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Abstract Understanding soil moisture variability and estimating high‐resolution soil moisture at subfield to field scales is critical for agricultural research and applications. However, systematic investigation of subfield scale soil moisture variability over cropland is still lacking from both measurement and satellite remote sensing. In this study, we aim to investigate (1) the characteristics of within‐field soil moisture distribution over typical cropland in the US Midwest and (2) the capabilities of satellite remote sensing in capturing the spatiotemporal variabilities of soil moisture at subfield scale. Specifically, we conducted soil moisture field experiments in three typical commercial agricultural fields (∼85 acres per field) in central Illinois, representing typical commercial farmlands in the US Midwest, and compared the soil moisture measurements with satellite remote sensing data from optical and active microwave sensors. In each field, dense soil moisture samples (spaced at 50–60 m) were obtained for two dry down events in May and July 2021, and multiple long‐term soil moisture stations were installed. We found prominent time‐invariant spatial structures of soil moisture at within‐field scales both during the dry down period and over longer time scales, and the stability is minimally affected by plant water use during the growing season. Comparing the field campaign measurements with satellite remote sensing data, we found that surface reflectance of shortwave infrared bands, such as SWIR1 (1610 nm) from Sentinel‐2, can capture relative surface soil moisture patterns at within‐field scales, but their relationships with soil moisture are field specific. These findings and the improved understanding of within‐field soil moisture dynamics could potentially help future research on high‐resolution soil moisture estimation with multi‐source remote sensing data.

Abstract Atmospheric rivers (ARs) deliver significant and essential precipitation to the western United States (US) with consequential interannual variability. The intensity and frequency of ARs strongly influence reservoir levels, mountain snowpack, and groundwater recharge, which are key drivers of water‐resource availability and natural hazards. Between October 2022 and April 2023, western states experienced exceptionally heavy precipitation from several families of powerful ARs. Using observations of surface‐loading deformation from Global Navigation Satellite Systems, we find that terrestrial water‐storage gains exceeded 100% of normal within vital California watersheds. Independent water‐storage solutions derived from different data‐analysis and inversion methods provide an important measure of precision. The sustained storage increases, which we show are closely associated with ARs at daily‐to‐weekly timescales, alleviated both meteorological and hydrological drought conditions in the region, with a lag in hydrological‐drought improvements. Quantifying water‐storage recovery associated with extreme precipitation after drought advances understanding of an increasingly variable hydrologic cycle.

ABSTRACT: Avian leukosis virus Subgroup J (ALV-J) exhibits high morbidity and pathogenicity, affecting approximately 20% of poultry farms. It induces neoplastic diseases and immunosuppression. Phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate-induced protein 1 (PMAIP1), a proapoptotic mitochondrial protein in the B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) family, plays a role in apoptosis in cancer cells. However, the connection between the PMAIP1 gene and ALV-J pathogenicity remains unexplored. This study investigates the potential impact of the PMAIP1 gene on ALV-J replication and its regulatory mechanisms. Initially, we examined PMAIP1 expression using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, we manipulated PMAIP1 expression in chicken fibroblast cells (DF-1) and assessed its effects on ALV-J infection through qRT-PCR, immunofluorescence assay (IFA), and western blotting (WB). Our findings reveal a significant down-regulation of PMAIP1 in the spleen, lung, and kidney, coupled with an up-regulation in the bursa and liver of ALV-J infected chickens compared to uninfected ones. Additionally, DF-1 cells infected with ALV-J displayed a notable up-regulation of PMAIP1 at 6, 12, 24, 48, 74, and 108 h. Over-expression of PMAIP1 enhanced ALV-J replication, interferon expression, and proinflammatory factors. Conversely, interference led to contrasting results. Furthermore, we observed that PMAIP1 promotes virus replication by modulating mitochondrial function. In conclusion, the PMAIP1 gene facilitates virus replication by regulating mitochondrial function, thereby enriching our understanding of mitochondria-related genes and their involvement in ALV-J infection, offering valuable insights for avian leukosis disease resistance strategies.

Abstract Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of nonprotein‐coding transcripts that are longer than 200 nucleotides. LINC00355 is a lncRNA located on chromosome 13q21.31 and is consistently upregulated in various cancers. It regulates the expression of downstream genes at both transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels, including eight microRNAs (miR‐15a‐5p, miR‐34b‐5p, miR‐424‐5p, miR‐1225, miR‐217‐5p, miR‐6777‐3p, miR‐195, and miR‐466) and three protein‐coding genes (ITGA2, RAD18, and UBE3C). LINC00355 plays a role in regulating various biological processes such as cell cycle progression, proliferation, apoptosis, epithelial‐mesenchymal transition, invasion, and metastasis of cancer cells. It is involved in the regulation of the Wnt/β‐catenin signaling pathway and p53 signaling pathway. Upregulation of LINC00355 has been identified as a high‐risk factor in cancer patients and its increased expression is associated with poorer overall survival, recurrence‐free survival, and disease‐free survival. LINC00355 upregulation has been linked to several unfavorable clinical characteristics, including advanced tumor node metastasis and World Health Organization stages, reduced Karnofsky Performance Scale scores, increased tumor size, greater depth of invasion, and more extensive lymph node metastasis. LINC00355 induces chemotherapy resistance in cancer cells by regulating five downstream genes, namely HMGA2, ABCB1, ITGA2, WNT10B, and CCNE1 genes. In summary, LINC00355 is a potential oncogene with great potential as a diagnostic marker and therapeutic target for cancer.

Cell-free DNA (cfDNA), a burgeoning class of molecular biomarkers, has been extensively studied across a variety of biomedical fields. As a key component of liquid biopsy, cfDNA testing is gaining prominence in disease detection and management due to the convenience of sample collection and the abundant wealth of genetic information it provides. However, the broader clinical application of cfDNA is currently impeded by a lack of standardization in the preanalytical procedures for cfDNA analysis. A number of fundamental challenges, including the selection of appropriate preanalytical procedures, prevention of short cfDNA fragment loss, and the validation of various cfDNA measurement methods, remain unaddressed. These existing hurdles lead to difficulties in comparing results and ensuring repeatability, thereby undermining the reliability of cfDNA analysis in clinical settings. This review discusses the crucial preanalytical factors that influence cfDNA analysis outcomes, including sample collection, transportation, temporary storage, processing, extraction, quality control, and long-term storage. The review provides clarification on achievable consensus and offers an analysis of the current issues with the goal of standardizing preanalytical procedures for cfDNA analysis.

Abstract Urban land will face high fluvial flood risk against the background of climate change and urban expansion. The effect of urban spatial expansion, instead of densification of assets within existing urban cells, on flood risk has rarely been reported. Here, we project the future flood risk of seven urban agglomerations in China, home to over 750 million people. The inundated urban land areas in the future are projected to be 4 to 19 times that at present. Without considering the urban spatial expansion, the inundated urban land areas will be underestimated by 10-50%. Urban land is more likely to be inundated than non-urban land, and the newly-developed urban land will be inundated more easily than the historical urban land. The results demonstrate the urgency of integrating climate change mitigation, reasonable urban land expansion, and increased flood protection levels to minimize the flood risk in urban land.

Abstract Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is an obligate intracellular parasite with a wide range of hosts, including humans and many warm-blooded animals. The parasite exists in two interconvertible forms, namely tachyzoites and bradyzoites in intermediate hosts that are responsible for acute and chronic infections respectively. Mature bradyzoites accumulate large amounts of amylopectin granules but their roles have not been fully characterized. In this study, the predicted key enzymes involved in amylopectin synthesis (UDP-sugar pyrophospharylase, USP) and degradation (alpha-glucan water dikinase, GWD) of ME49 strain were individually knocked out, and then bradyzoite-related phenotyping experiments in vitro and in vivo were performed to dissect their roles during parasite growth and development. Deletion of the usp or gwd gene in the type II strain ME49 reduced the replication rates of tachyzoites in vitro and parasite virulence in vivo, suggesting that amylopectin metabolism is important for optimal tachyzoite growth. Interestingly, the Δusp mutant grew slightly faster than the parental strain under stress conditions that induced bradyzoite transition, which was likely due to the decreased efficiency of bradyzoite formation of the Δusp mutant. Although the Δgwd mutant could convert to bradyzoite robustly in vitro, it was significantly impaired in establishing chronic infection in vivo. Both the Δusp and Δgwd mutants showed a dramatic reduction in the reactivation of chronic infection in an in vitro model. Together, these results suggest that USP and GWD, which are involved in amylopectin synthesis and degradation have important roles in tachyzoite growth, as well as in the formation and reactivation of bradyzoites in T. gondii.

Abstract Microfluidic 3D cell culture devices that enable the recapitulation of key aspects of organ structures and functions in vivo represent a promising preclinical platform to improve translational success during drug discovery. Essential to these engineered devices is the spatial patterning of cells from different tissue types within a confined microenvironment. Traditional fabrication strategies lack the scalability, cost‐effectiveness, and rapid prototyping capabilities required for industrial applications, especially for processes involving thermoplastic materials. Here, an approach to pattern fluid guides inside microchannels is introduced by establishing differential hydrophilicity using pressure‐sensitive adhesives as masks and a subsequent selective coating with a biocompatible polymer. Optimal coating conditions are identified using polyvinylpyrrolidone, which resulted in rapid and consistent hydrogel flow in both the open‐chip prototype and the fully bonded device containing additional features for medium perfusion. The suitability of the device for dynamic 3D cell culture is tested by growing human hepatocytes in the device under controlled fluid flow for a 14‐day period. Additionally, the study demonstrated the potential of using the device for pharmaceutical high‐throughput screening applications, such as predicting drug‐induced liver injury. The approach offers a facile strategy of rapid prototyping thermoplastic microfluidic organ chips with varying geometries, microstructures, and substrate materials.

The characteristics of meteorological drought in different river basins in China have clear spatio-temporal differences and the difference between watersheds is also reflected in the influence mechanism of meteorological drought. This study investigated the meteorological drought risk under different future emission scenarios, based on the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 6 (CMIP6). Furthermore, we explored the influence of precipitation and temperature on meteorological drought in different basins of China in the future. Meanwhile, the uncertainty associated with CMIP6 in different watersheds is also considered. In the future, the frequency of meteorological drought events mainly shows a decreasing trend, but the drought intensity and duration increase. In China, the rate of probability change in drought's intensity was greater than drought duration and the probability distribution of drought characteristics is significantly different between the historical and the future periods. Under the low and medium emission scenarios (SSP126 and SSP245), the Joint Recurrence Period of future drought intensity and duration increases and the Recurrence Period decreases in the western and north-eastern basins. Precipitation plays a major role in the meteorological drought, especially in the northeast and southeast basins of China. HIGHLIGHTS The meteorological drought intensity and duration will increase in the western basin.; The probability of drought intensity increases faster than the duration of drought.; The JRP of bivariate drought will be a mainly increasing trend in the future.; The driving factor of a meteorological drought is different in China and precipitation is more prominent than temperature.;

Abstract Background Norovirus is highly diverse and constant surveillance is essential for the prevention and control of norovirus gastroenteritis. Methods From 2015 to 2019, fecal samples were collected from sporadic cases and outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis reported to Sichuan center for disease control and prevention. Sewage samples were collected from a wastewater treatment plant in Sichuan. All samples were tested for norovirus by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Norovirus-positive clinical samples were sequenced by Sanger sequencing. Sewage samples were sequenced by amplicon and virome sequencing. Results A total of 1462 fecal samples were collected and 11 different norovirus genotypes were detected. GII.4 Sydney 2012[P31] and GII.3[P12] were the dominant genotypes in sporadic cases whereas GII.2[P16] and GII.17[P17] were the dominant genotypes in outbreaks. GII.3 was predominant in children 0–6 months of age during spring and summer, while GII.4 was predominant in children older than 6 months and in the autumn. The detection rate of GII.17[P17] increased with age. In sewage, 16 genotypes were detected. GII.3, GII.4, GI.1, and GI.2 were the dominant genotypes. Conclusion This study demonstrated that multiple norovirus genotypes co-circulate in Sichuan. It is vital to continuously trace the genetic diversity of norovirus to give a future perspective on surveillance needs and guide vaccine design and policy decisions.

Background: The effects of climatic conditions on the prevalence of individual influenza (sub)types are not well understood in the subtropics. This study aims to evaluate the associations between meteorological factors and seasonal epidemics of A(H3N2), A(H1N1)pdm09, and type B influenza viruses, as well as to estimate the interactions between climatic variables in a subtropical basin region. Methods: The seasonality of influenza (sub)types during 2010–2019 were characterized in Chengdu Plain Economic Zone, a densely populated and highly humid plain area in Sichuan Basin in subtropical Southwest China. Generalized additive models were adopted to assess the independent exposure-response relationship between meteorological variables and influenza prevalence. The interactions of meteorological variables were further estimated using bivariate response surface models and strata models. Results: Our analyses indicated that the temperature, relative humidity, and absolute humidity have exhibited a major influence on influenza infection in Chengdu Plain Economic Zone. Low temperature was shown to promote the prevalence of A(H1N1)pdm09 and type B in winter-spring days at all levels of relative humidity. High risk of A(H3N2) infections was observed at low temperature or high temperature, and at higher relative humidity. Moreover, absolute humidity decreased or increased influenza (sub)type infections within different ranges. Conclusions: This study found different nonlinear relationships between meteorological factors and the seasonality of influenza (sub)types, as well as significant interactive effects between climatic variables, contributing to the research on the climate drivers of influenza prevalence in warm-humid basin regions in the subtropics.

Abstract The monitoring of antibiotic residues in foodstuffs by using rapid detection method is essential for food safety. In this work, the electrochemical sensor was developed by modification of screen-printed carbon electrode with graphene oxide, and then the ciprofloxacin (CIP) was detected based on the complexation of CIP with Mn2+. On modified electrode, the anodic stripping peak current response of Mn2+ was prohibited in the presence of CIP, and a peak current response of the complex was occurred. Thus, the peak current response of the complexation peak was employed as the indicating signal for CIP determination, which was more sensitive than the direct electrochemical oxidation response of CIP. Parameters that affect the signal response have been investigated in method. Under the optimum conditions, the peak current of the complexation peak was linearly correlated with the CIP content in the milk sample solution at 1.0 to 8.0 μM, and the linear correlation coefficients (R 2) was 0.994. The limits of detection (LOD) was 0.30 μM. Recoveries of CIP in milk sample were ranged from 81.0 to 95.4% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) below 4.6%. The method showed high selectivity and sensitive, good reproducibility, indicated that this method has potential to be applied in CIP residue analysis.

The authors combine satellite data with hydrologic models to investigate recent changes in pan-Arctic river discharge magnitude, trends, and seasonality for nearly half a million rivers. They reveal that these rivers likely exported 3-17% more water to the global ocean than previously thought from 1984-2018.

Abstract Background Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. n) is an important opportunistic pathogen causing oral and gastrointestinal disease. Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (F. p) is a next-generation probiotic and could serve as a biomarker of gut eubiosis/dysbiosis to some extent. Alterations in the human oral and gut microbiomes are associated with viral respiratory infection. The aim of this study was to characterise the oral and fecal bacterial biomarker (i.e., F. n and F. p) in COVID-19 patients by qPCR and investigate the pharyngeal microbiome of COVID-19 patients through metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS). Results Pharyngeal F. n was significantly increased in COVID-19 patients, and it was higher in male than female patients. Increased abundance of pharyngeal F. n was associated with a higher risk of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test (adjusted OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.06 ~ 1.65, P

Measurement(s) wetness of soil Technology Type(s) computational modeling technique Factor Type(s) geographic location • temporal interval Sample Characteristic - Environment land • surface soil Sample Characteristic - Location contiguous United States of America Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.14582265

Much effort is invested in calibrating model parameters for accurate outputs, but established methods can be inefficient and generic. By learning from big dataset, a new differentiable framework for model parameterization outperforms state-of-the-art methods, produce more physically-coherent results, using a fraction of the training data, computational power, and time. The method promotes a deep integration of machine learning with process-based geoscientific models.

Irrigation is the most important use of water. A newly developed irrigation management scheme leads to a significant reduction in water use and increase in economic gains while maintaining crop yields, presenting opportunities for real-world impacts under current and future climate conditions.

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular zoonotic pathogen capable of infecting almost all cells of warm-blooded vertebrates. In intermediate hosts, this parasite reproduces asexually in two forms, the tachyzoite form during acute infection that proliferates rapidly and the bradyzoite form during chronic infection that grows slowly. Depending on the growth condition, the two forms can interconvert. The conversion of tachyzoites to bradyzoites is critical for T. gondii transmission, and the reactivation of persistent bradyzoites in intermediate hosts may lead to symptomatic toxoplasmosis. However, the mechanisms that control bradyzoite differentiation have not been well studied. Here, we review recent advances in the study of bradyzoite biology and stage conversion, aiming to highlight the determinants associated with bradyzoite development and provide insights to design better strategies for controlling toxoplasmosis.

ABSTRACT Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a pathogen belonging to the apicomplexan phylum, and it threatens human and animal health. Calcium ions, a critical second messenger in cells, can regulate important biological processes, including parasite invasion and egress. Calmodulin (CaM) is a small, highly conserved, Ca2+-binding protein found in all eukaryotic cells. After binding to Ca2+, CaM can be activated to interact with various proteins. However, little is known about CaM’s function and its interacting proteins in T. gondii. In this study, we successfully knocked down CaM in the T. gondii parent strain TATI using a tetracycline-off system with the Toxoplasma CaM promoter. The results indicated that CaM was required for tachyzoite proliferation, invasion, and egress and that CaM depletion resulted in apicoplast loss, thus threatening parasite survival in the next lytic cycle. In the tachyzoite stage, CaM loss caused significant anomalies in the parasite’s basal constriction, motility, and parasite rosette-like arrangement in the parasitophorous vacuole (PV). These phenotypic defects caused by CaM depletion indicate the importance of CaM in T. gondii. Therefore, it is important to identify the CaM-interacting proteins in T. gondii. Applying BioID technology, more than 300 CaM’s proximal interacting proteins were identified from T. gondii. These CaM partners were broadly distributed throughout the parasite. Furthermore, the protein interactome and transcriptome analyses indicated the potential role of CaM in ion binding, cation binding, metal ion binding, calcium ion binding, and oxidation-reduction. Our findings shed light on the CaM function and CaM-interactome in T. gondii and other eukaryotes. IMPORTANCE Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular pathogen that threatens human and animal health. This unicellular parasite is active in many biological processes, such as egress and invasion. The implementation efficiency of T. gondii biological processes is dependent on signal transmission. Ca2+, as a second messenger, is essential for the parasite’s life cycle. Calmodulin, a ubiquitous Ca2+ receptor protein, is highly conserved and mediates numerous Ca2+-dependent events in eukaryotes. Few CaM functions or regulated partners have been characterized in T. gondii tachyzoites. Here, we reported the essential functions of calmodulin in T. gondii tachyzoite and the identification of its interacting partners using BioID technology, shedding light on the CaM function and CaM-interactome in Toxoplasma gondii and other eukaryotes.

Wheat is one of the widely cultivated crops. Accurate and efficient high-throughput ear counting is important for wheat production, yield evaluation, and seed breeding. The traditional wheat ear counting method is inefficient due to the small scope of investigation. Especially in the wheat field scene, the images obtained from different platforms, including ground systems and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), have differences in density, scale, and wheat ear distribution, which makes the wheat ear counting task still face some challenges. To this end, a density map counting network (LWDNet) model was constructed for cross-platform wheat ear statistics. Firstly, CA-MobileNetV3 was constructed by introducing a collaborative attention mechanism (CA) to optimize the lightweight neural network MobileNetV3, which was used as the front end of the feature extraction network, aiming to solve the problem of occlusion and adhesion of wheat ears in the field. Secondly, to enhance the model’s ability to learn the detailed features of wheat ears, the CARAFE upsampling module was introduced in the feature fusion layer to better restore the characteristics of wheat ears and improve the counting accuracy of the model for wheat ears. Finally, density map regression was used to achieve high-density, small-target ear counting, and the model was tested on datasets from different platforms. The results showed that our method can efficiently count wheat ears of different spatial scales, achieving good accuracy while maintaining a competitive number of parameters (2.38 million with a size of 9.24 MB), which will benefit wheat breeding and screening analysis to provide technical support.

cGAS-STING signaling is a major pathway in inducing type Ⅰ IFN, which plays a crucial role in the defense against T. gondii infection. In contrast, T. gondii develops multiple strategies to counteract the host defense, causing serious diseases in a wide range of hosts. Here, we demonstrate that T. gondii rhoptry protein 16 (ROP16) dampens type I interferon signaling via the inhibition of the cGAS (cyclic GMP-AMP synthase) pathway through the polyubiquitination of STING. Mechanistically, ROP16 interacts with STING through the SignalP domain and inhibits the K63-linked ubiquitination of STING in an NLS (nuclear localization signal)-domain-dependent manner. Consequently, knocking out the ROP16 in PRU tachyzoites promotes the STING-mediated production of type I IFNs and limits the replication of T. gondii. Together, these findings describe a distinct pathway where T. gondii exploits the ubiquitination of STING to evade host anti-parasite immunity, revealing new insights into the interaction between the host and parasites.

Study region: Volta River Basin, West Africa Study focus: Hydrological droughts have a wide range of impacts on societies and economic sectors such as agriculture and energy production. Analysis of hydrological droughts helps better plan and manage water resources under global change. This study analyses the spatial and temporal variability of hydrological drought occurrence (duration and severity) in the Volta River basin during 1979–2013. We used the Variable Infiltration Capacity and vector-based routing (RAPID) models and high-resolution forcing data to simulate streamflow for 10300 river reaches. New hydrological insights for the region: Drought duration and severity show high spatial variability and large differences between the three decades (1980 s, 1990 s and 2000 s). Droughts are more severe in larger catchments as the flows are generally higher. The trend analysis shows a general decreasing trend (up to 5% per event) in drought duration in the north-eastern and an increasing trend in southern parts of the basin. Drought severity shows an increasing and decreasing trend (up to ± 20%) in south and north part of the basin, respectively. Daily streamflow has a maximum correlation (up to 0.78) with upstream precipitation for the previous 30-days with a clear signal of propagation from meteorological to hydrological drought with an average lag-time of two weeks. The results indicate the need to consider site-specific and adaptive drought management measures to minimize the impacts.

Due to the limited effectiveness of existing drugs for the treatment of toxoplasmosis, there is a dire need for the discovery of new therapeutic options. Artemether is an important drug for malaria and several studies have indicated that it also exhibits anti-T. gondii activity. However, its specific effect and mechanisms are still not clear. To elucidate its specific role and potential mechanism, we first evaluated its cytotoxicity and anti-Toxoplasma effect on human foreskin fibroblast cells, and then analyzed its inhibitory activity during T. gondii invasion and intracellular proliferation. Finally, we examined its effect on mitochondrial membrane potential and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in T. gondii. The CC50 value of artemether was found to be 866.4 μM, and IC50 was 9.035 μM. It exhibited anti-T. gondii activity and inhibited the growth of T. gondii in a dose-dependent manner. We also found that the inhibition occurred primarily in intracellular proliferation, achieved by reducing the mitochondrial membrane integrity of T. gondii and stimulating ROS production. These findings suggest that the mechanism of artemether against T. gondii is related to a change in the mitochondrial membrane and the increase in ROS production, which may provide a theoretical basis for optimizing artemether derivatives and further improving their anti-Toxoplasma efficacy.

Abstract Background Gastrointestinal symptoms are common in COVID-19 patients and SARS-CoV-2 RNA has been detected in the patients’ feces, which could lead to fecal–oral transmission. Therefore, fecal sample testing with real-time RT-PCR is highly recommended as a routine test for SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, varying rates of detection in fecal sample have been reported. The aim of this study was to provide insights into the detection rates of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 patients’ fecal sample by using four real-time RT-PCR kits and two pretreatment methods (inactive and non-inactive). Results The detection rate of Trizol pretreatment group was slightly higher than that of Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS) groups, showing that pretreatment and inactivation by Trizol had no influence to SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test (NAT) results. 39.29% detection rate in fecal sample by DAAN was obtained, while Bio-germ was 40.48%, Sansure 34.52%, and GeneoDx 33.33%. The former three kits had no significant difference. The DAAN kit detection rates of ORF1ab and N gene were nearly equal and Ct value distribution was more scattered, while the Bio-germ kit distribution was more clustered. The positive rate of SARS-COV-2 in fecal samples correlated with the severity of the disease, specifically, severe cases were less likely to be identified than asymptomatic infection in the DAAN group (adjusted OR 0.05, 95%CI = 0.00 ~ 0.91). Conclusions Trizol should be of choice as a valid and safe method for pretreatment of fecal samples of SARS-CoV-2. All real-time RT-PCR kits assessed in this study can be used for routine detection of SARS-CoV-2 in fecal samples. While DAAN, with high NAT positive rate, could be the best out of the 4 kits used in this study. SARS-CoV-2 positive rate in fecal sample was related to the severity of illness.

Emergency rescue vehicles are special equipment for fire, flood, earthquake and other disasters. They need to have high efficiency and high mobility under various terrain and road conditions. The fuel economy of emergency rescue vehicles is very poor in climbing and complex terrain due to the heavy weight of vehicle chassis and upper loading. The dual-motor torque increasing hybrid power system designed in this paper greatly improves the dynamic performance and mobility of emergency rescue vehicles, and the use of dual-motor drive in steep slopes and complex terrain can avoid the engine working in low efficiency area. In order to further improve the fuel economy of vehicles under various working conditions, a fuzzy logic control strategy based on improved particle swarm optimization (PSO) is proposed in this paper. The torques of engine and dual-motor are reasonably distributed under different working conditions. A novel fuzzy parameter optimization mode is designed, which reduces the workload of optimization calculation and ensures the optimization accuracy. The off-line simulation and hardware-in-the-loop experiments are carried out for the dual-motor torque increasing hybrid power system model and the proposed improved energy control strategy. The results show that the fuzzy logic control strategy optimized by simulated annealing particle swarm optimization algorithm (SimuAPSO-FLC) has the best effect and meets the requirements of high efficiency, high mobility and stability of the emergency rescue vehicle.

This paper proposed control schemes to realize the collaborative control as well as enhance the control precision for the distributed driving electric vehicle (DDEV). Firstly, we suggested an electronic line-shafting (ELS) to realize the cooperative control for the Multi-Motor system which is installed in the DDEV. Secondly, we adopted a nonsingular terminal sliding mode control (NTSMC) method combined with a sliding mode observer (SMO) to quicken the response velocity and strengthen the robustness of the single motor controller. Finally, for the chattering value caused by the internal parameter variation and external disturbance, a fuzzy algorithm is proposed to obtain the controller parameters of NTSMC in real-time to eliminate the chattering value of DDEV. Through several simulations and experiments, the results demonstrate that the proposed strategies can realize ideal collaborative control for the Multi-Motor system, as well as improve the dynamic performance and anti-jamming ability for the whole control system of DDEV.

The capability and synergistic use of multisource satellite observations for flood monitoring and forecasts is crucial for improving disaster preparedness and mitigation. Here, surface fractional water cover (FW) retrievals derived from Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) L-band (1.4 GHz) brightness temperatures were used for flood assessment over southeast Africa during the Cyclone Idai event. We then focused on five subcatchments of the Pungwe basin and developed a machine learning based approach with the support of Google Earth Engine for daily (24-h) forecasting of FW and 30-m inundation downscaling and mapping. The Classification and Regression Trees model was selected and trained using retrievals derived from SMAP and Landsat coupled with rainfall forecasts from the NOAA Global Forecast System. Independent validation showed that FW predictions over randomly selected dates are highly correlated (R = 0.87) with the Landsat observations. The forecast results captured the flood temporal dynamics from the Idai event; and the associated 30-m downscaling results showed inundation spatial patterns consistent with independent satellite synthetic aperture radar observations. The data-driven approach provides new capacity for flood monitoring and forecasts leveraging synergistic satellite observations and big data analysis, which is particularly valuable for data sparse regions.

In distributed shape sensing, the shape reconstruction error is more and more sensitive to the strain measuring error along with curvature radius of reconstructed shape increasing, which causes a notable challenge for large curvature radius shape reconstructing. In this paper, we demonstrate a large curvature radius shape sensing using optical frequency domain reflectometry (OFDR) in multi-core fibers. We construct a theoretical model of strain measuring error and curvature radius reconstructing errors under different curvature radius. In the experiment, by this reconstructing error model, we optimally select the measurable strain resolution and the sensing spatial resolution to realize the shape reconstruction with a large curvature radius and reconstruct two-dimensional (2D) circle shapes of curvature radii from 5 cm to 100 cm. To verify the accuracy of three-dimensional (3D) shape reconstruction, we present a 3D shape sensing validation method based on 3D printing technology. We fabricate a 3D phantom containing a groove with a variable curvature radius of 5 cm to 100 cm. The presented distributed shape sensing system realize to reconstruct this complicated 3D shape. The root-mean-square error of curvature radius between the reconstructed and designed 3D space curves is 7.2 mm and the mean Euclidean distance is 3.4 mm.

Measurement(s) vector river network • river network drainage density Technology Type(s) computational modeling technique • machine learning Sample Characteristic - Environment river • watershed • drainage basin Sample Characteristic - Location global Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.13377329

Abstract Background Fasciola hepatica is an important zoonotic parasite that causes fasciolosis in a broad range of animals. No information is available about the prevalence of F. hepatica in Père David’s deer (Elaphurus davidianus), an endangered species in the world. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of fasciolosis in Père David’s deer in the Dafeng Elk National Natural Reserve, Jiangsu province, China. Results In this study, 142 fecal samples from Père David’s deer were analyzed for F. hepatica by microscopy and nest-PCR. Only one sample was positive for F. hepatica according to microscopy examination, while 18 of 142 (12.68, 95%CI: 2.841–22.45%) samples were positive for F. hepatica according to nest-PCR results. Conclusions This is the first report of prevalence of F. hepatica in Père David’s deer. The prevalence data indicated that F. hepatica was also present in this endangered animal, which may cause a potential threat to this precious species.

Mountain rain-on-snow (ROS) generates large flooding events worldwide. Climate warming will enhance the frequency, magnitude, and widespread nature of these events. Past studies indicate rainfall, not snowmelt, typically drives much of the runoff response during ROS. However, there is substantial event-to-event variability—resulting from shifting atmospheric drivers and nuanced physical mechanisms governing water flow through a snowpack. Historically, turbulent fluxes were assumed to dominate the energy balance for snowmelt during ROS. Recent research nonetheless suggests that other components of the energy balance might be larger drivers depending on: 1) the time of year; 2) the elevation; and 3) the aspect of the slope. This mini review summarizes the literature on the physical processes governing ROS and proposes that moving forward we utilize the terms “active” and “passive” to describe a snowpack’s contribution (via snowmelt) to terrestrial water input (TWI) during ROS. Active snowpacks readily contribute meltwater to TWI via the energy balance, bolstering rainfall-runoff totals. Passive snowpacks do not melt, but simply convey rainwater through the snow matrix. In both snowpack cases, preferential flow paths enhance transmissivity. This proposed classification scheme will help researchers and water managers better communicate and interpret past findings, and aid in forecasting discussions of future events.

Copper is a trace element necessary for the normal functioning of organisms, but excessive copper contents may be toxic to the heart. The goal of this study was to investigate the role of excessive copper accumulation in mitochondrial damage and cell apoptosis inhibition. In vivo, the heart copper concentration and cardiac troponin I (c-TnI) and N-terminal forebrain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP) levels increased in the copper-laden model group compared to those of the control group. Histopathological and ultrastructural observations revealed that the myocardial collagen volume fraction (CVF), perivascular collagen area (PVCA) and cardiomyocyte cross-sectional area (CSA) were markedly elevated in the copper-laden model group compared with the control group. Furthermore, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that the mitochondrial double-layer membrane was incomplete in the copper-laden model groups. Furthermore, cytochrome C (Cyt-C) expression was downregulated in mitochondria but upregulated in the cytoplasm in response to copper accumulation. In addition, Bcl-2 expression decreased, while Bax and cleaved caspase-3 levels increased. These results indicate that copper accumulation in cardiomyocyte mitochondria induces mitochondrial injury, and Cyt-C exposure and induces apoptosis, further resulting in heart damage.

Interstitial-free (IF) steel is widely used in the automobile industry, home appliance industry, etc. Not only very low content of carbon and nitrogen, but also high quality surface of the final product are required for this steel grade. The contents of oxygen and inclusions in the steel have a great influence on the surface quality of the final product. Therefore, it is very important to decrease the carbon content effectively and keep high steel cleanliness at the same time in industrial production. In present work, the effect of oxygen blowing on the cleanliness of IF steel under the forced decarburization by oxygen blowing in the Ruhrstahl Hereaeus (RH) refining process was studied through dense sampling during RH and continuous casting process, and inclusion analysis was carried out with automatic scanning electron microscopy (ASPEX). Oxygen blowing was found to have little effect on the inclusions’ types and morphology throughout the process. The oxygen blowing rate had a great influence on the cleanliness of the molten steel in the early stage of RH refining (within 4 min after adding Al). An increase in the oxygen blowing rate led to an increase in the content of total oxygen (T.O) and the amount of inclusions in the steel, but it had little effect on the steel cleanliness in the subsequent process. Cluster inclusions were mainly found before the vacuum was broken, and finding them in steel after RH refining was difficult. The steel cleanliness in a tundish had little correlation with the oxygen blowing rate during RH treatment, but had a great correlation with the oxygen content in the molten steel before Al deoxidation. The higher the oxygen content before Al deoxidation, the worse the steel cleanliness in the tundish. To improve the cleanliness in the tundish, the oxygen content in molten steel before Al addition should be decreased as much as possible. The T.O and the inclusions amount in the steel showed a downward trend as the production proceeded, which indicates that the steel cleanliness was gradually improved.

A cross coupling control strategy based on second-order global fast terminal sliding mode control(2-GFTSMC) is proposed in this paper aiming to improve the synchronization accuracy of dual-motor under external load and disturbance. Firstly, the global fast terminal sliding mode controller is designed to improve the starting performance and dynamic performance of single motor and eliminate chattering phenomenon. Secondly, in order to improve the synchronization accuracy, enhance the stability of the dual-motor system and shorten the response time, a second-order global fast terminal sliding mode controller is designed by combining the global fast terminal sliding mode control with the cross-coupling control strategy. Finally, an experimental platform of dual-motor synchronous control is built, and the effectiveness of the proposed synchronization control strategy is verified by experiments.

A nonsingular terminal sliding mode control (NTSMC) scheme based on beetle antennae search (BAS) algorithm is employed in this paper to overcome the internal interference of permanent magnet in-wheel motor (PMIWM) applied in the hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Firstly, a nonsingular terminal sliding mode approaching is applied to accelerate approaching speed and improve the response speed of the PMIWM system. Secondly, aiming at the undesired chattering caused by the large switching gain during the sliding mode control, fuzzy rules and fuzzy controller are designed to adjust sliding mode approaching parameter in online to inhibit the chattering phenomenon. Finally, a BAS algorithm based on sensor-cloud system (SCS) is adopted in this paper to obtain the ideal control parameters for the NTSMC control strategy, which can effectively improve the dynamic performance of the PMIWM. Through various simulation and experiments, the results demonstrate the proposed BAS-NTSMC strategy has optimal control performance and robustness, as well as reducing the chattering phenomenon during the control process significantly.

Background. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are known to generate an immune-suppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) and promote tumor progression. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a devastating disease that evolves in the background of chronic inflammatory liver damage. In this study, we aimed to uncover the mechanism by which HCC cells recruit macrophages into the TME. Methods. Bioinformatic analysis was performed to identify differentially expressed genes related to macrophage infiltration. An orthotopic HCC xenograft model was used to determine the role of macrophages in HCC tumor growth. Clodronate liposomes were used to delete macrophages. Western blotting analysis, quantitative real-time PCR, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were performed to determine the underlying mechanisms. Results. The high mobility group A1 (HMGA1) gene was identified as a putative modulator of macrophage infiltration in HCC. Deletion of macrophages with clodronate liposomes significantly abrogated the tumor-promoting effects of HMGA1 on HCC growth. Mechanistically, HMGA1 can regulate the expression of C-C Motif Chemokine Ligand 2 (CCL2), also referred to as monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP1), which is responsible for macrophage recruitment. Moreover, NF-κB was required for HMGA1-mediated CCL2 expression. Pharmacological or genetic inhibition of NF-κB largely blocked CCL2 levels in HMGA1-overexpressing HCC cells. Conclusions. This study reveals HMGA1 as a crucial regulator of macrophage recruitment by activating NF-κB-CCL2 signaling, proves that HMGA1-induced HCC aggressiveness dependents on the macrophage, and provide an attractive target for therapeutic interventions in HCC.

Toxoplasma gondii is a serious hazard to public health and animal husbandry. Due to the current dilemma of treatment of toxoplasmosis, it is urgent to find new anti-T. gondii drugs to treat toxoplasmosis. In this study, the anti-T. gondii activity of Origanum vulgare essential oil (Ov EO) was firstly studied, and then, carvanol (Ca), the main ingredient of Ov EO was evaluated using the MTT assay on human foreskin fibroblast (HFF) cells in vitro. The cytotoxicity was evaluated using the MTT assay on HFF cells. The CC50 of Ov EO and Ca was 134.9 and 43.93 μg/ml, respectively. Both of them exhibited anti-parasitic activity, and inhibited the growth of T. gondii in a dose-dependent manner. For the inhibition effect, Ca was better than Ov EO at the same concentration, the IC50 of Ov EO and Ca was 16.08 and 7.688 μg/ml, respectively. In addition, treatment with Ca, was found to change the morphology of T. gondii tachyzoites and made their shapes curl up. These results showed that Ca was able to inhibit the proliferation of T. gondii by reducing invasion, which may be due to its detrimental effect on the mobility of tachyzoites. Our results indicated that Ca could be a potential new and effective drug for treating toxoplasmosis.

BackgroundFerroptosis is a newly generated regulatory cell death promoted by the accumulated lipid-based reactive oxygen species (ROS). Solute carrier family 7 member 11 (SLC7A11), the cystine/glutamate antiporter, is known as a ferroptosis executor that exhibits a positive correlation with carcinoma progression because of antioxidant function. Nonetheless, it is yet unclear on the understanding of ferroptosis regulation in lung cancer.MethodsDatabase, qRT-PCR, Western-blot (WB), and immunohistochemistry were utilized to determine SLC7A11 expression and function, as well as gene iron related to necrosis in clinical tissue specimens and cells; a ferroptosis inducer, inhibitors, and SLC7A11 lentivirus were used to confirm SLC7A11’s biological activity in cell viability, oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, and iron ion enrichment in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in different cells; lentivirus was used to infect lung adenocarcinoma cell lines to acquire miR-27a-3p overexpression and knockdown cell lines, and to detect SLC7A11 level through qRT-PCR and WB. The influence of upregulated/downregulated miR-27a-3p on ferroptosis and other related biological characteristics of lung adenocarcinoma cell lines was detected.ResultsUpregulated SLC7A11 was shown in NSCLC patients and cells, and increased SLC7A11 had a relation to the poorly prognostic status of NSCLC patients. Besides, a novel miRNA, miR-27a-3p, was an essential modulator of ferroptosis via directly targeting SLC7A11 in NSCLC cells. Overexpressing miR-27a-3p led to SLC7A11 suppression via directly binding to its 3’-UTR, followed by the reduction of erastin-caused ferroptosis. In contrast, inhibited miR-27a-3p resulted in an increase in NSCLC cells’ sensitivity to erastin. Of importance, the accumulated lipid ROS and cell death of iron peptide mediated by anti-miR-27a-3p can be eliminated by impeding the glutamylation process. Our literature collectively uncovered that miR-27a-3p modulated ferroptosis by targeting SLC7A11 in NSCLC cells, illustrating the important role of miRNA in ferroptosis.ConclusionMiR-27a-3p modulates ferroptosis via targeting SLC7A11 in NSCLC cells, implying the significant role of miR-27a-3p/SLC7A11 in ferroptosis.

Objectives: To explore and understand the SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence of convalescents, the association between antibody levels and demographic factors, and the seroepidemiology of convalescents of COVID-19 till March 2021.Methods: We recruited 517 voluntary COVID-19 convalescents in Sichuan Province and collected 1,707 serum samples till March 2021. Then we reported the seroprevalence and analyzed the associated factors.Results: Recent travel history was associated with IgM levels. Convalescents who had recent travel history were less likely to be IgM antibody negative [OR = 0.232, 95% CI: (0.128, 0.420)]. Asymptomatic cases had, approximately, twice the odds of being IgM antibody negative compared with symptomatic cases [OR = 2.583, 95% CI: (1.554, 4.293)]. Participants without symptoms were less likely to be IgG seronegative than those with symptoms [OR = 0.511, 95% CI: (0.293, 0.891)]. Convalescents aged 40–59 were less likely to be IgG seronegative than those aged below 20 [OR = 0.364, 95% CI: (0.138, 0.959)]. The duration of positive IgM antibodies persisted 365 days while the IgG persisted more than 399 days.Conclusions: Our findings suggested that recent travel history might be associated with the antibody levels of IgM, while age could be associated with the antibody levels of IgG. Infection type could be associated with both antibody levels of IgM and IgG that declined quicker in asymptomatic cases.

The current methods of treating toxoplasmosis have a number of side effects, and these therapies are only effective against the acute stage of the disease. Thus, development of new low toxicity and efficient anti-Toxoplasma drugs is extremely important. Natural products are important sources for screening new drugs; among them, essential oils (EOs) have efficacy in anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-insect, and other aspects. In this study, 16 EOs were screened for their anti-T. gondii activity. Lavandula angustifolia essential oil (La EO)was found to have an anti-parasitic effect on T. gondii. The cytotoxicity of La EO was firstly evaluated using the MTT assay on human foreskin fibroblast (HFF) cells, and then the anti-T. gondii activity was evaluated by plaque assay. Finally, the invasion experiment and electron microscope observation were used to study the mechanism of La EO in anti-toxoplasma activity. The results indicated that the CC50 of La EO was 4.48 mg/ml and that La EO had activity against T. gondii and the inhibition was in a dose-dependent manner under safe concentrations. La EO was able to reduce T. gondii invasion, which may be due to its detrimental effect on changes of the morphology of tachyzoites. These findings indicated that La EO could be a potential drug for treating toxoplasmosis.

Polyisoprene, with a high degree of polymerization, is the main component of natural rubber. In the industrial production process, it is necessary to adjust the length of the macromolecule of polyisoprene to improve its plasticity. It is thus of vital importance to explore the effect of the degree of polymerization of polyisoprene on its properties, e.g., mechanical property and thermal property. Molecular dynamics simulations link microstructure to macroscopic properties. In this paper, Moltemplate was used to establish polyisoprene models with different degrees of polymerization, and the mechanical properties of polyisoprene under uniaxial tension were analyzed under an OPLS all-atom force field. The results showed that the strength and elastic modulus of the material increased with the increase in the degree of polymerization of the molecular chain. In the process of tensile loading, the non-bonded potential energy played a dominant role in the change of the total system potential energy. Then, the thermal conductivity of polyisoprene with different degrees of polymerization was calculated by the non-equilibrium molecular dynamics method (NEMD). The thermal conductivity of PI was predicted to converge to 0.179 W/(m·K). The mechanism of thermal conductivity of the polymer containing branched chains was also discussed and analyzed. The research content of this paper aims to provide theoretical support for improving the mechanical and thermal properties of natural rubber base materials.

Methamphetamine (METH) is a major psychostimulant drug of abuse worldwide, and its neurotoxicity has been studied extensively. In addition to neurotoxicity, METH can also induce hepatotoxicity. The underlying mechanism of intestinal microorganisms in METH-induced hepatotoxicity remains unclear. In this study, mice have received antibiotics intragastrically or PBS once each day for 1 week, followed by METH or saline. The antibiotics attenuated METH-induced hepatotoxicity as evidenced by histopathological observation and biochemical analysis; furthermore, they alleviated METH-induced oxidative stress. The effect of antibiotics on METH-induced hepatotoxicity was investigated using RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq). The RNA-seq results demonstrated that antibiotics could regulate 580 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), of which 319 were upregulated after METH treatment and then downregulated with antibiotic pretreatment and 237 were first downregulated after METH administration and then upregulated after antibiotic pretreatment, in addition to 11 upregulated and 13 downregulated ones simultaneously in METH and antibiotic-pretreated groups. RNA-seq analyses revealed that TLR4 is one of the hub genes. Western blot analysis indicated that antibiotics inhibited the increase of TLR4, MyD88 and Traf6 induced by METH. This research suggests that antibiotics may play an important role in preventing METH-induced liver injury by regulating oxidative stress and TLR4/MyD88/Traf6 axis, though further investigation is required.

Abstract A vector‐river network explicitly uses realistic geometries of river reaches and catchments for spatial discretization in a river model. This enables improving the accuracy of the physical properties of the modeled river system, compared to a gridded river network that has been used in Earth System Models. With a finer‐scale river network, resolving smaller‐scale river reaches, there is a need for efficient methods to route streamflow and its constituents throughout the river network. The purpose of this study is twofold: (1) develop a new method to decompose river networks into hydrologically independent tributary domains, where routing computations can be performed in parallel; and (2) perform global river routing simulations with two global river networks, with different scales, to examine the computational efficiency and the differences in discharge simulations at various temporal scales. The new parallelization method uses a hierarchical decomposition strategy, where each decomposed tributary is further decomposed into many sub‐tributary domains, enabling hybrid parallel computing. This parallelization scheme has excellent computational scaling for the global domain where it is straightforward to distribute computations across many independent river basins. However, parallel computing for a single large basin remains challenging. The global routing experiments show that the scale of the vector‐river network has less impact on the discharge simulations than the runoff input that is generated by the combination of land surface model and meteorological forcing. The scale of vector‐river networks needs to consider the scale of local hydrologic features such as lakes that are to be resolved in the network.

Abstract Methodological choices can have strong effects on projections of climate change impacts on hydrology. In this study, we investigate the ways in which four different steps in the modeling chain influence the spread in projected changes of different aspects of hydrology. To form the basis of these analyses, we constructed an ensemble of 160 simulations from permutations of two Representative Concentration Pathways, 10 global climate models, two downscaling methods, and four hydrologic model implementations. The study is situated in the Pacific Northwest of North America, which has relevance to a diverse, multinational cast of stakeholders. We analyze the effects of each modeling decision on changes in gridded hydrologic variables of snow water equivalent and runoff, as well as streamflow at point locations. Results show that the choice of representative concentration pathway or global climate model is the driving contributor to the spread in annual streamflow volume and timing. On the other hand, hydrologic model implementation explains most of the spread in changes in low flows. Finally, by grouping the results by climate region the results have the potential to be generalized beyond the Pacific Northwest. Future hydrologic impact assessments can use these results to better tailor their modeling efforts.

Abstract Background Pedicel orientation can affect the female flower orientation and seed yield in cucumber. A spontaneous mutant possessing upward growth of pedicels was identified in the wild type inbred strain 9930 and named upward-pedicel (up). The morphological and genetic analyses of up were performed in this study. In order to clone the up gene, 933 F2 individuals and 524 BC1 individuals derived from C-8-6 (WT) and up were used for map-based cloning. Results up was mapped to a 35.2 kb physical interval on chromosome 1, which contains three predicted genes. Sequencing analysis revealed that a 5-bp deletion was found in the second exon of Csa1G535800, and it led to a frameshift mutation resulting in a premature stop codon. The candidate gene of CsUp (Csa1G535800) was further confirmed via genomic and cDNA sequencing in biparental and natural cucumber populations. Sequencing data showed that a 4-bp deletion was found in the sixth exon of Csa1G535800 in CGN19839, another inbred line, and there was also a mutation of an amino acid in Csa1G535800 that could contribute to the upward growth of pedicels in CGN19839. Moreover, it was found that Csa1G535800 exhibited strong expression in the pedicel of WT, suggesting its important role in development of pedicel orientation. Thus, Csa1G535800 was considered to be the candidate gene of CsUp. Conclusions CsUp encodes an Auxilin-like protein and controls pedicel orientation in cucumber. The identification of CsUp may help us to understand the mechanism of pedicel orientation development and allow for investigation of novel functions of Auxilin-like proteins in cucumber.

Droplet-laden turbulent airflow (i.e. the mixture of dry air and water vapor) in the marine atmospheric boundary layer is described by an open channel flow configuration in direct numerical simulation (DNS). The dispersed phase, the spray droplets are tracked in a Lagrangian framework, and their impact on the carrier airflow is modeled with the two-way coupling between the two phases. A wide-range droplet size is typically found near the air–sea interface according to the sea spray concentration function (SSCF). The interactions of the droplets with turbulent airflow including mass, momentum, and energy exchange are investigated here. We found a balancing mechanism exists in the droplet effects on the turbulent drag coefficient, since spray droplets lead to a decreased vertical turbulent momentum transport, but also lead to an increased droplet contribution to total drag coefficient. For the heat transfer, as droplet mass loading increasing, the total Nusselt number decreases due to the depression of turbulent heat flux and enhanced negative droplet convective flux. Keywords: Direct numerical simulation, Air-sea interface, Sea spray, Turbulent airflow

Controlled growth of single-crystal high-quality ‘track-and-field ground’ shaped graphene domains and the morphological evolution from hexagonal to hexagram graphene domain even square and circular graphene domain has been achieved by low-pressure CVD on solid copper substrate, thereby demonstrating that the shape of the graphene grains can potentially be precisely tuned by optimizing growth parameters. The etching reaction of graphene has also been studied, and results show that a low flow rate of hydrogen (99.999%) is favorable to form hexagonal structure for the etching reaction of graphene due to the exist of oxygen or oxidizing impurities in hydrogen gas commonly used. Controlled growth and etching reaction of graphene determine the final shape of graphene domains and all these efforts contribute to the study of size and morphology and the growth mechanism of graphene domains. Keywords: Graphene, ‘Track-and-field ground’ shaped, Morphological evolution, Hexagram, Square-shaped, Etching, LPCVD

Many deep-learning character recognition methods have been developed over the past few years. Chinese characters are widely used in many countries; however, the deep-learning-based Chinese character recognition methods are faced with various problems, such as a large amount of data required for training, numerous parameters, and a large consumption of computing resources. Concept learning is a hominine learning approach. Unlike existing deep-learning models, conceptual model learning can be realized by using as little as one sample. This paper is the first to propose a handwritten Chinese character recognition method based on concept learning. Different from the existing image representation-based character recognition methods, the proposed method builds a meta stroke library with prior knowledge, and then, presents a Chinese character conceptual model based on stroke relationship learning using a character stroke extraction method and Bayesian program learning. During character recognition, Monte Carlo Markov chain sampling is utilized to obtain the character generation model for each character conceptual. This generation model can calculate the probability of the target and training characters being the same classification, and thereby determines the classification of the target character. The experimental results indicate that, with the proposed method, the conceptual model of each character can be built for character classification prediction using as few as one character sample. Our approach obtains better performance than the state-of-the-art methods on ICDAR-2013 competition dataset.

Abstract Background Seasonal patterns of influenza A subtypes and B lineages in tropical/subtropical regions across age have remained to be explored. The impact of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic on seasonal influenza activity have not been well understood. Methods Based on a national sentinel hospital-based influenza surveillance system, the epidemiology of influenza virus during 2006/07–2015/16 was characterized in the subtropical city, Chengdu. Chengdu is one of the most populous cities in southwestern China, where the first reported case of A/H1N1pdm09 in mainland China was identified. Wavelet analysis was applied to identify the periodicities of A/H3N2, seasonal A/H1N1, A/H1N1pdm09, Victoria, and Yamagata across age, respectively. The persistence and age distribution patterns were described during the pre-pandemic (2006/07–2008/09), pandemic (2009/10), and post-pandemic (2010/11–2015/16) seasons. Results A total of 10,981 respiratory specimens were collected, of which 2516 influenza cases were identified. Periodicity transition from semi-annual cycles to an annual cycle was observed for composite influenza virus as well as A/H3N2 along in Chengdu since the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. Semi-annual cycles of composite influenza virus and A/H3N2 along were observed again during 2014/15–2015/16, coinciding with the emergence and predominance of A/H3N2 significant antigenic drift groups. However, A/H1N1pdm09, Victoria, and Yamagata generally demonstrated an annual winter-spring peak in non-pandemic seasons. Along with periodicity transitions, age groups with higher positive rates shifted from school-aged children and adults to adults and the elderly for A/H1N1pdm09 during 2009/10–2010/11 and for A/H3N2 during 2014/15–2015/16. Conclusions Differences in periodicity and age distribution by subtype/lineage and by season highlight the importance of increasing year-round influenza surveillance and developing subtype/lineage- and age-specific prevention and control measures. Changes of periodicity and age shifts should be considered in public health response to influenza pandemics and epidemics. In addition, it is suggested to use quadrivalent influenza vaccines to provide protection against both influenza B lineages.