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A chemically robust metal organic framework ZNU-2-Si with optimal pore chemistry and pore structure is reported for record C3H4 storage and C3H4/C3H6 separation by thermodynamic–kinetic synergism along with entropy–enthalpy balanced adsorption sites.

Autoimmune disease is a condition in which the body responds to the autoantigens and causes damage to its own tissues. We conducted this research to investigate whether interleukin-23R (IL-23R) gene polymorphisms (rs11209026 A/G) are related to the risk of several common autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis (RA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and psoriasis. We screened articles about rs11209026 A/G for autoimmune disease by China Knowledge Infrastructure Project (CNKI), Web of Science as well as PubMed databases. The correlation strength was expressed by odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval, and the trial sequential analysis (TSA) proved the reliability of the results. Generally, 33 studies were contained. There was a significant correlation between rs11209026 A/G polymorphism and the susceptibility of human autoimmune diseases (OR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.65–0.94, p 0.05). In ethnic subgroup analysis, AA genotype could reduce the risk of AS in Caucasian people (OR = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.25–0.87, p

The efficient separation of acetylene (C2H2) from carbon dioxide (CO2) and CnH4 (n = 1 and 2) to manufacture high purity C2H2 and recover other light hydrocarbons is technologically important, while posing significant challenges. Herein, we reported a new TiF62− anion (TIFSIX) pillared metal-organic framework (MOF) ZNU-5 (ZNU = Zhejiang Normal University) with ultramicropores for highly selective C2H2 capture with low adsorption heat through gate opening based molecular sieving effect. ZNU-5 takes up a large amount of C2H2 (128.6 cm3/g) at 1.0 bar and 298 K but excludes CO2, CH4, and C2H4. Such high capacity has never been realized in MOFs with molecular sieving. The breakthrough experiments further confirmed the highly selective C2H2 separation performance from multi-component gas mixtures. 3.3, 2.8, and 2.2 mmol/g of C2H2 is captured at ZNU-5 from equimolar C2H2/CO2, C2H2/CO2/CH4, and C2H2/CO2/CH4/C2H4 mixtures, respectively. Furthermore, 2.6, 2.0, and 1.5 mmol/g of > 98% purity C2H2 can be recycled from the desorption process. Combining high working capacity, low adsorption heat, as well as good recyclability, ZNU-5 is promising for C2H2 purification.

A novel microporous boron cluster pillared metal–organic framework BSF-10 was synthesized with ligand inclusion for efficient C2H2/CO2 and C2H2/C2H4 adsorption separation.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To examine the associations of circadian characteristics (ie, chronotype and social jetlag) with insomnia symptoms and emotional and behavioral problems among school-age children. METHODS: A total of 620 primary school children (median(age) = 10.06, standard deviation = 1.16, 58.7% boys) were recruited and assessed by a set of parent-report questionnaires, including Children’s Sleep Habit Questionnaire for measuring sleep-wake patterns and insomnia symptoms (bedtime resistance, sleep onset delay, and night waking), Children’s Chronotype Questionnaire for assessing the child’s chronotype preference, and Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire for assessing emotional and behavioral problems. Linear regression models were applied to examine the associations of chronotype and social jetlag with insomnia symptoms and mental health outcomes, in which age, sex, family income, and average sleep duration were entered as covariates. RESULTS: Evening chronotype was significantly associated with bedtime resistance and sleep onset delay, while social jetlag was not related to insomnia symptoms. Evening chronotype was also significantly associated with externalizing symptoms after controlling for potential confounders. CONCLUSIONS: Evening chronotype, but not social jetlag, was the risk factor for insomnia symptoms, and evening chronotype was further associated with increased behavioral problems in school-age children. Our findings underscored the roles of circadian factors in relation to sleep and mental health problems in this young population. CITATION: Sun W, Kwok NTT, Chan NY, et al. Associations of circadian factors with insomnia symptoms and emotional and behavioral problems among school-age children. J Clin Sleep Med. 2021;17(10):2107–2114.

Stressed plants and polymer production can emit many unsaturated volatile organic esters (UVOEs). However, secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation of UVOEs remains unclear, especially under complex ambient conditions. In this study, we mainly investigated ethyl methacrylate (EM) ozonolysis. Results showed that a substantial increase in secondary H2SO4 particles promoted SOA formation with increasing SO2. An important reason was that the homogeneous nucleation of more H2SO4 at high SO2 level provided greater surface area and volume for SOA condensation. However, increased primary H2SO4 with seed acidity enhanced EM uptake but reduced SOA formation. This was ascribed to the fact that the ozonolysis of more adsorbed EM was hampered with the formation of surface H2SO4 at higher particle acidity. Moreover, the increase in secondary H2SO4 particle via homogeneous nucleation favored to the oligomerization of oxidation products, whereas the increasing of primary H2SO4 with acidity in the presence of seed tended to promote the functionalization conversion products. This study indicated that the role of increased H2SO4 to EM-derived SOA may not be the same under different ambient conditions, which helps to advance our understanding of the complicated roles of H2SO4 in the formation of EM-derived SOA.

To prevent the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, restrictions such as “lockdowns” were conducted globally, which led to a significant reduction in fossil fuel emissions, especially in urban areas. However, CO2 concentrations in urban areas are affected by many factors, such as weather, biological sinks and background CO2 fluctuations. Thus, it is difficult to directly observe the CO2 reductions from sparse ground observations. Here, we focus on urban ground transportation emissions, which were dramatically affected by the restrictions, to determine the reduction signals. We conducted six series of on-road CO2 observations in Beijing using mobile platforms before (BC), during (DC) and after (AC) the implementation of COVID-19 restrictions. To reduce the impacts of weather conditions and background fluctuations, we analyze vehicle trips with the most similar weather conditions possible and calculated the enhancement metric, which is the difference between the on-road CO2 concentration and the “urban background” CO2 concentration measured at the tower of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences. The results showed that the DC CO2 enhancement was decreased by 41 (±1.3) parts per million (ppm) and 26 (±6.2) ppm compared to those for the BC and AC trips, respectively. Detailed analysis showed that, during COVID-19 restrictions, there was no difference between weekdays and weekends during working hours (09:00–17:00 local standard time; LST). The enhancements during rush hours (07:00–09:00 and 17:00–20:00 LST) were almost twice those during working hours, indicating that emissions during rush hours were much higher. For DC and BC, the enhancement reductions during rush hours were much larger than those during working hours. Our findings showed a clear CO2 concentration decrease during COVID-19 restrictions, which is consistent with the CO2 emissions reductions due to the pandemic. The enhancement method used in this study is an effective method to reduce the impacts of weather and background fluctuations. Low-cost sensors, which are inexpensive and convenient, could play an important role in further on-road and other urban observations.

To study the impact of maternal sleep in late pregnancy on birth weight (BW) and leptin and lipid levels in umbilical cord blood.A total of 277 healthy and singleton pregnancy women were recruited for participation in the Shanghai Sleep Birth Cohort Study (SSBC) during their 36-38 weeks of pregnancy, from May 2012 to July 2013. Maternal night sleep time (NST), sleep efficiency (SE), sleep onset latency (SOL) and the percentage of wake after sleep onset (WASO) in NST and midpoint of sleep (MSF) were measured by actigraphy for seven consecutive days. The leptin and lipid levels were determined in cord blood samples collected from the umbilical vein immediately after delivery. Birth information (birth weight, gender, delivery type, etc.) was extracted from medical records. A multivariable linear regression model was applied to examine the effect of maternal sleep in late pregnancy on newborn leptin and lipid levels in umbilical cord blood.A total of 177 women and their infants were included in the analysis. Maternal mean NST was 7.03 ± 1.10 h in late pregnancy, and 48% had a shorter sleep time (NST 7 h). The average maternal SE was 72.54% ± 9.66%. The mean percentage WASO/NST was 21.62% ± 9.98%; the average MSF was about 3:34 (0:53); and the SOL was 46.78 ± 36.00 min. After adjustment for confounders, both maternal NST and SE were found to be significantly associated with triglyceride levels (β = -0.219, p = 0.006; β = -0.224, p = 0.006) in umbilical cord blood; and maternal NST was also observed to have positive association with newborn leptin levels (β = 0.146, p = 0.047). However, we did not find significant association between other maternal sleep parameters in late pregnancy and leptin and lipid levels and birth weight.Short sleep duration and poor sleep quality during late pregnancy were associated with newborn leptin and lipid levels, and efforts on improving maternal sleep during late pregnancy should be advocated for children's health.

Background Sleep disturbances in women occur frequently throughout pregnancy. Previous studies have demonstrated that the increasing incidence of physiological and psychological illness is concurrent with increasing sleep deprivation and poor sleep quality in adults and children. Objectives The Shanghai Sleep Birth Cohort Study (SSBCS) was established to examine the effect of sleep disturbances during the third trimester on emotional regulation of mothers; to assess the effect of maternal sleep during pregnancy on the growth and development of children; and to explore the influence of children's sleep characteristics on physical and social-emotional development. Population The study was conducted in the Renji Hospital in Pudong New District, Shanghai from May 2012 to July 2013. Women and their newborns who met the inclusion criteria and agreed to participate in this study were recruited to the SSBCS. Methods The follow-up visits for children were conducted at the age of 42 days, 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months, and 3, 4, and 6 years. Data on demographic factors, physical examination, sleep assessment, developmental and psychiatric assessment, diet records, and biological samples were collected throughout the study. Preliminary results A total of 277 pregnant women were recruited to the study; the response rate was 64.3%. 37.9% of the pregnant women had poor sleep quality and 12.0% suffered from depression. Infant sleep patterns changed during the first year of life, but most sleep characteristics showed little variation from 6 to 12 months. Conclusions The SSBCS is an on-going prospective cohort study with follow-up to 6 years. The detailed data on demographic factors, sleep assessment, physical examinations, neurodevelopmental and psychiatric assessment, diet records, and biological samples make this research platform an important resource for examining the potential effects of sleep characteristics on both maternal and child health.

Propyne/propylene (C3H4/C3H6) separation is an important but challenging industrial process to produce polymer-grade C3H6 and recover high-purity C3H4. Herein, we report an ultrastable TiF62− anion cross-linked metal–organic framework (ZNU-2) with precisely controlled pore size, shape and functionality for benchmark C3H4 storage (3.9/7.7 mmol g−1 at 0.01/1.0 bar and 298 K) and record high C3H4/C3H6 (10/90) separation potential (31.0 mol kg−1). The remarkable C3H4/C3H6 (1/99, 10/90, 50/50) separation performance was fully demonstrated by simulated and experimental breakthroughs under various conditions with excellent recyclability and high productivity (42 mol kg−1) of polymer-grade C3H6 from a 1/99 C3H4/C3H6 mixture. A modelling study revealed that the symmetrical spatial distribution of six TiF62− on the icosahedral cage surface provides two distinct binding sites for C3H4 adsorption: one serves as a tailored single C3H4 molecule trap and the other boosts C3H4 accommodation by cooperative host–guest and guest–guest interactions.

There is a large body of evidence suggesting that maternal prenatal depression significantly predicts mental health problems in children. However, little is known about the role of maternal childhood trauma within this effect.The current study utilized a sample of 187 mother-child dyads (51.3 % boys) from the Shanghai Sleep Birth Cohort (SSBC), a six-year prospective longitudinal study. The effects of maternal depression at late pregnancy (Center for Epidemiological Survey-Depression Scale) on the child mental health at six years old (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) were analyzed, with different types of maternal childhood trauma (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) being examined as moderators.The results showed that maternal prenatal depression positively predicted child mental health problems (β = 0.13, p .05) and there was a significant moderating effect of maternal childhood emotional abuse (β = -0.05, p .05); that is, in mothers with high childhood emotional abuse, child mental health problems remained high regardless of maternal prenatal depression (β = -0.02, p = .78), while in mothers with low childhood emotional abuse, maternal prenatal depression significantly predicted child behavioral and emotional problems (β = 0.20, p .05).Relatively high socio-economic status samples, retrospective reports of maternal childhood trauma and the single reporter were the limitations of this study.The findings provided new insights into the impact of maternal prenatal depression on child mental health, highlighting the importance of intervention efforts targeting mothers with prenatal depression and childhood trauma history.

Background: Overweight/obesity may impair executive function (EF). However, adolescent EF impairments across the weight spectrum were not well studied, with the moderating effect of negative emotions in the weight-EF association being limitedly investigated. We aimed to determine whether overall and abdominal weight spectrum associated with EF impairments and to identity whether negative emotions moderate the weight-EF link in adolescents. Methods: We applied a subsample of the SCHEDULE-A project. Adolescents (11-18 years) were recruited using a multi-stage cluster random sampling approach. Overall and abdominal weight were measured by body mass index z-score and waist-to-height ratio, respectively. We used the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) to evaluate adolescent EF in nature setting, and utilized the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21) to assess three types of negative emotional states (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress). Results: Of the 1 935 adolescents, 963 (49.8%) were male. We observed that abdominal, not overall, overweight was associated with the Global Executive Composite (GEC) impairment (OR = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.07-2.35), particularly for inhibit, emotion control, shift, working memory, and monitor domains. Furthermore, depression moderated the abdominal overweight-GEC association (P = 0.032 for interaction term), especially for emotional control, working memory, and initiate dimensions. Moreover, we also found abdominal thinness was associated with the Metacognition Index problem (OR = 1.33, 95% CI: 1.04-1.72), particularly for plan and monitor areas. Conclusions: Both abdominal overweight and thinness were associated with adolescent EF, and depression would be a modifiable target to improve EF in adolescents with abdominal overweight.

Two isostructural closo-dodecaborate [B12H12]2- pillared metal organic frameworks (MOFs), BSF-4 and BSF-9, were synthesized and compared in the performance of selective gas adsorption and separation. BSF-9 with symmetrical interpenetration and two contracted 1D channel exhibited efficient uptake of C2H2 (85.1/76.3 mLg−1, 278/298 K) with high separation selectivity over C2H4 (41.4, 298 K), outperforming BSF-4 (7.3, 298 K) and many benchmark MOFs. The selectivity of C2H6/CH4, CO2/CH4, CO2/N2 on BSF-9 (25.2, 9.9, 56.6) and BSF-4 (19.0, 8.9, 41.7) was all relatively high and comparable. The practical gas separation ability for C2H2/C2H4 mixtures on BSF-9 was confirmed by mixed gas breakthrough experiments with negligible capacity loss after 4 cycles, indicating its potential for purification of ethylene from acetylene-containing industrial gas mixtures. The C2H2 and C2H4 bonding sites and bonding energies within the framework of BSF-9 were further compared by density functional theory (DFT) study, indicating that C2H2 can be trapped tightly between two anionic [B12H12]2- by four synergistic dihydrogen bonds while C2H4 only interacts with single [B12H12]2- with weaker bonding energy. BSF-4 with asymmetrical interpenetration and single extended 1D channel showed higher selectivity of C3H8/CH4 (138.5, 298 K) than that of BSF-9 (64.0, 298 K). Inverse ambient adsorption capacity of C3H8 < C2H6 was observed in BSF-9 due to the small pore window and 1D channel.

To enrich structural chemistry and widen the application prospects of MOFs (metal-organic frameworks), the development of a synthetic strategy to realize structural and functional modulation is highly demanded. By implementation of the linker bent-angle engineering strategy, three banana-like diisophthalate linkers with distinct bent angles were designed and synthesized. The inclusion of the targeted linkers into MOFs through solvothermal assembly with CuCl2·2H2O under identical conditions yielded three crystalline solids featuring diversified topological structures as revealed by X-ray crystallographic studies. Furthermore, functional explorations indicated that they are promising solid adsorbents for acetylene (C2H2) purification application with structurally dependent separation potentials. The results reported in this study illustrated a rare example of modulating the topological structures and separation efficiencies of MOFs by engineering the ligand bent angles.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To compare the secular trends of sleep/wake patterns in school-aged children in Hong Kong and Shanghai, two major metropolitan cities in China with two different policies that school start time was delayed in Shanghai, but advanced in Hong Kong in 10 years’ time. METHODS: Participants were from two waves of cross-sectional school-based surveys of children aged 6 to 11 years. In Shanghai, 4,339 and 13,795 children participated in the 2005 and 2014 surveys, respectively. In Hong Kong, 6,231 and 4,585 children participated in the 2003 and 2012 surveys, respectively. Parents reported their children’s bedtime and wakeup time, and thus sleep duration, short sleep (≤ 9 hours) and weekend oversleep (difference in sleep duration between weekday and weekend > 2 hours) were determined. RESULTS: Hong Kong children had later bedtime and wakeup time and slept consistently less than their Shanghai counterparts at both survey time points. The shorter sleep duration was particularly marked during weekdays. Over the interval period, weekday sleep duration significantly decreased from 9.2 to 8.9 hours as wakeup time became earlier for Hong Kong children, but increased from 9.4 to 9.6 hours as wakeup time became later for children in Shanghai. Children from both cities slept longer on the weekends. Prevalence of weekend oversleep significantly increased in Hong Kong children, but no interval change was found in Shanghai children. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate subcultural differences in sleep/wake patterns in Shanghai and Hong Kong school-aged children. In particular, sleep duration had increased for Shanghai children, but decreased for Hong Kong children over 10 years. The benefits and barriers of delaying school start time for optimizing sleep health in school-aged children should be further explored. CITATION: Wang G, Zhang J, Lam SP, Li SX, Jiang Y, Sun W, Chan NY, Kong APS, Zhang Y, Li S, Li AM, Jiang F, Shen X, Wing YK. Ten-year secular trends in sleep/wake patterns in Shanghai and Hong Kong school-aged children: a tale of two cities. J Clin Sleep Med. 2019;15(10):1495–1502.

Weekday-to-weekend sleep discrepancy is a common phenomenon in school-age children and youths. However, the effects of weekday-to-weekend sleep differences remain unclear. A systematic review that included 72 observational studies was conducted to examine the association of weekday-to-weekend differences in bedtime, rise time, mid-point of sleep and sleep duration with academic performance and health-related outcomes in children and youths. Weekday-to-weekend difference in sleep timing (e.g., bedtime) was associated with poorer academic performance and depressive symptoms in in youths, particularly secondary school students, and a higher risk of substance use as well as overweight/obesity in the overall samples. In addition, weekday-to-weekend difference in sleep duration showed a modest association with poorer academic performance and depressive symptoms in the overall samples, as well as a higher risk of overweight/obesity, particularly in Asian children and youths. Albeit limited evidence, greater sleep differences were related to an increased risk of behavioral problems and suicidality. Findings on the associations between weekday-to-weekend sleep differences and specific cognitive abilities, anxiety, and cardiometabolic risks were limited and inconclusive. Longitudinal and experimental studies utilizing objective sleep measures are recommended to further examine the impacts of weekday-to-weekend sleep differences on mental and physical health, and to gain more insight into the mechanisms underlying their associations.

To examine the mediating effects of socioemotional and behavioral functioning in the association between physical activity and academic achievement in Chinese children.Chinese children (n = 17 318; aged 6-11 years) from the Shanghai Children's Health, Education and Lifestyle Evaluation study in 2014 were the source of data. Children reported the time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activities (MVPA) during weekdays and weekends. Parents rated their children's socioemotional and behavioral difficulties. Head teachers rated the academic performance of each student. A mediation analysis with multiple mediators was performed to test the mediation effects of 5 socioemotional and behavioral variables (emotional problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity and inattention, peer relationship, and prosocial behaviors) in the association between MVPA and academic achievement, adjusting for demographic and health-related variables.Results revealed that MVPA was positively associated with academic performance (b = 0.78; SE = .01; P .001). Conduct problems, hyperactivity and inattention, and peer problems showed significant mediating effects in the association between MVPA and academic achievement, with hyperactivity and inattention being the strongest mediator (b = 0.38; SE = 0.04; P .001) accounting for 49% of the total effect.This study provides evidence that MVPA is associated with fewer socioemotional difficulties, which, in turn, is associated with better academic achievement. Promoting physical activity among school-aged children may benefit their overall development.

Biosynthesis of fatty alcohol holds great promise as substitute to replace petroleum-derived fatty alcohols to mitigate environmental concerns and reduce earth's carbon footprint. In this protocol, we detail the procedures of how to use the YaliBrick gene assembly platform to achieve modular assembly of fatty alcohol pathway in Y. lipolytica. To limit fatty alcohol oxidation, we will also describe the hydroxyurea-based protocols for the efficient disruption of POX1 gene, encoding the fatty acyl coenzyme A in Y. lipolytica, with the homologous arm about 500 bp. We envision that this chapter would improve our ability to engineer microbial cell factories for oleochemical and fatty alcohol production in oleaginous yeast species.

Introduction Although depression has shown a strong familial aggregation tendency, there are some moderators between parental and offspring’s depression. Meanwhile, it is known that evening chronotype is a risk factor for depression. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the moderating role of chronotype in the relationship between maternal and adolescent depressive symptoms in a clinical sample. Methods Seventy-five adolescents who visited a sleep or psychiatric clinic with a major complaint of sleep disturbance or emotional problems agreed to participate, 51 adolescents and at least one biological parent who completed questionnaires were included in the current analysis (17 male adolescents, aged 9-17 yrs). Adolescent’s chronotype were measured by the reduced Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (rMEQ). Depressive symptoms in adolescents and parents were assessed by the Depression Self-Rating Scale for Children (DSRSC) and the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), respectively. General linear models were applied to examine the interaction between parental depression and adolescent’s chronotype on adolescent’s depression, in which age and gender were entered as covariates. Results Mothers of adolescents with clinical depression (DSRSC>15, n=38) also reported more depressive symptoms (PHQ-9: 4.81±4.37 vs. 2.69±2.46, t=-2.14, p=0.039). But father’s depressive symptoms were not related with adolescent’s depression. In the current clinical sample, the prevalence of evening chronotype in adolescents was up to 45.1% (n=23). Adolescents with either non-evening or evening chronotype reported comparable level of depressive symptoms (DSRSC: 20.37±6.26 vs. 19.00±8.42, t=0.66, p=0.513). There was a significant interaction between maternal depressive symptoms and chronotype on offspring’s depressive symptoms (F=4.05, p=0.044). Specifically, maternal depressive symptoms were associated with offspring’s depressive symptoms only in adolescents with evening chronotype. Conclusion Our study suggested that adolescents with evening chronotype might be at an elevated risk of the transgenerational transmission of depression. Hence, our findings supported the need to consider circadian factors and maternal depression in identifying at-risk adolescents. Support (If Any) This work was supported by the Shanghai Sailing Program awarded to Dr. Wanqi Sun (Shanghai Science and Technology Committee, 19YF1442200).

Biosynthesis of fatty alcohol holds great promise as substitute to replace petroleum-derived fatty alcohols to mitigate environmental concerns and reduce earth's carbon footprint. In this protocol, we detail the procedures of how to use the YaliBrick gene assembly platform to achieve modular assembly of fatty alcohol pathway in Y. lipolytica. To limit fatty alcohol oxidation, we will also describe the hydroxyurea-based protocols for the efficient disruption of POX1 gene, encoding the fatty acyl coenzyme A in Y. lipolytica, with the homologous arm about 500 bp. We envision that this chapter would improve our ability to engineer microbial cell factories for oleochemical and fatty alcohol production in oleaginous yeast species.

Document-level event extraction (DEE) now draws a huge amount of researchers’ attention. Not only the researches on sentence-level event extraction have obtained a great progress, but researchers realize that an event is usually described by multiple sentences in a document especially for fields such as finance, medicine, and judicature. Several document-level event extraction models are proposed to solve this task and obtain improvements on DEE task in recent years. However, we noticed that these models fail to exploit the entity dependency information of trigger and arguments, which ignore the dependency information between arguments, and between the trigger and arguments especially for financial domain. For DEE task, a model needs to extract the event-related entities, i.e., trigger and arguments, and predicts its corresponding roles. Thus, the entity dependency information between trigger and argument, and between arguments are essential. In this work, we define 8 types of structural dependencies and propose a document-level Chinese financial event extraction model called SSA-HEE, which explicitly explores the structure dependency information of candidate entities and improves the model’s ability to identify the relevance of entities. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed model.

To fulfil the needs of assessment tools in the Chinese population, we adapted the LENA Developmental Snapshot, a parent survey that measures early language and communication development in English-speaking children. We reported the psychometric properties of the adapted questionnaire and evaluated the metric and functional equivalence between the adapted and the original instruments.The Snapshot was translated into Chinese and reviewed by an expert panel. English-specific items (e.g. past tense, plural) were mapped onto functionally similar Mandarin vocabulary and structures. The questionnaire was administered to 1300 families with children ages 2-48 months. The Bayley Scales of Infant Development was administered to a subsample.Scores on the adapted questionnaire showed age-related increases in the 7-36 month age range and correlated with scores on the Chinese Bayley. The questionnaire showed high internal consistency and split-half reliability. Comparison with the US norm revealed slightly lower performance in the current sample. Adaptations of English-specific items resulted in functionally equivalent targets.Despite differences in linguistic roots, the Chinese adaption of the LENA Snapshot captured developmental changes in children's language and communication abilities. Additional norming and validation efforts are needed in a more representative sample.

To prevent the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, restrictions such as lockdown, were conducted globally, which led to significant reduction in fossil fuel emissions, especially in urban regions. However, CO2 concentrations in urban regions are affected by many factors, such as weather and background CO2 fluctuations. Thus, it is difficult to directly observe the reductions in CO2 concentrations with sparse ground observations. Here, we focus on urban ground transportation emissions, which were dramatically affected by the prohibitions, to determine the reduction signals. We conducted six on-road CO2 observations in Beijing using mobile platforms before (BC), during (DC) and after COVID-19 prohibitions (AC). To reduce the weather and background impacts, we chose trips with the most similar weather as possible and calculated the enhancement, which mean the difference in the CO2 concentration between on-road and the background level measured at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IAP) tower. The results showed that DC CO2 enhancement decreased by 41 parts per million (ppm) and 26 ppm compared to those during BC and AC, respectively, after eliminating the fluctuations in CO2 concentrations on polluted days. Detailed analysis showed that, during COVID, there was no difference between weekdays and weekends. The enhancements during rush hours were almost twice those during working hours, indicating that emissions during rush hours were much higher. Compared with DC and BC, the reductions in the enhancements during rush hours were much larger than those during working hours. Our findings showed a clear decrease during COVID, which are consistent with the CO2 concentration and emissions reductions due to the pandemic. The enhancement way used in this study is an effective method to reduce the impacts of weather and background fluctuation and should be regularly and more frequently conducted in future work.

Stressed plants and polymer production can emit many unsaturated volatile organic esters (UVOEs). However, secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation of UVOEs remain unclear, especially under complex ambient conditions. In this study, we mainly investigated ethyl methacrylate (EM) ozonolysis. Results showed that a substantial increase in secondary H2SO4 particles promoted SOA formation with increasing SO2. An important reason was that the homogeneous nucleation of more H2SO4 at high SO2 level provided greater surface area and volume for SOA condensation. However, increased primary H2SO4 with seed acidity enhanced EM uptake, but reduced SOA formation. This was ascribed to the fact that the ozonolysis of more adsorbed EM was hampered with the formation of surface H2SO4 at higher particle acidity. Moreover, the increase in secondary H2SO4 particle via homogeneous nucleation favored to the oligomerization of oxidation products, whereas the increasing of primary H2SO4 with acidity in the presence of seed tended to promote the functionalization conversion products. This study indicated that the role of increased H2SO4 to EM-derived SOA maybe not the same under different ambient conditions, which helps to advance our understanding of the complicated roles of H2SO4 in the formation of EM-derived SOA.

The theophylline aptamer was isolated from an oligonucleotide library in 1994. Since that time, the aptamer has found wide utility, particularly in synthetic biology, cellular engineering, and diagnostic applications. The primary application of the theophylline aptamer is in the construction and characterization of synthetic riboswitches for regulation of gene expression. These riboswitches have been used to control cellular motility, regulate carbon metabolism, construct logic gates, screen for mutant enzymes, and control apoptosis. Other applications of the theophylline aptamer in cellular engineering include regulation of RNA interference and genome editing through CRISPR systems. Here we describe the uses of the theophylline aptamer for cellular engineering over the past 25 years. In so doing, we also highlight important synthetic biology applications to control gene expression in a ligand-dependent manner.

BACKGROUND Wearable devices have been widely used in clinical studies to study daily activity patterns, but the analysis remains a major obstacle for researchers. OBJECTIVE This study proposes a novel method to characterize sleep-activity rhythms using actigraphy and further use it to describe early childhood daily rhythm formation and examine its association with physical development. METHODS We developed a machine learning–based Penalized Multiband Learning (PML) algorithm to sequentially infer dominant periodicities based on the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm and further characterize daily rhythms. We implemented and applied the algorithm to Actiwatch data collected from a cohort of 262 healthy infants at ages 6, 12, 18, and 24 months, with 159, 101, 111, and 141 participants at each time point, respectively. Autocorrelation analysis and Fisher test in harmonic analysis with Bonferroni correction were applied for comparison with the PML. The association between activity rhythm features and early childhood motor development, assessed using the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-Second Edition (PDMS-2), was studied through linear regression analysis. RESULTS The PML results showed that 1-day periodicity was most dominant at 6 and 12 months, whereas one-day, one-third–day, and half-day periodicities were most dominant at 18 and 24 months. These periodicities were all significant in the Fisher test, with one-fourth–day periodicity also significant at 12 months. Autocorrelation effectively detected 1-day periodicity but not the other periodicities. At 6 months, PDMS-2 was associated with the assessment seasons. At 12 months, PDMS-2 was associated with the assessment seasons and FFT signals at one-third–day periodicity (PP=.04), respectively. In particular, the subcategories of stationary, locomotion, and gross motor were associated with the FFT signals at one-third–day periodicity (P CONCLUSIONS The proposed PML algorithm can effectively conduct circadian rhythm analysis using time-series wearable device data. The application of the method effectively characterized sleep-wake rhythm development and identified the association between daily rhythm formation and motor development during early childhood.

BackgroundWearable devices have been widely used in clinical studies to study daily activity patterns, but the analysis remains the major obstacle for researchers.Study ObjectiveThis study proposed a novel method to characterize sleep-activity rhythms using actigraphy and further used it to describe early childhood daily rhythm formation and examine its association with physical development.MethodsWe developed a machine learning-based Penalized Multi-band Learning (PML) algorithm to sequentially infer dominant periodicities based on Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and further characterize daily rhythms. We implemented and applied the algorithm to Actiwatch data collected from a 262 healthy infant cohort at 6-, 12-, 18-, and 24-month old, with 159, 101, 111, and 141 subjects participating at each time point respectively. Autocorrelation analysis and Fisher’s test for harmonic analysis with Bonferroni correction were applied to compare with PML. The association between activity rhythm features and early childhood motor development, assessed by Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-Second Edition (PDMS-2), was studied through linear regression.ResultsPML results showed that 1-day periodicity is most dominant at 6 and 12 months, whereas 1-day, 1/3-day, and 1/2-day periodicities are most dominant at 18 and 24 months. These periodicities are all significant in Fisher’s test, with 1/4-day periodicity also significant at 12 months. Autocorrelation effectively detected 1-day periodicity but not others. At 6 months, PDMS-2 is associated with assessment seasons. At 12 months, PDMS-2 is associated with seasons and FFT signals at 1/3-day periodicity (PP=.04). In particular, subcategories of stationary, locomotion, and gross motor are associated with FFT signals at 1/3-day periodicity (PConclusionsThe proposed PML algorithm can effectively conduct circadian rhythm analysis using time-series wearable device data. Application of the method effectively characterized sleep-wake rhythm development and identified the association between daily rhythm formation and motor development during early childhood.

To examine the prevalence and correlates of nighttime awakenings and to explore the association between sleep and cognitive development in a community sample of infants and toddlers.A total of 590 healthy infants (aged 2-11 months) and 512 toddlers (aged 12-30 months) from 8 provinces of China were assessed for their sleep and cognitive development. Data on sleep duration and nighttime awakenings were collected through the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire. Cognitive development was assessed by trained pediatricians using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development.Prevalence of no nighttime awakening, and nighttime awakening(s) for 1×/night, 2×/night, and ≥ 3×/night was 6.8%, 20.2%, 33.2%, and 39.3% in infants, and was 25.8%, 34.6%, 23.8%, and 15.8% in toddlers, respectively. Nighttime awakenings were generally associated with younger age, lower maternal education level, and being currently breastfed. In addition, nighttime awakenings were associated with being boys in toddlers. After controlling for potential confounders, infants with nighttime awakenings for 2×/night were found to have significantly higher Mental Development Index (MDI) score, as compared to those without and those with more frequent nighttime awakenings. However, toddlers with nighttime awakenings for ≥ 3×/night had significantly lower MDI, as compared to those with fewer nighttime awakenings. Total sleep duration was not associated with any developmental indices in both infants and toddlers.Frequent nighttime awakenings are associated with poor cognitive functions in toddlers. Meanwhile, a nonlinear association between nighttime awakenings and cognitive performance was found among infants. The findings provide a developmental context for the effect of sleep on cognitive abilities in young children. Further longitudinal studies and interventional studies on the effects of parent-based sleep-focused intervention on cognitive abilities among young children are warranted.

Background Wearable devices have been widely used in clinical studies to study daily activity patterns, but the analysis remains a major obstacle for researchers. Objective This study proposes a novel method to characterize sleep-activity rhythms using actigraphy and further use it to describe early childhood daily rhythm formation and examine its association with physical development. Methods We developed a machine learning–based Penalized Multiband Learning (PML) algorithm to sequentially infer dominant periodicities based on the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm and further characterize daily rhythms. We implemented and applied the algorithm to Actiwatch data collected from a cohort of 262 healthy infants at ages 6, 12, 18, and 24 months, with 159, 101, 111, and 141 participants at each time point, respectively. Autocorrelation analysis and Fisher test in harmonic analysis with Bonferroni correction were applied for comparison with the PML. The association between activity rhythm features and early childhood motor development, assessed using the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-Second Edition (PDMS-2), was studied through linear regression analysis. Results The PML results showed that 1-day periodicity was most dominant at 6 and 12 months, whereas one-day, one-third–day, and half-day periodicities were most dominant at 18 and 24 months. These periodicities were all significant in the Fisher test, with one-fourth–day periodicity also significant at 12 months. Autocorrelation effectively detected 1-day periodicity but not the other periodicities. At 6 months, PDMS-2 was associated with the assessment seasons. At 12 months, PDMS-2 was associated with the assessment seasons and FFT signals at one-third–day periodicity (P Conclusions The proposed PML algorithm can effectively conduct circadian rhythm analysis using time-series wearable device data. The application of the method effectively characterized sleep-wake rhythm development and identified the association between daily rhythm formation and motor development during early childhood.

Interactions of Zn2+ with amyloid β-protein (Aβ) and the subsequent induction of Aβ aggregation have been implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The development of small-compound inhibitors against Zn2+-mediated Aβ aggregation is therefore greatly desired. In this study, brazilin was used to inhibit Zn2+-mediated Aβ aggregation and alleviate its cytotoxicity. The binding properties of brazilin and Zn2+ were first probed using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) assays. Both the FTIR and ITC results have shown that brazilin is able to bind Zn2+ in a physiologically suitable range of concentrations. The dissociation constant (Kd) between brazilin and Zn2+ was about 46.0±6.8μM, which makes brazilin a potential drug model for the chelation of free Zn2+. Moreover, the higher affinity of brazilin for Aβ42 (Kd=2.5±1.6μM) than that of Zn2+ (Kd=6.2±0. 9μM), enables brazilin to sequester Zn2+ from the Aβ42-Zn2+ complex. In addition, the inhibitory effects of brazilin on Zn2+-mediated Aβ aggregation were examined using the Thioflavin T fluorescence assay, transmission electron microscopy and cytotoxicity assays. It was found that brazilin showed remarkable inhibitory capability against Zn2+-induced aggregation of Aβ42. Furthermore, the Zn2+-mediated cytotoxicity of Aβ42 was also largely mitigated under the influence of brazilin. This study therefore provides further insights into the role of Zn2+ in the Aβ42 aggregation pathway, indicating potential new strategies for the design of small compounds with therapeutic potential for AD.

Physical activity, screen viewing, sleep, and homework among children have been independently linked to health outcomes. However, few studies have assessed the independent associations between time spent in daily activities and children’s physical and mental health. This study describes time spent in four activities among primary school students in Shanghai, and examines the relationship between daily time-use patterns and obesity and mental health. The representative sample consists of 17,318 children aged 6–11 years in Shanghai. Time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activities (MVPA), screen viewing, sleep, and homework was measured by validated questionnaires. Logistic regressions were performed. We also fitted generalized additive models (GAM) and performed two-objective optimization to minimize the probability of poor mental health and obesity. In 2014, 33.7% of children spent ˂1 hour/day on MVPA, 15.6% spent ≥ 2 hours/day on screen viewing, 12.4% spent ˂ 9 hours/day on sleep, and 27.2% spent ≥ 2 hours/day on homework. The optimization results suggest that considering the 24-hour time limit, children face trade-offs when allocating time. A priority should be given to the duration of sleep and MVPA. Screen exposure should be minimized to save more time for sleep and other beneficial activities.

The world-wide lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in year 2020 led to economic slowdown and large reduction of fossil fuel CO2 emissions, but it is unclear how much it would reduce atmospheric CO2 concentration, and whether it can be observed. We estimated that a 7.9% reduction in emissions for 4 months would result in a 0.25 ppm decrease in the Northern Hemisphere CO2, an increment that is within the capability of current CO2 analyzers, but is a few times smaller than natural CO2 variabilities caused by weather and the biosphere such as El Nino. We used a state-of-the-art atmospheric transport model to simulate CO2, driven by a new daily fossil fuel emissions dataset and hourly biospheric fluxes from a carbon cycle model forced with observed climate variability. Our results show a 0.13 ppm decrease in atmospheric column CO2 anomaly averaged over 50S-50N for the period February-April 2020 relative to a 10-year climatology. A similar decrease was observed by the carbon satellite GOSAT3. Using model sensitivity experiments, we further found that COVID, the biosphere and weather contributed 54%, 23%, and 23% respectively. This seemingly small change stands out as the largest sub-annual anomaly in the last 10 years. Measurements from global ground stations were analyzed. At city scale, on-road CO2 enhancement measured in Beijing shows reduction of 20-30 ppm, consistent with drastically reduced traffic during the lockdown. The ability of our current carbon monitoring systems in detecting the small and short-lasting COVID signal on the background of fossil fuel CO2 accumulated over the last two centuries is encouraging. The COVID-19 pandemic is an unintended experiment whose impact suggests that to keep atmospheric CO2 at a climate-safe level will require sustained effort of similar magnitude and improved accuracy and expanded spatiotemporal coverage of our monitoring systems.

© 2020 European Sleep Research Society Sleep quantity and quality are both important for optimal development and functioning during youth. Yet few studies have examined the effects of insomnia symptoms and objective short sleep duration on memory performance among adolescents and young adults. One-hundred and ninety participants (female: 61.6%) aged from 12 to 24 years completed this study. All participants underwent a clinical interview, a 7-day actigraphic assessment, a battery of self-report questionnaires and cognitive tests to assess working memory and episodic memory. Insomnia symptoms were defined as a score ≥ 9 on the Insomnia Severity Index, and objective short sleep duration was defined as average total sleep time less than 7 hr for those aged 12–17 years, and 6 hr for those aged 18 years and above as assessed by actigraphy. Insomnia symptoms were significantly associated with worse self-perceived memory (p

To explore the association between vitamin D in cord blood or in venous blood and children's sleep-wake patterns at two years of age.Data were from 209 children in a birth cohort, Shanghai Sleep Birth Cohort Study (SSBC). 25-Hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) was assessed in cord blood and venous blood samples at two years of age by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. Children's sleep-wake patterns were measured with the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire (BISQ) and Acti-Watch at two years of age.The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (defined as50 nmol/L) was 50.4% in cord blood and 28% at two years of age. The cord blood 25(OH)D level was not significantly associated with children's sleep at two years of age. Children with 25(OH)D deficiency at two years old had shorter reported and actigraphic night sleep duration (NSD) and total sleep duration (TSD) than those with normal 25(OH)D concentration. 25(OH)D level at two years old was positively associated with night and total sleep duration (βWe found that not cord blood 25(OH)D level but two-year-old 25(OH)D level was associated with children's sleep-wake patterns at two years of age. These findings suggest more attention should be paid to the assessment of 25(OH)D levels in children with short sleep duration.