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The three-river headwaters region (TRHR) is the birthplace of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and the Lantsang River in China. Based on the grid surface precipitation data released by China Meteorological Administration (CMA), this paper evaluated the accuracy and error components of four near-real-time satellite precipitation products (GSMaP-NRT, GSMaP-MVK, IMERG-Early and IMERG-Late) in the era of a GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement) in TRHR. The conclusions are as follows: (1) The precipitation in TRHR is concentrated in the east and south, and the precipitation in the west is very low. IMERG (Early and Late) has a good spatial distribution of precipitation, while GSMaP has an obvious spatial smoothing of precipitation distribution, and does not better highlight the local precipitation characteristics. (2) The inversion accuracy of the satellite products is the best in the source region of the Lantsang River, followed by the source region of the Yellow River. The satellite products all show the lower correlation coefficient and serious underestimation of precipitation in the west of the TRHR. In addition, the closer to the west of the TRHR, the lower hit rate and the higher false alarm rate of the satellite products, especially the NRT and MVK products. In the eastern margin of the Yellow River headwater region and the Lantsang River headwater Region, RMSE and overestimated precipitation were higher in NRT and MVK, and FAR was higher in spite of higher POD and CSI. (3) The errors of GSMaP in the source region of the Yellow River and the Lantsang River are mainly caused by misreporting precipitation and overestimating the precipitation level, while the errors of GSMaP in the west of the TRHR are mainly caused by missing measurements of precipitation events. The underestimated precipitation of IMERG mainly comes from the missed measurement of precipitation and the underestimate of precipitation level, and there is no large false precipitation. (4) In addition, we found that the satellite products in the lake distribution area of the TRHR have serious missed precipitation errors, indicating that the GPM satellite products have the poor detection ability of precipitation near plateau lakes. On the whole, the precipitation inversion accuracy of IMERG (Early and Late) products is higher, which can better detect the occurrence of precipitation events, but the estimation of precipitation level is still not accurate. The precision of precipitation of satellite products near inland lakes on the plateau is poor, so the algorithm improvement of new products needs to be further solved in the future. HIGHLIGHTS The error performance of IMERG and GSMaP products over the three-river headwaters region in China.; IMERG has a good spatial distribution of precipitation.; The satellite products all show the lower correlation coefficient in the west of the study area.; The estimation of precipitation level of IMERG is still not accurate.; GPM satellite products have the poor detection ability of precipitation near plateau lakes.

Salidroside is reported to have a wide range of pharmacological properties and has been proven to play a key anti-cancer effect. This study investigated the effects of purified salidroside, an ingredient of Rhodiola rosea, on the proliferation of two human gastric cancer cell lines and further investigating its possible molecular mechanisms. We verified that salidroside exerts a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on the proliferation of SGC-7901 and MKN-45 human gastric cancer cells. Moreover, salidroside can induce cell apoptosis, which was accompanied by an increase in nuclear fragmentation. In addition, salidroside inhibited glycolysis, as evidenced by the reduced expression levels of the glycolysis-related enzymes pyruvate kinase isoenzyme M2 (PKM2), enolase 1 (ENO1) and glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1), which could play important roles in the metabolism of gastric cancer cells. Further investigation showed that salidroside exerted potent anti-proliferative effects by inhibiting glycolysis in human gastric cancer cells in vitro. In vivo, xenograft tumors treated with salidroside were significantly smaller than those in the control animals. Therefore, salidroside could be a promising therapeutic prospect in the treatment of gastric cancer.

This paper attempts to reveal the impact and mechanisms of digital inclusive finance (DIF) on agricultural carbon emission performance (ACEP). Specifically, based on the provincial panel data in China from 2011 to 2020, a super slacks-based measure (Super SBM) model is applied to measure ACEP. The panel regression model and spatial regression model are used to empirically analyze the impact of DIF on ACEP and its mechanism. The results show that: (1) during the study period, China’s ACEP exhibited a continuous growth trend, and began to accelerate after 2017. The high-value agglomeration areas of ACEP shifted from the Huang-Huai-Hai plain and the Pearl River Delta to the coastal regions and the Yellow River basin, the provincial differences displayed an increasing trend from 2011 to 2020. (2) DIF was found to have a significant positive impact on ACEP. The main manifestation is that the development of the coverage breadth and depth of use of DIF helps to improve the ACEP. (3) The positive impact of DIF on ACEP had a significant spatial spillover effect, that is, it had a positive effect on the improvement of ACEP in the surrounding provinces. These empirical results can help policymakers better understand the contribution of DIF to low-carbon agriculture, and provide them with valuable information for the formulation of supportive policies.

Ground-source heat pump (GSHP) systems contribute significantly to the reduction in energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The vast territory, abundant geothermal sources, and different climatic zones of Southwestern and Northwestern China provide significant opportunities for the application of GSHP technologies. In this study, a statistical study was performed to assess the general performances and identify the existing problems of GSHP systems located in the abovementioned areas. Twenty-eight GSHP projects, including groundwater heat pumps, soil-source heat pumps, and surface water heat pumps were selected. Water temperature, energy consumption, coefficient of performance (COP), energy efficiency ratio (EER), and thermodynamic perfectibility were analysed. The energy efficiency of GSHP systems were assessed according to the national standard. In addition, barriers and problems in GSHP applications are discussed herein. It is concluded that the average cooling COPs of SSHP, GWHP and SWHP units are 4.9, 4.7, and 4.2, respectively, with SSHP unit being the highest. The average heating COPs of SSHP, GWHP and SWHP units are 4.3, 4.2, and 4.2, respectively with SSHP unit being the highest. The SSHP has the best performance in both seasons amongst three GSHP types. Furthermore, though 89% of the systems can meet the requirements of national standard, more than 50% of them work at the lowest allowable energy efficiency value. This paper attempts to provide essential clues for the adoption feasibility and technical guidelines of GSHPs in the target areas.

Nano-titanium dioxide (nano-TiO2) has been widely used in food and cosmetic industries, and the medical sector. However, nano-TiO2 is potentially toxic to the reproductive system. Previous research has shown that nano-TiO2 can reduce sperm concentration but do not yet known whether this effect occurs because of dysfunctional meiosis in spermatogenic cells. In the present paper, we demonstrate that Nano-TiO2 can penetrate through the blood-testis barrier of a mouse model and enter the testicular tissue, thus causing damage to the testis and epididymis. This reduced the number of developing sperm; we demonstrated that the mechanism underlying this effect was the inhibition or destruction of meiosis in spermatogenic cells, particularly during meiosis I. We also found that the inhibition of meiosis I caused by nano-TiO2 exposure was related to dysfunctional meiosis and that the abnormal expression of meiosis-related factors. Therefore, our data demonstrate that nano-TiO2 reduces sperm concentration by disrupting meiosis and related signaling pathways.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the in vitro and in vivo neurotoxicity of nanoparticulate titanium dioxide (nano-TiO2 ), a mass-produced material for a large number of commercial and industrial applications. The mechanism of nano-TiO2 -induced inhibition of axonal development, however, is still unclear. In our study, primary cultured hippocampal neurons of 24-hour-old fetal Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 5, 15, or 30 μg/mL nano-TiO2 for 6, 12, and 24 hours, and the toxic effects of nano-TiO2 exposure on the axons development were detected and its molecular mechanism investigated. Nano-TiO2 accumulated in hippocampal neurons and inhibited the development of axons as nano-TiO2 concentrations increased. Increasing time in culture resulted in decreasing axon length by 32.5%, 36.6%, and 53.8% at 6 hours, by 49.4%, 53.8%, and 69.5% at 12 hours, and by 44.5%, 58.2%, and 63.6% at 24 hours, for 5, 15, and 30 μg/mL nano-TiO2 , respectively. Furthermore, nano-TiO2 downregulated expression of Netrin-1, growth-associated protein-43, and Neuropilin-1, and promoted an increase of semaphorin type 3A and Nogo-A. These studies suggest that nano-TiO2 inhibited axonal development in rat primary cultured hippocampal neurons and this phenomenon is related to changes in the expression of axon growth-related factors.

Forkhead transcription factor class O (FOXO)3a, which plays a critical role in a wide variety of cellular processes, was also found to regulate cell-type-specific antiviral responses. Airway epithelial cells express FOXO3a and play an important role in clearing rhinovirus (RV) by mounting antiviral type I and type III interferon (IFN) responses. To elucidate the role of FOXO3a in regulating antiviral responses, we generated airway epithelial cell-specific Foxo3a knockout (Scga1b1-Foxo3a−/−) mice and a stable FOXO3a knockout human airway epithelial cell line. Compared to wild-type, Scga1b1-Foxo3a−/− mice show reduced IFN-α, IFN-β, IFN-λ2/3 in response to challenge with RV or double-stranded (ds)RNA mimic, Poly Inosinic-polycytidylic acid (Poly I:C) indicating defective dsRNA receptor signaling. RV-infected Scga1b1-Foxo3a−/− mice also show viral persistence, enhanced lung inflammation and elevated pro-inflammatory cytokine levels. FOXO3a K/O airway epithelial cells show attenuated IFN responses to RV infection and this was associated with conformational change in mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS) but not with a reduction in the expression of dsRNA receptors under unstimulated conditions. Pretreatment with MitoTEMPO, a mitochondrial-specific antioxidant corrects MAVS conformation and restores antiviral IFN responses to subsequent RV infection in FOXO3a K/O cells. Inhibition of oxidative stress also reduces pro-inflammatory cytokine responses to RV in FOXO3a K/O cells. Together, our results indicate that FOXO3a plays a critical role in regulating antiviral responses as well as limiting pro-inflammatory cytokine expression. Based on these results, we conclude that FOXO3a contributes to optimal viral clearance and prevents excessive lung inflammation following RV infection.

In the era of precision medicine, biopsies are playing an increasingly central role in cancer research and treatment paradigms; however, patient outcomes and analyses of biopsy quality, as well as impact on downstream clinical and research applications, remain underreported. Herein, we report biopsy safety and quality outcomes for percutaneous core biopsies of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) performed as part of a prospective clinical trial. Patients with a clinical diagnosis of HCC were enrolled in a prospective cohort study for the genetic, proteomic, and metabolomic profiling of HCC at two academic medical centers from April 2016 to July 2020. Under image guidance, 18G core biopsies were obtained using coaxial technique at the time of locoregional therapy. The primary outcome was biopsy quality, defined as tumor fraction in the core biopsy. 56 HCC lesions from 50 patients underwent 60 biopsy events with a median of 8 core biopsies per procedure (interquartile range, IQR, 7–10). Malignancy was identified in 45/56 (80.4%, 4 without pathology) biopsy events, including HCC (40/56, 71.4%) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) or combined HCC-CCA (5/56, 8.9%). Biopsy quality was highly variable with a median of 40% tumor in each biopsy core (IQR 10–75). Only 43/56 (76.8%) and 23/56 (41.1%) samples met quality thresholds for genomic or metabolomic/proteomic profiling, respectively, requiring expansion of the clinical trial. Overall and major complication rates were 5/60 (8.3%) and 3/60 (5.0%), respectively. Despite uniform biopsy protocol, biopsy quality varied widely with up to 59% of samples to be inadequate for intended purpose. This finding has important consequences for clinical trial design and highlights the need for quality control prior to applications in which the presence of benign cell types may substantially alter findings.

The distribution of heavy metal pollution in cultivated land is closely related to the quality of the cultivated land. In this study, 533 soil samples were collected from cultivated land in the Yangtze River delta region in China for Cd, Pb, and Hg analyses. Spatial statistical analysis was used to study the heavy metal pollution in the cultivated land, and the driving forces of heavy metal distribution in different cultivated land quality subdivisions were analyzed with GeogDetector. The conclusions are as follows: (1) Among the three heavy metals in the study area, the coefficient of variation of Cd is the largest, and that of Pb is the smallest. The proportion of Cd and Hg exceeding the standard value (the standard of level two in GB 15618—2018) is relatively large, both of which are 5%, (2) From the perspective of the spatial distribution of soil heavy metal pollution, only four counties (CX, HN, WY, and LH) were free of heavy metal pollution. Soil heavy metal pollution in AJ, SY, QJ, and DS counties is relatively serious, and the pollution may come from agricultural activities, manufacturing, and prevalent coastal shipping industries in these counties, (3) The heavy metal pollution levels of cultivated land with different quality levels are different. The high-quality cultivated land has no high contamination, while the medium and the general cultivated land both have high contamination. High contamination is related to Cd for medium and general cultivated lands, and to Hg in only general cultivated land, (4) The main driving factors of heavy metal concentration in cultivated soil were GDP, followed by soil organic matter, and pH. These results indicate that the spatial distribution of heavy metal concentration in cultivated soil was affected by the level of economic development, followed by the ecological environment, indicating that human activities had a critical impact on the ecological environment of cultivated land.

Salidroside is reported to have a wide range of pharmacological properties and has been proven to play a key anti-cancer effect. This study investigated the effects of purified salidroside, an ingredient of Rhodiola rosea, on the proliferation of two human gastric cancer cell lines and further investigating its possible molecular mechanisms. We verified that salidroside exerts a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on the proliferation of SGC-7901 and MKN-45 human gastric cancer cells. Moreover, salidroside can induce cell apoptosis, which was accompanied by an increase in nuclear fragmentation. In addition, salidroside inhibited glycolysis, as evidenced by the reduced expression levels of the glycolysis-related enzymes pyruvate kinase isoenzyme M2 (PKM2), enolase 1 (ENO1) and glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1), which could play important roles in the metabolism of gastric cancer cells. Further investigation showed that salidroside exerted potent anti-proliferative effects by inhibiting glycolysis in human gastric cancer cells in vitro. In vivo, xenograft tumors treated with salidroside were significantly smaller than those in the control animals. Therefore, salidroside could be a promising therapeutic prospect in the treatment of gastric cancer.

Rapid rural social-economic transitions in China have given rise to increasingly serious agricultural eco-environmental (AEE) problems. The deterioration of AEE poses great challenges to the sustainable agriculture and results in an incoordination among rural economy, society and ecology. Coordinating the relationship between rural transition development and AEE has great significance in agricultural sustainability and rural revitalization strategy. However, few studies focus on the interactions between social-economic transitions and AEE in rural areas. In this study, comprehensive index systems were built to assess the levels of rural transition development and AEE in Zhejiang Province, China. Coupling coordination model and Kuznets curve analysis were used to explore the interactive relationship between these two subsystems. The results showed that the level of rural transition development in Zhejiang Province showed an overall uptrend during 2000 and 2018, while the AEE evolved from a rapid decline to a stable trend. Both rural transition development and AEE level exhibited obvious spatial variability. The coupling coordination degree between rural transition development and AEE in the whole region fluctuated upward, and changed from the incoordination state to the basic coordination state. The spatial distribution of coupling coordination degree was characterized by high in the northwestern areas and low in the central and southeastern areas of Zhejiang Province, the majority of coupling coordination type transformed from lagging AEE to lagging rural transition development. The dynamic evolution of the relationship between rural transition development and AEE displayed a U-shaped curve and presented different characteristics at different aspects of rural transition process. These results will provide effective references for promoting the coordinated development between rural social-economic transitions and AEE, and formulating targeted rural revitalization policies to achieve rural sustainability.

Numerous studies have proven that nano titanium dioxide (nano TiO2) can accumulate in animal brains, where it damages the blood brain barrier (BBB); however, whether this process involves destruction of tight junction proteins in the mouse brain has not been adequately investigated. In this study, mice were exposed to nano TiO2 for 30 consecutive days, and then we used transmission electron microscopy to observe the BBB ultrastructure and the Evans blue assay to evaluate the permeability of the BBB. Our data suggested that nano TiO2 damaged the BBB ultrastructure and increased BBB permeability. Furthermore, we used immunofluorescence and Western blotting to examine the expression of key tight junction proteins, including Occludin, ZO-1, and Claudin-5 in the mouse brain. Our data showed that nano TiO2 reduced Occludin, ZO-1 and Claudin-5 expression. Taken together, nano TiO2-induced damage to the BBB structure and function may involve the destruction of key tight junction proteins.

Heavy-metal pollution is a significant health and environmental concern in areas of rapid industrialization in China. The accuracy of spatial mapping of pollutant is the main constraint on spatial prediction of health risks. Our study addressed the possibility of improving spatial prediction accuracy of risk assessment. We developed land-use regression (LUR) models for Hg, As, Cu, and Pb based on surface soil sampling, land-use data, and soil properties. The regression results suggested that LUR was more accurate than ordinary kriging method. Spatial prediction accuracy of Hg, As, Cu, and Pb were improved by 15%, 59%, 36%, and 20%, respectively. Then, spatial distribution of health risk was assessed by using distributions of heavy metal and exposure parameters. Chronic risk of children was controlled by distribution of Pb and carcinogenic controlled by As. The result indicated that Pb and As were the main sources of health risk for children in Kunshan. Chronic and carcinogenic risk maps could clearly show where we should pay attention to and control the risk. This study provided a simple approach to draw spatially explicit maps of health risk which were useful for pollution control and public health risk management.

IFN responses to viral infection are necessary to establish intrinsic antiviral state, but if unchecked can lead to heightened inflammation. Recently, we showed that TLR2 activation contributes to limitation of rhinovirus (RV)–induced IFN response in the airway epithelial cells. We also demonstrated that compared with normal airway epithelial cells, those from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) show higher IFN responses to RV, but the underlying mechanisms are not known. Initially, RV-induced IFN responses depend on dsRNA receptor activation and then are amplified via IFN-stimulated activation of JAK/STAT signaling. In this study, we show that in normal cells, TLR2 limits RV-induced IFN responses by attenuating STAT1 and STAT2 phosphorylation and this was associated with TLR2-dependent SIRT-1 expression. Further, inhibition of SIRT-1 enhanced RV-induced IFN responses, and this was accompanied by increased STAT1/STAT2 phosphorylation, indicating that TLR2 may limit RV-induced IFN responses via SIRT-1. COPD airway epithelial cells showed attenuated IL-8 responses to TLR2 agonist despite expressing TLR2 similar to normal, indicating dysregulation in TLR2 signaling pathway. Unlike normal, COPD cells failed to show RV-induced TLR2-dependent SIRT-1 expression. Pretreatment with quercetin, which increases SIRT-1 expression, normalized RV-induced IFN levels in COPD airway epithelial cells. Inhibition of SIRT-1 in quercetin-pretreated COPD cells abolished the normalizing effects of quercetin on RV-induced IFN expression in these cells, confirming that quercetin exerts its effect via SIRT-1. In summary, we show that TLR2 is required for limiting RV-induced IFNs, and this pathway is dysregulated in COPD airway epithelial cells, leading to exaggerated IFN production.

Airborne laser scanning (ALS) and terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) systems are effective ways to capture the 3D information of forests from complementary perspectives. Registration of the two sources of point clouds is necessary for various forestry applications. Since the forest point clouds show irregular and natural point distributions, standard registration methods working on geometric keypoints (e.g., points, lines, and planes) are likely to fail. Hence, we propose a novel method to register the ALS and TLS forest point clouds through density analysis of the crowns. The proposed method extracts mode-based keypoints by the mean shift method and aligns them by maximum likelihood estimation. Firstly, the differences in the point densities of the ALS and TLS crowns are minimized to produce analogous modes, which represent the local maxima of the underlying probability density function (PDF). The mode-based keypoints are then aligned through the coherent point drift (CPD) algorithm, which is independent of the descriptor similarities and considers the alignment as a maximum likelihood estimation problem. The sets of keypoints derived from the two data sources need not be equal. Finally, the recovered transformation is applied to the original point clouds and refined through the standard iterative closest point (ICP) algorithm. In contrast to some of the existing methods, the proposed method avoids the geometric description of the forest point clouds. Furthermore, additional information such as tree diameter or height is not required to evaluate the similarities. The experiments in this study were conducted in a Scandinavian boreal forest, located in Evo, Finland. The proposed method was tested on four datasets (ALS data: a circle with a diameter of 60 m, multi-scan TLS data: 32 × 32 m) with heterogeneous tree species and structures. The results showed that the proposed probabilistic-based method obtains a good performance with a 3D distance residual of 0.069 m, and improved the accuracy of the registration when compared with the existing methods.

Leptin is a vital biomarker of non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFLD), and its evaluation of the concentration level in vivo is of great significance to NAFLD diagnosis. Therefore, it is pressing to develop a method for rapid and sensitive detection of leptin. This paper describes an environmentally friendly and label-free immunosensor based on porous graphene functionalized black phosphorus (PG-BP) composite to detect of leptin. The PG-BP was synthesized via strong coherent coupling between porous graphene (PG) surface plasmons and anisotropic black phosphorus (BP) localized surface plasmons, which made the electrochemical performance of PG and BP synergistic as well as increased the stability and conductive capability of BP material. The PG-BP modified electrodes was further prepared by gold nanoparticles, cysteamine, and glutaraldehyde in turn. Due to the cross-linking effect of glutaraldehyde, anti-leptin can be firmly fixed. These properties of the platform improved the conductive capability of the immunosensor and enhanced the load capacity of the proteins, thereby, the sensitivity of the immunosensor was significantly increased. Under the optimal conditions, the proposed immunosensor exhibited a wide linear range of 0.150–2500 pg/mL with a low detection limit of 0.036 pg/mL. The leptin immunosensor displayed excellent selectivity and anti-interference ability, which could be used for early screening and diagnosis of clinical NALFD.

Rhinovirus (RV), which is associated with acute exacerbations, also causes persistent lung inflammation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but the underlying mechanisms are not well-known. Recently, we demonstrated that RV causes persistent lung inflammation with accumulation of a subset of macrophages (CD11b+/CD11c+), and CD8+ T cells, and progression of emphysema. In the present study, we examined the mechanisms underlying the RV-induced persistent inflammation and progression of emphysema in mice with COPD phenotype. Our results demonstrate that at 14 days post-RV infection, in addition to sustained increase in CCL3, CXCL-10 and IFN-γ expression as previously observed, levels of interleukin-33 (IL-33), a ligand for ST2 receptor, and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)12 are also elevated in mice with COPD phenotype, but not in normal mice. Further, MMP12 was primarily expressed in CD11b+/CD11c+ macrophages. Neutralization of ST2, reduced the expression of CXCL-10 and IFN-γ and attenuated accumulation of CD11b+/CD11c+ macrophages, neutrophils and CD8+ T cells in COPD mice. Neutralization of IFN-γ, or ST2 attenuated MMP12 expression and prevented progression of emphysema in these mice. Taken together, our results indicate that RV may stimulate expression of CXCL-10 and IFN-γ via activation of ST2/IL-33 signaling axis, which in turn promote accumulation of CD11b+/CD11c+ macrophages and CD8+ T cells. Furthermore, RV-induced IFN-γ stimulates MMP12 expression particularly in CD11b+/CD11c+ macrophages, which may degrade alveolar walls thus leading to progression of emphysema in these mice. In conclusion, our data suggest an important role for ST2/IL-33 signaling axis in RV-induced pathological changes in COPD mice.

The porous graphene functionalized black phosphorus composite (PG-BP) was successfully synthesized via strong coherent coupling between porous graphene surface plasmons and anisotropic black phosphorus localized surface plasmons by the method of penetration of infrared ray using infrared drying. And it was used to fabricate a novel high-sensitive electrochemical sensor for determination of bisphenol A (BPA) in daily use and biological samples. The PG-BP had been characterized by infrared spectroscopy, Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometer, indicating that PG-BP with the large specific surface area and good electrical conductivity was successfully prepared. In addition, electrochemical properties of the modified materials are comparably explored by means of impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammograms. Under the optimal conditions, BPA was determined quantitatively using differential pulse voltammetry. The results showed that the BPA detection current has a good linear relationship in the range of 4.3 × 10−8–5.5 × 10−5 mol/L with a detection limit of 7.8 × 10−9 mol/L (S/N = 3). Results from the present work illustrate the prominent performance of PG-BP as a sensing channel for BPA sensor application and the huge potential of PG-BP as an electrode material.

Two water-soluble polysaccharides named CPP1a and CPP1c were isolated from C. pilosula Nannf. var. modesta L.T.Shen by hot-water extraction and purified by graded alcohol precipitation and DEAE-52 cellulose column. The structure of CPP1c with higher yield has been characterized while its antitumor activities has not been elucidated. In this study, we firstly analyzed the chemical structure of CPP1a. The results of instrumental analysis combined with chemical analysis showed that CPP1a was composed of →1)- β‑ l ‑Rhap‑(4→, →1)- β‑Arap‑(5→, →1)- β‑ d ‑GalpA‑(4→, →1)- β‑ d ‑Galp‑(6→, terminal‑β‑ d ‑Glcp in a molar ratio of 1:12:1:10:3 and its relative and absolute molecular weight were 1.01 × 105 Da and 1.03 × 105 Da respectively. Further, the cytotoxicity assay indicated that CPP1a and CPP1c were more sensitive to HepG2 cells than cervical carcinoma Hela cells and gastric carcinoma MKN45 cells. Both of CPP1a and CPP1c could influence cell morphology, inhibit the migration and induce apoptosis by affecting the G2/M phase of HepG2 cells. Preliminary mechanism studies confirmed that CPP1a and CPP1c could induce apoptosis through up-regulating the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 and activating caspase-3. According to previous research, we might speculate that the reason for the stronger cytotoxicity and pro-apoptotic effect of CPP1c than that of CPP1a can be attributed to its high uronic acid content.

Background Infection with the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has been associated with a hypercoagulable state. Emerging data from China and Europe have consistently shown an increased incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE). We aimed to identify the VTE incidence and early predictors of VTE at our high-volume tertiary care center. Methods We performed a retrospective cohort study of 147 patients who had been admitted to Temple University Hospital with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) from April 1, 2020 to April 27, 2020. We first identified the VTE (pulmonary embolism [PE] and deep vein thrombosis [DVT]) incidence in our cohort. The VTE and no-VTE groups were compared by univariable analysis for demographics, comorbidities, laboratory data, and treatment outcomes. Subsequently, multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the early predictors of VTE. Results The 147 patients (20.9% of all admissions) admitted to a designated COVID-19 unit at Temple University Hospital with a high clinical suspicion of acute VTE had undergone testing for VTE using computed tomography pulmonary angiography and/or extremity venous duplex ultrasonography. The overall incidence of VTE was 17% (25 of 147). Of the 25 patients, 16 had had acute PE, 14 had had acute DVT, and 5 had had both PE and DVT. The need for invasive mechanical ventilation (adjusted odds ratio, 3.19; 95% confidence interval, 1.07-9.55) and the admission D-dimer level ≥1500 ng/mL (adjusted odds ratio, 3.55; 95% confidence interval, 1.29-9.78) were independent markers associated with VTE. The all-cause mortality in the VTE group was greater than that in the non-VTE group (48% vs 22%; P = .007). Conclusions Our study represents one of the earliest reported from the United States on the incidence rate of VTE in patients with COVID-19. Patients with a high clinical suspicion and the identified risk factors (invasive mechanical ventilation, admission D-dimer level ≥1500 ng/mL) should be considered for early VTE testing. We did not screen all patients admitted for VTE; therefore, the true incidence of VTE could have been underestimated. Our findings require confirmation in future prospective studies.

This paper presents a comparative study of a counter-cross flow plate heat recovery exchanger, which operates as an indirect evaporative air cooler in cooling conditions. In the study, thermal performance of this exchanger with different placement modes (vertical and horizontal) was investigated by numerical simulation based on original mathematical model. To validate the numerical model, vertically and horizontally positioned prototypes with the same exchangers were made and tested on the test rig. According to the test results, the numerical model has a satisfactory accuracy. For these two types of prototypes, influence of supply and exhaust air inlet parameters (temperature and relative humidity) on the thermal performance of the two prototypes in both constant inlet airflow rate and variable inlet air flow rate was researched. The results show that, under conditions of constant airflow rate with variable supply air parameters, the outlet supply air temperature of the exchanger set vertically is 1.41–2.40 °C lower than that of exchanger set horizontally, meanwhile, 24–44% more cooling capacity is obtained by the vertical exchanger. It indicates that placement mode has important effects on thermal performance of the exchangers and the exchanger set vertically always shows a better performance. The main reason is considered to be the existence of larger dry areas in exhaust air channels of the horizontal exchanger that reduce the heat transfer between supply air and exhaust air. Therefore, characteristics of the heat transfer in horizontal exchangers was especially studied in this paper.

In this study, a novel electrochemical immunosensor for early screening of depression markers-heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) was successfully developed based on the porous graphene (PG) with huge specific surface area and excellent structure. Benefiting from the strong adsorption and good bioactivity of PG which was initially prepared via a simple pyrolysis process, a variety of heat shock protein70 (HSP70) can be firmly loaded on the PG to construct the basic electrode (HSP70/PG/GCE)，which was characterized by the cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), respectively. Due to the HSP70 fixed on the surface of basic electrode and the HSP70 in the samples can competitively combine with the horseradish peroxidase labeled human HSP 70 antibody (HRP-Strept-Biotin-Ab). As a result, it presented a negative correlation between the concentration of HSP70 in samples and the detection signal of the proposed electrochemical immunosensor (HRP-Strept-Biotin-Ab-HSP70/PG/GCE) in the test liquid. The application of PG with excellent electrical conductivity in construction of immunosensor remarkably improved the sensitivity of the immunosensor for detection of HSP70. The proposed immunosensor demonstrated a wide linear range of 0.0448 ~ 100 ng/mL with a low detection limit of 0.02 ng/mL at 3σ. Moreover, the proposed immunosensor could be applied for the sensitive and efficient detection of HSP70 in real samples with good precision, acceptable stability, reproducibility and satisfactory results. Therefore, the HSP70 immunosensor provides a novel and convenient method for early clinical screening of depression markers-heat shock protein 70.

Sky View Factor (SVF) is one of the most useful urban spatial indicators for radiation and thermal environmental assessment. Estimating SVF with circular fish-eye photos is straightforward and convenient and can account for obstruction of vegetation and other urban infrastructures. But for a large area with many points of interest, processing fish-eye photos is labor intensive. This paper presents a workflow of estimating SVF with large amounts of street view images obtained at sampling points along city road network at the height of about 2 m. To automatically estimate SVF with street view images, a batch processing sky region detection and SVF calculation tool was developed with the Python programming language and OpenCV. The tool can deal with various outdoor weather conditions, and the performance of sky region segmentation and SVF calculation was validated with photos taken with a fish-eye lens. The method shows reliable estimations and preferable speed, with about 1.5 s for a 1000 × 500 px image and 0.08 s for a 200 × 100 px image. The proposed workflow was further applied to estimate the SVF distributions in the downtown centers of four densely populated Chinese cities.

Air source heat pump (ASHP) technology is widely accepted for the merits of energy-saving and environmental protection, and has been served as the heating and cooling source in most part of China. This paper presents a numerical model to predict the performance of a typical ASHP system in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The theoretical analysis shows that the occurrence of the frost is hard to be found on air-side heat exchanger due to the low relative humidity, which can improve the performance of the ASHP system. The numerical results show that the ambient air temperature and atmospheric pressure have a great effect on the system performance. For the case of without considering frosting problem, the COP of the system is reduced by 9.5%–12.5% than that for standard pressure (101.325 kPa). The heating capacity of the system is reduced by 16.2%–19.8% than that for standard pressure. For the case of considering frosting problem, the heating capacity and COP of the ASHP system in Lhasa are 37.5 kW and 1.98, respectively under the outdoor design temperature, which are almost same or higher than most cities in this study.