China's rapid economic growth has caused severe air pollution, raising serious concerns about the growing evidence of its negative health, environmental, and economic impacts. Consequently, the ...Chinese government has implemented a number of policies and measures to reduce air pollution. Relying on published information over the last three decades in China, we analyzed trends in air pollutant emissions (SO2 and NOx) and concentrations of particulate matter (PM) and ozone (O3). During the past decade, SO2 and NOx emissions had declined throughout China and concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 had considerably decreased in most cities, but average reported 90th MDA8 O3, M7, and AOT40 O3 for 31 capital cities showed an increasing trend between 2013 and 2017. Despite progress in air pollution reduction and an increasing number of “clear sky” days, PM concentrations throughout China remain higher than the World Health Organization guidelines, and urban smog and haze remain a major threat to human health and the environment. Thus far, significant emission reductions have occurred largely through robust administrative power, especially when emission reductions were tied to the performance evaluations and promotion of government officials. Similar to most already-industrialized nations, China is now shifting away from SO2-dominated to NOx- and O3-dominated air pollution. Existing technologies and improved operations of existing control equipment appear unlikely to achieve sufficient reductions in NOx and O3 pollution. Considering the complex relationship between O3, NOx, VOCs, weather, and socio-economic changes in China, it is necessary to increase research on impacts of increasing ozone on plants and to adopt novel technologies and implemented to further reduce air pollution to levels that will protect human health and the environment.
Display omitted
•SO2, NOx, and particulate matter have been reduced but O3 pollution is increasing.•Significant emission reduction has occurred largely by robust administrative power.•Economic costs should be considered for sustainable pollution control measures.•More research is needed to quantify O3 effects on vegetation and human health.
The retina is a widely profiled tissue in multiple species by single-cell RNA sequencing studies. However, integrative research of the retina across species is lacking. Here, we construct the first ...single-cell atlas of the human and porcine ocular compartments and study inter-species differences in the retina. In addition to that, we identify putative adult stem cells present in the iris tissue. We also create a disease map of genes involved in eye disorders across compartments of the eye. Furthermore, we probe the regulons of different cell populations, which include transcription factors and receptor-ligand interactions and reveal unique directional signalling between ocular cell types. In addition, we study conservation of regulons across vertebrates and zebrafish to identify common core factors. Here, we show perturbation of KLF7 gene expression during retinal ganglion cells differentiation and conclude that it plays a significant role in the maturation of retinal ganglion cells.
The highly sensitive optical detection of oxygen including dissolved oxygen (DO) is of great interest in various applications. We devised a novel room‐temperature‐phosphorescence (RTP)‐based oxygen ...detection platform by constructing core–shell nanoparticles with water‐soluble polymethyloxazoline shells and oxygen‐permeable polystyrene cores crosslinked with metal‐free purely organic phosphors. The resulting nanoparticles show a very high sensitivity for DO with a limit of detection (LOD) of 60 nm and can be readily used for oxygen quantification in aqueous environments as well as the gaseous phase.
Gl‐O2‐w!: A dissolved oxygen (DO)‐detection platform based on core–shell nanoparticles with a water‐soluble polymethyloxazoline shell and oxygen‐permeable polystyrene core crosslinked with metal‐free purely organic phosphors is reported. The resulting nanoparticles show a very high sensitivity and can be used for oxygen quantification in a variety of environments.
Great efforts have been made to develop the fabrication of zinc-based ternary metal oxides used in lithium-ion batteries due to their excellent properties of good electrochemical activities, stable ...chemical structures, and high specific capacities in recent decades. Here, we reviewed the synthetic methods of zinc-based ternary metal oxides and their application in high-performance lithium-ion batteries, including effects of synthesis factors on morphologies and electrochemical properties of the materials. Meanwhile, various electrochemical and physical characterization techniques were used to characterize the Li-storage electrochemical processes of electrodes. Metal ion exchange methods, as popular and convenient synthesis ways, were used to synthesize zinc-based ternary metal oxides based on readily synthesized metal compounds as templates and metal ion sources by liquid phase cation exchange in the last decade. We key described the alcohol solvothermal zinc ion exchange reaction process and discussed effects of Zn/Ti mole ratios on structures and Li-storage electrochemical performance of the materials. Accordingly, we also predicted on the future development prospects of zinc-based ternary metal oxides.
Graphical abstract
Non-monotonicity height is an important index to describe the complexity of dynamics for piecewise monotone functions. Although it is used extensively in the theory of iterative roots, its ...calculation is still difficult especially in the infinite case. In this paper, by introducing the concept of spanning interval, we first present a sufficient condition for piecewise monotone functions to have height infinity and then an algorithm for finding the spanning intervals is given. We further investigate the density of all piecewise monotone functions with infinite and finite height, respectively, and the results indicate the instability of height. At the end of this paper, the variance of height under composition, especially for functions of height 1 and infinity, are also discussed.
We have designed a 21-residue α-peptide that simultaneously recognizes two decadeoxyoligothymidine (dT10) tracts to form triplexes with a peptide–DNA strand ratio of 1:2. The synthetic peptide side ...chain displays 10 melamine rings, which provide a bifacial thymine-recognition interface along the length of the 21-residue peptide. Recognition is selective for thymine over other nucleobases and drives the formation of ternary peptide·dT102 complexes as well as heterodimeric peptide·dT10C10T10 hairpin structures with triplex stems.
Highly educated immigrants are part of the growing population of immigrants who are impacted by the increasingly hostile migration policies in the U.S. This qualitative study used a phenomenological ...approach and inductive reasoning to explore the possible impacts of migration integration policies as social determinants of health among this group. Data was collected through 31 semi-structured interviewees with highly educated immigrants who had an intention and interest to stay in the U.S. at the time of the interview. Data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis and four main themes emerged: (1) a life overshadowed by silent worries, (2) living through uncertainties and forced decisions as the result of migration integration policies, (3) complexities and challenges of living on a work visa, and (4) shared recommendations by interviewees. Documented narratives as part of this study suggest high rates of stress and anxiety as well as negative mental and physical health outcomes among the participants. Results also suggest high levels of internalized vulnerabilities. Participants shared that migration policies can be enhanced in the U.S. to support highly educated immigrants' growth by creating a better and more transparent communication system, replacing random review processes for applications with systematic procedures, creating expedited pathways to citizenship based on merit, and granting access to work as a basic human right.
At the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, China clearly put forward the goals of "carbon peak" in 2030 and "carbon neutrality" in 2060. Achievement of carbon targets. Therefore, the ...goal of this paper is to analyze the low-carbon development level of China's power industry and study the impact of carbon market policies on the low-carbon development level of the power industry. Based on this, this paper first constructs the low-carbon development evaluation index system of the power industry around the connotation of low-carbon development in the power industry and uses the global principal component analysis model to measure the low-carbon development level of China's power industry. Then, the dynamic change trend and spatial distribution characteristics of the low-carbon development level of China's power industry are analyzed using kernel density estimation and the K-means clustering method. Finally, propensity score matching and difference-in-difference methods are used to analyze the impact of carbon market policies on the low-carbon development level of China's power industry. The results show that, first, the low-carbon development level of China's power industry generally shows an upward trend and a polarized development trend. Second, the low-carbon development level of China's power industry has regional effects and gradient effects. The low-carbon development level of the power industry from high to low is the eastern region, central region and western region. Third, carbon market policies can help improve the low-carbon development level of China's power industry. The research results provide some reference and guidance for the evaluation of the low-carbon development level of China's power industry and the improvement of carbon market policies.
Abstract
Aging is characterized by the loss of homeostasis and the general decline of physiological functions, accompanied by various degenerative diseases and increased rates of mortality. Aging ...targeting small molecule screens have been performed many times, however, few have focused on endogenous metabolic intermediates—metabolites. Here, using
C. elegans
lifespan assays, we conducted a worm metabolite screen and identified an eukaryotes conserved metabolite,
myo
-inositol (MI), to extend lifespan, increase mobility and reduce fat content. Genetic analysis of enzymes in MI metabolic pathway suggest that MI alleviates aging through its derivative PI(4,5)P
2
. MI and PI(4,5)P
2
are precursors of PI(3,4,5)P
3
, which is negatively related to longevity. The longevity effect of MI is dependent on the tumor suppressor gene,
daf-18
(homologous to mouse
Pten
), independent of its classical pathway downstream genes,
akt
or
daf-16
. Furthermore, we found MI effects on aging and lifespan act through mitophagy regulator
PTEN induced kinase-1 (pink-1)
and mitophagy. MI’s anti-aging effect is also conserved in mouse, indicating a conserved mechanism in mammals.
PDF
