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Abstract The sensitivity of tree growth to precipitation regulates their responses to drought, and is a crucial metric for predicting ecosystem dynamics and vulnerability. Sensitivity may be changing with continuing climate change, yet a comprehensive assessment of its change is still lacking. We utilized tree ring measurements from 3,044 sites, climate data and CO2 concentrations obtained from monitoring stations, combined with dynamic global vegetation models to investigate spatiotemporal changes in the sensitivity over the past century. We observed an increasing sensitivity since around 1950. This increased sensitivity was particularly pronounced in arid biomes due to the combined effect of increased precipitation and elevated CO2. While elevated CO2 reduced the sensitivity of the humid regions, the intensified water pressure caused by decreased precipitation still increased the sensitivity. Our findings suggest an escalating vulnerability of tree growth to precipitation change, which may increase the risk of tree mortality under future intensified drought.

IntroductionSolid organ transplant recipients are at high risk for developing severe zoster-associated neuralgia, and the pharmaceutic therapies of pain management for these patients with limited organ function are challenging. Intravenous lidocaine infusion showed positive analgesic effects and is used for the management of neuropathic pain. This case series reports the safety and effectiveness of intravenous lidocaine infusion in the treatment of intractable zoster-associated neuralgia in solid organ transplant recipients.Case series presentationFive solid organ transplant recipients suffering from refractory zoster-associated neuralgia (numeric rating scale 8–10, despite using high doses of antiepileptic drugs or combined with opioids) were enrolled. Intravenous lidocaine (5 mg/kg ideal bodyweight) was administered over 1.5 h with the monitoring of vital signs. Pain intensity, patient satisfaction, adverse events, typical liver, and kidney function were evaluated. All subjects reported high satisfaction with their treatment and effective pain relief at the 6-month follow-up. One patient experienced short and mild numbness in the mouth and dizziness after the therapy, but no major adverse reactions were reported.ConclusionThis case series provides evidence that intravenous lidocaine infusion provided effective pain relief as an analgesic treatment option for transplant patients with intractable zoster-associated neuralgia.

Biochar application to soil has proven to be an excellent approach for decreasing the concentration of auto-toxic compounds and promoting plant growth in continuous-cropping fields. However, the mechanisms underlying the action pathway among biochars, auto-toxic compounds and tobacco remain unknown. In this study, we conducted an experiment tracking the incidence rate of black rot and auto-toxic compounds for a 3-year continuous-cropping tobacco pot trial in response to biochar treatment intensity compared with that of non-biochar treatment. Biochar inhibited the incidence of black rot. Using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (UPLC‒MS/MS), we revealed that biochar can effectively decrease the concentration of p-hydroxybenzoic acid (PHA), which is associated with the incidence rate of black rot (R2 = 0.890, p

ABSTRACTImbalanced gut microbiota (GM) and abnormal fecal bile acid (BA) are thought to be the key factors for diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D), but the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Herein, we explore the influence of the GM–BA–Takeda G-protein-coupled receptor 5 (TGR5) axis on IBS-D. Twenty-five IBS-D patients and fifteen healthy controls were recruited to perform BA-related metabolic and metagenomic analyses. Further, the microbiota-humanized IBS-D rat model was established by fecal microbial transplantation (FMT) to investigate the GM–BA–TGR5 axis effects on the colonic barrier and visceral hypersensitivity (VH) in IBS-D. Finally, we used chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), an important BA screened out by metabolome, to evaluate whether it affected diarrhea and VH via the TGR5 pathway. Clinical research showed that GM associated with bile salt hydrolase (BSH) activity such as Bacteroides ovatus was markedly reduced in the GM of IBS-D, accompanied by elevated total and primary BA levels. Moreover, we found that CDCA not only was increased as the most important primary BA in IBS-D patients but also could induce VH through upregulating TGR5 in the colon and ileum of normal rats. TGR5 inhibitor could reverse the phenotype, depression-like behaviors, pathological change, and level of fecal BSH in a microbiota-humanized IBS-D rat model. Our findings proved that human-associated FMT could successfully induce the IBS-D rat model, and the imbalanced GM–BA–TGR5 axis may promote colonic mucosal barrier dysfunction and enhance VH in IBS-D.IMPORTANCEVisceral hypersensitivity and intestinal mucosal barrier damage are important factors that cause abnormal brain–gut interaction in diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D). Recently, it was found that the imbalance of the gut microbiota–bile acid axis is closely related to them. Therefore, understanding the structure and function of the gut microbiota and bile acids and the underlying mechanisms by which they shape visceral hypersensitivity and mucosal barrier damage in IBS-D is critical. An examination of intestinal feces from IBS-D patients revealed that alterations in gut microbiota and bile acid metabolism underlie IBS-D and symptom onset. We also expanded beyond existing knowledge of well-studied gut microbiota and bile acid and found that Bacteroides ovatus and chenodeoxycholic acid may be potential bacteria and bile acid involved in the pathogenesis of IBS-D. Moreover, our data integration reveals the influence of the microbiota–bile acid–TGR5 axis on barrier function and visceral hypersensitivity.

As the share of air conditioning electricity consumption within total grid electricity consumption grows, the decomposition of such consumption becomes increasingly crucial for assessing electricity usage patterns, devising consumption scheduling strategies, and maintaining the stability of the power grid. Although there is a strong correlation between apparent temperature and air conditioning electricity consumption, the literature currently available seldom explores the impact of apparent temperature on this consumption. Moreover, there is a scarcity of effective assessment indices to evaluate the efficacy of air conditioning electricity consumption breakdown. This study introduces a method for decomposing electricity consumption from air conditioning units, utilizing effective duration as a basis to tackle these issues. By employing an apparent temperature model as a constraint, this approach identifies the effective operating time of air conditioning and constructs a constrained convex optimization problem to estimate air conditioning power usage. Additionally, a novel evaluation index for the effectiveness of air conditioning electricity consumption decomposition is proposed, which includes penalties for negative decomposed consumption, alongside the traditional consistency index. Comparative experiments are conducted using real electricity consumption data from Fujian Province. Empirical results indicate that the methodology for air conditioning electricity consumption decomposition presented in this paper aligns more closely with actual conditions. Furthermore, the evaluation metrics introduced for the decomposition of air conditioning electricity consumption are adept at precisely gauging the quality of the air conditioning electricity consumption data.

Abstract Large earthquakes not only directly damage buildings but also trigger debris flows, which cause secondary damage to buildings, forming a more destructive earthquake-debris flow disaster chain. A quantitative assessment of building vulnerability is essential for damage assessment after a disaster and for pre-disaster prevention. Using mechanical analysis based on pushover, a physical vulnerability assessment model of buildings in the earthquake-debris flow disaster chain is proposed to assess the vulnerability of buildings in Beichuan County, China. Based on the specific sequence of events in the earthquake-debris flow disaster chain, the seismic vulnerability of buildings is 79%, the flow impact and burial vulnerabilities of damaged buildings to debris flow are 92% and 28% respectively, and the holistic vulnerability of buildings under the disaster chain is 57%. By comparing different vulnerability assessment methods, we observed that the physical vulnerability of buildings under the disaster chain process is not equal to the statistical summation of the vulnerabilities to independent hazards, which implies that the structural properties and vulnerability of buildings have changed during the disaster chain process. Our results provide an integrated explanation of building vulnerability, which is essential for understanding building vulnerability in earthquake-debris flow disaster chain and building vulnerability under other disaster chains.

Accurate wind power prediction is essential to optimize the wind power scheduling and maximize the profits. However, the inertia and time-varying property of the wind speed pose a challenge to the wind power prediction task. The existing prediction models fail to efficiently mitigate the negative influence of these properties on the prediction results. Therefore, their generalization abilities require a further improvement. In this paper, the historical wind power segment is decomposed into sub-signals, which are considered as the fluctuation patterns of the wind power series, the variable support then is employed to describe the inertia and time-varying properties for the fluctuation patterns. The component-attention mechanism is introduced to formulate the correlation-relationship between each fluctuation pattern and the historical wind power segment, this mechanism is used to replace the self-attention mechanism for the Transformer model. A hybrid model combined VMD and Transformer is utilized for predicting the future wind power. Experiments performed on an actual wind power series validate the efficiency of the proposed model.

Abstract Limiting climate warming to below 2°C requires more intense mitigation efforts. Alongside the steep reductions in fossil fuel emissions needed, natural climate solutions (NCS) act as an additional first step toward achieving China's emission reduction goals. We first quantified the historical contribution of NCS as 0.34 PgCO2 equivalent (PgCO2e) yr−1 through the implemented national ecological restoration projects as well as positive management measures. Based on successful practices, we then designed 21 pathways to quantify the potential of NCS in increasing terrestrial carbon sinks or reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in forest, grassland, cropland, and wetland ecosystems. We show that the maximum mitigation potential of NCS between 2020 and 2060 under guaranteed food and fiber security is 1.95 (1.54–2.38) PgCO2e yr−1 (95% CI), which can offset nearly 20% of the annual net emissions. Historically, forest ecosystems have contributed the most to carbon sequestration; however, future projections show cropland ecosystems will account for the largest proportion (47.6%), followed by forest ecosystems. Approximately 47% (0.91 PgCO2e yr−1) of the maximum represents cost‐effective mitigation potential that can be realized at ≤100 USD/MgCO2e. Conservation tillage is the most cost‐effective option in China, achieving a maximum contribution of 181.60 TgCO2e yr−1. In addition, a series of cropland management measures have contributed 1.14 PgCO2e in the past two decades. Our study highlights the high effectiveness of cropland pathways in reducing carbon emissions and emphasizes the key role of cropland ecosystems in mitigating climate change.

Cyclic dinucleotides (CDNs) as stimulator of interferon genes (STING) agonists capable of inducing strong antitumor innate immune response are highly promising for tumor immunotherapy. The efficacy of these CDNs is, however, reduced greatly by their fast clearance, poor cell uptake and inefficient cytosolic transportation. Here, we report that reduction-responsive biodegradable chimaeric polymersomes (CPs) markedly enhance tumor retention and cytosolic delivery of a synthetic CDN, ADU-S100, and bolster STING pathway activation in the tumor microenvironment and tumor draining lymph nodes, giving significantly better tumor repression and survival of B16F10 melanoma-bearing mice compared with free CDN control. The superiority of CPs-mediated CDN delivery is further verified in combination therapy with low-dose fractionated radiation, which brings about clearly stronger and longer-term immunotherapeutic effects and protection against tumor re-challenge. The development of nano-STING agonists that are able to overcome the delivery barriers of CDNs represents an effective strategy to potentiate cancer immunotherapy.

ObjectiveThis study seeks to systematically evaluate and test the effects of yoga exercise intervention programs on sleep quality in breast cancer patients in order to suggest more optimized exercise programs.MethodComputer searches of the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and CINAHL databases are conducted from the date of their inception to June 8th, 2022 to collect randomized controlled trials on the effects of yoga exercise intervention on sleep quality in breast cancer patients. Two investigators independently carry out the inclusion and exclusion criteria literature screening, data extraction and methodological quality assessment of the included literature by applying the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Subgroup analysis is performed using RevMan 5.4.1 software, and the six moderating variables of intervention format, intervention type, weekly intervention frequency, total intervention duration, single intervention duration and intervention evaluation at different time points are set for the 782 subjects of the 12 included publications.ResultsTwelve randomized controlled trials with a total sample size of 782 subjects are included, including 393 subjects in the experimental group and 389 subjects in the control group. The meta-analysis shows that yoga exercise intervention is effective in improving sleep quality in breast cancer patients [SMD = -0.40, 95% CI: (-0.71, -0.09), P = 0.01]; yoga exercise intervention focusing on positive meditation [SMD = -0.55, 95% CI: (-1.08, -0.03), P = 0.04] is effective in improving sleep; yoga exercise intervention two or three times a week is effective in improving sleep quality [SMD = -0.69, 95% CI: (-1.19, -0.19), P = 0.007]; yoga exercise intervention for 6–8 weeks significantly improves sleep quality [SMD = -0.86, 95% CI: (-1.65, -0.08), P =0.03]; and evaluation immediately after the end of intervention improves sleep outcomes [SMD = -0.17, 95% CI: (-0.33, 0.00), P = 0.05], while differences in sleep quality improvement are not statistically significant for the remaining subgroup outcomes (P > 0.05).ConclusionThe available evidence suggests that yoga exercise intervention has good effects on improving sleep quality in breast cancer patients. Positive meditation intervention type, intervention frequency of two or three times per week, total intervention duration of 6–8 weeks and evaluation immediately after the end of intervention are shown to be effective in improving sleep quality.

Corner separation occurs easily in highly loaded compressor stators. This paper proposes a novel slot inside the stator blade, with the slot inlet located at the blade leading edge and the slot outlet located at the suction surface, by using the momentum of the incoming flow to form a high velocity jet to control the development of the boundary layer on the blade suction surface. For 3D compressor cascades, the influence of the key geometrical slot parameters on the flow fields in the slot and cascade passage and the aerodynamic performance of the cascade were investigated with a numerical method. Then, the stator blades in a highly loaded compressor stage were slotted to improve the flow in the stator blade passages. The main results can be summarized as follows. The use of slotted blades in the cascade effectively suppresses corner separation. When the cascade inlet velocity is high or the inlet flow is at a positive attack angle, the separation control effect improves. In the highly loaded compressor stage, slotted stator blades considerably reduced the flow loss at the stator corner, and the stage efficiency increased over the entire flow rate range. Furthermore, two cascades with unslotted and slotted blades were tested. The experimental and numerical results were consistent, demonstrating that the total pressure loss coefficient of a cascade can be effectively reduced by slotting the blades in the cascade.

In this study, the cutting parameters for machining deep bottle holes (deep holes with complex profiles and length-to-diameter ratio greater than 10) were optimized based on cutting simulation, a regression analysis genetic algorithm, and experimental validation. The influence of cutting parameters on cutting force and cutting temperature was analyzed using the response surface method (RSM), and the regression prediction model of cutting parameters with cutting force and most cutting temperature was established. Based on this model, multi-objective optimization of cutting force Fx and material removal rate Q was carried out based on a genetic algorithm, and a set of optimal cutting parameters (v = 139.41 m/min, ap = 1.12 mm, f = 0.27 mm/rev) with low cutting force and high material removal rate were obtained. Finally, based on the optimal cutting parameters, the machining of TC4 deep bottle holes with a length-to-diameter (L/D) ratio of 36.36 and a roughness of Ra 3.2 µm was accomplished through a deep hole boring experiment, which verified the feasibility of the selected cutting parameters and provided a certain reference for the machining of this type of parts.

Evidence of the advantages of Coptidis Rhizoma (CR) for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC) is accumulating. However, research revealing the targets and molecular mechanisms of CR against UC is scarce. In this research, a bioinformatics analysis was performed to carry out the physicochemical properties and biological activities of phytochemicals in CR and analyze the binding activities, targets, biological functions and mechanisms of CR against UC. This research shows that the CR’s key phytochemicals, which are named Coptisine, Berberrubine, Berlambine, Berberine, Epiberberine, Obacunone, Worenine, Quercetin, (R)-Canadine, Magnograndiolide, Palmatine and Moupinamide, have ideal physicochemical properties and bioactivity. A total of 1,904 potential phytochemical targets and 17,995 UC-related targets are identified, and we finally acquire 233 intersection targets between key phytochemicals and disease. A protein-protein interaction network of 233 common targets was constructed; and six hub targets were acquired with a degree greater than or equal to median, namely TP53, HSP90AA1, STAT3, ESR1, MYC, and RELA. The enrichment analysis suggested that the core targets may exert an impact on anti-inflammatory, immunoregulatory, anti-oxidant and anti-fibrosis functions mainly through the PI3K/ART signaling pathway, Th17 differentiation signaling pathway, inflammatory bowel disease signaling pathway, etcetera. Also, a molecular docking analysis shows that the key phytochemicals have strong affinity for binding to the core targets. Finally, the interaction network of CR, phytochemicals, targets, GO functions, KEGG pathways and UC is constructed. This study indicates that the key phytochemicals in CR have superior drug likeness and bioactivity, and the molecular mechanism of key phytochemicals against UC may be via the signaling pathway mentioned above. The potential and critical pharmacological mechanisms provide a direction for future research.

BackgroundAcupuncture and moxibustion have been widely used in the treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). But the evidence that acupuncture and moxibustion for IBS reduction of symptom severity and abdominal pain, and improvement of quality of life is scarce.MethodsPubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Chinese Scientific Journals Database (VIP), Wanfang Database, China Biomedical Literature Service System (SinoMed), and unpublished sources were searched from inception until June 30, 2022. The quality of RCTs was assessed with the Cochrane Collaboration risk of bias tool. The strength of the evidence was evaluated with the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system (GRADE). Trial sequential analysis (TSA) was conducted to determine whether the participants in the included trials had reached optimal information size and whether the cumulative data was adequately powered to evaluate outcomes.ResultsA total of 31 RCTs were included. Acupuncture helped reduce the severity of symptoms more than pharmaceutical drugs (MD, −35.45; 95% CI, −48.21 to −22.68; I2 = 71%). TSA showed the cumulative Z score crossed O'Brien-Fleming alpha-spending significance boundaries. Acupuncture wasn't associated with symptom severity reduction (SMD, 0.03, 95% CI, −0.25 to 0.31, I2 = 46%), but exhibited therapeutic benefits on abdominal pain (SMD, −0.24; 95% CI, −0.48 to −0.01; I2 = 8%) compared to sham acupuncture. Moxibustion show therapeutic benefits compared to sham moxibustion on symptom severity (SMD, −3.46, 95% CI, −5.66 to −1.27, I2 = 95%) and abdominal pain (SMD, −2.74, 95% CI, −4.81 to −0.67, I2 = 96%). Acupuncture (SMD, −0.46; 95% CI, −0.68 to −0.24; I2 = 47%) and the combination of acupuncture and moxibustion (SMD, −2.00; 95% CI, −3.04 to −0.96; I2 = 90%) showed more benefit for abdominal pain compared to pharmacological medications as well as shams. Acupuncture (MD, 4.56; 95% CI, 1.46–7.67; I2 = 79%) and moxibustion (MD, 6.97; 95% CI, 5.78–8.16; I2 = 21%) were more likely to improve quality of life than pharmaceutical drugs.ConclusionAcupuncture and/or moxibustion are beneficial for symptom severity, abdominal pain and quality of life in IBS. However, in sham control trials, acupuncture hasn't exhibited robust and stable evidence, and moxibustion's results show great heterogeneity. Hence, more rigorous sham control trials of acupuncture or moxibustion are necessary.Systematic review registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?RecordID=262118, identifier CRD42021262118.

ObjectiveWe aim to leverage deep learning to develop a computer aided diagnosis (CAD) system toward helping radiologists in the diagnosis of follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) on thyroid ultrasonography.MethodsA dataset of 1159 images, consisting of 351 images from 138 FTC patients and 808 images from 274 benign follicular-pattern nodule patients, was divided into a balanced and unbalanced dataset, and used to train and test the CAD system based on a transfer learning of a residual network. Six radiologists participated in the experiments to verify whether and how much the proposed CAD system helps to improve their performance.ResultsOn the balanced dataset, the CAD system achieved 0.892 of area under the ROC (AUC). The accuracy, recall, precision, and F1-score of the CAD method were 84.66%, 84.66%, 84.77%, 84.65%, while those of the junior and senior radiologists were 56.82%, 56.82%, 56.95%, 56.62% and 64.20%, 64.20%, 64.35%, 64.11% respectively. With the help of CAD, the metrics of the junior and senior radiologists improved to 62.81%, 62.81%, 62.85%, 62.79% and 73.86%, 73.86%, 74.00%, 73.83%. The results almost repeated on the unbalanced dataset. The results show the proposed CAD approach can not only achieve better performance than radiologists, but also significantly improve the radiologists’ diagnosis of FTC.ConclusionsThe performances of the CAD system indicate it is a reliable reference for preoperative diagnosis of FTC, and might assist the development of a fast, accessible screening method for FTC.

We examine a service system that matches jobs and candidates with different ability levels. A candidate’s ability will affect the possibility of obtaining a high return on a job assignment. Based on the property that the jobs to be assigned to a candidate are substituted in an assignment problem, we propose a novel random parameter generating process to demonstrate that the expected reward increases with the ability level of a candidate at a diminishing rate. This observation is consistent with the classic result in process flexibility literature that a little flexibility (i.e., ability level) can capture the most benefit. Our observations can help a company decide the proper level of ability.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in women. Hyperhomocysteinemia (H-Hcy) is closely relat ed to arterial stiffness (AS) in patients with cardiovascular disease. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between serum homocysteine(Hcy) level and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) in Chinese women with PCOS. A total of 124 PCOS women were enrolled and divided into two groups according to their baPWV values: normal, baPWV < 1400 cm/s and high AS, baPWV ≥ 1400 cm/s. Univariate analysis was performed to investigate the relative factors for baPWV, and multiple regression analysis was used to evaluate the association of Hcy with baPWV. The group with high AS (n = 35) had higher Hcy levels than the other group (n = 89; P < 0.05). Moreover, univariate analysis revealed that serum Hcy was positively correlated with baPWV (r = 0.133, P < 0.01). In multiple regression analysis, the age-adjusted serum Hcy level was positively correlated with baPWV (β = 0.201, P < 0.01). It remained positively associated with baPWV (β = 0.145, P < 0.01) after further adjustments for age, BMI, PCOS duration, systolic blood pressur e, and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance as well as several other factors correlated with baPWV. Our results demonstrated that H-Hcy was significantly and independen tly related to elevated baPWV, suggesting that Hcy might play a role in the pathologic process of AS in women with PCOS. Further researches with more subjects are needed to explore whether Hcy would be a promising biomarker for the stratification management of PCOS women.

Abstract Background Diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D) is a common chronic digestive disease. Recent observational studies have reported that the Chinese herbal formula Huoxiang Zhengqi (HXZQ) can relieve IBS-D symptoms, but no high-level evidence is presented. Therefore, we want to evaluate the efficacy and safety of HXZQ for IBS-D patients. Methods This is a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. The 212 eligible patients with IBS-D will be randomly assigned to receive either HXZQ oral liquid or a placebo, at a 1:1 ratio, for 4 weeks with a 4-week follow-up period. Adequate relief will be the primary outcome measures. IBS symptom severity score, IBS quality-of-life questionnaire, EQ-5D-5L, and Chinese medicine symptom questionnaire will be the secondary outcome measures. Discussion This trial aims to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of HXZQ for IBS-D, which is expected to be an effective IBS-D treatment. Trial registration The trial was registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR1900026837 . Registered on 24 October 2019.

There is a growing interest in developing an advanced technique to manufacture titanium alloy for larger holes in the aviation and marine industries. While the application of larger holes is limited due to the low machinability and high cost. The deep-hole trepanning is investigated to manufacture the titanium alloy in a high-efficient low-cost manner, and the technical challenges during the deep-hole trepanning process are studied in this article. Designs of the deep-hole trepanning tool and experiments under different cutting speeds and feed are carried out. Chip morphology, axial cutting force, and tool wear are analyzed. The optimal process parameters are achieved. This study provides a practical solution to process titanium alloy for potential industrial applications.

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are a large class of superfamily involved in a variety of biological processes with multiple functions, including phytohormone transport, heavy metal ion detoxification, and so on. Anthocyanin pigmentation in grapes is a commercially important feature of this superfamily. To elucidate the mechanisms of the VvABC gene at different stages in grape berries, we analyzed and characterized the ABC family in ‘ZhongShan-HongYu’ (ZS-HY) berries using RNA-seq analysis. In this study, a total of 146 VvABC genes were identified by comprehensive bioinformatics analysis, which outlined their gene structure, chromosomal location, conserved domains, phylogenetic relationships, and collinearity analysis. The VvABC family could be divided into eight subfamilies based on the phylogenetic analysis. Fifty-eight VvABC genes were identified from the RNA-seq data, of which 31 belong to the ABCG subfamily, 15 belong to the ABCC subfamily, 8 belong to the ABCB subfamily, 2 belong to the ABCF subfamily, and only 1 belongs to each of the ABCA and ABCD subfamilies. We used qRT-PCR to detect the expression of VvABC genes in different organs and found that it changed significantly in different organs. Phylogenetic analysis showed that genes involved in anthocyanin transport in other species were closely related to members of the ABCC subfamily. Subsequently, analysis of the promoter elements and the protein interactions of the VvABCC genes using RNA-seq was performed. This study has improved our understanding of the functions of the ABC gene family and provided a basis for the role of ABC genes in grape anthocyanin transport.

The brain-gut-microbiota (BGM) axis is known to be essential for diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D). In order to evaluate the effects of IBS-D rat models (the central sensitization model, the peripheral sensitization model and the compound model) on the BGM axis, five models were induced in Wistar rats with 4% acetic acid (AD, dissolved 0.4 ml of AD in 9.6 ml of ultrapure water) + wrap restrain stress (WRS), 4% AD, colorectal distention (CRD), WRS, and neonatal maternal separation (NMS). Abdominal withdrawal reflex (AWR) scale scores and the moisture content of feces (MCF) were evaluated on the day of completing modeling. Body weight was measured every 7 days during modeling. Brain gut peptides, cytokine levels, the activity of spinal cord neurons, intestinal mucosal barrier function, and gut microbiota were determined after induction of IBS-D. We found intervention with 4% AD + WRS, 4% AD, CRD, WRS, and NMS induced a similar course of effects on the BGM axis. Among the five models, AWR scores (60 mmHg, 80 mmHg) were all increased. The levels of 5-hydroxytryptamine, corticotropin-releasing factor, substance P, and calcitonin gene-related protein in serum rapidly increased, whereas that of neuropeptide Y decreased. C-fos in the spinal cord showed increased neuronal activity. The intestinal permeability was increased and the composition and structure of gut microbiota were changed. In conclusion, the five models could cause changes in BGM axis, but the 4% AD + WRS model was closer to the changes BGM axis of post-inflammatory models of IBS-D.

Aim of the study: To evaluate the protective effect and mechanism of shenling baizhu powder (SBP) on TNBS-induced colitis.Methods: Rats were given TNBS to establish the model of colitis and subsequently treated with different doses of SBP or mesalamine (MES). In addition, the expression of the TLR5/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway and critical targets of the intestinal mucosal barrier was detected by immunochemical analysis techniques.Results: SBP significantly ameliorated the symptoms of TNBS-induced colitis in rats and reduced the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. SBP could effectively strengthen epithelial barrier integrity in TNBS-induced colitis by increasing the secretion of mucin and tight junction and inhibiting apoptosis. Furthermore, we identified the crucial role of the TLR5/MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway in exerting the therapeutic effect of SBP.Conclusion: The results of our study suggest that SBP has therapeutic effects on TNBS-induced colitis and potential value in treating and maintaining remission of colitis.

A high-accuracy unsupervised classification model is developed in a multimode self-interference microring resonator (SIMRR). For the SIMRR, there are many whispering gallery modes (WGMs) present. Each of these resonance modes supported by the SIMRR has a different response to different target parameters, so that the SIMRR-based sensor has the super capability to distinguish between multiple components. In the classification model, principal component analysis (PCA) is firstly used to reduce the dimensionality of this multimode sensing information from the SIMRR-based sensor. When the original higher-dimensional data points are projected onto the lower-dimensional data with only the first few principal components, they can be easily categorized into several different types by using density-based spatial clustering of application with noise (DBSCAN) algorithm. As an example, the unsupervised classification method is numerically validated based on a designed three-gas SIMRR-based sensor. The numerical results prove that the classification model can achieve an ultra high classification accuracy for the designed three-gas sensor with more than 60 dB in signal-to-noise ratio.

Due to the low detection accuracy of YOLOv3 target detection method, this paper proposes an improved target detection method of YOLOv3 remote sensing image. Firstly, the feature extraction network DarkNet53 is strengthened to improve the ability of feature extraction; Secondly, the original Leaky ReLU activation function is replaced by the Mish activation function, thus improving the generalization of the method in this paper; Finally, the Learning rate and BatchSize parameters are modified to prevent overfitting. The remote sensing image datasets of RSOD and TGRS-HRRSD are used in this paper. The Average Precision (AP) results of the method on the RSOD datasets in this paper show that the mAP value is 5.33 percent higher than that of the previous YOLOV3 method. The log average miss-rate (LAMR) results show that the LAMR value is 0.1100 lower than that of the previous YOLOV3 method. The mAP results of the method on the TGRS-HRRSD datasets show that the MAP value is 1.29 percent higher than that of the previous YOLOV3 method, and the LAMR results show that the LAMR value is 0.0338 lower than that of the previous YOLOv3 method.

Very long-chain fatty acid (VLCFA) synthesis in plants, is primarily rate-limited by the enzyme 3-ketoacyl CoA synthase (KCS), which also controls the rate and carbon chain length of VLCFA synthesis. Disruption of VLCFA during pollen development, may affect the pollen wall formation and ultimately lead to male sterility. Our study identified 24 grapevine KCS (VvKCS) genes and provided new names based on their relative chromosome distribution. Based on sequence alignment and phylogenetic investigation, these genes were grouped into seven subgroups, members of the same subgroup having similar motif structures. Synteny analysis of VvKCS genes, showed that the segmental duplication events played an important role in expanding this gene family. Expression profiles obtained from the transcriptome data showed different expression patterns of VvKCS genes in different tissues. Comparison of transcriptome and RT-qPCR data of the male sterile grape ‘Y−14’ and its fertile parent ‘Shine Muscat’, revealed that 10 VvKCS genes were significantly differentially expressed at the meiosis stage, which is a critical period of pollen wall formation. Further, joint analysis by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), revealed that five of these VvKCS (VvKCS6/15/19/20/24) genes were involved in the fatty acid elongation pathway, which may ultimately affect the structural integrity of the pollen wall in ‘Y−14’. This systematic analysis provided a foundation for further functional characterization of VvKCS genes, with the aim of grapevine precision breeding improvement.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-bound vesicles that can be released by all cell types. They may have different biogenesis, physical features, and cargo. EVs are important biomarkers for the diagnosis and prediction of many diseases due to their essential role in intercellular communication, their highly variable cargoes, and their accumulation in various body fluids. These natural particles have been investigated as potential therapeutic materials for many diseases. In our previous studies, the clinical usage of tumor-cell-derived microparticles (T-MPs) as a novel medication delivery system was examined. This review summarizes the clinical translation of EVs and related clinical trials, aiming to provide suggestions for safer and more effective oncology therapeutic systems, particularly in biotherapeutic and immunotherapeutic systems.

Noise exists widely in the nervous system, and plays a crucial role in the nervous system information processing. Noise can not only enhance but also weaken the ability of the nervous system to process information. Neurons are in a complex and variable electromagnetic field. Electromagnetic induction plays an important role in regulating the changes of neuronal membrane potential. Therefore, this paper simulates the electromagnetic field environment of the nervous system with a memristor and analyses the rich coherence resonance behavior of FitzHugh-Nagumo (FHN) neuron system under the drive of phase noise. By taking the amplitude, period and noise intensity of phase noise as the main parameters and the parameters of memristor as auxiliary parameters, the two-parameter changes are made from the angle of the amplitude and period of phase noise, the amplitude and intensity of phase noise, and the noise intensity and period of phase noise, respectively. The dynamic behaviors of coherent resonance of FHN neuron system are analyzed from the amplitude and period, amplitude and intensity as well as intensity and period of phase noise, respectively. When the amplitude and period of the phase noise and the intensity and period of the phase noise are used as independent variables for the two-parameter analysis, the FHN neuron system shows rich dynamic behaviors such as coherence mono-resonance, coherence bi-resonance and coherence multi-resonance. Especially when the amplitude and period of phase noise change as two-parameter, the system presents a coherence resonance of discharge pattern with period-adding cluster discharge at the valley. When the amplitude and intensity of phase noise are taken as independent variables for two-parameter analysis, FHN neuronal system presents single or dual coherence resonance at any value of noise intensity with the change of phase noise amplitude. The simulated results show that the FHN neuron system demonstrates rich coherence resonance behaviors under the drive of phase noise when the effect of electromagnetic induction in the nervous system is simulated by memristor.

BackgroundMany clinicians are facing the dilemma about whether they should apply the active surveillance (AS) strategy for managing Clinically Node-negative (cN0) PTMC patients in daily clinical practice. This research plans to construct a dynamic nomogram based on network, connected with ultrasound characteristics and clinical data, to predict the risk of central lymph node metastasis (CLNM) in cN0 PTMC patients before surgery.MethodsA retrospective analysis of 659 patients with cN0 PTMC who had underwent thyroid surgery and central compartment neck dissection. Patients were randomly (2:1) divided into the development cohort (439 patients) and validation cohort (220 patients). The group least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Group Lasso) regression method was used to select the ultrasonic features for CLNM prediction in the development cohort. These features and clinical data were screened by the multivariable regression analysis, and the CLNM prediction model and web-based calculator were established. Receiver operating characteristic, calibration curve, Clinical impact curve and decision curve analysis (DCA) were used to weigh the performance of the prediction model in the validation set.ResultsMultivariable regression analysis showed that age, tumor size, multifocality, the number of contact surface, and real-time elastography were risk factors that could predict CLNM. The area under the curve of the prediction model in the development and validation sets were 0.78 and 0.77, respectively, with good discrimination and calibration. A web-based dynamic calculator was built. DCA proved that the prediction model had excellent net benefits and clinical practicability.ConclusionsThe web-based dynamic nomogram incorporating US and clinical features was able to forecast the risk of preoperative CLNM in cN0 PTMC patients, and has good predictive performance. As a new observational indicator, NCS can provide additional predictive information.

Anthocyanins are synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum and then transported to the vacuole in plants. Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are thought to play a key role in anthocyanin transport. To clarify the mechanism of GST genes in the accumulation and transport of anthocyanin in the early fruit stage, we analyzed and characterized the GST family in the flesh of ‘Zhongshan-HongYu’ (ZS-HY) based on the transcriptome. In this study, the 92 GST genes identified through a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis were unevenly present in all chromosomes of grapes, except chromosomes 3, 9 and 10. Through the analysis of the chromosomal location, gene structure, conserved domains, phylogenetic relationships and cis-acting elements of GST family genes, the phylogenetic tree divided the GST genes into 9 subfamilies. Eighteen GST genes were screened and identified from grape berries via a transcriptome sequencing analysis, of which 4 belonged to the phi subfamily and 14 to the tau subfamily, and the expression levels of these GST genes were not tissue-specific. The phylogenetic analysis indicated that VvGST4 was closely related to PhAN9 and AtTT19. This study provides a foundation for the analysis of the GST gene family and insight into the roles of GSTs in grape anthocyanin transport.

This comparative study aims to investigate how China’s environmental protection fee affected firm performance in two separate sample periods, namely 2001–2006 and 2012–2017, as this policy was revised twice in 2003 and 2014. With the Difference-in-Differences (DID) estimation, we find that the second revision of environmental protection fee had a negative impact on heavy polluting firms, while the influence of the first revision seemed to be insignificant. Moreover, the environmental protection fee had a limited impact on other firms, implying that such a policy had achieved its designed effect by precisely governing heavy polluters. Besides, our additional tests show that the environmental protection fee had stronger impacts on non-connected firms and non-SOEs than politically connected firms and SOEs. Our results are robust to various potential endogeneity issues.

To investigate the deeper coloring mechanism of berry, the ‘Benitaka’ (Be) grape, ABA treatment on ‘Benitaka’ (Be (ABA)), and its deeper coloring bud mutation ‘Brasil’ (Br) grape were compared three weeks post-ABA treatment (11 weeks post-flowering, 200 mg/g ABA). Firstly, the ABA-treated group exhibited a deeper coloring at three weeks post-ABA treatment than the ‘Brasil’. Deeper color in ‘Brasil’ was caused by higher content of peonidin-3-O-monoglucoside, malvidin-3-O-monoglucoside, and malvidin-3-O-coumarylglucoside, while the deeper color in ABA-treated group was mainly caused by higher content of cyanidin-3-O-monoglucoside and peonidin-3-O-monoglucoside. In addition, the results revealed that ‘Brasil’ showed deeper coloring than ‘Benitaka’ was probably due to the higher expression of the VvmybA1 and VvmybA1-1 genes, similar with ABA-treated group. Compared with ‘Benitaka’, the distinction between the ABA-treated group and ‘Brasil’ was the expression of VvmybA1 gene. The gene expression was delayed in the ABA-treated group until three weeks post treatment. The VvmybA1 gene and transcription factor play an important role in the anthocyanin biosynthesis, and showed the difference in expressions of the VvmybA1 and VvmybA1-1 gene during different period of time probably due to different kind of anthocyanins. Based on these results, a possible mechanism of anthocyanins biosynthesis was established to elaborate the reason for the deeper coloring in ABA-treated ‘Benitaka’ and ‘Brasil’ grapes.

Teinturier cultivars of grape (Vitis vinifera) accumulate anthocyanins in both the skin and pulp of grape berries. RNA-seq and HPLC/MS were used to elucidate the mechanism of anthocyanin biosynthesis in whole grape berries of a new source of teinturier germplasm, ZhongShan-HongYu (ZS-HY). Berries were sampled at 3 days after anthesis (3 DAA, green-pulp), 6 days after anthesis (6 DAA, pulp-veraison), 22 days after anthesis (22 DAA, pulp-half-colored), and at maturity (77 DAA). Results indicated that total anthocyanin levels increased with berry development. The relative content of anthocyanins was different in the pulp vs. skin. Besides, Pelargonidin-3-O-monoglucoside, which unable to be produced in most varieties of Vitis vinifera, was detected in ZS-HY. RNA-seq analysis result that a total of 56 candidate genes, including 30 structural and 26 regulatory genes, were identified that putatively participate in biosynthesis pathway of anthocyanins in ZS-HY. A KEGG analysis indicated that photosynthesis – antenna proteins and photosynthesis, which is significantly enriched in response to light, is proposed to be responsible for the regulation of anthocyanin production in teinturier grapes by light. The present study provides the first transcriptomic analysis of teinturier grapes and provides a foundation for further studies that will assist in the breeding of high-quality teinturier grapes.

In order to obtain better quality TA10 pipes, the Boring and Trepanning Association (BTA) deep-hole drilling process is used. However, this type of machining leads to difficult chip removal, tool wear, and poor hole-surface quality. In this study, a deep-hole drilling experiment was conducted on TA10 workpieces using the designed tool with different process parameters, and the process parameters were optimized by machining results with multiple objectives such as chip morphologies, tool wear, hole-axis deflection, and hole surface roughness. The results show that different process parameters have a great impact on the cutting process, with a higher feed resulting in smoother chip removal and a lower spindle speed resulting in lighter tool wear and less hole axis deflection. When the spindle speed is 145 r/min and the feed is 0.12 mm/r, the machined TA10 pipe meets both the accuracy requirement of roughness and the machining efficiency.

The Brillouin Optical Time-Domain Analyzer assisted by the AdaBoost Algorithm for Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) extraction is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The Brillouin gain spectrum classification under different BFS is realized by iteratively updating the weak classifier in the form of a decision tree, forming several base classifiers and combining them into a strong classifier. Based on the pseudo-Voigt curve training set with noise, the performance of the AdaBoost Algorithm is studied, and the influence of different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), frequency range, and frequency step is also studied. Results show that the performance of BFS extraction decreases with the decrease in SNR, the reduction in frequency range, and the increase in frequency step.

Objective To investigate the impact of the use of different imaging units and projections on radiation dose and image quality during chest digital radiography (DR) in 3- and 4-year-old children. Methods Two hundred forty 3- and 4-year-old participants requiring chest DR were included; they were divided into three groups: supine anterior-posterior projection (APP), standing APP and standing posterior-anterior projection (PAP). Each group included 40 participants who were evaluated using the same imaging unit. The dose area product (DAP) and the entrance surface dose (ESD) were recorded after each exposure. The visual grading analysis score (VGAS) was used to evaluate image quality, and the longitudinal distance (LD) from the apex of the right lung to the apex of the right diaphragm was used to evaluate the inspiration extent. Results DAP and ESD were significantly lower in the standing PAP and APP groups than in the supine APP group (P0.05). Conclusion The radiation dose to superficial organs may be lower with standing PAP than with standing APP during chest DR. Standing PAP should be selected for chest DR in 3- and 4-year-old children, as it may decrease the required radiation dose.

Heart surgery in patients from high-altitude areas is more challenging than usual. Few studies have been published on this issue, and none of them have discussed the effect of an altitude change (from high to low altitude) on a patient’s physiology or its effects on a patient’s perioperative management. Here, we present the case of a 46-year-old man who was a long-time resident of Tibetan area in Sichuan (altitude >3000 m) who underwent Stanford type A aortic dissection emergency surgery on the plain. Anesthetic management occurred through monitoring of the bispectral index (BIS) and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), and we used a relatively loose fluid hydration strategy. The surgery was performed using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), deep hypothermia (DH), and selective antegrade cerebral perfusion. The most prominent anesthesia challenges for these patients are physiological changes due to habitation in an high-altitude environment (chronic hypoxemia), which can cause hyperhemoglobinemia, polycythemia, hypercoagulable blood, and even pulmonary hypertension, cor pulmonale, or congestive heart failure. Optimized perioperative management and close cooperation among the entire cardiac medical team were the key factors in the successful management of this rare case.

The magnetic antenna can receive extremely weak underwater magnetic signals, and induce the magnetic field intensity which can reach the femto-tesla (fT) level, making it widely used in underwater electromagnetic signal detection. However, even the slightest vibration in the environment transmitted to the antenna will make it cut the geomagnetic field movement; as a result, electromagnetic-induced noise would be generated, and affect the performance of the magnetic antenna. The best method to suppress the motion induced noise is to isolate the magnetic antenna effectively from the ambient vibration. In this paper, the vibration reduction requirements of magnetic antenna are identified, and the principle of vibration absorber system of the magnetic antenna model is established. A magnetic antenna damping system, mainly focusing on low frequency, is proposed by using a silicon rubber elastic element. Based on the proposed method, a magnetic antenna damping system with an attenuation rate up to 100 times is designed, and some performance experiments are scheduled. The experiment results show that the performance of the magnetic antenna damping system meets the design requirements.

Hyperhomocysteinemia is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular impairment in hypertension. Oxidative stress is important in the molecular mechanisms associated with hypertension, but there are few studies focusing on the comparison of oxidative stress biomarkers in hypertensive patients with or without hyperhomocysteinemia. The study included 50 newly diagnosed hypertensive patients with hyperhomocysteinemia, 50 newly diagnosed hypertensive patients without hyperhomocysteinemia, and 50 age-matched healthy controls. Serum levels of malondialdehyde, nitric oxide, 8-isoprostane-F2ɑ, superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxides were compared. Levels of malondialdehyde and 8-isoprostane-F2ɑ were higher in both hypertensive groups than in the control group (8.3 ± 1.8 μmol/L vs. 6.5 ± 1.3 μmol/L vs. 4.3 ± 1.2 μmol/L, P

Objective: To explore the association between serum homocysteine (Hcy) concentration and T-cell subsets from patients with essential hypertension. Patients and Methods: A total of 218 essential hypertension patients were recruited, of which 170 were H-type essential hypertensive and 48 were non-H-type essential hypertensive. H-type essential hypertensive patients were divided into three groups by concentration of serum Hcy. The peripheral blood T-cell subsets (CD3+%, CD4+%, CD8+ T%, CD4+/CD8+) and clinical features including age, sex, serum creatinine, uric acid, total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were recorded and analyzed with T-cell subsets which were counted by fluorescence activated cytometry. Results: Compared with non-H-type hypertensive patients, CD4+ T-cell percentage in peripheral blood was significantly decreased in H-type hypertensive patients. Because of the increase of Hcy level, CD4+ T-cell percentage decreased. Linear regression analysis showed that Hcy level was negatively correlated with CD4+ T-cell percentage; however, it was positively correlated with CD3+ T-cell percentage. Conclusion: A direct association between serum Hcy concentrations and T-cell percentage was observed in patients with essential hypertension. This observation indicates that T-cell subsets might play an important role in hypertension.

Elevated serum leptin concentrations are closely related to sympathetic nervous system activation in essential hypertension (EH); however, it is not clear whether or not they are associated with parasympathetic nervous system impairment in EH. Heart rate recovery (HRR) is a reproducible method used to assess parasympathetic activity. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between serum leptin and HRR in Chinese untreated EH patients. This was a cross-sectional study enrolling 471 Chinese EH patients (205 men, 266 women; mean age 63.1 years). HRR was calculated during an incremental cardiopulmonary exercise test. Simple and multiple regression analyses were used to assess the correlation between serum leptin level and HRR value. Serum leptin levels elevated with increasing BP values. Moreover, univariate analysis revealed that the HRR value was negatively correlated with serum leptin (r = −0.037, P < 0.01). In multiple regression analysis, the age-adjusted serum leptin level was negatively correlated with HRR (β = −0.268, P < 0.01). Serum leptin remained negatively associated with HRR (β = −0.017, P < 0.01) after further adjustments for factors including age, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and several factors that correlated with HRR. Our findings demonstrated that a raised serum leptin concentration is related to HRR blunt, which suggests that the role of leptin in the development of EH might be associated with impairment of the parasympathetic nervous system as well.

Existing mechanical HVDC circuit breakers (CB) are capable of interrupting HVDC currents within several tens of milliseconds, but this is too slow to satisfy the requirements of a reliable HVDC grid. HVDC CB based on semiconductors can easily overcome the limitations of operating speed, but need large number of the series (parallel) connection of electronic switching devices. To overcome these shortcomings, this paper introduces a topology of hybrid CB; this paper first describes the principle of hybrid CB; then a control strategy of fault pre-treatment is also proposed, that is, the ‘pre-action and action (or recovery)’ of the switches, in order to improve the breaking speed of the hybrid CB and the equalising circuit of its solid-state switch has been designed. The proposed topology and control strategy do not produce loss in the normal operation of CB, and instantaneous trigger solid-state switch with quickly cutting short-circuit current during short-circuit faults; at last the simulation and experiment of the hybrid HVDC CB have also been done. The results turn out when a short circuit occurs, the hybrid HVDC CB can quickly break the short-circuit current; the buffer circuit can be provided for the release of the stored energy circuit.

The glycogen synthase kinase 3/shaggy kinase (GSK3) is a serine/threonine kinase that plays important roles in brassinosteroid signaling, abiotic stress responses, cell division, and elongation, etc. In this study, we characterized seven grape GSK3 genes, showing high similarities with homologs from other species including Arabidopsis, white pear, apple, orange, and peach. Gene chip microarray data derived from an online database revealed very diverse developmental and tissue-specific expression patterns of VvSKs. VvSK3 and VvSK7 showed much higher expression levels in almost every tissue compared with other members. VvSK7 was highly enriched in young tissues like berries before the veraison stage, young leaves and green stems, etc., but immediately downregulated after these tissues entered maturation or senescence phases. Prediction of cis-elements in VvSK promoters indicated that VvSKs might be sensitive to light stimulation, which is further confirmed by the qPCR data. Constitutive overexpression of VvSK7 in Arabidopsis leads to dwarf plants that resembles BR-deficient mutants. The photosynthetic rate was significantly reduced in these plants, even though they accumulated more chlorophyll in leaves. Transient overexpression of VvSKs in tomatoes delayed the fruit ripening process, consistent with the observation in grapevine which blocks VvSKs by EBR- or BIKININ-promoted berry expansion and soluble solids accumulation. Data presented in the current study may serve as a theoretical basis for the future application of BRs or related compounds in quality grape production.

Volatile compounds are considered to be essential for the flavor and aroma quality of grapes. Thidiazuron (TDZ) is a commonly used growth regulator in grape cultivation that stimulates larger berries and prevents fruit drop. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of TDZ on the production of aroma volatiles and to identify the key genes involved in the terpene biosynthesis pathways that are affected by this compound. Treatment with TDZ had a negative effect on the concentration of volatile compounds, especially on monoterpenes, which likely impacts the sensory characteristics of the fruit. The expression analysis of genes related to the monoterpenoid biosynthesis pathways confirmed that treatment with TDZ negatively regulated the key genes DXS1, DXS3, DXR, HDR, VvPNGer and VvPNlinNer1. Specifically, the expression levels of the aforementioned genes were down-regulated in almost all berry development stages in the TDZ-treated samples. The novel results from the present study can be used to aid in the development of food products which maintain the flavor quality and sensory characteristics of grape. Furthermore, these findings can provide the theoretical basis that can help to optimize the utilization of TDZ for the field production of grapes at a commercial scale.

Approximate dynamic programming is an effective optimal control method. This article researches a data-driven approximate dynamic programming. The method is extended to a nonlinear multi-input multi-output form. Using the data from a unique 4JB1-T weifu accumulator pump system (WAPS) engine, the developed approximate dynamic programming controller is trained to achieve its optimal trade-off emission control between the nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. The convergent proof of this method is given. The second-order training algorithm is introduced to promote the robust and convergent performance. The control objective is to let the WAPS engine pass the China State-IV emission test under the New European Drive Cycle. The bench test shows that an excellent control transient performance and significant promotion have been achieved. This article presents a new approach for the engine control and calibration. In addition, it also adds another dimension to the existing literature on the data-driven nonlinear multi-input multi-output trade-off emission control of the WAPS engine.

This paper analyzes the process of in situ combustion of oil shale, taking into account the transport and chemical reaction of various components in porous reservoirs. The physical model is presented, including the mass and energy conservation equations and Darcy’s law. The oxidation reactions of oil shale combustion are expressed by adding source terms in the conservation equations. The reaction rate of oxidation satisfies the Arrhenius law. A numerical method is established for calculating in situ combustion, which is simulated numerically, and the results are compared with the available experiment. The profiles of temperature and volume fraction of a few components are presented. The temperature contours show the temperature variation in the combustion tube. It is found that as combustion reaction occurs in the tube, the concentration of oxygen decreases rapidly, while the concentration of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide increases contrarily. Besides, the combustion front velocity is consistent with the experimental value. Effects of gas injection rate, permeability of the reservoir, initial oil content, and injected oxygen content on the ISC process were investigated in this study. Varying gas injection rate and oxygen content is important in the field test of ISC.

BACKGROUND: Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction is one of the main characteristics of heart failure patients with a preserved left ventricular ejection fraction. As bilirubin is regarded as an important endogenous antioxidant molecule, serum total bilirubin levels were compared between heart failure patients with a preserved left ventricular ejection fraction and normal controls in this study. We recruited 327 heart failure patients with a preserved left ventricular ejection fraction and 200 healthy controls. Patients were divided into 4 subgroups by their comprehensive echocardiographic manifestations, 1-mild, 2-moderate, 3-severe (reversible restrictive), 4-severe (fixed restrictive). Total bilirubin levels were compared using stepwise multiple regressions adjusted for selected factors. RESULTS: After adjusting for gender, age, smoking, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol and triglyceride, serum total bilirubin levels were significantly lower in the heart failure group compared with the control group (P < 0.01). Patients in the subgroup (4-severe) showed significantly (P < 0.05) lower levels of total bilirubin when compared with the subgroup (1-mild). CONCLUSIONS: TB level was negatively correlated with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction in heart failure patients with a preserved left ventricular ejection fraction, which might provide a new insight into the complicated mechanisms of heart failure with a preserved left ventricular ejection fraction.

Large-scale wind power access may cause a series of safety and stability problems. Wind power forecasting (WPF) is beneficial to dispatch in advance. In this paper, a new extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) model with weather similarity analysis and feature engineering is proposed for short-term wind power forecasting. Based on the similarity among historical days’ weather, k-means clustering algorithm is used to divide the samples into several categories. Additionally, we also create some time features and drop unimportant features through feature engineering. For each category, we make predictions using XGBoost. The results of the proposed model are compared with the back propagation neural network (BPNN) and classification and regression tree (CART), random forests (RF), support vector regression (SVR), and a single XGBoost model. It is shown that the proposed model produces the highest forecasting accuracy among all these models.

Purpose: The G-protein β3-subunit gene C825T polymorphism (GNB3-C825T) has been reported to be associated with essential hypertension (EH), but results from previous studies are conflicting. The present study aimed at investigating the association between this polymorphism and risk of EH using a meta-analysis on the published studies. Materials and Methods: PubMed, Embase, CBM (China Biological Medicine Database), Wanfang and VIP databases were searched to identify eligible studies published in English and Chinese before March 2013. Data were extracted using standardized methods. The association was assessed by the odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Begg's test was used to measure publication bias. Results: A total of 40 case-control studies containing 16,518 EH patients and 20,284 controls were involved in this meta-analysis. Overall, a significant association was found between GNB3 C825T polymorphism and risk of EH when all studies were pooled with a random-effects model for T versus C (OR=1.09, 95% CI: 1.04-1.19). In the subgroup analysis, the same association was found in overall Caucasian (T versus C, OR=1.16, 95% CI 1.08-1.24) and Chinese populations (TT versus CC, OR=1.23, 95% CI 1.06-1.57). No associations were detected between GNB3-C825T and the risk of EH overall in Asian and Japanese people. Conclusions: Meta-analysis results suggest that the GNB3-C825T polymorphism is associated with risk of EH in the overall population, the Caucasians and the Chinese. The effect of the variants on the expression levels and the possible functional role of the variants in EH should be addressed in further studies.