The financial risk of enterprises is crucial to business managers and investors, and the establishment of the independent director system is intended to address the financial risk generated ...internally by enterprises. However, in recent years, the system of independent directors has increasingly been criticized, and its impact on corporate financial risk is also being questioned. Herein, through empirical research methods, we have studied the relationship between independent directors and financial risk. We found that the opinions of independent directors, their professional backgrounds, and the size of the board of directors have a significant impact on financial risk. This could provide a reference for optimizing the system of independent directors.
To explore the inhibition mechanism of Saccharomyces boulardii (S. boulardii) on ulcerative colitis (UC) carcinogenesis.
C57BL/6 mice were treated with azoxymethane and dextran sulfate sodium ...(AOM/DSS) to develop a UC carcinogenesis model. The treatment group was lavaged with S. boulardii (5 × 10
CFU/d) for 12 weeks. The mice were sacrificed and the tumor load in the treatment group was compared with that of a control group. The levels of TNF-α and IL-6 in colon tissue were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The influence of S. boulardii on TNF-α and IL-6 regulation was also investigated using different colon cell lines. Differences in intestinal microbiota in both stool and intestinal mucosa samples were assessed using 16S rDNA sequencing.
S. boulardii treatment reduced AOM/DSS-induced UC carcinogenesis in mice, as indicated by the reduced tumor load and reduced TNF-α and IL-6 levels in vivo, as well its effects on TNF-α and IL-6 activities in vitro. Significant changes in both fecal and mucosal microbiota were observed among the control, the AOM/DSS treated, and AOM/DSS plus S. boulardii treated groups. For fecal microbiota, the AOM/DSS treated group was lower in Lactobacillus, but higher in Oscillibacter and Lachnoclostridium than the control group. After intervention with S. boulardii, the percentage of Bacillus and Lactococcus increased, but Lachnoclostridium, Oscillibacter, Bacteroides, and Pseudomonas decreased. For the intestinal mucosal microbiota, the AOM/DSS treated group was lower in Bifidobacterium and Ruminococcaceae_UCG-014 and higher in Alloprevotella than the control group. After S. boulardii exposure, the percentage contributions of Lachnoclostridium and Lachnospiraceae_NK4A136 increased.
S. boulardii effectively reduced UC carcinogenesis in an AOM/DSS induced mice model. This positive result can likely be attributed to the reduction of TNF-α and IL-6 levels or the blockade of their function combined with alterations to the intestinal microbiota.
As a subset of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), C-type lectin-like receptors (CLRs) are mainly expressed by myeloid cells as both transmembrane and soluble forms. CLRs recognize not only ...pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), but also damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) to promote innate immune responses and affect adaptive immune responses. Upon engagement by PAMPs or DAMPs, CLR signaling initiates various biological activities
, such as cytokine secretion and immune cell recruitment. Recently, several CLRs have been implicated as contributory to the pathogenesis of intestinal inflammation, which represents a prominent risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC). CLRs function as an interface among microbiota, intestinal epithelial barrier and immune system, so we firstly discussed the relationship between dysbiosis caused by microbiota alteration and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), then focused on the role of CLRs signaling in pathogenesis of IBD (including Mincle, Dectin-3, Dectin-1, DCIR, DC-SIGN, LOX-1 and their downstream CARD9). Given that CLRs mediate intricate inflammatory signals and inflammation plays a significant role in tumorigenesis, we finally highlight the specific effects of CLRs on CRC, especially colitis-associated cancer (CAC), hoping to open new horizons on pathogenesis and therapeutics of IBD and CAC.
The temperature-related growth characteristics of
Microcystis
sp. and its competitor
Cyclotella meneghiniana
were examined in a series of monoculture experiments at six different temperatures. Then, ...the temperature-related term of each species was established for a previously developed interspecific competition model, which can not be applied in actual lakes due to the lack of temperature-related terms. Based on experimental results, the highest temperature-dependent growth rate for
C. meneghiniana
was calculated to be 0.64 day
−1
at 29 °C and that for
Microcystis
sp. was 0.65 day
−1
at 37 °C. The coefficient
ε
, which reflects the extent of the biovolume change affected by temperature, was 19.4 for
C. meneghiniana
and 8.7 for
Microcystis
sp
.
, indicating that
C. meneghiniana
is more sensitive to the temperature than
Microcystis
sp. Moreover, cocultivation experiments at low temperature (20 °C) and high temperature (30 °C) were conducted to verify the influence of these temperature-dependent growth characteristics on the interspecific interaction. The biovolume in saturation and dominant species were portrayed in the two temperature groups to assess the effect of temperature on their interaction. This study also discussed the effect of temperature on
Microcystis
blooms formation by comparing experimental results with the observed situation in the field of Lake Tega.
Humic-like substances (HULIS) are macromolecular complex groups in water-soluble organic compounds (WSOC). pH is a crucial factor that influences the chemical transformations of HULIS in atmospheric ...particles, but this has been rarely investigated, especially under varying pH conditions. This study attempted to unveil the chemical transformation mechanisms of HULIS under a range of pH conditions using optical methods. The pH-dependent light absorption and fluorescence properties of HULIS were comprehensively analyzed; the acidity coefficient (pK a) of HULIS in relation to chemical structures was determined, and the hypothetical chemical transformation mechanisms of HULIS with increasing pH were analyzed by optical characterizations. The results suggested that pH greatly impacted the light absorption and fluorescence efficiencies of HULIS in both winter and summer seasons, and pK a was an important inflection point. The pK a of HULIS ranged from 3.5 to 8.0 in winter and 6.4 to 10.0 in summer. The acidic/basic groups were identified as −OH or −NH2 substituted quinolines, carboxylic aromatics, and pyridines. The pH-sensitive species accounted for about 6% and 21% of HULIS-C (carbon concentrations of HULIS) in winter and summer, respectively. The varying optical spectra with increasing pH might result from charge transfer or complex reactions with HULIS deprotonation.
The Selenga River basin is an important section of the Sino-Mongolian Economic Corridor. It is an important connecting piece of the Eurasian Continental Bridge and an important part of Northeast ...Asia. Against the background of the evolution of the geopolitical pattern since the disintegration of the Soviet Union and global warming, based on the land cover data in the Selenga River basin from 1992, 2000, 2009, and 2015, this paper describes the dynamic changes in land use in the basin. Through a logistic model, the driving factors of land cover change were revealed, and the CA-Markov model was used to predict the land cover pattern of 2027. The results showed that (1) from 1992 to 2015, the agricultural population in the Selenga River basin continued to decrease, which led to a reduction in agricultural sown area. The intensification of climate warming and drying had a significant impact on the spatial distribution of crops. Grassland expansion mostly occurred in areas with relatively abundant rainfall, low temperature, and low human activity. (2) The simulation results showed that, according to the current development trend, the construction land area of the Selenga River basin will be slightly expanded in 2027, the area of arable land and grassland will be slightly reduced, and the areas of forest, water/wetland, and bare land will remain stable. In the future, human activities in the basin will increase in the process of the construction of the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor. Coupled with global warming, the land/cover of the basin will be affected by both man-made and natural disturbances, and attention should be paid to the possible risk of vegetation degradation.
The fecal microbiota in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and in autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP) patients remains largely unknown. We aimed to characterize the fecal microbiota in patients with ...PDAC and AIP, and explore the possibility of fecal microbial biomarkers for distinguishing PDAC and AIP.
32 patients with PDAC, 32 patients with AIP and 32 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC) were recruited and the fecal microbiotas were analyzed through high-throughput metagenomic sequencing. Alterations of fecal short-chain fatty acids were measured using gas chromatographic method.
Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) revealed that microbial compositions differed significantly between PDAC and HC samples; whereas, AIP and HC individuals tended to cluster together. Significant reduction of phylum Firmicutes (especially butyrate-producing bacteria, including Eubacterium rectale, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Roseburia intestinalis) and significant increase of phylum Proteobacteria (especially Gammaproteobacteria) were observed only among PDAC samples. At species level, when compared with HC samples, we revealed 24 and 12 differently enriched bacteria in PDAC and AIP, respectively. Functional analysis showed a depletion of short-chain fatty acids synthesis associated KO modules (e.g. Wood-Ljungdahl pathway) and an increase of KO modules associated with bacterial virulence (e.g. type II general secretion pathway). Consistent with the downregulation of butyrate-producing bacteria, gas chromatographic analysis showed fecal butyrate content was significantly decreased in PDAC group. Eubacterium rectale, Eubacterium ventrisum and Odoribacter splanchnicus were among the most important biomarkers in distinguishing PDAC from HC and from AIP individuals. Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis showed areas under the curve of 90.74% (95% confidence interval CI 86.47-100%), 88.89% (95% CI 73.49-100%), and 76.54% (95% CI 52.5-100%) for PDAC/HC, PDAC/AIP and AIP/HC, respectively.
In conclusion, alterations in fecal microbiota and butyrate of patients with PDAC suggest an underlying role of gut microbiota for the pathogenesis of PDAC. Fecal microbial and butyrate as potential biomarkers may facilitate to distinguish patients with PDAC from patients with AIP and HCs which worth further validation.
Multiview display has attention owing to its smooth motion parallax, visual discomfort alleviation, and wide depth of focus. Nevertheless, its applications are limited because of the freedom to ...design ultrathin display systems. This paper proposes a novel method to design the system freely by using ultrathin metasurface in conjunction with a flat panel to reduce the system's complexity. We demonstrate ultrathin metasurface for red (637 nm), green (532 nm), and blue (457 nm) wavelengths by using the look-up table method, and the subpixel of the metasurface are mapped according to the pixel arrangements of the LCD panel. The proposed 3D multiview display system produces 8 views at the optimal distance of 1000 mm from the LCD screen. Numerical simulation is implemented to verify the effectiveness of proposed method and the results show that it can achieve a multiview 3D display with high quality. The thickness of metasurface is 2 μm. The proposed metasurface for multiview display has great potential to underpin the development meta-optics-based operations in the field of integrated optics and imaging
Intestinal microecology plays an important role in the development and progression of hematological malignancies. However, characteristics of gut microbiota in diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) ...have not been reported. The microbiota composition of fecal samples from 25 untreated DLBCL patients and 26 healthy volunteers was examined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. On α-diversity analysis, there was no significant difference in species diversity and abundance between the two groups. However, a significant difference was observed on β-diversity analysis. The intestinal microbiota in patients with DLBCL showed a continuous evolutionary relationship, which progressed from phylum,
, to genus,
. Their abundance was significantly higher than that of the control group. At the genus level,
,
, and
were more abundant in patients with DLBCL than in the control group. Functional prediction by PICRUSt indicated that thiamine metabolism and phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan biosynthesis were significantly lower in the DLBCL group than in the control group. In conclusion, our results clearly demonstrate that the gut microbiota was changed significantly in DLBCL. The study highlights fundamental differences in the microbial diversity and composition of patients with DLBCL and paves the way for future prospective studies and microbiome-directed interventional trials to improve patient outcomes.
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•The first study on POP emissions in a large e-waste mechanical dismantling estate.•Unexpectedly high PCB levels emit from obsolete electrical equipment dissembling.•High PCB contents ...in e-waste and mass processing capacity may be responsible.•The importance of continuous PCB volatilization from obsolete electrical equipment.•Significantly high emissions of PCBs pose a severe threat to frontline workers.
Large industrial estates for electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) mechanical dismantling and recycling are gradually replacing outmoded small factories and intensive domestic workshops for e-waste manual and chemical dismantling. However, the air pollution and health risks of persistent organic pollutants during the modern mechanical processing of e-waste, especially obsolete electrical equipment, still remain unclear. Here, unexpectedly high levels (409.3 ng/m3) and health risks of airborne polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were found during the mechanical processing of obsolete electric equipment or parts in a large integrated dismantling industrial estate, which is comparable to or a dozen times higher than those reported during chemical processing. In contrast, the levels (936.0 pg/m3) and health risks of particulate polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) were all lower than those of previous studies. PCB emissions (44.9–3300.5 ng/m3) varied significantly across six mechanical dismantling places specifically treating waste motors, electrical appliances, hardware, transformers, and metals, respectively. The high PCB content and mass processing number of obsolete electrical equipment probably result in the highest PCB emissions from the mechanical dismantling of obsolete motors, followed by waste electrical appliances and metals. The PCB non-cancer and cancer risks associated with inhalation and dermal exposure in different mechanical dismantling places were all above the given potential risk limits. In particular, the health risks of dismantling obsolete motor exceeded the definite risk levels. Little difference in PCB emissions and health risks between working and non-working time suggested the importance of PCB volatilization from most e-waste. Such high PCB emissions and health risks of PCBs undoubtedly posed a severe threat to frontline workers, but fortunately, they decreased significantly with the increasing distance from the industrial estate. We highlight that PCB emissions and associated health risks from obsolete electrical equipment with high PCB content during mechanical dismantling activities should be of great concern.
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