarONet) established by University of Miami (Miami, FL, USA) based on the Marine Optical Buoy (MOBY) experience and NASA support. MarONet addresses SVC requirements in different sites, consistently and in a traceable way. The selected EURYBIA installation is close to the Lampedusa Island in the central Mediterranean Sea. This area is widely studied and hosts an Atmospheric and Oceanographic Observatory for long-term climate monitoring. The EURYBIA field segment comprises off-shore and on-shore infrastructures to manage the observation system and perform routine sensors calibrations. The ground segment includes the telemetry center for data communication and the processing center to compute data products and uncertainty budgets. The study shows that the overall uncertainty of EURYBIA SVC gains computed for the Sentinel-3 OLCI mission under EUMETSAT protocols is of about 0.05% in the blue-green wavelengths after a decade of measurements, similar to that of the reference site in Hawaii and in compliance with requirements for climate studies.

BACKGROUND: The epicuticular waxy layer of plant leaves enhances the extreme environmental stress tolerance. However, the relationship between waxy layer and saline tolerance was not established well. The epicuticular waxy layer of rice (Oryza sativa L.) was studied under the NaHCO3 stresses. In addition, strong saline tolerance Puccinellia tenuiflora was chosen for comparative studies. RESULTS: Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images showed that there were significant changes in waxy morphologies of the rice epicuticular surfaces, while no remarkable changes in those of P. tenuiflora epicuticular surfaces. The NaHCO3-induced morphological changes of the rice epicuticular surfaces appeared as enlarged silica cells, swollen corns-shapes and leaked salt columns under high stress. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopic profiles supported that the changes were caused by significant increment and localization of [Na+] and [Cl-] in the shoot. Atomic absorption spectra showed that [Na+]shoot/[Na+]root for P. tenuiflora maintained stable as the saline stress increased, but that for rice increased significantly. CONCLUSION: In rice, NaHCO3 stress induced localization and accumulation of [Na+] and [Cl-] appeared as the enlarged silica cells (MSC), the swollen corns (S-C), and the leaked columns (C), while no significant changes in P. tenuiflora.

Soil alkalization is a major environmental threat that affects plant distribution and yield in northeastern China. Puccinellia tenuiflora is an alkali-tolerant grass species that is used for salt-alkali grassland restoration. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms by which arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) enhance P. tenuiflora responses to alkali stress. Here, metabolite profiling in P. tenuiflora seedlings with or without arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) under alkali stress was conducted using liquid chromatography combined with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC/TOF-MS). The results showed that AMF colonization increased seedling biomass under alkali stress. In addition, principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) demonstrated that non-AM and AM seedlings showed different responses under alkali stress. A heat map analysis showed that the levels of 88 metabolites were significantly changed in non-AM seedlings, but those of only 31 metabolites were significantly changed in AM seedlings. Moreover, the levels of a total of 62 metabolites were significantly changed in P. tenuiflora seedlings after AMF inoculation. The results suggested that AMF inoculation significantly increased amino acid, organic acid, flavonoid and sterol contents to improve osmotic adjustment and maintain cell membrane stability under alkali stress. P. tenuiflora seedlings after AMF inoculation produced more plant hormones (salicylic acid and abscisic acid) than the non-AM seedlings, probably to enhance the antioxidant system and facilitate ion balance under stress conditions. In conclusion, these findings provide new insights into the metabolic mechanisms of P. tenuiflora seedlings with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi under alkali conditions and clarify the role of AM in the molecular regulation of this species under alkali stress.

Estimating long-term modifications of the sea surface temperature (SST) is crucial for evaluating the current state of the oceans and to correctly assess the impact of climate change at regional scales. In this work, we analyze SST variations within the Mediterranean Sea and the adjacent Northeastern Atlantic box (west of the Strait of Gibraltar) over the last 37 years, by using a satellite-based dataset from the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS). We found a mean warming trend of 0.041 ± 0.006 ∘ C/year over the whole Mediterranean Sea from 1982 to 2018. The trend has an uneven spatial pattern, with values increasing from 0.036 ± 0.006 ∘ C/year in the western basin to 0.048 ± 0.006 ∘ C/year in the Levantine−Aegean basin. The Northeastern Atlantic box and the Mediterranean show a similar trend until the late 1990s. Afterwards, the Mediterranean SST continues to increase, whereas the Northeastern Atlantic box shows no significant trend, until ~2015. The observed change in the Mediterranean Sea affects not only the mean trend but also the amplitude of the Mediterranean seasonal signal, with consistent relative increase and decrease of summer and winter mean values, respectively, over the period considered. The analysis of SST changes occurred during the “satellite era” is further complemented by reconstructions also based on direct in situ SST measurements, i.e., the Extended Reconstructed SST (ERSST) and the Hadley Centre Sea Ice and Sea Surface Temperature dataset (HadISST), which go back to the 19th century. The analysis of these longer time series, covering the last 165 years, indicates that the increasing Mediterranean trend, observed during the CMEMS operational period, is consistent with the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO), as it closely follows the last increasing period of AMO. This coincidence occurs at least until 2007, when the apparent onset of the decreasing phase of AMO is not seen in the Mediterranean SST evolution.

A dual-parameter sensor based on a liquid-infiltrated microstructured optical fiber (MOF) is constructed by selective liquid infiltration of one particular cladding air hole in the MOF. The fundamental core mode could be simultaneously coupled to several higher order modes of the adjacent liquid rod waveguide when the phase-matching condition is satisfied, resulting in the emergence of multiple resonance peaks with different sensing characteristics. Our proposed liquid-infiltrated MOF sensor has several advantages, such as high sensitivity and a large measurement range. Moreover, it is able to resolve the temperature-force cross-sensitivity issue that is commonly encountered in most practically deployed sensing components.

Syneilesis aconitifolia is a potential ground cover and decorative material in gardens, which exhibits a strong salt-alkali tolerance, and also has medicinal value. In this study, the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi community in the soil surrounding S. aconitifolia roots in the Songnen saline-alkali grassland was used as the inoculation medium for a pot cultivation experiment. After normal culture for 90 days, NaCl and NaHCO3 solutions were applied to subject plants to salt or alkali stress. Solution concentrations of 50, 100, and 200 mmol/L were applied for 10 days, and mycorrhizal colonization, biomass, relative water content (RWC), chlorophyll concentration, malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration, antioxidant system activity, and osmomodulator concentration were determined to identify the effects of AM fungi on root colonization status and salinity tolerance in S. aconitifolia. There were three key results. (1) Compared to the controls, the intensity and rate of colonization decreased under saline-alkali stress, and the adaptability of AM fungi under low concentration alkali stress was higher than that under salt stress. (2) The AM fungi could increase the biomass, RWC, and chlorophyll concentration, and decrease the MDA concentration of S. aconitifolia to some extent. With an increase in the salt or alkali solution concentration, AM fungi not only upregulated the activity of the antioxidant system, but also increased the concentration of osmotic regulatory substances. (3) A multivariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) and radar map analysis showed that the mechanisms of resistance to salt and alkali stress were not the same in S. aconitifolia. In the salt treatment, AM fungi mainly regulated salt stress through osmotic regulatory substances such as soluble sugars, soluble proteins, and proline. In the alkali treatment, AM fungi mainly regulated alkali stress through glutathione (GSH), soluble sugars, and MDA. The results showed that the colonization rate of S. aconitifolia under low concentration alkali stress was higher than that under salt stress, and the inoculation of AM fungi could significantly reduce the MDA concentration of S. aconitifolia plants under salinity and alkali stress, and improve the antioxidant enzyme activity and osmoregulatory substance accumulation, thereby improving the salinity tolerance of S. aconitifolia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context • After the age of 35, women’s fertility and physical function gradually decline, and this can significantly increase the risks of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) after delivery. Sufficient exploration of prenatal indicators of PPH for older pregnant women are still lacking. Objective • The study intended to examine the factors influencing postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) in natural delivery for pregnant women ≥35 years of age and to establish a reliable risk-prediction model. Design • The research team performed a retrospective study. Setting • The study took place at Suzhou Ninth People’s Hospital in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. Participants • Participants were 351 pregnant women who had undergone a prenatal examination and vaginal delivery at the hospital between January 2019 and October 2022. Groups • The research team divided participants into two groups: (1) a PPH group, with 52 participants who experienced PPH, and (2) a non-PPH group, with 299 participants who had no PPH. Outcome Measures • The research team: (1) conducted single-factor analysis of the two groups’ demographic and clinical characteristics; (2) performed multivariate logistic regression analysis to find the factors influencing PPH; (3) built a risk-prediction model based on the results; and (4) analyzed the model’s identification ability, proofreading ability, and clinical applicability using a goodness-of-fit test, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, a calibration curve, and a decision curve. The team used the SPSS 22.0 and R software for statistical analysis. Results • The incidence of PPH was 14.81%, for the 52 out of 351 participants. The PPH group’s age (P < .001), rate of pregnancy-induced hypertension (P = .008), length of the third stage of labor (P = .001), and newborn’s birth weight (P < .001) were significantly greater and its FIB before delivery was significantly lower than those of the nonPPH group. The high expression of fibrinogen (FIB) before delivery indicates it may be a protective factor against PPH. The multivariate analysis indicated that a greater age (P = .013), pregnancy-induced hypertension (P = .002), a low FIB level (P < .001), a long third stage of labor (P = .012), and a low birth weight for the newborn (P = .006) were all significantly related to PPH. The research team validated the risk-prediction model, which indicated that the model had good recognition ability (AUC = 0.873). The optimal critical value was 34%, and the sensitivity and specificity were 0.869 and 0.826, respectively. In the comparison of the PPH value that the model predicted and the participants’ actual PPH incidence (U = -0.006, Brier = 0.089), the deviation of the model wasn’t statistically significant (χ² = 5.964, P = .651). The analysis of the decision curve found that the net benefits for pregnant women ≥35 years of age were higher than those of the other two extreme curves, showing that the model was clinically effective. Conclusions • The PPH risk-prediction model for vaginal delivery for pregnant women ≥35 years of age showed that a greater age, pregnancy-induced hypertension, a lower prelabor FIB, a longer third stage of labor, and a higher birth weight for the newborn were significantly related to the incidence of PPH and that its use could be clinically helpful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]