Aeolian transport over a developing transverse dune

The spatial and temporal changes in aeolian transport over a dune are fundamental factors that control the morphology of the dune. In the present study, we obtained direct field observations of aeolian transport over a developing transverse dune at the Shapotou Aeolian Experiment Site in the southeastern part of China＇s Tengger Desert. The transport rate versus wind speed relationship relationships over flat surfaces and over dunes that are s complicated over a developing dune compared with the n equilibrium with the wind. We obtained trend lines for transport rate over the transverse dune versus distance. The transport rate generally increased from the toe to the crest above the stoss slope, but the difference in transport rate between the crest and the toe was smaller than those that have been proposed for taller dunes. The crest/toe ratio for transport rates therefore seems to depend greatly on dune height. Flux density profiles for different points above the dune at different wind speeds were well described by the exponential decay law, as has been proposed for saltation flux density profiles. Coefficients in the flux density profile function can be defined in terms of the transport rate and wind speed. However, the dependence of relative decay rate with height and average saltation height on wind speed was weaker than that observed in a wind tunnel and above a fiat surface. The preliminary results obtained in this study require more evidence from field observations to fully describe aeolian transport above developing dunes.

Application of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and red blood cell distribution width in diabetes mellitus complicated with heart failure

BACKGROUND Accumulating clinical evidence has shown that diabetes mellitus(DM)is a serious risk factor for cardiovascular disorders and an important factor for adverse cardiovascular events.AIM To explore the value of the combined determination of the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio(NLR)and red blood cell distribution width(RDW)in the early diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of DM complicated with heart failure(HF).METHODS We retrospectively analyzed clinical data on 65 patients with type 2 DM(T2DM)complicated with HF(research group,Res)and 60 concurrent patients with uncomplicated T2DM(control group,Con)diagnosed at Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital between January 2019 and December 2021.The NLR and RDW values were determined and comparatively analyzed,and their levels in T2DM+HF patients with different cardiac function grades were recorded.The receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves were plotted to determine the NLR and RDW values(alone and in combination)for the early diagnosis of HF.The correlation between NLR and RDW with the presence or absence of cardiac events was also investigated.RESULTS Higher NLR and RDW levels were identified in the Res vs the Con groups(P<0.05).The NLR and RDW increased gradually and synchronously with the deterioration of cardiac function in the Res group,with marked differences in their levels among patients with grade II,III,and IV HF(P<0.05).ROC curve analysis revealed that NLR combined with RDW detection had an area under the curve of 0.915,a sensitivity of 76.9%,and a specificity of 100%for the early diagnosis of HF.Furthermore,HF patients with cardiac events showed higher NLR and RDW values compared with HF patients without cardiac events.CONCLUSION NLR and RDW were useful laboratory indicators for the early diagnosis of DM complicated with HF,and their joint detection was beneficial for improving diagnostic efficiency.Additionally,NLR and RDW values were directly proportional to patient outcomes.

Interaction between antigen presenting cells and autoreactive T cells derived from BXSB mice with murine lupus

Systemic lupus erythematosus （SLE） is a typical autoimmune disease involving multiple systems and organs. Ample evidence suggests that autoreactive T cells play a pivotal role in the development of this autoimmune disorder. This study was undertaken to investigate the mechanisms of interaction between antigen presenting cells （APCs） and an autoreactive T cell （ATLI） clone obtained from lupus-prone BXSB mice. ATLI cells, either before or after 7-ray irradiation, were able to activate naive B cells, as determined by B cell proliferation assays. Macrophages from BXSB mice were able to stimulate the proliferation of resting ATL 1 cells at a responder/stimulator （R/S） ratio of 1/2.5. Dendritic cells （DCs） were much more powerful stimulators for ATLI cells on a per cell basis. The T cell stimulating ability ofmacrophages and B cells, but not DCs, was sensitive to T-ray irradiation. Monoclonal antibodies against mouse MHC-Ⅱ and CD4 were able to block DC-mediated stimulation of ATL 1 proliferation, indicating cognate recognition between ATL 1 and APCs. Our data suggest that positive feedback loops involving macrophages, B cells and autoreactive T cells may play a pivotal role in keeping the momentum of autoimmune responses leading to autoimmune diseases.

Domain-Oriented Software Defined Computing Architecture

With the introduction of software defined hardware by DARPA Electronics Resurgence Initiative,software definition will be the basic attribute of information system.Benefiting from boundary certainty and algorithm aggregation of domain applications,domain-oriented computing architecture has become the technical direction that considers the high flexibility and efficiency of information system.Aiming at the characteristics of data-intensive computing in different scenarios such as Internet of Things(IoT),big data,artificial intelligence(AI),this paper presents a domain-oriented software defined computing architecture,discusses the hierarchical interconnection structure,hybrid granularity computing element and its computational kernel extraction method,finally proves the flexibility and high efficiency of this architecture by experimental comparison.

宅基地制度改革的成效、意义和启示——基于江西余江调研的思考

宅基地制度改革是我国农村土地制度改革的重要内容,本文基于对改革试点县江西余江的调研,阐述了对宅基地制度改革的成效、意义和启示方面的思考。余江的宅基地制度改革成效显著,实现了全县农村土地的精细化管理,衍生出一套独特的农村基层管理体系,偿还了土地管理的历史欠账,夯实了城乡发展的基础,其影响和意义深远。同时,余江的经验启发我们,观念转变是宅改推进与城乡发展的前提,政策预期对政策的推行影响巨大,而且宅基地制度改革具有内生动力。

Development of a High-Temperature Thixotropic Cement Slurry System

Cementing carbonate reservoirs is generally a difficult task.The so-called thixotropic cement slurry has gained considerable attention in this regard as it can help tofix some notable problems.More precisely,it can easilyfill the leakage layer;moreover,its gelling strength can grow rapidly when pumping stops,thereby increasing the resistance to gas channeling,effectively preventing this undesired phenomenon in many cases.High-temperature thixotropic cement slurry systems,however,are still in an early stage of development and additional research is needed to make them a viable option.In the present study,using a self-developed composite high-temperature thixotropic additive as a basis,it is shown that the compressive strength can be adjusted by tuning the proportion of silica sand,the high-temperature retarder,fluid loss additive and dispersant(compatible with the thixotropic additive).According to the tests,the developed high-temperature thixotropic cement slurry system has a 14 d compressive strength of 29.73 MPa at 150°C,and a thickening time of 330 min when the dosage of retarder is 2%.At the same time,the rheological property,water loss,permeability,water separation rate,and settlement stability of the cement slurry system meet the requirements of cementing construction.

Harmonic Moments of Branching Processes in Random Environments

We consider harmonic moments of branching processes in general random environments. For a sequence of square integrable random variables, we give some conditions such that there is a positive constant c that every variable in this sequence belong to Ac or A1c uniformly.

Elevated Levels of Serum IgA against Saccharomyces cerevisiae Mannan in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

This study was undertaken to investigate whether levels of anti-Saccharomyces cerevisiae mannan antibodies （ASCMA） in human sera, a marker for several autoimmune diseases, correlate with rheumatoid arthritis （RA）. ASCMA-IgA, -IgG and -IgM levels were measured with enzyme linked immunosorbent assays （ELISA） in patients with RA （n = 30） and 152 healthy adult controls. ASCMA-IgA prevalence was significantly higher in RA patients （40%） than in healthy subjects （5.3%）. A strong correlation between levels of ASCMA-IgA and CRP （r = 0.695; p 〈 0.01） and ESR （r = 0.708; p 〈 0.01） in RA patients was observed. No significant differences in ASCMA-IgG or IgM levels were noted between RA patients and healthy control subjects in the present study. This result differs from previous reports. It remains to be evaluated whether elevated ASCMA-levels are common to all rheumatic disorders.

LRRC25 plays a key role in all-trans retinoic acid-induced granulocytic differentiation as a novel potential leukocyte differentiation antigen

Leukocyte differentiation antigens （LDAs） play important roles in the immune system, by serving as surface markers and participating in multiple biological activities, such as recognizing pathogens, mediating membrane signals, interacting with other cells or systems, and regulating cell differentiation and activation. Data mining is a powerful tool used to identify novel LDAs from whole genome. LRRC25 （leucine rich repeat-containing 25） was predicted to have a role in the function of myeloid cells by a large-scale ＂omics＂ data analysis. Further experimental validation showed that LRRC25 is highly expressed in primary myeloid cells, such as granulocytes and monocytes, and lowly/intermediately expressed in B cells, but not in T cells and almost all NK cells. It was down-regulated in multiple acute myeloid leukemia （AML） cell lines and bone marrow cells of AML patients and up-regulated after all-trans retinoic acid （ATRA）-mediated granulocytic differentiation in AML cell lines and acute promyelocytic leukemia （APL; AML-M3, FAB classification） cells. Localization analysis showed that LRRC25 is a type I transmembrane molecule. Although ectopic LRRC25 did not promote spontaneous differentiation of NB4 cells, knockdown of LRRC25 by siRNA or shRNA and knockout of LRRC25 by the CRISPR-Cas9 system attenuated ATRA-induced termi- nal granulocytic differentiation, and restoration of LRRC25 in knockout cells could rescue ATRA-induced granulocytic differentiation. Therefore, LRRC25, a potential leukocyte differentiation antigen, is a key regulator of ATRA-induced granulocytic differentiation.

Constitutionally adaptive crown ether-based macrocyclic bolaamphiphile with redox-responsive switching of lower critical solution temperature behaviors

Constitutionally adaptive chemistry of selenium-containing crown ethers(CEs) offers a new platform for controlling/switching the hydration of bolaamphiphile skeletons in water in an effective and simple manner by the virtue of covalent bonding. The adaptive behaviour of the macrocyclic bolaamphiphiles(transformations between C7SeBola and C7SeOBola) in response to redox environment was found to be a decisive factor.

A Study on the Glycan Specificity of Natural Antibody Repertoires in Rodents

Inbred strains of mice and rats are widely used in preclinical investigations evaluating the effectiveness of glycan-based biomecines,however,the glycan specificity repertoires of serum Abs in rodents have not been fully characterized.In the present study,serum antibodies in naïve mice and rats of different inbred strains were analyzed for specificity against 4 representative carbohydrate structures including PGA(1,4-linkeda-D-galactopyranosyluronic acids),b-glucan,mannan anda-glucan(dextran).Mannan was not recognized by serum Abs from any of the mouse and rat strains.Serum IgM in naïve F344,BN and Lewis rats recognized PGA andb-glucan and,less strongly,dextran.High titer circulating IgM against PGA were found in mice of BALB/c,C57BL/6,C3H/NeH and BXSB strains.C3H/NeH was the only strain which also produced low titer IgM against β-glucan and dextran.Age-related production of high titer IgM,IgA and IgG Abs against β-glucan was observed in BXSB mice.Intraperitoneal immunization of BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice with β-glucan elicited strong IgM responses,while immunization with PGA also led to an increase of anti-PGA IgM Ab titers.These results provide useful information on the characteristics of glycan-specific natural antibody repertoires in rodents.

Estimation of the Postmortem Interval Using Chromatographic Fingerprints of Volatile Organic Compounds from Muscle

Estimation of the postmortem interval(PMI)is a crucial task in the field of forensic pathology and has unfortunately not been properly resolved.In this study,we analyzed volatile organic compounds(VOCs)in rat muscle samples collected at different PMIs and studied the feasibility of muscle VOC fingerprinting as a new method for PMI estimation.In total,110 rats were sacrificed and stored at a constant temperature(25℃).Rat skeletal muscle samples were collected at 0-10‑day postmortem,and then the VOCs were determined using a method of headspace solid‑phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography‑mass spectrometry.The correlations between the VOCs(species and quantities)and PMIs were carefully analyzed and standard muscle VOC fingerprints at 25℃were established for different PMIs.To further test the accuracy of muscle VOC fingerprinting as a method for PMI estimation,ten additional rats with known PMIs were studied.We identified 15 kinds of VOCs and the number of VOC species increased with the PMI.The total peak areas of the VOCs increased significantly with the postmortem day(adjusted R^(2)=0.96-0.97).The mean error of the VOC fingerprinting for PMI estimation was 0.5 days and the mean relative error was 8.33%.We concluded that muscle VOC fingerprinting combining the use of VOC species and peak areas is accurate and effective and could be used as an alternative approach for PMI estimation in forensic practice.Although the preliminary results are encouraging,further studies in human cadavers under real case conditions are needed.

The dynamic covalent reaction based on diselenide-containing crown ether irradiated by visible light

A novel diselenide-containing crown ether(BC7Se_(2))was fabricated,which can polymerize to form cyclic oligomers through intermolecular dynamic covalent reaction by irradiation of visible light.The size and distribution of oligomers are related to the monomer concentration.The decomposition reaction of oligomers is controlled by topology and solvents.Furthermore,potassium cation can inhibit the polymerization of BC7Se_(2)and accelerate the decomposition of oligomers.