Study on the Distribution Characteristics of Thunderstorms in Xuzhou City

[Objective] The study aimed to discuss the distribution characteristics of thunderstorms in Xuzhou City. [Method] Based on thunder- storm observation data during 1978 -2008 provided by Jiuli Mountain station, beginning and ending months, days, duration, frequency, hours and direction of thunderstorms in Xuzhou were analyzed. [ Result] From 1978 to 2008, there were obvious annual variations in thunderstorm days in Xuzhou City. Thunderstorm days were more in July and August compared with other months, while there were no thunderstorms in January and De- comber. Thunderstorms began earliest in February and ended latest in November, with a long span. The longest duration of thunderstorms reached 259 d, accounting for 71% of total days of a year. The maximum frequency of thunderstorms （64） appeared in 1995, and the maximum hours of thunderstorms （4 048 h） appeared in 2003. Thunderstorms occurred most frequently in the southwest, followed by SE and NW. [ Conclusion] The research could provide scientific references for the prevention and control of lightning strokes in Xuzhou in future.

A Rapid Estimation Method for Post-earthquake Building Losses

Rapid estimation of post-earthquake building damage and loss is very important in urgent response efforts.The current approach leaves much room for improvement in estimating ground motion and correctly incorporating the uncertainty and spatial correlation of the loss.This study proposed a new approach for rapidly estimating post-earthquake building loss with reasonable accuracy.The proposed method interpolates ground motion based on the observed ground motion using the Ground Motion Prediction Equation(GMPE)as the weight.It samples the building seismic loss quantile considering the spatial loss correlation that is expressed by Gaussian copula,and kriging is applied to reduce the dimension of direct sampling for estimation speed.The proposed approach was validated using three historical earthquake events in Japan with actual loss reports,and was then applied to predict the building loss amount for the March 2022 Fukushima Mw7.3 earthquake.The proposed method has high potential in future emergency efforts such as search,rescue,and evacuation planning.

A novel intronic circular RNA,circGNG7,inhibits head and neck squamous cell carcinoma progression by blocking the phosphorylation of heat shock protein 27 at Ser78 and Ser82

Background:There is increasing evidence that circular RNAs(circRNAs)play a significant role in pathological processes including tumorigenesis.In contrast to exonic circRNAs,which are the most frequently reported circRNAs in cancer so far,the studies of intronic circRNAs have been greatly lagged behind.Here,we aimed to investigate the regulatory role of intronic circRNAs in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma(HNSCC).Methods:We conducted whole-transcriptome sequencing with four pairs of primary tumor tissues and adjacent normal tissues from HNSCC patients.Then,we characterized circGNG7 expression in HNSCC tissues and cell lines and explored its association with the prognosis of HNSCC patients.We also identified interactions between circGNG7 and functional proteins,which alter downstream signaling that regulate HNSCC progression.Results:In this study,we identified a new intronic circRNA,circGNG7,and validated its functional roles in HNSCC progression.CircGNG7 was predominately localized to the cytoplasm,and its expression was downregulated in both HNSCC tissues andCAL27,CAL33,SCC4,SCC9,HN6,and HN30 cells.Low expression of circGNG7 was significantly correlated with poor prognosis in HNSCC patients.Consistent with this finding,overexpression of circGNG7 strongly inhibited tumor cell proliferation,colony formation,in vitro migration,and in vivo tumor growth.Mechanistically,the expression of circGNG7 in HNSCC cells was regulated by the transcription factor SMAD family member 4(SMAD4).Importantly,we discovered that circGNG7 could bind to serine residues 78 and 82 of the functional heat shock protein 27(HSP27),occupying its phosphorylation sites and hindering its phosphorylation,which reduced HSP27-JNK/P38 mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK)oncogenic signaling.Downregulation of circGNG7 expression in HNSCC increased HSP27-JNK/P38 MAPK signaling and promoted tumor progression.Conclusions:Our results revealed that a new intronic circRNA,circGNG7,functions as a strong tumor suppressor and that circGNG7/HSP27-JNK/P38 MAPK signaling is a novel mechanism by which HNSCC progression can be controlled.