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Abstract Background The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic led to increased levels of depression among adolescents in 2019. However, the situation regarding adolescent depression in the later stages of the pandemic remains unclear. This study investigated depressive symptoms status and changing trends among middle and junior high school students from 2019 to 2023. Methods Data were collected from 9,920 middle and junior high school students between 2019 and 2023 via multistage stratified cluster sampling. Students were administered an online survey, completed the Chinese version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, and answered questions regarding basic information, such as birth date. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to examine the factors that influenced depressive symptoms. Furthermore, Trend X 2 Test and Logistic regression was employed to analyze the changing trends of depressive symptoms among the participants. Results Of the students, 14.5% and 5.8% could have and had definitely experienced depressive symptoms, respectively. Junior high school students (AOR = 1.409, 95%CI = 1.164–1.706) had a higher risk of definite depressive symptoms. Males (possible depressive symptoms: AOR = 0.803, 95%CI = 0.716–0.902; definite depressive symptoms: AOR = 0.829, 95%CI = 0.695–0.988) were less likely to experience depressive symptoms. Families with parental absence (single-parent families, reconstituted families, and families where both parents are absent), less than one hour of outdoor activity and less than eight hours of sleep, increased the risk of both possible and definite depressive symptoms. Detection rate of depressive symptoms among middle school students followed an inverted U-shape trend; it rose in 2020 and 2021 and declined in 2022 and 2023. Detection rates of depressive symptoms among junior high school students in 2020, 2022, and 2023 decreased compared with 2019 (p

Abstract The North Atlantic Tripole sea surface temperature anomaly (NAT SSTA) is critical for predicting climate in Eurasia. Predictions for summer climate anomalies currently assume the NAT SSTA phase persists from boreal winter through summer. When NAT phase switches, predictions become unreliable. However, the NAT phase sustained/reversal mechanism from boreal winter to spring remains unclear. This study demonstrates that the evolution of the NAT phase could be driven by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). When NAO phase persists (switches) during preceding boreal winter, the NAO-driven wind anomalies favor maintenance (transition) of NAT phase by causing sea surface heat flux anomalies. Meanwhile, NAT SSTA causes eddy-mean flow interaction by increasing atmospheric baroclinity, thereby generating positive feedback on the former NAO phase. The NAO phase change is leading 1–3 months for the NAT phase. These findings deepen our understanding of the interaction between NAO and NAT and provide implications for seasonal prediction in Eurasia.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted human health and socioeconomic development, posing an enormous public health challenge. Extensive research has been conducted into the relationship between environmental factors and the transmission of COVID-19. However, numerous factors influence the development of pandemic outbreaks, and the presence of confounding effects on the mechanism of action complicates the assessment of the role of environmental factors in the spread of COVID-19. Direct estimation of the role of environmental factors without removing the confounding effects will be biased. To overcome this critical problem, we developed a Double Machine Learning (DML) causal model to estimate the debiased causal effects of the influencing factors in the COVID-19 outbreaks in Chinese cities. Comparative experiments revealed that the traditional multiple linear regression model overestimated the impact of environmental factors. Environmental factors are not the dominant cause of widespread outbreaks in China in 2022. In addition, by further analyzing the causal effects of environmental factors, it was verified that there is significant heterogeneity in the role of environmental factors. The causal effect of environmental factors on COVID-19 changes with the regional environment. It is therefore recommended that when exploring the mechanisms by which environmental factors influence the spread of epidemics, confounding factors must be handled carefully in order to obtain clean quantitative results. This study offers a more precise representation of the impact of environmental factors on the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a framework for more accurately quantifying the factors influencing the outbreak.

At the altitude of low-Earth-orbiting satellites, most details of lithospheric magnetic anomalies observed near surface are attenuated, and only slowly decaying long-wavelength magnetic anomalies can be detected. Long-wavelength magnetic anomalies are generated by large-scale magnetized rocks in the Earth's crust and uppermost mantle at depths shallower than the Curie depth. Interpretation of such lithospheric magnetic anomalies has been used in geological mapping, crustal composition and structure studies, plate tectonic reconstruction, and geodynamics. To introduce the origin of long-wavelength magnetic anomalies at a global scale, we first reviewed satellite magnetic anomaly maps in early periods and calculated anomaly maps using four main lithospheric magnetic field models, including the CHAOS-7, CM6, MF7, and CSES models. Then, based on the result of the CHAOS-7 model at 500 km altitude, 29 long-wavelength magnetic anomalies with amplitudes greater than 4 nT were identified and their geological origins were reviewed. Among these, there were twenty magnetic anomalies over continents and nine over the ocean. The long-wavelength magnetic anomalies over continental areas were mostly located in Precambrian basements related to the Archean nuclei, Proterozoic terrane, and iron-rich formations, with a few located in the orogenic background. The long-wavelength magnetic anomalies in the ocean region were all located in oceanic plateau, generally related to the breakup of Gondwana during the Cretaceous Period, and have the characteristics of thickened crust. Hence, the long-wavelength magnetic anomalies reveal a significant magnetization difference in the deep crust during crustal growth, a key issue that requires further study. Compared to satellite magnetic surveys in some other nations, detecting lithospheric magnetic anomalies by satellite started relatively late in China. The China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES) was launched in February 2018. It was China's first satellite designed to monitor earthquakes with multiple geophysical payloads, including magnetometers capable of measuring weak signals from the lithosphere. The Macau Science Satellite-1 (MSS-1) was launched in 2023 and is specially used for monitoring the geomagnetic field in low latitudes. Furthermore, a subsequent CSES-02 satellite is planned to be launched in 2024. With the vigorous development of satellite magnetic surveys in China, it is expected that progressively more Chinese researchers will pay attention to long-wavelength magnetic anomalies and promote the study of their origin.

Vegetation greening has long been acknowledged, but recent studies have pointed out that vegetation greening is possibly stalled or even reversed. However, detailed analyses about greening reversal or increased browning of vegetation remain scarce. In this study, we utilized the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) as an indicator of vegetation to investigate the trends of vegetation greening and browning (monotonic, interruption, and reversal) through the breaks for the additive season and trend (BFAST) method across China’s drylands from 1982 to 2022. It also reveals the impacts of ecological restoration programs (ERPs) and climate change on these vegetation trends. We find that the vegetation displays an obvious pattern of east-greening and west-browning in China’s drylands. Greening trends mainly exhibits monotonic greening (29.8 %) and greening with setback (36.8 %), whereas browning shows a greening to browning reversal (19.2 %). The increase rate of greening to browning reversal is 0.0342/yr, which is apparently greater than that of greening with setback, 0.0078/yr. This research highlights that, under the background of widespread vegetation greening, vegetation browning is progressively increasing due to the effects of climate change. Furthermore, the ERPs have significantly increased vegetation coverage, with the increase rate in 2000–2022 being twice as much as that of 1982–1999 in revegetation regions. Vegetation browning in southwestern Qingzang Plateau is primarily driven by adverse climatic factors and anthropogenic disturbances, which offset the efforts of ERPs.

Abstract Background This study evaluates a three-dimensional (3D) visualisation design combined with customized surgical guides to assist anterior maxillary segmental distraction osteogenesis (AMSDO) in correcting maxillary hypoplasia in adolescents with cleft lip and palate (CLP), focusing on treatment outcomes, satisfaction and the validity of 3D planning. Methods This retrospective cohort study was conducted at a single hospital in China. Between January 2020 and December 2023, 12 adolescents with CLP with maxillary hypoplasia were included. An advanced 3D simulation was used to convey the treatment strategy to the patients and their families. A customized surgical guide and distraction osteogenesis device were designed. Cephalometric analysis evaluated AMSDO changes and long-term stability. Patient satisfaction was assessed. The Chinese version of the Child Oral Health Impact Profile was used to evaluate the children’s oral health-related quality of life before and after treatment. The postoperative outcomes were compared with the planned outcomes by superimposing the actual postoperative data onto the simulated soft tissue models and calculating the linear and angular differences between them. Results One patient experienced postoperative gingivitis, yielding an 8.33% complication rate. Most patients (83.33%) were highly satisfied with the target position, with the rest content. Cephalometric analysis showed significant improvements in various indices post-traction. Quality-of-life scores significantly improved post-treatment. The discrepancies in facial soft tissue between the simulated and actual results were within clinically satisfactory ranges. Conclusions Digitally designed surgical guides effectively treat maxillary hypoplasia in adolescents with CLP, ensuring stability, reducing complications, reducing dependency on operator experience, and enhancing satisfaction and health outcomes. Although the simulated results were clinically acceptable, it is important to inform patients of potential variations in the predicted soft tissue.

BackgroundThis study aimed to investigate the relationship between sleep duration and myopia in school-age students, as well as to observe the role of physical activity as a mediating variable in sleep duration and myopia.MethodsUsing multistage stratified sampling, 26,020 school-age students in Jiangsu Province, ages 7–18, were selected for this cross-sectional survey. Each participant completed a standardized interview in which their were asked about their vision, level of physical activity and average hours of sleep per day over the past month. Visual acuity examinations were conducted by the testing team’s ophthalmology professionals and they were categorized into two groups based on pre-set criteria: myopic and non-myopic. Sleep duration was classified into 3 categories: 10 h/d. The Pearson’s chi-square tests were used to examine differences in the incidence of myopia among participants. Binary multifactorial logistic regression adjusted for potential confounding variables was used to examine the relationship between myopia and a variety of factors. The mediating effects of physical activity on sleep duration and myopia were analyzed using the AMOS model.ResultsIn this study, the incidence of myopia was higher in females than in males, it also increased with age. Those who slept for 10 h/d: OR = 0.48, p < 0.01) after controlling for potential confounders like gender, age, and BMI-z score (Body Mass Index Score). Physical activity at a high intensity not moderate intensity was found to be protective factor against myopia. High-intensity physical activity also acted as a mediator in the negative association between sleep duration and myopia (a, b, c’ all p

Abstract The world’s oceans are under threat from the prevalence of heatwaves caused by climate change. Despite this, there is a lack of understanding regarding their impact on seawater oxygen levels - a crucial element in sustaining biological survival. Here, we find that heatwaves can trigger low-oxygen extreme events, thereby amplifying the signal of deoxygenation. By utilizing in situ observations and state-of-the-art climate model simulations, we provide a global assessment of the relationship between the two types of extreme events in the surface ocean (0–10 m). Our results show compelling evidence of a remarkable surge in the co-occurrence of marine heatwaves and low-oxygen extreme events. Hotspots of these concurrent stressors are identified in the study, indicating that this intensification is more pronounced in high-biomass regions than in those with relatively low biomass. The rise in the compound events is primarily attributable to long-term warming primarily induced by anthropogenic forcing, in tandem with natural internal variability modulating their spatial distribution. Our findings suggest the ocean is losing its breath under the influence of heatwaves, potentially experiencing more severe damage than previously anticipated.

Abstract Objective This study aimed to identify a quantitative index for optical coherence tomography (OCT) images to discriminate tumours from surrounding tissues. Subjects and methods Based on OCT measurements, mean grey values were determined from 432 locations on fifty-four human tissue specimens (eighteen cancerous, para-cancerous, and normal tissues each). These results were histologically evaluated by hematoxylin and eosin staining (H&E). Results The mean grey values of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) measurements were significantly different from those of the surrounding healthy tissue (p value

Abstract The architecture of magma plumbing systems plays a fundamental role in volcano eruption and evolution. However, the precise configuration of crustal magma reservoirs and conduits responsible for supplying eruptions are difficult to explore across most active volcanic systems. Consequently, our understanding of their correlation with eruption dynamics is limited. Axial Seamount is an active submarine volcano located along the Juan de Fuca Ridge, with known eruptions in 1998, 2011, and 2015. Here we present high-resolution images of P-wave velocity, attenuation, and estimates of temperature and partial melt beneath the summit of Axial Seamount, derived from multi-parameter full waveform inversion of a 2D multi-channel seismic line. Multiple magma reservoirs, including a newly discovered western magma reservoir, are identified in the upper crust, with the maximum melt fraction of ~15–32% in the upper main magma reservoir (MMR) and lower fractions of 10% to 26% in other satellite reservoirs. In addition, a feeding conduit below the MMR with a melt fraction of ~4–11% and a low-velocity throat beneath the eastern caldera wall connecting the MMR roof with eruptive fissures are imaged. These findings delineate an asymmetric shallow plumbing system beneath Axial Seamount, providing insights into the magma pathways that fed recent eruptions.

The stress interference in deep shale may lead to shale fracturing and instability and consequently results in engineering risks such as casing deformation in horizontal wells. Therefore, in the early stages of shale gas exploration and development, it is of great significance to evaluate the stability of shale fractures in advance. The stability evaluation of shale reservoir faults can be mainly divided into two categories at present: quantitative evaluation of single faults and qualitative evaluation of wide-range faults. The quantitative evaluation of single faults primarily relies on numerical simulation techniques, while the qualitative evaluation of wide-range faults primarily employs geophysical methods. Both methods are difficult to meet the needs of shale gas exploration and development. The shale fracture stability evaluation method based on 3D discrete fracture model which is developed in this article can quantitatively evaluate the static stability of wide-range shale fractures in the early stage of exploration and development. In this article, seismic geometric attributes were calculated, and fracture seismic facies was established by means of the Bayesian probabilistic cluster analysis method. Then, 3D discrete fracture modeling under the constraint of fracture seismic facies was performed to establish a discrete fracture model. Finally, according to the Mohr–Coulomb criterion, the shear stress and effective normal stress of discrete fracture were calculated by using the formation pressure data in other exploration and development results and the regional in situ stress obtained through seismic prestack inversion. And thus, the stability evaluation of the fractures in shale reservoirs was eventually completed. In addition, this method was verified by using the casing deformation points in some actual shale-gas horizontal wells, the actual small fault points, and microseismic data. It indicates that the method has higher accuracy and is better applicable to the early shale gas exploration and development.

Bioaerosols are ubiquitous and have a substantial impact on the atmosphere and human health. Despite the identification of numerous bioaerosol emission sources, the contribution of anthropogenic sources remains inadequately understood. In kitchens, oil stains accumulated at the vent may discharge microorganisms into the environment with airflow, potentially discharging bioaerosol pollution. This putative anthropogenic source of bioaerosols has been long ignored. To investigated whether kitchen chimneys can be a potential source for bioaerosols, air samples, oil stains from in/out chimneys, and surface sand samples were collected near several commercial restaurants. PCoA showed that sampling sites significantly impacted microbiomes, whereas SourceTracker analysis led to the finding that waste grease significantly contributed to bioaerosol composition. Both findings agree with the kitchen chimney as a source of microbes in bioaerosols in the surrounding environment. Furthermore, despite the low biodiversity, a high proportion of stress-tolerant and potential pathogenic bacteria and fungi were found in residual culinary grease, which may escape into the air causing potential risks to human beings. These results led to the proposal that airborne microbiota can originate from cooking waste grease. Immediate actions should be taken into account to enhance disinfection and sterilization aimed at fume vents.

ObjectiveTo describe antibiotic exposure in children and explore its association with overweight/obesity.MethodsIn June 2022, 328 kindergarten and primary school children were selected from Nantong city in Jiangsu Province. Questionnaires were distributed, and morning urine samples were obtained. Total urinary concentrations of 41 antibiotics were measured using ultra-performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry. The rates of antibiotic exposure were expressed as percentages (%), specific percentiles (P95 and P99), and the maximum values were used to describe the concentration of antibiotics. The association between urinary antibiotic creatinine-adjusted and overweight/obesity was analyzed using logistic regression.ResultsA total of 328 children were initially recruited, of which 295 aged 3–8 years met the inclusion criteria and were finally included in the study. The biomonitoring results revealed that 35 antibiotics were detected, with a total detection frequency of 98.31%. Among the included children, 24.75% were classified as overweight/obesity. Multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed significant associations between overweight/obese and exposure to veterinary antibiotics (VAs) and preferred veterinary antibiotics (PVAs). After adjusting for various overweight/obesity-relevant variables, higher exposure to sulfamethoxazole [OR = 2.35, 95% confidence interval (CI):1.17–4.70], norfloxacin (OR = 2.66, 95% CI: 1.01–7.08), and fluoroquinolones (OR = 1.97, 95% CI: 1.02–3.78) were significantly associated with overweight/obesity (p

Currently, prosthesis users rely on visual cues to control their prosthesis. One reason for this is that prostheses cannot provide users with proprioceptive functional signals. For this reason, we propose an agonist-antagonist myoneural interface (AMI) surgery. We examined how this surgery affects the restoration of motor function and proprioceptive reconstruction in the hind limb of Sprague–Dawley rats. The procedure entails grafting the soleus muscle, suturing the two tendon ends of the soleus muscle, and anastomosing the tibial and common peroneal nerves to the soleus muscle. We found that, following surgery, AMI rats exhibited improved neurological repair, shorter walking swings, braking, propulsion, and stance times, and greater compound action potentials than control rats. This means that in rats with neurological impairment of the hind limb, the proposed AMI surgical method significantly improves postoperative walking stability and muscle synergy. AMI surgery may become an option for regaining proprioception in the lost limb.

Abstract Dust and high cloud interactions are critical for climate change, primarily due to the dominant roles of high cloud in the greenhouse effect and the continental precipitation. Nonetheless, disentangling the specific impacts of dust from the overlying meteorology influence on high clouds presents great challenges. In this study, we construct a meteorological pattern that successfully reveal the intricate connection between high cloud distribution and atmospheric conditions. Through this strong bounded relationship, we find that dust exhibits notable controls over the facilitation or inhibition of ice particle growth contingent upon the prevailing meteorological fields. More dust can increase precipitation rate and shorten high cloud lifetime particularly under favorable meteorology. These findings underscore the crucial role of dust concentration in mitigating global warming for future climate change.

Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has exerted a profound adverse impact on human health. Studies have demonstrated that aerosol transmission is one of the major transmission routes of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Pathogenic microorganisms such as SARS-CoV-2 can survive in the air and cause widespread infection among people. Early monitoring of pathogenic microorganism transmission in the atmosphere and accurate epidemic prediction are the frontier guarantee for preventing large-scale epidemic outbreaks. Monitoring of pathogenic microorganisms in the air, especially in densely populated areas, may raise the possibility to detect viruses before people are widely infected and contain the epidemic at an earlier stage. The multi-scale coupled accurate epidemic prediction system can provide support for governments to analyze the epidemic situation, allocate health resources, and formulate epidemic response policies. This review first elaborates on the effects of the atmospheric environment on pathogenic microorganism transmission, which lays a theoretical foundation for the monitoring and prediction of epidemic development. Secondly, the monitoring technique development and the necessity of monitoring pathogenic microorganisms in the atmosphere are summarized and emphasized. Subsequently, this review introduces the major epidemic prediction methods and highlights the significance to realize a multi-scale coupled epidemic prediction system by strengthening the multidisciplinary cooperation of epidemiology, atmospheric sciences, environmental sciences, sociology, demography, etc. By summarizing the achievements and challenges in monitoring and prediction of pathogenic microorganism transmission in the atmosphere, this review proposes suggestions for epidemic response, namely, the establishment of an integrated monitoring and prediction platform for pathogenic microorganism transmission in the atmosphere.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a severe global public health emergency that has caused a major crisis in the safety of human life, health, global economy, and social order. Moreover, COVID-19 poses significant challenges to healthcare systems worldwide. The prediction and early warning of infectious diseases on a global scale are the premise and basis for countries to jointly fight epidemics. However, because of the complexity of epidemics, predicting infectious diseases on a global scale faces significant challenges. In this study, we developed the second version of Global Prediction System for Epidemiological Pandemic (GPEP-2), which combines statistical methods with a modified epidemiological model. The GPEP-2 introduces various parameterization schemes for both impacts of natural factors (seasonal variations in weather and environmental impacts) and human social behaviors (government control and isolation, personnel gathered, indoor propagation, virus mutation, and vaccination). The GPEP-2 successfully predicted the COVID-19 pandemic in over 180 countries with an average accuracy rate of 82.7%. It also provided prediction and decision-making bases for several regional-scale COVID-19 pandemic outbreaks in China, with an average accuracy rate of 89.3%. Results showed that both anthropogenic and natural factors can affect virus spread and control measures in the early stages of an epidemic can effectively control the spread. The predicted results could serve as a reference for public health planning and policymaking.

Abstract Background Osteoporosis is characterized by an imbalance in bone homeostasis, resulting in the excessive dissolution of bone minerals due to the acidified microenvironment mediated by overactive osteoclasts. Oroxylin A (ORO), a natural flavonoid, has shown potential in reversing osteoporosis by inhibiting osteoclast-mediated bone resorption. The limited water solubility and lack of targeting specificity hinder the effective accumulation of Oroxylin A within the pathological environment of osteoporosis. Results Osteoclasts’ microenvironment-responsive nanoparticles are prepared by incorporating Oroxylin A with amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) and coated with glutamic acid hexapeptide-modified phospholipids, aiming at reinforcing the drug delivery efficiency as well as therapeutic effect. The obtained smart nanoparticles, coined as OAPLG, could instantly neutralize acid and release Oroxylin A in the extracellular microenvironment of osteoclasts. The combination of Oroxylin A and ACC synergistically inhibits osteoclast formation and activity, leading to a significant reversal of systemic bone loss in the ovariectomized mice model. Conclusion The work highlights an intelligent nanoplatform based on ACC for spatiotemporally controlled release of lipophilic drugs, and illustrates prominent therapeutic promise against osteoporosis.

Abstract As a precursor process to cloud formation, aerosol activation over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) plays a pivotal role in regional cloud-precipitation and global climate. However, its characteristics remain unclear due to the absence of targeted observations in the TP. We conducted a ground in-situ aerosol-cloud-precipitation experiment in the southern TP (GACPE-STP), thereby unveiling the aerosol activation characteristics in this crucial region. Our findings reveal a weak aerosol activation capacity with low hygroscopicity (κ) values of less than 0.1 through multi-method κ measurements, contrasting starkly with the widely recommended κ value of 0.3 for continental regions. A κ parameterization is developed for predicting aerosol activation in this region, which can significantly reduce the overestimations of cloud droplet number concentration and hence aerosol indirect effects caused by using the recommended κ of 0.3. These findings address the unclear characteristics of aerosol activation in the TP region, contributing to the enhancement of regional cloud precipitation and global climate simulations.

Abstract The meridional overturning circulation (MOC) in the ocean is a key player in the global climate system, while continental topography provides an essential backdrop to the system. In this study, we design a series of coupled model sensitivity experiments to investigate the influence of various mountain ranges on the global thermohaline circulation. The results highlight the influence of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) on the global thermohaline circulation. It emerges as a requisite for establishing the Atlantic MOC (AMOC) and a determining factor for the cessation of the Pacific MOC (PMOC). Additionally, the Antarctic continent plays a vital role in facilitating the TP to form the AMOC. While the formation of the AMOC cannot be attributed to any single mountain range, the TP alone can inhibit the PMOC’s development. By modifying the global hydrological cycle, the TP is likely to have been crucial in molding the global thermohaline circulation.

Hourly extreme precipitation is expected to intensify with global warming following a Clausius–Clapeyron (CC) relationship. While extensive research has investigated the relationship between hourly precipitation and temperature, inconsistencies in this relationship across the diurnal cycle affect all-hours scaling. This study uses hourly gauge observations and reanalysis data from mainland China to analyze the scaling and explore its diurnal cycle for the first time. Our results reveal that 88.7% of the stations exhibit super-CC scaling, which is significantly underestimated by reanalysis data. Notably, the scaling shows a pronounced diurnal cycle and exceeds all-hour scaling, indicating that the mix of precipitation from different hours ultimately affects the overall scaling results. Over a 39 year period, changes in extreme precipitation intensity were closely aligned with dew-point temperatures throughout the diurnal cycle in inland regions. The above results provide a valuable insight into the shift of extreme precipitation to morning/night in some regions under climate change.

Located in Douala V (Cameroon), Makepé Missoké is a lowland area that is influenced by the Tongo Bassa and Ngongué rivers. The site has a closed dumpsite, that operated from the 1975’s to 2003 for the disposal and storage of domestic waste produced in Douala. Geoelectric profiling (ERT) coupled with seismo-electric imaging was used to characterize the shallow aquifer of the Douala subbasin and map subsurface pollution. Fourteen geoelectrical profiles were deployed between June and August 2018 and March 2019. Along these lines, 49 sets of seismo-electric point data were collected in December 2021. A total of 118 wells drilled (2018) were used to obtain water level and topographic data. The aquifer geometry, hydraulic characteristics, permeability, lithology and leachate plume extent were determined. This survey enables us to visualize waste infiltration and migration within Makepé. The drilled wells indicate that the main lithologies observed are clay, sandy clay, sand, clayey sand and gravel. The leachate plume observed after processing the electric profiles had a resistivity signature of ≤ 10 Ωm, and high electrical conductivity are observed in some wells. The leachate migrates within the subsurface along a northwest‒southwest trend, where ground water pollution is observed due to leachate infiltration. This infiltration resulted in poor water quality indices in some collected samples. Such pollution is common in unconfined aquifers (< 50 m) due to the absence of a confining layer at the landfill. An increase in resistivity values with depth toward the northeast direction indicates progressive vertical dilution during leachate mineralization. This study integrated geoelectric and seismo-electric tomography with basic water chemistry analysis to effectively characterize the groundwater within the phreatic Quaternary/Mio-Pliocene aquifers of the Douala basin.

Abstract Climate change is creating a new era of infectious disease crises, further exacerbated by extreme weather. However, the relationship between extreme weather and infectious disease remain unclear. Here, we provide a new quantitative study on the impact of cold wave on COVID‐19 as an example. We found that during cold waves, extreme cold temperatures coupled with rapid aerosol transport accelerated COVID‐19 outbreaks. It directly increased the number of COVID‐19 cases in Beijing by 28.1% in the winter of year 2022. More urgently, cold temperatures led to a higher risk of death during infectious disease outbreaks, with a 7.07% increase in confirmed deaths and a 16.61% increase in excess mortality. Our findings emphasize the urgent need to promote a synergistic policy for responding to infectious diseases during cold wave disasters in order to minimize the risk of death among the elderly and those with underlying diseases.

As one of the main seismic imaging methods, conventional reverse time migration (RTM) may not produce high-quality images in areas with non-flat surfaces and anisotropy because the complex surfaces have a great impact on seismic wave simulation, resulting in strong scattering waves. In addition, in isotropic acoustic (ISO) RTM, the neglection of the anisotropic effects will lead to incorrect travel times during source and receiver wavefield extrapolation. To overcome these problems, we develop a topographic pseudo-acoustic vertical transverse isotropic (VTI) RTM algorithm based on the body-fitted grid. In this method, we first derive anisotropic pseudo-acoustic wave equations in the curvilinear coordinate system. Then, the Lebedev grid finite-difference scheme is used to update these equations to simulate wavefields. Finally, we use the source-normalized cross-correlation imaging condition to realize RTM. Numerical tests are performed to evaluate the feasibility and applicability of the proposed method. The imaging results show that the proposed method can remove the effect of surface topography and anisotropy on seismic wave propagation and improve migration imaging precision.

This paper presents a robust interval economic dispatch (RIED) model for power systems with large-scale wind power integration. Differing from existing interval optimization (IO) approaches that merely rely on the upper and lower boundaries of random variables, the distribution information retained in the historical data is introduced to the IO method in this paper. Based on the available probability distribution function (PDF), wind power curtailment and load shedding are quantified as the operational risk and incorporated into the decision-making process. In this model, we need not rely on the forecasted value of wind power, which is randomly fluctuating and quite unpredictable. Furthermore, when the PDFs of wind power are taken into account, the resulting dispatch solution makes a good tradeoff between the generation cost and the operational risk. Finally, the RIED model yields an optimal dispatch solution for thermal units and the allowable intervals of wind power for the wind farms, which efficiently mitigates the uncertainty in wind power generation and provides more practical suggestions for system operators. Simulation studies are conducted on a modified IEEE-118 bus system and the results verify the effectiveness of the proposed RIED model.

Electrophysiological recordings are vital in assessing biological functions, diagnosing diseases, and facilitating biofeedback and rehabilitation. The applications of conventional wet (gel) electrodes often come with some limitations. Microneedle array electrodes (MAEs) present a possible solution for high-quality electrophysiological acquisition, while the prior technologies for MAE fabrication have been either complex, expensive, or incapable of producing microneedles with uniform dimensions. This work employed a projection stereolithography (P $\mu $ SL) 3D printing technology to fabricate MAEs with micrometer-level precision. The MAEs were compared with gel and flat electrodes on electrode-skin interface impedance (EII) and performances of EMG and ECG acquisition. The experimental results indicate that the P $\mu $ SL 3D printing technology contributed to an easy-to-perform and low-cost fabrication approach for MAEs. The developed MAEs exhibited promising EII and enabled a stable EMG and ECG acquisition in different conditions without inducing skin allergies, inflammation, or injuries. This research lies in the development of a type of customizable MAE with considerable biomedical application potentials for ultra-minimally invasive or non-invasive electrophysiological acquisition.

High penetration level of renewable energy has brought great challenges to operation of power systems, and use of flexible resources (FRs) is becoming increasingly important. Flexibility of power systems can be improved by changing generation arrangements, but the interests of some market participants may be harmed in the process. This study proposes a stochastic economic dispatch model with trading of flexible ramping products (FRPs). To calculate changes in revenue and reasonably compensate units that provide FRs, multisegmented marginal bidding for energy is simulated by linearizing generation cost, and an optimal market clearing strategy for FRPs is developed according to changes in clearing energy and marginal clearing price. Then, the correlation between prediction errors of wind speeds among different wind farms is determined based on a joint distribution function modeled by the copula function, and quasi-Monte Carlo simulation (QMC) is used to generate wind power scenarios. Finally, numerical simulations of modified IEEE-30 and IEEE-118 bus systems is performed with minimum comprehensive cost as the objective function. This verifies the proposed model could effectively deal with wind variability and uncertainty, stabilize the marginal clearing price of the electricity market, and ensure fairness in the market.

Most of current prostheses can offer motor function restoration for limb amputees but usually lack natural and intuitive sensory feedback. Many studies have demonstrated that Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) is promising in non-invasive sensation evoking for amputees. However, the objective evaluation and mechanism analysis on sensation feedback are still limited. This work utilized multi-channel TENS with diverse stimulus patterns to evoke sensations on four non-disabled subjects and two transradial amputees. Meanwhile, electroencephalogram (EEG) was collected to objectively assess the evoked sensations, where event-related potentials (ERPs), brain electrical activity maps (BEAMs), and functional connectivity (FC) were computed. The results show that various sensations could be successfully evoked for both amputees and non-disabled subjects by customizing stimulus parameters. The ERP confirmed the sensation and revealed the sensory-processing-related components like N100 and P200; the BEAMs confirmed the corresponding regions of somatosensory cortex were activated by stimulation; the FC indicated an increase of interactions between the regions of sensorimotor cortex. This study may shed light on how the brain responds to external stimulation as sensory feedback and serve as a pilot for further bidirectional closed-loop prosthetic control.

COVID-19 has posed formidable challenges as a significant global health crisis. Its complexity stems from factors like viral contagiousness, population density, social behaviors, governmental regulations, and environmental conditions, with interpersonal interactions and large-scale activities being particularly pivotal. To unravel these complexities, we used a modified SEIR epidemiological model to simulate various outbreak scenarios during the holiday season, incorporating both inter-regional and intra-regional human mobility effects into the parameterization scheme. In addition, evaluation metrics were used to evaluate the accuracy of the model simulation by comparing the congruence between simulated results and recorded confirmed cases. The findings suggested that intra-city mobility led to an average surge of 57.35% in confirmed cases of China, while inter-city mobility contributed to an average increase of 15.18%. In the simulation for Tianjin, China, a one-week delay in human mobility attenuated the peak number of cases by 34.47% and postponed the peak time by 6 days. The simulation for the United States revealed that human mobility played a more pronounced part in the outbreak, with a notable disparity in peak cases when mobility was considered. This study highlights that while inter-regional mobility acted as a trigger for the epidemic spread, the diffusion effect of intra-regional mobility was primarily responsible for the outbreak. We have a better understanding on how human mobility and infectious disease epidemics interact, and provide empirical evidence that could contribute to disease prevention and control measures.

The China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES-01) is the first satellite of the space-based observational platform for the earthquake (EQ) monitoring system in China. It aims to monitor the ionospheric disturbances related to EQ activities by acquiring global electromagnetic fields, ionospheric plasma, energy particles, etc., opening a new path for innovative explorations of EQ prediction. This study analyzed 47 shallow strong EQ cases (Ms ≥ 7 and depth ≤ 100 km) recorded by CSES-01 from its launch in February 2018 to February 2023. The results show that: (1) For the majority (90%) of shallow strong EQs, at least one payload onboard CSES-01 recorded discernible abnormal signals before the mainshocks, and for over 65% of EQs, two or three payloads simultaneously recorded ionospheric disturbances; (2) the majority of anomalies recorded by different payloads onboard CSES-01 predominantly manifest within one week before or on the mainshock day, or occasionally about 11–15 days or 20–25 days before the mainshock; (3) typically, the abnormal signal detected by CSES-01 does not directly appear overhead the epicenter, but rather hundreds of kilometers away from the epicenter, and more preferably toward the equatorward direction; (4) the anomaly recognition rate of each payload differs, with the highest rate reaching more than 70% for the Electric Field Detector (EFD), Search-Coil Magnetometer (SCM), and Langmuir Probe (LAP); (5) for the different parameters analyzed in this study, the plasma density from LAP, and electromagnetic field in the ULF band recorded by EFD and SCM, and energetic electrons from the High-Energy Particle Package (HEPP) show a relatively high occurrence of abnormal phenomena during the EQ time. Although CSES-01 has recorded prominent ionospheric anomalies for a significant portion of EQ cases, it is still challenging to accurately extract and confirm the real seismic precursor signals by relying solely on a single satellite. The combination of seismology, electromagnetism, geodesy, geochemistry, and other multidisciplinary means is needed in the future’s exploration to get infinitely closer to addressing the global challenge of EQ prediction.

The agonist–antagonist myoneural interface (AMI), a surgical method to reinnervate physiologically-relevant proprioceptive feedback for control of limb prostheses, has demonstrated the ability to provide natural afferent sensations for limb amputees when actuating their prostheses. Following AMI surgery, one potential challenge is atrophy of the disused muscles, which would weaken the reinnervation efficacy of AMI. It is well known that electrical muscle stimulus (EMS) can reduce muscle atrophy. In this study, we conducted an animal investigation to explore whether the EMS can significantly improve the electrophysiological performance of AMI. AMI surgery was performed in 14 rats, in which the distal tendons of bilateral solei donors were connected and positioned on the surface of the left biceps femoris. Subsequently, the left tibial nerve and the common peroneus nerve were sutured onto the ends of the connected donor solei. Two stimulation electrodes were affixed onto the ends of the donor solei for EMS delivery. The AMI rats were randomly divided into two groups. One group received the EMS treatment (designated as EMS_on) regularly for eight weeks and another received no EMS (designated as EMS_off). Two physiological parameters, nerve conduction velocity (NCV) and motor unit number, were derived from the electrically evoked compound action potential (CAP) signals to assess the electrophysiological performance of AMI. Our experimental results demonstrated that the reinnervated muscles of the EMS_on group generated higher CAP signals in comparison to the EMS_off group. Both NCV and motor unit number were significantly elevated in the EMS_on group. Moreover, the EMS_on group displayed statistically higher CAP signals on the indirectly activated proprioceptive afferents than the EMS_off group. These findings suggested that EMS treatment would be promising in enhancing the electrophysiological performance and facilitating the reinnervation process of AMI.

This paper investigates the impact characteristics of the 4 November 2021 magnetic storm across different frequency bands based on the electric field data (EFD) from the China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES), categorized into four frequency bands: ULF (Ultra-Low-Frequency, DC to 16 Hz), ELF (Extremely Low-Frequency, 6 Hz to 2.2 kHz), VLF (Very Low-Frequency, 1.8 to 20 kHz), and HF (High-Frequency, 18 kHz to 3.5 MHz). The study reveals that in the ULF band, magnetic storm-induced electric field disturbances are primarily in the range of 0 to 5 Hz, with a significant disturbance frequency at 3.9 ± 1.0 Hz. Magnetic storms also enhance Schumann waves in the ULF band, with 8 Hz Schumann waves dominating in the southern hemisphere and 13 Hz Schumann waves dominating in the northern hemisphere. In the ELF band, the more pronounced anomalies occur at 300 Hz–900 Hz and above 1.8 kHz, with the 300 Hz–900 Hz band anomalies around 780 Hz being the most significant. In the VLF band, the electric field anomalies are mainly concentrated in the 3–15 kHz range. The ELF and VLF bands exhibit lower absolute and relative disturbance increments compared to the ULF band, with the relative perturbation growth rate in the ULF band being approximately 10% higher than in the ELF and VLF bands. Magnetic storm-induced electric field disturbances predominantly occur in the ULF, ELF, and VLF bands, with the most significant disturbances in the ULF band. The electric field perturbations in these three frequency bands exhibit hemispheric asymmetry, with strong perturbations in the northern hemisphere occurring earlier than in the southern hemisphere, corresponding to different Dst minima. No electric field disturbances were observed in the HF band (above 18 kHz). The conclusions of this paper are highly significant for future anti-jamming designs in spacecraft and communication equipment, as well as for the further study of magnetic storms.

Optimizing the configuration of acquisition terminals can maximize the observability and state estimation accuracy of the distribution grid achieving comprehensive perception of the distribution grid. However, the existing optimization configuration methods typically target a single topology structure. For regional distribution grids with dynamic topology changes, it cannot meet the observability requirements of all their topologies. In this regard, this paper proposes an optimal configuration scheme for regional distribution grid acquisition terminals considering dynamic observability. Firstly, the regional distribution grid considering the change of contact switch is modeled. Based on the observation redundancy and state estimation accuracy, the dynamic observability index of regional distribution grid is proposed. Then, a multi-objective optimal configuration model of acquisition terminal is constructed with the objective function of maximizing dynamic observability and minimizing configuration cost. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated with the simulation model.

Abstract Climate change exacerbates the threat of water scarcity over the drylands in East Asia (DEA), the world's most densely populated arid region. The water cycle continuously supplies water to support all life. Previous studies have focused on the change in individual hydrological components over DEA; however, how the projected water cycle changes under climate warming remains unclear. We demonstrate the projected response of the water cycle to global warming in different seasons utilizing the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6. Winter in the DEA presents an intensification of the water cycle, reflected in coherent increases in evapotranspiration (E), precipitation (P), runoff, and surface soil moisture. In contrast, summer will experience a weakened water cycle in the northwestern DEA, while the southeastern part exhibits the opposite trend. From the surface and atmospheric water balance perspective, we further attribute the changes in E and P to gain a more comprehensive understanding. The increasing E is attributed to the combined effects of P and the vapor pressure deficit during summer, whereas it is dominated by P in winter. The increased P in summer is primarily attributed to the horizontal dynamic and vertical thermodynamic components associated with the strengthening and westward expansion of East Asia summer monsoon in the future. During winter, the increased P is mainly due to the vertical dynamic and horizontal thermodynamic components associated with the enhancement of vertical ascending motion and increased moisture.

The Zhangheng-1 electromagnetic satellite is the space-based observation platform of China's stereoscopic earthquake observation system. Its scientific objective is to obtain the global geomagnetic field, electromagnetic field (waves), ionospheric plasma parameters, and high-energy particles for monitoring the dynamic variation of the ionosphere and the seismo-ionospheric disturbances over China and its surrounding areas to compensate for the deficiency of the ground-based observation system. The project explores new ways of earthquake monitoring and prediction by using space science. The first test probe of the Zhangheng-1 electromagnetic satellite series was successfully launched in February 2018, and has been stably operating in orbit for more than four years. The second is an operational probe that will be launched in early 2023. The in-flight commissioning test and cross-calibration work show that the Zhangheng-1 electromagnetic satellite can provide good data quality to support geophysics and space physics studies, and has obtained valuable scientific results in recent years. The global geomagnetic reference model built by Zhenghang-1 data is the first global geomagnetic field model built using only Chinese satellite data, allowing Chinese scientists to take an important role in the computation of the global geomagnetic reference model (IGRF) for the first time in over a century. The ionospheric electron density 3D model based on Zhangheng-1 satellite data can present the ionospheric structure characteristics. In natural hazards monitoring, Zhangheng-1 has shown good response ability to disturbances related to earthquakes, volcano eruptions, and geomagnetic storms. In terms of the lithosphere-atmosphere-ionosphere coupling mechanism study, the full-wave calculation method can provide the electromagnetic field changes between the lithosphere-ionosphere waveguide and the ionospheric wave propagation feature. The results from the full-wave model prove the capability of the Zhangheng-1 satellite's electromagnetic payloads to detect low-frequency electromagnetic emissions induced from the earthquake epicenter. The simulation and observation studies suggest that the Zhangheng-1 satellite can reflect seismic activities, very low frequency (VLF) transmitter, magnetic anomalies in the lithosphere, and lightning activities in the atmosphere. These recent scientific results show that the Zhangheng-1 electromagnetic satellite is consistent with other similar types of electromagnetic satellites worldwide, indicating its great potential in scientific application.

Abstract How convective boundary‐layer (CBL) processes modify fluxes of sensible (SH) and latent (LH) heat and CO2 (Fc) in the atmospheric surface layer (ASL) remains a recalcitrant problem. Here, large eddy simulations for the CBL show that while SH in the ASL decreases linearly with height regardless of soil moisture conditions, LH and Fc decrease linearly with height over wet soils but increase with height over dry soils. This varying flux divergence/convergence is regulated by changes in asymmetric flux transport between top‐down and bottom‐up processes. Such flux divergence and convergence indicate that turbulent fluxes measured in the ASL underestimate and overestimate the “true” surface interfacial fluxes, respectively. While the non‐closure of the surface energy balance persists across all soil moisture states, it improves over drier soils due to overestimated LH. The non‐closure does not imply that Fc is always underestimated; Fc can be overestimated over dry soils despite the non‐closure issue.

Introduction: Synthetic hydroxyapatite (HAp) scaffolds have shown promising therapeutic outcomes in both animals and patients. In this study, we aim to evaluate the chemical and physical phenotype, biocompatibility, and bone repair effects of hydrothermally treated coral with natural coral and synthetic HAp.Methods: The phase composition, surface pattern, 3D structures, and porosity of the scaffolds were characterized, and cell viability, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) after seeding onto the scaffold were determined. The scaffolds were implanted into rats to assess their bone repair effects using micro-CT analysis, mechanical testing, and histological staining.Results: The results showed that the phase composition, porous structure, and porosity of hydrothermally treated coral were comparable to pure HAp scaffold. While only the natural coral happens to be dominantly calcium carbonate. Higher cell proliferation and osteogenic differentiation potential were observed in the hydrothermally treated coral scaffold compared to natural coral and pure HAp. Histological results also showed increased new bone formation in the hydrothermally treated coral group.Discussion: Overall, our study suggests that hydrothermal modification enhances the cytocompatibility and therapeutic capacity of coral without altering its physical properties, showing superior effectiveness in bone repair to synthetic HAp.

Abstract The single-scattering albedo (SSA) of atmospheric aerosols is a key parameter that controls aerosol radiative effects. The variation of SSA is thought to be mainly regulated by aerosol absorption in the Himalayas and South Asia, but observations contradict this idea. In situ field campaigns conducted over two Himalayan sites revealed that SSA was strongly dependent on scattering but weakly correlated with absorption. Observational results combined with the Mie theory further illustrated that SSA was primarily modulated by size distribution rather than absorption. Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) data showed similar impacts of size distribution on SSA and that aerosol radiative forcing efficiencies were significantly dependent on SSA. Aerosol size distribution therefore considerably affects radiative forcing by modulating aerosol SSA over the Himalayas. This study highlighted the influence of aerosol size distribution on radiative forcing over the Himalayas, which has important implications for understanding aerosol radiative effects globally.

Abstract Licorice, a traditional Chinese medicine, has been widely used for the treatment of COVID-19, but all active compounds and corresponding targets are still not clear. Therefore, this study proposed a deep learning-based network pharmacology approach to identify more potential active compounds and targets of licorice. 4 compounds (quercetin, naringenin, liquiritigenin, and licoisoflavanone), 2 targets (SYK and JAK2) and the relevant pathways (P53, cAMP, and NF-kB) were predicted, which were confirmed by previous studies to be associated with SARS-CoV-2-infection. In addition, 2 new active compounds (glabrone and vestitol) and 2 new targets (PTEN and MAP3K8) were further validated by molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations (simultaneous molecular dynamics), as well as the results showed that these active compounds bound well to COVID-19 related targets, including the main protease (Mpro), the spike protein (S-protein) and the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Overall, in this study, glabrone and vestitol from licorice were found to inhibit viral replication by inhibiting the activation of Mpro, S-protein and ACE2; related compounds in licorice may reduce the inflammatory response and inhibit apoptosis by acting on PTEN and MAP3K8. Therefore, licorice has been proposed as an effective candidate for the treatment of COVID-19 through PTEN, MAP3K8, Mpro, S-protein and ACE2.

On May 21, a Ms6.4 earthquake occurred in Yangbi, Yunnan Province. Less than 5 ​h later, on May 21, follows a Ms7.4 earthquake in Madoi, Qinghai Province. In this study, multiple parameters are studied from CSES-01 satellite and GNSS. The parameters include the electron density from LAP, energetic particle flux from HEPP, electric field spectrum from EFD, induced magnetic field spectrum from SCM, and global TEC from ground-based GNSS receivers. In the time scale, all parameters changed on May 15, 17 and 18. The relative amplitude of Ne is more than 200%. In space scale, the clear enhancement focus on the southeast of the epicenter of Madoi, Qinghai, and the shape of the focus region is like a clockwise-30°-rotated rectangle, which is about 45° in length and 20° in width. Moreover, there appeared enhancement in the conjugated region. According to the day-to-day analysis of the low-frequency (75–90 Hz) spectrum of EFD and SCM payloads, the relationship of the increment on May 18 could be confirmed with the successive two earthquakes. The energetic particle fluxes enhanced on May 20. All those changes are located in the east of the following epicenter and appeared just several days before, which could be well explained by the Lithosphere-Atmosphere-Ionosphere theory.

The accurate simulation of anisotropic media is critical in seismic imaging and inversion. In recent years, some scholars have dedicated efforts to the study of precise elastic waves in anisotropic media; however, it is easy to separate P-wave and S-wave from elastic wave fields in isotropic media but difficult to separate them in anisotropic media. To address this issue, others have proposed pseudo-pure-wave equations based on the theory of wave-mode separation, but shear wave interference still exists. Therefore, we derived the first-order pure quasi-P-wave equation with no shear wave component in orthorhombic anisotropic media (ORT) which is common in the Earth’s crust and has very important research value. The presence of a pseudodifferential operator in the equation poses a challenge for solving. In order to solve the pure wave equation, we decomposed the original pseudodifferential operator into an elliptic differential operator and a scalar operator, both of which are easily solvable. In addition, we extended the equation from ORT media to tilted ORT (TORT) media. The example results indicate that our pure quasi-P-wave equation can yield a more stable and accurate P-wave field. The pure wave equation we propose can be applied in reverse time migration (RTM), the least squares RTM (LSRTM), and even the full waveform inversion (FWI).

ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of total contact casts (TCCs) versus removable offloading interventions among patients with diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs).MethodsA comprehensive search was done in databases Embase, Cochrane Library, and, PubMed. The references of retrieved articles were reviewed, up until February 2023. Controlled trials comparing the effects of TCCs with removable offloading interventions (removable walking casts and footwear) in patients with DFUs were eligible for review.ResultsTwelve studies were included in the meta-analysis, involving 591 patients with DFUs. Among them, 269 patients were in the intervention group (TCC), and 322 in the control group (removable walking casts/footwear). The analysis revealed that the TCC group had higher healing rates (Risk Ratio(RR)=1.22; 95% confidence interval(CI):1.11 to 1.34, p

Abstract The Tibetan Plateau (TP) precipitation is experiencing the north‐south dipole tendency pattern since 1979. In this study, we identify four primary seasonally evolving patterns (SEPs) that explain approximately 50% of the total variance in precipitation variability over the TP. These SEPs contribute 60%–90% of the spatial mean amplitude of precipitation trends across seasons. In particular, the second SEP that features a north‐south dipole pattern dominates the annual mean trend of the precipitation over the TP. The interdecadal variability of the seasonally evolving north‐south dipole pattern is linked to the interdecadal variations of summer Silk Road Pattern and Indian monsoon. These findings suggest that the climate variability expressed through SEPs could potentially serve as a significant source for the interdecadal rainfall prediction.

Glioblastoma (GBM) poses a significant challenge in clinical oncology due to its aggressive nature, heterogeneity, and resistance to therapies. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) play a critical role in GBM, particularly in treatment resistance and tumor relapse, emphasizing the need to comprehend the mechanisms regulating these cells. Also, their multifaceted contributions to the tumor microenvironment (TME) underline their significance, driven by their unique properties. This study aimed to characterize glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs), specifically slow-cycling cells (SCCs), in an immunocompetent murine GBM model to explore their similarities with their human counterparts. Using the KR158 mouse model, we confirmed that SCCs isolated from this model exhibited key traits and functional properties akin to human SCCs. KR158 murine SCCs, expanded in the gliomasphere assay, demonstrated sphere forming ability, self-renewing capacity, positive tumorigenicity, enhanced stemness and resistance to chemotherapy. Together, our findings validate the KR158 murine model as a framework to investigate GSCs and SCCs in GBM pathology, and explore specifically the SCC–immune system communications, understand their role in disease progression, and evaluate the effect of therapeutic strategies targeting these specific connections.

In seismic modeling and reverse time migration (RTM), incorporating anisotropy is crucial for accurate wavefield modeling and high-quality images. Due to the trade-off between computational cost and simulation accuracy, the pure quasi-P-wave equation has good accuracy to describe wave propagation in tilted transverse isotropic (TTI) media. However, it involves a fractional pseudo-differential operator that depends on the anisotropy parameters, making it unsuitable for resolution using conventional solvers for fractional operators. To address this issue, we propose a novel pure quasi-P-wave equation with a generalized fractional convolution operator in TTI media. First, we decompose the conventional pure quasi-P-wave equation into an elliptical anisotropy equation and a fractional pseudo-differential correction term. Then, we use a generalized fractional convolution stencil to approximate the spatial-domain pseudo-differential term through the solution of an inverse problem. The proposed approximation method is accurate, and the wavefield modeling method based on it also accurately describes quasi-P-wave propagation in TTI media. Moreover, it only increases the computational cost for calculating mixed partial derivatives compared to those in vertical transverse isotropic (VTI) media. Finally, the proposed wavefield modeling method is utilized in RTM to correct the anisotropic effects in seismic imaging. Numerical RTM experiments demonstrate the flexibility and viability of the proposed method.

Under global warming, seasonal snow takes faster melting rate than before, which greatly changes the hydrological cycle. In this study, by targeting three typical seasonal snow-covered land types (i.e., open shrubland, evergreen needleleaf forest and mixed forest) in the Northern Hemisphere, the start of growing season (SGS) has been found obviously advanced in the past years, greatly contributed by the faster melting rate of seasonal snow. It is manifested that significantly positive correlation has been found between SGS and May snow depth for open shrubs, March and April snow depth for evergreen needleleaf forests and March snow depth for mixed forests. However, such close association is not appeared in all the climate conditions of same vegetation. In the future, as the rate of melting snow becomes faster in the high emission of greenhouse gasses than the current situation, continuously advanced SGS will accelerate the change of vegetation distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. These findings offer insights into understanding the effect from seasonal snow on vegetation and promote the sustainable utilization of regional vegetation in the Northern Hemisphere.