The diffusion of carbon mineralization in vertical profiles is an important process of CO2 emission. However, due to the relatively slow and lagging change of subsoil environment compared with the surface soil, the process of carbon mineralization and diffusion is often ignored, and the process and mechanism of deep carbon transfer to the soil-atmosphere interface are still unclear. we studied the vertical difference of CO2 flux and its driving mechanism in Robinia pseudoacacia plantation of different stand ages. The results show that: (1) in the 0-200cm layer, the CO2 flux shows a double peak seasonal trend. Among them, the total CO2 flux of Robinia pseudoacacia forest in 10 years was larger. (2) Dynamic evaluation can reduce the uncertainty of static evaluation, and the contribution of deep CO2 flux to the soil atmosphere interface is stable, between 21.81-24.42%; (3)Temperature sensitivity of CO2 flux (expressed as Q10) significantly increases with soil depth, and the response of water to CO2 flux is different at different section. There is a significant correlation between the deep CO2 flux and soil organic carbon (SOC), but there is a reverse feedback effect in the shallow profile. (4) T & M & C model is more conducive to the accurate prediction of deep CO2 flux. All in all, this study is of great significance to the study of the stability of deep soil carbon, the dynamic change of soil carbon pool and the mechanism of deep carbon diffusion to the surface in the loess hilly area.

In this paper, the effect of creep-fatigue loading condition on crack tip deformation and stress fields of Grade 91 steel at 600oC at crack initiation and growth is studied. By using finite element debond analysis method, creep-fatigue crack growth tests using C(T) specimens under various load ratios and hold times are simulated, and the effect of creep-fatigue load ratio and hold time on the plastic zone, creep zone, crack opening profile, equivalent stress, crack-opening stress and triaxiality at crack initiation and growth is presented. It is found that the crack tip deformation and stress fields under tension-compression creep-fatigue loading are overall different from those under tension-tension creep-fatigue and pure creep loading, due to crack closure.

Control of plant virus disease largely depends on the induced plant defense achieved by the external application of synthetic chemical inducers with the ability to modify defense-signaling pathways. However, most of the molecular mechanisms underlying these inducers remain unknown. Here, we developed a lentinan-loaded hydrogel with the core-shell structure and discovered how it protects plant from different virus infections. The hydrogel was synthesized by adding a chitosan shell on the surface of the sodium alginate-calcium ion-lentinan (LNT) hydrogel (SL-gel) to form CSL-gel. CSL-gel exhibits the capacity of prolonging the stable-release of lentinan and promoting calcium ions release. Application of CSL-gel on the root of plants significantly promotes plant growth and development and induces broad-spectrum resistance against TMV, TuMV, PVX and TRV. Furthermore, we found that the sustained release of calcium ions from the CSL-gel triggers the high expression of cal-modulin-like protein 30 (CML30), and silencing of CML30 enhances the susceptibility of tobacco to TMV. Our findings provide evidence that the novel and synthetic CSL-gel with the sustainable release of LNT and calcium ion strongly inhibits the plant virus infection. This study uncovers a novel mode of action by which CSL-gel with the stable release of calcium ion triggers CML30 expression.

Elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration (eCO2) reduces nitrogen (N) content in rice plants and stimulates tillering. However, these are contradictory to the general consensus that reduced N would constrain rice tillering. To resolve this, we detected N distribution in organs and transcriptomic changes of different organs after subjected to eCO2 in combination with different N application rates. Our results indicated that eCO2 promoted rice tillers more under higher N supply conditions, and confirmed that N availability constrained tillering in the early growth stage. Despite N content declined in the leaf and sheath of rice exposed to eCO2, the new-born tillers had a stable or higher N content compared to those under ambient CO2. Apparently the redistribution of N within the plant per se was a critical adaptation strategy to eCO2 condition. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that eCO2 introduced less extensive alteration of gene expression than N application. Most importantly, the expression levels of multiple N-related transporters and receptors were differentially regulated, suggesting that multiple genes were involved in sensing the N signal and transporting N metabolites in adapting to eCO2. The redistribution of N in different organs could be a universal adaptation strategy of terrestrial plants to eCO2.

1. The Tea Bag Index (Keuskamp et al. 2013) has been developed to allow worldwide comparable data on litter decomposition and has become an important part of several citizen science projects. This commentary shows that it is unsuitable for assessing total decomposition in most environments as it does not account for the role of macrofauna in the decomposition process. 2. Tea bags were placed following the standardised protocol in old growth forest in Borneo (Sabah, East Malaysia). 3. The results shows that more than half of the bags were attacked by termites and they tended to remove the majority of the tea, rendering the Tea Bag Index incalculable. 4. The Tea Bag Index can measure the microbial component of decay, but will significantly underestimate total decay rates in most environments. This method will not give an accurate estimate of decomposition in most biomes.

Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) is an emerging biomedical technology exemplified by its antimicrobial and anti-neoplastic applications. While acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF) has been a long-standing potent mitogen for cells from various origins. In this study, we conducted a direct comparison between CAP and aFGF and investigated their collaboration during wound healing, angiogenesis, neurogenesis, and osteogenesis. This work was systematically performed at the tissue, cellular, protein, and gene levels, using histochemical staining, flow cytometry, ELISA, and PCR, respectively. The results showed that the enhancement on would healing and angiogenesis by CAP and aFGF were synergistic. The former was manifested by increased murine fibroblast proliferation and reduced cutaneous tissue inflammation, whereas the latter by upregulated proangiogenic markers in vivo, e.g. CD31, VEGF and TGF-, and downregulated antiangiogenic proteins in vitro, e.g. angiostatin and angiopoietin-2, respectively. In addition, aFGF outperformed CAP during neurogenesis, which was evidenced by superior neurite outgrowth, while CAP exceeded aFGF in osteogenesis, which was demonstrated by more substantial bone nodule formation. These findings not only support the fact that both CAP and aFGF are potent multifunctional agents during tissue regeneration, but also highlight the potential of multimodal therapy combining the individual advantages of CAP and aFGF.

Introduction and aim of the study: Hospital readmissions represent an increasing and highly expensive cost for National Health Services. Aim of this retrospective case-control study was to compare patients who required one or more repeated hospitalizations to those who had only one, in the year 2018 at the Department of Internal Medicine of Pontedera Hospital (Pisa, Italy). Materials and Methods: All the data were retrieved matching data from our electronic health record with our diagnosis-related group (DRG) software system. Continuous variables were defined means ± standard deviation; categorical variables were given as percentage. The independent sample t test was used for the continuous variables and chi-square test for categorical variables. Significance was inferred for p < 0.05. Results: In 2018 a total of 3012 patients were hospitalized. Among these, 14.1% (n=426; mean age 79.7±11,9; range 23-100) were defined as revolving: data were compared with controls (n=420; 13.9%; mean age 75.9±14.7; range 22-99) who had only one hospitalization. Patients main provenance was in both groups a Home-based health care. Revolving patients showed higher mean age, higher rate of chronic comorbidities and mortality. Cancer was equally distributed in both groups. Sepsis was the most relevant factor associated with re-hospitalizations and mortality. Skin ulcers were present in about half of revolving patients, but they were coded as DRG only in an absolute minority. Conclusions: readmissions to Internal Medicine Departments are frequent and mainly related to the severity of chronic diseases affecting the patients. Sepsis was the most relevant condition associated with readmissions, leading to a very high mortality rate. Skin ulcers affected about half of revolving patients, but their DRG were significantly underestimated. Preventing sepsis and investing resources in chronic diseases assistance, represent a key challenge for the future, especially in an outpatient setting.

Background: The combination of CDK4/6 inhibitors and endocrine therapy (ET) prolonged the progression-free survival (PFS) in hormone receptor (HR) positive HER2 negative metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Palbociclib is the only CDK4/6 inhibitor approved in Mainland China. Aims: This retrospective study investigated the clinical efficacy of palbociclib with ET in real-world practice. Methods: This study was a retrospective observational study including the MBC patients who received the ET with palbociclib in two centers in China. We analyzed the medical records for treatment outcomes and the PFS curves were derived using the Kaplan–Meier method. Results: 69 patients were included. The overall response rate (ORR) was 10.1%, and clinical benefit rate (CBR) was 78.3%. The median PFS was 12.8 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 10.1–15.5). A longer PFS was observed in the patients with bone only metastasis, no liver metastases, no previous palliative chemotherapy, no previous palliative ET, endocrine sensitivity. 19 patients (27.5%) had reduced the dose of palbociclib according to physician’s decision, and dose reduction didn’t affect the clinical efficacy of the combined treatment. Conclusion: ET combined with palbociclib was effective and well tolerated in HR positive HER2 negative MBC patients in real-world setting.

The world is faced with disasters caused by natural or human effects from time to time. The various political, economic, health, and social consequences of these disasters affect people for different periods of time. In natural disasters and especially in epidemic diseases, some measures are taken to protect people from the negative effects of the situation. One of the measures that can be taken is quarantine. The target audience of this study is children aged 5-6 in early childhood. Children of this age group are in the process of gaining skills in expressing their feelings during this period. In addition, the emotional responses of these children can be noticed by a careful observer or even an expert. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the risks of the impacts of quarantine status related to the COVID-19 pandemic on cognition and behavior of children staying at home.

This paper reveals long time dynamics in the stochastic multimolecule oscillatory reaction model with Poisson jumps. First, this system is proved to have a unique global positive solution via the Lyapunov technique. Second, the existence and uniqueness of general random attractors for its stochastic homeomorphism flow is proved by the comparison theorem, and meanwhile, a criterion for the existence of singleton sets is obtained. Finally, numerical simulations are used to illustrate the predicted random attractors.

In this work, we present basic results and applications of Stepanov pseudo almost periodic functions with measure. Using only the continuity assumption, we prove a new composition result of $\mu$-pseudo almost periodic functions in Stepanov sense. Moreover, we present different applications to semilinear differential equations and inclusions in Banach spaces with weak regular forcing terms. We prove the existence and uniqueness of $\mu$-pseudo almost periodic solutions (in the strong sense) to a class of semilinear fractional inclusions and semilinear evolution equations, respectively, provided that the nonlinear forcing terms are only Stepanov $ \mu $-pseudo almost periodic in the first variable and not a uniformly strict contraction with respect to the second argument. Some examples illustrating our theoretical results are also presented.

Harmonic analysis associated with the Dunkl operator in one dimension was developed by many authors. Here we use these results to prove theorems analogous to those Schoenberg [9], and I.I. Hirschman [5] on variation diminishing convolution kernels. We give necessary and sufficient conditions such that an integrable function $\Phi$ is a variation diminishing convolution kernel.

We develop a one step matrix method in order to obtain approximate solutions of first order non-linear systems and non-linear ordinary differential equations, reducible to first order systems. We find a sequence of such solutions that converge to the exact solution. We apply the method to different well known examples and check its precision, in terms of local error, comparing it with the error produced by other methods. The advantage of the method over others widely used lies on the great simplicity of its implementation.

A document by BiYun Tang. Click on the document to view its contents.

293T suspensions cells were first cultured in a big bubble-stirred bioreactors for large-scale lentivirus vectors (LV) production in the study. Direct domesticated approaches were utilized for 293 suspensions cells. We validated of the ability to LV package and drew a growth curve in shake flask. The results show 293T suspension culture was successful, and also retained the capacity for LV production. After facile optimization of the viral package and cryopreservation conditions, 293T suspension cells were inoculated in a 5.5 L bioreactor. Packaged CAR-CD30 lentivirus yield was close to that from the original shake flask culture. Cultivation for 4 days in the bioreactor enabled production of 1.5±0.3×107 TU/mL coarse LV and the lentiviral infection efficiency was 48.6±2.8% in T Cells. The process has merits of low cost as well as more effective, and expected to be highly competitive compared to other bioreactors.

Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) is applied worldwide to treat domestic and industrial wastewater. Complex substrates, like proteins, carbohydrates and lipids, are major components of domestic wastewater, but their utilization by AGS is not well understood. Since hydrolysis is considered the rate limiting step in the bioconversion of complex substrates, the activity of major hydrolytic enzymes was investigated in the different sludge fractions of a full-scale AGS reactor. Lipase, protease, α-glucosidase and β-glucosidase activities were assessed in large granules (>1 mm diameter), small granules (0.2–1 mm), flocculent sludge (0.045–0.2 mm) and bulk liquid. Besides, composition and hydrolytic activity of influent wastewater samples were determined. The highest specific hydrolytic activity was associated with the flocculent sludge fraction (1.5 - 7.5 times that of large and smaller granules). However, the biomass in the full scale reactor consisted of 84% large granules, making the large granules account for 55–68% of the total hydrolytic activity potential in the reactor. These results suggest that large granules can hydrolyse a significant fraction of the polymeric COD under anaerobic feeding conditions, and support the stable granule formation and the biological phosphate removal process observed in full scale installations.

The Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN), one of the most commonly used methods for surface runoff prediction, was developed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). For many years, the direct application of the CN look-up table derived from USDA in regions elsewhere with different characteristics was questionable, because it could lead to a large error in runoff prediction. To eliminate this error, some studies suggested that CN entries should be revised based on measured data, whereas others indicated that major factors affecting runoff should be considered for application in specified regions. In this study, the above-mentioned CN revision approaches were compared to adjust CN values using a large amount of rainfall-runoff observation data for 43 study sites across the Loess Plateau region. The results showed that the average CN values of each watershed obtained from the measured rainfall-runoff data are quite different from the tabulated CN2 values. However, the calculated average CN values produce little improvement in runoff estimation with the SCS-CN method, due to large CN value variation. Therefore, three factors—soil moisture, rainfall depth, and intensity—were identified as influencing the CN values under field conditions in the Loess Plateau, and a new CN value with a CN2 value in the conventional SCS-CN method was developed. The reliability of the proposed method was tested with data from three watersheds on the Loess Plateau. High Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE = 74.70%) and low root mean square error (RMSE = 3.08 mm) indicated that the proposed method could accurately estimate runoff and was more reliable than the standard SCS-CN method (NSE = 19.26%; RMSE = 5.51 mm). Moreover, the factors incorporated in the proposed method seem to more effectively reflect the large CN value variations than the revised CN2 value based on measured dataset in the Loess Plateau region.

Durante il corso degli anni la tematica della sostenibilità ambientale, legata agli impatti provocati da azioni antropiche, è diventata sempre più centrale per i governi e per gli abitanti, facendo affiorare la necessità di emanare delle normative di riferimento per il suo sviluppo.Si sono resi necessari degli strumenti tecnici e formali di valutazione degli impatti, tra i quali riconosciamo lo Studio di Impatto Ambientale, documento tecnico da produrre per l'avvio del procedimento di Valutazione di Impatto Ambientale, volto a valutare, tramite lo studio delle caratteristiche dell’opera e dei suoi rapporti reciproci con gli ecosistemi circostanti, la sua compatibilità con gli obiettivi di sostenibilità ambientale.Per meglio comprendere la tematica dello Studio di Impatto Ambientale è risultato di notevole interesse l’analisi del caso dell’Aeroporto di Salerno "Costa d’Amalfi". Il suo contatto con differenti comparti ambientali e la sua importanza nella suddivisione territoriale permette di comprendere a pieno la stesura degli elaborati necessari per il procedimento.

is research work aims to study a capacitated transportation problem (CTP) with penalty cost, supplies, and demands represented by hexagonal fuzzy numbers. Based on ranking function, the supplies and demands are converted to the crisp form. rough the use of the α-level, the problem is converted into interval linear programming. To optimize the interval objective function, we define the order relations represented by policy maker's choice between intervals. .e maximization (minimization) problem considering the interval objective function is transformed to multiobjective optimization problem based on order relations introduced by the preference of policy makers between interval profits (costs). A numerical example is given for illustration and to check the validity of the suggested approach.

Analysis conducted by using Transophageal Echocardiography to monitor the therapeutic effect of closure of Ventricular Septal Defect and Atrial Septal Defect.The clinical data of 928 patients for closure operation of transthoracic, percutaneous Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) and Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) guided by transesophageal ultrasound was retrospectively analyzed for the Department of Cardiac Macrovascular Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University between August,2009 and August, 2019 .There were 552 cases of VSD and 376 cases of ASD and 478 males and 450 females, with age distribution ranging from 4 months to 74 (8.64±2.42) years old, and body mass distribution ranging from 8 to 56 (23.32±12.26) kg.Result:Closure operation conducted turned out a successful one for the whole group of patients without any casualty cases and a tally of 907 were successful (97.7%.Out of 552 VSD patient in the group 540 were treated successfully with the transthoracic closure approach and 12 cases required extracorporeal circulation after failure of the transthoracic approach.Among the 256 cases, the patients with ASD was treated by transthoracic closure approach, 251 successful cases , 2 cases failed and 3 shedding cases. Besides, 120 percutaneous closure cases is carried out with 116 successful cases,2 failing cases and 2 shedding cases. Post-operation follow-up was conducted for the patients with successful closure operations,which demonstrated that complications of aortic and tricuspid regurgitation, hydro-pericardium,Ⅲºatrioventricular block, shedding of closure umbrella, hemolysis and thrombus had not occured. Intraoperative blood loss was 15ml-35ml (23.64±4.26), postoperative ventilator using time was 2h-10h(4.76±0.33), and hospital stay was 4d-10d(6.43±1.26)

Abstract Aim To evaluate the clinical and humanistic patient outcomes of a community pharmacy (CP) Minor Ailment Service (MAS) compared to usual pharmacist care (UC). Methods A cluster randomised controlled trial was conducted over six months in CP. The pharmacist-patient intervention consisted of a standardised consultation on a web-based program using co-developed protocols pharmacists’ training, practice change facilitators and patients’ educational material. Patients were followed up ten days after initial consultation. Primary outcomes were appropriate medical referral and changes to direct product request. Secondary outcomes were symptom resolution, reconsultation rates for the same ailment and health related quality of life (HRQoL). Results A total of 808 patients were recruited by 27 CP (323 MAS and 485 UC). Patients visiting MAS pharmacies had higher odds for being referred to the general practitioner (OR=2.343, CI95%=[1.146-4.792]); a higher increase in HRQoL (OR=1.026, CI95%=[1.002-1.051]) and higher number of reconsultation (OR=1.833, CI95%=[1.151-2.919]) compared to UC. No significant differences were observed for symptom resolution and modification of treatments with direct product requests. Conclusions Patients with minor ailments are triaged and managed in a safe and effective way in CP, facilitating appropriate self-selection of non-prescription medicines. MAS reinforce pharmacists’ involvement with patient engagement.

Background and Purpose: The ongoing chronic fibrosis and hypertrophy of ligamentum flavum (LF) is an important cause of lumbar spinal canal stenosis (LSCS). Our previous work showed that WNT1 inducible signaling pathway protein 1 (WISP-1) is a critical driver of LF fibrosis. This study was designed to explore the mechanism by which WISP-1 is activated and its underlying mechanisms in LF fibrosis. Experimental Approach: We studied the expression of Hedgehog-related proteins in human LF tissues. Cell viability, cell cycle, apoptosis rate and molecular mechanisms were evaluated in LF cells. Finally, the molecular mechanism was confirmed in vivo studies. Key Results: The results showed that Gli1 was upregulated in hypertrophic LF tissues and required for fibroblast viability and collagen expression in fibroblasts. Moreover, mechanical stretching increased WISP-1 expression in LF fibroblasts. Furthermore, WISP-1 induced fibrogenesis through Hedgehog-Gli1 pathway. This conclusion was supported by the fact that WISP-1 activated Hedgehog-Gli1 pathway in LF fibroblasts and cyclopamine attenuated the effect of WISP-1-induced fibrogenesis. WISP-1 also promoted the transition of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts via Hedgehog pathway. Importantly, hypertrophic LF rabbit model induced by mechanical stress also showed pathological change of fibrosis and more higher expression of WISP-1, Gli1 and ɑ-SMA. Therapeutic administration of cyclopamine reduced collagen expression, fibroblast proliferation, myofibroblast differentiation and ameliorated LF fibrosis in mechanical stress-induced rabbit model.

Warfarin has existed for more than seven decades and has been the anticoagulant of choice for many thromboembolic disorders. The recent introduction of direct acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs) has however caused a shift in preference by healthcare professionals all over the world. DOACs have been found to be at least as effective as warfarin in prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation and in treatment of venous thromboembolism. In sub-Saharan Africa, however, the widespread use of DOACs has been hampered mainly by their higher acquisition costs. As the drugs come off patent, their use in sub-Saharan Africa is likely to increase. However, very few trials have been conducted in African settings, and safety concerns will need to be addressed with further study before widespread adoption into clinical practice.

Epitranscriptomics is an exciting emerging area that studies biochemical modifications of RNA. The field is boosted by the technical efforts of the last decade to characterize and quantify RNA modifications which have led to a map of post-transcripcional RNA marks in normal cell fate and develoment. However, the scientific interest has been fueled by the discovery of aberrant epitranscriptomes associated with human diseases, mainly cancer. The challenge is now to see whether epitrancriptomics offers a tunable mechanims to be targeted by small- molecule intervention. In this review, we will describe the principal RNA modifications (with a focus on mRNA), summarize the latest scientific evidences of their dysregulation in cancer and provide an overview of the state-of-the-art drug discovery to target the epitranscriptome. Finally, we will discuss the principal challenges in the field of chemical biology and drug development to increase the potential of targeted-RNA for clinical benefit.