Dietary resistant starch alleviates Escherichia coli-induced bone loss in meat ducks by promoting short-chain fatty acid production and inhibiting Malt1/NF-κB inflammasome activation

Background:Escherichia coli(E.coli)infection in humans and animals usually comes with gut dysbiosis,which is potential culprit to skeletal health,it is still unclear to whether diet interfered gut microbiome changes can be a protective strategy to bone loss development.Here,the effects of resistant starch from raw potato starch(RPS),a type of prebiotic,on E.coli-induced bone loss and gut microbial composition in meat ducks were evaluated.Results:The results showed that dietary 12%RPS treatment improved bone quality,depressed bone resorption,and attenuated the pro-inflammatory reaction in both ileum and bone marrow.Meanwhile,the 12%RPS diet also increased the abundance of Firmicutes in E.coli-treated birds,along with higher production of short-chain fatty acids(SCFAs)especially propionate and butyrate.Whereas addition ofβ-acid,an inhibitor of bacterial SCFAs production,to the drinking water of ducks fed 12%RPS diet significantly decreased SCFAs level in cecum content and eliminated RPS-induced tibial mass improvement.Further,treatment with MI-2 to abrogate mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma translocation protein 1(Malt1)activity replicated the protective role of dietary 12%RPS in E.coli-induced bone loss including reduced the inhibition on nuclear factorκB(NF-κB)inflammasome activation,decreased bone resorption,and improved bone quality,which were correlated with comparable and higher regulatory T cells(Treg)frequency in MI-2 and 12%RPS group,respectively.Conclusions:These findings suggested that the diet with 12%RPS could alleviate E.coli-induced bone loss in meat ducks by changing the gut microbial composition and promoting concomitant SCFAs production,and consequently inhibiting Malt1/NF-κB inflammasome activation and Treg cells expansion.

The Increasing Role of Synergistic Effects in Carbon Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement, and Its Associated Health Benefits in China

A synergistic pathway is regarded as a critical measure for tackling the intertwined challenges of climate change and air pollution in China. However, there is as yet no indicator that can comprehensively reflect such synergistic effects;hence, existing studies lack a consistent framework for comparison. Here, we introduce a new synergistic indicator defined as the pollutant generation per gross domestic product (GDP) and adopt an integrated analysis framework by linking the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method, response surface model (RSM), and global exposure mortality model (GEMM) to evaluate the synergistic effects of carbon mitigation on both air pollutant reduction and public health in China. The results show that synergistic effects played an increasingly important role in the emissions mitigation of SO_(2), NOx, and primary particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter no greater than 2.5 μm (PM2.5), and the synergistic mitigation of pollutants respectively increase from 3.1, 1.4, and 0.3 Mt during the 11th Five-Year Plan (FYP) (2006–2010) to 5.6, 3.7, and 1.9 Mt during the 12th FYP (2011–2015). Against the non-control scenario, synergistic effects alone contributed to a 15% reduction in annual mean PM2.5 concentration, resulting in the prevention of 0.29 million (95% confidential interval: 0.28–0.30) PM2.5-attributable excess deaths in 2015. Synergistic benefits to air quality improvement and public health were remarkable in the developed and population-dense eastern provinces and municipalities. With the processes of urbanization and carbon neutrality in the future, synergistic effects are expected to continue to increase. Realizing climate targets in advance in developed regions would concurrently bring strong synergistic effects to air quality and public health.

Personal glucose meters coupled with signal amplification technologies for quantitative detection of non-glucose targets:Recent progress and challenges in food safety hazards analysis

Ensuring food safety is paramount worldwide.Developing effective detection methods to ensure food safety can be challenging owing to trace hazards,long detection time,and resource-poor sites,in addition to the matrix effects of food.Personal glucose meter(PGM),a classic point-of-care testing device,possesses unique application advantages,demonstrating promise in food safety.Currently,many studies have used PGM-based biosensors and signal amplification technologies to achieve sensitive and specific detection of food hazards.Signal amplification technologies have the potential to greatly improve the analytical performance and integration of PGMs with biosensors,which is crucial for solving the challenges associated with the use of PGMs for food safety analysis.This review introduces the basic detection principle of a PGM-based sensing strategy,which consists of three key factors:target recognition,signal transduction,and signal output.Representative studies of existing PGM-based sensing strategies combined with various signal amplification technologies(nanomaterial-loaded multienzyme labeling,nucleic acid reaction,DNAzyme catalysis,responsive nanomaterial encapsulation,and others)in the field of food safety detection are reviewed.Future perspectives and potential opportunities and challenges associated with PGMs in the field of food safety are discussed.Despite the need for complex sample preparation and the lack of standardization in the field,using PGMs in combination with signal amplification technology shows promise as a rapid and cost-effective method for food safety hazard analysis.

Distributionally robust optimization based chance-constrained energy management for hybrid energy powered cellular networks

Energy harvesting has been recognized as a promising technique with which to effectively reduce carbon emis-sions and electricity expenses of base stations.However,renewable energy is inherently stochastic and inter-mittent,imposing formidable challenges on reliably satisfying users'time-varying wireless traffic demands.In addition,the probability distribution of the renewable energy or users’wireless traffic demand is not always fully known in practice.In this paper,we minimize the total energy cost of a hybrid-energy-powered cellular network by jointly optimizing the energy sharing among base stations,the battery charging and discharging rates,and the energy purchased from the grid under the constraint of a limited battery size at each base station.In solving the formulated non-convex chance-constrained stochastic optimization problem,a new ambiguity set is built to characterize the uncertainties in the renewable energy and wireless traffic demands according to interval sets of the mean and covariance.Using this ambiguity set,the original optimization problem is transformed into a more tractable second-order cone programming problem by exploiting the distributionally robust optimization approach.Furthermore,a low-complexity distributionally robust chance-constrained energy management algo-rithm,which requires only interval sets of the mean and covariance of stochastic parameters,is proposed.The results of extensive simulation are presented to demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms existing methods in terms of the computational complexity,energy cost,and reliability.

Mass Transfer during Hematitization and Implications for Uranium Mineralization in the Zoujiashan Deposit,Xiangshan Volcanic Basin

The Zoujiashan uranium deposit in the Xiangshan ore field is the largest volcanic-related uranium deposit in China.Hematite-and fluorite-type ores are the predominant mineralization styles.Hematitization in the Xiangshan ore field is closely associated with uranium mineralization,mainly occurring as hematitized rocks enclosing fluorite-type vein ores developed in pre-ore illitized porphyritic lava.Detailed petrographic and mass balance calculation studies were conducted to evaluate the mechanisms for uranium precipitation and mass transfer during hematitization.Petrographic observations suggest that in the hematitized rocks,orthoclase is more altered than plagioclase,and quartz dissolution is common,whereas in the illitized rocks,pyrite commonly occurs within the altered biotite grains,and chlorite grains are locally found.Mass balance calculations indicate that Na2O and U were gained,K2O,Ca O and Si O2were lost,whereas Fe2O3-t remained more or less constant during hematitization.These observations suggest that the hydrothermal fluids were Na-and U-rich and Ca-K-poor,and the Fe2+used for hematitization was locally derived,most likely from biotite,pyrite and chlorite in the host rocks.The Fe2+is inferred to have played the role of reductant to precipitate uranium,and calculation indicates that oxidation of Fe2+provided by host rocks is sufficient to form ores of economic significance.Consequently,the hematite-type ore is interpreted to be generated by the reaction between oxidized ore fluids and reduced components in host rocks.The development of calcite and pyrite in the fluorite ores suggests that perhaps mixing between the U-rich fluid and another fluid carrying reduced sulfur and carbon may have also contributed to uranium mineralization,in addition to temperature and pressure drop associated with the veining.

A comparative study to determine the effects of breed and feed restriction on glucose metabolism of chickens

The glucose metabolism of poultry draws wide attention as they have nearly twice the fasting blood glucose than that of mammals.To define the relationship between glucose metabolism and breed of chicken,the outcomes from different growth rate chickens showed that Arbor Acres(AA)broilers,a well-known fast-growing breed,had a lower fasting blood glucose concentration and glucose clearance rate when compared to Silky chickens,a Chinese traditional medicinal chicken with black skin and a slow growth rate.Moreover,AA broilers had a relatively slow rise in blood glucose in response to oral glucose solution than the Silky chickens on 21 and 42 d(P<0.05),which is probably attributed to downregulated expression of pancreatic insulin(INS),and upregulated transcription of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxy kinase 1(PCK1)and glucose transporter 2(GLUT2)in the liver of AA broilers(P<0.05).In response to feeding restriction from 7 to 21 d,both the fasting blood glucose and the response speed of AA broilers to oral glucose were increased on d 21(P<0.05),and the serum glucose concentrations after 3 weeks compensatory growth were improved by early feed restriction in AA broilers.Feed restriction could also upregulate the mRNA level of pancreatic INS on d 21 and 42,as well as decrease the expressions of PCK1,glucose-6-phosphatase catalytic(G6PC),and GLUT2 in the liver on d 21(P<0.05)when compared to the free feeding group.These results revealed that Silky chickens have a stronger capability to regulate glucose homeostasis than AA broilers,and feed restriction could improve the fasting blood glucose and the response to oral glucose of AA broilers.

基因枪介导的老芒麦遗传转化体系的建立

川草2号老芒麦(Elymus sibiricus)是青藏高原地区治理荒漠化和建设高产人工草地的主要栽培草种。用川草2号老芒麦5种外植体诱导愈伤组织,经分化测试,仅幼穗愈伤组织能分化再生。以当代培养25天和35天的结构致密坚硬的幼穗愈伤组织为受体,分别进行农杆菌侵染和基因枪转化,结果只有基因枪能转化成功。在基因枪转化过程中,采用高渗培养和滤纸干燥2种方式预处理愈伤组织,结果表明滤纸干燥处理比高渗处理转化效率高。当代诱导25天的幼穗愈伤组织,滤纸干燥处理2小时转化效率最高,达40%。该研究成功获得了基因枪转化的以川草2号老芒麦幼穗愈伤为受体的阳性愈伤组织。

Uncertainties in stormwater runoff data collection from a small urban catchment, Southeast China

Monitoring data are often used to identify stormwater runoff characteristics and in stormwater runoff modelling without consideration of their inherent uncertainties. Integrated with discrete sample analysis and error propagation analysis, this study attempted to quantify the uncertainties of discrete chemical oxygen demand （COD）, total suspended solids （TSS） concentration, stormwater flowrate, stormwater event volumes, COD event mean concentration （EMC）, and COD event loads in terms of flow measurement, sample collection, storage and laboratory analysis. The results showed that the uncertainties due to sample collection, storage and laboratory analysis of COD from stormwater runoff are 13.99%, 19.48% and 12.28%. Meanwhile, flow measurement uncertainty was 12.82%, and the sample collection uncertainty of TSS from stormwater runoff was 31.63%. Based on the law of propagation of uncertainties, the uncertainties regarding event flow volume, COD EMC and COD event loads were quantified as 7.03%, 10.26% and 18.47%.

Water environment security indicator system for urban water management

Water environment security （WES） is defined in terms of three aspects： first, that it meets basic demands due to industrial and domestic usage; second, that it protects public health from acute and chronic threats; and third, that measures are adopted to ensure sustainable ecological functioning of freshwater resources. Limitations associated with current water environment security indicators in China -- including inefficiency in terms of environmental monitoring, inappropriate indicators and parameters that do not take sufficient account of local water characteristics, and a lack of management targets -- leads to a failure of effective water management. To achieve better water environment management, a systema- tic approach, encompassing several steps including estab- lish ideal indicator system and narrow down the scope, screen priority pollutants, identify local characteristics and organize discussion workshop, should be followed to establish a comprehensive water environment indicator system. A case study in Suzhou is included to demonstrate the detailed operational procedures used to assess the risks associated with poor management practices relating to water environment security as well as design an appro- priate water environment security indicator system.

Zoning of rural water conservation in China:A case study at Ashihe River Basin

With the effective control of point source(PS)pollution accomplished,water pollution problems caused by non-point source(NPS)pollution have increased in recent years.The worsening agricultural NPS pollution has drawn the attention of the Chinese Government and researcher scientists and has resulted in the often mentioned“three red lines”on water resources management.One of the red lines is to control water pollution within a rational range.The Agricultural NPS pollution,which includes pollution from housing,and from livestock and crop production,is the main source.Based on the NPS pollution statutes,an index system for integrated evaluation of water quality,and a zoning scheme for rural water conservation were established.Using the method of one-dimensional Euclidean distance,this country is divided into 9 sub-zones at the provincial level,which are the first level zones.The zoning themes include natural resources,socio-economic development,water use efficiency,and pollutants emission intensity.According to pollution types of livestock,agriculture,or both,the first level zones are divided into 25 second level zones.The third class zoning is divided also based on pollution intensity of total nitrogen(TN),total phosphorus(TP),ammonia nitrogen(NH3-N),chemical oxygen demand(COD),and biochemical oxygen demand(BOD).On the basis of the second level zoning,there were formed 70 rural water conservation third level zones.This case study in the Ashihe river watershed indicated that the main pollution sources are consistent with the zoning research result,and this zoning has shown a good way to guide the agricultural NPS pollution control in not only the wide rural area of China but also other parts of the world.&2015 International Research and Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation and China Water and Power Press.Production and Hosting by Elsevier B.V.This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Analysis of rainfall runoff characteristics from a subtropical urban lawn catchment in South-east China

Characteristics of rainfall runoff from a 3.26 hm^2 urban catchment with predominant land-use as lawn in Xiamen City, South-east China were investigated and analyzed. Water quality and quantity measurements of rainfall runoff were conducted for ten rainfall events over the period March, 2008 to April, 2009. The results indicated that chemical oxygen demand （COD） and total phosphorus （TP） were the major pollutants with event mean concentrations of 56.09 and 0.44mg.L^-1. From hydrograph and pollutograph analysis of two typical rainfall events, it was clear that the peak rainfall preceded the peak flowrate by about 15-20 min. Meanwhile, concentrations of major pollutants showed multiple peaks and these peaks usually preceded peak flowrate. There were no distinctive first-flush effects except for the rainfall events with the longest rainfall duration and largest runoff volume, which was verified by the fact that the first 30% runoff volume （FF30） carried 39.36% of the total suspended solids （TSS） load, 35.17% of the COD load, 28.13% of the TP load and 39.03% of the nitrate nitrogen load. Multivariate regression analysis further demonstrated that the total runoffvolume had a positive correlation with the FF30 of TSS and COD.

A modeling system for drinking water sources and its application to Jiangdong Reservoir in Xiamen city

Drinking water sources are highly valued by authorities for safeguarding the life of a city. Models are widely applied as important and effective tools in the management of water sources. However, it is difficult to apply models in water source management because water managers are often not equipped with the professional knowledge and operational skills necessary for making use of the models. This paper introduces a drinking water source simulation and prediction system that consists of a watershed model, a hydrological model and a water quality model. This system provides methods and technical guidance for the conventional management of water sources and emergency water event response. In this study, the sub-models of the system were developed based on the data of the Jiangdong Reservoir in Xiamen, and the model validation was based on local monitoring data. The hydrological model and water quality model were integrated by computer programming, and the watershed model was indirectly integrated into the system through a network platform. Furthermore, three applications for Jiangdong Reservoir water protection utilizing the system were introduced in this paper, including a conventional simulation, an emergency simulation, and an emergency measures evaluation.

Radio-frequency arbitrary waveform generation based on dispersion compensated tunable optoelectronic oscillator with ultra-wide tunability

Photonic generation of radio-frequency（RF） arbitrary microwave waveform with ultra-wide frequency tunable range based on a dispersion compensated optoelectronic oscillator（OEO） is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Dispersion compensation scheme and specially designed fiber Bragg grating（FBG）-based Fabry-Perot（F-P） filters are employed in the OEO loop to realize a frequency tunable range of 3.5-45.4 GHz. An optimization process provided by the combination of an erbium-doped fiber amplifier（EDFA）and FBG is employed to improve the signal-to-noise ratio（SNR） of final RF signals. The generation of linearfrequency and phase-coded microwave waveforms, with a tunable carrier frequency ranging from 4 to 45 GHz and tuned chirping bandwidths or code rates, is experimentally demonstrated.

Microstructure design using graphs

Thin films with tailored microstructures are an emerging class of materials with applications such as battery electrodes,organic electronics,and biosensors.Such thin film devices typically exhibit a multi-phase microstructure that is confined,and show large anisotropy.Current approaches to microstructure design focus on optimizing bulk properties,by tuning features that are statistically averaged over a representative volume.Here,we report a tool for morphogenesis posed as a graph-based optimization problem that evolves microstructures recognizing confinement and anisotropy constraints.We illustrate the approach by designing optimized morphologies for photovoltaic applications,and evolve an initial morphology into an optimized morphology exhibiting substantially improved short circuit current(68% improvement over a conventional bulk-heterojunction morphology).We show optimized morphologies across a range of thicknesses exhibiting self-similar behavior.Results suggest that thicker films(250 nm)can be used to harvest more incident energy.Our graph based morphogenesis is broadly applicable to microstructure-sensitive design of batteries,biosensors and related applications.

Urban watershed management under rapid urbanization

Recent years have witnessed a trend of rapid urban growth, accompanied by a significant impact on the environment, in many parts of the world. For example, in China, an extraordinary urbanization process has exerted enormous pressures on water resources and the urban environment as well as ecological systems. Protecting the water environment is now one of the most important and pressing issues that demand great attention. Urban watershed management is therefore critically important to the sustainable use of water resources and the protection of valuable eco-systems. The objective of the International Conference on Urban Watershed Management （ICUWM）, inaugurated in 1997 at the University of Virginia, is to provide a forum for international professionals to share research and experiences in watershed management practices.