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Abstract Over 700 syndromes associated with hearing loss (HL) have been identified. Labyrinthine aplasia, microtia, and microdontia (LAMM syndrome, OMIM: 610706) is a rare HL syndrome characterized by congenital sensorineural HL, labyrinthine aplasia, type I microtia and microdontia, which is caused by biallelic variants in the FGF3 gene. Using Whole-exome sequencing (WES), we identified a novel missense FGF3 variant (c.137G > C, p. Arg46Pro (NM_005247.4) in three unrelated Uyghur ethnic families. This variant is classified as a variant of uncertain significance according to ACMG guidelines, with the applied criteria of PM3, PM2_Supporting, PP3 and PP4. Patients from the three families revealed variable clinical features. We found a novel phenotype, sparse hair, in one of the proband. Our findings expanded the variant and phenotype spectrum of LAMM syndrome and provided new insights to the diagnose and pathogenesis investigation of the disease.

Abstract Objective Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) histograms were used to investigate whether their parameters can distinguish between benign and malignant parotid gland tumors and further differentiate tumor subgroups. Materials and methods A total of 117 patients (32 malignant and 85 benign) who had undergone DCE-MRI for pretreatment evaluation were retrospectively included. Histogram parameters including mean, median, entropy, skewness, kurtosis and 10th, 90th percentiles were calculated from time to peak (TTP) (s), wash in rate (WIR) (l/s), wash out rate (WOR) (l/s), and maximum relative enhancement (MRE) (%) mono-exponential models. The Mann–Whitney U test was used to compare the differences between the benign and malignant groups. The diagnostic value of each significant parameter was determined on Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis was used to identify the independent predictors of the different tumor groups. Results For both the benign and malignant groups and the comparisons among the subgroups, the parameters of TTP and MRE showed better performance among the various parameters. WOR can be used as an indicator to distinguish Warthin’s tumors from other tumors. Warthin’s tumors showed significantly lower values on 10th MRE and significantly higher values on skewness TTP and 10th WOR, and the combination of 10th MRE, skewness TTP and 10th WOR showed optimal diagnostic performance (AUC, 0.971) and provided 93.12% sensitivity and 96.70% specificity. After Warthin’s tumors were removed from among the benign tumors, malignant parotid tumors showed significantly lower values on the 10th TTP (AUC, 0.847; sensitivity 90.62%; specificity 69.09%; P

PurposeTo develop and validate a nomogram model combining radiomic features and clinical characteristics to preoperatively predict the risk of early relapse (ER) in advanced sinonasal squamous cell carcinomas (SNSCCs).MethodsA total of 152 SNSCC patients (clinical stage III-IV) who underwent diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) were included in this study. The training cohort included 106 patients assessed at the headquarters of our hospital using MR scanner 1. The testing cohort included 46 patients assessed at the branch of our hospital using MR scanner 2. Least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression was applied for feature selection and radiomic signature (radscore) construction. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was applied to identify independent predictors. The performance of the model was evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), calibration curve and decision curve analysis (DCA). Furthermore, the patients were classified into high- or low-risk ER subgroups according to the optimal cutoff value of the nomogram using X-tile. The recurrence-free survival probability (RFS) of each subgroup was assessed.ResultsER was noted in 69 patients. The radscore included 8 selected radiomic features. The radscore, T stage and surgical margin were independent predictors. The nomogram showed better performance (AUC = 0.92) than either the radscore or the clinical factors in the training cohort (P < 0.050). In the testing cohort, the nomogram showed better performance (AUC = 0.92) than the clinical factors (P = 0.016) and tended to show better performance than the radscore (P = 0.177). The nomogram demonstrated good calibration and clinical utility. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the 2-year RFS rate for low-risk patients was significantly greater than that for high-risk patients in both the training and testing cohorts (P < 0.001).ConclusionsThe ADC-based radiomic nomogram model is potentially useful in predicting the risk of ER in advanced SNSCCs.

Ordinary chondrites are the most common type of chondrites. As a non-destructive, rapid, and semi-quantitative technology, Raman spectroscopy is widely used in geoscience. This paper presents the results of a Raman spectroscopic study that we conducted for 16 ordinary chondrites with different chemical groups and variable degrees of shock metamorphism. We found that: (1) the relationship between the Fe composition of olivine and pyroxene and the characteristic peaks of the Raman spectrum established by predecessors cannot be refined to the range of meteorites, the shock on meteorites also affects the Raman spectral characteristics of minerals and (2) the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the shocked minerals (including high-pressure minerals) in meteorites increases in the Raman spectrum, however, no clear numerical relationship with pressure was found. Based on these data, we assess that the feasibility of Raman spectroscopy for the classification of chemical group and shock metamorphism in ordinary chondrites is not well established.

The present study was designed to detect possible biomarkers associated with diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) incidence in an effort to develop novel treatments for this condition. The GSE7014 and GSE29221 gene expression datasets were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, after which differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between DFU and healthy samples. These DEGs were then arranged into a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway and Gene Ontology (GO) term enrichment analyses were performed to explore the functional roles of these genes. In total, 1192 DEGs were identified in the GSE7014 dataset (900 upregulated, 292 downregulated), while 1177 were identified in the GSE29221 dataset (257 upregulated, 919 downregulated). GO analyses revealed these DEGs to be significantly enriched in biological processes including sarcomere organization, muscle filament sliding, and the regulation of cardiac conduction, molecular functions including structural constituent of muscle, protein binding, and calcium ion binding, and cellular components including Z disc, myosin filament, and M band. These DEGs were also enriched in the adrenergic signaling in cardiomyoctes, dilated cardiomyopathy, and tight junction KEGG pathways. Together, the findings of these bioinformatics analyses thus identified key hub genes associated with DFU development.

Irradiation structural damage (e.g., radiation tracks, amorphous layers, and vesicles) is widely observed in lunar soil grains. Previous experiments have revealed that irradiation damage is caused by the injection of solar wind and solar flare energetic particles. In this study, cordierite and gabbro were selected as analogs of shallow and deep excavated lunar crust materials for proton irradiation experiments. The fluence was 1.44 ± 0.03 × 1018 H+/cm2, which is equivalent to 102 years of average solar wind proton implantation on the Moon. Before and after irradiation, structural damage in samples is detected by slow positron annihilation technology (PAT), Doppler broadening (DB) measurement, focused ion beam (FIB), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The DB results showed the structural damage peaks of irradiated gabbro and cordierite were located at 40 and 45 nm. Hydrogen diffused to a deeper region and it reached beyond depths of 150 and 136 nm for gabbro and cordierite, respectively. Hydrogen atoms occupied the original vacancy defects and formed vacancy sites—hydrogen atom complexes, which affected the annihilation of positrons with electrons in the vacancy defects. All of the DB results were validated by TEM. This study proves that the positron annihilation technique has an excellent performance in the detection of defects in the whole structure of the sample. In combination with TEM and other detection methods, this technology could be used for the detection of structural damage in extraterrestrial samples.

Lunar meteorites are the fragments of rocks that fell on Earth because of the impacts of asteroids on the Moon. Such rocks preserve information about the composition, evolutionary process, and shock history of the lunar surface. NWA 13120 is a recently discovered lunar breccia meteorite having features of strong shock, which is composed of lithic and mineral clasts in a matrix of very fine-grained (

Abstract The carbon cycle in soil is significantly influenced by soil microbes. To investigate the vertical distribution of the dominant groups in agricultural soil and the carbon metabolic diversity of soil bacteria, 45 soil samples from the 0 ~ 50 cm soil layer in Hunan tobacco–rice multiple cropping farmland were collected in November 2017, and the carbon diversity of the soil bacterial community, bacterial community composition and soil physical and chemical properties were determined. The results showed that the carbon metabolic capabilities and functional diversity of the soil bacterial community decreased with depth. The three most widely used carbon sources for soil bacteria were carbohydrates, amino acids, and polymers. The dominant bacterial groups in surface soil (such as Chloroflexi, Acidobacteriota, and Bacteroidota) were significantly positively correlated with the carbon metabolism intensity. The alkali-hydrolysable nitrogen content, soil bulk density and carbon–nitrogen ratio were the key soil factors driving the differences in carbon metabolism of the soil bacterial communities in the different soil layers.

Alternaria alternata is an economically important pathogen that can cause severe plant diseases in various crops, such as citrus, pear, strawberry, and tobacco. Here, we report on the genome sequence of A. alternata DZ causing tobacco brown spot disease in most tobacco-producing areas. A total of 11 contigs, including 10 essential chromosomes and 1 mitochondria genome, were assembled by combining Oxford Nanopore and Illumina sequencing technologies. All 10 assembled chromosomes enabled detection of at least one of the telomeric terminal repeat sequences CCCTAA/TTAGGG. The assembled chromosomes were a total of 34.11 Mb in length with a GC content of 50.95%, whereas the mitochondrial genome was 50,595 bp in length with a GC content of 29.16%. We were unable to identify any evidence of conditionally dispensable chromosomes in the genome of A. alternata DZ, nor were we able to locate any ACT gene orthologs. This genome resource will provide valuable insights for comparative genomics research of the Alternaria genus and serve as a useful resource in investigations of plant-pathogen molecular interactions. [Figure: see text] Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.

The Geostationary Interferometric InfraRed Sounder (GIIRS) provides a novel opportunity to acquire high-spatiotemporal-resolution atmospheric information. Previous studies have demonstrated the positive impacts of assimilating GIIRS radiances from either long-wave temperature or middle-wave water vapor bands on modeling high-impact weather processes. However, the impact of assimilating both bands on forecast skill has been less investigated, primarily due to the non-identical geolocations for both bands. In this study, a locally cloud-resolving global model is utilized to assess the impact of assimilating GIIRS observations from both long-wave and middle-wave bands. The findings indicate that the GIIRS observations exhibit distinct inter-channel error correlations. Proper inflation of these errors can compensate for inaccuracies arising from the treatment of the geolocation of the two bands, leading to a significant enhancement in the usage of GIIRS observations from both bands. The assimilation of GIIRS observations not only markedly reduces the normalized departure standard deviations for most channels of independent instruments, but also improves the atmospheric states, especially for temperature forecasting, with a maximum reduction of 42% in the root-mean-square error in the lower troposphere. These improvements contribute to better performance in predicting heavy rainfall.

Fungi and bacteria coexist assembling complex communities in plant rhizosphere and endosphere that are important for plant health and agricultural productivity, however, the influence of root rot pathogen on bacterial-fungal interactions in plant ecological settings remains unclear. Here, bacterial communities from soil to endophyte of tobacco during Fusarium root rot invasion were comprehensively investigated. The bacterial community diversity and composition of stem endophytes were significantly altered by Fusarium root rot invasion. Molecular ecological network analysis revealed that the interactions among bacterial microbes in infected plant soils exhibit more intricate network structures compared to those found in healthy plants. The pathogens invasion led to changes in the crucial species within both the rhizosphere soil and plant endophytic bacterial communities. Furthermore, the interactions among fungal and bacterial species indicated that diseased samples, encompassing both the rhizosphere and endosphere, exhibited more complicated interdomain networks compared to their healthy counterparts. Importantly, the endophytic bacterial species Bacillus, Paenibacillus, Lactococcus, and two unclassified bacteria (OTU11999 and OTU730) from infected roots, and Bacillus, Raoultella, Leminorella, Pseudomonas, and three unclassified bacteria (OTU12058, OTU3 and OTU11435) from infected stems were negatively correlated with the pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f sp. psidii. It suggested that these endophytic bacteria may be associated with anantagonist effect and resistant against Fusarium root rot.

Multichannel Synthetic Aperture Radar (MC-SAR) systems, such as Azimuth Multi-Phase Centre (AMPC) SAR, provide an effective solution for achieving high-resolution wide-swath (HRWS) imaging by reducing the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) to increase the swath width. However, in an Electronic Countermeasures (ECM) environment, the image quality of multichannel SAR systems can be significantly degraded by electromagnetic interference. Previous research into interference and counter-interference techniques has predominantly focused on single-channel SAR systems, with relatively few studies addressing the specific challenges faced by MC-SAR systems. This paper uses the classical spatial filtering technique of adaptive digital beamforming (DBF). Considering the Doppler ambiguity present in the echoes, two schemes—Interference Reconstruction And Cancellation (IRC) and Channel Grouping Nulling (CGN)—are designed to effectively eliminate suppressive interference. The IRC method eliminates the effects of interference without losing spatial degrees of freedom, ensuring effective suppression of Doppler ambiguity in subsequent processing. This method shows significant advantages under conditions of strong Doppler ambiguity and low jammer-to-signal ratio. Conversely, the CGN method mitigates the effect of interference on multichannel imaging at the expense of degrees of freedom redundant to Doppler ambiguity suppression. It shows remarkable interference suppression performance under weak-Doppler-ambiguity conditions, allowing for better image recovery. Simulations performed on point and distributed targets have validated that the proposed methods can effectively remove interfering signals and achieve high-resolution wide-swath (HRWS) SAR images.

BackgroundTobacco mosaic virus (TMV) is one famous plant virus responsible for substantial economic losses worldwide. However, the roles of bacterial communities in response to TMV in the tobacco rhizosphere remain unclear.MethodsWe explored the soil physicochemical properties and bacterial community succession of the healthy (YTH) and diseased (YTD) plants with TMV infection by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and bioinformatics analysis.ResultsWe found that soil pH in the YTD group was significantly lower than in the YTH group, and the soil available nutrients were substantially higher. The bacterial community analysis found that the diversity and structure significantly differed post-TMV disease onset. With TMV inoculated, the alpha diversity of the bacterial community in the YTD was markedly higher than that in the YTH group at the early stage. However, the alpha diversity in the YTD group subsequently decreased to lower than in the YTH group. The early bacterial structure of healthy plants exhibited higher susceptibility to TMV infection, whereas, in the subsequent stages, there was an enrichment of beneficial bacterial (e.g., Ramlibacter, Sphingomonas, Streptomyces, and Niastella) and enhanced energy metabolism and nucleotide metabolism in bacteria.ConclusionThe initial soil bacterial community exhibited susceptibility to TMV infection, which might contribute to strengthening resistance of Tobacco to TMV.

Low-contrast oil reservoirs have a complicated origin story that frequently results from the interaction of several different factors. The low-contrast oil reservoirs in the Daqing Oilfield’s SaPu intercalation in the Longxi Region are the main subjects of this study. This work investigates the petrophysical origins of these low-resistivity oil reservoirs through a series of carefully planned petrophysical experiments. The results showed that the main determinants of the low-contrast oil reservoirs in the SaPu intercalation were the conductivity of clay minerals and a high irreducible water saturation. A low clay conductivity had a significant effect, resulting in a significant reduction in the formation resistivity, even in circumstances with a low porosity and a low formation-water salinity. Moreover, the results from the NMR tests revealed that the irreducible water saturation in the core samples primarily ranged from 0.6 to 0.8, suggesting a significant prevalence. This work provides strong petrophysical indices for evaluating low-resistivity oil reservoirs in the SaPu intercalation and useful information for the petrophysical evaluation of similar reservoirs.

Utilizing panel data pertaining to green building across 333 prefecture-level administrative units in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) during the period spanning 2008–2020, an exhaustive examination of the evolution of China’s spatial pattern in green building is conducted employing the nearest neighbor index method, spatial autocorrelation analysis method, and kernel density analysis method. Furthermore, geographic probes are employed to scrutinize the determinants influencing China’s spatial configuration of green buildings. The findings reveal that: (1) An alteration in the density distribution from a “unipolar nucleus and double sub-nuclei” configuration to a “triple polar nuclei and multiple sub-nuclei” manifestation has been discerned in the spatial agglomeration of green buildings in China, exhibiting annual growth. Additionally, the center of green building development has shifted from the northwest to the southwest. (2) Pronounced agglomerations are predominantly situated in the eastern, central, and western regions of the country. High-high agglomerations have gradually dissipated over time in the central provincial capitals of China, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the city clusters of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei along the eastern seaboard. The western regions manifest a concentration of low-low and low-high aggregates, with high-low agglomeration primarily observed in the provincial capitals of the western regions. (3) The spatial differentiation of green buildings in China is attributable to a multitude of variables encompassing the environment, economy, society, and policies. Among these factors, economic, social, and innovative elements exert the most significant influence on the explicable degree of spatial differentiation.

The microbiota inhabiting soil plays a significant role in essential life-supporting element cycles. Here, we investigated the occurrence of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) and established the HGT network of carbon metabolic genes in 764 soil-borne microbiota genomes. Our study sheds light on the crucial role of HGT components in microbiological diversification that could have far-reaching implications in understanding how these microbial communities adapt to changing environments, ultimately impacting agricultural practices. In the overall HGT network of carbon metabolic genes in soil-borne microbiota, a total of 6,770 nodes and 3,812 edges are present. Among these nodes, phyla Proteobacteria, Actinobacteriota, Bacteroidota, and Firmicutes are predominant. Regarding specific classes, Actinobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Bacteroidia, Actinomycetia, Betaproteobacteria, and Clostridia are dominant. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) functional assignments of glycosyltransferase (18.5%), glycolysis/gluconeogenesis (8.8%), carbohydrate-related transporter (7.9%), fatty acid biosynthesis (6.5%), benzoate degradation (3.1%) and butanoate metabolism (3.0%) are primarily identified. Glycosyltransferase involved in cell wall biosynthesis, glycosylation, and primary/secondary metabolism (with 363 HGT entries), ranks first overwhelmingly in the list of most frequently identified carbon metabolic HGT enzymes, followed by pimeloyl-ACP methyl ester carboxylesterase, alcohol dehydrogenase, and 3-oxoacyl-ACP reductase. Such HGT events mainly occur in the peripheral functions of the carbon metabolic pathway instead of the core section. The inter-microbe HGT genetic traits in soil-borne microbiota genetic sequences that we recognized, as well as their involvement in the metabolism and regulation processes of carbon organic, suggest a pervasive and substantial effect of HGT on the evolution of microbes.

Manganese (Mn) is a promising positive electrode element for aqueous redox flow batteries (ARFB); however, reversible and stable Mn species are still highly desirable. Herein, an ultra-stable Mn-centered Keggin-type polyoxometalate, viz. (NH4)6[MnW12O40]·9 H2O, is designed for neutral ARFB. The polyoxometalate is extensively characterized by X-ray crystalline diffraction, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and electrochemical method. It is found that for (NH4)6[MnW12O40], the rigid skeleton and cage-structural coordination yield superior stability in a symmetrical flow battery. Pairing with viologen derivative, 0.50 M (NH4)6[MnW12O40] flow battery delivers a capacity of 10.2 Ah L−1 and a capacity retention ratio of 99.994% per cycle at 20 mA cm−2 over 500 cycles (∼19 days). This work provides new insight into designing stable electroactive materials for ARFB.

BackgroundTobacco bacterial wilt (TBW) and black shank (TBS) are responsible for substantial economic losses worldwide; however, microbial interactions and metabolisms in response to TBW and TBS pathogens in the tobacco rhizosphere remain unclear.MethodsWe explored and compared the response of rhizosphere microbial communities to these two plant diseases with the incidences in moderate and heavy degrees by sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons and bioinformatics analysis.Results and discussionsWe found that the structure of rhizosphere soil bacterial communities was significantly (p < 0.05) changed from the incidences of TBW and TBS, which also led to decreased Shannon diversity and Pielou evenness. Compared with the healthy group (CK), the OTUs with significantly (p < 0.05) decreased relative abundances were mostly affiliated with Actinobacteria (e.g., Streptomyces and Arthrobacter) in the diseased groups, and the OTUs with significantly (p < 0.05) increased relative abundances were mainly identified as Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria. Also, molecular ecological network analysis showed that the nodes (