China is the world's most populous country and a major emitter of greenhouse gases. Consequently, much research has focused on China's influence on climate change but somewhat less has been written ...about the impact of climate change on China. China experienced explosive economic growth in recent decades, but with only 7% of the world's arable land available to feed 22% of the world's population, China's economy may be vulnerable to climate change itself. We find, however, that notwithstanding the clear warming that has occurred in China in recent decades, current understanding does not allow a clear assessment of the impact of anthropogenic climate change on China's water resources and agriculture and therefore China's ability to feed its people. To reach a more definitive conclusion, future work must improve regional climate simulations-especially of precipitation-and develop a better understanding of the managed and unmanaged responses of crops to changes in climate, diseases, pests and atmospheric constituents.
Rising health concerns and increasing obesity levels in human society have led some consumers to cut back on animal protein consumption and switch to plant-based proteins as an alternative. Soy ...protein is a versatile protein supplement and contains well-balanced amino acids, making it comparable to animal protein. With sufficient processing and modification, the quality of soy protein can be improved above that of animal-derived proteins, if desired. The modern food industry is undergoing a dynamic change, with advanced processing technologies that can produce a multitude of foods and ingredients with functional properties from soy proteins, providing consumers with a wide variety of foods. This review highlights recent progress in soy protein processing technologies. Using the current literature, the processing-induced structural changes in soy protein are also explored. Furthermore, the molecular structure of soy protein, particularly the crystal structures of β-conglycinin and glycinin, is comprehensively revisited.
An extensive dataset on rice phenology in China, including 202 series broadly covering the past three decades (1980s–2000s), was compiled. From these data, we estimated the responses of growth ...duration length to temperature using a regression model based on the data with and without detrending. Regression coefficients derived from the detrended data reflect only the temperature effect, whereas those derived from data without detrending represent a combined effect of temperature and confounding cultivar shifts. Results indicate that the regression coefficients calculated from the data with and without detrending show an average shortening of the growth duration of 4.1–4.4 days for each additional increase in temperature over the full growth cycle. Using the detrended data, 95.0% of the data series exhibited a negative correlation between the growth duration length and temperature; this correlation was significant in 61.9% of all of the data series. We then compared the difference between the two regression coefficients calculated from data with and without detrending and found a significantly greater temperature sensitivity using the data without detrending (−2.9 days °C−1) than that derived from the detrended data (−2.0 days °C−1) in the period of emergence to heading for the late rice, producing a negative difference in temperature sensitivity (−0.9 days °C−1). This implies that short‐duration cultivars were planted with increase in temperature and exacerbated the undesired phenological change. In contrast, positive differences were detected for the single (0.6 days °C−1) and early rice (0.5 days °C−1) over the full growth cycle, which might indicate that long‐duration cultivars were favoured with climate warming, but these differences were insignificant. In summary, our results suggest that a major, temperature induced change in the rice growth duration is underway in China and that using a short‐duration cultivar has been accelerating the process for late rice.
Recently, depression has been a great concern of researchers, and the research on the male-female ratio of depression mainly covers the fields of epidemiology and clinical studies. This study is made ...to explore the causes of the male-female ratio of depression from a humanistic perspective, namely, the psychosocial factors, thus providing some support and reference for further research on depression. Thereby, the authors select and analyze word lists closely collocated with “depression” according to word score and frequency through the word sketch in enTenTen20 by the corpus tool “Sketch Engine.” Meanwhile, the above words are further explored for the causes of the male-female ratio in depression from the biological, psychological, and social aspects based on the Biopsychosocial Model as well as some existing relevant medical research findings. Consequently, women are found to be more likely to suffer from emotional problems and depression than men under the influence of biological basis, general psychological characteristics, and social environment interference.
In this study an innovative parameterized water-bomb wheel modeling method based on recursive solving are introduced, significantly reducing the modeling workload compared to traditional methods. A ...multi-link supporting structure is designed upon the foundation of the water-bomb wheel model. The effectiveness of the supporting structure is verified through simulations and experiments. For robots equipped with this water-bomb wheel featuring the multi-link support, base on the kinematic model of multi-link structure, a mapping algorithm that incorporates parameterized kinematic solutions and IMU-fused parameterized odometry is proposed. Based on this algorithm, SLAM and autonomous navigation experiments are carried out in simulation environment and real environment respectively. Compared with the traditional algorithm, this algorithm the precision of SLAM is enhanced, achieving high-precision SLAM and autonomous navigation with a robot error rate below 5%.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal cancer with a prominent extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition and poor prognosis. High levels of ECM proteins derived from tumour cells reduce the ...efficacy of conventional cancer treatment paradigms and contribute to tumour progression and metastasis. As abundant tumour-promoting cells in the ECM, cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are promising targets for novel anti-tumour interventions. Nonetheless, related clinical trials are hampered by the lack of specific markers and elusive differences between CAF subtypes. Here, we review the origins and functional diversity of CAFs and show how they create a tumour-promoting milieu, focusing on the crosstalk between CAFs, tumour cells, and immune cells in the tumour microenvironment. Furthermore, relevant clinical advances and potential therapeutic strategies relating to CAFs are discussed.
Active vision systems (AVSs) have been widely used to obtain high-resolution images of objects of interest. However, tracking small objects in high-magnification scenes is challenging due to shallow ...depth of field (DoF) and narrow field of view (FoV). To address this, we introduce a novel high-speed AVS with a continuous autofocus (C-AF) approach based on dynamic-range focal sweep and a high-frame-rate (HFR) frame-by-frame tracking pipeline. Our AVS leverages an ultra-fast pan-tilt mechanism based on a Galvano mirror, enabling high-frequency view direction adjustment. Specifically, the proposed C-AF approach uses a 500 fps high-speed camera and a focus-tunable liquid lens operating at a sine wave, providing a 50 Hz focal sweep around the object’s optimal focus. During each focal sweep, 10 images with varying focuses are captured, and the one with the highest focus value is selected, resulting in a stable output of well-focused images at 50 fps. Simultaneously, the object’s depth is measured using the depth-from-focus (DFF) technique, allowing dynamic adjustment of the focal sweep range. Importantly, because the remaining images are only slightly less focused, all 500 fps images can be utilized for object tracking. The proposed tracking pipeline combines deep-learning-based object detection, K-means color clustering, and HFR tracking based on color filtering, achieving 500 fps frame-by-frame tracking. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed C-AF approach and the advanced capabilities of the high-speed AVS for magnified object tracking.
Background
Retrograde type A aortic dissection (RTAD) is a potentially lethal complication after thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR). However, data are limited regarding the development of ...RTAD post‐TEVAR. This systematic review aims to define the incidence, mortality, and potential risk factors of RTAD post‐TEVAR.
Methods and Results
Multiple electronic searches were performed. Fifty publications with a total of 8969 patients were analyzed. Pooled estimates for incidence and mortality of RTAD were 2.5% (95% confidence interval CI, 2.0–3.1) and 37.1% (95% CI, 23.7–51.6), respectively. Metaregression analysis evidenced that RTAD rate was associated with hypertension (P=0.043), history of vascular surgery (P=0.042), and American Surgical Association (P=0.044). The relative risk of RTAD was 1.81 (95% CI, 1.04–3.14) for acute dissection (relative to chronic dissection) and 5.33 (95% CI, 2.70–10.51) for aortic dissection (relative to a degenerative aneurysm). Incidence of RTAD was significantly different in patients with proximal bare stent and nonbare stent endografts (relative risk RR=2.06; 95% CI, 1.22–3.50). RTAD occurrence rate in zone 0 was higher than other landing zones.
Conclusions
The pooled RTAD rate after TEVAR was calculated at 2.5% with a high mortality rate (37.1%). Incidence of RTAD is significantly more frequent in patients treated for dissection than those with an aneurysm (especially for acute dissection), and when the proximal bare stent was used. Rate of RTAD after TEVAR varied significantly according to the proximal Ishimaru landing zone. The more‐experienced centers tend to have lower RTAD incidences.
The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein mediates target recognition, cellular entry, and ultimately the viral infection that leads to various levels of COVID-19 severities. Positive evolutionary selection of ...mutations within the spike protein has led to the genesis of new SARS-CoV-2 variants with greatly enhanced overall fitness. Given the trend of variants with increased fitness arising from spike protein alterations, it is critical that the scientific community understand the mechanisms by which these mutations alter viral functions. As of March 2022, five SARS-CoV-2 strains were labeled "variants of concern" by the World Health Organization: the Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Omicron variants. This review summarizes the potential mechanisms by which the common mutations on the spike protein that occur within these strains enhance the overall fitness of their respective variants. In addressing these mutations within the context of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein structure, spike/receptor binding interface, spike/antibody binding, and virus neutralization, we summarize the general paradigms that can be used to estimate the effects of future mutations along SARS-CoV-2 evolution.
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