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In recent years, time series land cover products have been developed rapidly. However, the traditional classification strategy rarely considers time continuity and spatial consistency, which leads to the existence of unreasonable changes among the multi-period products. In order to solve the existing problems, this paper proposes a matrix decomposition model and an optimized hidden Markov model (HMM) to improve the consistency of the time series land cover maps. It also compares the results with the spatio-temporal window filtering model. The spatial weight information is introduced into the singular value decomposition (SVD) model, and the regression model is constructed by combining the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the image to predict the unreasonable variable pixels and complete the construction of the matrix decomposition model. To solve the two problems of reliance on expert experience and lack of spatial relationships, this paper optimizes the model and proposes the HMM Land Cover Transition (HMM_LCT) model. The overall accuracy of the matrix decomposition model and the HMM_LCT model is 90.74% and 89.87%, respectively. It is found that the matrix decomposition model has a better effect on consistency adjustment than the HMM_LCT model. The matrix decomposition model can also adjust the land cover trajectory to better express the changing trend of surface objects. After consistent adjustment by the matrix decomposition model, the cumulative proportion of the first 15 types of land cover trajectories reached 99.47%, of which 83.01% were stable land classes that had not changed for three years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Genome‐wide association studies (GWAS) found NTN1, NOG and the region between CREBBP and ADCY9 were risks to non‐syndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCL/P). However, the association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in these genes with NSCL/P in Western China is unknown. Subjects and Methods: We selected seven SNPs in NTN1, NOG and between CREBBP and ADCY9, and then performed transmission disequilibrium test (TDT), parent‐of‐origin effect and sliding window haplotype analysis to test the associations among 302 NSCL/P case–parent trios from Western Han Chinese. Results: We found allele G at rs4791774 in NTN1 was significantly overtransmitted among non‐syndromic cleft lip only (NSCLO) (p = 0.0067, OR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.17–2.74); rs4791774 and rs9915089 tightly linked with each other among NSCL/P (D′ = 0.87, r2 = 0.67) and haplotypes carrying the risk allele G at rs4791774 were always found to be overtransmitted from parents to cases. Motif analysis indicated that allele G at rs4791774 could greatly alter the affinity of Myc_disc7, so allele G at rs4791774 in NTN1 might modulate C‐MYC transcription to participate in the aetiology of NSCLO. Conclusions: Our study suggested allele G at rs4791774 in NTN1 gene is risk of NSCLO, which could greatly increase the risk to have a baby with cleft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Rare-earth nanoparticles in the environment and human body pose a potential threat to human health. Although toxic effects of rare-earth nanoparticles have been extensively studied, the effects on the early development are not well understood. In this study, we attempted to explain the toxic effects of neodymium oxide (Nd 2 O 3 ) nanoparticles on early development., Methods: We added the Nd 2 O 3 nanoparticles at different concentrations and recorded the mortality and malformation rate per 24 hrs under a microscope. The live embryos treated with Nd 2 O 3 nanoparticles were imaged as movies and Z step lapses with a confocal microscope, and heart rates were counted for 30 s to measure the cardiac function. The live Tg ( Flk1 :EGFP) transgenic embryos exposed to Nd 2 O 3 nanoparticles were observed under confocal microscope to measure the cerebrovascular development. Subsequently, we extracted the total protein for Western blot at 5 days post-fertilisation (dpf). Embryos were collected to undergo TUNEL staining for apoptosis detection., Results: Nd 2 O 3 nanoparticles disturbed embryo development at high concentrations (>200 μg/mL). The mortality and malformation rate gradually increased in a dose-dependent manner by morphological observation, while the Nd 2 O 3 median lethal concentration (LD50) was 203.4 μg/mL at 120 hrs post-fertilisation (hpf). Furthermore, the Nd 2 O 3 -treated embryos showed severe arrhythmia and reduced heart rate. We also observed the markedly cerebrovascular disappearance at middle concentration (100 and 200 μg/mL). The downregulated autophagy flux in brain blood vessels and increased apoptosis level in neurons might affect vessels sprouting and contribute to the vanished cerebrovascular., Conclusion: The results suggested that the embryos exposed to Nd 2 O 3 activated the apoptosis pathway and induced toxicity and abnormal cardiac/cerebrovascular development., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work., (© 2020 Chen et al.)

Background: Non-syndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (NSCL/P) are the most common human congenital birth defects with a complex etiology. MAFB has been reported as a candidate gene involved in the pathogenesis of NSCL/P from genome-wide association study (GWAS) findings, and no replication studies have been performed in Western Han Chinese., Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the associations of MAFB among NSCL/P trios in Western Han Chinese., Material and Methods: We selected 6 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs6072081, rs6065259, rs17820943, rs13041247, rs11698025 and rs6102085) near MAFB based on previous GWAS findings and recruited 298 case-parents trios with NSCL/P from Western Han Chinese population, while genotypes were done by SNPscan technology., Results: Strong evidence of an association was found at rs17820943 (p = 0.0023; odds ratio - ORtranmission = 0.7 and 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.55-0.88) and rs13041247 (p = 0.0023; ORtranmission = 0.7 and 95% CI: 0.55-0.88) among NSCL/P; genotypic transmission-disequilibrium test (TDT) analysis further confirmed this. C/C homozygote at rs17820943 (z = 3.44 and p = 0.00058) and T/T homozygote at rs13041247 (z = 3.14 and p = 0.0017) was over-transmitted among NSCL/P, which indicated they could increase the risk of having an affected baby. Sliding window haplotype analysis showed that haplotypes consisting of C allele at rs17820943 and T allele at rs13041247 were still over-transmitted among NSCL/P (lowest p = 0.0021)., Conclusions: This study further confirmed that the targeted SNPs at MAFB were associated with NSCL/P trios from Western Han Chinese population, which provides more scientific evidence for the future research and genetic counseling.