Fecal metabolome of healthy humans and patients suffering from liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were studied using ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled to ...quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF MS). Metabolic features detected by the method were then statistically treated using partial least squares to latent structure-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) models to discriminate between healthy and diseased states. PLS-DA was also used to discriminate between cirrhosis and HCC stressed fecal metabolomes and to identify potential biomarkers for cirrhosis and HCC that are expressed at significantly different amounts in fecal metabolomes.
Score plots of pattern recognition analysis distinguished liver cirrhosis and HCC patients from healthy humans. Based on the variable of importance in the project (VIP) values and S-plots, six metabolites were considered as potential biomarkers with a strong increase in lysophosphatidylcholines and a dramatic decrease in bile acids and bile pigments in patients with liver cirrhosis and HCC in comparison with healthy humans. Results demonstrate the potential of UPLC-MS as an efficient and convenient method that can be applied to screen fecal samples and aid in the early diagnosis of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma.
Abstract The world is experiencing an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, yet the influences of remote inland extreme weather events on the coastal ecosystem thousands ...of kilometers away remain poorly understood. Here we tracked the chain ecological effects of an extreme rainfall event in North China from terrestrial rivers to coastal aquaculture area of the eastern Shandong Peninsula. Our data suggest the autumn flood resulted from extreme rainfall event leads to abnormally low turbidity in the North Shandong Coastal Currents and coastal red tide blooms by introducing anomalous freshwater with an exceptionally high nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratio into the Bohai Sea. Lower salinity, stronger light conditions caused by limpid coastal currents, and phosphorus limitation resulting from red tide blooms account for huge kelp loss offshore of the eastern Shandong Peninsula. This study underscores the importance of considering multidisciplinary observation for risk management of unexpected extreme weather events.
Obesity is a well-known predictor for poor postoperative outcomes of vascular surgery. However, the association between obesity and outcomes of thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) is still ...unclear. This systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to assess the roles of obesity in the outcomes of TEVAR.
We systematically searched the Web of Science and PubMed databases to obtain articles regarding obesity and TEVAR that were published before July 2023. The odds ratio (OR) or hazard ratio (HR) was used to assess the effect of obesity on TEVAR outcomes. Body mass index (BMI) was also compared between patients experiencing adverse events after TEVAR and those not experiencing adverse events. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to evaluate the quality of the enrolled studies.
A total of 7,849 patients from 10 studies were included. All enrolled studies were high-quality. Overall, the risk of overall mortality (OR = 1.49, 95% CI 1.02-2.17,
= 0.04) was increased in obese patients receiving TEVAR. However, the associations between obesity and overall complications (OR = 2.41, 95% CI 0.84-6.93,
= 0.10) and specific complications were all insignificant, including stroke (OR = 1.39, 95% CI 0.56-3.45,
= 0.48), spinal ischemia (OR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.64-1.47,
= 0.89), neurological complications (OR = 0.13, 95% CI 0.01-2.37,
= 0.17), endoleaks (OR = 1.02, 95% CI 0.46-2.29,
= 0.96), wound complications (OR = 0.91, 95% CI 0.28-2.96,
= 0.88), and renal failure (OR = 2.98, 95% CI 0.92-9.69,
= 0.07). In addition, the patients who suffered from postoperative overall complications (
< 0.001) and acute kidney injury (
= 0.006) were found to have a higher BMI. In conclusion, obesity is closely associated with higher risk of mortality after TEVAR. However, TEVAR may still be suitable for obese patients. Physicians should pay more attention to the perioperative management of obese patients.
•Cavitation was fist directly observed in non-transparent and high-melting alloy.•Synchrotron radiation X-ray imaging was exploited to study cavitation in metals.•The X-ray imaged “bubble” shows a ...near maximum radius of the oscillating bubble.•Cavitation bubble size obeys a truncated Gaussian distribution.
Cavitation bubbles in Al–10wt.%Cu melt has been investigated by adopting synchrotron radiation X-ray imaging technology. In-situ observation reveals that most of bubbles concentrate within an intense cavitation zone nearby the radiation face. The measured near-maximum bubble radii obey a similar truncated Gaussian distribution as in water but increase by nearly the magnitude of one order due to higher ultrasonic intensity applied in aluminum melt.
In recent years, noticeable subsidence depressions have occurred along the coastal zone of the Yellow River Delta. Consistent with these changes, dramatic human modifications within the coastal zone ...stand out, and the coastline is altered from an undisturbed natural area to an artificial coastline. However, very few studies have attempted to quantitatively analyze the relationship between subsidence depression and human activities. Here, the subsidence characteristics of the different land-use types in the Yellow River Delta are examined, and their spatiotemporal trends are quantified using a long-term satellite-observed time series of 30 years (1984–2017) regarding the land use map in combination with the InSAR-derived vertical ground deformations during three typical periods (P1: 1992–2000, P2: 2007–2010, and P3: 2016–2017). Noticeably, the highest subsidence rates were observed in areas where substantial human activities were observed, such as the subsidence in the salt fields ranging from 13 mm/year to 32 mm/year to 453 mm/year, respectively. Moreover, through the land-use prediction of Land Change Modeler (LCM), it is found that the salt field area will be further expanded in the future. The ecological vulnerability of the Yellow River Delta coastal zone should receive more attention in the future in terms of planning environmental protection strategies.
Using a two‐stage light gas gun, we obtained new shock wave Hugoniot data for an iron‐sulfur alloy (Fe‐11.8wt%S) over the pressure range of 94–204 GPa. A least‐squares fit to the Hugoniot data yields ...a linear relationship between shock velocity DS and particle velocity u, DS (km/s) =3.60(0.14) +1.57(0.05) u. The measured Hugoniot data for Fe‐11.8wt%S agree well with the calculated results based on the thermodynamic parameters of Fe and FeS using the additive law. By comparing the calculated densities along the adiabatic core temperature with the PREM density profile, an iron core with 10 wt.% sulfur (S) provides the best solution for the composition of the Earth's outer core.
Key Points
New equation of state for Fe‐11.8wt%S at high pressure
The experimental data show the ideal mixing relative to Fe and FeS
Fe‐10S provides the best fit to the density profile of the Earth's outer core.
A super El Niño event occurred in the equatorial Pacific during 2015–2016, accompanied by considerable regional eco-hydro-climatic variations within the Mindanao Dome (MD) upwelling system in the ...tropical western Pacific. Using timeseries of various oceanic data from 2013 to 2017, the variability of eco-hydro-climatic conditions response to the 2015/2016 super El Niño in the upper 300 m of the MD region are analyzed in this paper. Results showed that during the 2015/2016 super El Niño event, the upwelling in the MD region was greatly enhanced compared to those before and after this El Niño event. Upwelling Rossby waves and the massive loss of surface water in the western Pacific were suggested to be the main reasons for this enhanced upwelling. Decreased precipitation caused by changes in large-scale air-sea interaction led to the increased surface salinities. Changes in the structures of the thermohaline and nutrient distribution in deep waters contributed to the increased surface chlorophyll
a
, suggesting a positive effect of El Niño on surface carbon storage in the MD region. Based on the above analysis, the synopsis mechanism illustrating the eco-hydro-climatic changing processes over the MD upwelling system responding to the El Niño event was proposed. It highlights the prospect for the role played by El Niño in local eco-hydro-climatic effects, which has further profound implications for understanding the influence of the global climate changes on the ocean carbon cycle.
Accurate estimation of terrestrial water storage (TWS) and understanding its driving factors are crucial for effective hydrological assessment and water resource management. The launches of the ...Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites and their successor, GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO), combined with deep learning algorithms, have opened new avenues for such investigations. In this study, we employed a long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network model to simulate TWS anomaly (TWSA) in the Pearl River Basin (PRB) from 2003 to 2020, using precipitation, temperature, runoff, evapotranspiration, and leaf area index (LAI) data. The performance of the LSTM model was rigorously evaluated, achieving a high average correlation coefficient (r) of 0.967 and an average Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) coefficient of 0.912 on the testing set. To unravel the relative importance of each driving factor and assess the impact of different lead times, we employed the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) method. Our results revealed that precipitation exerted the most significant influence on TWSA in the PRB, with a one-month lead time exhibiting the greatest impact. Evapotranspiration, runoff, temperature, and LAI also played important roles, with interactive effects among these factors. Moreover, we observed an accumulation effect of precipitation and evapotranspiration on TWSA, particularly with shorter lead times. Overall, the SHAP method provides an alternative approach for the quantitative analysis of natural driving factors at the basin scale, shedding light on the natural dominant influences on TWSA in the PRB. The combination of satellite observations and deep learning techniques holds promise for advancing our understanding of TWS dynamics and enhancing water resource management strategies.
South China tigers (
Panthera tigris amoyensis
, SC) are the most threatened tiger subspecies in the world. All the living SCs are captive in zoos or reserves and depend on artificial feeding. The ...composition of the gut microbiome plays an important role in sustaining the health of the host. A comprehensive understanding of the composition and development of the microbial community of SC is helpful to improve the feeding of captive SC. In this study, we collected 47 fecal samples, 37 of which were from SC of three developmental stages, 5 from adult Amur tigers (Am), and 5 from adult Bengal tigers (Bg), which were all housed in the same zoo. We investigated the diversity, richness, and composition of the bacterial microbiomes and we found that the gut microbiome of SC is strongly affected by host aging. The composition of the gut microbiome of juvenile SC experienced dramatic changes from 5 months old to 1 year old, and it showed much less difference when compared to the samples of 1 year old and the subadult. No significant differences were observed between the samples of subadult and the adult groups. The predominant phylum of 5-month-old SC is
Fusobacteriota
(33.99%) when the juvenile tigers were older than 5 months, and
Firmicutes
, but not
Fusobacteriota
, became the predominant phylum of bacteria in their gut. The gut microbiome of SC, Am, and Bg is possibly affected by their genetic variation; however, the core microbiome of these three subspecies is the same. Our data suggest that the gut microbiome of SC undergoes a developmental progression: a developmental phase (cub), a transitional phase (subadult), and a stable phase (adult). These results expand our understanding of the role of age in the development of the gut microbiome of SC.
Aim. In clinical practice, a considerable proportion of patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) who do not conform to any immune status are considered to be in the “indeterminate phase”. In this ...study, we aim to study the clinical distribution characteristics and identification of significant liver inflammation in patients in indeterminate phase. Methods. This study retrospectively analyze clinical data of 1226 patients with CHB at two medical centers in Zhejiang province. According to American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) 2018 hepatitis B guidance, CHB can be divided into four phases: immune-tolerant phase, HBeAg-positive immune active phase, inactive phase, and HBeAg-negative immune active phase. Liver inflammation grade was evaluated using the Scheuer scoring system, and significant liver inflammation was defined as G≥2. Results. The distribution of different immune status was as follows: 259 (21.1%) patients in immune-tolerant phase, 365 (29.8%) patients in HBeAg-positive immune active phase, 128 (10.4%) patients in inactive phase, and 33 (2.7%) patients in HBeAg-negative immune active phase. However, 441 (36.0%) patients did not meet any of the above immune phases, which were defined as indeterminate phase. Significant liver inflammation (54.1%) was common in CHB patients with indeterminate phase. Prothrombin time (PT), platelet count (PLT), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and hepatitis B virus (HBV)-DNA were associated with significant inflammation. Conclusions. The results of this study showed that about 36.0% of patients were divided into indeterminate phase. The proportion of patients with significant inflammation in indeterminate phase and liver inflammation becomes more severe with aggravation of fibrosis stage. PT, PLT, ALT, and HBV-DNA may have a significant correlation with severe inflammation and prognosis of CHB.
PDF
