A new evaluation of the role of urbanization to warming at various spatial scales: Evidence from the Guangdong‐Hong Kong‐Macao Region, China

The urbanization impacts on Surface Air Temperature (SAT) change in the Guangdong‐Hong Kong‐Macao region (GHMR) from 1979 to 2018 are examined using homogeneous surface observations, reanalysis, and remote sensing. Results show that the warming due to urbanization tends to be smaller or insignificant as the spatial scale increases. The urbanization contribution to the local warming can reach as high as 50% in the center of each metropolis, remains high (~25%) in the Greater Bay Area (GBA), and decreases to about 10% in the whole GHMR. The warming in GHMR is nearly uniform throughout the day, and therefore the observed trend of the Diurnal Temperature Range (DTR) is not statistically significant. However, the urbanization contribution exhibits distinct seasonal variations, large in summer and autumn while smaller in winter and spring

Vegetation greening offsets urbanization induced fast warming in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao region (GHMR)

Previous studies show that the environment in the Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao region is under the double stress of global warming and urbanization. Here, we show that due to the increase of regional greenness, the effect of urbanization warming on surface air temperature (SAT) decreased with time and became statistically insignificant from 2004 to 2018, compared to 1979 onward; while the urbanization itself has significantly warmed land surface temperature (LST), with a warming rate of 0.14°C ± 0.04°C/10a at daytime and 0.02°C ± 0.02°C/10a at nighttime during 2004–2018, respectively. The anthropogenic heat was found to have a limited influence on SAT, but more significant and tangible effects on LST. It is essential to improve the control of additional warming effects caused by urbanization

Prevalence of cerebral palsy comorbidities in China: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ObjectivesThis systematic review aimed to comprehensively understand the comorbidity of cerebral palsy (CP) in China.MethodsWe searched through databases in both Chinese and English until December 2022 to gather cross-sectional studies on the comorbidity of CP in China. After two reviewers independently screened the articles, collected the data, and assessed the bias risk, a meta-analysis was conducted using the Stata 17.0 software.ResultsA total of 73 articles were included. Of these, 16 articles reported total comorbidity, with a prevalence of 79.7% (95% CI: 73.8–85.7%); 56 articles reported epilepsy, with a prevalence of 17.9% (95% CI: 15.4–20.4%); 48 articles reported intellectual disability, with a prevalence of 58.0% (95% CI: 51.8–64.3%); 32 articles reported speech disorders, with a prevalence of 48.0% (95% CI: 41.6–54.4%); 41 articles reported hearing disorders, with a prevalence of 17.2% (95% CI: 13.0–21.4%); and 35 articles reported vision disorders, with a prevalence of 23.1% (95% CI: 16.3–29.8%). The topographical type of CP was the primary source of heterogeneity in the prevalence of epilepsy. Diagnostic criteria for CP, clinical type of CP, GMFCS, publishing time, and topographical type of CP were the primary sources of heterogeneity in the prevalence of intellectual disability. Clinical type of CP and topographical type were the primary sources of heterogeneity in the prevalence of speech disorders. Finally, the region was the primary source of heterogeneity in the prevalence of hearing disorders.ConclusionThe prevalence of comorbidities in CP is high in China. Comorbidities are related to the characteristics, severity, and risk factors of brain insult and have a particular relationship with regional economic development and medical and health levels

SIPA1L3 methylation modifies the benefit of smoking cessation on lung adenocarcinoma survival: an epigenomic-smoking interaction analysis

Smoking cessation prolongs survival and decreases mortality of patients with non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In addition, epigenetic alterations of some genes are associated with survival. However, potential interactions between smoking cessation and epigenetics have not been assessed. Here, we conducted an epigenome‐wide interaction analysis between DNA methylation and smoking cessation on NSCLC survival. We used a two‐stage study design to identify DNA methylation-smoking cessation interactions that affect overall survival for early‐stage NSCLC. The discovery phase contained NSCLC patients from Harvard, Spain, Norway, and Sweden. A histology‐stratified Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for age, sex, clinical stage, and study center was used to test DNA methylation-smoking cessation interaction terms. Interactions with false discovery rate‐q ≤ 0.05 were further confirmed in a validation phase using The Cancer Genome Atlas database. Histology‐specific interactions were identified by stratification analysis in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (LUSC) patients. We identified one CpG probe (cg02268510SIPA1L3) that significantly and exclusively modified the effect of smoking cessation on survival in LUAD patients [hazard ratio (HR)interaction = 1.12; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07-1.16; P = 4.30 × 10-7]. Further, the effect of smoking cessation on early‐stage LUAD survival varied across patients with different methylation levels of cg02268510SIPA1L3. Smoking cessation only benefited LUAD patients with low methylation (HR = 0.53; 95% CI: 0.34-0.82; P = 4.61 × 10-3) rather than medium or high methylation (HR = 1.21; 95% CI: 0.86-1.70; P = 0.266) of cg02268510SIPA1L3. Moreover, there was an antagonistic interaction between elevated methylation of cg02268510SIPA1L3 and smoking cessation (HRinteraction = 2.1835; 95% CI: 1.27-3.74; P = 4.46 × 10−3). In summary, smoking cessation benefited survival of LUAD patients with low methylation at cg02268510SIPA1L3. The results have implications for not only smoking cessation after diagnosis, but also possible methylation‐specific drug targeting

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Morphological diversity of single neurons in molecularly defined cell types.

Dendritic and axonal morphology reflects the input and output of neurons and is a defining feature of neuronal types1,2, yet our knowledge of its diversity remains limited. Here, to systematically examine complete single-neuron morphologies on a brain-wide scale, we established a pipeline encompassing sparse labelling, whole-brain imaging, reconstruction, registration and analysis. We fully reconstructed 1,741 neurons from cortex, claustrum, thalamus, striatum and other brain regions in mice. We identified 11 major projection neuron types with distinct morphological features and corresponding transcriptomic identities. Extensive projectional diversity was found within each of these major types, on the basis of which some types were clustered into more refined subtypes. This diversity follows a set of generalizable principles that govern long-range axonal projections at different levels, including molecular correspondence, divergent or convergent projection, axon termination pattern, regional specificity, topography, and individual cell variability. Although clear concordance with transcriptomic profiles is evident at the level of major projection type, fine-grained morphological diversity often does not readily correlate with transcriptomic subtypes derived from unsupervised clustering, highlighting the need for single-cell cross-modality studies. Overall, our study demonstrates the crucial need for quantitative description of complete single-cell anatomy in cell-type classification, as single-cell morphological diversity reveals a plethora of ways in which different cell types and their individual members may contribute to the configuration and function of their respective circuits

Human Parathyroid Hormone (1–34) accelerates skin wound healing through inducing cell migration via up-regulating the expression of Rac1

Abstract Delayed wound healing is a public issue that imposes a significant burden on both society and the patients themselves. To date, although numerous methods have been developed to accelerate the speed of wound closure, the therapeutic effects are partially limited due to the complex procedures, high costs, potential side effects, and ethical concerns. While some studies have reported that the in-vivo application of Human Parathyroid Hormone (1–34) (hPTH(1–34)) promotes the wound-healing process, the definitive role and underlying mechanisms through which it regulates the behavior of fibroblasts and keratinocytes remains unclear. Herein, hPTH(1–34)’s role in cell migration is evaluated with a series of in-vitro and in-vivo studies, whereby hPTH(1–34)’s underlying mechanism in activating the two types of cells was detected. The in-vitro study revealed that hPTH(1–34) enhanced the migration of both fibroblasts and HaCaT cells. Ras-associated C3 botulinum toxin subunit 1 (Rac1), a classical member of the Rho family, was upregulated in hPTH(1–34)-treated fibroblasts and HaCaT cells. Further study by silencing the expression of Rac1 with siRNA reversed the hPTH(1–34)-enhanced cell migration, thus confirming that Rac1 was involved in hPTH(1–34)-induced cell behavior. In-vivo study on rat wound models confirmed the effects of hPTH(1–34) on fibroblasts and keratinocytes, with increased collagen deposition, fibroblasts accumulation, and Rac1 expression in the hPTH(1–34)-treated wounds. In summary, the present study demonstrated that hPTH(1–34) accelerated wound healing through enhancing the migration of cells through the up-regulation of Rac1 expression

Modeling and Preliminary Analysis of the Impact of Meteorological Conditions on the COVID-19 Epidemic

Since the COVID-19 epidemic outbreak at the end of 2019, many studies regarding the impact of meteorological factors on the attack have been carried out, and inconsistent conclusions have been reached, indicating the issue’s complexity. To more accurately identify the effects and patterns of meteorological factors on the epidemic, we used a combination of logistic regression (LgR) and partial least squares regression (PLSR) modeling to investigate the possible effects of common meteorological factors, including air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and surface pressure, on the transmission of the COVID-19 epidemic. Our analysis shows that: (1) Different countries and regions show spatial heterogeneity in the number of diagnosed patients of the epidemic, but this can be roughly classified into three types: “continuous growth”, “staged shock”, and “finished”; (2) Air temperature is the most significant meteorological factor influencing the transmission of the COVID-19 epidemic. Except for a few areas, regional air temperature changes and the transmission of the epidemic show a significant positive correlation, i.e., an increase in air temperature is conducive to the spread of the epidemic; (3) In different countries and regions studied, wind speed, relative humidity, and surface pressure show inconsistent correlation (and significance) with the number of diagnosed cases but show some regularity

Spatial Distribution Pattern and Interspecific Association Analysis of Thuja koraiensis Population

In this paper, the methods such as Clumping index, Aggregate index, CASSIE index, Diffusion coefficient C, K index in negative binomial distribution and m*-m wao regression, Taylor power law were used to analyze the spatial distribution pattern of Thuja koraiensis community. The results showed that the spatial distribution pattern of Thuja koraiensis community presented significantly aggregate distribution. Based on 2×2 contingency table, interspecific association analysis was conducted by means of Variance ratio method, χ2-test, Association coefficient, together with point correlation coefficient, The overall relevance of pure forest community where Thuja koraiensis population were distributed and scattered forest of Thuja koraiensis community both showed negative correlation. In the pure forest community, Thuja koraiensis was extremely significantly negatively correlated with Sorbus pohuashanensis(p<0.01), and positively correlated with other shrub species, but did not reach a significant level. In the scattered forest community, Thuja koraiensis was positively correlated with Euonymus rehderianus, Lonicera edulis, Rubus sachalinensis, Acer tegmentosum, and negatively correlated with other species. Studies suggest that protecting species which are positively correlated with Thuja koraiensis to form an environment conducive to the survival of specific species together has certain guiding significance for the protection and utilization of Thuja koraiensis community

Spatial Distribution Pattern and Interspecific Association Analysis of

In this paper, the methods such as Clumping index, Aggregate index, CASSIE index, Diffusion coefficient C, K index in negative binomial distribution and m*-m wao regression, Taylor power law were used to analyze the spatial distribution pattern of Thuja koraiensis community. The results showed that the spatial distribution pattern of Thuja koraiensis community presented significantly aggregate distribution. Based on 2×2 contingency table, interspecific association analysis was conducted by means of Variance ratio method, χ2-test, Association coefficient, together with point correlation coefficient, The overall relevance of pure forest community where Thuja koraiensis population were distributed and scattered forest of Thuja koraiensis community both showed negative correlation. In the pure forest community, Thuja koraiensis was extremely significantly negatively correlated with Sorbus pohuashanensis(p<0.01), and positively correlated with other shrub species, but did not reach a significant level. In the scattered forest community, Thuja koraiensis was positively correlated with Euonymus rehderianus, Lonicera edulis, Rubus sachalinensis, Acer tegmentosum, and negatively correlated with other species. Studies suggest that protecting species which are positively correlated with Thuja koraiensis to form an environment conducive to the survival of specific species together has certain guiding significance for the protection and utilization of Thuja koraiensis community