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Abstract Background Accurate assessment of basal bone width is essential for distinguishing individuals with normal occlusion from patients with maxillary transverse deficiency who may require maxillary expansion. Herein, we evaluated the effectiveness of a deep learning (DL) model in measuring landmarks of basal bone width and assessed the consistency of automated measurements compared to manual measurements. Methods Based on the U-Net algorithm, a coarse-to-fine DL model was developed and trained using 80 cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images. The model’s prediction capabilities were validated on 10 CBCT scans and tested on an additional 34. To evaluate the performance of the DL model, its measurements were compared with those taken manually by one junior orthodontist using the concordance correlation coefficient (CCC). Results It took approximately 1.5 s for the DL model to perform the measurement task in only CBCT images. This framework showed a mean radial error of 1.22 ± 1.93 mm and achieved successful detection rates of 71.34%, 81.37%, 86.77%, and 91.18% in the 2.0-, 2.5-, 3.0-, and 4.0-mm ranges, respectively. The CCCs (95% confidence interval) of the maxillary basal bone width and mandibular basal bone width distance between the DL model and manual measurement for the 34 cases were 0.96 (0.94–0.97) and 0.98 (0.97–0.99), respectively. Conclusion The novel DL framework developed in this study improved the diagnostic accuracy of the individual assessment of maxillary width. These results emphasize the potential applicability of this framework as a computer-aided diagnostic tool in orthodontic practice.

Abstract Aims/Introduction Our aim was to investigate the optimal fasting glucose (FPG) range in Chinese older adults with type 2 diabetes, and to clarify whether the optimal range varies according to the control of risk factors. Materials and Methods The baseline survey for the cohort study began in 2018, with follow up ending in 2022. Our study enrolled 59,030 older diabetes patients with no history of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Participants were divided into nine groups based on their baseline glycemic status. The association between FPG and the risk of adverse outcomes was mainly estimated by multivariate Cox proportional risk models and restricted spline analysis. Results During the 4‐year follow‐up period, a total of 5,637 deaths and 4,904 CVD events occurred. The associations of FPG with mortality and CVD events showed J‐shaped curves. Among all‐cause deaths, the hazard ratios for FPG ≤4.50 and >11.50 mmol/L were 1.50 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.31–1.71) and 1.84 (95% CI 1.67–2.02). Among CVD, the hazard ratios for FPG ≤4.50 and >11.50 mmol/L were 1.31 (95% CI 1.13–1.53) and 1.71 (95% CI 1.54–1.89), respectively. The optimal FPG ranges of all‐cause mortality and CVD were 5.50–7.50 and 4.50–7.50 mmol/L, respectively. For participants with at least two risk factors, the optimal FPG levels were higher than those with fewer risk factors. Conclusions In older Chinese diabetes patients, the FPG ranges related to the minimum death and CVD event rates were 5.50–7.50 and 4.50–7.50 mmol/L, respectively. Patients with more cardiovascular risk factors had higher optimal blood glucose ranges than those with fewer risk factors.

Typhoon disaster factors show multiplicity, so the risk assessment of typhoon-related disasters is more difficult than other hazards. Using the typhoon precipitation and maximum wind speed data of 81 national meteorological stations and 1 035 regional automatic meteorological stations in Anhui Province, a comprehensive typhoon wind and rain intensity index is first constructed. Then the typhoon wind and rain intensity index and disaster pregnant environment impact coefficient are used to assess the risk of typhoon disasters. According to the theory of natural disaster risk assessment, the risk assessment of housing damage by typhoon disaster in Anhui Province is conducted by integrating disaster-causing hazards, exposure level and vulnerability of disaster-bearing bodies. The results show that Anhui Province is affected by about 1.9 typhoons per year on average, with a duration of 2-4 days. The results are as follows. The southern part and mountainous areas usually have more typhoon precipitation than the northern part and plain areas. The high-hazard region caused by typhoon disasters is mainly located in the southern mountainous and Dabie Mountains in Anhui Province, with the relatively high-hazard region in the east of Jianghuai region, and the low-hazard area in most of the regions to the north of the Huaihe River and in the northwest of Jianghuai region. The high and relatively high-risk area of housing damage caused by typhoon disasters is located in the Dabie Mountains, the eastern part of the Jianghuai region, and the southern mountainous area in Anhui Province. These areas are generally high in elevation, and easily suffer from geological disasters and mountain floods during typhoon transit. In addition, the vulnerability of houses is high, which further causes a high risk of house collapse and damage. The medium-risk region is scattered in the Huaihe River region and Jiangnan region. Lower and low-risk areas are located in the central and western parts to the north of the Huaihe River, regions along the Yangtze River, and main urban areas. Using reports on house damage caused by typhoons from different counties in Anhui Province, the zoning results are verified through spatial consistency and scatter correlation. A high degree of spatial consistency between the risk zoning results and the actual damage, with scatter correlation between them passing a significance test of 0.01, indicating that the risk zoning results of housing damage by typhoon disaster in Anhui Province are basically consistent with the actual situation.

The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is rising globally, increasing interest in food ingredients for its prevention and control. This study evaluated the effect of farnesol (FAR), a key component of pomelo flower volatile oil, on dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis in C57BL/6 mice. FAR significantly alleviated DSS-induced colitis and secondary liver injury, as shown by improved body weight, DAI, colon length, and pathology, as well as liver function and blood lipid indices. The mechanism involves FAR-mediated regulation of inflammatory cytokines, increased expression of tight junction protein genes, and decreased expression of lipid metabolism-related proteins. FAR also enhanced gut microbiota diversity, balancing harmful and probiotic bacteria. Fecal metabolome analysis indicated FAR's role in reversing metabolic disturbances related to inflammation and liver lipid metabolism. These findings support developing functional foods for IBD treatment using pomelo flower volatile oil.

Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), a widely used plasticizer, could cause male reproductive toxicity by disrupting spermatogenesis. Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) are a small non-coding RNAs specifically highly expressed in the germline and interact with PIWI proteins to regulate spermatogenesis. Accumulating studies have confirmed that environmental poisons could induce male reproductive injury via altering piRNA expression. However, it remains unclear whether DEHP causes male reproductive dysfunction by perturbing piRNA expression levels. In this study, we conducted piRNA microarray expression analyses on testes of DEHP-exposed and control male rats and performed some in vitro and in vivo studies to explore the role of piRNA on DEHP-induced male reproductive toxicity. Our results showed that DEHP exposure leaded to changed expression profiles of piRNAs in pubertal male rat testes. And bioinformatics analyses revealed that down-regulated piR-rno-26751 probably targeted Insr mRNA expression regulation. Results from gene and protein expression tests demonstrated that DEHP caused decreased expression level of INSR mainly in spermatogonia. Moreover, MEHP, the main metabolite of DEHP resulted in cell apoptosis and down-regulation of INSR and its downstream p-IRS1, p-PI3K, p-AKT and p-FOXO1 in GC-1spg cells. Conversely, overexpression of INSR restored cell apoptosis and the down-regulation of the above proteins in GC-1spg cells. In conclusion, these findings suggest that DEHP-induced down-regulation of piR-rno-26751 targets the suppression of INSR, leading to apoptosis of spermatogonia in pubertal male rats.

In this paper, the 15 min refined power load data、daily temperature and precipitation data of Wuhan from 2013 to 2018 are used to calculate out and analyse the characteristic indexes of power load, with the internal composition and changing law being explored. The results show that: (1) the power load and the daily load peak-valley difference in Wuhan have been broken for new records in recent years, the duration and intensity of high temperature have the most significant impact on air conditioning load in summer. The power load shows obvious "double peak and double valley" characteristics with the season. (2) The power load is much higher in summer than in other seasons, followed by winter. The distributions of diurnal variation characteristics are "high in the day and low in the night" in four seasons. (3) The power load of working days and weekends is significantly higher than that in holidays, and the power load is slightly higher on weekdays than on weekends the morning peak load is the largest on workdays, while the evening peak load is the largest on weekends and holidays. (4) Meteorological factors have an important impact on the electricity consumption of the whole society, and the relationship between meteorological sensitive load and daily average temperature is most significant in summer. When the average temperature is higher than the initial and sensitive value, the power load increases more obviously with the temperature rise. (5) No matter there is precipitation or not, the relationship between meteorological sensitive load and daily average temperature in summer is very close. Without precipitation, the power load has the best correlation with daily average temperature; the correlation between meteorological sensitive load and daily average temperature shows a downward trend in a rainy day, which reflects that the physical processes and mechanisms of precipitation can affect temperature and hence power load.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has attracted much attention worldwide due to its prevalence. In this study, the effect of a solid-in-oil-in-water (S/O/W) emulsion with Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE, a polyphenolic active ingredient in propolis) on dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis in C57BL/6 mice was evaluated. The results showed that CAPE-emulsion could significantly alleviate DSS-induced colitis through its effects on colon length, reduction in the disease activity index (DAI), and colon histopathology. The results of ELISA and Western blot analysis showed that CAPE-emulsion can down-regulate the excessive inflammatory cytokines in colon tissue and inhibit the expression of p65 in the NF-κB pathway. Furthermore, CAPE-emulsion promoted short-chain fatty acids production in DSS-induced colitis mice. High-throughput sequencing results revealed that CAPE-emulsion regulates the imbalance of gut microbiota by enhancing diversity, restoring the abundance of beneficial bacteria (such as Odoribacter), and suppressing the abundance of harmful bacteria (such as Afipia, Sphingomonas). The results of fecal metabolome showed that CAPE-emulsion restored the DSS-induced metabolic disorder by affecting metabolic pathways related to inflammation and cholesterol metabolism. These research results provide a scientific basis for the use of CPAE-emulsions for the development of functional foods for treating IBD.

Magnesium and its alloy have good mechanical properties and biodegradability, and have become the hotspot of the next-generation biodegradable vascular stent materials. However, their rapid degradation in vivo and poor biocompatibility are still the bottlenecks of clinical applications for the cardiovascular stents. In particular, how to induce the repair and regeneration of the vascular endothelial with normal physiological functions on the surface of the magnesium alloy stent materials represents the key to its clinical application in the field of cardiovascular stents. It has been believed that it is an ideal way to completely solve the postoperative complications through constructing the multifunctional anti-corrosive bioactive coating on the magnesium alloy surface to induce the formation of vascular endothelium with normal physiological functions. However, how to construct a corrosion-resistant multifunctional bioactive coating with the good endothelial regeneration abilities on the magnesium alloy surface still faces a great challenge. This paper mainly focused on highlighting and summarizing the recent advances in the surface endothelialization of the magnesium alloy materials for the vascular stent, including the bio-inert coating, in-situ immobilization of bioactive molecules on the surface, polymer coating loaded with bioactive factors, novel multifunctional polymer coating, bioactive micropatterns, bioactive layer with glycocalyx-like structure, NO-releasing coating and bioactive sol-gel coating. The advantages and disadvantages of these strategies were discussed and analyzed. Finally, in the senses of future development and clinical application, this paper analyzed and summarized the development direction and prospect of surface endothelialization of the magnesium alloy vascular stents. It is anticipated that this review can give the new cues to the surface endothelialization of the cardiovascular magnesium alloy stents and promote future advancements in this field.

The distribution of wetland ecosystem restoration sites is uneven and resources are limited, so priority identification is essential for rational resource allocation and reduction of biodiversity loss. Under the influence of human activities and climate variability, the water level during the middle of dry season (MDS) had a significant tendency to increase in Poyang Lake (PYL) and Dongting Lake (DTL), which directly affected the habitat suitability (HS) of migratory birds and threatened their existence. Based on the data of HS and weight of migratory birds, four evaluation indexes, namely, the accuracy of priority identification (API), geographical area equalization (GAE), the spatial autocorrelation consistency (SAC) and comprehensive evaluation index (CEI), were used to evaluate and compare the priorities identification effects of four classification methods, namely, natural breaks method, quantile method, equal interval method, and geometric interval method. The results showed that the geometric interval method and the quantile method are the best methods to identify the priority of habitat restoration of migratory birds in PYL and DTL wetlands, respectively, under the condition of increased water level (IWL) during the MDS. The method of priority identification proposed in this study and its results can provide a scientific basis for the regulation of wetland resources and the conservation of biodiversity (especially migratory birds).

Abstract Introduction Three‐dimensional (3D) structures of MHC class I exert some influence by the MHC–peptide interaction over host resistance to the virus. The thesis aims at studying the connection between MHC–peptide interaction of B2/B21 haplotype and MHC‐related resistance to the virus. Methods The structure of chicken MHC class I BF2*0201 from B2 haplotype was studied and contrasted with that of BF2*2101 from B21 haplotype by using DNAMAN and PyMol software. Results The amino acid difference resulted in the difference in size and changeability of the binding groove of the two, resulting in different choices on the binding polypeptide. 3bew's (the crystal structure of BF2*2101 bound to peptide RV10) small side chain His111 replaces the short side chain Tyr111 of 4cvx (the crystal structure of BF2*0201 bound to peptide YL9), and the very small amino acid of Ser69 and Ser97 make the middle of the 3bew's binding groove become apparently broad and bound restrictive of amino acid smaller. Moreover, due to the specific amino acids—Arg9, Asp24, and Asp73 of 4cvx and Arg9, Asp24, and His111 of 3bew, the effect of the polypeptide and the binding groove differ between the two, and 3bew tends to bind polypeptides with negatively charged amino acids, but the large space in the middle can also accommodate other amino acids. Contrasted with the binding groove characteristic of 4cvx, it can be said that the selectivity of 3bew is higher than that of 4cvx in the amino acid type of the binding polypeptide, so the B21 haplotype has more host resistance to the virus than that of the B2 haplotype in chicken. Conclusion There are usually various kinds of peptides presented by the BF2*2101 molecules of B21 haplotypes, resulting in resistance to pathogenic microorganisms, such as Rous sarcoma virus and/or Marek's disease virus. These findings may have an important theoretical foundation for screening of virus antigen, vaccine design, and genetic resistance breeding.

This paper presents a study of the terminal settling velocity and drag coefficient of the Oncomelanias with highly irregular shape in the range of particle Reynolds number (10 < Rep < 600). The movement characteristics of the Oncomelanias with horizontal and slant postures are revealed using image analysis and wavelet analysis. The shape features of Oncomelanias with different dimensions are quantified and formulated. The authors propose a new model for predicting the drag coefficient of the dormant and active Oncomelanias, which is proven to be better than several widely-used formulas. Further, a simple settling velocity model that can predict the terminal velocity of the Oncomelanias fairly with several easy-to-measure parameters is developed. These findings provide a basis for the further improvement for the hydraulic schistosomiasis control project and supply reference for the settling characteristics and drag coefficient of cone-shaped particles.

As an important environmental protection measure, the Poplar Ecological Retreat (PER) project aims to restore the ecology of the Dongting Lake (DL, China’s second largest freshwater lake) wetland. And its ecological impact is yet to be revealed. This study selected soil bacterial community structure (BCS) as an indicator of ecological restoration to explore the ecological impact of PER project on DL wetland. Soil samples were collected from reed area (RA, where poplar had never been planted, as the end point of ecological restoration for comparison in this study), poplar planting area (PA), poplar retreat for 1-year area (PR1A) and poplar retreat for 2 years area (PR2A), then their soil properties and BCS were measured. The results showed that the PER project caused significant changes in soil properties, such as the soil organic matter (SOM) and moisture, and an increase in the diversity and richness index of soil BCS. The Shannon-wiener index of RA, PA, PR1A and PR2A were 3.3, 2.63, 2.75 and 2.87, respectively. The number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) changed similarly to the Shannon-wiener index. The Pearson correlation analysis and redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that the poplar retreat time, SOM and moisture content were the main factors leading to the increase of BCS diversity. All of these indicated that after the implementation of the PER project, the ecology of the lake area showed a trend of gradual recovery.

Non-stationarity of extreme climate events has been reported worldwide in recent decades, and traditional stationary analysis methods are no longer sufficient to properly reveal the occurrence probability of climate extremes. Based on the 0.25°C × 0.25°C gridded precipitation data (i.e., CN05.1), stationary and non-stationary models of generalized extreme value (GEV) and generalized Pareto (GP) distributions are adopted to estimate the occurrence probability of extreme precipitation over China during 1961–2018. Low-frequency oscillation (LFO) indices, such as El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Southern Annular Mode (SAM), and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), are included as time-varying covariates in the non-stationary GEV and GP models. Results illustrate that the occurrence probability of extreme precipitation estimated from the stationary GEV and GP distributions shows a significant increasing trend in northwestern and southeastern China, and the opposite trend in southwestern, central, and northeastern China. In comparison with stationary model, the fitness of extreme precipitation series is improved for both the GEV and GP distributions if these LFO indices are used as time-varying covariates. Positive ENSO, IOD and PDO tend to cause negative anomalies in the occurrence probability of extreme precipitation in northeastern China and Tibet Plateau, and positive anomalies in southern China. Positive NAO and SAM phases mainly tend to cause positive anomalies in southern China. The circulation patterns of extreme precipitation anomalies associated with these LFO indices are discussed from aspects of precipitable water, vertical integrated moisture transport, 500-hPa geopotential height and 850-hPa wind field.

The potential health risks associated with simultaneous presence of residues of heavy metals and antibiotics in the environment and food have been of wide concern. However, the adverse health effects of combined heavy metal and antibiotic exposure at low doses remain unclear. In this study, the effects of combined exposure to florfenicol and copper at low doses during early life on toxicity, gut microbiota, drug resistance genes, and the fecal metabolome were investigated in Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats. The results showed that combined exposure induced inflammatory responses and visceral injury as well as faster weight gain compared with florfenicol or copper exposure alone. Alpha and beta diversity indices indicated that the composition of the gut microbiota and the abundance of bacteria related to energy intake and disease in the combined exposure group were significantly altered. The increase in resistance genes (floR, fexA) induced by florfenicol exposure was suppressed under combined exposure to florfenicol and copper. The fecal metabolome also demonstrated that metabolic pathways related to energy intake and liver injury were significantly affected in the combined exposure group. In conclusion, this study shows that combined exposure to florfenicol and copper during early life can pose a nonnegligible health risk even if the exposure concentration of florfenicol or copper is below the safe limit.

To clarify the association of sleep duration with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, and further estimate the population attributable fraction (PAF) for the 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) due to inappropriate sleep duration among US adults, we included data of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2005 to 2014 by linkage to the National Death Index until December 31, 2015 in a prospective design. Cox proportional hazards models were used for multivariate longitudinal analyses. The Pooled Cohort Equations methods was adopted to calculate the predicted 10-year CVD risk. In the current study, sleep

To evaluate the climate variation of drought and its possible effect on summer maize in the Huaihe River basin, we have used the five General Circulation Models (GCMs) from the fifth coupling model comparison scheme (CMIP5) and the diurnal temperature and precipitation data under three representative concentration pathways (RCPs) to calculate the frequency of drought beyond the different disaster-causing thresholds based on the historic disaster losses. Combined with the vulnerability and exposure of hazard-affected bodies, we have established a regional disaster drought risk evaluation model, and conducted a risk estimation to the choking drought disaster occurred in heading-milking period of summer maize in the Huaihe River basin in the near term (2020-2039), medium term (2040-2069) and long term (2070-2099) in the 21st century. The results show that the five GCMs have good ability in simulating temperature and precipitation in the Huaihe River basin, especially temperature. The heading-milking period (critical period of water sensitivity) of summer maize will be ahead of schedule, and the growth period will be shortened. It is estimated that the inter-annual change of the choking drought days in the heading-milking periods of summer maize in the Huaihe River basin is large in the future. Linear change trends of the choking drought days of summer maize are not significant under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios, although this linear increased trend is significant under RCP6.0 scenarios. Affected by the disaster-causing factors and the hazard affected bodies, the inter-annual fluctuation of choking drought risk of summer maize in Huaihe River basin will be large in the future. The overall drought risk will increase compared to the base period. In terms of different periods, the risk of drought disaster can be the lowest in the medium term, the second in the near future, and the highest in the long term. The choking drought risk in the different scenarios increases from low to high emissions. It is estimated that the risk of drought disaster of summer maize has an obvious spatial difference, and the drought risk in the western and northern parts in the Huaihe River basin can be higher than those in the eastern and southern parts.

Based on precipitation data at Anhui meteorological stations and NCEP reanalysis data, in this paper we analyze the characteristics and the causes of Meiyu climate anomaly in Anhui Province in 2020, and evaluate the skill of climate prediction and the effectiveness of prediction precursor signals. The main conclusions are as following. (1) In Anhui Province, Meiyu onset date was June 2 and outset date was August 1. Meiyu duration was 60 days. Meiyu precipitation was 1 057 mm in South along the Yangtze River and 810 mm between Yangtze River and Huaihe Rive, and the rainfall intensity in many places reached the historical extreme value in 2020. On the whole, the length of Meiyu period, the wide coverage, the large amount of accumulated rainfall and the intensity of Meiyu reached the top level since 1961. (2) The main reason for the abnormal Meiyu is that the blocking high is active near the Ural Mountain and the East Siberian-Okhotsk Sea from June to July. The EAP wave train on the 500 hPa geopotential height anomaly field along the East Asian coast is obvious. The summer monsoon is weak. The Western Pacific Subtropical High is abnormally strong and located too far to west and south, which is conducive to the convergence of cold and warm air in Anhui Province. The water vapor transport from the west side of the subtropical high to the province is extremely strong. The reason for the longer Meiyu period is that the ridge line of subtropical high is northward in June and southward in July, which leads to the early onset and late demise of Meiyu. (3) In the previous winter and spring, there was a weak El Niño event in the equatorial central Pacific Ocean. Although the indication of ist influence on Meiyu in Anhui Province is not clear, the response signal is that the Indian Ocean SST and subtropical high are abnormally warm and strong. According to historical statistics, if the equatorial Middle East Pacific Ocean is basically in El Niño state in previous winter, the probability of more intensive Meiyu in these years is very high. Therefore, the Indian Ocean SST and Western Pacific Subtropical High response factors can be used as the starting points to improve the prediction ability of Meiyu in weak El Niño years.

Abstract Introduction The MHC‐peptide interaction has a subtle influence on host resistance to virus. This paper aims to study the relationship between MHC‐peptide interaction and MHC‐related virus‐resistance. Methods By 3D homology modeling, the structure of chicken BF2 molecule BF2*0201 (PDB code: 4d0d) was studied and compared with the known structures of BF2 molecule BF2*0401 (PDB code: 4e0r) to elucidate the characteristics of BF2*0201‐binding antigenic peptides. Results The results show that due to the amino acid difference between the two binding groove of 4e0r and 4d0d, the size of the binding groove of the two are 1130 ų and1380 ų respectively, indicating the amino acid species that 4e0r binding peptide has lower selectivity than 4d0d; and because of large side chain conformation of Arg (especially Arg111) of 4e0r replaced by small side chain Tyr111 of 4d0d, the volume of central part of the binding groove of 4d0d is obviously larger than that of 4e0r, indicating that the restrictive of binding antigenic peptides for 4d0d is narrower than that of 4e0r; and on account of the chargeability of the binding groove of the two are different, namely the binding groove chargeability of 4e0r (strong positive polarity) and 4d0d (weak negative polarity). Conclusion There are generally more peptides presented by the BF2 of B2 haplotype than by that of B4 haplotype, leading to more resistance of B2 than that of B4 to virus.

The Poplar Ecological Retreat (PER) project in Dongting Lake wetland is an important measure in response to China’s ecological civilization construction policy, it aims to remove eastern cottonwoods (Populus deltoides) that artificial large-scale planted in this area and restore the natural state of the wetland, and has got a lot of attention by society and scholars. However, as one of the most important wintering place for migratory birds in the world, the impact of PER on migratory bird habitats in Dongting Lake wetland has not been evaluated. In this paper, we used the habitat suitability index model based on remote sensing to explore the impact of PER on the four mainly migratory bird guilds (Anatidae, Charadriidae, Ardeidae and Laridae) in Dongting Lake wetland. The suitability included four grades: poorly (0–25), generally (25–50), moderately (50–75), and highly (75–100). The results showed that the area of poplars in Dongting Lake wetland decreased significantly after PER was implemented. There was a negative correlation between poplar area and moderate grade habitat area of Anatidae and Ardeidae, and a positive correlation between poplar area and general grade habitat area. However, there was no significant change in different grades of habitat area of Charadriidae and Laridae after PER. Thus, PER improved the habitat suitability of Anatidae and Ardeidae, but had no significant effect on the suitability of habitat for Charadriidae and Laridae. These conclusions could provide reference for understanding the living conditions of Dongting Lake wetland waterbirds, determining the priority protection areas and maintaining wetland biodiversity.

Florfenicol (FLO) is a third-generation veterinary antibiotic with a high residue detection rate in food, which cause the toxicity of FLO even at low doses, receiving notable attention. The impact of FLO exposure during early life on health and gut microbiota is still unclear. Here, the effects of FLO exposure on toxicity, gut microbiota, drug resistance genes, and the fecal metabolome during early life were investigated in suckling Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. The results showed that FLO exposure during early life significantly increased the body weight, and WBC and LY levels in the blood, induced inflammation in the liver and intestines. FLO had a dose-dependent effect on the alpha and beta diversity of the gut microbiota, increasing the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroides and the abundance of some pathogenic bacteria, and changing the abundance of bacteria related to energy metabolism and inflammation, also promoted the enrichment of drug resistance genes. The fecal metabolome also demonstrated the effect of FLO exposure on metabolic pathways related to energy metabolism and inflammation. In conclusion, this research shows that FLO exposure during early life can lead to excessive weight gain, an inflammatory response, gut microbiota imbalance, the enrichment of drug resistance genes, and effects on related metabolic pathways.

Dongting Lake (DTL) and Poyang Lake (PYL), the China’s two largest freshwater lakes, are vital migration routes and wintering habitats for the migratory birds of East Asian – Australia. Due to damming and climate change, the water level during the middle of dry season (MDS) had a significant tendency of increasing in the two lakes. The habitat suitability for Anatidae, Charadriidae, Ardeidae and Laridae between the MDS with increasing of water level (DIW) and those with normal water level (DNW) were compared in this study, using geo-spatial overlay calculation, to reveal the responses of habitat suitability for migratory birds to increased water level during MDS in DTL and PYL. The results showed that the increased water level during MDS 1) had a negative influence on the habitat suitability for Anatidae and Charadriidae in DTL and PYL, and this influence in PYL was stronger than that of DTL; 2) had a neutral influence on the habitat suitability for Ardeidae in DTL and PYL, and this influence in PYL also was stronger than that of DTL; and 3) had a lesser negative influence on the habitat suitability for Laridae in DTL and had no influence on that of PYL.

Titanium and its alloys are widely used in blood-contacting implantable and interventional medical devices; however, their biocompatibility is still facing great challenges. In the present study, in order to improve the biocompatibility and antibacterial activities of titanium, TiO2 nanotubes were firstly in situ prepared on the titanium surface by anodization, followed by the introduction of polyacrylic acid (PAA) and gentamicin (GS) on the nanotube surface by layer-by-layer assembly, and finally, zinc ions were loaded on the surface to further improve the bioactivities. The nanotubes displayed excellent hydrophilicity and special nanotube-like structure, which can selectively promote the albumin adsorption, enhance the blood compatibility, and promote the growth of endothelial cells to some degree. After the introduction of PAA and GS, although the superhydrophilicity cannot be achieved, the results of platelet adhesion, cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) activity, hemolysis rate, and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) showed that the blood compatibility was improved, and the blood compatibility was further enhanced after zinc ion loading. On the other hand, the modified surface showed good cytocompatibility to endothelial cells. The introduction of PAA and zinc ions not only promoted the adhesion and proliferation of endothelial cells but also upregulated expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and nitric oxide (NO). The slow and continuous release of GS and Zn2+ over 14 days can significantly improve the antibacterial properties. Therefore, the present study provides an effective method for the surface modification of titanium-based blood-contacting materials to simultaneously endow with good blood compatibility, endothelial growth behaviors, and antibacterial properties.

The stability of wetlands is threatened by the combined effects of global climate change and human activity. In particular, the vegetation cover status of lake wetlands has changed. Here, the change in vegetation cover at the estuary of Poyang Lake was monitored, and its influencing factors are studied to elucidate the dynamic change characteristics of vegetation at the inlet of this lake. Flood and water level changes are two of the main factors affecting the evolution of wetland vegetation at the estuary of Poyang Lake. Therefore, Landsat data from 2000 to 2019 were used to study the spatial and temporal variation in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in the vegetation cover area. Theil–Sen Median trend analysis and Mann–Kendall tests were used to study the long-term trend characteristics of NDVI. The response between NDVI and the explanatory variables at the estuary of Poyang Lake was quantified using regression tree analysis to study the regional climate, water level, and flood inundation duration. Results showed the following: (1) Vegetation in a large area of the study area improved significantly from 2000 to 2010 and only slightly from 2010 to 2019, and few areas with slight degradation of vegetation were found. In most of these areas, the vegetation from 2000 to 2010 exhibited a gradual change, from nothing to something, which started around 2004; (2) The main variable that separated the NDVI values was the mean water level in October. When the mean October water level was greater than 14.467 m, the study area was still flooded in October. Thus, the regional value of BestNDVI was approximately 0.3, indicating poor vegetation growth. When the mean water level in October was less than 14.467 m, the elevation of the study area was higher than the water level value, and after the water receded in October, the wetland vegetation exhibited autumn growth in that year. Thus, the vegetation in the study area grew more abundantly. These results could help manage and protect the degraded wetland ecology.

An efficient and environmental-friendly extraction method has been developed for extraction of ursolic acid (UA) from Hedyotis diffusa by using subcritical water extraction (SWE). The experiments were carried out at different particle sizes (20–100 mesh), extraction temperature (120–200 °C), extraction time (10–50 min), solvent/solid ratio (20–40 mL/g), and extraction pressure (0.6–3.0 MPa). Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize SWE conditions, and the maximum UA yield was 6.45 mg/g material. Optimal conditions are as follows: Particle size of 80 mesh, extraction temperature at 157 °C and a solvent/solid ratio of 30 mL/g. The model of experimental response was proved to predict the experimental results very well and demonstrated that UA yield was mainly depended on solvent/solid ratio, followed by particle size and temperature. The purified extract was analyzed by electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOF-MS). The acquired precursor ion was m/z 455.3532, which is consistent with calculated value of UA. Furthermore, different extraction methods, including maceration extraction, heat reflux extraction, ultrasonic extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, and SWE were comparatively analyzed, which indicated that SWE was a time-saving, cost-saving and environment-friendly extraction technology for extraction of UA from Hedyotis diffusa.

Water-level fluctuation (WLF) is regarded as a key environmental factor for lake ecosystems. Keeping moderate WLFs approximating to its natural conditions is substantially essential to maintain its biodiversity and integrity. In this study, a hydrological index based method for determining ecologically acceptable water-level range (EAWLR) was illustrated by a case-study of Dongting Lake. This method was proposed based on a consideration of hydrological alterations induced by natural variability and human activity. It was during this process that two hydrological indices, the ratio flow deviation (RFD) and the amended annual proportional flow deviation (AAPFD), played vital roles in change point detection and the determination of EAWLR, respectively. The WLFs are closely related to species richness. The relationship between them follows a hump-backed curve and EAWLR serves as the hump part of the curve. The final results indicated that EAWLRs of Beijinggang, Nanzui and Chenglingji during flood season were 27.78-38.26 m, 25.19-38.45 m and 24.48-30.96 m, respectively, while those during non-flood season were 18.33-27.79m, 17.68-29.19 m and 15.59-22.07 m, respectively. The response to the great flood in 1998 and the drought in 2006 of Dongting Lake region verified the rationality of the results. Within the EAWLR, ecosystems can operate normally and have stable community structures to resist external interference.

In this paper, under the inclusion order, we focus on the investigations of fuzzy implications and coimplications on the poset of closed intervals of a given bounded poset. We first propose a method for constructing a fuzzy implication on the poset of closed intervals of a given bounded poset through the use of a fuzzy implication and a fuzzy coimplication on that given bounded poset. This process of constructing fuzzy implications is an extension of the fuzzy implication on that given bounded poset. We then explore some properties of this extended fuzzy implication and discuss about which properties of fuzzy implications are preserved in this extension. Moreover, we would like to apply the method of extending fuzzy implications for fuzzy coimplications. Although we present two methods for constructing fuzzy coimplications on the poset of closed intervals of a given bounded poset, these two methods are not the extension of the fuzzy coimplication on that given bounded poset. We also provide some illustrative examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The goal of the study was to create a nomogram based on clinical risk factors to forecast the rate of locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRFS) in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) who underwent radiotherapy (RT). Methods: In this study, 574 ESCC patients were selected as participants. Following radiotherapy, subjects were divided into training and validation groups at a 7:3 ratio. The nomogram was established in the training group using Cox regression. Performance validation was conducted in the validation group, assessing predictability through the C-index and AUC curve, calibration via the Hosmer-Lemeshow (H-L) test, and evaluating clinical applicability using decision curve analysis (DCA). Results: T stage, N stage, gross tumor volume (GTV) dose, location, maximal wall thickness (MWT) after RT, node size (NS) after RT, D computer tomography (CT) value, and chemotherapy were found to be independent risk factors that impacted LRFS by multivariate cox analysis, and the findings could be utilized to create a nomogram and forecast LRFS. the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC) curve and C-index show that for training and validation groups, the prediction result of LRFS using nomogram was more accurate than that of TNM. The LRFS in both groups was consistent with the nomogram according to the H-L test. The DCA curve demonstrated that the nomogram had a good prediction effect both in the groups for training and validation. The nomogram was used to assign ESCC patients to three risk levels: low, medium, or high. There were substantial variations in LRFS between risk categories in both the training and validation groups (p<0.001, p=0.003). Conclusions: For ESCC patients who received radiotherapy, the nomogram based on clinical risk factors could reliably predict the LRFS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The authors used the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index (NASA-TLX) and general health questionnaire to analyze the factors influencing the mental health status and the workload of support nurses during the COVID-19 epidemic. Material and Methods: The authors conducted a cross-sectional survey of 349 support nurses in April-October 2022. Using QuestionStar, a powerful online survey tool, the authors administered surveys to the participants, collected data on the mental health status and workload of support nurses, and analyzed the influencing factors based on the collected data. Results: A total of 316 questionnaires were successfully collected, with an effective rate of 98.75%. The proportion of support nurses with mental health problems was 25% and the value of the NASA-TLX questionnaire was: M±SD 68.91±7.28 pts. Multi-factor analysis revealed that the number of children, family support, and nursing support location were the influencing factors of mental health status, while the multivariate analysis revealed that the presence of symptoms, nursing support location, support work type, and total 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) score were the influencing factors of the workload of support nurses. Conclusions: Compared to their counterparts in the plains, nurses working in isolated plateau regions who were caring for children and lacked family support, were more likely to have mental health issues. There was a positive correlation between the changes in GHQ-12 and NASA-TLX scores of the study participants. Compared to their counterparts in the plains and the tropical regions, nurses working in plateau regions had a heavier workload. As part of the follow-up measures to prevent and treat patients impacted by the COVID-19 epidemic, it is important to improve the mental health evaluation, consultation, and treatment of the support nurses to guarantee the high quality of the first-line support work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context. Aquaporin 7 (AQP7) is selectively expressed in decidualised endometrial stromal cells (ESCs) of mice surrounding the embryonic implantation sites. However, the roles of AQP7 and the underlying mechanism that regulates AQP7 expression in endometrial decidualisation after implantation are still unclear. Aims. This study aimed to investigate the role of the PI3K-Akt pathway in regulating the expression of AQP7 in ESCs and decidualisation. Methods. Primary ESCs of pregnant mice were isolated to establish in vitro decidualisation models. PI3K inhibitor LY294002 was added to the decidualisation models, then AQP7 expression, changes in decidualised ESC morphology and expression of decidualisation marker molecules were examined. Key results. AQP7 knockdown reduced the proliferation and differentiation of ESCs with in vitro induced decidualisation. Furthermore, when the activity of PI3K was inhibited by LY294002, the expression of AQP7 in decidualised ESCs was decreased and both the proliferation and differentiation of ESCs were significantly reduced. Conclusions. This indicates that AQP7 is a key molecule involved in endometrial decidualisation and the expression of AQP7 is upregulated through activation of the PI3K-Akt pathways, which promotes the proliferation and differentiation of the ESCs, thus affecting occurrence of decidualisation. Implications. This study may provide a new biomarker for the diagnosis of infertility and a new drug target for the prevention and treatment of infertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]