Association between childhood obesity and gut microbiota:16S rRNA gene sequencing-based cohort study

BACKGROUND This study aimed to identify characteristic gut genera in obese and normal-weight children(8-12 years old)using 16S rDNA sequencing.The research aimed to provide insights for mechanistic studies and prevention strategies for childhood obesity.Thirty normal-weight and thirty age-and sex-matched obese children were included.Questionnaires and body measurements were collected,and fecal samples underwent 16S rDNA sequencing.Significant differences in body mass index(BMI)and body-fat percentage were observed between the groups.Analysis of gut microbiota diversity revealed lowerα-diversity in obese children.Differences in gut microbiota composition were found between the two groups.Prevotella and Firmicutes were more abundant in the obese group,while Bacteroides and Sanguibacteroides were more prevalent in the control group.AIM To identify the characteristic gut genera in obese and normal-weight children(8-12-year-old)using 16S rDNA sequencing,and provide a basis for subsequent mechanistic studies and prevention strategies for childhood obesity.METHODS Thirty each normal-weight,1:1 matched for age and sex,and obese children,with an obese status from 2020 to 2022,were included in the control and obese groups,respectively.Basic information was collected through questionnaires and body measurements were obtained from both obese and normal-weight children.Fecal samples were collected from both groups and subjected to 16S rDNA sequencing using an Illumina MiSeq sequencing platform for gut microbiota diversity analysis.RESULTS Significant differences in BMI and body-fat percentage were observed between the two groups.The Ace and Chao1 indices were significantly lower in the obese group than those in the control group,whereas differences were not significant in the Shannon and Simpson indices.Kruskal-Wallis tests indicated significant differences in unweighted and weighted UniFrac distances between the gut microbiota of normal-weight and obese children(P<0.01),suggesting substantial disparities in both the species and quantity of gut microbiota between the two groups.Prevotella,Firmicutes,Bacteroides,and Sanguibacteroides were more abundant in the obese and control groups,respectively.Heatmap results demonstrated significant differences in the gut microbiota composition between obese and normal-weight children.CONCLUSION Obese children exhibited lowerα-diversity in their gut microbiota than did the normal-weight children.Significant differences were observed in the composition of gut microbiota between obese and normal-weight children.

Progress of Lyman-alpha-based beam emission spectroscopy(Ly BES)diagnostic on the HL-2A tokamak

An edge Lyman-alpha-based beam emission spectroscopy(LyBES)diagnostic,using a heating NBI(neutral beam injection)system,is currently under development on the HL-2A tokamak.The 20-channel edge LyBES,which is intended to measure the density fluctuation in plasma edge(from R=1960 mm to R=2026 mm)with an improved spatial resolution of 3.3 mm,is a complement to the existing conventional beam emission spectroscopy(BES)diagnostic.In this article,we introduce the progress of LyBES diagnostic,including the collection optics,the monochromator,and the detector system.The reflectance of the collection mirrors is measured to be~82%at 122 nm,and the aberration geometrical radius of the collection optics is tested to be~150μm in the aimed area.The linear dispersion of the LyBES monochromator is designed to be~0.09 nm mm^(-1).The bandwidth of the detector system with the 5×10^(7)V A^(-1)preamplifier gain is measured to be~280 kHz,and the peak-to-peak noise of the detector system is tested to be~16 mV.The finalized design,components development and testing of the LyBES diagnostic have been completed at present,and an overall performance of the LyBES diagnostic is to be confirmed in the next HL-2A campaign.

The Application of Nicotiana benthamiana as a Transient Expression Host to Clone the Coding Sequences of Plant Genes

Coding sequences (CDS) are commonly used for transient gene expression, in yeast two-hybrid screening, to verify protein interactions and in prokaryotic gene expression studies. CDS are most commonly obtained using complementary DNA (cDNA) derived from messenger RNA (mRNA) extracted from plant tissues and generated by reverse transcription. However, some CDS are difficult to acquire through this process as they are expressed at extremely low levels or have specific spatial and/or temporal expression patterns in vivo. These challenges require the development of alternative CDS cloning technologies. In this study, we found that the genomic intron-containing gene coding sequences (gDNA) from Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, Brassica napus, and Glycine max can be correctly transcribed and spliced into mRNA in Nicotiana benthamiana. In contrast, gDNAs from Triticum aestivum and Sorghum bicolor did not function correctly. In transient expression experiments, the target DNA sequence is driven by a constitutive promoter. Theoretically, a sufficient amount of mRNA can be extracted from the N. benthamiana leaves, making it conducive to the cloning of CDS target genes. Our data demonstrate that N. benthamiana can be used as an effective host for the cloning CDS of plant genes.

Pig pangenome graph reveals functional features of non‑reference sequences

Background The reliance on a solitary linear reference genome has imposed a significant constraint on our compre-hensive understanding of genetic variation in animals.This constraint is particularly pronounced for non-reference sequences(NRSs),which have not been extensively studied.Results In this study,we constructed a pig pangenome graph using 21 pig assemblies and identified 23,831 NRSs with a total length of 105 Mb.Our findings revealed that NRSs were more prevalent in breeds exhibiting greater genetic divergence from the reference genome.Furthermore,we observed that NRSs were rarely found within coding sequences,while NRS insertions were enriched in immune-related Gene Ontology terms.Notably,our investigation also unveiled a close association between novel genes and the immune capacity of pigs.We observed substantial differences in terms of frequencies of NRSs between Eastern and Western pigs,and the heat-resistant pigs exhibited a substantial number of NRS insertions in an 11.6 Mb interval on chromosome X.Additionally,we discovered a 665 bp insertion in the fourth intron of the TNFRSF19 gene that may be associated with the ability of heat tolerance in South-ern Chinese pigs.Conclusions Our findings demonstrate the potential of a graph genome approach to reveal important functional features of NRSs in pig populations.

Phylogenetic, phylogeographic and divergence time analysis of Anopheles subpictus species complex using ITS2 and COI sequences

Objective:To address the phylogenetic and phylogeographic relationship between different lineages of Anopheles(An.)subpictus species complex in most parts of the Asian continent by maximum utilization of Internal Transcriber Spacer 2(ITS2)and cytochrome C oxidase I(COI)sequences deposited at the GenBank.Methods:Seventy-five ITS2,210 COI and 26 concatenated sequences available in the NCBI database were used.Phylogenetic analysis was performed using Bayesian likelihood trees,whereas median-joining haplotype networks and time-scale divergence trees were generated for phylogeographic analysis.Genetic diversity indices and genetic differentiation were also calculated.Results:Two genetically divergent molecular forms of An.subpictus species complex corresponding to sibling species A and B are established.Species A evolved around 37-82 million years ago in Sri Lanka,India,and the Netherlands,and species B evolved around 22-79 million years ago in Sri Lanka,India,and Myanmar.Vietnam,Thailand,and Cambodia have two molecular forms:one is phylogenetically similar to species B.Other forms differ from species A and B and evolved recently in the above mentioned countries,Indonesia and the Philippines.Genetic subdivision among Sri Lanka,India,and the Netherlands is almost absent.A substantial genetic differentiation was obtained for some populations due to isolation by large geographical distances.Genetic diversity indices reveal the presence of a long-established stable mosquito population,at mutation-drift equilibrium,regardless of population fluctuations.Conclusions:An.subpictus species complex consists of more than two genetically divergent molecular forms.Species A is highly divergent from the rest.Sri Lanka and India contain only species A and B.

On power series statistical convergence and new uniform integrability of double sequences

In the present paper,we mostly focus on P_(p)^(2)-statistical convergence.We will look into the uniform integrability via the power series method and its characterizations for double sequences.Also,the notions of P_(p)^(2)-statistically Cauchy sequence,P_(p)^(2)-statistical boundedness and core for double sequences will be described in addition to these findings.

Detection of Novel BEST1 Variations in Autosomal Recessive Bestrophinopathy Using Third-generation Sequencing

Objective:Autosomal recessive bestrophinopathy(ARB),a retinal degenerative disease,is characterized by central visual loss,yellowish multifocal diffuse subretinal deposits,and a dramatic decrease in the light peak on electrooculogram.The potential pathogenic mechanism involves mutations in the BEST1 gene,which encodes Ca2+-activated Cl−channels in the retinal pigment epithelium(RPE),resulting in degeneration of RPE and photoreceptor.In this study,the complete clinical characteristics of two Chinese ARB families were summarized.Methods:Pacific Biosciences(PacBio)single-molecule real-time(SMRT)sequencing was performed on the probands to screen for disease-causing gene mutations,and Sanger sequencing was applied to validate variants in the patients and their family members.Results:Two novel mutations,c.202T>C(chr11:61722628,p.Y68H)and c.867+97G>A,in the BEST1 gene were identified in the two Chinese ARB families.The novel missense mutation BEST1 c.202T>C(p.Y68H)resulted in the substitution of tyrosine with histidine in the N-terminal region of transmembrane domain 2 of bestrophin-1.Another novel variant,BEST1 c.867+97G>A(chr11:61725867),located in intron 7,might be considered a regulatory variant that changes allele-specific binding affinity based on motifs of important transcriptional regulators.Conclusion:Our findings represent the first use of third-generation sequencing(TGS)to identify novel BEST1 mutations in patients with ARB,indicating that TGS can be a more accurate and efficient tool for identifying mutations in specific genes.The novel variants identified further broaden the mutation spectrum of BEST1 in the Chinese population.

Adaptive Successive POI Recommendation via Trajectory Sequences Processing and Long Short-Term Preference Learning

Point-of-interest(POI)recommendations in location-based social networks(LBSNs)have developed rapidly by incorporating feature information and deep learning methods.However,most studies have failed to accurately reflect different users’preferences,in particular,the short-term preferences of inactive users.To better learn user preferences,in this study,we propose a long-short-term-preference-based adaptive successive POI recommendation(LSTP-ASR)method by combining trajectory sequence processing,long short-term preference learning,and spatiotemporal context.First,the check-in trajectory sequences are adaptively divided into recent and historical sequences according to a dynamic time window.Subsequently,an adaptive filling strategy is used to expand the recent check-in sequences of users with inactive check-in behavior using those of similar active users.We further propose an adaptive learning model to accurately extract long short-term preferences of users to establish an efficient successive POI recommendation system.A spatiotemporal-context-based recurrent neural network and temporal-context-based long short-term memory network are used to model the users’recent and historical checkin trajectory sequences,respectively.Extensive experiments on the Foursquare and Gowalla datasets reveal that the proposed method outperforms several other baseline methods in terms of three evaluation metrics.More specifically,LSTP-ASR outperforms the previously best baseline method(RTPM)with a 17.15%and 20.62%average improvement on the Foursquare and Gowalla datasets in terms of the Fβmetric,respectively.

Secure Transmission of Compressed Medical Image Sequences on Communication Networks Using Motion Vector Watermarking

Medical imaging plays a key role within modern hospital management systems for diagnostic purposes.Compression methodologies are extensively employed to mitigate storage demands and enhance transmission speed,all while upholding image quality.Moreover,an increasing number of hospitals are embracing cloud computing for patient data storage,necessitating meticulous scrutiny of server security and privacy protocols.Nevertheless,considering the widespread availability of multimedia tools,the preservation of digital data integrity surpasses the significance of compression alone.In response to this concern,we propose a secure storage and transmission solution for compressed medical image sequences,such as ultrasound images,utilizing a motion vector watermarking scheme.The watermark is generated employing an error-correcting code known as Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem(BCH)and is subsequently embedded into the compressed sequence via block-based motion vectors.In the process of watermark embedding,motion vectors are selected based on their magnitude and phase angle.When embedding watermarks,no specific spatial area,such as a region of interest(ROI),is used in the images.The embedding of watermark bits is dependent on motion vectors.Although reversible watermarking allows the restoration of the original image sequences,we use the irreversible watermarking method.The reason for this is that the use of reversible watermarks may impede the claims of ownership and legal rights.The restoration of original data or images may call into question ownership or other legal claims.The peak signal-to-noise ratio(PSNR)and structural similarity index(SSIM)serve as metrics for evaluating the watermarked image quality.Across all images,the PSNR value exceeds 46 dB,and the SSIM value exceeds 0.92.Experimental results substantiate the efficacy of the proposed technique in preserving data integrity.

风电场中BESS与SVG并联优先补偿控制策略的研究

风电场中不稳定的电源和负荷波动会导致电力系统稳定性降低。针对静止无功发生器只能补偿无功分量的局限性,设计了静止无功发生器和储能装置并联的优先补偿控制策略。电力系统中负序分量的危害往往大于无功分量和有功分量,为了使储能装置和静止同步补偿器容量利用率最大,在负荷波动时优先对系统中危害最大的负序分量进行补偿。仿真分析表明,通过控制储能装置的充放电方式,系统不但能补偿无功功率,还能有效抑制有功功率的波动,达到了提高系统稳定性的目的。

白刺NtBES1转录因子家族的鉴定及分析

该研究基于白刺(Nitraria tangutorum)全长转录组数据,以白刺幼苗为材料,利用生物信息学手段,从转录组数据中鉴定白刺NtBES1家族成员,预测其理化性质、磷酸化位点、亚细胞定位,分析其保守结构域和系统进化关系;采用荧光定量PCR方法分析该家族基因在不同浓度PEG和NaCl处理下白刺叶片中的表达模式,为深入研究白刺NtBES1家族成员的功能以及白刺抗逆分子机理奠定基础。结果表明:(1)从白刺全长转录组中共鉴定出7个具有完整BES1_N保守结构域的NtBES1成员,分别命名为NtBES1-1~NtBES1-7。(2)NtBES1蛋白氨基酸数在86~422 aa之间,分子量在9.75~47.53 kD之间,等电点在5.29~10.22之间,不稳定指数范围在34.88~75.02之间,平均亲水系数均为负值。(3)亚细胞定位预测结果显示,NtBES1-6定位在细胞质中,其余6个成员均被定位在细胞核中。(4)系统发育树将7个成员分为3组,NtBES1-2、NtBES1-3和NtBES1-7为一组,NtBES1-1、NtBES1-5和NtBES1-6为一组,NtBES1-4单独为一组,且同组成员的结构、理化性质以及功能注释均相似。(5)经预实验筛选的表达水平较高的3个基因在胁迫下呈现不同的表达模式,其中:NtBES 1-2和NtBES 1-6仅在30%PEG胁迫2 h时表达上调;NtBES 1-2和NtBES 1-4在200 mmol/L NaCl处理2 h时表达量最高,在450 mmol/L NaCl处理12 h后3个基因的表达陆续开始上调,于24 h时表达量达到最高。研究认为,白刺NtBES1家族成员结构特征存在差异,且不同成员在白刺耐干旱和耐盐的过程中发挥不同的作用。

FINITE EXTENSIONS OF GENERALIZED BESSEL SEQUENCES TO GENERALIZED FRAMES

The objective of this paper is to investigate the question of modifying a givengeneralized Bessel sequence to yield a generalized frame or a tight generalized frame by finiteextension. Some necessary and sufficient conditions for the finite extensions of generalizedBessel sequences to generalized frames or tight generalized frames are provided, and everyresult is illustrated by the corresponding example.

A Novel Method of Deinterleaving Radar Pulse Sequences Based on a Modified DBSCAN Algorithm

A modified DBSCAN algorithm is presented for deinterleaving of radar pulses in modern EW environments.A main characteristic of the proposed method is that using only time of arrival of pulses,the method can sort the pulses efficiently.Other PDW information such as rise time,carrier frequency,pulse width,modulation on pulse,fall time and direction of arrival are not required.To identify the valid PRIs in a set of interleaved pulses,an innovative modification of the DBSCAN algorithm is introduced which is accurate and easy to implement.The proposed method determines valid PRIs more accurately and neglects the spurious ones more efficiently as compared to the classical histogram based algorithms such as SDIF.Furthermore,without specifying any input parameter,the proposed method can deinterleave radar pulses while up to 30%jitter is present in the associated PRI.The accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method are verified by computer simulations and real data results.Experimental simulations are based on different real and operational scenarios where the presence of missing and spurious pulses are also considered.So,the simulation results can be of practical significance.

基于BES-ELM的风电机组故障诊断

针对极限学习机相关参数的选取不当导致其诊断结果与准确率受影响的问题,提出利用秃鹰搜索算法对极限学习机的权值和偏置的选取进行优化,构建秃鹰搜索优化算法和极限学习机组合的风力发电机组故障诊断模型(BES-ELM).对风电场某一台风力发电机组在发电机过热(S1)、馈电故障(S2)、变流器冷却系统故障(S3)和正常(S4)等4种状态下的相关SCADA数据进行清晰、补充等相关预处理和特征选取后构成故障样本集,其中样本集的80%作为训练集,20%作为测试集.分别采用标准极限学习机、基于遗传优化算法和粒子群优化算法的极限学习机模型对这些故障样本进行分类.结果显示,与标准极限学习机、遗传算法和粒子群算法优化的极限学习机模型相比,BES-ELM模型的诊断准确率达到98.75%,有效提高了风电机组故障诊断的准确率.

Complicated expansion trajectories of insertion sequences and potential association with horizontal transfer of Wolbachia DNA

DEAR EDITOR,Insertion sequences(ISs) are the simplest structural transposable elements(TEs) in prokaryotes, consisting only of a transposase coding sequence and its bilateral short terminal inverted repeats. Due to their gradually streamlined genomic construction, TEs rarely exist in the genomes of obligate endosymbionts. However, TE content, especially ISs.

Identification of clade-wide putative cis-regulatory elements from conserved non-coding sequences in Cucurbitaceae genomes

Cis-regulatory elements regulate gene expression and play an essential role in the development and physiology of organisms.Many conserved non-coding sequences(CNSs)function as cis-regulatory elements.They control the development of various lineages.How-ever,predicting clade-wide cis-regulatory elements across several closely related species remains challenging.Based on the relationship between CNSs and cis-regulatory elements,we present a computational approach that predicts the clade-wide putative cis-regulatory elements in 12 Cucurbitaceae genomes.Using 12-way whole-genome alignment,we first obtained 632112 CNSs in Cucurbitaceae.Next,we identified 16552 Cucurbitaceae-wide cis-regulatory elements based on collinearity among all 12 Cucurbitaceae plants.Furthermore,we predicted 3271 potential regulatory pairs in the cucumber genome,of which 98 were verified using integrative RNA sequencing and ChIP sequencing datasets from samples collected during various fruit development stages.The CNSs,Cucurbitaceae-wide cis-regulatory elements,and their target genes are accessible at http://cmb.bnu.edu.cn/cisRCNEs_cucurbit/.These elements are valuable resources for functionally annotating CNSs and their regulatory roles in Cucurbitaceae genomes.

Simulation study of BESⅢwith stitched CMOS pixel detector using AcTs

The reconstruction of the tracks of charged particles with high precision is crucial for HEP experiments to achieve their physics goals.The BESⅢdrift chamber,which is used as the tracking detector of the BESⅢexperiment,has suffered from aging effects resulting in degraded tracking performance after operation for approximately 15 years.To preserve and enhance the tracking performance of BESⅢ,one of the proposals is to add one layer of a thin cylindrical CMOS pixel sensor based on state-of-the-art stitching technology between the beam pipe and the drift chamber.The improvement in the tracking performance of BESⅢwith such an additional pixel detector compared to that with only the existing drift chamber was studied using the modern common tracking software Acts,which provides a set of detector-agnostic and highly performant tracking algorithms that have demonstrated promising performance for a few high-energy physics and nuclear physics experiments.

Leachate Lithium Characteristics of Loess-paleosol Sequences on the Chinese Loess Plateau and their Paleoclimatic Significance

The geochemical components of the leachate from loess-paleosol deposits can provide information about climaterelated post-depositional processes.For example,leachate lithium([Li]_(leachate))is a potential paleoclimate proxy because lithium is a typical lithophile element that is readily adsorbed by clay minerals during weathering and pedogenesis,and thus stratigraphic variations in[Li]leachatecan reflect these processes.We investigated the[Li]leachatevalues of two loess-paleosols profiles(the Luochuan and Weinan sections),on a north-south climatic gradient on the Chinese Loess Plateau.Independent paleoclimate information was provided by measurements of magnetic susceptibility,grain size,Rb/Sr ratios,and clay mineral content.During the last glacial-interglacial period,[Li]leachateincreased from 0.39 to 1.97μg/g at Luochuan and from 0.67 to 2.45μg/g at Weinan,mainly due to increasing pedogenesis.Based on these results we developed a conceptual model to explain the variations in[Li]leachate,Li^(+)within loess layers is mainly derived from dust input and the decomposition of primary minerals,influenced by the East Asian winter monsoon,while in paleosol layers Li is mainly derived from clay mineral adsorption during pedogenic processes,influenced by the East Asian summer monsoon.

About Upper and Lower Strong Fractional Weighted Mean Convergence by Moduli for Triple Sequences

In article, I present a study on upper and lower statistical convergence, and upper and lower strong fractional weighted mean convergence by moduli for triple sequences. One of the generalizations of the discrete operator Cesàro, was weighted mean operators, which are linear operators, too. Given a modulus function f, I established that a triple sequence that is f-upper or lower strong fractional weighted mean convergent, in some supplementary conditions, is also f-lower or upper statistically convergent. The results of this paper adapt the results obtained in [1] and [2] to upper and lower strong fractional weighted mean convergence and to triple sequence concept. Furthermore, new concepts can be applied to the approximation theory, topology, Fourier analysis, analysis interdisciplinary with applications electrical engineering, robotics and other domains.

The asymptotic relation between the first crossing point and the last exit time of Gaussian order statistics sequences

In this paper,we study the asymptotic relation between the first crossing point and the last exit time for Gaussian order statistics which are generated by stationary weakly and strongly dependent Gaussian sequences.It is shown that the first crossing point and the last exit time are asymptotically independent and dependent for weakly and strongly dependent cases,respectively.The asymptotic relations between the first crossing point and the last exit time for stationary weakly and strongly dependent Gaussian sequences are also obtained.