Due to the high intensity of urban construction and human intervention, the imbalance between ecosystem service supply and demand (ESSD) in urban agglomerations is deteriorating. The quantitative ...study of ecosystem service flow (ESF), as a critical process connecting ESSD, can assist decision-makers in accurately identifying the potential for ecological cooperation among cities, solving the conflict between ESSD in urban agglomerations, promoting regional ecological integration, and achieving sustainable and healthy development. Currently, quantitative research on ESF is focused chiefly on flow direction identification. However, the relationship between ESSD and ESF, flow scope, path, and rate measurement, are still in the exploratory stage. Using the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) as an example, this paper evaluated the four ESSDs based on the InVEST model: habitat quality (HQ), carbon storage (CS), water yield (WY), and soil retention (SR), and quantified the comprehensive economic value of the four ESSDs using the alternative cost method with the city/county as the basic units. Finally, utilizing the breakpoint model and the field intensity model, we built an ESF value transfer model and estimated the value of ESFs transmitted from ESSD surplus cities/counties to the deficit in the GBA. The findings revealed an imbalance between ESSD in the GBA, with most of them being in severe ESSD deficit or surplus, and ESFs had played a key role in improving this. The primary transfer out locations (TOL) of ESFs were Huizhou, Zhaoqing, and Jiangmen. In contrast, the primary transfer in locations (TIL) of ESFs were Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, and other highly urbanized areas. The total value of ESFs in the GBA was as high as 4.218 billion yuan. As an attempt toward quantifying the ESF, this work provides a framework for the future establishment of scientific ecological compensation norms for urban agglomerations to encourage benign and equitable ecological exchanges between cities/counties.
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•We develop a framework for assessing ecosystem service supply, demand, and flow.•Evaluating ecosystem service flow by breakpoint and filed intensity models.•We consider inflation when calculating the ecosystem service value.•Most deficit countries/cities improved after receiving ecosystem service flows.
Individuals and organizations are increasing efforts to address discrimination. Nonexperts may lack awareness of, or are resistant to, scientifically informed strategies for reducing discrimination, ...instead relying on intuition. Five studies investigated the accuracy of nonexperts’ intuitions about reducing discrimination concerning physical attractiveness. In Studies 1a to 1c (N = 902), participants predicted the effectiveness of six interventions to reduce attractiveness-based favoritism on a judgment task. Studies 2a and 2b (N = 6,292) investigated the effectiveness of these interventions. Although two interventions reduced discrimination, intuitions were poorly aligned with actual results; fewer than 1% of participants identified the combination of interventions that did, versus did not, impact judgment, and responses were more likely to be below than above chance when predicting each intervention’s effectiveness. Although follow-up work should investigate the accuracy of intuition in other forms of discrimination, these results further stress the need for greater development and adoption of evidence-based strategies for combating discrimination.
Rapid urbanization has resulted in fragmentation and decreased connectivity in urban landscapes, endangering regional biodiversity conservation and high-quality, sustainable development. networks ...(ENs) construction and optimization is a critical technique to enhance landscape connectivity effectively, promote species interaction and dispersal, and thereby hence urban biodiversity., most existing studies on ENs construction have been undertaken from the perspective of ecosystem service functions or the value of landscape structure, with regional species still being overlooked. on the distribution data of critical species in this study, the maximum entropy model (MaxEnt), wilderness mapping model, and granularity reverse method were integrated to identify ecological sources. the habitat quality (HQ) index was utilized to construct a resistance surface modified by landscape connectivity and ecological sensitivity. findings indicate that: (1) a grid scale of 1700 m is the relatively optimal minimum threshold for ecological source sites in Guangzhou; (2) 35 crucial ecological sources in Guangzhou are identified, with a total area of 1100.42 km2, mainly woodlands, distributed in mountain systems in the northern and central parts of the city; and (3) 59 ecological corridors are identified, with a total length of 817.4 km, with a relatively high density in the central part of the city. some extent, this study offers fresh ideas for constructing urban ENs from the standpoint of biodiversity conservation. contributes to the city achieving a win-win economic development and ecological protection situation.
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•We proposed an ecological network framework based on a biodiversity perspective.•Ecological sources were identified by combining MaxEnt and wilderness mapping.•The minimum threshold for sources was confirmed by the granularity reverse method.•This work evolved prioritization of cost-effective ecological network restoration.
The inappropriate spatio-temporal distribution of natural capital during rapid urbanization has increased ecosystem service supply-demand (ESSD) risks, posing great challenges to the sustainable ...growth of human well-being, especially in urban agglomerations. Although methods focusing on the spatial match or temporal dynamics of ESSD in risk assessment have been established, a comprehensive understanding of the spatial dynamics underlying ecosystem service flows (ESF) is still missing. Due to the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of various ESSD risks within urban agglomerations, incorporating these elements into a unified spatial planning framework is still difficult. This study integrated the spatio-temporal analysis method of ESSD considering ESF and the spatial clustering method to propose an ESSD risk assessment and management framework: evaluating ES supply, demand and flow, incorporating ESF to quantify ESSD across various timeframes, assessing ESSD risks based on the current status and dynamic trends, and using Self-Organizing Map to identify optimal ESSD risk bundles (ESSDR_Bs). The results showed high ESSD risks of high temperature regulation, nitrogen purification, phosphorus purification, and food production in Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration. While the ESSD risks of biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration, soil retention, water yield, and tourism culture were relatively low, a concerning trend of decreasing surpluses was observed in general. In addition, six ESSDR_Bs were identified, and differentiated ecological management strategies were proposed for each bundle. This study provided a novel perspective for efficiently understanding and regulating the ESSD risks in urban agglomerations.
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•Introduce ESF into the spatial matching of ES supply and demand.•Classification of ES supply and demand risk based on current and trend indicators.•6 supply and demand risk bundles of 9 ESs within YRDUA were identified by SOM.•High risk of Nitrogen/Phosphorus Purification and High Temperature Regulation.•Setting and prioritizing management strategies for each bundle based on dominant risk.
Background
Bladder cancer is the 10th common cancer worldwide. Osteopontin has been found to enhance cell proliferation, metastasis and invasion in various human tumors.
Objective
To investigate the ...roles of osteopontin in bladder cancer.
Methods
The RNA interference and overexpression of osteopontin were performed in bladder cancer cell lines (T24 and SCaBER). Cell proliferation and apoptosis were measured using CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Cell invasion was determined using transwell assay.
Results
Osteopontin was highly expressed in bladder cancer tissues in comparison with the adjacent normal tissues. Its high expression significantly correlated with high histologic grade, high TNM stage (III and IV) and poor prognosis. For T24 cells with osteopontin interference and SCaBER cells with osteopontin overexpression, cell proliferation was significantly inhibited (3.58-fold vs. 5.62-fold) and enhanced (7.81-fold vs. 5.29-fold), respectively. The apoptosis portion of T24 cells significantly increased from 4.48 to 10.75%, and that of SCaBER cells significantly declined from 7.33 to 4.01%. The invaded T24 and SCaBER cells significantly decreased to 52.0% and increased to 2.0-fold, respectively. Osteopontin overexpression enhanced the expression (1.54-fold and 2.39-fold; 2.33-fold and 2.05-fold) and activation (1.80-fold and 1.96-fold; 2.00-fold and 2.59-fold) of JAK1 and STAT1 in two cell lines of bladder cancer.
Conclusion
Osteopontin might enhance proliferation, inhibit apoptosis and accelerate invasion and thus promote the development and metastasis of bladder cancer, and osteopontin’s functions might be mediated by activating JAK1/STAT1 signaling pathway.
High-specific-capacity materials are crucial for the high-energy-density lithium-ion secondary batteries as the automakers and customers are both eager to extend the cruising range of electric ...vehicles. The current commercial silicon/carbon composites are based on the mechanical mixture of silicon and graphite, but this weak combination is not suitable for the higher-capacity materials. Here, low-cost raw materials are used for the preparation of a graphite/silicon@carbon composite negative electrode material, which synergizes ball milling, molten salts electrolysis and carbon coating. Silica is in situ electrochemically reduced to silicon on the flaky graphite serving as the conducting substrate during the electrolysis process. It is found that ball milling increases the active sites on the basal plane of graphite, which is beneficial for the nucleation and growth of the silicon, and enhances the bonding of silicon particles and graphite. As for the electrochemical results of coin-type cells, this graphite/silicon@carbon composite material exhibits a better cycle performance than the commercial Si/C 650 silicon-based composite material.
Myocardial infarction (MI) is the most prevalent disease with severe mortality, and hypoxia-induced cardiac injury and cardiomyocyte apoptosis are the significant and harmful consequences of this ...disease. The cross talk between hypoxia signaling and glycolysis energy flux plays a critical role in modulating MI-related heart disorder. However, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Here, we aimed to explore the effect of a key glycolytic enzyme of 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2, 6-bisphosphatase 2 (PFKFB2) on cardiac dysfunction and apoptosis in response to hypoxia. Our data demonstrated that the mRNA and protein expression of PFKFB2 were significantly elevated in the MI mice. The MI treatment promoted the activation of PFKFB2 in vivo, as presented by the remarkably increased phosphorylation levels of PFKFB2. PFKFB2 depletion enhanced MI-induced cardiac dysfunction and cardiomyocyte apoptosis in the MI mouse model. Moreover, hypoxia treatment dramatically upregulated the expression and activation of PFKFB2 in a time-dependent manner in cardiomyocytes. Hypoxia-stimulated PFKFB2 relieved hypoxia-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis in vitro. PFKFB2 activated the fructose-2, 6-bisphosphate (Fru-2, 6-p2) /PFK/anaerobic adenosine triphosphate (ATP) glycolysis energy flux in response to hypoxia in cardiomyocytes. Mechanically, hypoxia-activated PFKFB2 by stimulating the hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) /ATK signaling. Thus, we conclude that HIF-1/AKT axis-activated PFKFB2 alleviates cardiac dysfunction and cardiomyocyte apoptosis in response to hypoxia. Our finding presents a new insight into the mechanism by which HIF-1/AKT/PFKFB2 signaling modulates MI-related heart disorder under the hypoxia condition, providing potential therapeutic targets and strategy for hypoxia-related myocardial injury.
A cycling robust network binder CMC–CPAM with effective self-healing property for Si negative electrodes was developed through reversible electrostatic interaction between CMC and CPAM. The Si-based ...negative electrodes with this novel functional binder exhibit an excellent cycling stability. The much-improved electrochemical performance can be assigned to the synergistic effect of the superior mechanical adhesive strength and the self-healing property of CMC–CPAM network binder.
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Silicon has been a pivotal negative electrode material for the next generation lithium-ion batteries due to its superior theoretical capacity. However, commercial application of Si negative electrodes is seriously restricted by its fast capacity fading as a result of severe volume changes during the process of charge and discharge. A novel functional binder is essential to resolve this conflict. In this work, we have proposed a composite of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) and cationic polyacrylamides (CPAM) as an effective network binder to improve the electrochemical performance of Si–based negative electrodes in lithium-ion batteries. The CMC–CPAM composite binder is cross-linked physically through reversible electrostatic interaction. Unlike common covalent cross-linked binders, the network structure of it forms spontaneously at room temperature, which makes it self-healing. Besides, benefits from the use of high molecular CPAM, the CMC–CPAM network binder exhibits excellent mechanical and adhesive strength, which makes it robust enough to tolerate the volume change of Si. As a result, the Si electrode with the self-healing CMC–CPAM composite binder shows an excellent cycling stability than the covalent cross-linked CMC−polyacrylic acid (PAA) and linear CMC binders, with a capacity of 1906.4 mAh·g−1 remaining after 100 cycles. Moreover, the cycling performance of retaining 78% of the initial capacity after 350 cycles is achieved based on the commercial Si@C/graphite negative electrode using the self-healing CMC–CPAM network binder with a very high mass loading (~4 mg·cm−2).
A novel core-shell structured graphite/silicon@pyrolyzed-carbon (G/Si@C) composite was fabricated with a scalable and cost-effective method, including the processes of mechanical milling, spray ...drying, pitch coating and pyrolysis. The active silicon particles obtained by mechanical milling show an average size of 126 nm and exhibit a uniform dispersion on the skeleton consisting of graphite. The graphite provides sufficient electrical conductivity and mechanical strength for the G/Si@C composite, and the amorphous carbon coating layer is beneficial for buffering the volume change of Si and producing a stable SEI film. As a negative electrode material of lithium-ion battery, the synthesized G/Si@C composite has excellent structural stability and electrochemical performance. The G/Si@C composite with 15.7 wt % silicon shows a high reversible capacity of 637.7 mAh g−1 with an initial efficiency of 77.9%, the capacity retention is 89.5% after 100 cycles.
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•A novel structured G/Si@C composite is fabricated by a scalable method.•Nano-sized Si particles are obtained by a simple liquid phase ball milling.•The Si-based composite shows high structural integrity and stability.•The Si-based composite exhibits an excellent electrochemical performance.
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