The Ninety-East Ridge(NER)is located in the semioceanic to oceanic region of the southern Bengal Fan in the Northeast Indian Ocean.The sedimentary environment,ocean currents,and scientific issues related to climate ch...The Ninety-East Ridge(NER)is located in the semioceanic to oceanic region of the southern Bengal Fan in the Northeast Indian Ocean.The sedimentary environment,ocean currents,and scientific issues related to climate change have always been the focus of scientists.To well understand the sedimentary environment of the sea area,we studied the modern sedimentary environment of the NER by analyzing the redox-sensitive trace elements(RSEs)and biomarkers in the surface sediments of the northern region and both sides of the NER and the mechanism of their formation.The ratios of Mo/U(average 2.22),(Cu+Mo)/Zn(average 1.51),and the results ofδCe<1 of the sediment samples,all indicate the reduction of the sedimentary environment.In addition,the ratio of pristane(Pr)to phytane(Ph),C30diahopane to C30 hopane,and diasterane to sterane were low in all samples,on average of 1.03,0.9,and 0.33,respectively.The analysis of RSE and biomarker data revealed that the sedimentary environment on seabed of the NER is generally a rare low-oxygen reduction environment.Through the analysis of sediment characteristics,material sources,and ocean currents,we preliminarily constructed a genetic model for the low-oxygen reducing environment of surface sediments in the NER.We believe that the low-oxygen reduction environment of surface sediment in the NER could be influenced by multiple factors,such as terrestrial input of materials,productivity at sea surface,and sediment particle size.展开更多
This paper presents that a serpentine curve-based controller can solve locomotion control problems for articulated space robots with extensive flight phases,such as obstacle avoidance during free floating or attitude ...This paper presents that a serpentine curve-based controller can solve locomotion control problems for articulated space robots with extensive flight phases,such as obstacle avoidance during free floating or attitude adjustment before landing.The proposed algorithm achieves articulated robots to use closed paths in the joint space to accomplish the above tasks.Flying snakes,which can shuttle through gaps and adjust their landing posture by swinging their body during gliding in jungle environments,inspired the design of two maneuvers.The first maneuver generates a rotation of the system by varying the moment of inertia between the joints of the robot,with the magnitude of the net rotation depending on the controller parameters.This maneuver can be repeated to allow the robot to reach arbitrary reorientation.The second maneuver involves periodic undulations,allowing the robot to avoid collisions when the trajectory of the global Center of Mass(CM)passes through the obstacle.Both maneuvers are based on the improved serpenoid curve,which can adapt to redundant systems consisting of different numbers of modules.Finally,the simulation illustrates that combining the two maneuvers can help a free-floating chain-type robot traverse complex environments.Our proposed algorithm can be used with similar articulated robot models.展开更多
Human pluripotent stem cells represent a potentially unlimited source of functional pancreatic endocrine lineage cells. Here we report a highly efficient approach to induce human embryonic stem （ES） cells and induce...Human pluripotent stem cells represent a potentially unlimited source of functional pancreatic endocrine lineage cells. Here we report a highly efficient approach to induce human embryonic stem （ES） cells and induced pluripo- tent stem （iPS） cells to differentiate into mature insulin-producing cells in a chemical-defined culture system. The differentiated human ES cells obtained by this approach comprised nearly 25% insulin-positive cells as assayed by flow cytometry analysis, which released insulin/C-peptide in response to glucose stimuli in a manner comparable to that of adult human islets. Most of these insulin-producing cells co-expressed mature β cell-specific markers such as NKX6-1 and PDX1, indicating a similar gene expression pattern to adult islet β cells in vivo. In this study, we also demonstrated that EGF facilitates the expansion of PDXl-positive pancreatic progenitors. Moreover, our protocol also succeeded in efficiently inducing human iPS cells to differentiate into insuIin-producing ceils. Therefore, this work not only provides a new model to study the mechanism of human pancreatic specialization and maturation in vitro, but also enhances the possibility of utilizing patient-specific iPS cells for the treatment of diabetes.展开更多
Background: Mortality outcomes in trials of low-dose computed tomography(CT) screening for lung cancer are inconsistent. This study aimed to evaluate whether CT screening in urban areas of China could reduce lung canc...Background: Mortality outcomes in trials of low-dose computed tomography(CT) screening for lung cancer are inconsistent. This study aimed to evaluate whether CT screening in urban areas of China could reduce lung cancer mortality and to investigate the factors that associate with the screening effect.Methods: A decision tree model with three scenarios(low-dose CT screening, chest X-ray screening, and no screening) was developed to compare screening results in a simulated Chinese urban cohort(100,000 smokers aged45-80 years). Data of participant characteristics were obtained from national registries and epidemiological surveys for estimating lung cancer prevalence. The selection of other tree variables such as sensitivities and specificities of low-dose CT and chest X-ray screening were based on literature research. Differences in lung cancer mortality(primary outcome), false diagnoses, and deaths due to false diagnosis were calculated. Sensitivity analyses were performed to identify the factors that associate with the screening results and to ascertain worst and optimal screening effects considering possible ranges of the variables.Results: Among the 100,000 subjects, there were 448,541, and 591 lung cancer deaths in the low-dose CT, chest X-ray, and no screening scenarios, respectively(17.2% reduction in low-dose CT screening over chest X-ray screening and 24.2% over no screening). The costs of the two screening scenarios were 9387 and 2497 false diagnoses and 7and 2 deaths due to false diagnosis among the 100,000 persons, respectively. The factors that most influenced death reduction with low-dose CT screening over no screening were lung cancer prevalence in the screened cohort, lowdose CT sensitivity, and proportion of early-stage cancers among low-dose CT detected lung cancers. Considering all possibilities, reduction in deaths(relative numbers) with low-dose CT screening in the worst and optimal cases were16(5.4%) and 288(40.2%) over no screening, respectively.Conclusions: In terms of mortality outcomes, our findings favor conducting low-dose CT screening in urban China.However, approaches to reducing false diagnoses and optimizing important screening conditions such as enrollment criteria for screening are highly needed.展开更多
We applied under pot-culture conditions and the double-casing pot method to study the characteristics of photosynthetic gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence in the leaves of Physocarpus amurensis Maxim （PA） and...We applied under pot-culture conditions and the double-casing pot method to study the characteristics of photosynthetic gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence in the leaves of Physocarpus amurensis Maxim （PA） and Physocarpus opulifolius under flooding stress. Our results indicate a significantly higher flooding tolerance of P. opulifolius compared to P. amurensis. Especially in P. amurensis, the limitation of non-stomatal factors played a major role in the advanced stages of flooding stress, observed as a rapid increase of the intercellular C02 con- centration （Ci） and a decrease of the stomatal limitation value （Ls）. The maximal PSII photochemical efficiencies （Fv/Fm） and actual photochemical efficiency （60PSU） in the leaves of P. opulifolius were extent of decrease during the than in P. amurensis. In significantly higher, and the flooding process was smaller addition, the non-chemical quenching （NPQ） in the leaves of P. opulifolius significandy increased from the 10th day under flooding stress, while the variation of NPQ in the leaves of P. amurensis was much smaller. This indicates that the leaves of P. opulifolius had not only higher PSII photochemical activity, but also improved tolerance to flooding stress, which may be caused by its ability to dissipate excess excitation energy by starting NPQ. At the 16th day under flooding stress, the PLABS significantly decreased with greater extent of decrease than Fv/Fm in the leaves of both Physocarpus, but the decreasing extent of PIABS in P. opulifolius was significantly smaller than in P. amurensis. In the 16th day under flooding stress, the fluorescence at J and I point （VJ and V1） in P. amurensis were significantly higher, and the extent of increase in VJ was greater than V1. However, the variations of VJ and V1 in the leaves of P. opulifolius were smaller, suggesting that the damage sites of flooding stress to PSII in the leaves of P. amurensis were mainly located in the electron transport process from QA at the PSII receptor side to QB- Flooding stress reduced the proportion （φEo） of luminous energy absorbed by the PSII reaction center for the electron transport following Q2, while the maximum quantum yield （φDo） of non-photochemical quenching increased. However, the TRo/RC and ETo/RC in the leaves of P. amurensis decreased accompanied by a dramatic increase of energy （DIo/RC） from the dissipation in the reaction center. This further indicated that the function of the PSII reaction center in the leaves of P. amurensis was significantly lower than in P. opulifolius.展开更多
State of health(SoH) estimation plays a key role in smart battery health prognostic and management.However,poor generalization,lack of labeled data,and unused measurements during aging are still major challenges to ac...State of health(SoH) estimation plays a key role in smart battery health prognostic and management.However,poor generalization,lack of labeled data,and unused measurements during aging are still major challenges to accurate SoH estimation.Toward this end,this paper proposes a self-supervised learning framework to boost the performance of battery SoH estimation.Different from traditional data-driven methods which rely on a considerable training dataset obtained from numerous battery cells,the proposed method achieves accurate and robust estimations using limited labeled data.A filter-based data preprocessing technique,which enables the extraction of partial capacity-voltage curves under dynamic charging profiles,is applied at first.Unsupervised learning is then used to learn the aging characteristics from the unlabeled data through an auto-encoder-decoder.The learned network parameters are transferred to the downstream SoH estimation task and are fine-tuned with very few sparsely labeled data,which boosts the performance of the estimation framework.The proposed method has been validated under different battery chemistries,formats,operating conditions,and ambient.The estimation accuracy can be guaranteed by using only three labeled data from the initial 20% life cycles,with overall errors less than 1.14% and error distribution of all testing scenarios maintaining less than 4%,and robustness increases with aging.Comparisons with other pure supervised machine learning methods demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method.This simple and data-efficient estimation framework is promising in real-world applications under a variety of scenarios.展开更多
Nerve agents are used in civil wars and terrorist attacks,posing a threat to public safety.Acute exposure to nerve agents such as soman(GD)causes serious brain damage,leading to death due to intense seizures induced b...Nerve agents are used in civil wars and terrorist attacks,posing a threat to public safety.Acute exposure to nerve agents such as soman(GD)causes serious brain damage,leading to death due to intense seizures induced by acetylcholinesterase inhibition and neuronal injury resulting from increased excitatory amino-acid levels and neuroinflammation.However,data on the anticonvulsant and neuroprotective efficacies of currently-used countermeasures are limited.Here,we evaluated the potential effects of transient receptor vanilloid 4(TRPV4)in the treatment of soman-induced status epilepticus(SE)and secondary brain injury.We demonstrated that TRPV4 expression was markedly up-regulated in rat hippocampus after soman-induced seizures.Administration of the TRPV4 antagonist GSK2193874 prior to soman exposure significantly decreased the mortality rate in rats and reduced SE intensity.TRPV4-knockout mice also showed lower incidence of seizures and higher survival rates than wild-type mice following soman exposure.Further in vivo and in vitro experiments demonstrated that blocking TRPV4 prevented NMDA receptor-mediated glutamate excitotoxicity.The protein levels of the NLRP3 inflammasome complex and its downstream cytokines IL-1βand IL-18 increased in soman-exposed rat hippocampus.However,TRPV4 inhibition or deletion markedly reversed the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome pathway.In conclusion,our study suggests that the blockade of TRPV4 protects against soman exposure and reduces brain injury following SE by decreasing NMDA receptor-mediated excitotoxicity and NLRP3-mediated neuroinflammation.To our knowledge,this is the first study regarding the“dual-switch”function of TRPV4 in the treatment of soman intoxication.展开更多
The effects of optimized operation principles implemented at reservoirs on the Wujiang River in southwest China between September 2009 and April 2010 under drought conditions were analyzed based on operational data co...The effects of optimized operation principles implemented at reservoirs on the Wujiang River in southwest China between September 2009 and April 2010 under drought conditions were analyzed based on operational data collected from the Guizhou Wujiang Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. A set of linear regression equations was developed to identify the key factors impacting the electric power generation at reservoirs. A 59% reduction in the inflow discharge at the Hongjiadu Reservoir led to a decrease of only 38% in the total electric power generation at the Hongjiadu, Dongfeng, Suofengying, and Wujiangdu reservoirs on the Wujiang River, indicating that optimized operation can play an important role in drought management. The water level and the amount of other water inputs at the Hongjiadu Reservoir and the outflow discharge at all of the reservoirs except the Wujiangdu Reservoir were key factors affecting the total electric power generation at reservoirs on the Wujiang River under optimized operation.展开更多
CRISPR-Cas systems provide bacteria and archaea with adaptive immunity against mobile genetic elements(MGEs)through uptake of invader-derived spacers.De novo adaptation samples spacers from both invaders and hosts,whe...CRISPR-Cas systems provide bacteria and archaea with adaptive immunity against mobile genetic elements(MGEs)through uptake of invader-derived spacers.De novo adaptation samples spacers from both invaders and hosts,whereas primed adaptation shows higher specificity to sample spacers from invaders in many model systems as well as in the subtype I-F system of Zymomonas mobilis.Self-derived spacers will lead to CRISPR self-interference.However,our in vivo study demonstrated that this species used the microhomology-mediated end joining(MMEJ)pathway to efficiently repair subtype I-F CRISPR-Cas system-mediated DNA breaks guided by the self-targeting spacers.MMEJ repair of DNA breaks requires direct microhomologous sequences flanking the protospacers and leads to DNA deletions covering the protospacers.Importantly,CRISPR-mediated genomic DNA breaks failed to be repaired via MMEJ pathway in presence of higher copies of short homologous DNA.Moreover,CRISPR-cleaved exogenous plasmid DNA was failed to be repaired through MMEJ pathway,probably due to the inhibition of MMEJ by the presence of higher copies of the plasmid DNA in Z.mobilis.Our results infer that MMEJ pathway discriminates DNA damages between in the host chromosome versus mobile genetic element(MGE)DNA,and maintains genome stability post CRISPR immunity in Z.mobilis.展开更多
With the development of nanotechnology and materials science,bioinspired nanochannels appeared by mimicking the intelligent functions of biological ion channels.They have attracted a great deal of at-tention in recent...With the development of nanotechnology and materials science,bioinspired nanochannels appeared by mimicking the intelligent functions of biological ion channels.They have attracted a great deal of at-tention in recent years due to their controllable structure and tunable chemical properties.Inspired by the layered microstructure of nacre,2D layered materials as excellent matrix material of nanochannel come into our field of vision.Bionic nanochannels based on 2D materials have the advantages of facile preparation,tunable channel size and length,easy expansion,and modification,etc.Therefore,the 2D layered nanofluid system based on bionic nanochannels from 2D layered materials has great potential in biomimetic microsensors,membrane separations,energy conversion,and so on.In this paper,we focus on the construction and application of bionic nanochannels based on 2D layer materials.First,a basic understanding of nanochannels based on 2D materials is briefly introduced,we also present the property of the 2D materials and construction strategies of bionic nanochannels.Subsequently,the application of these nanochannels in responsive channels and energy conversion is discussed.The unsolved challenges and prospects of 2D materials-based nanochannels are proposed in the end.展开更多
The patterns of effective pollen dispersal and the relationships between pollen dispersal and genetic composition in Pinus koraiensis are still unclear. Hence, we investigated the mode of pollen dispersal of P. koraie...The patterns of effective pollen dispersal and the relationships between pollen dispersal and genetic composition in Pinus koraiensis are still unclear. Hence, we investigated the mode of pollen dispersal of P. koraiensis in a clonal seed orchard in Lushuihe Forestry Bureau, Jilin Province, using SSR molecular markers tech-nique and the method of maximum likelihood. A total of 13 pairs of nuclear microsatellites po-lymorphic primers were used in the paternity analysis. We analyzed 100 progenies and 150 paternities. A total of 56 alleles were detected in 13 loci with 3-6 alleles (4.3 alleles in average) in a single locus. The primers of SsrPt_ctg7170 and SsrPt_ctg5333 had the maximum (6) and the minimum (3) alleles, respectively. The averaged values of observed heterozygosity, expected heterozygosity and polymorphism information content of experimental groups were 0.648, 0.601 and 0.533, respectively. The mating dis-tance of P. koraiensis followed an approximately normal distribution. The most effective pollen for the female parent came from male parent trees 15-45 m away with an average mating dis-tance of 32.60 m and the longest of 67.88 m. The pollen source of offspring was not random but greatly affected by the wind direction during the pollination season of P. koraiensis. These re-sults have important implications for seed or-chard design to improve the genetic quality of seeds and seed production.展开更多
In recent decades,a series of policies and practices for environmental flows(e-flows)have been implemented in China,with the sustainable development goal of balancing the utilization and protection of water resources ...In recent decades,a series of policies and practices for environmental flows(e-flows)have been implemented in China,with the sustainable development goal of balancing the utilization and protection of water resources among social,economic,and ecological needs.The aims of this study were to determine the main challenges and issues in e-flows implementation at different scales by analyzing policies and practices for eflows in China,and to propose some recommendations for bridging the gaps between the science and implementation of e-flows.The gaps between the science and implementation of e-flows were found after review of literature,policies,and practices,and it was found that ecological flow was a more widely used term by the government,rather than e-flows,in implementation.The plans and effects of e-flows implementation are discussed in this paper and challenges of e-flows implementation are recognized:(1)limited water resources and uneven spatial and temporal distribution,(2)a weak scientific basis for e-flows implementation,(3)poor operability of e-flows science,and(4)ineffective supervision and guarantee measures.The recommendations are(1)to strengthen the scientific foundation of e-flows,(2)to improve effectiveness in application of e-flows science,and(3)to propose operable and effective supervision and guarantee measures.This paper elaborates the current understanding of e-flows science and provides practical recommendations for implementing e-flows and for improving the effectiveness in e-flows implementation.To bridge the gaps between science and implementation of e-flows and improve the operability of policies in future practices,more scientific research on practices is recommended through adaptive management.展开更多
This study explores the effects of vegetation and season on soil microorganisms and enzymatic activity of different wetlands in a temperate climate.Microbial carbon metabolism diversity was assessed using community-le...This study explores the effects of vegetation and season on soil microorganisms and enzymatic activity of different wetlands in a temperate climate.Microbial carbon metabolism diversity was assessed using community-level physiological profiles(CLPP)with 31 different carbon substrates.CLPP indicated that significant interactions occur during carbon substrate metabolism of the microorganisms.Furthermore,the different types of vegetation present in the wetland ecosystem combined with the seasonal effects to influence microbial carbon metabolism and enzymatic activity.The most significant differences occurred to carbohydrates,carboxylic acids,and amino acids.The Mantel test confirmed positive correlations between soil enzymatic activities and microbial carbon metabolism.Soil microorganisms in Betula ovalifolia and Carex schmidtii wetlands used carbon substrates more efficiently in summer than those in other forested wetlands during other periods.Enzymatic activities also showed a similar trend as microbial carbon metabolism.The results demonstrate that microbial carbon metabolism patterns can be used as biological indicators in wetland ecological alterations due to vegetation type or to seasonal factors.展开更多
General,high-precision theoretical modeling method is not well developed in the field of soft robotics,which holds back motion control and practical application of soft robots.The concept of modularization brings nove...General,high-precision theoretical modeling method is not well developed in the field of soft robotics,which holds back motion control and practical application of soft robots.The concept of modularization brings novel structure,novel locomotion patterns as well as novel control method for soft robots.This paper presents the concept of hierarchical control method for modular soft robot system and a H-configuration pneumatic modular soft robot is designed as the control object.The H-configuration modular soft robot is composed of two basic motion units that take worm-like locomotion principle.The locomotion principle of the basic motion unit is analyzed and the actuation sequence is optimized by evolution strategy in VOXCAD simulation software.The differential drive method is applied to the H-configuration modular soft robot with multi motion modes and vision sensor is used to control the motion mode of the robot.The H-configuration modular soft robot and the basic motion unit are assembled by a cubic soft module made of silicone rubber.Also,connection mechanism is designed to ensure that the soft modules can be assembled in any direction and posture.Experiments are conducted to verify the effect of the hierarchical control method of the modular soft robots.展开更多
Objective:In this study,bone marrow stromal cells(BMSCs)were transplanted in situ after spinal cord injury(SCI)in rats.It was proved that the implanted BMSCs could differentiate into neuron-like cells in the injured s...Objective:In this study,bone marrow stromal cells(BMSCs)were transplanted in situ after spinal cord injury(SCI)in rats.It was proved that the implanted BMSCs could differentiate into neuron-like cells in the injured spinal cord,and the long-term motor ability test was carried out to investigate the recovery of neurological dysfunction after transplantation.Methods:(1)An improved Alien’s SCI rat model(weight 10 g,height 30 mm)was made by Alien weight drop method.Methyl eosin(Haematoxyli-n/eosin,HE)was used to identify with SCI.(2)The BMSCs were identified by the method of bone marrow adherent culture in vitro.The morphology of the cells was observed by cell staining,and CD44 was detected by BMSCs.After three cultures,the cells were transfected with lentiviral vectors carrying Green Fluorescent Protein(GFP)gene.(3)Cell survival after passage and transplantation:the GFP labeled BMSCs in situ(injury zone)were implanted into the injury model.The spinal cord sections were sacrificed after 2 weeks(2w),4 weeks(4w)and 6 weeks(6w)respectively,and the cells expressing GFP were observed under immunofluorescence microscope.(4)The modified Rivlin oblique plate test and spinal motor function blood brain barrir(BBB)score method were used to compare the changes of exercise ability in the simple injury group,2w after transplantation group,4w after transplantation group and 6w after transplantation group.Results:(1)The Alien’s SCI rat model was made by using Alien’s heavy drop method,and the effect was reliable and stable.(2)The proliferation of BMSCs after 3 passages has stabilized.After culture and amplification in vitro,the cell morphology changed to be conical,protruding interwoven into a network.Therefore,it could be used as a source of cell transplantation after SCI.The morphology of the cells was observed by staining,and the positive CD44 was detected.(3)BMSCs were transfected into the SCI model by lentiviral vector carrying GFP gene,and the expression of GFP in 6w was observed.(4)The results of modified inclined plane test and Rivlin locomotor BBB score of rats in simple injury group were significantly worse than those in transplantation control group(p<.05).2w,4w and 6w after transplantation groups could improve long-term motor function.The recovery of neurological dysfunction after 6w was the best,and the difference was statistically significant(p<.05).Conclusions:BMSCs transplantation could promote the recovery of neurological dysfunction after SCI,and the mechanism may be related to the differentiation of BMSCs into neurons and glial cells,and the BMSCs induced by transplantation could interact with peripheral nerve cells and produce some cytokines.展开更多
Rhombohedral multilayer graphene(RMG)has recently been demonstrated to be an exceptional research platform hosting a wide range of quantum phenomena.These include superconductivity[1],various symmetry-broken states(sp...Rhombohedral multilayer graphene(RMG)has recently been demonstrated to be an exceptional research platform hosting a wide range of quantum phenomena.These include superconductivity[1],various symmetry-broken states(spin,valley,and layer)[2],integer and fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect[3],and Chen insulator states[4].A key factor in tuning the properties of RMG is the number of layers,as different quantum phases have been observed only in samples with specific layer counts.For example,the fractional Chern insulator phase has been observed exclusively in a 5-layer sample[5],the quantum anomalous Hall in a 4-layer sample[3],and superconductivity in a 3-layer sample[1].展开更多
In the treatment of central nervous system disease,the blood-brain barrier(BBB)is a major obstruction to drug delivery that must be overcome.In this study,we propose a brain-targeted delivery strat-egy based on select...In the treatment of central nervous system disease,the blood-brain barrier(BBB)is a major obstruction to drug delivery that must be overcome.In this study,we propose a brain-targeted delivery strat-egy based on selective opening of the BBB.This strategy allows some simple bare nanoparticles to enter the brain when mixed with special opening material;however,the BBB still maintains the ability to completely block molecules from passing through.Based on the screening of BBB opening and matrix delivery mate-rials,we determined that phospholipase A2-catalyzed 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoserine li-posomes can efficiently carry drugs into the brain immediately.At an effective dose,this delivery system is safe,especially with its effect on the BBB being reversible.This mix&act delivery system has a simple structure and rapid preparation,making it a strong potential candidate for drug delivery across the BBB.展开更多
基金Supported by the Science and Technology Development Foundation of South China Sea Bureau,Ministry of Natural Resources,China(No.230204)the National Program on Global Change and Air-Sea Interaction(No.GASI-02-IND-CJ04)+1 种基金the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province,China(No.2021A1515012589)the Key Technologies Research and Development Program of Guangzhou,Guangdong Province,China(No.2023B03J1379)。
文摘The Ninety-East Ridge(NER)is located in the semioceanic to oceanic region of the southern Bengal Fan in the Northeast Indian Ocean.The sedimentary environment,ocean currents,and scientific issues related to climate change have always been the focus of scientists.To well understand the sedimentary environment of the sea area,we studied the modern sedimentary environment of the NER by analyzing the redox-sensitive trace elements(RSEs)and biomarkers in the surface sediments of the northern region and both sides of the NER and the mechanism of their formation.The ratios of Mo/U(average 2.22),(Cu+Mo)/Zn(average 1.51),and the results ofδCe<1 of the sediment samples,all indicate the reduction of the sedimentary environment.In addition,the ratio of pristane(Pr)to phytane(Ph),C30diahopane to C30 hopane,and diasterane to sterane were low in all samples,on average of 1.03,0.9,and 0.33,respectively.The analysis of RSE and biomarker data revealed that the sedimentary environment on seabed of the NER is generally a rare low-oxygen reduction environment.Through the analysis of sediment characteristics,material sources,and ocean currents,we preliminarily constructed a genetic model for the low-oxygen reducing environment of surface sediments in the NER.We believe that the low-oxygen reduction environment of surface sediment in the NER could be influenced by multiple factors,such as terrestrial input of materials,productivity at sea surface,and sediment particle size.
基金co-supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars,China(No.52025054)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.61961015).
文摘This paper presents that a serpentine curve-based controller can solve locomotion control problems for articulated space robots with extensive flight phases,such as obstacle avoidance during free floating or attitude adjustment before landing.The proposed algorithm achieves articulated robots to use closed paths in the joint space to accomplish the above tasks.Flying snakes,which can shuttle through gaps and adjust their landing posture by swinging their body during gliding in jungle environments,inspired the design of two maneuvers.The first maneuver generates a rotation of the system by varying the moment of inertia between the joints of the robot,with the magnitude of the net rotation depending on the controller parameters.This maneuver can be repeated to allow the robot to reach arbitrary reorientation.The second maneuver involves periodic undulations,allowing the robot to avoid collisions when the trajectory of the global Center of Mass(CM)passes through the obstacle.Both maneuvers are based on the improved serpenoid curve,which can adapt to redundant systems consisting of different numbers of modules.Finally,the simulation illustrates that combining the two maneuvers can help a free-floating chain-type robot traverse complex environments.Our proposed algorithm can be used with similar articulated robot models.
文摘Human pluripotent stem cells represent a potentially unlimited source of functional pancreatic endocrine lineage cells. Here we report a highly efficient approach to induce human embryonic stem （ES） cells and induced pluripo- tent stem （iPS） cells to differentiate into mature insulin-producing cells in a chemical-defined culture system. The differentiated human ES cells obtained by this approach comprised nearly 25% insulin-positive cells as assayed by flow cytometry analysis, which released insulin/C-peptide in response to glucose stimuli in a manner comparable to that of adult human islets. Most of these insulin-producing cells co-expressed mature β cell-specific markers such as NKX6-1 and PDX1, indicating a similar gene expression pattern to adult islet β cells in vivo. In this study, we also demonstrated that EGF facilitates the expansion of PDXl-positive pancreatic progenitors. Moreover, our protocol also succeeded in efficiently inducing human iPS cells to differentiate into insuIin-producing ceils. Therefore, this work not only provides a new model to study the mechanism of human pancreatic specialization and maturation in vitro, but also enhances the possibility of utilizing patient-specific iPS cells for the treatment of diabetes.
基金supported by Peking Union Medical College Youth Fund and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.2017310049)
文摘Background: Mortality outcomes in trials of low-dose computed tomography(CT) screening for lung cancer are inconsistent. This study aimed to evaluate whether CT screening in urban areas of China could reduce lung cancer mortality and to investigate the factors that associate with the screening effect.Methods: A decision tree model with three scenarios(low-dose CT screening, chest X-ray screening, and no screening) was developed to compare screening results in a simulated Chinese urban cohort(100,000 smokers aged45-80 years). Data of participant characteristics were obtained from national registries and epidemiological surveys for estimating lung cancer prevalence. The selection of other tree variables such as sensitivities and specificities of low-dose CT and chest X-ray screening were based on literature research. Differences in lung cancer mortality(primary outcome), false diagnoses, and deaths due to false diagnosis were calculated. Sensitivity analyses were performed to identify the factors that associate with the screening results and to ascertain worst and optimal screening effects considering possible ranges of the variables.Results: Among the 100,000 subjects, there were 448,541, and 591 lung cancer deaths in the low-dose CT, chest X-ray, and no screening scenarios, respectively(17.2% reduction in low-dose CT screening over chest X-ray screening and 24.2% over no screening). The costs of the two screening scenarios were 9387 and 2497 false diagnoses and 7and 2 deaths due to false diagnosis among the 100,000 persons, respectively. The factors that most influenced death reduction with low-dose CT screening over no screening were lung cancer prevalence in the screened cohort, lowdose CT sensitivity, and proportion of early-stage cancers among low-dose CT detected lung cancers. Considering all possibilities, reduction in deaths(relative numbers) with low-dose CT screening in the worst and optimal cases were16(5.4%) and 288(40.2%) over no screening, respectively.Conclusions: In terms of mortality outcomes, our findings favor conducting low-dose CT screening in urban China.However, approaches to reducing false diagnoses and optimizing important screening conditions such as enrollment criteria for screening are highly needed.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.31500323)
文摘We applied under pot-culture conditions and the double-casing pot method to study the characteristics of photosynthetic gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence in the leaves of Physocarpus amurensis Maxim （PA） and Physocarpus opulifolius under flooding stress. Our results indicate a significantly higher flooding tolerance of P. opulifolius compared to P. amurensis. Especially in P. amurensis, the limitation of non-stomatal factors played a major role in the advanced stages of flooding stress, observed as a rapid increase of the intercellular C02 con- centration （Ci） and a decrease of the stomatal limitation value （Ls）. The maximal PSII photochemical efficiencies （Fv/Fm） and actual photochemical efficiency （60PSU） in the leaves of P. opulifolius were extent of decrease during the than in P. amurensis. In significantly higher, and the flooding process was smaller addition, the non-chemical quenching （NPQ） in the leaves of P. opulifolius significandy increased from the 10th day under flooding stress, while the variation of NPQ in the leaves of P. amurensis was much smaller. This indicates that the leaves of P. opulifolius had not only higher PSII photochemical activity, but also improved tolerance to flooding stress, which may be caused by its ability to dissipate excess excitation energy by starting NPQ. At the 16th day under flooding stress, the PLABS significantly decreased with greater extent of decrease than Fv/Fm in the leaves of both Physocarpus, but the decreasing extent of PIABS in P. opulifolius was significantly smaller than in P. amurensis. In the 16th day under flooding stress, the fluorescence at J and I point （VJ and V1） in P. amurensis were significantly higher, and the extent of increase in VJ was greater than V1. However, the variations of VJ and V1 in the leaves of P. opulifolius were smaller, suggesting that the damage sites of flooding stress to PSII in the leaves of P. amurensis were mainly located in the electron transport process from QA at the PSII receptor side to QB- Flooding stress reduced the proportion （φEo） of luminous energy absorbed by the PSII reaction center for the electron transport following Q2, while the maximum quantum yield （φDo） of non-photochemical quenching increased. However, the TRo/RC and ETo/RC in the leaves of P. amurensis decreased accompanied by a dramatic increase of energy （DIo/RC） from the dissipation in the reaction center. This further indicated that the function of the PSII reaction center in the leaves of P. amurensis was significantly lower than in P. opulifolius.
基金funded by the “SMART BATTERY” project, granted by Villum Foundation in 2021 (project number 222860)。
文摘State of health(SoH) estimation plays a key role in smart battery health prognostic and management.However,poor generalization,lack of labeled data,and unused measurements during aging are still major challenges to accurate SoH estimation.Toward this end,this paper proposes a self-supervised learning framework to boost the performance of battery SoH estimation.Different from traditional data-driven methods which rely on a considerable training dataset obtained from numerous battery cells,the proposed method achieves accurate and robust estimations using limited labeled data.A filter-based data preprocessing technique,which enables the extraction of partial capacity-voltage curves under dynamic charging profiles,is applied at first.Unsupervised learning is then used to learn the aging characteristics from the unlabeled data through an auto-encoder-decoder.The learned network parameters are transferred to the downstream SoH estimation task and are fine-tuned with very few sparsely labeled data,which boosts the performance of the estimation framework.The proposed method has been validated under different battery chemistries,formats,operating conditions,and ambient.The estimation accuracy can be guaranteed by using only three labeled data from the initial 20% life cycles,with overall errors less than 1.14% and error distribution of all testing scenarios maintaining less than 4%,and robustness increases with aging.Comparisons with other pure supervised machine learning methods demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method.This simple and data-efficient estimation framework is promising in real-world applications under a variety of scenarios.
基金the Special Fund for Military Medical Science(AWS15J007 and BWS16J007)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(81703505).
文摘Nerve agents are used in civil wars and terrorist attacks,posing a threat to public safety.Acute exposure to nerve agents such as soman(GD)causes serious brain damage,leading to death due to intense seizures induced by acetylcholinesterase inhibition and neuronal injury resulting from increased excitatory amino-acid levels and neuroinflammation.However,data on the anticonvulsant and neuroprotective efficacies of currently-used countermeasures are limited.Here,we evaluated the potential effects of transient receptor vanilloid 4(TRPV4)in the treatment of soman-induced status epilepticus(SE)and secondary brain injury.We demonstrated that TRPV4 expression was markedly up-regulated in rat hippocampus after soman-induced seizures.Administration of the TRPV4 antagonist GSK2193874 prior to soman exposure significantly decreased the mortality rate in rats and reduced SE intensity.TRPV4-knockout mice also showed lower incidence of seizures and higher survival rates than wild-type mice following soman exposure.Further in vivo and in vitro experiments demonstrated that blocking TRPV4 prevented NMDA receptor-mediated glutamate excitotoxicity.The protein levels of the NLRP3 inflammasome complex and its downstream cytokines IL-1βand IL-18 increased in soman-exposed rat hippocampus.However,TRPV4 inhibition or deletion markedly reversed the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome pathway.In conclusion,our study suggests that the blockade of TRPV4 protects against soman exposure and reduces brain injury following SE by decreasing NMDA receptor-mediated excitotoxicity and NLRP3-mediated neuroinflammation.To our knowledge,this is the first study regarding the“dual-switch”function of TRPV4 in the treatment of soman intoxication.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51109229)
文摘The effects of optimized operation principles implemented at reservoirs on the Wujiang River in southwest China between September 2009 and April 2010 under drought conditions were analyzed based on operational data collected from the Guizhou Wujiang Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. A set of linear regression equations was developed to identify the key factors impacting the electric power generation at reservoirs. A 59% reduction in the inflow discharge at the Hongjiadu Reservoir led to a decrease of only 38% in the total electric power generation at the Hongjiadu, Dongfeng, Suofengying, and Wujiangdu reservoirs on the Wujiang River, indicating that optimized operation can play an important role in drought management. The water level and the amount of other water inputs at the Hongjiadu Reservoir and the outflow discharge at all of the reservoirs except the Wujiangdu Reservoir were key factors affecting the total electric power generation at reservoirs on the Wujiang River under optimized operation.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31671291 to N.P.,31570055 to M.H.,and 31900400 to T.L.)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(2662019PY028 to N.P.)National Natural Science Foundation of China(31900400)。
文摘CRISPR-Cas systems provide bacteria and archaea with adaptive immunity against mobile genetic elements(MGEs)through uptake of invader-derived spacers.De novo adaptation samples spacers from both invaders and hosts,whereas primed adaptation shows higher specificity to sample spacers from invaders in many model systems as well as in the subtype I-F system of Zymomonas mobilis.Self-derived spacers will lead to CRISPR self-interference.However,our in vivo study demonstrated that this species used the microhomology-mediated end joining(MMEJ)pathway to efficiently repair subtype I-F CRISPR-Cas system-mediated DNA breaks guided by the self-targeting spacers.MMEJ repair of DNA breaks requires direct microhomologous sequences flanking the protospacers and leads to DNA deletions covering the protospacers.Importantly,CRISPR-mediated genomic DNA breaks failed to be repaired via MMEJ pathway in presence of higher copies of short homologous DNA.Moreover,CRISPR-cleaved exogenous plasmid DNA was failed to be repaired through MMEJ pathway,probably due to the inhibition of MMEJ by the presence of higher copies of the plasmid DNA in Z.mobilis.Our results infer that MMEJ pathway discriminates DNA damages between in the host chromosome versus mobile genetic element(MGE)DNA,and maintains genome stability post CRISPR immunity in Z.mobilis.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 22005162)the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (No. ZR2020QE093)+1 种基金the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2019M652319)the Special Financial Aid to Post-doctor Research Fellow (No. 2020T130330)
文摘With the development of nanotechnology and materials science,bioinspired nanochannels appeared by mimicking the intelligent functions of biological ion channels.They have attracted a great deal of at-tention in recent years due to their controllable structure and tunable chemical properties.Inspired by the layered microstructure of nacre,2D layered materials as excellent matrix material of nanochannel come into our field of vision.Bionic nanochannels based on 2D materials have the advantages of facile preparation,tunable channel size and length,easy expansion,and modification,etc.Therefore,the 2D layered nanofluid system based on bionic nanochannels from 2D layered materials has great potential in biomimetic microsensors,membrane separations,energy conversion,and so on.In this paper,we focus on the construction and application of bionic nanochannels based on 2D layer materials.First,a basic understanding of nanochannels based on 2D materials is briefly introduced,we also present the property of the 2D materials and construction strategies of bionic nanochannels.Subsequently,the application of these nanochannels in responsive channels and energy conversion is discussed.The unsolved challenges and prospects of 2D materials-based nanochannels are proposed in the end.
文摘The patterns of effective pollen dispersal and the relationships between pollen dispersal and genetic composition in Pinus koraiensis are still unclear. Hence, we investigated the mode of pollen dispersal of P. koraiensis in a clonal seed orchard in Lushuihe Forestry Bureau, Jilin Province, using SSR molecular markers tech-nique and the method of maximum likelihood. A total of 13 pairs of nuclear microsatellites po-lymorphic primers were used in the paternity analysis. We analyzed 100 progenies and 150 paternities. A total of 56 alleles were detected in 13 loci with 3-6 alleles (4.3 alleles in average) in a single locus. The primers of SsrPt_ctg7170 and SsrPt_ctg5333 had the maximum (6) and the minimum (3) alleles, respectively. The averaged values of observed heterozygosity, expected heterozygosity and polymorphism information content of experimental groups were 0.648, 0.601 and 0.533, respectively. The mating dis-tance of P. koraiensis followed an approximately normal distribution. The most effective pollen for the female parent came from male parent trees 15-45 m away with an average mating dis-tance of 32.60 m and the longest of 67.88 m. The pollen source of offspring was not random but greatly affected by the wind direction during the pollination season of P. koraiensis. These re-sults have important implications for seed or-chard design to improve the genetic quality of seeds and seed production.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China(Grant No.2018YFE0196000)
文摘In recent decades,a series of policies and practices for environmental flows(e-flows)have been implemented in China,with the sustainable development goal of balancing the utilization and protection of water resources among social,economic,and ecological needs.The aims of this study were to determine the main challenges and issues in e-flows implementation at different scales by analyzing policies and practices for eflows in China,and to propose some recommendations for bridging the gaps between the science and implementation of e-flows.The gaps between the science and implementation of e-flows were found after review of literature,policies,and practices,and it was found that ecological flow was a more widely used term by the government,rather than e-flows,in implementation.The plans and effects of e-flows implementation are discussed in this paper and challenges of e-flows implementation are recognized:(1)limited water resources and uneven spatial and temporal distribution,(2)a weak scientific basis for e-flows implementation,(3)poor operability of e-flows science,and(4)ineffective supervision and guarantee measures.The recommendations are(1)to strengthen the scientific foundation of e-flows,(2)to improve effectiveness in application of e-flows science,and(3)to propose operable and effective supervision and guarantee measures.This paper elaborates the current understanding of e-flows science and provides practical recommendations for implementing e-flows and for improving the effectiveness in e-flows implementation.To bridge the gaps between science and implementation of e-flows and improve the operability of policies in future practices,more scientific research on practices is recommended through adaptive management.
基金The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.31500508)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.2572020BD02)Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province(No.LH2020C041).
文摘This study explores the effects of vegetation and season on soil microorganisms and enzymatic activity of different wetlands in a temperate climate.Microbial carbon metabolism diversity was assessed using community-level physiological profiles(CLPP)with 31 different carbon substrates.CLPP indicated that significant interactions occur during carbon substrate metabolism of the microorganisms.Furthermore,the different types of vegetation present in the wetland ecosystem combined with the seasonal effects to influence microbial carbon metabolism and enzymatic activity.The most significant differences occurred to carbohydrates,carboxylic acids,and amino acids.The Mantel test confirmed positive correlations between soil enzymatic activities and microbial carbon metabolism.Soil microorganisms in Betula ovalifolia and Carex schmidtii wetlands used carbon substrates more efficiently in summer than those in other forested wetlands during other periods.Enzymatic activities also showed a similar trend as microbial carbon metabolism.The results demonstrate that microbial carbon metabolism patterns can be used as biological indicators in wetland ecological alterations due to vegetation type or to seasonal factors.
基金This work is supported by National Outstanding Youth Science Fund Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant no.52025054)National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant no.U1713201).
文摘General,high-precision theoretical modeling method is not well developed in the field of soft robotics,which holds back motion control and practical application of soft robots.The concept of modularization brings novel structure,novel locomotion patterns as well as novel control method for soft robots.This paper presents the concept of hierarchical control method for modular soft robot system and a H-configuration pneumatic modular soft robot is designed as the control object.The H-configuration modular soft robot is composed of two basic motion units that take worm-like locomotion principle.The locomotion principle of the basic motion unit is analyzed and the actuation sequence is optimized by evolution strategy in VOXCAD simulation software.The differential drive method is applied to the H-configuration modular soft robot with multi motion modes and vision sensor is used to control the motion mode of the robot.The H-configuration modular soft robot and the basic motion unit are assembled by a cubic soft module made of silicone rubber.Also,connection mechanism is designed to ensure that the soft modules can be assembled in any direction and posture.Experiments are conducted to verify the effect of the hierarchical control method of the modular soft robots.
文摘Objective:In this study,bone marrow stromal cells(BMSCs)were transplanted in situ after spinal cord injury(SCI)in rats.It was proved that the implanted BMSCs could differentiate into neuron-like cells in the injured spinal cord,and the long-term motor ability test was carried out to investigate the recovery of neurological dysfunction after transplantation.Methods:(1)An improved Alien’s SCI rat model(weight 10 g,height 30 mm)was made by Alien weight drop method.Methyl eosin(Haematoxyli-n/eosin,HE)was used to identify with SCI.(2)The BMSCs were identified by the method of bone marrow adherent culture in vitro.The morphology of the cells was observed by cell staining,and CD44 was detected by BMSCs.After three cultures,the cells were transfected with lentiviral vectors carrying Green Fluorescent Protein(GFP)gene.(3)Cell survival after passage and transplantation:the GFP labeled BMSCs in situ(injury zone)were implanted into the injury model.The spinal cord sections were sacrificed after 2 weeks(2w),4 weeks(4w)and 6 weeks(6w)respectively,and the cells expressing GFP were observed under immunofluorescence microscope.(4)The modified Rivlin oblique plate test and spinal motor function blood brain barrir(BBB)score method were used to compare the changes of exercise ability in the simple injury group,2w after transplantation group,4w after transplantation group and 6w after transplantation group.Results:(1)The Alien’s SCI rat model was made by using Alien’s heavy drop method,and the effect was reliable and stable.(2)The proliferation of BMSCs after 3 passages has stabilized.After culture and amplification in vitro,the cell morphology changed to be conical,protruding interwoven into a network.Therefore,it could be used as a source of cell transplantation after SCI.The morphology of the cells was observed by staining,and the positive CD44 was detected.(3)BMSCs were transfected into the SCI model by lentiviral vector carrying GFP gene,and the expression of GFP in 6w was observed.(4)The results of modified inclined plane test and Rivlin locomotor BBB score of rats in simple injury group were significantly worse than those in transplantation control group(p<.05).2w,4w and 6w after transplantation groups could improve long-term motor function.The recovery of neurological dysfunction after 6w was the best,and the difference was statistically significant(p<.05).Conclusions:BMSCs transplantation could promote the recovery of neurological dysfunction after SCI,and the mechanism may be related to the differentiation of BMSCs into neurons and glial cells,and the BMSCs induced by transplantation could interact with peripheral nerve cells and produce some cytokines.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(92365204,12274298,52025023,and12304217)the National Key R&D Program of China(2022YFA1604400/03 and 2022YFA1403500/04)+2 种基金the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDB33000000)Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities from Chinathe New Cornerstone Science Foundation through the XPLORER PRIZE。
文摘Rhombohedral multilayer graphene(RMG)has recently been demonstrated to be an exceptional research platform hosting a wide range of quantum phenomena.These include superconductivity[1],various symmetry-broken states(spin,valley,and layer)[2],integer and fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect[3],and Chen insulator states[4].A key factor in tuning the properties of RMG is the number of layers,as different quantum phases have been observed only in samples with specific layer counts.For example,the fractional Chern insulator phase has been observed exclusively in a 5-layer sample[5],the quantum anomalous Hall in a 4-layer sample[3],and superconductivity in a 3-layer sample[1].
文摘In the treatment of central nervous system disease,the blood-brain barrier(BBB)is a major obstruction to drug delivery that must be overcome.In this study,we propose a brain-targeted delivery strat-egy based on selective opening of the BBB.This strategy allows some simple bare nanoparticles to enter the brain when mixed with special opening material;however,the BBB still maintains the ability to completely block molecules from passing through.Based on the screening of BBB opening and matrix delivery mate-rials,we determined that phospholipase A2-catalyzed 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoserine li-posomes can efficiently carry drugs into the brain immediately.At an effective dose,this delivery system is safe,especially with its effect on the BBB being reversible.This mix&act delivery system has a simple structure and rapid preparation,making it a strong potential candidate for drug delivery across the BBB.
