Overlooked uneven progress across sustainable development goals at the global scale: Challenges and opportunities

Differences in progress across sustainable development goals(SDGs)are widespread globally;meanwhile,the rising call for prioritizing specific SDGs may exacerbate such gaps.Nevertheless,how these progress differences would influence global sustainable development has been long neglected.Here,we present the first quantitative assessment of SDGs’progress differences globally by adopting the SDGs progress evenness index.Our results highlight that the uneven progress across SDGs has been a hindrance to sustainable development because(1)it is strongly associated with many public health risks(e.g.,air pollution),social inequalities(e.g.,gender inequality,modern slavery,wealth gap),and a reduction in life expectancy;(2)it is also associated with deforestation and habitat loss in terrestrial and marine ecosystems,increasing the challenges related to biodiversity conservation;(3)most countries with low average SDGs performance show lower progress evenness,which further hinders their fulfillment of SDGs;and(4)many countries with high average SDGs performance also showcase stagnation or even retrogression in progress evenness,which is partly ascribed to the antagonism between climate actions and other goals.These findings highlight that while setting SDGs priorities may be more realistic under the constraints of multiple global stressors,caution must be exercised to avoid new problems from intensifying uneven progress across goals.Moreover,our study reveals that the urgent needs regarding SDGs of different regions seem complementary,emphasizing that regional collaborations(e.g.,demand-oriented carbon trading between SDGs poorly performed and well-performed countries)may promote sustainable development achievements at the global scale.

OOCDB:A Comprehensive,Systematic,and Real-time Organs-on-a-chip Database

Organs-on-a-chip is a microfluidic microphysiological system that uses microfluidic technology to analyze the structure and function of living human cells at the tissue and organ levels in vitro.Organs-on-a-chip technology,as opposed to traditional two-dimensional cell culture and animal models,can more closely simulate pathologic and toxicologic interactions between different organs or tissues and reflect the collaborative response of multiple organs to drugs.Despite the fact that many organs-on-a-chip-related data have been published,none of the current databases have all of the following functions:searching,downloading,as well as analyzing data and results from the literature on organs-on-a-chip.Therefore,we created an organs-on-a-chip database(OOCDB)as a platform to integrate information about organs-on-a-chip from various sources,including literature,patents,raw data from microarray and transcriptome sequencing,several open-access datasets of organs-on-a-chip and organoids,and data generated in our laboratory.OOCDB contains dozens of sub-databases and analysis tools,and each sub-database contains various data associated with organs-on-a-chip,with the goal of providing researchers with a comprehensive,systematic,and convenient search engine.Furthermore,it offers a variety of other functions,such as mathematical modeling,three-dimensional modeling,and citation mapping,to meet the needs of organs-on-a-chip.

Synchrotron Radiation-Based Three-Dimensional Visualization of Angioarchitectural Remodeling in Hippocampus of Epileptic Rats

Characterizing the three-dimensional (3D) morphological alterations of microvessels under both normal and seizure conditions is crucial for a better understanding of epilepsy. However, conventional imaging techniques cannot detect microvessels on micron/sub-micron scales without angiography. In this study, synchrotron radiation(SR)-based X-ray in-line phase-contrast imaging (ILPCI)and quantitative 3D characterization were used to acquire high-resolution, high-contrast images of rat brain tissue under both normal and seizure conditions. The number of blood microvessels was markedly increased on days 1 and 14, but decreased on day 60 after seizures. The surface area, diameter distribution, mean tortuosity, and number of bifurcations and network segments also showed similar trends. These pathological changes were confirmed by histological tests. Thus, SR-based ILPCI provides systematic and detailed views of cerebrovascular anatomy at the micron level without using contrast-enhancing agents. This holds considerable promise for better diagnosis and understanding of the pathogenesis and development of epilepsy.

Pharmacokinetics of propafenone hydrochloride sustained-release capsules in male beagle dogs

Ins paper describes the development and validation of a liquid chromatography mass spectrometric assay for propafenone and its application to a pharmacokinetic study of propafenone administered as a new propafenone hydrochloride sustained-release capsule (SR-test), as an instant-release tablet (IR-reference) and as the market leader sustained-release capsule (Rythmod SR-reference) in male beagle dogs (n= 8). In Study A comparing SR-test with IR-reference in a crossover design T-max and t(1/2) of propafenone for SR-test were significantly higher than those for IR-reference while C-max and AUC were lower demonstrating the sustained release properties of the new formulation. In Study B comparing SR-test with SR-reference the observed C and A TIC of propafenone for SR test (124.5 +/- 140.0 ng/mL and 612.0 +/- 699.2 ng.h/mL, respectively) were higher than for SR-reference (78.52 +/- 72.92 ng/mL and 423.6 +/- 431.6 ng.h/mL, respectively) although the differences were not significant. Overall, the new formulation has as good if not better sustained release characteristics to the market leader formulation. (C) 2015 Chinese Pharmaceutical Association and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier By All rights reserved.

New advance in fossil anuran study

EXCITING reports on paleontological discoveries from western Liaoning Province, northeastern China have frequently been released in the past few years. From Confuciusornis to Sinosauropteryx, from Protarchaeopteryx to the primitive mammal, Zhangheotherium, and most recently, to the possibly earliest known flower, Archaefructus liaoningensis, these founds have astounded the world, and this miracle land has drawn increasing interests of scholars all over the world. Two world-famed

A breakthrough in the study of bird fossils

After the publication of the paper titled 'Preliminary Report on a Mesozoic Bird From Liaoning,China' in 1992 in this journal, there were succeeding papers entitled 'Confuciusornis sanctus, a new Late Jurassic Sauriurine Bird From China' and 'A Carinate Bird From the Upper Jurassic of Western Liaoning, China' in 1995 and 1996 respectively. These publications aroused strong response at home and abroad. Cathayornis, Confuciusornis and Liaoningornis became important reference material for study of the evolution of early birds. In the last few years, two early bird assemblages were found, i.e. the Early Cretaceous Cathayornis assemblage and the Late Jurassic Confuciusornis assemblages, which represent the biggest and richest Mesozoic bird assemblages of the world. These assemblages contain not