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Abstract Background Proactive health behaviours are crucial for enhancing adolescent health. However, there is limited evidence on the potential pathways through which social support influences adolescents’ proactive health behaviours. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the relationships between social support, self-efficacy, peer relationships and proactive health behaviours in Chinese adolescents. Methods From October to December 2023, we recruited 6075 adolescents from Shandong Province, China. They completed self-report questionnaires on social support, self-efficacy, peer relationships and proactive health behaviours. Results Linear regression analysis indicated that social support was positively associated with proactive health behaviours among adolescents (β = 0.571, 95% CI = 0.542, 0.600). Further mediation analyses revealed that self-efficacy (β = 0.085, 95% CI = 0.069,0.101) and peer relationships (β = 0.156, 95% CI = 0.136,0.177) mediated this relationship. Conclusions Increased social support was associated with better proactive health behaviours in Chinese adolescents. Additionally, higher self-efficacy and positive peer relationships enhanced this association. Our findings emphasised the significance of providing supportive environments at home and at school to promote proactive health behaviours in adolescents.

This paper presents a novel control strategy for drone networks to improve the quality of 3D structures reconstructed from aerial images by drones. Unlike the existing coverage control strategies for this purpose, our proposed approach simultaneously controls both the camera orientation and drone translational motion, enabling more comprehensive perspectives and enhancing the map's overall quality. Subsequently, we present a novel problem formulation, including a new performance function to evaluate the drone positions and camera orientations. We then design a QP-based controller with a control barrier-like function for a constraint on the decay rate of the objective function. The present problem formulation poses a new challenge, requiring significantly greater computational efforts than the case involving only translational motion control. We approach this issue technologically, namely by introducing JAX, utilizing just-in-time (JIT) compilation and Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) acceleration. We finally conduct extensive verifications through simulation in ROS (Robot Operating System) and show the real-time feasibility of the controller and the superiority of the present controller to the conventional method.

The visualization of drugs in living systems has become key techniques in modern therapeutics. Recent advancements in optical imaging technologies and molecular design strategies have revolutionized drug visualization. At the subcellular level, super-resolution microscopy has allowed exploration of the molecular landscape within individual cells and the cellular response to drugs. Moving beyond subcellular imaging, researchers have integrated multiple modes, like optical near-infrared II imaging, to study the complex spatiotemporal interactions between drugs and their surroundings. By combining these visualization approaches, researchers gain supplementary information on physiological parameters, metabolic activity, and tissue composition, leading to a comprehensive understanding of drug behavior. This review focuses on cutting-edge technologies in drug visualization, particularly fluorescence imaging, and the main types of fluorescent molecules used. Additionally, we discuss current challenges and prospects in targeted drug research, emphasizing the importance of multidisciplinary cooperation in advancing drug visualization. With the integration of advanced imaging technology and molecular design, drug visualization has the potential to redefine our understanding of pharmacology, enabling the analysis of drug micro-dynamics in subcellular environments from new perspectives and deepening pharmacological research to the levels of the cell and organelles.

BackgroundRecent findings highlight the significant impact of intestinal fungi on the complex makeup of the gut microbiota and human health, challenging past oversights. However, a lack of thorough systematic and quantitative analyses remains. This study aims to address this gap by thoroughly examining the current research on gut fungi. Through analyzing developments and unique features in this area, our goal is to foster a deeper understanding and identify future research pathways.MethodsWe performed an extensive bibliometric analysis on documents from 2000 to 2023, sourced from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). Utilizing advanced visualization tools such as VOSviewer, CiteSpace, and Bibliometrix R, we meticulously examined and illustrated the data in scientific landscapes and networks.ResultsA total of 1434 papers were analyzed, revealing a substantial increase in publication volume over the past two decades, particularly in 2020. Contributions came from 67 countries, 2178 institutions, and 8,479 authors. China led in publication output with 468 articles, followed by the University of California with 84 articles, and ZHANG F as the most prolific author with 17 articles. Emerging research areas such as “Fungal-Bacteria Interactions,” “Gut Fungus and Gut-Brain Axis,” and “Gut Fungus and Immunity” are expected to attract growing interest in the future.ConclusionThis extensive bibliometric analysis offers a current overview of scholarly efforts concerning intestinal fungi, highlighting the predominant landscape in this field. These insights can assist scholars in identifying appropriate publication avenues, forming collaborative relationships, and enhancing understanding of key themes and emerging areas, thereby stimulating future research endeavors.

Gait, fundamental to human movement, becomes compromised in cerebral palsy (CP), a childhood‐onset central nervous system motor disorder. Precise assessment of patients’ gait is crucial for tailored rehabilitation interventions. Currently, clinical scales assessing CP gait dysfunction mostly, while valuable, rely on subjective clinician observations. To enhance objectivity and efficiency in CP diagnosis and rehabilitation, there is a need for more objective assessment procedures. This study introduces a multi‐modal and multi‐scale feature fusion (MMFF) framework, a new framework for automating gait dysfunction assessment in children with CP. By utilizing surface electromyography and acceleration signals recorded during children's walking, MMFF generates a feature vector enriched with adaptively refined feature maps, cross‐mode correlations, and both local and global information. Validation of MMFF's effectiveness is evident through an accomplished classification accuracy of 99.13%. The mean values for precision, recall, and F1‐score in Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS)‐1, GMFCS‐2, and GMFCS‐3, reaching 99.00%, 99.00%, and 98.33%, respectively, further reflect the accuracy of functional assessments at each level. This study underscores MMFF's potential as an objective, streamlined tool for clinicians, promising improved gait assessment and well‐informed rehabilitation strategies for children with CP.

In order to solve the problems of conventional water injection development difficulties and low recovery factor in low-permeability reservoirs, the method of high-pressure air drive is adopted to achieve the purpose of reservoir energy enhancement and efficiency improvement. This paper conducted an experimental study on the mechanism of low-temperature oxidation (LTO) for crude oil in the process of high-pressure air flooding, elaborated the relationship between the LTO properties of crude oil and the temperature, pressure, and water saturation of the reservoir, and analyzed the differences in LTO oxygen consumption and oil components under different reaction conditions. In addition, combined with the air flooding physical simulation experiment, the dynamic evolution law of recovery rate in the air flooding process was revealed. Findings from this inquiry indicate that an escalation in the oxidation temperature significantly amplifies the oxygen incorporation reaction within the crude oil matrix. This augmentation in oxidative conditions leads to an uptick in oxygen consumption, which subsequently precipitates a reduction in the lighter fractions of the oxidized oil while enriching its heavier components. Elevated pressures were found to enhance the propensity for the amalgamation of unstable hydrocarbons with oxygen, fostering comprehensive and heterogeneous oxidation reactions. Notably, an excessive presence of water was observed to detrimentally affect the thermal efficacy of crude oil oxidation processes. In the context of low-permeability reservoirs, air injection techniques have emerged as superior in effectuating oil displacement, although an increase in injection pressures has been associated with the phenomenon of gas channeling. Interestingly, adopting a sequential strategy of initiating water flooding before air flooding facilitated the conveyance of high-pressure air via established flushing channels, although it appeared to attenuate the intensity of crude oil oxidation, culminating in an oil recovery efficiency peaking at 51%.

IntroductionMScanFit is a model-based algorithm for motor unit number estimation (MUNE) from compound muscle action potential (CMAP) scan data. It is a clinically applicable tool because of its quick and automatic implementation. Electrodes with different recording areas were employed to record CMAP scan data in existing studies. However, the effect of electrode recording area on MScanFit MUNE and other CMAP scan parameters has not been studied.MethodsCMAP scan was performed on the abductor pollicis brevis muscle of both hands on 14 healthy subjects using three different electrodes with recording areas of 10 mm × 10 mm, 11 mm × 14 mm, and 22 mm × 26 mm, respectively. Motor unit number was estimated using MScanFit for each CMAP scan. Two motor unit number index parameters, i.e., D50 and step index (STEPIX), were also derived from the CMAP scan data.ResultsNo significant difference in D50, STEPIX, and MScanFit MUNE was observed across three different electrode recording areas, although the amplitude of CMAP decreased significantly when a larger electrode was used. Intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.792 and 0.782 were obtained for MScanFit MUNE and STEPIX, respectively.DiscussionCompared with CMAP amplitude, D50, STEPIX, and MScanFit MUNE are less sensitive to variation in electrode recording area. However, the repeatability of MScanFit MUNE could be compromised by the inconsistency in the electrode recording area.

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) are primarily dormant in a cell-cycle quiescence state to preserve their self-renewal capacity and long-term maintenance. How HSCs maintain the balance between activation and quiescence remains largely unknown. Herein, we found that Phosphatase, Mg2+/Mn2+ Dependent 1B (Ppm1b) is required for the expansion of phenotypic HSCs in vitro. By using a conditional knockout mouse model in which Ppm1b was specifically depleted in hematopoietic cells, we demonstrated that loss of Ppm1b impaired the HSC homeostasis and hematopoietic reconstitution. Ppm1b deficiency mice also exhibited B-cell leukocytopenia, which is due to the compromised commitment and proliferation of B-biased lymphoid progenitor cells from CLPs. With the aid of a small molecular inhibitor, we confirmed the roles of Ppm1b in adult hematopoiesis that phenocopied the effects with loss of Ppm1b. Furthermore, transcriptome profiling of Ppm1b-deficient HSCs revealed the disruptive quiescence of HSC. Mechanistically, Ppm1b interacted with β-catenin and mediated its dephosphorylation. Loss of Ppm1b led to the decrease of the active β- catenin (non-phosphorylated) that interrupted the Wnt/β-catenin signaling in HSC, which consequently suppressed HSC expansion. Together, our study identified an indispensable role of Ppm1b in regulating HSC homeostasis via Wnt/β-catenin pathway.

Abstract The western North Pacific anticyclone (WNPAC) significantly influences the East Asian climate and is modulated by tropical sea surface temperature (SST). This study uses 142 AMIP simulations from 33 Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) models to quantify the contributions of SST to the interannual variability of the WNPAC. SST forcing accounts for 66%, 77%, and 49% of the WNPAC variance in winter, spring, and summer, respectively. The persistence of the WNPAC depends on the relaying effects of SST in three tropical oceans. CMIP6 models exhibit excessive precipitation response to the Pacific SST, leading to an overestimated (underestimated) Pacific (Indian Ocean) effect in modulating the summer WNPAC. Sensitivity experiments with an atmospheric model confirm the crucial role of the Pacific in regulating the WNPAC interannual variation and the contribution from the tropical North Atlantic in spring. The tropical Indian Ocean only exerts a minor impact on the WNPAC when excluding the interactions with other oceans.

IntroductionTuna has a cost-effective energy supply to support the regional endothermic and high-speed swimming performance. The gut symbiotic microbiotas and their metabolites play essential roles in tuna’s diet digestion, absorption, and energy acquirement, which are often highly related to the ontogenetic development of tuna.MethodsWe compared gut microbial compositions and metabolites, as well as mRNA expression of the intestine between juvenile and adult yellowfin tuna using 16S rRNA sequencing, metabolomic and transcriptomic, respectively.Results and discussionThe results revealed that adults had a significantly higher microbial diversity and abundance of Acinetobacter than juveniles. Regarding the gut microbiota-derived metabolites, fatty acids, especially glycerophospholipid and sphingolipid, were significantly enriched in adults than in juveniles. Moreover, the short-chain fatty acid (butyrate and isobutyrate) contents were significantly higher in adults than in juveniles. To find the relationship between gut microbiotas and host physiology, intestinal transcriptome analysis demonstrated that the enriched pathways of differential expression genes (DEGs) in adult tuna were the lipid metabolism pathway, including “fat digestion and absorption,” “cholesterol metabolism,” “steroid hormone biosynthesis,” “glycerolipid metabolism,” and “glycerophospholipid metabolism.” However, protein digestion and absorption and pancreatic secretion pathways were significantly enriched in the juveniles. The conjoint analysis indicated that the enriched pathways of both differential metabolites (DMs) and DEGs were remarkably related to the regulation of glycerophospholipids metabolism in adult tunas. This study highlights the role of gut microbiotas in fish nutrition metabolism. These findings provide new insights into the view of ontogenetic shifts of gut microbiotas and their metabolites on host health and gut function in endothermic and high-speed swimming marine fish species.

The stellarator has inherent advantages over the tokamak in achieving steady-state operation, especially due to its absence of disruptions and lack of need for current drive and the associated recirculating power. In recent years, there have been remarkable advances in the field of stellarator optimization, where precisely quasi-symmetric and precisely quasi-isodynamic magnetic configurations have been achieved with coils, allowing the neoclassical transport and energetic particle losses of stellarators to be reduced to levels comparable to those of tokamaks. At the same time, the development of high-temperature superconducting magnet technology will potentially double the magnetic field strength of stellarators. While these strong fields are expected to introduce new challenges, and while turbulent transport remains a common challenge for both stellarators and tokamaks, the combination of these physical and technological advances results in the expectation that stellarators will become a competitive approach to tokamaks for realizing steady-state fusion.

Abstract Background Mannan oligosaccharides (MOS) are recommended as aquaculture additives owing to their excellent antioxidant properties. In the present study, we examined the effects of dietary MOS on the head kidney and spleen of grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) with Aeromonas hydrophila infection. Methods A total of 540 grass carp were used for the study. They were administered six gradient dosages of the MOS diet (0, 200, 400, 600, 800, and 1,000 mg/kg) for 60 d. Subsequently, we performed a 14-day Aeromonas hydrophila challenge experiment. The antioxidant capacity of the head kidney and spleen were examined using spectrophotometry, DNA fragmentation, qRT-PCR, and Western blotting. Results After infection with Aeromonas hydrophila, 400–600 mg/kg MOS supplementation decreased the levels of reactive oxygen species, protein carbonyl, and malonaldehyde and increased the levels of anti-superoxide anion, anti-hydroxyl radical, and glutathione in the head kidney and spleen of grass carp. The activities of copper-zinc superoxide dismutase, manganese superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione S-transferase, glutathione reductase, and glutathione peroxidase were also enhanced by supplementation with 400–600 mg/kg MOS. Furthermore, the expression of most antioxidant enzymes and their corresponding genes increased significantly with supplementation of 200–800 mg/kg MOS. mRNA and protein levels of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 also increased following supplementation with 400–600 mg/kg MOS. In addition, supplementation with 400–600 mg/kg MOS reduced excessive apoptosis by inhibiting the death receptor pathway and mitochondrial pathway processes. Conclusions Based on the quadratic regression analysis of the above biomarkers (reactive oxygen species, malondialdehyde, and protein carbonyl) of oxidative damage in the head kidney and spleen of on-growing grass carp, the recommended MOS supplementation is 575.21, 557.58, 531.86, 597.35, 570.16, and 553.80 mg/kg, respectively. Collectively, MOS supplementation could alleviate oxidative injury in the head kidney and spleen of grass carp infected with Aeromonas hydrophila.

Abstract Background Drug toxicity does not affect patients equally; the toxicity may only exert in patients who possess certain attributes of susceptibility to specific drug properties (i.e., drug-host interaction). This concept is crucial for personalized drug safety but remains under-studied, primarily due to methodological challenges and limited data availability. By monitoring a large volume of adverse event reports in the postmarket stage, spontaneous adverse event reporting systems provide an unparalleled resource of information for adverse events and could be utilized to explore risk disparities of specific adverse events by age, sex, and other host factors. However, well-formulated statistical methods to formally address such risk disparities are currently lacking. Methods In this paper, we present a statistical framework to explore spontaneous adverse event reporting databases for drug-host interactions and detect risk disparities in adverse drug events by various host factors, adapting methods for safety signal detection. We proposed four different methods, including likelihood ratio test, normal approximation test, and two tests using subgroup ratios. We applied our proposed methods to simulated data and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Adverse Event Reporting Systems (FAERS) and explored sex-/age-disparities in reported liver events associated with specific drug classes. Results The simulation result demonstrates that two tests (likelihood ratio, normal approximation) can detect disparities in adverse drug events associated with host factors while controlling the family wise error rate. Application to real data on drug liver toxicity shows that the proposed method can be used to detect drugs with unusually high level of disparity regarding a host factor (sex or age) for liver toxicity or to determine whether an adverse event demonstrates a significant unbalance regarding the host factor relative to other events for the drug. Conclusion Though spontaneous adverse event reporting databases require careful data processing and inference, the sheer size of the databases with diverse data from different countries provides unique resources for exploring various questions for drug safety that are otherwise impossible to address. Our proposed methods can be used to facilitate future investigation on drug-host interactions in drug toxicity using a large number of reported adverse events.

Rich in nutrients and functional factors, color rice is an ideal staple food and functional food source. This article gives a summary of recent research on the nutritional components (protein, amino acid, vitamin, etc.), functional components (anthocyanin, phenolic acid, dietary fiber, etc.) and biological activities (antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and anti-diabetes properties, etc.) of color rice, and discusses the exploitation and utilization of color rice resource. The development trend of color rice was prospected from strengthening the stability of bioactive substances, so provide a reference for the comprehensive utilization of color rice.

ABSTRACT: Antibiotic treatment failure is increasingly encountered for the emergence of pandrug-resistant isolates, including the prototypical broad-host-range Salmonella enterica serovar (S.) Typhimurium, which mainly transmitted to humans through poultry products. In this study we explored the therapeutic potential of a Salmonella phage composition containing a virulent phage and a nonproductive phage that does not produce progeny phage against chicks infected with a pandrug-resistant S. Typhimurium strain of avian origin. After approximately 107 CFU of S. Typhimurium strain ST149 were administrated to chicks by intraperitoneal injection, the phage combination (∼108 PFU) was gavaged at 8-h, 32-h, and 54-h postinfection. At d 10 postinfection, phage treatment completely protected chicks from Salmonella-induced death compared to 91.7% survival in the Salmonella challenge group. In addition, phage treatment also greatly reduced the bacterial load in various organs, with Salmonella colonization levels decreasing more significantly in spleen and bursa than in liver and cecal contents, possibly due to higher phage titers in these immune organs. However, phages could not alleviate the decreased body weight gain and the enlargement of spleen and bursa of infected chicks. Further examination of the bacterial flora in the cecal contents of chicks found that S. Typhimurium infection caused a remarkable decrease in abundance of Clostridia vadin BB60 group and Mollicutes RF39 (the dominant genus in chicks), making Lactobacillus the dominate genus. Although phage treatment partially restored the decline of Clostridia vadin BB60 group and Mollicutes RF39 and increased abundance of Lactobacillus caused by S. Typhimurium infection, Fournierella that may aggravate intestinal inflammation became the major genus, followed by increased Escherichia-Shigella as the second dominate bacterial genus. These results suggested that successive phage treatment modulated the structural composition and abundance of bacterial communities, but failed to normalize the intestinal microbiome disrupted by S. Typhimurium infection. Phages need to be combined with other means to control the spread of S. Typhimurium in poultry.

Salting pretreatment is an effective method to improve the quality of frozen fish. This study investigated the quality changes and proteomic profile differences of frozen yellowfin tuna fillets pretreated with ultrasound-assisted salting (UAS) and static salting (SS). This study was centered on three aspects: physicochemical indicators’ determination, histological observation, and proteomic analysis. The results showed that UAS significantly increased yield, salt content, and water-holding capacity (WHC), decreased total volatile base nitrogen (TVBN) compared to SS (p < 0.05), and significantly increased water in the protein matrix within myofibrils. Histological observations showed that the tissue cells in the UAS group were less affected by frozen damage, with a more swollen structure and rougher surface of myofibrils observed. Furthermore, 4D label-free proteomics revealed 56 differentially abundant proteins (DAPs) in UAS vs. NT comparison, mainly structural proteins, metabolic enzymes, proteasomes, and their subunits, which are associated with metabolic pathways such as calcium signaling pathway, gap junction, actin cytoskeletal regulation, and necroptosis, which are intimately associated with quality changes in freeze-stored tuna fillets. In brief, UAS enhances the potential for the application of salting pretreatment to improve frozen meat quality, and 4D label-free proteomics provides knowledge to reveal the potential links between quality and molecular changes in processed frozen meat to optimize future UAS meat processing.

The western North Pacific anomalous anticyclone (WNPAC) often exists during the mature and decaying phases of El Niño, significantly affecting the East Asian summer monsoon. Previous studies have revealed the importance of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans in generating and maintaining the WNPAC. However, a quantitative comparison of the contributions from these three oceans is still lacking. This study uses pacemaker experiments with a state-of-the-art model to quantify the relative contributions of the three tropical oceans to the interannual WNPAC variability. We find that the Pacific accounts for over 50% of the interannual variance in boreal winter and the following spring, while the roles of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans become more pronounced in the spring. In the summer, all three oceans contribute significantly and equally. The Indian Ocean sea surface temperature is influenced by remote forcing from the Pacific Ocean, while the Atlantic Ocean operates more independently, with no evident effect from other oceans.

Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Gallinarum biovar pullorum (Salmonella pullorum) is an avian-specific pathogen that has caused considerable economic losses to the poultry industry. High endemicity, poor implementation of hygiene measures, and lack of effective vaccines hinder the prevention and control of this disease in intensively maintained poultry flocks. In recent years, the incidence of arthritis in chicks caused by Salmonella pullorum infection has increased. In this study, four Salmonella pullorum strains were identified from the livers, spleens, and joint fluids of Qingjiaoma chicken breeders with arthritis clinical signs, and an arthritis model of chicks was successfully established using SP206-2. Whole genome sequencing of the SP206-2 strain showed that the genome was 4,730,579 bp, 52.16% GC content, and contained 5007 genes, including 4729 protein-coding regions. The genomic analysis of four arthritis-causing isolates and three diarrhea-causing isolates showed that the genome of arthritis-causing isolates was subject to nonsynonymous mutations, shift mutations, and gene copy deletions. An SNP phylogenetic tree analysis showed that arthritis-causing isolates are located in a different evolutionary branch from diarrhea-causing isolates. Further differential genes analysis showed that the genome of arthritis-causing isolates had missense mutations in genes related to substance metabolism and substance transport, as a result of adaptive evolution.

This paper investigates distributed online assignment of charging stations for a drone network in a persistent coverage control task. To ensure persistency not only in motion but also in energy, drones need to go back to charging stations before running out of their batteries. Coverage control schemes with energy persistency were presented in the literature based on so-called control barrier functions. These methodologies, however, assume a fixed correspondence between a drone and a charging station, but always returning to a preassigned station is not necessarily an efficient decision, namely the constraint may hinder the monitoring behaviour of the drones. Dynamically reassigning charging stations to drones is thus expected to enhance the coverage performance. To this end, we formulate an online assignment problem of charging stations with parameters determined by the control barrier function values in real time, and exactly relax the formulated optimization problem to a linear programming problem. We then propose a distributed solution to the problem based on ADMM and the overall partially distributed control architecture including persistent coverage control and online assignment of charging stations. The control system is finally demonstrated through Monte Carlo simulation.

Weakness is a common symptom after a stroke. This study aims to depict weakness distribution among forearm muscles given that joints in the upper limb are usually driven by a group of muscles. Multi-channel electromyography (EMG) was applied to assess the muscle group, and an EMG-based index was proposed to quantify the weakness of individual muscles. By using this method, four weakness distribution patterns were observed in extensor muscles from five out of eight subjects after stroke. Complex weakness distribution patterns were observed in flexor muscles from seven out of the eight subjects when they performed grasp, tripod pinch, and hook grip. The findings can help determine the weak muscles in a clinic and facilitate the development of appropriate interventions in stroke rehabilitation targeting specific muscle weakness.

This study examined methods for estimating the innervation zone (IZ) of a muscle using recorded monopolar high density M waves. Two IZ estimation methods based on principal component analysis (PCA) and Radon transform (RT) were examined. Experimental M waves, acquired from the biceps brachii muscles of nine healthy subjects were used as testing data sets. The performance of the two methods was evaluated by comparing their IZ estimations with manual IZ detection by experienced human operators. Compared with manual detection, the agreement rate of the estimated IZs was 83% and 63% for PCA and RT based methods, respectively, both using monopolar high density M waves. In contrast, the agreement rate was 56% for cross correlation analysis using bipolar high density M waves. The mean difference in estimated IZ location between manual detection and the tested method was 0.12 ± 0.28 inter-electrode-distance (IED) for PCA, 0.33 ± 0.41 IED for RT and 0.39 ± 0.74 IED for cross correlation-based methods. The results indicate that the PCA based method was able to automatically detect muscle IZs from monopolar M waves. Thus, PCA provides an alternative approach to estimate IZ location of voluntary or electrically-evoked muscle contractions, and may have particular value for IZ detection in patients with impaired voluntary muscle activation.

Forced regression is common during geological history, but due to mismatched sources andsupplies, there are fewer geological records and fewer research cases. Taking the 4th member of Weizhouformation in the Early Oligocene of Weixi'nan Sag in the Beibu Gulf Basin in the northwest of the South China Sea as the research object, the restoration of paleo-water-depth is carried out by using the seismic reflectionstructure method, the variation characteristics of paleowater depth under the background of forcedregression are clarified, and the restoration method of paleowater depth by using the delta progradationstructure method is further discussed. The research shows that during the deposition of 4th member of Weizhou Formation in the Early Oligocene, the provenance of Weixi'nan Sag was sufficient, a large incisedvalley was developed around it, and a large oblique progradation reflection structure was developed in thesag, which has typical Forced Regression characteristics, forming a large-scale forced regression systemtract. Through the fine dissection of typical progradation sections, six typical progradation reflection layersare identified. Combined with seismic, drilling and compaction coefficient, the paleo-water-depth of thelake basin is restored to be 111.2-286.5 m, with an average of 218.5 m. From the edge of the paleo-laketo the center, the height and dip angle of the progradation layers increase slowly and then decrease rapidly.In terms of water depth, it is about 230 m in the early stage, gradually deepened to about 280 m in themiddle and late stage, and rapidly decreased to 110 m in the last stage, with a change range of 61.5% comparedwith the maximum water depth; The dip angle of progradation layer is about 10° in the early stage, gradually decreases after reaching 14.5° in the middle stage, and changes rapidly to 2.9° in the final stage, with a change range of 79.8%. Combined with the regional geological research, it is considered that thegeological period experienced during the deposition of 4th member of Weizhou Formation is less than 2 Ma, and the paleowater depth and paleodip angle of progradation layers change rapidly and violently in lessthan 2 Ma, which is basically consistent with the characteristics of forced regression, which confirms theresponse characteristics of seismic reflection structure. Further, the feasibility and future research directionof paleo-water-depth restoration using delta progradation structure are discussed from the perspectiveof theoretical model simplification and restoration parameter optimization. The research results provide animportant reference for enriching the understanding of the variation characteristics of paleowater depth underthe background of forced regression.

As an important way to alleviate information overload, a recommender system aims to filter out irrelevant information for users and provides them items that they may be interested in. In recent years, an increasing amount of works have been proposed to introduce auxiliary information in recommender systems to alleviate data sparsity and cold-start problems. Among them, heterogeneous information networks (HIN)-based recommender systems provide a unified approach to fuse various auxiliary information, which can be combined with mainstream recommendation algorithms to effectively enhance the performance and interpretability of models, and thus have been applied in many kinds of recommendation tasks. This paper provides a comprehensive and systematic survey of HIN-based recommender systems, including four aspects: concepts, methods, applications, and resources. Specifically, we firstly introduce the concepts related to recommender systems, heterogeneous information networks and HIN-based recommendation. Secondly, we present more than 70 methods categorized according to models or application scenarios, and describe representative methods symbolically. Thirdly, we summarize the benchmark datasets and open source code. Finally, we discuss several potential research directions and conclude our survey.

Remote sensing image change detection (RSICD) is a technique that explores the change of surface coverage in a certain time series by studying the difference between multiple remote sensing images (RSIs) collected over the same area. Traditional RSICD algorithms exhibit poor performance on complex change detection (CD) tasks. In recent years, deep learning (DL) techniques have achieved outstanding results in the fields of RSI segmentation and target recognition. In CD research, most of the methods treat multitemporal remote sensing data as one input and directly apply DL-based image segmentation theory on it while ignoring the spatio-temporal information in these images. In this article, a new siamese neural network is designed by combing an attention mechanism (Siamese_AUNet) with UNet to solve the problems of RSICD algorithms. SiameseNet encodes the feature extraction of RSIs by two branches in the siamese network, respectively. The weights are shared between these two branches in siamese networks. Subsequently, an attention mechanism is added to the model in order to improve its detection ability for changed objects. The models are then compared with conventional neural networks using three benchmark datasets. The results show that the Siamese_AUNet newly proposed in this article exhibits better performance than other standard methods when solving problems related to weak CD and noise suppression.

The objective of this study was to estimate the number of motor units in 5 muscles from healthy individuals using the MScanFit program based on compound muscle action potential (CMAP) scan recordings. The examined muscles included first dorsal interosseous (FDI), abductor pollicis brevis (APB), abductor digiti minimi (ADM), second lumbrical (SL), and abductor hallucis (AH). CMAP scans were recorded from a total of 24 healthy participants. Motor unit number estimation (MUNE) values were derived from the MScanFit program. The average MUNE was 136.1 ± 31.1 (mean ± standard deviation) for the FDI, 134.9 ± 37.4 for the APB, 127.3 ± 32.3 for the ADM, 39.6 ± 8.3 for the SL, and 143.9 ± 28.9 for the AH muscles. Findings of the study provide useful information of the MScanFit MUNE for the examined muscles of healthy subjects from a single center.

Deriving the detailed synaptic connections of an entire nervous system is the unrealized goal of the nascent field of connectomics. For the fruit fly Drosophila, in particular, we need to dissect the brain, connectives, and ventral nerve cord as a single continuous unit, fix and stain it, and undertake automated segmentation of neuron membranes. To achieve this, we designed a protocol using progressive lowering of temperature dehydration (PLT), a technique routinely used to preserve cellular structure and antigenicity. We combined PLT with low temperature en bloc staining (LTS) and recover fixed neurons as round profiles with darkly stained synapses, suitable for machine segmentation and automatic synapse detection. Here we report three different PLT-LTS methods designed to meet the requirements for FIB-SEM imaging of the Drosophila brain. These requirements include: good preservation of ultrastructural detail, high level of en bloc staining, artifact-free microdissection, and smooth hot-knife cutting to reduce the brain to dimensions suited to FIB-SEM. In addition to PLT-LTS, we designed a jig to microdissect and pre-fix the fly’s delicate brain and central nervous system. Collectively these methods optimize morphological preservation, allow us to image the brain usually at 8 nm per voxel, and simultaneously speed the formerly slow rate of FIB-SEM imaging.

MScanFit motor unit number estimation (MUNE) based on the recording of the compound muscle action potential (CMAP) scan has wide applications. This study evaluated the effect of different CMAP scan settings on MScanFit MUNE. CMAP scan of the abductor pollicis brevis (APB) muscle was performed in 10 healthy subjects at a United States (US) research center using different stimulus pulse widths (0.1, 0.2 ms) and total number of stimuli or steps (500, 1,000), and in 12 healthy subjects at a China research center using a 0.1 ms pulse width and 500 steps. MScanFit MUNE was derived using the default model parameters. A significantly higher MUNE was obtained using the shorter than longer pulse width; 84.70 ± 21.56 (500 steps) and 77.90 ± 27.62 (1,000 steps) at a pulse width of 0.1 ms vs. 67.60 ± 18.72 (500 steps) and 62.20 ± 15.82 (1,000 steps) at a pulse width of 0.2 ms (p < 0.05). However, MUNE was unrelated to the number of steps (500 vs. 1,000, p > 0.1). MUNE was significantly higher in persons studied in the China center (136.42 ± 32.46) than the US center (84.70 ± 21.56) despite each center using the same pulse widths and steps (p < 0.001). After excluding the ethnicity, age and experimenter factors, this significant difference is speculated to be partly related to different electrode size used in the two centers. The findings suggest that CMAP scan experimental parameters should remain consistent, so the MScanFit MUNE will not be compromised by non-physiological factors.

PurposeTo investigate the influence of keratometric astigmatism on visual outcomes following small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE).MethodsEighty eyes undergoing SMILE for myopia correction were classified into two groups based on preoperative keratometric astigmatism: low keratometric astigmatism (LA) and high keratometric astigmatism (HA) groups. Refractive outcomes, vector components, and changes in higher order aberrations (HOAs) were evaluated preoperatively and 6 months postoperatively.ResultsAt the postoperative 6-month visit, no significant difference was observed in the decentered distance between the HA and LA groups (HA: 0.17 ± 0.08 mm, LA: 0.16 ± 0.08 mm, P = 0.189). No significant differences in the correction index (P = 0.481), absolute angle of error (P = 0.104), or index of success (P = 0.147) were observed between the two groups. There was no significant difference in the induction of corneal aberrations between the two groups. Furthermore, there were no significant associations between the decentered distance and the vector components of astigmatic correction or induction of higher-order aberration in the HA group (P ≥ 0.294, P ≥ 0.112) or the LA group (P ≥ 0.323, P ≥ 0.080).ConclusionsSMILE for high keratometric astigmatism could achieve comparable treatment centration and visual quality to that of low keratometric astigmatism

Deaf and hearing-impaired people always face communication barriers. Non-invasive surface electromyography (sEMG) sensor-based sign language recognition (SLR) technology can help them to better integrate into social life. Since the traditional tandem convolutional neural network (CNN) structure used in most CNN-based studies inadequately captures the features of the input data, we propose a novel inception architecture with a residual module and dilated convolution (IRDC-net) to enlarge the receptive fields and enrich the feature maps, applying it to SLR tasks for the first time. This work first transformed the time domain signal into a time–frequency domain using discrete Fourier transformation. Second, an IRDC-net was constructed to recognize ten Chinese sign language signs. Third, the tandem CNN networks VGG-net and ResNet-18 were compared with our proposed parallel structure network, IRDC-net. Finally, the public dataset Ninapro DB1 was utilized to verify the generalization performance of the IRDC-net. The results showed that after transforming the time domain sEMG signal into the time–frequency domain, the classification accuracy (acc) increased from 84.29% to 91.70% when using the IRDC-net on our sign language dataset. Furthermore, for the time–frequency information of the public dataset Ninapro DB1, the classification accuracy reached 89.82%; this value is higher than that achieved in other recent studies. As such, our findings contribute to research into SLR tasks and to improving deaf and hearing-impaired people’s daily lives.

The Wufeng Formation–Longmaxi Formation in the Sichuan Basin in South China is the key stratum for shale gas exploration and production. To date, three national shale gas demonstration zones have been developed. Nevertheless, there are still some test wells that have not yet been commercialized. In this study, the geological characteristics of commercial and non-commercial zones are analyzed, as are the main controlling factors of high-producing wells (high estimated ultimate recovery; EUR), and the reasons for low-production wells (low EUR) by dissecting the three national shale gas demonstration zones and the main shale gas exploration wells. The results of this study indicate the following: (1) The black shale in the WF2–LM4 graptolite zone is deposited in the Craton depression on the Upper Yangtze plate, which provides a relatively stable tectonic environment for tectonic deformation and uplift destruction. The large shale thickness and weak tectonic activity jointly result in shale gas being enriched mainly in the deep-water shelf. (2)The regional fault has a destructive effect on shale gas preservation, and the shale gas reservoir is likely to be destroyed. In the areas close to the regional fault, multiple fracture-fluid migration activities caused by multistage tectonic movements are also detrimental to shale gas preservation. Conversely, shale gas is generally well preserved in areas far from regional faults. (3) The black shale thickness in the WF2–LM4 graptolite zone in the deep-water shelf area controls the shale gas field distribution. Furthermore, the horizontal well trajectory in the WF2–LM4 graptolite zone determines the shale gas well test production and EUR. The results of this work will provide a reference for shale gas exploration and development of the Wufeng Formation–Longmaxi Formation in the Sichuan Basin, as well as the Silurian strata in other parts of the world.

The gut microbiota of wild birds are affected by complex factors, and cross-species transmission may pose challenges for the host to maintain stable gut symbionts. Farmland habitats are environments strongly manipulated by humans, and the environmental characteristics within a large area are highly consistent. These features provide the ideal natural conditions for conducting cross-species comparative studies on gut microbiota among wild birds. This study aimed to investigate and compare the gut microbiota of three common farmland-dependent bird species, Great Bustard (Otis tarda dybowskii), Common Crane (Grus grus), and Common Coot (Fulica atra), in a homogeneous habitat during the wintering period. The results indicated that under the combined action of similar influencing factors, the gut microbiota of different host species did not undergo adaptive convergence, maintained relatively independent structures, and exhibited host-driven signals. In addition, we also detected various pathogenic genera that may cause outbreaks of periodic infections among sympatric migratory birds. We conclude that phylosymbiosis may occur between some wild birds and their gut microbiota. Usage of non-invasive methods to monitor the changes in the gut microbiota of wild bird fecal samples has important implications for the conservation of endangered species.

This study investigated electromyography (EMG)–force relations using both simulated and experimental approaches. A motor neuron pool model was first implemented to simulate EMG–force signals, focusing on three different conditions that test the effects of small or large motor units located more or less superficially in the muscle. It was found that the patterns of the EMG–force relations varied significantly across the simulated conditions, quantified by the slope (b) of the log-transformed EMG-force relation. b was significantly higher for large motor units, which were preferentially located superficially rather than for random depth or deep depth conditions (p < 0.001). The log-transformed EMG–force relations in the biceps brachii muscles of nine healthy subjects were examined using a high-density surface EMG. The slope (b) distribution of the relation across the electrode array showed a spatial dependence; b in the proximal region was significantly larger than the distal region, whereas b was not different between the lateral and medial regions. The findings of this study provide evidence that the log-transformed EMG–force relations are sensitive to different motor unit spatial distributions. The slope (b) of this relation may prove to be a useful adjunct measure in the investigation of muscle or motor unit changes associated with disease, injury, or aging.

Abstract Background More and more studies have confirmed that miRNAs play an important role in maintaining bone remodeling and bone metabolism. This study investigated the expression level of miR-206 in the serum of osteoporosis (OP) patients and explored the effect and mechanism of miR-206 on the occurrence and development of osteoporosis. Methods 120 postmenopausal women were recruited, including 63 cases with OP and 57 women without OP. The levels of miR-206 were determined by qRT-PCR technology. Spearman correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the correlation of miR-206 with bone mineral density (BMD). An ROC curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic value of miR-206 in osteoporosis. The effects of miR-206 on cell proliferation and cell apoptosis of hFOBs were measured by CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Luciferase reporter gene assay was used to confirm the interaction of miR-206 and the 3′UTR of HDAC4. Results Serum miR-206 had low expression level in osteoporosis patient group compared with control group. The expression level of serum miR-206 had diagnostic value for osteoporosis, and the serum miR-206 levels were positively correlated with BMD. The down-regulated miR-206 could inhibit cell proliferation and promote cell apoptosis. Luciferase analysis indicated that HDAC4 was the target gene of miR-206. Conclusions MiR-206 could be used as a new potential diagnostic biomarker for osteoporosis, and in in vitro cell experiments, miR-206 may regulate osteoblast cell proliferation and apoptosis by targeting HDAC4.

Zizania latifolia is a perennial aquatic vegetable, whose symbiosis with the fungus Ustilago esculenta (member of Basidiomycota, class Ustilaginaceae) results in the establishment of swollen gall formations. Here, we analyzed symbiotic relations of Z. latifolia and U. esculenta, using a triadimefon (TDF) treatment and transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq). Specifically, accurately identify the whole growth cycle of Z. latifolia. Microstructure observations showed that the presence of U. esculenta could be clearly observed after gall formation but was absent after the TDF treatment. A total of 17,541 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, based on the transcriptome. According to gene ontology term and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway results, plant hormone signal transduction, and cell wall–loosening factors were all significantly enriched due to U. esculenta infecting Z. latifolia; relative expression levels of hormone-related genes were identified, of which downregulation of indole 3-acetic acid (IAA)-related DEGs was most pronounced in JB_D versus JB_B. The ultra–high performance liquid chromatography analysis revealed that IAA, zeatin+trans zeatin riboside, and gibberellin 3 were increased under U. esculenta infection. Based on our results, we proposed a hormone–cell wall loosening model to study the symbiotic mechanism of gall formation after U. esculenta infects Z. latifolia. Our study thus provides a new perspective for studying the physiological and molecular mechanisms of U. esculenta infection of Z. latifolia causing swollen gall formations as well as a theoretical basis for enhancing future yields of cultivated Z. latifolia.

The Fuling shale gas field in China is the largest shale gas field as well as the largest of its type discovered in any Lower Paleozoic formation. In this study, the geology and production of the upper and lower gas layers in the Fuling shale gas field are evaluated in terms of structure, shale quality, fault, initial production, and estimated ultimate recovery (EUR). The shale in the lower gas layer of the Jiaoshiba anticline is a high-quality reservoir, where the space is dominated by organic pores in kerogen, and the gas content is high. The shale gas wells reveal relatively high initial production and EUR. However, the shale in the upper gas layer of the Jiaoshiba anticline has reservoir space mainly composed of clay mineral pores and organic pores within bitumen, and the gas content is low. In terms of structure, primary gas migration may occur in the upper gas layer, resulting in free gas accumulation in the structural high, where the development effects are generally better than those in the structural low. The lower gas layer in the Pingqiao anticline, is the main interval for shale gas accumulation and development due to the high-quality shale. Under the influence of faults, the efficiency of exploration wells emplaced on top of the anticline is much lower a compared with those in the flanks. The residual synclines close to the Sichuan Basin, including the Baima and Baitao anticlines, are characterized by more recent uplifts, larger area, greater distance from the deep and large faults, and early fracture closure. Therefore, we recommend that the shale gas exploration and development should be carried out preferentially in areas close to the center of the residual synclines, featuring relatively high-pressure coefficient and moderate burial depth.

Abstract Background Early diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is still difficult. Screening of plasma biomarkers has great significance of optimizing diagnosis and predicting the complications of T2DM. Methods We used a special diet, Purina #5008, to induce diabetes in Zucker leptin receptor gene-deficient rats (fa/fa) to establish Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats, simulating the early stage of T2DM. The differentially expressed proteins (DEP) and lipids (DEL), as potential biomarkers, were screened to compare the plasma expression levels in ZDF rats and their basic diet-fed wild-type controls (fa/+) by Tandem Mass Tags (TMT) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Results These two groups had different plasma proteins and lipids profiles consisting of 84 DEPs and, 179 DELs identified in the positive ion mode and 178 DELs in the negative ion mode, respectively. Enrichment analysis of these different indicators showed that oxidative stress, insulin resistance and metabolic disorders of glycan and lipid played an important role in generating the difference. Some markers can be used as candidate biomarkers in prediction and treatments of T2DM, such as ceruloplasmin, apolipoprotein C-I, apolipoprotein C-II and apolipoprotein C-IV. Conclusion These plasma differences help to optimize the diagnosis and predict the complications of T2DM, although this remains to be verified in the crowd. Trace elements related-metalloproteins, such as ceruloplasmin, and lipid metabolism and transport-related apolipoprotein C are expected to be candidate biomarkers of T2DM and should be given more attention.

T-junction structures play an important role in nuclear power plant systems. Research on liquid entrainment is mostly based on small-scale branch pipes (d/D ≤ 0.2) and attention paid to large-scale branch pipes (0.33

The precision of machining equipment is the main factor that affects the reliability of the manufacturing system. The failure of equipment function which affects the efficiency of manufacturing system is often caused by out-of-tolerance of precision. In this research, the precision degradation was connected to the stress and frequency of the external load, and a method was proposed to predict the precision retention time (PRT) of machining equipment, in which the traditional fatigue theory was combined with the monitoring technology of the operating vibration information. The calculation method of vibration energy was derived based on the principle of mechanical dynamics. Combined with signal processing technology, the complex loads were expressed by energy spectrum in frequency domain. According to the characteristics of S-N curve and the historical test data, the F-E-T surface reflecting the relationship among load frequency, vibration energy and precision retention time was obtained. The surface was used to predict the PRT of the equipment under a certain processing task, and the effectiveness of the method was verified by a case study.

The number of motor units of the lumbrical muscles in human hand has not been explored. The objective of this study was to fill this gap by estimating the number of motor units in the second lumbrical muscle. Compound muscle action potential scan of the second lumbrical muscle was performed in 12 healthy subjects, with 10 of them being tested on two separate occasions. Motor unit number estimation (MUNE) was derived from the MScanFit program. The average MUNE of the second lumbrical muscle was 41.6 ± 2.1 (mean ± standard error) from 12 subjects in the first test, and 42.0 ± 2.2 from 10 of the 12 subjects in the retest, demonstrating excellent measurement reliability. Findings of the study provide novel information about the motor unit number of the second lumbrical muscle in human hand. The relatively low motor unit number in the muscle can facilitate motor unit investigations, especially at high level muscle activation.

Summary: Urinary stem cells (USCs) are a non-invasive, simple, and affordable cell source to study human diseases. Here we show that USCs are a versatile tool for studying Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), since they are able to address RNA signatures and atypical mutation identification. Gene expression profiling of DMD individuals’ USCs revealed a profound deregulation of inflammation, muscle development, and metabolic pathways that mirrors the known transcriptional landscape of DMD muscle and worsens following USCs’ myogenic transformation. This pathogenic transcription signature was reverted by an exon-skipping corrective approach, suggesting the utility of USCs in monitoring DMD antisense therapy. The full DMD transcript profile performed in USCs from three undiagnosed DMD individuals addressed three splicing abnormalities, which were decrypted and confirmed as pathogenic variations by whole-genome sequencing (WGS). This combined genomic approach allowed the identification of three atypical and complex DMD mutations due to a deep intronic variation and two large inversions, respectively. All three mutations affect DMD gene splicing and cause a lack of dystrophin protein production, and one of these also generates unique fusion genes and transcripts. Further characterization of USCs using a novel cell-sorting technology (Celector) highlighted cell-type variability and the representation of cell-specific DMD isoforms. Our comprehensive approach to USCs unraveled RNA, DNA, and cell-specific features and demonstrated that USCs are a robust tool for studying and diagnosing DMD.

Abstract Lipid metabolism is essential for stemness maintenance, self‐renewal, and differentiation of stem cells, however, the regulatory function of cholesterol metabolism in erythroid differentiation is poorly studied. In the present study, a critical role for cholesterol homeostasis in terminal erythropoiesis is uncovered. The master transcriptional factor GATA1 binds to Sterol‐regulatory element binding protein 2 (SREBP2) to downregulate cholesterol biosynthesis, leading to a gradual reduction in intracellular cholesterol levels. It is further shown that reduced cholesterol functions to block erythroid proliferation via the cholesterol/mTORC1/ribosome biogenesis axis, which coordinates cell cycle exit in the late stages of erythroid differentiation. The interaction of GATA1 and SREBP2 also provides a feedback loop for regulating globin expression through the transcriptional control of NFE2 by SREBP2. Importantly, it is shown that disrupting intracellular cholesterol hemostasis resulted in defect of terminal erythroid differentiation in vivo. These findings demonstrate that fine‐tuning of cholesterol homeostasis emerges as a key mechanism for regulating erythropoiesis.

A surface electromyography (EMG) analysis was performed in this study to examine central neural and peripheral muscle changes after a spinal cord injury (SCI). A linear electrode array was used to record surface EMG signals from the biceps brachii (BB) in 15 SCI subjects and 14 matched healthy control subjects as they performed elbow flexor isometric contractions from 10% to 80% maximum voluntary contraction. Muscle fiber conduction velocity (MFCV) and BB EMG–force relation were examined. MFCV was found to be significantly slower in the SCI group than the control group, evident at all force levels. The BB EMG–force relation was well fit by quadratic functions in both groups. All healthy control EMG–force relations were best fit with positive quadratic coefficients. In contrast, the EMG–force relation in eight SCI subjects was best fit with negative quadratic coefficients, suggesting impaired EMG modulation at high forces. The alterations in MFCV and EMG–force relation after SCI suggest complex neuromuscular changes after SCI, including alterations in central neural drive and muscle properties.

Changes in future climate will alter the geographic distributions of many species. Species distribution models have evolved as a powerful tool for predicting potential species distributions and assessing habitat suitability. The Asian Great Bustard (Otis tarda dybowskii), a long-distance migratory bird, is listed as a globally threatened species and is highly dependent on farmlands during the wintering period. In this study, 78 occurrence points and 15 environmental variables were used to estimate the potential distribution under current conditions and four future climate scenarios by using the maximum entropy model. With current climatic conditions, the highly suitable areas of wintering Asian Great Bustard in China were mainly concentrated on the Northeast Plain, Guanzhong Plain, and North China Plain (33–48° N, 109–127° E). Under future climatic scenarios, the geographic distribution of wintering Asian Great Bustard would remain stable, and the total area of suitable habitats would increase to varying degrees until the end of this century. Our results can be used to define highly suitable areas for conservation management plans for this threatened species.

Background The composition of the intestinal microbiota plays a significant role in modulating host health. It serves as a sensitive evaluation indicator and has substantial implications in protecting endangered species. Great Bustards are typical farmland-dependent wintering birds that are highly susceptible to the interference of human activities. However, information regarding their gut microbiota remains scarce. Methods To ensure a comprehensive analysis of this crucial data, we collected fecal samples from wild Great Bustards at their wintering habitat for two consecutive years. High-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene was subsequently applied to characterize their core gut microbiota and determine whether the gut microbial composition was similar or varied interannually. Results The gut microbiota of the Great Bustard was primarily comprised of four phyla: Firmicutes (82.87%), Bacteroidetes (7.98%), Proteobacteria (4.49%), and Actinobacteria (3.67%), accounting for 99.01% of the microbial community in all samples. Further analysis revealed 22 genera of core microbes and several pathogens. Notably, there were no significant differences in the alpha-diversity and beta-diversity between the two sample groups from different years. Conclusions This study provides essential information for assessing the health and developing targeted protective measures of this threatened species.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of dietary Mannan oligosaccharides (MOS) supplementation on skin barrier function and the mechanism of on-growing grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). Five hundred forty grass carp were fed for 60 days from the growing stage with six different levels of MOS diets (0, 200, 400, 600, 800, and 1,000 mg kg-1). At the end of the growth trial, the 14-day Aeromonas hydrophila challenge experiment has proceeded. The obtained data indicate that MOS could (1) decline skin lesion morbidity after being challenged by the pathogenic bacteria; (2) maintain physical barrier function via improving antioxidant ability, inhibiting excessive apoptosis, and strengthening the tight junction between the epithelial cell and the related signaling pathway (Nrf2/Keap1, p38MAPK, and MLCK); and (3) regulate immune barrier function by modulating the production of antimicrobial compound and expression of involved cytokines and the related signaling pathway (TOR and NFκB). Finally, we concluded that MOS supplementation reinforced the disease resistance and protected the fish skin barrier function from Aeromonas hydrophila infection.

Background: Neuromuscular disorders (NMDs) are a heterogeneous group of genetic diseases, caused by mutations in genes involved in spinal cord, peripheral nerve, neuromuscular junction, and muscle functions. To advance the knowledge of the pathological mechanisms underlying NMDs and to eventually identify new potential drugs paving the way for personalized medicine, limitations regarding the availability of neuromuscular disease-related biological samples, rarely accessible from patients, are a major challenge.Aim: We characterized urinary stem cells (USCs) by in-depth transcriptome and protein profiling to evaluate whether this easily accessible source of patient-derived cells is suitable to study neuromuscular genetic diseases, focusing especially on those currently involved in clinical trials.Methods: The global transcriptomics of either native or MyoD transformed USCs obtained from control individuals was performed by RNA-seq. The expression of 610 genes belonging to 16 groups of disorders (http://www.musclegenetable.fr/) whose mutations cause neuromuscular diseases, was investigated on the RNA-seq output. In addition, protein expression of 11 genes related to NMDs including COL6A, EMD, LMNA, SMN, UBA1, DYNC1H1, SOD1, C9orf72, DYSF, DAG1, and HTT was analyzed in native USCs by immunofluorescence and/or Western blot (WB).Results: RNA-seq profile of control USCs shows that 571 out of 610 genes known to be involved in NMDs, are expressed in USCs. Interestingly, the expression levels of the majority of NMD genes remain unmodified following USCs MyoD transformation. Most genes involved in the pathogenesis of all 16 groups of NMDs are well represented except for channelopathies and malignant hyperthermia related genes. All tested proteins showed high expression values, suggesting consistency between transcription and protein representation in USCs.Conclusion: Our data suggest that USCs are human cells, obtainable by non-invasive means, which might be used as a patient-specific cell model to study neuromuscular disease-causing genes and that they can be likely adopted for a variety of in vitro functional studies such as mutation characterization, pathway identification, and drug screening.

Implant-associated infections are major causes of implant failure. The development of antibacterial alloys with good biocompatibility and sufficient antibacterial properties are highly demanded. Herein, by employing Cu and Mo, we prepared a new Ti-12Mo-5Cu alloy with different heat treatments to control the size and distribution of Ti2Cu crystals. For the solution-treated sample at 750°C (SA750), Ti2Cu could undergo heterogeneous nucleation, whereas for the solution-treated sample at 900°C (SA900), nanoscale Ti2Cu crystals would be widely distributed throughout the alloy via homogeneous nucleation. Interestingly, SA900 presented better antibacterial effect than SA750, with the antibacterial mechanism proposed to be associated with the size and number of Ti2Cu in the obtained alloy. At evidenced by a rabbit osteomyelitis model, it was found that the new alloy had a better antibacterial effect than that of pure Ti. Compared to SA750, SA900 could further reduce the inflammatory reaction and slow the progression of osteomyelitis around the implant, then kept the cortical bone more intact. This study provides a straightforward strategy to control the precipitation of nanoscale Ti2Cu in Ti-12Mo-5Cu, obtaining a new antibacterial alloy with great biocompatibility, corrosion resistance and the ability to induce osteogenesis differentiation, promising for clinical translation.

MicroRNAs have been proposed as novel biomarkers for the diagnosis and treatment of many types of cancer. The levels of five candidate microRNAs (miRNAs) (miR-99a-5p, miR-31-5p, miR-138-5p, miR-21-5p, and miR-375-3p) in sera from oral cancer patients and paired tumor and normal tissues were detected by real-time qPCR. The diagnostic power of these miRNAs was analyzed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models of oral cancer were established and utilized to verify the potential therapeutic effect of miR-31-5p. Candidate miRNAs were screened from our previous studies and verified in 11 paired oral cancer and adjacent normal tissues. Only serum miR-31-5p levels were significantly different between oral cancer patients and healthy controls and between pre- and postoperative patients. Based on the logistic regression model, this panel of five miRNAs distinguished oral cancer patients from healthy control, with an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.776 (sensitivity = 76.8% and specificity = 73.6%). Furthermore, a miR-31-5p mimic enhanced the proliferation of normal epithelial cells, and antagomiR-31-5p inhibited the proliferation of oral cancer cells in vitro. In vivo, antagomiR-31-5p significantly inhibited tumor growth in oral cancer PDX models. Our findings suggest that circulating miR-31-5p might act as an independent biomarker for oral cancer diagnosis and could serve as a therapeutic target for oral cancer. Keywords: oral cancer, biomarker, circulating miRNA, miR-31-5p, target therapy