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Abstract With the increase in high-rise buildings in cities, public flue exhaust systems have a direct impact on residential air quality and the living environment. Although existing studies have analyzed the problems in public flue exhaust systems through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulations and experimental tests, these studies often lack an in-depth exploration of the specific impacts of individual components in the system. To solve this problem, this study not only thoroughly analyzes the key components in the public flue system, such as branch pipes, check valves, and tee pipes, but also develops a parametric public flue simulation system software based on C# and verifies the accuracy of the simulation through experiments. The study first determines the key parameters affecting the comprehensive resistance coefficient of the branch pipe, check valve, tee pipe, and other components through CFD simulation and experimental testing. Subsequently, a visualization program is developed using the C# language, which can quickly simulate and visualize the flow changes in the flue according to different building parameters such as the number of floors, height of floors, and size of the flue. The results confirm that the program can efficiently predict the flow distribution under different design options, providing a practical tool for the optimal design and performance evaluation of public flues, which is important for improving the air quality of the living environment.

Leukemia is a malignant tumor with high heterogeneity and a complex evolutionary process. It is difficult to resolve the heterogeneity and clonal evolution of leukemia cells by applying traditional bulk sequencing techniques, thus preventing a deep understanding of the mechanisms of leukemia development and the identification of potential therapeutic targets. However, with the development and application of single-cell sequencing technology, it is now possible to investigate the gene expression profile, mutations, and epigenetic features of leukemia at the single-cell level, thus providing a new perspective for leukemia research. In this article, we review the recent applications and advances of single-cell sequencing technology in leukemia research, discuss its potential for enhancing our understanding of the mechanisms of leukemia development, discovering therapeutic targets and personalized treatment, and provide reference guidelines for the significance of this technology in clinical research.

Abstract For temperate desert ecosystems, understanding the maintenance mechanisms of biodiversity has become a central concern of policymakers, practitioners, and academicians, especially in the context of human disturbances. However, most of the past desert research is based on a single survey and single functional traits or phylogeny, and may lead to incomplete estimates of community assembly. To assess climate factors, soil factors, and human interference in the processes of dispersal assembly, filtering, and limiting similarity in community assembly, we selected 50 sites along the Beijing‐Xinjiang Expressway and conducted plant surveys at sites 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 km away from the expressway twice, one in spring and one in autumn, and collected 31 functional traits and phylogenetic information of 74 species. We found that incomplete detection can lead to bias in biodiversity estimation due to seasonal surveys. Road disturbance at different distances had no significant effect on species composition and community assembly processes. The trade‐off between dispersal limitation and environmental filtering is the process of maintaining desert plant diversity. Precipitation directly determined the dispersal limitation and environmental filtering. Soil pH mediated the effect of temperature on biotic interaction in the dimension of phylogeny, while soil pH and organic carbon acted as intermediate factors affecting biotic interaction in functional traits. Our findings suggest that climate change, notably precipitation, has a more pronounced impact on desert plant communities than human disturbances. A multifaceted approach considering functional traits and phylogeny across seasons is essential for understanding species coexistence in desert ecosystems.

Since the introduction of The Child-Friendly Cities Initiative in 1996, there has been a growing body of research in this period. Many countries have made some attempts to create Child-Friendly Cities (CFC). However, there is yet to be a clear answer to how to create more child-friendly environments. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the current state of research on CFC through bibliometric analysis and to find future research directions by understanding the inadequacy of the current research. The study searched the database for all literature related to “CFC” from 1996 to 2023. After 166 documents were retrieved, they were analyzed for the overall trends in the number of articles published, main collaborating countries, main publishing journals, and keyword co-occurrence. The findings suggest that existing research has shifted from the broader concept of children’s environments to gradually focusing on the individual child. However, the underlying preferences of “children” as the primary users of space have yet to be explored. Also, the neurological mechanisms in the brain that influence the generation of positive emotions and brain development in children have yet to be mentioned. Accordingly, future research directions are proposed, providing a reference for research on creating CFC.

Abstract Thyroid cancer (TC) is the most predominant malignancy of the endocrine system, with steadily growing occurrence and morbidity worldwide. Although diagnostic and therapeutic methods have been rapidly developed in recent years, the underlying molecular mechanisms in the pathogenesis of TC remain enigmatic. The N6-methyladenosine(m6A) RNA modification is designed to impact RNA metabolism and further gene regulation. This process is intricately regulated by a variety of regulators, such as methylases and demethylases. Aberrant m6A regulators expression is related to the occurrence and development of TC and play an important role in drug resistance. This review comprehensively analyzes the effect of m6A methylation on TC progression and the potential clinical value of m6A regulators as prognostic markers and therapeutic targets in this disease.

Abstract Background Interleukin (IL)‐10 plays a notable role in the inflammatory‐associated mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We aimed to investigate whether IL‐10 and its upstream factors exert an impact on MCI in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. Methods A total of 117 T2DM patients were recruited and divided into Control group and MCI group based on the presence or absence of MCI. Clinical parameters were collected. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was conducted for global cognitive function. Digit Span Test (DST), Verbal Fluency Test (VFT), and Trail Making Test‐B (TMTB) were used to evaluate the executive functions of the diabetic patients. Trail Making Test‐A (TMTA) was performed to examine the information processing speed function. Patients' scene memory was examined by Logical Memory Test (LMT). After the baseline data were compared, correlation and regression analyses were performed to explore the relationship among IL‐10, miR‐let‐7c‐5p and cognitive function. Results Compared to 80 patients in the control group, 37 patients in the MCI group exhibited lower IL‐10 in plasma and higher miR‐let‐7c‐5p levels in exosomes from plasma. The IL‐10 level was negatively associated with MoCA. Likewise, miR‐let‐7c‐5p levels were negatively correlated with IL‐10 levels and MoCA. Elevated miR‐let‐7c‐5p levels and decreased IL‐10 levels are risk factors for MCI in T2DM patients. Increased miR‐let‐7c‐5p and downregulated IL‐10 may influence VFT and TMTB, respectively, associated with executive function. Conclusions We demonstrated that IL‐10 is correlated to the executive function of T2DM patients. Decreased IL‐10 may result from the regulation of miR‐let‐7c‐5p in exosomes.

Summary: China has committed to eradicating the forage-livestock conflict (FLC) by 2035 to restore degraded rangelands. This commitment is accompanied by China’s rapid socioeconomic development, highlighting the necessity to analyze the effects of socioeconomic transition on FLC changes. Here, we uncover multi-regional socioeconomic drivers of China’s FLC changes. The results show that during 2005–2015, the economic structure transition of China has cumulatively driven 24 Mt of FLC reductions. In particular, the FLC reduction driven by the final demand structure transition of pastoral provinces is three times that of non-pastoral provinces. The mitigation effects of the final demand structure transition of external regions generally decrease with increasing distance from the certain pastoral province. The FLC reduction caused by the production structure transition of non-pastoral provinces is twice that of pastoral provinces. This study highlights the significance of interregional cooperation and economic structure optimization to achieve China’s “Forage-Livestock Balance Goal 2035.” Science for society: Forage-livestock conflict (FLC) is a major anthropogenic driver of rangeland degradation in China. It poses serious threats to environmental, economic, and social sustainability due to its harmful impacts on ecosystem services, livestock development, and pastoralists’ well-being. To combat rangeland degradation, China has adopted a series of in situ FLC control measures and set a goal to eradicate FLC by 2035. Grazing in pastoral areas and associated FLCs are significantly affected by local and remote socioeconomic development. Using a numerical model that accounts for multi-regional socioeconomic changes, we find that the national economic structure transition has led to FLC reductions during 2005–2015. The final demand structure change of non-pastoral provinces and production structure change of pastoral provinces have mitigation potentials to be tapped. The outcome can support interregional cooperation and economic structure transition to achieve China’s zero-FLC goal.

With China's construction of free trade zones and the development of digital technology, immigrants from Myanmar and internal migrants from all parts of China have gathered in Ruili, a cross-border hub connecting the two countries. As a result of these mobilities it has been transformed into a grass-roots level cosmopolitan area. Through six years of fieldwork, this study found that grassroots female live streamers who were excluded from mainstream metropolises gained more opportunities for survival and development in jadeite cross-border trade activities in Ruili through the concepts of female entrepreneurship and everyday strategic cosmopolitanism The notion of strategic cosmopolitanism refers to non-elite openness as a strategic response to economic, employment or career advancements generated by policies, discursively presented as economic cosmopolitanism. The increase in economic gains for some has significantly improved their socio-economic status, while at the same time paying the price of being locked in the logic and rules of capitalism.

IntroductionLupus nephritis (LN) is a severe manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This study aimed to identify LN specific-genes and potential therapeutic targets.MethodsWe performed high-throughput transcriptome sequencing on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from LN patients. Healthy individuals and SLE patients without LN were used as controls. To validate the sequencing results, qRT-PCR was performed for 5 upregulated and 5 downregulated genes. Furthermore, the effect of the TNFRSF17-targeting drug IBI379 on patient plasma cells and B cells was evaluated by flow cytometry.ResultsOur analysis identified 1493 and 205 differential genes in the LN group compared to the control and SLE without LN groups respectively, with 70 genes common to both sets, marking them as LN-specific. These LN-specific genes were significantly enriched in the ‘regulation of biological quality’ GO term and the cell cycle pathway. Notably, several genes including TNFRSF17 were significantly overexpressed in the kidneys of both LN patients and NZB/W mice. TNFRSF17 levels correlated positively with urinary protein levels, and negatively with complement C3 and C4 levels in LN patients. The TNFRSF17-targeting drug IBI379 effectively induced apoptosis in patient plasma cells without significantly affecting B cells.DiscussionOur findings suggest that TNFRSF17 could serve as a potential therapeutic target for LN. Moreover, IBI379 is presented as a promising treatment option for LN.

Objectives With the gradual development of marine resources, the number of vehicles operating under the sea surface has rapidly increased, and the problem of the electromagnetic detection of underwater complex targets such as underwater vehicles needs to be solved urgently.MethodsBased on the total-field scattered-field source finite-difference time-domain method (TSS-FDTD) and the method of field value conversion on the sea surface, the spatial distribution of scattering fields generated by the underwater antenna array irradiation of target underwater vehicles is analyzed. The field distributions in the regions near the underwater antenna array and complex target, in the seawater and above the sea surface are obtained by calculation, and the spatial scattering fields of the three groups with different relative positions of target and source are compared and analyzed.ResultsThrough comparison and analysis, the scattering fields of the three groups in the seawater environment are clearly different, and the existence of the underwater target can be determined by observing the scattering fields. While the scattering fields of the three groups above the sea surface show little difference, the existence of the underwater target can be still determined by observing the value and energy distribution of the scattering fields.ConclusionsThe results of this analysis can provide numerical references for detection radar with similar working frequency bands, and provide technical support for the fields of underwater vehicle detection, underwater rescue and sunken ship salvage.

Abstract The multi-system involvement and high heterogeneity of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) pose great challenges to its diagnosis and treatment. The purpose of the current study is to identify genes and pathways involved in the pathogenesis of SLE. High throughput sequencing was performed on the PBMCs from SLE patients. We conducted differential gene analysis, gene ontology (GO) analysis, kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) analysis, and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) verification. Protein–protein interaction (PPI) analysis, alternative splicing analysis, and disease correlation analysis were conducted on some key pathogenic genes as well. Furthermore, si-CDC6 was used for transfection and cell proliferation was monitored using a cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. We identified 2495 differential genes (1494 upregulated and 1001 downregulated) in SLE patients compared with healthy controls. The significantly upregulated genes were enriched in the biological process-related GO terms of the cell cycle, response to stress, and chromosome organization. KEGG enrichment analysis revealed 7 significantly upregulated pathways including SLE, alcoholism, viral carcinogenesis, cell cycle, proteasome, malaria, and transcriptional misregulation in cancer. We successfully verified some differential genes on the SLE pathway and the cell cycle pathway. CDC6, a key gene in the cell cycle pathway, had remarkably higher MXE alternative splicing events in SLE patients than that in controls, which may explain its significant upregulation in SLE patients. We found that CDC6 participates in the pathogenesis of many proliferation-related diseases and its levels are positively correlated with the severity of SLE. Knockdown of CDC6 suppressed the proliferation of Hela cells and PBMCs from SLE patients in vitro. We identified SLE-related genes and their alternative splicing events. The cell cycle pathway and the cell cycle-related biological processes are over-activated in SLE patients. We revealed a higher incidence of MXE events of CDC6, which may lead to its high expression in SLE patients. Upregulated cell cycle signaling and CDC6 may be related to the hyperproliferation and pathogenesis of SLE.

According to the natural condition of water resources and the economic, social, and ecological environment status of Zhangye City, the water resources carrying capacity of Zhangye City is evaluated by using the water resources carrying capacity Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) model with combination assignment. The results show that: (1) From 2010 to 2020, the water resources carrying capacity of Zhangye City was generally stable at the macro level, ranking at grades III and IV. However, from the micro level, the water resources carrying capacity fluctuates to a certain extent and shows an increasing trend year by year. (2) The steady improvement of economic and social conditions is the main driving force for the improvement of the comprehensive water resources carrying capacity of Zhangye City, and the changes in the ecological environment are also important factors affecting the carrying capacity of water resources. The results provided a decision basis for future comprehensive development and utilization of water resources in Zhangye City and a reference for water resource carrying capacity and water resource security assessment in other arid and semi-arid areas in our country.

Quenching and partitioning (Q&P) steel has garnered attention as a promising third-generation automotive steel. While the conventional production (CP) method for Q&P steel involves a significant cumulative cold rolling reduction rate (CRRR) of 60–70%, the thin slab casting and rolling (TSCR) process has emerged as a potential alternative to reduce or eliminate the need for cold rolling, characterized with a streamline production chain, high-energy efficiency, mitigated CO2 emission and economical cost. However, the effect of the CRRR on the microstructure and properties of Q&P steel with an initial ferrite-pearlite microstructure has been overlooked, preventing the extensive application of TSCR in producing Q&P steel. In this work, investigations involving different degrees of CRRRs reveal a direct relationship between increased reduction and decreased yield strength and plasticity. Notably, changes in the microstructure were observed, including reduced size and proportion of martensite blocks, increased ferrite proportion and decreased retained austenite content. The decrease in yield strength was primarily attributed to the increased proportion of the softer ferrite phase, while the reduction in plasticity was primarily linked to the decrease in retained austenite content. This study provides valuable insights for optimizing the TSCR process of Q&P steel, facilitating its wider adoption in the automotive sector.

The growing urban population is intensifying global resource shortages. It is essential for scholars and policymakers to better understand the material-based metabolism of cities for sustainable urban resource management. Taking the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region of China as a representative case, this study quantifies domestic material consumption (DMC) and material stock (MS) and reveals the dynamics of the material-based urban metabolism of cities during 2000 to 2017 based on the allometric scaling law. The results show that the DMC and MS of each city exhibited an overall increasing trend during 2000 to 2017, with Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Handan, and Tangshan having larger material bases than the other cities. Cities at different stages of development usually follow different material-based allometric scaling law relationships. Most cities in this region (9 out of 13) follow a superlinear relationship, indicating excessive consumption of resources in these cities. The scaling coefficient of Beijing is most similar to the value (0.75) that has been observed in many types of biological research, which suggests that Beijing has reached a relative stabilization stage of development. This study provides key points for future resource allocation and industrial optimization related to urban material metabolism in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. The findings of this study can enrich the theoretical and empirical bases for urban allometry research and provide urban managers with additional insights for consideration to achieve sustainable urban resource management.

Abstract Background Screening abnormal pathways and complement components in the kidneys of patients with lupus nephritis (LN) and NZB/W mice may help to identify complement-related therapeutic targets for LN. Methods KEGG and GO enrichment assays were used to analyze kidney microarray data of LN patients and NZB/W mice. Immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence assays were used to measure renal expression of complement-related proteins and TGFβ1. Cytokines were measured using RT-qPCR and ELISA. Results We screened the renal pathogenic pathways present in LN patients and NZB/W mice and selected the complement activation pathway for further study. The results indicated greater renal expression of C1qa, C1qb, C3, C3aR1, and C5aR1 at the mRNA and protein levels. C3 appeared to be a key factor in LN and the renal signaling downstream of C1 was inhibited. There were significant correlations between the expression of TGFβ1 and C3. Analysis of primary cell cultures indicated that TGFβ1 promoted the expression of C3 and that a TGFβ1 antagonist decreased the levels of C3 and C3aR. TGFβ1 inhibition significantly inhibited the deposition of complement-related factors in the kidneys of NZB/W mice. Conclusions At the onset of LN, there are significant increases in the renal levels of C3 and other complement pathway-related factors in patients with LN and NZB/W mice. C3 may lead to albuminuria and participate in the pathogenesis of LN. TGFβ1 promotes C3 synthesis, and TGFβ1 inhibition may block the progression of LN by inhibiting the synthesis of C3 and other complement components.

Ovarian cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) play a vital role in drug resistance and recurrence of ovarian cancer. Inducing phenotypic differentiation is an important strategy to enhance the effects of chemotherapy and reduce the drug resistance of CSCs. This study found that lumiflavin, a riboflavin decomposition product, reduced the development of CSC resistance and enhanced the chemotherapy effect of cisplatin (DDP) on CSCs in DDP-resistant ovarian cancer OVCAR-3 cell line (CSCs/DDP) and was related to the induction of CSC phenotypic differentiation. Results showed that the development of DDP-resistant OVCAR-3 cells was related to the increase in the proportion of CSCs/DDP, and the treatment with lumiflavin reduced the DDP-resistance levels of OVCAR-3 cells and proportion of CSCs/DDP. Further investigation found that lumiflavin synergistic with DDP increased apoptosis, decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, and inhibited the clonal formation of CSCs/DDP. Meanwhile, in vivo experiments showed that lumiflavin dose-dependently enhanced the chemotherapy effect of DDP on tumor-bearing nude mice inoculated by CSCs/DDP. Lumiflavin treatment also reduced the ratio of CD133+/CD177+ to CD44+/CD24 cells, which is the identification of CSCs, in CSCs/DDP. In addition, transcriptome sequencing results suggested that the role of lumiflavin was related to the notch and stem cell pathway, and Western blot analysis showed that lumiflavin inhibited the protein expression of notch signaling pathway in CSCs/DDP. In conclusion, lumiflavin reduces the development of the drug resistance of OVCAR-3 cell and increases the sensitivity of CSCs/DDP to DDP by inducing phenotypic differentiation, which may have a potential role in the chemotherapy treatment of ovarian cancer.

Ultrasonic water meters have current widespread problems of poor site adaptability, low measurement accuracy, and poor stability. A high-precision intelligent ultrasonic water meter with self-diagnosis function and adaptive technology was proposed in this paper, which is focus on improving the measurement accuracy and repeatability of the small pipe diameters. The hardware circuit design of the ultrasonic water meter studied in this paper adopts the low-power STM32L053 microcontroller with Cortex-M0 core architecture and the high-precision 11 ps time resolution timing chip TDC-GP30 to complete the metering function. The software combines pulse width ratio and amplitude voltage measurement technology to make the water meter have self-diagnosis function, avoid measurement errors caused by accidental factors, improve adaptability and measurement accuracy, also the application of adaptive measurement period method is used to improve measurement repeatability. The software adopts the moving average filtering algorithm, which effectively reduces the fluctuation of the time-of-flight(ToF) difference and improve the measurement accuracy of the flow point in the low zone (between the minimum flow and the boundary flow). The experimental verification results show that the accuracy of the small-caliber ultrasonic water meter can reach within ±1.5 %, and the repeatability is less than 0.5 %. In the face of fluid disturbances, adaptive technology is used in this water meter to adjust the measurement period and carry out self-diagnostic function research, and automatically respond to deal with abnormal faults, thereby realizing the demand for intelligence.

Electro-optic modulation with a constant modulation depth plays important roles in quantum metrology, microwave photonics, and optical precision measurement and sensing, etc. To compensate the continuous drift of the half-wave voltage and maintain the modulation depth, we incidentally generated a reference laser to make intermedia optical beatings with the carrier and +1st sideband, and tightly locked the carrier to sideband ratio by extracting the relative microwave power of those intermedia beat signals using a home-made electronic control module. Experiments of the short-term test for locking bandwidth, the anti-jamming capability, and the long-term stability were demonstrated. As is verified that, the locking bandwidth was estimated up to tens of kHz, and the anti-jamming capability was confirmed despite of a strong hair-dryer agitation. The long-term stability for the modulation depth stabilization showed that the peak-to-peak relative stability for 150-minute was 5.67 × 10−6, and the Allan deviation reached a minimum of 2.19 × 10−7 at an averaging time of 400 s, which is improved by more than four orders of magnitude compared with the open-loop regime. We believe the reported method as well as the designed module is versatile and potential to precision measurement and sensing applications badly requiring a stable modulation depth, such as atom interferometry, optical interferometry and lidar detection.

Ursolic acid (UA), a natural pentacyclic triterpenoid, possesses widespread biological and pharmacological activities. However, drawbacks such as low bioavailability, poor targeting and rapid metabolism greatly hinder its further clinical application. Recently, with the development of nanotechnology, various UA nanosystems have emerged as promising strategies for effective cancer therapy. This article reviews various types of UA-based nano-delivery systems, primarily with emphasis placed on novel UA-based carrier-free nano-drugs, which are considered to be innovative methods for cancer therapy. Moreover, this review presents carrier-free nano-drugs that co-assembled of UA and photosensitizers that displayed synergistic antitumor performance. Finally, the article also describes the development and challenges of UA nanosystems for future research in this field. Overall, the information presented in this review will provide new insight into the rational utilization of nano-drugs in cancer therapy.

Ecological conservation and restoration projects in Three-river Headwater Region (TRHR) have been implemented to respond to the serious degradation of alpine meadow ecosystem. Compared with the substantial amount of studies on the recovery of plant communities, soil quality and ecosystem services, few studies have focused on the restoration performance of target species. Therefore, we conducted this study to analyze the dynamics and underlying mechanisms of species richness and aboveground biomass of plant communities and target species. The results showed that restoration actions (grassland cultivation and fencing) did not significantly improve the community aboveground biomass of the degraded alpine meadows, while the actions did significantly promote community species richness, target species richness and target species aboveground biomass. Community species richness (20%-45%) was significantly impacted by the restoration strategies, and community aboveground biomass (31%-53%) was impacted by the mean annual precipitation and mean annual temperature. The species richness (57%) and aboveground biomass (63%) of the target species were directly and indirectly impacted by restoration actions, climatic factors, biotic factors and soil factors. The implications of this study stress that target species should be highlighted in assessing the restoration success of degraded alpine meadows. Integrating climatic factors, target species and other biotic and abiotic indicators could help us better understand and evaluate restoration actions for degraded alpine meadows in the TRHR or other similar regions worldwide.

Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite data are widely used in drought studies. In this study, we quantified drought severity based on land terrestrial water storage (TWS) changes in GRACE data. We used the water storage deficit (WSD) and water storage deficit index (WSDI) to identify the drought events and evaluate the drought severity. The WSDI calculated by GRACE provides an effective assessment method when assessing the extent of drought over large areas under a lack of site data. The results show a total of 22 drought events in the central Asian dry zone during the study period. During spring and autumn, the droughts among these incidents occurred more frequently and severely. The longest and most severe drought occurred near the Caspian Sea. In the arid area of central Asia, the north of the region tended to be moist (the WSDI value was 0.04 year−1), and the south, east, and Caspian Sea area tended to be drier (the WSDI values were −0.07 year−1 in the south, −0.11 year−1 in the east, and −0.19 year−1 in the Caspian Sea). These study results can provide a key scientific basis for agricultural development, food security, and climate change response in the Asian arid zone.

Higher education, which has the function of cultivating human capital, has already become a key focus of developed countries around the world. From ministries of education to higher education institutions, many bodies are dedicated to enhancing student learning outcomes. However, social and educational problems derived from disadvantaged groups have long been hindering the development of individuals and the whole country. This study examines the learning motivations of economically disadvantaged versus non-disadvantaged college students and evaluates the relationship between learning modes and learning outcomes from a self-determination theory (SDT) perspective. In this study, 817 valid questionnaires were collected to compare the two sample groups in terms of learning path. The results show that non-economically disadvantaged students have superior outcomes compared to disadvantaged students in terms of role identity, academic identity, explorative learning, exploitative learning, and cognitive and non-cognitive gains. In regard to path analysis, economically disadvantaged students are significantly superior to non-disadvantaged students in the face of positive influence of academic identity on different learning modes and positive influence of explorative learning on cognitive and non-cognitive gains. Finally, based on the conclusions, this study proposes some suggestions specific to theoretical mode for future study.

Objectives To investigate the effect of tumor necrosis factor ligand-related molecule 1A (TL1A) on the intestinal mucosal barrier in mice with chronic colitis. Methods Male TL1A-overexpressing transgenic mice and male C57BL/6 wild-type mice were used to establish a dextran sodium sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis model. The expression of occludin and claudin-1 was observed. Bacterial distribution in the intestinal mucosa and Th9/interleukin (IL)-9 expression were detected. In vitro co-culture systems of naive CD4 + T cells and Caco-2 cells were established and TL1A was added. Changes in transepithelial electrical resistance and IL-9 expression were measured. CD4+IL-9 cells were detected by flow cytometry. Results DSS mice showed a significant down-regulation of occludin and claudin-1 compared with controls. Expression levels of occludin, zonulin-1, and claudin-1 in the Caco-2+TGF-β+IL-4+TL1A group were significantly lower than in the Caco-2+TGF-β+IL-4 group. Bacterial distribution was clearly disordered in the DSS group. Transmembrane resistance of the Caco-2+TGF-β+IL-4+TL1A group was significantly lower and IL-9 expression significantly higher than in the Caco-2+TGF-β+IL-4 group. Conclusions TL1A overexpression promotes destruction of the intestinal mucosal barrier in mice with chronic colitis. The underlying mechanism may be associated with the promoting role of TL1A in Th9/IL-9 expression, which further destroys the mucosal barrier.

Autophagy is an intracellular process that facilitates the bulk degradation of cytoplasmic materials by the vacuole or lysosome in eukaryotes. This conserved process is achieved through the coordination of different autophagy-related genes (ATGs). Autophagy is essential for recycling cytoplasmic material and eliminating damaged or dysfunctional cell constituents, such as proteins, aggregates or even entire organelles. Plant autophagy is necessary for maintaining cellular homeostasis under normal conditions and is upregulated during abiotic and biotic stress to prolong cell life. In this review, we present recent advances on our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of autophagy in plants and how autophagy contributes to plant development and plants’ adaptation to the environment.

Warming and Nitrogen (N) deposition are key global changes that may affect eco-physiological process of territorial plants. In this paper, we examined the effects of warming, N deposition, and their combination effect on the physiological performances of Leymus secalinus. Four treatments were established in an alpine meadow of Qinghai-Tibetan plateau: control (CK), warming (W), N deposition (N), and warming plus N deposition (NW). Warming significantly decreased the photosynthetic rate (Anet), stomatal conductance (gs), intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci), and transpiration rate (Tr), while N deposition and warming plus N deposition significantly increased those parameters of L. secalinus. Warming significantly increased the VPD and Ls, while N deposition and warming plus N deposition had a significant positive effect. Warming negatively reduced the leaf N content, Chla, Chlb, and total Chl content, while N deposition significantly promoted these traits. Warming, N deposition, and their combination significantly increased the activity of SOD, POD, and CAT. Besides, warming and warming plus N deposition significantly increased the MDA content, while N deposition significantly decreased the MDA content. N deposition and warming plus N deposition significantly increased the Rubisco activity, while warming showed no significant effect on Rubisco activity. N deposition and warming plus N deposition significantly increased the Fv/Fm, ΦPSII, qP, and decreased NPQ, while warming significantly decreased the Fv/Fm, ΦPSII, qP, and increased NPQ. N deposition strengthened the relations between gs, Chl, Chla, Chlb, Rubisco activity, and Anet. Under warming, only gs showed a significantly positive relation with Anet. Our findings suggested that warming could impair the photosynthetic potential of L. secalinus enhanced by N deposition. Additionally, the combination of warming and N deposition still tend to lead positive effects on L. secalinus.

A fluid simulation calculation method of the microfluidic network is proposed as a means to achieve the flow distribution of the microfluidic network. This paper quantitatively analyzes the influence of flow distribution in microfluidic devices impacted by pressure variation in the pressure source and channel length. The flow distribution in microfluidic devices with three types of channel lengths under three different pressure conditions is studied and shows that the results obtained by the simulation calculation method on the basis of the fluid network are close to those given by the calculation method of the conventional electrical method. The simulation calculation method on the basis of the fluid network studied in this paper has computational reliability and can respond to the influence of microfluidic network length changes to the fluid system, which plays an active role in Lab-on-a-chip design and microchannel flow prediction.

Abstract Background The chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) is one of the commonest chronic inflammatory diseases in adult men, for which acupuncture has been used to relieve related symptoms. The present study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic effect of the long-needle acupuncture on CP/CPPS. Methods A randomized traditional acupuncture-controlled single blind study was conducted on 77 patients who were randomized into long-needle acupuncture (LA) and traditional acupuncture (TA) groups. The patients received six sessions of acupuncture for 2 weeks and a follow-up was scheduled at week 24. The primary outcome was measured by the total National Institutes of Health-Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index (NIH-CPSI) score at week 2. Four domains of the NIH-CPSI (urination, pain or discomfort, effects of symptoms, and quality of life) and the clinical efficacy score served as the secondary outcome. Results The total NIH-CPSI score at week 2 and week 24 was significantly improved in the LA group compared with the TA group. LA significantly improved urination, pain or discomfort, the effects of symptoms, and the quality of life at week 2 and week 24 and patients undergoing LA treatment had a higher clinical efficacy score. Conclusion Needling at the BL30 and BL35 using LA benefits patients with CP/CPPS. Trial registration The study was registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Register ( ChiCTR-ICR-15006138 ).

Abstract Background Our aim is to study the existence of the TLR9/TGF-β1/PDGF-B pathway in healthy humans and patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and to explore its possible involvement in the pathogenesis of lupus nephritis (LN). Methods Protein levels of the cytokines were detected by ELISA. mRNA levels of the cytokines were analyzed by real-time PCR. MTT assay was used to test the proliferation of mesangial cells under different treatments. Results Compared to healthy controls (N Control = 56), levels of Toll-like receptor (TLR)9, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, and platelet-derived growth factor B (PDGF-B) were increased significantly in the peripheral blood of SLE patients (N SLE = 112). Significant correlations between the levels of TLR9, TGF-β1, and PDGF-B were observed in both healthy controls and SLE patients. The levels of TGF-β1 and PDGF-B were greatly enhanced by TLR9 activation in primary cell cultures. The proliferation of mesangial cells induced by the plasma of SLE patients was significantly higher than that induced by healthy controls; PDGF-B was involved in this process. The protein levels of PDGF-B homodimer correlated with the levels of urine protein in SLE patients with LN (N LN =38). Conclusions The TLR9/TGF-β1/PDGF-B pathway exists in humans and can be excessively activated in SLE patients. High levels of PDGF-B may result in overproliferation of mesangial cells in the kidney that are involved in the development of glomerulonephritis and LN. Further studies are necessary to identify TLR9, TGF-β1, and PDGF-B as new therapeutic targets to prevent the development of glomerulonephritis and LN.

All eukaryotes rely on the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) and autophagy to control the abundance of key regulatory proteins and maintain a healthy intracellular environment. In the UPS, damaged or superfluous proteins are ubiquitinated and degraded in the proteasome, mediated by three types of ubiquitin enzymes: E1s (ubiquitin activating enzymes), E2s (ubiquitin conjugating enzymes), and E3s (ubiquitin protein ligases). Conversely, in autophagy, a vesicular autophagosome is formed that transfers damaged proteins and organelles to the vacuole, mediated by a series of ATGs (autophagy related genes). Despite the use of two completely different componential systems, the UPS and autophagy are closely interconnected and mutually regulated. During autophagy, ATG8 proteins, which are autophagosome markers, decorate the autophagosome membrane similarly to ubiquitination of damaged proteins. Ubiquitin is also involved in many selective autophagy processes and is thus a common factor of the UPS and autophagy. Additionally, the components of the UPS, such as the 26S proteasome, can be degraded via autophagy, and conversely, ATGs can be degraded by the UPS, indicating cross regulation between the two pathways. The UPS and autophagy cooperate and jointly regulate homeostasis of cellular components during plant development and stress response.

Aiming at the problems of substantial pressure loss, small range ratio and contact measurement in traditional gas flowmeters, this paper designs a new type of data-filtering ultrasonic gas flowmeter. The flowmeter is composed of hardware circuits such as STM32F407 (ARM Cortex 32-bit microcontroller) main control chip and high-precision timing chip TDC-GP22 (time to digital converter). The software uses a new data-filtering algorithm combining Kalman filtering algorithm and arithmetic average algorithm to improve the measurement accuracy of ultrasonic gas flowmeter. Through experimental comparison, we find that the filtering algorithm effectively reduces the measurement error of the system. Within the flow range of 0.025–4 m3/h, the maximum relative error of the system measurement is 2.7404%, which meets the national standard for the measurement error of the 1.5-level instruments. Moreover, it reduces the zero-drift to about one half of the original, which significantly improves the stability of the system. The gas flowmeter has the characteristics of high accuracy, good stability, low power consumption, and the overall performance is significantly improved.

BackgroundMycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) is one of the most common community-acquired pneumonia; this study is to explore the immune-pathogenesis of children MPP.MethodsNext-generation transcriptome sequencing was performed on the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid cells from six children with MPP and three children with foreign body aspiration as control. Some of the results had been validated by quantitative real-time PCR in an expanded group of children.ResultsResults revealed 810 differentially expressed genes in MPP group comparing to control group, of which 412 genes including RLTPR, CARD11 and RASAL3 were upregulated. These upregulated genes were mainly enriched in mononuclear cell proliferation and signaling biological processes. Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathway analysis revealed that hematopoietic cell linage pathway, natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity pathway, and T cell receptor signaling pathway were significantly upregulated in MPP children. In addition, significant alternative splicing events were found in GNLY and SLC11A1 genes, which may cause the differential expressions of these genes.ConclusionOur results suggest that NK and CD8+ T cells are over activated and proliferated in MPP children; the upregulated IFNγ, PRF1, GZMB, FASL, and GNLY may play important roles in the pathogenesis of children MPP.

Emotion recognition based on physiological signals has been a hot topic and applied in many areas such as safe driving, health care and social security. In this paper, we present a comprehensive review on physiological signal-based emotion recognition, including emotion models, emotion elicitation methods, the published emotional physiological datasets, features, classifiers, and the whole framework for emotion recognition based on the physiological signals. A summary and comparation among the recent studies has been conducted, which reveals the current existing problems and the future work has been discussed.