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Aphis gossypii Glover, a widespread insect, presents a substantial danger to global agriculture. Lambda-cyhalothrin is a pyrethroid insecticide that has been widely studied for its effects on arthropods. Studies have reported that sublethal doses of insecticides can produce various consequences on arthropod reproduction. Hence, the objective of this research was to examine the potential effects of a sublethal dose of lambda-cyhalothrin (LC30, 1.15 mg/L) on A. gossypii, for which we created life tables and conducted qPCR analysis. Adult longevity, fecundity, net reproductive rate (R0), body length, width, weight, and the expression of vitellogenin (Vg) and vitellogenin receptor (VgR) genes were not significantly altered by lambda-cyhalothrin treatment at LC30 concentration in the F0 generation of A. gossypii adults. The intrinsic rate of increase (r) and finite rates of increase (λ) decreased significantly, while the mean generation time (T) increased. In addition, Vg and VgR gene expression levels were significantly higher in the F1 and F2 generations, whereas body length, width, and weight were notably reduced. The developmental duration, longevity, r, and λ did not differ significantly from those of the control group. Thus, the sublethal and intergenerational stimulatory effects of lambda-cyhalothrin were observed in A. gossypii, and the alterations in Vg and VgR in A. gossypii were strongly associated with sublethal effects. The results of this research offer valuable knowledge regarding the indirect impacts of lambda-cyhalothrin on A. gossypii, which can be utilized as a theoretical foundation for the prudent utilization of insecticides to combat this pest and devise strategies for managing resistance.

Promoting carbon reduction in the construction sector is crucial to achieving China’s ‘double carbon’ target. However, due to the interaction of multiple factors, the carbon emission efficiency of Chinese construction industry (CEECI) varies from province to province, and the path to efficient CEECI is not uniform. This study aims to analyze the combined effects of multiple factors on CEECI and to explore the underlying logic behind the formation of efficient CEECI in the province, which measures the CEECI for 2018 and 2019 for 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government of China using the super-slack-based measure (Super-SBM), which includes non-desired outputs. From a group perspective, the qualitative comparative analysis method is applied to analyze the common mechanism of the regional economic development level, energy consumption structure, business management level, market openness, science, and technology innovation level on CEECI. The results show that the regional construction industry has three equivalent low-carbon development paths: “low energy management”, “scale management”, and “scale market opening”. Finally, according to the differences in regional resource endowments, differentiated paths suitable for the low-carbon development of the construction industry in different regions are proposed.

In order to solve the problem of seismic performance of prefabricated concrete shear walls connected with ultra-high performance cement-based composite (UHPC) after short lap of steel bars, the author proposes a cement-based composite nanomaterial in the prefabricated thin-walled lightweight application in steel structure composite wall. In order to explore the influence of the axial compression ratio on its seismic performance, 1 is a cast-in-place shear wall with a design axial compression ratio of 0.2, and 3 is a prefabricated shear wall with a design axial compression ratio of 0.2, 0.33, and 0.47, respectively, all the specimens were mainly damaged by shear compression. The test results show that the cracking loads of specimens PW2 and PW3 are increased by 17.04% and 38.81%, respectively, the yield load is increased by 27.74% and 50.28%, respectively, and the peak load is increased by 25.29% and 48.4%, respectively. Conclusion. With the increase of the axial compression ratio, the crack resistance and bearing capacity of the specimens are significantly improved.

The Internet not only provides help for people to understand the world and facilitate life, but also provides a convenient way for widespread dissemination of bad information. It follows that young people are often harassed by pornographic, violent and other bad images, which affects the development of young people's empathy. In this study, from the perspective of the combination of bad image screening and youth empathy ability, the effect of bad image on youth empathy ability is studied. In this article, a new empathy analysis model is constructed based on traditional empathy theory, combined with image recognition and data mining technology. First, the theoretical principles of bad image recognition technology and their application in the evaluation of empathy ability are expounded. Then, based on image recognition and fusion particle swarm optimization algorithm, the classification of bad images was studied. Finally, on the basis of image classification, a data envelopment model is used to grade the young people's empathy ability. The actual case analysis and performance test results illustrate the superiority of the implemented image classification and empathy evaluation method based on image recognition and data mining. This research has certain theoretical significance for the research of enriching empathy ability and interpersonal relationship. At the same time, it has certain practical significance for improving the youth's interpersonal trust, realizing the harmonious interpersonal relationship and the healthy development of body and mind.

Summary: Drinking behavior in rodents is characterized by stereotyped, rhythmic licking movement, which is regulated by the basal ganglia. It is unclear how direct and indirect pathways control the lick bout and individual spout contact. We find that inactivating D1 and D2 receptor-expressing medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in the ventrolateral striatum (VLS) oppositely alters the number of licks in a bout. D1- and D2-MSNs exhibit different patterns of lick-sequence-related activity and different phases of oscillation time-locked to the lick cycle. On the timescale of a lick cycle, transient inactivation of D1-MSNs during tongue protrusion reduces spout contact probability, whereas transiently inactivating D2-MSNs has no effect. On the timescale of a lick bout, inactivation of D1-MSNs (D2-MSNs) causes rate increase (decrease) in a subset of basal ganglia output neurons that decrease firing during licking. Our results reveal the distinct roles of D1- and D2-MSNs in regulating licking at both coarse and fine timescales.

The integrated device for energy supply and sensing (IDESS) is a potential candidate for relieving the energy and space burdens caused by the rising integration degrees of microsystems. In this article, we propose a force sensor based on an interdigital supercapacitor (IDTSC). The capacitance and internal resistance of the IDTSC change under external loads, resulting in a transient current fluctuation at a constant bias voltage, which can be used to sense external force/acceleration. The IDTSC showed a specific energy and specific power of 4.16 Wh/kg and 22.26 W/kg (at 0.1 A/g), respectively, which could maintain an essential energy supply. According to the simulation analysis, the designed IDTSC’s current response exhibited good linearity with the external force. In addition, benefiting from its light weight and the applied gel electrolytes, the IDTSC showed good high-g impact sensing performance (from 9.9 × 103× g to 3.2 × 104× g). This work demonstrated the feasibility of realizing an integrated energy supply and force-sensing device by empowering energy storage devices with sensing capabilities.

The well-known traditional Chinese medicine formula Pien Tze Huang (PZH) has long been used to treat various malignancies, including colorectal cancer (CRC). It was recently reported that PZH possesses the ability to overcome multidrug resistance in CRC cells. In the present study, a 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) resistant human CRC cell line (HCT-8/5-FU) was used to further evaluate the effect of PZH on chemotherapy (chemo)-resistance and investigate the mechanisms through which this occurs. The results identified that PZH significantly reduced the viability and cell density of HCT-8/5-FU cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner (P<0.05). PZH inhibited cell survival, reduced the proportion of cells in S-phase, and suppressed the expression of pro-proliferative proteins cyclin D1 and cyclin-dependent kinase 4. In addition, PZH treatment induced nuclear condensation and fragmentation, activated caspase-9 and -3 and increased the pro-apoptotic Bcl-2-associated X protein/B-cell lymphoma 2 protein ratio. Furthermore, PZH treatment upregulated the expression of microRNA-22 (miR-22) and downregulated the expression of c-Myc (a target gene of miR-22). In conclusion, the findings from the present study suggest that PZH can overcome chemo-resistance in cancer cells, likely through increasing miR-22 expression, and by reversing the imbalance between levels of proliferation and apoptosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Japanese scops owl (Otus semitorques) and Ural owl (Strix uralensis), found in the forests of northeastern China, differ in body size and foraging tactics, and are thus expected to prey on different rodent species. We hypothesized that the Japanese scops owl, an active predator, would prey on smaller and younger individuals than the Ural owl, a sit-and-wait predator. We used pellet analyses to evaluate selection of rodents by the two owls in relation to prey species, age, and size. Although the two owl species consumed a wide range of food items, rodents constituted the most common prey with the greatest biomass in the Japanese scops owl. The Japanese scops owl also foraged on insects and birds, whereas the Ural owl complemented its diet of rodents with spiders, scorpions and snakes. The Japanese scops owl selected smaller and younger rodents and the Ural owl preyed on larger and older individuals. Morphology and behaviour of both prey and predators may explain this differential predation between the two species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare malignancy of the serosal membranes of the abdominal cavity. This cancer is ultimately fatal in almost all afflicted individuals; however, there is marked variability in its clinical behavior: Some patients die rapidly, and others survive for many years. In the current study, the authors investigated the molecular nature of MPM to obtain insights into the heterogeneity of its clinical behavior and to identify new therapeutic targets for intervention. METHODS: Fresh pretreatment tumor samples were collected from 41 patients with MPM who underwent surgical cytoreduction and received regional intraoperative chemotherapy perfusion. From those samples, gene expression analyses were performed. The major cellular pathways that were identified in this cancer were inhibited using a pathway-specific inhibitor. RESULTS: Unsupervised clustering of genes identified 2 distinct groups of patients with significantly different survivals (Group A; median survival, 24 months; Group B: median survival, 69.5 months; P = .035). Phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K) and the closely interacting mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathways were overexpressed predominantly in the poor survival group; and the genes of these pathways, phosphoinositide-3-kinase, catalytic, a polypeptide (PIK3CA) and rapamycin-insensitive companion of mammalian target of rapamycin (RICTOR), were highly significantly predictive of shortened patient survival in Group A. The role of these pathways in MPM tumor progression was also investigated by treating 2 MPM cell lines with BEZ235, a dual-class PI3K and mTOR inhibitor, and the authors observed significant inhibition of downstream cell signaling and cell proliferation. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, the results from this study revealed that, based on gene expression profiles, there were 2 distinct patient groups with significantly different survival and that targeting the PI3K and mTOR signaling pathways may have significant therapeutic value in patients with MPM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accumulation of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) generally occurs in plants infected with viruses. However, the effect of Hsp70 accumulation on plant viral infection and pathogenesis remains elusive. In this study, the expression of six Hsp70 genes was found to be induced by the four diverse RNA viruses, Tobacco mosaic virus, Potato virus X (PVX), Cucumber mosaic virus and Watermelon mosaic virus, in Nicotiana benthamiana. Heat treatment enhanced the accumulation and systemic infection of these viruses. Similar results were obtained for viral infection in plants heterologously expressing an Arabidopsis cytoplasmic Hsp70 through either a PVX vector or Agrobacterium infiltration. In contrast, viral infection was compromised in cytoplasmic NbHsp70c-1 gene-silenced plants. These data demonstrate that the cytoplasmic Hsp70s can enhance the infection of N. benthamiana by diverse viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]