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Abstract The coexistence of sympatric species with similar ecological niches has been a central issue in ecology. Clarifying the daily activity patterns of sympatric wild ungulates can help understand their temporal niche differentiation and the mechanisms of coexistence, providing information for their conservation. The Baotianman National Nature Reserve in northern China is rich in wild ungulates, but little is known about the daily activity patterns of wild ungulates in the area, making it difficult to develop effective conservation strategies. We studied five representative wild ungulates (i.e. forest musk deer, Chinese goral, Reeve’s muntjac, Siberian roe deer, and wild boar) of the region using camera-trapping data, focusing on the seasonal daily activity patterns and effects of seasonal grazing of domestic sheep, to reveal their coexistence based on temporal ecological niche differentiation. Comparative analyses of the seasonal daily activity showed that forest musk deer exhibited a single-peak activity in the warm season. Other ungulates exhibited multipeak activity. All five ungulates differed significantly in daily activity patterns. Notably, wild boar and Reeve’s muntjac showed high overlap coefficients between the cold and warm seasons. In both cold and warm seasons, the five wild ungulates and domestic sheep displayed low overlap in their daily activity rhythms potentially indicating temporal ecological niche differentiation. The results suggest that temporal isolation might be a strategy for wild ungulates to avoid domestic sheep and reduce interspecific competition, and that temporal ecological niche differentiation potentially promoted the coexistence among the studied sympatric ungulates. This understanding may provide new insights for the development of targeted conservation strategies.

Abstract Trivalent oral poliovirus vaccine (tOPV) has been withdrawn and instead an inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) and bivalent type 1 and type 3 OPV (bOPV) sequential immunization schedule has been implemented since 2016, but no immune persistence data are available for this polio vaccination strategy. This study aimed to assess immune persistence following different polio sequential immunization schedules. Venous blood was collected at 24, 36, and 48 months of age from participants who had completed sequential schedules of combined IPV and OPV in phase III clinical trials. The serum neutralizing antibody titers against poliovirus were determined, and the poliovirus-specific antibody-positive rates were evaluated. A total of 1104 participants were enrolled in this study. The positive rates of poliovirus type 1- and type 3-specific antibodies among the sequential immunization groups showed no significant difference at 24, 36, or 48 months of age. The positive rates of poliovirus type 2-specific antibody in the IPV-IPV-tOPV group at all time points were nearly 100%, which was significantly higher than the corresponding rates in other immunization groups (IPV-bOPV-bOPV and IPV-IPV-bOPV). Immunization schedules involving one or two doses of IPV followed by bOPV failed to maintain a high positive rate for poliovirus type 2-specific antibody.

The effects of different substrates on the off-state leakage current in gallium nitride (GaN) planar diodes are experimentally demonstrated and studied by analyzing temperature-dependent current–voltage characteristics. The two devices exhibit different leakage mechanisms despite being subjected to the same process conditions. The device with a sapphire substrate shows a more intricate leakage mechanism, implying the presence of additional leakage channels compared to the device with free-standing substrates. The electrical leakage characteristics in the planar GaN-on-sapphire device (referred to as utemp-SBD) and GaN substrate device (referred to as usub-SBD) Schottky barrier diodes (SBD) can be described by two distinct processes as the reverse bias gradually increases: utemp-SBD go through the thermionic emission (TE), variable range hopping (VRH), Frenkel–Poole (FP) emission and space-charge-limited conduction (SCLC) model; The leakage conduction mechanism of usub-SBD include TE, VRH, and FP emission mechanisms. It is noteworthy that in device 1, there is a rapid increase in leakage current within the voltage range of −36 to −40 V, primarily driven by the SCLC mechanism. This effect arises due to the presence of intrinsic traps in GaN grown on a heterogeneous substrate. Additionally, in the voltage range of −7 to −50 V (348 K to 448 K), the leakage mechanism shifts from FP emission to the VRH model, possibly due to variations in the Schottky barrier height.This study provides an in-depth analysis of the leakage mechanisms observed on different substrates and offers valuable insights for the design of planar gate transistors to minimize or avoid the occurrence of leakage channels.

The C-doped P-gate-enhanced HEMT (PEHEMT) is simulated by using the Silvaco T-CAD tool. The interaction among the C acceptor trap, electron, and hole in the buffer layer at different voltages promotes interesting electrical characteristic within the device. In off-state conditions, the peak electric field position shifts from the edge of gate to the edge of drain. During the process of peak electric field transfer, the gate electric field gradually saturates, and the increase rate of peak electric field shows a turning point at 350 V (Vd < 600 V). As the voltage further increases (Vd > 600 V), the increase rate of the drain electric field gradually slows down and tends to saturation, and the corresponding saturated gate electric field begins to increase. The uniform, quasi-linear, and step distributions of three different C acceptor in the buffer layer exhibit different degrees of current collapse under 1 ms bias stress, with values of 21.8%, 12.7%, and 12.8%, respectively. In this work, we have provided appropriate explanations for the above phenomena.

AIM: To observe the expression levels of pigment epithelium-derived factor(PEDF)and vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)in lens epithelial cells(LECs)of diabetic patients with age-related cataract, and explore the pathogenesis of diabetic with age-related cataract.METHODS: Retrospectively study. A total of 30 patients with age-related cataract(ARC group)and 30 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus combined with age-related cataract(DC group)who treated at the Department of Ophthalmology of the First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College from August 2020 to April 2021 were collected. Anterior capsule specimens with a diameter of 5.5-6.0mm in the central region of the intraoperative eye were collected during phacoemulsification. The protein expression levels of PEDF and VEGF in LECs were detected by Western-blot. Quantitative real-time PCR(qRT-PCR)was used to detect the relative mRNA expression levels of PEDF and VEGF.RESULTS:PEDF and VEGF were expressed in LECs of both groups, and the relative expression of VEGF mRNA in DC group was 1.364±0.062, which was higher than that of ARC group(1.000±0.0; P

An investigation report of stonefly fauna in Benxi Manchu Autonomous County, Liaoning Province, northeast China (used to be called Manchuria, now includes Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang Provinces and parts of Inner Mongolia, which are adjacent to the Russian Far East and the Korean Peninsula). Materials were studied with field observation in 2018 and 2019.This paper records five families, nine genera and 14 species of stoneflies from Taizi River, Liaoning Province. Nine species have been recorded for the first time in China and the biology of several common species is also reported for the first time.

In order to improve the coverage and reliability of the information perception layer of the power Internet of things, a method of constructing a cross layer fusion network of low-voltage power line and micro-power wireless communication (CPW) is proposed. Firstly, a unified medium access control (MAC) layer model of CPW is established to provide basic support for realizing the integration of CPW network layers; then an improved ant colony algorithm combining Brownian motion and local convergence times control is proposed to complete the networking process of CPW; Distribute the sub-service flow of CPW, and propose the bit error rate requirement factor in the service distribution, and accomplish the cross-layer integration of low-voltage power line and micro-power wireless communication network. The simulation results show that the communication link service quality of the cross-layer fusion network is better than that of the power line and wireless dual-mode or cascaded communication networks. The communication efficiency of CPW is improved to 398.20kbits/s. The coverage of the power line and wireless communication fusion network can be expanded by setting corresponding bit error rate demand factors according to different services. It takes into account the balance of communication link quality and network load.

High myopia is one of the major blinding diseases in China and even in the world, and high myopia with cataract is a kind of complex cataract with a high risk of blindness. At present, surgery is the only treatment. Because high myopia can lead to a series of complex changes in the eye, compared with the normal axial eye, it is easier to produce the refractive error and refractive drift after surgery. In this paper, the influencing factors of refractive error after cataract surgery for high myopia are reviewed, including the accuracy of preoperative biological measurement, the choice of intraocular lens calculation formula, and the change of effective intraocular lens position.

The global incidence of high myopia is increasing year by year. High myopia is closely related to cataract, but high myopia is accompanied by special pathological changes,which make the operative difficulty and the incidence of postoperative complications of high myopia with cataract is much higher than common cataract. With the advent of the era of refractive cataract, postoperative visual quality requirements of patients are higher, and the challenges to ophthalmologists are also greater. Therefore, we need to pay more attention to the management of patients with high myopia combined with cataract. In this paper, the surgical methods, preoperative biological measurements, common complications during and after the operation of high myopia with cataract were reviewed.

The ghost dust clouds in the vicinity of Earth-Moon triangular libration points are known as the “Kordylewski clouds” (KDCs). Objects in the KDCs may give hints to the physical, chemical, and dynamical properties of the solar system. As a result, in situ exploration of the KDCs can help us understand the evolution of our solar system. This paper first summarizes the observation history of the KDCs. Based on the properties of the KDCs, a ground- and space-based observation concept is proposed, using the CAST 100 platform developed by DFH and ground stations. Some details of the concept are exploited.

Abstract Background To analyze the clinical characteristics and outcomes of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKp) and carbapenem-susceptible K. pneumoniae (CSKp) bloodstream infections (BSIs), and to study the risk factors for development of CRKp BSI and K. pneumoniae BSI-related mortality. Methods A retrospective case control study of patients with K. pneumoniae BSI was conducted in the intensive care unit of the First Affiliated Hospital, Medical of College, Zhejiang University from January 2013 to December 2014. Carbapenem resistance was defined in accordance with the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute 2016 guidelines. Risk factors for the development of CRKp BSI and risk factors for mortality due to K. pneumoniae BSI were assessed. Virulence genes were detected by polymerase chain reaction assay. Results In total, 48 patients were enrolled in the study, including 31 (65%) patients with CRKp BSI and 17 (35%) patients with CSKp BSI. CSKp infection was associated with more severe clinical symptoms, particularly a higher serum creatinine level (165.06 ± 127.01 in the CSKp group vs. 93.77 ± 84.35 μmol/L in the CRKp group, p = 0.039), but there was no significant difference in prognosis between the CSKp and CRKp groups. On multivariate analysis, indwelling central venous catheter (p = 0.045) was the only factor independently associated with CRKp bacteremia. However, the mortality of K. pneumoniae BSI patients was not correlated with carbapenem resistance. In addition, the isolates had diverse clonality and different origins. The frequency of detection of the allS and magA virulence genes was higher in the CSKp group than in the CRKp group (alls p = 0.04; magA p = 0.047). Conclusions Patients in the CSKp group experienced more severe clinical symptoms, although mortality did not differ significantly between the CRKp and CSKp groups. An indwelling central venous catheter was the only factor independently associated with CRKp BSI. The mortality of patients with K. pneumoniae BSI was not associated with carbapenem resistance. The frequency of virulence genes was higher in the CSKp group than in the CRKp group.

AIM: To research the expressions of B-cell lymphoma gene 2(Bcl-2), Bcl-2 associated X-protein(Bax)and Ki67(proliferating cell marker)in the primary pterygium and normal bulbar conjunctiva, to explore the pathogenesis of pterygium. METHODS: Thirty pterygium were surgically removed and 5 normal bulbar conjunctivas were also obtained. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-wax-embedded tissues were analyzed by immunohistochemistry with Bcl-2, Bax, Ki67. RESULTS: The mean positive expression of Bcl-2, Bax and Ki67 in the primary pterygium was 14.73%, 7.00% and 12.73%, respectively 4.00%, 6.00% and 0 in normal conjunctiva group. The expression of Bcl-2 and Ki67 in the head of primary pterygium was higher than that of neck and body. CONCLUSION: Bcl-2 and Ki67 have highly expressions in the primary pterygium, the expressions in the head of primary pterygium is the highest, the expressions in normal bulbar conjunctiva is low or no. There is no significant difference in the expression of Bax in the primary pterygium and normal bulbar conjunctiva. Apoptosis imbalance and abnormal proliferation of cells may be one of the mechanisms for the occurrence and development of the primary pterygium.

Cataract is the first ophthalmological blinding eye disease. In recent years, phacoemulsification has become the preferred method for the treatment of cataract due to its short time and small damage, which is widely used by ophthalmologists. With the continuous improvement of technology, serious complications caused by phacoemulsification become less and less. But the phenomenon of postoperative corneal edema is not uncommon. The incidence of corneal edema is especially high in patients with diabetic cataracts. This paper reviewes the concept of corneal edema, pathogenesis and the related factors of corneal edema after phacoemulsification in diabetic cataract patients.

Pterygium is one of the most common ocular surface diseases. Its exact etiology and pathogenesis are not completely understood. At present, it is considered that its occurrence and development is the result of many factors.Current studies have indicated that the occurrence of pterygium is closely related to the environmental factors.Long time exposure to sunlight,dust, pollen and other long-term chronic stimulation are the main incentive factors.Various factors have caused limbal barrier dysfunction, induced the level of a variety of growth factors and inflammatory factors increased, so that the conjunctival tissue degenerate and proliferate to the cornea in the formation of pterygium. In this paper, the research progress of the pathogenesis of pterygium is reviewed.

Background: Angiogenesis is the formation of new blood vessels to supply nutrients to tumors. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and cluster of differentiation 34 (CD34) are important signaling proteins involved in angiogenesis. Many studies have demonstrated that VEGF and CD34 are related to tumor progression. This study focused on the relationship between VEGF, CD34, and perioperative hemorrhage in patients with gastric cancer. Methods: To observe the relationship between VEGF and CD34, we tracked 112 patients with advanced gastric cancer for 5 years to assess factors related to hemorrhage, using immunohistochemistry. The results were subjected to statistical analysis using a 2 × 2 contingency table, logistic regression, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) test. Results: The concentrations of VEGF and CD34 were critically correlated with perioperative hemorrhage and neural invasion in patients with gastric cancer (P < 0.05). Expression of VEGF and CD34 was related (P < 0.05, χ2 = 6.834). VEGF and CD34 co-expression strongly increased the risk of preoperative bleeding (area under the ROC curve >0.7, P < 0.05). Conclusions: Expression of VEGF and CD34 was critically correlated with perioperative hemorrhage in gastric cancer patients. Co-expression of VEGF and CD34 could be an effective indicator for evaluating the risk of perioperative bleeding in gastric cancer patients.

AIM:To detect oxidative DNA damage marker 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine(8-OHdG)in primary pterygium and normal conjunctival tissues, explore the role of oxidative DNA damage in the pathogenesis of pterygium. METHODS: Totally 35 primary pterygium specimens were collected during surgery and 5 normal conjunctival specimens which above the normal temporal bulbar conjunctiva were collected. The expressions of 8-OHdG in pterygium tissues were detected by immunohistochemical method and compared with the normal conjunctival tissues. The difference of 8-OHdG expression between the two groups was compared. RESULTS: There were 24(69%)pterygium specimens positive for 8-OHdG staining, limited to the nuclei of the epithelial layer. No substantial staining was visible in the subepithelial fibrovascular layers. All normal controls were negative for 8-OHdG staining. The difference of 8-OHdG expression between the two groups was statistically significant(P=0.007). CONCLUSION: The increased levels of 8-OHdG in the pterygium tissues indicate that oxidative DNA damage maybe play an important role in the pathogenesis of pterygium.

The substations are important parts of modern electrical grids. In this sense, it is necessary to enhance the management efficiency and robustness of the substations. The one-key sequence control technology system could simultaneously control several subsystems and make use of their functions to automatically operate the substations. In this study, three subsystems, i.e., monitoring subsystems, error analysis subsystem, and decision support subsystem are designed in the one-key sequence control technology system. All the background information from the substations is monitored, checked, detected to find the potential threats. The decision support subsystem provides suggestive ways to handle these problems. Therefore, through the reasonable use of the one-key sequence control technology, the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the substations can be enhanced. With the development of artificial intelligence technologies, the one-key sequence control technology system can be further improved with more powerful functions.

The substations are important parts of modern electrical grids. In this sense, it is necessary to detect the anomaly and problems in it. In this paper, we study on the information detection in substations based on traditional anomaly detection algorithms. The data flow from the background information is represented by feature vectors. And those from the historical data are used to build the background references. Afterward, the feature vector of the input data flow is examined using the anomaly detection algorithm. Based on the results, the anomaly in the background information in the substations can be found and located. Then, some high-precision identification algorithms can be further employed to recognition the type of the problems. In this way, the problems occurred in the substations can be found and solved in time.

Marine microbial natural products (MMNPs) have attracted increasing attention from microbiologists, taxonomists, ecologists, agronomists, chemists and evolutionary biologists during the last few decades. Numerous studies have indicated that diverse marine microbes appear to have the capacity to produce an impressive array of MMNPs exhibiting a wide variety of biological activities such as antimicrobial, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory and anti-cardiovascular agents. Marine microorganisms represent an underexplored reservoir for the discovery of MMNPs with unique scaffolds and for exploitation in the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. This review focuses on MMNPs discovery and development over the past decades, including innovative isolation and culture methods, strategies for discovering novel MMNPs via routine screenings, metagenomics, genomics, combinatorial biosynthesis, and synthetic biology. The potential problems and future directions for exploring MMNPs are also discussed.

Staphylococcus aureus causes a broad range of life-threatening diseases in humans. The pathogenicity of this micro-organism is largely dependent upon its virulence factors. One of the most extensively studied virulence factors is the extracellular protein α-toxin. In this study, we show that allicin, an organosulfur compound, was active against S. aureus with MICs ranged from 32 to 64 μg/mL. Haemolysis, Western blot and real-time RT-PCR assays were used to evaluate the effects of allicin on S. aureus α-toxin production and on the levels of gene expression, respectively. The results of our study indicated that sub-inhibitory concentrations of allicin decreased the production of α-toxin in both methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the transcriptional levels of agr (accessory gene regulator) in S. aureus were inhibited by allicin. Therefore, allicin may be useful in the treatment of α-toxin-producing S. aureus infections.

The present study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of peppermint oil against Staphylococcus aureus, and further investigate the influence of peppermint oil on S. aureus virulence-related exoprotein production. The data show that peppermint oil, which contained high contents of menthone, isomenthone, neomenthol, menthol, and menthyl acetate, was active against S. aureus with minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) ranging from 64-256 µg/mL, and the production of S. aureus exotoxins was decreased by subinhibitory concentrations of peppermint oil in a dose-dependent manner. The findings suggest that peppermint oil may potentially be used to aid in the treatment of S. aureus infections.

BACKGROUND: Dendritic cells (DCs) release bioactive exosomes that play an important role in immune regulation. Because they express low levels of class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and co-stimulatory molecules, exosomes derived from donor immature DCs (imDex) prolong allograft survival by inhibiting T-cell activation. However, this effect is limited and does not induce immunological tolerance when imDex are administered alone. Thus, we tested the effect of combined treatment with donor imDex and low-dose rapamycin on inducing tolerance in a mouse cardiac transplantation model. METHODS: ImDex were obtained from the culture supernatant of immature DCs derived from donor mouse (C57BL/6) bone marrow and were injected with suboptimal doses of rapamycin into recipient mouse (BALB/c) before and after transplantation. The capacity of this treatment to induce immune tolerance was analyzed in vitro and in vivo using the mouse cardiac transplantation model. RESULTS: Donor imDex expressed moderate levels of MHC class II and low levels of MHC class I and co-stimulatory molecules, but neither imDex nor subtherapeutic rapamycin dose alone induced cardiac allograft tolerance. Combined treatment with imDex and rapamycin, however, led to donor specific cardiac allograft tolerance. This effect was accompanied by decreased anti-donor antigen cellular response and an increased percentage of spleen CD4(+)CD25(+) T cells in recipients. Furthermore, this donor specific tolerance could be further transferred to naïve allograft recipients through injection of splenocytes, but not serum, from tolerant recipients. CONCLUSION: Combined with immunosuppressive treatment, donor imDex can prolong cardiac allograft survival and induce donor specific allograft tolerance.

The deep scattering layer (DSL), a stratum of the marine diel vertical migration (DVM) organisms inhabiting the mesopelagic ocean, plays a crucial role in transporting carbon and nutrients from the surface to depth through the migration of its organisms. Using 18 months of in-situ observations and altimeter sea level data, we reveal for the first time the intraseasonal variations and underlying mechanisms of the DSL and the DVM to the east of the Taiwan Island. Substantial vertical speeds acquired from the Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler were used to examine the distribution and variation of the DVM. Innovatively, the results for the power spectrum analysis of the scattering intensity demonstrated a significant intraseasonal variability (ISV) with an 80- day period in the DSL. Furthermore, the variation in the DVM was closely linked to the DSL and showed an 80-day ISV during the observation. A dynamic relationship between the ISV of the DSL east of Taiwan Island and the westward-propagating mesoscale eddies was established. Anticyclonic (cyclonic) eddy movement toward Taiwan Island triggers downward (upward) bending of the local isotherms, resulting in a layer of DSL warming (cooling) and subsequent upper boundary layer deepening (rising). These findings underscore the substantial influence of mesoscale eddies on biological activity in the mesopelagic ocean, establishing a novel understanding of ISV dynamics in the DSL and their links to eddy-induced processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aluminum high pressure die casting (HPDC) technology has evolved in the past decades, enabling stronger and larger one-piece casting with significant part consolidation. It also offers a higher design freedom for more mass-efficient thin-walled body structures. For body structures that require excellent ductility and fracture toughness to be joined with steel sheet via self-piercing riveting (for instance, shock towers and hinge pillars, etc.), a costly T7 heat treatment comprising a solution heat treatment at elevated temperatures (450 °C-500 °C) followed by an over-ageing heat treatment is needed to optimize microstructure for meeting product requirement. To enable cost-efficient mass production of HPDC body structures, it is important to eliminate the expensive T7 heat treatment without sacrificing mechanical properties. Optimizing die cast alloy chemistry is a potential solution to improve fracture toughness and ductility of the HPDC components. The present study intends to tailor the Mg and Cu additions for a new Al-Si-Cr type die casting alloy (registered as A379 with The Aluminum Association, USA) to achieve the desired tensile properties without using T7 heat treatment. It was found that Cu addition should be avoided, as it is not effective in enhancing strength while degrades tensile ductility. Mg addition is very effective in improving strength and has minor impact on tensile ductility. The investigated Al-Si-Cr alloy with a nominal composition of Al-8.5wt.%Si-0.3wt.%Cr-0.2wt.%Fe shows comparable tensile properties with the T7 treated AlSi10MnMg alloy which is currently used for manufacturing shock towers and hinge pillars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gasless transumbilical extracorporeal laparoscopic-assisted appendectomy is an approach used increasingly to treat uncomplicated acute appendicitis (UAA). However, there is limited information on its clinical effects and value in the Chinese pediatric population. This study retrospectively reviewed patients with UAA treated in two pediatric institutions from January 2018 through October 2021. Enrolled patients were divided into two groups by operative technique: gasless transumbilical laparoscopic-assisted appendectomy (gasless-TULAA, n=142) and conventional laparoscopic appendectomy (CLA, three-port, n=126). The perioperative clinical data, including age, sex, body mass index (BMI), operation time, time to postoperative ambulation, time to first postoperative exhaust, hospitalization expenses, and postoperative complications (incision infection, intestinal obstruction, and residual abdominal abscess), were compared between the two groups. Operations in both groups were successfully conducted without converting to open surgery. There were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in age and BMI in the two groups. Compared with CLA, gasless-TULAA showed significantly shorter operation time, earlier postoperative ambulation, shorter postoperative exhaust time, and lower hospital cost (p < 0.001). All patients were followed for 3 months, and postoperative complications were observed in three patients: two patients in the gasless-TULAA group (one with surgical wound effusion, one with intra-abdominal abscess), and one patient in the CLA group (surgical wound infection); there was no significant difference between the groups. Notably, 38 patients initially treated by gasless-TULAA were converted because of intraoperative factors. The gasless-TULAA technique had potential benefits: shortened operation time, better outcome, and greater cost-efficiency. These superiorities are worthy of future large-scale prospective study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]