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Sensorineural hearing loss and vertigo, resulting from lesions in the sensory epithelium of the inner ear, have a high incidence worldwide. The sensory epithelium of the inner ear may exhibit extreme degeneration and is transformed to flat epithelium (FE) in humans and mice with profound sensorineural hearing loss and/or vertigo. Various factors, including ototoxic drugs, noise exposure, aging, and genetic defects, can induce FE. Both hair cells and supporting cells are severely damaged in FE, and the normal cytoarchitecture of the sensory epithelium is replaced by a monolayer of very thin, flat cells of irregular contour. The pathophysiologic mechanism of FE is unclear but involves robust cell division. The cellular origin of flat cells in FE is heterogeneous; they may be transformed from supporting cells that have lost some features of supporting cells (dedifferentiation) or may have migrated from the flanking region. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition may play an important role in this process. The treatment of FE is challenging given the severe degeneration and loss of both hair cells and supporting cells. Cochlear implant or vestibular prosthesis implantation, gene therapy, and stem cell therapy show promise for the treatment of FE, although many challenges remain to be overcome.

An oxide layer can commonly be found between a void in and the matrix of metal materials subjected to remote mechanical loading. This paper presents an evaluation of the failure behavior of a polygonal nano-void surrounded by an oxide layer in an infinite cracked matrix under a remote anti-plane load. Based on the complex variable, conformal mapping and analytical continuation with alternating methods, the stress functions are obtained in series form and the mode-III stress intensity factors (SIFs) are derived. The results indicate that a softer oxide layer (zirconia) would cause a higher SIF compared to a stiffer oxide layer (alumina). The results of this investigation provide a quantitative description of the effects of an oxide layer and inform an optimum design method for metal forming.

To understand the morbidity due toAccording to the requirements ofThe prevalence of schistosomiasis is very low in China. Further surveillance including more mobile surveillance sites seems justified to identify the risk of schistosomiasis as soon as possible and interrupt the transmission route, so as to facilitate the elimination of schistosomiasis in China.

To investigate the implementation of schistosomiasis control activities in China during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, so as to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 epidemic on the national schistosomiasis control program in China.On April 2020, 3 counties (districts) were randomly selected from each of the 12 schistosomiasis-endemic provinces (municipality, autonomous region), and a questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the implementation of schistosomiasis control activities in these counties (districts) from January to March 2020. Then, the impact of the COVID-19 epidemics on the national schistosomiasis control program of China was evaluated using a comparative analysis approach.Among the 36 counties (cities, districts) sampled from 12 provinces (municipality, autonomous region), 66.67% were at a high and medium risk of COVID-19 epidemics. The implementation of schistosomiasis control activities assignment, human schistosomiasis examination and treatment, snail control with chemical treatment and health education reduced by 44.26% to 91.56% as compared to 2019 during the same time period, and the schistosomiasis control program was more affected by COVID-19 in transmission-controlled provinces. The gross funds invested into the schistosomiasis control program reduced by 23.39% in relative to the expected, while the total expenditure increased by 41.22%. In addition, all 36 surveyed counties (districts) considered that the COVID-19 epidemic had a short-term impact on the schistosomiasis control program, with the most predominant impact on schistosomiasis control activities assignment, human resources and monitoring of endemic situation of schistosomiasis.The COVID-19 epidemics affect the routine schistosomiasis control program across the endemic-foci of China. Policy and financial support should be strengthened to ensure the completion of the schistosomiasis control program.

The roles of microRNAs (miRNAs) have been widely exploited in cancer. MiRNAs have become a potential breakthrough in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Here, the regulatory mechanism of microRNA-488 (miR-488) was investigated in ovarian cancer (OC).The expression levels of miR-488 and CCNG1 (Cyclin G1) were detected by quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blot assays. Transwell assay and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers were used to clarify the effect of miR-488 on cell metastasis. The dual-luciferase reporter assay was used to verify the relation between miR-488 and CCNG1.The expression of miR-488 was reduced in OC, which was associated with poor clinical outcomes and prognosis in OC patients. MiR-488 inhibited cell metastasis in OC by blocking EMT and promoting tumor suppressor p53 expression. In addition, CCNG1 was confirmed as a direct target of miR-488. Upregulation of CCNG1 impaired the inhibitory effect of miR-488 in OC.MiR-488 serves as a tumor inhibitor in OC by suppressing cell metastasis, indicating that miR-488 has a great potential in the diagnosis and treatment of OC.

This report presented the endemic status of schistosomiasis in the People's Republic of China at a national level in 2018, and analyzed the data collected from the national schistosomiasis prevention and control system and 453 national schistosomiasis surveillance sites. Among the 12 provinces (municipality and autonomous region) endemic for schistosomiasis in China, 5 provinces (municipality and autonomous region), including Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi, continued to consolidate the achievements of schistosomiasis elimination, Sichuan Province achieved transmission interruption and 6 provinces of Yunnan, Jiangsu, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangxi and Hunan achieved transmission control by the end of 2018. There were 450 endemic counties (cities, districts) covering 260 million people, specifically including 28 456 endemic villages covering 70.059 7 million people at risk of infection. Among the 450 endemic counties (cities, districts), 58.44% (263/450), 27.56% (124/450) and 14.00% (63/450) reached the criteria of elimination, transmission interruption and transmission control, respectively. By the end of 2018, a total of 29 214 advanced schistosomiasis cases were documented in China. In 2018, a total of 11.127 6 million individuals received inquiry examinations and 2.062 9 million were positive; 7.191 4 million individuals received serological tests and 138.5 thousand of them were positive, 532.2 thousand individuals received stool examinations and 8 were positive in China. In 2018, snail survey was performed in 19 821 endemic villages and

This Letter reports the first extraction of individual antineutrino spectra from ^{235}U and ^{239}Pu fission and an improved measurement of the prompt energy spectrum of reactor antineutrinos at Daya Bay. The analysis uses 3.5×10^{6} inverse beta-decay candidates in four near antineutrino detectors in 1958 days. The individual antineutrino spectra of the two dominant isotopes, ^{235}U and ^{239}Pu, are extracted using the evolution of the prompt spectrum as a function of the isotope fission fractions. In the energy window of 4-6 MeV, a 7% (9%) excess of events is observed for the ^{235}U (^{239}Pu) spectrum compared with the normalized Huber-Mueller model prediction. The significance of discrepancy is 4.0σ for ^{235}U spectral shape compared with the Huber-Mueller model prediction. The shape of the measured inverse beta-decay prompt energy spectrum disagrees with the prediction of the Huber-Mueller model at 5.3σ. In the energy range of 4-6 MeV, a maximal local discrepancy of 6.3σ is observed.

Three female workers in a golf club production company in Guangzhou were diagnosed with occupational chronic mild benzene poisoning. Two of the female workers were assessed as Grade 7 disabilities. One female worker showed the symptoms of the decline of whole blood cells for unknown reasons in the later stages of the medical period. The final assessment was a Class 5 disability. The problems in this work ability appraisal include: the injury condition of the patient who has not been stable during the work ability appraisal, and the contradiction between the disability grade and the occupational disease diagnosis conclusion. In order to avoid similar situations, the following recommendations are recommended: after the worker's injury situation is relatively stable, the assessment will be conducted, the employer will actively exercise the right to review and appraisal, and the diagnosis of occupational diseases will be included in the evaluation criteria for disability grade.广州市某高尔夫球杆生产企业3名女工被诊断为职业性慢性轻度苯中毒，其中2名女工评定为七级伤残，1名女工在医疗期后期出现了未明原因的全血细胞减少的症状，最终评定为五级伤残。本次劳动能力鉴定中存在的问题包括：劳动能力鉴定时患者伤情尚未稳定、伤残等级与职业病诊断结论自相矛盾。为了避免类似情况，建议待劳动者伤情相对稳定后再进行鉴定、用人单位积极行使复查鉴定的权利、将职业病诊断结论纳入伤残等级评定标准。.

The analysis of the chemical characteristics of the Middle Permian formation water in 10 wells in the northwest of Sichuan Basin indicates that: the TDS of the Middle Permian formation water in Northwest Sichuan increases longitudinally with the burial depth of the formation, and the formation water is mainly of CaCl2 type (Surin classification), Cl-Na-Ca type and Cl-Ca-Na type (Shukarev classification). The rNa+/rCl− and rSO4 2-*100/rCl− of the formation water are 0.05-0.95 and 0-5 respectively, reflecting strong water-rock interaction and strong sealing conditions. The analysis of the chemical characteristics of formation water and the preservation conditions of oil and gas shows that the overall preservation conditions of the Middle Permian in Northwest Sichuan are good, most of which is located in the “preservation zone”; longitudinally, the preservation conditions of Qixia Formation are better than those of Maokou Formation; areally, the preservation conditions of Shuangyushi and Jiulongshan regions are good; the sealing property of the strata in Hewanchang region is poor.

The bitumen of Doushantuo Formation distributed along fractures has been firstly discovered in the dolomite reservoirs of Dou-3 Member in Zigui region, Yichang, Hubei. Research has been conducted using multiple methods on the characteristics of the newly discovered bitumen of Doushantuo Formation, bitumen of Dengying Formation-Longwangmiao Formation in Anyue gas field in Sichuan Basin, and bitumen of Sinian and source rocks of Sinian-Cambrian in Northeast Sichuan. The results show:①The reflectivity of the bitumen of Dou-3 Member is about 2.8%; ② The carbon number of n-alkanes in the bitumen of Dou-3 Member is C13-C33, where nC17 is the main peak; the relative proportion of the regular steranes is C27≈C29>C28, and C27, C28 and C29ααα20R steranes are distributed in “L” shape; abundant tricyclic terpanes and pentacyclic triterpanes have been detected, and the abundance of gammacerane is high; Aromatics are mainly phenanthrene series compounds. ③ The heteroatomic compounds in the bitumen of Dou-3 Member are mainly O2 carboxylic acids, and the oxygen compounds in the bitumen of Dengying Formation in Anyue gas field are close to those of the source rocks of Doushantuo Formation. The research results are of vital guiding significance to the study of potential source rocks of Doushantuo Formation in Sichuan Basin and the exploration of oil and gas from the source rocks of Doushantuo Formation.

A novel regeneration system based on direct shoot organogenesis is described for cassava. Plants could be regenerated at high frequency by inducing shoot primordia on explants derived from cotyledons of cassava somatic embryos. After a passage on elongation medium, the regenerated shoots were easily rooted in hormone-free medium and could be successfully transplanted to soil. Using the shoot-organogenesis-based regeneration method, up to eight transplantable plantlets per explant could be regenerated. The system was optimised first for one cassava cultivar, and then its transferability to three other cultivars was demonstrated. This method widens the scope of in vitro regeneration modes of cassava, and is also compatible with Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. To develop an efficient system for production of somatic embryos for regeneration experiments, conditions for inducing primary and cycling somatic embryos were also studied, and highly efficient plant regeneration via germination of somatic embryos was achieved using maltose instead of sucrose in the culture medium, and combining paclobutrazol with 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid in the embryo induction medium.

In view of the small dynamic range of the three-component high-temperature superconducting quantum interference device (HTc SQUID) magnetometer and it is easy to exceed the measurement range when working in the field without magnetic shielding environment. A dynamic range expansion method based on step compensation is proposed. By setting a magnetic compensation coil on each axis of the three-component HTc SQUIDs magnetometer probe, a current is passed to generate a magnetic field opposite to the direction of the external magnetic field to offset most of the magnetic field to be measured. The measured values are calculated and processed to obtain the magnetic field value to be measured. The test results show that the method can greatly improve the dynamic range without reducing the sensitivity of the magnetometer, which can work stably in a non-magnetic shielding environment and meet the requirements of field geophysical magnetic exploration.

Electromagnetic fields were used in twin-roll casting (TRC) of aluminum alloy 5052 (AA5052) for improvement of the microstructure and mechanical properties. A static magnetic field induces an inhibiting effect on the melt in the cast-rolling area and reduces diffusion of the solutes. It also results in more nucleating opportunities and less segregation, thus enhancing the mechanical properties. However, the static magnetic field does not change the orientation of crystal growth and columnar crystals still exist in microstructure. On the other hand, an oscillating magnetic field can refine the suspended particles and induce strong convection. This leads to more uniform distribution of temperature and solute elements, simultaneously increasing nucleating opportunities and decreasing segregation, thereby enhancing the mechanical properties. An oscillating magnetic field also inhibits the orientation of crystal growth and makes finer and equiaxed grains.

SummaryThe late-ripening peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] cultivar ‘Guibao’ was chosen in order to study the effect of different bagging treatments on the appearance, skin quality, and internal quality of fruit. Diurnal variations in temperature and relative humidity (RH) in white single-layer paper bags (WPB), white single-layer polypropylene non-woven bags (WPPB), and black single-layer paper bags (BPB) were recorded for 15 d before harvest. Bagging treatments were applied 30 d after full bloom (DAFB). The WPB and WPPB treatments continued until harvest, while the BPB were removed 7 d before harvest. Observations were recorded on skin colour and fruit quality attributes such as fruit fresh weight (FW), flesh firmness, total soluble solids concentration (TSSC), colour, skin pigments, soluble sugar concentrations (SSC) and organic acid concentrations. The average temperature and RH increased slightly in the bags. Compared with unbagged control fruit, the average temperature in WPB, WPPB, and BPB increas...

Peach (Prunus persica L.) is a delicious and healthy summer fruit in China. During 2000-2008, Sino-Thai Cooperation on research and development project between the Institute of Forestry and Pomology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences (supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China) and Chiang Mai Royal Agriculture Research Center (supported by the Department of Agriculture of Thailand) was carried out in peach breeding. This cooperation made some progress. The defoliation of new low-chilling requirement cultivars is later than the high-chilling cultivars but the blooming time is not significantly earlier in Beijing. In addition, cold resistance is not directly associated with chilled requirement. The characteristic of five low-chilling cultivars grown in the greenhouse in northern China were observed. The results suggested that ‘Desertred’ and ‘Sunsplash’ could be grown directly in the greenhouse in northern China. They are the good parents for breeding specific peach for greenhouse cultivation. To obtain enough hybrid seeds, the hybridization between high chilling (female) and low chilling (male) cultivars were done in Beijing. The hybrid seedlings were cultivated and selected in Beijing. The selected hybrids were grafted to mature plants in Thailand. At present, Sino and Thai together obtained 68 crosses in total with approximately 5,000 hybrid seeds. Approximately 3,000 seedlings were planted in the field of Beijing. Ten selections were obtained from the work by far. At the same time, the cultivated characters of a few cultivars grafted on the rootstocks with high-chilling and low-chilling requirement in the greenhouse in northern China were observed. The defoliating period of the latter is delayed and forming flower bud is easier and the time of blooming is about 15 days earlier. According to our results of the international cooperation, the cooperation model is effective and it can be a reference for the similar cooperation.

Similar and dissimilar combinations of a 1000 MPa galvanised dual phase (DP) steel, a 980 MPa transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) steel and a 980 MPa twinning induced plasticity (TWIP) steel were resistance spot welded under different welding parameters. The macrostructure, splash situation, nugget size and mechanical properties of the spot welds were evaluated systematically. The results showed that the different heat conductivities, melting points and surface electric resistances of the DP, TRIP and TWIP steels resulted in the asymmetric weld nuggets of the dissimilar spot welds and the increase in the splash occurring current in order of DP/DP/DP, TRIP/DP/TWIP, TWIP/TRIP/DP, TRIP/TWIP/DP (TRIP/TRIP/TRIP), TWIP/TRIP/DP and TWIP/TWIP/TWIP. For the dissimilar spot welding of galvanised DP1000, uncoated TRIP980 and uncoated TWIP980, the TRIP/TWIP/DP combination can obtain better weld quality than the TRIP/DP/TWIP and TWIP/TRIP/DP combinations.

Bactrocera (Tetradacus) minax Enderlein is a major pest to wild and cultivated species of citrus. Bactrocera minax produces one generation per year with a long pupal diapause period of over 6 months, which hinders efforts to obtain vast numbers of insects under standard room conditions. Determining the mechanisms of diapause is significantly important for obtaining large quantities of these insects. To characterize the heat shock protein (Hsp) genes of B. minax and to unravel their potential contribution to diapause, we performed 3' and 5' RACE to isolate the complementary DNA (cDNA) sequences, bioinformatics to examine the phylogenetic relationships, and real-time quantitative PCR to detect the expression patterns of three Hsp genes during various developmental stages. These results represent the first characterization of the three Hsp genes of B. minax; the open reading frames of Bmhsp23, Bmhsp70, and Bmhsp90 were 510, 1,911, and 1,089 bp, encoding 170, 636, and 363 amino acids, respectively. BmHsp70 and BmHsp90 displayed high identity to previously identified Hsp70 and Hsp90 genes, respectively. BmHsp23 displayed varying similarity, from 28 to 83%, to previously identified small Hsps. Bmhsp23 messenger RNA (mRNA) expression was found to be upregulated during diapause initiation, maintenance, and termination. Bmhsp70 mRNA expression peaked during diapause initiation. Bmhsp90 mRNA expression remained at a relatively low level during deep diapause. Our present results suggest that Bmhsp70 might play an important role in diapause initiation, while Bmhsp23 in diapause initiation and maintenance and Bmhsp90 in diapause regulation. These results improve our understanding of the mechanism of diapause in B. minax at the molecular level.

Similar and dissimilar combinations of a 1000 MPa galvanised dual phase (DP) steel and a 980 MPa transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) steel were resistance spot welded under different welding and heat treatment parameters. The microstructure and mechanical properties of spot welds were evaluated using metallographic technique, microhardness and tensile shear tests. The results showed that the tendency to fail in the pullout mode increased in the order of DP/DP, TRIP/TRIP and DP/TRIP welds, which was caused by the different hardness distribution, carbon equivalent and susceptibility to shrinkage void formation of spot welds for different combinations. In the study of the effects of heat treatments on the DP/TRIP welds, the pre-heating procedure improved the splash of welding to some extent. When the cooling time was larger than or equal to 1000 ms, the post-heating procedure improved the mechanical properties of spot welds owing to the temper of spot weld microstructure.

Mobile payment services has emerged as one of the prominent transaction payment methods. China is leading in mobile payment globally while mobile payment in Malaysia still in its infancy. This paper compares the factors in adoption of mobile payment among consumers’ in Zuhai, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The factors included in the study were perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, subjective norms and perceived security risk. A cross-sectional, descriptive study was undertaken on 96 smartphone users from China and 51 users from Malaysia. Inferential statistics Mann-Whitney U test was applied to compare between study variables. Spearman’s ho correlation was used to identify the association between the study variables and behavioral intention to adopt mobile payment services. The study found significant different between users’ perception on subjective norms and perceived security risk in these two city. There was no significant different for perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use between users in Zuhai and Kuala Lumpur. Significant negative linear correlations between perceived security risk and behavioral intention, and significant positive correlations between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and subjective norms and behavioral intention were observed from the study. The findings of this study indicate that the consumers in Kuala Lumpur have higher concern on mobile payment services security and greater social influences to adopt mobile payments.

The reaction of [VO(Acac)2] with 4-methyl-N′-[(2-hydroxy-1-naphthyl)methylidene]benzohydrazide (H2L1) and 4-methyl-N′-[1-(2-hydroxynaphthyl)ethyiidene]benzohydrazide (H2L2), respectively, in methanol, affords two new oxovanadium(V) complexes [VO(OMe)L1]2 (I) and [VO(OMe)L2] (II). Both complexes have been characterized by elemental analysis, IR, and single crystal X-ray diffraction methods. Complex I is a methoxide-bridged dinuclear oxovanadium(V) compound, while complex II is a mononuclear oxovanadium(V) compound. The dinegative hydrazone ligands coordinate to the metal atoms through phenolate, imine, and deprotonated amide donor atoms. The geometry around vanadium atom in I is a distorted VNO5 octahedron, while that in II is a VNO4 square pyramid. Both complexes have effective catalytic property for the sulfoxidation reaction.

Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) Middle East-Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1) is invasive and adaptive to varied environments throughout the world. The adaptability is closely related to genomic variation such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and insertions/deletions (indels). In order to elucidate the feature of SNPs and indels in MEAM1, and reveal the association between SNPs/indels and adaptive capacity to various environments, a computational approach with QualitySNP was used to identify reliable SNPs and indels on the basis of 9110-expressed sequence tags of MEAM1 present in the NCBI database. There were 575 SNPs detected with a density of 10.1 SNPs/kb and 6.4 SNPs/contig. Also, 237 transitions (39.3%) and 366 transversions (60.7%) were obtained, where the ratio of transitions to transversions was 0.65:1. In addition, 581 indels with a density of 14.1 indels/kb and 9.2 indels/contig were detected. Collectively, it showed that invasive MEAM1 has high SNPs density, and higher SNPs percentage than non-invasive B. tabaci species. A high SNPs density/percentage in MEAM1 yielded a high genomic variation that might have allowed it to adapt to varied environments, which provides some support to understand the invasive nature of MEAM1 at the genomic level. High levels of genomic variation are implicated in the level of adaptive capacity and invasive species are thought to exhibit higher levels of adaptive capacity than non-invasive species.

The heavy elements in the Universe are formed during the s- and r-processes mainly in AGB stars and supernovae, respectively. Simulation of s- and r-nucleosynthesis critically depends on the neutron capture and weak decay rates for all the nuclei on the reaction chain. The present work analyzes systematically the neutron capture rates (cross sections) for the s-process nuclei, including ∼3000 rates on ∼200 nuclei. The network calculations for the constant temperature s-process have been performed using the different data sets selected as the nuclear inputs to investigate the uncertainties in the predicted s-abundances. We show that the available cross sections of neutron capture on many s-process nuclei still carry large uncertainties, which lead to low accuracy in the determination of s-process isotope abundances. We analyze the neutron capture cross section data for the same unique isobar nucleus accorded by year from previous work. Such an analysis indicates that the s-process has been studied for more than fifty years and there exist two research stages around 1976 and 2002, respectively. The needs and opportunities for future experiments and theoretical tools are highlighted to remove the existing shortcomings in the neutron capture rates.

Vertigo is a common symptom in the clinic and impacts life quality of patients. It is closely related to the damage of vestibular hair cells. So far, there is no available approach which can facilitate abundant regeneration of mammalian vestibular hair cells, so as to recover the impaired vestibular function. Illuminating the mechanisms underlying vestibular hair cell damage and developing potential therapeutic strategies for vestibular hair cell regeneration are of great significance for the prevention and treatment of vertigo. In this study, we summarized research advances in the damage and regeneration of mammalian vestibular hair cells.眩晕是临床常见症状之一，对患者的生活质量有明显影响。前庭毛细胞损伤所引起的前庭功能障碍是眩晕发生的重要原因，目前尚无有效方法使损伤后的哺乳动物前庭毛细胞完全再生。研究前庭毛细胞的损伤机制，从而探讨促进其再生与功能恢复的方法，对于眩晕防治意义重大。本文就哺乳动物前庭毛细胞损伤与再生机制，以及潜在的再生策略综述如下。.