Differences in the properties of clay minerals cause formation damage under the condition of thermal production in heavy-oil reservoirs; asphaltenes adsorbed on clay minerals exacerbate the formation damage. The purpose of the present study was to reveal the variation in clay minerals and the adsorption behavior of asphaltenes on clay mineral surfaces under thermal recovery conditions. Volume changes and transformations of typical clay minerals were studied under various conditions (80 and 180°C, pH 9 and 11, aqueous and oven-dry conditions). On this basis, the adsorption behavior and mechanism of asphaltenes on the surfaces of clay minerals in various simulated conditions were investigated. The adsorption mechanism was revealed using kinetics and isothermal adsorption models. The results showed that the volume of montmorillonite expanded by up to 159.13% after water–rock interaction at 180°C with pH 11; meanwhile, the conversion rates of kaolinite and illite to montmorillonite were 6.6 and 7.8%, respectively. The water–rock interaction intensified the volume changes and transformations of clay minerals under thermal conditions. The amounts of asphaltene adsorbed on clay minerals at 180°C were greater than those at 80°C. The adsorption process of asphaltenes was inhibited under aqueous conditions. The abilities of the constituent minerals to bind asphaltenes was in order: montmorillonite > chlorite > kaolinite > illite > quartz sand. The adsorption process of asphaltenes yielded high coefficients of regression with both the Freundlich and Langmuir models under oven-dry (>0.99) and aqueous (>0.98) conditions. At 180°C under aqueous conditions, the water film significantly inhibited the adsorption of asphaltene on the clay minerals. The adsorption process of asphaltenes, therefore, could be regarded as the adsorption occurring at lower concentrations under oven-dry conditions.

Rodents and shrews are major reservoirs of various pathogens that are related to zoonotic infectious diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate co-infections of zoonotic pathogens in rodents and shrews trapped in four provinces of China. We sampled different rodent and shrew communities within and around human settlements in four provinces of China and characterised several important zoonotic viral, bacterial, and parasitic pathogens by PCR methods and phylogenetic analysis. A total of 864 rodents and shrews belonging to 24 and 13 species from RODENTIA and EULIPOTYPHLA orders were captured, respectively. For viral pathogens, two species of hantavirus (Hantaan orthohantavirus and Caobang orthohantavirus) were identified in 3.47% of rodents and shrews. The overall prevalence of Bartonella spp., Anaplasmataceae, Babesia spp., Leptospira spp., Spotted fever group Rickettsiae, Borrelia spp., and Coxiella burnetii were 31.25%, 8.91%, 4.17%, 3.94%, 3.59%, 3.47%, and 0.58%, respectively. Furthermore, the highest co-infection status of three pathogens was observed among Bartonella spp., Leptospira spp., and Anaplasmataceae with a co-infection rate of 0.46%. Our results suggested that species distribution and co-infections of zoonotic pathogens were prevalent in rodents and shrews, highlighting the necessity of active surveillance for zoonotic pathogens in wild mammals in wider regions.

This article focuses on the luggage trolley transportation problem, an essential part of robotic autonomous luggage trolley collection. To efficiently address the nonholonomic constraints derived from the formation of two collaborative robots and a queue of luggage trolleys, we propose a comprehensive framework consisting of a global planning method and a real-time divide-and-conquer control strategy. The popular Hybrid A* algorithm generates a feasible path as the global planner. A model predictive controller is designed to track this path stably and in real time. To maintain the formation so that the whole queue of robots and luggage trolleys does not split, a safety filter that consists of a discrete-time control Lyapunov function and a decentralized control barrier function is implemented in the transportation process. Finally, we conduct real-world experiments to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method on three representative paths, and the results show that our approach can achieve robust performance. The demonstration video can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPiT8BfLIpU.

The G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) sensing nutritional signals (amino acids, fatty acids, glucose, etc.) are not fully understood. In this research, we used transcriptome sequencing to analyse differentially expressed genes (DEG) in mouse mammary gland tissues at puberty, lactation and involution stages, in which eight GPCR were selected out and verified by qRT-PCR assay. It was further identified the role of GPR110-mediating nutrients including palmitic acid (PA) and methionine (Met) to improve milk synthesis using mouse mammary epithelial cell line HC11. PA but not Met affected GPR110 expression in a dose-dependent manner. GPR110 knockdown decreased milk protein and fat synthesis and cell proliferation and blocked the stimulation of PA on mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) phosphorylation and sterol-regulatory element binding protein 1c (SREBP-1c) expression. In summary, these experimental results disclose DEG related to lactation and reveal that GPR110 mediates PA to activate the mTOR and SREBP-1c pathways to promote milk protein and fat synthesis.

The identification of herbicide tolerance is essential for effective chemical weed control. According to whole-plant dose–response assays, none of 29 pond lovegrass [Eragrostis japonica (Thunb.) Trin.] populations were sensitive to penoxsulam. The effective dose values of penoxsulam causing 50% inhibition of fresh weight (GR50: 105.14 to 148.78 g ai ha−1) in E. japonica populations were much higher than the label rate of penoxsulam (15 to 30 g ai ha−1) in the field. This confirmed that E. japonica was tolerant to penoxsulam. Eragrostis japonica populations showed 52.83- to 74.76-fold higher tolerance to penoxsulam than susceptible barnyardgrass [Echinochloa crus-galli (L.) P. Beauv.]. The mechanisms of tolerance to penoxsulam in E. japonica were also identified. In vitro activity assays revealed that the penoxsulam concentration required to inhibit 50% of the acetolactate synthase (ALS) activity (IC50) was 12.27-fold higher in E. japonica than in E. crus-galli. However, differences in the ALS gene, previously found to endow target-site resistance in weeds, were not detected in the sequences obtained. Additionally, the expression level of genes encoding ALS in E. japonica was approximately 2-fold higher than in E. crus-galli after penoxsulam treatment. Furthermore, penoxsulam tolerance can be significantly reversed by three cytochrome P450 monooxygenase (CytP450) inhibitors (1-aminobenzotriazole, piperonyl butoxide, and malathion), and the activity of NADPH-dependent cytochrome P450 reductase toward penoxsulam in E. japonica increased significantly (approximately 7-fold higher) compared with that of treated E. crus-galli. Taken together, these results indicate that lower ALS sensitivity, relatively higher ALS expression levels, and stronger metabolism of CytP450s combined to bring about penoxsulam tolerance in E. japonica.

Several amino acids can stimulate milk synthesis in mammary epithelial cells (MEC); however, the regulatory role of isoleucine (Ile) and underlying molecular mechanism remain poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the regulatory effects of Ile on milk protein and fat synthesis in MEC and reveal the mediation mechanism of Brahma-related gene 1 (BRG1) on this regulation. Ile dose dependently affected milk protein and fat synthesis, mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) phosphorylation, sterol regulatory element binding protein 1c (SREBP-1c) expression and maturation, and BRG1 protein expression in bovine MEC. Phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K) inhibition by LY294002 treatment blocked the stimulation of Ile on BRG1 expression. BRG1 knockdown and gene activation experiments showed that it mediated the stimulation of Ile on milk protein and fat synthesis, mTOR phosphorylation, and SREBP-1c expression and maturation in MEC. ChIP-PCR analysis detected that BRG1 bound to the promoters of mTOR and SREBP-1c, and ChIP-qPCR further detected that these bindings were increased by Ile stimulation. In addition, BRG1 positively regulated the binding of H3K27ac to these two promoters, while it negatively affected the binding of H3K27me3 to these promoters. BRG1 knockdown blocked the stimulation of Ile on these two gene expressions. The expression of BRG1 was higher in mouse mammary gland in the lactating period, compared with that in the puberty or dry period. Taken together, these experimental data reveal that Ile stimulates milk protein and fat synthesis in MEC via the PI3K-BRG1-mTOR/SREBP-1c pathway.

Based on the measurements conducted over the landfast sea ice in Prydz Bay, East Antarctica during the sea-ice growth season in 2016, various parameterization schemes in the high-resolution thermodynamic snow/ice model HIGHTSI are evaluated. The parameterization scheme of turbulent fluxes produces the largest errors compared with the parameterization schemes for other surface heat fluxes. However, the sea-ice thickness simulation is most sensitive to the differences in upward longwave radiation at the surface. In addition, the sea-ice thickness simulation during the growth season is highly sensitive to the oceanic heat flux, and a new oceanic heat flux parameterization scheme based on the bulk method is proposed. The new parameterization scheme is tested in a second year, and it significantly improves the model performance relative to the standard configuration when compared against observations. Finally, the seasonal variation in the heat budget and its influence on the sea-ice thickness variation are analyzed. The net shortwave radiation, sensible heat flux and conductive heat flux (the net longwave radiation and latent heat flux) are found to be the surface heat sources (heat sinks) during the growth season. The larger conductive heat flux and the smaller oceanic heat flux can intensify the growth of sea ice.

The current study aimed to investigate the protective effects of dietary thiamine supplementation on the regulation of colonic integrity and mucosal inflammation in goats fed a high-concentrate (HC) diet. Twenty-four Boer goats (live weight of 35·62 (sem 2·4) kg) were allocated to three groups (CON: concentrate/forage = 30:70; HC; concentrate/forage = 70:30 and HCT: concentrate/forage = 70:30 with 200 mg thiamine/kg DMI) for 12 weeks. Results showed that compared with the HC treatment, the HCT group had a significantly higher ruminal pH value from 0 to 12 h after the feeding. The haematoxylin–eosin staining showed that desquamation and severe cellular damage were observed in the colon epithelium of the HC group, whereas the HCT group exhibited more structural integrity of the epithelial cell morphology. Compared with the HC treatment, the HCT group showed a markedly increase in pyruvate dehydrogenase and α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase enzymes activity. The mRNA expressions in the colonic epithelium of SLC19A2, SLC19A3, SLC25A19, Bcl-2, occludin, claudin-1, claudin-4 and ZO-1 in the HCT group were significantly increased in comparison with the HC diet treatment. Compared with the HC treatment, the HCT diet significantly increased the protein expression of claudin-1 and significantly decreased the protein expression of NF-κB-related proteins p65. The results show that dietary thiamine supplementation could improve the colon epithelial barrier function and alleviate mucosal inflammation injury in goats after lipopolysaccharide and low pH challenge.

Taurine (Tau) has many profound physiological functions, but its role and molecular mechanism in muscle cells are still not fully understood. In this study, we investigated the role and underlying molecular mechanism of Tau on protein synthesis and proliferation of C2C12 myoblast cells. Cells were treated with Tau (0, 60, 120, 180 and 240 μM) for 24 h. Tau dose-dependently promoted protein synthesis, cell proliferation, mechanistic target of rapamycin protein (mTOR) phosphorylation and also AT-rich interaction domain 4B (ARID4B) expression, with the best stimulatory effects at 120 μM. LY 294002 treatment showed that Tau promoted ARID4B expression in a phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)-dependent manner. ARID4B knockdown (by small interfering RNA transfection for 24 h) prevented Tau from stimulating protein synthesis and cell proliferation, whereas ARID4B gene activation (using the CRISPR/dCas9 technology) had stimulatory effects. ARID4B knockdown abolished Tau signalling to mRNA expression and protein phosphorylation of mTOR, whereas ARID4B gene activation had stimulatory effects. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-PCR identified that all of ARID4B, H3K27ac and H3K27me3 bound to the −4368 to –4591 bp site in the mTOR promoter, and ChIP-quantitative PCR (qPCR) further detected that Tau stimulated ARID4B binding to this site. ARID4B knockdown or gene activation did not affect H3K27me3 binding to the mTOR promoter but decreased or increased H3K27ac binding, respectively. Furthermore, ARID4B knockdown abolished the stimulation of Tau on H3K27ac binding to the mTOR promoter. In summary, these data uncover that Tau promotes protein synthesis and proliferation of C2C12 myoblast cells through the PI3K-ARID4B-mTOR pathway, providing a deep understanding of how Tau regulates anabolism in muscle cells.

Several Drosophila species (Diptera: Drosophilidae) have become serious economic pests of berry and soft-skinned stone fruits around the world. Prominent examples are Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura), D. melanogaster (Meigen), D. hydei (Sturtevant), and D. immigrans (Sturtevant). Information on the biology and ecology of Drosophila is important for a better understanding of these important fruit pests and, ultimately, for fruit protection. In this study, the gut bacteriomes of these four Drosophila species were surveyed and the differences among bacterial communities were characterised. The 16S rRNA genes of gut microbes were sequenced by Illumina MiSeq technology (Illumina, San Diego, California, United States of America), followed by α-diversity and β-diversity analyses. The results show that bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae (Kluyvera and Providencia; phylum Proteobacteria) dominated all four Drosophila species. Specific dominant gut bacterial communities were found in each Drosophila species. The dominant families in D. melanogaster and D. suzukii were Enterobacteriaceae, Comamonadaceae, and Acetobacteraceae. In the intestine of D. hydei, Enterobacteriaceae had a proportion of 56.99%, followed by Acetobacteraceae, Spiroplasmataceae, and Bacillales Incertae Sedis XII. In D. immigrans, besides Enterobacteriaceae, Alcaligenaceae, Flavobacteriaceae, Xanthomonadaceae, Comamonadaceae, and Sphingobacteriaceae also had high relative abundance. These data expand current knowledge about the putative function related to gut microbes – for example, the metabolism of carbohydrates, amino acids, inorganic ions, lipids, and secondary metabolites. This knowledge provides a basis for further metatranscriptomic and metaproteomic investigations.

We conducted the first detailed mineral magnetic investigation of more than nine loess–paleosol couplets of the composite Titel-Stari Slankamen loess section in Serbia, which provides one of the longest and most complete terrestrial record of paleoclimatic changes in Europe since ~1.0 Ma. The results show that the ferrimagnetic mineral assemblage of the loess units is dominated by partially oxidized multidomain (MD) and pseudo-single domain (PSD) magnetite; however, with an increasing degree of pedogenesis, the eolian contribution is gradually masked by pedogenic superparamagnetic(SP) and single-domain (SD) ferrimagnets (mainly maghemite). The overall consistency of ferrimagnetic grain-size parameters indicates an absence of dissolution of the fine-grained ferrimagnetic fraction despite changes in climate regime over the past 1.0 Ma. The variations of normalized dJ/dT@120K and normalized χheating@530°C reflect a long-term stepwise increase in aridity during glacials with a major step at ~0.6–0.5 Ma, over the last 1.0 Ma. Overall, the results provide an improved basis for the future use of the magnetic properties of Serbian loess deposits for paleoclimatic reconstruction.

An aircraft wing is the carrier of imaging payload (interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) or array SAR) of a high-resolution aerial remote sensing system, and high-precision estimation of wing deformation is the key. There are two main traditional modelling methods for wing deformation, namely stochastic theory modelling and material mechanics modelling only dealing with single disturbance, of which the model parameters are derived from empirical values. Aiming at the complex multi-source disturbance of an aircraft wing, this paper separately probes the influence of external disturbance (air disturbance) and internal disturbance (engine vibration) based on the real-time observation of sensors and classifies the wing deformation on the basis of auto-regressive (AR) modelling for parameter identification. With the authentic flight data of a certain types of aircraft, the experimental analysis shows that the wing deformation under the influence of engine vibration is the 14th-order AR model, and the wing deformation under the influence of turbulence is the fifth-order AR model. Meanwhile, this paper also provides an experimental verification idea for the wing deflection modelling built on the second- or third-order Markov model.

The origins of metal coinage and the monetisation of ancient economies have long been a research focus in both archaeology and economic history. Recent excavations of an Eastern Zhou period (c. 770–220 BC) bronze foundry at Guanzhuang in Henan Province, China, have yielded clay moulds for casting spade coins. The technical characteristics of the moulds demonstrate that the site functioned as a mint for producing standardised coins. Systematic AMS radiocarbon-dating indicates that well-organised minting developed c. 640–550 BC, making Guanzhuang the world's oldest-known, securely dated minting site. This discovery provides important new data for exploring the origin of monetisation in ancient China.

The aeolian loess-paleosol sequences in the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) are an excellent archive of variations in atmospheric circulation in the geological past. However, there is no consensus regarding the roles of the East Asian winter monsoon and westerly winds in transporting the dust responsible for loess deposition during glacial and interstadial periods. We conducted detailed measurements of the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) on two parallel loess profiles covering the most recent 130 ka in the western CLP to determine paleowind directions. Results show that the magnetic lineations of the loess and paleosol units in both sections are significantly clustered along the northwest to southeast direction. These observations demonstrate that the prevailing wind system responsible for dust transport in the western CLP was the northwesterly winter monsoon, rather than the westerly winds. The AMS-derived dust-bearing wind direction was relatively stable during the last glacial and interglacial cycle in the western CLP, consistent with sedimentary and AMS evidence from the eastern CLP. Accordingly, it is reasonable to conclude that large areas of deserts and Gobi deserts areas located in the upwind direction were the dominant sources for the aeolian deposits of the Loess Plateau.

This study aimed to evaluate to what extent the different interval times between trophectoderm (TE) biopsy and vitrification influence the clinical outcomes in preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) cycles. Patients who underwent frozen embryo transfer (FET) after PGT between 2015 and 2019 were recruited. In total, 297 cycles with single day 5 euploid blastocyst transfer were included. These cycles were divided into three groups according to the interval times: <1 h group, 1–2 h group, and ≥2 h group. Blastocyst survival, clinical pregnancy, miscarriage, and ongoing pregnancy rates were compared. The results showed that, in PGT-SR cycles, survival rate in the ≥2 h group (96.72%) was significantly lower than in the <1 h group (100%, P = 0.047). The clinical pregnancy rate in the ≥2 h group was 55.93%, significantly lower than in the <1 h group (74.26%, P = 0.017). The ongoing pregnancy rates in the 1–2 h group and the ≥2 h group were 48.28% and 47.46%, respectively, significantly lower than that in the <1 h group (67.33%, P < 0.05). The miscarriage rate in the 1–2 h group was 18.42%, significantly higher than that in the <1 h group (5.33%, P = 0.027). In PGT-A cycles, the clinical pregnancy and ongoing pregnancy rates in the <1 h group were 67.44% and 53.49%, respectively, higher than that in the 1–2 h group (52.94%, 47.06%, P > 0.05) and the ≥2 h group (52.63%, 36.84%, P > 0.05). In conclusion, vitrification of blastocysts beyond 1 h after biopsy significantly influences embryo survival and clinical outcomes and is therefore not recommended.

The high overall plant-based diet index (PDI) is considered to protect against type 2 diabetes in the general population. However, whether the PDI affects gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) risk among pregnant women is still unclear. We evaluated the association between PDI and GDM risk based on a Chinese large prospective cohort – the Tongji Maternal and Child Health Cohort. Dietary data were collected at 13–28 weeks of pregnancy by a validated semi-quantitative FFQ. The PDI was obtained by assigning plant food groups positive scores while assigning animal food groups reverse scores. GDM was diagnosed by a 75 g 2-h oral glucose tolerance test at 24–28 weeks of gestation. Logistic regression models were fitted to estimate OR of GDM, with associated 95 % CI, comparing women in different PDI quartiles. Among the total 2099 participants, 169 (8·1 %) were diagnosed with GDM. The PDI ranged from 21·0 to 52·0 with a median of 36·0 (interquartile range (IQR) 33·0–39·0). After adjusting for social-demographic characteristics and lifestyle factors etc., the participants with the highest quartile of PDI were associated with 57 % reduced odds of GDM compared with women in the lowest quartile of PDI (adjusted OR 0·43; 95 % CI 0·24, 0·77; P for trend = 0·005). An IQR increment in PDI was associated with 29 % decreased odds of GDM (adjusted OR 0·71; 95 % CI 0·56, 0·90). Findings suggest that adopting a plant-based diet during pregnancy could reduce GDM risk among Chinese women, which may be valuable for dietary counselling during pregnancy.

Conventional magnetically coupled resonant wireless power transfer systems are faced with resonant frequency splitting phenomena and impedance mismatch when a receiving coil is placed at misaligned position. These problems can be avoided by using uniform magnetic field distribution at receiving plane. In this paper, a novel 3D transmitting coil structure with improved uniform magnetic field distribution is proposed based on a developed optimization method. The goal is to maximize the average magnetic field strength and uniform magnetic field section of the receiving plane. Hence, figures of merit (FoM1 and FoM2) are introduced and defined as product of average magnetic field strength and length or surface along which uniform magnetic field is generated, respectively. The validity of the optimization method is verified through laboratory measurements performed on the fabricated coils driven by signal generator at operating frequency of 150 kHz. Depending on the allowed ripple value and predefined coil proportions, the proposed transmitting coil structure gives the uniform magnetic field distribution across 50% to 90% of the receiving plane.