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Growth redundancy, the overgrowth of resource-foraging organs in crop stands, is often detrimental to yield and is thus called a ‘tragedy of the commons’. A tragedy can also arise owing to the plastic overproduction of competitive structures when intra-variety individuals forage in close proximity to each other. However, little is known about the sensitivity of crop varieties and resource availability to this ‘plastic’ tragedy. Pot experiments were designed to investigate this issue. The root competition environment was imposed by growing two plants of the same variety in mesh and plastic partitions. Two wheat varieties (old Monkhead and modern 92-46) were used, and two resource levels were established. Compared with 92-46, Monkhead allocated more biomass to stems and leaves and concurrently less to seeds. We identified intra-variety neighbour effects only in 4 out of 24 allometric comparisons with a small magnitude. Allometric data also revealed a lowered response to fertilizer addition in 92-46 than in Monkhead. Based on a limited sample size, our results revealed a trade-off between above-ground vegetative growth and crop yield. This trade-off resulted in a tragedy of the commons in old Monkhead and enhanced yields in modern 92-46. The tragedy of the commons in wheat may generally arise from genetically fixed traits in terms of growth redundancy in old varieties, rather than from the plastic behaviour of individuals. Modern 92-46 may adopt a conservative strategy of resource use, whereas old Monkhead employs an exploitative strategy. Our findings highlight breeders should select genotypes with low individual competitiveness.

We investigated a nature-based solution (NbS) via incorporating biocrust into alfalfa-maize intercropping system to test carbon sequestration in seriously eroded agricultural soils. Field investigation showed that the NbS (moss-dominated biocrust + intercropping) massively lowered surface soil erosion by 94.5% and soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) loss by 94.7 and 96.8% respectively, while promoting rainwater interception by 82.2% relative to bare land (CK). There generally existed positive interactions between biocrust and cropping in the integrated standing biodiversity system. Enhanced plant biomass input into soils substantially promoted soil fungal community diversity and abundance under NbS (p 0.05). This enabled NbS to evidently improve soil macroaggregate proportion and mean weight diameter. Critically, topsoil carbon storage was increased by 2.5 and 10.7%, compared with CK and pure intercropping (p 0.05). Conclusively, the standing diversity under such NbS fostered soil C sequestration via water interception and plant-soil-microbe interactions in degraded agricultural soils.

Lipophagy is a kind of selective autophagy, which can selectively identify and degrade lipid droplets and plays an important role in regulating cellular lipid metabolism and maintaining intracellular lipid homeostasis. Exercise can induce lipophagy and it is also an effective means of reducing body fat. In this review, we summarized the relationship between exercise and lipophagy in the liver, pancreas, adipose tissue, and the possible molecular mechanisms to provide a new clue for the prevention and treatment of fatty liver, obesity and other related metabolic diseases by exercise.

Green leafy vegetables are economical and nutritious, but they may be contaminated with heavy metals. In this study, we assessed the total and bioaccessible concentrations of As, Cd, Pb and Cr in a popular vegetable cabbage (Brassica oleracea) from four major producing cities in Yunnan, Southwest China. With the mean concentrations of As, Cd, Pb and Cr being 0.24, 0.20, 0.32 and 1.28 mg kg−1, the As, Cd and Pb concentrations were within the limits of 0.2–0.5 mg kg−1 based on Chinese National Standards and the WHO/FAO, but Cr concentration was 2.6-times greater than the limit of 0.5 mg kg−1. Based on an in vitro bioaccessibility assay of the Solubility Bioaccessibility Research Consortium (SBRC), As bioaccessibility was the lowest at 11% while those of Cd, Pb and Cr were much greater at 68–87%. The estimated daily intake (EDI) of metals through cabbage ingestion was similar for children and adults. Among the four metals, only Cr's EDI at 2.29–1.87 exceeded 1 based on total and bioaccessible concentrations. The high Cr concentration at 1.28 mg kg−1 coupled with its high bioaccessibility at 67.5% makes Cr of concern in cabbage. However, human gastrointestinal cells exposed to the gastric digesta with high bioaccessible heavy metals and risky EDI, showed no obvious cytotoxicity, indicating that existing models based on total or bioaccessible heavy metals may overestimate their human health risk. Taken together, to accurately assess the human health risk of heavy metals in cabbage, both total/bioaccessible concentrations and the gastrointestinal cell responses should be considered.

Based on the situation of physician trust in the patient (PTP), we explored the differences in perceived behaviors of physician trust in the patient (PBPTP). We used the PTP scale as a research tool, taking physicians of the hospitals in Anhui region as the research object to carry out the investigation of PTP, Python software was applied to explore the status of PTP, and the differences of PBPTP distribution rate with different demographic characteristic variables were compared by testing based on theory of planned behavior. We get six results as follows: (1) the overall PTP level was low, and nearly 50% of doctors doubt the integrity of patients. “Patients will not be driven by improper interests” becomes the most reluctant problem or the most distrustful option for doctors. (2) In terms of patients’ participation in disease management and regular follow-up visits, PTP rate in male was higher than that in female (Ps P=0.017). (5) In terms of providing diagnosis and treatment information, timely notification of illness, medication information, doctor-patient communication behaviors, and compliance with doctors’ treatment plans, PBPTP was affected by doctors’ professional titles and annual income levels (Ps ≤ 0.001), At the same time, PTP levels of different professional titles showed differences in patients’ respect for doctors’ time and bottom line (Ps ≤ 0.001). (6) In terms of doctor-patient communication behaviors, PBPTP was affected by physician departments (P≤0.001). Hence, demographic characteristics variable may be one of the factors affecting PBPTP, and PBPTP is associated with doctor-patient risk. It makes sense for us to propose a new model of physician-patient risk management from the perspective of PTP about “official-individual-social” triple action.

To translate and cross-culturally adapt the Malocclusion Impact Questionnaire (MIQ) into Chinese and to assess the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the MIQ (MIQ/C) for use among adolescents with malocclusion in China. First, the MIQ/C was developed according to international guidelines. Then, the MIQ/C was filled out by 536 adolescents between 10 and 16 years of age. This study used exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), convergent validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability to evaluate the psychometric properties of the MIQ/C. Following EFA, three domains were extracted, accounting for 65.950% of the total variance. The CFA results showed that the fit indices of each factor in the three-factor model all reached the standard (chi-square/DF = 2.591, GFI = 0.919, TLI = 0.926, CFI = 0.928, RMSEA = 0.076). The scale evidenced a good relationship with the two global questions, indicating good convergent validity. The Cronbach alpha value and the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) value of the MIQ/C were 0.929 and 0.893, respectively. The MIQ/C demonstrated good reliability and validity and can be further studied and applied in Chinese adolescents with malocclusion. The MIQ/C can be applied to assess the psychosocial impact of malocclusion among Chinese adolescents.

Diabetic mechanical allodynia (DMA) is a common manifestation in patients with diabetes mellitus, and currently, no effective treatment is available. Transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) is involved in mechanical hypersensitivity resulting from varying aetiologies in animal, but its expression pattern during DMA and whether it contributes to this condition are still unclear. We investigated the spatial and temporal expression patterns of TRPV4 in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) and spinal dorsal horn (SDH) by qRT-PCR, Western blotting and immunofluorescence assays. The pathophysiological role of TRPV4 in DMA was also investigated by intrathecal application of the TRPV4 selective antagonist HC-067047 or the agonist GSK1016790A. The results showed that both the mRNA and protein levels of TRPV4 were strikingly upregulated on day 14 in the rats with DMA. The increase in TRPV4 was mainly observed in the soma and central processes of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)- or neurofilament 200 kDa (NF200)-containing DRG neurons. Both single and repetitive intrathecal applications of HC-067047 (400 ng/kg) significantly alleviated mechanical allodynia in the rats with DMA, whereas a single application of GSK1016790A (200 ng/kg) aggravated mechanical allodynia. The present data suggest that TRPV4 undergoes expression changes that are associated with mechanical hypersensitivity in diabetic rats. TRPV4 may be a new molecular target for developing a clinical strategy to treat this intractable neuropathic pain.

Enkephalin (ENK) has been implicated in pain modulation within the spinal dorsal horn (SDH). Revealing the mechanisms underlying ENK analgesia entails the anatomical and functional knowledge of spinal ENK-ergic circuits. Herein, we combined morphological and electrophysiological studies to unravel local ENK-ergic circuitry within the SDH. First, the distribution pattern of spinal ENK-ergic neurons was observed in adult preproenkephalin (PPE)-GFP knock-in mice. Next, the retrograde tracer tetramethylrhodamine (TMR) or horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was injected into the parabrachial nucleus (PBN) in PPE-GFP mice. Immunofluorescent staining showed I-isolectin B4 (IB4) labeled non-peptidergic afferents were in close apposition to TMR-labeled PBN-projecting neurons within lamina I as well as PPE-immunoreactivity (-ir) neurons within lamina II. Some TMR-labeled neurons were simultaneously in close association with both IB4 and PPE-ir terminals. Synaptic connections of these components were further confirmed by electron microscopy. Finally, TMR was injected into the PBN in adult C57BL/6 mice. Whole-cell patch recordings showed that δ-opioid receptor (DOR) agonist, [D-Pen2,5]-enkephalin (DPDPE, 1 µM), significantly reduced the frequency of miniature excitatory postsynaptic current (mEPSC) and decreased the activity of TMR-labeled neurons. In conclusion, spinal ENKergic neurons receive direct excitatory inputs from primary afferents, which might be directly recruited to release ENK under the condition of noxious stimuli; ENK could inhibit the glutamatergic transmission towards projecting neurons via presynaptic and postsynaptic DORs. These morphological and functional evidence may explain the mechanisms underlying the analgesic effects exerted by ENK within the SDH.

The dermal exposure of heavy metals in contaminated urban soils poses huge environmental health risks globally. However, their dermal bioaccessibility and adverse effects on human skin cells were not fully understood. In this study, we measured the total and dermal bioaccessibility of Cr, As, Cd, Pb, and Cu in four selected urban soil samples from Kunming, Yunnan, China, and evaluated the cellular responses of these bioaccessible extracts on human keratinocytes (HaCaT). Among all the metals, only As in Soil-3 (S3) exceeded Chinese risk screening and Yunnan background values at 38.2 mg/kg. The average concentrations of Cr, As, Cd, Pb, and Cu in all soil samples were 47.79, 15.50, 3.11, 104.27, and 180.29 mg/kg respectively. Although relatively high concentrations of heavy metals were detected in soil samples, the highest dermal bioaccessibility of Cd was 3.57% with others' being lower than 1%. The bioaccessible dermal-absorbed doses (DADs) of Cr, As, Cd, Pb, and Cu from soils reflected acceptable health risks since all DADs were below the corresponding derived dermal reference values. However, the toxic data showed the extracts of S3 and S4 presented certain cytotoxicity in HaCaT cells, indicating the existing models based on dermal bioaccessibility and DADs may be not accurate enough to assess their human health risk. Taken together, the human health risk assessment should be modified by taking their skin cytotoxicity into account.

Unintentional ingestion of metal-contaminated soils may pose a great threat to human health. To accurately evaluate the health risks of heavy metal(loid)s in soils, their bioaccessibility has been widely determined by in vitro assays and increasingly employed to optimize the assessment parameters. Given that, using meta-analysis, we analyzed the literature on farmland heavy metal(loid)s (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, Ni, and Zn) in Chinese main grain production regions, and collected their total and bioaccessibility data to accurately assess their human health risks. Monte Carlo simulation was used to reduce the uncertainty in metal concentration, intake rate, toxicity coefficient, and body weight. We found that the mean concentration (0.47 mg/kg) and geological accumulation index (I

Reading the primary sequence directly using nanopores remains challenging due to the complex building blocks of 20 proteinogenic amino acids and the corresponding sophisticated structures. Compared to the uniformly negatively charged polynucleotides, biological nanopores hardly provide effective ionic current responses to all heterogeneously charged peptides under nearly physiological pH conditions. Herein, we precisely design a N226Q/S228K mutant aerolysin which creates a new electrostatic constriction named R3 in-between two natural sensing regions for controlling the capture and translocation of heterogeneously charged peptides. At nearly physiological pH, the decoration of positive charges at this constriction gives a large velocity of electroosmotic flow (EOF), leading to a maximum 8-fold increase in frequency for the heterogeneously charged peptides with the net charge from +1 to -3. Even the duration time of the negatively charged peptide Aβ35-25D4 in N226Q/S228K AeL also rises from 0.07 ± 0.01 ms to 0.63 ± 0.01 ms after introducing the third electrostatic constriction. Therefore, the N226Q/S228K aerolysin nanopore with three electrostatic constrictions realizes the dual goals of both capturing and decelerating heterogeneously charged peptides without labelling, even for the folded peptides.

Direct hydrazine fuel cell is a promising portable energy conversion device due to its high energy density and free of carbon emissions. To realize the practical applications, the design of highly efficient electrocatalysts for hydrazine oxidation reaction (HzOR) is crucial. Metal nanocrystals with high-index facets have abundant step sites with reactivity. In this study, we prepared trapezohedral Pt nanocrystals (TPH Pt NCs) enclosed by {311} high-index facets and investigated the catalytic performance for hydrazine oxidation. TPH Pt NCs possess a specific activity of 39.1 mA·cm-2 at 0.20 V, much higher than {111}-faceted octahedral (13.9 mA·cm-2) and {100}-faceted cubic Pt NCs (9.11 mA·cm-2). Meanwhile, TPH Pt NCs also show superior stability. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation indicates that Pt(311) facilitates the deprotonation of N2H4* to N2H3* (the rate-determining step) and improves the HzOR activity. This study is helpful for the design of advanced electrocatalysts for HzOR, especially high-index faceted Pt nanocatalysts.

To perceive the advent of pulse current (PC) sensitively and evaluate the peak value accurately on a cost effective setup, an interferometric measurement is proposed first in this study. By extracting the phase information of the interference fringes effected by the PC quantitatively, the relative peak value of PC with random waveform is obtained in real time. Based on the theoretical analysis, the proposed method has been tested by the PC with the waveform of 8/20 μs and peak value of 3, 2.75 and 2.5 kA. The interferograms are collected online, and the phase recovery is completed in seconds. Repetitive experiments under the same conditions reveal the relationship between the peak value and the phase information, proving it a potential application to retrieve the PC peak value quantitatively in real time.

Since UN announced 17 SDGs in 2015, many countries around the world have been endeavouring to promote SDGs towards building a sustainable future. Given the disparity of the regional development, national government is suggested to establish localised sustainable vision. Drawing on UN SDGs with targets and corresponding indicators, meanwhile considering local circumstances and sustainable vision, government further seeks to establish localised SDGs with related targets and indicators. Meanwhile, under the digital era, digital technologies have been extensively employed as the smart tool in many fields nowadays, and Geographic Information System (GIS) has been developed as the platform to visualise the SDGs progress in UN and many countries. On the above basis, this paper further demonstrates Taiwan’s efforts to establish localised SDGs, and develop National Geographic Information System (NGIS) to implement the sustainable development in Taiwan, monitor the SDGs progress, and provide feedback to policymakers to further make strategic policies in a top-down approach, meanwhile develop Community Geographic Information System (CGIS) to encourage stakeholders and citizens to harness the concept of CGIS to proactively create and tell their own stories and promote Regional Revitalisation policy in a bottom-up approach. Moreover, GIS could not function well without appropriate data management including massive data and open data policy, well-built digital infrastructure, as well as the selected “right data” and cyber security. Hence, with appropriate data management, GIS as a smart tool could facilitate the promotion and implementation of SDGs in an intuitive manner towards shaping a smart and sustainable future.

IntroductionTo understand the status quo of doctors’ occupational burnout, analyze the correlation between the occupational burnout and cognition of tensity of doctor-patient relationship (DPR).Material and methodsTake 265 doctors in a general hospital in China as respondents, conduct a survey of the degree of occupational burnout with Maslach Burnout Inventory, score the cognitive quantification of DPR tensity with Difficult Doctor-Patient Relationship Questionnaire-8, and analyze the correlation between them. The cognitive quantitative scores of DPR tensity were also given to 782 inpatients and compared with the doctors’ cognitive scores.ResultsThe degrees of occupational burnout in doctors, including three dimensions of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and sense of personal achievement, were high. The proportions of moderate or more burnout were 49.8%, 53.2% and 48.7%, respectively. There was a statistical difference in occupational burnout among doctors of different ages and professional titles (PConclusionsDoctors’ age and professional title are important factors that affect the high degree of occupational burnout. Doctors do not have positive cognition of DPR tensity, which is different from that of patiens. The degree of occupational burnout is closely related to the poor cognition of DPR tensity in doctors.

Objectives To establish and validate a short form of the self-management ability questionnaire (SMAQ) for chronic periodontitis patients. Methods A total of 480 chronic periodontitis patients were recruited and divided randomly in into two groups: development group and validation group. The item reduction process of the SMAQ was based on item response theory (IRT) and classical test theory (CTT). The resulting short form of the SMAQ was then validated using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), convergent validity, internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Results The item reduction process produced a 12-item short-form SMAQ (SMAQ-12). EFA results on the twelve items extracted three factors consistent with the original SMAQ and CFA results demonstrated acceptable goodness-of-fit indices of this three-factor structure. Moreover, the SMAQ-12 scores had high correlations with the original measure (rs ≥0.904), good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Conclusions The SMAQ-12 is an easy-to-use, reliable and valid measure for assessing self-management ability in patients with chronic periodontitis.

In corneal epithelium, tight junctions play a vital role in its barrier function. Human cornea is highly susceptible to damage by dust. Continued daily exposure to dust has been associated with increased risks of corneal injury. Studies demonstrated that water extract of dust induced cytotoxicity in human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs); however, its effects on corneal epithelial barrier function are unknown. In this study, we determined the concentrations of heavy metals in water extracts of dust, with office dust having higher concentrations of heavy metals than housedust, and Cu and Zn being highest among metals for both dust. Changes in barrier function and its associated mechanism after exposing HCECs to water extracts of dust at 48 μg/100 μ L for 7 d were evaluated. Water extracts of both dust caused decrease of TEER value (39–73%), down-regulation of gene expression related to tight junction and mucin (0.2–0.8 fold), and loss of ZO-1 immunoreactivity from cellular borders, with office dust having greater potential than housedust to disrupt corneal epithelial barrier function. Our data implied the importance to reduce heavy metals in dust to reduce their adverse impacts on human eyes.

Carbon nanodots (Cdots) have aroused widespread concerns in the field of biomedical applications. In order to achieve better implications of behavior of Cdots in the biological environment, an array of spectroscopic, electrochemical and calorimetric techniques were performed to study the interaction of Cdots possessing different charges with human serum albumin (HSA) in physiological condition. Two polymer, polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polyetherimide (PEI), were applied to passivate the bare Cdots to achieve the Cdots with different surface charge, namely negatively charged PEG Cdots and positively charged PEI Cdots. The fluorescence of HSA was obviously quenched by both Cdots in a charge-independent behavior through a dynamic collision mechanism. Moreover, the association affinity of PEG Cdots or PEI Cdots bound to HSA was very close to each other. In addition, PEG Cdots with diverse content exhibited little effects on the secondary structure of HSA while only high content of PEI Cdots induced obvious conformation perturbation of HSA. The electrostatic forces dominate the association between HSA and PEI Cdots while the association of PEG Cdots to HSA is initiated by hydrophobic and van der Waals forces. Furthermore, the results of isothermal titration calorimetry revealed that both the interaction was driven by favorable entropy and enthalpy, which confirmed that these association processes are thermodynamically spontaneous. Finally, the sites marker competitive experiment showed that the association sites of Cdots with HSA exhibit a charge dependent manner, namely PEG Cdots effectively occupy the site I of HSA while the association sites of PEI Cdots are mainly located in site II.