Resource markets, particularly those in the natural resource industry, have historically had difficulties associated with inefficiency. These inefficiencies can worsen environmental deterioration, ...hamper the progress of sustainable development, and impede the resilience of ecosystems. This research study examines the significant problem of resource market inefficiency and its impact on environmental resilience in China from 1990 to 2020. The focus of our study is to determine the impact of resource allocation inefficiencies on China's environmental resilience. China's enormous role as a user and producer of natural resources makes it an appropriate case study to examine the relationship between resource market dynamics and environmental sustainability. Using sophisticated econometrics modeling approaches, we thoroughly examine the statistical connections between market efficiency, policy interventions, and other factors, offering quantitative insights into this complex interaction. The results of this study provide valuable empirical evidence and data-based conclusions that can help policymakers, businesses, and stakeholders improve resource market efficiency. This, in turn, will strengthen environmental resilience and promote sustainable development in China and other regions.
•This study examines resource market inefficiency's impact on China's environmental resilience from 1990 to 2020.•China's unique role in resource consumption and production makes it an apt case study.•Sophisticated econometrics modeling provides quantitative insights to improve resource market efficiency.
After tooth extraction, significant absorption occurs in the soft and hard tissues of the alveolar ridge. The goal of alveolar ridge preservation is to maintain the volume and shape of the alveolar ...ridge's soft and hard tissues as much as possible so as to provide suitable conditions for implant placement. Currently, there are challenges in classifying the socket for alveolar ridge preservation, such as the difficulty in directly guiding the selection of graft materials and clinical procedures and the insufficient space for particle xenograft maintenance, resulting in poor bone regeneration. Plasmatrix is an autologous blood derivative that effectively enhances tissue regeneration. This article introduced the characteristics of soft and hard tissue defects after tooth extraction and the primary applications of plasmatrix for alveolar ridge preservation (liquid plasmatrix, solid plasmatrix membrane/plug, and plasmatrix bone blocks) as well as the proposed methods for the reclassification of sockets for alveola
Lysyl oxidase-like 4 (LOXL4) has been found to be dysregulated in several human malignancies, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the role of LOXL4 in HCC progression remains largely ...unclear. In this study, we investigated the clinical significance and biological involvement of LOXL4 in the progression of HCC.
LOXL4 expression was measured in HCC tissues and cell lines. Overexpression, shRNA-mediated knockdown, recombinant human LOXL4 (rhLOXL4), and deletion mutants were applied to study the function of LOXL4 in HCC. Exosomes derived from HCC cell lines were assessed for the ability to promote cancer progression in standard assays. The effects of LOXL4 on the FAK/Src pathway were examined by western blotting.
LOXL4 was commonly upregulated in HCC tissues and predicted a poor prognosis. Elevated LOXL4 was associated with tumor differentiation, vascular invasion, and tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage. Overexpression of LOXL4 promoted, whereas knockdown of LOXL4 inhibited cell migration and invasion of HCC in vitro, and overexpressed LOXL4 promoted intrahepatic and pulmonary metastases of HCC in vivo. Most interestingly, we found that HCC-derived exosomes transferred LOXL4 between HCC cells, and intracellular but not extracellular LOXL4 promoted cell migration by activating the FAK/Src pathway dependent on its amine oxidase activity through a hydrogen peroxide-mediated mechanism. In addition, HCC-derived exosomes transferred LOXL4 to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) though a paracrine mechanism to promote angiogenesis.
Taken together, our data demonstrate a novel function of LOXL4 in tumor metastasis mediated by exosomes through regulation of the FAK/Src pathway and angiogenesis in HCC.
Abstract In the solar wind, the fluctuation of heavy ion abundance serves as a crucial physical metric. This not only mirrors the attributes of the solar wind’s originating solar region but also ...signifies its influence on Earth’s magnetosphere. Utilizing data from the Advanced Composition Explorer satellite, this investigation scrutinizes heavy ion variations in stream interaction region (SIR)- and interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME)-driven shocks. We further delineate the disparities in heavy ion fluctuations between these two types of interplanetary shocks across diverse solar activity cycles. Our findings reveal that ICME-driven shocks typically manifest elevated shock velocities and magnetic field strengths relative to their SIR-driven counterparts. Additionally, heavy ion abundance ratios, such as C 6+ /O 4+ , O 7+ /O 6+ , He/O, Si/O, and Fe/O, are consistently higher in ICME-driven shocks than in SIR-driven shocks. During varying solar activity cycles, these ratios surge postarrival of ICME-driven shocks. At solar maximum, these elevated ratios persist, whereas they revert to baseline levels swiftly during solar minimum. For SIR-driven shocks, the alteration in heavy ion abundance ratios is comparatively subdued, yet a noteworthy correlation with the solar activity cycle is evident.
Medium‐scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) possibly excited by typhoon have been presented, for the first time, by applying the two‐dimensional total electron content perturbation maps ...derived from the dense Global Position System (GPS) network in China. Two MSTIDs were observed on 19 July and 23 July 2014, respectively, during the landing phases of Typhoons Rammasun and Matmo. The MSTIDs excited by Rammasum were detected at 06:56–07:40 UT on 19 July 2014, with a mean horizontal phase velocity of 118 m/s and an amplitude of about 2 total electron content unit (TECU), 1 TECU = 1016 el m−2, it horizontally extended to about 600 km. The Matmo‐related MSTIDs were observed at 14:48–15:54 UT on 23 July 2014; the wavefront, perturbation amplitude, and the mean horizontal phase velocity were 1000 km, 1.8 TECU, and 132 m/s, respectively. Both MSTIDs propagated southwestward with a distance less than 200 km. The short propagation distances of the MSTIDs indicate that the MSTIDs may be caused by the body forces resulting from the typhoons.
Key Points
Two‐dimensional structures of MSTIDs were observed during the landing phases of the typhoons
The MSTIDs were detected on the northeast of the landing points of the typhoons
The MSTIDs propagated southwestward for a distance of no more than 200 km with a time duration less than 1.5 h
Abstract
Hydrogen energy is playing an increasingly important role in integrated energy systems (IES) due to its multiple uses. Green hydrogen can be produced from electricity generated from ...renewable energy, reducing carbon emissions and environmental pollution. Previous work usually only considers electric vehicles (EVs) as flexible loads, and there are few studies on the production and application process of green hydrogen. In this paper, hydrogen electrolysis centers (HECs) and EVs are simultaneously schedulable loads, integrated into IES, and optimized. The distribution network model is established, and the optimization goal is to minimize network loss while ensuring the safe operation of the power grid. Through the power flow optimization method of mixed‐integer second‐order cone programming, the space optimization scheduling of EVs in the IES is carried out, and the optimal location of the HEC is reasonably planned and set. A simulation instance of IEEE 33 nodes is used to verify the proposed method. The final results show that this method can minimize network loss in the range of safe operation of the system for the spatial scheduling of electrolytic hydrogen centers and EVs. At the same time, it can also provide a reference for HEC addressing.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play an important role in biological functions and may feature innate therapeutic potential for diseases. In the present study, EVs released by osteoblasts at different ...stages of the mineralization process were investigated for their potential ability to promote bone formation. Results showed that the characteristics of EVs of mineralizing osteoblasts changed with regularity. EVs derived from the mid-to-late differentiation stage remarkably promoted osteoblast differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells and improved osteoporosis in ovariectomized mice. The findings also revealed that the effect of EVs on osteogenesis was related with the maturity of matrix vesicles (MVs), a kind of EVs selectively released by mineralizing-related cells. Nevertheless, only the EVs from the mid-to-late stage showed osteoinductive properties, Synthetic cartilage lymph (SCL) treatment of EVs from the middle stage could promote MV maturation but showed no effect on osteoinduction. Additionally, EVs derived at the middle and mid-to-late stages showed innate bone-targeting potential. Collectively, this study demonstrated that EVs released by osteoblasts at the mid-to-late differentiation stage markedly enhance osteogenesis. Our findings present the prospective use of osteoblast-released EVs in bone tissue engineering.
•The characteristics of extracellular vesicles of osteoblasts change with regularity.•Extracellular vesicles at mid-to-late differentiation stage enhance osteogenesis.•Mid-to-late-stage vesicles own osteoinductive and bone-targeting properties.•Matrix vesicles make up a certain proportion of extracellular vesicles.•Maturity of matrix vesicles is related to pro-osteogenesis，but not osteoinduction.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged as key regulators of cancer development and progression, and as promising biomarkers ...for the diagnosis and prognosis of cancer. In this study, we identified a new lncRNA (LINC02159) that was upregulated in the tumor tissues and serum of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. We demonstrated that knockdown of LINC02159 inhibited NSCLC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, but induced cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in vitro and retarded tumor growth in vivo, while overexpression of LINC02159 led to the opposite effect. We discovered that LINC02159 was highly correlated with cancer growth and metastasis-related pathways by using transcriptomic analysis and that YAP1 was a potential target gene of LINC02159. Mechanistically, LINC02159 bound to the Aly/REF export factor (ALYREF) to enhance the stability of YAP1 messenger RNA (mRNA) via m
C modification, which led to the overexpression of YAP1 and the activation of the Hippo and β-catenin signaling pathways in NSCLC cells. Rescue experiments showed that LINC01259 promoted NSCLC progression in a YAP1- and ALYREF-dependent manner. In conclusion, LINC02159 plays an oncogenic role in NSCLC progression by regulating ALYREF/YAP1 signaling, and it has the potential to be utilized as a diagnostic marker and therapeutic target for NSCLC.
Abstract
Owing to its unevenly distributed crustal fields, Mars acts as a unique obstacle to the solar wind. In the presence of the crustal fields, the transport of the planetary ions on the dayside ...ionosphere exhibits north–south asymmetry. Additionally, the heavy-ion loss in the magnetotail is affected by the crustal fields. In this paper, a three-dimensional multispecies magnetohydrodynamic model is employed to simulate Mars–solar wind interactions. Numerical results indicate that the meridional transport is dominant in most areas on the dayside ionosphere. In the presence of the crustal fields, the meridional transport on the southern hemisphere (southward transport) is reduced by more than 70% above the strong crustal sources, and the zonal velocity shows local changes inside strong and weak crustal field regions. These effects result in an increase or decrease in the number density of the heavy ions reaching the terminator, thereby influencing the thickness of the ionosphere. Decreased southward velocity leads to a reduction in the heavy-ion loss on the southern magnetotail. The radial outward flux is reduced by more than 30% for O
2
+
and CO
2
+
and by 10% for O
+
. This study shows that in addition to the zonal transport, the meridional transport is important for the day-to-night transport on the dayside of Mars. Collectively, the horizontal plasma transport, controlled by crustal fields, is associated with the altered ionosphere structure and reduced heavy-ion loss in the magnetotail.
When classifying impurities in commercial pure antimony (Sb, 99.8%), arsenic (As) and lead (Pb) should be brought to the forefront consideration. Due to the known difficulty of As removal through ...zone refining, it is meaningful to investigate its separation tendency through alternative methodologies such as vacuum distillation, promoted by the large difference of their vapor pressures. Here, a series of vacuum distillation trials with different process parameters were at first conducted with the aim of As removal. Pb, as an always accompanying impurity, seemed to be able to be significantly separated from Sb, so that its content in the refined phase could be reduced too, e.g. from 1200 ppm to less than 30 ppm. The reduction of As, however, is highly dependent on the distillation ratio of Sb and hence limited just to 450 ppm. The biggest obstacle here was the simultaneous evaporation of Sb and As when using high temperature and low pressure. In order to suppress the evaporation of As more intensely in vacuum distillation or selectively capture As in zone refining process, the additives – aluminum (Al) and zinc (Zn) – were studied and selected by using the respective phase diagrams as well as thermochemical Software FactSage and then individually added to Sb as alloying elements with the aim of intermetallic formation with As. The addition of Al led to a considerable reduction of As in vacuum distillation as well as while zone refining process. During vacuum distillation, 67% less As was obtained in the condensate in comparison to the trial without additive. Meanwhile, a huge As concentration gradient appeared in the residual Sb. During zone refining process, As concentration in the whole bar was considerably reduced from 456 ppm to below 150 ppm after only one zone pass, due to the enrichment of Al at the end of the bar in accompanying with As in form of an intermetallic compound. The addition of Zn, on the contrary, did not convince as an effective improvement in purification of Sb. In order to achieve a higher efficiency of As removal from Sb, the authors at the first priority suggest an addition of Al directly into the zone refining process. If specifically a vacuum distillation process is preferred, a multi-stage condenser, equipped with controlled temperatures, attendant with the addition of Al in the charge material, can deliver effective results as well.
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