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The subduction model of the Neo-Tethys during the Early Cretaceous has always been a controversial topic, and the scarcity of Early Cretaceous magmatic rocks in the southern part of the Gangdese batholith is the main cause of this debate. To address this issue, this article presents new zircon U–Pb chronology, zircon Hf isotope, whole-rock geochemistry and Sr–Nd isotope data for the Early Cretaceous quartz diorite dykes with adakite affinity in Liuqiong, Gongga. Zircon U–Pb dating of three samples yielded ages of c. 141–137 Ma, indicating that the Liuqiong quartz diorite was emplaced in the Early Cretaceous. The whole-rock geochemical analysis shows that the Liuqiong quartz diorite is enriched in large-ion lithophile elements (LILEs) and light rare-earth elements (LREEs) and is depleted in high-field-strength elements (HFSEs), which are related to slab subduction. Additionally, the Liuqiong quartz diorite has high SiO2, Al2O3 and Sr contents, high Sr/Y ratios and low heavy rare-earth element (HREE) and Y contents, which are compatible with typical adakite signatures. The initial 87Sr/86Sr values of the Liuqiong adakite range from 0.705617 to 0.705853, and the whole-rock ϵNd(t) values vary between +5.78 and +6.24. The zircon ϵHf(t) values vary from +11.5 to +16.4. Our results show that the Liuqiong adakite magma was derived from partial melting of the Neo-Tethyan oceanic plate (mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) + sediment + fluid), with some degree of subsequent peridotite interaction within the overlying mantle wedge. Combining regional data, we favour the interpretation that the Neo-Tethyan oceanic crust was subducted at a low angle beneath the Gangdese during the Early Cretaceous.
We have grown intermetallic ErPd2Si2 single crystals employing laser diodes with the floating-zone method. The temperature dependence of the unit-cell parameters was determined using synchrotron and in-house X-ray powder diffraction measurements from 20 to 500 K. The diffraction patterns fit well with the tetragonal I4/mmm space group (No. 139) with two chemical formulae within the unit cell. The synchrotron powder diffraction study shows that the refined unit-cell parameters are a = 4.10320(2) Å, c = 9.88393(5) Å at 298 K and a = 4.11737(2) Å, c = 9.88143(5) Å at 500 K, resulting in the unit-cell volume V = 166.408(1) Å3 (298 K) and 167.517(2) Å3 (500 K). In the whole studied temperature range, no structural phase transition was observed. Upon cooling, the unit-cell parameters a and c are shortened and elongated, respectively.
Nutritional Risk Screening index is a standard tool to assess nutritional risk, but epidemiological data are scarce on controlling nutritional status (CONUT) as a prognostic marker in acute haemorrhagic stroke (AHS). We aimed to explore whether the CONUT may predict a 3-month functional outcome in AHS. In total, 349 Chinese patients with incident AHS were consecutively recruited, and their malnutrition risks were determined using a high CONUT score of ≥ 2. The cohort patients were divided into high-CONUT (≥ 2) and low-CONUT (< 2) groups, and primary outcomes were a poor functional prognosis defined as the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of ≥ 3 at post-discharge for 3 months. Odds ratios (OR) with 95 % confidence intervals (CI) for the poor functional prognosis at post-discharge were estimated by using a logistic analysis with additional adjustments for unbalanced variables between the high-CONUT and low-CONUT groups. A total of 328 patients (60·38 ± 12·83 years; 66·77 % male) completed the mRS assessment at post-discharge for 3 months, with 172 patients at malnutrition risk at admission and 104 patients with a poor prognosis. The levels of total cholesterol and total lymphocyte counts were significantly lower in high-CONUT patients than low-CONUT patients (P = 0·012 and < 0·001, respectively). At 3-month post discharge, there was a greater risk for the poor outcome in the high-CONUT compared with the low-CONUT patients at admission (OR: 2·32, 95 % CI: 1·28, 4·17). High-CONUT scores independently predict a 3-month poor prognosis in AHS, which helps to identify those who need additional nutritional managements.
As a new management reform adapting the development of the times, electronic human resource management (E-HRM) covers all possible integration mechanisms and contents between HRM and Information Technologies. E-HRM promotes employees' subject status with the network characteristics of openness and cooperation. Taking the theory of work adjustment as the instruction, this research studies the adaptive process induced by reconstructing the sense of matching when employees experience the reform, along with the influence of E-HRM on employee's initiative behavior from the perspective of job crafting. In total, 706 employees and their supervisors were investigated with matched questionnaire survey. The results show that: (1) E-HRM can stimulate employees' personal initiative behavior; (2) task crating, relational crafting and cognitive crafting as three dimensions of employees' job crafting, mediate the effect of E-HRM on personal initiative behavior and (3) the self-development motivation of employees' internet use plays a positive moderating role, steering self-oriented job crafting in the positive direction which conforms to the organizations' expectation.
The present study evaluated effects of dietary supplementation with tryptophan (Trp) on muscle growth, protein synthesis and antioxidant capacity in hybrid catfish Pelteobagrus vachelli♀ × Leiocassis longirostris♂. Fish were fed six different diets containing 2·6 (control), 3·1, 3·7, 4·2, 4·7 and 5·6 g Trp/kg diet for 56 d, respectively. Results showed that dietary Trp significantly (1) improved muscle protein content, fibre density and frequency of fibre diameter; (2) up-regulated the mRNA levels of PCNA, myf5, MyoD1, MyoG, MRF4, IGF-I, IGF-II, IGF-IR, PIK3Ca, TOR, 4EBP1 and S6K1; (3) increased phosphorylation levels of AKT, TOR and S6K1; (4) decreased contents of MDA and PC, and increased activities of CAT, GST, GR, ASA and AHR; (5) up-regulated mRNA levels of CuZnSOD, CAT, GST, GPx, GCLC and Nrf2, and decreased Keap1 mRNA level; (6) increased nuclear Nrf2 protein level and the intranuclear antioxidant response element-binding ability, and reduced Keap1 protein level. These results indicated that dietary Trp improved muscle growth, protein synthesis as well as antioxidant capacity, which might be partly related to myogenic regulatory factors, IGF/PIK3Ca/AKT/TOR and Keap1/Nrf2 signalling pathways. Finally, based on the quadratic regression analysis of muscle protein and MDA contents, the optimal Trp requirements of hybrid catfish (21·82–39·64 g) were estimated to be 3·94 and 3·93 g Trp/kg diet (9·57 and 9·54 g/kg of dietary protein), respectively.
Wealth management products have been popular investment vehicles in China, and they are governed by standard form contracts. Existing studies mainly focus on the risk of such products and suggest having special laws to provide more protection for customers. Little is known about the actual contents of wealth management product contracts. Based on 66 hand-collected wealth management product contracts from major Chinese commercial banks, this article tries to explore the contractual relationship between giant banks and individual customers. It also tests the exploitation theory in a Chinese context by analysing whether the wealth management product contracts are more pro-seller or pro-buyer relative to the laws and regulations in China. Our findings reinforce the argument that standard form contracts are designed in favour of the sellers. The wealth management product contracts are tilted toward the commercial banks relative to the default rules. These contracts contain massive clauses that limit banks’ liabilities and restrict customers’ choice of conflict resolution mechanisms. However, a counter-intuitive finding is that national commercial banks provide less pro-seller terms than the local ones. We argue that the explanations for such variation in contract practices among Chinese commercial banks lie in the enforcement of relevant laws and regulations and the unique nature of national commercial banks.
Efficient photosynthesis requires a balance of ATP and NADPH production/consumption in chloroplasts, and the exportation of reducing equivalents from chloroplasts is important for balancing stromal ATP/NADPH ratio. Here, we showed that the overexpression of purple acid phosphatase 2 on the outer membranes of chloroplasts and mitochondria can streamline the production and consumption of reducing equivalents in these two organelles, respectively. A higher capacity of consumption of reducing equivalents in mitochondria can indirectly help chloroplasts to balance the ATP/NADPH ratio in stroma and recycle NADP+, the electron acceptors of the linear electron flow (LEF). A higher rate of ATP and NADPH production from the LEF, a higher capacity of carbon fixation by the Calvin–Benson–Bassham (CBB) cycle and a greater consumption of NADH in mitochondria enhance photosynthesis in the chloroplasts, ATP production in the mitochondria and sucrose synthesis in the cytosol and eventually boost plant growth and seed yields in the overexpression lines.
The Dayao Paleolithic site, located in Inner Mongolia on the eastern margin of China's vast northwestern drylands, was a lithic quarry-workshop utilized by Pleistocene human migrants through the region. Determining the age of this activity has previously yielded controversial results. Our magnetostratigraphic and OSL dating results suggest the two artifact-bearing paleosols are correlated with MIS 5 and 7, respectively. Correlating paleoclimatic data with marine δ18O records leads us to conclude that two sandy gravel layers containing many artifacts in the lower part of the Dayao sequence were formed during MIS 9 and 11, if not earlier. Our results reveal that the earliest human occupation at the Dayao site occurred before ca. 400 ka during a relatively warm and moist interglacial period, similar to several subsequent occupations, documenting the earliest and northernmost archaeological assemblage yet reported in China's arid northwest. We conclude that the northward and southward displacements of the East Asian summer monsoon rain belt during past interglacial-glacial cycles were responsible for the discontinuous human occupation detected at the Dayao site. The penetration of this precipitation regime into dryland ecologies via the Huanghe (Yellow River) Valley effectively created a corridor for hominin migration into China's arid northwest.
Over recent decades, Chinese giant salamanders Andrias spp. have declined dramatically across much of their range. Overexploitation and habitat degradation have been widely cited as the cause of these declines. To investigate the relative contribution of each of these factors in driving the declines, we carried out standardized ecological and questionnaire surveys at 98 sites across the range of giant salamanders in China. We did not find any statistically significant differences between water parameters (temperature, dissolved oxygen, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, salinity, alkalinity, hardness and flow rate) recorded at sites where giant salamanders were detected by survey teams and/or had been recently seen by local respondents, and sites where they were not detected and/or from which they had recently been extirpated. Additionally, we found direct and indirect evidence that the extraction of giant salamanders from the wild is ongoing, including within protected areas. Our results support the hypothesis that the decline of giant salamanders across China has been primarily driven by overexploitation. Data on water parameters may be informative for the establishment of conservation breeding programmes, an initiative recommended for the conservation of these species.
A multidisciplinary fieldwork and research project was recently begun at the Yangshang site (220–140 ka), a late Early Paleolithic locale in the western Chinese Loess Plateau. 1696 lithic artifacts and 337 faunal remains were recovered during the excavation. Sedimentological and paleoenvironmental investigations indicate the site preserves a relatively long and minimally disturbed archaeological sequence associated with paleoenvironmental changes during MIS 7–6. A detailed techno-typological analysis of Yangshang's lithic assemblages was undertaken to examine the influence of glacial cycles on late Middle Pleistocene hominin technological strategies in the western Chinese Loess Plateau. The results show that while the Yangshang site is dominated by quartz-based core/flake assemblages typical of most Early Paleolithic sites in North China, the lithic assemblages provide evidence that different provisioning systems existed during the penultimate glaciation. We argue that these shifts reflect changes in land use and mobility that were tied to climate change. Our results suggest that theoretically informed statistical analyses of so-called unchanging and crude lithic technology can yield meaningful evidence for behavioral shifts.
Modern electron microscopy permits scientists to study the fine detail of cells and tissues, using both two-dimensional and three-dimensional imaging modalities. However, achieving optimal preservation of ultrastructure for a variety of biological samples remains a challenge. Here, we describe practical methods to preserve the fine structure of mouse skeletal muscle and sciatic nerve and to obtain high-resolution images of mitochondria in cultured cells, flow-sorted T-cells, and mouse urothelium. We also propose an effective and economical workflow for three-dimensional electron microscopy in the context of a microscopy core facility.
The neuropeptide oxytocin is proposed as a promising therapy for social dysfunction by modulating amygdala-mediated social-emotional behavior. Although clinical trials report some benefits of chronic treatment, it is unclear whether efficacy may be influenced by dose frequency or genotype.
Methods
In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pharmaco-functional magnetic resonance imaging trial (150 male subjects), we investigated acute and different chronic (every day or on alternate days for 5 days) intranasal oxytocin (24 international units) effects and oxytocin receptor genotype-mediated treatment sensitivity on amygdala responses to face emotions. We also investigated similar effects on resting-state functional connectivity between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex.
Results
A single dose of oxytocin-reduced amygdala responses to all face emotions but for threatening (fear and anger) and happy faces, this effect was abolished after daily doses for 5 days but maintained by doses given every other day. The latter dose regime also enhanced associated anxious-arousal attenuation for fear faces. Oxytocin effects on reducing amygdala responses to face emotions only occurred in AA homozygotes of rs53576 and A carriers of rs2254298. The effects of oxytocin on resting-state functional connectivity were not influenced by either dose-frequency or receptor genotype.
Conclusions
Infrequent chronic oxytocin administration may be therapeutically most efficient and its anxiolytic neural and behavioral actions are highly genotype-dependent in males.
In this paper, the generation of relativistic electron mirrors (REMs) and the reflection of an ultra-short laser off this mirrors are discussed, applying two-dimensional particle-in-cell (2D-PIC) simulations. REMs with ultra-high acceleration and expanding velocity can be produced from a solid nanofoil illuminated normally by an ultra-intense femtosecond laser pulse with a sharp rising edge. Chirped attosecond pulse can be produced through the reflection of a counter-propagating probe laser off the accelerating REM. In the electron moving frame, the plasma frequency of the REM keeps decreasing due to its rapidly expanding. The laser frequency, on the contrary, keeps increasing due to the acceleration of REM and the relativistic Doppler shift from the lab frame to the electron moving frame. Within an ultra-short time interval, the two frequencies will be equal in the electron moving frame, which leads the resonance between laser and REM. The reflected radiation near this interval and the corresponding spectra will be amplified due to the resonance. Through adjusting the arriving time of the probe laser, certain part of the reflected field could be selectively amplified or depressed, leading to the selectively adjusting of the corresponding spectra.
Health behavior was conducive to control the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic. This study aimed to determine the differences in health behaviors and related factors among rural and urban residents in China.
Methods:
From February 14 to 22, 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic in China, a total of 2449 participants (1783 (72.81%) urban residents and 666 (27.19%) rural residents) were recruited by snowball sampling on WeChat and QQ social platforms, both owned by Tencent. Data were collected through the Web-questionnaire guided by an information–motivation–behavioral skills model. The multiple-group structural equation model was applied to analyze the factors.
Results:
Rural residents had lower health behavior scores than urban residents, even after adjusting demographic characteristics (33.86 vs 34.29, P = 0.042; total score was 40). Motivational, behavioral skills, and stress had direct positive and negative influences on health behaviors of urban and rural residents. Information and positive perception of interventions had direct effects on health behaviors in rural residents, but not in urban residents. All the factors were mediated by behavioral skills in rural and urban residents.
Conclusions:
This study suggests that the government should pay attention to substantial rural and urban disparities and implement different COVID-19 prevention and intervention policies for health behaviors targeting rural and urban residents.
Reward dysfunction is a major dimension of depressive symptomatology, but it remains obscure if that dysfunction varies across different reward types. In this study, we focus on the abnormalities in anticipatory/consummatory processing of monetary and social reward associated with depressive symptoms.
Methods
Forty participants with depressive symptoms and forty normal controls completed the monetary incentive delay (MID) and social incentive delay (SID) tasks with event-related potential (ERP) recording.
Results
In the SID but not the MID task, both the behavioral hit rate and the ERP component contingent negative variation (CNV; indicating reward anticipation) were sensitive to the interaction between the grouping factor and reward magnitude; that is, the depressive group showed a lower hit rate and a smaller CNV to large-magnitude (but not small-magnitude) social reward cues compared to the control group. Further, these two indexes were correlated with each other. Meanwhile, the ERP components feedback-related negativity and P3 (indicating reward consumption) were sensitive to the main effect of depression across the MID and SID tasks, though this effect was more prominent in the SID task.
Conclusions
Overall, we suggest that depressive symptoms are associated with deficits in both the reward anticipation and reward consumption stages, particularly for social rewards. These findings have a potential to characterize the profile of functional impairment that comprises and maintains depression.
The present study aimed to investigate the association of the Chinese visceral adiposity index (CVAI) and its 6-year change with hypertension risk and compare the ability of CVAI and other obesity indices to predict hypertension based on the Rural Chinese Cohort Study. Study participants were randomly recruited by a cluster sampling procedure, and 10 304 participants ≥18 years were included. Modified Poisson regression was used to derive adjusted relative risks (RR) and 95 % CI. We identified 2072 hypertension cases during a median of 6·03 years of follow-up. The RR for the highest v. lowest CVAI quartile were 1·29 (95 % CI 1·05, 1·59) for men and 1·53 (95 % CI 1·22, 1·91) for women. Per-sd increase in CVAI was associated with hypertension for both men (RR 1·09, 95 % CI 1·02, 1·16) and women (RR 1·14, 95 % CI 1·06, 1·22). Also, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve value for hypertension was higher for CVAI than the four other obesity indices for both sexes (all P < 0·05). Finally, per-sd increase in CVAI change was associated with hypertension for both men (RR 1·26, 95 % CI 1·16, 1·36) and women (RR 1·23, 95 % CI 1·15, 1·30). Similar results were observed in sensitivity analyses. CVAI and its 6-year change are positively associated with hypertension risk. CVAI has better performance in predicting hypertension than other visceral obesity indices for both sexes. The current findings suggest CVAI as a reliable and applicable predictor of hypertension in rural Chinese adults.
The cellular accumulation of drug delivery systems (DDSs) is a critical parameter to determine the final outcome of cancer chemotherapy. Herein, we designed a red blood cells membrane-based vehicle (RV) and employed it to load both doxorubicin (Dox) and IR 780 (RV/I-D). The photothermal-assisted chemotherapy efficacy of RV/I-D on the treatment of cancer was tested on a prostate cancer model. Excitingly, the results showed that RV/I-D was stable and safe nanoparticles with size at about 100 nm. Moreover, upon the increase of system temperature using photothermal effects of IR780, the drug release of the DDS was accelerated. Above all, the DDS also increased the accumulation of drugs into the Dox-resistant prostate cancer cells (PC-3/Dox) both in vitro and in vivo and showed enhanced anticancer performance.
Iridium (Ir) has an extremely high melting point (2443 °C), high chemical stability and is one of the most promising high-temperature materials. However, Ir is more difficult to process compared with other face-centered cubic metals, such as Ni and Al, which limits its applications. To solve this problem, we study the effect of 32 alloying elements (X) on stacking fault energy of dilute Ir-based alloys generated by shear deformation using the first-principles calculations. The investigation reveals that there are many alloying elements studied herein decrease the stacking fault energy of face-centered cubic (fcc) Ir, and the most effective element in reducing stacking fault energy of fcc Ir is Zn. The microscopic mechanism is caused by electron redistribution in the local stacking fault area. These results are expected to provide valuable guidance for the further design and application of Ir-based alloys.
Early life stress has been associated with emotional dysregulations and altered architecture of limbic-prefrontal brain systems engaged in emotional processing. Serotonin regulates both, developmental and experience-dependent neuroplasticity in these circuits. Central serotonergic biosynthesis rates are regulated by Tryptophan hydroxylase 2 (TPH2) and transgenic animal models suggest that TPH2-gene associated differences in serotonergic signaling mediate the impact of aversive early life experiences on a phenotype characterized by anxious avoidance.
Methods
The present study employed an imaging genetics approach that capitalized on individual differences in a TPH2 polymorphism (703G/T; rs4570625) to determine whether differences in serotonergic signaling modulate the effects of early life stress on brain structure and function and punishment sensitivity in humans (n = 252).
Results
Higher maltreatment exposure before the age of 16 was associated with increased gray matter volumes in a circuitry spanning thalamic-limbic-prefrontal regions and decreased intrinsic communication in limbic-prefrontal circuits selectively in TT carriers. In an independent replication sample, associations between higher early life stress and increased frontal volumes in TT carriers were confirmed. On the phenotype level, the genotype moderated the association between higher early life stress exposure and higher punishment sensitivity. In TT carriers, the association between higher early life stress exposure and punishment sensitivity was critically mediated by increased thalamic-limbic-prefrontal volumes.
Conclusions
The present findings suggest that early life stress shapes the neural organization of the limbic-prefrontal circuits in interaction with individual variations in the TPH2 gene to promote a phenotype characterized by facilitated threat avoidance, thus promoting early adaptation to an adverse environment.
In the current research, a 60-d experiment was conducted with the purpose of exploring the impacts of methionine (Met) on growth performance, muscle nutritive deposition, muscle fibre growth and type I collagen synthesis as well as the related signalling pathway. Six diets (iso-nitrogenous) differing in Met concentrations (2·54, 4·85, 7·43, 10·12, 12·40 and 15·11 g/kg diets) were fed to 540 grass carp (178·47 (SD 0·36) g). Results showed (P < 0·05) that compared with Met deficiency, optimal level of dietary Met (1) increased feed intake, feed efficiency, specific growth rate and percentage weight gain (PWG); (2) increased fish muscle protein, lipid and free amino acid contents and improved fish muscle fatty acid profile as well as increased protein content in part associated with the target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1)/S6K1 signalling pathway; (3) increased the frequency distribution of muscle fibre with >50 µm of diameter; (4) increased type I collagen synthesis partly related to the transforming growth factor-β1/Smads and CK2/TORC1 signalling pathways. In conclusion, dietary Met improved muscle growth, which might be due to the regulation of muscle nutritive deposition, muscle fibre growth and type I collagen synthesis-related signal molecules. Finally, according to PWG and muscle collagen content, the Met requirements for on-growing grass carp (178–626 g) were estimated to be 9·56 g/kg diet (33·26 g/kg protein of diet) and 9·28 g/kg diet (32·29 g/kg of dietary protein), respectively.