As the world's third largest delta and one of the world's most important biodiversity hotspots, the Mekong Delta provides both ecological and food security for its inhabitants. Nevertheless, the ...delta has been threatened by climate change and human activities, particularly the proliferation of hydropower development across the Mekong Basin since the 1990s. However, compared to the well-studied Holocene Mekong Delta, our understanding of the recent 50-year evolution of the Mekong Delta is not sufficient to address these threats. In this study, we used 43-year Landsat images from 1973 to 2015 to investigate the entirety of the Mekong Delta's shoreline, land area and geomorphological changes. We compiled a new and comprehensive GIS database of the dams and irrigations of the Mekong Basin. The goal was to improve our knowledge of the recent evolution of the Mekong Delta and to link the potential impacts of dams and other factors. Our results show that the Mekong Delta is experiencing a significant decrease in the shoreline progradation rate. Currently, 66% of the entire delta shoreline is under erosion. The erosion segments are mainly located on the eastern side of the Ca Mau Peninsula and northwestern side of the delta in the Gulf of Thailand (GoT). Most parts of the shorelines in the estuarine area are still growing, although river sediment continues to decrease. Geomorphological asymmetries, discontinuous shoreline shifts, and sandy beach-ridge sets can be observed in multitemporal images. The entire Mekong Delta experienced a shift from growing to shrinking around 2005 with the gradual increase of the total accumulated installed capacity of the dams over the entire river basin. In the near future, the realization of planned dams, extension of irrigation, groundwater withdrawal, uncontrolled riverbed mining, delta subsidence, sea level rise, and other factors will accelerate the ongoing delta erosion.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Overconfidence, as a psychological feature that is difficult to measure, means that managers are overconfident in their management ability, investment judgment ability and knowledge richness, thus ...overestimating their ability and making irrational behavior. Based on the sample of Chinese listed firms from 2014 to 2018, we measure managerial overconfidence in terms of age, gender, education, position and salary, and analyzed the relationship between overconfidence, abnormal audit fees, and the balance mechanism of shareholders. The research results show that there is a significant positive correlation between managerial overconfidence and abnormal audit fees, and the balance mechanism of shareholders can significantly inhibit the positive correlation between managerial overconfidence and abnormal audit fees. The research results of this paper are conducive to the supervision department to further improve the relevant supervision measures, improve the audit quality, and provide theoretical support for the more specific requirements of audit fee information disclosure.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The preparation of subnanoporous covalent-organic-framework (COF) membranes with high performance for ion/molecule sieving still remains a great challenge. In addition to the difficulties in ...fabricating large-area COF membranes, the main reason is that the pore size of 2D COFs is much larger than that of most gas molecules and/or ions. It is urgently required to further narrow their pore sizes to meet different separation demands. Herein, we report a simple and scalable way to grow large-area, pliable, free-standing COF membranes via a one-step route at organic-organic interface. The pore sizes of the membranes can be adjusted from >1 nm to sub-nm scale by changing the stacking mode of COF layers from AA to AB stacking. The obtained AB stacking COF membrane composed of highly-ordered nanoflakes is demonstrated to have narrow aperture (∼0.6 nm), uniform pore distribution and shows good potential in organic solvent nanofiltration, water treatment and gas separation.
In elderly people particularly in postmenopausal women, inadequate bone formation by osteoblasts originating from bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) for compensation of bone resorption by ...osteoclasts is a major reason for osteoporosis. Enhancing osteoblastic differentiation of BMSCs is a feasible therapeutic strategy for osteoporosis. Here, bone marrow stromal cell (ST)-derived exosomes (STExos) are found to remarkably enhance osteoblastic differentiation of BMSCs
in vitro
. However, intravenous injection of STExos is inefficient in ameliorating osteoporotic phenotypes in an ovariectomy (OVX)-induced postmenopausal osteoporosis mouse model, which may be because STExos are predominantly accumulated in the liver and lungs, but not in bone. Hereby, the STExo surface is conjugated with a BMSC-specific aptamer, which delivers STExos into BMSCs within bone marrow. Intravenous injection of the STExo-Aptamer complex enhances bone mass in OVX mice and accelerates bone healing in a femur fracture mouse model. These results demonstrate the efficiency of BMSC-specific aptamer-functionalized STExos in targeting bone to promote bone regeneration, providing a novel promising approach for the treatment of osteoporosis and fracture.
A novel strategy to deliver therapeutic exosomes to bone is developed for the first time by conjugating a specific BMSC-targeting aptamer to the exosomal surface.
To compare the outcomes of modified endoscopic mucosal resection (m-EMR) and endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) for rectal neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) and evaluate the value of endoscopic ...morphology classification in endoscopic resection (ER).
Patients with rectal NET diameters less than 2 cm who were treated between April 2007 and January 2019 were enrolled. The endoscopic morphology of rectal NETs was classified based on the endoscopic views. Patients who underwent ESD and m-EMR were compared. Baseline characteristics as well as en bloc resection, complete resection, the procedure time, adverse events and the risk factors associated with incomplete resection were analyzed.
A total of 429 patients with 449 rectal NETs were enrolled for the classification of endoscopic morphology and were classified into four types (Ia, IIb, II, and III). There were 79 patients in the m-EMR group and 259 patients in the ESD group before matching. Propensity score matching created 77 pairs between the two groups that were well balanced. The mean procedure time was significantly shorter for m-EMR than for ESD (9.1 ± 4.4 min vs 16.0 ± 7.9 min, P = 0.000). The rates of en bloc resection (98.7% vs 100%; P = 1.000), complete resection (90.9% vs 93.5%, P = 0.548) and adverse events (2.6% vs 2.6%, P = 1.000) were similar between the two groups. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that histopathological grade and endoscopic morphology were associated with incomplete resection.
Both ESD and m-EMR are effective and safe for the treatment of rectal NETs. Endoscopic morphology should be considered along with histopathological grade for ER.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
A new protocol for photochemical perfluoroalkylation reactions using perfluoroalkyl iodide, amine additive, and THF solvent is reported. This protocol does not require a photoredox catalyst and ...proceeds at ambient temperature with irradiation from a compact fluorescent lamp, low-intensity UV lamp, or sunlight. This protocol can be applied to the synthesis of perfluoroalkyl-substituted phenanthridines as well as effect the iodo-perfluoroalkylation of alkenes/alkynes and the C–H perfluoroalkylation of electron-rich arenes and heteroarenes. This C–H perfluoroalkylation reaction offers a unique method for site-selective labeling of oligopeptides at the tryptophan residue.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
Procyandin A2 (PCA2) is a polyphenolic compound which is isolated from grape seeds. It has been reported that PCA2 exhibits antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects, but its molecular mechanism is ...still poorly understood. This study tests the hypothesis that PCA2 suppresses lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation and oxidative stress through targeting the nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), and NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) pathways in RAW264.7 cells. PCA2 (20, 40, 80 muM) exhibited no significant cytotoxicity in RAW264.7 cells and showed an inhibitory effect on an LPS-induced nitrite level. Pro-inflammatory cytokines like tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-6 (IL-6), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), nitric oxide (NO), and reactive oxygen species (ROS) were suppressed by PCA2 with a concentration range of 0-80 muM. The mRNA levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 were inhibited by PCA2 (80 muM). The hallmark-protein expression of the NF-kappaB (p-IKKalpha/beta, p-IkappaBalpha, and p-p65) and MAPK (p-p38, p-JNK, and p-ERK) pathways were decreased by PCA2 in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. In addition, immunofluorescence results indicated that PCA2 (80 muM) promoted the translocation of NF-kappaB/p65 from the cytoplasm into the nucleus. PCA2 upregulated the expressions of Nrf2 and HO-1 and downregulated the expression of Keap-1. Simultaneously, PCA2 (80 muM) reversed LPS-induced Nrf2 translocation from the nucleus into the cytoplasm. Collectively, PCA2 protect cells against the damage from inflammation and oxidative injury, which suggest a potential therapeutic strategy for inflammatory and oxidative stress through targeting NF-kappaB, MAPK, and Nrf2 pathways in RAW264.7 cells.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Recent advances in DNA assembly and affinity binding have enabled exciting developments of nanosensors and ultrasensitive assays for specific proteins.1–6 These sensors and assays share three main ...attractive features:1, 4, 7 1) the detection of proteins can be accomplished by the detection of amplifiable DNA, thereby dramatically enhancing the sensitivity; 2) assembly of DNA is triggered by affinity binding of two or more probes to a single target molecule, thereby resulting in increased specificity; and 3) the assay is conducted in solution with no need for separation, thus making the assay attractive for potential point‐of‐care applications. We illustrate here the principle of assembling DNA through affinity binding, and we highlight novel applications to the detection of proteins.
The concentration makes the difference: Binding of a target molecule to two affinity ligands brings the complementary oligonucleotides together, thereby dramatically increasing their local concentrations and enhancing the stability of the hybrids. The principle is used to generate binding‐induced assembly of DNA probes containing various motifs and DNA‐functionalized nanomaterials for ultrasensitive detection of specific proteins.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The cellulose nanofibers of bacterial cellulose aerogel (BCA) are modified only on their surfaces using a trimethylsilylation reaction with trimethyichlorosilane in liquid phase followed by ...freeze-drying. The obtained hydrophobic bacterial cellulose aerogels (HBCAs) exhibit low density (≤6.77 mg/cm3), high surface area (≥169.1 m2/g), and high porosity (≈ 99.6%), which are nearly the same as those of BCA owing to the low degrees of substitution (≤0.132). Because the surface energy of cellulose nanofibers decreased and the three-dimensional web-like microstructure, which was comprised of ultrathin (20–80 nm) cellulose nanofibers, is maintained during the trimethylsilylation process, the HBCAs have hydrophobic and oleophilic properties (water/air contact angle as high as 146.5°) that endow them with excellent selectivity for oil adsorption from water. The HBCAs are able to collect a wide range of organic solvents and oils with absorption capacities up to 185 g/g, which depends on the density of the liquids. Hence, the HBCAs are wonderful candidates for oil absorbents to clean oil spills in the marine environment. This work provides a different way to multifunctionalize cellulose aerogel blocks in addition to chemical vapor deposition method.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
Adipocyte differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (BMSCs) instead of osteoblast formation contributes to age- and menopause-related marrow adiposity and osteoporosis. Vascular ...calcification often occurs with osteoporosis, a contradictory association called "calcification paradox". Here we show that extracellular vesicles derived from aged bone matrix (AB-EVs) during bone resorption favor BMSC adipogenesis rather than osteogenesis and augment calcification of vascular smooth muscle cells. Intravenous or intramedullary injection of AB-EVs promotes bone-fat imbalance and exacerbates Vitamin D3 (VD3)-induced vascular calcification in young or old mice. Alendronate (ALE), a bone resorption inhibitor, down-regulates AB-EVs release and attenuates aging- and ovariectomy-induced bone-fat imbalance. In the VD3-treated aged mice, ALE suppresses the ovariectomy-induced aggravation of vascular calcification. MiR-483-5p and miR-2861 are enriched in AB-EVs and essential for the AB-EVs-induced bone-fat imbalance and exacerbation of vascular calcification. Our study uncovers the role of AB-EVs as a messenger for calcification paradox by transferring miR-483-5p and miR-2861.
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