The assessment of seed quality and physiological potential is essential in seed production and crop breeding. In the process of rapid detection of seed viability using tetrazolium (TZ) staining, it is necessary to spend a lot of labour and material resources to explore the pretreatment and staining methods of hard and solid seeds with physical barriers. This study explores the TZ staining methods of six hard seeds (Tilia miqueliana, Tilia henryana, Sassafras tzumu, Prunus subhirtella, Prunus sibirica, and Juglans mandshurica) and summarizes the TZ staining conditions required for hard seeds by combining the difference in fat content between seeds and the kinship between species, thus providing a rapid viability test method for the protection of germplasm resources of endangered plants and the optimization of seed bank construction. The TZ staining of six species of hard seeds requires a staining temperature above 35 °C and a TZ solution concentration higher than 1%. Endospermic seeds require shorter staining times than exalbuminous seeds. The higher the fat content of the seeds, the lower the required incubation temperature and TZ concentration for staining, and the longer the staining time. And the closer the relationship between the two species, the more similar their staining conditions become. The TZ staining method of similar species can be predicted according to the genetic distance between the phylogenetic trees, and the viability of new species can be detected quickly.

COVID-19 may not only pose threats but also provided opportunities for innovation and growth for many high-tech small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This study investigates the relationship between entrepreneurial passion (EP), dynamic capability (DC) for innovation and product innovation performance in SMEs during COVID-19. Hierarchical regression and bootstrapping methods were employed per the survey data of 195 Chinese SMEs. The results reveal that EP is an imperative antecedent of DC and product innovation. DC also positively mediates the relationship between SMEs’ product innovation performance and top managers’ EP. In addition, this mediation effect of DC becomes more pronounced when firms are facing more opportunities. These findings advance the existing literature by specifying the process top managers use to cultivate product innovation within SMEs in times of crisis.

Athetis lepigone Möschler (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) is a common maize pest in Europe and Asia. However, there is no long-term effective management strategy is available yet to suppress its population. Adults rely heavily on olfactory cues to locate their optimal host plants and oviposition sites. Pheromone-binding proteins (PBPs) are believed to be responsible for recognizing and transporting different odorant molecules to interact with receptor membrane proteins. In this study, the ligand-binding specificities of two AlepPBPs (AlepPBP2 and AlepPBP3) for sex pheromone components and host plant (maize) volatiles were measured by fluorescence ligand-binding assay. The results demonstrated that AlepPBP2 had a high affinity with two pheromones [(Z)-7-dodecenyl acetate, Ki = 1.11 ± 0.1 μM, (Z)-9-tetradecenyl acetate, Ki = 1.32 ± 0.15 μM] and ten plant volatiles, including (-)-limonene, α-pinene, myrcene, linalool, benzaldehyde, nonanal, 2-hexanone, 3-hexanone, 2-heptanone and 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one. In contrast, we found that none of these chemicals could bind to AlepPBP3. Our results clearly show no significant differences in the functional characterization of the binding properties between AlepPBP2 and AlepPBP3 to sex pheromones and host plant volatiles. Furthermore, molecular docking was employed for further detail on some crucial amino acid residues involved in the ligand-binding of AlepPBP2. These findings will provide valuable information about the potential protein binding sites necessary for protein-ligand interactions which appear as attractive targets for the development of novel technologies and management strategies for insect pests.

The aim of this study was to explore the effects and mechanisms of different starvation treatments on the compensatory growth of Acipenser dabryanus. A total of 120 fish (60·532 (sem 0·284) g) were randomly assigned to four groups (fasting 0, 3, 7 or 14 d and then refed for 14 d). During fasting, middle body weight decreased significantly with prolonged starvation. The whole-body and muscle composition, serum biochemical indexes, visceral indexes and digestive enzyme activities had been effected with varying degrees of changes. The growth hormone (GH) level in serum was significantly increased in 14D; however, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) showed the opposite trend. The neuropeptide Y (npy) mRNA level in brain was significantly improved in 7D; peptide YY (pyy) mRNA level in intestine was significantly decreased during fasting. After refeeding, the final body weight, percentage weight gain, specific growth rate, feed intake, feed efficiency and protein efficiency ratio showed no difference between 0D and 3D. The changes of whole-body and muscle composition, serum biochemical indexes, visceral indexes and digestive enzyme activities had taken place in varying degrees. GH levels in 3D and 7D were significantly higher than those in the 0D; the IGF-1 content decreased significantly during refeeding. There was no significant difference in npy and pyy mRNA levels. These results indicated that short-term fasting followed by refeeding resulted in full compensation and the physiological and biochemical effects on A. dabryanus were the lowest after 3 d of starvation and 14 d of refeeding. Additionally, compensation in A. dabryanus may be mediated by appetite genes and GH, and the degree of compensation is also affected by the duration of starvation.

A kind of novel Ni–P gradient coating/stannate conversion film was deposited on AZ91D magnesium alloy (AZ91D alloy) by an integrative method involved stannate conversion and electroless plating. The results indicated that using sodium hypophosphite concentrations varied as 5, 10, 22, 46, and 60 g/L in the bath, the electroless Ni–P gradient coating with typical cell morphologies was successfully prepared, and the structures transited from crystalline → microcrystalline → amorphous were obtained as increasing P content from 3.31 to 12.58 wt%. Furthermore, the corrosion morphologies, polarization curves, and the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy result indicated that the corrosion resistance of AZ91D alloy substrate was significantly improved and the corrosion resistance of Ni–P gradient coating was superior than that of stannate conversion film, which might be attributed to the gradient structure and rising P content with unique function.

Living Caprini are dominant bovids in the pan-Tibetan area that are strongly adapted to dry steppe and high-mountain meadow habitats. Some taxa with Holarctic distributions, e.g., Ovis Linnaeus, 1758, were thought to originate on the Tibetan Plateau and subsequently dispersed elsewhere, which was depicted as an ‘out of Tibet’ story. However, except for some information on a stem caprine assemblage from the Qaidam Basin, the early evolution of Caprini around the Tibetan Plateau is poorly known. Here, we report new material of Olonbulukia tsaidamensis Bohlin, 1937, which was a member of this stem caprine assemblage, from the Wuzhong region, northern China, confirming the similarity of the Wuzhong Fauna and ‘Qaidam Fauna.’ Based on a biometric study of horncores from the ‘Qaidam’ and Wuzhong faunas, we recognize six taxa from this stem caprine assemblage: O. tsaidamensis, O. sp., Qurliqnoria cheni Bohlin, 1937, Tossunnoria pseudibex Bohlin, 1937, ?Protoryx cf. P. enanus Köhler, 1987, and cf. Pachytragus sp. Among these taxa, Q. cheni and T. pseudibex are probably related to some extant Tibetan endemic species, e.g., the Tibetan antelope, Pantholops hodgsonii (Abel, 1826), and the Himalayan tahr, Hemitragus jemlahicus (Smith, 1826). Others might be ancestral to the Turolian caprine assemblages and even possibly gave rise to the extant Caprina. This work reveals an early radiation of stem caprines along the northern side of the rising Tibetan Plateau and indicates a mixed pattern of pan-Tibetan stem caprine evolution prior to their dispersal out of the Tibetan Plateau.

The effects of acid and Al concentration, type of Al salt, treatment temperature and time of removal of Mg from sepiolite have been investigated, as has the use of modified sepiolite as an active fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) matrix. The samples were characterized by N2 adsorption and X-ray diffraction. Mg removal from sepiolite increased with increasing acid and Al ion concentration, treatment time and temperature. The temperature had the greatest impact on Mg removal. After acid and Al modification, 29% of the Mg was removed. When using the modified sepiolites as active matrices in FCC catalysts, the specific surface area, pore volume and mesoporous pore volume of the catalysts increased and they exhibited excellent performance in resisting the effects of heavy-metals as a result of the introduction of Mg oxide from the modified sepiolite.

Introduction: To investigate the effects of paroxetine (PAR) on motor and cognitive function recovery in patients with non-depressed ischemic stroke (nD-AIS).

Methods: One hundred sixty-seven patients hospitalized for non-depressed acute ischemic stroke were selected and divided into treatment (T) and control (C) groups using a random number table. All patients received conventional secondary ischemic stroke prevention and rehabilitation training; patients in Group T additionally received treatment with PAR (10 mg/day during week 1 and 20 mg/day thereafter) for 3 months. The follow-up observation lasted 6 months. The Fugl–Meyer motor scale (FMMS), Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA), and Hamilton depression scale (HAMD) were used on D0, D15, D90, and D180 (T0, 1, 2, and 3, respectively; D180 = 90 days after treatment cessation) after study initiation, and scores were compared between the groups.

Results: The FMMS and MoCA scores differed significantly between Groups T and C at T2 and T3 (p < .05); by contrast, these scores did not differ significantly between the groups at T1 (p > .05). Furthermore, the HAMD scores differed significantly between the two groups at T3 (p < .05), but not at T1 and T2 (p > .05).

Conclusions: PAR treatment may improve motor and cognitive function recovery in patients with nD-AIS. Moreover, PAR may reduce the occurrence of depression after stroke.

Colistin, a peptide antibiotic belonging to the polymyxin family, is one of the last effective drugs for the treatment of multidrug resistant Gram-negative infections. Recent discovery of a novel mobile colistin resistance gene, mcr-1, from people and food animals has caused a significant public health concern and drawn worldwide attention. Extensive usage of colistin in food animals has been proposed as a major driving force for the emergence and transmission of mcr-1; thus, there is a worldwide trend to limit colistin usage in animal production. However, despite lack of colistin usage in food animals in the USA, mcr-1-positive Escherichia coli isolates were still isolated from swine. In this paper, we provided an overview of colistin usage and epidemiology of mcr-1 in food animals, and summarized the current status of mechanistic and evolutionary studies of the plasmid-mediated colistin resistance. Based on published information, we further discussed several non-colistin usage risk factors that may contribute to the persistence, transmission, and emergence of colistin resistance in an animal production system. Filling the knowledge gaps identified in this review is critical for risk assessment and risk management of colistin resistance, which will facilitate proactive and effective strategies to mitigate colistin resistance in future animal production systems.

Nine possible native point defects in MgCaSi have been studied by employing density functional theory based ab initio calculations. The complex chemical potential limits are first determined using a two-dimension (∆μMg, ∆μCa) diagram, then the defect formation energies as a function of the atomic chemical potential are gained. The energetic results show that under Mg-rich conditions, the most favorable defect is MgCa rather than MgSi, while CaMg is predominant compared to CaSi under Ca-rich conditions. The bonding energy is first introduced to uncover the intrinsic feature of defect formation energy. The local geometric distortion around CaMg, MgSi, and CaSi antisite defects gradually increases due to the smaller atomic radii from Ca to Mg and Si, showing the important role of the geometrical mismatch. The density of states indicates that the higher stability of CaMg and MgCa originates from the smaller deviation of the Fermi level from the pseudo-gap.

One of the most important non-destructive methods for on-site analysis of bronze artifacts is portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF). However, bronze artifacts are usually heterogeneous in composition due to, among other things, the segregation of lead, which is hard to be eliminated through annealing treatments. In the present work, Cu-Sn-Pb alloys with homogenous composition and microstructure is fabricated by powder metallurgy technique. The suitability of the standard curve using Cu-Sn-Pb alloys by powder metallurgy as the standard samples for XRF on the analysis of bronze artifacts is evaluated. It is shown that this proposed method can be transferred to portable XRF to acquire accurate on-site composition information of bronze artifacts.

X-ray powder diffraction data, unit-cell parameters, and space group for thiamphenicol, C12H15Cl2NO5S, are reported [a = 17.346(3), b = 15.341(0), c = 5.790 (2) Å, α = β = γ = 90°, unit-cell volume V = 1540.8(3) Å3, Z = 4, and space group P212121]. All measured lines were indexed and are consistent with the P212121 space group. No detectable impurities were observed.

A 36-year-old woman, who had a history of myomectomy, presented with lightheadedness after changing position from sitting to standing and effort-related shortness of breath. Echocardiography demonstrated a hyperechoic elongated mobile mass extending from the inferior caval vein to the right atrium. The mass was surgically removed, and histological examination established the diagnosis of intravenous leiomyomatosis. This case caught the attention of our cardiology group to consider the diagnosis when an inferior caval vein or right atrium mass is found in a patient with a history of uterine leiomyomatosis.

As one of the most typical ancient cultural relics in southern China's minority regions near Changsha in Hunan province, the magnificent Laosicheng ruins excavated recently have been included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Tentative List. Urgent conservation of excavated Laosicheng ruins brings about the need for a study of the formulation and properties of construction materials used, including earth, stone, mortar, and brick. In the present study, comprehensive analyses were carried out to determine their raw material compositions, mineralogical, and microstructural properties using sheet polarized optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometer, thermogravimetric/differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray powder diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Special attention was paid to mortars, which were the most widely used in building the Laosicheng. Results show that mortar used as external render of the city wall is mainly built up from inorganic CaCO3 and MgCO3 based hybrid materials produced by the carbonation of Ca(OH)2 and Mg(OH)2 with a small amount of sticky rice. In contrast, mortar used to bond stones of the city walls is a traditional mortar that does not contain sticky rice. This study is a part of a huge interdisciplinary project aimed to clarify the role of organics in ancient China’s organic-inorganic hybrid mortar, which can be considered as one of the greatest invention in construction material history. The results provide valuable basic data and restoration strategies that can be used in the conservation of the ruins as well.